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Title: An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800
Author: Mary Frances Cusack
Release Date: January 22, 2005 [eBook #14754]
Language: English
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AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF IRELAND FROM AD 400 TO 1800
by
MARY FRANCES CUSACK
'The Nun of Kenmare'
Illustrations by Henry Doyle
1868
TO THE
RIGHT HONORABLE JUDGE O'HAGAN,
AND TO
HIS SISTER MARY,
FOUNDRESS AND ABBESS OF SAINT CLARE'S CONVENT, KENMARE,
THIS VOLUME
IS AFFECTIONATELY AND RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
By
The Author.
List of Full-Page Illustrations
ETC.
THE EMIGRANTS' FAREWELL
SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT IRISH MANUSCRIPTS
ST. PATRICK GOING TO TARA
KING BRIAN BOROIMHE KILLED BY THE VIKING
MARRIAGE OF EVA AND STRONGBOW
INTERVIEW BETWEEN MACMURROUGH AND THE OFFICERS OF RICHARD II.
INTERVIEW BETWEEN ESSEX AND O'NEILL
MASSACRE AT DROGHEDA
IRETON CONDEMNING THE BISHOP OF LIMERICK
GRATTAN'S DEMAND FOR IRISH INDEPENDENCE
O'CONNELL REFUSING TO TAKE THE OATH
IRELAND AND AMERICA
PREFACE
TO THE SECOND EDITION.
A demand for a Second Edition of the "Illustrated History of Ireland,"
within three months from the date of the publication of the First,
consisting of 2,000 copies, is a matter of no little gratification to
the writer, both personally and relatively. It is a triumphant proof
that Irishmen are not indifferent to Irish history--a fault of which
they have been too frequently accused; and as many of the clergy have
been most earnest and generous in their efforts to promote the
circulation of the work, it is gratifying to be able to adduce this fact
also in reply to the imputations, even lately cast upon the
ecclesiastics of Ireland, of deficiency in cultivated tastes, and of
utter neglect of literature.
Nor, as a Catholic and a religious, can I fail to express my respectful
gratitude and thankfulness for the warm approbation which the work has
received from so many distinguished prelates. A few of these
approbations will be found at the commencement of the volume--it was
impossible to find space for all. It may be, however, well to observe,
that several of the English Catholic bishops have not been less kind and
earnest in their commendations, though I have not asked their permission
to publish their communications. Some extracts are given from the
reviews, which also are necessarily condensed and limited; and, as the
Most Rev. Dr. Derry has observed, the press has been most favorable in
its criticisms. Even those who differed from the present writer _toto
coelo_, both in religion and politics, have not been less commendatory,
and, in some instances, have shown the writer more than ordinary
courtesy.
Nor should I omit to acknowledge the encouragement which so many
gentlemen, both English and Irish, have given to the work, and the
assistance they have afforded in promoting its circulation. In a
circular, quite recently published in London, and addressed to the
members of a society for the republication of English mediæval
literature, gentlemen are called on by the secretary, even at the risk,
as he himself admits, of "boring them, by asking them to canvass for
orders, like a bookseller's traveller," to assist in obtaining
additional subscribers to the series, and he requests every subscriber
"to get another at once." I am happy to say that, without such
solicitation on our part, many Irish gentlemen have done us this
kindness, and have obtained not one, but many orders from their friends.
I confidently hope that many more will exert themselves in a similar
manner, for the still wider dissemination of the Second Edition. It is a
time, beyond all others, when Irish history should be thoroughly known
and carefully studied. It is a disgrace to Irishmen not to know their
history perfectly, and this with no mere outline view, but completely
and in detail. It is very much to be regretted that Irish history is not
made a distinct study in schools and colleges, both in England and
Ireland. What should be thought of a school where English history was
not taught? and is Irish history of less importance? I have had very
serious letters complaining of this deficiency from the heads of several
colleges, where our history has been introduced as a class-book.[A]
There are some few Irish Catholics who appear to think that Irishmen
should not study their history--some because they imagine that our
history is a painful subject; others, because they imagine that its
record of wrongs cannot fail to excite violent feelings, which may lead
to violent deeds. I cannot for one moment admit that our history is
either so very sorrowful, or that we have cause to do anything but
rejoice in it. If we consider temporal prosperity to be the _summum
bonum_ of our existence, no doubt we may say with truth, like the
Apostle, that of all peoples we are "most miserable;" but we have again
and again renounced temporal advantages, and discarded temporal
prosperity, to secure eternal gain; and we have the promise of the
Eternal Truth that we shall attain all that we have desired. Our
history, then, far from being a history of failures, has been a history
of the most triumphant success--of the most brilliant victories. I
believe the Irish are the only nation on earth of whom it can be truly
said that they have never apostatized nationally. Even the most Catholic
countries of the Continent have had their periods of religious
revolution, however temporary. Ireland has been deluged with blood again
and again; she has been defeated in a temporal point of view again and
again; but spiritually--NEVER! Is this a history to be ashamed of? Is
this a history to regret? Is this a history to lament? Is it not rather
a history over which the angels in heaven rejoice, and of which the
best, the holiest, and the noblest of the human race may justly be
proud?
On the second count, I shall briefly say that if Irish history were
taught in our Irish colleges and schools to children while still young,
and while the teacher could impress on his charge the duty of
forgiveness of enemies, of patient endurance, of the mighty power of
moral force, which has effected even for Ireland at times what more
violent measures have failed to accomplish, then there could be no
danger in the study. Perhaps the greatest human preservative of the
faith, for those whose lot may be cast hereafter in other lands, would
be to inculcate a great reverence for our history, and a _true_
appreciation of its value. The taunt of belonging to a despised nation,
has led many a youth of brilliant promise to feel ashamed of his
country, and almost inevitably to feel ashamed of his faith. A properly
directed study of Irish history would tend much to remove this danger.
During the debate on the Irish Church question, Mr. Maguire, M.P. for
Cork, significantly remarked on the effect produced by the "deliberate
exclusion" of any instruction in Irish history from National schools. It
does seem curious that national history should be a forbidden subject in
National schools, and this fact makes the appellation of "National" seem
rather a misnomer. The result of this deliberate exclusion was
graphically described by the honorable member. The youth comes forth
educated, and at a most impressible age he reads for the first time the
history of his country, and burns with indignant desire to avenge her
many wrongs. The consequences are patent to all. It is, then, for the
advantage of England, as well as of Ireland, that Irish history should
be made the earliest study of Irish youth; nor is it of less importance
that Irish history should be thoroughly known by Englishmen. It is the
duty of every Englishman who has a vote to give, to make himself
acquainted with the subjects on which his representative will give, in
his name, that final decision which makes his political opinion the law
of the land. I suppose no one will deny that the Irish Question is the
question of the day. The prosperity of England, as well as the
prosperity of Ireland, is involved in it. No educated man, however
humble his station, has a right to assist in returning a member to
Parliament without clearly comprehending the principles of his
representative. But unless he has some comprehension of the principles
themselves, it is of little use for him to record his vote. I do not say
that every English voter is bound to study Irish history in detail, but
I do say that, at the present day, he is bound to know what the Irish
themselves demand from England; and if he considers their demands
reasonable, he should record his vote only for those who will do their
utmost to obtain the concessions demanded. A man is unworthy of the
privilege of voting, if he is deficient either in the intellect or the
inclination to understand the subject on which he votes.
But it is of still more importance that members of Parliament should
read--and not only read, but carefully study--the history of Ireland.
Irishmen have a right to _demand_ that they shall do so. If they
undertake to legislate for us, they are bound in conscience and in
honour to know what we require, to know our past and our present state.
Englishmen pride themselves on their honour; but it is neither honorable
to undertake to govern without a thorough knowledge of the governed, or
to misrepresent their circumstances to others whose influence may decide
their future.
It was manifest from the speech of her Majesty's minister, on the night
of the all-important division on the Irish Church question, that he
either had not studied Irish history, or that he had forgotten its
details. If his statements are correctly reported by the press, they are
inconceivably wild. It may be said that the circumstances in which he
found himself obliged him to speak as he did, but is this an excuse
worthy of such an honorable position? The Normans, he is reported to
have said, conquered the land in Ireland, but in England they conquered
completely. The most cursory acquaintance with Irish history would have
informed the right honorable gentleman, that the Normans did _not_
conquer the land in Ireland--no man has as yet been rash enough to
assert that they conquered the people. The Normans obtained possession
of a small portion, a very small portion of Irish land; and if the
reader will glance at the map of the Pale, which will be appended to
this edition, at the proper place, he will see precisely what extent of
country the English held for a few hundred years. Even that portion they
could scarcely have been said to have conquered, for they barely held it
from day to day at the point of the sword. Morally Ireland was never
conquered, for he would be a bold man who dared to say that the Irish
people ever submitted nationally to the English Church established by
law. In fact, so rash does the attempt seem even to those who most
desire to make it, that they are fain to find refuge and consolation in
the supposed introduction of Protestantism into Ireland by St. Patrick,
a thousand years and more before that modern phase of religious thought
appeared to divide the Christian world.
But I deny that Ireland has ever been really conquered; and even should
the most sanguinary suggestions proposed in a nineteenth-century serial
be carried out, I am certain she could not be. Ireland has never been
permanently subdued by Dane or Norman, Dutchman or Saxon; nor has she
ever been _really_ united to England. A man is surely not united to a
jailer because he is bound to him by an iron chain which his jailer has
forged for his safe keeping. This is not union; and the term "United
Kingdom" is in fact a most miserable misnomer. Unity requires something
more than a mere material approximation. I believe it to be _possible_
that England and Ireland may become united; and if ever this should be
accomplished, let no man forget that the first link in the golden chain
issued from the hands of the right honorable member for South
Lancashire, when he proposed equality of government on religious
questions--the first step towards that equality of government which
alone can effect a moral union of the two countries. It might be
treasonable to hint that some noble-hearted men, who loved their country
not wisely but too well, and who are paying in lifelong anguish the
penalty of their patriotism, had anything to do with the formation of
this golden chain--so I shall not hint it.
I believe the Fenian movement, at one time scouted as a mere ebullition,
at another time treated as a dangerous and terrible rebellion, has done
at least this one good to England--it has compelled honest and honorable
men to inquire each for himself what are the grievances of Ireland, and
why she continues disaffected to English rule. For men who are honest
and honorable to make such inquiries, is the first step, and a certain
step, towards their remedy; and as I glanced down the list of the _ayes_
in the division, I could see the names of men who, in England, have been
distinguished during years for their private and public virtues, and who
have been lavish in their charities whenever their own countrymen
required their assistance.
There can be little doubt that a new era has dawned upon old Erinn's
shores. It remains to be proved if her sons shall be as faithful in
prosperity as they have been in adversity. It remains to be proved, if
opportunities are afforded us of obtaining higher intellectual culture
without the danger of the moral deterioration which might have attended
that culture under other circumstances, whether we shall avail ourselves
of them to the full. May we not hope that Ireland will become once more
famous both for learning and sanctity. The future of our nation is in
the hands of the Irish hierarchy. No government dare refuse anything
which they may demand perseveringly and unitedly. The people who have
been guided by them, and saved by them for so many centuries, will
follow as they lead. If their tone of intellectual culture is elevated,
the people will become elevated also; and we shall hear no more of those
reproaches, which are a disgrace to those who utter them, rather than to
those of whom they are uttered. Let our people be taught to appreciate
something higher than a mere ephemeral literature; let them be taught to
take an interest in the antiquities and the glorious past of their
nation; and then let them learn the history of other peoples and of
other races. A high ecclesiastical authority has declared recently that
"ecclesiastics do not cease to be citizens," and that they do not
consider anything which affects the common weal of their country is
remote from their duty. The clergy of the diocese of Limerick, headed by
their Dean, and, it must be presumed, with the sanction of their Bishop,
have given a tangible proof that they coincide in opinion with his Grace
the Archbishop of Westminster. The letter addressed to Earl Grey by that
prelate, should be in the hands of every Irishman; and it is with no
ordinary gratification that we acknowledge the kindness and
condescension of his Grace in favouring us with an early copy of it.
This letter treats of the two great questions of the day with admirable
discretion. As I hope that every one who reads these pages possesses a
copy of the pamphlet, I shall merely draw attention to two paragraphs in
it: one in which Fenianism is treated of in that rational spirit which
appears to have been completely lost sight of in the storm of angry
discussion which it has excited. On this subject his Grace writes: "It
would be blindness not to see, and madness to deny, that we have entered
into another crisis in the relation of England and Ireland, of which
'98, '28, and '48 were precursors;" and he argues with clearness and
authority, that when Englishmen once have granted justice to Ireland,
Ireland will cease to accuse England of injustice.
To one other paragraph in this remarkable letter, I shall briefly
allude: "I do not think Englishmen are enough aware of the harm some
among us do by a contemptuous, satirical, disrespectful, defiant,
language in speaking of Ireland and the Irish people." From peculiar
circumstances, the present writer has had more than ordinary
opportunities of verifying the truth of this statement. The wound caused
by a sarcastic expression may often fester far longer than the wound
caused by a hasty blow. The evil caused by such language is by no means
confined entirely to Protestants. There are, indeed, but few English
Catholics who speak contemptuously of Ireland, of its people, or of its
history; but, if I am to credit statements which have been made to me on
unquestionable authority, there are some who are not free from this
injustice. A half-commiserating tone of patronage is quite as offensive
as open contempt; and yet there have been instances where English
Catholic writers, while obliged to show some deference to Ireland and
the Irish, in order to secure the patronage and support of that country
for their publications, have at the same time, when they dared, thrown
out insinuations against peculiarities of Irish character, and made
efforts to discredit Irish historical documents.
I had intended, in preparing the Second Edition of the "Illustrated
History of Ireland," to omit the original Preface, in order to leave
more space for the historical portion of the work. When this intention
was mentioned, several laymen and ecclesiastics expostulated so
earnestly against it, that I have been obliged to yield to their
request. I am aware that some few persons objected to my remarks on the
state of land laws in Ireland, or rather on the want of proper land
laws; but the opinion of those interested in maintaining an evil, will
always be averse to its exposure; and I cannot conceive how any one who
desires an injustice to be removed, can object to a fair and impartial
discussion of the subject. An English writer, also, has made some
childish remarks about the materials for Irish history not being yet
complete, and inferred that in consequence an Irish history could not
yet be written. His observations are too puerile to need refutation. I
have been informed also that some objection has been made to a
"political preface;" and that one gentleman, whose name I have not had
the honour of hearing, has designated the work as a "political
pamphlet." Even were not Irish history exceptional, I confess myself
perplexed to understand how history and politics can be severed. An
author may certainly write a perfectly colourless history, but he must
state the opinions of different parties, and the acts consequent on
those opinions, even should he do so without any observation of his own.
I never for a moment entertained the intention of writing such a
history, though I freely confess I have exercised considerable
self-restraint as to the expression of my own opinion when writing some
portions of the present work. You might as well attempt to write an
ecclesiastical history without the slightest reference to different
religious opinions, as attempt to write the history of any nation, and,
above all, of Ireland, without special and distinct reference to the
present and past political opinions of the different sections of which
the nation is composed. Such suggestions are only worthy of those who,
when facts are painful, try to avert the wound they cause by turning on
the framer of the weapon which has driven these facts a little deeper
than usual into their intellectual conception; or of those uneducated,
or low-minded, even if educated persons, who consider that a woman
cannot write a history, and would confine her literary efforts to
sensation novels and childish tales. I am thankful, and I hope I am not
unduly proud, that men of the highest intellectual culture, both in
England and Ireland, on the Continent of Europe, and in America, have
pronounced a very different judgment on the present work, and on the
desire of the writer to raise her countrywomen to higher mental efforts
than are required by the almost exclusive perusal of works of fiction.
If women may excel as painters and sculptors, why may not a woman
attempt to excel as an historian? Men of cultivated intellect, far from
wishing to depreciate such efforts, will be the first to encourage them
with more than ordinary warmth; the opinions of other persons, whatever
may be their position, are of little value.
On the Irish Church question I feel it unnecessary to say more than a
word of congratulation to my countrymen, and of hearty thanks for the
noble conduct of so many Englishmen at this important crisis. Irish
Protestants have been quite as national as Irish Catholics; and now that
the fatal bane of religious dissension has been removed, we may hope
that Irishmen, of all classes and creeds, will work together
harmoniously for the good of their common country: and thus one great
means of Irish prosperity will be opened. The Irish are eminently a
justice-loving people. Let justice once be granted to them, and there is
that in their national character which will make them accept as a boon
what others might accept as a right.
In concluding the Preface to this Edition, I cannot omit to express my
grateful thanks to Sir William Wilde, and other members of the Royal
Irish Academy, through whose kindness I obtained the special favour of
being permitted to copy some of the most valuable illustrations of Irish
antiquities contained in their Catalogue, and which has enabled the
reader, for the first time, to have an Irish history illustrated with
Irish antiquities--a favour which it is hoped an increase of cultivated
taste amongst our people will enable them to appreciate more and more.
To John O'Hagan, Esq., Q.C., I owe a debt of gratitude which cannot
easily be repaid, for the time he bestowed on the correction of the
proofs of the First Edition, and for many kind suggestions, and much
valuable advice. I am indebted, also, to M.J. Rhodes, Esq., of
Hoddersfield, for a liberal use of his library, perhaps one of the most
valuable private libraries in Ireland, and for permitting me to retain,
for a year and more, some of its most costly treasures. The same
kindness was also granted by the Rev. D. M'Carthy, Professor of Sacred
Scripture and Hebrew at Maynooth, who is himself doing so much for its
ecclesiastical students by his valuable literary labours, and who was
one of the first to urge me to undertake this work. In preparing the
Second Edition, I am not a little indebted to the Rev. James Gaffney,
C.C., M.R.I.A., of Clontarf, who, even during the heavy pressure of
Lenten parochial duties, has found time to give me the benefit of many
important suggestions, and to show his love of Ireland by deeming no
effort too great to further a knowledge of her glorious history. I am
also indebted to the Rev. John Shearman, C.C., M.R.I.A., of Howth, for
the valuable paper read before the R.I.A., on the "Inscribed Stones at
Killeen Cormac;" and to many other authors who have presented me with
their works; amongst the number, none were more acceptable than the
poems of Dr. Ferguson, and the beautiful and gracefully written _Irish
before the Conquest_, of Mrs. Ferguson, whose gifts are all the more
treasured for the peculiar kindness with which they were presented.
To my old friend, Denis Florence MacCarthy, Esq., M.R.I.A., who should
be the laureate of Ireland--and why should not Ireland, that land of
song, have her laureate?--I can only offer my affectionate thanks, for
his kindnesses are too numerous to record, and are so frequent that they
would scarcely bear enumeration. At this moment, Roderick O'Flanagan,
Esq., M.R.I.A., has found, or rather made, leisure, amongst his many
professional and literary occupations, to prepare the valuable and
important map of Irish families, which will be given _gratis_ to all
subscribers, and in which W.H. Hennessy, Esq., M.R.I.A., at present
employed by Government on the important work of publishing ancient Irish
MS., will also give his assistance.
To many of the gentlemen in Cork, and principally to Nicholas Murphy,
Esq., of Norwood, and Eugene M'Sweeny, Esq., I cannot fail to offer my
best thanks, for the generous help they have given in promoting the sale
of the First Edition, and for over-payments of subscriptions, made
unasked, and with the most considerate kindness, when they found the
heavy cost of the First Edition was likely to prove a loss to the
convent, in consequence of expenses which could scarcely be foreseen in
the increased size of the work, and the high class of engravings used,
which demanded an immense outlay in their production. The subscribers to
the Second Edition are indebted to not a few of the subscribers to the
First, many of them priests with limited incomes, for the generosity
which has enabled them to obtain this new issue on such favourable
terms. It is with feelings of no ordinary pleasure that I add also the
names of the Superioresses of nearly all the convents of the order of
Our Lady of Mercy and of the order of the Presentation, to the list of
our benefactors. With the exception of, perhaps, two or three convents
of each order, they have been unanimous in their generous efforts to
assist the circulation of the Irish History, and of all our
publications; and this kindness has been felt by us all the more deeply,
because from our own poverty, and the poverty of the district in which
we live, we have been unable to make them any return, or to assist them
even by the sale of tickets for their bazaars. Such disinterested
charity is, indeed, rare; and the efforts made by these religious--the
true centres of civilization in Ireland--to promote the education and to
improve the moral and intellectual tone of the lower and middle classes,
are beyond all praise, combined, as these efforts are, with
never-ceasing labour for the spiritual and temporal good of the poor in
their respective districts. Nor should I omit a word for the friends
across the wide Atlantic, to whom the very name of Ireland is so
precious, and to whom Irish history is so dear. The Most Rev. Dr.
Purcell, Archbishop of Cincinnati, has pronounced the work to be the
only Irish history worthy of the name. John Mitchel has proclaimed, in
the _Irish Citizen_, that a woman has accomplished what men have failed
to do; and Alderman Ternan, at a banquet in New Fork, has uttered the
same verdict, and declares that there, at least, no other history can
compete with ours, although Moore and D'Arcy Magee have preceded us in
their efforts to promote the knowledge of what Ireland has been, and the
hope of what Ireland may yet become.
M.F.C.
ST. CLARE'S CONTENT, KENMARK, CO. KERRY,
May 8th, 1868.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] The Rev. U. Burke, of St. Jarlath's College, Tuam, has a note on
this subject, in a work which he is at this moment passing through the
press, and which he kindly permits me to publish. He says: "This book
[the "Illustrated History of Ireland"] ought to be in the hands of every
young student and of every young Irish maiden attending the convent
schools. Oh, for ten thousand Irish ladies knowing the history of
Ireland! How few know anything of it! The present volume, by Sister
Francis Clare, is an atoning sacrifice for this sin of neglect."
I am aware that the price of the "Illustrated History of Ireland," even
in its present form, although it is offered at a sacrifice which no
bookseller would make, is an obstacle to its extensive use as a school
history. We purpose, however, before long, to publish a history for the
use of schools, at a very low price, and yet of a size to admit of
sufficient expansion for the purpose. Our countrymen must, however,
remember that only a very large number of orders can enable the work to
be published as cheaply as it should be. It would save immense trouble
and expense, if priests, managers of schools, and the heads of colleges,
would send orders for a certain number of copies at once. If every
priest, convent, and college, ordered twelve copies for their schools,
the work could be put in hands immediately.
PREFACE
TO THE FIRST EDITION.
The history of the different races who form an integral portion of the
British Empire, should be one of the most carefully cultivated studies
of every member of that nation. To be ignorant of our own history, is a
disgrace; to be ignorant of the history of those whom we govern, is an
injustice. We can neither govern ourselves nor others without a thorough
knowledge of peculiarities of disposition which may require restraint,
and of peculiarities of temperament which may require development. We
must know that water can extinguish fire, before it occurs to us to put
out a fire by the use of water. We must know that fire, when properly
used, is a beneficent element of nature, and one which can be used to
our advantage when properly controlled, before we shall attempt to avail
ourselves of it for a general or a particular benefit. I believe a time
has come when the Irish are more than ever anxious to study their
national history. I believe a time has come when the English nation, or
at least a majority of the English nation, are willing to read that
history without prejudice, and to consider it with impartiality.
When first I proposed to write a History of Ireland, at the earnest
request of persons to whose opinion. I felt bound to defer, I was
assured by many that it was useless; that Irishmen did not support Irish
literature; above all, that the Irish clergy were indifferent to it, and
to literature in general. I have since ascertained, by personal
experience, that this charge is utterly unfounded, though I am free to
admit it was made on what appeared to be good authority. It is certainly
to be wished that there was a more general love of reading cultivated
amongst the Catholics of Ireland, but the deficiency is on a fair way to
amendment. As a body, the Irish priesthood may not be devoted to
literature; but as a body, unquestionably they are devoted--nobly
devoted--to the spread of education amongst their people.
With regard to Englishmen, I cannot do better than quote the speech of
an English member of Parliament, Alderman Salomons, who has just
addressed his constituents at Greenwich in these words:--
"The state of Ireland will, doubtless, be a prominent subject of
discussion next session. Any one who sympathizes with distressed
nationalities in their struggles, must, when he hears of the
existence of a conspiracy in Ireland, similar to those combinations
which used to be instituted in Poland in opposition to Russian
oppression, be deeply humiliated. Let the grievances of the Irish
people be probed, and let them be remedied when their true nature
is discovered. Fenianism is rife, not only in Ireland, but also in
England, and an armed police required, which is an insult to our
liberty. I did not know much of the Irish land question, but I know
that measures have been over and over again brought into the House
of Commons with a view to its settlement, and over and over again
they have been cushioned or silently withdrawn. If the question can
be satisfactorily settled, why let it be so, and let us conciliate
the people of Ireland by wise and honorable means. The subject of
the Irish Church must also be considered. I hold in my hand an
extract from the report of the commissioner of the Dublin
_Freeman's Journal_, who is now examining the question. It stated
what will be to you almost incredible--namely, that the population
of the united dioceses of Cashel, Emly, Waterford, and Lismore is
370,978, and that of those only 13,000 are members of the
Established Church, while 340,000 are Roman Catholics. If you had
read of this state of things existing in any other country, you
would call out loudly against it. Such a condition of things, in
which large revenues are devoted, not for the good of the many, but
the few, if it does not justify Fenianism, certainly does justify a
large measure of discontent. I am aware of the difficulties in the
way of settling the question, owing to the fear of a collision
between Protestants and Catholics; but I think Parliament ought to
have the power to make the Irish people contented."
This speech, I believe, affords a fair idea of the opinion of educated
and unprejudiced Englishmen on the Irish question. They do not know much
about Irish history; they have heard a great deal about Irish
grievances, and they have a vague idea that there is something wrong
about the landlords, and something wrong about the ecclesiastical
arrangements of the country. I believe a careful study of Irish history
is essential to the comprehension of the Irish question; and it is
obviously the moral duty of every man who has a voice in the government
of the nation, to make himself master of the subject. I believe there
are honest and honorable men in England, who would stand aghast with
horror if they thoroughly understood the injustices to which Ireland has
been and _still is_ subject. The English, as a nation, profess the most
ardent veneration for liberty. To be a patriot, to desire to free one's
country, unless, indeed, that country happen to have some very close
connexion with their own, is the surest way to obtain ovations and
applause. It is said that circumstances alter cases; they certainly
alter opinions, but they do not alter facts. An Englishman applauds and
assists insurrection in countries where they profess to have for their
object the freedom of the individual or of the nation; he imprisons and
stifles it at home, where the motive is precisely similar, and the
cause, in the eyes of the insurgents at least, incomparably more valid.
But I do not wish to raise a vexed question, or to enter on political
discussions; my object in this Preface is simply to bring before the
minds of Englishmen that they have a duty to perform towards Ireland--a
duty which they cannot cast aside on others--a duty which it may be for
their interest, as well as for their honour, to fulfil. I wish to draw
the attention of Englishmen to those Irish grievances which are
generally admitted to exist, and which can only be fully understood by a
careful and unprejudiced perusal of Irish history, past and present.
Until grievances are thoroughly understood, they are not likely to be
thoroughly remedied. While they continue to exist, there can be no real
peace in Ireland, and English prosperity must suffer in a degree from
Irish disaffection.
It is generally admitted by all, except those who are specially
interested in the denial, that the Land question and the Church question
are the two great subjects which lie at the bottom of the Irish
difficulty. The difficulties of the Land question commenced in the reign
of Henry II.; the difficulties of the Church question commenced in the
reign of Henry VIII. I shall request your attention briefly to the
standpoints in Irish history from which we may take a clear view of
these subjects. I shall commence with the Land question, because I
believe it to be the more important of the two, and because I hope to
show that the Church question is intimately connected with it.
In the reign of Henry II., certain Anglo-Norman nobles came to Ireland,
and, partly by force and partly by intermarriages, obtained estates in
that country. Their tenure was the tenure of the sword. By the sword
they expelled persons whose families had possessed those lands for
centuries; and by the sword they compelled these persons, through
poverty, consequent on loss of property, to take the position of
inferiors where they had been masters. You will observe that this first
English settlement in Ireland was simply a colonization on a very small
scale. Under such circumstances, if the native population are averse to
the colonization, and if the new and the old races do not amalgamate, a
settled feeling of aversion, more or less strong, is established on both
sides. The natives hate the colonist, because he has done them a
grievous injury by taking possession of their lands; the colonist hates
the natives, because they are in his way; and, if he be possessed of
"land hunger," they are an impediment to the gratification of his
desires. It should be observed that there is a wide difference between
colonization and conquest The Saxons conquered what we may presume to
have been the aboriginal inhabitants of England; the Normans conquered
the Saxon: the conquest in both cases was sufficiently complete to
amalgamate the races--the interest of the different nationalities became
one. The Norman lord scorned the Saxon churl quite as contemptuously as
he scorned the Irish Celt; but there was this very important
difference--the interests of the noble and the churl soon became one;
they worked for the prosperity of their common country. In Ireland, on
the contrary, the interests were opposite. The Norman noble hated the
Celt as a people whom he could not subdue, but desired most ardently to
dispossess; the Celt hated the invader as a man most naturally will hate
the individual who is just strong enough to keep a wound open by his
struggles, and not strong enough to end the suffering by killing the
victim.
The land question commenced when Strongbow set his foot on Irish soil;
the land question will remain a disgrace to England, and a source of
misery to Ireland, until the whole system inaugurated by Strongbow has
been reversed. "At the commencement of the connexion between England and
Ireland," says Mr. Goldwin Smith, "the foundation was inevitably laid
for the fatal system of ascendency--a system under which the dominant
party were paid for their services in keeping down rebels by a monopoly
of power and emolument, and thereby strongly tempted to take care that
there should always be rebels to keep down." There is a fallacy or two
in this statement; but let it pass. The Irish were not rebels then,
certainly, for they were not under English dominion; but it is something
to find English writers expatiating on Irish wrongs; and if they would
only act as generously and as boldly as they speak, the Irish question
would receive an early and a most happy settlement.
For centuries Ireland was left to the mercy and the selfishness of
colonists. Thus, with each succeeding generation, the feeling of hatred
towards the English was intensified with each new act of injustice, and
such acts were part of the normal rule of the invaders. A lord deputy
was sent after a time to rule the country. Perhaps a more unfortunate
form of government could not have been selected for Ireland. The lord
deputy knew that he was subject to recall at any moment; he had neither
a personal nor a hereditary interest in the country. He came to make his
fortune there, or to increase it. He came to rule for his own benefit,
or for the benefit of his nation. The worst of kings has, at least, an
hereditary interest in the country which he governs; the best of lord
deputies might say that, if he did not oppress and plunder for himself,
other men would do it for themselves: why, then, should he be the loser,
when the people would not be gainers by his loss?
When parliaments began to be held, and when laws were enacted, every
possible arrangement was made to keep the two nations at variance, and
to intensify the hostility which already existed. The clergy were set at
variance. Irish priests were forbidden to enter certain monasteries,
which were reserved for the use of their English brethren; Irish
ecclesiastics were refused admission to certain Church properties in
Ireland, that English ecclesiastics might have the benefit of them.
Lionel, Duke of Clarence, when Viceroy of Ireland, issued a
proclamation, forbidding the "Irish by birth" even to come near his
army, until he found that he could not do without soldiers, even should
they have the misfortune to be Irish. The Irish and English were
forbidden to intermarry several centuries before the same bar was placed
against the union of Catholics and Protestants. The last and not the
least of the fearful series of injustices enacted, in the name of
justice, at the Parliament of Kilkenny, was the statute which denied,
which positively refused, the benefit of English law to Irishmen, and
equally forbid them to use the Brehon law, which is even now the
admiration of jurists, and which had been the law of the land for many
centuries.
If law could be said to enact that there should be no law, this was
precisely what was done at the memorable Parliament of Kilkenny. If
Irishmen had done this, it would have been laughed at as a Hibernicism,
or scorned as the basest villany; but it was the work of Englishmen, and
the Irish nation were treated as rebels if they attempted to resist. The
confiscation of Church property in the reign of Henry VIII., added a new
sting to the land grievance, and introduced a new feature in its
injustice. Church property had been used for the benefit of the poor far
more than for the benefit of its possessors. It is generally admitted
that the monks of the middle ages were the best and most considerate
landlords. Thousands of families were now cast upon the mercy of the new
proprietors, whose will was their only law; and a considerable number of
persons were deprived of the alms which these religious so freely
distributed to the sick and the aged. Poverty multiplied fearfully, and
discontent in proportion. You will see, by a careful perusal of this
history, that the descendants of the very men who had driven out the
original proprietors of Irish estates, were in turn driven out
themselves by the next set of colonists. It was a just retribution, but
it was none the less terrible. Banishments and confiscations were the
rule by which Irish property was administered. Can you be surprised that
the Irish looked on English adventurers as little better than robbers,
and treated them as such? If the English Government had made just and
equitable land laws for Ireland at or immediately after the Union, all
the miseries which have occurred since then might have been prevented.
Unfortunately, the men who had to legislate for Ireland are interested
in the maintenance of the unjust system; and there is an old proverb, as
true as it is old, about the blindness of those who do not wish to see.
Irish landlords, or at least a considerable number of Irish landlords,
are quite willing to admit that the existence of the Established Church
is a grievance. Irish Protestant clergymen, who are not possessed by an
anti-Popery crochet--and, thank God, there are few afflicted with that
unfortunate disease now--are quite free to admit that it is a grievance
for a tenant to be subject to ejection by his landlord, _even if he pays
his rent punctually_.
I believe the majority of Englishmen have not the faintest idea of the
way in which the Irish tenant is oppressed, _not by individuals_, for
there are many landlords in Ireland devoted to their tenantry, but by a
system. There are, however, it cannot be denied, cases of individual
oppression, which, if they occurred in any part of Great Britain, and
were publicly known, would raise a storm, from the Land's End to John o'
Groat's House, that would take something more than revolvers to settle.
As one of the great objects of studying the history of our own country,
is to enable us to understand and to enact such regulations as shall be
best suited to the genius of each race and their peculiar circumstances,
I believe it to be my duty as an historian, on however humble a scale,
not only to show how our present history is affected by the past, but
also to give you such a knowledge of our present history as may enable
you to judge how much the country is still suffering from _present
grievances_, occasioned by past maladministration. Englishmen are quite
aware that thousands of Irishmen leave their homes every year for a
foreign country; but they have little idea of the cause of this
emigration. Englishmen are quite aware that from time to time
insurrections break out in Ireland, which seem to them very absurd, if
not very wicked; but they do not know how much grave cause there is for
discontent in Ireland. The very able and valuable pamphlets which have
been written on these subjects by Mr. Butt and Mr. Levey, and on the
Church question by Mr. De Vere, do not reach the English middle classes,
or probably even the upper classes, unless their attention is directed
to them individually. The details of the sufferings and ejectments of
the Irish peasantry, which are given from time to time in the Irish
papers, and principally in the Irish _local_ papers, are never even
known across the Channel. How, then, can the condition of Ireland, or of
the Irish people, be estimated as it should? I believe there is a love
of fair play and manly justice in the English nation, which only needs
to be excited in order to be brought to act.
But ignorance on this subject is not wholly confined to the English. I
fear there are many persons, even in Ireland, who are but imperfectly
acquainted with the working of their own land laws, if, indeed, what
sanctions injustice deserves the name of law. To avoid prolixity, I
shall state very briefly the position of an Irish tenant at the present
day, and I shall show (1) how this position leads to misery, (2) how
misery leads to emigration, and (3) how this injustice recoils upon the
heads of the perpetrators by leading to rebellion. First, the position
of an Irish tenant is simply this: he is rather worse off than a slave.
I speak advisedly. In Russia, the proprietors of large estates worked by
slaves, are obliged to feed and clothe their slaves; in Ireland, it
quite depends on the will of the proprietor whether he will let his
lands to his tenants on terms which will enable them to feed their
families on the coarsest food, and to clothe them in the coarsest
raiment If a famine occurs--and in some parts of Ireland famines are of
annual occurrence--the landlord is not obliged to do anything for his
tenant, but the tenant _must_ pay his rent. I admit there are humane
landlords in Ireland; but these are questions of fact, not of feeling.
It is a most flagrant injustice that Irish landlords should have the
power of dispossessing their tenants if they pay their rents. But this
is not all; although the penal laws have been repealed, the power of the
landlord over the conscience of his tenant is unlimited. It is true he
cannot apply bodily torture, except, indeed, the torture of starvation,
but he can apply mental torture. It is in the power of an Irish landlord
to eject his tenant if he does not vote according to his wishes. A man
who has no conscience, has no moral right to vote; a man who tyrannizes
over the conscience of another, should have no legal right. But there is
yet a deeper depth. I believe you will be lost in amazement at what is
yet to come, and will say, as Mr. Young said of penal laws in the last
century, that they were more "fitted for the meridian of Barbary." You
have heard, no doubt, of wholesale evictions; they are of frequent
occurrence in Ireland--sometimes from political motives, because the
poor man will not vote with his landlord; sometimes from religious
motives, because the poor man will not worship God according to his
landlord's conscience; sometimes from selfish motives, because his
landlord wishes to enlarge his domain, or to graze more cattle. The
motive does not matter much to the poor victim. He is flung out upon the
roadside; if he is very poor, he may die there, or he may go to the
workhouse, but he must not be taken in, even for a time, by any other
family on the estate. The Irish Celt, with his warm heart and generous
impulses, would, at all risks to himself, take in the poor outcasts, and
share his poverty with them; but the landlord could not allow this. The
commission of one evil deed necessitates the commission of another. An
Irish gentleman, who has no personal interest in land, and is therefore
able to look calmly on the question, has been at the pains to collect
instances of this tyranny, in his _Plea for the Celtic Race._ I shall
only mention one as a sample. In the year 1851, on an estate which was
at the time supposed to be one of the most fairly treated in Ireland,
"the agent of the property had given public notice to the tenantry that
expulsion from their farms would be the penalty inflicted on them, if
they harboured _any one_ not resident on the estate. The penalty was
enforced against a widow, for giving food and shelter _to a destitute
grandson of twelve years old_. The child's mother at one time held a
little dwelling, from which she was expelled; his father was dead. He
found a refuge with his grandmother, who was ejected from her farm for
harbouring the poor boy." When such things can occur, we should not hear
anything more about the Irish having only "sentimental grievances." The
poor child was eventually driven from house to house. He stole a
shilling and a hen--poor fellow!--what else could he be expected to do?
He wandered about, looking in vain for shelter from those who dared not
give it. He was expelled with circumstances of peculiar cruelty from one
cabin. He was found next morning, cold, stiff, and dead, on the ground
outside. The poor people who had refused him shelter, were tried for
their lives. They were found guilty of manslaughter _only_, in
consideration of the agent's order. The agent was not found guilty of
anything, nor even tried. The landlord was supposed to be a model
landlord, and his estates were held up at the very time as models; yet
evictions had been fearfully and constantly carried out on them. Mr.
Butt has well observed: "The rules of the estate are often the most
arbitrary and the most sternly enforced upon great estates, the property
of men of the highest station, upon which rents are moderate, and no
harshness practised to the tenantry, who implicitly submit." Such
landlords generally consider emigration the great remedy for the evils
of Ireland. They point to their own well-regulated and well-weeded
estates; but they do not tell you all the human suffering it cost to
exile those who were turned out to make room for large dairy farms, or
all the quiet tyranny exercised over those who still remain. Neither
does it occur to them that their successors may raise these moderate
rents at a moment's notice; and if their demands are not complied with,
he may eject these "comfortable farmers" without one farthing of
compensation for all their improvements and their years of labour.
I have shown how the serfdom of the Irish tenant leads to misery. But
the subject is one which would require a volume. No one can understand
the depth of Irish misery who has not lived in Ireland, and taken pains
to become acquainted with the habits and manner of life of the lower
orders. The tenant who is kept at starvation point to pay his landlord's
rent, has no means of providing for his family. He cannot encourage
trade; his sons cannot get work to do, if they are taught trades.
Emigration or the workhouse is the only resource. I think the efforts
which are made by the poor in Ireland to get work are absolutely
unexampled, and it is a cruel thing that a man who is willing to work
should not be able to get it. I know an instance in which a girl
belonging to a comparatively respectable family was taken into service,
and it was discovered that for years her only food, and the only food of
her family, was dry bread, and, as an occasional luxury, weak tea. So
accustomed had she become to this wretched fare, that she actually could
not even eat an egg. She and her family have gone to America; and I have
no doubt, after a few years, that the weakened organs will recover their
proper tone, with the gradual use of proper food.
There is another ingredient in Irish misery which has not met with the
consideration it deserves. If the landlord happens to be humane, he may
interest himself in the welfare of the _families_ of his tenantry. He
may also send a few pounds to them for coals at Christmas, or for
clothing; but such instances are unhappily rare, and the alms given is
_comparatively_ nothing. In England the case is precisely the reverse.
On this subject I speak from personal knowledge. There is scarcely a
little village in England, however poor, where there is not a committee
of ladies, assisted by the neighbouring gentry, who distribute coals,
blankets, and clothing in winter; and at all times, where there is
distress, give bread, tea, and meat. Well may the poor Irish come home
discontented after they have been to work in England, and see how
differently the poor are treated there. I admit, and I repeat it again,
that there are instances in which the landlord takes an interest in his
tenantry, but those instances are exceptions. Many of these gentlemen,
who possess the largest tracts of land in Ireland, have also large
estates in England, and they seldom, sometimes _never_, visit their
Irish estates. They leave it to their agent. Every application for
relief is referred to the agent. The agent, however humane, cannot be
expected to have the same interest in the people as a landlord _ought_
to have. The agent is the instrument used to draw out the last farthing
from the poor; he is constantly in collision with them. They naturally
dislike him; and he, not unnaturally, dislikes them.
The burden, therefore, of giving that relief to the poor, which they
always require in times of sickness, and when they cannot get work,
falls almost exclusively upon the priests and the convents. Were it not
for the exertions made by the priests and nuns throughout Ireland for
the support of the poor, and to obtain work for them, and the immense
sums of money sent to Ireland by emigrants, for the support of aged
fathers and mothers, I believe the destitution would be something
appalling, and that landlords would find it even more difficult than at
present to get the high rents which they demand. Yet, some of these same
landlords, getting perhaps £20,000 or £40,000 a-year from their Irish
estates, will not give the slightest help to establish industrial
schools in connexion with convents, or to assist them when they are
established, though they are the means of helping their own tenants to
pay their rent. There are in Ireland about two hundred conventual
establishments. Nearly all of these convents have poor schools, where
the poor are taught, either at a most trifling expense, or altogether
without charge. The majority of these convents feed and clothe a
considerable number of poor children, and many of them have established
industrial schools, where a few girls at least can earn what will almost
support a whole family in comfort. I give the statistics of one convent
as a sample of others. I believe there are a few, but perhaps only a
very few other places, where the statistics would rise higher; but there
are many convents where the children are fed and clothed, and where work
is done on a smaller scale. If such institutions were encouraged by the
landlords, much more could be done. The convent to which I allude was
founded at the close of the year 1861. There was a national school in
the little town (in England it would be called a village), with an
attendance of about forty children. The numbers rose rapidly year by
year, after the arrival of the nuns, and at present the average daily
attendance is just 400. It would be very much higher, were it not for
the steady decrease in the population, caused by emigration. The
emigration would have been very much greater, had not the parish priest
given employment to a considerable number of men, by building a new
church, convent, and convent schools. The poorest of the children, and,
in Ireland, none but the very poorest will accept such alms, get a
breakfast of Indian meal and milk all the year round. The comfort of
this hot meal to them, when they come in half-clad and starving of a
winter morning, can only be estimated by those who have seen the
children partake of it, and heard the cries of delight of the babies of
a year old, and the quiet expression of thankfulness of the elder
children. Before they go home they get a piece of dry bread, and this is
their dinner--a dinner the poorest English child would almost refuse.
The number of meals given at present is 350 per diem. The totals of
meals given per annum since 1862 are as follows:--
During the year 1862 ...... 36,400
" " 1863 ...... 45,800
" " 1864 ...... 46,700
" " 1865 ...... 49,000
" " 1866 ...... 70,000
" " 1867 ...... 73,000
_______
Making a total of 320,900
There were also 1,035 _suits_ of clothing given.
The Industrial School was established in 1863. It has been principally
supported by English ladies and Protestants. The little town where the
convent is situated, is visited by tourists during the summer months;
and many who have visited the convent have been so much struck by the
good they saw done there, that they have actually devoted themselves to
selling work amongst their English friends for the poor children.
The returns of work sold in the Industrial School are as follows:--
£ s. d.
Work sold in 1863 ..... 70 3 6-1/2
" " 1864 ..... 109 18 5
" " 1805 ..... 276 1 3-1/2
" " 1866 ..... 421 16 3
" " 1867 ..... 350 2 4-1/2
______________
Making a total of £1,228 1 10-1/2
The falling off in 1867 has been accounted for partly from the Fenian
panic, which prevented tourists visiting Ireland as numerously as in
other years, and partly from the attraction of the French Exhibition
having drawn tourists in that direction. I have been exact in giving
these details, because they form an important subject for consideration
in regard to the present history of Ireland. They show at once the
poverty of the people, their love of industry, and their eagerness to do
work when they can get it. In this, and in other convent schools
throughout Ireland, the youngest children are trained to habits of
industry. They are paid even for their first imperfect attempts, to
encourage them to go on; and they treasure up the few weekly pence they
earn as a lady would her jewels. One child had in this way nearly saved
up enough to buy herself a pair of shoes--a luxury she had not as yet
possessed; but before the whole amount was procured she went to her
eternal home, where there is no want, and her last words were a message
of love and gratitude to the nuns who had taught her.
The causes of emigration, as one should think, are patent to all.
Landlords do not deny that they are anxious to see the people leave the
country. They give them every assistance to do so. Their object is to
get more land into their own hands, but the policy will eventually prove
suicidal. A revolutionary spirit is spreading fast through Europe.
Already the standing subject of public addresses to the people in
England, is the injustice of certain individuals being allowed to hold
such immense tracts of country in their possession. We all know what
came of the selfish policy of the landowners in France before the
Revolution, which consigned them by hundreds to the guillotine. A little
self-sacrifice, which, in the end, would have been for their own
benefit, might have saved all this. The attempt to depopulate Ireland
has been tried over and over again, and has failed signally. It is not
more likely to succeed in the nineteenth century than at any preceding
period. Even were it possible that wholesale emigration could benefit
any country, it is quite clear that Irish emigration cannot benefit
England. It is a plan to get rid of a temporary difficulty at a terrific
future cost. Emigration has ceased to be confined to paupers.
Respectable farmers are emigrating, and taking with them to America
bitter memories of the cruel injustice which has compelled them to leave
their native land.
Second, _How misery leads to emigration_. The poor are leaving the
country, because they have no employment. The more respectable classes
are leaving the country, because they prefer living in a free land,
where they can feel sure that their hard earnings will be their own, and
not their landlord's, and where they are not subject to the miserable
political and religious tyranny which reigns supreme in Ireland. In the
evidence given before the Land Tenure Committee of 1864, we find the
following statements made by Dr. Keane, the Roman Catholic Bishop of
Cloyne. His Lordship is a man of more than ordinary intelligence, and of
more than ordinary patriotism. He has made the subject of emigration his
special study, partly from a deep devotion to all that concerns the
welfare of his country, and partly from the circumstance of his
residence being at Queenstown, the port from which Irishmen leave their
native shores, and the place where wails of the emigrants continually
resound. I subjoin a few of his replies to the questions proposed:--
"I attribute emigration principally to the want of employment."
"A man who has only ten or twelve acres, and who is a
tenant-at-will, finding that the land requires improvement, is
afraid to waste it [his money], and he goes away. I see many of
these poor people in Queenstown every day."
"I have made inquiries over and over again in Queenstown and
elsewhere, and I never yet heard that a single farmer emigrated and
left the country who had a lease."
Well might Mr. Heron say, in a paper read before the Irish Statistical
Society, in May, 1864: "Under the present laws, no Irish peasant able to
read and write ought to remain in Ireland. If Ireland were an
independent country, in the present state of things there would be a
bloody insurrection in every county, and the peasantry would ultimately
obtain the property in land, as _they have obtained it in Switzerland
and in France_." That the Irish people will eventually become the
masters of the Irish property, from which every effort has been made to
dispossess them, by fair means and by foul, since the Norman invasion of
Ireland, I have not the slightest doubt. The only doubt is whether the
matter will be settled by the law or by the sword. But I have hope that
the settlement will be peaceful, when I find English members of
Parliament treating thus of the subject, and ministers declaring, at
least when they are out of office, that something should be done for
Ireland.
Mr. Stuart Mill writes: "The land of Ireland, the land of every country,
belongs to the people of that country. The individuals called landowners
have no right, in morality or justice, to anything but the rent, or
compensation for its saleable value. When the inhabitants of a country
quit the country _en masse_, because the Government will not make it a
place fit for them to live in, the Government is judged and condemned,
It is the duty of Parliament to reform the landed tenure of Ireland."
More than twenty years ago Mr. Disraeli said: "He wished to see a public
man come forward and say what the Irish question was. Let them consider
Ireland as they would any other country similarly circumstanced. They
had a starving population, an absentee aristocracy, an alien Church,
and, in addition, the weakest executive in the world. This was the Irish
question. What would gentlemen say on hearing of a country in such a
position? They would say at once, in such case, the remedy is
revolution--not the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. But the
connexion with England prevented it: therefore England was logically in
the active position of being the cause of all the misery of Ireland.
What, then, was the duty of an English minister? To effect by policy all
the changes which a revolution would do by force." If these words had
been acted upon in 1848, we should not have had a Fenian insurrection in
1867. If a peaceful revolution is to be accomplished a few persons must
suffer, though, in truth, it is difficult to see what Irish landlords
could lose by a fair land law, except the power to exercise a tyrannical
control over their tenants. I believe, if many English absentee
landlords had even the slightest idea of the evil deeds done in their
names by their agents, that they would not tolerate it for a day. If a
complaint is made to the landlord, he refers it to his agent. It is
pretty much as if you required the man who inflicted the injury to be
the judge of his own conduct. The agent easily excuses himself to the
landlord; but the unfortunate man who had presumed to lift up his voice,
is henceforth a marked object of vengeance; and he is made an example to
his fellows, that they may not dare to imitate him. The truth is, that
the real state of Ireland, and the real feelings of the Irish people,
can only be known by personal intercourse with the lower orders.
Gentlemen making a hurried tour through the country, may see a good deal
of misery, if they have not come for the purpose of not seeing it; but
they can never know the real wretchedness of the Irish poor unless they
remain stationary in some district long enough to win the confidence of
the people, and to let them feel that they can tell their sorrows and
their wrongs without fear that they shall be increased by the
disclosure.
Third, one brief word of how this injustice recoils upon the heads of
the perpetrators, and I shall have ended. It recoils upon them
indirectly, by causing a feeling of hostility between the governors and
the governed. A man cannot be expected to revere and love his landlord,
when he finds that his only object is to get all he can from him--when
he finds him utterly reckless of his misery, and still more indifferent
to his feelings. A gentleman considers himself a model of humanity if he
pays the emigration expenses of the family whom he wishes to eject from
the holding which their ancestors have possessed for centuries. He is
amazed at the fearful ingratitude of the poor man, who cannot feel
overwhelmed with joy at his benevolent offer. But the gentleman
considers he has done his duty, and consoles himself with the reflection
that the Irish are an ungrateful race. Of all the peoples on the face of
the globe, the Irish Celts are the most attached to their families and
to their lands. God only knows the broken hearts that go over the ocean
strangers to a strange land. The young girls who leave their aged
mothers, the noble, brave young fellows who leave their old fathers, act
not from a selfish wish to better themselves, but from the hope, soon to
be realized, that they may be able to earn in another land what they
cannot earn in their own. I saw a lad once parting from his aged father.
I wish I had not seen it. I heard the agonized cries of the old man: "My
God! he's gone! he's gone!" I wish I had not heard it. I heard the wild
wailing cry with which the Celt mourns for his dead, and glanced
impulsively to the window. It was not death, but departure that prompts
that agony of grief. A car was driving off rapidly on the mountain road
which led to the nearest port. The car was soon out of sight. The father
and the son had looked their last look into each other's eyes--had
clasped the last clasp of each other's hands. An hour had passed, and
still the old man lay upon the ground, where he had flung himself in his
heart's bitter anguish; and still the wail rung out from time to time:
"My God! he's gone! he's gone!"
Those who have seen the departure of emigrants at the Irish seaports,
are not surprised at Irish disaffection--are not surprised that the
expatriated youth joins the first wild scheme, which promises to release
his country from such cruel scenes, and shares his money equally between
his starving relatives at home, and the men who, sometimes as deceivers,
and sometimes with a patriotism like his own, live only for one
object--to obtain for Ireland by the sword, the justice which is denied
to her by the law.
I conclude with statistics which are undeniable proofs of Irish misery.
The emigration _at present_ amounts to 100,000 per annum.
[Illustration: The Emigrants' Farewell.]
From the 1st of May, 1851, to the 31st of December, 1865, 1,630,722
persons emigrated. As the emigrants generally leave their young children
after them for a time, and as aged and imbecile persons do not emigrate,
the consequence is, that, from 1851 to 1861, the number of deaf and dumb
increased from 5,180 to 5,653; the number of blind, from 5,787 to 6,879;
and the number of lunatics and idiots, from 9,980 to 14,098. In 1841,
the estimated value of crops in Ireland was £50,000,000; in 1851, it was
reduced to £43,000,000; and in 1861, to £35,000,000. The number of
gentlemen engaged in the learned professions is steadily decreasing; the
traffic on Irish railways and the returns are steadily decreasing; the
live stock in cattle, which was to have supplied and compensated for the
live stock in men, is fearfully decreasing; the imports and exports are
steadily decreasing. The decrease in cultivated lands, from 1862 to
1863, amounted to 138,841 acres.
While the Preface to the Second Edition was passing through the press,
my attention was called to an article, in the _Pall Mall Gazette_, on
the Right Rev. Dr. Manning's Letter to Earl Grey. The writer of this
article strongly recommends his Grace to publish a new edition of his
Letter, omitting the last sixteen pages. We have been advised, also, to
issue a new edition of our HISTORY, to omit the Preface, and any remarks
or facts that might tend to show that the Irish tenant was not the
happiest and most contented being in God's creation.
The _Pall Mall Gazette_ argues--if, indeed, mere assertion can be called
argument--first, "that Dr. Manning has obviously never examined the
subject for himself, but takes his ideas and beliefs from the universal
statements of angry and ignorant sufferers whom he has met in England,
or from intemperate and utterly untrustworthy party speeches and
pamphlets, whose assertions he receives as gospel;" yet Dr. Manning has
given statements of facts, and the writer has not attempted to disprove
them. Second, he says: "Dr. Manning echoes the thoughtless complaints of
those who cry out against emigration as a great evil and a grievous
wrong, when he might have known, if he had thought or inquired at all
about the matter, not only that this emigration has been the greatest
conceivable blessing to the emigrants, but was an absolutely
indispensable step towards improving the condition of those who remained
at home;" and then the old calumnies are resuscitated about the Irish
being "obstinately idle and wilfully improvident," as if it had not been
proved again and again that the only ground on which such appellations
can be applied to them in Ireland is, that their obstinacy consists in
objecting to work without fair remuneration for their labour, and their
improvidence in declining to labour for the benefit of their masters. It
is the old story, "you are idle, you are idle,"--it is the old demand,
"make bricks without straw,"--and then, by way of climax, we are assured
that these "poor creatures" are assisted to emigrate with the tenderest
consideration, and that, in fact, emigration is a boon for which they
are grateful.
It is quite true that many landlords pay their tenants to emigrate, and
send persons to see them safe out of the country; but it is absolutely
false that the people emigrate willingly. No one who has witnessed the
departure of emigrants dare make such an assertion. They are offered
their choice between starvation and emigration, and they emigrate. If a
man were offered his choice between penal servitude and hanging, it is
probable he would prefer penal servitude, but that would not make him
appreciate the joys of prison life. The Irish parish priest alone can
tell what the Irish suffer at home, and how unwillingly they go abroad.
A pamphlet has just been published on this very subject, by the Very
Rev. P. Malone, P.P., V.F., of Belmullet, co. Mayo, and in this he says:
"I have _seen_ the son, standing upon the deck of the emigrant ship,
divest himself of his only coat, and place it upon his father's
shoulders, saying, 'Father, take you this; I will soon earn the price of
a coat in the land I am going to.'" Such instances, which might be
recorded by the hundred, and the amount of money sent to Ireland by
emigrants for the support of aged parents, and to pay the passage out of
younger members of the family, are the best refutation of the old
falsehood that Irishmen are either idle or improvident.
AN
ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF IRELAND.
[Illustration: IRISH HISTORY.]
CHAPTER I
Celtic Literature--Antiquity of our Annals--Moore--How we should
estimate Tradition--The Materials for Irish History--List of the Lost
Books--The Cuilmenn--The Saltair of Tara, &c.--The Saltair of
Cashel--Important MSS. preserved in Trinity College--By the Royal Irish
Academy--In Belgium.
The study of Celtic literature, which is daily becoming of increased
importance to the philologist, has proved a matter of no inconsiderable
value to the Irish historian. When Moore visited O'Curry, and found him
surrounded with such works as the _Books of Ballymote and Lecain_, the
_Speckled Book_, the _Annals of the Four Masters_, and other treasures
of Gaedhilic lore, he turned to Dr. Petrie, and exclaimed: "These large
tomes could not have been written by fools or for any foolish purpose. I
never knew anything about them before, and I had no right to have
undertaken the _History of Ireland_." His publishers, who had less
scruples, or more utilitarian views, insisted on the completion of his
task. Whatever their motives may have been, we may thank them for the
result. Though Moore's history cannot now be quoted as an authority, it
accomplished its work for the time, and promoted an interest in the
history of one of the most ancient nations of the human race.
There are two sources from whence the early history of a nation may be
safely derived: the first internal--the self-consciousness of the
individual; the second external--the knowledge of its existence by
others--the _ego sum_ and the _tu es_; and our acceptance of the
statements of each on _matters of fact_, should depend on their mutual
agreement.
The first question, then, for the historian should be, What accounts
does this nation give of its early history? the second, What account of
this nation's early history can be obtained _ab extra_? By stating and
comparing these accounts with such critical acumen as the writer may be
able to command, we may obtain something approaching to authentic
history. The history of ancient peoples must have its basis on
tradition. The name tradition unfortunately gives an _a priori_
impression of untruthfulness, and hence the difficulty of accepting
tradition as an element of truth in historic research. But tradition is
not necessarily either a pure myth or a falsified account of facts. The
traditions of a nation are like an aged man's recollection of his
childhood, and should be treated as such. If we would know his early
history, we let him tell the tale in his own fashion. It may be he will
dwell long upon occurrences interesting to himself, and apart from the
object of our inquiries; it may be he will equivocate unintentionally if
cross-examined in detail; but truth will underlie his garrulous story,
and by patient analysis we may sift it out, and obtain the information
we desire.
A nation does not begin to write its history at the first moment of its
existence. Hence, when the chronicle is compiled which first embodies
its story, tradition forms the basis. None but an inspired historian can
commence _In principio_. The nation has passed through several
generations, the people already begin to talk of "old times;" but as
they are nearer these "old times" by some thousands of years than we
are, they are only burdened with the traditions of a few centuries at
the most; and unless there is evidence of a wilful object or intent to
falsify their chronicles, we may in the main depend on their accuracy.
Let us see how this applies to Gaedhilic history. The labours of the
late lamented Eugene O'Curry have made this an easy task. He took to his
work a critical acumen not often attained by the self-educated, and a
noble patriotism not often maintained by the gifted scions of a country
whose people and whose literature have been alike trodden down and
despised for centuries. The result of his researches is embodied in a
work[1] which should be in the hands of every student of Irish history,
and of every Irishman who can afford to procure it. This volume proves
that the _early_ history of Ireland has yet to be written; that it
should be a work of magnitude, and undertaken by one gifted with special
qualifications, which the present writer certainly does not possess; and
that it will probably require many years of patient labour from the
"host of Erinn's sons," before the necessary materials for such a
history can be prepared.
The manuscript materials for ancient Irish history may be divided into
two classes: the historical, which purports to be a narrative of facts,
in which we include books of laws, genealogies, and pedigrees; and the
legendary, comprising tales, poems, and legends. The latter, though not
necessarily true, are generally founded on fact, and contain a mass of
most important information, regarding the ancient customs and manner of
life among our ancestors. For the present we must devote our attention
to the historical documents. These, again, may be divided into two
classes--the lost books and those which still remain. Of the former
class the principal are the CUILMENN, _i.e._, the great book written on
skins; the SALTAIR OF TARA; the BOOK OF THE UACHONGBHAIL (pron. "ooa
cong-wall"); the CIN DROMA SNECHTA; and the SALTAIR OF CASHEL. Besides
these, a host of works are lost, of lesser importance as far as we can
now judge, which, if preserved, might have thrown a flood of light not
only upon our annals, but also on the social, historical, and
ethnographic condition of other countries. The principal works which
have been preserved are: the ANNALS OF TIGHERNACH (pron. "Teernagh");
the ANNALS OF ULSTER; the ANNALS OF INIS MAC NERINN; the ANNALS OF
INNISFALLEN; the ANNALS OF BOYLE; the CHRONICUM SCOTORUM, so ably edited
by Mr. Hennessy; the world-famous ANNALS OF THE FOUR MASTERS; the BOOK
OF LEINSTER; the BOOK OF LAWS (the Brehon Laws), now edited by Dr. Todd,
and many books of genealogies and pedigrees.
For the present it must suffice to say, that these documents have been
examined by the ordinary rules of literary criticism, perhaps with more
than ordinary care, and that the result has been to place their
authenticity and their antiquity beyond cavil.
Let us see, then, what statements we can find which may throw light on
our early history, first in the fragments that remain of the lost books,
and then in those which are still preserved.
The CUILMENN is the first of the lost books which we mentioned. It is
thus referred to in the Book of Leinster:[2] "The _filés_ [bards] of
Erinn were now called together by _Senchan Torpéist_ [about A.D. 580],
to know if they remembered the _Táin bó Chuailgné_ in full; and they
said that they knew of it but fragments only. Senchan then spoke to his
pupils to know which of them would go into the countries of _Letha_ to
learn the _Táin_ which the _Sai_ had taken 'eastwards' after the
_Cuilmenn_. Eminé, the grandson of Nininé, and Muirgen, Senchan's own
son, set out to go to the East."
Here we have simply an indication of the existence of this ancient work,
and of the fact that in the earliest, if not in pre-Christian times,
Irish manuscripts travelled to the Continent with Irish scholars--Letha
being the name by which Italy, and especially what are now called the
Papal States, was then designated by Irish writers.
The SALTAIR OF TARA next claims our attention; and we may safely affirm,
merely judging from the fragments which remain, that a nation which
could produce such a work had attained no ordinary pitch of civilization
and literary culture. The Book of Ballymote,[3] and the Yellow Book of
Lecan,[4] attribute this work to Cormac Mac Art: "A noble work was
performed by Cormac at that time, namely, the compilation of Cormac's
Saltair, which was composed by him and the Seanchaidhe [Historians] of
Erinn, including Fintan, son of Bochra, and Fithil, the poet and judge.
And their synchronisms and genealogies, the succession of their kings
and monarchs, their battles, their contests, and their antiquities, from
the world's beginning down to that time, were written; and this is the
Saltair of Temair [pron. "Tara," almost as it is called now], which is
the origin and fountain of the Historians of Erinn from that period down
to this time. This is taken from the Book of the Uachongbhail."[5]
As we shall speak of Cormac's reign and noble qualities in detail at a
later period, it is only necessary to record here that his panegyric, as
king, warrior, judge, and philosopher, has been pronounced by almost
contemporary writers, as well as by those of later date. The name
_Saltair_ has been objected to as more likely to denote a composition of
Christian times. This objection, however, is easily removed: first, the
name was probably applied after the appellation had been introduced in
Christian times; second, we have no reason to suppose that King Cormac
designated his noble work by this name; and third, even could this be
proven, the much maligned Keating removes any difficulty by the simple
and obvious remark, that "it is because of its having been written in
poetic metre, the chief book which was in the custody of the _Ollamh_ of
the King of Erinn, was called the _Saltair of Temair;_ and the Chronicle
of holy Cormac Mac Cullinan, _Saltair of Cashel;_ and the Chronicle of
Aengus _Ceilé Dé_ [the Culdee], _Saltair-na-Rann_ [that is, Saltair of
the Poems or Verses], because a Salm and a Poem are the same, and
therefore a _Salterium_ and a _Duanairé_ [book of poems] are the
same."[6]
[Illustration: SITE OF TARA.]
The oldest reference to this famous compilation is found in a poem on
the site of ancient Tara, by Cuan O'Lochain, a distinguished scholar,
and native of Westmeath, who died in the year 1024. The quotation given
below is taken from the Book of Ballymote, a magnificent volume,
compiled in the year 1391, now in possession of the Royal Irish
Academy:--
Temair, choicest of hills,
For [possession of] which Erinn is now devastated,[7]
The noble city of Cormac, son of Art,
Who was the son of great Conn of the hundred battles:
Cormac, the prudent and good,
Was a sage, a filé [poet], a prince:
Was a righteous judge of the Fené-men,[8]
Was a good friend and companion.
Cormac gained fifty battles:
He compiled the Saltair of Temur.
In that Saltair is contained
The best summary of history;
It is that Saltair which assigns
Seven chief kings to Erinn of harbours;
They consisted of the five kings of the provinces,--
The Monarch of Erinn and his Deputy.
In it are (written) on either side,
What each provincial king is entitled to,
From the king of each great musical province.
The synchronisms and chronology of all,
The kings, with each other [one with another] all;
The boundaries of each brave province,
From a cantred up to a great chieftaincy.
From this valuable extract we obtain a clear idea of the importance and
the subject of the famous Saltair, and a not less clear knowledge of the
admirable legal and social institutions by which Erinn was then
governed.
The CIN OF DROM SNECHTA is quoted in the Book of Ballymote, in support
of the ancient legend of the antediluvian occupation of Erinn by the
Lady _Banbha_, called in other books Cesair (pron. "kesar"). The Book of
Lecan quotes it for the same purpose, and also for the genealogies of
the chieftains of the ancient Rudrician race of Ulster. Keating gives
the descent of the Milesian colonists from Magog, the son of Japhet, on
the authority of the Cin of Drom Snechta, which, he states, was compiled
before St. Patrick's mission to Erinn.[9] We must conclude this part of
our subject with a curious extract from the same work, taken from the
Book of Leinster: "From the Cin of Drom Snechta, this below. Historians
say that there were exiles of Hebrew women in Erinn at the coming of the
sons of Milesius, who had been driven by a sea tempest into the ocean by
the Tirrén Sea. They were in Erinn before the sons of Milesius. They
said, however, to the sons of Milesius [who, it would appear, pressed
marriage on them], that they preferred their own country, and that they
would not abandon it without receiving dowry for alliance with them. It
is from this circumstance that it is the men that purchase wives in
Erinn for ever, whilst it is the husbands that are purchased by the
wives throughout the world besides."[10] The SALTAIR OF CASHEL was
compiled by Cormac Mac Cullinan King of Munster, and Archbishop of
Cashel. He was killed in the year 903. This loss of the work is most
painful to the student of the early history of Erinn. It is believed
that the ancient compilation known as Cormac's Glossary, was compiled
from the interlined gloss to the Saltair; and the references therein to
our ancient history, laws, mythology, and social customs, are such as to
indicate the richness of the mine of ancient lore. A copy was in
existence in 1454, as there is in the Bodleian Library in Oxford (Laud,
610) a copy of such portions as could be deciphered at the time. This
copy was made by Shane O'Clery for Mac Richard Butler.
The subjoined list of the lost books is taken from O'Curry's _MS.
Materials_, page 20. It may be useful to the philologist and interesting
to our own people, as a proof of the devotion to learning so early
manifested in Erinn:--
"In the first place must be enumerated again the _Cuilmenn_; the
Saltair of Tara; the _Cin Droma Snechta;_ the Book of St. Mochta;
the Book of _Cuana_; the Book of _Dubhdaleithe_; and the Saltair of
Cashel. Besides these we find mention of the _Leabhar buidhe
Sláine_ or Yellow Book of Slane; the original _Leabhar na
h-Uidhre;_ the Books of _Eochaidh O'Flannagain_; a certain book
known as the Book eaten by the poor people in the desert; the Book
of _Inis an Duin_; the Short Book of St. Buithe's Monastery (or
Monasterboice); the Books of Flann of the same Monastery; the Book
of Flann of _Dungeimhin_ (Dungiven, co. Derry); the Book of _Dun da
Leth Ghlas_ (or Downpatrick); the Book of _Doiré_ (Derry); the Book
of _Sabhall Phatraic_ (or Saull, co. Down); the Book of the
_Uachongbhail_ (Navan, probably); the _Leabhar dubh Molaga_, or
Black Book of St. Molaga; the _Leabhar buidhe Moling_, or Yellow
Book of St. Moling; the _Leabhar buidhe Mhic Murchadha_, or Yellow
Book of Mac Murrach; the _Leabhar Arda Macha_, or Book of Armagh
(quoted by Keating); the _Leabhar ruadh Mhic Aedhagain_, or Red
Book of Mac Aegan; the _Leabhar breac Mhic Aedhagain_, or Speckled
Book of Mac Aegan; the _Leabhar fada Leithghlinne_, or Long Book of
Leithghlinn, or Leithlin; the Books of O'Scoba of _Cluain Mic Nois_
(or Clonmacnois); the _Duil Droma Ceata_, or Book of Drom Ceat; and
the Book of Clonsost (in Leix, in the Queen's County)."
[Illustration: (A) MS. in the "_Domhnach Airgid,_" [R.I.A.] (temp. St.
Patrick, circa A.D. 430.)]
[Illustration: (B) MS. in the "_Cathach_," (6th century MS attributed to
St. Colum Cillé)]
Happily, however, a valuable collection of ancient MSS. are still
preserved, despite the "drowning" of the Danes, and the "burning" of the
Saxon. The researches of continental scholars are adding daily to our
store; and the hundreds of Celtic MSS., so long entombed in the
libraries of Belgium and Italy, will, when published, throw additional
light upon the brightness of the past, and, it may be, enhance the
glories of the future, which we must believe are still in reserve for
the island of saints and sages.[11]
The list of works given above are supposed by O'Curry to have existed
anterior to the year 1100. Of the books which Keating refers to in his
History, written about 1630, only one is known to be extant--the
_Saltair-na-Rann_, written by Aengus Céile Dé.
The principal Celtic MSS. which are still preserved to us, may be
consulted in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, and in the Library
of the Royal Irish Academy. The latter, though founded at a much later
period, is by far the more extensive, if not the more important,
collection. Perhaps, few countries have been so happy as to possess a
body of men so devoted to its archæology, so ardent in their
preservation of all that can be found to illustrate it, and so capable
of elucidating its history by their erudition, which, severally and
collectively, they have brought to bear on every department of its
ethnology. The collection in Trinity College consists of more than 140
volumes, several of them are vellum,[12] dating from the early part of
the twelfth to the middle of the last century. The collection of the
Royal Irish Academy also contains several works written on vellum, with
treatises of history, science, laws, and commerce; there are also many
theological and ecclesiastical compositions, which have been pronounced
by competent authorities to be written in the purest style that the
ancient Gaedhilic language ever attained. There are also a considerable
number of translations from Greek, Latin, and other languages. These are
of considerable importance, as they enable the critical student of our
language to determine the meaning of many obscure or obsolete words or
phrases, by reference to the originals; nor are they of less value as
indicating the high state of literary culture which prevailed in Ireland
during the early Christian and the Middle Ages. Poetry, mythology,
history, and the classic literature of Greece and Rome, may be found
amongst these translations; so that, as O'Curry well remarks, "any one
well read in the comparatively few existing fragments of our Gaedhilic
literature, and whose education had been confined solely to this source,
would find that there are but very few, indeed, of the great events in
the history of the world with which he was not acquainted."[13] He then
mentions, by way of illustration of classical subjects, Celtic versions
of the Argonautic Expedition, the Siege of Troy, the Life of Alexander
the Great; and of such subjects as cannot be classed under this head,
the Destruction of Jerusalem; the Wars of Charlemagne, including the
History of Roland the Brave; the History of the Lombards, and the almost
contemporary translation of the Travels of Marco Polo.
There is also a large collection of MSS. in the British Museum, a few
volumes in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, besides the well-known,
though inaccessible, Stowe collection.[14]
The treasures of Celtic literature still preserved on the Continent, can
only be briefly mentioned here. It is probable that the active
researches of philologists will exhume many more of these long-hidden
volumes, and obtain for our race the place it has always deserved in the
history of nations.
The Louvain collection, formed chiefly by Fathers Hugh Ward, John
Colgan, and Michael O'Clery, between the years 1620 and 1640, was widely
scattered at the French Revolution. The most valuable portion is in the
College of St. Isidore in Rome. The Burgundian Library at Brussels also
possesses many of these treasures. A valuable resumé of the MSS. which
are preserved there was given by Mr. Bindon, and printed in the
Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy in the year 1847. There are also
many Latin MSS. with Irish glosses, which have been largely used by
Zeuss in his world-famed _Grammatica Celtica_. The date of one of
these--a codex containing some of Venerable Bede's works--is fixed by an
entry of the death of Aed, King of Ireland, in the year 817. This most
important work belonged to the Irish monastery of Reichenau, and is now
preserved at Carlsruhe. A codex is also preserved at Cambray, which
contains a fragment of an Irish sermon, and the canons of an Irish
council held A.D. 684.
[Illustration: DOORWAY OF CLONMACNOIS.]
[Illustration: CLONMACNOIS.]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _Work._--_Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History_.
This work was published at the sole cost of the Catholic University of
Ireland, and will be an eternal monument of their patriotism and
devotion to literature. A chair of Irish History and Archæology was also
founded at the very commencement of the University; and yet the "Queen's
Colleges" are discarding this study, while an English professor in
Oxford is warmly advocating its promotion. Is the value of a chair to be
estimated by the number of pupils who surround it, or by the
contributions to science of the professor who holds it?
[2] _Leinster._--Book of Leinster, H.2.18, T.C.D. See O'Curry, p. 8.
[3] _Ballymote._--Library R.I.A., at fol. 145, a.a.
[4] _Lecan._--Trinity College, Dublin, classed H.2.16.
[5] _Uachongbhail_.--O'Curry's _MS. Materials_, p. 11.
[6] _Same_.--Ibid. p. 12. The Psalms derived their name from the musical
instrument to which they were sung. This was called in Hebrew _nebel_.
It obtained the name from its resemblance to a bottle or flagon.
Psaltery is the Greek translation, and hence the name psalm.
[7] _Devastated_.--This was probably written in the year 1001, when
Brian Boroimhé had deposed Malachy.
[8] _Fené-men_.--The farmers, who were not Fenians then certainly, for
"Cormac was a righteous judge of the _Agraria Lex_ of the Gaels."
[9] _Erinn._--Keating says: "We will set down here the branching off of
the races of Magog, according to the Book of Invasions (of Ireland),
which was called the Cin of Drom Snechta; and it was before the coming
of Patrick to Ireland the author of that book existed."--See Keating,
page 109, in O'Connor's translation. It is most unfortunate that this
devoted priest and ardent lover of his country did not bring the
critical acumen to his work which would have made its veracity
unquestionable. He tells us that it is "the business of his history to
be particular," and speaks of having "faithfully collected and
transcribed." But until recent investigations manifested the real
antiquity and value of the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History, his
work was looked on as a mere collection of legends. The quotation at
present under consideration is a case in point. He must have had a copy
of the Cin of Drom Snechta in his possession, and he must have known who
was the author of the original, as he states so distinctly the time of
its compilation. Keating's accuracy in matters of fact and
transcription, however, is daily becoming more apparent. This statement
might have been considered a mere conjecture of his own, had not Mr.
O'Curry discovered the name of the author in a partially effaced
memorandum in the Book of Leinster, which he reads thus: "[Ernín, son
of] Duach [that is], son of the King of Connacht, an _Ollamh_, and a
prophet, and a professor in history, and a professor in wisdom: it was
he that collected the Genealogies and Histories of the men of Erinn in
one book, that is, the _Cin Droma Snechta_." Duach was the son of Brian,
son of the monarch _Eochaidh_, who died A.D. 305.
[10] _Besides._--O'Curry, page 16.
[11] _Sages._--M. Nigra, the Italian Ambassador at Paris, is at this
moment engaged in publishing continental MSS.
[12] _Vellum._--The use of vellum is an indication that the MSS. must be
of some antiquity. The word "paper" is derived from _papyrus_, the most
ancient material for writing, if we except the rocks used for runes, or
the wood for oghams. Papyrus, the pith of a reed, was used until the
discovery of parchment, about 190 B.C. A MS. of the _Antiquities of
Josephus_ on papyrus, was among the treasures seized by Buonaparte in
Italy.
[13] _Acquainted_.--O'Curry's _MS. Materials_, page 24.
[14] _Collection_.-A recent writer in the _Cornhill_ says that Lord
Ashburnham refuses access to this collection, now in his possession,
fearing that its contents may be depreciated so as to lessen its value
at a future sale. We should hope this statement can scarcely be
accurate. Unhappily, it is at least certain that access to the MSS. is
denied, from whatever motive.
CHAPTER II.
Tighernach and his Annals--Erudition and Research of our Early
Writers--The Chronicum Scotorum--Duald Mac Firbis--Murdered, and _his_
Murderer is protected by the Penal Laws--The Annals of the Four
Masters--Michael O'Clery--His Devotion to his
Country--Ward--_Colgan_--Dedication of the Annals--The Book of
Invasions--Proofs of our Early Colonization.
Our illustration can give but a faint idea of the magnificence and
extent of the ancient abbey of Clonmacnois, the home of our famous
annalist, Tighernach. It has been well observed, that no more ancient
chronicler can be produced by the northern nations. Nestor, the father
of Russian history, died in 1113; Snorro, the father of Icelandic
history, did not appear until a century later; Kadlubeck, the first
historian of Poland, died in 1223; and Stierman could not discover a
scrap of writing in all Sweden older than 1159. Indeed, he may be
compared favourably even with the British historians, who can by no
means boast of such ancient pedigrees as the genealogists of Erinn.[15]
Tighernach was of the Murray-race of Connacht; of his personal history
little is known. His death is noted in the _Chronicum Scotorum_, where
he is styled successor (_comharba_) of St. Ciaran and St. Coman. The
Annals of Innisfallen state that he was interred at Clonmacnois. Perhaps
his body was borne to its burial through the very doorway which still
remains, of which we gave an illustration at the end of the last
chapter.
The writers of history and genealogy in early ages, usually commenced
with the sons of Noah, if not with the first man of the human race. The
Celtic historians are no exceptions to the general rule; and long before
Tighernach wrote, the custom had obtained in Erinn. His chronicle was
necessarily compiled from more ancient sources, but its fame rests upon
the extraordinary erudition which he brought to bear upon every subject.
Flann, who was contemporary with Tighernach, and a professor of St.
Buithe's monastery (Monasterboice), is also famous for his Synchronisms,
which form an admirable abridgment of universal history. He appears to
have devoted himself specially to genealogies and pedigrees, while
Tighernach took a wider range of literary research. His learning was
undoubtedly most extensive. He quotes Eusebius, Orosius, Africanus,
Bede, Josephus, Saint Jerome, and many other historical writers, and
sometimes compares their statements on points in which they exhibit
discrepancies, and afterwards endeavours to reconcile their conflicting
testimony, and to correct the chronological errors of the writers by
comparison with the dates given by others. He also collates the Hebrew
text with the Septuagint version of the Scriptures. He uses the common
era, though we have no reason to believe that this was done by the
writers who immediately preceded him. He also mentions the lunar cycle,
and uses the dominical letter with the kalends of several years.[16]
Another writer, _Gilla Caemhain_, was also contemporary with Flann and
Tighernach. He gives the "annals of all time," from the beginning of the
world to his own period; and computes the second period from the
Creation to the Deluge; from the Deluge to Abraham; from Abraham to
David; from David to the Babylonian Captivity, &c. He also synchronizes
the eastern monarchs with each other, and afterwards with the Firbolgs
and Tuatha Dé Danann of Erinn,[17] and subsequently with the Milesians.
Flann synchronizes the chiefs of various lines of the children of Adam
in the East, and points out what monarchs of the Assyrians, Medes,
Persians, and Greeks, and what Roman emperors were contemporary with the
kings of Erinn, and the leaders of its various early colonies. He begins
with Ninus, son of Belus, and comes down to Julius Cæsar, who was
contemporary with _Eochaidh Feidhlech_, an Irish king, who died more
than half a century before the Christian era. The synchronism is then
continued from Julius Cæsar and _Eochaidh_ to the Roman emperors
Theodosius the Third and Leo the Third; they were contemporaries with
the Irish monarch Ferghal, who was killed A.D. 718.
The ANNALS and MSS. which serve to illustrate our history, are so
numerous, that it would be impossible, with one or two exceptions, to do
more than indicate their existence, and to draw attention to the weight
which such an accumulation of authority must give to the authenticity of
our early history. But there are two of these works which we cannot pass
unnoticed: the CHRONICUM SCOTORUM and the ANNALS OF THE FOUR MASTERS.
The Chronicum Scotorum was compiled by Duald Mac Firbis. He was of royal
race, and descended from _Dathi_, the last pagan monarch of Erinn. His
family were professional and hereditary historians, genealogists, and
poets,[18] and held an ancestral property at Lecain Mac Firbis, in the
county Sligo, until Cromwell and his troopers desolated Celtic homes,
and murdered the Celtic dwellers, often in cold blood. The young Mac
Firbis was educated for his profession in a school of law and history
taught by the Mac Egans of Lecain, in Ormonde. He also studied (about
A.D. 1595) at Burren, in the county Clare, in the literary and legal
school of the O'Davorens. His pedigrees of the ancient Irish and the
Anglo-Norman families, was compiled at the College of St. Nicholas, in
Galway, in the year 1650. It may interest some of our readers to peruse
the title of this work, although its length would certainly horrify a
modern publisher:--
"The Branches of Relationship and the Genealogical Ramifications of
every Colony that took possession of Erinn, traced from this time up to
Adam (excepting only those of the Fomorians, Lochlanns, and Saxon-Gaels,
of whom we, however, treat, as they have settled in our country);
together with a Sanctilogium, and a Catalogue of the Monarchs of Erinn;
and, finally, an Index, which comprises, in alphabetical order, the
surnames and the remarkable places mentioned in this work, which was
compiled by _Dubhaltach Mac Firbhisigh_ of Lecain, 1650." He also gives,
as was then usual, the "place, time, author, and cause of writing the
work." The "cause" was "to increase the glory of God, and for the
information of the people in general;" a beautiful and most true epitome
of the motives which inspired the penmen of Erinn from the first
introduction of Christianity, and produced the "countless host" of her
noble historiographers.
Mac Firbis was murdered[19] in the year 1670, at an advanced age; and
thus departed the last and not the least distinguished of our long line
of poet-historians. Mac Firbis was a voluminous writer. Unfortunately
some of his treatises have been lost;[20] but the CHRONICUM SCOTORUM is
more than sufficient to establish his literary reputation.
The ANNALS OF THE FOUR MASTERS demand a larger notice, as unquestionably
one of the most remarkable works on record. It forms the last link
between the ancient and modern history of Ireland; a link worthy of the
past, and, we dare add, it shall be also worthy of the future. It is a
proof of what great and noble deeds may be accomplished under the most
adverse circumstances, and one of the many, if not one of the most,
triumphant denials of the often-repeated charges of indolence made
against the mendicant orders, and of aversion to learning made against
religious orders in general. Nor is it a less brilliant proof that
intellectual gifts may be cultivated and are fostered in the cloister;
and that a patriot's heart may burn as ardently, and love of country
prove as powerful a motive, beneath the cowl or the veil, as beneath the
helmet or the coif.
Michael O'Clery, the chief of the Four Masters, was a friar of the order
of St. Francis. He was born at Kilbarron, near Ballyshannon, county
Donegal, in the year 1580, and was educated principally in the south of
Ireland, which was then more celebrated for its academies than the
north. The date of his entrance into the Franciscan order is not known,
neither is it known why he,
"Once the heir of bardic honours,"
became a simple lay-brother. In the year 1627 he travelled through
Ireland collecting materials for Father Hugh Ward, also a Franciscan
friar, and Guardian of the convent of St. Antony at Louvain, who was
preparing a series of Lives of Irish Saints. When Father Ward died, the
project was taken up and partially carried out by Father John Colgan.
His first work, the _Trias Thaumaturgus_, contains the lives of St.
Patrick, St. Brigid, and St. Columba. The second volume contains the
lives of Irish saints whose festivals occur from the 1st of January to
the 31st of March; and here, unfortunately, alike for the hagiographer
and the antiquarian, the work ceased. It is probable that the idea of
saving--
"The old memorials
Of the noble and the holy,
Of the chiefs of ancient lineage,
Of the saints of wondrous virtues;
Of the Ollamhs and the Brehons,
Of the bards and of the betaghs,"[21]
occurred to him while he was collecting materials for Father Ward. His
own account is grand in its simplicity, and beautiful as indicating that
the deep passion for country and for literature had but enhanced the yet
deeper passion which found its culminating point in the dedication of
his life to God in the poor order of St. Francis. In the troubled and
disturbed state of Ireland, he had some difficulty in securing a patron.
At last one was found who could appreciate intellect, love of country,
and true religion. Although it is almost apart from our immediate
subject, we cannot refrain giving an extract from the dedication to this
prince, whose name should be immortalized with that of the friar patriot
and historian:--
"I, Michael _O'Clerigh_, a poor friar of the Order of St. Francis (after
having been for ten years transcribing every old material that I found
concerning the saints of Ireland, observing obedience to each provincial
that was in Ireland successively), have come before you, O noble
_Fearghal_ O'Gara. I have calculated on your honour that it seemed to
you a cause of pity and regret, grief and sorrow (for the glory of God
and the honour of Ireland), how much the race of Gaedhil, the son of
Niul, have passed under a cloud and darkness, without a knowledge or
record of the obit of saint or virgin, archbishop, bishop, abbot, or
other noble dignitary of the Church, or king or of prince, of lord or of
chieftain, [or] of the synchronism of connexion of the one with the
other." He then explains how he collected the materials for his work,
adding, alas! most truly, that should it not be accomplished then, "they
would not again be found to be put on record to the end of the world."
He thanks the prince for giving "the reward of their labour to the
chroniclers," and simply observes, that "it was the friars of the
convent of Donegal who supplied them with food and attendance." With
characteristic humility he gives his patron the credit of all the "good
which will result from this book, in giving light to all in general;"
and concludes thus:--
"On the twenty-second day of the month of January, A.D. 1632, this book
was commenced in the convent of Dun-na-ngall, and, it was finished in
the same convent on the tenth day of August, 1636, the eleventh year of
the reign of our king Charles over England, France, Alba, and over
_Eiré_."
There were "giants in those days;" and one scarcely knows whether to
admire most the liberality of the prince, the devotion of the friars of
Donegal, who "gave food and attendance" to their literary brother, and
thus had their share in perpetuating their country's fame, or the gentle
humility of the great Brother Michael.
It is unnecessary to make any observation on the value and importance of
the Annals of the Four Masters. The work has been edited with
extraordinary care and erudition by Dr. O'Donovan, and published by an
Irish house. We must now return to the object for which this brief
mention of the MS. materials of Irish history has been made, by showing
on what points other historians coincide in their accounts of our first
colonists, of their language, customs, and laws; and secondly, how far
the accounts which may be obtained _ab extra_ agree with the statements
of our own annalists. The _Book of Invasions_, which was rewritten and
"purified" by brother Michael O'Clery, gives us in a few brief lines an
epitome of our history as recorded by the ancient chroniclers of
Erinn:--
"The sum of the matters to be found in the following book, is the taking
of Erinn by [the Lady] _Ceasair;_ the taking by _Partholan;_ the taking
by _Nemedh;_ the taking by the Firbolgs; the taking by the _Tuatha Dé
Danann;_ the taking by the sons of _Miledh_ [or Miletius]; and their
succession down to the monarch _Melsheachlainn_, or Malachy the Great
[who died in 1022]." Here we have six distinct "takings," invasions, or
colonizations of Ireland in pre-Christian times.
It may startle some of our readers to find any mention of Irish history
"before the Flood," but we think the burden of proof, to use a logical
term, lies rather with those who doubt the possibility, than with those
who accept as tradition, and as _possibly_ true, the statements which
have been transmitted for centuries by careful hands. There can be no
doubt that a high degree of cultivation, and considerable advancement in
science, had been attained by the more immediate descendants of our
first parents. Navigation and commerce existed, and Ireland may have
been colonized. The sons of Noah must have remembered and preserved the
traditions of their ancestors, and transmitted them to their
descendants. Hence, it depended on the relative anxiety of these
descendants to preserve the history of the world before the Flood, how
much posterity should know of it. MacFirbis thus answers the objections
of those who, even in his day, questioned the possibility of preserving
such records:--"If there be any one who shall ask who preserved the
history [_Seanchus_], let him know that they were very ancient and
long-lived old men, recording elders of great age, whom God permitted to
preserve and hand down the history of Erinn, in books, in succession,
one after another, from the Deluge to the time of St. Patrick."
The artificial state of society in our own age, has probably acted
disadvantageously on our literary researches, if not on our moral
character. Civilization is a relative arbitrary term; and the ancestors
whom we are pleased to term uncivilized, may have possessed as high a
degree of mental culture as ourselves, though it unquestionably differed
in kind. Job wrote his epic poem in a state of society which we should
probably term uncultivated; and when Lamech gave utterance to the most
ancient and the saddest of human lyrics, the world was in its infancy,
and it would appear as if the first artificer in "brass and iron" had
only helped to make homicide more easy. We can scarce deny that murder,
cruel injustice, and the worst forms of inhumanity, are but too common
in countries which boast of no ordinary refinement; and we should
hesitate ere we condemn any state of society as uncivilized, simply
because we find such crimes in the pages of their history.
The question of the early, if not pre-Noahacian colonization of Ireland,
though distinctly asserted in our annals, has been met with the ready
scepticism which men so freely use to cover ignorance or indifference.
It has been taken for granted that the dispersion, after the confusion
of tongues at Babel, was the first dispersion of the human race; but it
has been overlooked that, on the lowest computation, a number of
centuries equal, if not exceeding, those of the Christian era, elapsed
between the Creation of man and the Flood; that men had "multiplied
exceedingly upon the earth;" and that the age of stone had already given
place to that of brass and iron, which, no doubt, facilitated commerce
and colonization, even at this early period of the world's history. The
discovery of works of art, of however primitive a character, in the
drifts of France and England, indicates an early colonization. The
rudely-fashioned harpoon of deer's horn found beside the gigantic whale,
in the alluvium of the carse near the base of Dummyat, twenty feet above
the highest tide of the nearest estuary, and the tusk of the mastodon
lying alongside fragments of pottery in a deposit of the peat and sands
of the post-pliocene beds in South Carolina, are by no means solitary
examples. Like the night torch of the gentle Guanahané savage, which
Columbus saw as he gazed wearily from his vessel, looking, even after
sunset, for the long hoped-for shore, and which told him that his desire
was at last consummated, those indications of man, associated with the
gigantic animals of a geological age, of whose antiquity there can be no
question, speak to our hearts strange tales of the long past, and of the
early dispersion and progressive distribution of a race created to
"increase and multiply."
The question of transit has also been raised as a difficulty by those
who doubt our early colonization. But this would seem easily removed. It
is more than probable that, at the period of which we write, Britain, if
not Ireland, formed part of the European continent; but were it not so,
we have proof, even in the present day, that screw propellers and iron
cast vessels are not necessary for safety in distant voyages, since the
present aboriginal vessels of the Pacific will weather a storm in which
a _Great Eastern_ or a _London_ might founder hopelessly.
Let us conclude an apology for our antiquity, if not a proof of it, in
the words of our last poet historian:--
"We believe that henceforth no wise person will be found who will
not acknowledge that it is possible to bring the genealogies of the
Gaedhils to their origin, to Noah and to Adam; and if he does not
believe that, may he not believe that he himself is the son of his
own father. For there is no error in the genealogical history, but
as it was left from father to son in succession, one after another.
"Surely every one believes the Divine Scriptures, which give a
similar genealogy to the men of the world, from Adam down to
Noah;[22] and the genealogy of Christ and of the holy fathers, as
may be seen in the Church [writings]. Let him believe this, or let
him deny God. And if he does believe this, why should he not
believe another history, of which there has been truthful
preservation, like the history of Erinn? I say truthful
preservation, for it is not only that they [the preservers of it]
were very numerous, as we said, preserving the same, but there was
an order and a law with them and upon them, out of which they could
not, without great injury, tell lies or falsehoods, as may be seen
in the Books of _Fenechas_ [Law], of _Fodhla_ [Erinn], and in the
degrees of the poets themselves, their order, and their laws."[23]
[Illustration: BEREHAVEN]
FOOTNOTES:
[15] _Erinn_.--O'Curry, page 57. It has also been remarked, that there
is no nation in possession of such ancient chronicles written in what is
still the language of its people.
[16] _Years_.--See O'Curry, _passim_.
[17] _Erinn_.--_Eire_ is the correct form for the nominative. Erinn is
the genitive, but too long in use to admit of alteration. The ordinary
name of Ireland, in the oldest Irish MSS., is (h)Erin, gen. (h)Erenn,
dat. (h)Erinn; but the initial _h_ is often omitted. See Max Müller's
Lectures for an interesting note on this subject, to which we shall
again refer.
[18] _Poets_.--The _Book of Lecain_ was written in 1416, by an ancestor
of Mac Firbis. Usher had it for some time in his possession; James II.
carried it to Paris, and deposited it in the Irish College in the
presence of a notary and witnesses. In 1787, the Chevalier O'Reilly
procured its restoration to Ireland; and it passed eventually from
Vallancey to the Royal Irish Academy, where it is now carefully
preserved.
[19] _Murdered_.--The circumstances of the murder are unhappily
characteristic of the times. The Celtic race was under the ban of penal
laws for adherence to the faith of their fathers. The murderer was free.
As the old historian travelled to Dublin, he rested at a shop in
Dunflin. A young man came in and took liberties with the young woman who
had care of the shop. She tried to check him, by saying that he would be
seen by the gentleman in the next room. In a moment he seized a knife
from the counter, and plunged it into the breast of Mac Firbis. There
was no "justice for Ireland" then, and, of course, the miscreant escaped
the punishment he too well deserved.
[20] _Lost_.--He was also employed by Sir James Ware to translate for
him, and appears to have resided in his house in Castle-street, Dublin,
just before his death.
[21] _Betaghs_.--Poems, by D.F. Mac Carthy.
[22] _Noah_.--This is a clear argument. The names of pre-Noahacian
patriarchs must have been preserved by tradition, with their date of
succession and history. Why should not other genealogies have been
preserved in a similar manner, and _even the names of individuals_
transmitted to posterity?
[23] _Laws_.--MacFirbis. Apud O'Curry, p. 219.
CHAPTER III.
First Colonists--The Landing of Ceasair, before the Flood--Landing of
Partholan, after the Flood, at Inver Scene--Arrival of Nemedh--The
Fomorians--Emigration of the Nemenians--The Firbolgs--Division of
Ireland by the Firbolg Chiefs--The Tuatha Dé Dananns--Their Skill as
Artificers--Nuada of the Silver Hand--The Warriors Sreng and Breas--The
Satire of Cairbré--Termination of the Fomorian Dynasty.
[A.M. 1599.]
We shall, then, commence our history with such accounts as we can find
in our annals of the pre-Christian colonization of Erinn. The legends of
the discovery and inhabitation of Ireland before the Flood, are too
purely mythical to demand serious notice. But as the most ancient MSS.
agree in their account of this immigration, we may not pass it over
without brief mention.
The account in the _Chronicum Scotorum_ runs thus:--
"Kal. v.f.l. 10. Anno mundi 1599.
"In this year the daughter of one of the Greeks came to Hibernia, whose
name was h-Erui, or Berba, or Cesar, and fifty maidens and three men
with her. Ladhra was their conductor, who was the first that was buried
in Hibernia."[24] The Cin of Drom Snechta is quoted in the Book of
Ballymote as authority for the same tradition.[25] The Book of Invasions
also mentions this account as derived from ancient sources. MacFirbis,
in the Book of Genealogies, says: "I shall devote the first book to
Partholan, who first took possession of Erinn after the Deluge, devoting
the beginning of it to the coming of the Lady Ceasair," &c. And the
Annals of the Four Masters: "Forty days before the Deluge, Ceasair came
to Ireland with fifty girls and three men--Bith, Ladhra, and Fintain
their names."[26] All authorities agree that Partholan was the first who
colonized Ireland after the Flood. His arrival is stated in the
Chronicum Scotorum to have taken place "in the sixtieth year of the age
of Abraham."[27] The Four Masters say: "The age of the world, when
Partholan came into Ireland, 2520 years."[28]
Partholan landed at Inver[29] Scene, now the Kenmare river, accompanied
by his sons, their wives, and a thousand followers. His antecedents are
by no means the most creditable; and we may, perhaps, feel some
satisfaction, that a colony thus founded should have been totally swept
away by pestilence a few hundred years after its establishment.
The Chronicum Scotorum gives the date of his landing thus: "On a Monday,
the 14th of May, he arrived, his companions being eight in number, viz.,
four men and four women." If the kingdom of Desmond were as rich then as
now in natural beauty, a scene of no ordinary splendour must have
greeted the eyes and gladdened the hearts of its first inhabitants. They
had voyaged past the fair and sunny isles of that "tideless sea," the
home of the Phoenician race from the earliest ages. They had escaped the
dangers of the rough Spanish coast, and gazed upon the spot where the
Pillars of Hercules were the beacons of the early mariners. For many
days they had lost sight of land, and, we may believe, had well-nigh
despaired of finding a home in that far isle, to which some strange
impulse had attracted them, or some old tradition--for the world even
then was old enough for legends of the past--had won their thoughts. But
there was a cry of land. The billows dashed in wildly, then as now, from
the coasts of an undiscovered world, and left the same line of white
foam upon Eire's western coast. The magnificent _Inver_ rolled its tide
of beauty between gentle hills and sunny slopes, till it reached what
now is appropriately called Kenmare. The distant Reeks showed their
clear summits in sharp outline, pointing to the summer sky. The
long-backed Mangerton and quaintly-crested Carn Tual were there also;
and, perchance, the Roughty and the Finihé sent their little streams to
swell the noble river bay. But it was no time for dreams, though the
Celt in all ages has proved the sweetest of dreamers, the truest of
bards. These men have rough work to do, and, it may be, gave but scant
thought to the beauties of the western isle, and scant thanks to their
gods for escape from peril. Plains were to be cleared, forests cut down,
and the red deer and giant elk driven to deeper recesses in the
well-wooded country.
Several lakes are said to have sprung forth at that period; but it is
more probable that they already existed, and were then for the first
time seen by human eye. The plains which Partholan's people cleared are
also mentioned, and then we find the ever-returning obituary:--
"The age of the world 2550, Partholan died on Sean Mhagh-Ealta-Edair in
this year."[30]
The name of Tallaght still remains, like the peak of a submerged world,
to indicate this colonization, and its fatal termination. Some very
ancient tumuli may still be seen there. The name signifies a place where
a number of persons who died of the plague were interred together; and
here the Annals of the Four Masters tells us that nine thousand of
Partholan's people died in one week, after they had been three hundred
years in Ireland.[31]
The third "taking" of Ireland was that of Nemedh. He came, according to
the Annals,[32] A.M. 2859, and erected forts and cleared plains, as his
predecessors had done. His people were also afflicted by plague, and
appeared to have had occupation enough to bury their dead, and to fight
with the "Fomorians in general," an unpleasantly pugilistic race, who,
according to the Annals of Clonmacnois, "were a sept descended from
Cham, the sonne of Noeh, and lived by pyracie and spoile of other
nations, and were in those days very troublesome to the whole
world."[33] The few Nemedians who escaped alive after their great battle
with the Fomorians, fled into the interior of the island. Three bands
were said to have emigrated with their respective captains. One party
wandered into the north of Europe, and are believed to have been the
progenitors of the Tuatha Dé Dananns; others made their way to Greece,
where they were enslaved, and obtained the name of Firbolgs, or bagmen,
from the leathern bags which they were compelled to carry; and the third
section sought refuge in the north of England, which is said to have
obtained its name of Briton from their leader, Briotan Maol.[34]
The fourth immigration is that of the Firbolgs; and it is remarkable how
early the love of country is manifested in the Irish race, since we find
those who once inhabited its green plains still anxious to return,
whether their emigration proved prosperous, as to the Tuatha Dé Dananns,
or painful, as to the Firbolgs.
According to the _Annals of Clonmacnois, Keating_, and the
_Leabhar-Gabhala_, the Firbolgs divided the island into five provinces,
governed by five brothers, the sons of Dela Mac Loich:--"Slane, the
eldest brother, had the province of Leynster for his part, which
containeth from Inver Colpe, that is to say, where the river Boyne
entereth into the sea, now called in Irish Drogheda, to the meeting of
the three waters, by Waterford, where the three rivers, Suyre, Ffeoir,
and Barrow, do meet and run together into the sea. Gann, the second
brother's part, was South Munster, which is a province extending from
that place to Bealagh-Conglaissey. Seangann, the third brother's part,
was from Bealagh-Conglaissey to Rossedahaileagh, now called Limbriche,
which is in the province of North Munster. Geanaun, the fourth brother,
had the province of Connacht, containing from Limerick to Easroe. Rorye,
the fifth brother, and youngest, had from Easroe aforesaid to Inver
Colpe, which is in the province of Ulster."[35]
The Firbolg chiefs had landed in different parts of the island, but they
soon met at the once famous Tara, where they united their forces. To
this place they gave the name of _Druim Cain_, or the Beautiful
Eminence.
The fifth, or Tuatha Dé Danann "taking" of Ireland, occurred in the
reign of Eochaidh, son of Erc, A.M. 3303. The Firbolgian dynasty was
terminated at the battle of _Magh Tuireadh_. Eochaidh fled from the
battle, and was killed on the strand of Traigh Eothailé, near
Ballysadare, co. Sligo. The cave where he was interred still exists, and
there is a curious tradition that the tide can never cover it.
The Tuatha Dé Danann king, Nuada, lost his hand in this battle, and
obtained the name of Nuada of the Silver Hand,[36] his artificer, Credne
Cert, having made a silver hand for him with joints. It is probable the
latter acquisition was the work of Mioch, the son of Diancecht, Nuada's
physician, as there is a tradition that he "took off the hand and
infused feeling and motion into every joint and finger of it, as if it
were a natural hand." We may doubt the "feeling," but it was probably
suggested by the "motion," and the fact that, in those ages, every act
of more than ordinary skill was attributed to supernatural causes,
though effected through human agents. Perhaps even, in the enlightened
nineteenth century, we might not be much the worse for the pious belief,
less the pagan cause to which it was attributed. It should be observed
here, that the Brehon Laws were probably then in force; for the
"blemish" of the monarch appears to have deprived him of his dignity, at
least until the silver hand could satisfy for the defective limb. The
Four Masters tell us briefly that the Tuatha Dé Dananns gave the
sovereignty to Breas, son of Ealathan, "while the hand of Nuada was
under cure," and mentions that Breas resigned the kingdom to him in the
seventh year after the cure of his hand.
A more detailed account of this affair may be found in one of our
ancient historic tales, of the class called _Catha_ or _Battles_, which
Professor O'Curry pronounces to be "almost the earliest event upon the
record of which we may place sure reliance."[37] It would appear that
there were two battles between the Firbolgs and Tuatha Dé Dananns, and
that, in the last of these, Nuada was slain. According to this ancient
tract, when the Firbolg king heard of the arrival of the invaders, he
sent a warrior named Sreng to reconnoitre their camp. The Tuatha Dé
Dananns were as skilled in war as in magic; they had sentinels carefully
posted, and their _videttes_ were as much on the alert as a Wellington
or a Napier could desire. The champion Breas was sent forward to meet
the stranger. As they approached, each raised his shield, and cautiously
surveyed his opponent from above the protecting aegis. Breas was the
first to speak. The mother-tongue was as dear then as now, and Sreng was
charmed to hear himself addressed in his own language, which, equally
dear to the exiled Nemedian chiefs, had been preserved by them in their
long wanderings through northern Europe. An examination of each others
armour next took place. Sreng was armed with "two heavy, thick,
pointless, but sharply rounded spears;" while Breas carried "two
beautifully shaped, thin, slender, long, sharp-pointed spears."[38]
Perhaps the one bore a spear of the same class of heavy flint weapons of
which we give an illustration, and the other the lighter and more
graceful sword, of which many specimens may be seen in the collection of
the Royal Irish Academy. Breas then proposed that they should divide the
island between the two parties; and after exchanging spears and promises
of mutual friendship, each returned to his own camp.
[Illustration: FLINT SPEAR-HEAD, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A.] The
Firbolg king, however, objected to this arrangement; and it was decided,
in a council of war, to give battle to the invaders. The Tuatha Dé
Dananns were prepared for this from the account which Breas gave of the
Firbolg warriors: they, therefore, abandoned their camp, and took up a
strong position on Mount Belgadan, at the west end of _Magh Nia_, a site
near the present village of Cong, co. Mayo.
The Firbolgs marched from Tara to meet them; but Nuada, anxious for
pacific arrangements, opened new negociations with King Eochaidh through
the medium of his bards. The battle which has been mentioned before then
followed. The warrior Breas, who ruled during the disability of Nuada,
was by no means popular. He was not hospitable, a _sine qua non_ for
king or chief from the earliest ages of Celtic being; he did not love
the bards, for the same race ever cherished and honoured learning; and
he attempted to enslave the nobles. Discontent came to a climax when the
bard Cairbré, son of the poetess Etan, visited the royal court, and was
sent to a dark chamber, without fire or bed, and, for all royal fare,
served with three small cakes of bread. If we wish to know the true
history of a people, to understand the causes of its sorrows and its
joys, to estimate its worth, and to know how to rule it wisely and well,
let us read such old-world tales carefully, and ponder them well. Even
if prejudice or ignorance should induce us to undervalue their worth as
authentic records of its ancient history, let us remember the undeniable
fact, that they _are_ authentic records of its deepest national
feelings, and let them, at least, have their weight as such in our
schemes of social economy, for the present and the future.
The poet left the court next morning, but not until he pronounced a
bitter and withering satire on the king--the first satire that had ever
been pronounced in Erinn. It was enough. Strange effects are attributed
to the satire of a poet in those olden times; but probably they could,
in all cases, bear the simple and obvious interpretation, that he on
whom the satire was pronounced was thereby disgraced eternally before
his people. For how slight a punishment would bodily suffering or
deformity be, in comparison to the mental suffering of which a
quick-souled people are eminently capable!
Breas was called on to resign. He did so with the worst possible grace,
as might be expected from such a character. His father, Elatha, was a
Fomorian sea-king or pirate, and he repaired to his court. His reception
was not such as he had expected; he therefore went to Balor of the Evil
Eye,[39] a Fomorian chief. The two warriors collected a vast army and
navy, and formed a bridge of ships and boats from the Hebrides to the
north-west coast of Erinn. Having landed their forces, they marched to a
plain in the barony of Tirerrill (co. Sligo), where they waited an
attack or surrender of the Tuatha Dé Danann army. But the magical skill,
or, more correctly, the superior abilities of this people, proved them
more than equal to the occasion. The chronicler gives a quaint and most
interesting account of the Tuatha Dé Danann arrangements. Probably the
Crimean campaign, despite our nineteenth century advancements in the art
of war, was not prepared for more carefully, or carried out more
efficiently.
Nuada called a "privy council," if we may use the modern term for the
ancient act, and obtained the advice of the great Daghda; of Lug, the
son of Cian, son of Diancecht, the famous physician; and of Ogma
Grian-Aineach (of the sun-like face). But Daghda and Lug were evidently
secretaries of state for the home and war departments, and arranged
these intricate affairs with perhaps more honour to their master, and
more credit to the nation, than many a modern and "civilized" statesman.
They summoned to their presence the heads of each department necessary
for carrying on the war. Each department was therefore carefully
pre-organized, in such a manner as to make success almost certain, and
to obtain every possible succour and help from those engaged in the
combat, or those who had suffered from it. The "smiths" were prepared to
make and to mend the swords, the surgeons to heal or staunch the wounds,
the bards and druids to praise or blame; and each knew his work, and
what was expected from the department which he headed before the battle,
for the questions put to each, and their replies, are on record.
Pardon me. You will say I have written a romance, a legend, for the
benefit of my country[40]--a history of what might have been, of what
should be, at least in modern warfare, and, alas! often is not. Pardon
me. The copy of the tracts from which I have compiled this meagre
narrative, is in existence, and in the British Museum. It was written on
vellum, about the year 1460, by Gilla-Riabhach O'Clery; but there is
unquestionable authority for its having existed at a much earlier
period. It is quoted by Cormac Mac Cullinan in his Glossary, in
illustration of the word _Nes_, and Cormac was King of Munster in the
year of grace 885, while his Glossary was compiled to explain words
which had then become obsolete. This narrative must, therefore, be of
great antiquity. If we cannot accept it as a picture of the period, in
the main authentic, let us give up all ancient history as a myth; if we
do accept it, let us acknowledge that a people who possessed such
officials had attained a high state of intellectual culture, and that
their memory demands at least the homage of our respect.
The plain on which this battle was fought, retains the name of the Plain
of the Towers (or Pillars) of the Fomorians, and some very curious
sepulchral monuments may still be seen on the ancient field.
In those days, as in the so-called middle ages, ladies exercised their
skill in the healing art; and we find honorable mention made of the Lady
Ochtriuil, who assisted the chief physician (her father) and his sons in
healing the wounds of the Tuatha Dé Danann heroes. These warriors have
also left many evidences of their existence in raths and monumental
pillars.[41] It is probable, also, that much that has been attributed to
the Danes, of right belongs to the Dananns, and that a confusion of
names has promoted a confusion of appropriation. Before we turn to the
Milesian immigration, the last colonization of the old country, let us
inquire what was known and said of it, and of its people, by foreign
writers.
[Illustration: CAVITY, CONTAINING OVAL BASIN. NEW GRANGE.]
[Illustration: THE SEVEN CASTLES OF CLONMINES]
FOOTNOTES:
[24] _Hibernia_.--Chronicum Scotorum, p. 3.
[25] _Tradition_.--O'Curry, p. 13.
[26] _Names_.--Four Masters, O'Donovan, p. 3.
[27] _Abraham.--_Chronicum Scotorum, p. 5.
[28] _Years_.--Four Masters, p. 5.
[29] _Inver.--Inver_ and _A[=b] er_ have been used as test words in
discriminating between the Gaedhilic and Cymric Celts. The etymology and
meaning is the same--a meeting of waters. Inver, the Erse and Gaedhilic
form, is common in Ireland, and in those parts of Scotland where the
Gael encroached on the Cymry. See _Words and Places_, p. 259, for
interesting observations on this subject.
[30] _Year_.--Annals, p. 7.
[31] _Ireland._--Ib. p. 9.
[32] _Annals._--Ib. I. p. 9.
[33] _World_.--See Conell MacGeoghegan's Translation of the Annals of
Clonmacnois, quoted by O'Donovan, p. 11.
[34] _Maol_.--The Teutonic languages afford no explanation of the name
of Britain, though it is inhabited by a Teutonic race. It is probable,
therefore, that they adopted an ethnic appellation of the former
inhabitants. This may have been patronymic, or, perhaps, a Celtic prefix
with the Euskarian suffix _etan_, a district or country. See _Words and
Places_, p. 60.
[35] _Ulster_.--Neither the Annals nor the Chronicum give these
divisions; the above is from the Annals of Clonmacnois. There is a poem
in the Book of Lecain, at folio 277, b., by MacLiag, on the Firbolg
colonies, which is quoted as having been taken from their own account of
themselves; and another on the same subject at 278, a.
[36] _Hand_.--Four Masters, p. 17.
[37] _Reliance_.--O'Curry, p. 243.
[38] _Spears_.--O'Curry, p. 245.
[39] _Eye_.--There is a curious note by Dr. O'Donovan (Annals, p. 18)
about this Balor. The tradition of his deeds and enchantments is still
preserved in Tory Island, one of the many evidences of the value of
tradition, and of the many proofs that it usually overlies a strata of
facts.
[40] _Country_.--We find the following passages in a work purporting to
be a history of Ireland, recently published: "It would be throwing away
time to examine critically _fables_ like those contained in the present
and following chapter." The subjects of those chapters are the
colonization of Partholan, of the Nemedians, Fomorians, Tuatha Dé
Dananns, and Milesians, the building of the palace of Emania, the reign
of Cairbré, Tuathal, and last, not least, the death of Dathi. And these
are "fables"! The writer then calmly informs us that the period at which
they were "invented, extended probably from the tenth to the twelfth
century." Certainly, the "inventors" were men of no ordinary talent, and
deserve some commendation for their inventive faculties. But on this
subject we shall say more hereafter. At last the writer arrives at the
"first ages of Christianity." We hoped that here at least he might have
granted us a history; but he writes: "The history of early Christianity
in Ireland is obscure and doubtful, precisely in proportion as it is
unusually copious. If legends enter largely into the civil history of
the country, they found their way tenfold into the history of the
Church, because there the tendency to believe in them was much greater,
as well as the inducement to invent and adopt them." The "inventors" of
the pre-Christian history of Ireland, who accomplished their task "from
the tenth to the twelfth century," are certainly complimented at the
expense of the saints who Christianized Ireland. This writer seems to
doubt the existence of St. Patrick, and has "many doubts" as to the
authenticity of the life of St. Columba. We should not have noticed this
work had we not reason to know that it has circulated largely amongst
the middle and lower classes, who may be grievously misled by its very
insidious statements. It is obviously written for the sake of making a
book to sell; and the writer has the honesty to say plainly, that he
merely gives the early history of Ireland, pagan and Christian, because
he could not well write a history of Ireland and omit this portion of
it!
[41] _Pillars_.--The monuments ascribed to the Tuatha Dé Dananns are
principally situated in Meath, at Drogheda, Dowlet, Knowth, and New
Grange. There are others at Cnoc-Ainè and Cnoc-Gréinè, co. Limerick, and
on the Pap Mountains, co. Kerry.
CHAPTER IV.
The Scythians Colonists--Testimony of Josephus--Magog and his
Colony--Statements of our Annals confirmed by a Jewish Writer--By
Herodotus--Nennius relates what is told by the "Most Learned of the
Scoti"--Phoenician Circumnavigation of Africa--Phoenician Colonization
of Spain--Iberus and Himerus--Traditions of Partholan--Early
Geographical Accounts of Ireland--Early Social Accounts of Ireland.
The writer of the article on Ireland, in Rees' Cyclopædia, says: "It
does not appear improbable, much less absurd, to suppose that the
Phoenicians might have colonized Ireland at an early period, and
introduced their laws, customs, and knowledge, with a comparatively high
state of civilization; and that these might have been gradually lost
amidst the disturbances of the country, and, at last, completely
destroyed by the irruptions of the Ostmen." Of this assertion, which is
now scarcely doubted, there is abundant proof; and it is remarkable that
Josephus[42] attributes to the Phoenicians a special care in preserving
their annals above that of other civilized nations, and that this
feeling has existed, and still exists, more vividly in the Celtic race
than in any other European people.
The Irish annalists claim a descent from the Scythians, who, they say,
are descended from Magog, the son of Japhet, the son of Noah. Keating
says: "We will set down here the branching off of the race of Magog,
according to the Book of Invasions (of Ireland), which was called the
Cin of Drom Snechta."[43] It will be remembered how curiously O'Curry
verified Keating's statement as to the authorship of this work,[44] so
that his testimony may be received with respect. In the Scripture
genealogy, the sons of Magog are not enumerated; but an historian, who
cannot be suspected of any design of assisting the Celts to build up a
pedigree, has happily supplied the deficiency. Josephus writes:[45]
"Magog led out a colony, which from him were named Magoges, but by the
Greeks called Scythians." But Keating specifies the precise title of
Scythians, from which the Irish Celts are descended. He says they had
established themselves in remote ages on the borders of the Red Sea, at
the town of Chiroth; that they were expelled by the grandson of that
Pharaoh who had been drowned in the Red Sea; and that he persecuted them
because they had supplied the Israelites with provisions.
This statement is singularly and most conclusively confirmed by Rabbi
Simon, who wrote two hundred years before the birth of Christ. He says
that certain Canaanites near the Red Sea gave provisions to the
Israelites; "and because these Canaan ships gave Israel of their
provisions, God would not destroy their ships, but with an east wind
carried them down the Red Sea."[46] This colony settled in what was
subsequently called Phoenicia; and here again our traditions are
confirmed _ab extra_, for Herodotus says: "The Phoenicians anciently
dwelt, as they allege, on the borders of the Red Sea."[47]
It is not known at what time this ancient nation obtained the specific
appellation of Phoenician. The word is not found in Hebrew brew copies
of the Scriptures, but is used in the Machabees, the original of which
is in Greek, and in the New Testament. According to Grecian historians,
it was derived from Phoenix, one of their kings and brother of Cadmus,
the inventor of letters. It is remarkable that our annals mention a king
named Phenius, who devoted himself especially to the study of languages,
and composed an alphabet and the elements of grammar. Our historians
describe the wanderings of the Phoenicians, whom they still designate
Scythians, much as they are described by other writers. The account of
their route may differ in detail, but the main incidents coincide.
Nennius, an English chronicler, who wrote in the seventh century, from
the oral testimony of trustworthy Irish Celts, gives corroborative
testimony. He writes thus: "If any one would be anxious to learn how
long Ireland was uninhabited and deserted, he shall hear it, as the most
learned of the Scots have related it to me.[48] When the children of
Israel came to the Red Sea, the Egyptians pursued them and were drowned,
as the Scripture records. In the time of Moses there was a Scythian
noble who had been banished from his kingdom, and dwelt in Egypt with a
large family. He was there when the Egyptians were drowned, but he did
not join in the persecution of the Lord's people. Those who survived
laid plans to banish him, lest he should assume the government, because
their brethren were drowned in the Red Sea; so he was expelled. He
wandered through Africa for forty-two years, and passed by the lake of
Salinæ to the altars of the Philistines, and between Rusicada and the
mountains Azure, and he came by the river Mulon, and by sea to the
Pillars of Hercules, and through the Tuscan Sea, and he made for Spain,
and dwelt there many years, and he increased and multiplied, and his
people were multiplied."
Herodotus gives an account of the circumnavigation of Africa by the
Phoenicians, which may have some coincidence with this narrative. His
only reason for rejecting the tradition, which he relates at length, is
that he could not conceive how these navigators could have seen the sun
in a position contrary to that in which it is seen in Europe. The
expression of his doubt is a strong confirmation of the truth of his
narrative, which, however, is generally believed by modern writers.[49]
This navigation was performed about seven centuries before the Christian
era, and is, at least, a proof that the maritime power of the
Phoenicians was established at an early period, and that it was not
impossible for them to have extended their enterprises to Ireland. The
traditions of our people may also be confirmed from other sources.
Solinus writes thus: "In the gulf of Boatica there is an island, distant
some hundred paces from the mainland, which the Tyrians, who came from
the Red Sea, called Erythroea, and the Carthaginians, in their language,
denominate Gadir, i.e., the enclosure."
Spanish historians add their testimony, and claim the Phoenicians as
their principal colonizers. The _Hispania Illustrata_, a rare and
valuable work, on which no less than sixty writers were engaged, fixes
the date of the colonization of Spain by the Phoenicians at 764 A.C. De
Bellegarde says: "The first of whom mention is made in history is
Hercules, the Phoenician, by some called Melchant." It is alleged that
he lived in the time of Moses, and that he retired into Spain when the
Israelites entered the land of promise. This will be consistent with old
accounts, if faith can be placed in the inscription of two columns,
which were found in the province of Tingitane, at the time of the
historian Procopius.[50] A Portuguese historian, Emanuel de Faria y
Sousa, mentions the sailing of Gatelus from Egypt, with his whole
family, and names his two sons, Iberus and Himerus, the first of whom,
he says, "some will have to have sailed into Ireland, and given the name
Hibernia to it."
Indeed, so strong has been the concurrent testimony of a Phoenician
colonization of Ireland from Spain, and this by independent authorities,
who could not have had access to our bardic histories, and who had no
motive, even had they known of their existence, to write in confirmation
of them, that those who have maintained the theory of a Gaulish
colonization of Ireland, have been obliged to make Spain the point of
embarkation.
There is a curious treatise on the antiquities and origin of Cambridge,
in which it is stated, that, in the year of the world 4321, a British
prince, the son of Gulguntius, or Gurmund, having crossed over to
Denmark, to enforce tribute from a Danish king, was returning victorious
off the Orcades, when he encountered thirty ships, full of men and
women. On his inquiring into the object of their voyage, their leader,
_Partholyan_, made an appeal to his good-nature, and entreated from the
prince some small portion of land in Britain, as his crew were weary of
sailing over the ocean. Being informed that he came from Spain, the
British prince received him under his protection, and assigned faithful
guides to attend him into Ireland, which was then wholly uninhabited;
and he granted it to them, subject to an annual tribute, and confirmed
the appointment of Partholyan as their chief.[51]
This account was so firmly believed in England, that it is specially set
forth in an Irish act (11th of Queen Elizabeth) among the "auncient and
sundry strong authentique tytles for the kings of England to this land
of Ireland." The tradition may have been obtained from Irish sources,
and was probably "improved" and accommodated to fortify the Saxon claim,
by the addition of the pretended grant; but it is certainly evidence of
the early belief in the Milesian colonization of Ireland, and the name
of their leader.
The earliest references to Ireland by foreign writers are, as might be
expected, of a contradictory character. Plutarch affirms that Calypso
was "an island five days' sail to the west of Britain," which, at least,
indicates his knowledge of the existence of Erinn. Orpheus is the first
writer who definitely names Ireland. In the imaginary route which he
prescribes for Jason and the Argonauts, he names Ireland (Iernis), and
describes its woody surface and its misty atmosphere. All authorities
are agreed that this poem[52] was written five hundred years before
Christ; and all doubt as to whether Iernis meant the present island of
Ireland must be removed, at least to an unprejudiced inquirer, by a
careful examination of the route which is described, and the position of
the island in that route.
The early history of a country which has been so long and so cruelly
oppressed, both civilly and morally, has naturally fallen into
disrepute. We do not like to display the qualifications of one whom we
have deeply injured. It is, at least, less disgraceful to have forbidden
a literature to a people who had none, than to have banned and barred
the use of a most ancient language,--to have destroyed the annals of a
most ancient people. In self-defence, the conqueror who knows not how to
triumph nobly will triumph basely, and the victims may, in time, almost
forget what it has been the policy of centuries to conceal from them.
But ours is, in many respects, an age of historical justice, and truth
will triumph in the end. It is no longer necessary to England's present
greatness to deny the facts of history; and it is one of its most patent
facts that Albion was unknown, or, at least, that her existence was
unrecorded, at a time when Ireland is mentioned with respect as the
Sacred Isle, and the Ogygia[53] of the Greeks.
As might be expected, descriptions of the social state of ancient Erinn
are of the most contradictory character; but there is a remarkable
coincidence in all accounts of the physical geography of the island. The
moist climate, the fertile soil, the richly-wooded plains, the navigable
rivers, and the abundance of its fish,[54] are each and all mentioned by
the early geographers. The description given by Diodorus Siculus of a
"certain large island a considerable distance out at sea, and in the
direction of the west, many days' sail from Lybia," if it applies to
Ireland, would make us suppose that the Erinn of pagan times was
incomparably more prosperous than Erinn under Christian rule. He also
specially mentions the fish, and adds: "The Phoenicians, from the very
remotest times, made repeated voyages thither for purposes of
commerce."[55]
The descriptions of our social state are by no means so flattering; but
it is remarkable, and, perhaps, explanatory, that the most unfavourable
accounts are the more modern ones. All without the pale of Roman
civilization were considered "barbarians," and the epithet was freely
applied. Indeed, it is well known that, when Cicero had a special object
in view, he could describe the Celtae of Gaul as the vilest monsters,
and the hereditary enemies of the gods, for whose wickedness
extermination was the only remedy. As to the "gods" there is no doubt
that the Druidic worship was opposed to the more sensual paganism of
Greece and Rome, and, therefore, would be considered eminently
irreligious by the votaries of the latter.
The most serious social charge against the Irish Celts, is that of being
anthropophagi; and the statement of St. Jerome, that he had seen two
Scoti in Gaul feeding on a human carcass, has been claimed as strong
corroboration of the assertions of pagan writers. As the good father was
often vehement in his statements and impulsive in his opinions, he may
possibly have been mistaken, or, perhaps, purposely misled by those who
wished to give him an unfavourable impression of the Irish. It is
scarcely possible that they could have been cannibal as a nation, since
St. Patrick never even alludes to such a custom in his _Confessio_,[56]
where it would, undoubtedly, have been mentioned and reproved, had it
existence.
[Illustration: CROSS AT GLENDALOUGH, CO. WICKLOW.]
[Illustration: CROMLECH AT DUNMORE, WATERFORD.]
FOOTNOTES:
[42] _Josephus_.--Con. Apionem, lib. i.
[43] _Snechta_.--O'Curry, p. 14.
[44] _Work_--See ante, p. 43.
[45] _Writes_.--Josephus, lib. i. c. 6. Most of the authorities in this
chapter are taken from the Essay on the ancient history, religion,
learning, arts, and government of Ireland, by the late W. D'Alton. The
Essay obtained a prize of £80 and the Cunningham Gold Medal from the
Royal Irish Academy. It is published in volume xvi. of the Transactions,
and is a repertory of learning of immense value to the student of Irish
history.
[46] _Sea_.--Lib. Zoar, p. 87, as cited by Vallancey, and Parson's
Defence, &c., p. 205.
[47] _Sea_.--Herodotus, l. vii. c. 89.
[48] _Me_.--"Sic mihi peritissimi Scotorum nunciaverunt." The reader
will remember that the Irish were called Scots, although the appellative
of Ierins or Ierne continued to be given to the country from the days of
Orpheus to those of Claudius. By Roman writers Ireland was more usually
termed Hibernia. Juvenal calls it Juverna.
[49] _Writers_.--The circumnavigation of Africa by a Phoenician ship, in
the reign of Neco, about 610 B.C., is credited by Humboldt, Rennell,
Heeren, Grote, and Rawlinson. Of their voyages to Cornwall for tin there
is no question, and it is more than probable they sailed to the Baltic
for amber. It has been even supposed that they anticipated Columbus in
the discovery of America. Niebuhr connects the primitive astronomy of
Europe with that of America, and, therefore, must suppose the latter
country to have been discovered.--_Hist. of Rome_, vol. i. p. 281. This,
however, is very vague ground of conjecture; the tide of knowledge, as
well as emigration, was more probably eastward.
[50] _Procopius.--Hist. Gen. d'Espagne_, vol. i.c.l. p.4.
[51] _Chief.--De Antiq. et Orig. Cantab_. See D'Alton's _Essay_, p. 24,
for other authorities.
[52] _Poem_.--There has been question of the author, but none as to the
authenticity and the probable date of compilation.
[53] _Ogygia_.--Camden writes thus: "Nor can any one conceive why they
should call it Ogygia, unless, perhaps, from its antiquity; for the
Greeks called nothing Ogygia unless what was extremely ancient."
[54] _Fish_.--And it still continues to be a national article of
consumption and export. In a recent debate on the "Irish question," an
honorable member observes, that he regrets to say "fish" is the only
thing which appears to be flourishing in Ireland. We fear, however,
from the report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the
question of Irish sea-coast fisheries, that the poor fishermen are not
prospering as well as the fish. Mr. Hart stated: "Fish was as plenty as
ever; but numbers of the fishermen had died during the famine, others
emigrated, and many of those who remained were unable, from want of
means, to follow the pursuit." And yet these men are honest; for it has
been declared before the same committee, that they have scrupulously
repaid the loans which were given them formerly; and they are willing to
work, for when they can get boats and nets, _they do work_. These are
facts. Shakspeare has said that facts are "stubborn things;" they are,
certainly, sometimes very unpleasant things. Yet, we are told, the Irish
have no real grievances. Of course, starvation from want of work is not
a grievance!
Within the few months which have elapsed since the publication of the
first edition of this History and the present moment, when I am engaged
in preparing a second edition, a fact has occurred within my own
personal knowledge relative to this very subject, and of too great
importance to the history of Ireland in the present day to be omitted. A
shoal of sprats arrived in the bay of ---- and the poor people crowded
to the shore to witness the arrival and, alas! the departure of the
finny tribe. All their nets had been broken or sold in the famine year;
they had, therefore, no means of securing what would have been a
valuable addition to their poor fare. The wealthy, whose tables are
furnished daily with every luxury, can have but little idea how bitter
such privations are to the poor. Had there been a resident landlord in
the place, to interest himself in the welfare of his tenants, a few
pounds would have procured all that was necessary, and the people,
always grateful for kindness, would long have remembered the boon and
the bestower of it.
[55] _Commerce_.--"Phoenices a vetustissimis inde temporibus frequenter
crebras mercaturæ gratiâ navigationes instituerunt."--Diod. Sic. vers.
Wesseling, t.i.
[56] _Confessio_.--Dr. O'Donovan states, in an article in the _Ulster
Archæological Journal_, vol. viii. p. 249, that he had a letter from the
late Dr. Prichard, who stated that it was his belief the ancient Irish
were not anthropophagi. He adds: "Whatever they may have been when their
island was called _Insula Sacra_, there are no people in Europe who are
more squeamish in the use of meats than the modern Irish peasantry, for
they have a horror of every kind of carrion;" albeit he is obliged to
confess that, though they abuse the French for eating frogs, and the
English for eating rooks, there is evidence to prove that horseflesh was
eaten in Ireland, even in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
CHAPTER V.
Landing of the Milesians--Traditions of the Tuatha Dé Dananns in St.
Patrick's time--The Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny--The Milesians go back
to sea "nine waves"--They conquer ultimately--Reign of Eremon--Landing
of the Picts--Bede's Account of Ireland--Fame of its Fish and
Goats--Difficulties of Irish Chronology--Importance and Authenticity of
Irish Pedigrees--Qualifications of an Ollamh--Milesian
Genealogies--Historical Value of Pedigrees--National Feelings should be
respected--Historic Tales--Poems.
[A.M. 3500.]
The last colonization of Ireland is thus related in the Annals of the
Four Masters: "The age of the world 3500. The fleet of the sons of
Milidh came to Ireland at the end of this year, to take it from the
Tuatha Dé Dananns, and they fought the battle of Sliabh Mis with them on
the third day after landing. In this battle fell Scota, the daughter of
Pharaoh, wife of Milidh; and the grave of Scota[57] is [to be seen]
between Sliabh Mis and the sea. Therein also fell Fas, the wife of Un,
son of Uige, from whom is [named] Gleann Faisi. After this the sons of
Milidh fought a battle at Taillten[58] against the three kings of the
Tuatha Dé Dananns, MacCuill, MacCeacht, and MacGriéné. The battle lasted
for a long time, until MacCeacht fell by Eiremhon, MacCuill by Eimheur,
and Mac Griéné by Amhergen."[59] Thus the Tuatha Dé Danann dynasty
passed away, but not without leaving many a quaint legend of magic and
mystery, and many an impress of its more than ordinary skill in such
arts as were then indications of national superiority. The real names of
the last chiefs of this line, are said to have been respectively Ethur,
Cethur, and Fethur. The first was called MacCuill, because he worshipped
the hazel-tree, and, more probably, because he was devoted to some
branch of literature which it symbolized; the second MacCeacht, because
he worshipped the plough, i.e., was devoted to agriculture; and the
third obtained his appellation of MacGriéné because he worshipped the
sun.
It appears from a very curious and ancient tract, written in the shape
of a dialogue between St. Patrick and Caoilte MacRonain, that there were
many places in Ireland where the Tuatha Dé Dananns were then supposed to
live as sprites and fairies, with corporeal and material forms, but
endued with immortality. The inference naturally to be drawn from these
stories is, that the Tuatha Dé Dananns lingered in the country for many
centuries after their subjugation by the Gaedhils, and that they lived
in retired situations, where they practised abstruse arts, from which
they obtained the reputation of being magicians.
The Tuatha Dé Dananns are also said to have brought the famous. Lia
Fail, or Stone of Destiny, to Ireland. It is said by some authorities
that this stone was carried to Scotland when an Irish colony invaded
North Britain, and that it was eventually brought to England by Edward
I., in the year 1300, and deposited in Westminster Abbey. It is supposed
to be identical with the large block of stone which may be seen there
under the coronation chair. Dr. Petrie, however, controverts this
statement, and believes it to be the present pillar stone over the
Croppies' Grave in one of the raths of Tara.
A Danann prince, called Oghma, is said to have invented the occult form
of writing called the Ogham Craove, which, like the round towers has
proved so fertile a source of doubt and discussion to our antiquaries.
The Milesians, however, did not obtain a colonization in Ireland without
some difficulty. According to the ancient accounts, they landed at the
mouth of the river Sláingé, or Slaney, in the present county of Wexford,
unperceived by the Tuatha Dé Dananns. From thence they marched to Tara,
the seat of government, and summoned the three kings to surrender. A
curious legend is told of this summons and its results, which is
probably true in the more important details. The Tuatha Dé Danann
princes complained that they had been taken by surprise, and proposed to
the invaders to re-embark, and to go out upon the sea "the distance of
nine waves" stating that the country should be surrendered to them if
they could then effect a landing by force. The Milesian chiefs assented;
but when the original inhabitants found them fairly launched at sea,
they raised a tempest by magical incantations, which entirely dispersed
the fleet. One part of it was driven along the east coast of Erinn, to
the north, under the command of Eremon, the youngest of the Milesian
brothers; the remainder, under the command of Donn, the elder brother,
was driven to the south-west of the island.
But the Milesians had druids also.[60] As soon as they suspected the
agency which had caused the storm, they sent a man to the topmast of the
ship to know "if the wind was blowing at that height over the surface of
the sea." The man reported that it was not. The druids then commence
practising counter arts of magic, in which they soon succeeded, but not
until five of the eight brothers were lost. Four, including Donn, were
drowned in the wild Atlantic, off the coast of Kerry. Colpa met his fate
at the mouth of the river Boyne, called from him Inbhear Colpa. Eber
Finn and Amergin, the survivors of the southern party, landed in Kerry,
and here the battle of Sliabh Mis was fought, which has been already
mentioned.
The battle of Taillten followed; and the Milesians having become masters
of the country, the brothers Eber Finn and Eremon divided it between
them; the former taking all the southern part, from the Boyne and the
Shannon to Cape Clear, the latter taking all the part lying to the north
of these rivers.
This arrangement, however, was not of long continuance. Each was
desirous of unlimited sovereignty; and they met to decide their claims
by an appeal to arms at Géisill,[61] a place near the present Tullamore,
in the King's county. Eber and his chief leaders fell in this
engagement, and Eremon assumed the sole government of the island.[62]
[Illustration: ANCIENT FLINT AXE.]
He took up his residence in Leinster, and after a reign of fifteen years
died, and was buried at _Ráith Beóthaigh_, in _Argat Ross_. This ancient
rath still exists, and is now called Rath Beagh. It is situated on the
right bank of the river Nore, near the present village of Ballyragget,
county Kilkenny. This is not narrated by the Four Masters, neither do
they mention the coming of the Cruithneans or Picts into Ireland. These
occurrences, however, are recorded in all the ancient copies of the Book
of Invasions, and in the Dinnseanchus. The Cruithneans or Picts are said
to have fled from the oppression of their king in Thrace, and to have
passed into Gaul. There they founded the city of Poictiers. From thence
they were again driven by an act of tyranny, and they proceeded first to
Britain, and then to Ireland. Crimhthann Sciath-bél, one of King
Bremen's leaders, was at Wexford when the new colony landed. He was
occupied in extirpating a tribe of Britons who had settled in
Fotharta,[63] and were unpleasantly distinguished for fighting with
poisoned weapons. The Irish chieftain asked the assistance of the new
comers. A battle was fought, and the Britons were defeated principally
by the skill of the Pictish druid, who found an antidote for the poison
of their weapons. According to the quaint account of Bede,[64] the
Celtic chiefs gave good advice to their foreign allies in return for
their good deeds, and recommended them to settle in North Britain,
adding that they would come to their assistance should they find any
difficulty or opposition from the inhabitants. The Picts took the
advice, but soon found themselves in want of helpmates. They applied
again to their neighbours, and were obligingly supplied with wives on
the condition "that, when any difficulty should arise, they should
choose a king from the female royal race rather than from the male." The
Picts accepted the terms and the ladies; "and the custom," says Bede,
"as is well known, is observed among the Picts to this day."
Bede then continues to give a description of Ireland. His account,
although of some length, and not in all points reliable, is too
interesting to be omitted, being the opinion of an Englishman, and an
author of reputation, as to the state of Ireland, socially and
physically, in the seventh century: "Ireland, in breadth and for
wholesomeness and serenity of climate, far surpasses Britain; for the
snow scarcely ever lies there above three days; no man makes hay in
summer for winter's provision, or builds stables for his beasts of
burden. No reptiles are found there; for, though often carried thither
out of Britain, as soon as the ship comes near the shore, and the scent
of the air reaches them, they die. On the contrary, almost all things in
the island are good against poison. In short, we have known that when
some persons have been bitten by serpents, the scrapings of leaves of
books that were brought out of Ireland, being put into water and given
them to drink, have immediately expelled the spreading poison, and
assuaged the swelling. The island abounds in milk and honey;[65] nor is
there any want of vines, fish,[66] and fowl; and it is remarkable for
deer and goats."
The chronology of Irish pagan history is unquestionably one of its
greatest difficulties. But the chronology of all ancient peoples is
equally unmanageable. When Bunsen has settled Egyptian chronology to the
satisfaction of other literati as well as to his own, and when Hindoo
and Chinese accounts of their postdiluvian or antediluvian ancestors
have been reconciled and synchronized, we may hear some objections to
"Irish pedigrees," and listen to a new "Irish question."
Pre-Christian Irish chronology has been arranged, like most ancient
national chronologies, on the basis of the length of reign of certain
kings. As we do not trace our descent from the "sun and moon" we are not
necessitated to give our kings "a gross of centuries apiece," or to
divide the assumed period of a reign between half-a-dozen monarchs;[67]
and the difficulties are merely such as might be expected before
chronology had become a science. The Four Masters have adopted the
chronology of the Septuagint; but O'Flaherty took the system of
Scaliger, and thus reduced the dates by many hundred years. The
objection of hostile critics has been to the history rather than to the
chronology of the history; but these objections are a mere _petitio
principii_. They cannot understand how Ireland could have had a
succession of kings and comparative civilization,--in fact, a national
existence,--from 260 years before the building of Rome, when the
Milesian colony arrived, according to the author of the _Ogygia_, at
least a thousand years before the arrival of Cæsar in Britain, and his
discovery that its inhabitants were half-naked savages. The real
question is not what Cæsar said of the Britons, nor whether they had an
ancient history before their subjugation by the victorious cohorts of
Rome; but whether the annals which contained the pre-Christian history
of Ireland may be accepted as, in the main, authentic.
We have already given some account of the principal works from which our
annals may be compiled. Before we proceed to that portion of our history
the authenticity of which cannot be questioned, it may, perhaps, be
useful to give an idea of the authorities for the minor details of
social life, the individual incidents of a nation's being, which, in
fact, make up the harmonious whole. We shall find a remarkable
coincidence between the materials for early Roman history, and those for
the early history of that portion of the Celtic race which colonized
Ireland.
We have no trace of any historical account of Roman history by a
contemporary writer, native or foreign, before the war with Pyrrhus; yet
we have a history of Rome for more than four hundred years previous
offered to us by classical writers[68], as a trustworthy narrative of
events. From whence did they derive their reliable information?
Unquestionably from works such as the _Origines_ of Cato the Censor, and
other writers, which were then extant, but which have since perished.
And these writers, whence did they obtain their historical narratives?
If we may credit the theory of Niebuhr,[69] they were transmitted simply
by bardic legends, composed in verse. Even Sir G.C. Lewis admits that
"commemorative festivals and other periodical observances, may, in
certain cases, have served to perpetuate a true tradition of some
national event."[70] And how much more surely would the memory of such
events be perpetuated by a people, to whom they had brought important
political revolutions, who are eminently tenacious of their traditions,
and who have preserved the memory of them intact for centuries in local
names and monumental sites! The sources from whence the first annalists,
or writers of Irish history, may have compiled their narratives, would,
therefore, be--1. The Books of Genealogies and Pedigrees. 2. The
Historic Tales. 3. The Books of Laws. 4. The Imaginative Tales and
Poems. 5. National Monuments, such as cromlechs and pillar stones, &c.,
which supplied the place of the brazen tablets of Roman history, the
_libri lintei_,[71] or the chronological nail.[72]
The Books of Genealogies and Pedigrees form a most important element in
Irish pagan history. For social and political reasons, the Irish Celt
preserved his genealogical tree with scrupulous precision. The rights of
property and the governing power were transmitted with patriarchal
exactitude on strict claims of primogeniture, which claims could only be
refused under certain conditions defined by law. Thus, pedigrees and
genealogies became a family necessity; but since private claims might be
doubted, and the question of authenticity involved such important
results, a responsible public officer was appointed to keep the records
by which all claims were decided. Each king had his own recorder, who
was obliged to keep a true account of his pedigree, and also of the
pedigrees of the provincial kings and of their principal chieftains. The
provincial kings had also their recorders (Ollamhs or Seanchaidhé[73]);
and in obedience to an ancient law established long before the
introduction of Christianity, all the provincial records, as well as
those of the various chieftains, were required to be furnished every
third year to the convocation at Tara, where they were compared and
corrected.
The compilers of these genealogies were persons who had been educated as
Ollamhs--none others were admissible; and their "diplomas" were obtained
after a collegiate course, which might well deter many a modern aspirant
to professorial chairs. The education of the Ollamh lasted for twelve
years; and in the course of these twelve years of "hard work," as the
early books say, certain regular courses were completed, each of which
gave the student an additional degree, with corresponding title, rank,
and privileges.[74]
"In the Book of _Lecain_ (fol. 168) there is an ancient tract,
describing the laws upon this subject, and referring, with quotations,
to the body of the _Brethibh Nimhedh_, or 'Brehon Laws.' According to
this authority, the perfect Poet or _Ollamh_ should know and practise
the _Teinim Laegha_, the _Imas Forosnadh_, and the _Dichedal do
chennaibh_. The first appears to have been a peculiar druidical verse,
or incantation, believed to confer upon the druid or poet the power of
understanding everything that it was proper for him to say or speak. The
second is explained or translated, 'the illumination of much knowledge,
as from the teacher to the pupil,' that is, that he should be able to
explain and teach the four divisions of poetry or philosophy, 'and each
division of them,' continues the authority quoted, 'is the chief
teaching of three years of hard work.' The third qualification, or
_Dichedal_, is explained, 'that he begins at once the head of his poem,'
in short, to improvise extempore in correct verse. 'To the _Ollamh_,'
says the ancient authority quoted in this passage in the Book of
_Lecain_,' belong synchronisms, together with the _laegha laidhibh_, or
illuminating poems [incantations], and to him belong the pedigrees and
etymologies of names, that is, he has the pedigrees of the men of Erinn
with certainty, and the branching off of their various relationships.'
Lastly, 'here are the four divisions of the knowledge of poetry (or
philosophy),' says the tract I have referred to; 'genealogies,
synchronisms, and the reciting of (historic) tales form the first
division; knowledge of the seven kinds of verse, and how to measure them
by letters and syllables, form another of them; judgment of the seven
kinds of poetry, another of them; lastly, _Dichedal_ [or improvisation],
that is, to contemplate and recite the verses without ever thinking of
them before.'"[75]
The pedigrees were collected and written into a single book, called the
_Cin_ or Book of Drom Snechta, by the son of Duach Galach, King of
Connacht, an Ollamh in history and genealogies, &c., shortly before[76]
the arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland, which happened about A.D. 432. It
is obvious, therefore, that these genealogies must have existed for
centuries prior to this period. Even if they were then committed to
writing for the first time, they could have been handed down for many
centuries orally by the Ollamhs; for no amount of literary effort could
be supposed too great for a class of men so exclusively and laboriously
devoted to learning.
As the Milesians were the last of the ancient colonists, and had subdued
the races previously existing in Ireland, only their genealogies, with a
few exceptions, have been preserved. The genealogical tree begins,
therefore, with the brothers Eber and Eremon, the two surviving leaders
of the expedition, whose ancestors are traced back to Magog, the son of
Japhet. The great southern chieftains, such as the MacCarthys and
O'Briens, claim descent from Eber; the northern families of O'Connor,
O'Donnell, and O'Neill, claim Eremon as their head. There are also other
families claiming descent from Emer, the son of Ir, brother to Eber and
Eremon; as also from their cousin Lugaidh, the son of Ith. From four
sources the principal Celtic families of Ireland have sprung; and though
they do not quite trace up the line to
"The grand old gardener and his wife,"
they have a pedigree which cannot be gainsaid, and which might be
claimed with pride by many a monarch. MacFirbis' Book of
Genealogies,[77] compiled in the year 1650, from lost records, is the
most perfect work of this kind extant. But there are tracts in the Book
of Leinster (compiled A.D. 1130), and in the Book of Ballymote (compiled
A.D. 1391), which are of the highest authority. O'Curry is of opinion,
that those in the Book of Leinster were copied from the Saltair of
Cashel and other contemporaneous works.
The historical use of these genealogies is very great, not only because
they give an authentic pedigree and approximate data for chronological
calculation, but from the immense amount of correlative information
which they contain. Every free-born man of the tribe was entitled by
_blood_, should it come to his turn, to succeed to the chieftaincy:
hence the exactitude with which each pedigree was kept; hence their
importance in the estimation of each individual; hence the incidental
matter they contain, by the mention of such historical events[78] as may
have acted on different tribes and families, by which they lost their
inheritance or independence, and consequently their claim, however
remote, to the chieftaincy.
The ancient history of a people should always be studied with care and
candour by those who, as a matter of interest or duty, wish to
understand their social state, and the government best suited to that
state. Many of the poorest families in Ireland are descendants of its
ancient chiefs. The old habit--the habit which deepened and intensified
itself during centuries--cannot be eradicated, though it may be
ridiculed, and the peasant will still boast of his "blood;" it is all
that he has left to him of the proud inheritance of his ancestors.
The second source of historical information may be found in the HISTORIC
TALES. The reciting of historic tales was one of the principal duties of
the Ollamh, and he was bound to preserve the truth of history "pure and
unbroken to succeeding generations."
"According to several of the most ancient authorities, the _Ollamh_, or
perfect Doctor, was bound to have (for recital at the public feasts and
assemblies) at least Seven Fifties of these Historic narratives; and
there appear to have been various degrees in the ranks of the poets, as
they progressed in education towards the final degree, each of which was
bound to be supplied with at least a certain number. Thus the _Anroth_,
next in rank to an _Ollamh_ should have half the number of an _Ollamh_;
the _Cli_, one-third the number, according to some authorities, and
eighty according to others; and so on down to the _Fochlog_, who should
have thirty; and the _Driseg_ (the lowest of all), who should have
twenty of these tales."[79]
The Ollamhs, like the druids or learned men of other nations, were in
the habit of teaching the facts of history to their pupils in verse,[80]
probably that they might be more easily remembered. A few of these tales
have been published lately, such as the Battle of _Magh Rath_, the
Battle of _Muighé Leana_, and the _Tochmarc Moméra_. Besides the tales
of Battles (Catha), there are the tales of Longasa, or Voyages; the
tales of Tóghla, or Destructions; of Slaughters, of Sieges, of
Tragedies, of Voyages, and, not least memorable, of the Tána, or Cattle
Spoils, and the Tochmarca, or Courtships. It should be remembered that
numbers of these tales are in existence, offering historical materials
of the highest value. The Books of Laws demand a special and more
detailed notice, as well as the Historical Monuments. With a brief
mention of the Imaginative Tales and Poems, we must conclude this
portion of our subject.
Ancient writings, even of pure fiction, must always form an important
historical element to the nation by which they have been produced.
Unless they are founded on fact, so far as customs, localities, and mode
of life are concerned, they would possess no interest; and their
principal object is to interest. Without some degree of poetic
improbabilities as to events, they could scarcely amuse; and their
object is also to amuse. Hence, the element of truth is easily separated
from the element of fiction, and each is available in its measure for
historic research. The most ancient of this class of writings are the
Fenian Poems and Tales, ascribed to Finn Mac Cumhaill, to his sons,
Oisín and Fergus Finnbheoill (the Eloquent), and to his kinsman,
Caeilité. There are also many tales and poems of more recent date. Mr.
O'Curry estimates, that if all MSS. known to be in existence, and
composed before the year 1000, were published, they would form at least
8,000 printed pages of the same size as O'Donovan's Annals of the Four
Masters.
[Illustration: FROM SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.]
[Illustration: ROUND TOWER OF DYSART, NEAR CROOM, LIMERICK.]
FOOTNOTES:
[57] _Scota_.--The grave is still pointed out in the valley of Gleann
Scoithin, county Kerry.
[58] _Taillten_.--Now Telltown, county Meath.
[59] _Amhergen_.--Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i. p. 25.
[60] _Also_.--This tale bears a simple and obvious interpretation. The
druids were the most learned and experienced in physical science of
their respective nations; hence the advice they gave appeared magical to
those who were less instructed.
[61] _Géisill_.--The scene of the battle was at a place called _Tochar
eter dhá mhagh_, or "the causeway between two plains," and on the bank
of the river _Bri Damh_, which runs through the town of Tullamore. The
name of the battle-field is still preserved in the name of the townland
of Ballintogher, in the parish and barony of _Géisill_. At the time of
the composition of the ancient topographical tract called the
Dinnseanchus, the mounds and graves of the slain were still to be
seen.--See O'Curry, page 449. The author of this tract, Amergin Mac
Amalgaidh, wrote about the sixth century. A copy of his work is
preserved in the Book of Ballymote, which was compiled in the year 1391.
There is certainly evidence enough to prove the fact of the _mélee_, and
that this was not a "legend invented from the tenth to the twelfth
centuries." It is almost amusing to hear the criticisms of persons
utterly ignorant of our literature, however well-educated in other
respects. If the treasures of ancient history which exist in Irish MSS.
existed in Sanscrit, or even in Greek or Latin, we should find scholars
devoting their lives and best intellectual energies to understand and
proclaim their value and importance, and warmly defending them against
all impugners of their authenticity.
[62] _Island_.--The axe figured above is a remarkable weapon. The copy
is taken, by permission, from the collection of the Royal Irish Academy.
Sir W. Wilde describes the original thus in the Catalogue: "It is 3-1/8
inches in its longest diameter, and at its thickest part measures about
half-an-inch. It has been chipped all over with great care, and has a
sharp edge all round. This peculiar style of tool or weapon reached
perfection in this specimen, which, whether used as a knife, arrow,
spike, or axe, was an implement of singular beauty of design, and
exhibits great skill in the manufacture."
[63] _Fotharta_.--Now the barony of Forth, in Wexford.
[64] _Bede.--Ecclesiastical History_, Bohn's edition, p. 6.
[65] _Honey_.--Honey was an important edible to the ancients, and,
therefore, likely to obtain special mention. Keating impugns the
veracity of Solinus, who stated that there were no bees in Ireland, on
the authority of Camden, who says: "Such is the quantity of bees, that
they are found not only in hives, but even in the trunks of trees, and
in holes in the ground." There is a curious legend anent the same useful
insect, that may interest apiarians as well as hagiologists. It is said
in the life of St. David, that when Modomnoc (or Dominic) was with St.
David at Menevia, in Wales, he was charged with the care of the
beehives, and that the bees became so attached to him that they followed
him to Ireland. However, the Rule of St. Albans, who lived in the time
of St. Patrick (in the early part of the fifth century), may be quoted
to prove that bees existed in Ireland at an earlier period, although the
saint may have been so devoted to his favourites as to have brought a
special colony by miracle or otherwise to Ireland. The Rule of St. Alban
says: "When they [the monks] sit down at table, let them be brought
[served] beets or roots, washed with water, in clean baskets, also
apples, beer, and honey from the hive." Certainly, habits of regularity
and cleanliness are here plainly indicated as well as the existence of
the bee.
[66] _Fish_.--It is to be presumed that fish are destined to prosper in
Hibernia: of the ancient deer, more hereafter. The goats still nourish
also, as visitors to Killarney can testify; though they will probably
soon be relics of the past, as the goatherds are emigrating to more
prosperous regions at a rapid rate.
[67] _Monarchs_.--See Bunsen's _Egypt, passim_.
[68] _Writers_.--The first ten books of Livy are extant, and bring Roman
history to the consulship of Julius Maximus Gurges and Junius Brutus
Scoene, in 292 B.C. Dionysius published his history seven years before
Christ. Five of Plutarch's Lives fall within the period before the war
with Pyrrhus. There are many sources besides those of the works of
historians from which general information is obtained.
[69] _Niebuhr_.--"Genuine or oral tradition has kept the story of
Tarpeia for _five-and-twenty hundred years_ in the mouths of the common
people, who for many centuries have been total strangers to the names of
Cloelia and Cornelia."--_Hist_. vol. i. p. 230.
[70] _Event.--Credibility of Early Roman History_, vol. i. p. 101.
[71] _Libri lintei_.--Registers written on linen, mentioned by Livy,
under the year 444 B.C.
[72] _Nail_.--Livy quotes Cincius for the fact that a series of nails
were extant in the temple of Hostia, at Volsinii, as a register of
successive years. Quite as primitive an arrangement as the North
American _quipus_.
[73] _Seanchaidhé_ (pronounced "shanachy").--It means, in this case,
strictly a historian; but the ancient historian was also a bard or poet.
[74] _Privileges_.--We can scarcely help requesting the special
attention of the reader to these well-authenticated facts. A nation
which had so high an appreciation of its annals, must have been many
degrees removed from barbarism for centuries.
[75] _Before_.--O'Curry, p. 240.
[76] _Before_.--This, of course, opens up the question as to whether the
Irish Celts had a written literature before the arrival of St. Patrick.
The subject will be fully entertained later on.
[77] _Genealogies_.-There is a "distinction and a difference" between a
genealogy and a pedigree. A genealogy embraces the descent of a family,
and its relation to all the other families that descended from the same
remote parent stock, and took a distinct tribe-name, as the Dalcassians.
A pedigree traces up the line of descent to the individual from whom the
name was derived.
[78] _Events_.--Arnold mentions "the _family traditions_ and funeral
orations out of which the oldest annalists [of Roman history] compiled
their narratives." vol. i. p. 371. Sir G.C. Lewis, however, thinks that
the composition of national annals would precede the composition of any
private history; but he adds that he judges from the "example of modern
times." With all respect to such an authority, it seems rather an
unphilosophical conclusion. Family pedigrees would depend on family
pride, in which the Romans were by no means deficient; and on political
considerations, which were all-important to the Irish Celt.
[79] _Tales_.--O'Curry, p. 241.
[80] _Verse_.--See Niebuhr, _Hist_. vol i. pp. 254-261. Arnold has
adopted his theory, and Macaulay _has acted on it_. But the Roman poems
were merely recited at public entertainments, and were by no means a
national arrangement for the preservation of history, such as existed
anciently in Ireland. These verses were sung by boys _more patrum_ (Od.
iv. 15), for the entertainment of guests. Ennius, who composed his
_Annales_ in hexameter verse, introducing, for the first time, the Greek
metre into Roman literature, mentions the verses which the _Fauns_, or
religious poets, used to chant. Scaliger thinks that the _Fauns_ were a
class of men who exercised in Latium, at a very remote period, the same
functions as the Magians in Persia and _the Bards in Gaul_. Niebuhr
supposes that the entire history of the Roman, kings was formed from
poems into a prose narrative.
CHAPTER VI.
Tighearnmas--His Death--Introduces Colours as a Distinction of
Rank--Silver Shields and Chariots first used--Reign of Ugainé Môr--The
Treachery of Cobhthach--Romantic Tales--Queen Mab--Dispute which led to
the celebrated Cattle Spoil--The Story of the Táin bó Chuailgné--The
Romans feared to invade Ireland--Tacitus--Revolt of the Attacotti--Reign
of Tuathal--Origin of the Boromean Tribute.
[B.C. 1700.]
Our annals afford but brief details from the time of Eremon to that of
_Ugainé Môr_. One hundred and eighteen sovereigns are enumerated from
the Milesian conquest of Ireland (according to the Four Masters, B.C.
1700) to the time of St. Patrick, A.D. 432. The principal events
recorded are international deeds of arms, the clearing of woods, the
enactment of laws, and the erection of palaces.
Tighearnmas, one of these monarchs, is said to have introduced the
worship of idols into Ireland. From this it would appear, that the more
refined Magian, or Sun-worship, had prevailed previously. He died, with
"three-fourths" of the men of Ireland about him, on the night of
Samhain,[81] while worshipping the idol called Crom Cruach, at Magh
Slacht, in Breifné.[82] Tighearnmas reigned seventy-five years. He is
said to have been the first who attempted the smelting of gold in
Ireland; and the use of different colours,[83] as an indication of rank,
is also attributed to him.
Silver shields were now made (B.C. 1383) at Airget-Ros, by Enna
Airgtheach, and four-horse chariots were first used in the time of
Roitheachtaigh, who was killed by lightning near the Giant's Causeway.
Ollamh Fodhla (the wise or learned man) distinguished himself still more
by instituting triennial assemblies at Tara. Even should the date given
by the Four Masters (1317 B.C.) be called in question, there is no doubt
of the fact, which must have occurred some centuries before the
Christian era; and this would appear to be the earliest instance of a
national convocation or parliament in any country. Ollamh Fodhla also
appointed chieftains over every cantred or hundred, he constructed a
rath at Tara, and died there in the fortieth year of his reign.
At the reign of Cimbaoth (B.C. 716) we come to that period which
Tighernach considers the commencement of indisputably authentic history.
It is strange that he should have selected a provincial chief, and a
period in no way remarkable except for the building of the palace of
Emania.[84] But the student of Irish pre-Christian annals may be content
to commence with solid foundation as early as seven centuries before
Christ. The era was an important one in universal history. The Greeks
had then counted sixteen Olympiads, and crowned Pythagoras the victor.
Hippomenes was archon at Athens. Romulus had been succeeded by Numa
Pompilius, and the foundations of imperial Rome were laid in blood by
barbarian hordes. The Chaldeans had just taken the palm in astronomical
observations, and recorded for the first time a lunar eclipse; while the
baffled Assyrian hosts relinquished the siege of Tyre, unhappily
reserved for the cruel destruction accomplished by Alexander, a few
centuries later. The prophecies of Isaiah were still resounding in the
ears of an ungrateful people. He had spoken of the coming Christ and His
all-peaceful mission in mystic imagery, and had given miraculous
evidences of his predictions. But suffering should be the precursor of
that marvellous advent. The Assyrian dashed in resistless torrent upon
the fold. Israel was led captive. Hosea was in chains. Samaria and the
kingdom of Israel were added to the conquests of Sennacherib; and the
kingdom of Judah, harassed but not destroyed, waited the accomplishment
of prophecy, and the measure of her crimes, ere the most ancient of
peoples should for ever cease to be a nation.
Ugainé Môr is the next monarch who demands notice. His obituary record
is thus given by the Four Masters:--"At the end of this year, A.M. 4606,
Ugainé Môr, after he had been full forty years King of Ireland, and of
the whole of the west of Europe, as far as Muir-Toirrian, was slain by
Badhbhchad at Tealach-an-Choisgair, in Bregia. This Ugainé was he who
exacted oaths by all the elements, visible and invisible, from the men
of Ireland in general, that they would never contend for the sovereignty
of Ireland with his children or his race."
Ugainé was succeeded by his son, Laeghairé Lorc, who was cruelly and
treacherously killed by his brother, Cobhthach Cael. Indeed, few
monarchs lived out their time in peace during this and the succeeding
centuries. The day is darkest before the dawn, in the social and
political as well as in the physical world. The Eternal Light was
already at hand; the powers of darkness were aroused for the coming
conflict; and deeds of evil were being accomplished, which make men
shudder as they read. The assassination of Laeghairé was another
manifestation of the old-world story of envy. The treacherous Cobhthach
feigned sickness, which he knew would obtain a visit from his brother.
When the monarch stooped to embrace him, he plunged a dagger into his
heart. His next act was to kill his nephew, Ailill Ainé; and his
ill-treatment of Ainé's son, Maen, was the consummation of his cruelty.
The fratricide was at last slain by this very youth, who had now
obtained the appellation of Labhraidh-Loingseach, or Lowry of the Ships.
We have special evidence here of the importance of our Historic Tales,
and also that the blending of fiction and fact by no means deteriorates
from their value.
Love affairs form a staple ground for fiction, with a very substantial
under-strata of facts, even in the nineteenth century; and the annals of
pre-Christian Erinn are by no means deficient in the same fertile source
of human interest. The History of the Exile is still preserved in the
Leabhar Buidhé Lecain, now in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. It
is a highly romantic story, but evidently founded on fact, and full of
interest as descriptive of public and private life in the fifth century
before Christ. It tells how Maen, though supposed to be deaf and dumb,
was, nevertheless, given in charge of two officers of the court to be
educated; that he recovered or rather obtained speech suddenly, in a
quarrel with another youth; and that he was as symmetrical of form and
noble of bearing as all heroes of romance are bound to be. His uncle
expelled him from the kingdom, and he took refuge at the court of King
Scoriath. King Scoriath had a daughter, who was beautiful; and Maen, of
course, acted as a knight was bound to do under such circumstances, and
fell desperately in love with the princess. The Lady Moriath's beauty
had bewildered more heads than that of the knight-errant; but the Lady
Moriath's father and mother were determined their daughter should not
marry.
The harper Craftiné came to the rescue, and at last, by his
all-entrancing skill, so ravished the whole party of knights and nobles,
that the lovers were able to enjoy a tête-a-tête, and pledged mutual
vows. As usual, the parents yielded when they found it was useless to
resist; and, no doubt, the poet Craftiné, who, poet and all as he was,
nearly lost his head in the adventure, was the most welcome of all
welcome guests at the nuptial feast. Indeed, he appears to have been
retained as comptroller of the house and confidential adviser long
after; for when Labhraidh Maen was obliged to fly the country, he
confided his wife to the care of Craftiné. On his return from
France,[85] he obtained possession of the kingdom, to which he was the
rightful heir, and reigned over the men of Erinn for eighteen years.
Another Historic Tale gives an account of the destruction of the court
of Dá Derga, but we have not space for details. The Four Masters merely
relate the fact in the following entry:--
"Conairé, the son of Ederscél, after having been seventy years in the
sovereignty of Erinn, was slain at Bruighean Dá Dhearga by insurgents."
Another prince, Eochaidh Feidhlech, was famous for sighing. He rescinded
the division of Ireland into twenty-five parts, which had been made by
Ugainé Môr, and divided the island into five provinces, over each of
which he appointed a provincial king, under his obedience. The famous
Meadhbh, or Mab, was his daughter; and though unquestionably a lady of
rather strong physical and mental capabilities, the lapse of ages has
thrown an obscuring halo of romance round her belligerent
qualifications, and metamorphosed her into the gentle "Faery Queen" of
the poet Spenser. One of Méav's exploits is recorded in the famous Táin
bó Chuailgné, which is to Celtic history what the Argonautic Expedition,
or the Seven against Thebes, is to Grecian. Méav was married first to
Conor, the celebrated provincial king of Ulster; but the marriage was
not a happy one, and was dissolved, in modern parlance, on the ground of
incompatibility. In the meanwhile, Méav's three brothers had rebelled
against their father; and though his arms were victorious, the victory
did not secure peace. The men of Connacht revolted against him, and to
retain their allegiance he made his daughter Queen of Connacht, and gave
her in marriage to Ailill, a powerful chief of that province. This
prince, however, died soon after; and Méav, determined for once, at
least, to choose a husband for herself, made a royal progress to
Leinster, where Ross Ruadb held his court at Naas. She selected the
younger son of this monarch, who bore the same name as her former
husband, and they lived together happily as queen and king consort for
many years. On one occasion, however, a dispute arose about their
respective treasures, and this dispute led to a comparison of their
property. The account of this, and the subsequent comparison, is given
at length in the _Táin_, and is a valuable repertory of archæological
information. They counted their vessels, metal and wooden; they counted
their finger rings, their clasps, their thumb rings, their diadems, and
their gorgets of gold. They examined their many-coloured garments of
crimson and blue, of black and green, yellow and mottled, white and
streaked. All were equal. They then inspected their flocks and herds,
swine from the forests, sheep from the pasture lands, and cows--here the
first difference arose. It was one to excite Méav's haughty temper.
There was a young bull found among Ailill's bovine wealth: it had been
calved by one of Méav's cows; but "not deeming it honorable to be under
a woman's control," it had attached itself to Ailill's herds. Méav was
not a lady who could remain quiet under such provocation. She summoned
her chief courier, and asked him could he a match for Finnbheannach (the
white-horned). The courier declared that he could find even a superior
animal; and at once set forth on his mission, suitably attended. Méav
had offered the most liberal rewards for the prize she so much coveted;
and the courier soon arranged with Daré, a noble of large estates, who
possessed one of the valuable breed. A drunken quarrel, however,
disarranged his plans. One of the men boasted that if Daré had not given
the bull for payment, he should have been compelled to give it by force.
Daré's steward heard the ill-timed and uncourteous boast. He flung down
the meat and drink which he had brought for their entertainment, and
went to tell his master the contemptuous speech. The result may be
anticipated. Daré refused the much-coveted animal, and Méav proceeded to
make good her claim by force of arms. But this is only the prologue of
the drama; the details would fill a volume. It must suffice to say, that
the bulls had a battle of their own. Finnbheannach and Donn Chuailgné
(the Leinster bull) engaged in deadly combat, which is described with
the wildest flights of poetic diction.[86] The poor "white horn" was
killed, and Donn Chuailgné, who had lashed himself to madness, dashed
out his brains.[87]
[Illustration: FLINT SPEAR-HEAD, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A.]
Méav lived to the venerable age of a hundred. According to Tighernach,
she died A.D. 70, but the chronology of the Four Masters places her
demise a hundred years earlier. This difference of calculation also
makes it questionable what monarch reigned in Ireland at the birth of
Christ. The following passage is from the Book of Ballymote, and is
supposed to be taken from the synchronisms of Flann of Monasterboice:
"In the fourteenth year of the reign of Conairé and of Conchobar, Mary
was born; and in the fourth year after the birth of Mary, the expedition
of the Táin bó Chuailgné took place. Eight years after the expedition of
the Táin, Christ was born."
The Four Masters have the following entry after the age of the world
5194:--
THE AGE OF CHRIST.
"The first year of the age of Christ, and the eighth year of the reign
of Crimhthann Niadhnair." Under the heading of the age of Christ 9,
there is an account of a wonderful expedition of this monarch, and of
all the treasures he acquired thereby. His "adventures" is among the
list of Historic Tales in the Book of Leinster, but unfortunately there
is no copy of this tract in existence. It was probably about this time
that a recreant Irish chieftain tried to induce Agricola to invade
Ireland. But the Irish Celts had extended the fame of their military
prowess even to distant lands,[88] and the Roman general thought it
better policy to keep what he had than to risk its loss, and, perhaps,
obtain no compensation. Previous to Cæsar's conquest of Britain, the
Irish had fitted out several expeditions for the plunder of that
country, and they do not appear to have suffered from retaliation until
the reign of Egbert. It is evident, however, that the Britons did not
consider them their worst enemies, for we find mention of several
colonies flying to the Irish shores to escape Roman tyranny, and these
colonies were hospitably received.[89] The passage in Tacitus which
refers to the proposed invasion of Ireland by the Roman forces, is too
full of interest to be omitted:--"In the fifth year of these
expeditions, Agricola, passing over in the first ship, subdued in
frequent victories nations hitherto unknown. He stationed troops along
that part of Britain which looks to Ireland, more on account of hope
than fear,[90] since Ireland, from its situation between Britain and
Spain, and opening to the Gallic Sea, might well connect the most
powerful parts of the empire with reciprocal advantage. Its extent,
compared with Britain, is narrower, but exceeds that of any islands of
our sea. The genius and habits of the people, and the soil and climate,
do not differ much from those of Britain. Its channels and ports are
better known to commerce and to merchants.[91] Agricola gave his
protection to one of its petty kings, who had been expelled by faction;
and with a show of friendship, he retained him for his own purposes. I
often heard him say, that Ireland could he conquered and taken with one
legion and a small reserve; and such a measure would have its advantages
even as regards Britain, if Roman power were extended on every side, and
liberty taken away as it were from the view of the latter island."[92]
We request special attention to the observation, that the Irish ports
were better known to commerce and merchants. Such a statement by such an
authority must go far to remove any doubt as to the accounts given on
this subject by our own annalists. The proper name of the recreant
"regulus" has not been discovered, so that his infamy is transmitted
anonymously to posterity. Sir John Davies has well observed, with regard
to the boast of subduing Ireland so easily, "that if Agricola had
attempted the conquest thereof with a far greater army, he would have
found himself deceived in his conjecture." William of Neuburg has also
remarked, that though the Romans harassed the Britons for three
centuries after this event, Ireland never was invaded by them, even when
they held dominion of the Orkney Islands, and that it yielded to no
foreign power until the year[93] 1171. Indeed, the Scots and Picts gave
their legions quite sufficient occupation defending the ramparts of
Adrian and Antoninus, to deter them from attempting to obtain more, when
they could so hardly hold what they already possessed.
The insurrection of the Aitheach Tuatha,[94] or Attacotti, is the next
event of importance in Irish history. Their plans were deeply and wisely
laid, and promised the success they obtained. It is one of the lessons
of history which rulers in all ages would do well to study. There is a
degree of oppression which even the most degraded will refuse to endure;
there is a time when the injured will seek revenge, even should they
know that this revenge may bring on themselves yet deeper wrongs. The
leaders of the revolt were surely men of some judgment; and both they
and those who acted under them possessed the two great qualities needed
for such an enterprise. They were silent, for their plans were not even
suspected until they were accomplished; they were patient, for these
plans were three years in preparation. During three years the helots
saved their scanty earnings to prepare a sumptuous death-feast for their
unsuspecting victims. This feast was held at a place since called _Magh
Cru_, in Connaught. The monarch, Fiacha Finnolaidh, the provincial kings
and chiefs, were all invited, and accepted the invitation. But while the
enjoyment was at its height, when men had drank deeply, and were soothed
by the sweet strains of the harp, the insurgents did their bloody work.
Three ladies alone escaped. They fled to Britain, and there each gave
birth to a son--heirs to their respective husbands who had been slain.
After the massacre, the Attacotti elected their leader, Cairbré
Cinn-Cait (or the Cat-head), to the royal dignity, for they still
desired to live under a "limited monarchy." But revolutions, even when
successful, and we had almost said necessary, are eminently productive
of evil. The social state of a people when once disorganized, does not
admit of a speedy or safe return to its former condition. The mass of
mankind, who think more of present evils, however trifling, than of past
grievances, however oppressive, begin to connect present evils with
present rule, and having lost, in some degree, the memory of their
ancient wrongs, desire to recall a dynasty which, thus viewed, bears a
not unfavourable comparison with their present state.[95]
Cairbré died after five years of most unprosperous royalty, and his son,
the wise and prudent Morann,[96] showed his wisdom and prudence by
refusing to succeed him. He advised that the rightful heirs should be
recalled. His advice was accepted. Fearadhach Finnfeachteach was invited
to assume the reins of government. "Good was Ireland during this his
time. The seasons were right tranquil; the earth brought forth its
fruit; fishful its river-mouths; milkful the kine; heavy-headed the
woods."[97]
Another revolt of the Attacotti took place in the reign of Fiacha of the
White Cattle. He was killed by the provincial kings, at the slaughter of
Magh Bolg.[98] Elim, one of the perpetrators of this outrage, obtained
the crown, but his reign was singularly unprosperous; and Ireland was
without corn, without milk, without fruit, without fish, and without any
other great advantage, since the Aitheach Tuatha had killed Fiacha
Finnolaidh in the slaughter of Magh Bolg, till the time of Tuathal
Teachtmar.[99]
Tuathal was the son of a former legitimate monarch, and had been invited
to Ireland by a powerful party. He was perpetually at war with the
Attacotti, but at last established himself firmly on the throne, by
exacting an oath from the people, "by the sun, moon, and elements," that
his posterity should not be deprived of the sovereignty. This oath was
taken at Tara, where he had convened a general assembly, as had been
customary with his predecessors at the commencement of each reign; but
it was held by him with more than usual state. His next act was to take
a small portion of land from each of the four provinces, forming what is
now the present county of Meath, and retaining it as the mensal portion
of the Ard-Righ, or supreme monarch. On each of these portions he
erected a palace for the king of every province, details of which will
be given when we come to that period of our history which refers to the
destruction of Tara. Tuathal had at this time two beautiful and
marriageable daughters, named Fithir and Dairiné. Eochaidh Aincheann,
King of Leinster, sought and obtained the hand of the younger daughter,
Dairiné, and after her nuptials carried her to his palace at Naas, in
Leinster. Some time after, his people pursuaded him that he had made a
bad selection, and that the elder was the better of the two sisters;
upon which Eochaidh determined by stratagem to obtain the other daughter
also. For this purpose he shut the young queen up in a secret apartment
of his palace, and gave out a report that she was dead. He then
repaired, apparently in great grief to Tara, informed the monarch that
his daughter was dead, and demanded her sister in marriage. Tuathal gave
his consent, and the false king returned home with his new bride. Soon
after her arrival at Naas, her sister escaped from her confinement, and
suddenly and unexpectedly encountered the prince and Fithir. In a moment
she divined the truth, and had the additional anguish of seeing her
sister, who was struck with horror and shame, fall dead before her face.
The death of the unhappy princess, and the treachery of her husband, was
too much for the young queen; she returned to her solitary chamber, and
in a very short time died of a broken heart.
The insult offered to his daughters, and their untimely death, roused
the indignation of the pagan monarch, and was soon bitterly avenged. At
the head of a powerful force, he burned and ravaged Leinster to its
utmost boundary, and then compelled its humbled and terror-stricken
people to bind themselves and their descendants for ever to the payment
of a triennial tribute to the monarch of Erinn, which, from the great
number of cows exacted by it, obtained the name of the "Boromean
Tribute"--_bo_ being the Gaedhilic for a cow.
The tribute is thus described in the old annals:
"The men of Leinster were obliged to pay
To Tuathal, and all the monarchs after him,
Three-score hundred of the fairest cows,
And three-score hundred ounces of pure silver,
And three-score hundred mantles richly woven,
And three-score hundred of the fattest hogs,
And three-score hundred of the largest sheep,
And three-score hundred cauldrons strong and polished[100]."
It is elsewhere described as consisting of five thousand ounces of
silver, five thousand mantles, five thousand fat cows, five thousand fat
hogs, five thousand wethers, and five thousand vessels of brass or
bronze for the king's laving, with men and maidens for his service.
The levying of the tribute was the cause of periodical and sanguinary
wars, from the time of Tuathal until the reign of Finnachta the Festive.
About the year 680 it was abolished by him, at the entreaty of St.
Moling, of Tigh Moling (now St. Mullen's, in the county Carlow). It is
said by Keating, that he a ailed himself of a pious ruse for this
purpose,--asking the king to pledge himself not to exact the tribute
until after Monday, and then, when his request was complied with,
declaring that the Monday he intended was the Monday after Doomsday. The
tribute was again revived and levied by Brian, the son of Cinneidigh, at
the beginning of the eleventh century, as a punishment on the Leinster
men for their adherence to the Danish cause. It was from this
circumstance that Brian obtained the surname of _Boroimhé_.
[Illustration: LOUGH HYNE.]
FOOTNOTES:
[81] _Samhain_.--Now All Hallows Eve. The peasantry still use the pagan
name. It is a compound word, signifying "summer" and "end."
[82] _Breifné_.--In the present county Cavan. We shall refer again to
this subject, when mentioning St. Patrick's destruction of the idols.
[83] _Colours_.--Keating says that a slave was permitted only one
colour, a peasant two, a soldier three, a public victualler five. The
Ollamh ranked, with royalty, and was permitted six--another of the many
proofs of extraordinary veneration for learning in pre-Christian Erinn.
The Four Masters, however, ascribe the origin of this distinction to
Eochaidh Eadghadhach. It is supposed that this is the origin of the
Scotch plaid. The ancient Britons dyed their _bodies_ blue. The Cymric
Celts were famous for their colours.
[84] _Emania_.--The legend of the building of this palace will be given
in a future chapter.
[85] _France_.--It is said that foreigners who came with him from Gaul
were armed with broad-headed lances (called in Irish _laighne_), whence
the province of Leinster has derived its name. Another derivation of the
name, from _coige_, a fifth part, is attributed to the Firbolgs.
[86] _Diction_.-This tract contains a description of arms and ornaments
which might well pass for a poetic flight of fancy, had we not articles
of such exquisite workmanship in the Royal Irish Academy, which prove
incontrovertibly the skill of the ancient artists of Erinn. This is the
description of a champion's attire:--"A red and white cloak flutters
about him; a golden brooch in that cloak, at his breast; a shirt of
white, kingly linen, with gold embroidery at his skin; a white shield,
with gold fastenings at his shoulder; a gold-hilted long sword at his
left side; a long, sharp, dark green spear, together with a short, sharp
spear, with a rich band and carved silver rivets in his hand."--O'Curry,
p. 38. We give an illustration on previous page of a flint weapon of a
ruder kind.
[87] _Brains_.--My friend, Denis Florence MacCarthy, _Esq_., M.R.I.A.,
our poet _par excellence_, is occupied at this moment in versifying some
portions of this romantic story. I believe he has some intention of
publishing the work in America, as American publishers are urgent in
their applications to him for a complete and uniform edition of his
poems, including his exquisite translations from the dramatic and ballad
literature of Spain. We hope Irish publishers and the Irish people will
not disgrace their country by allowing such a work to be published
abroad. We are too often and too justly accused of deficiency in
cultivated taste, which unfortunately makes trashy poems, and verbose
and weakly-written prose, more acceptable to the majority than works
produced by highly-educated minds. Irishmen are by no means inferior to
Englishmen in natural gifts, yet, in many instances, unquestionably they
have not or do not cultivate the same taste for reading, and have not
the same appreciation of works of a higher class than the lightest
literature. Much of the fault, no doubt, lies in the present system of
education: however, as some of the professors in our schools and
colleges appear to be aware of the deficiency, we may hope for better
things.
[88] _Lands_.--Lhuid asserts that the names of the principal commanders
in Gaul and Britain who opposed Cæsar, are Irish Latinized.
[89] _Received_.--"They are said to have fled into Ireland, some for the
sake of ease and quietness, others to keep their eyes untainted by Roman
insolence."--See Harris' Ware. The Brigantes of Waterford, Tipperary,
and Kilkenny, are supposed to have been emigrants, and to have come from
the colony of that name in Yorkshire.
[90] _Fear_.--"In spem magis quam ob formidinem."
[91] _Merchants_.--"Melius aditus portusque per commercia et
negotiatores cognitis."
[92] _Island.--Vita Julii Agric. c._ 24.
[93] _Year.--Hist. Rer. Angl_. lib. ii. c. 26.
[94] _Aitheach Tuatha_.--The word means rentpayers, or rentpaying tribes
or people. It is probably used as a term of reproach, and in
contradiction to the free men. It has been said that this people were
the remnants of the inhabitants of Ireland before the Milesians
colonized it. Mr. O'Curry denies this statement, and maintains that they
were Milesians, but of the lower classes, who had been cruelly oppressed
by the magnates of the land.
[95] _State_.--"Evil was the state of Ireland during his reign:
fruitless the corn, for there used to be but one grain on the stalk;
fruitless her rivers; milkless her cattle; plentiless her fruit, for
there used to be but one acorn on the oak."--Four Masters, p. 97.
[96] _Morann_.--Morann was the inventor of the famous "collar of gold."
The new monarch appointed him his chief Brehon or judge, and it is said
that this collar closed round the necks of those who were guilty, but
expanded to the ground when the wearer was innocent. This collar or
chain is mentioned in several of the commentaries on the Brehon Laws, as
one of the ordeals of the ancient Irish. The Four Masters style him "the
very intelligent Morann."
[97] _Woods_.--Four Masters, p. 97.
[98] _Magh Bolg_.--Now Moybolgue, a parish in the county Cavan.
[99] _Teachtmar_, i.e., the legitimate, Four Masters, p. 99.--The
history of the revolt of the Attacotti is contained in one of the
ancient tracts called Histories. It is termed "The Origin of the
Boromean Tribute." There is a copy of this most valuable work in the
Book of Leinster, which, it will be remembered, was compiled in the
twelfth century. The details which follow above concerning the Boromean
Tribute, are taken from the same source.
[100] _Polished_.--Keating, p. 264.
[Illustration: ORATORY AT GALLARUS, CO. KERRY.]
CHAPTER VII.
Tuathal-Conn "of the Hundred Battles"--The Five Great Roads of Ancient
Erinn--Conn's Half--Conairé II.--The Three Cairbrés--Cormac Mac
Airt--His Wise Decision--Collects Laws--His Personal Appearance-The
Saltair of Tara written in Cormac's Reign--Finn Mac Cumhaill--His
Courtship with the Princess Ailbhé--The Pursuit of Diarmaid and
Grainné--Nial "of the Nine Hostages"--Dathi.
Tuathal reigned for thirty years, and is said to have fought no less
than 133 battles with the Attacotti. He was at last slain himself by his
successor, Nial, who, in his turn, was killed by Tuathal's son. Conn "of
the Hundred Battles" is the next Irish monarch who claims more than a
passing notice. His exploits are a famous theme with the bards, and a
poem on his "Birth" forms part of the _Liber Flavus Fergusorum_, a MS.
volume of the fifteenth century. His reign is also remarkable for the
mention of five great roads[101] which were then discovered or
completed. One of these highways, the Eiscir Riada, extended from the
declivity on which Dublin Castle now stands, to the peninsula of Marey,
at the head of Galway Bay. It divided Conn's half of Ireland from the
half possessed by Eóghan Môr, with whom he lived in the usual state of
internecine feud which characterized the reigns of this early period.
One of the principal quarrels between these monarchs, was caused by a
complaint which Eóghan made of the shipping arrangements in Dublin.
Conn's half (the northern side) was preferred, and Eóghan demanded a
fair division. They had to decide their claims at the battle of Magh
Lena.[102] Eóghan was assisted by a Spanish chief, whose sister he had
married. But the Iberian and his Celtic brother-in-law were both slain,
and the mounds are still shown which cover their remains.
Conn was succeeded by Conairé II., the father of the three Cairbrés, who
were progenitors of important tribes. Cairbré Muse gave his name to six
districts in Munster; the territory of Corcabaiscinn, in Clare, was
named after Cairbré Bascain; and the Dalriada of Antrim were descended
from Cairbré Riada. He is also mentioned by Bede under the name of
Reuda,[103] as the leader of the Scots who came from Hibernia to Alba.
Three centuries later, a fresh colony of Dalriadans laid the foundation
of the Scottish monarchy under Fergus, the son of Erc. Mac Con was the
next Ard-Righ or chief monarch of Ireland. He obtained the royal power
after a battle at Magh Mucruimhé, near Athenry, where Art the
Melancholy, son of Con of the Hundred Battles, and the seven sons of
Oilioll Oluim, were slain.
The reign of Cormac Mac Airt is unquestionably the most celebrated of
all our pagan monarchs. During his early years he had been compelled to
conceal himself among his mother's friends in Connaught; but the severe
rule of the usurper Mac Con excited a desire for his removal, and the
friends of the young prince were not slow to avail themselves of the
popular feeling. He, therefore, appeared unexpectedly at Tara, and
happened to arrive when the monarch was giving judgment in an important
case, which is thus related: Some sheep, the property of a widow,
residing at Tara, had strayed into the queen's private lawn, and eaten
the grass. They were captured, and the case was brought before the king.
He decided that the trespassers should be forfeited; but Cormac
exclaimed that his sentence was unjust, and declared that as the sheep
had only eaten the fleece of the land, they should only forfeit their
own fleece. The _vox populi_ applauded the decision. Mac Con started
from his seat, and exclaimed: "That is the judgment of a king." At the
same moment he recognized the prince, and commanded that he should be
seized; but he had already escaped. The people now recognized their
rightful king, and revolted against the usurper, who was driven into
Munster. Cormac assumed the reins of government at Tara, and thus
entered upon his brilliant and important career, A.D. 227.
Cormac commenced his government with acts of severity, which were,
perhaps, necessary to consolidate his power. This being once firmly
established, he devoted himself ardently to literary pursuits, and to
regulate and civilize his dominions. He collected the national laws, and
formed a code which remained in force until the English invasion, and
was observed for many centuries after outside the Pale. The bards dwell
with manifest unction on the "fruit and fatness" of the land in his
time, and describe him as the noblest and most bountiful of all princes.
Indeed, we can scarcely omit their account, since it cannot be denied
that it pictures the costume of royalty in Ireland at that period,
however poetically the details may be given. This, then, is the bardic
photograph:--
"His hair was slightly curled, and of golden colour: a scarlet shield
with engraved devices, and golden hooks, and clasps of silver: a
wide-folding purple cloak on him, with a gem-set gold brooch over his
breast; a gold torque around his neck; a white-collared shirt,
embroidered with gold, upon him; a girdle with golden buckles, and
studded with precious stones, around him; two golden net-work sandals
with golden buckles upon him; two spears with golden sockets, and many
red bronze rivets in his hand; while he stood in the full glow of
beauty, without defect or blemish. You would think it was a shower of
pearls that were set in his mouth; his lips were rubies; his symmetrical
body was as white as snow; his cheek was like the mountain ash-berry;
his eyes were like the sloe; his brows and eye-lashes were like the
sheen of a blue-black lance."[104]
The compilation of the Saltair of Tara, as we mentioned previously, is
attributed to this monarch. Even in Christian times his praises are
loudly proclaimed. The poet Maelmura, who lived in the eighth century,
styles him Ceolach, or the Musical, and Kenneth O'Hartigan, who died
A.D. 973, gives a glowing account of his magnificence and of his royal
palace at Tara. O'Flaherty quotes a poem, which he says contains an
account of three schools, instituted by Cormac at Tara; one for military
discipline, one for history, and the third for jurisprudence. The Four
Masters say: "It was this Cormac, son of Art, also, that collected the
chronicles of Ireland to Teamhair [Tara], and ordered them to write[105]
the chronicles of Ireland in one book, which was named the Saltair of
Teamhair. In that book were [entered] the coeval exploits and
synchronisms of the kings of Ireland with the kings and emperors of the
world, and of the kings of the provinces with the monarchs of Ireland.
In it was also written what the monarchs of Ireland were entitled to
[receive] from the provincial kings, and the rents and dues of the
provincial kings from their subjects, from the noble to the subaltern.
In it, also, were [described] the boundaries and mears of Ireland from
shore to shore, from the provinces to the cantred, from the cantred to
the townland, from the townland to the traighedh of land."[106] Although
the Saltair of Tara has disappeared from our national records, a law
tract, called the Book of Acaill, is still in existence, which is
attributed to this king. It is always found annexed to a Law Treatise by
Cennfaelad the Learned, who died A.D. 677. In an ancient MS. in Trinity
College, Dublin (Class H.L. 15, p. 149), it is stated that it was the
custom, at the inauguration of Irish chiefs, to read the Instructions of
the Kings (a work ascribed to Cormac) and his Laws.
There is a tradition that Cormac became a Christian before his death. In
the thirty-ninth year of his reign, one of his eyes was thrust out by a
spear, and he retired in consequence to one of those peaceful abodes of
learning which were so carefully fostered in ancient Erinn. The
high-minded nobility of this people is manifest notably in the law which
required that the king should have no personal blemish; and in obedience
to this law, Cormac vacated the throne. He died A.D. 266, at Cleiteach,
near Stackallen Bridge, on the south bank of the Boyne. It is said that
he was choked by a salmon bone, and that this happened through the
contrivances of the druids, who wished to avenge themselves on him for
his rejection of their superstitions.
This reign was made more remarkable by the exploits of his son-in-law,
the famous Finn Mac Cumhaill (pronounced "coole"). Finn was famous both
as a poet and warrior. Indeed, poetical qualifications were considered
essential to obtain a place in the select militia of which he was the
last commander. The courtship of the poet-warrior with the Princess
Ailbhé, Cormac's daughter, is related in one of the ancient historic
tales called _Tochmarca_, or Courtships. The lady is said to have been
the wisest woman of her time, and the wooing is described in the form of
conversations, which savour more of a trial of skill in ability and
knowledge, than of the soft utterances which distinguish such narratives
in modern days. It is supposed that the Fenian corps which he commanded
was modelled after the fashion of the Roman legions; but its loyalty is
more questionable, for it was eventually disbanded for insubordination,
although the exploits of its heroes are a favourite topic with the
bards. The Fenian poems, on which Macpherson founded his celebrated
forgery, are ascribed to Finn's sons, Oísin and Fergus the Eloquent, and
to his kinsman Caeilté, as well as to himself. Five poems only are
ascribed to him, but these are found in MSS. of considerable antiquity.
The poems of Oísin were selected by the Scotch writer for his grand
experiment. He gave a highly poetical translation of what purported to
be some ancient and genuine composition, but, unfortunately for his
veracity, he could not produce the original. Some of the real
compositions of the Fenian hero are, however, still extant in the Book
of Leinster, as well as other valuable Fenian poems. There are also some
Fenian tales in prose, of which the most remarkable is that of the
Pursuit of Diarmaid and Grainné--a legend which has left its impress in
every portion of the island to the present day. Finn, in his old age,
asked the hand of Grainné, the daughter of Cormac Mac Airt; but the lady
being young, preferred a younger lover. To effect her purpose, she
drugged the guest-cup so effectually, that Finn, and all the guests
invited with him, were plunged into a profound slumber after they had
partaken of it. Oísin and Diarmaid alone escaped, and to them the Lady
Grainné confided her grief. As true knights they were bound to rescue
her from the dilemma. Oísin could scarcely dare to brave his father's
vengeance, but Diarmaid at once fled with the lady. A pursuit followed,
which extended all over Ireland, during which the young couple always
escaped. So deeply is the tradition engraven in the popular mind, that
the cromlechs are still called the "Beds of Diarmaid and Grainné," and
shown as the resting-places of the fugitive lovers.
There are many other tales of a purely imaginative character, which, for
interest, might well rival the world-famous Arabian Nights'
Entertainments; and, for importance of details, illustrative of manners,
customs, dress, weapons, and localities, are, perhaps, unequalled.
Nial of the Nine Hostages and Dathi are the last pagan monarchs who
demand special notice. In the year 322, Fiacha Sraibhtine was slain by
the three Collas,[107] and a few short-lived monarchs succeeded. In 378,
Crimhthann was poisoned by his sister, who hoped that her eldest son,
Brian, might obtain the royal power. Her attempt failed, although she
sacrificed herself for its accomplishment, by taking the poisoned cup to
remove her brother's suspicions; and Nial of the Nine Hostages, the son
of her husband by a former wife, succeeded to the coveted dignity. This
monarch distinguished himself by predatory warfare against Albion and
Gaul. The "groans"[108] of the Britons testify to his success in that
quarter, which eventually obliged them to become an Anglo-Saxon nation;
and the Latin poet, Claudian, gives evidence that troops were sent by
Stilicho, the general of Theodosius the Great, to repel his successful
forays. His successor, Dathi, was killed by lightning at the foot of the
Alps, and the possibility of this occurrence is also strangely verified
from extrinsic sources.[109]
[Illustration: GAP OF DUNLOE, KILLARNEY.]
[Illustration: ARMAGH.]
FOOTNOTES:
[101] _Roads_.--Those roads were Slighe Asail, Slighe Midhluachra,
Slighe Cualann, Slighe Dala, and Slighe Môr. Slighe Môr was the Eiscir
Riada, and division line of Erinn into two parts, between Conn and
Eóghan Môr. These five roads led to the fort of Teamair (Tara), and it
is said that they were "discovered" on the birthnight of the former
monarch. We shall refer to the subject again in a chapter on the
civilization of the early Irish. There is no doubt of the existence of
these roads, and this fact, combined with the care with which they were
kept, is significant.
[102] _Magh Lena_.--The present parish of Moylana, or Kilbride,
Tullamore, King's county.
[103] _Reuda_.--Bede, _Eccl. Hist_. p. 7.
[104] _Lance_.--O'Curry, p. 45. This quotation is translated by Mr.
O'Curry, and is taken from the Book of Ballymote. This book, however,
quotes it from the _Uachongbhail_, a much older authority.
[105] _Write_.--Professor O'Curry well observes, that "such a man could
scarcely have carried out the numerous provisions of his comprehensive
enactments without some written medium. And it is no unwarrantable
presumption to suppose, that, either by his own hand, or, at least, in
his own time, by his command, his laws were committed to writing; and
when we possess very ancient testimony to this effect, I can see no
reason for rejecting it, or for casting a doubt upon the
statement."--_MS. Materials_, p. 47. Mr. Petrie writes, if possible,
more strongly. He says: "It is difficult, if not impossible, to conceive
how the minute and apparently accurate accounts found in the various
MSS. of the names and localities of the Attacottic tribes of Ireland in
the first century, could have been preserved, without coming to the
conclusion that they had been preserved in writing in some
work."--_Essay on Tara Hill_, p. 46. Elsewhere, however, he speaks more
doubtfully.
[106] _Land_.--Four Masters, p. 117.
[107] _Collas_.--They were sons of Eochaidh Domlen, who made themselves
famous by their warlike exploits, and infamous by their destruction of
the palace of Emania.
[108] _Groans_.--Bede, _Eccl. Hist_. c. 12.
[109] _Sources_.--The Abbé M'Geoghegan says that there is a very ancient
registry in the archives of the house of Sales, which mentions that the
King of Ireland remained some time in the Castle of Sales. See his
_History_, p. 94.
CHAPTER VIII.
St. Patrick--How Ireland was first Christianized--Pagan Rome used
providentially to promote the Faith--The Mission of St.
Palladius--Innocent I. claims authority to found Churches and condemn
Heresy--Disputes concerning St. Patrick's Birthplace--Ireland receives
the Faith generously--Victoricus--St. Patrick's Vision--His Roman
Mission clearly proved--Subterfuges of those who deny it--Ancient Lives
of the Saint--St. Patrick's Canons--His Devotion and Submission to the
Holy See.
[A.D. 378-432.]
It has been conjectured that the great Apostle of Ireland, St. Patrick,
was carried captive to the land of his adoption, in one of the
plundering expeditions of the monarch Nial--an eminent instance of the
overruling power of Providence, and of the mighty effects produced by
causes the most insignificant and unconscious. As we are not writing an
ecclesiastical history of Ireland, and as we have a work of that nature
in contemplation, we shall only make brief mention of the events
connected with the life and mission of the saint at present; but the
Christianizing of any country must always form an important epoch,
politically and socially, and, as such, demands the careful
consideration of the historian. How and when the seed of faith was sown
in ancient Erinn before the time of the great Apostle, cannot now be
ascertained. We know the silent rapidity with which that faith spread,
from its first promulgation by the shores of the Galilean lake, until it
became the recognized religion of earth's mightiest empire. We know,
also, that, by a noticeable providence, Rome was chosen from the
beginning as the source from whence the light should emanate. We know
how pagan Rome, which had subdued and crushed material empires, and
scattered nations and national customs as chaff before the wind, failed
utterly to subdue or crush this religion, though promulgated by the
feeblest of its plebeians. We know how the material prosperity of that
mighty people was overruled for the furtherance of eternal designs; and
as the invincible legions continually added to the geographical extent
of the empire they also added to the number of those to whom the gospel
of peace should be proclaimed.
The first Christian mission to Ireland, for which we have definite and
reliable data, was that of St. Palladius. St. Prosper, who held a high
position in the Roman Church, published a chronicle in the year 433, in
which we find the following register: "Palladius was consecrated by Pope
Celestine, and sent as the first Bishop to the Irish believing in
Christ."[110] This mission was unsuccessful. Palladius was repulsed by
the inhabitants of Wicklow,[111] where he landed. He then sailed
northward, and was at last driven by stress of weather towards the
Orkneys, finding harbour, eventually, on the shores of Kincardineshire.
Several ancient tracts give the details of his mission, its failure, and
his subsequent career. The first of those authorities is the Life of St.
Patrick in the Book of Armagh; and in this it is stated that he died in
the "land of the Britons." The second Life of St. Patrick, in Colgan's
collection, has changed Britons into "Picts." In the "Annotations of
Tierchan," also preserved in the Book of Armagh,[112] it is said that
Palladius was also called Patricius,[113] and that he suffered martyrdom
among the Scots, "as ancient saints relate."
Prosper also informs us, that Palladius was a deacon[114] of the Roman
Church, and that he received a commission from the Holy See to send
Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, to root out heresy,[115] and convert the
Britons to the Catholic faith. Thus we find the Church, even in the
earliest ages, occupied in her twofold mission of converting the
heathen, and preserving the faithful from error. St. Innocent I.,
writing to Decentius, in the year 402, refers thus to this important
fact: "Is it not known to all that the things which have been delivered
to the Roman Church by Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and preserved
ever since, should be observed by all; and that nothing is to be
introduced devoid of authority, or borrowed elsewhere? Especially, as it
is manifest that no one has founded churches for all Italy, the Gauls,
Spain, Africa, and the interjacent islands, except such as were
appointed priests by the venerable Peter and his successors."
Palladius was accompanied by four companions: Sylvester and Solinus, who
remained after him in Ireland; and Augustinus and Benedictus, who
followed him[116] to Britain, but returned to their own country after
his death. The _Vita Secunda_ mentions that he brought relics of the
blessed Peter and Paul, and other saints, to Ireland, as well as copies
of the Old and New Testament, all of which were given to him by Pope
Celestine.
The birthplace of the great Apostle of Ireland has long been, and still
continues, a subject of controversy. St. Fiacc states that he was born
at Nemthur,[117] and the Scholiast on St. Fiacc's Hymn identifies this
with Alcuith, now Dumbarton, on the Firth of Clyde. The most reliable
authority unquestionably is St. Patrick's own statements, in his
_Confessio_. He there says (1) that his father had a farm or villa at
Bonavem Taberniæ, from whence he was taken captive. It does not follow
necessarily from this, that St. Patrick was born there; but it would
appear probable that this was a paternal estate. (2)The saint speaks of
Britanniæ as his country. The difficulty lies in the identification of
these places. In the _Vita Secunda_, Nemthur and Campus Taberniæ are
identified. Probus writes, that he had ascertained as a matter of
certainty, that the _Vicus Bannave Taburniæ regionis_ was situated in
Neustria. The Life supposed to be by St. Eleran, states that the parents
of the saint were of Strats-Cludi (Strath-Clyde), but that he was born
in Nemthur--"Quod oppidum in Campo Taburniæ est;" thus indicating an
early belief that France was the land of his nativity. St. Patrick's
mention of Britanniæ, however, appears to be conclusive. There was a
tribe called Brittani in northern France, mentioned by Pliny, and the
Welsh Triads distinctly declare that the Britons of Great Britain came
from thence.
There can be no doubt, however, that St. Patrick was intimately
connected with Gaul. His mother, Conchessa, was either a sister or niece
of the great St. Martin of Tours; and it was undoubtedly from Gaul that
the saint was carried captive to Ireland.
Patrick was not the baptismal name of the saint; it was given him by St.
Celestine[118] as indicative of rank, or it may be with some prophetic
intimation of his future greatness. He was baptized by the no less
significant appellation of Succat--"brave in battle." But his warfare
was not with a material foe. Erinn received the faith at his hands, with
noble and unexampled generosity; and one martyr, and only one, was
sacrificed in preference of ancient pagan rites; while we know that
thousands have shed their blood, and it maybe hundreds even in our own
times have sacrificed their lives, to preserve the treasure so gladly
accepted, so faithfully preserved.[119]
Moore, in his _History of Ireland_, exclaims, with the force of truth,
and the eloquence of poetry: "While in all other countries the
introduction of Christianity has been the slow work of time, has been
resisted by either government or people, and seldom effected without
lavish effusion of blood, in Ireland, on the contrary, by the influence
of one zealous missionary, and with but little previous preparation of
the soil by other hands, Christianity burst forth at the first ray of
apostolic light, and, with the sudden ripeness of a northern summer, at
once covered the whole land. Kings and princes, when not themselves
amongst the ranks of the converted, saw their sons and daughters joining
in the train without a murmur. Chiefs, at variance in all else, agreed
in meeting beneath the Christian banner; and the proud druid and bard
laid their superstitions meekly at the foot of the cross; nor, by a
singular blessing of Providence--unexampled, indeed, in the whole
history of the Church--was there a single drop of blood shed on account
of religion through the entire course of this mild Christian revolution,
by which, in the space of a few years, all Ireland was brought
tranquilly under the dominion of the Gospel."
It is probable that St. Patrick was born in 387, and that in 403 he was
made captive and carried into Ireland. Those who believe Alcuith or
Dumbarton to have been his birthplace, are obliged to account for his
capture in Gaul--which has never been questioned--by supposing that he
and his family had gone thither to visit the friends of his mother,
Conchessa. He was sold as a slave, in that part of Dalriada comprised in
the county of Antrim, to four men, one of whom, Milcho, bought up their
right from the other three, and employed him in feeding sheep or swine.
Exposed to the severity of the weather day and night, a lonely slave in
a strange land, and probably as ignorant of the language as of the
customs of his master, his captivity, would, indeed, have been a bitter
one, had he not brought with him, from a holy home, the elements of most
fervent piety. A hundred times in the day, and a hundred times in the
night, he lifted up the voice of prayer and supplication to the Lord of
the bondman and the free, and faithfully served the harsh, and at times
cruel, master to whom Providence had assigned him. Perhaps he may have
offered his sufferings for those who were serving a master even more
harsh and cruel.
After six years he was miraculously delivered. A voice, that was not of
earth, addressed him in the stillness of the night, and commanded him to
hasten to a certain port, where he would find a ship ready to take him
to his own country. "And I came," says the saint, "in the power of the
Lord, who directed my course towards a good end; and I was under no
apprehension until I arrived where the ship was. It was then clearing
out, and I called for a passage. But the master of the vessel got angry,
and said to me, 'Do not attempt to come with us.' On hearing this I
retired, for the purpose of going to the cabin where I had been received
as a guest. And, on my way thither, I began to pray; but before I had
finished my prayer, I heard one of the men crying out with a loud voice
after me, 'Come, quickly; for they are calling you,' and immediately I
returned. And they said to me, 'Come, we receive thee on trust. Be our
friend, just as it may be agreeable to you.' We then set sail, and after
three days reached land." The two Breviaries of Rheims and Fiacc's Hymn
agree in stating that the men with whom Patrick embarked were merchants
from Gaul, and that they landed in a place called Treguir, in Brittany,
some distance from his native place. Their charity, however, was amply
repaid. Travelling through a desert country, they had surely perished
with hunger, had not the prayers of the saint obtained them a miraculous
supply of food.
It is said that St. Patrick suffered a second captivity, which, however,
only lasted sixty days; but of this little is known. Neither is the
precise time certain, with respect to these captivities, at which the
events occurred which we are about to relate. After a short residence at
the famous monastery of St. Martin, near Tours, founded by his saintly
relative, he placed himself (probably in his thirtieth year) under the
direction of St. Germain of Auxerre.
It was about this period that he was favoured with the remarkable vision
or dream relating to his Irish apostolate. He thus describes it in his
_Confessio_:--
"I saw, in a nocturnal vision, a man named Victoricus[120] coming as if
from Ireland, with a large parcel of letters, one of which he handed to
me. On reading the beginning of it, I found it contained these words:
'The voice of the Irish;' and while reading it I thought I heard, at the
same moment, the voice of a multitude of persons near the Wood of
Foclut, which is near the western sea; and they cried out, as if with
one voice, '_We entreat thee, holy youth, to come and henceforth walk
amongst us.'_ And I was greatly affected in my heart, and could read no
longer; and then I awoke."
St. Patrick retired to Italy after this vision, and there spent many
years. During this period he visited Lerins,[121] and other islands in
the Mediterranean. Lerins was distinguished for its religious and
learned establishments; and probably St. Germain,[122] under whose
direction the saint still continued, had recommended him to study there.
It was at this time that he received the celebrated staff, called the
_Bachall Isu_, or Staff of Jesus.
St. Bernard mentions this _Bachall Isu_, in his life of St. Malachy, as
one of those insignia of the see of Armagh, which were popularly
believed to confer upon the possessor a title to be regarded and obeyed
as the successor of St. Patrick. Indeed, the great antiquity of this
long-treasured relic has never been questioned; nor is there any reason
to suppose that it was not in some way a miraculous gift.
Frequent notices of this pastoral staff are found in ancient Irish
history. St. Fiacc speaks of it as having been richly adorned by an
ecclesiastic contemporary with the saint.
A curious MS. is still preserved in the Chapter House of Westminster
Abbey, containing an examination of "Sir Gerald Machshayne, knight,
sworn 19th March, 1529, upon the Holie Mase-booke and the _great relicke
of Erlonde, called Baculum Christi_, the presence of the Kynge's
Deputie, Chancellour, Tresoror, and Justice."
Perhaps it may be well to conclude the account of this interesting relic
by a notice of its wanton destruction, as translated from the Annals of
Loch Cè by Professor O'Curry:--
"The most miraculous image of Mary, which was at _Bailé Atha Truim_
(Trim), and which the Irish people had all honoured for a long time
before that, which used to heal the blind, the deaf, the lame, and every
disease in like manner, was burned by the Saxons. And the Staff of
Jesus, which was in Dublin, and which wrought many wonders and miracles
in Erinn since the time of Patrick down to that time, and which was in
the hand of Christ Himself, was burned by the Saxons in like manner. And
not only that, but there was not a holy cross, nor an image of Mary, nor
other celebrated image in Erinn over which their power reached, that
they did not burn. Nor was there one of the seven Orders which came
under their power that they did not ruin. And the Pope and the Church in
the East and at home were excommunicating the Saxons on that account,
and they did not pay any attention or heed unto that, &c. And I am not
certain whether it was not in the year preceding the above [A.D. 1537]
that these relics were burned."
St. Patrick visited Rome about the year 431, accompanied by a priest
named Segetius, who was sent with him by St. Germanus to vouch for the
sanctity of his character, and his fitness for the Irish mission.
Celestine received him favourably, and dismissed him with his
benediction and approbation. St. Patrick then returned once more to his
master, who was residing at Auxerre. From thence he went into the north
of Gaul, and there receiving intelligence of the death of St. Palladius,
and the failure of his mission, he was immediately consecrated bishop by
the venerable Amato, a prelate of great sanctity, then residing in the
neighbourhood of Ebovia. Auxilius, Isserninus, and other disciples of
the saint, received holy orders at the same time. They were subsequently
promoted to the episcopacy in the land of their adoption.
In the year 432 St. Patrick landed in Ireland. It was the first year of
the pontificate of St. Sixtus III., the successor of Celestine; the
fourth year of the reign of Laeghairé, son of Nial of the Nine Hostages,
King of Ireland. It is generally supposed that the saint landed first at
a place called Inbher De, believed to be the mouth of the Bray river, in
Wicklow. Here he was repulsed by the in habitants,--a circumstance which
can be easily accounted for from its proximity to the territory of King
Nathi, who had so lately driven away his predecessor, Palladius.
St. Patrick returned to his ship, and sailing towards the north landed
at the little island of Holm Patrick, near Skerries, off the north coast
of Dublin. After a brief stay he proceeded still farther northward, and
finally entering Strangford Lough, landed with his companions in the
district of Magh-Inis, in the present barony of Lecale. Having
penetrated some distance into the interior, they were encountered by
Dicho, the lord of the soil, who, hearing of their embarkation, and
supposing them to be pirates, had assembled a formidable body of
retainers to expel them from his shores. But it is said that the moment
he perceived, Patrick, his apprehensions vanished. After some brief
converse, Dicho invited the saint and his companions to his house, and
soon after received himself the grace of holy baptism. Dicho was St.
Patrick's first convert, and the first who erected a Christian church
under his direction. The memory of this event is still preserved in the
name Saull, the modern contraction of _Sabhall Padruic_, or Patrick's
Barn. The saint was especially attached to the scene of his first
missionary success, and frequently retired to the monastery which was
established there later.
After a brief residence with the new converts, Patrick set out for the
habitation of his old master, Milcho, who lived near Slieve Mis, in the
present county of Antrim, then part of the territory called Dalriada. It
is said that when Milcho heard of the approach of his former slave, he
became so indignant, that, in a violent fit of passion, he set fire to
his house, and perished himself in the flames. The saint returned to
Saull, and from thence journeyed by water to the mouth of the Boyne,
where he landed at a small port called Colp. Tara was his destination;
but on his way thither he stayed a night at the house of a man of
property named Seschnan. This man and his whole family were baptized,
and one of his sons received the name of Benignus from St. Patrick, on
account of the gentleness of his manner. The holy youth attached himself
from this moment to his master, and was his successor in the primatial
see of Armagh.
Those who are anxious, for obvious reasons, to deny the fact of St.
Patrick's mission from Rome, do so on two grounds: first, the absence of
a distinct statement of this mission in one or two of the earliest lives
of the saints; and his not having mentioned it himself in his genuine
writings. Second, by underrating the value of those documents which do
mention this Roman mission. With regard to the first objection, it is
obvious that a hymn which was written merely as a panegyric (the Hymn of
St. Fiacc) was not the place for such details. But St. Fiacc _does_
mention that Germanus was the saint's instructor, and that "he read his
canons," _i.e._, studied theology under him.
St. Patrick's Canons,[123] which even Usher admits to be genuine,
contain the following passage. We give Usher's own translation, as
beyond all controversy for correctness:--"Whenever any cause that is
very difficult, and unknown unto all the judges of the Scottish nation,
shall arise, it is rightly to be referred to the See of the Archbishop
of the Irish (that is, of Patrick), and to the examination of the
prelate thereof. But if there, by him and his wise men, a cause of this
nature cannot easily be made up, we have decreed it shall be sent to the
See Apostolic, that is to say, to the chair of the Apostle Peter, which
hath the authority of the city of Rome." Usher's translation of St.
Patrick's Canon is sufficiently plain, and evidently he found it
inconveniently explicit, for he gives a "gloss" thereon, in which he
apologizes for St. Patrick's Roman predilections, by suggesting that the
saint was influenced by a "special regard for the Church of Rome." No
doubt this was true; it is the feeling of all good Catholics; but it
requires something more than a "special regard" to inculcate such
absolute submission; and we can scarcely think even Usher himself could
have gravely supposed, that a canon written to bind the whole Irish
Church, should have inculcated a practice of such importance, merely
because St. Patrick had a regard for the Holy See. This Canon was acted
upon in the Synod of Magh-Lene, in 630, and St. Cummian attests the fact
thus:--"In accordance with the canonical, decree, that if questions of
grave moment arise, they shall be referred to the head of cities, we
sent such as we knew were wise and humble men to Rome." But there is yet
another authority for St. Patrick's Roman mission. There is an important
tract by Macutenius, in the Book of Armagh. The authenticity of the
tract has not, and indeed could not, be questioned; but a leaf is
missing: happily, however, the titles of the chapters are preserved, so
there can be no doubt as to what they contained. In these headings we
find the following:--
"5. De ætate ejus quando iens videre Sedem Apostolicam voluit discere
sapientiam."
"6. De inventione Sancti Germani in Galiis et ideo non exivit ultra."
Dr. Todd, by joining these two separate titles, with more ingenuity than
fairness, has made it appear that "St. Patrick desired to visit the
Apostolic See, and there to learn wisdom, but that meeting with St.
Germanus in Gaul he went no further."[124] Even could the headings of
two separate chapters be thus joined together, the real meaning of _et
ideo non exivit ultra_ would be, that St. Patrick never again left
Germanus,--a meaning too obviously inadmissible to require further
comment. But it is well known that the life of St. Patrick which bears
the name of Probus, is founded almost verbally on the text of
Macutenius, and this work supplies the missing chapters. They clearly
relate not only the Roman mission of the saint, but also the saint's
love of Rome, and his desire to obtain from thence "due authority" that
he might "preach with confidence."
[Illustration: ANCIENT SWORD, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A., FOUND
AT HILLSWOOD, CO. GALWAY.]
[Illustration: SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.]
FOOTNOTES:
[110] _Christ_.--"Ad Scotos in Christum credentes ordinatur a papa
Cælestino Palladius et primus episcopus mittitur."--_Vet. Lat. Scrip.
Chron. Roncallius_, Padua, 1787.
[111] _Wicklow_.--Probably on the spot where the town of Wicklow now
stands. It was then called the region of Hy-Garchon. It is also
designated _Fortreatha Laighen_ by the Scholiast on Fiacc's Hymn. The
district, probably, received this name from the family of _Eoichaidh
Finn Fothart_, a brother of Conn of the Hundred Battles.
[112] _Armagh_--Fol. 16, a.a.
[113] _Patricius_.--This name was but an indication of rank. In the
later years of the Roman Empire, Gibbon says, "the meanest subjects of
the Roman Empire [5th century] assumed the illustrious name of
Patricius."--_Decline and Fall_, vol. viii. p. 300. Hence the confusion
that arose amongst Celtic hagiographers, and the interchanging of the
acts of several saints who bore the same name.
[114] _Deacon_.--This was an important office in the early Roman Church.
[115] _Heresy_.--The Pelagian.
[116] _Followed him_.--The Four Masters imply, however, that they
remained in Ireland. They also name the three wooden churches which he
erected. Celafine, which has not been identified; Teach-na-Romhan, House
of the Romans, probably Tigroni; and Domhnach-Arta, probably the present
Dunard.--Annals, p. 129.
[117] _Nemthur_.--The _n_ is merely a prefix; it should read Em-tur.
[118] _Celestine._--See the Scholiast on Fiacc's Hymn.
[119] _Preserved._--It is much to be regretted that almost every
circumstance in the life of St. Patrick has been made a field for
polemics. Dr. Todd, of whom one might have hoped better things, has
almost destroyed the interest of his otherwise valuable work by this
fault. He cannot allow that St. Patrick's mother was a relative of St.
Martin of Tours, obviously because St. Martin's Catholicity is
incontrovertible. He wastes pages in a vain attempt to disprove St.
Patrick's Roman mission, for similar reasons; and he cannot even admit
that the Irish received the faith as a nation, all despite the clearest
evidence; yet so strong is the power of prejudice, that he accepts far
less proof for other questions.
[120] _Victoricus_.--There were two saints, either of whom might have
been the mysterious visitant who invited St. Patrick to Ireland. St.
Victoricus was the great missionary of the Morini, at the end of the
fourth century. There was also a St. Victoricus who suffered martyrdom
at Amiens, A.D. 286. Those do not believe that the saints were and are
favoured with supernatural communications, and whose honesty compels
them to admit the genuineness of such documents as the Confession of St.
Patrick, are put to sad straits to explain away what he writes.
[121] _Lerins.--See Monks of the West_, v. i. p. 463. It was then styled
_insula beata_.
[122] _St. Germain_.--St. Fiacc, who, it will be remembered, was
contemporary with St. Patrick, write thus in his Hymn:
"The angel, Victor, sent Patrick over the Alps; Admirable was his
journey-- Until he took his abode with Germanus, Far away in the south
of Letha. In the isles of the Tyrrhene sea he remained; In them he
meditated; He read the canon with Germanus-- This, histories make
known."
[123] _Canons_--This Canon is found in the Book of Armagh, and in that
part of that Book which was copied from _St. Patrick's own manuscript_.
Even could it be proved that St. Patrick never wrote these Canons, the
fact that they are in the Book of Armagh, which was compiled, according
to O'Curry, before the year 727, and even at the latest before the year
807, is sufficient to prove the practice of the early Irish Church on
this important subject.
[124] _Further.--Life of St. Patrick_, p. 315.
CHAPTER IX.
St. Patrick visits Tara--Easter Sunday--St. Patrick's Hymn--Dubtach
salute him--He overthrows the Idols at Magh Slecht--The Princesses
Ethnea and Fethlimia--Their Conversion--Baptism of Aengus--St. Patrick
travels through Ireland--His Success in Munster--He blesses the whole
country from Cnoc Patrick--The First Irish Martyr--St. Patrick's
Death--Pagan Prophecies--Conor Mac Nessa--Death of King Laeghairé--The
Church did not and does not countenance Pagan Superstition--Oilioll
Molt--Death of King Aengus--Foundation of the Kingdom of Scotland--St.
Brigid--Shrines of the Three Saints--St Patrick's Prayer for Ireland,
and its Fulfilment.
[A.D. 432--543.]
On Holy Saturday St. Patrick arrived at Slane, where he caused a tent to
be erected, and lighted the paschal fire at nightfall, preparatory to
the celebration of the Easter festival. The princes and chieftains of
Meath were, at the same time, assembled at Tara, where King Laeghairé
was holding a great pagan festival. The object of this meeting has been
disputed, some authorities saying that it was convoked to celebrate the
Beltinne, or fire of Bal or Baal; others, that the king was
commemorating his own birthday. On the festival of Beltinne it was
forbidden to light any fire until a flame was visible from the top of
Tara Hill. Laeghairé was indignant that this regulation should have been
infringed; and probably the representation of his druids regarding the
mission of the great apostle, did not tend to allay his wrath.
Determined to examine himself into the intention of these bold
strangers, he set forth, accompanied, by his bards and attendants, to
the place where the sacred fire had been kindled, and ordered the
apostle to be brought before him strictly commanding, at the same time,
that no respect should be shown to him.
Notwithstanding the king's command, Erc, the son of Dego, rose up to
salute him, obtained the grace of conversion, and was subsequently
promoted to the episcopate. The result of this interview was the
appointment of a public discussion, to take place the next day at Tara,
between St. Patrick and the pagan bards.
[Illustration: St. Patrick going to Tara.]
It was Easter Sunday--a day ever memorable for this event in the annals
of Erinn. Laeghairé and his court sat in state to receive the ambassador
of the Eternal King. Treacherous preparations had been made, and it was
anticipated that Patrick and his companions would scarcely reach Tara
alive. The saint was aware of the machinations of his enemies; but life
was of no value to him, save as a means of performing the great work
assigned him, and the success of that work was in the safe keeping of
Another. The old writers love to dwell on the meek dignity of the
apostle during this day of trial and triumph. He set forth with his
companions, from where he had encamped, in solemn procession, singing a
hymn of invocation which he had composed, in the Irish tongue, for the
occasion, and which is still preserved, and well authenticated.[125] He
was clothed as usual, in white robes; but he wore his mitre, and carried
in his hand the Staff of Jesus. Eight priests attended him, robed also
in white, and his youthful convert, Benignus, the son of Seschnan.
Thus, great in the arms of meekness and prayer, did the Christian hosts
calmly face the array of pagan pomp and pride. Again the monarch had
commanded that no honour should be paid to the saint, and again he was
disobeyed. His own chief poet and druid, Dubtach, rose up instantly on
the entrance of the strangers, and saluted the venerable apostle with
affection and respect. The Christian doctrine was then explained by St.
Patrick to his wondering audience, and such impression made, that
although Laeghairé lived and died an obstinate pagan, he nevertheless
permitted the saint to preach where and when he would, and to receive
all who might come to him for instruction or holy baptism.
On the following day St. Patrick repaired to Taillten, where the public
games were commencing; and there he remained for a week, preaching to an
immense concourse of people. Here his life was threatened by Cairbré, a
brother of King Laeghairé; but the saint was defended by another of the
royal brothers, named Conall Creevan, who was shortly after converted.
The church of Donough Patrick, in Meath, was founded by his desire. It
is said that all the Irish churches which begin with the name Donough
were founded by the saint, the foundation being always marked out by him
on a Sunday, for which Domhnach is the Gaedhilic term.
Having preached for some time in the western part of the territory of
Meath, the saint proceeded as far as Magh Slecht, where the great idol
of the nation, Ceann [or Crom] Cruach was solemnly worshipped. The
legend of its destruction, as given in the oldest annals, is singularly
interesting. We give a brief extract from Professor O'Curry's
translation: "When Patrick saw the idol from the water, which is named
_Guthard_ [loud voice] (i.e., he elevated his voice); and when he
approached near the idol, he raised his arm to lay the Staff of Jesus on
him, and it did not reach him; he bent back from the attempt upon his
right side, for it was to the south his face was; and the mark of the
staff lies in his left side still although the staff did not leave
Patrick's hand; and the earth swallowed the other twelve idols to their
heads; and they are in that condition in commemoration of the miracle.
And he called upon all the people _cum rege Laeghuire;_ they it was that
adored the idol. And all the people saw him (i.e., the demon), and they
dreaded their dying if Patrick had not sent him to hell."[126]
After this glorious termination of Easter week, the saint made two other
important converts. He set out for Connaught; and when near Rath
Cruaghan, met the daughters of King Laeghairé, the princesses Ethnea and
Fethlimia, who were coming, in patriarchal fashion, to bathe in a
neighbouring well. These ladies were under the tuition of certain
druids, or magi; but they willingly listened to the instruction of the
saint, and were converted and baptized.
The interview took place at daybreak. The royal sisters heard the
distant chant of the priests, who were reciting matins as they walked
along; and when they approached and beheld them in their white garments,
singing, with books in their hands, it was naturally supposed that they
were not beings of earth.
"Who are ye?" they inquired of the saint and his companions. "Are ye of
the sea, the heavens, or the earth?"
St. Patrick explained to them such of the Christian mysteries as were
most necessary at the moment, and spoke of the one only true God.
"But where," they asked, "does your God dwell? Is it in the sun or on
earth, in mountains or in valleys, in the sea or in rivers?"
Then the apostle told them of his God,--the Eternal, the Invisible,--and
how He had indeed dwelt on earth as man, but only to suffer and die for
their salvation. And as the maidens listened to his words, their hearts
were kindled with heavenly love, and they inquired further what they
could do to show their gratitude to this great King. In that same hour
they were baptized; and in a short time they consecrated themselves to
Him, the story of whose surpassing charity had so moved their young
hearts.
Their brother also obtained the grace of conversion; and an old Irish
custom of killing a sheep on St. Michael's Day, and distributing it
amongst the poor, is said to date from a miracle performed by St.
Patrick for this royal convert.
Nor is the story of Aengus, another royal convert, less interesting.
About the year 445, the saint, after passing through Ossory, and
converting a great number of people, entered the kingdom of Munster. His
destination was Cashel, from whence King Aengus, the son of Natfraech,
came forth to meet him with the utmost reverence.
This prince had already obtained some knowledge of Christianity, and
demanded the grace of holy baptism.
The saint willingly complied with his request. His courtiers assembled
with royal state to assist at the ceremony. St. Patrick carried in his
hand, as usual, the Bachall Isu; at the end of this crozier there was a
sharp iron spike, by which he could plant it firmly in the ground beside
him while preaching, or exercising his episcopal functions. On this
occasion, however, he stuck it down into the king's foot, and did not
perceive his mistake until--
"The royal foot transfixed, the gushing blood
Enrich'd the pavement with a noble flood."
The ceremony had concluded, and the prince had neither moved nor
complained of the severe suffering he had endured. When the saint
expressed his deep regret for such an occurrence, Aengus merely replied
that he believed it to be a part of the ceremony, and did not appear to
consider any suffering of consequence at such a moment.[127]
When such was the spirit of the old kings of Erinn who received the
faith of Christ from Patrick, we can scarcely marvel that their
descendants have adhered to it with such unexampled fidelity.
After the conversion of the princesses Ethnea and Fethlimia, the
daughters of King Laeghairé, St. Patrick traversed almost every part of
Connaught, and, as our divine Lord promised to those whom He
commissioned to teach all nations, proved his mission by the exercise of
miraculous powers. Some of his early biographers have been charged with
an excess of credulity on this point. But were this the place or time
for such a discussion, it might easily be shown that miracles were to be
expected when a nation was first evangelized, and that their absence
should be rather a matter of surprise than their frequency or
marvellousness. He who alone could give the commission to preach, had
promised that "greater things" than He Himself did should be done by
those thus commissioned. And after all, what greater miracle could there
be than that one who had been enslaved, and harshly, if not cruelly
treated, should become the deliverer of his enslavers from spiritual
bondage, and should sacrifice all earthly pleasures for their eternal
gain? Nor is the conversion of the vast multitude who listened to the
preaching of the saint, less marvellous than those events which we
usually term the most supernatural.
The saint's greatest success was in the land[128] of Tirawley, near the
town of Foclut, from whence he had heard the voice of the Irish even in
his native land. As he approached this district, he learned that the
seven sons of King Amalgaidh were celebrating a great festival. Their
father had but lately died, and it was said these youths exceeded all
the princes of the land in martial courage and skill in combat. St.
Patrick advanced in solemn procession even into the very midst of the
assembly, and for his reward obtained the conversion of the seven
princes and twelve thousand of their followers. It is said that his life
was at this period in some danger, but that Endeus, one of the converted
princes, and his son Conall, protected him.[129] After seven years spent
in Connaught, he passed into Ulster; there many received the grace of
holy baptism, especially in that district now comprised in the county
Monaghan.
It was probably about this time that the saint returned to Meath, and
appointed his nephew, St. Secundinus or Sechnal, who was bishop of the
place already mentioned as Domhnach Sechnail, to preside over the
northern churches during his own absence in the southern part of
Ireland.
The saint then visited those parts of Leinster which had been already
evangelized by Palladius, and laid the foundation of many new churches.
He placed one of his companions, Bishop Auxilius, at Killossy, near
Naas, and another, Isserninus, at Kilcullen, both in the present county
of Kildare. At Leix, in the Queen's county, he obtained a great many
disciples, and from thence he proceeded to visit his friend, the poet
Dubtach, who, it will be remembered, paid him special honour at Tara,
despite the royal prohibition to the contrary. Dubtach lived in that
part of the country called Hy-Kinsallagh, now the county Carlow. It was
here the poet Fiacc was first introduced to the saint, whom he
afterwards so faithfully followed. Fiacc had been a disciple of Dubtach,
and was by profession a bard, and a member of an illustrious house. He
was the first Leinster man raised to episcopal dignity. It was probably
at this period that St. Patrick visited Munster, and the touching
incident already related occurred at the baptism of Aengus. This prince
was singularly devoted to religion, as indeed his conduct during the
administration of the sacrament of regeneration could not fail to
indicate.
The saint's mission in Munster was eminently successful. Lonan, the
chief of the district of Ormonde, entertained him with great
hospitality, and thousands embraced the faith. Many of the inhabitants
of Corca Baiscin crossed the Shannon in their hidecovered boats
(curaghs) when the saint was on the southern side, in Hy-Figeinte, and
were baptized by him in the waters of their magnificent river. At their
earnest entreaty, St. Patrick ascended a hill which commanded a view of
the country of the Dalcassians, and gave his benediction to the whole
territory. This hill is called Findine in the ancient lives of the
saint; but this name is now obsolete. Local tradition and antiquarian
investigation make it probable that the favoured spot is that now called
Cnoc Patrick, near Foynes Island.
The saint's next journey was in the direction of Kerry, where he
prophesied that "St. Brendan, of the race of Hua Alta, the great
patriarch of monks and star of the western world, would be born, and
that his birth would take place some years after his own death."[130]
We have now to record the obituary of the only Irish martyr who suffered
for the faith while Ireland was being evangelized. While the saint was
visiting Ui-Failghe, a territory now comprised in the King's county, a
pagan chieftain, named Berraidhe, formed a plan for murdering the
apostle. His wicked design came in some way to the knowledge of Odran,
the saint's charioteer, who so arranged matters as to take his master's
place, and thus received the fatal blow intended for him.
The See of Armagh was founded about the year 455, towards the close of
the great apostle's life. The royal palace of Emania, in the immediate
neighbourhood, was then the residence of the kings of Ulster. A wealthy
chief, by name Daire,[131] gave the saint a portion of land for the
erection of his cathedral, on an eminence called _Druim-Sailech_, the
Hill of Sallows. This high ground is now occupied by the city of Armagh
(Ard-Macha). Religious houses for both sexes were established near the
church, and soon were filled with ardent and devoted subjects.
The saint's labours were now drawing to a close, and the time of eternal
rest was at hand. He retired to his favourite retreat at Saull, and
there probably wrote his _Confessio_.[132] It is said that he wished to
die in the ecclesiastical metropolis of Ireland, and for this purpose,
when he felt his end approaching, desired to be conveyed thither; but
even as he was on his journey an angel appeared to him, and desired him
to return to Saull. Here he breathed his last, on Wednesday, the 17th of
March, in the year of our Lord 492. The holy viaticum and last anointing
were administered to him by St. Tussach.[133]
The saint's age at the time of his death, as also the length of his
mission in Ireland, has been put at a much longer period by some
authors, but modern research and correction of chronology have all but
verified the statement given above.
The intelligence of the death of St. Patrick spread rapidly through the
country; prelates and priests flocked from all parts to honour the
mortal remains of their glorious father. As each arrived at Saull, he
proceeded to offer the adorable sacrifice according to his rank. At
night the plain resounded with the chanting of psalms; and the darkness
was banished by the light of such innumerable torches, that it seemed
even as if day had hastened to dawn brightly on the beloved remains. St.
Fiacc, in his often-quoted Hymn, compares it to the long day caused by
the standing of the sun at the command of Joshua, when he fought against
the Gabaonites.
It is said that the pagan Irish were not without some intimation of the
coming of their great apostle. Whether these prophecies were true or
false is a question we cannot pretend to determine; but their existence
and undoubted antiquity demand that they should have at least a passing
notice. Might not the Gaedhilic druid, as well as the Pythian priestess,
have received even from the powers of darkness, though despite their
will, an oracle[134] which prophesied truth?
There is a strange, wild old legend preserved in the Book of Leinster,
which indicates that even in ancient Erinn the awful throes of nature
were felt which were manifested in so many places, and in such various
ways, during those dark hours when the Son of God hung upon the accursed
tree for the redemption of His guilty creatures.
This tale or legend is called the _Aideadh Chonchobair_. It is one of
that class of narratives known under the generic title of Historical
Tragedies, or Deaths. The hero, Conor Mac Nessa, was King of Ulster at
the period of the Incarnation of our Lord. His succession to the throne
was rather a fortuity than the result of hereditary claim. Fergus Mac
Nessa was rightfully king at the time; but Conor's father having died
while he was yet an infant, Fergus, then the reigning monarch, proposed
marriage to his mother when the youth was about fifteen, and only
obtained the consent of the celebrated beauty on the strange condition
that he should hand over the sovereignty of Ulster to her son for a
year. The monarch complied, glad to secure the object of his affections
on any terms. Conor, young as he was, governed with such wisdom and
discretion as to win all hearts; and when the assigned period had
arrived, the Ulster men positively refused to permit Fergus to resume
his rightful dignity. After much contention the matter was settled
definitely in favour of the young monarch, and Fergus satisfied himself
with still retaining the wife for whose sake he had willingly made such
sacrifices. Conor continued to give ample proofs of the wisdom of his
people's decision. Under his government the noble Knights of the Royal
Branch sprang up in Ulster, and made themselves famous both in field and
court.
It was usual in those barbarous times, whenever a distinguished enemy
was killed in battle, to cleave open his head, and to make a ball of the
brains by mixing them with lime, which was then dried, and preserved as
a trophy of the warrior's valour. Some of these balls were preserved in
the royal palace at Emania. One, that was specially prized, passed
accidentally into the hands of a famous Connaught champion, who found a
treacherous opportunity of throwing it at Conor, while he was displaying
himself, according to the custom of the times, to the ladies of an
opposing army, who had followed their lords to the scene of action. The
ball lodged in the king's skull, and his physicians declared that an
attempt to extract it would prove fatal. Conor was carried home; he soon
recovered, but he was strictly forbidden to use any violent exercise,
and required to avoid all excitement or anger. The king enjoyed his
usual health by observing those directions, until the very day of the
Crucifixion. But the fearful phenomena which then occurred diverted his
attention, and he inquired if _Bacrach_, his druid, could divine the
cause.
The druid consulted his oracles, and informed the king that Jesus
Christ, the Son of the living God, was, even at that moment, suffering
death at the hands of the Jews. "What crime has He committed?" said
Conor. "None," replied the druid. "Then are they slaying Him
innocently?" said Conor. "They are," replied the druid.
It was too great a sorrow for the noble prince; he could not bear that
his God should die unmourned; and rushing wildly from where he sat to a
neighbouring forest, he began to hew the young trees down, exclaiming:
"Thus would I destroy those who were around my King at putting Him to
death." The excitement proved fatal; and the brave and good King Conor
Mac Nessa died[135] avenging, in his own wild pagan fashion, the death
of his Creator.
The secular history of Ireland, during the mission of St. Patrick,
affords but few events of interest or importance. King Laeghairé died,
according to the Four Masters, A.D. 458. The popular opinion attributed
his demise to the violation of his oath to the Leinster men. It is
doubtful whether he died a Christian, but the account of his burial[136]
has been taken to prove the contrary. It is much to be regretted that
persons entirely ignorant of the Catholic faith, whether that ignorance
be wilful or invincible, should attempt to write lives of Catholic
saints, or histories of Catholic countries. Such persons, no doubt
unintentionally, make the most serious mistakes, which a well-educated
Catholic child could easily rectify. We find a remarkable instance of
this in the following passage, taken from a work already mentioned:
"Perhaps this [King Laeghairé's oath] may not be considered an absolute
proof of the king's paganism. To swear by the sun and moon was
apparently, no doubt, paganism. But is it not also paganism to represent
the rain and wind as taking vengeance? ... for this is the language
copied by all the monastic annalists, and even by the Four Masters,
Franciscan friars, writing in the seventeenth century." The passage is
improved by a "note," in which the author mentions this as a proof that
such superstitions would not have been necessarily regarded two
centuries ago as inconsistent with orthodoxy. Now, in the first place,
the Catholic Church has always[137] condemned superstition of every
kind. It is true that as there are good as well as bad Christians in her
fold, there are also superstitious as well as believing Christians; but
the Church is not answerable for the sins of her children. She is
answerable for the doctrine which she teaches; and no one can point to
any place or time in which the Church taught such superstitions.
Secondly, the writers of history are obliged to relate facts as they
are. The Franciscan fathers do this, and had they not done it carefully,
and with an amount of labour which few indeed have equalled, their
admirable Annals would have been utterly useless. They do mention the
pagan opinion that it was "the sun and wind that killed him [Laeghairé],
because he had violated them;" but they do not say that they believed
this pagan superstition, and no one could infer it who read the passage
with ordinary candour.
It is probable that Oilioll Molt, who succeeded King Laeghairé, A.D.
459, lived and died a pagan. He was slain, after a reign of twenty
years, by Laeghairé's son, Lughaidh, who reigned next. The good king
Aengus[138] died about this time. He was the first Christian King of
Munster, and is the common ancestor of the MacCarthys, O'Sullivans,
O'Keeffes, and O'Callahans. The foundation of the kingdom of Scotland by
an Irish colony, is generally referred to the year 503.[139] It has
already been mentioned that Cairbré Riada was the leader of an
expedition thither in the reign of Conairé II. The Irish held their
ground without assistance from the mother country until this period,
when the Picts obtained a decisive victory, and drove them from the
country. A new colony of the Dalriada now went out under the leadership
of Loarn, Aengus, and Fergus, the sons of Erc. They were encouraged and
assisted in their undertaking by their relative Mortagh, the then King
of Ireland. It is said they took the celebrated _Lia Fail_ to Scotland,
that Fergus might be crowned thereon. The present royal family of
England have their claim to the crown through the Stuarts, who were
descendants of the Irish Dalriada. Scotland now obtained the name of
Scotia, from the colony of Scots. Hence, for some time, Ireland was
designated Scotia Magna, to distinguish it from the country which so
obtained, and has since preserved, the name of the old race.
Muircheartach, A.D. 504, was the first Christian King of Ireland; but he
was constantly engaged in war with the Leinster men about the most
unjust Boromean tribute. He belonged to the northern race of Hy-Nial,
being descended from Nial of the Nine Hostages. On his death, the crown
reverted to the southern Hy-Nials in the person of their representative,
Tuathal Maelgarbh.
It would appear from a stanza in the Four Masters, that St. Brigid had
some prophetic intimation or knowledge of one of the battles fought by
Muircheartach. Her name is scarcely less famous for miracles than that
of the great apostle. Broccan's Hymn[140] contains allusions to a very
great number of these supernatural favours. Many of these marvels are of
a similar nature to those which the saints have been permitted to
perform in all ages of the Church's history.
Brigid belonged to an illustrious family, who were lineally descended
from Eochad, a brother of Conn of the Hundred Battles. She was born at
Fochard, near Dundalk, about the year 453, where her parents happened to
be staying at the time; but Kildare was their usual place of residence,
and there the holy virgin began her saintly career. In her sixteenth
year she received the white cloak and religious veil, which was then the
distinctive garment of those who were specially dedicated to Christ,
from the hands of St. Macaille, the Bishop of Usneach, in Westmeath.
Eight young maidens of noble birth took the veil with her. Their first
residence was at a place in the King's county, still called Brigidstown.
The fame of her sanctity now extended far and wide, and she was
earnestly solicited from various parts of the country to found similar
establishments. Her first mission was to Munster, at the request of Erc,
the holy Bishop of Slane, who had a singular respect for her virtue.
Soon after, she founded a house of her order in the plain of Cliach,
near Limerick; but the people of Leinster at last became fearful of
losing their treasure, and sent a deputation requesting her return, and
offering land for the foundation of a large nunnery. Thus was
established, in 483, the famous Monastery of Kildare, or the Church of
the Oak.
At the request of the saint, a bishop was appointed to take charge of
this important work; and under the guidance of Conlaeth, who heretofore
had been a humble anchorite, it soon became distinguished for its
sanctity and usefulness. The concourse of strangers and pilgrims was
immense; and in the once solitary plain one of the largest cities of the
time soon made its appearance. It is singular and interesting to remark,
how the call to a life of virginity was felt and corresponded with in
the newly Christianized country, even as it had been in the Roman
Empire, when it also received the faith. Nor is it less noticeable how
the same safeguards and episcopal rule preserved the foundations of each
land in purity and peace, and have transmitted even to our own days, in
the same Church, and in it only, that privileged life.
The Four Masters give her obituary under the year 525. According to
Cogitosus, one of her biographers, her remains were interred in her own
church. Some authorities assert that her relics were removed to Down,
when Kildare was ravaged by the Danes, about the year 824.
It has been doubted whether Downpatrick could lay claim to the honour of
being the burial-place of Ireland's three great saints,[141] but there
are good arguments in its favour. An old prophecy of St. Columba
regarding his interment runs thus:--
"My prosperity in guiltless Hy,
And my soul in Derry,
And my body under the flag
Beneath which are Patrick and Brigid."
The relics of the three saints escaped the fury of the Danes, who burned
the town and pillaged the cathedral six or seven times, between the
years 940 and 1111. In 1177, John de Courcy took possession of the town,
and founded a church attached to a house of Secular Canons, under the
invocation of the Blessed Trinity. In 1183 they were replaced by a
community of Benedictine monks, from St. Wirburgh's Abbey, at Chester.
Malachy, who was then bishop, granted the church to the English monks
and prior, and changed the name to that of the Church of St. Patrick.
This prelate was extremely anxious to discover the relics of the saints,
which a constant tradition averred were there concealed. It is said,
that one day, as he prayed in the church, his attention was directed
miraculously to an obscure part of it; or, according to another and more
probable account, to a particular spot in the abbey-yard, where, when
the earth was removed, their remains were found in a triple
cave,--Patrick in the middle, Columba and Brigid on either side.
At the request of De Courcy, delegates were despatched to Rome by the
bishop to acquaint Urban III. of the discovery of the bodies. His
Holiness immediately sent Cardinal Vivian to preside at the translation
of the relics. The ceremony took place on the 9th of June, 1186, that
day being the feast of St. Columba. The relics of the three saints were
deposited in the same monument at the right side of the high altar. The
right hand of St. Patrick was enshrined and placed on the high altar. In
1315, Edward Bruce invaded Ulster, marched to Downpatrick, destroyed the
abbey, and carried off the enshrined hand. In 1538, Lord Grey, who
marched into Lecale to establish the supremacy of his master, Henry
VIII., by fire and sword, "effaced the statues of the three patron
saints, and burned the cathedral, for which act, along with many others
equally laudable, he was beheaded three years afterwards." The
restoration of the old abbey-church was undertaken of late years, and
preceded by an act of desecration, which is still remembered with
horror. The church had been surrounded by a burying-ground, where many
had wished to repose, that they might, even in death, be near the relics
of the three great patron saints of Erinn. But the graves were exhumed
without mercy, and many were obliged to carry away the bones of their
relatives, and deposit them where they could. The "great tomb," in which
it was believed that "Patrick, Brigid, and Columkille" had slept for
more than six centuries, was not spared; the remains were flung out into
the churchyard, and only saved from further desecration by the piety of
a faithful people.
The shrine of St. Patrick's hand was in possession of the late Catholic
Bishop of Belfast. The relic itself has long disappeared; but the
shrine, after it was carried off by Bruce, passed from one trustworthy
guardian to another, until it came into his hands. One of these was a
Protestant, who, with noble generosity, handed it over to a Catholic as
a more fitting custodian. One Catholic family, into whose care it passed
at a later period, refused the most tempting offers for it, though
pressed by poverty, lest it should fall into the hands of those who
might value it rather as a curiosity than as an object of devotion.
This beautiful reliquary consists of a silver case in the shape of the
hand and arm, cut off a little below the elbow. It is considerably
thicker than the hand and arm of an ordinary man, as if it were intended
to enclose these members without pressing upon them too closely. The
fingers are bent, so as to represent the hand in the attitude of
benediction.
But there is another relic of St. Patrick and his times of scarcely less
interest. The _Domhnach Airgid_[142] contains a copy of the Four
Gospels, which, there is every reason to believe, were used by the great
apostle of Ireland. The relic consists of two parts--the shrine or case
and the manuscript. The shrine is an oblong box, nine inches by seven,
and five inches in height. It is composed of three distinct covers, in
the ages of which there is obviously a great difference. The inner or
first cover is of wood, apparently yew, and may be coeval with the
manuscript it is intended to preserve. The second, which is of copper
plated with silver, is assigned to a period between the sixth and
twelfth centuries, from the style of its scroll or interlaced ornaments.
The figures in relief, and letters on the third cover, which is of
silver plated with gold, leave no doubt of its being the work of the
fourteenth century.
The last or external cover is of great interest as a specimen of the
skill and taste in art of its time in Ireland, and also for the highly
finished representations of ancient costume which it preserves. The
ornaments on the top consist principally of a large figure of the
Saviour in _alto-relievo_ in the centre, and eleven figures of saints in
_basso-relievo_ on each side in four oblong compartments. There is a
small square reliquary over the head of our divine Lord, covered with a
crystal, which probably contained a piece of the holy cross. The smaller
figures in relief are, Columba, Brigid, and Patrick; those in the second
compartment, the Apostles James, Peter, and Paul; in the third, the
Archangel Michael, and the Virgin and Child; in the fourth compartment a
bishop presents a _cumdach_, or cover, to an ecclesiastic. This,
probably, has a historical relation to the reliquary itself.
One prayer uttered by St. Patrick has been singularly fulfilled. "May my
Lord grant," he exclaims, "that I may never lose His people, which He
has acquired in the ends of the earth!" From hill and dale, from camp
and cottage, from plebeian and noble, there rang out a grand "Amen." The
strain was caught by Secundinus and Benignus, by Columba and Columbanus,
by Brigid and Brendan. It floated away from Lindisfarne and Iona, to
Iceland and Tarentum. It was heard on the sunny banks of the Rhine, at
Antwerp and Cologne, in Oxford, in Pavia, and in Paris. And still the
old echo is breathing its holy prayer. By the priest, who toils in cold
and storm to the "station" on the mountain side, far from his humble
home. By the confessor, who spends hour after hour, in the heat of
summer and the cold of winter, absolving the penitent children of
Patrick. By the monk in his cloister. By noble and true-hearted men,
faithful through centuries of persecution. And loudly and nobly, though
it be but faint to human ears, is that echo uttered also by the aged
woman who lies down by the wayside to die in the famine years,[143]
because she prefers the bread of heaven to the bread of earth, and the
faith taught by Patrick to the tempter's gold. By the emigrant, who,
with broken heart bids a long farewell to the dear island home, to the
old father, to the grey-haired mother, because his adherence to his
faith tends not to further his temporal interest, and he must starve or
go beyond the sea for bread. Thus ever and ever that echo is gushing up
into the ear of God, and never will it cease until it shall have merged
into the eternal alleluia which the often-martyred and ever-faithful
children of the saint shall shout with him in rapturous voice before the
Eternal Throne.
[Illustration: ST. PATRICK'S BELL.]
[Illustration: CROMLECH, AT CASTLE MARY, CLOYNE.]
FOOTNOTES:
[125] _Authenticated_.--A copy of this ancient hymn, with a Latin and
English translation, may be found in Petrie's _Essay on Tara_, p. 57, in
Dr. Todd's _Life of St. Patrick_, and in Mr. Whitley Stokes'
_Goidilica_. We regret exceedingly that our limited space will not
permit us to give this and other most valuable and interesting
documents. There is a remarkable coincidence of thought and expression
between some portions of this hymn and the well-known prayer of St.
Ignatius of Loyola, _Corpus Christi, salve me_. Such coincidences are
remarkable and beautiful evidences of the oneness of faith, which
manifests itself so frequently in similarity of language as well as in
unity of belief. The Hymn of St. Patrick, written in the fifth century,
is as purely Catholic as the Prayer of St. Ignatius, written in the
sixteenth. St. Patrick places the virtue or power of the saints between
him and evil, and declares his hope of merit for his good work with the
same simple trust which all the saints have manifested from the earliest
ages. This hymn is written in the _Bearla Feine_, or most ancient
Gaedhilic dialect. Dr. O'Donovan well observes, that it bears internal
evidence of its authenticity in its allusion to pagan customs. Tirechan,
who wrote in the seventh century, says that there were four honours paid
to St. Patrick in _all monasteries and churches throughout the whole of
Ireland_. First, the festival of St. Patrick was honoured for three days
and nights with all good cheer, except flesh meat [which the Church did
not allow then to be used in Lent]. Second, there was a proper preface
for him in the Mass. Third, his hymn was sung for the whole time.
Fourth, his Scotic hymn was sung always. As we intend publishing a
metrical translation of his hymn suitable for general use, we hope it
will be "said and sung" by thousands of his own people on his festival
for all time to come.
[126] _Hell_.--O'Curry, p. 539. This is translated from the Tripartite
Life of St. Patrick.
[127] _Moment_.--Keating, Vol ii. p. 15.
[128] _Land_.--Near the present town of Killala, co. Mayo.
[129] _Protected him_.--Book of Armagh and Vit. Trip.
[130] _Death_.--Vit. Trip. It was probably at this time St. Patrick
wrote his celebrated letter to Caroticus.
[131] _Daire_.--Book of Armagh, fol. 6, b.a.
[132] _Confessio_.--This most remarkable and interesting document will
be translated and noticed at length in the _Life of St. Patrick_, which
we are now preparing for the press.
[133] _St. Tussach_.--All this Dr. Todd omits. The Four Masters enter
the obituary of St. Patrick under the year 457. It is obvious that some
uncertainty must exist in the chronology of this early period.
[134] _Oracle_.--It is said that, three years before St. Patrick's
apostolic visit to Ireland, the druids of King Laeghairé predicted the
event to their master as an impending calamity. The names of the druids
were Lochra and Luchat Mael; their prophecy runs thus:--
"A _Tailcenn_ will come over the raging sea, With his perforated
garment, his crook-headed staff, With his table at the east end of his
house, And all his people will answer 'Amen, Amen.'"
The allusions to the priestly vestments, the altar at the east end of
the church, and the pastoral staff, are sufficiently obvious, and easily
explained. The prophecy is quoted by Macutenius, and quoted again from
him by Probus; but the original is in one of the most ancient and
authentic Irish MSS., the Book of Armagh.
[135] _Died_.--O'Curry, p. 273.
[136] _Burial_.--"The body of Laeghairé was brought afterwards from the
south, and interred with his armour of championship in the south-east of
the outer rampart of the royal rath of Laeghairé, at Tara, with his face
turned southwards upon the men of Leinster, as fighting with them, for
he was the enemy of the Leinster men in his lifetime."--Translated from
the _Leabhar na Nuidhre._ Petrie's _Tara_, p. 170.
[137] _Always_.--National customs and prejudices have always been
respected by the Church: hence she has frequently been supposed to
sanction what she was obliged to tolerate. A long residence in
Devonshire, and an intimate acquaintance with its peasantry, has
convinced us that there is incalculably more superstitions believed and
_practised_ there of the _grossest kind_, than in any county in Ireland.
Yet we should be sorry to charge the Established Church or its clergy,
some of whom are most earnest and hard-working men, with the sins of
their parishioners. The following extract from St. Columba's magnificent
Hymn, will show what the early Irish saints thought of pagan
superstitions:
"I adore not the voice of birds, Nor sneezing, nor lots in this world,
Nor a boy, nor chance, nor woman: My Druid is Christ, the Son of God;
Christ, Son of Mary, the great Abbot, The Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost."
[138] _Aengus_.--
"Died the branch, the spreading tree of gold, Aenghus the laudable."
--Four Masters, p. 153. The branches of this tree have indeed spread far
and wide, and the four great families mentioned above have increased and
multiplied in all parts of the world.
[139] _Year_ 503.--The Four Masters give the date 498, which O'Donovan
corrects both in the text and in a note.
[140] _Broccan's Hymn_.--This Hymn was written about A.D. 510. See the
translation in Mr. Whitley Stokes' _Goidilica_, Calcutta, 1866.
Privately printed.
[141] _Saints_.--St. Patrick, St. Columba, and St. Brigid. See Reeves'
_Ecc. Anti. of Down and Connor_, p. 225, and Giraldus Cambrensis, d. 3,
cap. 18.
[142] _Domhnach Airgid_.--See O'Curry, _MS. Materials_, p. 321, for a
complete verification of the authenticity of this relic. The Tripartite
Life of St. Patrick mentions the gift of this relic by the saint to _St.
MacCarthainn_. Dr. Petrie concludes that the copy of the Gospels
contained therein, was undoubtedly the one which was used by our
apostle. We give a fac-simile of the first page, which cannot fail to
interest the antiquarian.
[143] _Famine years_.--During the famous, or rather infamous, Partry
evictions, an old man of eighty and a woman of seventy-four were amongst
the number of those who suffered for their ancient faith. They were
driven from the home which their parents and grandfathers had occupied,
in a pitiless storm of sleet and snow. The aged woman utters some slight
complaint; but her noble-hearted aged husband consoles her with this
answer: "The sufferings and death of Jesus Christ were bitterer still."
Sixty-nine souls were cast out of doors that day. Well might the _Times_
say: "These evictions are a hideous scandal; and the bishop should
rather die than be guilty of such a crime." Yet, who can count up all
the evictions, massacres, tortures, and punishments which this people
has endured?
CHAPTER X.
[Gothic: The Religion of Ancient Erinn]--The Druids and their
Teaching--The Irish were probably Fire-worshippers--[Gothic: The Customs
of Ancient Erinn]--Similarity between Eastern and Irish Customs--Beal
Fires--Hunting the Wren--"Jacks," a Grecian game--"Keen," an Eastern
Custom--Superstitions--The Meaning of the Word--What Customs are
Superstitious and what are not--Holy Wells--[Gothic: The Laws of Ancient
Erinn]--Different kinds of Laws--The Lex non Scripta and the Lex
Scripta--Christianity necessitated the Revision of Ancient Codes--The
Compilation of the Brehon Laws--Proofs that St. Patrick assisted
thereat--Law of Distress--Law of Succession--[Gothic: The Language of
Ancient Erinn]--Writing in pre-Christian Erinn--Ogham Writing--[Gothic:
Antiquities of pre-Christian Erinn]--Round
Towers--Cromlechs--Raths--Crannoges.
Eastern customs and eastern superstitions, which undoubtedly are a
strong confirmatory proof of our eastern origin, abounded in ancient
Erinn. Druidism was the religion of the Celts, and druidism was probably
one of the least corrupt forms of paganism. The purity of the
divinely-taught patriarchal worship, became more and more corrupted as
it passed through defiled channels. Yet, in all pagan mythologies, we
find traces of the eternal verity in an obvious prominence of cultus
offered to one god above the rest; and obvious, though grossly
misapplied, glimpses of divine attributes, in the many deified objects
which seemed to symbolize his power and his omnipotence.
The Celtic druids probably taught the same doctrine as the Greek
philosophers. The metempsychosis, a prominent article of this creed, may
have been derived from the Pythagoreans, but more probably it was one of
the many relics of patriarchal belief which were engrafted on all pagan
religions. They also taught that the universe would never be entirely
destroyed, supposing that it would be purified by fire and water from
time to time. This opinion may have been derived from the same source.
The druids had a _pontifex maximus_, to whom they yielded entire
obedience,--an obvious imitation of the Jewish custom. The nation was
entirely governed by its priests, though after a time, when the kingly
power developed itself, the priestly power gave place to the regal. Gaul
was the head-quarters of druidism; and thither we find the Britons, and
even the Romans, sending their children for instruction. Eventually,
Mona became a chief centre for Britain. The Gaedhilic druids, though
probably quite as learned as their continental brethren, were more
isolated; and hence we cannot learn so much of their customs from
external sources. There is no doubt that the druids of Gaul and Britain
offered human sacrifices; it appears almost certain the Irish druids did
not.
Our principal and most reliable information about this religion, is
derived from Cæsar. His account of the learning of its druids, of their
knowledge of astronomy, physical science, mechanics, arithmetic, and
medicine, however highly coloured, is amply corroborated by the casual
statements of other authors.[144] He expressly states that they used the
Greek character in their writings, and mentions tables found in the camp
of the Helvetii written in these characters, containing an account of
all the men capable of bearing arms.
It is probable that Irish druidical rites manifested themselves
principally in Sun-worship. The name of Bel, still retained in the
Celtic Beltinne, indicates its Phoenician origin; Baal being the name
under which they adored that luminary. It is also remarkable that Grian,
which signifies the sun in Irish, resembles an epithet of Apollo given
by Virgil,[145] who sometimes styles him Grynæus. St. Patrick also
confirms this conjecture, by condemning Sun-worship in his Confession,
when he says: "All those who adore it shall descend into misery and
punishment." If the well-known passage of Diodorus Siculus may be
referred to Ireland, it affords another confirmation. Indeed, it appears
difficult to conceive how any other place but Ireland could be intended
by the "island in the ocean over against Gaul, to the north, and not
inferior in size to Sicily, the _soil of which is so fruitful_ that they
mow there twice in the year."[146] In this most remarkable passage, he
mentions the skill of their harpers, their sacred groves and _singular
temple of round form_, their attachment to the Greeks by a singular
affection from _old times_, and their tradition of having been visited
by the Greeks, who left offerings which were noted in _Greek letters_.
Toland and Carte assume that this passage refers to the Hebrides,
Rowlands applies it to the island of Anglesea; but these conjectures are
not worth regarding. We can scarcely imagine an unprejudiced person
deciding against Ireland; but where prejudice exists, no amount of proof
will satisfy. It has been suggested that the Irish pagan priests were
not druids properly so called, but magi;[147] and that the Irish word
which is taken to mean druid, is only used to denote persons specially
gifted with wisdom. Druidism probably sprung from magism, which was a
purer kind of worship, though it would be difficult now to define the
_precise_ limits which separated these forms of paganism. If the
original pagan religion of ancient Erinn was magism, introduced by its
Phoenician colonizers, it is probable that it had gradually degenerated
to the comparatively grosser rites of the druid before the advent of St.
Patrick. His destruction of the idols at Magh Slecht is unquestionable
evidence that idol worship[148] was then practised, though probably in a
very limited degree.
The folklore of a people is perhaps, next to their language, the best
guide to their origin. The editor of Bohn's edition of the Chronicle of
Richard of Cirencester remarks, that "many points of coincidence have
been remarked in comparing the religion of the Hindoos with that of the
ancient Britons; and in the language of these two people some striking
similarities occur in those proverbs and modes of expression which are
derived from national and religious ceremonies."[149] We are not aware
of any British customs or proverbs which bear upon this subject, nor
does the writer mention any in proof of his assertion: if, however, for
Britons we read Irish, his observations may be amply verified.
The kindly "God save you!" and "God bless all here!" of the Irish
peasant, finds its counterpart in the eastern "God be gracious to thee,
my son!" The partiality, if not reverence, for the number seven, is
indicated in our churches. The warm-hearted hospitality of the very
poorest peasant, is a practical and never-failing illustration of the
Hindoo proverb, "The tree does not withdraw its shade even from the
woodcutter."
The celebration of St. John's Eve by watchfires, is undoubtedly a
remnant of paganism, still practised in many parts of Ireland, as we can
aver from personal knowledge; but the custom of passing cattle through
the fire has been long discontinued, and those who kindle the fires have
little idea of its origin, and merely continue it as an amusement. Kelly
mentions, in his _Folklore_, that a calf was sacrificed in
Northamptonshire during the present century, in one of these fires, to
"stop the murrain." The superstitious use of fire still continues in
England and Scotland, though we believe the Beltinne on St. John's Eve
is peculiar to Ireland. The hunting of the wren[150] on St. Stephen's
Day, in this country, is said, by Vallancey, to have been originated by
the first Christian missionaries, to counteract the superstitious
reverence with which this bird was regarded by the druids. Classic
readers will remember the origin of the respect paid to this bird in
pagan times. The peasantry in Ireland, who have never read either Pliny
or Aristotle, are equally conversant with the legend.
The common and undignified game of "jacks" also lays claim to a noble
ancestry. In Mr. St. John's work on _The Manners and Customs of Ancient
Greece_, he informs us that the game was a classical one, and called
_pentalitha._ It was played with five _astragals_--knuckle-bones,
pebbles, or little balls--which were thrown up into the air, and then
attempted to be caught when falling on the back of the hand. Another
Irish game, "pricking the loop," in Greece is called _himantiliginos_,
pricking the garter. Hemestertius supposes the Gordian Knot to have been
nothing but a variety of the himantiliginos. The game consists in
winding a thong in such an intricate manner, that when a peg is inserted
in the right ring, it is caught, and the game is won; if the mark is
missed, the thong unwinds without entangling the peg.
The Irish keen [_caoine_] may still be heard in Algeria and Upper Egypt,
even as Herodotus heard it chanted by Lybian women. This wailing for the
deceased is a most ancient custom; and if antiquity imparts dignity, it
can hardly be termed barbarous. The Romans employed keeners at their
funerals, an idea which they probably borrowed from the Etruscans,[151]
with many others incomparably more valuable, but carefully
self-appropriated. Our _wakes_ also may have had an identity of origin
with the funeral feasts of the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans, whose
customs were all probably derived from a common source.
The fasting of the creditor on the debtor is still practised in India,
and will be noticed in connexion with the Brehon Laws. There is,
however, a class of customs which have obtained the generic term of
superstitions, which may not quite be omitted, and which are, for many
reasons, difficult to estimate rightly. In treating of this subject, we
encounter, _primâ facie_, the difficulty of giving a definition of
superstition. The Irish are supposed to be pre-eminently a superstitious
people. Those who make this an accusation, understand by superstition
the belief in anything supernatural; and they consider as equally
superstitious, veneration of a relic, belief in a miracle, a story of a
banshee, or a legend of Finn Mac Cumhaill. Probably, if the Celts did
not venerate relics, and believe in the possibility of miracles, we
should hear far less of their superstitions. Superstition of the
grossest kind is prevalent among the lower orders in every part of
England, and yet the nation prides itself on its rejection of this
weakness. But according to another acceptation of the term, only such
heathen customs as refer to the worship of false gods, are
superstitions. These customs remain, unfortunately, in many countries,
but in some they have been Christianized. Those who use the term
superstition generically, still call the custom superstitious, from a
latent and, perhaps, in some cases, unconscious impression that there is
no supernatural. Such persons commence with denying all miraculous
interventions except those which are recorded in holy Scripture; and
unhappily, in some cases, end by denying the miracles of Scripture.
To salute a person who sneezed with some form of benediction, was a
pagan custom. It is said to have originated through an opinion of the
danger attending it; and the exclamation used was: "Jupiter help me!" In
Ireland, the pagan custom still remains, but it has been Christianized,
and "God bless you!" is substituted for the pagan form. Yet we have
known persons who considered the use of this aspiration superstitious,
and are pleased to assert that the Irish use the exclamation as a
protection against evil spirits, meaning thereby fairies. When a motive
is persistently attributed which does not exist, argument is useless.
Devotion to certain places, pilgrimages, even fasting and other bodily
macerations, were pagan customs. These, also, have been Christianized.
Buildings once consecrated to the worship of pagan gods, are now used as
Christian temples: what should we think of the person who should assert
that because pagan gods were once adored in these churches, therefore
the worship now offered in them was offered to pagan deities? The
temples, lite the customs, are Christianized.
The author of a very interesting article in the _Ulster Archæological
Journal_ (vol. ix. p. 256), brings forward a number of Irish customs for
which he finds counterparts in India. But he forgets that in Ireland the
customs are Christianized, while in India, they remain pagan; and like
most persons who consider the Irish pre-eminently superstitious, he
appears ignorant of the teaching of that Church which Christianized the
world. The special "superstition" of this article is the devotion to
holy wells. The custom still exists in Hindostan; people flock to them
for cure of their diseases, and leave "rags" on the bushes as
"scapegoats," _ex votos_, so to say, of cures, or prayers for cures. In
India, the prayer is made to a heathen deity; in Ireland, the people
happen to believe that God hears the prayers of saints more readily than
their own; and acting on the principle which induced persons, in
apostolic times, to use "handkerchiefs and aprons" which had touched the
person of St. Paul as mediums of cure, because of his virgin sanctity,
in preference to "handkerchiefs and aprons" of their own, they apply to
the saints and obtain cures. But they do not believe the saints can give
what God refuses, or that the saints are more merciful than God. They
know that the saints are His special friends, and we give to a friend
what we might refuse to one less dear. _Lege totum, si vis scire totum_,
is a motto which writers on national customs should not forget.
Customs were probably the origin of laws. Law, in its most comprehensive
sense, signifies a rule of action laid down[152] by a superior. Divine
law is manifested (1) by the law of nature, and (2) by revelation. The
law of nations is an arbitrary arrangement, founded on the law of nature
and the law of revelation: its perfection depends obviously on its
correspondence with the divine law. Hence, by common consent, the
greatest praise is given to those laws of ancient nations which
approximate most closely to the law of nature, though when such laws
came to be revised by those who had received the law of revelation, they
were necessarily amended or altered in conformity therewith. No
government can exist without law; but as hereditary succession preceded
the law of hereditary succession, which was at first established by
custom, so the _lex non scripta_, or national custom, preceded the _lex
scripta_, or statute law. The intellectual condition of a nation may be
well and safely estimated by its laws. A code of laws that were observed
for centuries before the Christian era, and for centuries after the
Christian era, and which can bear the most critical tests of forensic
acumen in the nineteenth century, evidence that the framers of the code
were possessed of no slight degree of mental culture. Such are the
Brehon laws, by which pagan and Christian Erinn was governed for
centuries.
The sixth century was a marked period of legal reform. The Emperor
Justinian, by closing the schools of Athens, gave a deathblow to Grecian
philosophy and jurisprudence. But Grecian influence had already acted on
the formation of Roman law, and probably much of the Athenian code was
embodied therein. The origin of Roman law is involved in the same
obscurity as the origin of the Brehon code. In both cases, the mist of
ages lies like a light, but impenetrable veil, over all that could give
certainty to conjecture. Before the era of the Twelve Tables, mention is
made of laws enacted by Romulus respecting what we should now call civil
liabilities. Laws concerning religion are ascribed to Numa, and laws of
contract to Servius Tullius, who is supposed to have collected the
regulations made by his predecessors. The Twelve Tables were notably
formed on the legal enactments of Greece. The cruel severity of the law
for insolvent debtors, forms a marked contrast to the milder and more
equitable arrangements of the Brehon code. By the Roman enactments, the
person of the debtor was at the mercy of his creditor, who might sell
him for a slave beyond the Tiber. The Celt allowed only the seizure of
goods, and even this was under regulations most favourable to the
debtor. The legal establishment of Christianity by Constantine, or we
should rather say the existence of Christianity, necessitated a complete
revision of all ancient laws: hence we find the compilation of the
Theodosian code almost synchronizing with the revision of the Brehon
laws. The spread of Christianity, and the new modes of thought and
action which obtained thereby, necessitated the reconstruction of
ancient jurisprudence in lands as widely distant geographically, and as
entirely separated politically, as Italy and Ireland.
Those who have studied the subject most carefully, and who are therefore
most competent to give an opinion, accept the popular account of the
revision of our laws.
The Four Masters thus record this important event:--"The age of Christ
438. The tenth year of Laeghairé. The Feinchus of Ireland were purified
and written, the writings and old works of Ireland having been collected
[and brought] to one place at the request of St. Patrick. Those were the
nine supporting props by whom this was done: Laeghairé, i.e., King of
Ireland, Corc, and Daire, the three kings; Patrick, Benen, and
Cairneach, the three saints; Ross, Dubhthach, and Fearghus, the three
antiquaries." Dr. O'Donovan, in his note, shelters himself under an
extract from Petrie's _Tara;_ but it is to be supposed that he coincides
in the opinion of that gentleman. Dr. Petrie thinks that "little doubt
can be entertained that such a work was compiled within a short period
after the introduction of Christianity in the country, and that St.
Patrick may have laid the foundations of it;"[153] though he gives no
satisfactory reason why that saint should not have assisted at the
compilation, and why the statements of our annalists should be refused
on this subject, when they are accepted on others. A list of the
"family" [household] of Patrick is given immediately after, which Dr.
O'Donovan has taken great pains to verify, and with which he appears
satisfied. If the one statement is true, why should the other be false?
Mr. O'Curry, whose opinion on such subjects is admittedly worthy of the
highest consideration, expresses himself strongly in favour of receiving
the statements of our annalists, and thinks that both Dr. Petrie and Dr.
Lanigan are mistaken in supposing that the compilation was not effected
by those to whom it has been attributed. As to the antiquity of these
laws, he observes that Cormac Mac Cullinan quotes passages from them in
his Glossary, which was written not later than the ninth century, and
then the language of the Seanchus[154] Mor was so ancient that it had
become obsolete. To these laws, he well observes, the language of Moore,
on the MSS. in the Royal Irish Academy, may be applied: "They were not
written by a foolish people, nor for any foolish purpose;" and these
were the "laws and institutions which regulated the political and social
system of a people the most remarkable in Europe, from a period almost
lost in the dark mazes of antiquity, down to about within two hundred
years of our own time, and whose spirit and traditions influence the
feelings and actions of the native Irish even to this day."[155]
But we can adduce further testimony. The able editor and translator of
the _Seanchus Mor_, which forms so important a portion of our ancient
code, has, in his admirable Preface, fully removed all doubt on this
question. He shows the groundlessness of the objections (principally
chronological) which had been made regarding those who are asserted to
have been its compilers. He also makes it evident that it was a work in
which St. Patrick should have been expected to engage: (1) because,
being a Roman citizen, and one who had travelled much, he was probably
well aware of the Christian modifications which had already been
introduced into the Roman code. (2) That he was eminently a judicious
missionary, and such a revision of national laws would obviously be no
slight support to the advancement of national Christianity. It is also
remarked, that St. Patrick may not necessarily have assisted personally
in writing the MS.; his confirmation of what was compiled by others
would be sufficient. St. Benignus, who is known to be the author of
other works,[156] probably acted as his amanuensis.
The subject-matter of the portions of the Seanchus Mor which have been
translated, is the law of distress. Two points are noticeable in this:
First, the careful and accurate administration of justice which is
indicated by the details of these legal enactments; second, the custom
therein sanctioned of the creditor fasting upon the debtor, a custom
which still exists in Hindostan. Hence, in some cases, the creditor
fasts on the debtor until he is compelled to pay his debt, lest his
creditor should die at the door; in other cases, the creditor not only
fasts himself, but also compels his debtor to fast, by stopping his
supplies. Elphinstone describes this as used even against princes, and
especially by troops to procure payment of arrears.[157]
One of the most noticeable peculiarities of the Brehon law is the
compensation for murder, called _eric_. This, however, was common to
other nations. Its origin is ascribed to the Germans, but the
institution was probably far more ancient. We find it forbidden[158] in
the oldest code of laws in existence; and hence the _eric_ must have
been in being at an early period of the world's civil history.
The law of succession, called _tanaisteacht_, or tanistry, is one of the
most peculiar of the Brehon laws. The eldest son succeeded the father to
the exclusion of all collateral claimants, unless he was disqualified by
deformity, imbecility, or crime. In after ages, by a compact between
parents or mutual agreement, the succession was sometimes made alternate
in two or more families. The eldest son, being recognized as presumptive
heir, was denominated _tanaiste_, that is, minor or second; while the
other sons, or persons eligible in case of failure, were termed
_righdhamhua_, which literally means king-material, or king-makings. The
_tanaiste_ had a separate establishment and distinct privileges. The
primitive intention was, that the "best man" should reign; but
practically it ended in might being taken for right, and often for less
important qualifications.
The possession and inheritance of landed property was regulated by the
law called gavelkind (gavail-kinne), an ancient Celtic institution, but
common to Britons, Anglo-Saxons, and others. By this law, inherited or
other property was divided equally between the sons, to the exclusion of
the daughters (unless, indeed, in default of heirs male, when females
were permitted a life interest). The _tanaiste_, however, was allotted
the dwelling-house and other privileges.
The tenure of land was a tribe or family right; and, indeed, the whole
system of government and legislation was far more patriarchal than
Teutonic--another indication of an eastern origin. All the members of a
tribe or family had an equal right to their proportionate share of the
land occupied by the whole. This system created a mutual independence
and self-consciousness of personal right and importance, strongly at
variance with the subjugation of the Germanic and Anglo-Norman vassal.
The compilation of the Brehon laws originated in a question that arose
as to how the murderer of Odran, Patrick's charioteer, should be
punished. The saint was allowed to select whatever Brehon he pleased to
give judgment. He chose Dubhthach; and the result of his decision was
the compilation of these laws, as it was at once seen that a purely
pagan code would not suit Christian teaching.
The Celtic language is now admittedly one of the most ancient in
existence. Its affinity with Sanscrit, the eldest daughter of the
undiscoverable mother-tongue, has been amply proved,[159] and the study
of the once utterly despised Irish promises to be one which will
abundantly repay the philologist. It is to be regretted that we are
indebted to German students for the verification of these statements;
but the Germans are manifestly born philologists, and they have
opportunities of leisure, and encouragement for the prosecution of such
studies, denied to the poorer Celt. It is probable that Celtic will yet
be found to have been one of the most important of the Indo-European
tongues. Its influence on the formation of the Romance languages has yet
to be studied in the light of our continually increasing knowledge of
its more ancient forms; and perhaps the conjectures of Betham will, by
the close of this century, receive as much respect as the once equally
ridiculed history of Keating.
It is almost impossible to doubt that the Irish nation had letters and
some form of writing before the arrival of St. Patrick. There are so
many references to the existence of writings in the most ancient MSS.,
that it appears more rash to deny their statements than to accept them.
[Illustration: RUNES FROM THE RUNIC CROSS AT RUTHWELL.]
The three principal arguments against a pre-Christian alphabet appears
to be: (1) The absence of any MS. of such writing. (2) The use of the
Roman character in all MSS. extant. (3) The universal opinion, scarcely
yet exploded, that the Irish Celts were barbarians. In reply to the
first objection, we may observe that St. Patrick is said to have
destroyed all the remnants of pagan writing.[160] Cæsar mentions that
the druids of Gaul used Greek characters. It appears impossible that the
Irish druids, who were at least their equals in culture, should have
been destitute of any kind of written character. The ancient form of
Welsh letters were somewhat similar to the runes of which we give a
specimen, and this alphabet was called the "alphabet of the bards," in
contradistinction to which is placed the "alphabet of the monks," or
Roman alphabet. The alphabet of the Irish bard may have been the
Beith-luis-nion, represented by the Ogham character, of which more
hereafter.
The difficulty arising from the fact of St. Patrick's having given
_abgitorium_, or alphabets, to his converts, appears to us purely
chimerical. Latin was from the first the language of the Church, and
being such, whether the Irish converts had or had not a form of writing,
one of the earliest duties of a Christian missionary was to teach those
preparing for the priesthood the language in which they were to
administer the sacraments. The alphabet given by the saint was simply
the common Roman letter then in use. The Celtic characteristic
veneration for antiquity and religion, has still preserved it; and
strange to say, the Irish of the nineteenth century alone use the
letters which were common to the entire Roman Empire in the fifth. The
early influence of ecclesiastical authority, and the circumstance that
the priests of the Catholic Church were at once the instructors in and
the preservers of letters, will account for the immediate disuse of
whatever alphabet the druids may have had. The third objection is a mere
_argumentum ad ignorantiam_.
[Illustration: CUNEIFORM CHARACTERS.]
It is to be regretted that the subject of Ogham writing has not been
taken up by a careful and competent hand.[161] There are few people who
have not found out some method of recording their history, and there are
few subjects of deeper interest than the study of the efforts of the
human mind to perpetuate itself in written characters. The Easterns had
their cuneiform or arrow-headed symbols, and the Western world has even
yet its quipus, and tells its history by the number of its knots.
[Illustration: The Quipus]
The peasant girl still knots her handkerchief as her _memoria technica_,
and the lady changes her ring from its accustomed finger. Each practice
is quite as primitive an effort of nature as the Ogham of the Celtic
bard. He used a stone pillar or a wooden stick for his notches,--a more
permanent record than the knot or the Indian quipus.[162] The use of a
stick as a vehicle for recording ideas by conventional marks, appears
very ancient; and this in itself forms a good argument for the antiquity
of Ogham writing. Mr. O'Curry has given it expressly as his opinion,
"that the pre-Christian Gaedhils possessed and practised a system of
writing and keeping records quite different from and independent of the
Greek and Roman form and characters, which gained currency in the
country after the introduction of Christianity." He then gives in
evidence passages from our ancient writings which are preserved, in
which the use of the Ogham character is distinctly mentioned. One
instance is the relation in the _Táin bó Chuailgné_ of directions having
been left on wands or hoops written in Ogham by Cuchulainn for Méav.
When these were found, they were read for her by Fergus, who understood
the character. We have not space for further details, but Professor
O'Curry devotes some pages to the subject, where fuller information may
be found. In conclusion, he expresses an opinion that the original
copies of the ancient books, such as the Cuilmenn and the Saltair of
Tara, were not written in Ogham. He supposes that the druids or poets,
who, it is well known, constantly travelled for educational purposes,
brought home an alphabet, probably the Roman then in use. "It is, at all
events, quite certain that the Irish druids had written books before the
coming of St. Patrick, in 432; since we find the statement in the
Tripartite Life of the saint, as well as in the Annotations of Tirechan,
preserved in the Book of Armagh, which were taken by him from the lips
and books of his tutor, St. Mochta, who was the pupil and disciple of
St. Patrick himself."
[Illustration: Ogham stone]
[Illustration: SAGRANI FILI CUNOTAMI]
We give two illustrations of Ogham writing. The pillar-stone is from the
collection of the Royal Irish Academy. It is about four and a-half feet
high, and averages eleven inches across. It was found, with three others
similarly inscribed, built into the walls of a dwelling-house in the
county Kerry, to which it is believed they had been removed from the
interior of a neighbouring rath. The bilingual Ogham was found at St.
Dogmael's, near Cardiganshire. The Ogham alphabet is called
_beithluisnion_, from the name of its two first letters, _beith_, which
signifies a birch-tree, and _luis_, the mountain-ash. If this kind of
writing had been introduced in Christian times, it is quite unlikely
that such names would have been chosen. They are manifestly referable to
a time when a tree had some significance beyond the useful or the
ornamental. It has been supposed that the names of the letters were
given to the trees, and not the names of the trees to the letters. It is
at least certain that the names of the trees and the letters coincide,
and that the trees are all indigenous to Ireland. The names of the
letters in the Hebrew alphabet are also significant, but appear to be
chosen indiscriminately, while there is a manifest and evidently
arbitrary selection in the Celtic appellations. The number of letters
also indicate antiquity. The ancient Irish alphabet had but sixteen
characters, thus numerically corresponding with the alphabet brought
into Greece by Cadmus. This number was gradually increased with the
introduction of the Roman form, and the arrangement was also altered to
harmonize with it. The Ogham alphabet consists of lines, which represent
letters. They are arranged in an arbitrary manner to the right or left
of a stemline, or on the edge of the material on which they are traced.
Even the names of those letters, _fleasg_ (a tree), seem an indication
of their origin. A cross has been found, sculptured more or less rudely,
upon many of these ancient monuments; and this has been supposed by some
antiquarians to indicate their Christian origin. Doubtless the practice
of erecting pillar-stones, and writing Oghams thereon, was continued
after the introduction of Christianity; but this by no means indicates
their origin. Like many other pagan monuments, they may have been
consecrated by having the sign of the cross engraven on them hundreds of
years after their erection.
During the few months which have elapsed between the appearance of the
first edition and the preparation of the second edition, my attention
has been called to this portion of the history by four or five eminent
members of the Royal Irish Academy, who express their regret that I
should appear to have adopted, or at least favoured, Mr. D'Alton's view
of the Christian origin of the round towers. I cannot but feel gratified
at the interest which they manifested, and not less so at their kind
anxiety that my own views should accord with those of the majority. I am
quite aware that my opinion on such a subject could have little weight.
To form a decided opinion on this subject, would require many years'
study; but when one of these gentlemen, the Earl of Dunraven,
distinguished for his devotion to archæology, writes to me that both
Irish, English, and Continental scholars are all but unanimous in
ascribing a Christian origin to these remarkable buildings, I cannot but
feel that I am bound to accept this opinion, thus supported by an
overwhelming weight of authority. It may, however, be interesting to
some persons to retain an account of the opposing theories, and for this
reason I still insert page 115 of the original edition, only making such
modifications as my change of opinion make necessary.
The theories which have been advanced on this subject may be classified
under seven heads--
(1) That the Phoenicians erected them for fire temples.
(2) That the Christians built them for bell towers.
(3) That the Magians used them for astronomical purposes.
(4) That they were for Christian anchorites to shut themselves up in.
(5) That they were penitentiaries.
(6) That the Druids used them to proclaim their festivals.
(7) That the Christians used them to keep their church plate and
treasures.
[Illustration: URN AND ITS CONTENTS FOUND IN A CROMLECH IN THE PHOENIX
PARK, DUBLIN.]
Contradictory as these statements appear, they may easily be ranged into
two separate theories of pagan or Christian origin. Dr. Petrie has been
the great supporter of the latter opinion, now almost generally
received. He founds his opinion: (1) On the assumption that the Irish
did not know the use of lime mortar before the time of St. Patrick. For
this assumption, however, he gives no evidence. (2) On the presence of
certain Christian emblems on some of these towers, notably at Donaghmore
and Antrim. But the presence of Christian emblems, like the cross on the
Ogham stones, may merely indicate that Christians wished to consecrate
them to Christian use. (3) On the assumption that they were used as
keeps or monastic castles, in which church plate was concealed, or
wherein the clergy could shelter themselves from the fury of Danes, or
other invaders. But it is obvious that towers would have been built in a
different fashion had such been the object of those who erected them.
The late Mr. D'Alton has been the most moderate and judicious advocate
of their pagan origin. He rests his theory (1) on certain statements in
our annals, which, if true, must at once decide the dispute. The Annals
of Ulster mention the destruction of fifty-seven of them in consequence
of a severe earthquake, A.D. 448. He adduces the testimony of Giraldus
Cambrensis, who confirms the account of the origin of Lough Neagh by an
inundation, A.D. 65, and adds: "It is no improbable testimony to this
event, that the fishermen beheld the religious towers (_turres
ecclesiasticas_), which, according to the custom of the country, are
narrow, lofty, and round, immersed under the waters; and they frequently
show them to strangers passing over them, and wondering at their
purposes" (_reique causas admirantibus_). This is all the better
evidence of their then acknowledged antiquity, because the subject of
the writer was the formation of the lough, and not the origin of the
towers. Mr. D'Alton's (2) second argument is, that it was improbable the
Christians would have erected churches of wood and bell towers of stone,
or have bestowed incomparably more care and skill on the erection of
these towers, no matter for what use they may have been intended, than
on the churches, which should surely be their first care.[163]
The cromlechs next claim our notice. There has been no question of their
pagan origin; and, indeed, this method of honouring or interring the
dead, seems an almost universal custom of ancient peoples.[164]
Cremation does not appear to have been the rule as to the mode of
interment in ancient Erinn, as many remains of skeletons have been
found; and even those antiquarians who are pleased entirely to deny the
truth of the _historical_ accounts of our early annalists, accept their
statements as to customs of the most ancient date. When the dead were
interred without cremation, the body was placed either in a horizontal,
sitting, or recumbent posture. When the remains were burned, a fictile
vessel was used to contain the ashes. These urns are of various forms
and sizes. The style of decoration also differs widely, some being but
rudely ornamented, while others bear indications of artistic skill which
could not have been exercised by a rude or uncultivated people.
[Illustration]
We give a full-page illustration of an urn and its contents, at present
in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. This urn was found in a
tumulus, which was opened in the Phoenix Park, near Dublin, in the year
1838. The tumulus was about 120 feet in diameter at the base, and
fifteen feet high. Four sepulchral vases, containing burnt ashes, were
found within the tomb. It also enclosed two perfect male skeletons, the
tops of the femora of another, and a bone of some animal. A number of
shells[165] were found under the head of each skeleton, of the kind
known to conchologists as the _Nerita littoralis_. The urn which we have
figured is the largest and most perfect, and manifestly the earliest of
the set. It is six inches high, rudely carved, yet not without some
attempt at ornament. The bone pin was probably used for the hair, and
the shells are obviously strung for a necklace. We give above a specimen
of the highest class of cinerary urns. It stands unrivalled, both in
design and execution, among all the specimens found in the British
isles. This valuable remain was discovered in the cutting of a railway,
in a small stone chamber, at Knockneconra, near Bagnalstown, county
Carlow. Burned bones of an infant, or very young child, were found in
it, and it was inclosed in a much larger and ruder urn, containing the
bones of an adult.
Possibly, suggests Sir W. Wilde, they may have been the remains of
mother and child.[166]
[Illustration: GOLD HEAD-DRESS, R.I.A.]
The collection of antiquities in the Royal Irish Academy, furnishes
abundant evidence that the pagan Irish were well skilled in the higher
arts of working in metals. If the arbitrary division of the ages of
stone, bronze, and iron, can be made to hold good, we must either
suppose that the Irish Celt was possessed of extraordinary mental
powers, by which he developed the mechanical arts gradually, or that,
with successive immigrations, he obtained an increase of knowledge from
exterior sources. The bardic annals indicate the latter theory. We have
already given several illustrations of the ruder weapons. The
illustration appended here may give some idea of the skill obtained by
our pagan ancestors in working gold. This ornament, which is quite
complete, though fractured in two places, stands 11-1/2 inches high. It
weighs 16 oz. 10 dwts. 13 grs. The gold of which it is formed is very
red. It was procured with the Sirr Collection, and is said to have been
found in the county Clare.[167] Our readers are indebted to the kindness
of the Council of the Royal Irish Academy, for the permission to depict
these and the other rare articles from the collection which are inserted
in our pages.
The amount of gold ornaments which have been found in Ireland at various
times, has occasioned much conjecture as to whether the material was
found in Ireland or imported. It is probable that auriferous veins
existed, which were worked out, or that some may even now exist which
are at present unknown. The discovery of gold ornaments is one of the
many remarkable confirmations of the glowing accounts given by our
bardic annalists of Erinn's ancient glories. O'Hartigan thus describes
the wealth and splendour of the plate possessed by the ancient monarchs
who held court at Tara:--
"Three hundred cupbearers distributed
Three times fifty choice goblets
Before each party of great numbers,
Which were of pure strong carbuncle,[168]
Or gold or of silver all."
Dr. Petrie observes that this statement is amply verified by the
magnificent gold ornaments, found within a few yards of this very spot,
now in the possession of the Royal Irish Academy. We shall see, at a
later period, when the cursing of Tara will demand a special notice of
its ancient glories, how amply the same writer has vindicated the
veracity of Celtic annalists on this ground also.
A remarkable resemblance has been noticed between the pagan military
architecture of Ireland, and the early Pelasgian monuments in Greece.
They consist of enclosures, generally circular, of massive clay walls,
built of small loose stones, from six to sixteen feet thick. These forts
or fortresses are usually entered by a narrow doorway, wider at the
bottom than at the top, and are of Cyclopean architecture. Indeed, some
of the remains in Ireland can only be compared to the pyramids of Egypt,
so massive are the blocks of stone used in their construction. As this
stone is frequently of a kind not to be found in the immediate
neighbourhood, the means used for their transportation are as much a
matter of surprise and conjecture, as those by which they were placed in
the position in which they are found. The most remarkable of these forts
may still be seen in the Isles of Arran, on the west coast of Galway;
there are others in Donegal, Mayo, and in Kerry. Some of these erections
have chambers in their massive walls, and in others stairs are found
round the interior of the wall; these lead to narrow platforms, varying
from eight to forty-three feet in length, on which the warriors or
defenders stood. The fort of Dunmohr, in the middle island of Arran, is
supposed to be at least 2,000 years old. Besides these forts, there was
the private house, a stone habitation, called a _clochann_, in which an
individual or family resided; the large circular dome-roofed buildings,
in which probably a community lived; and the rath, intrenched and
stockaded.
But stone was not the only material used for places of defence or
domestic dwellings; the most curious and interesting of ancient Irish
habitations is the _crannoge_, a name whose precise etymology is
uncertain, though there is little doubt that it refers in some way to
the peculiar nature of the structure.
The crannoges were formed on small islets or shallows of clay or marl in
the centre of a lake, which were probably dry in summer, but submerged
in winter. These little islands, or mounds, were used as a foundation
for this singular habitation. Piles of wood, or heaps of stone and bones
driven into or heaped on the soil, formed the support of the crannoge.
They were used as places of retreat or concealment, and are usually
found near the ruins of such old forts or castles as are in the vicinity
of lakes or marshes. Sometimes they are connected with the mainland by a
causeway, but usually there is no appearance of any; and a small canoe
has been, with but very few exceptions, discovered in or near each
crannoge.
Since the investigation of these erections in Ireland, others have been
discovered in the Swiss lakes of a similar kind, and containing, or
rather formed on, the same extraordinary amount of bones heaped up
between the wooden piles.
The peculiar objects called celts, and the weapons and domestic utensils
of this or an earlier period, are a subject of scarcely less interest.
The use of the celt has fairly perplexed all antiquarian research. Its
name is derived not, as might be supposed, from the nation to whom this
distinctive appellation was given, but from the Latin word _celtis_, a
chisel. It is not known whether these celts, or the round, flat,
sharp-edged chisels, were called _Lia Miledh_, "warriors' stones." In
the record of the battle of the Ford of Comar, Westmeath, the use of
this instrument is thus described:--
"There came not a man of Lohar's people without a broad green spear, nor
without a dazzling shield, nor without a _Liagh-lamha-laich_ (a
champion's hand stone), stowed away in the hollow cavity of his
shield.... And Lohar carried his stone like each of his men; and seeing
the monarch his father standing in the ford with Ceat, son of Magach, at
one side, and Connall Cearnach at the other, to guard him, he grasped
his battle-stone quickly and dexterously, and threw it with all his
strength, and with unerring aim, at the king his father; and the massive
stone passed with a swift rotatory motion towards the king, and despite
the efforts of his two brave guardians, it struck him on the breast, and
laid him prostrate in the ford. The king, however, recovered from the
shock, arose, and placing his foot upon the formidable stone, pressed it
into the earth, where it remains to this day, with a third part of it
over ground, and the print of the king's foot visible upon it."
Flint proper, or chalk flint, is found but in few places in Ireland;
these are principally in the counties of Antrim, Down, and Derry. In the
absence of a knowledge of the harder metals, flint and such-like
substances were invaluable as the only material that could be fashioned
into weapons of defence, and used to shape such rude clothing as was
then employed. The scarcity of flint must have rendered these weapons of
great value in other districts. Splitting, chipping, and polishing, and
this with tools as rude as the material worked on, were the only means
of manufacturing such articles; and yet such was the perfection, and, if
the expression be applicable, the amount of artistic skill attained,
that it seems probable flint-chipping was a special trade, and doubtless
a profitable one to those engaged in it.
When flints were used as arrows, either in battle or in the chase, a bow
was easily manufactured from the oak and birch trees with which the
island was thickly wooded. It was bent by a leathern thong, or the
twisted intestine of some animal. The handles of the lance or
javelin--formidable weapons, if we may judge from the specimens in the
Museum of the Royal Irish Academy--were also formed of wood; but these
have perished in the lapse of ages, and left only the strangely and
skilfully formed implement of destruction.
Among primitive nations, the tool and the weapon differed but little.
The hatchet which served to fell the tree, was as readily used to cleave
open the head of an enemy. The knife, whether of stone or hard wood,
carved the hunter's prey, or gave a deathstroke to his enemy. Such
weapons or implements have, however, frequently been found with metal
articles, under circumstances which leave little doubt that the use of
the former was continued long after the discovery of the superior value
of the latter. Probably, even while the Tuatha De Danann artificers were
framing their more refined weapons for the use of nobles and knights,
the rude fashioner of flint-arrows and spear-heads still continued to
exercise the craft he had learned from his forefathers, for the benefit
of poorer or less fastidious warriors.
[Illustration: CROMLECH IN THE PHOENIX PARK.
The urn and necklace, figured at page 154, were found in this tomb.]
[Illustration: CLONDALKIN ROUND TOWER.]
FOOTNOTES:
[144] _Authors_.--Strabo, l. iv. p. 197; Suetonius, _V. Cla._; Pliny,
_Hist. Nat._ l. xxv. c. 9. Pliny mentions having seen the serpent's egg,
and describes it.
[145] _Virgil_.--_Ec._. 6, v. 73.
[146] _Year_.--Dio. Sic. tom. i. p. 158.
[147] _Magi_.--Magi is always used in Latin as the equivalent for the
Irish word which signifies druid. See the _Vitæ S. Columbæ_, p. 73; see
also Reeves' note to this word.
[148] _Worship_.--In the Chronicle of Richard of Cirencester, ch. 4,
certain Roman deities are mentioned as worshipped by the British druids;
but it is probable the account is merely borrowed from Cæsar's
description of the Gauls.
[149] _Ceremonies_.--Bohn's edition, p. 431.
[150] _Wren_.--In Scotland the wren is an object of reverence: hence the
rhyme--
"Malisons, malisons, more than ten, That harry the Ladye of Heaven's
hen."
But it is probable the idea and the verse were originally imported from
France, where the bird is treated with special respect. There is a very
interesting paper in the _Ulster Archæological Journal_, vol. vii. p.
334, on the remarkable correspondence of Irish, Greek, and Oriental
legends, where the tale of Labhradh Loinseach is compared with that of
Midas. Both had asses' ears, and both were victims to the loquacious
propensities of their barbers.
[151] _Etruscans_.--See _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_, vol i p.
295, where the bas-reliefs are described which represent the _præficæ_,
or hired mourners, wailing over the corpse.
[152] _Laid down_.--Law, Saxon, _lagu, lah_; from _lecgan_==Goth.
_lagjan_, to lay, to place; Gael. _lagh_, a law; _leag_, to lie down;
Latin, _lex_, from Gr. _lego_, to lay.
[153] _It_.--Four Masters, vol. i p. 133. The Seanchus Mor was sometimes
called _Cain Phadruig_, or Patrick's Law.
[154] _Seanchus_.--From the old Celtic root _sen_, old, which has direct
cognates, not merely in the Indo-European, but also in the Semitic;
Arabic, _sen_, old, ancient--_sunnah_, institution, regulation; Persian,
_san_, law, right; _sanna_, Phoenicibus idem fuit quod Arabibus _summa_,
lex, doctrina jux canonicum.--Bochart, _Geo. Sæ_. 1. ii. c. 17. See
Petrie's _Tara_, p. 79.
[155] _Day_.--O'Curry, page 201.
[156] _Works_.--He appears to have been the author of the original Book
of Rights, and "commenced and composed the Psalter of Caiseal, in which
are described the acts, _laws,"_ &c.--See Preface to Seanchus Mor, p.
17.
[157] _Arrears_.--Elphinstone's _India_, vol. i. p. 372.
[158] _Forbidden_.--"You shall not take money of him that is guilty of
blood, but he shall die forthwith."--Numbers, xxxv. 31.
[159] _Proved_.--See Pictet's _Origines Indo-Européennes_. He mentions
his surprise at finding a genuine Sanscrit word in Irish, which, like a
geological boulder, had been transported from one extremity of the Aryan
world to the other. Pictet considers that the first wave of Aryan
emigration occurred 3,000 years before the Christian Era.
[160] _Writing_.--"Finally, Dudley Firbisse, hereditary professor of the
antiquities of his country, mentions in a letter [to me] a fact
collected from the monuments of his ancestors, that one hundred and
eighty tracts [tractatus] of the doctrine of the druids or magi, were
condemned to the flames in the time of St. Patrick."--_Ogygia_, iii. 30,
p. 219. A writer in the _Ulster Arch. Journal_ mentions a "Cosmography,"
printed at "Lipsiæ, 1854." It appears to be a Latin version or epitome
of a Greek work. The writer of this Cosmography was born in 103. He
mentions having "examined the volumes" of the Irish, whom he visited. If
this authority is reliable, it would at once settle the question.--See
_Ulster Arch. Journal_, vol. ii. p. 281.
[161] _Hand_.--A work on this subject has long been promised by Dr.
Graves, and is anxiously expected by paleographists. We regret to learn
that there is no immediate prospect of its publication.
[162] _Quipus_.--Quipus signifies a knot. The cords were of different
colours. Yellow denoted gold and all the allied ideas; white, silver, or
peace; red, war, or soldiers. Each quipus was in the care of a
quiper-carnayoe, or keeper. Acorta mentions that he saw a woman with a
handful of these strings, which she said contained a confession of her
life. See Wilson's _Pre-Historic Man_ for most interesting details on
the subject of symbolic characters and early writing.
[163] _Care_.--Annals of Boyle, vol. ii. p. 22. _Essay_, p. 82.
[164] _Peoples_.--See _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_, vol. ii. p.
314, where the writer describes tombs sunk beneath a tumulus, about
twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter, and also tombs exactly
resembling the Irish cromlech, the covering slab of enormous size, being
inclined "apparently to carry off the rain." In his account of the
geographical sites of these remains, he precisely, though most
unconsciously, marks out the line of route which has been assigned by
Irish annalists as that which led our early colonizers to Ireland. He
says they are found in the presidency of Madras, among the mountains of
the Caucasus, on the steppes of Tartary, in northern Africa, "_on the
shores of the Mediterranean they are particularly abundant_," and in
Spain.
[165] _Shells_.--Cat. Ant. R.I.A.; Stone Mat. p. 180. The ethnographic
phases of conchology might form a study in itself. Shells appear to be
the earliest form of ornament in use. The North American Indians have
their shell necklaces buried with them also. See Wilson's _Pre-Historic
Man_.
[166] _Child_.--Mr. Wilson gives a most interesting description of an
interment of a mother and child in an ancient Peruvian grave. The mother
had an unfinished piece of weaving beside her, with its colours still
bright. The infant was tenderly wrapped in soft black woollen cloth, to
which was fastened a pair of little sandals, 2-1/2 inches long; around
its neck was a green cord, attached to a small shell.--_Pre-Historic
Man_, vol. i. p. 234.
[167] _Clare_.--In 1855, in digging for a railway-cutting in the county
Clare, gold ornaments were found worth £2,000 as bullion.
[168] _Carbuncle_.--This word was used to denote any shining stone of a
red colour, such as garnet, a production of the country.
CHAPTER XI.
Pestilence of the _Blefed_--The Cursing of Tara by St. Rodanus--Extent
and Importance of Ancient Tara--The First Mill in Ireland--The _Lia
Fail_--Cormac's House--The Rath of the Synods--The Banqueting
Hall--Chariots and Swords--St. Columba--St. Brendan and his
Voyages--Pre-Columbian Discovery of America--The Plague again--St.
Columba and St. Columbanus--Irish Saints and Irish Schools--Aengus the
Culdee.
[A.D. 543-693.]
From time to time, in the world's history, terrible and mysterious
pestilences appear, which defy all calculation as to their cause or
probable reappearance. Such was the _Blefed_,[169] or _Crom Chonaill_,
which desolated Ireland in the year 543.
The plague, whatever its nature may have been, appears to have been
general throughout Europe. It originated in the East; and in Ireland was
preceded by famine, and followed by leprosy. St. Berchan of Glasnevin
and St. Finnen of Clonard were amongst its first victims.
Diarmaid, son of Fergus Keval, of the southern Hy-Nial race, was
Ard-Righ during this period. In his reign Tara was cursed by St. Rodanus
of Lothra, in Tipperary, in punishment for violation of sanctuary;[170]
and so complete was its subsequent desertion, that in 975 it was
described as a desert overgrown with grass and weeds.
But enough still remains to give ample evidence of its former
magnificence. An inspection of the site must convince the beholder of
the vast extent of its ancient palaces; nor can we, for a moment,
coincide with those who are pleased to consider that these palaces
consisted merely of a few planks of wood, rudely plastered over, or of
hollow mounds of earth. It is true that, from an association of ideas,
the cause of so many fallacies, we naturally connect "halls" with marble
pavements, magnificently carved pillars, and tesselated floors; but the
harp that once resounded through Tara's halls, may have had as
appreciating, if not as critical, an audience as any which now exists,
and the "halls" may have been none the less stately, because their floor
was strewn with sand, or the trophies which adorned them fastened to
walls of oak.[171]
According to Celtic tradition, as embodied in our annals, Tara became
the chief residence of the Irish kings on the first establishment of a
monarchical government under Slainge:--
"Slaine of the Firbolgs was he by whom Temair was first raised."
One hundred and fifty monarchs reigned there from this period until its
destruction, in 563. The _Fes_, or triennial assembly, was instituted by
Ollamh Fodhla. The nature of these meetings is explained in a poem,
which Keating ascribes to O'Flynn, who died A.D. 984. It is clear that
what was then considered crime was punished in a very peremptory manner;
for--
"Gold was not received as retribution from him,
But his soul in one hour."[172]
In the reign of Tuathal a portion of land was separated from each of the
four provinces, which met together at a certain place: this portion was
considered a distinct part of the country from the provinces. It was
situated in the present county of Meath.
In the tract separated from Munster, Tuathal[173] built the royal seat
of Tlachtga, where the fire of Tlachtga was ordained to be kindled. On
the night of All Saints, the druids assembled here to offer sacrifices,
and it was established, under heavy penalties that no fire should be
kindled on that night throughout the kingdom, so that the fire which was
used afterwards might be procured from it. To obtain this privilege, the
people were obliged to pay a scraball, or about three-pence, yearly, to
the King of Munster.
On the 1st of May a convocation was held in the royal palace of the King
of Connaught. He obtained subsidies in horses and arms from those who
came to this assembly. On this occasion two fires were lit, between
which cattle were driven as a preventative or charm against the murrain
and other pestilential distempers. From this custom the feast of St.
Philip and St. James was anciently called Beltinne, or the Day of Bel's
Fire.
The third palace, erected by Tuathal, was on the portion of land taken
from the province of Ulster. Here the celebrated fair of Tailtean was
held, and contracts of marriage were frequently made. The royal tribute
was raised by exacting an ounce of silver from every couple who were
contracted and married at that time. The fair of Tailtean had been
instituted some years before, in honour of Tailte, who was buried here.
This fair, says Keating, was then kept upon the day known in the Irish
language as La Lughnasa, or the day ordained by Lughaidh, and is called
in English Lammas-day.
The fourth and the most important of the royal seats was the palace of
Temair, or Tara: here, with the greatest state and ceremony, the affairs
of the nation were discussed and decided. On these occasions, in order
to preserve the deliberations from the public, the most strict secrecy
was observed, and women were entirely excluded.
The Dinnseanchus, a topographical work, compiled in the twelfth century
from ancient MSS., is the principal source of information on this
subject. Dr. Petrie, in his famous _Essay_, has given both the original
and translation of this tract, and of other documents on the same
subject; and he remarks how exactly the accounts given by the poet
historians coincide with the remains which even now exist. In fact, each
site has been ascertained with precise accuracy--an accuracy which
should very much enhance our appreciation of the value of our ancient
histories.
The well _Neamhnach_ was first identified. Tradition asserts that the first
mill[174] erected in Ireland was turned by the stream which flowed from
it, and even at the present day a mill is still worked there. The
situation of the _Rath-na-Riogh_ was then easily ascertained. This is
the most important of these ancient sites, but it is now, unfortunately,
nearly levelled to the ground. This rath is oval and measures about 853
feet from north to south; it contains the ruins of the _Forradh_ and of
_Teach Cormac_ (the House of Cormac). A pillar-stone was removed in 1798
to the centre of the mound of the Forradh. It formerly stood by the side
of a small mound lying within the enclosure of Rath-Riogh. This stone
Dr. Petrie considers identical[175] with the famous _Lia Fail_, or Stone
of Destiny, which other authorities suppose to have been removed to
Scotland, and subsequently to Westminster. The _Rath-na-Riogh_ is
identical with Teamur, and is, in fact, _the_ ancient Tara, or royal
residence, around which other scarcely less important buildings were
gradually erected. It was also called _Cathair Crofinn_. The name of
_Cathair_ was exclusively applied to circular stone fortifications built
without cement; and stones still remain which probably formed a portion
of the original building. In ancient Irish poems this fortification is
sometimes called the Strong Tower of Teamur, an appellation never
applied to a rath, but constantly to a _Cathair_, or circular stone
fort.
The Rath of the Synods obtained its name at a comparatively recent
period. The situation is distinctly pointed out both in the prose and
verse accounts. Here was held the Synod of Patrick, the Synod of Ruadhan
and Brendan, and lastly, the Synod of Adamnan. The next existing
monument which has been identified with certainty, is the
_Teach-Miodhchuarta_, or Banqueting Hall, so famous in Irish history and
bardic tradition. This was also the great house of the thousand
soldiers, and the place where the _Fes_ or triennial assemblies were
held. It had fourteen doors--seven to the east and seven to the west.
Its length, taken from the road, is 759 feet, and its breadth was
probably about 90 feet. Kenneth O'Hartigan is the great, and indeed
almost the only authority for the magnificence and state with which the
royal banquets were held herein. As his descriptions are written in a
strain of eloquent and imaginative verse, his account has been too
readily supposed to be purely fictitious. But we have already shown that
his description of the gold vessels which were used, is amply
corroborated by the discovery of similar articles. His account of the
extent, if not of the exterior magnificence, of the building, has also
been fully verified; and there remains no reason to doubt that a
"thousand soldiers" may have attended their lord at his feasts, or that
"three times fifty stout cooks" may have supplied the viands. There was
also the "House of the Women," a term savouring strangely of eastern
customs and ideas; and the "House of the Fians," or commons soldiers.
Two poems are still preserved which contain ground-plans of the
different compartments of the house, showing the position allotted to
different ranks and occupations, and the special portion which was to be
assigned to each. The numerous distinctions of rank, and the special
honours paid to the learned, are subjects worthy of particular notice.
The "_saoi_ of literature" and the "royal chief" are classed in the same
category, and were entitled to a _primchrochait_, or steak; nor was the
Irish method of cooking barbarous, for we find express mention of a spit
for roasting meat, and of the skill of an artificer who contrived a
machine by which thirty spits could be turned at once.[176] The five
great Celtic roads[177] have already been mentioned. Indistinct traces
of them are still found at Tara. The _Slighe Môr_ struck off from the
Slope of the Chariots,[178] at the northern head of the hill, and joined
the Eiscir Riada, or great Connaught road, from Dublin _via_ Trim. Dr.
Petrie concludes his Essay on Tara thus: "But though the houses were
unquestionably of these materials [wood and clay, with the exception of
the Tuatha Dé Danann Cathair], it must not be inferred that they were
altogether of a barbarous structure. It is not probable that they were
unlike or inferior to those of the ancient Germans, of which Tacitus
speaks in terms of praise, and which he describes as being overlaid with
an earth so pure and splendid, that they resembled painting." And the
historian Moore, writing on the same subject, observes: "That these
structures were in wood is by no means conclusive either against the
elegance of their structure, or the civilization, to a certain extent,
of those who erected them. It was in wood that the graceful forms of
Grecian architecture first unfolded their beauties; and there is reason
to believe that, at the time when Xerxes invaded Greece, most of her
temples were still of this perishable material."
But the cursing of Tara was by no means the only misfortune of
Diarmaid's reign. His unaccountable hostility to St. Columba involved
him in many troubles; and, in addition to these, despite famine and
pestilence, the country was afflicted with domestic wars. It is said
that his war with Guaire, King of Connaught, was undertaken as a
chastisement for an injustice committed by that monarch, who, according
to an old chronicle, had deprived a woman, who had vowed herself to a
religious life, of a cow, which was her only means of support. It is
more probable, however, that the motive was not quite so chivalric, and
that extortion of a tribute to which he had no right was the real cause.
The high character for probity unanimously attributed to Guaire, makes
it extremely unlikely that he should have committed any deliberate act
of injustice.
The first great convention of the Irish states, after the abandonment of
Tara, was held in Drumceat, in 573, in the reign of Hugh, son of
Ainmire. St. Columba and the leading members of the Irish clergy
attended. Precedence was given to the saint by the prelates of North
Britain, to honour his capacity of apostle or founder of the Church in
that country.
Two important subjects were discussed on this occasion, and on each the
opinion of St. Columba was accepted as definitive. The first referred to
the long-vexed question whether the Scottish colony of Alba should still
be considered dependent on the mother country. The saint, foreseeing the
annoyances to which a continuance of this dependence must give rise,
advised that it should be henceforth respected as an independent state.
The second question was one of less importance in the abstract, but far
more difficult to settle satisfactorily. The bards, or more probably
persons who wished to enjoy their immunities and privileges without
submitting to the ancient laws which obliged them to undergo a long and
severe course of study before becoming licentiates, if we may use the
expression, of that honorable calling, had become so numerous and
troublesome, that loud demands were made for their entire suppression.
The king, who probably suffered from their insolence as much as any of
his subjects, was inclined to comply with the popular wish, but yielded
so far to the representations of St. Columba, as merely to diminish
their numbers, and place them under stricter rules.
Hugh Ainmire was killed while endeavouring to exact the Boromean
Tribute. The place of his death was called Dunbolg, or the Fort of the
Bags. The Leinster king, Bran Dubh, had recourse to a stratagem, from
whence the name was derived. Finding himself unable to cope with the
powerful army of his opponent, he entered his camp disguised as a leper,
and spread a report that the Leinster men were preparing to submit.
In the evening a number of bullocks, laden with leathern bags, were seen
approaching the royal camp. The drivers, when challenged by the
sentinels, said that they were bringing provisions; and this so tallied
with the leper's tale, that they were permitted to deposit their burdens
without further inquiry. In the night, however, an armed man sprang from
each bag, and headed by their king, whose disguise was no longer needed,
slaughtered the royal army without mercy, Hugh himself falling a victim
to the personal bravery of Bran Dubh.
The deaths of several Irish saints, whose lives are of more than
ordinary interest, are recorded about this period. Amongst them, St.
Brendan of Clonfert demands more than a passing notice. His early youth
was passed under the care of St. Ita, a lady of the princely family of
the Desii. By divine command she established the Convent of _Cluain
Credhuil_, in the present county of Limerick, and there, it would
appear, she devoted herself specially to the care of youth. When Brendan
had attained his fifth year, he was placed under the protection of
Bishop Ercus, from whom he received such instruction as befitted his
advancing years. But Brendan's tenderest affection clung to the gentle
nurse of his infancy; and to her, in after years, he frequently
returned, to give or receive counsel and sympathy.
The legend of his western voyage, if not the most important, is at least
the most interesting part of his history. Kerry was the native home of
the enterprising saint; and as he stood on its bold and beautiful
shores, his naturally contemplative mind was led to inquire what
boundaries chained that vast ocean, whose grand waters rolled in mighty
waves beneath his feet. His thoughtful piety suggested that where there
might be a country there might be life--human life and human souls dying
day by day, and hour by hour, and knowing of no other existence than
that which at best is full of sadness and decay.
Traditions of a far-away land had long existed on the western coast of
ancient Erinn. The brave Tuatha Dé Dananns were singularly expert in
naval affairs, and their descendants were by no means unwilling to
impart information to the saint.
The venerable St. Enda, the first Abbot of Arran, was then living, and
thither St. Brendan journeyed for counsel. Probably he was encouraged in
his design by the holy abbot; for, he proceeded along the coast of Mayo,
inquiring as he went for traditions of the western continent. On his
return to Kerry, he decided to set out on the important expedition. St.
Brendan's Hill still bears his name; and from the bay at the foot of
this lofty eminence he sailed for the "far west." Directing his course
towards the south-west, with a few faithful companions, in a
well-provisioned bark, he came, after some rough and dangerous
navigation, to calm seas, where, without aid of oar or sail, he was
borne along for many weeks. It is probable that he had entered the great
Gulf Stream, which brought his vessel ashore somewhere on the Virginian
coasts. He landed with his companions, and penetrated into the interior,
until he came to a large river flowing from east to west, supposed to be
that now known as the Ohio. Here, according to the legend, he was
accosted by a man of venerable bearing, who told him that he had gone
far enough; that further discoveries were reserved for other men, who
would in due time come and christianize that pleasant land.
After an absence of seven years, the saint returned once more to
Ireland, and lived not only to tell of the marvels he had seen, but even
to found a college of three thousand monks at Clonfert. This voyage took
place in the year 545, according to Colgan; but as St. Brendan must have
been at that time at least sixty years old, an earlier date has been
suggested as more probable.[179]
The northern and southern Hy-Nials had long held rule in Ireland; but
while the northern tribe were ever distinguished, not only for their
valour, but for their chivalry in field or court, the southern race fell
daily lower in the estimation of their countrymen. Their disgrace was
completed when two kings, who ruled Erinn jointly, were treacherously
slain by Conall Guthvin. For this crime the family were excluded from
regal honours for several generations.
Home dissensions led to fatal appeals for foreign aid, and this
frequently from the oppressing party. Thus, Congal Caech, who killed the
reigning sovereign in 623, fled to Britain, and after remaining there
nine years, returned with foreign troops, by whose assistance he hoped
to attain the honours unlawfully coveted. The famous battle of
Magh-Rath,[180] in which the auxiliaries were utterly routed and the
false Congal slain, unfortunately did not deter his countrymen from
again and again attempting the same suicidal course.
In 656 the country was once more visited by the fatal _Crom Chonaill_,
and again holy prelates and sainted religious were foremost amongst its
victims. Many orphans were of necessity thrown on the mercy of those to
whom charity was their only claim. Nor was the call unheeded. The
venerable Bishop of Ardbraccan, St. Ultan, whom we may perhaps term the
St. Vincent of Ireland, gathered these hapless little ones into a safe
asylum, and there, with a thoughtfulness which in such an age could
scarcely have been expected, sought to supply by artificial means for
the natural nourishment of which they had been deprived.
Venerable Bede mentions this pestilence, and gives honorable testimony
to the charity of the Irish, not only to their own people, but even to
strangers. He says: "This pestilence did no less harm, in the island of
Ireland. Many of the nobility and of the lower ranks of the English
nation were there at that time, who, in the days of Bishop Finan and
Colman, forsaking their native land, retired thither, either for the
sake of divine studies, or for a more continent life. The Scots
willingly received them all, and took care to supply them with food, as
also to furnish them with books to read and their teaching gratis."[181]
In 673 Finnachta Fleadhach, or the Hospitable, began his reign. He
yielded to the entreaties of St. Moling, and remitted the Boromean
Tribute, after he had forced it from the Leinster men in a bloody
battle. In 687 he abdicated, and showed his respect for religion still
further by embracing the monastic state himself. In 684 the Irish coasts
were devastated, and even the churches pillaged, by the soldiers of
Egfrid, the Saxon King of Northumbria. Venerable Bede attributes his
subsequent defeat and death, when fighting against the Picts, to the
judgment of God, justly merited by these unprovoked outrages on a nation
which had always been most friendly to the English (_nationi Anglorum
semper amicissimam_).
It has been supposed that revenge may have influenced Egfrid's conduct:
this, however, does not make it more justifiable in a Christian king.
Ireland was not merely the refuge of men of learning in that age; it
afforded shelter to more than one prince driven unjustly from his
paternal home. Alfred, the brother of the Northumbrian monarch, had fled
thither from his treachery, and found a generous welcome on its
ever-hospitable shores. He succeeded his brother in the royal dignity;
and when St. Adamnan visited his court to obtain the release of the
Irish captives whom Egfrid's troops had torn from their native land, he
received him with the utmost kindness, and at once acceded to his
request.
St. Adamnan, whose fame as the biographer of St. Columba has added even
more to the lustre of his name than his long and saintly rule over the
Monastery of Iona, was of the race of the northern Hy-Nials. He was born
in the territory of Tir-Connell, about the year 627. Little is known of
his early history; it is generally supposed that he was educated at
Iona, and that, having embraced the monastic rule, he returned to his
own country to extend its observance there. He presided over the great
Abbey of Raphoe, of which he was the founder, until the year 679, when
he was raised to the government of his order, and from that period he
usually resided at Iona. The fact of his having been chosen to such an
important office, is a sufficient testimony to his virtues, and of the
veneration and respect in which he was held by his contemporaries.
St. Adamnan paid more than one visit to his friend the Northumbrian
monarch (_regem Alfridem amicum_). On the second occasion he went with
the Abbot Ceolfrid, and after some conversation with him and other
learned ecclesiastics, he adopted the Roman paschal computation. Yet,
with all his influence and eloquence, he was unable to induce his monks
to accept it; and it was not until the year 716 that they yielded to the
persuasions of Egbert, a Northumbrian monk. Adamnan was more successful
in his own country. In 697 he visited Ireland, and took an important
part in a legislative council held at Tara. On this occasion he procured
the enactment of a law, which was called the Canon of Adamnan, or the
Law of the Innocents, and sometimes "the law not to kill women." We have
already referred to the martial tendencies of the ladies of ancient
Erinn--a tendency, however, which was by no means peculiar at that
period of the world's history. The propensity for military engagements
was not confined to queens and princesses--women of all ranks usually
followed their lords to the field of battle; but as the former are
generally represented as having fallen victims to each other's prowess
in the fight, it appears probable that they had their own separate line
of battle, or perhaps fought out the field in a common _mêlée_ of
feminine forces.
Had we not the abundant testimony of foreign writers to prove the
influence and importance of the missions undertaken by Irish saints at
this period of her history, it might be supposed that the statements of
her annalists were tinged with that poetic fancy in which she has ever
been so singularly prolific, and that they rather wrote of what might
have been than of what was. But the testimony of Venerable Bede (to go
no further) is most ample on this subject.
Irish missionary zeal was inaugurated in the person of St. Columba,
although its extension to continental Europe was commenced by another,
who, from similarity of name, has been frequently confounded with the
national apostle.
St. Columbanus was born about the year 539. The care of his education
was confided to the venerable Senile, who was eminent for his sanctity
and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. It was probably through his
influence that the young man resolved to devote himself to the monastic
life. For this purpose he placed himself under the direction of St.
Comgall, who then governed the great Monastery of Bangor (Banchorr).
It was not until he entered his fiftieth year that he decided on
quitting his native land, so that there can be no reason to doubt that
his high intellectual attainments were acquired and perfected in
Ireland.
With the blessing of his superior, and the companionship of twelve
faithful monks, he set forth on his arduous mission; and arduous truly
it proved to be. The half-barbarous Franks, then ruled by Thierry or
Theodoric, lived more a pagan than a Christian life, and could ill brook
the stern lessons of morality which they heard from, and saw practised
by, their new teacher. The saint did not spare the demoralized court,
and the Queen-Dowager Brunehalt became his bitterest foe. He had already
established two monasteries: one at Luxovium, or Luxeuil, in a forest at
the foot of the Vosges; the other, on account of its numerous springs,
was called Ad-fontanas (Fontaines). Here the strict discipline of the
Irish monks was rigidly observed, and the coarsest fare the only
refection permitted to the religious.
For a time they were allowed to continue their daily routine of prayer
and penance without molestation; but the relentless Brunehalt, who, from
the basest motives, had encouraged the young king in every vice, could
no longer brave either the silent preaching of the cloister or the bold
denunciations of the saint. As Columbanus found that his distant
remonstrances had no effect on the misguided monarch, for whose eternal
welfare he felt the deep interest of true sanctity, he determined to try
a personal interview. For a brief space his admonitions were heard with
respect, and even the haughty queen seemed less bent on her career of
impiety and deceit; but the apparent conversion passed away as a summer
breeze, and once more the saint denounced and threatened in vain.
Strict enclosure had been established in the monasteries professing the
Columbanian rule[182] and this afforded a pretext for the royal
vengeance. Theodoric attempted to violate the sanctuary in person; but
though he was surrounded by soldiers, he had to encounter one whose
powers were of another and more invincible character. The saint remained
in the sanctuary, and when the king approached addressed him sternly:
"If thou, sire," he exclaimed, "art come hither to violate the
discipline already established, or to destroy the dwellings of the
servants of God, know that in heaven there is a just and avenging power;
thy kingdom shall be taken from thee, and both thou and thy royal race
shall be cut off and destroyed on the earth."
The undaunted bearing of Columbanus, and, perhaps, some lingering light
of conscience, not yet altogether extinguished, had its effect upon the
angry monarch. He withdrew; but he left to others the task he dared not
attempt in person. The saint was compelled by armed men to leave his
monastery, and only his Irish and British subjects were permitted to
bear him company. They departed in deep grief, not for the cruel
treatment they suffered, but for their brethren from whom they were thus
rudely torn. As the monks who were left behind clung weeping to their
father, he consoled them with these memorable words: "God will be to you
a Father, and reward you with mansions where the workers of sacrilege
can never enter."
Nantes was the destination of the exiled religious. Here they were put
on board a vessel bound for Ireland; but scarcely had they reached the
open sea, when a violent storm arose, by which the vessel was driven
back and stranded on the shore, where it lay all night. The captain
attributed the misfortune to his travelling companions, and refused to
carry them any farther. Columbanus, perceiving in this accident an
indication of the will of heaven in their regard, determined to seek a
settlement in some other part of the Continent. In the third year after
his expulsion from Luxeuil, he arrived at Milan, where he was hospitably
received by the Lombard king, A.D. 612. On his journey thither he had
evangelised Austrasia, then governed by Theodebert. This prince, though
a brother of the monarch by whom he had been expelled, entertained him
with the utmost courtesy. At Mentz, the bishop vainly endeavoured to
detain him. Zeal for the conversion of souls led the saint to desire a
less cultivated field of labour. As he passed along the Lake of Zurich,
and in the Canton of Zug, he reaped a rich harvest; from, thence he
directed his course to Bregentz, then inhabited by an idolatrous people.
Here he was repulsed by those who most needed his apostolic labours;
but, undaunted, he retired to the neighbouring county, where he secured
a band of zealous converts. Surrounded by these, and attended by his
faithful monks, he once more entered the idolatrous city, and proceeded
boldly to the temple where their false gods were enshrined. Here he
invoked the Holy Name, and by its power the idols were miraculously
overthrown, and a multitude of the people were converted, including in
their number some of the principal inhabitants of Bregentz.
The theological controversy, known as that of the "Three Chapters," was
now prevalent in northern Italy. A letter is still extant which St.
Columbanus addressed to Pope Boniface on this subject, in which, while
he uses the privilege of free discussion on questions not defined by the
Church, he is remarkably, and perhaps for some inconveniently, explicit
as to his belief in papal supremacy. A brief extract from this important
document will show that the faith for which Ireland has suffered, and
still suffers so much, was the same in the "early ages" as it is now. He
writes thus to the Holy Father:--
"For we Irish [Scoti] are disciples of St. Peter and St. Paul, and of
all the divinely inspired canonical writers, adhering constantly to the
evangelical and apostolical doctrine. Amongst us neither Jew, heretic,
nor schismatic can be found; but the Catholic faith, entire and
unshaken, precisely as we have received it from you, who are the
successors of the holy Apostles. For, as I have already said, we are
attached to the chair of St. Peter; and although Rome is great and
renowned, yet with us it is great and distinguished only on account of
that apostolic chair. Through the two Apostles of Christ you are almost
celestial, and Rome is the head of the churches of the world."[183]
In the year 613 St. Columbanus founded the world-famed Monastery of
Bovium, or Bobbio,[184] in a magnificently romantic site on the
Apennines. Near his church was an oratory dedicated to the Mother of
God, who, as we shall presently see, was as devoutly worshipped in
ancient as in modern Erinn.
Agilulph, the Lombardian monarch, was ever a warm patron of the monks.
Clothaire had now ascended the French throne. He earnestly pressed the
saint to return to Luxeuil, but Columbanus excused himself on the plea
of age and infirmities. He did not fail, however, to send advice for the
government of the monasteries which he had founded, where his rule had
continued to be observed with the utmost fervour.
St. Columbanus died at Bobbio, on the 21st of November, 615, at the age
of seventy-two years. His name is still preserved in the town of St.
Columbano. His memory has been ever venerated in France and Italy.
While the saint was evangelizing in Switzerland, one of his disciples
became seriously ill, and was unable to travel farther. It was a
providential sickness for the Helvetians. The monk was an eloquent
preacher, and well acquainted with their language, which was a dialect
of that of the Franks. He evangelized the country, and the town of St.
Gall still bears the name of the holy Irishman, while his abbey contains
many precious relics of the literature and piety of his native land. St.
Gall died on the 16th October, 645, at a very advanced age. The
monastery was not erected until after his decease, and it was not till
the year 1798 that the abbey lands were aggregated to the Swiss
Confederation as one of the cantons.
Another Irish saint, who evangelized in France, was St. Fiacre. He
erected a monastery to the Blessed Virgin in a forest near Meaux. The
fame of his sanctity became so great, and the pilgrimage to his tomb so
popular, that the French hackney coaches _(fiacre)_ obtained their name
from their constant employment in journeys to his shrine.
About the same period, St. Fursey founded a monastery near Burgh Castle,
in Suffolk, where he was kindly received by Sigbert, King of the East
Angles. From thence he proceeded to Lagny, in France, where his
missionary zeal was long remembered. His brothers, St. Foillan and St.
Altan, were his constant companions. St. Fursey died on the 16th
January, 650, at Macerius. His remains were subsequently translated to
Peronne, in Picardy. The evangelic labours of many of his Irish
disciples, are matter of history in the Gallic Church. It is said that
the fame of the Irish for their skill in music, was so well known on the
Continent at this period, that St. Gertrude, daughter of King Pepin, and
Abbess of Nivelle, in Brabant, invited the brothers of St. Fursey to
instruct her community in sacred music. They complied with her request,
and soon after erected a monastery at Fosse, near Nivelle. Nor were the
Scoti without their missionary martyrs, amongst whom the great St.
Kilian holds a distinguished place. The spirit of devotion to the Holy
See seems almost to be an heirloom in the little island of the western
sea. True to the instincts of his native land, the martyr-saint would
not undertake his mission in Franconia, great as was its necessity,
until he knelt at the feet of the Vicar of Christ to obtain his
permission and blessing. Thus fortified, he commenced his glorious race,
so happily crowned with the martyr's palm. His bold rebuke of the open
scandal given by the conduct of the ruling prince, was the immediate
cause of his obtaining this favour. St. Kilian was assassinated at
midnight, while singing the Divine Office, with two of his faithful
companions. Their remains were interred in the church of Wurtzberg,
where St. Kilian is still revered as its patron and apostle.
We can but name St. Mailduf, from whom Malmsbury has been named; St.
Livin, who converted the inhabitants of Flanders and Brabant; St.
Cataldus and his brother, St. Donatus, the former patron of the
metropolitan see of Tarentum, and whose name is still preserved in the
little town of _San Cataldo_, the latter Bishop of Lecce, in the kingdom
of Naples, and both famous for miracles and sanctity of life; St.
Virgilius, called in the ancient annals "Ferghil the Geometer," and by
Latin writers Solivagus,[185] or the "solitary wanderer," who died
Bishop of Saltzburg, distinguished for literary fame; St. Fridolin, "the
traveller," son of an Irish king, who evangelized Thuringia, and was
appointed by the Pope Bishop of Buraburgh, near Fritzlar, in the year
741; St. Sedulius the younger, who wrote commentaries on Holy Scripture,
and assisted at a council held in Rome, in the year 721, under Gregory
II. It is noticeable that this saint was consecrated Bishop of Oreto, in
Spain, while in Rome. When he entered on the mission thus confided to
him, he wrote a treatise to prove that, being Irish, he was of Spanish
descent; thus showing that at this period the idea of a Milesian origin
was common to men of learning in Ireland.[186]
But if Ireland gave saints and martyrs to foreign lands, her charity was
in some measure repaid in kind. True, she needed not the evangelic
labours of other missionaries, for the gospel-seed had taken deep root,
and borne a rich harvest on her happy shores; still, as the prayers of
saints are the very life and joy of the Church, she could not choose but
rejoice in the hundreds of pure and saintly souls who gathered round her
altars at home, who crowded her monasteries, or listened devoutly to the
teachers of her distinguished schools. In the Litany of Aengus the
Culdee[187] we find hundreds of foreign saints invoked, each grouped
according to their nation. "The oldest tract, or collection of the
pedigrees of the saints of Erinn," says Professor O'Curry, "of which we
have now any recognizable copy remaining, is that which is ascribed to
Aengus Ceilé Dé, commonly called Aengus the Culdee. The genuineness of
this composition is admitted by all writers of modern times, Protestant
and Catholic, by Usher and Ware as well as by Colgan."
Aengus wrote about the year 798. He was descended from the illustrious
chieftains of Dalriada, and completed his education in the Monastery of
Cluain Eidhneach, in the present Queen's county. The remains of a church
he founded at Disert Aengusa, near Ballingarry, in the county of
Limerick, may still be seen.
The Monastery of Tamhlacht (Tallaght), near Dublin, was founded in the
year 769, by St. Maelruain, on a site offered "to God, to Michael the
Archangel, and to Maelruain," by Donnach, the pious and illustrious King
of Leinster. St. Aengus presented himself at this monastery as a poor
man seeking for service, and was employed for some time in charge of the
mill or kiln, the ruins of which have but lately yielded to "the
improving hand of modern progress." Here he remained hidden for many
years, until, by some happy accident, his humility and his learning were
at once discovered.
Aengus composed his "Festology" in the reign of Hugh Oirdnidhe (the
Legislator), who was Monarch of Ireland from the year 793 to the year
817. Hugh commenced his reign by attaching the province of Leinster, and
then marched to the confines of Meath. The Archbishop of Armagh and all
his clergy were commanded to attend this expedition, for such had
hitherto been the custom. The ecclesiastics, however, protested against
the summons, and complained to the king of the injustice and
inconsistency of demanding their presence on such occasions. Hugh
referred the matter to Fothadh, his poet and adviser. The learning and
piety of the bard were well known; and a decision favourable to the
clergy was the result. This decision was given in a short poem of four
quatrains which is preserved in the preface to the "Martyrology" of
Aengus. The following is a literal translation:--
"The Church of the living God,
Touch her not, nor waste;
Let her rights be reserved,
As best ever they were.
"Every true monk who is
Possessed of a pious conscience,
To the church to which it is due
Let him act as any servant.
"Every faithful servant from that out,
Who is not bound by vows of obedience,
Has liberty to join in the battles
Of Aedh (Hugh) the Great, son of Nial.
"This is the proper rule,
Certain it is not more, not less:
Let every one serve his lot,
Without defect, and without refusal."
This decision obtained the name of a canon, and henceforth its author
was distinguished as _Fothadh na Canoiné_, or Fothadh of the Canons.
At the time of the promulgation of this canon, Aengus was residing at
his church of Disert Bethech, near the present town of Monasterevan, not
far from where the Irish monarch had pitched his camp.
The poet visited Aengus, and showed him the canon before presenting it
to the king. An intimacy was thus commenced, which must have proved one
of singular pleasure to both parties. Aengus had just finished his
"Festology," and showed it for the first time to his brother poet, who
expressed the warmest approbation of the work.
This composition consists of three parts. The first part is a poem of
five quatrains, invoking the grace and sanctification of Christ for the
poet and his undertaking:--
"Sanctify, O Christ! my words:
O Lord of the seven heavens!
Grant me the gift of wisdom,
O Sovereign of the bright sun!
"O bright Sun, who dost illuminate
The heavens with all Thy holiness!
O King, who governest the angels!
O Lord of all the people!
"O Lord of the people!
O King, all righteous and good!
May I receive the full benefit
Of praising Thy royal hosts.
"Thy royal hosts I praise,
Because Thou art my sovereign;
I have disposed my mind
To be constantly beseeching Thee.
"I beseech a favour from Thee,
That I be purified from my sins,
Through the peaceful bright-shining flock,
The royal host whom I celebrate."
Then follows a metrical preface, consisting of eighty stanzas. These
verses are in the same measure[188] as the invocation, Englished by
modern Gaedhilic scholars as "chain-verse;" that is, an arrangement of
metre by which the first words of every succeeding quatrain are
identical with the last words of the preceding one.
After the invocation follows a preface, the second part of this
remarkable poem. In this there is a glowing account of the tortures and
sufferings of the early Christian martyrs; it tells "how the names of
the persecutors are forgotten, while the names of their victims are
remembered with honour, veneration, and affection; how Pilate's wife is
forgotten, while the Blessed Virgin Mary is remembered and honoured from
the uttermost bounds of the earth to its centre." The martyrology
proper, or festology, comes next, and consists of 365 quatrains, or a
stanza for each day in the year.
It commences with the feast of the Circumcision:--
"At the head of the congregated saints
Let the King take the front place;
Unto the noble dispensation did submit
Christ--on the kalends of January."
St. Patrick is commemorated thus, on the 17th of March:--
"The blaze of a splendid sun,
The apostle of stainless Erinn,
Patrick, with his countless thousands,
May he shelter our wretchedness."
On the 13th of April, Bishop Tussach, one of the favourite companions of
the great saint, is also mentioned as--
"The kingly bishop Tussach,
Who administered, on his arrival,
The Body of Christ, the truly powerful King,
And the Communion to Patrick."
It will be remembered it was from this saint that the great apostle
received the holy viaticum. In the third division of his great work,
Aengus explains its use, and directs the people how to read it.
It will be manifest from these poems that the religious principles of
the Culdees and of the Irish ecclesiastics generally, were those of the
Universal Church at this period. We find the rights of the Church
respected and advocated; the monarchs submitting to the decision of the
clergy; invocation of the saints; the practice of administering the holy
viaticum; and the commemoration of the saints on the days devoted to
their honour.
Usher observes, that the saints of this period might be grouped into a
fourth order.[189] Bede says: "That many of the Scots [Irish] came daily
into Britain, and with great devotion preached the word and administered
baptism.... The English, great and small, were by their Scottish [Irish]
masters instructed in the rules and observances of regular
discipline."[190] Eric of Auxerre writes thus to Charles the Bald: "What
shall I say of Ireland, which, despising the dangers of the deep, is
migrating with her whole train of philosophers to our coast?" Rency,
after describing the poetry and literature of ancient Erinn as perhaps
the most cultivated of all Western Europe, adds, that Ireland "counted a
host of saints and learned men, venerated in England[191] and Gaul; for
no country had furnished more Christian missionaries." It is said that
three thousand students, collected from all parts of Europe, attended
the schools of Armagh; and, indeed, the regulations which were made for
preserving scholastic discipline, are almost sufficient evidence on this
subject.
The discussions of the Irish and English ecclesiastics on the time of
keeping of Easter, with their subsequent decision, and all details
concerning domestic regulations as to succession to office and church
lands, are more properly matters for elucidation in a Church History,
for which we reserve their consideration.
[Illustration: ANCIENT ADZE, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE ROYAL IRISH
ACADEMY.]
[Illustration: CROSS AT FINGLAS.]
FOOTNOTES:
[169] _Blefed_.--The name _Crom Chonaill_ indicates a sickness which
produced a yellow colour in the skin.
[170] _Sanctuary_.--This may appear a severe punishment, but the right
of sanctuary was in these ages the great means of protection against
lawless force, and its violation was regarded as one of the worst of
sacrileges.
[171] _Oak_.--Dr. Petrie mentions that there were stones still at Tara
which probably formed a portion of one of the original buildings. It was
probably of the Pelasgian or Cyclopean kind.
[172] _Hour_.--Petrie's _Tara_, p. 31.
[173] _Tuathal_.--Very ancient authorities are found for this in the
_Leabhar Gabhala_, or Book of Conquests.
[174] _Mill_.--"Cormac, the grandson of Con, brought a millwright over
the great sea." It is clear from the Brehon laws that mills were common
in Ireland at an early period. It is probable that Cormac brought the
"miller and his men" from Scotland. Whittaker shows that a water-mill
was erected by the Romans at every stationary city in Roman Britain. The
origin of mills is attributed to Mithridates, King of Cappadocia, about
seventy years B.C. The present miller claims to be a descendant of the
original miller.
[175] _Identical_.--First, "because the _Lia Fail_ is spoken of by all
ancient Irish writers in such a manner as to leave no doubt that it
remained in its original situation at the time they wrote." Second,
"because no Irish account of its removal to Scotland is found earlier
than Keating, and he quotes Boetius, who obviously wished to sustain the
claims of the Stuarts." The pillar-stone is composed of granular
limestone, but no stone of this description is found in the vicinity. As
may be supposed, there are all kinds of curious traditions about this
stone. One of these asserts that it was the pillar on which Jacob
reposed when he saw the vision of angels. Josephus states that the
descendants of Seth invented astronomy, and that they _engraved their
discoveries on a pillar of brick and a pillar of stone_. These pillars
remained, in the historian's time, in the land of Siris.--_Ant. Jud_. l.
2, § 3.
[176] _At once_.--See Petrie's _Tara_, p. 213.
[177] _Roads_.--See Napoleon's _Julius Cæsar_, vol. ii. p. 22, for
mention of the Celtic roads in Gaul.
[178] _Chariots_.--St. Patrick visited most parts of Ireland in a
chariot, according to the Tripartite Life. _Carbad_ or chariots are
mentioned in the oldest Celtic tales and romances, and it is distinctly
stated in the life of St. Patrick preserved in the Book of Armagh, that
the pagan Irish had chariots. Different kinds of roads are expressly
mentioned, and also the duty of road-mending, and those upon whom this
duty devolved. See Introduction to the Book of Rights, p. 56.
[179] _Probable_.--The legend of St. Brendan was widely diffused in the
Middle Ages. In the _Bibliothéque Impériale_, at Paris, there are no
less than eleven MSS. of the original Latin legend, the dates of which
vary from the eleventh to the fourteenth century. In the old French and
Romance dialects there are abundant copies in most public libraries in
France; while versions in Irish, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, and
Portuguese, abound in all parts of the Continent. Traces of
ante-Columbian voyages to America are continually cropping up. But the
appearance, in 1837, of the _Antiquitates Americanæ sive ita Scriptores
Septentrionales rerum ante-Columbiarum_, in America, edited by Professor
Rafu, at Copenhagen, has given final and conclusive evidence on this
interesting subject. America owes its name to an accidental landing. Nor
is it at all improbable that the Phoenicians, in their voyage across the
stormy Bay of Biscay, or the wild Gulf of Guinea, may have been driven
far out of their course to western lands. Even in 1833 a Japanese junk
was wrecked upon the coast of Oregon. Humboldt believes that the Canary
Isles were known, not only to the Phoenicians, but "perhaps even to the
Etruscans." There is a map in the Library of St. Mark, at Venice, made
in the year 1436, where an island is delineated and named Antillia. See
Trans. R.I.A. vol. xiv. A distinguished modern poet of Ireland has made
the voyage of St. Brendan the subject of one of the most beautiful of
his poems.
[180] _Magh-Rath_.--Now Moira, in the county Down. The Chronicum
Scotorum gives the date 636, and the Annals of Tighernach at 637, which
Dr. O'Donovan considers to be the true date.
[181] _Gratis_.--Ven. Bede, cap. xxviii.
[182] _Rule_.--"The light which St. Columbanus disseminated, by his
knowledge and doctrine, wherever he presented himself, caused a
contemporary writer to compare him to the sun in his course from east to
west; and he continued after his death to shine forth in numerous
disciples whom he had trained in learning and piety."--_Benedictine
Hist. Litt. de la France_.
[183] _World_.--See Herring's _Collectanea_ and the _Bibliotheca
Patrum_, tom. xii.
[184] _Bobbio_.--My learned friend, the Rev. J.P. Gaffney, of Clontarf,
has in his possession a printed copy of the celebrated _Bobbio Missal_.
It is contained in a work entitled "MUSEUM ITALICUM, seu collectio
Veterum Scriptorum ex Bibliothesis Italicis," eruta a D.J. Mabillon et
D.M. Germain, presbyteris et monachis, Benedictinæ, Cong. S. Mauré. This
work was published at Paris in 1687. The original Missal was discovered
by Mabillon two hundred years ago, and is at present preserved in the
Ambrosian Library at Milan. It dates from the seventh century, and is no
doubt the identical Missal or Mass-book used by the saint. As my friend
has allowed me to retain the treasure for a time, I intend to give full
details on the subject in my Ecclesiastical History. For further
information at present, I refer the reader to the Rev. J.P. Gaffney's
_Religion of the Ancient Irish Church_ p. 43, and to Dr. Moran's learned
_Essays_, p. 287. I especially request the superiors of religious orders
to afford me any information in their possession concerning the history
of their respective orders in Ireland, and also of their several houses.
Details of re-erections of religious houses on old sites are
particularly desired. All books or documents which may be forwarded to
me shall be carefully returned.
[185] _Solivagus_.--Four Masters, p. 391.
[186] _Ireland_.--The elder Sedulius, whose hymns are even now used by
the Church, lived in the fifth century. The hymn, _A solis ortis
cardine_, and many others, are attributed to him.
[187] _Culdee_.--There was much dispute at one time as to the origin and
true character of the Culdees. The question, however, has been quite set
at rest by the researches of recent Irish scholars. Professor O'Curry
traces them up to the time of St. Patrick. He thinks they were
originally mendicant monks, and that they had no communities until the
end of the eighth century, when St. Maelruain of Tallaght drew up a rule
for them. This rule is still extant. Mr. Haverty (_Irish History_, p.
110) has well observed, they probably resembled the Tertiaries, or Third
Orders, which belong to the Orders of St. Dominic and St. Francis at the
present day. See also Dr. Reeves' _Life of St. Columba,_ for some clear
and valuable remarks on this subject.
[188] _Measure_.--The subject of Irish poetical composition would demand
a considerable space if thoroughly entertained. Zeuss has done admirable
justice to the subject in his _Grammatica Celtica_, where he shows that
the word rhyme [_rimum_] is of Irish origin. The Very Rev. U. Burke has
also devoted some pages to this interesting investigation, in his
_College Irish Grammar_. He observes that the phonetic framework in
which the poetry of a people is usually fashioned, differs in each of
the great national families, even as their language and genius differ.
He also shows that the earliest Latin ecclesiastical poets were Irish,
and formed their hymns upon the rules of Irish versification; thus quite
controverting the theory that rhyme was introduced by the Saracens in
the ninth century.
[189] _Order_.--This refers to the vision in which St. Patrick is said
to have seen three orders of saints, who should succeed each other in
Ireland.
[190] _Discipline_.--Bede, lib. iii. cap. 3. We have used Bohn's
translation, as above all suspicion.
[191] _England_.--Camden says: "At that age the Anglo-Saxons repaired on
all sides to Ireland as to a general mart of learning, whence we read,
in our writers, of holy men, that they went to study in
Ireland"--_Amandatus est ad disciplinam in Hiberniam_.
CHAPTER XII.
Christianity improves the Social State of Ireland--A Saxon Invasion of
Ireland--Domestic Wars--The English come to Ireland for Instruction--A
Famine and Tempests--The First Danish Invasion--Cruelty of the
Danes--The Black and White Gentiles--King Cormac Mac
Cullinan--Cashel--Amlaff the Dane--Plunder of the Towns--Arrival of
Sitric--Death of Nial Glundubh--The Circuit of Ireland--Malachy the
Second--Entries in the Annals.
[A.D. 693-926.]
Very few events of any special interest occur between the commencement
of the seventh century and the Danish invasion. The obituaries of
ecclesiastics and details of foreign missions, which we have already
recorded, are its salient points. The wars of the Saxon Heptarchy and
the Celtic Pentarchy almost synchronize, though we find several Irish
kings influenced by the examples of sanctity with which they were
surrounded, and distinguished for piety, while Charlemagne pronounces
their neighbours a perfidious and perverse race, worse than pagans.
There can be no doubt that Charlemagne's high opinion of the Irish was
caused by the fact, that so many of the heads of his schools were of
that nation, which was then in the vanguard of civilization and
progress. The cloister, always the nursery of art, the religious, always
the promoters of learning, were pre-eminent in this age for their
devotion to literary pursuits. In the present work it is impossible to
give details of their MSS. still preserved, of their wonderful skill in
caligraphy, still the admiration of the most gifted, and of the
perfection to which they brought the science of music; but I turn from
this attractive subject with less regret, from the hope of being soon
able to produce an Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, in which such
details will find their proper place, and will be amply expanded.[192]
The revolution of social feeling which was effected in Ireland by the
introduction of Christianity, is strongly marked. Before the advent of
St. Patrick, few Irish monarchs died a natural death--ambition or
treachery proved a sufficient motive for murder and assassination; while
of six kings who reigned during the eighth and ninth centuries, only one
died a violent death, and that death was an exception, which evidently
proved the rule, for Nial was drowned in a generous effort to save the
life of one of his own servants.
The fatal pestilence, already recorded, did not appear again after its
severe visitation, which terminated in 667. In 693 Finnachta Fleadhach
(the Hospitable) commenced his reign. He remitted the Boromean Tribute
at the request of St. Moling, and eventually abdicated, and embraced a
religious life. In the year 684, Egfrid, the Saxon King of
Northumberland, sent an army to Ireland, which spared neither churches
nor monasteries, and carried off a great number of the inhabitants as
slaves. Bede denounces and laments this barbarous invasion, attributing
the defeat and death of King Egfrid, which took place in the following
year, to the vengeance of heaven.[193] St. Adamnan was sent to
Northumbria, after the death of this prince, to obtain the release of
the captives. His mission was successful, and he was honoured there as
the worker of many miracles.
The generosity of Finnachta failed in settling the vexed question of
tribute. Comgal, who died in 708, ravaged Leinster as fiercely as his
predecessors, and Fearghal, his successor, invaded it "five times in one
year." Three wonderful showers are said to have fallen in the eighth
year of his reign (A.D. 716 according to the Four Masters)--a shower of
silver, a shower of honey, and a shower of blood. These were, of course,
considered portents of the awful Danish invasions. Fearghal was killed
at the battle of Almhain (Allen, near Kildare), in 718. In this
engagement, the Leinster men only numbered nine thousand, while their
opponents numbered twenty-one thousand. The Leinster men, however, made
up for numbers by their valour; and it is said that the intervention of
a hermit, who reproached Fearghal with breaking the pacific promise of
his predecessor, contributed to the defeat of the northern forces.
Another battle took place in 733, when Hugh Allan, King of Ireland, and
Hugh, son of Colgan, King of Leinster, engaged in single combat. The
latter was slain, and the Leinster men "were killed, slaughtered, cut
off, and dreadfully exterminated." In fact, the Leinster men endured so
many "dreadful exterminations," that one almost marvels how any of their
brave fellows were left for future feats of arms. The "northerns were
joyous after this victory, for they had wreaked their vengeance and
their animosity upon the Leinster men," nine thousand of whom were
slain. St. Samhthann, a holy nun, who died in the following year, is
said to have predicted the fate of Aedh, Comgal's son, if the two Aedhs
(Hughs) met. Aedh Allan commemorated her virtues in verse, and concludes
thus:--
"In the bosom of the Lord, with a pure death, Samhthann passed
from her sufferings."
Indeed, the Irish kings of this period manifested their admiration of
peaceful living, and their desire for holy deaths, in a more practical
way than by poetic encomiums on others. In 704 Beg Boirche "took a
pilgrim's staff, and died on his pilgrimage." In 729 Flahertach
renounced his regal honours, and retired to Armagh, where he died. In
758 Donal died on a pilgrimage at Iona, after a reign of twenty years;
and in 765 his successor, Nial Frassagh, abdicated the throne, and
became a monk at Iona. Here he died in 778, and was buried in the tomb
of the Irish kings in that island.
An Irish poet, who died in 742, is said to have played a clever trick on
the "foreigners" of Dublin. He composed a poem for them, and then
requested payment for his literary labours. The _Galls,_[194] who were
probably Saxons, refused to meet his demand, but Rumrann said he would
be content with two _pinguins_ (pennies) from every good man, and one
from each bad one. The result may be anticipated. Rumrann is described
as "an adept in wisdom, chronology, and poetry;" we might perhaps add,
and in knowledge of human nature. In the Book of Ballymote he is called
the Virgil of Ireland. A considerable number of Saxons were now in the
country; and it is said that a British king, named Constantine, who had
become a monk, was at that time Abbot of Rahen, in the King's county,
and that at Cell-Belaigh there were seven streets[195] of those
foreigners. Gallen, in the King's county, was called Galin of the
Britons, and Mayo was called Mayo of the Saxons, from the number of
monasteries therein, founded by members of these nations.
The entries during the long reign of Domhnall contain little save
obituaries of abbots and saints. The first year of the reign of Nial
Frassagh is distinguished by a shower of silver, a shower of wheat, and
a shower of honey. The Annals of Clonmacnois say that there was a most
severe famine throughout the whole kingdom during the early part of his
reign, so much that the king himself had very little to live upon. Then
the king prayed very fervently to God, being in company with seven holy
bishops; and he asked that he might die rather than see so many of his
faithful subjects perishing, while he was helpless to relieve them. At
the conclusion of his prayer, the "three showers" fell from heaven; and
then the king and the seven bishops gave great thanks to the Lord.
But a more terrible calamity than famine was even then impending, and,
if we may believe the old chroniclers, not without marvellous
prognostications of its approach. In the year 767 there occurred a most
fearful storm of thunder and lightning, with "terrific and horrible
signs." It would appear that the storm took place while a fair was going
on, which obtained the name of the "Fair of the clapping of hands." Fear
and horror seized the men of Ireland, so that their religious seniors
ordered them to make two fasts, together with fervent prayer, and one
meal between them, to protect and save them from a pestilence, precisely
at Michaelmas.[196]
The first raid of the Danish pirates is recorded thus: "The age of
Christ 790 [_recte_ 795]. The twenty-fifth year of Donnchadh. The
burning of Reachrainn[197] by plunderers; and its shrines were broken
and plundered." They had already attacked the English coasts, "whilst
the pious King Bertric was reigning over its western division." Their
arrival was sudden and so unexpected, that the king's officer took them
for merchants, paying with his life for the mistake.[198] A Welsh
chronicle, known by the name of _Brut y Tywysogion_, or the Chronicle of
the Chieftains, has a corresponding record under the year 790: "Ten
years with fourscore and seven hundred was the age of Christ when the
pagans went to Ireland." Three MSS. add, "and destroyed Rechren."
Another chronicle mentions, that the black pagans, who were the first of
their nation to land in Ireland, had previously been defeated in
Glamorganshire, and after their defeat they had invaded Ireland, and
devastated Rechru.
If by bravery we understand utter recklessness of life, and utter
recklessness in inflicting cruelties on others, then the Vikings may be
termed brave. The heroism of patient endurance was a bravery but little
understood at that period. If the heathen Viking was brave when he
plundered and burned monastic shrines--when he massacred the defenceless
with wanton cruelty--when he flung little children on the points of
spears, and gloated over their dying agonies; perhaps we may also admit
those who endured such torments, either in their own persons, or in the
persons of those who were dear to them, and yet returned again and again
to restore the shrine so rudely destroyed, have also their claim to be
termed brave, and may demand some commendation for that virtue from
posterity.
As plunder was the sole object of these barbarians, they naturally
sought it first where it could be obtained most easily and surely. The
islands on the Irish coast were studded with monasteries. Their position
was chosen as one which seemed peculiarly suitable for a life of retreat
from worldly turmoil, and contemplation of heavenly things. They were
richly endowed, for ancient piety deemed it could never give enough to
God. The shrines were adorned with jewels, purchased with the wealth
which the monks had renounced for their own use; the sacred vessels were
costly, the gifts of generous hearts. The Danes commenced their work of
plunder and devastation in the year 795. Three years after, A.D. 798,
they ravaged Inis-patrick of Man and the Hebrides. In 802 they burned
"Hi-Coluim-Cille." In 806 they attacked the island again, and killed
sixty-eight of the laity and clergy. In 807 they became emboldened by
success, and for the first time marched inland; and after burning
Inishmurray, they attacked Roscommon. During the years 812 and 813 they
made raids in Connaught and Munster, but not without encountering stout
resistance from the native forces. After this predatory and internecine
warfare had continued for about thirty years, Turgesius, a Norwegian
prince, established himself as sovereign of the Vikings, and made Armagh
his head-quarters, A.D. 830. If the Irish chieftains had united their
forces, and acted in concert, the result would have been the expulsion
of the intruders; but, unhappily, this unity of purpose in matters
political has never existed. The Danes made and broke alliances with the
provincial kings at their own convenience, while these princes gladly
availed themselves of even temporary assistance from their cruel foes,
while engaged in domestic wars, which should never have been undertaken.
Still the Northmen were more than once driven from the country by the
bravery of the native commanders, and they often paid dearly for the
cruel wrongs they inflicted on their hapless victims. Sometimes the
Danish chiefs mustered all their forces, and left the island for a brief
period, to ravage the shores of England or Scotland; but they soon
returned to inflict new barbarities on the unfortunate Irish.[199]
Burning churches or destroying monasteries was a favourite pastime of
these pirates, wherever they could obtain a landing on Christian shores;
and the number of religious houses in Ireland afforded them abundant
means of gratifying their barbarous inclinations. But when they became
so far masters as to have obtained some permanent settlement, this mode
of proceeding was considered either more troublesome or less profitable
than that of appropriating to themselves the abbeys and churches.
Turgesius, it is said, placed an abbot of his own in every monastery;
and as he had already conferred ecclesiastical offices on himself and on
his lady, we may presume he was not very particular in his selections.
The villages, too, were placed under the rule of a Danish captain; and
each family was obliged to maintain a soldier of that nation, who made
himself master of the house, using and wasting the food for lack of
which the starving children of the lawful owner were often dying of
hunger.
All education was strictly forbidden; books and manuscripts were burned
and _drowned;_ and the poets, historians, and musicians imprisoned and
driven to the woods and mountains. Martial sports were interdicted, from
the lowest to the highest rank. Even nobles and princes were forbidden
to wear their usual habiliments, the cast-off clothes of the Danes being
considered sufficiently good for slaves.
The clergy, who had been driven from their monasteries, concealed
themselves as best they could, continuing still their prayers and fasts,
and the fervent recital of the Divine Office. The Irish, true to their
faith in every trial, were not slow to attribute their deliverance to
the prayers of these holy men.
In 831 Nial Caille led an army against them, and defeated them at Derry;
but in the meanwhile, Felim, King of Cashel, with contemptible
selfishness, marched into Leinster to claim tribute, and plundered every
one, except the Danes, who should have been alone considered as enemies
at such a time. Even the churches were not spared by him, for he laid
waste the termon-lands of Clonmacnois, "up to the church door." After
his death,[200] A.D. 843, a brave and good king came to the rescue of
his unfortunate country. While still King of Meath, Meloughlin had freed
the nation from Turgesius, one of its worst tyrants, by drowning him in
Lough Owel. His death was a signal for a general onslaught on the Danes.
The people rose simultaneously, and either massacred their enemies, or
drove them to their ships. In 846 Meloughlin met their forces at Skreen,
where they were defeated; they also suffered a reverse at Kildare.
The Danes themselves were now divided into two parties--the Dubh Galls,
or Black Gentiles; and the Finn Galls, or White Gentiles. A fierce
conflict took place between them in the year 850, in which the Dubh
Galls conquered.[201] In the following year, however, both parties
submitted to Amlaff, son of the Norwegian king; and thus their power was
once more consolidated. Amlaff remained in Dublin; his brothers, Sitric
and Ivar, stationed themselves in Waterford and Limerick. A great
meeting was now convened by the ecclesiastics of Ireland at Rathugh, for
the purpose of establishing peace and concord amongst the native
princes. The northern Hy-Nials alone remained belligerent; and to defend
themselves, pursued the usual suicidal course of entering into an
alliance with the Danes. Upon the death of the Irish monarch, the
northern chief, Hugh Finnlaith, succeeded to the royal power; broke his
treaty with Amlaff, which had been only one of convenience; and turned
his arms vigorously against the foreigners. This prince was married to a
daughter of Kenneth M'Alpine, the first sole Monarch of Scotland. After
the death of the Irish prince, his wife married his successor, Flann,
who, according to the alternate plan of succession, came of the southern
Hy-Nial family, and was a son of Meloughlin, once the formidable
opponent of the lady's former husband. During the reign of Flann, Cormac
Mac Cullinan, a prelate distinguished for his learning and sanctity, was
obliged to unite the office of priest and king. This unusual
combination, however, was not altogether without precedent. The
archbishopric of Cashel owes its origin remotely to this great man; as
from the circumstance of the city of Cashel having been the seat of
royalty in the south, and the residence of the kings of Munster, it was
exalted, in the twelfth century, to the dignity of an archiepiscopal
see.
Of Cormac, however interesting his history, we can only give a passing
word. His reign commenced peaceably; and so wise--perhaps we should
rather say, so holy--was his rule, that his kingdom once more enjoyed
comparative tranquillity, and religion and learning flourished again as
it had done in happier times.
But the kingdom which he had been compelled to rule, was threatened by
the very person who should have protected it most carefully; and Cormac,
after every effort to procure peace, was obliged to defend his people
against the attacks of Flann. Even then a treaty might have been made
with the belligerent monarch; but Cormac, unfortunately for his people
and himself, was guided by an abbot, named Flahertach, who was by no
means so peaceably disposed as his good master. This unruly ecclesiastic
urged war on those who were already too willing to undertake it; and
then made such representations to the bishop-king, as to induce him to
yield a reluctant consent. It is said that Cormac had an intimation of
his approaching end. It is at least certain, that he made preparations
for death, as if he believed it to be imminent.
On the eve of the fatal engagement he made his confession, and added
some articles to his will, in which he left large bounties to many of
the religious houses throughout the kingdom. To Lismore he bequeathed a
golden chalice and some rich vestments; to Armagh, twenty-four ounces of
gold and silver; to his own church of Cashel, a golden and a silver
chalice, with the famous Saltair. Then he retired to a private place for
prayer, desiring the few persons whom he had informed of his approaching
fate to keep their information secret, as he knew well the effect such
intelligence would have on his army, were it generally known.
[Illustration: ROCK OF CASHEL.]
Though the king had no doubt that he would perish on the field, he still
showed the utmost bravery, and made every effort to cheer and encourage
his troops; but the men lost spirit in the very onset of the battle, and
probably were terrified at the numerical strength of their opponents.
Six thousand Munster men were slain, with many of their princes and
chieftains. Cormac was killed by falling under his horse, which missed
its footing on a bank slippery with the blood of the slain. A common
soldier, who recognized the body, cut off his head, and brought it as a
trophy to Flann; but the monarch bewailed the death of the good and
great prince, and reproved the indignity with which his remains had been
treated. This battle was fought at a place called Bealagh Mughna, now
Ballaghmoon, in the county of Kildare, a few miles from the town of
Carlow.[202]
Flahertach survived the battle, and, after some years spent in penance,
became once more minister, and ultimately King of Munster. As he
advanced in years, he learned to love peace, and his once irascible
temper became calm and equable.
The Rock of Cashel, and the ruins of a small but once beautiful chapel,
still preserve the memory of the bishop-king. His literary fame also has
its memorials. His Rule is contained in a poem of fourteen stanzas,
written in the most pure and ancient style of Gaedhilic, of which, as
well as of many other languages, the illustrious Cormac was so profound
a master. This Rule is general in several of its inculcations; but it
appears to have been written particularly as an instruction to a priest,
for the moral and spiritual direction of himself and his flock. He was
also skilled in the Ogham writings, as may be gathered from a poem
written by a contemporary, who, in paying compliments to many of the
Irish kings and chiefs, addresses the following stanza to Cormac:--
"Cormac of Cashel, with his champions,
Munster is his,--may he long enjoy it!
Around the King of _Raith-Bicli_ are cultivated
The letters and the trees."
The death of Cormac is thus pathetically deplored by Dallan, son of
Môr:--
"The bishop, the soul's director, the renowned, illustrious doctor,
King of Caiseal, King of Farnumha: O God! alas for Cormac!"
Flann's last years were disturbed by domestic dissensions. His sons,
Donough and Conor, both rebelled against him; but Nial Glundubh (of the
black knee), a northern Hy-Nial chief, led an army against them, and
compelled them to give hostages to their father. Flann died the
following year, A.D. 914, and was succeeded by the prince who had so
ably defended him. Meanwhile, the Danes were not idle. Amlaff[203] has
signalized his advent by drowning Conchobhar, "heir apparent of Tara;"
by slaying all the chieftains of the Deisi at Cluain-Daimh; by killing
the son of Clennfaeladh, King of Muscraighe Breoghain; by smothering
Machdaighren in a cave, and by the destruction of Caitill Find (Ketill
the White) and his whole garrison. Oisill is the next chief of
importance; and he "succeeded in plundering the greatest part of
Ireland." It is not recorded how long he was occupied in performing this
exploit, but he was eventually slain, and his army cut off, by the men
of Erinn. The deaths of several Danish chieftains occured about this
period, and are referred to the vengeance of certain saints, whose
shrines they had desecrated. In A.D. 864 according to the Four Masters,
867 according to O'Flaherty, the Danes were defeated at Lough Foyle, by
Hugh Finnliath, King of Ireland. Soon after, Leinster and Munster were
plundered by a Scandinavian chief, named Baraid, who advanced as far as
_Ciarraighe_ (Kerry): "And they left not a cave under ground that they
did not explore; and they left nothing, from Limerick to Cork, that they
did not ravish." What treasures the antiquarian of the nineteenth
century must have lost by this marauder! How great must have been the
wealth of the kings and princes of ancient Erinn, when so much remains
after so much was taken! In 877 the Black Gentiles took refuge in
Scotland, after suffering a defeat in an engagement with the White
Gentiles. They were, however, consoled by a victory over the men of
Alba, in which Constantine, son of Kenneth, was slain, and many others
with him. Their success proved beneficial to Ireland, for we are told
that a period of "rest to the men of Erinn" ensued. The Danes still held
their own in Dublin and at Limerick, occasionally plundered the
churches, and now and then had a skirmish with the "men of Erinn;" but
for forty years the country was free from the foreign fleets, and,
therefore, enjoyed a time of comparative quiet.
In the year 913 new fleets arrived. They landed in the harbour of
Waterford, where they had a settlement formerly; but though they
obtained assistance here, they were defeated by the native Irish, both
in Kerry and in Tipperary. Sitric came with another fleet in 915, and
settled at Cenn-Fuait.[204] Here he was attacked by the Irish army, but
they were repulsed with great slaughter. Two years after they received
another disastrous defeat at Cill-Mosanhog, near Rathfarnham. A large
cromlech, still in that neighbourhood, probably marks the graves of the
heroes slain in that engagement. Twelve kings fell in this battle. Their
names are given in the _Wars of the Gaedhil_, and by other authorities,
though in some places the number is increased. Nial Glundubh was amongst
the slain. He is celebrated in pathetic verse by the bards. Of the
battle was said:--
"Fierce and hard was the Wednesday
On which hosts were strewn under the fall of shields;
It shall be called, till judgment's day,
The destructive burning of Ath-cliath."
The lamentation of Nial was, moreover, said:--
"Sorrowful this day is sacred Ireland,
Without a valiant chief of hostage reign!
It is to see the heavens without a sun,
To view Magh-Neill[205] without a Nial."
"There is no cheerfulness in the happiness of men;
There is no peace or joy among the hosts;
No fair can be celebrated
Since the sorrow of sorrow died."
Donough, son of Flann Sinna, succeeded, and passed his reign in
obscurity, with the exception of a victory over the Danes at Bregia. Two
great chieftains, however, compensated by their prowess for his
indifference; these were Muircheartach, son of the brave Nial Glundubh,
the next heir to the throne, and Callaghan of Cashel, King of Munster.
The northern prince was a true patriot, willing to sacrifice every
personal feeling for the good of his country: consequently, he proved a
most formidable foe to the Danish invader. Callaghan of Cashel was,
perhaps, as brave, but his name cannot be held up to the admiration of
posterity. The personal advancement of the southern Hy-Nials was more to
him than the political advancement of his country; and he disgraced his
name and his nation by leaguing with the invaders. In the year 934 he
pillaged Clonmacnois. Three years later he invaded Meath and Ossory, in
conjunction with the Danes. Muircheartach was several times on the eve
of engagements with the feeble monarch who nominally ruled the country,
but he yielded for the sake of peace, or, as the chroniclers quaintly
say, "God pacified them." After one of these pacifications, they joined
forces, and laid "siege to the foreigners of Ath-cliath, so that they
spoiled and plundered all that was under the dominion of the foreigners,
from Ath-cliath to Ath-Truisten."[206]
In the twenty-second year of Donough, Muircheartach determined on a
grand expedition for the subjugation of the Danes. He had already
conducted a fleet to the Hebrides, from whence he returned flushed with
victory. His first care was to assemble a body of troops of special
valour; and he soon found himself at the head of a thousand heroes, and
in a position to commence "his circuit of Ireland." The Danish chief,
Sitric, was first seized as a hostage. He then carried off Lorcan, King
of Leinster. He next went to the Munster men, who were also prepared for
battle; but they too yielded, and gave up their monarch also, "and a
fetter was put on him by Muircheartach." He afterwards proceeded into
Connaught, where Conchobhar, son of Tadhg, came to meet him, "but no
gyve or lock was put upon him." He then returned to Oileach, carrying
these kings with him as hostages. Here he feasted them for five months
with knightly courtesy, and then sent them to the Monarch Donough.
After these exploits we cannot be surprised that Muircheartach should be
styled the Hector of the west of Europe. But he soon finds his place in
the never-ceasing obituary. In two years after his justly famous
exploit, he was slain by "Blacaire, son of Godfrey, lord of the
foreigners." This event occurred on the 26th of March, A.D. 941,
according to the chronology of the Four Masters. The true year, however,
is 943. The chroniclers briefly observe, that "Ard-Macha was plundered
by the same foreigners, on the day after the killing of
Muircheartach."[207]
Donough died in 942, after a reign of twenty-five years. He was
succeeded by Congallach, who was killed by the Danes, A.D. 954. Donnell
O'Neill, a son of the brave Muircheartach, now obtained the royal power,
such as it was; and at his death the throne reverted to Maelseachlainn,
or Malachy II., the last of his race who ever held the undisputed
sovereignty of Ireland. But it must not be supposed that murders and
massacres are the staple commodities of our annals during this eventful
period. Every noteworthy event is briefly and succinctly recorded. We
find, from time to time, mention of strange portents, such as double
suns, and other celestial phenomena of a more or less remarkable
character. Fearful storms are also chronicled, which appear to have
occurred at certain intervals, and hard frosts, which proved almost as
trying to the "men of Erinn" as the wars of the Gentiles, black or
white. But the obituaries of abbots or monks, with the quaint remarks
appended thereto, and epitomes of a lifetime in a sentence, are by no
means the least interesting portion of those ancient tomes. In one page
we may find record of the Lord of Aileach, who takes a pilgrim's staff;
in another, we have mention of the Abbot Muireadhach and others, who
were "destroyed in the refectory" of Druim-Mesclainn by Congallach; and
we read in the lamentation of Muireadhach, that he was "the lamp of
every choir." Then we are told simply how a nobleman "died in religion,"
as if that were praise enough for him; though another noble, Domhnall,
is said to have "died in religion, after a good life." Of some abbots
and bishops there is nothing more than the death record; but in the age
of Christ 926, when Celedabhaill, son of Scannal, went to Rome on his
pilgrimage from the abbacy of Beannchair, we are given in full the four
quatrains which he composed at his departure,--a composition which
speaks highly for the poetic powers and the true piety of the author. He
commences thus:--
"Time for me to prepare to pass from the shelter of a habitation,
To journey as a pilgrim over the surface of the noble lively sea;
Time to depart from the snares of the flesh, with all its guilt;
Time now to ruminate how I may find the great Son of Mary;
Time to seek virtue, to trample upon the will with sorrow;
Time to reject vices, and to renounce the demon.
* * * * *
"Time to barter the transitory things for the country of the King of heaven;
Time to defy the ease of the little earthly world of a hundred pleasures;
Time to work at prayer in adoration of the high King of angels."
The obituary notices, however, were not always complimentary. We find
the following entry in the Annals of Clonmacnois:--"Tomhair Mac Alchi,
King of Denmark, is reported to go [to have gone] to hell with his
pains, as he deserved."
[Illustration: GREY MAN'S PATH, GIANT'S CAUSEWAY.]
[Illustration: RATH AT LEIGHLIN, CARLOW]
FOOTNOTES:
[192] _Expanded_.--I take this opportunity of requesting from laymen or
ecclesiastics who may read this announcement, the favour of any
information they may consider valuable.
[193] _Heaven.--Ec. Hist_. lib. iv. c. 26. "From that time the hopes and
strength of the English crown began to waver and retrograde, for the
Picts recovered their own lands," &c. The Annals of the Four Masters
mention a mortality among cattle throughout the whole world, and a
severe frost, which followed this invasion: "The sea between Ireland and
Scotland was frozen, so that there was a communication between them on
the ice."--vol. ii. p. 291. They also mention the mission of Adamnan to
"Saxon land."
[194] _Galls_.--Gall was a generic name for foreigners. The Danes were
Finn Galls, or White Foreigners, and Dubh Galls, or Black Foreigners.
The former were supposed to have been the inhabitants of Norway; the
latter, of Jutland. In Irish, _gaill_ is the nom., and _gall_, gen.
[195] _Streets_.--In Armagh the buildings were formed into streets and
wards, for the better preservation of monastic discipline. Armagh was
divided into three parts--_trian-more_, the town proper;
_trian-Patrick_, the cathedral close; and _trian-Sassenagh_, the home of
the foreign students.
[196] _Michaelmas_.--Annals, p. 371. Another fearful thunderstorm is
recorded in the Annals for 799. This happened on the eve of St.
Patrick's Day. It is said that a thousand and ten persons were killed on
the coast of Clare. The island of Fitha (now Mutton Island) was partly
submerged, and divided into three parts. There was also a storm in
783--"thunder, lightning, and wind-storms"--by which the Monastery of
Clonbroney was destroyed.
[197] _Reachrainn_.-Rechru appears to be the correct form. It has not
yet been ascertained whether this refers to Lambay, near Dublin, or the
island 01 Rathlinn. See note, p. 32, to the "Introduction" to the _Wars
of the Gaedhil with the Gall_.
[198] _Mistake.--Ethel. Chron. Pro._ book iii.
[199] _Irish_.--The history of the two hundred years during which these
northern pirates desolated the island, has been preserved in a MS. of
venerable age and undoubted authenticity. It is entitled _Cogadh Gaedhil
re Gallaibh_ (the Wars of the Gaedhil with the Gall). It was quoted by
Keating, known to Colgan, and used by the Four Masters; but for many
years it was supposed to have been completely lost, until it was
discovered, in 1840, by Mr. O'Curry, among the Seabright MSS. The work
is now edited, with a translation and most valuable notes, by Dr. Todd.
Several other copies have been discovered since, notably one by the
Franciscan Brother, Michael O'Clery, which is at present in the
Burgundian Library at Brussels. From internal evidence, it is presumed
that the author was a contemporary of King Brian Boroimhé. Dr. O'Connor
refers the authorship to Mac Liag, who was chief poet to that monarch,
and died in 1016, two years after his master. Dr. Todd evidently
inclines to this opinion, though he distinctly states that there is no
authority for it.
[200] _Death_.--It appears doubtful whether he really died at this time.
It is said that he repented of his sins of sacrilege, and ended his days
in penance and religious retirement. See Four Masters, p. 472.
[201] _Conquered_.--Duald Mac Firbis gives a curious account of these
contests in his _fragments of Annals_. The White Galls, or Norwegians,
had long been masters of the situation. The Black Galls fought with them
for three days and nights, and were finally victorious. They take the
ships they have captured to Dublin, and deprive the Lochlanns (Black
Galls) of all the spoil they had so cruelly and unjustly acquired from
the "shrines and sanctuaries of the saints of Erinn;" which the annalist
naturally considers a judgment on them for their sins. They make another
struggle, and gain the victory. But the Banish general, Horm, advises
his men to put themselves under the protection of St. Patrick, and to
promise the saint "honorable alms for gaining victory and triumph" over
enemies who had plundered his churches. They comply with this advice;
and though greatly inferior in numbers, they gain the victory, "on
account of the tutelage of St. Patrick."
[202] _Carlow_.--The site of the battle is still shown there, and even
the stone on which the soldier decapitated Cormac. Cormac's death is
thus described in a MS. in the Burgundian Library: "The hind feet of his
horse slipped on the slippery road in the track of that blood; the horse
fell backwards, and broke his [Cormac's] back and his neck in twain; and
he said, when falling, _In manus tuas commendo spiritum meum_, and he
gives up his spirit; and the impious sons of malediction come and thrust
spears into his body, and sever his head from his body." Keating gives a
curious account of this battle, from an ancient tract not known at
present.
[203] _Amlaff_.--Dr. Todd identifies Amlaff with Olaf Huita (the white),
of Scandinavian history, who was usually styled King of Dublin, and was
the leader of the Northmen in Ireland for many years. See "Introduction"
to the _Wars of the Gaedhil_, p. 69.
[204] _Cenn-Fuait_.--Fuat Head. The site has not been accurately
identified.
[205] _Magh-Neill, i.e.,_ the Plain of Nial, a bardic name for
Ireland.--Four Masters, vol. ii. p. 595.
[206] _Ath-Truisten_.--From Dublin to a ford on the river Green, near
Mullaghmast, co. Kildare.
[207] _Muircheartach_.--This prince obtained the soubriquet of
Muircheartach of the Leathern Cloaks. The origin of this appellation
has not been precisely ascertained.
CHAPTER XIII.
The Battle of Dundalk--The Danes supposed to be Christianized--Brian
Boroimhé and his Brother Mahoun--The Dalcassians fight the Danes--Mahoun
is assassinated--Brian revenges his Brother's Murder--Malachy's Exploits
against the Danes--Malachy and Brian form a Treaty and fight the
Danes--Malachy wins "the Collar of Gold"--Brian's "Happy Family" at
Kincora--He usurps the Supreme Power, and becomes Monarch of
Ireland--Remote Causes of the Battle of Clontarf--Gormflaith is "grim"
with Brian--Blockade of Dublin--The Danes prepare for a Fierce
Conflict--Brian prepares also--The Battle of Clontarf--Disposition of
the Forces--Brian's Death--Defeat of the Danes.
[A.D. 926-1022.]
Many of the sea-coast towns were now in possession of the Danes. They
had founded Limerick, and, indeed, Wexford and Waterford almost owe them
the debt of parentage. Obviously, the ports were their grand
securities--a ready refuge if driven by native valour to embark in their
fleets; convenient head-quarters when marauding expeditions to England
or Scotland were in preparation. But the Danes never obtained the same
power in Ireland as in the sister country. The domestic dissensions of
the men of Erinn, ruinous as they were to the nation, gave it at least
the advantage of having a brave and resolute body of men always in arms,
and ready to face the foe at a moment's notice, when no selfish policy
interfered. In 937 Athelstane gained his famous victory over the Danes
at Brunanbriegh in Northumberland, and came triumphantly to reclaim the
dagger[208] which he had left at the shrine of St. John of Beverley.
After his death, in 941, Amlaff returned to Northumberland, and once
more restored the Danish sway. From this time, until the accession of
the Danish King Canute, England was more or less under the dominion of
these ruthless tyrants.[209]
"The Danes of Ireland, at this period, were ruled by Sitric, son of
Turgesius, whose name was sufficient to inspire the Irish with terror.
Through policy he professed willingness to enter into a treaty of peace
with Callaghan, King of Munster; and, as proof of his sincerity, offered
him his sister, the Princess Royal of Denmark, in marriage. The Irish
king had fallen in love with this amiable and beautiful princess, and he
readily consented to the fair and liberal measures proposed. He sent
word to Sitric he would visit him; and, attended by a royal retinue, to
be followed in a little time by his guards, as escort for his future
queen, proceeded to meet his royal bride.
"Sitric's project of inveigling the King of Munster into his district,
in order to make him prisoner, under the expectation of being married to
the Princess of Denmark, having been disclosed to his wife, who was of
Irish birth, she determined to warn the intended victim of the meditated
treachery, and accordingly she disguised herself, and placed herself in
a pass which Callaghan should traverse, and met him. Here she informed
him who she was, the design of Sitric against him, and warned him to
return as fast as possible. This was not practicable. Sitric had barred
the way with armed men; and Callaghan and his escort, little prepared
for an encounter, found themselves hemmed in by an overwhelming Danish
force. To submit without a struggle was never the way with the
Momonians. They formed a rampart round the person of their king, and cut
through the Danish ranks. Fresh foes met them on every side; and, after
a bloody struggle, the men of Munster were conquered. Callaghan, the
king, and Prince Duncan, son of Kennedy, were brought captives to
Dublin. Then the royal prisoners were removed to Armagh, and their safe
keeping entrusted to nine Danish earls, who had a strong military force
at their orders to guard them.
"The news of this insidious act rapidly fanned the ardour of the Munster
troops to be revenged for the imprisonment of their beloved king.
Kennedy, the Prince of Munster, father of Duncan, was appointed regent,
with ample powers to govern the country in the king's absence. The first
step was to collect an army to cope with the Danes. To assemble a
sufficient body of troops on land was easy; but the great strength of
the northern rovers lay in their swift-sailing ships. 'It must strike
the humblest comprehension with astonishment,' says Marmion, 'that the
Irish, although possessed of an island abounding with forests of the
finest oak, and other suitable materials for ship-building--enjoying
also the most splendid rivers, loughs, and harbours, so admirably
adapted to the accommodation of extensive fleets, should,
notwithstanding, for so many centuries, allow the piratical ravages of
the Danes, and subsequently the more dangerous subversion of their
independence by the Anglo-Normans, without an effort to build a navy
that could cope with those invaders on that element from which they
could alone expect invasion from a foreign foe.' This neglect has also
been noticed by the distinguished Irish writer--Wilde--who, in his
admirably executed _Catalogue of the Antiquities in the Royal Irish
Academy_, observes:--'Little attention has been paid to the subject of
the early naval architecture of this country. So far as we yet know, two
kinds of boats appear to have been in use in very early times in the
British Isles--the canoe and the corragh; the one formed of a single
piece of wood, the other composed of wickerwork, covered with hides.'
Larger vessels there must have been; though, from the length of time
which has since elapsed, we have no traces of them now. Kennedy not only
collected a formidable army by land, but 'he fitted out a fleet of
ships, and manned it with able seamen, that he might make sure of his
revenge, and attack the enemy by sea and land.' The command of the fleet
was conferred on an admiral perfectly skilled in maritime affairs,
Failbhe Fion, King of Desmond.
"When the army of Munster arrived near Armagh, they learnt the prisoners
had been removed thence by Sitric, and placed on board ship. Enraged at
this disappointment, they gave no quarter to the Danes, and advanced
rapidly to Dundalk, where the fleet lay, with the king and young prince
on board. Sitric, unable to withstand the opposing army on shore,
ordered his troops to embark, and resolved to avoid the encounter
through means of his ships. While the baffled Irish army were chafing at
this unexpected delay to their hoped for vengeance, they espied, from
the shore of Dundalk, where they encamped, a sail of ships, in regular
order, steering with a favourable gale towards the Danish fleet moored
in Dundalk bay. Joy instantly filled their hearts; for they recognized
the fleet of Munster, with the admiral's vessel in the van, and the rest
ranged in line of battle. The Danes were taken by surprise; they beheld
an enemy approach from a side where they rather expected the raven flag
of their country floating on the ships. The Munster admiral gave them no
time to form. He steered straight to Sitric's vessel, and, with his
hardy crew, sprang on board. Here a sight met his gaze which filled his
heart with rage; he saw his beloved monarch, Callaghan, and the young
prince, tied with cords to the main-mast. Having, with his men, fought
through the Danish troops to the side of the king and prince, he cut the
cords and set them free. He then put a sword into the hands of the
rescued king, and they fought side by side: Meanwhile Sitric, and his
brothers, Tor and Magnus, did all they could to retrieve the fortunes of
the day. At the head of a chosen band they attacked the Irish admiral,
and he fell, covered with wounds. His head, exposed by Sitric on a pole,
fired the Danes with hope--the Irish with tenfold rage. Fingal, next in
rank to Failbhe Fion, took the command, and determined to avenge his
admiral. Meeting the Danish ruler in the combat, he seized Sitric round
the neck, and flung himself with his foe into the sea, where both
perished. Seagdor and Connall, two captains of Irish ships, imitated
this example--threw themselves upon Tor and Magnus, Sitric's brothers,
and jumped with them overboard, when all were drowned. These desperate
deeds paralysed the energy of the Danes, and the Irish gained a complete
victory in Dundalk bay.
"The Irish fleet having thus expelled the pirates from their coast, came
into harbour, where they were received with acclamations of joy by all
who witnessed their bravery. Such is a summary of Keating's poetic
account of this day's achievements; and there are extant fuller accounts
in various pieces of native poetry, especially one entitled 'The Pursuit
after Callaghan of Cashel, by the Chief of Munster, after he had been
entrapped by the Danes.'"
The year 948 has generally been assigned as that of the conversion of
the Danes to Christianity; but, whatever the precise period may have
been, the conversion was rather of a doubtful character as we hear of
their burning churches, plundering shrines, and slaughtering
ecclesiastics with apparently as little remorse as ever. In the very
year in which the Danes of Dublin are said to have been converted, they
burned the belfry of Slane while filled with religious who had sought
refuge there. Meanwhile the Irish monarchies were daily weakened by
divisions and domestic wars. Connaught was divided between two or three
independent princes, and Munster into two kingdoms.
The ancient division of the country into five provinces no longer held
good; and the Ard-Righ, or chief monarch, was such only in name. Even
the great northern Hy-Nials, long the bravest and most united of the
Irish clans, were now divided into two portions, the Cinel-Connaill and
Cinel-Owen; the former of whom had been for some time excluded from the
alternate accession of sovereignty, which was still maintained between
the two great families of the race of Nial. But, though this arrangement
was persevered in with tolerable regularity, it tended little to the
promotion of peace, as the northern princes were ever ready to take
advantage of the weakness of the Meath men, who were their inferiors
both in numbers and in valour.
The sovereignty of Munster had also been settled on the alternate
principle, between the great tribe of Dalcassians, or north Munster
race, and the Eoghanists, or southeners. This plan of succession, as may
be supposed, failed to work peaceably; and, in 942, Kennedy, the father
of the famous Brian Boroimhé, contested the sovereignty with the
Eoghanist prince, Callaghan Cashel, but yielded in a chivalrous spirit,
not very common under such circumstances, and joined his former opponent
in his contests with the Danes. The author of the _Wars of the Gaedhil
with the Gall_ gives a glowing account of the genealogy of Brian and his
eldest brother, Mathgamhain. They are described as "two fierce,
magnificent heroes, the two stout, able, valiant pillars," who then
governed the Dalcassian tribes; Mathgamhain (Mahoun) being the actual
chieftain, Brian the heir apparent. A guerilla war was carried on for
some time in the woods of Thomond, in which no quarter was given on
either side, and wherein it was "woe to either party to meet the other."
Mahoun at last proposed a truce, but Brian refused to consent to this
arrangement. He continued the war until he found his army reduced to
fifteen men. Mahoun then sent for him. An interview took place, which is
described in the form of a poetic dialogue, between the two brothers.
Brian reproached Mahoun with cowardice; Mahoun reproached Brian with
imprudence. Brian hints broadly that Mahoun had interested motives in
making this truce, and declares that neither Kennedy, their father, nor
Lorcan, their grandfather, would have been so quiescent towards the
foreigners for the sake of wealth, nor would they have given them even
as much time as would have sufficed to play a game of chess[210] on the
green of Magh Adhair. Mahoun kept his temper, and contented himself with
reproaching Brian for his recklessness, in sacrificing the lives of so
many of his faithful followers to no purpose. Brian replied that he
would never abandon his inheritance, without a contest, to "such
foreigners as Black Grim Gentiles."
The result was a conference of the tribe, who voted for war, and marched
into the country of the Eoghanists (the present co. Kerry), who at once
joined the standard of the Dalcassians. The Danes suffered severely in
Munster. This aroused the Limerick Danes; and their chieftain, Ivar,
attacked the territory of Dal-Cais, an exploit in which he was joined,
to their eternal shame, by several native princes and tribes, amongst
whom were Maolmuadh (Molloy), son of Braun, King of Desmond, and
Donabhan (Donovan), son of Cathal, King of Ui Cairbhri. The result was a
fierce battle at Sulcoit, near Tipperary, wherein the Danes were
gloriously defeated. The action was commenced by the Northmen. It
continued from sunrise till mid-day, and terminated in the rout of the
foreigners, who fled "to the ditches, and to the valleys, and to the
solitudes of the great sweet flower plain," where they were followed by
the conquerors, and massacred without mercy.
The Dalcassians now obtained possession of Limerick, with immense spoils
of jewels, gold and silver, foreign saddles, "soft, youthful, bright
girls, blooming silk-clad women, and active well-formed boys." The
active boys were soon disposed of, for we find that they collected the
prisoners on the hillocks of Saingel, where "every one that was fit for
war was put to death, and every one that was fit for a slave was
enslaved." This event is dated A.D. 968.
Mahoun was now firmly established on the throne, but his success
procured him many enemies. A conspiracy was formed against him under the
auspices of Ivar of Limerick and his son, Dubhcenn. The Eoghanist clans
basely withdrew their allegiance from their lawful sovereign, allied
themselves with the Danes, and became principals in the plot of
assassination. Their motive was as simple as their conduct was vile. The
two Eoghanist families were represented by Donovan and Molloy. They were
descendants of Oilioll Oluim, from whom Mahoun was also descended, but
his family were Dalcassians. Hitherto the Eoghanists had succeeded in
depriving the tribes of Dal-Cais of their fair share of alternate
succession to the throne of Munster; they became alarmed at and jealous
of the advancement of the younger tribe, and determined to do by
treachery what they could not do by force. With the usual headlong
eagerness of traitors, they seem to have forgotten Brian, and quite
overlooked the retribution they might expect at his hands for their
crime. There are two different accounts of the murder, which do not
coincide in detail. The main facts, however, are reliable: Mahoun was
entrapped in some way to the house of Donovan, and there he was basely
murdered, in violation of the rights of hospitality, and in defiance of
the safe-conduct of the bishop, which he secured before his visit.
The traitors gained nothing by their treachery except the contempt of
posterity. Brian was not slow in avenging his brother. "He was not a
stone in place of an egg, nor a wisp of hay in place of a club; but he
was a hero in place of a hero, and valour after valour."[211]
Public opinion was not mistaken in its estimate of his character. Two
years after the death of Mahoun, Brian invaded Donovan's territory,
drove off his cattle, took the fortress of Cathair Cuan, and slew
Donovan and his Danish ally, Harolt. He next proceeded to settle
accounts with Molloy. Cogarán is sent to the whole tribe of Ui Eachach,
to know "the reason why" they killed Mahoun, and to declare that no
_cumhal_ or fine would be received, either in the shape of hostages,
gold, or cattle, but that Molloy must himself be given up. Messages were
also sent to Molloy, both general and particular--the general message
challenged him to battle at Belach-Lechta; the particular message, which
in truth he hardly deserved, was a challenge to meet Murrough, Brian's
son, in single combat. The result was the battle of Belach-Lechta,[212]
where Molloy was slain, with twelve hundred of his troops, both native
and foreign. Brian remained master of the field and of the kingdom, A.D.
978.
Brian was now undisputed King of Munster. In 984 he was acknowledged
Monarch of Leth Mogha, the southern half of Ireland. Meanwhile Malachy,
who governed Leth Cuinn, or the northern half of Ireland, had not been
idle. He fought a battle with the Danes in 979, near Tara, in which he
defeated their forces, and slew Raguall, son of Amlaibh, King of Dublin.
Amlaibh felt the defeat so severely, that he retired to Iona, where he
died of a broken heart. Donough O'Neill, son of Muircheartach, died this
year, and Malachy obtained the regal dignity. Emboldened by his success
at Tara, he resolved to attack the foreigners in Dublin; he therefore
laid siege to that city, and compelled it to surrender after three days,
liberated two thousand prisoners, including the King of Leinster, and
took abundant spoils. At the same time he issued a proclamation, freeing
every Irishman then in bondage to the Danes, and stipulating that the
race of Nial should henceforth be free from tribute to the foreigners.
It is probable that Brian had already formed designs for obtaining the
royal power. The country resounded with the fame of his exploits, and
Malachy became aware at last that he should either have him for an ally
or an enemy. He prudently chose the former alternative, and in the
nineteenth year of his reign (997 according to the Four Masters) he made
arrangements with Brian for a great campaign against the common enemy.
Malachy surrendered all hostages to Brian, and Brian agreed to recognize
Malachy as sole Monarch of northern Erinn, "without war or trespass."
This treaty was absolutely necessary, in order to offer effective
resistance to the Danes. The conduct of the two kings towards each other
had not been of a conciliatory nature previously. In 981 Malachy had
invaded the territory of the Dalcassians, and uprooted the great
oak-tree of Magh Adair, under which its kings were crowned--an insult
which could not fail to excite bitter feelings both in prince and
people. In 989 the monarch occupied himself fighting the Danes in
Dublin, to whom he laid siege for twenty nights, reducing the garrison
to such straits that they were obliged to drink the salt water when the
tide rose in the river. Brian then made reprisals on Malachy, by sending
boats up the Shannon burning the royal rath of Dun Sciath. Malachy, in
his turn, recrossed the Shannon, burned Nenagh, plundered Ormonde, and
defeated Brian himself in battle. He then marched again to Dublin, and
once more attacked "the proud invader." It was on this occasion that he
obtained the "collar of gold," which Moore has immortalized in his
world-famous "Melodies."
When the kings had united their forces, they obtained another important
victory at Glen-Mama.[213] Harolt, son of Olaf Cuaran, the then Danish
king, was slain, and four thousand of his followers perished with him.
The victorious army marched at once to Dublin. Here they obtained spoils
of great value, and made many slaves and captives. According to some
accounts, Brian remained in Dublin until the feast of St. Brigid
(February 1st); other annalists say he only remained from Great
Christmas to Little Christmas. Meanwhile there can be but little doubt
that Brian had in view the acquisition of the right to be called sole
monarch of Ireland. It is a blot on an otherwise noble character--an
ugly spot in a picture of more than ordinary interest. Sitric, another
son of Olaf's, fled for protection to Aedh and Eochaidh, two northern
chieftains; but they gave him up, from motives of fear or policy to
Brian's soldiers, and after due submission he was restored to his former
position. Brian then gave his daughter in marriage to Sitric, and
completed the family alliance by espousing Sitric's mother, Gormflaith,
a lady of rather remarkable character, who had been divorced from her
second husband, Malachy. Brian now proceeded to depose Malachy. The
account of this important transaction is given in so varied a manner by
different writers, that it seems almost impossible to ascertain the
truth. The southern annalists are loud in their assertions of the
incapacity of the reigning monarch, and would have it believed that
Brian only yielded to the urgent entreaties of his countrymen in
accepting the proffered crown. But the warlike exploits of Malachy have
been too faithfully recorded to leave any doubt as to his prowess in the
field; and we may probably class the regret of his opponent in accepting
his position, with similar protestations made under circumstances in
which such regret was as little likely to be real.
The poet Moore, with evident partiality for the subject of his song,
declares that the magnanimous character of Malachy was the real ground
of peace under such provocation, and that he submitted to the
encroachments of his rival rather from motives of disinterested desire
for his country's welfare, than from any reluctance or inability to
fight his own battle.
But Brian had other chieftains to deal with, of less amiable or more
warlike propensities: the proud Hy-Nials of the north were long in
yielding to his claims; but even these he at length subdued, compelling
the Cinel-Eoghain to give him hostages, and carrying off the Lord of
Cinel-Connaill bodily to his fortress at Kincora. Here he had assembled
a sort of "happy family," consisting of refractory princes and knights,
who, refusing hostages to keep the peace with each other, were obliged
to submit to the royal will and pleasure, and at least to appear
outwardly in harmony.
These precautionary measures, however summary, and the energetic
determination of Brian to have peace kept either by sword or law, have
given rise to the romantic ballad of the lady perambulating Erinn with a
gold ring and white wand, and passing unmolested through its once
belligerent kingdoms.
Brian now turned his attention to the state of religion and literature,
restoring the churches and monasteries which had been plundered and
burnt by the Danes. He is said also to have founded the churches of
Killaloe and Iniscealtra, and to have built the round tower of Tomgrany,
in the present county Clare. A gift of twenty ounces of gold to the
church of Armagh,--a large donation for that period,--is also recorded
amongst his good deeds.[214]
There is some question as to the precise year in which Brian obtained or
usurped the authority and position of Ard-Righ: A.D. 1002, however, is
the date most usually accepted. He was probably about sixty-one years of
age, and Malachy was then about fifty-three.[215]
It will be remembered that Brian had married the Lady Gormflaith. Her
brother, Maelmordha, was King of Leinster, and he had obtained his
throne through the assistance of the Danes. Brian was Gormflaith's third
husband. In the words of the Annals, she had made three leaps--"jumps
which a woman should never jump"--a hint that her matrimonial
arrangements had not the sanction of canon law. She was remarkable for
her beauty, but her temper was proud and vindictive. This was probably
the reason why she was repudiated both by Malachy and Brian. There can
be no doubt that she and her brother, Maelmordha, were the remote causes
of the famous battle of Clontarf. The story is told thus: Maelmordha
came to Brian with an offering of three large pine-trees to make masts
for shipping. These were probably a tribute which he was bound to pay to
his liege lord. The trees had been cut in the great forest of Leinster,
called Fidh-Gaibhli.[216] Some other tribes were bringing their
tree-tributes at the same time; and as they all journeyed over the
mountains together, there was a dispute for precedency. Maelmordha
decided the question by assisting to carry the tree of the Ui-Faelain.
He had on a tunic of silk which Brian had given[217] him, with a border
of gold round it and silver buttons. One of the buttons came off as he
lifted the tree. On his arrival at Kincora, he asked his sister,
Gormflaith, to replace it for him; but she at once flung the garment
into the fire, and then bitterly reproached her brother with having
accepted this token of vassalage. The Sagas say she was "grim" against
Brian, which was undoubtedly true. This excited Maelmordha's temper. An
opportunity soon offered for a quarrel. Brian's eldest son,
Murrough,[218] was playing a game of chess with his cousin, Conoing;
Maelmordha was looking on, and suggested a move by which Murrough lost
the game. The young prince exclaimed: "That was like the advice you gave
the Danes, which lost them Glen-Mama." "I will give them advice now, and
they shall not be defeated," replied the other. "Then you had better
remind them to prepare a yew-tree[219] for your reception," answered
Murrough.
Early the next morning Maelmordha left the place, "without permission
and without taking leave." Brian sent a messenger after him to pacify
him, but the angry chief, for all reply, "broke all the bones in his
head." He now proceeded to organize a revolt against Brian, and
succeeded. Several of the Irish princes flocked to his standard. An
encounter took place in Meath, where they slew Malachy's grandson,
Domhnall, who should have been heir if the usual rule of succession had
been observed. Malachy marched to the rescue, and defeated the
assailants with great slaughter, A.D. 1013. Fierce reprisals now took
place on each side. Sanctuary was disregarded, and Malachy called on
Brian to assist him. Brian at once complied. After successfully ravaging
Ossory he marched to Dublin, where he was joined by Murrough, who had
devastated Wicklow, burning, destroying, and carrying off captives,
until he reached _Cill Maighnenn_ (Kilmainham). They now blockaded
Dublin, where they remained from St. Ciaran's in harvest (Sept. 9th)
until Christmas Day. Brian was then obliged to raise the siege and
return home for want of provisions.
The storm was now gathering in earnest, and the most active preparations
were made on both sides for a mighty and decisive conflict. The Danes
had already obtained possession of England, a country which had always
been united in its resistance to their power, a country numerically
superior to Ireland: why should they not hope to conquer, with at least
equal facility, a people who had so many opposing interests, and who
rarely sacrificed these interests to the common good? Still they must
have had some fear of the result, if we may judge by the magnitude of
their preparations. They despatched ambassadors in all directions to
obtain reinforcements. Brodir, the earl, and Amlaibh, son of the King of
Lochlann, "the two Earls of Cair, and of all the north of Saxon
land,"[220] came at the head of 2,000 men; "and there was not one
villain of that 2,000 who had not polished, strong, triple-plated armour
of refined iron, or of cooling, uncorroding brass, encasing their sides
and bodies from head to foot." Moreover, the said villains "had no
reverence, veneration, or respect, or mercy for God or man, for church
or for sanctuary; they were cruel, ferocious, plundering, hard-hearted,
wonderful Dannarbrians, selling and hiring themselves for gold and
silver, and other treasure as well." Gormflaith was evidently "head
centre" on the occasion; for we find wonderful accounts of her zeal and
efforts in collecting forces. "Other treasure" may possibly be referred
to that lady's heart and hand, of which she appears to have been very
liberal on this occasion. She despatched her son, Sitric, to Siguard,
Earl of the Orkneys, who promised his assistance, but he required the
hand of Gormflaith as payment for his services, and that he should be
made King of Ireland. Sitric gave the required promise, and found, on
his return to Dublin, that it met with his mother's entire approbation.
She then despatched him to the Isle of Man, where there were two
Vikings, who had thirty ships, and she desired him to obtain their
co-operation "at any price." They were the brothers Ospak and Brodir.
The latter demanded the same conditions as the Earl Siguard, which were
promised quite as readily by Sitric, only he charged the Viking to keep
the agreement secret, and above all not to mention it to Siguard.
Brodir,[221] according to the Saga, was an apostate Christian, who had
"thrown off his faith, and become God's dastard." He was both tall and
strong, and had such long black hair that he tucked it under his belt;
he had also the reputation of being a magician. The Viking Ospak refused
to fight against "the good King Brian," and, touched by some prodigies,
became a convert to Christianity, joined the Irish monarch at Kincora,
on the Shannon, and received holy baptism.[222] The author of the _Wars
of the Gaedhil_ gives a formidable list of the other auxiliaries who
were invited by the Dublin Danes. The Annals of Loch Cé also give an
account of the fleet he assembled, and its "chosen braves." Maelmordha
had mustered a large army also; indeed, he was too near the restless and
revengeful Larmflaith to have taken matters quietly, even had he been so
inclined.
Meanwhile Brian had been scarcely less successful, and probably not less
active. He now marched towards Dublin, "with all that obeyed him of the
men of Ireland." These were the provincial troops of Munster and
Connaught and the men of Meath. His march is thus described in the _Wars
of the Gaedhil_:--"Brian looked out behind him, and beheld the battle
phalanx--compact, huge, disciplined, moving in silence, mutely, bravely,
haughtily, unitedly, with one mind, traversing the plain towards them;
threescore and ten banners over them--of red, and of yellow, and of
green, and of all kinds of colours; together with the everlasting,
variegated, lucky, fortunate banner, that had gained the victory in
every battle, and in every conflict, and in every combat."[223] The
portion of the narrative containing this account is believed to be an
interpolation, but the description may not be the less accurate. Brian
plundered and destroyed as usual on his way to Dublin. When he had
encamped near that city, the Danes came out to give him battle on the
plain of Magh-n-Ealta.[224] The king then held a council of war, and the
result, apparently, was a determination to give battle in the morning.
It is said that the Northmen pretended flight in order to delay the
engagement. The Njal Saga says the Viking Brodir had found out by his
sorcery, "that if the fight were on Good Friday, King Brian would fall,
but win the day; but if they fought before, they would all fall who were
against him." Some authorities also mention a traitor in Brian's camp,
who had informed the Danes that his forces had been weakened by the
absence of his son Donough, whom he had sent to devastate Leinster.
Malachy has the credit of this piece of treachery, with other
imputations scarcely less disreputable.
The site of the battle has been accurately defined. It took place on the
plain of Clontarf,[225] and is called the Battle of the Fishing Weir of
Clontarf. The weir was at the mouth of the river Tolka, where the bridge
of Ballybough now stands. The Danish line was extended along the coast,
and protected at sea by their fleets. It was disposed in three
divisions, and comprised about 21,000 men, the Leinster forces being
included in the number. The first division or left wing was the nearest
to Dublin. It was composed of the Danes of Dublin, and headed by Sitric,
who was supported by the thousand mail-clad Norwegians, commanded by
Carlus and Anrud. In the centre were the Lagennians, under the command
of Maelmordha. The right wing comprised the foreign auxiliaries, under
the command of Brodir and Siguard.[226]
Brian's army was also disposed in three divisions. The first was
composed of his brave Dalcassians, and commanded by his son Murrough,
assisted by his four brothers, Teigue, Donough, Connor, and Flann, and
his youthful heir, Turlough, who perished on the field. The second
division or centre was composed of troops from Munster, and was
commanded by Mothla, grandson of the King of the Deisi, of Waterford,
assisted by many native princes. The third battalion was commanded by
Maelruanaidh (Mulrooney of the Paternosters) and Teigue O'Kelly, with
all the nobles of Connaught. Brian's army numbered about twenty thousand
men. The accounts which relate the position of Malachy, and his conduct
on this occasion, are hopelessly conflicting. It appears quite
impossible to decide whether he was a victim to prejudice, or whether
Brian was a victim to his not unnatural hostility.
On the eve of the battle, one of the Danish chiefs, Plait, son of King
Lochlainn, sent a challenge to Domhnall, son of Emhin, High Steward of
Mar. The battle commenced at daybreak. Plait came forth and exclaimed
three times, "_Faras Domhnall_?" (Where is Domhnall?) Domhnall replied:
"Here, thou reptile." A terrible hand-to-hand combat ensued. They fell
dead at the same moment, the sword of each through the heart of the
other, and the hair of each in the clenched hand of the other. And the
combat of those two was the first combat of the battle.
Before the engagement Brian harangued his troops, with the crucifix in
one hand and a sword in the other. He reminded them of all they had
suffered from their enemies, of their tyranny, their sacrilege, their
innumerable perfidies; and then, holding the crucifix aloft, he
exclaimed: "The great God has at length looked down upon our sufferings,
and endued you with the power and the courage this day to destroy for
ever the tyranny of the Danes, and thus to punish them for their
innumerable crimes and sacrileges by the avenging power of the sword.
Was it not on this day that Christ Himself suffered death for you?"
He was then compelled to retire to the rear, and await the result of the
conflict; but Murrough performed prodigies of valour. Even the Danish
historians admit that he fought his way to their standard, and cut down
two successive bearers of it.
The mailed armour of the Danes seems to have been a source of no little
dread to their opponents. But the Irish battle-axe might well have set
even more secure protection at defiance. It was wielded with such skill
and force, that frequently a limb was lopped off with a single blow,
despite the mail in which it was encased; while the short lances, darts,
and slinging-stones proved a speedy means of decapitating or stunning a
fallen enemy.
The Dalcassians surpassed themselves in feats of arms. They hastened
from time to time to refresh their thirst and cool their hands in a
neighbouring brook; but the Danes soon filled it up, and deprived them
of this resource. It was a conflict of heroes--a hand-to-hand fight.
Bravery was not wanting on either side, and for a time the result seemed
doubtful. Towards the afternoon, as many of the Danish leaders were cut
down, their followers began to give way, and the Irish forces prepared
for a final effort. At this moment the Norwegian prince, Anrud,
encountered Murrough, whose arms were paralyzed from fatigue; he had
still physical strength enough to seize his enemy, fling him on the
ground, and plunge his sword into the body of his prostrate foe. But
even as he inflicted the death-wound, he received a mortal blow from the
dagger of the Dane, and the two chiefs fell together.
The _mêlée_ was too general for an individual incident, however
important in itself, to have much effect. The Northmen and their allies
were flying hard and fast, the one towards their ships, the others
towards the city. But as they fled across the Tolka, they forgot that it
was now swollen with the incoming tide, and thousands perished by water
who had escaped the sword. The body of Brian's grandson, the boy
Turlough, was found in the river after the battle, with his hands
entangled in the hair of two Danish warriors, whom he had held down
until they were drowned. Sitric and his wife had watched the combat from
the battlements of Dublin. It will be remembered that this lady was the
daughter of King Brian, and her interests were naturally with the Irish
troops. Some rough words passed between her and her lord, which ended in
his giving her so rude a blow, that he knocked out one of her teeth. But
we have yet to record the crowning tragedy of the day. Brian had retired
to his tent to pray, at the commencement of the conflict. When the
forces met, he began his devotions, and said to his attendant: "Watch
thou the battle and the combats, whilst I say the psalms." After he had
recited fifty psalms, fifty collects, and fifty paternosters, he desired
the man to look out and inform him how the battle went, and the position
of Murrough's standard. He replied the strife was close and vigorous,
and the noise was as if seven battalions were cutting down Tomar's wood;
but the standard was safe. Brian then said fifty more psalms, and made
the same inquiry. The attendant replied that all was in confusion, but
that Murrough's standard still stood erect, and moved westwards towards
Dublin. "As long as that standard remains erect," replied Brian, "it
shall go well with the men of Erinn." The aged king betook himself to
his prayers once more, saying again fifty psalms[227] and collects;
then, for the last time, he asked intelligence of the field. Latean
replied: "They appear as if Tomar's wood was on fire, and its brushwood
all burned down;" meaning that the private soldiers of both armies were
nearly all slain, and only a few of the chiefs had escaped; adding the
most grievous intelligence of all, that Murrough's standard had fallen.
"Alas!" replied Brian, "Erinn has fallen with it: why should I survive
such losses, even should I attain the sovereignty of the world?" His
attendant then urged him to fly, but Brian replied that flight was
useless, for he had been warned of his fate by Aibinn (the banshee of
his family), and that he knew his death was at hand. He then gave
directions about his will and his funeral, leaving 240 cows to the
"successor of Patrick." Even at this moment the danger was impending. A
party of Danes approached, headed by Brodir. The king sprang up from the
cushion where he had been kneeling, and unsheathed his sword. At first
Brodir did not know him, and thought he was a priest from finding him at
prayer; but one of his followers informed him that it was the Monarch of
Ireland. In a moment the fierce Dane had opened his head with his
battle-axe. It is said that Brian had time to inflict a wound on the
Viking, but the details of this event are so varied that it is
impossible to decide which account is most reliable. The Saga states
that Brodir knew Brian,[228] and, proud of his exploit, held up the
monarch's reeking head, exclaiming, "Let it be told from man to man that
Brodir felled Brian." All accounts agree in stating that the Viking was
slain immediately, if not cruelly, by Brian's guards, who thus revenged
their own neglect of their master. Had Brian survived this conflict, and
had he been but a few years younger, how different might have been the
political and social state of Ireland even at the present day! The
Danish power was overthrown, and never again obtained an ascendency in
the country. It needed but one strong will, one wise head, one brave
arm, to consolidate the nation, and to establish a regular monarchy; for
there was mettle enough in the Celt, if only united, to resist foreign
invasion for all time to come.
[Illustration: King Brian Boroimhé killed by the Viking.]
On Easter Monday the survivors were employed in burying the dead and
attending to the wounded. The remains of more than thirty chieftains
were borne off to their respective territorial churches for interment.
But even on that very night dissension arose in the camp. The chieftains
of Desmond, seeing the broken condition of the Dalcassian force, renewed
their claim to the alternate succession. When they had reached Rath
Maisten (Mullaghmast, near Athy) they claimed the sovereignty of
Munster, by demanding hostages. A battle ensued, in which even the
wounded Dalcassians joined. Their leader desired them to be placed in
the fort of Maisten, but they insisted on being fastened to stakes,
firmly planted in the ground to support them, and stuffing their wounds
with moss, they awaited the charge of the enemy. The men of Ossory,
intimidated by their bravery, feared to give battle. But many of the
wounded men perished from exhaustion--a hundred and fifty swooned away,
and never recovered consciousness again. The majority were buried where
they stood; a few of the more noble were carried to their ancestral
resting-places. "And thus far the wars of the Gall with the Gaedhil, and
the battle of Clontarf."
The Annals state that both Brian and his son, Murrough, lived to receive
the rites of the Church, and that their remains were conveyed by the
monks to Swords, and from thence, through Duleek and Louth, to Armagh,
by Archbishop Maelmuire, the "successor of St. Patrick." Their obsequies
were celebrated with great splendour, for twelve days and nights, by the
clergy; after which the body of Brian was deposited in a stone coffin,
on the north side of the high altar, in the cathedral. Murrough was
buried on the south side. Turlough was interred in the old churchyard of
Kilmainham, where the shaft of an ancient cross still marks the site.
Malachy once more assumed the reins of government by common consent, and
proved himself fully equal to the task. A month before his death he
gained an important victory over the Danes at Athboy, A.D. 1022. An
interregnum of twenty years followed his death, during which the country
was governed by two wise men, Cuan O'Lochlann, a poet, and Corcran
Cleireach, an anchoret. The circumstances attending Malachy's death are
thus related by the Four Masters:--"The age of Christ 1022.
Maelseachlainn Môr, pillar of the dignity and nobility of the west of
the world, died in Croinis Locha-Aininn, in the seventy-third year of
his age, on the 4th of the nones of September, on Sunday precisely,
after intense penance for his sins and transgressions, after receiving
the body of Christ and His blood, after being anointed by the hands of
Amhalgaidh, successor of Patrick, for he and the successor of
Colum-Cille, and the successors of Ciaran, and most of the seniors of
Ireland were present [at his death], and they sung masses, hymns,
psalms, and canticles for the welfare of his soul."
[Illustration: COVER OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL.]
[Illustration: DESMOND CASTLE AND RATH, LIMERICK.]
FOOTNOTES:
[208] _Dagger_.--The king visited the shrine on his way to battle, and
hanging up his dagger, the then symbol of knightly valour, vowed to
release it with a kingly ransom if God gave him the victory. He obtained
his desire, and nobly fulfilled his vow.
[209] _Tyrants_.--J. Roderick O'Flanagan, Esq., M.R.I.A., has permitted
me to extract the account of the battle of Dundalk from his valuable and
interesting _History of Dundalk and its Environs._ Dublin: Hodges and
Smith, 1864. This gentleman has devoted himself specially to elucidating
the subject, and with a kindness which I cannot easily forget, permits
me to avail myself, not only of his literary labours, but even to
transfer to the pages of this work several complete pages from his own.
[210] _Chess_.--Flann Sionna, Monarch of Ireland, had encamped on this
plain, and ostentatiously commenced a game of chess as a mark of
contempt for the chieftains whose country he had invaded. His folly met
its just punishment, for he was ignominiously defeated. See _Wars of the
Gaedhil_, p. 113, note.
[211] _Valour.--Wars of the Gaedhil_, p. 101.
[212] _Belach-Lechta_.--The site has not been definitely ascertained.
Some authorities place it near Macroom, co. Cork.
[213] _Glen-Mama_.--The Glen of the Gap, near Dunlavin. This was the
ancient stronghold of the kings of Leinster in Wicklow. There is a long
and very interesting note on the locality, by the Rev. J.F. Shearman,
R.C.C., in the "Introduction" to the _Wars of the Gaedhil_. He mentions
that pits have been discovered even recently, containing the remains of
the slain.
[214] _Deeds_.--The origin of surnames is also attributed to Brian
Boroimhé, from a fragment in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin,
supposed to be a portion of a life of that monarch written by his poet
Mac Liag. Surnames were generally introduced throughout Europe in the
tenth and twelfth centuries. The Irish gave their names to their lands.
In other countries patronymics were usually taken from the names of the
hereditary possessions.
[215] _Fifty-three_.--See Dr. O'Donovan's note to Annals, p. 747.
[216] _Fidh-Gaibhli_.--Now Feegile, near Portarlington.
[217] _Given_.--The Book of Rights mentions, that one of the rights to
which the King of Leinster was entitled from the King of Ireland, was
"fine textured clothes at Tara," as well as "sevenscore suits of clothes
of good colour, for the use of the sons of the great chieftain."--Book
of Rights, p. 251. From the conduct of Gormflaith, as related above, it
is evident that the tunic was some token of vassalage.
[218] _Murrough_.--He was eldest son by Brian's first wife, Môr. He had
three sons by this lady, who were all slain at Clontarf.
[219] _Yew-tree_.--This was a sharp insult. After the battle of
Glen-Mama, Maelmordha had hidden himself in a yew-tree, where he was
discovered and taken prisoner by Murrough.
[220] _Land.--Wars of the Gaedhil_, p. 151.
[221] _Brodir_.--It has been suggested that this was not his real name.
He was Ospak's _brother_, and Brodir may have been mistaken for a proper
name. There was a Danish Viking named Gutring, who was an apostate
deacon, and who may have been the Brodir of Irish history.
[222] _Baptism.--Burnt Njal_, ii. 332.
[223] _Combat.--Wars of the Gaedhil_, p. 157.
[224] _Magh-n-Ealta_.--The Plain of the Flocks, lying between Howth and
Tallaght, so called from Eder, a chieftain who perished before the
Christian era.
[225] _Clontarf_.--There is curious evidence that the account of the
battle of Clontarf must have been written by an eye-witness, or by one
who had obtained his information from an eye-witness. The author states
that "the foreigners came out to fight the battle in the morning at the
full tide," and that the tide came in again in the evening at the same
place. The Danes suffered severely from this, "for the tide had carried
away their ships from them." Consequently, hundreds perished in the
waves.--_Wars of the Gaedhil,_ p. 191. Dr. Todd mentions that he asked
the Rev. S. Haughton, of Trinity College, Dublin, to calculate for him
"what was the hour of high water at the shore of Clontarf, in Dublin
Bay, on the 23rd of April, 1014." The result was a full confirmation of
the account given by the author of the _Wars of the Gaedhil_--the Rev.
S. Haughton having calculated that the morning tide was full in at 5.30
a.m., the evening tide being full at 5.55 p.m.
[226] _Siguard_.--Various accounts are given of the disposition of
forces on each side, so that it is impossible to speak with accuracy on
the subject. We know how difficult it is to obtain correct particulars
on such occasions, even with the assistance of "own correspondents" and
electric telegraphs.
[227] _Psalms_.--To recite the Psalter in this way was a special
devotional practice of the middle ages.
[228] _Brian_.--_Burnt Njal_, ii. 337. If this account be reliable,
Brian did not live to receive the last sacraments, as other authorities
state.
CHAPTER XIV.
Distinguished Irish Scholars and Religious--Domestic Feuds--O'Brien's
Illness caused by Fright--Pestilence and Severe Winters--Contentions
between the Northerns and Southerns--Murtough's Circuit of Ireland--The
Danes attempt an Invasion--An Irish King sent to the Isle of
Man--Destruction of Kincora--St. Celsus makes Peace--The Synod of Fidh
Aengussa--Subjects considered by the Synod: (1) The Regulation of the
Number of Dioceses, (2) the Sacrament of Matrimony, (3) the Consecration
of Bishops, (4) Ceremonies at Baptism--St. Malachy--The Traitor
Dermod--Synod at Mellifont Abbey--St. Laurence O'Toole.
[A.D. 1022-1167.]
Domestic wars were, as usual, productive of the worst consequences, as
regards the social state of the country. The schools and colleges, which
had been founded and richly endowed by the converted Irish, were now,
without exception, plundered of their wealth, and, in many cases,
deprived of those who had dispensed that wealth for the common good. It
has been already shown that men lived holy lives, and died peaceful
deaths, during the two hundred years of Danish oppression; we shall now
find that schools were revived, monasteries repeopled, and missionaries
sent to convert and instruct in foreign lands. A few monks from Ireland
settled in Glastonbury early in the tenth century, where they devoted
themselves to the instruction of youth. St. Dunstan, who was famous for
his skill in music, was one of their most illustrious pupils: he was a
scholar, an artist, and a musician. But English writers, who give him
the credit of having brought "Englishmen to care once more for learning,
after they had quite lost the taste for it, and had sunk back into
ignorance and barbarism," forget to mention who were his instructors.
St. Maccallin, another Irishman, was teaching in France at the same
period; and Duncan, who governed the Monastery of St. Remigius, at
Rheims, was writing books of instruction for his students, which are
still extant. Marianus Scotus, whose chronicles are considered the most
perfect compositions of their times, was teaching at Cologne. St.
Fingen, who succeeded St. Cadroe as Abbot of the Monastery of St. Felix
at Metz, was invested with the government of the Monastery of St.
Symphorian in that city[229]. It was then ordered by the bishop, that
none but Irish monks should be received into his house, unless their
supply failed. In 975 the Monastery of St. Martin, near Cologne, was
made over to the Irish monks in perpetuity. Happily, however, Ireland
still retained many of her pious and gifted sons. We have mentioned
elsewhere the Annals of Tighernach, and the remarkable erudition they
evince. The name of Cormac Mac Cullinan may also be added to the list of
literary men of the period. The poems of Kenneth O'Hartigan are still
extant, as well as those of Eochd O'Flynn. The authorship of the _Wars
of the Gaedhil and the Gall_, has been attributed to Brian Boroimhé's
secretary, Mac Liag; it is, at least, tolerably certain that it was
written by one who witnessed the events described. The obituaries of
several saints also occur at the close of the tenth and commencement of
the eleventh centuries. Amongst these we find St. Duncheadh, Abbot of
Clonmacnois, who is said to have been the last Irish saint who raised
the dead. St. Aedh (Hugh) died in the year 1004, "after a good life, at
Ard-Macha, with great honour and veneration." And in the year 1018, we
have the mortuary record of St. Gormgal, of Ardvilean, "the remains of
whose humble oratory and cloghan cell are still to be seen on that rocky
island, amid the surges of the Atlantic, off the coast of
Connemara."[230]
Dr. Todd has well observed, in his admirably written "Introduction" to
the _Wars of the Gaedhil and the Gall_, that from the death of Malachy
to the days of Strongbow, the history of Ireland is little more than a
history of the struggles for ascendency between the great clans or
families of O'Neill, O'Connor, O'Brien, and the chieftains of Leinster.
After the death of Brian Boroimhé, his son Donough obtained the
undisputed sovereignty of Munster. He defeated the Desmonians, and
instigated the murder of his brother Teigue. His next step was to claim
the title of King of Ireland, but he had a formidable opponent in Dermod
Mac Mael-na-mbo, King of Leinster. Strange to say, though he had the
guilt of fratricide on his conscience, he assembled the clergy and
chieftains of Munster at Killaloe, in the year 1050, to pass laws for
the protection of life and property--a famine, which occurred at this
time, making such precautions of the first necessity. In 1033, his
nephew, Turlough, avenged the death of Teigue, in a battle, wherein
Donough was defeated. After his reverse he went on a pilgrimage to Rome,
where he died in the following year, after doing penance for his
brother's murder. The Annals say that "he died under the victory of
penance, in the Monastery of Stephen the Martyr."[231] Dermod Mac
Mael-na-mbo was killed in battle by the King of Meath, A.D. 1072, and
Turlough O'Brien, consequently, was regarded as his successor to the
monarchy of Ireland. Turlough, as usual, commenced by taking hostages,
but he found serious opposition from the northern Hy-Nials. His
principal opponents were the Mac Loughlins of Aileach, and the
O'Melaghlins of Meath. In 1079 O'Brien invaded the territory of Roderic
O'Connor, King of Connaught, expelled him from his kingdom, and
plundered it as far as Croagh Patrick. Next year he led an army to
Dublin, and received the submission of the men of Meath, appointing his
son Murtough lord of the Danes of Dublin. The Annals of the Four Masters
give a curious account of O'Brien's death. They say that the head of
Connor O'Melaghlin, King of Meath, was taken from the church of
Clonmacnois, and brought to Thomond, by his order. When the king took
the head in his hand, a mouse ran out of it, and the shock was so great
that "he fell ill of a sore disease by the miracles (intervention) of
St. Ciaran." This happened on the night of Good Friday. The day of the
resurrection (Easter Sunday) the head was restored, with two rings of
gold as a peace-offering. But Turlough never recovered from the effects
of his fright, and lingered on in bad health until the year 1086, when
he died. He is called the "modest Turlough" in the Annals, for what
special reason does not appear. It is also recorded that he performed
"intense penance for his sins"--a grace which the kings and princes of
Ireland seem often to have needed, and, if we may believe the Annals,
always to have obtained.
A period of anarchy ensued, during which several princes contended for
royal honours. This compliment was finally awarded to Mac Loughlin, King
of Aileach, and a temporary peace ensued. Its continuance was brief. In
1095 there was a pestilence all over Europe, "and some say that the
fourth part of the men of Ireland died of the malady." A long list is
given of its victims, lay and ecclesiastical. Several severe winters are
recorded as having preceded this fatal event; probably they were its
remote cause. In the year 1096, the festival of St. John Baptist fell on
Friday. This event caused general consternation, in consequence of some
old prophecy. A resolution "of the clergy of Ireland, with the successor
of St. Patrick[232] at their head," enjoined a general abstinence from
Wednesday to Sunday every month, with other penitential observances; and
"the men of Ireland were saved for that time from the fire of
vengeance."[233]
But the most important event of the period was the contention between
the northern and southern Hy-Nials. Murtough was planning, with great
military ability, to obtain the supreme rule. The Archbishop of Armagh
and the clergy strove twice to avert hostilities, but their interference
was almost ineffectual. "A year's peace" was all they could obtain. In
the year 1100, Murtough brought a Danish fleet against the northerns,
but they were cut off by O'Loughlin, "by killing or drowning." He also
assembled an army at Assaroe, near Ballyshannon, "with the choice part
of the men of Ireland," but the Cinel-Connaill defended their country
bravely, and compelled him to retire "without booty, without hostages,
without pledges." In 1101, when the twelvemonths' truce obtained by the
clergy had expired, Murtough collected a powerful army, and devastated
the north, without opposition. He demolished the palace of the Hy-Nials,
called the Grianan of Aileach.[234] This was an act of revenge for a
similar raid, committed a few years before, on the stronghold of the
O'Briens, at Kincora, by O'Loughlin. So determined was he on
devastation, that he commanded a stone to be carried away from the
building in each of the sacks which had contained provisions for the
army. He then took hostages of Ulidia, and returned to the south, having
completed the circuit of Ireland in six weeks. The expedition was called
the "circuitous hosting." His rather original method of razing a palace,
is commemorated in the following quatrain:--
"I never heard of the billeting of grit stones,
Though I heard _[sic]_ of the billeting of companies,
Until the stones of Aileach was billeted
On the horses of the king of the west."[235]
Murtough appears to have been a not unusual compound of piety and
profanity. We read in one place of his reckless exploits in burning
churches and desecrating shrines, and in others of his liberal
endowments of the same.
The Danes had now settled quietly in the mercantile towns which they had
mainly contributed to form, and expended all their energies on commerce
instead of war; but the new generation of Northmen, who had not yet
visited Ireland, could not so easily relinquish the old project of
conquering it. About the year 1101, Magnus planned an expedition to
effect this purpose. He arrived in Dublin the following year; a "hosting
of the men of Ireland came to oppose him;"[236] but they made peace with
him for one year, and Murtough gave his daughter in marriage to his son
Sitric, "with many jewels and gifts." The year 1103 was distinguished
for sanguinary conflicts. Murdhadh Drun was killed on a predatory
excursion in Magh Cobha. Raghnall Ua h-Ocain,[237] lawgiver of Felach
Og, was slain by the men of Magh Itha. There was a "great war" between
the Cinel-Eoghain and the Ulidians; and Murtough O'Brien, with the men
of Munster, Leinster, and Ossory, the chiefs of Connaught, and the men
of Meath and their kings, proceeded to Magh Cobha (Donaghmore, co. Down)
to relieve the Ulidians. When the men of Munster "were wearied,"
Murtough proceeded to Ard-Macha, and left eight ounces of gold upon the
altar, and promised eightscore cows. The northern Hy-Nials then attacked
the camp of the Leinster men, and a spirited battle was fought. The
Cinel-Eoghain and Cinel-Connaill returned victoriously and triumphantly
to their forts, with valuable jewels and much wealth, together with the
royal tent, the standard, and jewels.
Magnus, King of Lochlann and the Isles, was slain by the Ulidians this
year.
It is noticeable that, in the Annals of the Four Masters, obituaries of
saints or good men always occupy the first place. The Annals of this
year are of unusual length; but they commence with the obituary of
Murchadh O'Flanaghan, Arrchinneach of Ardbo, a paragon of wisdom and
instruction, who died on his pilgrimage at Ard-Macha. A priest of
Kildare is also mentioned, and the Tanist-Abbot of Clonmacnois, a
prosperous and affluent man.
It would appear that the Irish were sufficiently occupied with domestic
wars to prevent their offering assistance elsewhere. This, however, was
not the case. When Harold returned to England, his brother-in-law,
Donough, lent him nine ships; and we find the Irish affording assistance
in several other feuds of the Anglo-Saxons of this period. A deputation
of the nobles of Man and other islands visited Dublin, and waited on
Murtough O'Brien to solicit a king. He sent his nephew, Donnell; but he
was soon expelled on account of his tyranny. Another Donnell O'Brien,
his cousin, was, at the same time, lord of the Danes in Dublin. In 1114
Murtough O'Brien was obliged to resign the crown in consequence of
ill-health; the Annals say that he became a living skeleton. His
brother, Dermod, took advantage of this circumstance to declare himself
King of Munster. This obliged Murtough to resume the reins of
government, and put himself at the head of his army. He succeeded in
making Dermod prisoner, but eventually he was obliged to resign the
kingdom to him, and retired into the Monastery of Lismore, where he died
in 1119. The Annals call him the prop of the glory and magnificence of
the western world. In the same year Nial Mac Lochlann, royal heir of
Aileach and of Ireland, fell by the Cinel-Moain, in the twenty-eighth
year of his age. He was the "paragon of Ireland, for personal form,
sense, hospitality, and learning." The Chief Ollamh of Ireland,
Cucollchoille ua Biagheallain, was killed by the men of Lug and
Tuatha-ratha (Tooragh, co. Fermanagh), with his wife, "two very good
sons," and five-and-thirty persons in one house, on the Saturday before
Little Easter. The cause of this outrage is not mentioned. The Annals of
the Four Masters and the Annals of Ulster record the same event, and
mention that he was distinguished for charity, hospitality, and
universal benevolence.
Donnell O'Loughlin died in 1121, in the Monastery of St. Columba, at
Derry. He is styled King of Ireland, although the power of his southern
rival preponderated during the greater part of his reign. In 1118 Rory
O'Connor died in the Monastery of Clonmacnois. He had been blinded some
years previously by the O'Flaherties. This cruel custom was sometimes
practised to prevent the succession of an obnoxious person, as freedom
from every blemish was a _sine qua non_ in Erinn for a candidate to
royal honours. Teigue Mac Carthy, King of Desmond, died, "after
penance," at Cashel, A.D. 1124. From the time of Murtough O'Brien's
illness, Turlough O'Connor, son of the prince who had been blinded,
comes prominently forward in Irish history. His object was to exalt the
Eoghanists or Desmonian family, who had been virtually excluded from the
succession since the time of Brian Boroimhé. In 1116 he plundered
Thomond as far as Limerick. In 1118 he led an army as far as Glanmire
(co. Cork), and divided Munster, giving Desmond to Mac Carthy, and
Thomond to the sons of Dermod O'Brien. He then marched to Dublin, and
took hostages from the Danes, releasing Donnell, son of the King of
Meath, whom they had in captivity. The following year he sailed down the
Shannon with a fleet, and destroyed the royal palace of Kincora, hurling
its stones and timber beams into the river. He then devoted himself to
wholesale plundering, and expelled his late ally and father-in-law from
Meath, ravaging the country from Traigh Li (Tralee) to the sanctuary
lands of Lismore. In 1126 he bestowed the kingdom of Dublin on his son
Cormac. In 1127 he drove Cormac Mac Carthy from his kingdom, and divided
Munster in three parts. In fact, there was such a storm of war
throughout the whole country, that St. Celsus was obliged to interfere.
He spent a month and a year trying to establish peace, and promulgating
rules and good customs in every district, among the laity and clergy.
His efforts to teach "good rules and manners" seem to have been scarcely
effectual, for we find an immediate entry of the decapitation of
Ruaidhri, after he had made a "treacherous prey" in Aictheara. In the
year 1128 the good Archbishop succeeded in making a year's truce between
the Connaught men and the men of Munster. The following year the saint
died at Ardpatrick, where he was making a visitation. He was only fifty
years of age, but anxiety and care had worn him old. St. Celsus was
buried at Lismore, and interred in the cemetery of the bishops.
We must now give a brief glance at the ecclesiastical history of
Ireland, before narrating the events which immediately preceded the
English invasion.
In the year 1111 a synod was convened at Fidh Aengussa, or Aengus Grove,
near the Hill of Uisneach, in Westmeath. It was attended by fifty
bishops, 300 priests, and 3,000 religious. Murtough O'Brien was also
permitted to be present, and some of the nobles of his province. The
object of the synod was to institute rules of life and manners for the
clergy and people. St. Celsus, the Archbishop of Armagh, and
Maelmuire[238] or Marianus O'Dunain, Archbishop of Cashel, were present.
Attention had already been directed to certain abuses in ecclesiastical
discipline. Such abuses must always arise from time to time in the
Church, through the frailty of her members; but these abuses are always
carefully reprehended as they arise, so that she is no longer
responsible for them. It is remarkable that men of more than ordinary
sanctity have usually been given to the Church at such periods. Some
have withheld heretical emperors from deeds of evil, and some have
braved the fury of heretical princes. In Ireland, happily, the rulers
needed not such opposition; but when the country had been again and
again devastated by war, whether from foreign or domestic sources, the
intervention of saintly men was especially needed to restore peace, and
to repair, as far as might be, the grievous injury which war always
inflicts on the social state of those who have suffered from its
devastations.
Lanfranc, the great Archbishop of Canterbury, had already noticed the
state of the Irish Church. He was in constant communication with the
Danish bishops, who had received consecration from him; and their
accounts were probably true in the main, however coloured by prejudice.
He wrote an earnest epistle to Turlough O'Brien, whom he addresses
respectfully as King of Ireland, and whose virtues as a Christian prince
he highly commends. His principal object appears to have been to draw
the king's attention to an abuse, of which the Danes had informed him,
with regard to the sacrament of matrimony. This subject shall be noticed
again. Pope Gregory VII. also wrote to Turlough, but principally on the
temporal authority of the Holy See.
The synod had four special subjects for consideration: (1) First, to
regulate the number of bishops--an excessive and undue multiplication of
episcopal dignity having arisen from the custom of creating chorepiscopi
or rural bishops. It was now decided that there should be but
twenty-four dioceses--twelve for the northern and twelve for the
southern half of Ireland. Cashel was also recognized as an
archiepiscopal see, and the successor of St. Jarlath was sometimes
called Archbishop of Connaught. The custom of lay appropriations, which
had obtained in some places, was also firmly denounced. This was an
intolerable abuse. St. Celsus, the Archbishop of Armagh, though himself
a member of the family who had usurped this office, made a special
provision in his will that he should be succeeded by St. Malachy. This
saint obtained a final victory over the sacrilegious innovators, but not
without much personal suffering.[239]
The (2) second abuse which was now noticed, referred to the sacrament of
matrimony. The Irish were accused of abandoning their lawful wives and
taking others, of marrying within the degrees of consanguinity, and it
was said that in Dublin wives were even exchanged. Usher, in commenting
on the passage in Lanfranc's letter which refers to these gross abuses,
observes that the custom of discarding wives was prevalent among the
Anglo-Saxons and in Scotland. This, however, was no excuse for the
Irish. The custom was a remnant of pagan contempt of the female sex,--a
contempt from which women were never fully released, until Christianity
restored the fallen, and the obedience of the second Eve had atoned for
the disobedience of the first. It appears, however, that these
immoralities were almost confined to the half-Christianized Danes, who
still retained many of their heathen customs. The canons of St. Patrick,
which were always respected by the native Irish, forbid such practices;
and the synod, therefore, had only to call on the people to observe the
laws of the Church more strictly.
Two other subjects, (3) one regarding the consecration of bishops, the
other (4) referring to the ceremonies of baptism, were merely questions
of ecclesiastical discipline, and as such were easily arranged by
competent authority. In St. Anselm's correspondence with the prelates of
the south of Ireland, he passes a high eulogium on their zeal and piety,
while he deplores certain relaxations of discipline, which they were as
anxious to reform as he could desire.
We have already mentioned that St. Celsus appointed St. Malachy his
successor in the Archiepiscopal See of Armagh. Malachy had been educated
by the Abbot Imar O'Hagan, who presided over the great schools of that
city; and the account given of his early training, sufficiently
manifests the ability of his gifted instructor, and the high state of
intellectual culture which existed in Ireland. While still young, St.
Malachy undertook the restoration of the famous Abbey of Bangor. Here he
erected a small oratory of wood, and joined himself to a few devoted men
ardent for the perfection of a religious life. He was soon after elected
Bishop of Connor. With the assistance of some of his faithful monks, he
restored what war and rapine had destroyed; and was proceeding
peacefully and successfully in his noble work, when he was driven from
his diocese by a hostile prince. He now fled to Cormac Mac Carthy, King
of Desmond;[240] but he was not permitted to remain here long. The See
of Armagh was vacated by the death of St. Celsus, and Malachy was
obliged to commence another arduous mission. It is said that it almost
required threats of excommunication to induce him to undertake the
charge. Bishop Gilbert of Limerick, the Apostolic-Delegate, and Bishop
Malchus of Lismore, with other bishops and several chieftains, visited
him in the monastery which he had erected at Ibrach,[241] and at last
obtained compliance by promising him permission to retire when he had
restored order in his new diocese.
[Illustration: BANGOR CASTLE.]
St. Malachy found his mission as painful as he had anticipated. The lay
intruders were making a last attempt to keep up their evil custom; and,
after the death of the usurper who made this false claim, another person
attempted to continue it; but popular feeling was so strong against the
wretched man, that he was obliged to fly. Ecclesiastical discipline was
soon restored; and after Malachy had made a partition of the diocese, he
was permitted to resign in favour of Gelasius, then Abbot of the great
Columbian Monastery of Derry.
But peace was not yet established in Ireland. I shall return again to
the narrative of domestic feuds, which made it a "trembling sod," the
O'Loughlins of Tyrone being the chief aggressors; for the present we
must follow the course of ecclesiastical history briefly. St. Malachy
was now appointed Bishop of Down, to which his old see of Connor was
united. He had long a desire to visit Rome--a devotional pilgrimage of
the men of Erinn from the earliest period. He was specially anxious to
obtain a formal recognition of the archiepiscopal sees in Ireland, by
the granting of palliums. On his way to the Holy City he visited St.
Bernard at Clairvaux, and thus commenced and cemented the friendship
which forms so interesting a feature in the lives of the French and
Irish saints. It is probable that his account of the state of the Irish
Church took a tinge of gloom from the heavy trials he had endured in his
efforts to remove its temporary abuses. St. Bernard's ardent and
impetuous character, even his very affectionateness, would lead him also
to look darkly on the picture: hence the somewhat over-coloured accounts
he has given of its state at that eventful period. St. Malachy returned
to Ireland after an interview with the reigning Pontiff, Pope Innocent
II. His Holiness had received him with open arms, and appointed him
Apostolic Legate; but he declined to give the palliums, until they were
formally demanded by the Irish prelates.
In virtue of his legatine power, the saint assembled local synods in
several places. He rebuilt and restored many churches; and in 1142 he
erected the famous Cistercian Abbey of Mellifont, near Drogheda. This
monastery was liberally endowed by O'Carroll, King of Oriel, and was
peopled by Irish monks, whom St. Malachy had sent to Clairvaux, to be
trained in the Benedictine rule and observances. But his great act was
the convocation of the Synod of Inis Padraig. It was held in the year
1148. St. Malachy presided as Legate of the Holy See; fifteen bishops,
two hundred priests, and some religious were present at the
deliberations, which lasted for four days. The members of the synod were
unwilling that Malachy should leave Ireland again; but Eugene III., who
had been a Cistercian monk, was visiting Clairvaux, and it was hoped he
might grant the favour there. The Pope had left the abbey when the saint
arrived, who, in a few days after, was seized with mortal sickness, and
died on the 2nd November, 1148. His remains were interred at Clairvaux.
His feast was changed from the 2nd of November, All Souls, to the 3rd,
by "the seniors," that he might be the more easily revered and honoured.
In 1151 Cardinal Paparo arrived in Ireland with the palliums which had
been solicited by St. Malachy. The insignia of dignity were conferred
the following year, at the Council of Kells. Tithes were then introduced
for the first time in Ireland, but they were not enforced until after
the English invasion.
It will be remembered that we turned to ecclesiastical history, after
mentioning the year's truce (A.D. 1128) which had been made, through the
intervention of St. Celsus, between the men of Munster and Connaught. In
1129 the great Church of Clonmacnois was robbed[242] of some of its
greatest treasures. Amongst these was a model of Solomon's Temple,
presented by a prince of Meath, and a silver chalice burnished with
gold, which had been engraved by a sister of King Turlough O'Connor--an
evidence that the ladies of Ireland were by no means behind the age in
taste and refinement.
After the death of Donnell O'Loughlin, Turlough had full scope for the
exercise of his ambitious projects; but in 1131 he found serious
opposition from Connor O'Brien, who had succeeded his father, Dermod, on
the throne of Munster. Connor now carried off hostages from Leinster and
Meath, and defeated the cavalry of Connaught. The following year he sent
a fleet to the western coast of Ireland. Eventually Turlough O'Connor
was glad to make a truce with his opponents. In 1184 the consecration of
a church at Cashel was celebrated. This is still known as Cormac's
Chapel, and was long supposed to have been erected by the more ancient
monarch of that name. But the good king was soon after treacherously
slain in his own house, by Turlough O'Connor and the two sons of the
O'Connor of Kerry. Turlough was unquestionably somewhat Spartan in his
severities, if not Draconian in his administration of justice. In 1106
he put out the eyes of his own son, Hugh, and in the same year he
imprisoned another son, named Roderic. The nature of their offences is
not manifest; but Roderic was liberated through the interference of the
clergy. Seven years after he was again imprisoned, "in violation of the
most solemn pledges and guarantees." The clergy again interfered; from
which we may infer that he was a favourite. They even held a public
feast at Rathbrendan on his behalf; but he was not released until the
following year. In the year 1136 we find the obituary of the chief
keeper of the calendar of Ard-Macha, on the night of Good Friday. He is
also mentioned as its chief antiquary and librarian, an evidence that
the old custom was kept up to the very eve of the English invasion. The
obituary of Donnell O'Duffy, Archbishop of Connaught, is also given. He
died after Mass and celebration; according to the Annals of Clonmacnois,
he had celebrated Mass by himself, at Clonfert, on St. Patrick's Day,
and died immediately after. About the same time the Breinemen behaved
"so exceedingly outrageous," that they irreverently stript O'Daly,
arch-poet of Ireland, "of all his clothes."
In the meantime domestic wars multiplied with extraordinary rapidity.
Dermod Mac Murrough, the infamous King of Leinster, now appears for the
first time in the history of that country which he mainly contributed to
bring under the English yoke. He commenced his career of perfidy by
carrying off the Abbess of Kildare from her cloister, killing 170 of the
people of Kildare, who interfered to prevent this wanton and
sacrilegious outrage. In 1141 he endeavoured to crush the opposers of
his atrocious tyranny by a barbarous onslaught, in which he killed two
nobles, put out the eyes of another, and blinded[243] seventeen
chieftains of inferior rank. A fitting commencement of his career of
treachery towards his unfortunate country! In 1148 a temporary peace was
made by the Primate of Armagh between the northern princes, who had
carried on a deadly feud; but its duration, as usual, was brief.
Turlough O'Brien was deposed by Teigue in 1151. He was assisted by
Turlough O'Connor and the infamous Dermod. The united armies plundered
as far as Moin Môr,[244] where they encountered the Dalcassian forces
returning from the plunder of Desmond. A sanguinary combat ensued, and
the men of north Munster suffered a dreadful slaughter, leaving 7,000
dead upon the field of battle. This terrible sacrifice of life is
attributed to the mistaken valour of the Dal-Cais, who would neither fly
nor ask quarter.
In 1157 a synod was held in the Abbey of Mellifont, attended by the
Bishop of Lismore, Legate of the Holy See, the Primate, and seventeen
other bishops. Murtough O'Loughlin, the Monarch of Ireland, and several
other kings, were also present. The principal object of this meeting was
the consecration of the abbey church and the excommunication of Donough
O'Melaghlin, who had become the common pest of the country. He was, as
might be expected, the particular friend and ally of Dermod Mac
Murrough. His last exploit was the murder of a neighbouring chief,
despite the most solemn pledges. In an old translation of the Annals of
Ulster, he is termed, with more force than elegance, "a cursed atheist."
After his excommunication, his brother Dermod was made King of Meath, in
his place.
At this synod several rich gifts were made to the abbey. O'Carroll,
Prince of Oriel, presented sixty ounces of gold. O'Loughlin made a grant
of lands, gave one hundred and forty cows and sixty ounces of gold. The
Lady Dervorgil gave the same donation in gold, together with a golden
chalice for the altar of Mary, with gifts for each of the other nine
altars of the church. Dervorgil was the wife of Tiernan O'Rourke, Lord
of Breffni, who had been dispossessed of his territories in 1152; at the
same time she was carried off by Dermod Mac Murrough. Her abduction
seems to have been effected with her own consent, as she carried off the
cattle which had formed her dowry. Her husband, it would appear, had
treated her harshly. Eventually she retired to the Monastery of
Mellifont, where she endeavoured to atone for her past misconduct by a
life of penance.
Another synod was held in the year 1158, at Trim. Derry was then erected
into an episcopal see, and Flahertach O'Brolchain, Abbot of St.
Columba's Monastery, was consecrated its first bishop. The bishops of
Connaught were intercepted and plundered by Dermod's soldiers; they
therefore returned and held a provincial synod in Roscommon.
In 1162 St. Laurence O'Toole was chosen to succeed Greine, or Gregory,
the Danish Archbishop of Dublin. He belonged to one of the most noble
ancient families of Leinster. His father was chieftain of the district
of Hy-Muirahy, a portion of the present county Kildare. St. Laurence had
chosen the ecclesiastical state early in life; at the age of twenty-five
he was chosen Abbot of St. Kevin's Monastery, at Glendalough. The Danish
Bishop of Dublin had been consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
but the saint received the episcopal office from the successor of St.
Patrick. A synod was held at Clane the year of his consecration; it was
attended by twenty-six prelates and many other ecclesiastics. The
college of Armagh was then virtually raised to the rank of a university,
as it was decreed that no one, who had not been an alumnus of Armagh,
should be appointed lector or professor of theology in any of the
diocesan schools in Ireland. Indeed, the clergy at this period were most
active in promoting the interests of religion, and most successful in
their efforts, little anticipating the storm which was then impending
over their country.
In 1166 the Irish Monarch, O'Loughlin, committed a fearful outrage on
Dunlevy, Prince of Dalriada. A peace had been ratified between them,
but, from some unknown cause, O'Loughlin suddenly became again the
aggressor, and attacked the northern chief, when he was unprepared, put
out his eyes, and killed three of his leading officers. This cruel
treachery so provoked the princes who had guaranteed the treaty, that
they mustered an army at once and proceeded northwards. The result was a
sanguinary engagement, in which the Cinel-Eoghan were defeated, and the
Monarch, O'Loughlin, was slain. Roderick O'Connor immediately assumed
the reins of government, and was inaugurated in Dublin with more pomp
than had ever been manifested on such an occasion. It was the last
glittering flicker of the expiring lamp. Submission was made to him on
every side; and had he only possessed the ability or the patriotism to
unite the forces under his command, he might well have set all his
enemies at defiance. An assembly of the clergy and chieftains of Ireland
was convened in 1167, which is said to have emulated, if it did not
rival, the triennial _Fes_ of ancient Tara. It was but the last gleam of
sunlight, which indicates the coming of darkness and gloom. The traitor
already had his plans prepared, and was flying from a country which
scorned his meanness, to another country where that meanness was made
the tool of political purposes, while the unhappy traitor was probably
quite as heartily despised.
[Illustration: ARDMORE ROUND TOWER.]
FOOTNOTES:
[229] _City_.--Some Irish religious are also said to have lived in amity
with Greek monks, who were established at Tours, in France; and it is
said that the Irish joined them in the performance of the ecclesiastical
offices in their own language.
[230] _Connemara_.--Haverty's _History of Ireland_, p. 156. See also an
interesting note on this subject in the Chronicum Scotorum.
[231] _Martyr_.--Page 887. The famine in the preceding year is also
recorded, as well as the cholic and "lumps," which prevailed in
Leinster, and also spread throughout Ireland. Donough was married to an
English princess, Driella, the daughter of the English Earl Godwin, and
sister of Harold, afterwards King of England. During the rebellion of
Godwin and his sons against Edward the Confessor, Harold was obliged to
take refuge in Ireland, and remained there "all the winter on the king's
security."
[232] _St. Patrick_.--It is observable all through the Annals, how the
name and spiritual authority of St. Patrick is revered. This expression
occurs regularly from the earliest period, wherever the Primate of
Ireland is mentioned.
[233] _Vengeance_.--See O'Curry, _passim_, for curious traditions or
so-called prophecies about St. John Baptist's Day.
[234] _Aileach_.--The remains of this fortress are still visible near
Londonderry, and are called Grianan-Elagh.
[235] _West_.--Annals, vol. ii. p. 969.
[236] _Him.--Ib._ p 973.
[237] _Ua h-Ocain_.--Now anglicised O'Hagan. This family had the special
privilege of crowning the O'Neills, and were their hereditary Brehons.
The Right Honorable Judge O'Hagan is, we believe, the present head of
the family.
[238] _Maelmuire_.--"The servant of Mary." Devotion to the Mother of
God, which is still a special characteristic of the Irish nation, was
early manifested by the adoption of this name.
[239] _Suffering_.--This abuse was not peculiar to the Irish Church. A
canon of the Council of London, A.D. 1125, was framed to prevent similar
lay appropriations. In the time of Cambrensis there were lay (so called)
abbots, who took the property of the Church into their own hands, and
made their children receive holy orders that they might enjoy the
revenues.
[240] _Desmond_.--See the commencement of this chapter, for an
illustration of the ruins of its ancient rath and the more modern
castle. These remains are among the most interesting in Ireland.
[241] _Ibrach_.--Supposed to be Ivragh, in Kerry, which was part of
Cormac Mac Carthy's kingdom.
[242] _Robbed_.--In MacGeoghegan's translation of the Annals of
Clonmacnois he says:--"The clergy of Clone made incessant prayer to God
and St. Keyran, to be a means for the revelation of the party that took
away the said jewels." The "party" was a Dane. He was discovered, and
hung in 1130. It is said that he entered several ships to leave the
country, but they could get no wind, while other vessels sailed off
freely.--Annals of the Four Masters, vol. ii. p. 1035.
[243] _Blinded_.--In 1165 Henry II. gratified his irritation against the
Welsh by laying hands upon the hostages of their noblest families, and
commanding that the eyes of the males should be rooted out, and the ears
and noses of the females cut off; and yet Henry is said to have been
liberal to the poor, and though passionately devoted to the chase, he
did not inflict either death or mutilation on the intruders in the royal
forests.
[244] _Moin Môr_.--Now Moanmore, county Tipperary.
CHAPTER XV.
Social life previous to the English Invasion--Domestic
Habitations--Forts--Granard and Staigue--Crannoges and
Log-houses--Interior of the Houses--The Hall--Food and Cooking
Utensils--Regulations about Food--The Kind of Food used--Animal
Food--Fish--Game--Drink and Drinking Vessels--Whisky--Heath
Beer--Mead--Animal Produce--Butter and Cheese--Fire--Candles--Occupations
and Amusements--Chess--Music--Dress--Silk--Linen--Ancient Woollen
Garments--Gold Ornaments--Trade--General Description of the Fauna and
Flora of the Country.
Customs which illustrate the social life of our ancestors, are scarcely
the least interesting or important elements of history. Before we enter
upon that portion of our annals which commences with the English
invasion, under the auspices of Henry II., we shall give a brief account
of the habitations, manners, customs, dress, food, and amusements of the
people of Ireland. Happily there is abundant and authentic information
on this subject, though we may be obliged to delve beneath the tertiary
deposits of historical strata in order to obtain all that is required.
English society and English social life were more or less influenced by
Ireland from the fifth to the twelfth century. The monks who had
emigrated to "Saxon land" were men of considerable intellectual culture,
and, as such, had a preponderating influence, creditable alike to
themselves and to those who bowed to its sway. From the twelfth to the
sixteenth century, English manners and customs were introduced in
Ireland within the Pale. The object of the present chapter is to show
the social state of the country before the English invasion--a condition
of society which continued for some centuries later in the western and
southern parts of the island.
The pagan architecture of public erections has already been as fully
considered as our limits would permit. Let us turn from pillar-stones,
cromlechs, and cairns, to the domestic habitations which preceded
Christianity, and continued in use, with gradual improvements, until the
period when English influence introduced the comparative refinements
which it had but lately received from Norman sources. The raths, mounds,
and forts, whose remains still exist throughout the country, preceded
the castellated edifices, many of which were erected in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, principally by English settlers. The rath was
probably used for the protection and enclosure of cattle; and as the
wealth of the country consisted principally in its herds, it was an
important object. Its form is circular, having an internal diameter
averaging from forty to two hundred feet, encompassed by a mound and
outer fosse or ditch. In some localities, where stone is abundant and
the soil shallow, rude walls have been formed: the raths, however, are
principally earthwork alone. Forts were erected for defence, and the
surrounding fosse was filled with water. They were, in fact, the
prototypes of the more modern castle and moat. These forts were
sometimes of considerable size, and in such cases were surrounded by
several fosses and outworks. They were approached by a winding inclined
plane, which at once facilitated the entrance of friends, and exposed
comers with hostile intentions to the concentrated attacks of the
garrison. The fort at Granard is a good example of this kind of
building. It is probably of considerable antiquity, though it has been
improved and rebuilt in some portions at a more modern period. The
interior of it evidences the existence of several different apartments.
An approach internally has been exposed on one side, and exhibits a
wide, flat arch of common masonry, springing from the top of two side
walls, the whole well-constructed.
Forts of dry-wall masonry, which are, undoubtedly, the more ancient, are
very numerous in the south-west of Ireland. It is probable that similar
erections existed throughout the country at a former period, and that
their preservation is attributable to the remoteness of the district.
The most perfect of these ancient habitations is that of Staigue Fort,
near Derryquin Castle, Kenmare. This fort has an internal diameter of
eighty-eight feet. The masonry is composed of flat-bedded stones of the
slate rock of the country, which show every appearance of being
quarried, or carefully broken from larger blocks. There is no appearance
of dressed work in the construction; but the slate would not admit of
this, as it splinters away under the slightest blow. Still the building
is an admirable example of constructive masonry; it is almost impossible
to dislodge any fragment from off the filling stones from the face of
the wall. A competent authority has pronounced that these structures
cannot be equalled by any dry masonry elsewhere met with in the country,
nor by any masonry of the kind erected in the present day.[245] Some
small stone buildings are also extant in this part of Ireland, but it is
doubtful whether they were used for ecclesiastical or domestic purposes.
The crannoge was another kind of habitation, and one evidently much
used, and evincing no ordinary skill in its construction. From the
remains found in these island habitations, we may form a clear idea of
the customs and civilization of their inmates: their food is indicated
by the animal remains, which consist of several varieties of oxen, deer,
goats, and sheep; the implements of cookery remain, even to the knife,
and the blocks of stone blackened from long use as fire-places; the
arrows, which served for war or chase, are found in abundance; the
personal ornaments evidence the taste of the wearers, and the skill of
the artist; while the canoe, usually of solid oak, and carefully hidden
away, tells its own tale how entrance and exit were effected. One of the
earliest crannoges which was discovered and examined in modern times,
was that of Lagere, near Dunshaughlin, county Meath. It is remarkable
that Loch Gabhair is said to have been one of the nine lakes which burst
forth in Ireland, A.M. 3581. The destruction of this crannoge is
recorded by the Four Masters, A.D. 933, giving evidence that it was
occupied up to that period. In 1246 there is a record of the escape of
Turlough O'Connor from a crannoge, after he had drowned his keepers;
from which it would appear such structures might be used for prisons,
and, probably, would be specially convenient for the detention of
hostages. In 1560 we read that Teigue O'Rourke was drowned as he was
going across a lake to sleep in a crannoge; and even so late as the
sixteenth century, crannoges were declared to be the universal system of
defence in the north of Ireland.
[Illustration: CELT.]
Log-houses were also used, and were constructed of beams and planks of
timber, something like the Swiss _chalet_. One of these ancient
structures was discovered in Drumhalin bog, county Donegal, in 1833. The
house consisted of a square structure, twelve feet wide and nine feet
high: it was formed of rough planks and blocks of timber; the mortises
were very roughly cut--a stone celt,[246] which was found lying upon the
floor, was, probably, the instrument used to form them. The logs were
most likely formed by a stone axe.[247] The roof was flat, and the house
consisted of two compartments, one over the other, each four feet high.
A paved causeway led from the house to the fire-place, on which was a
quantity of ashes, charred wood, half-burnt turf, and hazle-nuts. So
ancient was this habitation, that twenty-six feet of bog had grown up
around and over it. It is supposed that this was only one portion of a
collection of houses, which were used merely as sleeping-places. A
slated enclosure was also traced, portions of the gates of which were
discovered. A piece of a leathern sandal, an arrow-headed flint, and a
wooden sword, were also found in the same locality.
[Illustration: STONE AXE.]
It is probable that wattles and clay formed the staple commodity for
building material in ancient Erinn. Planks and beams, with rough blocks
of wood or stone, were most likely reserved for the dwelling-place of
chieftains. Such were the material used also for the royal residence in
Thorney Island, a swampy morass in the Thames, secured by its insular
position, where the early English kings administered justice; and such,
probably, were the material of the original _Palais de Justice_, where
the kings of Gaul entrenched themselves in a _pal-lis_, or impaled fort.
From the description which Wright[248] gives of Anglo-Saxon domestic
architecture, it appears to have differed but little from that which was
in use at the same period in Ireland. The hall[249] was the most
important part of the building, and halls of stone are alluded to in a
religious poem at the beginning of the Exeter Book: "Yet, in the earlier
period at least, there can be little doubt that the materials of
building were chiefly wood." The hall, both in Erinn and Saxon land, was
the place of general meeting for all domestic purposes. Food was cooked
and eaten in the same apartment; the chief and his followers eat at the
same time and in the same place. On the subject of food we have ample
details scattered incidentally through our annals. Boiling was probably
the principal method of preparing meat, and for this purpose the Irish
were amply provided with vessels. A brazen cauldron is lithographed in
the _Ulster Archæological Journal_, which is a most interesting specimen
of its kind. It was found in a turf bog in the county Down, at a depth
of five feet from the surface; and as this bog has been used from time
immemorial for supplying the neighbourhood with fuel, and is remembered
to have been forty feet above its present level by a generation now
living, the antiquity of the vessel is unquestionable. As a specimen of
superior workmanship, the cauldron has been greatly admired. It is made
of sheets of gold-coloured bronze, evidently formed by hammering: the
rim is of much thicker metal than the rest, and is rendered stiffer by
corrugation--a process which has been patented in England within the
last dozen years, as a new and valuable discovery.[250]
Cauldrons are constantly mentioned in the Book of Rights, in a manner
which shows that these vessels were in constant use. It was one of the
tributes to be presented in due form by the King of Cashel to the King
of Tara; and in the will of Cahir Môr, Monarch of Ireland in the second
century, fifty copper cauldrons are amongst the items bequeathed to his
family. Probably the poorer classes, who could not afford such costly
vessels, may have contented themselves with roasting their food
exclusively, unless, indeed, they employed the primitive method of
casting red hot stones into water when they wished it boiled.
The exact precision which characterizes every legal enactment in ancient
Erinn, and which could not have existed in a state of barbarism, is
manifested even in the regulations about food. Each member of the
chieftain's family had his appointed portion, and there is certainly a
quaintness in the parts selected for each. The _saoi_ of literature and
the king were to share alike, as we observed when briefly alluding to
this subject in the chapter on ancient Tara; their portion was a prime
steak. Cooks and trumpeters were specially to be supplied with "cheering
mead," it is to be supposed because their occupations required more than
ordinary libations; the historian was to have a crooked bone; the
hunter, a pig's shoulder: in fact, each person and each office had its
special portion assigned[251] to it, and the distinction of ranks and
trades affords matter of the greatest interest and of the highest
importance to the antiquarian. There can be but little doubt that the
custom of Tara was the custom of all the other kings and chieftains, and
that it was observed throughout the country in every family rich enough
to have dependents. This division of food was continued in the Highlands
of Scotland until a late period. Dr. Johnson mentions it, in his _Tour
in the Hebrides_, as then existing. He observes that he had not
ascertained the details, except that the smith[252] had the head.
The allowance for each day is also specified. Two cows, and two
_tinnés_,[253] and two pigs was the quantity for dinner. This allowance
was for a hundred men. The places which the household were to occupy
were also specified; so that while all sat at a common table,[254] there
was, nevertheless, a certain distinction of rank. At Tara there were
different apartments, called _imdas_, a word now used in the north of
Ireland to denote a couch or bed. The name probably originated in the
custom of sleeping in those halls, on the benches which surrounded them,
or on the floor near the fire-place. In the ground plan of the
banqueting hall at Tara, the house is shown as divided into five parts,
which are again divided into others. Each of the two divisions extending
along the side wall, is shown as subdivided into twelve _imdas_, which
here mean seats; the central division is represented as containing three
fires at equal distances, a vat, and a chandelier.
Benches were the seats used, even by persons of rank, until a late
period. In the French Carlovingian romances, even princes and great
barons sat on them. Chairs were comparatively rare, and only used on
state occasions, as late as the twelfth century. Wright gives some
curious woodcuts of persons conversing together, who are seated on
settles, or on seats formed in the walls round the room; such as may
still be seen in monastic cloisters and the chapter houses of our old
cathedrals. Food which had been roasted was probably handed round to the
guests on the spit on which it had been cooked.[255] Such at least was
the Anglo-Saxon fashion; and as the Irish had spits, and as forks were
an unknown luxury for centuries later, we may presume they were served
in a similar manner. The food was varied and abundant, probably none the
less wholesome for being free from the Anglo-Norman refinements of
cookery, introduced at a later period. For animal diet there were fat
beeves, dainty venison, pork, fresh and salted, evidently as favourite a
dish with the ancients as with the moderns--except, alas! that in the
good old times it was more procurable. Sheep and goats also varied the
fare, with "smaller game," easily procured by chase, or shot down with
arrows or sling stones. The land abounded in "milk and honey." Wheat was
planted at an early period; and after the introduction of Christianity,
every monastic establishment had its mill. There were "good old times"
in Ireland unquestionably. Even an English prince mentions "the honey
and wheat, the gold and silver," which he found in "fair Innis-fail." It
is probable that land was cultivated then which now lies arid and
unreclaimed, for a writer in the _Ulster Archæological Journal_ mentions
having found traces of tillage, when laying out drains in remote
unproductive districts, several feet beneath the peaty soil. Dr.
O'Donovan also writes in the same journal: "I believe the Irish have had
wheat in the more fertile valleys and plains from a most remote period.
It is mentioned constantly in the Brehon laws and in our most ancient
poems."[256] Nor should we omit to mention fish in the list of edibles.
During the summer months, fishing was a favourite and lucrative
occupation; and if we are to believe a legend quoted in the
_Transactions of the Ossianic Society_, the Fenians enjoyed a monopoly
in the trade, for no man dare take a salmon, "dead or alive," excepting
a man in the Fenian ranks; and piscatory squabbles seem to have extended
themselves into downright battles between the Northmen and the natives,
when there was question of the possession of a weir.[257]
Drinking vessels, of various shapes and materials, are constantly
mentioned in the Book of Rights. There were drinking-horns with handsome
handles, carved drinking-horns, variegated drinking-horns,
drinking-horns of various colours, and drinking-horns of gold.[258] Even
in pagan times, cups or goblets were placed beside the public wells; and
it is related that, in the reign of Conn of the Hundred Battles, Ireland
was so prosperous, so wealthy, and so civilized (_circa_ A.D. 123) that
those cups were made of silver. Brian revived this custom nearly a
thousand years later. The Danes probably carried off most of these
valuables, as there are no remains of them at present. We are able,
however, to give an illustration of a stone drinking-cup, which is
considered a very beautiful specimen of its kind. This great rarity was
found in the Shannon excavations. We give a specimen below of a celt,
and on page 246 of a celt mould, for which we have also to acknowledge
our grateful obligations to the Council of the Royal Irish Academy.
[Illustration: STONE DRINKING-CUP.]
Drink was usually served to the guests after meals. Among the seven
prerogatives for the King of Teamhair (Tara) we find:
"The fruits of Manann, a fine present;
And the heath fruit of Brigh Leithe;
The venison of Nas; the fish of the Boinn;
The cresses of the kindly Brosnach."
[Illustration: PALSTAVE CELT.]
Dr. O'Donovan suggests that the "heath fruit" may have been bilberries
or whortleberries, and adds that some of the old Irish suppose that
this, and not the heath, was the shrub from which the Danes brewed their
beer.[259] It would appear that the Celts were not in the habit of
excessive drinking until a comparatively recent period. In the year 1405
we read of the death of a chieftain who died of "a surfeit in drinking;"
but previous to this entry we may safely assert that the Irish were
comparatively a sober race. The origin of the drink called whisky in
modern parlance, is involved in considerable obscurity. Some authorities
consider that the word is derived from the first part of the term
usquebaugh; others suppose it to be derived from the name of a place,
the Basque provinces, where some such compound was concocted in the
fourteenth century. In Morewood's _History of Inebriating Liquors_, he
gives a list of the ingredients used in the composition of usquebaugh,
and none of these are Irish productions.
There is a nice distinction between aqua vitæ and aqua vini in the Red
Book of Ossory, which was rescued by Dr. Graves from a heap of rubbish,
the result of a fire in Kilkenny Castle in 1839. MacGeoghegan, in his
annotations on the death of the chieftain above-mentioned, observes that
the drink was not _aqua vitæ_ to him, but rather _aqua mortis_; and he
further remarks, that this is the first notice of the use of _aqua
vitæ_, usquebaugh, or whisky, in the Irish annals. Mead was made from
honey, and beer from malt; and these were, probably, the principal
liquors at the early period[260] of which we are now writing. As to the
heath beer of Scandinavian fame, it is probable that the heather was
merely used as a tonic or aromatic ingredient, although the author of a
work, published in London in 1596, entitled _Sundrie Newe and Artificial
Remedies against Famine_, does suggest the use of heath tops to make a
"pleasing and cheape drink for Poor Men, when Malt is extream Deare;"
much, we suppose, on the same principle that shamrocks and grass were
used as a substitute for potatoes in the famine year, when the starving
Irish had no money to buy Indian corn. But famine years were happily
rare in Ireland in the times of which we write; and it will be
remembered that on one such occasion the Irish king prayed to God that
he might die, rather than live to witness the misery he could not
relieve.
[Illustration: MOULD FOR CASTING BRONZE CELTS.]
It would appear that butter was also a plentiful product then as now.
Specimens of bog butter are still preserved, and may be found in the
collection of the Royal Irish Academy. The butter was thus entombed
either for safety, or to give it that peculiar flavour which makes it
resemble the old dry Stilton cheese, so much admired by the modern _bon
vivant_. A writer in the _Ulster Archæological Journal_ mentions that he
found a quantity of red cows' hair mixed with this butter, when boring a
hole in it with a gouge. It would appear from this as if the butter had
been made in a cow-skin, a fashion still in use among the Arabs. A
visitor to the Museum (Mr. Wilmot Chetwode) asked to see the butter from
Abbeyleix. He remarked that some cows' heads had been discovered in that
neighbourhood, which belonged to the old Irish long-faced breed of
cattle; the skin and hair remained on one head, and that was red. An
analysis of the butter proved that it was probably made in the same way
as the celebrated Devonshire cream, from which the butter in that part
of England is generally prepared. The Arabs and Syrians make their
butter now in a similar manner. There is a curious account of Irish
butter in the _Irish Hudibras_, by William Moffat, London, 1755, from
which it appears that bog butter was then well known:--
"But let his faith be good or bad,
He in his house great plenty had
Of burnt oat bread, and butter found,
With garlick mixt, in boggy ground;
So strong, a dog, with help of wind,
By scenting out, with ease might find."
A lump of butter was found, twelve feet deep, in a bog at Gortgole,
county Antrim, rolled up in a coarse cloth. It still retains visibly the
marks of the finger and thumb of the ancient dame who pressed it into
its present shape.
Specimens of cheese of great antiquity have also been discovered. It was
generally made in the shape of bricks,[261] probably for greater
convenience of carriage and pressure in making. Wax has also been
discovered, which is evidently very ancient. A specimen may be seen in
the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. According to the Book of
Rights, the use of wax candles was a royal prerogative:--
"A hero who possesses five prerogatives,
Is the King of Laighlin of the fort of Labhraidh:
The fruit of Almhain [to be brought to him] to his house;
And the deer of Gleann Searraigh;
To drink by [the light of] fair wax candles,
At Din Riogh, is very customary to the king."[262]
In this matter, at least, the Irish kings and princes were considerably
in advance of their Anglo-Saxon neighbours. Wright informs us[263] that
their candle was a mere mass of fat, plastered round a wick, and stuck
upon an upright stick: hence the name candlestick.
It is probable that fire-light was, however, the principal means of
assisting the visual organs after dark in both countries. Until
comparatively recent times, fires were generally made on square, flat
stones, and these could be placed, as appears to have been the case at
Tara, in different parts of any large hall or apartment. There was
sometimes a "back stone" to support the pile of wood and turf. The smoke
got out how best it might, unless where there was a special provision
made for its exit, in the shape of a round hole in the roof. At a later
period a "brace" was sometimes made for conducting it. The brace was
formed of upright stakes, interlaced with twigs, and plastered over,
inside and outside, with prepared clay--the earliest idea of the modern
chimney.
Macaulay[264] gives us a picture of an ancient Roman fire-side, and the
occupations of those who sat round it. We can, perhaps, form a more
accurate and reliable idea of the dress, amusements, and occupations of
those who surrounded the hall-fires of ancient Tara, or the humble,
domestic hearths of the crannoges or wattled houses.
The amusements of the pre-Christian Celt were, undeniably, intellectual.
Chess has already been mentioned more than once in this work as a
constant occupation of princes and chieftains. Indeed, they appear to
have sat down to a game with all the zest of a modern amateur. A few
specimens of chessmen have been discovered: a king, elaborately carved,
is figured in the Introduction to the Book of Rights. It belonged to Dr.
Petrie, and was found, with some others, in a bog in the county Meath.
The chessmen of ancient times appear to have been rather formidable as
weapons. In the _Táin bó Chuailgné_, Cuchullain is represented as having
killed a messenger, who told him a lie, with a chessman, "which pierced
him to the centre of his brain." English writers speak of the use of
chess immediately after the Conquest, and say that the Saxons learned
the game from the Danes. The Irish were certainly acquainted with it at
a much earlier period; if we are to credit the Annals, it was well known
long before the introduction of Christianity. Wright gives an engraving
of a Quarrel at Chess, in which Charles, the son of the Emperor
Charlemagne, is represented knocking out the brains of his adversary
with a chessboard. The illustration is ludicrously graphic, and the
unfortunate man appears to submit to his doom with a touching grace of
helpless resignation.
We may then suppose that chess was a favourite evening amusement of the
Celt. Chessboards at least were plentiful, for they are frequently
mentioned among the rights of our ancient kings. But music was the Irish
amusement _par excellence_; and it is one of the few arts for which they
are credited. The principal Irish instruments were the harp, the
trumpet, and the bagpipe. The harp in the Museum of Trinity College,
Dublin, usually known as Brian Boroimhé's harp, is supposed, by Dr.
Petrie, to be the oldest instrument of the kind now remaining in Europe.
It had but one row of strings, thirty in number; the upright pillar is
of oak, and the sound-board of red sallow. The minute and beautiful
carving on all parts of the instrument, attests a high state of artistic
skill at whatever period it was executed. As the harp is only thirty-two
inches high, it is supposed that it was used by ecclesiastics in the
church services, Cambrensis[265] mentions this custom; and there is
evidence of its having existed from the first introduction of
Christianity. Harps of this description are figured on the knees of
ecclesiastics on several of our ancient stone crosses.
The subject of Irish music would require a volume, and we cannot but
regret that it must be dismissed so briefly. The form of the harp has
been incorrectly represented on our coins. It was first assumed in the
national arms about the year 1540. When figured on the coins of Henry
VIII., the artist seems to have taken the Italian harp of twenty-four
strings for his model; but in the national arms sketched on the map of
Ireland in the State Papers, executed in the year 1567, the form is more
correct. That the Irish possessed this musical instrument in
pre-Christian times, cannot be doubted. The ornamental cover of an Irish
MS., which Mr. Ferguson considers to date prior to A.D. 1064, contains
five examples of the harp of that period. This, and the sculptured harp
at Nieg, in Rosshire, are believed to be the earliest delineations of
the perfect harp. Dr. Bunting gives a sketch of a harp and harper, taken
from one of the compartments of a sculptured cross at Ullard, county
Kilkenny. This is a remarkable example. The cross is supposed to be
older than that of Monasterboice, which was erected A.D. 830, and this
is believed to be the first specimen of a harp without a fore pillar
that has been discovered out of Egypt. If the Irish harp be really a
variety of the cithara, derived through an Egyptian channel, it would
form another important link in the chain of evidence, which leads us
back to colonization from Egypt through Scythia. Captain Wilford
observes,[266] that there may be a clue to the Celtic word bard in the
Hindoo _bárdátri_; but the Irish appellation appears to be of
comparatively modern use. It is, however, a noticeable fact, that the
farther we extend our inquiries, the more forcibly we are directed to
the East as the cradle of our music. Several recent travellers have
mentioned the remarkable similarity between Celtic airs and those which
they heard in different parts of Asia.[267] Sir W. Ouseley observed, at
the close of the last century, that many Hindoo melodies possessed the
plaintive simplicity of the Scotch and Irish.
A German scholar has written a work, to prove that the pentatonic scale
was brought over by the Celts from Asia, and that it was preserved
longer in Scotland than elsewhere, on account of the isolated position
of that country.[268] The Phoenicians are supposed to have invented the
_kinnor, trigonon_, and several other of the most remarkable instruments
of antiquity. Their skill as harpists, and their love of music, are
indicated by the prophetic denunciation in Ezechiel, where the ceasing
of songs and the sound of the harp are threatened as a calamity they
were likely specially to feel.
We give at least one evidence that the Irish monks practised the choral
performance of rhythmical hymns. Colgan supplies the proof, which we
select from one of the Latin hymns of St. Columba:--
"Protegat nos altissimus,
De suis sanctis sedibus,
Dum ibi hymnos canimus,
Decem statutis vicibus."
Mr. O'Curry gives the names of all the ancient Irish musical instruments
as follows:--_Cruit_, a harp; _Timpan_, a drum, or tambourine; _Corn_, a
trumpet; _Stoc_, a clarion; _Pipai_, the pipes; _Fidil_, the fiddle. He
adds: "All those are mentioned in an ancient poem in the Book of
Leinster, a MS. of about the year 1150, now in the Library of Trinity
College. The first four are found in various old tales and descriptions
of battles."
We shall find how powerful was the influence of Irish music on the Irish
race at a later period of our history, when the subject of political
ballads will be mentioned.
The dress of the rich and the poor probably varied as much in the
century of which we write as at the present day. We have fortunately
remains of almost every description of texture in which the Irish Celt
was clad; so that, as Sir W. Wilde has well observed, we are not left to
conjecture, or forced to draw analogies from the habits of
half-civilized man in other countries at the present day.
In the year 1821 the body of a male adult was found in a bog on the
lands of Gallagh, near Castleblakeney, county Galway, clad in its
antique garb of deerskin. A few fragments of the dress are preserved,
and may be seen in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. Portions
of the seams still remain, and are creditable specimens of early
needlework. The material employed in sewing was fine gut of three
strands, and the regularity and closeness of the stitching cannot fail
to excite admiration. It is another of the many proofs that, even in the
earliest ages, the Celt was gifted with more than ordinary skill in the
execution of whatever works he took in hand. After all, the skin of
animals is one of the most costly and appreciated adornments of the
human race, even at the present day; and our ancestors differ less from
us in the kind of clothes they wore, than in the refinements by which
they are fashioned to modern use. It is stated in the old bardic tale of
the _Táin bó Chuailgné_, that the charioteer of the hero was clothed in
a tunic of deerskin. This statement, taken in connexion with the fact
above-mentioned, is another evidence that increased knowledge is daily
producing increased respect for the veracity of those who transmitted
the accounts of our ancestral life, which, at one time, were supposed to
be purely mythical. Skin or leather garments were in use certainly until
the tenth century, in the form of cloaks. It is supposed that
Muircheartach obtained the soubriquet "of the leathern cloaks," from the
care which he took in providing his soldiers with them; and it is said
that, in consequence of this precaution, there was not a single man lost
in this campaign.
[Illustration: ANCIENT BOOT.]
We give a specimen of an ancient shoe and boot, from the collection of
the Royal Irish Academy. It would appear as if the Celt was rather in
advance of the Saxon in the art of shoemaking; for Mr. Fairholt has been
obliged to give an illustration selected from Irish remains, in his
history, although it is exclusively devoted to British costume. In
illustrating the subject of gold ornaments, he has also made a selection
from the same source. Some curious specimens of shoes joined together,
and therefore perfectly useless for ordinary wear, have also been
discovered. Sir W. Wilde conjectures they may have been used by
chieftains as inauguration shoes.[269]
[Illustration: ANCIENT SHOE.]
Saffron was a favourite colour, though it does not appear evident how
the dye was procured. There is no doubt the Irish possessed the art of
dyeing from an early period. Its introduction is attributed to King
Tighearnmas, who reigned from A.M. 3580 to 3664. It is probable the
Phoenicians imparted this knowledge to our ancestors. Although our old
illuminations are not as rich in figures as those from which English
historians have obtained such ample information regarding the early
costume of that country, we have still some valuable illustrations of
this interesting subject. These representations also are found to
correspond faithfully, even in the details of colour, with the remains
which have been discovered from time to time. Our ancient crosses give
immense scope for antiquarian research, though the costumes are
principally ecclesiastical, and hence are not of so much general
interest. But the Book of Rights[270] affords ample information, as far
as mere description, of the clothing of a higher class. While the
peasant was covered with a garment of untanned skin or fur, however
artistically sown together, the bards, the chieftains, and the monarchs
had their tunics [_imar_] of golden borders, their mantles [_leanna_] or
shirts of white wool or deep purple, their fair beautiful matals, and
their cloaks of every colour. If we add to this costume the magnificent
ornaments which still remain to attest the truth of the bardic accounts
of Erinn's ancient greatness, we may form a correct picture of the
Celtic noble as he stood in Tara's ancient palace; and we must coincide
in the opinion of the learned editor of the Catalogue of the Royal Irish
Academy, that "the variegated and glowing colours, as well as the
gorgeous decorations of the different articles of dress enumerated in
the Book of Rights, added to the brilliancy of the arms, must have
rendered the Irish costume of the eighth and ninth centuries very
attractive."
With a passing glance at our ancient _Fauna_ and _Flora_, and the
physical state of the country at this period, we must conclude briefly.
It is probable that the province of Ulster, which was styled by statute,
in Queen Elizabeth's time, "the most perilous place in all the isle,"
was much in the same state as to its physical characteristics in the
century of which we write. It was densely wooded, and strong in
fortresses, mostly placed on lakes, natural or artificial. Two great
roads led to this part of Ireland--the "Gap of the North," by
Carrickmacross, and the historically famous pass by Magh-Rath. From the
former place to Belturbet the country was nearly impassable, from its
network of bogs, lakes, and mountains. We shall find at a later period
what trouble these natural defences gave to the English settlers.
Munster so abounded in woods, that it was proposed, in 1579, to employ
4,000 soldiers for the sole purpose of hewing them down. Indeed, its
five great forests were the strongholds of the Earls of Desmond; and
enough evidence still remains at Glengariff and Killarney, to manifest
the value of their sylvan possessions. The cold and withering blasts of
the great Atlantic, appear to have stunted or hindered the growth of
trees in Connaught. In 1210 the Four Masters mention the wilderness of
Cinel-Dorfa, its principal forest; but it was amply provided with other
resources for the protection of native princes. In 1529 Chief Baron
Finglas gave a list of dangerous passes, with the recommendation that
the "Lord Deputy be eight days in every summer cutting passes into the
woods next adjoining the king's subjects."
[Illustration: HEAD OF OX.]
In Leinster the forests had been cleared at an earlier period; and the
country being less mountainous, was more easily cultivated. But this
portion of Ireland contained the well-known Curragh of Kildare, which
has its history also, and a more ancient one than its modern visitors
are likely to suppose. The Curragh is mentioned for the first time in
the _Liber Hymnorum_, in a hymn in praise of St. Brigid. The Scholiast
in a contemporary gloss says: "_Currech, a cursu equorum dictus est_."
It is also mentioned in Cormac's Glossary, where the etymology is
referred to running or racing. But the most important notice is
contained in the historical tale of the destruction of the mansion of Dá
Derga.[271] In this, Connairé Môr, who was killed A.D. 60, is
represented as having gone to the games at the Curragh with four
chariots. From this and other sources we may conclude, that
chariot-races preceded horse-races in ancient Erinn, and that the
Curragh has been used as a place of public amusement for the last 2,000
years. It would appear that every province in Ireland possessed an
_Aenach_ or "fair-green," where the men assembled to celebrate their
games and festivals. In an old list of Irish Triads, the three great
_Aenachs_ of Ireland are said to have been _Aenach Crogan_, in
Connaught; _Aenach Taillten_, in Meath; and _Aenach Colmain_, the
Curragh. The last would appear, however, to have been frequented by
persons from all parts of Ireland; and it is not a little strange that
it should still be used in a similar manner as a place of public
amusement. Ireland in the tenth century and Ireland in the nineteenth
form a painful contrast, notwithstanding the boasted march of intellect.
The ancient forests have been hewn down with little profit[272] to the
spoiler, and to the injury in many ways of the native. The noble rivers
are there still, and the mountains look as beautiful in the sunsets of
this year of grace as they did so many hundred years before; but the
country, which was in "God's keeping" then, has but little improved
since it came into the keeping of man; for the poor tenant, who may be
here to-day, and to-morrow cast out on the wayside, has but substituted
ill-fenced and ill-cultivated fields for wide tracts of heather and
moorland, which had at least the recommendation of attractive scenery,
and of not suggesting painful reflections.
[Illustration: HEADS OF IRISH WOLF DOGS.]
The most formidable, if not the largest, of the carnivora in this
island, was the brown bear. The wolf lingered on until the beginning of
the last century; and the Irish greyhound has passed with it also. The
gigantic Irish elk, _Cervus megaseros_, belongs more to the
palaeontologist than to the historian, as it is supposed to have existed
only in pre-historic times. A smaller variety has been found in peat
overlaying the clay, from which it is inferred that some species may
have been contemporary with the human race. The horse co-existed with
the elephant. The red deer was the principal object of chase from an
early period. The wild boar found abundant food from our noble oaks; and
the hare, the rabbit, the goat, and the sheep supplied the wants of the
Celt in ancient as in modern times. But the great wealth of Ireland
consisted in her cows, which then, as now, formed a staple article of
commerce. Indeed, most of the ancient feuds were simply cattle raids,
and the successful party signalized his victory by bearing off the
bovine wealth of the vanquished enemy.
It is impossible exactly to estimate the population of Ireland at this
period with any degree of reliable exactitude. The only method of
approximating thereto should be based on a calculation of the known or
asserted number of men in arms at any given time. When Roderic and his
allies invested the Normans in Dublin, he is said to have had 50,000
fighting men. Supposing this to include one-fourth of all the men of the
military age in the country, and to bear the proportion of one-fifth to
the total number of the inhabitants, it would give a population of about
a million, which would probably be rather under than over the correct
estimate.
[Illustration: FERRITER'S CASTLE.]
FOOTNOTES:
[245] _Day_.--Wilkinson's _Geology and Architecture of Ireland_, p. 59.
[246] _Celt_.--Catalogue of R.I.A. p. 43. This celt is the largest
discovered in Ireland, and is formed of coarse clay-slate. It is 22
inches long, 1 inch thick, and 3-3/4 broad at the widest part. It was
found in the bed of the river Blackwater, two miles below Charlemont,
county Armagh.
[247] _Axe_.--Catalogue of R.I.A. p. 80. Sir W. Wilde pronounces this to
be one of the most beautiful specimens of the stone battle-axe which has
been found in Ireland, both for design and execution. It is composed of
fine-grained remblendic sylicite, and is highly polished all over. It
was found in the river at Athlone.
[248] _Wright_.--_History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments_, p. 11.
[249] _Hall_.--Hence the term "hall" is still used to denote mansions of
more than ordinary importance. The hall was the principal part of the
ancient Saxon house, and the term used for the part was easily
transferred to the whole.
[250] _Discovery_.--_Ulster Arch. Journal_, vol. v. p. 83.
[251] _Assigned_.--Petrie's _Tara_, p. 200.
[252] _Smith_.--The animals were brought to the smith, who knocked them
down with his big hammer: hence, probably, the name of Smithfield for a
cattle market. He was an important personage in the olden time. In the
Odyssey, as armourer, he ranks with the bard and physician.
[253] _Tinnés_.--Dr. Petrie does not give the meaning of this word, but
Dr. O'Donovan supplies the deficiency in the Book of Rights, where he
explains it to mean a salted pig, or in plain English, bacon.
[254] _Table_.--In the earliest ages of Tara's existence, the household
may have been served as they sat on the benches round the hall. The
table was at first simply a board: hence we retain the term a hospitable
board; a board-room, a room where a board was placed for writing on. The
board was carried away after dinner, and the trestles on which it stood,
so as to leave room for the evening's amusements.
[255] _Cooked_.--Wright's _Domestic Manners_, p. 87. The knights in this
engraving are using their shields as a substitute for a table. At p. 147
there is an illustration of the method of cooking on a spit; this is
turned by a boy. The Irish appear to have had a mechanical arrangement
for this purpose some centuries earlier. Bellows, which are now so
commonly used in Ireland, and so rare in England, appear to have been a
Saxon invention.
[256] _Poems_.--_Ulster Arch. Journal_, vol. i. p. 108. It would appear
as if corn had been eaten raw, or perhaps partly scorched, at an early
period, as was customary in eastern countries. Teeth have been found in
crania taken from our ancient tombs, quite worn down by some such
process of mastication.
[257] _Weir_.--Salt appears to have been used also at a very ancient
period, though it cannot now be ascertained how it was procured. Perhaps
it was obtained from native sources now unknown.
[258] _Gold_.--Book of Rights, pp. 145, 209, &c. The King of Cashel was
entitled to a hundred drinking horns.--p. 33.
[259] _Beer_.--Book of Rights, p. 9.
[260] _Period_.--Accounts will be given later of the use of _aqua vitæ_,
or whisky, after the English invasion. The English appear to have
appreciated this drink, for we find, in 1585, that the Mayor of
Waterford sent Lord Burleigh a "rundell of _aqua vitæ_;" and in another
letter, in the State Paper Office, dated October 14, 1622, the Lord
Justice Coke sends a "runlett of milde Irish _uskebach_," from his
daughter Peggie (heaven save the mark!) to the "good Lady Coventry,"
because the said Peggie "was so much bound to her ladyship for her great
goodness." However, the said Lord Justice strongly recommends the
_uskebach_ to his lordship, assuring him that "if it please his lordship
next his heart in the morning to drinke a little of this Irish
_uskebach_, it will help to digest all raw humours, expell wynde, and
keep his inward parte warm all the day after." A poor half-starved
Irishman in the present century, could scarcely have brought forward
more extenuating circumstances for his use of the favourite beverage;
and he might have added that _he_ had nothing else to "keep him warm."
[261] _Bricks_.--In an ancient life of St. Kevin of Glendalough, there
is mention made of certain brick-cheeses, which the saint converted into
real bricks, in punishment to a woman for telling a lie.
[262] _King_.--Book of Rights, p. 15.
[263] _Informs us_.--_Domestic Manners_, p. 43.
[264] _Macaulay_.--_Lays of Ancient Rome_.--Horatius.
[265] _Cambrensis_.--"Hinc accidit, ut Episcopi et Abbates, et Sancti in
Hiberniâ viri cytharas circumferre et in eis modulando pié delectari
consueverunt."--_Cam. Des._ p. 739.
[266] _Observes_.--_Asiatic Researches_, vol. ix. p. 76.
[267] _Asia_.--See Carl Eugen's valuable work on the _Music of Ancient
Nations passim_.
[268] _Country_.--_Erste Wanderung der ältesten Tonkunst_, von G.W.
Fruh, Essen, 1831. In Conran's _National Music of Ireland_, he
attributes this to the influence of ecclesiastical music. But an article
by Mr. Darmey, in the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, takes a
much more probable view. The Ambrosian chant, introduced about A.D. 600,
could not have influenced national music which existed for centuries
before that period.
[269] _Shoes_.--The use of inauguration shoes appears to have been very
ancient in Ireland. It will be remembered how early and how frequently
the shoe is mentioned in Scripture in connexion with legal arrangements.
It was obviously an important object in Eastern business transactions.
[270] _Book of Rights_.--The great antiquity and perfect authenticity of
this most valuable work, should be remembered. It is admitted that the
original Book of Rights was compiled by St. Benignus, the disciple of
St. Patrick. Dr. O'Donovan thinks there is every reason to believe that
this work was in existence in the time of Cormac, the bishop-king of
Cashel, A.D. 900. It is probable that the present Book of Rights was
compiled about this period, from the more ancient volume of the same
name.
[271] _Dá Derga_.--See an interesting Essay on the Curragh of Kildare,
by Mr. W.M. Hennessy, read before the R.I.A., February 26, 1866.
[272] _Profit_.--The trustees of the estates forfeited in 1688 notice
this especially. Trees to the value of £20,000 were cut down and
destroyed on the estate of Sir Valentine Brown, near Killarney, and to
the value of £27,000 on the territory of the Earl of Clancarty. Some of
these trees were sold for _sixpence a piece_.
CHAPTER XVI.
The English Invasion--Dermod's Interview with Henry II.--Henry grants
Letters-patent--Dermod obtains the assistance of Strongbow, Earl de
Clare--He returns to Ireland--Arrival of English Forces under
FitzStephen--Fatal Indifference of Roderic, the Irish Monarch--He is at
last roused to action, but acknowledges Dermod's Authority almost
without a Struggle--Strongbow's Genealogy--He obtains a Tacit Permission
to invade Ireland--His Arrival in Ireland--Marriage of Strongbow and
Eva--Death of Dermod Mac Murrough--Strongbow proclaims himself King of
Leinster--Difficulties of his Position--Siege of Dublin--Strongbow's
Retreat--He returns to England.
[A.D. 1168-1171.]
[Illustration: Letter 'U']
Until this period (A.D. 1168) the most friendly relations appear to have
existed between England and Ireland. Saxon nobles and princes had fled
for shelter, or had come for instruction to the neighbouring shores. The
assistance of Irish troops had been sought and readily obtained by them.
Irish merchants[273] had taken their goods to barter in English markets;
but when the Norman had won the Saxon crown, and crushed the Saxon race
under his iron heel, the restless spirit of the old Viking race looked
out for a new quarry, and long before Dermod had betrayed his country,
that country's fate was sealed.
William Rufus is reported to have said, as he stood on the rocks near
St. David's, that he would make a bridge with his ships from that spot
to Ireland--a haughty boast, not quite so easily accomplished. His
speech was repeated to the King of Leinster, who inquired "if the king,
in his great threatening, had added, 'if it so please God'?" The
reporter answered in the negative. "Then," said he, "seeing this king
putteth his trust only in man, and not in God, I fear not his coming."
When Dermod Mac Murrough was driven in disgrace from Ireland, he fled at
once to Bristol. There he learned that Henry was still in Aquitaine, and
thither, with a perseverance worthy of a better cause, he followed the
English king. Henry was only too happy to listen to his complaints, and
forward his views; but he was too much occupied with his personal
affairs to attempt the conquest of a kingdom. Letters-patent were
incomparably more convenient than men-at-arms, and with letters-patent
the renegade was fain to be content. Dermod only asked help to recover
the kingdom from which he had been expelled for his crimes; Henry
pretended no more than to give the assistance asked, and for all reward
only wished that Dermod should pay a vassal's homage to the English
king. Henry may have known that his client was a villain, or he may not.
Henry may have intended to annex Ireland to the British dominions (if he
could), or he may merely have hoped for some temporary advantage from
the new connexion. Whatever he knew or whatever he hoped, he received
Dermod "into the bosom of his grace and benevolence," and he did but
distantly insinuate his desires by proclaiming him his "faithful and
liege subject." The royal letter ran thus:--"Henry, King of England,
Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Earl of Anjou, to all his liegemen,
English, Norman, Welsh, and Scotch, and to all the nation under his
dominion, sends greeting. As soon as the present letter shall come to
your hands, know that Dermod, Prince of Leinster, has been received into
the bosom of our grace and benevolence: wherefore, whosoever, within the
ample extent of our territories, shall be willing to lend aid towards
this prince as our faithful and liege subject, let such person know that
we do hereby grant to him for said purpose our licence and favour."
In this document there is not even the most remote reference to the Bull
of Adrian, conferring the island of Ireland on Henry, although this Bull
had been obtained some time before. In whatever light we may view this
omission, it is certainly inexplicable.
For some time Dermod failed in his efforts to obtain assistance. After
some fruitless negotiations with the needy and lawless adventurers who
thronged the port of Bristol, he applied to the Earl of Pembroke,
Richard de Clare. This nobleman had obtained the name of Strongbow, by
which he is more generally known, from his skill in archery. Two other
young men of rank joined the party; they were sons of the beautiful and
infamous Nesta,[274] once the mistress of Henry I., but now the wife of
Gerald, Governor of Pembroke and Lord of Carew. The knights were Maurice
FitzGerald and Robert FitzStephen. Dermod had promised them the city of
Wexford and two cantreds of land as their reward. Strongbow was to
succeed him on the throne of Leinster, and to receive the hand of his
young and beautiful daughter, Eva, in marriage.
There is considerable uncertainty as to the real date and the precise
circumstances of Dermod's arrival in Ireland. According to one account,
he returned at the close of the year 1168, and concealed himself during
the winter in a monastery of Augustinian Canons at Ferns, which he had
founded. The two principal authorities are Giraldus Cambrensis and
Maurice Regan; the latter was Dermod Mac Murrough's secretary. According
to his account, Robert FitzStephen landed at Bannow, near Waterford, in
May, 1169, with an army of three hundred archers, thirty knights, and
sixty men-at-arms.[275] A second detachment arrived the next day, headed
by Maurice de Prendergast, a Welsh gentleman, with ten knights and sixty
archers. Dermod at once assembled his men, and joined his allies. He
could only muster five hundred followers; but with their united forces,
such as they were, the outlawed king and the needy adventurers laid
siege to the city of Wexford. The brave inhabitants of this mercantile
town at once set forth to meet them; but, fearing the result if attacked
in open field by well-disciplined troops, they fired the suburbs, and
entrenched themselves in the town. Next morning the assaulting party
prepared for a renewal of hostilities, but the clergy of Wexford advised
an effort for peace: terms of capitulation were negotiated, and Dermod
was obliged to pardon, when he would probably have preferred to
massacre. It is said that FitzStephen burned his little fleet, to show
his followers that they must conquer or die. Two cantreds of land,
comprising the present baronies of Forth and Bargy,[276] were bestowed
on him: and thus was established the first English colony in Ireland.
The Irish princes and chieftains appear to have regarded the whole
affair with silent contempt. The Annals say they "set nothing by the
Flemings;"[277] practically, they set nothing by any of the invaders.
Could they have foreseen, even for one moment, the consequences of their
indifference, we cannot doubt but that they would have acted in a very
different manner. Roderic, the reigning monarch, was not the man either
to foresee danger, or to meet it when foreseen; though we might pardon
even a more sharp-sighted and vigilant warrior, for overlooking the
possible consequence of the invasion of a few mercenary troops, whose
only object appeared to be the reinstatement of a petty king. Probably,
the troops and their captains were equally free from suspecting what
would be the real result of their proceedings.
[Illustration: BARGY CASTLE.]
The fair of Telltown was celebrated about this time; and from the
accounts given by the Annals of the concourse of people, and the number
of horsemen who attended it, there can be little doubt that Ireland was
seldom in a better position to resist foreign invasion. But unity of
purpose and a competent leader were wanted then, as they have been
wanted but too often since. Finding so little opposition to his plans,
Mac Murrough determined to act on the offensive. He was now at the head
of 3,000 men. With this force he marched into the adjoining territory of
Ossory, and made war on its chief, Donough FitzPatrick; and after a
brave but unsuccessful resistance, it submitted to his rule.[278] The
Irish monarch was at length aroused to some degree of apprehension. He
summoned a hosting of the men of Ireland at Tara; and with the army thus
collected, assisted by the Lords of Meath, Oriel, Ulidia, Breffni, and
some northern chieftains, he at once proceeded to Dublin. Dermod was
alarmed, and retired to Ferns. Roderic pursued him thither. But
dissension had already broken out in the Irish camp: the Ulster chiefs
returned home; the contingent was weakened; and, either through fear, or
from the natural indolence of his pacific disposition, he agreed to
acknowledge Mac Murrough's authority. Mac Murrough gave his son Cormac
as hostage for the fulfilment of the treaty. A private agreement was
entered into between the two kings, in which Dermod pledged himself to
dismiss his foreign allies as soon as possible, and to bring no more
strangers into the country. It is more than probable that he had not the
remotest idea of fulfilling his promise; it is at least certain that he
broke it the first moment it was his interest to do so. Dermod's object
was simply to gain time, and in this he succeeded.
Maurice FitzGerald arrived at Wexford a few days after, and the recreant
king at once proceeded to meet him; and with this addition to his army,
marched to attack Dublin. The Dano-Celts, who inhabited this city, had
been so cruelly treated by him, that they dreaded a repetition of his
former tyrannies. They had elected a governor for themselves; but
resistance was useless. After a brief struggle, they were obliged to sue
for peace--a favour which probably would not have been granted without
further massacres and burnings, had not Dermod wished to bring his arms
to bear in another quarter.
Donnell O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, who had married a daughter of
Dermod, had just rebelled against Roderic, and the former was but too
willing to assist him in his attempt. Thus encouraged where he should
have been treated with contempt, and hunted down with ignominy, his
ambition became boundless. He played out the favourite game of traitors;
and no doubt hoped, when he had consolidated his own power, that he
could easily expel his foreign allies. Strongbow had not yet arrived,
though the winds had been long enough "at east and easterly."[279] His
appearance was still delayed. The fact was, that the Earl was in a
critical position. Henry and his barons were never on the most amiable
terms; and there were some very special reasons why Strongbow should
prove no exception to the rule.
The first member of the Earl's family who had settled in England, was
Richard, son of the Norman Earl Brien, a direct descendant of Robert
"the Devil," Duke of Normandy, father of William the Conqueror. In
return for services at the battle of Hastings, and general assistance in
conquering the Saxon, this family obtained a large grant of land in
England, and took the title of Earl of Clare from one of their
ninety-five lordships in Suffolk.[280] The Strongbow family appears to
have inherited a passion for making raids on neighbouring lands, from
their Viking ancestors. Strongbow's father had obtained his title of
Earl of Pembroke, and his property in the present county of that name,
from his successful marauding expedition in Wales, in 1138. But as he
revolted against Stephen, his lands were seized by that king; and after
his death, in 1148, his son succeeded to his very numerous titles,
without any property commensurate thereto. Richard was not in favour
with his royal master, who probably was jealous of the Earl, despite his
poverty; but as Strongbow did not wish to lose the little he had in
England, or the chance of obtaining more in Ireland, he proceeded at
once to the court, then held in Normandy, and asked permission for his
new enterprise. Henry's reply was so carefully worded, he could declare
afterwards that he either had or had not given the permission, whichever
version of the interview might eventually prove most convenient to the
royal interests. Strongbow took the interpretation which suited his own
views, and proceeded to the scene of action with as little delay as
possible. He arrived in Ireland, according to the most generally
received account, on the vigil of St. Bartholomew, A.D. 1170, and landed
at Dundonnell, near Waterford. His uncle, Hervey de Montmarisco, had
already arrived, and established himself in a temporary fort, where he
had been attacked by the brave citizens of Wexford. But the besieged
maintained their position, killed five hundred men, and made prisoners
of seventy of the principal citizens of Waterford. Large sums of money
were offered for their ransom, but in vain. They were brutally murdered
by the English soldiers, who first broke their limbs, and then hurled
them from a precipice into the sea. It was the first instalment of the
utterly futile theory, so often put in practice since that day, of
"striking terror into the Irish;" and the experiment was quite as
unsuccessful as all such experiments have ever been.[281]
While these cruelties were enacting, Strongbow had been collecting
forces in South Wales; but, as he was on the very eve of departure, he
received a peremptory order from Henry, forbidding him to leave the
kingdom. After a brief hesitation, he determined to bid defiance to the
royal mandate, and set sail for Ireland. The day after his arrival he
laid siege to Waterford. The citizens behaved like heroes, and twice
repulsed their assailants; but their bravery could not save them in the
face of overpowering numbers. A breach was made in the wall; the
besiegers poured in; and a merciless massacre followed. Dermod arrived
while the conflict was at its height, and for once he has the credit of
interfering on the side of mercy. Reginald, a Danish lord, and O'Phelan,
Prince of the Deisi, were about to be slain by their captors, but at his
request they were spared, and the general carnage was suspended. For the
sake of common humanity, one could wish to think that this was an act of
mercy. But Mac Murrough had his daughter Eva with him; he wished to have
her nuptials with Strongbow celebrated at once; and he could scarcely
accomplish his purpose while men were slaying their fellows in a
cold-blooded massacre. The following day the nuptials were performed.
The English Earl, a widower, and long past the prime of manhood, was
wedded to the fair young Celtic maiden; and the marriage procession
passed lightly over the bleeding bodies of the dying and the dead. Thus
commenced the union between Great Britain and Ireland: must those
nuptials be for ever celebrated in tears and blood?
Immediately after the ceremony, the army set out for Dublin. Roderic had
collected a large force near Clondalkin, and Hosculf, the Danish
governor of the city, encouraged by their presence, had again revolted
against Dermod. The English army having learned that the woods and
defiles between Wexford and Dublin were well guarded, had made forced
marches along the mountains, and succeeded in reaching the capital long
before they were expected. Their decision and military skill alarmed the
inhabitants--they might also have heard reports of the massacres at
Wexford; be this as it may, they determined to negotiate for peace, and
commissioned their illustrious Archbishop, St. Laurence O'Toole, to make
terms with Dermod. While the discussion was pending, two of the English
leaders, Raymond _le Gros_ and Miles de Cogan, obtained an entrance into
the city, and commenced a merciless butchery of the inhabitants. When
the saint returned he heard cries of misery and groans of agony in all
quarters, and it was not without difficulty that he succeeded in
appeasing the fury of the soldiers, and the rage of the people, who had
been so basely treated.
[Illustration: Marriage of Eva and Strongbow.]
The Four Masters accuse the people of Dublin of having attempted to
purchase their own safety at the expense of the national interests, and
say that "a miracle was wrought against them" as a judgment for their
selfishness. Hosculf, the Danish governor, fled to the Orkneys, with
some of the principal citizens, and Roderic withdrew his forces to
Meath, to support O'Rourke, on whom he had bestowed a portion of that
territory. Miles de Cogan was invested with the government of Dublin,
and Dermod marched to Meath, to attack Roderic and O'Rourke, against
whom he had an old grudge of the worst and bitterest kind. He had
injured him by carrying off his wife, Dervorgil, and men generally hate
most bitterly those whom they have injured most cruelly.
Meanwhile MacCarthy of Desmond had attacked and defeated the English
garrison at Waterford, but without any advantageous results. Roderic's
weakness now led him to perpetrate an act of cruelty, although it could
scarcely be called unjust according to the ideas of the times. It will
be remembered that he had received hostages from Dermod for the treaty
of Ferns. That treaty had been openly violated, and the King sent
ambassadors to him to demand its fulfilment, by the withdrawal of the
English troops, threatening, in case of refusal, to put the hostages to
death. Dermod laughed at the threat. Under any circumstances, he was not
a man who would hesitate to sacrifice his own flesh and blood to his
ambition. Roderic was as good as his word; and the three royal hostages
were put to death at Athlone.
An important synod was held at the close of this year (A.D. 1170), at
Armagh. We have already mentioned one of its principal enactments, which
deplored and condemned the practice of buying English slaves from the
Bristol merchants. Other subjects shall be more fully entertained when
we come to the Synod of Cashel, which was held two years later.
In 1171 Dermod MacMurrough, the author of so many miseries, and the
object of so much just reprobation, died at Ferns, on the 4th of May.
His miserable end was naturally considered a judgment for his evil life.
His obituary is thus recorded: "Diarmaid Mac Murchadha, King of
Leinster, by whom a trembling soil was made of all Ireland, after having
brought over the Saxons, after having done extensive injuries to the
Irish, after plundering and burning many churches, as Ceanannus,
Cluain-Iraired, &c., died before the end of a year [after this
plundering], of an insufferable and unknown disease; for he became
putrid while living, through the miracle of God, Colum-cille, and
Finnen, and the other saints of Ireland, whose churches he had profaned
and burned some time before; and he died at Fearnamor, without [making]
a will, without penance, without the body of Christ, without unction, as
his evil deeds deserved."[282]
But the death of the traitor could not undo the traitor's work. Men's
evil deeds live after them, however they may repent them on their
deathbeds. Strongbow had himself at once proclaimed King of
Leinster--his marriage with Eva was the ground of his claim; but though
such a mode of succession might hold good in Normandy, it was perfectly
illegal in Ireland. The question, however, was not one of right but of
might, and it was settled as all such questions invariably are. But
Strongbow had a master at the other side of the Channel, who had his own
views of these complications. His tenure, however, was somewhat
precarious. His barons, always turbulent, had now a new ground for
aggression, in the weakness to which he had exposed himself by his
virtual sanction of the murder of St. Thomas of Canterbury, and he was
fain to content himself with a strong injunction commanding all his
English subjects then in Ireland to return immediately, and forbidding
any further reinforcements to be sent to that country. Strongbow was
alarmed, and at once despatched Raymond _le Gros_ with apologies and
explanations, offering the King all the lands he had acquired in
Ireland. Henry does not appear to have taken the slightest notice of
these communications, and the Earl determined to risk his displeasure,
and remain in Ireland.
His prospects, however, were by no means promising. His Irish adherents
forsook him on the death of Dermod; Dublin was besieged by a
Scandinavian force, which Hosculf had collected in the Orkneys, and
which was conveyed in sixty vessels, under the command of Johan _le
Déve_ (the Furious). Miles de Cogan repulsed this formidable attack
successfully, and captured the leaders. Hosculf was put to death; but he
appears to have brought his fate on himself by a proud and incautious
boast.
At this period the thoughtful and disinterested Archbishop of Dublin saw
a crisis in the history of his country on which much depended. He
endeavoured to unite the national chieftains, and rally the national
army. His words appear to have had some effect. Messengers were sent to
ask assistance from Godfred, King of the Isle of Man, and other island
warriors. Strongbow became aware of his danger, and threw himself into
Dublin; but he soon found himself landlocked by an army, and enclosed at
sea by a fleet. Roderic O'Connor commanded the national forces,
supported by Tiernan O'Rourke and Murrough O'Carroll. St. Laurence
O'Toole remained in the camp, and strove to animate the men by his
exhortations and example. The Irish army contented themselves with a
blockade, and the besieged were soon reduced to extremities from want of
food. Strongbow offered terms of capitulation through the Archbishop,
proposing to hold the kingdom of Leinster as Roderic's vassal; but the
Irish monarch demanded the surrender of the towns of Dublin, Wexford,
and Waterford, and required the English invaders to leave the country by
a certain day.
While these negotiations were pending, Donnell Cavanagh, son of the late
King of Leinster, got into the city in disguise, and informed Strongbow
that FitzStephen was closely besieged in Wexford. It was then at once
determined to force a passage through the Irish army. Raymond _le Gros_
led the van, Miles de Cogan followed; Strongbow and Maurice FitzGerald,
who had proposed the sortie, with the remainder of their force, brought
up the rere. The Irish army was totally unprepared for this sudden move;
they fled in panic, and Roderic, who was bathing in the Liffey, escaped
with difficulty.[283]
Strongbow again committed the government of Dublin to Miles de Cogan,
and set out for Wexford. On his way thither he was opposed by O'Regan,
Prince of Idrone. An action ensued, which might have terminated fatally
for the army, had not the Irish prince received his death-wound from an
English archer. His troops took to flight, and Strongbow proceeded on
his journey. But he arrived too late. Messengers met him on the way, to
inform him that the fort of Carrig had fallen into the hands of the
Irish, who are said to have practised an unjustifiable stratagem to
obtain possession of the place. As usual, there are two versions of the
story. One of these versions, which appears not improbable, is that the
besieged had heard a false report of the affair in Dublin; and believing
Strongbow and the English army to have been overthrown, they surrendered
on the promise of being sent in safety to Dublin. On their surrender,
the conditions were violated, FitzStephen was imprisoned, and some of
his followers killed. The charge against the besiegers is that they
invented the report as a stratagem to obtain their ends, and that the
falsehood was confirmed in a solemn manner by the bishops of Wexford and
Kildare.
As soon as the Wexford men had heard of Strongbow's approach, they set
fire to the town, and fled to Beg-Erin, a stockaded island, at the same
time sending him a message, that, if he attempted to approach, they
would kill all their prisoners. The Earl withdrew to Waterford in
consequence of this threat, and here he learned that his presence was
indispensable in England; he therefore set off at once to plead his own
cause with his royal master. A third attack had been made on Dublin, in
the meantime, by the Lord of Breffni, but it was repulsed by Miles. With
this exception, the Irish made no attempt against the common enemy, and
domestic wars were as frequent as usual.
Henry had returned to England, and was now in Newenham, in
Gloucestershire, making active preparations for his visit to Ireland.
The odium into which he had fallen, after his complicity in the murder
of St. Thomas of Canterbury, had rendered his position perilous in the
extreme; and probably his Irish expedition would never have been
undertaken, had he not required some such object to turn his thoughts
and the thoughts of his subjects from the consequences of his
crime.[284] He received Strongbow coldly, and at first refused him an
interview. After a proper delay, he graciously accepted the Earl's offer
of "all the lands he had won in Ireland"--a very questionable gift,
considering that there was not an inch of ground there which he could
securely call his own. Henry, however, was pleased to restore his
English estates; but, with consummate hypocrisy and villany, he seized
the castles of the Welsh lords, whom he hated for their vigorous and
patriotic opposition, and punished them for allowing the expedition,
which he had just sanctioned, to sail from their coasts unmolested.
[Illustration: THE LOGAN STONE, KILLARNEY.]
[Illustration: ANCIENT IRISH BROOCH.[285]]
FOOTNOTES:
[273] _Merchants_.--Wright says that "theft and unfair dealing" were
fearfully prevalent among the Anglo-Normans, and mentions, as an
example, how some Irish merchants were robbed who came to Ely to sell
their wares.--_Domestic Manners_, p. 78. It would appear that there was
considerable slave-trade carried on with the British merchants. The
Saxons, who treated their dependents with savage cruelty (see Wright, p.
56), sold even their children as slaves to the Irish. In 1102 this
inhuman traffic was forbidden by the Council of London. Giraldus
Cambrensis mentions that, at a synod held at Armagh, A.D. 1170, the
Irish clergy, who had often forbidden this trade, pronounced the
invasion of Ireland by Englishmen to be a just judgment on the Irish for
their share in the sin, and commanded that all who had English slaves
should at once set them free. Mr. Haverty remarks, that it was a curious
and characteristic coincidence, that an Irish deliberative assembly
should thus, by an act of humanity to Englishmen, have met the merciless
aggressions which the latter had just then commenced against this
country.--_Hist. of Ireland_, p. 169.
[274] _Nesta_.--David Powell, in his notes to the _Itinerary of
Cambria_, states that this lady was a daughter of Rufus, Prince of
Demetia. She was distinguished for her beauty, and infamous for her
gallantries. She had a daughter by Gerald of Windsor, called Augweth,
who was mother to Giraldus Cambrensis. This relationship accounts for
the absurd eulogiums which he has lavished on the Geraldines. Demetia is
the district now called Pembrokeshire, where a colony of Normans
established themselves after the Norman Conquest.--See Thierry's _Norman
Conquest_.
[275] _Men-at-arms_.--_Hibernia Expugnata_, lib. i. c. 16.
[276] _Bargy_.--Our illustration gives a view of the remains of this
ancient castle. It was formerly the residence of Bagenal Harvey, a
Protestant gentleman, who suffered in the rebellion of 1798, for his
adherence to the cause of Ireland.
[277] _Flemings_.--Dr. O'Donovan mentions, in a note to the Four
Masters, that he was particularly struck with the difference between the
personal appearance of the inhabitants of the baronies where they
settled. The Cavanaghs and Murphys are tall and slight; the Flemings and
Codds short and stout. They still retain some peculiarities of language.
[278] _Rule_.--What the rule of this ferocious monster may have been we
can judge from what is related of him by Cambrensis. Three hundred heads
of the slain were piled up before him; and as he leaped and danced with
joy at the ghastly sight, he recognized a man to whom he had a more than
ordinary hatred. He seized the head by the ears, and gratified his
demoniacal rage by biting off the nose and lips of his dead enemy.
[279] _Easterly_.--Cambrensis takes to himself the credit of having
advised the despatch of a letter to Strongbow. He also gives us the
letter, which probably was his own composition, as it is written in the
same strain of bombast as his praises of his family.--_Hib. Expug_. lib.
i. c. 12. It commences thus: "We have watched the storks and swallows;
the summer birds are come and gone," &c. We imagine that Dermod's style,
if he had taken to epistolary correspondence, would have been rather a
contrast.
[280] _Suffolk_.--See Gilbert's _Viceroys of Dublin, passim_. We
recommend this work to our readers. It should be in the hands of every
Irishman at least. It combines the attraction of romance with the
accuracy of carefully written history.
[281] _Been_.--If we are to believe Cambrensis, Raymond argued against
this cruelty, and Henry in favour of it.
[282] _Deserved_.--The Annals of Clonmacnois give a similar account;
but in a paper MS. in Trinity College, Dublin, it is said that he died
"after the victory of penance and unction." The old account is probably
the more reliable, as it is the more consonant with his previous career.
[283] _Difficulty_.--The army was so well supplied, that the English got
sufficient corn, meal, and pork to victual the city of Dublin for a
whole year.--Harris' _Hibernæ_, p. 25.
[284] _Crime_.--So fearful was the unfortunate monarch of a public
excommunication and interdict, that he sent courtiers at once to Rome to
announce his submission. When he heard of the murder he shut himself up
for three days, and refused all food, except "milk of almonds." See
_Vita Quadrip_. p. 143. It would appear this was a favourite beverage,
from the amount of almonds which were brought to Ireland for his special
benefit. See p. 272.
CHAPTER XVII.
Arrival of Henry II.--Some of the Native Princes pay him Homage--His
Character--Dublin in the time of Henry II.--His Winter Palace--Norman
Luxuries--King Henry holds a Court--Adrian's Bull--Temporal Power of the
Popes in the Middle Ages--Conduct of the Clergy--Irish Property given to
English Settlers--Henry II. returns to England--The Account Cambrensis
gives of the Injuries done to Ireland by his Countrymen--Raymond,
Montmarisco, and Strongbow--The latter is defeated--He recalls Raymond
from Wales--Treaty between Roderic and Henry--Death of Strongbow.
[A.D. 1171-1176.]
[Illustration: H]
Henry landed in Ireland on the 18th of October, 1171, at Crook, in the
county of Waterford. He was accompanied by Strongbow, William
FitzAldelm, Humphrey de Bohun, Hugh de Lacy, Robert FitzBarnard, and
many other lords. His whole force, which, according to the most
authentic English accounts, was distributed in four hundred ships,
consisted of 500 knights and 4,000 men-at-arms. It would appear the
Irish had not the least idea that he intended to claim the kingdom as
his own, and rather looked upon him as a powerful potentate who had come
to assist the native administration of justice. Even had they suspected
his real object, no opposition might have been made to it. The nation
had suffered much from domestic dissension; it had yet to learn that
foreign oppression was an incomparable greater evil.
If a righteous king or a wise statesman had taken the affair in hand,
Ireland might have been made an integral and most valuable portion of
the British Empire without a struggle. The nation would have bowed
gratefully to an impartial government; they have not yet ceased to
resent a partial and frequently unjust rule. From the very commencement,
the aggrandizement of the individual, and not the advantage of the
people, has been the rule of action. Such government is equally
disgraceful to the rulers, and cruel to the governed.
MacCarthy of Desmond was the first Irish prince who paid homage to the
English King. At Cashel, Donnell O'Brien, King of Thomond, swore fealty,
and surrendered the city of Limerick. Other princes followed their
example. The "pomp and circumstance" of the royal court, attracted the
admiration of a people naturally deferential to authority; the
condescension and apparent disinterestedness of the monarch, won the
hearts of an impulsive and affectionate race. They had been accustomed
to an Ard-Righ, a chief monarch, who, in name at least, ruled all the
lesser potentates: why should not Henry be such to them? and why should
they suppose that he would exercise a tyranny as yet unknown in the
island?
The northern princes still held aloof; but Roderic had received Henry's
ambassadors personally, and paid the usual deference which one king owed
to another who was considered more powerful. Henry determined to spend
his Christmas in Dublin, and resolved on a special display of royal
state. It is to be presumed that he wished to make up for deficiency in
stateliness of person by stateliness of presence; for, like most of the
descendants of Duke Robert "the Devil" and the daughter of the Falaise
tanner, his appearance was not calculated to inspire respect. His grey
bloodshot eyes and tremulous voice, were neither knightly nor kingly
qualifications; his savage and ungovernable temper, made him appear at
times rather like a demon than a man. He was charged with having
violated the most solemn oaths when it suited his convenience. A
cardinal had pronounced him an audacious liar. Count Thiebault of
Champagne had warned an archbishop not to rely on any of his promises,
however sacredly made. He and his sons spent their time quarrelling with
each other, when not occupied in quarrelling with their subjects. His
eldest son, Richard, thus graphically sketched the family
characteristics:--"The custom in our family is that the son shall hate
the father; our destiny is to detest each other; from the devil we came,
to the devil we shall go." And the head of this family had now come to
reform the Irish, and to improve their condition--social, secular, and
ecclesiastical!
A special residence was erected for the court on part of the ground now
occupied by the southern side of Dame-street. The whole extent of Dublin
at that time was, in length, from Corn Market to the Lower Castle Yard;
and in breadth, from the Liffey, then covering Essex-street, to Little
Sheep-street, now Ship-street, where a part of the town wall is yet
standing.[286] The only edifices in existence on the southern side of
Dame-street, even at the commencement of the seventeenth century, were
the Church of St. Andrew and the King's Mills.[287] College-green was
then quite in the country, and was known as the village of _Le Hogges_,
a name that is apparently derived from the Teutonic word _Hoge_, which
signifies a small hill or sepulchral mound. Here there was a nunnery
called St. Mary le Hogges, which had been erected or endowed not many
years before Henry's arrival, and a place called Hoggen's Butt, where
the citizens exercised themselves in archery. Here, during the winter of
1171, the Celt, the Saxon, and the Norman, may have engaged in peaceful
contests and pleasant trials of skill.
Henry's "winter palace" was extemporized with some artistic taste. It
was formed of polished osiers. Preparations had been made on an
extensive scale for the luxuries of the table--a matter in which the
Normans had greatly the advantage of either Celt or Saxon. The use of
crane's flesh was introduced into Ireland for the first time, as well as
that of herons, peacocks,[288] swans, and wild geese. Almonds had been
supplied already by royal order in great abundance; wine was purchased
in Waterford, even now famous for its trade with Spain in that
commodity. Nor had the King's physician forgotten the King's health; for
we find a special entry amongst the royal disbursements of the sum of
£10 7s., paid to Josephus Medicus for spices and electuaries. Yet
Henri-curt-mantel[289] was careful of his physical well-being, and
partook but sparingly of these luxuries. Fearing his tendency to
corpulency, he threw the short cloak of his native Anjou round him at an
earlier hour in the morning than suited the tastes of his courtiers, and
took exercise either on horseback or on foot, keeping in constant motion
all day.
When the Christmas festivities had passed, Henry turned his attention to
business, if, indeed, the same festivities had not also been a part of
his diplomatic plans, for he was not deficient in kingcraft. In a synod
at Cashel he attempted to settle ecclesiastical affairs. In a _Curia
Regis_, held at Lismore, he imagined he had arranged temporal affairs.
These are subjects which demand our best consideration. It is an
historical fact, that the Popes claimed and exercised great temporal
power in the middle ages; it is admitted also that they used this power
in the main for the general good;[290] and that, as monks and friars
were the preservers of literature, so popes and bishops were the
protectors of the rights of nations, as far as was possible in such
turbulent times. It does not belong to our present subject to theorize
on the origin or the grounds[291] of this power; it is sufficient to say
that it had been exercised repeatedly both before and after Adrian
granted the famous Bull, by which he conferred the kingdom of Ireland on
Henry II. The Merovingian dynasty was changed on the decision of Pope
Zachary. Pope Adrian threatened Frederick I., that if he did not
renounce all pretensions to ecclesiastical property in Lombardy, he
should forfeit the crown, "received from himself and through his
unction." When Pope Innocent III. pronounced sentence of deposition
against Lackland in 1211, and conferred the kingdom of England on Philip
Augustus, the latter instantly prepared to assert his claim, though he
had no manner of title, except the Papal grant.[292] In fact, at the
very moment when Henry was claiming the Irish crown in right of Adrian's
Bull, given some years previously, he was in no small trepidation at the
possible prospect of losing his English dominions, as an excommunication
and an interdict were even then hanging over his head. Political and
polemical writers have taken strangely perverted views of the whole
transaction. One writer,[293] with apparently the most genuine
impartiality, accuses the Pope, the King, and the Irish prelates of the
most scandalous hypocrisy. A cursory examination of the question might
have served to prove the groundlessness of this assertion. The Irish
clergy, he asserts--and his assertion is all the proof he
gives--betrayed their country for the sake of tithes. But tithes had
already been enacted, and the Irish clergy were very far from conceding
Henry's claims in the manner which some historians are pleased to
imagine.
It has been already shown that the possession of Ireland was coveted at
an early period by the Norman rulers of Great Britain. When Henry II.
ascended the throne in 1154, he probably intended to take the matter in
hands at once. An Englishman, Adrian IV., filled the Papal chair. The
English monarch would naturally find him favourable to his own country.
John of Salisbury, then chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, was
commissioned to request the favour. No doubt he represented his master
as very zealous for the interests of religion, and made it appear that
his sole motive was the good, temporal and spiritual, of the barbarous
Irish; at least this is plainly implied in Adrian's Bull.[294] The Pope
could have no motive except that which he expressed in the document
itself. He had been led to believe that the state of Ireland was
deplorable; he naturally hoped that a wise and good government would
restore what was amiss. There is no doubt that there was much which
required amendment, and no one was more conscious of this, or strove
more earnestly to effect it, than the saintly prelate who governed the
archiepiscopal see of Dublin. The Irish clergy had already made the most
zealous efforts to remedy whatever needed correction; but it was an age
of lawless violence. Reform was quite as much wanted both in England and
in the Italian States; but Ireland had the additional disadvantage of
having undergone three centuries of ruthless plunder and desecration of
her churches and shrines, and the result told fearfully on that land
which had once been the home of saints.
Henry's great object was to represent himself as one who had come to
redress grievances rather than to claim allegiance; but however he may
have deceived princes and chieftains, he certainly did not succeed in
deceiving the clergy. The Synod of Cashel, which he caused to be
convened, was not attended as numerously as he had expected, and the
regulations made thereat were simply a renewal of those which had been
made previously. The Primate of Ireland was absent, and the prelates who
assembled there, far from having enslaved the State to Henry, avoided
any interference in politics either by word or act. It has been well
observed, that, whether "piping or mourning," they are not destined to
escape. Their office was to promote peace. So long as the permanent
peace and independence of the nation seemed likely to be forwarded by
resistance to foreign invasion, they counselled resistance; when
resistance was hopeless, they recommended acquiescence, not because they
believed the usurpation less unjust, but because they considered
submission the wisest course. But the Bull of Adrian had not yet been
produced; and Henry's indifference about this document, or his
reluctance to use it, shows of how little real importance it was
considered at the time. One fearful evil followed from this Anglo-Norman
invasion. The Irish clergy had hitherto been distinguished for the high
tone of their moral conduct; the English clergy, unhappily, were not so
rich in this virtue, and their evil communication had a most injurious
effect upon the nation whom it was supposed they should be so eminently
capable of benefiting.
Henry did not succeed much better with his administration of secular
affairs. In his _Curia Regis_, at Lismore, he modelled Irish
administration on Norman precedents, apparently forgetting that a
kingdom and a province should be differently governed. Strongbow was
appointed Earl Marshal; Hugh de Lacy, Lord Constable; Bertram de Verdun,
Seneschal; Theobald Walter, Chief Butler; and De Wellesley, Royal
Standard-bearer. It was also arranged that, on the demise of a Chief
Governor, the Norman nobles were to elect a successor, who should have
full authority, until the royal pleasure could be known. Henry did not
then attempt to style himself King or Lord of Ireland; his object seems
to have been simply to obtain authority in the country through his
nobles, as Wales had been subdued in a similar manner. English laws and
customs were also introduced for the benefit of English settlers; the
native population still adhered to their own legal observances. Henry
again forgot that laws must be suited to the nation for whom they are
made, and that Saxon rules were as little likely to be acceptable to the
Celt, as his Norman tongue to an English-speaking people.
Dublin was now made over to the inhabitants of Bristol. Hugh de Lacy,
its governor, has been generally considered in point of fact the first
Viceroy for Ireland. He was installed in the Norman fashion, and the
sword and cap of maintenance were made the insignia of the dignity.
Waterford and Wexford were also bestowed on royal favourites, or on such
knights as were supposed most likely to hold them for the crown. Castles
were erected throughout the country, which was portioned out among
Henry's needy followers; and, for the first time in Ireland, a man was
called a rebel if he presumed to consider his house or lands as his own
property.
The winter had been so stormy that there was little communication with
England; but early in spring the King received the portentous
intelligence of the arrival of Papal Legates in Normandy, and learned
that they threatened to place his dominions under an interdict, if he
did not appear immediately to answer for his crime. Queen Eleanor and
his sons were also plotting against him, and there were many who boldly
declared that the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury would yet be
fearfully avenged. Henry determined at once to submit to the Holy See,
and to avert his doom by a real or pretended penitence. He therefore
sailed for England from Wexford Harbour, on Easter Monday, the 17th of
April, 1172, and arrived the same day at Port Finnen, in Wales. We give
the testimony of Cambrensis, no friend to Ireland, to prove that neither
clergy nor laity benefited by the royal visit. He thus describes the
inauguration of that selfish system of plunder and devastation, to which
Ireland has been subjected for centuries--a system which prefers the
interests of the few to the rights of the many, and then scoffs bitterly
at the misery it has created: "The clergy are reduced to beggary in the
island; the cathedral churches mourn, having been deprived, by the
aforesaid persons [the leading adventurers], and others along with them,
or who came over after them, of the lands and ample estates which had
been formerly granted to them faithfully and devoutly. And thus the
exalting of the Church has been changed into the despoiling or
plundering of the Church." Nor is his account of the temporal state of
the kingdom any better. He informs us that Dermod Mac Murrough, the
originator of all those evils, "oppressed his nobles, exalted upstarts,
was a calamity to his countrymen, hated by the strangers, and, in a
word, at war with the world." Of the Anglo-Norman nobles, who, it will
be remembered, were his own relatives, and of their work, he writes
thus: "This new and bloody conquest was defiled by an enormous effusion
of blood, and the slaughter of a Christian people." And again: "The
lands even of the Irish who stood faithful to our cause, from the first
descent of FitzStephen and the Earl, you have, in violation of a treaty,
made over to your friends."[295] His character of Henry is, that he was
more given to "hunting than to holiness."
The English monarch, however, could assume an appearance of most
profound humility and the deepest piety, when it suited his convenience.
He excelled himself in this department by his submission to the Holy
See, when he found that submission alone could save his crown.
The Lord of Breffni had been one of Henry's favourite guests at his
Christmas festivities. He possessed the territory of East Meath, and
this territory Henry had coolly bestowed on Hugh de Lacy.[296] The
rightful owner was not quite so dazzled by the sunshine of royal favour,
as to be willing to resign his property without a struggle. The Irish
chieftain, whose name was Tiernan O'Rourke, was persuaded to hold a
conference with the English usurper at the Hill of Tara, near Athboy.
Both parties were attended by armed men. A dispute ensued. The
interpreter was killed by a blow aimed at De Lacy, who fled
precipitately; O'Rourke was killed by a spear-thrust as he mounted his
horse, and vengeance was wreaked on his dead body, for the crime of
wishing to maintain his rights, by subjecting it to decapitation. His
head was impaled over the gate of Dublin Castle, and afterwards sent as
a present to Henry II. His body was gibbeted, with the feet upwards, on
the northern side of the same building.[297] The Four Masters say that
O'Rourke was treacherously slain. From the account given by Cambrensis,
it would appear that there was a plot to destroy the aged chieftain, but
for want of clearer evidence we may give his enemies the benefit of the
doubt.
Strongbow was now employing himself by depredating the territories which
had been conferred on him. He took an army of 1,000 horse and foot into
Offaly, to lay waste O'Dempsey's territory, that prince having also
committed the crime of wishing to keep his ancestral estates. He met
with no opposition until he was about to return with the spoils; then,
as he passed through a defile, the chieftain set upon him in the rear,
and slew several of his knights, carrying off the Norman standard.
Robert de Quincey, who had just married a daughter of Strongbow's by a
former marriage, was amongst the slain. The Earl had bestowed a large
territory in Wexford on him.
Henry was at that time suffering from domestic troubles in Normandy; he
therefore summoned De Clare to attend him there. It would appear that he
performed good service for his royal master, for he received further
grants of lands and castles, both in Normandy and in Ireland. On his
return to the latter country, he found that the spoilers had quarrelled
over the spoil. Raymond _le Gros_ contrived to ingratiate himself with
the soldiers, and they demanded that the command should be transferred
from Hervey de Montmarisco, Strongbow's uncle, to the object of their
predilection. The Earl was obliged to comply. Their object was simply to
plunder. The new general gratified them; and after a raid on the
unfortunate inhabitants of Offaly and Munster, they collected their
booty at Lismore, intending to convey it by water to Waterford.
The Ostmen of Cork attacked them by sea, but failed to conquer. By land
the Irish suffered another defeat. Raymond encountered MacCarthy of
Desmond on his way to Cork, and plundered him, driving off a rich cattle
spoil, in addition to his other ill-gotten goods. Raymond now demanded
the appointment of Constable of Leinster, and the hand of Strongbow's
sister, Basilia. But the Earl refused; and the general, notwithstanding
his successes, retired to Wales in disgust.
Hervey now resumed the command, A.D. 1174, and undertook an expedition
against Donnell O'Brien, which proved disastrous to the English. Roderic
once more appears in the field. The battle took place at Thurles, and
seventeen hundred of the English were slain. In consequence of this
disaster, the Earl proceeded in sorrow to his house in Waterford.[298]
This great success was a signal for revolt amongst the native
chieftains. Donald Cavanagh claimed his father's territory, and
Gillamochalmog and other Leinster chieftains rose up against their
allies. Roderic O'Connor at the same time invaded Meath, and drove the
Anglo-Normans from their castles at Trim and Duleek. Strongbow was
obliged to despatch messengers at once to invite the return of Raymond
_le Gros_, and to promise him the office he had demanded, and his
sister's hand in marriage.
Raymond came without a moment's delay, accompanied by a considerable
force. His arrival was most opportune for the English cause. The
Northmen of Waterford were preparing to massacre the invaders, and
effected their purpose when the Earl left the town to join the new
reinforcements at Wexford. The nuptials were celebrated at Wexford with
great pomp; but news was received, on the following morning, that
Roderic had advanced almost to Dublin; and the mantle and tunic of the
nuptial feast were speedily exchanged for helmet and coat-of-mail.[299]
Unfortunately Roderic's army was already disbanded. The English soon
repaired the injuries which had been done to their fortresses; and once
more the Irish cause was lost, even in the moment of victory, for want
of combination and a leader.
Henry now considered it time to produce the Papal Bulls, A.D. 1175. He
therefore despatched the Prior of Wallingford and William FitzAldelm to
Waterford, where a synod of the clergy was assembled to hear these
important documents. The English monarch had contrived to impress the
Holy See with wonderful ideas of his sanctity, by his penitential
expiations of his share in the murder of St. Thomas à Becket. It was
therefore easy for him to procure a confirmation of Adrian's Bull from
the then reigning Pontiff, Alexander III. The Pope also wrote to
Christian, the Legate, to the Irish archbishops, and to the King. Our
historians have not informed us what was the result of this meeting. Had
the Papal donation appeared a matter of national importance, there can
be little doubt that it would have excited more attention.
Raymond now led an army to Limerick, to revenge himself on Donnell
O'Brien, for his defeat at Thurles. He succeeded in his enterprise.
Several engagements followed, in which the Anglo-Normans were always
victorious. Roderic now sent ambassadors to Henry II. The persons chosen
were Catholicus, Archbishop of Tuam; Concors, Abbot of St. Brendan's, in
Clonfert; and St. Laurence O'Toole, styled quaintly, in the old Saxon
manner, "Master Laurence." The King and Council received them at
Windsor. The result of their conference was, that Roderic consented to
pay homage to Henry, by giving him a hide from every tenth head of
cattle; Henry, on his part, bound himself to secure the sovereignty of
Ireland to Roderic, excepting only Dublin, Meath, Leinster, Waterford,
and Dungarvan. In fact, the English King managed to have the best share,
made a favour of resigning what he never possessed, and of not keeping
what he could never have held. This council took place on the octave of
the feast of St. Michael, A.D. 1175. By this treaty Henry was simply
acknowledged as a superior feudal sovereign; and had Ireland been
governed with ordinary justice, the arrangement might have been
advantageous to both countries.
Roderic was still a king, both nominally and _ipso facto_. He had power
to judge and depose the petty kings, and they were to pay their tribute
to him for the English monarch. Any of the Irish who fled from the
territories of the English barons, were to return; but the King of
Connaught might compel his own subjects to remain in his land. Thus the
English simply possessed a colony in Ireland; and this colony, in a few
years, became still more limited, while throughout the rest of the
country the Irish language, laws, and usages, prevailed as they had
hitherto done.
Henry now appointed Augustin, an Irishman, to the vacant see of
Waterford, and sent him, under the care of St. Laurence, to receive
consecration from the Archbishop of Cashel, his metropolitan. For a
century previous to this time, the Bishops of Waterford had been
consecrated by the Norman Archbishops of Canterbury, with whom they
claimed kindred.
St. Gelasius died in 1173, and was succeeded in the see of Armagh by
Connor MacConcoille. This prelate proceeded to Rome very soon after his
consecration, and was supposed to have died there. When the Most Rev.
Dr. Dixon, the late Archbishop of Armagh, was visiting Rome, in 1854, he
ascertained that Connor had died at the Monastery of St. Peter of
Lemene, near Chambery, in 1176, where he fell ill on his homeward
journey. His memory is still honoured there by an annual festival on the
4th of June; another of the many instances that, when the Irish Church
was supposed to be in a state of general disorder, it had still many
holy men to stem and subdue the torrent of evil. We shall find, at a
later period, that several Irish bishops assisted at the Council of
Lateran.
Dermod MacCarthy's son, Cormac, had rebelled against him, and he was
unwise enough to ask Raymond's assistance. As usual, the Norman was
successful; he reinstated the King of Desmond, and received for his
reward a district in Kerry, where his youngest son, Maurice, became the
founder of the family of FitzMaurice, and where his descendants, the
Earls of Lansdowne, still possess immense property.[300] The Irish
princes were again engaging in disgraceful domestic feuds. Roderic now
interfered, and, marching into Munster, expelled Donnell O'Brien from
Thomond.
[Illustration: RAM'S ISLAND, ARMAGH.]
While Raymond was still in Limerick, Strongbow died in Dublin. As it was
of the highest political importance that his death should be concealed
until some one was present to hold the reigns of government, his sister,
Basilia, sent an enigmatical letter[301] to her husband, which certainly
does no small credit to her diplomatic skill. The messengers were not
acquainted with the Earl's death; and such of the Anglo-Normans in
Dublin as were aware of it, had too much prudence to betray the secret.
Raymond at once set out on his journey. Immediately after his arrival,
FitzGislebert, Earl de Clare, was interred in the Cathedral of the Holy
Trinity, now called Christ's Church.
Strongbow has not obtained a flattering character, either from his
friends or his enemies. Even Cambrensis admits that he was obliged to be
guided by the plans of others, having neither originality to suggest,
nor talent to carry out any important line of action.
The Irish annalists call him the greatest destroyer of the clergy and
laity that came to Ireland since the times of Turgesius (Annals of
Innisfallen). The Four Masters record his demise thus: "The English Earl
[_i.e._, Richard] died in Dublin, of an ulcer which had broken out in
his foot, through the miracles of SS. Brigid and Colum-cille, and of all
the other saints whose churches had been destroyed by him. He saw, he
thought, St. Brigid in the act of killing him." Pembridge says he died
on the 1st of May, and Cambrensis about the 1st of June. His personal
appearance is not described in very flattering terms;[302] and he has
the credit of being more of a soldier than a statesman, and not very
knightly in his manner or bearing.
The Earl de Clare left only one child, a daughter, as heir to his vast
estates. She was afterwards married to William Marshal, Earl of
Pembroke. Although Strongbow was a "destroyer" of the native clergy, he
appears to have been impregnated with the mediæval devotion for
establishing religious houses. He founded a priory at Kilmainham for the
Knights of the Temple, with an alms-house and hospital He was also a
liberal benefactor to the Church of the Holy Trinity, where he was
buried.[303]
An impression on green wax of his seal still exists, pendent from a
charter in the possession of the Earl of Ormonde. The seal bears on the
obverse a mounted knight, in a long surcoat, with a triangular shield,
his head covered by a conical helmet, with a nasal. He has a broad,
straight sword in his right hand. A foot soldier, with the legend,
"Sigillum Ricardi, Filii Comitis Gilleberti," is on the reverse. The
last word alone is now legible.
[Illustration: KEIM-AN-EIGH.]
[Illustration: WICKLOW MOUNTAINS.]
FOOTNOTES:
[285] _Irish Brooch_.--The brooch figured above is of great antiquity.
It was found in the Ardkillen crannoge, near Strokestown, county
Roscommon. The original is in the Royal Irish Academy, and is considered
the finest specimen of bronze workmanship in the collection.
[286] _Standing_.--Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 5, note _m_.
[287] _Mills_.--Dame-street derived its name from a dam or mill-stream
near it. There was also the gate of Blessed Mary del Dam. The original
name was preserved until quite recently. In the reign of Charles I. the
Master of the Rolls had a residence here, which is described as being
"in a very wholesome air, with a good orchard and garden leading down to
the water-side."--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. ii. p. 264. In fact, the
residences here were similar to those pleasant places on the Thames,
once the haunts of the nobility of London.
[288] _Peacocks_.--To serve a peacock with its feathers was one of the
grandest exploits of mediæval cookery. It was sown up in its skin after
it had been roasted, when it was allowed to cool a little. The bird then
appeared at the last course as if alive. Cream of almonds was also a
favourite dainty. Indeed, almonds were used in the composition of many
dishes; to use as many and as various ingredients as possible seeming to
be the acme of gastronomy. St. Bernard had already loudly condemned the
_bon vivants_ of the age. His indignation appears to have been
especially excited by the various methods in which eggs were cooked. But
even seculars condemned the excesses of Norman luxuries, and declared
that the knights were loaded with wine instead of steel, and spits
instead of lances.
[289] _Henri-curt-mantel_.--A soubriquet derived from the short mantle
he constantly wore.
[290] _Good_.--Even the infidel Voltaire admitted that the Popes
restrained princes, and protected the people. The Bull _In Coena Domini_
contained an excommunication against those who should levy new taxes
upon their estates, or should increase those already existing beyond the
bounds of right. For further information on this subject, see Balmez,
_European Civilization, passim._ M. Guizot says: "She [the Church] alone
resisted the system of castes; she alone maintained the principle of
equality of competition; she alone called all legitimate superiors to
the possession of power."--_Hist. Gen. de la Civilization en Europe_,
Lect. 5.
[291] _Grounds_.--De Maistre and Fénélon both agree in grounding this
power on constitutional right; but the former also admitted a divine
right.--De Maistre, _Du Pape_, lib. ii. p. 387.
[292] _Grant_.--See M. Gosselin's _Power of the Popes during the
Middle Ages_, for further information on this subject.
[293] _Writer_.--_Ireland, Historical and Statistical_.
[294] _Bull_.--There can be no reasonable doubt of the authenticity of
this document. Baronius published it from the _Codex Vaticanus_; John
XXII. has annexed it to his brief addresed to Edward II.; and John of
Salisbury states distinctly, in his _Metalogicus_, that he obtained this
Bull from Adrian. He grounds the right of donation on the supposed gift
of the island by Constantine. As the question is one of interest and
importance, we subjoin the original: "Ad preces meas illustri Regi
Anglorum Henrico II. concessit (Adrianus) et dedit Hiberniam jure
hæreditario possidendam, sicut literae ipsius testantur in hodiernum
diem. Nam omnes insulæ de jure antiquo ex donatione Constantini,
qui eam fundavit et dotavit, dicuntur ad Romanam Ecclesiam
pertinere."--_Metalogicus_, i. 4.
[295] _Friends.--Hib. Expug_. lib. ii. c. 38.
[296] _Hugh de Lacy_.--In a charter executed at Waterford, Henry had
styled this nobleman "Bailli," a Norman term for a representative of
royalty. The territory bestowed on him covered 800,000 acres. This was
something like wholesale plunder.
[297] _Building_.--This was the Danish fortress of Dublin, which
occupied the greater part of the hill on which the present Castle of
Dublin stands. See _note,_ Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 5. The Annals say
this was a "spectacle of intense pity to the Irish." It certainly could
not have tended to increase their devotion to English rule.
[298] _Waterford_.--The English and Irish accounts of this affair differ
widely. The Annals of Innisfallen make the number of slain to be only
seven hundred. MacGeoghegan agrees with the Four Masters.
[299] _Coat-of-mail_.--Costly mantles were then fashionable. Strutt
informs us that Henry I. had a mantle of fine cloth, lined with black
sable, which cost £100 of the money of the time--about £1,500 of our
money. Fairholt gives an illustration of the armour of the time
(_History of Costume_, p. 74). It was either tegulated or formed of
chains in rings. The nasal appendage to the helmet was soon after
discarded, probably from the inconvenient hold it afforded the enemy of
the wearer in battle. Face-guards were invented soon after.
[300] _Property_.--Maurice FitzGerald died at Wexford in 1179. He is the
common ancestor of the Earls of Desmond and Kildare, the Knights of
Glynn, of Kerry, and of all the Irish Geraldines.
[301] _Letter_.--"To Raymond, her most loving lord and husband, his own
Basilia wishes health as to herself. Know you, my dear lord, that the
great tooth in my jaw, which was wont to ache so much, is now fallen
out; wherefore, if you have any love or regard for me, or of yourself,
you will delay not to hasten hither with all speed."--Gilbert's
_Viceroys_, p. 40. It is said that this letter was read for Raymond by a
cleric of his train, so it is presumable that reading and writing were
not made a part of his education.
[302] _Terms_.--_Hib. Expug._ lib. i. cap. 27.
[303] _Buried_.--The early history of this church is involved in much
obscurity. It probably owes its origin to the Danes. Cambrensis gives
some interesting details about it, and mentions several miraculous
occurrences which caused it to be held in great veneration in his days.
He specially mentions the case of a young man in the train of Raymond
_le Gros_, who had robbed him of his greaves, and who had taken a false
oath before the cross of that church to clear himself. After a short
absence in England he was compelled to return and confess his guilt, "as
he felt the weight of the cross continually oppressing him." Strongbow's
effigy was broken in 1562, but it was repaired in 1570, by Sir Henry
Sidney. Until the middle of the last century, the Earl's tomb was a
regularly appointed place for the payment of bonds, rents, and bills of
exchange. A recumbent statue by his side is supposed to represent his
son, whom he is said to have cut in two with his sword, for cowardice in
flying from an engagement. A writer of the seventeenth century, however,
corrects this error, and says that "Strongbow did no more than run his
son through the belly, as appears by the monument and the
chronicle."--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. i. p. 113.
CHAPTER XVIII.
FitzAldelm appointed Viceroy--De Courcy in Ulster--Arrival of Cardinal
Vivian--Henry II. confers the Title of King of Ireland on his son
John--Irish Bishops at the Council of Lateran--Death of St. Laurence
O'Toole--Henry's Rapacity--John Comyn appointed Archbishop of
Dublin--John's Visit to Ireland--Insolence of his Courtiers--De Lacy's
Death--Death of Henry II.--Accession of Richard I.--An English
Archbishop tries to obtain Justice for Ireland--John succeeds to the
Crown--Cathal Crovderg--Massacres in Connaught--De Courcy's Disgrace and
Downfall--His Death.
[A.D. 1176-1201.]
News of the Earl's death soon reached Henry II., who was then holding
his court at Valognes, in Normandy. He at once nominated his Seneschal,
FitzAldelm de Burgo, Viceroy of Ireland, A.D. 1176. The new governor was
accompanied by John de Courcy, Robert FitzEstevene, and Miles de Cogan.
Raymond had assumed the reins of government after the death of
Strongbow, but Henry appears always to have regarded him with jealousy,
and gladly availed himself of every opportunity of lessening the power
of one who stood so high in favour with the army. The Viceroy was
received at Wexford by Raymond, who prudently made a merit of necessity,
and resigned his charge. It is said that FitzAldelm was much struck by
his retinue and numerous attendants, all of whom belonged to the same
family; and that he then and there vowed to effect their ruin. From this
moment is dated the distrust so frequently manifested by the English
Government towards the powerful and popular Geraldines.
The new Viceroy was not a favourite with the Anglo-Norman colonists. He
was openly accused of partiality to the Irish, because he attempted to
demand justice for them. It is not known whether this policy was the
result of his own judgment, or a compliance with the wishes of his royal
master. His conciliatory conduct, whatever may have been its motive, was
unhappily counteracted by the violence of De Courcy. This nobleman
asserted that he had obtained a grant of Ulster from Henry II., on what
grounds it would be indeed difficult to ascertain. He proceeded to make
good his claim; and, in defiance of the Viceroy's prohibition, set out
for the north, with a small army of chosen knights and soldiers. His
friend, Sir Almaric Tristram de Saint Lawrence, was of the number. He
was De Courcy's brother-in-law, and they had made vows of eternal
friendship in the famous Cathedral of Rouen. De Courcy is described as a
man of extraordinary physical strength, of large proportions, shamefully
penurious, rashly impetuous, and, despite a fair share in the vices of
the age, full of reverence for the clergy, at least if they belonged to
his own race. Cambrensis gives a glowing description of his valour, and
says that "any one who had seen Jean de Courci wield his sword, lopping
off heads and arms, might well have commended the might of this
warrior."[304]
De Courcy arrived in Downpatrick in four days. The inhabitants were
taken by surprise; and the sound of his bugles at daybreak was the first
intimation they received of their danger. Cardinal Vivian, who had come
as Legate from Alexander III., had but just arrived at the spot. He did
his best to promote peace. But neither party would yield; and as the
demands of the Norman knights were perfectly unreasonable, Vivian
advised Dunlevy, the chieftain of Ulidia, to have recourse to arms. A
sharp conflict ensued, in which the English gained the victory,
principally through the personal bravery of their leader. This battle
was fought about the beginning of February; another engagement took
place on the 24th of June, in which the northerns were again
defeated.[305]
Cardinal Vivian now proceeded to Dublin, where he held a synod. The
principal enactment referred to the right of sanctuary. During the
Anglo-Norman wars, the Irish had secured their provisions in the
churches; and it is said that, in order to starve out the enemy, they
even refused to sell at any price. It was now decreed that sanctuary
might be violated to obtain food; but a fair price was to be paid for
whatever was taken. It is to be feared these conditions were seldom
complied with. The Abbey of St. Thomas the Martyr was founded in Dublin
about this time, by FitzAldelm, at the command of Henry II., one of his
many acts of reparation. The site was the place now called Thomas Court.
The Viceroy endowed it with a carnucate of land, in the presence of the
Legate and St. Laurence O'Toole. After the settlement of these affairs,
Cardinal Vivian passed over to Chester, on his way to Scotland.
One of Roderic O'Connor's sons, Murrough, having rebelled against him,
Miles de Cogan went to his assistance,--a direct and flagrant violation
of the treaty of Windsor. At Roscommon the English were joined by the
unnatural rebel, who guided them through the province. The King was in
Iar-Connaught, and the allies burned and plundered without mercy, as
they passed along to Trim. Here they remained three nights; but as the
people had fled with their cattle and other moveable property into the
fastnesses, they had not been able to procure any spoil on their march.
Roderic soon appeared to give them battle; but they were defeated
without considerable loss. Murrough was taken prisoner by his father,
and his eyes were put out as a punishment for his rebellion, and to
prevent a repetition of his treachery.
Another violation of the treaty of Windsor was also perpetrated this
year, A.D. 1177. Henry II. summoned a council of his prelates and barons
at Oxford, and solemnly conferred the title of King of Ireland on his
youngest son, John, then a mere child. A new grant of Meath to Hugh de
Lacy was made immediately after, in the joint names of Henry II. and
John. Desmond was also granted to Miles de Cogan, with the exception of
the city of Cork, which the King reserved to himself. Thomond was
offered to two English nobles, who declined the tempting but dangerous
favour. It was then presented to Philip de Bresosa; but though the
knight was no coward, he fled precipitately, when he discovered, on
coming in sight of Limerick, that the inhabitants had set it on fire, so
determined was their resistance to foreign rule. The territory of
Waterford was granted to Roger le Poer; but, as usual, the city was
reserved for the royal benefit. In fact, Sir John Davies well observed,
that "all Ireland was by Henry II. cantonized among ten of the English
nation; and though they did not gain possession of one-third of the
kingdom, yet in title they were owners and lords of all, as nothing was
left to be granted to the natives." He might have said with greater
truth, that the natives were deprived of everything, as far as it was
possible to do so, by those who had not the slightest right or title to
their lands.
Meanwhile De Courcy was plundering the northern provinces. His wife,
Affreca, was a daughter of Godfrey, King of Man, so that he could secure
assistance by sea as well as by land. But the tide of fortune was not
always in his favour. After he had plundered in Louth, he was attacked,
in the vale of Newry[306] river, by O'Carroll of Oriel and Dunlevy of
Ulidia. On this occasion he lost four hundred men, many of whom were
drowned. Soon after he suffered another defeat in Antrim, from O'Flynn.
The Four Masters say he fled to Dublin; Dr. O'Donovan thinks that we
should read Downpatrick. The latter part of the name cannot be correctly
ascertained, as the paper is worn away.
The Irish were, as usual, engaged in domestic dissensions, and the
English acted as allies on whichever side promised to be most
advantageous to themselves. The Annals record a great "windstorm" during
this year, which prostrated oaks, especially at Derry-Columcille, which
was famous for its forest. They also record the drying up of the river
Galliv (Galway), "for a period of a natural day. All the articles that
had been lost in it from the remotest times, as well as its fish, were
collected by the inhabitants of the fortress, and by the people of the
country in general."[307]
In 1179 Henry gave the office of Viceroy to De Lacy, and recalled
FitzAldelm. The new governor employed himself actively in erecting
castles and oppressing the unfortunate Irish. Cambrensis observes, that
he "amply enriched himself and his followers by oppressing others with a
strong hand." Yet he seems to have had some degree of popularity, even
with the native Irish, for he married a daughter of Roderic O'Connor as
his second wife. This alliance, for which he had not asked permission,
and his popularity, excited the jealousy of the English King, who
deprived him of his office. But he was soon reinstated, although the
Bishop of Shrewsbury, with the name of counsellor, was set as a spy on
his actions. These events occurred A.D. 1181. De Lacy's old companion,
Hervey de Montmarisco, became a monk at Canterbury, after founding the
Cistercian Monastery of Dunbrody, in the county of Wexford. He died in
this house, in his seventy-fifth year.
In 1179 several Irish bishops were summoned by Alexander III. to attend
the third General Council of Lateran. These prelates were, St. Laurence
of Dublin, O'Duffy of Tuam, O'Brien of Killaloe, Felix of Lismore,
Augustine of Waterford, and Brictius of Limerick. Usher says[308]
several other bishops were summoned; it is probable they were unable to
leave the country, and hence their names have not been given. The real
state of the Irish Church was then made known to the Holy See; no living
man could have described it more accurately and truthfully than the
sainted prelate who had sacrificed himself for so many years for its
good. Even as the bishops passed through England, the royal jealousy
sought to fetter them with new restrictions; and they were obliged to
take an oath that they would not sanction any infringements on Henry's
prerogatives. St. Malachy was now appointed Legate by the Pope, with
jurisdiction over the five suffragans, and the possessions attached to
his see were confirmed to him. As the Bull was directed to Ireland, it
would appear that he returned there; but his stay was brief, and the
interval was occupied in endeavouring to repress the vices of the
Anglo-Norman and Welsh clergy, many of whom were doing serious injury to
the Irish Church by their immoral and dissolute lives.[309]
Henry now became jealous of the Archbishop, and perhaps was not
overpleased at his efforts to reform these ecclesiastics. Roderic
O'Connor had asked St. Laurence to undertake a mission on his behalf to
the English court; but the King refused to listen to him, and forbid him
to return to Ireland. After a few weeks' residence at the Monastery of
Abingdon, in Berkshire, the saint set out for France. He fell ill on his
journey, in a religious house at Eu, where his remains are still
preserved. When on his deathbed, the monks asked him to make his will;
but he exclaimed, "God knows that out of all my revenues I have not a
single coin to bequeath." With the humility of true sanctity, he was
heard frequently calling on God for mercy, and using the words of the
Psalmist, so familiar to ecclesiastics, from their constant perusal of
the Holy Scriptures. As he was near his end, he was heard exclaiming, in
his own beautiful mother-tongue: "Foolish people, what will become of
you? Who will relieve you? Who will heal you?" And well might his
paternal heart ache for those who were soon to be left doubly orphans,
and for the beloved nation whose sorrows he had so often striven to
alleviate.
St. Laurence went to his eternal reward on the 14th of November, 1180.
He died on the _feria sexta_ at midnight.[310] His obsequies were
celebrated with great pomp and solemnity, and attended by the Scotch
Legate, Alexis, an immense concourse of clergy, and many knights and
nobles. His remains were exposed for some days in the Church of Notre
Dame, at Eu.
Henry immediately despatched his chaplain, Geoffrey de la Haye, to
Ireland, not with a royal message of consolation for the national
calamity, but to sequester the revenues of the archiepiscopal see of
Dublin. He took care to possess himself of them for a year before he
would consent to name a successor to the deceased prelate. St. Laurence
had happily left no funds in store for the royal rapacity; the orphan
and the destitute had been his bankers. During a year of famine he is
said to have relieved five hundred persons daily; he also established an
orphanage, where a number of poor children were clothed and educated.
The Annals of the Four Masters say he suffered martyrdom in England. The
mistake arose in consequence of an attempt having been made on his life
there by a fanatic, which happily did not prove fatal.[311]
The Archbishop of Dublin became an important functionary from this
period. Henry obtained the election of John Comyn to this dignity, at
the Monastery of Evesham, in Worcester, and the King granted the
archiepiscopal estates to him "in barony," by which tenure he and his
successors in the see were constituted parliamentary barons, and
entitled to sit in the councils, and hold court in their lordships and
manors. Comyn, after his election by the clergy of Dublin, proceeded to
Rome, where he was ordained priest, and subsequently to Veletri, where
Pope Lucius III. consecrated him archbishop. He then came to Dublin,
A.D. 1184, where preparations were making for the reception of Henry's
son, John, who, it will be remembered, he had appointed King of Ireland
when a mere child.
In 1183 the unfortunate Irish monarch, Roderic, had retired to the Abbey
of Cong, and left such empty titles as he possessed to his son, Connor.
De Lacy and De Courcy had occupied themselves alternately in plundering
and destroying the religious houses which had so long existed, and in
founding new monasteries with a portion of their ill-gotten gains. It
would appear that De Lacy built so far on his popularity with the
Anglo-Normans, as to have aspired to the sovereignty of Ireland,--an
aspiration which his master soon discovered, and speedily punished. He
was supplanted by Philip of Worcester, who excelled all his predecessors
in rapacity and cruelty. Not satisfied with the miseries inflicted on
Ulster by De Courcy, he levied contributions there by force of arms. One
of his companions, Hugh Tyrrell, who "remained at Armagh, with his
Englishmen, during six days and nights, in the middle of Lent,"
signalized himself by carrying off the property of the clergy of Armagh.
Amongst other things, he possessed himself of a brewing-pan, which he
was obliged to abandon on his way, he met so many calamities, which were
naturally attributed to his sacrilegious conduct.[312]
John was now preparing for his visit to Ireland, and his singularly
unfelicitous attempt at royalty. It would appear that the Prince wished
to decline the honour and the expedition; for, as he was on the eve of
his departure, Eraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, arrived in England, to
enjoin the fulfilment of the King's vow to undertake a crusade to
Palestine. As Henry had got out of his difficulties, he declined to
fulfil his solemn engagement, and refused permission to his son, John,
who threw himself at his father's feet, and implored leave to be his
substitute. Eraclius then poured forth his indignation upon Henry, with
all the energetic freedom of the age. He informed him that God would
punish his impieties--that he was worse than any Saracen; and hinted
that he might have inherited his wickedness from his grandmother, the
Countess of Anjou, who was reported to be a witch, and of whom it was
said that she had flown through the window during the most solemn part
of Mass, though four squires attempted to hold her.
John sailed from Milford Haven on the evening of Easter Wednesday, 1185.
He landed with his troops at Waterford, at noon, on the following day.
His retinue is described as of unusual splendour, and, no doubt, was
specially appointed to impress the "barbarous" Irish. Gerald Barry, the
famous Cambrensis, who had arrived in Ireland some little time before,
was appointed his tutor, in conjunction with Ranulf de Glanville. The
bitter prejudice of the former against Ireland and the Irish is a matter
of history, as well as the indefatigable zeal of the latter in pursuit
of his own interests at the expense of justice.
A retinue of profligate Normans completed the court, whom an English
authority describes as "great quaffers, lourdens, proud, belly swains,
fed with extortion and bribery." The Irish were looked upon by these
worthies as a savage race, only created to be plundered and scoffed at.
The Normans prided themselves on their style of dress, and, no doubt,
the Irish costume surprised them. Common prudence, however, might have
taught them, when the Leinster chieftains came to pay their respects to
the young Prince, that they should not add insult to injury; for, not
content with open ridicule, they proceeded to pull the beards of the
chieftains, and to gibe their method of wearing their hair.
De Lacy has the credit of having done his utmost to render the Prince's
visit a failure. But his efforts were not necessary. The insolence of
the courtiers, and the folly of the youth himself, were quite sufficient
to ruin more promising prospects. In addition to other outrages, the
Irish had seen their few remaining estates bestowed on the new comers;
and even the older Anglo-Norman and Welsh settlers were expelled to make
room for the Prince's favourites--an instalment of the fatal policy
which made them eventually "more Irish than the Irish." When the colony
was on the verge of ruin, the young Prince returned to England. He threw
the blame of his failure on Hugh de Lacy; but the Norman knight did not
live long enough after to suffer from the accusation.[313] De Lacy was
killed while inspecting a castle which he had just built on the site of
St. Columbkille's Monastery at Durrow, in the Queen's county. He was
accompanied by three Englishmen; as he was in the act of stooping, a
youth of an ancient and noble family, named O'Meyey, gave him his
deathblow, severed his head from his body, and then fled with such
swiftness as to elude pursuit. It is said that he was instigated to
perform this deed by Sumagh O'Caharnay (the Fox), with whom he now took
refuge.
The Annals mention this as a "revenge of Colum-cille,"[314] they also
say that "all Meath was full of his English castles, from the Shannon to
the sea." Henry at once appointed his son, John, to the Irish
Viceroyalty, but domestic troubles prevented his plans from being
carried out. Archbishop Comyn held a synod in Dublin during this year,
1187; and on the 9th of June the relics of SS. Patrick, Columba, and
Brigid were discovered, and solemnly entombed anew under the direction
of Cardinal Vivian, who came to Ireland to perform this function. During
the year 1188 the Irish continued their usual fatal and miserable
dissensions; still they contrived to beat the common enemy, and
O'Muldony drove De Courcy and his troops from Ballysadare. He was again
attacked in crossing the Curlieu Mountains, and escaped to Leinster with
considerable loss and difficulty.
In 1189 Henry II. died at Chinon, in Normandy. He expired launching
anathemas against his sons, and especially against John, as he had just
discovered that he had joined those who conspired against him. In his
last moments he was stripped of his garments and jewels, and left naked
and neglected.
Richard I., who succeeded to the throne, was too much occupied about
foreign affairs to attend to his own kingdom. He was a brave soldier,
and as such merits our respect; but he can scarcely be credited as a
wise king. Irish affairs were committed to the care of John, who does
not appear to have profited by his former experience. He appointed Hugh
de Lacy Lord Justice, to the no small disgust of John de Courcy; but it
was little matter to whom the government of that unfortunate country was
confided. There were nice distinctions made about titles; for John, even
when King of England, did not attempt to write himself King of
Ireland.[315] But there were no nice distinctions about property; for
the rule seemed to be, that whoever could get it should have it, and
whoever could keep it should possess it.
In 1189 Roderic's son, Connor Moinmoy, fell a victim to a conspiracy of
his own chieftains,--a just retribution for his rebellion against his
father. He had, however, the reputation of being brave and generous. At
his death Connaught was once more plunged in civil war, and after some
delay and difficulty Roderic resumed the government.
In 1192 the brave King of Thomond again attacked the English invaders.
But after his death, in 1194, the Anglo-Normans had little to apprehend
from native valour. His obituary is thus recorded: "Donnell, son of
Turlough O'Brien, King of Munster, a burning lamp in peace and war, and
the brilliant star of the hospitality and valour of the Momonians, and
of all Leth-Mogha, died." Several other "lamps" went out about the same
time; one of these was Crunce O'Flynn, who had defeated De Courcy in
1178, and O'Carroll, Prince of Oriel, who had been hanged by the English
the year before, after the very unnecessary cruelty of putting out his
eyes.
The affairs of the English colony were not more prosperous. New Lords
Justices followed each other in quick succession. One of these
governors, Hamon de Valois, attempted to replenish his coffers from
church property,--a proceeding which provoked the English Archbishop
Comyn. As this ecclesiastic failed to obtain redress in Ireland, he
proceeded to England with his complaints; but he soon learned that
justice could not be expected for Ireland. The difference between the
conduct of ecclesiastics, who have no family but the Church, and no
interests but the interests of religion, is very observable in all
history. While English and Norman soldiers were recklessly destroying
church property and domestic habitations in the country they had
invaded, we find, with few exceptions, that the ecclesiastic, of
whatever nation, is the friend and father of the people, wherever his
lot may be cast. The English Archbishop resented the wrongs of the Irish
Church as personal injuries, and devoted himself to its advancement as a
personal interest. We are indebted to Archbishop Comyn for building St.
Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, as well as for his steady efforts to
promote the welfare of the nation. After an appeal in person to King
Richard and Prince John, he was placed in confinement in Normandy, and
was only released by the interference of the Holy See; Innocent III.,
who had probably by this time discovered that the English monarchs were
not exactly the persons to reform the Irish nation, having addressed a
letter from Perugia to the Earl of Montague (Prince John), reprimanding
him for detaining "his venerable brother, the Archbishop of Dublin," in
exile, and requiring him to repair the injuries done by his Viceroy,
Hamon de Valois, on the clergy of Leighlin. The said Hamon appears to
have meddled with other property besides that belonging to the Church--a
more unpardonable offence, it is to be feared, in the eyes of his
master. On returning from office after two years viceroyalty, he was
obliged to pay a thousand marks to obtain an acquittance from his
accounts.[316]
John ascended the English throne in 1199. He appointed Meiller
FitzHenri[317] Governor of Ireland. It has been conjectured that if John
had not obtained the sovereignty, he and his descendants might have
claimed the "Lordship of Ireland." There can be no doubt that he and
they might have claimed it; but whether they could have held it is quite
another consideration. It is generally worse than useless to speculate
on what might have been. In this case, however, we may decide with
positive certainty, that no such condition of things could have
continued long. The English kings would have looked with jealousy even
on the descendants of their ancestors, if they kept possession of the
island; and the descendants would have become, as invariably happened,
_Hibernicis ipsis Hibernior_, and therefore would have shared the fate
of the "common enemy."
Meanwhile the O'Connors were fighting in Kerry. Cathal Carragh obtained
the services of FitzAldelm, and expelled Cathal Crovderg. He, in his
turn, sought the assistance of Hugh O'Neill, who had been distinguishing
himself by his valour against De Courcy and the English. They marched
into Connaught, but were obliged to retreat with great loss. The exiled
Prince now sought English assistance, and easily prevailed on De Courcy
and young De Lacy to help him. But misfortune still followed him. His
army was again defeated; and as they fled to the peninsula of Rindown,
on Lough Ree, they were so closely hemmed in, that no way of escape
remained, except to cross the lake in boats. In attempting to do this a
great number were drowned. The Annals of Kilronan and Clonmacnois enter
these events under the year 1200; the Four Masters under the year 1199.
The former state that "Cahall Carragh was taken deceitfully by the
English of Meath," and imprisoned until he paid a ransom; and that De
Courcy, "after slaying of his people," returned to Ulster.
Cathal Crovderg now obtained the assistance of the Lord Justice, who
plundered Clonmacnois. He also purchased the services of FitzAldelm, and
thus deprived his adversary of his best support. The English, like the
mercenary troops of Switzerland and the Netherlands, appear to have
changed sides with equal alacrity, when it suited their convenience; and
so as they were well paid, it mattered little to them against whom they
turned their arms. In 1201 Cathal Crovderg marched from Limerick to
Roscommon, with his new ally and the sons of Donnell O'Brien and
Florence MacCarthy. They took up their quarters at Boyle, and occupied
themselves in wantonly desecrating the abbey. Meanwhile Cathal Carragh,
King of Connaught, had assembled his forces, and came to give them
battle. Some skirmishes ensued, in which he was slain, and thus the
affair was ended. FitzAldelm, or De Burgo, as he is more generally
called now, assisted by O'Flaherty of West Connaught, turned against
Cathal when they arrived at Cong to spend the Easter. It would appear
that the English were billeted on the Irish throughout the country; and
when De Burgo demanded wages for them, the Connacians rushed upon them,
and slew six hundred men. For once his rapacity was foiled, and he
marched off to Munster with such of his soldiers as had escaped the
massacre. Three years after he revenged himself by plundering the whole
of Connaught, lay and ecclesiastical.
During this period Ulster was also desolated by civil war. Hugh O'Neill
was deposed, and Connor O'Loughlin obtained rule; but the former was
restored after a few years.
John de Courcy appears always to have been regarded with jealousy by the
English court. His downfall was at hand, A.D. 1204; and to add to its
bitterness, his old enemies, the De Lacys, were chosen to be the
instruments of his disgrace. It is said that he had given mortal offence
to John, by speaking openly of him as a usurper and the murderer of his
nephew; but even had he not been guilty of this imprudence, the state he
kept, and the large tract of country which he held, was cause enough for
his ruin. He had established himself at Downpatrick, and was surrounded
in almost regal state by a staff of officers, including his constable,
seneschal, and chamberlain; he even coined money in his own name.
Complaints of his exactions were carried to the King. The De Lacys
accused him of disloyalty. In 1202 the then Viceroy, Hugh de Lacy,
attempted to seize him treacherously, at a friendly meeting. He failed
to accomplish this base design; but his brother, Walter, succeeded
afterwards in a similar attempt, and De Courcy was kept in durance until
the devastations which his followers committed in revenge obliged his
enemies to release him.
In 1204 he defeated the Viceroy in a battle at Down. He was aided in
this by the O'Neills, and by soldiers from Man and the Isles. It will be
remembered that he could always claim assistance from the latter, in
consequence of his connexion by marriage. But this did not avail him. He
was summoned before the Council in Dublin, and some of his possessions
were forfeited. Later in the same year (A.D. 1204) he received a safe
conduct to proceed to the King. It is probable that he was confined in
the Tower of London for some time; but it is now certain that he
revisited Ireland in 1210, if not earlier, in the service of John, who
granted him an annual pension.[318] It is supposed that he died about
1219; for in that year Henry III. ordered his widow, Affreca, to be paid
her dower out of the lands which her late husband had possessed in
Ireland.
Cambrensis states that De Courcy had no children; but the Barons of
Kinsale claim to be descended from him; and even so late as 1821 they
exercised the privilege of appearing covered before George IV.--a favour
said to have been granted to De Courcy by King John, after his recall
from Ireland, as a reward for his prowess. Dr. Smith states, in his
_History of Cork_, that Miles de Courcy was a hostage for his father
during the time when he was permitted to leave the Tower to fight the
French champion. In a pedigree of the MacCarthys of Cooraun Lough,
county Kerry, a daughter of Sir John de Courcy is mentioned. The Irish
annalists, as may be supposed, were not slow to attribute his downfall
to his crimes.
Another English settler died about this period, and received an equal
share of reprobation; this was FitzAldelm, more commonly known as Mac
William Burke (De Burgo), and the ancestor of the Burke family in
Ireland. Cambrensis describes him as a man addicted to many vices. The
Four Masters declare that "God and the saints took vengeance on him; for
he died of a shameful disease." It could scarcely be expected that one
who had treated the Irish with such unvarying cruelty, could obtain a
better character, or a more pleasing obituary. Of his miserable end,
without "shrive or unction," there appears to be no doubt.
[Illustration: STALACTITE CAVE, TIPPERARY.]
[Illustration: KING JOHN'S CASTLE, LIMERICK.]
FOOTNOTES:
[304] _Warrior.--Hib. Expug._ lib. ii. cap. 17.
[305] _Defeated_.--Giraldus gives a detailed account of these
affairs.--_Hib. Expug._ lib. ii. cap. 17. He says the Irish forces under
Dunlevy amounted to ten thousand warriors; but this statement cannot at
all be credited. De Courcy took advantage of some old Irish prophecies
to further his cause. They were attributed to St. Columbkille, and to
the effect that a foreigner who would ride upon a white horse, and have
little birds painted on his shield, should conquer the country. De
Courcy did ride upon a white horse, and the birds were a part of his
armorial bearings.
[306] _Newry_.--See an interesting note to the Annals (Four Masters),
vol. iii. p. 40, which identifies the valley of Glenree with the vale of
Newry. In an ancient map, the Newry river is called _Owen Glenree
fluvius_.
[307] _General_.--This is mentioned also by O'Flaherty, who quotes from
some other annals. See his account of Iar-Connaught, printed for the
Archæological Society.
[308] _Says_.--_Sylloge_, ep. 48.
[309] _Lives_.--We give authority for this statement, as it manifests
how completely the Holy See was deceived in supposing that any reform
was likely to be effected in Ireland by English interference: "Ita ut
quodam tempore (quod dictu mirum est) centum et quadraginta presby.
incontinentiæ convictos Romani miserit absolvendos."--Surius, t. vi. St.
Laurence had faculties for absolving these persons, but for some
reason--probably as a greater punishment--he sent them to Rome. English
writers at this period also complain of the relaxed state of
ecclesiastical discipline in that country. How completely all such evils
were eradicated by the faithful sons of the Church, and the exertions of
ecclesiastical superiors, is manifest from the fact, that no such
charges could be brought against even a single priest at the time of the
so-called Reformation.
[310] _Midnight_.--"Itaque cum sextæ feriæ terminus advenisset, in
confinio sabbati subsequentis Spiritum Sancti viri requies æterna
suscepit."--_Vita S. Laurentii_, cap. xxxiii. The saint's memory is
still honoured at Eu. The church has been lately restored, and there is
a little oratory on the hill near it to mark the spot where he
exclaimed, _Hoec est requies mea_, as he approached the town where he
knew he should die. Dr. Kelly (_Cambrensis Eversus_, vol. ii. p. 648)
mentions in a note that the names of several Irishmen were inscribed
there.
[311] _Fatal_.--Dr. O'Donovan gives a long and most interesting note on
the genealogy of St. Laurence O'Toole, in which he shows that his father
was a chieftain of an important territory in the county Kildare, and
that he was not a Wicklow prince, as has been incorrectly asserted. The
family removed there after the death of St. Laurence, when they were
driven from their property by an English adventurer.
[312] _Conduct_.--This is mentioned even by Cox, who, Dr. O'Donovan
observes, was always anxious to hide the faults of the English, and
vilify the Irish. He calls Hugh Tyrrell "a man of ill report," and says
he returned to Dublin "loaden both with curses and extortions."--_Hib.
Angl._ p. 38, ad an. 1184.
[313] _Accusation_.--There can be no doubt that De Lacy had ambitious
designs. See Cambrensis, _Hib. Expug._ lib. ii. cap. 20. Henry II. heard
of his death with considerable satisfaction.
[314] _Colum-cille_.--Dr. O'Donovan remarks that a similar disaster
befell Lord Norbury. He was also assassinated by a hand still unknown,
after having erected a castle on the same _site_ as that of De Lacy, and
preventing the burial of the dead in the ancient cemetery of Durrow.
[315] _King of Ireland_.--During the reign of Richard all the public
affairs of the Anglo-Norman colony were transacted in the name of "John,
Lord of Ireland, Earl of Montague." Palgrave observes that John never
claimed to be King of the Irish; like Edward, who wrote himself Lord of
Scotland, and acknowledged Baliol to be King of the Scots.
[316] _Accounts_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 58.
[317] _FitzHenri_.--His father was an illegitimate son of Henry I. When
a mere youth, FitzHenri came to Ireland with the Geraldines, and
obtained large possessions.
[318] _Pension_.--One hundred pounds per annum. Orders concerning it are
still extant on the Close Rolls of England.--_Rol. Lit. Clau._ 1833,
144. It is curious, and should be carefully noted, how constantly proofs
are appearing that the Irish bards and chroniclers, from the earliest to
the latest period, were most careful as to the truth of their facts,
though they may have sometimes coloured them highly. Dr. O'Donovan has
devoted some pages in a note (Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 139) to the
tales in the Book of Howth which record the exploits of De Courcy. He
appears satisfied that they were "invented in the fifteenth or sixteenth
century." Mr. Gilbert has ascertained that they were placed on record as
early as 1360, in Pembridge's Annals. As they are merely accounts of
personal valour, we do not reproduce them here. He also gives an extract
from Hoveden's Annals, pars port, p. 823, which further supports the
Irish account. Rapin gives the narrative as history. Indeed, there
appears nothing very improbable about it. The Howth family were founded
by Sir Almaric St. Lawrence, who married De Courcy's sister.
CHAPTER XIX.
Quarrels of the English Barons--The Interdict--John crushes and starves
an Archdeacon to Death--King John's Visit to Ireland--He starves the
Wife and Son of Earl de Braose to Death--Henry de Londres--The Poet
O'Daly--Obituaries of Good Men--Henry III.--Regulations about the
Viceroy--The Scorch Villain--Scandalous Conduct of the Viceroys--Three
Claimants for Connaught--Death of Hugh Crovderg--Felim
O'Connor--Henry's Foreign Advisers--Plots against the Earl of
Pembroke--He is wounded treacherously--His Pious Death--Misfortunes of
the Early Settlers--De Marisco's Son is hanged for High Treason, and he
dies miserably in Exile.
[A.D. 1201-1244.]
King John was now obliged to interfere between his English barons in
Ireland, who appear to have been quite as much occupied with feuds among
themselves as the native princes. In 1201 Philip of Worcester and
William de Braose laid waste the greater part of Munster in their
quarrels. John had sold the lands of the former and of Theobald Walter
to the latter, for four thousand marks--Walter redeemed his property for
five hundred marks; Philip obtained his at the point of the sword. De
Braose had large property both in Normandy and in England. He had his
chancellor, chancery, and seal, recognizances of all pleas, not even
excepting those of the crown, with judgment of life and limb. His sons
and daughters had married into powerful families. His wife, Matilda, was
notable in domestic affairs, and a vigorous oppressor of the Welsh. A
bloody war was waged about the same time between De Lacy, De Marisco,
and the Lord Justice. Cathal Crovderg and O'Brien aided the latter in
besieging Limerick, while some of the English fortified themselves in
their castles and plundered indiscrimately.
In 1205 the Earldom of Ulster was granted to Hugh de Lacy. The grant is
inscribed on the charter roll of the seventh year of King John, and is
the earliest record now extant of the creation of an Anglo-Norman
dignity in Ireland. England was placed under an interdict in 1207, in
consequence of the violence and wickedness of its sovereign. He procured
the election of John de Grey to the see of Canterbury, a royal
favourite, and, if only for this reason, unworthy of the office. Another
party who had a share in the election chose Reginald, the Sub-Prior of
the monks of Canterbury. But when the choice was submitted to Pope
Innocent III., he rejected both candidates, and fixed on an English
Cardinal, Stephen Langton, who was at once elected, and received
consecration from the Pope himself. John was highly indignant, as might
be expected. He swore his favourite oath, "by God's teeth," that he
would cut off the noses and pluck out the eyes of any priest who
attempted to carry the Pope's decrees against him into England. But some
of the bishops, true to their God and the Church, promulgated the
interdict, and then fled to France to escape the royal vengeance. It was
well for them they did so; for Geoffrey, Archdeacon of Norwich, was
seized, and enveloped, by the royal order, in a sacerdotal vestment of
massive lead, and thus thrown into prison, where he was starved to death
beneath the crushing weight. We sometimes hear of the cruelties of the
Inquisition, of the barbarity of the Irish, of the tyranny of
priestcraft; but such cruelties, barbarities, and tyrannies, however
highly painted, pale before the savage vengeance which English kings
have exercised, on the slightest provocation, towards their unfortunate
subjects. But we have not yet heard all the refinements of cruelty which
this same monarch exercised. Soon after, John was excommunicated
personally. When he found that Philip of France was prepared to seize
his kingdom, and that his crimes had so alienated him from his own
people that he could hope for little help from them, he cringed with the
craven fear so usually found in cruel men, and made the most abject
submission. In the interval between the proclamation of the interdict
and the fulmination of the sentence of excommunication (A.D. 1210), John
visited Ireland. It may be supposed his arrival could not excite much
pleasure in the hearts of his Irish subjects, though, no doubt, he
thought it a mark of disloyalty that he should not be welcomed with
acclamations. A quarter of a century had elapsed since he first set his
foot on Irish ground. He had grown grey in profligacy, but he had not
grown wiser or better with advancing years.
The year before his arrival, Dublin had been desolated by a pestilence,
and a number of people from Bristol had taken advantage of the decrease
in the population to establish themselves there. On the Easter Monday
after their arrival, when they had assembled to amuse themselves in
Cullen's Wood, the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles rushed down upon them from the
Wicklow Mountains, and took a terrible vengeance for the many wrongs
they had suffered, by a massacre of some three hundred men. The citizens
of Bristol sent over new colonists; but the anniversary of the day was
long known as Black Monday.
The English King obtained money for his travelling expenses by extortion
from the unfortunate Jews. He landed at Crook, near Waterford, on the
20th June, 1210. His army was commanded by the Earl of Salisbury, son to
Henry I., by "Fair Rosamond," of tragic memory. De Braose fled to
England when he heard of the King's movements. Here he endeavoured to
make peace with his master, but failing to do so, he carefully avoided
putting himself in his power, and took refuge in France. His wife was
not so fortunate. After John's return to England, Matilda and her son
were seized by his command, and imprisoned at Corfe Castle, in the isle
of Pembroke. Here they were shut up in a room, with a sheaf of wheat and
a piece of raw bacon for their only provision. When the prison door was
opened on the eleventh day, they were both found dead.
De Lacy also fled before the King's visit; John took Carrickfergus
Castle from his people, and stationed a garrison of his own there.
Several Irish princes paid homage to him; amongst others we find the
names of Cathal Crovderg and Hugh O'Neill. The Norman lords were also
obliged to swear fealty, and transcripts of their oaths were placed in
the Irish Exchequer. Arrangements were also made for the military
support of the colony, and certain troops were to be furnished with
forty days' ration by all who held lands by "knight's service." The
Irish princes who lived in the southern and western parts of Ireland,
appear to have treated the King with silent indifference; they could
afford to do so, as they were so far beyond the reach of his vengeance.
John remained only sixty days in Ireland. He returned to Wales on the
26th of August, 1210, after confiding the government of the colony to
John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich, whose predilection for secular affairs
had induced the Holy See to refuse his nomination to the Archbishopric
of Canterbury. The most important act of his Viceroyalty was the
erection of a bridge and castle at _Ath-Luain_ (Athlone). He was
succeeded, in 1213, by Henry de Londres, who had been appointed to the
see of Dublin during the preceding year. This prelate was one of those
who were the means of obtaining _Magna Charta_. His name appears second
on the list of counsellors who advised the grant; and he stood by the
King's side, at Runnymede, when the barons obtained the bulwark of
English liberty. It is sometimes forgotten that the clergy were the
foremost to demand it, and the most persevering in their efforts to
obtain it.
The Archbishop was now sent to Rome by the King to plead his cause
there, and to counteract, as best he might, the serious complaints made
against him by all his subjects--A.D. 1215. In 1213 Walter de Lacy
obtained the restoration of his father's property in Wales and England.
Two years later he recovered his Irish lands; but the King retained his
son, Gislebert, as hostage, and his Castle of _Droicead-Atha_
(Drogheda).
The Irish chieftains made some stand for their rights at the close of
this reign. Cormac O'Melaghlin wrested Delvin, in Meath, from the
English. O'Neill and O'Donnell composed their difference _pro tem._, and
joined in attacking the invaders. In the south there was a war between
Dermod and Connor Carthy, in which the Anglo-Normans joined, and, as
usual, got the lion's share, obtaining such an increase of territory as
enabled them to erect twenty new castles in Cork and Kerry.
The Four Masters give a curious story under the year 1213. O'Donnell
More sent his steward to Connaught to collect his tribute. On his way he
visited the poet Murray O'Daly, and began to wrangle with him, "although
his lord had given him no instructions to do so." The poet's ire was
excited. He killed him on the spot with a sharp axe--an unpleasant
exhibition of literary justice--and then fled into Clanrickarde for
safety. O'Donnell determined to revenge the insult, until Mac William
(William de Burgo) submitted to him. But the poet had been sent to seek
refuge in Thomond. The chief pursued him there also, and laid siege to
Limerick.[319] The inhabitants at once expelled the murderer, who
eventually fled to Dublin. After receiving tribute from the men of
Connaught, O'Donnell marched to Dublin, and compelled the people to
banish Murray to Scotland. Here he remained until he had composed three
poems in praise of O'Donnell, imploring peace and forgiveness. He was
then pardoned, and so far received into favour as to obtain a grant of
land and other possessions.
The Irish bishops were, as usual, in constant intercourse with Rome.
Several prelates attended the fourth General Council of Lateran, in
1215. The Annals give the obituaries of some saintly men, whose lives
redeemed the age from the character for barbarity, which its secular
literature would seem to justify. Amongst these we find the obituary of
Catholicus O'Duffy, in 1201; of Uaireirghe, "one of the noble sages of
Clonmacnois, a man full of the love of God and of every virtue;" of Con
O'Melly, Bishop of Annaghdown, "a transparently bright gem of the
Church;" of Donnell O'Brollaghan, "a prior, a noble senior, a sage,
illustrious for his intelligence;" and of many others. A great number of
monasteries were also founded, especially by the Anglo-Normans, who
appear to have had periodical fits of piety, after periodical
temptations to replenish their coffers out of their neighbours'
property. We may not quite judge their reparations as altogether
insincere; for surely some atonement for evil deeds is better than an
utter recklessness of future punishment.
Henry III. succeeded his father, John, while only in his tenth year.
William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, was appointed protector of the
kingdom and the King. The young monarch was hastily crowned at Bristol,
with one of his mother's golden bracelets. Had the wise and good Earl
lived to administer affairs for a longer period, it would have been a
blessing to both countries. Geoffrey de Marisco still continued Governor
of Ireland. Affairs in England were in an extremely critical position.
The profligate Isabella had returned to her first husband, Hugh de
Lusignan, whom she had before forsaken for King John. Gloucester,
London, and Kent, were in the hands of the Dauphin of France. Some few
acts of justice to Ireland were the result; but when justice is only
awarded from motives of fear or interest, it becomes worse than
worthless as a mode of conciliation. Such justice, however, as was
granted, only benefited the Anglo-Norman settlers; the "mere Irish" were
a race devoted to plunder and extermination.
In consequence of complaints from the English barons in Ireland, a
modified form of Magna Charta was granted to them, and a general amnesty
was proclaimed, with special promises of reparation to the nobles whom
John had oppressed. Hugh de Lacy was also pardoned and recalled; but it
was specially provided that the Irish should have no share in such
favours; and the Viceroy was charged to see that no native of the
country obtained cathedral preferment. This piece of injustice was
annulled through the interference of Pope Honorius III.
In 1217 the young King, or rather his advisers, sent the Archbishop of
Dublin to that city to levy a "tallage," or tax, for the royal benefit.
The Archbishop and the Justiciary were directed to represent to the
"Kings of Ireland," and the barons holding directly from the crown, that
their liberality would not be forgotten; but neither the politeness of
the address[320] nor the benevolence of the promises were practically
appreciated, probably because neither were believed to be sincere, and
the King's coffers were not much replenished.
Arrangements were now made defining the powers of the Viceroy or
Justiciary. The earliest details on this subject are embodied in an
agreement between Henry III. and Geoffrey de Marisco, sealed at Oxford,
in March, 1220, in presence of the Papal Legate, the Archbishop of
Dublin, and many of the nobility.
By these regulations the Justiciary was bound to account in the
Exchequer of Dublin for all taxes and aids received in Ireland for the
royal purse. He was to defray all expenses for the maintenance of the
King's castles and lands out of the revenues. In fact, the people of the
country were taxed, either directly or indirectly, for the support of
the invaders. The King's castles were to be kept by loyal and proper
constables, who were obliged to give hostages. Indeed, so little faith
had the English kings in the loyalty of their own subjects, that the
Justiciary himself was obliged to give a hostage as security for his own
behaviour. Neither does the same Viceroy appear to have benefited trade,
for he is accused of exacting wine, clothing, and victuals, without
payment, from the merchants of Dublin.
In 1221 the Archbishop of Dublin, Henry de Londres, was made Governor.
He obtained the name of "Scorch Villain," from having cast into the fire
the leases of the tenants of his see, whom he had cited to produce these
documents in his court. The enraged landholders attacked the attendants,
and laid hands on the Archbishop, who was compelled to do them justice
from fear of personal violence. When such was the mode of government
adopted by English officials, we can scarcely wonder that the people of
Ireland have not inherited very ardent feelings of loyalty and devotion
to the crown and constitution of that country.
Such serious complaints were made of the unjust Governor, that Henry was
at last obliged to check his rapacity. Probably, he was all the more
willing to do so, in consequence of some encroachments on the royal
prerogative.
After the death of the Earl of Pembroke, who had obtained the pardon of
Hugh de Lacy, a feud arose between the latter and the son of his former
friend. In consequence of this quarrel, all Meath was ravaged, Hugh
O'Neill having joined De Lacy in the conflict.
Some of the Irish chieftains now tried to obtain protection from the
rapacity of the Anglo-Norman barons, by paying an annual stipend to the
crown; but the crown, though graciously pleased to accept anything which
might be offered, still held to its royal prerogative of disposing of
Irish property as appeared most convenient to royal interests. Though
Cathal Crovderg had made arrangements with Henry III., at an immense
sacrifice, to secure his property, that monarch accepted his money, but,
nevertheless, bestowed the whole province of Connaught shortly after on
Richard de Burgo.
Crovderg had retired into a Franciscan monastery at Knockmoy, which he
had founded, and there he was interred nobly and honourably. After his
death there were no less than three claimants for his dignity. De Burgo
claimed it in right of the royal gift; Hugh Cathal claimed it as heir to
his father, Crovderg; Turlough claimed it for the love of fighting,
inherent in the Celtic race; and a general guerilla warfare was carried
on by the three parties, to the utter ruin of each individual. For the
next ten years the history of the country is the history of deadly feuds
between the native princes, carefully fomented by the English settlers,
whose interest it was to make them exterminate each other.
The quarrel for the possession of Connaught began in the year 1225. The
Anglo-Normans had a large army at Athlone, and Hugh Cathal went to claim
their assistance. The Lord Justice put himself at the head of the army;
they marched into Connaught, and soon became masters of the situation.
Roderic's sons at once submitted, but only to bide their time. During
these hostilities the English of Desmond, and O'Brien, a Thomond prince,
assisted by the Sheriff of Cork, invaded the southern part of Connaught
for the sake of plunder. In the previous year, 1224, "the corn remained
unreaped until the festival of St. Brigid [1st Feb.], when the ploughing
was going on." A famine also occurred, and was followed by severe
sickness. Well might the friar historian exclaim: "Woeful was the
misfortune which God permitted to fall upon the west province in Ireland
at that time; for the young warriors did not spare each other, but
preyed and plundered to the utmost of their power. Women and children,
the feeble and the lowly poor, perished by cold and famine in this
year."[321]
O'Neill had inaugurated Turlough at Carnfree.[322] He appears to have
been the most popular claimant. The northern chieftains then returned
home. As soon as the English left Connaught, Turlough again revolted.
Hugh Cathal recalled his allies; and the opposite party, finding their
cause hopeless, joined him in such numbers that Roderic's sons fled for
refuge to Hugh O'Neill. The Annals suggest that the English might well
respond when called on, "for their spirit was fresh, and their struggle
trifling." Again we find it recorded that the corn remained unreaped
until after the festival of St. Brigid. The wonder is, not that the
harvest was not gathered in, but that there was any harvest to gather.
Soon after these events, Hugh O'Connor was captured by his English
allies, and would have been sacrificed to their vengeance on some
pretence, had not Earl Marshal rescued him by force of arms. He escorted
him out of the court, and brought him safely to Connaught; but his son
and daughter remained in the hands of the English. Hugh soon found an
opportunity of retaliating. A conference was appointed to take place
near Athlone,[323] between him and William de Marisco, son of the Lord
Justice. When in sight of the English knights, the Irish prince rushed
on William, and seized him, while his followers captured his attendants,
one of whom, the Constable of Athlone, was killed in the fray. Hugh then
proceeded to plunder and burn the town, and to rescue his son and
daughter, and some Connaught chieftains.
At the close of the year 1227, Turlough again took arms. The English had
found it their convenience to change sides, and assisted him with all
their forces. Probably they feared the brave Hugh, and were jealous of
the very power they had helped him to obtain. Hugh Roderic attacked the
northern districts, with Richard de Burgo. Turlough Roderic marched to
the peninsula of Rindown, with the Viceroy. Hugh Crovderg had a narrow
escape near the Curlieu Mountains, where his wife was captured by the
English. The following year he appears to have been reconciled to the
Lord Deputy, for he was killed in his house by an Englishman, in revenge
for a liberty he had taken with a woman.[324]
As usual, on the death of Hugh O'Connor, the brothers who had fought
against him now fought against each other. The Saxon certainly does not
deserve the credit of all our national miseries. If there had been a
little less home dissension, there would have been a great deal less
foreign oppression. The English, however, helped to foment the discord.
The Lord Justice took part with Hugh, the younger brother, who was
supported by the majority of the Connaught men, although Turlough had
already been inaugurated by O'Neill. A third competitor now started up;
this was Felim brother to Hugh O'Connor. Some of the chieftains declared
that they would not serve a prince who acknowledged English rule, and
obliged Hugh to renounce his allegiance. But this question was settled
with great promptitude. Richard de Burgo took the field, desolated the
country--if, indeed, there was anything left to desolate--killed Donn
Oge Mageraghty, their bravest champion, expelled Hugh, and proclaimed
Felim.
The reign of this prince was of short duration. In 1231 he was taken
prisoner at Meelick, despite the most solemn guarantees, by the very man
who had so lately enthroned him. Hugh was reinstated, but before the end
of the year Felim was released. He now assembled his forces again, and
attacked Hugh, whom he killed, with several of his relations, and many
English and Irish chieftains. His next exploit was to demolish the
castles of Galway; Dunannon, on the river Suck, Roscommon; Hags' Castle,
on Lough Mask; and Castle Rich, on Lough Corrib; all of which had been
erected by Roderic's sons and their English allies. But the tide of
fortune soon turned. The invincible De Burgo entered Connaught once
more, and plundered without mercy. In a pitched battle the English
gained the day, principally through the skill of their cavalry[325] and
the protection of their coats-of-mail.
Felim fled to the north, and sought refuge with O'Donnell of
Tir-Connell. O'Flaherty, who had always been hostile to Felim, joined
the English, and, by the help of his boats, they were able to lay waste
the islands of Clew Bay. Nearly all the inhabitants were killed or
carried off. The victorious forces now laid siege to a castle[326] on
the Rock of Lough Key, in Roscommon, which was held for O'Connor by Mac
Dermod. They succeeded in taking it, but soon lost their possession by
the quick-witted cleverness of an Irish soldier, who closed the gates on
them when they set out on a plundering expedition. The fortress was at
once demolished, that it might not fall into English hands again.
When William Pembroke died, A.D. 1231, he bequeathed his offices and
large estates in England and Ireland to his brother, Richard, who is
described by the chroniclers as a model of manly beauty. Henry III.
prohibited his admission to the inheritance, and charged him with
treason. The Earl escaped to Ireland, and took possession of the lands
and castles of the family, waging war upon the King until his rights
were acknowledged. In 1232 Henry had granted the Justiciary of England
and of Ireland, with other valuable privileges, to Hubert de Burgo. Earl
Richard supported him against the adventurers from Poitou and Bretagne,
on whom the weak King had begun to lavish his favours. The Parliament
and the barons remonstrated, and threatened to dethrone Henry, if he
persevered in being governed by foreigners. And well they might; for one
of these needy men, Pierre de Rivaulx, had obtained a grant for life of
nearly every office and emolument in Ireland; amongst others, we find
mention of "the vacant sees, and the Jews in Ireland." Henry did his
best to get his own views carried out; but Earl Richard leagued with the
Welsh princes, and expelled the intruders from the towns and castles in
that part of the country.
The King's foreign advisers determined to destroy their great enemy as
speedily as possible. Their plain was deeply laid. They despatched
letters to Ireland, signed by twelve privy counsellors, requiring the
Viceroy and barons to seize his castles, bribing them with a promise of
a share in his lands. The wily Anglo-Normans demanded a charter,
specifying which portion of his property each individual should have.
They obtained the document, signed with the royal seal, which had been
purloined for the occasion from the Chancellor. The Anglo-Normans acted
with detestable dissimulation. Geoffrey de Marisco tried to worm himself
into the confidence of the man on whose destruction he was bent. On the
1st of April, 1232, a conference was arranged to take place on the
Curragh of Kildare. The Viceroy was accompanied by De Lacy, De Burgo,
and a large number of soldiers and mercenaries. The Earl was attended by
a few knights and the false De Marisco. He declined to comply with the
demands of the barons, who refused to restore his castles. The
treacherous De Marisco withdrew from him at this moment, and he suddenly
found himself overpowered by numbers. With the thoughtfulness of true
heroism, he ordered some of his attendants to hasten away with his young
brother, Walter. Nearly all his retainers had been bribed to forsake him
in the moment of danger; and now that the few who obeyed his last
command were gone, he had to contend single-handed with the multitude.
His personal bravery was not a little feared, and the coward barons, who
were either afraid or ashamed to attack him individually, urged on their
soldiers, until he was completely surrounded. The Earl laid prostrate
six of his foes, clove one knight to the middle, and struck off the
hands of another, before he was captured. At last the soldiers aimed at
the feet of his spirited steed, until they were cut off, and by this
piece of cruelty brought its rider to the ground. A treacherous stab
from behind, with a long knife, plunged to the haft in his back,
completed the bloody work.
The Earl was borne off, apparently lifeless, to one of his own castles,
which had been seized by the Viceroy. It is said that even his surgeon
was bribed to prevent his recovery. Before submitting his wounds to the
necessary treatment, he prepared for death, and received the last
sacraments. He died calmly and immediately, clasping a crucifix, on Palm
Sunday, the sixteenth day after his treacherous capture. And thus
expired the "flower of chivalry," and the grandson of Strongbow, the
very man to whom England owed so much of her Irish possessions.
It could not fail to be remarked by the Irish annalists, that the first
Anglo-Norman settlers had been singularly unfortunate. They can scarcely
be blamed for supposing that these misfortunes were a judgment for their
crimes. Before the middle of this century (the thirteenth) three of the
most important families had become extinct. De Lacy, Lord of Meath, died
in 1241, infirm and blind; his property was inherited by his
grand-daughters, in default of a male heir. Hugh de Lacy died in 1240,
and left only a daughter. The Earl of Pembroke died from wounds received
at a tournament. Walter, who succeeded him, also died without issue. The
property came eventually to Anselm, a younger brother, who also died
childless; and it was eventually portioned out among the females of the
family.
It is said Henry III. expressed deep grief when he heard of Earl
Richard's unfortunate end, and that he endeavoured to have restitution
made to the family. Geoffrey de Marisco was banished. His son, William,
conspired against the King, and even employed an assassin to kill him.
The man would have probably accomplished his purpose, had he not been
discovered accidentally by one of the Queen's maids, hid under the straw
of the royal bed. The real traitor was eventually captured, drawn at
horses' tails to London, and hanged with the usual barbarities.
His miserable father, who had been thrice Viceroy of Ireland, and a peer
of that country and of England, died in exile, "pitifully, yet
undeserving of pity, for his own treason against the unfortunate Earl
Richard, and his son's treason against the King." Such were the men who
governed Ireland in the thirteenth century.
Treachery seems to have been the recognized plan of capturing an enemy.
In 1236 this method was attempted by the government in order to get
Felim O'Connor into their power. He was invited to attend a meeting in
Athlone, but, fortunately for himself, he discovered the designs of his
enemies time enough to effect his escape. He was pursued to Sligo. From
thence he fled to Tir-Connell, which appears to have been the Cave of
Adullam in that era; though there were so many discontented persons, and
it was so difficult to know which party any individual would espouse
continuously, that the Adullamites were tolerably numerous. Turlough's
son, Brian O'Connor, was now invested with the government of Connaught
by the English, until some more promising candidate should appear. But
even their support failed to enable him to keep the field. Felim[327]
returned the following year, and after defeating the soldiers of the
Lord Justice, made Brian's people take to flight so effectually, that
none of Roderic's descendants ever again attempted even to possess their
ancestral lands.
The Four Masters have the following graphic entry under the year 1236:
"Heavy rains, harsh weather, and much war prevailed in this year." The
Annals of Kilronan also give a fearful account of the wars, the weather,
and the crimes. They mention that Brian's people burned the church of
Imlagh Brochada over the heads of O'Flynn's people, while it was full of
women, children, and nuns, and had three priests in it. There were so
many raids on cows, that the unfortunate animals must have had a
miserable existence. How a single cow survived the amount of driving
hither and thither they endured, considering their natural love of ease
and contemplative habits, is certainly a mystery. In the year 1238, the
Annals mention that the English erected castles in Connaught,
principally in the territory from which the O'Flahertys had been
expelled. This family, however, became very powerful in that part of the
country in which they now settled.
As Connaught had been fairly depopulated, and its kings and princes
nearly annihilated, the English turned their attention to Ulster, where
they wished to play the same game. The Lord Justice and Hugh de Lacy led
an army thither, and deposed MacLoughlin, giving the government to
O'Neill's son; but MacLoughlin obtained rule again, after a battle
fought the following year at Carnteel.
In 1240 the King of Connaught went to England to complain personally of
De Burgo's oppressions and exactions; but his mission, as might be
expected, was fruitless, although he was received courteously, and the
King wrote to the Lord Justice "to pluck out by the root that fruitless
sycamore, De Burgo, which the Earl of Kent, in the insolence of his
power, hath planted in these parts." However, we find that Henry was
thankful to avail himself of the services of the "fruitless sycamore"
only two years after, in an expedition against the King of France. He
died on the voyage to Bourdeaux, and was succeeded by his son, Walter.
In 1241 More O'Donnell, Lord of Tir-Connell, died in Assaroe, in the
monastic habit. In 1244 Felim O'Connor and some Irish chieftains
accompanied the then Viceroy, FitzGerald, to Wales, where Henry had
requested their assistance.
The King was nearly starved out, the Irish reinforcements were long in
coming over, and the delay was visited on the head of the unfortunate
Justiciary, who was deprived of his office. John de Marisco was
appointed in his place.
[Illustration: ATHLONE CASTLE.]
FOOTNOTES:
[319] _Limerick_.--We give an illustration, at the head of this chapter,
of King John's Castle, Limerick. Stanihurst says that King John "was so
pleased with the agreeableness of the city, that he caused a very fine
castle and bridge to be built there." This castle has endured for more
than six centuries. Richard I. granted this city a charter to elect a
Mayor before London had that privilege, and a century before it was
granted to Dublin. M'Gregor says, in his _History of Limerick_, that the
trade went down fearfully after the English invasion.--vol. ii. p. 53.
[320] _Address_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 82, where the address may be
seen _in extenso_.
[321] _Year_.--Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 227.
[322] _Carnfree_.--This place has been identified by Dr. O'Donovan. It
is near the village of Tulsk, co. Roscommon. It was the usual place of
inauguration for the O'Connors. See _note d_, Annals, vol. iii. p. 221.
[323] _Athlone_.--This was one of the most important of the English
towns, and ranked next to Dublin at that period. We give an illustration
of the Castle of Athlone at the beginning of Chapter XX. The building is
now used for a barrack, which in truth is no great deviation from its
original purpose. It stands on the direct road from Dublin to Galway,
and protects the passage of the Shannon. There is a curious
representation on a monument here of an unfortunate English monk, who
apostatized and came to Ireland. He was sent to Athlone to superintend
the erection of the bridge by Sir Henry Sidney; but, according to the
legend, he was constantly pursued by a demon in the shape of a rat,
which never left him for a single moment. On one occasion he attempted
to preach, but the eyes of the animal glared on him with such fury that
he could not continue. He then took a pistol and attempted to shoot it,
but in an instant it had sprung on the weapon, giving him, at the same
time, a bite which caused his death. It is to be presumed that this
circumstance must have been well known, and generally believed at the
time, or it would not have been made a subject for the sculptor.
[324] _Woman_.--There are several versions of this story. The Four
Masters say he was killed "treacherously by the English." The Annals of
Clonmacnois say that "he came to an atonement with Geoffrey March, and
was restored to his kingdom," and that he was afterwards treacherously
killed by an Englishman, "for which cause the Deputy the next day hanged
the Englishman that killed him, for that foul fact." The cause of the
Englishman's crime was "meer jealousie," because O'Connor had kissed his
wife.
[325] _Cavalry_.--Horse soldiery were introduced early into Britain,
through the Romans, who were famous for their cavalry.
[326] _Castle_.--The Annals of Boyle contain a wonderful account of the
_pirrels_ or engines constructed by the English for taking this
fortress.
[327] _Felim_.--The Four Masters say, when writing of the act of
treachery mentioned above: "They all yearned to act treacherously
towards Felim, although he was the gossip of the Lord Justice."--Annals,
vol. iii. p. 285. He was sponsor or godfather to one of his children.
CHAPTER XX.
The Age was not all Evil--Good Men in the World and in the
Cloister--Religious Houses and their Founders--The Augustinians and
Cistercians--Franciscans and Dominicans--Their close Friendship--
Dominican Houses--St. Saviour's, Dublin--The Black Abbey, Kilkenny--
Franciscan Houses--Youghal--Kilkenny--Multifarnham--Timoleague--
Donegal--Carmelite Convents and Friars--Rising of the Connaught Men--
A Plunderer of the English--Battle of Downpatrick--The MacCarthys
defeat the Geraldines at Kenmare--War between De Burgo and FitzGerald.
[A.D. 1244-1271.]
Zeal for founding religious houses was one of the characteristics of the
age. Even the men who spent their lives in desolating the sanctuaries
erected by others, and in butchering their fellow-creatures, appear to
have had some thought of a future retribution--some idea that crime
demanded atonement--with a lively faith in a future state, where a stern
account would be demanded. If we contented ourselves with merely
following the sanguinary careers of kings and chieftains, we should have
as little idea of the real condition of the country, as we should obtain
of the present social state of England by an exclusive study of the
police reports in the _Times_. Perhaps, there was not much more crime
committed then than now. Certainly there were atonements made for
offending against God and man, which we do not hear of at the present
day. Even a cursory glance through the driest annals, will show that it
was not all evil--that there was something besides crime and misery. On
almost every page we find some incident which tells us that faith was
not extinct. In the Annals of the Four Masters, the obituaries of good
men are invariably placed before the records of the evil deeds of
warriors or princes. Perhaps writers may have thought that such names
would be recorded in another Book with a similar precedence. The feats
of arms, the raids, and destructions occupy the largest space. Such
deeds come most prominently before the eyes of the world, and therefore
we are inclined to suppose that they were the most important. But though
the Annals may devote pages to the exploits of De Lacy or De Burgo, and
only say of Ainmie O'Coffey, Abbot of the Church of Derry-Columcille,
that he was "a noble ecclesiastic, distinguished for his piety,
meekness, charity, wisdom, and every other virtue;" or of MacGilluire,
Coarb of St. Patrick, and Primate of Ireland, that "he died at Rome,
after a well-spent life,"[328]--how much is enfolded in the brief
obituary! How many, of whom men never have heard in this world, were
influenced, advised, and counselled by the meek and noble ecclesiastic!
The influence of good men is like the circle we make when we cast a
little stone into a great stream, and which extends wider and wider
until it reaches the opposite bank. It is a noiseless influence, but not
the less effective. It is a hidden influence, but not the less
efficacious. The Coarb of St. Patrick, in his "well-spent life," may
have influenced for good as many hundreds, as the bad example of some
profligate adventurer influenced for evil; but we are quite sure to hear
a great deal about the exploits of the latter, and equally certain that
the good deeds of the former will not be so carefully chronicled.
Nor should we at all suppose that piety in this age was confined to
ecclesiastics. The Earls of Pembroke stand conspicuously amongst their
fellows as men of probity, and were none the less brave because they
were sincerely religious. At times, even in the midst of the fiercest
raids, men found time to pray, and to do deeds of mercy. On one Friday,
in the year of grace 1235, the English knights, in the very midst of
their success at Umallia, and after fearful devastations commanded "that
no people shall be slain on that day, in honour of the crucifixion of
Christ."[329] It is true they "plundered and devastated both by sea and
land the very next day;" but even one such public act of faith was
something that we might wish to see in our own times. After the same
raid, too, we find the "English of Ireland" and the Lord Justice sparing
and protecting Clarus, the Archdeacon of Elphin, and the Canons of
Trinity Island, in honour of the Blessed Trinity--another act of faith;
and the "Lord Justice himself and the chiefs of the English went to see
that place, and to kneel and pray there." On another occasion the
"English chiefs were highly disgusted" when their soldiers broke into
the sacristy of Boyle Abbey, and "took away the chalices, vestments, and
other valuable things." Their leaders "sent back everything they could
find, and paid for what they could not find."[330] We must, however,
acknowledge regretfully that this species of "disgust" and reparation
were equally rare. To plunder monasteries which they had not erected
themselves, seems to have been as ordinary an occupation as to found new
ones with a portion of their unjust spoils.
Although this is not an ecclesiastical history, some brief account of
the monks, and of the monasteries founded in Ireland about this period,
will be necessary. The earliest foundations were houses of the
Cistercian Order and the Augustinians. The Augustinian Order, as its
name implies, was originally founded by St. Augustine, the great
Archbishop of Hippo, in Africa. His rule has been adopted and adapted by
the founders of several congregations of men and women. The great
Benedictine Order owes its origin to the Patriarch of the West, so
famous for his rejection of the nobility of earth, that he might attain
more securely to the ranks of the noble in heaven. This Order was
introduced into England at an early period. It became still more popular
and distinguished when St. Bernard preached under the mantle of
Benedict, and showed how austerity towards himself and tenderness
towards others could be combined in its highest perfection.
The twin Orders of St. Dominic and St. Francis, founded in the early
part of the thirteenth century--the one by a Spanish nobleman, the other
by an Italian merchant--were established in Ireland in the very lifetime
of their founders. Nothing now remains of the glories of their ancient
houses, on which the patrons had expended so much wealth, and the artist
so much skill; but their memory still lives in the hearts of the people,
and there are few places in the country without traditions which point
out the spot where a Franciscan was martyred, or a Dominican taken in
the act of administering to the spiritual necessities of the people.
The Abbey of Mellifont was founded A.D. 1142, for Cistercian monks, by
Donough O'Carroll, King of Oriel. It was the most ancient monastery of
the Order in this country, and was supplied with monks by St. Bernard,
direct from Clairvaux, then in all its first fervour. We have already
mentioned some of the offerings which were made to this monastery. The
date of the erection of St. Mary's Abbey in Dublin has not been
correctly ascertained, but it is quite certain that the Cistercians were
established here in 1139, although it was probably built originally by
the Danes. The abbots of this monastery, and of the monastery at
Mellifont, sat as barons in Parliament. There were also houses at
Bectiff, county Meath; Baltinglass, county Wicklow; Moray, county
Limerick; Ordorney, county Kerry (quaintly and suggestively called
_Kyrie Eleison_), at Newry, Fermoy, Boyle, Monasterevan, Ashro, and
Jerpoint. The superiors of several of these houses sat in Parliament.
Their remains attest their beauty and the cultivated tastes of their
founders. The ruins of the Abbey of Holy Cross, county Tipperary,
founded in 1182, by Donald O'Brien, are of unusual extent and
magnificence. But the remains of Dunbrody, in the county of Wexford,
are, perhaps, the largest and the most picturesque of any in the
kingdom. It was also richly endowed. It should be remembered that these
establishments were erected by the founders, not merely as an act of
piety to God during their lifetime, but with the hope that prayers
should be offered there for the repose of their souls after death. Those
who confiscated these houses and lands to secular purposes, have
therefore committed a double injustice, since they have robbed both God
and the dead.
A great number of priories were also founded for the Canons Regular of
St. Augustine. These establishments were of great use in supplying a
number of zealous and devoted priests, who ministered to the spiritual
wants of the people in their several districts. Tintern Abbey was
founded in the year 1200, by the Earl of Pembroke. When in danger at
sea, he made a vow that he would erect a monastery on whatever place he
should first arrive in safety. He fulfilled his promise, and brought
monks from Tintern, in Monmouthshire, who gave their new habitation the
name of their old home. In 1224 the Cistercians resigned the Monastery
of St. Saviour, Dublin, which had been erected for them by the same
Earl, to the Dominicans, on condition that they should offer a lighted
taper, on the Feast of the Nativity, at the Abbey of St. Mary, as an
acknowledgment of the grant. The Mayor of Dublin, John Decer (A.D.
1380), repaired the church, and adorned it with a range of massive
pillars. The friars of this house were as distinguished for literature
as the rest of their brethren; and in 1421 they opened a school of
philosophy and divinity on Usher's Island.[331]
The Dominican Convent of St. Mary Magdalene at Drogheda was founded, in
1224, by John Netterville, Archbishop of Armagh. Richard II. and Henry
IV. were great benefactors to this house. Four general chapters were
also held here. The Black Abbey of Kilkenny was erected by the younger
William, Earl of Pembroke. Four general chapters were also held here,
and it was considered one of the first houses of the Order in Ireland.
We shall give details, at a later period, of the destruction and
restoration of this and other monasteries. The Dominicans had also
houses at Waterford, Cork, Mullingar, Athenry, Cashel, Tralee, Sligo,
Roscommon, and, in fact, in nearly all the principal towns in the
country.
Nor were their Franciscan brethren less popular. The Order of Friars
Minor generally found a home near the Friars Preachers; and so close was
the friendship between them, that it was usual, on the festivals of
their respective founders, for the Franciscan to preach the panegyric of
St. Dominic, and the Dominican to preach the panegyric of St. Francis.
Youghal was the first place where a convent of this Order was erected.
The founder, Maurice FitzGerald, was Lord Justice in the year 1229, and
again in 1232. He was a patron of both Orders, and died in the
Franciscan habit, on the 20th May, 1257. Indeed, some of the English and
Irish chieftains were so devout to the two saints, that they appear to
have had some difficulty in choosing which they would have for their
special patron. In 1649 the famous Owen O'Neill was buried in a convent
of the Order at Cavan. When dying he desired that he should be clothed
in the Dominican habit, and buried in the Franciscan monastery.
Some curious particulars are related of the foundation at Youghal. The
Earl was building a mansion for his family in the town, about the year
1231. While the workmen were engaged in laying the foundation, they
begged some money, on the eve of a great feast, that they might drink to
the health of their noble employer. FitzGerald willingly complied with
their request, and desired his eldest son to be the bearer of his
bounty. The young nobleman, however, less generous than his father, not
only refused to give them the money, but had angry words with the
workmen. It is not mentioned whether the affair came to a more serious
collision; but the Earl, highly incensed with the conduct of his son,
ordered the workmen to erect a monastery instead of a castle, and
bestowed the house upon the Franciscan fathers. The following year he
took their habit, and lived in the convent until his death. This house
was completely destroyed during the persecutions in the reign of
Elizabeth.
The Convent of Kilkenny was founded immediately after. Its benefactor
was the Earl of Pembroke, who was buried in the church. Here was a
remarkable spring, dedicated to St. Francis, at which many miraculous
cures are said to have been wrought. The site occupied by this building
was very extensive; its ruins only remain to tell how spacious and
beautiful its abbey and church must have been. It was also remarkable
for the learned men who there pursued their literary toil, among whom we
may mention the celebrated annalist, Clynn. He was at first Guardian of
the Convent of Carrick-on-Suir; but, about 1338, he retired to Kilkenny,
where he compiled the greater part of his Annals. It is probable that he
died about 1350. His history commences with the Christian era, and is
carried down to the year 1349. At this time the country was all but
depopulated by a fearful pestilence. The good and learned brother seems
to have had some forebodings of his impending fate, for his last written
words run thus:--"And, lest the writing should perish with the writer,
and the work should fail with the workman, I leave behind me parchment
for continuing it; if any man should have the good fortune to survive
this calamity, or any one of the race of Adam should escape this
pestilence, and live to continue what I have begun." This abbey was also
one of the great literary schools of Ireland, and had its halls of
philosophy and divinity, which, were well attended for many years.
In Dublin the Franciscans were established by the munificence of their
great patron, Henry III. Ralph le Porter granted a site of land in that
part of the city where the street still retains the name of the founder
of the Seraphic Order. In 1308 John le Decer proved a great benefactor
to the friars, and erected a very beautiful chapel, dedicated to the
Blessed Virgin, in which he was interred.
But the Convent of Multifarnham was the great glory of this century. It
was erected, in 1236, by Lord Delemere; and from its retired situation,
and the powerful protection of its noble patrons, escaped many of the
calamities which befell other houses of the Order. The church and
convent were built "in honour of God and St. Francis." The monastery
itself was of unusual size, and had ample accommodation for a number of
friars. Hence, in times of persecution, it was the usual refuge of the
sick and infirm, who were driven from their less favoured homes. The
church was remarkable for its beauty and the richness of its ornaments.
Here were the tombs of its noble founders and patrons; and the
south-eastern window was gorgeous with their heraldic devices. The
convent was situated on Lake Derravaragh, and was endowed with many
acres of rich land, through which flow the Inny and the Gaine. Such a
position afforded opportunity for mills and agricultural labours, of
which the friars were not slow to avail themselves.
The site, as we have remarked, was secluded, at some distance even from
any village, and far from the more frequented roads. In process of time
the family of the Nugents became lords of the manor, but they were not
less friendly to the religious than the former proprietors. Indeed, so
devoted were they to the Order, that, at the time of the dissolution of
the monasteries, Multifarnham would have shared the common fate, had
they not again and again repurchased it from those to whom it had been
sold by Henry. Even during the reign of Elizabeth it was protected by
the same family. But the day of suffering was even then approaching. In
the October of the year 1601, a detachment of English soldiers was sent
from Dublin by Lord Mountjoy, to destroy the convent which had been so
long spared. The friars were seized and imprisoned, the monastery
pillaged; and the soldiers, disappointed in their hope of a rich booty,
wreaked their vengeance by setting fire to the sacred pile.
The Convent of Kilcrea was another sequestered spot. It was founded in
the fifteenth century, by the MacCarthys, under the invocation of St.
Brigid. The richness and magnificence of the church, its graceful
bell-tower, carved windows, and marble ornaments, showed both the
generosity and the taste of the Lord Muskerry. Cormac was interred here
in 1495; and many noble families, having made it their place of
sepulture, protected the church for the sake of their ancestral tombs.
Nor was the Monastery of Timoleague less celebrated. The honour of its
foundation is disputed, as well as the exact date; but as the tombs of
the MacCarthys, the O'Donovans, O'Heas, and De Courcys, are in its
choir, we may suppose that all had a share in the erection or adornment
of this stately church. One of the De Courcy family, Edmund, Bishop of
Ross, himself a Franciscan friar, rebuilt the bell-tower, which rises to
a height of seventy feet, as well as the dormitory, infirmary, and
library. At his death, in 1548, he bequeathed many valuable books,
altar-plate, &c., to his brethren.
The history of the establishment of the Order at Donegal is amusing
enough, and very characteristic of the customs of the age. In the year
1474 the Franciscans were holding a general chapter in their convent
near Tuam. In the midst of their deliberations, however, they were
unexpectedly interrupted by the arrival of the Lady Nuala O'Connor,
daughter of the noble O'Connor Faly, and wife of the powerful chieftain,
Hugh O'Donnell. She was attended by a brilliant escort, and came for no
other purpose than to present her humble petition to the assembled
fathers, for the establishment of their Order in the principality of
Tir-Connell. After some deliberation, the Provincial informed her that
her request could not be complied with at present, but that at a future
period the friars would most willingly second her pious design. The Lady
Nuala, however, had a woman's will, and a spirit of religious fervour to
animate it. "What!" she exclaimed, "have I made this long and painful
journey only to meet with a refusal? Beware of God's wrath! for to Him I
will appeal, that He may charge you with all the souls whom your delay
may cause to perish." This was unanswerable. The Lady Nuala journeyed
home with a goodly band of Franciscans in her train; and soon the
establishment of the Monastery of Donegal, situated at the head of the
bay, showed that the piety of the lady was generously seconded by her
noble husband. Lady Nuala did not live to see the completion of her
cherished design. Her mortal remains were interred under the high altar,
and many and fervent were the prayers of the holy friars for the eternal
repose of their benefactress.
The second wife of O'Donnell was not less devoted to the Order. This
lady was a daughter of Connor O'Brien, King of Thomond. Her zeal in the
good work was so great, that the monastery was soon completed, and the
church dedicated in 1474. The ceremony was carried out with the utmost
magnificence, and large benefactions bestowed on the religious. After
the death of her husband, who had built a castle close to the monastery,
and was buried within the sacred walls, the widowed princess retired to
a small dwelling near the church, where she passed the remainder of her
days in prayer and penance. Her son, Hugh Oge, followed the steps of his
good father. So judicious and upright was his rule, that it was said, in
his days, the people of Tir-Connell never closed their doors except to
keep out the wind. In 1510 he set out on a pilgrimage to Rome. Here he
spent two years, and was received everywhere as an independent prince,
and treated with the greatest distinction. But neither the honours
conferred on him, nor his knightly fame (for it is said he was never
vanquished in the field or the lists), could satisfy the desires of his
heart. After a brief enjoyment of his ancestral honours, he retired to
the monastery which his father had erected, and found, with the poor
children of St. Francis, that peace and contentment which the world
cannot give.
In the county Kerry there were at least two convents of the Order--one
at Ardfert, founded, probably, in the year 1389; the other, famous for
the beauty of its ruins, and proximity to the far-famed Lakes of
Killarney, demands a longer notice.
The Convent of Irrelagh, or, as it is now called, Muckross, was founded
early in the fifteenth century, by a prince of the famous family of
MacCarthy More, known afterwards as _Tadeige Manistireach_, or Teigue of
the Monastery.
According to the tradition of the county, and a MS. description of
Kerry, written about the year 1750, and now preserved in the Library of
the Royal Irish Academy, the site on which the monastery was to be built
was pointed out to MacCarthy More in a vision, which warned him not to
erect his monastery in any situation except at a place called
Carrig-an-Ceoil, i.e., the rock of the music. As no such place was known
to him, he despatched some of his faithful followers to ascertain in
what part of his principality it was situated. For some time they
inquired in vain; but as they returned home in despair, the most
exquisite music was heard to issue from a rock at Irrelagh. When the
chief was made aware of this, he at once concluded it was the spot
destined by Providence for his pious undertaking, which he immediately
commenced.
It was finished by his son, Donnell (1440). The convent was dedicated to
the Blessed Trinity. It is said there was a miraculous image of the
Blessed Virgin here, which brought great crowds of pilgrims. The feast
of the Porziuncula was kept here long after the abbey had fallen to
ruins, and the friars dispersed, and was known as the Abbey Day. Until
the last few years stations were held there regularly, on the 2nd of
October.
Clonmel Monastery was founded, about 1269, by the Desmonds; Drogheda, in
1240, by the Plunkets.
Some convents of Carmelite friars were also founded in the thirteenth
century, but as yet they have not been fortunate enough to obtain the
services of a historian, so that we can only briefly indicate the sites.
The Convent of Dublin, for White Friars, was founded by Sir Robert
Bagot, in 1274. The date of the establishment of the house at
Leighlin-bridge has not been ascertained; but it was probably erected by
the Carews, at the end of the reign of Henry III. There were also
convents at Ardee, Drogheda, Galway, Kildare, and Thurles. The Convent
of Kildare was the general seminary for the Order in Ireland; and one of
its friars, David O'Brege, is styled "the burning light, the mirror and
ornament of his country."
In 1248 the young men of Connaught inaugurated the periodical
rebellions, which a statesman of modern times has compared to the
dancing manias of the middle ages. Unfortunately for his comparison,
there was a cause for the one, and there was no cause for the other.
They acted unwisely, because there was not the remotest possibility of
success; and to rebel against an oppression which cannot be remedied,
only forges closer chains for the oppressed. But it can scarcely be
denied that their motive was a patriotic one. Felim's son, Hugh, was the
leader of the youthful band. In 1249 Maurice FitzGerald arrived to crush
the movement, or, in modern parlance, "to stamp it out"--not always a
successful process; for sparks are generally left after the most careful
stamping, which another method might effectually have quenched. Felim at
once fled the country. The English made his nephew, Turlough, ruler in
his place; but the following year Felim made a bold swoop down from the
Curlieus, expelled the intruder, and drove off a cattle prey. After this
proof of his determination and valour, the English made peace with him,
and permitted him to retain his own dominions without further
molestation. Florence MacCarthy was killed this year, and Brian O'Neill,
Lord of Tyrone, submitted to the Lord Justice--thereby freeing the
invaders from two troublesome combatants. The next year, however, the
English, who were not particular about treaties, invaded the north, and
were repulsed with such loss as to induce them to treat the enemy with
more respect for the time.
Under the year 1249 the Annals mention a defeat which the Irish suffered
at Athenry, which they attribute to their refusal to desist from warfare
on Lady Day, the English having asked a truce in honour of the Blessed
Virgin. They also record the death of Donough O'Gillapatrick, and say
that this was a retaliation due to the English; for he had killed,
burned, and destroyed many of them. He is characterized, evidently with
a little honest pride, as the third greatest plunderer of the English.
The names of the other two plunderers are also carefully chronicled;
they were Connor O'Melaghlin and Connor MacCoghlan. The "greatest
plunderer" was in the habit of going about to reconnoitre the English
towns in the disguise of pauper or poet, as best suited him for the
time; and he had a quatrain commemorating his exploits:--
"He is a carpenter, he is a turner,
My nursling is a bookman;
He is selling wine and hides,
Where he sees a gathering."
The quatrain, if of no other value, gives us an idea of the commodities
bartered, and the tradesmen who offered their goods at Irish fairs in
English towns during the thirteenth century.
In 1257 there was a fierce conflict between the Irish, under Godfrey
O'Donnell, and the English, commanded by Maurice FitzGerald. The
conflict took place at Creadrankille, near Sligo. The leaders engaged in
single combat, and were both severely wounded: eventually the invaders
were defeated and expelled from Lower Connaught. Godfrey's wound
prevented him from following up his success, and soon after the two
chieftains died. The circumstances of Maurice's death have been already
recorded. The death of O'Donnell is a curious illustration of the
feeling of the times. During his illness, Brian O'Neill sent to demand
hostages from the Cinel-Connaill. The messengers fled the moment they
had fulfilled their commission. For all reply, O'Donnell commanded his
people to assemble, to place him on his bier, and to bear him forth at
their head. And thus they met the enemy. The battle took place on the
banks of the river Swilly, in Donegal. O'Donnell's army conquered. The
hero's bier was laid down in the street of a little village at Connal,
near Letterkenny, and there he died.
O'Neill again demanded hostages; but while the men deliberated what
answer they should give, Donnell Oge returned from Scotland, and though
he was but a youth of eighteen, he was elected chieftain. The same year
the long-disused title of Monarch of Ireland was conferred on O'Neill by
some of the Irish kings. After a conference at Caol Uisge, O'Neill and
O'Connor turned their forces against the English, and a battle was
fought near Downpatrick, where the Irish were defeated.[332] O'Neill was
killed, with fifteen of the O'Kanes and many other chieftains, A.D.
1260. The English were commanded by the then Viceroy, Stephen Longespé,
who was murdered soon after by his own people.
In the south the English suffered a severe reverse. The Geraldines were
defeated by Connor O'Brien in Thomond, and again at Kilgarvan, near
Kenmare, by Fineen MacCarthy. The Annals of Innisfallen give long
details of this engagement, the sight of which is still pointed out by
the country people. John FitzThomas, the founder of the Dominican
Monastery at Tralee, was killed. The MacCarthys immediately proceeded to
level all the castles which had been erected by the English; they were
very numerous in that district. Soon after the hero of the fight was
killed himself by the De Courcys.
The Annals mention an instance of a man who had taken a bell from the
Church of Ballysadare, and put it on his head when attacked by the
enemy, hoping that he might escape with his prize and his life, from the
respect always shown to everything consecrated to God's service; but he
was killed notwithstanding. This incident is mentioned as characteristic
of the age. After the defeat narrated above, Hanmer says, "the
Geraldines dared not put a plough into the ground in Desmond." The next
year, 1262, Mac William Burke marched with a great army as far as
Elphin. He was joined by the Lord Justice and John de Verdun. They
marked out a place for a castle at Roscommon, and plundered all that
remained after Hugh O'Connor in Connaught. He, in his turn,
counterburned and plundered so successfully, that the English were glad
to ask for peace. The result was a conference at the ford of
Doire-Chuire. A peace was concluded, after which "Hugh O'Connor and Mac
William Burke slept together in the one bed, cheerfully and happily; and
the English left the country on the next day, after bidding farewell to
O'Connor."
After this fraternal demonstration, Burke led an army into Desmond, and
an engagement took place with MacCarthy on the side of Mangerton
Mountain, where both English and Irish suffered great losses. Gerald
Roche, who is said to be the third best knight of his time in Ireland,
was slain by MacCarthy.[333] Burke was soon after created Earl of
Ulster.[334] He and FitzGerald waged war against each other in 1264, and
desolated the country with their raids. The Lord Justice sided with
FitzGerald, who succeeded in taking all Burke's castles in Connaught.
The quarrels of the invaders now became so general, that even the Lord
Justice was seized at a conference by FitzMaurice FitzGerald, and was
detained prisoner, with several other nobles, for some time. During the
wars between De Burgo (or Burke) and FitzGerald, the good people of Ross
threatened to defend their town from all invaders; and to effect this
purpose the council commanded all the citizens to assist in erecting the
necessary fortifications. Even the ladies[335] and clergy[336] took part
in the works, which were soon and successfully completed.
An Anglo-Norman poet commemorated this event in verse, and celebrates
the fame of Rose, a lady who contributed largely to the undertaking,
both by her presence and her liberal donations. He informs us first of
the reason for this undertaking. It was those two troublesome knights,
"sire Morice e sire Wauter," who would not permit the world to be at
peace. He assures us that the citizens of New Ross were most anxious for
peace, because they were merchants, and had an extensive trade, which
was quite true; but he adds that they were determined to defend their
rights if attacked, which was also true.
The poet also compliments the ladies, and thinks that the man would be
happy who could have his choice of them. He also informs us they were to
build a "Ladies' Gate," where there should be a prison in which all who
gave offence to the fair sex should be confined at their pleasure. Of a
surety, New Ross must have been the paradise of ladies in those days. We
have not ascertained whether its fair citizens retain the same potent
sway in the present century.
Felim O'Connor died in 1265. The Four Masters give his obituary thus:
"Felim, son of Cathal Crovderg O'Connor, the defender and supporter of
his own province, and of his friends on every side, the expeller and
plunderer of his foes; a man full of hospitality, prowess, and renown;
the exalter of the clerical orders and men of science; a worthy materies
[_sic_] of a King of Ireland for his nobility, personal shape, heroism,
wisdom, clemency, and truth; died, after the victory of unction and
penance, in the monastery of the Dominican friars at Roscommon, which he
had himself granted to God and that Order."
He was succeeded by his son, Hugh, "who committed his regal depredation
in Offaly." It appears to have been considered a customary thing for a
new sovereign to signalize himself, as soon as possible, by some display
of this description. He succeeded so well in this same depredation, that
the Lord Justice was alarmed, and came to assist De Burgo. The latter
proposed a conference at Carrick-on-Shannon; but Hugh O'Connor suspected
treachery, and contrived to get the Earl's brother, William Oge, into
his hands before the conference commenced. The Earl "passed the night in
sadness and sorrow." At daybreak a fierce conflict ensued. Turlough
O'Brien, who was coming to assist the Connacians, was met on his way,
and slain in single combat by De Burgo. But his death was fearfully
avenged; great numbers of the English were slain, and immense spoils
were taken from them. De Burgo died the following year, in Galway
Castle, after a short illness, A.D. 1271.
[Illustration: CURTAIN CAVE, TIPPERARY.]
[Illustration: BERMINGHAM TOWER, DUBLIN CASTLE]
FOOTNOTES:
[328] _Life_.--Annals, vol. iii. p. 189.
[329] _Christ_.--Annals, vol. iii. p. 281.
[330] _Find_.--_Ib._ vol. iii. p. 275.
[331] _Usher's Island_.--This was once a fashionable resort. Moira House
stood here. It was ornamented so beautifully, that John Wesley observed,
when visiting Lady Moira, that one of the rooms was more elegant than
any he had seen in England. Here, in 1777, Charles Fox was introduced to
Grattan. Poor Pamela (Lady Edward FitzGerald) was at Moira House on the
evening of her husband's arrest; and here she heard the fatal news on
the following morning, her friends having concealed it from her until
then. In 1826 it was converted into a mendicity institution, and all its
ornamental portions removed.
[332] _Defeated_.--O'Neill's bard, MacNamee, wrote a lament for the
chieftains who fell in this engagement. He states that the head of
"O'Neill, King of Tara, was sent to London;" and attributes the defeat
of the Irish to the circumstance of their adversaries having fought in
coats-of-mail, while they had only satin shirts:--
"Unequal they entered the battle, The Galls and the Irish of Tara; Fair
satin shirts on the race of Conn, The Galls in one mass of iron."
He further deplores the removal of the chief's noble face from Down,
lamenting that his resurrection should not be from amongst the
limestone-covered graves of the fathers of his clan at Armagh.
[333] _MacCarthy_.--Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 389.
[334] _Ulster_.--The Annals of Innisfallen say he obtained this title in
1264, after his marriage with Maud, daughter of Hugh de Lacy the
younger.
[335]
_Ladies_.--"Tantz bele dames ne vi en fossée, Mult fu cil en bon sire
née, Re purreit choisir à sa volonté."
[336]
_Clergy_.--"E les prestres, quant on chanté, Si vont ovrir au fossé, E
travellent mut durement, Plus qe ne funt autre gent."
This ballad has been published, with a translation by W. Crofton Croker.
CHAPTER XXI.
Reign of Edward I.--Social State of Ireland--English Treachery--Irish
Chieftains set at Variance--The Irish are refused the Benefit of English
Law--Feuds between the Cusacks and the Barretts--Death of Boy
O'Neill--The Burkes and the Geraldines--Quarrel between FitzGerald and
De Vesci--Possessions obtained by Force or Fraud--Why the Celt was not
Loyal--The Governors and the Governed--Royal Cities and their
Charters--Dublin Castle, its Officers, Law Courts--A Law Court in the
Fourteenth Century--Irish Soldiers help the English King--A Murder for
which Justice is refused--Exactions of the Nobles--Invasion of
Bruce--Remonstrance to the Pope--The Scotch Armies withdrawn from
Ireland.
[A.D. 1271--1326.]
It was now nearly a century since the Anglo-Normans invaded Ireland.
Henry III. died in 1272, after a reign of fifty-six years. He was
succeeded by his son, Edward I., who was in the Holy Land at the time of
his father's death. In 1257 his father had made him a grant of Ireland,
with the express condition that it should not be separated from England.
It would appear as if there had been some apprehensions of such an event
since the time of Prince John. The English monarchs apparently wished
the benefit of English laws to be extended to the native population, but
their desire was invariably frustrated by such of their nobles as had
obtained grants of land in Ireland, and whose object appears to have
been the extermination and, if this were not possible, the depression of
the Irish race.
Ireland was at this time convulsed by domestic dissensions. Sir Robert
D'Ufford, the Justiciary, was accused of fomenting the discord; but he
appears to have considered that he only did his duty to his royal
master. When sent for into England, to account for his conduct, he
"satisfied the King that all was not true that he was charged withal;
and for further contentment yielded this reason, that in policy he
thought it expedient to wink at one knave cutting off another, and that
would save the King's coffers, and purchase peace to the land. Whereat
the King smiled, and bid him return to Ireland." The saving was
questionable; for to prevent an insurrection by timely concessions, is
incomparably less expensive than to suppress it when it has arisen. The
"purchase of peace" was equally visionary; for the Irish never appear to
have been able to sit down quietly under unjust oppression, however
hopeless resistance might be.
The Viceroys were allowed a handsome income; therefore they were
naturally anxious to keep their post. The first mention of salary is
that granted to Geoffrey de Marisco. By letters-patent, dated at
Westminster, July 4th, 1226, he was allowed an annual stipend of £580.
This was a considerable sum for times when wheat was only 2s. a quarter,
fat hogs 2s. each, and French wine 2s. a gallon.
Hugh O'Connor renewed hostilities in 1272, by destroying the English
Castle of Roscommon. He died soon after, and his successor had but brief
enjoyment of his dignity. In 1277 a horrible act of treachery took
place, which the unfortunate Irish specially mention in their
remonstrance to Pope John XXII., as a striking instance of the
double-dealing of the English and the descendants of the Anglo-Normans
then in Ireland, Thomas de Clare obtained a grant of Thomond from Edward
I. It had already been secured to its rightful owners, the O'Briens, who
probably paid, as was usual, an immense fine for liberty to keep their
own property. The English Earl knew he could only obtain possession by
treachery; he therefore leagued with Roe O'Brien, "so that they entered
into gossipred with each other, and took vows by bells and relics to
retain mutual friendship;" or, as the Annals of Clonmacnois have it,
"they swore to each other all the oaths in Munster, as bells, relics of
saints, and bachalls, to be true to each other for ever."
The unfortunate Irish prince little suspected all the false oaths his
friend had taken, or all the villany he premeditated. There was another
claimant for the crown as usual, Turlough O'Brien. He was defeated, but
nevertheless the Earl turned to his side, got Brian Roe into his hands,
and had him dragged to death between horses. The wretched perpetrator of
this diabolical deed gained little by his crime,[337] for O'Brien's sons
obtained a victory over him the following year. At one time he was so
hard pressed as to be obliged to surrender at discretion, after living
on horse-flesh for several days. In 1281 the unprincipled Earl tried the
game of dissension, and set up Donough, the son of the man he had
murdered, against Turlough, whom he had supported just before. But
Donough was slain two years after, and Turlough continued master of
Thomond until his death, in 1306. De Clare was slain by the O'Briens, in
1286.
In 1280 the Irish who lived near the Anglo-Norman settlers presented a
petition to the English King, praying that they might be admitted to the
privileges of the English law. Edward issued a writ to the then Lord
Justice, D'Ufford, desiring him to assemble the lords spiritual and
temporal of the "land of Ireland," to deliberate on the subject. But the
writ was not attended to; and even if it had been, the lords "spiritual
and temporal" appear to have decided long before that the Irish should
not participate in the benefit of English laws, however much they might
suffer from English oppression. A pagan nation pursued a more liberal
policy, and found it eminently successful. The Roman Empire was held
together for many centuries, quite as much by the fact of her having
made all her dependencies to share in the benefits of her laws, as by
the strong hand of her cohorts. She used her arms to conquer, and her
laws to retain her conquests.
In 1281 a sanguinary engagement took place at Moyne, in the county Mayo,
between the Cusacks and the Barretts. The latter were driven off the
field. The Annals say: "There were assisting the Cusacks in this battle
two of the Irish, namely, Taichleach O'Boyle and Taichleach O'Dowda, who
surpassed all that were there in bravery and valour, and in agility and
dexterity in shooting."[338] There was a battle this year also between
the Cinel-Connaill and the Cinel-Owen, in which the former were
defeated, and their chieftain, Oge O'Donnell, was slain. This encounter
took place at Desertcreaght, in Tyrone.
Hugh Boy O'Neill was slain in 1283. He is styled "the head of the
liberality and valour of the Irish; the most distinguished in the north
for bestowing jewels and riches; the most formidable and victorious of
his tribe; and the worthy heir to the throne of Ireland." The last
sentence is observable, as it shows that the English monarch was not
then considered King of Ireland. In 1285 Theobald Butler died at
Berehaven. After his death a large army was collected by Lord Geoffrey
Geneville, and some other English nobles. They marched into Offaly,
where the Irish had just seized the Castle of Leix. Here they had a
brief triumph, and seized upon a great prey of cows; but the native
forces rallied immediately, and, with the aid of Carbry O'Melaghlin,
routed the enemy completely. Theobald de Verdun lost both his men and
his horses, and Gerald FitzMaurice was taken prisoner the day after the
battle, it is said through the treachery of his own followers. The Four
Masters do not mention this event, but it is recorded at length in the
Annals of Clonmacnois. They add: "There was a great snow this year,
which from Christmas to St. Brigid's day continued."
The two great families of De Burgo and Geraldine demand a special
mention. The former, who were now represented by Richard de Burgo (the
Red Earl), had become so powerful, that they took precedence even of the
Lord Justice in official documents. In 1286 the Earl led a great army
into Connaught, destroying the monasteries and churches, and "obtaining
sway in everyplace through which he passed." This nobleman was the
direct descendant of FitzAldelm de Burgo, who had married Isabella, a
natural daughter of Richard Coeur de Lion, and widow of Llewellyn,
Prince of Wales. Walter de Burgo became Earl of Ulster in right of his
wife, Maud, daughter of the younger Hugh de Lacy. The Red Earl's
grandson, William, who was murdered, in 1333, by the English of Ulster,
and whose death was most cruelly revenged, was the third and last of the
De Burgo Earls of Ulster. The Burkes of Connaught are descended from
William, the younger brother of Walter, the first Earl.
John FitzThomas FitzGerald, Baron of Offaly, was the common ancestor of
the two great branches of the Geraldines, whose history is an object of
such peculiar interest to the Irish historian. One of his sons, John,
was created Earl of Kildare; the other, Maurice, Earl of Desmond.
In 1286 De Burgo laid claim to that portion of Meath which Theobald de
Verdun held in right of his mother, the daughter of Walter de Lacy. He
besieged De Verdun in his Castle of Athlone, A.D. 1288, but the result
has not been recorded. De Toleburne, Justiciary of Ireland, died this
year; the King seized on all his property, to pay debts which he owed to
the crown. It appears he was possessed of a considerable number of
horses.[339]
Jean de Samford, Archbishop of Dublin, administered the affairs of the
colony until 1290, when he was succeeded by Sir William de Vesci, a
Yorkshire man, and a royal favourite.
In 1289 Carbry O'Melaghlin possessed a considerable amount of power in
Meath, and was therefore extremely obnoxious to the English settlers. An
army was collected to overthrow his government, headed by Richard Tuite
(the Great Baron), and assisted by O'Connor, King of Connaught. They
were defeated, and "Tuite, with his kinsmen, and Siccus O'Kelly, were
slain."
Immediately after the arrival of the new Lord Justice, a quarrel sprung
up between him and FitzGerald, Baron of Offaly. They both appeared
before the Council; and if Hollinshed's account may be credited, they
used language which would scarcely be tolerated in Billingsgate.
FitzGerald proposed an appeal to arms, which was accepted by his
adversary. Edward summoned both parties to Westminster. FitzGerald came
duly equipped for the encounter, but De Vesci had fled the country. He
was, however, acquitted by Parliament, on the ground of informality, and
the affair was referred to the royal decision. According to Hollinshed's
account, the King observed, that "although de Vesci had conveyed his
person to France, he had left his land behind him in Ireland;" and
bestowed the lordships of Kildare and Rathangan on his adversary.
Wogan was Viceroy during the close of this century, and had ample
occupation pacifying the Geraldines and Burkes--an occupation in which
he was not always successful. Thomas FitzMaurice, "of the ape," father
of the first Earl of Desmond, had preceded him in the office of
Justiciary. This nobleman obtained his cognomen from the circumstances
of having been carried, when a child, by a tame ape round the walls of a
castle, and then restored to his cradle without the slightest injury.
The English possessions in Ireland at the close of this century
consisted of the "Liberties" and ten counties--Dublin, Louth, Kildare,
Waterford, Tipperary, Cork, Limerick, Kerry, Roscommon, and part of
Connaught. The "Liberties" were those of Connaught and Ulster, under De
Burgo; Meath, divided between De Mortimer and De Verdun; Wexford,
Carlow, and Kilkenny, under the jurisdiction of the respective
representatives of the Marshal heiresses; Thomond, claimed by De Clare;
and Desmond, partly controlled by the FitzGeralds. Sir William Davies
says: "These absolute palatines made barons and knights; did exercise
high justice in all points within their territories; erected courts for
criminal and civil cases, and for their own revenues, in the same forms
as the King's courts were established at Dublin; made their own judges,
sheriffs, coroners, and escheators, so as the King's writ did not run in
these counties (which took up more than two parts of the English
colonies), but only in the church-lands lying within the same, which
were called the 'Cross,' wherein the King made a sheriff; and so in each
of these counties-palatine there were two sheriffs, one of the Liberty,
and another of the Cross. These undertakers were not tied to any form of
plantation, but all was left to their discretion and pleasure; and
although they builded castles and made freeholds, yet there were no
tenures or services reserved to the crown, but the lords drew all the
respect and dependency of the common people unto themselves." Hence the
strong objection which the said lords had to the introduction of English
law; for had this been accomplished, it would have proved a serious
check to their own advancement for the present time, though, had they
wisdom to have seen it, in the end it would have proved their best
safeguard and consolidated their power. The fact was, these settlers
aimed at living like the native princes, oblivious or ignorant of the
circumstance, that these princes were as much amenable to law as the
lowest of their subjects, and that they governed by a prescriptive right
of centuries. If they made war, it was for the benefit of the tribe, not
for their individual aggrandizement; if they condemned to death, the
sentence should be in accordance with the Brehon law, which the people
knew and revered. The settlers owned no law but their own will; and the
unhappy people whom they governed could not fail to see that their sole
object was their own benefit, and to obtain an increase of territorial
possessions at any cost.
On the lands thus plundered many native septs existed, whom neither war
nor famine could quite exterminate. Their feelings towards the new lord
of the soil can easily be understood; it was a feeling of open
hostility, of which they made no secret. They considered the usurper's
claim unjust; and to deprive him of the possessions which he had
obtained by force or fraud, was the dearest wish of their hearts.
This subject should be very carefully considered and thoroughly
understood, for much, if not all, of the miseries which Ireland has
endured, have arisen from the fatal policy pursued at this period. How
could the Celt be loyal to the Anglo-Norman, who lived only to oppress
him, to drive him from his ancestral home, and then to brand him with
the foul name of rebel, if he dared resist? Had he not resisted, he
would have been branded with a worse name--a coward.
Such portions of the country as lay outside the land of which the
Anglo-Normans had possessed themselves, were called "marches." These
were occupied by troops of natives, who continually resisted the
aggressions of the invader, always anxious to add to his territory.
These troops constantly made good reprisals for what had been taken, by
successful raids on the castle or the garrison. Fleet-footed, and well
aware of every spot which would afford concealment, these hardy Celts
generally escaped scot-free. Thus occupied for several centuries, they
acquired a taste for this roving life; and they can scarcely be
reproached for not having advanced in civilization with the age, by
those who placed such invincible obstacles to their progress.[340]
The most important royal castles, after Dublin, were those of Athlone,
Roscommon, and Randown. They were governed by a constable, and supplied
by a garrison paid out of the revenues of the colony. The object of
these establishments was to keep down the natives, who were accordingly
taxed to keep the garrisons. The people quite understood this, and it
was not an additional motive for loyalty. The battlements of the castle
were generally adorned with a grim array of ghastly skulls, the heads of
those who had been slain in the warfare so constantly going on. But the
attempt to strike terror into the Irish utterly failed, and new
candidates passed into the ranks. How, indeed, could they die more
gloriously than in the service of their country?
The royal cities held charters direct from the crown of England. These
cities were Dublin, Waterford, Limerick, and Cork. Some idea has
already been given of the streets and the size of Dublin. The Castle
was the most important building, at least to the civil portion of
the community. It contained within its walls a chapel, a jail, and a
mill--characteristic of the age. The mill was styled the "King's Mill."
The chaplains had each an annual salary of fifty shillings--not an
insufficient provision, if we calculate that the penny then was nearly
the same value as the shilling now; moreover, they had two shillings
each for wax, and probably fees besides. The chapel was under the
patronage of St. Thomas of Canterbury, who, when he had been martyred,
sent to heaven, and could give no more inconvenient reproofs, stood very
high in royal favour. The Castle was partly encompassed by a moat,
called the "Castlegripe;" the walls were fortified with bastions, and
had various gates, towers, and narrow entrances, which were defended by
strong doors and portcullises. The chief communication with the city was
by a drawbridge on the southern side of Castle-street. Rolls of the
fourteenth century exhibit disbursements for repairs, ropes, bolts, and
rings, from which we gather that everything was kept ready for immediate
service.
The hostages which were exacted from the Anglo-Norman lords, as well as
from the Irish chieftains, were kept in the Castle at their own expense.
They can hardly have found their position very pleasant, as at any
moment they might be called on to submit to the operation of having
their eyes put out, or to be hanged. The judges and other officials held
their courts in the Castle. In the Court of Exchequer the primitive
method of using counters for calculating[341] was still continued. These
were laid in rows upon the "chequered" cloth which covered the table.
Square hazel rods, notched[342] in a particular manner, styled tallies
and counter-tallies, were employed as vouchers.
The Red Book of the Exchequer contains a curious sketch of "the
Exchequer of the King of England in Dublin." Six officers of the court
are at the top; to the left, three judges; to the right, three suitors;
a sheriff is seated at the bottom. The crier is in the act of adjourning
the court, exclaiming "_à demain_," showing that even in Ireland
Norman-French was still the language of law, and probably of courtesy.
The officer to the left, supposed to be the Second Remembrancer, holds a
parchment containing the words, "_Preceptum fuit Vice-comiti, per breve
hujus Scaccarii_." The Chief Remembrancer occupies himself with a pen
and an Exchequer roll, commencing "_Memorandum quod X° die Maij_," &c.;
while the Clerk of the Pipe prepares a writ, placed on his left knee,
his foot resting on the table. The Marshal of the Exchequer addresses
the usher, and holds a document inscribed, "_Exiit breve Vice-comiti_."
One of the judges exclaims, "_Soient forfez_;" another, _"Voyr dire_."
On the chequered-covered table, before the judges, are the Red Book, a
bag with rolls, the counters used for computation, and a document
commencing with the words, "_Ceo vous_," &c. The sheriff sits at the
bottom, wearing the leathern cap used by such officers when their
accounts were under examination in the Exchequer. Three suitors stand at
the right side of the picture. One, with uplifted hand, says, "_Oz de
brie_;" another, extending his arm, cries, "_Chalange_;" the third, with
sword at his side, laced boots, and ample sleeves, holds the thumb of
his left hand between the fore and middle finger of his right, and
exclaims, "_Soite oughte_." Thus affording us an interesting and
truthful picture of a law court in the fourteenth century.
The crown revenues and customs were frequently pawned out to
associations of Italian money-lenders; and the "Ricardi" of Lucca, and
"Frescobaldi" of Florence, had agents in the principal towns in Ireland.
The royal treasure was deposited in the Castle, in a coffer with three
locks. The keys were confided to different persons, and no payment could
be made unless the three were present; still, as might be expected from
men, the sole object of whose lives appears to have been to enrich
themselves at the expense of others, the accounts were not always
satisfactory. Even the Viceroys were accused of conniving at and sharing
in frauds, notwithstanding the salary of £500 per annum and their other
emoluments, with the permission to levy provisions of all kinds for "the
king's price," which was far below the current value.
The Castle garrison consisted of archers and halberdiers; the Constable,
Warders, and Guardian of Works and Supplies, being the principal
officers. The Constable was generally a nobleman of high rank, and
received an annual salary[343] of £18 5s.
It will be remembered that Sir John Wogan had been appointed Viceroy at
the close of the thirteenth century. He brought about a two years' truce
between the Geraldines and Burkes (De Burgos), and then summoned a
Parliament at Kilkenny, A.D. 1295. The roll of this Parliament contains
only twenty-seven names. Richard, Earl of Ulster, is the first on the
list. The principal Acts passed were: one for revising King John's
division of the country into counties; another for providing a more
strict guard over the marches, so as to "keep out the Irish." The Irish
were not permitted to have any voice in the settlement of the affairs,
of their country, and it was a rebellious symptom if they demurred.
Nevertheless, in 1303, King Edward was graciously pleased to accept the
services of Irish soldiers, in his expedition against Scotland. It is
said that, in 1299, his army was composed principally of Welsh and
Irish, and that on this occasion they were royally feasted at Roxburgh
Castle.
The O'Connors of Offaly were for nearly two centuries the most heroic,
and therefore the most dangerous, of the "Irish enemies." Maurice
O'Connor Faly and his brother, Calvagh, were the heads of the sept. The
latter had obtained the soubriquet of "the Great Rebel," from his
earnest efforts to free his country. He had defeated the English in a
battle, in which Meiller de Exeter and several others were slain; he had
taken the Castle of Kildare; therefore, as he could not be taken himself
by fair means, treachery was employed.
The chiefs of Offaly were invited to dinner on Trinity Sunday, A.D.
1315, by Sir Pierce MacFeorais (Peter Bermingham). As they rose up from
table they were cruelly massacred, one by one, with twenty-four of their
followers. This black deed took place at Bermingham's own Castle of
Carbury,[344] county Kildare. Bermingham was arraigned before King
Edward, but no justice was ever obtained for this foul murder.
In the year 1308, Piers Gaveston, the unworthy favourite of Edward II.,
was appointed Viceroy. The English barons had long been disgusted by his
insolence, and jealous of his influence. He was banished to France--or
rather a decree to that effect was issued--but Ireland was substituted,
for it was considered a banishment to be sent to that country. Gaveston,
with his usual love of display, was attended by a magnificent suite, and
commenced his Viceroyalty in high state. He was accompanied by his wife,
Marguerite, who was closely connected with the royal family.
The Templars had been suppressed and plundered by royal command; but
though this evil deed was accomplished without much trouble, there were
Irish clans whose suppression was not so easily effected. The O'Tooles
and O'Briens, styled by the Anglo-Normans "les Ototheyles et les
Obrynnes," stood their ground so well, that they had put the late
Viceroy to flight this very year, and promised some active employment
for his successor.
Edward appears to have had apprehensions as to the kind of reception his
favourite was likely to receive from the powerful Earl of Ulster; he
therefore wrote him a special letter, requesting his aid and counsel for
the Viceroy. But De Burgo knew his own power too well; and instead of
complying with the royal request, he marched off to Drogheda, and then
to Trim, where he employed himself in giving sumptuous entertainments,
and conferring the honour of knighthood on his adherents. The favourite
was recalled to England at the end of a year. Edward had conducted him
to Bristol, on his way to Ireland; he now went to meet him at Chester,
on his return. Three years later he paid the forfeit of his head for all
these condescensions.
In 1309 De Wogan was again appointed Governor. The exactions of the
nobles had risen to such a height, that some of their number began to
fear the effects would recoil on themselves. High food rates and fearful
poverty then existed, in consequence of the cruel exactions of the
Anglo-Normans on their own dependents. They lived frequently in their
houses, and quartered their soldiers and followers on them, without
offering them the smallest remuneration. A statute was now made which
pronounced these proceedings "open robbery," and accorded the right of
suit in such cases to the crown. But this enactment could only be a dead
letter. We have already seen how the crown dealt with the most serious
complaints of the natives; and even had justice been awarded to the
complainant, the right of eviction was in the hands of the nearest
noble, and the unfortunate tenant would have his choice between
starvation in the woods or marauding on the highways, having neither the
_dernier resort_ of a workhouse or emigration in that age.
The Viceroy had abundant occupation suppressing the feuds both of the
Irish and the colonists. Civil war raged in Thomond, but the quarrels
between the Anglo-Norman settlers in the same province, appear to have
been more extensive and less easily appeased. In a note to the Annals of
Clonmacnois, MacGeoghegan observes, that "there reigned more
dissentions, strife, warrs, and debates between the Englishmen
themselves, in the beginning of the conquest of this kingdome, than
between the Irishmen; as by perusing the warrs between the Lacies of
Meath, John Coursey, Earle of Ulster, William Marshal, and the English
of Meath and Munster, Mac Gerald, the Burke, Butler, and Cogan, may
appear."
The famous invasion of Ireland by Bruce took place on the 16th of May,
A.D. 1315. On that day Edward landed on the coast of Ulster, near
Carrickfergus, with six thousand men. He was attended by the heroes of
Bannockburn; and as a considerable number of native forces soon joined
them, the contingent was formidable. Although a few of the Irish had
assisted Edward II. in his war against Scotch independence, the
sympathies of the nation were with the cause of freedom; and they gladly
hailed the arrival of those who had delivered their own country, hoping
they would also deliver Ireland. It was proposed that Edward Bruce
should be made King of Ireland. The Irish chieftain, Donnell O'Neill,
King of Ulster, in union with the other princes of the province, wrote a
spirited but respectful remonstrance to the Holy See, on the part of the
nation, explaining why they were anxious to transfer the kingdom to
Bruce.
In this document the remonstrants first state, simply and clearly, that
the Holy Father was deceived; that they were persuaded his intentions
were pure and upright; and that his Holiness only knew the Irish through
the misrepresentations of their enemies. They state their wish "to save
their country from foul and false imputations," and to give a correct
idea of their state. They speak, truthfully and mournfully, "of the sad
remains of a kingdom, which has groaned so long beneath the tyranny of
English kings, of their ministers and their barons;" and they add, "that
some of the latter, though born in the island, continued to exercise the
same extortions, rapine, and cruelties, as their ancestors inflicted."
They remind the Pontiff that "it is to Milesian princes, and not to the
English, that the Church is indebted for those lands and possessions of
which it has been stripped by the sacrilegious cupidity of the English."
They boldly assert "it was on the strength of false statements" that
Adrian transferred the sovereignty of the country to Henry II, "the
probable murderer of St. Thomas à Becket." Details are then given of
English oppression, to some of which we have already referred. They
state the people have been obliged to take refuge, "like beasts, in the
mountains, in the woods, marshes, and caves. Even _there_ we are not
safe. They envy us these desolate abodes." They contrast the engagements
made by Henry to the Church, and his fair promises, with the grievous
failure in their fulfilment. They give clear details of the various
enactments made by the English, one of which merits special attention,
as an eternal refutation of the false and base charge against the Irish
of having refused to accept English laws, because they were a lawless
race. They state (1) "that no Irishman who is not a prelate can take the
law against an Englishman, but every Englishman may take the law against
an Irishman." (2) That any Englishman may kill an Irishman, "falsely and
perfidiously, _as often happened_, of whatsoever rank, innocent or
guilty, and yet he cannot be brought before the English tribunals; and
further, that the English murderer can seize the property of his
victim." When such was the state of Ireland, as described calmly in an
important document still extant, we cannot be surprised that the people
eagerly sought the slightest hope of redress, or the merest chance of
deliverance from such oppression.[345] In conclusion, the Irish princes
inform his Holiness, "that in order to obtain their object the more
speedily and securely, they had invited the gallant Edward Bruce, to
whom, being descended from their most noble ancestors, they had
transferred, as they justly might, their own right of royal domain."
A few years later Pope John wrote a letter to Edward III., in which he
declares that the object of Pope Adrian's Bull had been entirely
neglected, and that the "most unheard-of miseries and persecutions had
been inflicted on the Irish." He recommends that monarch to adopt a very
different policy, and to remove the causes of complaint, "lest it might
be too late hereafter to apply a remedy, when the spirit of revolt had
grown stronger."
The accounts of Bruce's Irish campaign have not been very clearly given.
The Four Masters mention it briefly, notwithstanding its importance; the
fullest account is contained in the Annals of Clonmacnois, which agree
with the Annals of Connaught. Dundalk, Ardee, and some other places in
the north, were taken in rapid succession, and a good supply of victuals
and wine was obtained from the former place. The Viceroy, Sir Edmund le
Botiller, marched to attack the enemy; but the proud Earl of Ulster
refused his assistance, and probably the Justiciary feared to offend him
by offering to remain. Meanwhile, Felim, King of Connaught, who had
hitherto been an ally of the Red Earl, came over to the popular side;
and the English forces suffered a defeat at Connor, in which William de
Burgo and several knights were taken prisoners. This battle was fought
on the 10th of September, according to Grace's Annals, and the battle of
Dundalk on the 29th of July.
After the battle of Connor, the Earl of Ulster fled to Connaught, where
he remained a year; the remainder of his forces shut themselves up in
Carrickfergus. Bruce was proclaimed King of Ireland, and marched
southward to pursue his conquests. The Earl of Moray was sent to
Edinburgh to invite King Robert over, and the Scotch armies prepared to
spend the winter with the De Lacys in Westmeath.
When the Christmas festivities were concluded, Bruce again took the
field, and defeated the Viceroy at Ardscull, in the co. Kildare, In the
month of February some of the chief nobles of the English colony met in
Dublin, and signed a manifesto, in which they denounced the traitorous
conduct of the Scotch enemy, in trying to wrest Ireland from their Lord,
"Monsieur Edward," taking special care to herald forth their own praises
for loyalty, and to hint at the compensation which might be required for
the same.
But the Irish were again their own enemies; and to their miserable
dissensions, though it can never justify the cruelties of their
oppressors, must be attributed most justly nearly all their misfortunes.
Had the Irish united against the invaders, there can be no doubt that,
with the assistance of the Scotch army, they would have obtained a
complete and glorious victory, though it may be doubtful whether any
really beneficial results would have accrued to the country should
disunion continue. When Felim O'Connor joined Bruce, Rory O'Connor and
his clan commenced depredations on his territory. Felim returned to give
him battle, and defeated him with terrible slaughter. Thus men and time
were lost in useless and ignoble strife. Rory was slain in this
engagement--a fate he richly merited; and Felim was once more free to
fight for his country. He was joined by the O'Briens of Thomond, and
they marched together to attack Athenry, which was defended by Burke and
Bermingham. A fierce conflict ensued. The Irish fought with their usual
valour; but English coats-of-mail were proof against their attacks, and
English cross-bows mowed down their ranks.
The brave young Felim was slain, with 11,000 of his followers; and the
Irish cause was irretrievably injured, perhaps more by the death of the
leader than by the loss of the men. This disaster took place on the 10th
of August, 1316.
Still the Irish were not daunted. The O'Tooles and O'Byrnes rose in
Wicklow, the O'Mores in Leix. Robert Bruce came over to Ireland. The
Franciscan friars, always devoted to their country, made themselves
specially obnoxious by encouraging their countrymen to die in defence of
their country. They were threatened and cajoled by turns, but with
little effect.[346] Edward Bruce again appeared before Carrickfergus.
The siege was protracted until September, when Robert Bruce arrived, and
found the English so hard pressed, that they ate hides, and fed on the
bodies of eight Scots whom they had made prisoners.[347] In the year
1317, the Scottish army was computed at 20,000 men, besides their Irish
auxiliaries. After Shrovetide, King Robert and his brother crossed the
Boyne, and marched to Castleknock, near Dublin, where they took Hugh
Tyrrell prisoner, and obtained possession of the fortress. There was no
little fear in Dublin Castle thereupon, for the Anglo-Normans distrusted
each other. And well they might. The De Lacys had solemnly pledged their
fidelity, yet they were now found under the standard of Bruce. Even De
Burgo was suspected; for his daughter, Elizabeth, was the wife of the
Scottish King. When the invading army approached Dublin, he was seized
and confined in the Castle. It will be remembered that Dublin had been
more than once peopled by the citizens of Bristol. They were naturally
in the English interest, and disposed to offer every resistance. They
fortified Dublin so strongly, even at the expense of burning the suburbs
and pulling down churches, that Bruce deemed it more prudent to avoid an
encounter, and withdrew towards the Salmon Leap; from whence he led his
forces southward as far as Limerick, without encountering any serious
opposition.
But a reverse was even then at hand. An Anglo-Irish army was formed,
headed by the Earl of Kildare; famine added its dangers; and on the 1st
of May Robert Bruce returned to Scotland, leaving his brother, Edward,
with the Earl of Moray, to contend, as best they could, against the
twofold enemy. In 1318 a good harvest relieved the country in some
measure from one danger; two Cardinals were despatched from Rome to
attempt to release it from the other. On the 14th October, in the same
year, the question was finally decided. An engagement took place at
Faughard, near Dundalk. On the one side was the Scotch army, headed by
Bruce, and assisted (from what motive it is difficult to determine) by
the De Lacys and other Anglo-Norman lords; on the other side, the
English army, commanded by Lord John Bermingham. The numbers on each
side have been differently estimated; but it is probable the death of
Edward Bruce was the turning point of the conflict. He was slain by a
knight named John Maupas, who paid for his valour with his life.
Bermingham obtained the Earldom of Louth and the manor of Ardee as a
reward for Bruce's head; and the unfortunate Irish were left to their
usual state of chronic resistance to English oppression. The head of the
Scottish chieftain was "salted in a chest," and placed unexpectedly,
with other heads, at a banquet, before Edward II. The English King
neither swooned nor expressed surprise; but the Scotch ambassadors, who
were present, rushed horror-stricken from the apartment. The King,
however, was "right blyth," and glad to be delivered so easily of a
"felon foe." John de Lacy and Sir Robert de Coulragh, who had assisted
the said "felon," paid dearly for their treason; and as they were
Anglo-Normans, and subjects of the English crown, the term was justly
applied to them, however cruel the sentence. They were starved to death
in prison, "on three morsels of the worst bread, and three draughts of
foul water on alternate days, until life became extinct."
Since this chapter was written, Mr. O'Flanagan has kindly presented me
with his valuable _History of Dundalk_, from which I am permitted to
make the following extracts, which throw much additional light upon the
subject:--[348]
"'In the ninth year of King Edward's reign,' writes Hollinshed, 'Edward
Bruce, brother to Robert Bruce, King of Scots, entered the north part of
Ireland, with 6,000 men. There were with him divers captains of high
renown among the Scottish nation, of whom were these:--The Earls of
Murray and Monteith, the Lord John Stewart, the Lord John Campbell, the
Lord Thomas Randolf, Fergus of Ardrossan, John Wood, and John Bisset.
They landed near to Cragfergus, in Ulster, and joining with the Irish (a
large force of whom was led out by Fellim, son of Hugh O'Conor). Thus
assisted, he conquered the Earldom of Ulster, and gave the English there
divers great overthrows, took the town of Dundalk, spoiled and burned
it, with a great part of Orgiel. They burned churches and abbeys, with
the people whom they found in the same, sparing neither man, woman, nor
child. Then was the Lord Butler chosen Lord Justice, who made the Earl
of Ulster and the Geraldines friends, and reconciled himself with Sir
John Mandeville, thus seeking to preserve the residue of the realm which
Edward Bruce meant wholly to conquer, having caused himself to be
crowned King of Ireland.'
"Dundalk was heretofore the stronghold of the English power, and the
head-quarters of the army for the defence of the Pale. At the north, as
Barbour preserves in his metrical history of Robert Bruce:
"'At Kilsaggart Sir Edward lay,
And wellsom he has heard say
That at Dundalk was assembly
Made of the lords of that country.'
"It was not, however, within this town that the ceremony of Bruce's
coronation took place, but, according to the best avouched tradition, on
the hill of Knock-na-Melin, at half a mile's distance.
"Connaught the while was torn with dissensions and family feuds, of
which availing himself, 'the Lord Justice' (to resume the narrative of
Hollinshed) 'assembled a great power out of Munster and Leinster, and
other parts thereabouts; and the Earl of Ulster, with another army, came
in unto him near unto Dundalk. There they consulted together how to deal
in defending the country against the enemies; but, hearing the Scots
were withdrawn back, the Earl of Ulster followed them, and, fighting
with them at "Coiners," he lost the field. There were many slain on both
parts; and William de Burgh, the Earl's brother, Sir John Mandeville,
and Sir Alan FitzAlan were taken prisoners.' Bruce's adherents
afterwards ravaged other parts of the Pale, Meath, Kildare, &c., but met
with much, resistance. At length 'Robert le Bruce, King of Scots, came
over himself, landed at Cragfergus, to the aid of his brother, whose
soldiers most wickedly entered into churches, spoiling and defacing the
same of all such tombs, monuments, plate, copes, and other ornaments
which they found and might lay hands on.' Ultimately 'the Lord John
Bermingham, being general of the field, and having with him divers
captains of worthy fame, namely--Sir Richard Tuiyte, Sir Miles Verdon,
Sir John Cusack, Sirs Edmund, and William, and Walter Bermingham, the
Primate of Armagh, Sir Walter de la Pulle, and John Maupas (with some
choice soldiers from Drogheda), led forth the King's power to the number
of 1,324 able men, against Edward Bruce, who had, with his adherents
(the Lord Philip Moubray, the Lord Walter Soulis, the Lord Allan Stuart,
with three brothers, Sir Walter Lacy, Sir Robert and Aumar Lacy, John
Kermerelyn, Walter White, and about 3,000 others, writes Pembridge),
encamped, not two miles from Dundalk, with 3,000 men, there abiding the
Englishmen to fight with them if they came forward, which they did with
all convenient speed, being as desirous to give battle as the Scots were
to receive it. The Primate of Armagh, personally accompanying the
English power, and blessing the enterprise, gave them such comfortable
exhortation as he thought served the time ere they began to encounter,
and herewith buckling together, at length the Scots fully and wholly
were vanquished, and 2,000 of them slain, together with the Captain,
Edward Bruce. Maupas, that pressed into the throng to encounter with
Bruce hand to hand, was found, in the search, dead, aloft upon the slain
body of Bruce. The victory thus obtained, upon St. Calixtus' day, made
an end of the Scottish kingdom in Ireland; and Lord Bermingham, sending
the head of Bruce into England, presented it to King Edward, who, in
recompense, gave him and his heirs male the Earldom of Louth, and the
Baronies of Ardee and Athenry to him and his heirs general for ever,' as
hereafter noticed.
"'Edward Bruce,' say the Four Masters, 'a man who spoiled Ireland
generally, both English and Irish, was slain by the English, by force of
battle and bravery, at Dundalk; and MacRory, Lord of the Hebrides,
MacDonell, Lord of the Eastern Gael (in Antrim), and many others of the
Albanian or Scottish chiefs were also slain; and no event occurred in
Ireland for a long period from which so much benefit was derived as
that, for a general famine prevailed in the country during the three
years and a half he had been in it, and the people were almost reduced
to the necessity of eating each other.' Edward Bruce was, however,
unquestionably a man of great spirit, ambition, and bravery, but fiery,
rash, and impetuous, wanting that rare combination of wisdom and valour
which so conspicuously marked the character of his illustrious brother.
"During the sojourn of Edward Bruce in this kingdom, he did much to
retard the spread of English rule. Having for allies many of the
northern Irish, whose chieftain, O'Neill, invited him to be King over
the Gael in Ireland, and whose neighbourhood to the Scottish coast made
them regard his followers as their fellow-countrymen, he courted them on
all occasions, and thus the Irish customs of gossipred and
fostering--preferring the Brehon laws to statute law, whether enacted at
Westminster or by the Parliaments of the Pale--destroyed all traces of
the rule which the English wished to impose upon the province of Ulster.
Many of the English settlers--Hugh de Lacy, John Lord Bissett, Sir Hugh
Bissett, and others--openly took part with Bruce.
"The eastern shores of Ulster, Spenser informs us, previous to Bruce's
arrival, bounded a well-inhabited and prosperous English district,
having therein the good towns of Knockfergus, Belfast, Armagh, and
Carlingford; but in process of time became 'outbounds and abandoned
places in the English Pale.' According to the metrical history of
Barbour, Edward Bruce was by no means disposed to continue a subject,
while his brother reigned King; and, though Robert conferred his
hereditary Earldom of Carrick upon him, it by no means satisfied his
ambitious projects:--
"'The Erle of Carrick, Schyr Eduward,
That stouter was than a libbard,
And had na will to be in pess,
Thoucht that Scotland to litill was
Till his brother and hym alsua,
Therefor to purpose he gav ta
That he of Irland wold be king.'
"Shortly after his landing at Carrickfergus he proceeded towards the
Pale. Dundalk, then the principal garrison within the Pale, had all the
Englishry of the country assembled in force to defend it, when the Scots
proceeded to the attack, 'with banners all displayit.' The English sent
out a reconnoitering party, who brought back the cheering news, the
Scots would be but 'half a dinner' to them. This dinner, however, was
never eaten. The town was stormed with such vigour that the streets
flowed with the blood of the defenders; and such as could escape fled
with the utmost precipitancy, leaving their foes profusion of victuals
and great abundance of wine. This assault took place 29th June, 1315. It
was upon this success the Scots crowned Edward Bruce King of Ireland, on
the hill of Knocknamelan, near Dundalk, in the same simple national
manner in which his brother had been inaugurated at Scone.
"The new monarch, however, was not disposed to rest inactive, and his
troops had many skirmishes with Richard de Burgh, called the Red Earl of
Ulster, who drove them as far as Coleraine. There they were in great
distress; and they would have suffered much from hunger and want, had
not a famous pirate, Thomas of Down, or Thomas Don, sailed up the Bann
and set them free. De Burgh's army were supplied with provisions from a
distance; and one of Bruce's famous leaders, named Randolph, Earl of
Murray, who commanded the left wing at Bannockburn, having surprised the
convoy on its way to De Burgh's camp, equipped his men in the clothes of
the escort, advanced at dusk with his cavalry, and the banner of the
English flaunting in the night wind. A large party of De Burgh's force,
perceiving, as they thought, the approach of the expected provisions,
advanced unguardedly to drive off the cattle, when they were vigorously
assailed by the Scots, shouting their war-cry, and they were chased back
with the loss of a thousand slain. De Burgh's army included all the
chivalry of Ireland--that is, the English portion, viz.:--'The Butlers,
earls two, of Kildare and Desmond; Byrnhame (Bermingham), Widdan
(Verdon), and FitzWaryne, and Schyr Paschall off Florentyne, a Knight of
Lombardy; with the Mandvillas, Bissetts, Logans, Savages, and Schyr
Nycholl off Kilkenave.' _The Ulster Journal_ thinks this list of
Barbour's incorrect; certainly Sir Edmond Butler was not among them, nor
probably either of the Geraldine lords. Some lords of Munster, however,
were present--Power, Baron of Donisle; Sir George Lord Roche, and Sir
Roger Hollywood, of county Meath.
"On the 10th September, A.D. 1315, De Burgh, being reinforced, marched
to attack Bruce's position; but the Scots, leaving their banners flying
to deceive the Anglo-Irish, fell upon their flank and gained the
victory. This gave them Coleraine; and next day they bore off a great
store of corn, flour, wax, and wine, to Carrickfergus.
"This success gave to the Gael of the north an opportunity of declaring
their exultation. Bruce, whose royal authority was previously confined
to his Scottish troops, was proclaimed King of Ireland, and addressed as
such.
"He then sent the Earl of Murray to Edinburgh, where the King of
Scotland kept his court, entreating him to join him in Ireland.
"'For war thai both in to that land
Thai suld find nane culd thaim withstand.'
"Robert gladly promised compliance, but was for some time prevented by
the exigencies of his own kingdom. Murray returned with a small
reinforcement, but 500 men, and landed at Dundalk, where Edward Bruce
met him. This was in the December of 1315.
"In January, 1316, Edward Bruce led his forces into the county of
Kildare, and was stoutly opposed by the Lord Justiciary, or Viceroy, Sir
Edward Butler, who, backed by the Geraldines, under John Fitzgerald,
first Earl of Kildare, bravely repulsed the invaders. They retreated
with the loss of Sir Walter Murray and Sir Fergus of Ardrossan, with
seventy men, as Clyn records. A new ally for the Palesmen arrived at
this juncture--Mortimer, Lord of Meath, in right of his wife, Joan de
Joinville. He assembled a large force, and endeavoured to intercept the
Scots at Kells, but, on the eve of the onset, was deserted by the Lacys
and others, who left him almost defenceless. The season and scarcity
made war against the Scots, and vast numbers perished from hunger. Bruce
was forced to retreat once more northward, where his chief adherents
lay. The citadel of Carrickfergus resisted the attacks of Bruce's army
for a year. It was in this town that (probably in September, 1316)
Robert, King of Scotland, with a strong force, came to his brother's
help. Barbour gives the number who accompanied Robert at 5,000. This was
enough to make the Viceroy take heed for his government. He hasted,
Barbour says:
"'To Dewellyne, in full gret by,
With othyr lordis that fled him by,
And warnysit both castyls and towness
That war in their possessionnys.'
"The stout defence of Dublin is already mentioned; and, as on the fate
of this metropolis the duration of English rule depended in Ireland, the
public spirit and intrepidity of the citizens of Dublin ought, according
to Lord Hailes, be held in perpetual remembrance. The citizens took the
defence of the city into their own hands. The chief civic dignity was at
that time most worthily borne by Robert Nottingham, who seems to have
distanced the celebrated Sir Richard Whittington considerably, being
_seventeen times_ Mayor of Dublin. Knowing the close connexion between
the Earl of Ulster and the Bruces (he was father of the Queen of Scots),
the Mayor headed a strong band of citizens, and resolved to make him a
hostage for the safety of the city. This was not effected without loss
of life. The Mayor succeeded, and announced 'he would put the earl to
death if the city was attacked.' This prompt step had the desired
effect. Robert Bruce feared to risk his father-in-law's life, and,
instead of entering the city, turned aside and encamped. Time was
gained, of which the citizens promptly availed themselves. That night
the blazing suburbs told they were ready to anticipate the fire of
Moscow, rather than allow their invaders to possess their capital. They
also worked so hard to strengthen the walls, that the Scots, seeing such
determination, broke up their camp and retired. The value set upon the
earl as a hostage was so great, that, although the King of England
instantly wrote for his liberation, he was detained until the Scots left
the kingdom.
"Disappointed in their efforts on Dublin, the Scots ravaged the Pale,
burned Naas, plundered Castledermot, passed on to Gowran, and advanced
to Callan; thence they went to Limerick. Sir Edmond Butler followed with
an army of 30,000 well-armed men; but, at the express desire of Roger
Mortimer, Earl of March, the Lord Deputy, who was himself desirous of
having the command against the King of Scots, delayed the encounter.
"Mortimer did not accomplish this; for, shortly after, Robert hastened
to his own kingdom, leaving a great number of his bravest knights to
carry on the war for his brother. Edward continued in the north for
several months, and once more proceeded south.
"'For he had not then in that land
Of all men, I trow, two thousand,
Owtane (except) the Kings of Irischery
That in great route raid him by,
Towart Dundalk he tuk the way.'
"When the Viceroy was aware of the advance of the Scots towards the
Pale, he assembled a great army, said to amount to '20,000 trappit
horse,' and an equal number of foot.
"The approach of this immensely superior force did not dishearten the
brother of the lion-hearted King of Scotland. He declared he would fight
were they sixfold more numerous.
"In vain his officers and allies counselled caution; in vain the Irish
chiefs recommended him to avoid a pitched battle, and harass the enemy
by skirmishing. Edward indignantly bade them 'draw aside, and look on,'
which Barbour declares they did. A very interesting account on the
battle on St. Callixtus' day is given in the _Ulster Archæological
Journal_. The battle was on Sunday, 14th October, 1318. According to
Barbour, Edward Bruce had a presentiment of his death, and would not use
his usual coat-armour. The legend is, that having the idea the fall of
King Edward Bruce would decide the battle, Sir John Bermingham, leader
of the Anglo-Irish army, disguised himself as a friar, passed into the
Scottish camp, and, being shown the king, who was hearing Mass, craved
alms, so as to induce Bruce to look up from his prayer-book. This gave
Bermingham the opportunity of marking well his face, in order to single
him out in the fray. The king ordered relief to be given to the
importunate friar; but the eager glance of the intrusive applicant so
disquieted him--agitated, doubtless, from the idea of his small force
being about to engage at such desperate odds--that he presently caused
the attendants to look for the friar, but he was nowhere to be found.
This caused him to array one Gib Harper in his armour, and appoint Lord
Alan Stewart general of the field. The fight commenced with a rapid
charge on the Scots by the Anglo-Irish under Bermingham. With him were
divers lords and a great army. The force was chiefly composed, however,
of yeomanry, or, as an ancient record says, 'the common people, with a
powerful auxiliary _dextram Dei_.' Bermingham, believing Lord Stewart
was Bruce, singled him out, and, after a terrible combat, slew him,
whereon the Scots fled. According to the _Howth Chronicle_, few escaped,
their loss being 1,230 men. Bruce's death is generally ascribed to John
Mapas, one of the Drogheda contingent. The _Ulster Journal_
states:--'There can be little doubt that the ancient Anglo-Irish family
of "Mape," of Maperath, in the shire of Meath, was descended from this
distinguished slayer of Edward Bruce.' The heiress of John Mapas, Esq.,
of Rochestown, county of Dublin, was married to the late Richard Wogan
Talbot, Esq., of Malahide. After the defeat at Dundalk, the small
remnant of the Scottish invaders yet alive fled northward, where they
met a body of troops sent by King Robert as a reinforcement to his
brother. They could not make head against the victorious troops of
Bermingham, so they made their way to the coast, burning and destroying
the country through which they passed."
[Illustration: BUTLER'S TOMB, FRIARY CHURCH, CLONMEL.]
[Illustration: CARRICKFERGUS.]
FOOTNOTES:
[337] _Crime_.--We really must enter a protest against the way in which
Irish history is written by some English historians. In Wright's
_History of Ireland_ we find the following gratuitous assertion offered
to excuse De Clare's crime: "Such a refinement of cruelty _must_ have
arisen from a suspicion of treachery, or from some other grievous
offence with which we are not acquainted." If all the dark deeds of
history are to be accounted for in this way, we may bid farewell to
historical justice. And yet this work, which is written in the most
prejudiced manner, has had a far larger circulation in Ireland than Mr.
Haverty's truthful and well-written history. When Irishmen support such
works, they must not blame their neighbours across the Channel for
accepting them as truthful histories.
[338] _Shooting_.--Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 435. These champions
appear to have been very famous. They are mentioned in the Annals of
Ulster and in the Annals of Clonmacnois, with special commendations for
their skill. The following year O'Dowda was killed by Adam Cusack. It is
hoped that he is not the same person as "the Cusack" whom he had
assisted just before.
[339] _Horses_.--As votaries of the turf maybe interested in knowing the
appellations of equine favourites in the thirteenth century, we subjoin
a sample of their names: Lynst, Jourdan, Feraunt de Trim, Blanchard de
Londres, Connetable, Obin the Black, &c.
[340] _Progress_.--The following passage is taken from a work published
a few years ago. It is not a work of any importance, but it had some
circulation in its day; and like many other works then published, was
calculated to do immense mischief, by quoting the false statements of
Cambrensis as authority, and by giving grotesque sketches of Irish
character, which were equally untrue. The writer says: "They [the Irish
chieftains] opposed the introduction of English law, because they had a
direct interest in encouraging murder and theft." The fact was, as we
have shown, that the Irish did their best to obtain the benefit of
English law; but the English nobles who ruled Ireland would not permit
it, unquestionably "because _they_ had a direct interest encouraging
murder and theft."
[341] _Calculating_.--We derived the word from _calculus_, a white
stone, the Romans having used small white stones for arithmetical
purposes. Probably they taught this custom to the aboriginal English,
whose descendants retained it long after.
[342] _Notched_.--Quite as primitive an arrangement as the _quipus_, and
yet used in a condition of society called civilized.
[343] _Salary_.--The value may be estimated by the current price of
provisions: cows from 5s. to 13s. 4d. each; heifers, 3s. 4d. to 5s.;
sheep, 8d. to 1s.; ordinary horses, 13s. 4d. to 40s.; pigs, 1s. 6d. to
2s.; salmon, 6d. each; wheat, corn, and malt varied with the produce of
the season. Most of the details given above have been taken from Mr.
Gilbert's _Viceroys_.
[344] _Carbury_.--Extensive ruins still mark the site.
[345] _Oppression_.--The original Latin is preserved by Fordun.
Translations may be found in the Abbé MacGeoghegan's _History of
Ireland_, p. 323, and in Plowden's _Historical Review_. We append one
clause, in which these writers complain of the corruption of manners
produced by intercourse with the English settlers: "Quod sancta et
columbina ejus simplicitas, ex eorum cohabitatione et exemplo reprobo,
in serpentinam calliditatem mirabiliter est mutata."
[346] _Effect_.--See Theiner, _Vet. Man. Hiber. et Scot._ p. 188, for
the efforts made by the Holy See to procure peace. The Pope's letter to
Edward III. will be found at p. 206. It is dated _Avinione, iii. Kal.
Junii, Pontificatus nostri anno secundo._
[347] _Prisoners_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 138.
[348] _Subject.--History of Dundalk_, pp. 46-58.
CHAPTER XXII.
The Butlers--Quarrels of the Anglo-Norman Nobles--Treachery and its
Consequences--The Burkes proclaim themselves Irish--Opposition
Parliaments--The Statute of Kilkenny and its Effects--Mistakes of
English Writers--Social Life in Ireland described by a French
Knight--"Banishment" to Ireland--Richard II. visits Ireland.
[A.D. 1326-1402.]
Richard de Burgo, the Red Earl, died in 1326. He took leave of the
nobles after a magnificent banquet at Kilkenny. When he had resigned his
possessions to his grandson, William, he retired into the Monastery of
Athassel, where he expired soon after. In the same year Edward II.
attempted to take refuge in Ireland, from the vengeance of his people
and his false Queen, the "she-wolf of France." He failed in his attempt,
and was murdered soon after--A.D. 1327.
The Butler family now appear prominently in Irish history for the first
time. It would appear from Carte[349] that the name was originally
Walter, Butler being an addition distinctive of office. The family was
established in Ireland by Theobald Walter (Gaultier), an Anglo-Norman of
high rank, who received extensive grants of land from Henry II.,
together with the hereditary office of "Pincerna," Boteler, or Butler,
in Ireland, to the Kings of England. In this capacity he and his
successors were to attend these monarchs at their coronation, and
present them, with the first cup of wine. In return they obtained many
privileges. On account of the quarrels between this family and the De
Burgos, De Berminghams, Le Poers, and the southern Geraldines, royal
letters were issued, commanding them, under pain of forfeiture, to
desist from warring on each other. The result was a meeting of the
factious peers in Dublin, at which they engaged to keep the "King's
peace." On the following day they were entertained by the Earl of
Ulster; the next day, at St. Patrick's, by Maurice FitzThomas; and the
third day by the Viceroy and his fellow Knights Hospitallers, who had
succeeded the Templars at Kilmainham. The Earldoms of Ormonde[350] and
Desmond were now created. The heads of these families long occupied an
important place in Irish affairs. Butler died on his return from a
pilgrimage to Compostella, and was succeeded by his eldest son,
Jacques--"a liberal, friendly, pleasant, and stately youth"--who was
married this year to King Edward's cousin, Eleanor, daughter of the Earl
of Essex. The Desmond peerage was created in 1329, when the County
Palatine[351] of Kerry was given to that family.
The quarrels of these nobles seemed to have originated, or rather to
have culminated, in an insulting speech made by Poer to FitzGerald, whom
he designated a "rhymer." The "King's peace" did not last long; and in
1330 the Lord Justice was obliged to imprison both Desmond and Ulster,
that being the only method in which they could be "bound over to keep
the peace." The following year Sir Anthony de Lucy was sent to Ireland,
as he had a reputation for summary justice. He summoned a Parliament in
Dublin; but as the barons did not condescend to attend, he adjourned it
to Kilkenny. This arrangement also failed to procure their presence. He
seized Desmond, who had been placed in the care of the Sheriff of
Limerick, and conveyed him to Dublin Castle. Several other nobles were
arrested at the same time. Sir William Bermingham was confined with his
son in the Keep of Dublin Castle, which still bears his name. He was
hanged there soon after. De Lucy was recalled to England, probably in
consequence of the indignation which was excited by this execution.[352]
The years 1333 and 1334 were disgraced by fearful crimes, in which the
English and Irish equally participated. In the former year the Earl of
Ulster seized Walter de Burgo, and starved him to death in the Green
Castle of Innishowen. The sister of the man thus cruelly murdered was
married to Sir Richard Mandeville, and she urged her husband to avenge
her brother's death. Mandeville took the opportunity of accompanying the
Earl with some others to hear Mass at Carrickfergus,[353] and killed him
as he was fording a stream. The young Earl's death was avenged by his
followers, who slew 300 men. His wife, Maud, fled to England with her
only child, a daughter, named Elizabeth,[354] who was a year old. The
Burkes of Connaught, who were the junior branch of the family, fearing
that she would soon marry again, and transfer the property to other
hands, immediately seized the Connaught estates, declared themselves
independent of English law, and renounced the English language and
customs. They were too powerful to be resisted with impunity; and while
the ancestor of the Clanrickardes assumed the Irish title of Mac William
_Oughter_, or the Upper, Edmund Burke, the progenitor of the Viscounts
of Mayo, took the appellation of Mac William _Eighter_, or the Lower.
This was not the last time when English settlers identified themselves,
not merely from policy, but even from inclination, with the race whom
they had once hated and oppressed.
In 1334 the English and Irish marched into Munster to attack MacNamara,
and added the guilt of sacrilege to their other crimes, by burning a
church, with 180 persons and two priests in it, none of whom were
permitted to escape. Another outrage was committed by the settlers, who
appear to have been quite as jealous of each others property as the
Irish clans; for we find that one Edmund Burke drowned another of the
same name in Lough Mask, and, as usual a war ensued between the
partisans of each family. After a sanguinary struggle, Turlough O'Connor
drove the murderer out of the province. But this prince soon after
ruined himself by his wickedness. He married Burke's widow, and put away
his own lawful wife; from which it may be concluded that he had avenged
the crime either from love of this woman, or from a desire to possess
himself of her husband's property. His immoral conduct alienated the
other chieftains, and after three years' war he was deposed.
Edward had thrown out some hints of an intended visit to Ireland,
probably to conceal his real purpose of marching to Scotland. Desmond
was released on bail in 1333, after eighteen months' durance, and
repaired with some troops to assist the King at Halidon Hill. Soon after
we find him fighting in Kerry, while the Earl of Kildare was similarly
occupied in Leinster. In 1339 twelve hundred Kerry men were slain in one
battle. The Anglo-Norman, FitzNicholas, was among the number of
prisoners. He died in prison soon after. This gentleman, on one
occasion, dashed into the assize court at Tralee, and killed Dermod, the
heir of the MacCarthy More, as he sat with the judge on the bench. As
MacCarthy was Irish, the crime was suffered to pass without further
notice.
In 1341 Edward took sweeping measures for a general reform of the
Anglo-Norman lords, or, more probably, he hoped, by threats of such
measures, to obtain subsidies for his continental wars. The colonists,
however, were in possession, and rather too powerful to brook such
interference. Sir John Morris was sent over to carry the royal plans
into execution; but though he took prompt and efficient measures, the
affair turned out a complete failure. The lords refused to attend his
Parliament, and summoned one of their own, in which they threw the blame
of maladministration on the English officials sent over from time to
time to manage Irish affairs. They also protested strongly against the
new arrangement, which proposed that all the offices then held in
Ireland should be filled by Englishmen having no personal interest
whatever in Ireland. The certainty that they would have a personal
interest in it the very moment there was a chance of bettering their
fortunes thereby, appears to have been quite overlooked. The settlers,
therefore were allowed to continue their career as before, and felt all
the secure for their effectual resistance of the royal interference.
In 1334 Sir Ralph Ufford, who had married Maud Plantagenet, the widow of
the Earl of Ulster, was appointed Justiciary of Ireland. He commenced
with a high hand, and endeavoured especially to humble the Desmonds. The
Earl refused to attend the Parliament, and assembled one of his own at
Callan; but the new Viceroy marched into Leinster with an armed force,
seized his lands, farmed them out for the benefit of the crown, got
possession of the strongholds of Castleisland and Inniskisty in Kerry,
and hanged Sir Eustace Poer, Sir William Grant, and Sir John Cottrell,
who commanded these places, on the charge of illegal exactions of coigne
and livery.[355] The Viceroy also contrived to get the Earl of Kildare
into his power; and it is probable that his harsh measures would have
involved England in an open war with her colony and its English
settlers, had not his sudden death put an end to his summary exercise of
justice.
It is said that his wife, Maud, who could scarcely forget the murder of
her first husband, urged him on to many of these violent acts; and it
was remarked, that though she had maintained a queenly state on her
first arrival in Ireland, she was obliged to steal away from that
country, with Ufford's remains enclosed in a leaden coffin, in which her
treasure was concealed. Her second husband was buried near her first, in
the Convent of Poor Clares, at Camposey, near Ufford, in Suffolk.
The Black Death broke out in Ireland in the year 1348. The annalists
give fearful accounts of this visitation. It appeared in Dublin first,
and so fatal were its effects, that four thousand souls are said
to have perished there from August to Christmas. It was remarked
that this pestilence attacked the English specially, while the
"Irish-born"--particularly those who lived in the mountainous parts of
the country--escaped its ravages. We have already mentioned the account
of this calamity given by Friar Clynn, who fell a victim to the plague
himself, soon after he had recorded his mournful forebodings. Several
other pestilences, more or less severe, visited the country at intervals
during the next few years.
Lionel, the third son of Edward III., who, it will be remembered, was
Earl of Ulster in right of his wife, Isabella, was now appointed
Viceroy. He landed in Dublin, on the 15th September, 1360, with an army
of one thousand men. From the first moment of his arrival he exercised
the most bitter hostility to the Irish, and enhanced the invidious
distinction between the English by birth and the English by descent.
Long before his arrival, the "mere Irishman" was excluded from the
offices of mayor, bailiff, or officer in any town within the English
dominions, as well as from all ecclesiastical promotion. Lionel carried
matters still further, for he forbid any "Irish by birth to come near
his army." But he soon found that he could not do without soldiers, even
should they have the misfortune to be Irish; and as a hundred of his
best men were killed soon after this insulting proclamation, he was
graciously pleased to allow all the King's subjects to assist him in his
war against the enemy. He soon found it advisable to make friends with
the colonists, and obtained the very substantial offering of two years'
revenue of their lands, as a return for his condescension.
In 1367 the Viceroy returned to England, but he was twice again
intrusted with office in Ireland. During the last period of his
administration, he held the memorable Parliament at Kilkenny, wherein
the famous "Statute of Kilkenny" was enacted. This statute is another
proof of the fatal policy pursued towards the Irish, and of the almost
judicial blindness which appears to have prevented the framers of it,
and the rulers of that unfortunate nation, from perceiving the folly or
the wickedness of such enactments.
It was a continuance of the old policy. The natives of the country were
to be trampled down, if they could not be trampled out; the English and
Irish were to be kept for ever separate, and for ever at variance. How,
then, could the Irish heart ever beat loyally towards the English
sovereign? How could the Irish people ever become an integral portion of
the British Empire? Pardon me for directing your attention specially to
this statute. It will explain to you that the Irish were not allowed to
be loyal; it will excuse them if they have sometimes resented such cruel
oppressions by equally cruel massacres and burnings--if they still
remembered these wrongs with that statute before them, and the
unfortunate fact that its enactments were virtually continued for
centuries.
This statute enacts (1) that any alliance with the Irish by marriage,
nurture of infants, or gossipred [standing sponsors], should be
punishable as high treason; (2) that any man of English race taking an
Irish name, or using the Irish language, apparel, or customs, should
forfeit all his lands; (3) that to adopt or submit to the Brehon law was
treason; (4) that the English should not make war upon the natives
without the permission of Government; (5) that the English should not
permit the Irish to pasture or graze upon their lands, nor admit them to
any ecclesiastical benefices or religious houses, nor entertain their
minstrels or rhymers. (6) It was also forbidden to impose or cess any
soldiers upon the _English_ subjects against their will, under pain of
felony; and some regulations were made to restrain the abuse of
sanctuary, and to prevent the great lords from laying heavy burdens upon
gentlemen and freeholders.
I shall ask you to consider these statutes carefully; to remember that
they were compiled under the direction of a crown prince, and confirmed
by the men who had the entire government of Ireland in their hands. The
first was an open and gross insult to the natives, who were treated as
too utterly beneath their English rulers to admit of their entering into
social relations with them. The settlers who had lived some time in the
country, were ascertaining every day that its inhabitants were not
savages, and that they considered the ties of honour which bound them to
those whom they "fostered," or for whom they stood sponsors, as of the
most sacred description. Their own safety and interests, if not common
feelings of humanity and affection, led them to form these connexions,
which were now so ruthlessly denounced. But it led them also to treat
the Irish with more respect, and placed them on some sort of social
equality with themselves; and this was clearly a crime in the eyes of
those who governed the country. The second clause had a similar object,
and insulted the deepest feelings of the Celt, by condemning his
language, which he loved almost as his life, and his customs, which had
been handed down to him by an ancestry which the Anglo-Norman nobles
might themselves have envied. The third enactment was an outrage upon
common justice. It has been already shown that the Irish were _refused_
the benefit of the English law; you will now see that their own law was
forbidden. Some of these laws are at present open to public inspection,
and show that the compilers, who wrote immediately after the
introduction of Christianity into Ireland, and the original lawgivers,
who existed many centuries before the Christian era, were by no means
deficient in forensic abilities. Whatever feuds the Irish may have had
between their clans, there is every reason to believe that justice was
impartially administered long before the English settlement. That it was
not so administered after that settlement, the preceding history, nay,
even the very subject under discussion, sufficiently proves.
The fourth clause might have been beneficial to the Irish, if it had
been strictly observed. The other enactments were observed; but this,
which required the consent of the Government to make war on the natives,
was allowed to remain a dead letter. In any case, the Government would
seldom have refused any permission which might help to lessen the number
of the "Irish enemy."
The last enactments, or series of enactments, were simply barbarous. The
Irish were an agricultural nation; therefore they were not permitted to
be agriculturists. Their wealth consisted solely in their flocks;
therefore every obstacle should be placed to their increase. So much for
the poor. The higher classes had formerly some hope of advancement if
they chose to enter the English service in the army; to do so now they
must renounce their Irish name, their language, and their customs. They
might also have chosen the ecclesiastical state; from this now they are
completely barred.
Most fatal, most unjust policy! Had it been devised for the express
purpose of imbittering the feelings of the Irish Celt eternally against
the Saxon ruler, it could not have succeeded more effectually. The laws
of Draco were figuratively said to have been written in blood: how many
bloody deeds, at which men have stood aghast in horror and dismay, were
virtually enacted by the Statute of Kilkenny? The country-loving,
generous-hearted Celt, who heard it read for the first time, must have
been more or less than human, if he did not utter "curses, not loud, but
deep," against the framers of such inhuman decrees. If Englishmen
studied the history of Ireland carefully, and the character of the
Celtic race, they would be less surprised at Irish discontent and
disloyalty. An English writer on Irish history admits, that while "there
is no room to doubt the wisdom of the policy which sought to prevent the
English baron from sinking into the unenviable state of the persecuted
Irish chieftain, still less is there an apology to be offered for the
iniquity of the attempt to shut the great mass of the Irish people out
from the pale of law, civilization, and religion. The cruelty of
conquest never broached a principle more criminal, unsound, or
unsuccessful."[356] It is to be regretted that a more recent and really
liberal writer should have attempted this apology, which his own
countryman and namesake pronounced impossible. The author to whom we
allude grants "it sounds shocking that the killing of an Irishman by an
Englishman should have been no felony;" but he excuses it by stating,
"nothing more is implied than that the Irish were not under English
jurisdiction, but under the native or Brehon law."[357] Unfortunately
this assertion is purely gratuitous. It was made treason by this very
same statute even to submit to the Brehon law; and the writer himself
states that, in the reign of Edward I., "a large body of the Irish
petitioned for the English law, and offered 8,000 marks as a fee for
that favour."[358] He states that an Irishman who murdered an
Englishman, would only have been fined by his Brehon. True, no doubt;
but if an Englishman killed an Irishman, he escaped scot-free. If,
however, the Irishman was captured by the Englishman, he was executed
according to the English law. If a regulation had been made that the
Englishman should always be punished for his crimes by English law, and
the Irishman by Irish law,[359] and if this arrangement had been carried
out with even moderate impartiality, it would have been a fair
adjustment, however anomalous.
A little episode of domestic life, narrated by Froissart, is a
sufficient proof that the social state of the Irish was neither so wild
nor so barbarous as many have supposed; and that even a Frenchman might
become so attached to the country as to leave it with regret, though, at
the same time, it was not a little difficult to find an English Viceroy
who would face the political complications which the Statute of Kilkenny
had made more troublesome than ever. Froissart's account runs thus: He
was waiting in the royal chamber at Eltham one Sunday, to present his
treatise "On Loves" to Henry II.; and he takes care to tell us that the
King had every reason to be pleased with the present, for it was
"handsomely written and illuminated," bound in crimson velvet, decorated
with ten silver-gilt studs, and roses of the same. While he was awaiting
his audience, he gossiped with Henry Crystède, whom he describes as a
very agreeable, prudent, and well-educated gentleman, who spoke French
well, and had for his arms a chevron gules on a field argent, with three
besants gules, two above the chevron, and one below.
Crystède gave him a sketch of his adventures in Ireland, which we can
but condense from the quaint and amusing original. He had been in the
service of the Earl of Ormonde, who kept him out of affection for his
good horsemanship. On one occasion he was attending the Earl, mounted on
one of his best horses, at a "border foray" on the unfortunate Irish,
with whom he kept up constant warfare. In the pursuit his horse took
fright, and ran away into the midst of the enemy, one of whom, by a
wonderful feat of agility, sprang up behind him, and bore him off to his
own house. He calls the gentleman who effected the capture "Brian
Costeree," and says he was a very handsome man, and that he lived in a
strong house in a well barricaded city.
Crystède remained here for seven years, and married one of the daughters
of his host, by whom he had two children. At the end of this period his
father-in-law was taken prisoner in an engagement with the Duke of
Clarence, and Crystède's horse, which he rode, was recognized. Evidently
the knight must have been a person of some distinction, for he states
that the Duke of Clarence and the English officers were so well pleased
to hear of the "honorable entertainment" he had received from "Brian
Costeree," that they at once proposed to set him at liberty, on
condition that he should send Crystède to the army with his wife and
children. At first "he refused the offer, from his love to me, his
daughter, and our children." Eventually the exchange was made. Crystède
settled at Bristol. His two daughters were then married. One was settled
in Ireland. He concluded the family history by stating that the Irish
language was as familiar to him as English, for he always spoke it to
his wife, and tried to introduce it, "as much as possible," among his
children.
On the retirement of the Duke of Clarence, in 1367, the Viceroyalty was
accepted by Gerald, fourth Earl of Desmond, styled "the poet." He was
one of the most learned men of the day, and thereby, as usual, obtained
the reputation of practising magic. Yet this refined and educated
nobleman wished to have his son fostered in an Irish family, and,
despite the Statute of Kilkenny, obtained a special permission to that
effect--another evidence that social life among the natives could not
have been quite what the malice of Cambrensis, and others who wrote from
hearsay reports, and not from personal knowledge, have represented it.
Sir Richard Pembridge refused the office of Viceroy in 1369. He was
stripped of all his lands and offices held under the crown, as a
punishment for his contumacy, but this appears to have had no effect
upon his determination. It was decided legally, however, that the King
could neither fine nor imprison him for this refusal, since no man could
be condemned to go into exile. High prices were now offered to induce
men to bear this intolerable punishment. Sir William de Windsor asked
something over £11,000 per annum for his services, which Sir John Davis
states exceeded the whole revenue of Ireland. The salary of a Lord
Justice before this period was £500 per annum, and he was obliged to
support a small standing army. The truth was, that the government of
Ireland had become every day more difficult, and less lucrative. The
natives were already despoiled of nearly all their possessions, and the
settlement of the feuds of the Anglo-Norman nobles was neither a
pleasant nor a profitable employment. In addition to this, Edward was
levying immense subsidies in Ireland, to support his wars in France and
Scotland. At last the clergy were obliged to interfere. The Archbishop
of Cashel opposed these unreasonable demands, and solemnly
excommunicated the King's collector, and all persons employed in raising
the obnoxious taxes.
Richard II. succeeded his grandfather, A.D. 1377. As he was only in his
eleventh year, the government was carried on by his uncles. The Earl of
March was sent to Ireland as Justiciary, with extraordinary powers. He
had married Philippa, daughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, by his first
wife, and in her right became Earl of Ulster. One of the Irish princes
who came to his court, was treacherously arrested and thrown into
prison. The injustice was resented, or, perhaps, we should rather say,
feared, by the English nobles as well as the Irish chieftains, who took
care to keep out of the way of such adventures, by absenting themselves
from the Viceregal hospitalities. Roger Mortimer succeeded his father,
and was followed by Philip de Courtenay, the King's cousin. He was
granted the office for ten years, but, in the interval, was taken into
custody by the Council of Regency, for his peculations.
There was war in Connaught between the O'Connors, in 1384, and fierce
hostility continued for years after between the families of the O'Connor
Don (Brown) and the O'Connor Roe (Red). Richard II. had his favourites
as usual; and in a moment of wild folly he bestowed the sovereignty of
Ireland on the Earl of Oxford, whom he also created Marquis of Dublin.
His royal master accompanied him as far as Wales, and then, determining
to keep the Earl near his person, despatched Sir John Sydney to the
troublesome colony.
A royal visit was arranged and accomplished soon after; and on the 2nd
October, A.D. 1394, Richard II. landed on the Irish shores. The country
was in its normal state of partial insurrection and general discontent;
but no attempt was made to remove the chronic cause of all this
unnecessary misery. There was some show of submission from the Irish
chieftains, who were overawed by the immense force which attended the
King. Art MacMurrough, the heir of the ancient Leinster kings, was the
most formidable of the native nobles; and from his prowess and success
in several engagements, was somewhat feared by the invaders. He refused
to defer to any one but Richard, and was only prevailed on to make terms
when he found himself suddenly immured in Dublin Castle, during a
friendly visit to the court.
The King's account of his reception shows that he had formed a tolerably
just opinion of the political state of the country. He mentions in a
letter from Dublin, that the people might be divided into three
classes--the "wild Irish, or enemies," the Irish rebels, and the English
subjects; and he had just discernment enough to see that the "rebels had
been made such by wrongs, and by want of close attention to their
grievances," though he had not the judgment or the justice to apply the
necessary remedy. His next exploit was to persuade the principal Irish
kings to receive knighthood in the English fashion. They submitted with
the worst possible grace, having again and again repeated that they had
already received the honour according to the custom of their own
country. The dealings of the Anglo-Norman knights, with whom they
already had intercourse, were not likely to have inspired them with very
sublime ideas of the dignity. They might, indeed, have been chevaliers
_sans peur_, but the latter part of the flattering appellation could not
be applied.
The customs of the Irish nobles were again made a subject of ridicule,
as they had been during the visit of Prince John; though one should have
supposed that an increased knowledge of the world should have led to a
wiser policy, if not to an avoidance of that ignorant criticism, which
at once denounces everything foreign as inferior.[360] Richard returned
to England in 1395, after nine months of vain display. He appointed
Roger Mortimer his Viceroy. Scarcely had the King and his fleet sailed
from the Irish shores, when the real nature of the proffered allegiance
of seventy-two kings and chieftains became apparent. The O'Byrnes rose
up in Wicklow, and were defeated by the Viceroy and the Earl of Ormonde;
the MacCarthys rose up in Munster, and balanced affairs by gaining a
victory over the English. The Earl of Kildare was captured by Calvagh
O'Connor, of Offaly, in 1398; and, in the same year, the O'Briens and
O'Tooles avenged their late defeat, by a great victory, at Kenlis, in
Ossory.
In 1399 King Richard paid another visit to Ireland. His exactions and
oppressions had made him very unpopular in England, and it is probable
that this expedition was planned to divert the minds of his subjects. If
this was his object, it failed signally; for the unfortunate monarch was
deposed by Parliament the same year, and was obliged to perform the act
of abdication with the best grace he could. His unhappy end belongs to
English history. Richard again landed in state at Waterford, and soon
after marched against the indomitable MacMurrough. His main object,
indeed, appears to have been the subjugation of this "rebel," who
contrived to keep the English settlers in continual alarm. A French
chronicler again attended the court, and narrated its proceedings. He
describes MacMurrough's stronghold in the woods, and says that they did
not seem much appalled at the sight of the English army. A special
notice is given of the chieftain's horse, which was worth 400 cows.[361]
The chieftain's uncle and some others had made an abject submission to
the English monarch, who naturally hoped that MacMurrough would follow
their example. He, therefore, despatched an embassy to him, to repair
the "wrongs" which he had inflicted on the settlers, for which he
demanded reparation. The Leinster king, however, could neither be
frightened nor persuaded into seeing matters in that light, and,
probably, thought the term rebel would be more appropriately applied to
those who resisted the native rulers of the country. He declared that
for all the gold in the world he would not submit.
[Illustration: Interview between MacMurrough and the Officers of Richard
the Strong.]
Richard's army was on the verge of starvation, so he was obliged to
break up his camp, and march to Dublin. Upon his arrival there,
MacMurrough made overtures for peace, which were gladly accepted, and
the Earl of Gloucester proceeded at once to arrange terms with him. But
no reconciliation could be effected, as both parties refused to yield.
When Richard heard the result, "he flew into a violent passion, and
swore by St. Edward he would not leave Ireland until he had MacMurrough
in his hands, dead or alive." How little he imagined, when uttering the
mighty boast, that his own fate was even then sealed! Had he but the
grace to have conciliated instead of threatened, a brave and loyal band
of Irish chieftains would soon have surrounded him, and the next chapter
of English history would have been less tragic. Disastrous accounts soon
reached him from England, which at once annihilated his schemes of Irish
conquest or revenge. His own people were up in arms, and the
prescriptive right to grumble, which an Englishman is supposed to enjoy
par _excellence_, had broken out into overt acts of violence. War was
inaugurated between York and Lancaster, and for years England was
deluged with blood.
[Illustration: BUTTS' CROSS, KILKENNY.]
FOOTNOTES:
[349] _Carte_.--See his _Life of the Duke of Ormonde_, folio edition, p.
7.
[350] _Ormonde_.--The name Ormonde is intended to represent the Irish
appellative _Ur-Mhumhain_, or Eastern Munster. This part of the country
was the inheritance of _Cairbré Musc_.
[351] _Palatine_.--The Lords-Palatine were endowed with extraordinary
power, and were able to exercise a most oppressive tyranny over the
people under their government.
[352] _Execution_.--Bermingham was related to De Lucy, which perhaps
induced him to deal more harshly with him. De Lucy's Viceroyalty might
otherwise have been popular, as he had won the affections of the people
by assisting them during a grievous famine. See page 329 for an
illustration of the scene of this tragedy.
[353] _Carrickfergus_.--See illustration at the commencement of this
chapter.
[354] _Elizabeth_.--This lady was married to Lionel, third son of Edward
III., in 1352. This prince was created in her right Earl of Ulster. The
title and estates remained in possession of different members of the
royal family, until they became the special inheritance of the crown in
the reign of Edward IV.
[355] _Coigne and livery_.--This was an exaction of money, food, and
entertainment for the soldiers, and fodder for their horses. A tax of a
similar kind existed among the ancient Irish; but it was part of the
ordinary tribute paid to the chief, and therefore was not considered an
exaction.
[356] _Unsuccessful_.--_Ireland, Historical and Statistical_, vol. i. p.
200.
[357] _Law_.--_Irish History and Irish Character_, p. 69.
[358] _Favour_.--_Ibid_. p. 70.
[359] _Irish law_.--A considerable amount of testimony might be produced
to prove that the Irish were and are peculiarly a law-loving people;
but, in the words of the writer above-quoted, "a people cannot be
expected to love and reverence oppression, because it is consigned to a
statute-book, and called law."--p. 71. The truth is, that it was and is
obviously the interest of English writers to induce themselves to
believe that Irish discontent and rebellion were caused by anything or
everything but English oppression and injustice. Even in the present day
the Irish are supposed to be naturally discontented and rebellious,
because they cannot submit silently to be expelled from their farms
without any compensation or any other means of support, either from
political or religious motives, and because they object to maintain a
religion contrary to their conscience, and which is admitted by its own
members to be "clearly a political evil." See concluding remarks in Mr.
Goldwin Smith's interesting little volume.
[360] _Inferior_.--While these sheets were passing through the press, we
chanced to meet the following paragraph in an English paper. The article
was headed "International Courtesy," apropos of the affair at
Dinan:--"Prince John pulling the beards of the Irish chiefs is the
aggravated type of a race which alienated half a continent by treating
its people as colonial, and which gave India every benefit but civility,
till Bengal showed that it was strong, and Bombay that it could be
rich," And yet it would be quite as unjust to accuse a whole nation of
habitual insolence to foreigners and dependents, as to blame every
Englishman, in the reigns of John or Richard, for the insults offered to
the Irish nation.
[361]
_Cows_.--"Un cheval ot sans sele ne arcon, Qui lui avint consté, ce
disoit-on, Quatre cens vaches, tant estoil bel et bon."
CHAPTER XXIII.
Henry IV.--A Viceroy's Difficulties--The Houses of York and
Lancaster--The Colony almost Bankrupt--Literary Ladies in Ireland--A
Congress of Literati--The Duke of York is made Viceroy--Affection of the
Irish for him--Popularity of the Yorkists in Ireland--A Book given for a
Ransom--Desolating Effects of the Wars of the Roses--Accession of Henry
VII.--Insurrection of the Yorkists--Simnel is crowned in
Dublin--Warbeck's Insurrection--Poyning's Parliament--Poyning's Law and
its Effects--The Earl of Kildare accused of Treason--His Defence and
Pardon--His Quickwitted Speeches--He is acquitted honorably--His Letter
to the Gherardini--Ariosto.
[A.D. 1402-1509.]
A scion of royalty was again sent to administer law--we cannot say
truthfully to administer justice--in Ireland. On the accession of Henry
IV., his second son, Thomas, Duke of Lancaster, was made Viceroy, and
landed at Bullock, near Dalkey, on Sunday, November 13, 1402. As the
youth was but twelve years of age, a Council was appointed to assist
him. Soon after his arrival, the said Council despatched a piteous
document from "Le Naas," in which they represent themselves and their
youthful ruler as on the very verge of starvation, in consequence of not
having received remittances from England. In conclusion, they gently
allude to the possibility--of course carefully deprecated--of "peril and
disaster" befalling their lord, if further delay should be permitted.
The King, however, was not in a position to tax his English subjects;
and we find the prince himself writing to his royal father on the same
matter, at the close of the year 1402. He mentions also that he had
entertained the knights and squires with such cheer as could be procured
under the circumstances, and adds: "I, by the advice of my Council, rode
against the Irish, your enemies, and did my utmost to harass them."[362]
Probably, had he shared the cheer with "the Irish his enemies," or even
showed them some little kindness, he would not have been long placed in
so unpleasant a position for want of supplies.
John Duke, the then Mayor of Dublin, obtained the privilege of having
the sword borne before the chief magistrate of that city, as a reward
for his services in routing the O'Byrnes of Wicklow. About the same time
John Dowdall, Sheriff of Louth, was murdered in Dublin, by Sir
Bartholomew Vernon and three other English gentlemen, who were outlawed
for this and other crimes, but soon after received the royal pardon. In
1404 the English were defeated in Leix. In 1405 Art MacMurrough
committed depredations at Wexford and elsewhere, and in 1406 the
settlers suffered a severe reverse in Meath.
Sir Stephen Scroope had been appointed Deputy for the royal Viceroy, and
he led an army against MacMurrough, who was defeated after a gallant
resistance. Teigue O'Carroll was killed in another engagement soon
after. This prince was celebrated for learning, and is styled in the
Annals[363] "general patron of the literati of Ireland." A few years
before his death he made a pilgrimage to Rome, and was honorably
received on his return by Richard II., at Westminster. In 1412 the
O'Neills desolated Ulster with their feuds, and about the same time the
English merchants of Dublin and Drogheda armed to defend themselves
against the Scotch merchants, who had committed several acts of piracy.
Henry V. succeeded his father in 1413, and appointed Sir John Stanley
Lord Deputy. He signalized himself by his exactions and cruelties, and,
according to the Irish account, was "rhymed to death" by the poet Niall
O'Higgin, of Usnagh, whom he had plundered in a foray. Sir John Talbot
was the next Governor. He inaugurated his career by such martial
exploits against the enemy, as to win golden opinions from the
inhabitants of "the Pale." Probably the news of his success induced his
royal master to recall him to England, that he might have his assistance
in his French wars.
His departure was a general signal for "the enemy" to enact reprisals.
O'Connor despoiled the Pale, and the invincible Art MacMurrough
performed his last military exploit at Wexford (A.D. 1416), where he
took 340 prisoners in one day. He died the following year, and Ireland
lost one of the bravest and best of her sons. The Annals describe him as
"a man who had defended his own province, against the English and Irish,
from his sixteenth to his sixtieth year; a man full of hospitality,
knowledge, and chivalry." It is said that he was poisoned by a woman at
New Ross, but no motive is mentioned for the crime. His son, Donough,
who has an equal reputation for valour, was made prisoner two years
after by the Lord Deputy, and imprisoned in the Tower of London.
O'Connor of Offaly, another chieftain who had also distinguished himself
against the English, died about this time. He had entered the Franciscan
Monastery of Killeigh a month before his death.
The Irish of English descent were made to feel their position painfully
at the close of this reign, and this might have led the new settlers to
reflect, if capable of reflection, that their descendants would soon
find themselves in a similar condition. The commons presented a petition
complaining of the extortions and injustices practised by the Deputies,
some of whom had left enormous debts unpaid. They also represented the
injustice of excluding Irish law students from the Inns of Court in
London. A few years previous (A.D. 1417), the settlers had presented a
petition to Parliament, praying that no Irishman should be admitted to
any office or benefice in the Church, and that no bishop should be
permitted to bring an Irish servant with him when he came to attend
Parliament or Council. This petition was granted; and soon after an
attempt was made to prosecute the Archbishop of Cashel, who had presumed
to disregard some of its enactments.
Henry VI. succeeded to the English throne while still a mere infant,
and, as usual, the "Irish question" was found to be one of the greatest
difficulties of the new administration. The O'Neills had been carrying
on a domestic feud in Ulster; but they had just united to attack the
English, when Edward Mortimer, Earl of March, assumed the government of
Ireland (A.D. 1425). He died of the plague the following year; but his
successor in office, Lord Furnival, contrived to capture a number of the
northern chieftains, who were negotiating peace with Mortimer at the
very time of his death. Owen O'Neill was ransomed, but the indignation
excited by this act served only to arouse angry feelings; and the
northerns united against their enemies, and soon recovered any territory
they had lost.
Donough MacMurrough was released from the Tower in 1428, after nine
years' captivity. It is said the Leinster men paid a heavy ransom for
him. The young prince's compulsory residence in England did not lessen
his disaffection, for he made war on the settlers as soon as he returned
to his paternal dominions. The great family feud between the houses of
York and Lancaster, had but little effect on the state of Ireland.
Different members of the two great factions had held the office of Lord
Justice in that country, but, with one exception, they did not obtain
any personal influence there. Indeed, the Viceroy of those days, whether
an honest man or a knave, was sure to be unpopular with some party.
The Yorkists and Lancastrians were descended directly from Edward III.
The first Duke of York was Edward's fifth son, Edmund Plantagenet; the
first Duke of Lancaster was John of Gaunt, the fourth son of the same
monarch. Richard II. succeeded his grandfather, Edward III., as the son
of Edward the Black Prince, so famed in English chivalry. His arrogance
and extravagance soon made him unpopular; and, during his absence in
Ireland, the Duke of Lancaster, whom he had banished, and treated most
unjustly, returned to England, and inaugurated the fatal quarrel. The
King was obliged to return immediately, and committed the government of
the country to his cousin, Roger de Mortimer, who was next in succession
to the English crown, in right of his mother, Philippa, the only child
of the Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III. The death of this
nobleman opened the way for the intrusion of the Lancastrians, the Duke
of Lancaster having obtained the crown during the lifetime of Richard,
to the exclusion of the rightful heir-apparent, Edmund, Earl of March,
son to the late Viceroy.
The feuds of the Earl of Ormonde and the Talbots in Ireland, proved
nearly as great a calamity to that nation as the disputes about the
English succession. A Parliament was held in Dublin in 1441, in which
Richard Talbot, the English Archbishop of Dublin. proceeded to lay
various requests before the King, the great object of which was the
overthrow of the Earl, who, by the intermarrying of his kinsmen with the
Irish, possessed great influence among the native septs contiguous to
his own territory. The petitioners pray that the government may be
committed to some "mighty English lord," and they moderately request
that the said "mighty lord" may be permitted to create temporal peers.
They hint at the Earl's age as an objection to his administration of
justice, and assert that "the Lieutenant should be a mighty, courageous,
and laborious man, to keep the field and make resistance against the
enemy." But the great crime alleged against him, is that "he hath
ordained and made Irishmen, and grooms and pages of his household,
knights of the shire." These representations, however, had but little
weight in the quarter to which they were addressed, for Ormonde was a
stout Lancastrian; and if he had sinned more than his predecessors, his
guilt was covered by the ample cloak of royal partiality. However, some
appearance of justice was observed. Sir Giles Thornton was sent over to
Ireland to make a report, which was so very general that it charged no
one in particular, but simply intimated that there was no justice to be
had for any party, and that discord and division prevailed amongst all
the King's officers. The system of appointing deputies for different
offices was very properly condemned; and the rather startling
announcement made, that the annual expenses of the Viceroy and his
officers exceeded all the revenues of Ireland for that year by £4,456.
In fact, it could not be otherwise; for every official, lay and
ecclesiastical, English and Anglo-Irish, appear to have combined in one
vast system of peculation, and, when it was possible, of wholesale
robbery. Even the loyal burghers of Limerick, Cork, and Galway had
refused to pay their debts to the crown, and the representatives of
royalty were not in a position to enforce payment. The Talbot party
seems to have shared the blame quite equally with the Ormondes, and the
churchmen in power were just as rapacious as the seculars. After having
ruined the "mere Irish," the plunderers themselves were on the verge of
ruin; and the Privy Council declared that unless an immediate remedy was
applied, the law courts should be closed, and the royal castles
abandoned. Further complaints were made in 1444; and Robert Maxwell, a
groom of the royal chamber, was despatched to Ireland with a summons to
Ormonde, commanding him to appear before the King and Council.
The Earl at once collected his followers and adherents in Drogheda,
where they declared, in the presence of the King's messenger, as in duty
bound, that their lord had never been guilty of the treasons and
extortions with which he was charged, and that they were all thankful
for "his good and gracious government:" furthermore, they hint that he
had expended his means in defending the King's possessions. However, the
Earl was obliged to clear himself personally of these charges in London,
where he was acquitted with honour by his royal master.[364]
His enemy, Sir John Talbot, known better in English history as the Earl
of Shrewsbury, succeeded him, in 1446. This nobleman had been justly
famous for his valour in the wars with France, and it is said that even
mothers frightened their children with his name. His success in Ireland
was not at all commensurate with his fame in foreign warfare, for he
only succeeded so far with the native princes as to compel O'Connor Faly
to make peace with the English Government, to ransom his sons, and to
supply some beeves for the King's kitchen. Talbot held a Parliament at
Trim, in which, for the first time, an enactment was made about personal
appearance, which widened the fatal breach still more between England
and Ireland. This law declared that every man who did not shave[365] his
upper lip, should be treated as an "Irish enemy;" and the said shaving
was to be performed once, at least, in every two weeks.
In the year 1447 Ireland was desolated by a fearful plague, in which
seven hundred priests are said to have fallen victims, probably from
their devoted attendance on the sufferers. In the same year Felim
O'Reilly was taken prisoner treacherously by the Lord Deputy; and
Finola, the daughter of Calvagh O'Connor Faly, and wife of Hugh Boy
O'Neill, "the most beautiful and stately, the most renowned and
illustrious woman of all her time in Ireland, her own mother only
excepted, retired from this transitory world, to prepare for eternal
life, and assumed the yoke of piety and devotion in the Monastery of
Cill-Achaidh."
This lady's mother, Margaret O'Connor, was the daughter of O'Carroll,
King of Ely, and well deserved the commendation bestowed on her. She was
the great patroness of the _literati_ of Ireland, whom she entertained
at two memorable feasts. The first festival was held at Killeigh, in the
King's county, on the Feast-day of _Da Sinchell_ (St. Seanchan, March
26). All the chiefs, brehons, and bards of Ireland and Scotland were
invited, and 2,700 guests are said to have answered the summons. The
Lady Margaret received them clothed in cloth of gold, and seated in
queenly state. She opened the "congress" by presenting two massive
chalices of gold on the high altar of the church--an act of duty towards
God; and then took two orphan children to rear and nurse--an act of
charity to her neighbour. Her noble husband, who had already
distinguished himself in the field on many occasions, remained on his
charger outside the church, to welcome his visitors as they arrived. The
second entertainment was given on the Feast of the Assumption, in the
same year, and was intended to include all who had not been able to
accept the first invitation. The chronicler concludes his account with a
blessing on Lady Margaret, and a curse on the disease which deprived the
world of so noble an example: "God's blessing, the blessing of all the
saints, and every blessing, be upon her going to heaven; and blessed be
he that will hear and read this, for blessing her soul."[366] It is
recorded of her also, that she was indefatigable in building churches,
erecting bridges, preparing highways, and providing mass-books. It is a
bright picture on a dark page; and though there may not have been many
ladies so liberal or so devoted to learning at that period in Ireland,
still the general state of female education could not have been
neglected, or such an example could not have been found or appreciated.
Felim O'Connor, her son, died in the same year as his mother; he is
described as "a man of great fame and renown." He had been ill of
decline for a long time, and only one night intervened between the death
of the mother and the son, A.D. 1451. Calvagh died in 1458, and was
succeeded by his son, Con, who was not unworthy of his noble ancestry.
In 1449 the Duke of York was sent to undertake the Viceregal dignity and
cares. His appointment is attributed to the all-powerful influence of
Queen Margaret. The immortal Shakspeare, whose consummate art makes us
read history in drama, and drama in history,[367] has commemorated this
event, though not with his usual ability. The object of sending him to
Ireland was to deprive the Yorkists of his powerful support and
influence, and place the affairs of France, which he had managed with
considerable ability, in other hands. In fact, the appointment was
intended as an honorable exile. The Irish, with that natural veneration
for lawful authority which is so eminently characteristic of the Celtic
race, were ever ready to welcome a prince of the blood, each time hoping
against hope that something like ordinary justice should be meted out
from the fountain-head. For once, at least, they were not disappointed;
and "noble York" is represented, by an English writer of the sixteenth
century, as consoling himself "for every kinde of smart," with the
recollection of the faithful love and devotion of the Irish people.[368]
The royal Duke arrived in Ireland on the 6th of July, 1447. He was
accompanied by his wife, famous for her beauty, which had obtained her
the appellation of the "Rose of Raby," and famous also as the mother of
two English kings, Edward IV. and Richard III. This lady was the
daughter of Neville, Earl of Westmoreland, whose rather numerous family,
consisting of twenty-two children, had all married amongst the highest
families. The Duke was Earl of Ulster in right of Duke Lionel, from whom
he was descended; but instead of marching at once to claim his
possessions, he adopted such conciliatory measures as secured him the
services and affections of a large body of Irish chieftains, with whose
assistance he soon subdued any who still remained refractory. His
popularity increased daily. Presents were sent to him by the most
powerful and independent of the native chieftains. Nor was his "fair
ladye" forgotten, for Brian O'Byrne, in addition to an offering of four
hundred beeves to the Duke, sent "two hobbies"[369] for the special use
of the "Rose of Raby." Indeed, it was reported in England that "the
wildest Irishman in Ireland would before twelve months be sworn
English." Such were the fruits of a conciliatory policy, or rather of a
fair administration of justice.
The cities of Cork, Kinsale, and Youghal, now sent in petitions to the
Viceroy, complaining bitterly of the way in which the English noblemen
"fall at variance among themselves," so that the whole country was
desolated. The settlers of Waterford and Wexford made similar complaints
against an Irish chieftain, O'Driscoll, whom they describe as "an Irish
enemy to the King and to all his liege people of Ireland." The Duke
pacified all parties, and succeeded in attaching the majority of the
nation more and more to his person and his interests. His English
friends, who looked on his residence in Ireland as equivalent to
banishment and imprisonment, were actively employed in promoting his
return. The disgraceful loss of the English possessions in France, and
probably still more the haughty and unconciliatory policy adopted by the
Queen, had strengthened the Yorkist party, and emboldened them to
action. The Duke was requested to return to England, where the
insurgents in Kent had already risen under the leadership of the famous
Jack Cade, whose origin is involved in hopeless obscurity, and whose
character has been so blackened by writers on the Lancastrian side that
it is equally incomprehensible. He called himself John Mortimer, and
asserted that he was cousin to the Viceroy. A proclamation, offering one
thousand marks for his person, "quick or dead," described him as born in
Ireland. In consequence of the nonpayment of the annuity which had been
promised to the Duke during his Viceroyalty, he had been obliged to
demand assistance from the Irish, who naturally resisted so unjust a
tax. After useless appeals to the King and Parliament, he returned to
England suddenly, in September, 1450, leaving Sir James Butler, the
eldest son of the Earl of Ormonde, as his Deputy.
The history of the Wars of the Roses does not belong to our province; it
must, therefore, suffice to say, that when his party was defeated in
England for a time, he fled to Ireland, where he was enthusiastically
received, and exercised the office of Viceroy at the very time that an
act of attainder was passed against him and his family. He soon returned
again to his own country; and there, after more than one brilliant
victory, he was slain at the battle of Wakefield, on the 31st December,
1460. Three thousand of his followers are said to have perished with
him, and among the number were several Irish chieftains from Meath and
Ulster. The Geraldines sided with the House of York, and the Butlers
with the Lancastrians: hence members of both families fell on this fatal
field on opposite sides.
The Earl of Kildare was Lord Justice on the accession of Edward IV., who
at once appointed his unfortunate brother, the Duke of Clarence, to that
dignity. The Earls of Ormonde and Desmond were at war (A.D. 1462), and a
pitched battle was fought between them at Pilltown, in the county
Kilkenny, where the former was defeated with considerable loss. His
kinsman, MacRichard Butler, was taken prisoner; and we may judge of the
value of a book,[370] and the respect for literature in Ireland at that
period, from the curious fact that a manuscript was offered and accepted
for his ransom.
The eighth Earl of Desmond, Thomas, was made Viceroy in 1462. He was a
special favourite with the King. In 1466 he led an army of the English
of Meath and Leinster against O'Connor Faly, but he was defeated and
taken prisoner in the engagement. Teigue O'Connor, the Earl's
brother-in-law, conducted the captives to Carbury Castle, in Kildare,
where they were soon liberated by the people of Dublin. The Irish were
very successful in their forays at this period. The men of Offaly
devastated the country from Tara to Naas; the men of Breffni and Oriel
performed similar exploits in Meath. Teigue O'Brien plundered Desmond,
and obliged the Burkes of Clanwilliam to acknowledge his authority, and
only spared the city of Limerick for a consideration of sixty marks.
The Earl of Desmond appears to have exerted himself in every way for the
national benefit. He founded a college in Youghal, with a warden, eight
fellows, and eight choristers. He obtained an Act for the establishment
of a university at Drogheda, which was to have similar privileges to
that of Oxford. He is described by native annalists--almost as loud in
their praises of learning as of valour--as well versed in literature,
and a warm patron of antiquaries and poets. But his liberality proved
his ruin. He was accused of making alliances and fosterage of the King's
Irish enemies; and perhaps he had also incurred the enmity of the Queen
(Elizabeth Woodville), for it was hinted that she had some share in his
condemnation. It is at least certain that he was beheaded at Drogheda,
on the 15th of February, 1467, by the command of Typtoft, Earl of
Worcester, who was sent to Ireland to take his place as Viceroy, and to
execute the unjust sentence. The Earl of Kildare was condemned at the
same time; but he escaped to England, and pleaded his cause so well with
the King and Parliament, that he obtained his own pardon, and a reversal
of the attainder against the unfortunate Earl of Desmond.
During the reigns of Edward IV., Edward V., and the usurper Richard,
there was probably more dissension in England than there ever had been
at any time amongst the native Irish chieftains. Princes and nobles were
sacrificed by each party as they obtained power, and regicide might
almost be called common. The number of English slain in the Wars of the
Roses was estimated at 100,000. Parliament made acts of attainder one
day, and reversed them almost on the next. Neither life nor property was
safe. Men armed themselves first in self-defence, and then in
lawlessness; and a thoughtful mind might trace to the evil state of
morals, caused by a long period of desolating domestic warfare, that
fatal indifference to religion which must have permeated the people,
before they could have departed as a nation from the faith of their
fathers, at the mere suggestion of a profligate monarch. The English
power in Ireland was reduced at this time to the lowest degree of
weakness. This power had never been other than nominal beyond the Pale;
within its precincts it was on the whole all-powerful. But now a few
archers and spearmen were its only defence; and had the Irish combined
under a competent leader, there can be little doubt that the result
would have been fatal to the colony. It would appear as if Henry VII.
hoped to propitiate the Yorkists in Ireland, as he allowed the Earl of
Kildare to hold the office of Lord Deputy; his brother, Thomas
FitzGerald, that of Chancellor; and his father-in-law, FitzEustace, that
of Lord Treasurer. After a short time, however, he restored the Earl of
Ormonde to the family honours and estates, and thus a Lancastrian
influence was secured. The most important events of this reign, as far
as Ireland is concerned, are the plots of Simnel and Perkin Warbeck, and
the enactments of Poyning's Parliament. A contemporary Irish chronicler
says: "The son of a Welshman, by whom the battle of Bosworth field was
fought, was made King; and there lived not of the royal blood, at that
time, but one youth, who came the next year (1486) in exile to
Ireland."[371]
The native Irish appear not to have had the least doubt that Simnel was
what he represented himself to be. The Anglo-Irish nobles were nearly
all devoted to the House of York; but it is impossible now to determine
whether they were really deceived, or if they only made the youth a
pretext for rebellion. His appearance is admitted by all parties to have
been in his favour; but the King asserted that the real Earl of Warwick
was then confined in the Tower, and paraded him through London[372] as
soon as the pseudo-noble was crowned in Ireland. Margaret, Dowager
Duchess of Burgundy, was the great promoter of the scheme. She
despatched Martin Swart, a famous soldier, of noble birth, to Ireland,
with 2,000 men. The expedition was fitted out at her own expense. The
English Yorkists joined his party, and the little army landed at Dublin,
in May, 1487. On Whit-Sunday, the 24th of that month, Lambert Simnel was
crowned in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. After the ceremony he was
borne in state, on the shoulders of tall men to the Castle. One of his
bearers, a gigantic Anglo-Irishman, was called Great Darcy. Coins were
now struck, proclamations issued, and all the writs and public acts of
the colony executed in the name of Edward VI.
Soon after, Simnel's party conducted him to England, where they were
joined by a few desperate men of the Yorkist party. The battle of Stoke,
in Nottinghamshire, terminated the affair. The youth and his tutor were
captured, and the principal officers were slain. According to one
account, Simnel was made a turnspit in the royal kitchen; according to
another authority[373] he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. It
would appear as if Henry was afraid to visit the Earl of Kildare too
heavily for his transgressions, as he retained him in the office of Lord
Deputy.
The use of fire-arms appears to have become general in Ireland about
this period (1487), as the Annals mention that an O'Rourke was slain by
an O'Donnell, "with a ball from a gun;" and the following year the Earl
of Kildare destroyed the Castle of Balrath, in Westmeath, with ordnance.
The early guns were termed hand-cannons and hand-guns, to distinguish
them from the original fire-arms, which were not portable, though there
were exceptions to this rule; for some of the early cannons were so
small, that the cannonier held his gun in his hand, or supported it on
his shoulder, when firing it.[374]
In 1488 Sir Richard Edgecumbe was sent to Ireland to exact new oaths of
allegiance from the Anglo-Norman lords, whose fidelity Henry appears to
have doubted, and not without reason. The commissioner took up his
lodgings with the Dominican friars, who appear to have been more devoted
to the English interests than their Franciscan brethren; but they did
not entertain the knight at their own expense, for he complains
grievously of his "great costs and charges." A Papal Bull had been
procured, condemning all who had rebelled against the King. This was
published by the Bishop of Meath, with a promise of absolution and royal
pardon for all who should repent. Edgecumbe appears to have been at his
wit's end to conciliate the "rebels," and informs us that he spent the
night in "devising as sure an oath as he could." The nobles at last came
to terms, and took the proffered pledge in the most solemn manner, in
presence of the Blessed Sacrament. This accomplished, the knight
returned to England; and on his safe arrival, after a stormy passage,
made a pilgrimage to Saint Saviour's, in Cornwall.
It is quite impossible now to judge whether these solemn oaths were made
to be broken, or whether the temptation to break them proved stronger
than the resolution to keep them. It is at least certain that they were
broken, and that in a year or two after the Earl of Kildare had received
his pardon under the Great Seal. In May, 1492, the Warbeck plot was
promulgated in Ireland, and an adventurer landed on the Irish shores,
who declared himself to be Richard, Duke of York, the second son of
Edward IV., who was supposed to have perished in the Tower. His stay in
Ireland, however, was brief, although he was favourably received. The
French monarch entertained him with the honours due to a crowned head;
but this, probably, was merely for political purposes, as he was
discarded as soon as peace had been made with England. He next visited
Margaret, the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy, who treated him as if he were
really her nephew.
Henry now became seriously alarmed at the state of affairs in Ireland,
and sent over Sir Edward Poyning, a privy counsellor and a Knight of the
Garter, to the troublesome colony. He was attended by some eminent
English lawyers, and what was of considerably greater importance, by a
force of 1,000 men. But neither the lawyers nor the men succeeded in
their attempt, for nothing was done to conciliate, and the old policy of
force was the rule of action, and failed as usual. The first step was to
hunt out the abettors of Warbeck's insurrection, who had taken refuge in
the north: but the moment the Deputy marched against them, the Earl of
Kildare's brother rose in open rebellion, and seized Carlow Castle. The
Viceroy was, therefore, obliged to make peace with O'Hanlon and
Magennis, and to return south. After recovering the fortress, he held a
Parliament at Drogheda, in the month of November, 1494. In this
Parliament the celebrated statute was enacted, which provided that
henceforth no Parliament should be held in Ireland until the Chief
Governor and Council had first certified to the King, under the Great
Seal, as well the causes and considerations as the Acts they designed to
pass, and till the same should be approved by the King and Council. This
Act obtained the name of "Poyning's Law." It became a serious grievance
when the whole of Ireland was brought under English government; but at
the time of its enactment it could only affect the inhabitants of the
Pale, who formed a very small portion of the population of that country;
and the colonists regarded it rather favourably, as a means of
protecting them against the legislative oppressions of the Viceroys.
The general object of the Act was nominally to reduce the people to
"whole and perfect obedience." The attempt to accomplish this desirable
end had been continued for rather more than two hundred years, and had
not yet been attained. The Parliament of Drogheda did not succeed,
although the Viceroy returned to England afterwards under the happy
conviction that he had perfectly accomplished his mission. Acts were
also passed that ordnance[375] should not be kept in fortresses without
the Viceregal licence; that the lords spiritual and temporal were to
appear in their robes in Parliament, for the English lords of Ireland
had, "through penuriousness, done away the said robes to their own great
dishonour, and the rebuke of all the whole land;" that the "many
damnable customs and uses," practised by the Anglo-Norman lords and
gentlemen, under the names of "coigne, livery, and pay," should be
reformed; that the inhabitants on the frontiers of the four shires
should forthwith build and maintain a double-ditch, raised six feet
above the ground on the side which "meared next unto the Irishmen," so
that the said Irishmen should be kept out; that all subjects were to
provide themselves with cuirasses and helmets, with English bows and
sheaves of arrows; that every parish should be provided with a pair of
butts,[376] and the constables were ordered to call the parishioners
before them on holidays, to shoot at least two or three games.
The Irish war-cries[377] which had been adopted by the English lords
were forbidden, and they were commanded to call upon St. George or the
King of England. The Statutes of Kilkenny were confirmed, with the
exception of the one which forbid the use of the Irish language. As
nearly all the English settlers had adopted it, such an enactment could
not possibly have been carried out. Three of the principal nobles of the
country were absent from this assembly: Maurice, Earl of Desmond, was in
arms on behalf of Warbeck; Gerald, Earl of Kildare, was charged with
treason; and Thomas, Earl of Ormonde, was residing in England. The Earl
of Kildare was sent to England to answer the charges of treason which
were brought against him. Henry had discovered that Poyning's mission
had not been as successful as he expected, and what, probably,
influenced him still more, that it had proved very expensive.[378] He
has the credit of being a wise king in many respects, notwithstanding
his avariciousness; and he at once saw that Kildare would be more useful
as a friend, and less expensive, if he ceased to be an enemy. The result
was the pardon of the "rebel," his marriage with the King's first
cousin, Elizabeth St. John, and his restoration to the office of Deputy.
His quick-witted speeches, when examined before the King, took the royal
fancy. He was accused of having burned the Cathedral of Cashel, to
revenge himself on the Archbishop, who had sided with his enemy, Sir
James Ormonde. There was a great array of witnesses prepared to prove
the fact; but the Earl excited shouts of laughter by exclaiming: "I
would never have done it, had it not been told me the Archbishop was
within."
The Archbishop was present, and one of his most active accusers. The
King then gave him leave to choose his counsel, and time to prepare his
defence. Kildare exclaimed that he doubted if he should be allowed to
choose the good fellow whom he would select. Henry gave him his hand as
an assurance of his good faith. "Marry," said the Earl, "I can see no
better man in England than your Highness, and will choose no other." The
affair ended by his accusers declaring that "all Ireland could not rule
this Earl," to which Henry replied: "Then, in good faith, shall this
Earl rule all Ireland."[379]
In August, 1489, Kildare was appointed Deputy to Prince Henry, who was
made Viceroy. In 1498 he was authorized to convene a Parliament, which
should not sit longer than half a year. This was the first Parliament
held under Poyning's Act. Sundry regulations were made "for the
increasing of English manners and conditions within the land, and for
diminishing of Irish usage." In 1503 the Earl's son, Gerald, was
appointed Treasurer for Ireland by the King, who expressed the highest
approval of his father's administration. He married the daughter of Lord
Zouch of Codnor during his visit to England, and then returned with his
father to Ireland. Both father and son were treated with the utmost
consideration at court, and the latter took an important part in the
funeral ceremonies for the King's eldest son, Arthur. The Earl continued
in office during the reign of Henry VII. An interesting letter, which he
wrote in reply to an epistle from the Gherardini of Tuscany, is still
extant. In this document he requests them to communicate anything they
can of the origin of their house, their numbers, and their ancestors. He
informs them that it will give him the greatest pleasure to send them
hawks, falcons, horses, or hounds, or anything that he can procure which
they may desire. He concludes:
"God be with you; love us in return.
"GERALD, Chief in Ireland of the family of Gherardini, Earl of Kildare,
Viceroy of the most serene Kings of England in Ireland."
Eight years after this letter was written, Ariosto writes thus of a
brave old man, whose fame had passed long before to distant lands:
"Or guarda gl' Ibernisi: appresso il piano
Sono due squadre; e il Conte di Childera
Mena la pinna; e il Conte di Desmonda,
Da fieri monti ha tratta la seconda."
[Illustration: ROUND TOWER, DONAGHMORE, CO. MEATH.]
[Illustration: RUINS OF SELSKER ABBEY, WEXFORD.]
FOOTNOTES:
[362] _Them_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 292.
[363] _Annals_.--Four Masters, vol. iv. p. 791.
[364] _Master_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 347.
[365] _Shave_.--There are no monumental effigies of Henry VI. His
remains were removed several times by Richard III., who was annoyed at
the popular belief that he worked miracles; but the costume of the
period may be studied in an engraving by Strutt, from a scene depicted
in the Royal M.S., 15E 6, which represents Talbot in the act of
presenting a volume of romances to the King and Queen. Henry was
notoriously plain in his dress, but his example was not followed by his
court. Fairholt says: "It would appear as if the English nobility and
gentry sought relief in the invention of all that was absurd in apparel,
as a counter-excitement to the feverish spirit engendered by civil
war."--_History of Costume_, p. 146.
[366] _Soul_.--Duald Mac Firbis.--_Annals_.
[367] _History_.--The scene is laid at the Abbey of Bury. A _Poste_
enters and exclaims--
"_Poste_.--Great lords, from Ireland am I come amain, To signify that
rebels there are up, And put the Englishmen unto the sword. Send
succours (lords), and stop the rage betime, Before the wound do grow
uncurable; For being green, there is great hope of help."
_--King Henry VI. Part ii. Act 3._
[368]
_People_.--"I twise bore rule in Normandy and Fraunce, And last
lieutenant in Ireland, where my hart Found remedy for every kinde of
smart; For through the love my doings there did breede, I had my helpe
at all times in my neede."
--_Mirrour for Magistrates_, vol. ii. p. 189.
Hall, in his _Union of the Two Noble Houses_ (1548), wrote that York
"got him such love and favour of the country [Ireland] and the
inhabitants, that their sincere love and friendly affection could never
be separated from him and his lineage."
[369] _Hobbies_.--Irish horses were famous from an early period of our
history. They were considered presents worthy of kings. The name
_hobbies_ is a corruption of _hobilarius_, a horseman. It is probable
the term is derived from the Spanish _caballo_, a horse. There were
three different Irish appellations for different kinds of horses,
_groidh, each_, and _gearran_. These words are still in use, but
_capall_ is the more common term.
[370] _Book_.--This ancient MS. is still in existence, in the Bodleian
Library in Oxford (Laud, 610). It is a copy of such portions of the
Psalter of Cashel as could then be deciphered, which was made for
Butler, by Shane O'Clery, A.D. 1454. There is an interesting memorandum
in it in Irish, made by MacButler himself: "A blessing on the soul of
the Archbishop of Cashel, i.e., Richard O'Hedigan, for it was by him the
owner of this book was educated. This is the Sunday before Christmas;
and let all those who shall read this give a blessing on the souls of
both."
[371] _Ireland_.--_The Annals of Ulster_, compiled by Maguire, Canon of
Armagh, who died A.D. 1498.
[372] _London_.--The Irish Yorkists declared that this youth was a
counterfeit. The Earl of Lincoln, son of Elizabeth Plantagenet, sister
of Richard III., saw and conversed with the boy at the court at Shene,
and appeared to be convinced that he was not his real cousin, for he
joined the movement in favour of Simnel immediately after the interview.
Mr. Gilbert remarks in his _Viceroys_, p. 605, that the fact of all the
documents referring to this period of Irish history having been
destroyed, has been quite overlooked. A special Act of Poyning's
Parliament commanded the destruction of all "records, processes,
ordinances, &c., done in the 'Laddes' name."
[373] _Authority_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 605. The English Parliament
attainted those English gentlemen and nobles who had fought against the
King at Stoke, but they took no notice of the English in Ireland, who
were the real promoters of the rebellion. This is a curious and valuable
illustration of the state of affairs in that country.
[374] _Firing it_.--A valuable paper on this subject, by Sir S.R.
Meyrick, will be found in the _Archæologia_, vol. xxii. The people of
Lucca are supposed to have been the first to use hand-cannons, at the
beginning of the fifteenth century. Cannon-balls were first made of
stone, but at the battle of Cressy the English "shot small balls of
iron." For popular information on this subject, see Fairholt, _History
of Costume_.
[375] _Ordnance_.--In 1489 six hand-guns or musquets were sent from
Germany to the Earl of Kildare, which his guard bore while on sentry at
Thomas Court, his Dublin residence. The word "Pale" came to be applied
to that part of Ireland occupied by the English, in consequence of one
of the enactments of Poyning's Parliament, which required all the
colonists to "pale" in or enclose that portion of the country possessed
by the English.
[376] _Butts_.--We give an illustration, at the head of this chapter, of
the Butts' Cross, Kilkenny.
[377] _War-cries_.--That of the Geraldines of Kildare was _Cromadh-abu_,
from Croom Castle, in Limerick; the war-cry of the Desmond Geraldines
was _Seanaid-abu_, from Shannid Castle.
[378] _Expensive_.--English writers accuse Henry of miserable
avariciousness. He is accused of having consented to the execution of
Sir William Stanley, who had saved his life, for the sake of his
enormous wealth.--Lingard's _History of England_, vol. v. p. 308. He is
also accused, by a recent writer, of having seized the Wealth of the
Queen Dowager, because he chose to believe that she had assisted
Simnel.--_Victoria History of England_, p. 223.
[379] _Ireland_.--On one occasion, when the Earl and Sir James Ormonde
had a quarrel, the latter retired into the chapter-house of St.
Patrick's Cathedral, the door of which he closed and barricaded. The
Earl requested him to come forth, and pledged his honour for his safety.
As the knight still feared treachery, a hole was cut in the door,
through which Kildare passed his hand; and after this exploit, Ormonde
came out, and they embraced each other.
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Reign of Henry VIII.--The Three Eras in Irish History: Military
Violence, Legal Iniquity, and Religious Oppression--The Earl of
Kildare--Report on the State of Ireland--The Insurrection of Silken
Thomas--His Execution with his five Uncles--First Attempt to introduce
the Reformation in Ireland--Real Cause of the English Schism--The King
acts as Head of the Church--The New Religion enacted by Law, and
enforced by the Sword--How the Act was opposed by the Clergy, and how
the Clergy were disposed of--Dr. Browne's Letter to Henry--The Era of
Religious Persecution--Massacre of a Prelate, Priest, and
Friars--Wholesale Plunder of Religious Property.
[A.D. 1509-1540.]
We have now approached one of the most important standpoints in Irish
history. An English writer has divided its annals into three eras, which
he characterizes thus: first, the era of military violence; second, the
era of legal iniquity; third, the era of religious persecution.[380] We
may mark out roughly certain lines which divide these periods, but
unhappily the miseries of the two former blended eventually with the yet
more cruel wrongs of the latter. Still, until the reign of Henry VIII.,
the element of religious contention did not exist; and its importance as
an increased source of discord, may be easily estimated by a careful
consideration of its subsequent effects. Nevertheless, I believe that
Irish history has not been fairly represented by a considerable number
of writers, who are pleased to attribute all the sufferings and wrongs
endured by the people of that country to religious grounds.
Ireland was in a chronic state of discontent and rebellion, in the eras
of military violence and legal iniquity, which existed some centuries
before the era of religious persecution; but, unquestionably all the
evils of the former period were enhanced and intensified, when the power
which had so long oppressed and plundered, sought to add to bodily
suffering the still keener anguish of mental torture.
In the era of military violence, a man was driven from his ancestral
home by force of arms; in the era of legal iniquity, he was treated as a
rebel if he complained; but in the era of religious persecution, his
free will, the noblest gift of God to man--the gift which God Himself
will not shackle--was demanded from him; and if he dared act according
to the dictates of his conscience, a cruel death or a cruel confiscation
was his portion. And this was done in the name of liberty of conscience!
While England was Catholic, it showed no mercy to Catholic Ireland; I
doubt much, if Ireland had become Protestant to a man, when England had
become Protestant as a nation, that she would have shown more
consideration for the Celtic race. But the additional cruelties with
which the Irish were visited, for refusing to discard their faith at the
bidding of a profligate king, are simply matters of history.
Henry succeeded his father in the year 1509. The Earl of Kildare was
continued in his office as Deputy; but the King's minister, Wolsey,
virtually ruled the nation, until the youthful monarch had attained his
majority; and he appears to have devoted himself with considerable zeal
to Irish affairs. He attempted to attach some of the Irish chieftains to
the English interest, and seems in some degree to have succeeded. Hugh
O'Donnell, Lord of Tir-Connell, was hospitably entertained at Windsor,
as he passed through England on his pilgrimage to Rome. It is said that
O'Donnell subsequently prevented James IV. of Scotland from undertaking
his intended expedition to Ireland; and, in 1521, we find him described
by the then Lord Deputy as the best disposed of all the Irish chieftains
"to fall into English order."
Gerald, the ninth and last Catholic Earl of Kildare, succeeded his
father as Lord Deputy in 1513. But the hereditary foes of his family
were soon actively employed in working his ruin; and even his sister,
who had married into that family, proved not the least formidable of his
enemies. He was summoned to London; but either the charges against him
could not be proved, or it was deemed expedient to defer them, for we
find him attending Henry for four years, and forming one of his retinue
at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Kildare was permitted to return to
Dublin again in 1523, but he was tracked by Wolsey's implacable hatred
to his doom.[381] In 1533 he was confined in the Tower for the third
time. The charges against him were warmly urged by his enemies. Two of
his sisters were married to native chieftains; and he was accused of
playing fast and loose with the English as a baron of the Pale--with the
Irish as a warm ally.[382] Two English nobles had been appointed to
assist him, or rather to act the spy upon his movements, at different
times. One of these, Sir Thomas Skeffington, became his most dangerous
enemy.
In 1515 an elaborate report on the state of Ireland was prepared by the
royal command. It gives a tolerably clear idea of the military and
political condition of the country. According to this account, the only
counties really subject to English rule, were Louth, Meath, Dublin,
Kildare, and Wexford. Even the residents near the boundaries of these
districts, were obliged to pay "black mail" to the neighbouring Irish
chieftains. The King's writs were not executed beyond the bounds
described; and within thirty miles of Dublin, the Brehon law was in full
force. This document, which is printed in the first volume of the "State
Papers" relating to Ireland, contains a list of the petty rulers of
sixty different states or "regions," some of which "are as big as a
shire; some more, some less." The writer then gives various opinions as
to the plans which might be adopted for improving the state of Ireland,
which he appears to have taken principally from a curious old book,
called _Salus Populi_.[383] Both writers were of opinion that war to the
knife was the only remedy for Ireland's grievances. It was at least
clear that if dead men could tell no tales, neither could dead men rebel
against oppression; and the writer of the report concludes, "that if the
King were as wise as Solomon the Sage, he shall never subdue the wild
Irish to his obedience without dread of the sword." Even this he admits
may fail; for he adds, "so long as they may resist and save their lives,
they will never obey the King." He then quotes the _Salus Populi_, to
show the advantages which England might derive if the Irish united with
her in her wars on foreign countries, and observes, "that if this land
were put once in order as aforesaid, it would be none other but a very
paradise, delicious of all pleasaunce, in respect and regard of any
other land in this world; inasmuch as there never was stranger nor alien
person, great or small, that would leave it willingly, notwithstanding
the said misorder, if he had the means to dwell therein honestly."
It cannot now be ascertained whether Kildare had incited the Irish
chieftains to rebellion or not. In 1520, during one of his periods of
detention in London, the Earl of Surrey was sent over as Deputy with a
large force. It would appear as if a general rising were contemplated at
that time, and it was then the Earl wrote the letter[384] already
mentioned to O'Carroll. The new Viceroy was entirely ignorant of the
state of Ireland, and imagined he had nothing to do but conquer. Several
successful engagements confirmed him in this pleasing delusion; but he
soon discovered his mistake, and assured the King that it was hopeless
to contend with an enemy, who were defeated one day, and rose up with
renewed energy the next. As a last resource he suggested the policy of
conciliation, which Henry appears to have adopted, as he empowered him
to confer the honour of knighthood on any of the Irish chieftains to
whom he considered it desirable to offer the compliment, and he sent a
collar of gold to O'Neill. About the same time Surrey wrote to inform
Wolsey, that Cormac Oge MacCarthy and MacCarthy Reagh were "two wise
men, and more conformable to order than some English were;" but he was
still careful to keep up the old policy of fomenting discord among the
native princes, for he wrote to the King that "it would be dangerful to
have them both agreed and joined together, as the longer they continue
in war, the better it should be for your Grace's poor subjects here."
Surrey became weary at last of the hopeless conflict, and at his own
request he was permitted to return to England and resign his office,
which was conferred on his friend, Pierse Butler,[385] of Carrick,
subsequently Earl of Ormonde. The Scotch had begun to immigrate to
Ulster in considerable numbers, and acquired large territories there;
the Pale was almost unprotected; and the Irish Privy Council applied to
Wolsey for six ships-of-war, to defend the northern coasts, A.D. 1522.
The dissensions between the O'Neills and O'Donnells had broken out into
sanguinary warfare.
The Earl of Kildare left Ireland for the third and last time, in
February, 1534. Before his departure he summoned a Council at Drogheda,
and appointed his son, Thomas, to act as Deputy in his absence. On the
Earl's arrival in London, he was at once seized and imprisoned in the
Tower. A false report was carefully circulated in Ireland that he had
been beheaded, and that the destruction of the whole family was even
then impending. Nor was there anything very improbable in this
statement. The English King had already inaugurated his sanguinary
career. One of the most eminent English laymen, Sir Thomas More, and one
of her best ecclesiastics, Bishop Fisher, had been accused and beheaded,
to satisfy the royal caprice. When the King's tutor and his chancellor
had been sacrificed, who could hope to escape?
The unfortunate Earl had advised his son to pursue a cautious and gentle
policy; but Lord Thomas' fiery temper could ill brook such precaution,
and he was but too easily roused by the artful enemies who incited him
to rebellion. The reports of his father's execution were confirmed. His
proud blood was up, and he rushed madly on the career of
self-destruction. On the 11th of June, 1534, he flung down the sword of
state on the table of the council-hall at St. Mary's Abbey, and openly
renounced his allegiance to the English monarch. Archbishop Cromer
implored him with tears to reconsider his purpose, but all entreaties
were vain. Even had he been touched by this disinterested counsel, it
would probably have failed of its effect; for an Irish bard commenced
chanting his praises and his father's wrongs, and thus his doom was
sealed. An attempt was made to arrest him, but it failed. Archbishop
Allen, his father's bitterest enemy, fled to the Castle, with several
other nobles, and here they were besieged by FitzGerald and his
followers. The Archbishop soon contrived to effect his escape. He
embarked at night in a vessel which was then lying at Dame's Gate; but
the ship was stranded near Clontarf, either through accident or design,
and the unfortunate prelate was seized by Lord Thomas' people, who
instantly put him to death. The young nobleman is said by some
authorities to have been present at the murder, as well as his two
uncles: there is at least no doubt of his complicity in the crime. The
sentence of excommunication was pronounced against him, and those who
assisted him, in its most terrible form.
Ecclesiastical intervention was not necessary to complete his ruin. He
had commenced his wild career of lawless violence with but few
followers, and without any influential companions. The Castle of
Maynooth, the great stronghold of the Geraldines, was besieged and
captured by his father's old enemy, Sir William Skeffington. In the
meanwhile the intelligence of his son's insurrection had been
communicated to the Earl, and the news of his excommunication followed
quickly. The unfortunate nobleman succumbed beneath the twofold blow,
and died in a few weeks. Lord Thomas surrendered himself in August,
1535, on the guarantee of Lord Leonard and Lord Butler, under a solemn
promise that his life should be spared.[386] But his fate was in the
hands of one who had no pity, even where the tenderest ties were
concerned. Soon after the surrender of "Silken Thomas," his five uncles
were seized treacherously at a banquet; and although three of them had
no part in the rebellion, the nephew and the uncles were all executed
together at Tyburn, on the 3rd of February, 1537. If the King had hoped
by this cruel injustice to rid himself of the powerful family, he was
mistaken. Two children of the late Earl's still existed. They were sons
by his second wife, Lady Elizabeth Grey. The younger, still an infant,
was conveyed to his mother in England; the elder, a youth of twelve
years of age, was concealed by his aunts, who were married to the
chieftains of Offaly and Donegal, and was soon conveyed to France, out
of the reach of the enemies who eagerly sought his destruction. It is
not a little curious to find the native princes, who had been so cruelly
oppressed by his forefathers, protecting and helping the hapless youth,
even at the risk of their lives. It is one of many evidences that the
antipathy of Celt to Saxon is not so much an antipathy of race or
person, as the natural enmity which the oppressed entertains towards the
oppressor.
Henry made his first appearance at establishing his spiritual supremacy
in the year 1534, by appointing an Augustinian friar, who had
already[387] become a Protestant, to the see of Dublin. He was
consecrated by Cranmer, always the servile instrument of the royal
pleasure. The previous events in England, which resulted in the national
schism, are too well known to require much observation. It must be
admitted as one of the most patent facts of history, that the English
King never so much as thought of asserting his supremacy in spiritual
matters, until he found that submission to Papal supremacy interfered
with his sinful inclinations. If Pope Clement VII. had dissolved the
marriage between Queen Catherine and Henry VIII. in 1528, Parliament
would not have been asked to legalize the national schism in 1534. Yet
it would appear as if Henry had hesitated for a moment before he
committed the final act of apostacy. It was Cromwell who suggested the
plan which he eventually followed. With many expressions of humility he
pointed out the course which might be pursued. The approbation of the
Holy See, he said, was the one thing still wanting. It was plain now
that neither bribes nor threats could procure that favour. But was it so
necessary as the King had hitherto supposed? It might be useful to avert
the resentment of the German Emperor; but if it could not be obtained,
why should the King's pleasure depend on the will of another? Several of
the German princes had thrown off their allegiance to the Holy See: why,
then, should not the English King? The law could legalize the King's
inclination, and who dare gainsay its enactments? Let the law declare
Henry the head of the Church, and he could, as such, give himself the
dispensations for which he sought. The law which could frame articles of
faith and sanction canons, could regulate morals as easily as it could
enact a creed.
Such counsel was but too acceptable to a monarch resolved to gratify his
passions at all hazards, temporal or spiritual. Cromwell was at once
appointed a member of the Privy Council. He received a patent for life
of the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, and he was authorized to frame
the necessary bills, and conduct them through the two houses.[388]
Parliament complied without hesitation; the clergy in convocation made a
show of opposition, which just sufficed to enhance their moral
turpitude, since their brief resistance intimated that they acted
contrary to their consciences in giving their final assent. The royal
supremacy in matters ecclesiastical, was declared to be the will of God
and the law of the land.
The King's mistress was now made his wife, by the same authority which
had made the King head of the Church; and it was evident that the
immediate cause of the separation of the English nation from the
Catholic Church was the desire of the monarch, that his profligacy
should obtain some kind of sanction. But this commencement of the
Anglican Establishment, however true, is so utterly disreputable, that
English historians have been fain to conceal, as far as might be, the
real cause, and to justify the schism by bringing grave charges[389]
against the Church. This, after all, is a mere _petitio principii_. It
has been already remarked that England was demoralized socially to an
extraordinary degree, as a nation always has been by a continuance of
civil war. The clergy suffered from the same causes which affected the
laity, and the moral condition of the ecclesiastical body was not all
that could be desired. These were remote causes, which acted powerfully
as they rolled along the stream of time, and which broke the barriers of
faith like an overwhelming torrent, when an additional impetus was
given. But it should be distinctly remembered (1) that the direct act of
schism was committed when Henry required Parliament and Convocation to
exalt him to the spiritual supremacy; and (2) that the sins of churchmen
and the faith of the Church are two distinct questions. There may have
been more corruption of life and morals, both in the laity and the
priesthood of the Catholic Church at the Reformation, than at any other
period of the Church's history; but the Jews had been commanded to obey
the Scribes and Pharisees, because they sat in Moses' seat, at the very
time when the Lamb of God could find no milder term to describe their
hypocrisy and iniquity than that of a generation of vipers.
If schism is admitted to be a sin, it is difficult to see how any amount
of crime with which other individuals can be charged, even justly,
lessens the guilt of the schismatic. There can be little doubt that the
members of the Church are most fervent and edifying in their lives, when
suffering from persecution. Ambition has less food when there are no
glittering prizes within its reach. Faith is more sincere when there are
no motives for a false profession, and every natural motive to conceal
religious belief. The Irish clergy were never charged with the gross
crimes which have been mentioned in connexion with some few of their
brethren in England. Those who ministered outside the Pale, lived in
poverty and simplicity. The monasteries were not so richly endowed as
the English conventual houses; and, perhaps, this freedom from the
world's goods, served to nerve them for the coming trial; and that their
purer and more fervent lives saved the Irish Church and people from
national apostacy.
Soon after Dr. Browne's arrival in Ireland, he received an official
letter from Cromwell, containing directions for his conduct there. He is
informed it is "the royal will and pleasure of his Majesty, that his
subjects in Ireland, even as those in England, should obey his commands
in spiritual matters as in temporal, and renounce their allegiance to
the See of Rome." This language was sufficiently plain. They are
required to renounce their allegiance to the See of Rome, simply because
"the King wills it." The affair is spoken of as if it were some
political matter, which could easily be arranged. But the source of this
prelate's authority was simply political; for Henry writes to him thus:
"Let it sink into your remembrance, that we be as able, for the not
doing thereof, to remove you again, and put another man of more virtue
and honesty into your place, as we were at the beginning to prefer you."
Browne could certainly be in no doubt from whom he had received his
commission to teach and preach to the people of Ireland; but that nation
had received the faith many centuries before, from one who came to them
with very different credentials; and years of oppression and most cruel
persecution have failed in inducing them to obey human authority rather
than divine.
Dr. Browne soon found that it was incomparably easier for Henry to issue
commands in England, than for him to enforce them in Ireland. He
therefore wrote to Cromwell, from Dublin, on "the 4th of the kal. of
December, 1535," and informed him that he "had endeavoured, almost to
the danger and hazard of my temporal life, to procure the nobility and
gentry of this nation to due obedience in owning of his Highness their
supreme head, as well spiritual as temporal; and do find much oppugning
therein, especially by my brother Armagh, who hath been the main
oppugner, and so hath withdrawn most of his suffragans and clergy within
his see and diocese. He made a speech to them, laying a curse on the
people whosoever should own his Highness' supremacy, saying, that
isle--as it is in their Irish chronicles, _insula sacra_--belongs to
none but the Bishop of Rome, and that it was the Bishop of Rome that
gave it to the King's ancestors."[390] Dr. Browne then proceeds to
inform his correspondent that the Irish clergy had sent two messengers
to Rome.[391] He states "that the common people of this isle are more
zealous in their blindness, than the saints and martyrs were in truth;"
and he advises that a Parliament should at once be summoned, "to pass
the supremacy by Act; for they do not much matter his Highness'
commission, which your lordship sent us over." Truly, the nation which
had been so recently enlightened in so marvellous a manner, might have
had a little patience with the people who could not so easily discern
the new light; and, assuredly, if the term "Church by law established"
be applicable to the Protestant religion in England, it is, if possible,
still more applicable to the Protestant Establishment in Ireland, since
the person delegated to found the new religion in that country, has
himself stated it could only be established there by Act of Parliament.
The Parliament was summoned in 1536; but, as a remote preparation, the
Lord Deputy made a "martial circuit" of Ireland, hoping thereby to
overawe the native septs, and compel their submission to the royal will
and pleasure. "This preparation being made," _i.e.,_ the "martial
circuit"--I am quoting from Sir John Davies;[392] I request the reader's
special attention to the statement--"he first propounded and passed in
Parliament these Lawes, which made the great alteration in the State
Ecclesiastical, namely, the Act which declared King Henry VIII. to be
Supreme Head of the Church of Ireland; the Act prohibiting Apeales to
the Church of Rome; the Act for first fruites and twentieth part to be
paid to the King; and lastly, the Act that did utterly abolish the
usurped Authoritie of the Pope. Next, for the increase of the King's
Revenew. By one Act he suppressed sundry Abbayes and Religious Houses,
and by another Act resumed the Lands of the Absentees."
The royal process of conversion to the royal opinions, had at least the
merits of simplicity. There is an old rhyme--one of those old rhymes
which are often more effectual in moving the hearts of the multitude
than the most eloquent sermons, and truer exponents of popular feeling
than Acts of Parliament--which describes the fate of Forrest, the
Franciscan friar, confessor of the King's only lawful wife and the
consequences of his temerity in denying the King's supremacy:--
"Forrest, the fryar,
That obstinate lyar,
That wilfully will be dead;
Incontinently
The Gospel doth deny,
The King to be supreme head."
There is a grand and simple irony in this not easily surpassed. Some
very evident proofs had been given in England, that to deny the King's
spiritual supremacy was "wilfully to be dead," although neither the King
nor the Parliament had vouchsafed to inform the victims in what part of
the Gospel the keys of the kingdom of heaven had been given to a
temporal prince. Still, as I have observed, the royal process was
extremely simple--if you believed, you were saved; if you doubted, you
died.
With the example of Sir Thomas More[393] before their eyes, the
Anglo-Norman nobles and gentlemen, assembled in Parliament by the royal
command, were easily persuaded to do the royal bidding. But the
ecclesiastics were by no means so pliable. Every diocese had the
privilege of sending two proctors to Parliament; and these proctors
proved so serious an obstacle, that Lords Grey and Brabazon wrote to
Cromwell, that they had prorogued the Parliament in consequence of the
"forwardness and obstinacy of the proctors, of the clergy, and of the
bishops and abbots;" and they suggest that "some means should be
devised, whereby they should be brought to remember their duty better,"
or that "means may be found which shall put these proctors from a voice
in Parliament."[394] The means were easily found--the proctors were
forbidden to vote.[395] The Act was passed. Every one who objected to it
having been forbidden to vote, Henry's agents on the Continent
proclaimed triumphantly that the Irish nation had renounced the
supremacy of Rome. A triumph obtained at the expense of truth, is but
poor compensation for the heavy retribution which shall assuredly be
demanded of those who have thus borne false witness against their
neighbour. Men forget too often, in the headlong eagerness of
controversy, that truth is eternal and immutable, and that no amount of
self-deceit or successful deception of others can alter its purity and
integrity in the eyes of the Eternal Verity.
The Irish Parliament, or, we should say more correctly, the men
permitted to vote in Ireland according to royal directions, had already
imitated their English brethren by declaring the marriage of Henry and
Catherine of Arragon null and void, and limiting the succession to the
crown to the children of Anna Boleyn. When this lady had fallen a victim
to her husband's caprice, they attainted her and her posterity with
equal facility. A modern historian has attempted to excuse Henry's
repudiation of his lawful wife, on the ground of his sincere anxiety to
prevent disputes about the succession.[396] But the King's subsequent
conduct ought surely to have deterred any one from attempting so rash an
apology. To doubt the royal supremacy, or the right of the lady, who for
the time being held a place in Henry's affections, to royal honours, was
an evidence of insincerity in devotion to himself which he could not
easily pardon.
As it was now ascertained that the Irish people would not apostatize as
a nation, an expedient was prepared for their utter extirpation. It
would be impossible to believe that the human heart could be guilty of
such cruelty, if we had not evidence of the fact in the State Papers. By
this diabolical scheme it was arranged to till or carry away their
cattle, and to destroy their corn while it was green. "The very living
of the Irishry," observes the writer, "doth clearly consist in two
things; and take away the same from them, and they are past power to
recover, or yet to annoy any subject in Ireland. Take first from them
their corn--burn and destroy the same; and then have their cattle and
beasts, which shall be most hardest to come by, and yet, with guides and
policy, they be often had and taken." Such was the arrangement; and it
was from no want of inclination that it was not entirely carried out,
and the "Irishry" starved to death in their own land.
The title of King of Ireland had not as yet been given to English
monarchs, but the ever-subservient Parliament of this reign granted
Henry this addition to his privileges, such as it was. We have already
seen the style in which the "supreme head of the Church" addressed the
bishops whom he had appointed; we shall now give a specimen of their
subserviency to their master, and the fashion in which they executed his
commands, before returning to secular history.
Henry's letter to Dr. Browne is dated July 7th, 1537; the Bishop's reply
is given on the 27th September, 1537. He commences by informing his most
excellent Highness that he had received his most gracious letter on the
7th September, and that "it made him tremble in body for fear of
incurring his Majesty's displeasure," which was doubtless the most
truthful statement in his epistle. He mentions all his zeal and efforts
against Popery, which, he adds, "is a thing not little rooted among the
inhabitants here." He assures the King of his activity in securing the
twentieth part and first-fruits for the royal use (what had been given
to God was now given to Cæsar), and states what, indeed, could not be
denied, that he was the "first spiritual man who moved" for this to be
done. He concludes with the fearful profanity of "desiring of God, that
the ground, should open and swallow him up the hour or minute that he
should declare the Gospel of Christ after any sort than he had done
heretofore, in rebuking the Papistical power, _or in any other point
concerning the advancement of his Grace's affairs_."
Such a tissue of profanity and absurdity was seldom penned; but men who
could write and act thus were fitting instruments for a man, who made it
a point of conscience to commit immoral crimes that he might preserve
the succession; who kept his mistress in the same palace with his queen;
and only went through the form of marriage when he found his real or
pretended wishes about the same succession on the point of being
realized in a manner that even he could not fail to see would scarcely
be admitted as legal or legitimate by public opinion, whatever an
obsequious Parliament might do. It is at least certain that such letters
never were addressed by Catholic prelates to the Holy See, and that
those who speak of its tyranny and priestcraft, and the absolute
submission it requires from its subjects, would do well to remember the
trite motto, _Audi alteram partem_, and to inquire whether a similar
charge might not be made more justly against the founders of the
Protestant Establishment.
Dr. Browne and the Lord Deputy now rivalled each other in their efforts
to obtain the royal approbation, by destroying all that the Irish people
held most sacred, determined to have as little cause as possible for
"the trembling in body" which the King's displeasure would effect. They
traversed the land from end to end, destroying cathedrals, plundering
abbeys, and burning relics--all in the name of a religion which
proclaimed liberty of conscience to worship God according to individual
conviction, as the great boon which it was to confer on the nation.
However full of painful interest these details may be, as details they
belong to the province of the ecclesiastical historian. The Four Masters
record the work of desecration in touching and mournful strains. They
tell of the heresy which broke out in England, and graphically
characterize it as "the effect of pride, vain-glory, avarice, and
sensual desire." They mention how "the King and Council enacted new laws
and statutes after their own will." They observe that all the property
of the religious orders was seized for the King; and they conclude thus:
"They also made archbishops and bishops for themselves; and although
great was the persecution of the Roman emperors against the Church, it
is not probable that so great a persecution as this ever came upon the
world; so that it is impossible to tell or narrate its description,
unless it should be told by him saw it."[397]
The era of religious persecution was thus inaugurated; and if Ireland
had made no martyrs of the men who came to teach her the faith, she was
not slow to give her best and noblest sons as victims to the fury of
those who attempted to deprive her of that priceless deposit. Under the
year 1540, the Four Masters record the massacre of the Guardian and
friars of the Convent at Monaghan, for refusing to acknowledge the
spiritual supremacy of the King. Cornelius, Bishop of Down, a Franciscan
friar, and Father Thomas FitzGerald, a member of the noble family of the
Geraldines, and a famous preacher, were both killed in the convent of
that Order in Dublin. Father Dominic Lopez has given a detailed account
of the sufferings of the religious orders in Ireland during the reign of
Henry VIII., in a rare and valuable work, entitled, _Noticias Historicas
de las tres florentissimas Provincias del celeste Ordem de la Ssma.
Trinidad_.[398] I shall give two instances from this history, as a
sample of the fashion in which the new doctrine of the royal supremacy
was propagated. In 1539 the Prior and religious of the Convent of
Atharee were commanded to take the oath of supremacy, and to surrender
their property to the crown. The Superior, Father Robert, at once
assembled his spiritual children, and informed them of the royal
mandate. Their resolution was unanimous; after the example of the early
Christians, when threatened with martyrdom and spoliation by heathen
emperors, they at once distributed their provisions, clothing, and any
money they had in hand amongst the poor, and concealed the sacred
vessels and ornaments, so that not so much as a single emblem of our
redemption was left to be desecrated by men professing to believe that
they had been redeemed by the cross of Christ. Father Robert was
summoned thrice to recognize the new authority. Thrice he declined;
declaring that "none had ever sought to propagate their religious tenets
by the sword, except the pagan emperors in early ages, and Mahomet in
later times. As for himself and his community, they were resolved that
no violence should move them from the principles of truth: they
recognized no head of the Catholic Church save the Vicar of Jesus
Christ; and as for the King of England, they regarded him not even as a
member of that holy Church, but as head of the synagogue of Satan." The
conclusion of his reply was a signal for massacre. An officer instantly
struck off his head with one blow. As the prisons were already full of
"recusants," the friars were placed in confinement in private houses,
some were secretly murdered, and others were publicly hanged in the
market-place. These events occurred on the 12th and 13th of February,
1539.
An almost similar tragedy was enacted in the Trinitarian Convent of
Limerick, where the Prior was coadjutor to the Bishop of that city. He
also assembled the brethren, exhorted them to perseverance, distributed
their few poor possessions, and concealed the sacred vessels. On the
feast of St. John Baptist, 24th June, in the year of grace 1539, he
preached in his cathedral against the new heresy, and exhorted his flock
to persevere in the faith. The emissaries of Government were afraid to
attack him openly; but that evening they visited him at his private
residence, and offered him his choice between death and apostacy. For
all reply the venerable prelate knelt down, and exclaimed: "O Lord, on
this morning I offered to Thee on the altar the unbloody sacrifice of
the body of my Saviour; grant that I may now offer, to Thy greater
honour and glory, the sacrifice of my own life." Then he turned towards
a picture of the most holy Trinity, which was suspended in his room, and
scarce had time to pronounce the aspiration of his Order, "_Sancta
Trinitas, unus Deus, miserere nobis_," ere his head was severed from his
body, and he entered upon the beatific vision of the Three in One, for
Whom he had so gladly sacrificed his life.
The Protestant Archbishop, Dr. Browne, the Lord Chancellor, and some
other members of the Council, set out on a "visitation" of the four
counties of Carlow, Wexford, Waterford, and Tipperary, in which the
church militant was for the nonce represented by the church military.
They transmitted an account of their expedition, and the novel fashion
in which they attempted to propagate the Gospel, to England, on the 18th
January, 1539. One brief extract must suffice as a specimen of their
proceedings. "The day following we kept the sessions there [at Wexford].
There was put to execution four felons, accompanied with another, a
friar, whom we commanded to be hanged in his habit, and so to remain
upon the gallows for a mirror to all his brethren to live truly."[399]
There was One, whom from reverence I name not here, who said, when about
to die, that, when "lifted up, He should draw all men unto Him."
Centuries have rolled by since those most blessed words were uttered,
but they have been verified in the disciples as well as in the Master.
The "lifting up" of a friar upon the gallows, or of a bishop upon the
block, has but served to draw men after them; and the reformations they
failed to effect during their lives, by their preaching and example,
have been accomplished after and because of their martyrdoms.
The reformers now began to upbraid each other with the very crimes of
which they had accused the clergy in England. When mention is made of
the immense sums of money which were obtained by the confiscation of
religious houses at this period, it has been commonly and naturally
supposed, that the religious were possessors of immense wealth, which
they hoarded up for their own benefit; and although each person made a
vow of poverty, it is thought that what was possessed collectively, was
enjoyed individually. But this false impression arises (1) from a
mistaken idea of monastic life, and (2) from a misapprehension as to the
kind of property possessed by the religious.
A brief account of some of the property forfeited in Ireland, will
explain this important matter. We do not find in any instance that
religious communities had large funds of money. If they had extensive
tracts of land, they were rather the property of the poor, who farmed
them, than of the friars, who held them in trust. Any profit they
produced made no addition to the fare or the clothing of the religious,
for both fare and clothing were regulated by certain rules framed by the
original founders, and which could not be altered. These rules
invariably required the use of the plainest diet and of the coarsest
habits. A considerable portion--indeed, by far the most considerable
portion--of conventual wealth, consisted in the sacred vessels and
ornaments. These had been bestowed on the monastic churches by
benefactors, who considered that what was used in the service of God
should be the best which man could offer. The monk was none the richer
if he offered the sacrifice to the Eternal Majesty each morning in a
chalice of gold, encrusted with the most precious jewels; but if it were
right and fitting to present that chalice to God for the service of His
Divine Majesty, who shall estimate the guilt of those who presumed to
take the gift from Him to whom it had been given? We know how terrible
was the judgment which came upon a heathen monarch who dared to use the
vessels which had belonged to the Jewish Temple, and we may believe that
a still more terrible judgment is prepared for those who desecrate
Christian churches, and that it will be none the less sure, because,
under the new dispensation of mercy, it comes less swiftly.
All the gold and silver plate, jewels, ornaments, lead, bells, &c., were
reserved by special command for the King's use.[400] The church-lands
were sold to the highest bidder, or bestowed as a reward on those who
had helped to enrich the royal coffers by sacrilege. Amongst the records
of the sums thus obtained, we find £326 2s. 11d., the price of divers
pieces of gold and silver, of precious stones, silver ornaments, &c.;
also £20, the price of 1,000 lbs. of wax. The sum of £1,710 2s. was
realized from the sale of sacred vessels belonging to thirty-nine
monasteries. The profits on the spoliation of St. Mary's, Dublin,
realized £385. The destruction of the Collegiate Church of St. Patrick
must have procured an enormous profit, as we find that Cromwell received
£60 for his pains in effecting the same. It should also be remembered
that the value of a penny then was equal to the value of a shilling now,
so that we should multiply these sums at least by ten to obtain an
approximate idea of the extent of this wholesale robbery.
The spoilers now began to quarrel over the spoils. The most active or
the most favoured received the largest share; and Dr. Browne grumbled
loudly at not obtaining all he asked for. But we have not space to
pursue the disedifying history of their quarrels. The next step was to
accuse each other. In the report of the Commissioners appointed in 1538
to examine into the state of the country, we find complaints made of the
exaction of undue fees, extortions for baptisms and marriages, &c. They
also (though this was not made an accusation by the Commissioners)
received the fruits of benefices in which they did not officiate, and
they were accused of taking wives and dispensing with the sacrament of
matrimony. The King, whatever personal views he might have on this
subject, expected his clergy to live virtuously; and in 1542 he wrote to
the Lord Deputy, requiring an Act to be passed "for the continency of
the clergy," and some "reasonable plan to be devised for the avoiding of
sin." However, neither the Act nor the reasonable plan appear to have
succeeded. In 1545, Dr. Browne writes: "Here reigneth insatiable
ambition; here reigneth continually coigne and livery, and callid
extortion." Five years later, Sir Anthony St. Leger, after piteous
complaints of the decay of piety and the increase of immorality,
epitomizes the state of the country thus: "I never saw the land so far
out of good order."[401] Pages might be filled with such details; but
the subject shall be dismissed with a brief notice of the three props of
the Reformation and the King's supremacy in Ireland. These were Dr.
Browne of Dublin, Dr. Staples of Meath, and Dr. Bale of Ossory. The
latter writing of the former in 1553, excuses the corruption of his own
reformed clergy, by stating that "they would at no hand obey; alleging
for their vain and idle excuse, the lewd example of the Archbishop of
Dublin, who was always slack in things pertaining to God's glory." He
calls him "an epicurious archbishop, a brockish swine, and a dissembling
proselyte," and accuses him in plain terms of "drunkenness and
gluttony." Dr. Browne accuses Dr. Staples of having preached in such a
manner, "as I think the three-mouthed Cerberus of hell could not have
uttered it more viperously." And Dr. Mant, the Protestant panegyrist of
the Reformation and the Reformers, admits that Dr. Bale was guilty of
"uncommon warmth of temperament"--a polite appellation for a most
violent temper; and of "unbecoming coarseness"--a delicate definement of
a profligate life. His antecedents were not very creditable. After
flying from his convent in England, he was imprisoned for preaching
sedition in York and London. He obtained his release by professing
conformity to the new creed. He eventually retired to Canterbury, after
his expulsion from Kilkenny by the Catholics, and there he died, in
1563.
[Illustration: SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.]
[Illustration: BOSS ISLAND.]
FOOTNOTES:
[380] _Persecution_.--Smith's _Ireland Hist. and Statis_. vol. i. p.
327.
[381] _Doom_.--See _The Earls of Kildare_, vol. i. p. 106, for Wolsey's
reasons for not removing him from the Viceroyalty, notwithstanding his
dislike.
[382] _Ally_.--He was charged with having written a letter to O'Carroll
of Ely, in which he advised him to keep peace with the Pale until a
Deputy should come over, and then to make war on the English. The object
of this advice is not very clear.
[383] _Salus Populi_.--There is a copy of this book in MS. in the
British Museum. The name of the author is not known.
[384] _Letter_.--The deposition accusing Kildare is printed in the
"State Papers," part iii. p. 45. The following is an extract from the
translation which it gives of his letter to O'Carroll. The original was
written in Irish: "Desiring you to kepe good peas to English men tyll an
English Deputie come there; and when any English Deputie shall come
thydder, doo your beste to make warre upon English men there, except
suche as bee towardes mee, whom you know well your silf."
[385] _Pierse Butler_.--Called by the Irish, Red Pierse. Leland gives a
curious story about him. He was at war with MacGillapatrick, who sent an
ambassador to Henry VIII. to complain of the Earl's proceedings. The
messenger met the English King as he was about to enter the royal
chapel, and addressed him thus: "Stop, Sir King! my master,
Gillapatrick, has sent me to thee to say, that if thou wilt not punish
the Red Earl he will make war on thee." Pierse resigned his title in
favour of Sir Thomas Boleyn, in 1527, and was created Earl of Ossory;
but after the death of the former he again took up the old title, and
resigned the new.
[386] _Spared._--It is quite evident from the letter of the Council to
Henry VIII. (State Papers, ciii.), that a promise was made. Henry admits
it, and regrets it in his letter to Skeffington (S.P. cvi.): "The doyng
whereof [FitzGerald's capture], albeit we accept it thankfully, yet, if
he had been apprehended after such sorte as was convenable to his
deservynges, the same had been muche more thankfull and better to our
contentacion."
[387] _Already_.--Mant describes him as a man "whose mind was happily
freed from the thraldom of Popery," before his appointment.--_History of
the Church of Ireland_, vol. i. p. 111.
[388] _Houses_.--Lingard, vol. vi. p. 203.
[389] _Charges_.--Mr. Froude has adopted this line with considerable
ability, in his _History of England_. He has collected certain
statements, which he finds in the books of the Consistory Courts, and
gives details from these cases which certainly must "shock his readers"
considerably, as he expects. He leaves it to be implied that, as a rule,
ecclesiastics lived in open immorality. He gives names and facts
concerning the punishment of priests for vicious lives (_History of
England_, vol. i. pp. 178-180); and asserts that their offences were
punished lightly, while another measure was dealt out to seculars. He
might as well select the cases of scandal given by Protestant clergymen
in modern times from the law books, and hold them up as specimens of the
lives of all their brethren. The cases were exceptions; and though they
do prove, what is generally admitted, that the moral condition of the
clergy was not all that could be desired in individual cases, they also
prove that such cases were exceptional, and that they were condemned by
the Church, or they would not have been punished. With regard to the
punishment, we can scarcely call it a light penance for a _priest_ to be
compelled to go round the church barefoot, to kneel at each altar and
recite certain prayers, and this while High Mass was singing. It was a
moral disgrace, and keener than a corporal punishment. The writer also
evidently misunderstands the Catholic doctrine of absolution, when he
says that a fine of six-and-eightpence was held sufficient penalty for a
mortal sin.
[390] _Ancestors_.--See the _Phoenix_, a collection of valuable papers,
published in London, 1707; and the _Harleian Miscellany_, &c.
[391] _Rome_.--This was the invariable practice of the Irish Church. It
will be remembered how letters and expostulations had been sent to the
Holy See in regard to the temporal oppressions of the English settlers.
[392] _Davies.--Cause why Ireland was never Subdued_.--Thorn's Reprints,
vol. i. p. 694.
[393] _More_.-Sir Thomas More's son-in-law, Roper, gives the following
account of his condemnation: "Mr. Rich, pretending friendly talk with
him, among other things of a set course, said this unto him: 'Admit
there were, sir, an Act of Parliament that the realm should take me for
king; would not you, Master More, take me for King?' 'Yes, sir,' quoth
Sir Thomas More, 'that I would.' 'I put the case further,' quoth Mr.
Rich, 'that there were an Act of Parliament that all the realm should
take me for Pope; would not you then, Master More, take me for Pope?'
'For answer, sir,' quoth Sir Thomas More, 'to your first case, the
Parliament may well, Master Rich, meddle with the state of temporal
princes; but to make answer to your other case, I will put you this
case. Suppose the Parliament should make a law that God should not be
God, would you then, Master Rich, say that God were not God?' 'No, sir,'
quoth he, 'that I would not, sith no Parliament may make any such law.'
'No more,' quoth Sir Thomas More, 'could the Parliament make the King
supreme head of the Church.' Upon whose only report was Sir Thomas
indicted for high treason on the statute to deny the King to be supreme
head of the Church, into which indictment were put these heinous
words--maliciously, traitorously, and diabolically."
[394] _Parliament_.--State Papers, vol. ii. p. 437.
[395] _Vote_.--Irish Statutes, 28th Henry VIII. c. xii.
[396] _Succession_.--Froude, vol. i. p. 94. He also quotes Hall to the
effect that "all indifferent and discreet persons judged that it was
right and necessary." Persons who were "indifferent" enough to think
that any reason could make a sin necessary, or "discreet" enough to mind
losing their heads or their property, were generally of that opinion.
But Henry's difficulties in divorcing his wife are a matter of history.
[397] _Saw it_,--Four Masters, vol. v. p. 1445.
[398] _Trinidad_.--Madrid, 1714.
[399] _Truly_.--State Papers, vol. iii. p. 108.
[400] _Use_.--28th Henry VIII. cap. xvi. In Shirley's _Original
Letters_, p. 31, we find the following order from the Lord Protector,
Somerset, to the Dean of St. Patrick's: "Being advertised that one
thousand ounces of plate of crosses and such like things remaineth in
the hands of you, we require you to deliver the same to be employed to
his Majesty's use," &c. He adds that the Dean is to receive "£20 in
ready money" for the safe keeping of the same.
[401] _Order_.--The original letter may be seen in Shirley, pp. 41, 42.
CHAPTER XXV.
Creation of the Earls of Thomond and Clanrickarde--How the King procured
Money--Prayers in English--Opposition of Dr. Dowdall--Accession of Queen
Mary--Joy of the Irish--The Catholic Service restored
Publicly--Accession of Queen Elizabeth--Shane O'Neill obtains his
Dominions--Parliament assembled--Unfair Dealing--Martyrs in the Reign of
Elizabeth--The Protestant Archbishop advises Persecution--Cruelties
enacted by English Officers--Shane O'Neill--The Deputy tries to get him
Poisoned or Assassinated, with the Queen's Concurrence--His Visit to
England--He refuses to Dress in the English Fashion.
[A.D. 1540-1567.]
Every official was now required to take the oath of supremacy, and the
consequences of refusal were too well known to be estimated lightly. It
has been asserted by several historians, that no Irish clergyman
suffered death during this reign; but this statement is quite incorrect.
A careful examination of the State Papers and of the private records of
the religious orders, prove the contrary. In the spring of the year
1540, Lord Leonard Grey was recalled, and Sir William Brereton was
appointed Chief Justice. Grey was soon after committed to the Tower, on
a charge of high treason, and was executed in the following year. The
usual feuds between the Irish chieftains and the settlers were continued
during this period, as well as the usual feuds between the chiefs of
each party. Sir Anthony St. Leger, who was appointed Deputy at the close
of the year 1540, tried to reconcile the Ormondes and the Desmonds, and
describes the latter as "undoubtedly a very wise and discreet
gentleman"--a character which must be taken with some qualifications.
On the 1st of July, 1543, Murrough O'Brien was created Earl of Thomond
and Baron of Inchiquin; and De Burgo, known by the soubriquet of
Ulich-na-gceann ("of the heads"), from the number of persons whom he
decapitated in his wars, was created Earl of Clanrickarde and Baron of
Dunkellin. These titles were conferred by the King, with great pomp, at
Greenwich; but the Irish chieftains paid for the honour, if honour it
could be called where honour was forfeited, by acknowledging the royal
supremacy.
The Four Masters record the following events under the year 1545:--A
dispute between the Earl of Ormonde and the Lord Justice. Both repaired
to the King of England to decide the quarrel, and both swore that only
one of them should return to Ireland. "And so it fell out; for the Earl
died in England, and the Lord Justice returned to Ireland." Sir Richard
Cox asserts that the Earl and thirty-five of his servants were poisoned,
at a feast at Ely House, Holborn, and that he and sixteen of them died;
but he does not mention any cause for this tragedy. It was probably
accidental, as the Earl was a favourer of the reformed religion, and not
likely to meet with treachery in England. The Irish annalists do not
even allude to the catastrophe; the Four Masters merely observe, that
"he would have been lamented, were it not that he had greatly injured
the Church by advice of the heretics."[402]
Great dearth prevailed this year, so that sixpence of the old money was
given for a cake of bread in Connaught, or six white pence in Meath.
In 1546 they mention a rising of the Geraldines, "which did
indescribable damages;" and two invasions of the Lord Justice in Offaly,
who plundered and spoiled, burning churches and monasteries, crops and
corn. They also mention the introduction of a new copper coin into
Ireland, which the men of Ireland were obliged to use as silver.
The immense sums which Henry had accumulated by the plunder of religious
houses, appear to have melted away, like snow-wreaths sunshine, long
before the conclusion of his reign. His French and Scotch wars
undoubtedly exhausted large supplies; his mistresses made large demands
for their pleasures and their needy friends; yet there should have been
enough, and to spare, for all these claims. When the monasteries were
destroyed, the English clergy trembled for their own existence. The King
could easily have dispensed with their services, and deprived them of
their revenues. They were quite aware of their precarious tenure of
office, and willingly agreed, in 1543, to give Henry ten per cent, on
their incomes for three years, after the deduction of the tenths already
vested in the crown. Their incomes were thus ascertained, and a loan was
demanded, which, when granted, was made a gift by the ever-servile
Parliament.
In 1545 a benevolence was demanded, though benevolences had been
declared illegal by Act of Parliament. This method of raising money had
been attempted at an early period of his reign; but the proposal met
with such spirited opposition from the people, that even royalty was
compelled to yield. A few years later, when the fatal result of
opposition to the monarch's will and pleasure had become apparent, he
had only to ask and obtain. Yet neither percentage, nor tenths, nor
sacrilegious spoils, sufficed to meet his expenses; and, as a last
expedient, the coin was debased, and irreparable injury inflicted on the
country.
On the 28th of January, 1547, Edward VI. was crowned King of England.
The Council of Regency appointed by Henry was set aside, and Seymour,
Duke of Somerset, appointed himself Protector. St. Leger was continued
in the office of Lord Deputy in Ireland; but Sir Edward Bellingham was
sent over as Captain-General, with a considerable force, to quell the
ever-recurring disturbances. His energetic character bore down all
opposition, as much by the sheer strength of a strong will as by force
of arms. In 1549 the Earl of Desmond refused to attend a Council in
Dublin, on the plea that he wished to keep Christmas in his own castle.
Bellingham, who had now replaced St. Leger as Lord Deputy, set out at
once, with a small party of horse, for the residence of the refractory
noble, seized him as he sat by his own fireside, and carried him off in
triumph to Dublin.
In 1548 O'Connor and O'More were expelled from Offaly and Leix, and
their territory usurped by an Englishman, named Francis Bryan. Cahir Roe
O'Connor, one of the sept, was executed in Dublin, and a number of the
tribe were sent to assist in the Scotch wars. The political cabals in
England consequent on the youth of the King, who nominally governed the
country, occasioned frequent changes in the Irish administration.
In 1551 the Lord Deputy Crofts succeeded Sir Thomas Cusack, and led an
army into Ulster against the Scotch settlers, who had long been regarded
with a jealous eye by the English Government; but he was defeated both
at this time and on a subsequent occasion. No Parliament was convened
during this short reign, and the affairs of the country were
administered by the Privy Council. Dr. Browne and Dr. Staples were
leading members. The Chancellor, Read, and the Treasurer, Brabazon, were
both English. The Irish members were Aylmer, Luttrell, Bath, Howth, and
Cusack, who had all recently conformed, at least exteriorly, to the new
religion.
The most important native chieftain of the age was Shane O'Neill. His
father, Con, surnamed Baccagh ("the lame"), had procured the title of
Baron of Dungannon, and the entail of the earldom of Tyrone, from Henry
VII., for his illegitimate son, Ferdoragh. He now wished to alter this
arrangement; but the ungrateful youth made such charges against the old
man, that he was seized and imprisoned by the Deputy. After his death
Shane contended bravely for his rights. The French appear to have made
some attempt about this period to obtain allies in Ireland, but the
peace which ensued between that country and England soon terminated such
intrigues.
All efforts to establish the new religion during this reign was equally
unsuccessful. On Easter Sunday, A.D. 1551, the liturgy was read for the
first time in the English tongue, in Christ Church Cathedral. As a
reward for his energy in introducing the reform in general, and the
liturgy in particular, Edward VI. annexed the primacy of all Ireland to
the see of Dublin by Act of Parliament. There was one insuperable
obstacle, however, in the way of using the English tongue, which was
simply that the people did not understand it. Even the descendants of
the Anglo-Norman were more familiar with the Celtic dialect, and some
attempt was made at this time to procure a Latin translation of the
Protestant communion service.[403]
Dr. Dowdall had been appointed, in 1543, to the primatial see of Armagh,
by Henry VIII., who naturally hoped he would prove a ready instrument in
his service; but, to the surprise of the court, he put himself at the
head of the orthodox party, and was one of the most faithful opposers of
the introduction of the Protestant form of prayer. In 1552 he was
obliged to seek refuge on the Continent. On the death of Dr. Wauchop,
petitions were sent to Rome, requesting his appointment to the see of
Armagh. He was proposed in Consistory on the 1st of March, 1553.
Mary succeeded to the crown in 1553. A Protestant writer explains the
difference between the religious persecutions of her reign, and those
which occurred during the reign of Henry VIII., with admirable
discrimination and impartiality: "The religious persecutions which
prevailed in this reign, proceeded altogether from a different cause
from that which stands as an everlasting blot on the memory of Henry
VIII. In Henry's instance, people were tortured and murdered in the name
of religion, but the real cause was their opposition to the will of an
arbitrary tyrant; whereas those who suffered under Mary, were martyred
because the Queen conscientiously believed in those principles to which
she clung with such pertinacity."[404] One of the principal of these
victims was Archbishop Cranmer, who had already caused several persons
to suffer in the flames for differing from his opinions, and thus almost
merited his fate. It is a curious fact that several Protestants came to
Ireland during this reign, and settled in Dublin; they were subsequently
the founders of respectable mercantile families.
Although the English people had adopted the reformed religion
nationally, there were still a few persons whom neither favour nor
indifference could induce to renounce the ancient faith; and this brief
respite from persecution tended to confirm and strengthen those who
wavered. In Ireland, always Catholic, the joy was unbounded. Archbishop
Dowdall immediately prepared to hold a provincial synod at Drogheda,
where enactments were made for depriving the conforming prelates and
priests. Happily their number was so few that there was but little
difficulty in making the necessary arrangements. The only prelates that
were removed were Browne, of Dublin; Staples, of Meath; Lancaster, of
Kildare; and Travers, of Leighlin. Goodacre died a few months after his
intrusion into the see of Armagh; Bale, of Ossory, fled beyond the seas;
Casey, of Limerick, followed his example. All were English except the
latter, and all, except Staples, were professing Protestants at the time
of their appointment to their respective sees. Bale, who owed the
Kilkenny people a grudge, for the indignant and rather warm reception
with which they treated him on his intrusion into the see, gives a
graphic account of the joy with which the news of Edward's death was
received. The people "flung up their caps to the battlements of the
great temple;" set the bells ringing; brought out incense and holy
water, and formed once more a Catholic procession, chanting the _Sancta
Maria, ora pro nobis_, as of old. In fact, "on the accession of Mary to
the throne, so little had been done in the interest of the Reformation,
that there was little or nothing to undo. She issued a licence for the
celebration of Mass in Ireland, where no other service was or had been
celebrated worth mentioning, and where no other supreme head had been
ever in earnest acknowledged but the Pope."[405]
But the Irish obtained no temporal advantages during this reign--an
illustration of the truth of what I have before remarked, that the
nation has suffered almost as much from political as from religious
causes. The work of extermination still went on. The boundaries of the
Pale were increased thereby. Leix was designated the Queen's county, and
the fort of Campa obtained the name of Maryborough, in compliment to the
Queen. Offaly was named the King's county, and the fortress of Daingèan,
Philipstown, in compliment to her Spanish consort.
In the year 1553 Gerald and Edward, the sons of the late Earl of
Kildare, returned from exile, and were restored to the family honours
and possessions. The Four Masters say that "there was great rejoicing
because of their arrival, for it was thought that not one of the
descendants of the Earls of Kildare or of the O'Connors Faly would ever
again come to Ireland." They also mention that Margaret, a daughter of
O'Connor Faly, went to England, "relying on the number of her friends
and relatives there, and her knowledge of the English language, to
request Queen Mary to restore her father to her." Her petition was
granted, but he was soon after seized again by the English officials,
and cast into prison.
Shane O'Neill made an unsuccessful attempt to recover his paternal
dominions, in 1557. The following year his father died in
captivity,[406] Dublin, and he procured the murder of Ferdoragh, so that
he was able to obtain his wishes without opposition. Elizabeth had now
ascended the English throne (A.D. 1558), and, as usual, those in power,
who wished to retain office, made their religion suit the views of the
new ruler. The Earl of Sussex still continued Viceroy, and merely
reversed his previous acts. Sir Henry Sidney also made his worldly
interests and his religious views coincide. A Parliament was held in
Dublin, in 1560, on the 12th of January. It was composed of seventy-six
members, the representatives of ten counties, the remainder being
citizens and burgesses of those towns in which the royal authority was
predominant. "It is little wonder," observes Leland, "that, in despite
of clamour and opposition, in a session of a few weeks, the whole
ecclesiastical system of Queen Mary was entirely reversed." Every
subject connected with this assembly and its enactments, demands the
most careful consideration, as it has been asserted by some
writers--who, however, have failed to give the proofs of their
assertion--that the Irish Church and nation conformed at this time to
the Protestant religion. This certainly was not the opinion of the
Government officials, who were appointed by royal authority to enforce
the Act, and who would have been only too happy could they have reported
success to their mistress.
A recent writer, whose love of justice has led him to take a position in
regard to Irish ecclesiastical history which has evoked unpleasant
remarks from those who are less honest, writes thus: "There was not even
the show of free action in the ordering of that Parliament, nor the
least pretence that liberty of choice was to be given to it. The
instructions given to Sussex, on the 10th of May 1559, for making
Ireland Protestant by Act of Parliament, were peremptory, and left no
room for the least deliberation. Sussex had also other instructions
(says Cox) to him and the Council, to set up the worship of God as it is
in England, and make such statutes next Parliament as were lately made
in England, _mutatis mutandis_. [Hist. Angl. Part I. p.313.] It is plain
that her Majesty's command is not sufficient warrant for a national
change of faith, and that a convocation of bishops only is not the
proper or legal representative assembly of the Church. It is also plain
that the acts of an unwilling Parliament, and that Parliament one which
does not deserve the name of a Parliament, cannot be justly considered
as the acts of either the Irish Church or the Irish people."[407]
The official list of the members summoned to this Parliament, has been
recently published by the Irish Archæological Society. More than
two-thirds of the upper house were persons of whose devotion to the
Catholic faith there has been no question; there were but few members in
the lower house. No county in Ulster was allowed a representative, and
only one of its borough towns, Carrickfergus, was permitted to elect a
member. Munster furnished twenty members. No county members were allowed
in Connaught, and it had only two boroughs, Galway and Athenry, from
which it could send a voice to represent its wishes. The remaining fifty
members were chosen from a part of Leinster. In fact, the Parliament was
constituted on the plan before-mentioned. Those who were considered
likely to agree with the Government, were allowed to vote; those of
whose dissent there could be no doubt, were not allowed a voice in the
affairs of the nation.
It might be supposed that, with the exception of a few members of the
upper house, such a Parliament would at once comply with the Queen's
wishes; but the majority made no secret of their intention to oppose the
change of religion, and the penal code which should be enacted to
enforce it. The Deputy was in an unpleasant Position. Elizabeth would
not easily brook the slightest opposition to her wishes. The Deputy did
not feel prepared to encounter her anger, and he determined to avoid the
difficulty, by having recourse to a most unworthy stratagem. First, he
prorogued the house from the 11th of January to the 1st of February,
1560; and then took advantage of the first day of meeting, when but few
members were present, to get the Act passed; secondly, he solemnly swore
that the law should never be carried into execution, and by this false
oath procured the compliance of those who still hesitated. I shall give
authority for these statements.
The letter of Elizabeth, with her positive instructions to have the law
passed, was dated October 18, 1559, and may be seen _in extenso_ in the
_Liber Munerum Hibernia_, vol. i. p.113. There are several authorities
for the dishonest course pursued by the Lord Deputy. The author of
_Cambrensis Eversus_ says: "The Deputy is said to have used force, and
the Speaker treachery. I heard that it had been previously announced in
the house that Parliament would not sit on that very day on which the
laws against religion were enacted; but, in the meantime, a private
summons was sent to those who were well known to be favourable to the
old creed."[408] Father George Dillon, who died in 1650, a martyr to his
charity in assisting the plague-stricken people of Waterford, gives the
following account of the transaction: "James Stanihurst, Lord of
Corduff, who was Speaker of the lower house, by sending private summons
to some, without any intimation to the more respectable Irish who had a
right to attend, succeeded in carrying that law by surprise. As soon as
the matter was discovered, in the next full meeting of Parliament, there
was a general protest against the fraud, injustice, and _deliberate
treachery_ of the proceeding; but the Lord Justice, having solemnly
sworn that the law would never be carried into execution, the
remonstrants were caught in the dexterous snare, and consented that the
enactment should remain on the statute-book."[409] Dr. Rothe
corroborates these statements, and records the misfortunes which
followed the Speaker's family from that date.[410] Dr. Moran[411] has
very acutely observed, that the day appointed for the opening of
Parliament was the festival of St. Brigid, which was always kept with
special solemnity in Ireland; therefore, the orthodox members would
probably have absented themselves, unless informed of some business
which absolutely required their attendance.
The Loftus MS., in Marsh's Library, and Sir James Ware, both mention the
positive opposition of the Parliament to pass this law, and the mission
of the Earl of Sussex to consult her Majesty as to what should be done
with the refractory members. If he then proposed the treachery which he
subsequently carried out, there is no reason to suppose her Majesty
would have been squeamish about it, as we find she was quite willing to
allow even more questionable methods to be employed on other occasions.
The Loftus MS. mentions a convocation of bishops which assembled this
year, "by the Queen's command, for establishing the Protestant
religion." The convocation was, if possible, a greater failure than the
Parliament. If the bishops had obeyed the royal command, there would
have been some record of their proceedings; but until the last few
years, when the _ipse dixit_ of certain writers was put forward as an
argument--for proof it cannot be called--that the Irish Catholic bishops
had conformed to the Protestant religion, so wild a theory was not even
hazarded. It would be impossible here to go into details and proofs of
the nonconformity of each bishop. The work has been already undertaken,
with admirable success, by an Anglican clergyman.[412] I shall, however,
give some of the impediments offered to the progress of the Reformation
in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and of the cruel persecutions which were
inflicted on those who dared to wish for liberty to worship God
according to their conscience.
Notwithstanding the solemn promise of the Lord Deputy, the penal
statutes against Catholics were carried out. In 1563 the Earl of Essex
issued a proclamation, by which all priests, secular and regular, were
forbidden to officiate, or even to reside in Dublin. Fines and penalties
were strictly enforced for absence from the Protestant service; before
long, torture and death were inflicted. Priests and religious were, as
might be expected, the first victims. They were hunted into mountains
and caves; and the parish churches and few monastic chapels which had
escaped the rapacity of Henry VIII., were sacrificed to the sacrilegious
emissaries of Elizabeth. Curry gives some account of those who suffered
for the faith in this reign. He says: "Among many other Roman Catholic
bishops and priests, there were put to death for the exercise of their
function in Ireland, Globy O'Boyle, Abbot of Boyle, and Owen O'Mulkeran,
Abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, hanged and quartered by Lord
Grey, in 1580. John Stephens suffered the same punishment from Lord
Burroughs, for saying Mass, in 1597; Thady O'Boyle was slain in his own
monastery at Donegal; six friars were slain at Moynihigan; John
O'Calyhor and Bryan O'Freeor were killed at their monastery in Ulster,
with Felimy O'Hara, a lay brother. Eneus Penny was massacred at the
altar of his own parish church, Killagh. Fourteen other priests died in
Dublin Castle, either from hard usage, or the violence of torture."
Dr. Adam Loftus, the Protestant Archbishop of Armagh, was one of the
most violent persecutors of the Catholics. In his first report to the
Queen, dated May 17th, 1565, he describes the nobility of the Pale as
all devoted to the ancient creed; and he recommends that they should be
fined "in a good round sum," which should be paid to her Majesty's use,
and "sharply dealt withal."[413] An original method of conversion,
certainly! But it did not succeed. On the 22nd of September, 1590, after
twenty-five years had been spent in the fruitless attempt to convert the
Irish, he writes to Lord Burleigh, detailing the causes of the general
decay of the Protestant religion in Ireland, and suggesting "how the
same may be remedied." He advises that the ecclesiastical commission
should be put in force, "for the people are poor, and fear to be fined."
He requests that he and such commissioners as are "well affected in
religion, may be permitted to imprison and fine all such as are
obstinate and disobedient;" and he has no doubt, that "within a short
time they will be reduced to good conformity." He concludes: "And _this
course of reformation_, the sooner it is begun the better it will
prosper; and the longer it is deferred, the more dangerous it will be."
When remember that such words were written, and such deeds were enacted,
by the head of the Protestant Church in Ireland, and sanctioned by the
head of the Protestant Church in England, they may surely be content to
allow modern controversialists the benefit of their pleasant dream that
Catholic bishops conformed. If they had conformed to such doctrines and
such practice, it can scarcely be seen what advantage the Anglican
Establishment could gain from their parentage.
Seven years later, when the same prelate found that the more the Church
was persecuted the more she increased, he wrote to advise pacification:
"The rebels are increased, and grown insolent. I see no other cure for
this cursed country but pacification, [he could not help continuing]
until, hereafter, when the fury is passed, her Majesty may, with more
convenience, correct the heads of those traitors."[414] The prelate was
ably seconded by the Lord Deputy. Even Sir John Perrot, who has the name
of being one of the most humane of these Governors, could not refrain
from acts of cruelty where Catholics were concerned. On one occasion he
killed fifty persons, and brought their heads home in triumph to
Kilmallock, where he arranged them as a trophy round the cross in the
public square. In 1582 he advised her Majesty "that friars, monks,
Jesuits, priests, nuns, and such like vermin, who openly uphold the
Papacy, should be executed by martial law."[415] The English officers
seem to have rivalled each other in acts of cruelty. One is said to have
tied his victim to a maypole, and then punched out his eyes with his
thumbs.[416] Others amused themselves with flinging up infants into the
air, and catching them on the points of their swords.[417] Francis
Crosby, the deputy of Leix, used to hang men, women, and children on an
immense tree which grew before his door, without any crime being imputed
to them except their faith, and then to watch with delight how the
unhappy infants hung by the long hair of their martyred mothers.[418]
Father Dominic à Rosario, the author of _The Geraldines_, scarcely
exceeded truth when he wrote these memorable words: "This far famed
English Queen has grown drunk on the blood of Christ's martyrs; and,
like a tigress, she has hunted down our Irish Catholics, exceeding in
ferocity and wanton cruelty the emperors of pagan Rome." We shall
conclude this painful subject for the present with an extract from
O'Sullivan Beare: "All alarm from the Irish chieftains being ceased, the
persecution was renewed with all its horrors. A royal order was
promulgated, that all should renounce the Catholic faith, yield up the
priests, receive from the heretical minister the morality and tenets of
the Gospel. Threats, penalties and force were to be employed to enforce
compliance. Every effort of the Queen and her emissaries was directed to
despoil the Irish Catholics of their property, and exterminate them.
More than once did they attempt this, for they knew that not otherwise
could the Catholic religion be suppressed in our island, _unless by the
extermination of those in whose hearts it was implanted_; nor could
their heretical teachings be propagated, while the natives were alive to
detest and execrate them."[419]
In 1561 Sussex returned from England with reinforcements for his army,
and marched to Armagh, where he established himself in the Cathedral.
From thence he sent out a large body of troops to plunder in Tyrone, but
they were intercepted by the redoubtable Shane O'Neill, and suffered so
serious a defeat as to alarm the inhabitants of the Pale, and even the
English nation. Fresh supplies of men and arms were hastily despatched
from England, and the Earls of Desmond, Ormonde, Kildare, Thomond, and
Clanrickarde assembled round the Viceregal standard to assist in
suppressing the formidable foe. And well might they fear the
lion-hearted chieftain! A few years later, Sidney describes him as the
only strong man in Ireland. The Queen was warned, that unless he were
speedily put down, she would lose Ireland, as her sister had lost
Calais. He had gained all Ulster by his sword, and ruled therein with a
far stronger hand, and on a far firmer foundation, than ever any English
monarch had obtained in any part of Ireland. Ulster was his _terra
clausa_; and he would be a bold, or, perhaps I should rather say, a rash
man, who dare intrude in these dominions. He could muster seven thousand
men in the field; and though he seldom hazarded a general engagement, he
"slew in conflicts 3,500 soldiers and 300 Scots of Sidney's army."[420]
The English chronicler, Hooker, who lived in times when the blaze and
smoke of houses and haggards, set on fire by Shane, could be seen even
from Dublin Castle, declares that it was feared he intended to make a
conquest over the whole land.
Even his letters are signed, if not written, in royal style.[421] He
dates one _Ex finibus de Tirconail_, when about to wage war with the
neighbouring sept of O'Donnell; he dates another, _Ex silvis meis_,
when, in pursuance of his Celtic mode of warfare, he hastened into his
woods to avoid an engagement with the English soldiers; he signs himself
_Misi O'Neill_--Me, the O'Neill. As this man was too clever to be
captured, and too brave to be conquered, a plan was arranged, with the
full concurrence of the Queen, by which he might be got rid of by poison
or assassination. Had such an assertion been made by the Irish
annalists, it would have been scouted as a calumny on the character of
"good Queen Bess;" but the evidence of her complicity is preserved in
the records of the State Paper Office. I shall show presently that
attempts at assassination were a common arrangement for the disposal of
refractory Irish chieftains during this reign.
The proposal for this diabolical treachery, and the arrangements made
for carrying it out, were related by Sussex to the Queen. He writes
thus: "In fine, I brake with him to kill Shane, and bound myself by my
oath to see him have a hundred marks of land to him and to his heirs for
reward. He seemed desirous to serve your Highness, and to have the land,
but fearful to do it, doubting his own escape after. I told him the ways
he might do it, and how to escape after with safety; which he offered
and promised to do." The Earl adds a piece of information, which, no
doubt, he communicated to the intended murderer, and which, probably,
decided him on making the attempt: "I assure your Highness he may do it
without danger if he will; and if he will not do what he may in your
service, there will be done to him what others may."[422]
Her Majesty, however, had a character to support; and whatever she may
have privately wished and commanded, she was obliged to disavow
complicity publicly. In two despatches from court she expresses her
"displeasure at John Smith's horrible attempt to poison Shane O'Neill in
his wine." In the following spring John Smith was committed to prison,
and "closely examined by Lord Chancellor Cusake." What became of John is
not recorded, but it is recorded that "Lord Chancellor Cusake persuaded
O'Neill to forget the poisoning." His clan, however, were not so easily
persuaded, and strongly objected to his meeting the Viceroy in person,
or affording him an opportunity which he might not live to forget. About
this time O'Neill despatched a document to the Viceroy for his
consideration, containing a list of "other evill practices devised to
other of the Irish nation within ix or tenn yeares past." The first item
mentions that Donill O'Breyne and Morghe O'Breyne, his son, "required
the benefit of her Majesty's laws, by which they required to be tried,
and thereof was denied;"[423] and that when they came to Limerick under
the protection of the Lord Deputy, they were proclaimed traitors, and
their lands and possessions taken from them. Several other violations of
protection are then enumerated, and several treacherous murders are
recorded, particularly the murder of Art Boy Cavanagh, at Captain
Hearn's house, after he had dined with him, and of Randall Boye's two
sons, who were murdered, one after supper, and the other in the tower,
by Brereton, "who escaped without punishment."
In October, 1562, Shane was invited to England, and was received by
Elizabeth with marked courtesy. His appearance at court is thus
described by Camden, A.D. 1562: "From Ireland came Shane O'Neill, who
had promised to come the year before, with a guard of axe-bearing
galloglasses, their heads bare, their long curling hair flowing on their
shoulders, their linen garments dyed with saffron, with long open
sleeves, with short tunics, and furry cloaks, whom the English wondered
at as much as they do now at the Chinese or American aborigines."
Shane's visit to London was considered of such importance, that we find
a memorandum in the State Paper Office, by "Secretary Sir W. Cecil,
March, 1562," of the means to be used with Shane O'Neill, in which the
first item is, that "he be procured to change his garments, and go like
an Englishman."[424] But this was precisely what O'Neill had no idea of
doing. Sussex appears to have been O'Neill's declared and open enemy.
There is more than one letter extant from the northern chief to the
Deputy. In one of these he says: "I wonder very much for what purpose
your Lordship strives to destroy me." In another, he declares that his
delay in visiting the Queen had been caused by the "amount of
obstruction which Sussex had thrown in his way, by sending a force of
occupation into his territory without cause; for as long as there shall
be one son of a Saxon in my territory against my will, from that time
forth I will not send you either settlement or message, but will send my
complaint through some other medium to the Queen." In writing to the
Baron of Slane, he says that "nothing will please him [the Deputy] but
to plant himself in my lands and my native territory, as I am told every
day that he desires to be styled Earl of Ulster."
The Lord Chancellor Cusack appears, on the contrary, to have constantly
befriended him. On 12th January, 1568, he writes of O'Neill's
"dutifulness and most commendable dealing with the Scots;" and soon
after three English members of the Dublin Government complain that
Cusack[425] had entrapped them into signing a letter to the unruly
chieftain. There is one dark blot upon the escutcheon of this remarkable
man. He had married the daughter of O'Donnell, Lord of one of the
Hebrides. After a time he and his father-in-law quarrelled, and Shane
contrived to capture O'Donnell and his second wife. He kept this lady
for several years as his mistress; and his own wife is said to have died
of shame and horror at his conduct, and at his cruel treatment of her
father. English writers have naturally tried to blacken his character as
deeply as possible, and have represented him as a drunkard and a
profligate; but there appears no foundation for the former accusation.
The foundation for the latter is simply what we have mentioned, which,
however evil in itself, would scarcely appear so very startling to a
court over which Henry VIII. had so long presided.
After many attempts at assassination, _Shane-an-Diomais_ [John the
Ambitious] fell a victim to English treachery. Sir William Piers, the
Governor of Carrickfergus, invited some Scotch soldiers over to Ireland,
and then persuaded them to quarrel with him, and kill him. They
accomplished their purpose, by raising a disturbance at a feast, when
they rushed on the northern chieftain, and despatched him with their
swords. His head was sent to Dublin, and his old enemies took the poor
revenge of impaling it on the Castle walls.
The Earl of Sussex was recalled from Ireland in 1564, and Sir Henry
Sidney was appointed Viceroy. The Earls of Ormonde and Desmond had again
quarrelled, and, in 1562, both Earls were summoned to court by the
Queen. Elizabeth was related to the Butlers through her mother's family,
and used to boast of the loyalty of the house of Ormonde. The Geraldines
adhered to the ancient faith, and suffered for it. A battle was fought
at Affane, near Cappoquin, between the two parties, in which Desmond was
wounded and made prisoner. The man who bore him from the field asked,
tauntingly: "Where is now the proud Earl of Desmond?" He replied, with
equal pride and wit: "Where he should be; upon the necks of the
Butlers!"
[Illustration: GOLD EAR-RING, TORQUE PATTERN, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE
R.I.A., FOUND AT CASTLEREA, CO. ROSCOMMON.]
[Illustration: KILCOLMAN CASTLE.]
FOOTNOTES:
[402] _Heretics_.--Annals, vol. v. p. 1493.
[403] _Service_.--Shirley's _Original Letters_, p. 47. Dr. Browne gives
an account of his signal failures in attempting to introduce the
Protestant form of prayer in his letters to Cromwell. He says one
prebendary of St. Patrick's "thought scorn to read them." He adds: "They
be in a manner all the same point with me. There are twenty-eight of
them, and yet scarce one that favoureth God's Word."--_State Papers_,
vol. iii. p. 6.
[404] _Pertinacity_.--_The Victoria History of England_, p. 256.
[405] _Pope_.--_Lib. Mun. Hib_. part i. p. 37.
[406] _Captivity_.--Lord Chancellor Cusack addressed a very curious
"Book on the State of Ireland" to the Duke of Northumberland, in 1552,
in which he mentions the fearful condition of the northern counties. He
states that "the cause why the Earl was detained [in Dublin Castle] was
for the wasting and destroying of his county." This Sir Thomas Cusack,
who took a prominent part in public affairs during the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, was a son of Thomas Cusack, of Cassington, in Meath, an
ancient Norman-Irish family, who were hereditary seneschals and sheriffs
of that county.--_Ulster Arch. Jour_. vol. iii p. 51.
[407] _People.--The Irish Reformation_, by the Rev. W. Maziere Brady,
D.D., fifth edition, pp. 32, 33.
[408] _Creed_.--_Cambrensis Eversus_, vol. iii. p. 19.
[409] _Book_.--_Orationes et Motiva_, p. 87.
[410] _Date_.--_Analecta_, p. 387.
[411] _Dr. Moran_.--_Archbishops of Dublin_, p. 68. Further information
may be obtained also in Curry's _Historical Review_.
[412] _Clergyman_.--The Rev. W. Maziere Brady, D.D. Mr. Froude remarks,
in his _History of England_, vol. x. p. 480: "There is no evidence that
any of the bishops in Ireland who were in office at Queen Mary's death,
with the exception of Curwin, either accepted the Reformed Prayer-Book,
or abjured the authority of the Pope." He adds, in a foot-note: "I
cannot express my astonishment at a proposition maintained by Bishop
Mant and others, that whole hierarchy of Ireland went over to the
Reformation with the Government. In a survey of the country supplied to
Cecil in 1571, after death and deprivation had enabled the Government to
fill several sees, the Archbishops Armagh, Tuam, and Cashel, with almost
every one of the Bishops of the respective provinces, are described as
_Catholici et Confederati_. The Archbishop of Dublin, with the Bishops
of Kildare, Ossory, and Ferns, are alone returned as 'Protestantes'"
[413] _Withal_.--Shirley, _Original Letters_, p. 194.
[414] _Traitors_.--Letter of October 18, 1597.--State Paper Office.
[415] _Law_.--Letter to the Queen, in _Government of Ireland under Sir
John Parrot_, p.4.
[416] _Thumbs_.--Despatch of Castlerosse, in State Paper Office, London.
[417] _Swords_.--O'Sullivan Beare, _Hist. Cath_. p. 238.
[418] _Mothers_.--_Ibid_. p. 99.
[419] _Them.--Hist. Cath_. p.133.
[420] _Army_.--See Dr. Stuart's _History of Armagh_, p. 261.
[421] _Style_.--In one of the communications from Sussex to O'Neill, he
complains of the chieftain's letters as being "_nimis superbe
scriptæ_."--State Papers for 1561.
[422] _May_.--Moore's _History of Ireland_, vol. iv. p.33.
[423] _Denied_.--This document has been printed in the _Ulster Arch.
Jour_. vol. ii, p.221, but the editor does not mention where the
original was procured.
[424] _Englishman_.--Moore, vol. iv. p. 37, has "like a gentleman," but
the above is the correct reading. In 1584 Sir J. Perrot tried to get the
Irish chieftains to attend Parliament clothed in the English fashion,
and even offered them robes and cloaks of velvet and satin. The
chieftains objected; the Lord Deputy insisted. At last one of them, with
exquisite humour, suggested that if he were obliged to wear English
robes, a Protestant minister should accompany him attired in Irish
garments, so that the mirth and amazement of the People should be fairly
divided between them.--_Sir J. Perrot's Life_, p.198.
[425] _Cusack_.--One reason, perhaps, was that the Chancellor always
treated O'Neill with the respect due from one gentleman to another.
Flemyng mentions, in a letter to Cecil, November 29, 1563, that O'Neill
told him, when about to take the oaths of his people to an agreement
with the Queen, that "Cusack did not give them their oath so, _but let
me give them their oath_."
CHAPTER XXVI.
Spenser's Castle--Sidney's Official Account of Ireland--Miserable State
of the Protestant Church--The Catholic Church and its Persecuted
Rulers--The Viceroy's Administration--A Packed Parliament and its
Enactments--Claim of Sir P. Carew--An Attempt to plant in
Ulster--Smith's Settlement in the Ards--His Description of the Native
Irish--He tries to induce Englishmen to join him--Smith is killed, and
the attempt to plant fails--Essex next tries to colonize Ulster--He dies
in Dublin--Sidney returns to Ireland--His Interview with
Granuaile--Massacre at Mullamast--Spenser's Account of the State of
Ireland.
[A.D. 1567-1579.]
Kilcolman Castle, with its fair domains, were bestowed on the poet
Spenser, who had accompanied Lord Grey to Ireland in 1579. He has left a
fearful description of the miseries of the country; but it scarcely
exceeds the official report of Sir Henry Sidney, which must first be
noticed. At the close of the month of January, 1567, the Lord Deputy set
out on a visitation of Munster and Connaught. In his official account he
writes thus of Munster: "Like as I never was in a more pleasant country
in all my life, so never saw I a more waste and desolate land. Such
horrible and lamentable spectacles are there to behold--as the burning
of villages, the ruin of churches, the wasting of such as have been good
towns and castles; yea, the view of the bones and skulls of the dead
subjects, who, partly by murder, partly by famine, have died in the
fields--as, in truth, hardly any Christian with dry eyes could behold."
He declares that, in the territory subject to the Earl of Ormonde, he
witnessed "a want of justice and judgment." He describes the Earl of
Desmond as "a man devoid of judgment to govern, and will be to be
ruled." The Earl of Thomond, he says, "had neither wit of himself to
govern, nor grace or capacity to learn of others." The Earl of
Clanrickarde he describes as "so overruled by a putative wife, as
ofttimes, when he best intendeth, she forceth him to do the worst;" and
it would appear that neither he nor his lady could govern their own
family, for their sons were so turbulent they kept the whole country in
disturbance. In Galway he found the people trying to protect themselves,
as best they might, from their dangerous neighbours; and at Athenry
there were but four respectable householders, who presented him with the
rusty keys of their town--"a pitiful and lamentable present;" and they
requested him to keep those keys, for "they were so impoverished by the
extortions of the lords about them, as they were no longer able to keep
that town."
Well might he designate the policy by which the country had been
hitherto governed as "cowardly," and contemn the practice of promoting
division between the native princes, which was still practised. He adds:
"So far hath that policy, or rather lack of policy, in keeping
dissensions among them, prevailed, as now, albeit all that are alive
would become honest and live in quiet, yet there are not left alive, in
those two provinces, the twentieth person necessary to inhabit the
same." Sidney at once proceeded to remedy the evils under which the
unfortunate country groaned, by enacting other evils. We shall leave him
to give his own account of his proceedings. He writes thus, in one of
his official despatches: "I write not the names of each particular
varlet that hath died since I arrived, as well by the ordinary course of
the law, as of the martial law, as flat fighting with them, when they
would take food without the good will of the giver, for I think it no
stuff worthy the loading of my letters with; but I do assure you the
number of them is great, and some of the best, and the rest tremble. For
most part they fight for their dinner, and many of them lose their heads
before they be served with supper. Down they go in every corner, and
down they shall go, God willing."[426]
When we remember Sidney's own description of the desolation of country,
and read of the fashion in which he remedied that desolation we cannot
wonder at the piteous account given a few years later by the English
poet; for who could escape the threefold danger of "ordinary law,
martial law, and flat fighting." Nor was the state of religious affairs
at all more promising. The Deputy describes the kingdom as "overwhelmed
by the most deplorable immorality and irreligion;"[427] the Privy
Council, in their deliberations, gives a similar account. "As for
religion, there was but small appearance of it; the churches uncovered,
and the clergy scattered."[428] An Act of Parliament was then passed to
remedy the evils which Acts of Parliament had created. In the preamble
(11th Elizabeth, sess. iii. cap. 6) it mentions the disorders which
Sidney had found, and complains of "the great abuse of the clergy in
getting into the said dignities by force, simony, friendship, and other
corrupt means, to the great overthrow of God's holy Church;" and for
remedy, the Act authorizes the _Lord Deputy_ to appoint, for ten years,
to all the ecclesiastical benefices of these provinces, with the
exception of the cathedral churches of Waterford, Limerick, Cork, and
Cashel.
But it was soon evident that Acts of Parliament could not effect
ecclesiastical reform, though they might enforce exterior conformity to
a new creed. In 1576, Sidney again complains of the state of the Irish
Church, and addresses himself, with almost blasphemous flattery to the
head of that body, "as to the only sovereign salve-giver to this your
sore and sick realm, the lamentable state of the most noble and
principal limb thereof--the Church I mean--as foul, deformed, and as
cruelly crushed as any other part thereof, only by your gracious order
to be cured, or at least amended. I would not have believed, had I not,
for a greater part, viewed the same throughout the whole realm." He then
gives a detailed account of the state of the diocese of Meath, which he
declares to be the best governed and best peopled diocese in the realm;
and from his official report of the state of religion there, he thinks
her Majesty may easily judge of the spiritual condition of less favoured
districts. He says there are no resident parsons or vicars, and only a
very simple or sorry curate appointed to serve them; of them only
eighteen could speak English, the rest being "Irish ministers, or rather
Irish rogues, having very little Latin, and less learning or
civility."[429] In many places he found the walls of the churches thrown
down, the chancels uncovered, and the windows and doors ruined or
spoiled--fruits of the iconoclastic zeal of the original reformers and
of the rapacity of the nobles, who made religion an excuse for plunder.
He complains that the sacrament of baptism was not used amongst them,
and he accuses the "prelates themselves" of despoiling their sees,
declaring that if he told all he should make "too long a libel of his
letter. But your Majesty may believe it, that, upon the face of the
earth where Christ is professed, there is not a Church in so miserable a
case."
A Protestant nobleman, after citing some extracts from this document,
concludes thus: "Such was the condition of a Church which was, half a
century ago, rich and flourishing, an object of reverence, and a source
of consolation to the people. It was now despoiled of its revenues; the
sacred edifices were in ruins; the clergy were either ignorant of the
language of their flocks, or illiterate and uncivilized intruders; and
the only ritual permitted by the laws was one of which the people
neither comprehended the language nor believed the doctrines. And this
was called establishing the Reformation!"[430]
It should be observed, however, that Sir Henry Sidney's remarks apply
exclusively to the Protestant clergy. Of the state of the Catholic
Church and clergy he had no knowledge, neither had he any interest in
obtaining information. His account of the Protestant clergy who had been
intruded into the Catholic parishes, and of the Protestant bishops who
had been placed in the Catholic dioceses, we may presume to be correct,
as he had no interest or object in misrepresentation; but his
observation concerning the neglect of the sacrament of baptism, may be
taken with some limitation. When a religious revolution takes place in a
Catholic country, there is always a large class who conform exteriorly
to whatever opinions maybe enforced by the sword. They have not the
generosity to become confessors, nor the courage to become martyrs. But
these persons rarely renounce the faith in their hearts; and sacrifice
their conscience to their worldly interest, though not without
considerable uneasiness. In such cases, these apparently conforming
Protestants would never think of bringing their children to be baptized
by a minister of the new religion; they would make no nice distinctions
between the validity of one sacrament and another; and would either
believe that sacraments were a matter of indifference, as the new creed
implied, or if they were of any value that they should be administered
by those who respected them and that their number should remain intact.
In recent famine years, the men who risked their spiritual life to save
their temporal existence, which the tempter would only consent to
preserve on his own terms, were wont to visit the church, and bid
Almighty God a solemn farewell until better times should come. They
could not make up their minds to die of starvation, when food might be
had for formal apostacy; they knew that they were denying their God when
they appeared to deny their religion. It is more than probable that a
similar feeling actuated thousands at the period of which we are
writing; and that the poor Celt, who conformed from fear of the sword,
took his children by night to the priest of the old religion, that he
might admit them, by the sacrament of baptism, into the fold of the only
Church in which he believed.
It is also a matter of fact, that though the Protestant services were
not attended, and the lives of the Protestant ministers were not
edifying, that the sacraments were administered constantly by the
Catholic clergy. It is true they date their letters "from the place of
refuge" (_e loco refugii nostri_), which might be the wood nearest to
their old and ruined parish-church, or the barn or stable of some
friend, who dared not shelter them in his house; yet this was no
hindrance to their ministrations; for we find Dr. Loftus complaining to
Sir William Cecil that the persecuted Bishop of Meath, Dr. Walsh, was
"one of great credit amongst his countrymen, and upon whom (as touching
cause of religion) they wholly depend."[431] Sir Henry Sidney's efforts
to effect reformation of conduct in the clergy and laity, do not seem to
have been so acceptable at court as he might have supposed. His strong
measures were followed by tumults; and the way in which he obtained
possession of the persons of some of the nobles, was not calculated to
enhance his popularity. He was particularly severe towards the Earl of
Desmond, whom he seized in Kilmallock, after requiring his attendance,
on pretence of wishing him to assist in his visitation of Munster. In
October, 1567, the Deputy proceeded to England to explain his conduct,
taking with him the Earl of Desmond and his brother, John, whom he also
arrested on false pretences. Sidney was, however, permitted to return,
in September, 1568. He landed at Carrickfergus, where he received the
submission of Turlough O'Neill, who had been elected to the chieftaincy
on the death of Shane the Proud.
The first public act of the Lord Deputy was to assemble a Parliament, in
which all constitutional rules were simply set at defiance (January
17th, 1569). Mayors and sheriffs returned themselves; members were sent
up for towns not incorporated, and several Englishmen were elected as
burgesses for places they had never seen. One of these men, Hooker, who
was returned for Athenry, has left a chronicle of the age. He had to be
protected by a guard in going to his residence. Popular feeling was so
strongly manifested against this gross injustice, that the judges were
consulted as to the legality of proceedings of whose iniquity there
could be no doubt. The elections for non-corporate towns, and the
election of individuals by themselves, were pronounced invalid; but a
decision was given in favour of non-resident Englishmen, which still
gave the court a large majority.[432] In this Parliament--if, indeed, it
could be called such--Acts were passed for attainting Shane O'Neill, for
suppressing the name, and for annexing Tyrone to the royal possessions.
Charter schools were to be founded, of which the teachers should be
English and Protestants; and the law before-mentioned, for permitting
the Lord Deputy to appoint persons to ecclesiastical benefices for ten
years, was passed.
Sir Philip Carew came to Ireland about this time, and renewed the claim
of his family to possessions in Ireland. This plea had been rejected in
the reign of Edward III.; but he now produced a forged roll, which the
corrupt administration of the day readily admitted as genuine. His claim
was made in right of Robert FitzStephen, one of the first adventurers;
his demand included one-half of the "kingdom of Cork," and the barony of
Idrone, in Carlow. Several engagements ensued, in one of which Carew
boasted of having slain 400 Irish, and lost only one man. If his
statement be true, it is probable the engagement was simply a massacre.
The war became so formidable, that the MacCarthys, FitzGeralds,
Cavanaghs, and FitzMaurices united against the "common enemy," and at
last despatched emissaries to the Pope to implore his assistance. It is
strange to find native Irish chieftains uniting with Anglo-Norman lords
to resist an English settler.
Sidney now began to put his plan of local governments into execution;
but this arrangement simply multiplied the number of licensed
oppressors. Sir Edward Fitton was appointed President of Connaught, and
Sir John Perrot, of Munster. Both of these gentlemen distinguished
themselves by "strong measures," of which cruelty to the unfortunate
natives was the predominant feature. Perrot boasted that he would "hunt
the fox out of his hole," and devoted himself to the destruction of the
Geraldines. Fitton arrested the Earl of Clanrickarde, and excited a
general disturbance. In 1570 the Queen determined to lay claim to the
possessions in Ulster, graciously conceded to her by the gentlemen who
had been permitted to vote according to her royal pleasure in the
so-called Parliament of 1569. She bestowed the district of Ards, in
Down, upon her secretary, Sir Thomas Smith. It was described as "divers
parts and parcels of her Highness' Earldom of Ulster that lay waste, or
else was inhabited with a wicked, barbarous, and uncivil people." There
were, however, two grievous misstatements in this document. Ulster did
not belong to her Highness, unless, indeed, the Act of a packed
Parliament could be considered legal; and the people who inhabited it
were neither "wicked, barbarous, nor uncivil." The tract of country thus
unceremoniously bestowed on an English adventurer, was in the possession
of Sir Rowland Savage. His first ancestor was one of the most
distinguished of the Anglo-Norman settlers who had accompanied De Courcy
to Ireland. Thus, although he could not claim the prescriptive right of
several thousand years for his possessions, he certainly had the right
of possession for several centuries. An attempt had been made about ten
years before to drive him out of part of his territory, and he had
written a letter to "The Right Hon. the Earl of Sussex,
Lieutenant-General of Ireland," asking for "justice," which justice he
had not obtained. He was permitted to hold the Southern Ards, because he
could not be expelled from it without considerable difficulty, and
because it was the least valuable part of his property.
Smith confided the conduct of the enterprise to his natural son who has
already been mentioned as the person who attempted to poison Shane
O'Neill. The first State Paper notice of this enterprise is in a letter,
dated February, 8, 1572, from Captain Piers to the Lord Deputy, stating
that the country is in an uproar "at Mr. Smith coming over to plant in
the north." There is a rare black letter still extant, entitled,
["Letter by F.B. on the Peopling of the Ardes"] which Smith wrote to
induce English adventurers to join him in his speculation. It is
composed with considerable ability. He condemns severely the degeneracy
of the early English settlers, "who allied and fostered themselves with
the Irish." He says that "England was never fuller of people than it is
at this day," and attributes this to "the dissolution of abbeys, which
hath doubled the number of gentlemen and marriages." He says the younger
sons who cannot "maintain themselves in the emulation of the world," as
the elder and richer do, should emigrate; and then he gives glowing
accounts of the advantages of this emigration.
Strange to say, one of the principal inducements he offers is that the
"churle of Ireland is very simple and toylsomme man, desiring nothing
but that he may not be eaten out with ceasse [rent], coyne, and
liverie." He passes over the subject of rent without any comment, but he
explains very fully how "the churle is eaten up" with the exactions of
"coyne and liverie." He says these laborious Irish will gladly come "to
live under us, and to farm our ground;" but he does not say anything
about the kind of treatment they were to receive in return for their
labour. His next inducement is the immense sale (and profit) they might
expect by growing corn; and he concludes by relieving their fears as to
any objections which the inhabitants of this country might make to being
dispossessed from their homes and lands, or any resistance they might
offer. He considers it immaterial, "for the country of Lecale [which had
been taken in a similar manner from Savage] was some time kept by
Brereton with a hundred horses, and Lieutenant Burrows kept _Castle
Rean_ [Castlereagh], and went daily one quarter of a mile to fetch his
water, against five hundred Irish that lay again him."
Smith concludes with "an offer and order" for those who wished to join
in the enterprise. Each footman to have a pike,[433] or halberd, or
caliver, and a convenient livery cloak, of red colour or carnation, with
black facings. Each horseman to have a staffe[434] and a case of
dagges,[435] and his livery[436] to be of the colour aforesaid.
Strype wrote a life of Sir Thomas Smith, Bart., Oxford, 1620. He
mentions this attempt at colonizing Ulster, having this good design
therein: "that those half-barbarous people might be taught some
civility." He speaks of "the hopeful gentleman," Sir Thomas Smith's son
and concludes with stating how the expedition terminated: "But when
matters went on thus fairly, Mr. Smith was intercepted and slain by a
wild Irishman."
Before his assassination Smith had written an account of his proceedings
to his father, in which he says that "envy had hindered him more than
the enemy," and that he had been ill-handled by some of his own
soldiers, ten of whom he had punished. He also expresses some fear of
the native Irish, whom he had tried to drive out of their lands, as he
says they sometimes "lay wait to intrap and murther the maister
himself."
I have given details of this attempted plantation in Ulster, because it
illustrates the subject; and each plantation which will be recorded
afterwards, was carried out on the same plan. The object of the
Englishman was to obtain a home and a fortune; to do this he was obliged
to drive, the natives out of their homes, and to deprive them of their
wealth, whether greater or less. The object of the Irishman was to keep
out the intruder; and, if he could not be kept out, to get rid of him by
fair means or foul.
It is probable that the attempt of Smith was intended by Government
principally as an experiment to ascertain whether the plantation could
be carried out on a larger scale. The next attempt was made by Walter
Devereux, Earl of Essex, who received part of the signories of Clannaboy
and Ferney, provided he could expel the "rebels" who dwelt there. Essex
mortgaged his estates to the Queen to obtain funds for the enterprise.
He was accompanied by Sir Henry Kenlis, Lord Dacres, and Lord Norris'
three sons.
Sir William FitzGerald, the then Lord Deputy, complained loudly of the
extraordinary powers granted to Essex; and some show of deference to his
authority was made by requiring the Earl to receive his commission from
him. Essex landed in Ireland in 1573, and the usual career of tyranny
and treachery was enacted. The native chieftains resisted the invasion
of their territories, and endeavoured to drive out the men whom they
could only consider as robbers. The invaders, when they could not
conquer, stooped to acts of treachery. Essex soon found that the
conquest of Ulster was not quite so easy a task as he had anticipated.
Many of the adventurers who had assumed his livery, and joined his
followers, deserted him; and Brian O'Neill, Hugh O'Neill, and Turlough
O'Neill rose up against him. Essex then invited Conn O'Donnell to his
camp; but, as soon as he secured him, he seized his Castle of Lifford,
and sent the unfortunate chieftain a prisoner to Dublin.
In 1574 the Earl and Brian O'Neill made peace. A feast was prepared by
the latter, to which Essex and his principal followers were invited; but
after this entertainment had lasted for three days and nights, "as they
were agreeably drinking and making merry, Brian, his brother, and his
wife were seized upon by the Earl, and all his people put unsparingly to
the sword-men, women, youths, and maidens--in Brian's own presence.
Brian was afterwards sent to Dublin, together with his wife and brother,
where they were cut in quarters. Such was the end of their feast. This
wicked and treacherous murder of the lord of the race of Hugh Boy
O'Neill, the head and the senior of the race of Eoghan, son of Nial of
the Nine Hostages, and of all the Gaels, a few only excepted, was a
sufficient cause of hatred and dispute to the English by the
Irish."[437]
Essex visited England in 1575, and tried to induce the Queen to give him
further assistance in his enterprise. On her refusal, he retired to
Ireland, and died in Dublin, on the 22nd September, 1576. It was
rumoured he had died of poison, and that the poison was administered at
the desire of the Earl of Leicester, who soon after divorced his own
wife, and married the widow of his late rival Essex complained bitterly,
in his letter to Sir Henry Sidney, of the way in which he had been
treated in his projected plantation of Clannaboy, and protested against
the injustice which had been done through him on O'Donnell, MacMahon,
and others, who were always peaceable and loyal, but "whom he had, on
the pledged word of the Queen, undone with fair promises." Probably,
only for his own "undoing," he would have had but scant pity for others.
Yet Essex could be generous and knightly with his friends, kind and
courtly, at least to his English dependents. There are some curious
accounts of his expenses while he was "_Lord-General of Ulster_," in a
State Paper, from which it will appear that he could be liberal, either
from natural benevolence or from policy. The entries of expenditure
indicate a love of music, which he could easily gratify in Ireland,
still famous for the skill of its bards. He gave ten shillings to the
singing men of Mellifont, then inhabited by Edward Moore, to whom it had
been granted at the suppression of monasteries. A harper at Sir John
Bellew's received three shillings; "Crues, my Lord of Ormonde's harper,"
received the large sum of forty shillings, but whether in compliment to
the bard or the bard's master is doubtful. The Earl of Ormonde's
"musicians" also got twenty shillings. But there are other
disbursements, indicating that presents were gratefully received and
vails expected. "A boy that brought your lordship a pair of greyhounds"
had a small donation; but "M'Genis, that brought your lordship two
stags," had 13s. 4_d_., a sum equivalent to £7 of our money. Nor were
the fair sex forgotten, for Mrs. Fagan, wife of the Lord Mayor of
Dublin, was presented with a piece of taffeta "for good entertainment."
Sir Henry Sidney returned to Ireland in 1575. He tells us himself how he
took on him, "the third time, that thanklesse charge; and so taking
leave of her Majesty, kissed her sacred hands, with most gracious and
comfortable wordes, departed from her at Dudley Castell, passed the
seas, and arrived the xiii of September, 1575, as nere the city of
Dublin as I could saufly; for at that tyme the city was greevously
infested with the contagion of the pestilence."[438] He proceeded thence
to Tredagh (Drogheda), where he received the sword of the then Deputy.
He next marched northward, and attacked Sorley Boy and the Scotch, who
were besieging Carrickfergus; and after he had conquered them, he
received the submission of Turlough O'Neill and other Ulster chieftains.
Turlough's wife, the Lady Agnes O'Neill, _née_ M'Donnell, was aunt to
the Earl of Argyle, and appears to have been very much in favour with
the Lord Deputy.
In the "depe of wynter" he went to Cork, were he remained from Christmas
to Candlemas. He mentions his entertainment at Barry's Court with
evident zest, and says "there never was such a Christmas kept in the
same." In February he visited Thomond, and subdued "a wicked generation,
some of whom he killed, and some he hanged by order of law." A nice
distinction, which could hardly have been appreciated by the victims.
The Earl of Clanrickarde caused his "two most bade and rebellious
sonnes" to make submission, "whom I would to God I had then hanged."
However, he kept them close prisoners, and "had a sermon made of them
and their wickedness in the chief church in the town." John seems to
have been the principal delinquent. Some time after, when they had been
set at liberty, they rebelled again; and he records the first "memorable
act" which one of them had done, adding, "which I am sure was
John."[439]
Sidney then marched into the west, and had an interview with the famous
Grace O'Malley, or Granuaile, which he describes thus: "There came to me
also a most famous femynyne sea captain, called Granuge I'Mally, and
offered her services unto me wheresoever I would command her, with three
galleys and two hundred fighting men. She brought with her her husband,
for she was as well by sea as by land more than master's-mate with him.
He was of the nether Burkes, and called by nickname Richard in Iron.
This was a notorious woman in all the coasts of Ireland. This woman did
Philip Sidney see and speak with; he can more at large inform you of
her." Grana, or Grace O'Malley, was the daughter of a chieftain of the
same patronymic. Her paternal clan were strong in galleys and ships.
They owned a large territory on the sea-coast, besides the islands of
Arran. Her first husband was Donnell O'Flaherty. His belligerent
propensities could scarcely have been less than hers, for he is termed
_Aith Chogaid_, or "of the wars." Her second husband, Sir Richard Burke,
or Richard _an Iarainn_, is described by the Four Masters as a
"plundering, warlike, unjust, and rebellious man." He obtained his
soubriquet from the circumstance of constantly appearing in armour. It
would appear from this account that Sidney's statement of the Lady Grana
being "more than master's-mate with him," must be taken with some
limitations, unless, indeed, he who ruled his foes abroad, failed to
rule his wife at home, which is quite possible. The subjoined
illustration represents the remains of one of her castles. It is
situated near the lake of Borrishoole, in the county Mayo. The ruins are
very striking, and evince its having once been an erection of
considerable strength.
[Illustration: CARRIG-A-HOOLY--GRACE O'MALLEY'S CASTLE.]
Sir William Drury was made Lord President of Munster, 1576, in place of
Sir John Perrot. Sir Nicholas Malby was installed in the same office in
Connaught; but the barbarities enacted by his predecessor, Fitton, made
the very name of president so odious, that Sidney gave the new Governor
the title of Colonel of Connaught. The Earl of Desmond and Drury were
soon at variance. Sidney says, in his _Memoir_, that the Earl "was still
repyning at the government of Drury." After causing great apprehension
to the governors, the Lord Deputy sent the whole party to Kilkenny, and
found the "Earl hot, wilful, and stubborn; but not long after, as you
know, he and his two brothers, Sir John and Sir James, fell into actual
rebellion, in which the good knight, Sir William Drury, the Lord
Justice, died, and he, as a malicious and unnatural rebel, still
persisteth and liveth."
In 1577 serious complications were threatened, in consequence of the
pecuniary difficulties of the crown. An occasional subsidy had been
granted hitherto for the support of the Government and the army; an
attempt was now made to convert this subsidy into a tax. On previous
occasions there had been some show of justice, however little reality,
by permitting the Parliament to pass the grant; a scheme was now
proposed to empower the Lord Deputy to levy assessments by royal
authority, without any reference to Parliament. For the first time the
Pale opposed the Government, and resisted the innovation. But their
opposition was speedily and effectually silenced. The deputies whom they
sent to London to remonstrate were committed to the Tower, and orders
were despatched to Ireland that all who had signed the remonstrance
should be consigned to Dublin Castle.
It is said that Elizabeth was not without some misgivings as to the
injustice with which her Irish subjects were treated, and that she was
once so touched by the picture presented to her of their sufferings
under such exactions, that she exclaimed: "Ah, how I fear lest it be
objected to us, as it was to Tiberius by Bato, concerning the Dalmatian
commotions! You it is that are in fault, who have committed your flocks,
not to shepherds, but to wolves." Nevertheless, the "wolves" were still
permitted to plunder; and any impression made on the royal feelings
probably evaporated under the fascinating influence of her next
interview with Leicester, and the indignation excited by a "rebel" who
refused to resign his ancestral home quietly to some penniless
adventurer. There had been serious difficulties in England in 1462, in
consequence of the shameful state of the current coin; and the Queen has
received considerable praise for having accomplished a reform. But the
idea, and the execution of the idea, originated with her incomparable
minister, Cecil, whose master-mind applied itself with equal facility to
every state subject, however trifling or however important; and the loss
and expenditure which the undertaking involved, was borne by the country
to the last penny. Mr. Froude says it was proposed that the "worst money
might be sent to Ireland, as the general dust-heap for the outcasting of
England's vileness."[440] The standard for Ireland had always been under
that of England, but the base proposal above-mentioned was happily not
carried into execution. Still there were enough causes of misery in
Ireland apart from its normal grievances. The Earl of Desmond wrote an
elaborate and well-digested appeal to Lord Burleigh, complaining of
military abuses, and assuring his Lordship that if he had "sene them
[the poor who were burdened with cess], he would rather give them
charitable alms than burden them with any kind of chardge." He mentions
specially the cruelty of compelling a poor man to carry for five, eight,
or ten miles, on his back, as many sheaves as the "horse-boies" choose
to demand of him; and if he goes not a "good pace, though the poor soule
be overburdened, he is all the waye beaten outt of all measure."
Cess was also commanded to be delivered at the "Queen's price," which
was considerably lower than the market price. Even Sidney was supposed
to be too lenient in his exactions; but eventually a composition of
seven years' purveyance, payable by instalments, was agreed upon, and
the question was set at rest. The Queen and the English Council
naturally feared to alienate the few nobles who were friendly to them,
as well as the inhabitants of the Pale, who were as a majority in their
interest.
The Pale was kept in considerable alarm at this period, by the exploits
of the famous outlaw, Rory Oge O'More. In 1577 he stole into Naas with
his followers, and set the town on fire; after this exploit he retired,
without taking any lives. He continued these depredations for eighteen
years. In 1571 he was killed by one of MacGillapatrick's men, and the
Pale was relieved from a most formidable source of annoyance. But the
same year in which this brave outlaw terminated his career, is
signalized by one of the most fearful acts of bloodshed and treachery on
record. The heads of the Irish families of Offaly and Leix, whose
extirpation had long been attempted unsuccessfully, were invited in the
Queen's name, and under the Queen's protection, to attend a conference
at the great rath on the hill of Mullach-Maistean (Mullamast). As soon
as they had all assembled, they were surrounded by a treble line of the
Queen's garrison soldiers, and butchered to a man in cold blood.
This massacre was performed with the knowledge and approval of the
Deputy, Sir Henry Sidney. The soldiers who accomplished the bloody work
were commanded by Captain Francis Crosby, to whom the chief command of
all the kerne in the Queen's pay was committed. We have already related
some incidents in his career, which show how completely destitute he was
of the slightest spark of humanity.[441]
Sir Henry Sidney retired from office finally on the 26th of May, 1578.
He dates his _Memoir_ from "Ludlow Castell, with more payne than harte,
the 1st of March, 1582." In this document he complains bitterly of the
neglect of his services by Government, and bemoans his losses in piteous
strains. He describes himself as "fifty-four yeres of age, toothlesse
and trembling, being five thousand pounds in debt." He says he shall
leave his sons £20,000 worse off than his father left him. In one place
he complains that he had not as much ground as would "feede a mutton,"
and he evidently considers his services were worth an ampler
remuneration; for he declares: "I would to God the country was yet as
well as I lefte it almost fyve yeres agoe." If he did not succeed in
obtaining a large grant for his services, it certainly was not for want
of asking it; and if he did not succeed in pacifying the country, it was
not for lack of summary measures. Even in his postscript he mentions how
he hanged a captain of Scots, and he thinks "very nere twenty of his
men."
It seems almost needless to add anything to the official descriptions of
Ireland, which have already been given in such detail; but as any remark
from the poet Spenser has a special interest, I shall give some brief
account of his _View of Ireland_. The work which bears this name is
written with considerable prejudice, and abounds in misstatements. Like
all settlers, he was utterly disgusted with the hardships he endured,
though the poet's eye could not refuse its meed of admiration to the
country in which they were suffered. His description of the miseries of
the native Irish can scarcely be surpassed, and his description of the
poverty of the country is epitomized in the well-known lines:--
"Was never so great waste in any place,
Nor so foul outrage done by living men;
For all the cities they shall sack and raze,
And the green grass that groweth they shall burn,
That even the wild beast shall die in starved den."[442]
Yet this misery never touched his heart; for the remedy he proposes
poses for Irish sufferings is to increase them, if possible, a
thousandfold; and he would have troops employed to "tread down all
before them, and lay on the ground all the stiff-necked people of the
land." And this he would have done in winter, with a refinement of
cruelty, that the bitter air may freeze up the half-naked peasant, that
he may have no shelter from the bare trees, and that he may be deprived
of all sustenance by the chasing and driving of his cows.
It is probable that Spenser's "view" of Irish affairs was considerably
embittered by his own sufferings there. He received his property on the
condition of residence, and settled himself at Kilcolman Castle. Here he
spent four years, and wrote the three first books of the _Faerie
Queene_. He went to London with Sir Walter Raleigh to get them
published. On his return he married a country girl, named Elizabeth--an
act which was a disgrace to himself, if the Irish were what he described
them to be. In 1598, during Tyrone's insurrection, his estate was
plundered, his castle burned, and his youngest child perished in the
flames. He then fled to London, where he died a year after in extreme
indigence.
His description of the condition of the Protestant Church coincides with
the official account of Sidney. He describes the clergy as "generally
bad, licentious, and most disordered;" and he adds: "Whatever
disorders[443] you see in the Church of England, you may find in
Ireland, and many more, namely, gross simony, greedy covetousness,
incontinence, and careless sloth." And then he contrasts the zeal of the
Catholic clergy with the indifference of "the ministers of the Gospel,"
who, he says, only take the tithes and offerings, and gather what fruit
else they may of their livings.
[Illustration: THE HOUSE WHERE SIR WALTER RALEIGH LIVED.]
[Illustration: SALTEE ISLANDS, WEXFORD.]
FOOTNOTES:
[426] _Willing_.--Sidney's Despatches, British Museum, MSS. Cat. Titus
B. x.
[427] _Irreligion_.--Mant, vol. i. p.287.
[428] _Scattered_.--Cox, vol. i. p.319.
[429] _Civility_.--Sidney's _Letters and Memorials_, vol i. p.112.
Sidney's memoir has been published _in extenso_ in the _Ulster Arch.
Journal_, with most interesting notes by Mr. Hore of Wexford.
[430] _Reformation_.--_Past and Present Policy of England towards
Ireland_, p. 27. London, 1845.
[431] _Depend_.--Shirley, p. 219. An admirable _History of the Diocese
of Meath_, in two volumes, has been published lately by the Rev. A.
Cogan, Catholic Priest of Navan. It is very much to be wished that this
rev. author would extend his charitable labours to other dioceses
throughout Ireland.
[432] _Majority_.--Leland, vol. ii. p.241.
[433] _Pike_.--This was probably the _Morris pike_ or _Moorish pike_,
much used in the reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth. The common pike was
used very generally by foot soldiers until the reign of George II. The
halberd was introduced during the reign of Henry VIII. It was peculiar
to the royal guard, and is still carried by them. In Shirley's comedy,
_A Bird in a Cage_ (1633), one of the characters is asked, "You are one
of the guard?" and replies, "A Poor halberd man, sir." The caliver was
quite recently introduced. It was a light kind of musket, fired without
a rest. It derived its name from the _calibre_ or width of its bore.
[434] _Staffe._--This was probably a cane staff. We read in _Piers
Plowman's Vision_ of "hermits on a heap with hookyd staves."
[435] _Dagges._--"Pistols."--"My _dagge_ was levelled at his heart."
[436] _Livery_--It was usual for all retainers of a noble house to wear
a uniform-coloured cloth in dress. Thus, in the old play of _Sir Thomas
More_, we find:
"That no man whatsoever Do walk without the _livery_ of his lord, Either
in cloak or any other garment."
[437] _Irish_.--Four Masters, vol. v. pp. 1678-9. Camden mentions the
capture of O'Neill, and says Essex slew 200 of his men; but he does not
mention the treachery with which this massacre was accomplished.
[438] _Pestilence_.--Memoir or Narrative addressed to Sir Francis
Walsingham, 1583. Ware says he wrote "Miscellanies of the Affairs of
Ireland," but the MS. has not yet been discovered. The Four Masters
notice the pestilence, which made fearful ravages.
[439] _John_.--He was called _Shane Seamar Oge_, or John of the
Shamrocks, from having threatened to live on shamrocks sooner than
submit to the English. John was the younger of the two De Burgos or
Burkes.
[440] _Vileness.--Reign of Elizabeth_, vol. i, p. 458.
[441] _Humanity_.--Dr. O'Donovan, with his usual conscientious accuracy,
has given a long and most interesting note on the subject of this
massacre, in the _Annals of the Four Masters_, vol. v.p. 1695. Dowling
is the oldest writer who mentions the subject, and he expressly
mentions Crosby and Walpole as the principal agents in effecting it.
Dr. O'Donovan gives a curious traditional account of the occurrence, in
which several Catholic families are accused of having taken part.
[442] _Den.--Faerie Queene_, book iii c. 3.
[443] _Disorders_.--"In many dioceses in England (A.D. 1561), a third of
the parishes were left without a clergyman, resident or non-resident....
The children grew up unbaptized; the dead buried their dead." Elizabeth
had to remonstrate with Parliament upon the "open decays and ruins" of
the churches. "They were not even kept commonly clean, and nothing was
done to make them known to be places provided for divine service." "The
cathedral plate adorned the prebendal sideboards and dinner-tables. The
organ pipes were melted into dishes for their kitchens. The organ frames
were carved into bedsteads, where the wives reposed beside their
reverend lords. The copes and vestments were slit into gowns and
bodices. Having children to provide for, the chapters cut down their
woods, and worked their fines ... for the benefit of their own
generation." "The priests' wives were known by their dress in the
street, and their proud gait, from a hundred other women."--Froude,
_Reign of Elizabeth_, vol. i. pp. 465-467.
CHAPTER XXVII.
FitzMaurice obtains Help from Spain and from Rome--The Martyrs of
Kilmallock--Death of FitzMaurice--Drury's Cruelties and Death--Arrival
of San José--His Treachery--Massacre at the Fort del Ore--O'Neill shows
Symptoms of Disaffection--Treacherous Capture of O'Donnell--Injustice to
Tenants--O'Donnell attempts to Escape--O'Neill's Marriage with Mabel
Bagnal--O'Donnell Escapes from Dublin Castle--Causes of
Discontent--Cruel Massacre of Three Priests--Tortures and Death
inflicted in Dublin on Bishop O'Hurley--O'Neill's Insurrection--His
Interview with Essex--He marches to the South--His Fatal Reverse at
Kinsale--The Siege of Dunboy--O'Neill's Submission--Foundation of
Trinity College, Dublin, on the Site and with the Funds of a Catholic
Abbey.
[A.D. 1579-1605.]
Exaggerated rumours were now spread throughout Munster, of the
probability of help from foreign sources--A.D. 1579. James FitzMaurice
had been actively employed on the Continent in collecting troops and
assistance for the Irish Catholics. In France his requests were politely
refused, for Henry III. wished to continue on good terms with Elizabeth.
Philip II. of Spain referred him to the Pope. In Rome he met with more
encouragement; and at the solicitation of the Franciscan Bishop of
Killaloe, Cornelius O'Mullrain, Dr. Allen, and Dr. Saunders, he obtained
a Bull, encouraging the Irish to fight for the recovery of religious
freedom, and for the liberation of their country. An expedition was
fitted out at the expense of the Holy See, and maintained eventually by
Philip of Spain. At the earnest request of FitzMaurice, an English
adventurer, named Stukeley, was appointed admiral. The military command
was bestowed on Hercules Pisano, a soldier of some experience.
Stukeley was reported to be an illegitimate son of Henry VIII. He was a
wild and lawless adventurer, and entirely unfitted for such a command.
At Lisbon he forsook his squadron, and joined the expedition which
Sebastian, the romantic King of Portugal, was preparing to send to
Morocco. FitzMaurice had travelled through France to Spain, from whence
he proceeded to Ireland, with a few troops. He had three small vessels
besides his own, and on his way he captured two English ships. He was
accompanied by Dr. Saunders,[444] as Legate, the Bishop of Killaloe, and
Dr. Allen.[445] They were entirely ignorant of Stukeley's desertion
until their arrival in Ireland. The squadron reached Dingle on the 17th
of July, 1579. Eventually they landed at Smerwick Harbour, and threw
themselves into the Fort del Ore, which they fortified as best they
could. If the Earl of Desmond had joined his brother at once, the
expedition might have ended differently; but he stood aloof, fearing to
involve himself in a struggle, the issue of which could scarcely be
doubtful.
A short time before the arrival of this little expedition, three persons
had landed in disguise at Dingle, whom Desmond, anxious to show his zeal
towards the ruling powers, consigned to the authorities in Limerick.
They were discovered to be Dr. Patrick O'Haly, a Franciscan, and Bishop
of Mayo, and Father Cornelius O'Rourke; the name of the third person has
not been ascertained. On Sir William Drury's arrival at Kilmallock, they
were brought before him, and condemned to torture and death. The torture
was executed with unusual barbarity, for Drury was a man who knew no
mercy. The confessors were first placed upon the rack, and then, as if
the agony of that torment was not sufficient, their hands and feet were
broken with large hammers, and other torments were added. When life was
nearly extinct, they were released, and their martyrdom was finally
accomplished by hanging. For fourteen days their bodies remained
suspended in chains, and the soldiers used them as targets in their
shooting exercises.
The Earl of Desmond, however, soon joined his brother. John Geraldine
allied himself with the movement from its commencement. A second
expedition was fitted out in Spain, which reached Ireland on the 13th of
September, 1580. It was commanded by Colonel Sebastian San José, who
proved eventually so fearful a traitor to the cause he had volunteered
to defend. Father Mathew de Oviedo, a member of the Franciscan Order,
was the principal promoter of this undertaking. He was a native of
Spain, and had been educated in the College of Salamanca, then famous
for the learning and piety of its _alumni_. The celebrated Florence
Conry, subsequently Archbishop of Tuam, was one of his companions; and
when he entered the Franciscan novitiate, he had the society of eleven
brethren who were afterwards elevated to the episcopate. Oviedo was the
bearer of a letter from the Roman Pontiff, Gregory XIII., granting
indulgences to those who joined the army.
On the 18th of August, scarcely a month after he had landed in Ireland,
James FitzMaurice was killed by Theobald and Ulick Burke, his own
kinsmen. Their father, Sir William Burke, was largely rewarded for his
loyalty in opposing the Geraldines; and, if Camden is to be believed, he
died of joy in consequence of the favours heaped upon him. The death of
FitzMaurice was a fatal blow to the cause. John Geraldine, however, took
the command of the force; but the Earl hastened to Kilmallock to
exculpate himself, as best he could, with the Lord Deputy. His apologies
were accepted, and he was permitted to go free on leaving his only son,
James, then a mere child, as hostage with Drury. The Geraldines were
successful soon after in an engagement with the English; and Drury died
in Waterford at the end of September. Ecclesiastical historians say that
he had been cited by the martyrs of Kilmallock to meet them at Christ's
judgment, and answer for his cruelties.
Sir Nicholas Malby was left in command of the army, and Sir William
Pelham was elected Lord Deputy in Dublin. The usual career of burning
and plundering was enacted--"the country was left one levelled plain,
without corn or edifices." Youghal was burned to the ground, and the
Mayor was hanged at his own door. James Desmond was hanged and
quartered, by St. Leger and Raleigh, in Cork. Pelham signalized himself
by cruelties, and executed a gentleman who had been blind from his
birth, and another who was over a hundred years of age.
But the crowning tragedy was at hand. The expedition commanded by San
José now arrived in Ireland. The Fort del Ore was once more occupied and
strengthened; the courage of the insurgents was revived. Meanwhile Lord
Grey was marching so southward with all possible haste. He soon reached
the fort, and, at the same time, Admirals Winter and Bingham prepared to
attack the place by sea. In a few days the courage of the Spanish
commander failed, and he entered into treaty with the Lord Deputy. A
bargain was made that he should receive a large share of the spoils. He
had obtained a personal interview in the Viceroy's camp,[446] and the
only persons for whom he made conditions were the Spaniards who had
accompanied him on the expedition. The English were admitted to the
fortress on the following day, and a feast was prepared for them. All
arms and ammunition were consigned to the care of the English soldiers,
and, this accomplished, the signal for massacre was given; and,
according to Lord Grey's official[447] account, 600 men were slain in
cold blood. So universal was the reprobation of this fearful tragedy,
that Sir Richard Bingham tried to make it appear that it had not been
premeditated. Grey's official despatch places the matter beyond
question, and Dr. Saunders' letter supplies the details on authority
which cannot be disputed.
Three persons who had been treacherously given up to the Viceroy, were
spared for special torments; those were--a priest named Lawrence, an
Englishman named William Willick, and Oliver Plunket. They were offered
liberty if they would renounce the faith; but on their resolute refusal,
their legs and arms were broken in three places, and after they had been
allowed to pass that night and the next day in torment, they were hanged
and quartered. The State Papers confirm the account given by Saunders of
these barbarities. The English officers now endeavoured to rival each
other in acts of cruelty to obtain official commendation and royal
favour. Sir Walter Raleigh was especially active in Cork, and brought a
charge of treason against the Barrys and Roches, old English settlers;
but Barry set fire to his castle, and took to the woods, where he joined
Lord Desmond. Lord Roche was taken prisoner, but eventually escaped from
his persecutors. Pretended plots were rumoured in all directions, and
numbers of innocent persons were executed. William Burke was hanged in
Galway, and forty-five persons were executed. The Geraldine cause was
reduced to the lowest ebb by the treachery of José. The Earl of Desmond
and his sons were fugitives in their own country. The latter was offered
pardon if he would surrender Dr. Saunders, the Papal Legate, but this he
resolutely refused. Saunders continued his spiritual ministrations until
he was entirely worn out with fatigue, and he died, at the close of the
year 1581, in a miserable hovel in the woods of Claenglass. He was
attended by the Bishop of Killaloe, from whom he received the last rites
of the Church.
Immense rewards were now offered for the capture of the Geraldine
leaders, but their faithful followers would not be bribed. John was at
length seized, through the intervention of a stranger. He was wounded in
the struggle, and died immediately after; but his enemies wreaked their
vengeance on his remains, which were gibbeted at Cork. The Earl of
Desmond was assassinated on the 11th of November, 1583, and the hopeless
struggle terminated with his death. He had been hunted from place to
place like a wild beast, and, according to Hooker, obliged to dress his
meat in one place, to eat it in another, and to sleep in a third. He was
surprised, on one occasion, while his soldiers were cooking their
mid-day meal, and five-and-twenty of his followers were put to the
sword; but he escaped, and fled to Kerry, where he was apprehended ended
and slain. His head was sent to Elizabeth, and impaled on London-bridge,
according to the barbarous practice of the time. His body was interred
in the little chapel of Kilnamaseagh, near Castleisland. Complaints of
the extreme severity of Lord Grey's administration had been sent to the
English court. Even English subjects declared that he had "left her
Majesty little to reign over but carcasses and ashes." He was therefore
recalled. The administration was confided to Loftus, the Protestant
Archbishop of Dublin, and Sir Henry Wallope, and an amnesty was
proclaimed. Sir Thomas Norreys was appointed Governor of Munster, and
Sir Richard Bingham, Governor of Connaught. In 1584 Sir John Perrot was
made Deputy, and commenced his career by executing Beg O'Brien, who had
taken an active part in the late insurrections, at Limerick, with a
refinement of cruelty, as "a warning to future evil-doers."
In 1585 Perrot held a Parliament in Dublin, from which, however, no very
important enactments proceeded. Its principal object appears to have
been the confiscation of Desmond's estates. This was opposed by many of
the members; but the crown was determined to have them, and the crown
obtained them. Thus lands to the extent of 574,628 acres were ready for
new adventurers. The most tempting offers were made to induce Englishmen
to plant; estates were given for twopence an acre; rent was only to
commence after three years. No Irish families were to be admitted as
tenants, though their labours might be accepted or compelled. English
families were to be substituted in certain proportions; and on these
conditions, Raleigh, Hatton, Norris, St. Leger, and others, obtained
large grants. The Irish question was to be settled finally, but somehow
it was not settled, though no one seemed exactly prepared to say why.
Meanwhile Sir Richard Bingham was opposing the conciliatory policy of
the Deputy, and hanged seventy persons at one session in Galway, in
January, A.D. 1586. Perrot interfered; but the Burkes, who had been
maddened by Bingham's cruelties, broke out into open rebellion; and he
pointed to the revolt which he had himself occasioned, as a
justification of his former conduct. The Scotch now joined the Burkes,
but were eventually defeated by the President, the Irish annalists say,
with the loss of 2,000 men. Another bloody assize was held in Galway,
where young and old alike were victims.
The state of Ulster was now giving considerable anxiety to the English
Government. Hugh O'Neill was just commencing his famous career; and
although he had fought under the English standard in Geraldine war, it
was thought quite possible that he might set up a standard of his own.
He had taken his seat in parliament as _Baron of Dungannon_. He had
obtained the title of Earl of Tyrone. He had visited Elizabeth, and by a
judicious mixture of flattery and deference, which she was never able to
resist he obtained letters-patent under the Great Seal restoring his
inheritance and his rank. He was even permitted, on his return, to keep
up a standing army of six companies, "to preserve the peace of the
north."
In 1586 a thousand soldiers were withdrawn from Ireland to serve in the
Netherlands; and as the country was always governed by force, it could
scarcely be expected not to rebel when the restraint was withdrawn.
O'Neill manifested alarming symptoms of independence. He had married a
daughter of Sir Hugh O'Donnell, and Sir Hugh refused to admit an English
sheriff into his territory. The Government had, therefore, no resource
but war or treachery. War was impossible, when so large a contingent had
been withdrawn; treachery was always possible; and even Sir John Perrot
stooped to this base means of attaining his end. The object was to get
possession of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, a noble youth, and to keep him as
hostage. The treachery was accomplished thus: a vessel, laden with
Spanish wine, was sent to Donegal on pretence of traffic. It anchored at
Rathmullen, where it had been ascertained that Hugh Roe O'Donnell was
staying with his foster-father, MacSweeny. The wine was distributed
plentifully to the country people; and when MacSweeny sent to make
purchases, the men declared there was none left for sale, but if the
gentlemen came on board, they should have what was left. Hugh and his
companions easily fell into the snare. They were hospitably entertained,
but their arms were carefully removed, the hatches were shut down, the
cable cut, and the ship stood off to sea. The guests who were not wanted
were put ashore, but the unfortunate youth was taken to Dublin, and
confined in the Castle.[448]
In 1588 Sir John Perrot was succeeded by Sir William FitzWilliam, a
nobleman of the most opposite character and disposition. Perrot was
generally regretted by the native Irish, as he was considered one of the
most humane of the Lord Deputies. The wreck of the Spanish Armada
occurred during this year, and was made at once an excuse for increased
severity towards the Catholics, and for acts of grievous injustice. Even
loyal persons were accused of harbouring the shipwrecked men, as it was
supposed they might have obtained some treasure in return for their
hospitality. FitzWilliam, according to Ware, wished to "finger some of
it himself," and invaded the territories of several Irish chieftains. A
complete history of FitzWilliam's acts of injustice, and the consummate
cruelty with which they were perpetrated, would be so painful to relate,
that they can scarcely be recorded in detail. He farmed out the country
to the highest bidders, who practised every possible extortion on the
unfortunate natives. The favourite method of compelling them to yield up
their lands without resistance, was to fry the soles of their feet in
boiling brimstone and grease. When torture did not succeed, some unjust
accusation was brought forward, and they were hanged. A tract preserved
in Trinity College, Dublin, gives details of these atrocities, from
which I shall only select one instance. A landlord was anxious to obtain
the property of one of his tenants, an Irishman, who had lived
"peaceably and quietly, as a good subject," for many years. He agreed
with the sheriff to divide the spoil with him, if he would assist in the
plot. The man and his servant were seized; the latter was hanged, and
the former was sent to Dublin Castle, to be imprisoned on some pretence.
The gentleman and the sheriff at once seized the tenant's property, and
turned his wife and children out to beg. After a short time, "they, by
their credit and countenance, being both English gentlemen, informed the
Lord Deputy so hardly of him, as that, without indictment or trial, they
executed him."[449]
It was considered a grave reproach, and an evidence of barbarism, when
Maguire sent word to the Lord Deputy, who wished to send a sheriff to
Fermanagh: "Your sheriff will be welcome, but let me know his eric [the
fine which would be levied on the district if he were killed], that if
my people cut off his head, I may levy it on the country." One other
instance from another source will sufficiently prove that the dread of
an English sheriff was well founded. The chieftain of Oriel, Hugh
MacMahon, had given a present of 600 cows to the Lord Deputy to
recognize his rights. Sir Henry Bagnal the Marshal of Ireland, had his
head-quarters at Newry, where his property had been principally acquired
by deeds of blood, and he wished for a share of the spoil. A charge of
treason was made against MacMahon after the cows had been accepted; a
jury of common soldiers was empannelled to try the case. A few were
Irish, and they were locked up without food until they agreed to give
the required verdict of guilty, while the English jurors were permitted
to go in and out as they pleased. The unfortunate chieftain was hanged,
in two days after his arrest, at his own door; his property was divided
amongst those whom we must call his murderers. The MacMahon sept were,
however, permitted to retain a portion on payment of a "good fine,
underhand," to the Lord Deputy.[450]
In 1590, Hugh of the Fetters, an illegitimate son of the famous Shane
O'Neill, was hanged by the Earl of Tyrone, for having made false charges
against him to the Lord Deputy. This exercise of authority excited
considerable fear, and the Earl was obliged to clear himself of blame
before Elizabeth. After a brief detention in London, he was permitted to
return to Ireland, but not until he had signed certain articles in the
English interest, which he observed precisely as long as it suited his
convenience. About this time his nephew, Hugh O'Donnell, made an
ineffectual attempt to escape from Dublin Castle, but he was recaptured,
and more closely guarded. This again attracted the attention of
Government to the family; but a more important event was about to
follow. O'Neill's wife was dead, and the chieftain was captivated by the
beauty of Sir Henry Bagnal's sister. How they contrived to meet and to
plight their vows is not known, though State Papers have sometimes
revealed as romantic particulars. It has been discovered, however, from
that invaluable source of information, that Sir Henry was furious, and
cursed himself and his fate that his "bloude, which had so often been
spilled in reppressinge this rebellious race, should nowe be mingled
with so traitorous a stocke and kindred." He removed the from Newry to
her sister's house, near Dublin, who was the wife of Sir Patrick
Barnwell. The Earl followed Miss Bagnal thither. Her brother-in-law
received him courteously; and while the O'Neill engaged the family in
conversation, a confidential friend rode off with the lady, who was
married to O'Neill immediately after.
But a crisis was approaching; and while this event tended to embitter
the English officials against the Earl, a recurrence of outrages against
the northern chieftains prepared them for revolt. One of their leading
men, O'Rourke, was executed this year (A.D. 1591) in London. He had
taken refuge in Scotland some time before, from those who wished to take
his life, as the easiest method of securing his property, but the Scots
had given him up to the English Government. He was said to be one of the
handsomest and bravest men of his times, and his execution excited
universal pity. The apostate, Miler Magrath, attempted to tamper with
his faith in his last moments, but the chieftain bade him rather to
repent himself and to return to the faith of his fathers.
Hugh O'Donnell made another attempt to escape from confinement at
Christmas, A.D. 1592. He succeeded on this occasion, though his life was
nearly lost in the attempt. Turlough Roe O'Hagan, his father's faithful
friend, was the principal agent in effecting his release. Henry and Art
O'Neill, sons of Shane the Proud, were companions in his flight. They
both fell exhausted on their homeward journey. Art died soon after, from
the effects of fatigue and exposure, and Hugh recovered but slowly. He
continued ill during the remainder of the winter, and was obliged to
have his toes amputated. As soon as he was sufficiently recovered, a
general meeting of his sept was convened, when he was elected to the
chieftaincy, and inaugurated in the usual manner. He then commenced
incursions on the territories occupied by the English; but as the Earl
of Tyrone was anxious to prevent a premature rebellion, he induced the
Lord Deputy to meet him at Dundalk, where he obtained a full pardon for
his escape from Dublin Castle, and a temporary pacification was
arranged.
In 1593 he collected another army; Turlough Luineach resigned his
chieftaincy to the Earl of Tyrone; and Ulster became wholly the
possession of its old chieftains--the O'Neill and O'Donnell. An open
rebellion broke out soon after, in consequence of the exactions of two
English officers on the territories of Oge O'Rourke and Maguire. Several
trifling engagements took place. The Earl of Tyrone was placed in a
difficult position. He was obliged to join the English side, while his
heart and inclination were with his own people; but he contrived to send
a messenger to Hugh Roe, who had joined Maguire's party, requesting him
not to fight against him. He was placed in a still greater difficulty at
the siege of Enniskillen, which took place the following year; but he
compromised matters by sending his brother, Cormac O'Neill, with a
contingent, to fight on the national side. Cormac met the English
soldiers, who had been sent to throw provisions into the town, almost
five miles from their destination, and routed them with great slaughter.
The site of the engagement was called the "Ford of the Biscuits," from
the quantity of that provision which he obtained there. An Irish
garrison was left at Enniskillen, and the victorious party, after
retaliating the cruelties which had been inflicted on the natives,
marched into northern Connaught to attack Sir Richard Bingham.
On the 11th of August, in this year, 1594, Sir William Russell was
appointed Deputy in place of FitzWilliam. Tyrone appeared at the Castle
soon after, and complained of the suspicions which were entertained of
his loyalty, not, it is to be supposed, without a very clear personal
conviction that they were well founded. The Viceroy would have received
him favourably, but his old enemy, Bagnal, charged him with high
treason. O'Neill's object was to gain time. He was unwilling to revolt
openly, till he could do so with some prospect of success; and if his
discretion was somewhat in advance of the average amount of that
qualification as manifested by Irish chieftains hitherto, his valour
redeemed him from all possible imputation of having made it an excuse
for cowardice, or any conciliation with the "English enemy," which was
not warranted by motives of prudence.
Tyrone now offered to clear himself by the ordeal of single combat with
his adversary, but Bagnal declined the offer. The following year (A.D.
1595), the new Deputy took O'Byrne's Castle, at Glenmalure. One of the
Kildare Geraldines revenged the injuries done to this chieftain, by
making nocturnal attacks in the neighbourhood of Dublin; but he was soon
captured, and hanged in Dublin. These and similar outrages excited
popular feeling to an unwonted degree; but there were other wrongs
besides the robberies of chieftains' estates, and their subsequent
murder if they resisted oppression. The men whose lives the Irish nation
have always held even more sacred than those of their most ancient
chiefs, were daily slaughtered before their eyes, and the slaughter was
perpetrated with cruelties which were so utterly uncalled-for, so
barbarously inhuman, that they might well have excited the burning
indignation of a heathen or a Turk.
These men were the priests of the old faith which the Irish had received
so many hundred years before, and which neither death nor torments could
induce them to forsake. I shall mention but two of these outrages,
premising that there were few places in Ireland where similar scenes had
not been enacted. In the year 1588 three Franciscan fathers were
martyred, who had devoted themselves for some years previously to the
spiritual necessities of the people. Many Catholic families from Carlow,
Wexford, and Wicklow had been obliged to fly into the mountainous
districts of Leinster, to escape further persecution. The three fathers,
John Molloy, Cornelius Dogherty, and Wilfred Ferral, were unwearied in
their ministrations. They spoke to these poor creatures of the true
Home, where all their sufferings should be rewarded with eternal joy--of
how wise it was to exchange the passing things of time for the enduring
goods of eternity; they visited the sick, they consoled the dying; above
all, they administered those life-giving sacraments so precious to the
Catholic Christian; and if, like the holy martyrs, persecuted by heathen
emperors, they were obliged to offer the adorable sacrifice on a rock or
in a poor hut, it was none the less acceptable to God, and none the less
efficacious to the worshippers. These shepherds of the flock were
specially obnoxious to the Government. They preached patience, but they
were accused of preaching rebellion; they confirmed their people in
their faith, but this was supposed to be equivalent to exciting them to
resist their oppressors. The three fathers were at last seized by a
party of cavalry, in a remote district of the Queen's county. They were
tied hand and foot, and conducted with every species of ignominy to the
garrison of Abbeyleix. Here they were first flogged, then racked, and
finally hanged[451], drawn, and quartered. The soldiers, brutalized as
man can be brutalized by familiarity with scenes of blood, scoffed at
the agonies they inflicted, and hardened themselves for fresh
barbarities. But there were men who stood by to weep and pray; and
though they were obliged to conceal their tears, and to breathe their
prayers softly into the eternal and ever-open ear of God, the lash which
mangled the bodies of the men they revered lacerated their souls yet
more deeply; and as they told to others the tale of patient suffering
endured for Christ and His Church, the hearts of the people were bound
yet closer to their faithful pastors, and they clung yet more ardently
to the religion which produced such glorious examples.
The other execution is, if possible, more barbarous. If the duty of an
historian did not oblige me to give such details, I would but too gladly
spare you the pain of reading and myself the pain of writing them. The
name of Dermod O'Hurley has ever stood prominent in the roll of Irish
martyrs. He was a man of more than ordinary learning, and of refined and
cultivated tastes; but he renounced even the pure pleasures of
intellectual enjoyments for the poor of Christ, and received for his
reward the martyr's crown. After he had taught philosophy in Louvain and
rhetoric at Rheims, he went to Rome, where his merit soon attracted the
attention of Gregory XIII., who appointed him to the see of Cashel.
O'Sullivan describes his personal appearance as noble and imposing, and
says that "none more mild had ever held the crozier of St. Cormac." His
position was not an enviable one to flesh and blood; but to one who had
renounced all worldly ties, and who only desired to suffer like his
Lord, it was full of promise. His mission was soon discovered; and
though he complied with the apostolic precept of flying, when he was
persecuted, from one city to another, he was at last captured, and then
the long-desired moment had arrived when he could openly announce his
mission and his faith.
When he had informed his persecutors that he was a priest and an
archbishop, they at once consigned him to "a dark and loathsome prison,
and kept him there bound in chains till the Holy Thursday of the
following year (1584)." He was then summoned before the Protestant
Archbishop Loftus and Wallop. They tempted him with promises of pardon,
honour, and preferment; they reasoned with him, and urged all the usual
arguments of heretics against his faith; but when all had failed, they
declared their determination to use "other means to change his purpose."
They did use them-they failed. But these were the means: the Archbishop
was again heavily ironed. He was remanded to prison. His persecutors
hastened after him; and on the evening of Thursday, May 5, 1584, they
commenced their cruel work. They tied him firmly to a tree, as his Lord
had once been tied. His hands were bound, his body chained, and then his
feet and legs were thrust into long boots, filled with oil, turpentine,
and pitch, and stretched upon an iron grate, under which a slow fire was
kindled. The spectacle which was exhibited when the instruments of
torture were withdrawn has been described, but I cannot write the
description. What sufferings he must have endured during that long
night, no words could tell. Again he was tempted with the offer of
earthly honours, and threatened with the vengeance of prolonged
tortures. Through all his agony he uttered no word of complaint, and his
countenance preserved its usual serene and tranquil expression. His
sister was sent to him, as a last resource, to tempt him to apostatize,
but he only bade her ask God's forgiveness for the crime she had
committed. Meanwhile, the cruelties which had been executed on him
became known; public feeling, as far as it was Catholic, was excited;
and it was determined to get rid of the sufferer quietly. At early dawn
of Friday, May 6, 1584, he was carried out to the place now called
Stephen's-green, where what remained of human life was quickly
extinguished, first by putting him again to torture, and then by
hanging.
O'Neill had hitherto acted merely on the defensive; but the memory of
the events just related was still fresh in the minds of thousands, and
it was generally felt that some effort must be made for freedom of
conscience, if not for deliverance from political oppression. A
conference was held at Dundalk. Wallop, the Treasurer, whose name has
been so recently recorded in connexion with the torture of the
Archbishop, and Gardiner, the Chief Justice, received the
representatives of the northern chieftains, but no important results
followed.
In 1598 another conference was held, the intervening years having been
spent in mutual hostilities, in which, on the whole, the Irish had the
advantage. O'Neill's tone was proud and independent; he expected
assistance from Spain, and he scorned to accept a pardon for what he did
not consider a crime. The Government was placed in a difficult position.
The prestige of O'Neill and O'Donnell was becoming every day greater. On
the 7th of June, 1598, the Earl laid siege to the fort of the
Blackwater, then commanded by Captain Williams, and strongly fortified.
Reinforcements were sent to the besieged from England, but they were
attacked _en route_ by the Irish, and lost 400 men at Dungannon. At last
the Earl of Ormonde and Bagnal determined to take up arms--the former
marching against the Leinster insurgents; the latter, probably but too
willing, set out to encounter his old enemy and brother-in-law. He
commanded a fine body of men, and had but little doubt on which side
victory should declare itself.
The contingent set out for Armagh on the 14th of August, and soon
reached the Yellow Ford, about two miles from that city, where the main
body of the Irish had encamped. They were at once attacked on either
flank by skirmishers from the hostile camp; but the vanguard of the
English army advanced gallantly to the charge, and were soon in
possession of the first entrenchments of the enemy. Although Bagnal's
personal valour is unquestionable, he was a bad tactician. His leading
regiment was cut to pieces before a support could come up; his divisions
were too far apart to assist each other. Bagnal raised the visor of his
helmet for one moment, to judge more effectually of the scene of combat,
and that moment proved his last. A musket ball pierced his forehead, and
he fell lifeless to the ground. Almost at the same moment an ammunition
waggon exploded in his ranks--confusion ensued. O'Neill took advantage
of the panic; he charged boldly; and before one o'clock the rout had
become general.
The English officers and their men fled to Armagh, and shut themselves
up in the Cathedral; but they had left twenty-three officers and 1,700
rank and file dead or dying on the field. "It was a glorious victory for
the rebels," says Camden, "and of special advantage; for thereby they
got both arms and provisions, and Tyrone's name was cried up all over
Ireland." Ormonde thought that the "devil had bewitched Bagnal," to
leave his men unsupported; the Irish annalists thought that Providence
had interfered wonderfully on their behalf.[452] O'Neill retired for a
time to recruit his forces, and to rest his men; and a revolt was
organized under his auspices in Munster, with immense success. O'Donnell
was making rapid strides; but a new Viceroy was on his way to Ireland,
and it was hoped by the royalist party that he would change the aspect
of affairs.
Essex arrived on the 15th of April, 1599. He had an army of 20,000 foot
and 2,000 horse--the most powerful, if not the best equipped force ever
sent into the country. He at once issued a proclamation, offering pardon
to all the insurgents who should submit, and he despatched
reinforcements to the northern garrison towns, and to Wicklow and Naas.
He then marched southward not without encountering a sharp defeat from
Rory O'More. Be attacked the Geraldines, without much success, in Fermoy
and Lismore, having, on the whole, lost more than he had accomplished by
the expedition. An engagement took place between O'Donnell and Sir
Conyers Clifford, in the pass of Balloghboy, on the 16th of August, in
which Conyers was killed, and his army defeated. His body was recognized
by the Irish, towards whom he had always acted honorably, and they
interred the remains of their brave and noble enemy with the respect
which was justly due to him.
Essex wrote to England for more troops, and his enemies were not slow to
represent his incapacity, and to demand his recall: but he had not yet
lost grace with his royal mistress, and his request was granted. The
Viceroy now marched into the northern provinces. When he arrived at the
Lagan, where it bounds Louth and Monaghan, O'Neill appeared on the
opposite hill with his army, and sent the O'Hagan, his faithful friend
and attendant, to demand a conference. The interview took place on the
following day; and O'Neill, with chivalrous courtesy, dashed into the
river on his charger, and there conversed with the English Earl, while
he remained on the opposite bank. It was supposed that the Irish
chieftain had made a favourable impression on Essex, and that he was
disposed to conciliate the Catholics. He was obliged to go to England to
clear himself of these charges; and his subsequent arrest and execution
would excite more sympathy, had he been as amiable in his domestic
relations as he is said to have been in his public life.
Ulster enjoyed a brief period of rest under the government of its native
princes. In 1600 O'Neill proceeded southward, laying waste the lands of
the English settlers, but promoting the restoration of churches and
abbeys, and assisting the clergy and the native Irish in every possible
way. Having lost Hugh Maguire, one of his best warriors, in an
accidental engagement with St. Leger, the President of Munster, he
determined to return to Ulster. A new Viceroy had just arrived in
Ireland, and he attempted to cut off his retreat ineffectually.
O'Neill had now obtained a position of considerable importance, and one
which he appears to have used invariably for the general good. The fame
of his victories[453] had spread throughout the Continent. It was well
known now that the Irish had not accepted Protestant Reformation, and it
appeared as if there was at last some hope of permanent peace in
Ireland.
[Illustration: Interview between Essex and O'Neill]
Sir George Carew was sent over as President of Munster. He has left an
account of his exploits in the _Pacata Hibernia_, which are not much to
the credit of his humanity, but which he was pleased to consider refined
strokes of policy. The English Government not only countenanced his
acts, but gave the example of a similar line of conduct. James, son of
Gerald, Earl of Desmond, who had long been imprisoned in London, was now
sent to Ireland, and a patent, restoring his title and estates, was
forwarded to Carew, with private instructions that it should be used or
not, as might be found expedient. The people flocked with joy to meet
the heir of the ancient house, but their enthusiasm was soon turned into
contempt. He arrived on a Saturday, and on Sunday went to the Protestant
service, for he had been educated in the new religion in London. His
people were amazed; they fell on their knees, and implored him not to
desert the faith of his fathers; but he was ignorant of their language
as well as of their creed. Once this was understood, they showed how
much dearer that was to them than even the old ties of kindred, so
revered in their island; and his return from prayers was hailed by
groans and revilings. The hapless youth was found to be useless to his
employers; he was therefore taken back to London, where he died soon
after of a broken heart.
Attempts were made to assassinate O'Neill in 1601. £2,000 was offered to
any one who would capture him alive; £1,000 was offered for his head;
but none of his own people could be found to play the traitor even for
so high a stake. The "Sugane Earl" was treacherously captured about the
end of August, and was sent to London in chains, with Florence
MacCarthy. But the long-expected aid from Spain had at last arrived. The
fleet conveyed a force of 3,000 infantry, and entered the harbour of
Kinsale on the 23rd of September, under the command of Don Juan
d'Aquila. It would appear as if Spanish expeditions were not destined to
succeed on Irish soil for only part of the expedition arrived safely,
and they had the misfortune to land in the worst situation, and to
arrive after the war had ceased. The northern chieftains set out at once
to meet their allies when informed of their arrival; and O'Donnell, with
characteristic impetuosity, was the first on the road. Carew attempted
to intercept him, but despaired of coming up with "so swift-footed a
general," and left him to pursue his way unmolested.
The Lord Deputy was besieging Kinsale, and Carew joined him there. The
siege was continued through the month of November during which time
fresh reinforcements came from Spain; and on the 21st of December,
O'Neill arrived with all his force. Unfortunately, the Spanish general
had become thoroughly disgusted with the enterprise; and, although the
position of the English was such that the Lord Deputy had serious
thoughts of raising the siege, he insisted on decisive measures; and
O'Neill was obliged to surrender his opinion, which was entirely against
this line of action. A sortie was agreed upon for a certain night; but a
youth in the Irish camp, who had been in the President's service
formerly, warned him of the intended attack. This was sufficient in
itself to cause the disaster which ensued. But there were other
misfortunes. O'Neill and O'Donnell lost their way; and when they reached
the English camp at dawn, found the soldiers under arms, and prepared
for an attack. Their cavalry at once charged, and the new comers in vain
struggled to maintain their ground, and a retreat which they attempted
was turned into a total rout.
A thousand Irish were slain, and the prisoners were hanged without
mercy. The loss on the English side was but trifling. It was a fatal
blow to the Irish cause. Heavy were the hearts and bitter the thoughts
of the brave chieftains on that sad night. O'Neill no longer hoped for
the deliverance of his country; but the more sanguine O'Donnell proposed
to proceed at once to Spain, to explain their position to King Philip.
He left Ireland in a Spanish vessel three days after the battle--if
battle it can be called; and O'Neill marched rapidly back to Ulster with
Rory O'Donnell, to whom Hugh Roe had delegated the chieftaincy of
Tir-Connell.
D'Aquila, whose haughty manners had rendered him very unpopular, now
surrendered to Mountjoy, who received his submission with respect, and
treated his army honorably. According to one account, the Spaniard had
touched some English gold, and had thus been induced to desert the Irish
cause; according to other authorities, he challenged the Lord Deputy to
single combat, and wished them to decide the question at issue. In the
meantime, O'Sullivan Beare contrived to get possession of his own Castle
of Dunboy, by breaking into the wall at the dead of night, while the
Spanish garrison were asleep, and then declaring that he held the
fortress for the King of Spain, to whom he transferred his allegiance.
Don Juan offered to recover it for the English by force of arms; but the
Deputy, whose only anxiety was to get him quietly out of the country,
urged his immediate departure. He left Ireland on the 20th of February;
and the suspicions of his treachery must have had some foundation, for
he was placed under arrest as soon as he arrived in Spain.
The siege of Dunboy is one of the most famous and interesting episodes
in Irish history. The castle was deemed almost impregnable from its
situation; and every argument was used with Sir George Carew to induce
him to desist from attacking it. It was then, indeed--
"Dunboy, the proud, the strong,
The Saxon's hate and trouble long."[454]
But the Lord Deputy had resolved that it should be captured. The Lord
President considered the enterprise would be by no means difficult, for
"he declared that he would plant the ordnance without the losse of a
man; and within seven dayes after the battery was begun, bee master of
all that place."[455] There was considerable delay in the arrival of the
shipping which conveyed the ordnance, and operations did not commence
until the 6th of June. The defence of the castle was intrusted by
O'Sullivan to Richard MacGeoghegan. The chief himself was encamped with
Tyrrell in the interior of the country. The soldiers were tempted, and
the governor was tempted, but neither flinched for an instant from their
duty. The garrison only consisted of 143 fighting men, with a few pieces
of cannon. The besieging army was about 3,000 strong, and they were
amply supplied with ammunition. On the 17th of June, when the castle was
nearly shattered to pieces, its brave defenders offered to surrender if
they were allowed to depart with their arms; but the only reply
vouchsafed was to hang their messenger, and to commence an assault.
The storming party were resisted for an entire day with undaunted
bravery. Their leader was mortally wounded, and Taylor took the command.
The garrison at last retreated into a cellar into which the only access
was a narrow flight of stone steps, and where nine barrels of gunpowder
were stored. Taylor declared he would blow up the place if life were not
promised to those who surrendered. Carew refused, and retired for the
night, after placing a strong guard over the unfortunate men. The
following morning he sent cannon-ball in amongst them, and Taylor was
forced by his companions to yield without conditions. As the English
soldiers descended the steps, the wounded MacGeoghegan staggered towards
the gunpowder with a lighted candle, and was in the act of throwing it
in, when he was seized by Captain Power, and in another moment he was
massacred. Fifty-eight of those who had surrendered were hanged
immediately; a few were reserved to see if they could be induced to
betray their old companions, or to renounce their faith; but as they
"would not endeavour to merit life"[456] they were executed without
mercy. One of these prisoners was a Father Dominic Collins. He was
executed in Youghal, his native town--a most unwise proceeding; for his
fate was sure to excite double sympathy in the place where he was known,
and, consequently, to promote double disaffection.[457] O'Sullivan Beare
assigns the 31st of October as the day of his martyrdom.
The fall of Dunboy was a fatal blow to the national cause. The news soon
reached Spain. Hugh O'Donnell had been warmly received there; but the
burst of grief which his people uttered when they saw him departing from
his native land, was his death-keen, for he did not long survive his
voluntary expatriation. The war might now be considered over--at least,
until the victims recovered courage to fight once more for their own;
but the victims had to be taught how dearly they should pay for each
attempt at national independence. Captain Harvey was sent to Carberry,
"to purge the country of rebels"[458] by martial law. Wilmot was sent to
Kerry, with orders to extirpate whole districts, which arrangement is
called "settling the country," in the official document from which I
quote. On one occasion a number of wounded Irish soldiers were found,
who are described as "hurt and sick men;" they were at massacred, and
this is called putting them out of pain.[459]
Donnell O'Sullivan now found his position hopeless, and commenced his
famous retreat to Leitrim. He set out with about 1,000 people, of whom
only 400 were fighting men; the rest were servants, women, and children.
He fought all the way, and arrived at his destination with only
thirty-five followers.[460]
O'Neill now stood merely on the defensive. The land was devastated by
famine; Docwra, Governor of Derry, had planted garrisons at every
available point; and Mountjoy plundered Ulster. In August he prepared to
attack O'Neill with a large army, and, as he informs Cecil, "by the
grace of God, as near as he could, utterly to waste the country of
Tyrone." O'Neill had now retired to a fastness at the extremity of Lough
Erne, attended by his brother, Cormac Art O'Neill, and MacMahon.
Mountjoy followed him, but could not approach nearer than twelve miles;
he therefore returned to Newry. In describing this march to Cecil, he
says: "O'Hagan protested to us, that between Tullaghoge and Toome there
lay unburied 1,000 dead."
The news of O'Donnell's death had reached Ireland; and his brother
submitted to the Deputy. In 1603 Sir Garret More entered into
negotiations with O'Neill, which ended in his submitting also. The
ceremony took place at Mellifont, on the 31st of March. Queen Elizabeth
had expired, more miserably than many of the victims who had been
executed in her reign, on the 24th of March; but the news was carefully
concealed until O'Neill had made terms with the Viceroy.
Trinity College, Dublin, was founded during this reign. Sir John Perrot
had proposed to convert St. Patrick's Cathedral into an university; but
Loftus, the Protestant Archbishop, would not allow it, because,
according to Leland, "he was particularly interested in the livings of
this church, by leases and estates, which he had procured for himself
and his kinsmen." When the Deputy, whom he cordially hated, had been
withdrawn, he proposed a plan which gave him the credit of the
undertaking without any expenditure on his part. The site he selected
was in what was then called Hogges-green, now College-green; and the
place was the "scite, ambit and presinct"[461] of the Augustinian
Monastery of All Saints, which had been founded by Dermod MacMurrough,
King of Leinster, A.D. 1166. Dr. Loftus, after obtaining this grant, and
such rents as still belonged to the old Catholic monastery, endeavoured
to raise a subscription to supply the further funds still necessary to
complete the work. In this he signally failed; for those to whom he
applied excused themselves on the plea of poverty. Other funds were
therefore sought for, and easily obtained; and the revenues of some
suppressed Catholic houses in Kerry, Mayo, and Ulster, were taken to
endow and erect the Protestant University.
[Illustration: RUIN--BLACKWATER.]
[Illustration: TULLY CASTLE, COUNTY FERMANAGH.]
FOOTNOTES:
[444] _Dr. Saunders_.--He has given a full and most interesting account
of this expedition, in a letter to the Roman court. The original has
been printed by Monsignor Moran, in his _Archbishops_, a work which
every reader should possess.
[445] _Dr. Allen_.--He was a medical man, and was killed in an
engagement immediately after the arrival of the expedition.
[446] _Camp_.--Dr. Saunders' letter, Moran's _Archbishops_, p. 202.
[447] _Official_.--Lord Grey says, in his official despatch to the
Queen, dated "From the camp before Smerwick, November 12, 1580:" "I sent
streighte certeyne gentlemen to see their weapons and armouries laid
down, and to guard the munition and victual, then left, from spoil;
_then put in certeyne bandes, who streighte fell to execution. There
were 600 slayn_." After this exploit, "Grey's faith"--_Graia
fides_--became proverbial even on the Continent. Grey appears to have a
touch of the Puritan (by anticipation) in his composition, for we find
him using very unctuous language about one John Cheeke, who "so wrought
in him God's Spirit, plainlie declairing him a child of His elected;"
and he calls the Pope "a detestable shaveling." Raleigh is said to have
had the execution of this butchery; his friend, Spenser, was "not far
off," according to his own account. He has attempted to excuse his
patron, Lord Grey, but his excuse simply shows that the massacre was
reprobated by all persons not destitute of common humanity.
[448] _Castle._--The Four Masters give a detailed account of this
treachery, taken from the life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, which was written
by one of themselves. A copy of this work, in the handwriting of Edward
O'Reilly, is still preserved in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy.
[449] _Him._--This document was written by Captain Lee, and presented to
the Queen in 1594. It is printed in _Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica_, vol.
ii. p. 91.
[450] _Deputy._--Four Masters, vol. vi. p. 1878. The State Papers
clearly prove the Deputy's guilt.
[451] _Hanged_.--It was usual to hang the Franciscans by their own cord,
or to tie them together with their cords and hurl them from the summit
of a tower or from a high rock into the sea.
[452] _Behalf_.--The Four Masters give copious details of this important
engagement, which O'Donovan has supplemented with copious notes, vol.
vi. pp.2061-2075.
[453] _Victories_.--The victory of the Blackwater was hailed with salvos
of artillery from S. Angelo. The Pope and Philip III. of Spain
corresponded with O'Neill constantly, the one about the affairs of the
Church, the other with generous offers of assistance. At one time the
Emperor sent him 22,000 crowns of gold.
[454] _Long--Dunboy and other Poems_, by T.D. Sullivan, Esq.
[455] _Place--Hibernia Pacata_, vol. ii. p. 559.
[456] _Life.--Hib. Pac_. vol. ii. p. 578.
[457] _Disaffection_.--Dr. Moran quotes a letter from Dublin, written
26th Feb., 1603, which says that he imparted great edification to the
faithful by his constancy, and that the whole city of Cork accompanied
him with its tears.
[458] _Rebels.--_Commission from the Lord Deputy to Harvey.--See the
document _in extenso, Hib, Pac_. vol ii. p. 447.
[459] _Pain.--Hib. Pac_. p. 659.
[460] _Followers_.--The father and mother of the celebrated historian,
O'Sullivan were amongst the number of those who reached Leitrim in
safety. Philip, the author, had been sent to Spain while a boy in 1602,
for his education: the whole family joined him there soon after. Dr.
O'Donovan is not correct in his genealogy. It is well known that the
real representative of the family is Murtough O'Sullivan, Esq., of
Clohina, co. Cork.
[461] _Presinct.--History of the University of Dublin_, by W.B.S.
Taylor. London, 1845.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Accession of King James--Joy of the Irish Catholics--Their
Disappointment--Bishops, Priests, and Laity imprisoned for the
Faith--Paul V. encourages the Catholics to Constancy--Plot to entrap
O'Neill and O'Donnell--Flight of the Earls--Ulster is left to the Mercy
of the English Nation--The Plantation commences--Chichester's
Parliament, and how he obtained Members--Death of James I., and
Accession of Charles--The Hopes of the Catholics are raised again--They
offer a large sum of Money to obtain "Graces"--It is accepted, and the
"Graces" are treacherously refused--The Plantation of Connaught--How
Obedience was enforced and Resistance punished--Conspiracy to seize
Dublin--Sir Phelim O'Neill-Massacre of Island Magee.
[A.D. 1605-1642.]
Great was the joy of the Irish nation when James the First of England
and the Sixth of Scotland ascended the throne. The people supposed him
to be a Catholic in heart, and a prince in feeling. They should have
judged less favourably of one who could see his mother sacrificed
without making one real effort to avert her doom. His weakness,
obstinacy, and duplicity, helped to prepare the way for the terrible
convulsion of English society, whose origin was the great religious
schism, which, by lessening national respect for the altar, undermined
national respect for the throne.
The Irish Catholics, only too ready to rejoice in the faintest gleam of
hope, took possession of their own churches, and hoped they might
practise their religion openly. The Cathedral of Limerick was
re-dedicated by Richard Arthur, the Cathedral of Cork and Cloyne by
Robert Urigh, the Metropolitan Church of Cashel by Thomas Rachtar, the
churches of Wexford by John Coppinger. Dr. White restored himself the
churches of Clonmel, Kilkenny, and Ross, and other clergymen acted in
like manner in other places. But the most open and remarkable
manifestation of devotion to the old faith was in Cork, always famous
for its Catholicity, for the generosity of its people, and their special
devotion to literature and religion. All the Protestant Bibles and
Prayer-books were publicly and solemnly burned, the churches were
hallowed, and Smith says: "They had a person named a Legate from the
Pope [Dr. Moran, who quotes this passage, supposes him to have been a
Vicar-Apostolic], who went about in procession with a cross, and forced
people to reverence it. They buried the dead with the Catholic
ceremonies; and numbers took the sacrament to defend that religion with
their lives and fortunes."[462]
But the Catholics were soon undeceived. King James drank "to the eternal
damnation of the Papists"[463] solemnly at a public dinner, no doubt to
convince the sceptical of his Protestantism; and he divided his time
very equally between persecuting the Puritans and the Catholics, when
not occupied with his pleasures or quarrelling with his Parliament. The
Puritans, however, had the advantage; popular opinion in England was on
their side; they were sufficiently wealthy to emigrate if they pleased:
while the Catholics were not only unpopular, but hated, and utterly
impoverished by repeated fines and exactions.
James' conduct on his accession was sufficiently plain. He was
proclaimed in Dublin on the 28th September, 1605. A part of his
proclamation ran thus: "We hereby make known to our subjects in Ireland,
that no toleration shall ever be granted by us. This we do for the
purpose of cutting off all hope that any other religion shall be
allowed, save that which is consonant to the laws and statutes of this
realm." The penal statutes were renewed, and enforced with increased
severity. Several members of the Corporation and some of the principal
citizens of Dublin were sent to prison; similar outrages on religious
liberty were perpetrated at Waterford, Ross, and Limerick. In some cases
these gentlemen were only asked to attend the Protestant church once,
but they nobly refused to act against their conscience even once, though
it should procure them freedom from imprisonment, or even from death.
The Vicar-Apostolic of Waterford and Lismore wrote a detailed account of
the sufferings of the Irish nation for the faith at this period to
Cardinal Baronius. His letter is dated "Waterford, 1st of May, 1606." He
says: "There is scarcely a spot where Catholics can find a safe retreat.
The impious soldiery, by day and night, pursue the defenceless priests,
and mercilessly persecute them. Up to the present they have only
succeeded in seizing three: one is detained in Dublin prison, another in
Cork, and the third, in my opinion, is the happiest of all triumphing in
heaven with Christ our Lord; for in the excess of the fury of the
soldiery, without any further trial or accusation, having expressed
himself to be a priest, he was hanged upon the spot."
He then narrates the sufferings of the Catholic laity, many of whom he
says are reduced to "extreme poverty and misery;" "if they have any
property, they are doubly persecuted by the avaricious courtiers." But
so many have given a glorious testimony of their faith, he thinks their
enemies and persecutors have gained but little. Thus, while one party
was rejoicing in their temporal gain, the other was rejoicing in
temporal loss; and while the former were preaching liberty of conscience
as their creed, the latter were martyrs to it.
Another letter to Rome says: "2,000 florins are offered for the
discovery of a Jesuit, and 1,000 for the discovery of any other priest,
or even of the house where he lives. Whenever the servants of any of the
clergy are arrested, they are cruelly scourged with whips, until they
disclose all that they know about them. Bodies of soldiers are dispersed
throughout the country in pursuit of bandits and priests; and all that
they seize on, they have the power, by martial law, of hanging without
further trial. They enter private house, and execute whom they please,
vieing with each other in cruelty. It is difficult to define the precise
number of those who are thus put to death. All who are greedy and
spend-thrifts, seek to make a prey of the property of Catholics. No
doors, walls, no enclosures can stop them in their course. Whatever is
for profane use they profess to regard as sacred, and bear it off; and
whatever is sacred they seize on to desecrate. Silver cups are called
chalices, and gems are designated as _Agnus Deis_: and all are,
therefore, carried away. There are already in prison one bishop, one
vicar-general, some religious, very many priests, and an immense number
of the laity of every class and condition. In one city alone five of the
aldermen were thrown into prison successively, for refusing to take the
nefarious oath of allegiance, on their being nominated to the mayoralty;
in another city, no less than thirty were likewise thrust into prison at
Easter last, for having approached the holy communion in the Catholic
Church."
The Catholics protested against this treatment in vain. A petition was
considered an offence, and the petitioners were sent to gaol for their
pains.
In 1611 the Bishop of Down and Connor was executed in Dublin. He had
been seized, in 1587, by Perrot, and thrown into prison. He was released
in 1593, and, according to Dr. Loftus, he took the oath of supremacy.
This statement, however, is utterly incredible, for he devoted himself
to his flock immediately after his release, and continued to administer
the sacraments to them at the risk of his life, until June, 1611, when
he was again arrested in the act of administering the sacrament of
confirmation to a Catholic family. Father O'Luorchain was imprisoned
with him, and they were both sentenced and executed together. At the
trial the Bishop declared that the oath of spiritual supremacy was
impious, and said that his enemies could not thirst more eagerly for his
blood than he himself was desirous to shed it for Christ his Redeemer.
This venerable prelate had attained his eightieth year, but he was full
of the vigour of saintly heroism. When on the scaffold he asked the
executioner to allow him to be the last victim, as he wished to spare
Father O'Luorchain the terrible spectacle of his sufferings. But the
good priest was not behind the Franciscan bishop in his zeal, and he
exclaimed, with a touching grace of courtesy, which the occasion made
sublime, that "it was not fitting for a bishop to be without a priest to
attend him, and he would follow him without fear." And he did follow
him, for the Bishop went first to his crown.
There was great difficulty in procuring any one who would carry out the
sentence. The executioner fled, and could not be found when he learned
on whom he was to do his office. At last an English culprit, under
sentence of death, undertook the bloody work, on a promise that his own
life should be granted as his reward.
Communications with Rome were still as frequent and as intimate as they
had ever been since Ireland received the faith at the hands of the great
Apostle. To be children of Patrick and children of Rome were convertible
terms; and the Holy See watched still more tenderly over this portion of
the Church while it was suffering and persecuted. Paul V. wrote a
special letter to the Irish Catholics, dated from "St. Mark's, 22nd of
September, 1606," in which he mourns over their afflictions, commends
their marvellous constancy, which he says can only be compared to that
of the early Christians, and exhorts them specially to avoid the sin of
attending Protestant places of worship--a compliance to which they were
strongly tempted, when even one such act might procure exemption, for a
time at least, from severe persecution or death.
On another occasion the same Pontiff writes thus: "You glory in that
faith by which your fathers procured for their country the distinguished
appellation of the Island of Saints. Nor have the sufferings which you
have endured been allowed to remain unpublished; your fidelity and
Christian fortitude have become the subject of universal admiration; and
the praise of your name has long since been loudly celebrated in every
portion of the Christian world."[464]
O'Neill and O'Donnell may be justly considered the last of the
independent native chieftains. When the latter died in exile, and the
former accepted the coronet of an English earl, the glories of the olden
days of princes, who held almost regal power, had passed away for ever.
The proud title of "the O'Neill" became extinct; his country was made
shire ground; he accepted patents, and held his broad acres "in fee;"
sheriffs were admitted; judges made circuits; king's commissioners took
careful note of place, person, and property; and such a system of
espionage was established, that Davies boasts, "it was not only known
how people lived and what they do, but it is foreseen what they purpose
and intend to do;" which latter species of clairvoyance seems to have
been largely practised by those who were waiting until all suspicions
were lulled to rest, that they might seize on the property, and imprison
the persons of those whose estates they coveted.
In May, 1603, O'Neill had visited London, in company with Mountjoy and
Rory O'Donnell. The northern chieftains were graciously received; and it
was on this occasion that O'Neill renounced his ancient name for his new
titles. O'Donnell was made Earl of Tyrconnel at the same time. The first
sheriffs appointed for Ulster were Sir Edward Pelham and Sir John
Davies. The latter has left it on record, as his deliberate opinion,
after many years' experience, "that there is no nation of people under
the sun that doth love equal and indifferent justice better than the
Irish, or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof,
_although it be against themselves, so that they may have the protection
and benefits of the law, when, upon just cause, they do desire it."_
A plot was now got up to entrap O'Neill and O'Donnell. Their complicity
in it has long been questioned, though Dr. O'Donovan appears to think
that Moore has almost decided the question against them. Moore's
evidence, however, is hardly complete, while there is unquestionable
authority which favours the opinion that "artful Cecil" was intriguing
to accomplish their destruction. Curry says, in his _Historical Review_:
"The great possessions of these two devoted Irish princes, proved the
cause of their ruin. After the successful issue of the plot-contriving
Cecil's gunpowder adventure in England, he turned his inventive thoughts
towards this country. A plot to implicate the great northern chieftains
was soon set on foot, and finally proved successful. The conspiracy is
thus related by a learned English divine, Dr. Anderson, in his _Royal
Genealogies_, printed in London, 1736: 'Artful Cecil employed one St.
Lawrence to entrap the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, the Lord Delvin,
and other Irish chiefs, into a sham plot, which had no evidence but
his.'"
The next movement was to drop an anonymous letter at the door of the
council-chamber, mentioning a design, as then in contemplation, for
seizing the Castle of Dublin, and murdering the Lord Deputy. No names
were mentioned, but it was publicly stated that Government had
information in their possession which fixed the guilt of the conspiracy
on the Earl of Tyrone. His flight, which took place immediately after,
was naturally considered as an acknowledgment of his guilt. It is more
probable that the expatriation was prompted by his despair.
The Four Masters give a touching account of their departure, and
exclaim: "Woe to the heart that meditated, woe to the mind that
conceived, woe to the council that decided on the project of their
setting out on the voyage!" The exiles left Rathmullen on the 14th of
September, 1607. O'Neill had been with the Lord Deputy shortly before;
and one cannot but suppose that he had then obtained some surmise of
premeditated treachery, for he arranged his flight secretly and swiftly,
pretending that he was about to visit London. O'Neill was accompanied by
his Countess, his three sons, O'Donnell, and other relatives. They first
sailed to Normandy, where an attempt was made by the English Government
to arrest them, but Henry IV. would not give them up. In Rome they were
received as confessors exiled for the faith, and were liberally
supported by the Pope and the King of Spain. They all died in a few
years after their arrival, and their ashes rest in the Franciscan Church
of St. Peter-in-Montorio. Rome was indeed dear to them, but Ireland was
still dearer; and the exiled Celt, whether expatriated through force or
stern necessity, lives only to long for the old home, or dies weeping
for it.
The Red Hand of the O'Neills had hitherto been a powerful protection to
Ulster. The attempts "to plant" there had turned out failures; but now
that the chiefs were removed, the people became an easy prey.
O'Dogherty, Chief of Innishowen, was insulted by Sir George Paulett, in
a manner which no gentleman could be expected to bear without calling
his insulter to account; and the young chieftain took fearful vengeance
for the rude blow which he had received from the English sheriff. He got
into Culmore Fort at night by stratagem, and then marched to Derry,
killed Paulett, massacred the garrison, and burned the town. Some other
chieftains joined him, and kept up the war until July; when O'Dogherty
was killed, and his companions-in-arms imprisoned. Sir Arthur Chichester
received his property in return for his suggestions for the plantation
of Ulster, of which we must now make brief mention.
There can be little doubt, from Sir Henry Docwra's own account, that
O'Dogherty was purposely insulted, and goaded into rebellion. He was the
last obstacle to the grand scheme, and he was disposed of. Ulster was
now at the mercy of those who chose to accept grants of land; and the
grants were made to the highest bidders, or to those who had paid for
the favour by previous services. Sir Arthur Chichester evidently
considered that he belonged to the latter class, for we find him
writing[465] at considerable length to the Earl of Northampton, then a
ruling member of King James' cabinet, to request that he may be
appointed President of Ulster. He commences his epistle by stating how
deeply he is indebted to his Lordship for his comfortable and kind
letters, and the praise he has given him in public and private. He then
bestows an abundant meed of commendation on his justice in return. He
next explains his hopes and desires. He declares that he wishes for the
Presidency of Ulster, "more for the service he might there do his
Majesty, than for the profit he expects,"--a statement which the Earl no
doubt read exactly as it was intended; and he says that he only mentions
his case because "charitie beginnes with myeselfe," which, indeed,
appears to have been the view of that virtue generally taken by all
planters and adventurers. He concludes with delicately informing his
correspondent, that if he can advance any friend of his in any way he
will be most happy to do so. This letter is dated from the "Castle of
Dublin, 7th of February, 1607." The date should read, according to the
change of style, 1608. The Lord Deputy knew well what he was asking for.
During the summer of the preceding year, he had made a careful journey
through Ulster, with John Davies; and Carte has well observed, that
"nobody knew the territories better to be planted;" and he might have
added, that few persons had a clearer eye to their own advantage in the
arrangements he made.
[Illustration: CASTLE MONEA, CO. FERMANAGH.]
The plan of the plantation was agreed upon in 1609. It was the old plan
which had been attempted before, though with less show of legal
arrangement, but with quite the same proportion of legal iniquity. The
simple object was to expel the natives, and to extirpate the Catholic
religion. The six counties to be planted were Tyrone, Derry, Donegal,
Armagh, Fermanagh, and Cavan. These were parcelled out into portions
varying from 2,000 to 4,000 acres, and the planters were obliged to
build bawns and castles, such as that of Castle Monea, county Fermanagh,
of which we subjoin an illustration. Tully Castle[466] was built by Sir
John Hume, on his plantation. Both these castles afford good examples of
the structures erected at this period. The great desiderata were
proximity to water and rising ground--the beauty of the surrounding
scenery, which was superadded at least at Tully Castle, was probably but
little valued.
Chichester now proposed to call a Parliament. The plantation of Ulster
had removed some difficulties in the way of its accomplishment. The
Protestant University of Dublin had obtained 3,000 acres there, and
400,000 acres of tillage land had been partitioned out between English
and Scotch proprietors. It was expressly stipulated that their tenants
should be English or Scotch, and Protestants; the Catholic owners of the
land were, in some cases, as a special favour, permitted to remain, if
they took the oath of supremacy, if they worked well for their masters,
and if they paid double the rent fixed for the others. Sixty thousand
acres in Dublin and Waterford, and 385,000 acres in Westmeath, Longford,
King's county, Queen's county, and Leitrim, had been portioned out in a
similar manner. A Presbyterian minister, whose father was one of the
planters, thus describes the men who came to establish English rule, and
root out Popery: "From Scotland came many, and from England not a few;
yet all of them generally the scum of both nations, who, from debt, or
making and fleeing from justice, or seeking shelter, came hither, hoping
to be without fear of man s justice, in a land where there was nothing
or but little as yet of the fear of God.... Most of the people were all
void of godliness.... On all hands atheism increased, and disregard of
God; iniquity abounds, with contention, fighting, murder and
adultery."[467]
It was with such persons as these the lower house was filled. The upper
house was composed of the Protestant bishops and English aristocracy,
who were of course unanimous in their views. Chichester obtained ample
powers to arrange the lower house. Forty new boroughs were formed, many
of them consisting merely of a few scattered houses; some of them were
not incorporated until after the writs were issued. The Catholics were
taken by surprise as no notice had been given, either of the Parliament
or the laws intended to be enacted. Six Catholic lords of the Pale
remonstrated with the King, but he treated them with the utmost
contempt. The house assembled; there was a struggle for the Speaker's
chair. The Catholic party proposed Sir John Everard, who had just
resigned his position as Justice of the King's Bench sooner than take
the oath of supremacy; the court party insisted on having Sir John
Davies. The Catholics protested, and sent a deputation to James, who
first lectured[468] them to show his learning, and them imprisoned them
to show his power. Some kind of compromise was eventually effected. A
severe penal law was withdrawn; a large subsidy was voted. In truth, the
Irish party acted boldly, considering their peculiar circumstances, for
one and all refused to enter the old cathedral, which their forefathers
had erected, when Protestant service was read therein on the day of the
opening of Parliament; and even Lord Barry retired when he laid the
sword of state before the Lord Deputy. We may excuse them for submitting
to the attainder of O'Neill and O'Donnell, for there were few national
members who had not withdrawn before the vote was passed.
Chichester retired from the government of Ireland in 1616. In 1617 a
proclamation was issued for the expulsion of the Catholic clergy, and
the city of Waterford was deprived of its charter in consequence of the
spirited opposition which its corporation offered to the oath of
spiritual supremacy. In 1622 Viscount Falkland came over as Lord Deputy,
and Usher, who was at heart a Puritan,[469] preached a violent sermon on
the occasion, in which he suggested a very literal application of his
text, "He beareth not the sword in vain." If a similar application of
the text had been made by a Catholic divine, it would have been called
intolerance, persecution, and a hint that the Inquisition was at hand;
as used by him, it was supposed to mean putting down Popery by the
sword.
James I. died on the 27th March, 1625, and left his successor no very
pleasant prospects in any part of his kingdom. He was pronounced by
Sully to be "the wisest fool in Europe;" Henry IV. styled him "Captain
of Arts and Clerk of Arms;" and a favourite epigram of the age is thus
translated:--
"When Elizabeth was England's King,
That dreadful name thro' Spain did ring
How altered is the case, ah sa' me!
The juggling days of good Queen Jamie."
On the accession of Charles I., in 1625, it was so generally supposed he
would favour the Catholic cause, that the earliest act of the new
Parliament in London was to vote a petition, begging the King to enforce
the laws against recusants and Popish priests. The Viceroy, Lord
Falkland, advised the Irish Catholics to propitiate him with a voluntary
subsidy. They offered the enormous sum of £120,000, to be paid in three
annual instalments, and in return he promised them certain "graces." The
contract was ratified by royal proclamation, in which the concessions
were accompanied by a promise that a Parliament should be held to
confirm them. The first instalment of the money was paid, and the Irish
agents returned home to find themselves cruelly deceived and basely
cheated. Falkland was recalled by the Puritan party, on suspicion of
favouring the Catholics; Viscount Ely and the Earl of Cork were
appointed Lords Justices; and a reign of terror was at once commenced.
The Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Bulkely, was foremost in
commencing the persecution. He marched, with the Mayor and a file of
soldiers, to the Franciscan[470] church in Cook-street, on St. Stephen's
Day, 1629, dispersed the congregation, seized the friars profaned the
church, and broke the statue of St. Francis. The friars were rescued by
the people, and the Archbishop had "to take to his heels and cry out for
help," to save himself. Eventually the Franciscans established their
novitiates on the Continent, but still continued their devoted
ministrations to the people, at the risk of life and liberty. Their
house in Cook-street was pulled down by royal order, and three other
chapels and a Catholic seminary were seized and converted to the King's
use. Wentworth assembled a Parliament in July, 1634, the year after his
arrival in Ireland. Its subserviency was provided for by having a number
of persons elected who were in the pay of the crown as military
officers. The "graces" were asked for, and the Lord Deputy declared they
should be granted, if the supply was readily voted. "Surely," he said,
"so great a meanness cannot enter your hearts as once to suspect his
Majesty's gracious regards of you, and performance with you, when you
affix yourself upon his grace." This speech so took the hearts of the
people, that all were ready to grant all that might be demanded; and six
subsidies of £50,000 each were voted, though Wentworth only expected
£30,000. In the meanwhile neither Wentworth nor the King had the
slightest idea of granting the "graces" and the atrocious duplicity and
incomparable "meanness" of the King is placed eternally on record, in
his own letter to his favourite, in which he thanks him "for keeping off
the envy [odium] of a necessary negative from me, of those unreasonable
graces that people expected from me."[471] Wentworth describes himself
how two judges and Sir John Radcliffe assisted him in the plan, and how
a positive refusal was made to recommend the passing of the "graces"
into law at the next session.
"Charles' faith" might now safely rank with Grey's; and the poor
impoverished Irishman, who would willingly have given his last penny, as
well as the last drop of his blood, to save his faith, was again cruelly
betrayed where he most certainly might have expected that he could have
confided and trusted. One of the "graces" was to make sixty years of
undisputed possession of property a bar to the claims of the crown; and
certainly if there ever a country where such a demand was necessary and
reasonable, it was surely Ireland. There had been so many plantations,
it was hard for anything to grow; and so many settlements, it was hard
for anything to be settled. Each new monarch, since the first invasion
of the country by Henry II., had his favourites to provide for and his
friends to oblige. The island across the sea was considered "no man's
land," as the original inhabitants were never taken into account, and
were simply ignored, unless, indeed, when they made their presence very
evident by open resistance to this wholesale robbery. It was no wonder,
then, that this "grace" should be specially solicited. It was one in
which the last English settler in Ulster had quite as great an interest
as the oldest Celt in Connemara. The Burkes and the Geraldines had
suffered almost as much from the rapacity of their own countrymen as the
natives, on whom their ancestors had inflicted such cruel wrongs. No
man's property was safe in Ireland, for the tenure was depending on the
royal will; and the caprices of the Tudors were supplemented by the
necessities of the Stuarts.
But the "grace" was refused, although, probably, there was many a recent
colonist who would have willingly given one-half of his plantation to
have secured the other to his descendants. The reason of the refusal was
soon apparent. As soon as Parliament was dissolved, a Commission of
"Defective Titles" was issued for Connaught. Ulster had been settled,
Leinster had been settled, Munster had been settled; there remained only
Connaught, hitherto so inaccessible, now, with advancing knowledge of
the art of war, and new means of carrying out that art, doomed to the
scourge of desolation.
The process was extremely simple. The lawyers were set to work to hunt
out old claims for the crown; and as Wentworth had determined to
invalidate the title to every estate in Connaught, they had abundant
occupation. Roscommon was selected for a commencement. The sheriffs were
directed to select jurors who would find for the crown. The jurors were
made clearly to understand what was expected from them, and what the
consequences would be if they were "contumacious." The object of the
crown was, of course, the general good of the country. The people of
Connaught were to be civilized and enriched; but, in order to carry out
this very desirable arrangement, the present proprietors were to be
replaced by new landlords, and the country was to be placed entirely at
the disposal of the Sovereign.[472]
It was now discovered that the lands and lordships of De Burgo, adjacent
to the Castle of Athlone, and, in fact, the whole remaining province,
belonged to the crown. It would be useless here to give details of the
special pleading on which this statement was founded; it is an
illustration of what I have observed before, that the tenure of the
English settler was quite as uncertain as the tenure of the Celt. The
jury found for the King; and as a reward, the foreman, Sir Lucas Dillon,
was graciously permitted to retain a portion of his own lands. Lowther,
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, got four shillings in the pound of
the first year's rent raised under the Commission of "Defective Titles."
The juries of Mayo and Sligo were equally complacent; but there was
stern resistance made in Galway, and stern reprisals were made for the
resistance. The jurors were fined £4,000 each and were imprisoned, and
their estates seized until that sum was paid. The sheriff was fined
£1,000, and, being unable to pay that sum, he died in prison. And all
this was done with the full knowledge and the entire sanction of the
"royal martyr."
The country was discontented, and the Lord Deputy demanded more troops,
"until the intended plantation should be settled." He could not see why
the people should object to what was so very much for their own good,
and never allowed himself to think that the disturbance had anything to
do with the land question. The new proprietors were of the same opinion.
Those who were or who feared to be dispossessed, and those who felt that
their homes, whether humble or noble, could not be called their own,
felt differently; but their opinion was as little regarded as their
sufferings.
The Earl of Ormonde's property was next attacked, but he made a prudent
compromise, and his party was too powerful to permit of its refusal. A
Court of Wards was also established about this time, for the purpose of
having all heirs to estates brought up in the Protestant religion; and a
High Commission Court was instituted, which rivalled the exactions of
the Star Chamber in England.
In 1640 another appeal was made by the King for assistance, and
Wentworth headed the contribution with £20,000. He had devoted himself
with considerable ability to increasing the Irish revenue and the trade
of the country had improved, although the Irish woollen manufacture had
been completely crushed, as it threatened to interfere with English
commerce. The Lord Deputy now saw the advantage of procuring a standing
army in Ireland, and he proceeded to embody a force of 10,000 foot and
1,000 horse. These men were principally Irish and Catholics, as he knew
they would be most likely to stand by the King in an hour of trial,
notwithstanding the cruel persecutions to which they had been subjected.
But the Deputy's own career was nearer its termination than he had
anticipated. When he forsook the popular side in England, Pym had
remarked significantly: "Though you have left us, I will not leave you
while your head is on your shoulders." The Puritan faction never lost
sight of a quarry when once they had it in sight, and it scarcely needed
Stafford's haughtiness and devotion to the King to seal his doom. The
unhappy King was compelled to sign his death-warrant; and the victim was
executed on the 12th of May, 1641, redeeming in some manner, by the
nobleness of his death, the cruelties, injustices, and duplicity of
which he had been guilty during his life.
The kingdom of England was never in a more critical state than at this
period. The King was such only in name, and the ruling powers were the
Puritan party, who already looked to Cromwell as their head. The
resistance, which had begun in opposition to tyrannical enactments, and
to the arbitrary exercise of authority by the King and his High Church
prelates, was fast merging into, what it soon became, an open revolt
against the crown, and all religion which did not square with the very
peculiar and ill-defined tenets of the rebellious party. In 1641 the
Queen's confessor was sent to the Tower, and a resolution was passed by
both houses never to consent to the toleration of the Catholic worship
in Ireland, or in any other part of his Majesty's dominions. The country
party had determined to possess themselves of the command of the army;
and whatever struggles the King might make, to secure the only support
of his throne, it was clear that the question was to be decided in their
favour. The conduct of Holles, Pym, Hampden, and Stroud was well known
even in Ireland; and in Ireland fearful apprehensions were entertained
that still more cruel sufferings were preparing for that unfortunate
country.
An insurrection was organized, and its main supports were some of the
best and bravest of the old race, who had been driven by political and
religious persecution to other lands, where their bravery had made them
respected, and their honorable dealings had made them esteemed. Spain
had received a considerable number of these exiles. In June, 1635, an
Irish regiment in the Spanish service, commanded by Colonel Preston, had
immortalized themselves by their heroic defence of Louvain. Wherever
they went they were faithful to the sovereign under whom they served;
and French and Spanish generals marvelled how the English nation could
be so infatuated as to drive their noblest and bravest officers and men
into foreign service. An important official document still exists in the
State Paper Office, which was prepared by a Government spy, and which
details the names, rank, and qualifications of many of these gentlemen.
They were serving in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, and the Low
Countries. Don Richard Burke--strange that the first on the list of
Irish exiles should be of Anglo-Norman descent--was Governor of Leghorn,
and had seen great service in Italy and in the West Indies; "Phellemy
O'Neill, nephew to old Tyrone," lived with great respect in Milan. There
were one hundred able to command companies, and twenty fit to be made
colonels under the Archduchess alone. The list of the names would fill
several pages, and those, it should be remembered, were leading men.
There were, besides, to be considered, an immense number of Irish of the
lower classes, who had accompanied their chiefs abroad, and served in
their regiments. The report says: "They have long been providing of arms
for any attempt against Ireland, and had in readiness five or six
thousand arms laid up in Antwerp for that purpose, _bought out of the
deduction of their monthly pay, as will be proved; and it is thought now
they have doubled that proportion by those means_."[473]
The reason of the increased sacrifice they made for their country, was
probably the report that the moment was at hand when it might be
available. The movement in Ireland was commenced by Roger O'More, a
member of the ancient family of that name, who had been so unjustly
expelled from their ancestral home in Leix; by Lord Maguire, who had
been deprived of nearly all his ancient patrimony at Fermanagh, and his
brother Roger; by Sir Phelim O'Neill of Kinnare, the elder branch of
whose family had been expatriated; by Turlough O'Neill, his brother, and
by several other gentlemen similarly situated. O'More was the chief
promoter of the projected insurrection. He was eminently suited to
become a popular leader for he was a man of great courage, fascinating
address, and imbued with all the high honour of the old Celtic race. In
May, 1641, Nial O'Neill arrived in Ireland with a promise of assistance
from Cardinal Richelieu; and the confederates arranged that the rising
should take place a few days before or after All Hallows, according to
circumstances. In the meanwhile the exiled Earl of Tyrone was killed;
but his successor, Colonel Owen Roe O'Neill, then serving in Flanders,
entered warmly into all their plans.
The King was now obliged to disband his Irish forces, and their
commanders were sent orders for that purpose. They had instructions,
however, to keep the men at home and together, so that they might easily
be collected again if they could be made available, as, strange to say,
the so-called "Irish rebels" were the only real hope which Charles had
to rely on in his conflict with his disloyal English subjects. An
understanding was soon entered into between these officers and the Irish
party. They agreed to act in concert; and one of the former, Colonel
Plunket, suggested the seizure of Dublin Castle. The 23rd of October was
fixed on for the enterprise; but, though attempted, the attempt was
frustrated by a betrayal of the plot, in consequence of an indiscretion
of one of the leaders.
The rage of the Protestant party knew no limits. The Castle was put in a
state of defence, troops were ordered in all directions, and
proclamations were issued. In the meantime the conspirators at a
distance had succeeded better, but unfortunately they were not aware of
the failure in Dublin until it was too late. Sir Phelim O'Neill was at
the head of 30,000 men. He issued a proclamation, stating that he
intended "no hurt to the King, or hurt of any of his subjects, English
or Scotch;" but that his only object was the defence of Irish liberty.
He added that whatever hurt was done any one, should be personally
repaired. This proclamation was from "Dungannon, the 23rd of October,
1641," and signed "PHELIM O'NEILL."
A few days after he produced a commission, which he pretended he had
received from the King, authorizing his proceedings; but he amply atoned
for this _ruse de guerre_ afterwards, by declaring openly and honorably
that the document was forged. The Irish were treated with barbarous
severity, especially by Sir Charles Coote; while they were most careful
to avoid any bloodshed, except what was justifiable and unavoidable in
war. Dr. Bedell, the good and gentle Protestant Bishop of Kilmore, and
all his people, were protected; and he drew up a remonstrance, from the
tenor of which he appears to have given some sanction to the proceedings
of the northern chieftains. The massacre of Island Magee took place
about this period; and though the exact date is disputed, and the exact
number of victims has been questioned, it cannot be disproved that the
English and Scotch settlers at Carrickfergus sallied forth at night, and
murdered a number of defenceless men, women, and children. That there
was no regular or indiscriminate massacre of Protestants by the
Catholics at this period, appears to be proved beyond question by the
fact, that no mention of such an outrage was made in any of the letters
of the Lords Justices to the Privy Council. It is probable, however,
that the Catholics did rise up in different places, to attack those by
whom they had been so severely and cruelly oppressed; and although there
was no concerted plan of massacre, many victims, who may have been
personally innocent, paid the penalty of the guilty. In such evidence as
is still on record, ghost stories predominate; and even the Puritans
seem to have believed the wildest tales of the apparition of
Protestants, who demanded the immolation of the Catholics who had
murdered them.
[Illustration: ANCIENT DRINKING VESSEL OR METHER, FROM THE COLLECTION OF
THE R.I.A.]
[Illustration: TABLE AND CHAIR USED AT THE CONFEDERATION OF KILKENNY.]
FOOTNOTES:
[462] _Fortunes._--Smith's _History of Kerry_, vol. ii. p. 97.
[463] _Papists._--Oliver's _Collections_, quoted by Dr. Moran, p. 250.
[464] _World._--Dr. Rothe, quoted by Monsignor Moran, p. 251.
[465] _Writing_.--The original is in the Cot. Col. British Museum.
[466] _Tully Castle_.--See heading of this chapter.
[467] _Adultery_.--MS. History, by Rev. A. Stuart, quoted in Reid's
_History of the Presbyterian Church_, vol. i. p. 96.
[468] _Lectured_. The address of the Irish party to James is given in
O'Sullivan Beare's _History_, p. 316, and also the King's reply, p. 323.
A collection made throughout Ireland to defray the expenses of the
delegates.
[469] _Puritan_--Plowden's _History of Ireland_, vol. i. p. 338. "By his
management and contrivance, he provided the whole doctrine of Calvin to
be received as the public belief of the Protestant Church of Ireland,
and ratified by Chichester in the King's name." Chichester himself was a
thorough Puritan, and a disciple of Cartwright, who used to pray, "O
Lord, give us grace and power as one man to set ourselves against them"
(the bishops).
[470] _Franciscan_.--An account of the sufferings of the Franciscans
will be found in _St. Francis and the Franciscans_. The Poor Clares, who
are the Second Order of St. Francis, were refounded and established in
Ireland, by Sir John Dillon's sister, about this time, and suffered
severe persecutions. Miss Dillon, the Abbess, was brought before the
Lord Deputy; but her quiet dignity made such impression on the court,
that she was dismissed without molestation for the time.
[471] _From me_.--Stafford's State Letters, vol. i. p. 331.
[472] _Sovereign_.--Strafford's Letters, vol. ii. p. 241.
[473] _Means._--This curious document was first published in the
_Nation_ of February 5th, 1859.
CHAPTER XXIX.
English Adventurers speculate on Irish Disaffection--Coote's
Cruelties--Meeting of Irish Noblemen and Gentlemen--Discontent of the
People--The Catholic Priests try to save Protestants from their fury--A
National Synod to deliberate on the State of Irish Affairs--The General
Assembly is convened at Kilkenny--A Mint is established--A
Printing-Press set up--Relations are entered into with Foreign States,
and a Method of Government is organized--Differences of Opinion between
the Old Irish and Anglo-Irish--A Year's Treaty is made--Arrival of
Rinuccini--He lands at Kenmare--His Account of the Irish People--His
Reception at Kilkenny--His Opinion of the State of Affairs--Divisions of
the Confederates--Ormonde's Intrigues--The Battle of Benburb--Divisions
and Discord in Camp and Senate--A Treaty signed and published by the
Representatives of the English King--Rinuccini returns to Italy.
[A.D. 1642-1649.]
O'Neill now took the title of "Lord-General of the Catholic army in
Ulster." A proclamation was issued by the Irish Government, declaring he
had received no authority from the King; and the ruling powers were
often heard to say, "that the more were in rebellion, the more lands
should be forfeited to them."[474] A company of adventurers were already
formed in London on speculation, and a rich harvest was anticipated.
Several engagements took place, in which the insurgents were on the
whole successful. It was now confidently stated that a general massacre
of the Catholics was intended; and, indeed, the conduct of those engaged
in putting down the rising, was very suggestive of such a purpose. In
Wicklow, Sir Charles Coote put many innocent persons to the sword,
without distinction of age or sex. On one occasion, when he met a
soldier carrying an infant on the point of his pike, he was charged with
saying that "he liked such frolics."[475] Carte admits that his temper
was rather "sour;" but he relates incidents in his career which should
make one think "barbarous" would be the more appropriate term. The Lords
Justices approved of his proceedings; and Lord Castlehaven gives a
fearful account of the conduct of troops sent out by these gentlemen,
who "killed men, women, and children promiscuously; which procedure," he
says, "not only exasperated the rebels, and _induced them to commit the
like cruelties upon the English_, but frightened the nobility and gentry
about; who, seeing the harmless country people, without respect of age
or sex, thus barbarously murdered, and themselves then openly threatened
as favourers of the rebellion, for paying the contributions they could
not possibly refuse, resolved to stand upon their guard."[476]
Before taking an open step, even in self-defence, the Irish noblemen and
gentlemen sent another address to the King; but their unfortunate
messenger, Sir John Read, was captured, and cruelly racked by the party
in power--their main object being to obtain something from his
confessions which should implicate the King and Queen. Patrick Barnwell,
an aged man, was also racked for a similar purpose. The Lords Justices
now endeavoured to get several gentlemen into their possession, on
pretence of holding a conference. Their design was suspected, and the
intended victims escaped; but they wrote a courteous letter, stating the
ground of their refusal. A meeting of the principal Irish noblemen and
gentlemen was now held on the Hill of Crofty, in Meath. Amongst those
present were the Earl of Fingall, Lords Gormanstown, Slane, Louth,
Dunsany, Trimbleston, and Netterville, Sir Patrick Barnwell and Sir
Christopher Bellew; and of the leading country gentlemen, Barnwell,
Darcy, Bath, Aylmer, Cusack, Malone, Segrave, &c. After they had been a
few hours on the ground, the leaders of the insurgent party came up, and
were accosted by Lord Gormanstown, who inquired why they came armed into
the Pale. O'More replied that they had "taken up arms for the freedom
and liberty of their consciences, the maintenance of his Majesty's
prerogative, in which they understood he was abridged, and the making
the subjects of this kingdom as free as those of England." Lord
Gormanstown answered: "Seeing these be your true ends, we will likewise
join with you therein."
On the 1st of January, 1642, Charles issued a proclamation against the
Irish rebels, and wished to take the command against them in person; but
his Parliament was his master, and the members were glad enough of the
excuse afforded by the troubles in Ireland to increase the army, and to
obtain a more direct personal control over its movements. They voted
away Irish estates, and uttered loud threats of exterminating Popery;
but they had a more important and interesting game in hand at home,
which occupied their attention, and made them comparatively indifferent
to Irish affairs.
Sir Phelim O'Neill was not succeeding in the north. He had been obliged
to raise the siege of Drogheda, and the English had obtained possession
of Dundalk. £1,000 was offered for his head, and £600 for the heads of
some of his associates. Ormonde and Tichburne were in command of the
Government forces, but Ormonde was considered to be too lenient; and two
priests, Father Higgins and Father White, were executed by Coote, the
one without trial, and the other without even the forms of justice,
although they were under the Earl's protection. Carte says that Father
Higgins' case excited special interest, for he had saved many
Protestants from the fury of the Irish, and afforded them relief and
protection afterwards. Indeed, at this period, the Catholic clergy were
unwearied in their efforts to protect the Protestants. They must have
been actuated by the purest motives of religion, which were none the
less sacred to them because they could neither be understood nor
appreciated by those whose whole conduct had been so different. Father
Saul, a Jesuit, sheltered Dr. Pullen, the Protestant Dean of Clonfert,
and his family; Father Everard and Father English, Franciscan friars,
concealed many Protestants in their chapels, and even under their
altars. Many similar instances are on record in the depositions
concerning the murders and massacres of the times, at present in Trinity
College, Dublin; though those depositions were taken with the avowed
object of making out a case against the Catholics of having intended a
general massacre. In Galway the Jesuits were especially active in
charity to their enemies, and went through the town exhorting the
people, for Christ's sake, our Lady's and St. Patrick's, to shed no
blood. But although the Catholic hierarchy were most anxious to prevent
outrages against humanity, they were by no means insensible to the
outrages against justice, from which the Irish nation had so long
suffered. They were far from preaching passive submission to tyranny, or
passive acceptance of heresy. The Church had long since not only
sanctioned, but even warmly encouraged, a crusade against the infidels,
and the deliverance, by force of arms, of the holy places from
desecration; it had also granted[477] similar encouragements and similar
indulgences to all who should fight for "liberties and rights" in
Ireland, and had "exhorted, urged, and solicited" the people to do so
with "all possible affection." The Irish clergy could have no doubt that
the Holy See would sanction a national effort for national liberty. The
Archbishop of Armagh, therefore, convened a provincial synod, which was
held at Kells, on the 22nd of March, 1641, which pronounced the war
undertaken by the Catholics of Ireland lawful and pious, but denounced
murders and usurpations, and took steps for assembling a national synod
at Kilkenny during the following year.
The Catholic cause, meanwhile, was not advancing through the country.
The Irish were defeated in nearly every engagement with the English
troops. The want of a competent leader and of unanimity of purpose was
felt again, as it had so often been felt before; but the Church
attempted to supply the deficiency, and, if it did not altogether
succeed, it was at least a national credit to have done something in the
cause of freedom.
The synod met at Kilkenny, on the 10th of May, 1642. It was attended by
the Archbishops of Armagh, Cashel, and Tuam, and the Bishops of Ossory,
Elphin, Waterford and Lismore, Kildare Clonfert, and Down and Connor.
Proctors attended for the Archbishop of Dublin, and for the Bishops of
Limerick, Emly, and Killaloe. There were present, also, sixteen other
dignitaries and heads of religious orders. They issued a manifesto
explaining their conduct and, forming a Provisional Government,
concluded their labours, after three days spent in careful deliberation.
Owen Roe O'Neill and Colonel Preston arrived in Ireland in July, 1642,
accompanied by a hundred officers, and well supplied with arms and
ammunition. Sir Phelim O'Neill went at once to meet O'Neill, and
resigned the command of the army; and all promised fairly for the
national cause. The Scots, who had kept up a war of their own for some
time, against both the King and the Catholics, were wasting Down and
Antrim; and O'Neill was likely to need all his military skill and all
his political wisdom in the position in which he was placed.
Preston had landed in Wexford, and brought a still larger force; while
all the brave expatriated Irishmen in foreign service, hastened home the
moment there appeared a hope that they could strike a blow with some
effect for the freedom of their native land.
The General Assembly projected by the national synod in Kilkenny, held
its first meeting on October 14, 1642,--eleven spiritual and fourteen
temporal peers, with 226 commoners, representing the Catholic population
of Ireland. It was, in truth, a proud and glorious day for the nation.
For once, at least, she could speak through channels chosen by her own
free will; and for once there dawned a hope of legislative freedom of
action for the long-enslaved people. The old house is still shown where
that Assembly deliberated--a Parliament all but in name. The table then
used, and the chair occupied by the Speaker, are still preserved, as sad
mementos of freedom's blighted cause.[478] The house used was in the
market-place, The peers and commoners sat together; but a private room
was allotted for the lords to consult in. Dr. Patrick Darcy, an eminent
lawyer, represented the Chancellor and the judges. Mr. Nicholas Plunket
was chosen as Speaker; the Rev. Thomas O'Quirk, a learned Dominican
friar, was appointed Chaplain to both houses.
The Assembly at once declared that they met as a provisional government,
and not as a parliament. The preliminary arrangements occupied them
until the 1st of November. From the 1st until the 4th, the committee was
engaged in drawing up a form for the Confederate Government; on the 4th
it was sanctioned by the two houses. Magna Charta, and the common and
statute law of England, in all points not contrary to the Catholic
religion, or inconsistent with the liberty of Ireland, were made the
basis of the new Government. The administrative authority was vested in
a Supreme Council, which was then chosen, and of which Lord Mountgarret
was elected President.
[Illustration: PARLIAMENT HOUSE, KILKENNY.]
There were six members elected for each province. For Leinster, the
Archbishop of Dublin, Lords Gormanstown and Mountgarret, Nicholas
Plunket, Richard Belling, and James Cusack. For Ulster, the Archbishop
of Armagh, the Bishop of Down, Philip O'Reilly, Colonel MacMahon, Heber
Magennis, and Turlough O'Neill. For Munster, Viscount Roche, Sir Daniel
O'Brien, Edmund FitzMaurice, Dr. Fennell, Robert Lambert, and George
Comyn. For Connaught, the Archbishop of Tuam, Viscount Mayo, the Bishop
of Clonfert, Sir Lucas Dillon, Geoffrey Browne, and Patrick Darcy. The
Earl of Castlehaven, who had just escaped from his imprisonment in
Dublin, was added as a twenty-fifth member. Generals were appointed to
take the command of the forces--Owen Roe O'Neill, for Ulster; Preston,
for Leinster; Barry, for Munster; and Burke, for Connaught. A seal was
made, a printing-press set up, and a mint established. Money was coined
and levied for the necessary expenses; and a levy of 31,700 men was
prepared to be drilled by the new officers. Envoys were sent to solicit
assistance from the Catholic courts of Europe; and the famous and
learned Franciscan, Father Luke Wadding, applied himself to the cause
with unremitting earnestness. Father John Talbot was employed in a
similar manner in Spain.
The Assembly broke up on the 9th of January, 1643, after sending a
remonstrance to the King, declaring their loyalty, and explaining their
grievances. The complicated state of English politics proved the ruin of
this noble undertaking, so auspiciously commenced. Charles was anxious
to make terms with men whom he knew would probably be the only subjects
on whose loyalty he could thoroughly depend. His enemies--and the most
cursory glance at English history during this period proves how many and
how powerful they were--desired to keep open the rupture, and, if
possible, to bring it down, from the high stand of dignified
remonstrance, to the more perilous and lower position of a general and
ill-organized insurrection. The Lords Justices Borlase and Parsons were
on the look-out for plunder; but Charles had as yet sufficient power to
form a commission of his own, and he sent the Marquis of Ormonde and
some other noblemen to treat with the Confederates. Ormonde was a cold,
calculating, and, if we must judge him by his acts, a cruel man; for, to
give only one specimen of his dealings, immediately after his
appointment, he butchered the brave garrison of Timolin, who had
surrendered on promise of quarter.
The Confederates were even then divided into two parties. The section of
their body principally belonging to the old English settlers, were
willing to have peace on almost any terms; the ancient Irish had their
memories burdened with so many centuries of wrong, that they demanded
something like certainty of redress before they would yield. Ormonde was
well aware of the men with whom, and the opinions with which, he had to
deal, and he acted accordingly. In the various engagements which
occurred, the Irish were on the whole successful They had gained an
important victory near Fermoy, principally through the headlong valour
of a troop of mere boys who dashed down with wild impetuosity on the
English, and showed what mettle there was still left in the country.
Envoys were arriving from foreign courts, and Urban VIII. had sent
Father Scarampi with indulgences and a purse of 30,000 dollars,
collected by Father Wadding. It was, therefore, most important that the
movement should be checked in some way; and, as it could not be
suppressed by force, it was suppressed by diplomacy.
On the 15th of September, 1643, a cessation of arms for one year was
agreed upon; and the tide, which had set in so gloriously for Irish
independence, rolled back its sobbing waves slowly and sadly towards the
English coast, and never returned again with the same hopeful freedom
and overpowering strength.
The Irish, even those whose wisdom or whose ardour made them most
dissatisfied with the treaty, observed it honorably. The Puritan party
professed to regard the cessation as a crime, and therefore did not
consider themselves bound to observe it. As they were in fact the ruling
powers, the unfortunate Irish were, as usual, the victims. The troops,
who had been trained and collected for the defence of their native land,
were now sent to Scotland, to shed their blood in the royal cause. As
honorable men, having undertaken the duty, they fulfilled it gloriously,
and won the admiration even of their enemies by their undaunted valour.
The unhappy English monarch was now besieged by petitions and
counter-petitions. The Confederates asked for liberty of conscience; the
Puritans demanded a stern enforcement of the penal laws. Complaints were
made on both sides of the infringement of the cessation; but Munroe was
the chief offender; and Owen O'Neill was summoned to consult with the
Supreme Council in Kilkenny. Lord Castlehaven, who was utterly
incompetent for such an appointment, was given the command of the army;
and O'Neill, though he felt hurt at the unjust preference, submitted
generously.
In August, 1644, the cessation was again renewed by the General Assembly
until December, and subsequently for a longer period. Thus precious
time, and what was still more precious, the fresh energies and interests
of the Confederates, were hopelessly lost. The King's generals, or
rather it should be said the Parliamentary officers, observed or held
these engagements at their convenience, and made treaties of their
own--Inchiquin and Purcell making a truce between themselves in the
south. As the King's affairs became daily more complicated, and his
position more perilous, he saw the necessity for peace with his Irish
subjects, and for allying himself with them, if possible. Had he treated
them with more consideration, or rather with common justice and
humanity, at the commencement of his reign, England might have been
saved the guilt of regicide and Cromwell's iron rule. Ormonde had
received ample powers from Charles to grant the Catholics every justice
now; but Ormonde could not resist the inclination to practise a little
subtle diplomacy, even at the risk of his master's kingdom and his
master's head. The Confederate commissioners rejected his temporizing
measures with contempt, though a few of their members, anxious for
peace, were inclined to yield.
When Inchiquin set out to destroy the growing crops early in summer,
Castlehaven was sent against him, and obliged him to retire into Cork.
At the same time Coote was overrunning Connaught and took possession of
Sligo. The Irish forces again recovered the town; but, in the attempt,
the Archbishop and two friars fell into the hands of the enemy, and were
cruelly murdered. Charles now made another attempt to obtain the
assistance of the Catholic party, and sent over Lord Herbert to Ireland
on a secret mission for that purpose. This nobleman and his
father-in-law, the Earl of Thomond, were almost romantically attached to
the King, and had already advanced £200,000 for the support of the royal
cause. He proceeded to Kilkenny, after a brief interview with Ormonde.
England's difficulty proved Ireland's opportunity. Everything that could
be desired was granted; and all that was asked was the liberty to
worship God according to each man's conscience, and the liberty of
action and employment, which is the right of every member of civil
society who has not violated the rules of moral conduct which governors
are bound to enforce. In return for the promise that they should enjoy
the rights of subjects, the Irish Confederates promised to do the duty
of subjects. They had already assisted more than one English King to
rule his Scotch dominions; they were now to assist Charles to rule his
English subjects; and they promised to send him 10,000 armed men, under
the command of Lord Herbert. It was a great risk to trust a Stuart; and
he made it a condition that the agreement should remain secret until the
troops had landed in England.
In the meantime Belling, the Secretary of the Supreme Council, was sent
to Rome and presented to Innocent X., by Father Wadding, as the envoy of
the Confederate Catholics, in February, 1645. On hearing his report, the
Pope sent John Baptist Rinuccini[479], Archbishop of Fermo, to Ireland,
as Nuncio-Extraordinary. This prelate set out immediately; and, after
some detention at St. Germains, for the purpose of conferring with the
English Queen, who had taken refuge there, he purchased the frigate _San
Pietro_ at Rochelle, stored it with arms and ammunition; and, after some
escapes from the Parliamentary cruisers, landed safely in Kenmare Bay,
on the 21st of October, 1645. He was soon surrounded and welcomed by the
peasantry; and after celebrating Mass in a poor hut,[480] he at once
proceeded to Limerick. Here he celebrated the obsequies of the
Archbishop of Tuam, and then passed on to Kilkenny. He entered the old
city in state, attended by the clergy. At the entrance to the Cathedral
he was met by the Bishop of Ossory, who was unable to walk in the
procession. When the _Te Deum_ had been sung, he was received in the
Castle by the General Assembly, and addressed them in Latin. After this
he returned to the residence prepared for him.
In a Catholic country, and with a Catholic people, the influence of a
Papal Nuncio was necessarily preponderant, and he appears to have seen
at a glance the difficulties and advantages of the position of Irish
affairs and the Confederate movement. "He had set his mind," says the
author of the _Confederation of Kilkenny_, "on one grand object--the
freedom of the Church, in possession of all her rights and dignities,
and the emancipation of the Catholic people from the degradation to
which English imperialism had condemned them. The churches which the
piety of Catholic lords and chieftains had erected, he determined to
secure to the rightful inheritors. His mind and feelings recoiled from
the idea of worshipping in crypts and catacombs; he abhorred the notion
of a priest or bishop performing a sacred rite as though it were a
felony; and despite the wily artifices of Ormonde and his faction, he
resolved to teach the people of Ireland that they were not to remain
mere dependents on English bounty, when a stern resolve might win for
them the privileges of freemen."[481]
The following extract from Rinuccini's own report, will show how
thoroughly he was master of the situation in a diplomatic point of view:
"From time immemorial two adverse parties have always existed among the
Catholics of Ireland. The first are called the 'old Irish.' They are
most numerous in Ulster, where they seem to have their head-quarters;
for even the Earl of Tyrone placed himself at their head, and maintained
a protracted war against Elizabeth. The second may be called the 'old
English,'--a race introduced into Ireland in the reign of Henry II., the
fifth king in succession from William the Conqueror; so called to
distinguish them from the 'new English,' who have come into the kingdom
along with the modern heresy. These parties are opposed to each other
principally on the following grounds: the old Irish, entertaining a
great aversion for heresy, are also averse to the dominion of England,
and have Biased, generally speaking, to accept the investiture of Church
property offered to them since the apostacy of the Kings of England from
the Church. The others, on the contrary, enriched with the spoils of the
monasteries, and thus bound to the King by obligation, no less than by
interest, neither seek nor desire anything but the exaltation of the
crown, esteem no laws but those of the realm, are thoroughly English in
their feelings, and, from their constant familiarity with heretics, are
less jealous of differences of religion."
The Nuncio then goes on to state how even the military command was
divided between these two parties,--O'Neill belonging to the old Irish
interest, and Preston to the new. He also mentions the manner in which
this difference of feeling extended to the lower classes, and
particularly to those who served in the army.[482]
I have given this lengthened extract from Rinuccini's report, because,
with all the advantages of looking back upon the times and events, it
would be impossible to explain more clearly the position of the
different parties. It remains only to show how these unfortunate
differences led to the ruin of the common cause.
The Confederates now began to be distinguished into two parties, as
Nuncionists and Ormondists. Two sets of negotiations were carried on,
openly with Ormonde, and secretly with Glamorgan. The Nuncio, from the
first, apprehended the treachery of Charles, and events proved the
correctness of his forebodings. Glamorgan produced his credentials,
dated April 30th, 1645, in which the King promised to ratify whatever
terms he might make; and he further promised, that the Irish soldiers,
whose assistance he demanded, should be brought back to their own
shores, if these arrangements were not complied with by his master.
Meanwhile a copy of this secret treaty was discovered on the Archbishop
of Tuam, who had been killed at Sligo. It was used as an accusation
against the King. Glamorgan was arrested in Dublin, and the whole scheme
was defeated.
The General Assembly met in Kilkenny, in January, 1646, and demanded the
release of Glamorgan. He was bailed out; but the King disowned the
commission, as Rinuccini had expected, and proved himself thereby
equally a traitor to his Catholic and Protestant subjects. Ormonde took
care to foment the division between the Confederate party, and succeeded
so well that a middle party was formed, who signed a treaty consisting
of thirty articles. This document only provided for the religious part
of the question, that Roman Catholics should not be bound to take the
oath of supremacy. An Act of oblivion was passed, and the Catholics were
to continue to hold their possessions until a settlement could be made
by Act of Parliament. Even in a political point of view, this treaty was
a failure; and one should have thought that Irish chieftains and
Anglo-Irish nobles had known enough of Acts of Parliament to have
prevented them from confiding their hopes to such an uncertain future.
The division of the command in the Confederate army had been productive
of most disastrous consequences. The rivalry between O'Neill, Preston,
and Owen Roe, increased the complication; but the Nuncio managed to
reconcile the two O'Neills, and active preparations were made by Owen
Roe for his famous northern campaign. The Irish troops intended for
Charles had remained in their own country; the unfortunate monarch had
committed his last fatal error by confiding himself to his Scotch
subjects, who sold him to his own people for £400,000. Ormonde now
refused to publish the treaty which had been just concluded, or even to
enforce its observance by Monroe, although the Confederates had given
him £3,000 to get up an expedition for that purpose.
In the beginning of June, A.D. 1646, Owen Roe O'Neill marched against
Monroe, with 5,000 foot and 500 horse. Monroe received notice of his
approach; and although his force was far superior to O'Neill's, he sent
for reinforcements of cavalry from his brother, Colonel George Monroe,
who was stationed at Coleraine. But the Irish forces advanced more
quickly than he expected; and on the 4th of June they had crossed the
Blackwater, and encamped at Benburb. O'Neill selected his position
admirably. He encamped between two small hills, with a wood in his rear.
The river Blackwater protected him on the right, and an impassable bog
on the left. Some brushwood in the front enabled him to conceal a party
of musketeers; he was also well-informed of Monroe's movements, and took
precautions to prevent the advance of his brother's forces. Monroe
crossed the river at Kinard, at a considerable distance in the rear of
his opponent, and then advanced, by a circuitous march, from the east
and north. The approach was anticipated; and, on in the 5th of June,
1646, the most magnificent victory ever recorded in the annals of Irish
history was won. The Irish army prepared for the great day with solemn
religious observances. The whole army approached the sacraments of
penance and holy communion, and thus were prepared alike for death or
victory. The chaplain deputed by the Nuncio addressed them briefly, and
appealed to their religious feelings; their General, Owen Roe, appealed
to their nationality. How deeply outraged they had been, both in their
religion and in their national feelings, has been already mentioned; how
they fought for their altars and their domestic hearths will now be
recorded. O'Neill's skill as a military tactician, is beyond all praise.
For four long hours he engaged the attention of the enemy, until the
glare of the burning summer sun had passed away, and until he had
intercepted the reinforcements which Monroe expected. At last the
decisive moment had arrived. Monroe thought he saw his brother's
contingent in the distance; O'Neill knew that they were some of his own
men who had beaten that very contingent. When the Scotch general was
undeceived, he resolved to retire. O'Neill saw his advantage, and gave
the command to charge. With one loud cry of vengeance for desecrated
altars and desolated homes, the Irish soldiers dashed to the charge, and
Monroe's ranks were broken, and his men driven to flight. Even the
General himself fled so precipitately, that he left his hat, sword, and
cloak after him, and never halted until he reached Lisburn. Lord
Montgomery was taken prisoner, and 3,000 of the Scotch were left on the
field. Of the Irish only seventy men were killed, and 200 wounded. It
was a great victory; and it was something more--it was a glorious
victory; although Ireland remained, both as to political and religious
freedom, much as it had been before. The standards captured on that
bloody field were sent to the Nuncio at Limerick, and carried in
procession to the Cathedral, where a solemn _Te Deum_ was chanted--and
that was all the result that came of it. Confusion thrice confounded
followed in the rear. The King issued orders, under the compulsion of
the Scotch, which Lord Digby declared to be just the contrary of what he
really wished; and Ormonde proclaimed and ratified the treaty he had
formerly declined to fulfil, while the "old Irish" everywhere
indignantly rejected it. In Waterford, Clonmel, and Limerick, the people
would not permit it even to be proclaimed. The Nuncio summoned a
national synod in Waterford, at which it was condemned; and a decree was
issued, on the 12th of August, declaring that all who adhered to such
terms should be declared perjurers. Even Preston declared for the
Nuncio; and the clergy and the nobles who led the unpopular cause, were
obliged to ask Ormonde's assistance to help them out of their
difficulty. The Earl arrived at Kilkenny with an armed force; but fled
precipitately when he heard that O'Neill and Preston were advancing
towards him.
Rinuccini now took a high hand. He entered Kilkenny in state, on the
18th of September, and committed the members of the Supreme Council as
prisoners to the Castle, except Darcy and Plunket. A new Council was
appointed, or self-appointed, on the 20th, of which the Nuncio was
chosen President. The imprisonment of the old Council was undoubtedly a
harsh and unwise proceeding, which can scarcely be justified; but the
times were such that prompt action was demanded, and the result alone,
which could not be foreseen, could justify or condemn it.
The Generals were again at variance; and although the new Council had
decided on attacking Dublin, their plans could not be carried out.
Preston was unquestionably playing fast and loose; and when the
Confederate troops did march towards Dublin, his duplicity ruined the
cause which might even then have been gained. A disgraceful retreat was
the result. An Assembly was again convened at Kilkenny; the old Council
was released; the Generals promised to forget their animosities: but
three weeks had been lost in angry discussion; and although the
Confederates bound themselves by oath not to lay down their arms until
their demands were granted, their position was weakened to a degree
which the selfishness of the contending parties made them quite
incapable of estimating.
The fact was, the Puritan faction in England was every day gaining an
increase of power; while every hour that the Confederate Catholics
wasted in discussion or division, was weakening their moral strength.
Even Ormonde found himself a victim to the party who had long made him
their tool, and was ordered out of Dublin unceremoniously, and obliged
eventually to take refuge in France. Colonel Jones took possession of
Dublin Castle for the rebel forces and defeated Preston in a serious
engagement at Dungan Hill soon after his arrival in Ireland. O'Neill now
came to the rescue; and even the Ormondists, having lost their leader,
admitted that he was their only resource. His admirable knowledge of
military tactics enabled him to drive Jones into Dublin Castle, and keep
him there for a time almost in a state of siege.
In the mean time Inchiquin was distinguishing himself by his cruel
victories in the south of Ireland. The massacre of Cashel followed. When
the walls were battered down, the hapless garrison surrendered without
resistance, and were butchered without mercy. The people fled to the
Cathedral, hoping there, at least, to escape; but the savage General
poured volleys of musket-balls through the doors and windows, and his
soldiers rushing in afterwards, piked those who were not yet dead.
Twenty priests were dragged out as objects of special vengeance; and the
total number of those were thus massacred amounted to 3,000.
An engagement took place in November between Inchiquin and Lord Taaffe,
in which the Confederates were again beaten and cruelly massacred. Thus
two of their generals had lost both their men and their _prestige_, and
O'Neill alone remained as the prop of a falling cause. The Irish now
looked for help from foreign sources, and despatched Plunket and French
to Rome, and Muskerry and Browne to France; but Ormonde had already
commenced negotiations on his own account, and he alone was accredited
at the court of St. Germains. Even at this moment Inchiquin had been
treating with the Supreme Council for a truce; but Rinuccini, who
detested his duplicity, could never be induced to listen to his
proposals. A man who had so mercilessly massacred his own countrymen,
could scarcely be trusted by them on so sudden a conversion to their
cause; but, unhappily, there were individuals who, in the uncertain
state of public affairs, were anxious to steer their barks free of the
thousand breakers ahead, and in their eagerness forgot that, when the
whole coast-line was deluged with storms, their best chance of escape
was the bold resolution of true moral courage. The cautious politicians,
therefore, made a treaty with Inchiquin, which was signed at Dungarvan,
on the 20th of May. On the 27th of that month the Nuncio promulgated a
sentence of excommunication against all cities and villages where it
should be received, and, at the same time, he withdrew to the camp of
Owen Roe O'Neill, against whom Inchiquin and Preston were prepared to
march. It was a last and desperate resource, and, as might be expected,
it failed signally of its intended effects. Various attempts to obtain a
settlement of the question at issue by force of arms, were made by the
contending parties; but O'Neill baffled his enemies, and the Nuncio
withdrew to Galway.
Ormonde arrived in Ireland soon after, and was received at Cork, on the
27th of September, 1648, by Inchiquin. He then proceeded to Kilkenny,
where he was received in great state by the Confederates. On the 17th of
January, 1649, he signed a treaty of peace, which concluded the seven
years' war. This treaty afforded the most ample indulgences to the
Catholics, and guaranteed fairly that civil and religious liberty for
which alone they had contended; but the ink upon the deed was scarcely
dry, ere the execution of Charles I., on the 30th of January, washed out
its enactments in royal blood; and civil war, with more than ordinary
complications, was added to the many miseries of our unfortunate
country.
Rinuccini embarked in the _San Pietro_ once more, and returned to Italy,
February 23, 1649. Had his counsels been followed, the result might have
justified him, even in his severest measures; as it is we read only
failure in his career; but it should be remembered, that there are
circumstances under which failure is more noble than success.
[Illustration: THOMAS FLEMYNG'S TOMB, COLLEGIATE CHURCH, YOUGHAL.]
[Illustration: ST. LAWRENCE GATE, DROGHEDA.]
FOOTNOTES:
[474] _Them_.--Castlehaven's _Memoirs_, p, 28.
[475] _Frolics_.--Carte's _Ormonde_, vol. i. p. 245, folio edition.
[476] _Guard_.--Castlehaven's _Memoirs_, p. 30. Coote's cruelties are
admitted on all sides to have been most fearful. Leland speaks of "his
ruthless and indiscriminate carnage."--_History of Ireland_, vol. iii.
p. 146. Warner says "he was a stranger to mercy."--_History of the Irish
Rebellion_, p. 135. "And yet this was the man," says Lord Castlehaven,
"whom the Lords Justices picked out to entrust with a commission of
martial-law, which he performed with delight, and with a wanton kind of
cruelty."
[477] _Granted_.--This most important and interesting document may be
seen in O'Sullivan's _Hist. Cath_. p. 121. It is headed: "Gregory XIII.,
to the Archbishops, Bishops, and other prelates, as also to the Catholic
Princes, Earls, Barons, Clergy, Nobles, and People of Ireland, health
and apostolic benediction." It is dated: "Given at Rome, the 13th day of
May, 1580, the eighth of our pontificate."
[478] _Cause_.--See illustration at head of this chapter.
[479] _Rinuccini,_--A work was published in Florence, 1844, entitled
_Nunziatura in Irlanda_, di M. Gio. Battista Rinuccini, &c. This work,
which only forms a portion of the Rinuccini MS., throws much valuable
light upon the history of the period. It is supposed to have been
written by the Dean of Fermo, who attended the Nuncio during his
official visit to Ireland. This volume also contains, in the original
Italian, the report presented by Rinuccini to the Pope on his return
from Ireland. Burke has given some extracts from the MS. in his
_Hibernia Dominicana_, and Carte mentions it also; but otherwise these
very important documents appear to have been quite overlooked.
Since the publication of the first edition of this work, I have obtained
a copy of a translation of the Nuncio's narrative, which appeared in the
_Catholic Miscellany_ for 1829. This translation was made by a
Protestant clergyman, from a Latin translation of the original, in the
possession of Mr. Coke, of Holham, Norfolk. The Nuncio's account is one
of great importance, but it would demand considerable space if treated
of in detail. There was a very able article on the subject in the
_Dublin Review_ for March, 1845.
[480] _Hut_.--Some extracts from a curious and interesting letter,
describing the voyage from France and the landing in Ireland of
Rinuccini and his party, were published in the _Dublin Review_ for
March, 1845. It is addressed to Count Thomas Rinuccini, but the writer
is supposed to have been the Dean of Fermo. He gives a graphic
description of their arrival at Kenmare--"al porto di Kilmar" and of the
warm reception they met from the poor, and their courtesy--"La cortesia
di quei poveri popoli dove Monsignor capito, fu incomparabile." He also
says: "Gran cosa, nelle montagne e luoghi rozzi, e gente povera per le
devastazioni fatte dei nemici eretici, trovai pero la nobilta della S.
fede Catolica, giaché auro vi fu uomo, o donna, o ragazzo, ancor che
piccolo, che non me sapesse recitar il Pater, Ave, Credo, e i
commandamenti della Santa Chiesa." "It is most wonderful that in this
wild and mountainous place, and a people so impoverished by the
heretical enemy, I found, nevertheless, the noble influence of the holy
Catholic faith; for there was not a man or woman, or a child however
young, who could not repeat the Our Father, Hail Mary, Creed, and the
commands of Holy Church." We believe the same might be said at the
present day of this part of Ireland. It is still as poor, and the people
are still as well instructed in and as devoted to their faith now as in
that century.
[481] _Freemen_.--_Confederation of Kilkenny_, p. 117.
[482] _Army,--Nunziatura in Irlanda_, p. 391.
CHAPTER XXX.
Cromwell arrives in Ireland--He marches to Drogheda--Cruel Massacre of
the Inhabitants after promise of Quarter--Account of an
Eyewitness--Brutality of the Cromwellian Soldiers--Ladies are not
spared--Cromwell's Letters--He boasts of his Cruelties--Massacre and
Treachery at Drogheda--Brave Resistance at Clonmel--Charles II. arrives
in Scotland--The Duplicity of his Conduct towards the Irish--Siege of
Limerick--Ireton's Cruelties and Miserable Death--The Banishment to
Connaught--The Irish are sold as Slaves to Barbadoes--General Desolation
and Misery of the People.
[A.D. 1649-1655.]
Cromwell was now master of England, and ruled with all that authority
which is so freely granted to a revolutionary leader, and so often
denied to a lawful monarch. The great body of the English stood aghast
with horror when they discovered that regicide, and the substitution of
an illegal tyranny for one which at least was legal, was the end of all
their hopes. The new ruler was aware of the precariousness of his
position. The safety of his head, as well as the continuance of his
power, depended on the caprice of the multitude; and he saw that the
sword alone could maintain him in the elevated position to which he had
risen, and the still more elevated position to which he aspired. We
scarcely imagine him to have been more religious or less humane than
many of his contemporaries, though it is evident that he required a
great show of the kind of religion then fashionable to support his
character as a reformer, and that he considered himself obliged to
exercise wholesale cruelties to consolidate his power.
The rightful heir to the English throne was then at the Hague, uncertain
how to act and whither he should turn his steps. He wished to visit
Ireland, where he would have been received with enthusiastic loyalty by
the Catholics; but Ormonde persuaded him, from sinister motives, to
defer his intention. Ormonde and Inchiquin now took the field together.
The former advanced to Dublin, and the latter to Drogheda. This town was
held by a Parliamentary garrison, who capitulated on honorable terms.
Monck and Owen O'Neill, in the meantime, were acting in concert, and
Inchiquin captured supplies which the English General was sending to the
Irish chief. Newry, Dundalk, and the often-disputed and famous Castle of
Trim[483] surrendered to him, and he marched back to Ormonde in triumph.
As there appeared no hope of reducing Dublin except by famine, it was
regularly blockaded; and the Earl wrote to Charles to inform him that
his men were so loyal, he could "persuade half his army to starve
outright for his Majesty."
Ormonde now moved his camp from Finglas to Rathmines, and at the same
time reinforcements arrived for the garrison, under the command of
Colonels Reynolds and Venables. The besiegers made an attempt to guard
the river, and for this purpose, Major-General Purcell was sent to take
possession of the ruined Castle of Bagotrath, about a mile from the
camp. Ormonde professed to have expected an attack during the night, and
kept his men under arms; but just as he had retired to rest, an alarm
was given. Colonel Jones had made a sortie from the city; the sortie
became for a brief moment an engagement, and ended in a total rout. The
Earl was suspected; and whether he had been guilty of treachery or of
carelessness, he lost his credit, and soon after left the kingdom.
Cromwell had been made Lieutenant-General of the English army in
Ireland, but as yet he had been unable to take the command in person.
His position was precarious; and he wished to secure his influence still
more firmly in his own country, before he attempted the conquest of
another. He had succeeded so far in the accomplishment of his plans that
his departure and his journey to Bristol were undertaken in royal style.
He left the metropolis early in June, in a coach drawn by six gallant
Flanders' mares, and concluded his progress at Milford Haven, where he
embarked, reaching Ireland on the 14th of August, 1649. He was attended
by some of the most famous of the Parliamentary Generals--his son,
Henry, the future Lord Deputy; Monk, Blake, Ireton, Waller, Ludlow and
others. He brought with him, for the propagation of the Gospel and the
Commonwealth, £200,000 in money, eight regiments of foot, six of horse,
several troops of dragoons, a large supply of Bibles,[484] and a
corresponding provision of ammunition and scythes. The Bibles were to be
distributed amongst his soldiers, and to be given to the poor
unfortunate natives, who could not understand a word of their contents.
The scythes and sickles were to deprive them of all means of living, and
to preach a ghastly commentary on the conduct of the men who wished to
convert them to the new Gospel, which certainly was not one of peace.
Cromwell now issued two proclamations: one against intemperance, for he
knew well the work that was before him, and he could not afford to have
a single drunken soldier in his camp. The other proclamation prohibited
plundering the country people: it was scarcely less prudent. His
soldiers might any day become his masters, if they were not kept under
strict control; and there are few things which so effectually lessen
military discipline as permission to plunder: he also wished to
encourage the country people to bring in provisions. His arrangements
all succeeded.
Ormonde had garrisoned Drogheda with 3,000 of his choicest troops. They
were partly English, and were commanded by a brave loyalist, Sir Arthur
Aston. This was really the most important town in Ireland; and Cromwell,
whose skill as a military general cannot be disputed, at once determined
to lay siege to it. He encamped before the devoted city on the 2nd of
September, and in a few days had his siege guns posted on the hill shown
in the accompanying illustration, and still known as Cromwell's Fort.
Two breaches were made on the 10th, and he sent in his storming parties
about five o'clock in the evening. Earthworks had been thrown up inside
and the garrison resisted with undiminished bravery. The besieged at
last wavered; quarter[485] was promised to them, and they yielded; but
the promise came from men who knew neither how to keep faith or to show
mercy. The brave Governor, Sir Arthur Aston, retired with his staff to
an old mill on an eminence, but they were disarmed and slain in cold
blood. The officers and soldiers were first exterminated, and then men,
women, and children were put to the sword. The butchery occupied five
entire days; Cromwell has himself described the scene, and glories in
his cruelty. Another eyewitness, an officer in his army, has described
it also, but with some faint touch of remorse.
[Illustration: Massacre at Drogheda]
[Illustration: CROMWELL'S FORT, DROGHEDA].
A number of the townspeople fled for safety to St. Peter's Church, on
the north side of the city, but every one of them was murdered, all
defenceless and unarmed as they were; others took refuge in the church
steeple, but it was of wood, and Cromwell himself gave orders that it
should be set on fire, and those who attempted to escape the flames were
piked. The principal ladies of the city had sheltered themselves in the
crypts. It might have been supposed that this precaution should be
unnecessary, or, at least, that English officers would respect their
sex; but, alas for common humanity! it was not so. When the slaughter
had been accomplished above, it was continued below. Neither youth nor
beauty was spared. Thomas Wood, who was one of these officers, and
brother to Anthony Wood, the Oxford historian, says he found in these
vaults "the flower and choicest of the women and ladies belonging to the
town; amongst whom, a most handsome virgin, arrayed in costly and
gorgeous apparel, kneeled down to him with tears and prayer to save her
life." Touched by her beauty and her entreaties he attempted to save
her, and took her out of the church; but even his protection could not
save her. A soldier thrust his sword into her body; and the officer,
recovering from his momentary fit of compassion, "flung her down over
the rocks," according to his own account, but first took care to possess
himself of her money and jewels. This officer also mentions that the
soldiers were in the habit of taking up a child, and using it as a
buckler, when they wished to ascend the lofts and galleries of the
church, to save themselves from being shot or brained. It is an evidence
that they knew their victims to be less cruel than themselves, or the
expedient would not have been found to answer.
Cromwell wrote an account of this massacre to the "Council of State."
His letters, as his admiring editor observes, "tell their own
tale;"[486] and unquestionably that tale plainly intimates that whether
the Republican General were hypocrite or fanatic--and it is probable he
was a compound of both--he certainly, on his own showing, was little
less than a demon of cruelty. Cromwell writes thus: "It hath pleased God
to bless our endeavours at Drogheda. After battery we stormed it. The
enemy were about 3,000 strong in the town. They made a stout resistance.
I believe we put to the sword the whole number of defendants. I do not
think thirty of the whole number escaped with their lives. Those that
did are in safe custody for the Barbadoes. This hath been a marvellous
great mercy." In another letter he says that this "great thing" was done
"by the Spirit of God."
These savage butcheries had the intended effect. The inhabitants of all
the smaller towns fled at his approach, and the garrisons capitulated.
Trim, Dundalk, Carlingford, and Newry, had yielded; but Wexford still
held out. The garrison amounted to about 3,000 men, under the command of
Colonel Sinnot, a brave loyalist. After some correspondence on both
sides, a conference took place between four of the royalists and
Cromwell, at which he contrived to bribe Captain Stafford, the Governor
of the Castle. The conditions asked, preparatory to surrender, were
liberty of conscience, and permission to withdraw in safety and with
military honours. Cromwell's idea of liberty of conscience was as
peculiar as his idea of honour. He wrote to the Governor of Ross to say
that he would not "meddle with any man's conscience;" but adds: "If by
liberty of conscience you mean a liberty to exercise the Mass, I judge
it best to use plain dealing, and to tell you now, where the Parliament
of England have power, that will not be allowed of;"[487] which, in
plain English, meant that he professed liberty of conscience, but
allowed it only to such as agreed with himself. Of his estimation of
honour, his dealings at Wexford afford a fair sample. As soon as he had
found that Stafford could be bribed, he denounced the proposals of the
garrison as abominable and impudent. The traitor opened the
castle-gates, and the Parliamentary troops marched in. The besieged were
amazed and panic-struck; yet, to their eternal credit, they made what
even Cromwell admits to have been a "stiff resistance." The massacre of
Drogheda was renewed with all its horrors, and the treacherous General
held in his hand all the time the formal offer of surrender which had
been made by the townspeople and his own reply. He informs the
Parliament that he did not intend to destroy the town, but his own
letter reveals his treachery; and he congratulates his correspondents on
the "unexpected providence" which had befallen them. He excuses the
massacre on the plea of some outrages which had been offered to the
"poor Protestants," forgetting what incomparably greater cruelties had
been inflicted by the Protestants on the Catholics, both for their
loyalty and for their religion.
MacGeoghegan mentions the massacre of two hundred women, who clung round
the market-cross for protection.[488] His statement is not corroborated
by contemporary authority; but there appears no reason to doubt that it
may have taken place, from what has already been recorded at Drogheda on
unquestionable authority. Owen Roe and Ormonde now leagued together for
the royal cause, but their union was of short duration, for the Irish
chieftain died almost immediately, and it was said, not without
suspicion of having been poisoned by wearing a "pair of russet boots,"
sent to him by one Plunket, of Louth, who afterwards boasted of his
exploit. His death was an irreparable loss to the Irish cause; for his
noble and upright conduct had won him universal esteem, while his
military prowess had secured him the respect even of his enemies. New
Ross surrendered to Cromwell on the 18th of October and Luke Taaffe, the
Commander, joined Ormonde at Kilkenny. The garrisons of Cork, Youghal,
Kinsale, and Bandon, revolted to Cromwell, through the intervention of
Lord Broghill, son of the Earl of Cork, who became one of the leading
Parliamentary officers. On the 24th of November, Cromwell attempted to
take Waterford; but finding the place too strong for him, he marched on
to Dungarvan. Here the garrison surrendered at discretion, and his
troops proceeded to Cork through Youghal.
The Irish had now begun to distrust Ormonde thoroughly; even the
citizens of Waterford refused to admit his soldiers into their town.
Indeed, the distrust was so general, that he had considerable difficulty
in providing winter quarters for his troops, and he wrote to ask
permission from the exiled King to leave the country. The month of
January, 1650, was spent by Cromwell in continuing his victorious march.
He set out from Youghal on the 29th, and approached as near Limerick as
he dared, taking such castles as lay in his way, and accepting the keys
of Cashel and other towns, where the authorities surrendered
immediately. On the 22nd of March he arrived before Kilkenny, to meet a
resistance as hopeless as it was heroic. A fearful pestilence had
reduced the garrison from 1,200 men to about 400, yet they absolutely
refused to obey the summons to surrender, but, after a brave resistance,
they were obliged to yield; and Cromwell hastened on to Clonmel, where
he had to encounter the most formidable resistance he experienced in his
Irish campaigns. The garrison was commanded by Hugh Dubh O'Neill. The
Bishop of Ross attempted to raise the siege, but was taken and hanged by
Broghill, because he would not desire the defenders of Carrigadrohid to
surrender. The first attack on Clonmel took place on the 9th of May, and
O'Neill determined to resist with the energy of despair, and the full
knowledge of the demon vengeance with which the Puritans repaid such
deeds of valour. When the place was no longer tenable, he withdrew his
troops under cover of darkness; and the English General found next
morning that he had been outwitted, and that nothing remained for his
vengeance but the unfortunate townspeople.
Pressing demands were now made by the Parliament for his return to
England, where the royalists had also to be crushed and subdued; and
after committing the command of his army to Ireton, he sailed from
Youghal, on the 20th of May, leaving, as a legacy to Ireland, a name
which was only repeated to be cursed, and an increase of miseries which
already had seemed incapable of multiplication. In the meantime the
Irish clergy held frequent conferences, and made every effort in their
power to obtain peace for their unfortunate country. Ormonde became
daily more and more distrusted; the people of Limerick and of Galway had
both refused to receive him; and on the 6th of August the clergy met in
synod at Jamestown, in the county Leitrim, and sent him a formal
message, requesting his withdrawal from the kingdom, and asking for the
appointment of some one in whom the people might have confidence. His
pride was wounded, and he refused to retire until he should be compelled
to do so; but the bishops published a declaration, denouncing his
government, and threatening to impeach him before the King. They were
yet to learn that the King, whom they served so faithfully, and in whom,
despite all past disappointments, they confided so loyally, could be
guilty of the greatest duplicity and the basest subterfuge.
Charles II. landed in Scotland on the 28th of June, 1650, and soon after
signed the Covenant, and a declaration in which he stated the peace with
Ireland to be null and void, adding, with equal untruthfulness and
meanness, that "he was convinced in his conscience of the sinfulness and
unlawfulness of it, and of allowing them [the Catholics] the liberty of
the Popish religion; for which he did from his heart desire to be deeply
humbled before the Lord." Ormonde declared, what was probably true, that
the King had been obliged to make these statements, and that they meant
nothing; but neither his protestations nor his diplomacy could save him
from general contempt; and having appointed the Marquis of Clanrickarde
to administer the Government of Ireland for the King, he left the
country, accompanied by some of the leading royalists, and, after a
stormy passage, arrived at St. Malo, in Brittany, early in the year
1651. The Irish again sacrificed their interests to their loyalty, and
refused favourable terms offered to them by the Parliamentary party;
they even attempted to mortgage the town of Galway, to obtain money for
the royal cause, and an agreement was entered into with the Duke of
Lorraine for this purpose; but the disasters of the battle of Worcester,
and the triumphs of the republican faction, soon deprived them of every
hope.
It will be remembered that Cromwell had passed by Limerick at a
respectful distance; but the possession of that city was none the less
coveted. Ireton now prepared to lay siege to it. To effect this, Coote
made a feint of attacking Sligo; and when he had drawn off
Clanrickarde's forces to oppose him, marched back hastily, and took
Athlone. By securing this fortress he opened a road into Connaught; and
Ireton, at the same time, forced the passage of the river at
O'Briensbridge, and thus was enabled to invest Limerick. Lord Muskerry
marched to its relief; but he was intercepted by Lord Broghill, and his
men were routed with great slaughter. The castle at the salmon weir was
first attacked; and the men who defended it were butchered in cold
blood, although they had surrendered on a promise of quarter. At length
treachery accomplished what valour might have prevented. The plague was
raging in the city, and many tried to escape; but were either beaten
back into the town, or killed on the spot by Ireton's troopers. The
corporation and magistrates were in favour of a capitulation; but the
gallant Governor, Hugh O'Neill, opposed it earnestly. Colonel Fennell,
who had already betrayed the pass at Killaloe, completed his perfidy by
seizing St. John's Gate and Tower, and admitting Ireton's men by night.
On the following day the invader was able to dictate his own terms.
2,500 soldiers laid down their arms in St. Mary's Church, and marched
out of the city, many dropping dead on road of the fearful pestilence.
Twenty-four persons were exempted from quarter. Amongst the number were
a Dominican prelate, Dr. Terence O'Brien, Bishop of Emly, and a
Franciscan, Father Wolfe. Ireton had special vengeance for the former,
who had long encouraged the people to fight for their country and their
faith, and had refused a large bribe[489] which the Cromwellian General
had offered him if he would leave the city. The ecclesiastics were soon
condemned; but, ere the Bishop was dragged to the gibbet, he turned to
the dark and cruel man who had sacrificed so many lives, and poured such
torrents of blood over the land, summoning him, in stern and prophetic
tones, to answer at God's judgment-seat for the evils he had done. The
Bishop and his companion were martyred on the Eve of All Saints, October
31st, 1651. On the 26th of November Ireton was a corpse. He caught the
plague eight days after he had been summoned to the tribunal of eternal
justice; and he died raving wildly of the men whom he had murdered, and
accusing everyone but himself of the crime he had committed.
[Illustration: Ireton condemning the Bishop of Limerick.]
Several of the leading gentry of Limerick were also executed; and the
traitor Fennell met the reward of his treachery, and was also hanged.
Hugh O'Neill was saved through the remonstrances of some of the
Parliamentary officers, who had the spirit to appreciate his valour and
his honorable dealing.
Ludlow now took the command, and marched to assist Coote, who was
besieging Galway. This town surrendered on the 12th of May, 1652. The
few Irish officers who still held out against the Parliament, made the
best terms they could for themselves individually; and there was a brief
peace, the precursor of yet more terrible storms.
I have already given such fearful accounts of the miseries to which the
Irish were reduced by confiscations, fines, and war, that it seems
useless to add fresh details; yet, fearful as are the records given by
Spenser of 1580, when neither the lowing of a cow nor the voice of a
herdsman could be heard from Dunquin, in Kerry, to Cashel, in Munster,
there seems to have been a deeper depth of misery after Cromwell's
massacres. In 1653 the English themselves were nearly starving, even in
Dublin; and cattle had to be imported from Wales. There was no tillage,
and a licence was required to kill lamb.[490] The Irish had fled into
the mountains, the only refuge left to them now; and the Parliamentary
officers were obliged to issue proclamations inviting their return, and
promising them safety and protection. But the grand object of the
revolutionary party was still to carry out the wild scheme of unpeopling
Ireland of the Irish, and planting it anew with English--a scheme which
had been so often attempted, and had so signally failed, that one
marvels how it could again have been brought forward. Still there were
always adventurers ready to fight for other men's lands, and subjects
who might be troublesome at home, whom it was found desirable to occupy
in some way abroad. But a grand effort was made now to get rid of as
many Irishmen as possible in a peaceable manner. The valour of the Irish
soldier was well known abroad;[491] and agents from the King of Spain,
the King of Poland, and the Prince de Condé, were contending for those
brave fellows, who were treated like slaves in their native land; and
then, if they dared resist, branded with the foul name of rebels. If a
keen had rung out loud and long when O'Donnell left his native land
never to return, well might it ring out now yet more wildly. In May,
1652, Don Ricardo White shipped 7,000 men for the King of Spain; in
September, Colonel Mayo collected 3,000 more; Lord Muskerry took 5,000
to Poland; and, in 1654, Colonel Dwyer went to serve the Prince de Condé
with 3,500 men. Other officers looked up the men who had served under
them, and expatriated themselves in smaller parties; so that, between
1651 and 1654, 34,000 Irishmen had left their native land; and few,
indeed, ever returned to its desolate shores.
But their lot was merciful compared with the fate of those who still
remained. In 1653 Ireland was considered sufficiently depopulated by war
and emigration to admit of a commencement of the grand planting. The
country was again portioned out; again the ruling powers selected the
best portion of the land for themselves and their favourites; again the
religion of the country was reformed, and Protestant prelates were
condemned as loudly, though they were not hunted as unmercifully, as
Popish priests; again the wild and lawless adventurer was sent to eject
the old proprietor, who might starve or beg while the intruder held his
lands, and sheltered himself in his mansion, while a new cruelty was
enacted, a new terror devised, a new iniquity framed, and this by rulers
who talked so loudly of political and religious liberty. It was not
convenient, more probably, it was not possible, to massacre all the
native population who still survived; so they were to be
banished--banished to a corner of their own land, imprisoned there
safely by their ruthless conquerors, and there, without hope or help, it
was supposed they must soon die out quietly.
This is the official proclamation which was issued on the subject: "The
Parliament of the Commonwealth of England, having, by an Act lately
passed (entitled an Act for the Settling of Ireland), declared that it
is not their intention to extirpate this whole nation ... it is ordered
that the Governor and Commissioners of Revenue ... do cause the said Act
of Parliament, with this present declaration, to be published and
proclaimed in their respective precincts, by beat of drum and sound of
trumpet, on some market-day within ten days after the same shall come
unto them within their respective precincts."
We may imagine the dismay and anguish which this announcement caused.
The old Irish chieftain and the Anglo-Irish lord still had some kind of
home and shelter on their own estate--it might be but an outhouse or a
barn; it was certainly on the worst and least cultivated portion of
their land, for the old castle had long since been taken from them, and
their broad acres transferred to others. Yet, though they tilled the
soil of which they so lately had been the lords, this little spot was
home: there the wife and mother loved her little ones as tenderly as in
the stately halls which her husband or his fathers had so lately
possessed. It was home, and if not the dear old home, it was, perhaps,
loved all the more for its sorrowful proximity to the ancestral
castle--for the faint hope that the rightful owner might still be
restored. But the trumpet had sounded the nation's doom. Confiscation
and banishment, wholesale plunder and untold iniquity, reigned supreme.
The name of the God of justice was invoked to sanction[492] the grossest
outrages upon justice; and men who professed to have freed their own
nation from the tyranny of kingcraft and of Popery, perpetrated a
tyranny on another nation, which has made the name of their leader a
byword and a curse.
The majority of the Catholic nobility and gentry were banished; the
remainder of the nation, thus more than decimated, were sent to
Connaught. On the 26th of September, 1653, all the property of the Irish
people was declared to belong to the English army and adventurers, "and
it was announced that the Parliament had assigned Connaught [America was
not then accessible] for the habitation of the Irish nation, whither
they must transplant, with their wives, and daughters, and children,
before 1st May following, under the penalty of death, if found on this
side of the Shannon after that day."[493] It must not be supposed that
this death penalty was a mere threat; I shall give instances to prove
the contrary. Any man, woman, or child who had disobeyed this order, no
matter from what cause, could be instantly executed in any way, by any
of these soldiers or adventurers, without judge, jury, or trial. It was
in fact constituting a special commission for the new comers to
murder[494] all the old inhabitants.
Connaught was selected for two reasons: first, because it was the most
wasted province of Ireland; and secondly, because it could be, and in
fact was, most easily converted into a national prison, by erecting a
_cordon militaire_ across the country, from sea to sea. To make the
imprisonment more complete, a belt four miles wide, commencing one mile
to the west of Sligo, and thence running along the coast and the
Shannon, was to be given to the soldiery to plant. Thus, any Irishman
who attempted to escape, would be sure of instant capture and execution.
The Government, as it has been already remarked, reserved the best part
of the land for themselves. They secured the towns, church-lands, and
tithes, and abolished the Protestant Church, with all its officers,
which had been so recently declared the religion of the country. A
"Church of Christ" was now the established religion, and a Mr. Thomas
Hicks was approved by the "Church of Christ" meeting at Chichester
House, as one fully qualified to preach and dispense the Gospel as often
as the Lord should enable him, and in such places as the Lord should
make his ministry most effectual. The Parliament also reserved for
themselves the counties of Dublin, Kildare, Carlow, and Cork; and from
these lands and the church property they were to enrich themselves, and,
with what they could spare, to reward the leading regicides and rebels.
The adventurers were next provided for. They claimed £960,000. This was
divided into three lots, to be paid in lands in Munster, Leinster, and
Ulster. All these were to be drawn by lot; and a lottery was held at
Grocers' Hall, London, which commenced at eight o'clock in the morning,
on the 20th of July, 1653, at which time and place men who professed the
advancement of the Christian religion to be the business of their lives,
openly and flagrantly violated the most solemn and explicit commands of
that very belief which they declared themselves so zealous in upholding.
The soldiers and officers were to obtain whatever was left after the
adventurers had been satisfied.
A book was written by a Franciscan father, called _Threnodia
Hiberno-Catholica, sive Planctus Universalis totius Cleri et Populi
Regni Hiberniæ_,[495] in which the writer states he had heard a great
Protestant statesman give three reasons why this transplantation was
confined to the gentry, and why the poor, who had not been either
transported or hanged, were allowed to remain: (1) because the English
wanted them to till the ground; (2) they hoped they would become
Protestants when deprived of their priests; (3) because the settlers
required servants, or else they should have worked for themselves.
But the fatal day at length arrived, and those who had dared to linger,
or to hope that so cruel a sentence would not be finally executed, were
at once undeceived. The commissioners had been in trouble all the
winter: the people who were to be driven out of their farms refused to
sow for those who were to succeed them; and the very plotters of the
iniquity began to tremble for the consequences which might accrue to
themselves. They fasted, they prayed, and they wrote pages of their
peculiar cant, which would be ludicrous were it not profane. They talked
loudly of their unworthiness for so great a service, but expressed no
contrition for wholesale robbery. Meanwhile, however, despite cant,
fasts, and fears, the work went on. The heads of each family were
required to proceed to Loughrea before the 31st of January, 1654, to
receive such allotments as the commissioners pleased to give them, and
that they might erect some kind of huts on these allotments, to shelter
their wives and daughters when they arrived. The allotment of land was
proportioned to the stock which each family should bring; but they were
informed that, at a future day, other commissioners were to sit at
Athlone, and regulate even these regulations, according to their real or
supposed affection or disaffection to the Parliament. All this was
skilfully put forward, that the unfortunate people might transplant the
more quietly, in the hope of procuring thereby the good-will of their
tyrants; but the tyrants were quite aware that the stock would probably
die from the fatigue of transportation and the want of food; then the
land could be taken from the victim, and, as a last favour, he might be
allowed to remain in the poor hut he had erected, until misery and
disease had terminated his life also.
Remonstrances and complaints were sent to the faction who governed
England, but all was in vain. The principal petitioners were the
descendants of the English nobles; they were now, by a just retribution,
suffering themselves the very miseries which they had so ruthlessly
inflicted on the native Irish. The petitioners, says Mr.
Prendergast,[496] were the noble and the wealthy, men of ancient English
blood, descendants of the invaders--the FitzGeralds, the Butlers, the
Plunkets, the Barnwalls, Dillons, Cheevers, Cusacks, names found
appended to various schemes for extirpating or transplanting the Irish,
after the subduing of Lord Thomas FitzGerald's rebellion in 1535--who
were now to transplant as Irish. The native Irish were too poor to pay
scriveners and messengers to the Council, and their sorrows were
unheard; though under their rough coats beat hearts that felt as great
pangs at being driven from their native homes as the highest in the
land.
One of these English families demands special mention. Edmund Spenser's
grandson was now commanded to transplant, as though he to had been "mere
Irish" and the very estate near Fermoy, which had been confiscated from
the FitzGeralds seventy years before, and which the poet had obtained
thus fraudulently, was now confiscated anew, and granted to Cromwell's
soldiers. William Spenser protested; he pleaded his grandfather's name,
he pleaded his grandfather's services, especially the odium he had
incurred amongst the Irish by the way in which he had written of them;
and lastly, William Spenser declares of himself that he had utterly
renounced Popery since he came to years of discretion. But even
Cromwell's interference could not save him; the soldiers were determined
to have his lands, and they had them.
The commissioners appointed to conduct the transplanting had a busy
time. They were overwhelmed with petitions: the heads of families
demanding permission to return and save their crops; the women
requesting to remain a few months longer for a similar purpose, when the
men were not permitted to return. Hundreds of petitions were sent from
aged and bedridden persons, to obtain leave to die in peace where they
were. Then there were complaints from the officers who had charge of
driving the people into the plantation; and above all, there was a
charge, a grave charge, against the Irish people--they were as
stiff-necked, wicked, and rebellious[497] as ever, and could not be
brought to see that they were created for no other end than to be
sacrificed for the benefit of English adventurers; and, moreover, they
were declared to be a most treacherous race, for, years after, they
might revenge all this kindness, by murdering the men who had taken
possession of their lands and farms; and some had absolutely refused to
transplant, and preferred death.
The manner in which these difficulties were met is thus recorded in a
letter which was written for publication in London:--
"_Athy, March_ 4, 1664-5.
"I have only to acquaint you that the time prescribed for the
transplantation of the Irish proprietors, and those that have been
in arms and abettors of the rebellion, being near at hand, the
officers are resolved to fill the gaols and to seize them; by which
this bloody people will know that they [the officers] are not
degenerated from English principles; though I presume we shall be
very tender of hanging any except leading men; yet we shall make no
scruple of sending them to the West Indies, where they will serve
for planters, and help to plant the plantation that General
Venables, it is hoped, hath reduced."
So examples were made. Mr. Edward Hetherington was hanged in Dublin, on
the 3rd of April, 1655, with placards on his breast and back, on which
were written, "For not transplanting;" and at the summer assizes of
1658, hundreds were condemned to death for the same cause, but were
eventually sent as slaves to Barbadoes. The miseries of those who did
transplant was scarcely less than those of the persons who were
condemned to slavery. Some committed suicide, some went mad, all were
reduced to the direst distress. The nobles of the land were as cruelly
treated and as much distrusted as the poorest peasant. The very men who
had laid down their arms and signed articles of peace at Kilkenny, were
not spared; and the excuse offered was, that the Act of Parliament
overrode the articles. One of the gentlemen thus betrayed was Lord
Trimbleston, and his tomb may still be seen in the ruined Abbey of
Kilconnell, with the epitaph:--
"HERE LIES MATHEW, LORD BARON OF TRIMBLESTON,
ONE OF THE TRANSPLANTED."
[Illustration: SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.]
FOOTNOTES:
[483] _Trim_ For an illustration of this castle, see p. 560.
[484] _Bibles_.--See _The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland_, by John P.
Prendergast, Esq.--a most important work, and one which merits the
careful consideration of all who wish to understand this period of Irish
history, and one of the many causes of Irish disaffection. The scythes
and sickles were to the corn, that the Irish might be starved if they
could not be conquered.
[485] _Quarter_.--Cromwell says, in his letters, that quarter was not
promised; Leland and Carte say that it was.
[486] _Tale_.--_Cromwell's Letters and Speeches_, vol. i. p. 456. The
simplicity with which Carlyle attempts to avert the just indignation of
the Irish, by saying that the garrison "consisted mostly of Englishmen,"
coupled with his complacent impression that eccentric phrases can excuse
crime, would be almost amusing were it not that he admits himself to be
as cruel as his hero.--vol. i. p. 453. A man who can write thus is past
criticism. If the garrison did consist mainly of Englishmen, what
becomes of the plea, that this barbarity was a just vengeance upon the
Irish for the "massacre."
[487] _Allowed of_.--_Letters and Speeches_, vol. i. p. 477.
[488] _Protection_.--Dr. French, the Catholic Bishop of Ferns, has given
an account of the storming of Wexford, in a letter to the Papal Nuncio,
in which he states that the soldiers were not content with simply
murdering their victims, but used "divers sorts of torture." As he was
then in the immediate neighbourhood, he had every opportunity of being
correctly informed. Cromwell must have sanctioned this, if he did not
encourage it.
[489] _Bribe_.--40,000 golden crowns, and free leave to emigrate where
he chose.--_Hib. Dom._ p. 448.
[490] _Lamb._.--_Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 16. See also Petty's
_Political Anatomy of Ireland._
[491] _Abroad_.--The Prince of Orange declared they were born soldiers.
Sir John Norris said that he "never beheld so few of any country as of
Irish that were idiots or cowards," Henry IV. of France said that Hugh
O'Neill was the third soldier of the age; and declared that no nation
had such resolute martial men.--_Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 22.
[492] _Sanction_.--See _Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 61, for a specimen
of the "Bible stuff with which they crammed their heads and hardened
their hearts."
[493] _Day_.--_Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 163.
[494] _Murder_.--"Whenever any unwary person chanced to pass these
limits he was knocked on the head by the first officer or soldier who
met him. Colonel Astell killed _six women_ in this way."--_Ibid_. p.
164.
[495] _Hiberniæ_.--_The Wail of the Irish Catholics; or, Groans of the
Whole Clergy and People, &c._ By Father Maurice Morison, of the Minors
of Strict Observance, an eyewitness of these cruelties. Insbruck, A.D.
1659. This religious had remained in Ireland, like many of his brethren,
in such complete disguise, that their existence was not even suspected.
In order to minister the more safely to their afflicted people, they
often hired as menials in Protestant families and thus, in a double
sense, became the servants of all men. Father Maurice was in the
household of Colonel Ingolsby, the Parliamentary Governor of Limerick.
[496] _Prendergast.--Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 34. We can only
recommend this volume to the consideration of our readers. It would be
impossible, in anything less than a volume, to give the different
details which Mr. Prendergast has brought together with so much
judgment, and at the expense of years of research. We might have
selected some cases from his work, but, on the whole, we think it will
be more satisfactory to the reader to peruse it in its entirety. It may
be obtained from our publishers, Messrs. Longmans and Co.,
Paternoster-row, London.
[497] _Rebellious_.--If the subject were not so serious, the way in
which the officials wrote about the feelings of the Irish would almost
provoke a smile. They say: "It is the nature of this people to be
rebellious; and they have been so much the more disposed to it, having
been highly exasperated by the transplanting work." Surely they could
not be expected to be anything else but rebellious and exasperated!
CHAPTER XXXI.
The Irish transported as Slaves to Barbadoes--The Three Beasts who were
to be hunted: the Wolf, the Priest, and the Tory--Origin and Causes of
Agrarian Outrages--Cases of Individual Wrongs--Lord Roche--Mr. Luttrel
Accession of Charles II.--His Base Conduct towards the Irish
Loyalists--Gross Injustice towards the Irish Catholic Landowners--The
Remonstrance opposed by the Clergy--A Quarrel in the House of Lords The
Popish Plot--Ormonde's Difficulties--Seizure and Imprisonment of the
Archbishop of Dublin--Imprisonment and Execution of the Most Rev. Dr.
Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh.
[A.D.-1655-1681.]
Many of the Irish soldiers who had entered into the service of foreign
princes, were obliged to leave their wives and families behind. When we
recall the number of those who were thus expatriated, it will not seem
surprising that thousands of young children were left utterly destitute.
These boys and girls, however, were easily disposed of by the
Government; and Sir William Petty states, that 6,000 were sent out as
slaves to the West Indies. The Bristol sugar merchants traded in these
human lives, as if they had been so much merchandize; and merchandize,
in truth, they were, for they could be had for a trifle, and they
fetched a high price in the slave-market. Even girls of noble birth were
subjected to this cruel fate. Morison mentions an instance of this kind
which came to his own knowledge. He was present when Daniel Connery, a
gentleman of Clare, was sentenced to banishment, by Colonel Ingoldsby,
for harbouring a priest. Mrs. Connery died of destitution, and three of
his daughters, young and beautiful girls, were transported as slaves to
Barbadoes.[498]
A court was established for the punishment of "rebels and malignants;"
the former consisting of persons who refused to surrender their houses
and lands, and the latter being those who would not act contrary to
their conscientious convictions in religious matters. These courts were
called "Cromwell's Slaughter-houses." Donnellan, who had acted as
solicitor to the regicides, at the trial of Charles I., held the first
court at Kilkenny, October 4, 1652. Lord Louther held a court in Dublin,
in February, 1653, for the special purpose of trying "all massacres and
murders committed since the 1st day of October, 1641." The inquiries,
however, were solely confined to the accused Catholics; and the result
proved the falsehood of all the idle tales which had been circulated of
their having intended a great massacre of Protestants, for convictions
could only be obtained against 200 persons, and even these were
supported by forged and corrupt evidence.[499] Sir Phelim O'Neill was
the only person convicted in Ulster, and he was offered his life again
and again, and even on the very steps of the scaffold, if he would
consent to criminate Charles I.
As the majority of the nation had now been disposed of, either by
banishment, transportation, or hanging, the Government had time to turn
their attention to other affairs. The desolation of the country was
such, that the smoke of a fire, or the sign of a habitation, was
considered a rare phenomenon. In consequence of this depopulation, wild
beasts had multiplied on the lands, and three "beasts" were especially
noted for destruction. In the Parliament held at Westminster in 1657,
Major Morgan, member for the county Wicklow, enumerated these beasts
thus: "We have three beasts to destroy that lay burdens upon us. The
first is the wolf, on whom we lay £5 a head if a dog, and £10 if a
bitch. The second beast is a priest, on whose head we lay £10; if he be
eminent, more. The third beast is a Tory, on whose head, if he be a
public Tory, we lay £20; and forty shillings on a private Tory."[500]
Wolves had increased so rapidly, that the officers who left Ireland for
Spain, in 1652, were forbidden to take their dogs with them, and were
thus deprived of the pleasure and the pride (for Irish dogs were famous)
of this consolation in their exile. Public hunts were ordered, and every
effort made to keep down beasts of prey. But the whole blame was thrown
on the second beast. It was declared solemnly that if there had been no
priests there would have been no wolves.[501] The syllogism ran somewhat
in this fashion:--
The Popish priests are the cause of every misery in Ireland;
The wolves are a misery:
Therefore the priests are to blame for the existence of the wolves.
"By a similar process of reasoning," observes Mr. Prendergast, "it is
proved that the Irish have caused the ruin, the plundering, and the
desolation of the country, from the first invasion, for so many ages."
And this is undoubtedly true; for if there had been no Irish, no Irish
could have been plundered; and if there had been no plunder, there could
not have been the misery of the plundered. The number of wolves to be
destroyed may be estimated from the fact, that some lands valued at a
high rate were let for a stipulated number of wolves' heads in lieu of
rent. But the wolves were more easily got rid of than the priests. The
priests were accustomed to be persecuted, and accustomed to be hunted.
They came to Ireland, as a general rule, with the full knowledge that
this would be their fate, and that if they ended their lives, after a
few years' ministration, by hanging, without any extra torture, it was
the best they could hope for, as far as this world was concerned. Some,
however, would have preferred the torture, expecting an additional
recompense for it in the next. But there were parts of the country where
it was incomparably more difficult to hunt out a priest than a wolf; so
the Government gave notice, on the 6th of January, 1653, that all
priests and friars who were willing to transport themselves, should have
liberty to do so for twenty days. But the priests and friars had no idea
of leaving the country. They had gone abroad, at the risk of their
lives, to fit themselves in some of the splendid continental colleges
for their duties, and to obtain authority to administer the sacraments;
they returned, at the risk of their lives, to fulfil their mission; and
they remained, at the risk of their lives, to devote them to their own
people, for whose sakes they had renounced, not only earthly pleasures
and joys, but even that quiet and peaceful life, which, as Christian
priests, they might have had in foreign lands. The people for whom they
suffered were not ungrateful. Poor as they were, none could be found to
take the proffered bribe. Long lists may be found of priests who were
captured and executed, and of the men who received the rewards for their
capture; but you will not see a real Irish name amongst them; you will
perceive that the priest-catchers were principally English soldiers; and
you will remark that the man in whose house the priest was discovered
generally shared his fate. But it was useless. They were hung, they were
tortured, they were transported to Barbadoes, and, finally, such numbers
were captured, that it was feared they would contaminate the very
slaves, and they were confined on the island of Innisboffin, off the
coast of Connemara. Yet more priests came to take the place of those who
were thus removed, and the "hunt" was still continued.
The number of secular priests who were victims to this persecution
cannot be correctly estimated. The religious orders, who were in the
habit of keeping an accurate chronicle of the entrance and decease of
each member, furnish fuller details. An official record, drawn up in
1656, gives the names of thirty Franciscans who had suffered for the
faith; and this was before the more severe search had commenced. The
martyrdom of a similar number of Dominicans is recorded almost under the
same date; and Dr. Burgat[502] states that more than three hundred of
the clergy were put to death by the sword or on the scaffold, while more
than 1,000 were sent into exile.
The third "beast" was the Tory. The Tory was the originator of agrarian
outrages in Ireland, or we should rather say, the English planters were
the originators, and the Tories the first perpetrators of the crime. The
Irish could scarcely be expected to have very exalted ideas of the
sanctity and inviolable rights of property, from the way in which they
saw it treated. The English made their will law, and force their
title-deed. The Anglo-Normans dispossessed the native Irish, the
followers of the Tudors dispossessed the Anglo-Normans, and the men of
the Commonwealth dispossessed them all. Still the Celt, peculiarly
tenacious of his traditions, had a very clear memory of his ancient
rights, and could tell you the family who even then represented the
original proprietor, though that proprietor had been dispossessed five
or six hundred years. The ejectments from family holdings had been
carried out on so large a scale, that it can scarcely be a matter of
surprise if some of the ejected resented this treatment. There were
young men who preferred starving in the woods to starving in Connaught;
and after a time they formed into bands in those vast tracts of land
which had been wholly depopulated. The men were desperate. It is
difficult to see how they could have been anything else, when driven to
desperation. They were called robbers; but there was a general confusion
about _meum_ and _tuum_ which they could not understand. Strangers had
taken possession of their cattle, and they did not comprehend why they
should not try to obtain it again in any possible way. Young men, whose
fathers had landed estates of £2,000 a-year, which were quietly divided
amongst Cromwell's Life-Guards, while the proprietor was sent out to
beg, and his daughters compelled to take in washing or do needlework,
could scarcely be expected to take such a change in their circumstances
very calmly. A man who had been transplanted from an estate worth £2,500
a year near Dublin, which his family had owned for four hundred years,
and whose daughters were given the munificent gratuity of £10 a-piece by
the Council Board, and forbidden for the future to ask for any further
assistance, might certainly plead extenuating circumstances[503] if he
took to highway robbery. Such circumstances as these were common at this
period; and it should be borne in mind that the man whose holding was
worth but £40 a-year felt the injustice, and resented the inhumanity of
his expulsion, quite as much as the nobleman with £4,000. So the Tories
plundered their own property; and, if they could be captured, paid the
penalty with their lives; but, when they were not caught, the whole
district suffered, and some one was made a scapegoat for their crime,
though it did not seem much to matter whether the victim could be
charged with complicity or not. After some years, when even the sons of
the proprietors had become old inhabitants, and the dispossessed
generation had passed away, their children were still called Tories.
They wandered from village to village, or rather from hovel to hovel,
and received hospitality and respect from the descendants of those who
had been tenants on the estates of their forefathers, and who still
called them gentlemen and treated them as such, though they possessed
nothing but the native dignity, which could not be thrown off, and the
old title-deeds, which were utterly worthless, yet not the less
carefully treasured. Yet, these men were condemned by their oppressors
because they did not work for their living, and because they still
remembered their ancient dignity, and resented their ancient wrongs. To
have worked and to have forgotten might have been wiser; but those who
are accustomed to ease are slow to learn labour, even with the best
intentions; and those who had inflicted the wrongs were scarcely the
persons who should have taunted the sufferers with the miseries they had
caused.
Charles II. commenced his reign _de facto_ in 1660, under the most
favourable auspices. People were weary of a Commonwealth which had
promised so much and performed so little; of the name of liberty without
the reality; of the exercise of kingly power without the appurtenances
or right of majesty. But the new monarch had been educated in a bad
school. Surrounded with all the prestige of royalty without its
responsibilities, and courted most ardently by followers whose only
object was their own future advancement, which they hoped to secure by
present flattery, it is scarcely a matter of surprise that Charles
should have disappointed the hopes of the nation. In England public
affairs were easily settled. Those who had been expelled from their
estates by the Cromwellian faction, drove out[504] by the new
proprietors; but in Ireland the case was very different. Even the
faithful loyalists, who had sacrificed everything for the King, and had
so freely assisted his necessities out of their poverty, were now
treated with contempt, and their claims silenced by proclamation; while
the men who had been most opposed to the royal interest, and most cruel
in their oppression of the natives, were rewarded and admitted into
favour. Coote and Broghill were of this class. Each tried to lessen the
other in opinion of their royal master as they ran the race for favour,
and each boasted of services never accomplished, and of loyalty which
never existed. The two enemies of each other and of the nation were now
appointed Lord Justices of Ireland; and a Parliament was assembled on
the 8th of May, 1661, the first meeting of the kind which had been held
for twenty years.
The Catholic, or national interest, was certainly not represented; for
there were present seventy-two Protestant peers, and only twenty-one
Catholics; while the House of Commons comprised two hundred and sixty
members, all of whom were burgesses except sixty-four, and the towns had
been so entirely peopled by Cromwell's Puritan followers, that there
could be no doubt what course they would pursue. An attempt was now made
to expel the few Catholics who were present, by requiring them to take
the oath of supremacy. The obsequious Parliament voted £30,000 to the
Duke of Ormonde, whose career of duplicity was crowned with success. It
is almost amusing to read his biographer's account[505] of the favours
bestowed on him, and the laudations he bestows on his master for his
condescension in accepting them. Carte would have us believe that
Ormonde was a victim to his king and his country, and that the immense
sums of money he received did not nearly compensate him for his outlays.
Posterity will scarcely confirm the partiality of the biographer.
The Bill of Settlement was opposed by the Irish Catholics through their
counsel, but their claims were rejected and treated with contempt.
Charles had told his Parliament, on his restoration, that he expected
they would have a care of his honour and of the promise he had made.
This promise had been explicitly renewed by Ormonde for the King, before
he left for Breda; but the most solemn engagements were so regularly
violated when Irish affairs were concerned, that nothing else could have
been expected. A Court of Claims was at length established, to try the
cases of ejectment which had occurred during the Commonwealth; but this
excited so much indignation and alarm amongst the Protestants, that all
hope of justice was quickly at an end, and the time-serving Ormonde
closed the court. The grand occupation of each new reign, for the last
few centuries, appears to have been to undo what had been done in the
preceding reigns. An Act of Explanation was now passed, and a Protestant
militia raised, to satisfy that party. It was provided by the new Act
that the Protestants were, in the first place, and especially, to be
settled; that any doubt which arose should be decided in their favour;
and that no Papist, who, by the qualifications of the former Act, had
not been adjudged innocent should at any future time be reputed
innocent, or entitled to claim any lands or settlements. It will be
remembered that Ormonde had cut short the sittings of the court to
satisfy Protestant clamour; in consequence of this, more than 8,000
Catholic claimants were condemned to forfeit their estates, without even
the shadow of an inquiry, but with the pretence of having justice done
to them, or, as Leland has expressed it, "without the justice granted to
the vilest criminal--that of a fair and equal trial."[506]
Although it would seem to the ordinary observer that the Catholics had
been dealt with severely, the dominant faction were still dissatisfied;
and Ormonde was obliged to threaten a dissolution, and to expel some
members for complicity in a plot to overthrow the English Government,
which had just been discovered, and of which the ringleader was a man
named Blood. It was now ascertained that the Cromwellian distribution of
lands had been carried out with the most shameful injustice towards the
very Government which had sanctioned it; and that the soldiers, who went
with texts of Scripture on their lips, and swords in their hands, to
destroy Popery, had cheated[507] their officers and self-elected rulers
with shameless audacity.
The famous Remonstrance was drawn up about this time. It was prepared by
Peter Walsh, a Franciscan friar, who was a protégé of Ormonde's, and who
devoted more attention to politics than to his religious duties. The
Remonstrance contained expressions which were by no means consonant with
that pure Catholic feeling for which the Irish had been always
remarkable; but it suited the Duke's purpose all the better, and he
induced a considerable number of the nobility, and some of the clergy,
to affix their signatures to it. They were little aware, in giving
expression to the loyalty they so sincerely felt, that they were
supposed to countenance disrespect to the Church which they so deeply
revered. A synod of the Irish bishops and clergy was therefore held in
Dublin, to consider the document, June 11th, 1666. Although
ecclesiastics were then under the penal laws, and liable to suffer at
any moment, Ormonde connived at the meeting, hoping that his ends would
be thereby attained. He has himself left his object on record. It was to
"sow divisions among the clergy;" and Lord Orrery had written to him,
being well aware of his plans, suggesting that this was a fitting time
for their accomplishment. But the clergy were not so easily deceived;
and even the miserable friar has left it on record, that out of 1,850
ecclesiastics, regular and secular, only sixty-nine signed the
Remonstrance. The synod now prepared another document; and if the
expression of loyalty was all that Ormonde required, he should have been
fully satisfied; but, unfortunately, this was not the case, and he bided
his time to avenge himself bitterly on the men who refused to sacrifice
their conscience to his will.
During the same year (1660), the Irish sent over a contribution of
15,000 bullocks, to relieve the distress which occurred in London after
the Great Fire. In return for their charity, they were assured that this
was a mere pretence to keep up the cattle trade with England; and
accordingly an Act was passed in which the importation of Irish cattle
was forbidden, and termed a "nuisance," and language was used which, in
the present day, would be considered something like a breach of
privilege. The Duke of Buckingham, whose farming interests were in
England, declared "that none could oppose the Bill, except such as had
Irish estates or Irish understandings." Lord Ossory protested that "such
virulence became none but one of Cromwell's counsellors;" and he being
the eldest of the Duke of Ormonde, and having Irish interests, opposed
it. Several noble lords attempted to draw their swords. Ossory
challenged Buckingham; Buckingham declined the challenge. Ossory was
sent to the Tower; the word "nuisance" remained; some members of the
"Cabal" said it should have been "felony;" and the Irish trade was
crushed. Even the Puritan settlers in Ireland began to rebel at this,
for they, too, had begun to have "Irish interests," and could not quite
see matters relative to that country in the same light as they had done
when at the other side of the Channel. At last they became openly
rebellious. Some soldiers mutinied for arrears of pay, and seized
Carrickfergus Castle--ten of them were executed, and peace was restored;
but the old Cromwellians, both in England and Ireland, gave considerable
anxiety to the Government; and, indeed, it seems marvellous that they
should not have revolted more openly and in greater force.
So many complaints were made of Ormonde's administration, that he was
now removed for a time. He was succeeded by Lord Berkeley, in May, 1670,
a nobleman whose honest and impartial government earned him the respect
of all who were not interested in upholding a contrary line of conduct.
The Catholics offered him an address, which was signed by two prelates,
who held a prominent position, not only in their Church, but also in the
history of the period; these were Dr. Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh,
and Dr. Talbot, Archbishop of Dublin. Colonel Richard Talbot, who was
afterwards created Earl of Tyrconnel by James II., had been, for some
time, the accredited agent of the Irish Catholics at the English court;
he now (A.D. 1671) attempted to obtain some examination into the claims
of those who had been ejected from their estates during the
Commonwealth. After some delay and much opposition, a commission was
appointed; but although the "Popish Plot" had not yet made its
appearance, a wild "no Popery" cry was raised, and the King was obliged
to recall Lord Berkeley, and substitute the Earl of Essex. Even this did
not quiet the storm. On the 9th of March, 1673, an address was presented
to the King by the Commons in England, demanding the persecution of
Papists in Ireland; and the weak monarch, all the more afraid of
appearing to show partiality, because of his apprehension that Popery
might be the true religion, and his still more serious apprehensions
that his people might find out his opinion, at once complied, and even
recalled the Commission of Enquiry.
In 1677 Ormonde was again appointed Viceroy, and he held the office
during the ensuing seven years, at an advanced age, and a period of
extraordinary political excitement. The "Popish treason" was the first
and the most fearful of these panics. Ormonde was at Kilkenny when he
received the first intimation of the conspiracy, October 3, 1678; but he
had too much knowledge of the world to credit it for a moment. Like
other politicians of that, and indeed of other ages, he was obliged to
keep up his reputation by appearing to believe it in public, while in
private[508] he treated the whole affair with the contempt it merited.
It was soon reported that the plot had extended to Ireland, and
Archbishop Talbot was selected as the first victim. The prelate then
resided with his brother, Colonel Talbot, at Carton, near Maynooth. He
was in a dying state; but although his enemies might well have waited
for his end, he was taken out of his bed, carried to Dublin, and
confined a prisoner in the Castle. He died two years later. "He was the
last distinguished captive destined to end his days in that celebrated
state prison, which has since been generally dedicated to the peaceful
purposes of a reflected royalty."[509] His brother was arrested, but
allowed to go beyond the seas; and a Colonel Peppard was denounced in
England as one of the leading Irish traitors. But the Colonel was quite
as imaginary as the plot. No such person existed, and a _non est
inventis_ was all the return that could be made to the most active
inquiries. There was one illustrious victim, however, who was found, who
was executed, and who was not guilty, even in thought, of the crime of
which he was accused.
Oliver Plunkett had been Archbishop of Armagh since the death of Dr.
O'Reilly, in 1669. He belonged to the noble family of Fingall; but he
was more respected for his virtues and his office than even for his
rank. He was now accused of being in correspondence with the French; it
was a favourite charge against Catholics at that time, and one which
could be easily brought forward by men who did not mind swearing to a
lie, and not easily disproved by men who could only assert their
innocence. Lord Shaftesbury was the great patron of Titus Oates, the
concocter of the plot, and the perjured murderer of scores of innocent
men. It was a serious disappointment to find that no evidence of a
conspiracy could be found in Ireland. Carte, who certainly cannot be
suspected of the faintest shadow of preference for an Irishman or a
Catholic, says that every effort was made to drive the people into
rebellion. He gives the reason for this, which, from former experience,
one fears must be true. "There were," he says, "too many Protestants in
Ireland who wanted another rebellion, that they might increase their
estates by new forfeitures." "It was proposed to introduce the Test Act
and all the English penal laws into Ireland; and that a proclamation
should be forthwith issued for encouraging all persons that could make
any further discoveries of the horrid Popish plot, to come in and
declare the same."
Unfortunately for the credit of our common humanity, persons can always
be found who are ready to denounce their fellow-creatures, even when
guiltless, from mere malice. When, to the pleasure of gratifying a
passion, there is added the prospect of a reward, the temptation becomes
irresistible; and if the desire of revenge for an injury, real or
imaginary, be superadded, the temptation becomes overwhelming. In order
to satisfy the clamours of the "no Popery" faction, an order had been
issued, on the 16th of October, 1677, for the expulsion of all
ecclesiastics from Ireland; and a further proclamation was made,
forbidding Papists to enter into the Castle of Dublin, or any fort or
citadel; and so far, indeed, did this childish panic exceed others of
its kind, that orders were sent to the great market-towns, commanding
the markets to be held outside the walls, to prevent the obnoxious
Catholics from entering into the interior. Rewards were offered of £10
for an officer, £5 for a trooper, and £4 for a soldier, if it could be
proved that he attended Mass; and how many were sworn away by this
bribery it would be difficult to estimate. On the 2nd of December, a
strict search was ordered for the Catholic ecclesiastics who had not yet
transported themselves. Dr. Plunkett had not left the country. At the
first notice of the storm he withdrew, according to the apostolic
example, to a retired situation, where he remained concealed, more in
hope of martyrdom than in fear of apprehension.
The prelate had never relaxed in his duties towards his flock, and he
continued to fulfil those duties now with equal vigilance. One of the
most important functions of a chief shepherd is to oversee the conduct
of those who govern the flock of Christ under him. There was a Judas in
the college of the Apostles, and many Judases have been found since
then. The Archbishop had been obliged to excommunicate two of his
priests and two friars, who had been denounced by their superiors for
their unworthy lives. The unhappy men resented the degradation, without
repenting of the crimes which had brought it upon them. They were ready
for perjury, for they had renounced truth; and the gratification of
their malice was probably a far stronger motive than the bribe for the
capture of a bishop. The holy prelate was seized on the 6th December,
1679. Even Ormonde wished to have spared him, so inoffensive and
peaceful had been his life. He was arraigned at the Dundalk assizes; but
although every man on the grand jury was a Protestant, from whom, at
least, less partiality might be expected towards him than from members
of his own Church, the perjured witnesses refused to come forward.
Indeed, the prelate himself had such confidence in his innocence, and in
the honorable dealing of his Protestant fellow-countrymen, when their
better judgment was not bewildered by fanaticism, that he declared in
London he would put himself on trial in Ireland before any Protestant
jury who knew him, and who knew the men who swore against him, without
the slightest doubt of the result.
Jones, the Protestant Bishop of Meath, was, unfortunately for himself,
influenced by fanaticism. He had served in Cromwell's army,[510] and had
all that rancorous hatred of the Catholic Church so characteristic of
the low class from whom the Puritan soldiery were drawn. He was
determined that the Archbishop should be condemned; and as men could not
be found to condemn him in Ireland, he induced Lord Shaftesbury to have
him taken to London. The Archbishop was removed to Newgate, about the
close of October, 1680, and so closely confined, that none of his
friends could have access to him. He spent his time in prayer, and his
gaolers were amazed at his cheerfulness and resignation. His trial took
place on the 8th of June, 1681; but he was not allowed time to procure
the necessary witnesses, and the court would not allow certain records
to be put in, which would have proved the character of his accusers. Six
of the most eminent English lawyers were arrayed against him. The legal
arrangements of the times deprived him of the assistance of counsel, but
they did not require the judges to help out the men who swore against
him: this, however, they did do.
The prelate was condemned to die. The speech of the judge who pronounced
sentence was not distinguished by any very special forensic acumen. Dr.
Plunkett had been charged by the witnesses with political crimes; the
judge sentenced[511] him for his religious convictions; and, by a
process of reasoning not altogether peculiar to himself, insisted that
his supposed treason was a necessary result of the faith he professed.
The Archbishop suffered at Tyburn, on Friday, July 11, 1681. He went to
his death rejoicing, as men go to a bridal. His dying declaration
convinced his hearers of his innocence; and, perhaps, the deep regret
for his martyrdom, which was felt by all but the wretches who had
procured his doom, tended to still the wild storm of religious
persecution, or, at least, to make men see that where conscience was
dearer than life, conscientious convictions should be respected. It is
at least certain, that his name was the last on the long roll of
sufferers who had been executed at Tyburn for the faith. Blood was no
longer exacted there as the price which men should pay for liberty of
belief. It were well had that liberty been allowed by men to their
fellow-men in after years, without fines or confiscations--without those
social penalties, which, to a refined and sensitive mind, have in them
the bitterness of death, without the consolations of martyrdom.
[Illustration: ANCIENT PITCHER, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A., FOUND
IN A CRANNOGE, AT LOUGH TAUGHAN, LECALE, CO. DOWN.]
[Illustration: OLDERFLEET CASTLE, LARNE.]
FOOTNOTES:
[498] _Barbadoes_.--_Threnodia Hib._ p. 287.
[499] _Evidence_.--In a work written expressly to excite feeling in
England against the Irish, it is stated that they [the Irish] failed in
the massacre.--See _Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 5, for further evidence.
[500] _Tory.--Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 150.
[501] _No wolves_--Declaration printed at Cork, 1650.
[502] _Dr. Burgat.--Brevis Relatio_. Presented to the Sacred
Congregation in 1667. Dr. Moran's little work, _Persecution of the Irish
Catholics_, gives ample details on this subject; and every statement is
carefully verified, and the authority given for it.
[503] _Circumstances_.--Lord Roche and his daughters were compelled to
go on foot to Connaught, and his property was divided amongst the
English soldiers. His wife, the Viscountess Roche, was hanged without a
shadow of evidence that she had committed the crime of which she was
accused. Alderman Roche's daughters had nothing to live on but their own
earnings by washing and needlework; and Mr. Luttrell, the last case
mentioned above, was allowed as a favour to occupy his _own stables_
while preparing to transplant.
[504] _Drove out_.--Carte's _Ormonde_, vol ii. p. 398.
[505] _Accounts_--Carte's _Ormonde_, vol. ii. pp. 398, 399. He considers
all "bounties" to him as mere acts of justice.
[506] _Trial_.--Chief Justice Nugent, afterwards Lord Riverston, in a
letter, dated Dublin, June 23rd, 1686, and preserved in the State Paper
Office, London, says: "There are 5,000 in this kingdom who were never
outlawed."
[507] _Cheated_.--Books were found in the office of the surveyor for the
county Tipperary alone, in which only 50,000 acres were returned as
unprofitable, and the adventurers had returned 245,207.--Carte's
_Ormonde_, vol. ii. p. 307. "These soldiers," says Carte, "were for the
most part Anabaptists, Independents, and Levellers." Equal roguery was
discovered in other places.
[508] _Private_.--For full information on this subject, see Carte's
_Ormonde_, vol. ii. pp. 476-482. I will give one extract to verify the
statement above. "The Duke of Ormonde had, in truth, difficulties enough
to struggle with in the government of Ireland, to preserve that kingdom
in peace, and yet to give those who wished to imbroil it no handle of
exception to the measures he took for that end."--vol. ii. p. 477.
[509] _Royalty_.--D'Arcy M'Gee's _History of Ireland_, vol ii p. 560.
[510] _Army_.--Carte says "he was Scout-Master-General."--_Ormonde_,
vol. ii. p. 473.
[511] _Sentenced_.--See Dr. Moran's _Memoir of the Most Rev. Dr.
Plunkett_. This interesting work affords full details of the character
of the witnesses, the nature of the trial, and the Bishop's saintly end.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Glimpses of Social Life in the Seventeenth Century--Literature and
Literary Men--Keating--the Four Masters--Colgan--Ward--Usher--Ware--
Lynch--Trade--Commerce depressed by the English--Fairs--Waterford
Rugs--Exportation of Cattle forbidden--State of Trade in the Principal
Towns--Population--Numbers employed in different Trades--Learned
Professions--Physicians--Establishment of their College in
Dublin--Shopkeepers--Booksellers--Coffee-houses--Clubs--Newspapers--
Fashionable Churches--Post-houses and Post-offices established--
Custom-house--Exchange--Amusements--Plays at the Castle--The First
Theatre set up in Werburgh-street--Domestics Manners and Dress--
Food-A Country Dinner Party in Ulster.
[A.D. 1600-1700.]
Notwithstanding the persecutions to which the Irish had been subjected
for so many centuries, they preserved their love of literature, and the
cultivated tastes for which the Celt has been distinguished in all ages.
Indeed, if this taste had not existed, the people would have sunk into
the most degraded barbarism; for education was absolutely forbidden, and
the object of the governing powers seems to have been to reduce the
nation, both intellectually and morally, as thoroughly as possible. In
such times, and under such circumstances, it is not a little remarkable
to find men devoting themselves to literature with all the zest of a
freshman anticipating collegiate distinctions, while surrounded by
difficulties which would certainly have dismayed, if they did not
altogether crush, the intellects of the present age. I have already of
the mass of untranslated national literature existing country and in
continental libraries. These treasures of mental labour are by no means
confined to one period of our history; but it could scarcely be expected
that metaphysical studies or the fine arts could flourish at a period
when men's minds were more occupied with the philosophy of war than with
the science of Descartes, and were more inclined to patronize a new
invention in the art of gunnery, than the _chef d'oeuvre_ of a limner or
sculptor. The Irish language was the general medium of conversation in
this century. No amount of Acts of Parliament had been able to repress
its use, and even the higher classes of English settlers appear to have
adopted it by preference. Military proclamations were issued in this
language;[512] or if the Saxon tongue were used, it was translated for
the general benefit into the vernacular. During the Commonwealth,
however, the English tongue made some way; and it is remarkable that the
English-speaking Irish of the lower classes, in the present day, have
preserved the idioms and the accentuation used about this period. Many
of the expressions which provoke the mirth of the modern Englishman, and
which he considers an evidence of the vulgarity of the uneducated Irish,
may be found in the works of his countrymen, of which he is most justly
proud.
The language of Cromwell's officers and men, from whom the Celt had such
abundant opportunities of learning English, was (less the cant of
Puritanism) the language of Shakspeare, of Raleigh, and of Spenser. The
conservative tendencies of the Hibernian preserved the dialect intact,
while causes, too numerous for present detail, so modified it across the
Channel, that each succeeding century condemned as vulgarism what had
been the highest fashion with their predecessors. Even as Homeric
expressions lingered for centuries after the blind bard's obit had been
on record, so the expressions of Chaucer, Spenser, and Shakspeare, may
still be discovered in provincial dialects in many parts of the British
Isles. I do not intend to quote _Tate and Brady_ as models of
versification and of syntax; but if the best poets of the age did not
receive the commission to translate the Psalms into verse, it was a poor
compliment to religion. We find the pronunciation of their rhymes
corresponding with the very pronunciation which is now condemned as
peculiarly Irish. Newton also rhymes _way_ and _sea_, while one can
scarcely read a page of Pope[513] without finding examples of
pronunciation now supposed to be pure Hibernicism. In the Authorized
Protestant version of the Bible, _learn_ is used in the sense of _to
teach_, precisely as it is used in Ireland at the present day: "If thy
children shall keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall _learn_
them" and their use of the term _forninst_ is undoubtedly derived from
an English source, for we find it in Fairfax's _Tasso_.[514]
History and theology were the two great studies of the middle ages, and
to these subjects we find the _literati_ of Ireland directing special
attention. The importance and value of Latin as a medium of literary
intercommunication, had been perceived from an early period: hence that
language was most frequently employed by Irish writers after it had
become known in the country. It is unquestionably a national credit,
that no amount of suffering, whether inflicted for religious or
political opinions, deprived the Irish of historians.[515] Some of their
works were certainly compiled under the most disadvantageous
circumstances.
None of the writers whom we shall presently enumerate, worked for hope
of gain, or from any other motive save that of the purest patriotism.
Keating, whose merits are becoming more and more recognized since modern
research has removed Celtic traditions from the region of fable to the
tableland of possibility, wrote his _History_ principally in the Galtee
Mountains, where he had taken refuge from the vengeance of Carew,[516]
Lord President of Munster. Although he had received a high education in
the famous College of Salamanca, for the sake of his people he preferred
suffering persecution, and, if God willed it, death, to the peaceful
life of literary quiet which he might have enjoyed there. He wrote in
his mother-tongue, although master of many languages; and in consequence
of this choice his work remained in MS. for many years. When it came to
light, those who were ignorant of the MS. materials of ancient Irish
history, were pleased to suppose that he had invented a considerable
portion, and supplied the remainder from the _viva voce_ traditions of
the country people. Unfortunately, he was not sufficiently master of the
science of criticism to give the authorities which he had used so
carefully, and to prove their value and authenticity. But truth has at
length triumphed. Several of the works from which he has quoted have
been discovered; and it has been shown that, wild as some of his legends
may read in the garb in which he has given them, there is proof that
important facts underlie the structure, though it has been somewhat
overembellished by a redundant fancy.
[Illustration: TUBRID CHURCHYARD--BURIAL-PLACE OF THE HISTORIAN
KEATING.]
Keating was also a poet. Many of his pieces are still well known and
highly popular in Munster, and copies of nearly all of them are
preserved by the Royal Irish Academy. One of his ballads has been
"coaxed" into verse by D'Arcy M'Gee, in his _Gallery of Irish Writers_.
It is entitled "Thoughts on Innisfail." I shall give one verse as a
specimen, and as an illustration of the popular feelings of the time:
"And the mighty of Naas are mighty no more,
Like the thunders that boomed 'mid the banners of yore;
And the wrath-ripened fields, 'twas they who could reap them;
Till they trusted the forsworn, no foe could defeat them."
[Illustration: INSCRIPTION IN HONOUR OF KEATING.]
The poet-priest must have died at an advanced age, though the precise
date of his demise has not been ascertained. He has also left some
religious works; and his "Shaft of Death" is well known and much admired
both by divines and Celtic scholars.[517]
O'Sullivan Beare's history is too well known to require more than a
passing mention. It was said that he wrote as fiercely as he fought.
Archbishop Usher, with whom he had many a literary feud, appears to have
been of this opinion; for, after having described O'Sullivan as an
"egregious liar," he was so sensitive to any counter abuse he might
receive in return, that he carefully cut out every disparaging epithet
which the historian used from the copy of his reply, which at present
lies, with Usher's other works, in the Library of Trinity College,
Dublin.
The Four Masters are included amongst the Irish writers of this century,
but I have already given ample details of their labours. The _Acta
Sanctorum_ of Colgan, and Ward's literary efforts in a foreign land for
his country, are beyond all praise. Usher and Ware were also amongst the
giants of these days; and, considering the state of political and
religious excitement amongst which they lived and wrote, it is
incomparably marvellous that they should not have dipped their pens
still deeper into the gall of controversy and prejudice. Usher was one
of the _Hibernis ipsis Hiberniores_, for his family came to Ireland with
King John; but he admired and wrote Celtic history with the enthusiasm
of a Celt, and he gathered materials for other men's work with patient
industry, however he may have allowed party spirit to influence and warp
his own judgment in their use. Usher was Ware's most ardent patron.
Habits of indefatigable research did for him, in some degree, what
natural genius has done for others. Nor was he slow to recognize or
avail himself of native talent; and there can be no doubt, if he had
lived a few years longer after his acquaintance with MacFirbis, that
Irish literature would have benefited considerably by the united efforts
of the man of power, who was devoted to learning, and the man of gifts,
who had the abilities which neither position nor wealth can purchase.
John Lynch, the Bishop of Killala, and the indefatigable and successful
impugner of Cambrensis, was another literary luminary of the age. His
career is a fair sample of the extraordinary difficulties experienced by
the Irish in their attempts to cultivate intellectual pursuits, and of
their undaunted courage in attaining their end. Usher has himself
recorded his visit to Galway, where found Lynch, then a mere youth,
teaching a school of humanity (A.D. 1622). "We had proofe," he says,
"during our continuance in that citie, how his schollars profitted under
him, by the verses and orations which they brought us."[518] Usher then
relates how he seriously advised the young schoolmaster to conform to
the popular religion; but, as Lynch declined to comply with his wishes,
he was bound over, under sureties of £400 sterling, to "forbear
teaching." The tree of knowledge was, in truth, forbidden fruit, and
guarded sedulously by the fiery sword of the law. I cannot do more than
name a few of the other distinguished men of this century. There was
Florence Conry, Archbishop of Tuam, and founder of the Irish College of
Louvain. He was one of the first to suggest and to carry out the idea of
supplying Irish youth with the means of education on the Continent,
which they were denied at home. It is a fact, unexampled in the history
of nations, that a whole race should have been thus denied the means of
acquiring even the elements of learning, and equally unexampled is the
zeal with which the nation sought to procure abroad the advantages from
which they were so cruelly debarred at home. At Louvain some of the most
distinguished Irish scholars were educated. An Irish press was
established within its halls, which was kept constantly employed, and
whence proceeded some of the most valuable works of the age, as well as
a scarcely less important literature for the people, in the form of
short treatises on religion or history. Colleges were also established
at Douay, Lisle, Antwerp, Tournay, and St. Omers, principally through
the exertions of Christopher Cusack, a learned priest of the diocese of
Meath. Cardinal Ximenes founded an Irish College at Lisbon, and Cardinal
Henriquez founded a similar establishment at Evora. It is a remarkable
evidence of the value which has always been set on learning by the
Catholic Church, that even in times of persecution, when literary
culture demanded such sacrifices, she would not admit uneducated persons
to the priesthood. The position which the proscribed Catholic priesthood
held in Ireland at this period, compared with that which the favoured
clergy of the Established Church held in England, is curious and
significant. Macaulay says of the latter: "A young levite--such was the
phrase then in use--might be had for his board, a small garret, and ten
pounds a year; and might not only perform his own professional
functions, but might also save the expenses of a gardener or a groom.
Sometimes the reverend man nailed up the apricots, and sometimes he
curried the coach-horses. He cast up the farrier's bills. He walked ten
miles with a message or a parcel. He was permitted to dine with the
family, but he was expected to content himself with the plainest
fare--till he was summoned to return thanks for the repast, from a great
part of which he had been excluded."[519]
In Ireland there were few learned men in the Established Church, and
even Usher seems to have been painfully indifferent to the necessity of
superior education, as well as regular ordination, for his clergy. In
1623 Dr. Blair was invited to Ireland by Lord Clannaboy, to take the
living of Bangor, vacated by the death of the Rev. John Gibson, "sence
Reformacione from Popary the first Deane of Down." Dr. Blair objected
both to episcopal government and to use the English Liturgy; yet he
"procured a free and safe entry to the holy ministry," which, according
to his own account, was accomplished thus. His patron, Lord Clannaboy,
informed "the Bishop Echlin how opposite I was to episcopacy and their
liturgy, and had the influence to procure my admission on easy and
honorable terms." At his interview with the Bishop, it was arranged that
Dr. Blair was to receive ordination from Mr. Cunningham and the
neighbouring clergy, and the Bishop was "to come in among them in no
other relation than a presbyter." These are the Bishop's own words; and
his reason for ordaining at all was: "I must ordain you, else neither I
nor you can answer the law nor brook the land." In 1627 Blair had an
interview with Archbishop Usher, and he says "they were not so far from
agreeing as he feared." "He admitted that all those things [episcopacy
and a form of prayer] ought to have been removed, but the constitution
and laws of the place and time would not permit that to be done." A few
years later Mr. John Livingstone thus relates his experience on similar
subjects. He had been appointed also by Lord Clannaboy to the parish of
Killinchy; and, "because it was needful that he should be ordained to
the ministry, and the Bishop of Down, in whose diocese Killinchy was,
being a corrupt and timorous man, and would require some engagement,
therefore my Lord Clannaboy sent some with me, and wrote to Mr. Andrew
Knox, Bishop of Raphoe, who told me he knew my errand, and that I came
to him because I had scruples against episcopacy and ceremonies,
according as Mr. Josiah Welsh and some others had done before; and that
he thought his old age was prolonged for little other purpose than to
perform such ceremonies." It was then arranged that he should be
ordained as Dr. Blair and others had been. The Bishop gave him the book
of ordination, and said, "though he durst not answer it to the State,"
that he might draw a line over anything he did not approve of, and that
it should not be read. "But," concludes Mr. Livingstone, "I found that
it had been so marked by some others before, that I needed not mark
anything; so the Lord was pleased to carry that business far beyond
anything that I have thought, or almost ever desired."[520]
Such facts as these were well known to the people; and we can scarcely
be surprised that they increased their reverence for the old clergy, who
made such sacrifices for the attainment of the learning necessary for
their ministry, and who could not minister, even if they would, without
having received the office and authority of a priest by the sacrament of
orders.
But literary efforts in Ireland were not confined to the clergy;
O'Flaherty and MacFirbis devoted themselves with equal zeal to the
dissemination and preservation of knowledge; and we envy not the man who
can read without emotion the gentle complaint of the former, in his
_Ogygia_: "I live a banished man within the bounds of my native soil--a
spectator of others enriched by my birthright." And again: "The Lord
hath wonderfully recalled the royal heir to his kingdom, with the
applause of all good men; but He hath not found me worthy to be restored
to the kingdom of my cottage. Against Thee, O Lord, have I sinned: may
the Lord be blessed for ever!"
The customs and dress of the upper classes in Ireland were probably much
the same as those of a similar rank in England.[521] Commerce was so
constantly restricted by English jealousy, that it had few opportunities
of development. In a curious old poem, called the _Libel of English
Policie_, the object of which was to impress on the English the
necessity of keeping all trade and commerce in their own hands, we find
Irish exports thus enumerated:--
"Hides and fish, salmon, hake, herring,
Irish wool and linen cloth, falding
And masternes good be her marchandie;
Hertes, birds, and others of venerie,
Skins of otter, squirrel and Irish hare,
Of sheep, lambe, and fore is her chaffere,
Felles of kids, and conies great plentie."
It will be observed that this list contains only the natural produce of
the country; and had any attempt been made to introduce or encourage
manufactures, some mention would have been made of them. The silver and
gold mines of the country are alluded to further on, and the writer very
sensibly observes, that if "we [the English] had the peace and good-will
of the wild Irish, the metal might be worked to our advantage." In the
sixteenth century the Irish sent raw and tanned hides, furs, and
woollens to Antwerp,[522] taking in exchange sugar, spices, and mercery.
The trade with France and Spain for wines was very considerable; fish
was the commodity exchanged for this luxury; and even in 1553, Philip
II. of Spain paid[523] £1,000 yearly--a large sum for that period--to
obtain liberty for his subjects to fish upon the north coast of Ireland.
Stafford, in speaking of the capture of Dunboy Castle, says that
O'Sullivan made £500 a-year by the duties which were paid to him by
foreign fishermen, "although the duties they paid were very
little."[524]
Stanihurst has described a fair in Dublin, and another in Waterford,
where he says the wares were "dog-cheap." These fairs continued for six
days, and merchants came to them from Flanders and France, as well as
from England. He gives the Waterford people the palm for commerce,
declares they are "addicted to thieving," that they distil the best
_aqua vitæ_, and spin the choicest rugs in Ireland. A friend of his, who
took a fancy to one of these "choice rugs," being "demurrant in London,
and the weather, by reason of a hard hoar frost, being somewhat nipping,
repaired to Paris Garden, clad in one of the Waterford rugs. The
mastiffs had no sooner espied him, but deeming he had been a bear, would
fain have baited him; and were it not that the dogs were partly muzzled
and partly chained, he doubted not he should have been well tugged in
this Irish rug."
After the plantation of Ulster, Irish commerce was allowed to flourish
for a while; the revenue of the crown doubled; and statesmen should have
been convinced that an unselfish policy was the best for both countries.
But there will always be persons whose private interests clash with the
public good, and who have influence enough to secure their own advantage
at the expense of the multitude. Curiously enough, the temporary
prosperity of Ireland was made a reason for forbidding the exports which
had produced it. A declaration was issued by the English Government in
1637, which expressly states this, and places every possible bar to its
continuance. The Cromwellian settlement, however, acted more effectually
than any amount of prohibitions or Acts of Parliament, and trade was
entirely ruined by it for a time. When it again revived, and live cattle
began to be exported in quantities to England, the exportation was
strictly forbidden. The Duke of Ormonde, who possessed immense tracts of
land in Ireland, presented a petition, with his own hands, against the
obnoxious measure, and cleverly concluded it with the very words used by
Charles himself, in the declaration for the settlement of Ireland at the
Restoration, trusting that his Majesty "would not suffer his good
subjects to weep in one kingdom when they rejoiced in another." Charles,
however, wanted money; so Ireland had to wait for justice. A vote,
granting him £120,000, settled the matter; and though for a time cattle
were smuggled into England, the Bill introduced after the great fire of
London, which we have mentioned in the last chapter, settled the matter
definitively. The Irish question eventually merged into an unseemly
squabble about prerogative, but Charles was determined "never to kiss
the block on which his father lost his head."[525] He overlooked the
affront, and accepted the Bill, "nuisance" and all. One favour, however,
was granted to the Irish; they were graciously permitted to send
contributions of cattle to the distressed Londoners in the form of
salted beef. The importation of mutton, lamb, butter, and cheese, were
forbidden by subsequent Acts, and salted beef, mutton, and pork were not
allowed to be exported from Ireland to England until the general dearth
of 1757.
The commercial status of the principal Irish towns at this period (A.D.
1669), is thus given by Mr. Bonnell, the head collector of Irish customs
in Dublin: "Comparing together the proceeds of the duties for the six
years ending December, 1669, received from the several ports of Ireland,
they may be thus ranked according to their worth respectively, expressed
in whole numbers, without fractions, for more clearness of
apprehension:----
"Rate. Ports. Proportion Rate. Ports Proportion
per cent. per cent.
1 Dublin 40 { Drogheda 3
2 Cork 10 5 { Londonderry 3
{ Waterford 7 { Carrickfergus 3
3 { Galway 7 { Ross 1
{ Limerick 5 { Wexford 1
4 { Kinsale 5 6 { Dundalk 1
{ Youghal 5 { Baltimore 1
{ Sligo 1"
"Killybeg, Dungarvan, Donaghadee, Strangford, Coleraine, and Dingle, are
mentioned as "under rate."
The linen trade had been encouraged, and, indeed, mainly established in
Ireland, by the Duke of Ormonde. An English writer[526] says that
200,000 pounds of yarn were sent annually to Manchester, a supply which
seemed immense in that age; and yet, in the present day, would hardly
keep the hands employed for forty-eight hours. A political economist of
the age gives the "unsettledness of the country" as the first of a
series of reasons why trade did not flourish in Ireland, and, amongst
other remedies, suggests sumptuary laws and a tax upon celibacy, the
latter to weigh quite equally on each sex.[527] Sir William Petty does
not mention the trade but he does mention the enormous amount of
tobacco[528] consumed by the natives. It is still a disputed question
whether the so-called "Danes' pipes," of which I give an illustration,
were made before the introduction of tobacco by Sir Walter Raleigh, or
whether any other narcotizing indigenous plant may have been used. Until
one, at least, of these pipes shall have been found in a position which
will indicate that they must have been left there at an earlier period
than the Elizabethan age, the presumption remains in favour of their
modern use.
[Illustration: "DANES' PIPES," FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A.]
I shall now give some brief account of the domestic life of our
ancestors 200 years ago, and of the general state of society, both in
the upper and lower classes. Petty estimates the population of Ireland
at 1,100,000, or 200,000 families. Of the latter he states that 160,000
have no fixed hearths; these, of course, were the very poorest class,
who lived then, as now, in those mud hovels, which are the astonishment
and reprobation of foreign tourists. There were 24,000 families who had
"one chimney," and 16,000 who had more than one. The average number
appears to be four. Dublin Castle had 125, and the Earl of Heath's
house, twenty-seven. There were, however, 164 houses in Dublin which had
more than ten.
Rearing and tending cattle was the principal employment of the people,
as, indeed, it always has been. There were, he estimates, 150,000
employed in this way, and 100,000 in agriculture. "Tailors and their
wives" are the next highest figure--45,000. Smiths and apprentices,
shoemakers and apprentices, are given at the same figure--22,500.
Millers and their wives only numbered 1,000, and the fishery trade the
same. The woolworkers and their wives, 30,000; but the number of
alehouse-keepers is almost incredible. In Dublin, where there were only
4,000 families, there was, at one time, 1,180 alehouses and ninety-one
public brewhouses. The proportion was equally great throughout the
country; and if we may judge from the Table of Exports from Belfast
before-mentioned, the manufacture was principally for home consumption,
as the returns only mention three barrels of beer to Scotland, 124 ditto
to the Colonies, 147 to France and Flanders, nineteen to Holland, and
forty-five to Spain and the Mediterranean. There are considerable
imports of brandy and wines, but no imports of beer. We find, however,
that "Chester ale" was appreciated by the faculty as a medicament, for
Sir Patrick Dun, who was physician to the army during the wars of 1688,
sent two dozen bottles of Chester ale, as part of his prescription, to
General Ginkles, Secretary-at-War, in the camp at Connaught, in 1691. He
added two dozen of the best claret, and at the same time sent a "lesser
box," in which there was a dozen and a-half potted chickens in an
earthen pot, and in another pot "foure green geese." "This," writes the
doctor, "is the physic I advise you to take; I hope it will not be
nauseous or disagreeable to your stomach-a little of it upon a
march."[529] It is to be supposed such prescriptions did not diminish
the doctor's fame, and that they were appreciated as they deserved.
A century previous (A.D. 1566), Thomas Smyth seems to have been the
principal, if not the only English practitioner in Dublin; and although
he sold his drugs with his advice, his business did not pay. However,
Thomas was "consoled" and "comforted," and "induced to remain in the
country," by the united persuasions of the Lord Deputy, the Counsellors
of State, and the whole army. The consolation was administered in the
form of a concordat, dated April 25th, 1566, by which an annual stipend
was settled on him, the whole army agreeing to give him one day's pay,
and every Counsellor of State twenty shillings, "by reason of his long
contynuance here, and his often and chardgeable provision of druggs and
other apothecarie wares, which have, from tyme to tyme, layen and
remained in manner for the most part unuttered; for the greater part of
this contray folke ar wonted to use the mynisterie of their leeches and
such lyke, and neglecting the apothecarie's science, the said Thomas
thereby hath been greatly hyndered, and in manner enforced to abandon
that his faculty."[530] It was only natural that the English settler
should distrust the _leeche_ who gathered his medicines on the hillside
by moonlight, "who invoked the fairies and consulted witches;" and it
was equally natural that the native should distrust the Saxon, who could
kill or cure with those magical little powders and pills, so
suspiciously small, so entirely unlike the traditionary medicants of the
country. In a list still preserved of the medicines supplied for the use
of Cromwell's army, we may judge of the "medicants" used in the
seventeenth century. They must have been very agreeable, for the
allowance of sugar, powder and loaf, of "candie," white and brown, of
sweet almonds and almond cakes, preponderates wonderfully over the
"rubarcke, sarsaparill, and aloes."[531] Mr. Richard Chatham was
Apothecary-General, and had his drugs duty free by an order, dated at
"ye new Customs' House, Dublin, ye 24th of June, 1659."
Dr. William Bedell was the first who suggested the foundation of a
College of Physicians. On the 15th of April, 1628, he wrote to Usher
thus: "I suppose it hath been an error all this while to neglect the
faculties of law and physic, and attend only to the ordering of one poor
college of divines." In 1637 a Regius Professor of Physic was nominated.
In 1654 Dr. John Stearne was appointed President of Trinity Hall, which
was at this time set apart "for the sole and proper use of physicians;"
and, in 1667, the physicians received their first charter from Charles
II. The new corporation obtained the title of "The President and College
of Physicians." It consisted of fourteen Fellows, including the
President, Dr. Stearne. Stearne was a grand-nephew of Archbishop Usher,
and was born in his house at Ardbraccan, county Meath. He was a man of
profound learning; and although he appears to have been more devoted to
scholastic studies than to physic, the medical profession in Ireland may
well claim him as an ornament and a benefactor to their faculty. The
College of Physicians was without a President from 1657 until 1690, when
Sir Patrick Dun was elected. The cause of this was the unfortunate
illiberality of the Provost and Fellows of Trinity College, who refused
to confirm the election of Dr. Crosby, simply because he was a Roman
Catholic. In 1692 the College received a new charter and more extended
privileges; and these, with certain Acts of Parliament, form its present
constitution.
In medieval cities the castle was the centre round which the town
extended itself. Dublin was no exception to this rule, and in this
century we find High-street and Castle-street the fashionable resorts.
The nobility came thither for society, the tradesmen for protection.
Castle-street appears to have been the favourite haunt of the
bookselling fraternity, and Eliphud Dobson (his name speaks for his
religious views) was the most wealthy bookseller and publisher of his
day. His house was called the Stationers' Arms, which flourished in the
reign of James II. The Commonwealth was arbitrary in its requirements,
and commanded that the printer (there was then only one) should submit
any works he printed to the Clerk of the Council, to receive his
_imprimatur_ before publishing the same. The Williamites were equally
tyrannical, for Malone was dismissed by them from the office of State
Printer, and tried in the Queen's Bench, with John Dowling, in 1707, for
publishing "A Manuall of Devout Prayers," for the use of Roman
Catholics.[532]
There were also a great number of taverns and coffee-houses in this
street; the most noted was the Rose Tavern, which stood nearly opposite
to the present Castle steps. Swift alludes to this in the verses which
he wrote on his own death, in 1731:--
"Suppose me dead; and then suppose
A club assembled at the _Rose."_
Political clubs, lawyers' clubs, and benevolent clubs, all assembled
here; and the Friendly Brothers of St. Patrick had their annual dinner
at the _Rose_, at the primitive hour of four o'clock, annually, on the
17th of March, having first transacted business and heard a sermon at
St. Patrick's.
The first Dublin newspaper was published in this century, by Robert
Thornton, bookseller, at the sign of the Leather Bottle, in
Skinner's-row, A.D. 1685. It consisted of a single leaf of small folio
size, printed on both sides, and written in the form of a letter, each
number being dated, and commencing with the word "sir." The fashionable
church was St. Michael's in High-street. It is described, in 1630, as
"in good reparacion; and although most of the parishioners were
recusants, it was commonly full of Protestants, who resorted thither
every Sunday to hear divine service and sermon." This church had been
erected originally for Catholic worship. Meanwhile the priests were
obliged to say Mass wherever they could best conceal themselves; and in
the reign of James I. their services were solemnized in certain back
rooms in the houses of Nicholas Quietrot, Carye, and the Widow O'Hagan,
in High-street.[533] Amongst the fashionables who lived in this locality
we find the Countess of Roscommon, Sir P. Wemys, Sir Thady Duff, and
Mark Quin, the Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1667. Here, too, was established
the first Dublin post-house, for which the nation appears to have been
indebted indirectly to Shane O'Neill, of whose proceedings her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth was anxious to be cognizant with as little delay as
possible. In 1656, it having been found that the horses of the military,
to whom postal communications had been confided previously, were "much
wearied, and his Highness' affayres much prejudiced for want of a
post-office to carry publique letters," Evan Vaughan was employed to
arrange postal communications, and was made Deputy Postmaster. Major
Swift was the Postmaster at Holyhead, and he was allowed £100 a-year for
the maintenance of four boatmen, added to the packet boats, at the rate
of _8d_. per diem and 18s. per month for wages. Post-houses were
established in the principal towns in Ireland about the year 1670, by
means of which, for 8_d_. or 12_d_., letters could be conveyed, twice a
week, to the "remotest parts of Ireland," and which afforded "the
conveniency of keeping good correspondence."
The Dublin Philosophical Society held their first meetings on Cork-hill,
at the close of this century, and it is evident that there were many men
in that age who had more than ordinary zeal for scientific research. Dr.
Mullen has left a detailed account of the difficulties under which he
dissected an elephant, which had been burned to death in the booth where
it was kept for exhibition on the 17th June, 1682. According to Haller,
oculists are indebted to him for some important discoveries connected
with the organs of vision.[534]
The old Custom-house stood on the site of houses now comprised in that
part of Dublin known as Wellington-quay. Here a locality was selected,
in the reign of James I., for the purpose of "erecting cranes and making
wharves." This street, now so busy and populous, was then in the
suburbs, and is described in the lease, A.D. 1620, as "a certain parcel
of ground, lying in or near Dame-street, street, in the suburbs of the
city of Dublin." A new Custom-house was erected about the period of the
Restoration, with the addition of a council-chamber, where the Privy
Council and Committees of the House of Commons were accustomed to
assemble. By an order of the Privy Council, 19th September, 1662, the
Custom-house-quay was appointed the sole place for landing and lading
the exports and imports of the city of Dublin. In 1683 the public
Exchange of Dublin was transferred from Cork House to the Tholsel, a
building erected early in the reign of Edward II., and described by
Camden as built of hewn stone. Here the Mayor was elected on Michaelmas
Day, and the citizens held their public meetings. A clock was set up in
1560, no doubt very much to the admiration of the citizens. A new
Tholsel or City Hall was erected in 1683, on the same site, and there
was a "'Change," where merchants met every day, as in the Royal Exchange
in London. Public dinners were given here also with great magnificence;
but from the marshy nature of the ground on which the building had been
set up, it fell to decay in 1797, and a new Sessions-house was erected
in Greenstreet.
Nor did the good people of Dublin neglect to provide for their
amusements. Private theatricals were performed in the Castle at the
latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, if not earlier. The sum of
one-and-twenty shillings and two groats was expended on wax tapers for
the play of "Gorbodne," "done at the Castle," in September, 1601.
Miracle and mystery plays were enacted as early as 1528, when the Lord
Deputy was "invited to a new play every day in Christmas;" where the
Tailors acted the part of Adam and Eve, it is to be supposed because
they initiated the trade by introducing the necessity for garments; the
Shoemakers, the story of Crispin and Crispianus; the Vintners, Bacchus
and his story; the Carpenters, Mary and Joseph; the Smiths represented
Vulcan; and the Bakers played the comedy of Ceres, the goddess of corn.
The stage was erected on Hogges-green, now College-green; and probably
the entertainment was carried out _al fresco_. The first playhouse
established in Dublin was in Werburgh-street, in 1633. Shirley's plays
were performed here soon after, and also those of "rare Ben Jonson."
Ogilvy, Shirley's friend, and the promoter of this enterprise, was
appointed Master of the Revels in Ireland in 1661; and as his first
theatre was ruined during the civil war, he erected a "noble theatre,"
at a cost of £2,000, immediately after his new appointment, on a portion
of the Blind-quay. Dunton describes the theatres, in 1698, as more
frequented than the churches, and the actors as "no way inferior to
those in London." The Viceroys appear to have been very regular in their
patronage of this amusement; and on one occasion, when the news reached
Dublin of the marriage of William of Orange and Mary, the Duke of
Ormonde, after "meeting the nobility and gentry in great splendour at
the play, passed a general invitation to all the company to spend that
evening at the Castle."[535]
The inventory of the household effects of Lord Grey, taken in 1540,
affords us ample information on the subject of dress and household
effects. The list commences with "eight tun and a pype of Gaskoyne
wine," and the "long board in the hall." A great advance had been made
since we described the social life of the eleventh century; and the
refinements practised at meals was not the least of many improvements. A
_bord-clothe_ was spread on the table, though forks were not used until
the reign of James I. They came from Italy, to which country we owe many
of the new fashions introduced in the seventeenth century. In _The Boke
of Curtosye_ there are directions given not to "foule the _bord-clothe_
wyth the knyfe;" and Ben Jonson, in his comedy of "The Devil is an Ass,"
alludes to the introduction of forks, and the consequent disuse of
napkins:
"The laudable use of forks,
Brought into custom here as they are in Italy,
To th' sparing o' napkins."
The English edition of the _Janua Linguarum_ of Comenius, represents the
fashion of dining in England during the Commonwealth. The table was
simply a board placed on a frame or trestles, which was removed after
the meal to leave room for the dancers. Old Capulet's hall was prepared
thus:
"A hall! a hall! give room, and foot it, girls!
More light, ye knaves, and turn the table up."
The head of the table, where the principal person sat, was called the
"board-end;" and as one long table was now used instead of several
smaller ones, the guests of higher and lower degree were divided by the
massive saltcellar, placed in the centre of the table. Thus, in Ben
Jonson, it is said of a man who treats his inferiors with scorn, "He
never drinks below the salt." The waiters, after settling the cloth,
placed the spoons, knives, forks, bread, and napkins beside the
trenchers. The butler served out the drink from the cupboard, the origin
of our modern sideboard. The "cobbord," erroneously supposed to have
been like our modern cupboard, is specially mentioned amongst Lord
Grey's effects. Lord Fairfax, in his directions to his servants, written
about the middle of the seventeenth century, says: "No man must fill
beer or wine the cupboard keeper," and he should know which of his "cups
for beer and which for wine, for it were a foul thing to mix them
together." There was another reason, however, for this arrangement--much
"idle tippling" was cut off thereby; for as the draught of beer or wine
had to be asked for when it was needed, demand was not likely to be so
quick as if it were always at hand. There were also cups of "assaye,"
from which the cupbearer was obliged to drink before his master, to
prove that there was no poison in the liquor which he used. The cupboard
was covered with a carpet, of which Lord Grey had two. These carpets, or
tablecovers, were more or less costly, according to the rank and state
of the owner. His Lordship had also "two chares, two fformes, and two
stooles." Chairs were decidedly a luxury at that day. Although the name
is of Anglo-Norman origin, they did not come into general use until a
late period; and it was considered a mark of disrespect to superiors,
for young persons to sit in their presence on anything but hard benches
or stools. The Anglo-Saxons called their seats _sett_ and _stol_, a name
which we still preserve in the modern stool. The hall was ornamented
with rich hangings, and there was generally a _traves_, which could be
used as a curtain or screen to form a temporary partition. The floor was
strewn with rushes, which were not removed quite so frequently as would
have been desirable, considering that they were made the repository of
the refuse of the table. Perfumes were consequently much used, and we
are not surprised to find "a casting bottel, dooble gilte, for
rose-water," in the effects of a Viceroy of the sixteenth century. Such
things were more matters of necessity than of luxury at even a later
period. Meat and pudding were the staple diet of the upper classes in
1698. Wright[536] gives a long and amusing extract from a work published
by a foreigner who had been much in England at this period, and who
appears to have marvelled equally at the amount of solid meat consumed,
the love of pudding, and the neglect of fruit at dessert.
We are able, fortunately, to give a description of the fare used during
the same period in Ireland, at least by the upper classes, who could
afford to procure it. Captain Bodley, a younger brother of the founder
of the famous Bodleian Library in Oxford, has left an account of a
journey into Lecale, in Ulster, in 1603, and of the proceedings of his
companions-in-arms, and the entertainment they met with. His "tour" is
full of that gossiping, chatty, general information, which gives an
admirable idea of the state of society. This is his description of a
dinner: "There was a large and beautiful collar of brawn, with its
accompaniments, to wit, mustard and Muscatel wine; there were
well-stuffed geese (such as the Lord Bishop is wont to eat at
Ardbraccan), the legs of which Captain Caulfield always laid hold of for
himself; there were pies of venison and various kinds of game; pasties
also, some of marrow, with innumerable plums; others of it with
coagulated milk, such as the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London almost
always have at their feasts; others, which they call tarts, of divers
shapes, materials, and colours, made of beef, mutton, and veal." Then he
relates the amusements. After dinner they rode, and in the evening they
played cards, and had, "amongst other things, that Indian tobacco of
which I shall never be able to make sufficient mention." Later in the
evening "maskers" came to entertain them; and on one occasion, their
host gave them up his own "good and soft bed, and threw himself upon a
pallet in the same chamber."[537]
The large stand-bed, or four-post, was then coming into use, and was,
probably, the "good and soft bed" which the host resigned to the use of
the officers, and which, if we may judge by the illustration of this
piece of furniture, would conveniently hold a considerable number of
persons. The pallet was placed on the truckle-bed, which rolled under
the large bed, and was generally used by a servant, who slept in his
master's room. The reader will remember the speech of Mine Host of the
Garter, in the "Merry Wives of Windsor," who says of Falstaff's room:
"There's his chamber, his house, his castle, his standing-bed and
truckle-bed."
However interesting the subject may be, there is not space to go into
further details. The inventory of Lord Grey's personal effects can
scarcely be given as a picture of costume in this century, for even a
few years produced as considerable changes in fashion then as now.
Dekker, in his _Seven Deadly Sinnes of London_, describes an
Englishman's suit as being like a traitor's body that had been hanged,
drawn, and quartered, and set up in several places; and says: "We that
mock every nation for keeping one fashion, yet steal patches from every
one of them to piece out our pride, and are now laughing-stocks to them.
The block for his head alters faster than the feltmaker can fit him, and
hereupon we are called in scorn block-heads." The courtiers of Charles
II. compensated themselves for the stern restraints of Puritanism, by
giving way to the wildest excesses in dress and manners. Enormous
periwigs were introduced, and it became the fashion for a man of _ton_
to be seen combing them on the Mall or at the theatre. The hat was worn
with a broad brim, ornamented with feathers; a falling band of the
richest lace adorned the neck; the short cloak was edged deeply with
gold lace; the doublet was ornamented in a similar manner--it was long,
and swelled out from the waist; but the "petticoat breeches" were the
glory of the outer man, and sums of money were spent on ribbon and lace
to add to their attractions.
The ladies' costume was more simple, at least at this period; they
compensated themselves, however, for any plainness in dress, by
additional extravagances in their head-dresses, and wore
"heart-breakers," or artificial curls, which were set out on wires at
the sides of the face. Patching and painting soon became common, and
many a nonconformist divine lifted up his voice in vain against these
vanities. Pepys has left ample details of the dress in this century;
and, if we may judge from the entry under the 30th of October, 1663,
either he was very liberal in his own expenditure, and very parsimonious
towards his wife, or ladies' attire was much less costly than
gentlemen's, for he murmurs over his outlay of about £12 for Mrs. Pepys
and £55 for himself. The country people, however, were attired more
plainly and less expensively, while many, probably--
"Shook their heads at folks in London,"
and wondered at the follies of their superiors.
The arms and military accoutrements of the period have already been
mentioned incidentally, and are illustrated by the different costumes in
our engravings, which Mr. Doyle has rendered with the minutest accuracy
of detail. This subject, if treated at all, would require space which we
cannot afford to give it. The Life Guards were embodied by Charles II,
in 1681, in imitation of the French "Gardes des Corps." The Coldstream
were embodied by General Monk, in 1660, at the town from whence they
obtained their name.
From an account in the Hamilton MSS., published in the _Ulster_
_Archæological Journal_, it would appear that it was usual, or, at least
not uncommon, for young men of rank to go abroad for some time, attended
by a tutor, to perfect themselves in continental languages. It need
scarcely be said that travelling was equally tedious and expensive. A
journey from Dublin to Cork occupied several days; postchaises are a
comparatively modern invention; and Sir William Petty astonished the
good people of Dublin, in the seventeenth century, by inventing some
kind of carriage which could be drawn by horses. With his description of
the condition of the lower classes in Ireland at this period, I shall
conclude this chapter. The accompanying figure represents the costume of
the Irish peasant about the fifteenth century. The dress was found on
the body of a male skeleton, in the year 1824, which was preserved so
perfectly, that a coroner was called to hold an inquest on it. The
remains were taken from a bog in the parish of Killery, co. Sligo. The
cloak was composed of soft brown cloth; the coat of the same material,
but of finer texture. The buttons are ingeniously formed of the cloth.
The trowsers consists of two distinct parts, of different colours and
textures; the upper part is thick, coarse, yellowish-brown cloth; the
lower, a brown and yellow plaid.
[Illustration]
"The diet of these people is milk, sweet and sour, thick and thin; but
tobacco, taken in short pipes seldom burned, seems the pleasure of their
lives. Their food is bread in cakes, whereof a penny serves a week for
each; potatoes from August till May; muscles, cockles, and oysters, near
the sea; eggs and butter, made very rancid by keeping in bogs. As for
flesh they seldom eat it. Their fuel is turf in most places." The
potatoe, which has brought so many national calamities on the country,
had been then some years in the country, but its use was not yet as
general as it has become since, as we find from the mention of "bread in
cakes" being an edible during a considerable part of the year.
[Illustration: CASTLE CAULFIELD, COUNTY TYRONE.]
[Illustration: SCENE OF THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE.]
FOOTNOTES:
[512] _Language_--A proclamation in Irish, issued by Tyrone in 1601, is
still extant, with a contemporary English translation.--_See Ulster
Arch. Jour_. vol. vi. p. 57.
[513] _Pope_.--He rhymes spirit and merit; fit and yet; civil and devil;
obey and tea.
[514] _Tasso_.--
"The land fornenst the Greekish shore he held."
Chaucer, too, uses _faute_ for _fault_ in the _Canterbury Tales_.
[515] _Historians_.--Max Müller--_Lectures on the Science of Language_,
p. 271--states, that labourers in country parishes in England do not use
more than 300 words. A friend of mine, who is an excellent Irish
scholar, assures me the most illiterate Irish-speaking peasant would use
at least 500.
[516] _Carew_.--The tradition of the country says that this vengeance
was excited by the complaints of a lady, with whom the Lord President
had some gallantries, and whose conduct Keating had reproved publicly.
[517] _Scholars_.--We have been favoured with an accurate photograph of
this inscription, by William Williams, Esq., of Dungarvan, from which
the engraving given above has been made. The view of Tubrid Churchyard
is also engraved from a sketch with which he has favoured us. It is
hoped that many Irishmen in distant lands will look with no little
interest on these beautifully executed engravings, and breathe a
blessing on the memory of the good and gifted priest. A Keating Society
was established a few years ago, principally through the exertions of
Mr. Williams and the Rev. P. Meany, C.C. A Catechism in Irish has
already appeared, and other works will follow in due time.
[518] _Brought us_.--Regal Visitation Book. A.D. 1622, MS., Marsh's
Library, Dublin.
[519] _Excluded_.--_History of England_, People's Edition, part ii. p.
156.
[520] _Desired_.--See the Hamilton Manuscripts, _Ulster Arch. Jour_.
vol. iii. pp. 155-147. Blair complains also that his patron "would
receive the sacrament kneeling."
[521] _England_.--"The diet, housing, and clothing of the 16,000
families above-mentioned [those were the middle class] is much the same
as in England; nor is the French elegance unknown in many of them, nor
the French and Latin tongues. The latter whereof is very frequent among
the poorest Irish, and chiefly in Kerry, most remote from
Dublin."--_Political Anatomy of Ireland_, Petty, p. 58.
[522] _Antwerp_.--_Descrittione dei Paesi Bassi:_ Anvers, 1567.
[523] _Paid_.--_The Sovereignly of the British Seas:_ London, 1651.
[524] _Little_.--_Hib. Pac_.
[525] _Head_.--The tract entitled _Killing no Murder_, which had
disturbed Cromwell's "peace and rest," and obliged him to live almost as
a fugitive in the country over which he had hoped to reign as a
sovereign, still left its impression on English society. The miserable
example of a royal execution was a precedent which no amount of
provocation should have permitted.
[526] _Writer_.--_Merchant's Map of Commerce:_ London, 1677.
[527] _Sex_.--_The Interest of Ireland in its Trade and Wealth_, by
Colonel Lawrence: Dublin, 1682.
[528] _Tobacco_.--A Table of the Belfast Exports and Imports for the
year 1683, has been published in the _Ulster Arch. Jour._ vol. iii. p.
194, which fully bears out this statement, and is of immense value in
determining the general state of Irish commerce at this period. There
are, however, some mistakes in the quotations of statistics, probably
misprints.
[529] _March_.--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. i. p. 178.
[530] _Faculty._--Document in the State Paper Office, Dublin, entitled
_Smyth's Information for Ireland._
[531] _Aloes._--_Ulster Arch. Jour._ vol. iii. p. 163.
[532] _Roman Catholics_.--The noisy and violent opposition which was
made to a Catholic if he attempted to enter either a trade or a
profession, would scarcely be credited at the present day; yet it should
be known and remembered by those who wish to estimate the social state
of this country accurately and fairly. After the Revolution, the
Protestant portion of the Guild of Tailors petitioned William III. to
make their corporation exclusively Protestant, and their request was
granted.
[533] _High-street_.--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. i. p. 220.
[534] _Vision_.--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. ii. p. 149.
[535] _Castle_.--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. ii. p. 69. There is a curious
account in the _Quarterly Journal of the Kilkenny Archæological
Society_, July, 1862, p. 165, of a comic playbill, issued for a Kilkenny
theatre, in May, 1793. The value of the tickets was to be taken, if
required, in candles, bacon, soap, butter, and cheese, and no one was to
be admitted into the boxes without shoes and stockings; which leads one
to conclude that the form of admission and style of attire were not
uncommon, or there would have been no joke in the announcement.
[536] _Wright.--Domestic Manners_, pp. 465, 466: "Oh! what an excellent
thing is an English pudding! Make a pudding for an Englishman, and you
will regale him, be he where he will."
[537] _Chamber_.--This most interesting and amusing journal is published
in the _Ulster Arch. Jour_. vol. iii. p. 73, with a translation and
notes. The original is in Latin.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Accession of James II.--Position of Public Affairs--Birth of an
Heir--Landing of William of Orange--Arrival of King James in
Ireland--The Siege of Derry--Cruelties of the Enniskilleners--Disease in
Schomberg's Camp--The Battle of the Boyne--James' Defeat and Disgraceful
Plight--The Siege of Athlone--The Siege of Limerick--Marlborough appears
before Cork--William raises the Siege of Limerick and returns to
England--The Siege of Athlone, Heroic Valour of its Defenders--The
Battle of Aughrim--Surrender of Limerick.
[A.D. 1688-1691.]
King James' accession again raised the hopes of the Catholics, and again
they were doomed to disappointment; while the Protestants, who had their
fears also, soon learned that policy would bend itself to popularity.
Colonel Richard Talbot was now raised to the peerage as Earl of
Tyrconnel, and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the forces, with an
authority independent of the Lord Lieutenant. His character, as well as
that of his royal master, has been judged rather by his political
opinions than by facts, and both have suffered considerably at the hands
of a modern historian, who has offered more than one holocaust to the
manes of his hero, William of Orange.
The moderate and cautious Clarendon was appointed Viceroy, and did his
best to appease the fears of the Protestants; but he was soon succeeded
by Tyrconnel, whose zeal for Irish interests was not always tempered by
sufficient moderation to conciliate English politicians. He had fought
against O'Neill; he had opposed Rinuccini; he had served in the Duke of
Ormonde's army; he had helped to defend Drogheda against the
Republicans, and had lain there apparently dead, and thus escaped any
further suffering; he was of the Anglo-Irish party, who were so
faithfully loyal to the crown, and whose loyalty was repaid with such
cold indifference; yet his virtues have been ignored, and Macaulay
accuses him of having "adhered to the old religion, like the Celts,"
which was true, and of "having taken part with them in the rebellion of
1641," which was not true.
James commenced his reign by proclaiming his desire for religious
liberty. Individually he may not have been much beyond the age in
opinion on this subject, but liberty of conscience was necessary for
himself. He was a Catholic, and he made no secret of his religion; he
was, therefore, obliged from this motive, if from no other, to accord
the same boon to his subjects. The Quakers were set free in England, and
the Catholics were set free in Ireland. But the Puritan faction, who had
commenced by fighting for liberty of conscience for themselves, and who
ended by fighting to deny liberty of conscience to others, were quite
determined that neither Quakers nor Catholics should worship God as they
believed themselves bound to do. Such intolerance, unhappily, was not
altogether confined to the illiterate. Coke, in a previous generation,
had declared that it was felony even to counsel the King to tolerate
Catholics; and Usher, that it was a deadly sin. The King had neither the
good sense nor the delicacy of feeling to guide him through these
perils. His difficulties, and the complications which ensued, belong to
the province of the English historian, but they were not the less felt
in Ireland.
The Protestants professed to be afraid of being massacred by the
Catholics; the Catholics apprehended a massacre from the Protestants.
Catholics were now admitted to the army, to the bar, and to the senate.
Protestants declared this an infringement of their rights, and forgot
how recently they had expelled their Catholic fellow-subjects, not
merely from honours and emoluments, but even from their altars and their
homes.
An event now occurred which brought affairs to a crisis. The King's
second wife, Mary of Modena, gave him an heir, and the heir appeared
likely to live (A.D. 1688). William of Orange, who had long flattered
himself that he should one day wear the crown of England, saw that no
time should be lost if he intended to secure the prize, and commenced
his preparations with all the ability and with all the duplicity for
which his career has been admired by one party, and denounced by the
other, according as political and religious opinions viewed the deceit
under the strong light of the ability, or the ability under the glare of
the deceit. The Protestant party could not but see all that was to be
apprehended if a Catholic heir should succeed to the throne, and they
sacrificed their loyalty to their interests, if not to their principles.
William arrived in England on the 5th of November, 1688. He professed to
have come for the purpose of investigating the rumours which had been so
industriously circulated respecting the birth of the heir who had barred
his pretensions, and to induce the King to join the league which had
been just formed against France; but he took care to come provided with
an armament, which gave the lie to his diplomatic pretensions; and as
soon as he had been joined by English troops, of whose disaffection he
was well aware, his real motive was no longer concealed. James fled to
France, whither he had already sent his Queen and heir. Still there was
a large party in England who had not yet declared openly for the
usurper; and had not James entirely alienated the affection of his
subjects by his tyrannical treatment of the Protestant bishops, his
conduct towards the University of Oxford, and the permission, if not the
sanction, which he gave to Jeffreys in his bloody career, there can be
little doubt that William should have fought for the crown on English
ground as he did on Irish.
Ulster was principally peopled by Protestant Presbyterians, from the
north of Scotland. They were not likely to be very loyal even to a
Stuart, for the Irish had been called over to Scotland before now to
defend royal rights; they had not very defined religious opinions,
except on the subject of hatred of Popery and Prelacy. It cannot be a
matter of surprise, therefore, that these men hailed the prospect of a
new sovereign, whose opinions, both religious and political, coincided
with their own. If he, too, had very general views as to the rights of
kings, and no very particular view as to rights of conscience being
granted to any who did not agree with him, he was none the less
acceptable.
Tyrconnel had neither men, money, nor arms, to meet the emergency. He
had to withdraw the garrison from Derry to make up the contingent of
3,000 men, which he sent to assist the King in England; but they were
immediately disarmed, and the young men of Derry closed their gates, and
thus were the first to revolt openly against their lawful King. The
native Irish had been loyal when loyalty cost them their lives, without
obtaining for them any increased liberty to exercise their religion;
they were, therefore, not less likely to be loyal now, when both civil
and religious liberty might depend upon their fealty to the crown. The
Enniskilleners revolted; and the whole of Ulster, except Charlemont and
Carrickfergus, declared for William of Orange.
James determined to make an effort to regain his throne; and by this act
rendered the attempt of his son-in-law simply a rebellion. Had the King
declined the contest, had he violated the rules of government so grossly
as no longer to merit the confidence of his people, or had there been no
lawful heir to the throne, William's attempt might have been legitimate;
under the circumstances, it was simply a successful rebellion. The King
landed at Kinsale, on the 12th of March, 1689, attended by some Irish
troops and French officers. He met Tyrconnel in Cork, created him a
duke, and then proceeded to Bandon, where he received the submission of
the people who had joined the rebellion. On his arrival in Dublin, he
summoned a Parliament and issued proclamations, after which he proceeded
to Derry, according to the advice of Tyrconnel. Useless negotiations
followed; and James returned to Dublin, after having confided the
conduct of the siege to General Hamilton. If that officer had not been
incomparably more humane than the men with whom he had to deal, it is
probable that the 'Prentice Boys of Derry would not have been able to
join in their yearly commemoration of victory. The town was strongly
fortified, and well supplied with artillery and ammunition; the
besiegers were badly clad, badly provisioned, and destitute of almost
every thing necessary to storm a town. Their only resource was to starve
out the garrison; but of this resource they were partly deprived by the
humanity of General Hamilton, who allowed a considerable number of men,
women, and children to leave Derry, and thus enabled its defenders to
hold out longer. Lundy, who urged them to capitulate to King James, was
obliged to escape in disguise; and Major Baker, assisted by the Rev.
George Walker, a Protestant clergyman, then took the command. According
to the statements of the latter, the garrison amounted to 7,500 men, and
they had twenty-two cannon, which alone gave them an immense advantage
over the royal army. So much has been already said and written, and sung
of the bravery of the Derry men, that nothing more remains to say. That
they were brave, and that they bravely defended the cause which they had
adopted, there is no doubt; but if polemics had not mingled with
politics in the encounter, it is quite possible that we should have
heard no more of their exploits than of those other men, equally gallant
and equally brave. The Enniskilleners, who have obtained an unenviable
notoriety for their merciless cruelty in war, occupied the King's troops
so as to prevent them from assisting the besiegers. Several encounters
took place between the Derry men and the royalists, but with no other
result than loss of lives on each side. On the 13th of June, a fleet of
thirty ships arrived from England with men and provisions; but the Irish
had obtained the command of the river Foyle, and possession of Culmore
Fort at the entrance, so that they were unable to enter. De Rosen was
now sent by James to assist Hamilton. He proposed and carried out the
barbarous expedition of driving all the Protestants whom he could find
before the walls, and threatening to let them starve there to death
unless the garrison surrendered. His plan was strongly disapproved by
the King, it disgusted the Irish, and exasperated the besieged. The next
day they erected a gallows on the ramparts, and threatened to hang their
prisoners then and there if the unfortunate people were not removed. It
is to the credit of the Derry men that they shared their provisions to
the last with their prisoners, even while they were dying themselves of
starvation. Perhaps the example of humanity set to them by General
Hamilton was not without its effect, for kindness and cruelty seem
equally contagious in time of war. Kirke's squadrons at last passed the
forts, broke the boom, and relieved the garrison, who could not have
held out forty-eight hours longer. It was suspected that English gold
had procured their admittance, and that the officers who commanded the
forts were bribed to let them pass unscathed. The siege was at once
raised; the royal army withdrew on the 5th of August; and thus
terminated the world-famed siege of Derry.
James now held his Parliament in Dublin, repealed the Act of Settlement,
passed the Act of Attainder, and issued an immense quantity of base
coin. He has been loudly condemned by some historians for these
proceedings; but it should be remembered (1) that the Act of Settlement
was a gross injustice, and, as such, it was but justice that it should
be repealed. Had the measure been carried out, however severely it might
have been felt by the Protestant party, they could not have suffered
from the repeal as severely as the Catholics had suffered from the
enactment. (2) The Act of Attainder simply proclaimed that the
revolutionists were rebels against their lawful King, and that they
should be treated as such. (3) The utterance of base coin had already
been performed by several Governments, and James only availed himself of
the prerogatives exercised by his predecessors.
The day on which the siege of Derry was raised, the royalists met with a
severe reverse at Newtownbutler. They were under the command of Lord
Mountcashel, when attacked by the Enniskilleners. The dragoons had
already been dispirited by a reverse at Lisnaskea; and a word of
command[538] which was given incorrectly, threw the old corps into
confusion, from which their brave leader in vain endeavoured to rally
them. Colonel Wolseley, an English officer, commanded the
Enniskilleners; and the cruelties with which they hunted down the
unfortunate fugitives, has made the name almost a byword of reproach.
Five hundred men plunged into Lough Erne to escape their fury, but of
these only one was saved. Lord Mountcashel was taken prisoner, but he
escaped eventually, and fled to France. Sarsfield, who commanded at
Sligo, was obliged to retire to Athlone; and the victorious Williamites
remained masters of that part of the country.
Schomberg arrived[539] at Bangor, in Down, on the 13th of August, 1689,
with a large army, composed of Dutch, French Huguenots, and new levies
from England. On the 17th he marched to Belfast, where he met with no
resistance; and on the 27th Carrickfergus surrendered to him on
honorable terms, after a siege of eight days, but not until its
Governor, Colonel Charles MacCarthy More, was reduced to his last barrel
of powder. Schomberg pitched on Dundalk for his winter quarters, and
entrenched himself there strongly; but disease soon broke out in his
camp, and it has been estimated that 10,000 men, fully one-half of the
force, perished of want and dysentery. James challenged him to battle
several times, but Schomberg was too prudent to risk an encounter in the
state of his troops; and the King had not the moral courage to make the
first attack. Complaints soon reached England of the condition to which
the revolutionary army was reduced. If there were not "own
correspondents" then in camp, it is quite clear there were very sharp
eyes and very nimble pens. Dr. Walker, whose military experience at
Derry appears to have given him a taste for campaigning, was one of the
complainants. William sent over a commission to inquire into the matter,
who, as usual in such cases, arrived too late to do any good. The men
wanted food, the horses wanted provender, the surgeons and apothecaries
wanted medicines for the sick.[540] In fact, if we take a report of
Crimean mismanagement, we shall have all the details, minus the
statement that several of the officers drank themselves to death, and
that some who were in power were charged with going shares in the
embezzlement of the contractor, Mr. John Shales, who, whether guilty or
not, was made the scapegoat on the occasion, and was accused, moreover,
of having caused all this evil from partiality to King James, in whose
service he had been previously. Mr. John Shales was therefore taken
prisoner, and sent under a strong guard to Belfast, and from thence to
London. As nothing more is heard of him, it is probable the matter was
hushed up, or that he had powerful accomplices in his frauds.
[Illustration: THE CASTLE OF TRIM.]
Abundant supplies arrived from England, which, if they could not restore
the dead, served at least to renovate the living; and Schomberg was
ready to take the field early in the year 1690, notwithstanding the loss
of about 10,000 men. James, with the constitutional fatuity of the
Stuarts, had lost his opportunity. If he had attacked the motley army of
the revolutionary party while the men were suffering from want and
disease, and while his own troops were fresh and courageous, he might
have conquered; the most sanguine now could scarcely see any other
prospect for him than defeat. He was in want of everything; and he had
no Englishmen who hoped for plunder, no French refugees who looked for a
new home, no brave Dutchmen who loved fighting for its own sake, to fall
back upon in the hour of calamity. His French counsellors only agreed to
disagree with him. There was the ordinary amount of jealousy amongst the
Irish officers--the inevitable result of the want of a competent leader
in whom all could confide. The King was urged by one party (the French)
to retire to Connaught, and entrench himself there until he should
receive succours from France; he was urged by another party (the Irish)
to attack Schomberg without delay. Louvais, the French Minister of War,
divided his hatred with tolerable impartiality between James and
William: therefore, though quite prepared to oppose the latter, he was
by no means so willing to assist the former; and when he did send men to
Ireland, under the command of the Count de Lauzan, he took care that
their clothing and arms should be of the worst description. He received
in exchange a reinforcement of the best-equipped and best-trained
soldiers of the Irish army. Avaux and De Rosen were both sent back to
France by James; and thus, with but few officers, badly-equipped troops,
and his own miserable and vacillating counsel, he commenced the war
which ended so gloriously or so disastrously, according to the different
opinions of the actors in the fatal drama. In July, 1690, some of James'
party were defeated by the Williamites at Cavan, and several of his best
officers were killed or made prisoners. Another engagement took place at
Charlemont; the Governor, Teigue O'Regan, only yielded to starvation. He
surrendered on honorable terms; and Schomberg, with equal humanity and
courtesy, desired that each of his starving men should receive a loaf of
bread at Armagh.
William had intended for some time to conduct the Irish campaign in
person. He embarked near Chester on the 11th of June, and landed at
Carrickfergus on the 14th, attended by Prince George of Denmark, the
Duke of Wurtemburg, the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt, the Duke of Ormonde,
and the Earls of Oxford, Portland, Scarborough, and Manchester, with
other persons of distinction. Schomberg met him half-way between
Carrickfergus and Belfast. William, who had ridden so far, now entered
the General's carriage, and drove to Belfast, where he was received with
acclamations, and loud shouts of "God bless the Protestant King!" There
were bonfires and discharges of cannon at the various camps of the
Williamites. The officers of several regiments paid their respects to
him in state. On the 22nd the whole army encamped at Loughbrickland,
near Newry. In the afternoon William came up and reviewed the troops,
pitching his tent on a neighbouring eminence.[541] The army comprised a
strange medley of nationalities. More than half were foreigners; and on
these William placed his principal reliance, for at any moment a
reaction might take place in favour of the lawful King. The Williamite
army was well supplied, well trained, admirably commanded, accustomed to
war, and amounted to between forty and fifty thousand. The Jacobite
force only consisted of twenty thousand,[542] and of these a large
proportion were raw recruits. The officers, however, were brave and
skilful; but they had only twelve field-pieces, which had been recently
received from France. On the 22nd, news came that James had encamped
near Dundalk; on the 23rd he marched towards Drogheda. On the same day
William went to Newry; he was thoroughly aware of the movements of his
hapless father-in-law, for deserters came into his camp from time to
time. James obtained his information from an English officer, Captain
Farlow, and some soldiers whom he made prisoners at a trifling
engagement which took place between Newry and Dundalk.
James now determined on a retreat to the Boyne through Ardee. His design
was to protract the campaign as much as possible,--an arrangement which
suited his irresolute habits; but where a kingdom was to be lost or won,
it only served to discourage the troops and to defer the decisive
moment.
The hostile forces confronted each other for the first time on the banks
of the Boyne, June 30, 1689. The Jacobite army was posted on the
declivity of the Hill of Dunore--its right wing towards Drogheda, its
left extending up the river. The centre was at the small hamlet of
Oldbridge. Entrenchments were hastily thrown up to defend the fords, and
James took up his position at a ruined church on the top of the Hill of
Dunore. The Williamite army approached from the north, their brave
leader directing every movement, and inspiring his men with courage and
confidence. He obtained a favourable position, and was completely
screened from view until he appeared on the brow of the hill, where his
forces debouched slowly and steadily into the ravines below. After
planting his batteries on the heights, he kept up an incessant fire on
the Irish lines during the afternoon of the 30th. But James' officers
were on the alert, even if their King were indifferent. William was
recognized as he approached near their lines to reconnoitre. Guns were
brought up to bear on him quietly and stealthily; "six shots were fired
at him, one whereof fell and struck off the top of the Duke Wurtemberg's
pistol and the whiskers of his horse, and another tore the King's coat
on his shoulder."[543]
William, like a wise general as he was, took care that the news of his
accident should not dispirit his men. He showed himself everywhere, rode
through the camp, was as agreeable as it was in his nature to be; and
thus made capital of what might have been a cause of disaster. In the
meantime James did all that was possible to secure a defeat. At one
moment he decided to retreat, at the next he would risk a battle; then
he sent off his baggage and six of his field-pieces to Dublin, for his
own special protection; and while thus so remarkably careful of himself,
he could not be persuaded to allow the most necessary precaution to be
taken for the safety of his army. Hence the real marvel to posterity is,
not that the battle of the Boyne should have been lost by the Irish, but
that they should ever have attempted to fight at all. Perhaps nothing
but the inherent loyalty of the Irish, which neither treachery nor
pusillanimity could destroy, and the vivid remembrance of the cruel
wrongs always inflicted by Protestants when in power, prevented them
from rushing over _en masse_ to William's side of the Boyne. Perhaps, in
the history of nations, there never was so brave a resistance made for
love of royal right and religious freedom, as that of the Irish officers
and men who then fought on the Jacobite side.
The first attack of William's men was made at Slane. This was precisely
what the Jacobite officers had anticipated, and what James had
obstinately refused to see. When it was too late, he allowed Lauzan to
defend the ford, but even Sir Nial O'Neill's gallantry was unavailing.
The enemy had the advance, and Portland's artillery and infantry crossed
at Slane. William now felt certain of victory, if, indeed, he had ever
doubted it. It was low water at ten o'clock; the fords at Oldbridge were
passable; a tremendous battery was opened on the Irish lines; they had
not a single gun to reply, and yet they waited steadily for the attack.
The Dutch Blue Guards dashed into the stream ten abreast, commanded by
the Count de Solmes; the Londonderry and Enniskillen Dragoons followed,
supported by the French Huguenots. The English infantry came next, under
the command of Sir John Hanmer and the Count Nassau. William crossed at
the fifth ford, where the water was deepest, with the cavalry of his
left wing. It was a grand and terrible sight. The men in the water
fought for William and Protestantism; the men on land fought for their
King and their Faith. The men were equally gallant. Of the leaders I
shall say nothing, lest I should be tempted to say too much. James had
followed Lauzan's forces towards Slane. Tyrconnel's valour could not
save the day for Ireland against fearful odds. Sarsfield's horse had
accompanied the King. The Huguenots were so warmly received by the Irish
at the fords that they recoiled, and their commander, Caillemont, was
mortally wounded. Schomberg forgot his age, and the affront he had
received from William in the morning; and the man of eighty-two dashed
into the river with the impetuosity of eighteen. He was killed
immediately, and so was Dr. Walker, who headed the Ulster Protestants.
William may have regretted the brave old General, but he certainly did
not regret the Protestant divine. He had no fancy for churchmen meddling
in secular affairs, and a rough "What brought him there?" was all the
reply vouchsafed to the news of his demise. The tide now began to flow,
and the battle raged with increased fury. The valour displayed by the
Irish was a marvel even to their enemies. Hamilton was wounded and taken
prisoner. William headed the Enniskilleners, who were put to flight soon
after by the Irish horse, at Platten, and were now rallied again by
himself. When the enemy had crossed the ford at Oldbridge, James ordered
Lauzan to march in a parallel direction with Douglas and young Schomberg
to Duleek. Tyrconnel followed. The French infantry covered the retreat
in admirable order, with the Irish cavalry. When the defile of Duleek
had been passed, the royalist forces again presented a front to the
enemy. William's horse halted. The retreat was again resumed; and at the
deep defile of Naul the last stand was made. The shades of a summer
evening closed over the belligerent camps. The Williamites returned to
Duleek; and eternal shadows clouded over the destinies of the
unfortunate Stuarts--a race admired more from sympathy with their
miseries, than from admiration of their virtues.
Thus ended the famous battle of the Boyne. England obtained thereby a
new governor and a national debt; Ireland, fresh oppression, and an
intensification of religious and political animosity, unparalleled in
the history of nations.
James contrived to be first in the retreat which he had anticipated, and
for which he had so carefully prepared. He arrived in Dublin in the
evening, and insulted Lady Tyrconnel by a rude remark about the
fleetness of her husband's countrymen in running away from the battle;
to which she retorted, with equal wit and truth, that his Majesty had
set them the example. He left Dublin the next morning, having first
insulted the civil and military authorities, by throwing the blame of
the defeat on the brave men who had risked everything in his cause.
Having carefully provided for his own safety by leaving two troops of
horse at Bray to defend the bridge, should the enemy come up, he
hastened towards Duncannon, where he arrived at sunrise. Here he
embarked in a small French vessel for Kinsale, and from thence he sailed
to France, and was himself the bearer of the news of his defeat. The
command in Ireland was intrusted to Tyrconnel, who gave orders that the
Irish soldiery should march at once to Limerick, each under the command
of his own officer. William entered Dublin on Sunday, July 7th. He was
received with acclamations by the Protestants, who were now relieved
from all fear lest the Catholics should inflict on them the sufferings
they had so remorselessly inflicted on the Catholics. Drogheda,
Kilkenny, Duncannon, and Waterford, capitulated to the victorious army,
the garrisons marching to Limerick, towards which place William now
directed his course. Douglas was sent to besiege Athlone; but the
Governor, Colonel Grace, made such brave resistance there, he was
obliged to withdraw, and join William near Limerick.
The French officers, who had long since seen the hopelessness of the
conflict, determined to leave the country. Lauzan, after having surveyed
Limerick, and declared that it might be taken with "roasted apples,"
ordered all the French troops to Galway, where they could await an
opportunity to embark for France. But the brave defenders of the devoted
city were not deterred. The Governor consulted with Sarsfield,
Tyrconnel, and the other officers; and the result was a message to
William, in reply to his demand for a surrender, to the effect, that
they hoped to merit his good opinion better by a vigorous defence of the
fortress, which had been committed to them by their master, than by a
shameful capitulation. By a skilfully executed and rapid march,
Sarsfield contrived to intercept William's artillery on the Keeper
Mountains, and after killing the escort, bursting the guns, and blowing
up the ammunition, he returned in triumph to Limerick. His success
animated the besieged, and infuriated the besiegers. But the walls of
Limerick were not as stout as the brave hearts of its defenders. William
sent for more artillery to Waterford; and it was found that two of the
guns which Sarsfield had attempted to destroy, were still available.
The trenches were opened on the 17th of August. On the 20th the garrison
made a vigorous sortie, and retarded the enemy's progress; but on the
24th the batteries were completed, and a murderous fire of red-hot shot
and shells was poured into the devoted city. The trenches were carried
within a few feet of the palisades, on the 27th; and a breach having
been made in the wall near St. John's Gate, William ordered the assault
to commence. The storming party were supported by ten thousand men. For
three hours a deadly struggle was maintained. The result seemed
doubtful, so determined was the bravery evinced on each side.
Boisseleau, the Governor, had not been unprepared, although he was taken
by surprise, and had opened a murderous cross-fire on the assailants
when first they attempted the storm. The conflict lasted for nearly
three hours. The Brandenburg regiment had gained the Black Battery, when
the Irish sprung a mine, and men, faggots, and stones were blown up in a
moment. A council of war was held; William, whose temper was not the
most amiable at any time, was unusually morose. He had lost 2,000 men
between the killed and the wounded, and he had not taken the city, which
a French General had pronounced attainable with "roasted Apples." On
Sunday, the 31st of August, the siege was raised. William returned to
England, where his presence was imperatively demanded. The military
command was confided to the Count de Solmes, who was afterwards
succeeded by De Ginkell; the civil government was intrusted to Lord
Sidney, Sir Charles Porter, and Mr. Coningsby.
Lauzan returned to France with Tyrconnel, and the Irish forces were
confided to the care of the Duke of Berwick, a youth of twenty, with a
council of regency and a council of war to advise him. Under these
circumstances it was little wonder that there should We been
considerable division of opinion, and no little jealousy, in the royal
camp; and even then the seeds were sowing of what eventually proved the
cause of such serious misfortune to the country.
The famous Marlborough appeared before Cork with an army of 1,500 men,
on the 22nd of September, and the garrison were made prisoners of war
after a brief and brave resistance; but the conditions on which they
surrendered were shamefully violated. Kinsale was next attacked; but
with these exceptions, and some occasional skirmishes with the
"Rapparees," the winter passed over without any important military
operations.
Tyrconnel returned to Ireland in January, with a small supply of money
and some provisions, notwithstanding the plots made against him by
Luttrell and Purcell. He brought a patent from James, creating Sarsfield
Earl of Lucan. A French fleet arrived in May, with provisions, clothing,
and ammunition. It had neither men nor money; but it brought what was
supposed to be a fair equivalent, in the person of St. Ruth, a
distinguished French officer, who was sent to take the command of the
Irish army. In the meantime Ginkell was organizing the most effective
force ever seen in Ireland: neither men nor money was spared by the
English Parliament. And this was the army which the impoverished and
ill-provisioned troops of the royalists were doomed to encounter.
Hostilities commenced on 7th June, with the siege of Ballymore Castle,
in Westmeath. The Governor surrendered, and Athlone was next attacked.
This town is situated on the river Shannon. Its position must be
thoroughly understood, to comprehend the heroic bravery with which it
was defended. It will be remembered that Athlone was one of the towns
which the English of the Pale had fortified at the very commencement of
their invasion of Ireland. That portion of the city which lay on the
Leinster or Pale side of the river, had never been strongly fortified,
and a breach was made at once in the wall. Ginkell assaulted it with
4,000 men, and the defenders at once withdrew to the other side; but
they held the bridge with heroic bravery, until they had broken down two
of the arches, and placed the broad and rapid Shannon between themselves
and their enemies. St. Ruth had arrived in the meantime, and posted his
army, amounting to about 15,000 horse and foot, at the Irish side of the
river. The English had now raised the works so high on their side, that
they were able to keep up an incessant fire upon the town. According to
their own historian, Story, they threw in 12,000 cannon balls and 600
bombs, and the siege cost them "nigh fifty tons of powder." The walls
opposite to the batteries were soon broken down, and the town itself
reduced to ruins. The besiegers next attempted to cross in a bridge of
boats, but the defenders turned their few field-pieces on them. They
then tried to mend the broken bridge; huge beams were flung across, and
they had every hope of success. _But_ they knew not yet what Irish
valour could dare. Eight or ten devoted men dashed into the water, and
tore down the planks, under a galling fire; and, as they fell dead or
dying into the river, others rushed to take the places of their fallen
comrades, and to complete the work.
St. Ruth now ordered preparations to be made for an assault, and desired
the ramparts on the Connaught side of the town to be levelled, that a
whole battalion might enter abreast to relieve the garrison when it was
assailed. But the Governor, D'Usson, opposed the plan, and neglected the
order. All was now confusion in the camp. There never had been any real
head to the royalist party in Ireland; and to insure victory in battle,
or success in any important enterprise where multitudes are concerned,
it is absolutely essential that all should act with union of purpose.
Such union, where there are many men, and, consequently, many minds, can
only be attained by the most absolute submission to one leader; and this
leader, to obtain submission, should be either a lawfully constituted
authority, or, in cases of emergency, one of those master-spirits to
whom men bow with unquestioning submission, because of the majesty of
intellect within them. There were brave men and true men in that camp at
Athlone, but there was not one who possessed these essential requisites.
According to the Williamite historian, Ginkell was informed by traitors
of what was passing, and that the defences on the river side were
guarded by two of the "most indifferent Irish regiments." He immediately
chose 2,000 men for the assault, distributed a gratuity of guineas
amongst them, and at a signal from the church bell, at six in the
evening, on the 30th of June, the assault was made, and carried with
such rapidity, that St. Ruth, who was with the cavalry at a distance,
was not aware of what had happened until all was over. St. Ruth at once
removed his army to Ballinasloe, twelve miles from his former post, and
subsequently to Aughrim. Tyrconnel was obliged to leave the camp, the
outcry against him became so general.
St. Ruth's ground was well chosen. He had placed his men upon an
eminence, and each wing was protected by a morass or bog. The
Williamites came up on Sunday, July 11th, while the Irish were hearing
Mass. In this instance, as in so many others, it is impossible to
ascertain correctly the numerical force of each army. The historians on
either side were naturally anxious to magnify the numbers of their
opponents, and to lessen their own. It is at least certain, that on
this, as on other occasions, the Irish were miserably deficient in all
the appliances of the art of war, while the English were admirably
supplied. The most probable estimate of the Irish force appears to be
15,000 horse and foot; and of the English 20,000. Ginkell opened fire on
the enemy as soon as his guns were planted. Some trifling skirmishes
followed. A council of war was held, and the deliberation lasted until
half-past four in the evening, at which time a general engagement was
decided on. A cannonade had been kept up on both sides, in which the
English had immensely the advantage, St. Ruth's excellently chosen
position being almost useless for want of sufficient artillery. At
half-past six Ginkell ordered an advance on the Irish right centre,
having previously ascertained that the bog was passable. The defenders,
after discharging their fire, gradually drew the Williamites after them
by an almost imperceptible retreat, until they had them face to face
with their main line. Then the Irish cavalry charged with irresistible
valour, and the English were thrown into total disorder. St. Ruth, proud
of the success of his strategies and the valour of his men, exclaimed,
"Le jour est a nous, mes enfans." But St. Ruth's weak point was his left
wing, and this was at once perceived and taken advantage of by the Dutch
General. Some of his infantry made good their passage across the morass,
which St. Ruth had supposed impassable; and the men, who commanded this
position from a ruined castle, found that the balls with which they had
been served did not suit their fire-arms, so that they were unable to
defend the passage. St. Ruth at once perceived his error. He hastened to
support them with a brigade of horse; but even as he exclaimed, "They
are beaten; let us beat them to the purpose," a cannon-ball carried off
his head, and all was lost. Another death, which occurred almost
immediately after, completed the misfortunes of the Irish. The infantry
had been attended and encouraged by Dr. Aloysius Stafford, chaplain to
the forces; but when "death interrupted his glorious career,"[544] they
were panic-struck; and three hours after the death of the general and
the priest, there was not a man of the Irish army left upon the field.
But the real cause of the failure was the fatal misunderstanding which
existed between the leaders. Sarsfield, who was thoroughly able to have
taken St Ruth's position, and to have retrieved the fortunes of the day,
had been placed in the rear by the jealousy of the latter, and kept in
entire ignorance of the plan of battle. He was now obliged to withdraw
without striking a single blow. The cavalry retreated along the highroad
to Loughrea; the infantry fled to a bog, where numbers were massacred,
unarmed and in cold blood.
The loss on both sides was immense, and can never be exactly estimated.
Harris says that "had not St. Ruth been taken off, it would have been
hard to say what the consequences of this day would have been."[545]
Many of the dead remained unburied, and their bones were left to bleach
in the storms of winter and the sun of summer. There was one exception
to the general neglect. An Irish officer, who had been slain, was
followed by his faithful dog. The poor animal lay beside his master's
body day and night; and though he fed upon other corpses with the rest
of the dogs, he would not permit them to touch the treasured remains. He
continued his watch until January, when he flew at a soldier, who he
feared was about to remove the bones, which were all that remained to
him of the being by whom he had been caressed and fed. The soldier in
his fright unslung his piece and fired, and the faithful wolf-dog laid
down and died by his charge.[546]
Ginkell laid siege to Galway a week after the battle of Aughrim. The
inhabitants relied principally upon the arrival of Balldearg O'Donnell
for their defence; but, as he did not appear in time, they capitulated
on favourable terms, and the Dutch General marched to Limerick.
Tyrconnel died at Limerick, of apoplexy, while he was preparing to put
the city into a state of defence. He was a faithful and zealous
supporter of the royal cause, and devoted to the Irish nation. His
loyalty has induced one party to blacken his character; his haughty and
unconciliatory manner prevented his good qualities from being fully
appreciated by the other.
The real command now devolved on M. D'Usson, the Governor of Limerick.
Active preparations for the siege were made on both sides. Ginkell
contrived to communicate with Henry Luttrell, but his perfidy was
discovered, and he was tried by court-martial and imprisoned. Sixty
cannon and nineteen mortars were planted against the devoted city, and
on the 30th the bombardment commenced. The Irish horse had been
quartered on the Clare side of the Shannon; but, through the treachery
or indifference of Brigadier Clifford, who had been posted, with a
strong body of dragoons, to prevent such an attempt, Ginkell threw
across a pontoon-bridge, and sent over a large detachment of horse and
foot, on the morning of the 16th, which effectually cut off
communication between the citizens and their camp. On the 22nd he made a
feint of raising the siege, but his real object was to lull suspicion,
while he attacked the works at the Clare end of Thomond-bridge. The
position was bravely defended by Colonel Lacy, but he was obliged to
yield to overpowering numbers; and the Town-Major, fearing that the
enemy would enter in the _mêlee_ with the Irish, drew up the bridge. The
English gave no quarter, and, according to their own account, 600 men
were slaughtered on the spot. This was the last engagement. Sarsfield
recommended a surrender. Resistance was equally hopeless and useless; it
could only end in a fearful sacrifice of life on both sides. A parley
took place on the 23rd, and on the 24th a three days' truce was
arranged. Hostages were exchanged, and a friendly intercourse was
established. On the 3rd of October, 1691, the Treaty was signed. The
large stone is still shown which was used as a table on the occasion.
What that Treaty contained, and how it was violated, are matters which
demand a careful and impartial consideration.
[Illustration: THE TREATY STONE, LIMERICK.
This stone was placed on a handsome pedestal a few years since, by the
then Mayor of Limerick.]
[Illustration: SITE OF THE BATTLE OF AUGHRIM.]
FOOTNOTES:
[538] _Command_.--Mountcashel gave the word "right face;" it was
repeated "right about face." Colonel Hamilton and Captain Lavallin were
tried in Dublin by court-martial for the mistake, and the latter was
shot.
[539] _Arrived_.--The journals of two officers of the Williamite army
have been published in the _Ulster Arch. Jour_., and furnish some
interesting details of the subsequent campaign. One of the writers is
called Bonnivert, and was probably a French refugee; the other was Dr.
Davis, a Protestant clergyman, who obtained a captaincy in William's
army, and seemed to enjoy preaching and fighting with equal zest.
[540] _Sick_.--Harris' _Life of King William_, p. 254, 1719. Macaulay's
account of the social state of the camp, where there were so many
divines preaching, is a proof that their ministrations were not very
successful, and that the lower order of Irish were not at all below the
English of the same class in education or refinement. "The moans of the
sick were drowned by the blasphemy and ribaldry of their companions.
Sometimes, seated on the body of a wretch who had died in the morning,
might be seen a wretch destined to die before night, cursing, singing
loose songs, and swallowing usquebaugh to the health of the devil. When
the corpses were taken away to be buried, the survivors grumbled. A dead
man, they said, was a good screen and a good stool. Why, when there was
so abundant a supply of such useful articles of furniture, were people
to be exposed to the cold air, and forced to crouch on the moist
ground?"--Macaulay's _History of England_, People's Ed. part viii. p.
88.
[541] _Eminence_.--Journal of Captain Davis, published in the _Ulster
Archæological Journal_, vol. iv.
[542] _Twenty thousand_.--Captain Davis' Journal.
[543] _Shoulder_.--Davis' Journal The coat was exhibited at the meeting
of the British Association in Belfast, in 1852. It had descended as an
heirloom through Colonel Wetherall, William's aide-de-camp, who took it
off him after the accident.
[544] _Career_.--_History of the King's Inns_, p. 239.
[545] _Been.--Life of William III_. p. 327.
[546] _Charge_.--See the _Green Book_, p. 231, for some curious stories
about this engagement, and for a detailed account of St. Ruth's death.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Formation of the Irish Brigade--Violation of the Treaty of
Limerick--Enactment of the Penal Laws--Restrictions on Trade--The
Embargo Laws--The Sacramental Test introduced--The Palatines--The Irish
forbidden to enlist in the Army--Dean Swift and the Drapier's
Letters--Attempts to form a Catholic Association--Irish Emigrants defeat
the English in France, Spain, and America--The Whiteboys--An Account of
the Cause of these Outrages, by an English Tourist--Mr. Young's Remedy
for Irish Disaffection--The Peculiar Position and Difficulties of Irish
Priests--The Judicial Murder of Father Nicholas Sheehy--Grattan's Demand
for Irish Independence--The Volunteers--A Glimpse of Freedom.
[A.D. 1691-1783.]
St. John's Gate and the Irish outworks were surrendered to the English;
the English town was left for the Irish troops to occupy until their
departure for France. The men were to have their choice whether they
would serve under William III. or under the French. A few days after
they were mustered on the Clare side of the Shannon, to declare which
alternative they preferred. An Ulster battalion, and a few men in each
regiment, in all about 1,000, entered the service of Government; 2,000
received passes to return home; 11,000, with all the cavalry,
volunteered for France, and embarked for that country in different
detachments, under their respective officers. They were warmly received
in the land of their adoption; and all Irish Catholics to France were
granted the privileges of French citizens, without the formality of
naturalization. And thus was formed the famous "Irish Brigade," which
has become a household word for bravery and the glory of the Irish
nation.
The Treaty, as I have said, was signed on the 3rd of October, 1691. The
preamble states that the contracting parties were Sir Charles Porter and
Thomas Coningsby, Lords Justices, with the Baron de Ginkell as
Commander-in-Chief, on the part of William and Mary; Sarsfield, Earl of
Lucan, Viscount Galmoy, Colonel Purcell, Colonel Cusack, Sir J. Butler,
Colonel Dillon, and Colonel Brown, on the part of the Irish nation. The
articles were fifty-two in number. They guaranteed to the Catholics (1)
the free exercise of their religion; (2) the privilege of sitting in
Parliament; (3) freedom of trade; (4) the safety of the estates of those
who had taken up arms for King James; (5) a general amnesty; (6) all the
honours of war to the troops, and a free choice for their future
destination. The articles run to considerable length, and cannot,
therefore, be inserted here; but they may be seen _in extenso_ in
MacGeoghegan's _History of Ireland_, and several other works. So little
doubt had the Irish that this Treaty would be solemnly observed, that
when the accidental omission of two lines was discovered in the clean
copy, they refused to carry out the arrangements until those lines had
been inserted. The Treaty was confirmed by William and Mary, who pledged
"the honour of England" that it should be kept inviolably, saying: "We
do, for us, our heirs and successors, as far as in us lies, ratify and
confirm the same, and every clause, matter, and thing therein
contained." Two days after the signing of the Treaty, a French fleet
arrived in the Shannon, with 3,000 soldiers, 200 officers, and 10,000
stand of arms. Sarsfield was strongly urged to break faith with the
English; but he nobly rejected the temptation. How little did he foresee
how cruelly that nation would break faith with him!
Two months had scarcely elapsed after the departure of the Irish troops,
when an English historian was obliged to write thus of the open
violation of the articles: "The justices of the peace, sheriffs, and
other magistrates, presuming on their power in the country, dispossessed
several of their Majesties' Catholic subjects, not only of their goods
and chattels, but also of their lands and tenements, to the great
reproach of their Majesties' Government."[547] These complaints were so
general, that the Lords Justices were at last obliged to issue a
proclamation on the subject (November 19, 1691), in which they state
that they had "received complaints from all parts of Ireland of the
ill-treatment of the Irish who had submitted; and that they [the Irish]
were so extremely terrified with apprehensions of the continuance of
that usage, that some of those who had quitted the Irish army and went
home, with the resolution not to go to France, were then come back
again, and pressed earnestly to go thither, rather than stay in Ireland,
where, contrary to the public faith, as well as law and justice, they
were robbed in their persons and abused in their substance." Let it be
remembered that this was an official document, and that it emanated from
the last persons who were likely to listen to such complaints, or
relieve them if they could possibly have been denied.
The men who had hoped for confiscations that they might share the
plunder, now began to clamour loudly. It was necessary to get up a
popular cry against Papists, as the surest means of attaining their end.
Individuals who had as little personal hatred to the Pope as they had to
the Grand Turk, and as little real knowledge of the Catholic Faith as of
Mahometanism, uttered wild cries of "No Popery!" and "No Surrender!"
William, whose morals, if not his professions, proclaimed that he was
not troubled with any strong religious convictions, was obliged to yield
to the faction who had set him on the throne. Probably, he yielded
willingly; and was thus able, in some measure, to make a pretence of
doing under pressure what he really wished to do of his own will.
On the 28th of October, 1692, the Parliament in Dublin rejected a Bill
which had been sent from England, containing restrictions on certain
duties, solely to proclaim their independence. A few days after they
were taught a lesson of obedience. Lord Sidney came down to the House
unexpectedly, and prorogued Parliament, with a severe rebuke, ordering
the Clerk to enter his protest against the proceedings of the Commons on
the journals of the House of Lords. The hopes of the English were
raised, and the Parliament brought forward the subject of the Limerick
articles, with torrents of complaints against the Irish in general, and
the Irish Catholics in particular. William received their remonstrance
coolly, and the matter was allowed to rest for a time. In 1695 Lord
Capel was appointed Viceroy. He at once summoned a Parliament, which sat
for several sessions, and in which some of the penal laws against
Catholics were enacted. As I believe the generality even of educated
persons, both in England and Ireland, are entirely ignorant of what
these laws really were, I shall give a brief account of their
enactments, premising first, that seven lay peers and seven Protestant
bishops had the honorable humanity to sign a protest against them.
(1) The Catholic peers were deprived of their right to sit in
Parliament. (2) Catholic gentlemen were forbidden to be elected as
members of Parliament. (3) It denied all Catholics the liberty of
voting, and it excluded them from all offices of trust, and indeed from
_all remunerative_ employment, however insignificant.[548] (4) They were
fined £60 a-month for absence from the Protestant form of worship. (5)
They were forbidden to travel five miles from their houses, to keep
arms, to maintain suits at law, or to be guardians or executors. (6) Any
four justices of the peace could, without further trial, banish any man
for life if he refused to attend the Protestant service. (7) Any two
justices of the peace could call any man over sixteen before them, and
if he refused to abjure the Catholic religion, they could bestow his
property on the next of kin. (8) No Catholic could employ a Catholic
schoolmaster to educate his children; and if he sent his child abroad
for education, he was subject to a fine of £100, and the child could not
inherit any property either in England or Ireland. (9) Any Catholic
priest who came to the country should be hanged. (10) Any Protestant
suspecting any other Protestant of holding property[549] in trust for
any Catholic, might file a bill against the suspected trustee, and take
the estate or property from him. (11) Any Protestant seeing a Catholic
tenant-at-will on a farm, which, in his opinion, yielded one-third more
than the yearly rent, might enter on that farm, and, by simply swearing
to the fact, take possession. (12) Any Protestant might take away the
horse of a Catholic, no matter how valuable, by simply paying him £5.
(13) Horses and wagons belonging to Catholics, were in all cases to be
seized for the use of the militia. (14) Any Catholic gentleman's child
who became a Protestant, could at once take possession of his father's
property.
I have only enumerated some of the enactments of this code, and I
believe there are few persons who will not be shocked at their atrocity.
Even if the rights of Catholics had not been secured to them by the
Treaty of Limerick, they had the rights of men; and whatever excuse, on
the ground of hatred of Popery as a religion, may be offered for
depriving men of liberty of conscience, and of a share in the government
of their country, there can be no excuse for the gross injustice of
defrauding them of their property, and placing life and estate at the
mercy of every ruffian who had an interest in depriving them of either
or of both. Although the seventeenth century has not yet been included
in the dark ages, it is possible that posterity, reading these
enactments, may reverse present opinion on this subject.
But though the Parliament which sat in Dublin, and was misnamed Irish,
was quite willing to put down Popery and to take the property of
Catholics, it was not so willing to submit to English rule in other
matters. In 1698 Mr. Molyneux, one of the members for the University of
Dublin, published a work, entitled _The Case of Irelands being bound by
Acts of Parliament in England, stated_. But Mr. Molyneux's book was
condemned by the English Parliament; and after a faint show of
resistance, the Irish members succumbed. The next attention which the
English Houses paid to this country, was to suppress the woollen trade.
In 1698 they passed a law for the prevention of the exportation of wool
and of manufactures from Ireland, "under the forfeiture of goods and
ship, and a penalty of £500 for every such offence." The penal laws had
made it "an offence" for a man to practise his religion, or to educate
his children either in Ireland or abroad; the trade laws made it "an
offence" for a man to earn[550] his bread in an honest calling. The
lower class of Protestants were the principal sufferers by the
destruction of the woollen trade; it had been carried on by them almost
exclusively; and it is said that 40,000 persons were reduced to utter
destitution by this one enactment. In addition to this, navigation laws
were passed, which prohibited Irish merchants from trading beyond seas
in any ships except those which were built in England. The embargo laws
followed, of which twenty-two were passed at different periods during
forty years. They forbade Irish merchants, whether Protestant or
Catholic, to trade with any foreign nation, or with any British colony,
direct-to export or import _any article_, except to or from British
merchants resident in England. Ireland, however, was allowed one
consolation, and this was the permission to import rum duty free. I am
certain that none of the honorable members who voted such laws had the
deliberate intention of making the Irish a nation of beggars and
drunkards; but if the Irish did not become such, it certainly was not
the fault of those who legislated for their own benefit, and, as far as
they had the power to do so, for her ruin, politically and socially.
William had exercised his royal prerogative by disposing, according to
his own inclination, of the estates forfeited by those who had fought
for the royal cause. His favourite, Mrs. Villiers, obtained property
worth £25,000 per annum. In 1799 the English Parliament began to inquire
into this matter, and the Commons voted that "the advising and passing
of the said grants was highly reflecting upon the King's honour."
William had already began to see on what shifting sands the poor fabric
of his popularity was erected. He probably thought of another case in
which his honour had been really pledged, and in which he had been
obliged to sacrifice it to the clamours of these very men. He had failed
in the attempt to keep his Dutch Guards; his last days were embittered;
and had not his death occurred soon after, it is just possible that even
posterity might have read his life in a different fashion.
Anne succeeded to the throne in 1702; and the following year the Duke of
Ormonde was sent to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant. The House of Commons
waited on him with a Bill "to prevent the further growth of Popery." A
few members, who had protested against this Act, resigned their seats,
but others were easily found to take their places, whose opinions
coincided with those of the majority. The Queen's Tory advisers objected
to these strong measures, and attempted to nullify them, by introducing
the clause known as the "Sacramental Test," which excludes from public
offices all who refused to receive the sacrament according to the forms
of the Established Church. As dissenters from that Church had great
influence in the Irish Parliament, and as it was well known that their
abhorrence of the Church which had been established by law was little
short of their hatred of the Church which had been suppressed by law, it
was hoped that they would reject the bill; but they were assured that
they would not be required to take the test, and with this assurance
they passed the Act. It seems to those who look back on such
proceedings, almost a marvel, how men, whose conscience forbade them to
receive the sacrament according to certain rites, and who, in many
cases, certainly would have resigned property, if not life, sooner than
act contrary to their religious convictions, should have been so blindly
infatuated as to compel other men, as far as they had power to do so, to
violate their conscientious convictions. The whole history of the
persecutions which Catholics have endured at the hands of Protestants of
all and every denomination, is certainly one of the most curious phases
of human perversity which the philosopher can find to study.
Two of the gentlemen, Sir Toby Butler and Colonel Cusack, who had signed
the Treaty of Limerick, petitioned to be heard by counsel against the
Bill. But appeals to honour and to justice were alike in vain, when
addressed to men who were destitute of both. The petitioners were
dismissed with the insulting remark, that if they suffered from the Act
it was their own fault, since, if they complied with its requirements,
honours and wealth were at their command. But these were men who would
not violate the dictates of conscience for all that the world could
bestow on them, and of this one should think they had already given
sufficient proof. The Bill was passed without a dissentient voice; and
men who would themselves have rebelled openly and violently if the
Sacramental Test had been imposed on them, and who would have talked
loudly of liberty of conscience, and the blasphemy of interfering with
any one's religious convictions, now, without a shadow of hesitation,
imposed this burden upon their fellow-men, and were guilty of the very
crime of persecution, with which they so frequently charged their
Catholic fellow-subjects.
One Act followed another, each adding some new restriction to the last,
or some fresh incentive for persecution. In 1709 an attempt was made to
plant some Protestant families from Germany in various parts of the
country. These settlements obtained the name of Palatines. But it was
labour lost. Sir John Chichester once observed, that it was useless to
endeavour to root Popery out of Ireland, for it was impregnated in the
very air. A few of the Palatines, like other settlers, still kept to
their own religion; but the majority, as well as the majority of other
settlers, learned to understand and then to believe the Catholic
faith--learned to admire, and then to love, and eventually to amalgamate
with the long-suffering and noble race amongst whom they had been
established.
It would appear that Queen Anne wished her brother to succeed her on the
throne; but he had been educated a Catholic, and he resolutely rejected
all temptations to renounce his faith. Her short and troubled reign
ended on the 1st of August, 1714. Before her death the Parliament had
chosen her successor. Her brother was proscribed, and a reward of
£50,000 offered for his apprehension. The rebellion in favour of James
III., as he was called on the Continent, or the Pretender, as he was
called by those who had no resource but to deny his legitimacy, was
confined entirely to Scotland; but the Irish obtained no additional
grace by their loyalty to the reigning monarch. A new proclamation was
issued, which not only forbid them to enlist in the army, but offered
rewards for the discovery of any Papist who had presumed to enlist, in
order that "he might be turned out, and punished with the utmost
severity of the law." In the next reign we shall see how the suicidal
effect of this policy was visited on the heads of its promoters.
The Irish Parliament now came into collision with the English on a case
of appellate jurisdiction, but they were soon taught their true
position, and with becoming submission deferred to their fate. The Irish
Parliament had long been such merely in name; and the only power they
were allowed to exercise freely, was that of making oppressive and
unjust enactments against their Catholic fellow-subjects. It is a poor
consolation, but one which is not unfrequently indulged, when those who
are oppressed by others become themselves in turn the oppressors of
those who are unfortunate enough to be in their power.
A new phase in Irish history was inaugurated by the versatile talents,
and strong will in their exercise, which characterized the famous Dr.
Jonathan Swift. The quarrels between Whigs and Tories were at their
height. Swift is said to have been a Whig in politics and a Tory in
religion. He now began to write as a patriot; and in his famous
"Drapier's Letters" told the Government of the day some truths which
were more plain than palatable.[551] An Englishman named Wood had
obtained a patent under the Broad Seal, in 1723, for the coinage of
copper halfpence. Even the servile Parliament was indignant, and
protested against a scheme[552] which promised to flood Ireland with bad
coin, and thus to add still more to its already impoverished condition.
There was reason for anxiety. The South Sea Bubble had lately ruined
thousands in England, and France was still suffering from the
Mississippi Scheme. Speculations of all kinds were afloat, and a
temporary mania seemed to have deprived the soberest people of their
ordinary judgment. Dr. Hugh Boulter, an Englishman, was made Archbishop
of Armagh, and sent over mainly to attend to the English interests in
Ireland. But he was unable to control popular feeling; and Swift's
letters accomplished what the Irish Parliament was powerless to effect.
Although it was well known that he was the author of these letters, and
though a reward of £300 was offered for the discovery of the secret, he
escaped unpunished. In 1725 the patent was withdrawn, and Wood received
£3,000 a year for twelve years as an indemnification--an evidence that
he must have given a very large bribe for the original permission, and
that he expected to make more by it than could have been made honestly.
One of the subjects on which Swift wrote most pointedly and effectively,
was that of absentees. He employed both facts and ridicule; but each
were equally in vain. He describes the wretched state of the country;
but his eloquence was unheeded. He gave ludicrous illustrations of the
extreme ignorance of those who governed in regard to those whom they
governed. Unfortunately the state of things which he described and
denounced has continued, with few modifications, to the present day; but
on this subject I have said sufficient elsewhere.
George I. died at Osnaburg, in Germany, on the 10th of June, 1727. On
the accession of his successor, the Catholics offered an address
expressing their loyalty, but the Lords Justices took care that it
should never reach England. The next events of importance were the
efforts made by Dr. Boulter, the Protestant Primate, to establish
Charter Schools, where Catholic children might be educated; and his
equally zealous efforts to prevent Catholics, who had conformed
exteriorly to the State religion, from being admitted to practise at the
Bar. It may be observed in passing, that these men could scarcely have
been as degraded in habits and intellect as some historians have been
pleased to represent them, when they could at once become fit for
forensic honours, and evinced such ability as to excite the fears of the
Protestant party. It should be remarked that their "conversion" was
manifestly insincere, otherwise there would have been no cause for
apprehension.
The country was suffering at this period from the most fearful distress.
There were many causes for this state of destitution, which were quite
obvious to all but those who were interested in maintaining it. The
poorer classes, being almost exclusively Catholics, had been deprived of
every means of support. Trade was crushed, so that they could not become
traders; agriculture was not permitted, so that they could not become
agriculturists. There was, in fact, no resource for the majority but to
emigrate, to steal, or to starve. To a people whose religion always had
a preponderating influence on their moral conduct, the last alternative
only was available, as there was not the same facilities for emigration
then as now. The cultivation of the potato had already become general;
it was, indeed, the only way of obtaining food left to these
unfortunates. They were easily planted, easily reared; and to men liable
at any moment to be driven from their miserable holdings, if they
attempted to effect "improvements," or to plant such crops as might
attract the rapacity of their landlords, they were an invaluable
resource. The man might live who eat nothing but potatoes all the year
round, but he could scarcely be envied or ejected for his wealth. In
1739 a severe frost destroyed the entire crop, and a frightful famine
ensued, in which it was estimated that 400,000 persons perished of
starvation.
In 1747 George Stone succeeded Dr. Hoadley as Primate of Ireland. His
appointment was made evidently more in view of temporals than
spirituals, and he acted accordingly. Another undignified squabble took
place in 1751 and 1753, between the English and Irish Parliaments, on
the question of privilege. For a time the "patriot" or Irish party
prevailed; but eventually they yielded to the temptation of bribery and
place. Henry Boyle, the Speaker, was silenced by being made Earl of
Shannon; Anthony Malone was made Chancellor of the Exchequer; and the
opposition party was quietly broken up.
An attempt was now made to form a Catholic Association, and to obtain by
combination and quiet pressure what had been so long denied to
resistance and military force. Dr. Curry, a physician practising in
Dublin, and the author of the well-known _Historical and Critical Review
of the Civil Wars of Ireland;_ Charles O'Connor, of Belanagar, the Irish
antiquary, and Mr. Wyse, of Waterford, were the projectors and promoters
of this scheme. The clergy stood aloof from it, fearing to lose any
liberty they still possessed if they demanded more; the aristocracy held
back, fearing to forfeit what little property yet remained to them, if
they gave the least excuse for fresh "settlements" or plunderings. A few
Catholic merchants, however, joined the three friends; and in
conjunction they prepared an address to the Duke of Bedford, who was
appointed Lord Lieutenant in 1757. The address was favourably received,
and an answer returned after some time. The Government already had
apprehensions of the French invasion, and it was deemed politic to give
the Catholics some encouragement, however faint. It is at least certain
that the reply declared, "the zeal and attachment which they [the
Catholics] professed, would never be more seasonably manifested than at
the present juncture."
Charles Lucas now began his career of patriotism; for at last Irish
Protestants were beginning to see, that if Irish Catholics suffered,
Irish interests would suffer also; and if Irish interests suffered, they
should have their share in the trial. A union between England and
Ireland, such as has since been carried out, was now proposed, and
violent excitement followed. A mob, principally composed of Protestants,
broke into the House of Lords; but the affair soon passed over, and the
matter was dropped.
George II. died suddenly at Kensington, and was succeeded by his
grandson, George III. But I shall request the attention of the reader to
some remarks of considerable importance with regard to foreign events,
before continuing the regular course of history. The predilections of
the late King for his German connexions, had led him into war both with
France and Spain; the imprudence of ministers, if not the unwise and
unjust policy of colonial government, involved the country soon after in
a conflict with the American dependencies. In each of these cases
expatriated Irishmen turned the scale against the country from which
they had been so rashly and cruelly ejected. In France, the battle of
Fontenoy was won mainly by the Irish Brigade, who were commanded by
Colonel Dillon; and the defeat of England by the Irish drew from George
II. the well-known exclamation: "Cursed be the laws that deprive me of
such subjects!" In Spain, where the Irish officers and soldiers had
emigrated by thousands, there was scarcely an engagement in which they
did not take a prominent and decisive part. In Canada, the agitation
against British exactions was commenced by Charles Thompson, an Irish
emigrant, and subsequently the Secretary of Congress; Montgomery,
another Irishman, captured Montreal and Quebec; O'Brien and Barry, whose
names sufficiently indicate their nationality, were the first to command
in the naval engagements; and startled England began to recover slowly
and sadly from her long infatuation, to discover what had, indeed, been
discovered by the sharp-sighted Schomberg[553] and his master long
before, that Irishmen, from their habits of endurance and undaunted
courage, were the best soldiers she could find, and that, Celts and
Papists as they were, her very existence as a nation might depend upon
their co-operation.
The agrarian outrages, the perpetrators of which were known at first by
the name of Levellers, and eventually by the appellation of Whiteboys,
commenced immediately after the accession of George III. An English
traveller, who carefully studied the subject and who certainly could
have been in no way interested in misrepresentation, has thus described
the cause and the motive of the atrocities they practised. The first
cause was the rapacity of the landlords, who, having let their lands far
above their value, on condition of allowing the tenants the use of
certain commons, now enclosed the commons, but did not lessen the rent.
The bricks were to be made, but the straw was not provided; and the
people were told that they were idle. The second cause was the exactions
of the tithemongers, who were described by this English writer as
"harpies who squeezed out the very vitals of the people, and by process,
citation, and sequestration, dragged from them the little which the
landlord had left them." It was hard for those who had been once owners
of the soil, to be obliged to support the intruders into their property
in affluence; while they, with even the most strenuous efforts, could
barely obtain what would keep them from starvation. It was still harder
that men, who had sacrificed their position in society, and their
worldly prospects, for the sake of their religion, should be obliged to
support clergymen and their families, some of whom never resided in the
parishes from which they obtained tithes, and many of whom could not
count above half-a-dozen persons as regular members of their
congregation.
Mr. Young thus suggests a remedy for these crimes, which, he says, were
punished with a "severity which seemed calculated for the meridian of
Barbary, while others remain yet the law of the land, which would, if
executed, tend more to raise than to quell an insurrection. From all
which it is manifest, that the gentlemen of Ireland never thought of a
radical cure, from overlooking the real cause of disease, which, in
fact, lay in themselves, and not in the wretches they doomed to the
gallows. Let them change their own conduct entirely, and the poor will
not long riot. Treat them like men, who ought to be as free as
yourselves; put an end to that system of religious persecution, which,
for seventy years, has divided the kingdom against itself--in these two
circumstances lies the cure of insurrection; perform them completely,
and you will have an affectionate poor, instead of oppressed and
discontented vassals."[554]
How purely these outrages were the deeds of desperate men, who had been
made desperate by cruel oppression, and insensible to cruelty by cruel
wrongs, is evident from the dying declaration of five Whiteboys, who
were executed, in 1762, at Waterford and who publicly declared, and took
God to witness, "that in all these tumults it never did enter into their
thoughts to do anything against the King or Government."[555]
It could not be expected that the Irish priest would see the people
exposed to all this misery--and what to them was far more painful to all
this temptation to commit deadly sin--without making some effort in
their behalf. There may have been some few priests, who, in their zeal
for their country, have sacrificed the sacredness of their office to
their indignation at the injury done to their people--who have mixed
themselves up with feats of arms, or interfered with more ardour than
discretion in the arena of politics; but such instances have been rare,
and circumstances have generally made them in some degree excusable. The
position of the Irish priest in regard to his flock is so anomalous,
that some explanation of it seems necessary in order to understand the
accusations made against Father Nicholas Sheehy, and the animosity with
which he was hunted to death by his persecutors. While the priest was
driven from cave to mountain and from mountain to cave, he was the
consoler of his equally persecuted people. The deep reverence which
Catholics feel for the office of the priesthood, can scarcely be
understood by those who have abolished that office, as far as the law of
the land could do so; but a man of ordinary intellectual attainments
ought to be able to form some idea of the feelings of others, though he
may not have experienced them personally; and a man of ordinary humanity
should be able to respect those feelings, however unwise they may seem
to him. When education was forbidden to the Irish, the priest obtained
education in continental colleges; and there is sufficient evidence to
show that many Irish priests of that and of preceding centuries were men
of more than ordinary abilities. The Irish, always fond of learning, are
ever ready to pay that deference to its possessors which is the best
indication of a superior mind, however uncultivated. Thus, the
priesthood were respected both for their office and for their erudition.
The landlord, the Protestant clergyman, the nearest magistrate, and,
perhaps, the tithe-proctor, were the only educated persons in the
neighbourhood; but they were leagued against the poor peasant; they
demanded rent and tithes, which he had no means of paying; they refused
justice, which he had no means of obtaining. The priest, then, was the
only friend the peasant had. His friendship was disinterested--he gained
nothing by his ministration but poor fare and poor lodging; his
friendship was self-sacrificing, for he risked his liberty and his life
for his flock. He it was--
"Who, in the winter's night,
When the cold blast did bite,
Came to my cabin door,
And, on the earthen floor,
Knelt by me, sick and poor;"
and he, too, when the poor man was made still poorer by his sickness,
"Gave, while his eyes did brim,
What I should give to him."[556]
But a time came when the priest was able to do more. Men had seen, in
some measure, the absurdity, if not the wickedness, of persecuting the
religion of a nation; and at this time priests were tolerated in
Ireland. Still, though they risked their lives by it, they could not see
their people treated unjustly without a protest. The priest was
independent of the landlord; for, if he suffered from his vengeance, he
suffered alone, and his own sufferings weighed lightly in the balance
compared with the general good. The priest was a gentleman by education,
and often by birth; and this gave him a social status which his
uneducated people could not possess.[557] Such, was the position of
Father Nicholas Sheehy, the parish priest of Clogheen. He had interfered
in the vain hope of protecting his unfortunate parishioners from
injustice; and, in return, he was himself made the victim of injustice.
He was accused of encouraging a French invasion--a fear which was always
present to the minds of the rulers, as they could not but know that the
Irish had every reason to seek for foreign aid to free them from
domestic wrongs. He was accused of encouraging the Whiteboys, because,
while he denounced their crimes, he accused those who had driven them to
these crimes as the real culprits. He was accused of treason, and a
reward of £300 was offered for his apprehension. Conscious of his
innocence, he gave himself up at once to justice, though he might easily
have fled the country. He was tried in Dublin and acquitted. But his
persecutors were not satisfied. A charge of murder was got up against
him; and although the body of the man could never be found, although it
was sworn that he had left the country, although an _alibi_ was proved
for the priest, he was condemned and executed. A gentleman of property
and position came forward at the trial to prove that Father Sheehy had
slept in his house the very night on which he was accused of having
committed the murder; but the moment he appeared in court, a clergyman
who sat on the bench had him taken into custody, on pretence of having
killed a corporal and a sergeant in a riot. The pretence answered the
purpose. After Father Sheehy's execution Mr. Keating was tried; and, as
there was not even a shadow of proof, he was acquitted. But it was too
late to save the victim.
At the place of execution, Father Sheehy most solemnly declared, on the
word of a dying man, that he was not guilty either of murder or of
treason; that he never had any intercourse, either directly or
indirectly, with the French; and that he had never known of any such
intercourse being practised by others. Notwithstanding this solemn
declaration of a dying man, a recent writer of Irish history says,
"there can be no doubt" that he was deeply implicated in treasonable
practices, and "he seems to have been" a principal in the plot to murder
Lord Carrick. The "no doubt" and "seems to have been" of an individual
are not proofs, but they tend to perpetuate false impressions, and do
grievous injustice to the memory of the dead. The writer has also
omitted all the facts which tended to prove Father Sheehy's innocence.
In 1771 a grace was granted to the Catholics, by which they were allowed
to take a lease of fifty acres of bog, and half an acre of arable land
for a house; but this holding should not be within a mile of any town.
In 1773 an attempt was made to tax absentees; but as they were the
principal landowners, they easily defeated the measure. A pamphlet was
published in 1769, containing a list of the absentees, which is in
itself sufficient to account for any amount of misery and disaffection
in Ireland. There can be no doubt of the correctness of the statement,
because the names of the individuals and the amount of their property
are given in full. Property to the amount of £73,375 belonged to persons
who _never_ visited Ireland. Pensions to the amount of £371,900 were
paid to persons who lived out of Ireland. Property to the amount of
£117,800 was possessed by persons who visited Ireland occasionally, but
lived abroad. Incomes to the amount of £72,200 were possessed by
officials and bishops, who generally lived out of Ireland. The state of
trade is also treated in the same work, in which the injustice the
country has suffered is fully and clearly explained.
The American war commenced in 1775, and the English Parliament at once
resolved to relieve Ireland of some of her commercial disabilities. Some
trifling concessions were granted, just enough to show the Irish that
they need not expect justice except under the compulsion of fear, and
not enough to benefit the country. Irish soldiers were now asked for and
granted; but exportation of Irish commodities to America was forbidden,
and in consequence the country was reduced to a state of fearful
distress. The Irish debt rose to £994,890, but the pension list was
still continued and paid to absentees. When the independence of the
American States was acknowledged by France, a Bill for the partial
relief of the Catholics passed unanimously through the English
Parliament. Catholics were now allowed a few of the rights of citizens.
They were permitted to take and dispose of leases, and priests and
schoolmasters were no longer liable to prosecution.
Grattan had entered Parliament in the year 1775. In 1779 he addressed
the House on the subject of a free trade[558] for Ireland; and on the
19th of April, 1780, he made his famous demand for Irish independence.
His address, his subject, and his eloquence were irresistible. "I wish
for nothing," he exclaimed, "but to breathe in this our land, in common
with my fellow-subjects, the air of liberty. I have no ambition, unless
it be the ambition to break your chain and to contemplate your glory. I
never will be satisfied as long as the meanest cottager in Ireland has a
link of the British chain clinging to his rags; he may be naked, but he
shall not be in irons. And I do see the time is at hand, the spirit is
gone forth, the declaration is planted; and though great men should
apostatize, yet the cause will live; and though the public speaker
should die, yet the immortal fire shall outlast the organ which conveyed
it; and the breath of liberty, like the word of the holy man, will not
die with the prophet, but survive him."
The country was agitated to the very core. A few links of the chain had
been broken. A mighty reaction set in after long bondage. The
newly-freed members of the body politic were enjoying all the delicious
sensations of a return from a state of disease to a state o partial
health. The Celt was not one to be stupefied or numbed by long
confinement; and if the restraint were loosened a little more, he was
ready to bound into the race of life, joyous and free, too happy to
mistrust, and too generous not to forgive his captors. But, alas! the
freedom was not yet granted, and the joy was more in prospect of what
might be, than in thankfulness of what was.
[Illustration: Grattan demanding Irish Independence.]
The Volunteer Corps, which had been formed in Belfast in 1779, when the
coast was threatened by privateers, had now risen to be a body of
national importance. They were reviewed in public, and complimented by
Parliament. But they were patriots. On the 28th of December, 1781, a few
of the leading members of the Ulster regiments met at Charlemont, and
convened a meeting of delegates from all the Volunteer Associations, at
Dungannon, on the 15th of February, 1782. The delegates assembled on the
appointed day, and Government dared not prevent or interrupt their
proceedings. Colonel William Irvine presided, and twenty-one resolutions
were adopted, demanding civil rights, and the removal of commercial
restraints. One resolution expresses their pleasure, as Irishmen, as
Christians, and as Protestants, at the relaxation of the penal laws.
This resolution was suggested by Grattan to Mr. Dobbs, as he was leaving
Dublin to join the assembly. It was passed with only two dissentient
votes.
The effect of this combined, powerful, yet determined agitation, was
decisive. On the 27th of May, 1782, when the Irish Houses met, after an
adjournment of three weeks, the Duke of Portland announced the
unconditional concessions which had been made to Ireland by the English
Parliament. Mr. Grattan interpreted the concession in the fullest sense,
and moved an address, "breathing the generous sentiments of his noble
and confiding nature." Mr. Flood and a few other members took a
different and more cautious view of the case. They wished for something
more than a simple repeal of the Act of 6 George I., and they demanded
an express declaration that England would not interfere with Irish
affairs. But his address was carried by a division of 211 to 2; and the
House, to show its gratitude, voted that 20,000 Irish seamen should be
raised for the British navy, at a cost of £100,000, and that £50,000
should be given to purchase an estate and build a house for Mr. Grattan,
whose eloquence had contributed so powerfully to obtain what they hoped
would prove justice to Ireland.
[Illustration: GOLDSMITH'S WELL.]
FOOTNOTES:
[547] _Government_.--Harris' _Life of William III_. p. 357.
[548] _Insignificant_.--A petition was sent in to Parliament by the
Protestant porters of Dublin, complaining of Darby Ryan for employing
Catholic porters. The petition was respectfully received, and referred
to a "Committee of Grievances."--_Com. Jour_. vol. ii. f. 699. Such an
instance, and it is only one of many, is the best indication of the
motive for enacting the penal laws, and the cruelty of them.
[549] _Property_.--It will be remembered that at this time Catholics
were in a majority of at least five to one over Protestants. Hence
intermarriages took place, and circumstances occurred, in which
Protestants found it their interest to hold property for Catholics, to
prevent it from being seized by others. A gentleman of considerable
property in the county Kerry, has informed me that his property was held
in this way for several generations.
[550] _Earn_.--One of the articles of the "violated Treaty" expressly
provided that the poor Catholics should be allowed to exercise their
trade. An Act to prevent the further growth of Popery was passed
afterwards, which made it forfeiture of goods and imprisonment for any
Catholic to exercise a trade in Limerick or Galway, except seamen,
fishermen, and day labourers, and they were to be licensed by the
Governor, and not to exceed twenty.--_Com. Jour_. vol. iii. f. 133.
[551] _Palatable_.--In his fourth letter he says: "Our ancestors reduced
this kingdom to the obedience of England, in return for which we have
been rewarded with a worse climate, the privilege of being governed by
laws to which we do not consent, a ruined trade, a house of peers
without jurisdiction, almost an incapacity for all employments, and the
dread of Wood's halfpence."
[552] _Scheme_.--The very bills of some of the companies were so
absurd, that it is marvellous how any rational person could have been
deceived by them. One was "for an undertaking which shall be in due time
revealed." The undertaker was as good as his word. He got £2,000 paid in
on shares one morning, and in the afternoon the "undertaking" was
revealed, for he had decamped with the money. Some wag advertised a
company "for the invention of melting down sawdust and chips, and
casting them into clean deal boards, without cracks or knots."
[553] _Schomberg_.--He wrote to William of Orange, from before Dundalk,
that the English nation made the worst soldiers he had ever seen,
because they could not bear hardships; "yet," he adds, "the Parliament
and people have a prejudice, that an English new-raised soldier can beat
above six of his enemies."--Dalrymple's _Memoirs_, vol. ii. p. 178.
According to the records of the War Office in France, 450,000 Irishmen
died in the service of that country from 1691 to 1745, and, in round
numbers, as many more from 1745 to the Revolution.
[554] _Vassals_.--Young's _Tour_, vol. ii. pp. 41, 42. It should be
remembered that Mr. Young was an Englishman and a Protestant, and that
he had no property in Ireland to blind him to the truth.
[555] _Government_,--Curry's _Historical Review_, vol. ii. p. 274,
edition of 1786. This work affords a very valuable and accurate account
of the times, written from personal knowledge.
[556] _Him_.--The ballad of _Soggarth Aroon_ (priest, dear) was written
by John Banim, in 1831. It is a most true and vivid expression of the
feelings of the Irish towards their priests.
[557] _Possess_.--While these pages were passing through the press, a
circumstance has occurred which so clearly illustrates the position of
the Irish priest, that I cannot avoid mentioning it. A gentleman has
purchased some property, and his first act is to give his three tenants
notice to quit. The unfortunate men have no resource but to obey the
cruel mandate, and to turn out upon the world homeless and penniless.
They cannot go to law, for the law would be against them. They are not
in a position to appeal to public opinion, for they are only farmers.
The parish priest is their only resource and their only friend. He
appeals to the feelings of their new landlord in a most courteous
letter, in which he represents the cruel sufferings these three families
must endure. The landlord replies that he has bought the land as a
"commercial speculation," and of course he has a right to do whatever he
considers most for his advantage; but offers to allow the tenants to
remain if they consent to pay double their former rent--a rent which
would be double the real value of the land. Such cases are constantly
occurring, and are constantly exposed by priests; and we have known more
than one instance in which fear of such exposure has obtained justice. A
few of them are mentioned from time to time in the Irish local papers.
The majority of cases are entirely unknown, except to the persons
concerned; but they are remembered by the poor sufferers and their
friends. I believe, if the people of England were aware of one-half of
these ejectments, and the sufferings they cause, they would rise up as a
body and demand justice for Ireland and the Irish; they would marvel at
the patience with which what to them would be so intolerable has been
borne so long.
[558] _Free trade_,--A very important work was published in 1779, called
_The Commercial Restraints of Ireland Considered_. It is a calm and
temperate statement of facts and figures. The writer shows that the
agrarian outrages of the Whiteboys were caused by distress, and quotes a
speech Lord Northumberland to the same effect.--_Com. Res._, p. 59.
CHAPTER XXXV.
Celebrated Irishmen of the Eighteenth Century--BURKE--- His School and
College Life--Early Hatred of Oppression--Johnson's Estimate of
Burke--_Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful_--Commencement of his
Political Career--Opinions on the American Question-English Infatuation
and Injustice--Irishmen Prominent Actors in the American Revolution--Its
Causes and Effects--Burke on Religious Toleration--Catholic
Emancipation--His Indian Policy--MOORE--His Poetry and
Patriotism--CURRAN--SWIFT--LUCAS--FLOOD--GRATTAN--EARL OF
CHARLEMONT--Irish Artists, Authors, and Actors--SHERIDAN--Scene in the
House of Lords during the Impeachment of Warren Hastings--GOLDSMITH.
[A.D. 1700-1800.]
Each century of Irish history would require a volume of its own, if the
lives of its eminent men were recorded as they should be; but the
eighteenth century may boast of a host of noble Irishmen, whose fame is
known even to those who are most indifferent to the history of that
country. It was in this century that Burke, coming forth from the Quaker
school of Ballitore, his mind strengthened by its calm discipline, his
intellect cultivated by its gifted master, preached political wisdom to
the Saxons, who were politically wise as far as they followed his
teaching, and politically unfortunate when they failed to do so. His
public career demands the most careful consideration from every
statesman who may have any higher object in view than the mere fact of
having a seat in the cabinet; nor should it be of less interest or value
to those whose intellectual capacities are such as to enable them to
grasp any higher subject than the plot of a sensational novel. It was in
this century also that Moore began to write his world-famed songs, to
amaze the learned by his descriptions of a country which he had never
seen, and to fling out those poetical hand grenades, those pasquinades
and squibs, whose rich humour and keenly-pointed satire had so much
influence on the politics of the day. It was in this century that
Sheridan, who was the first to introduce Moore to London society,
distinguished himself at once as dramatist, orator, and statesman, and
left in his life and death a terrible lesson to his nation of the
miseries and degradations consequent on indulgence in their besetting
sin. It was in this century that Steele, the bosom friend of Addison,
and his literary equal, contributed largely to the success and
popularity of the _Spectator_, the _Guardian_, and the _Tatler,_ though,
as usual, English literature takes the credit to itself of what has been
accomplished for it by Irish writers.[559]
Burke is, however, unquestionably both the prominent man of his age and
of his nation in that age; and happily we have abundant material for
forming a correct estimate of his character and his works. Burke was
born in Dublin, on the 1st of January, 1730. His father was an attorney
in good business, and of course a Protestant, as at that period none,
except those who professed the religion of a small minority, were
permitted to govern the vast majority, or to avail themselves of any
kind of temporal advancement. The mother of the future statesman was a
Miss Nagle, of Mallow, a descendant of whose family became afterwards
very famous as the foundress of a religious order.[560] The family
estate was at Castletown-Roche, in the vicinity of Doneraile; this
property descended to Garrett, Edmund's elder brother. A famous school
had been founded by a member of the Society of Friends at Ballitore, and
thither young Burke and his brother were sent for their education The
boys arrived there on the 26th May, 1741. A warm friendship soon sprang
up between Edmund and Richard Shackleton, the son of his master, a
friendship which only terminated with death. We have happily the most
ample details of Burke's school-days in the _Annals of Ballitore_, a
work of more than ordinary interest written by Mrs. Leadbeater, the
daughter of Burke's special friend. His native talent was soon developed
under the care of his excellent master, and there can be little doubt
that the tolerant ideas of his after life were learned, or at least
cultivated, at the Quaker school.
One instance of the early development of his talent for humour, and
another of his keen sense of injustice, must find record here. The
entrance of the judges to the county town of Athy was a spectacle which
had naturally special attraction for the boys. All were permitted to go,
but on condition that each of the senior pupils should write a
description of what he had seen in Latin verse. Burke's task was soon
accomplished--not so that of another hapless youth, whose ideas and
Latinity were probably on a par. When he had implored the help of his
more gifted companion, Edmund determined at least that he should
contribute an idea for his theme, but for all reply as to what he had
noticed in particular on the festal occasion, he only answered, "A fat
piper in a brown coat." However Burke's ideas of "the sublime" may have
predominated, his idea of the ludicrous was at this time uppermost; and
in a few moments a poem was composed, the first line of which only has
been preserved--
"Piper erat fattus, qui brownum tegmen habebat."
"He loved humour," writes Mrs. Leadbeater,[561] "and my father was very
witty. The two friends sharpened their intellect and sported their wit
till peals of laughter in the schoolroom often caused the reverend and
grave master to implore them, with suppressed smiles, to desist, or he
should have to turn them out, as their example might be followed, where
folly and uproar would take the place of humour and wisdom."
His hatred of oppression and injustice was also manifested about this
time. A poor man was compelled to pull down his cabin, because the
surveyor of roads considered that it stood too near the highway. The boy
watched him performing his melancholy task, and declared that, if he
were in authority, such scenes should never be enacted. How well he kept
his word, and how true he was in manhood to the good and holy impulses
of his youth, his future career amply manifests.
Burke entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1744; Goldsmith entered
college the following year, and Flood was a fellow-commoner; but these
distinguished men knew little of each other in early life, and none of
them were in any way remarkable during their academic career. In 1753
Burke arrived in London, and occupied himself in legal studies and the
pursuit of literature. His colloquial gifts and his attractive manner
won all hearts, while his mental superiority commanded the respect of
the learned. Even Johnson, who was too proud to praise others, much as
he loved flattery himself, was fain to give his most earnest word of
commendation to the young Irishman, and even admitted that he envied
Burke for being "continually the same," though he could not refrain from
having a fling at him for not being a "good listener"--a deadly sin in
the estimation of one who seldom wished to hear any other voice but his
own. Burke, sir, he exclaimed to the obsequious Boswell--Burke is such a
man, that if you met him for the first time in the street, and conversed
with him for not five minutes, he'd talk to you in such a manner, that,
when you parted, you would say that is an extraordinary man.[562]
Some essays in imitation of Dr. Charles Lucas, and a translation of part
of the second Georgic of Virgil, which, in finish of style, is, at
least, not inferior to Dryden, were among the earliest efforts of his
gifted pen; and, no doubt, these and other literary occupations gave him
a faculty of expressing thought in cultivated language, which was still
further developed by constant intercourse with Johnson, ever ready for
argument, and his club, who were all equally desirous to listen when
either spoke. His _Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful_, unfortunately
better known in the present day by its title than by its contents, at
once attracted immense attention, and brought considerable pecuniary
help to the author. But the constant pressure of intellectual labour
soon began to tell upon a constitution always delicate. His health gave
way entirely, and he appeared likely to sink into a state of physical
debility, entirely incompatible with any mental exertion. He applied for
advice to Dr. Nugent; the skilful physician saw at once that something
more was required than medicine or advice. It was one of those cases of
suffering to which the most refined and cultivated minds are especially
subjected--one of those instances which prove, perhaps, more than any
others, that poor humanity has fallen low indeed. The master-mind was
there, the brilliant gems of thought, the acute power of reasoning, that
exquisitely delicate sense of feeling, which has never yet been
accurately defined, and which probably never can be--which waits for
some unseen mystic sympathy to touch it, and decide whether the chord
shall be in minor or major key--which produces a tone of thought, now
sublime, and now brimming over with coruscations of wit from almost the
same incidents; and yet all those faculties of the soul, though not
destroyed, are held in abeyance, because the body casts the dull shadow
of its own inability and degradation over the spirit--because the spirit
is still allied to the flesh, and must suffer with it.
There was something more than perfect rest required in such a case. Rest
would, indeed, recruit the body, worn out by the mind's overaction, but
the mind also needed some healing process. Some gentle hand should
soothe the overstrained chords of thought, and touch them just
sufficiently to stimulate their action with gentlest suasion, while it
carefully avoided all that might irritate or weary. And such help and
healing was found for Burke, or, haply, from bodily debility, mental
weakness might have developed itself into mental malady; and the
irritability of weakness, to which cultivated minds are often most
subjected, might have ended, even for a time, if not wisely treated, in
the violence of lunacy. It was natural that the doctor's daughter should
assist in the doctor's work; and, perhaps, not less natural that the
patient should be fascinated by her. In a short time the cure was
perfected, and Burke obtained the greatest earthly blessing for which
any man can crave--a devoted wife, a loving companion, a wise adviser,
and, above all, a sympathizing friend, to whom all which interested her
husband, either in public or private, was her interest as much as, and,
if possible, even more than his. Burke's public career certainly opened
with happy auspices. He was introduced by the Earl of Charlemont to Mr.
Hamilton in 1759, and in 1761 he returned to Ireland in the capacity of
private secretary to that gentleman. Mr. Hamilton has acquired, as is
well known, the appellation of "single speech," and it is thought he
employed Burke to compose his oration; it is probable that he required
his assistance in more important ways. But the connexion was soon
dissolved, not without some angry words on both sides. Hamilton taunted
Burke with having taken him out of a garret, which was not true, for
Burke's social position was scarcely inferior to his own; Burke replied
with ready wit that he regretted having _descended_ to know him.
In the year 1765, when Lord Grenville was driven from office by the
"American Question," the Marquis of Rockingham succeeded him, appointed
Burke his private secretary, and had him returned for the English
borough of Wendover. His political career commenced at this period.
Then, as now, Reform, Ireland, and America were the subjects of the day;
and when one considers and compares the politics of the eighteenth and
the nineteenth centuries, the progress of parliamentary intellectual
development is not very encouraging. The speeches of honorable members,
with some few very honorable exceptions, seem to run in the same groove,
with the same utter incapacity of realizing a new idea, or a broad and
cosmopolitan policy. There were men then, as there are men now, who
talked of toleration in one breath, and proclaimed their wooden
determination to enforce class ascendency of creed and of station in the
next. There were men who would tax fresh air, and give unfortunate
wretches poisonous drinks on the cheapest terms. There were men whose
foreign policy consisted in wringing all that could be wrung out of
dependencies, and then, when the danger was pointed out, when it was
shown that those dependencies were not only likely to resist, but were
in a position to resist--to a position in which neither shooting nor
flogging could silence, if it did not convince--they hid their heads,
with ostrich-like fatuity, in the blinding sands of their own ignorance,
and declared there could be no danger, for _they_ could not discern it.
I have said that there were three great political questions which
occupied the attention of statesmen at that day. I shall briefly glance
at each, as they form a most important standpoint in our national
history, and are subjects of the first interest to Irishmen and to Irish
history; and as Burke's maiden speech in the House of Commons was made
in favour of conciliating America, I shall treat that question first.
The facts are brief and significant but by no means as thoroughly known
or as well considered as they should be, when we remember their
all-important results--results which as yet are by no means fully
developed.[563] The actual contest between the English nation and her
American colonies commenced soon after the accession of George III.;
but, as early as the middle of the eighteenth century, Thomas Pownal,
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Massachusetts, South Carolina, and
New Jersey came to England, and published a work on the administration
of the colonies. He seems even then to have had a clear view of the
whole case. There is an old proverb about the last grain of rice
breaking the back of the camel, but we must remember that the load was
made up of many preceding grains. The Stamp Act and Tea Duty were
unquestionably the last links of an attempted chain of slavery with
which England ventured to fetter the noblest of her colonies, but there
were many preceding links. Pownal's work affords evidence of the
existence of many. The crown, he said, _in theory_ considered the lands
and plantations of the colonists its own, and attempted a far greater
control over the personal liberty of the subject than it dared to claim
in England. The people, on the other hand, felt that they had by no
means forfeited the rights of Englishmen because they had left England;
and that, if they submitted to its laws, they should at least have some
share in making them. A series of petty collisions, which kept up a
state of constant irritation, prepared the way for the final
declaration, which, flung aside the bonds of allegiance, and freed the
people from the galling chains by which that allegiance was sought to be
maintained. A wise policy at home might have averted the fatal
disruption for a time, but it is doubtful that it could have been
averted for many years, even if the utter incapacity of an obstinate
sovereign, and the childish vindictiveness of a minister, had not
precipitated the conclusion.
The master intellect of Burke at once grasped the whole question, and
his innate sense of justice suggested the remedy. Unfortunately for
England, but happily for America, Burke was beyond his age in breadth of
policy and in height of honour. Englishmen of the nineteenth century
have very freely abused Englishmen of the eighteenth century for their
conduct on this occasion; and more than one writer has set down the
whole question as one in which "right" was on the side of England, but
he argues that there are circumstances under which right should be
sacrificed to policy. I cannot agree with this very able writer.[564]
The question was not one of right, but of justice; and the English
nation, in the reign of George III., failed to see that to do justice
was both morally and politically the wisest course. The question of
right too often develops itself into the question of might. A man easily
persuades himself that he has a right to do what he has the power and
the inclination to do; and when his inclination and his opportunities
are on the same side, his moral consciousness becomes too frequently
blinded, and the question of justice is altogether overlooked.
It was in vain that Burke thundered forth denunciations of the childish
policy of the Treasury benches, and asked men to look to first
principles, who could hardly be made comprehend what first principles
were. He altogether abandoned the question of right, in which men had so
puzzled themselves as almost to lose sight of the question of policy.
The King would tax the colony, because his nature was obstinate, and
what he had determined to do he would do. To such natures reasoning is
much like hammering on iron--it only hardens the metal. The minister
would tax the colony because the King wished it; and he had neither the
strength of mind nor the conscientiousness to resist his sovereign. The
Lords stood on their dignity, and would impose the tax if only to show
their power. The people considered the whole affair one of pounds
shillings, and pence, and could not at all see why they should not wring
out the last farthing from a distant colony--could not be taught to
discern that the sacrifice of a few pounds at the present moment, might
result in the acquisition of a few millions at a future day.
Burke addressed himself directly to the point on all these questions. He
laid aside the much-abused question of right; he did not even attempt to
show that right and justice should not be separated, and that men who
had no share in the government of a country, could not be expected in
common justice to assist in the support of that country. He had to
address those who could only understand reasons which appealed to their
self-interest, and he lowered himself to his audience. The question he
said was, "not whether you have a right to render your people miserable,
but whether it is not your interest to make them happy. It is not what a
lawyer tells me I _may_ do, but what humanity, reason, and justice, tell
me I _ought_ to do."
The common idea about the separation of the States from England, is
simply that they resisted a stamp duty and a tax on tea; the fact is, as
I have before hinted, that this was simply the last drop in the cup.
Previous to this period, the American colonies were simply considered as
objects of English aggrandizement. They were treated as states who only
existed for the purpose of benefiting England. The case was in fact
parallel to the case of Ireland, and the results would probably have
been similar, had Ireland been a little nearer to America, or a little
further from England. For many years the trade of America had been kept
under the most vexatious restrictions. The iron found there must be sent
to England to be manufactured; the ships fitted out there must be at
least partly built in England; no saw-mills could be erected, no colony
could trade directly with another colony, nor with any nation except
England. This selfish, miserable policy met with a well-deserved fate.
Even Pitt exclaimed indignantly, in the House of Commons: "We are told
that America is obstinate--that America is almost in open rebellion. I
rejoice that she has resisted. Three millions of people, so dead to all
sentiments of liberty as voluntarily to become slaves, would have been
fit instruments to enslave their fellow-subjects."
In 1765 an agitation was commenced in Philadelphia, by Mr. Charles
Thompson, an Irishman, who, after ten years devoted to the cause of his
adopted country, was appointed the Secretary of Congress. It has been
well remarked, that the Irish, and especially the Irish Catholics, were,
of the three nationalities, the most devoted to forwarding the
Revolution; and we cannot wonder that it was so, since the Government
which had driven them from their native land, ceased not to persecute
them in the land of their exile.[565] The first naval engagement was
fought under the command of Jeremiah O'Brien, an Irishman.[566] John
Barry, also an Irishman, took the command of one of the first
American-built ships of war. The first Continental Regiment was composed
almost exclusively of Irish-born officers and men, and was the first
Rifle Regiment ever organized in the world. Thompson, its first, and
Hand, its second colonel, were natives of Ireland. At the siege of
Boston the regiment was particularly dreaded by the British.
In 1764 Franklin came to England[567] for the second time, and was
examined before the House of Commons on the subject of the Stamp Act. He
was treated with a contemptuous indifference, which he never forgot; but
he kept his court suit, not without an object; and in 1783, when he
signed the treaty of peace, which compelled England to grant humbly what
she had refused haughtily, he wore the self-same attire. Well might the
immortal Washington say to Governor Trumbull: "There was a day, sir,
when this step from our then acknowledged parent state, would have been
accepted with gratitude; but that day is irrevocably past."
In 1774, Burke was called upon by the citizens of Bristol to represent
them in Parliament, and he presented a petition from them to the House
in favour of American independence; but, with the singular inconsistency
of their nation, they refused to re-elect him in 1780, because he
advocated Catholic Emancipation.
The same principle of justice which made Burke take the side of America
against England, or rather made him see that it would be the real
advantage of England to conciliate America, made him also take the side
of liberty on the Catholic question. The short-sighted and narrow-minded
politicians who resisted the reasonable demands of a colony until it was
too late to yield, were enabled, unfortunately, to resist more
effectually the just demands of several millions of their own people.
It is unquestionably one of the strangest of mental phenomena, that
persons who make liberty of conscience their boast and their watchword,
should be the first to violate their own principles, and should be
utterly unable to see the conclusion of their own favourite premises. If
liberty of conscience mean anything, it must surely mean perfect freedom
of religious belief for all; and such freedom is certainly incompatible
with the slightest restraint, with the most trifling penalty for
difference of opinion on such subjects. Again, Burke had recourse to the
_argumentum ad hominum_, the only argument which those with whom he had
to deal seemed capable of comprehending.
"After the suppression of the great rebellion of Tyrconnel by William of
Orange," writes Mr. Morley,[568] "ascendency began in all its vileness
and completeness. The Revolution brought about in Ireland just the
reverse of what it effected in England. Here it delivered the body of
the nation from the attempted supremacy of a small sect; there it made a
small sect supreme over the body of the nation." This is in fact an
epitome of Irish history since the so-called Reformation in England, and
this was the state of affairs which Burke was called to combat. On all
grounds the more powerful party was entirely against him. The merchants
of Manchester and Bristol, for whose supposed benefit Irish trade had
been ruined, wished to keep up the ascendency, conceiving it to be the
surest way of replenishing their coffers. The majority of Irish
landlords, who looked always to their own immediate interest, and had
none of the far-sighted policy which would enable them to see that the
prosperity of the tenant would, in the end, most effectively secure the
prosperity of the landlord, were also in favour of ascendency, which
promised to satisfy their land hunger, and their miserable greed of
gain. The Protestant Church was in favour of ascendency: why should it
not be, since its ministers could only derive support from a people who
hated them alike for their creed and their oppressions, at the point of
the sword and by the "brotherly agency of the tithe-procter," who, if he
did not assist in spreading the Gospel, at least took care that its
so-called ministers should lack no luxury which could be wrung from a
starving and indignant people?[569]
There were but two acts of common justice required on the part of
England to make Ireland prosperous and free. It is glorious to say, that
Burke was the first to see this, and inaugurate the reign of concession;
it is pitiful, it is utterly contemptible, to be obliged to add, that
what was then inaugurated is not yet fully accomplished. Burke demanded
for Ireland political and religious freedom. Slowly some small
concessions of both have been made when England has feared to refuse
them. Had the grant been made once for all with manly generosity, some
painful chapters of Irish history might have been omitted from this
volume--some moments, let us hope, of honest shame might have been
spared to those true-hearted Englishmen who deplore the fatuity and the
folly of their countrymen. In 1782 the Irish Volunteers obtained from
the fears of England what had been vainly asked from her justice.
Burke's one idea of good government may be summed up in the words, "Be
just, and fear not." In his famous _Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe_,
written in 1792, upon the question of admitting the Catholics to the
elective franchise, he asks: "Is your government likely to be more
secure by continuing causes of grounded discontent to two-thirds of its
subjects? Will the constitution be made more solid by depriving this
large part of the people of all concern or share in the representation?"
His Indian policy was equally just. "Our dealings with India," says an
English writer, "originally and until Burke's time, so far from being
marked with virtue and wisdom, were stained with every vice which can
lower and deprave human character. How long will it take only to
extirpate these traditions from the recollections of the natives? The
more effectually their understandings are awakened by English efforts,
the more vividly will they recognize, and the more bitterly resent, the
iniquities of our first connexion with them." The Indian policy of
England and her Irish policy might be written with advantage in parallel
columns. It would, at least, have the advantage of showing Irishmen that
they had been by no means worse governed than other dependencies of that
professedly law and justice loving nation.
I have treated, briefly indeed, and by no means as I should wish, of two
of the questions of the day, and of Burke's policy thereon; of the third
question a few words only can be said. Burke's idea of Reform consisted
in amending the administration of the constitution, rather than in
amending the constitution itself. Unquestionably a bad constitution well
administered, may be incomparably more beneficial to the subject than a
good constitution administered corruptly. Burke's great leading
principle was: Be just--and can a man have a nobler end? To suppress an
insurrection cruelly, to tax a people unjustly, or to extort money from
a nation on false pretences, was to him deeply abhorrent. His first
object was to secure the incorruptibility of ministers and of members of
parliament. When the post of royal scullion could be confided to a
member of parliament, and a favourable vote secured by appointing a
representative of the people to the lucrative post of turnspit in the
king's kitchen, administration was hopelessly corrupt. There were
useless treasurers for useless offices. Burke gave the example of what
he taught; and having fixed the Paymaster's salary at four thousand
pounds a year, was himself the first person to accept the diminished
income.
He has been accused of forsaking his liberal principles in his latter
days, simply and solely from his denunciations of the terrible excesses
of the French Revolution. Such reprobation was rather a proof that he
understood the difference between liberty and licentiousness, and that
his accusers had neither the intellect nor the true nobility to
discriminate between the frantic deeds of men, whose bad passions, long
indulged, had led them on to commit the crimes of demons, and those
noble but long-suffering patriots, who endured until endurance became a
fault, and only resisted for the benefit of mankind as well as for their
own.
So much space has been given to Burke, that it only remains to add a few
brief words of the other brilliant stars, who fled across the Channel in
the vain pursuit of English patronage--in the vain hope of finding in a
free country the liberty to ascend higher than the rulers of that free
country permitted in their own.
Moore was born in the year 1780, in the city of Dublin. His father was
in trade, a fact which he had the manliness to acknowledge whenever such
acknowledgment was necessary. He was educated for the bar, which was
just then opened for the first time to the majority of the nation, so
long governed, or misgoverned, by laws which they were neither permitted
to make or to administer. His poetical talents were early manifested,
and his first attempts were in the service of those who are termed
patriots or rebels, as the speaker's opinion varies. That he loved
liberty and admired liberators can scarcely be doubted, since even later
in life he used to boast of his introduction to Thomas Jefferson, while
in America, exclaiming: "I had the honour of shaking hands with the man
who drew up the Declaration of American Independence." His countryman,
Sheridan introduced him to the Prince of Wales. His Royal Highness
inquired courteously if he was the son of a certain baronet of the same
name. "No, your Royal Highness," replied Moore; "I am the son of a
Dublin grocer." He commenced writing his immortal _Melodies_ in 1807,
soon after his marriage. But he by no means confined himself to such
subjects. With that keen sense of humour almost inseparable from, and
generally proportionate to, the most exquisite sensibility of feeling,
he caught the salient points of controversy in his day, and no doubt
contributed not a little to the obtaining of Catholic Emancipation by
the telling satires which he poured forth on its opposers. His
reflections, addresed to the _Quarterly Review_, who recommended an
increase of the Church Establishment as the grand panacea of Irish ills,
might not be an inappropriate subject of consideration at the present
moment. It commences thus:
"I'm quite of your mind: though these Pats cry aloud,
That they've got too much Church, tis all nonsense and stuff;
For Church is like love, of which Figaro vowed,
That even _too much_ of it's not quite enough."
Nor was his letter to the Duke of Newcastle, who was an obstinate
opposer of Catholic Emancipation, less witty, or less in point at the
present time, for the Lords would not emancipate, whatever the Commons
might do:
"While intellect, 'mongst high and low,
Is hastening on, they say,
Give me the dukes and lords, who go,
Like crabs, the other way."
Curran had been called to the bar a few years earlier. He was the son of
a poor farmer in the county of Cork, and won his way to fame solely by
the exercise of his extraordinary talent. Curran was a Protestant; but
he did not think it necessary, because he belonged to a religion which
professed liberty of conscience, to deny its exercise to every one but
those of his own sect. He first distinguished himself at a contested
election. Of his magnificent powers of oratory I shall say nothing,
partly because their fame is European, and partly because it would be
impossible to do justice to the subject in our limited space. His
terrible denunciations of the horrible crimes and cruelties of the
soldiers, who were sent to govern Ireland by force, for those who were
not wise enough or humane enough to govern it by justice--his scathing
denunciations of crown witnesses and informers, should be read at length
to be appreciated fully.[570]
Swift's career is also scarcely less known. He, too, was born in Dublin
of poor parents, in 1667. Although he became a minister of the
Protestant Church, and held considerable emoluments therein, he had the
honesty to see, and the courage to acknowledge, its many corruptions.
The great lesson which he preached to Irishmen was the lesson of
nationality; and, perhaps, they have yet to learn it in the sense in
which he intended to teach it. No doubt, Swift, in some way, prepared
the path of Burke; for, different as were their respective careers and
their respective talents, they had each the same end in view. The
"Drapier" was long the idol of his countrymen, and there can be little
doubt that the spirit of his writings did much to animate the patriots
who followed him--Lucas, Flood, and Grattan. Lucas was undoubtedly one
of the purest patriots of his time. His parents were poor farmers in the
county Clare, who settled in Dublin, where Lucas was born, in 1713; and
in truth patriotism seldom develops itself out of purple and fine linen.
Flood, however, may be taken in exception to this inference; his father
was a Chief Justice of the Irish King's Bench. When elected a member of
the Irish House, his first public effort was for the freedom of his
country from the atrocious imposition of Poyning's Law. Unfortunately,
he and Grattan quarrelled, and their country was deprived of the immense
benefits which might have accrued to it from the cordial political union
of two such men.
But a list of the great men of the eighteenth century, however brief,
would be certainly most imperfect if I omitted the name of the Earl of
Charlemont, who, had his courage been equal to his honesty of purpose,
might have been enrolled not merely as an ardent, but even as a
successful patriot. He was one of the _Hibernis ipsis Hiberniores_,--one
of those who came to plunder, and who learned to respect their victims,
and to repent their oppressions. It is probable that the nine years
which the young Earl spent in travelling on the Continent, contributed
not a little to his mental enlargement. On his return from countries
where freedom exists with boasting, to a country where boasting exists
without a corresponding amount of freedom, he was amazed and shocked at
the first exhibition of its detestable tyranny of class. A grand
procession of peers and peeresses was appointed to receive the
unfortunate Princess Caroline; but, before the Princess landed, the
Duchess of Bedford was commanded to inform the Irish peeresses that they
were not to walk, or to take any part in the ceremonial. The young Earl
could not restrain his indignation at this utterly uncalled-for insult.
He obtained a royal audience, and exerted himself with so much energy,
that the obnoxious order was rescinded. The Earl's rank, as well as his
patriotism, naturally placed him at the head of his party; and he
resolutely opposed those laws which Burke had designated as a "disgrace
to the statute-books of any nation, and so odious in their principles,
that one might think they were passed in hell, and that demons were the
legislators." In 1766, his Lordship brought a bill into the House of
Lords to enable a poor Catholic peasant to take a lease of a cabin and a
potato-garden; but, at the third reading, the Lords rushed in
tumultuously, voted Lord Charlemont out of the chair, and taunted him
with being little better than a Papist. The failure and the taunt
bewildered an intellect never very clear; and, perhaps, hopelessness
quenched the spirit of patriotism, which had once, at least, burned
brightly. In fear of being taunted as a Papist, like many a wiser man,
he rushed into the extreme of Protestant loyalty, and joined in the
contemptible outcry for Protestant ascendency.
The eighteenth century was also rife in Irishmen whose intellects were
devoted to literature. It claims its painters in Barrett, who was
actually the founder of the Royal Academy in England, and in Barry, the
most eminent historical painter of his age; its poets in Parnell,
Goldsmith, Wade, O'Keeffe, Moore, and many others; its musician in
Kelly, a full list of whose operatic music would fill several pages; its
authors in Steele, Swift, Young, O'Leary, Malone, Congreve, Sheridan,
and Goldsmith; and its actors in Macklin, Milliken, Barry, Willis, and
Woffington.
Sheridan was born in Dublin, in the year 1757. He commenced his career
as author by writing for the stage; but his acquaintance with Fox, who
soon discerned his amazing abilities, led him in another direction. In
1786 he was employed with Burke in the impeachment of Warren Hastings.
The galleries of the House of Lords were filled to overflowing; peers
and peeresses secured seats early in the day; actresses came to learn
declamation, authors to learn style. Mrs. Siddons, accustomed as she was
to the simulation of passion in herself and others, shrieked and swooned
while he denounced the atrocities of which Hastings had been guilty.
Fox, Pitt, and Byron, were unanimous in their praise. And on the very
same night, and at the very same time, when the gifted Celt was
thundering justice to India into the ears of Englishmen, his _School for
Scandal_, one of the best comedies on the British stage, was being acted
in one theatre, and his _Duenna_, one of its best operas, was being
performed in another.
Sheridan died in 1816, a victim to intemperance, for which he had not
even the excuse of misfortune. Had not his besetting sin degraded and
incapacitated him, it is probable he would have been prime-minister on
the death of Fox. At the early age of forty he was a confirmed drunkard.
The master mind which had led a senate, was clouded over by the fumes of
an accursed spirit; the brilliant eyes that had captivated a million
hearts, were dimmed and bloodshot; the once noble brain, which had used
its hundred gifts with equal success and ability, was deprived of all
power of acting; the tongue, whose potent spell had entranced thousands,
was scarcely able to articulate. Alas, and a thousand times alas! that
man can thus mar his Maker's work, and stamp ruin and wretchedness where
a wealth of mental power had been given to reign supreme.
Goldsmith's father was a Protestant clergyman. The poet was born at
Pallas, in the county Longford. After a series of adventures, not always
to his credit, and sundry wanderings on the Continent in the most
extreme poverty, he settled in London. Here he met with considerable
success as an author, and enjoyed the society of the first literary men
of the day. After the first and inevitable struggles of a poor author,
had he possessed even half as much talent for business as capacity for
intellectual effort, he might soon have obtained a competency by his
pen; but, unfortunately, though he was not seriously addicted to
intemperance, his convivial habits, and his attraction for the gaming
table, soon scattered his hard-won earnings. His "knack of hoping,"
however, helped him through life. He died on the 4th April, 1774. His
last words were sad indeed, in whatever sense they may be taken. He was
suffering from fever, but his devoted medical attendant, Doctor Norton,
perceiving his pulse to be unusually high even under such circumstances,
asked, "Is your mind at ease?" "No, it is not," was Goldsmith's sad
reply; and these were the last words he uttered.
[Illustration: GOLDSMITH'S MILL AT AUBURN]
[Illustration: BANTRY BAY--SCENE OF THE LANDING OF THE FRENCH.]
FOOTNOTES:
[559] _Writers_.--As a general rule, when Irishmen succeed either in
literature, politics, or war, the credit of their performances is
usually debited to the English; when they fail, we hear terrible
clamours of Irish incapacity. Thackeray commences his "_English_
Humourists of the Eighteenth Century" with Swift, and ends them with
Goldsmith! I do not suppose he had any intention of defrauding the
Celtic race; he simply followed the usual course. Irishmen are, perhaps,
themselves most to blame, for much of this is caused by their suicidal
deference to a dominant race.
[560] _Order_.--The Presentation Order was founded by Miss Nano Nagle,
of Cork.
[561] _Leadbeater.--Annals of Ballitore_, vol. i. p. 50, second edition,
1862. I shall refer to this interesting work again.
[562] _Man_.--The exact words are: "If a man were to go by chance at the
same time with Burke, under a shed to shun a shower, he would say: 'This
is an extraordinary man.'"--_Boswell's Johnson_, vol. iv. p. 245.
Foster's version is as above.
[563] _Developed_.--Since this sentence was penned, I find, with great
satisfaction, that a similar view has been taken by a recent writer. See
_Secularia; or, Surveys on the Main Stream of History_, by S. Lucas, p.
250. He opens a chapter on the revolt of the American States thus: "The
relations of Great Britain to its colonies, past and present, are an
important part of the history of the world; and the form which these
relations _may hereafter take, will be no small element in the political
future._ Even our Professors of History ... abstain from noticing their
system of government, or _the predisposing motives to their subsequent
revolt._." The italics are our own. Neglect of the study of Irish
history is, I believe, also, one of the causes why Irish grievances are
not remedied by the English Government. But grievances may get settled
in a way not always satisfactory to the neglecters of them, while they
are waiting their leisure to investigate their cause.
[564] _Writer_.--Morley. _Edmund Burke, an Historical Study:_ Macmillan
and Co., 1867. A masterly work, and one which every statesman, and every
thinker would do well to peruse carefully. He says: "The question to be
asked by every statesman, and by every citizen, with reference to a
measure that is recommended to him as the enforcement of a public right,
is whether the right is one which it is to the public advantage to
enforce."--p. 146.
[565] _Exile_.--Maguire's _Irish in America_, p. 355: "It would seem as
if they instinctively arrayed themselves in hostility to the British
power; a fact to be explained alike by their love of liberty, and _their
vivid remembrance of recent or past misgovernment_." The italics are our
own. The penal laws were enacted with the utmost rigour against
Catholics in the colonies, and the only place of refuge was Maryland,
founded by the Catholic Lord Baltimore. Here there was liberty of
conscience for all, but here only. The sects who had fled to America to
obtain "freedom to worship God," soon manifested their determination
that no one should have liberty of conscience except themselves, and
gave the lie to their own principles, by persecuting each other for the
most trifling differences of opinion on religious questions, in the
cruelest manner. Cutting off ears, whipping, and maiming were in
constant practice. See Maguire's _Irish in America_, p. 349; Lucas'
_Secularia_, pp. 220-246.
[566] _Irishman_.--See Cooper's _Naval History_.
[567] _England_.--He wrote to Thompson, from London, saying that he
could effect nothing: "The sun of liberty is set; we must now light up
the candles of industry." The Secretary replied, with Celtic vehemence:
"Be assured we shall light up torches of a very different kind." When
the Catholics of the United States sent up their celebrated Address to
Washington, in 1790, he alludes in one part of his reply to the immense
assistance obtained from them in effecting the Revolution: "I presume
that your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic part which you
took in the accomplishment of their revolution and the establishment of
their government, or the important assistance they received from a
nation in which the Roman Catholic religion is professed."
[568] _Morley_.--_Edmund Burke, an Historical Study_, p. 181.
[569] _People_.--Chesterfield said, in 1764, that the poor people in
Ireland were used "worse than negroes." "Aristocracy," said Adam Smith,
"was not founded in the natural and respectable distinctions of birth
and fortune, but in the most odious of all distinctions, those of
religious and political prejudices--distinctions which, more than any
other, animate both the insolence of the oppressors, and the hatred and
indignation of the oppressed."--Morley's _Edmund Burke_, p. 183.
[570] _Fully_.--See _Curran's Letters and Speeches:_ Dublin, 1865.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
The Volunteers deserted by their Leaders--Agrarian Outrages and their
Cause--Foundation of the United Irishmen--Cruelties of the
Orangemen--Government Spies and Informers--Lord Moira exposes the
Cruelty of the Yeomanry in Parliament--Mr. Orr's Trial and
Death--Details of the Atrocities enacted by the Military from a
Protestant History--Tom the Devil--Cruelties practised by Men of
Rank--Licentiousness of the Army--Death of Lord Edward FitzGerald--The
Rising--Martial Law in Dublin--The Insurrection in Wexford--Massacres at
Scullabogue House and Wexford-bridge by the Insurgents--How the Priests
were rewarded for saving Lives and Property--The Insurrection in
Ulster--The State Prisoners--The Union.
[A.D. 1783-1800.]
Parliament was dissolved on the 15th of July, 1783, and summoned to meet
in October. The Volunteers now began to agitate on the important
question of parliamentary reform, which, indeed, was necessary, for
there were few members who really represented the nation. The close
boroughs were bought and sold openly and shamelessly, and many members
who were returned for counties were not proof against place or bribes.
But the Volunteers had committed the fatal mistake of not obtaining the
exercise of the elective franchise for their Catholic fellow-subjects:
hence the Irish Parliament obtained only a nominal freedom, as its acts
were entirely in the hands of the Government through the venality of the
members. On the 10th of November, one hundred and sixty delegates
assembled at the Royal Exchange, Dublin. They were headed by Lord
Charlemont, and marched in procession to the Rotundo. The Earl of
Bristol, an eccentric, but kind and warm-hearted character, who was also
the Protestant Bishop of Derry, took a leading part in the
deliberations. Sir Boyle Roche, an equally eccentric gentleman, brought
a message from Lord Kenmare to the meeting, assuring them that the
Catholics were satisfied with what had been granted to them. He had
acted under a misapprehension; and the Bishop of Derry, who was in fact
the only really liberal member of the corps, informed the delegates that
the Catholics had held a meeting, with Sir Patrick Bellew in the chair,
in which they repudiated this assertion. Several plans of reform were
now proposed; and a Bill was introduced into the House by Mr. Flood, on
the 29th of November, and warmly opposed by Mr. Yelverton, who was now
Attorney-General, and had formerly been a Volunteer. A stormy scene
ensued, but bribery and corruption prevailed. The fate of the Volunteers
was sealed. Through motives of prudence or of policy, Lord Charlemont
adjourned the convention _sine die_; and the flame, which had shot up
with sudden brilliancy, died out even more rapidly than it had been
kindled. The Volunteers were now deserted by their leaders, and assumed
the infinitely dangerous form of a democratic movement. Such a movement
can rarely succeed, and seldom ends without inflicting worse injuries on
the nation than those which it has sought to avert.
The delegates were again convened in Dublin, by Flood and Napper Tandy.
They met in October, 1784, and their discussions were carried on in
secret. Everywhere the men began to arm themselves, and to train others
to military exercises. But the Government had gained a victory over them
in the withdrawal of their leaders, and the Attorney-General attempted
to intimidate them still further by a prosecution. In 1785 a Bill was
introduced for removing some of the commercial restraints of the Irish
nation; it passed the Irish House, but, to satisfy popular clamours in
England, it was returned with such additions as effectually marred its
usefulness. Grattan now saw how grievously he had been mistaken in his
estimate of the results of all that was promised in 1782, and he
denounced the measure with more than ordinary eloquence. It was rejected
by a small majority, after a debate which lasted till eight o'clock in
the morning; and the nationality of the small majority purchased the
undying hatred of the English minister, William Pitt. The people were
still suffering from the cruel exactions of landlords and
tithe-proctors. Their poverty and misery were treated with contempt and
indifference, and they were driven to open acts of violence, which could
not be repressed either by the fear of the consequences, or the earnest
exhortations of the Catholic bishops and clergy.[571]
In the north some disturbances had originated as early as 1775, amongst
the Protestant weavers, who suffered severely from the general
depression of trade, and the avariciousness of commercial speculators.
Their association was called "Hearts of Steel." The author of the
_United Irishman_ mentions one instance as a sample of many others, in
which the ruling elder of a Presbyterian congregation had raised the
rents on a number of small farms, and excited in consequence severe acts
of retaliation from them.[572] In 1784 two parties commenced agrarian
outrages in Ulster, called respectively Peep-o'-Day Boys and Defenders.
As the Catholics sided with one party, and the Protestants with another,
it merged eventually into a religious feud. The former faction assumed
the appellation of Protestant Boys, and at last became the Orange
Society, whose atrocities, and the rancorous party-spirit which they so
carefully fomented, was one of the principal causes of the rebellion of
1798. The Catholics had assumed the name of Defenders, from being
obliged to band in self-defence; but when once a number of uneducated
persons are leagued together, personal feeling and strong passions will
lead to acts of violence, which the original associates would have
shrunk from committing.
Pitt was again thwarted by the Irish Parliament on the Regency question,
when the insanity of George III. required the appointment of his heir as
governor of England. The Marquis of Buckingham, who was then Lord
Lieutenant, refused to forward their address; but the members sent a
deputation of their own. This nobleman was open and shameless in his
acts of bribery, and added £13,000 a-year to the pension list, already
so fatally oppressive to the country. In 1790 he was succeeded by the
Earl of Westmoreland, and various clubs were formed; but the Catholics
were still excluded from them all. Still the Catholics were an immense
majority nationally; the French Revolution had manifested what the
people could do; and the rulers of the land, with such terrible examples
before their eyes, could not for their own sakes afford to ignore
Catholic interests altogether. But the very cause which gave hope was
itself the means of taking hope away. The action of the Irish Catholics
was paralyzed through fear of the demonlike cruelties which even a
successful revolution might induce; and the general fear which the
aristocratic party had of giving freedom to the uneducated classes,
influenced them to a fatal silence. Again the middle classes were left
without leaders, who might have tempered a praiseworthy nationality with
a not less praiseworthy prudence, and which might have saved both the
nation and some of its best and bravest sons from fearful suffering. A
Catholic meeting was held in Dublin, on the 11th of February, 1791, and
a resolution was passed to apply to Parliament for relief from their
disabilities. This was in truth the origin of the United Irishmen. For
the first time Catholics and Protestants agreed cordially and worked
together harmoniously. The leading men on the Catholic committee were
Keogh, M'Cormic, Sweetman, Byrne, and Branghall; the Protestant leaders
were Theobald Wolfe Tone and the Hon. Simon Butler. Tone visited Belfast
in October, 1791, and formed the first club of the Society of United
Irishmen. He was joined there by Neilson, Simms, Russell, and many
others. A club was then formed in Dublin, of which Napper Tandy became a
leading member. The fundamental resolutions of the Society were
admirable. They stated: "1. That the weight of English influence in the
government of this country is so great, as to require a cordial union
among all the people of Ireland, to maintain that balance which is
essential to the preservation of our liberties and the extension of our
commerce. 2. That the sole constitutional mode by which this influence
can be opposed, is by a complete and radical reform of the
representation of the people in Parliament. 3. That no reform is just
which does not include every Irishman of every religious persuasion."
Tone had already obtained considerable influence by his political
pamphlets, which had an immense circulation. There can be no doubt that
he was tinctured with republican sentiments; but it was impossible for
an Irish Protestant, who had any real sympathy with his country, to feel
otherwise: it had endured nothing but misery from the monarchical form
of government. The Catholics, probably, were only prevented from
adopting similar opinions by their inherent belief in the divine right
of kings. In 1791 the fears of those who thought the movement had a
democratic tendency, were confirmed by the celebration of the
anniversary of the French Revolution in Belfast, July, 1791; and in
consequence of this, sixty-four Catholics of the upper classes presented
a loyal address to the throne. The Catholic delegates met in Dublin in
December, 1792, and prepared a petition to the King representing their
grievances. It was signed by Dr. Troy, the Catholic Archbishop of
Dublin, and Dr. Moylan, on behalf of the clergy. Amongst the laity
present were Lords Kenmare, Fingall, Trimbleston, Gormanstown, and
French. Five delegates were appointed to present the petition, and they
were provided with a very large sum of money, which induced those in
power to obtain them an audience. They were introduced to George III. by
Edmund Burke. His Majesty sent a message to the Irish Parliament,
requesting them to remove some of the disabilities; but the Parliament
treated the message with contempt, and Lord Chancellor FitzGibbon
brought in a Bill to prevent any bodies from meeting by delegation for
the future.
In 1793 a Relief Bill was passed, in consequence of the war with France;
a Militia Bill, and the Gunpowder and Convention Bills, were also
passed, the latter being an attempt to suppress the Volunteers and the
United Irishmen. A meeting of the latter was held in February, 1793, and
the chairman and secretary were brought before the House of Lords, and
sentenced to six months' imprisonment and a fine of £500 each. The
following year, January, 1794, Mr. Rowan was prosecuted for an address
to the Volunteers, made two years before. Even Curran's eloquence, and
the fact that the principal witness was perjured, failed to obtain his
acquittal. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and a fine of
£500. His conviction only served to increase the popular excitement, as
he was considered a martyr to his patriotism. An address was presented
to him in Newgate by the United Irishmen, but he escaped on the 1st of
May, and got safely to America, though £1,000 was offered for his
apprehension.
The English minister now appears to have tried the old game of driving
the people into a rebellion, which could be crushed at once by the
sword, and would spare the necessity of making concessions; or of
entangling the leaders in some act of overt treason, and quashing the
movement by depriving it of its heads. An opportunity for the latter
manoeuvre now presented itself. A Protestant clergyman, who had resided
many years in France, came to the country for the purpose of opening
communications between the French Government and the United Irishmen.
This gentleman, the Rev. William Jackson, confided his secret to his
solicitor, a man named Cockayne. The solicitor informed Mr. Pitt, and by
his desire continued to watch his victim, and trade on his open-hearted
candour, until he had led him to his doom. The end of the unfortunate
clergyman was very miserable. He took poison when brought up for
judgment, and died in the dock. His object in committing this crime was
to save his property for his wife and children, as it would have been
confiscated had his sentence been pronounced.
The Viceroyalty of Earl FitzWilliam once more gave the Irish nation some
hope that England would grant them justice. But he was soon recalled;
Lord Camden was sent in his stead; and the country was given up to the
Beresford faction, who were quite willing to co-operate in Mr. Pitt's
plan of setting Protestants and Catholics against each other, of
exciting open rebellion, and of profiting by the miseries of the nation
to forge new chains for it, by its parliamentary union with England.
Everything was done now that could be done to excite the Catholics to
rebellion. The Orangemen, if their own statement on oath[573] is to be
trusted, were actually bribed to persecute the Catholics; sermons[574]
were preached by Protestant ministers to excite their feelings; and when
the Catholics resisted, or offered reprisals, they were punished with
the utmost severity, while their persecutors always escaped. Lord
Carhampton, grandson of the worthless Henry Luttrell, who had betrayed
the Irish at the siege of Limerick, commanded the army, and his cruelty
is beyond description. An Insurrection Act was passed in 1796;
magistrates were allowed to proclaim counties; suspected persons were to
be banished the country or pressed into the fleet, without the shadow of
trial; and Acts of Indemnity[575] were passed, to shield the magistrates
and the military from the consequences of any unlawful cruelties which
fanaticism or barbarity might induce them to commit.
Grattan appealed boldly and loudly against these atrocities. "These
insurgents," he said, "call themselves Protestant Boys--that is, a
banditti of murderers, committing massacre in the name of God, and
exercising despotic power in the name of liberty." The published
declaration of Lord Gosford and of thirty magistrates, who attempted to
obtain some justice for the unfortunate subjects of these wrongs, is
scarcely less emphatic. It is dated December 28, 1795: "It is no secret
that a persecution, accompanied with all the circumstances of ferocious
cruelty which have in all ages distinguished this calamity, is now
raging in this country; neither age, nor sex, nor even acknowledged
innocence, is sufficient to excite mercy or afford protection. The only
crime which the unfortunate objects of this persecution are charged
with, is a crime of easy proof indeed; it is simply a profession of the
Roman Catholic faith. A lawless banditti have constituted themselves
judges of this species of delinquency, and the sentence they pronounce
is equally concise and terrible; it is nothing less than a confiscation
of all property and immediate banishment--a prescription that has been
carried into effect, and exceeds, in the number of those it consigns to
ruin and misery, every example that ancient or modern history can
supply. These horrors are now acting with impunity. The spirit of
justice has disappeared from the country; and the supineness of the
magistracy of Armagh has become a common topic of conversation in every
corner of the kingdom."
One should have supposed that an official declaration from such an
authority, signed by the Governor of Armagh and thirty magistrates,
would have produced some effect on the Government of the day; but the
sequel proved that such honorable exposure was as ineffective as the
rejected petition of millions of Catholics. The formation of the
yeomanry corps filled up the cup of bitterness. The United Irishmen,
seeing no hope of constitutional redress, formed themselves into a
military organization. But, though the utmost precautions were used to
conceal the names of members and the plans of the association, their
movements were well known to Government from an early period. Tone, in
the meantime, came to France from America, and induced Carnot to send an
expedition to Ireland, under the command of General Hoche. It ended
disastrously. A few vessels cruised for a week in the harbour of Bantry
Bay; but, as the remainder of the fleet, which was separated by a fog,
did not arrive, Grouchy, the second in command, returned to France.
Meanwhile, the Society of United Irishmen spread rapidly, and especially
in those places where the Orangemen exercised their cruelties. Lord
Edward FitzGerald now joined the movement; and even those who cannot
commend the cause, are obliged to admire the perfection of his devoted
self-sacrifice to what he believed to be the interests of his country.
His leadership seemed all that was needed to secure success. His gay and
frank manner made him popular; his military bearing demanded respect;
his superior attainments gave him power to command; his generous
disinterestedness was patent to all. But already a paid system of
espionage had been established by Government. A set of miscreants were
found who could lure their victims to their doom--who could eat and
drink, and talk and live with them as their bosom friends, and then sign
their death-warrant with the kiss of Judas. There was a regular gang of
informers of a low class, like the infamous Jemmy O'Brien, who were
under the control of the Town-Majors, Sirr and Swan. But there were
gentlemen informers also, who, in many cases, were never so much as
suspected by their dupes. MacNally, the advocate of the United Irishmen,
and Mr. Graham, their solicitor, were both of that class. Thomas
Reynolds, of Killeen Castle, entered their body on purpose to betray
them. Captain Armstrong did the same. John Hughes, a Belfast bookseller,
had himself arrested several times, to allay their suspicions. John
Edward Nevill was equally base and treacherous. However necessary it may
be for the ends of government to employ spies and informers, there is no
necessity for men to commit crimes of the basest treachery. Such men and
such crimes will ever be handed down to posterity with the reprobation
they deserve.
Attempts were now made to get assistance from France. Mr. O'Connor and
Lord Edward FitzGerald proceeded thither for that purpose; but their
mission was not productive of any great result. The people were goaded
to madness by the cruelties which were committed on them every day; and
it was in vain that persons above all suspicion of countenancing either
rebels or Papists, protested against these enormities in the name of
common humanity. In 1797 a part of Ulster was proclaimed by General
Lalor, and Lord Moira described thus, in the English House of Lords, the
sufferings of the unhappy people: "When a man was taken up on suspicion,
he was put to the torture; nay, if he were merely accused of concealing
the guilt of another, the punishment of picketing, which had for some
years been abolished as too inhuman even in the dragoon service, was
practised. I have known a man, in order to extort confession of a
supposed crime, or of that of some of his neighbours, picketed until he
actually fainted; picketed a second time, until he fainted again;
picketed a third time, until he once more fainted; and all upon mere
suspicion. Nor was this the only species of torture; many had been taken
and hung up until they were half dead, and then threatened with a
repetition of this cruel treatment unless they made confession of the
imputed guilt. These," continued his Lordship, "were not particular acts
of cruelty, exercised by men abusing the power committed to them, _but
they formed part of a system_. They were notorious; and no person could
say who would be the next victim of this oppression and cruelty." As
redress was hopeless, and Parliament equally indifferent to cruelties
and to remonstrances, Mr. Grattan and his colleagues left the Irish
House to its inhumanity and its fate.
In the autumn of this year, 1797, Mr. Orr, of Antrim, was tried and
executed, on a charge of administering the oath of the United Irishmen
to a soldier. This gentleman was a person of high character and
respectability. He solemnly protested his innocence; the soldier, stung
with remorse, swore before a magistrate that the testimony he gave at
the trial was false. Petitions were at once sent in, praying for the
release of the prisoner, but in vain; he was executed on the 14th of
October, though no one doubted his innocence; and "Orr's fate" became a
watchword of and an incitement to rebellion. Several of the jury made a
solemn oath after the trial that, when locked up for the night to
"consider" their verdict, they were supplied abundantly with
intoxicating drinks, and informed one and all, that, if they did not
give the required verdict of guilty, they should themselves be
prosecuted as United Irishmen. Mr. Orr was offered his life and liberty
again and again if he would admit his guilt; his wife and four young
children added their tears and entreaties to the persuasions of his
friends; but he preferred truth and honour to life and freedom. His end
was worthy of his resolution. On the scaffold he turned to his faithful
attendant, and asked him to remove his watch, as he should need it no
more. Mr. Orr was a sincere Protestant; his servant was a Catholic. His
last words are happily still on record. He showed the world how a
Protestant patriot could die; and that the more sincere and deep his
piety, the less likely he would be to indulge in fanatical hatred of
those who differed from him. "You, my friend," he said to his weeping
and devoted servant--"you, my friend, and I must now part. Our stations
here on earth have been a little different, and our mode of worshipping
the Almighty Being that we both adore. Before His presence we shall
stand equal. Farewell! Remember Orr!"[576]
Alas! there was more to remember than the fate of this noble victim to
legal injustice. I have before alluded to that strange phenomenon of
human nature, by which men, who, at least, appear to be educated and
refined, can, under certain circumstances, become bloodthirsty and
cruel. The demon enters into the man, and make him tenfold more
demoniacal than himself. But fearful as the deeds of officers and men
have been in India, where the unhappy natives were shattered to atoms
from the cannons' mouths: or, in more recent times, when men, and even
women, have all but expired under the lash; no deeds of savage vengeance
have ever exceeded those which were perpetrated daily and hourly in
Ireland, before the rebellion of 1798. For the sake of our common
humanity I would that they could be passed over unrecorded; for the sake
of our common humanity I shall record them in detail, for it may be that
the terror of what men can become when they give way to unrestrained
passions, may deter some of my fellow-creatures from allowing themselves
to participate in or to enact such deeds of blood. Historical justice,
too, demands that they should be related. Englishmen have heard much of
the cruelties of Irish rebels at Wexford, which I shall neither palliate
nor excuse. Englishmen have heard but little of the inhuman atrocities
which excited that insurrection, and prompted these reprisals. And let
it be remembered, that there are men still living who saw these
cruelties enacted in their childhood, and men whose fathers and nearest
relations were themselves subjected to these tortures. To the Celt, so
warm of heart and so tenacious of memory, what food this is for the
tempter, who bids him recall, and bids him revenge, even now, these
wrongs! What wonder if passion should take the place of reason, and if
religion, which commands him to suffer patiently the memory of injuries
inflicted on others, often harder to bear than one's own pain, should
sometimes fail to assert its sway![577]
I shall give the account of these atrocities in the words of a
Protestant historian first. The Rev. Mr. Gordon writes thus, in his
narrative of these fearful times: "The fears of the people became so
great at length, that they forsook their houses in the night, and slept
(if, under such circumstances, they could sleep) in the ditches and the
women were even delivered in that exposed condition, _These facts were
notorious at the time_.... Some abandoned their house from fear of being
whipped; and this infliction many persons appeared to fear _more than
death itself_. Many unfortunate men were strung up as it were to be
hanged, but were let down now and then, to try if strangulation would
oblige them to become informers." He then goes on to relate at length
how the magistrates tortured smiths and carpenters at once, because it
was supposed from their trade they must have made pikes; and how they,
at last, professed to know a United Irishman by his face, and "never
suffered any person whom they deigned to honour with this distinction,
to pass off without convincing proof of their attention." He also
mentions the case of a hermit named Driscoll, whose name and the same
details of his sufferings are given in Clancy's account of the
insurrection. This man was strangled three times, and flogged four
times, because a Catholic prayer-book was found in his possession, on
which it was _supposed_ that he used to administer oaths of disloyalty.
I shall now give the account of another historian. Plowden writes thus;
"These military savages [the yeomanry corps--it will be remembered what
Lord Moira said of them in Parliament] were permitted, both by
magistrates and officers, in open day, to seize every man they wished or
chose to suspect as a _Croppy_, and drag him to the guardhouse, where
they constantly kept a supply of coarse linen caps, besmeared inside
with pitch; and when the pitch was well heated, they forced the cap on
his head; and sometimes the melted pitch, running into the eyes of the
unfortunate victim, superadded blindness to his other tortures. They
generally detained him till the pitch had so cooled, that the cap could
not be detached from the head without carrying with it the hair and
blistered skin; they then turned him adrift, disfigured, often blind,
and writhing with pain. They enjoyed with loud bursts of laughter the
fiendlike sport--the agonies of their victim. At other times, they
rubbed moistened gunpowder into the hair, in the form of a cross, and
set fire to it; and not unfrequently sheared off the ears and nose of
the unfortunate Croppy." Plowden then details the atrocities of a
sergeant of the Cork Militia, who was called _Tom the Devil_. He
concludes: "It would be uncandid to detail only instances of the
brutality of the lower orders, whilst evidence is forthcoming of persons
of fortune and education being still more brutalized by its deleterious
spirit." He then mentions an instance, on the authority of both an
eyewitness and the victim, in which Lord Kingsborough, Mr. Beresford,
and an officer whose name he did not know, tortured two respectable
Dublin tradesmen, one named John Fleming, a ferryman, the other Francis
Gough, a coachmaker. The nobleman superintended the flagellation of
Gough, and at every stroke insulted him with taunts and inquiries how he
liked it. The unfortunate man was confined to his bed in consequence,
for six months after the infliction. On Whit-Sunday, 1798, these men
were again tortured with pitchcaps by the gentlemen. Other instances
might be added, but these will suffice to show the feeling which
actuated the rulers who permitted, and the men who perpetrated, these
deeds of blood. "With difficulty," says Mr. Plowden, "does the mind
yield reluctant consent to such debasement of the human species. The
spirit which degrades it to that abandonment is of no ordinary
depravity. The same spirit of Orangeism moved the colonel in Dublin, and
his sergeant at Wexford. The effect of that spirit can only be faintly
illustrated by facts. Those have been verified to the author by the
spectator and the sufferer."[578]
From a letter of Lady Napier's, never intended for publication, and
above all suspicion of any sympathy with the lower order of Irish, it
will be seen how the tenantry of the Duke of Leinster were driven to
revolt. It is dated Castletown, 27th June, 1798, and addressed to the
Duke of Richmond. "The cruel hardships put on his tenants preferably to
all others, has driven them to despair, and they join the insurgents,
saying: 'It is better to die with a pike in my hand, than be shot like a
dog at my work, or to see my children faint for want of food before my
eyes.'"
Sir Ralph Abercrombie was appointed to command the army in Ireland, in
1797; but he threw up his charge, disgusted with atrocities which he
could not control, and which he was too humane even to appear to
sanction.[579] He declared the army to be in a state of licentiousness,
which made it formidable to every one but the enemy. General Lake, a
fitting instrument for any cruelty, was appointed to take his place; and
Lord Castlereagh informs us that "measures were taken by Government to
cause a premature explosion." It would have been more Christian in the
first place, and more politic in the second place, if Government had
taken measures to prevent any explosion at all.[580]
On the 12th of March, 1798, the Leinster delegates, who had been long
since betrayed, were seized by Major Swan, in Dublin. Fifteen persons
were present, the greater number of whom were Protestants. Emmet,
MacNevin, Jackson, and Sweetman, were seized the same day. Arthur
O'Connor had already been arrested on his way to France, with Father
Coigley. The latter was convicted on May 22, at Maidstone, and hanged on
evidence so inconclusive, that Lord Chancellor Thurlow said: "If ever a
poor man was murdered, it was Coigley!" The arrest of Lord Edward
FitzGerald occurred soon after. The room in which he was arrested and
the bed on which he lay is still shown, for the brave young noble had
won for himself the heart's love of every true Irishman. The story of
his life would occupy more space than can be given to it. To abridge it
would be to destroy more than half of its real interest. A severe wound
which he received in the struggle with his captors, combined with the
effects of excitement and a cruel imprisonment, caused his death. He was
a chevalier _sans peur et sans reproche_. Even his enemies, and the
enemies of his country, could find no word to say against him. With him
died the best hopes of the United Irishmen, and with his expiring breath
they lost their best prospect of success.[581]
Lord Edward died on the 4th of June. The 23rd of May had been fixed for
the rising; but informations were in the hands of the Government.
Captain Armstrong had betrayed the Sheares, two brothers who had devoted
themselves to the cause of their country with more affection than
prudence. The base traitor had wound himself into their confidence, had
dined with them, and was on the most intimate social relations with
their family. On the 12th of July he swore their lives away; and two
days after they were executed, holding each other's hands as they passed
into eternity.
The rising did take place, but it was only partial. The leaders were
gone, dead, or imprisoned; and nothing but the wild desperation, which
suggested that it was better to die fighting than to die inch by inch,
under inhuman torture, could have induced the people to rise at all. The
ferocity with which the insurrection was put down, may be estimated by
the cruelties enacted before it commenced. Lord Cornwallis, in his
Government report to the Duke of Portland, declared that "murder was the
favourite pastime" of the militia. He declared that the principal
persons in the country and the members of Parliament were averse to all
conciliation, and "too much heated to see the effects which their
violence must produce." To General Ross he writes: "The violence of our
friends, and their folly in endeavouring to make it a religious war,
added to the ferocity of our troops, who delight in murder, must
powerfully counteract all plans of conciliation; and the conversation,
even at my table, where you will suppose I do all I can to prevent it,
always turns on hanging, shooting, burning, &c.; and if a priest has
been put to death, the greatest joy is expressed by the whole company."
On the 23rd of May, Dublin was placed under martial law; the citizens
were armed, the guard was trebled, the barristers pleaded with
regimentals and swords, and several of the lamplighters were hung from
their own lamp-posts for neglecting to light the lamps. The country
people were prepared to march on the city, but Lord Roden and his
Foxhunters soon put down their attempt. The next morning the dead were
exhibited in the Castle-yard, and the prisoners were hanged at
Carlisle-bridge. Sir Watkins Wynn and his Ancient Britons distinguished
themselves by their cruelties. The Homsperg Dragoons and the Orange
Yeomanry equalled them in deeds of blood. The fighting commenced in
Kildare, on the 24th, by an attack on Naas, which was repelled by Lord
Gosport. Two of his officers and thirty men were killed, and the people
were shot down and hanged indiscriminately. "Such was the brutal
ferocity of some of the King's troops," says Plowden, "that they half
roasted and eat the flesh of one man, named Walsh, who had not been in
arms." At Prosperous the insurgents attacked and burned the barracks,
and piked any of the soldiers who attempted to escape from the flames.
This regiment, the North Cork Militia, had been specially cruel in their
treatment of the people, who were only too willing to retaliate. A troop
of dragoons, commanded by Captain Erskine, was almost annihilated at Old
Kilcullen. But reverses soon followed. At Carlow the insurgents met with
a severe defeat; and the defenceless and innocent inhabitants, who fled
into their houses for shelter from the fire, were cruelly and ruthlessly
burned to death in their own habitations by the military.
A body of 2,000 men, under a leader named Perkins, encamped on the Hill
of Allan, and agreed with General Douglas to lay down their arms. The
General was honorable and humane, but his subordinates were not so.
Major-General Duff, to whom the arms were to have been delivered up,
ordered his troops to fire on the people, when they had assembled for
that purpose. Lord Roden's cavalry cut them down, and an immense number
were slaughtered in cold blood. Another attack took place at Tara, where
the Irish were again defeated. The insurrection now broke out in
Wexford. The people in this part of the country had not joined the
movement in any way, until the arrival of the North Cork Militia,
commanded by Lord Kingsborough. The men paraded in orange ribbons, fired
at the peaceful country people, and employed pitchcaps and torture,
until their victims were driven to desperation. The county was
proclaimed on the 27th of April, by the magistrates; and before any riot
had taken place, Mr. Hunter Gowan paraded through Gorey at the head of
his yeomanry, with a human finger on the point of his sword, which was
subsequently used to stir their punch in the evening.
On Whit-Sunday, the 27th of May, the yeomen burned the Catholic Chapel
of Boulavogue. Father John Murphy, the parish priest, who had hitherto
tried to suppress the insurrection, placed himself at the head of the
insurgents. The men now rose in numbers, and marched to Enniscorthy,
which they took after some fighting. Vinegar Hill, a lofty eminence
overlooking the town, was chosen for their camp. Some of the leading
Protestant gentlemen of the county had either favoured or joined the
movement; and several of them had been arrested on suspicion, and were
imprisoned at Wexford. The garrison of this place, however, fled in a
panic, caused by some successes of the Irish troops, and probably from a
very clear idea of the kind of retaliation they might expect for their
cruelties. Mr. Harvey, one of the prisoners mentioned above, was now
released, and headed the insurgents; but a powerful body of troops,
under General Loftus, was sent into the district, and eventually
obtained possession of New Ross, which the Irish had taken with great
bravery, but which they had not been able to hold for want of proper
military discipline and command. They owed their defeat to
insubordination and drunkenness. A number of prisoners had been left at
Scullabogue House, near Carrickburne Hill. Some fugitives from the Irish
camp came up in the afternoon, and pretended that Mr. Harvey had given
orders for their execution, alleging, as a reason, what, indeed, was
true, that the royalists massacred indiscriminately. The guard resisted,
but were overpowered by the mob, who were impatient to revenge without
justice the cruelties which had been inflicted on them without justice.
A hundred were burned in a barn, and thirty-seven were shot or piked.
This massacre has been held up as a horrible example of Irish treachery
and cruelty. It was horrible, no doubt, and cannot be defended or
palliated; but, amid these contending horrors of cruel war, the question
still recurs: Upon whom is the original guilt of causing them to be
charged?
Father Murphy[582] was killed in an attack on Carlow, and his death
threw the balance strongly in favour of the Government troops, who
eventually proved victorious. After the battle of Ross, the Wexford men
chose the Rev. Philip Roche as their leader, in place of Mr. Bagenal
Harvey, who had resigned the command. The insurgents were now guilty of
following the example of their persecutors, if not with equal cruelty,
at least with a barbarity which their leaders in vain reprobated. The
prisoners whom they had taken were confined in the jail, and every
effort was made to save them from the infuriated people. But one savage,
named Dixon, would not be content without their blood; and while the
army and their leaders were encamped on Vinegar Hill, he and some other
villains as wicked as himself found their way into the jail, and marched
the prisoners to the bridge, held a mock trial, and then piked
thirty-five of their victims, and flung them into the water. At this
moment a priest, who had heard of the bloody deed, hastened to the spot;
and after in vain commanding them to desist, succeeded at last in making
them kneel down, when he dictated a prayer that God might show them the
same mercy which they would show to the surviving prisoners. This had
its effect; and the men who waited in terror to receive the doom they
had so often and so mercilessly inflicted on others, were marched back
to prison.
The camp on Vinegar Hill was now beset on all sides by the royal troops.
An attack was planned by General Lake, with 20,000 men and a large train
of artillery. General Needham did not arrive in time to occupy the
position appointed for him; and after an hour and a-half of hard
fighting, the Irish gave way, principally from want of gunpowder. The
soldiers now indulged in the most wanton deeds of cruelty. The hospital
at Enniscorthy was set on fire, and the wounded men shot in their beds.
At Wexford, General Moore prevented his troops from committing such
outrages; but when the rest of the army arrived, they acted as they had
done at Enniscorthy. Courts-martial were held, in which the officers
were not even sworn, and victims were consigned to execution with
reckless atrocity. The bridge of Wexford, where a Catholic priest had
saved so many Protestant lives, was now chosen for the scene of
slaughter; and all this in spite of a promise of amnesty. Father Roche
and Mr. Keogh were the first victims of the higher classes; Messrs.
Grogan, Harvey, and Colclough were hanged the following day. A mixed
commission was now formed of the magistrates, who were principally
Orangemen, and the military, whose virulence was equally great. The Rev.
Mr. Gordon, the Protestant clergyman whose account I have principally
followed, as above all suspicion, declares that "whoever could be proved
to have saved an Orangeman or royalist from assassination, his house
from burning, or his property from plunder, was considered as having
influence amongst the revolters, and consequently as a rebel commander."
The reward for their charity now was instant execution. The Rev. John
Redmond, the Catholic priest of Newtownbarry, had saved Lord Mountmorris
and other gentlemen from the fury of the exasperated people, and had
preserved his house and property from plunder. He was now sent for by
this nobleman; and, conscious of his innocence, and the benefits he had
rendered him, he at once obeyed the summons. On his arrival, he was
seized, brought before the court, and executed on the pretence of having
been a commander in the rebel army. He had, indeed, commanded, but the
only commands he ever uttered were commands of mercy. Well might Mr.
Gordon sorrowfully declare, that he had "heard of hundreds of United
Irishmen, during the insurrection, who have, at the risk of their lives,
saved Orangemen; but I have not heard of a single Orangeman who
encountered any danger to save the life of a United Irishman." With
equal sorrow he remarks the difference in the treatment of females by
each party. The Irish were never once accused of having offered the
slightest insult to a woman; the military, besides shooting them
indiscriminately with the men, treated them in a way which cannot be
described, and under circumstances which added a more than savage
inhumanity to their crime.
The next act of the fatal drama was the execution of the State
prisoners. The rising in Ulster had been rendered ineffective, happily
for the people, by the withdrawal of some of the leaders at the last
moment. The command in Antrim was taken by Henry McCracken, who was at
last captured by the royalists, and executed at Belfast, on the 17th of
June. At Saintfield, in Down, they were commanded by Henry Monroe, who
had been a Volunteer, and had some knowledge of military tactics. In an
engagement at Ballinahinch, he showed considerable ability in the
disposal of his forces, but they were eventually defeated, and he also
paid the forfeit of his life. A remnant of the Wexford insurrection was
all that remained to be crushed. On the 21st of June, Lord Cornwallis
was sent to Ireland, with the command both of the military forces and
the civil power. On the 17th of July an amnesty was proclaimed; and the
majority of the State prisoners were permitted eventually to leave the
country, having purchased their pardon by an account of the plans of the
United Irishmen, which were so entirely broken up that their honour was
in no way compromised by the disclosure.
Several men, however, were executed, in whose fate the country had, for
many reasons, more than ordinary interest. To have pardoned them would
have been more humane and better policy. These were the two Sheares,
M'Cann, and Mr. William Byrne. Their history will be found in the _Lives
of the United Irishmen_, by Dr. Madden, a work of many volumes, whose
contents could not possibly be compressed into the brief space which the
limits of this work demands.
Some painfully interesting details of this fearful period may be found
in the _Annals of Ballitore_, a work already referred to in this volume.
The writer being a member of the Society of Friends, must be beyond all
suspicion of partiality for rebels or Papists; yet, happily, like many
members of that Society, was distinguished for humanity and toleration
for the opinions of others. Her account of '98, being the annals of a
family and a village, is, perhaps, almost better calculated to give an
exact idea of the state of the times than a work comprising a more
extended range of observation; and yet what was suffered in Ballitore
was comparatively trifling when compared with the sufferings of other
villages and towns. The first trial was the quartering of the yeomen,
"from whose bosom," writes this gentle lady, "pity seemed banished." The
Suffolk Fencibles and the Ancient Britons were next quartered on the
unfortunate inhabitants. Then commenced the cruel torturing, for which
the yeomen and militia obtained an eternal reprobation; the public
floggings, of which she writes thus--"the torture was excessive, and the
victims were long in recovering, and in almost every case it was applied
fruitlessly;" yet these demons in human form never relaxed their
cruelty. "The village, once so peaceful, exhibited a scene of tumult and
dismay; and the air rang with the shrieks of the sufferers, and the
lamentations of those who beheld them suffer."[583] Then follow fearful
details, which cannot be given here, but which prove how completely the
people were driven into rebellion, and how cruelly they were punished.
Reprisals, of course, were made by the unfortunate victims; and on one
occasion, Mrs. Leadbeater relates how Priest Cullen begged the life of a
young man on his knees, and, as a reward of his humanity, was
apprehended soon after, and condemned to death. The most cruel scene of
all was the murder of the village doctor, a man who had devoted himself
unweariedly to healing the wounds of both parties; but because he
attended the "rebels," and showed them any acts of common humanity, he
was taken before a court-martial, and "hacked to death" by the yeomen
with their swords. "He was alone and unarmed when seized," writes Mrs.
Leadbeater, "and I believe had never raised his hand to injure any one."
The French allies of Irish insurgents appear to have a fatality for
arriving precisely when their services are worse than useless. On the
22nd of August, 1798, Humbert landed at Killala with a small French
force, who, after a number of engagements, were eventually obliged to
surrender at discretion.
Ireland having been reduced to the lowest state of misery and servitude,
the scheme for which much of this suffering had been enacted was now
proposed and carried out. The first parliamentary intimation was given
in a speech from the throne, on the 22nd of January, 1799; a pamphlet
was published on the subject by Mr. Cooke, the Under-Secretary; but it
required more cogent arguments than either speeches from the throne or
pamphlets to effect the object of Government. Mr. Pitt had set his heart
upon the Union, and Mr. Pitt had determined that the Union should be
carried out at any expense of honour. The majority of the Irish lawyers
protested against it. The Irish people, as far as they dared do so,
opposed it. At a meeting of the Irish bar, on the 9th of December, there
were 166 votes against the Union and only thirty-two in favour of it.
The published correspondence of Lord Cornwallis and Lord Castlereagh has
revealed an amount of nefarious corruption and treachery at which
posterity stands aghast. "These noblemen," writes Sir Jonah Barrington,
"seemed to have been created for such a crisis, and for each other. An
unremitting perseverance, an absence of all political compunctions, an
unqualified contempt of public opinion, and a disregard of every
constitutional principle, were common to both." But Lord Cornwallis had
some compunctions; for he wrote to General Ross, describing his office
as "the most cursed of all situations," and expressing, in language more
forcible than gentlemanly, his ardent desire to "kick those whom his
public duty obliged him to court."
The immediate arrangements made for carrying out the Union were
extremely simple. A scale of "compensation" was arranged--a word which
could, by a slight perversion of the ordinary meaning of the English
language, be used as a new form of expressing what was formerly called
bribery. Every one was promised everything that he wished for, if he
would only consent to the measure. The Catholics were to have
emancipation, the Protestants ascendency, the bar promotion, the people
higher wages, the boroughmongers magnificent compensation. FitzGibbon,
who had been made Lord Clare, and was then Chancellor, bribed,
threatened, and cajoled the Upper House; Mr. Secretary Cooke employed
himself with equal ability in the Lower House. Grattan had left Ireland;
Flood was in retirement; the members of the bar who had voted against
the Union were dismissed from office, and the Prime Serjeant, Mr.
FitzGerald, was the first victim. The thirty-two who formed the minority
were at once removed. I have not space for the details of the various
attempts which were made to pass the unpopular measure. Barrington has
given a list of the members for the Union, and the rewards they
received. His description of the last night of the Irish Parliament is
too graphic to be omitted:--
"The Commons' House of Parliament, on the last evening, afforded
the most melancholy example of a fine, independent people,
betrayed, divided, sold, and, as a State, annihilated. British
clerks and officers were smuggled into her Parliament, to vote away
the constitution of a country to which they were strangers, and in
which they had neither interest nor connexion. They were employed
to cancel the royal charter of the Irish nation, guaranteed by the
British Government, sanctioned by the British Legislature, and
unequivocally confirmed by the words, the signature, and the Great
Seal of their monarch.
"The situation of the Speaker on that night was of the most
distressing nature. A sincere and ardent enemy of the measure, he
headed its opponents; he resisted with all the power of his mind,
the resources of his experience, his influence, and his eloquence.
It was, however, through his voice that it was to be proclaimed and
consummated. His only alternative (resignation) would have been
unavailing, and could have added nothing to his character. His
expressive countenance bespoke the inquietude of his feeling;
solicitude was perceptible in every glance, and his embarrassment
was obvious in every word he uttered.
"The galleries were full, but the change was lamentable; they were
no longer crowded with those who had been accustomed to witness the
eloquence and to animate the debates of that devoted assembly. A
monotonous and melancholy murmur ran through benches, scarcely a
word was exchanged amongst the members, nobody seemed at ease, no
cheerfulness was apparent, and the ordinary business, for a short
time, proceeded in the usual manner.
"At length the expected moment arrived. The order of the day for
the third reading of the Bill for a 'Legislative Union between
Great Britain and Ireland,' was moved by Lord Castlereagh.
Unvaried, tame, coldblooded, the words seemed frozen as they issued
from his lips; and, as a simple citizen of the world, he seemed to
have no sensation on the subject.
"At that moment he had no country, no God but his ambition: he made
his motion, and resumed his seat with the utmost composure and
indifference.
"Confused murmurs again ran through the House; it was visibly
affected. Every character in a moment seemed involuntary rushing to
its index--some pale, some flushed, some agitated; there were few
countenances to which the heart did not despatch some messenger.
Several members withdrew before the question could be repeated, and
an awful momentary silence succeeded their departure. The Speaker
rose slowly from that chair which had been the proud source of his
honours and of his high character; for a moment he resumed his
seat, but the strength of his mind sustained him in his duty,
though his struggle was apparent. With that dignity which never
failed to signalize his official actions, he held up the Bill for a
moment in silence; he looked steadily around him on the last agony
of the expiring Parliament. He at length repeated, in an emphatic
tone, 'As many as are of opinion that _this Bill_ do pass, say
aye.' The affirmative was languid but indisputable; another
momentary pause ensued; again his lips seemed to decline their
office; at length, with an eye averted from the object which he
hated, he proclaimed, with a subdued voice, 'The Ayes have it.' The
fatal sentence was now pronounced; for an instant he stood
statue-like; then indignantly, and with disgust, flung the Bill
upon the table, and sunk into his chair with an exhausted spirit.
"An independent country was thus degraded into a province--Ireland,
as a nation, was extinguished."
[Illustration: LYNCH'S HOUSE, GALWAY.]
[Illustration: SWORDS' CASTLE, COUNTY DUBLIN.]
FOOTNOTES:
[571] _Clergy_.--Barrington says, in his _Rise and Fall of the Irish
Nation_, p. 67, the Catholic clergy had every inclination to restrain
their flocks within proper limits, and found no difficulty in effecting
that object. The first statement is unquestionably true; the second
statement is unfortunately disproved by many painful facts.
[572] _Them_.--Vol. ii. p. 93.
[573] _Oath_.--I give authority for these details. In the spring of
1796, three Orangemen swore before a magistrate of Down and Armagh, that
the Orangemen frequently met in committees, amongst whom were some
members of Parliament, who gave them money, and promised that they
should not suffer for any act they might commit, and pledged themselves
that they should be provided for by Government. The magistrate informed
the Secretary of State, and asked how he should act; but he never
received any answer, for further details on this head, see Plowden's
_History of the Insurrection_.
[574] _Sermons_.--On the 1st of July, 1795, the Rev. Mr. Monsell, a
Protestant clergyman of Portadown, invited his flock to celebrate the
anniversary of the battle of the Boyne by attending church, and preached
such a sermon against the Papists that his congregation fell on every
Catholic they met going home, beat them cruelly, and finished the day by
murdering two farmer's sons, who were quietly at work in a
bog.--Mooney's _History of Ireland_, p. 876.
[575] _Indemnity_.--Lord Carhampton sent 1,300 men on board the fleet,
on mere suspicion. They demanded a trial in vain. An Act of Indemnity
was at once passed, to free his Lordship from any unpleasant
consequences.
[576] _Remember Orr_.--_Lives and Times of the United Irishmen_, second
series, vol. ii. p. 380.
[577] _Sway_.--An important instance of how the memory or tradition of
past wrongs excites men to seize the first opportunity of revenge, if
not of redress, has occurred in our own times. It is a circumstance
which should be very carefully pondered by statesmen who have the real
interest of the whole nation at heart. It is a circumstance, as a sample
of many other similar cases, which should be known to every Englishman
who wishes to understand the cause of "Irish disturbances." One of the
men who was shot by the police during the late Fenian outbreak in
Ireland, was a respectable farmer named Peter Crowley. His history tells
the motive for which he risked and lost his life. His grandfather had
been outlawed in the rebellion of '98. His uncle, Father Peter O'Neill,
had been imprisoned and _flogged most barbarously, with circumstances of
peculiar cruelty_, in Cork, in the year 1798. The memory of the insult
and injury done to a priest, who was entirely guiltless of the crimes
with which he was charged, left a legacy of bitterness and hatred of
Saxon rule in the whole family, which, unhappily, religion failed to
eradicate. Peter Crowley was a sober, industrious, steady man, and his
parish priest, who attended his deathbed, pronounced his end "most happy
and edifying." Three clergymen and a procession of young men, women, and
children, scattering flowers before the coffin, and bearing green
boughs, attended his remains to the grave. He was mourned as a patriot,
who had loved his country, not wisely, but too well; and it was believed
that his motive for joining the Fenian ranks was less from a desire of
revenge, which would have been sinful, than from a mistaken idea of
freeing his country from a repetition of the cruelties of '98, and from
her present grievances.
[578] _Sufferer_.--Plowden, _Hist_. p. 102.
[579] _Sanction_.--His son says: "His estimate of the people led him to
appreciate justly the liveliness of their parts. But while he knew their
vices, and the origin of them, he knew that there was in their character
much of the generosity and warmth of feeling which made them acutely
sensitive when they were treated considerately and kindly. His judgment
of the upper classes of society, and of the purity and wisdom of the
government, was less favorable. He saw that the gentry were imperfectly
educated; that they were devoted to the pursuits of pleasure and
political intrigue; and that they were ignorant or neglectful of the
duties imposed on them as landlords, and as the friends and protectors
of those who depended on them for their existence."--_Memoir of Sir
Ralph Abercrombie_, p. 72.
[580] _All_.--Lord Holland says, in his _Memoirs of the Whig Party_:
"The fact is incontestable that the people of Ireland were driven to
resistance, which, _possibly_, they meditated before, by the free
quarters and excesses of the soldiery, which are not permitted in
civilized warfare, even in an enemy's country." The state prisoners
declared the immediate cause of the rising was "the free quarters, the
house-burnings, the tortures, and the military executions."
[581] _Success_.--The real betrayer of this brave but unfortunate
nobleman has only been discovered of late years. Dr. Madden was the
first to throw light upon the subject. He discovered the item of £1,000
entered in the _Secret Service Money-book_, as paid to F.H. for the
discovery of L.E.F. The F.H. was undoubtedly Francis Higgins, better
known as the Sham Squire, whose infamous career has been fully exposed
by Mr. Fitzpatrick. In the fourth volume of the _United Irishmen_, p.
579, Dr. Madden still expresses his doubt as to who was the person
employed by Higgins as "setter." It evidently was some one in the
secrets of Lord Edward's party. The infamous betrayer has been at last
discovered, in the person of Counsellor Magan, who received at various
times large sums of money from Government for his perfidy. See the _Sham
Squire_, p. 114. Higgins was buried at Kilbarrack, near Clontarf. In
consequence of the revelations of his vileness, which have been lately
brought before the public, the tomb was smashed to pieces, and the
inscription destroyed. See Mr. Fitzpatrick's _Ireland before the Union_,
p. 152.
[582] _Murphy_.--Rev. Mr. Gordon says: "Some of the soldiers of the
Ancient British regiment cut open the dead body of Father Michael
Murphy, after the battle of Arklow, took out his heart, roasted his
body, and oiled their boots with the grease which dropped from
it."--_History of the Rebellion_, p. 212.
[583] _Suffer.--Annals of Ballitore_, vol. i. p. 227.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
The State of Ireland before and after the Union--Advancement of Trade
before the Union--Depression after it--Lord Clare and Lord Castlereagh
in the English Parliament--The Catholic Question becomes a Ministerial
Difficulty--The Veto--The O'Connell Sept--Early Life of Daniel
O'Connell--The Doneraile Conspiracy--O'Connell as Leader of the Catholic
Party--The Clare Election--O'Connell in the English House of
Parliament--Sir Robert Peel--George IV. visits Ireland--Disturbances in
Ireland from the Union to the year 1834, and their Causes--Parliamentary
Evidence--The "Second Reformation"--Catholic Emancipation--Emigration,
its Causes and Effects--Colonial Policy of England--Statistics of
American Trade and Population--Importance of the Irish and Catholic
Element in America--Conclusion.
[A.D. 1800-1868.]
It is both a mistake and an injustice to suppose that the page of Irish
history closed with the dawn of that summer morning, in the year of
grace 1800, when the parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland
was enacted. I have quoted Sir Jonah Barrington's description of the
closing night of the Irish Parliament, because he writes as an
eyewitness, and because few could describe its "last agony" with more
touching eloquence and more vivid truthfulness; but I beg leave, in the
name of my country, to protest against his conclusion, that "Ireland, as
a nation, was extinguished." There never was, and we must almost fear
there never will be, a moment in the history of our nation, in which her
independence was proclaimed more triumphantly or gloriously, than when
O'Connell, the noblest and the best of her sons, obtained Catholic
Emancipation.
The immediate effects of the dissolution of the Irish Parliament were
certainly appalling. The measure was carried on the 7th of June, 1800.
On the 16th of April, 1782, another measure had been carried, to which I
must briefly call your attention. That measure was the independence of
the Irish Parliament. When it passed, Grattan rose once more in the
House, and exclaimed: "Ireland is now a nation! In that new character I
hail her, and bowing to her august presence, I say, _Esto perpetua!"_
period of unexampled prosperity followed. The very effects of a reaction
from conditions under which commerce was purposely restricted and trade
paralyzed by law, to one of comparative freedom, could not fail to
produce such a result. If the Parliament had been reformed when it was
freed, it is probable that Ireland at this moment would be the most
prosperous of nations. But the Parliament was not reformed. The
prosperity which followed was rather the effect of reaction, than of any
real settlement of the Irish question. The land laws, which
unquestionably are _the_ grievance of Ireland, were left untouched, an
alien Church was allowed to continue its unjust exactions; and though
Ireland was delivered, her chains were not all broken; and those which
were, still hung loosely round her, ready for the hand of traitor or of
foe. Though nominally freed from English control, the Irish Parliament
was not less enslaved by English influence. Perhaps there had never been
a period in the history of that nation when bribery was more freely
used, when corruption was more predominant. A considerable number of the
peers in the Irish House were English by interest and by education; a
majority of the members of the Lower House were their creatures. A man
who ambitioned a place in Parliament, should conform to the opinions of
his patron; the patron was willing to receive a "compensation" for
making his opinions, if he had any, coincide with those of the
Government. Many of the members were anxious for preferment for
themselves or their friends; the price of preferment was a vote for
ministers. The solemn fact of individual responsibility for each
individual act, had yet to be understood. Perhaps the lesson has yet to
be learned.
One of the first acts of the Irish independent Parliament, was to order
the appointment of a committee to inquire into the state of the
manufactures of the kingdom, and to ascertain what might be necessary
for their improvement. The hearts of the poor, always praying for
employment, which had been so long and so cruelly withheld from them,
bounded with joy. Petitions poured in on every side. David Bosquet had
erected mills in Dublin for the manufacture of metals; he prayed for
help. John and Henry Allen had woollen manufactories in the county
Dublin; they prayed for help. Thomas Reilly, iron merchant, of the town
of Wicklow, wished to introduce improvements in iron works. James Smith,
an Englishman, had cotton manufactories at Balbriggan; he wished to
extend them. Anthony Dawson, of Dundrum, near Dublin, had water mills
for making tools for all kinds of artisans; this, above all, should be
encouraged, now that there was some chance of men having some use for
tools. Then there were requests for aid to establish carpet
manufactories, linen manufactories, glass manufactories, &c.; and Robert
Burke, Esq., of the county Kildare, prayed for the loan of £40,000 for
seven years, that he might establish manufactories at Prosperous. These
few samples of petitions, taken at random from many others, will enable
the reader to form some faint idea of the state of depression in which
Ireland was kept by the English nation--of the eagerness of the Irish to
work if they were only permitted to do so.
The Irish revenue for the year 1783 was, in round numbers, £900,000,
which amounted to a tax of about six shillings per annum on each person.
It was distributed thus:
For the interest of the National Debt, £120,000
Army and Ordnance, Civil Government, and
other funds, 450,000
Pensions, grants, bounties, and aids to
manufacturers, 250,000
Surplus unappropriated, 80,000
--------
Total, £900,000
More than £200,000 was spent during that year in erecting forts,
batteries, and other public buildings, which gave employment to the
people in certain districts. Large sums were granted to the poor of Cork
and Dublin for coals; and large grants were made to encourage
manufactures. I have observed, however, in carefully examining these
grants, which are by far too numerous for insertion, that they were
principally, and, indeed, I might say exclusively, made to persons in
Dublin and its neighbourhood, in the north of Ireland, and in the
_cities_ of Cork and Limerick. Hence, the prosperity of Ireland was only
partial, and was confined exclusively, though, probably, not
intentionally, to certain districts. This will explain why the misery
and starvation of the poor, in the less favoured parts of the country,
were a principal cause of the fearful insurrection which occurred within
a few short years.
Lord Clare proclaimed, in the House of Parliament, that "no nation on
the habitable globe had advanced in cultivation, commerce, and
manufactures, with the same rapidity as Ireland, from 1782 to 1800."
_The population increased from three millions to five._ There were 5,000
carpenters fully employed in Dublin; there were 15,000 silk-weavers. Nor
should we be surprised at this; for Dublin possesses at the present day
substantial remains of her former prosperity, which are even now the
admiration of Europe. All her great public buildings were erected at
this period. The Custom-house was commenced, and completed in ten years,
at a cost of a quarter of a million sterling. The Rotundo was commenced
in 1784. The Law Courts, the most elegant and extensive in the British
Empire, were begun in 1786. In 1788 there were 14,327 dwelling-houses in
Dublin, and 110,000 inhabitants. Two hundred and twenty peers and three
hundred commoners had separate residences. Dublin was fashionable, and
Dublin prospered.[584]
I have already said that corruption soon did its fatal work. It
sanctioned, nay, it compelled, the persecution of the majority of the
nation for their religious creed; and with this persecution the last
flame of national prosperity expired, and the persecutors and the
persecuted shared alike in the common ruin. In 1792 Lord Edward
FitzGerald denounced the conduct of the House in these ever-memorable
words: "I do think, sir, that the Lord Lieutenant and the majority of
this House are the worst subjects the King has;" and when a storm arose,
the more violent from consciousness that his words were but too true,
for all retraction he would only say:
"I am accused of having said that I think the Lord Lieutenant and the
majority of this House are the worst subjects the King has. I said so;
'tis true; and I am sorry for it."
On the 1st of January, 1801, a new imperial standard was exhibited on
London Tower, and on the Castles of Dublin and Edinburgh. It was formed
of the three crosses of St. George, St. Patrick, and St. Andrew, and is
popularly known as the Union Jack. The _fleur de lis_ and the word
France were omitted from royal prerogatives and titles; and a
proclamation was issued appointing the words _Dei Gratia, Britaniarum
Rex, Fidei Defensor_. The _Dublin Gazette_ of July, 1800, contained the
significant announcement of the creation of sixteen new peerages. The
same publication for the last week of the year contained a fresh list of
twenty-six others. Forty-two creations in six months were rather an
extensive stretch of prerogative; and we cannot be surprised if the
majority of the nation had more respect for the great untitled, whose
ancestry were known, and were quite above accepting the miserable bribe
of a modern peerage.
Strangely enough, from the very day on which the Union was proclaimed,
the Catholic question became a ministerial difficulty. Pitt's
administration failed on this very point, although it had seemed
invincible a few weeks before. The obstinacy of the King, which, indeed,
almost amounted to a monomania, was the principal cause. He made it a
personal matter, declared it the "most jacobinical thing he had ever
heard of;" and he informed the world at large that he would consider any
man who proposed it his personal enemy. Pitt resigned. Opinions varied
as to his motives. He returned to office in 1804, having promised that
he would not again press the subject; and he adhered to his
determination until his death. The Irish nobles, who had worked hardest
to carry the Union, were somewhat disappointed as to the result. Lord
Clare was told by the Duke of Bedford, that the Union had not
transferred his dictatorial powers to the Imperial Parliament. He
retired to Ireland deeply chagrined, and was soon borne to his grave,
amid the revilings of the people whom he had betrayed. Lord Castlereagh,
who had been less accustomed to command, and had less difficulty in
stooping to conquer, succeeded better with his English friends, and in a
few years he ruled the cabinets of Europe; while the Iron Duke, another
Irishman, dictated to their armies.
In 1803 the flame of insurrection again broke out, and again French aid
was expected, and the expedition ended in disappointment. Napoleon
himself regretted that he had turned his armies towards Egypt, instead
of towards Ireland. Emmet's career was brief, and would probably have
been almost forgotten, but for his famous speech at the moment of
receiving sentence, and for the history of his love and her devoted
attachment to his memory.
In 1805 Grattan entered the Imperial Parliament, at the request of Fox.
An English constituency was found for him. At the same time, Plunket was
brought into the house by Pitt; and thus these two famous men, the one
so full of the brilliant, and the other so full of the powerful, gifts
of mental science, again pleaded their country's cause together, and in
perfect harmony, though differing on some political points. When Grattan
first rose to address the British Senate, there was a hushed attention
to his every word; as his eloquence kindled with his subject, there were
suppressed murmurs of approbation; when he had concluded, there were
thunders of applause. His subject was a petition from the Irish
Catholics, which was presented to both Houses in 1805. The division gave
339 to 124 against going into committee; still it was something gained,
when Englishmen even listened to Irish grievances, or made some effort
to understand them.
The _Veto_ was now suggested. The object of this was to allow the crown
a passive voice, if not an active one, in the nomination of Catholic
bishops. Happily for the Catholic Church in Ireland, the proposal was
steadily rejected, though with a determination which brought even
members of the same Church into collision. Connexion with the State
might have procured temporal advantages, but they would have been in
truth a poor compensation for the loss of that perfect freedom of action
so essential to the spiritual advancement of the Church.
The Duke of Richmond came to Ireland in 1807, with Sir Arthur Wellesley
as Chief Secretary. The young man, whose fame was yet unattained, showed
himself as clearheaded in the cabinet as in the camp. He made every
attempt to suppress the party demonstrations which have been the curse
of Ireland, and induced the Wexford people to discontinue their annual
celebration of the battle of Vinegar Hill. If he could have suppressed a
few other anniversaries in the north, it would have been a blessing to
the United Kingdom. In 1806 Mr. Grattan was returned for Dublin, and
generously refused the sum of £4,000, which his constituents had
collected to pay his expenses. The Catholic question was now constantly
coming up, and more than one cabinet was formed and dissolved according
to the views of the different members on that matter. A new element of
vitality had been introduced by the relaxation of the penal laws. Men
were no longer afraid to ask for a grace which they wanted, lest they
should lose a grace which they had. The people found that they might
speak their real opinions without apprehensions of attempts at
conversion in the shape of pitchcaps and half-hangings; and when the
people were ready for a leader, the leader was ready for the people; and
Daniel O'Connell took the place in the guidance of the Irish nation,
which he will never lose in their memory and in their affections.
The history of Ireland and the life of O'Connell are convertible terms
for five-and-forty years. O'Connell represented Ireland, and Ireland was
represented by O'Connell. We have had our great men and our good men,
our brave men and our true men; but, to my poor thinking, the greatest
of our men was O'Connell--for who ever approached him in his mighty
power of ruling a nation by moral suasion only? the best of our men was
O'Connell, for who dare assert that he was ever unfaithful to his
country or to his country's faith? the bravest of our men was O'Connell,
equally fearless in every danger, moral or physical; and the truest of
our men was O'Connell, dying of a broken heart in a faraway land,
because he saw his country's cause all but ruined--because he knew that
with his failing breath one of his country's surest helpers would pass
from her for ever. A _thoughtfully_ written "History of the life and
Times of O'Connell," by some one really competent to do justice to the
subject, is much wanted. I believe that posterity will do justice to his
memory as one of the best and noblest patriots which the world has ever
seen--a justice which as yet has been scarcely accorded to him as fully
as he has merited. Had O'Connell accomplished no other work for Ireland
than this--the giving of a tone of nationality and manliness to the
people--he had accomplished a most glorious work. He taught Irishmen
that chains do not make the slave, but rather the spirit in which the
chains are worn. He awoke, in the hearts of his countrymen, that love of
freedom, which is the first step towards making a successful effort to
obtain it. He showed them how they might intimidate their oppressors
without injuring themselves--a lesson eminently necessary where the
oppressors are incomparably more powerful than the oppressed.
The sept of O'Connell, from which this noble man was descended held a
prominent position among the early Milesian clans. Pure Celtic blood ran
in his veins; the fire of Celtic wit sparkled in his utterances; the
lighthearted happiness of a Celtic spirit guided his actions; and the
undaunted bravery of a Celtic warrior's courage looked out of his clear
beaming eye. A nobleman, in truth, was Daniel O'Connell--a nobleman of
whom any nation might justly be proud--a nobleman to whom we must hope
that Ireland will yet raise some monument of enduring fame. The
O'Connell sept were driven from their ancestral homes, in 1172, by
Raymond, Strongbow's son-in-law. Their territory lay along the Shannon.
They were now compelled to take refuge in a wild and desolate part of
Kerry, too wild and too desolate to attract English cupidity. A MS. is
still preserved in the British Museum, written by one of the O'Connell
family; it is in the Irish language, and bears date 1245. In this
document mention is made of a Daniel O'Connell, who proceeded to the
north of Ireland, at the head of a large body of men, to resist an
invading force. The Celts were successful; and when they had won the
day, the chieftain and his vanquished foes feasted together. In 1586
Richard O'Connell was High Sheriff of Kerry; but, from the accession of
William III., until the illustrious Liberator obtained some degree of
freedom for his country, all the O'Connells were prescribed from
positions of emolument, for having held with unswerving fidelity to the
old faith.
O'Connell was born on the 6th of August, 1775, "the very year," as he
himself says, in a letter to the _Dublin Evening Post_, "in which the
stupid obstinacy of British oppression _forced_ the reluctant people of
America to seek for security in arms, and to commence that bloody
struggle for national independence, which has been in its results
beneficial to England, whilst it has shed glory, and conferred liberty,
pure and sublime, on America." He was educated at St. Omers, and it is
said manifested some inclination for the priesthood; but there can be no
doubt that his vocation lay in another direction, as he was incomparably
too deeply religious and too thoroughly honest not to have obeyed the
call of God at any cost, had such a favour been vouchsafed to him. It is
said, whatever his dislike of physical force may have been in
after-life, that he unquestionably knew how to use the _argumentum
baculinum_ in his early days; and that more than one student was made to
feel the effects thereof, when attempting ill-natured jokes on the
herculean Celt. During his residence abroad he had some opportunities of
witnessing the fearful effects of the French Revolution; and it is
probable that a remembrance of these scenes, added to his own admirably
keen common sense, saved him from leading his countrymen on to deeds of
open violence. He was called to the Irish bar in the memorable year of
1798. For some time he failed to obtain practice; for who would confide
their case to a young Catholic lawyer, when the fact of his creed alone
would be sufficient to condemn his client in the eyes of Protestant
juries, judges, and attorneys? His maiden speech was made in opposition
to the Union, even as his life was spent in the most strenuous efforts
to obtain the reversal of that most fatal measure. A meeting was held in
the Royal Exchange, Dublin, at the close of the year 1799, to petition
against it; but even as O'Connell was denouncing, in his most eloquent
language, the new attempt at national degradation, Major Sirr and his
file of military rushed into the apartment, and separated the assembly.
O'Connell now retired into private life, and, with the marvellous
foresight of true genius, devoted himself to storing up that forensic
knowledge which he felt sure he should one day use for the benefit of
his countrymen.
One of the most important instances in which O'Connell's legal acumen
saved the lives of his countrymen, is known as the "Doneraile
Conspiracy;" and as all the facts are eminently illustrative of the
history of Ireland at that period, and of the character and abilities of
one of her most distinguished sons, I shall relate the circumstances.
Several Protestant gentlemen in the neighbourhood of Doneraile, had been
making those abortive efforts to "convert" their tenants from Popery,
which usually end in no small amount of ill-feeling on both sides;
another of these gentlemen, with equal zeal and equal want of common
sense and common humanity, had devoted himself to hunting out real or
supposed rebels. This gentleman had at last brought on himself an armed
attack, for which he deserved little pity. He contrived, however, to
capture one of his assailants, who, of course, was hung. The gentlemen
having thus excited the unfortunate peasantry, pointed to the results of
their own folly as though these results had been the cause of it; and an
informer came forward, who, with the usual recklessness of his atrocious
class, accused some of the most respectable farmers of the district of
having entered into a conspiracy to murder the Protestant gentlemen,--a
cruel return certainly had it been true, for their earnest efforts to
convert the natives from "the errors of Popery to those of the
Protestant Church." A special commission was sent down; the wildest
excitement prevailed on all sides; and, as was usual in such cases, the
bitterest prejudice against the unfortunate accused. The
Solicitor-General led for the crown: the defence was a simple denial. In
such cases the examination of the approvers is the great point for the
accused, and should be confided to the ablest counsel. One of the
unfortunate prisoners was a respectable farmer, aged seventy, of whom
the highest character was given. But it was all in vain; after five
minutes' deliberation, the jury gave in the verdict of guilty. As the
men were to be made an "example of," they were sentenced to be hanged in
six days. This was on Saturday. The next lot of prisoners was to be
tried at nine o'clock on Monday morning. There was one universal cry for
"O'Connell," from the great multitude who knew these poor victims were
perfectly innocent. On Saturday night a farmer mounted the best horse
that could be found in Cork, and, after a night of incessant riding, he
reached Derrynane Abbey on Sunday morning at nine o'clock. His name was
William Burke: let it be transmitted with all honour to posterity! He
told his errand to one who never listened unmoved to the tale of his
country's sorrows and wrongs; and he assured O'Connell that, unless he
were in Cork by nine next morning, the unfortunate prisoners, "though
innocent as the child unborn," would all be hanged. The great man at
once prepared for his journey; and so wild was the joy of Burke, so sure
was he that there would now be a hope, if not a certainty, of justice,
that only the earnest entreaties of O'Connell could induce him to remain
a few hours to rest his weary horse. On the same good horse he set out
again, and reached Cork at eight o'clock on Monday morning, having
travelled 180 miles in thirty-eight hours. Scouts had been posted all
along the road to watch the man's return: even as he passed through each
little village, there was an anxious crowd waiting the word of life or
death. "O'Connell's coming, boys!" was enough; and a wild cheer, which
rent the very mountains, told how keenly an act of justice could be
appreciated by the most justice-loving people upon earth. And O'Connell
did come. He has himself described the sensations of that midnight
journey, through all the autumn beauties of the most beautiful scenery
in the United Kingdom. And then he exclaims: "After that glorious feast
of soul, I found myself settled down amid all the rascalities of an
Irish court of justice."
The Solicitor-General was actually addressing the jury, when the shouts
of the excited crowd announced the arrival of one who, by this act of
his life alone, deserves, _par excellence_, the proud and glorious title
of the LIBERATOR. He entered the courthouse, apologized for his
unprofessional attire; and as he had no refreshment, and there was no
time to lose, he requested permission of the judges to have a bowl of
milk and some sandwiches sent to him. The Solicitor-General resumed his
address, but had not proceeded far before the stentorian voice of
O'Connell was heard exclaiming: "That's not law." The bench decided in
his favour. He was rapidly swallowing as much food as was necessary to
sustain nature, and once more, with his mouth full, he exclaims: "That's
no longer law; the Act is repealed." Again the mortified counsel
proceeded with his case, and once more O'Connell's knowledge of law
served him in good stead. "The learned Solicitor," he exclaimed, "has
_no right_ to make such a statement; the crown cannot give such matters
in evidence." For the third time the ruling was in favour of the
Liberator. Then came the all-important cross-examination of the
approvers; and the men who had lied so well and so boldly on Saturday,
prevaricated, cursed, and howled under the searching questions of their
new examiner; Nowlan, the vilest of the lot, exclaiming at last: "It's
little I thought I'd have to meet you, Counsellor O'Connell." Alas!
thrice-wretched man, who thought still less of another Court and another
Judgment. O'Connell won the day. He threatened the very
Solicitor-General with impeachment before the House of Commons, for the
way he conducted the case. He taunted him, bewildered him, scolded him,
laughed at him, as he only could do; and when at last the unfortunate
man came out with some observation about "false _facts_," O'Connell
threw the whole court into a roar of laughter by directing attention to
the bull, and by his inimitable imitation of his English accent. The
jury could not agree, and the men were acquitted. Another trial came on
next day, and it was then discovered that one of the approvers differed
in most important matters from his statements on oath before the
magistrates of Doneraile, and in what he now stated. This was enough;
and the jury brought in a verdict of not guilty, though, on the very
same evidence, a verdict of guilty had been given on Saturday. As an
act, however, of great clemency, the men who had been sentenced to be
hanged in six days, were now _only_ transported.
During the time of O'Connell's retirement and study, he had but too many
opportunities of knowing how little justice was likely to be meted out
to Irishmen accused, justly or unjustly, of political crimes; and,
doubtless, he directed his studies to those special points most likely
to be helpful hereafter. Robert Emmet's execution took place in October,
1803; and from that hour, until the accession of the Whigs to office, in
1806, Ireland was ruled by martial law. The Habeas Corpus Act and trial
by jury were suspended, and the jails and transport ships were crowded
with the victims of military ferocity and magisterial vengeance. In the
debate of 1805, when the Catholic petition was brought into the House of
Commons by Mr. Fox, and treacherously opposed by Pitt, Mr. Ponsonby
exclaimed, speaking of the Irish Catholics: "I know them well; and I
know, at the same time, that whatever is good in them, they owe to
themselves; whatever is bad in them, they owe to you, and to your bad
government." Mr. Grattan accused the English Tories of "running about
like old women in search of old prejudices; _preferring to buy foreign
allies by subsidies, rather than to subsidize fellow-subjects by
privileges."_ He might have said by justice, for the Irish have never
asked for privileges; they ask simply for the same justice as is shown
to English subjects. Mr. Foster, the last Speaker of the Irish House of
Commons, declared that, "under the Union Act, by compact, the Protestant
boroughs were suppressed, and a compensation of £1,400,000 paid to
Protestant owners, and not one shilling to the Catholics."
O'Connell came prominently forward as a leader of the Catholic party in
1810. A meeting was held in the Royal Exchange, Dublin, to petition for
Repeal of the Union, at which the High Sheriff of that city presided,
and many distinguished men were present--a proof that, however corrupted
Irish Parliaments may have been by English gold, there was still some
advantage to be gained to the country by possessing even a partial
independence. O'Connell's speech was published, and circulated widely.
To give the full details of his career as a leader of the people, would
require a volume the size of the present work; to give even a
sufficiently comprehensive outline, would require several chapters: I
can but hope that some able hand will take up the subject, and with
equal earnestness do I hope that it may be some one really capable of
doing justice to it. One who would write the "Life and Times of
O'Connell" as such a work should be written, would require to bring more
than ordinary abilities to the task, and would deserve, at the hands of
his countrymen, the highest expression of gratitude which they could
give. Such a work would be incomparably the noblest monument which could
be dedicated to his memory.
[Illustration: O'Connell refusing to take the Oath.]
The Clare election is undoubtedly the culminating point in O'Connell's
career. Men stood aghast in amazement at the boldness of the man who
presumed to make such an attempt. Even his friends could scarcely
believe that he was in earnest, or that he was wise. His success was a
splendid example of what the energy and determination of one single man
could accomplish. Well might the Lord Chancellor declare that "this
business must bring the Roman Catholic question to a crisis and a
conclusion." The words were prophetic; the prophecy was realized. On the
5th of March, 1829, Mr. Peel moved a committee of the whole House, "to
go into the consideration of the civil disabilities of his Majesty's
Roman Catholic subjects." The motion was carried by a majority of 188.
On the 15th of May, 1829, O'Connell appeared in the House to take his
seat. He was introduced by Lords Ebrington and Dungannon. The House was
thronged. The very peeresses came to gaze upon the arch-agitator,
expecting to see a demagogue, and to hear an Irish brogue. There were
whispers of surprise when they saw a gentleman, and a man who could
speak, with the versatility of true talent, to suit his audience. The
card containing the oath was handed to O'Connell; he read a portion of
it over in an audible voice--the portion which required him to say that
"the sacrifice of the Mass, and the invocation of the Blessed Virgin
Mary and other saints, as now practised in the Church of Rome, are
impious and idolatrous;" and to deny the dispensing power of the Pope,
which never existed, except in the imagination of its framers. With a
courteous bow he said, in a voice to be heard throughout the House: "I
decline, Mr. Clerk, to take this oath: part of it I know to be false;
another part I believe not to be true."
Again he sought the votes of the electors of Clare, and again he was
returned by them. On the 13th of April, 1829, the royal signature was
affixed to the Act of Emancipation, and Irishmen were no longer refused
the rights of citizens because they respected the rights of conscience.
In the year 1812, the late Sir Robert Peel came to Ireland as Chief
Secretary, unfortunately destitute of the enlargement of mind and the
native genius of his predecessor, Sir Arthur Wellesley. His abilities,
however great, were not such as to enable him to understand a
nationality distinct from his own; and hence he could not deal with the
Irish, either to his credit, or for their advantage. From the year 1815
to 1817 the conduct of the English Parliament towards Ireland was
regulated with the nicest attention to the movements of the General who
ruled the Continent. In 1817 an Act was passed, which, with admirable
policy, excused Catholic officers, naval and military, from forswearing
transubstantiation. In 1821 George IV. visited Ireland. It was the first
time that an English King had come to Ireland as the acknowledged
sovereign of the people. Their hopes were high; and the deference for
royalty, so eminently characteristic of the Celt, had at last found an
opportunity of expressing itself. All that loyalty could do was done;
all that the warmest heart could say was said. The King appeared
impressed by demonstrations so entirely new to him; he wore a large
bunch of shamrocks constantly during his brief stay; but before the
shamrocks were faded, Irish wants and Irish loyalty were alike
forgotten.
In the year 1824 the subject of Irish disturbances was carefully
inquired into by Select Committees of both Houses of Parliament. Some
extracts from their reports will give the best and most correct idea of
the state of the country from the Union to the year 1834, when another
investigation was made. In 1807 the county Limerick was alarmingly
disturbed. In 1812 the counties of Tipperary, Waterford, Kilkenny,
Limerick, Westmeath, Roscommon, and the King's county, were the theatre
of the same sanguinary tumults. Limerick and Tipperary remained under
the Insurrection Act until 1818. In 1820 there were serious disturbances
in Galway, and in 1821, in Limerick.
These disturbances are thus accounted for Maxwell Blacker, Esq.,
Barrister, who was appointed to administer the Insurrection Act, in
1822, in the counties of Cork and Tipperary: "The immediate cause of the
disturbance I consider to be the great increase of population, and the
fall in the price of produce after the war; the consequence of which
was, that it was impossible to pay the rent or the tithes that had been
paid when the country was prosperous." Sir Matthew Barrington, Crown
Solicitor of the Munster Circuit for seventeen years, was asked: "Do you
attribute the inflammable state of the population to the state of misery
in which they generally are?" "I do, to a great extent; I seldom knew
any instance when there was sufficient employment for the people that
they were inclined to be disturbed; if they had plenty of work and
employment, they are generally peaceable." John Leslie Foster, Esq.,
M.P., in his examination, states: "I think the proximate cause [of the
disturbances] is the extreme physical misery of the peasantry, coupled
with their liability to be called upon for the payment of different
charges, which it is often perfectly impossible for them to meet."
Matthew Singleton, Esq., Chief Magistrate of Police in the Queen's
county, said, on his examination: "I have seen, and I know land to be
set one-third above its value."
It would be useless to give more of this evidence, for the details are
always the same. The people were almost starving. They could scarcely
get a sufficiency of the poorest food, yet they were compelled to pay
rent and tithes far above the value of their land. If they were unable,
they were thrown out upon the wayside to die like dogs.
There can be no doubt that the outrages thus perpetrated were very
fearful. Every man's hand was against them, and their hand was against
every man. They shot their landlords, and they "carded" the
tithe-proctors. Gentlemen's houses were barricaded, even in the daytime.
Many families of the higher classes lived in a state of siege. The
windows were made bullet-proof; the doors were never opened after
nightfall. It was a fearful state of society for a Christian country,
and the guilt and disgrace of it was surely on those who had caused it.
Yet we do not find that the knowledge of these facts produced any effect
upon the men who heard them, and who alone had it in their power to
apply the remedy. Still something was done; and although it is one of
the stern facts of history, one can scarcely choose but smile at the
simplicity of those who planned and carried out such a scheme for the
improvement of Ireland.
The "second reformation" was commenced in 1827. The Catholic priests
were challenged to controversy; even laymen interfered. Theology and
theological differences became the town and table-talk of Ireland.
Bibles and tracts were distributed in all directions amongst the
starving poor, food and clothing were occasionally added; yet,
notwithstanding these powerful inducements, the people starved and
remained Catholics. Writs of ejectment were then tried; and the Irish
poor had their choice between the Bible and beggary--but they chose
beggary.
So far did the Bible craze go, that it almost amounted to a monomania.
One noble lord, to show his reverence for that book, and to convince his
tenantry of the estimation in which he held it, flung every volume of
his library into the lake of his demesne, and with the Bible in his
hand, which commanded him to feed the hungry, refused to feed them
unless they complied with his commands. Moore's satires were,
unquestionably, the best weapons against such fanaticism. Sheil wrote in
the _Gazette de France_, and hundreds of pens wrote in the American
papers. A loud cry of "Shame!" arose in every quarter of the world; the
echo reached the ears of the promoters of the movement; and the force of
public opinion succeeded in suppressing the futile attempt.
The influence of Irish emigrants in America was already beginning to be
felt. Large sums of money poured in from that country to swell the
Catholic rent, and a considerable portion of the funds were employed by
O'Connell in providing for men who had been ejected by their landlords,
for refusing either to believe a creed, or to give a vote contrary to
their conscience. He even threatened to buy up the incumbrances on some
of these gentlemen's estates, to foreclose their mortgages, and to sell
them out. His threat, added to his well-known determination, was not
without its effect.
The whole subject of Irish emigration may be safely predicted to be the
key which will unlock the future fate of Great Britain. It is true that,
at this moment, every effort is being made by the English nation to
conciliate America; it remains to be seen how Americans will be disposed
to accept present flattery as a compensation for past injustice, and
scarcely past contempt. A better knowledge of Irish history might
prevent some fatal mistakes on both sides of the Atlantic. I have,
therefore, felt it a duty to devote the concluding pages of this
_History_ to this important subject.
The great tide of western emigration was undoubtedly caused, in part, by
the sufferings of the famine year; but these sufferings were in
themselves an effect, rather than a cause; and we must look to more
remote history for the origin of the momentous exodus. It has, indeed,
been well observed, that "when a man leaves his country for one subject
to foreign rule, it must, in general, be that he does not care for it,
or that it does not care for him; it must either be that he is so little
attached to the institutions of his own country, that he is willing to
submit to those of another; or that he despises the latter sufficiently
to look forward to replacing them by those of his own."[585] No
unprejudiced person can for a moment doubt which of these causes has
been most active in producing Irish emigration. The Irishman's love of
home and of his native land, is a fact beyond all dispute: his
emigration, then, can have no other cause than this, that his country,
or the country which governs his native land, does not care for him; and
when we find noble lords and honorable members suggesting "the more
emigration the better," we cannot doubt that he is the victim to
indifference, if not to absolute dislike. Undoubtedly, if the Irishman
did not care for his country, and if the Englishman, when planted in
Ireland, did not become equally discontented and rather more indignant
than his predecessors under English rule in Ireland, the arrangement
might be a very admirable one; but Irishmen, to the third and fourth
generation, do not forget their country, neither do they forget why they
have been compelled to leave it. A work has been published lately on the
subject of the Irish in America. It is much to be regretted, that the
very able writer did not give statistics and facts, as well as
inferences and anecdotes. A history of the Irish in America, should
include statistics which could not be disputed, and facts which could
not be denied. The facts in the work alluded to are abundant, and most
important; but they should have been prefaced by an account of the
causes which have led to emigration, and as accurate statistics as
possible of its results.
Some few English writers have had the honesty to admit that their
colonial policy has not been the most admirable; "nor should we forget,"
says the author of the _History of the United States_, "that the spirit
in which these colonies were ruled from England was one, in the main, of
intense selfishness. The answer of Seymour, an English Attorney-General
under William and Mary, or towards the close of the seventeenth century,
to the request of Virginia, for a college, when her delegate begged him
to consider that the people of Virginia had souls to be saved as well as
the people of England: Souls! damn your souls! plant tobacco!" is
scarcely an unfair exponent of that spirit.[586] Another writer says:
"Historians, in treating of the American rebellion, have confined their
arguments too exclusively to the question of internal taxation, and the
right or policy of exercising this prerogative. The true source of the
rebellion lay deeper--in our traditional colonial policy."[587] One more
quotation must suffice: "The legal rights of those colonies have been
perpetually violated. Those which were strong enough were driven to
separation; those which adhered to us in that great contest, or which we
have subsequently acquired or founded, are either denied constitutions,
or, if the local authorities oppose the will of the Imperial Parliament,
find their constitutions changed, suspended, or annulled."[588] It will
be remembered that the original colonists of America were principally
Englishmen, who were driven from their own country by religious
intolerance; yet no sooner had they established themselves in their new
home, than they commenced to practise even more fearful persecutions on
others than those from which they had fled. There was one honorable
exception; the Roman Catholics who fled from persecution in England,
never, even in the plenitude of their power, attempted the slightest
persecution, religious, social, or legal.
It will be seen, then, that the first emigrants to America from the
British dominions, could not have had any special attachment to the
country they had left; that, on the contrary, their feelings were
embittered against the mother country before their departure from her
shores; and after that departure she did nothing to allay the
irritation, but much to increase it. For several centuries after the
arrival of the "May Flower," the number of emigrants from England and
Ireland were, probably, tolerably equal, and by no means numerous. It
was not an age of statistics, and no accurate statistics can be given.
The disruption between the States and England, or rather the causes
which led to it, re-opened whatever feelings there may have been against
the mother country, and at the same time increased its bitterness a
hundredfold. The tide of Irish emigration had set in even then--slowly,
indeed, but surely; and it will be remembered that the Irish in America,
few though they were, became the foremost to fan the flame of rebellion,
and were amongst the first to raise the standard of revolt. The States
obtained a glorious freedom--a freedom which, on the whole, they have
used wisely and well; and even their bitterest enemies cannot deny that
they have formed a powerful nation--a nation which may yet rule the
destinies of the world. Let us endeavour now to estimate in some degree
the influence of Irish emigration on American society. If the history of
Ireland were written in detail up to the present day, fully one-fourth
the detail should comprise a history of the Irish in America. Never in
the world's history has an emigration been so continuous or so
excessive; never in the world's history have emigrants continued so
inseparably united, politically and socially, to the country which they
have left. The cry of "Ireland for the Irish," is uttered as loudly on
the shores of the Mississippi as on the shores of the Shannon. It is
almost impossible to arrive at accurate statistics of the number of
Irish in America, but a fair approximation may be obtained. The
population of America, according to a recent writer, was, in 1840,
17,063,353; in 1850, it had risen to 23,191,876; it is now [1868],
35,000,000. In 1842, the imports were in value, $100,162,087; the
exports, $104,691,534; and the tonnage was 2,092,391. In 1859, the
imports were $383,768,130; the exports were $356,789,462; and the
tonnage was 5,146,037. This increase is beyond all historical
precedence, and a future historian, who found such amazing statistics of
increase, and knew nothing of emigration, would be strangely puzzled to
account for it. But if he searched the files of an old English or Irish
newspaper office, whatever might have been the creed or politics of its
proprietors, he would soon arrive at a satisfactory solution. In the
_Irish Times_, the leading Irish paper of the day, he would find the
following reference to the present history of Ireland: "The Emigration
Commissioners notice with some surprise the fact, that, during the past
year [1867], the emigrants from Ireland were better clothed, and carried
with them better furnished kits, than either the English or foreign
emigrants. During the past year, 51,000 Irish emigrants left Liverpool
alone--a regiment nearly one thousand strong every week. The loss of
100,000 persons annually, chiefly of the labouring classes, and
generally strong, active, well-built men, affords matter for serious
consideration. If the Government be contented that 100,000 yearly of the
Irish population _should, increase the power of America_ [the italics
are our own], they have but to refuse those generous and considerate
measures which alone can keep our people at home, by giving them a
chance of progressing as they do in America."
This is the honestly avowed opinion of a Protestant paper, whose editors
are beyond all suspicion of writing to encourage "Popery," or preach
Fenianism. An admirable parliamentary comment has just occurred in the
rejection of the Protestant Church Suspension Bill by the House of
Lords, though there is no doubt that the good sense and the native
justice of the English nation will at length compel its acceptance.
The fact is, that at this moment nearly one-half the population of
America are Irish and Catholics. The writer lately quoted, cannot
refrain from a sneer at the "low Irish" in America, to whom he
attributes the "insult and injury" which he is pleased to consider that
Americans manifest to foreign nations, and especially to England; he
forgets the old sources of injury, which no American can forget; and he
forgets, also, how easily the same "low Irish" might have been prevented
from exhibiting the feeling which he attributes to them.
Let those who wish to understand the present history of Ireland, read
Mr. Maguire's _Irish in America_, carefully and thoughtfully. If they do
so, and if they are not blinded by wilful prejudices, they must admit
that the oft-repeated charges against Irishmen of being improvident and
idle are utterly groundless, unless, indeed, they can imagine that the
magic influence of a voyage across the Atlantic can change a man's
nature completely. Let them learn what the Irishman can do, and does do,
when freed from the chains of slavery, and when he is permitted to reap
some reward for his labour. Let him learn that Irishmen do not forget
wrongs; and if they do not always avenge them, that is rather from
motives of prudence, than from lack of will. Let him learn that the
Catholic priesthood are the true fathers of their people, and the true
protectors of their best interests, social and spiritual. Let him read
how the good pastor gives his life for his sheep, and counts no journey
too long or too dangerous, when even a single soul may be concerned. Let
him judge for himself of the prudence of the same priests, even as
regards the temporal affairs of their flocks, and see how, where they
are free to do so, they are the foremost to help them, even in the
attainment of worldly prosperity. Let him send for Sadlier's _Catholic
Directory for the United States and Canada_, and count over the Catholic
population of each diocese; read the names of priests and nuns, and see
how strong the Irish element is there. Nay, let him send for one of the
most popular and best written of the Protestant American serials, and he
will find an account of Catholics and the Catholic religion, which is to
be feared few English Protestants would have the honesty to write, and
few English Protestant serials the courage to publish, however strong
their convictions. The magazine to which I refer, is the _Atlantic
Monthly;_ the articles were published in the numbers for April and May,
1868, and are entitled "Our Roman Catholic Brethren." Perhaps a careful
perusal of them would, to a thoughtful mind, be the best solution of the
Irish question. The writer, though avowing himself a Protestant, and
declaring that under no circumstances whatever would he be induced to
believe in miracles, has shown, with equal candour and attractiveness,
what the Catholic Church is, and what it can do, when free and
unfettered. He shows it to be the truest and best friend of humanity; he
shows it to care most tenderly for the poor and the afflicted; and he
shows, above all, how the despised, exiled Irish are its best and truest
supports; how the "kitchen often puts the parlour to the blush;" and the
self-denial of the poor Irish girl assists not a little in erecting the
stately temples to the Almighty, which are springing up in that vast
continent from shore to shore, and are only lessened by the demands made
on the same willing workers for the poor father and mother, the young
brother or sister, who are supported in their poverty by the alms sent
them freely, generously, and constantly by the Irish servant-girl.
[Illustration: Ireland and America]
Nor have the Catholics of America overlooked the importance of literary
culture. A host of cheap books and serials are in circulation, and are
distributed largely and freely in convent schools, collegiate
establishments, and country parishes; and with a keen appreciation of
the religious necessities of the great mass of non-Catholics, of which,
unfortunately, English Catholics are oblivious, tracts are published in
thousands for general reading, and given to travellers in the railcars,
and steamboats. Nor has a higher class of literature been overlooked.
The gifted superior of the Congregation of St. Paul has been mainly
instrumental in getting up and superintending the labours of the
_Catholic Publication Society_, which, in addition to the multitude of
valuable works it has published, sends forth its monthly magazine, well
entitled _The Catholic World_, which is unquestionably the best serial
of its kind, and may vie with those conducted by the most gifted
Protestant writers of the day, while it is far superior to anything
which has as yet been published by the Catholics of this country.
Such is a brief outline, and scarcely even an outline, of the _present_
history of Ireland, in which the hearts of so many of our people are in
one country, while their bodies are in another. There is another phase
of this present history on which I could have wished to have dwelt much
longer; I mean the political union between America and Ireland. So long
as Irish emigration continues--I should rather say, so long as real
Irish grievances are permitted to continue--so long will this state of
things be dangerous to England. Justice to Ireland may be refused with
impunity just so long as there is peace between England and America; but
who shall dare predict how long that peace will continue, when, as must
assuredly happen in a few short years, the Irish in America, or their
direct descendants, shall form the preponderating class, and therefore
guide the political affairs of that mighty people?
The maps which are appended to this edition of the _Illustrated History
of Ireland_, will, it is hoped, be found not only interesting, but
important. Irishmen in America will see, by a glance at the map of
family names, the territories in Ireland formerly held by their
ancestors. Statistics showing the fearful depopulation of the country,
which, notwithstanding all the boasts of those who advocated it, has not
benefited those who remain, will be found in another map. The third map
is not less important; by that will be seen the immense preponderance of
Catholics to Protestants; and it will suggest, no doubt, to thoughtful
minds, the injustice of sacrificing the multitude to the individual few.
A few words must also be said about the two full-page illustrations
which have been added to this Edition. One of the most important events
in the life of O'Connell has been chosen for the one; and, alas! one of
the most frequent occurrences in Irish history, from the first English
invasion to the present day, has been chosen for the other. In the
engraving of O'Connell, it was impossible to preserve the likeness, as
the expression demanded by the incident could not be produced from any
of the portraits extant; with regard to the eviction scene, it is
unfortunately true to the life. Those who have read Mr. Maguire's _Irish
in America_, will recognize the special subject represented. Those who
read the Irish local papers of the day, may continually peruse accounts
of evictions; but only an eyewitness can describe the misery, and
despair of the unfortunate victims. When shall the picture be reversed?
When will Irishmen return from America, finding it possible to be as
free and as prosperous here? Finding that a man who is willing to toil
may obtain a fair remuneration for his labour, and that a man may have
the rights of men;--then, and not till then, may we hope that Irish
history will, for the future, be a record of past injustice, amply
compensated for by present equity.
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTES:
[584] _Prospered_.--This gives an average of about eight persons to each
house. There were 22,276 inhabited houses in Dublin in 1861, and the
population was 254,480. This would leave an average of eleven persons to
each house. There are only seventy-five carpenters in _Thom's
Directory_, and sixty-four cabinet makers: if we give them an average of
ten men each in their employment, it would not give more than 680 at the
trade in all.
[585] _Own_.--_History of the United States_, p. 3. Ludlow and Hughes;
Macmillan, London, 1862. The title of this work is singularly
infelicitous, for it is merely a sketchy and not very clear account of
the late war in America.
[586] _Spirit_.--_History of the United States_, p. 7.
[587] _Policy_.--Morley's _Burke_, p. 153.
[588] _Annulled_.--_Historical and Philosophical Essays_, Senior, vol.
i. p. 197.
APPENDIX.
The letter given below, which is from the pen of a distinguished
Protestant clergyman, appears to me of such importance, that I place it
here to be a permanent record for the future historian of Ireland, as an
important opinion on the present history of this country, but too well
supported by facts.
TO ISAAC BUTT, ESQ., LL.D.
My DEAR BUTT,--If every other man in the world entertained doubts
of my sincerity, you, at least, would give me credit for honesty
and just intentions. I write to you accordingly, because my mind
has been stirred to its inmost depths by the perusal of your
address in my native city of Limerick. I do not regard the subject
of your address as a political one. It ought to be regarded solely
as a question of humanity, justice, common sense, and common
honesty. I wish my lot had never been cast in rural places. As a
clergyman, I hear what neither landlords nor agents ever heard. I
see the depression of the people; their sighs and groans are before
me. They are brought so low as often to praise and glorify those
whom, in their secret hearts, are the objects of abhorrence. All
this came out gradually before me. Nor did I feel as I ought to
have felt in their behalf, until, in my own person and purse, I
became the victim of a system of tyranny which cries from earth to
heaven for relief. Were I to narrate my own story, it would startle
many of the Protestants of Ireland. There are good landlords--never
a better than the late Lord Downshire, or the living and beloved
Lord Roden. But there are too many of another state of feeling and
action. There are estates in the north where the screw is never
withdrawn from its circuitous and oppressive work. Tenant-right is
an unfortunate and delusive affair, simply because it is invariably
used to the landlord's advantage. Here we have an election in
prospect, and in many counties no farmer will be permitted to think
or act for himself. What right any one man has to demand the
surrender of another's vote I never could see. It is an act of
sheer felony--a perfect "stand-and-deliver" affair. To hear a man
slavishly and timorously, say, "I must give my vote as the landlord
wishes," is an admission that the Legislature, which bestowed the
right of voting on the tenant, should not see him robbed of his
right, or subsequently scourged or banished from house and land,
because he disregarded a landlord's nod, or the menace of a
land-agent. At no little hazard of losing the friendship of some
who are high, and good, and kind, I write as I now do.
Yours, my dear Butt, very sincerely,
THOMAS DREW.
Dundrum, Cough, co. Down, Sept. 7, 1868.
INDEX.
A.
Abbey, the Black, Kilkenny, 318.
of Mellifont, 231.
of St. Mary, 317.
of Holy Cross, 317.
of Dunbrody, 289.
of Tintern, 317.
of St. Saviour's, Dublin, 318.
of St. Thomas the Martyr, 287.
of Boyle, 316.
Abercrombie, Sir Ralph, 623.
Act of Emancipation passed, 647.
Adamnan, St., 172.
Adrian's Bull, 274.
Aedh, St., 221.
Aengus, St., 179
his Festology, 180
his Chronicle, 41.
Aengus Grove, Synod at, 227.
Aengus, King, baptism of, 123
his death, 130
ancestor of the O'Keeffes, O'Sullivans, O'Callahans, and MacCarthys, 130.
Africa, Phoenician circumnavigation of, 69.
Agrarian outrages and their causes, 613.
Agricola, 95.
Aideadh Chonchobair, legend of, 127.
Ailbhé, Princess, 105.
Ainmire, Hugh, 167.
All Hallows Eve, 88n.
Altan, St., 177.
Amalgaidh, King, and his seven sons, 123.
Amato, prelate who consecrated St. Patrick, 115.
Amlaff the Dane, 195
in Dublin, 191.
Ancient pitcher, 240.
fireplaces, 240.
shoes, 252.
brooch, 270.
boot, 251.
Andrew, St., Church of, in Henry II.'s time, 272.
Anglo-Irish and old Irish, their differences at Kilkenny, 487.
Annals of Ulster, 39
compiled by Four Masters, 51
accounts in, confirmed _ab extra_, 68
poetry from, 198
kept with great care, 233
dedication of, 53
quotations from, 58, 59, 75, 88, 90, 94, 132, 144, 198, 199, 218,
232n, 265, 283, 388, 307, 312n. 313.
of Tighernach, 48.
of Innis MacNerinn, 39.
of Innisfallen, 39.
of Boyle, 39.
of Clonmacnois, 60n.
of Loch Cé, 115.
of Ballitore, 630.
preserved by Celtic Race, 67.
Anselm, St., commends the Irish prelates, 229.
Antiquities of pre-Christian Erinn, 148.
Antwerp, Irish soldiers in, 478.
Aqua vini and aqua vitæ, 245.
Architecture of Tara, 167.
Ardmore round tower, 237.
Armagh, See of, 114
founded, 120
streets of, 187n.
Arnold on pedigree, 85n.
on history taught by verse, 86n.
Athlone, siege of, 568
castle of, 314
bridge built, 308n.
Attacotti, revolt of the, 96.
Augustinians, Order of, 316.
B.
Bachall Isu, St. Patrick's, 114
its wanton destruction, 115.
Ballitore, sufferings in, 630.
Balor of the Evil Eye, 64.
Banbha, the Lady, 43.
Banqueting hall at Tara, 160.
Baptism, ceremonies at, 229.
Baraid, a Scandinavian chief, 195.
Barbadoes, the Irish seat as slaves to, 515.
Bards of Erinn, or filés, 40.
Barretts, feud between Cusacks and, 332.
Barrington, Sir Jonah, on the last night of Irish Parliament, 639.
Barry, an Irishman, 601.
Barrys and Roches, 445.
Battle of Magh Tuireadh, 61.
of Sliabh Mis, 75.
at Taillten, 75.
between the Firbolgs and Tuatha Dé Dananns, 62.
Connor, 343.
of Géisill, 78n.
of Bealagh Mughna (Ballaghmoon), Kildare, 193.
of Dundalk, 201.
of Sulcoit, near Tipperary, 205.
of Belach-Lechta, near Macroom, co. Cork, 207.
of Glen-Mama (Glen of the Gap), near Dunlavin, 208.
of Clontarf, 214.
of Downpatrick, 325.
of Benburb, 493.
of the Boyne, 563.
of Aughrim, 570.
of the Ford of Comar, Westmeath, 160.
of Magh-Rath, 171.
of Almhain (near Kildare), 186.
of Desertcreaght, 332.
of St. Callixtus' day, 352.
of Ford of the Biscuits, 451.
Beare, O'Sullivan, his History, 534.
Beasts, the three, to be hunted, 517.
Bede's account of Ireland, 79
on Irish saints, 173.
Belgium, MSS. preserved in, 46.
Beltinne, or fire of Baal, 119
origin of, 164.
Benignus, St., St. Patrick's successor in the See of Armagh. 116.
Berchau, St., 162.
Beresford faction, 616.
Bill, curious, of a play, 547n.
Bishops, Protestant, indifferent about regular ordination, 536.
Black Death. 86.
Blefed or pestilence, 162.
Bog butter and cheese, 246.
Bohun, Humphrey de, 270.
Bonnell, his statistics, 540.
Book, a, given for a ransom, 377.
Books preserved, list of, 39, 44
list of lost, 39, 40.
Book of Chronicum Scotorum, 39.
of Laws, 40.
of Ballymote, 37.
of Leinster, 40.
of Lecain, 37
when written, 50n.
Annals of Ulster, 39.
of Innisfallen, 39.
of Boyle, 39.
of Four Masters, 51.
of Tighernach, 39.
of Inis MacNerinn, 39.
of Clonmacnois, 60n.
Speckled, 37.
Cuilmenn, 40.
Saltair of Tara, 39
when written 40.
of Uachongbhail, 39.
Cin Droma Snechta, 39
when compiled, 43.
Saltair of Cashel, 39
when compiled, 44.
Saltair of Cormac, 41.
of St. Mochta, 44.
of Cuana, 44.
of Dubhdaleithe, 44.
Saltair of Temair, 43.
Saltair-na-Rann, 41.
of Leabhar buidhe Sláine, 44.
of Leabhar na h-Uidhre, 44.
of Eochaidh O'Flannagain, 44.
of Inis an Duin, 44.
Short, of St. Buithe's Monastery, 44.
of Flann of St. Buithe's Monastery, 44.
of Flann of Dungeimhin (Dungiven, co. Derry), 44.
of Dun da Leth Ghlas (Downpatrick), 44.
of Doiré (Derry), 44.
of Sabhall Phatraic (co. Down), 44.
of Uachongbhail (Navan), 44.
Leabhar dubh Molaga, 44.
Leabhar buidhe Moling, 44.
Leabhar buidhe Mhic Murchadha, 44.
Leabhar Arda Macha. 44.
Leabhar ruadh Mhic Aedhagain, 44.
Leabhar breac Mhic Aedhagain, 44.
of O'Scoba of Cluain Mhic Nois (or Clonmacnois), 44.
of Leabhar fada Leithghlinne, 44.
Book of Invasions, 54.
of Duil Droma Ceata, 44
of Clonsost, (Queen's county), 44.
of Trias Thaumaturgas, 52.
of Hispania Illustrata, 70,
of Acaill, 104.
of Armagh, 109.
of Rights, 253n.
Boromean Tribute, the origin of, 98
remitted, 185.
Boulter, Dr., 581.
Bran Dubh, bravery and stratagem of, 168.
Bravery of the Dalcassians, 218.
Breas, the warrior, 62.
Brehon laws, 147
by whom compiled, 144.
Brendan, St. and his voyages, 169.
Brian Boroimhé, 205
avenges the death of Mahoun, 207
deposes Malachy, 209
his wife, 211
his death, 217
romantic ballad of the lady, 209
originator of surnames, 210n.
Brigid, St., her birthplace, 131.
Briton, origin of name, 60.
Brodir, the apostate Dane, 212
kills Brian Boroimhé, 217.
Browne, Dr., 395.
Bruce, invasion of, 350.
Bruce's, Edward, campaign, 342
his death, 345.
Brunehalt, Queen, 173.
Burke, MacWilliam, 299
head of the Burke family in Ireland, 299.
Burke, MacWilliam, 326
wars of, with the FitzGeralds, 326
defeat of, by O'Connor, 328.
Burke, celebrated statesman of 18th century, 593
his school days, 594
his hatred of oppression, 595
his marriage, 596
becomes secretary, 597
his maiden speech, 598
on Indian policy, 604.
Burkes and Geraldines, 333.
Burgat, Dr., his Brevis Relatio, 518n.
Burgo, Richard de, 309.
Burnt Njal, quotations from, 217.
Butlers, the, their history, 354.
C.
Cæsar, his accounts of the Druids, 138.
Cairbré, Satire of, 63.
Cairbré, Cinn-Cait, 97.
Cairbrés, the three, 102.
Caligraphy, Irish skilled in, 185.
Callaghan of Cashel, 196.
Cambridge, treatise on origin of, 71.
Camden on Ogygia, 72.
Cannibalism, charge of, refuted, 74.
Cannon-balls first used, 381n.
Canons, St. Patrick's, 117.
Carew's, Sir P., claim, 428.
Carhampton, Lord, cruelties of, 617n.
Carmelite monasteries, 323.
Cashel, the Saltair of, 44.
the Synod of, 275.
massacre at, 496.
Castlehaven Memoirs, 482n.
Casts for celts, 246.
Cataldus, St., 178.
Catalogue of lost books, 44.
Cathair Crofinn, a circular fort, 165.
Cathal Carragh, 296.
Cathal Crovderg, 296.
Catholic Emancipation, 647.
worship publicly restored, 411,
Association, 583.
priests, their peculiar position and difficulties, 586.
question, a ministerial difficulty, 639.
delegates met in Dublin, 615.
Catholics, Orangemen bribed to persecute, 616n
penal laws against, 576.
Cauldrons as tribute, 241.
Cavalry, 309n.
Ceann Cruach, great ancient idol of the Irish, 121.
Ceasair, taking of Erinn by, 54
landing in Ireland of, 57.
Celedabhaill, his quatrains, 198.
Celestine, Pope, sends St. Patrick to Ireland, 115.
Celsus, St., 227
when buried, 227.
Celtic language, antiquity of, 147
remains of, 46.
Celtic literature, 37.
Celtic and Roman history, 81.
Celts, description of, 160.
Chariots used in Ireland, 167.
Charlemont, Earl of, his life, 607.
Charles I., reign of, 473
his "faith," 475.
Charles II., reign of, 520
his treatment of the loyalists, 521.
Chesterfield and Adam Smith on Ireland, 603.
Chichester, Sir John, 580.
Chichester's Parliament, 471.
Chieftains, Irish, 303.
Child, interment of a, 157n.
Christ, the age of, 94.
Christian missions, 108.
Christianity, introduction of, 112.
Chronicle of Cormac MacCullinan, 41.
of Aengus Ceilé Dé, 41.
of Richard of Cirencester, 139.
Chronicum Scotorum, 58
compiled by, 50
account in, 57
on Partholan's landing in Ireland, 58.
Chronology, difficulties of, 44
Irish, 80.
Cin Droma Snechta, 39
quotations from, 43
on Irish immigration, 58.
Circular forts, 165.
Cistercians, Order of, 316.
Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, 155.
Clanrickarde, Earl of, 356.
Clare, Lord, on Irish cultivation, 638.
Clare election, the, 649.
Clarence, Duke of, 371.
Clergy, state of the Catholic, in the reign of Elizabeth, 426.
Clonmacnois, the Annals of, 60n.
Clubs in the seventeenth century, 545
Clynn, the annalist, 319.
Cobhthach Cael, 90.
Codex, containing Venerable Bede's works, 47.
Coigley, Father, arrested and hanged, 624.
Colgan, his labours, 52
mention of, 534.
College of Physicians, establishment of, in Dublin, 543.
Colleges, continental, established for Irish students, 535.
Colonists--Scythians, Greeks, 68.
Colonization, proofs of our early, 55
the last, 75.
Columba, St., and the Bards, 168.
Columbanus, St., his rule, 173
on papal supremacy, 176.
Commercial status of Irish towns, 540.
Comyn, John, Archbishop of Dublin, 291
his imprisonment, 295.
Conchessa, 112.
Confessions, St. Patrick's, 113.
Conairé II., 103
collects laws, 104.
Conn of the Hundred Battles, 101.
Conn's half of Ireland, 102.
Connaught, ancient, 64
massacre in, 297
three claimants for, 307
rising of the men, 323
plantation of, 475.
Conor Mac Nessa, legend of, 127
death of, 128.
Controversy, theological, of the "Three Chapters," 175.
Cooke, Mr., publishes a pamphlet, 631.
Coote's cruelties, 482.
Cork Militia, cruelties of the, 626.
Cormac, author of Saltair of Tara, 104.
Council at Tara, 172.
Courcy, John de, in Ulster, 286
his valour, 286
his defeat in Antrim, 288
his death. 298.
Craftiné, the poet, 91.
Crannoges, 159.
Cranmer, Archbishop, 410.
Cremation not usual in Erinn, 155.
Crom Chonaill, the, 162.
Cromlechs, 155
in the Phoenix Park, 161.
Cromwell arrives in Ireland, 500
marches to Drogheda, 500
massacre at Drogheda. 501
letters, 502
his cruelties, 503
brutality of his soldiers, 503
his massacre at Wexford, 503.
Cromwellian settlement in Ireland, 512n.
Crovderg, Hugh, 307
his death, 308.
Cruelties of English officers, 417.
Crystède, his account of Ireland, 363.
Cuilmenn, the, 40.
Culdees, the, 182
question on the 179n.
Curia Regis, held at Lismore, 273.
Curragh of Kildare, 255.
Curran, his life, 606.
Cusack, Sir Thomas. 409
favours O'Neill, 421.
Custom-house built, 638.
D.
Dá Derga, destruction of the court of, 91.
Dagges, 413n.
Dalriada, the Irish, 131.
Danes, Malachy's exploits against the, 207
in Ireland, 204
cruelties of the, 190
divided into Black and White Gentiles, 191
found sea-port towns, 200
supposed conversion of, 204
pipes, 241
the Dalcassians fight the, 205.
Danish fortress in Dublin, 278n
the first invasion, 188
attempted second invasion, 224
pirates, first raid of the, 188
valour, battle of Clontarf, 215.
Dante, 385.
D'Alton on the Round Towers, 163
on History, Religion, &c., of Ancient Ireland, 68n.
Dathi, 107.
Defective Titles, Commission of, 475.
Derry, siege of, 558.
Dervorgil, the Lady, 234.
Desmond, Earls of, their ancestors and descendants, 282n.
Castle, 221.
Earl of, his witty reply, 384.
Destruction of the idols, 121.
Details of the atrocities of the military, 621.
Diarmaid, Princess, pursuit of, 106.
Diarmaid's reign, misfortunes of, 167.
Dicho, St. Patrick's first convert, 116.
Dinnseanchus, a topographical work, 164.
Dog, story of a faithful, 571.
Domhnach, Gaedhilic term for Sunday, 121.
Domhnach Airgid, 134n.
Dominican Order in Ireland, 318.
Donatus, St., 178.
Doneraile Conspiracy, 643.
Dowdall, Dr., opposition of, 410.
Downpatrick, battle of, 325.
Drapier's Letters, the, 581.
Dress of the poorer classes in Ireland in seventeenth century, 552.
Drink of the ancient Irish, 243.
Drinking vessels of different kinds, 243.
Druids and their teaching, 137.
Drumceat, first convention held at, 167.
Drury, his cruelties, 443
his death, 443
Dubhdaleithe, Book of, 44.
Dublin in the seventeenth century, 544.
Dublin, fashionable and prosperous, 638.
Dubtach salutes St. Patrick at Tara, 121.
Duke of Clarence, Viceroy, 371.
Duke of York, viceroyalty of, 375.
Dunboy, siege of, 460.
Duncheadh, St., 221.
Dundalk, battle of, 201.
E.
Early missionaries. 108.
Eber, 84.
Ecclesiastics, cruelties practised on, 452.
Ecclesiastical property, confiscation of, 403.
Edward I., reign of, 329.
Elizabeth, Queen, accession of, 412
martyrs in the reign of, 416.
Emania, Palace of, 89.
Embargo laws, 578.
Emmet's career, 640.
Enda, St., 169.
English, invasion of the, 257.
come to Ireland for instruction, 178.
quarrels of, barons, 300.
law refused to Ireland, 362.
writers, mistakes of, 361.
schism, real cause of, 394.
Irish emigrants defeat the, 584.
Enniskilleners, cruelties of the, 559.
Eras, three, in Irish history, 387.
Eremon, reign of, 77
his death, 78
families descended from, 84.
Eric, or compensation for murder, 146.
Erinn, St. Patrick's mission to, 112.
ancient chronicles of, 48n.
pre-Noahacian colonization of, 55.
takings of, 57.
early geographical accounts of, 72.
social accounts of, 73.
ancient laws of, 144.
religion of, 137.
customs of, 139.
language of, 147.
antiquities of, 153.
five great roads of ancient, 101.
Essex, Earl of, tries to colonize Ulster, 432
his interview with O'Neill, 456
his death, 433.
Ethnea, Princess, 123.
Eva, her marriage with Strongbow, 264.
Exchequer of the King of England in Dublin, fourteenth century, 339.
Exiled Irishmen, 478.
F.
Fairs, Irish, seventeenth century, 538.
Falkland, Lord, suspected of favouring the Catholics, 473.
Fauna, description of, 253.
Fené-men, the, 42n.
Fenian poems and tales, 87
ascribed to, 105.
Fes, or triennial assembly, 163.
Fethlimia, Princess, 122.
Fiacc's Hymn, Scholiast on, 111.
Fidh Aengussa, the Synod of, 227.
Fifth taking of Ireland, 62,
Fiacre, St., 177.
Finnachta Fleadhach, the Hospitable, 171.
Finnen, St., 162,
Fintan, son of Bochra, the Irish historian, 40.
Firbolg chiefs, division of Ireland by, 60
battles of, 62.
Fish in Ireland, 80n
anecdote on, 72n.
FitzAldelm, his viceroyalty, 285
his death, 299.
FitzGerald, war between De Burgo and, 326.
FitzGerald, war between De Vesci and, 333.
FitzGerald, Lord Edward, joins the United Irishmen, 618
arrest of, 624
his death, 624.
Fithil, the poet, 40.
FitzMaurice obtains foreign aid, 441
his death, 443.
FitzStephen, 260.
FitzWilliam, Earl, viceroyalty, of 616.
Flahertach, Abbot, and King of Munster, 194
Flann, his Synchronisms, 49
synchronizes the chiefs and monarchs with the kings of Erinn, 50.
Flann, King, his reign, 192.
Flint used to make weapons of defence, 160.
Flood, his life, 607.
Flora, description of, 253.
Foillan, St., 177.
Fomorians, the, 60-64.
Food of the ancient Irish, 241
of poorer classes in seventeenth century, 553.
Ford of the Biscuits, battle of, 451.
Fothadh of the Canons, 180.
Franciscan Order in Ireland, 319
their patriotism, 344
their convents, 312
remarkable spring, 319
persecution of, 474.
Friars Preachers, Order of, 318.
Fridolin, St., 178.
Froude's History of England,
quotations from his account of the English clergy, 440.
Fursey, St., 177.
G.
Gall, St., 177.
Galls, description of, 187n.
Gallic Church, labours of the Irish in 177.
Gaul, the Celts of, 73.
Irish saints venerated in, 183.
Géisill, battle of, 78n.
Genealogies, differences between, and pedigrees, 80-82.
Milesian, 79.
peculiar historical value of, 80.
and pedigrees, 51.
General Assembly at Kilkenny, 485.
Geographical accounts of Ireland, 72
George I., 582.
Geraldines, rising of, 1534, 390
ancestor of the, 333
their wars, 334
defeated at Kenmare, 325.
Germanus, St., his Canons, 117.
Gertrude, St., daughter of King Pepin, 177.
Gherardini, letter from the, 384.
Gilla Caemhain, an Irish writer, 49
gives annals of all times, 49.
Ginkell, General, 568.
Glundubh, Nial, lamentation for, 196.
Gold ornaments, 157.
Goldsmith, his life, 609.
Gordon's, Mr., account of the atrocities of the military, 628, 629.
Gormgal, St., 221.
Gormflaith, Brian Boroimhé's wife, 210.
Gospels, the, used by St. Patrick, 134.
Graces, the, 474.
Grammatica Celtica, 46.
Granard and Staigue, 237.
Grattan's demand for Irish independence, 590
his life, 607
entrance into the Imperial Parliament, 640.
Grainné, pursuit of, and Diarmaid, 106.
Greeks said to have visited Ireland, 139.
Grey, Lord, desecrates churches, 133.
Grey, John de, 301.
Guaire, his hostility to St. Columba, 167.
H.
Harp, when first used as an emblem, 249.
Haverty's History of Ireland, 221n.
Henry II. lands in Ireland, 270
produces the Bull, 274
makes his son Lord of Ireland, 287
holds a synod at Cashel, 273
his palace, 272
Henry IV., his reign, 368
his death, 294.
Henry V., 369.
Henry VI., Wars of the Roses, 371.
Henry VII., 379.
Henry VIII., 387
persecutions during the reign of, 401
Dr. Browne's letter to, 399.
Herodotus, quotations from, 69.
Hibernia, the first buried in, 57.
Himantiliginos, game of, 141.
Himerus and Iberus, 70.
Hispania Illustrata, 70.
Historians of Erinn, 40.
Historians of the seventeenth century, 531.
Historic Tales, 86.
Historical value of genealogies, 80, 87.
History, Ecclesiastical, 227.
History of the Exile, 91.
Hoggen's Butt, and Le Hogges, 272.
Holy wells not superstitious, 143.
Honorius III., 305.
Howth family founded, 298n.
Hua Alta, race of, 125.
Hy-Figeinte (Munster), 125.
Hy-Kinsallagh (co. Carlow), 125.
Hymn of St. Fiacc, 117.
of St. Patrick, 120.
Hy-Nials, contention between the, 223
palace of, 224
the northern, 192
divided into two clans, 204.
I
Idols, worship of, 88.
Immoralities of the reformed clergy, 404.
Imperial standard, 639.
Inchiquin, 488
massacre at Cashel by, 496.
Innocent I., 100.
Innocent X., 490.
Insult to the Irish peeresses, 608.
Insurrection in Wexford, 626.
in Ulster, 629.
Ireland, climate of, 80,
colonization of, 57.
article on, in Rees' Cyclopædia, 67.
last colonization of, 75.
ancient laws of, 144.
antiquarian remains in, 153.
first mill in, 165.
fauna and flora of, 253.
literary ladies in, 374.
persecutions in, 388.
Ireland, ecclesiastical property forfeited in, 403.
plantations attempted in, 429, 432.
social life in, seventeenth century, 529.
before the Union, and after, 637.
early geographical account of, 72.
early social account of, 73.
Bede's account of, 79.
the Romans feared to invade, 95.
Saxon invasion of, 185.
first Danish invasion of, 188
second invasion, 224.
the circuit of, 197.
Murtough's circuit of, 224.
Spenser's account of, 439.
division of, by the Firbolg chiefs, 60.
receives the faith generously, 111.
given the name of Hibernia, 70.
the first writer who names, 71.
called Iernis, 71.
Ireton's cruelties and miserable death, 507.
Irish genealogies, their rise, 85.
keen, 141.
painters, 608.
musicians, 608.
MSS., 45.
authors, 608.
actors, 608.
missionaries, 173.
missionary saints, 178.
poetry, 180.
poets, 605.
bishops at the Council of Lateran, 289.
war-cries forbidden, 383.
pedigrees, their importance, 81.
people transplanted as slaves to Barbadoes, 514.
chronology compared with Roman, 81.
schools and scholars, 183.
alphabet, 152.
butter and cheese, 246.
fireplace, 247.
clothing, 250.
priests, their devotion to the people, 587.
communications with Rome, 490.
old, the, and the new English, 491.
priests, their peculiar position, 586.
history, materials for, 39.
martyr, the first, 125.
saints, 167.
religious, 221.
Irish king sent to the Isle of Man, 225.
Rinuccini's account of the, 491.
Catholic landowners, injustice towards, 509.
Brigade, formation of, 574.
Irishmen, celebrated, of the eighteenth century, 592,
Iron Duke, 639.
Island Magee, massacre of, 481.
Ita, St. 169.
J.
Jackson, Rev. William, his miserable death, 616.
James I., his reign, 463.
James II., his reign, 555
arrival in Ireland, 557.
Japhet, Milesians descended from, 84.
Jerome's, St., statement on Ireland, 74.
John of the Shamrocks, 434.
John, Prince, receives title of King of Ireland, 287
his visit to Ireland, 292
second visit to Ireland, 302
succeeds to the English crown, 296
starves a bishop to death, 301
letter of Innocent III. to, 295
death, 304.
Josephus, 68.
Judgment of a king, 103.
K.
Kadlubeck, historian of Poland, 48.
Keating, the historian, 531.
on Erinn, 43n.
quotations from, on the division of Ireland, 60.
on descent from the Scythians, 68.
on the battle of Bealagh Mughna, 193.
books referred to by, 45.
on colour, as a distinction of rank, 89n.
on battle of Dundalk, 203.
burial-place, 532.
inscription in honour of, 533.
Kennedy, Prince of Munster, 202.
Kildare, Earl of, and Henry VII., 384.
accused of treason, 384.
last Catholic Earl of, 387.
letter of, 388.
Kildare, Monastery of, 132.
Kilian, St., 177.
Kincora, Brian's "Happy Family" at, 209
destruction of, 226.
Knights of the Royal Branch, 125.
Kunrann the poet, 187.
L.
Lacy, De, made Viceroy of Ireland, 289
endeavours to become King of Ireland, 291
cruel death, 293
family become extinct, 311.
Lady physicians, 66.
Laeghairé, King, holds a pagan festival, 119
receives St. Patrick at Tara, 120
his oath, 129
his death, 129
his burial, 129n.
Lammas-day, 164.
Landing of the Picts, 79.
of Partholan, 58.
of Ceasair, 57.
Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, 228.
Langton, Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, 301.
Language of ancient Erinn, 147
writing in pre-Christian Erinn, 148
Ogham writing, 150.
Laws, the Brehon code of, 144
its peculiarities, 145.
of the Innocents, 172.
of succession, 146.
of ancient Erinn, 144.
Leix, St. Patrick's visit to, 124
cruelties of the deputy of, 417.
Lewis, Sir G.C., 85n.
Lhind, quotations from, 95n.
Lia Fail, 76
or Stone of Destiny, 165
mention of, 165.
Life, social, previous to the English invasion, 237.
Limerick, siege of, by Ireton. 506
by William of Orange, 566
by Ginkell, 571.
Linen trade, 251, 540.
Literary ladies in Ireland, 374
Literary men of the seventeenth century, 531.
Livin, St., 178.
Londres, Henry de, made Governor of Ireland, 306
surnamed Scorch Villain, 306.
Louvain collection, 46
friars, 52.
Loyola, St. Ignatius, 120n.
Lucas, his life, 607.
M.
Macaille, St., 131.
MacArt's, Cormac, Saltair. 40
his reign, 103
his death, 105.
Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome, 247n.
Maccallin, St., 221.
MacCarthy, King of Desmond, 229.
MacCarthy More murdered at Tralee, 357.
MacCullinan, Cormac, priest and king, 192
his reign, 193
his death, 193n.
MacCumhaill, Finn, 105
his courtship with the Princess Ailbhé, 105.
MacFirbis, quotations from, 54, 58
his book on pedigrees, 85
his pedigrees of the ancient Irish and Anglo-Norman families, 50
murdered, 51.
MacGilluire, Coarb of St. Patrick, 315.
MacLiag, the poet, 210n.
MacMurrough, Dermod, King of Leinster, 233
attends synod at Mellifont, 234
his interview with Henry II., 258
Henry grants him letters-patent, 259
his death, 266.
MacMurrough, Art, 367
his death, 370.
MacNally, advocate of the United Irishmen, 618.
Macutenius on St. Patrick's Canons, 118.
Maelmuire, "servant of Mary," 227n.
Maelruain, St., of Tallaght, 179.
Magna Charta, 305.
Magog and his colony, 68
his descendants, 84.
Magrath, Miler, the apostate, 78.
Mahoun, brother to Brian, 204
is murdered, 206.
Mailduf, St., 178.
Malachy, St., 229
visits Rome, 231
death of, 231.
Malachy II., 198
exploits against the Danes, 208
wins his "collar of gold," 208
Brian deposes, 209
his death, 218.
Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece, 141.
Marco Polo, 46.
Marisco, De, his treachery, 311
his death, 312.
Mary, Queen, 410.
Massacre of a prelate, priest, and friars, 402
of a bishop, 466
at Wexford-bridge, 628
at Cashel, 496
at Wexford, 503
of three priests, 445
of three Franciscans, 453
at Drogheda, 501
at Mullamast, 438
at Fort del Ore, 444
at Scullabogue House, 627.
Mellifont, Abbey of, 231
Synod at, 231
founded, 317.
Meloughlin, King of Meath, 191.
Metalogicus, the, of John of Salisbury, 275n.
Milcho, St. Patrick's master in captivity, 116.
Milesian genealogies, 84, 88.
Milesians, landing of the, 75
they conquer, 77.
Milford Haven, 292.
Milidh, fleet of the sons of, entrance into Ireland, 75.
Mississippi Scheme, 584.
Mochta, St., 151.
Moira, Lord, exposes the cruelty of the yeomanry, 619.
Moling, St., 109.
Monastery of Kildare, St. Brigid's, 132.
Kilcrea, 321.
of Bobbio, 176.
of Timoleague, 321,
of Tallaght, 179.
of St. Columbkille, 293.
of Cluain Eidhneach, 179.
of Donegal, 321
desolation and plunder of, 189.
of Clonbroney, 188n.
of St. Columba, 230, 234.
of Ibrach (Ivragh), Kerry, 230.
of Lismore, 226.
of St. Kevin, 235.
of Dunbrody, 289.
of St. Peter's of Lemene, near Chambery, 381.
of Clonfert, 170.
of Mellifont, 234.
of Clonmacnois, 221.
Irrelagh (Muckross), 322.
Clonmel, 322.
Drogheda, 322.
Cill-Achaidh, 374.
Montgomery, 584.
Montmarisco, 237
becomes a monk, 289
Monroe, 493.
Monroe, Henry, 629.
Moore, his History, 37
his partiality for Malachy, 209
on religion, 111
his life, 605.
Morann the good, and his collar of gold, 97.
MSS. preserved in Trinity College, 44.
of ancient Irish history, 39n.
Celtic, preserved in Belgium, 45.
Continental, 45n.
in British Museum, 46.
Stowe collection of, 45n.
MSS., Latin, 46.
Loftus, 415.
Burgundian, 46.
legendary and historical, of Irish history, 39.
Muckross Abbey, 322.
Muircheartach, first Christian king of Ireland, 131.
Muircheartach, his circuit of Ireland, 197
killed by Blacaire, 197.
Murphy, Father, killed, 628.
Murrough's game of chess, 211.
Murtough of the Leathern Cloaks, 196.
N.
Neamhnach, the well, 164.
Napier's, Lady, letter respecting the tenantry of Duke of Leinster, 623.
Nathi, King, 116.
National joy at the restoration of Catholic worship, 464.
Nemedh, arrival of, 59.
Nemenians, emigration of, 60, 62.
Nemthur, St. Patrick's birthplace, 110.
Nennius, 69.
Nesta, her beauty and infamy, 259.
Nestor, 48.
Netterville, John, Archbishop of Armagh, 318.
Newspapers in seventeenth century, 545.
Newtownbutler, engagement at, 595.
Nial of the Nine Hostages, 106.
Nial Black Knee, 194.
Nicholas, St., College of, 51.
Niebuhr, his theory of history, 82.
on the story of Tarpeia, 82n.
on learning by verse, 86.
Noah, genealogies from, 58.
Normans, their arrival in Ireland, 257.
their luxurious habits, 272.
Cambrensis' account of them, 277.
the, ridicule the Irish nobles, 293.
feuds of the, in Ireland, 300.
their treachery, 311.
Viceroys, 285.
Nuada of the Silver Hand, 61
his privy council, 64.
Numa Pompilius, 89.
O.
O'Brien, Turlough, Monarch of Ireland, 222
his death, 223.
O'Brien, Donnell, King of Thomond, 271.
O'Briens, from whom descended, 84.
O'Clery, Michael, one of the Four Masters, 52
his literary labours and piety, 54
his first work, Trias Thaumaturgas, 52
rewrote the Book of Invasions, 54
patronized by Fearghal O'Gara, 53.
O'Connell, Daniel, in the House of Parliament, 647
obtains Catholic Emancipation, 647
represented Ireland, 641
his life, 642
his maiden speech, 643
Doneraile Conspiracy, 643.
O'Curry, when Moore visited, 37
his opinion of early Irish civilization, 104
his labours, 38
on Erinn, 48n
on Keating's statement of Irish descent, 68
on Cormac's writings, 104n
on the Bachall Isu, 115
on Brehon Laws, 145
on Irish saints, 178
on musical instruments, 250
on Irish martyrs, 416.
O'Connor, Hugh, 308.
Felim, 309, 313.
of Offaly, 339.
Roderic, 235.
expelled from Offaly, 408
returns to Ireland, 411.
Margaret, a literary lady, 374.
Nuala, 321
establishes the monastery of Franciscans at Donegal, 321
her death, 322.
Arthur, 624.
O'Connor Faly, Margaret, visits England, 411.
O'Daly, the poet, 303.
O'Donnell, Hugh, entertainment of, at Windsor, 387.
O'Donnell, Hugh Roe, his treacherous capture, 447
leaves Ireland, 459.
O'Donnell More, died at Assaroe, 313.
O'Donovan, Dr., quotations from, on Brehon laws, 144.
Odran, St., 147.
O'Duffy, Catholicus, 304.
O'Duffy, Donnell, 233.
O'Flaherty, his Chronology, 81.
Ogham writing, 149.
Oghma, Danann prince, invented the writing called Ogham Craove, 76.
Ogygia of the Greeks, 72.
Ogygia, account in, of ancient writings, 148n.
O'Hagan, the Abbot Imar, 229.
O'Hartigan, Kenneth, 221.
O'Hurly, Dr., 453.
Ollamh Fodhla, 89.
Ollamh, office and qualifications of a, 83, 86.
O'Loughlin, Donnell, 226.
O'Loughlins of Tyrone, 231.
O'More, Rory Oge, 437
Roger, 480.
O'Neill, Donough, 207
O'Neill, Shane, 409
feared by the English, 418
attempts to poison him, 419
Lord Chancellor Cusack persuades him to forget the poisoning, 420
he is killed treacherously, 422.
O'Neill, Hugh, marriage of, 450
his insurrection, 454
defeats Bagnal, 455
his interview with Essex, 456
attempts to assassinate him, 458
his power decreases, 461
plot to entrap him, 468
his flight and death in Rome, 469.
O'Neill, Sir Phelim, 480
marches against Monroe, 493.
O'Neill, Owen Roe, 480.
O'Neill, Hugh Boy, slain in 1283, 332.
O'Neill, Donnell, 198,
Ormonde, the Duke of. 483
his intrigues, 492.
Orpheus, first writer who mention Ireland, 71.
Orr, Mr., his trial and death, 620.
O'Toole, St. Laurence, Archbishop of Dublin, 234
his genealogy, 235
Abbot of St. Kevin's monastery, at Glendalough, 235
his patriotism, 267
his journey to France, 290
sent as ambassador to Henry II., 281
his death, 290.
Oirdnidhe, Hugh, the legislator, 179.
P.
Palatines, the, 580.
Palladius, St., mission of, 109.
Palliums, 231.
Partholan, landing of, 58.
Partholyan, English traditions of, 71.
Patrick, St., his birthplace, 112
visits Tara, 120
his successful preaching, 123
relic of his hand, 134
his copy of the Gospels, 134
his burial-place, 133
devotion of his servant, 125
his death, 126
his vision, 113
his prayer for Ireland, 135
destruction of the idols, 121
his Hymn, 120
his captivity, 113.
Peep-o'-Day Boys and Defenders, 613.
Pelasgian remains, 158.
Pembroke, Earl of, plots against, 311.
Penal Laws, enactment of, 576.
Perrot, Sir John, 417.
Petrie, Dr., quotations from, on Brehon laws, 115.
Petty, Sir William, 541.
Philosophical Society, the Dublin, 546.
Phoenician colonization of Spain, 70
circumnavigation of Africa, 69.
Physicians, establishment of their college in Dublin, 543
Picts, landing of the, 79.
Pitt, William, 613.
Plantation of Connaught, 510
of Ulster, 469.
Plowden's account of the atrocities of the military, 602.
Plunkett, Dr., his trial and execution, 528.
Plunkett, Lord, in parliament, 640.
Poyning's Parliament, 379
law, and its effects, 382.
Presentation Order, 593n.
Priests, cruel massacre of, 496
their efforts to save Protestants, 483.
Protestant Church, state of, 425.
Q.
Quipus used as a register by the Indians, 150.
R.
Raith Beóthaigh (Rath Beagh), an ancient burial-place, 78.
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 439.
Rath at Leighlin, 200
of the Synods, 165.
Reformation, attempts to introduce the, 415.
Reformed clergy, preaching of, 405.
Religious houses and their founders, 316.
Remonstrance to the Holy See, 341.
Reports on the state of Ireland, 648
Richard I., accession of, 294.
Richard II., visits Ireland, 365.
Rinuccini, 489n
lands at Kenmare, 490
reception in Kilkenny, 491
returns to Italy, 497.
Rock of Cashel, 193.
Rodanus, St., 162.
Romantic Tales, 91.
Rose Tavern, 544.
Rotundo built, 638.
Round Tower controversy, 153.
Rowan, A. Hamilton, 615
Rufus, William, boast of, 257.
S.
Sacramental test, 579.
Saltair of Temair, 41.
na-Rann, 41.
of Cashel, 44.
of Cormac, 41.
San José, arrival of, 443.
Saviour's, St., Dublin, 318.
Schomberg's camp, disease in, 560.
Scots, 69.
Scraball, 164.
Scythian colonists, 68
Irish claim descent from, 65.
Seanchaidhé, poet, 83n.
Seanchus Mor, language of, 145
translator of, 145.
Sedulus, St., 178.
Segetius, priest, 115.
Senchan Torpéist, 40.
Severe winters and pestilences in Ireland, 223.
Sheehy, Father Nicholas, judicial murder of, 589.
Sheridan, his life, 608.
Shrines of the three saints, 133.
Sidney's official account of Ireland, 423
his interview with Granuaile, 434.
Silken Thomas, his rebellion, 391
his execution, 392.
Silver shields, 89.
Simnel crowned in Dublin, 380.
Simon, Rabbi, 68.
Sitric arrival of, 195
treachery of, 201.
Smith, Adam, on Ireland, 603.
Smithfield, origin of the name, 241n.
South Sea Bubble, 581.
Spenser's Castle, 423
grandson, 513
description of Irish misery, 439.
Sreng, warrior, 62.
Statements in our annals confirmed by a Jewish writer, 68.
Statute of Kilkenny and its effects, 359.
Stierman, 48.
Sterne, Dr., 544.
Strafford, Earl of, 77.
Strongbow, Earl of Clare, arrives in Ireland, 263
genealogy, 263
marriage of, and Eva, 264
proclaims himself king of Leinster, 266
returns to England. 268
death of, 282
his seal, 284.
Succession, law of, 146.
Superstitions, Irish, 142.
Swan, Major, 624.
Swift, Dean, 581
his writings, 581
his life, 607.
Swords and chariots of ancient Ireland, 167.
T.
Tacitus, 95.
Táin bó Chuailgné, the expedition of, 92
the story of, 93.
Talbot, Archbishop, 525.
Tanaiste, 147.
Tandy, Napper, 612.
Tara, account of ancient, 163
site of, 41
cursing of, 162.
Taverns and coffee-houses, 544.
Theatre, the first, in Dublin, 547.
Thomas, St., of Canterbury, 266.
Thompson, Charles, Secretary of Congress, 601.
Threnodia Hiberno-Catholica, 511.
Tighernach's Annals, 49
uses the dominical letter, 49
mentions the lunar cycle, 49
quotes historical writers, 49
his home, 48.
Tighearnmas, 88.
Timoleague, Monastery of, 321.
Tithes introduced into Ireland, 232.
Tom the Devil, 622.
Tone, Theobald Wolfe, 614.
Tradition, its use in history, 40.
Trias Thaumaturgas, 52.
Trinity College, foundation of, 462.
Tuatha Dé Dananns, fifth taking of Ireland by, 61
their skill as artificers, 61
battles of, 62, 75
dynasty passed away, 76.
Tuathal, reign of, 98.
Tuite, Richard (the great baron), 333.
Turgesius the Dane, 189.
Tussach, St, 126.
U.
Ugainé Mor, reign of, 90.
Ultan, St., 171.
Union, the, 632.
United Irishmen, the, 618.
Usher, Archbishop, 534
his indifference about orders, 536
on St. Patrick's Canons, 117
as an historian, 534.
Usher's Island, 318n.
V.
Veto, the, 643.
Victorious, 113n.
Vinegar Hill, the battle of, 627.
Volunteers, the, 591.
Virgilius, St., 178.
Vivian, Cardinal, 286
entombs the relics of the three saints anew, 294.
W.
Warbeck's plot, 381.
Ware, 415.
Ward, Father, 52.
Waterford rugs, 539.
Wellesley, Chief Secretary, 640.
Wesley, John, his remark about Moira House, 318n.
Wheat planted early, 243.
White and Black Gentiles, 191.
Whiteboys, the, 584.
Wilde, Sir W., 79n.
Wives purchased in Erinn, 43
exchanged, 229.
Words and Places, 58n.
Wood's halfpence, 581.
Wren, veneration for the, 140.
Y.
Yeomanry, fearful cruelties of the, 630.
York, house of, 371
Duke of, made Viceroy, 375.
Yorkists, popularity in Ireland, 376.
insurrection of the, 378.
Youghal, foundation of Convent of, 318
College of, 378
burned down, 443.
Young's remedy for Irish disaffection, 585.
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