"<&. ^'43
IRELAND AND ^^EOPLE
A LIBRARY OF IRISl^ ^^-^Y
TOGETHER WITH A
POPULAR HISTORY of ANCIENT ajcd .k.
TO WHICH IS ADUEV A
APPENDIX OF COPIOUS NOTES >
SUPPLEMENTED WfKH
op>i''itypaT'u^yn/iiQH5viT.^
A DICTIONARY OF PKOVER IS'X^KTr ! E-f THTSH^ir ^ ^C- >JY,
(iii.VEALOGY, ETC., EMBRA ■•-
'< ..KIES OF LEGEND,
WITH NUMEROUS U
PRHPAV
THOS .iSill^D
K COMPANY
rHJC CAvSTLK ol' l.l.M. :<1L K
IRELAND AND HER PEOPLE
A LIBRARY OF IRISH BIOGRAPHY
TOGETHER WITH A
POPULAR HISTORY of ANCIKNT and MODERN ERIN
TO WHICH IS ADDED AN
APPENDIX OF COPIOUS NOTES AND USEFUL TABLES
SUPPLEMENTED WITH
A DICTIONARY OP PROPER NAMES IN IRISH MYTHOLOGY, GEOGRAPHY,
GENEALOGY, ETC., EMBRACING A PERIOD OF FORTY CEN-
TURIES OF LEGEND, TRADITION AND HISTORY;
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS.
PREPARED AND EDITED BY
THOS. W. H. FITZGERALD
VOLUME IV
FITZGERALD BOOK COMPANY
CHICAGO
Copyright, 1910, by
FITZGERALD BOOK COMPANY
4256;:
POPULAR HISTORY
OF
IRELAND
COMPLETE IN TWO BOOKS
BOOK I
PREFACE.
In preparing the present narrative the constant
aim has been to present a faithful picture of Irish
history, unimpaired by bias or prejudice, and to omit
nothing of importance bearing on the subject which
would be of general interest. A perusal of the work
will, we believe, convince the reader that every period
of Erin's history has been treated concisely and thor-
oughly, and that the narrative has not been inter-
rupted by extraneous matter or the text burdened
by a list of authorities. Copious notes on disputed
points and frequent reference to the later and bet-
ter authorities will be found in the Appendix to
Volume V. A systematic plan has been followed
throughout, making reference easy, and the search
for facts in Irish history, it is believed, more of a
pleasure than a task.
There is, probably, no country the truthful
story of which presents so many dramatic and excit-
ing scenes as that of Ireland. The true history of
Ireland is indeed *'an entertaining and instructive
narrative of stirring events, abounding with episodes
thrilling, glorious and beautiful."
Dry details of unimportant events, or names
and dates of no special interest to the general reader,
have been carefully excluded from the text. These,
however, are not omitted, but will be found in the full
Chronological Tables at the end of the work. The
whole aim, in brief, has been to produce a vivid,
clear-flowing, impartial narrative of the admitted
facts in the history of a remarkable people, together
with such legends and traditions of Irish lore as
appear most interesting, typical and suggestive.
CONTENTS VOLUME IV.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
The Legends and First Inhabitants - - - - 1
CHAPTER II.
The Milesian Conquest {B. C. 1120) - - - 11
CHAPTER III.
Dawn of Authentic History {B. C. 372) - - 18
CHAPTER IV.
Heroic Period {B. C. 372 to A. D, 159) - - 24
CHAPTER V.
Heroic Period — Continued (A. £). 159 to 428) 32
CHAPTER VI.
Christianity (A. D. 432 to 800) 41
CHAPTER VII.
The Irish in Scotland: The Danes i^A. D.
428 to 959) 52
CHAPTER VIII.
Brian Boru and Malachy II. (A. D. 959
to 1014) 62
CHAPTER IX.
The Battle of Clontarf— April 23, 1014 - - 70
Contents
CHAPTER X.
PACK
Struggles for the Crown (A. D. 1014 to 1166) 77
CHAPTER XI.
The First Welsh- Noi'man Invasion (A. D.
1169) 81
CHAPTER XII.
The Welsh' Normaft Invasion — Continued - - 90
CHAPTER XIII.
King Henry II. in Ireland ------100
CHAPTER XIV.
From the Return of Henry II. to England
Till the Death of Strongbow Ill
CHAPTER XV.
The Last Years of Roderic O'' Conor - - - 119
CHAPTER XVI.
Events of the Thirteenth Century - - - - 126
CHAPTER XVII.
Edward Bruce Crowned King of Ireland - - 132
CHAPTER XVIII.
Fusion of the Milesians and the Normaiis - - 141
CHAPTER XIX.
Art MacMurrough^ King of Leinster - - - 148
CHAPTER XX.
The Earls of Ormond^ Desmond and Kildare 1 55
Contents
CHAPTER XXI.
PAGE
Poynings^ Parliamefti and Battle of Knockdoe 163
CHAPTER XXII.
Revolt of Silken Thomas (^Fitz Gerald) - - 170
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Act of Supremacy :.. 173
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Reformation a7id First Plantation - - - 184
CHAPTER XXV.
Shane O'Neill, Ki7ig of Ulster 191
CHAPTER XXVI.
The Revolt of Sir James Fitzmaurice Fitz Gerald 197
CHAPTER XXVII.
IVar with the Earl of Desmond ----- 204
CHAPTER XXVIII.
The Plantation of Ulster — The Ulster Con-
federacy 211
CHAPTER XXIX.
Battles of the Yellow Ford and Curlieu
Mountains ----------- 219
CHAPTER XXX.
End of the War with Hugh O'Neill and
Death of Queen Elizabeth 228
Contents
CHAPTER XXXI.
PAGE
The Flight of the Earls — The Plantations of
Ulster and Leinster ---237
CHAPTER XXXH.
The ''''Graces'''' of Charles I. — Wentworth as
Chief Governor 248
CHAPTER XXXIII.
The Insurrection of 1641 ------- 255
CHAPTER XXXIV.
The Confederate War — Arrival of Owen Roe
O'Neill 266
CHAPTER XXXV.
The Confederate War — Contiftued - - - - 276
CHAPTER XXXVI.
The Battle of Benburb 284
CHAPTER XXXVII.
The Confederate War — Continued - - - - 291
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Cromwell in Ireland - 299
CHAPTER XXXIX.
The End of the Confederate War - . - - 307
CHAPTER XL.
The Plantation' of Cromwell ------ 310
Contents
CHAPTER XLI.
PAGE
The Restoration and Act of Settlement - - - 316
CHAPTER XLII.
Accession of James II. --------323
CHAPTER XLIII.
James II. in Ireland - - - Till
CHAPTER XLIV.
The Battle of the Boyne - - - - - - - 332
CHAPTER XLV.
The Sieges of Athlone and Limerick - - - 338
CHAPTER XLVI.
The Second Siege of Athlone 345
CHAPTER XLVII.
The Battle of Aughrim — Second Siege of Lim-
erick— The Treaty of Limerick - - - - 351
CHAPTER XLVIII.
The Penal Laws ---- 358
CHAPTER XLIX.
The Commercial Laws --------364
CHAPTER L.
The Irish Soldiers Abroad ------368
CHAPTER LI.
The Struggles of the Irish Parliament - - - 372
Contents
CHAPTER LII.
PAGE
TheWhiteboys^ Oakboys and Steelboys - - - 379
CHAPTER LIII.
Flood^'s Leadership 385
CHAPTER LIV.
Grattan''s Leadership — The Volunteers - - - 390
CHAPTER LV.
Legislative Lndependence — Home Rule - - - 397
CHAPTER LVI.
Grattan''s Parliament -------- 401
CHAPTER LVII.
The United Lrishmen - 410
CHAPTER LVIII.
Partial Emancipation of the Catholics - - - 416
CHAPTER LIX.
Ejforts for Complete Catholic Emancipation - 422
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
The Castle of Limerick ------ Frontispiece
The Island of lona - 48
Battle of Clontarf (A. D. 1014) 70
Silken Thomas Renouncing His Allegiance
to Henry VIII. 174
The Meeting of the Earl of Essex and Hugh
O'Neill 226
POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND
CHAPTER I.
THE LEGENDS AND FIRST INHABITANTS
B. c. 2100 TO B. c. 1105
The earliest colonization of Ireland, like that of
most other countries, is wrapped in a cloud of fable.
It was peopled, according to the ancient Irish chron-
icles, in the fourth century after the Deluge by the
Partholanians; afterwards by the Nemedians, the
Fomorians, the Firbolgs and the Tuatha De Dan-
anns. All those shadowy colonies, according to the
most reliable native authorities, were either swept
from the earth in punishment for their iniquities or
forced to submit to the brave sons of Milesius,
whose posterity remained masters of the island over
two thousand years.
The higher we ascend towards the source of
Irish history the more obscure and doubtful it be-
comes. The ancient Irish, as well as their contem-
poraries, were prone to record the marvelous or im-
possible and readily accepted as true many things
which modern criticism deems fabulous. But if we
ought not to believe implicitly, neither should we
reject altogether those curious traditions, wonderful
legends and antique tales which have come down
to us from the bards and story-tellers of ancient
Erin. From those doubtful sources the most legiti-
mate and reliable histories of Ireland have taken
their rise ''as pure rivers may be traced up the fens
and mantled pools of a morass."
2 HISTORY OF IRBI^AND
In these chapters on Pagan Ireland we venture
to dip lightly into the enchanted fountain of old
Irish chronicles, not, of course, claiming for those
curious records the authenticity of modern history,
yet giving nothing which has not in the judgment
of many respectable authorities at least an historical
foundation.
Some romantic stories are related of Queen
Ceasair, who came from the east of Burope to Ire-
land thirty years before the Deluge (2379 B. C.)
with fifty women and three men — Bith, Ladra and
Fintan. The historic flood soon swept over "this
curiously proportioned colony," but this far-away
primitive legend is generally rejected by the judi-
cious old annalists as unworthy of serious consid-
eration.
Most ancient authorities agree that the Partho-
lanians "of the stock of Japhet" were the first col-
onists of Ireland. Accompanied by his sons and
many followers, according to the legend, the parri-
cide Partholan, fleeing from his native Greece "in
the 60th year of the age of Abraham," voyaged
down the Mediterranean, passed the sunny isles of
that historic sea, gazed upon the "Pillars of Her-
cules" in the Strait of Gibraltar, and after escaping
the dangers of the rough Spanish coast, at length,
when well-nigh in despair of reaching that far-off
Sacred Isle, he heard the welcome cry of land. The
billows dashed wildly along the shore, leaving a
long line of foam upon the wild coast of Munster.
The noble Kenmare river rolled its silver tide be-
tween wooded hills and sunny slopes. The pictur-
esque Reeks pointed their blue summits in clear
outline against the distant sky. Mangerton and
Carrantuel, clad in royal beauty, greeted the eyes
and cheered the hearts of Partholan and his com-
panions.
The little colony landed B. C. 2100 where the
HISTORY OF IRElvAND 3
town of Kenmare now stands, amid the beautiful
scenery of County Kerry. Then Partholan divided
the land which he had discovered among his four
sons. The new colonists set themselves vigorously
to clear the plains of timber; they cut down a pro-
digious number of trees and drove the wild boar and
stag into deeper recesses of the well-wooded island.
"They brought with them a practical knowledge of
sowing, reaping and other farming arts," and began
to cultivate the land. Thirty years after landing in
Brin, Partholan, being full of years, sickened and
died, and his body was interred with royal honors.
He was, it is said, a double parricide, having killed
both parents before leaving his native country. For
this unnatural crime, say the sage chroniclers, his
posterity was fated not long to possess the land;
and, after three hundred years' residence in Erin,
the entire colony, then numbering 9,000 persons,
was cut off by a dreadful pestilence, and the mound
which is believed to cover their remains is still
pointed out at Tallaght, near Dublin.
During the next thirty-nine years Ireland is
represented as uninhabited; then the Nemedians,
under their leader, Nemedius, arrived from the
shores of the Black Sea. Nemedius, who was a
distant relative of Partholan, having learned by re-
peated dreams of the fatal end of his kinsmen in
Ireland, resolved to go there and take possession of
the country. Accordingly, with thirty-four trans-
port vessels he set sail for the Western isles, accom-
panied by his wife, his four sons and a thousand
followers. They soon after landed on the Wooded
Island, B. C. 1761, and immediately "cleared twelve
plains of wood," and afterwards built two royal
forts.
Nemedius, it seems, was not permitted to enjoy
his new kingdom very long, when his peace was
disturbed by a warlike race of giants which swarmed
4 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
over from Africa. Those savage sea-kings, called
Fomorians, were, according to the legend, men of
enormous size and strength, who * 'lived by piracy
and spoil of other nations, and were in those days
very troublesome to the whole world."
Nemedius fought the Fomorians successfully in
many engagements, but at last he suffered a total
defeat in the great battle of Tory Island, where his
army was totally destroyed and his two favorite sons
were slain. Unable to stand so great a misfortune,
Nemedius soon after died of grief and the Fomori-
ans became masters of the whole island.
The Nemedians who had survived the last de-
feat, finding themselves unable to bear the tyranny
of their cruel masters, resolved to abandon the coun-
try. One party fled to the north of Belgium to be-
come the ancestors of the Firbolgs or Bagmen;
some wandered to Greece to give a parentage to the
Tuatha De Dananns; and others escaped to the
neighboring island of Britain, which, it is said, took
its name from Briotan, the Nemedian leader, who,
with his posterity, settled there.
The Firbolgs, kept in cruel bondage in Bel-
gium, determined to escape; they for this purpose
seized the ships of their masters and set sail for the
Western isle, where, in due time, under their chiefs,
the five sons of Dela, they landed in different parts
of Ireland (B. C. 1397). They, however, united
their forces at the hill of Tara, which they called
*'the Beautiful Eminence." In the decisive battle
of Tara, which quickly followed this landing, the
Fomorian forces were nearly annihilated, and the
savage sea-kings were soon reduced to submission in
all parts of the island.
Then the Firbolgs divided the country into five
provinces, governed by their five leaders. Slane,
the eldest of the five brothers, dwelt at Tara as
head ruler of the provinces and supreme monarch of
HISTORY OF IRELAND 5
Ireland. The Firbolgs were in their turn disturbed
of so tempting a prize, eighty years after their con-
quest, by a wonderful people who came from Greece,
called the Tuatha De Dananns. "These heroes, "
we read, "landed on the coast of Wexford, and
then, having burnt their fleet to cut off their re-
treat, they wrapped themselves in the dark cloud of
invisibility and drifted like a mighty mist to the
Iron Mountains on the border of Leitrim."
They were led by their king, Nuada, who took
up a strong position on a hill, at a place called South
Moytura, near the present village of Cong, County
Mayo, where he was immediately attacked by his
Firbolg kinsmen, under their monarch, Eocha. The
attack was fierce and bloody, but after six days of
terrible destruction — "the greatest slaughter that
was ever heard of in Krin" — by their enchantments
and by the power of their Lia Fail, or Stone of Des-
tiny, according to the legend, victory remained with
the Tuatha De Dananns; and thus this decisive
First Battle of Moytura, or the Battle of South
Moytura, as it is sometimes called, in one day
brought the reign of the Firbolgs to an end, reduc-
ing them to the condition of a subject-race. Kocha,
the last of their kings, escaped from the fatal field
only to meet his doom near Ballysadare, County
Sligo. A cave on the Sligo strand is still pointed
out as his burial place, and there is a curious tradi-
tion that the tide can never cover it. "On the
plain where this great Battle of South Moytura was
fought there may yet be seen a great number of
cromlechs and other sepulchral monuments."
In the time of her last Firbolg king Krin was
in a position almost without parallel in her early
history, for, say the bardic historians: "Good were
the days of the reign of Bocha; there was no wet
or stormy weather in Erin nor any unfruitful year. ' '
This happy state, however, was soon rudely brought
6 HISTORY OF IRELAND
to a close by the De Dananns, who were also, like
the Firbolgs, of Nemedian descent.
The new conquerors, it appears, came from
Greece, where, by long residence, they had become
deeply skilled in all those mystic arts for which the
Greeks were then famous. Before their invasion of
Ireland the Tuatha De Dananns had passed through
the northern countries of Europe, where, according
to the legend, * 'their magical science procured them
respect." From those parts they brought the fa-
mous Lia Fail. This stone, which gave to Ireland
the name of Inisfail, or the Island of Destiny, was
used at the coronation of their kings. During the
ceremony an astonishing noise is said to have issued
from it, and, according to tradition, wherever this
stone should be preserved a king of the Irish race
would reign. We are told that among other rare
gifts the Tuatha De Dananns could forge magical
weapons, cure malignant diseases, quell storms, and
even raise the dead to life. By these wonderful
arts they were enabled to crush the brave Firbolgs
into submission and to exercise sovereignty over all
Ireland.
Nuada, the Tuatha De Danann king, lost his
right hand in the last great battle with the Firbolgs,
and, in consequence, came near losing his kingship,
for his warlike subjects refused to recognize a muti-
lated sovereign. Nuada in this dilemma applied to
Cert, his artificer (a man renowned for mechanical
skill), to help him out of his difficulty. Cert fash-
ioned for his royal master a silver hand of great
beauty and wonderful workmanship, and the king's
physician, according to the legend, then took it off
and infused feeling and motion into every joint and
finger of it, as if it were a natural hand, and hence-
forth the monarch became known as Nuada of the
Silver Hand.
While Nuada's hand was being made the throne
HISTORY OF IRELAND 7
was occupied by a chief named Breas. The new
king soon became very unpopular. He was not
hospitable, he tried to oppress the nobles and had
the bad taste to slight the bards. Discontent came
to a climax when a popular bard visiting the royal
court was rudely received by King Breas. The in-
dignant bard soon left the palace, but not before
pronouncing a terrible satire on the king — **the first
satire," we are told, "that ever had been pronounced
in Erin." The consequences were dire to Breas,
who was immediately called on to resign, which he
did with the worst possible grace. The silver hand
of Nuada being now finished, he at once re- ascended
the throne. In wrath Breas withdrew to the He-
brides, where he roused up a vast army and navy
under Balor of the Mighty Blows, a Fomorian chief
of great renown.
Balor and Breas, after effecting a landing on
the northern coast, marched their formidable army
to a place called North Moytura, in the present
County of Sligo, and there the two leaders awaited
the attack of the Tuatha De Danann forces, which
soon appeared and promptly gave them battle. The
magical skill or superior fortune of the Tuatha De
Dananns proved equal to this crisis, and the invad-
ers were totally defeated. Their renowned chief,
Balor of the Mighty Blows, slew Nuada of the Sil-
ver Hand, but Balor himself was killed by the great
Tuatha De Danann hero, Luga Long Arms, who,
after the battle, was proclaimed monarch of all Ire-
land. The Plain of the Fomorian Towers is still
pointed out to the curious as the place where this
decisive Second Battle of Moytura, or Battle of
North Moytura, was fought, and ruins of sepul-
chral monuments yet mark the site of that ancient
battlefield. "The Three Sorrowful Tales of Erin"
are among the most famous of Ireland's poetic
legends. The first of these belongs to the reign of
8 HISTORY OF IRELAND
Nuada of the Silver Hand— * 'The Tale of the Fate
of the Sons of Turenn."
The three sons of Turenn — Brian, Ur and Ur-
car — slew Kian, father of the renowned De Danann
hero, Luga Long Arms. Kian and the sons of Tu-
renn had long been at deadly feud, and when the
latter chanced to meet him alone on the plain of
Louth they cruelly stoned him to death, turning a
deaf ear to his pleading to spare his life.
* 'Six times the sons of Turenn buried the body
of their victim, and six times the earth cast it up
again, but on the seventh burial the body remained
in the grave. As the sons of Turenn rode from the
spot a faint voice came from the ground, warning
them that the blood they had spilled would follow
them to the fulfillment of their doom.
"Luga Long Arms, seeking for his father, came
to the grave, and there the stones of the earth took
voice and told him that his father lay beneath.
Luga unearthed the body and vowed vengeance on
the sons of Turenn over it. He then hastened to
Tara, to the court of Nuada of the Silver Hand,
and denounced the sons of Turenn. In those days
the friends of any murdered person might either re-
ceive a fine, called 'eric,' in compensation, or might
seek the death of the murderer. Luga called for
the 'eric' He demanded three apples, the skin of a
pig, a spear, two steeds and a chariot, seven pigs, a
hound-whelp, a cooking-spit and three shouts on a
hill. To this 'eric' the sons of Turenn agreed
readily enough before all the court. Then Luga
explained himself more fully. The three apples
were to be plucked from the garden of Hisberna, in
the east of the world. They were the color of bur-
nished gold, and of the taste of honey, and cured
wounds and all manner of sickness, and had many
other wonderful qualities. The garden of Hisberna
was carefully guarded and none were allowed to
HISTORY OF IRELAND 9
take its precious fruit. The pig- skin belonged to
the King of Greece and possessed the power of
healing whosoever touched it. The spear was a
venomed weapon with a blazing head, belonging to
the King of Persia. The two steeds and chariot
belonged to the King of Sicily. The seven pigs
were the delight of Asal, King of the Golden Pil-
lars, for they could be killed and eaten one day, and
become alive and well the next. The hound- whelp
belonged to the King of Iroda, and every wild beast
of the forest fell powerless before it. The cooking-
spit belonged to the warlike women of the island of
Fincara, who never yet gave a cooking-spit to any
one who did not overcome them in battle. The hill
on which the three shouts had to be given was the
hill of Midkena, in the north of Lochlann, the
country of the Danes, which was always guarded by
Midkena and his sons, who never allowed any one
to shout on it.
' 'The sons of Turenn were much daunted by
this terrible 'eric,' but they were bound to fulfill it.
They set sail in an enchanted canoe, the Wave
Sweeper, to the garden of Hisberna, and succeeded,
by turning themselves into hawks, in carrying off
the apples. They then visited Greece in the guise of
learned poets from Brin, and after a desperate fight
overcame the King of Greece and his champions
and carried off the pig- skin. Leaving the shores of
Greece 'and all its blue streams,' they sailed to
Persia, where they had to fight another battle with
the king before they could carry off the blazing
weapon in triumph. They then voyaged to Sicily,
overcame its monarch, and drove off the famous
chariot and horses. Next came the turn of Asal,
King of the Golden Pillars, but their fame had gone
before them, and Asal gave up his seven pigs with-
out a contest. He even accompanied them to Iroda,
and aided them to obtain the hound- whelp.
10 HISTORY OF IRELAND
"Meanwhile the fame of the successes of the
sons of Turenn had come to Erin, and Luga Long
Arms cast a magical spell over them, so that they
quite forgot the cooking-spit and the three shouts
on a hill, and came back to Erin thinking that they
had fulfilled their 'eric' But when Luga saw their
spoils he reminded them of the unfulfilled part of
the compact, and the heroes had to set out again
with heavy hearts, for they knew that Luga desired
their death. When Brian got to the island of Fin-
cara, which lies beneath the sea, his beauty so
pleased the warlike women that they gave him a
cooking- spit without any trouble. Now all that was
left to the heroes to do was to shout the three shouts
on Midkena's hill. They sailed out into the north
till they came to it, and there they fought desper-
ately with Midkena and his sons and overcame and
killed them. But they were wounded themselves
nigh unto death, and with the greatest difficulty
they raised three feeble shouts on Midkena's hill.
Then, wounded as they were, they sailed back to
Erin and implored Luga to let them taste of the
apples of Hisberna, that they might recover. But
Luga taunted them with their murder of his father
and would be content with nothing short of their
death; so they died, and the blood of Kian was
avenged."
The Tuatha De Dananns remained in power in
Erin nearly two hundred years. Three brothers —
Ethur, Cethur and Fethur — were their last kings.
These reigned alternately a year each during thirty
years. Since the Tuatha De Danann conquest Ire-
land had been called Inisfail, but when the three
brothers became kings it was named alternately
Banba, Fola and Eire — in honor of the reigning
king's wife.
CHAPTER II.
THE MILESIAN CONQUEST (b. C. 1120).
The last conquerors of Pagan Ireland were at
different periods of their history called Gael or Gad-
dians, from Gaddas, one of their remote rulers;
Phenicians, from King Phenius; and Scots, from
Scota, the wife of Milesius, a king of Spain. The
ancestors of the Milesians, according to the old an-
nalists, in remote antiquity established themselves
on the borders of the Red Sea. When Moses was
preparing to liberate his people from cruel bondage
Gadelas, king of the colony, having been bitten by a
serpent, was presented to the great leader, who
healed him by a touch of his wand. We are told
that Moses foretold, on curing Gadelas, that the land
which should be inhabited by the Gadelians would
be free from serpents and all venomous reptiles,
"which," says a discreet historian, "has been veri-
fied in regard to Ireland." In gratitude for this
great cure Gadelas supplied Moses and the children
of Israel with provisions after their passage of the
Red Sea. This act so incensed the Egyptians that
they afterwards expelled the Gadelians from the
country. The latter, after some time, settled on the
eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, which coun-
try in time became known as Phenicia, from Phe-
nius, one of the most famous of the Gadelian kings.
Some centuries later a colony of the Phenicians
left their own country and settled in Spain. Under
the able command of Breogan the new-comers fought
the Spaniards successfully and became masters of
12 HISTORY OP IRKI.AND
the nortli western province, where Breogan built a
city, which he called Braganza, from his own name.
King Breogan had two sons, Ith and Bile. The
latter was the father of Milesius, who in his turn
became king of the colony. Soon after ascending
the throne Milesius extended and strengthened his
dominions (called Galicia) by diplomacy and suc-
cessful wars and then concluded an advantageous
peace with his enemies.
Milesius now resolved to visit the land of his
ancestors for the purpose of learning those abstruse
arts and sciences for which Egypt was then cele-
brated above all other nations. On his arrival King
Pharaoh gave him the chief command of the royal
army in a war in which he was engaged against
the Ethiopians. The Spanish hero acquitted him-
self with such skill and success that the war was
brought to a speedy close. As a reward for his
services Pharaoh gave Milesius his beautiful daugh-
ter Scota in marriage. Before leaving Egypt Mile-
sius caused twelve young men of his suite to be in-
structed in all the arts, sciences and mysteries of the
Egyptians, so that they might instruct his subjects
on their return to Spain. The great object of his
journey being ended, Milesius bade farewell to the
king and all his court, and accompanied by his no-
bles, his wife and attendants, he returned to Spain.
A dreadful drought now cast its gloom over all
Galicia. King Milesius summoned all his chief men
to assemble at Braganza to deliberate on the grave
situation. It was unanimously resolved by the as-
sembly to abandon Spain and seek the most western
island of Europe, which one of their famous druids
had long before prophesied would be possessed by
the posterity of Milesius for all time.
The important discovery of this island was in-
trusted to Ith (son of Breogan and uncle of Mile-
sius), who was a man of great wisdom and pru-
HISTORY OF IREIvAND 13
dence. Ith having accepted the commission, set sail
for the unknown isle with his son Louy and a large
force of warriors and sailors.
The enterprising Spaniards soon landed on the
Irish coast, but before advancing far inland they
were attacked by the Tuatha De Dananns, and
after a sharp struggle Ith fell mortally wounded,
and the men from Spain were forced to retire. Louy
barely escaped with a few companions and imme-
diately embarked for home. In the meantime Mile-
sius, after reigning thirty-six years in Galicia, died,
universally mourned by all his people.
The Milesians, on the return of the expedition,
without delay prepared themselves not only to
avenge the death of Ith but also to conquer the
Western isle, of which Louy had given a glowing
account. Accordingly, a fleet of sixty vessels was
equipped with all things necessary for so important
an enterprise, and the entire colony embarked,
under forty leaders, among whom were the eight
sons of Milesius, their mother, Scota, and Louy,
the son of Ith. After coasting along a part of
Spain, France and Bnglaud, they at length arrived
off the coast of fair Inisfail, B. C. 1120.
While the invaders were preparing to land the
Tuatha De Dananns were not idle; but, according
to the legend, surrounded themselves and their be-
loved island with magic-made tempests and terrors.
They darkened the heavens and wrapped the Mil-
esian fleet in thick folds of impenetrable mist; they
shook the invading ships with terrific storms, scat-
tering and destroying most of them on the raging
waves. But the Milesians had their druids or magi-
cians also. Amergin, one of the sons of Milesius
and a druid by profession, as soon as he suspected
the agency which caused the storm began practicing
counter-acts of magic, in which he soon succeeded,
but not before five of his brothers had perished.
14 HISTORY OF IRELAND
The remaining sons of Milesius — Heber, Here-
mon and Amergin — with all their attendants, ef-
fected a landing at last near Slieve Mish Mountain,
in Kerry, but they were immediately attacked by a
large force of the natives, commanded by Queen
Hire, wife of Fethur, the Tuatha De Danann king.
The warlike queen, after losing a thousand men,
was put to flight by the invaders. The latter lost
three hundred warriors in the battle, besides Scota,
some druids and many chiefs. Queen Scota was
buried beneath a royal cairn at the foot of Slieve
Mish Mountain, near the "sad sea waves," and her
grave is still pointed out in a valley near Tralee,
called from her, Glen Scota.
After this first advantage the Milesians laid
plans for a decisive campaign. In a few days the
hostile armies met on the plain of Tailton (now
Teltown, in Meath). A well-contested and bloody
battle followed, the issue of which was for a long-
time doubtful, prodigies of valor being performed
on either side. Towards evening, when their three
kings — Kthur, Cethur and Fethur — and their three
queens, together with their principal chiefs, had
fallen, the brave Tuatha De Dananns were thrown
into irrevocable confusion and hopeless rout. This
great battle was decisive: by its result the sover-
eignty of Ireland passed into the hands of the Mil-
esian conquerors.
And thus the Tuatha De Danann dynasty passed
away, leaving many a curious legend of magic and
mystery among the people. After their overthrow
they retired to the fastnesses of the wooded hills and
mountains, and in those secluded places they were
believed for centuries to have practiced diabolic arts
befitting such accomplished magicians. A very
curious ancient Irish MS. states that some of them
lived as spirits and fairies, with human and material
forms, but endowed with immortality. The Tuatha
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 15
De Dananns are believed by many to have left in
Ireland numerous evidences of their existence in the
form of raths, or forts, and monumental pillars.
* 'To this heroic period belongs the second sor-
rowful tale of Brin, the tale of the Fate of the Chil-
dren of Lir. After the victory at Tail ton, in which
the Milesians conquered Ireland, the defeated Tua-
tha De Dananns from all the provinces assembled
together and chose Bove Derg supreme king. Lir
alone among the chieftains refused to acknowledge
the new monarch and sullenly retired to his own
territory. Some of the chiefs called for vengeance
on Lir, but Bove Derg resolved to win his allegiance
by friendship. For this purpose the king offered
Lir the choice of his three foster daughters — Hve,
Kva and Alva — in marriage. On this Lir relented,
recognized the authority of Bove Derg, and married
Bve, who bore him one daughter, Finola, and three
sons, Eed, Ficia and Conn. Bve died. Lir for a
time was inconsolable, but on the advice of Bove
Derg he married the second foster daughter, Bva.
The new stepmother grew jealous of Lir's love for
his children and wickedly turned them into swans.
This, however, did not satisfy her. She laid this
further doom on the children: that they must pass
300 years on Lake Darvan, 300 years on the Sea of
Moyle, and yet 300 more on the Western Sea. Nor
was the spell to be loosened until the sound of a
Christian bell was first heard in Brin. The only
mitigation of their sufferings was the privilege of
retaining their human voices. The wicked step-
mother was punished by Bove Derg by being turned
into a demon of the air, but the children of Lir had
to endure their sad fate for the nine appointed cent-
uries until the coming of Christianity, when they
were disenchanted by St. Kemoc. In their human
form they were very old. The saint baptized them
and they died and went to heaven."
16 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
After the battle of Tailton the Milesians formed
alliances with the Firbolgs, who materially assisted
them in the final subjugation of their late masters,
for which they were partly restored to their ancient
possessions. Amergin, being a druid, could not
reign, so Heber and Heremon divided the sover-
eignty of Ireland between them, Heber ruling over
the southern and Heremon the northern part. They
made Emer, son of Ir (one of the five Milesian
princes who had perished in the storm), ruler over
Ulster, and important possessions in Munster were
assigned to Louy, son of Ith, and finally, in consid-
eration of the aid rendered them in the conquest,
Heber and Heremon bestowed on their Firbolg allies
the greater part of Connaught and also territories in
Leinster. Some of the Firbolgs afterwards became
provincial kings of Leinster under the Milesians,
and for many centuries they also ruled as kings of
Connaught under the Milesian monarchs.
The two brothers ruled together a year when
Heber, influenced by the importunities of his ambi-
tious queen, declared war against Heremon. The
two armies met at Geashill, near the present Tulla-
more, Kings County. The battle of Geashill was
long and well contested, but at length Heber and
his chief officers fell and the victorious Heremon as-
sumed supreme command. He took up his resi-
dence in Leinster, where he built a magnificent
palace on the bank of the River Nore, and another
at Tara, and after a reign of fourteen years as sole
monarch of Ireland, he died near the present village
of Ballyragget, in Kilkenny.
"The ancient rath," says a modern historian,
"where King Heremon was interred still exists, and
is now called Rath Beagh." We are told that the
descendants of Heremon became the kings and
chiefs of the ancient provinces of Meath and Leins-
ter, and that many of them also ruled over Ulster,
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 17
Munster and Connaught; that the posterity of Emer
ruled over Ulster as kings and chiefs for many cent-
uries; that the descendants of Heber ruled chiefly
over Munster, but that some of the posterity of
Louy also became kings and chiefs of Munster.
To these four sources the principal Celtic fami-
lies of royal blood and ancient lineage in Ireland de-
light to trace their origin, "and to this day the
favorite name for an Irishman in poetry and romance
is a Milesian."
CHAPTER III.
DAWN OF AUTHENTIC HISTORY (b. C. 372).
From the Milesian conquest of Ireland, more
than a thousand years before the birth of Christ,
till its conversion to Christianity in the fifth century
by St. Patrick, besides the provincial kings and
chieftains of particular districts, over one hundred
supreme monarchs are mentioned whose sway ex-
tended over the whole island. The history of Ire-
land, according to the old annalists, during this
long period of one thousand five hundred years, is
largely made up of civil wars and foreign invasions,
but numerous events, marking the gradual advance
of civilization, are also chronicled, together with a
vast number of fanciful legends, some of which are
curious specimens of ancient romance.
According to various authorities. King Here-
mon was succeeded by three of his sons, who reigned
jointly. Irial the Prophet, another son of Here-
mon, next ascended the throne. He promoted agri-
culture, caused seven royal forts to be built, and in-
troduced many useful improvements. He wrote a
history of the Gadelians, which was finished by his
son and successor, Bithriel.
The latter was deposed by Conmaol (a grand-
son of Heber) , whose military genius shone forth in
twenty-five victories. In the reign of Tiernmas,
which ensued, the public worship of idols was first
introduced into Ireland, and gold and silver mines
discovered. '*In his time," says Keating, '*the
colors of blue and green were invented and the peo-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 19
pie began to be more polite in their habits and set
off their dress with various ornaments." Tiernmas
established a law that the rank of every person
should be known by his garb: the dress of a slave
was to be of one color, that of a soldier of two; a
commanding officer was permitted to wear three; the
garb of a gentleman who kept hospitable tables for
the entertainment of strangers was to be of four
colors; five colors distinguished the nobility and
chieftains; historians and persons of eminent learn-
ing were permitted to wear six, and royalty was con-
fined to seven colors.
Tiernmas set up the great idol Crom Cruach in
the Plain of Adoration (in the present County of
Ivcitrim) and was, it is chronicled, with a vast mul-
titude, on the night of All Hallow Bve, miracu-
lously struck dead while worshiping it.
Ollav Fola, the thirteenth monarch from Tiern-
mas, shed lustre on his reign by establishing the
assembly of the chief men of the kingdom every
three years at Tara for the purpose of deliberating
on public affairs and passing laws. Tara henceforth
became the seat of government as well as the usual
residence of the monarchs. This triennial conven-
tion at Tara, called the General Assembly, was held
in the royal residence. During the meetings the
most perfect order was observed, each member taking
his place according to rank and dignity. Fola
caused many excellent laws to be passed for the se-
curity of person and property, the distribution of
justice and the recording of historical events. The
historians presented the- annals of their patrons to
the General Assembly of Tara for examination.
These annals, after undergoing the severest scrutiny,
were copied into the general records of the kingdom,
called the Psalter of Tara. At these meetings also
the historical records of the nation were carefull}^
examined and corrected and the result entered in
20 HISTORY OF IRElvAND
the great national register. The scrutiny of family
and national annals and their adoption into the na-
tional archives continued until the Anglo-Norman
invasion in the twelfth century.
The great legislator, Ollav Fola, also estab-
lished the law which made employments and offices
hereditary in families; sons were restricted to the
occupation or trade of their fathers. He assigned
lands for the support of the hereditary druids, who
were also the judges, bards, teachers and historians.
This celebrated lawyer established a great university
at Tara for the study of philosophy, astronomy,
poetry, music, medicine, history, etc., and died
there after an illustrious reign of thirty years.
Thirty- two monarch s are now enumerated in the
Irish annals as possessing the throne in succession,
though they often obtained it by usurpation and
acts of violence.
It is related of the thirty-third monarch from
Ollav Fola, Louy the Fawn by name, who had slain
his two predecessors on the throne, that a certain
druid, who had the gift of prophecy, foretold the
future monarch's father, Daire, that he would have
a son whose name should be Louy, and who would
one day wear the crown of all Ireland. After this
Daire had in succession five sons, and that he might
not miss the fulfillment of the prediction he gave
each of them the name of Louy. When the five
sons had grown to manhood their father went to the
druid and inquired which of his sons was destined
to be monarch of Ireland. The druid told him to
take them on the morrow to Tailton (now Teltown,
in Meath), where there was to be a great gathering
of the chief people of the kingdom, and informed
him that, while the people were assembled, he would
see a fawn running over the field, which would be
pursued by the whole company. Daire 's five sons,
the druid said, would join in the pursuit and one of
HISTORY OF IRELAND 21
them would overtake and kill the fawn; he it was
who would reign over the whole island.
Daire followed punctually the directions of the
druid, and when he came the next day with his sons
to Tailton he found a great concourse of people
gathered there, and almost at the same moment he
saw the fawn running over the field. The whole
multitude broke up and joined in the pursuit of the
fugitive, and were of course joined by the five brothers.
The chase was long and tiresome, but just as they
reached the Hill of Howth a mist, raised by enchant-
ment, threw them off the pursuit, with the excep-
tion of Daire's five sons, who continued to hunt the
fawn far into Leinster, where one of them overtook
and killed it. He henceforth received the name of
Louy the Fawn and soon ascended the throne of
Tara. After a reign of seven years this monarch
also met a violent death.
Then three princes of the province of Ulster —
Hugh the Red, Deehorba and Kimbath — for some
time struggled for the crown, all three claiming
equal right to be monarch. At length it was ar-
ranged between them that they should reign in turn
for eleven years each. Hugh the Red reigned
first, and at the end of his period was drowned in
the River Krne, leaving an only daughter, named
Macha of the Red Tresses. Deehorba then reigned
for eleven years, and Kimbath followed. When the
time for resigning the crown arrived it became a
question who should succeed Kimbath. Macha
claimed the right to reign in her father's stead, but
Deehorba protested against a woman being the ruler
over men, and, aided by his five sons, he endeavored
to enforce his claim against the red-haired princess
by an appeal to arms. But Macha was a high-spir-
ited lady; many of the Irish chiefs took her part and
she raised a powerful army and entirely defeated her
enemies in a great battle, Deehorba being among
22 HISTORY OF IRELAND
the slain. His five sons, however, not discouraged,
raised another army and again met the princess in
the field, but they were defeated more signally than
before, and were so closely pursued that they were
obliged to conceal themselves in the woods and
marshes of the country. Macha now arranged the
dispute with Kimbath by marrying him and making
him king.
She then, according to the legend, having re-
ceived information where the five brothers were con-
cealed, determined to go herself and effect their
capture; previous to which she stained her hair and
took the dress of a peasant girl. She followed the
five brothers into Connaught, and after many
strange adventures, related by the bards, she suc-
ceeded in capturing them, by a singular stratagem,
in the woods of Burrin.
The council of the kingdom, heartily tired of
the civil war which had divided it, condemned them
all to death, but the queen caused the punishment
to be remitted, and instead compelled them to erect
a stately palace in Ulster, in which the kings of her
race should in future keep their court. Macha drew
the plan of this palace with a pin which served to
bind her cloak, and hence it was called, in Irish,
the Pin of the Neck of Macha. This celebrated
building, known to the general reader as the Palace
of Emania, became so noted in Irish history that not
only were the native rulers of Ulster henceforth for
centuries called Kings of Emania, but the date of its
erection became a technical one in the Irish annals.
With the erection of this palace (nearly 400 years
B. C.) Tiema, one of the most judicious of the
early Irish chroniclers, claims the dawn of authentic
Irish history begins.
The palace of Emania was the residence of the
kings of Ulster and the resort of the famous Knights
of the Red Branch for nearly eight hundred years.
illSTORY OF IRELAND 23
when it was finally reduced to ruins by the three
Collas. After the death of Kimbath his queen,
Macha, reigned as supreme ruler of Ireland for
seven years, when she was slain by her successor,
Raghta.
CHAPTER IV.
HEROIC PERIOD (b. C. 112 TO A. D. 159).
Raghta, who had seized the throne of Tara
from Macha, whom he slew, was, after some years,
also slain by Ugony the Great, who had been fos-
tered by Kimbath and Queen Macha. Ugony, who
was a direct descendant of Heremon, showed him-
self, by his wisdom and vigor, worthy of the crown.
He soon became celebrated for the prudence of his
government and the extent of his power. Up to
this time from remote antiquity Ireland is repre-
sented as having been divided into a kind of pen-
tarchy under five different kings, one of whom was
usually, by mutual consent or by force of arms, ac-
cepted as superior lord over the other four. Kings
and chiefs were selected on a system which rejected
primogeniture. The Irish people united with the
principle of legitimacy the principle of election, and
not the eldest but the most gifted or popular mem-
ber of the family was chosen.
Ugony 's influence with the General Assembly
of Tara enabled him to abolish the pentarchy and
substitute in place of the four subordinate provinces
twenty-five petty kingdoms or lordships, which he
divided among his twenty-five children. He ex-
acted from his subjects an oath, according to the
usual Pagan form, "by the sun and moon, the
sea, the dew, and colors, and all the elements visi-
ble and invisible," that the sovereignty of Ireland
should not be taken from his descendants forever;
and he induced the four provincial kings not only to
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 25
surrender their right of succession in favor of his
family, but he made them promise by the same sol-
emn oath not to accept a supreme monarch from any
other line. This division of the greater portion of
Ireland into twenty-five parts, under so many vice-
roys, entirely broke down the power of the four
subordinate but often independent provinces, and
continued for over three hundred years, when the
provincial kingdoms were again restored by Achy
the Sigher.
Ugony reigned thirty years, during which he
carried his victorious arms far out of Ireland, till
his power is said to have been acknowledged all over
Western Europe. Among the most remarkable of
the succeeding monarchs was Maen, who, having
been driven into exile by his uncle, Corvac, son of
Ugony, lived for some time in France. Maen re-
turned to Ireland with two thousand foreigners,
landed on the coast of Wexford, and marched to the
royal residence, which he attacked at night, killing
the monarch, Corvac, and thirty of his nobles. He
then seized the crown, and, having reigned eighteen
years, was, according to the usual rule among those
ancient kings, slain by his successor.
The pages of the old annalists now become
more barren than usual and for a long period few
events of note are recorded. A long series of names
of monarchs is given, who generally met violent
deaths at the hands of their successors. One of
those sanguinary monarchs, named Achy (surnamed
the Sigher for the sorrows he endured), flourished
not long before the Christian era. His three sons
rose in rebellion against him and were all killed and
their heads laid at their father's feet. He abolished
Ugony 's twenty-five petty kingdoms and restored
the former four provinces, over each of which he
appointed a king tributary to himself. To one of
these, the King of Connaught, he gave in marriage
26 HISTORY OF IRElyAND
his gifted daughter, Meave, celebrated by the old
bardic chroniclers for her beauty, immorality and
masculine bravery. After the death of her husband
Meave reigned alone as Queen of Connaught for
ten years and then married Oilioll the Great, chief
of the Clan Morna (a warlike Firbolg sept), and
had him share with her the throne.
Meave erected in Connaught the celebrated
Palace of Cruchain, where she lived in a style of
great splendor and magnificence. During her reign
a seven years' war broke out between Ulster and
Connaught, which formed one of the favorite themes
of the ancient bards. During this long struggle
the heroes of Clan Morna, under Meave and the
Red Branch Knights of Ulster, led by the young
hero Cuchullin, were arrayed against each other and
performed marvelous feats of valor. In one of the
old historic tales Queen Meave is represented as
wearing a golden crown, seated in her war chariot,
at the head of her heroes, and dashing into Ulster
and sweeping before her the cattle from the rich
fields of her enemies to her domain across the Shan-
non. Meave flourished about the beginning of the
Christian era. She lived more than a hundred
years, but at last the warlike queen was treacher-
ously slain. Meave and Macha share the honor of
having been the most celebrated of all the women
of Pagan Ireland. Meave was alike conspicuous
for her ardor, abilities and beauty, and figures as
the heroine in many of the legends of that heroic
period.
The first century after the birth of Christ con-
tains another long list of Irish kings, few of whom
obtained any celebrity in the ancient annals, but it
is represented as a period convulsed by social rev-
olutions, in which the best of the old Milesian blood
perished.
In the reign of Creevan, towards the close of
HISTORY OF IRELAND 27
the first century of our era, the Roman general,
Agricola, was employed in the subjugation of Great
Britain. At this time commerce had rendered the
shores of Ireland better known than those of Bng-
land. The account of the internal troubles of the
Irish nation reached the general and tempted his
ambition. Tacitus, the Roman historian, informs
us that under pretense of friendship Agricola de-
tained for his purpose one of the Irish provincial
kings who had been driven into exile by a faction at
home.
This recreant king, according to Tacitus, used
every effort to induce Agricola to invade Ireland,
assuring him that a single legion, aided by a few
native troops, would be sufficient for the conquest of
the island. But the Roman soldiers never set hos-
tile foot in Ireland, and Creevan, so far from fearing
them, led an army into Scotland to aid his allies,
the Picts, against the Roman invaders, and returned
to Ireland laden with rich booty. Creevan has the
honor of being associated with Agricola in the im-
mortal pages of Tacitus. He died of a fall from
his horse A. D. 79, and was succeeded by Fiacha.
While the Milesians were sapping their strength
in internecine wars (domestic and foreign) a large
portion of the Irish people, composed of various
races, were engaged in peaceful pursuits. Those
who claimed descent from Gadelas considered them-
selves degraded were they to engage in any kind of
manual labor. The cultivation of the soil and the
mechanical arts were left exclusively to the subject
races and the plebeian Milesians. These were
ground down by the high rents and exorbitant exac-
tions of their tyrannical rulers.
The descendants of the lower classes, who had
formed part of the invasion conducted by the sons of
Milesius, were held in a state of vassalage. The
social degradation which the Milesian nobles forced
28 HISTORY OF IREIvAND
upon the great body of the people produced intense
dissatisfaction; the oppression caused perpetual dis-
content, and at length the hardworking plebeians
determined to strike a blow for freedom.
They confederated, and joined by the Firbolgs,
the Tuatha De Dananns, and some discontented
Milesian chiefs, they chose Carbry Kincait, a Fir-
bolg, for their leader. He had the skill to assemble
two of the provincial kings, their queens, the mon-
arch Fiacha, with his queen, the chief nobility, and
other leading Milesians, at a grand banquet held in
Connaught, which, after a carousal of nine days,
ended with the massacre of the Milesian guests.
According to the ancient historians, only the three
queens and three princes escaped; and the latter
were yet unborn, their mothers having been spared
in the general massacre and allowed to retire into
Scotland, where, soon after, each gave birth to a
young prince.
The success of this conspiracy led to a general
civil war throughout Ireland; the Milesian mon-
archy was overthrown and the rebel leader, Carbry
Kincait, was placed on the throne. The reign of
this king lasted five years, during which Ireland,
abandoned to anarchy and crime, was reduced to a
state of the greatest distress, and the fullness of its
misery was completed by a general famine. On the
death of Carbry Kincait, his son Moran, instead of
accepting the crown, abdicated in favor of the Mil-
esian race of Monarchs, which was again restored
in the person of Faradach, the son of Creevan.
The new reign was one of justice and prosper-
ity. Moran was rewarded by the office of chief
judge of the kingdom and became celebrated for his
righteous judgments. His name was given to a fa-
mous collar that he had made, which judges after
him were compelled to wear on their necks. This
collar was said to give warning of choking by con-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 29
trading and pressing against the neck whenever the
wearer was about to pronounce an unjust sentence.
The monarch Faradach, from the wisdom with which
he reigned, was sumamed the Just.
On his death he was succeeded by his son
Fiacha, in whose reign a second revolt of the ple-
beians took place. This time Blim, King of Ulster,
was induced to join in the rebellion, which led to
the great battle of Moybolg, in which Fiacha was
slain, and Elim became monarch of all Ireland.
During Blim's reign the country was again disturbed
by civil war. The nation was torn asunder by fac-
tions, all places were wasted by fire and sword, the
fields remained uncultivated, and the severity of
their sufferings at last made the people long for a
change of rulers.
Tuathal the Legitimate, one of the three
princes born in Scotland, returned to Ireland on the
invitation of a powerful party, and in the desperate
battle of Aichill (fought at the hill of Skreen, in
Meath), he slew Elim and brought back order and
prosperity to the distracted isle. During his reign
Tuathal carried on a wasting war against his rebell-
ious subjects, whom he defeated in many battles and
finally reduced to submission in all parts of the
island. He established himself more firmly on the
throne by exacting from every member of the Gen-
eral Assembly of Tara a similar oath to that of
Ugony the Great: that he and his posterity should
never be deprived of the sovereignty of Ireland.
The reign of Tuathal the Legitimate was dis-
tinguished by vigor and consequent prosperity, and
it makes a considerable figure in the Irish annals.
He also took various means to increase the power of
the crown and add to its possessions. With this
view he obtained a grant of land adjacent to Tara
from each of the four provinces, and adding them to
the royal domain already held by his predecessors,
30 HISTORY OF IRELAND
the chief kings, he formed the whole into the
province of Meath as an appendage to the crown,
under the title of ''The Mensal Lands of the Mon-
arch of Ireland."
In the province of Meath, thus enlarged, stood
the four grand seats of the Irish monarchy: on the
tract taken from Munster, Tuathal built a magnifi-
cent palace, where, on the night answering to the
eve of All Saints', a great assembly was held to
light fires and perform other pagan ceremonies. He
built another royal palace in the portion taken from
Connaught, where a second assembly was held on
the first day of May, the day of the Baal fire. The
third palace erected by this king stood in the district
taken from Ulster, on the plains of Taelton, where,
on the first of August, was held the celebrated fair
and games in honor of Tailte, "the last queen of
the Firbolgs, ' ' who was buried there. The Palace of
Tara already has been mentioned as the scene of the
National Assembly, as well as the usual residence of
the monarchs.
The grand assemblies held at these palaces by
Tuathal were accompanied with great splendor and
magnificence. Among many measures of national
improvement ascribed to this monarch, the province
of Leinster alone was struck with his vengeance.
Achy, King of Leinster, stood so high in the favor
of Tuathal as to be given in marriage the monarch's
eldest daughter, a princess of great beauty, whom
the provincial king carried home with him to his
palace in Leinster. After about a year's time Achy
returned to the court of Tara and told Tuathal that
his wife was dead, and declared that the only
means of appeasing his grief for her loss was to
allow him to marry her sister. Tuathal, thinking
to strengthen his alliance with Leinster and thus se-
cure the peace of Ireland, granted this request, and
the marriage was celebrated with great pomp. Both
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 31
sisters, on discovering the treachery of the King of
Leinster, died soon after of grief. To avenge his
children's wrongs, Tuathal marched an army into
Leinster and compelled Achy to sue for peace, which
was granted on condition that the present and future
kings of Leinster should pay him and his succes-
sors, the monarchs of Ireland, every second year,
six thousand of the finest cows, the same number of
ounces of pure silver, of rich mantles, of fat hogs,
of large sheep, and of copper caldrons.
This disgraceful biennial tribute continued to
be levied on the province of Leinster by the Irish
monarchs, as an eric or fine, for over five hundred
years, and was the prolific cause of much bloodshed
and confusion, until towards the close of the seventh
century it was remitted through the intercession of
St. Moling. Tuathal the Legitimate reigned thirty-
five years, when he was slain in battle by his
successor, Maol.
CHAPTER V.
HEROIC PERIOD — CONTINUED (a. D. 159 TO 428).
Maol, who succeeded Tuathal the Legitimate
as monarch of Ireland, was, after a short reign,
slain by Tuathal's son, Feelivee, surnamed the
Law-Maker, who ascended the throne A. D. 163,
and under whom the laws of the nation were re-
vised and reformed. Feelivee was one of the few
Irish kings who were permitted to die in peace.
The reign of Conn of the Hundred Battles, son
of Feelivee and grandson of Tuathal, forms one of
the most interesting epochs in the history of Pagan
Ireland. His military career, his heroism and ex-
ploits furnished many a theme for the Irish bards.
Conn was engaged in continual hostilities with the
provincial kings. His most formidable antagonist
was Bugene the Great, King of Munster, who was
the most distinguished hero of the race of Heber.
In the sanguinary war which broke out between
Eugene and Conn, the latter was defeated in ten
pitched battles and compelled to give up one-half of
Ireland to the victorious King of Munster. The
northern part of Ireland was then for the first time
called, in Irish, Conn's Half, and the southern part
Eugene's Half. This division lasted only a year,
but it has ever since been preserved by Irish histo-
rians, who frequently use these names to designate
the northern and southern halves of Ireland.
Eugene's ambition increased with his success
and he hastened to pick another quarrel with Conn,
and both parties again took the field. A spirited
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 33
account of the campaign which ensued is given in
one of the Irish historical romances, from which it
appears that Eugene in his youth had been obliged
to fly to Spain, where he obtained in marriage
Beara, daughter of the King of Castile, and he was
now, in his last struggle with Conn, aided by a
large force of Spaniards commanded by his Castilian
brother-in-law.
The hostile armies came in view of each other
at Magh Leana, but while too much confidence had
made Eugene careless. Conn, because of his inferior
numbers, was rendered doubly cautious. At the
dawn of day Conn made a sudden attack on the men
of the South while they were yet buried in slum-
ber, and a great defeat and massacre followed,
Eugene and his Spanish friend being killed, while
sleeping in their tents, by Goll, son of Morna, one
of the Firbolg champions of Connaught.
Two small hills near Tullamore, in Kings
County, where the battle of Magh Leana was
fought, are still shown, and are believed to cover
the remains of the heroic Eugene and his Spanish
ally.
Conn of the Hundred Battles, after a reign of
twenty years, fell by the hands of assassins. He
was alone without guards in his palace at Tara when
fifty men, hired by the King of Ulster (whose
grandfather had been slain by Conn's father), en-
tering in the disguise of women, fell upon the hero
of so many battles and put him to death, A. D. 195.
From Conn descended the race of Dalriadic kings
which supplied Scotland with its rulers.
Conn was succeeded on the throne of Tara by
his son-in-law, Conary II., whose son, Carbry
Riada, retired into Scotland about the middle of the
third century and there established an Irish settle-
ment, which was called Dalriada (or land of Riada)
and its people Dalriadians. This settlement in time
34 HISTORY OF IRELAND
grew up into a kingdom, which, after the conquest
of the Picts by Kenneth MacAlpine, became the
Kingdom of Scotland and gave that country its
reigning family.
Cormac, son of Art (hence called Cormac Mac-
Art), and grandson of Conn of the Hundred Bat-
tles, was the most accomplished of all the Milesian
kings, rivaling in justice and excelling in wisdom
the best of his predecessors. He obtained the crown
(A. D. 243) after a long period of civil commotion,
during which it fell into the hands of more than one
usurper.
The bardic historians of his time relate the in-
sult and injury sustained by Cormac in his youth
before he wore the crown; how he was expelled
from Ulster, his resentment, and the prompt activity
with which he formed powerful alliances and col-
lected together a large and well-disciplined army to
recover his rights and avenge his wrongs.
They describe with great minuteness the mem-
orable battle of Criona between the future monarch
and his enemies; how by the advice of his ally,
Thady, Cormac stood upon a hill which overlooked
the field and saw the battle rage underneath for
many hours without any advantage on either side;
how the desperate valor of Luga Laga (Cormac's
gigantic champion, reputed to be the greatest hero
of his time) at last turned the fortune of the day;
how Luga slew the usurping monarch, Feargus,
and his two brothers and bore their heads in
exultation from the field; how the victory was pur-
chased with great loss of life; how Cormac's ene-
mies, the men of Ulster, were seven"^ times compelled
to give ground, but each time they rallied and
rushed up again with the fierce impetuosity of des-
peration; how the amazing valor and prowess of
Luga could not be resisted; and Thady, at length
breaking through their centre, prevented the possi-
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 35
bility of repairing their shattered forces; how at
length the men of Ulster were forced to fall back in
the wild disorder of headlong flight, and were pur-
sued with tremendous slaughter by Cormac's men;
and how Cormac, after the terrible battle, ascended
the throne of Tara without opposition.
The reign of Cormac is usually regarded as the
brightest period in the entire history of Pagan Ire-
land. This monarch was celebrated for his magnifi-
cence and political talents and also as a distin-
guished scholar and zealous reformer. He discour-
aged the superstitions of paganism and corrected
the abuses which had crept into the literary orders.
In the early part of his reign King Cormac set in
earnest about the task of reducing the provincial
kings to a due submission to his authority. At the
point of the sword he firmly established law and
order in all parts of Ireland.
During his reign the military power of the
kingdom appears to have attained its highest point
of perfection, under the care of Finn MacCoul, his
celebrated son-in-law. He founded at Tara three
great colleges — one for war, another for history and
the third for law. By his order a general revision
was made of the national records and annals of Ire-
land, which are represented as having been regu-
larly kept in the Psalter of Tara since the days of
Ollav Fola.
The ancient laws of the nation were augmented
and improved by Cormac, assisted by the learned
men of his court. This celebrated code remained in
force in all parts of Ireland until the Anglo-Norman
invasion, and in many parts of the island till the be-
ginning of the seventeenth century.
The magnificence of Cormac's court at Tara
was in keeping with the greatness of his power and
the splendor of his reign. An eminent bard of the
period describes, as an eye-witness, the palace of
36 HISTORY OF IRELAND
King Cormac at Tara as being 300 feet in length,
80 in breadth and 50 in height, entered by fourteen
gates, and containing a vast and splendid hall, illu-
minated by an immense lantern of costly material
and curious art. We are told that on state occasions
the king's table was laden with a rich and gorgeous
service of cups and goblets of massive gold and sil-
ver, and that one hundred and fifty of the most dis-
tinguished champions of the kingdom surrounded
his person and one thousand select soldiers formed
his palace guard.
After a reign of forty years this accomplished
king lost an eye while resisting a traitorous attack
in his palace, and it being a fundamental law of
Ireland that no one with a personal blemish or de-
fect should be capable of wearing the crown, Cormac
retired to a thatched cabin at Kells, where he de-
voted himself to literary pursuits. He composed
numerous prose and poetical works, some of which
are still in existence, and challenge our admiration
for truthfulness and foresight.
One of these productions, which remains to us,
contains admirable maxims on manners, morals and
government, but the most celebrated work of this
royal author, which Cormac wrote for the instruc-
tion of his son and successor, Carbry, is described by
Keating as "worthy to be inscribed in golden letters
for the information of princes, and as a most com-
plete standard of policy to all ages."
At this period flourished the Feni (or Fenians)
about which such marvelous stories are related by
the Irish bards and chroniclers. This famous Irish
militia formed the national standing army, and, es-
tablished in remote antiquity, was brought to the
greatest perfection in the latter part of the third
century of our era. None, we are told, were admit-
ted into the ranks of the Feni but select men of the
greatest activity, strength, stature and valor, and
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 37
the entire force was well armed and admirably
trained and disciplined. Kacli battalion had its band
of musicians and poets to animate the warriors in
battle and celebrate their feats of arms.
Many of the legends of this period have for
their hero Finn MacCoul (called Fingal in Mac-
Pherson's poems of Ossian), the celebrated son-in-
law of Cormac MacArt, and the famous leader of the
Clan Baskin, as the Feni of Leinster were called.
The exploits of Finn, his great strength and valor,
and those of his brave companions in arms, are cel-
ebrated in the Ossianic poems and various other
productions of the ancient writers, by whom they
are adorned with such fables and exaggerations as
have removed them almost wholly to the pages of
romantic history.
The monarch Carbry, son of Cormac MacArt,
became engaged during his reign (A. D. 283-296)
in a desperate war with the King of Munster. The
latter was assisted by the heroic Clan Baskin, and it
was this sanguinary struggle that led to the famous
battle of Gawra, which was long the favorite theme
of the ancient bards. The cause of this war, the
events which attended it and its continuance during
many years, are the subjects of many of the old
poems and traditional legends of the Irish people.
After the death of Finn, who was assassinated
in his old age, the Clan Baskin was commanded by
his son Ossian (or Oisin), the celebrated warrior
and bard. Ossian soon afterwards revolted from the
service of Carbry and joined the forces of Mogh
Corb, King of Munster. The army of Mogh Corb,
commanded by himself and his son, Fear Corb, was
composed of the Clan Deagha and the Dalcassian
troops of Munster, and it is stated in the Ossianic
poems that a great body of warriors from Scotland,
Denmark and Norway came over and also fought on
the side of the King of Munster at Gawra. The
38 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
army of the monarcli Carbry was composed of the
men of Meath and of Ulster, together with the Clan
Morna, or Connaught warriors.
The Munster forces and their allies marched
into Meath, and at Gawra, near Tara, they were
met by the combined troops of the monarch Carbry
and there fought one of the most furious battles
recorded in Irish history — a struggle which contin-
ued throughout the whole of a summer's day. Dur-
ing the battle the Clan Baskin was led by Oscar,
son of Ossian, the Homer of the Irish. Ossian cele-
brated the deeds performed on that bloody day in
verse, which, after the lapse of fifteen centuries, has
lost none of its charm. The greatest valor was dis-
played by the warriors on both sides and the en-
gagement appears to have been a drawn battle.
The heroic Oscar, son of Ossian, met the mon-
arch Carbry in the battle, and at length fell in the
terrific personal encounter which took place between
them, but Carbry himself, while covered with wounds
and exhausted with fatigue, soon afterwards fell by
the hand of the champion Simon. Both armies
numbered about 50,000 men, the greater part of
whom were slain. Of the Clan Baskin, which con-
sisted of 20,000 men, it is stated that 18,000 fell on
the sanguinary field of Gawra.
Two following monarchs, who reigned jointly,
perished in battle against their rebellious subjects,
and the great battle of Dubcomar, early in the
fourth century, placed a usurper on the throne in
the person of Colla, surnamed the Noble, one of
three warlike brothers. In four years, however, the
rightful line was restored in the person of Muroough
the Patriot, who compelled the usurper to abdicate,
and the three CoUas, with three hundred followers,
took refuge in Scotland. They returned, after a
year's absence, and being, by the intercession of the
druids, taken into the confidence of the monarch.
HISTORY OF IREIyAND 39
they were enabled by him to embark in new wars to
satisfy their restless ambition.
A. D. 341 the three brothers entered Ulster
with a formidable army, and after an engagement
said to have lasted six days, called the battle of the
three Collas, they plundered and burned to the
ground the splendid palace of Kmania. They de-
prived the people of Ulster of the greater part of
that province, seized the territory for themselves
and expelled the old inhabitants.
Little need be said of the succeeding monarchs
until we come to the reign of Niall of the Nine Hos-
tages, * 'so called from the pledges which he wrung
from nine different nations." This famous king,
ancestor of the illustrious O'Neills of Ulster, as-
cended the throne of Tara A. D. 381.
Niall, after having carried over an army to
Scotland to assist the Dalriadic colony against the
Picts, joined in a still more formidable invasion of
Britain, then left defenseless by the retreating
Romans. Not satisfied with this, or perhaps his
appetite for plunder sharpened by the rich booty
which he carried home, Niall soon afterwards invaded
France, from which he brought to Ireland large
numbers of captives with his plunder. Among
these captives was a youth of sixteen, who after-
wards became illustrious as the Apostle of Chris-
tianity to the Irish.
In a second expedition to France Niall was
assassinated by one of his own followers. He was
succeeded by his nephew, Dathy, a brave, adventur-
ous commander, who followed in the footsteps of his
predecessor, and not only ravaged the coast of
France, but marched inland until he reached the
foot of the Alps. There he was killed by lightning
and his soldiers immediately returned, bringing
with them to Ireland the body of their king, who
was interred with great pomp under a red pillar-
40 HISTORY OF IRELAND
Stone in the grand cemetery of the pagan kings at
Cruchain, in Connaught. Dathy reigned twenty
years; he was the last monarch of Pagan Ireland.
He was succeeded on the Irish throne by his cousin
Leary, a son of Niall of the Nine Hostages.
CHAPTER VI.
CHRISTIANITY ( A. D. 432 TO 800).
The time had now arrived when the Sacred Isle
of antiquity was destined, under a totally new faith,
to merit the appellation of the Island of Saints.
Among the captives brought into Ireland by Niall
of the Nine Hostages from his first expedition to
France in 403 , was a youth of sixteen named Sue-
cat (meaning Brave in Battle), who afterwards be-
came known as St. Patrick.
On his arrival in Ireland he was sold as a slave
to a chief named Milcho, who carried him to his
home in the north, in the district now known as the
County of Antrim, where he was employed as a
shepherd. During six years of bondage the leisure
of the young captive was constantly devoted to
prayer and meditation. The principal scene of St.
Patrick's devotions was the solitary mountain Slem-
ish, "celebrated for more than one remarkable event
in the annals of Ireland."
After six years of bondage Succat fled from his
master, reached the southwestern coast of Ireland in
safety, and there embarked in a merchant vessel
which carried him home to France. Some years
later, having been greatly moved by certain dreams
or visions, in which he believed he had received a
direct commission from God to preach the gospel in
the land of his captivity, he resolved to devote him-
self to a missionary life. Though dissuaded by his
parents and friends, he gave himself up to the
church and to ceaseless study, beginning under his
42 HISTORY 01? IRELAND
relative, St. Martin, Bishop of Tours. He next
placed himself under St. Germain of Auxerre, and
with him and in Italy he spent several years, and
became not only profoundly learned in the theologi-
cal doctrines of the church, but also proficient in a
variety of languages. From Italy he visited Ler-
ins and other islands of the Mediterranean Sea, and
he is said to have received from the hermit Justus,
who dwelt in one of them, the famous Staff of
Jesus.
In the year 431 Pope Celestine sent Bishop
Palladius on a mission to preach to the Irish, among
whom Christianity already had taken some hold,
but paganism still was so dominant that Palladius,
after a short sojourn, was forced to fly to Scotland,
where he died soon after. Then Pope Celestine,
considering the eminent piety, learning and other
gifts of Succat, resolved to send him upon the Irish
mission, and therefore consecrated him bishop, at
the same time renaming him Patricius, or Father of
the People (shortened in time to Patrick), which
carried its dignity from the ancient times of Rome
and afterwards was given to kings of France.
In the year 432, accompanied by a few chosen
disciples, St. Patrick, then forty-five years old,
landed on the coast of Wicklow, but being driven to
his ship by the pagan population, sailed northward
to a bay in what is now called the County of Down.
Here the chief of the district hastened to attack the
strangers as pirates, but was arrested by the impress-
ive looks of the bishop, listened to his preaching,
and was baptized with all his family. Afterwards a
church and monastery were established on the site
(now the parish of Saul) by the saint, and this
scene of his first missionary success always contin-
ued to be his favorite retreat.
It is related that when he revisited the scene of
his youthful captivity the following strange event
HISTORY OF IREIvAND 43
occurred: Two daughters of his old master, after
hearing him preach, were baptized and embraced a
religious life, whereupon Milcho, strongly attached
to the pagan worship and perceiving that his former
slave was now in authority as its successful antago-
nist, made a great fire of his house and goods and
threw himself into the flames, the news of which
coming to St. Patrick, caused him to stand for three
hours silent and in tears.
When St. Patrick landed in Ireland the mon-
arch of the island was Leary (son of Niall of the
Nine Hostages), who had succeeded his cousin
Dathy in 428. Having learned that the time was
approaching when King Leary would hold at Tara a
great pagan festival, St. Patrick resolved to go and
preach there at all hazards, knowing the importance
of influencing the great people of the country; so
on Easter Bve, in the year 433, the day appointed
for the festival, he raised his tent on the north bank
of the River Boyne and kindled a fire before it.
Now, it was contrary to the laws for any one to light
a fire in the surrounding country at the time of the
festival until the sacred fire on Tara hill had first
indicated the opening of the solemnities, and when
St. Patrick's fire shone afar and was presently seen
by the court and nobles assembled at Tara the ut-
most astonishment prevailed among them, and the
druids, the annalists say, told King Leary that the
hostile fire must speedily be extinguished or else the
man who had kindled it, and his successors, should
rule Ireland forever.
The king instantly sent messengers to drag the
culprit to his presence, but when St. Patrick ap-
proached within the circle of the court, so noble and
impressive was his aspect that Brc, a chieftain, in-
stantly rose up and offered him his seat. St. Patrick
was permitted to preach, and Ere, and Duff a, the
chief bard, were his first converts, along with Fiech,
44 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
a young bard under the instruction of Duff a, and
who is believed to be the author of a certain poem
(now extant) in praise of the saint.
The queen and others followed their example,
but King Leary remained a pagan to the last, though
St. Patrick made so favorable an impression on him
as to receive the royal permission to preach wherever
he wished. It was on this occasion that St. Patrick
successfully used the shamrock growing at his feet
as an illustration of the great doctrine of the Trin-
ity, from which this plant came to be associated with
the patron saint of Ireland and raised into a national
emblem.
The pagan superstition never recovered from
the blow it received that day at Tara. The bitterest
enemies of Christianity were the druids, whose in-
terest it was above all others to support the ancient
belief; and many of them, believed to be magicians,
are described by the old biographers as the objects
of St. Patrick's miracles, and as sacrificed for their
hostility.
Before leaving Meath St. Patrick attended the
public games at Tailton and preached with success
to the vast multitude assembled there, and soon
after he proceeded to Teffia (now West Meath) and
preached at the hill of Usneagh, a celebrated seat of
druidism. Among his converts at Tailton was the
monarch's brother, Conall, who gave him his house,
in Meath, to be used as a church, and it received
the name of Donough Patrick.
St. Patrick next proceeded to the present County
of Leitrim, winning a conspicuous success at the
Plain of Adoration, where he overthrew the sacred
monolith and denounced the pagan idolatry prac-
ticed there in honor of the sun. He passed through
Connaught and Ulster and afterwards through the
other provinces, converting the people by thousands,
ordaining priests, and building churches, schools
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 45
and monasteries. In Leinster lie visited his friend,
the poet Duifa.
When he entered Munster King Aengus, who
already had obtained some knowledge of Christian-
ity, received him with great reverence in his palace
on the rock of Cashel, the ancient seat of the kings
of Munster, and when St. Patrick was baptizing
him, during the ceremony he accidentally rested the
spike of his iron-shod crozier upon the king's foot,
and leaning forward pressed it deeply in, inflicting a
most painful wound. But Aengus, believing this to
be a part of the ceremony, made no sign of suffer-
ing, and with calm and reverent demeanor allowed
the unsuspecting prelate to proceed with a baptism
which was at the same time a petty martyrdom. A
magnificent church was afterwards erected on the
rock of Cashel, the remains of which form one of
the noblest ecclesiastical ruins in Ireland, and in it
is still preserved St. Patrick's Stone, the table on
which the kings of Munster were crowned.
In the year 455, having been twenty-three
years in Ireland engaged in converting the people,
the saint established himself at Armagh, and on
that hill founded a city and cathedral, with monas-
teries, schools and other religious edifices, and thus
established the See of Armagh, which became the
metropolitan see and seat of the primacy of all
Ireland.
About two years after the foundation of Armagh
St. Patrick went over to England for coadjutors and
took the opportunity to preach there against the pre-
vailing Pelagian and Arian heresies, meeting with
great success. Returning by way of Liverpool,
when he came near that maritime village the people
from all sides came out to meet him, and they
erected a stone cross in his honor. On his voyage
back to Ireland he visited the Isle of Man, where,
we are informed, he found the people much addicted
46 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
to magic — an old accusation against them — for they
were believed to involve their island at will in super-
natural mists, so that no ships could find it. Here
he preached with his usual success, and left behind
him one of his disciples as first Bishop of Man.
Soon after his return to Ireland St. Patrick
went to a small village (afterwards called Dublin),
the people of which flocked out to meet him, and he
baptized the chief and many others in a fountain,
therefore called St. Patrick's Well, near to which a
church was built, on the site now occupied by St.
Patrick's Cathedral. He settled the church of Ire-
land solidly and appointed bishops and priests every-
where, well earning his title of Apostle of Ireland.
He traveled continually, until too old, when he
spent his last years in retirement and contempla-
tion, though not neglecting to hold synods and coun-
cils and rule the affairs of the church.
This part of his life was passed alternately
in Armagh and in the monastery of Saul, and in the
latter place, where he had founded the first of sev-
eral hundred churches, he expired, full of good
works and honors, on the 17th of March, 465, in the
seventy-ninth year of his age. His obsequies lasted
through twelve successive days and nights and were
attended by multitudes from all parts of Ireland.
He was buried with national honors at Down, thence
called Downpatrick, and a handsome church was
afterwards built over his remains. The bodies of
St. Brigid and of St. Columba were afterwards de-
posited at Downpatrick, in the same grave with the
Apostle of Ireland.
The memory of St. Patrick, St. Brigid and St.
Columba are held in the highest veneration as the
three great patron saints of Ireland. St. Brigid (or
Bridget), a lineal descendant from a brother of Conn
of the Hundred Battles, was born in the year 453.
She was at an early age remarkable for her humility
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 47
and Christian piety, and at length she took the
veil, and, calling a number of her sex who glowed
with the same devotional ardor, she established
a famous monastery near a lofty oak tree, which was
from this circumstance called, in Irish, Kill-dara,
or Cell of the Oak, and increasing rapidly in extent
from the crowds of devotees attracted thither by her
sanctity, it became the nucleus of the city so well
known by the name of Kildare.
In her pious retreat at Kildare St. Brigid was
the sure refuge of the unfortunate, especially those
of her own sex, and the island was soon filled with
the reports of her charity, her benevolence and her
miracles. During a long and useful life she founded
numerous religious houses in various parts of the
island, and her great monastery of Kildare "became
in time the largest and most famous which ever ex-
isted in Ireland." St. Brigid was buried at Kil-
dare, near the great altar of the Cathedral Church,
and her monument ornamented with gold, silver
and precious stones, but Kildare having been devas-
tated by the Danes, her remains and the rich shrine
in which they were contained were removed for se-
curity in the ninth century to Downpatrick, and
interred there in the same sepulchre with those of
St. Patrick and St. Columba.
St. Columba (or Columkill), descended from
Niall of the Nine Hostages, was born in 521. Early
in life he entered the celebrated monastery of St.
Finnian at Clonard and soon distinguished himself
above all his fellows for talents and learning and by
the ardor of his religious zeal, and when no more
than twenty-five years of age he founded the monas-
tery of Doire, near Lough Foyle, from which the
name of Derry was afterwards derived. He soon
laid the foundation of his great monastery of Dur-
row, in the south of Meath, at a place called Plain
of the Oak, which was long celebrated in the eccle-
48 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
siastical history of Ireland. In his forty- third year
he directed his attention to his countrymen in Scot-
land, who were still mostly pagan.
Having obtained a grant of the small island of
lona, off the west coast of Scotland, from his kins-
man, Conall, king of the Scottish colony, he pro-
ceeded thither with twelve chosen disciples and
founded that famous monastery which became the
star of Christianity to Scotland and the Western
Isles. From lona St. Columba made missionary
journeys through the country of the Picts, whom
he converted to Christianity. Afterwards the
Western Isles became the scene of his most active
labors.
For thirty-four years he was the great leader of
Christianity in those northern regions and is re-
garded as the apostle of both the Picts and Scots of
Scotland, where he laid the foundation of that
friendly intercourse which afterwards subsisted be-
tween the Irish people and the Saxon Christians of
England. Many miracles are attributed to St.
Columba, who, after a life of piety and active benev-
olence, died in the seventy-seventh year of his age,
and was buried at lona, but his remains were a long
time after removed to Ireland and interred at Down-
patrick.
lona for centuries furnished missionaries and
prelates for many parts of Great Britain and the
continent, and its monks, formed by St. Columba 's
teaching and example, took a leading part in the
conversion of the Saxons, supplying the Saxon
Christians of England with many bishops and
priests during at least two centuries. There went
out from the holy isle apostles and teachers to the
Orkneys, to Iceland, to the Isle of Man, and to
England, till the fame of lona spread over the
world.
After the conversion of Ireland to Christianity
THE ISLAND (
a»
4S HISTORY OF IREI.AND
siastical history of Ireland. In his forty-third year
he directed his attention to his countrymen in Scot-
land, who were still mostly pagan.
Having obtained a grant of the small island of
lona, off the west coast of Scotland, from his kins-
man, Conall, king of tlie Scottish colony, he pro-
ceeded thither with twelve chosen disciples and
founded that famous monastery which became the
star of Christianity to Scotland and the Western
Isles. From lona St. Columba made missionary
journeys through t' ^ntry of the Picts, whom
he converted to . ...anity. Afterwards the
Western Isles became the scene of his most active
labors.
For thirt3'^-four years he was the ^reat leader of
rianity in those northern regions and is re-
el as the aj ' F both the Picts and Scots of
nd, where . -d the foundation of that
! y intercpt^^i^jw3^iqh( p^^r^piidi^^j^iysisted be-
*.e Irish pe< ' '1 the Saxon Christians of
Many l: £ are attributed to St'.
who, after a life of piety and active benev-
in the seventy-seventh year of his age,
d at lona, but his remains Wc re a long
iivoved to Ireland and interred at Dowu-
f- r centuries ' maricb and
nany parts oi 'i and the
s monks, foriii.ec . ^:)L. Columba's
nnple, took a leading part in the
;;e Saxons, supplying the Saxon
Hand with manv bishops and
r t two centunes. There went
isle apostles and teachers to the
o the Is"'e of Man, and to
of lona spread o^'er the
i; of Ireland to Chr'sua^nitv
HISTORY OF IRELAND 49
the Irish clergy became pre-eminent for their learn-
ing, zeal and piety. The invasions of the Franks,
the Saxons and other northern barbarians for the
most part destroyed the Christian churches which
had been established in England, France and other
parts of Bnrope. The Irish people generously of-
fered the persecuted clergy and their flocks a safe
asylum. To the Island of Saints, sheltered amid
the waves, came all those whom pagan violence had
driven from their homes. The unfortunate people
of England in particular, threatened with extermi-
nation by their Saxon conquerors, fled by thousands
to Ireland for security. During the sixth, seventh
and eighth centuries Ireland was proverbially the
chief seat of piety and of learning, and Irish mis-
sionaries, who afterwards attained to high celebrity
in the history of Europe, "flung themselves with a
fiery zeal into battle with the mass of heathenism
which was rolling in elsewhere upon the Christian
world."
"Long after St. Patrick had been laid to rest,"
says Justin H. McCarthy, "his disciples carried the
cross of Christ to the gaunt Scottish Highlands, the
lonely German pine forests, the savage Frankish
settlements, to Britain and the wild islands of the
northern seas. The Irish monks wandered into the
waste places of Ireland, and noble monasteries, the
homes of religion and of learning, sprang up wherever
they set their feet. The fathers of the Irish church
were listened to with reverence in the court of Char-
lemagne and in the Roman basilicas, and foreign
ecclesiastics eagerly visited the homes of these men
— the monasteries famous for their learning, their
libraries, and their secure peace.
"The island of the Sun-god had become the
island of Saints. To Ireland belong St. Columban,
the reformer of the Franks; St. Killian, the apostle
of Bavaria; and St. Gall, the converter of Switzer-
50 HISTORY OF IRELAND
land. One hundred and fifty- five Irish saints are
venerated in the churches of Germany, forty-five in
France, thirty in Belgium, thirteen in Italy, and
eight in Scandinavia. For a long time all Christen-
dom looked upon Ireland as the favorite home of re-
ligion and of wisdom. Montalembert, in his great
history of 'The Monks of the West,' has given a
glowing account of the civilization and the culture
of the Irish monasteries. There the arts were
practiced — music, architecture, and the working of
metals. There the languages of Greece and Rome
were studied with the passionate zeal which after-
wards distinguished the Humanistic scholars of the
revival of learning.
"The Irish monastic scholars carried their love
for Greek so far that they even wrote the Latin of
the church books in the beloved Hellenic characters
(and as we read we are reminded again of the old
tradition of Greek descent); while, curiously
enough, one of the oldest manuscripts of Horace in
existence, that in the library of Berne, is written in
Celtic characters, with notes and commentaries in
the Irish language. It is worthy of remark that
Montalembert says that of all nations the Anglo-
Saxons derived most profit from the teaching of the
Irish schools, and that King Alfred of England re-
ceived his education in an Irish university."
"In this epoch," says Sir Charles G. Duffy,
"Ireland may without exaggeration be said to have
been a Christian Greece, the nurse of science and
civilization. The pagan annals of the country are
overlaid by fable and extravagance, but the founda-
tion of Oxford or the mission of St. Augustine does
not lie more visibly within the boundaries of legiti-
mate history than the Irish schools which attracted
students from Great Britain and France, and sent
out missionaries through the countries now known
as Western Europe.
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 51
''Among the forests of Germany, on the desert
shores of the Hebrides, in the camp of Alfred, at
the court of Charlemagne, in the capital of the
Christian world, where Michelit describes their elo-
quence as charming the councilors of the emperor,
there might be found the fervid preachers and subtle
doctors of the Western Isle. It was then that the
island won the title still fondly cherished, 'Insula
Sanctorum.' The Venerable Bede describes nobles
and students at this epoch as quitting England to
seek education in Ireland, and he tells us that the
hospitable Celts found them teachers, books, food
and shelter at the cost of the nation.
"The school at Armagh, where St. Patrick had
established the primacy of the church, is reputed to
have attracted seven thousand students, and there
were schools at Lismore, Bangor, Clonmacnoise and
Mayo which rivaled it in importance. Monasteries
multiplied in a still greater number and with results
as beneficial. The arts, as far as they were the
handmaidens of religion, attained a surprising de-
velopment. The illuminated copies of the Scripture,
the croziers and chalices which have come down to
us from those days, the Celtic crosses and Celtic
harps, the bells and tabernacles, are witnesses of a
distinct and remarkable national culture. ' '
CHAPTER VII.
the irish in scotland: the danes.
(a. d. 428 to 959).
During the period while the church was devel-
oping in strength and influence, and learning and
civilization were being fostered within the walls of
the religious houses, we learn from the historical
annals that the Irish soil was moistened with blood
which flowed from the protracted and merciless feuds
of its kings and chieftains.
After the death of Leary the throne was seized
by a usurper, Oilioll Molt, who had been King of
Connaught. Louy, the son of Leary, excluded
from his right to the crown, gathered together his
adherents to obtain it by force of arms, and the
great battle of Ocha, in which the usurper was de-
feated and slain, fixed Louy and the descendants of
Niall of the Nine Hostages firmly on the throne of
Ireland. Twenty-five years after the battle of Ocha,
which the old annalists fix as a technical period in
their chronology, the three sons of Ere, with a
strong force of Dalriadic warriors, went from Ire-
land to assist their kinsmen, the Dalriadic Scots, or
Irish colony in Scotland, in their war with the
Picts. The latter were defeated and gradually
brought into subjection, and in A. D. 850 the king-
dom of Scotland was firmly established by the union
of these two peoples, the Picts and the Scots.
The Picts were the ancient inhabitants of Scot-
land, and Scots was the name by which the Irish
were generally known from the third to the twelfth
HISTORY OF IRELAND 53
century, during which Ireland was commonly called
Scotia, and its people Scoti, or Scots; these names
were in time transferred to what is now known as
Scotland, or land of the Scots. From these Irish
Dalriadians, through the Scottish kings and the
house of Stuart, the present royal family of England
is descended.
Ivouy reigned twenty-five years, when he was
killed by lightning near Slane, at a place called the
Field of Lightning, and was succeeded by Murty, a
relative of the sons of Brie. After a turbulent
reign, during which he fought many battles, Murty
was drowned in a hogshead of wine. He is consid-
ered to have been the first Christian monarch of
Ireland. His successor, Tuathal the Rough, as-
cended the throne of Tara in 528 and reigned eleven
years, when he was treacherously slain by the tutor
of Dermott, a rival, whom he had driven into exile.
Dermott immediately seized the crown, and for
twenty eventful years reigned over all Ireland.
King Dermott was the friend and patron of St.
Kieran, who had helped to conceal him from perse-
cution during the reign of Tuathal.
During Dermott's reign occurred two celebrated
events in Irish history: the foundation of the great
monastery of Clonmacnoise by St. Kieran and the
malediction pronounced on Tara. A criminal who
had fled to the monastery of St. Ruadan, in Tipper-
ary, as a sanctuary, was taken from his asylum by
order of Dermott and executed at Tara. For this
crowning act of a series of aggressions on the privi-
leges claimed by the clergy, the aroused abbot, ac-
companied by his monks, hastened to Tara and
walked in solemn procession around the royal pal-
ace, excommunicated Dermott and anathematized
the place; and it appears from that day forth no
monarch resided permanently upon the historic hill
of Tara.
54 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
On the death of Dermott, who fell in battle five
years after the desolation of Tara, two brothers
reigned jointly and were followed by several mon-
archs in succession, the annals of whose reigns are
too meagre and uninteresting to merit attention.
Under Hugh, the fifth monarch from Dermott, oc-
curred the great convention at Drumceat, in Ulster,
to settle the claims of the Irish colony in Scotland.
Through the influence of St. Columba, who came
from lona to attend the convention, accompanied by a
great number of prelates, Hugh consented to aban-
don his claims against his countrymen in Scotland,
thus establishing the independence of the colony
and severing it forever from Ireland, the mother
country. This reign ended with the death of Hugh
in the disastrous battle of Dunbolg, in 594, while
endeavoring to enforce the Leinster tribute claimed
by the monarchs of Ireland since the days of Tuathal
the Legitimate.
A long series of monarchs reigned during the
seventh and eighth centuries, whose actions have
seldom gained them more than a nominal place in
history. Details of an almost ceaseless petty war-
fare between the provinces and between the different
districts of the same province crowd the secular his-
tory of that paradoxical period, during which many
of the learned and pious men who came from the
Irish abbeys, disturbed by the turbulence of their
countrymen, sought distinction in other lands.
The tribute which had been so long and re-
luctantly paid by the people of Leinster was abol-
ished in the latter part of the seventh century
through the intercession of St. Moling, and a male-
diction was pronounced against all who should at-
tempt to undo what St. Moling had done. Yet
within half a century the claim was revived by the
monarch Farrell, who invaded Leinster with an
army of 21,000 men to enforce the payment of the
HISTORY OF IRELAND 55
obnoxious tribute. Nine thousand of the men of
Leinster, led by their king, resisted the attack, and
in a terrible battle fought at the hill of Almain
(now Allen, in Kildare), a place celebrated in Irish
romantic history, the invaders were defeated with
great loss and Farrell himself was among the slain.
The chronicler says that at the commencement
of the battle a holy hermit, whom they believed to
be the spirit of St. Moling, stood foreward in the
foremost rank of the army of Leinster and in a
voice of thunder declared the dissatisfaction of
heaven at the impiety of Farrell and his people who
had broken the engagement so solemnly entered
into by his predecessor, and that Farrell 's army,
paralyzed with terror, immediately took flight and
was slaughtered almost without resistance. In this
famous battle (fought in the year 725) 30,000 men
were engaged on both sides, of whom 7,000 were
slain.
Until A. D. 795, in the reign of Hugh the
Legislator, Ireland had been free from the northern
scourge which for centuries had swept over England
and the continent of Europe. But Ireland suffered
in common with other countries from later incursions
of pagan sea kings, popularly known as Danes.
From the close of the eighth century for a long
period England, Scotland, France and Ireland were
equally harassed by the continuous raids of those
piratical tribes from Scandinavia, from the shores of
the Baltic, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Those
bold, adventurous spirits in the pursuit of plunder
swept the ocean, over which their habits and num-
bers gave them the command. The union in which
they soon learned to act in their pillaging expedi-
tions, the ruthless barbarity with which they gener-
ally treated their captives, but, above all, the dis-
union and consequent feeble state in which they
found Ireland, as well as those other countries upon
56 HISTORY OF IRKLAND
which they preyed, gave them great advantages.
Their attack on Ireland was fierce and sudden;
they burned, plundered and massacred, particularly
expending their fury upon the church, breaking
down the stone oratories and destroying the religious
houses and schools of learning, burning the ancient
books and manuscripts, melting down the bells,
breaking up the croziers and pastoral staves, and
driving the monks and clergy into the mountains,
compelling the Irish scholars to carry their culture
and philosophy to the great cities of the Buropean
continent.
Some of the Danish expeditions consisted of
more than a hundred ships, filled with trained war-
riors, who speedily fortified for themselves the
strongest positions on the coasts and laid the foun-
dation of maritime towns. The cathedral and City
of Armagh, the schools of Bangor, the cloisters of
Clonmacnoise (famous for its seven churches), and
many more seats of piety and learning fell into
their hands. The sacred vessels of the altars were
turned into drinking cups, and the missals, blazing
with precious stones, were torn from their costly
bindings to furnish ornaments for their sword hilts
and gifts to the scalds, or bards, who sang their
achievements. These merciless invaders burned
monasteries, sacked churches and murdered women
and priests.
Their creed was framed, like that of the Sara-
cens, who threatened the existence of Christendom,
to enlist the strongest human passions in its service.
It taught that it was their right to take without stint
or scruple whatever they could win by the sword-,
and that if they fell in battle they would be trans-
ported to a delicious country, where they would re-
new their warlike raids and be recreated after toil
at majestic feasts in the Hall of Odin and with the
blandishments of celestial nymphs.
HISTORY OF IRELAND 57
The Irisli cHiefs had frequent successes against
the invaders, took many of their strongholds, and
compelled them to make submission from time to
time, but fresh expeditions, eager for plunder, still
arrived from the Baltic and renewed the struggle,
which continued generation after generation, till the
School of the West gradually dwindled and fell into
almost complete decay before the dangers and trou-
bles of a long internecine war.
The Irish kings, divided among themselves,
were unable to oppose a common front to the enemy,
and for many years the Danes held a large part of
Ireland in subjection. They demanded heavy trib-
utes in cattle and money from all whom they con-
quered, and those who were unable to pay were
massacred or reduced to slavery. In innumerable
instances while the Danes were engaged in the work
of pillage they were attacked by the Irish and
driven to their ships. But these successes had little
effect on the indomitable energies of the Northmen,
who invariably returned in greater numbers in a
short time, and from their command of the seas had
their choice of a landing place.
The Danes first confined themselves to preda-
tory expeditions, but soon after they erected castles
and forts near the coast to shelter their booty, until
finally, encouraged by their success and the dissen-
sions of the Irish, they resolved to attempt the com-
plete conquest of the island. About thirty years
after the first appearance of the Danes in Ireland,
during the reign of the monarch Connor, a chieftain
renowned for superiority of rank and daring by the
name of Turgesius, arrived with a formidable body
of Vikings from the northern seas. On his arrival
in Ireland all the Danes who were already in the
country at once acknowledged his authority, and
within a short period he made himself master of a
large portion of the island. He succeeded in estab-
58 HISTORY OF IRELAND
lishing his power to a great extent for many years,
during whicH he exercised over the people a tremen-
dous tyranny. He had fleets of small craft, con-
structed for the purpose, stationed on the principal
lakes in the interior, and he erected throughout
Ireland a great number of castles and forts, where
he kept his troops encamped, and from which
they issued to ravage and plunder the adjacent
territories.
Turgesius destroyed many towns, colleges and
monasteries, massacred thousands of the monks and
clergy, and introduced his own pagan priests and
idols; he banished or killed all the Irish bards and
scholars whom he captured, burned their books, and
destroyed innumerable works of art. During this
unhappy period Ireland was reduced to a complete
state of anarchy; all civilization was retarded, but
the Irish people, so far from practically uniting to
expel the Danes, were generally engaged in civil
war and discord among themselves. The Irish
kings, so long accustomed to think only of their
own personal and family interests, often rejoiced in
the success of a Danish foray which laid waste a
rival province, and some of them even had the base-
ness to enter into alliances with the common
enemy.
Turgesius sometimes resided in his fortress at
Dublin, but he had his chief fortress and palace on
a high hill (near Lough Lene, in Westmeath); this
hill forms on one side a high, precipitous rock, so
that his stronghold was almost inaccessible and im-
pregnable; ''some of the earthen ramparts still re-
main, and to this day the story of Turgesius is told
in the traditions of the people." Turgesius, it is
said, in the insolence of his power, made to Mala-
chy. King of Meath, the dishonorable proposal of
demanding his beautiful daughter as a concubine.
The King of Meath, powerless to openly resist, pre-
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 59
tended to agree to the proposal, but by a well-
planned stratagem he got introduced to the tyrant
fifteen brave and well-armed youths disguised as
women, who made Turgesius prisoner and opened
the gates of his fortress to the forces of Malachy.
These massacred all the Danish guards, carried off
Turgesius himself, bound in chains, and drowned
him in Lough Bnnell, and soon after, on the death
of Niall of Callan (the titular monarch of Ireland),
Malachy, King of Meath and captor of Turgesius,
triumphed over every rival and was immediately
raised to the monarchy.
When intelligence of the death of Turgesius
spread abroad the Irish rose on their oppressors and
a general massacre took place; vast numbers of the
Danes were slaughtered, so that, with the exception
of some few strong places like that of Dublin, Ire-
land was for a time comparatively free from the
Northmen.
The Danes did not at any time succeed in es-
tablishing their power in Ireland as they did in
Kngland and France. The well-nigh complete sway
which they obtained for a few years during the life
of Turgesius was never recovered by the subsequent
adventurers who from time to time molested the
Irish coasts. But the private feuds of the Irish kings
rescued the Northmen from total destruction, and
retaining possession of the seaports, they soon be-
came formidable, though they never regained their
former power in the country. Nothing seemed to
tire or dismay the indefatigable Northmen; they
cared not for their hazardous voyages in frail barks
over dangerous seas; they defied hostile resistance
on the invaded shore and made their fierce and rav-
aging descent; defeat filled them with fresh revenge,
and their return home recruited them for wider
havoc. Such was the character of those terrible sea
kings who from time to time arrived upon the Irish
60 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
coast. About 850 the Danes, having been reinforced
by a fleet of 140 ships from the Baltic Sea, began
their plundering expeditions once more. Whatever
shrine or temple Christian piety had most richly
endowed, Scandinavian rapine was sure to reach.
Internal dissensions enfeebled the country and
strengthened the foe. The Irish kings and chieftains
seemed chiefly intent on mutual slaughter. Not-
withstanding the weakness and destruction caused
by the different interests of their rulers, still the
people of Ireland made a determined though de-
sultory resistance to the invaders.
In 853 three Norwegian princes, named Anlaf,
Ivar and Sitric, with countless crews of fierce war-
riors, swarmed over from the North Sea; they con-
solidated the Danes in Dublin, Waterford and Lim-
erick, and proved themselves powerful enough to
exact tribute from the surrounding country.
During the ninth century the native annals are
almost one melancholy tale of wasting wars, in which
Ireland was desolated and plundered by the Danes
or by the Irish themselves, or by the Irish and
Danes acting together. In 900 Cormac, King of
Munster and Archbishop of Cashel, appeared on the
scene to claim literary and political distinction. In
907 Cormac defeated the monarch Flann on the
plains of Moylena, Kings County, but in a subse-
quent battle with Flann the King of Munster fell
with 6,000 followers. Notwithstanding the unpa-
triotic conduct of many of the Irish chiefs, especially
those of Leinster, who, through cupidity or revenge,
joined the Danish standard, still the great body of
the people maintained a brave struggle against
them. Nothing hindered the Danes from conquer-
ing Ireland so much as that division of the kingly
power which prevailed among them as well as
among the Irish and the Anglo Saxons.
Some amalgamation between the foreigners and
HISTORY OF IRELAND 61
natives gradually took place, and in tlie latter part
of the ninth century we begin to read of the Dano-
Irish or Irish-Danes, who partly adopted the man-
ners, customs and language of the country. Dur-
ing the two hundred years that the Danes continued
on a hostile footing in the island, we find them gen-
erally aided in their wars both in Ireland and in
England by unpatriotic Irish chiefs, who in turn
availed themselves of Danish alliance to help them
in their private quarrels.
In the course of time permanent colonies of
Danes were planted at the mouths of the principal
rivers. They firmly established themselves at Dub-
lin, Waterford, Wexford, Cork and Limerick; they
built fortified towns and formed active trading com-
munities along the coast, and occasionally pushed
their settlements into the interior of the island.
CHAPTER VIII.
BRIAN BORU AND MALACHY II. (a. D. 959 TO 1014).
The crown of Ireland during the long and des-
perate struggle with the Danes gradually yielded to
the ambition of its various tributary kings, till in
the tenth century the monarchy had become little
more than a shadow, and the main obstacle to the
ravages of the Danes was now found in the skill or
valor of a succession of subordinate chiefs in dif-
ferent parts of Ireland.
A long rivalry and contest between the people
of the North of Ireland and those of the South in-
creased in proportion as the supreme guiding power
became enfeebled, and gradually the monarchs of
the whole isle, which for centuries were restricted to
one family, shrunk before the vigor of a crown that
was alternately borne by the representatives of two
brave clans, each mutually emulative of the other.
The island in the course of time, instead of being
really subjected to one supreme ruler, became in
fact divided into two distinct divisions, practically
independent of each other, the power of the mon-
arch of Ireland being restricted to the northern half,
while the southern half fell to the bold and ambi-
tious kings of Munster.
In the latter part of the tenth century the
throne of Munster was occupied by Mahon, whose
brother, the renowned Brian Born, was one of the
most celebrated heroes in the whole range of Irish
history. Brian, the acknowledged hero of his clan,
the Dalcassians ("who were the first in the field and
HISTORY OF IRELAND 63
the last to leave it"), was, even in his youthful
years, distinguished by his rare skill and bravery in
resisting the encroachments of the people of Con-
naught as well as the inroads of the Danes.
In Munster the Danes met with disaster from
the bravery of King Mahon and his brother Brian,
who in 969 inflicted upon them so terrible a defeat
in a great battle at the pass of Sulcoid, near Limer-
ick, that they left 3,000 of the foreigners dead on
the field of battle in addition to those who were
slain in the pursuit. The Danes were driven pell-
mell into Limerick by the victorious Irish, who,
entering with them, again committed terrible slaugh-
ter, captured, sacked and burned the city, and put
all the Danish inhabitants to the sword or reduced
them to slavery.
Having crushed the Danes in this part of the
country, Brian Born, upon the death of his brother,
Mahon, who was basely murdered by some treacher-
ous chiefs in 976, succeeded to the throne of Mun-
ster, over which he ruled with great power and
prosperity for a long period. The gallant Brian
lost no time in wreaking a terrible vengeance upon
the murderers, who, though supported by a strong
force of Danes, were defeated near Mahon 's grave
in the sanguinary battle of the Road of the Sepul-
chre, in which one of the assassins, named Molloy,
was slain by Brian's eldest son, Murrough, then
only fifteen years of age, who killed the murderer
of his uncle with his own hand.
King Brian after this victory determined to
pursue his success against the Danish auxiliaries,
who had fled early in the battle, and had thus ex-
posed their Irish allies to a more disastrous defeat
than they would otherwise have experienced. He
proceeded to the holy isle of Scattery, in the mouth
of the Shannon, which, with its eleven churches
and the shrine of St. Senan, had been repeatedly
64 HISTORY OF IRELAND
plundered and ravaged by the Danish invaders, who
had finally established themselves there and made it
their stronghold, from which they issued to desolate
the surrounding coasts.
Brian landed on the island with a strong force
of Dalcassian warriors and slew with his own hand
the Danish chieftain and his two sons and drove the
foreigners not only from Scattery, but also from all
the smaller isles of the Shannon, which he plun-
dered and laid desolate. In a subsequent engage-
ment with Donovan (the remaining assassin of Ma-
hon) that chieftain, with all his Irish forces and
Danish allies, was cut off, and thus King Mahon's
fate was fearfully avenged by his valiant brother.
These repeated successes raised the reputation
and influence of the King of Munster to such a de-
gree that he soon became not only the terror of the
Danes, but a dangerous rival to the nominal mon-
arch of Ireland, and gradually we find him aspiring
to join to the southern division the supreme sover-
eignty of the island, the grand object of the ambi-
tion of many of his predecessors, whose efforts were
at length crowned by the genius and political talents
of Brian Boru.
Malachy II. succeeded to the throne of Ireland
in 980 on the death of Donald O'Niall, the successor
of Connell, who was killed in 959 in a great battle
against the people of Leinster and the Danes. The
accession of Malachy was signalized by a great vic-
tory over the Danes of Dublin and their allies from
the Scottish Isles, who penetrated into the very
heart of his dominions. King Malachy boldly
turned assailant, and attacking the main body of the
enemy, he overthrew them at Tara in a conflict of
three days, in which 5,000 of the foreigners were
slain.
The beaten foe was forced to accept whatever
terms the monarch pleased to dictate, and among
HISTORY OF IRKI.AND 65
others was the unconditional liberation of all the
Irish held by the enemy. The monarch's edict to
this effect was followed by the release of two thou-
sand persons, among whom was the King of Lein-
ster. In no former battle on the Irish shores had
the Danes ever experienced so great a slaughter or
lost so many distinguished chiefs.
Christianity had already made its way to some
extent among the Irish-Danes, though it appears as
yet to have done little towards checking their preda-
tory spirit or diminishing their cruelty.
In 983 an effort of the people of Leinster to
rid themselves of the odious and humiliating tribute
which the kings of Munster had for a long time
claimed of that province as a subordinate portion of
the southern half of Ireland, brought Brian into
collision with them and the monarch Malachy, and
perhaps first suggested that daring course which he
successfully pursued till it conducted him to the
imperial seat of Ireland. O'Phelan, Prince of De-
sies (County Waterford), organized the confederacy
which the Prince of Ossory (County Kilkenny) and
the Danes of Cork and Waterford joined. The
active Brian was instantly in the field; he fell upon
the whole body of the allies, routed them with
great slaughter, entered Waterford and broke up
the confederacy; proceeded to Ossory, obtained
hostages and made the prince his prisoner; marched
rapidly through Leinster, reduced it to obedience,
and received in his tent acknowledgments of alle-
giance and homage from its two kings.
*'Such," says Dr. Young, "were the early
manifestations of that military genius which soon
blazed forth and shed its lustre upon his long career
to its very close — a genius which entitled him to the
conspicuous position he subsequently held and which
qualified him for a wider sphere of action — a genius
which still recommends him to the historian and the
66 HISTORY OF IRELAND
poet.'' But these brilliant successes did not pro-
cure quiet for Brian; they appear only to have
provoked the jealousy of Malachy and prompted him
to try his prowess against the provincial hero.
While the latter was enforcing the Leinster
tribute the monarch made a raid into Munster, and
among other injuries, ordered to be cut down that
Royal Oak at Adair, under whose boughs the Dal-
cassian kings had long been inaugurated. Thus
Brian and Malachy became openly embroiled with
each other in a struggle for supremacy, which, with
some intermissions, continued for nearly twenty
years.
Soon after Malachy invaded Leinster, which,
according to the twofold partition of the island be-
fore noticed, was under the dominion of Brian; this
division of the country which gave the sovereignty
of the northern portion to the monarch and
the southern to the crown of Munster, now engen-
dered or fostered that strife which ended in the ele-
vation of the able and ambitious Brian to the throne
of all Ireland. Brian was quickly in motion and
compelled Malachy, without coming to blows, to ac-
knowledge his authority over Leinster and the
southern half of Ireland and his right to the Lein-
ster tribute, which was the point immediately at
issue.
These adjustments were followed by a rare in-
terval of five years in the reign of civil discord.
But Brian was not satisfied; his proud spirit seems
to have been stung by the injuries and insults of the
nominal monarch. His own feelings were wounded;
his country was torn to pieces by the feuds of rival
and reckless chieftains; the people were oppressed
by barbarous strangers, who held their maritime
towns and plundered their venerated temples; and
Ireland was no way protected, either against foreign
invasion or internecine strife, by an authority able
HISTORY OF IRELAND 67
to command respect at home or to ward off danger
from abroad.
For these reasons Brian prepared to assume the
reins of the imperial government. During the quiet
which he enjoyed after his settlement with the mon-
arch he continued to train and augment the troops
composed of his brave clansmen of Clare, to rein-
force them from various quarters, and to plan out
his intended campaigns. All things being in readi-
ness, he divided his arni}^ and swept like a tempest
over IVIeath and Connaught and burned the royal
stronghold at Tara.
Meanwhile Malachy did not lose sight of the
Danes, whose inroads now became more freqiient
and more destructive, arising chiefly from the arrival
of new adventurers from the North. After defeating
them in a great battle he laid siege to Dublin, their
stronghold, which he reduced to such extremities
that the inhabitants were compelled to agree to pay
him yearly, in addition to the usual tribute, one
ounce of gold for every principal dwelling-house in
the cit3^ Soon after he triumphed over them again,
carrying off as trophies the golden collar of Tomar
and the sword of Carlus. Brian's last inroad into
Meath was followed by a new alliance with Malachy
which lasted for three years, and uniting their forces
against the Danes, the two kings defeated them in
two great battles in 998.
In the following year the Danes, with a formid-
able force, attacked the combined armies of Brian
and Malachy at Glen Mama, in Leinster, but suf-
fered a total defeat, with a loss of 6,000 men and all
their chief leaders. After this great victory the
Irish kings entered Dublin, and having sacked the
town, from which they carried off great spoils of
gold, silver and merchandise, they set fire to the
houses and destroyed the fortifications.
It became daily more evident that the power of
68 HISTORY OF IRELAND
Munster, under Brian Boru, who was not only a
great general but also an able diplomat, would be-
fore long overwhelm the throne of the family of the
great Niall. In 1002 Brian, who appears to have
attached to his interest nearly all the great chieftains,
and even the Danish leaders, collected a large army
and marched direct into Meath, deposed King Mal-
achy, who, having been deserted by the northern
chiefs, resigned the crown without a struggle. Brian
received the submission of and took hostages from
the chieftains of Ulster, and gathering all the power
into his own hands, was acknowledged sovereign of
all Ireland.
Brian Boru, eminently endowed by nature and
prepared by discipline and experience to exercise
authority, made a just and wise king, and for twelve
years he ruled in triumph and in peace. The power
and authority to which he had attained Brian
wielded with such vigor, sagacity and success that
made his reign as supreme monarch one of unusual
glory, prosperity and happiness for his country. In
the earlier part of his reign Brian, in order to pre-
serve his authority, was ever on foot. His royal
progresses were incessant. The chieftains of the
North of Ireland at first gave him some trouble, but
at length he caused his power to be respected nearly
as much in Ulster as at the mouth of the Shannon.
Brian visited Armagh frequently, the cathedral
of which he enriched with many costly gifts. The
Danish settlers purchased safety by becoming tribu-
tary, and the feuds of the subordinate kings and
great chieftains were checked by the vigor and pru-
dence of the monarch, whose wise administration
could not fail of being attended by peace and order.
The bards describe the reign of Brian Boru as
Ireland's golden age. Such private virtues and
public tranquillity prevailed that, says the legend, a
fair maiden walked alone and unmolested over the
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 69
whole kingdom, adorned with gold and gems, with
a white wand in her hand, having on its top a costly
ring. Brian lived in his palace of Kincora in a
style of regal splendor and magnificence unequaled
by any of the Irish kings since the days of Cormac
MacArt, the celebrated monarch of Ireland in the
third century, the glories of whose palace at Tara
were for many ages the favorite theme of the Irish
bards. The palace of Kincora was situated on the
banks of the Shannon, near Killaloe, in the County
of Clare, and some extensive earthen ramparts
showing its site remain to this day.
The annalists speak of the immensity of the
annual tribute that was brought to Brian at his pal-
ace of Kincora on the first day of November. This
tribute from all parts of Ireland was employed by
Brian in the encouragement of literature, in restor-
ing and founding schools, churches and monasteries,
in rebuilding and embellishing the royal palaces, in
erecting fortifications for the protection of the na-
tion, and in making roads and bridges through his
extensive domains.
CHAPTER IX.
BATTLE OF CLONTARF — APRIL 23, 1014.
In A. D. 1013 the Danes, who had been re-
duced under Brian Boru's vigorous rule into quiet
traders in the seaport towns of Ireland, began to
make extraordinary preparations for war, and the
monarch of Ireland now found himself involved in
a contest more fearful than any he had hitherto ex-
perienced, but Brian proved himself equal to the
emergency.
Sitric, the Danish ruler of Dublin, having
leas'ued with his maternal uncle, Maolmora Mac-
Murrough, the Irish King of Leinster, to avenge
the various defeats and disasters which they had
sustained in their battles with Brian Boru and Mal-
achy. King of Meath, determined if possible to
acquire the entire sovereignty of Ireland; they for
this purpose secretly dispatched emissaries to collect
and combine all the forces they possibly could for
the invasion of Ireland among the Danes and Nor-
wegians of England and of the Orkney Islands, the
Hebrides, the Isle of Man, together with auxil-
iaries from Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and
also, it is said, from the Normans of France and
Belgium, with some Britons from Wales and
Cornwall.
A powerful fleet, with these combined forces of
foreigners, arrived at the bay of Dublin on Palm
Sunday, the 18th of April, A. D. 1014, under the
command of Brodar, the Danish admiral. The
whole of these foreign forces, together with the
CaAi'iiiR iX.
BATTLE OF CLONTARF — APRIL 23, 1014.
In A. D. 1013 the Danes, who had been re-
duced under Brian lioru's vigorous rule into quiet
traders in the seav ' ' md, began to
make extraordinary ^ , . war, and the
monarch of Ireland now found himself involved in
a contest more fearful than any he liaO ^n'therto ex-
p v,V>,.r^^, (^u^t^^^^/jr^^^J'^ir^^f.rvieCTqi/ta the
•cy.
ic, the Danish ruler of Dublin, having
, - ,; with his maternal uncle, Maolmora Mac-
ough, the Irish King of Leinster, to avenge
"i-'us defeat.- ' " sters which they had
.d in their i ; Brian Boru and Mai-
King of Meat] ^mined if ixissible to
entire st)\ ^f Ireland; they for
^ secretl}' d. niissaries tvs c Hert
:bine all the : ]x>ssibly corJ.
^ Ireland .i.::;.;
_^land and of tl-
he Isle of Man, to; nth auxil-
" nniark, Norw oweden, and
, from the'N i of France and
sobie Britons from Wales and
^eet, with these combined forces of
at the bay of Dublin on Palm
' .Vpril, A. D. 1014, under the
the Danish admiral. The
ti forces, together with the
HISTORY OF IRELAND 71
Danes of Dublin and other parts of Ireland,
numbered 12,000 men, and their Irish allies, the
men of Leinster, under Maolmora MacMurrough,
King of Leinster, numbered 9,000, thus making in
all 21,000 men; these were divided into seven bat-
talions, each of which consisted of 3,000 men.
The forces from Denmark, Norway and Sweden
were under the command of two princes, named
Carolus Knutus and Andreas, sons of Sueno, King
of Denmark; and a body of 1,000 Norwegian war-
riors, in coats of mail of brass and iron, was com-
manded by Carolus and Anrud, two sons of Eric,
King of Norway. The Northmen from the Ork-
neys, Hebrides, Isle of Man and England were
commanded by Sigurd, Earl of Orkneys, assisted
by Brodar, the Danish admiral, and other chiefs.
The Danes of Dublin and other parts of Ire-
land were commanded by Sitric, the Danish ruler,
and two valiant chiefs named Dolat and Conmaol.
Their Irish allies of Leinster were commanded by
their king, Maolmora, and his chiefs.
Brian had been some time making preparations
to meet this powerful confederacy of foreign and
domestic enemies, and having collected his forces he
encamped on the plains of Kilmainham, near Dub-
lin. Having already defeated the Danes in twenty-
nine pitched battles, Brian now prepared to put a
final end to their power in what proved to be one of the
decisive battles of history, the last great struggle in
Ireland between Christianity and Paganism — the
most brilliant and memorable conflict which had
ever been fought on Irish soil.
In this famous battle the Dalcassians of North
Munster were commanded by Brian in person, but
he gave the active command to his eldest son, Mur-
rough, assisted by his four other sons — Teige,
Donal, Connor and Flann. Turlough, the son of
Murrough and grandson of Brian, together with fif-
72 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
teen other young chiefs who were relations of Brian,
also fought in this battle. Brian's son Donough
had been dispatched secretly with a choice body of
men to plunder Leinster, with strict orders to rejoin
Brian within two days, but on his return the battle
was over.
Murrough had the chief command, and though
beyond the period of middle age, being in his sixty-
third year, yet he displayed marvelous energy, being
a man of great physical strength and distinguished
valor. The Eugenians, or troops of South Mun-
ster, were commanded by Cian, Prince of Desmond,
ancestor of the O'Mahoneys, and he is stated to
have exceeded all the men of Erin in stature and
beauty.
Various other chiefs are mentioned as com-
manders of the Munster clans, who were led to
Clontarf by the ancestors of the O'Briens, McCar-
thys, O'Mahoneys, O'Conors, O'Carrolls, O'Con-
nells, O'Donoghoes, O'Donovans, McNamaras,
O'Phelans, O'Keefes, O'Scanlans and others.
The Connaught forces who came to the aid of
Brian were commanded by Teige O'Connor, king of
that province; O'Kelly and O'Heyne, both princes
in Galway; O'Flaherty, ancestor of the lords of
West Connaught of that name; O'Cadhla, prince of
Connemara, and Conor, prince in Roscommon, an-
cestor of the McDermotts. Malachy, King of
Meath, came with 1,000 men.
Flaherty O'Neill was at this time King of
Ulster, and though he himself did not come, some of
the chiefs of that province joined the standard of
Brian at Clontarf. O' Carroll, Prince of Ulster,
and Maguire, Prince of Fermanagh, who are men-
tioned as two of the most illustrious men of Erin,
came with their forces, and Felim O'Neill, a famous
warrior who had killed a Danish champion in single
combat and carried off his shield, which was orna-
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 73
merited with silver, and hence he was called ''Felim
of the Silver Shield."
The great Stewarts of Lennox and Marr came
with their forces from Scotland to assist the Irish
monarch. Brian's entire army engaged at Clontarf
numbered about 20,000 men, and the combined
forces of Danes and their allies 21,000.
At sunrise on the morning of Good Friday, the
23rd of April, Brian, at the head of his forces,
marched from his camp at Kilmainham to Clontarf
and made an animating harangue, encouraging his
men to the encounter against those fierce pirates
and pagans who had so frequently laid waste the
country with ruthless fury; and holding a sword in
his right hand and a crucifix in his left, he exhorted
them by the symbol of the cross, and reminding
them that the day was the anniversary of Christ's
Passion, he assured them of victory. Yielding to
the infirmities of age, Brian left them to fight under
his son Murrough and retired to his tent in the
rear.
Brian's standard was advanced and the raven-
bearing banners of the Danes unfurled; fierce battle
cries and shouts of defiance arose on either side.
The Irish bards raised their war-song and the Dan-
ish poets recited their battle odes and animated their
champions to the contest; the brazen-tongued war
trumpets were blown with terrific blasts; the war-
riors rushed to the struggle and the conflict raged
with surpassing fury on all sides; showers of missiles
and darts darkened the air and volleys of stones
from slings whizzed through the ranks; swords and
battle-axes rang on helmets and coats of mail;
spears were shivered in the shock; shields and buck-
lers were rent asunder; champions were cut down,
heroes were hacked and hewn to pieces, and in
heaps of carnage lay the slain.
The brave Murrough, son of Brian, led the van
74 HISTORY OF IRELAND
and various Irish chiefs performed prodigies of
valor. Among these Turlough, son of Murrough,
then only in his 16th year, was particularly distin-
guished for his prowess and deeds of heroism. The
battalion of Northmen in coats of mail did great
execution among the Irish during the early part of
the battle, but being attacked by Murrough, at the
head of his chosen troops, those steel-clad champions
were cloven down and hewed through their iron
helmets and armor by the heavy battle-axes and
strong arms of the dauntless and well-disciplined
Dalcassians, and scarcely one of the foreign warriors
escaped to tell the fortunes of the day.
Of the Danish commanders, Murrough slew in
single combat Sigurd, Karl of Orkneys, whose
skull he clove with a single blow of his battle-ax.
The valiant chiefs Carolus and Conmaol were also
slain by Murrough, and Anrud, son of the King of
Norway, seeing his brothar Carolus slain, furiously
encountered Murrough, whose right hand was swol-
len and unable to wield the battle- ax from incessant
exertion during the day, but with his left hand he
seized Anrud, and literally "shaking him out of his
coat of mail," he prostrated and pierced him through
the body with his sword, but the Norwegian as he
fell grasped the dagger of Murrough hanging at his
side, and, as the latter stooped over him, plunged it
into his breast and gave the Irish hero a mortal
wound, of which he died the following morning.
The combat of Murrough with Anrud happened
in the evening, and the Danish forces were at that
time nearly vanquished, and were soon after put to
flight in all directions. Brodar, the Danish com-
mander, having fled into a wood near Brian's tent,
perceived that the king was guarded only by a few
attendants, and taking advantage of the opportu-
nity, he and his followers rushed into the royal
tent; he slew the king with his sword, and at the
HISTORY OF IRELAND 75
same time cut down Conang, a brave youth and
nephew of Brian, who valiantly interposed to save
the life of his royal master. The aged hero, though
taken by surprise, seized his battle-ax, made a brave
resistance and slew two of his assailants. The as-
sassin, rushing forth, raised his bloody sword aloft
and exclaimed: "Let it be proclaimed from man to
man that Brian has fallen by the hand of Brodar! ' '
The Danish chieftain thus endeavored to rally his
flying forces and renew the contest, and Brian's
guards, having heard of the king's death, returned
and rushed on Brodar and his followers with great
fury, cut them to pieces, and having seized Brodar
himself, put' him to death with * 'excruciating
torments."
The battle had now raged with great fury from
morning till near sunset, but the foreigners and
their allies were discomfited and routed on all sides.
Their ranks were broken, their battalions scattered,
their champions cut down, their standard-bearers
slain, and their raven-bearing banners trampled in
the dust. The remnant of their forces fled from the
field in all directions, some to Dublin and some to
their ships. The Irish warriors, like a rushing tor-
rent, pursued the flying foreigners, and terrific was
the uproar and clamor of the combatants amid the
clashing of arms, the fierce shouts of the victors
and the wild shrieks of the vanquished. Sitric,
with the remnant of his Danish forces and their
Leinster Irish allies, fled to Dublin.
In the well-contested and sanguinary conflict of
Clontarf many thousands fell on either side. At
least 10,000 of the Danes and 3,000 of their Irish
allies of Leinster and about 7,000 of the troops
under Brian fell at Clontarf, the whole thus num-
bering 20,000 men (nearly one-half of the combat-
batants) slain in that historic battle.
Maolmora, King of Leinster, with 3,000 of his
76 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
forces and many of liis chiefs fell in the engage-
ment, and almost all the Danish commanders were
slain. On the side of the Irish fell King Brian
and his heroic son Murrough, together with Tur-
lough, the son of Murrough, and Conang, nephew
of Brian, and many of the great chieftains of
Munster.
The renowned Brian thus fell in the 88th year
of his age, and he has always been justly celebrated
as one of the greatest of the Irish monarchs. He
was alike eminent for his valor, wisdom, abilities,
piety, munificence, and his patronage of learning
and the arts. From the greatness of his character
as a hero and legislator he has been called the Irish
Alfred, and by the Four Masters he is designated
"The Augustus of Western Europe." By his vari-
ous victories over the Danes, particularly that of
Clontarf, he freed his country forever from the
Danish scourge.
Brian had directed by his will that his body
should be interred at Armagh, the cathedral of
which he had endowed with large gifts of cattle and
gold. The dead monarch's body was embalmed, the
obsequies continued incessantly for twelve days and
nights with great solemnity and magnificence, and
the remains were then buried in a stone coffin at the
north side of the great altar in the cathedral of Ar-
magh. The bodies of Murrough, son of Brian, and
his son Turlough, together with the remains of
Conang, nephew of Brian, and of O'Phelan, Prince
of Waterford, were buried at the same time in the
south side of the cathedral.
CHAPTER X.
STRUGGLES FOR THE CROWN (a. D. 1014 TO 1166).
Brian's Battle, as the victory at Clontarf is
called in the Danish chronicles, was such a disaster
to the foreigners as prevented any further serious
confederation of them for the future invasion of Ire-
land. Though the island was not entirely free from
Danish incursions till the beginning of the 12th
century, yet from that terrible day at Clontarf their
long cherished dreams of the conquest of Ireland
appear to have been abandoned.
With the death of Brian Bom perished the
glory, the tranquillity and the prosperity of his
country; after the battle of Clontarf Brian's entire
system of united government passed away. The
great chieftains whom he had humbled reasserted
their turbulent independence, and the deposed Mal-
achy II. again became nominal monarch. The
Danes, who for over two centuries had been a for-
midable and at times a dominant power in Ireland,
were so broken by their overthrow at Clontarf that
they never again became dangerous. Remaining in
the great seaport towns, they were never completely
driven out of Ireland, but carried on fierce feuds
with the native clans, and were, in the slow process
of time, absorbed and united with them or with the
Anglo-Irish of the Pale.
The condition of society was changing. The
ancient tribal system was falling into decay. The
lands of the tribes or clans were becoming monopo-
lized by the noble class. The free clansmen were
78 HISTORY OF IRELAND
deteriorating, wliile the chief and great men were
absorbing all political and social power. As the
chieftains became more absolute they in time as-
sumed the privilege of quartering themselves and
their attendants upon their subjects at their own
pleasure.
This oppressive custom in time was changed to
a tribute. As the tribal land became occupied and
the population grew the clans, always jealous of
each other, became aggressive. Lands were seized,
cattle lifted, laws set at defiance, and personal and
family ambition prompted the chieftains to encour-
age the tribal strife. Ireland no longer existed as
a compact nation, but was divided into five virtually
independent provinces or kingdoms, animated by
almost perpetual hostility.
From the death of Malachy II. in 1022 until
the Welsh-Norman invasion in 1 169 there is little else
to relate but a constant struggle, with varying suc-
cess of ambitious provincial kings for the crown of
all Ireland, with many efforts on the part of the
church to restore peace and order by the mediation
of its pacific influence. During this protracted
struggle for the supreme power Brian's celebrated
palace of Kincora, on the Shannon, in Munster,
was destroyed by the northern chieftains, and in re-
taliation, Aileach, on Lough Swilly, in Ulster, the
no less famous palace of the O'Neills, was leveled
to the ground by the O' Brians, who, we are told,
carried away the materials, stone by stone, to
Limerick.
Thus for nearly 150 years the ancient annals
record little more than a succession of civil wars,
during which the history of Ireland is mainly the
history of the ambitions, jealousies, feuds and wars
of the five great clans: the O' Brians of Munster,
the O'Neills of Ulster, the MacMurroughs of Lein-
Ster, the Q'Malachys of Meath and the O'Conors
HISTORY OF IRELAND 79
of Connaught, and, in a word, internal dissensions
were gradually but surely preparing the way for na-
tional decay, successful invasion, loss of liberty and
a foreign yoke.
The great victory at Clontarf so weakened the
power of the Dalcassian heroes, who bore the brunt
of that memorable battle and had lost very heavily,
that their chieftains were unable to retain their pre-
eminence; but in 1072, on the death of Dermot
(King of Leinster, who had succeeded Malachy II.
as monarch of Ireland), they again pushed to the
front, and Turlough O' Brian, son of Teige and
grandson of Brian Born, became ruler over the
greater part of the island for a period of fourteen
years, when he died at Kincora.
He was succeeded by his son, Murty the
Great, who maintained the ascendancy of the house
of Brian, and then Donald, King of Ulster, became
for two years nominal monarch till his death in
1121. After Donald's death Turlough O'Conor,
King of Connaught, put in a claim, and after long
contests and many battles he finally wrested the
sovereignty from the O' Brians by sowing dissension
between the Bugenian and Dalcassian princes, who
were rival claimants to the throne of Munster.
The great struggle between the O' Conors and
O 'Brians was brought to a close by the decisive bat-
tle of Moin Mor, fought in 1151 in Cork, near the
River Blackwater, in which 9,000 Dalcassians, un-
der King Turlough O' Brian, deserted by their kins-
men, the Hugenians, were ovenvhelmed by superior
numbers and totally defeated. Those heroes, Spar-
tan-like, refused to yield or ask for quarter, and up-
wards of 7,000 of them, including their chief lead-
ers, were slain.
From this time forward the kings of Connaught
and Ulster became the principal candidates for the
supreme power. O'Conor, after the great battle
80 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
of Moin Mor, liad to contend with Murty O'Neill,
King of Ulster, and the conflict continued till 1156,
when Turlough O' Conor died, and Murty suc-
ceeded to the sovereignty of the whole island.
In 1166, on the death of Murty O'Neill, who
fell near Lough Neagh in the battle of Litterluin,
Roderic O' Conor, son of Turlough O' Conor and
King of Connaught, succeeded to the supreme sov-
ereignty without opposition. He was the last mon-
arch of independent Ireland.
CHAPTER XI.
THE FIRST WELSH-NORMAN INVASION (a. D. 1169).
At the opening of the period beginning with
the Welsh-Norman invasion, centuries of oppression
and disorder had not only retarded all national ad-
vance, but occasioned a marked decline of prosper-
ity and civilization in Ireland. The refinement and
literature of the early ages had not been productive
of that diffusive, popular influence which is the pe-
culiar growth of modem times. There was, there-
fore, no rooted civilization sufficiently powerful to
withstand the repeated shocks of invasion, feud,
rapine and oppression which darken the Irish an-
nals during a period of nearly four hundred years
after the coming of the first Danish invaders.
The Normans, who came originally from the
same part of Europe as the Danes, were those fierce
Scandinavian rovers whose incomparable energy and
daring had carried them to Greenland, Iceland and
America, and to the shores of the Mediterranean
Sea. After centuries of wandering piracy the Nor-
mans at length embraced Christianity, without put-
ting off their adventurous restlessness, and founded
principalities in France, Italy and other parts of
Europe. In the latter part of the 11th century
they crushed the Anglo-Saxons in the memorable
battle of Hastings, which victory gave them undis-
puted possession of England. A century after the
Norman conquest of England, Ireland was struck
by the last wave of a deluge of conquests which had
overwhelmed all the neighboring nations. Towards
82 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
the close of tlie 12th century the Normans cast long-
ing eyes on Ireland and found a foothold there
through the jealousies and consequent disunion
to which a tribal and pastoral people are peculiarly
liable. The population of Ireland at this time did
not exceed a million and was divided into a great
number of clans or tribes. These clans were subdi-
vided into two great classes: the free clans, consist-
ing chiefly of the Milesian race, and the clans
which had been reduced by the sword to a state of
bondage.
The latter were mainly descendants of the
primitive races of Ireland and the slaves imported
from England and other countries.
Under the laws of the Milesians it was con-
sidered a crime to record the history of the con-
quered races who had been reduced to servitude at
the beginning of the Milesian conquest, and thus
the more ancient Irish fared at the hands of their
Milesian conquerors as the Milesians themselves
fared in after times at the hands of the English his-
torians. Of the free clans at this period the most
powerful were the O'Briansof Munster, the O'Neills
of Ulster, the O'Conors of Connaught, the Mac-
Murroughs of Leinster and the O'Malachys of
Meath.
All Ireland, with the exception of a few seaport
towns where the Danes had settled, was in the
hands of Irish kings and chiefs of old descent and
famous lineage, who quarreled among themselves as
readily and fiercely as though their interest, ambi-
tion and pleasure were war. The Irish constitution
was little altered from pagan times. There were
still five kings, one of whom was elected supreme
monarch, and he received tribute from the four sub-
ordinate kings. This tribute, after the introduction
of Christianity, consisted chiefly of cattle, but in
the pagan times slaves were commonly offered as
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 83
tribute, and at the time of the Norman invasion
slavery had not yet died out in Ireland. The Irish,
uniting the principle of election with the principle
of descent, not the eldest but the most popular or
powerful member of the family was chosen monarch,
king or chieftain.
The ancient division of Ireland into five prov-
inces or kingdoms was still preserved. The sover-
eignty over the whole, which for centuries had been
held by the descendants of Niall of the Nine Hos-
tages, was, since the days of Brian Born, possessed
by different chieftains, and now it was assumed by
the O' Conors, kings of Connaught.
Ireland had long since fallen from the proud
position in civilization and learning which it had re-
tained during three centuries after the introduction
of Christianity in 432. The elements of progress
and improvement disappeared in the long and des-
perate struggle with the Danes, and in the no less
disastrous struggle for supremacy between rival
clans after the death of King Brian in 1014. The
coast cities which the Danes had founded or re-
tained, such as Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork
and Limerick, remained chiefly Danish in blood and
manners and at feud with the surrounding Celtic
clans, though generally forced by the fortunes of
war to pay tribute and acknowledge the sovereignty
of the Irish kings. When Roderic O 'Conor became
monarch an old feud between Tiernan O'Rourke,
Prince of Brefny (a territory in the eastern part of
Connaught), and Dermot MacMurrough, King of
Leinster, broke out anew. The clans as well as in-
terests of O'Rourke and Dermot had long been op-
posed and came into collision as early as 1140.
The elopement of the wife of O'Rourke, Devor-
gilla, with Dermot in 1153, completed the deadly
nature of their enmity. The monarch, Turlough
O'Conor, avenged the injured husband and extorted
84 HISTORY OF IRELAND
conditions from King Dermot which considerably
diminished his power, but Dermot found a friend in
Murty O'Neill when the latter became monarch,
and during his reign O'Rourke was oppressed and
insulted with impunity.
Roderic O 'Conor in assuming the supreme
power warmly espoused O'Rourke's cause and his
power of punishing was greatly increased by a gen-
eral combination of the chiefs against Dermot, whom
the latter had wronged or insulted, and the people
of Leinster, exasperated as they had been by his ar-
bitrary, insolent and cruel conduct, Leinster was
invaded and its king, almost completely abandoned
even by his own subjects, fled for temporary safety
to Ferns, his capital city, and concealed himself
there in St. Mary's monastery, which he had
founded, but being pressed by his pursuers he es-
caped to the sea coast, and with a few followers fled
to England, A. D. 1168.
Dermot hastened to France, where the Norman
King of Bngland, Henry II., was pursuing his
plans of aggrandizement, and besought his assist-
ance and did him homage. The Anglo-Norman
king had already marked Ireland for conquest, as a
nation divided against itself . Dermot's quarrel and
expulsion was King Henry's opportunity. The lat-
ter accordingly gave his royal permission to the de-
posed Irish king to enlist any of his English or
Welsh subjects who might be willing to engage in
the proposed expedition against Ireland.
On his return to England Dermot proclaimed
rewards of extensive possessions in Ireland to all
those who would aid him in the recovery of his
crown. After the decisive battle of Hastings in
1066 several of the Norman nobles who had not re-
ceived any share of the Anglo-Saxon estates, or who
had wasted in dissipation the lands acquired by the
conquest of England, obtained from the Anglo-
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 85
Norman kings permission to conquer for themselves
possessions in Wales.
The southern part of the country, known as
the County of Pembroke, at length, after a stubborn
resistance by the brave Welsh, was overrun and oc-
cupied by the Norman adventurers. The first per-
son of consequence whose attention was attracted by
the liberality of Dermot's promises was Richard de
Clare, son and heir of Gilbert de Clare, Earl
of Pembroke, the chief of the conquered territory
in Wales.
Richard de Clare, commonly called Strongbow
from his great strength and feats of archery, was
a kinsman of King Henry II. and descended from a
great and illustrious family, being a great-grandson
of that Richard de Clare who had distinguished
himself in the ranks of William the Conqueror at
the memorable battle of Hastings. Strongbow was
celebrated for his valor and military skill, but his
dissipated habits had ruined his fortunes, and his
great ambition deprived him of royal favor. To
this nobleman Dermot promised that if restored by
his aid to his kingdom in Ireland he would give him
his daughter Eva in marriage and secure him the
inheritance of Leinster.
This promise was directly at variance with
the Irish law, which made the succession to the
crown elective and acknowledged no right in the fe-
male descendants, but Strongbow lent a willing ear
to these conditions and agreed to sail for Ireland in
the following spring. Having concluded this agree-
ment, Dermot succeeded in engaging a group of
Welsh-Norman leaders, of whom the most conspic-
uous was the family of the FitzGeralds, or Gerald-
ines, and these also engaged to sail over to Ireland
in the spring.
These Geraldines, who were of ancient and
noble descent, were Normans in the male and Welsh
86 HISTORY OP IREI.AND
in the female line. Many of them were closely
united in one family connection by their descent
from one remarkable woman — Nesta — the beautiful
princess of South Wales. The chief of these were
Maurice FitzGerald and his maternal brother, Rob-
ert FitzStephen. The circumstances and tempers
of these half-brothers corresponded with Strongbow's
and disposed them to a ready acceptance of Dermot's
offers of the surrender to them of the City of Wex-
ford and the grant of a large tract of land adjoining.
With FitzGerald and FitzStephen were joined Myler
FitzHenry, Maurice de Prendergast, Hervey de
Montmorris, Robert de Barry and some other
knights of reputation.
Having made these arrangements Dermot re-
turned to Ireland, where he found a secure asylum
in the monastery at Ferns during the winter months.
Barly in the spring of 1169, at the head of a few
native and some foreign troops who had accompa-
nied him from Wales, Dermot boldly entered the
field and made himself master of a part of Leinster.
King Roderic, alarmed at his reappearance, col-
lected the national forces, and with O'Rourke
marched against him, and after several engagements
compelled him to take refuge in a wild district on
the banks of the River SI any.
In one of these skirmishes a son of the Prince of
North Wales, who fought under Dermot, was slain.
He is said to have been one of the most famous war-
riors of Britain. The attempt made by the troops
of Roderic and O'Rourke -to force the post occupied
by Dermot was repulsed with some loss, and King
Roderic, at the same time alarmed by the report of
a meditated revolt in Munster, entered into an
agreement with the crafty Dermot and allowed him
to retain a small portion of Leinster on condition
of giving hostages for his fidelity and paying a hun-
dred ounces of gold to O'Rourke as a compensation
iaiSTORY OF IREI.AND 8^
for past wrongs. This concession gave Dermot
time to bring those designs to maturity which could
have been at once arrested if the advantages which
had been gained over him had been vigorously fol-
lowed up. Dermot had already sent his secretary,
Maurice Regan, over to Wales to hasten the depart-
ure of FitzGerald, FitzStephen and their adherents
and to allure other adventurers to his standard by
offers of land and money. Early in May Robert
FitzStephen arrived on the coast of Wexford with a
small force, consisting of 130 knights clad in com-
plete armor, chiefly his own kinsmen and retainers,
with sixty men-at-arms and about 300 of the famous
archers of Wales. Among the most conspicuous of
the foreign knights were Myler FitzHenry, Robert
de Barry and Hervey de Montmorris.
The next morning Maurice de Prendergast ar-
rived at the same landing place, attended by ten
knights and 200 archers.
Many of Dermot' s friends were now encouraged
to join his standard and he hastened to meet his al-
lies with a body of 500 men. The first enterprise
undertaken by Dermot and FitzStephen was the
siege of Wexford, a town of great strength and im-
portance, about twelve miles from the Norman
camp.
The inhabitants of Wexford were descended
from the united races of Danes and Irish and prided
themselves on their valor and former exploits; they
boldly sallied forth to the number of 2,000 to meet
the enemy. These brave men in their first impulse
had not calculated the terrible odds which they
would have to encounter in the small but highly
trained band which now threatened their city. They
were not long, however, in drawing correct conclu-
sions from the splendid array which stood before
them in the stern repose of military discipline and
valor, and quickly changing their resolution, they
88 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
set fire to the suburbs of the town and retired hastily
within the walls.
FitzStephen lost no time in pressing his advan-
tage and led up his forces in person. These, we
are told, rushed to the assault with loud cries and
desperate vigor, but the garrison made a gallant de-
fense, and casting down from the walls large stones
and beams, repulsed every attack. Among the first
who mounted the walls was Robert de Barry, the
eldest brother of the well-known historian, Gerald
de Barry, commonly called Giraldus Cambrensis or
Gerald of Wales. A large stone thrown by the
garrison struck his helmet with such force that he
fell headlong into the ditch and was with difficulty
dragged out alive by his companions. FitzStephen
withdrew his forces after a loss of eighteen, while of
the garrison only three were slain.
He resolved, however, to leave no refuge for
retreat and led his men to the shore and set fire to
the ships in which they had arrived. The next
morning, after divine service was celebrated in the
camp, FitzStephen and Dermot drew up their forces
with great care and prepared to renew the attack
upon the town in a more effective manner. But the
townsmen had taken counsel during the night and
they anticipated the enemy's movement by send-
ing hostages and renewing their allegiance to
Dermot.
The jealousy and vindictive animosity of the
latter remained unappeased and three days passed in
negotiation. At length, however, by the influence
of his allies and the clergy, terms were all arranged
and the foreigners and Dermot entered the town, the
lordship of which, according to his promise, was be-
stowed, with the grant of the surrounding districts,
on FitzStephen and Maurice FitzGerald, though the
latter had not yet arrived, and he also presented to
Hervey de Montmorris two districts on the coast be-
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 89
tween Wexford and Waterford. Hervey planted in
this territory, which forms the present baronies of
Forth and Bargy, a colony of the Welsh and Flem-
ings, or Belgians, who had settled in Wales, and it
is said that their descendants, even at the present
day, continue to be distinguished from the inhabit-
ants of the surrounding country by their peculiar
customs and dialect.
CHAPTER XII.
THE WELSH-NORMAN INVASION — CONTINUED.
The Normans had great advantages over the
Irish not only in armor and discipline, but also in
the skill of their archers, equipped with the cross-
bows which could kill at a hundred yards.
This formidable weapon, which was introduced
for the first time in Ireland by the Normans, pro-
duced as great a change in military affairs as the use
of firearms did in after times. The Normans had
been military adventurers for centuries. Having
from infancy been devoted to the exercise of chiv-
alry, they especially prided themselves on their supe-
rior armor and horses.
Their cross-bows and their discipline had de-
cided the fate of England at the decisive battle of
Hastings, where Saxon supremacy on British soil
received its death blow, and their wars on the conti-
nent had taught them to use these advantages to the
utmost. Their success in Ireland was largely due
to their superior military skill and equipment and
their greater aptitude both for obedience and com-
mand. Their weapons and armor rendered it al-
most impossible for the Irish troops to meet them
successfully in the open field.
For centuries the Irish had not served out of
their own country, and consequently had learned
few of those improvements in the art of war which
made the name of Norman formidable throughout
Europe. The Irish were armed with spears, darts,
battle-axes and daggers, but they wore no defensive
HISTORY OF IRELAND 91
armor except shields, and sometimes helmets. The
kings, chiefs and leaders occasionally wore coats of
mail, but in general they scorned such devices as
unworthy of brave men. They were divided into
heavy armed infantry called galloglasses and light
armed infantry called kerns, and horsemen (con-
sisting mainly of the chief and his nearest kins-
men), who were mounted on the native breed of
horses, called hobbies, which were light and active,
but not so formidable as the powerful war horses of
the foreign knights. It is not singular, then, that
the Normans, completely locked in steel and mounted
on their powerful chargers, should have generally
routed the undisciplined and ill-armed troops with
whom they had to contend. The Irish bards de-
scribe the proud, impetuous Celts breaking like a
surge against the iron ranks of the Normans:
'^Unequal they engage in battle, the foreigners and
the Gael! Fine linen shirts on the native troops
and the strangers one mass of iron."
The fall of Wexford had strengthened Dermot's
party because it displayed energy and valor. Some
turned to what appeared a thriving cause, while the
hope of plunder attracted many, and Dermot now
found himself with an army of 3,000 native troops
at his command, in addition to his foreign allies,
and he resolved to turn his arms against Donald
FitzPatrick, Prince of Ossory.
The invasion of Ossory (a territory in the
southwestern part of Leinster) was rendered pe-
culiarly difficult by its natural defenses of hills,
woods and bogs. Donald promptly collected his
best troops and prepared for the formidable inva-
sion. At the head of 5,000 men he took up a
strong position in a difficult pass, through which it
was necessary that Dermot and his allies should
enter his country, and, with his forces, stationed
himself behind strong intrenchments in a vast and
92 HISTORY OF IRELAND
intricate morass and awaited the approach of the
enemy. When the army of FitzStephen and Der-
mot approached the pass the Normans rushed for-
ward to attack the intrenchments, but Donald's men
fought with desperate vigor and the attack failed.
The struggle continued from morning till even-
ing, during which the strength of Donald's position
defied the repeated assaults of the Normans and
baffled their utmost efforts of valor and skill. In
this difficulty FitzStephen had recourse to strata-
gem: he ordered his men to feign a retreat. This
threw Donald's men off their guard; in the heat of
battle they overlooked the secret of their strength
and suffered their native ardor to impel them rashly
to the firm and open plain where the foe retreated
for the purpose of leading them into this fatal error.
When the Ossorians rushed forth from their in-
trenchments the Norman knights turned in their
pretended flight and charged with resistless force,
scattering their pursuers with great slaughter until
the Ossorians once more reached the security of
their fortifications.
The Normans, in their turn, carried forward by
the ardor of pursuit, became involved in the marshy
ground, where it was impossible for cavalry to act
without imminent danger. Donald, now thinking
the enemy within his power, began to reassemble
his men with a courage that was perceived by his
countrymen in the opposite ranks. Many of Der-
mot's men, alarmed at the critical position of their
allies, now stood apart, and Dermot, seeing this
movement, was led to fear that they meant to change
sides and go over to the men of Ossory. In the
meantime FitzStephen took the necessary steps to
repair the error of his position. Repeating his for-
mer order, the Norman knights once more assumed
the appearance of a confused and hurried retreat,
which again deceived the Ossorians, who rushed forth
HISTORY OF IRELAND 93
in pursuit. FitzStephen, placing an ambush be-
hind a grove which his men had passed on their re-
treat, at length gained the firm fields, and a second
time he ordered his men to wheel around upon their
unwary pursuers, who again, by this movement,
were instantly turned into a confused flight, and
being intercepted by the ambush they sustained a
severe slaughter. In this pursuit the troops of
Dermot were not slow in lending assistance, which
apparently they would as readily have lent the Os-
sorians had the victory been on their side.
A rapid flight soon terminated the slaughter,
but not before 300 of the men of Ossory were slain,
whose heads were collected and brought by the
troops of Dermot as a grateful offering to his ani-
mosity. After this victory Ossory was wasted with
fire and sword, and when the invaders became weary
with desolating the country they started to return to
Ferns laden with spoils. The Prince of Ossory and
his army, after their defeat, had taken shelter in the
woods, from which they now again issued to harass
the invaders on their retreat.
The troops of Dermot were placed under the
command of his natural son, Donald Cavanagh.
The Normans, as the force most to be depended upon,
always marched in advance when they entered a
hostile country and held the rear when they were
leaving it, and Dermot marched with them as his
surest guard. As they proceeded in this manner
Donald Cavanagh soon approached a difficult pass,
where, in former wars with the people of Ossory,
Dermot had been three times defeated, and his
troops, now expecting a similar disaster, fled to the
woods the moment they saw the approach of the Os-
sorians, leaving their leader with only a few men.
The Prince of Ossory took immediate advantage
of this sudden flight and hastened with 1,700 troops
to attack the Normans, who were not much more
94 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
than 400 men. The latter were just passing through
a little vale, where they were exposed to great dan-
ger. FitzStephen and Prendergast urged them to
keep close together until they had passed this crit-
ical point, when, having reached better ground, they
might turn upon their pursuers. Soon the Nor-
mans were on better ground, and, raising the war
cry of '*St. David!" they suddenly turned around
upon their pursuers and presented "a wall of steel"
which the men of Ossory could not penetrate, and
the charge of the foreign knights at this decisive
moment at once decided the fate of the day. When
Dermot's troops saw the result of the battle they
rushed forth from concealment in the woods and fell
upon the rear of the fugitives, and with their battle-
axes cut off the heads of the slain. More than two
hundred ghastly trophies were thus laid at the feet
of Dermot.
The victors the next day returned to Ferns,
where the chiefs from most parts of Leinster, terri-
fied by reports of the prowess of the Norman allies,
came in and gave hostages to Dermot for their alle-
giance. The Prince of Ossory, however, and As-
gal, the Dano-Irish lord of Dublin, still held aloof.
After resting a few days at Ferns Dermot proceeded
a second time to invade Ossory. Donald FitzPat-
rick, more irritated than daunted by calamity, was
in the meantime preparing for a more desperate ef-
fort of resistance. He had fortified himself with a
strong intrenchment and palisades of stakes in a
very difficult pass in the path of his enemy, and
but for the lack of discipline of his men would have
obtained decisive revenge. When the invaders ap-
proached the pass the native troops of Dermot were
appointed to attack the intrenchments, which was
done with the utmost valor during tv/o successive
days, but the assailants were as often driven back by
the Ossorians until, on the third day, elated by fre-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 95
quent successes, they pursued their enemies even
into the open plains.
A party placed in ambush by Dermot suddenly
assaulted Donald's rear and the lines of the Nor-
mans in front could not be broken. At this critical
moment the knights of FitzStephen charged furi-
ously and defeated the men of Ossory with great
slaughter, and those who were dashed to the ground
by the charge had their heads cut off by the battle-
axes of Dermot 's foot soldiers. In the meantime
Roderic O' Conor, monarch of Ireland, had sum-
moned his subordinate chiefs from all parts of the
island and raised his standard at the historic hill of
Tara, where he reviewed the assembled forces.
From Tara he led them to Dublin. Here he dis-
covered such symptoms of disunion in his army as
convinced him that there was little hope of conquer-
ing Dermot and his allies.
Many of the chieftains seemed likely to betray
him for the promotion of their own private inter-
ests; every disposition was shown to thwart his
measures. Roderic had long been aware that many
of the assembled chiefs were in secret the adherents
of the rival Ulster Clan O'Neill, and he accordingly
dismissed the Northern chieftains on the pretense
that the occasion did not warrant such a large force.
His own troops, with those of O'Rourke and the
Dano-Irish of Dublin, he retained, a force much
larger than Dermot's and FitzStephen' s, but when
the advantages of superior discipline, arms and con-
tinued success are considered, the army of Roderic
was not sufficient to inspire him with confidence.
Dermot, on receiving intelligence of the confedera-
tion against him, lost no time in making peace with
the Prince of Ossory, and immediately returned to
Ferns, again laden with plunder.
Many of his followers, now anticipating his
overthrow, deserted him on the way. When he
96 HISTORY OF IRELAND
arrived at Ferns lie had only a small force under his
command besides his foreign allies. Not feeling
themselves strong enough to face in the field the
army of King Roderic, FitzStephen and Dermot re-
treated to a strong position not far from Ferns, sur-
rounded by dense woods, steep mountains, and a
deep morass, which was rendered almost impregna-
ble by felling trees, digging pits and trenches, and
other devices of Norman strategy under the skillful
direction of FitzStephen. Here they awaited the
approach of Roderic, but when the monarch pro-
ceeded to invest the army of Dermot and Fitz-
Stephen the situation of the latter, in spite of their
position and skill and the strength of their defenses,
seemed desperate; yet King Roderic had recourse to
negotiations instead of fighting. The Irish mon-
arch had a large force, but, in fact, little power at
his command. His army, composed of discordant
elements, was more of a pageant than an effective
force; his chiefs were not to be leagued together ex-
cept by their private interests, and they were, when
ambition or interest required, as willing to combine
against their monarch as to follow him in a national
cause.
The national interest was imperfectly under-
stood, and what little community of feeling ex-
isted was overshadowed by the strifes and conten-
tions of sectional politics. Provincial feuds and
jealousies, the disaffection of many, the fears of
some, the disunion of all, traced in the quaint
records of that dark age, appear to the modern
reader as dim shadows in the distance of time. In
that memorable conflict those who were the anxious
and deeply interested actors, though not deficient in
courage or in earnestness, were governed by fatal
and uncommon influences now but little understood.
The disunion of the Irish chiefs, their characteristic
inability to combine may be safely set down in this
HISTORY OF IRELAND 97
crisis as fatal to the national cause. Roderic, be-
lieving that a successful attack was impossible and
that the consequences of defeat would be ruinous,
sent proposals to Dermot, and by the mediation of
the clergy a treaty was concluded.
Dermot consented to acknowledge the monarch's
supremacy and to pay him the usual service of a
provincial king. A secret article secured the more
general object of Roderic and showed the perfidy of
Dermot, who bound himself to receive no more for-
eign allies into his service, and engaged, on the
reduction of Leinster, to dismiss those who were al-
ready with him, but he was wholly faithless and re-
solved to keep the treaty no longer than might suit
his purpose. He delivered as hostage for the per-
formance of his part of the treaty his favorite son,
Conor, and Roderic consented to leave the sover-
eignty of Leinster with Dermot, and promised in
time, when the treaty should become firmly estab-
lished, to confirm the alliance by giving his daugh-
ter in marriage to the young prince. Soon after
the completion of the treaty, Dermot and his allies
went about plundering and burning with little oppo-
sition, and this soon drew multitudes of the Irish to
his standard.
After breaking up his camp near Ferns and
separating from his Dano- Irish forces, the King of
Ireland carried his army into Munster against Don-
ald O' Brian, Prince of Thomond, or North Mun-
ster, who had thrown off his allegiance to Roderic
and set the crown of Ireland at defiance. It is evi-
dent that no agreement could bind King Dermot,
who, on the arrival of Maurice FitzGerald, the fa-
mous ancestor of the Barls of Desmond and Kil-
dare, with ten knights, thirty men-at-arms and a
hundred archers, notwithstanding the late treaty,
marched with all his allies to the aid of the Prince
of Thomond, who, with this assistance, soon ob-
98 HISTORY OF IRELAND
tained the superiority over Roderic, and the mon-
arch of Ireland was driven back into Connaught.
Thus all things appeared to favor Dermot and his
foreign allies.
When the small number of the adventurers is
considered their success seems marvelous, but it was
the victory of trained soldiers in armor over undis-
ciplined, unprotected valor. The Irish were de-
feated not through deficiency of courage but by
want of unity among themselves and the absence
of those vigorous councils necessary when the inde-
pendence of the whole island was threatened. Der-
mot now was at liberty to pursue his schemes of
vengeance and aggrandizement and Dublin was se-
lected as the first object of attack.
The city and surrounding country was chiefly
inhabited by Dano-Irish, who were then the chief
commercial people of the country. Dermot bore
them especial hatred for the spirit with which they
frequently repelled his aggressions. His father,
when King of Leinster, had so exasperated them by
oppression that, when caught within their walls,
they slew him and buried his remains with a dog.
They from that time revolted and acknowledged no
rulers but Asgal MacTorcal, a chief of Danish de-
scent, and Roderic O'Conor, monarch of Ireland.
Dermot, with his Irish and foreign forces, advanced
into the territory of Dublin, which he laid waste
with fire and sword till the terrified people were
forced to appease him by a prompt submission,
which by the advice of Maurice FitzGerald was re-
luctantly accepted.
Roderic, already incensed by Dermot' s breaches
of covenant, invaded Leinster with a small army,
but he was defeated and driven back across the
Shannon. Thus encouraged, Dermot began to talk
openly of higher ambitions, and his relentless venge-
ance prompted him to endeavor to depose King Rod-
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 99
eric, his ancient and hated foe, and at length he
laid claim to the kingdom of Connaught itself and
to the monarchy of all Ireland.
In this bold enterprise Strongbow appeared nec-
essary. His promise to come to Ireland with a
large force was accordingly pressed upon the Nor-
man chief, which, after an interview with King
Henry, he prepared to fulfill by sending over as an
advance guard Raymond FitzGerald (commonly
called Raymond le Gros), with ten knights and
seventy archers.
CHAPTER XIII.
KING HENRY II. IN IRELAND.
Raymond, who was a near relative of Robert
FitzStephen and Maurice FitzGerald, and ancestor
of the Graces of Ossory and the FitzMaurices of
Kerry, landed a few miles to the south of Water-
ford in May, 1170, and immediately threw up a
slight fortification of earth and sods to protect his
little army until the arrival of Strongbow.
Here he was joined by Hervey de Montmorris,
with a small band. Waterford had been originally
settled by the Danes and still was inhabited chiefly
by their descendants. Resolved to crush the invad-
ers at once the citizens summoned to their assistance
some of the neighboring clans, and with an army
of 3,000 men, natives and Dano-Irish, closely block-
aded the new fort. Raymond in the meantime had
collected in his fortification a great herd of cattle
from the surrounding country, and while the men of
Waterford and their allies were considering the best
means of securing the handful of foreigners, sud-
denly the gates of the fortress opened and a fright-
ened herd of cattle rushed forth on the Dano-Irish
and native troops, who scattered in confusion in all
directions, and before the effect of their disorder had
subsided the enemy was upon them.
Raymond and his knights spread havoc among
the demoralized kerns, 500 of whom were slain and
seventy taken prisoners. But the victory of Ray-
mond and his mailed knights was sullied by cruelty.
In the charge he had lost a dear friend and in his
HISTORY OF IRELAND 101
fury he ordered all the prisoners put to death.
Strongbow arrived in August with a force of 200
knights and 1,200 infantry. The day after his ar-
rival the adventurers advanced to attack Waterford,
then governed by a chief of Danish descent, who
defended the city with his Dano-Irish forces, aided
by the natives under O'Phelan, Prince of Desies,
as the present County of Waterford was then
called.
After meeting several severe repulses from the
brave garrison a breach was at length made in the
walls, through which the besiegers poured into the
town and slaughtered all whom they encountered
till arrested by Dermot, who, according to previous
agreement, arrived that day at Waterford. The
dark history of the King of Leinster is, for a mo-
ment, brightened by this transient gleam of human-
ity. As soon as the work of slaughter had ceased
the marriage of Strongbow with Eva was solem-
nized in Waterford, which established in the former
a colorable claim to the sovereignty of Leinster,
and immediately thereafter the confederate forces
determined to march against Dublin, whose inhab-
itants had repudiated their allegiance to Dermot.
Leaving a small garrison at Waterford, the
combined foreign and Irish troops marched through
the mountains of Glendalough, in Wicklow, in the
following order: Miles de Cogan commanded the
vanguard of 500 men, and Raymond followed next
with another 500; in the rear was Strongbow with
1,000 men, thus making 2,000 of the Normans.
Dermot had 5,000 native troops and his son, Don-
ald Cavanagh, had another large body of Irish —
more than 3,000 men.
The entire army, numbering 10,000 men, well
armed and disciplined, soon invested Dublin. Strong-
bow and Dermot encamped at some distance, but
Miles de Cogan and Raymond came close to the
102 HISTORY OF IRELAND
walls. Maurice Regan, secretary of Dermot, was
sent to summon the city to surrender and to demand
thirty hostages for its fidelity.
Asgal, the Dano-Irish governor of Dublin, was
unwilling to hazard an engagement, but the citizens
could not agree among themselves about the details
of the treaty, and the time of parley having passed
while they were disputing about the hostages, Miles
de Cogan and Raymond led their troops suddenly
against an unguarded part of the walls, entered the
city, and slew great numbers of the inhabitants.
The slaughter was dreadful, for the citizens and
garrison, though taken by surprise, made a gallant
defense.
Many were slain and numbers of those who es-
caped the sword were drowned in the River Liffey.
Lawrence O 'Toole, the illustrious Archbishop of
Dublin, did honor to the occasion by the humanity
and energy of his patriotic exertions in behalf of
his fellow-citizens.
King Dermot and Strongbow entered the city
and seized immense quantities of provisions, gold,
silver and other valuables. Strongbow was now in-
vested with the lordship of Dublin and appointed
Miles de Cogan his first governor. Dermot and his
allies next made an incursion into Meath, plundered
and burned Clonard, Kells and other churches, and
after a brief campaign returned to Dublin laden
with spoils. Roderic, unable or unwilling to meet
the enemy in the field, sent messengers to Dermot
to complain of his conduct and to threaten him with
the execution of his hostages if he did not desist.
Dermot, who cared as little for his hostages as for
his oath, answered that he would never rest till he
should become master of Connaught and of all
Ireland.
Roderic immediately put his hostages to death,
among whom were the son and grandson of Dermot,
HISTORY OF IRELAND 103
who now ventured to try his force by leading an
army of his own troops into the territory of his an-
cient enemy, O'Rourke, where he met with two
successive defeats. The King of Leinster died soon
after at Ferns, according to the ancient annals, of a
lingering and offensive disease, abandoned by God
and man.
The success of Strongbow and his companions
had a disturbing effect on King Henry, who was
glad enough to get a foothold in Ireland, but there
was danger lest these resolutes, having won a king-
dom by the sword, should keep it for themselves.
He accordingly commanded Strongbow to return
with all his men and forbade all intercourse between
Ireland and his own subjects. This command was
difficult to obey, for the Dano-Irish and the natives
had united and turned upon the invaders and were
harassing them very effectively.
On the death of Dermot, Strongbow claimed,
as his successor, the sovereignty of Leinster, but in
this position his danger was greater than ever. The
adherents of the King of Leinster did not feel them-
selves much disposed to follow Strongbow, and on
the death of Dermot many of them fell away from
the former's standard. Under these circumstances
Strongbow learned with dismay that a formidable
confederacy had been formed against him. The
patriotic Archbishop of Dublin, Lawrence O 'Toole,
had traversed the country, employing all his elo-
quence to convince the chiefs of their fatal error of
disunion, and with Roderic O' Conor succeeded in
collecting an army of 30,000 men, which was sup-
ported by a large force of Danes under Godfrey,
King of the Isle of Man, who was also in alliance
with King Roderic, and came to Dublin with his
forces and a fleet of thirty ships, which guarded the
harbor.
The army of Roderic lay inactive before Dub-
104 HISTORY OF IRELAND
lin for two months; a close blockade, however, was
maintained and Strongbow was finally reduced to
the necessity of proposing a treaty. At the first
serious apprehension of danger Strongbow had dis-
patched messengers to FitzStephen at Wexford for
assistance and the latter had sent him a part of his
small garrison. But the people of Wexford no
sooner saw the number of their masters reduced
than they burst into insurrection, slew the greater
part of them and sent the remainder to an island in
the bay. This news reached Strongbow at a mo-
ment when his courage began to waver on account
of the overwhelming force of the enemy. He ac-
cordingly proposed terms of accommodation to Rod-
eric and offered to acknowledge himself his subject
and accept Leinster under him, provided the mon-
arch would immediately raise the siege.
Roderic declared that he would listen to no
terms unless the Normans would agree to surrender
Dublin and all the places, forts and castles held by
them and would bind themselves to depart on a cer-
tain day, with all their forces, from Ireland, and in
case of a refusal he threatened to give immediate
orders for an assault. The city was defended by a
strong garrison of Normans and there was also
a considerable force of Irish allies from Leinster
under Donald Cavanagh and two chiefs from Wick-
low, but the besieged were in great need of provis-
ions and in imminent danger of starvation unless
soon relieved. In this crisis Strongbow called a
council of war, over which he presided. Maurice
and Raymond FitzGerald, Miles and Richard de
Cogan, Myler FitzHenry, Maurice de Prendergast
and others of the bravest and most experienced of
the foreign knights were present, and it was de-
termined, after long deliberation, to cut their way
through the army of King Roderic. Accordingly,
having laid their plans, a chosen band of their best
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 105
troops was secretly assembled and divided into four
divisions, and early in the mominor they prepared
for a sudden sally against the Irish camp. The
vanguard, consisting of twenty knights, was led by
Raymond, followed by thirty knights under Miles
de Cogan; the third division of about forty knights
was commanded by Strongbow and Maurice Fitz-
Gerald, 600 men-at-arms and archers bringing up
the rear.
The Irish, over-confident of their security,
were totally unprepared for this sudden charge, and
the first notice they had of the approach of the
enemy was when the Norman knights were in the
midst of their tents.
Nearly 2,000 of Roderic's men were slain and
the monarch himself was nearly captured while
bathing. The Normans pursued the fugitives till
near evening, and then returned to the city, laden
with plunder and an abundance of provisions from the
Irish camp. Godfrey, as soon as he learned of the
defeat of King Roderic, retired with his fleet to the
Isle of Man and relieved StrongLavv of all his
difficulties.
The affairs of the South next engaged Strong-
bow's attention. He advanced to Wexford, which
the inhabitants burned and deserted at his approach,
and while he was preparing to take revenge for their
revolt he was deterred by their threats to massacre
FitzStephen and their other prisoners. On his
march through Carlow Strongbow escaped imminent
danger from an ambuscade prepared by the clan of
O'Ryans. The Normans were assaulted in a nar-
row pass, where their superior discipline gave them
little advantage, and their defeat appeared certain
when the chief of the Irish was slain by an arrow,
upon which his followers immediately dispersed.
Strongbow next proceeded to Waterford, where he
was visited by his brother-in-law, Donald O' Brian,
106 HISTORY OF IRELAND
Prince of Thomond, or North Munster, who had
married a daughter of King Derraot.
An expedition against Donald FitzPatrick,
Prince of Ossory, was planned by the two kinsmen,
and the allied army marched into the territory of the
ancient enemy of their deceased father-in-law.
FitzPatrick, unable to withstand the united forces,
sent to offer terms of peace. A personal interview
was arranged by the mediation of Maurice de Pren-
dergast, who had served for a short time under the
Prince of Ossory, and the latter, having received an
assurance of safety, came to the Norman-Irish
camp.
O' Brian and Strongbow were inclined to violate
their agreement and throw the Prince of Ossory
into prison, but Maurice de Prendergast openly pro-
tested against this breach of faith and threatened
to resist it by force of arms. Strongbow yielded to
this remonstrance and the Irish chief was dismissed
in safety.
Soon afterwards an expedition was undertaken
against the O' Byrnes of Wicklow, who were soon
subdued, but in the midst of his triumphs Strong-
bow received an order from King Henry so peremp-
tory that he dared not disobey, and accordingly he
embarked in haste for England. Strongbow had
scarcely left the Irish shores when a new danger
presented itself before Miles de Cogan, who was left
in charge of the government of Dublin. On the
taking of the city the Dano-Irish governor, Asgal,
with many of the wealthy citizens, fled to their
ships in the Liffey and sailed to the Isle of Man and
the Scottish islands, with their treasures. Asgal,
determined to attempt the recovery of Dublin, col-
lected a large force of Danes from the islands, then
ruled by Scandinavians, and arrived in May, 1170,
near Dublin with a fleet of sixty ships and 10,000
men. One of his commanders was a famous Danish
HISTORY OF IRELAND 107
warrior of gigantic stature and great strength, who
was called John the Furious.
The garrison of Dublin was commanded by
Miles de Cogan and his brother Richard, and they
were assisted by an Irish chief who lived near the
city. John the Furious, at the head of his men,
made a fierce assault at the eastern gate, which was
vigorously defended by Miles de Cogan, but after a
great number had been slain on both sides the Nor-
mans were repulsed. In the meantime Richard de
Cogan rapidly rushed out at the south gate with his
knights, charged the Danish forces in the rear, and
defeated them with great slaughter, forcing them to
retire to their ships.
John the Furious disdained to fly and fought
with amazing valor; he slew great numbers with
his battle- ax, but at length was overcome by supe-
rior numbers, and the Danish hero fell by the arms
of the Norman knights. Asgal was taken pris-
oner, and avowing boldly his intention never to de-
sist from attempting to recover Dublin, by order of
Miles de Cogan he was beheaded on the strand in
sight of his own men on board their ships. Thus
fell Asgal, the last Dano-Irish lord of Dublin, and
with him terminated the rule of the Danes after
they had maintained their position in Dublin since
the time of Turgesius, more than 300 years.
When Strongbow arrived in England he found
the king making active preparations for an expedi-
tion to Ireland. Henry's displeasure was still una-
bated, but he at length became reconciled to Strong-
bow by the latter surrendering to him the City of
Dublin and whatever other strongholds he claimed
in Ireland, upon which the Norman king confirmed
him in immense possessions in Leinster under the
English crown.
In October, 1171, Henry II. arrived in the har-
bor of Waterford with a fleet of 400 ships and a
108 HISTORY OF IRELAND
force of about 10,000 men — knights, men-at-arms
and archers.
He was attended by Strongbow, John de Courcy,
ancestor of the barons of Kinsale; Hugh de Lacy,
William FitzAdelm de Burgo, ancestor of the
Burkes; Theobald Walter, ancestor of the Butlers;
Robert le Poer, ancestor of the Powers, and many
other lords and nobles renowned throughout Eng-
land and Europe. This display of force overawed
many of the Leinster and Munster chieftains, who
seem to have thought resistance to such an army
useless, hence most of them came in and swore
allegiance to King Henry.
Without a master spirit to subdue their jealous-
ies and to unite the turbulent clans, combined
resistance was impossible. Henry's claim was to
be Lord of Ireland, a title carrying only a vague
and shadowy authority, which left the native chief-
tains in possession of supreme power in their own
territories; but with this title he and his successors
on the English throne for more than three centuries
contented themselves.
The morning after Henry's arrival at Water-
ford he received the submission of Dermot MacCar-
thy. Prince of Desmond, or South Munster, who
surrendered to him the City of Cork and did him
homage. MacCarthy's example was followed by
Donald O' Brian, Prince of Thomond, or North
Munster, who surrendered Limerick, and by Donald
FitzPatrick, Prince of Ossory, and Malachy O'Phe-
lan. Prince of Desies. The Dano-Irish swore alle-
giance, as did Tieman O'Rourke, Prince of Brefny,
and other chiefs, and Roderic O' Conor at length
turned at bay across the Shannon.
The men of Wexford sent Henry ambassadors
declaring that they had seized FitzStephen and his
men as traitors to his majesty and only detained
them until the royal pleasure was known. On his
HISTORY OF IRELAND 109
arrival at Wexford Henry allowed himself to be per-
suaded to pardon the gallant adventurer and his
fellow-prisoners .
FitzStephen, Maurice FitzGerald and Hervey
de Montmorris were permitted to retain the lands
adjoining Wexford which they received from Der-
mot, but the city itself was declared a royal garri-
son and inalienable possession of the Bnglish
crown. Henry passed the winter in Dublin, where
he entertained the Irish chiefs who had submitted to
him in a style of great pomp.
Hugh de Lacy and William de Burgo were sent
against Roderic O'Conor, who, with the haughty
King of Ulster, still refused all terms of submis-
sion, but the expedition, owing to the severity of
the season and the difficulties of the country, proved
a failure, and the army returned to Dublin.
Henry occupied the winter in organizing a gov-
ernment upon the plan introduced into England by
the Normans. His iirst care was to plant the feudal
system on Irish soil — a system entirely at variance
with the Irish laws and customs. Strongbow and
his companions surrendered their grants of land to
the king, and received them again from Henry on
condition of their rendering him homage and mili-
tary service.
He divided his new territory into counties and
set up the royal law courts in Dublin to afford the
Norman settlers the privileges of the English law,
but the natives were permitted to retain their ancient
laws, which were as unlike the English laws as the
Irish land system was unlike the feudal system now
first introduced.
Before Henry could put into execution his
plans of extending and securing the conquests, his
stay was abruptly cut short by urgent affairs
which required his immediate presence in England,
and after remaining about six months in Ireland he
110 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
embarked at Wexford, April, 1172, leaving behind
him not one more true subject than he had found on
his first arrival. Though Henry never returned to
Ireland he proceeded from time to time to make
further grants of Irish territory to his faithful
adherents.
I
4
CHAPTER XIV.
FROM THE RETURN OF HENRY II. TO ENGLAND TILL
THE DEATH OF STRONGBOW.
The new government in Ireland was intrusted
by Henry to Hugh de Lacy, with Maurice Fitz-
Gerald and Robert FitzStephen as his assistants.
The celebrated John de Courcy, the tales of whose
prowess are so wild and romantic, was encouraged
to undertake the conquest of Ulster by a grant of
all the land which he could wrest from the native
possessors; and the entire province of Meath was
given to Hugh de Lacy. But though the first flush
of victory rested with the Normans, their hold over
the country was for some time uncertain.
The submission of the Irish chieftains was
merely a sham; they had been ready enough to ac-
knowledge allegiance to Henry as lord of Ireland;
they had professed to recognize the sovereignty of
Roderic, and they were willing to do the same thing
to a king against whom Roderic was unable to pro-
tect them. Henry pretended that the Irish chief-
tains had become his vassals, subjects to all the at-
tending feudal liabilities.
Of this they had no conception, and as soon as
his back was turned they set him at defiance and as-
serted their independence at the first moment which
suited their convenience. Henry, during his short
stay in Ireland, had done much to Normanize the
country by making large and wholly illegal grants
of territory to his followers, leaving it to them to
win and keep these grants as best they could. With
112 HISTORY OF IRELAND
the sword the Normans advanced their claims, and
with the sword the Irish chieftains met them. The
invaders made a brilliant appearance wrapped in
steel, with their pointed helmets and shields, their
heraldic bearings, their formidable weapons, and
their powerful war-horses.
Beneath their banners came their well-trained,
well-armed soldiers, skilled to shoot with the cross-
bow and long-bow, well supplied with all the imple-
ments for the taking of cities that Roman ingenuity
had devised and Norman craft perfected. The Irish
galloglasses and kerns opposed to them, though not
entirely unfamiliar with the use of armor, seldom
indeed used it, while their weapons were in every
respect inferior to those of the invaders; conse-
quently the Normans were at first victorious ever}^-
where: they swarmed over the country, pushing
their strange names and strange ways into the
homes of the time-honored clans.
The government established by Henry was ac-
knowledged in Waterford, Wexford and Dublin, and
then known as the Pale, which was a rudely forti-
fied camp on a huge scale, whose boundaries shifted
with circumstances. After Henry's departure the
extension of the Norman power was intrusted to
private adventurers, whose rewards were the spoils
of the vanquished. When spoliation was thus
legalized it is not surprising that many of the Nor-
man leaders were unscrupulous in the selection of
their victims, and seized the lands of those who ac-
knowledged allegiance to King Henry as eagerly
as the possessions of those who still withheld
submission.
Indeed, the clans which had been foremost in
acknowledging the Norman sovereignty were the
greatest sufferers. The invaders seized their lands
on any pretense or on no pretense. The governors
were bribed by a share of the spoil to refuse redress,
HISTORY OF IRELAND 113
and an appeal to Henry was difficult on account of
the distance, and not likely to succeed when the
crime was supposed to be favorable to the royal
interests.
The distinction between the settlers and the
natives was preserved more forcibly by the continu-
ance of the Brehon or Irish laws, which dated from
the earliest times and the old customs of tenure and
descent. The English laws were granted only to
the Norman settlers, to the citizens of the principal
seaports, and to a few others as a matter of favor or
policy.
Five principal clans — the O'Neills of Ulster,
the O' Conors of Connaught, the O' Brians of Mun-
ster, the O'Malachys of Meath, and the MacMur-
roughs of Leinster — were received within the pale
of the English law, but all the others were consid-
ered aliens or enemies, and could neither sue nor be
sued nor plead in the English courts. At the be-
ginning of the invasion Ireland seemed destined to
a sudden subjection; the Norman forces swept over
the country and scattered the disunited Irish in
every fray.
At the head of his trained knights and archers,
Raymond broke through the scattered host of na-
tives and clove his way to the West, and John de
Courcy, ''the bravest of the brave," dashed into
Ulster, and, "like an enchanted paladin," pierced
his way to the Northern sea. But soon the Irish
recovered from their first reverses and began to re-
sist with such vigor and success that even John de
Courcy fled more than once before the avenging
arms of Roderic O' Conor and the terrible battle-
axes of Donald O' Brian and his brave Dalcassians.
Scarcely had Henry departed when new com-
motions proved how insecure was the settlement
which he had effected. Strongbow was obliged to
send an army to collect the promised tribute from
114 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
O'Dempsey, a chieftain in Offaly, or Kings County,
On his return his forces were suddenly attacked in a
defile by the Irish chieftain, and several of his
knights, including Robert de Quincy, his son-in-
law, were slain.
The grant of Meath to Hugh de Lacy occa-
sioned more important tumults. Tiernan O'Rourke,
Prince of Brefny and Lord of Bast Meath, had been
confirmed in his possessions by King Henry, but he
naturally feared that the formidable castles that
De Lacy was erecting and garrisoning would prove
too powerful for royal grants and legal claims; it
was proposed, too, that they should arrange their
respective boundaries in a friendly conference at the
hill of Ward, near Athboy, and to that place
O'Rourke and De Lacy repaired with trusty bands
of their adherents.
Both sides are accused of treachery and the
conference terminated in a furious conflict. De
Lacy was with difficulty rescued by Maurice Fitz-
Gerald, but O'Rourke was slain on the spot, with a
number of his followers. Similar incidents alien-
ated the chieftains who had submitted to the Nor-
man rule. They found that King Henry was un-
willing or unable to afford them protection against
the adventurers, and they resolved to take advantage
of the difficulties in which Henry was placed and
make one bold effort for independence.
The readiness with which Strongbow had has-
tened to bring assistance to his sovereign in the lat-
ter's war with his rebellious sons effaced the jeal-
ousy and suspicion which Henry had previously
entertained of his designs. Strongbow was sent
back to Ireland with the authority of lord-deputy,
and, with what he considered of equal importance,
permission to avail himself of Raymond's abilities
in any enterprise that appeared advisable. Imme-
diately after his arrival Strongbow took care to send
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 115
to England to assist Henry in his wars those leaders
whose ambition might have induced them to resist
his authority, and Raymond was ordered to lead the
army into the territories of the revolted chieftains.
He laid waste the district of Offaly and extended
his ravages into the south of Munster. He led his
army, laden with plunder, to Lismore, which he
sacked, and then resolved to send the spoils to
Waterford for greater security.
The Prince of Desmond and the Dano-Irish of
Cork, having heard of the rich stores about to be
transferred to Waterford, fitted out a fleet, supported
by an army, to intercept them on their passage; but
on the same day they were defeated both on land and
sea, and Raymond entered Waterford in all the
pomp of military triumph. These victories made
Raymond a great favorite with his soldiers, and his
readiness to overlook their excesses secured him
their affection.
His good fortune and popularity enlarged his
ambition, and he proposed for Basilia, Strongbow's
sister, and the office of standard-bearer of Leinster.
Irritated by the refusal of both demands, Raymond
suddenly returned to Wales, and the command of
the army was given to Hervey de Montmorris, a
man of inferior abilities, who persuaded Strongbow
to attempt the subjugation of Munsler.
The army, under Strongbow and Hervey,
marched into Tipperary and laid waste the country,
but Donald O' Brian, at the head of his Dalcassians,
aided by battalions from Connaught under Roderic's
son, Conor Manmoy, marched to oppose them, and
in a great battle fought at Turles, totally defeated
the invaders, of whom 1,700 were slain, and the few
who survived fled in dismay to Waterford. The
Irish, elated by this decisive victory, declared that
they would never make peace until they had driven
the invaders into the sea.
116 HISTORY OF IRELAND
The new confederacy was joined by Donald
Cavanagh and the other principal chiefs who had
hitherto supported the Normans in all their efforts,
and Roderic O' Conor was induced to place himselJF
at the head of a confederacy which seemed to prom-
ise the fairest prospects of success. In this difficulty
Strongbow sent messengers to solicit the return of
the chivalric Raymond.
That valiant leader collected a new band of ad-
venturers, including thirty knights, all of his own
kindred, and crossing the sea, landed at Waterford
just as the inhabitants were meditating a general
rising against the garrison, which was, in conse-
quence of Raymond's arrival, frustrated. The mar-
riage of Raymond and Basilia was now celebrated
with great pomp at Wexford, and on the following
morning the bridegroom marched with all his avail-
able troops towards the North to check the advance
of Roderic 's army, which now threatened an attack
on Dublin.
But the Irish monarch was unable to bring his
forces to an engagement. Eager to secure the
plunder which they had obtained in Meath, the
chieftains insisted on returning home. Having re-
paired the castles which had been destroyed in
Meath, Raymond next led his army into Munster,
where he was attended by his usual good fortune,
and Limerick, which had been taken by O' Brian
after the battle of Turles, was recovered, and its
plunder enriched the victorious army.
The prospects thus opened were threatened
with speedy extinction by the jealous suspicions of
King Henry. He lent a credulous ear to the tales
which Hervey told of Raymond's ambition, and sent
over commissioners who were charged to conduct
Raymond into England. Raymond professed his
readiness to obey, but while his departure was de-
layed by contrary winds, news arrived that the inde-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 117
fatigable O'Brian of Thomond had again renewed
the war and had already so vigorously pressed the
siege of Limerick that the garrison, unless instantly
relieved, must surrender.
The army, greatly attached to Raymond and
conscious of its own importance, refused to march
unless led by its favorite general, and the commis-
sioners yielded a reluctant assent. The expedition
into Thomond was completely successful. O' Brian's
army was routed in a defile near Cashel after a stub-
bom resistance, in which great numbers fell on both
sides, and the siege of Limerick was raised. This
defeat appears to have convinced Roderic O' Conor
that nothing but submission could save him from
impending ruin, but disdaining to negotiate with
Strongbow, he sent ambassadors to King Henry,
then in Bngland.
A treaty was concluded, which, like most trea-
ties of the time, was observed no longer than served
the purposes of the stronger party. Roderic agreed
to pay tribute to Henry and to recognize him as
sovereign king, for which he was confirmed in the
possession of Connaught and permitted to continue
monarch of Ireland beyond the English Pale.
A civil war in Desmond afforded Raymond a
pretext for advancing into that country. MacCar-
thy, Prince of Desmond, deposed by his rebellious
son, entreated the assistance of Raymond and prom-
ised a large reward if his restoration could be
effected. Raymond eagerly embraced the offer, and
advancing into Desmond compelled the inhabitants
to submit to their rightful ruler, for which he was
rewarded by the gift of some valuable lands in
Kerry, which he retained and transmitted to his
posterity. In the midst of his triumphs Raymond
was alarmed by the receipt of a letter from his wife,
Basilia, announcing the death of her brother, Strong-
box', and entreating him to return with all speed to
118 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
Dublin. He knew that the Irish, notwithstanding
their pretended submission, really abhorred the in-
vaders, and he dreaded their seizing this opportunity
to join in a general revolt and overwhelm the army
in detail. At this juncture Raymond adopted the
plan of concentrating all his forces on the Eastern
coast, where assistance might easily be received
from England.
He withdrew the garrison from Limerick and
gave the possession of the city to O 'Brian, pretend-
ing to confide in his promises of fidelity and oath
of allegiance. The garrison, however, had scarcely
passed over the bridge when they had the mortifica-
tion of seeing it broken down behind them, and at
the same time the flames that arose from the city
showed how little such oaths and promises could
bind the Prince of Thomond.
The funeral of Strongbow took place in Dub-
lin with great pomp. He left no male heir, which
the old chroniclers attribute to the sacrileges which
he had committed or authorized. His character is
drawn in very different colors by the historians of
the two races. From both it appears that he pos-
sessed in no ordinary degree the military skill, ro-
mantic daring and high chivalrous valor that usu-
ally pertained to the Norman adventurer, but that
his military virtues were darkened by the cruelty
and rapacity inflicted on the conquered, which the
Northern people and their descendants usually ex-
hibited in their conquests.
CHAPTER XV.
THE LAST YEARS OF RODERIC o' CONOR.
On the death of Strongbow (1177) the Norman
chiefs chose his brother-in-law, Raymond FitzGer-
ald (commonly called Raymond le Gros), their
most popular and successful soldier, to the office of
chief governor of Ireland until King Henry's pleas-
ure could be known; but Henry, the English king,
yielding to the jealousy and suspicion which he still
entertained towards Raymond, refused his consent
to their choice and appointed instead William Fitz-
Adelm de Burgo, with John de Courcy, Robert
FitzStephen and Miles de Cogan as assistants.
When Raymond went to resign his charge, sur-
rounded by a large number of FitzGeralds, all of
his own kindred, clad in bright armor, and bearing
the same device on their shields, the new governor,
it is said, indulging in the jealous pride of the occa-
sion, vowed that he would soon put an end to their
brilliant display and scatter those shields; and even
to that early period may be traced the origin of the
jealousy so often shown by the British government
towards the family of the Geraldines, of which Ray-
mond was a conspicuous member.
John de Courcy, with his brother-in-arms (who
was also his brother-in-law), Amoric de St. Law-
rence, invaded Ulster on his own account, and after
many fierce battles finally overrun the territory
now known as County Down. The men of Ulster,
though taken by surprise and thrown into confu-
sion by De Courcy and his mailed knights, returned
120 HISTORY OF IRELAND
again and again to the charge, maintaining a bitter
and wasting war against the invaders, until eventu-
ally the Norman leader was forced to make his es-
cape, scarcely with his life, and with an almost total
loss of his troops. He stood at bay near Strangford
Lough, protected by fortifications, and aided by re-
inforcements from Dublin and from his father-in-
law, Godfrey, King of the Isle of Man.
Murrough, the eldest son of Roderic O' Conor,
who wished to dethrone his father, invited the Nor-
mans for that purpose to invade Connaught. Miles
de Cogan entered that province with a powerful
army, but the Irish laid waste the country in order
to deprive their enemies of subsistence, and the
Normans were forced to beat a hasty retreat. Near
the Shannon they were met by Roderic and his
men, who defeated them with great slaughter. The
monarch's son Murrough was taken prisoner and
punished with the loss of his eyes.
In 1181 Henry recalled De Burgo and appointed
Hugh de Lacy chief governor; at the same time he
proceeded to make further grants of Irish territory
to his friends, giving Desmond, or South Munster,
to Miles de Cogan and Robert FitzStephen; the
Desies (the present County Waterford) to Robert le
Poer; Thomond, or North Munster, to Philip de
Braosa; and the whole of Connaught to De Burgo,
but reserving the cities of Cork, Limerick and
Waterford to himself.
As for the new settlers, they were not safe in
their own forts and castles; the Irish were constantly
on the watch to attack and expel them; and in con-
sequence there was perpetual though desultory war-
fare going on within the Norman districts, even to
the walls of the seaport cities. Henry conferred
the lordship of Ireland on his favorite son John,
and in 1185 sent him to undertake the government.
The prince landed at Waterford in April with 400
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 121
knights and a large army. When the Irish chief-
tains came to do him honor they were received with
mockery and derision.
The young prince and the silken flatterers by
whom he was surrounded saw only persons clad dif-
ferently from themselves and wearing their hair in
a fashion unknown to them. They scorned the kiss
of peace proffered by the chieftains, according to
the national usage, and amused themselves by
plucking them by the beard and ridiculing their
fashion of dress. The chieftains returned home
burning for revenge, and told the story of their re-
ception to all whom they met coming to the court,
spreading everywhere the account of their wrongs,
until the entire island was animated by the one
sentiment of deadly hostility against the Norman
government.
The storm at length burst with great violence.
The Norman strongholds were taken, their armies
swept away, and their leaders slain. News of dis-
aster poured in from every quarter, and the alarmed
prince, having wasted all his treasure in idle pomp,
had no means of paying the soldiers, nor any hold
on the good-will of the first invaders, whom he had
neglected or wantonly insulted.
Miles de Cogan and his son-in-law, with other
knights, alread)' had been cut off by surprise near
Lismore; Robert de Barry and his whole force were
surprised and slain in Waterford; the garrison of
Ardfinnan, in Tipperary, decoyed into an ambus-
cade, was slaughtered by O' Brian, Prince of Tho-
mond; Robert le Poer, after a gallant resistance,
fell in Ossory; Canton and FitzHugh, two knights
of great fame, met a similar fate, and but for the
skill and valor of Theobald FitzWalter, Cork would
have yielded to MacCarthy, Prince of Desmond.
Kven in Meath, where the numerous castles
erected by De Lacy rendered it the most secure part
122 HISTORY OF iREiLAND
of the Pale, the Normans had great difficulty in re-
pelling a vigorous inroad of the Irish and in sup-
pressing a rising of the O'Malachys, who had
endeavored to regain their own. De Lacy himself
fell a victim to the hostility of the Irish, being slain
while superintending the erection of a castle on the
site of the great monastery of Durrow, founded by
St. Columba.
When Henry was fully informed of the ruin
which threatened his Irish interests he immediately
recalled John and intrusted the government to De
Courcy, who, left to his own resources, acted with
all the vigor the crisis demanded. He was ably
seconded by young De Lacy, but he derived greater
assistance from the dissensions of the Irish them-
selves, who, even at this most critical moment, re-
newed the feuds which had previously been their
ruin.
In Connaught, RodericO' Conor, being deposed
by his son Conor Manmoy, retired to the monastery
of Cong, where he passed the remainder of his days.
De Courcy attempted to invade Connaught, invited
by another son of Roderic, who wished to dethrone
his brother, but the Normans were forced to retire
before the united forces of Manmoy and O' Brian,
Prince of Thomond, who came to the aid of the
reigning son of Roderic, and De Courcy was driven
from the province. In crossing the Curlieu Mount-
ains the invaders were attacked by the men of Con-
naught and Munster, and after suffering severely
escaped with difficulty to Leinster.
The Irish now declared that they would drive
the Normans from their shores. A combined effort
for that purpose probably would have succeeded, but
this was prevented by the jealousy of the clans and
the private feuds of the Irish chieftains. No sooner
was success apparently in the hands of the natives
than they fell to quarreling and the foreigners were
HISTORY OF IRHI.AND 123
allowed to recover all their lost ground. Several in-
cursions were repelled by De Courcy, but the rav-
ages were renewed at every fresh opportunity, and
the country remained distracted and desolate. Affairs
were in this condition when the news arrived of
King Henry's death, in 1189, and the inauguration
of his son, Richard I. (better known as Richard
the Lion Hearted).
The same year Conor Manmoy fell a victim to a
conspiracy of his own chiefs, and the West was once
more plunged into civil strife, when, after a long
struggle, arose Connaught's Red-Handed hero,
Cathal O'Conor, "undisputed master of both field
and crown." The state of Ireland at the time of
King Henry's death was wretched and there was
every prospect that the evils would increase rather
than diminish.
Richard I. on ascending the English throne
was too much busied in preparations for his roman-
tic expedition against the Saracens of Palestine to
pay much attention to Ireland. He therefore gave
his brother John entire charge of the government
there. One of John's first acts was to remove De
Courcy from the office of chief governor and to ap-
point Hugh de Lacy — son of the late Hugh de Lacy
— lord of Meath. De Courcy felt himself humili-
ated and immediately retired to his possessions in
Ulster without attempting to conceal his hostility to
his successor; and this dissension between these two
great Norman leaders encouraged the Irish to renew
their attacks on the foreigners.
The throne of Connaught was at this time pos-
sessed by Cathal O'Conor the Red-Handed, so
called from the number of battles he had fought.
This prince, a younger brother of Roderic and ille-
gitimate by birth, was persecuted from infancy and
had passed a life of hardship and danger among the
peasantry. He was engaged with his companions
124 HISTORY OF IRELAND
reaping in a field when the news came that opened
his path to greatness. In words which became pro-
verbial, he bade farewell to the sickle and welcomed
the sword.
From the time of his entrance on the scene of
strife he was the central figure in the West, around
which all the movements of militar}^ and political
life circled. As if under the spell of a master
mind, the Norman leaders became alternately and
successively his allies or his foes, as his needs re-
quired or his attacks compelled.
Soon after ascending the throne of Connaught
Cathal declared himself resolved to restore the an-
cient honors of his name and nation, and he prom-
ised speedy vengeance on the Normans, who had
usurped the fairest portions of his land and were
still extending their ravages and oppressions. All
the chieftains applauded these sentiments; the men
of Thomond and Desmond hastened to express their
approval, and the clans of Ulster sent messengers
to offer their assistance.
De Courcy saw the coming storm and summoned
his friend, Amoric de St. Lawrence, to his assist-
ance. Amoric, having collected a troop of about
200 foot and 30 horse, hastened to obey his leader's
summons, but passing through part of Cathal's
country he fell into an ambuscade, and overwhelmed
by numbers, perished with all his men.
Soon after this victory the Normans were de-
feated at Killaloe and again near Turles by the
brave Dalcassians, led by their chief, the celebrated
Donald O'Brian, King of Munster. In 1194, two
years after these successes, this warlike O'Brian
(who was a direct descendant of Brian Boru, the
hero of Clontarf) died; but ere this star of the
South had set in Munster a no less brilliant one
rose in Connaught to guide the clans in their future
struggles.
HISTORY OF IRELAND 125
On the death of Douald O' Brian, Catlial
O'Conor, joined by the powerful Clan O'Neill, has-
tened to the South to relieve his allies in their war
with domestic and foreign enemies. Cork and Lim-
erick were recovered by the Irish forces, which
drove the Normans completely out of Munster.
This success, however, was only transient. The
ancient feud between the rival families of O' Conor
and O'Neill, added to the old jealousy between North
and South, broke up the Irish league; this enabled
the Normans again to capture Cork and Limerick
and recover other important posts in the Southern
province.
In 1198, twenty-nine years after the Normans
first landed in Ireland, Roderic O' Conor ended his
career, in the eighty-third year of his age, at his
quiet retreat in the monastery of Cong. He was
the last monarch of Independent Ireland.
CHAPTER XVI.
EVENTS OP THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
A new spirit was infused into the O' Conor fam-
ily from the accession of Cathal the Red- Handed.
During the reign of this provincial hero his clan
held its own in the West by policy or by force of
arms. In 1224, while the skies poured a heavy and
awful shower to mingle with the tears of his coun-
try, the soul of the peasant-bred king of Connaught
passed away. He died in County Galway at the
Abbey of the Hill of Victory, which he had founded
years before to commemorate the defeat of Amoric
de St. Lawrence.
The history of Ireland from the death of Rod-
eric O' Conor in 1198 to the landing of Edward
Bruce in 1315 is one monotonous record of almost
constant warfare between the natives and the set-
tlers and of incessant strife between the rival Nor-
man lords, who soon fell out among themselves, and
had not the Irish chiefs been rendered incapable of
steady combination by rivalries still more bitter and
feuds still more reckless, the strangers would have
been driven into the sea. During the 13 th century
the English Pale was often pushed iuto new territo-
ries when a chief governor of unusual skill and
vigor took the field; it sometimes dwindled away
when affairs were not prospering in England. It
was held at the cost of frequent wars and constant
vigilance and yielded little by way of revenue.
In every generation an attempt was made by
the Irish to throw off the foreign yoke, but it was
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 127
generally made by an individual chief or a union of
chiefs who resented some recent wrong. It was im-
perfectly supported by the nation, and among the
troops of the chief governor were almost always
Irish allies who hated an ambitious neighbor more
than they hated the stranger. The jealousy of
clans and the rivalry of chiefs prevented a national
union. The patriotism which embraces in its sym-
pathy the entire country was imperfectly understood
in that rude age by men of any race or clime.
The invaders themselves, yielding to the spirit
of the age, were soon divided by fierce feuds and
jealousies and made war on each other on the slight-
est pretext, and in time many of them united with
the natives in a common resistance to the Bnglish
crown. The whole island had been nominally di-
vided in enormous grants among a few Normans.
The larger portions were at different times erected
into counties palatine, whose lords had the privilege
of making their own laws, with very little regard
to the jurisdiction of the English crown and with
absolute power of life and death.
The great leaders on whom the English gov-
ernment had conferred these privileges accordingly
occupied the position of independent princes. The
most powerful and the most numerous of the Nor-
man families was that of the FitzGeralds or Ger-
aldines, who were descended from Gerald, governor
of Pembroke Castle, in Wales, and Nesta, the prin-
cess of South Wales. The Geraldines had received
immense grants of land in Ireland from Henry II.
and his successors. They intermarried with the
Irish nobility and encouraged social alliances between
the settlers and the natives.
Their territories became so extensive that both
Irish and Normans began to look upon the heads
of the family as the chieftains of a powerful clan,
who claimed and were accorded lordship over Kil-
128 HISTORY OF IRELAND
dare and a great part of the Southern province. In
1259 the Southern Geraldines and the MacCarthys
fought a great battle at Callan Glen, near Kenmare,
in Kerry. There the Normans suffered perhaps the
most crushing defeat that they had yet received on
Irish soil, and the Munster Geraldines were almost
annihilated.
The death of the victor, Florence MacCarthy,
soon after, however, enabled the FitzGeralds to re-
cover from their defeat and confusion, and in time
they regained their lost ground and rebuilt the
numerous castles which had been taken from them
and destroyed by the gallant Prince of Desmond.
While the FitzGeralds were firmly establishing
themselves in Leinster and Munster, and branches
of the great house of Butler were spreading over all
Kilkenny and Tipperary, the De Burgos, or Burkes,
who had firmly established themselves in Limerick
and West Meath, taking advantage of the feuds of
the O' Conors, were gradually obtaining a foothold
in the West. The rival princes of Connaught,
after the death of the able Cathal O'Conor in 1224,
were blindly rushing at each other's throats in
bloody civil strife: the De Burgos, strongly posted
at Athlone, on the Shannon, now helping one of the
combatants and then another, watched their oppor-
tunity till the country was desolate and exhausted;
then they occupied the best of the land, drove out
the native chiefs, and built themselves impregnable
forts and castles.
Ulster had originally been granted to De
Courcy, but he incurred the displeasure of King
John of England, who transferred his grant to Hugh
de Lacy. The whole of this vast territory in 1254
passed by marriage to the De Burgo family. But
the foreign lordship of Ulster remained for a long
time little more than a nominal possession. The
greater part of that province was unconquered for
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 129
centuries and continued in the hands of the heroic
people of the North: the great O'Neill, MacLough-
lin and O'Donnell clans, and the lesser tribes of the
Maguires, the O'Haras, the O'Shields, the O'Reil-
lys, the MacMahons, the O'Hanlons, the Magen-
nises and the O'Kanes.
A century had now elapsed since the Norman
invasion, during which the bitter strife between the
Norman lords, the feuds among the Irish themselves,
added to the endless struggle for supremacy between
native and foreigner, had brought the island to the
brink of ruin. The chief governors were destitute
of power or influence sufficient to restrain the tur-
bulent barons (as the great Norman lords were
called) and the Bnglish authority was hardly
recognized.
In 1290 William de Vesey was appointed chief
governor of Ireland and sent over to remedy these
disorders, but he became involved in a contest with
the Geraldines which ended in his ruin. De Vesey
and John FitzGerald, Baron of Oifaly, charged each
other with treason, and the dispute was brought to
an end by FitzGerald challenging De Vesey to mor-
tal combat. The challenge was accepted, but when
the day arrived De Vesey did not appear, having
previously escaped to France. His lands were in
consequence bestowed on his more valiant rival.
At the close of the 13th century the De Burgos,
having obtained by successful wars, intrigue and
policy extensive possessions in Connaught, Meath
and Ulster, became a great power in Ireland, and
powerful rivals to the Geraldines of Kildare and
Desmond. Richard de Burgo, the famous "Red
Karl" and chief of his house, held his court at
Trim, on the Boyne, where his acts were more like
those of an independent monarch than of a feudal
lord.
So great was his power that at one time he de-
130 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
posed the chiefs of the O'Donnells and the O'Neills
and set iip those of his own choosing, and he also
received hostages from the O 'Conors. He was the
first of the Norman barons to hold, at the same
time, hostages both of Connaught and Ulster.
In 1288 a civil war broke out between De Burgo
and the Geraldines, and after many conflicts the
Red Earl and his brother William were taken pris-
oners and carried in fetters to FitzGerald's castle in
Ofi[aly. Soon after a parliament, assembled at Kil-
kenny, ordered their release, and a peace was made
between those rival houses, which was strengthened
soon after by the marriage of De Burgo 's daughters
to Maurice and Thomas FitzGerald, afterwards the
heads of the illustrious houses of Desmond and
Kildare.
At the close of the 13th century the Irish clans
of the Bast and South were driven to the more wild
and mountainous districts, while a large portion of
Connaught and the greater part of Ulster yet re-
mained to them. Sometimes the natives purchased
the aid of the Norman adventurers in their feuds
with their own countrymen. Sometimes the Irish
were seen marching beneath the banners of a Nor-
man lord to invade the territory of a neighbor.
Occasionally Normans with Irish allies met in the
shock of battle other Normans with their Irish
allies.
The history of Ireland during this century is
mainly the history of a few great Irish and Norman
families. Through this long period of warfare and
confusion there was no dearth of jarring elements,
but, properly speaking, no Irish nation. Both na-
tive and foreigner were almost equally turbulent
and lawless. The Norman supremacy in Ireland
was perhaps at its height at the close of the 13 th
century. The Norman lords built great castles and
lived in them a life of rough independence. They
HISTORY OF IRELAND 131
ruled their tenants with a curious mixture of Irish
and Norman law after their own fashion.
In the Norman towns which were gradually es-
tablished in the island under the protection of one
or another of the great foreign lords the language
and customs for a long time were mainly Norman-
French. It was as if some town of Normandy, in
France, had been transplanted in Ireland, with its
well-guarded ramparts, on which the citizens' wives
and daughters walked during quiet evenings in
times of peace, its busy, crowded streets thronged
with citizens of all trades and crafts, but ever ready
to suspend all business, to drop awl or hammer, net
or knife, and rush to arms to attack or to repel the
Irish enemy.
For outside the ramparts of these Norman
towns on Irish soil, outside the last bastion of the
lords' strongholds lay the Irish, a separate and a
hostile people, ever attacked and ever ready to at-
tack. The Norman lords with their forces from
time to time swept over the fertile fields of the Irish
and seized upon the stores that the natives had
placed in their churches and churchyards, as they
were accustomed to do before they took to building
castles for themselves.
The Irish retaliated whenever and wherever
they could, and for a long time there was little alli-
ance between them. In one respect the Norman
lords showed themselves religious: their remorse for
their wild, lawless acts covered the country with
monastic foundations, some of which still remain to
show that though the Normans lusted after land and
plunder like their kinsmen, the Danes, unlike the
latter they improved, they created, they enriched
wherever they conquered.
CHAPTER XVII.
EDWARD BRUCE CROWNED KING OF IRELAND.
The alliance between the De Burgos and the
Geraldines, whose hostility had hitherto been one
of the great sources of internal quarrels, promised
to secure the Pale an interval of tranquillity, but a
new storm soon burst upon the Normans in Ireland,
which at one time seriously threatened their destruc-
tion. No fact, perhaps, in the history of the two
countries is better authenticated than the unity of
origin and feeling which existed between the natives
of Ireland and Scotland.
This natural sympathy of race was further
strengthened by their common language and strug-
gles with the Normans, a people by whom both had
been wantonly oppressed. In 1314 the decisive
victory of Robert Bruce and his gallant Scots at the
memorable battle of Bannockburn over the army
of England produced great excitement in Ireland
and was the signal for a general revolt among the
Ulster chiefs.
The Irish felt a deep sympathy for the Scots, a
kindred people, in their splendid efforts for inde-
pendence, and when Robert Bruce had fled after his
coronation to the Island of Rathlin, off the coast of
Antrim, in 1306, the Northern chiefs supplied him
with 700 men to aid in the recovery of his king-
dom . Overtures were made by the Ulster chieftains
to Robert Bruce after his great victory over his ene-
mies for the dispatch to them of his brother Edward,
to whom they were willing to offer the crown of Ire-
I
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 133
land provided Robert himself would come to assist
them in a war for Irish independence. Bruce ac-
cepted the proposal and speedily sent over his
brother. On the 25th of May, 1315, Edward
Bruce, at the head of 6,000 hardy veterans, landed
on the coast of Antrim and was immediately joined
by Donald O'Neill, King of Ulster, and twelve
other Irish chiefs.
The combined forces fell upon the Norman set-
tlements in the North and massacred the colonists
with as little mercy as they had themselves experi-
enced. The Norman lords, surprised by the fierce
onset of the Scotch-Irish forces and divided among-
themselves, were unable to resist their rapid career.
Bruce and O'Neill marched towards the South, lay-
ing waste the country with fire and sword, routing
their enemies and capturing their strongholds. Cas-
tles were stormed; Dundalk, Coleraine, Ardee and
almost every town of note in Ulster was reduced to
ashes, and in a short time no trace of the Normans
remained in the North but the desolation of their
former buildings. The news of these successes
spread dismay through the entire Pale. Several of
the Norman lords were disposed to make terms with
Bruce; others hastened to secure their possessions
in Leinster and Munster.
Richard de Burgo, the Red Earl, made vigorous
exertions. He mustered every disposable force at
Roscommon and marched to Athlone, where he was
joined by Felim O'Conor, King of Connaught, with
his clansmen. The two hostile armies soon faced
each other on opposite sides of the River Bann.
Secret overtures were now made by Bruce to Felim,
promising him the secure possession of Connaught
if he would abandon De Burgo and join the national
cause.
Felim, who appears to have decided to join
Bruce, was suddenly recalled to Connaught by an
134 HISTORY OF IRELAND
insurrection headed by one of his own rivals, and
the Red Barl, thus weakened, began to retreat, but
was speedily followed by Bruce and compelled to
risk an engagement. A battle was fought Septem-
ber, 1315, at Castle Conor, in Antrim, in which the
Normans were defeated with severe loss, and the
earl with the remnant of his force fled back to
Connaught.
Bruce now laid siege to Carrickfergus, but with
the main body of his army marched into Meath, de-
feated the enemy in several engagements, particu-
larly in a decisive battle near Kells, where Edmund
Butler, the chief governor, and his forces were
routed and many killed on both sides. Bruce spent
his Christmas and a great part of the winter at one
of the castles of his friends, the De Lacys, in West
Meath, attended by the principal Irish chiefs of
Ulster and Meath. He next advanced into Kildare,
his progress being opposed by Sir Edmund Butler
and several of the lords of Leinster and Munster,
who had collected a large force. A battle was fought
near Athy, in which Bruce was again victorious.
The principal Irish chiefs of Leinster now joined
Bruce, as did some of the Norman settlers and a few
of the great lords. The De Lacys already had de-
clared themselves adherents of the Scottish chief.
Butler, however, put down a rising of the O'Tooles
and the O' Byrnes of Wicklow and speedily followed
up his advantage till the O'Moores, MacMurroughs
and other Leinster clans were reduced to sub-
mission.
The majority of the native clergy and some of
the Norman ecclesiastics embraced the popular side,
and, confident of success, Edward Bruce was sol-
emnly crowned king of Ireland at Dundalk. In
the meantime Felim O' Conor's absence from Con-
naught had given a fresh opportunity to the spirit
of usurpation and violence which too often had char-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 135
acterized his family and enfeebled his province and
his country.
One of his kinsmen compelled most of the
Connaught clans to submit during their chief's ab-
sence, but Felim's sudden return from the North
put an end to the plans of the usurper, who, after
a brief struggle, was defeated and slain, and once
more Felim assumed the sovereignty of Connaught.
Joined by some of the Southern chieftains and by
all the lesser chiefs of the West, many of whom had
hitherto remained neutral, the gallant Felim turned
upon the Normans in Connaught and overthrew
them in a number of brilliant engagements, in which
De Bxeter, De Cogan and other lords fell before
him.
A struggle for existence now began on the part
of the Geraldines, the De Burgos and the Butlers.
Troops were rapidly collected and sent to aid the
government at Dublin. John FitzGerald, Baron
of Offaly, and Sir Edmund Butler made strenuous
exertions to baffle Bruce and his allies. FitzGerald,
as a reward for his services, was created Karl of Kil-
dare, and the title of Earl of Carrick was conferred
on Butler.
Of the hostile clans the most formidable were
those of Connaught, led by the young and valiant
Felim O 'Conor, who now atoned for his former de-
fection by indomitable energy and daring enter-
prises. Felim was at the head of a large force
which threatened the annihilation of Norman sway
in Connaught when William de Burgo, brother of
the Earl of Ulster, and John de Bermingham were
given the command of a powerful army and sent
into the Western districts to come to a decisive en-
gagement with him.
The 10th of August, 1316, a great battle en-
sued, perhaps the best fought and most important
since the Norman invasion. The battle took place
136 HISTORY OF IRELAND
before the walls of Athenry, the chief stronghold of
the De Burgos and De Berminghams in Connaught.
The commanders were worthy of one another and
the conduct of the troops was not unworthy of their
commanders.
The mounted knights and mail-clad warriors
reeled and retreated more than once before the as-
saults of the impetuous clans. Their strength was
nearly exhausted and their bravest leaders slain, but
the example of the gallant survivors reanimated
the courage of their men. Bermingham led, rallied,
fought over the whole field. His prowess was every-
where displayed; his heroic glow communicated it-
self to every soldier. It was a scene for which he
was eminently fitted, and a day such as he coveted.
His bold and impassioned genius was admirably
supported by the prudent and resolute De Burgo,
who restored stability wherever he turned, and
whose prompt resources supplied every need. On
the other hand, the Irish troops showed themselves
thoroughly impressed with the greatness of the oc-
casion and determined to wipe away the stains of so
many previous disasters.
Vengeance inflamed their characteristic hate
and fury, and a sense of the great crisis gave them
uncommon force, firmness and fortitude. Wave
after wave they precipitated themselves upon the
foe, who withstood them like marshaled cliffs along
the seashore and beat them back again and again.
This moment they recoiled; the next they hurried
forward with a vehemence which spread havoc be-
fore it. Thrice they broke the adverse lines, which
superior discipline soon knitted together again. In
their repeated assaults upon the iron ranks opposed
to them they suffered dreadful carnage.
The Norman troops rarely advanced, but when
they did Felim's rapid rushing from post to post, al-
ways accompanied by brilliant achievements, resem-
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 137
bled successive flashes of lightning. The battle
raged from dawn till sunset with unabated fury.
With such commanders and such combatants victory
must be in doubt on which party to place her
laurels.
At length the fortune of the Norman arms pre-
vailed. The King of Connaught, in the 23d year
of his age, fell, and 8,000 of his men, by their
conduct, fidelity to their cause and their death,
consecrated the field of Athenry.
The power of the O' Conor family by this disas-
trous battle was almost destroyed and the entire
province of Connaught for a time placed at the
mercy of De Bermingham and De Burgo. This
Norman victory infiicted well-nigh irretrievable in-
jury on the national cause, while it inspired the
enemy with renewed courage. Bermingham was
immediately made commander-in-chief of the Nor-
man forces in Ireland and created Baron of Athenry.
Bdward Bruce was more than a year in Ireland
when his brother Robert, King of Scotland, came
over with reinforcements to help him. Activity was
now resumed. Carrickfergus, whose garrison had
so long endured privations, surrendered to the royal
brothers. Having collected an army of 20,000
men, the Bruces extended their ravages to the very
walls of Dublin and filled that city with consterna-
tion. De Burgo, the Red Karl, who was the father-
in-law of the Scottish king, was thrown into prison
by the mayor of Dublin on suspicion of secretly
favoring the Bruces, nor could the remonstrance of
the English government speedily obtain his release.
The authorities and citizens of Dublin made
such active preparations for defense that a siege at
that season of the year without a larger army, aided
by a fleet to cut off supplies from Bngland, seemed
hopeless. The King of Scotland now returned
home to attend to urgent affairs in his own domin-
138 HISTORY OF IRELAND
ions, but before his departure he promised to rejoin
his brother at an early day. The burning and plun-
dering of towns, castles and churches were carried
into Kildare and Tipperary, and even to the vicinity
of Limerick, but Murty O' Brian, Prince of Tho-
mond, declared against the Scots and joined the
enemy.
The devastations of Bruce 's soldiers alienated
the affection of the people, who were previously dis-
posed to regard him as a liberator. The Irish chiefs
of Munster were either neutral or actively hostile
and the Geraldines were enabled to collect an army
sufficiently powerful to prevent his further advance.
The want of provisions brought on by the failure of
the harvest and the desolating war foiled all of
Bruce's plans and embarrassed every movement.
The excesses of Bruce appear to have been the chief
causes of his final ruin. The desolated country had
nothing left to support his army; famine and pesti-
lence thinned his ranks; indiscriminate plunder of
friend and foe caused many of his Irish allies to fall
away.
Bruce was at length compelled to retire to
Ulster with the remnant of his forces, now reduced
to 3,000 men. In 1317 the harvest again failed,
not only in Ireland but also in Scotland and Eng-
land, and enforced a melancholy truce between the
contending armies, but the next year there was an
early and abundant harvest and both parties pre-
pared for a renewal of hostilities. Meanwhile the
Geraldines had collected a formidable force of 30,000
men. These were soon reinforced by the new chief
governor, Roger Mortimer, who had arrived with a
train of forty knights and their attendants.
With abundant supplies from Scotland, Bruce
was enabled to take the field in the summer of 1318,
and, joined by the Irish of Ulster, with the De
Lacys serving under his banner, the Scottish leader
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 139
again marched to Dundalk on his way towards the
South with an army of 3,000 men — Scots, Irish and
Normans.
Edward's brother, the King of Scotland, was
hourly expected with an auxiliar}^ force. Conse-
quently all the leaders wisely advised Bruce to
defer a decisive engagement with the enemy till the
arrival of these reinforcements, but Kdward, jealous
of his brother's fame, decided to fight without' such
aid and win the whole glory of victory, of which he
felt certain after his numerous triumphs in Ireland.
The Ulster chiefs also advised him to avoid a pitched
battle, to which he would not consent, and it appears
that in consequence of this refusal they withdrew
from his standard and took their departure, leaving
the self-willed king to meet the overwhelming force
of the enemy as best he could. A force of 10,000
men was soon dispatched from Dublin to meet
Bruce; these were placed under John de Berming-
ham, the commander-in-chief, and the army was
accompanied by the archbishop of Armagh, who
went to give counsel to the living and consolation
to the dying.
When they entered Louth they found the Scot-
tish army posted at the Faughard, a remarkable
mound near Dundalk, about seventy feet high, and
surrounded by a deep trench. The hostile armies
neared each other October 14, 1318. The impetu-
ous Bruce, at the head of his heroes, began the at-
tack, charging the enemy with great gallantry, and
soon the action became general. The battle was
decided by the death of Bruce not long after the
armies engaged, and the Normans avenged the suf-
fering which had been inflicted upon them by a
terrible slaughter of their enemies.
After the battle the body of Edward Bruce was
found stretched on the ground in the midst of the
slain, and over him was extended the lifeless form
140 HISTORY OF IRELAND
of Joiiu de Maupas, a Norman knight, by whose
hand Bruce fell. The victors cut off the head of
Ireland's king, which was presented by De Ber-
mingham to King Edward II. of Kngland, who in
return conferred upon that general the earldom of
Louth and a royal pension.
Soon after the battle Robert Bruce arrived on
the coast, but hearing of his brother's fate he im-
mediately returned to Scotland and the war was at
an end. The body of Bruce was buried on the hill
of Faughard and a large pillar stone erected to
mark his grave.
Edward Bruce was a man of fine appearance,
of great spirit, ambition and bravery, but fiery,
rash and impetuous, lacking that rare combination
of prudence and valor which so conspicuously
marked the character of his renowned brother Rob-
ert, the hero-king of Scotland. The death of Bruce
blighted the hopes of the Irish people. The power
of their enemies revived and the former system
of ascendancy, spoliation and revenge again was
universally established.
I
CHAPTER XVIII.
FUSION OF THE MILESIANS AND THE NORMANS.
The war with Bruce was at an end, but the
shock to the foreign system in Ireland was severe
and the consequences far-reaching. The inability
of the English government to protect its own sub-
jects had been learned to their cost in the late war,
and the result was the gradual falling away of many
of the settlers from their allegiance to the English
crown to unite themselves with the natives for their
better security.
Time and convenience also had gradually drawn
the Norman lords and the Irish chiefs into mutual
toleration. The hostilities lessened, the hatreds
waned. They began to take wives from among the
daughters of the Irish chiefs and the latter began to
marry the daughters of the Normans. The conse-
quence was that many of them became gradually
weaned away from their former habits, customs and
ideas. By degrees they abandoned their strange
garb, their foreign speech, and frequently even their
Norman names, to adopt instead the Irish dress,
names, language and law.
The transformed barons aspired to be independ-
ent Irish chieftains, like their new allies, "whose
will was law and whose law was license," till it be-
came proverbial that "they were more Irish than
the Irish themselves." The English government
witnessed with jealous anger the natural process of
assimilation and vainly strove from time to time to
arrest its course. The conversion of Norman bar-
142 HISTORY OF IRELAND
ons into Irish chieftains, despite the opposition of
the government, steadily increased from day to day.
In 1356 it was proclaimed that no one born in Ire-
land should hold any of the government's towns or
castles, and no public employment in Ireland or
office of trust, honor or profit in that country should
be exercised by any except English by birth. But
this proved unsuccessful and sterner measures were
resorted to at a parliament held at Kilkenny in
1367.
This parliament decreed heavy penalties on all
settlers who should adopt the Irish name, speech or
customs. The Norman who dared to marry an
Irish woman was to be half hanged, mutilated, dis-
emboweled alive and lose his estate. The fostering
of Norman with Irish children and the maintenance
of Irish bards were also sternly prohibited. But
the government had not at the time the power to
enforce these restrictive laws, which, like others of
the same character passed from time to time, be-
came, for the most part, a dead letter and only
served to further exasperate both natives and
settlers.
The parliaments were held in those times
wherever local convenience required — often at Dub-
lin, sometimes at Kilkenny — and were, for the most
part, submissive instruments of the chief governor.
There is not to be found in any act of parliament or
ordinance made in Ireland at this period the least
suggestion that the natives had any right or duty
except to enrich the invaders. A chief governor in
those days was usually a powerful courtier, who was
allowed to plunder Ireland, often without taking the
trouble to visit it; sometimes he was one of the
great absentees who drew immense incomes from the
country and performed none of the duties for which
his lands had been granted. It naturally happened
that many of them were recalled and cast into
HISTORY OF IRELAND 143
prison and that some lost their lives for being in too
great haste to grow rich and too little mindful of the
interest of their royal master.
Occasionally the experiment was made of in-
trusting the office to the Earl of Kildare or the Earl
of Desmond, chiefs of the great Norman-Irish fam-
ily of FitzGerald, but they were watched with con-
stant suspicion and sometimes ended their official
career in the Tower of London; sometimes to the
Earl of Ormond, chief of the rival family of the
Butlers, who were more cautious or more politic,
and managed better to preserve the favor of the
courts.
The result of the struggle with Bruce to the
settlers who held their land as tenants of the great
barons was disastrous. Many of them were utterl}^
ruined by the late devastating war, during which
the royal troops, left without pay, lived at free quar-
ters on the settlers. The total lack of security for
life and property compelled great numbers of the
colonists to leave the country. Those who remained
took refuge among the native Irish, whose ranks
they strengthened and with whom they soon became
assimilated in language and manners, and the de-
serted lands were re-occupied by the ancient clans.
Some of the great Norman-Irish lords encouraged
this movement.
Maurice FitzGerald of Desmond let loose his
soldiers on the settlers in Kerry, Limerick, Cork
and Waterford and filled with his Irish adherents
the lands which thus became depopulated. All
Desmond, or South Munster, and a large portion of
Leinster were in this way, about the middle of the
14th century, cleared of their foreign population.
The O' Conors and the O'Moores swarmed out of
the Slieve Bloom Mountains and recovered Offaly
and Leix (the present Kings and Queens Counties);
the MacMurroughs recovered County Carlow and
144 HISTORY OF IRELAND
half of County Wexford, while the O'Tooles and
the O' Byrnes were raiding with success from the
hills of Wicklow upon the fertile plains of Kildare.
The clans of Ulster and Connaught became more
aggressive and were harassing the Knglish Pale
very effectively. The Norman-Irish families were
generally and rapidly falling from the English con-
nection and blending with the native population.
In 1333 William De Burgo, Lord of Connaught
and Earl of Ulster, was murdered in a family quar-
rel; his widow, in terror, fled to England, leaving
her territories undefended. The O'Neills, seeing
their opportunity, took up arms, and passing the
River Bann drove out the settlers from the territory
of De Burgo (comprising the modern County An-
trim and part of County Down) after a desperate
resistance, and then they divided the recovered lands
among themselves. The earl's portion in Con-
naught, comprising the present Counties of Gal way
and Mayo, was seized by two members of the De
Burgo family, Ulick and Edmond, the ancestors re-
spectively of the Earls of Clanricard and of Mayo.
The two De Burgos then divided the territory
between them, Ulick taking Galway and Edmond
Mayo. They then threw off all allegiance to the
English crown, adopted the Irish dress and man-
ners, took the name of Mac William, and assumed
the character of Irish chieftains. Two other branches
of the same family took the names of MacHubbard
and MacDavid. De Bermingham of Athenry took
the name of MacYorris and De Exeter of Macjor- .
dan. These examples were extensively followed.
After the struggle with Bruce such was the
weakness of the English government that in 1328
James Butler was made Earl of Ormond, and soon
afterwards Maurice FitzGerald was created Earl of
Desmond, the government in this way intending to
secure their support and allegiance. With the same
HISTORY OF IRELAND 145
object in view the existing number of palatines was
raised to nine. These, including the territories of
the two lately created earls, were made almost inde-
pendent principalities, whose lords exercised all the
rights of sovereign princes, made barons and knights,
exercised both criminal and civil jurisdiction, ap-
pointed their own officers of justice, and claimed the
right of making war and peace at their pleasure.
Under such circumstances the authority of the gov-
ernment was merely nominal and the colony was
in effect divided into several independent sovereign-
ties beyond the control of the Bnglish crown.
The O'Neills and the MacMahons of Ulster,
the O'Conors and the O'Kellysof Connaught, drove
out or reduced the foreign settlers in those prov-
inces, and the Leinster clans were gradually nar-
rowing the Pale and claiming their own. The great
earls of Desmond were becoming more Irish than
Norman and acknowledged a bare allegiance to the
Bnglish crown, but were virtually independent.
Thomond, or North Munster, the home of the
O 'Brians, had never been regularly colonized by the
invaders, for there the brave Dalcassians had main-
tained with perseverance, despite many reverses, the
cause of Irish independence. More than one-half
of Meath was repossessed by the O'Malachys, the
MacGeoghegans and other native clans.
Leinster was so honeycombed with the Irish
tribes that little now remained to settlers in that
province but the walled towns. The great earls of
Kildare and the earls of Ormond were almost as
independent and Irish as the earls of Desmond.
The actual country where the Bnglish laws were in
force half a century after the war with Bruce con-
sisted of the County of Dublin and portions of
Meath, Louth and Wexford.
The crown had by this time abandoned the idea
of subduing the Celtic Irish as hopeless, and as it
146 HISTORY OF IRELAND
found the old settlers slipping from its control its
policy became one of self-defense. To weaken the
great Norman-Irish lords; to destroy their power by
fostering feuds between them; to play off one against
the other, and to fill all offices of state with imported
officials, to the exclusion of the old settlers, became
ruling principles of the English government. In
pursuance of this new policy the great Norman-
Irish lords were alternately coerced and rewarded.
In 1331 Maurice FitzGerald, Karl of Desmond,
was arrested by the chief governor, who flung him
into Dublin Castle and kept him there eighteen
months. In 1341 King Edward III. of England
proposed to confiscate all the lands of the great
Norman-Irish lords. The outraged Earl of Des-
mond and his party roused the threatened nobility
and a convention of the prelates, nobles and com-
mons of Ireland was held at Kilkenny. This con-
vention made so spirited and vigorous a protest
against the injustice of the king that Edward, full
of his French wars, thought better of his purpose
and let the matter drop.
Stronger measures were taken in 1344 under
Ufford, the chief governor, who treacherously seized
the Earl of Desmond, and by the same nefarious
means got possession of some of his castles and
hanged the commanders. But later, when King
Edward was glad to have an Irish force in his war
with France, he conferred knighthood on the Earl
of Kildare for his services at the siege of Calais,
and the Earl of Desmond was made chief governor
of Ireland (1354). The ancient feuds among the
Irish chieftains had lost none of their intensity with
time, and we find their arms, perhaps, turned as often
against their own race as against their common
enemies.
On the other hand, the Pale presented a scene
of no less anarchy and confusion. The settlers
HISTORY OF IRELAND 147
were divided into two distinct classes, parties or fac-
tions (the old settlers and the English by birth),
animated by intense jealousy and hatred. In offi-
cial language the native Irish had long been known
as the "Irish enemy," and now the old settlers
began to be called the "Irish rebels." The Irish
enemy were following up the retreating strangers
and gradually extending their conquests. Newcas-
tle was assailed by the clans of Wicklow; the
O 'Brians captured Limerick in 1370, and the Mac-
Murroughs, who had been devastating Leinster,
were bought off by the payment of a large sum.
The union of the Irish chiefs in one common
effort at this period would, in all probability, have
enabled them to recover the whole island, but this
was prevented by their own dissensions and folly,
and thus they lost the glorious opportunity of driving
the strangers into the sea.
CHAPTER XIX.
ART MAC MURROUGH, KING OF LEINSTER.
King Richard II. of England, son of Edward
the Black Prince, landed at Waterford in October,
1394, with an army of 30,000 archers and 4,000
men-at-arms, determined to complete the conquest
begun over two centuries before, in which, as yet,
but very little real progress had been made. Such
a powerful force, led by the king in person, could
not be resisted by the divided Irish.
As soon as Richard landed the native chieftains
and the Norman- Irish barons hastened to tender
their allegiance and perform homage. Richard was
satisfied with this appearance of submission. He
traversed the country in all the ,pomp of military
triumph, and soon returned to England, after hav-
ing expended enormous sums and performed abso-
lutely nothing. A cousin of the king, Roger Mor-
timer, the young Earl of March, was left at the
head of affairs in Ireland. In 1398, when the gov-
ernment attempted to plant an English colony in
Wicklow, the natives of that wild district rose under
Art MacMurrough, King of Leinster, captured Car-
low, and defeated the royal army at Kells, the
young Earl of March being among the slain. When
Richard heard of Mortimer's death he resolved to
avenge it.
He raised a magnificent army and again landed
at Waterford in June, 1399. MacMurrough de-
nounced the wrongfulness of the original occupa-
tion of Ireland and declared his determination to
I
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 149
undo it. When Richard marched against him he
hovered around the vast armament with a body of
3,000 men, whose disciplined activity kept the Eng-
lish in constant alarm.
When the foreign army prepared for battle
MacMur rough disappeared. The march was slow
and distressing to the foreigners; the active Irish
harassed them perpetually till their provisions were
almost exhausted. When the foreigners were off
their guard the Irish suddenly dashed on their path
with wild shouts, striking dismay into the hearts of
their enemies, while their spears smote through
shield and armor. Richard offered pardon, territo-
ries and towns to the chief if he would submit, as
his uncle and others had done, but his offer was
boldly rejected. .
At last the English king was glad to beat an
inglorious retreat to save his army from total de-
struction. Having thus thwarted Richard and hum-
bled his pride, MacMurrough sent to him proposing
a conference. The Earl of Gloucester and the Irish
chief met at a place appointed, but came to no con-
clusion, as MacMurrough absolutely refused to con-
sent to anything more than a nominal submission.
Richard vowed he would not leave Ireland until
MacMurrough, dead or alive, was in his hands. He
marched -to Dublin with his half-starved troops and
offered a hundred golden marks for MacMurrough 's
head.
News soon came that a rival to Richard's throne
had appeared in England. He immediately returned
to that country to find his kingdom lost and to end
his life soon after in prison, and Ireland was left to
take care of itself. A French knight named Cre-
ton, who accompanied King Richard to Ireland,
wrote a curious and interesting narrative of this
expedition, from which the following passages are
taken: "After six days' stay at Waterford the
150 HISTORY OF IRELAND
English king inarched to Kilkenny, where he re-
mained fourteen days, and then marched toward Art
MacMurrough, who styled himself King of Ireland
by right, and who professed to maintain the war and
to defend the land unto his death, saying that the
conquest thereof was wrongful.
"MacMurrough remained in his house, sur-
rounded by woods, which were guarded with 3,000
stout men, such as it seemed to me the English-
men marveled to behold. At the entry of the wood
Richard's army was ranged into order expecting to
fight; but the Irishmen did not then appear, where-
upon King Richard commanded the houses in the
woods to be burned, which was immediately done,
and many villages fired. King Richard's standard,
whereon he had three leopards, was advanced, under
which he knighted the Duke of Lancaster's son, a
fair youth, and to honor him the more he made, at
the same time, eight or ten other knights.
"King Richard now commanded 2,500 of the
country people to cut down the wood that his way
might be made passable, which was then overgrown
with trees and guarded by the enemy, and, besides,
so boggy that in divers places as the soldiers marched
they sank up to the reins in mire and could not
overtake the Irish in their retreat. An open pass
being made, the Irish in the passage through it
made such cries and clamors as might have been
heard a good league off, but still avoided us for fear
of our archers; yet they assailed us often both in
van and rear, casting their darts with such might as
no habergeon or coat of mail were of sufficient
proof to resist their force, their darts piercing them
through both sides.
"Our foragers that strayed from their fellows
were often murdered by the Irish, for they were so
nimble and swift of foot that, like unto stags, they
ran over mountains and valleys; thereby we received
ftlStORY OF IREI.AND 151
great annoyance and damage. Nevertheless, Rich-
ard's army, that was courageous and hearty, became
so fearful unto them, as MacMurrough's uncle, ac-
companied with divers others, bare-legged and un-
shod, with halters about their necks, humbly sub-
mitted themselves to the king, falling prostrate at
his feet, craving mercy, whom the king freely par-
doned, conditionally that he and his companions
should receive an oath from that time forward to
continue his true and loyal subjects.
' 'This being done the king sent to MacMur-
rough to submit, with a halter about his neck, as
his uncle had done, and he would not only grant
him the like mercy, but in these places he would be-
stow upon him castles, towns and ample territories.
Unto the king's messengers MacMurrough made
no answer but this: 'That for all the gold in
the world he would not submit himself, but would
continue to war and damage the king with all
his power, ' which bold answer proceeded from the
knowledge he had that the king's army wanted
victuals, and that for money there it could not be
supplied, the present necessity whereof was such
that for the space of eleven days the soldiers had
lived only upon what they could find in the coun-
try, formerly wasted, which was very little; their
horses were faint and almost starved, as well for
want of food as by standing uncovered in the rain
and wind, and of this famine many of the king's
army perished.
' 'A biscuit in one day between five men was
thought good allowance, and some in five days to-
gether had not a bit of bread; knights, esquires and
gentlemen likewise felt the misery, and for mine
own part I wished myself without one penny in my
purse at Paris. In this time three ships laden with
victuals came from Dublin and the hungry soldiers,
greedy of food, waded into the sea above the reins
152 HISTORY OF IRELAND
to come to the ships, where in disorder, not abiding
by the order for the disposing of the victuals, they
rifled the same and spoiled them, and in the confu-
sion many a blow was given and received amongst
themselves.
"Hereupon the next day the king marched to-
wards Dublin, the enemy attending us with fierce
and fearful outcries and skirmishing often with us."
At this time MacMurrough proposed a confer-
ence with King Richard and the narrative thus pro-
ceeds: "This news brought much joy into the
English camp and the king, by the advice of his
council, sent the Karl of Gloucester, attended with a
guard of 200 lancers and 1 ,000 good archers. Among
other gentlemen, I was one that went with them to
see MacMurrough, his behavior, estate and forces,
and to what issue the treaty would grow into. Be-
tween two woods not far from the sea MacMur-
rough, attended by multitudes of the Irish, de-
scended from a mountain, mounted upon a horse
without a saddle, which cost him, as it was reported,
400 cows, for in that country they bartered by ex-
change horses for beasts and one commodity for
another, and not for ready money.
"His horse was fair, and in his descent from
the hill to us he ran as swift as any stag, hare, or
the swiftest beast that I have seen. In his right
hand he bore a great long dart, which he cast from
him with much dexterity. At a woodside his men
staid behind him and he met the earl at a little ford.
He was of tall stature, well composed, strong and
active, and his countenance fierce and severe. Much
speech passed between the earl and him, but the
parley produced little effect.
"MacMurrough departed to his men and the
Karl of Gloucester to King Richard, to whom he
recounted all the conversation between them. The
king at this report was much enraged, swearing by
HISTORY OF IREIyAND 153
St. Edward that he would never depart out of Ire-
land until he had MacMurrough in his hands, living
or dead. Immediately upon the earl's return with
the answer aforesaid the king broke up camp and
the next day marched to the City of Dublin, which
is a good town, the best in that realm, seated upon
the sea and rich in merchandise, where we found
such plenty of victuals to relieve our army, horse
and foot, consisting of 30,000 or thereabouts, that
the prices of the same did not much increase. The
king could not forget MacMurrough, to persecute
him, and divided his army into three parts, com-
manding them to hunt him in his woods, and prom-
ised to give him that could take him, alive or dead,
an hundred marks in gold; but in my opinion it
was impossible to be effected while the leaves were
upon the trees, but after that time, when the trees
were bare, then to burn the woods would be the best
means to do service upon him, and not otherwise.
"During the space of six weeks we remained in
Dublin, where we lived in joy and delight, but in
all that time, by reason of foul weather and con-
trary winds, we never heard out of England, which
undoubtedly, in my opinion, was a presage that God
was displeased with the king."
The Earl of Ormond was made chief governor
in 1405 and soon after fought a desperate battle
with Art MacMurrough. To supplement a doubt-
ful victory the stern laws of Kilkenny, with a view
of preventing the assimilation of the settlers with
the natives, were renewed. In 1408 the Duke of
Lancaster, second son of King Henry IV. of Eng-
land, succeeded Ormond. The new executive the
same year attacked MacMurrough, who had en-
camped at Kilmainham, near Dublin, and in a fight
in which at least 10,000 men were arrayed on each
side, suffered a total defeat. The duke was chased
to the very gates of Dublin by the Irish chief and
154 HISTORY OF IRELAND
escaped only with his life, wounded and humbled.
One result of this decisive battle of Kilmainham
was that no further attacks were made on Art Mac-
Murrough by the foreigners. The continued suc-
cess of the Irish procured the appointment of Sir
John Talbot as chief governor in 1414.
He made a show of activity by joining several
lesser chiefs successively in attacks on each other,
but he did not turn the tide of victory. In 1418
Talbot, just before his departure from Ireland, at-
tempted to plunder MacGennis of Down, but was
repulsed, pursued and utterly defeated by that chief.
The O'Haras defeated and slew De Exeter; O'Conor,
Lord of Offaly (now Kings County), overcame and
despoiled the settlers of Meath, and MacMurrough
compelled the foreigners of Waterford to give him
hostages.
This was the last of MacMurrough's long list of
triumphs. He died at Ross, January, 1417, in the
60th year of his age. **He was," says the ancient
annalist, *'one of the greatest heroes the world ever
saw. Had I the tongue of men and angels I would
never be able to relate his merits. The mighty de-
fender of his injured kindred, the valiant avenger
of tyranny and oppression, the sure refuge of the
weak and distressed, the patron of literature and of
science, the glory of chivalry — is gone."
CHAPTER XX.
THE EARLS OF ORMOND, DESMOND AND KILDARE.
The latest attempt to subdue Ireland by means
of an Bnglish army had signally failed and the rem-
nant of the settlers were allowed to struggle on
alone against the hostile clans. Henry IV., who
had succeeded Richard II. on the English throne,
was too busily engaged in suppressing the numerous
insurrections which the defect of his title encour-
aged to pay much regard to the state of Ireland.
His son, Henry V., preferred the laurels acquired
in France to the doubtful advantages which might
have been acquired nearer home.
During these reigns (1399 to 1422) the Irish
clans acquired fresh power and territory. They
hemmed in the settlers on every side and in many
instances were paid a large tribute for granting the
strangers a precarious protection. The statute of
Kilkenny which forbade the mingling of the races
ceased to be observed, for there was not sufficient
force to exact the penalties for its violation. The
Norman-Irish barons became Irish chieftains; the
exactions of '*coyne and livery" (free maintenance
of the troops on the peasantry), according to the
ancient usage of the country, were imposed in open
violation of the English law.
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, the repre-
sentative of the oldest surviving branch of the royal
family, was held in high esteem for his great ability
and virtues. The claims of the house of York to
the crown of England began to be canvassed pub-
156 HISTORY OF IRELAND
licly, and the disgrace of the Bnglish arms in
Prance rendered the people still more discontented
with the reigning house of Lancaster.
With the object of removing the Duke of York
from England, where his presence was dangerous to
Henry's crown, the government appointed him in
1449 Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, with extraordinary
powers and privileges. The administration of York
is one of the brightest periods in Irish history dur-
ing the 15th century. For years afterward it was
quoted as the time when peace and prosperity ruled
the land; when excesses of factions were restrained
by impartial justice; when the Celtic Irish, the new
and old settlers, forgetting former animosities, seri-
ously applied themselves to improving the country
which they inhabited in common.
Though aware of the attachment of the Karl of
Ormond to the house of Lancaster, the duke re-
ceived him with the same kindness that he showed
to the Geraldines and De Burgos, his own faithful
adherents. His transactions with the Irish chief-
tains were marked with a regard for justice and good
faith such as had been rarely shown by former gov-
ernors; and what none of them had evinced, he dis-
played an anxious desire to improve the condition of
the peasantry and to protect them from the oppres-
sive exactions of their lords.
Such a wise government, as excellent as it was
rare, was rewarded by the attachment of all classes.
After Jack Cade's rebellion, which was supposed to
have been secretly contrived by the Duke of York,
King Henry sent orders to the sheriffs of the west-
ern counties commanding them to oppose the land-
ing of the duke, who had declared his anxiety to
justify his conduct and his determination to face his
accusers.
Embarking with a small train in 1451 he landed
in Wales, and, eluding all opposition, speeded to
HISTORY OF IRELAND 157
London, where he was, for the time, reconciled to
the king. In 1454 Edward FitzBustace, a knight
of great military fame, was appointed chief gover-
nor. The O' Conors of Offaly (now Kings County)
were the first to experience the rigor of the new
governor. He surprised this warlike clan engaged
in a predatory expedition and inflicted on them a
severe defeat.
The O'Neills, ever the most hostile to the set-
tlers, hearing that a rich fleet was sailing from the
bay of Dublin, fitted out some barks, attacked and
took the ships, plundered the cargoes and made all the
passengers prisoners. The governor immediately
hastened to attack the victors, and the O'Neills,
being joined by some other clans, advanced to inter-
cept the invasion. The two armies met at Ardglass,
and after a fierce engagement the Irish were defeated
with the loss of 700 slain and a still greater number,
including all their principal leaders, made prisoners.
The Duke of York, who had taken up arms against
the reigning family, having suffered a defeat in
1459, fled for safety to Ireland, while he and his ad-
herents were declared traitors by the English par-
liament.
Both settlers and natives received their favorite
governor rather as a sovereign prince than as a desti-
tute fugitive. The parliament of the Pale passed
an act for his protection, and further decreed that
whoever should attempt to disturb him should be
guilty of high treason. An agent of the Earl of
Ormond violated the law and was immediately exe-
cuted. Several laws equally designed for the duke's
service were passed with the utmost enthusiasm.
Soon afterwards the Yorkists, having obtained a
great victory at Northampton, invited the duke to
come over and lead his partisans in person.
On this occasion tlie attachment of his Irish
adherents was eminently displayed. They crowded
158 HISTORY OF IRELAND
to his standard with the utmost zeal and the Pale
was almost deserted by the settlers, who hastened to
enroll themselves under the banners of the White
Rose, the badge or symbol of the house of York.
With a gallant train of devoted followers, many of
whom were native chieftains, Richard returned to
London, but the war was unexpectedly renewed and
the duke was attacked before he could make adequate
preparations.
With only 5,000 men, mostly his Irish adher-
ents, he was encountered at Wakefield by an army
of 20,000, and in this unequal contest fell, with the
greater part of his followers. This battle, in its
consequences, proved well-nigh fatal to the interests
of the Pale. The Irish clans seized on the districts
now stripped of their defenders and the colonists
were forced to purchase a doubtful security by pay-
ing a heavy tribute to chieftains in their neighbor-
hood. The rival houses of York and Lancaster
were now plunged in bloody civil strife and the
struggle occupied Ireland as well as Bngland.
In Ireland York and Lancaster found keen par-
tisans among both the settlers and the natives; the
hereditary feuds between the two great Norman-
Irish families disposed them to take opposite sides.
The Butlers, earls of Ormond (Bast Munster), who
swayed Tipperary and Kilkenny, adhered to the
house of Lancaster, while the two great branches of
the Geraldines, earls of Desmond (South Munster)
and of Kildare, sided with the house of York.
Many of both races fought in England during that
terrible civil contest, which was carried on with al-
most unparalleled ferocity from 1455 till 1485, a
period of thirty years, during which the nobility of
Bngland was almost destroyed.
The Barl of Ormond, whom the Lancastrians
had raised to the English peerage, had been seized
and beheaded by the triumphant Yorkists, but his
HISTORY OF IRELAND 159
brothers and retainers were not daunted by his fate
and resolved not to mourn but to avenge it. Being
joined by some Irish clans and a great number of
Lancastrian fugitives from England they formed a
party too numerous for the troops of the chief gov-
ernor and adherents of the house of York, who were
forced to rely for success on the exertions of James
FitzGerald, Barl of Desmond.
The hostility at this time between the Gerald-
ines and the Butlers was continually manifested by
predatory incursions and the eastern counties of
Munster were incessantly disturbed by the war-cries
of the contending houses. In the long contest that
was maintained by these rivals the Geraldines were
distinguished by dauntless valor and a daring hero-
ism which bordered upon rashness.
The Butlers, less valiant in the field, were more
prudent in council. Artful, steady and crafty, they
frequently gained the fruits of victory after the
severest defeat, and finally destroyed the gallant
house of Desmond by intrigue and fraudulent pol-
icy. The O'Brians of Thomond (North Munster)
sometimes joined one and sometimes the other of
these rivals, but even when allies they feared to
trust the Butlers. "Fair and false like those of Or-
mond" was a proverbial expression among them.
The war maintained by Desmond against Butler was
desultory and of varied fortunes, but the Lancastrian
fugitives from England were found of little service
to their Irish allies.
They could not bear the fatigues of marches
through bogs and mountains; they eagerly desired to
try their fortunes in the open field and prevailed on
their leader to accept the challenge of Desmond. A
pitched battle was fought in County Kilkenny and
the Geraldines won a complete victory. Kilkenny
and other towns belonging to the Butlers were
seized and plundered; the Butlers were driven from
160 HISTORY OF IRELAND
their hereditary possession and forced to seek safety
in their mountain forts and fastnesses. As a reward
for this service Thomas FitzGerald, the young Karl
of Desmond, who had succeeded to the title and es-
tates of his father, James, on the latter's death in
1463, was the same year created chief governor. In
his first expedition against the Irish clans which
had seized the settlements in Meath he was taken
prisoner, but was soon liberated by O 'Conor of
Offaly (Kings County), who always had been a
zealous partisan of the Geraldines. Equally unsuc-
cessful was the termination of the war with the
O' Brians of Thomond.
On the advance of this clan and some others
Desmond was compelled to secure the Pale by pur-
chasing the forbearance of the invaders by a promise
of regular tribute. On the marriage of the king
with Elizabeth Gray, Desmond incautiously ridi-
culed the humbleness of the lady's origin. His
watchful enemies transmitted the news to England
and the queen immediately resolved on his destruc-
tion. Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, was soon sent
over to Ireland as chief governor and secretly in-
structed to examine his predecessor's conduct with
the greatest strictness and to punish him with the
utmost rigor if any charge could be established.
A new parliament was summoned, which, with
the usual servility of the parliaments of the Pale,
was ready to sanction any measure that the rulers
should propose. Several acts were passed indirectly
condemning the conduct of the late governor, and,
among others, one against paying tribute to the
Irish, which every one of its supporters was notori-
ously violating at the time. The parliament was
then adjourned to Drogheda, where an act was hur-
ried through both houses charging the Earls of Kil-
dare and Desmond with treason for alliance, foster-
age, etc., with the king's Irish enemies. Kildare
HISTORY OF IREI<AND 161
was arrested, but fortunately made his escape to
England.
Desmond, confiding in his innocence or his
power, came boldly to the chief governor to justify
his conduct. He was immediately seized, and with-
out the formality of a trial hurried to instant execu-
tion (1467). This act of tyranny and injustice did
not long remain unpunished. Kildare so effectually
justified himself to King Edward that he was not
only restored to his title and estates, but appointed
chief governor; and Tiptoft was recalled into Eng-
land, where, some years after, he suffered the same
fate which he had inflicted on Desmond.
The only crime of Desmond was that he was
too Irish. The laws which he had violated had be-
come generally inoperative even in the Pale; they
had long fallen into disuse in Munster, Desmond's
country, and were seldom enforced in Ireland except
to promote the ends of private vengeance. The ad-
ministration of Thomas FitzGerald, Earl of Kildare,
was distinguished by the institution of a military
order for the defense of the Pale, consisting of thir-
teen great proprietors, one hundred and twenty
mounted archers, forty knights and as many es-
quires. It is evident that a force consisting of thir-
teen officers and two hundred soldiers would have
been unable to resist any general onset of the native
Irish, who, however, appear to have long abandoned
the idea of a national union against the enemy of
their race, their strength being exhausted and their
valor misapplied in constant strife and warfare
among themselves, and that magnificent and fiery
spirit which might have shed lustre on their country
they too often wasted in ignoble feuds and family
quarrels.
The depression of the house of Ormond did
not long continue. John, the eldest surviving
brother of the late earl, contrived to obtain the favor
162 HISTORY OF IRELAND
of his sovereign, and even his personal friendship.
The partisans of the Butlers formed plots against
Kildare and forwarded complaints to England, which
the heir of Ormond supported with all his influence.
The Barl of Kildare was soon removed from the
governorship, which was transferred to his personal
enemy, the Bishop of Meath.
A parliament was assembled, which immediately
repealed the acts of attainder against the Butlers
and restored the heir of Ormond to his titles and
estates. The Butlers and Geraldines soon renewed
their former feuds. Their war-cries were raised in
every quarter and there was reason to dread that the
entire Pale would be involved in the quarrel of these
great rivals.
King Edward sent over a commission to the
Archbishop of Armagh to act as mediator between
the parties, but the discord was too fierce to be
easily allayed. Ormond, however, suddenly resolved
to undertake a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre
and quitted the country. Kildare ended his life
soon after, and when the chiefs were removed their
followers tacitly agreed to a truce. From 1460 to
the close of the century the history of the Pale, if
not of all Ireland, is mainly the history of the Ger-
aldines. In 1478 Gerald FitzGerald, the young
Earl of Kildare, was appointed chief governor.
The earl strengthened himself by forming an alli-
ance with the chief of the O'Neills, to whose son
he gave his daughter in marriage, and the influence
he thus obtained with the Irish of Ulster enabled
him to preserve the country in peace during the re-
mainder of King Edward's life and the short and
troubled reign of Richard III,
CHAPTER XXI.
POYNINGS' PARLIAMENT AND BATTLE OF KNOCKDOE.
The English government in the latter half of
the 15th century had reached its lowest pitch of dis-
aster, but with the end of the civil wars and the rise
of the Tudor dynasty the tide was beginning to
turn.
On the accession of Henry Tudor in 1485 as
King Henry VII. of England, the Pale, or colony in
Ireland, was reduced to the County of Dublin and
parts of Meath, Louth and Kildare. Dikes and
forts were built around its borders for the protection
of its inhabitants. The sea-coast towns were iso-
lated, and the great Earls of Desmond and Ormond
received license to absent themselves from the par-
liament at Dublin by reason of the danger and diffi-
culty of passing through the Irish enemy's country.
The Irish chieftains had recovered the greater por-
tion of the island, demanding and receiving tribute
from the few settlers who remained.
Even the walled towns, which hitherto had
maintained their independence, now purchased pro-
tection by the payment of an annual tax. Henry
VII. at first left the government of the Pale in the
hands of Gerald FitzGerald, Earl of Kildare, not-
withstanding the family of the Geraldines was such
ardent Yorkists. Kildare was as much an Irish
chief as a peer of the realm, but from his influence
with the native clans he was too useful as well as too
powerful to strike at present. Kildare's great rival,
the Earl of Ormond, having been restored to his
164 ' HISTORY OF IRELAND
title, resided in Bngland and became a member of
the privy council. The Karl of Desmond resided
in his own principality, and if he paid any attention
to the concerns of the Pale it was to aid the chief
governor in extending the influence of the Gerald-
ines. The De Burgos, or Burkes, had become vir-
tually an Irish clan and no longer regarded the
colonists as brethren.
In 1486 there appeared in Dublin an adventurer
named Simnel, who claimed to be Bdward Plantage-
net of the house of York and rightful heir to the
English crown. Kildare received the impostor as a
prince of the royal blood, surrounded him with all
the pomp of royalty and proclaimed him king in
Dublin under the title of Bdward VI. Throughout
Ireland few were found to deny this title except the
Butlers and the citizens of Waterford. Simnel was
solemnly crowned in the cathedral of Dublin and
immediately after, his writs to summon a parliament
met a general obedience.
The arrival of some German auxiliaries from
Belgium, commanded by Martin Swartz, an experi-
enced leader, filled the partisans of Simnel with
such confidence that they determined to invade Bng-
land. Kildare's two brothers, Thomas and Maurice
FitzGerald, were appointed to lead the Irish forces.
They were reinforced by the Barl of Lincoln and
Lord Lovel, who were zealous partisans of the
house of York, and on landing in Bngland were
joined by other persons of distinction.
The invaders directed their course towards
Newark, but were disappointed in their hopes of
raising the country. Simnel 's army and Henry's
forces met at Stoke. The engagement was long
doubtful, though the royal army was far superior to
that of the invaders, both in numbers and disci-
pline. The Germans displayed the usual bravery
of their race; the soldiers from Ireland, being
HISTORY OF IRELAND 165
mostly liglit armed, in vain made tlie most gallant
effort to break through the iron lines of their oppo-
nents. They were driven back, charged in their
turn, and thrown into irretrievable confusion. But
though routed they disdained to flee; each resisted
singly and at length nearly all were overwhelmed
by numbers.
Four thousand of the invaders, including the
principal leaders, fell in this bloody engagement.
Simnel was made prisoner, but his life was spared
by Henry, who made him a menial in the royal
kitchen. Though Henry was inclined to punish
severely the partisans of Simnel, the turbulent state
of Ireland compelled him to restrain his feelings.
He contented himself with rewarding his friends,
deferring the punishment of his enemies to a more
favorable opportunity. He sent a letter written
with his own hand to the citizens of Waterford,
thanking them for their fidelity, and at the same
time he graciously received the deputies from Dub-
lin and readily granted them a general pardon.
He sent Sir Richard Bdgecomb to Ireland with
a train of 500 men to receive anew the oaths of alle-
giance and take under the royal protection all who
gave assurance of their loyalty. Soon afterwards
Kildare and several of the Norman-Irish nobility
went over to England and did homage to the king
in person. They were magnificently entertained by
Henry, but had the mortification to see Simnel
waiting as butler at table.
Kildare on his return continued to exercise all
his former authority and preserved the Pale in
greater tranquillity than it had enjoyed for a long
time. Sir James Butler, a natural son of the Earl
of Ormond (who died while on a pilgrimage in
1478), had long been engaged in a series of intrigues
to remove Kildare from the government, and finally
succeeded. The Archbishop of Dublin was ap-
166 HISTORY OF IRELAND
pointed in his place, and the office of lord-treasurer
was bestowed on Sir James Butler, and every oppor-
tunity was now taken to depress the Geraldines.
Alarmed at the state of Ireland, Henry resolved to
confide the administration of affairs there to Sir
Edward Poynings, a knight of distinguished abil-
ity, who went over in 1494 with an army of 1,000
men.
The first military enterprise of the new gover-
nor was against the O'Hanlons and MacGennises of
Ulster, whose incursions had been very frequent and
injurious. The difficulties of the country rendered
the superior forces of the governor useless and
Poynings would have been forced to retire in dis-
grace had not the Geraldines furnished him a pre-
text for withdrawing.
The brother of the Karl of Kildare seized the
castle of Carlow, garrisoned it with his own retain-
ers, and raised the Yorkist flag. Kildare was im-
mediately arrested on suspicion and the chief gover-
nor, advancing to Carlow, forced the castle to sur-
render after a siege of ten days. Poynings now
summoned a parliament at Drogheda, at which was
passed the famous measure known as Poynings' act,
which at once deprived the Pale of all claim to inde-
pendent government.
The last act of this parliament was to declare
the Earl of Kildare guilty of high treason on the
ground of his intimacy with the "Irish enemy"
and for aid supposed to have been given War-
beck, a Yorkist pretender, who had come over to
Ireland. Kildare was taken in custody to London,
but his fearless bearing disarmed Henry's suspi-
cions, and in August, 1496, the earl was liberated
and sent back to Ireland as chief governor. Kil-
dare repaid the confidence of the king by the
zeal, energy and fidelity which he displayed in his
administration.
HISTORY OF IRELAND 167
The boundaries of the Pale, which had been
gradually narrowing during the preceding century,
were now enlarged, and several clans whose forbear-
ance had been purchased by tribute were forced into
submission. The great Geraldine's energy and in-
fluence over the native Irish maintained the power
of the crown in Ireland as it had not been for gen-
erations. He rebuilt the ruined towns of Leinster
and erected castles on the borders of the Pale; he
made raids into Munster and forced garrisons upon
the cities of Cork and Kinsale, which had shown a
disposition to support Warbeck.
He penetrated into Connaught to check the
turbulent power of the Burkes, and into Ulster to
support his nephew, Turlough O'Neill, in a quarrel
with another of the O'Neill family, capturing many
castles in that province and handing them over to
his Irish allies. For some time a bitter struggle
had been carried on in the West between Ulick
MacWilliam Burke, Lord of Clanricard, in South
Connaught, and Malachy O' Kelly, chief of Hy-
Many, a territory in the southeastern part of the
same province, during which the latter sustained a
severe defeat.
In 1504 Burke took and destroyed three of
O' Kelly's castles. O' Kelly, unable any longer to
resist with success his enemy, hurried to Dublin to
seek the assistance of the Barl of Kildare. The
latter, wishing to curb the aggressions of Burke,
with whom he had a personal feud, warmly espoused
the cause of O' Kelly. Burke of Clanricard, noth-
ing daunted by the power of his enemies, boldly
prepared for resistance, and obtained the assistance
of O 'Brian, Prince of Thomond, or North Munster,
and the latter now marched to the aid of Burke with
all his forces, accompanied by the MacNamaras, the
O'Carrolls in great force, and other Southern clans.
The O' Conors of Connaught also ranged themselves
168 HISTORY OF IRELAND
under the standard of Clanricard, and altogether the
army now raised to resist the forces of Kildare was
looked upon as the largest body of Irish that had
ever been brought into the field since the days of
Edward Bruce.
Under the banner of the Karl of Kildare were
ranged, side by side with the army of the Pale, the
forces of most of the clans of Ulster, such as the
O'Donnells, the O'Neills, the MacGennises, the
MacMahons, the O'Hanlons, the O'Reillys and
the O'Farrells, with the O'Conors of Leinster, the
O'Kellys of Connaught, and even the Burkes of
Mayo.
The whole island looked on in anxious expecta-
tion of the result of this deadly contest, for from
the composition of the two armies it seemed as
though the ancient rivalry of the North and the
South was again brought into the field. The com-
bined army under Kildare crossed the Shannon and
marched direct towards Galway till it arrived within
about eight miles northeast of that city, when it
came in sight of the enemy, which had collected its
force along the hill of Knockdoe, from which it
stretched into the neighboring plain.
The battle which ensued was one of the most
bloody and decisive that had taken place in Ireland
for centuries. The engagement began on the 19th
of August, 1504, and continued for hours with great
fury. The attack was made by the army of Burke,
which rushed furiously upon the ranks of Kildare.
But it appears that the trained archers of the Pale
used the bow with such terrible effect upon their
assailants that the latter at length fell back in con-
fusion. The whole army of the North then rushed
upon them and drove them from the field with
immense slaughter.
O' Brian, Prince of Thomond, was among those
who fell in the battle. The two sons of Ulick
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 169
Mac William Burke were made prisoners, but Burke
himself escaped by flight. From a comparison of
the different accounts of this engagement it appears
that Burke lost about 4,000 troops on the field and
in the pursuit, and 2,000 of Kildare's fell, making
in all about 6,000 men slain in this decisive con-
flict. On the following day Kildare proceeded to
Galway and took possession of the town without
opposition.
There the victors remained some time, feasting
and rejoicing, after which they marched to Athenry,
which also surrendered to the Earl of Kildare with-
out resistance. After the capture of Athenry Kil-
dare's allies marched to their homes and the earl
himself, with the army of the Pale, returned to
Dublin.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE REVOLT OF SILKEN THOMAS ( FITZGERALD ).
In 1509 Henry Tudor, known as Henry VIII.,
ascended the English throne. Gerald FitzGerald,
Earl of Kildare, was continued as chief governor in
Ireland and daily extended the influence of the
crown.
So great was the confidence reposed in this gal-
lant chief that on his death in 1513 the army sud-
denly dispersed and there was reason to dread a new
series of tumults. This was, however, prevented
by the council, which unanimously elected Gerald,
the young Earl of Kildare, chief governor until the
royal pleasure could be known, and this election
was confirmed in England. Gerald inherited the
valor of his illustrious family and also a more than
ordinary share of their characteristic pride and im-
prudence. He soon proved his military skill by
suppressing a formidable rising of the neighboring
clans and by a successful incursion into the North.
But though Kildare was able to subdue his enemies
in the field he could not contend with his secret foes
in the intrigues of the cabinet.
One of the first cares of Henry and his minis-
ter, Wolsey, was to unfold a characteristic Tudor
policy for Ireland. The time had come for the
struggle to begin between the crown and the great
Norman-Irish lords. Henry's minister. Cardinal
Wolsey, hated the Geraldines, who by means of
their powerful Irish connection, having intermarried
with the families of half the native princes, were
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 171
setting the government at defiance. Through their
power to raise or quell at pleasure the turbulence of
the Irish clans they had forced themselves upon the
government as the only persons able to carry on
affairs in Ireland.
King Henry also looked upon the Geraldines'
power with peculiar jealousy. The control of the
island was practically in the hands of the earls of Kil-
dare and their followers and was drifting day by day
further from the supremacy of Hngland. What use
were the Kilkenny statutes and Poynings' acts if the
country was under the command of a Norman-Irish
house which defied the authority of England? His
jealousy of the Geraldines was fostered by Wolsey,
who was considerably under the influence of the
house of Ormond (or Butlers), the bitter enemies
of the Geraldines.
The Butlers always had been firmly attached to
the house of Lancaster and the Tudor cause and
were traditional rivals of the Geraldines. The chiefs
of the Butlers, earls of Ormond, never had fallen
away from foreign habits and assimilated with the
Celtic natives to the same extent as the chiefs of the
great house of FitzGerald, the earls of Kildare, or
the still more Irish FitzGeralds, earls of Desmond.
The story of the house of Geraldine, or FitzGerald,
is one of the most romantic in all Irish history.
The Geraldines were descended from Maurice and
Ravmond FitzGerald, who came to Ireland with the
first Norman invaders in the 12th century.
Through varying fortunes (at one time the
Desmond or South Munster Geraldines were nearly
exterminated by the MacCarthys) they had risen to
a proud position of rule in Ireland. They were
lords over the broad lands in Kildare, Waterford,
Cork, Kerry and Limerick; their followers swarmed
in Leinster and Munster, bearing a "G" on their
breasts in token that they owed their hearts to the
172 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
Geraldines. Too proud or noble to court the favor
of Wolsey by meanness and subserviency, Kildare
incurred the displeasure of that haughty prelate,
while his rival, Pierce Butler, Barl of Ormond,
submitted to every degrading requirement in order
to conciliate the powerful cardinal. In consequence
of these artifices and the crafty policy of the gov-
ernment, Kildare was removed from office and the
Karl of Surrey, connected by marriage with the
house of Ormond, was appointed in his stead (A. D.
1520).
Kildare was summoned to England to answer
the charge of allying himself with the "Irish en-
emy." Soon after his arrival he obtained the
daughter of the Marquis of Dorset in marriage, and
by the aid of this influential nobleman was enabled
to baffle the malice of his enemies. He attended
Henry to Calais at the time of his celebrated inter-
view with Francis, King of France, and contributed
largely to the splendor of the "Field of the Cloth of
Gold" by the brilliancy of his suite and equipage.
In the meantime Surrey, who had brought over an
army of 1,000 men, displayed unusual vigor and
ability in Ireland. He crushed the revolt of several
clans and received the submission of some powerful
chieftains, but being a stranger in the country was
led into many errors by the interested deception of
his advisers.
Surrey was succeeded as chief governor in 1561
by the Karl of Ormond, whose administration was
chiefly directed to extending the power and influ-
ence of the Butlers, and he was not very scrupulous
in the use of any means by which this object might
be effected. FitzPatrick, an Irish chief in Leinster,
having been plundered by Ormond, sent an ambas-
sador to lay his complaints before the king, to which
the latter, it appears, paid no attention, and Ormond
was allowed to continue his excesses with impunity.
HISTORY OF IRELAND 173
The return of Kildare after a three years' sojourn
at the English court proved a formidable event to
the governor.
The Kildares renewed their struggle with the
Butlers and the contest soon became so important
that commissioners were sent from England to in-
vestigate the wrongs of which both complained.
After a brief inquiry they decided in favor of Kil-
dare, and the Earl of Ormond was immediately
removed from his office and Kildare appointed chief
governor.
James PitzGerald, Earl of Desmond, the chief
of the Southern Geraldines, had long acted as an
independent prince. He claimed the privilege of ab-
senting himself from parliament and of never being
obliged to come within the walls of a fortified town.
Francis, King of France, finding King Henry of
England had joined his enemies, determined to
raise some commotion in Ireland, and for this pur-
pose sent an embassy to Desmond, who readily en-
tered into an alliance, offensive and defensive, with
the French king, but before the treaty could pro-
duce any effect Francis was made prisoner and Des-
mond left exposed to the vengeance of an enraged
and vindictive sovereign.
Orders were sent to Kildare commanding him
in the strongest terms to punish his kinsman, but
the governor ventured to evade their enforcement
and marched into Ulster on the pretense of some
disorders in that province, but really to support his
brother-in-law, O'Neill. The enemies of Kildare
represented this conduct at court and the governor
was ordered to appear before the king and answer to
these charges. On his arrival in London he was
thrown into the Tower, but after a short time, dur-
ing which Ireland remained in a state of distrac-
tion, the earl, through the influence of his high
connections, recovered the confidence of the jealous
174 HISTORY OF IRELAND
king and once more returned to Ireland as chief
governor.
Henry, however, already had determined on
the ruin of the great house of Kildare, and in 1534
for a third time charges of treason were preferred
against him, with a peremptory command to come at
once to London. Kildare reluctantly passed over to
England, intrusting the government to his son,
Lord Thomas FitzGerald, a youth scarce twenty-one
years old.
Kildare on his arrival was a second time sent
to the Tower of London, but this blow was not
aimed at the earl alone. Letters were written and
conveyed to Dublin stating that Kildare had been
executed. Already the faction of Butlers had re-
ported that he had been sentenced to death and pre-
tended to have read an account of his execution.
Lord Thomas, "Silken Thomas," as he was popu-
larly called on account of the richness of his dress,
lent a credulous ear to these inventions of his
enemies.
Determined on revenge, he consulted his Irish
adherents, and having received promises of support
proceeded to raise the standard of revolt. Attended
by a body of 140 armed followers he entered Dub-
lin and immediately started for St. Mary's Abbey,
where the council was assembled in deliberation.
The sudden entrance of armed men filled all with
alarm, but their fears were calmed by Lord Thomas,
who, repressing the violence of his attendants, de-
clared that he came to resign the sword of state, to
renounce his allegiance to King Henry, and to pro-
claim himself the foe of the English government
and its adherents.
While the other lords remained astonished and
silent, Cromer, who was both chancellor and pri-
mate, arose, and taking the young lord by the hand
gently remonstrated with him on the rashness of his
ALLrOTA^^^^^^
^" VTII
174 HISTORY OF IRi:
king and once more returned \ s*land as chief
governor.
Henry, howeve^ /,-..o/?r .terinined on
the ruin of the grea and in 1534
for a third time cli re preferred
against him, with ' iv w - , . id to come at
once to London. .Juctanti) passed over to
England, intnisti :; government to his son,
Lord Thomas Fitzl . ^ youth scarce twenty-one
years old.
Kildare on his arnval was a second time sent
to the Tower of Loudon, but this blow was not
aimed at the earl aloric. Letters were written and
conveyed to Dublin i that Kildare had been
executed. Already . -v ...^lion of Butlers had re-
ported that he had been sentenced to death and pre-
tended to have read an account of his execution.
Ix>rd Thomas, * 'Silken Thomas," as he was popu-
ly called on account of the richness of his dress,
J^iiiirt&i 4)ff reveugc, ne c6nkiTte<5 his Irish
, and having receivH promises of support
to raise the stand ^ '' ^< ' A i tended
y of 140 armed f Dub-
i immediately st y,
-. the council was .-^..> .. - -n.
ri- sudden entrance of armed men filled all with
but their fears were calmed by Lord Thomas,
epressing the violence of his attendants, de-
that he came to resign the sword of state, to
his allegiance to King Henry, and to pro-
self the foe of the English government
tierents.
•r lords remained astonished and
J ...iC was both chancellor and pri-
md taking the young lord by the hand
i,. : Crated with him on the rashness of his
HISTORY OF IRELAND 175
undertaking, to which FitzGerald made no reply,
but threw down the sword of state and rushed out of
the house. The Pale was soon overrun with retain-
ers of the house of Kildare. Without sufficient
troops Lord Thomas laid siege to Dublin and wasted
his time and forces in assaults on the castle, into
which his enemies had withdrawn.
Ormond hurried from the South; reinforce-
ments soon arrived from England, and though one
division was almost annihilated, two others, com-
manded by Sir William Brereton and Sir William
Skeffington, made their entrance into the city and
forced Lord Thomas to raise the siege. Throwing
a strong garrison into his castle of Maynooth, Lord
Thomas retired into the country of the native clans
to stir up the O'Moores and the O' Conors of Lein-
ster to his assistance and to send agents to solicit
aid from Spain and Rome.
*'And now there came into play a circumstance
which marks the change from the old to the new
order of things. Skeffington had brought with him
a train of artillery, with which he laid siege to the
castle of Maynooth. This fortress was believed to
be impregnable, and no doubt, if sufficiently provis-
ioned, under the old system of warfare it was so.
Skeffington 's guns breached the walls in twelve
days, an assault was made, and the castle taken.
Hitherto the English and the Irish had been pretty
evenly matched in point of fighting power. The
better disciplined troops of the former perhaps had
the best of it in the field, but the tactics of the
Irish, mounted on their fleeter and more wiry
horses, were to retire into the more difficult country
and to close up in the rear of the enemy and harass
them with intermittent attacks. When there was
fighting it was hand to hand.
"The sword and the spear were the ordinary
weapons on both sides. The skill in archery which
176 HISTORY OF IRELAND
had made the English infantry so formidable had
been to a great extent lost even in the Pale, not-
withstanding repeated laws which enjoined the con-
stant use of the bow. The great lords, secure in
their stone castles, could defy both the Irish enemy
and the royal troops and laugh at a besieging force
till it was compelled, for want of supplies, to raise
the siege and give up the raid.
* 'The invention of gunpowder put an end to the
old fashion of warfare and changed the relative posi-
tions of the parties. The siege train of the chief
governor battered down the Norman castles about
the ears of their owners. The introduction of hand
guns and field cannon gave a small force of the
king's troops a tremendous advantage over the half-
naked and ill-armed kerns and galloglasses. These
terrible engines of destruction were necessarily a
monopoly in the hands of the English government,
the Irish having no such thing as an arsenal or
factory for arms or ammunition."
The greater part of the irregular army assem-
bled by the Geraldine dispersed when the capture of
Maynooth became known and Lord Thomas was
driven to maintain a desultory warfare in the woods
and mountains. Even thus he made such a formid-
able resistance that he obtained from the English
general, Lord Leonard Gray, the most solemn as-
surances of safety and protection on condition of
dismissing his troops.
Skeffington died in 1535, about the time the
war was concluded, and was succeeded by Lord
Gray. The first act of the new governor was one
of characteristic perfidy. In spite of his former
promise he sent the unfortunate Lord Thomas a
prisoner to London, where he had the mortification
to find that his father had not fallen by the hand of
the executioner, but had died of a broken heart
when he heard of his son's revolt. The five uncles
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 177
of Lord Thomas, three of whom had strongly op-
posed the revolt, were invited to a banquet by Lord
Gray, where they were treacherously seized, hurried
on shipboard, and sent to Bngland as victims of the
indiscriminate vengeance of Henry. They were
lodged in the same prison-house as their unfortunate
nephew, and after lingering there a year they and
Silken Thomas, notwithstanding the terms of the
latter's surrender, were executed at Tyburn. Hven
these were not enough to glut the royal appetite for
blood.
The heir to the house of Kildare, a boy of
twelve, and son of the late earl by his second wife,
was sought for so eagerly that it was necessary to
send him to the continent for safety. Bven there
he was followed by the enmity of the tyrant. Henry
had the characteristic meanness to demand him
from the King of France as a rebellious subject, but
the French monarch connived at his escape to
Belgium.
From Belgium he finally reached Italy in safety
to find refuge with his kinsman, Cardinal Pole, at
the Roman court and to found again the fortunes of
his house.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE ACT OF SUPREMACY.
King Henry broke with Rome in 1534 and now
was compelling, with a high hand, a change in the
English Church. His quarrel with the Pope arose
from the latter's refusal to grant him a divorce
from Catharine of Arragon, his beautiful and virtu-
ous queen, with whom he had lived happily for
twenty years.
Wolsey had fallen from his high position and
Thomas Cromwell was now guiding the royal coun-
sels. At Cromwell's suggestion Henry had declared
himself "the only supreme lord and head of the
church and clergy in England." The king, having
abolished the religious houses in England and ap-
propriated their lands and revenues, determined to
do the same in Ireland. In the prevailing condition
of turbulence and poverty under which society in Ire-
land then groaned it has been well said "that the
religious houses were as lamps in the darkness and
as rivers in a thirsty land."
Though frequently plundered by all contending
parties, they held together the fragments of learn-
ing and enlightenment which otherwise would have
died out. They occupied the position of universi-
ties and schools, being the only places where any
education could be obtained. They served as pub-
lic houses, where any who traveled from place to
place could obtain accommodations, and frequently
provided the chief governor himself with food, for-
age and lodging; they dispensed charity to the poor.
HISTORY OF IRELAND 179
Disregarding such considerations, King Henry pro-
ceeded to abolish throughout the Pale, and beyond
to the extent of his power, the abbeys^ priories,
monasteries and nunneries in Ireland, and with
such success that before his death in 1547, four hun-
dred of these religious houses were suppressed and
their property appropriated to the crown. In 1537
Lord Leonard Gray summoned a parliament at Dub-
lin, at which the authority of the Pope was re-
nounced and the supremacy of Henry VIII., in
spiritual as well as temporal affairs, formally estab-
lished, his marriage with Catharine declared null
and void, and the succession of the crown pro-
nounced to be in the heirs of the king and the new
queen, Anne Boleyn.
The last act scarcely had been passed when the
news of Anne's disgrace reached the assembly.
With equal readiness they changed the inheritance
to the descendants of Jane Seymour, whom Henry
had married on the day following Queen Anne's
execution, and, in the failure of such heirs, ac-
knowledged the king's right to dispose of the king-
dom of England and the lordship of Ireland by
letters patent or by will.
Several acts of a similar tendency were passed
with little opposition except from the clergy, but
Lord Gray did not rely on statutes alone. He col-
lected a numerous army, and marching through
Munster received not only the submission of the
clans, but hostages for the fidelity of the chieftains.
From 1535 to 1540, during which Lord Gray con-
tinued in office as chief governor, he was almost
constantly engaged in warfare with the Celtic chief-
tains and the Norman-Irish lords.
The Butlers, triumphant over the Geraldines of
Kildare, were openly or in secret jealous antagonists
of the governor. They were, however, too politic
to undertake open rebellion, and while engaged
180 HISTORY OF IRELAND
in resisting the local government, sent over the most
fulsome professions of allegiance to the court of
England.
Gray reduced O 'Conor of Leinster and burned
his stronghold; he destroyed O'Brian's bridge across
the Shannon, which was protected at each end by a
tower of solid marble, and had laid the Pale at the
mercy of every incursion from Clare. He assisted
one O' Brian against another O' Brian, one FitzGer-
ald of Desmond against another, and one O' Conor
against another chieftain of the same name; he
dashed into South Munster and reduced the hostile
Barrys and received homage from many of the les-
ser lords; he captured the strong castle of Athlone,
the key of the West, and overawed the Burkes.
He destroyed several castles in Ulster and broke the
power of O'Neill and O'Donnell by giving those
chieftains a signal defeat at Balahoe, in Monaghan.
Soon after this victory Lord Gray was recalled to
England, and on charges made by the Butlers sent
to the Tower for high treason.
In 1541 he was ordered to execution and per-
ished on Tower Hill, suffering the same fate that he
had treacherously prepared for the Geraldines of
Kildare. Henry's plan, coercion and conciliation,
was not new in Ireland. The power of the crown
was to be exerted and order maintained. Overtures
were then to be made to the Celtic chiefs to induce
them to give allegiance to the king, and the pros-
pect of royal favors was to be held out to them.
"Sober ways, politic drifts and amiable persuasions"
were to be used to draw them gradually into the ap-
preciation of English laws, manners and habits and
to convince them of the material benefits they would
derive from holding their land from the crown in-
stead of by the elective life tenure which was given
them by their own laws.
Some risings after the departure of Lord Gray
HISTORY OF IRELAND 181
were quelled by Brereton, and the new chief gover-
nor, Sir Anthony St. Leger, on his arrival found
all parties prepared to submit to the new policy of
conciliation. Overtures were now made to the Cel-
tic chiefs, to the Barl of Desmond, who had been in
open revolt, and to other hostile nobles of Munster.
Both Milesians and Normans were half ruined by
their perpetual petty warfare.
They had learned to dread the power of the
king, and they had before their eyes the example of
the Barl of Ormond, who had been promised and
had obtained a portion of the confiscated church
land on his engaging to uphold the king's spiritual
and temporal supremacy. MacMurrough of Car-
low sent in his submission; the O'Dempsys, the
O' Dunns, the O'Moores and the O' Conors of Lein-
ster followed, as did the O'Malloys, the O'Mal-
achys and the MacGeoghegans of Meath. Then
came the O'Carrolls of Tipperary, the O'Tooles
and the O' Byrnes of Wicklow, the Earl of Des-
mond, MacYorris of Athenry and Burke of Clanri-
card. O'Brian, Prince of Thomond, at first held
aloof, and so did O'Neill and O'Donnell, but subse-
quently these chiefs agreed to submit and promised
allegiance to Henry.
In June, 1541, St. Leger summoned a parlia-
ment at Dublin, at which the most formidable ene-
mies of the English power were invited to attend as
peers. Then for the first time were to be seen Cel-
tic chieftains, Norman-Irish lords and English peers
sitting side by side in the parliament of the Pale.
The English monarchs hitherto had borne only the
title of lords of Ireland, but now the style and title
of King of Ireland was conferred on Henry and his
heirs and the Act of Supremacy was accepted and
confirmed.
The royal favors were then distributed. Peer-
ages and promotions were liberally bestowed on the
182 HISTORY OF IRElvAND
most powerful descendants of the first settlers and
the Celtic chieftains and further honors were prom-
ised to those who showed zeal in the king's service.
Burke was created Barl of Clanricard, O' Brian be-
came Barl of Thomond, O'Donnell was promised
the earldom of Tirconnell, O'Neill resigned the
title of his clan for that of Barl of Tyrone, and the
inheritance to his title and estates was conferred on
his natural son, Matthew O'Neill, who was created
Baron of Dungannon.
Other leading chieftains were conciliated by the
politic Henry with titles and rewards, and many of
them persuaded to visit the Bnglish court that they
might be impressed with the king's power and the
great resources of Bngland. Beyond the Pale the
church lands which had not yet fallen within
Henry's grasp were, on the submission of the na-
tive chieftains and the great lords, handed over to
them as a reward for their submission and alle-
giance. Large sums of money were also distributed
among the Irish chiefs, and to each was assigned a
house in Dublin for his occupation during the
sitting of parliament.
The chiefs agreed to hold their lands of the
king by Bnglish law and to conform to Bnglish hab-
its; to come to the king's courts for justice; to at-
tend parliament; to send their sons to be educated
at the Bnglish court; to assist the chief governor in
his wars, and to renounce the authority of Rome.
The submission of their lords was very unpopular
among the free clansmen, and in many cases the
newly created peers found the dissatisfaction forci-
bly brought home to them. The new Barls of Tho-
mond and Clanricard on their return from the cere-
mony of inauguration found portions of their coun-
tries in revolt.
The sons of O'Neill and O'Donnell headed the
clansmen in a refusal to accept the new order of
HISTORY OF IRELAND 183
things. Fighting followed and peace was only re-
stored in Thomond and Galway by the intervention
of the chief governor, who led his troops to support
the new nobility. In the North young O'Donnell
was finally overthrown by his father, while the
struggle in the O'Neill family was fought out be-
tween Matthew O'Neill, the new Baron of Dungan-
non, and Shane O'Neill, the legitimate son, who
was clear-sighted enough to contend that by the
Irish law of tanistry his father had nothing but a
life interest in the chieftaincy, and that King Henry
had no power to settle the inheritance by the feudal
laws.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE REFORMATION AND FIRST PLANTATION.
In 1547 Edward, son of Henry VIII., and Jane
Seymour became King of England with the title of
Edward VI. During this reign the reformation in-
troduced by Henry was pushed with renewed vigor.
How this was done in Ireland may be learned from
the Four Masters:
"They broke down the monasteries and sold
their roofs and bells. . . . They burned the
images, shrines and relics; . . . the staff of
Jesus, which had been in the hands of St. Patrick."
As a result of this kind of persuasion the whole
population of Ireland became united in one common
bond and one common cause to resist an innovation
which they looked upon as at once blasphemous
and tyrannical, and stamped with the detestable
policy of Anglicizing the Irish nation. A common
platform had been found on which the people of all
races could unite.
They could sink their mutual jealousies in the
enthusiasm for their common faith. Henceforth the
Norman-Irish and Celts were to be as one nation.
The war of races had ceased, the war of religion
was at hand. In 1551 St. Leger, the chief gover-
nor, received commands from England to cause the
Bible, the liturgy and prayers of the Reformed
religion to be read in all the churches of Ireland.
Accordingly St. Leger summoned the archbishops,
bishops and clergy to meet in Dublin to carry out
these instructions, but in this meeting Archbishop
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 185
Dowdal of Armagh scornfully refused to receive the
new liturgy and arose, with the main body of the
clergy, and retired from the conference. One arch-
bishop and four bishops remained — Browne, Arch-
bishop of Dublin, with Staple, Quin, Lancaster and
Travels, the bishops respectively of Meath, Limer-
ick, Kildare and Leighlin.
These five, all of whom, except Quin, were
Englishmen, readily accepted the king's orders.
The primacy of all Ireland was next transferred to
Dublin from Armagh, which, being situated in
O'Neill's country, was beyond the control of the
crown, and Archbishop Dowdal retired to the conti-
nent. Goodacre, an Englishman, was elevated to
the vacant See of Armagh, which he filled, at least
in name, and at the same time John Bale, a fiery
and bigoted Reformer, was advanced to the See of
Ossory.
Some conception of the projects of the Reform-
ers was now beginning to dawn upon the people.
They saw the advocates of the new religion place
their reliance on arbitrary acts of parliament and
bands of soldiers, substituting the law and the sword
for the gospel and the cross. Their attention had
been aroused by the plunder of the church lands
and the casting forth of the monks, nuns and friars
from their possessions and homes. Their wonder
and indignation had been excited by the destruction
of the images, shrines and relics of their venerated
saints; by the burning of the sacred staff of Jesus,
which was believed to have been used by Christ
himself and to have been converted into a crozier by
St. Patrick.
They were struck with horror at the sacrile-
gious pillage of the tomb of St. Patrick, St. Brigid
and St. Columba and the atrocious act of vandalism
in sacking the ancient and magnificent abbey of
Clonmacnois, destroying its ornaments and defiling
156 HISl'ORY OF IREiLAND
its altars — the renowned sanctuary which had with-
stood civil storm, Danish rage and Norman fury
for a thousand years, to receive from the Reformers'
hands the last, fatal blow.
The enraged people had turned on Bishop Bale
and stoned his servants and besieged him in his pal-
ace on his attempting to overturn the market cross
at Kilkenny. Similar heinous acts were committed
by the enemies of the ancient faith in other parts of
the country, and the first impression produced by
the advocates of the new creed was that the Re-
formed religion sanctioned sacrilege and robbery.
Little wonder if, in time, the Reformation became
identified, in the eyes of the Irish people, with
Anglicizing oppression and Protestantism, with a
war to the knife.
By degrees also a parallel course of extermina-
tion and plantation was now entered upon which,
with some interruptions, was vigorously pursued for
nearly two centuries; and this, combined with the
policy of forcing a new religion upon a reluctant
people, imbued the Irish nation with a hatred of the
English government which bade fair to be inefface-
able for generations.
The ancient territories of Leix, Offaly, Fercal
and Ely lay in the center of Ireland. They con-
sisted chiefly of trackless forest and impenetrable
morass, interspersed with tracts of profitable land,
and were occupied by many warlike clans, of which
the O'Moores and the O' Conors were chief. Soon
after the death of King Henry the O'Moores and
the O' Conors incited some disturbances in Leinster,
and a large, well-appointed army under Sir Edward
Bellingham was sent into that territory and soon
drove them to seek refuge in their fastnesses.
Such representations were now made to O' Moore
and O 'Conor as induced these chieftains to submit
and undertake a journey to England. Scarcely,
HISTORY OF IRELAND 187
however, had they arrived at London when they
were treacherously seized and thrown into prison,
while their lands were taken by the rapacious ad-
venturers who had advised this base act of perfidy.
The proud spirit of O' Moore sank under the indig-
nity of confinement; he died, leaving to his family
the memory of his wrongs and a heavy debt of
vengeance, which they in after time failed not to
exact.
O 'Conor long lingered in hopeless captivity and
exile. Con O'Neill, Karl of Tyrone, proved him-
self formidable after the accession of Bdward VI.
The fate of O' Moore and O' Conor awakened his
vigilance. The plundering spirit of the English
excited his hatred, and the eldest of his legitimate
sons, Shane O'Neill, successfully labored to preju-
dice him against Matthew O'Neill, on whom King
Henry had settled the inheritance. While Tyrone
yet wavered, Matthew, seeing the danger with which
he was threatened, made the most alarming repre-
sentations to the chief governor, who contrived to
secure the person of Tyrone and his wife, whom he
instantly placed in close confinement.
The consequence was to place the Clan O'Neill
entirely at the disposal of the warlike Shane, who,
assisted by a body of Scots, committed great depre-
dations and plunged Ulster once more in war. On
the accession of the Catholic queen, Mary, in 1553,
the old order of things was re-established for a brief
season. Armagh was restored to its former privi-
leges and Archbishop Dowdal recalled from banish-
ment. The officers of state changed their creed
with the same facility they had displayed on former
occasions. They had easy consciences and took
their religion from the crown.
Browne and his conforming bishops, with all
the clergy who had married, were formally deposed
and their children declared illegitimate, while Bale
188 HISTORY OF IRELAND
and the Bishop of Ivimerick fled beyond the seas to
Geneva.
The new queen commenced her reign by several
acts equally just, humane and politic. She restored
to his title and estates Gerald FitzGerald, heir to
the house of Kildare, who had been brought up at
the Roman court by Cardinal Pole, and she liber-
ated O 'Conor of Leinster, who had been so long a
prisoner. The church lands which had been granted
to the laity were not, however, relinquished; their
new possessors, though they might be indifferent
to their faith, were tenacious of their acquisitions,
and so far from restoring those that were still vested
in the crown, the queen continued to make fresh
grants to whom she pleased, ''with their appur-
tenances, both spiritual and temporal." The resto-
ration of the ancient faith was effected without
violence; no persecution for conscience sake was at-
tempted, and many English families who had fled
from the furious zeal of Mary's inquisitors found a
safe retreat among the Catholics of Ireland.
"It is," says W. C. Taylor in his History of
Ireland, "but justice to this maligned body to add
that on the three occasions of their obtaining the
upper hand, they never injured a single person in
life or limb for professing a religion different from
their own, as they showed in the reign of Mary, in
the wars from 1641 to 1648, and during the brief
triumph of James II."
When O' Moore and O' Conor were seized and
imprisoned the clans argued with great justice that
they had no right to lose their lauds for the real or
supposed errors of their chiefs. The ground was
the property of the clans, and the guilt of the lead-
ers, though ever so clearly proved, could by no
means involve the subordinate chiefs, against whom
not a shadow of a charge could be brought. The
government had answered by an argument suffi-
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 189
ciently characteristic: it deigned no reply, verbal or
written, but sent an army to drive the people from
their possessions and to punish by martial law all
who dared to make any resistance.
The strongholds of Dangan and Campa were
taken, the clans forced from their homes and dis-
persed, their cattle driven off and their land laid
waste by fire and sword. The rightful owners of
the soil having been ejected, the next step was to
re-people it with Bnglish colonists, from whom a
revenue of ;!f 500 per annum was secured to the
crown by granting of leases for twenty-one years to
the new settlers on the confiscated lands. For nine
years a guerrilla warfare of the most fierce and
bloody character was kept up between the dispos-
sessed clansmen and the settlers, which ended in the
almost total expulsion of the latter.
Again the government put forth its strength
and this time proceeded to do its work thoroughly.
The obnoxious natives were either shot down in the
field or executed by martial law and the remnant
driven into the neighboring bogs and mountains,
where for a few years longer they preyed upon and
despoiled the settlers, and were in turn hunted as
brigands and put to death. The confiscated territo-
ries were then converted into Kings County and
Queens County and the ancient strongholds, Campa
and Dangan, changed to forts and made into market
towns, and named Maryborough and Philipstown in
honor of Queen Mary and her husband, Philip of
Spain.
The reinstated settlers were called upon to ad-
here to the English language, habits and laws; to
renounce Irish marriages and fosterage; to clear the
country and maintain the fords and highways, and
to build a church in every town within three years.
In the settlement of these two counties may be seen
the beginning of those modern plantation schemes
190 HISTORY OF IRELAND
which were to be carried out on so large a scale by
the succeeding Bnglish rulers, whether Tudor, Stu-
art or Puritan. The indomitable Shane O'Neill
was as little inclined to submit to Mary as he had
been to Bdward.
In contempt of the governor's remonstrance he
renewed the war against his half-brother, Matthew
O'Neill, Baron of Dungannon, who in the course of
the struggle fell by the hands of Shane's men. In
1557 O'Neill joined Hugh O'Donnell in an attempt
to subdue his brother, Calvagh O'Donnell, who had
deprived the chieftain of Tirconnell, or Donegal,
their father, of power and detained him in prison.
This expedition into Donegal nearly proved fatal to
the adventurous O'Neill.
His camp was surprised by night, his followers
routed, and he himself with difficulty escaped by a
rapid flight. Shane, though thus defeated, lost
neither his spirit nor his popularity. On the death
of his father. Con O'Neill, who died in captivity in
Dublin, Shane took upon himself the chieftaincy of
the clan without opposition, thus openly setting the
government at defiance.
CHAPTER XXV.
SHANE O'NEILL, KING OF ULSTER.
The Reformation begun under Henry VIII.
had been carried out with pitiless vigor under Ed-
ward VI. and was met by the Catholics of Ireland
with determined opposition. Under Mary there was
a period of respite, but the strife was renewed with
greater fierceness under Queen Elizabeth.
In 1558 Mary died and her half-sister, Eliza-
beth Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII. and Anne
Boleyn, became queen of England. Elizabeth's
first act in Ireland was to reverse all that Mary had
done in church matters. In January, 1560, she
directed a parliament to be held at Dublin, taking
great care that its composition should be of a satis-
factory character. Representatives were summoned
from only ten counties, and these were carefully se-
lected from those towns and districts where the royal
influence was paramount, while none of the newly
created peers was invited to attend.
This carefully chosen and obedient parliament
— a deliberately packed body — repealed the Catholic
acts of Mary and passed the Act of Uniformity,
which made the new liturgy compulsory and re-
quired all persons, on pain of fine and imprison-
ment, to attend the Reformed Church. A new oath
of supremacy was also imposed, to be taken by all
persons, on pain of forfeiture of office and promo-
tion for life, and the gift of first fruits from the
clergy was restored to the crown.
"Many of the bishops accepted the situation.
192 HISTORY OF IRELAND
Those who refused and who were in Elizabeth's
power were deprived; those outside the Pale and its
power trusted in their isolation and defied the new
measures. The seizures by Henry and Edward had
impoverished the Irish church, but the spirit of the
church was unbroken. On hillsides and by hedges
the mendicant friars still preached the faith of their
fathers in their fathers' native tongue, and wherever
they went they found a people eager to hear and to
honor them, resolute to oppose the changes that
came in the name of Henry, of Edward and of
Elizabeth from across the sea. ' '
Elizabeth's troubles in Ireland soon began.
They arose out of her father's endeavor to substi-
tute the feudal laws of inheritance for the time-hon-
ored laws of tanistry in his grants of peerages to
the native chiefs. From this source quarrels al-
ready had arisen in many parts of Ireland. Con
O'Neill, the new Earl of Tyrone, had taken his
title from Henry VIII. subject to the English law
of hereditary succession, but on the death of Con in
1559 the Clan O'Neill, disregarding the English
law of succession, chose Shane O'Neill, a young
son of Con and the hero of his clan, to be its
chieftain.
Shane was an able man, of strong will and
fierce passions, and fully capable of meeting the
crooked ways of Queen Elizabeth with correspond-
ing cunning. He aimed to gather to himself the
whole power of the North and thus become inde-
pendent of the English government. He put him-
self forward as the champion of the ancient order of
things; as the despiser of the new titles and decora-
tions which had been so eagerly sought by many of
his fellow-chieftains, and he boldly stood forth as
sovereign of Ulster by the Irish law of tanistry.
The time seemed favorable for the struggle for Irish
independence.
HISTORY OF IRELAND 193
Under the pretense of governing the country,
Elizabeth overran it with a soldiery which lived al-
most entirely on plunder and were little better than
bandits. Shane was considered too dangerous a
person to be left in full control of Ulster, and Eliz-
abeth determined to get rid of him by fair means or
foul. The Earl of Sussex, who was then chief
governor in Ireland, accordingly made an attempt
to detach O'Reilly of Brefny from his allegiance to
Shane by creating him Baron of Cavan, and to
enlist Calvagh O'Donnell by promising him the
earldom of Tirconnell.
For some years the Scots of Argyle had been
migrating to the coast of Antrim and had greatly
strengthened Shane's power by entering his service
as mercenaries. It was determined to approach
McDonnell, the chief of this colony, and so com-
plete the combination against O'Neill. Shane,
however, was too quick for Sussex. He burst into
Brefny and compelled O'Reilly to give him hostages
for his good behavior; he dashed into Tirconnell, or
Donegal, and seized Calvagh O'Donnell and his
wife, and turning on Sussex, who had captured and
fortified Armagh, drove him and his shattered army
headlong before him almost to the walls of Dublin.
So great was the terror inspired by Shane's name
after this victory that Sussex was unable to bring
his beaten army to face O'Neill in the field.
Sussex accordingly, with the cordial approval
of the queen, had the baseness to endeavor to re-
move Shane by assassination, and ''suborned one
Nele Gray with a promise of a grant of land of the
value of a hundred marks to murder him. But the
plot failed and Nele Gray lost his reward." Shane
now retreated before Sussex's reinforcements and
consented to treat with his cousin, Gerald FitzGer-
ald, Earl of Kildare. The result of the negotia-
tion was that Shane agreed to present himself in
194 HISTORY OF IRELAND
person to the queen and state his case to her.
O'Neill passed over to London, where he and his
bodyguard of gallowglasses created a sensation.
"The courtly gentlemen who hovered about
Blizabeth stared over their spreading ruffs in won-
der at Shane the Proud and his wild followers in
their saffron-stained shirts and rough cloaks, with
great battle-axes in their hands. They sharpened
their wits upon his haughty bearing, his scornful
speech and his strange garb. But his size and
strength made a great impression on the susceptible
queen and for the moment an amicable arrangement
seemed to be arrived at."
After a sojourn of three months at the English
court Shane was permitted to return to Ireland.
The queen allowed him to continue "Captain of
Tyrone" and promised to withdraw her troops from
Armagh. Shane, on his part, agreed to reduce the
Scottish settlers of Antrim and to set O'Donnell at
liberty, both of which he promptly did. During
the next two years Shane and the English did not
interfere with each other further than another at-
tempt on his life by Sussex, who this time sent him
a present of poisoned wine, which nearly caused his
death.
At last Elizabeth, glad to come to a settlement
with O'Neill at almost any price, in September, 1563,
entered into a formal treaty of peace with him, in
which Shane was granted all the rights and privi-
leges that his father. Con O'Neill, had enjoyed, and
was practically left the supreme ruler of Ulster.
Shane well knew the treachery of Queen Elizabeth,
but appears fairly to have kept his part of the bar-
gain. He kept within his own borders and gov-
erned Ulster according to the ancient usage. But
the fierce King of Ulster was far too powerful to
please Elizabeth long.
Shane did not attempt to disguise his feelings
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 195
of hostility towards the Kuglish, and the latter only
waited for a favorable opportunity to crush the Irish
chief. There was a kind of armed neutrality be-
tween them.
' 'They would have taken every opportunity to
ruin him, and he would have joined any league
either in or out of Ireland to drive them out of the
country. His position was that of an independent
prince. His case was 'that his ancestors were kings
of Ulster, and Ulster was his; with the sword he
had won it, and with the sword he would keep it. '
He and the Bnglish government had gauged each
other's capacity for mischief and were content to
watch each other for the present."
In 1566 Sir Henry Sidney returned to Ireland
as chief governor, with instructions to crush the
Irish chief. Sidney immediately set himself to
work at the old game of gradually detaching Shane's
allies and succeeded in inducing Hugh O'Donnell,
the brother of Calvagh, to fall in with his plans.
He sent around by sea some men to land at Derry
and then attack Shane from the north, while he
took the field in person and marched across the
border.
Shane, who had been harassing the Bnglish
Pale but had been checked by the garrison at Dun-
dalk and had made an unsuccessful attack on Derry,
finding his flank threatened by O'Donnell, turned
upon him with his main force, and crossing the
River Swilly, near Letterkenny, at low water, en-
deavored to carry by storm O'Donnell's intrenched
position; but O'Donnell made a stout resistance and
the attack failed. Shane's troops were driven back
upon the river, where nearly three thousand of them
were either cut to pieces by the men of Donegal or
drowned in the river.
Shane himself barely escaped into Tyrone with
a handful of his followers. He was now desperate.
196 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
His army was gone, his chiefs were revolting, his
hope of foreign aid had come to naught, and, in
despair, the Irish chief sought refuge among the
Scots of Antrim, who were burning with revenge
for his recent slaughter of their people. This step
was fatal to O'Neill: the Scots hewed him in pieces,
and, having struck off his head, dispatched it to
Sidney, who sent it, on a spearhead, to be fixed on
the tower of Dublin Castle.
The lands of Shane were declared forfeited and
his vassal chiefs became vassals of the crown. Tur-
lough L. O'Neill, who had been elected by the
clansmen on Shane's death, was graciously permit-
ted by the politic queen to occupy the position of
chief of his own clan and became "The O'Neill."
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE REVOLT OF SIR JAMES FITZMAURICE FITZGERALD.
After Shane O'Neill's death there was a short
period of tranquillity, which was occupied by Sid-
ney, the chief governor, in the endeavor to establish
the supremacy of Elizabeth in spiritual as well as
temporal affairs, "to conquer and to convert, to An-
glicize and Protestantize."
The detestable government policy of fostering
the ancient feuds and playing off one leader against
another, by which their favorite chieftains were de-
stroyed or humiliated, inspired the Irish with a
fierce hatred against every English institution, civil
and religious. They judged the new system by its
results, and these they found were treachery, rob-
bery and assassination. Though systematically
plundered by the crown for the support of the army
the English Pale was gradually extending its bounds
and growing in prosperity. There had been a con-
siderable addition made to the number of counties.
The territory of the O'Farrells had been converted
into County Longford, the province of Connaught
had been subdivided into Counties Mayo and Gal-
way, and Roscommon had Sligo and Leitrim carved
out of it.
Thomond had been named County Clare and
transferred from the province of Munster to that of
Connaught. The lords of the Pale, the Southern
chieftains, and the great Norman-Irish barons alike
witnessed the destruction of Shane O'Neill with
indifference. But the government looked with equal
198 HISTORY OF IRELAND
cupidity on the extensive domains acquired by the
descendants of the early settlers and the lands of
the Celtic Irish.
The vast estates of Gerald FitzGerald, Karl of
Desmond, were not likely to escape the notice of
"those hungry vultures that haunted the Castle of
Dublin." His power from the union of the privi-
leges of an English peer and an Irish chief was
viewed by the government with a jealous eye, and
the several chief governors were offended by the
style of haughty independence assumed on all occa-
sions by the proud nobleman.
His wars with the Butlers were frequent. On
one occasion he was wounded, made prisoner and
carried on a litter on men's shoulders from the field
of battle. "Where now is the great Earl of Des-
mond?" asked the exultant victors. "Where should
he be," replied the gallant lord, "but on the necks
of the Butlers?" Thomas Butler, Earl of Or-
mond, his great rival, inferior to the Geraldines in
wealth, power and valor, more than atoned for this
deficiency by his political skill and superior talents
as a courtier.
He visited England and soon insinuated him-
self into the confidence of the queen. He returned
to Dublin justly believing that the royal favor
would more than counterbalance the valor of his
rival or the justice of his claims. The dispute over
the boundaries of their several estates was referred
to Sidney, the chief governor. After a careful in-
vestigation he decided in favor of Desmond. Or-
mond appealed to the queen and accused Sidney of
partiality.
Without the slightest inquiry Elizabeth severely
reprimanded the chief governor and commanded
him to examine the case again. On the second
trial Sidney reversed his former decision, and not
only commanded Desmond to restore the disputed
HISTORY OF IRELAND 199
lands but also to reimburse Ormond for the losses
he had sustained. On the refusal of Desmond he
was seized by the governor and sent a prisoner to
Dublin.
The earl requested permission to lay his griev-
ances before the queen, which was granted; but
when he arrived at London with his brother, Sir
John FitzGerald, they were, without the slightest
investigation, sent to the Tower, where they were
detained as prisoners for several years. It is not
surprising that such characteristic tyranny should
inspire both with an aversion for the English gov-
ernment that ended only with their lives.
The queen was constantly requiring schemes
by her governors for making the Irish government
self-supporting. As a result it was determined that
the plan of governing the provinces by presidents
should be adopted. These presidents should keep
order each in his own province by maintaining a
standing army, principally composed of native
troops, and should relieve the government of all
military expenses by quartering them on the people.
This was in reality reviving, for the benefit of
the crown, the old practice of " coy ne and livery"
which had been so often condemned and prohibited
when practiced by the Irish chiefs. The first ex-
periment of this scheme was made in Connaught by
the appointment of Sir Bdward Fitton to the office
of president, with a commission to execute martial
law. The immediate result of thus setting aside
the ordinary law of the land was a rising of various
members of the O' Brian and Burke families, which
he vainly endeavored to put down by a succession of
violence, and when he had been nearly driven out
of the country the government was compelled to
recall him.
But the scheme that found most favor with the
queen and her stern governor. Sir Henry Sidney,
200 HISTORY OF IRELAND
was the old one of planting the country with Eng-
lish settlers. England was full of men who aspired
to be soldiers of fortune. The discovery of America
had made them drunk with the spirit of adventure.
They looked upon Ireland as a country ripe for col-
onization, inhabited by a race that deserved no more
consideration than the wild beasts, and whose fertile
lands were the proper birthright of enterprising but
needy 3^ounger sons.
In 1570, Shane O'Neill's territory being held
to be the property of the crown, a grant was made
to an Englishman and his heirs of a portion of
County Armagh, and in the same year a grant of
two districts in County Down was made to another
Englishman for the founding of an English Prot-
estant colony, but both attempts were miserable
failures, and the too adventurous colonists were
massacred by the O'Neills.
A more determined effort was made in 1573 by
Walter Devereux, Earl of Essex, to whom Eliza-
beth made a grant of half of County Antrim and a
portion of Monaghan and gave him the title of
president of Ulster. The territory so granted was
principally occupied by the Scots of Argyle, who
for some years had been emigrating to the coast of
Antrim. These were to be exterminated and part
of the land leased to the English settlers and part to
the Celtic natives. The result was hardly accord-
ing to his expectations. He was perpetually har-
assed by both the O'Neills and the Scots, and he
and his followers retaliated by committing a series
of the most cruel atrocities.
He aimed to simplify matters by treachery and
violence — by an indiscriminate slaughter of the
Irish and Scots, regardless of age or sex. Finally,
ruined in fortune and broken in health, after two
years of fruitless endeavor he abandoned his settle-
ment and returned to Dublin to repent of his folly
HISTORY OF IRELAND 201
and to die of vexation. In 1568 there was a sys-
tematic scheme of a truly gigantic character made
to colonize Munster by a number of adventurers
from the West of England.
There were some twenty-seven volunteers or
"undertakers," as they were called, who offered to
relieve the queen of all expense and trouble in
Southern Ireland in return for permission to con-
fiscate Counties Cork, Limerick and Kerry. The
leading spirit in this enterprise was an adventurer
of ancient blood but broken fortune. Sir Peter
Carew, who laid claim to vast estates in Carlow and
Cork.
His fraudulent claim was set aside by courts of
law, but was arbitrarily upheld by the chief gover-
nor and the privy council, and, thus encouraged, he
forcibly expelled many of the obnoxious natives in
Carlow and retook possession. Some of these spec-
ulators or "undertakers" on notoriously fictitious
claims took possession of a number of farms be-
longing to the Karl of Desmond and the MacCar-
thys, but were promptly expelled by the owners.
Sir Peter Carew, with a gang of ruffians, seized
some lands belonging to the Karl of Ormond's
brother, Sir Edward Butler. The Butlers fell upon
him and tried to drive him out by force, wreaking
their vengeance on some Irish who had joined them-
selves to him, and Carew retaliated by attacking
Sir Edward's house and massacring every human
being he found there, down to a child three years
old.
The story of Carew 's atrocities spread like
wildfire. A suspicion of the secret plans for confis-
cation ran through the South. A league for self-
defense was immediately formed between the Ger-
aldines and the Earl of Ormond's brothers and such
of the MacCarthys, O' Brians, Burkes and other
clans as had determined to resist the complete revo-
202 HISTORY OF IRELAND
lution in property, religion and law which Blizabeth
contemplated.
The Archbishop of Cashel, the Bishop of Emly
and Sir James S. FitzGerald, brother of the Earl of
Desmond, were sent to solicit aid from King Philip
of Spain and the Pope, and the standard of revolt
was raised by Sir James FitzMaurice FitzGerald, a
cousin of the Earl of Desmond. The earl and his
brother, Sir John FitzGerald, had shortly before
been seized by Sir Henry Sidney and forwarded to
England, where they were lodged in the Tower of
London, in order to compel them to accept an ad-
verse decision in their quarrel with the Earl of Or-
mond, whose steady loyalty to the Tudor family was
to be rewarded by a correspondingly steady support.
The government, afraid that even Ormond, who
was a relative of the queen, might grow disaffected
if the conspiracy of confiscation was authenticated,
hastened to deny all such intentions, loaded him
with favors and persuaded him to detach his broth-
ers from the Geraldine league.
Sidney then collected a force and marched into
Waterford and Tipperary, burning villages, blowing
up castles and hanging their garrisons. He over-
awed Connaught by occupying Galway and Roscom-
mon and established Humphrey Gilbert at Kilmal-
lock, in Limerick, to strike terror into the people,
which he did effectually by the indiscriminate
slaughter of all who came in his way, regardless of
age or sex.
Ormond succeeded in pacifying his brothers,
who made their submission and were forgiven.
Overawed by the activity of the governor, the Mac-
Carthys and the O' Brians followed the example of
the Butlers, asking for and obtaining pardon, and
Sir James, thus deserted by his confederates, retired
with his followers to the wild retreats in the mount-
ains of Kerry. By these cruel measures this for-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 203
midable rising was crushed, and Sir John Perrot
was appointed president of Muuster, to hunt down
Sir James and his companions. For two years the
gallant Geraldine chief set him at defiance, taking
up his quarters in the well-nigh inaccessible vale of
Aherlow and other retreats in the Galty Mountains.
Perrot blew up FitzGerald's castles, captured his
towns, and hanged his followers as soon as caught.
Finally the last of his strongholds, Castle-
maine, after a stubborn resistance of two months
was compelled by famine to surrender to the lord-
president. At length, when almost as exhausted as
Sir James, Perrot opened negotiations with him
and the brave chief came in, made his submission,
and was pardoned, February, 1753.
CHAPTER XXVII.
WAR WITH THE EARL OF DESMOND.
The first Desmond revolt had been strangled in
its birth, but the English government had so ex-
hausted itself in the effort that the plantation scheme
was allowed to slumber till a more convenient sea-
son. The Geraldines of Desmond, however, felt
that they were marked for destruction and the more
determined of them began to turn their eyes towards
the foreign enemies of England in the hope of
succor. The Earl of Desmond and his brother. Sir
John FitzGerald, who had been sent to Dublin and
were still detained in custody, made their escape and
were received with the utmost enthusiasm by the
Southern Irish.
Sir James FitzMaurice FitzGerald went into
voluntary exile, wandering from capital to capital of
the Catholic continental powers, seeking aid and
assistance for his cherished Geraldine league. He
got encouragement in Rome and pledges from Spain
and in 1579 he set sail for Ireland to try again the
hazard of war in his native land. In July he landed
in Smerwick harbor. County Kerry, with a few
companions and a troop of eighty men, mostly
Spaniards, and threw up a small fortification. The
moment was well chosen.
The whole South was ripe for revolt and the
North was ready to rise at the first success gained
by the men of Munster. Connaught, where a ris-
ing of the Burkes had only just been crushed with
characteristic brutality, was barely held down by the
HISTORY OF IRELAND 205
garrison of Athlone. The native Irish had learned
to trust neither the English word nor to look for
mercy by the example set by Colonel Francis Cosby
and the settlers in Kings and Queens Counties, who
in 1577 had exterminated the leaders of the
O'Moores, O'Kellys and other clans by a treacher-
ous massacre in the rath of Mullamast. Cosby, the
queen's representative in Leix and Offaly, had con-
ceived and executed the idea of preventing any fur-
ther possible rising of the chiefs of those districts by
summoning them and their kinsmen to a great ban-
quet at Mullamast (one of the ancient raths or forts
of Leinster, near Athy, in Kildare), and there
massacring them all.
Out of four hundred guests only one man es-
caped from that feast of blood. One of the
O'Moores, who had not gone to that fatal banquet,
devoted himself to avenging his slaughtered kins-
man, and the cry "Remember Mullamast ! " sounded
dismally in the ears of the settlers of Kings and
Queens Counties for a long time after, whenever
Rory O' Moore made one of his swoops upon them
with that shout for his battle-cry.
The towns of Munster were smarting under
the infliction of Sir William Drury's bloody courts.
Even the English Pale was disaffected by reason of
Sidney's recent endeavor to levy an illegal tax and
the queen's arbitrary imprisonment of all those who
had ventured to petition against it. On the arrival
Sir James FitzMaurice FitzGerald, Sir John and his
brother. Sir James S. FitzGerald, with a small troop
of their retainers, promptly joined their cousin at
Smerwick.
The earl himself hesitated. He was not the
man to lead a successful revolt, and though his
sympathies were with his brothers he could not
make up his mind to throw in his lot with them
openly. But the Desmond tribesmen flew to arms
206 HISTORY OF IRELAND
all over Limerick and Kerry, and 3,000 tenants of
the Geraldines rose at once in open revolt. At that
time the whole of the southern portion of County
Limerick was one vast forest, which afforded good
cover for the Geraldines.
Here the raw native troops were quickly brought
into shape by the drilling of the Spanish soldiers
from Smerwick, the cattle driven to shelter, and
supplies of all kinds collected. Sir James Fitz-
Maurice FitzGerald, with a small troop of horse,
started off to cross the Shannon and to raise Con-
naught, but he was intercepted near the River
Muckern, in Limerick, by some of the Irish who
were on the side of the queen, and there lost his
life in a skirmish. The death of their leader was a
heavy blow to the Geraldines. The command now
fell to Sir John FitzGerald, brother of the Earl of
Desmond. Sir William Drury took the field against
him with a small force. For several weeks Drur}^
carried on an unsuccessful campaign and was finally
compelled to give up the command.
He was succeeded by Sir Nicholas Malby, who,
having been recruited with 600 men from England,
came upon the Geraldine brothers at Monaster, near
Limerick. A stubborn and bloody battle ensued,
resulting in a doubtful victory for the queen's
troops. The Earl of Desmond was now declared a
traitor by the government unless he surrendered
himself a prisoner within twenty days. At length
convinced that there was but one course left for him,
he openly joined his brothers. Malby now deemed
it prudent to retire to his command at Athlon e, and
Munster was left at the mercy of the Earl of Des-
mond. He overran the whole country, captured
and sacked Youghal, and threatened the City of
Cork.
Elizabeth persuaded the Earl of Ormond to
take the field against his hereditary enemy and to
HISTORY OF IRELAND 207
co-operate with the new chief governor, Sir William
Pelham, and a systematic effort was made to crush
the revolt. Pelham and Ormond advanced in two
columns, the former from Dublin, the latter from
Kilkenny, while the fleet under Sir William Winter
sailed around to support them on the coast of Kerry.
The path of the two forces was marked by pitiless
destruction of life and property: crops and cabins
were burned and every living being — the sick, the
aged, the women, the infants — were all ruthlessly
massacred.
The two commanders met at Tralee and turned
northward to destroy Desmond's castles in Limer-
ick. The strong castle of Carrigafoyle, on an
island in the mouth of the Shannon, which was
held by a small band of Irish and Spaniards, was
breached by cannon from the fleet and the whole
garrison put to death. Castle after castle was capt-
ured and Desmond and his wife were hunted out of
Castle Island.
Pelham and Ormond then continued their raid
to the extremities of Kerry, plundering, burning
and murdering, as far as Dingle and Valencia.
They then brought their forces back to Cork. This
small but disciplined force, well supplied with fire-
arms, had marched from one end of Munster to the
other. The Irish, with few muskets, armed for the
most part with spears and knives, had been unable
to meet the enemy in the field, and when resistance
was attempted it was behind stone walls. The fe-
rocity of the two commanders had cowed the people
into sullen quiet, and Desmond and his brothers
were reduced to the state of hunted fugitives and
had taken refuge in the mountains.
A month after the reduction of Munster the
long-looked-for Spanish force arrived. Four Span-
ish vessels eluded the vigilance of the English fleet
and in the fatal bay of Smerwick landed 800 Ital-
208 HISTORY OF IRELAND
ians and Spaniards, who occupied the dismantled
fort. The Desmond party plucked up heart again,
and at the same time the smoldering discontent of
the Pale broke out in open revolt. The lords of the
Pale, who had resisted Sidney's illegal tax, sullenly
watched the progress of the rising of the Southern
FitzGeralds. They waited for a sign from the head
of the other great FitzGerald family, but, like his
kinsman of Desmond, the Earl of Kildare hesi-
tated and let the golden moment pass, and now that
it was too late an isolated attempt was made.
Lord Baltinglass had been one of the petition-
ers in the matter of the illegal tax, for which he
suffered imprisonment. He was a zealous Catholic
and intimately connected by marriage with the
O' Byrnes of the Wicklow highlands, and he and
they, with many refugees from Queens County,
hoping to form the nucleus of a more general ris-
ing, rose in open revolt, and were joined by Sir
John FitzGerald of Desmond and a band of Mun-
ster men from the fastness of Aherlow. Lord Ar-
thur Gray had just arrived in Dublin as governor
and hastily marched out to suppress the rising.
The O 'Byrnes and their allies were swarming
in the valley of Glenmalure and Gray sent his men
into the narrow pass, believing he was strong enough
to hunt them out. When the royal troops were in
the difficult ground a well-directed fire was poured
in upon them from the cover of rocks and brush-
wood. The soldiers advanced through ground that
became more and more difficult with every step, and
at length became entangled in a bog between two
wooded hills, where it became impossible to pre-
serve any longer the semblance of order.
While thus confused and broken they were ex-
posed on all sides to a murderous fire from the
woods and rocks that skirted the ravine, and they
were cut off almost to a man, the ferocious Sir Peter
HISTORY OF IRELAND 209
Carew and Colonel Francis Cosby of Mullamast in-
famy being among the slain. A miserable remnant
escaped to the chief governor, who returned to Dub-
lin covered with shame and confusion. Lord Gray
made no attempt to avenge his defeat, but left the
Pale at the mercy of the victors, who ravaged the
country to the walls of Dublin, and accompanied by
Ormond and a band of English adventurers, among
whom were Sir Walter Raleigh and the poet, Ed-
mund Spenser, proceeded by forced marches to
Smerwick. The fleet came around to support him
by sea and a siege commenced.
After three days the garrison offered to capitu-
late on terms, but an unconditional surrender was
demanded. Next morning (November, 1580) the
800 Spaniards and Italians came out and laid down
their arms, all of whom were either shot or hanged
by Raleigh and his men, except the officers, who
were reserved for a ransom. Munster had been so
effectually laid waste by Pelham and Ormond in the
early summer that none had stirred and Gray swiftly
returned to Dublin.
There he arrested the Earl of Kildare on suspi-
cion and flung him into prison. He turned savagely
on the men of Wicklow and, taught by his defeat at
Glenmalure, organized a number of small bands to
hunt them from the mountains. Some of the lead-
ers were caught and beheaded, but Lord Baltinglass
escaped to the continent. A reign of terror now
began in Dublin. It was said that a conspiracy to
seize the castle and liberate the imprisoned leaders
had been discovered and martial law was proclaimed.
The less important men were hanged in groups and
nineteen of the great chieftains of the Pale were
brought to trial on the charge of treason.
Short work was made by pliant juries and all of
them were convicted and hanged, while the Earl of
Kildare was removed to England to end his days in
210 HISTORY OF IRELAND
the Tower of London. Nothing was now left to be
done but to bunt down tbe Earl of Desmond and
those of his adherents who still clung to him. Or-
mond was placed in supreme command in Munster.
The sword and the gallows were the instruments for
pacifying the country. Desmond inflicted much
damage on Ormond's own country by occasional
predatory raids, but his men were growing fewer
and fewer in number.
The peasantry would not betray him, but they
dared not assist him. His two brothers, John and
James, had been captured and put to death. Hunted
from valley to valley, with a price upon his head, he
was at last driven into the Slieve Mish Mountains,
near Tralee, in Kerry, where, November 11, 1583,
a party of the queen's soldiers surprised him in a
cabin in which he was harboring and put him to
death. His head was cut off and carried to Or-
mond, who sent it to England as a present to the
queen, by whose command it was impaled in a cage
of iron on London bridge.
Thus perished the great Earl of Desmond, who
was long remembered in the tales and traditions
of the peasantry under the name of Gerald the Earl,
and in their wild legends represented as not dead,
but that he and his warriors were sleeping in a cave
in the mountains of Kerry in complete armor, with
their steeds standing beside them, saddled, and that
the earl and his champions would one day arise from
their enchanted slumber to liberate the Celts from
Saxon bondage.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE PLANTATION OF ULSTER — THE ULSTER
CONFEDERACY.
The war against Desmond had been conducted
with ferocious cruelty unsurpassed in the history of
mankind. Fire, famine and slaughter together had
desolated the most fertile parts of Munster. From
the savage rage of a relentless soldiery innocence
furnished no protection. Helpless infancy and tot-
tering age found no mercy.
Thus the last flicker of the Desmond revolt had
gone out. It had been extinguished by a system of
ferocity not surpassed by anything in the dark pages
of history. A fertile province was converted into a
desolate waste. Year after year the harvests had
been destroyed and famine had cleared the land of
all those who escaped the sword. This clearance
was necessary for the new plantation scheme. In
1584 Sir John Perrot succeeded Lord Gray as chief
governor.
The first act of his administration was to pub-
lish a general amnesty and to issue a strict prohibi-
tion against the outrages and spoliations of the
soldiers, too often encouraged by their commanders.
The Desmond estates contained nearly 600,000 acres.
Perrot at once summoned a parliament in order that
this vast property should be vested in the crown.
At first the assembly met the government with the
most obstinate resistance, so general was the horror
which the iniquitous proceedings against the late
Karl of Desmond occasioned.
212 HISTORY OF IRELAND
The great lords naturally were alarmed by the
destruction of the greatest of their own party and
felt sympathy for the fate of one connected with
most of them by marriage or by blood. The mas-
sacres and devastations in Munster excited the in-
dignation of many who previously had been attached
to the government. They saw the country placed
at the mercy of bankrupt adventurers and a licen-
tious soldiery, whose excesses had been encouraged
rather than controlled. The policy of exciting re-
volt in order to reward the retainers of Dublin Cas-
tle by confiscation had been openly avowed, and
finally the barbarous system of destroying the re-
sources of the country lest, if cultivated, they might
enable Ireland to rival England, or perhaps attain
independence, had been zealously advocated by the
government.
At length, in the second session of the Irish
parliament, after a fierce struggle acts were passed
for the attainder of the deceased lord and one hun-
dred and forty of his adherents, all of whose im-
mense estates were confiscated by the crown. The
great object which the government had so long pur-
sued was now attained. An opportunity was offered
for planting, as it was called, an English colony in
Ireland.
The needy followers of the court, the younger
sons of noble families, the adventurers of more
questionable description were invited to become
"undertakers," as those who received grants were
called. The lands were divided into tracts of from
4,000 to 12,000 acres, to be held by the crown and
granted at a yearly rental of from two-pence to
three-pence per acre, on condition that the "under-
takers" should let them to none but English ten-
ants, should support garrisons on the frontiers of
the province, and should not permit any of the
native Irish to settle on their estates.
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 213
A portion of the property was restored to some
of the Geraldines and other old settlers who had
sufficient influence to procure pardon, and a very
large share of it was seized by retainers of the local
government. Great precautions were taken to keep
the colonists from amalgamating with the remnant
of the native population, which was cleared out of
the plain into the upland country. The colony was
planted on the profitable lands only.
The rent of the land reserved to the crown
amounted to about ;^23, 000 a year. Grants were
made to about forty Bnglishmen, among whom were
Sir Walter Raleigh, who obtained 42,000 acres in
Cork and Waterford, and Edmund Spenser, who re-
ceived 3,000 acres in Cork. The land for the most
part passed into the hands of new landlords, but the
scheme of colonization was a failure. The farmers,
the artisans and the laborers did not come over in
sufficient numbers. Many of those who did come
returned to England on finding themselves harassed
and despoiled by the dispossessed native Irish, who
formed secret societies for the destruction of the
settlers.
The new lords, in violation of their agreement,
were glad to take the natives as tenants at will,
in order that the lands might be cultivated. The
result was a change of ownership of the soil, but
not a material change of the population. The Irish
gentry, indeed, had been mostly rooted out, but
what was left of the Irish peasantry remained on
the soil. The intruding English were a mere hand-
ful of strangers among a hostile people, and the
native Irish were exasperated without being exter-
minated. The only result of the ten years' desola-
tion was the enriching of a few adventurers and a
group of English courtiers.
After the suppression of the war in Munster
there was an interval of comparative peace in Ire-
214 HISTORY OF IRELAND
land, which might have been extended had not the
tyrannical folly of the English government precipi-
tated a fresh revolt. The South had been subdued
by fire and sword; so had Connaught by the merci-
less tyranny of its president, Sir Richard Bingham.
There had been no united rising in Connaught; the
great Karls of Thomond in Clare and Clanricard in
Galway, who were the chiefs of the O' Brians and
Burkes, had steadily adhered to the crown, but there
had been much smoldering discontent among many
members of the house of Burke, which from time
to time burst out in open revolt, and which had been
as often suppressed by massacre.
Perrot, the chief governor, was a stern but not
a merciless man, with a fierce temper, which made
him many enemies among his own associates. He
disliked the policy of Bingham in Connaught and
challenged him. He had knocked down Sir Henry
Bagnall, who differed with him in opinion on matters
of state. His popularity among the Irish at one
time had been considerable, but was destroyed by
the following outrage:
He treacherously captured Hugh Roe, or Red
Hugh O'Donnell, son of Sir Hugh O'Donnell of
Donegal, and kept him in Dublin Castle as a hos-
tage for his father's good behavior, and thus made
young Red Hugh a bitter and dangerous enemy to
the crown. Elizabeth was told that Perrot refused
to punish O'Rourke, who, it was said, had dragged
an effigy of her majesty at the tail of a horse.
This suggestion of indifference to her personal
dignity aroused her suspicious nature, and in 1588
Perrot was recalled to London "to eat his heart out
and die in the Tower" and Sir William FitzWill-
iam sent over in his stead.
After six years of exasperating rule Fitz William
gave place to Sir William Russell, who found the
country hopelessly disorganized . Red Hugh O ' Don-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 215
nell had broken out from Dublin Castle and after
many hairbreadth escapes reached his home in Don-
egal, and his old father resigned the chieftainship of
his clan to him. The cruelties of Bingham had
driven Connaught to desperation. Bven Hugh
O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, who hitherto had been re-
garded as the most loyal to the crown, was now sus-
pected of wavering in his allegiance.
The clans of Ulster, which had remained quiet
during the wars in Munster, at last exasperated by
the intolerable oppressions of successive chief gov-
ernors or other agents of the government, began to
look to their great chief, Hugh O'Neill, as the one
most likely to liberate them from the yoke of Eng-
land. The O'Rourkes, MacGuires and O'Donnells
were in open revolt. Twelve years of ferocious
misrule had brought the whole country to a state of
ferment fit to be molded by a vigorous hand into a
general struggle for independence.
Hugh O'Neill, nephew of the late Shane O'Neill
and grandson of that Con O'Neill whom Henry
VIII. made Earl of Tyrone, was the most able and
prominent of the Ulster nobility. He was brought
up at the English court and confirmed in the earldom
and possession of Tyrone by the English govern-
ment. In the brilliant court of Elizabeth the young
Irish chief was early distinguished for his many
gifts of mind and person. When allowed to return
to his own country he assumed his title of Earl of
Tyrone and revived the customs of an independent
Irish chieftain.
O'Neill was a man of great ability and tenacity
of purpose. His tried valor, activity and skill were
well known to both the English and his own coun-
trymen. The treacherous imprisonment of his
brother-in-law. Red Hugh O'Donnell, by Perrot,
had deeply angered O'Neill, and when Red Hugh
made his escape, burning with an implacable hatred
216 HISTORY OF IRHI<AND
against the government, he used all his eloquence
to persuade O'Neill to unite with him for the inde-
pendence of the country.
The earl's sympathies were also aroused by the
wrongs that his brother chieftains in Ulster had to
endure, but he well knew the vast resources and
power of Bngland, and without help from abroad he
believed that a rising would be madness. After the
death of his first wife O'Neill formed a romantic
attachment for the beautiful sister of Sir Henry
Bagnall, the lord-marshal, and the lady loved him in
return.
But Bagnall forbade the marriage, and when, in
defiance of her brother's stern opposition, she eloped
with the Irish chief the lord-marshal became his
implacable enemy. Bagnall now determined if pos-
sible to ruin O'Neill. He never ceased trumping
up charges of treason against him, and basely inter-
cepted the answers which Tyrone made to those
charges. The queen had ordered O'Neill to raise
six companies for the defense of Ulster. It was re-
ported that by continually changing his soldiers he
was training the entire province to arms. She had
directed him to build a house in the English fashion
suited to his rank.
It was asserted that the lead he purchased for
the battlements was designed to form bullets. She
requested him to use his influence over the neigh-
boring chieftains for the maintenance of peace.
His exertions in that direction were stigmatized as a
direct assumption of royal authority. The prudence
and political wisdom of O'Neill enabled him for a
time to baffle the artifices of his insidious enemies,
but the queen's suspicions at length became aroused
and she hastened to reinforce the army in Ireland
with 3,000 men.
Tyrone now saw only two courses open to him.
He must either adhere to the government, which
I
HISTORY OF IRELAND 217
mistrusted him, or throw in his lot with the North-
ern chieftains, who would welcome him as a great
acquisition to their cause. He knew that if he were
to hope for success there must be union among the
Irish and that a determined effort must be made to
obtain the genuine assistance of King Philip of
Spain, the great enemy of Elizabeth.
O'Donnell since his escape had been at open
war with the government and had repeatedly en-
deavored to induce his brother-in-law to unite with
him against the common enemy. The situation of
O'Neill was now in the highest degree embarrass-
ing. His countrymen in Ulster unanimously in-
vited him to become their leader in war; the royal
officers were resolved to discredit his desire for
peace; the perfidy and treachery of the local gov-
ernment were so notorious that it would have been
madness to place any confidence in it, and his letters
to England were intercepted by the malignant vigil-
ance of Bagnall.
Driven forward by such a combination of cir-
cumstances, O'Neill, after a long and anxious delay,
took the decisive step and joined O'Donnell, and
early in 1595 the two gallant leaders set themselves
resolutely to work to form an extensive confederacy
against England. Once chosen, Tyrone pursued
his course with set purpose. An agreement of the
two great Northern clans of O'Donnell and O'Neill
was in itself a formidable coalition. It became far
more serious when, with calculating deliberation,
the other leading chiefs of the North, whose inde-
pendence it had been the policy of the government
to foster, gave their adherence to the scheme.
Maguire of Fermanagh, McMahon of Mon-
aghan, O'Rourke of Leitrim and Cavan, MacGen-
nis of Down and the Scots of Antrim all joined the
league. They enlisted Theobald and Ulick Burke,
O'Dowd and O'Conor of Sligo, with the O'Kellys
218 HISTORY OF IRELANI^
and MacDermots of Connaught, and some Bnglish
in Meath, led by Tyrrell and the Nugents. They
were joined by O' Byrne of Glenmalure and two
Geraldines of the house of Kildare in Leinster,
with a portion of the O'Tooles, MacMurroughs and
other clans of Leinster.
A solemn engagement was entered into by all
the confederates to stand by each other and to make
no submission and accept no terms that did not
include them all. An appeal was distinctly made
to Catholics to treat the question as a religious one
and to join the movement in defense of their faith.
Tyrone and O'Donnell wrote letters to the King of
Spain, urging him to send them troops "to restore
the faith of the church."
Turlough L. O'Neill, the old chief and nominal
head of the clan, died about this time, and Tyrone
promptly assumed the title of "The O'Neill."
CHAPTER XXIX.
BATTLES OF THE YELLOW FORD AND CURLIEU
MOUNTAINS.
The league of the North was a thing of grad-
ual growth. First the Ulster chiefs had combined;
soon Connaught was raised; then the discontented in
Meath and Leinster were brought over, and finally
those restless spirits of Munster who survived the
Desmond revolt were induced by Hugh O'Neill,
Karl of Tyrone, after his first success, to strike once
more for the independence of their country.
The Blackwater was O'Neill's boundary and he
commenced hostilities by seizing the English fort
that commanded the passage of the river, while
Hugh Roe O'Donnell, who had under his banner
almost all the clans of Ulster not enlisted with
O'Neill, proceeded to overrun Connaught. On the
first news of these hostilities an additional force of
2,000 English veterans was sent into Ireland, and
soon Sir John Norris, a general of "approved skill
and valor, ' ' was appointed to take command of the
army.
The government sent Norris to face O'Neill;
Sir Richard Bingham, governor of Connaught, was
compelled to act on the defensive in the West, and
a successful raid by the chief governor. Sir William
Russell, into Leinster resulted in the surprise and
defeat of Feagh MacHugh O' Byrne, called by the
English **the firebrand of the mountains. " After
a good deal of desultory fighting on the frontier of
Monaghan and Armagh, in which O'Neill had the
220 HISTORY OF IRELAND
advantage, efforts were made at negotiations. The
arrangement of a treaty was protracted to a very
unusual length and was not infrequently interrupted
by renewed hostilities. The Irish chiefs were con-
scious of their strength. The successes they already
had obtained were sufficiently decisive to inspire
confidence and they had received many promises of
assistance from Spain.
O'Neill, who was anxiously looking for help
from that country, did his best to spin out the cor-
respondence. The demands of the Irish confeder-
ates were the withdrawal of all garrisons beyond the
English Pale and liberty of conscience. To these
terms the government would not agree, and on the
arrival of three Spanish frigates with arms and
ammunition in Donegal bay, hostilities were recom-
menced. Sir William Russell had been succeeded
by Lord Burgh as chief governor. The career of
the latter, who hoped to achieve fame and fortune
by a vigorous prosecution of the war, was brief and
disastrous.
He collected his forces with extreme diligence,
summoned the lords to the Pale to attend his stand-
ard, and advanced towards Ulster with a power ap-
parently sufficient to bear down all opposition.
O'Neill, on his part, displayed equal vigor and
greater skill. He sent Richard Tyrrell, his lieu-
tenant, to rouse the clans of Connaught, while he
collected all his adherents in Ulster. Tyrrell ob-
tained signal advantages over the enemy, which he
defeated in two decisive engagements.
Lord Burgh, undaunted by these reverses,
boldly attacked O'Neill in his lines near Armagh,
and after a fierce encounter drove the Irish from
their intrenchments. O'Neill retired in good order
to another and better position, which the Bnglish
immediately assailed. They were defeated and Lord
Burgh, with the flower of his army, fell in the con-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 221
flict. Soon afterwards Thomas Butler, Earl of Or-
mond, now lord-justice, was intrusted with the com-
mand of the royal army. O'Neill made overtures
to Ormond for an accommodation and a new treaty
was commenced.
The object of O'Neill in this negotiation ap-
parently was only to gain time for the double pur-
pose of recruiting his own strength and wearing out
the patience of his opponent. When the prepara-
tions were complete he threw off the mask, boldly
declared his independence, and laid close siege to
the Blackwater fort, which had been recovered by
the English. Sir Henry Bagnall, the lord-marshal,
was ordered to relieve the place. The two generals,
O'Neill and Bagnall, closely connected by marriage,
were yet animated by more than mortal enmity.
The English and Irish forces were nearly equal,
each having about 5,000 men. The English pos-
sessed superior advantages in arms and discipline,
but the Irish were animated by a fierce spirit and
had a more skillful commander.
On the 14th of August, 1598, Bagnall, at the
head of 4,000 foot and 350 horse, set out from Ar-
magh for the fort. The main body of the Irish, of
equal strength with the enemy in infantry, but
somewhat superior in cavalry, occupied an intrenched
position on the small river Callan, at the Yellow
Ford, about two miles from Armagh. O'Neill's
wings rested on bogs and woods; deep trenches were
drawn out through the roads and fields, and numer-
ous pitfalls were added to the impediments. The
ardor of the troops was inflamed by the recitations of
O'Donnell's poet, O'Cleary, and their confidence
strengthened by his allusions to a prophecy of St.
Bearchan, which foretold that Hugh O'Neill would
defeat the foreigners at the Yellow Ford.
As Bagnall 's vanguard proceeded it was severely
galled by O'Neill's skirmishes. Nevertheless, they
222 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
pushed on and gallantly carried the first intrench-
ment, but on their advance the Irish made a furious
charge, which drove them back beyond the trench.
The regiment in the van was cut to pieces before it
could receive support, as the divisions were disposed
too far apart to receive mutual succor in the sudden
emergencies of battle.
Bagnall behaved gallantly. At the head of his
own regiment he forced the trench a second time,
and now the engagement became general at all
points. Nothing, however, could withstand the
impetuosity of O'Donnell, Maguire, O'Hanlon,
MacDonnell and their men. Though repeatedly
checked by the cool intrepidity of the English troops
under Cosby and Wingfield, yet they drove back the
front line before the reserve could come up. The
explosion of an ammunition wagon and the fall of
Bagnall, who received a musket shot in the fore-
head as he was raising his visor to take a better sur-
vey of the field, created confusion and spread dis-
may through the English ranks.
O'Neill perceived the fortunate moment and
did not hesitate to seize it. Followed by forty horse
and some spearmen he threw himself upon the
point where he had observed the most wavering and
confusion and thoroughly broke the line. His whole
centre advanced, but before he could come to close
quarters the English rallied and received his furious
onset with equal fury and characteristic steadiness.
Meanwhile the storm in front was but a breath com-
pared to the tempest in the rear. In the advance
on that quarter the greatest triumph of the English
was to accomplish one-quarter of a mile in an hour
and a half, and that quarter of a mile **swam with
the boiling blood of both sides. '^
Here "the Queen's O'Reilly," so called be-
cause of his unpatriotic service, gave convincing
proofs of dauntless valor and rare skill. Retreat
HISTORY OF IRELAND 223
after retreat he recovered and restored the contest
with fresh vigor. The news of the death of the
commander had not reached this quarter when
O'Reilly was making his last effort to infuse his
own indomitable soul into his troops and cut short
an impending flight. This last effort had just suc-
ceeded, and the deeds of bravery renewed, when the
denational, though brave, chieftain fell and resigned
the field to a foe that won it well and dearly.
The rout now became general. The slain num-
bered 2,000, the proximity of Armagh alone saving
the remainder from being cut to pieces. The Irish
loss was 800. The battle was over at noon, August
14, 1598. The victory of the Irish was decisive.
Twenty thousand pieces of gold, thirty-four stand-
ards, all the artillery, arms and ammunition re-
mained in the possession of the conquerors. The
misplaced bravery of Maelmuire O'Reilly, the Irish
chieftain attached to the royal cause, alone had saved
the English army from annihilation.
This signal defeat came like a thunderbolt on
the English government. The Blackwater fort at
once surrendered and the town of Armagh was
abandoned by the royal garrison. The flame of re-
volt spread rapidly through the entire island. The
Irish who had been deprived of their lands with one
accord attacked the settlers and drove them from
their settlements.
The chief clans in Leinster and the South and
the survivors of the Geraldines in Munster were all
in arms. The English everywhere sought refuge
in the fortified towns on the East coast and dared
not move beyond their walls. O'Neill made every
use of his advantages. He reconciled old feuds,
allayed former animosities, and gave the Irish clans
a degree of union and combination that they rarely
before had possessed. He also sent ambassadors to
the Spanish court eagerly entreating King Philip to
224 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
send him effective assistance. All Connauglit and
Leinster were in open revolt. The Karl of Ormond
was cooped up in Kilkenny. Captain Richard Tyr-
rell and the Irish clans were masters of Meath.
Nearly all Munster had risen. O'Donoghoe, O'Don-
ovan, O'Mahony, Condon, MacCarthy and O' Sulli-
van, chiefs of the clans of those names, and James
FitzGerald, the "Sugan Barl," a nephew of the
late Barl of Desmond, and other Geraldines, joined
the national cause.
All Ireland, except Dublin and a few garrison
towns, was now in the hands of the Irish, who
rioted in the wild intoxication of revenge in every
quarter of the island. This third Irish war against
Blizabeth was the crisis in the fate of Ireland. Not
only was there, almost for the first time in Irish his-
tory, something like a united effort on the part of
the native population to expel the Bnglish and to
re-establish the ancient laws and the ancient faith,
but the comparative strength of the two parties was
altered.
The Irish now had a formidable army, well
drilled and disciplined. It was commanded by men
many of whom had served in the queen's army, and
Blizabeth complained that one-third of her forces
had been recruited from natives who had served in
the ranks and then deserted to the Irish with their
arms. The Irish were well supplied with arms and
ammunition, imported from Spain or captured from
the enemy. Reports reached the Bnglish queen
that King Philip of Spain was preparing two im-
mense armaments, one to invade Bngland and the
other to aid O'Neill in Ireland.
In the spring of 1599 she sent over 20,000 in-
fantry and 1,300 horse under the command of her
favorite, the Barl of Bssex, considered one of the
most gallant soldiers of the age. Bssex received the
title of lord-lieutenant and more ample powers than
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 225
the caution of Blizabeth hitherto had permitted her
to confer on a subject.
The news of the arrival of such an immense
armament did not diminish the confidence of O'Neill
and his followers. They waited with stem indiffer-
ence the proceedings of Essex and determined to
wear him down by a tedious defensive war. Instead
of marching into Ulster to meet O'Neill, Bssex
marched southward to an exhausted country, where
his troops were wasted by fatigue and famine. Ac-
companied by Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormond, he
proceeded to Limerick, where he was joined by Sir
Conyers Clifford, president of Connaught; Don-
ough O' Brian, Earl of Thomond; De Burgh (or
Burke), Earl of Clanricard, and Donough O'Conor
of Sligo, who were among the few unpatriotic Irish
leaders now remaining in the English ranks.
The Irish were far too cautious to be drawn into
an encounter in the field, but during the whole of
his expedition they harassed him by repeated at-
tacks, in which he lost not only rank and file but
also many veteran officers. The Geraldines avoided
any decisive battle, but obtained several advantages
in Munster over detachments of Essex's army.
The royal cavalry in its passage through Queens
County suffered severely from an attack by the
Irish led by the celebrated Anthony O' Moore, and
such was the quantity of feathers lost by the brilliant
corps that the Irish named the place of action ' 'The
Pass of Plumes."
The O' Byrnes of Leinster, with inferior forces,
severely and decisively defeated another division of
Essex's army. Elizabeth, who had expected rapid
success from the well-known valor of her favorite,
was irritated at the news of these reverses and furi-
ous at the meagre results obtained with what she be-
lieved to be an overwhelming force, taunted Essex
with incapacity and answered his letters (detailing
226 HISTORY OF IRELAND
plans of pacification) with severe reprimands, and
with difficulty could be persuaded to grant him rein-
forcements of 2,000 men.
The gallant earl's dispatches evince equal be-
nevolence and political wisdom. He earnestly
presses on the Bnglish government the necessity of
conciliation and concession and solicits its attention
to the interests of the people. The answer to all
his state papers was a peremptory order to march
into the North. While the earl was advancing
through Ulster, Sir Conyers Clifford, in the Curlieu
Mountains, fell into an ambuscade contrived by
O'Donnell in Connaught, and was slain with half his
army.
The battle took place August 15, 1599. Essex
advanced to the banks of the River Lagan, which
separates Monaghan from Louth, but O'Neill had
by this time learned the character of his vain, ambi-
tious opponent, and, anxious to gain time, deter-
mined to open negotiations. The earl lent a willing
ear to the flattering messages of the Irish chief and
granted him a personal interview. The two gener-
als led their armies to the opposite banks of the
river and then rode to a neighboring ford. Scarcely
had the feet of the lord-lieutenant's charger touched
the water when O'Neill spurred his horse through
the stream while the water rose above his saddle and
crossed over.
Bssex at once entered into an animated conver-
sation with the Irish chieftain and rode with him
along the banks of the river in sight of the wonder-
ing armies. Their private conference lasted a long
time and speculation was busy guessing at the sub-
jects they discussed. Finally, the officers of both
armies were summoned, and in their presence
O'Neill, having stated the grievances by which he
was driven to revolt, proposed terms of accommoda-
tion. A truce was established in order to afford
THE MEETING OF , KARL C ^'
ESSEX AND HUr . O'^
::_ii^rwj*-'
.•nr« — ir ■■ : " '»r; 1|
2>6 HISTORY OF r>F:.\ND
pacification) with .svw, ,- rcjr , mds, and
ulty could be persuaded to gruu:. liim rein-
y .. ;entsof 2,000 men.
The gallant earl's dispatches evince equal be-
nevolence and political wisdom. He earnestly
presses on the English nent the necessity of
conciliation and concesi solicits its attention
to the interests of the The answer to all
his state papers was a peremptory order to march
into the North. While the earl was advancing
through Ulster, Sir CoilyeI^s Clifford, ia the Curlieu
Mountains, fell into an ambuscade contrived by
O'Donnell in Connaught, and was slain with half his
army.
The battle took \ugust 15, 1599. Essex
advanced to the ^ -. the River Lagan, which
separalBe© M^l^u '^ 'l^mthi 'jfcf5t]^N?i[l}^|iad
by this tir^^^!. f^^ ^^ql^^i?^ ambi-
tious opponent, ... . to^gtun'tiilre, deter-
mined to open negoi; The earl lent a willing
ear to the flattering >f the Irish chief and
• mted him a persoi^... ....... .:ew. The two gener-
led their armies to the opposite banks of the
then rode to a neighboring ford. Scarcely
s. .cet of the lord-lieutenant's charger touched
iter when O'Neill spurred his horse through
n while the water rose H]x)ve his saddle and
er.
■ at once entered into an animated conver-
i h the Irish chieftain and rode with him
banks of the river in sight of the wonder-
3. Their private conference lasted a long
speculation was busy guessing at the sub-
discussed. Finally, the officers of both
ere summoned, and in their presence
stated the grievances by which he
„ volt, proposed terms of accommoda-
te was established in order to afford
HISTORY OF IRELAND 227
time for due consideration of the several articles
and the royal army returned to its quarters in
Leinster.
The indignation of Blizabeth at this strange
termination of a campaign from which she had ex-
pected so much was violent. She wrote a severe
letter to the lord-lieutenant, reprobating his conduct
in no measured terms. Bssex at first meditated the
project of leading the flower of his army into Eng-
land and forcing his way to the royal presence, but,
being dissuaded by his friends, he resigned his power
to two lords- justices and September, 1599, departed
to Bngland to find disgrace and meet death.
CHAPTER XXX.
END OF THE WAR WITH HUGH o'nEILL AND DEATH
OF QUEEN ELIZABETH,
Thomas Butler, Karl of Ormond, who had been
appointed to the command of the queen's army,
wished to maintain peace with O'Neill, but that
chief was no longer disinclined to war. He had
lately received assurances of assistance from Spain
and the Pope incited him to continue steadfast in
support of the Catholic faith.
A war of petty skirmishes, interrupted by truces
which neither party regarded, continued for a time,
and in some of these encounters Sir Warham, St.
Leger and Sir T. Norris, the ablest of the English
officers, were slain. In 1600 Sir Charles Blount,
Lord Mountjoy, was appointed by the queen to the
hazardous post of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. His
military skill and political knowledge were adorned
by the rarer graces of literature.
Mountjoy was assisted by several men of great
abilities in the inferior departments of government,
among whom the Earl of Ormond and Sir George
Carew, president of Munster, were the most con-
spicuous. The war recommenced with great activ-
ity, but no decisive battle was fought. O'Neill,
with consummate ability, avoided every attempt to
force him to a general engagement and broke
through the hostile lines when efforts were made to
blockade his troops. When Sir George Carew was
proceeding to Munster he was invited by the Earl
of Ormond to attend a conference with Anthony
HISTORY OF IRELAND 229
O' Moore. Carew and the Barl of Thomond desired
that they be attended by a sufficient guard, but
Ormond steadfastly refused to take more than
seventeen.
The place of meeting was in the vicinity of a
wood, behind which O' Moore had stationed a numer-
ous band, in addition to a large body of pikemen by
whom he was openly escorted. During the discus-
sion O 'Moore's followers gradually advanced, while
Carew in vain warned Ormond of his danger. At
length they seized the earl, but Carew and Thomond
escaped by the swiftness of their horses. Ormond
was long detained a prisoner, for Mountjoy rejected
the terms of ransom offered by O' Moore. They
were sufficiently exorbitant to justify this refusal,
even though the deputy was secretly pleased with the
removal of a nobleman whom he regarded as the rival
to his power.
The system of warfare pursued by Mountjoy and
Carew was that which had been found so successful
in destroying the Barl of Desmond. Bribes were
offered to the inferior chiefs for desertion. Rivals
were encouraged to assail the claims of those chief-
tains who still adhered to O'Neill. The houses
were destroyed and cornfields consumed. Fire and
famine were once more brought to the aid of slaugh-
ter. Carew was more merciless than Mountjoy in
establishing this cruel system. He was naturally
cruel and rapacious, a deliberate encourager of
treachery, and not ashamed to avow and defend per-
fidy and assassination.
An attempt had been made to intercept O'Neill
on his way back to the North from Munster, where
he had been receiving the submission and homage of
the Southern Irish, but he managed to give Mountjoy
the slip and hastened back to defend Ulster. The
vigilant lord-lieutenant now gave him enough to do
in his own territory to keep him from assisting the
230 HISTORY OF IRELAND
other provinces. Now the tide of success began to
turn against the Irish.
As Mountjoy began to be strong and capable
some of the Irish chiefs began to change sides.
Mountjoy and Carew accepted their submission and
put a price of ;,f 1,000 on the heads of the Barl of
Desmond and the Karl of Tyrone. Queens County
was overrun and Anthony O' Moore, after many vic-
tories over the enemy, at last fell in battle. Hugh
Maguire of Fermanagh, one of O'Neill's bravest
leaders, had fallen in Cork during the march in the
South.
Devastation greatly reduced O'Neill's strength.
His adversaries derived their supplies from Hug-
land; his resources were destroyed when his own
fields were wasted; still he bravely continued the
war, relying on the promised aid of the Spaniards
and stimulated by emissaries from Rome, who ex-
horted him to persevere. He was, besides, well
aware that the late submissions to the government
were hollow and insincere, as no provision was made
for the removal of the grievances which had caused
the revolt.
Grievous exactions were made from the proprie-
tors of land. Juries were packed in the most open
and shameful manner. Innocent persons were exe-
cuted, sometimes without the formality of a trial, or
often, when that was granted, by the verdict of a
tribunal whose forms were a cruel mockery. The
penal laws against Catholics were enforced and Eng-
lish settlers drove the natives from their lands with-
out the pretense of a claim.
The knowledge of these circumstances induced
O'Neill to persevere, though he knew that his
chances of final success were diminishing every day
with fearful rapidity. In Munster, Carew, a stern
and skillful leader, had reduced the most powerful
clans and gained possession of the persons of sev-
HISTORY OF IRELAND ^31
eral chiefs, among whom were the Karl of Desmond
and Florence MacCarthy, who were forwarded to
Bngland to end their days in the Tower of London.
The long-expected reinforcements from Spain
at length arrived, but the English had sufficient
warning and were prepared to meet them. The ex-
pedition was one of the worst planned and worst
executed ever sent by a government. It had been
delayed too long. It was insufficient in numbers;
its leader was a brave soldier, but incompetent as a
commander. Don Juan d'Aguila, to whom King
Philip had intrusted a small fleet and 3,000 men,
with little judgment resolved to land in the South
of Ireland, while O'Neill and O'Donnell, to whose
assistance he had come, were shut up in the North.
In September, 1601, the fleet appeared in the har-
bor of Kinsale, County Cork, where the Spaniards
immediately landed and occupied the town, their
fleet sailing away.
To add to Don Juan's confusion, Carew and
Mountjoy, having collected a powerful army and
a few ships of war, invaded Kinsale and pushed
the siege with vigor. O'Neill was not a little per-
plexed by the awkward situation of the Spaniards.
A march through an exhausted country with forces
already disheartened by calamity was an enterprise
full of danger.
On the other hand, it was clear that Don Juan,
unless speedily relieved, would be forced to surren-
der. The Spaniards, already disgusted with the
expedition, sent the most urgent letters to O'Neill
and O'Donnell soliciting their aid. The march of
the Irish army sufficiently proves the ability of the
leaders and the zeal of their followers. O'Neill
and O'Donnell, with all the forces at their com-
mand, hurried from the North to relieve their Span-
ish allies.
Notwithstanding the difficulties of the country
232 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
O'Donnell advanced with his baggage and artillery
at the rate of forty miles a day, and by his extraor-
dinary celerity and vigilance baffled Carew, who
marched to intercept him atTipperary before O'Neill
came up. About the time that O'Neill arrived be-
fore Kinsale a second Spanish armament of 700 men
reached the bay of Baltimore and were enthusias-
tically received by the neighboring clans. The
Irish of the rocky promontories of Southern Cork
and Kerry, who till now had looked on in sullen
silence, rose almost to a man, and Donnell O' Sulli-
van and Fineen O'Driscoll received Spanish garri-
sons in their castles.
Other chieftains who had hitherto preserved
their allegiance to the government also took up
arms, and O'Neill was thus enabled to blockade the
lord-lieutenant in his camp. For two days the
armies sat watching each other. Mountjoy's men
were thus placed in a most perilous situation. They
were at once besiegers and besieged; their supplies
from the country were cut off; and the sea, which
the English fleet kept open to them, still was a
precarious ground of confidence.
In fact, nothing appeared necessary for the
complete destruction of an army on which the fate
of a country depended but that O^Neill should
remain quietly in the position he had selected. He
well knew his advantage and could not be tempted
by all the arts of the English leader to quit his in-
trenchments, but the confident Don Juan was eager
to exhibit his valor in a pitched battle. Mountjoy,
having discovered by his spies the feelings of Don
Juan, made use of the most ingenious artifices to
increase the latter's confidence.
He sent pretended deserters into the town, who
described the queen's army as reduced to a state of
disorganization, and asserted that the soldiers were
so worn down by fatigue and famine as to be incapa-
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 233
ble of an effective resistance. Don Juan wrote the
most impressing letters to O'Neill, urging him to
crush the Bnglish at once, and promising to aid him
by a sally from the town.
O'Neill continued to refuse, but the chiefs by
whom he was supported joined in the solicitation of
the Spaniard and an unwilling assent was at length
wrung from the gallant chieftain. It was resolved
to attack the English camp by night. O'Neill had
under his command about 6,000 foot and 500 horse,
including O'DonnelPs division of 2,500 men and
300 Spaniards who had been landed at Castlehaven.
An intercepted letter from Don Juan to O'Neill re-
vealed the plan to Mountjoy, who made his prep-
arations accordingly.
The moment O'Neill saw the English lines he
knew that his plans had been betrayed. On the
instant he determined to change his course of ac-
tion, but his orders were misunderstood by a portion
of his troops and his lines were thus broken. The
Earl of Clanricard and Sii R. Wingfield, mar-
shal of the horse, precipitated their cavalry through
this fatal gap and the fate of the battle was soon
decided.
O'Neill made several desperate but ineffectual
efforts to retrieve the fortunes of the day. O'Don-
nell, who commanded the rear, made a gallant at-
tempt at resistance, but the panic at last became
general and he strove in vain to rally the broken
forces. The carnage was awful. The 300 Span-
iards made a gallant stand, but their leader was
taken and most of them were cut to pieces. No
quarter was given except to a few of the captured
Spaniards. The Irish chiefs who were made pris-
oners were hanged the morning after the action.
O'Neill tried to persuade his followers to re-
sume their former stations or to take the chance of
a second battle, but they almost unanimously re-
234 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
solved to return home. This disastrous battle was
the turning point of the war. All hope of relieving
Kinsale was now abandoned and O'Neill led back
his shattered forces to defend the borders of his own
country.
O'Donnell went to Spain to seek further help,
where he soon after died — poisoned, it is said, by an
emissary from Bngland. Don Juan now offered to
capitulate on honorable terms, which were accepted
by Mountjoy, whose interest it was to terminate the
war as soon as possible, and January, 1602, the
English obtained quiet possession of the castles
garrisoned by the Spaniards, who, accompanied by
many Irish refugees, returned to Spain.
Donnell O' Sullivan was by no means satisfied
with this arrangement. He turned the Spaniards
out of his castle at Dunboy, garrisoned it with his
own followers, and resolved on an obstinate defense.
The strength of the castle severely taxed the inge-
nuity of the general and the valor of his soldiers.
At length a lodgment was effected in the walls, but
the garrison refused to yield. They fought the be-
siegers from room to room, and when at last driven
to the cellar the commander, Richard MacGeoghe-
gan, made a desperate but unsuccessful attempt to
blow up both victors and vanquished by endeavor-
ing to plunge a lighted candle into a barrel of
gunpowder.
He was instantly dispatched and the few sur-
viving Irish heroes were hanged. The war in Mun-
ster was now virtually over. Many of the Irish
chiefs that escaped the sword fled to Spain, where
some of their descendants still may be found.
O' Sullivan refused to become an exile, and collect-
ing the remnant of the Southern troops maintained
a predatory warfare under cover of the Southwestern
bogs and mountains.
This desperate contest was attended by a great
HISTORY OF IRELAND 235
waste of life, for no quarter was given on either
side. O' Sullivan was finally reduced to such straits
by overwhelming numbers and the vigor of Carew
that he resolved to force his way into Ulster and
unite his shattered troops with those of the yet un-
conquered Northern chieftains. Carew sent a strong
body of light troops to harass the fugitives, but,
maddened by despair, they turned on their pursuers
and boldly gave them battle.
The Irish suffered severely in this battle, but
it is said not a single Englishman escaped. The
last spark of revolt in Munster was now stamped
out with awful ferocity. The returning settlers and
Carew 's soldiers laid waste the whole province, not
leaving behind man or beast, com or cattle. The
war of desolation was now renewed in the North,
where Mountjoy was gradually hemming in O'Neill,
who every day saw his bravest followers perishing
by the slow and painful death of famine. His
allies were either exiles or had purchased pre-
carious safety by submission, and his proud heart
was humbled by witnessing calamities he could not
avert and misery he was unable to relieve. Though
not yet a hunted fugitive, he saw that all hope of
final success was gone. His territory was so wasted
that the people were dying of starvation by hun-
dreds, the country was strewn with unburied corpses,
and an active and determined enemy was gradually
drawing the net more tightly around him.
Under these circumstances O'Neill offered terms
of submission, which Mountjoy readily accepted.
He surrendered his estates and renounced all claim
to the title of **The O'Neill" or authority over his
neighbors. He renounced all alliances with foreign
powers and promised to introduce English laws and
customs into Tyrone. In return he received a full
pardon and the re-grant of his title of Earl of Ty-
rone and lands by letters patent, and a general par-
236 HISTORY OF IRELAND
don was given his followers, and also the full pos-
session of their estates and the free exercise of their
religion guaranteed to the Catholics.
Rory O'Donnell, Red Hugh's brother, also
submitted and was allowed to retain the title of Karl
of Tirconnell. At the moment when O'Neill made
his submission Elizabeth had breathed her last,
March 24, 1603.
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE FLIGHT OF THE EARLS — THE PLANTATIONS OF
ULSTER AND LEINSTER.
On the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603,
King James VI. of Scotland, son of Mary Queen
of Scots, ascended the English throne as King
James I., and thus England and Scotland were
united under one sovereign.
At this time Mountjoy and Carew had stamped
out every spark of hostility in every part of Ire-
land. The power of the Irish was completely
broken by the process of starvation. The system
pursued both in the North and the South of de-
stroying the crops removed the whole source of sus-
tenance on which the mass of the people depended.
To add to the loss of the food at hand, Elizabeth's
practice of debasing the coin had doubled and
trebled the price of every purchasable article, and a
fatal pestilence had followed upon the famine. The
people of Ulster died by thousands, their bodies
lying in ditches, their mouths green with docks and
nettles on which they had endeavored to support
life.
The subjugation was ruthlessly accomplished.
Mountjoy and Carew planted garrisons at intervals
in the disaffected country, effectually kept up the
lines of communication between them and the old
fortified positions, scoured the intervening country
with small bodies of horse and foot, burned the
huts, drove off the cattle, and utterly laid waste
every cultivated patch.
238 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
The great mass of the Irish people had sunk
into a hopelessly wretched condition. The inces-
sant fighting among themselves and with the set-
tlers, and afterwards the devastating wars of Eliza-
beth's reign, had effectually checked their progress
in civilization.
Into this inheritance came James VI. of Scot-
land in 1603. His real character was unknown to
the leaders of the English interest. The Irish
Catholics believed that in him they would find a
patron and a friend. They argued that the son of
Mary Queen of Scots, who had died a martyr to the
faith, would not long continue to support the new
religion, and acting on this mistaken notion they
immediately proceeded to establish the public exer-
cise of the ancient religion.
The cities of Munster were foremost in this
movement, and Mountjoy immediately marched
southward to crush this new spirit. When he ar-
rived before Waterford he was met by a deputation
of the citizens, who showed him a charter of King
John by which that city was excused from quarter-
ing soldiers. Mountjoy terrified the citizens by
threatening if the gates were not instantly opened
that ''he would cut asunder the charter of King
John with the sword of King James."
Such reasoning was irresistible. The city at
once yielded, and in a few days Clonmel and Cashel
imitated the example. Cork surrendered after a
short siege and a few of the leaders were executed.
A royal proclamation was issued to the effect that
no toleration to the Catholic religion would be
given; that all Jesuits and priests should quit the
country, and that all laws against the ancient faith
would be strictly enforced.
Mountjoy, rewarded with an earldom, returned
to England. He was succeeded by Sir Arthur Chi-
chester. Sir Arthur was a man of strong Puritan
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 239
tendencies and determined to act rigorously on the
proclamation. Accordingly, sixteen of the alder-
men and chief citizens of Dublin were ordered to at-
tend the new service in Christ Church, and on their
not appearing were heavily fined and flung into
prison.
Great indignation was felt throughout the Pale,
or English colony. The Catholic peers and gentry
petitioned the king, but the leaders of this move-
ment were imprisoned. The taking of the oath of
supremacy was enforced on all persons called to fill
any office, civil or military, which practically ex-
cluded all Catholics. The penalty of twelve- pence
for not attending the Reformed church on every
Sunday was sternly exacted in Meath, West Meath,
in Kings and Queens Counties, and in the towns of
Munster and Connaught.
Elizabeth, for the purpose of educating young
men for the ministry, had founded Trinity College
in Dublin and endowed it with the lands of the
monastery of All-Hallows. King James greatly
increased its endowment. Sir Arthur labored vig-
orously to accomplish the work of introducing the
system of English law that his predecessor had
begun.
The Irish customs of tanistry and gavelkind
were declared illegal, the tenures of land modeled
after the English form, the division of the island
into counties completed, and the circuit of the
judges permanently established. To these meas-
ures were added the revival of the penal code, which
Sir Arthur, cruel and avaricious, administered with
a vigor even beyond the law. His great anxiety
was to make a fortune. The king was a vain
pedant, proud of his talents as a statesman and
theologian, but the punishment of Catholics at this
time seemed the more strange as James was sus-
pected of a secret attachment to the ancient doc-
240 HISTORY OF IRELAND
trines. Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, had been
over to the English court, where he was graciously
received by the king, who confirmed him in his title
and estates, and had returned to Ireland with the
intention of settling down in peace.
Rory O'Donnell, Red Hugh O'Donnell's young-
est brother, also had made his peace with the crown.
He had been created Earl of Tirconnell and had re-
ceived a grant of County Donegal, the territory of
the O'Donnells. Though shorn of a great deal of
their influence, these great chieftains might still be
dangerous to the policy of King James, and the
government accordingly watched them narrowly for
any opportunity to destroy them.
They were insulted by the king's officers, har-
assed by litigation and worried by spies. Lord
Howth, who was admitted by the government to be
unworthy of credit, dropped a letter in the council
chamber darkly hinting that there was a plot formed
by the Irish Catholic lords against the state. No
names were mentioned, no particulars given, and
yet the government at once fixed upon the Earls of
Tyrone and Tirconnell as the agents of this pre-
tended conspiracy. Both these chiefs certainly were
discontented. They knew that they were viewed
with jealousy and hostility by the officers of state,
and they were conscious that they had frequently, in
conversation, uttered sentiments which easily might
be distorted into proofs of disaffection.
They had learned by bitter experience in a for-
mer reign that the government was not very scrupu-
lous in the use of means for increasing confiscations,
and when they received information that it was the
intention of the government to arrest them, being
wholly unprepared for resistance, they fled into
exile. *'It is certain," say the Four Masters, *'that
the sea never carried and the winds never wafted
from the Irish shores individuals more illustrious or
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 241
noble in genealogy, or more renowned for deeds of
valor, prowess and high achievements."
"Tyrone, with his wife," says J. H. McCarthy,
''Tirconnell, with his sister and friends and follow-
ers, ninety-nine in all, set sail in one small vessel
on the 14th of September, 1607, and tossed for
twenty-one days upon the raging waves of the sea.
We hear of O'Neill trailing his golden crucifix at
the vessel's wake to bring about a calm; of two
storm-worn birds who took shelter in the rigging
and were cared for kindly by the Irish ladies.
"On the 4th of October they landed on the
coast of France and made their way to Rouen, re-
ceiving kind treatment at all hands. James de-
manded their surrender, but the French king re-
fused to comply, though he advised the exiles to go
into Belgium. Into Belgium they went, their ladies
giving the Marshal of Normandy those two storm-
worn birds they had cherished as a token of their
gratitude for his kindness.
"From Belgium in time they made their way
to Rome, and there lived in exile. Tirconnell died
first, in 1608, and the Four Masters weep over his
early eclipse. Clad in the simple robe of a Francis-
can friar, he was buried in the Franciscan church of
St. Pietro in Montorio, where the Janiculum over-
looks the glory of Rome, the yellow Tiber, the
Alban hills, the deathless Coliseum and the stretch-
ing Campagna.
"Raphael had painted the Transfiguration for
the grand altar; the hand of Sebastiano del Piombo
had colored its walls with the scourging of the Re-
deemer. Close at hand tradition marks the spot
where St. Peter was crucified. In such a spot,
made sacred by all that art and religion could lend
of sanctity, the spirit of Tirconnell rested in peace
at last. His companion in arms and in misfortune
survived him some eight years. We have a melan-
242 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
choly picture of old Tyrone wandering about in
Rome and wishing in vain to be back in his own
land and able to strike a good blow for her. He
died at last, on July, 20, 1616, in the seventy- sixth
year of his age, a brave, sad, blind old man. He
was buried in the little church on the Janiculum by
the side of Tirconnell."
A few months after the flight of the earls,
0' Dougherty of Innishowen and some of the O'Don-
nells broke out in revolt in the extreme north of the
island. They were promptly crushed and a hunted
remnant of their followers ruthlessly exterminated
in their last refuge, Tory Island.
O'Kane, another Northern chieftain, had been
arrested for treason, a charge for which there does
not appear to have been a shadow of foundation.
But without a trial he was forwarded to the Tower
of London, where he afterwards died. The door
was now thrown open for a wide and wholesale plan-
tation in Ulster. The opportunity, most gratifying
to the pedantic vanity of James, was given to inau-
gurate a new social and political system. The old
order of things was to be entirely wiped out and a
new creation was to come into existence. The con-
fiscations thus made by James included the six
counties of Donegal, Tyrone, Derry, Fermanagh,
Cavan and Armagh, containing nearly 4,000,000
acres.
The king, without paying any regard to the
rights of the occupants, determined to settle in
these districts thoroughly Protestant and anti-Irish
colonies from England and Scotland and to drive the
actual inhabitants into the woods, bogs and mount-
ains. The Irish chiefs possessed the sovereignty
but not the property of the soil, consequently the
guilt of O'Neill and O'Donnell, though ever so
clearly proved, could not affect the rights of their
clansmen, who were not even accused of treason.
HISTORY OF IRELAND 243
The scheme of plantation devised by James sur-
passed that of his predecessor. The lands were
divided into tracts of 2,000, 1,500 and 1,000 acres,
according to the ability of the '* undertakers. ' ' They
were bound to sublet only to English and Scottish
tenants; to give these secure leases on equitable
terms; to erect houses after the English fashion,
and ito adopt the English system of agriculture.
They were strictly prohibited from leasing land to
the native Irish or to such persons as refused the
oath of allegiance and supremacy.
Twelve companies in London obtained very
large grants as "undertakers." The discontent
was deep and widespread, but a rising was seen to
be hopeless and no attempt at resistance was made.
Slowly and sullenly the Irish people removed them-
selves and their belongings into the contracted loca-
tions appointed for them, away from the fertile
lands to the waste lands, from the rich pasture to
the barren moor.
Thrust out of their homes to find new refuges
wherein to lay their heads, exiled to make room for
the planters, evicted though promised security, they
wandered forth, bearing in their hearts bitter hatred
for the government that had broken faith with them
and longing for the vengeance which they were to
mete out in 1641. Many of the old proprietors who
were removed from their lands betook themselves to
the woods and outlaws' lives and agrarian outrages
began to occur. The object of James was to intro-
duce a thoroughly Protestant and anti-Irish ele-
ment, which should govern the Catholics and na-
tives. The spirit of religious intolerance was now
fully awake.
Every Irish interest was identified with the an-
cient faith, every English interest with Protestant-
ism. The government had determined to transform
Ireland to the new creed by the terrors of the law.
244 HISTORY OF IRELAND
The whole country was now subject to the king, and
the old Irish law, declared by the government as "a
lewd and damnable custom," had been everywhere
superseded by the Bnglish law. The success of
the Northern plantations gave James a taste for con-
fiscation which the officers of the crown were not
slow to encourage.
All their ingenuity, however, was not equal to
a new plot. They therefore devised a scheme more
certain in its effects, and perhaps more glaringly
unjust. This was the ** commission for the discov-
ery of defective titles," at the head of which was
placed Sir William Parsons, an unprincipled advent-
urer, on whom craft and crime had conferred an
unenviable notoriety. During the long wars that
had devastated the island in the preceding reigns,
and especially the last, property had been in a state
of constant fluctuation. Deeds were lost, docu-
ments destroyed, feudal services left unperformed,
and rent to the crown unpaid.
By taking advantage of these circumstances the
king obtained in Leinster alone the forfeiture of
nearly 1,000,000 more acres. A class of informers,
called "discoverers," was regularly employed by
the officers of the crown to search out defective
titles. They were rewarded by large grants of
lands. The united avarice and extravagance of
King James made his administration little better
than a deliberate system of robbery, and his officers
in Ireland were not behind their master in iniquity.
They plundered not only the opponents of the gov-
ernment, but in many cases those who had been
taken under its protection.
The local government of Ireland during this
disgraceful reign was characteristic. Martial law
was proclaimed in times of peace; refractory wit-
nesses were tortured; obstinate jurors were fined
and imprisoned; the courts became instruments of
HISTORY OF IREIyAND 245
oppression; the judges of the land were cruel,
venal and profligate, and peculation and fraud per-
vaded every office of the state. The rapacity of the
"discoverers" and the avarice of the monarch were
still unsatisfied and a new scheme of confiscation
was devised, which, if put into execution, would
have forfeited the entire province of Connaught,
the only part of Ireland that had not been planted.
During the reign of Elizabeth the lords and
gentry of this province had surrendered their lands
to Sir John Perrot and received them back as grants
from the queen. Having neglected the enrollment
of their patents they again surrendered them to
James and paid a sum of ;^3,000 to have them en-
rolled. The royal officers, from negligence or de-
sign, omitted this form, and James, at the close of
his reign, prepared to take advantage of this techni-
cality and seize Connaught as he had Leinster.
The proprietors were filled with consternation at
this alarming project and immediately prepared to
rvert the blow.
They knew it would be useless to appeal to the
king's justice, his honor, or his humanity, but they
were aware he was greedy and needed money, and
therefore tendered him a bribe of _;^1 0,000. While
James hesitated between the temptation of this sum
in hand and a larger in prospect he was seized with
mortal illness and died, and the squeezing of Con-
naught was reserved for his unscrupulous son and
successor, Charles I.
The general result of the plantation policy was
to flood Ireland with a host of needy adventurers,
who looked upon the country as a grand field for en-
terprising persons of slender means. The new col-
onists were mainly the scum of Bngland and Scot-
land— debtors^ bankrupts and fugitives from justice.
To hold a large landed estate in those days was, as
it is now, to secure power, influence and rank. The
246 HISTORY OF IRELAND
unscrupulous adventurer, having become possessed
of acres, frequently by means which would not bear
the light of day, often was made a county magis-
trate and sometimes elevated to the peerage. Half
of the peerage of Ireland at the time of the union
(A. D. 1800) was composed of persons whose an-
cestors had come to Ireland as fortune hunters after
the Elizabethan wars. The institution of a local
magistracy became a local tyranny in Ireland, where
the large land-owner had it all his own way, and
where no notice would be taken by the government
of any complaint, if such complaint ever succeeded
in reaching it.
Being freeholders, the "new men" were of the
chosen few who were qualified to act as justices of
the peace, to vote for members of parliament, and
to fill the office of sheriff. They became small des-
pots in their own part of the country, having very
considerable control over the liberties of their neigh-
bors. Many of the new settlers were army men,
who obtained large tracts of land as rewards for
services.
Another class of persons who made their fort-
unes at this time were ministers of the new doc-
trines. A youth would come over as chaplain to the
lord-deputy and quickly be pushed into a deanery, a
few big livings or a bishopric, and, living comforta-
bly in Dublin, draw his large income, which he in-
vested in land. More than one large estate was
thus put together and more than one family thus
founded which may be found in the peerage of
Ireland.
The new settlers hung together and intermar-
ried with each other. They did not develop the
tendency to amalgamate with the Irish people to
nearly the same extent as those who had gone be-
fore them. They were essentially strangers in the
land, who felt that they had gone in for a good
HISTORY OF IREI^AND 24i
speculation, but would have to do their utmost to
maintain their doubtful position.
They knew that they must have England for
protection, and so they studiously clung to the
English government and its ofl5cials in Ireland.
They were the embryo of the "Protestant ascend-
ancy" of the 17th and 18th centuries.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE * 'graces" of CHARLES I. — WENTWORTH AS
CHIEF GOVERNOR.
In 1625 King James I. died and his son, Charles
I., came into the Irish inheritance to carry out the
favorite schemes of his father. On the accession of
the new king, who was believed to have strong lean-
ings towards the Catholics, the hopes of the latter
rose and some attempt was made to restore the
ancient worship in a few of the churches.
Kven a Catholic seminary was opened and a
body of friars ventured to establish themselves in
Dublin. The result was a furious outcry on the
part of the Protestant faction. The Catholic college
was seized and handed over to the University of
Dublin and the friars were driven from their monas-
tery by a file of soldiers. The "new men" into
whose hands the reins of power had fallen were all
of strong Protestant tendencies. The policy which
excluded the Catholics from every office of state
placed the government in the hands of the extreme
men of the opposite way of thinking. The prelates
of the established church, with Archbishop Usher
at their head, were all of the extreme ultra- Protest- ,
ant school. "To grant the papists toleration" was
denounced from all the pulpits as "a grievous sin."
On coming to the throne Charles found himself
hampered with his father's debts. The extrava-
gance and bad management of James had left the
treasury empty. Money must be raised at all haz-
ards and the king was prepared to promise anything
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 249
for a good round sum in hand. He was willing to
be bribed by the Catholics into granting them civil
and religious liberty or to close with the offer of the
Connaught land-owners and confirm their titles for
a pecuniary consideration.
But the Protestant party in Ireland, though
small, was bigoted and powerful. Concessions,
therefore, to the Irish Catholics were dangerous,
and to satisfy the landed gentry of the Western
province *'was to kill the goose that laid the golden
eggs." The easiest way out of the difficulty was to
promise everything, secure the money, and then
evade the performance — a scheme that especially
commended itself to a mind like that of Charles*.
The unprincipled attempt of James to seize on all
the lands in Connaught had spread great alarm
among all the old proprietors of Irish estates. There
wa& no tenure sufficiently secure to resist the arts of
the '■discoverers," especially when the officers of
state and the judges of the kingdom had joined in
their alliance. Much, however, was to be hoped
from a new sovereign, and in 1626 a deputation
from the principal nobility and gentry of Ireland,
mainly Catholic, waited on the king and offered a
voluntary contribution of ;,f 120,000, to be paid in
three years, in return for the concession of civil and
religious liberty.
Charles readily promised to grant the conces-
sions, or, as they were called, * 'graces," and the
first installment of ;^40,000 was cheerfully paid,
but the promised "graces" or liberties never came.
There never was a time, perhaps, when the spirit of
religious fanaticism was more fierce and intolerant
than during the period at which we have now ar-
rived. In England and Scotland the Episcopalians
and the Puritans were violently opposed; in Ireland
Protestant and Catholic interests were guided by the
fiercest animosity. The political condition of Ire-
250 HISTORY OF IRHLAND
land was still more perplexing. The native inhab-
itants, deprived of their lands, supported a misera-
ble existence in woods, mountains and remote dis-
tricts, waiting patiently for a favorable time when
the possessions of which they had been despoiled
might be recovered.
Nearly all the best lands in Ireland outside of
Connaught were in the hands of the notorious
"undertakers." Charles and his new lord-deputy.
Sir Thomas Wentworth, who was appointed in 1633,
soon turned their attention to Connaught. The
king's great ally in the management of Ireland was
Wentworth, the ablest of his ministers, who devoted
the great abilities of which it was said ''God had
given him the use and the devil the application" to
supporting Charles' fraudulent schemes for extort-
ing money until his malign influence was removed
by the summons to England in 1640, which ended
in his death.
Wentworth regarded Ireland as a conquered
country whose inhabitants possessed no civil rights
but by the mercy of the crown. He therefore re-
solved to make the sternest despotism the principle
of his government and to admit of no opposition to
his imperious will. He believed in paternal gov-
ernment, but appears to have wished to rule the
mass of the common people with some justice and
moderation so long as the king's interests were not
concerned.
His hand was heavy on the castle officials, the
upstart nobility of the plantations and the great
land-owners of the West, because these resisted his
plans for draining their pockets into the king's cof-
fers. Though he crushed the woolen trade for fear
it might compete with that of England, he encour-
aged commerce and had the wisdom to see that the
soil was suitable for the growth of flax, and having
imported weavers from Belgium and erected mills.
HISTORY OF IRELAND 251
laid the foundation of the Irish linen manufacture.
He boasted that his object was "to make Charles
the most absolute king in Christendom.'*
For this purpose he endeavored to raise a large
revenue to relieve the king's necessities in England
and so render him independent of English parlia-
ments; to discipline and reform the Irish army,
which might become an important power in any dis-
pute between the king and his English and Scotch
subjects; to expel the Puritan preachers (whom he
hated) from the plantations, and to drive the Low
Church ministers into the High Church ceremonies
and doctrines patronized by King Charles.
In enforcing the penal laws he showed so much
moderation that he was accused by the Puritans of
encouraging papacy, but this was in some degree
counterbalanced by his attacks on the proprietors of
Connaught, who were principally of the ancient
faith. The threat of a plantation in Connaught
hitherto had been a most useful lever for the extor-
tion of money. The king had obtained subsidy
after subsidy by alternately threatening confiscation
or promising confirmation of titles. The ingenuity
of the court lawyers sufiiced to pick flaws in the
letters patent of former sovereigns and the conclu-
sion was soon arrived at that the whole of Con-
naught was the property of Charles.
Wentworth, proceeding to replenish the treas-
ury still further by attacking the Connaught land-
owners, went into Roscommon, Leitrim, Mayo and
Sligo. The juries were terrified or bribed into
finding verdicts for the king, and having thus car-
ried his point in the north and east of Connaught,
turned to deal with Galway, where some resistance
was expected.
There the population was almost wholly Catho-
lic and devoted to Burke, Earl of Clanricard. The
greater portion of the freeholders were either Burkes
252 HISTORY OF IRELAND
or allied to the Burkes by marriage. Wentworth
held his court in the earl's own castle, but coercion
was met with stubborn resistance, and the juries
found verdicts for the land-owners. Wentworth,
furious at the resistance to his will, fined the sheriff
;,f 1,000 and imprisoned him also for returning an
obstinate jury. He dragged the jurors before the
Castle Chamber, where they were cross-questioned
and each fined ;^4,000 and sentenced to imprison-
ment until the fines were paid and they should
change their decision.
The wretched sheriff died in prison; the old
Barl of Clanricard sank into his grave from grief
and mortification; and finally, overmatched in the
struggle, the land-owners gave way and submitted.
But Wentworth and his royal master, though bent
on confiscation and plantation in Connaught, were
for the present principally concerned in extorting
money, and the land itself to no great extent passed
into other hands. The land-owners were allowed to
retain their estates by the payment of fines and
fixed rents, and in some cases by the surrender of
a portion of their lands for the benefit of the estab-
lished church.
Nor were the extortions of Wentworth confined
to Connaught. He compelled the O 'Byrnes of
Ivcinster to pay ;^ 17, 000 to remedy a pretended de-
fect of title, and extorted no less than ;^ 70, 000
from the London companies that had obtained es-
tates in Ulster. This latter circumstance added in
no small degree to the popular clamor which had
been raised in England against his pride and
tyranny, and it was probably one of the principal
causes of his final ruin, for the citizens of Loudon
from that time became his deadly enemies and ex-
erted all their influence to procure his destruction.
Wentworth 's hand was no less heavy on the mush-
room nobility of the plantations and the jobbers of
HISTORY OF IRElvAND 253
the castle. But a storm was brewing in England
and Scotland which was destined to ruin both the
lord-deputy and his master.
The fined, pilloried and mutilated Puritans
cried aloud for vengeance, and the Scotch, on whom
Charles had tried to force a new liturgy, had signed
the covenant and were in open rebellion. -.The re-
volt of his Scottish subjects compelled Charles to
recall the ablest of his ministers from the govern-
ment of Ireland. The suppressed mutterings of
the two islands against the well-hated Wentworth
were rising into an overwhelming storm.
The Irish House of Commons, released from
his dreaded presence, impeached four of the privy
council who were his creatures. The numerous
victims of his tyranny in Ireland swarmed over to
England to accuse him. All England, Scotland and
Ireland watched with deep interest the trial of the
man who, in the words of his impeachment by the
English Parliament, *'had endeavored to subvert
the fundamental laws of the realm and to introduce
arbitrary and tyrannical government," and rejoiced
when his selfish, thankless master, whom he had
devotedly served, as he had himself so often boasted,
"at the peril of his own head," signed the bill of
attainder and sent him to the scaffold. May 12,
1641.
King Charles was now in the beginning of
those troubles with his parliament that afterwards
deprived him of crown and life. He knew that the
Puritans were his most zealous enemies, and yet at
this critical moment he intrusted the government of
Ireland to Sir William Parsons and Sir John Bor-
lase — bitter, cruel and rapacious Puritans who were
completely subservient to the English Parliament.
Parsons professed the most firm principles of Puri-
tanism and veiled his boundless rapacity under the
mask of conventional sanctity. His colleague, Bor-
254 HISTORY OF IRELAND
lase, was a mere soldier, who had received very lit-
tle education. His understanding was contempti-
ble, his bigotry great, and he had imbibed all the
prejudices and ferocity of that fanatical period.
Borlase was governed by his wily colleague, and
both immediately joined in doing all within their
power to oppose the interest and thwart the wishes
of the king. The disputes between King Charles
and his English and Scotch subjects were daily be-
coming more alarming, and the Irish exiles in every
part of Europe began to contemplate an attempt
to recover the property of which they had been
deprived.
The Irish of Ulster were especially eager to
engage in any enterprise which would afford a rea-
sonable promise of redressing their wrongs. The
people of Connaught, threatened with confiscation,
already were looking to arms as their best defense.
The Catholics, dreading the intolerance of the Puri-
tans, contemplated a struggle that could not be far
distant.
From the beginning of the year 1641 it must
have been evident to a close observer of the times
that some commotion was near at hand, but the
lords- justices were blind to approaching danger.
They appear to have thought that the Irish, so long
accustomed to tyranny and oppression, would not
make any vigorous defense of their religion and
property, both of which were openly threatened by
the government.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE INSURRECTION OF 1641.
We are now about to enter on the history of a
period whose strange revolutions, extraordinary
chances and dire calamities are, perhaps, unequaled
in the annals of any other age or nation. The great
civil war of 1641 presented the novel spectacle of
four armies, animated by mutual jealousy or hatred,
wasting the country in desultory warfare, and ex-
hausting themselves by insincere negotiations, until
at length that which at first was the weakest tri-
umphed and consigned the others to hopeless ruin.
The Celtic Irish, the Catholics of the Pale, and the
royalists had common interests and common ene-
mies, yet they could never be induced to form a sin-
cere union, and the parliamentarians in the end
conquered all three, though at first inferior in strength
and numbers to either separately.
Nearly a generation had passed since the plan-
tation of Ulster, when the troubles in Bngland be-
tween Charles and his parliament began. The Eng-
lish middle classes and many of the gentry dis-
trusted his policy in Church and State and feared
his leanings toward Rome. His wife was a devout
Catholic; his chief adviser in spiritual affairs, Arch-
bishop Laud, was a High Churchman, to whom a
Catholic was more acceptable than a Calvinist. By
this time a great change had come over the English
people.
A sect sprang up which aimed to model the
new church on the doctrine and system of Calvin,
256 HISTORY OF IRELAND
From the strictness of their tenets and the severity
of their practices they were named, partly in ridi-
cule, the Puritans. The opinions of these men
spread rapidly and they soon set up a fierce parlia-
mentary opposition — as often as want of money
compelled Charles to summon a parliament.
John Pym, John Hampden and other men of
remarkable courage and ability led this party and it
soon became plain that the issue would be civil war.
The Puritans were contending for civil and religious
liberty — a liberty, however, in which those who dif-
fered from them should have no share. The plan-
tations in Ulster and the menace of similar spolia-
tion in Connaught completely and justly alienated
the minds of the native Irish from the government.
They believed that it had been determined to strip
them of all the^ir property by a mixture of violence
and chicanery, and the conduct of the king and his
ministers proved that they were not mistaken. In
fact, the royalists and the parliamentarians in Bng-
land distinctly avowed their fixed resolution to col-
onize Ireland with "good subjects," and opposed as
they were in everything else, Charles and the Com-
mons showed wonderful unanimity in devising plans
for fresh confiscations.
The virulent declarations of the English Par-
liament against the ancient creed were justly alarm-
ing to the Irish Catholics, and the shameful execu-
tion, or, rather, judicial murder, of several priests
in London showed that the persecutions threatened
by the Puritans would not long be confined to pecu-
niary penalties and disqualifications. * 'The sin of
tolerating popery" was a favorite theme of the
clergy of the established and Scottish churches.
Similar denunciations had been made even in the
Irish Parliament and were only suppressed when the
aid of the Catholics was required to complete the
ruin of Went worth.
HISTORY OF IRELAND 257
The character of Parsons was a third cause of
the hostility to the government which was generally
prevalent among the Irish. The appointment of
such a man to the office of lord- justice was felt to
be a direct sanction of the principles on which he
acted. There was every reason to expect that spoli-
ation, and not protection, would be the chief object
of an administration at the head of which was an
unprincipled adventurer.
The successful resistance of the Scotch was the
occasion of which the Irish lords determined to avail
themselves. The attempt of the king to impose his
religion and an arbitrary government on his Scottish
subjects had been signally defeated. The rebellion
of the Scotch had been rewarded by the establish-
ment of the religion of their choice, the securing of
constitutional freedom, and the general approbation
of the English people. The flame of insurrection
easily spread from one country to another. It is
no wonder, then, that the Irish, who had suffered
under severer wrongs and had far greater grievances
to redress, should have resolved to emulate the suc-
cessful revolt of their brethren in Scotland.
The chief heads of the Irish conspiracy were
descendants from those ancient families that had been
robbed of their hereditary estates in former reigns.
John O'Neill (son of the late Hugh O'Neill, Earl
of Tyrone), who held an important command in the
service of Spain, and Roger Moore, a descendant of
the old lords of Leix (Queens County), appear to
have been, if not the contrivers of the conspiracy,
at least the principal agents in bringing it to
maturity.
'*Moore," says McCarthy, '*was the last of a
stately and ruined family, one of whose ancestors
had died in the Tower of London under Edward VI.
He was a brave and honorable gentleman, whose
handsome face and graceful bearing commended him
258 HISTORY OF IRELAND
closely to the men from whom he sought help,
whom his eloquence was well calculated to persuade,
and his statesmanlike prudence and foresight to en-
courage. His daring and gallantry endeared him
to his followers, who were always ready to fight
their best for the war-cry of *for God, our Lady and
Roger Moore.' "
The plan of revolt was sanctioned by Cardinal
Richelieu and by several other Catholic potentates,
principally through the influence of John O'Neill,
and the death of that able young man was the chief
cause of the irregularity which soon appeared in the
councils of the other conspirators. The lords-jus-
tices were warned from Bngland that numbers of
Irish officers had quitted the continental armies to
return home, that ecclesiastical emissaries were
flocking to Ireland, and at the same time informa-
tion was brought that suspicious assemblages were
frequently held at the houses of the Catholic lords.
But Parsons looked forward to a rising as his
harvest. He already had gained a large fortune by
trading in confiscations, and he trusted that a new
insurrection would place at his disposal more estates
than even Wentworth had ventured to contemplate.
In fact, there was now a great game to be played
for' the/ estates of the Irish proprietors. On the
22nd of October, 1641, at a late hour in the even-
ing, Parsons received information from Owen O' Con-
nolly that a conspiracy had been formed for seizing
the castle of Dublin and all the strong places in the
kingdom on the next day.
Borlaseon hearing the account was more alarmed
than his colleague and immediately directed the
council to be summoned. The delay and indecision
of the justices gave the principal leaders time to es-
cape, but two of them. Lord Maguire and Colonel
Hugh McMahon, were seized and the government
in Dublin efltectually put on its guard. But the
HISTORY OF IRELAND 259
North was beyond its control. There the clans that
had been despoiled by the government rose October
22 and 23, 1641, 30,000 strong, led by Sir Phelim
O'Neill and other chiefs of their own blood, drove
out the English and Scotch settlers and re-possessed
themselves of their ancient tribal lands.
The Irish people who had been so cruelly driven
from their homes rushed down from the mountains
and swept over the new plantations. There was
little or no resistance made. The astonished settlers
fled everywhere before the original proprietors and
the roads leading to Dublin were soon filled with
miserable crowds. At first the Irish were contented
with merely expelling the intruders, but soon, in
some instances, the settlers were injured and, it is
said, even put to death.
O'Neill, who headed the rising in Ulster, could
not in all cases, even if he were inclined, restrain
the excesses of his undisciplined followers, but he
seems not to have made much effort. The Bnglish
and Scotch settlers retorted, and whenever they had
an opportunity massacred the Irish without mercy
or distinction of age or sex. The great majority of
the Irish gentry invariably made every exertion to
restrain the ferocity of their followers, but the offi-
cers of the government, both by precept and exam-
ple, encouraged cruelty and extermination. In
County Cavan little or no blood was shed. This
was partly owing to the exertions of Philip O'Reilly,
the head of his illustrious family, and partly to the
respect that the Irish had for the character of Will-
iam Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore.
Dr. Bedell w^as one of the very few prelates of
the established church who had distinguished him-
self by humane conduct in his da}^ of power. The
simplicity of his character, his affectionate manners
and his many virtues attached to him the hearts of
all classes, and the Catholic lords and clergy re-
260 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
garded him with esteem and admiration. His house
was a place of refuge for all the settlers who had
been driven from lands in the neighborhood, and
there they long continued unmolested, protected by
the general respect felt for the bishop. He was
subsequently removed to the quarters of the Irish
army, but continued to be treated as a companion
rather than as a prisoner.
So convinced was this good man of the justice
of the Irish cause that he drew up the remonstrance
which they transmitted to the castle in justification
of their having taken up arms. During his illness
he was attended with the greatest care and his dying
moments were soothed by every attention that ar-
dent attachment could dictate. He was interred
with military honors by the Irish soldiers, and when
the grave closed over him all joined in the simple
prayer, ''Requiescat in pace, ultimus Anglorum"
— May the last Englishman rest in peace.
The lords- justices in the meantime took great
precautions to insure their personal safety and then
directed their attention not to the suppression of the
insurrection, but to the discovery of means by which
they could prolong the struggle and derive advan-
tages from its continuance. Their great object was
by some means to bring in the Catholic lords of the
Pale as participants, for their great estates had, for
the most part, remained untouched in former strug-
gles, and were, from their vicinity to the capital,
particularly desirable to the creatures of the govern-
ment. The lords- justices issued a proclamation de-
claring that the Irish papists had formed a danger-
ous conspiracy against the state.
The lords of the Pale were justly alarmed at
the sweeping generality of the phrase ''Irish pa-
pists." They remonstrated and the justices were
obliged to publish a second proclamation, exonerat-
ing the Catholic lords of English descent. At the
HISTORY OF IRELAND 261
same time they transmitted to the king and to the
English Parliament an account of the insurrection
that had taken place. Charles at once saw the dan-
gers to which he was exposed by the Irish revolt, in
causing which his own perfidious conduct respecting
the * 'graces" had so large a share. He felt, per-
haps, convinced that the Irish were more ''sinned
against than sinning. ' '
But the time when he could have done justice
was passed. Avarice and prejudice both stimulated
the parliament of England and Scotland "to seize
on Irish property and destroy Irish popery." The
king was forced to go with the current and to issue
a proclamation denouncing the Irish insurgents as
"rebels." The men of property in Ulster were
anxious to avoid the hazards of war, and were also
shocked at the cruelties which began to be commit-
ted by infuriate leaders on both sides. They made
offers of accommodation to the government, remark-
able for moderation and equity.
The O'Farrells of Longford, who had suffered
severely at the time of the Ulster plantation, after
having, without violence, seized the forts and cas-
tles in their country, sent a remonstrance to be pre-
sented to the king and his ministers by Lord Dil-
lon. Their petition began by setting forth an oath
of allegiance that they had taken and which they
professed themselves willing to seal with their blood.
They complained of persecution on account of their
religion by the delay of the "graces" and their
being treated as aliens in their native land. They
petitioned for a general amnesty for all offenses
except murder, for the repeal of the penal laws,
and for a general charter of freedom to all Irish
subjects.
There were many both in England and Ireland
anxious to restore tranquillity on these conditions,
and the king's friends especially, foreseeing the
262 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
Struggle between him and his parliament, were
eager to terminate transactions which in every way
threatened his ruin.
The English Parliament had at once under-
taken the management of the Irish war, and ignor-
ing the royal prerogative had begun to levy an
army and to provide munitions of war. The lead-
ers of the popular party in the English Parliament,
while they affected the most ardent zeal for the
cause of the Irish Protestants and sent them the
most magnificent promises of assistance, kept the
supplies that they had collected and the army that
they had assembled, to overawe King Charles. It
was then, and long after, the fashion in England to
look upon the Irish with contempt. It was supposed
that an Irish insurrection could be suppressed at any
time by a vigorous effort.
While, therefore, the English Parliament prom-
ised speedy exertion, the leaders were determined to
secure England first and leave Ireland for a more
convenient season. The conduct of the lords-jus-
tices fully justified the suspicions with which they
were viewed by the Irish lords. So far from exert-
ing themselves to check the progress of revolt, they
used all their influence to discourage the efforts of
others.
James Butler, earl, later marquis, and in the
end Duke of Ormond, who was a churchman zeal-
ously devoted to the king, and some other lords
offered to join the forces of the government with
their adherents and march directly against the in-
surgents to crush, if possible, their undisciplined
forces, but these offers were peremptorily rejected.
The military operations were confined to sending
out Sir Charles Coote, noted for his cruelty, to lay
waste the countr}^, and he, with little scruple, mas-
sacred indiscriminately those who were in revolt and
those v/ho were not, a system which, as had proba-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 263
bly been foreseen, rendered the spirit of revolt more
general and more inveterate.
The designs of Parsons were more signally dis-
played in another instance. Both the king and the
English Parliament had directed that a proclamation
should be issued offering pardon to all who would
return to their allegiance. After a long delay the
lords- justices issued such a proclamation, but clogged
with so many exceptions that it was wholly useless.
The time for receiving submissions was limited to
ten days, and it declared that the amnesty would be
invalid unless a complete restitution of property was
effected within that period — a condition, however,
which could not be fulfilled.
The hopes of the nation were now fixed on the
meeting of parliament, which had been adjourned to
November. The session lasted two days, during
which a protest was passed against those who had
taken up arms, but not without considerable opposi-
tion, a large minority refusing to stigmatize the
insurgents as ''rebels," preferring the milder phrase
* 'discontented gentlemen," but the influence of the
government secured the insertion of the harsher
epithet.
The justices, however, were unable to prevent
the appointment of a committee of both houses to
confer with the leaders of the insurgents and to lay
their complaints and grievances before the king and
council. Alarmed at this appearance of concession,
the justices, in spite of every remonstrance, ad-
journed the parliament. The king's friends and
the moderate party did not yet despair. They made
two efforts to avert the horrors of a general war,
and in both cases were unsuccessful.
The deputation sent to the leaders of the insur-
gents was received with every demonstration of re-
spect, but when the order of the two houses was
produced, in which these chiefs were stigmatized as
264 HISTORY OF IRELAND
"traitors," Roger Moore seized the insulting docu-
ment, tore it to pieces, and promptly declined any-
further conference. In the meantime a great num-
ber of members of the Irish Parliament met pri-
vately in Dublin and deputed two of their members,
Lords Dillon and Taafe, to go over to England and
represent to the king the real condition of the coun-
try, the conduct of the lords-justices, and the bene-
ficial consequences that would result from transfer-
ring their power to the Earl of Ormond, "or any
other nobleman of approved loyalty and integrity. ' '
This measure was also defeated by the contriv-
ance of Parsons. He sent a private message to the
leaders of the English House of Commons desiring
that no attention be paid to the representations of
Lord Dillon and declaring that his schemes would
prevent the perfect establishment of English as-
cendency in Ireland. Lords Dillon and Taafe were
arrested near London by order of the House of Com-
mons, and were not liberated until all negotiation
was fruitless.
From October until the middle of December the
insurrection had been confined to Ulster, a small
part of Leinster, and one county in Connaught.
The Catholic lords of the Pale persevered in their
allegiance and offered their assistance to the govern-
ment. Some had even distinguished themselves
against the Northerners in the field, especially Sir
Robert Talbot, whose castle was destroyed in revenge
by the insurgents.
The lords- justices at the first rising, deeming
the aid of these Catholic lords necessary to their
own security, had supplied them with arms to de-
fend themselves against the Northern Irish, but
being now encouraged by promises of large arma-
ments from England they recalled the arms which
they had granted and issued a proclamation order-
ing those who had fled to Dublin for protection to
HISTORY OF IRELAND 265
quit tlie city within twenty-four hours under pain of
death.
Bxposed thus to the vengeance of the insur-
gents on one hand and to the persecution of the
government on the other, these men long struggled
to preserve their allegiance, but at length they re-
ceived certain intelligence that the English Parlia-
ment and Irish government had determined on their
ruin and they saw that their only hope was in arms.
In fact, on the 8th of December, 1641, it was re-
solved in solemn debate by both houses of parliament
in Bngland "that they would not consent to the tol-
eration of popery in Ireland or any of his majesty's
dominions, ' ' a resolution that was regarded by many
as practically a declaration of a war of extermination
against the great majority of landed proprietors in
Ireland and almost the entire common people.
Under these circumstances Lord Gormanstown
and several others proposed a conference with Moore,
and the war, which hitherto had been confined to
the Northern province, became general throughout
the entire country.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE CONFEDERATE WAR — ARRIVAL OF OWEN ROE
O'NEILL.
The Catholic lords of the Pale, driven to revolt
by compulsion which could not be resisted, proceeded
with the deliberate caution of men well aware of the
danger they were about to encounter and the haz-
ardous game they had to play. In December, 1641,
they held a conference with Roger Moore and other
Irish leaders on the hill of Crofty, in Meath, and
demanded of him for what purpose he had taken up
arms. Moore replied: "To maintain the royal
prerogative and liberty of conscience and make the
subjects of Ireland as free as those of England."
Lord Gormanstown then said: * 'Seeing these
be your true ends we will likewise join with you."
The other lords of the Pale then promised to assist
him with all their might, and then separated to
raise their respective friends and adherents.
The lords- justices not yet having received the
expected supplies from England, were alarmed at
the premature success of their own schemes. They
sent letters to the lords of the Pale requiring them
to come with all possible speed to Dublin, assuring
them that they were wanted to confer on the state
of the nation. The lords excused themselves by
referring to the speeches of Sir Charles Coote, the
military governor of Dublin, and to his wholesale
massacres in his several raids, declaring that they
would not peril their lives by coming within his
malign influence.
HISTORY OF IRELAND 267
They next prepared a loyal address to King
Charles, drawn up in a conciliatory, moderate tone,
in which they complained of the injurious treatment
they had received from the lords-justices, whom
they justly called enemies to the king as well as to
themselves.
A proclamation worded in the same spirit of
moderation and loyalty to the king was extensively
circulated throughout the island and produced a
powerful effect. The lords of the Pale who had not
joined in the conference were now induced to join
the alliance. Every county in Leinster rose and
the authority of the lords-justices in that province
was soon confined to Dublin and Drogheda, which
latter place was closely besieged by Sir Phelim
O'Neill.
In Connaught, County Galway was for some
time preserved to the government by the exertions
and influence of Ulick Burke, Karl of Clanricard,
a Catholic nobleman who was strongly attached to
the king and the English interest.
In Munster the lords- justices had a powerful
assistant in Sir W. St. Leger, the president of that
province, whose cruelties rivaled those of Sir Charles
Coote. The gentry of the county had remonstrated
against his excesses, but he dismissed them with in-
sults and threats of violence. Alarmed at this
treatment they had applied to the lords- justices in
Dublin for permission to take proper measures for
securing the public peace. Lord Muskerry offered
to raise a thousand men in support of the govern-
ment at his own expense and to mortgage his estate
in order to supply them with arms. A similar ten-
der of service was made by Richard Butler, Lord
Mountgarret, the head of the Catholic Butlers, and
son-in-law of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, who
had died at Rome. Both these noblemen having
received a positive refusal, waited until the middle
268 HISTORY OF IRELAND
of December before taking a decided course, and
then, having good reason to believe that arms were
necessary for their safety, they determined to join
the patriotic cause.
With Lord Mountgarret rose every branch of
the house of Butler, except James Butler, Earl of
Ormond, who had been brought up in England in
the Protestant faith. The first movements of the
Munster leaders were executed with equal prompt-
ness and success. Cash el, Clonmel, Carrick and
Dungarven were quickly taken, almost without re-
sistance. County Kilkenny and the city of Water-
ford were easily secured by Lord Mountgarret.
Henry O'Brien, Earl of Thomond, staid by the
government, but his followers and relatives set his
authority at defiance and added County Clare to the
confederate cause; and finally Connaught, abandon-
ing the traditional leadership of the Earl of Clanri-
card, joined the popular call under the leadership of
Miles Burke, Viscount Mayo. In all these pro-
ceedings the lives and personal effects of the dispos-
sessed Protestants were carefully protected by the
Catholic nobility.
In those parts of the three provinces which
thus finally joined the confederates, where the rem-
nants of the old evicted Irish clans were waiting for
revenge upon the planters, a few isolated acts of
cruelty are recorded: these, the work of a few un-
governable natives, were promptly checked by the
leaders of the revolt, who did their utmost to con-
vey the expelled people to places of safety.
The lords- justices having received some rein-
forcements from England were now encouraged to
pursue openly the scheme of confiscation which they
had long meditated. Finding the number of pris-
oners brought in by the leaders of their raiding par-
ties an incumbrance, they issued a commission for
trying them by martial law, pretending that they
HISTORY OF IRELAND 269
could not find suitable juries. So aggressive were
the government officials in hunting for forfeitures,
that in two days satisfactory evidence for high trea-
son was found against all the Catholic nobility and
gentry in the counties of Meath, Dublin, Wicklow
and Kildare.
"No less than 4,000 indictments," we are told,
"were laid in three days in the most business-like
fashion, and the rack was freely used to extract sat-
isfactory evidence from the witnesses."
To implicate the king in the alleged guilt of
the Irish revolt was a favorite object with the Eng-
lish Parliament and its creatures, the lords-justices;
for this end they vigorously exerted themselves to
discover some plausible pretense. Hugh McMahon,
who had been seized at the time of the recent
attempt to capture Dublin; Sir John Reid, who had
voluntarily come to the quarters of the Earl of
Ormond as bearer of the address of the confederates
to the king, and Patrick Barnewall, an old and re-
spectable gentleman who had attended the meeting
on the hill of Crofty, but had taken no part in the
revolt, were subjected to the tortures of the rack in
the hope of implicating the king, but nothing of
importance was elicited.
The barbarous manner in which these gover-
nors carried on the war may be learned from their
instructions to the Earl of Ormond, the commander-
in-chief of the royal army, who was directed by
them not only to kill and destroy "rebels" and
their followers and relatives, but also to burn, waste
and demolish all the places, towns and houses where
they had been relieved and harbored, with all the
com and hay, and also to kill and destroy in the re-
volted districts all the male inhabitants capable of
bearing arms.
The lords of the Pale, after their first vigorous
efforts, became alarmed at the results of their own
270 HISTORY OF IREI^AND
success: they were afraid of their allies, the old
Irish, fearing that their influence would be destroyed
by the overbalance which the native interest would
obtain.
The Earl of Ormond, availing himself of this
indecision, obtained many advantages over the con-
federates in several engagements. The latter ap-
pear to have simply desired to maintain such a
warlike attitude as to insure to them satisfactory
conditions of peace; and they hoped that the king
himself would soon come over to undertake the
management of the war. They believed that they
could then prove to him their innocence of rebellion
against his authority.
King Charles, sensible of the injury he sus-
tained in England and Scotland from the report of
his secret partiality to the Irish Catholics, accord-
ingly issued proclamations denouncing them as
"rebels and traitors," and even expressed his anx-
iety to prove his sincerity by leading an army
against them in person. But the king's double-
dealing and duplicity were too well known for either
party to give much credit to his professions or
proclamations.
The lords of the Pale were persuaded or con-
vinced of his secret attachment to their cause: the
leaders in the English House of Commons believed
that the proposed expedition to Ireland was only a
pretext for removing where he would be free from
the control of parliament, and peremptorily refused
their consent. Lord Gormanstown, the confederate
leader in Leinster, seeing the last hope of a peace-
ful settlement of the island thus destroyed, died, it
is said, of a broken heart, leaving his command in
the hands of Lord Mountgarret.
The latter led his army into County Kildare,
where the Earl of Ormond was engaged in relieving
castles blockaded by the confederates. A battle was
HISTORY OF IRELAND 271
fought between them at the hamlet of Kilrush,
about twenty miles from Dublin, in which the disci-
pline of 4,000 royalists enabled them to triumph
over 8,000 of their opponents. The confederates
were totally defeated, leaving 700 men dead on the
field, but Ormond, being short of ammunition and
provisions, did not follow the routed army, but
returned in triumph to Dublin.
For some months the war languished on both
sides. The confederates were disheartened, disor-
ganized, disunited and unprepared for war, and they
had no leaders possessing military skill or experi-
ence. The royalists were in little better condition;
their soldiers were mutinous for want of pay, their
provisions were well-nigh exhausted, and the sup-
plies they received from England were scanty in the
extreme.
Despite all their boasted zeal for the relief of
the Protestants in Ireland, the English Commons
made little exertion for them. But in another way
they showed characteristic attention to Irish affairs:
they passed an act for the sale of 2,500,000 acres
belonging to those whom they termed "Irish reb-
els," and they introduced several clauses by which
the king was prevented from entering into any
terms of accommodation with his Irish Catholic
subjects.
In this plan of reducing the nation to despera-
tion or despair the lords- justices eagerly joined.
They severely censured the Earl of Clanricard for
having entered into terms with the confederates of
Galway, and strictly commanded all their officers to
hold no correspondence with nor grant protection to
Irish or Catholics. These measures were approved
by a parliament which sat in Dublin. By exclud-
ing all who had joined the confederates and all who
refused to take the oath of supremacy the number
of members was so reduced that the creatures of
272 HISTORY OF IRELAND
government had a large majority. The principal
business done in this session was the passing of new-
penal laws, the denouncing of the ancient faith in
unmeasured terms, and the preparation of an ad-
dress to the English Parliament for new and more
stringent laws against Catholics. Having thus per-
formed its part in exasperating the confederates and
making the return of peace hopeless, the parliament
was adjourned.
Like their masters in England, the lords-jus-
tices almost wholly neglected the war. St. Leger,
in Munster, was so disheartened by the vexations
which he suffered for the loss of Limerick and want
of aid that he died of mortification and grief, and
was succeeded by his son-in-law, Murrough O'Brien,
Lord Inchiquin. The confederates, unable to avail
themselves of the inaction of their enemies, were so
disorganized by repeated reverses and by the arrival
of a large body of troops sent to Ulster by the Scot-
tish Parliament, that they seriously contemplated
giving up the struggle to become voluntary exiles.
The arrival in Donegal Bay, July, 1642, of
Colonel Owen Roe O'Neill, who had acquired a
high character in the Spanish service, revived the
hopes of his countrymen. He was a nephew of the
late Hugh O'Neill, the great Earl of Tyrone, and
had served with distinction on the continent. He
was a leader whose noble qualities would have done
honor to any cause; a skillful, bold, yet cautious
soldier: mild, generous and humane, he was re-
spected even by his enemies. He brought with him
a hundred Irish ofiicers who had received a military
education in continental warfare.
On his arrival he was unanimously chosen by
the Northern chiefs to supersede his kinsman, Sir
Phelim O'Neill, in the supreme command in Ulster.
He denounced in the strongest terms the excesses
which had been committed by the Irish under his
HISTORY OF IRELAND 273
predecessor and declared that if any unnecessary
cruelties were again perpetrated by them he would
leave the country. The effect of his presence was
magical; the desponding Irish recovered heart. At
this time the Barl of Leven arrived in Ulster with
reinforcements to the Scotch royalists there, but
though his army appeared sufficient to crush the
raw troops of O'Neill, Leven made no warlike
effort.
He, however, wrote a letter to the Irish general
expressing his surprise that a man of his reputation
had come to Ireland to maintain so bad a cause as
that of the confederates. O'Neill replied that he
could furnish better reasons for coming to the relief
of his country than the earl for marching into Bug-
land against his king. After receiving this reply
Leven retired to Scotland, assuring Robert Monroe,
to whom he resigned his command, that when
O'Neill had collected his forces he would give him
a severe lesson. This termination of an expedition
from which so much had been expected greatly
encouraged O'Neill's men.
The Northern Irish hastened to array them-
selves under the banner of O'Neill, while Monroe
confined himself to his quarters, and his army, neg-
lected by parliament, had to struggle against naked-
ness and famine. About the same time of the
coming of O'Neill the Southern Irish were strength-
ened by the arrival at Waterford of Colonel Thomas
Preston, brother of the late Lord Gormanstown.
He landed with a quantity of arms and ammunition
and accompanied by 500 exiled Irish officers, who
had acquired experience and skill in foreign service.
The confederates now determined to organize a
civil government. For this purpose a provincial
synod was held by them at Armagh: they began by
sanctioning the war which had been undertaken for
the defense of their religion and the preservation of
274 HISTORY OF IRELAND
the rights and liberties of Irishmen as just and
necessary. They declared that no order of the
king, whom they justly regarded as an unwilling
instrument in the hands of their enemies, should be
obeyed until they had sufficient reasons to know his
real intentions.
They directed that an oath of association should
be taken by all the members of the confederacy,
and that no distinction should be made between the
old and new Irish, or Celtic and Anglo-Irish. They
denounced the heaviest censures of the church on
those who remained neutral in the contest, and pro-
hibited under pain of excommunication any injury
to Protestants who were not enemies to their cause.
They directed that exact registers should be kept of
all murders and unnecessary cruelties committed by
their enemies in the several provinces, but they
prohibited retaliation under the severest penalties.
They ordained that provincial assemblies, composed
of the laity and clergy, should be formed for local
government, but that the chief authority should re-
main with a national council, to which the others
should be subordinate.
Soon after, in October, 1642, a general or
national assembly from all the provinces met at
Kilkenny. It consisted largely of the Anglo-Irish
nobility and was conducted with all the form and
order of a regular parliament. Having first pro-
fessed their allegiance to the king, they renounced
the authority of the government administered in
Dublin and declared that they would maintain the
rights and privileges of the Catholic Church as es-
tablished by the great charter, and they professed
to accept the laws of England and Ireland, so far as
they were not contrary to their religion or the
national liberties.
They organized provincial councils, but allowed
an appeal from their decisions to the Supreme Qoun-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 275
cil of the Confederate Catliolics of Ireland. Lord
Mountgarret was elected president of this council
and Sir Richard Belling appointed secretary. For
the conduct of the war they appointed four generals,
one to lead the forces of each province — Owen Roe
O'Neill in Ulster, Thomas Preston in Leinster, Ger-
ald Barry in Munster, and John Burke in Con-
naught. All of these were officers of experience
and merit, who had left their commands in the
armies of the continent to offer their services to
their country.
Burke bore only the title of lieutenant-general,
for the confederates designed the chief command in
Connaught for the Earl of Clanricard, in the hope
that that nobleman would be induced to join the alli-
ance, but he continued steadily to refuse. Though
disappointed b}^ Clanricard, the confederates obtained
a valuable assistant in James Touchet, Earl of Cas-
tlehaven, an Englishman, who possessed large es-
tates both in England and Ireland.
Castlehaven had been refused by the lords- jus-
tices a passport to return to England, and instead
they flung him into prison, where he remained five
months, when he managed to make his escape. He
then fled to Kilkenny and was received with open
arms by the confederates, who, delighted by the ac-
cession of an English peer, appointed him to com-
mand the Leinster cavalry, under Preston.
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE CONFEDERATE WAR — CONTINUED.
' 'So many reinforcements had successively poured
into Ireland both from Scotland and England that
the army which opposed the confederates was finally
raised to 50,000 men, but these were gradually re-
duced in number by want, desertion and the casual-
ties of war. They won several battles, burned and
demolished many towns and villages, but the evils
of their excesses recoiled upon themselves and they
began to experience the horrors of famine in the
midst of the desert which they had made."
In October, 1642, the Civil War broke out in
England between King Charles and his parliament,
and the latter immediately sent over agents to en-
gage the army in Ireland on its side. These at-
tempts were encouraged by Parsons, who received
the parliamentary emissaries with open arms. The
Earl of Ormond, on the other hand, diligently la-
bored to keep the soldiers in their allegiance to the
king, and for the most part he succeeded.
James Butler, earl, afterwards marquis, and in
the end Duke of Ormond, was the head of the
great Norman-Irish house of Butler. He was a
man of more than ordinary ability, but cold, selfish
and of doubtful faith. He had been educated in
England and converted to the new religion and re-
garded the faith he had abandoned with hatred and
contempt.
The Ormonds for centuries had been politic
courtiers. Englishmen in Ireland rather than Irish-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 277
men, and James Butler, "the Great Duke," as he
is sometimes called, was the supreme type of his
race. The affairs of the confederates were now
prospering. There was at the close of 1642 and
the opening of the next year a good deal of irregu-
lar fighting, with considerable loss of life, without
decided advantage on either side, but during the
summer of 1643 success was decidedly inclining
towards the Irish.
In May O'Neill obtained a victory over Mon-
roe at Charlemont, in Ulster, and soon after at
Clones he carried off his men with credit from a
superior cavalry force of Sir Robert Stewart. De-
scending from the hills he next invaded Meath,
slew Lord Moore and drove General Monk and his
shattered army back into Dublin; Barry defeated
the enemy at Kil worth, in Cork, and drove Lord
Inchiquin into Youghal; all Connaught was in the
hands of Burke; and though Preston, in March,
after several successes in Leinster, suffered a defeat
at Ross, yet Ormond, who opposed him, could not
boast of any great advantage.
King Charles, now no longer under the neces-
sity or pressure for his own safety of dissembling
with his parliament, issued commissions to Ormond,
Clanricard and other leaders in Ireland devoted to
his interests, empowering them to treat with the
confederates. He created Ormond a marquis, re-
moved Parsons from office and appointed Sir Henry
Tichbome to take his place as a colleague of Bor-
lase. The field being now open for negotiation
with the confederates, a meeting was held between
their commissioners and Ormond and a cessation of
hostilities for one year was finally agreed upon, Sep-
tember 15, 1643, each party consenting to occupy
the same position it then held, and the confederates
undertaking to give ^30,000 to the king, and also
provide troops for his service in Scotland. The
278 HISTORY OF IRELAND
cessation was afterwards renewed from time to time
on various pretexts till the spring of 1646.
The Catholic clergy and the old Irish were dis-
satisfied with the truce, which had checked their re-
cent successes and weakened their strength by the
loss of the men and money sent to aid the king.
The parliamentarians declared that this alliance
with ''murderous papists," as they called the con-
federates, was a "crying sin," and sent orders to
their generals in Ireland to disregard the truce.
The news of the truce with the Irish confederates
was received with great indignation. The English
people, who had been terribly excited by the wild
reports of the "Ulster massacre," loudly demanded
revenge. Still stronger grew their anger when
2,000 men from Ormond's forces were landed in
North Wales and 3,000 well provided troops from
the Irish confederate army passed over into Scotland
to aid the king.
The very fact of Charles' overtures to the Irish
so disgusted his English friends that many of them
left his service and went over to the parliament.
The good fortune that hitherto had attended the
king in the Civil War in England had now begun
to desert him, and consequently he began to look
more and more to his Irish subjects to crush his re-
bellious English subjects and became more and
more anxious to patch up a peace with the Irish
confederates on any terms.
Accordingly in January, 1644, Charles appointed
Ormond Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, with full power
to offer the confederates the most advantageous
terms. The principal demands of the latter were
an independent Irish parliament, the free exercise
of their religion, and a general pardon for all who
had engaged in the war, except those who had been
guilty of breaches of quarter and acts of inhuman-
ity. On the granting of these terms the confeder-
fiIs¥ORV OF IR^I^A^ID 279
ates engaged to support the king with their lives and
fortunes and to contribute 10,000 men immediately
for his assistance in England.
Some months were fruitlessly occupied with
delegations from the confederates to the king and
also from the Protestant faction in Dublin. Charles,
who never meant to keep inconvenient promises,
was perfectly ready to concede everything in return
for the reinforcements and simply instructed Or-
mond to make the best bargain he could. Ormond,
however, pretended to believe that concessions satis-
factory to the confederates would not only drive
every Protestant in Ireland into the arms of the
king's enemies, but would make it next to impossi-
ble for Charles to come to terms with the Eng-
lish Parliament, with which he was at that time
negotiating.
The politic lord-lieutenant accordingly con-
cealed the extent of his instructions and would only
promise the confederates that the penal laws should
not be put in force and that the king would grant a
fresh variety of '^graces." For months the negoti-
ations dragged along. Ormond probably desired
the failure of the confederacy more than the success
of the royal cause, and the advancement of his own
personal interests above all.
The Irish, who were fully aware of the king's
needs, and expecting help from France, Spain and
Rome, were in no hurry to conclude such an unsat-
isfactory treaty. In the midst of the negotiations
an unexpected revolution took place in the South.
The Earl of Inchiquin, having been refused the
office of Lord-President of Munster by the king,
declared for the parliament and made himself mas-
ter of Cork, Youghal and Kinsale, from which he
drove all the Catholic inhabitants.
His example was followed by Lord Esmond,
who betrayed to the parliamentary forces the fort of
280 HISTORY OF IRELAND
Duncannon, wHich commanded Waterford harbor.
When the news of this revolution reached the coun-
cil at Kilkenny, it directed Lord Castlehaven (Barry
having retired on account of old age) to march
against Inchiquin, while Preston was sent to besiege
Duncannon, which was forced to surrender after a
short but vigorous siege; and Castlehaven, having
defeated the enemy in the field, proceeded to reduce
the different castles along the rivers Lee and Black-
water which had fallen into the hands of Inchiquin.
He captured several places of importance, took a
great number of prisoners, and finally advancing to
the coast, laid siege to Yougal, though the town was
well garrisoned and further protected by two frigates
which lay in the harbor.
The siege was finally raised by the arrival of
Roger Boyle, Lord Broghill, with reinforcements.
The winter soon after set in and military operations
were laid aside to resume the long pending negotia-
tions. Ormond was resolved not to grant the terms
demanded by the confederates, and they refused to
recede from a single claim. He tried in vain to per-
suade them that it was expedient to assist the king
as soon as possible.
They replied that they would not weaken them-
selves until the signature of the treaty had secured
their future safety. During this delay, in October,
1645, Rinucini, Archbishop of Fermo, arrived in
Ireland as nuncio from the Pope, and showed him-
self as hostile to any peace which did not secure the
public establishment of the ancient religion in Ire-
land as the Puritans were to terms that granted
simple toleration.
The efforts of Charles to secure the aid of the
confederates without alarming the prejudices of his
Protestant subjects led him into a series of extraor-
dinary intrigues, the premature discovery of which,
despite his resources in duplicity, covered him with
HISTORY OF IRELAND 281
confusion and deserved contempt. Tired of Or-
mond's endless delays, harassed by the increasing
difficulties of his affairs, and anxiously hoping that
the promised aid from Ireland would retrieve his
losses, the king determined to employ another nego-
tiator. This envoy was Edward Somerset, Earl of
Glamorgan, one of the few Catholics remaining
among the English nobility.
He was the son-in-law of the Earl of Thomond
and devotedly attached to the royal cause. He
found the confederates inclined to insist on more fa-
vorable terms than they had previously demanded,
in consequence of Castlehaven's recent successes,
but he had influence enough to prevail upon them
to make both a public and a private treaty, the for-
mer upon the basis of Ormond's propositions; the
latter, Glamorgan declared, contained terms too
favorable to the Catholics to be published at a time
when the rage against the ancient creed in England
and Scotland was little short of a national insanity.
The nuncio objected to the treaties as not suffi-
ciently securing the establishment of the ancient
religion, but at first he found few supporters except
among the clergy. Meanwhile the warlike Arch-
bishop of Tuam was defeated in an engagement at
Sligo, his baggage captured, and a copy of Glamor-
gan's secret treaty found among his papers. This
document was immediately sent to the English Par-
liament, by which it was at once printed and ex-
tensively circulated throughout Great Britain and
Ireland.
The king promptly denied having given Gla-
morgan any authority to conclude such a treaty and
declared to the English Parliament that the only
purpose for which Glamorgan had been sent to Ire-
land was to raise forces for his majesty's service.
This Charles contradicted in a letter to the Dublin
officials, and in a private letter to Ormond he de-
m HISTORY O^ IRELAND
clared **on the word of a Christian I never intended
Glamorgan should treat of anything without your
approbation, much less your knowledge."
Ormond, pretending to believe that Glamorgan
had exceeded his powers, caused him to be arrested
on a charge of high treason. Glamorgan, in his
defense, declared that what he did was not binding
on the king, but that he had acted out of excess of
zeal in his majesty's service. Charles sent a letter
to Dublin requesting that Glamorgan should be de-
tained a prisoner, but at the same time he wrote pri-
vately to Ormond to suspend the execution of any
sentence against him.
The English earl was soon after released on the
joint bail of the Barls of Clanricard and Kildare.
Notwithstanding all this wearisome intrigue, Or-
mond had long before received instructions from the
king to conclude a peace with the confederates on
terms nearly or fully as favorable to the Catholics
as those granted by Glamorgan. The refusal of
Ormond to recognize the secret treaty of Glamorgan
destroyed what little harmony remained in the coun-
cils of the confederates.
The Anglo-Irish lords, who had been driven to
revolt by irresistible compulsion, were extremely
anxious to conclude the war. The old Irish were
suspicious of Ormond and indignant that scant care
had been taken of their special interests in either
of the treaties. The nuncio and most of the clergy
declared that no terms should be accepted which did
not include the ecclesiastical articles in Glamorgan's
secret treaty.
There were and always had been two parties
among the confederates, corresponding closely to the
two separate races of which they were composed —
the radical party, made up mainly of the old Irish
and the clergy, which aimed at national independ-
ence, and a conservative party, consisting, for the
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 283
most part, of Anglo-Irisli peers and gentry who
were anxious to be reconciled to the king, provided
they could secure sufficient guarantees for civil and
religious liberty.
The lay element in the council already had
shown considerable jealousy of the clerical influence,
and when the nuncio had raised up a violent opposi-
tion to the peace the confederates became split into
the party of the Nuncio and the party of Ormond.
In the meantime the king's affairs had become des-
perate, and Ormond, at length awakened to the dan-
gers of further delay, when it was too late, consented
to a modification of Glamorgan's original proposi-
tions and signed with the confederates the long
delayed treaty, March 2S, 1646, despite the fierce
opposition of the nuncio and his party in the Con-
federate Council.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE BATTLE OF BENBURB.
In the spring of 1646, after experiencing more
than four years of desolating civil war, Ireland was
truly in a deplorable condition. While the confed-
erates were distracted and weakened by intrigues
and divided councils and their armies well-nigh par-
alyzed by the jealousies of their commanders, Mon-
roe plundered Ulster in comparative safety, while
Coote "the Cruel" raided the Western province, so
that even the Barl of Clanricard was finally forced
to take the field in his own defense. In Munster,
since the recent defection of the Earl of Thomond,
who had surrendered to the enemy his noble old cas-
tle of Bunratty, commanding the Shannon, nearly
all the South except Limerick fell into the hands of
the sanguinary Inchiquin.
Bunratty, however, was soon recovered by Lord
Muskerry after a short siege; Preston was sent to
Connaught to operate with Clanricard against Coote,
and Castlehaven, with Piers FitzGerald, his second
in command, at length drove Inchiquin into his gar-
rison. Though the Puritan generals — Inchiquin,
Coote and Monroe — treated the cessation and treaty
with contempt, yet being feebly supported by the
English Parliament they were forced to remain, for
the most part, inactive, and consequently did not
derive much profit from the dissensions of the con-
federates, many of whom were furious at the treaty,
which they considered did not sufficiently guarantee
religious liberty nor provide for an independent
HISTORY OF IRELAND 285
Irish parliament. The men of Ulster were dissat-
isfied with the treaty on account of its failure to re-
store to them their ancient lands.
Owen Roe O'Neill, the only really capable gen-
eral of the confederates, had not been altogether
idle during these years of intrigue and negotiation,
but employed in recruiting and training his forces
and making such careful preparations as would in-
sure his success. In the beginning of June, 1646,
having completed his preparations for a decisive
campaign, he advanced towards Armagh to bring
Monroe to battle.
On the 4th of June the Irish general, at the
head of 5,000 foot and 500 horse, encamped at Ben-
burb, on the River Blackwater, about six miles
from Armagh. To this same place Robert Monroe,
who was in the vicinity, directed his march on the
following morning. The position of O'Neill was
well chosen. He lay between two hills, his rear
covered by a wood, his right wing resting on the
Blackwater, his left protected by a wet bog, and his
sharpshooters concealed by "crogs and bushes"
which covered the rough, broken ground in his
front. He was also in possession of a bridge which
crossed the stream.
All preparations completed, the Irish officers
and soldiers the morning of the 5th solemnly de-
voted themselves to prayer and devout exercises,
and aroused to the highest pitch of resolute enthu-
siasm calmly awaited the advance of the enemy.
O'Neill had drawn out his cavalry upon one of the
hills by which his position was flanked when he saw
on the other side of the river the forces of Monroe,
about 8,000 strong, marching towards him.
Monroe's army consisted of Scots from the low-
lands, with Anglo-Irish auxiliaries and some Eng-
lish regiments. As the Blackwater was considered
difficult to cross, O'Neill did not expect an imme-
286 HISTORY OF IRELAND
diate attack, but, contrary to his expectations, the
enemy contrived to ford the river about 2 p. m. at
Battle Bridge, near Caledon, and was soon ap-
proaching rapidly in his front. To check this ad-
vance O'Neill sent some troops to occupy a pass on
the way.
A murderous fire from Monroe's artillery dis-
lodged them and they fell back slowly, but in good
order. The pass being cleared, a simultaneous
movement of the whole attacking army was made to
dislodge O'Neill, but it was arrested by a deadly
shower of bullets from the Irish sharpshooters be-
hind the bushes. Monroe immediately opened a
brisk cannonade, which O'Neill's excellent position
rendered well-nigh harmless.
Repeated charges of cavalry against the Irish
lines were made with little success. The enemy
could not maneuver or take a circuit, being cooped
up by the river on the right and the bog on the left.
The sun shone full in the face of the Irish and the
wind blew in the same direction. When they were
not dazzled with excessive light they were blinded
with thick rolling smoke of artillery and musketry.
Under these disadvantages the Irish army sustained
the enemy's fire for four hours, during which time
it repelled incessant attacks of cavalry, made with
an admirable dash and spirit.
O'Neill knew that towards evening the sun
would be at his back, and as it sank towards the
forest at his rear present a great disadvantage to his
enemies by casting its glare upon their faces. Re-
solved to imperil nothing by haste, he commanded
his men simply to hold their ground and wait till
the welcome evening. The Scotch general was for
some time merely exasperated with O'Neill's cool
reserve and subtle tactics, which he could not attrib-
ute to timidity, for he knew his man.
About 6 p. m. a blaze of level light from the
HISTORY OF IRELAND 287
western skies helped Monroe to pierce his adver-
sary's meaning, and a sudden shout from the Irish
army and the movement of its entire line, horse and
foot, rendered O'Neill's tactics fully intelligible.
Monroe now sent forward a few squadrons to arrest
the advance, but these were so well received that
they quickly retreated and were pursued by the
Irish horse with great slaughter.
Monroe was obliged to call on his reserve
squadrons, whose repeated charges, though furious
and energetic, were foiled again and again. At
length O'Neill, who judged those squadrons were
sufi&ciently exhausted, sent a detachment of cavalry
to finish them. When this order was satisfactorily
executed he once more moved forward his whole
line of battle. To render this charge decisive
O'Neill commanded his men to reserve their fire
until they should be within a pike's length of the
enemy.
It was now Monroe's turn to stand on the de-
fensive and await the Irish onset. Under this im-
petuous and sudden attack his men, undaunted but
confounded, and dazzled by a nearly horizontal sun,
made a gallant though vain attempt to retrieve the
fortunes of the day. The struggle was now hand
to hand, sword crossing sword and pike thrusting
against pike. For some time the battle raged with
incredible fury and pertinacity. At length the left
wing of the Irish army, consisting chiefly of fresh
troops, began to waver. O'Neill ordered up some
veteran troops to its support, and at the same time
Monroe threw upon it an immense body of dragoons.
The Irish commander now ordered a part of his re-
serve cavalry to support his threatened left. These
veteran troops arrived in time to save it from being
cut to pieces, and quickly routing the hostile cav-
alry they drove them back shattered against their
own lines.
288 HISTORY OF IRELAND
The main body of O'Neill's horse had been
instructed to pour down on the enemy's left when
the movement on his right was seen to be success-
ful, and now they were in full charge. The strug-
gle at the center was kept in suspense for a time by
fiery valor on both sides, but the confusion of his
wings at length reached Monroe, when the Irish,
by one desperate shock, overwhelmed his center,
which crowned the fortune of the day, and the
flight of the enemy became general.
Among the most desperate instances of pro-
tracted resistance was that of the gallant Lord Bla-
ney, who, pike in hand, fought at the head of his
English regiment until he and most of his brave
men left their dead bodies on the field. Monroe's
men were driven across the Blackwater, in which a
multitude perished. The Scottish general left hat,
coat, wig and sword behind him and fled in a panic
to Lisbum. The fleetness of his horse alone saved
his life.
He left 3,243 men dead on the field of battle,
and in the pursuit of the enemy the two following
days he lost almost the entire remnant of his army.
His guns, tents, baggage, provisions, 1,500 draft
horses, and thirty- two standards fell into the hands
of the conquerors. Twenty-two officers and 150
men were made prisoners.
Of the Irish troops only seventy were killed
and 200 wounded.
The news reached Limerick June 13, and the
following Sunday the captured standards were car-
ried in grand procession to the cathedral, where a
Te Deum was chanted in the presence of the Su-
preme Council and all the civic authorities in honor
of the great victory. While preparing to improve
his success and completely expel the enemy from
Ulster, O'Neill received a letter from the nuucio re-
quiring him to march into Leinster to aid him in
HISTORY OF IRELAND 289
opposing the late treaty, which the latter had not
only denied but had prevailed upon a large body of
the clergy to join him in excommunicating the com-
missioners by whom it had been signed and all who
ventured to recognize it.
Preston, who commanded the Leinster division
of the confederate army, held aloof, undecided which
side to take, while O'Neill, with 10,000 victorious
troops, hurried South to support the nuncio and his
party. The council at Kilkenny was in helpless
amazement at the turn events were taking. Lords
Mountgarret and Muskerry sent to Ormond for aid.
The latter arrived with 2,000 men, but he was forced
to retreat to Dublin on the approach of O'Neill
from the North.
The nuncio in September, supported by O'Neill,
made a public entry into Kilkenny. He flung the
obnoxious members of the Supreme Council into
prison, and a new council was established, with the
nuncio as president. The king had now surren-
dered himself to the Scots, and Ormond, believing
the royal cause hopeless, began negotiations with
the English Parliament, preferring to submit to it
rather than to the party of the nuncio.
The nuncio prevailed on Preston to throw in
his lot with the radical party, and, his army uniting
with O'Neill's, in October they marched within a
few miles of Dublin and threatened to lay siege to
the city. At this crisis these two generals, always
jealous of each other, quarreled outright, and on a
false report reaching them that a Puritan force had
landed at Dublin they drew off their men, aban-
doned the siege, and separated.
On the meeting of the General Assembly in
January, 1647, the imprisoned members of the old
council were released and the strife was renewed be-
tween the irreconcilable parties as bitter as ever.
At length, after a violent discussion protracted dur-
290 HISTORY OF IRElvAND
ing three weeks, it was resolved that they would not
accept the late treaty with Ormond, ''nor any peace
not containing a sufficient security for the religion,
lives and estates of the confederate Catholics." A
new oath of confederacy was taken, in which they
solemnly bound themselves not to lay down their
arms till they had established the free and public
exercise of their religion.
Thus, while the confederates, distracted by the
violence of the nuncio and the folly of his followers,
could neither be persuaded to maintain peace nor
prosecute the war with vigor, Ormond completed his
treaty with the Hnglish Parliament, and July 28,
1647, he received their troops into Dublin. The
terms agreed upon for this surrender were ;^ 14, 000
to himself and ;^3,000 a year for his wife. Soon
afterwards he left Ireland and joined the other
escaped royalists in France.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE CONFEDERATE WAR — CONTINUED.
During 1647 the confederate armies were gen-
erally unsuccessful. Colonel Michael Jones, who
had been commissioned by the English Parliament
to receive the surrender of Dublin, no sooner was
in command of the garrison than he made prepara-
tions to open a campaign against the confederates.
With 12,000 foot and 700 horse, on the 8th of
August the Puritan commander met Preston, at the
head of 8,000 men, in a well fortified position on
Dungan Hill, in Meath.
At the end of two hours' maneuvering and in-
decisive skirmishing, Jones advanced to the foot of
the hill, having met but little opposition from the
enemy's ill-served artillery. Preston, who had not
learned the use of prudent delays, ordered Sir Alex-
ander MacDonnell, with his brave Highlanders, to
charge down the hill, instead of waiting for the in-
convenient ascent of the enemy. These fiery sol-
diers were steadily received and soon driven back.
Their repeated attempts met with no better success;
their terrible and destructive assaults were resisted
with steady valor and indomitable resolution.
MacDonnell, with whose temper such exploits
agreed and whose heroism was rather roused than
daunted by the impossible, was no sooner driven
back than he returned to the attack with renewed
audacity. But all the ejfforts of the gallant leader
and his brave men were in vain. They were still
beaten, broken and forced to retire, with considera-
292 HISTORY OF IRELAND
ble slaughter. But though they did not come off
victorious, they did with glory, for, to the admira-
tion of both armies, charge after charge was made
without any support from the cavalry, Preston hav-
ing placed his horse in a position where the ground
was marshy.
This error was not corrected in time and conse-
quently proved fatal. When the horses were spurred
they plunged deeper into the swampy soil. Jones,
seeing their plight, sent forward a strong body of
dragoons, who came up when about one-half of the
Irish cavalry had formed. The shock was short.
Preston's cavalry was overwhelmed and hunted
from the marsh to a bog near by as its only se-
curity against being cut to pieces. But it was a
fatal refuge. A large reserve force which had been
forwarded for their relief fled along with them. All
were instantly hemmed in by the hostile horse and
foot and raked by the cannon and musketry of the
enemy.
Preston, astonished at the destruction of his
army, made a gallant attempt to restore the day,
but all in vain. His bravery added to his misfor-
tunes without redeeming his errors. The field of
battle and the surrounding plains and marshes were
covered with thousands of the confederates, dead or
dying. In the meantime the rigorous Inchiquin
had little difficulty in dealing with the confederate
commander, Lord Theobald Taafe. During the
year he gained many triumphs over him, and, flushed
with success, pushed his depredations almost to the
walls of Kilkenny.
Cashel was taken and burned in September,
almost without a blow in its defense, and Inchiquin,
as cruel as he was active, caused a terrible slaugh-
ter to deluge its streets, houses and churches. Early
in November Inchiquin was encamped at Mallow
with an army of 6,000 infantry and 1,200 cavalry,
HISTORY OF IRELAND 293
while Taafe, with 7,500 foot and four regiments of
horse, lay at Kanturk, about ten miles away. The
confederate commander, being urged by the Su-
preme Council to attack Inchiquin, advanced a few
miles to a hill called Knocknanos, and there drew
up his army in order of battle.
He placed 3,500 foot on the right wing under
the command of Sir Alexander MacDonnell, along
with two regiments of horse under Colonel Purcell,
while he himself took the left wing with 4,000
infantry and two regiments of cavalry. His posi-
tion was well chosen. His front was protected by a
morass and a small stream which nearly encircled
the base of the hill.
November 13, 1647, Inchiquin advanced from
Mallow and led his disciplined and victorious troops
to the encounter. Purcell charged the hostile cav-
alry with such impetuosity that they at once gave
way, while the Highlanders under MacDonnell,
throwing down their muskets after the first fire,
rushed into the midst of the foe, broadsword in
hand, and after an immense slaughter broke the left
wing opposed to them, drove their enemies off the
field, pursuing them for two miles, and took posses-
sion of their artillery.
Inchiquin, in the meantime availing himself of
a fatal oversight on the part of the confederates,
sent a body of cavalry to gain the summit of the
hill. These charging from the rear, while he him-
self led up his men in front against the left wing of
the enemy, decided the battle in his favor. Taafe
fought with determined valor, but being poorly sup-
ported by his men, most of whom fled from the field
after the first onset, he attempted in vain to recall
and rally them.
MacDonnell sent to Taafe notice of his success,
but becoming impatient at his messengers not re-
turning, he retired to a small hill to observe the
294 HISTORY OF IRELAND
progress of the battle. On his return he was inter-
cepted by a small band of the enemy and killed,
while his brave men, without a leader to command
them, stood their ground till most of them were
slain, when the remnant threw down their arms
and surrendered.
The confederates lost about 4,000 men, the
flower of their army, along with their arms, stand-
ards and baggage. On receiving news of his vic-
tory the English Parliament voted a large sum for
Inchiquin and his army, but only a small part of
the money was sent, and the Irish mercenary began
to think of changing sides once more. The defeat
of the confederates so alarmed the council at Kil-
kenny that Inchiquin, who had resolved to return to
the king's party, was enabled to dictate to them a
truce or a cessation of hostilities covering Mun-
ster. The negotiations, protracted during the win-
ter, came to an end May 20, 1648, when, in spite of
the nuncio's strenuous opposition, the truce was
signed.
Within a week the nuncio, at Kilkenny, pub-
lished a solemn decree of excommunication against
all the aiders and abettors of the truce and an inter-
dict against all places where it should be received or
maintained, and he then privately withdrew from
the city and joined O'Neill at Maryborough. The
nuncio now proposed that O'Neill should advance to
Kilkenny, disperse the Confederate Council, and
assume the dictatorship of Ireland, but O'Neill,
perhaps, lacked the necessary boldness or audacity
for such a step, and besides was reluctant to shed
blood unless on the field of battle.
He advanced, however, for the purpose of over-
awing the council, but while on his march he was
exposed to the attack of Inchiquin and Preston, who
had combined against him, each of whom had an
army superior to his own. By great exertion and
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 295
ability he managed to extricate himself from these
difficulties and retreated with little loss to Ulster,
while he was proclaimed a rebel and a traitor by the
Supreme Council.
In September Ormond again landed in Ireland,
in compliance with the repeated invitations of In-
chiquin and the Confederate Council, and with a
more earnest desire for peace between the confeder-
ates and the king than he had previously mani-
fested. The peace negotiations were pushed forward
as rapidly as possible, and, in spite of various de-
lays, on the 16th of January, 1649, the new treaty
of peace, which conceded full civil and religious lib-
erty to the Catholics, was finally signed, and Or-
mond, once more Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, was
in supreme command of all the royal and confeder-
ate forces there.
Hardly had the treaty been published when
news arrived of the execution of the king, and Or-
mond promptly proclaimed the Prince of Wales at
Cork and Yougal by the title of Charles II. The
presence of Ormond and the departure of the nuncio
seemed to promise union to the distracted councils of
the confederates. But the ruin of divided councils
still continued.
Many of the confederate leaders hated and
feared O'Neill, the ablest of the Irish generals, and
successfully opposed Ormond 's efforts to effect a
reconciliation with him. They also viewed Inchi-
quin with suspicion, knowing his hatred and con-
tempt for their religion, and believing that he had
again changed sides merely from mercenary or other
unworthy motives. Then the past conduct of Or-
mond himself had given sufficient cause for the
jealous watchfulness with which he was still re-
garded. The Puritans at this time retained posses-
sion only of Derry, Dundalk, Newry, Carlingford
and Dublin, with some adjacent posts. The capture
296 HISTORY OF IRELAND
of Dublin was the first enterprise Ormond resolved
to undertake.
Prince Rupert, whom he had requested to block-
ade Dublin Bay while he himself pushed the siege
by land, positively refused to move with his fleet
from Kinsale harbor. After a vain display of his
troops before Dublin, which Ormond seems to have
expected would produce an insurrection of the roy-
alists in the city, he determined to reduce the gar-
rison in the North before besieging the capital, and
the command of the troops for this enterprise was
given to Inchiquin.
Drogheda, after a short siege, was taken by as-
sault, and in quick succession Dundalk, Newry,
Carlingford, and all the garrisons in Ulster except
Derry fell into the hands of Inchiquin. Several
castles that had been seized by O'Neill, who was
now in alliance with the Puritans, were recovered
by Castlehaven.
Before Ormond' s army could reassemble the
garrison of Dublin was reinforced by 2,600 soldiers
and a large supply of military stores. At the same
time news arrived that Oliver Cromwell, the great
Puritan leader, with a powerful army, was preparing
to sail over to Munster, where he hoped to be joined
by Lord Broghill and other Puritan leaders. It was
generally believed that the planters and colonists in
Yougal, Cork, Kinsale and other Southern towns
were secretly inclined to favor the English Parlia-
ment, or, at any rate, ready to engage with them
should they have the fairest prospect of success, for
with these intruders hatred of the ancient faith was
more powerful than their love of the king, but loy-
alty to their own narrow interests more potent than
all.
On receiving this alarming intelligence, and
after long deliberation, it was resolved to send In-
chiquin with 1,100 cavalry to hold the Southern
HISTORY OF IRELAND 297
province. It was thought that the Protestants of
those seaport towns might be kept in their loyalty
to the king by being placed under a commander as
bigoted as themselves, and if Cromwell were kept
out of the garrisoned towns it was hoped that the
difficulties of the country and an active guerrilla
warfare would compel his return to England.
The army of Ormond still seemed sufficient for
the capture of Dublin, and during the summer he
was successful in reducing several important posts
in the vicinity of the city. In the latter part of
July the royal army advanced to the siege of the
capital, and Ormond, from his quarters at Rath-
mines, on the night of August 1 ordered Major-
General Purcell, with 1,500 men, to advance imme-
diately about a mile from camp and throw up
intrenchments there during the night. His object
was to deprive the hostile cavalry of the only pas-
turage in their possession, but by some mismanage-
ment Purcell did not reach the place till an hour
before daybreak, and Jones, sallying forth from the
walls with 4,000 foot and 1,200 horse, overpowered
the guards and raised an alarm in the camp.
The confusion of the royalists encouraged Jones
to follow up his success. Regiment after regiment
was beaten. A scene of indescribable confusion
followed. Many of Inchiquin's old soldiers, under
Ormond, refused to fight, threw down their arms,
and joined the ranks of the enemy. It was in vain
that Ormond, aroused from sleep, flew from post to
post. His different divisions acted without concert.
A general panic ensued and the whole royal army
fled in all directions, leaving 1,000 dead on the
field and 2,000 prisoners, many of whom were put
to death in cold blood after they had been brought
into the city.
All the baggage, tents, artillery and ammuni-
tion of the royalists fell into the hands of the
298 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
Puritans. This disastrous battle not only shattered
the sanguine hopes of the Irish but caused men to
doubt the military ability of Ormond. The latter,
after his defeat, with the remains of his shattered
forces withdrew to Kilkenny. This overthrow so
crippled the royalists that they were at once thrown
on the defensive, and Ormond never after ventured
to meet the enemy in the field.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
CROMWELL IN IRELAND.
At the Opening of 1649 Oliver Cromwell, the
extraordinary man who was then molding the des-
tinies of England, was at the head of the invincible
Ironsides, the flower of the Puritan army.
This army, under his wonderful leadership,
marching from triumph to triumph, had finally
crushed the royal power in England and caused the
execution of Charles I. Appointed early in the
year Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland by the English
Parliament, Cromwell had been prevented by vari-
ous causes from departing for that country till late
in the summer. August 14 he landed in Dublin
with 8,000 foot, 4,000 horse, /200,000 in money,
and a large supply of military stores and materials
of war.
And now the civil war in Ireland was about to
be stamped out. The Irish, like the English, were
to be ground to powder. A terrible vengeance was
to be exacted *'to prevent," in the specious words of
Cromwell, "the effusion of more blood." The
Puritan general, having waited a short time in the
Irish capital to refresh his army and to settle the
civil and military government, determined to strike
the first blow at Drogheda, a town of great impor-
tance as a military post and believed by Ormond to
be absolutely impregnable.
Accordingly, in the latter part of August Crom-
well advanced against Drogheda at the head of
10,000 chosen men. The town was held by Sir
300 HISTORY OF IRELAND
Arthur Ashton, a brave English royalist, with 2,000
picked soldiers and a regiment of horse, besides
some volunteers. On his arrival Cromwell sent
Ashton a formal summons to surrender, which was
sternly rejected, and a blockade accordingly was
commenced.
The Puritans lost a few days in getting their
siege guns from Dublin and in other preparations,
so that they were not ready to begin battering the
town till September 10. Then they opened a tre-
mendous fire from all their cannons, which the
walls of Drogheda were unable to resist. About
the middle of the afternoon of the next day two
practicable breaches were made, but the attempt to
take the place by storm was twice repulsed with
great slaughter. Cromwell rallied his men to a
third effort. Again the stern assailants entered the
breaches, but the brave garrison received them with
such desperate valor that the issue seemed doubtful.
At this critical moment Colonel Wall, whose
regiment was defending the breaches, fell fighting
at the head of his men. Disheartened by the fall of
their leader, his soldiers began to waver, and being
closely pressed they surrendered on the promise of
quarter; and the Puritans, being now masters of the
two breaches, forced their way into the town. The
remainder of the garrison, though taken by surprise
and greatly outnumbered, fought bravely and dis-
puted desperately every corner of the streets, mak-
ing the enemy win what they did by inches.
Sir Arthur Ashton, with the remainder of his
officers and men, finally fell back to an eminence
within the walls called the Mill Mount, which was
strongly protected by ramparts and palisades. There
they defended themselves for some time against
overwhelming odds, yielding at last on the promise
of quarter. Though quarter had been promised by
his officers and men, Cromwell refused to confirm it
HISTORY OF IRELAND 301
and ordered the garrison to be disarmed and, witli
the inhabitants, to be put to the sword.
The governor, his officers and soldiers — the
brave defenders of Drogheda — and the unfortunate
people were indiscriminately put to death. The
massacre was continued during the following five
days. Multitudes of helpless victims who had fled
to St. Peter's Church for protection were slaughtered
there in cold blood by these ruthless Puritans.
Many women of every rank had hidden themselves
in the vaults of the church, but were there ferreted
out by the Cromwellians and butchered without
mercy.
Bvery man, woman and child within the walls
of Drogheda was put to death, except thirty, and
these, by a doubtful mercy, were sent to the West
Indies and sold as slaves. The English Parliament
on receiving Cromwell's terrible dispatches describ-
ing the massacre, ordered a day to be set apart
throughout England as a day of solemn thanksgiv-
ing for this ''marvelous great mercy," and the first
day of November was "accordingly set apart."
The awful massacre at Drogheda was the first
act in this terrible tragedy. Every step that Crom-
well took through Ireland was marked with blood,
and the sanguinary example of their chief was
closely followed by his subordinates. From Drog-
heda the conqueror turned south and led his army,
flushed with slaughter, to the siege of Wexford, a
well fortified town of great commercial importance.
September 29 the Puritan fleet appeared off the
harbor of the town, and October 1 Cromwell, with
9,000 men, set down before its walls. Wexford
was thus invested by land and sea before the citizens
could be persuaded to receive help from Ormond,
whom they regarded with extreme jealousy and sus-
picion, for which his past conduct had given them
ample cause.
302 HISTORY OF IRELAND
However, at the last moment they consented to
receive 1,500 Ulster troops within the walls. Octo-
ber 10 Cromwell had finished his preparations for
an attack and the next morning he began to batter
the defenses. By noon of that day some breaches
were made in the walls, which caused the governor
to offer to surrender the town on honorable terms,
but while the Irish commissioners were treating for
this purpose with Cromwell, an outlying castle that
commanded the walls was betrayed to the enemy by
Captain James Stafford, its commander, its gates
perfidiously opened and its guns turned against the
town.
The Puritans were now enabled in safety to
scale the adjacent walls by means of ladders. They
entered Wexford thus easily, opened its gates to
their troops, and the whole besieging army poured
in. The Irish in consternation abandoned the forti-
fications and fell back towards the center of the
town. It was in vain that many of the streets were
barricaded with cables to retard the advance of the
enemy. These obstacles were soon overcome and
served to irritate the ferocious spirit of the deter-
mined assailants.
Many of the people abandoned their houses and
crowded together in the market place or public
square, where their defenders were soon driven to
make their last stand. Here a gallant and success-
ful resistance for an hour was maintained by the
garrison against overwhelming numbers, but in
vain. They were finally all cut to pieces. Nor
could the shrieks and prayers of hundreds of women
who knelt around the great cross in the public
square save them from the cruel swords of the Puri-
tan barbarians.
The horrors of Drogheda were renewed. No
quarter was given. Rank nor office found respect,
sex no distinction, old age no mercy, the babe at the
HISTORY OF IRELAND 303
mother's breast no pity. The sieges of Drogheda
and Wexford and the massacres which accompanied
them, taking rank, as they do, in horror with the
most atrocious in all history, have made the name
of Cromwell eternally hated in Ireland.
The effect of these two fearful examples of al-
most unparalleled ferocity was instantaneous. As
the stern leader of the Puritans advanced through
Leinster, town after town, at the first summons to
surrender, opened its gates without resistance. The
terror of his siege trains and Ironsides soon spread
over the greater part of the Eastern and Southern
provinces. The hope of Cromwell, however, lay
not only in his power to strike terror into the
hearts of the royalists, but also in his skill in
spreading treachery and disunion among them, as
well as their want of a military leader competent
and trustworthy — one with ability to unite them and
genius to foil the incomparable skill and energy of
the great regicide.
The loss of those two strongholds, Drogheda
and Wexford, within a few weeks, being wholly un-
expected, was a severe blow to the royalists and
deranged all their plans. The Irish forces in the
field now fell back in all directions and were mak-
ing extraordinary exertions to protect the counties
of Waterford and Kilkenny. The royalists had
calculated that the sieges of Drogheda and Wexford
would delay Cromwell's army for several months
and that in the meantime they could collect such
reinforcements as would make them more than a
match for the invaders.
They learned at the same time that the Puri-
tans had reduced the greater part of Ulster, and
they received news of a conspiracy for betraying
to Cromwell the English garrisons which had been
left by Inchiquin in the Southern towns. Ormond,
unable to check the bloody career of Cromwell, has-
304 HISTORY OF IRELAND
tened to conclude a treaty with O'Neill on equitable
terms.
That chieftain had faithfully kept his engage-
ments with the Puritan commanders and had thrown
many difficulties in the way of the royalists in the
North. He had compelled them to raise the siege of
Derry, and thus had rescued Coote and his small
army, the last hope of the Puritans in Ulster, from
the ruin which seemed to threaten them. At first
the English Parliament hesitated to acknowledge
the alliance made with O'Neill by its officers in
Ireland, and after the victory of Rathmines they
publicly refused to sanction it.
Stung with indignation, O'Neill accepted the
offers of Ormond in October, 1649, and hastened
from Derry with a large force to join the royal
army, but while advancing southward he was seized
with mortal illness. The dying chieftain, however,
refusing to allow the march of his army to be re-
tarded, was conveyed on a litter at the head of his
men through Tyrone and Monaghan into Cavan.
The motion of the litter served only to aggravate
the disease and obliged him to rest for some time
with his brother-in-law, Colonel Philip O'Reilly.
After ordering his nephew and successor, Hugh D.
O'Neill, to lead the promised troops to Ormond
without delay, he was removed for greater security
to Clough Oughter Castle, a stronghold of the
O'Reillys on an island in Lough Oughter, in
Cavan.
Here he lingered for a few days longer, but
gradually sinking, in spite of his strong constitution
and iron will, he expired on the 6th of November,
1649. When the incredible difficulties of his posi-
tion during those seven years of civil war are care-
fully weighed and considered, perhaps no name
more illustrious for the combination of great civil
and military qualities will be found in the annals of
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 305
his country tlian that of the last great national
leader, Owen Roe O'Neill.
The last order of the dying hero had been
faithfully carried out by his gallant successor, Hugh
D. O'Neill, who joined the royal forces with the
main body of the Northern army. The timely ar-
rival of the men of Ulster revived the courage of
the royalists, and the Puritans were foiled in their
attempt on Duncannon fort in October and in their
attack upon Waterford in November. The fort was
so gallantly defended by Colonel Edward Wogan
that Cromwell's lieutenant, Henry Ireton, soon de-
spaired of taking it, and on the arrival of Castle-
haven with a relieving force the Puritans fled in
such confusion that part of their artillery fell into
the hands of the Irish.
Waterford was invested by Cromwell himself,
but he there met a resistance as stubborn as it was
unexpected, and on the sudden appearance of Or-
mond with a large relieving force he deemed it pru-
dent to abandon the attempt, and accordingly raised
the siege. After raising the siege of Waterford
Cromwell found himself in a very dangerous situa-
tion. He was in the midst of a hostile and difficult
country, destitute of quarters for his men, unable
to advance, and exposed to attack at great disadvan-
tage if he attempted to retreat.
Fluxes and contagious diseases during an in-
clement season had crept in among his officers and
men, who perished in great numbers. His availa-
ble forces were still further reduced in number by
the garrisons which he had been compelled to leave
in the captured towns. He had so far advanced
with his decayed army that he found it difficult or
impracticable either to subsist in the enemy's coun-
try or retreat to his own garrisons. But from all
these difficulties he was at once relieved by the
revolt of the English garrisons in County Cork.
306 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
This revolt against the royalists was principally
owing to the intrigues and management of Roger
Boyle, Lord Broghill, son of the Karl of Cork.
Taking advantage of Inchiquin's absence, Broghill
late in the year advanced towards those Southern
towns with a small force and met no opposition.
Youghal, Kinsale, Bandon and Cork opened their
gates and declared for the English Parliament. And
thus at this critical moment Cromwell obtained ex-
cellent winter quarters for his army and the means
of direct communication with England, and Brog-
hill became one of his most active and trusty gen-
erals in Munster.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE END OF THE CONFEDERATE WAR.
Having rested his men for a few weeks at You-
glial and Dungarvan and received reinforcements and
abundant supplies from England, Cromwell in Jan-
uary, 1650, prepared to advance by two roads to
Kilkenny, the headquarters of the royalist govern-
ment. Part of his force moved from Carrick to
Callan, while Ormond himself pushed forward from
Youghal to Mallow, turned to the east south of the
Galtee Mountains, crossed the Suir, and occupied
Fethard, Cahir and Cashel.
In the meantime an auxiliary force advancing
from Dublin had recovered County Kildare and se-
cured the passage of the Barrow by the capture of
Leighlin bridge, and in March the united parlia-
mentary army was concentrated around Kilkenny.
All this time the royalists were quarreling among
themselves. The greatest distrust of Ormond and
Inchiquin prevailed among the citizens of the towns,
so that many of them absolutely refused to admit
either them or their soldiers within their walls.
On Cromwell's approach to Kilkenny Ormond
hurried into County Clare to organize a relieving
force. The town was bravely defended by the
plague-stricken garrison for eight days, when it
surrendered, and then Cromwell turned to reduce
Clonmel, which, with the exception of Waterford,
was the only town of importance now held by the
royalists in the South. Here he met with a desper-
ate resistance under Hugh D. O'Neill. When the
308 HISTORY OF IRELAND
cannon had made a sufficient breach an assault was
ordered, and after four hours' terrific fighting the
Puritans were driven back with terrible slaughter.
In the night the garrison quietly evacuated the
town and fell back on Waterford, and the next
morning Cromwell, not knowing of its departure,
received the capitulation of its citizens.
Immediately after this capture Cromwell was
recalled to lead the armies of England into Scotland.
During his nine months' command in Ireland he
had captured many county capitals and a great
number of less important places. The effect of his
sanguinary methods soon spread over the greater
part of Ulster, Leinster and Munster, and his well-
reported successes had proved so many steps to the
grasp of that supreme power at which evidently he
already aimed.
At the departure of Cromwell from Ireland
nearly all Ulster had been reduced by Coote. Brog-
hill had overrun the counties of Cork and Kerry.
Every place of any importance in Leinster and
Munster but the cities of Waterford and Limerick
was in the hands of the Puritans, and the distracted
royalists were driven to make their last stand
beyond the Shannon.
Henry Ireton, the son-in-law of Cromwell, was
left in command. The war went on for another two
years before the royalists were finally subdued. But
after the fall of Kilkenny and Clonmel it seemed
merely a question of time. In June the remnant of
the Ulster army chose as its leader Heber McMa-
hon, Catholic Bishop of Clogher. This warlike
prelate was met by Coote near Letterkenny, de-
feated, taken prisoner, and hanged the following
day. Waterford, after a gallant resistance by Pres-
ton, was surrendered to Ireton, the garrison march-
ing out with all the honors of war.
In the camp of the royalists there was great
HISTORY OF IRELAND 309
confusion. So unpopular was Ormond that both
Limerick and Gal way refused to receive him. The
old Irish party attributed the successes of the Crom-
wellians to his incompetence. At length, when
Prince Charles signed the covenant acknowledging
the *'sin of his father in marrying his Catholic
mother, ' ' the clergy got the upper hand and drove
Ormond into exile.
The old Irish party, which had thus again come
to the front, now invited the Duke of Lorraine to
come to its assistance as king-protector, but nothing
important came from the negotiations. Ireton and
Coote, after resting in winter quarters, in 1652 com-
menced an early spring campaign. Limerick was
the principal object of attack. The line of the
Shannon was held by the remains of Ormond' s
army. Castlehaven, whom Ormond had left in
command, was watching the upper passes of the
river, while Clanricard was guarding the lower
passes.
Coote, with a large force of horse and infantry,
made a movement as though he would attack Sligo
and drew off Clanricard to its relief; then turning
to the left and forcing the passes of the Curlieu
Mountains, he rushed into Roscommon and ap-
peared before Athlone, which fell ere Clanricard
could relieve it, and the line of the Shannon being
lost the earl fell back to cover Gal way.
Ireton overpowered the weakened guard of the
ford at O'Brien's bridge, and the ford at Killaloe
was betrayed. Castlehaven 's forces dwindled away
and Ireton appeared before Limerick, which capitu-
lated after a resolute defense by Hugh D. O'Neill,
and Galway followed a few months later. A few
isolated castles were taken in detail, and Clanricard,
after a heroic attempt to hold out in Donegal, laid
down his arms in October, and the eleven years'
war was at an end.
CHAPTER XL.
THE PLANTATION OF CROMWELL.
When the Civil War of 1641-52 was over the
soil of the whole of Ireland was held to be forfeit.
Three-fourths of the whole population were to be
expelled and the vacant land repeopled with Eng-
lish planters. The wages of Cromwell's soldiers,
greatly in arrears, were to be paid out of a part of
the confiscated lands.
Vengeance upon the leaders of the war of 1641
was demanded by the popular cry in England and
the courts-martial in the name of justice were to
help clear the country for the new plantation. On
Ireton's death Fleetwood was appointed lord-deputy,
and with him were associated in the civil govern-
ment four commissioners. Ludlow was left in com-
mand of the army. Courts-martial were held at
Dublin, Athlone and Kilkenny for the trial of those
who had been concerned in the so-called "massacre"
of 1641.
Men and women were shot or hanged on the
most shadowy evidence. The English Parliament
passed an ordinance which in effect was a proscrip-
tion of the whole nation. Mercy and pardon were
to be extended to all whose possessions were worth
less than ^10, for the new settlers would require
"hewers of wood and drawers of water." And also
to those very few who since 1641 had shown "a con-
stant good affection to the Commonwealth of Eng-
land." The rest of the Irish people — peers, gen-
tles and commons, landowners and burgesses — were
HISTORY OF IRELAND 311
to be driven from their homes in Ulster, Leinster
and Munster and banished into Connaught, where
the desolated lands of the people of the West were
to be parceled out and allotted to them for their bare
subsistence and habitation.
Death was to be the penalty if they had not re-
moved by May 1, 1654, and death was also to be the
penalty if they returned without a license. There
they were to be hemmed in as in a penal colony,
with the ocean on the one hand and the Shannon on
the other, forbidden to enter a walled town under
penalty of death, with a line of disbanded soldiers
planted in a belt all around the seacoast and along
the river to keep them from approaching the border
line.
Death and loss of all property were decreed for
all who did not, within twenty-eight days, lay down
their arms; to all Catholic priests and all persons
who had in any way aided in the so-called rebellion
of 1641, and finally to twenty-three peers, one
bishop and eighty knights and gentlemen, all espe-
cially mentioned by name. The first step towards
the carrying out of this wholesale eviction was the
removal of the disbanded soldiers of the Irish army.
The majority of the proscribed officers and leaders
of the confederates already had sought safety on the
continent.
The rank and file who had laid down their arms
or had dispersed to their homes were pressed to en-
list in foreign service. Thousands of them were
eagerly recruited by agents of Spain, Poland and
France. There remained behind great numbers of
widows, orphans and deserted wives and families,
and these the government proceeded to ship whole-
sale to the West Indies as slaves to the English
sugar planters.
Between six and seven thousand, it is estimated,
were transported. In the fall of 1652 commenced
312 HISTORY OF IRELAND
the great eviction of the people of the three prov-
inces to lands across the Shannon. All owners of
lands, with their wives, their children, their ser-
vants and effects, must pass the river before the fol-
lowing May on pain of death. The flight was to
be in the winter.
In many cases the allotments would have to be
disputed with the old proprietors in actual posses-
sion. And now arose a great cry all over Ireland
for a little more time. A short respite was finally
given to the aged ladies, the sick and infirm. Slowly
the beggared nobility and gentry started on their
sorrowful journey. The descendants of the Anglo-
Normans who under Henry II. had dispossessed the
native Irish were driven forth from the estates which
had been held in their families for five hundred
years.
The season was wet, the roads well-nigh im-
passable, and the wretched multitude, as they strug-
gled into the West, found that the barren land to
which they had been sent was all too small for the
promised accommodation. When the exiles reached
Connaught they were pillaged by the officers em-
ployed to assign them allotments, who had to be
bribed, either with money or a portion of the land
awarded, before they would stir in the business.
But the exodus did not proceed fast enough.
The adventurers who had advanced funds to the
government on promise of confiscated lands were
loudly demanding their new estates. The govern-
ment was anxious to disband the Puritan troops
upon the confiscated territory. And so the tardy
emigrants were hurried on, arrested and imprisoned,
and some even hanged "to encourage the others. "
The walled towns were cleared, like the county, the
merchants of which going into exile and carrying
their enterprises with them.
Connaught, though one of the largest prov-
HISTORY OF IREIvxVND 313
inces in extent, had also the largest proportion of
waste mountain and moorland. The new inhabit-
ants were not to appear within two miles of the
Shannon or four miles of the sea. A rigorous pass-
port system, to evade which was death, completed
this settlement, the design of which was to isolate
the inhabitants from all intercourse with the people
of their own country.
Thus penned in between the Shannon and the
sea, *'the remnant of the Irish nation passed seven
years of bondage unequaled in severity by anything
which can be found in the annals of Christendom."
The three provinces being cleared of the old
proprietors the new plantation was taken in hand.
Bach soldier had received a bond which acknowl-
edged the amount of his wages and his claim to an
allotment of land. Company by company and troop
by troop they marched on the ground, disbanded,
and took possession. It was not till the end of
1656 that the disbanding was complete, and in the
meantime the traffic in the bonds had been briskly
carried on. Money was advanced on them. The
common soldiers gambled for them or sold them at
a great discount for ready cash.
Many of the officers bought up the claims of
the men under them. Large estates were put to-
gether by the purchase of these claims to allot-
ments, and no little chicanery was practiced by
those who had their distribution, to their own ad-
vantage and that of their friends.
The desolation of Ireland after the eleven years'
civil war was well-nigh complete. Six hundred
thousand people, one-third of the population, had
perished or been driven into slavery or exile; famine
and plague had finished the work of the sword; the
fields lay uncultivated. The wolves so increased in
numbers, even around the City of Dublin itself,
that rewards of ;^5 were paid for the head of a full-
3l4 HISTORY OF IRELAND
grown wolf. Though the object of the government
was to make a complete new plantation over three-
quarters of the island, and though the land itself
changed hands, it was found impossible to expel a
whole nation.
In spite of all that persecution could do, many
of the old proprietors still clung to their old country
and wandered about their old domains or were ad-
mitted by the new owners as tenants. The younger
and more active fled to the woods and mountains and
swelled the ranks of the outlaws or "Tories," as
they were called. There they lived a life of brigand-
age, robbing and slaying the settlers and destroying
their property. They were followed by regular par-
ties of armed men, smoked out of their caves and
killed when found without mercy. A price was set
upon their heads, as upon those of the wolves, but
the wild country was too difficult of access for the
government to succeed in exterminating them. As
the * 'Tories" and the wolves were hunted and
killed, so were the priests. The ecclesiastics, when
captured, never in any instance were allowed to
go without punishment.
Nevertheless, many still remained about the
country in all sorts of disguises and in all sorts of
hiding places, performing the sacred offices of their
religion in secret and at the peril of their lives. The
plantation failed, like the earlier ones, by the plant-
ers being gradually absorbed by the Irish. Not-
withstanding the most strict regulations to the con-
trary, many of the soldiers married the young Irish
girls. The old process was begun over again which
had been at work in the days of the Normans. The
settlers succumbed to the old influences and in the
next generation many of the children of Cromwell's
soldiers had become Catholics and unable to speak a
word of English.
The new population soon split up into a great
HISTORY OF IRELAND 315
number of sects. Some of them turned Quakers,
many became Anabaptists, and others conformed to
the established church. Cromwell died in Septem-
ber, 1658, leaving England to experience nearly
two years of anarchy and intrigue till, the time
being ripe for a restoration. Prince Charles landed
at Dover and was proclaimed Charles II.
CHAPTER XLI.
THE RESTORATION AND ACT OF SETTLEMENT.
In Ireland, when it had become apparent on the
death of Cromwell that the restoration of the mon-
archy was probable, the new settlers perceived that
to secure their allotments they must make their
peace with Prince Charles. Broghill and Coote, the
presidents of Munster and Connaught, who had re-
ceived numerous estates under the new settlement,
though hitherto ardent Cromwellians, began intrigu-
ing with Charles and invited him to laud in Ireland.
They surprised Dublin, and having secured the
principal garrisons in the island raised the cry for a
free parliament.
The army, in which their influence was un-
bounded, was secured by providing for the payment
of its wages and for its future maintenance. The
restoration of the monarchy excited lively hopes in
the minds of the dispossessed Irish. They thought
that as the king had come into his own again, they
should also be restored to the possession of the
estates they had lost through their devotion to his
cause.
Some of them, acting with more zeal than dis-
cretion, proceeded to take possession of their old
estates by force. This rash proceeding gave the
new settlers the opportunity of raising a false alarm
of a fresh insurrection, and so to impress the king
with the belief that the safety of the kingdom de-
pended on the maintenance of the Protestant inter-
est. The king's first act was to restore the estab-
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 317
lished church to its former position and to reward
with peerages the turncoats who had intrigued for
his return.
Coote and Broghill, with Sir M. Eustace, the
lord-chancellor, were intrusted with the government
of Ireland as lords-justices. The royalists were act-
ive in their demands for a general restoration of
their estates. On the other hand, the soldiers and
adventurers were in possession, and Charles II. had
been reinstated by the leaders of these very men,
whom it would be exceedingly dangerous to disturb.
The Catholics petitioned the king for an imme-
diate restoration of their property and offered to pay
a third of their income for two years to the Crom-
wellian soldiers and adventurers, and for five years
to those who had bought lands during the govern-
ment of Cromwell. The estates had been granted
them in place of money advanced or owed as wages.
By the sword they had won the fertile lands of Ire-
land, and by the sword, if necessary, they would
endeavor to retain them.
Charles was in a difficult position, for many of
his father's enemies, seeing the turn of the tide, had
been foremost among those who helped him to the
throne. The new friends, such as Coote and Brog-
hill, needed rewarding, for their principles went
with their interests. Their estates were, therefore,
extended. Coote was created Karl of Montrath and
Broghill Earl of Orrery.
By every tie of honor the king was bound to
reinstate those who had suffered for his father and
himself, and at first he did not mean to desert them.
He was told that there would be land enough to
meet all claims and he tried to believe the same.
The new settlers naturally resented being evicted,
with the doubtful prospect of fresh lands somewhere
to be given some time, and Charles, remembering
that the Cromwellians were powerful and resolute
318 HISTORY OF IRElvAND
enough to raise an insurrection, after some hesita-
tion resolved to confirm them in their tenure. In
May, 1661, the Irish Parliament, after a lapse of
nearly twenty years, was once more assembled. The
chief business it was to settle was regarding the
claims of the new and old interests.
In the House of Commons, composed almost
entirely of Cromwellians, a bill of settlement favor-
ing the *'new interest" was easily passed, but in the
House of Lords there was a hard fight, though by
the influence of Ormond it was finally passed. Lest
this bill might provoke too much indignation among
the Catholics, a Court of Claims was instituted, in
which certain of the Irish might have their cases
tried, and ''if proved innocent" get their lands
restored.
None who had joined the confederates before
'48, or had adhered to the party of the Papal Nuncio,
or had accepted lands in Connaught were to be con-
sidered ' 'innocent, ' ' and no one who played a merely
passive part during the war and leaned to neither
one side nor the other, should be allowed to regain
the land he had lost. The Protestant interest,
though it had little to fear from a Court of Claims
bound by such restrictions, still to make things
more secure no pains were spared to obtain commis-
sioners friendly to the new interest. Notwithstand-
ing all these precautions the court was crowded with
applicants, and at the end of three months, out of
two hundred cases tried, only nineteen were thrown
out, the vast majority being judged "innocent,"
and in consequence entitled to the restoration of
their estates.
The new proprietors, wild with indignation,
raised a great clamor and talked loudly of an appeal
to arms, and Charles, seeing he must definitely sac-
rifice one party, decided that the weakest must go.
The time of the Court of Claims was accordingly
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 319
restricted to one year. Four thousand claims had
been entered, but only seven hundred heard when
the court closed and the hopes of thousands of
unheard claimants were at an end.
A period of wearisome dispute, chicanery and
wrangling followed this decision. It was finally
agreed that the soldiers, adventurers and bondhold-
ers should give up one-third of their land, but in
spite of this surrender hardly a sixth of the profita-
ble land of Ireland remained to the Catholics, for in
all cases of competition between them and the Prot-
estants, doubtful issues were decided in favor of
the latter.
By special favor Ormond and a few others were
at once restored to their estates and honors, but all
other claimants who had not been heard for want of
time were held to be disqualified. The land ques-
tion was now settled, and after twenty-one years of
fighting, confiscating and restoring the Catholic
Irish held just one-half as much land as they had
possessed when they began the war in 1641. As a
net result of the final settlement, while before the
Civil War the Catholics of Ireland held two-thirds
of the good land, after the act of settlement and
explanation they held only one-third.
Numbers of royalists, who claimed with quite
as much justice to be "innocent" as many who were
restored, were left in their poverty without a shadow
of compensation and retired to the continent, railing
bitterly against the king's ingratitude, while many
of the time-serving new men, who had now got the
country in their grasp, secured every acre they had
acquired without any deduction. Dr. William Petty
estimated that the Catholics recovered of their con-
fiscated property about 2,340,000 Irish acres, while
of the 7,500,000 acres of good land which he calcu-
lated the island contained, the Protestants held
5,160,000 acres.
320 HISTORY OF IRELAND
The tenure by whicli the new landlords held
their estates had been so insecure, the fear of war
and harvest burning so great, and the chances of
eviction so considerable that few cared to sow corn
which their enemies might reap or destroy, and as a
consequence the greater part of the country had
been made into pasture.
The profits of agriculture were greater than of
pasturage, but the return was slower and the dam-
age done by an invading army far greater. Larger
capital is needed to work an agricultural than a
grazing farm and it also requires much more labor.
The population had been so thinned by war, plague,
exile and transportation that Ireland almost became
one immense pasture. The great wealth of the
country at this time was cattle and the only trade of
the country was their exportation to Bngland and
Scotland,
The importation of Irish cattle was declared a
"nuisance" by the British government and for the
time Ireland was almost ruined. Subsidies and
taxes no longer could be paid; the country was in
the direst distress, but now all classes and both
races were affected by this calamity, and Ormond
and other leaders set to work to help themselves
and their country. They could not get the embargo
taken off the exportation of cattle, but they per-
suaded Charles to allow Ireland free trade with for-
eign countries. Ormond also induced skilled weav-
ers both of woolen and linen to come over from
Flanders and teach their art to the Irish.
The clergy of the established church in Ireland
had come back in triumph at the restoration. The
vacant bishoprics had been filled and the new prel-
ates consecrated in St. Patrick's Cathedral with
great pomp and solemnity. The church had suf-
fered greatly during the time of Cromwell in
Ireland and had been completely overwhelmed by
HISTORY OF IRELAND 321
the storm of civil war. Now the church had the
upper hand and it signalized its return to place and
power by an outburst of intolerance.
Of the 1,100,000 souls that constituted the
population of the island, 800,000 were Catholics,
100,000 Presbyterians, 100,000 Independents, Ana-
baptists and Quakers, and only 100,000 were mem-
bers of the established church. For this 100,000
there were four archbishops and eighteen bishops.
Many of the parish clergy held sinecures, in some
cases having no congregations. They lived away in
Dublin or in England and left an ill-paid curate to
perform a service when a few persons should be
gathered together. There were some who drew
from their united livings as much as ^f 1,000 a year
without performing any duty whatever.
The party of the established church which had
returned to Ireland began by a violent outburst of
intolerance, directed not so much against the Cath-
olics as the Nonconformists, but especially against
the Presbyterians the law was now put in force. A
new act of uniformity was quickly passed and the
bishops insisted upon the acceptance of the Angli-
can prayer book being enforced upon all who were
permitted to preach or teach in any church or
public place.
Out of seventy ministers in Ulster but seven
submitted and were ordained, the rest being ban-
ished, their congregations in many cases follow-
ing them into exile. Ormond was now Lord-Lieu-
tenant of Ireland and his administration is chiefly
a record of measures against the Catholics. The
king was anxious to allow the latter as much tolera-
tion as possible, but the fury of the "Popish plot"
in England found its way to Ireland.
Ormond was strongly anti-Catholic and to him
is due the dishonor of sending Dr. Plunkett, the
Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, to his trial and
322 HISTORY OF IRELAND
death in England. But a reaction soon set in and
the Catholics enjoyed more liberty than had been
theirs for generations.
Charles II. died in 1685 and his brother James,
Duke of York, immediately ascended the throne as
James II.
CHAPTER XLII.
ACCESSION OF JAMES II.
James II. was a Catholic in religion and conse-
quently unpopular in England. He would, per-
haps, never have been crowned but that he had no
legitimate son. His daughter Mary, wife of Will-
iam of Orange, was next heir to the throne, and the
English preferred waiting till James' death for her
accession, to a violent and sanguinary revolution.
The accession of a king of their own faith was nat-
urally a great joy to Catholic Ireland. But the
Protestants of Ireland were greatly alarmed at his
ascendency and the "new interest" quaked for their
rights and privileges, but their fears were somewhat
calmed by the appointment of Lord Clarendon, a
Protestant, to the office of lord-lieutenant, though
at the same time Richard Talbot, a zealous Catholic,
was created Earl of Tirconnell and given command
of the army.
James announced that he intended to establish
religious equality, a joyful proclamation to Catho-
lics, but greatly distrusted by the Episcopalians and
others, who saw in it the first step towards Catholic
ascendency. Encouraged by James' favor the Irish
royalists again petitioned for a reversal of the act of
settlement and a restoration of their estates, and it
seemed likely that their request would be granted.
The army was remodeled and opened to Cath-
olics. Protestant officers were dismissed and Catho-
lics put in their places. The Protestant militia was
disarmed. The "Tories," or outlaws, emboldened
324 HISTORY OF IRELAND
by the defenseless condition of the settlers and
shielded by the peasantry, made raids on their farms
and carried off or killed thousands of cattle. The
old proprietors urged the tenants to refuse to pay
rents to the new settlers on the plea that the latter
had no right to the land, and as the disarmed Prot-
estants dared not evict them the laborers defied their
masters openly.
Excesses were committed and a groundless
rumor spread abroad that the Catholics intended to
massacre the entire Protestant population. Thou-
sands of the latter fled to the nearest towns or bar-
ricaded themselves in their houses in terror. About
this time Lord Clarendon was removed and Tir-
connell put in his place as Lord-Lieutenant of
Ireland.
This step confirmed the fears of the settlers.
They were now convinced that retribution was at
hand. Hundreds of families left Dublin with Lord
Clarendon and all the seaport towns were thronged
with refugees. Talbot's imprudent administration
was alarming to the Protestants, many of whom
were summarily turned out of office to make room
for Catholic judges, mayors and sheriffs. Protest-
ant ascendency for the time was overthrown and the
lives and fortunes of the settlers were at the mercy
of the natives.
In June, 1688, the birth of a prince brought
matters to a crisis. On the birth of a Catholic heir
the English nobles invited William, Prince of
Orange, to come over and take possession of the
English throne. War, massacre and confiscation
were associated in Catholic Ireland with Protestant
ascendency, and the majority knew nothing of the
invitation to William till the news reached them
that he had landed in England and that James had
fled to France.
For a moment Talbot seemed paralyzed by the
HISTORY OP IRELAND 325
news, but lie immediately resolved to fight and
quickly raised 30,000 volunteers. The news of the
muster of these troops increased the terror of the
Protestants.
The Protestants of Derry and Bnniskillen pro-
claimed William and Mary king and queen, and,
determined to protect themselves against the adher-
ents of James, closed their gates and prepared to
begin the famous sieges of Derry and Enniskillen.
Meanwhile the conventions of England and Scot-
land declared that James had abdicated and offered
the crown to William and Mary.
Tirconnell now proceeded to stir the Irish into
vigorous action on behalf of James. Bodies of
irregular troops, or "rapparees, " as they were
called, were collected till nearly 100,000 men were
under arms. The Protestants were disarmed. The
regular troops were quartered on the farmers. The
rapparees took up their quarters in the mountains.
The houses of many of the settlers were robbed and
their horses, sheep and cattle driven off.
The scattered Protestants in the South and
West were helpless and made no resistance. The
important towns were soon in the hands of the gov-
ernment, and the isolated country houses, which the
owners had fortified, were surrendered or deserted.
Those settlers who were able traveled into the
North, where the Protestant interest was strongest,
and formed a combination for a vigorous self-
defense.
Tirconnell determined to reduce the Protestants
of the North before they had time to organize them-
selves, and for this purpose sent Richard Hamilton
with a strong force into Ulster. As the latter ad-
vanced the Protestants retreated from town to town,
breaking down the bridges and burning every house
behind them. They retreated beyond Lough Foyle
and thousands sought refuge within the walls of
326 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
Derry, while others turned at bay in Enniskillen.
Meanwhile the Irish were looking to France, the
most powerful state in Europe, for aid.
Negotiations accordingly took place between
Tirconnell and Louis XIV. James, who had been
received with great respect and hospitality at the
French court, urgently petitioned for the assistance
of a French army. Louis was not ready to furnish
soldiers, but he was liberal enough with other sinews
of war. He furnished a fleet of fourteen men-of-
war and nine smaller vessels. Abundant arms,
munitions of war and money were also provided.
One hundred French officers and twelve hundred
Irish refugees accompanied the expedition, and
James landed at Kinsale, March 12, 1689.
CHAPTER XLIII.
JAMES II. IN IRELAND.
On the landing of James in Ireland he was
hailed with enthusiasm. His misfortunes had wiped
out from the memory of the Irish people the remem-
brance of his unpopularity and his flight from Eng-
land. Influenced by their sympathies, they saw in
James the noble upholder of their faith, persecuted
for righteousness' sake, deserted by his English
subjects, and dethroned by his own daughter because
of his religion.
Irish hospitality and sympathy had prepared a
warm welcome for the king, who enjoyed an ovation
from Kinsale to Dublin and a perfect triumph in
the capital, where ten days and nights were spent
in festivities, levees and receptions. After a hasty
visit to Derry, where the siege was assuming the
form of a blockade, he proceeded to summon a par-
liament, which met in May.
Most of the Protestant peers and bishops had
fled to England. To increase the number of the
Upper House James created six new peers. The
House of Commons consisted almost wholly of Cath-
olics, only six Protestants being returned. The
first care of the parliament was to secure its own
independence in the event of the restoration of
James to the English throne. It was declared that
no English statute should bind Ireland, and it fol-
lowed, of course, that Poynings' act was repealed.
This act, passed during the time of Henry VII.,
provided that no act passed by the Irish Parliament
328 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
should become effective till it had been approved
by the English Privy Council, by which it might be
altered and amended to any extent, and must be
either passed just as it was returned or rejected
altogether.
Acts were also passed to secure religious equal-
ity. Since the reformation Catholics and Protest-
ants alike had to pay tithes to the clergymen of the
established church. It was now decreed that each
person should pay tithes only to the clergy of his
own denomination. Measures for the security of
trade were also passed, but the chief business of the
session was the reversal of the act of settlement,
and it was decreed that all those who held lands
previous to October, 1641, should be reinstated.
The next measure was the act of attainder, by
which over 2,000 political adversaries who were
known to be or were suspected of being adherents
of William were attainted and declared to have for-
feited all their property, real and personal, unless
they surrendered before a certain day.
James had not abandoned the arbitrary princi-
ples of the Stuarts even in Ireland. He doubled by
his mere proclamation the enormous subsidy of
;^ 20, 000 monthly voted him by the Irish Parlia-
ment. He established a bank and decreed in his
own name a bank restriction act. He debased the
coinage and established a fixed scale of wages to be
observed by all merchants and traders. He violated
his own professed purpose of establishing liberty of
conscience by endeavoring to force fellows and schol-
ars on Trinity College contrary to its statutes. He
even went so far as to appoint a piovost and libra-
rian for the university without the consent of the
senate.
In the meantime the Protestants of Ulster were
fighting with unexampled stubbornness. The fam-
ished garrison of Derry, after enduring a siege of
HISTORY OF IRELAND 329
one hundred and five days, was relieved by the
tardy arrival of three provision ships and De Rosen
and the Irish army raised the siege. The gal-
lant Enniskillens, upon whom three bodies of troops
were converging under the Duke of Berwick, Pat-
rick Sarsfield and Justin McCarthy, after checking
the two former boldly attacked the latter and utterly
overthrew him at Newtown Butler, with a loss of
2,000 men.
Sarsfield was driven back on Athlone and Sligo
was occupied by William's men. The whole Irish
army of the North, abandoning its stores, was in
full retreat, and in two months' time William's
general, the veteran Duke of Schomberg, had
landed with 1,000 men at Bangor, in County Down.
The Irish troops, mostly raw, untried levies, were
very poorly armed and also they were in want of
money.
James was in despair at the succession of disas-
ters. That which filled the king with despair
roused the Irish to renewed activity and very shortly
the depleted regiments from Ulster were filled with
eager recruits and enthusiasm was kindled through-
out the Irish ranks. The Irish soldiers were indi-
vidually brave, but they were ill- armed and ill-
trained. Few of their officers had any military
experience or the knowledge to enable them to drill
the new recruits into shape.
Now that the danger became pressing great
efforts were made by De Rosen and the other French
officers and by the Irish themselves to procure a
better organization. James did his best to prevent
all robbing and plundering by stern orders and
summary executions and the behavior of the Irish
army was much superior to that of William's sol-
diers, who rioted and lived at free quarters on their
friends.
Carrickfergus capitulated after a short siege to
330 HISTORY OF IRELAND
Scliomberg, and the latter took his way to Lisburn,
Berwick falling back before him and burning the
towns of Carlingford and Newry. But Schomberg's
army was hardly more efficient than that of James
and was less in numbers. His Dutch and French
regiments were seasoned troops, but his English
forces were mostly raw recruits, hurriedly enlisted
in England, many of them not even knowing how
to fire their muskets. Through frauds of the con-
tractors the provisions were uneatable and the
supply of tents, clothing and horses lamentably
deficient.
On reaching Dundalk he formed an intrenched
camp, not daring to attack the enemy, which greatly
outnumbered him, and determined to await rein-
forcements from England before he risked a battle.
For two months the cautious old general kept his
men in their quarters, striving to infuse skill and
discipline into his recruits. Exposure to the wet
climate and poor living brought on fevers and
other diseases, which thinned the number of his men
appreciably.
At length the army of James, in despair of
drawing him into an engagement, broke up its camp
and went into winter quarters, and Schomberg drew
the remnant of his army ofif to Lisbum and also
went into winter quarters. In the spring General
De Rosen and D'Avaux, the French ambassador,
dissatisfied with James' incapacity, obtained their
recall to France, and soon afterwards Louis sent to
Ireland a reinforcement of 5,000 French troops
under Count de Lauzan, but in return an equal
number of Irish soldiers was drafted for service in
France.
Schomberg's army was getting over its demor-
alization, reinforcements were coming over from
England, and in the spring of 1690 it was engaged
in reducing Charlemont, which was gallantly held
HISTORY OF IRELAND 331
by its governor, Teige O 'Regan, and a small garri-
son. It was not surrendered until reduced by star-
vation. But though neither army made much prog-
ress in the campaign, the troops of Schomberg, a
strange medley of Dutch, Danes, English, Ger-
mans and military adventurers from every Buropean
country, were becoming so demoralized that King
William, hoping his presence would have some
effect on them, landed at Carrickfergus in June and
took command of the army, composed of 40,000
men.
CHAPTER XLIV.
THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE.
On the arrival of William in Ireland his strict
discipline and heroic example soon restored order
and enthusiasm to his troops. Supported by his
ships, which moved in a parallel course along the
coast, he marched southward and occupied the
northern bank of the Boyne, where he was con-
fronted by the army of James.
William had forty pieces of heavy artillery and
four mortars. His army, * 'which decided the fate
of Ireland and the Stuarts," was of a very motley
character, about half of it being composed of Brit-
ish soldiers, the other half of foreign mercenaries
— Danes, Swedes, Dutch, Swiss, Fins, Germans,
and French Huguenots. The army of James had
the better position, the army of William the larger
force and the inspiration of being headed by a man
who knew no fear.
* 'James left Dublin on the 27th of June and
marched for Dundalk. The Irish portion of his in-
fantry consisted mostly of raw recruits, and these
only half armed; his French auxiliaries were fine,
trained and well-equipped troops. The Irish dra-
goons were a noble body of cavalry, but they were
not veterans, not even sufficiently disciplined. His
artillery amounted to only twelve field pieces. By
a retrograde movement James recrossed the Boyne
July 9, and having encamped on the right bank in
a strong position, he there awaited William, to dis-
pute the passage of the river. Further up the lat-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 333
ter could have passed over without molestation, but
it was his interest to come to a general engagement
as speedily as possible. Accordingly he moved
directly towards the king's encampment, in front of
which he appeared on the 11th of July, the Boyne
separating the two armies.
The strength of the combatants has been vari-
ously given. By one account they were of nearly
equal strength. James led 33,000, William 36,000.
But the statement of the Duke of Berwick, James'
son, is perhaps more to be depended on. The duke
was not only a gallant soldier but an honest man,
remarkable for his regard of truth, and also he held
a command on that memorable day. He informs us
that William's troops amounted to 45,000, while the
king's were only 20,000. The latter were under
the Duke of Tirconnell as commander-in-chief.
Shortly after midday as William, with a party of
officers, was reconnoitering he had a narrow escape
of his life. A six-pound shot grazed his right
shoulder, but did no more harm than cause a slight
abrasion of the skin.
At sunrise on the morning of the 12th of July
a division of William's army, consisting of 10,000
men, under the command of Lieutenant-General
Douglas, Lord Portland, and Schomberg's son, were
seen moving on the heights towards Slane. The
Irish officers had foreseen this movement the pre-
vious evening and had some difficulty in persuading
James to send Sir Niall O'Neill, with his regiment
of dragoons, to guard the pass of Rosnaree. The
entire of the left wing, part of the centre, and Lau-
zan's French division were dispatched to defeat this
attempt at outflanking, which would have been
made by the most ordinary commander having at
his disposal a great numerical majority. By the
severance of this corps, accompanied by six field
pieces, James' line of battle was sadly weakened
334 HISTORY OF IRELAND
and his artillery reduced to a skeleton. O'NeilPs
cavalry obstinately disputed the pass of the river at
Rosnaree, but they were forced to give way after the
loss of a great many men and their commander, who
received a mortal wound.
Notwithstanding this success the Williamites
were not able to obtrude themselves on the enemy.
A ravine and a bog still separated the hostile divis-
ions, who continued for the remainder of the day
surveying each other at short cannon range. At
10 o'clock it was low water and the time to attempt
the fords at Oldbridge. A fierce cannonade was
opened on the entire line of the Irish, who were
able to give in return a scant and impotent reply.
Count de Solmes, with the Dutch guards, then con-
sidered some of the best infantry in the world, was
the first to try the river at the highest ford, that op-
posite Oldbridge, which was so shallow as only to
reach the knee.
The Enniskillen and Londonderry horse fol-
lowed, and then the French Huguenots under Cail-
lemot, Ruvigny's brother. These were succeeded
by Sir John Hanmer and Count Nassau. The Dan-
ish troops crossed lower down, and the cavalry of
the left wing, commanded by William himself, still
lower, at the fifth ford, where the water was deep-
est. The channel was so choked by the multitudes
wading through simultaneously at five different
points that the peril was much increased by the rise
of the water, which in many places overflowed the
banks. The forming on the right bank was not
effected till after severe and wasteful struggles. At
Oldbridge the contest was hot and manly, such as
equalizes the vanquished and victorious, conferring
honor on both.
Young Schomberg, in spite of the regiment
stationed there, had taken the place, when Hamil-
ton came up with sev^H battalions to recover it.
HISTORY OF IRELAND 335
The enemy were driven out by two battalions of
Irish guards, but their cavalry passed by another
ford and attacked the guards with the irresistible
fury of a tempest. The hands of death clutched
and cut like those of a reaper: the stoutest fell
under the rapid blades of those terrible swordsmen,
like haulm beneath the sickle. But Berwick, under
whom was the cavalry of the right wing, saw the
havoc, and instantly his spur was in the ribs of the
charger.
His troopers made a furious onslaught, but not-
withstanding the impression produced by it they
were able to accomplish little more than the extri-
cating of their battalions, for they were forthwith
infested by a swarm of squadrons. Not alone in
number was the combat unequal, but also in the
nature of the ground, 'which was very much broken,
and where the enemy had slipped in their infantry. '
Nevertheless, Berwick, at the time lonly twenty
years old, returned to the charge ten different times.
Heroism so rare, so brilliant, met its meed; it was
crowned by the victors themselves, if they could
call themselves such. Confounded and surprised by
such boldness and full of admiration of a courage of
which they themselves were bright examples, the
hostile cavalry halted and gazed, allowing young
Berwick to reform his squadrons and retire at a slow
pace, thus magnanimously bestowing on him the
credit of a drawn battle.
When bravery has a home in the heart, gener-
osity is sure of a share in the tenement. The de-
fense of the fords had been intrusted to Irish foot,
very deficient not only in number but also in equip-
ment, the majority having been mere pikemen.
Before they received any support from their cavalry
they withstood for a longer time than could be well
expected, even had they been better seasoned and
appointed, the raking of a heavy cannonade, the
336 HISTORY OF IRELAND
fusillade of the coveriug musketry across a narrow
stream, and the sabering disciplined and daring
troopers.
Till they had been discomfited and disorganized
nothing was done to support them. Sarsfield's
horse was the king's bodyguard and had no share in
the action. James, perhaps, was more concerned
for his personal safety than for the issue of the bat-
tle. As for the rest of the cavalry, they incurred
no disgrace, except Clare's regiment and that of
Dungan, which were disheartened in the very begin-
ning by the fall of the commander. The struggle
was not without its vicissitudes. There were de-
feats and successes on both sides, and of this the
victors may be proud, for the laurels which are
easily won do not long continue green. The Dan-
ish brigade was driven into the river by the Irish
cavalry, and the Huguenots, who also lost Caille-
mot, were several times repulsed. Duke Schom-
berg, though eighty-two, plunged in with youthful
energy.
He was rushing to rally the Huguenot regi-
ments where the Irish guards were charging and
breaking them. His presence and example restored
order and redoubled exertion. The guards were
beaten off and pursued with wide destruction. At
this juncture the brave octogenarian, Schomberg,
met his death. King James says he was 'killed by
an exempt of the guards while crossing the ford,'
as he is represented in the tapestry in the Bank of
Ireland. The Earl of Portland, William's mar-
shal-de-canip, relates that he was slain in Oldbridge
by five of James' life guards, who met him in their
flight.
Captain Parker says the current and most prob-
able report was *that he was shot by a trooper who
had deserted from his own regiment about a year
before.' There are still other versions, but we
HISTORY OF IRELAND 337
think the king's most worthy of belief, for the old
duke was of an eager temper and longing to be for-
ward. A little after this event Dr. Walker fell
while crossing a ford at the head of his hardy Ul-
stermen. For a long time the Irish horse of James*
right wing kept in check the horse and foot of
William's left and centre, but their efforts were
favored by the obstacles which the offensive side had
to surmount.
It was advanced in the day when William
passed over and placed himself at the head of the
Bnniskilleners, whom he flattered by taking them
for his bodyguard. By this time the king's troops
wavered in all directions. The right wing was giv-
ing way every moment. On the left the cavalry was
almost annihilated. Exhaustion left the centre al-
most powerless. William, who certainly was an
able captain, as well as a cool one, did not attempt
the stream till he saw victory waiting for him on the
opposite bank. Finding all things to his satisfac-
tion, he gave orders for a general advance.
In a few minutes more the trumpets sounded
the charge, which at the same time proclaimed the
flight of the enemy, ignominiously headed by a
prince, once as celebrated for courage and capacity
as henceforth for the lack of these qualities. The
loss in this battle was about 1,500 a side, killed and
wounded. The first news of the day's disaster was
brought to Dublin by James himself, who arrived
there in the evening, and ungenerously cast the
blame on his Irish soldiers. Early on the following
morning he set out southward, and passing through
Wicklow and Wexford, arrived at Duncannon, in
Waterford, where he embarked for Kinsale. At this
port a French squadron, provided by the queen,
awaited his service and took him to Brest, where he
landed July 31."
CHAPTER XLV.
THE SIEGES OF ATHLONE AND LIMERICK.
**It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the
fate of Europe was decided by the result of the bat-
tle of the Boyne. At Paris, at the Hague, at
Vienna, at Rome, at Madrid nothing was talked of
but the great victory of the Prince of Orange over
Louis and James. It is one of the strangest com-
plications of history that the vanquished Irish Cath-
olics seem to have been never once thought of by
Spain, Austria or the Pope. In the greater issues
of the European coalition against France their
interests, and their very existence, were for the
moment forgotten."
Dublin was evacuated by the Irish soon after
the battle of the Boyne and occupied by the forces
of William. The latter issued a proclamation offer-
ing full and free pardon to the laborers, artisans,
farmers and common soldiers who should return
home and lay down their arms, but the Catholic
gentry were excepted, with a view to future confis-
cation, and a commission was appointed to seize all
forfeited estates. The upper classes, excluded from
mercy, had no way open to them but to prolong the
war, and the peasantry were drawn into the same
course by the open violation of William's orders for
protection by the British and foreign troops . Though
deserted by James and fresh from defeat, the Irish
troops showed no inclination to yield. Encour-
aged by news of the great French victory at Beachy
Head over the combined Dutch and English fleets,
HISTORY OF IRELAND 339
they determined to make another heroic effort for
national independence. They fortified themselves
in Limerick and Athlone, and thus secured by the
strong line of the Shannon, boldly set their enemies
at defiance.
A strong garrison was thrown into Athlone.
Cork, Kinsale and Gal way were well prepared for
defense, and the bulk of the Irish army entered
Limerick, where it was shortly joined by the garri-
sons of Waterford, Kilkenny and other towns in
Leinster and Munster, which had either retired on
Limerick or marched out, on favorable terms, at the
approach of William. The reduction of Athlone
was intrusted to General Douglas, under whose
command were placed ten regiments of infantry and
five of cavalry. He advanced as if he was march-
ing through an enemy's country. The protection
that had been granted to the peasantry, in accord-
ance with the terms of William's proclamation, was
flagrantly disregarded, and the barbarities, which
Douglas made little effort to check, completed the
aversion of the Irish to the dominion of the Prince
of Orange.
On his arrival before Athlone Douglas found
the part of the town lying to the east of the Shan-
non destroyed, the bridge broken down, and the
Irish town, as it was called, on the next bank, for-
tified with great care. Colonel Richard Grace, the
governor, a descendant of Raymond le Gros, one of
the original Norman invaders, had taken every pos-
sible precaution against a siege and had made the
place well-nigh impregnable. Douglas sent a sum-
mons to surrender, but Grace replied by discharging
his pistol over the head of the messenger and bade
him take that as his answer.
Douglas resolved to undertake the siege imme-
diately and, having erected a battery, opened a
heavy fire on the castle. It was returned with
340 HISTORY OF IRELAND
vigor; his works were ruined and many of his gun-
ners killed. The cruelties his soldiers had perpe-
trated on the peasantry produced their natural effect.
No provisions were brought into the camp and the
detached foraging parties were cut off by bands of
those unfortunate men whom they had themselves
driven to desperation.
With strict impartiality they seem to have
robbed Protestants and Catholics alike and made
both the victims of their unrestricted depravity.
Douglas determined to force the passage of the
river at Lanesbo rough, but found the ford strongly
guarded, and after a vain attempt was forced to re-
tire with considerable loss. In the meantime a
report was circulated that Sarsfield was advancing
with a large force to raise the siege. Douglas, no
longer with any hope of success, quitted Athlone in
great haste, abandoning his heavy baggage, and,
leaving the high road for fear of pursuit, proceeded
to Limerick, "raging and slaying as he went."
William, disturbed by the gloomy dispatches
from England, was on the point of hurrying back to
London, but on the receipt of more favorable news,
and having secured the harbors of Waterford and
Wexford, he moved through Tipperary to invest
Limerick. There he was joined by Douglas from
his unsuccessful attack on Athlone. William was
fully persuaded that he was marching to speedy and
certain conquest. He had learned from his spies
the bitter jealousy that existed between the Irish
and French officers, and that several of the latter,
already dissatisfied with the nature of their service,
were about to return home.
The report was true. Lauzan, who was sick of
the hardships of Irish campaigning, declared Lim-
erick absolutely untenable. He was supported by
Tirconnell, now broken down by physical suffering
and mental anxiety, but Sarsfield and the French
HISTORY OF IREIvAND 341
governor were of a different opinion. Tirconnell
and Lauzan, with the French regiments, accordingly
withdrew to Galway, and the Irish troops, about
20,000 in number, remained **to wipe out the mem-
ory of the Boyne." William, however, was no
longer in a position to avail himself of these cir-
cumstances. By his commission of forfeitures he
had left the Irish leaders no choice between war and
a tame submission to unprincipled spoliation. Trust-
ing to the dissensions between the French and Irish,
William at first made insufficient preparations for
the siege. He brought with him only a field train
and ordered his heavy artillery to be sent after him
from Dublin under an adequate escort.
After driving in the outposts William's army
encamped within cannon shot of the walls and a
regular summons was sent to the governor, Boisse-
leau, to surrender. He replied that he would de-
fend the town to the last. The spirit manifested by
the governor was well supported by the garrison
and it was soon discovered by William that no hope
could be entertained of a speedy surrender. The
siege was therefore immediately undertaken. Few
besieging armies ever exhibited such a variety of
tongues and nations as that now assembled before
Limerick, and still fewer were less guided by any
principle of morals or humanity.
They plundered and burned the country in
every direction and renewed the scenes of rapine
and murder that had been displayed at Athlone.
The vigorous defense by the garrison filled William
with anxiety. He sent orders to hasten the heavy
artillery and commanded his cavalry to scour the
country and repel the attacks of the peasants, who
sought every opportunity of retaliating the wrongs
they had suffered from the soldiers. The news of
William's situation was brought into Limerick by a
deserter, and Sarsfield immediately formed the dar-
342 HISTORY OF IRELAND
ing plan of surprising the escort that was now on
the way to William's camp.
For this purpose Sarsfield secretly led his troops
over Thomond bridge and crossed the Shannon at
Killaloe under the cover of night, slipped by a cir-
cuitous route through the mountains, and surprised
the convoy, in fancied security, only seven miles
from William's camp. Suddenly Sarsfield and his
cavalry swooped down upon the sentinels, whom
they sabered at their posts, and rushed the guards,
who, half dressed and confused, fled in terror or
were speedily slain.
Sarsfield hastened to improve his advantage.
He loaded their cannon to the muzzles and buried
them deep in earth, heaping over them stones and
wagons. He then laid a train to the whole, and
drawing off his men fired it on his retreat. The
terrific explosion was heard at a distance of several
miles. The ground shook as from an earthquake
and the roar was heard in William's camp and in
Limerick.
A detachment of 500 horse under Sir John
Lanier, sent by William to meet his convoy, only
arrived in time to find the cannon burst with their
own powder and Sarsfield 's troopers disappearing in
the darkness. This success greatly emboldened the
besieged and raised Sarsfield to the greatest degree
of popularity, while William's army, to the lowest
rank, felt the depression of so unexpected a blow.
William had to wait until he could bring up more
cannon from Waterford. A week later, however,
a new siege train arrived and poured redhot shot on
the devoted city. After an incessant fire of several
days the wall at length began to yield, a practicable
breach being made near St. John's gate.
A strong storming party was formed of British
guards, supported by Dutch, Danes and Prussians.
At the signal the guards leaped from their intrench-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 343
ments and rushed towards the breach, firing their
muskets as they ran. The Irish on the walls
opened on them a perfect hailstorm of shot; Will-
iam's batteries answered with a heavy fire to divert
the attention of the garrison; the storming party
hurried on and was soon engaged hand to hand
with the enemy outside of the breach. The guards
forced their way and part of them entered the town,
but the Irish closed their ranks behind them and
effectually checked the further progress of the
invaders.
The citizens and soldiers fell on their enemies
in overwhelming numbers, and only a few, desper-
ately wounded, succeeded in cutting their way back
to their ranks. The breach was again assailed and
again defended with the same determined gallantry
as before. The Irish troops fought with savage
desperation.
Crowds of women mingled with the garrison
in the hottest of the fight, hurling stones and bot-
tles at the foe, and conducted themselves as bravely
as the men. For four hours the contest was con-
tinued with almost unequaled obstinacy. A bat-
talion of Prussians took possession of an Irish
battery, but at that moment a magazine exploded
and they were all destroyed. The storming party
which had made its way into the town was driven
out, and William, seeing that success was hopeless,
sounded the retreat, after having lost in the assault
2,000 of his best men.
His ammunition exhausted and the rainy season
setting in, William saw clearly that it was abso-
lutely necessary to retreat. He, therefore, four
days later, led away his diminished army, accompa-
nied by a melancholy train of Protestants, who
dared remain no longer in their former homes,
as they were almost wholly without protection from
the indiscriminate ravages of William's unrestrained
344
HISTORY OF IRELAND
troops. ''The excesses of William's army during
this retreat can scarcely be paralleled in the annals
of war."
Having conducted his army to Clonmel, Will-
iam hastened to Duncannon and embarked for Eng-
land, accompanied by Prince George of Denmark.
He intrusted the command of the army in Ireland
to Count de Solmes and General de Ginkell.
CHAPTER XLVI.
THE SECOND SIEGE OF ATHLONE.
The siege of Limerick had lasted three weeks.
The heroic defenders had little ammunition or muni-
tions of war, and with crumbling old walls for a
defense, repulsed a well-equipped veteran army,
directed by a great general, who never before had
been baffled by any fortress, however strong.
Lauzan and Tirconnell, who were at the time
in Galway, were doubtless displeased to hear of the
successful defense of Limerick, which they had de-
clared untenable and deserted in its time of need,
and fearing the displeasure of King Louis they
both embarked for France in order to be the first to
explain the situation to him. In September, 1690,
Cork surrendered, after a brave struggle, to the
skillful generalship of John Churchill, afterwards
the celebrated Duke of Marlborough, and Kinsale
soon followed. The capture of these two important
places ended the campaign of 1690.
No military event of importance took place in
Ireland for several months after the siege of Limer-
ick, except the capture of Cork and Kinsale; and
now the opposing armies desisted from active opera-
tions till the spring. However, irregular warfare
was carried on with little intermission all over the
country, from Cavan southward, by detached par-
ties of William's forces, which were resisted every-
where with varying success, partly by detachments
of Irish regular troops and partly by bands of rap-
parees, or irregular volunteers, who were looked
^46 HISTORY OF IRfeLANl5
upon as mere robbers by the Bnglish officers and
were hanged whenever caught.
The account left us of the mode of warfare
during the winter of 1690-91 and the numerous
conflicts and daily executions by William's forces,
and of the general state of the country, is a fearful
record of bloodshed and misery. Half of the island
was held for King William and half for King
James. Ulster, most of Leinster, and half of Mun-
ster were in the hands of the former, while the
province of Connaught and the counties of Kerry,
Clare and Limerick, and a portion of the midlands,
were occupied by the Irish.
William's foreign mercenaries, with pay in ar-
rears, lived in free quarters on the farmers and
peasantry and laughed at the royal orders for pro-
tection. The Irish country people fled with their
cattle from the English to the Irish districts. Dur-
ing the long winter bands of Irish rapparees raided
the English quarters, burning and robbing the re-
stored homesteads of the latter. Nothing could
exceed the boldness and skill with which they
eluded the English patrols, spreading terror almost
to the walls of Dublin.
Tirconnell, who had sailed from Gal way to
France after the siege of Limerick, returned with
some money and stores in February, 1691, and as
he was King James' lord-lieutenant he resumed au-
thority. In May a French fleet sailed up the Shan-
non with provisions, clothing and military stores,
but with no men or money, bringing General St.
Ruth, a brave and experienced French officer, but
cruel, haughty and vain, to take command of the
Irish army, by direction of King James.
It doubtless would have been better if James
had given the command to Sarsfield, who was at
least as good an officer, and who had a cooler head,
as well as a perfect knowledge of the country and
HISTORY OP IRELAND 347
the people. But James and his party treated Sars-
field as the Anglo-Irish majority of the confedera-
tion had treated Owen Roe O'Neill half a century
before. Both of these great soldiers were kept in
the background through jealousy, and in each case
those responsible suffered for it in the end. Yet
the Irish, though dissatisfied, obeyed the king's
order and fought loyally under St. Ruth, while
Sarsfield himself was too high principled to endan-
ger the cause by offering any opposition.
After the failure at Limerick the next attempt
was made on Athlone, which was almost equally
important, and in June De Ginkell appeared before
it with an army of 18,000 men. The main body of
the Irish was encamped on the Connaught side,
about a mile west of the town. They were com-
manded by St. Ruth, commander-in-chief, and Sars-
field was second in command.
When Douglas had hastily abandoned Athlone
the previous year he left the walls of the English
town standing. The Irish were now again in pos-
session, but the wall offered only a feeble resistance
to De Ginkell 's heavy guns, and after some batter-
ing a great breach was made. Four thousand men
advanced to the assault. The breach was defended
by about 400 Irish, who kept the assailants at bay
for some time, but worn out at last from fatigue and
want of sleep, they were forced to retire across the
bridge after losing half their number and De Gin-
kell took possession of the English town. On the
evening of that day St. Ruth took measures to
defend the Irish town. He had some earthworks
thrown up along the banks of the river, and behind
these and in the castle the Irish took their stand.
They still held possession of the greater part of the
bridge. But the enemy's cannon, firing night and
day, battered to pieces the earthworks and part of
the castle, and the numerous thatched houses were
348
HISTORY OP IRELAND
set on fire, so that this part of the town was reduced
to a mere heap of rubbish, and the Irish had hardly
any protection and no means of answering the heavy
continuous fire of the enemy.
De Ginkell now sent a party to attempt to cross
the Shannon at Lanesborough, but the Irish suc-
cessfully resisted the passage and it had to return.
De Ginkell, foiled at Lanesborough, tried to force
his way across the bridge and for several days there
was desperate fighting in the narrow passage, so
that the enemy, though greatly outnumbering their
opponents, were only able to advance inch by inch.
At last, by mere pressure of numbers, the besiegers
obtained possession of the greater part of the bridge,
though not till many of them had been killed,
whereupon the defenders abandoned it, breaking
down one arch at the Connaught side.
To repair that broken arch was now De Gin-
kell's task. His artillery having been turned on
the western bank, so that, as one of the spectators
of the Irish army tells us, **a cat could scarce ap-
pear without being knocked on the head by great
and small shot," a party under cover of a rude
wooden shelter dragged a number of planks along
the bridge and succeeded in throwing them across
the chasm, and De Ginkell 's men were enabled to
step forward on their perilous journey.
At this moment a volunteer party of eleven
Irish rushed forward and began to pull down the
planks and hurl them into the river beneath, but
they were met by a volley from the enemy's lines,
and when the smoke had cleared away every man of
the little band was seen lying dead or wounded. On
the instant another party of eleven, undaunted by
the fate of their comrades, stepped forward, and
dashing in succeeded in tearing down the remaining
planks, but again the deadly fire did its work and
nine of the eleven fell.
HISTORY OF IRELAND 349
Thus foiled, De Ginkell made another attempt
by constructing a long wooden shed, which was
filled with his soldiers and pushed across the nar-
row bridgeway, but the Irish managed to set it
on fire, after which he gave up all idea of forcing
his way across the bridge. An incessant cannonade
had been kept up for ten days, yet the capture of
the town seemed as far off as ever.
A council of war was now held and De Ginkell,
in despair, proposed to raise the siege, for provisions
were running low, but his generals prevailed on
him to make another effort. The season had been
unusually dry and it was found that the river could
be forded, though at great risk, a short distance
below the bridge. Here it was resolved to make an
attempt to cross.
St. Ruth had received warning from a deserter
of the intended attempt, but in his over-confidence
he scoffed at it, feeling assured that, after the suc-
cessful defense of the bridge, no other attempt need
be feared. From the beginning he believed the
passage of the river impossible. He was earnestly
urged by Sarsfield and others to take precautions,
but to no effect. Having sent a small party of un-
trained recruits to guard the deep ford, he retired to
his camp two miles away.
On the evening of the last day of June a volun-
teer party of picked men dashed into the ford at the
stroke of a bell. At the same moment all of the
enemy's batteries opened on Athlone, wrapping
the river in smoke and distracting the attention of
the besieged. The picked men plunged into the
deep and rapid river with great resolution, made
their way across through fire and smoke, and, land-
ing with little opposition, some of them laid planks
over the broken arch, while others fixed boats that
had been kept ready so as to form another complete
bridge.
350 HISTORY OF IRELAND
The small force of Irish had been taken by
surprise and in less than half an hour De Ginkell's
men were masters of the town. Thus Athlone was
captured almost within sight of the Irish army,
when a little care and vigilance would have ren-
dered the fording of the river impossible.
After the fight was over the body of the veteran
Colonel Richard Grace, the heroic governor of Ath-
lone, was found under the ruins of the castle.
CHAPTER XLVII.
THE BATTLE OF AUGHRIM — SECOND SIEGE OF LIM-
ERICK— THE TREATY OF LIMERICK.
The Irisli officers so bitterly reproached St.
Ruth for the loss of Athlone that he became
alarmed, and fearing the displeasure of his master,
King Louis, resolved to stake all on the result of a
pitched battle.
Falling back on the village of Aughrim, in
Galway, he determined to make a stand there, and
with good judgment he selected an excellent posi-
tion along the hill near Aughrim, with a sluggish
stream and morass in front, which was impassable
for cavalry but might be crossed by infantry. At
either end was a narrow pass through the bog, well
guarded. The slope of the hill in front, down to
the morass, was intersected by fences, which were
lined with Irish marksmen.
Early on the morning of July 12 De Ginkell's
army, consisting of British, French, Danes and
Dutch, set out from its encampment at Ballinasloe
and towards noon drew up in battle array on the
heights near the morass, opposite the Irish position.
There were about 20,000 men on either side. De
Ginkell attempted to force the pass at the Irish
right, but was resisted with great spirit, the num-
bers engaged at this point increasing by accessions
every moment until what was at first a skirmish
became a battle.
The assailants, repulsed, came on again and
again, and at last forced their way through the
352
HISTORY OF IRELAND
pass, but were attacked with such fury that they
were driven back in confusion. During the day at-
tack after attack on the Irish right or left was
repulsed and the assailants were about to retire in
despair.
At length a large body was sent against the
Irish right with the object of drawing St. Ruth's
forces from that pass to the one on the left. The
plan succeeded, for large bodies of the Irish were
withdrawn from the left to help defend the right pass,
on which De Ginkell gave orders for a general ad-
vance. One body moved through the pass on his right
and the main body of infantry through the morass
in the center, in front of St. Ruth's main army.
The pass was defended with great gallantry, and
while the fight was hottest here De Ginkell 's main
body succeeded in crossing the stream and morass.
It fought its way steadily up the hill, but at last a
terrible onslaught from the fences forced it to fall
back.
Again and again the assailants advanced, and
each time they were driven back. A general
rout seemed imminent. St. Ruth, elated, waved
his hat and exclaimed: *'The day is ours. Now
we will drive them back to the walls of Dublin ! ' '
But immediately afterwards, while riding down the
hill to give some orders, he was struck by a cannon
ball, which took off his head. This changed the
fortunes of the day. No one knew what orders to
give, for St. Ruth had let none of his officers into
his confidence. Sarsfield might have retrieved the
disaster, but St. Ruth had kept him at the head of
some horse in the rear, with directions not to move
without express orders, and it was not until some
time later that he was aware of the fall of St. Ruth
and the success of the enemy.
After this the only service Sarsfield was able to
render was to help cover the retreat of the Irish in-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 353
fantry after the battle. Even after the death of St.
Ruth the contest was bravely maintained for a time,
but with little aim or method. As each troop and
battalion now acted independently, their evolutions
soon interfered with each other. Cavalry became
mixed with infantry and before the day closed their
retreat became a rout. They were pursued with
merciless slaughter.
Before the death of St. Ruth the Irish loss was
very small, while that of the enemy had been large.
About 4,000 of the former were killed and wounded
and 3,000 of the latter littered the field. Five thou-
sand prisoners were taken, and in proportion to the
number engaged this was the most destructive bat-
tle in the whole war. Gal way submitted late in
July and Sligo, the last Western garrison, surren-
dered in September, both on favorable terms, their
garrisons being allowed to march out with all the
honors of war, retiring on Limerick.
De Ginkell, after his victory at Aughrim,
marched southward for another attempt on Limer-
ick. Tirconnell proceeded to put the city in a state
of defense, but he died of apoplexy on the 14th of
August, when the chief command devolved upon
Sarsfield. On the 25th of August the second siege
began. De Giukell's first operation was a bombard-
ment with sixty cannon and nineteen mortars, from
which were poured bombshells and redhot balls and
soon the city was on fire in several places. By
some extraordinary negligence, or treachery on the
part of an Irish officer, De Ginkell was enabled to
construct a pontoon bridge across the river above the
city and to send a detachment to occupy the Clare
side.
September 22 an attack was made on the fort
on the Clare end of Thomond bridge, which was for
a time bravely defended, till at last, overpowered by
numbers, the Irish were forced to retreat across the
354 HISTORY OF IRELAND
bridge. A French officer wlio commanded at Tho-
mond gate, fearful lest the enemy should enter pell-
mell with the Irish, ordered the drawbridge to be
raised, and in consequence his comrades were either cut
to pieces or flung into the water by the pursuers.
This was the last battle of the war. On the 24th
a truce of three days was agreed upon. Both sides
were anxious to end hostilities. De Ginkell saw no
prospect of being able to take the city in a reasona-
ble time. To capture it at once by assault he con-
sidered impossible, and he was in great distress for
provisions, hence if there was any further delay he
must either raise the siege or starve. The rainy season
was sure to bring pestilence among his troops, and
at the same time it was rumored that aid was com-
ing from France, the arrival of which might prolong
the struggle indefinitely.
For these reasons De Ginkell was anxious to
end the war and willing to grant any reasonable
terms. Sarsfield, on his part, saw no hope in fur-
ther unaided resistance. On the 3rd of October,
1691, the famous Treaty of Limerick was signed by
De Ginkell and the English lords- justices and by
Sarsfield and others, and it was confirmed by King
William soon afterwards. This ended the War of
the Revolution and William and Mary were ac-
knowledged sovereigns of Ireland. A few days
later a French fleet entered the Shannon, bringing
military stores and reinforcements more than suffi-
cient to have turned the tide of victory.
Some of the Irish officers now favored breaking
the treaty and going on with the war, but Sarsfield
indignantly refused to violate his solemn agreement.
The French fleet accordingly sailed for Brest, with
as many soldiers of the Irish army as it could
accommodate.
The Treaty of Limerick consisted of two parts,
one civil, the other military. The military articles
HISTORY OF IRELAND 355
agreed upon permitted all officers and privates to
embark with their families and goods to any place
except England and Scotland, passports and trans-
ports being provided for them. De Ginkell was
anxious to enlist the Irish troops in the service of
William, but only 1,000 joined, and 2,000 received
passes for their homes. The remainder, in all about
20,000 officers and men, were shipped to France and
entered the service of King Louis. Some went on
board the French fleet; some, under Sarsfield, sailed
from Cork, and the rest departed in English ships
provided by the government.
On their arrival in France they were incorpor-
ated with the 5,000 men who, under General Justin
McCarthy, had been exchanged for a like number of
French troops under Lauzan, and were formed into
the famous Irish Brigade. These soldiers, recruited
from time to time from Ireland and always led by
Irish officers, were of the best in the French army.
They bore the brunt of battle in various campaigns
and dealt many a heavy blow at the prestige of
England, notably at Landen, Almanza and Fonte-
noy. So steadily was the recruiting of this brigade
carried on, it has been computed that between 1691
and 1745 no less than 450,000 Irish soldiers died in
the service of France.
Sarsfield, after brilliant service, fell mortally
wounded in the moment of victory at the battle of
Landen, where he commanded the left wing of the
French army. There was at this time, and long
afterwards, a great exodus of the flower of the Irish
people to the continent. Many who, had they re-
mained at home, would have lived in obscurity and
degradation, attained positions of influence and power
in almost every country in Europe, in the civil,
military and diplomatic service.
The civil articles of the Treaty of Limerick
guaranteed the Catholics of Ireland civil and relig-
356 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
ious liberty and the restoration, to those in arms for
King James, of the estates they possessed in the
time of Charles II. These articles, which Sarsfield
hoped would prove the magna charta of his corelig-
ionists, were shamefully violated by the party in
power, which was not to be restrained by the faith of
treaties or the obligations of sovereigns.
* 'Though the history of William's twelve years*
reign is a history of proscription in Ireland, the king
himself is answerable only as a consenting party to
such proscription. He was neither by temper nor
policy a persecutor; his allies were Spain, Austria
and Rome; he had thousands of Catholics in his
own army, and he gave his confidence as freely to
brave and capable men of one creed as of another.
But the oligarch}^, calling itself the 'Protestant As-
cendency,' backed as they were by all the religious
intolerance of England, proved too strong for his
good intentions."
A parliament met in Dublin in October, 1692,
a year after the conclusion of the war. It was over-
whelmingly Protestant, and almost the first thing done
was to frame an oath, to be taken by all members of
both Houses, that the chief doctrines of the Catholic
Church were false, though an article in the treaty
provided that the Catholics should be required to
take only the oath of allegiance. Lord Sydney,
representing the sovereigns, opposed the measure,
but it was carried, whereupon the Catholics of both
Houses walked out, and thus the Irish Parliament
in 1692 assumed that exclusively Protestant charac-
ter which it maintained till its end in 1800.
Four thousand of the Irish were outlawed and
nearly 2,000,000 acres confiscated. In less than a
century there had been three great confiscations in
Ireland, the old proprietors in practically all cases
being dispossessed — the first after the Geraldine
and O'Neill wars; the second in the time of Crom-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 357
well; and the third after the war between William
and James.
These confiscations embraced virtually the whole
island, excepting only the estates of half a dozen
families of English blood. Sometimes the confisca-
tions overlapped, so that large tracts were confiscated
two or three times within that period. As the re-
sult, it is estimated that at the death of King Will-
iam in 1702 only a seventh of the land of Ireland
was in the hands of Catholics.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
THE PENAL LAWS.
The state of Ireland at the conclusion of the
war with William was incomparably wretched. It
had been desolated from end to end by the opposing
armies. The unfortunate farmers who remained
had been ruined by the requisitions both of the Irish
troops and the foreign mercenaries. In many sec-
tions it had been impossible to sow grain; in most
parts the herds had been destroyed; and the loss of
both crops and cattle brought the people to the
verge of famine.
In the towns the merchants had lost heavily by
the issue of James' base coin and the complete ces-
sation of commerce. The government was now
absolutely in the hands of the small Protestant
minority. The Irish Parliament, bound as it was
by Poynings' act to the parliament of England, in
so far as it represented anything, was representative
of the English colony in Ireland, which owned
nearly all the soil of the island, monopolized every
office of trust and remuneration, the Commission of
the Peace and the seats in the town councils.
It had fastened its grip firmly on Ireland, and
lest at any time the Catholic majority should again
get control, the English colony and the English
authorities, which had labored strenuously to main-
tain their ascendency, determined that the land of
Ireland should never again pass into Catholic hands
and that every effort should be made to stamp out
the ancient faith.
HISTORY OF IRELAND 359
With this object in view a number of acts were
passed by the Irish Parliament during the reign of
William and Anne of a character altogether unpar-
alleled and in flagrant violation of the Treaty of
Limerick. The Irish Catholics were now crushed
and dispirited. They were quite helpless, for their
best men had gone into voluntary exile and all hope
of resistance was at an end.
The Treaty of Limerick remained, yet the
Irish Parliament, with the full concurrence of the
English authorities, refused to carry out its more
important provisions, though it had been solemnly
guaranteed, first by De Ginkell and the Irish lords-
justices and then by William himself. The viola-
tion of the treaty greatly displeased the king, who
wished to keep his part of the agreement, as Sars-
field had done when he refused to admit the French
fleet, for William was not disposed to oppress any
one on account of his religion.
Before the War of the Revolution many penal
laws against the Irish Catholics were enacted, with
the main object of compelling them to abandon their
religion and to adopt the doctrines and forms of the
reformation, but they were passed only at long
intervals and the authorities were not always anx-
ious, or able, to have them enforced. But after the
war enactments came in quick succession, growing
more and more severe as time went on, till they
reached their worst phases in the early years of the
reign of Queen Anne and under George II., and it
appears that they were generally enforced.
The Irish Parliament of 1692 led the way by
framing an oath to exclude Catholics, contrary to
the ninth article of the treaty. But the really
active penal legislation was entered upon by the
parliament which met in Dublin in 1695. The first
proceeding was the introduction of a "bill for the
confirmation of the articles of the Treaty of Limer-
360 HISTORY OF IRELAND
ick," which confirmed all the minor provisions of
the treaty, but omitted the important ones. Hav-
ing thus accomplished what amounted to a rejection
of the treaty, this parliament passed a number of
restrictive laws during the sessions of 1692 and
1697.
These oppressive laws were mostly the work of
the Irish Parliament, but the Knglish Parliament
sometimes lent its aid. The penal laws remained in
full force in Ireland for nearly three-quarters of a
century, when they were gradually relaxed. The
more oppressive of the enactments were repealed,
one by one, till, with few exceptions, the emancipa-
tion act of 1829 put an end to the disabilities of
Irish Catholics.
Justin H. McCarthy says: "Under these penal
laws Catholics could not sit in the Irish Parliament
or vote members to it. They were excluded from
the army and navy, the corporations, the magis-
tracy, the bar, the bench, the grand juries and the
vestries. They could not be sheriffs or soldiers,
gamekeepers or constables. They were forbidden
to own any arms, and any two justices or sheriffs
might at any time issue a search warrant for arms.
The discovery of any kind of weapon rendered its
Catholic owner liable to fine, imprisonment, whip-
ping or the pillory.
"They could not own a horse worth more than
five pounds, and any Protestant tendering that sum
could compel his Catholic neighbor to sell his steed.
No education whatever was allowed to Catholics. A
Catholic could not go to the university; he might not
be the guardian of a child; he might not keep a
school, or send his children to be educated abroad,
or teach himself. No Catholic might buy land, or
inherit, or receive it as a gift from Protestants, or
hold life annuities or leases for more than thirty-one
years, or any lease on such terms as that the profits
HISTORY OF IRELAND 361
of the land exceeded one-third the value of the land.
If a Catholic purchased an estate, the first Protest-
ant who informed against him became its proprietor.
The eldest son of a Catholic, upon apostatizing, be-
came heir at law to the whole estate of his father,
and reduced his father to the position of a mere life
tenant.
"A wife who apostatized was immediately freed
from her husband's control and assigned a certain
proportion of her husband's property. Any child,
however young, who professed to be a Protestant,
was at once taken from his father's care, and a cer-
tain proportion of his father's property assigned to
him. In fact, the Catholics were excluded, in their
own country, from every profession, from every gov-
ernment office from the highest to the lowest, and
from almost every duty or privilege of a citizen.
It was laid down from the bench by Lord-Chancellor
Bowes and Chief Justice Robinson that 'the law does
not suppose any such person to exist as an Irish
Roman Catholic,' and proclaimed from the pulpit by
Dopping, Bishop of Meath, that Protestants were
not bound to keep faith with papists. We are re-
minded, as we read, of Judge Taney's famous de-
cision in the American Dred Scott case, that a black
man had no rights which a white man was bound to
respect. Happily, humanity and civilization are in
the end too much for the Doppings and Taneys. It
is hard for a more enlightened age to believe that
such laws as these were ever passed, or, being
passed, were ever practiced. It was well said that
the penal code could not have been practiced in
hell or it would have overturned the kingdom of
Beelzebub. But these laws, by which the child was
taught to behave himself proudly against the an-
cient, and the base against the honorable, were rig-
orously enforced in Ireland. The records of the
House of Lords are full of the vain appeals of Cath-
362 HISTORY OF IRELAND
olic gentlemen against their dispossession by some
claimant, perhaps an unworthy member of their
family, perhaps a bitter enemy, and perhaps a hith-
erto unknown 'discoverer,' who had put on the guise
of ostentatious Protestantism as a cloak for plunder.
In often-quoted, often-to-be-quoted words, Burke, in
later years, denounced the penal code for its 'vicious
perfection.' 'For,' said he, 'I must do it justice: it
was a complete system, full of coherence and con-
sistency, well digested and well composed in all its
parts. It was a machine of wise and elaborate con-
trivance, and as well fitted for the oppression, im-
poverishment and degradation of a people, and
the debasement in them of human nature itself,
as ever proceeded from the perverted ingenuity of
man.*
"It is encouraging to think that even under
such laws the spirit of the people was not wholly
annihilated. The country clung to its proscribed
faith; the ministers of that faith braved shame and
persecution and death in their unswerving allegiance
to their scattered flocks. They fought bravely against
the oppression which would have enforced ignorance
and all its attendant evils upon an unhappy people.
When no Catholic might open a school, the priests
established what were known as hedge schools. By
the roadside and on the hillside, in ditches and be-
hind hedges, the children of the people cowered
about their pastors, fearfully and eagerly striving to
attain that knowledge which the harsh laws denied
them.
"In one other instance the penal laws failed.
They could take away the Catholic's land, his horse,
his life; they could hang his priests and burn his
place of worship; they could refuse him all educa-
tion; they could deny him all rights before the law
except the right to be robbed and hanged; but they
could not compel him to change his faith, and they
HISTORY OF IRELAND 363
could not succeed in making every Protestant in Ire-
land a willing creature of the new code.
"By the code, any marriage between a Catholic
and a Protestant was, by the fact of the husband and
wife being of opposite faiths, null and void, without
any process of law whatever. A man might leave
his wife, or a woman her husband, after twenty
years of marriage, in such a case, and bring a legal
bastardy on all their offspring. But, for the sake
of human honor, it is consolatory to remember that
the instances in which this ever occurred were very
rare. The law might sanction the basest treachery,
but it is not able to make its subjects treacherous."
CHAPTER XLIX.
THE COMMERCIAL LAWS.
The penal laws applied mainly to Catholics,
but the repressive commercial code oppressed Irish-
men of all creeds. Ireland had a good climate, a
fertile soil and a fair supply of minerals, and to-
wards the end of the 17th century, in spite of the
late war and other troubles, several branches of
manufacture, trade and commerce were flourishing.
But the traders and merchants of England fancied
that the prosperity of Ireland was a loss to them by
drawing away custom, and in their shortsighted and
selfish jealousy they persuaded the English Parlia-
ment to enact laws that ruined almost the entire
industries of Ireland.
This sort of legislation was generally the work
of the English Parliament, but sometimes the Irish
Parliament followed in the same direction, in obedi-
ence to orders, and passed acts which impoverished
their own country. Religion had little or nothing
to do with these proceedings, which is all the more
to be wondered at, seeing that the blow fell chiefly
on the Protestants, for at this time the general body
of the Catholics were barely able to live and could
do very little as a class in the way of industries.
But the English traders cared nothing for this.
They wanted to destroy Irish trade for their own
gain, and whether the ruin fell on Protestants or
Catholics was a matter of indifference to them.
Irish traders had been in the habit of exporting
goods of various kinds to different foreign countries,
HISTORY OF IRELAND 365
especially to the British colonies in all parts of the
world, and as Ireland was a fine grazing country, a
prosperous business was also carried on with Eng-
land by the exportation of cattle. An end, how-
ever, was put to this, for the English Parliament,
from 1663 to 1680, passed several measures prohib-
iting Irish traders from exporting any goods to, or
importing from, the British colonies, and the export
of cattle, sheep, hogs, beef, pork, mutton, butter
and cheese to England was stopped altogether. Thus
the chief Irish industry was ruined and the people,
being deprived of a market for the products of their
farms, sank rapidly into poverty.
Driven from cattle raising, they applied them-
selves to other industries, especially to raising wool,
for which the country was well suited. Irish wool
was considered the best in Europe, and notwith-
standing the repressive measures of Wentworth,
under Charles I,, the wool industry, which was car-
ried on alm'ost exclusively by the Protestant col-
onists, began to flourish again and was rising rapidly
to great national importance.
This business, too, was doomed. The English
cloth dealers and landowners, in 1698, petitioned
to have it suppressed, and King William, in his
speech from the throne, promised to discourage the
Irish wool trade, to encourage the Irish linen trade
and to promote the trade of England. The Eng-
lish Parliament also professed to encourage the
Irish linen industry, for it did not compete with
England, as flax growing and the manufacture of
linen did not flourish in that country. The result
of the agitation against the Irish woolen trade was
that in 1699 the servile parliament of Ireland, act-
ing under directions from England, put a high ex-
port duty on all wool and woolen goods.
The English Parliament followed up this meas-
ure by passing an act prohibiting the Irish from
366 HISTORY OF IRELAND
exporting either wool or woolen goods to any part of
the world, except to a few specified seaport towns in
England, and they were forbidden to ship woolens
even to these, except from Dublin, Cork and four
other seaports. These acts ruined the Irish wool
trade. The heavy duty imposed obliged the mer-
chants to put so high a price on their goods that
they found it impossible to sell them in England,
the result intended by the lawmakers. The woolen
mills were shut down, the workers were discharged,
and the buildings went to ruin.
Thousands of working people were thus made
idle and reduced to poverty, and 20,000 Protestants
emigrated to New England. Then began the steady
emigration, for lack of employment, that continues
to the present day.
As usually happens when goods are produced
on which there are prohibitive duties, smuggling
was resorted to. Wool became so plentiful in Ire-
land that it sold for almost nothing in the home
market, while it brought a good price in France.
This was an incentive for the people to smuggle — to
send out cargoes secretly to avoid paying the cus-
toms duties, and the smugglers, returning, brought
in goods on which duties should have been paid.
Almost every vessel returned with wines, silks
and other merchandise, and landed in remote places
on the coast, to elude the customs officers. Many
of the articles could be bought cheaply in France
and sold at a good profit at home, so that smuggling
was a very profitable business in those days. Few
cared to interfere, as thousands of the Irish of all
classes profited by it. Protestants and Catholics,
almost the entire population, were in active combi-
nation against the law. The government was pow-
erless to stop this business, which flourished for a
long time all along the coast — a natural result of
unjust and unwise legislation.
HISTORY OF IRELAND 367
A large proportion of tlie limited capital left in
Ireland was sent to absentee landlords in England
by middlemen, who in turn exacted the last farthing
from the wretched cotters, and this constant drain
aggravated greatly the poverty caused by lack of
employment. During the 18th century the peasantry
of Ireland were the most poverty-stricken in Europe.
But the evil consequences of these unjust civil laws
did not end with the 18th century, for afterwards,
when the restrictions were removed and trade par-
tially revived, the remedy came too late. Some
branches of manufacture and trade had been ruined
and others permanently injured. The trade in wool
and woolens, which was kept down for nearly a
century, never recovered its former state of prosper-
ity. In consequence of this prohibitive legislation
Ireland, at the present time, has few manufactories
and little commerce, the people depending mainly
on the land for subsistence; and this, by increasing
the competition for land, has intensified the land
troubles.
CHAPTER L.
THE IRISH SOLDIERS ABROAD.
*'The close of the second reign from the siege
of Limerick imposes the duty of casting our eyes
over the map of Kurope in quest of those gallant
exiles whom we have seen, in tens of thousands,
submitting to the hard necessity of expatriation,"
says McGee.
"Many of the Meath and Leinster Irish, under
native commanders, the Kavanaghs and Nugents,
carried their swords into the service of William's
ally, the Emperor of Austria, and distinguished
themselves in all the campaigns of Prince Eugene.
Spain attracted to her standard the Irish of the
Northwest, the O'Donnells, the O'Reillys and
O'Garas, whose regiments, during more than one
reign, continued to be known by names of Ulster
origin. In 1707 the great battle of Almanza, which
decided the Spanish succession, was determined by
O'Mahony's foot and Fitzjames' Irish horse. The
next year Spain had five Irish regiments in her reg-
ular army, three of foot and two of dragoons, under
the command of Lacy, Lawless, Wogan, O'Reilly
and O'Gara.
"But it was in France that the Irish served in
the greatest number and made the most impressive
history for themselves and their descendants. The
recruiting agents of France had long been in the
habit of crossing the narrow seas and bringing back
the stalwart sons of the western island to serve their
ambitious kings in every corner of the continent.
HISTORY OF IRELAND 369
An Irish troop of horse served, in 1652, under
Turenne, against the great Conde. In the cam-
paigns of 1673, 1674 and 1675, under Turenne, two
or three Irish regiments were in every engagement
along the Rhine. At Altenheim their commander.
Count Hamilton, was created a major-general of
France. In 1690 these old regiments, with the six
new ones sent over by James, were formed into a
brigade, and from 1690 to 1693 they went through
the campaigns of Savoy and Italy, under Marshal
Catinat, against Prince Eugene. Justin McCarthy,
Lord Mountcashel, who commanded them, died at
Bareges of wounds received at Staff ardo. At Mar-
siglia they routed, in 1693, the allies, killing Duke
Schomberg, son of the Huguenot general who fell
at the Boyne.
"In the war of the Spanish succession the rem-
nants of both brigades, consolidated into one, served
under their favorite leader, the Marshal Duke of
Berwick, through nearly all his campaigns in Bel-
gium, Spain and Germany. The third Lord Clare,
afterwards Field Marshal Count Thomond, was by
the duke's side at Phillipsburg in 1733 when he re-
ceived his death wound from the explosion of a
mine.
''These exiled Clare O'Briens commanded for
three generations their famous family regiment of
dragoons. The first who followed King James
abroad died of wounds received at the battle of Ra-
millies; the third, with better fortune, outlived for
nearly thirty years the glorious day of Fontenoy,
where, after a day's hard fighting, victory seemed
to declare so clearly against France that King Louis,
who was present, prepared for flight. At this mo-
ment Marshal Saxe ordered a final charge by the
seven Irish regiments, under Counts Dillon and
Thomond. The tide of battle turned, beyond ex-
pectation, to the cry of 'Remember Limerick!'
370 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
France was delivered, England checked and Hol-
land reduced from a first to a second rate power.
The Irish cavalry regiments in the service of France
were Sheldon's, Galmoy's, Clare's and Killmallock's;
the infantry were known as the regiments of Dub-
lin, Charlemont, Limerick and Athlone. There were
two other infantry regiments, known as Luttrel's
and Dorrington's, and a regiment of Irish marines,
of which the Grand Prior, Fitzjames, was colonel.
During the latter years of Louis XIV. there could
not have been less, at any one time, than from
20,000 to 30,000 Irish in his armies, and during the
entire century, authentic documents exist to prove
that 450,000 natives of Ireland died in the service
of France.
"In the dreary reigns of William, Anne and
the two first Georges the pride and courage of the
disarmed and disinherited population, abiding at
home, drew new life and vigor from the exploits of
their exiled brethren. The channel smuggler and
the vagrant ballad singer kept alive their fame for
the lower class of the population, while the memoirs
of Marlborough and Eugene, issuing from the Dub-
lin press, communicated authentic accounts of their
actions to the more prejudiced or better educated.
The blows they struck at Landen, at Cremona and
at Almanza were sensibly felt by every British
statesman; when, in the bitterness of defeat, an
English king cursed 'the laws that deprived him of
such subjects,' the doom of the penal code was
pronounced.
"The high character of the captains of these
famous brigades was not confined to the field of bat-
tle. At Paris, Vienna and Madrid their wit and
courtesy raised them to the favor of princes, over
the jealousy of all their rivals. Important civil and
diplomatic ofiices were intrusted to them — embassys
of peace and war — the government of provinces,
HISTORY OF IRELAND 371
and the highest administrative offices of the state.
While their kinsmen in Ireland were declared in-
capable of filling the humblest public employments
or of exercising the commonest franchise, they
met British ambassadors abroad as equals, and
checked or countermined the imperial policy of
Great Britain.
' 'It was impossible that such a contrast of situ-
ations should not attract the attention of all think-
ing men ! It was impossible that such reputations
should shine before all Europe without reacting
powerfully upon the fallen fortunes of Ireland."
CHAPTER LI.
THE STRUGGLE OF THE IRISH PARLIAMENT.
The^ proceedings of tlie Irish Parliament and
the political history of Ireland during the 18th
century have reference almost solely to the Protest-
ant portion of the country, and the struggle of the
Irish Legislature for independence was the struggle
of the Protestants alone.
The Catholics had no power to take part in
these contests, as they were debarred from member-
ship in parliament; nor could they even vote for a
member of that body. They kept almost wholly
silent during the first half of the century, believing
that the less attention they drew to themselves the
better, for they knew not the moment they might be
visited with further crushing enactments. The
Protestants of the Irish Patriotic party strove for the
rights of the Protestants only.
Molyneux, Swift, Lucas, Flood and many other
patriotic leaders were against granting political lib-
erty to Catholics. Burke and Grattan were almost
the only eminent Protestants of the first three-quar-
ters of the 18th century who took a broader view
and advocated the right of the Irish Catholics to be
placed on terms of equality with the Protestants.
The high government officials in Ireland, from the
lord-lieutenant down, were nearly all Englishmen,
with only a few Irishmen with English sympathies.
These formed what may be called the government
party, and they were in favor of English ascend-
ency, being always ready to carry out the wishes of
HISTORY OF IRELAND 373
the king and the English Parliament, and as, by
the various means at their disposal (pensions, posi-
tions and titles), they were nearly always able to
have a majority, the English interest was all-pow-
erful in the Irish Parliament.
But among a thoughtful section of Irish Prot-
estants, who had the interests of their own country,
or at least the Protestant portion of it, at heart, the
unjust laws that destroyed the industries of Ireland
and brought ruin and poverty to her people to enrich
English traders and landowners, and the appointment
of Englishmen to all important posts, to the exclu-
sion of natives, provoked feelings of resentment
and distrust towards the English government and
kindled a sentiment of patriotism which became
more and more intense as time went on. They were
at first represented in parliament by a small, but
able, opposition, and in time came to be called
Patriots, or the Patriotic or Popular party.
Some of these, it is true, were selfish and with-
out principle, and made themselves troublesome
merely to induce the government to buy them off
with good situations or pensions. But there always
were men of a different stamp, like Molyneux and
Grattan, who, so far as possible, resisted all dicta-
tion and encroachment on the privileges of the Irish
Parliament or the rights and liberties of their coun-
trymen. They had constantly in view two objects: to
remove the ruinous restrictions on trade and com-
merce and to make the Irish Parliament, so far as
lay in their power, independent.
It was the unjust trade laws and the preferment
of Englishmen over the Irish that gave birth to the
Irish Patriotic party and brought to the front its
great leaders, both in and out of parliament. Grad-
ually, year by year, they gained in strength and
ultimately carried their main point against the gov-
ernment, but it was a long and bitter struggle.
374 HISTORY OF IRELAND
Sometimes, in cases of unusual provocation, it hap-
pened that not only the small party of Patriots but
the great majority of the Irish members were roused
to successful resistance in spite of the influence of
the English party.
The struggle between these two parties forms
the chief feature in the political history of Ireland
during the greater part of the 18th century. In
1698 William Molyneux, member of parliament for
the University of Dublin, a man of scientific emi-
nence, published his famous book, "The Case of
Ireland," in which he denounced the commercial in-
justice done to his country, traced the growth of the
Irish Parliament, and maintained it was independ-
ent of that of England and had a right to make its
own laws. The book was received in England with
great indignation and parliament, pronouncing it
to be dangerous, ordered it publicly burned by the
hangman.
But the powerful statement of Molyneux, though
it gave his countrymen a much-needed lesson, did
not bring about immediate reform, for the next
year after its publication came the crushing act de-
stroying the Irish woolen industry. A few years
later the bitter feelings excited in Ireland by
these restrictive laws were greatly intensified by a
dispute between the Irish and English Houses of
Lords on the question of jurisdiction. The Irish
peers having reversed a judgment of the Irish Court
of Exchequer, an appeal was taken to the English
House, which affirmed the judgment.
The dispute was ended in 1719 by the English
Parliament passing the act known as ' 'The Sixth of
George I.," which not only deprived the Irish
House of Lords of the right to hear appeals, but
also declared that the parliament of England had
the authority to make laws for Ireland. This act
now, for the first time, asserted this right and took
HISTORY OF IRELAND 375
away what little independence the Poynings law had
left, reducing the power of the Irish Parliament to
a mere shadow.
The task of opposing the government party b}''
speech and pen was not left entirely with members
of parliament. There were men equally able and
active outside, of whom the most brilliant was
Swift, the celebrated dean of St. Patrick's, in Dub-
lin. He was naturally indignant at the destruction
of Irish industries for the benefit of English mer-
chants and landowners, and in 1720 he wrote an
essay encouraging the Irish people to retaliate by
rejecting all clothing and furniture made in England
and using that of home manufacture only — an essay
that so enraged the authorities of both countries
that, although there was nothing illegal in the pro-
posal, the government prosecuted the printer, but
failed to have him punished, notwithstanding the
browbeating efforts of the servile judge who tried
the case.
It was, however. Swift's pen, in ' 'Wood's
Halfpence," that brought him into the greatest
prominence. In 1723 the English government,
without consulting the Irish authorities, granted a
patent for the coinage of ;^ 108,000 in base-metal
halfpence and farthings to the king's favorite, the
Duchess of Kendal, who sold the patent to William
Wood, an English iron merchant, a transaction
which would bring an immense profit to the duchess
and Wood. This infamous action created intense
indignation and alarm in Ireland. The Patriots
vehemently attacked and exposed it in parliament
and the two Irish Houses addressed the king, repre-
senting that the base coin would diminish revenue
and destroy business and commerce, and many
pamphlets and caricatures were circulated in Dublin
attacking and ridiculing Wood's halfpence. But
the patent was pressed by powerful friends at
376 HISTORY OF IRELAND
court, and undoubtedly would liave succeeded but
for Swift. He wrote and bad printed several let-
ters, witb tbe signature "W. B. Drapier," point-
ing out in simple, vigorous language tbat all
could understand, the evils which he claimed would
result from the coinage.
These coins were so bad, he said, that if a lady
went shopping she would have to bring with her
a cart loaded with the new money; that a farmer
would have to employ three horses to carry his rent
to his landlord, and that even the very beggars
would be ruined. Already there had been great ex-
citement, but it was intensified tenfold by these
letters. The authorities were greatly provoked and
the lord-lieutenant offered a reward of ;^300 for the
discovery of the author, but no one was base enough
to earn the money. At length matters looked so
threatening that the patent was withdrawn, a victory
that greatly strengthened the hands of the Patriots,
and the dean became, beyond question, the most
popular man in Ireland.
After the success of the '* Drapier Letters" and
the cancellation of Wood's patent the Patriots made
inquiry into the misappropriation and embezzlement
of public funds by officials, whose crimes were winked
at by the government in consideration of their sup-
port. They asked parliament unpleasant questions
about the disposition of the hereditary revenue of
the crown, the rapid increase of the amount granted
for pensions, and the application of the surplus reve-
nue. Vast sums were wasted on royal favorites,
illegitimates and the nominess of the king and his
ministers.
The lord-lieutenant spent half his time in Bng-
land and the government was left in the hands of
the lords-justices, who usually were the primate, the
lord-chancellor and the speaker of the House of
Commons. Archbishop Boulter, who became a lord-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 377
justice in 1726, was the virtual ruler of Ireland for
eighteen years, and the reins of government passed
from him to Archbishop Hoadly, and afterwards to
the ambitious and unscrupulous Archbishop Stone.
The Irish Parliament was torn by factions, which
the English government played against each other;
it was crowded with supple placemen of the govern-
ment, who were rewarded for their obedient votes;
the majority of the House was made up of nominees
of the Protestant landlords.
Selfish and unprincipled members of the Patri-
otic party discovered that the road to advancement
and wealth was opened by agitation. Their attacks
on the corrupt system were bought off with pensions
and positions of emolument. During the last years
of the reign of George II. matters were coming to
a crisis. The government was entirely in the hands
of one of the lords-justices, the unscrupulous Pri-
mate Stone, through whose hands the stream of
patronage flowed.
The Patriotic party had been growing stronger
and stronger. One of its most sturdy leaders was
Dr. Lucas, who had incurred the enmity of the gov-
ernment by resisting the interference of the English
Parliament in Irish affairs. He was prosecuted in
1749 by the government and fled to England, but
when the storm had blown over he returned and was
elected to parliament by the City of Dublin. The
Patriots also had been joined by the Earl of Kil-
dare, who presented an address to the king, setting
forth complaints against the corruption of the gov-
ernment, which were especially leveled at Stone.
In 1755 the English government, disturbed by
the cabals and intrigues and by the discontent exhib-
ited at the disregard of Kildare's communication,
decided on some radical changes. Several of the
agitators were silenced by ofiice, titles and pensions.
The remnant of the Patriotic party closed its ranks
37S ttiSi'ORY OP IRELANfi
and prepared for more radical measures of reform.
It formed the nucleus of a genuine national party,
whose object was to emancipate the Irish Parliament
from the servitude imposed by England.
By the steady insistence on the national claims
they at length created and molded a strong public
sentiment outside the walls of parliament. "The
doctrines of Molyneux, the advocacy of Swift, the
agitation of Lucas, had initiated a live policy which,
under the guidance of pure and single-minded
men, was soon to become an irresistible national
impulse. ' '
CHAPTER UI.
THE WHITEBOYS, OAKBOYS AND STEELBOYS.
George III. succeeded to the throne in 1760.
During the years since the surrender of Limerick
the Catholics in Ireland had shown no sign of re-
sistance. There had been a rising in Scotland in
1715 in behalf of the Stuart pretender. Thirty
years later a more serious rising occurred, and in the
same cause.
In 1745 the English government sent Lord
Chesterfield to Ireland as lord-lieutenant to encour-
age the loyalty of the Catholics by granting them
a few concessions. His administration is one of the
few bright spots in the dark history of Ireland in
the 18th century. Had all viceroys been as calm,
reasonable and considerate as Lord Chesterfield in
their dealings with the Irish people, the history of
the next century might have been very different.
But when his rule passed away the temperate policy
he pursued also departed, and has rarely been re-
sumed by the long succession of viceroys who have
been sent to Ireland.
In 1760, during the seven years' war, an abor-
tive attempt was made by the French to obtain a
foothold in Ulster, but the Catholics made no effort
to aid or co-operate with them. The feeling against
the latter had been growing somewhat less bitter
and they began to take heart again, hoping to ob-
tain some little relief. The first movement was
made by Dr. Curry, historian of the civil wars in
Ireland; Charles O 'Conor, a distinguished scholar,
380 HISTORY OF IRELAND
and Mr. Wyse, a mercliant. They endeavored to
stir up the Catholic clergy and gentry to agitate for
their rights, but here their efforts failed, as it was
feared that any attempt to obtain justice would make
matters worse.
They were more successful with men engaged in
commerce and business, and in 1757 ventured to
form a * 'Catholic Committee" to watch over and
help on the interests of the Catholic community.
This committee was to hold its meetings in Dublin.
Its organization revived hope in the breasts of the
followers of the ancient faith, and may be regarded
as the feeble beginning of the movement for Catho-
lic relief which afterwards became so successful
under O'Connell.
The great curse of absenteeism, which for a
long time had undermined the prosperity of Ireland,
grew to monstrous proportions. It was estimated
that at least one-third of the whole rental of Ireland
was annually sent to England for the support of
absentee landlords, who lived away in London, with
no other thought for their Irish properties than the
collection of rent. Whole districts were leased to
middlemen, who re-let the land to others at exorbi-
tant rents, and these again sublet, this process being
repeated till the estate was sometimes underlet five
or six times; or the property was managed by
stewards and agents, whose orders were to remit the
revenues and to spend not a penny in improve-
ments. The country houses fell out of repair; the
woods were cut down to increase the revenue; what
fencing or reclamation was done was the work of
the tenant, and was performed with as little show as
possible, lest the keen eye of the agent should
detect it and the rent be raised accordingly. The
tenant received no encouragement to make the most
out of the land. His position was too insecure.
The condition of the peasantry had been grow-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 381
ing rapidly worse. In the old days before the plan-
tations they had been little better than serfs, so auto-
cratic had the clan chiefs and the Anglo-Norman
lords become, but the ties of family and old association
were strong, one faith was common to both, and
the peasant followed his master to danger and death
with absolute fidelity.
Bven in the case of the earlier planters, com-
mon interests had gradually established a friendly
feeling between the new landowners and the old
tenants. But the later confiscations, especially those
after the war of 1791, created a gulf between the
old tenants and the still newer landowners which
was never bridged. There was no bond of sym-
pathy between them. Of different faiths and differ-
ent habits, the newer race of landlords were essen-
tially speculators, and, having bought the land as an
investment, were determined to make every possible
shilling out of their purchase. They cared not to
live in Ireland among strangers; all they desired
was the rents, and their tenants seldom or never
saw their faces.
The landowners, who were largely extending
their grass lands, managed to get pasturage ex-
empted from the payment of tithes to the established
church, and this hated tribute to an alien church
fell wholly on the tillers of the soil. The wretched
tenants-at-will were transferred to the tender mer-
cies of the middlemen, who raised their rents to
swell their own profits.
Towards the middle of the century the restric-
tion on the importation of cattle, meat, butter and
cheese to England was removed, in consequence of
a disease which had destroyed English cattle, and
the grazing fever set in, as it was found more profit-
able to graze and raise cattle than to let the land for
tillage. As the lands went out of cultivation, **even
ale and potatoes were imported from England, as
382 HISTORY OF IRELAND
well as com." The rate of wages fell to almost
nothing; the small farmers and laborers left the
country and huddled in the towns. The landlords
then inclosed, as private property, large tracts of
what hitherto had been common bog and moor,
which were used chiefly for grazing, and the wretched
peasants, who now counted among their number
the descendants of many an old proprietor, who had
squatted on what was once his land, were driven
from the piece of rough pasture on which they had
been accustomed to feed a cow or a pig.
The general lack of employment due to the loss
of trade of every kind, owing to the commercial
restrictions, had driven the peasantry to depend on
the land as almost their sole means of subsistence.
At last the people, with the design of redressing
their grievances, began to combine in various secret
societies, by which the country was for many years
disturbed. Of these the most numerous were the
Whiteboys (so called because they wore white shirts
over their coats when out on their nightly excur-
sions), confined chiefly to the counties of Cork, Tip-
perary, Limerick and Waterford.
The first rising of the Whiteboys was in 1761,
against the inclosure of commons. They traversed
the country at night, leveling all the new fences
surrounding the common land, and digging up
pastures to force tillage. But they were not content
with a war against grazing lands and inclosures
alone. They proposed to redress all wrongs from
which the tenants suffered. Obnoxious persons
were frequently tortured [and sometimes mutilated,
and their cattle houghed. Strong measures were
taken by the government to suppress the disorders,
but the law was generally powerless. Little evi-
dence could be procured and the juries would seldom
convict. The military was called out and patroled
the country. Bodies of volunteers were enrolled by
HISTORY OF IRELAND 383
the resident gentry and many of the Whiteboys
were killed. But though order was restored to
some extent by these means, the Whiteboys contin-
ued in Munster for many years.
While the peasantry of the South were appeal-
ing to the law of force, the peasantry of Ulster and
the working classes in the towns had resorted to the
same expedient. One ground of complaint was
that every man was forced to give six days' work in
the year and six days' work of a horse, if he had
one, in the making and repairing of roads, which the
landlords made full use of, while they contributed
nothing. Those banded together against this injus-
tice were called Oakboys.
Another secret society, the Steelboys, rose in
Ulster, in 1769, against unjust and exorbitant rents
of middlemen. Not content with their original ob-
ject, they set about to redress various abuses per-
taining to the land, as the peasantry in the South
had done, and they also opposed the payment of
tithes to the established church, which lately had
been so increased in Ulster. The oppression of the
peasantry of the North by the gentry swelled the
emigration of the best people to America, begun
more than a half century before, and when the war
broke out between England and America, some of
the most determined troops that fought against
the former were the sturdy exiled yeomanry of
Ulster and the descendants of those who had emi-
grated on account of religious persecution and the
destruction of the wool industry. There were many
other secret societies in Ireland at this time, and
long afterwards, culminating at the close of the
century in the famous United Irishmen.
Royal commissions were issued to inquire into
the causes of the disturbances of the Whiteboys,
Oakboys and Steelboys. No relief was given to the
latter, whose grievances were against their land-
384 HISTORY OF IREIvAND
lords. In the case of the Oakboys, provision was
made for the future repair of roads at a rate levied
on rich and poor alike. In the case of the White-
boys, whose grievances were also against the land-
lords, not only was no step taken to prevent excess-
ive inclosures, but a law was passed making it a
felony for more than six persons to assemble at
night, or to level fences or dig up pastures, and dam-
ages were awarded to the injured parties, to be
assessed on the barony in which the offense had
been committed.
The peasantry and the small farmers were re-
fused redress and the policy of coercion was carried
out, with the natural result that discontent grew
into disaffection and revolt. * 'If the military force, ' '
said Lord Chesterfield, *'had killed half as many
landlords as it had Whiteboys, it would have con-
tributed more effectually to restore quiet. For the
poor people in Ireland are worse used than negroes
by their masters."
CHAPTER LIII.
flood's leadership.
The English party in the Irish Parliament was
strong and continued to purchase members by vari-
ous corrupt means, but the Patriots were tireless
and vigilant and gave the government little rest.
Pensions constituted the chief form of bribery.
Large pensions were given to numbers of members
who had done nothing to earn them, and some were
bestowed on favorites by the English authorities and
charged to Ireland without reference to the Irish
Parliament, so that the pension list had grown to
enormous proportions.
This corrupt and ruinous pension list was vig-
orously attacked by the Patriots, under the leader-
ship of Henry Flood. But although he fully ex-
posed the corruption of the pension list, the govern-
ment proved too strong for him and the evil, so far
from abating, continued to increase year by year.
The duration of the Irish Parliament at this time
excited great interest in Ireland. In England the
utmost limit was seven years, at the end of which
time parliament, if it continued so long, had to be
dissolved and a general election held.
This was a good plan, for if a member acted
wrong the electors could put another in his place
with little delay. But in Ireland parliament lasted
as long as the king wished, and the preceding one
continued during the entire reign of George II.
This state of things led to flagrant abuses, and sev-
eral times the Patriots brought in a septennial or
386 HISTORY OF IRELAND
seven years' bill, and the majority in the Irish Par-
liament agreed to send the measure to the Eng-
lish Council for approval, in accordance with the
law. But in each case no notice was taken of the
communication .
In 1767 the Patriots once more did the same
thing, and in this instance the document was re-
turned from England approved, but with the seven
years changed to eight, which was accepted by the
Irish Pa«rliament. The passing of this octennial
bill was the occasion of much popular rejoicing in
Ireland. After this measure had become law there
was a dissolution of parliament and a new one was
elected. During the election Lord Townshend, the
lord-lieutenant, made use of every possible form of
bribery, and with much success, to have members
returned favorable to his side. But with all his
corrupt practices he failed to control the new House
of Commons on one important measure.
Both in England and Ireland the House has
always jealously preserved to itself the power to
originate financial bills — that is, the power to raise
money by taxation and to apply it to the expenses
of the government, holding that the representatives
of the people alone have the right to tax the people.
The English Privy Council now sent over a money
bill for Ireland, with directions to have it passed by
the Irish Parliament, but it was rejected because it
did not originate in the House of Commons, which
greatly incensed Lord Townshend. Keeping his
own counsel, however, he first had parliament pass
the usual money supplies for the government, and
when these were safe he had the Commons sum-
moned to the bar of the House of Lords, where he
lectured them severely for their conduct regarding
the money bill and adjourned parliament for four-
teen months. He entered a protest in the books of
the House of Lords against the rejection of the
HISTORY OF IRELAND 387
bill, but the Commons forbade their clerk to enter it
on their books. These proceedings of Townshend,
which were considered a mixture of trickery and
tyranny, caused great indignation and gave renewed
strength to the Patriots.
During this time the Catholics were almost
wholly silent. They recently had been granted the
right of meeting and petition, of which they were
long deprived, and the restoration of which marks
the first step in the gradual recovery of their civil
rights. There were faint signs of a desire to indulge
them a little, but how little may be judged from one
small concession. Lord Townshend had an act
passed in 1771 which had been often rejected pre-
viously, enabling a Catholic to take, on long lease,
and reclaim as best he could, fifty acres of bog, and
if it were too deep or marshy to build a house on,
he was permitted to have half an acre of solid
land for that purpose, but the bog should be at
least four feet deep and it should not be nearer than
a mile to a market town. Townshend, at length
growing tired of the ceaseless opposition of the
Patriots and the endless stream of hostile criticism
in newspapers, pamphlets, ballads and caricatures,
resigned in 1772.
During his term of office he did more, perhaps,
to corrupt parliament than any of his predecessors,
by giving pensions, offices and titles to secure a ma-
jority for the government or Bnglish party. By
this open and constant corruption he managed to
control the House and have most of his measures
passed. But these proceedings had the effect of
consolidating the Patriots and strengthening their
determination to overcome the purely English influ-
ence and to have Irish affairs managed mainly for
the benefit of Ireland, and not solely in the interest
of England, as had been the case for nearly a
century.
388 HISTORY OF IREIvAND
The new viceroy, Lord Harcourt, began his ad-
ministration by taking an exactly opposite course to
that of his predecessor, but ended it by falling into
nearly the same errors and abuses. He suggested
a bill taxing absentees, which was introduced by
Flood, but it was rejected through the influence of
the great landowners, many of whom resided per-
manently in England. The Patriotic party, led by
Flood, who was ably seconded by Dr. Lucas, had
begun to take definite shape and to become a formid-
able political power.
Under his leadership the Patriots had made re-
peated assaults on the corrupt pension list. After
they had been defeated again and again. Flood had
found more successful means of embarrassing the
corrupt systems then prevailing under the govern-
ment by turning the attention of his party to par-
liamentary reform. The government was beginning
to be troubled by its own greedy placemen, who
were always ready to go into the opposition party to
serve personal ends.
By taking advantage of the discontent of place-
men the Patriots had been able to induce the Irish
Parliament to declare that it alone had the power to
originate money bills, and to give force and direction
to the movement for securing the independence of
the Irish Parliament.
"This was the moment," says the Hon. Emily
Lawless, *'at which Flood stood higher in his
countrymen's estimation than was ever again the
case. He was identified with all that was best in
their aspirations, and no shadow of self-seeking had
as yet dimmed the brightness of his fame. It was
very different with the next step. Lord Townshend
was succeeded b}'' Lord Harcourt, whose administra-
tion at first promised to be a shade more liberal and
less corrupt than that of his predecessors. Of this
administration Flood, to his own misfortune, became
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 389
a member. What his motives were it is rather dif-
ficult to say. He was a rich man and therefore had
no temptation to sell or stifle his opinions for place.
Whatever they were, it is clear, from letters still
extant, that he not only accepted but solicited office.
He was made vice-treasurer, a post hitherto reserved
for Englishmen, at a salary of ;^3,500 a year.
Although ... no actual stain of dishonor at-
taches to Flood in consequence of this step, there
can be no doubt that it was a grave error, and that
he lived to repent it bitterly. For the next seven
years not only was he forced to keep silence as re-
gards all those points he had previously advocated
so warmly, but, as a member of the government, he
actually helped to uphold some of the most damag-
ing of the restraints laid upon Irish trade and
prosperity.'*
CHAPTER LIV.
GRATTAN'S leadership — THE VOLUNTEERS.
England had done her part to ruin the Protest-
ant colony in Ireland. "She had starved its manu-
factures, destroyed its trade, made a farce of its
legislature, billeted all her disreputable dependents
upon its revenues, and in order to maintain her
grasp she had shamefully plundered it and spent the
money in corrupting the guardians of its interests."
She had another colony in North America,
which had come into existence largely through the
misconduct of the mother country. New England
was the result of the bigotry of the established
church and was peopled by Puritans and other dis-
senters, who had fled from persecution. The emi-
gration was largely from Ulster. Since the restora-
tion of Charles II. thousands of Protestant dis-
senters had been driven from Ireland by the An-
glican bishops to the colony across the Atlantic, and
more recently the number had been increased by
the peasantry who had been evicted by their selfish
absentee landlords.
Despite these things the American colonists
rendered material assistance in the conquest of the
French colony in Canada. This war had greatly
increased the English national debt and the govern-
ment expected that the colonists, in whose defense
a large part of the expenditure had been incurred,
would contribute towards the payment of the inter-
est. Had they been asked to make a grant for this
purpose, likely they would have cheerfully com-
History of irei.and 391
plied, but England required the acknowledgment
of the principle that the mother country had the
right to tax her colonies without consulting them,
and this effort at "taxation without representation"
culminated in 1775 in an appeal to arms.
The English settlers in Ireland were watching
the struggle with great interest. Their position in
many ways was similar to that of the Americans,
only it was much harder. Close to England, their
chances of successful resistance were slender, for
she could land troops on short notice and blockade
the harbors with her fleet. The Americans, though
defeated many times, carried on a vigorous war, and
when Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga, France,
yearning to revenge herself for the loss of her colo-
nies in Canada, declared war against England.
Spain and Holland soon joined with France
and every ship and man that England could spare
was now needed for this great struggle. It seems
not to have occurred to the English authorities that
the English settlers in Ireland could be dangerous.
To the last their interests were sacrificed to those of
Great Britain. Upon the pretense of overawing the
Whiteboys the army had been increased, but of this
force over 4,000 had been sent to America, and the
actual strength of the regiments remaining in Ire-
land was only 3,000 men. The army serving against
the Americans was to be fed from Ireland, and in
order that the government might buy food cheaply
the Irish farmers were excluded from all other mar-
kets by the levying of a prohibitive export tax upon
all provisions from Irish ports.
The result of this action was that ruin fell
upon the farmers and that the trade in cured meats
was transferred to other countries. The American
war had put a stop to the linen trade between Ire-
land and the colonies, and this wrought disaster to
that industry in Ulster. England had broken her
392 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
agreements in respect to the woolen trade, for when
she destroyed the manufacture of woolens she prom-
ised to encourage the manufacture of linens, yet she
had done her part to cripple it by giving bounties to
her own linen manufacturers and by other means,
which had the effect of driving the trade elsewhere.
The embargo was ordered by the English gov-
ernment without consulting Ireland, and this fact,
with the misery that had been brought on the coun-
try, caused so much discontent in the Irish Parlia-
ment that it was dissolved and a new set of more
pliant members elected. At the general election
there was, as usual, extensive bribery to secure a
government majority. In Ireland the people gener-
ally sympathized with America, for they felt that
the evils from which they had so long suffered were
much the same as those against which the Ameri-
cans had rebelled, and they began to hope that one
outcome of the war might be free trade for their own
country to relieve them from the prevailing misery.
Discussions regarding the injustice done to the Irish
trade were carried into the English Parliament by
Burke and other friends of Ireland, but a great cry
was instantly raised by English manufacturers and
merchants against any movement that threatened
their own monopolies by relieving the Irish people,
and the end of the matter was that only a few small
concessions were made.
At this time the penal laws had been relaxed to
a great extent, but still they were not repealed and
might be enforced at any time. Soon after the
European coalition against England a measure was
carried in the Irish Parliament partially relieving
Catholics of their disabilities. At the same time
the embargo was removed, but all the older restric-
tions on Irish trade still remained, under which it
was impossible for the country to prosper. Catho-
lics, on taking the oath of allegiance, were now
HISTORY OF IRELAND 393
allowed to hold leases for 999 years. The lands
which were still in their possession were to be sub-
ject only to the restrictions imposed on other lessees,
and proselytized Protestant children were deprived
of the right to plunder and defy their Catholic
fathers.
The test act was also abolished, which relieved
Dissenters as well as Catholics. Ireland war in a
very defenseless state, and though the English gov-
ernment proposed to send 4,000 Protestant soldiers
from Germany to replace those drafted to America,
the Irish Commons refused to admit them, declaring
that the people of Ireland were able to protect them-
selves without the aid of foreign troops. But now
that England was harassed with a ruinous war and
was unable to maintain her ascendency by force,
and was even threatened with invasion, Ireland sud-
denly was placed in a position to assert herself.
When the government had drained Ireland of her
troops and she was left defenseless and exposed to
the attacks of American and French privateers, a
proposal was made to raise a national militia, Prot-
estants only to be enrolled. An act was passed for
this purpose, but owing to the bankrupt condition
of the Irish treasury the plan failed.
The peers, the gentry and leading citizens then,
in self-defense, set about raising bodies of volunteers
for the protection of the coasts. The call to arms
was cheerfully responded to and company after com-
pany was raised. The first volunteers were enlisted
in Belfast towards the end of 1778. The movement
spread rapidly to other parts of Ireland and in a few
months 42,000 volunteers were enrolled. The gov-
ernment looked upon them with suspicion, knowing
well that the movement would strengthen the Patri-
ots, for it was started by the people and their lead-
ers, independent of the government.
The great questions that were stirring the
394 HISTORY OF IRELAND
heart of every citizen were earnestly discussed by
the volunteers. It soon became apparent that the
arguments of men with arms at their command have
weight, and the movement, which began in an effort to
protect the country from invasion, rapidly developed
into a means for resisting the English domination.
The rank and file of the volunteers were the very
people who felt most severely the prevailing distress
caused by the suppression of Irish trade, and natur-
ally were bitterly hostile to the government, while
their sympathies were entirely with the Patriots.
Of this the authorities were well aware, but they
dared not attempt to keep down the movement.
They had even to go so far as to supply arms,
though much against their will, but all other ex-
penses, including uniforms, were borne by the people
themselves.
This was at first a strictly Protestant move-
ment, but as time went on Catholics gradually joined
the ranks in considerable numbers. The Patriots
now had the volunteers at their back, and, just as
the government had feared, they assumed a bolder
tone, and the knowledge that they were loyal and
wanted nothing but the redress of their admitted
grievances, added tenfold strength to their demands.
Henry Flood had been their leader till he took office
under the government, when he lost the confidence
of the Patriots, which was now transferred to Henry
Grattan, a greater orator and a nobler man.
At the opening of parliament in October, 1779,
Grattan moved, as an amendment to the address,
that "it was by free export and import only that the
nation was to be saved from impending ruin," wheu
Flood, who for years had sat silent on government
benches, and grown jealous of the position which
Grattan had attained as champion of the people,
broke away from ''the silken chains of court favor"
and suggested that the words "free trade" be sub-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 395
stituted. Grattan accepted the alteration and the
amendment was carried unanimously. Dublin was
in a state of great excitement and the House of Par-
liament was surrounded by an immense crowd,
shouting for free trade, for now they saw some pros-
pect of relief. The next day, when the speaker,
followed by the entire Commons, marched in proces-
sion from the parliament building to the castle to
present the amended address to the lord-lieutenant,
the streets were lined with volunteers, under com-
mand of the Duke of Leinster. As the procession
advanced it was received with acclaim by the popu-
lace, and the volunteers presented arms in honor of
the Commons.
The popular excitement was now tremendous.
The volunteers were reviewed on College Green
and two field pieces were drawn up, labeled ' 'Free
Trade or This." The Dublin mob wrecked the
house of the attorney-general, who was known to be
hostile to the volunteer movement. ''Talk not to
me of peace," said Walter Hussey Burgh in the
Irish Parliament when denouncing the restrictive
English statutes. "Ireland is not at peace; it is
smothered war. England has sown her laws as
dragons' teeth and they have sprung up as armed
men."
But to the English Parliament alone, which
had imposed the restrictions, belonged the task of
removing them. The lord-lieutenant wrote to the
English government that the repeal of the trade re-
strictions must be immediate and complete. Lord
Shelburne in the House of Lords, and Edmund
Burke in the House of Commons, moved a vote of
censure on the government for not granting to Ire-
land what, now that it was too late, had been offered
to America.
In November the English Prime Minister, Lord
North, introduced three propositions to relieve Irish
396 HISTORY OF IRELAND
trade. The first permitted free export of Irish
wool and woolen goods; the second, free export of
Irish glass manufactures; the third allowed free
trade to the British colonies. These bills were rap-
idly passed by both Houses. When the news of
this action reached Dublin it was received with
every demonstration of joy. The city was illu-
minated, bonfires blazed, and the cannon of the
garrison and the volunteers rivaled each other in
firing salutes.
CHAPTER LV.
LEGISLATIVE INDEPENDENCE — HOME RULE.
The more the Patriotic party forced the govern-
ment to restore, the more they were determined to
have. They had obtained some relief for trade and
they now resolved that their parliament should also
be free. In April, 1780, in a great speech, Grattan
moved his memorable resolution, that the king and
the Lords and Commons of Ireland, are the only
power on earth competent to enact laws to bind
Ireland. The question, however, was not put to a
division.
The next debate was on a bill to maintain and
pay the army. In England the army bill is not per-
manent; it is passed from time to time, lest the
army be used by the king or the government as an
instrument of oppression, as was the case when
kings, with an army at their back, did what they
pleased, in defiance of parliament or the people.
The army bill for Ireland was passed by the Irish
Parliament after a long contest, but when transmit-
ted to the English authorities it was changed to a
perpetual bill, the very thing they took care to avoid
in England.
In the Irish Parliament it was resolutely op-
posed and created great excitement and irritation all
over the country. Nevertheless, the government
party managed to carry it by wholesale bribery, in
spite of all opposition. In this instance, as in many
another, the action of the government in both Eng-
land and Ireland, appears to have been singularly
398 HISTORY OF IRELAND
unwise, as it aroused the Irish people at the very
time of war with America, France, Spain and Hol-
land. This measure, instead of allaying the spirit
of unrest now abroad in the country, only served to
intensify it.
Meantime, the enthusiasm for home rule was
spreading and the Patriots, led by Grattan, gained
strength and confidence by the great increase of the
volunteers, who, much against the will of the gov-
ernment, continued to be enrolled all over the coun-
try, till at length they numbered 100,000 men. Ire-
land was now all aglow with excitement, though
entirely peaceful, and the people hardly thought or
talked of anything but the question of a free parlia-
ment. In 1781 numerous meetings were held all
over Ireland.
What was more significant, there were reviews
of the volunteers everywhere, with the great ques-
tion always in their thought and speech. In Bel-
fast, Lord Charlemont rode through the crowded
streets at the head of his splendid corps. He issued
a stirring address, in which he hailed the spirit of
freedom that had enabled them, without outside
help, to provide against foreign invasion, and looked
forward to the achievement of legislative independ-
ence. In the fall session of 1781 Grattan again
took the lead. He was seconded, with almost equal
ability, by Flood, who, having thrown up his govern-
ment appointment, had been removed from his seat
in the Privy Council. He now joined the Patriots
and thereby regained much of his former popularity.
During all this session the government was
able, by a large distribution of patronage, to main-
tain a majority, so it would have been useless to
introduce a measure for legislative independence.
Finally Grattan, despairingof successfully contending
in parliament against the forces of corruption, deter-
mined that England should hear the voice of a more
HISTORY OF IRELAND 399
powerful pleader. A convention of 242 delegates from
the Ulster volunteers assembled at Dungannon in
February, 1782. Most of these were men of wealth
and position. The proceedings were managed chiefly
by Lord Charlemont, Grattan and Flood. Many
resolutions were adopted, the more important of
which declared that "the king, Lords and Commons
of Ireland alone have the right to legislate for the
country; that Poynings' law is unconstitutional and
a grievance and should be repealed; that the ports
of Ireland should be open to all nations not at war
with the king, and that as Irishmen, as Christians
and as Protestants we rejoice in the relaxation of the
penal laws."
The resolutions of the Dungannon convention
were adopted by all the volunteer corps in Ireland
and they formed the basis of the popular legislation
that followed. The same day that the Dungannon
resolutions were passed, a measure was introduced in
the Irish Parliament for the further relief of Cath-
olics, which, after some delay and opposition, was
finally passed. Catholics were now allowed to buy,
sell and otherwise dispose of lands; the laws against
celebrating and hearing mass and forbidding the
clergy of that faith to reside in Ireland were re-
pealed; Catholics were now allowed to teach, be guar-
dians of children, and to have a horse worth more
than ^5.
The next session of parliament was held in
April, 1782. Grattan moved an amendment to the
usual address. He was not well at the time and
when he arose was pale and trembling, but as he
proceeded he gathered strength and energy, and his
great speech moved the House to extraordinary en-
thusiasm. The amendment comprised the chief
demands of the Patriots, ending with the declara-
tion that the king and the Irish Parliament alone
had the right to make laws for Ireland, The
400 HISTORY OF IRELAND
amendment was unanimously adopted. Following
these proceedings, in May a resolution for the repeal
of **The Sixth of George I." was introduced in the
English House of Lords by Lord Shelburne and
in the Commons by Fox, to which both agreed.
This concession was communicated to the Irish Par-
liament by the lord-lieutenant towards the end of
May.
It was interpreted to mean that England at last
acknowledged the independence of the Irish Parlia-
ment, over which it renounced all authority, restored
to the Irish Lords the right to hear appeals, and in
general yielded to all the demands in Grattan's
amendments. The news was received in Ireland
with great rejoicing, and as an evidence of good-will
parliament voted to the British navy 20,000 men
and ;^100,000. It was felt and acknowledged that
this legislation was mainly due to Grattan, and in
appreciation the Irish Parliament voted him a grant
of ;^100,000. But he would accept only half the
amount, and that only after much persuasion.
CHAPTER LVI.
grattan's parliament.
When the Irish Parliament asserted, in May,
1782, that no constitutional question could ever
again arise to interrupt the harmony subsisting be-
tween the two countries, it gave assurances which it
was hard or impossible to carry out. In the newly
created order of things, as well as in the remains of
that which had previously existed, there lay concealed
the germs of future conflicts.
The pension list, which required the use of
Irish funds for the payment of Bnglish pensioners,
and the corrupting influence of patronage, still
flourished, and the great question of electoral reform
was as yet unconsidered. By far the greater num-
ber of the population, including all the Catholics,
were debarred from the exercise of the franchise, as
well as from every other political privilege, and it
scarcely could be expected that the section of the
people which composed an overwhelming major-
ity of the nation should remain quiet under these
conditions.
The absence of clearly defined stipulations with
regard to the existing relations between the two
countries already was beginning to be felt, and this
deficiency naturally increased the difliculties experi-
enced in the attempt to bring into unison the legis-
lation of both lands, especially when, as was fre-
quently the case, the interests of the two countries
were antagonistic. For the present the Irish Par-
liament found ample occupation in attending to its
402 HISTORY OF IRELAND
own immediate affairs, as it was of the first impor-
tance that the newly acquired constitution should be
brought into regular shape and order.
Laws were accordingly passed which formally
repealed the perpetual army bill and the Poynings
law. Another law established the Supreme Court
of Adjudicature and guaranteed the independence of
the judges. Flood maintained that it was not suifi-
cient that England had simply renounced all claim
to the authority which she formerly exercised over
Ireland, as any future British government would be
able to assert this claim, and that, therefore, it
was Ireland's duty to demand from England an
express renunciation of all legislative rights.
He accordingly made a motion in the House of
Commons that the opinion of all the Irish judges be
taken on the question. With great energy he advo-
cated the view that it was necessary to insist upon a
direct and formal renunciation of all such rights.
Grattan opposed the motion. It was his opinion
that if, at the very moment in which England had
withdrawn all her claims, Ireland persisted in de-
manding a formal renunciation of the same, it would
betray a defiant and suspicious spirit and be pro-
ductive of ill-will between the two countries.
In this view of the question Grattan met with
the approval of the House, and consequently Flood's
motion was lost. Afterwards Flood introduced his
motion in a modified form, but it was defeated, and
a resolution presented by Grattan was adopted, which
declared that the exclusive right of the Irish Parlia-
ment to legislate for Ireland already had been fully,
adequately and irrevocably acknowledged by the
British Parliament and that, therefore, Flood's motion
was unnecessary.
The parliamentary majority was with Grattan,
but the mass of the people, and especially the vol-
unteers, supported Flood, whose views were also
HISTORY OF IRELAND 403
generally shared by the legal profession. And so it
happened, in a remarkable manner, that Grattan's
popularity, which had attained an almost incredible
height, began to decline, while Flood, who had long
been the object of distrust, once more rose high in
popular favor.
Flood's opinion found a powerful supporter in
the new viceroy. Lord Temple, who considered it
but reasonable that England should make a formal
renunciation of those rights which she had actually
surrendered, and accordingly, in January, 1783, the
Knglish Parliament passed the act of renunciation,
declaring Ireland's right to be governed only by
the king and the Irish Parliament was "established
and ascertained forever, and shall at no time here-
after be questioned or questionable.'*
The free Irish Parliament stood greatly in need
of reform. Grattan and his followers fully believed
that reform would come in due time. With all its
shortcomings it encouraged manufacture and trade
and developed the natural resources of the country,
so that Ireland prospered under its administration,
especially the capital and the larger provincial towns.
"Once more the warehouses were filled, the looms
at work, the harbors gay with ships and the streets
noisy with traffic. During the fifteen years that
followed many fine houses were built and decorated
in Dublin; the quays, the bridges, the law courts
and the custom-houses all date from this short time
of prosperity."
Of the 300 members of the Irish Parliament,
more than 100 were pensioners of the government
or held government positions, all of whom voted as
they were directed by the authorities. Nearly all
the boroughs were in the hands of a few lords and
rich men, most of them on the side of the govern-
ment, so that any man might become a member of
parliament by paying a sum of money to some bor-
404 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
ough owner, who then ordered the people to elect
him, all of which was a money-making business,
for sometimes a person who wanted to hold office
paid as much as ;^1 0,000 for his seat. A parlia-
ment should consist of members elected by the free
votes of those who have the right to vote, but of the
300 members of this parliament, not more than
seventy or eighty were elected by the free votes of
the people.
This was a bad condition of affairs, but it was
difficult to remedy, for these placemen and borough
owners, and those whom they elected, v/ere the very
men who had in their hands the making, altering
and repealing of the laws. Then again, the spurious
boroughs formed in the time of the Stuarts still ex-
isted, many of which contained only about a dozen
electors, and it always was easy, by merely spending
a little money in bribery, to have members returned
who would support the government in anything.
But perhaps the worst feature was that the Catho-
lics were entirely shut out. The parliament did not
represent the nation, nor did it represent even the
small Protestant portion of it.
Although parliament, after 1782, had the name
of being independent of the English government,
it really was not, for the Irish authorities w^ere
directly under the influence of the English Coun-
cil, which could usually secure a majority in the
Irish Parliament. The government of Ireland was,
in fact, a sort of oligarchy, in which the people had
but little voice. Three great questions were now
before the country: Parliamentary reform, the re-
moval of the restrictions which still remained on
Irish commerce, and Catholic emancipation.
It was a generally accepted opinion among
members of the Irish Parliament that so long as
the volunteers were content with the honor of pre-
serving the tranquillity of the country and defend-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 405
ing it from foreign foes, they were worthy of all
praise, but that with the close of the war with
America their mission was ended, and that now,
since they had transformed themselves into debating
societies, their influence was dangerous rather than
helpful.
The volunteers, on the other hand, maintained
that every concession relating to the internal policy
of the country which had been wrung from England
was owing chiefly to their action, and not to that
of the parliament. They held, therefore, that it
would be dishonorable on their part to lay down
their arms so long as there was yet hope of gaining
further advantages for the nation. They now began
to direct their attacks against the parliament itself,
on the ground that a large proportion of its mem-
bers were dependent on the government, and, in
many cases, directly in its pay; and that, instead of
being popular representatives, they were in the
habit of betraying the interests of their country.
With these evils the volunteers felt themselves
called upon to grapple, hence they took up the
all-important question of parliamentary reform: to
put an end to corruption and to secure the election
of members of parliament by the free votes of the
people. They entered upon this new task with
enthusiasm. Committees were formed on every
hand and large meetings were held for the discussion
of the question, which were attended by delegates
from the various associations.
A convention of delegates from all the volun-
teer corps of Ireland was arranged to be held in
Dublin November 10, 1783. This proceeding was
very annoying to the government, which wanted no
reform of any kind in the parliamentary represen-
tation. The necessity for retrenchment in the civil
administration, which had grown unnecessarily costly
through the corruption of government, was strongly
406 HISTORY OF IRELAND
advocated by Grattan, but Flood proposed a reduc-
tion in tlie army, in which the House was against
him. Grattan also opposed the proposal with much
energy.
The early days of this session of parliament
witnessed the completion of the breach between
Grattan and Flood, the rival leaders of the Patriots
in the House. An estrangement had been gradu-
ally growing up between these two great men. The
Patriots in the House had long regarded Flood with
suspicion, and many looked upon him as a renegade
in consequence of his former acceptance of high
office under the government. Flood, on his part,
could not forget that he had been supplanted by
Grattan, a man much younger than himself, and
that, from having been the most prominent member
of parliament, he was now forced to occupy a sec-
ondary position, while Grattan felt aggrieved at his
rival's close alliance with the volunteers, which
threatened to rob him of his popularity in the
country.
It needed, therefore, but a slight cause to trans-
form the small rift into an open breach. There
were other differences between them. Grattan ad-
vocated the disbandment and dispersal of the volun-
teers; Flood wanted them kept in existence. Grat-
tan urged that their work was done and that their
presence was a menace to the newly acquired liber-
ties; Flood believed that their co-operation was still
needful for further securing Irish liberty. Grattan
was the steady advocate of Catholic emancipation;
Flood was strongly opposed to it.
In one of the debates there occurred a very bit-
ter and lamentable altercation between Grattan and
Flood, which terminated their friendship. In this
debate Flood taunted Grattan with the gift presented
to him by the nation, describing him as a ''mendi-
cant patriot. ' ' Grattan replied in a crushing speech,
HISTORY OF IRELAND 407
in whicH he sketched the political life of his assailant
in the darkest colors, being especially severe on him
for having supported the measure which sent 4,000
Irish troops to America. "A champion against the
rights of America," he cried, "the only hope of
Ireland and the only refuge of the liberties of man-
kind." Such a quarrel between such men was
the more to be regretted because each had the same
end in view, and each had special qualifications for
furthering that end which were not possessed by the
other. Yet, afterwards, each bore generous testi-
mony to the greatness of the other.
One hundred and sixty delegates from the col-
lective volunteer forces of Ireland assembled in the
Rotunda at Dublin, November 10, 1783, consist-
ing for the most part of men of high rank and posi-
tion. They elected as president their old and tried
leader. Lord Charlemont. The meeting was held
while parliament was in session close by, and al-
though there was unanimity in the assembly as to
the necessity for reform, there was a vast difference
of opinion as to the methods to be employed for its
accomplishment. Many were especially anxious to
extend the suffrage to Catholics, but Charlemont
and Flood were resolutely opposed to such a step.
Both of these leaders always had been willing
to relax the severities of the penal laws, but they
were, at the same time, opposed to conferring on the
Catholics political privileges. In this view they were
supported by a majority of the convention. After
much discussion certain reforms were agreed to,
which were introduced into parliament by Flood in
the form of a bill. The debate was a stormy one.
Yelverton, the attorney-general, led the opposition
to the measure, at the same time denouncing vehe-
mently the attempt to coerce parliament by an
armed body of men, and Fitzgibbon, the leading
opponent of reform, and others followed in the same
408 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
strain. Flood, in a fine speech, advocated the bill
and defended the action of the volunteers. Grattan
supported it, though he thought it was not the time
to bring the measure forward, and Curran made his
first parliamentary speech in favor of it. But the
government party was too strong and the reforms
were defeated.
The result produced great indignation and there
were fears of a serious collision between the volun-
teers and the government. But the counsel of Lord
Charlemont prevailed and the volunteer convention
adjourned. This was, in fact, the last important
meeting of the volunteers, and though they held to-
gether for a considerable time and continued to be
enrolled, they never afterwards played an important
part in the political affairs of Ireland.
The following year Flood made another attempt
at reform, and again he was supported by Grattan,
but the Irish government successfully resisted all
attempts at improvement. The volunteers, deserted
by their leaders, now formed themselves into clubs
and associations and held secret meetings. In the
leading cities they began to drill men in the use of
arms. Catholics as well as Protestants, whereupon
the government increased the army to 15,000 men
and took measures to revive the militia and make it
a force in the service of the crown. But the people
hated the militia and the country became greatly
disturbed. Scenes of violence occurred everywhere.
Even in Dublin mobs marched through the streets,
attacked soldiers, broke into shops, and ill-treated
those who sold English goods.
The commercial arrangements between England
and Ireland needed reform almost as much as did the
Irish Parliament, for the laws regarding imports and
exports were all unfair to Ireland. There were still
exorbitant duties on many kinds of Irish goods ex-
ported to England, but little or no tax on English
HISTORY OF IREIvAND 409
goods imported into Ireland; hence, while English
manufacturers and traders had free scope to sell
their goods in Ireland, the Irish could not dispose of
their products in England. This tended to repress
what remained of Irish manufactures and to keep
the country in a condition of poverty.
A movement was now made to remedy this,
and here the Irish government was on the side of
reform, though its ideas fell far short of those of
the Patriots. A measure designed by Pitt, which
would go far toward removing the injustice, was in-
troduced in the Irish Parliament by the govern-
ment and passed. It was immediately transmitted
to England for adoption, as, the restrictions having
been imposed by the English Parliament, it was
in England only that they could be removed. But
when the measure was proposed by Pitt there arose
violent opposition, and petitions against it poured
in from all parts of England, protesting against any
change.
Pitt then abandoned this measure and brought
in another, which was less favorable to Ireland, and
had it passed. On being transmitted to the Irish
Parliament in August, 1785, it was received by the
Patriots with an outburst of indignation. Grattan
denounced the measure in one of his finest speeches
and Flood attacked it with all his old-time fire and
energy. After a stormy all-night debate the gov-
ernment had so small a majority that it was deemed
prudent to withdraw the bill, which caused great
rejoicing in Dublin.
CHAPTER LVII.
THE UNITED IRISHMEN.
The Catholics were still held down by the penal
laws, and the farmers were harassed by middlemen.
But tithes and tithe collectors were perhaps the
leading influence for disturbance during the first
years of Grattan's parliament. All householders,
Catholics and Dissenters, as well as Anglicans, had
to pay tithes for the support of the clergy of the
established church.
These tithes probably would have been quietly
paid but for the action of the collectors, who gath-
ered them for absentee clergymen, or for those who
were resident but who, for various reasons, were un-
willing personally to collect them. These collectors
usually received a fixed percentage of the tithes for
their services, thus making it to their interest to raise
as much money as possible, and they were accus-
tomed to extort from the poor peasantry contribu-
tions far beyond what the law warranted.
As grazing lands were exempt, the tithes fell
chiefly on the poor cotters. A rich grazier paid no
tithes, while a half- starved cotter had to pay them
on his little plot, and this, of course, discouraged
tillage and tended to make grass land of the whole
country. The people of all faiths also had to pay
church-rate, a tax to keep the established churches
in repair. The payment of tithes and church-rate
was resented by the Dissenters as bitterly as by the
Catholics. Although it would not have been diffi-
cult to provide a substitute for tithes, the Irish gov-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 411
ernment obstinately resisted every attempt to settle
the matter, in spite of the earnest efforts of Grattan
and his party.
During 1785-86 Ireland was fearfully disturbed
and the peasantry formed secret societies for self-
protection. In Munster there was a revival of the
Whiteboys under the name of ' 'Rightboys. ' ' These
desperate men fell upon agents, middlemen, tithe
collectors and others. The tithe collectors, who
had made themselves especially odious by their
cruel exactions, were pursued mercilessly, often tor-
tured and maimed, and sometimes killed. Another
class, the curates of the established church, who re-
mained to bear the odium for which their superiors
were responsible, and striving to live on ;if 40 or
^50 a year, often suffered ill-treatment. They
were attacked by the Rightboys, and, with their
wives and children, driven out of their homes.
Many flew to the towns, the few who remained living
under military protection.
In Ulster another secret society had grown up
among the Protestants, called "Peep-o'-day Boys,"
afterwards known as "Protestant Boys" and "Wreck-
ers." These directed their hostilities against Cath-
olics, who, in self-defense, formed themselves into
bands called "Defenders." These two parties,
composed generally of the lowest class of the peas-
antry, did great damage, fought, tortured and killed
each other. So serious were the disorders that
bodies of volunteers were revived for the purpose of
maintaining peace, but this made matters worse, as
they took the side of the Protestant combatants and
occupied themselves in disarming the Defenders,
while the Protestant judges showed a like partiality.
The Defenders retaliated whenever and wherever
they could, and the feeling of the two parties grew
rapidly into one of intense bitterness.
The government was very much alarmed at the
412 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
state of the country, and there were long and anx-
ious discussions as to the best means of restoring
peace. Fitzgibbon, the attorney-general, who was
now the leading influence against remedial measures
of any kind, attempted to put down the disturbances
by causing the government to pass a drastic coercion
law giving the authorities more power to arrest and
punish the disturbers.
Grattan, convinced of the necessity for some
such measure, wished for one much less severe, and
succeeded in having stricken from the bill some
very dangerous clauses and limiting its duration to
three years. He also endeavored to have a parlia-
mentary inquiry into the causes of the discontent
and disorders, with a view to their remedy, but he
was overruled, and his ''engine of redress," as he
called it, was rejected.
The Patriots in parliament continued as vigilant
and active as ever and gave the government great
trouble. The usual means were employed to over-
come their influence. Probably at no previous
period was there so much political corruption as
during the administration of Buckingham, the lord-
lieutenant from 1787 to 1790. He bribed openly
and unsparingly wherever he thought it would pur-
chase supporters for the government party, and he
dismissed all holders of office under the government
who showed a disposition to oppose him. Many
persons were made peers and baronets and numbers
of peers were promoted, and a large amount was
added to the pension list, which had grown to the
enormous sum of ;^ 100, 000 annually. Finally
Buckingham became so unpopular that when he re-
tired from office he deemed it prudent to steal away
from Dublin in the night.
During 1790 Ulster was far more disturbed than
Munster. The Peep-o'-day Boys and the Defend-
ers increased and extended and continued their out-
HISTORY OF IRELAND 413
rages. Among the influential classes, who saw no
hope of reform by parliamentary means, the doc-
trines of the French Revolution found many sup-
porters. Committees were formed to stem the tide
of political corruption and to discuss the best meth-
ods of government. Many members of the Patriotic
party who had been leaders in the volunteers, formed
themselves into clubs which greatly influenced pub-
lic opinion, of which the Whig Club in Dublin and
the Northern Whig Club in Belfast were especially
noted. Both of these clubs included in their mem-
bership many historic personages. They unspar-
ingly exposed the evil system of the government,
but, safe in its pensioned and corrupt majority, it
continued its course unchained.
Ireland, like the other nations of Europe, was
at this time agitated by the stirring events that were
taking place in France. It had seen a bankrupt
and worn-out nobility compelled to call for assistance
from their misgoverned subjects. It had seen an
enthusiastic national assembly come to the rescue
and take the government into its own hands, and
the king, but yesterday an absolute monarch, obliged
to make the best of his position and consent to gov-
ern by the will of the people.
The highest hopes for France were entertained
by the Bnglish Whigs, who were ardent sympathiz-
ers in her early efforts. In Ireland, where a blood-
less revolution already had taken place, the progress
of the French struggle was followed with great in-
terest. In July, 1791, the Northern Whig Club
celebrated the anniversary of the taking of the
Bastile, the great government prison in Paris, with
processions, reviews and a banquet, where toasts
were drank to *'The Revolution," *'The National
Assembly of France," and "The Rights of Man."
But the new ideas of the French Revolution had
penetrated farther than to the leaders of the Patriots.
414 HISTORY OF IREI.AND
They were canvassed by all classes, and especially
by the younger members of the Irish bar. They
were eagerly seized upon by the remnant of the
Ulster volunteers and the political clubs that had
sprung from them.
The steady sympathy shown for America by the
Dissenters had led to the growth of liberal ideas in
the manufacturing towns of the North, and associa-
tions were formed with the object of promoting par-
liamentary reform and extending the franchise to
the Catholic population. These proceedings gave
great uneasiness to the government, which, with the
example of France before it, looked on such move-
ments with apprehension.
Theobald Wolfe Tone, a man of great determi-
nation, unselfish, and of remarkable persuasive
power, was one of the prominent leaders of public
opinion at this time. Though a Protestant, he was
appointed secretary to the Catholic committee in
Dublin, which brought the Catholics into closer rela-
tions with the Dissenters. He conceived the idea of
uniting the Catholic interest with the radical reform-
ers of the North, and accordingly wrote a pamphlet
on this scheme. He visited Belfast in 1791 and
founded in October of that year the '^Society of
United Irishmen," the objects of which were to
unite the people of all classes and religions in one
great organization, to reform parliament so as to
obliterate the corrupting influence of the govern-
ment, and to remove the grievances of all Irishmen,
regardless of creed.
The aim was to repeal all laws against Catho-
lics and Dissenters, the leaders believing that if the
people as a whole were united their demand for re-
form would not be ignored. Tone next formed a
branch of the society in Dublin, under the auspices
of the Catholic committee. James Napper Tandy,
a Protestant merchant of Dublin, was appointed its
HISTORY OF IRELAND 415
secretary. Notwithstanding the prevailing unrest
and disorder, business of every kind was extending
and the country was rapidly advancing in prosperity.
This was attributable to various causes, among
which were the removal of the most ruinous of the
restrictions on trade, the relief the Catholics from
their worse grievances, which enabled them to invest
their capital and engage in business and commerce,
and the comparative freedom of parliament, which
materially aided in the development of the resources
of the nation.
[CHAPTER LVIII.
PARTIAL EMANCIPATION OF THE CATHOLICS.
It was inevitable that the widespread dessemi-
nation of the doctrines which led to the French
Revolution should have a marked influence upon
the Catholic population of Ireland. While the
principles of liberty and equality were being enun-
ciated on every hand the Catholics of Ireland were
acutely reminded of the fact that they still were
debarred from the exercise of the franchise, that
they still were oppressed by numberless burdens
and restrictions, hence the time naturally appeared
opportune for making an attempt to obtain a re-
moval of these disabilities.
Accordingly, in February, 1791, a committee
was organized in Dublin, whose business it was to
undertake the agitation necessary for the attainment
of the objects sought. Various circumstances were
favorable to the aim of the Irish Catholics. It was
an event decidedly in their favor that at this time a
bill was passed by the English Parliament admitting
Catholics to municipal offices, to the bar, and to the
lesser government positions. What had been granted
to the English Catholics could not reasonably be
denied to the Irish Catholics.
The support that came to them from their old
friend in England, Edmund Burke, was of material
advantage. He still was as ardent a defender of the
Catholics as formerly, when by pen and speech he had
first advocated Catholic emancipation. Burke's sup-
port at this time was the more significant in that he
HISTORY OF IRELAND 417
had just published his celebrated book on the French
Revolution, which had been the means of completely
severing his connection with the Whig party. There-
after he was a favorite with the king and the aris-
tocracy, and consequently greater weight was attached
to his advocacy of the Catholic cause in government
circles than hitherto had been the case. But his
efforts were not confined to a mere vindication of the
claims of Catholics among the ruling classes of
England. He also sent his son Richard to Dublin
in order that, as secretary to the Catholic commit-
tee, he might be able to render assistance to that
body in any steps it might take for the accomplish-
ment of Catholic emancipation.
At this critical moment, however, a division
occurred among the Catholics which threatened their
cause. The circumstance that several members of
the committee had entered into relations with the
leaders of the United Irishmen now occasioned cer-
tain Catholic noblemen, headed by Lord Kenmare,
to cease their connection with the committee, and
also to present an address to the lord-lieutenant, in
December, 1791, in which they repudiated all asso-
ciation with the radical element on the committee
and declared that they looked solely to the political
wisdom of the government for the amelioration of
their grievances.
Thus at the very time when it was imperative
that union should be maintained, the Catholics were
divided into two parties, an aristocratic and a demo-
cratic party. The former included the Catholic no-
bility and bishops, who looked with horror on the
French Revolution and its excesses and were inclined
to be timid in agitating for their own emancipation.
The democratic party consisted chiefly of business men,
of whom the ablest was John Keogh, a Dublin mer-
chant. This party advocated pressing the Catholic
claims boldly, including the right to vote, which
418 HISTORY OF IRELAND
the aristocratic element wished to postpone to some
future time.
In December, 1792, the committee convened a
meeting of Catholics from different parts of Ireland
in Back Lane, Dublin (from which this assembly-
is sometimes called the "Back Lane Parliament"),
at which a petition to the king was proposed, asking
for admission to all the rights and privileges of citi-
zenship. Many of the seceders had rejoined the
committee. The petition was signed by Dr. Troy,
Catholic Archbishop of Dublin; by Dr. Moylan,
Catholic Bishop of Cork, and by all the country
delegates.
As they had good reason to believe that the
English government was better disposed towards
them than the Irish, they commissioned John Keogh
and four other delegates to present the petition to
the king direct instead of following the usual course
of sending it through the Irish authorities. On
their way the delegates passed through Belfast,
where they were given a grand reception. The
Presbyterian populace unhitched the horses from their
carriage and drew Keogh and his companions in
triumph through the streets. In January, 1793,
the petition was presented to King George III., who
received it graciously.
Meanwhile Burke had issued his celebrated let-
ter "On the Subject of the Roman Catholics in Ire-
land," in which he severely criticised former legis-
lation and characterized it as being at variance with
the laws of nature and of nations, and opposed both
to the constitution and the interests of Ireland, at
the same time making a stirring appeal in favor of
Catholic emancipation. This letter, in the form of
a pamphlet, was widely circulated throughout Eng-
land and Ireland and was the means of gaining
many new friends for the cause.
Numerous petitions were now addressed to the
HISTORY OF IRELAND 419
Irish House of Commons praying for the granting
of further privileges to the Catholics. One petition,
signed by six hundred Protestants of Belfast, de-
manded that the Catholics be placed on a perfect
equality with the Protestants, a fact that clearly
indicated the spread of the principles inculcated by
the United Irishmen.
Some slight concessions, under pressure, had
been made to the Catholics during 1792 by the Irish
government. The prohibition against mixed mar-
riages was removed; they were allowed to practice
at the bar, to employ as many apprentices as they
desired, and to erect schools without being compelled
to obtain the permission of the Anglican bishops.
The energetic action of the Catholics under Keogh
aroused great excitement among the ultra- Protest-
ants in the Irish Parliament, in whose eyes the
augmented committee appeared to be a kind of revo-
lutionary club.
William Pitt, the English statesman, and a
majority of the English cabinet were not so short-
sighted as Fitzgibbon and the other officials at the
head of the Irish government. In the dangerous
state of things on the continent, with the spread of
sympathy in Ireland for the French Revolution, and
while a war with France was quite probable, it was
considered of great importance that the Catholics
be not disaffected towards the government. If only
for the sake of tranquillity, it was deemed advisable
to make further concessions to the Catholics.
When Keogh returned to Ireland he was im-
pressed with the conviction that no opposition would
be offered by the British government to the complete
emancipation of the Catholics. In a speech from
the throne with which the lord-lieutenant opened
the Irish Parliament in January, 1793, special refer-
ence was made to the Catholics of the country in an
official document, in which **his majesty confides
420 HISTORY OF IRELAND
the consideration of this matter to the wisdom and
liberality of his parliament." This passage natur-
ally aroused the indignation of Fitzgibbon, who re-
cently had been elevated to the peerage under the
title of Lord Clare, as well as of other leaders of the
Anglican Church party, revealing, as it did, that
the principles which they professed suddenly had
been disavowed in Bngland. Nevertheless, the ad-
dress in reply to the speech, which was supported by
Grattan, and expressed the readiness of the House
to proceed to the work of Catholic emancipation,
obtained the assent of the majority. In the House
of Lords the opposition to the bill was led by Lord
Clare, who prophesied that the final consequence of
the measure would be the complete separation of
Ireland from England.
In April, 1793, mainly through the influence
of Burke and the English government, aided by
the powerful advocacy of Grattan and his party, but
much against the wish of the Irish government, a
bill was passed by the parliament of Ireland which
granted to the Catholics a substantial measure of
relief. The franchise was restored to them, so that
all who were forty shilling freeholders had the right
to vote for members of parliament, and as these free-
holders had grown very numerous, this enactment
gave the Irish Catholics considerable influence.
They were also permitted to enter Trinity College,
Dublin, and take degrees; many civil and military
positions were opened to them; they could serve as
jurors and justices of the peace, and the higher class
of Catholics were permitted to carry arms. An
effort was made to insert a clause allowing them to
sit in parliament, but this provision the Irish gov-
ernment succeeded in defeating.
But many disabilities remained, the more im-
portant of which were, aside from being debarred
from sitting in parliament, that no Catholic could
HISTORY OF IREI.AND 421
be lord-lieutenant, or lord-chancellor, or a privy-
councilor , or a fellow of Trinity College, or sheriff.
Still, the measure was a great relief and the Catho-
lics were very thankful for it. While Catholic
emancipation had thus advanced one step, parlia-
mentary reform, which was the second important
question of the hour, was being strenuously resisted
by the Irish government.
The pension list, however, which had gradually
attained to enormous proportions, was reduced to
;^ 80, 000 and the king was provided with a fixed
civil list. In the same session of parliament two
coercion bills were passed: The ''gunpowder act,"
which prohibited the importation and sale of arms
and gunpowder, and rendered their possession de-
pendent on a special license, was intended to disarm
the volunteers, while at the same time it was aimed
at the agrarian bands in the North. It was intended
as a precaution against the danger of invasion, for
France and England were at this time at war and
the sympathy of the United Irishmen for the French
revolutionary party was well known to the authori-
ties. The "convention act," which forbade the
holding of meetings for the purpose of drawing up
petitions to the king or parliament, and which pro-
hibited the election of delegates to such meetings,
was directed against the reform plans of the United
Irishmen, and at the same time it struck a blow at
the peaceful efforts of the Catholic committee. Its
purpose also was to prevent meetings of delegates
such as the "Back Lane Parliament."
The "convention act" was a virtual abolition
of the right to hold meetings and present petitions,
and it was carried by a large majority in July, 1793.
It was characterized by Grattan as an utterly uncon-
stitutional measure and as the boldest step towards
the introduction of martial law.
CHAPTER LIX.
EFFORTS FOR COMPLETE CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION.
Bver since the concession of independence to
the Irish Parliament an opinion had been forming
in England that it would be to the advantage of
Great Britain if the Irish Parliament were altogether
suppressed and a legislative union effected between
the two countries.
At the beginning of the 18th century, when the
parliament of Ireland petitioned to be incorporated
with the British Parliament, the latter paid no atten-
tion to the proposal. Later a strong feeling had
grown up in Ireland unfavorable to the idea of a
union. So intense was the feeling in Dublin that
in 1759, when the plan was debated in the Irish Par-
liament, mobs stopped the members in the streets
and compelled them to swear never to consent to
such a union. They broke into the House of Lords
when the House was not sitting, placed an old woman
on the throne, and searched for the journals, that
they might commit them to the flames. Now that
the Irish Parliament had freed itself from England's
veto, the idea of a union was still more obnoxious
to the Irish.
In England, where the trading classes dreaded
Irish competition, it was otherwise. They believed
that if the parliaments could be united all competi-
tion would be effectually checked. English public
men were beginning to exhibit an unworthy and
unreasonable jealousy of Irish independence and to
grudge what had been conceded. Pitt, it would
HISTORY OF IRELAND 423
seem, looked forward with some anxiety to a disa-
greement between the two parliaments and early
contemplated the absorption of the parliament of
Ireland.
In the summer of 1794 the moderate Whigs, or
Liberals, in England, alarmed at the violent course
of the radical oligarchy in France, which had usurped
control of the French government, deserted their
party and formed a coalition with Pitt. Among the
number were Edmund Burke, the Duke of Portland
and Lord Fitzwilliam. The price of their adhesion
on the question of the French war was the adoption
of Burke's policy on the Catholic question in Ire-
land. Burke and Fitzwilliam were for total emanci-
pation of the Catholics — the right to sit in parlia-
ment and the removal of all other restrictions. It
was upon their exclusion from these privileges that
the Protestant ascendency rested. It had been held
up by artificial means for a hundred years. Burke
believed that the time had come when the admission
of Catholics to equal rights with Protestants would
unite the Irish nation, which henceforth would be a
source of strength to England instead of a source of
danger.
This, apparently, was not the opinion of the
Protestants, who were violently opposed to conces-
sions of any kind. Grattan and his party held with
Burke. Pitt seemed convinced; at least, he was
willing to try the experiment, as, in case of failure,
he calculated on carrying out his favorite scheme of
legislative union. In August, Grattan, George and
William Ponsonby and Sir John Pamell went over
to England to arrange matters with Pitt. Regard-
ing the question of emancipation, Pitt told Grattan
that "it would not be brought on as a government
measure, but if the government were pressed they
would yield."
The minds of the people of Ireland became
424 HISTORY OF IRElvAND
greatly excited when it was known that Pitt had de-
cided to adopt the policy of conciliation, to drop
coercion, and to grant the Catholics complete eman-
cipation. Lord Fitzwilliam, a just and liberal man,
having large estates in Ireland, went over as lord-
lieutenant in January, 1795, with full authority to
completely emancipate the Catholics. When he
reached Dublin there was general rejoicing and he
was received with great enthusiasm.
There was to be a complete change of men and
measures and the government of Ireland was to be
intrusted to the leaders of the Irish Patriotic party.
The proposed measure would, it was believed, attach
the great majority of the Catholics to the empire, a
thing considered of vital importance, for the French,
at this time, were everywhere victorious, and there
were fears of a French invasion. Innumerable ad-
dresses and petitions poured in from Catholics and
Protestants alike from every part of Ireland. One
of the strongest addresses in favor of the measure
came from the Protestant corporation of Derry.
''Not to grant cheerfully," wrote the new lord-
lieutenant, ''all that the Catholics wish, will not
only be exceedingly impolitic but perhaps dangerous.
In doing this no time is to be lost. The disaffection
among the lower orders is universal." Fitzwilliam
at once removed Edward Cooke from the post of
under- secretary, and also John Beresford, the com-
missioner of customs, whose relatives held most of
the lucrative positions in his department. Both of
these officials had been identified with the system
Lord Fitzwilliam had come over to destroy.
Attorney General Wolfe and Solicitor General
Toler were told that they would have to give way to
George Ponsonby and Curran. Grattan refused
office, but gave general support to the new adminis-
tration. In joy of the good news parliament, on
motion of Grattan, voted ;^200,000 for the ex-
HISTORY OP IREI.AND 425
penses of the navy in the war with France and
20,000 men for the army.
Grattan, having previously arranged the mat-
ter with the lord-lieutenant, brought in a bill in
February for the admission of Catholics to parlia-
ment, and there was almost unanimous agreement
on the question in the House. But an unexpected
difficulty arose which disconcerted all the plans for
reform and blighted the hopes of the country. A
small but powerful faction in Dublin, led by Fitz-
gibbon, Beresford and Cooke, took determined steps
to defeat the bill. Beresford went over to England
and had an interview with the king, to whom he
made bitter complaints, in which he worked upon his
fears for the safety of the Protestant religion.
Fitzgibbon submitted an elaborate statement to
show that the king could not consent to the measure
without breaking his coronation oath. While this
was taking place in England, Fitzwilliam was per-
mitted to proceed openly with the measure in Dub-
lin. But when the whole country was in a state of
expectancy, and after the large supplies had been
voted, Pitt completely reversed his policy, the king
refused his assent, without which no bill could be-
come law, orders were sent to Dublin to stop the
measure, and the whole matter came to an end. Pitt
had but recently said that he would not risk a rebell-
ion in Ireland on such a question as Catholic eman-
cipation. He was, moreover, fully aware of the
critical condition of the country, but he did not
venture to remonstrate when the narrow-minded
king was obstinate, and he did not resign.
All sorts of excuses were made for the change
of front, such as "Fitzwilliam had misconceived and
exceeded his instructions," '*it would lead to conse-
quences which could not be contemplated without
horror and dismay," and "the king has the right
to remove and dismiss whom he pleases."
426 HISTORY 01^ IRELAND
Emancipation was abandoned, Beresford and
his friends were restored, and the old policy of hos-
tility to Catholics was resumed. The body of the
Catholics had been led to believe that the bill on
which their highest hopes were concentrated would
be carried by the government. The Irish Commons
had been led to believe that Lord Fitzwilliam, with
a changed system, would repeal all obnoxious laws.
A reform bill, it was admitted on all sides, would be
the necessary corollary of emancipation; and on the
strength of these promises the House had voted the
generous sum for the navy and the large force for
the army.
The country felt that it had been duped. The
cup which had been placed to its lips had been
dashed to the ground, and the hopelessness of de-
spair settled on the hearts of those who had fondly
believed that a new order of things was about to be
inaugurated. Catholics and Dissenters alike de-
plored the act of the British government. Lord
Fitzwilliam was recalled and left Ireland in March.
It was a day of general gloom. The shops in Dub-
lin were closed, all business was suspended, and the
city put on mourning. The parting viceroy's car-
riage was drawn through the streets by the leading
citizens.
The king's objections to emancipation were gen-
erally given as the reason for the sudden change of
front, but not a few believed that the whole scheme
was engineered by Pitt simply to obtain large sup-
plies from the Irish Parliament.
On the arrival in Dublin of Lord Camden, Fitz-
william's successor, Fitzgibbon's carriage was fol-
lowed by a threatening mob, stones were thrown,
and he escaped with difficulty serious injury. The
mob then turned to attack the houses of Beresford
and the speaker of the House of Commons, and
were only dispersed by the militia. All hope either
HISTORY OF IRELAND 427
of emancipation or parliamentary reform had van-
ished. Fitzgibbon and Protestant ascendency had
won the day, and the old coercive system remained.
The administration of Lord Camden was marked by
only one measure favorable to the Catholics — the
founding of the college at Maynooth.
During the time of the persecution the Catho-
lic clergy were educated on the continent, great
numbers of them at the colleges of St. Omer and
Douay, in France. But in the time of the French
Revolution these institutions had been swept away,
and in view of this fact Archbishop Troy of Dublin,
in the name of the entire Catholic clergy of Ireland,
presented a petition to the lord-lieutenant, in which
he dwelt upon the urgent necessity that existed in
that country for colleges and requested permission
to erect an institution for the education of the
Catholic clergy.
Pitt considered that the grant would tend to
make them loyal to the government, and it was
therefore determined, in 1795, to found the Catholic
College of Maynooth and to endow it with an annual
grant of ;^8,000. The college was opened in Octo-
ber, 1795, with fifty students.
Meanwhile in Ulster, where fanaticism and po-
litical excitement were rampant, the agrarian bands
continued to increase in strength, and notwith-
standing the exceptional legislation which was em-
ployed against them they committed greater excesses
than ever. With the object of restoring tranquil-
lity in that province the government, immediately
after the opening of parliament in January, 1796,
brought in an * 'indemnity bill," which aimed at se-
curing from possible prosecution any servant of the
state who, in his efforts to quell disturbances, might
overstep the limits of the law.
The next step was to arm the executive with
the powers of a fresh coercion act. An ''insurrec-
428 HISTORY OF IRELAND
tion bill" was introduced, which was intended to in-
vest officials with fuller powers for the suppression
of outrages. This act, which was passed by an
overwhelming majority, conferred upon the officials
the right to declare a county to be in a state of in-
surrection, and empowered them to intrude into any
house in search of arms, and to imprison every per-
son found abroad between sunset and sunrise. The
result of this measure was to make English rule in
Ireland more hateful and to drive fresh recruits into
the ranks of the United Irishmen.
The independent parliament was little more
than a farce. Not one-quarter of its members were
chosen by the people, the remainder being a venal
crew of placemen paid to pass measures dictated by
the British government. Reform was hopeless and
independence but a name. Disheartened and weary,
many of the Patriots failed to attend the sittings of
parliament in 1796. The next year Grattan and
his party made one last effort to induce the govern-
ment to temper coercion with conciliation. They
had taken the important step of ascertaining from
some of the leaders of the United Irishmen what
measure of reform would be acceptable to them, and
the latter declared that the following concessions
would satisfy them:
"A full representation of the people of Ireland,
without any religious distinction, based upon a prop-
erty qualification which parliament should deter-
mine; equal electoral districts, each containing six
hundred houses and returning two members; and a
provision that Roman Catholics should be equally
eligible with Protestants to seats in the House of
Commons and all offices of state."
This they asserted would put an end to agita-
tion. A reform bill was accordingly prepared em-
bodying these very reasonable demands. But the
House of Commons, which was merely the tool of
HISTORY OF IRELAND 429
the government, defeated the bill by an overwhelm-
ing majority. Grattan had made his last efiFort.
He felt that reform was hopeless and that the posi-
tion of his party had been reduced to an absurdity.
Determined not to be an accomplice in the future
conduct of parliament, and fearing that further op-
position, which could have no result, would only
lend encouragement to the United Irishmen, he de-
cided to resign from the House of Commons. Most
of his party followed his example.
*^We have offered you our measure," the great
leader said during the debate. *'You will reject it.
We deprecate yours. You will persevere. Having
no hope left to persuade or dissuade, and having
discharged our duty, we shall trouble you no more;
and from this day we shall not attend the House of
Commons." He kept his word. A general elec-
tion was at hand. With half the country under
martial law, the remainder agitated by the prospect
of invasion, and all the Protestant ascendency worked
up to the highest pitch of excitement, Grattan saw
that a general election would be little more than a
farce.
Accordingly, he refused to offer himself for re-
election by the citizens of Dublin. He bade fare-
well to his constituents and retired for a season to
his house in County Wicklow. Lord Henry Fitz-
Gerald, Grattan's colleague, also refused to stand
again for Dublin, and Curran, Lord Edward Fitz-
Gerald, Arthur O'Connor and others followed his
example. A few Patriots, hoping against hope,
were, however, returned to man the last redoubt of
the constitution. Of these the most conspicuous
was William Conyngham Plunket, a constitutional-
ist of the school of Edmund Burke.
The United Irishmen now rapidly increased in
numbers. The persecuted Catholics of Ulster, hope-
less of protection under the law, turned to this d^r-
430 HISTORY OF IRELAND
ing association for redress. Even some of the ad-
vanced and ardent reformers in parliament, having
lost all hope of constitutional reform, took the des-
perate and final step of appealing to force to right
those wrongs which peaceful agitation proved pow-
erless to redress. Thus the friends of liberty
were gradually, step by step, advancing towards
democracy.
Date Due
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BOSTON COL
3 9031 0121306.
4^2562
BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS
CHESTNUT HILL. MASS.
Books may be kept for two weeks and may
be renewed for the same period, unless re-
served.
Two cents a day is charged for each book
kept overtime.
If you cannot find what you want, ask the
Librarian who will be glad to help you.
The borrower is responsible for books drawn
on his card and for all fines accruing on the
same.
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