Opening
IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS
VOL. III.
2 vols. 8vo. 32_s._
IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS.
WITH A SUCCINCT ACCOUNT OF THE EARLIER HISTORY.
By RICHARD BAGWELL, M.A.
VOLS. I. and II.
From the First Invasion of the Northmen to the year 1578.
London: LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO.
IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS
WITH A SUCCINCT ACCOUNT OF THE EARLIER HISTORY
BY
RICHARD BAGWELL, M.A.
IN THREE VOLUMES
VOL. III.
LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
AND NEW YORK: 15 EAST 16th STREET 1890
All rights reserved
Preface
TO
THE THIRD VOLUME.
By a mistake which was not the author's, the title-pages of its first instalment described this book as being in two volumes. A third had, nevertheless, been previously announced, and this promise is now fulfilled. The Desmond and Tyrone rebellions, the destruction of the Armada, the disastrous enterprise of Essex, and two foreign invasions, have been described in some detail; and even those who speak slightingly of drum and trumpet histories may find something of interest in the adventures of Captain Cuellar, and in the chapter on Elizabethan Ireland.
A critic has said that your true State-paper historian may be known by his ignorance of all that has already been printed on any given subject. If this wise saying be true, then am I no State-paper historian; for the number of original documents in print steadily increases as we go down the stream of time, and they have been freely drawn upon here. But by far the larger part still remains in manuscript, and the labour connected with them has been greater than before, since Mr. H. C. Hamilton's guidance was wanting after 1592. Much help is given by Fynes Moryson's history. Moryson was a great traveller, whose business it had been to study manners and customs, who was Mountjoy's secretary during most of his time in Ireland, and whose brother held good official positions both before and after. Much of what this amusing writer says is corroborated by independent evidence. Other authorities are indicated in the foot-notes, or have been discussed in the preface to the first two volumes. Wherever no other collection is mentioned, it is to be understood that all letters and papers cited are in the public Record Office.
It has not been thought generally necessary to give the dates both in old and new style. The officials, and Englishmen generally, invariably refused to adopt the Gregorian calendar, but the priests, and many Irishmen who followed them, naturally took the opposite course. As a rule, therefore, the chronology is old style, but a double date has been given wherever confusion seemed likely to arise.
It has often been said that religion had little or nothing to do with the Tudor wars in Ireland, but this is very far from the truth. It was the energy and devotion of the friars and Jesuits that made the people resist, and it was Spanish or papal gold that enabled the chiefs to keep the field. This volume shows how violent was the feeling against an excommunicated Queen, and, whether they were always right or not, we can scarcely wonder that Elizabeth and her servants saw an enemy of England in every active adherent of Rome.
At first the Queen showed some signs of a wish to remain on friendly terms with the Holy See, but she became the Protestant champion even against her own inclination. Sixtus V. admired her great qualities, and invited her to return to the bosom of the Church. 'Strange proposition!' says Ranke, 'as if she had it in her power to choose; as if her past life, the whole import of her being, her political position and attitude, did not, even supposing her conviction not to be sincere, enchain her to the Protestant cause. Elizabeth returned no answer, but she laughed.'
The Elizabethan conquest of Ireland was cruel mainly because the Crown was poor. Unpaid soldiers are necessarily oppressors, and are as certain to cause discontent as they are certain to be inefficient for police purposes. The history of Ireland would have been quite different had it been possible for England to govern her as she has governed India--by scientific administrators, who tolerate all creeds and respect all prejudices. But no such machinery, nor even the idea of it, then existed, and nothing seemed possible but to crush rebellion by destroying the means of resistance. It was famine that really ended the Tyrone war, and it was caused as much by internecine quarrels among the Irish as by the more systematic blood-letting of Mountjoy and Carew. The work was so completely done that it lasted for nearly forty years, and even then there could have been no upheaval, but that forces outside Ireland had paralysed the English Government.
My best thanks are due to the Marquis of Salisbury for his kindness in giving me access to the treasures at Hatfield, and to Mr. R. T. Gunton for enabling me to use that privilege in the pleasantest way.
MARLFIELD, CLONMEL, March 17, 1890.
THE THIRD VOLUME.
Chapter XXXVI
REBELLION OF JAMES FITZMAURICE, 1579. PAGE
Papal designs against Ireland 1 James Fitzmaurice abroad 3 The last of Thomas Stukeley 6 Defencelessness of Ireland 8 Ulster in 1579 9 Fitzmaurice invades Ireland 10 Manifestoes against Elizabeth 13 Attitude of Desmond 17 Nicholas Sanders 17 Murder of Henry Davells 20 The Geraldines disunited 22 Death of Fitzmaurice 23
XXXVII. THE DESMOND REBELLION, 1579-1580
English vacillation 25 Progress of the rebellion 26 Last hesitations of Desmond 28 Desmond proclaimed traitor 31 Youghal sacked by Desmond 33 Ormonde's revenge 35 The Queen is persuaded to act 38 Irish warfare 40 Pelham and Ormonde in Kerry 42 Maltby in Connaught 43 State of Munster 44 Ormonde's raid 48 Rebellion of Baltinglas 51 A Catholic confederacy 52 Results of Pelham's policy 54 Low condition of Desmond 57
XXXVIII. THE DESMOND WAR--SECOND STAGE, 1580-1581
Arrival of Lord-Deputy Grey 59 The disaster in Glenmalure 60 Consequences 63 Spanish descent in Kerry 65 Siege and surrender of the Smerwick fort 72 The massacre 74 State of Connaught 79 An empty treasury and storehouses 79 The Earl of Kildare's troubles 80 Confusion in Munster 83 Raleigh 85 Ormonde superseded 87 Death of Sanders 89
XXXIX. THE DESMOND WAR--FINAL STAGE, 1581-1582
Partial amnesty--William Nugent 91 Maltby in Connaught 92 John of Desmond slain 93 Savage warfare 96 Recall of Grey 97 William Nugent's rebellion 99 Ormonde is restored 101 How ill-paid soldiers behaved 102 Desmond's cruelty 103 General famine 104 Abortive negotiations 105 The rebels repulsed from Youghal 107 Ormonde shuts up Desmond in Kerry 107 Last struggles of Desmond 108 Ormonde and his detractors 110 Death of Desmond 113 The Geraldine legend 114
XL. GOVERNMENT OF PERROTT, 1583-1584
Case of Archbishop O'Hurley 116 Spanish help comes too late 118 Murder of Sir John Shamrock Burke 119 Trial by combat 121 First proceedings of Perrott 122 Sir John Norris and Sir Richard Bingham 124 The Church 125 Munster forfeitures 126 The Ulster Scots 127 A forest stronghold 131 Proposed University 131 Hostility of Perrott and Loftus 134 State of the four provinces 135
XLI. GOVERNMENT OF PERROTT, 1585-1588
The MacDonnells in Ulster 138 Perrott's Parliament 140 Composition in Connaught 147 Perrott's troubles 148 The Desmond attainder 149 The MacDonnells become subjects 150 Bingham in Connaught 151 The Scots overthrown in Sligo 154 Perrott's enemies 157 Irish troops in Holland--Sir W. Stanley 161 The Irish in Spain 163 Prerogative and revenue 165 Bingham and Perrott 166 Perrott leaves Ireland peaceful 168 The Desmond forfeitures 169
XLII. THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA
Unprepared state of Ireland 172 Sufferings of the Spaniards--Recalde 173 Wrecks in Kerry, Clare, and Mayo 174 Wrecks in Galway 176 Alonso de Leyva 177 Wrecks in Sligo 180 Adventures of Captain Cuellar 183 Spanish account of the wild Irish 185 Summary of Spanish losses 188 Tyrone and O'Donnell 190 Wreck in Lough Foyle 191 Relics and traditions 192 The Armada a crusade 193 The last of the Armada 194
XLIII. ADMINISTRATION OF FITZWILLIAM, 1588-1594
Ulster after the Armada 196 O'Donnell politics 197 The Desmond forfeitures--Spenser 198 Raleigh 199 Florence MacCarthy 200 The MacMahons 201 Bingham in Connaught 203 O'Connor Sligo's case 208 Bingham and his accusers 210 Sir Brian O'Rourke 212 Mutiny in Dublin 217 Tyrone and Tirlogh Luineach 218 Rival O'Neills 220 Rival O'Donnells 221 Hugh Roe O'Donnell 222 Tyrone and the Bagenals 223
XLIV. ADMINISTRATION OF FITZWILLIAM, 1592-1594
Escape of Hugh Roe O'Donnell 226 O'Donnell, Maguire, and Tyrone 227 Trial and death of Perrott 228 Spanish intrigues 233 Fighting in Ulster 234 Recall of Fitzwilliam 236 Tyrone's grievances 237 Fitzwilliam, Tyrone, and Ormonde 238 Florence MacCarthy 240 Remarks on Fitzwilliam's government 241
XLV. GOVERNMENT OF RUSSELL, 1594-1597
Russell and Tyrone 242 Russell relieves Enniskillen 244 Tyrone generally suspected 245 The Wicklow Highlanders--Walter Reagh 246 Feagh MacHugh O'Byrne 247 Recruiting for Irish service 248 Soldiers and amateurs 250 Sir John Norris 251 The Irish retake Enniskillen 252 Murder of George Bingham 253 Tyrone proclaimed traitor 254 Quarrels of Norris and Russell 255 Ormonde and Tyrone 255 Bingham, Tyrone, and Norris 256 Death of Tirlogh Luineach O'Neill 258 Tyrone's dealings with Spain 258 A truce 259 O'Donnell overruns Connaught 260 Liberty of conscience 261 Confusion in Connaught 263 Elizabeth on the dispensing power 264 Norris and Russell 265 Story of the Spanish letter 267 Spaniards in Ulster 268 Bingham in Connaught 268 Bingham leaves Ireland 271 Crusade against English Protestants 272 Disorderly soldiers 273 Death of Feagh MacHugh 274 Dissensions between Norris and Russell 276 Bingham in disgrace 278
XLVI. GOVERNMENT OF LORD BURGH, 1597
Last acts of Russell 280 Norris and Burgh 282 Burgh attacks Tyrone 283 Failure of Clifford at Ballyshannon 285 Gallant defence of Blackwater fort 286 Death of Burgh 287 Death of Norris 288 Belfast in 1597 289 Disaster at Carrickfergus 290 Tyrone and Ormonde 291 Brigandage in Munster 292 Florence MacCarthy 293
XLVII. GENERAL RISING UNDER TYRONE, 1598-1599
Bacon and Essex 294 The Blackwater fort 295 Battle of the Yellow Ford 297 Panic in Dublin 300 The Munster settlement destroyed 301 The Sugane Earl of Desmond 302 Spenser, Raleigh, and others 305 The native gentry and Tyrone 307 Religious animosity 308 Weakness of the Government 309 O'Donnell in Clare 310 Tyrone in Munster 311
XLVIII. ESSEX IN IRELAND, 1599
Essex offends the Queen 313 His ambition 315 Opinions of Bacon and Wotton 316 Great expectations 318 Evil auguries 320 Sir Arthur Chichester 321 Essex in Leinster 323 In Munster 324 Siege of Cahir 325 Deaths of Sir Thomas and Sir Henry Norris 326 Harrington's defeat in Wicklow 328 Failure of Essex 331 Anger of the Queen 332 Death of Sir Conyers Clifford 336 Essex goes to Ulster 339 Essex makes peace with Tyrone 340 The Queen blames Essex 342 Who goes home without leave 343 Harrington's account of Tyrone 344 Reception of Essex at court 346 Negotiations with Tyrone 347 Folly of Essex 348 Liberty of conscience 349
XLIX. GOVERNMENT OF MOUNTJOY, 1600
Raleigh's advice 351 Tyrone's Holy War in Munster 352 Arrival of Mountjoy and Carew 353 Tyrone plays the king 354 Ormonde captured by the O'Mores 355 Carew in Munster--Florence MacCarthy 360 Docwra occupies Derry 361 Carew in Munster 363 O'Donnell harries Clare 365 Mountjoy and Essex 366 James VI. 368 The Pale 369 The midland counties 370 Mountjoy bridles Tyrone 372 Progress of Docwra 373 Relief of Derry 375 Spaniards in Donegal 376 Carew reduces Munster 377 The Queen's Earl of Desmond 379 The end of the house of Desmond 384
L. GOVERNMENT OF MOUNTJOY, 1601
Mountjoy and the Queen 386 Final reduction of Wicklow 387 Mountjoy and Essex 388 Confession of Essex--Lady Rich 389 The last of the Sugane Earl 391 Mountjoy in Tyrone 392 Plot to assassinate Tyrone 393 An Irish stronghold 394 Brass money 395
LI. THE SPANIARDS IN MUNSTER, 1601-1602
The Spaniards land at Kinsale 398 Mountjoy in Munster 399 The Spaniards come in the Pope's name 400 The siege of Kinsale 401 O'Donnell joins Tyrone 403 Spanish reinforcements 404 Irish auxiliaries 406 Total defeat of Tyrone 408 Kinsale capitulates 411 Importance of this siege 414 Great cost of the war 415
LII. THE END OF THE REIGN, 1602-1603
The Spaniards still feared 417 The Queen's anger against Tyrone 418 Carew reduces Munster 419 Siege of Dunboy 421 Death and character of Hugh Roe O'Donnell 425 Last struggles in Connaught 426 Progress of Docwra in Ulster 427 The O'Neill throne broken up 428 Last struggles in Munster 429 O'Sullivan Bere 430 Submission of Rory O'Donnell 432 Tyrone sues for mercy 433 Famine 434 Tyrone and James VI. 435 Death of Queen Elizabeth 437 Submission of Tyrone 438 Elizabeth's work in Ireland 439
LIII. ELIZABETHAN IRELAND
Natural features 441 Roads and strongholds 442 Field sports 444 Agriculture 445 Cattle 445 Fish 447 Trade and manufactures 447 Wine, ale, and whisky 448 Descriptions of the people 450 Tyrone's soldiers 451 Costume 452 Conversion of chiefs into noblemen 453 Bards and musicians 454 Tobacco 455 Garrison life 456 Spenser and his friends 457
LIV. THE CHURCH
Elizabeth's bishops 459 Forlorn state of the Church 460 Zeal of the Roman party 461 Bishop Lyon 463 Position of Protestants 464 Papal emissaries 465 Protestant Primates 466 Miler Magrath 468 The country clergy 469 Trinity College, Dublin 470 Irish seminaries abroad 472 Early printers in Ireland 473 Toleration--Bacon's ideas 474 Social forces against the Reformation 475
INDEX 477
MAPS.
MUNSTER To face p. 24. ULSTER To face p. 244.
Errata.
Page 18, line 12 from bottom, for provided to Killaloe read provided to Killala.
Page 56, bottom line, before Sanders insert and.
Page 384, line 4 from bottom, for Butler read Preston.
IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS.
XXXVI. REBELLION OF JAMES FITZMAURICE, 1579
[Sidenote: Papal designs against Ireland. Stukeley.]
Sidney's departure had been partly delayed by a report that Stukeley's long-threatened invasion was at last coming. The adventurer had been knighted in Spain, and Philip had said something about the Duchy of Leinster. The Duke of Feria and his party were willing to make him Duke of Ireland, and he seems to have taken that title. At Paris Walsingham remonstrated with Olivares, who carelessly, and no doubt falsely, replied that he had never heard of Stukeley, but that the king habitually honoured those who offered him service. Walsingham knew no Spanish, and Olivares would speak nothing else, so that the conversation could scarcely have serious results. But the remonstrances of Archbishop Fitzgibbon and other genuine Irish refugees gradually told upon Philip, and the means of living luxuriously and making a show were withheld. 'The practices of Stukeley,' wrote Burghley to Walsingham, 'are abated in Spain by discovery of his lewdness and insufficiency;' and he went to Rome, where the Countess of Northumberland had secured him a good reception. 'He left Florida kingdom,' said Fitzwilliam sarcastically, 'only for holiness' sake, and to have a red hat;' adding that he was thought holy at Waterford for going barefooted about streets and churches. 'It is incredible,' says Fuller, 'how quickly he wrought himself through the notice into the favour, through the court into the chamber, yea, closet and bosom, of Pope Pius Quintus.' An able seaman, Stukeley was in some degree fitted to advance the Pontiff's darling plan for crushing the Turks. The old pirate did find his way to Don John of Austria's fleet, and seems to have been present at Lepanto. His prowess in the Levant restored him to Philip's favour, and he was soon again in Spain, in company with a Doria and in receipt of 1,000 ducats a week.[1]
[Sidenote: Thomas Stukeley on the Continent.]
There was much movement at the time among the Irish in Spain, and the air was filled with rumours. Irish friars showed letters from Philip ordering all captains to be punished who refused them passages to Ireland, and the Inquisition was very active. One Frenchman was nevertheless bold enough to say that he would rather burn than have a friar on board, and those who sought a passage from him had to bestow themselves on a Portuguese ship. In 1575 Stukeley was again at Rome, and in as high favour with Gregory XIII. as he had been with his predecessor. The Pope employed him in Flanders, where he had dealings with Egremont Radcliffe. That luckless rebel had bitterly repented; but when he returned and offered his services to the queen, she spurned them and bade him depart the realm. From very want, perhaps, he entered Don John's service, and when that prince died he was executed on a trumped-up charge of poisoning him. Stukeley was more fortunate, for he had then left the Netherlands, and Don John took credit with the English agent for sending him away. Wilson was equal to the occasion, and said the gain was the king's, for Stukeley was a vain 'nebulo' and all the treasures of the Indies too little for his prodigal expenditure. It would be interesting to know what passed between the two adventurers, the bastard of Austria and the Devonshire renegade; between the man who tried to found a kingdom at Tunis, and talked of marrying Mary Stuart, conquering England, and obtaining the crown matrimonial, and the man who, having dreamed of addressing his dear sister Elizabeth from the throne of Florida, now sought to deprive her of the Duchy of Ireland. Like so many who had to deal with this strange being, perhaps the governor of the Netherlands was imposed upon by his vapourings and treated him as a serious political agent. After leaving Brussels he went to Rome, well supplied with money and spending it in his old style everywhere. At Sienna Mr. Henry Cheek thought him so dangerous that he moved to Ferrara to be out of his way. At Florence the Duke honoured Stukeley greatly, 'as did the other dukes of Italy, esteeming him as their companion.' But he was without honour among his own countrymen, and they refused a dinner to which he invited all the English at Sienna except Cheek.[2]
[Sidenote: Fitzmaurice on the Continent.]
James Fitzmaurice was already at Rome. He had spent the best part of two years in France, where he was well entertained, but where he found no real help. He received supplies of money occasionally. The Parisians daily addressed him as King of Ireland, but nothing was done towards the realisation of the title. Sir William Drury's secret agent was in communication with one of Fitzmaurice's most trusted companions, and his hopes and fears were well known in Ireland. At one time he was sure of 1,200 Frenchmen, at another he was likely to get 4,000; and De la Roche, who was no stranger in Munster, was to have at least six tall ships for transport. De la Roche did nothing but convey the exile's eldest son, Maurice, to Portugal, where he entered the University of Coimbra. Sir Amyas Paulet had instructions to remonstrate with the French Court, and the old Puritan seems to have been quite a match for Catherine de Medici; but there was little sincerity on either side. The Queen-mother's confidential agent confessed that all was in disorder, and that the French harbours were full of pirates and thieves, but she herself told Paulet that De la Roche had strict orders to attempt nothing against England. Having little hope of France, Fitzmaurice himself went to Spain, where his reception was equally barren of result. The Catholic King was perhaps offended at the Most Christian King having been first applied to, and at all events he was not yet anxious to break openly with his sister-in-law.[3]
[Sidenote: Fitzmaurice and the Pope.]
But at Rome, Fitzmaurice was received by Gregory with open arms. He was on very friendly terms with Everard Mercurian, the aged general of the Jesuits, who was, however, personally opposed to sending members of the order to England, Ireland, or Scotland; a point on which he was soon overruled by younger men. What the life of a Jesuit missionary was may be gathered from a letter written to the General about this time.
'Once,' wrote Edmund Tanner from Rosscarbery, 'was I captured by the heretics and liberated by God's grace, and the industry of pious people; twelve times did I escape the snares of the impious, who would have caught me again had God permitted them.'
But the harvest, though hard to reap, was not inconsiderable. Tanner reported that nobles and townsmen were daily received into the bosom of Holy Church out of the 'sink of schism,' and that the conversion would have been much more numerous but that many feared present persecution, and the loss of life, property, or liberty.
This chain still kept back a well-affected multitude, but the links were worn, and there was good hope that it soon would break.[4]
[Sidenote: Fitzmaurice expects to free Ireland.]
We know from an original paper which fell into the hands of the English Government, what were Fitzmaurice's modes and requirements for the conquest of Ireland. Six thousand armed soldiers and their pay for six months, ten good Spanish or Italian officers, six heavy and fifteen light guns, 3,000 stand of arms with powder and lead, three ships of 400, 50, and 30 tons respectively, three boats for crossing rivers, and a nuncio with twenty well-instructed priests--such were the instruments proposed. He required licence to take English ships outside Spanish ports, and to sell prizes in Spain. Property taken from Geraldines was to remain in the family, and every Geraldine doing good service was to be confirmed by his Holiness and his Catholic Majesty in land and title. Finally, 6,000 troops were to be sent to him in six months, should he make a successful descent.
As sanguine, or as desperate, as Wolfe Tone in later times, he fancied that England could be beaten in her own dominion by such means as these. Sanders, who was probably deceived by his Irish friends as to the amount of help which might be expected in Ireland, had no belief in Philip, whom he pronounced 'as fearful of war as a child of fire.' The Pope alone could be trusted, and he would give 2,000 men. 'If they do not serve to go to England,' he said, 'at least they will serve to go to Ireland; the state of Christendom dependeth upon the stout assailing of England.'[5]
[Sidenote: Fitzmaurice and Stukeley.]
Stukeley appears to have got on better with Fitzmaurice than with Archbishop Fitzgibbon, which may have been owing to the mediation of Sanders or Allen. The Pope agreed to give some money, and Fitzmaurice hit upon an original way of raising an army. 'At that time,' says an historian likely to be well informed about Roman affairs, 'Italy was infested by certain bands of robbers, who used to lurk in woods and mountains, whence they descended by night to plunder the villages, and to spoil travellers on the highways. James implored Pope Gregory XIII. to afford help to the tottering Catholic Church in Ireland, and obtained pardon for these brigands on condition of accompanying him to Ireland, and with these and others he recruited a force of 1,000 soldiers more or less.' This body of desperadoes was commanded by veteran officers, of which Hercules of Pisa (or Pisano) was one, and accompanied by Sanders and by Cornelius O'Mulrian, Bishop of Killaloe. Stukeley kept up the outward show of piety which he had begun at Waterford and continued in Spain, and he obtained a large number of privileged crucifixes from the Pontiff, perhaps with the intention of selling them well. It must be allowed that an army of brigands greatly needed indulgence, and fifty days were granted to everyone who devoutly beheld one of these crosses, the period beginning afresh at each act of adoration. Every other kind of indulgence might seem superfluous after this, but many were also offered for special acts of prayer, a main object of which was the aggrandisement of Mary Stuart.
Stukeley was placed in supreme charge of the expedition, which seems to have been done by the desire of Fitzmaurice, and the titles conferred on him by Gregory were magnificent enough even for his taste. He took upon himself to act as mediator between some travelling Englishmen and the Holy Office, and having obtained their release he gave them a passport. This precious document was in the name of Thomas Stukeley, Knight, Baron of Ross and Idrone, Viscount of Murrows and Kinsella, Earl of Wexford and Carlow, Marquis of Leinster, General of our Most Holy Father; and the contents are certified 'in ample and infallible manner.' Marquis of Leinster was the title by which Roman ecclesiastics generally addressed him.[6]
[Sidenote: Battle of Alcazar, 1578. Death of Stukeley.]
Stukeley left Civita Vecchia early in 1578, and brought his ships, his men, and his stores of arms to Lisbon, where he found nine Irish refugees, priests and scholars, whom Gregory had ordered to accompany him. He called them together, and, with characteristic grandiosity, offered a suitable daily stipend to each. Six out of the nine refused, saying: 'They were no man's subjects, and would take no stipend from anyone but the supreme Pontiff, or some king or great prince.' This exhibition of the chronic ill-feeling between English and Irish refugees argued badly for the success of their joint enterprise. After some hesitation, Sebastian of Portugal decided not to take part in this attack on a friendly power, and he invited the English adventurer to join him in invading Morocco, where dynastic quarrels gave him a pretext for intervention. Secretary Wilson was told that Stukeley had no choice, 'the King having seized upon him and his company to serve in Africa.' Sebastian had also German mercenaries with him. There was a sort of alliance at this time between England and Morocco, Elizabeth having sent an agent, with an Irish name, who found the Moorish Emperor 'an earnest Protestant, of good religion and living, and well experimented as well in the Old Testament as in the New, with great affection to God's true religion used in Her Highness's realm.' Whatever we may think of this, it is easy to believe that the Moor despised Philip as being 'governed by the Pope and Inquisition.' But it is not probable that this curious piece of diplomacy had much effect on the main issue. Stukeley warned Sebastian against rashness, advising him to halt at the seaside to exercise his troops, who were chiefly raw levies, and to gain some experience in Moorish tactics. But the young King, whose life was of such supreme importance to his country, was determined to risk all upon the cast of a die. The great battle of Alcazar was fatal alike to the Portuguese King and the Moorish Emperor. Stukeley also fell, fighting bravely to the last, at the head of his Italians. It may be said of him, as it was said of a greater man, that nothing in his life became him so much as his manner of leaving it.[7]
[Sidenote: Result of this battle.]
The Geraldine historian, O'Daly, says Fitzmaurice landed in Ireland entirely ignorant of Stukeley's fate, but this statement is contradicted by known dates. Nor can we believe that if Stukeley had come with his Italian swordsmen while Fitzmaurice lived, it would have fared ill with the English--that a little money and less blood would have sufficed to drive them out of Ireland. Yet it is probably true that the battle of Alcazar was of great indirect value to England. Sebastian left no heir, and the Crown of Portugal devolved on his great-uncle, Cardinal Henry, who was sixty-seven and childless. The next in reversion was Philip II., whose energies were now turned towards securing the much-coveted land which nature seemed to designate as proper to be joined with Spain. For a time, however, it was supposed that he would heartily embrace the sanguine Gregory's schemes, and rumours were multiplied by hope or fear.
[Sidenote: Ireland ill-prepared to resist invasion.]
Lord Justice Drury knew that the lull in Ireland was only temporary, but Elizabeth made it an excuse for economy, and disaffected people, 'otherwise base-minded enough,' were encouraged to believe that the government would stand anything rather than spend money. By refusing to grant any protections, and by holding his head high, Drury kept things pretty quiet, but he had to sell or pawn his plate. He hinted that, as there was no foreign invasion, her Majesty might continue to pay him his salary, and save his credit. Meanwhile, he had some small successes. Feagh MacHugh made his submission in Christ Church cathedral, and gave pledges to Harrington, whom he acknowledged as his captain. Desmond and his brother John came to Waterford and behaved well, and a considerable number of troublesome local magnates made their submissions at Carlow, Leighlin, Castledermot, and Kilkenny; twenty-nine persons were executed at Philipstown, but the fort was falling down, and this was little likely to impress the neighbouring chiefs. Drury's presence alone saved it from a sudden attack by the O'Connors. But a son of O'Doyne's was fined for concealment, and his father took it well, so that it was possible to report some slight progress of legal ideas. Meanwhile there was great danger lest the Queen's ill-judged parsimony should destroy much of what had been done in Sidney's time. Thus, the town of Carrickfergus had been paved and surrounded by wet ditches; the inhabitants had, in consequence, been increased from twenty to two hundred, forty fishermen resorted daily to the quay, and sixty ploughs were at work. But over 200_l._ was owing to the town, the garrison were in danger of starving, and it was feared that 'the townsmen came not so fast thither, but would faster depart thence.'[8]
[Sidenote: Ulster in 1579.]
Tirlogh Luineach O'Neill was now old and in bad health. It was again proposed to make him a peer; but this was not done, since it was evident that a title would make fresh divisions after his death. There were already four competitors, or rather groups of competitors, for the reversion; of whom only two were of much importance. Shane O'Neill's eldest legitimate son, known as Henry MacShane, was supported by one legitimate and five illegitimate brothers, and Drury's idea was 'by persuasion or by force of testoons' to make him a counterpoise to the Baron of Dungannon, whose ambitious character was already known. The bastardy of the baron's grandfather had been often condoned by the Crown, but was not forgotten and might be turned to account. Against the advice of his leeches old Tirlogh was carried forty miles on men's shoulders, to meet Bagenal at Blackwater, and said he was most anxious to meet Drury. Dungannon, who expected an immediate vacancy, begged hard for 200 soldiers, without which the MacShanes would muster twice as many men as he could. He promised not to go out of his own district as long as the old chief lived. Drury temporised, since he could do nothing else, and tried what effect his own presence in the North might have. The suddenness of his movement frightened Tirlogh, who got better, contrary to all expectation, and showed himself with a strong force on the top of a hill near Armagh, refusing however to come in without protection. This Drury refused on principle, and Tirlogh's wife, who was clever enough to see that no harm was intended, tried in vain to bring her husband to the Viceroy's camp. Meanwhile he and the Baron became fast friends, and the latter proposed to put away O'Donnell's daughter, to whom he was perhaps not legally married, and to take Tirlogh's for his wife. Drury made him promise not to deal further in the match; but his back was no sooner turned than the marriage was celebrated, and the other unfortunate sent back to Tyrconnell. At the same time Tirlogh gave another of his daughters to Sorley Boy MacDonnell's son, and the assistance of the Scots was thus supposed to be secured. There were rumours that Fitzmaurice would land at Sligo, and a general confederacy was to be looked for. Fitton, who had been long enough in Ireland to know something about it, saw that the Irish had great natural wits and knew how to get an advantage quite as well as more civil people, and that Tirlogh, like the rest of his countrymen, would submit while it suited him and no longer.[9]
[Sidenote: Fitzmaurice and Sanders sail for Ireland.]
After Stukeley's death James Fitzmaurice continued to prepare for a descent on Ireland. After his return from Rome he went to France, where he joined his wife, son, and two daughters. He then spent nearly three months at Madrid with Sanders, and obtained 1,000 ducats for his wife, who was then in actual penury at 'Vidonia' in Biscay. But he could not see the king, and professed himself indifferent to help from Spain or Portugal. 'I care for no soldiers at all,' he said to Sanders; 'you and I are enough; therefore let me go, for I know the minds of the noblemen in Ireland.' Some of Stukeley's men, with a ship of about 400 tons, had survived the Barbary disaster. O'Mulrian, Papal Bishop of Killaloe, came to Lisbon from Rome with the same men and two smaller vessels, and by the Pope's orders Stukeley's ship was given to them. Sanders accompanied the bishop, and there seem to have been about 600 men--Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Flemings, Frenchmen, Irish, and a few English. It was arranged that this motley crew should join Fitzmaurice at Corunna, and then sail straight to Ireland. A Waterford merchant told his wife that the men were very reticent, but were reported to be about to establish the true religion. When questioned they said they were bound for Africa, but the Waterford man thought they were going to spoil her Majesty's subjects. Meanwhile Fitzmaurice was at Bilbao with a few light craft. The largest was of sixty tons, commanded by a Dingle man who knew the Irish coast, but who ultimately took no part in the expedition. William Roche, who had been Perrott's master gunner at Castlemaine, and James Den of Galway, were also retained as pilots. A little later Fitzmaurice had a ship of 300 tons, for which he gave 800 crowns, several small pieces of artillery, 6,000 muskets, and a good supply of provisions and trenching tools. The men received two months' pay in advance.
Fitzmaurice's one idea was to raise an army in Munster, and he told an Irish merchant who thought his preparations quite inadequate, that 'when the arms were occupied' he made no account of all the Queen's forces in Ireland. He was accompanied by his wife and daughter and about fifty men, who were nearly all Spaniards. Sanders went to Bilbao after a short stay at Lisbon, and two merchants, one of Waterford and one of Wexford, who came together from the Tagus to the Shannon, reported that a descent was imminent. 'The men,' they said, 'be willing; they want no treasure, they lack no furniture, and they have skilful leaders.' To oppose a landing the Queen had one disabled ship in Ireland, and there were no means of fitting her out for sea.[10]
[Sidenote: The voyage.]
The French rover, De la Roche, in spite of Catherine de Medici's assurance, seems to have co-operated with Fitzmaurice. John Picot, of Jersey, bound for Waterford with Spanish wine, was warned at San Lucar by a Brest man that De la Roche and Fitzmaurice spoiled everyone they met. To avoid them Picot kept wide of the coast; nevertheless he fell in with eight sail 60 leagues N.W. of Cape St. Vincent. They fired and obliged him to lower a boat, and then robbed him of wine, oil, raisins, and other things of Spain. Picot saw twelve pieces of cannon in De la Roche's hold, but was warned significantly not to pry under hatches again. The Jerseymen were beaten, the St. Malo men spared, and all were told, with 'vehement oaths and gnashing of teeth,' that if they had been Englishmen they would have been thrown overboard--a fate which actually befell the crew of a Bristol vessel two or three days later. Finding that Picot was going to Ireland, his captors said they would keep company with him; but thick weather came on, and by changing his course, he got clear within twenty-four hours. A few days after Fitzmaurice was in Dursey Sound with six ships, and others were sighted off Baltimore. He picked up a fisherman and bade him fetch in Owen O'Sullivan Bere, but that chief refused, and three days later the invading squadron cast anchor off Dingle.[11]
[Sidenote: Fitzmaurice and Sanders reach Ireland.]
The portreeve and his brethren went off to speak with the strangers next morning. Some Spaniards whom they knew refused to let them come on board, and they sent at once to Desmond for help. The preparations for resistance were of the slightest. The constable of Castlemaine reported that he had only five hogsheads of wheat, two tuns of wine, three hogsheads of salmon, and some malt; and that he was dependent for meat upon such bruised reeds as Desmond and Clancare. There were neither men nor stores at Dublin, and no hope of borrowing even 500_l._ Cork had but five barrels of inferior powder, and no lead. At Waterford there were only 2,000 pounds of powder. All that Drury could do was to write letters charging the Munster lords to withstand the traitors, but a fortnight passed before he himself could get as far as Limerick.[12]
[Sidenote: They land at Dingle.]
Mr. James Golde, Attorney-General for Munster, writing from Tralee, thus describes the manner of Fitzmaurice's landing, which took place on the day after his arrival at Dingle:--
'The traitor upon Saturday last came out of his ship. Two friars were his ancient-bearers, and they went before with two ancients. A bishop, with a crozier-staff and his mitre, was next the friars. After came the traitor himself at the head of his company, about 100, and went to seek for flesh and kine, which they found, and so returned to his ships.'[13] On the same day they burned the town, lit fires on the hills as if signalling to some expected allies, and then shifted their berths to Smerwick harbour, taking with them as prisoners some of the chief inhabitants of Dingle. At Smerwick they began to construct a fort, of which the later history is famous. It was believed that Fitzmaurice expected immediate help out of Connaught. 'Ulick Burke is obedient,' said Waterhouse; 'but I believe that John will presently face the confederacy.' Drury could only preach fidelity, and commission Sir Humphrey Gilbert to take up ships and prosecute the enemy by sea and land.[14]
[Sidenote: Proclamation of Fitzmaurice.]
Fitzmaurice brought to Ireland two printed proclamations--one in English for those who spoke it and were attached to the English crown, the other in Latin for the Irish and their priests.
The first paper sets forth that Gregory XIII. 'perceiving what dishonour to God and his Saints, &c.... hath fallen to Scotland, France, and Flanders, by the procurement of Elizabeth, the pretensed Queen of England; perceiving also that neither the warning of other Catholic princes and good Christians, nor the sentence of Pope Pius V., his predecessor, nor the long sufferance of God, could make her to forsake her schism, heresy, and wicked attempts; now purposeth (not without the consent of other Catholic potentates) to deprive her actually of the unjust possession of these kingdoms, &c.' Any attack on the Crown of England is disclaimed; the usurper was alone aimed at, and the help of the English Catholics was considered certain. The Catholics were everywhere, but 'Wales, Chestershire, Lancastershire, and Cumberland' were entirely devoted to the old faith, and their proximity to Ireland increased their importance. Throughout England the husbandmen--the raw material of every army--were 'commonly all Catholics.' Elizabeth had a few friends indeed, but she would be afraid to send them away from her, and if Ireland remained united, all must go well. One great crime of Queen Elizabeth was her refusal to declare an heir-apparent; by espousing the cause of that heir, whose name is not mentioned, the reward of those who worship the rising sun might fairly be expected. Fitzmaurice explained that the Pope had appointed him general because he alone had been present at Rome, but that he intended to act by the advice of the Irish prelates, princes, and lords, 'whom he took in great part for his betters.' And his appeal ends thus: 'This one thing I will say, which I wish to be imprinted on all our hearts, if all we that are indeed of a good mind would openly and speedily pass our faith by resorting to his Holiness' banner, and by commanding your people and countries to keep no other but the Catholic faith, and forthwith to expel all heresies and schismatical services, you should not only deliver your country from heresy and tyranny, but also do that most godly and noble act without any danger at all, because there is no foreign power that would or durst go about to assault so universal a consent of this country; being also backed and maintained by other foreign powers, as you see we are, and, God willing, shall be; but now if one of you stand still and look what the other doth, and thereby the ancient nobility do slack to come or send us (which God forbid), they surely that come first, and are in the next place of honour to the said nobility, must of necessity occupy the chief place in his Holiness' army, as the safeguard thereof requireth, not meaning thereby to prejudice any nobleman in his own dominion or lands, which he otherwise rightfully possesseth, unless he be found to fight, or to aid them that do fight, against the Cross of Christ and his Holiness' banner, for both which I, as well as all other Christians, ought to spend our blood and, for my part, intend at least by God's grace, Whom I beseech to give you all, my lords, in this world courage and stoutness for the defence of His faith, and in the world to come life everlasting.'[15]
[Sidenote: Continuity of some Irish ideas.]
The whole document is a good example of the sanguine rhetoric in which exiles have always indulged, and of the way in which the leaders of Irish sedition have been accustomed to talk. The part assigned to continental powers and to English Catholics in the sixteenth century, was transferred to the French monarchy in the seventeenth, and to the revolutionary republic in the eighteenth; and now, in the nineteenth, it is given to the United States of America, and to the British working-man.
[Sidenote: A second proclamation.]
A translation of the shorter paper may well be given in full:--'A just war requires three conditions--a just cause, lawful power, and the means of carrying on lawful war. It shall be made clear that all three conditions are fulfilled in the present case.
'The cause of this war is God's glory, for it is our care to restore the outward rite of sacrifice and the visible honour of the holy altar which the heretics have impiously taken away. The glory of Christ is belied by the heretics, who deny that his sacraments confer grace, thus invalidating Christ's gospel on account of which the law was condemned; and the glory of the Catholic Church they also belie, which against the truth of the Scriptures they declare to have been for some centuries hidden from the world. But in the name of God, in sanctification by Christ's sacraments, and in preserving the unity of the Church, the salvation of us all has had its chief root.
'The power of this war is derived first from natural, and then from evangelical, law. Natural law empowers us to defend ourselves against the very manifest tyranny of heretics, who, against the law of nature, force us, under pain of death, to abjure our first faith in the primacy of the Roman Pontiff, and unwillingly to receive and profess a plainly contrary religion; a yoke which has never been imposed by Christians, Jews, or Turks, nor by themselves formerly upon us. And so since Christ in his gospel has given the help of the kingdom of heaven--that is, the supreme administration of his Church--to Peter, Gregory XIII., the legitimate successor of that chief of the Apostles in the same chair, has chosen us general of this war, as abundantly appears from his letters and patent (diploma), and which he has the rather done that his predecessor, Pius V., had deprived Elizabeth, the patroness of those heresies, of all royal power and dominion, as his declaratory decision (sententia), which we have also with us, most manifestly witnesseth.
'Thus we are not warring against the legitimate sceptre and honourable throne of England, but against a she-tyrant who has deservedly lost her royal power by refusing to listen to Christ in the person of his vicar, and through daring to subject Christ's Church to her feminine sex on matters of faith, about which she has no right to speak with authority.
'In what belongs to the conduct of the war, we have no thoughts of invading the rights of our fellow-citizens, nor of following up private enmities, from which we are especially free, nor of usurping the supreme royal power. I swear that God's honour shall be at once restored to Him, and we are ready at any moment to lay down the sword, and to obey our lawful superiors. But if any hesitate to combat heresy, it is they who rob Ireland of peace, and not us. For when there is talk of peace, not with God but with the Devil, then we ought to say, with our Saviour: I came not to bring peace on earth, but a sword. If then we wage continual war to restore peace with God, it is most just that those who oppose us should purchase their own damnation, and have for enemies all the saints whose bones they spurn, and also God himself, whose glory they fight against.
'Let so much here suffice, for if anyone wishes to understand the rights of the case he need but read and understand the justice and reasonableness of the fuller edict which we have taken care should be also published.'[16]
[Sidenote: How Fitzmaurice understood liberty of conscience.]
In these papers the arguments derived from the right to liberty of conscience, which all Protestants should respect, and from the Papal claims which all Protestants deny, are blended with no small skill; but Fitzmaurice, while demanding liberty of conscience for himself, expressly denies it to those who disagree with him.
[Sidenote: Desmond and Fitzmaurice.]
There can be no doubt that Desmond was jealous of James Fitzmaurice; and historians well-affected to the Geraldines have attributed the latter's rebellion to the ill-feeling existing between them. It is said that Lady Desmond, who was a Butler, had prevented her husband from making any provision for his distinguished kinsman. It was reported to Drury that Fitzmaurice had called himself Earl of Desmond on the Continent, and that this would be sure to annoy the Earl, whose pride was overweening. But this does not seem to have been the case. Fitzmaurice is not called Earl either in his own letters or in those written to him. The general of the Jesuits addresses him as 'the most illustrious Lord James Geraldine'; the Pope speaks of him as James Geraldine simply, and so he calls himself, sometimes adding 'of Desmond.' But that he should have been appointed general of a force which was to operate in Desmond's country was quite enough to excite suspicion. No sooner did the news of his arrival reach the Earl than he wrote to tell Drury that he and his were ready to venture their lives in her Majesty's quarrel, 'and to prevent the traitorous attempts of the said James.' He had nevertheless been in correspondence with Fitzmaurice, and had urged his immediate descent upon the Irish coast some eighteen months before.[17]
[Sidenote: Nicholas Sanders, the Jesuit.]
Not less important than Fitzmaurice was Dr. Nicholas Sanders, who acted as treasurer of the expedition. He was known by the treatise De Visibili Monarchia which Parker said was long enough to wear out a Fabius, and almost unanswerable, 'not for the invincibleness of it, but for the huge volume.' Answers were nevertheless written which no doubt satisfied the Anglican party, but the Catholic refugees at Brussels thought so highly of Sanders that they begged Philip to get him made a cardinal.
[Sidenote: Making the best of both worlds.]
The English were then in disgrace at Rome, where the appointment of a Welshman as Rector of the new college had caused a mutiny among the students, and Allen doubted whether his own credit was good, but it was upon him that the red hat was at last conferred. To Sanders must be ascribed most of what was written in Fitzmaurice's name, and that was a small part of what fell from his prolific pen. Queen Elizabeth, said the nuncio, was a heretic. She was childless, and the approaching extinction of Henry VIII.'s race was an evident judgment. She was 'a wicked woman, neither born in true wedlock nor esteeming her Christendom, and therefore deprived by the Vicar of Christ, her and your lawful judge.' Her feminine supremacy was a continuation of that which the Devil implanted in Paradise when he made Eve Adam's mistress in God's matters.' When a knowledge of Celtic was necessary Sanders's place might be taken by Cornelius O'Mulrian, an observant friar, lately provided to the see of Killaloe, or by Donough O'Gallagher, of the same order, who was provided to Killala in 1570. Letters in Irish were written to the Munster MacDonnells, Hebridean gallowglasses serving in Desmond, whom Fitzmaurice exhorts to help him at once--'first, inasmuch as we are fighting for our faith, and for the Church of God; and next, that we are defending our country, and extirpating heretics, barbarians, and unjust and lawless men; and besides that you were never employed by any lord who will pay you and your people their wages and bounty better than I shall, inasmuch as I never was at any time more competent to pay it than now.... We are on the side of truth and they on the side of falsehood; we are Catholic Christians, and they are heretics; justice is with us, and injustice with them.... All the bonaght men shall get their pay readily, and moreover we shall all obtain eternal wages from our Lord, from the loving Jesus, on account of fighting for his sake.... I was never more thankful to God for having great power and influence than now. Advise every one of your friends who likes fighting for his religion and his country better than for gold and silver, or who wishes to obtain them all, to come to me, and that he will find each of these things.'[18]
[Sidenote: Fitzmaurice appeals to Desmond.]
In the letter written by Sanders to Desmond in Fitzmaurice's name, the Earl is reminded that the latter 'warfareth under Christ's banner, for the restoring of the Catholic faith in Ireland.' Then, flying into the first person in his hurry, he says His Holiness 'has made me general-captain of this Holy War.' There are many allusions to Christ's banner and to the ancient glories of the Geraldines, and the epistle ends with a recommendation to 'your fellows, and to all my good cousins your children, and to my dear uncle your brother, longing to see all us, all one, first as in faith so in field, and afterwards in glory and life everlasting.'
A like appeal was made to the Earl of Kildare, and we may be sure that none of the Munster lords were forgotten. Friars were busy with O'Rourke, O'Donnell, and other northern chiefs, and the piratical O'Flaherties brought a flotilla of galleys, which might have their own way in the absence of men-of-war. Three of Fitzmaurice's ships sailed away, and were expected soon to return with more help. Thomas Courtenay of Devonshire happened to be at Kinsale with an armed vessel, and was persuaded by his countryman Henry Davells, one of the Commissioners of Munster, to come round and seize the remaining Spanish ships. Courtenay seems not to have been in the Queen's service; like so many other men of Devon, he was probably half-pirate and half-patriot. To cut out the undefended vessels from their anchorage was an easy and congenial task, and thus, to quote another Devonian, 'James Fitzmaurice and his company lost a piece of the Pope's blessing, for they were altogether destituted of any ship to ease and relieve themselves by the seas, what need soever should happen.' The O'Flaherties sailed away with the two bishops on Courtenay's arrival, but Maltby afterwards found their lair upon the shores of Clew Bay. One was promptly hanged by martial law; a second, who had property to confiscate, was reserved for the sessions, and a third was killed for resisting his captors; the rest were to be hanged when caught. Fitzmaurice had with him at Smerwick but twenty-five Spaniards, six Frenchmen, and six Englishmen, besides twenty-seven English prisoners whom he forced to work at the entrenchments. Provisions were scarce, and the whole enterprise might have collapsed had it not been for a crime which committed the Desmonds irretrievably.[19]
[Sidenote: Murder of Davells and Carter.]
On hearing of the landing in Kerry Drury had despatched a trusty messenger to confirm the Earl and his brother in their allegiance. The person selected was Henry Davells, a Devonshire gentleman who had served Henry VIII. in France, had afterwards seen fighting in Scotland, and had long lived in Carlow and Wexford, where he was well known and much respected. His countryman Hooker, who knew him, says he was not only the friend of every Englishman in Ireland, but also much esteemed by the Irish for his hospitality and true dealing. 'If any of them had spoken the word, which was assuredly looked to be performed, they would say Davells hath said it, as who saith "it shall be performed." For the nature of the Irishman is, that albeit he keepeth faith, for the most part, with nobody, yet will he have no man to break with him.' The same writer assures us that the mere fact of being Davells' man would secure any Englishman a free passage and hospitable reception throughout Munster and Leinster. He was equally valued by Desmond and Ormonde, an intimate friend of Sir Edmund Butler, and on such terms with Sir John of Desmond, whose gossip he was and whom he had several times redeemed out of prison, that the latter used to call him father. Davells now went straight to Kerry, saw the Earl and his brothers, whom he exhorted to stand firm, and visited Smerwick, which he found in no condition to withstand a resolute attack. Returning to the Desmonds he begged for a company of gallowglasses and sixty musketeers, with whom and with the aid of Captain Courtenay, he undertook to master the unfinished fort. Desmond refused, saying that his musketeers were more fitted to shoot at fowls than at a strong place, and that gallowglasses were good against gallowglasses, but no match for old soldiers. English officers afterwards reported that sixty resolute men might have taken Smerwick, and were thus confirmed in their belief that Desmond had intended rebellion from the first, and that Fitzmaurice, whose ability was undeniable, would not have taken up such a weak position without being sure of the Earl's co-operation. But religious zeal might account for that.
Davells, who was accompanied by Arthur Carter, Provost Marshal of Munster, and a few men, started on his return journey, prepared no doubt to tell Drury that nothing was to be expected of the Desmonds. John of Desmond, accompanied by his brother James and a strong party, followed to Tralee, surrounded the tavern where the English officers lay, and bribed the porter to open the door. Davells and Carter were so unsuspicious that they had gone to bed, and allowed their servant to lodge in the town. When Davells saw Sir John entering his room with a drawn sword he called out, 'What, son! what is the matter?' 'No more son, nor no more father,' said the other, 'but make thyself ready, for die thou shalt.' A faithful page cast himself upon his master's body; but he was thrust aside and Sir John himself despatched Davells.
Carter was also killed, and so were the servants. In a curious print the two Englishmen are represented as sleeping in the same bed. Sir John holds back the servant with his left hand and transfixes Davells with the right, while Sir James goes round, with a sword drawn, to Carter's side. Outside stand several squads of the Desmond gallowglasses, and armed men are killing Davells' followers, while Sanders appears in two places, carrying the consecrated papal banner, hounding on the murderers, and congratulating the brothers on their prowess. According to all the English accounts Sanders commended the murder as a sweet sacrifice in the sight of God, and two Irish Catholic historians mention it. But Fitzmaurice was a soldier, and disapproved of killing men in their beds. There is no positive evidence as to Desmond. Geraldine partisans say he abhorred the deed, but he never punished anyone for it, and Sir James was said to have pleaded that he was merely the Earl's 'executioner.' Desmond accepted a silver-gilt basin and ewer, and a gold chain only a few days after the murder.[20]
[Sidenote: Fitzmaurice and John of Desmond.]
'Landed gentlemen,' says Sidney Smith, 'have molar teeth, and are destitute of the carnivorous and incisive jaws of political adventurers.' The Munster proprietors held aloof with the Earl of Desmond, 'letting "I dare not" wait upon "I would,"' while the landless men followed his bolder and more unscrupulous brother. When Fitzmaurice disembarked, Desmond had 1,200 men with him; shortly after the murder of Davells he had less than 60; but Sir John was soon at the head of a large force. The activity of Maltby not only prevented any rising in Connaught, but also made it impossible for Scots to enter Munster. He lay at Limerick waiting till Drury was ready, and when the latter, who was ill, came to Limerick at the risk of his life, it was Maltby who entered the woods and drove the rebels from place to place. For a time Fitzmaurice and his cousin kept together, though it may be that the latter's savagery was disagreeable to the man who had seen foreign courts, and who was evidently sincerely religious, though the English accused him of hypocrisy. According to Russell, who gives details which are wanting elsewhere, the two marched together unopposed into the county of Limerick, where one of Sir John's men outraged a camp-follower. Fitzmaurice ordered him for execution, but Sir John, 'little regarding the Pope's commission, and not respecting murder or rape,' refused to allow this, and Fitzmaurice, seeing that he could not maintain discipline, departed with a few horsemen and kernes, nominally on a pilgrimage to Holy Cross Abbey, really perhaps to enter Connaught through Tipperary and Limerick, and thus get into Maltby's rear. In doing so he had to pass through the territory of a sept of Burkes, of whom some had been with him in his former enterprise. Fitzmaurice was in want of draught animals, and took two horses out of the plough. The poor peasants raised an alarm, and at a ford some miles south of Castle Connell the chief's son Theobald, who was learned in the English language and law, and who may have had Protestant leanings, appeared with a strong party. He was already on the look-out, and had summoned MacBrien to his aid.
[Sidenote: Death of Fitzmaurice.]
Fitzmaurice urged Burke to join the Catholic enterprise; he answered that he would be loyal to the Queen, and a fight followed. Burke had but two musketeers with him, one of whom aimed at Fitzmaurice, who was easily known by his yellow doublet. The ball penetrated his chest, and feeling himself mortally wounded, he made a desperate dash forward, killed Theobald Burke and one of his brothers, and then fell, with or without a second wound. 'He found,' says Hooker characteristically, 'that the Pope's blessings and warrants, his agnus Dei and his grains, had not those virtues to save him as an Irish staff, or a bullet, had to kill him.' The Burkes returned after the death of their leader, and, having confessed to Dr. Allen, the best of the Geraldines breathed his last. Lest the knowledge of his death should prove fatal to his cause, a kinsman cut off Fitzmaurice's head and left the bare trunk under an oak--an evidence of haste which shows that there was no great victory to boast of. The body was nevertheless recognised, carried to Kilmallock, and hanged on a gibbet; and the soldiers barbarously amused themselves by shooting at their dead enemy. 'Well,' says Russell, 'there was no remedy--God's will must be done, punishing the sins of the father in the death of the son. Fitzmaurice made a goodly end of his life (only that he bore arms against his sovereign princess, the Queen of England). His death was the beginning of the decay of the honourable house of Desmond, out of which never issued so brave a man in all perfection, both for qualities of the mind and body, besides the league between him and others for the defence of religion.'[21]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Strype's Annals, Eliz. lib. i. ch. i. and ii. i. Walsingham to Cecil, February 25, 1571, and Burghley to Walsingham, June 5, both in Digges's Complete Ambassador. Lady Northumberland to Stukeley, June 21, 1571, in Wright's Elizabeth. Answers of Martin de Guerres, master mariner, February 12, 1572; Examination of Walter French, March 30; report of John Crofton, April 13.
[2] Stukeley to Mistress Julian (from Rome) October 24, 1575, in Wright's Elizabeth, Motley's Dutch Republic, part v. ch. v.; Strype's Annals, Eliz. book ii. ch. viii.; Wilson to Burghley and Walsingham, February 19, 1577, and to the Queen, May 1, both in the Calendar of S. P. Foreign; Henry Cheek to Burghley, March 29, 1577; Strype's Life of Sir John Cheek. Stukeley left Don John at the end of February, 1577.
[3] Intelligence received by Drury, February 19, 1577, and April 16; Examination of Edmund MacGawran and others May 10; Paulet to Wilson, August, 1577, in Murdin's State Papers.
[4] Edmundus Tanner Patri Generali Everardo, October 11, 1577, in Hogan's Hibernia Ignatiana.
[5] Sanders to Allen, Nov. 6, 1577 (from Madrid) in Cardinal Allen's Memorials; James Fitzmaurice's instruction and advice (now among the undated papers of 1578) written in Latin and signed 'spes nostra Jesus et Maria, Jacobus Geraldinus Desmoniæ.'
[6] This passport, given at Cadiz in April, 1578, 'by command of his Excellency,' is in Sidney Papers, i. 263. O'Sullivan's Hist. Cath. lib. iv. cap. xv. O'Daly's Geraldines, ch. xx. Strype's Annals, Eliz. book ii. ch. xiii.
[7] Letter signed by 'Donatus Episcopus Aladensis,' David Wolf the Jesuit, and two other Irish priests, printed from the Vatican archives in Brady's Episcopal Succession, ii. p. 174. Edmund Hogan to Queen Elizabeth (from Morocco) June 11, 1577; Dr. Wilson to----, June 14, 1578, in Wright's Elizabeth.
[8] Drury to Walsingham, Jan. 6 and 12, 1579; to Burghley, Sept. 21, 1578; Drury and Fitton to Burghley, Oct. 10, 1578; Fitton to Burghley, Feb. 22, 1579. Note of services &c., town of Knockfergus in Carew, ii. p. 148.
[9] Drury to Walsingham, Jan. 6, 1579 (enclosing an O'Neill pedigree); to Burghley, Jan. 6 and Feb. 11, 1579; to the Privy Council, March 14; Fitton to Burghley, Feb. 12, 1579.
[10] Patrick Lumbarde to his wife (from Lisbon) Feb. 20, 1579; Nic. Walshe to Drury, Feb. 27; Declaration of James Fagan and Leonard Sutton, March 23; Drury to Walsingham, March 6; Desmond to Drury, April 20; Examination of Dominick Creagh, April 22, and of Thomas Monvell of Kinsale, mariner, April 30.
[11] July 17, 1579. Examination (at Waterford) of John Picot of Jersey, master, and Fr. Gyrard, of St. Malo, pilot, July 24; Lord Justice and Council to the Privy Council, July 22; Sir Owen O'Sullivan to Mayor of Cork, July 16; Portreeve of Dingle to Earl of Desmond, July 17. The story of the Bristol crew is told in Mr. Froude's 27th chapter, 'from a Simancas MS.'
[12] Lord Justice and Council to the Privy Council with enclosure, July 22, 1579; Waterhouse to Walsingham, July 23 and 26; Mayor of Waterford to Drury, July 25.
[13] James Golde to the Mayor of Limerick, July 22, 1579.
[14] Desmond, abp. of Cashel (Magrath), and Wm. Apsley to Drury, July 20, 1579; Waterhouse to Walsingham, July 23 and 24; Commission to Sir H. Gilbert, July 24; James Golde to the Mayor of Limerick, July 22.
[15] The signature is 'In omni tribulatione spes mea Jesus et Maria, James Geraldyne.'
[16] These two declarations are at Lambeth. In the Carew Calendar, they are wrongly placed under 1569, when Pius V. was still alive. They are printed in full in the Irish (Kilkenny) Archæological Journal, N.S. ii. 364.
[17] Desmond to Drury, July 19, 1579; Russell. The letter from Desmond's servant, William of Danubi, to Fitzmaurice, calendared under July 1579 (No. 37) certainly belongs to the end of 1577, just after Rory Oge had burned Naas.
[18] James Fitzmaurice to Alexander, Ustun, and Randal MacDonnell, July, 1579; these letters, with translation, were printed by O'Donovan in Irish (Kilkenny) Archæological Journal, N.S. ii. 362; Strype's Parker, lib. iv. cap. 15, and the appendix; Sanders to Ulick Burke in Carew, Oct. 27, 1579. In Cardinal Allen's Memorials is a letter dated April 5, 1579, in which Allen calls Sanders his 'special friend.'
[19] Fitzmaurice to Desmond and Kildare, July 18, 1579; Waterhouse to Walsingham, July 24; notes of Mr. Herbert's speech, Aug. 3; Maltby's discourse April 8, 1580; Hooker in Holinshed.
[20] Hooker and Camden for the English view of Desmond's conduct; Russell and O'Daly for the other side, and also O'Sullivan, ii. iv. 15. The picture is reproduced in the Irish (Kilkenny) Archæological Journal, 3rd S. i. 483. In his 27th chapter Mr. Froude quotes Mendoza to the effect that Davells was Desmond's guest; but Hooker says distinctly that he 'lodged in one Rice's house, who kept a victualling-house and wine tavern.' In a letter of Oct. 10, 1579, Desmond says his brother James was 'enticed into the detestable act.' E. Fenton to Walsingham, July 11, 1580; Lord Justice and Earl of Kildare to the Privy Council, Aug. 3, 1579. Examination of Friar James O'Hea in Carew, Aug. 17, 1580. Collection of matters to Nov. 1579.
[21] Irish Archæological Journal, 3rd S. i. 384; Four Masters; Camden; Hooker; O'Sullivan, ii. iv. 94. Waterhouse to Walsingham, Aug. 3 and 9, 1579. Fitzmaurice fell shortly before Aug. 20. O'Sullivan calls the place Beal Antha an Bhorin, which may be Barrington's bridge or Boher. This writer, who loves the marvellous, says a Geraldine named Gibbon Duff, was tended among the bushes by a friendly leech, who bound up his eighteen wounds. A wolf came out of the wood and devoured the dirty bandages, but without touching the helpless man. The Four Masters, who wrote under Charles I., praise Theobald Burke and regret his death.
XXXVII. THE DESMOND REBELLION, 1579-1580
[Sidenote: Vacillating policy of England.]
Sir John of Desmond at once assumed the vacant command, and Drury warned the English Government that he was no contemptible enemy, though he had not Fitzmaurice's power of exciting religious enthusiasm, and had yet to show that he had like skill in protracting a war. The Munster Lords were generally unsound, the means were wanting to withstand any fresh supply of foreigners, and there could be no safety till every spark of rebellion was extinguished. The changes of purpose at Court were indeed more than usually frequent and capricious. English statesmen, who were well informed about foreign intrigues, were always inclined to despise the diversion which Pope or Spaniard might attempt in Ireland; and the Netherlands were very expensive. Moreover, the Queen was amusing herself with Monsieur Simier. Walsingham, however, got leave to send some soldiers to Ireland, and provisions were ordered to be collected at Bristol and Barnstaple. Then came the news that Fitzmaurice had not above 200 or 300 men, and the shipping of stores was countermanded. On the arrival of letters from Ireland, the danger was seen to be greater, and Walsingham was constrained to acknowledge that foreign potentates were concerned, 'notwithstanding our entertainment of marriage.' One thousand men were ordered to be instantly raised in Wales, 300 to be got ready at Berwick, extraordinary posts were laid to Holyhead, Tavistock, and Bristol. Money and provisions were promised. Sir John Perrott received a commission, as admiral, to cruise off Ireland with five ships and 1,950 men, and to go against the Scilly pirates when he had nothing better to do. Then Fitzmaurice's death was announced, and again the spirit of parsimony prevailed. The soldiers, who were actually on board, were ordered to disembark. These poor wretches, the paupers and vagrants of Somersetshire, and as such selected by the justices, had been more than a fortnight at Bristol, living on bare rations at sixpence a day, and Wallop with great difficulty procured an allowance of a halfpenny a mile to get them home. The troops despatched from Barnstaple were intercepted at Ilfracombe, and all the provisions collected were ordered to be dispersed. Then again the mood changed, and the Devonshire men were allowed to go.[22]
[Sidenote: The Munster people sympathise with the rebellion.]
[Sidenote: Death of Drury, who is succeeded by Sir William Pelham.]
The Earl of Kildare, who was probably anxious to avoid fresh suspicion, gave active help to the Irish government, 'making,' as Waterhouse testified, 'no shew to pity names or kindred.' He exerted his influence with the gentry of the Pale to provide for victualling the army, and he accompanied the Lord Justice in person on his journey to Munster. The Queen wrote him a special letter of thanks, and Drury declared that he found him constant and resolute to spend his life in the quarrel. The means at the Lord Justice's disposal were scanty enough:--400 foot, of which some were in garrison, and 200 horse. He himself was extremely ill, but struggled on from Limerick to Cork, and from Cork to Kilmallock, finding little help and much sullen opposition; but the arrival of Perrott, with four ships, at Baltimore seemed security enough against foreign reinforcements to the rebels, and Maltby prevented John of Desmond from communicating with Connaught. Sanders contrived to send letters, but one received by Ulick Burke was forwarded, after some delay, to the government, and Desmond still wavered, though the Doctor tried to persuade him that Fitzmaurice's death was a provision of God for his fame. 'That devilish traitor Sanders,' wrote Chancellor Gerrard, 'I hear--by examination of some persons who were in the forts with him and heard his four or five masses a day--that he persuaded all men that it is lawful to kill any English Protestants, and that he hath authority to warrant all such from the Pope, and absolution to all who can so draw blood; and how deeply this is rooted in the traitors' hearts may appear by John of Desmond's cruelty, hanging poor men of Chester, the best pilots in these parts, taken by James, and in hold with John, whom he so executed maintenant upon the understanding of James his death.' No one, for love or money, would arrest Sanders, and Drury could only hope that the soldiers might take him by chance, or that 'some false brother' might betray him. Desmond came to the camp at Kilmallock, but would not, or could not, do any service. Drury had him arrested on suspicion, and, according to English accounts, he made great professions of loyalty before he was liberated. The Irish annalists say his professions were voluntary, that he was promised immunity for his territory in return, and that the bargain was broken by the English. Between the two versions it is impossible to decide. The Earl did accompany Drury on an expedition intended to drive John of Desmond out of the great wood on the borders of Cork and Limerick. At the place now called Springfield, the English were worsted in a chance encounter, their Connaught allies running away rather than fight against the Geraldines. In this inglorious fray fell two tried old captains and a lieutenant, who had fought in the Netherlands, and the total loss was considerable. Drury's health broke down after this, and instead of scouring Aherlow Woods the stout old soldier was carried in a litter to his deathbed at Waterford. As he passed through Tipperary, Lady Desmond came to him and gave up her only son as a hostage--an unfortunate child who was destined to be the victim of state policy.
Sir William Pelham, another Suffolk man, had just arrived in Dublin, and was busy organising the defence of the Pale against possible inroads by the O'Neills. He was at once chosen Lord Justice of the Council, and the Queen confirmed their choice.
Drury was an able and honest, though severe governor, and deserves well of posterity for taking steps to preserve the records in Birmingham Tower. Sanders gave out that his death was a judgment for fighting against the Pope, forgetting that Protestants might use like reasoning about Fitzmaurice.[23]
[Sidenote: Desmond still hesitates.]
Maltby was temporary Governor of Munster by virtue of Drury's commission, and had about 150 horse and 900 foot, the latter consisting, in great measure, of recruits from Devonshire. He summoned Desmond to meet him at Limerick, and sent him a proclamation to publish against the rebels. The Earl would not come, and desired that freeholders and others attending him might be excepted from the proclamation. Maltby, who had won a battle in the meantime, then required him to give up Sanders, 'that papistical arrogant traitor, that deceiveth the people with false lies,' or to lodge him so that he might be surprised. Upon this the Earl merely marvelled that Maltby should spoil his poor tenants. 'I wish to your lordship as well as you wish to me,' was the Englishman's retort, 'and for my being here, if it please your Lordship to come to me you shall know the cause.' It did not please him, and the governor made no further attempt at conciliation.[24]
[Sidenote: Maltby defeats the rebels.]
The encounter which gave Maltby such confidence in negotiation took place on October 3 at Monasternenagh, an ancient Cistercian abbey on the Maigue. The ground was flat, and Sir William Stanley, the future traitor of Deventer, said the rebels came on as resolutely as the best soldiers in Europe. Sir John and Sir James of Desmond had over 2,000 men, of which 1,200 were choice gallowglasses, and Maltby had about 1,000. Desmond visited his brothers in the early morning, gave them his blessing, and then withdrew to Askeaton, leaving his men behind.
'He is now,' said Maltby, 'so far in, that if her Majesty will take advantage of his doings his forfeited living will countervail her Highness's charges; and Stanley remarked that the Queen might make instead of losing money by the rebellion. After a sharp fight, the Geraldines were worsted, and the Sheehy gallowglasses, which were Desmond's chief strength, lost very heavily. The two brothers escaped by the speed of their horses and bore off the consecrated banner, 'which I believe,' said Maltby, 'was anew scratched about the face, for they carried it through the woods and thorns in post haste.' Sanders, if he was present, escaped, but his fellow-Jesuit, Allen, was killed. In a highly rhetorical passage Hooker describes this enthusiast's proceedings, and likens his fall to that of the prophets of Baal. Maltby's commission died with Drury, and he stood on the defensive as soon as he heard of the event.[25]
[Sidenote: Desmond and Ormonde.]
Ormonde had been about three years in England, looking after his own interests, and binding himself more closely to the party of whom Sussex was the head. Disturbance in Munster of course demanded his presence, and he prepared to start soon after the landing of James Fitzmaurice. 'I pray you,' he wrote to Walsingham, 'do more in this my cause than you do for yourself, or else the world will go hard.'
[Sidenote: Desmond is forced to say 'yes' or 'no.']
In thanking the Secretary for his good offices he said, 'I am ready to serve the Queen with my wonted good-will. I hope she will not forget my honour in place of service, though she be careless of my commodity.' A month later he was in Ireland, and after spending some days at Kilkenny, was present at the delivery of the sword to Pelham, whom he prepared to accompany to the south. He had the Queen's commission as general in Munster, and Kildare was left to guard the Ulster border. Little knowing the man he had to deal with, Desmond wrote to bid him weigh his cause as his own. 'Maltby,' he said, 'is a knave that hath no authority, who has been always an enemy to mine house.' To some person at Court, perhaps to Sidney, he recounted his services. Before the landing of Fitzmaurice he had executed three scholars, of which one was known to be a bishop. He had at once given notice of the landing, had blockaded Smerwick, and had helped to drive off the O'Flaherties, so that the traitors had like to starve. After Fitzmaurice's death he had broken down the fort and had been ready to victual Drury's army, had not the latter prepared to support his men by spoiling the Desmond tenants. Finally, he had delivered his son, and would have done more, but that many of his men had deserted while he was under arrest. All along he had feared the fate of Davells for his wife and son, knowing that his brother John hated them mortally. Maltby had none the less treated him as an enemy, and had in particular 'most maliciously defaced the old monument of my ancestors, fired both the abbey, the whole town, and all the corn thereabouts, and ceased not to shoot at my men within Askeaton Castle.' The letters which Ormonde received from Desmond--for there seem to have been more than one--were handed over to Pelham, who directed the writer to meet him between Cashel and Limerick, or at least at the latter place. He was to lose no time, for the Lord Justice was determined not to lie idle. Desmond did not come, but he had an interview with Ormonde for the discussion of certain articles dictated by Pelham. The principal were that Desmond should surrender Sanders and other strangers, give up Carrigafoyle or Askeaton, repair to the Lord Justice, and prosecute his rebellious brother to the uttermost. The penalty for refusing these terms was that he should be proclaimed traitor. After conferring with Ormonde, he wrote to say that he had been arrested when he went to the late Lord Justice. He refused to give up Askeaton, perhaps thinking it impregnable, but was ready to do his best against Sanders and his unnatural brethren if his other castles were restored to him. Pelham answered that the proclamation was ready and should be published in three days, unless Desmond came sooner to his senses. Still protesting his loyalty, he refused to make any further concession. A last chance was given him; if he would repair to Pelham's presence by eight next morning he should have licence to go to England. No answer was returned, and the proclamation was published as Pelham had promised. By a singular coincidence, and as if to presage the ruin of the house of Desmond, a great piece of the wall of Youghal fell of itself upon the same day. The die was cast, and the fate of the Geraldine power was sealed.[26]
[Sidenote: Desmond is proclaimed traitor. November, 1579.]
The proclamation asserted that Desmond had practised with foreign princes, that he had suffered Fitzmaurice and his Spaniards to lurk in his country, and that he had been privy to the murder of Davells and others. He was accused of feigning loyalty and of purposely allowing the garrison to escape from their untenable post at Smerwick. It was said that he had gone from the Lord Justice into Kerry against express orders, had seen that the strangers were well treated--being, in fact, in his pay--and had even placed some of them in charge of castles. He had joined himself openly with the proclaimed traitors his brothers, and with Dr. Sanders, that odious, unnatural, and pestiferous traitor; and quite lately his household servants had been engaged with the Queen's troops at Rathkeale. Perhaps the strongest piece of evidence was a paper found in a portmanteau belonging to Dr. Allen, 'one of the traitors lately slain,' which showed how the artillery found at Smerwick had been distributed by Desmond among the rebels. To detach waverers it was announced that all who appeared unconditionally before the Lord Justice or the Earl of Ormonde should be received as liege subjects. Besides Pelham, Waterhouse, Maltby, and Patrick Dobbyn, Mayor of Waterford, the subscribers to the proclamation were all Butlers; Ormonde and his three brothers, Lords Mountgarret and Dunboyne, and Sir Theobald Butler of Cahir. Some of these had been rebels, but all were now united to overwhelm the Geraldines and possibly to win their lands. 'There was,' said Waterhouse, 'great practice that the Earl of Ormonde should have dealt for a pacification, but when it came to the touch he dealt soundly--and will, I think, follow the prosecution with as much earnestness as any to whom it might have been committed.' He was, in fact, enough of an Irishman to wish that even Desmond might have a last chance; but when it came to choosing between loyalty and rebellion his choice was as quickly made as his father's had been when he resisted the blandishments of Silken Thomas.[27]
[Sidenote: Weakness of the Government.]
[Sidenote: The Queen grumbles.]
Finding himself in no condition to attack so strong a place as Askeaton, Pelham returned to Dublin, and Ormonde went to Waterford to prepare for a western campaign. He wrote to tell Walsingham of his vast expenses. His own company of 100 men was so well horsed and armed that none could gainsay it; but the ships were unvictualled, and Youghal and Kinsale were doubtfully loyal. 'I have the name of 800 footmen left in all my charge, and they be not 600 able men, as Mr. Fenton can tell, for I caused my Lord Justice to take view of them. They be sickly, unapparelled, and almost utterly unvictualled. There are 150 horsemen with me that be not 100.... My allowance is such as I am ashamed to write of.... I long to be in service among the traitors, who hope for foreign power.' But the Queen was very loth to spend money, and very angry at the imperfect intelligence from Ireland. The number of Spaniards who landed was never known. There were certainly more in the country than Fitzmaurice had at Smerwick; and the number of harbours between Kinsale and Tralee was most convenient for contraband cargoes. Her Majesty also grumbled about Pelham's new knights, lest they should be emboldened to 'crave support to maintain their degree.' There were but two, Gerrard the Chancellor, and Vice-Treasurer Fitton; both had served long and well, and it was customary for every new governor to confer some honours. Peremptory orders were sent that the pension list should be cut down, and the Queen even talked of reducing the scanty garrison. She was offended at the proclamation of Desmond, as she had been five years before, and found fault with everything and everybody. Pelham said the proclamation was an absolute necessity, since no person of any consideration in Munster would stir a finger until 'assured by this public act that your Majesty will deal thoroughly for his extirpation.' Before the proclamation, at the time of the fight with Maltby, Desmond had guarded the Pope's ensign with all his own servants, and 'in all his skirmishes and outrages since the proclamation crieth Papa Aboo, which is the Pope above, even above you and your imperial crown.' In despair the Lord Justice begged to be recalled, but Ormonde, who knew Elizabeth's humour, made up his mind to do what he could with small means. At this juncture, and as if to show that he had not been proclaimed for nothing, Desmond committed an outrage which for ever deprived him of all hope of pardon.[28]
[Sidenote: Desmond threatens Youghal.]
[Sidenote: Sack of Youghal]
The town of Youghal, which had always been under the influence of his family, was at this time fervently Catholic. The Jesuits kept a school there, and the townsmen had been 'daily instructed in Christian doctrine, in the celebration of the Sacrament, and in good morals, as far as the time permitted, but not without hindrance.' The corporation were uneasy, and sent two messengers, of which one was a priest, to fetch powder from Cork. Sir Warham St. Leger, who had been acting as Provost Marshal of Munster since Carter's death, gave the powder or sent it, and offered to send one of Sir Humphrey Gilbert's well-armed ships to protect the town, which the fallen wall laid open to attack. But the corporation refused to incur the expense of supporting Gilbert's sailors or Ormonde's soldiers, and made little or no preparation for their own defence. On Friday, November 13, Desmond, accompanied by the Seneschal of Imokilly, encamped on the south side of Youghal, near the Franciscan priory, which his own ancestors had founded. He gave out that his intentions were harmless, and that he had come only to send messengers to Ormonde, who could prove that he had been wrongfully proclaimed traitor. Meanwhile, he demanded wine for his men, and the mayor, who was either a fool or a traitor, let him take the ferry-boat, which was the only means by which the town might be relieved from the Waterford side. The Geraldines were to take two tuns of wine, and then depart; but during Saturday and Sunday morning they had frequent conversations with their friends on the walls. The result was that they mustered with evidently hostile intentions, and that the mayor ordered the gunners in the round tower, which commanded the landing-place, not to fire first, although they had a 'saker charged with a round shot, a square shot, and a handspike of an ell long, wherewith they were like to have spoiled many of them. One elderly man of the town commanded not to shoot off lest the rebels would be angry therewith, and threatened to kill the gunner if he would give fire.' Other sympathisers had already carried out ladders and hung ropes over the walls. With such help the rebels easily entered the breach, and in an hour all was over. Wives and maidens were ravished, and the town was ruthlessly sacked. Many of the inhabitants helped the work, 'notwithstanding that they saw the ravishing of their women, the spoiling of their goods and burning of their houses, and that (which is most detestable treason), notwithstanding that they saw the Earl and Sir John, the Seneschal of Imokilly, and divers others draw down in the court-house of the town her Majesty's arms, and most despitefully with their daggers to cut it and thrust it through.' 'This they did,' Ormonde added, 'as an argument of their cankered and alienated hearts.' The plunder was considerable, and the Four Masters sympathetically record that many a poor indigent person became rich and affluent by the spoils of this town. Some of Lord Barry's men were present, and most of the plunder was carried into his country and sold there. As one of Desmond's followers filled his pouch with gold and silver from a broken chest, he said to his master that the thing was very pleasant if not a dream. Dermot O'Sullivan, the historian's father, stood by and warned the Earl that the sweetest dreams might be but a mockery. The houses and gates were burned, and when Ormonde came a few weeks later he found the ruins in sole possession of a friar, who was spared for his humanity in securing Christian burial to Henry Davells. The mayor was caught and hanged at his own door, and it is hard to say that he did not deserve it.[29]
[Sidenote: Ormonde's revenge.]
[Sidenote: The garrisons.]
A fortnight after the sack of Youghal, Ormonde was in the field, and thus describes the nature of his three weeks' campaign: 'I was in Connello the 6th of this month, between Askeaton and Newcastle, two of the Earl's chief houses, and preyed, spoiled, and burned the country, even to the mountain of Slieve Logher, and returned to Adare without sight of the rebels. In the county of Cork I burned John of Desmond's town and castle called Lisfinnen, with all his land in Coshbride.' He then returned to Tipperary, and let his officers go to Dublin for a holiday. The soldiers had had bread only for one day out of four, and neither wine, beer, nor spirits. Beef and forage were scarce, and they had passed rivers, wading to the stomach, often seven times a day, and never less than three. They had to bivouack in the open, and camp-fires were hard to light in December. 'It is easier,' said Wallop, 'to talk at home of Irish wars than to be in them.' The garrisons had not a very pleasant time of it either. Sir George Bourchier was at Kilmallock with 200 men whose pay was two months in arrear. He had but fifty pounds of powder, and was unable to join Ormonde, for the chief magistrate locked the gates, and the inhabitants declared that they would vacate the town if he deserted them. Desmond was expected daily, and the fate of Youghal was before their eyes. Sir William Stanley and George Carew had been left by Maltby at Adare. Between them and Askeaton lay Kerry, which Sanders, in the Pope's name, had granted to Sir James of Desmond. One morning early Stanley and Carew passed 120 of their men over the Maigue in one of the small boats, then and now called cots, which scarcely held ten at a time. After spoiling the country and putting to the sword whomsoever they thought good, they were attacked by Sir James, the knight of Glin, and the Spaniards who garrisoned Balliloghan Castle. Though the enemy were nearly four to one, Stanley and Carew managed to keep them in check till they reached the river, and then passed all their men over without loss, they themselves being the last to cross. It may be supposed, though Hooker does not say so, that they were in some measure covered by the guns of the castle. A little later Desmond tried to lure the garrison out by driving cattle under their walls, failing which 'he sent a fair young harlot as a present to the constable, by whose means he hoped to get the house; but the constable, learning from whence she came, threw her (as is reported to me), with a stone about her neck, into the river.'[30]
[Sidenote: Rumours from abroad.]
[Sidenote: Ormonde's troubles.]
The English Government urged Pelham to go to Munster himself, and he waited for provisions at Waterford. Reports of the rebels' successes came to England constantly from Paris, for the war had become a religious one. By every ship sailing to France or Spain, 'Sanders,' said Burghley, 'sent false libels of the strength of his partners, and of the weakness of the Queen's part.' He spread rumours through Ireland that a great fleet was coming from Spain and Italy, bringing infinite stores of wine, corn, rice, and oil from the Pope and King Philip. Munster was to be Desmond's; Ulster Tirlogh Luineach's, and a nuncio was soon to come with full powers. It was reported that Desmond and Sanders distrusted each other, and that the latter was watched lest he should try to escape. His credit was probably restored by the arrival of two Spanish frigates at Dingle. It had been reported in Spain that both Desmond and Sanders were killed, but after conferring with the doctor, and learning that the rebellion was not yet crushed, the strangers promised help before the end of May. Sanders pleaded hard for St. Patrick's day, lamenting that he had been made 'an instrument to promise to perfect Christians what should not be performed.' Still, through the spring and summer he confidently declared that help was coming, and in the meantime both he and Desmond were hunted like partridges upon the mountains. Pelham begged the Queen to consider what her position would have been had a stronger force landed with James Fitzmaurice, and to harden her heart to spend the necessary money. Ormonde was still more outspoken, and we know from others that his complaints were well founded. 'I required,' he said, 'to be victualled, that I might bestow the captains and soldiers under my leading in such places as I knew to be fitted for the service, and most among the rebels. I was answered there was none. I required the ordnance for batteries many times and could have none, nor cannot as yet, for my Lord Justice sayeth to me, it is not in the land. Money I required for the army to supply necessary wants, and could have but 200_l._, a bare proportion for to leave with an army. Now what any man can do with these wants I leave to your judgment. I hear the Queen mislikes that her service has gone no faster forward, but she suffereth all things needful to be supplied, to want. I would to God I could feed soldiers with the air, and throw down castles with my breath, and furnish naked men with a wish, and if these things might be done the service should on as fast as her Highness would have it. This is the second time that I have been suffered to want all these things, having the like charge that now I have, but there shall not be a third; for I protest I will sooner be committed as a prisoner by the heels than to be thus dealt with again; taking charge of service upon me. I am also beholding to some small friends that make (as I understand) the Queen mislike of me for the spoil of Youghal, who most traitorously have played the villains, as by their own examination appeareth, an abstract of which I send to the Council, with letters written by the Earl of Desmond and his brethren to procure rebellion. There be here can write lies, as in writing Kilkenny was burned, before which, though it be a poor weak town, the rebels never came. They bragged they would spoil my country, but I hope if they do they will pay better for it than I did at the burning of theirs.'[31]
[Sidenote: Burghley and Walsingham persuade the Queen.]
Burghley and Walsingham strove hard to persuade the Queen that her economy would save nothing in the end, and Pelham's wise obedience in discharging some pensioners conciliated her a little. But he told the ministers that there had been no such peril in Ireland since the conquest, and Burghley agreed that the fire could only be quenched by English power. The conflagration would be great if not checked before the spring, for the Pope stood ever ready to supply Spanish coals, and the barbarous people ever willing to receive them. But even Burghley thought some one was to blame for proclaiming Desmond before there were means to punish him. The Queen, he told Ormonde, had yielded at last; 'money is sent, munition is in lading, and so is victualling for 2,000 men for three months, and for men to serve it is certain there are more in charge of the Queen's pay than ever there were in Ireland those hundreds of years, and for anything we hear no open hostilities in any part of Ireland but these in Munster, so as now merely I must say Butleraboo, against all that cry as I hear in a new language Papeaboo. God send you only your heart's desire, which I know is agreeable to mine, to banish or vanquish those cankered Desmonds and their sequels, and to plant again the Queen's Majesty's honour and reputation.... I and others have persuaded her Majesty that you may have authority to reclaim by offer of pardon all such as have offended, saving the Earl and his brothers, and such as murdered Davells, and such as have come from foreign parts to stir up the rebellion, among which I mean Sanders, that viper, whom of all others the Queen's Majesty is most desirous that you could take hold of.[32]
[Sidenote: Miseries of Irish service.]
Ormonde sent Zouch and Stanley to garrison Youghal, who lost two or three men in passing the Blackwater at Lismore. The Spaniards set fire to Strancally Castle, where some of the plunder had been stored, and ran out at the first sound of the English drums. Some were shot or drowned, and the remainder crossed over to Decies in boats, 'where they were very friendly welcomed in sight of the soldiers.' Sir James Fitzgerald of Dromana was loyal, but his followers preferred Desmond.
Stanley and Zouch went on to Youghal, driving before them 140 cows and 300 sheep, with which they fed their men. The poor soldiers suffered dreadfully from rain and cold, for they were penniless, and unroofed houses gave but scant shelter. For horses there was no food. Nor was this misery peculiar to Munster, since Athlone required repair to the extent of 500_l._, Maryborough and Philipstown did not keep their defenders dry, and the wall in each case was ready to fall into the ditch. Leighlin and Dungarvan were almost untenable. Dublin Castle was much dilapidated, and the timber of Kilmallock was rotting. English artificers must be brought over to repair damages, 'for lack of skill and desire to gain by the work had been the ruin of all.' On the other hand there were signs of wavering among the rebels. A ship with 400 soldiers from the Pope was driven ashore at Corunna, and four-fifths of the men perished. Sanders was suspected of wishing to steal away, and Desmond had him carefully watched.[33]
[Sidenote: Foreign sympathisers.]
At this juncture one French and one Spanish vessel arrived in Dingle Bay with letters for Desmond and earnest inquiries for Dr. Sanders. They were well received by the country people, and the bearers of the letters were conducted to Castle Island, where they found the men they sought. The foreigners said it had been reported at the French and Spanish Courts that no Geraldine was left alive. Sanders 'railed and reviled them' for not performing their promises to perfect Christians; but they still maintained that 20,000 were ready in Spain to sail with James Fitzmaurice's sons, and that France would also help as soon as the truth was known. One Owen O'Madden, a foster-brother of Desmond who was present, fell into Ormonde's hands, and reported that Desmond and Clancare had solemnly sworn to join their forces; 'which oath was ministered by Dr. Sanders, having a mass-book under their feet and a cloth spread over their heads.' He believed that Lord Fitzmaurice would also join them. The confederacy would command a force of 600 gallowglasses, 1,600 kerne, and 80 horse, with 200 musketeers. Sympathy with the Geraldines was universal among the common people, but men who had something to lose were in no great hurry to commit themselves. 'I suppose,' said Pelham, 'it is now considered that what foreign prince soever come, he will not allow to any freeholder more acres than he hath already, nor more free manner of life than they have under our Sovereign. And further I am told that some of the traitors themselves begin to consider that the invaders will put no great trust in those that do betray their natural prince and country.'[34]
[Sidenote: The nature of Irish warfare.]
Pelham left Waterford about the middle of February, having with great difficulty made such preparations as would give likelihood of a successful campaign. Unable to feed pack-horses he had his provisions carried by 300 strong countrymen, and he vigorously describes the pleasures of Irish warfare. 'Touching the comparison between the soldier of Berwick and the soldier of Ireland, alleging him of Berwick to serve in greater toil... all the soldiers of Christendom must give place in that to the soldiers of Ireland; and so much difference for ease... as is between an alderman of London and a Berwick soldier.' And surely, said Captain Zouch, 'the wars here is most painful, in respect that of force we make great and long journeys without victual, by which means we have great sicknesses, and, do what we can, we shall never fight with them unless they have a will to fight with us.' But a good spirit prevailed, and some companies stood so much on their reputation that they begged to be mustered, in order that their wants might be known and supplied.
[Sidenote: Pelham and Ormonde's campaign.]
[Sidenote: State of Kerry.]
Ormonde joined the Lord Justice at Clonmel, where it was arranged that the Butlers should guard the eastern end of the Aherlow fastness. Pelham proposed to make all the country from Askeaton to Dingle 'as bare a country as ever Spaniard set his foot in.' At Limerick he spent more than a fortnight listening to reports of what was going on in Kerry and in Spain, and waiting for Wallop and Maltby. On March 10, he met Ormonde at Rathkeale, and each assumed his own share in the work of destruction. The Earl took the Shannon side, the Lord Justice kept inland, spoiling the country far and wide, and meeting with no enemy. Near Shanet Castle, the original seat of the Desmonds, from which their war-cry was derived, the two camps were not far apart, and the country was scoured to the foot of the mountain in which the Feale and the Blackwater take their rise. According to the Four Masters, they killed 'blind and feeble men, women, boys and girls, sick persons, idiots, and old people.' Four hundred were killed in the woods on the first day, and everything that would burn was burned. The next camp was at Glin, where provisions had been collected, and thither came Lord Fitzmaurice, who thought it time to declare himself on the side of the strongest. Pelham and Ormonde then determined to cross the mountain into Kerry, having heard that ships with stores had arrived at Dingle. Desmond had already gone that way, in the belief that the ships were Spanish. Passing the Feale a little above Listowel, the army marched unopposed to Tralee, and on the march Patrick Fitzmaurice, heir of the house of Lixnaw, followed his father's example. Everything between Castle Island and Tralee was already destroyed by the rebels, and Tralee itself was burned, with the exception of the abbey. Three hundred men, under Sir William Stanley, were detached to Castlemaine, and Pelham and Ormonde started for Dingle, but were driven back by a furious snowstorm from the foot of the Corkaguiny mountains. In the meantime the ships had gone to the Shannon, and Pelham, having no means of feeding the men, was forced to withdraw Stanley's division from Castlemaine. Clancare had promised to come to Tralee, but excused himself on account of the floods. The same reason prevented Pelham from recrossing the mountains, and he lost men and horses in fording the Feale near its mouth. The ships had arrived at Carrigafoyle, and immediate preparations were made to besiege the castle, which was held by nineteen Spaniards and fifty natives. The commandant was Captain Julian, 'who reported himself to be a very notable engineer,' and who had undertaken the defence at Lady Desmond's request.
[Sidenote: Siege of Carrigafoyle.]
[Sidenote: Fate of the garrison.]
While the guns were being landed, Pelham went forward to view the place, and had a narrow escape from a shot. 'The villains of Spaniards, and the traitors,' said Ormonde, 'railed like themselves at Her Majesty, especially the Spaniards, who had named the King of Spain King of Ireland, which, or it be long, God willing, they shall dearly pay for.' Julian probably trusted in the strength of the castle, which was eighty-six feet high, surrounded by water, and defended by several outworks. On the land side there were two separate ditches, divided by a wall, and a strong earthwork. Vessels of 100 tons could go up to the wall at high tide. The pieces used in the attack were three cannons, one culver, and one culverin--not a formidable battery according to modern ideas, but too much for the old castle, even with Julian's additional defences. The hyperbolical Four Masters say such guns had never yet been heard in those parts, and that their tremendous and terror-awakening roar penetrated every glen from Mizen Head to Tuam. A cannonade of six hours on two successive days was enough to make a practicable breach, both in the barbican and in the inner walls, which crushed many as they crumbled. The storming party soon mastered all but one turret, which stood farthest from the battery and was still intact. The fire was directed upon this point, and two or three shots dislodged the garrison, of whom, says Zouch, 'there escaped not one, neither man, woman, nor child.' Those who swam were shot in the water, others were put to the sword, and a few who surrendered, including one woman, were hanged in the camp. Captain Julian was kept prisoner for two or three days and then hanged. The people began to curse Desmond for bringing all these misfortunes upon them. He answered that, if no help from Pope or Spaniard came before Whit Sunday, 'he should seek a strange country and leave them to make their compositions.' The castles of Balliloghan and Askeaton were abandoned by their defenders when they saw the fate of Carrigafoyle. Those at Askeaton escaped across the water, having made an unsuccessful attempt to blow up the castle. Pelham occupied this last stronghold, and the war was turned into a hunt.[35]
[Sidenote: Maltby in Connaught.]
Sanders and Desmond failed to rouse Connaught, which Maltby had retained after Drury's death. Richard Burke, called Richard-in-Iron, husband of the redoubtable Grace O'Malley, alone ventured to take arms, in reliance upon the remoteness and natural strength of his country. He collected all the loose men of Connaught, and sent for 100 Scots bowmen from Ulster. But the Hebrideans were disinclined to join him, knowing that they would encounter English soldiers and a skilful leader. To prevent them from changing their minds, Maltby secured Sligo, through which they would have to pass. O'Connor Sligo, and O'Rourke--proudest man in Ireland though he was--agreed to Maltby's terms, and kept their words as to excluding the Scots. He had two English companies, to which he added 100 native horse and 400 foot, who were to pay themselves in Richard-in-Iron's country, and to cost the Queen nothing. Burke, with 1,000 men, had spoiled the devoted district about Athenry and the northern part of Roscommon, but he fell back to the shore of the Atlantic before Maltby could advance. When all was ready, he went from Athlone to Ballinasloe, where he hung six malefactors, and to Athenry, where he hung another. At Clare Galway he met John and Ulick Burke, full of complaints against each other, between whom he made a truce till he had leisure to hear them. He then marched by Shrule and Ballintubber to Clew Bay. The fate of a castle held by a priest, who was Richard-in-Iron's chief counsellor, is thus concisely described:--
'I put the band, both men, women, and children, to the sword, whereupon all the other castles in the country were given up without any resistance.' Grace O'Malley came to him with some of her kinsmen, but her husband took refuge with his forces in the islands in Clew Bay. Burrishoole Abbey, where Maltby encamped, was chosen by him as the site of a walled town, the people seeming very willing to have such a place among them, and MacWilliam Burke, who accompanied the governor of his own accord, offered land for its support. Richard-in-Iron, finding Maltby too strong for him, said he was ready to submit. Maltby sent for boats to Achill, but the weather was so bad that he could not reach the island for a week. In the meantime more than 100 of Richard's followers had died of starvation--a little episode which shows what Irish warfare sometimes was. In the end Burke submitted to the garrison which Maltby left at Burrishoole. The return journey to Athlone was accomplished in deep snow. The starved pigs and sheep with lambs came out of the woods into the camp, but they were killed and eaten. During the siege of Carrigafoyle, Maltby was in Scattery Island, and in frequent communication with Pelham, whom he joined at Limerick after the capture of Askeaton.[36]
[Sidenote: Man-hunting and cattle-lifting.]
Pelham's policy was to bridle the Desmond district with garrisons, who should be strong enough to eat up the country and to fatten themselves while the rebels starved. He hoped thus to localise the struggle in Kerry, which was too poor to maintain it unaided. The English fleet would look after the seaboard. The garrisons seem to have performed perfectly their rather inglorious duties. Captains Hollingsworth and George Carew had 400 foot at Askeaton, but no horse, the soil being already too bare to support them. The soldiers drove in all the sheep and cows in their neighbourhood, and killed twenty-five of the miserable people who ventured to protect their own. Sir George Bourchier, who had two companies and a troop of horse at Kilmallock, scoured the woods in the Maigue district, and killed sixty rebels in a skirmish, making good his retreat and keeping his spoils. Captain Walker, who held Adare with 200 men, met Desmond himself on one of his forays. The Earl had about 600 followers, who stood well to their pikes for a time, but were ultimately worsted with great loss. Captain Dowdall occupied Cashel with 300 men. With the help of Lord Dunboyne, he penetrated Aherlow wood, and brought off 300 cows and ponies. Pelham himself lay chiefly at Limerick, endeavouring to do his part by diplomacy, while Ormonde was securing his own district against Piers Grace and other marauders.[37]
[Sidenote: Gathering at Limerick.]
The 10th of May was appointed by the Lord Justice for a general assembly of the Munster lords at Limerick. Ormonde duly appeared, bringing with him White, the Master of the Rolls, who had just returned from England, Lords Dunboyne and Power, and Sir James Fitzgerald, of Decies. Lord Roche and his son Maurice, who had for a time been in rebellion, and Sir Thomas, of Desmond, came from Cork, and two days later they were followed by Lord Barry and by Sir Cormac MacTeigue. Thomond also attended. None of the western chiefs came, but Lord Fitzmaurice took the precaution of sending an excuse.
[Sidenote: A new peer.]
Sir William Burke, whose son had lost his life in taking that of James Fitzmaurice, received his patent as Baron of Castle Connell, and was invested by Pelham. 'The poor old gentleman,' says White with a certain pathos, 'made many grateful speeches in his language, and afterwards, partly from joy at his own promotion, partly from some natural remembrance of his child, and partly from the unwonted straitness of his new robes, fell suddenly in a swoon at the Lord Justice's table, so as he was like to have been made and unmade all of a day.' Seeing no hopes of many more, Pelham conferred with those who were present. Lords Barry and Roche were sworn to forego their private quarrels and to join with Sir Cormac in prosecuting the rebels, under Ormonde's directions, and particularly in keeping them out of the county of Cork. A like arrangement was made for Waterford, and Ormonde was to encamp at or near Kilmallock. The deliberations at Limerick were concluded by a volley of three or four hundred shots. Pelham himself decided to visit Kerry. As the plot thickened round Desmond, Dr. Sanders redoubled his assurances that help was coming from Spain. Six thousand Italians were reported to be in the Asturias, ready to sail. The Lord Justice believed himself well able to deal with invaders; but want of provisions and arrears of pay in the Queen's army helped the rebels more effectually than any foreigners could do.[38]
[Sidenote: More hares than people.]
[Sidenote: An Earl's house.]
[Sidenote: Desmond, Pelham, and Ormonde.]
After many delays Pelham and Ormonde prepared to enter Kerry together. The Earl lay for some time at Cashel, where he enjoyed the society of Sir Nicholas White. The Master of the Rolls complained, with an odd professional conceit, that he had to sleep in the Star Chamber--that is, in the open air. Clancare's eldest son was also in the camp, and Ormonde declared that if the father wavered in his allegiance he would 'graft him to the highest tree in his country.' In the meantime they probably amused themselves with coursing, for White says her Majesty had many countries forsaken of the people, but well stocked with hares. Pelham left Askeaton on June 11, joined the Adare garrison, and marched up the Maigue valley to Bruree. Edward Fenton, who had an eye for scenery rare in those days, was struck by the pleasantness of the scene. The neighbourhood was explored next day, but neither rebels nor cows were caught in any numbers, and the army crossed the hills which divide Limerick from Cork. Ormonde broke up his camp and joined the Lord Justice near Buttevant, where Lord Roche came to pay his respects, but offered very little help in the way of provisions. Pelham noted this in silence, and led the whole army up the Blackwater, driving the MacCarthies and O'Callaghans with their cattle into the vast woods. Then followed a toilsome and dangerous march through the hills to Castle Island, the Lord Justice riding in advance and taking up the ground himself. 'The island,' says White, and the ruins attest it, 'is a huge, monstrous castle of many rooms, but very filthy and full of cowdung.' Desmond and Sanders had but just time to escape, and the Earl's store of whiskey, the Countess' 'kerchers,' and certain sacerdotal vestments, which Pelham calls masking furniture, fell into English hands. White secured the sanctus bell, a cruciform lectern, and the cover of a chalice. 'Never,' he says, 'was the bad Earl and his legate a latere so bested in his own privy chamber and county palatine of Kerry.' The bell and lectern went to his patron, Burghley, 'with remainder to Mrs. Blanche as toys.' The valley of the Maine was full of cattle, but the soldiers were too tired to do much. Some horsemen, who were fresher than the rest, managed to bring in 1,500 kine and 2,000 sheep. Desmond and his wife had a narrow escape, being carried on men's shoulders through the bogs. The best of the cattle were driven off into Clanmaurice, but Lord Fitzmaurice and his son Patrick came into the camp. While Pelham was at Castlemaine, Ormonde searched the recesses of Glenflesk, where he found no cattle, but many of the Munster chieftains, Clancarties, O'Callaghan, MacAuliffe, O'Donoghue More, and MacGibbon. All offered their services, and he took them with him to Pelham at Castlemaine. Thus accompanied, the whole army marched to Dingle, having first erected a breastwork to protect the cattle which had been taken.[39]
[Sidenote: Dingle found in ruins.]
[Sidenote: The peasantry starving.]
At Dingle they found the squadron under Winter. Pelham dined on board the admiral, and afterwards went round the fleet, the 'Swallow' firing a royal salute when he went ashore. Over 8,000 pounds of biscuit and 10 tuns of beer were sent round to Castlemaine. Dingle was found razed to the ground by John of Desmond, though the merchants' houses had been 'very strong and built castle-wise.' The inhabitants--Bonvilles, Hallys, Scurlocks, Knolts, Sleynys, Angelis, Goldings, Horgetts, Rices, and Trants--hung about their ruined homes, cursing John of Desmond, the Knight of Kerry, and Dr. Sanders, as the root of all their calamities. The 'Merlin' was sent to ransack the numerous harbours between Dingle and Cork, and Pelham and Winter scoured the country; on one occasion amusing themselves by robbing an eagle's nest. The Lord Justice came by chance upon a deserted bakehouse belonging to the Knight of Kerry, and converted a barrel of meal into bread, from the want of which he had suffered much. After exploring both shores of Dingle Bay, even sending light vessels to the Blaskets, lest cattle should be harboured in those sea-beaten islands, Winter and Pelham returned to Castlemaine, and came suddenly upon a vast herd of cows, not less than 4,000 or 5,000, which they drove into their entrenchments, and slaughtered for the use of the fleet. The starving people of the county besought Winter for God's sake to give them something to eat, and he left them twelve or thirteen cows, a few goats, and 400 sheep, the distribution being entrusted to one MacMorris, a steward of Desmond's, who had deserted, and from whom some service was expected. The works made for the protection of the prey were then razed, and the fleet sailed for Berehaven.[40]
[Sidenote: Ormonde's raid.]
[Sidenote: An Irish palace.]
Ormonde accompanied Pelham to Dingle and left him taking in provisions from the fleet, while he went to look for James of Desmond in O'Sullivan More's country. He had to pass round the bottom of Dingle Bay through Clancare's territory, and that Earl met him and acted as guide. The expedition was not expected, and 1,000 cows were taken; but Ormonde's followers were closely pursued by O'Sullivan's sons. Many of the chief's tenants sided with the strongest, and with their help the cattle were brought away. Beef and water formed the only sustenance of Ormonde's men, but they did not lag in their work of destruction, and the fires which they raised in Valentia were seen across the bay at Ventry. Pelham returned to Castlemaine, where Ormonde, 'sore broken in his feet with rocks,' joined him after a foray of five or six days. He brought with him Clancare, O'Sullivan Bere, and O'Sullivan More, 'Mac Fynyn of the kerne,' MacDonogh, O'Keefe, O'Callaghan, MacAuliffe, O'Donoghue More, and all the other chiefs of Desmond except O'Donoghue of Glenflesk, who remained with the traitor earl. The combined forces of Pelham and Ormonde encamped between Pallice and Dunloe by the lower lake of Killarney, 'the famous lake called Lough Leane.' Sir N. White notes forty islands, an abbey--Innisfallen--in one, a parish church in another, in a third a castle, 'out of which came to us a fair lady, the rejected wife of Lord Fitzmaurice, daughter to the late MacCarthy More, eldest brother to this earl.' Edward Fenton was struck by the beauty of the scene, and interested by the report of large mussels containing pearls; but he was even more struck by Clancare's castle, 'called the Palace, a name very unfit for so beggarly a building, not answerable to a mean farmer's house in England, and his entertainment much like to his dwelling.' O'Sullivan More's castle of Dunloe had been razed by Ormonde during his first expedition against James Fitzmaurice. Leaving Killarney, the army explored Glenflesk, which White, with Virgil and Cacus in his mind, calls a 'famous spelunce.' But they saw neither men, monsters, nor cattle, and crossed into the upper valley of the Blackwater without any fighting. Near Kanturk Ormonde recovered his heavy baggage which he had left behind on first entering the mountains, and the whole army then marched by Mallow to Cork. The citizens, who were half-starved themselves, were very slow to relieve their wants, but at last agreed to send Pelham 100_l._, to give 100_l._ worth of wine on credit, and 100_l._ worth of friezes, brogues, and stockings. Many soldiers had broken down for want of bread. They could do anything, White said, 'if they had but bread, the lack whereof is their only overthrow, and nothing else.'[41]
[Sidenote: Great gathering at Cork]
[Sidenote: Ormonde's speech.]
In White's quaint language, all the lords and chiefs 'cisalpine and transalpine the mountains of Slieve Logher,' were present at Cork. Pelham found that nearly as many Barries as Geraldines were in rebellion; but nevertheless Lord Barrymore stood the stiffest on his defence. The rest had very little to say for themselves, and Ormonde bitterly upbraided them, 'charging himself with their faults for making of Her Majesty to conceive so well of them.' Desmond, he says, was their ancient scourge and enemy, and as they had favoured him he would cast them off and bid each shift for himself. He would utterly refuse their friendship and spend his blood against them all and against all Her Majesty's enemies, 'advising such as loved him to follow his ways, and such as would not bade them defiance, swearing a great oath and clapping his hand upon the Bible, that if Her Majesty did proclaim them traitors with the rest he would lay it on their skins, and in conclusion advised the Lord Justice to carry them all with him to Limerick till better order were taken with them.' All were received to mercy except Lord Barrymore, who was committed for trial. 'He is,' said Ormonde, 'an arrant Papist, who a long time kept in his house Dr. Tanner, made bishop here by the Pope, who died in my Lord of Upper Ossory's house, being secretly kept there. Believe me, Mr. Secretary, you shall find my Lord of Upper Ossory as bad a man as may be.' Pelham took Clancare, Barrymore, and several others with him, and, having been delayed at Mallow by a summer flood in the Blackwater, arrived at Limerick without further adventure. He professed himself fairly satisfied with the progress made. Frequent inroads, and still more the steady pressure of the garrisons, would soon starve out the rebels, unless help came from abroad. In that case, he said, 'I look their strength will be infinitely multiplied.'[42]
[Sidenote: Rebellion of Viscount Baltinglas.]
As if to fill the time till the Spaniards came, a movement now began which defeated Pelham's calculations. The new rebel was James Eustace, who had lately succeeded his father as Viscount Baltinglas, and who was an enthusiastic Catholic. He was already connected with the turbulent O'Byrnes, and his father had been in opposition on the cess question; but it is clear that religion was the chief motive. Before he succeeded to the title, Sanders and others persuaded him to go to Rome, and what he saw there under Gregory XIII. had exactly a contrary effect on him to what the Rome of Leo X. had upon Luther. On his return he heard mass, boldly gloried in the fact before the Ecclesiastical Commission, and was mulcted in the statutable fine of 100 marks, Sidney quaintly declaring that he could not countenance 'Papistry and abolished religion.' Loftus was told to exact the money or a bond, and to imprison in default. The young lord went to gaol for twenty-four hours, and was pardoned on signing the bond. But fine and imprisonment never convince, though they sometimes silence, and Baltinglas was in no way changed by what courtly officials called her Majesty's godly proceedings. 'I mean,' he wrote to a Waterford merchant, 'to take this holy enterprise in hand by the authority of the Supreme Head of the Church.'
[Sidenote: Baltinglas and Ormonde.]
The letter fell into Ormonde's hands, and the bearer seems to have been hanged in chains. Ormonde had already warned the Viscount to be careful, and he now sent an answer which at once committed him irretrievably and almost without hope of pardon. He said he had been commanded to take the sword by the highest power on earth, and would maintain the truth to the extent of his means.
'Questionless,' he added, 'it is great want of knowledge, and more of grace, to think and believe that a woman uncapax of all holy orders, should be the supreme governor of Christ's Church; a thing that Christ did not grant unto his own mother. If the Queen's pleasure be, as you allege, to minister justice, it were time to begin; for in this twenty years' part of her reign we have seen more damnable doctrine maintained, more oppressing of poor subjects, under pretence of justice, within this land than ever we read or heard.... If Thomas Becket, the Bishop of Canterbury, had never suffered death in the defence of the Church, Thomas Butler, alias Becket, had never been Earl of Ormonde.'[43] Ormonde sent the letter by express to Walsingham, for the Queen's eye, characterising it as 'foolish, traitorous, popish, and devil-persuaded,' praying that God might confound all her unnatural subjects and give her victory over all His enemies.
'Sir, I pray you tell her Majesty that poor Lucas will remain constant in the true faith, whoever follow the Pope and do the contrary, and that neither Becket nor Canterbury shall alter him.'
[Sidenote: A Catholic confederacy.]
It was a year of great activity among the English Catholics. Parsons and Campion had just landed; the air teemed with rumours, and papers were freely circulated to prepare men for something extraordinary. A Devonshire gentleman named Eve brought one of these to Waterford, and it was not calculated to make the task of the Irish Government easier. Ten or twelve thousand men from the Pope, rather more from the King of Spain, and rather fewer from the Duke of Florence, were expected to invade England, and there to reassert the Pope's lawful sovereignty. Elizabeth was declared ineligible, both as bastard and as heretic, to wear the vassal crown, and it was proposed to publish the Bull of excommunication in every Christian church and court. The English Catholic nobles were, however, to be allowed to crown one of their own number, who was to be independent of Spain, but her faithful ally in reducing the Hollanders. All Church lands were to be restored. The importer of this notable scheme was arrested by the Mayor of Waterford, and sent in irons to Clonmel, with his companion, a merchant of Bridgewater, to be dealt with by Pelham. We may, however, be sure that for one such production intercepted, many escaped the notice of the officials, and that Baltinglas had reason to expect support from outside. But he probably rested his hopes mainly upon the help of his neighbours, and even fancied he could get Kildare to join him.[44]
[Sidenote: Attitude of Kildare.]
On July 14th, nearly a fortnight before the insurrection actually broke out, the Archbishop of Dublin met Kildare on the legendary hill of Tara. Baltinglas was only two miles off, and in charge of the Earl's own troop. Kildare had been told everything, and he informed Loftus that the Viscount and other Papists had conspired and were ready to rebel. 'The first exploit they will do,' he said, 'is to kill you and me; you, for the envy they bear to your religion, and me, for that being taken away, they think there is no one to make head against them.' Dr. Loftus indeed might have had a bad chance had he fallen into their hands, but there is no likelihood that they had any murderous intention towards Kildare. The threat was probably used as likely to have weight with one whose sympathies were already more than half-gained: The Archbishop pressed the Earl to arrest the traitor and more than once received an evasive answer; but at last Kildare confessed what was doubtless the true cause of his inaction. 'I should heap to myself universally the hatred and illwill of my country, and pull upon my house and posterity for ever the blame.' At last he agreed to make an appointment with Baltinglas, and to arrest him, provided the Archbishop had an agent present to charge him on his allegiance. In the meantime he went to the Viscount several times in a quiet way, and did nothing until he and Feagh MacHugh O'Byrne were in actual rebellion. After this Baltinglas wrote to tell the Earl that he had unfurled his Holiness's banner, and asking for an interview at the bridge of Ballymore Eustace. Kildare not appearing, he wrote again to express his regret and to urge him to join the good cause. 'I trust therefore the day shall never come that strangers shall say that when Christ's banner was in the field on the one side, and the banner of heresy on the other side, that the Earl of Kildare's forces were openly seen to stand under the heretical banner.' The charming was not particularly wise, yet Kildare did not altogether refuse to hear it. In the end he so managed matters as to alienate both sides.[45]
[Sidenote: Results of Pelham's proceedings.]
At the very moment that Baltinglas broke out, Lord Grey de Wilton's patent as Deputy was signed in England. Pelham had but a few weeks of authority left, and he did not pass them in idleness. By the advice of Sir Warham St. Leger, and with the consent of Ormonde, he detained most of the Munster lords and chiefs at Limerick; and, having thus laid hands on the shepherds, he proceeded to make his own terms with the flock. 'My manner of prosecuting,' he wrote to the Queen, 'it is thus: I give the rebels no breath to relieve themselves, but by one of your garrisons or other they be continually hunted. I keep them from their harvest, and have taken great preys of cattle from them, by which it seemeth the poor people that lived only upon labour, and fed by their milch cows, are so distressed as they follow their goods and offer themselves with their wives and children rather to be slain by the army than to suffer the famine that now in extremity beginneth to pinch them. And the calamity of these things have made a division between the Earl and John of Desmond, John and Sanders seeking for relief to fall into the company and fellowship of the Viscount Baltinglas; and the Earl, without rest anywhere, flieth from place to place, and maketh mediation for peace by the Countess, whom yesterday I licensed to have speech with me at Askeaton, whose abundance of tears betrayed sufficiently the miserable estate both of herself, her husband, and their followers.' It was by just such means that Mountjoy afterwards put down a much greater rebellion and a much abler rebel than Desmond, and those Englishmen who knew Ireland best could see no alternative. 'It shall be found,' said Bagenal, 'how severely and thoroughly good Sir William Pelham hath handled Munster; as in all his government here he deserved with the best that preceded him, so in that wrought he good perfection, and so weakened the traitors there, that John Desmond is fled to Leinster, where he is to salve his drained estate with Baltinglas. His own actions, if his commendation should be withdrawn, will sufficiently express his desert.'[46]
[Sidenote: Terms offered to the repentant.]
[Sidenote: Death of Sir James of Desmond.]
All important persons who sued for mercy were first required to imbrue their hands in some better blood than their own, and special services in proportion to their rank were required of leading rebels. Rory MacSheehy, a noted captain of the Desmond gallowglasses, was given to understand that he could have a pardon if he gave up Sanders alive. Sir John of Desmond sought to confer with St. Leger; he was told that he could have his own life by giving up his eldest brother, Dr. Sanders, and the seneschal of Imokilly. Sanders himself might perhaps be spared, if he would lay bare the whole network of foreign intrigue. The detained magnates were let loose one by one as they seemed likely to do service. Sir Cormac MacTeige MacCarthy was sheriff of Cork; he made humble submission, confessed his negligence, took a new oath, and departed with 150 English soldiers under Captain Apsley and Captain Dering. Soon afterwards Sir James of Desmond entered Muskerry and collected 2,000 of Sir Cormac's cattle, which he proposed to drive off into the mountains west of Macroon. The sheriff came up with him, and a skirmish followed, in which Sir James was wounded and taken. He was carried from Carrigadrohid to Blarney and thence to Cork, where he was tried and condemned, having in vain begged for summary decapitation to avoid a public trial. After two months, during which he gave earnest attention to religious subjects, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered, or as the Four Masters say, cut into little pieces, dying a fervent Catholic and, as his enemies allowed, 'a yielding to Godward a better end than otherwise he would have done if he had not died the death.' 'And thus,' says Hooker, 'the pestilent hydra hath lost another of his heads.'[47]
[Sidenote: Munster chiefs in trouble.]
Lord Fitzmaurice was at liberty, but his two sons were detained at Limerick, and he was told that he could only make his peace by intercepting Desmond or the Seneschal, or at the very least by procuring the release of Sir James Fitzgerald, of Decies, who was imprisoned in Kerry by the rebels. Sir Owen O'Sullivan Bere it was thought safe to keep at Limerick; but his neighbour Sir Owen MacCarthy Reagh was released, his tanist Donell na Pipy being retained as a hostage. Clancare had been protected by Ormonde, and the engagement was kept, but he was required to leave his son, Lord Valentia, in pledge. Lord Barrymore remained contumacious, and was sent to Dublin Castle, his sons being encouraged to come in under protection, but St. Leger was told to keep them safe until they offered good security. Sir Warham, who was always for harsh courses, advised that the father should be executed and his estate confiscated. The example, he thought, would be salutary, and the land would pay the whole cost of the war.[48]
[Sidenote: Narrow escapes of Sanders and John of Desmond,]
In the meantime the garrisons were busy. Sir George Bourchier was near taking a rich prize at Kilmallock. During a night foray, the soldiers fell in accidentally with Sanders and John of Desmond. Sir John was wounded, and both he and Sanders were over an hour in company with the soldiers, whose suspicions they disarmed by exhorting them, in English, to slay the Irish. An Englishman in Sanders' service was taken and killed by the soldiers, because he would confess nothing. James O'Hea, a friar of Youghal, was made prisoner, and gave important information.
[Sidenote: who contrive to join Baltinglas.]
A division of opinion had arisen between Desmond on the one hand, and his brother and Sanders on the other. The Earl was inclined to sue for peace, but the others were determined to fight it out to the last. Finding themselves straitened in Kerry, they made their way to Leinster, where Baltinglas eagerly expected them. With about five-and-twenty followers, they passed through the glen of Aherlow, and crossed North Tipperary into the Queen's County, where they were helped by the remnant of the O'Mores, and by the veteran Piers Grace, until they joined the O'Byrnes near the border of Wicklow. They had an escape on the road, which Pelham called strange, and which a Catholic writer evidently thought miraculous. They met Ormonde--or more probably one of his brothers--who called out that they were in the net. 'A sudden tempest,' we are told, 'arose on a fine day--whether at the Doctor's prayers, or not, God knows--and the rain was so thick that the Earl, with the ministers of Satan, could not advance against the Catholics, nor even hold up their heads for a whole hour.' The fugitives, who had the wind at their backs, threw away all superfluous weight, and escaped. Having lost their best leader, the Munster rebels sought terms for themselves. Baltinglas summoned Desmond himself to join him, for defence of the Catholic faith, but the Earl's people said they were starving, and could endure no longer war; and they openly reviled Sanders as the cause of all their misery.[49]
[Sidenote: Desmond almost surrenders,]
[Sidenote: but changes his mind]
[Sidenote: when a new governor comes.]
Wearied by want of bread and all comforts, the rebel Earl began to feel that the game was up, and he besought Winter to give him a passage to England. Pelham did not object, provided the surrender was unconditional; but would allow no agents to pass, nor the Countess to go over without her husband. The poor lady's tears showed him that her cause was desperate. Chief Secretary Fenton was principally struck by her impudence in venturing to defend her husband's conduct. Pelham was inclined to believe that they both meant nothing but villainy, and were only seeking time to get in the harvest, and he directed Bourchier at Kilmallock, and Case at Askeaton, to give the fugitive Earl no rest for the sole of his foot. The hunted wretch might have surrendered to Winter had it not been for the change of government, which, both before and since, in Ireland, has often been wrongly supposed to denote a change of policy. He had perhaps been told that Grey's orders from the Queen were to treat him leniently. At all events he changed his tone, though he had but 120 gallowglasses with him. These men clamoured loudly and vainly for their quarter's pay, and the camp was followed by a horde of poor starving creatures, who begged such scraps as unpaid soldiers could give. In spite of all this, Desmond now declared that he would yield to Grey only, for that he remembered former hard treatment in England, and doubted that it would be worse than ever. And so the matter stood when Pelham, who had himself desired to be relieved, received the order to go to Dublin, and there surrender the sword to his successor. He had declared himself willing to serve under the new governor in Munster, with or without the title of Lord President, and the latter was directed to take advantage of his zeal, his experience, and his martial skill. As it was, he left Ireland on the nominal ground of health, perhaps because he could not get on with Grey, or because the Queen was frightened at the expense. He afterwards found work in the Netherlands, and Bourchier was left in charge of Munster with the rank of Colonel, Ormonde having enough to do in defending his own country against the Leinster insurgents.[50]
FOOTNOTES:
[22] Drury to Walsingham, Aug. 23, 1579; Walsingham's letters of Aug. 5, 6, and 7; E. Tremayne to Burghley, Aug. 5; Proportions of victual, &c. Aug. 24; Wallop to Walsingham, Aug. 27, and Sept. 3, 4, and 14; Instructions to Sir John Perrott, Aug. 19.
[23] Lord Justice and Earl of Kildare to the Privy Council, Aug. 3, 1579; Waterhouse to Walsingham, Aug. 22; Gerard to Walsingham, Wilson, and Burghley, Sept. 10, 15, and 16; Drury to Walsingham, Sept. 14 and 17; Wallop to Burghley, Sept. 20. Drury died Sept. 30, and what Sanders said about him is in a letter of Feb. 21, 1580, printed in Strype's Parker, appendix 77.
[24] Maltby to Walsingham, Oct. 12, 1579, with enclosures.
[25] Maltby to Walsingham, Oct. 12, 1579, and to Leicester, April 8, 1580; The Jesuit Allen is not mentioned by the Four Masters, by O'Sullivan, by O'Daly, or by several other Irish authorities, but frequently by Hooker, who says he was Irish-born. Russell mentions him, but calls him an English priest, and this seems probable.
[26] Ormonde to Walsingham, July 27 and August 10, 1579; Desmond to Ormonde and also to some powerful person at court Oct. 10; and the letters in Carew from Oct. 17 to Nov. 1.
[27] Waterhouse to Walsingham, Nov. 4, 1579. The proclamation is in Carew, under Nov. 2.
[28] Ormonde to Walsingham, Nov. 7, 1579; Walsingham to Waterhouse, Nov. 8; Pelham to Wilson, Nov. 28; to the Queen, Dec. 15 and 28; and many other letters in Carew.
[29] O'Sullivan Bere, ii. iv. 15; Pelham to Burghley, Nov. 28, 1579; Arthur and White to Maltby, Nov. 27; St. Leger to Ormonde, Dec. 1; Ormonde to Burghley, Dec. 27; Pelham to Burghley, Jan. 27, 1580. Abstract of examinations Jan. 4, 1580. Hooker says Desmond's horde took five days to collect the spoils, and that Ormonde sent an armed vessel which recovered some guns, but that her master was killed. See also the examination of Friar James O'Hea in Carew, Aug. 17, 1580, and the petition of Anyas, Burgomaster of Youghal, Sept. 9, 1583. Edmund Tanner, S.J., to the General of the Jesuits, Oct. 11, 1577, in Hibernia Ignatiana.
[30] Pelham to the Irish Council, Jan. 26, 1580, in Carew. Ormonde to Burghley, Dec. 27, 1579; Wallop to Burghley, Dec. 29; Letters of Dec. 3, in Carew; Hooker.
[31] Ormonde to Walsingham, Jan. 4, 1580; Burghley to Ormonde, Jan. 26; Pelham to Wallop, Feb. 9; to the Privy Council, Feb. 28; to Walsingham, May 20; Lord Justice and Council to the Privy Council, Jan. 29: the four last in Carew.
[32] Burghley to Pelham, Dec. 30, 1579; and to Ormonde, Jan. 26, 1580.
[33] Pelham to Burghley, Feb. 4, 1580; Waterhouse to Walsingham, Feb. 3; G. Fenton to Burghley, Feb. 18; Lord Justice and Council to the Privy Council, Jan. 29, in Carew.
[34] Pelham to Wallop, Feb. 9, 1580; to the Privy Council, Feb. 10 and 28; to the Queen and to Leicester, Feb. 16; Lord Roche to Ormonde, Feb. 11: all these in Carew.
[35] Pelham to the Queen and to Burghley, April 1, 1580; and to the Queen, April 5; Zouch to Walsingham, April 8. Hooker.
[36] Discourse of Sir N. Maltby's proceedings, April 8, 1580, and his letter to Walsingham of that date.
[37] Pelham to the Privy Council, April 11 and 16, 1580, in Carew.
[38] Pelham to the Privy Council, May 20; James Golde to Leicester, May 20; White, M.R., to Leicester, May 31, all in Carew. White to Burghley, May 31; Pelham to the Queen. May 18.
[39] Sir N. White, M.R., to Burghley, Walsingham, and Leicester, May 31, 1580, the last in Carew; Journal of Occurrences, July 2; Pelham to Wallop, June 21; Edw. Fenton to Walsingham, July 11; Ormonde to Walsingham, July 21; White, M.R., to Walsingham, July 22; Pelham to the Privy Council, July 9, in Carew.
[40] Chiefly from Journal of Occurrences, July 2.
[41] Edw. Fenton to Walsingham, July 11; Ormonde to same, July 21; White M.R. to same, July 22; Pelham to the Privy Council, July 4 and 8 in Carew.
[42] White M.R. to the Privy Council, July 22, 1580, where Ormonde's speech is given; Ormonde to Walsingham, July 21; Pelham and his Council to the Privy Council, July 9 and 12, in Carew.
[43] Baltinglas to Ormonde, received before July 24, 1580, to R. Walshe, July 18; Ormonde to Walsingham, July 24. I believe the connection of the Butlers with the Beckets has never been proved.
[44] Eve's seditious libel, July 3; Pelham to the Mayor of Waterford, July 26, in Carew.
[45] Baltinglas to Kildare, July 22, 1580; Deputy Grey to the Queen, Dec. 23; Earls of Kildare, ii. 198 sqq.
[46] Pelham to the Queen, Aug. 12, 1580, in Carew; Sir N. Bagenal to Leicester, Oct. 3, in Wright's Elizabeth.
[47] Pelham to Lord Fitzmaurice, July 27, 1580; to St. Leger, Aug. 15; the Estate wherein Pelham left Munster, Aug. 28: these three in Carew. St. Leger and P. Grant to Ormonde, Aug. 6; St. Leger to Burghley, Oct 9.
[48] Pelham to Burghley, July 15, 1580; to St. Leger, Aug. 26; the latter in Carew. State in which Pelham left Ireland, Aug. 28, in Carew. St. Leger to Burghley, July 15.
[49] Paper by J. Holing, S.J., in Spicilegium Ossoriense, i. 94. Pelham to Bourchier, Aug. 5, 1580; to the Queen, Aug. 12; to Winter, Aug. 16; State in which Pelham left Ireland, Aug. 28; all in Carew. G. Fenton to Burghley and Leicester, Aug. 8; Wallop to Walsingham, Aug. 9.
[50] Pelham to Winter, Aug. 24, 1580; Winter to Pelham, Aug. 24; Directions to Sir G. Bourchier, Aug. 28: all in Carew. Gerard, White, M.R., and Wallop to Burghley, Oct. 7; Wallop to Walsingham, Sept. 28; Grey to the Queen, Oct. 5. Grey landed Aug. 12, and was sworn in Sept. 7.
XXXVIII. THE DESMOND WAR--SECOND STAGE, 1580-1581
[Sidenote: Lord Grey's instructions.]
Whatever private hints the Queen might give to Grey, his official instructions contained nothing to Desmond's advantage. On the contrary, he was warned to avoid the common fault of former governors, who had been too easy in granting pardons to notorious transgressors of the law, and had thereby bred boldness in subjects prone to offend. In future, pardons were not to be given without good reasons, nor at all in general terms, but only for some specified offence. On the other hand the Queen was anxious to have it known that she did not wish to extirpate the inhabitants of Ireland, as it had been falsely and maliciously reported. Outrages committed by soldiers were to be severely punished, and officers of high rank were not to be exempt. The rebellion was to be put down as quickly as possible, so that her Majesty's charge might be reduced. Grey landed on August 12, but the sword of state was still in Munster, and he could not take the oath without it. Baltinglas and Feagh MacHugh O'Byrne were in force not much more than twenty miles from Dublin, and he resolved to attack them before Pelham's arrival.[51]
[Sidenote: State of the Pale.]
Whatever hopes Desmond himself may have had from Grey, the change of government was not favourable to the chances of a rebellion near Dublin. The advent of a governor of high rank generally signified increased force, a more liberal expenditure of money, and more activity in official circles. Lord Chancellor Gerard had just landed on a part of the coast over which Baltinglas was for the moment supreme; and the latter had unaccountably neglected to make him a hostage. 'Compared with the rest of his doings,' said Pelham, 'this doth argue that both he and his followers be the most foolish traitors that ever I heard of.' The Chancellor reported that all the Leinster chiefs as well as O'Neill, O'Donnell, O'Rourke, and O'Connor Sligo were sworn to Baltinglas, and that he had the hearts of the whole country. The rebels had burned Harrington's town of Newcastle, and openly displayed the Pope's banner; but Kildare seemed to stand firm, and comforted the Chancellor by abusing the captains for giving false musters, saying that the Queen paid for 1,300 when she had only 700. But his most trusted follower, Gerald Fitzmaurice, had joined the rebels with his company. Sir William Stanley brought reinforcements from England, but in such plight as to argue no great probability of good service. Out of 120 calivers scarce twenty were serviceable, and the men were raw, ill-provided with necessaries, and fewer than their leader had been given to expect. The captains, blamed by Kildare, said their pay was at least three months in arrear, and of course all their men were discontented. Gormanston lay at Naas with 500 men, but the distrust was so general that Archbishop Loftus believed the throats of all Englishmen were about to be cut. 'Unless strangers land,' the Chancellor remarked, 'I mistrust; and if they do I am of the Archbishop's mind.' Meanwhile the country south of Dublin was at the mercy of the rebels, and it was easy to know who sympathised with them. 'They religiously prey,' said Gerard, 'overskipping some, many have taken oaths not to fight against them.' 2,000 Scots were plundering loyal people in Ulster, and it was hard to see where it was to stop.[52]
[Sidenote: Grey attacks the Irish in Glenmalure.]
Baltinglas and Feagh MacHugh lay in the valley of the Liffey, somewhere about Ballymore Eustace. On the approach of Grey's army from the side of Naas they withdrew into Glenmalure, a deep and rocky fortress--a combe, as the Devonian Hooker calls it--to the N.E. of Lugnaquilla. The glen was thickly wooded, and at least four miles long, and Colonel George Moore was ordered to enter it with about half the army. Grey was more a knight-errant than a general, and he determined to attack at once and in front, though warned by those about him of the risk he was running. His object was to drive the rebels from the covert, so that they might be shot or ridden down on the open hillside. Old Francis Cosby, general of the Queen's kerne, who was a man of extraordinary personal courage and of unrivalled experience in Irish warfare, foresaw the danger; but he was not listened to, and he boldly advanced to what he believed to be almost certain death. Jacques Wingfield, the Master of the Ordinance, who doubtless remembered his own overthrow nineteen years before, was present with his two nephews, Peter and George Carew, and he vainly tried to dissuade them from risking their lives. 'If I lose one,' he then urged, 'yet will I keep the other,' and George, reserved, as Camden says, for greater things, consented to stay by his uncle. Sir Peter, with Captain Audley and Lieutenant Parker, were with Colonel Moore in front, while Sir Henry Bagenal and Sir William Stanley brought up the rear. 'When we entered,' says Stanley, 'the foresaid glen, we were forced to slide sometimes three or four fathoms ere we could stay our feet. It was in depth at least a mile, full of stones, rocks, bogs, and wood; in the bottom a river full of loose stones, which we were driven to cross divers times. So long as our leaders kept the bottom, the odds were on our side. But our colonel, being a corpulent man, before we were half through the glen, being four miles in length, led us up the hill that was a long mile in height; it was so steep that we were forced to use our hands as well to climb as our feet, and the vanward being gone up the hill, we must of necessity follow.... It was the hottest piece of service for the time that ever I saw in any place. I was in the rearward, and with me twenty-eight soldiers of mine, whereof were slain eight, and hurt ten. I had with me my drum, whom I caused to sound many alarms, which was well answered by them that was in the rearward, which stayed them from pulling us down by the heels. But I lost divers of my dear friends. They were laid all along the wood as we should pass, behind trees, rocks, crags, bogs, and in covert. Yet so long as we kept the bottom we lost never a man, till we were drawn up the hill by our leaders, where we could observe no order; we could have no sight of them, but were fain only to beat the places where we saw the smoke of our pieces; but the hazard of myself and the loss of my company was the safeguard of many others... were a man never so slightly hurt, he was lost, because no man was able to help him up the hill. Some died, being so out of breath that they were able to go no further, being not hurt at all.'[53]
[Sidenote: Defeat of the English.]
Carew and Audley had a dispute at the outset, and the loud talk of two usually quiet and modest officers had a very bad effect on their men. The renegade captain, Gerald Fitzmaurice, had full information from Kildare's people, if not from the Earl himself, and he knew the companies had never been together before. They contained many raw recruits, and he rightly calculated that they would be thrown into confusion by an unseen enemy. The soldiers fresh from England wore red or blue coats, and Maltby, who was with Grey in the open, saw how easily they were picked off. 'The strangeness of the fight,' he adds, 'is such to the new-come ignorant men that at the first brunt they stand all amazed, or rather give back to the enemy.... Their coats stand them in no stead, neither in fashion nor in giving them any succour to their bodies. Let the coat-money be given to some person of credit, with which, and with that which is also bestowed on their hose, they may clothe themselves here with jerkins and hose of frieze, and with the same money bring them every man a mantle which shall serve him for his bedding and thereby shall not be otherwise known to the rebels than the old soldiers be.' The recruits wavered, the kerne ran away to the enemy, and so 'the gentlemen were lost.'
Stanley says not above thirty Englishmen were killed, but Moore, Cosby, Audley, and other officers were among them. Grey thought the rebels were fewer than the soldiers, who were stricken by panic. Sir Peter Carew was clad in complete armour, which proved more fatal than even a red coat. Suffocated from running up hill he was forced to lie down and was easily taken. It was proposed to hold him to ransom, 'but one villain,' says Hooker, 'most butcherly, as soon as he was disarmed, with his sword slaughtered and killed him, who in time after was also killed.'
Three months afterwards George Carew rejoiced that he had the good fortune to slay him who slew his brother, and announced that he meant to lay his bones by his or to be 'thoroughly satisfied with revenge.' No doubt the survivor under such circumstances would be filled with remorseful bitterness; but his thirst for revenge, fully slaked by a murder three years later, can be scarcely justified even according to that ancient code which prescribes an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.[54]
[Sidenote: Consequences of the affair.]
When a civilised government receives a check from its revolted subjects, the moral effect is generally out of all proportion to the actual loss. But Pelham had effectually bridled Munster, and Maltby had for the moment nearly neutralised Connaught and Ulster also. O'Rourke and O'Donnell now both took arms in the Catholic cause, and there was every prospect of a general conflagration. Maltby rode post from Dublin northwards, and such was the dread which he had inspired, that O'Donnell at once disbanded his men, and wrote to say that nothing should make him swerve from his allegiance. The President hastened to Leitrim, where he found that O'Rourke had dismantled the castle. He immediately began to repair it, though he had to draw lime eight miles. The tanist Brian O'Rourke, who regarded the chief as his greatest enemy, helped the work, and gladly acted as sheriff under the President.
O'Rourke appeared at the edge of a wood with 1,200 men, of whom 500 were Scots; but Ulick Burke, who begged for the place of honour, charged at the head of 200 soldiers and 500 kerne. Some Scots were killed, and the building was not further interrupted. Leaving a strong garrison in the castle, Maltby then hurried back to Dublin, and arrived there in time to be a witness and a critic of the Glenmalure affair. He warned the English Government that Ulster was in a dangerous state, and that Tirlogh Luineach's wife was determined to make a new Scotland of that province. 'She has already planted a good foundation, for she in Tyrone, her daughter in Tyrconnell (being O'Donnell's wife), and Sorleyboy in Clandeboy, do carry all the sway in the North, and do seek to creep into Connaught, but I will stay them from that.'[55]
[Sidenote: Results of the defeat--in Ulster,]
The news of Grey's defeat did not reach the officials at Cork for eleven days, and then only in a fragmentary way, but its effect upon the natives was instantaneous. Tirlogh Luineach, whom Captain Piers had just brought to terms, suddenly swept round the lower end of Lough Neagh, drove off the cattle of the loyalist Sir Hugh Magennis, and killed many of his men, demanded the title of O'Neill, and the old hegemony claimed by Shane, declared that he would stand in defence of religion while life lasted, and proposed to invade the Pale with 5,000 men. The Scots' galleys lay in Lough Foyle, and effectual resistance seemed impossible. The Baron of Dungannon sent his cattle to the mountains, and hid himself in the woods, protesting his loyalty even 'if all the Irishry in Ireland should rebel,' and if he had nothing left but his bare body. But Magennis, after crouching for a while at Narrow Water, was forced to go as a suppliant to Tirlogh's camp.
[Sidenote: In the Pale,]
[Sidenote: and in Connaught.]
The southern side of the Pale was in no better case. A strong force under John of Desmond besieged Maryborough, and the constable was so closely watched that he dared not write. A private settler living in the unfinished castle of Disert, and expecting to be attacked every moment, sent the news to Dublin, but was forced to entrust his letter to a poor beggar-man. Ladders were ready in the woods to attack all posts. Some of Ormonde's villages were burned, and his brother Piers, though he maintained his own ground, could not save Abbeyleix from the flames. The remnant of the O'Connors rose once more, and Ross MacGeohegan, the most loyal and useful subject in the midlands, was murdered by his half-brother Brian, whose mother was an O'Connor. 'All is naught here,' wrote Maltby from Dublin, 'and like to be worse.' He had to reach Athlone by a circuitous route, and found his province already in an uproar.[56]
[Sidenote: The Spaniards appear at last.]
It was in foreign aid that all Irish rebels mainly trusted; and it was supposed that the fleet would prevent any descent upon Munster, the only district where strangers from the South would have much chance of maintaining themselves. Winter had been directed to cruise about the mouth of the Shannon, having first sent some light craft to the Biscay coast for news. He was not to land himself, but if necessary to employ a naval brigade under Captain Richard Bingham. The admiral was not in good health; he hated the service, he hated Captain Bingham, and he was ready to run home as soon as there seemed the least chance of victuals running short. The fleet reached Ireland about the beginning of April, and early in July Winter threatened to sail away. But the Queen's positive orders restrained him for a time, and Pelham was at hand to inculcate obedience, reminding him that there was generally a Michaelmas summer in Ireland. Pelham left Munster on the last day of August, on December 5th Winter sailed for England, and on the 12th the long-expected Spaniards arrived at Smerwick. The admiral was required to explain his very unseasonable departure, and it must be admitted that he had reasons, though a Drake or a Nelson might not have allowed them much weight. The ships were foul, and sailed too badly either for flight or chase, the sails and ropes were rotten from the unceasing wet of a Kerry summer, victuals were running short, there was a most plentiful lack of news, and the Shannon was a bad anchorage at the best. Whatever the Queen may have thought of the admiral's conduct, it did not prevent her from sending him to Ireland again.[57]
[Sidenote: An English sea-dog in Spain.]
An attack on England could not be secretly prepared in Spain, for the carrying trade was in England's hands. Armed rovers like Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, half merchants and half buccaneers, came and went as they pleased upon the peninsular coast, in the confident hope that no Spaniard could catch them. Such a one was Captain James Sidee, an excellent seaman but not altogether free from suspicion of piracy, whom it had been necessary to pardon some years before. He sailed boldly into the splendid harbour of Ferroll, and wrote to the governor demanding the surrender of certain English subjects whom he supposed to be living there. He had perceived, he said grimly, that the country folk were in terror at his approach, but he was no pirate and would take no one by force, for Ferroll was the 'king's chamber which he was commanded not to break.' But he wanted his own fellow-subjects, who had plundered a Plymouth ship at sea, and hinted plainly that he could take them if he liked. He said they were only cowkeepers who had left their cows, and John Fleming, James Fitzmaurice's admiral, had run away from his creditors. The Irish bishop who was with them might find some better employment than keeping kine in Ireland. The Spanish governor's answer does not appear; but one Barnaby O'Neill wrote to say that the bishop was noble, chaste, virtuous, and learned, while the heretic bishops of England were shoe-makers, scavengers, and pudding-makers, that Fleming was Lord Slane's cousin, and that Sidee had served under that rebel, traitor, and coward, the Prince of Orange. Sidee retorted that the Silent Prince was far above his praise, and that he did not believe his correspondent was an O'Neill at all, for he had never heard his name. He might of course be some bastard, but he rather inclined to think that he was really one William Hall, a murderous thief well known in Ireland and Spain. Sir William Winter was of opinion that Sidee's proceedings would not facilitate English diplomacy in Spain, and indeed it was an uncomfortable time for Englishmen there. But Philip was most anxious to avoid war--much too anxious indeed for the taste of his ambassadors in England--and Elizabeth's subjects suffered more petty annoyance than actual hardship.[58]
[Sidenote: Irish refugees in Spain.]
William Carusse of Drogheda sailed from Tenby to Spain, with a cargo, in the 'Gift of God,' a vessel of only nineteen tons. Being chased by a man-of-war, he put into Santander, where he found an English ship and an English bark, and where he was boarded by the corregidor, and by two or three ecclesiastics who vainly searched for books, and seem to have helped themselves to six shillings. The national proverb that in Spain a little oil sticks to every hand was exemplified by Carusse's treatment. He made friends with Mr. Browne, natural brother of Lady Kildare, and afterwards with Oliver Plunkett, a Drogheda gentleman who had served Spain in Flanders. Both befriended him with the Spanish authorities; and as they meditated an invasion of Ireland, it was not their cue to make enemies there. Browne had a map of Ireland drawn by himself, and showed by his conversation that he knew the coast. Plunkett declared that the conquest of the island would be child's play, but that Dublin and Drogheda might give trouble. Lord Gormanston had just married a relative or friend of Plunkett's, who was most anxious to send her a letter of congratulation, but Carusse refused to carry letters. His sails were then taken away, and by Browne's advice he gave six ducats to the corregidor, four to a scrivener, and two each to two other officers. Then the sails were restored. Five hundred ducats belonging to him were impounded, but afterwards restored, with a deduction of four as a fee for counting them. A further fee of three ducats and expenses was exacted by Browne, and then Carusse was allowed to go free. He noted that Plunkett had three large ships under his orders, and he conversed with several Irishmen, including a priest and a friar. All talked long and loud of the coming conquest, and the ecclesiastics dwelt with unction on the bishoprics and other preferments which would be vacant. Meanwhile the very Lord Gormanston about whom Plunkett spoke was giving information to the Government. It was, he said, a religious war, and religion would draw men far; nevertheless, he could do a great deal if he had only money. Ireland was as corrupt as Spain.[59]
[Sidenote: Devastation of Kerry.]
[Sidenote: The Spaniards land.]
The fleet were lying at Ventry when the news came that Pelham had gone to Dublin, and left the troops under Sir George Bourchier's command. Bourchier immediately entered Kerry with 600 or 700 men, and with the help of Lord Fitzmaurice began to devastate the country still further. From Castle Island to Dingle, on both sides of Slieve Mish, the powers of fire were tried to the utmost. An Englishman who had been with Sanders was taken and executed, and Lady Desmond was closely chased for two miles. The Earl fled into Limerick, and the wretched people crowded down to the sea, and submitted to the admiral, as the lesser of two evils. Winter persuaded Bourchier to spare them, on condition of their maintaining a garrison of 200 foot and 30 horse at Tralee, and of giving hostages for good behaviour, otherwise they were told that Sir George would execute his commission strictly; and his commission was 'to burn their corn, spoil their harvest, kill and drive their cattle.' The 4,000 cows which had been driven in were then spared, and so were many prisoners poor and rich. Winter sailed away just as the hostile expedition was leaving Corunna, and one week later four Spanish vessels came into Smerwick, where they landed men and tents, and began to fortify on the old ground. Two other ships were taken at sea by the Huguenots, who carried them into Rochelle. The more successful part of the squadron took a homeward-bound Frenchman with 56,000 codfish from Newfoundland, killed the captain and three men, and brought the remaining twenty-eight to Ireland, where they used them as labourers. One of the Spanish ships was a galley with thirty-two oars, and they gave out that she was powerful enough to batter castles. But Captain Thomas Clinton, who was cruising about the mouth of the Shannon, said he would fight her had he but ten musketeers on board his small vessel. The strangers were nearly all Italians, and only about 600 men seem to have landed, though there were rumours of more coming. Friar Matthew Oviedo was apostolic commissary, and with him were Dr. Ryan, papal Bishop of Killaloe, two Jesuit preachers, and three or four friars. Desmond came down the coast to meet them, and attacked Ardfert and Fenit castles with their aid. But they had brought up only small cannon, and the Irish garrisons easily beat them off. Captain Bingham contemptuously designates the rank and file as 'poor simple bisognos, very ragged, and a great part of them boys'; but they had 5,000 stand of arms, and four kegs of Spanish reals were given to Desmond. Ormonde immediately prepared to take the field, and Grey, who at first scarcely believed that the strangers had landed, thought it better to temporise with Tirlogh Luineach, to whom Sanders had offered the sovereignty of Ulster. If the Queen would give him a butt or two of sack, it might, for the moment, make him forget to urge inadmissible claims. 'As toys please children, so to Bacchus knights the lick of grapes is liking, of which crew this is a royal fellow.'[60]
[Sidenote: Ormonde's march to Smerwick.]
Just three weeks after the landing of the Spaniards, Ormonde set out from Cork with 1,600 men. He was completely ignorant of the enemy's force, but was anxious to have the first brush with them; and he passed the mountains into Kerry without his full armour and without camp furniture. He learned at once that Desmond and his brother John, Baltinglas, Piers Grace, and Sanders, with most of the foreigners, were strongly posted at Bungunder near Tralee. They gave out that they would fight, but fell back at Ormonde's approach, and left his way open to Smerwick. The enemy in the field broke up into small bodies, but the fort was too strong to attempt without artillery. After conferring with the invaders, Baltinglas returned to his district, thus passing, as John of Desmond and Sanders did, twice unmolested right across Ireland. Hearing that Desmond had got into his rear, Ormonde turned to pursue, when the garrison of Smerwick made a sally and tried to provoke a fight. But Ormonde was too cautious thus to be drawn under their guns, and went on to surprise Desmond's bivouac near Castlemaine. He took a few Spanish prisoners as well as some 'painted tables, altar-cloths, chalices, books, and other such furniture said to be the nuncio's.' The Earl left his troops in the county of Limerick, and went home to help his wife to make great cheer, for the Lord Deputy Grey had written to him for 1,000 beeves, and he remarked that he might as well ask him to kill all the enemy with a breath. 500, by great exertion, might perhaps be collected. He found time to write a letter to a Spanish nobleman and to send him a hawk taken, as he was careful to mention, out of one of the many castles from which Desmond had been driven to woods and mountains. He told his correspondent that he was busy hunting the wild Biskyes and Italians, and that the rebel Earl would soon be hanged and quartered, like his brother James. 'As for the foreigners,' he added, 'this much I will assure you, that they curse the Pope and as many as sent them, which they shall shortly have better cause to do.'[61]
[Sidenote: Rapid voyage of Bingham.]
Having had time to put his squadron into something like trim, Winter was ordered back to Ireland, Bingham accompanying him as vice-admiral. Sailing from Harwich with a fine breeze from the N.E., they ran through the Straits and down Channel as far as Ryde, where some days were lost waiting for orders. When the word was at last given, the wind held in the same point, but the sea rose and the ships parted company in Portland Race. Captain Bingham, in the 'Swiftsure,' looked into Falmouth, but did not see the admiral, and chose to think that he was gone ahead, whereas he was really far astern. Bingham ran past the Land's End, where the wind changed to W.N.W., made Cape Clear in the morning, and anchored at the mouth of Valentia harbour. Winter strongly objected to his second-in-command's excessive zeal, and it is plain that they hated each other cordially. In great glee probably at having outstripped his chief, the strenuous Bingham went into Valentia with the boats, but found only Captain Clinton, who directed him to Smerwick. There he anchored near the fort, after a run of sixty hours from Portland, of which ten had been passed in Valentia harbour; yet he tells us that the 'Swiftsure' was the slowest ship in the fleet. Ormonde was gone already; and the garrison, with the help of the peasantry, were busy strengthening their works. Bingham prepared to cut out their ships; but they towed them in almost aground, and, after exchanging shots with them, he made up his mind that the works could not be taken without heavy ordnance. Fourteen pieces were mounted on the rampart, the largest being of the kind called sakers. John of Desmond and all the foreigners were at the fort, and Bingham understood that many of the latter would leave Ireland if they could. The chill October weather did not suit the Italians, and many of them died. Brave Romans the Irish called them, but the Englishman said they were as poor rascals as he had ever met with.[62]
[Sidenote: Grey goes to Kerry.]
Towards the end of October, the Lord Deputy, much hindered by flooded rivers and a bad commissariat, slowly made his way by Kilkenny into the county of Limerick. At Rathkeale he was joined by the English companies whom Ormonde had with him, and led the united force to Dingle. The Earl seems to have returned himself. Among the newly arrived captains was Walter Raleigh, burning with anxiety to distinguish himself, and ready to tempt fortune to almost any extent. When the camp at Rathkeale broke up, he held his own company in ambush until the main column had gone to some distance. Then came some wretched kernes to pick up what they could, as the lepers came to the Syrian camp before Samaria. Raleigh took them all prisoners, including one who carried a bundle of osiers, used by the Irish as halters, and who imprudently said that they were to hang up English churls. 'They shall now serve an Irish kerne,' said Raleigh, and this jester out of season was hanged forthwith. The other prisoners, says Hooker, were treated according to their deserts, but we are not told what those deserts were. The whole army then marched as far as Dingle, where they encamped to wait for the admiral, who lingered at Kinsale after his rough voyage. After conferring with Bingham and viewing the fort, Grey agreed that regular approaches were necessary, and until the fleet came nothing could be done, for the army was not provided either with trenching tools or heavy guns.[63]
[Sidenote: The fleet at Smerwick.]
More than a week later an express came from Winter to say that he had been delayed by weather, but was now in Smerwick harbour, and that three provision ships had come from Cork and Limerick. Grey at once rode to Smerwick from his camp near Dingle, and Winter agreed to land eight pieces of cannon. Next day was Sunday, part of which Grey spent with Bingham studying the ground, and on Monday he moved his camp to near the doomed fort. At his approach the garrison hung out the Pope's banner and saluted the Lord Deputy with a round shot, which very nearly killed Jacques Wingfield. A small party sallied forth and skirmished with the advanced guard of the English under cover of a heavy fire from musketeers lying in the ditch. The practice was remarkably bad, for the only damage done to the English by more than 600 rounds was to graze Captain Zouch's leg without breaking the skin. Grey pitched his tent near the fort, and that night a trench was made. The sailors went to work with a will, and two pieces were mounted, which began to play next morning at a distance of about 240 yards from the work. The enemy had mounted their guns so badly that only two seriously annoyed the besiegers. These were disabled by two o'clock; and the garrison were reduced to musketry and to harquebusses which they fired from rests. Every little skirmish went against the Italians, and in spite of four sallies the sappers worked up that night to within 120 yards of the ditch.
[Sidenote: The foreigners cannot maintain themselves.]
The only serious casualty happened next morning. Good John Cheke, as Grey calls him, was a son of the great scholar, and inherited most scholarlike poverty, although he was Burghley's nephew. Tired of living as a dependant on his uncle's favour, and much more in awe of him than of Spanish bullets, he begged a horse from the great Lord Treasurer and resolved to seek his fortune in Ireland. Incautiously raising his head above the trench, he received a fatal wound, and Grey descants at great length upon his edifying end. 'He made,' wrote the Puritan warrior to the Queen, 'so divine a confession of his faith, as all divines in either of your Majesty's realms could not have passed, if matched, it; so wrought in him God's spirit, plainly declaring him a child of His elected.' Grey observed that the fatal volley came from under a wooden penthouse, and pointed out the spot to Winter, who himself laid the guns. The second shot dislodged the musketeers, and at the fourth a flag of truce was shown on the ramparts. The Pope's banner had first been struck and replaced by a black and a white banner. This was to warn Desmond, who had promised to be on the neighbouring hills with 4,000 men. The furling of the black flag was a first signal of distress; but no help came, and a parley was asked for. Sir James Fitzgerald of Decies had been given by Desmond to the Italians with instructions to exact 1,000_l._ ransom; he was now brought out and liberated. The camp-master, Alexander Bartoni, a Florentine, then came into the trenches, and said that certain Spaniards and Italians had been lured to Ireland by false representations, that they had no quarrel with Queen Elizabeth, and that they were quite ready to depart as they had come. A Spanish captain followed, but he made no pretence of being sent by his king, or of having communicated with any higher authority than Recalde, the governor of Bilboa. The Florentine said they were all sent by the Pope for the defence of the Catholica fede, and Grey, in true Puritan style, replied that his Holiness was 'a detestable shaveling, the right Antichrist and general ambitious tyrant over all right principalities, and patron of the diabolica fede.' All conditions were refused, and in the evening the commandant, Sebastian de San Josefo, a Bolognese, came himself into the trenches and begged for a truce till morning.
[Sidenote: The surrender.]
[Sidenote: The massacre.]
The interpreter was Oliver Plunkett, who expected no mercy and therefore opposed all negotiations, and his double-dealing may have caused such confusion as to make it possible to say that the garrison had surrendered on promise of their lives. The strangers may even have thought they had such a promise, but it is clear that Grey's terms were unconditional surrender or storm as soon as practicable. The unfortunate Sebastian embraced his knees, and promised to evacuate the place unconditionally next morning. Catholic writers accuse San Josefo of cowardice, but he could not help surrendering, for the fort had been heavily battered, and there was no chance of relief. To make assurance doubly sure the English worked all night and mounted two fresh guns before sunrise. On the morrow about a dozen officers came out with their ensigns trailed and surrendered the fort at discretion. Grey distributed them among his officers to be held to ransom for their profit. The arms and stores were secured, 'and then,' says Arthegal himself, 'put I in certain bands, who straight fell to execution. There were 600 slain.' Hooker adds that Mackworth and Walter Raleigh were the captains on duty, and that they superintended the butchery.[64]
[Sidenote: The massacre approved by the Queen.]
The poor Italians had no commissions and were treated as filibusters, just as the Spaniards would have treated Drake had they been able to catch him; but many blamed Grey, though he does not himself seem to have been conscious that he had done anything extraordinary. Sussex was among the critics, though he had plenty to answer for himself, but the Queen approved of what had been done. At the top of the despatch sent in answer to the Lord Deputy's, she wrote as follows, in the fine Roman hand which sometimes contrasts so strangely with her studiously involved and obscure phraseology:--"The mighty hand of the Almighty's power hath shewed manifest the force of his strength in the weakness of feeblest sex and minds this year to make men ashamed ever after to disdain us, in which action I joy that you have been chose the instrument of his glory which I mean to give you no cause to forethink." She censured Grey rather for sparing some of the principals than for slaying the accessories; not for what he had done, but for what he had left undone; for the object was to prevent such expeditions in future. Elizabeth, who belonged to her age, probably wondered that anybody should object. Nor does it appear that the Catholic powers made any official complaint; it was their habit to do likewise.
[Sidenote: Reflections on the event.]
Those who condescended to excuse Grey urged that 600 prisoners would be very inconvenient to an army of 800, and that lack of provisions made delay dangerous. But there were eight ships of war and four provision-vessels in the bay, which might have carried most of the prisoners, and enough biscuit, bacon, oil, fish, rice, beans, peas, and barley were found in the fort to support 600 men for six months. The 4,000 stand of arms taken might easily have been conveyed on shipboard. Between 300_l._ and 400_l._ was found in Spanish reals, and this money was divided among the soldiers, who were in their habitual half-paid state. If the Pope recruited for this enterprise, as he did for the former one, among the brigands of Umbria and Samnium, there would be a reason for treating the rank and file rigorously while sparing the officers, but this point is not raised in the official correspondence.
The best defence of Grey, and yet not a very good one, is to be found in the cruelty of the age. After the fall of Haarlem Alva butchered three or four times as many as perished at Smerwick. Santa Cruz put to death the crews of several French ships after the fight at Terceira in the Azores. It would be easy to multiply examples, but it may suffice to say that Captain Mackworth afterwards fell into the hands of the Offaly O'Connors, who mutilated him horribly and flayed him alive.[65]
[Sidenote: Reasons for failure of foreign invaders.]
The Four Masters say that the name of the Italians exceeded the reality, and that either Limerick, Cork, or Galway would at first have opened their gates to them. This is probable enough, and at any rate Smerwick was a bad place for their enterprise, for it was hardly to be supposed that England would not have the command of the sea. The same mistake was made more than once by the French in later times, and it may be assumed that Ireland is unassailable except by an overwhelming force. The Spaniards at one period, and the French at another, might often have landed an army large enough to overtax the actual resources of the Irish Government. For a time they might have been masters of the country, and would at first have commanded the sympathies of the people. But the rule of a foreign soldiery would soon become more irksome than the old settled government, and the invading general would find as little real native help as Hannibal found in Latium, or as Charles Edward found in Lancashire. Had Limerick, Galway, or Cork admitted Sanders and his Italians the struggle might have been prolonged, but while an English fleet kept the sea, the result could hardly have been doubtful.
[Sidenote: Composition of the Smerwick garrison.]
The garrison at Smerwick consisted chiefly of Italians, with a contingent from Northern Spain, and the numbers were variously estimated at from 400 to 700. Two hundred are said to have been veteran soldiers, but opinions differed as to the general quality of the men. Grey, when he saw their corpses, mused over them as gallant and goodly personages, while Bingham said they were beggarly rascals. Among the officers were a few Spaniards, but the majority were from Italy: Rome, Florence, Milan, Bologna, Genoa, and Bolsena being all represented.
[Sidenote: Executions.]
A few Irishmen who had allowed themselves to be entrapped were hanged, and some women with them. An Englishman who followed Dr. Sanders, a friar who is not named, and Oliver Plunkett, were reserved for a peculiarly hard fate. Their arms and legs were broken, and they were hanged on a gallows on the wall of the fort. Plunkett, who was examined before his death, said that twenty-four sail at Corunna and Santander were ready to sail for Ireland. Lord Westmoreland was to be sent over by the Pope, and Charles Browne, at Santander, was in correspondence with Inglefield and others.[66]
[Sidenote: Account of Fort Del Oro.]
Not only was the extreme point of Kerry a bad place to attack Queen Elizabeth, but the fort itself was ill suited for defence. The only water supply was from streams half-a-mile off on each side, and the work was too small for those whom it had to protect. Its greatest length was 350 feet, and its average breadth was about 100, and 50 square feet of ground to each person is but scanty room. 'The thing itself,' says Sir Nicholas White, 'is but the end of a rock shooting out into the Bay of Smerwick, under a long cape, whereupon a merchant of the Dingle, called Piers Rice, about a year before James Fitzmaurice's landing, built a castle, under pretence of gaining by the resort of strangers thither a-fishing, whereas in very truth it was to receive James at his landing, and because at that very instant time, a ship laden with Mr. Furbisher's new-found riches happened to press upon the sands near to the place, whose carcase and stores I saw lie there, carrying also in his mind a golden imagination of the coming of the Spaniards called his building Down-enoyr, which is as much as to say, the "Golden Down." The ancient name of the bay, Ardcanny... from a certain devout man named Canutius, which upon the height of the cliffs, as appears at this day, built a little hermitage to live a contemplative there.'
White's description is very good, but it applies only to the little promontory which contains the salient seaward angle of the work, and where embrasures are still clearly traceable. The lines on the land side, which did not exist at the time of White's visit, are visible enough, being covered with roughish pasture, but the 'mariner's trench' is undecipherable owing to tillage. There was a bridge between the mainland and the outer rock, and Rice's fortalice was no doubt confined to the 'island.'[67]
[Sidenote: State of Connaught.]
In the meantime, O'Rourke had risen and attacked Maltby's garrison at Leitrim. The President had but 400 English, half of whom were newcomers and 'simple enough,' and he had to ferry them over the flooded Shannon in cots. The gentlemen of the county advised him not to face such great odds, but 100 of their kerne behaved well, and he put a bold face on it. The O'Rourkes and their Scots allies railed exceedingly against the Queen and exalted the Pope; but they did not dare to face the dreaded President, and disappeared, leaving him to burn Brefny at his will. Ulick Burke seemed at first inclined to serve faithfully, and Maltby was disposed to trust him, but John and William were in open rebellion, and their youngest sister begged for protection. 'I pray you,' she wrote to the President, 'receive me as a poor, destitute, and fatherless gentlewoman.... I found nowhere aid nor assistance, and no friends since my lord and father departed, but what I found at your worship's hands.' A few days later Ulick styled himself MacWilliam, and joined John, who accepted the position of Tanist, in forcibly collecting corn for the papal garrison. They announced that they would hang all priests who refused to say mass, and Maltby reported that the papal Bishop of Kilmacduagh was leading them to the devil headlong. They demolished Loughrea, and most of the castles between the Shannon and Galway Bay. Communications with Munster were interrupted, and Maltby, self-reliant as he was, began to fear for the safety of Galway, where there was no stock of provisions, and no artillery worth mentioning. Affairs were at this pass when Grey's success at Smerwick reduced the rebellion in Connaught to insignificance.[68]
[Sidenote: Want of money.]
Grey was not long in Ireland before he encountered the great Elizabethan problem of how to make bricks without straw. Treasurer Wallop estimated the soldiers' pay at 6,000_l._ worth, exclusive of extraordinaries, and the victualling difficulties were as great as ever. The English officials in Dublin seldom gave Ormonde a good word, but on this head their complaints chimed in with his. The victualler at Cork warned him not to reckon on more than twelve days' biscuit and wine, and there were no means of brewing at Cork. 'I know,' said the Earl, 'it is sour speech to speak of money; I know it will be also wondered at how victuals should want.... I never had for me and my companies one hundred pounds worth of victual, and this being true, I can avow that some have told lies at Court to some of your councillors--yea, not only in this, but in many other things.'
'The soldiers,' said Sir William Stanley, 'are so ill chosen in England that few are able or willing to do any service, but run away with our furniture, and when they come into England there is no punishment used to them, by means whereof we can hardly keep any.'
Meantime there were loud complaints of abuses in purveyance for the Viceregal household, and the Irish Council could think of no better plan than to swear the purveyors, and cut off their ears in case of perjury. Wallop reported that bribes were openly taken in official circles; that was the usual course, though he had never given or taken any himself.[69]
[Sidenote: Kildare in charge of the Pale.]
When Grey went to Munster he left Kildare to act as general in the Pale. With the whole force of the country, and with 1,400 men in the Queen's pay, including garrisons, he undertook to defend Dublin to the south, and to do some service against the rebels. Six hundred men were on the Ulster frontier, and these also were to be at his disposal in case of necessity. He and his son-in-law, the Baron of Delvin, were accused of conspiring to turn the war to their own advantage, by promising everything and doing nothing. Should the Pope's title prevail, they would be all-powerful; should the Queen be victorious they would at least make money out of the business. It was arranged that Kildare should have 600 men paid by the country in addition to the Queen's troops. He preferred to take the money, and to raise 400 kernes himself; 'but I think,' said Wallop, 'he will put all that in his purse and three parts of his entertainment of his horsemen, and fifty shillings a day for his diet. In this town he lieth for the most part, and spendeth not five pounds a week, keeping his chamber with a board not anyways an ell long.' A civilian named Eustace, 'properly learned, but a papist in the highest degree,' was accused of fomenting treason among the nominally loyal, and Gerard, by remaining 'a secret ghostly father to him for a time,' made him fear for his own neck, and induced him to give information against many persons in the Pale. Maltby took care to remind the Irish Government that both Kildare and Ormonde had given security for John and Ulick Burke, and that Kildare was the same man that he had always been and always would be. It was plain that those to whom the conduct of the war was entrusted did not care to end it, and that only English officers and soldiers could really be depended on. An occasional raid into the Wicklow mountains did not advance matters much, and Feagh MacHugh was able to burn Rathcoole, a prosperous village ten miles from Dublin, and to make the very suburbs tremble for their own safety. Kildare made light of the burning of Rathcoole, and threw the blame on inferior officers; but this was not the view taken by the Council generally.[70]
[Sidenote: Kildare is strongly suspected.]
When Grey returned to Dublin he found the whole official circle bent upon disgracing Kildare, and after some days' consideration he summoned the general body of nobles to meet the Council, ostensibly for the discussion of military dispositions. Delvin saw that he was suspected, and vehemently demanded an enquiry, putting in a written declaration in answer to rumoured accusations. The full Council, including Kildare, found this statement inconsistent with known facts, and committed him to the Castle. Then Gerard, who had conducted the private investigation, rashly disclosed his whole case, and openly accused the Earl of complicity with the treason of Baltinglas. Wallop, who believed that no good thing could come out of Galilee, observed that the Chancellor 'would needs have the attorney and serjeant by, who are of this country birth, and so were many councillors then present, by means of which it is now in every man's mouth what the Earl is to be charged with.'
The Vice-Treasurer adds that his lands were worth 3,000_l._ a year, but that he had taken good care to return them to England as worth only 1,500_l._, that the only road towards good government lay through severity, and that unless traitors were made to pay both in person and lands, Ireland would always be what it long had been,--'the sink of the treasure of England.' Waterhouse, whose office it was to look after unconsidered trifles of revenue, thought the original cause of war was Kildare's military commission, and that treason should be made to pay its own expenses. 'I will hear your honour's opinion,' he wrote to Walsingham, 'whether her Majesty will be content to have her great charges answered out of the livings of the conspirators, and to use a sharp and a severe course without respect of any man's greatness, wheresoever law will catch hold, or whether all faults must be lapped up in lenity with pardons, protections, and fair semblance, as in times past; if severity, then is there hope enough of good reformation; if mildness, then discharge the army and officers, and leave this nation to themselves, for sure the mean will do no good. We must embrace one of these extremities.'[71]
[Sidenote: Kildare and Delvin prisoners in England.]
Grey could not deny that appearances were strong against the Earl, and he ordered his arrest, giving full credit for their exertions to Gerard and Loftus. He believed that 'greediness of pay and arrogant zeal to Popish government' were the stumbling-blocks of great personages in Ireland, and that Delvin certainly was 'a wicked creature who had cut the poor Earl's throat.' As if to add to the suspicion, Kildare's son and heir ran off to the O'Connors, and they refused to let him go when Grey sent for him. At last, fearing the construction that might be put upon this, they handed him over to Ormonde, and he was shut up in the Castle with his father and Lord Delvin. All three were sent over to England, Secretary Fenton carrying the despatches, and Gerard going with him to tell his own story.[72]
[Sidenote: The Munster rebellion drags on.]
The capture of Smerwick did not put down the Munster rebellion; but Ormonde, or some of those about him, contemptuously reported that Desmond, his brother, and Baltinglas had 'but a company of rascals and four Spaniards, and a drum to make men believe that they had a great number of the strangers.' Both Youghal and Ross thought themselves in danger, and Wallop reported that communications between the capital and Limerick were only kept up by 'simple fellows that pass afoot in nature of beggars, in wages not accustomed.' Grey and Ormonde having turned their backs, Desmond appeared again near Dingle, and Bingham felt that there might be an attack at any moment. Half of Captain Zouch's men were dead and buried, the survivors being too ill to work or fight. Captain Case's company were little better, and they would have made no resistance without Bingham and his sailors, who worked with a will and raised a breastwork tenable by 20 men against 2,000 kernes and gallowglasses. The men were put on short allowance, and having thus made the provisions last thirteen days longer than they would otherwise have done, Bingham was compelled to return to England. His crew were so reduced by spare diet that they were unable to work the ship up Channel, and had to run into Bristol. He left Ireland, to quote a correspondent of Walsingham, 'in as great confusion as the Tower of Babylon was a building.' There were more soldiers in Munster than had been since the first conquest, and war material was abundant. But no two officers agreed with each other personally, or were agreed upon the policy to be pursued. Ormonde was in Dublin, looking after his own interests, and leaving his lieutenants to shift for themselves. Sir Warham St. Leger, Chief Commissioner at Cork, claimed superiority over Sir George Bourchier at Kilmallock, while the latter acted as a captain of free lances and granted protections to whom he pleased. Sir William Morgan at Youghal would give way to neither, and there seemed no escape from the difficulty but once more to appoint an English President, 'upright, valiant, severe, and wise.' In the meantime the rebellion was as strong as ever, and what the rebels spared the soldiers ravaged. In Connaught the young Burkes daily razed houses and fences, northern Leinster lay waste, in Munster nothing was left standing save towns and cities, and Ulster was ready to break out on the smallest provocation.[73]
[Sidenote: Official attack upon Ormonde.]
The English officials all maintained that Ormonde had shown himself unfit to conduct the war. One writer estimates his emoluments at 215_l._ a month, and another at 3,677_l._ a year, and the first result of a peace would be to deprive him of these comfortable subsidies. He was mixed up with Irish families and Irish lawsuits, and could not have a single eye to the public service. He owed the Queen over 3,000_l._ in rents, and the war was an excuse for not paying. Nor was his system of warfare calculated to finish a rebellion, for all experienced officers said that could be done only by settled garrisons. 'He followeth,' says his enemy St. Leger, 'with a running host, which is to no end but only wearing out and consuming of men by travel, for I can compare the difference between our footmen and the traitors to a mastiff and wight greyhound.' According to the same authority Ormonde was generally disliked, and those whom he was set over would 'rather be hanged than follow him, finding their travel and great pains altogether in vain.' He procured the imprisonment of the Baron of Upper Ossory, whom he accused of treason, of harbouring papists and consorting with rebels, and of meeting Desmond after he had been proclaimed; but Wallop thought the Earl coveted his neighbour's land, being 'so imperious as he can abide none near him that dependeth not on him.' Spenser's friend Ludovic Bryskett said the Lord General did nothing of moment with his 2,000 men, and as for his toil and travel, 'the noble gentleman was worthy of pity to take so much labour in vain.' Wallop, Waterhouse, Fenton, and St. Leger agreed that Ireland could only be pacified by severity, and that Ormonde was not the man to do it. But perhaps the heaviest, as it is certainly the most graphic, indictment was that which Captain Raleigh forwarded to Walsingham.[74]
[Sidenote: Adventures of Raleigh.]
Lord Barrymore's eldest son David, Lord Roche's eldest son Maurice, Florence MacCarthy, Patrick Condon, and others, long professed loyalty because it seemed the winning side. But Barry's country lay open to the seneschal of Imokilly, and in passing through it Raleigh had an adventure by which the world was near losing some of its brightest memories. On his return from Dublin, and having at the time only two followers with him and as many more within shot, he was attacked at a ford by the seneschal with seventy-four men. The place seems to have been Midleton or Ballinacurra, and Raleigh's aim was to gain an old castle, which may have been Ballivodig, to which his Irish guide at once fled. In crossing the river Henry Moile was unhorsed, and begged his captain not to desert him. Raleigh rode back into the river, and recovered both man and horse; but in his hurry to remount, Moile fell into a bog on the off side, while his horse ran away to the enemy. 'The captain nevertheless stood still, and did abide for the coming of the residue of his company, of the four shot which as yet were not come forth, and for his man Jenkin, who had about 200_l._ in money about him; and sat upon his horse in the meanwhile, having his staff in one hand, and his pistol charged in the other.' Like an Homeric hero he kept the seneschal's whole party at bay, although they were twenty to one. Raleigh modestly left the details to others, and only reported that the escape was strange to all.[75]
[Sidenote: Raleigh's policy.]
Two days later David Barry was in open rebellion, and Raleigh minded to take possession of Barry's Court and of the adjoining island--the 'great island' on which Queenstown now stands. He had been granted the custody of these lands by Grey, but Ormonde interposed delays, and Raleigh, who was as fond of property as he was careless of danger, greatly resented this. 'When,' he said, 'my Lord Deputy came, and Barry had burned all the rest, the Lord General, either meaning to keep it for himself--as I think all is too little for him--or else unwilling any Englishman should have anything, stayed the taking thereof so long, meaning to put a guard of his own in it, as it is, with the rest, defaced and spoiled. I pray God her Majesty do not find, that--with the defence of his own country assaulted on all sides, what with the bearing and forbearing of his kindred, as all these traitors of this new rebellion are his own cousins-german, what by reason of the incomparable hatred between him and the Geraldines, who will die a thousand deaths, enter into a million of mischiefs, and seek succour of all nations, rather than they will ever be subdued by a Butler--that after her Majesty hath spent a hundred thousand pounds more she shall at last be driven by too dear experience to send an English President to follow these malicious traitors with fire and sword, neither respecting the alliance nor the nation.... This man having been Lord General of Munster now about two years, there are at this instant a thousand traitors more than there were the first day. Would God the service of Sir Humfry Gilbert might be rightly looked into; who, with the third part of the garrison now in Ireland, ended a rebellion not much inferior to this in two months.' A little later, Raleigh reported that he had repaired Belvelly Castle, which commands the strait between the island and the mainland, but that Ormonde meant to rob him of the fruits of his trouble and expense, and to undo what he had done. The soldiers, he declared, cursed the change which made them followers of the Earl rather than of the Lord Deputy, and spent their strength in 'posting journeys' with convoys to Kilkenny instead of in service against the rebels.[76]
[Sidenote: Ormonde loses his command.]
Grey yielded to the arguments of those about him, and announced that there was no help while Irish government and Ormonde were continued, adding that neither Walsingham nor Leicester would believe it. Leicester at least, who corresponded frequently with Maltby, was quite willing to believe anything against their common enemy, and it may be that the present favourite prevailed over the absent friend. At all events the Queen yielded, and Grey was allowed to tell Ormonde that his authority as Lord Lieutenant of Munster was at an end. The Earl submitted cheerfully and with many loyal expressions, saying that he would do such service without pay as would prove him no hireling. His property, he declared, was wasted in her Majesty's service and the loss of salary would be therefore great, but to lose his sovereign's favour and to be traduced in England was far worse. There was now a disposition in high quarters to grant pardons freely; had he known it he could have brought in every man in Munster.
He had thought nothing worth notifying while Desmond was still at large, but he would now make a collection of his services, and the Queen should see that he had not been inactive, and that his activity had not been fruitless. In private he had confessed to having borne too long with some for old acquaintance' sake; but blamed Sussex for forgetting his friends, and could not excuse Captain Zouch, who by sickness had lost 300 men out of 450. Walsingham, in a moment of irritation, had said that his appointment had resulted in the death of only three rebels. Three thousand would be nearer the mark, and that he was ready to prove.[77]
[Sidenote: An amnesty.]
The dismissal of Ormonde was intended by Grey and those about him to form part of a policy of the severest and most unsparing repression, and it was assumed that Gilbert, or some equally uncompromising person, would be appointed President. The Queen, on the other hand, considered it merely as a piece of economy, for she determined at the same time to grant a general pardon, or as the Lord Deputy despairingly put it, to 'leave the Irish to tumble to their own sensual government.' It was the easiest way perhaps for a Lord Deputy; but he had a conscience, and could not see it with equanimity. A considerable number were excepted by name, but even on these terms a proclamation of amnesty was a confession of failure. The news leaked out prematurely through the treachery of a servant, and the rebels bragged loudly of the revenge they would have when their past offences had been condoned.
[Sidenote: Grey's despair.]
The change of policy did not prevent Maltby from executing Clanricarde's son William, and he reported to Walsingham the opinion of an ancient Irish counsellor that her Majesty was only casting pearls before swine. Desmond still had 1,600 able men with him, and a brilliant night attack by Zouch on his camp, though it was made much of, had no particular result. As to Leinster, Grey reported it generally rebellious; but the bogs and woods were far smaller than in Munster, and the remains of castles showed that Wexford and Carlow at least, with the flatter portions of Wicklow, had formerly been well bridled. The object of the rebels was to have no stronghold, for the open country would be always at their mercy. As the Lord Deputy's train passed through Wicklow the O'Byrnes showed themselves on the hills and even cut off some plate-waggons; but he made his way to Wexford, where he hanged some malefactors, and garrisoned Arklow, Castle Kevin, and other places. Grey felt he had done nothing worth speaking of, and begged earnestly for a recall, since he had been overruled in opposing the amnesty as 'not standing with the reason which he had conceived for her Majesty's service.' Sheer severity, was in fact, all he had to recommend, for 'fear, and not dandling, must bring them to the bias of obedience... it is a pity that the resolutions in England should be so uncertain.... If taking of cows, killing of their kerne and churls, had been thought worth the advertising, I could have had every day to trouble your Highness.... He that to-day seems a dutiful subject, let him for any of those, or for other less crimes be to-morrow called upon to come and answer, straightway a protection is demanded and in the mean he will be upon his keeping, which in plain English is none other than a traitor that will forcibly defend his cause and not answer to justice.... Beggars fall to pride, rail at your Majesty, and rely only upon the Pope, and that changes shall in the end free them.[78]
[Sidenote: Death of Sanders.]
Just before Ormonde's dismissal became known, his enemy, Sir Warham St. Leger, told Burghley that he lost twenty Englishmen killed for every one of the rebels. But famine and disease succeeded where the sword failed, and in the same letter St. Leger was able to announce that Dr. Sanders had died of dysentery. For two months the secret had been kept, his partisans giving out that he had gone to Spain for help; but at last one of the women who had clothed him in his winding-sheet brought the news to Sir Thomas of Desmond. Since the fall of Fort Del Oro, he had scarcely been heard of, and had spent his time miserably in the woods on the border of Cork and Limerick. Some English accounts say that he was out of his mind, but of this there does not seem to be any proof. All agree that he died in the wood of Clonlish, and it seems that he was buried in a neighbouring church. His companion at the last was Cornelius Ryan, the papal bishop of Killaloe, and according to O'Sullivan--who had evidently himself good means of knowing the truth--the following scene took place:--
'In the beginning of the night, Dr. Sanders, whose naturally strong frame was worn out by dysentery, thus addressed the Bishop of Killaloe,--"Anoint me, illustrious lord, with extreme unction, for my Creator calls me, and I shall die to-night." "You are strong," answered the bishop, "and your case is not bad, and I think there will be no dying or anointing just now." Nevertheless, he grew worse, and was anointed at midnight, and at cockcrow resigned his spirit to the Lord, and the following night he was secretly buried by priests, and borne to the grave by four Irish knights, of which my father, Dermot, was one. Others were forbidden to attend, lest the English should find the body, and make their usual cruel spectacle of the dead.'
[Sidenote: What he did for Ireland.]
Sanders had been three years in Ireland. He had brought upon the country only bloodshed, famine, and confiscation, and yet among the starving people, none could be found to earn a reward by betraying him.[79]
FOOTNOTES:
[51] Lord Grey's instructions, July 15, 1580, are printed in Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica.
[52] Gerard, C., to Burghley, July 29 and August 3, 1580, to Walsingham, August 3 (with enclosures); to Wallop, August 7; Lord Deputy Grey and Council to the Privy Council, August 14; Zouch and Stanley to Walsingham, July 29; Pelham to Gerard, July 30, in Carew.
[53] Four Masters: Stanley to Walsingham, August 31, 1580.
[54] George Carew to Walsingham, November 20, 1580. For the defeat in Glenmalure, see Stanley, Maltby, and Gerard to Walsingham, August 31 Grey to Walsingham, August 31; to Burghley, September 12; Wallop to Walsingham, September 9; Hooker; Four Masters, 1580; Camden, who exaggerates the loss; O'Sullivan, ii. iv. 14, who ridiculously estimates the slain at 800.
[55] Maltby to Leicester and Walsingham, August 17; the former in Carew; Gerard to Walsingham, August 14.
[56] Hugh Magennis to Grey, August 29, 1580; Dungannon and Sir Hugh O'Reilly to Grey, September 3; Gormanston to Grey, September 4; Sir N. Bagenal to Grey, September 2; Mr. John Barnes to Grey (from Disert), September 4; Nathaniel Smith to Maltby, September 3; Maltby to Walsingham, September 7 and 8.
[57] Pelham to the Privy Council, July 14, 1580; to the Irish Council, July 22; to Winter, August 16, all in Carew. Instructions to Sir William Winter, March 17; and considerations which moved him, September 23; Sir R. Bingham to Walsingham, September 20; Baron of Lixnaw to the Munster Commissioners, September 15.
[58] The correspondence about Sidee is between March 19 and 21, 1580; Winter to the Privy Council, April 27; Notes for the Privy Council, May 14.
[59] Examination of William Carusse, August 12, 1580; Viscount Gormanston to Gerard, July 28.
[60] Grey to the Queen, October 5, 1580; Bingham to Walsingham, September 20 and October 18; and to Leicester same date in Carew; James Golde and Thomas Arthur to Wallop and Waterhouse, September 30; Commons of Lixnaw to same, September 27; Thomas Clinton to the Attorney of Munster, September 26.
[61] Ormonde to R. Shee, October 8, 1580, to an unnamed correspondent, Nov. (No. 71), to the Conde 'the Lemes' (? De Lerma) October 31.
[62] Captain R. Bingham to Walsingham, October 13, 18, and 23, 1580; to Leicester, October 18, in Carew.
[63] Hooker; Grey to the Queen, November 12, 1580; Bingham to Walsingham, November 3.
[64] Strype's Life of Cheke, ch. vi. Bingham to Leicester, November 11, 1580, in Wright's Elizabeth; to Walsingham, November 12; Grey to the Queen and to Walsingham, November 12; Anonymous to Walsingham, November (No. 27). Bingham says the confusion and slaughter were increased by the sailors who swarmed in over the sea-face of the fort, but Grey makes no excuse. See also G. Fenton to Walsingham, November 14, Hooker, Camden, and Spenser's State of Ireland. The poet expressly says that he was present. All the above agree that Grey made no promise, and the Four Masters do not materially contradict the English writers, for their 'promise of protection' may only refer to the negotiations. O'Daly and O'Sullivan, whose accounts seem to have been drawn from the same source, and very probably from Sanders, accuse Grey of bad faith; but they also say the siege lasted forty days, and that the English had recourse to fraud because force had failed. Now it is certain that only one clear day elapsed between the turning of the first sod and the surrender of the fort. Graia fides became a by-word in Catholic Europe, but that would be a matter of course, and it is a pity that so great a scholar as O'Donovan should give implicit faith to rumour, while scouting as 'mere fiction' the solemn statement of such an eye witness as Edmund Spenser.
[65] The Queen to Grey, December 12, 1580; Anonymous to Walsingham, November (No. 27); Dowling ad ann. 1583; Maltby to Leicester, May 28, 1582. The chronology of the Smerwick affair is as follows: Friday, November 4, fleet enters Ventry harbour; 5th, moves to Smerwick; 6th, reconnoitring; 7th, Grey shifts camp from Dingle and opens trenches; 8th, battery opens; 9th, battery continued and surrender agreed upon at night; 10th, the foreign officers come out, and their men are massacred.
[66] The above details are in the letter of November 11 and 12, already cited; the examination of Plunkett in a letter of the latter date from Grey to Walsingham.
[67] Sir N. White to Burghley, July 22, 1580. I have heard that Mr. Hennessy interprets 'Ard canny' as 'hill of Arbutus,' and without reference to any saint. There is a contemporary map of Fort del oro in the Record Office, which seems correct, and it is printed on a reduced scale in the Kerry Magazine. I inspected the place and took measurements in June 1883. Dun-an oir is the 'earthwork of gold.' Poor Frobisher's gold was pyrites, as the London goldsmiths knew, but an Italian alchemist was believed. The 'carcase' mentioned by White was that of the ship, not of the owner.
[68] Lady Honora Burke to Maltby, October 29, 1580; Maltby to Walsingham, October 25, October 27, and November 17; Gerard to Burghley, November 27; Four Masters.
[69] Ormonde to Walsingham and to Burghley, September 28, 1580; J. Thickpenny to Ormonde, September 27; Stanley to Walsingham, October 2; order by the Lord Deputy and Council, October 3; Wallop to Walsingham, November 12.
[70] Wallop to Walsingham, October 9 and 25, and November 27; to Burghley, November 11, 1580; Waterhouse to Walsingham, October 13; Lord Chancellor and Council to the Privy Council, November 3; Gerard to Burghley, October 18; Captain R. Pypho to Walsingham, November 9; Kildare to Walsingham, December 10. Writing to Wallop, on November 17, Maltby says of Kildare, 'sicut erat in principio et tel il sera toute sa vie.' The letter is a queer mixture of Latin, French, and cypher.
[71] Wallop and Waterhouse to Walsingham, December 23, 1580.
[72] Grey to the Queen, December 22, 1580; Lord Deputy and Council to the Queen, December 23; Wallop to Walsingham, December 30; White, M.R., to Burghley, February 2, 1581.
[73] James Sherlock, Mayor of Waterford to Walsingham, November 18, 1580, with the enclosures; Wallop to Walsingham, November 30; Bingham to Walsingham, December 12 and January 9; John Myagh to Walsingham, January 26, 1581; White, M.R., to Burghley, February 2.
[74] Notes of Ormonde's entertainments December, 1580 (No. 45); Wallop to Walsingham, January 14, 1581; to Burghley, May 13; L. Bryskett to Walsingham, April 21; St. Leger to Burghley, June 3. See also 'Observations on the Earl of Ormonde's government,' drawn up probably by Maltby and St. Leger, and calendared in Carew at March 1582. For Ormonde's quarrel with Upper Ossory see his letter to Walsingham, July 21, 1580; and to Grey, August 28; and Waterhouse to Walsingham, August 13. King Edward's old playfellow was six months in prison, and his lands at the mercy of the Butlers. He earnestly desired a trial, adding that his enemy's hands were perhaps less clean than his; see his letter to Leicester of June 7, 1581, in Carew.
[75] Captain W. Rawley to Burghley, Feb. 23, 1581; Hooker in Holinshed.
[76] Raleigh to Walsingham, February 25, 1581; to Grey, May 1.
[77] Grey to Leicester, March 20, 1581; to Walsingham, May 12, June 9; to the Privy Council, June 10; Wallop and Waterhouse to Walsingham, June 10; Ormonde to Burghley, July 15.
[78] Grey to the Queen, April 26, 1581; to Walsingham, May 14; to the Privy Council, June 10 and July 10; Zouch to Walsingham, June 15; Maltby to Walsingham, June 30; Lord Grey's services, September, 1582.
[79] St. Leger to Burghley, June 3, 1581; where it appears that Sanders died about the beginning of April; O'Sullivan, lib. iv. cap. 16; Four Masters, 1581; Camden; Hooker; Holing, S.J., in Spicilegium Ossoriense, i. 94.