'ihyRl^jiMS'^^t 
 
 m.'P.gusace:. 
 
 AUTHOR OF " THE ILLUSTRATKD HISTORY OF IRELAND.' 
 
 Erin chants a Song of Hope for the future of Irish Patriots. 
 
 IRELAND : 
 
 NATIONAL PUBLICATION OmCE, KENMARE, CO. KERRY. 
 
 AMERICA : 
 
 I.KEHOE, CATHOLIC PUBLICATION HOUSE, 126, NASSAU-STREET, 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 [The right of translation and reproduction is reserved.] 
 
 1869. 
 
m 
 
 9(0 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 
 ^xintih IjB |. |IT. 0'S:ooIt tt Ban, 
 C & 7, Great Brunswick-street. 
 
TO 
 
 llfi fi0iinfriinini an& ConnlriilDoincn 
 
 IN IllELAKD, IN ENGLAND, IN AMERICA, IN AUSTRALIA, 
 
 TO THE WAIIM-HEARTED CELT, \YI1EREVEK 
 HIS ABODE MAY BE, 
 
 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND 
 
 IS 
 
 Jljcbicaleb. 
 
 M. F. CUSACK, 
 
 Kenmare, May Cth, 1SC9. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 HAVE been asked to write a short, concise 
 History of Ireland for the benefit of those 
 who have not time to read a larger work, 
 and for the use of schools, as an Introduction to 
 Irish History. I have complied with this request ; 
 but the reader should remember that it requires 
 some care and thought to understand a history 
 written with care and thought, and that, while 
 *' stories" about Ireland may amuse, and rudely- 
 written rhymes may excite, it requires something 
 higher, something of which Irishmen are specially 
 capable, to enable them to like and to profit by 
 what requires some study. This History is in- 
 tended for thoughtful men and women, as well as 
 for thoughtful boys and girls. It contains the 
 result of many years' careful and anxious study, 
 given to the reader in the form in which, as I hope, 
 it will be most easily understood and remembered. 
 It is not intended to take the place of a larger His- 
 tory, nor is it intended for the senior classes in 
 colleges; for such use a larger work, containing more 
 general information, given in the form best suited 
 for students, is now ready. Particulars of that work 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 and of the National Illustrated History of Ireland, 
 both of which may be read with advantage, after 
 the careful perusal of the present volume, will be 
 
 found at the end of this book. 
 
 The present volume is the cheapest history ot 
 Ireland ever offered to the public ; no one now can 
 have any excuse for not knowing the history of 
 Ireland thoroughly. The price places it within the 
 reach even of the poorest ; I believe there are few 
 indeed, who would make the sacrifice w^hich we 
 have done in offering Irishmen so cheap a book. 
 But I believe we shall not regret it, and that Irish- 
 men will show their nationality and their appre- 
 ciation by circulating the Patriot History far and 
 wide in Ireland, in England, and in America. 
 Bemember that we have no newspaper offices where 
 we can print our books at a mere nominal cost ; 
 and no shop where we can sell them at full profit, 
 When we have paid printers, for printing and paper; 
 engravers for designs and engravings ; postage, 
 circulars, and the large jper centage that we allow 
 our agerds, our profit is small indeed. But we 
 are willing to make this sacrifice ; our printers 
 are Irish, the money is spent either in Ireland or 
 on Irishmen in England, for even in England 
 nearly all our agents are Irishmen; and I must 
 add one word of thanks for the generous kindness 
 of the editors of all the Irish national papers, and 
 of several of the English liberal Protestant papers, 
 in helping us in every way with advertisements 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 and reviews of our publications. There has been 
 only one exception to this rule, and that exception 
 is, I am sorry to say, the proprietor of a so-called 
 ''national " Irish newspaper. 
 
 One word more. Let every Irishman and woman 
 who reads this try to induce their friends to give 
 orders to our agents for this work, or send orders di- 
 rect to the address given below.* I hope such a gene- 
 rous response may be given to my request, as shall 
 induce me to continue my labours for my country- 
 men j and to refuse the large profit which might 
 be obtained for the poor for other literary en- 
 gagements of a less national character. Every 
 penny spent in the purchase of the Kenmare pub- 
 lications goes to charity. It goes to benefit trade 
 in Ireland, and any profit that may accrue is 
 devoted entirely to the poor. 
 
 * Orders may be sent and payments for copies enclosed 
 to tlie Superioress, Convent of Poor Clares, Kenmare, 
 County Kerry, Ireland. In America all orders should be 
 sent to Mr. Kehoe, Catholic Publication House, 126 Nassau- 
 street, New York. All our other publications may be 
 ordered as above also. The " National Illustrated History 
 of Ireland " is also one of the cheapest works ever pub- 
 lished, some of the full page engravings are worth as much 
 as would pay for a whole bookfull of inferior ones. We 
 should be sorry to think that Irishmen of the middle and 
 lower classes are incapable of appreciating a high style of 
 art. The immense sale of this work has proved the con- 
 trary. Had this History been published by a London 
 house, they would have charged two pounds for it ; yet it 
 can be had in parts at two shillings each, or bound hand- 
 somely in one volume. 
 
THE PATRIOT'S 
 
 HISTOEY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Introductory Remarks — The first inhabitants of Ireland 
 —The Valuable Old Manuscripts which record the 
 Ancient History of Ireland— The Five Great Invasions 
 of Ireland. 
 
 ^ISTORY is one of the most interesting sub- 
 jects to which the human intellect can de- 
 ^2sm^a yg^Q itself. A man who does not care to 
 know the history of his own country, and to know it 
 well, to know its every detail, and, as far as he can, 
 to study it carefully, does not deserve to have a his- 
 tory. He might almost as well be a savage, with no 
 further knowledge of the past than what his parents 
 relate to him of their early lives. A man who does 
 not care to know the history of other countries, 
 and who cannot make a generous allowance for the 
 failings even of his enemies, and take a generous 
 interest in their triumphs, scarcely deserves the 
 name of being a man. We should first learn the 
 history of our own country, and then learn the 
 
10 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 history of those countries most immediately con- 
 nected with ourselves. But a really well-written 
 history of any country should give some general in- 
 formation about the condition of other nations, for 
 each nation has some influence, however remote, on 
 the history and politics of every cotemporary state. 
 
 The Bible is the oldest book of history in exist- 
 ence. There could not, of course, be any history 
 of man, before man was created. The Bible gives 
 an account of the creation of man, and the princi- 
 pal events in the history of man, from the creation 
 to the flood. We know that this history is the 
 most ancient in the world, because there is no history 
 whatever which claims to tell what the Bible does ; 
 and we know it is a history, every word of which 
 must be true, because Almighty God inspired 
 those who wrote it ; and the Church tells us that 
 it is true. When we come to the period after the 
 flood, we find that there were only a very few per- 
 sons in the world. These few persons increased 
 rapidly, and it is by them and their descendants 
 that the earth was peopled by those who now in- 
 habit it. 
 
 When Noah came out of the ark, he found him- 
 self on a mountain, called Ararat. This mountain 
 is situated in Asia, but it is in that part of Asia 
 nearest to Europe. According as the families of 
 Noah's sons increased in numbers, they went fur- 
 ther and further from this place, just as in America, 
 
IRISH DESCENDED FROM THE SCYTHIANS. 1 1 
 
 the settlers go further and further into the distant 
 forests, as new arrivals create a want for more space. 
 The Irish, according to the best established 
 traditions are descended from Magog, the son 
 of Japhet, the son of Noah. Keating, w^ho wrote 
 his history from some valuable old manu- 
 scripts, not in existence now, informs us that thip 
 was the opinion of the oldest Irish historians. 
 Those people were called Scythians by the Greek 
 historians. They settled on the borders of the Eed 
 Sea, and from thence came further and further to- 
 wards the west, until, according to the general 
 opinion, they colonized Ireland by coming thither, 
 direct from Spain. After some time these Scythians 
 were called Phoenicians. Thus the Irish are more 
 generally said to be descended from the Phoeni- 
 cians. The Phoenicians were very skilful as 
 navigators, and hence they made their way across 
 seas, which would have been impossible for others 
 to traverse. They were also a very learned people. 
 According to the accounts of the great Grecian 
 historians, they were called Phoenicians, from 
 Phoenix, one of their kings ; he had a brother 
 named Cadmus, who, it is said, invented the use of 
 letters. 
 
 Now I must briefly record the authority for 
 ancient Irish History. The love of literature, and 
 as a necessary consequence, a great respect for all 
 who devoted themselves to it, seems inherent in 
 the Irish character. Hence, we find that centuries 
 
12 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 before the introduction of Christianity, there was 
 in Ireland a certain class of persons called files or 
 bards, whose sole occupation consisted in learning 
 and teaching the history of the country. There 
 were regular colleges where these bards received 
 instruction, and where they afterwards instructed 
 others. You will find a full account of these bards 
 and these colleges in the Illustrated History of Ire- 
 land, page 40. It cannot now be ascertained 
 whether the Irish had learned the art of -vmting 
 before the introduction of Christianity, but it is 
 probable that they had some method of recording 
 their history on wood or stone, by inscriptions like 
 those on pillars called the Ogham writing. It is 
 at least certain that the bards transmitted the his- 
 tory of Ireland from one generation to another for 
 centuries before the time of St. Patrick. 
 
 Soon after his arrival in Ireland, accounts of the 
 ancient history and laws of Ireland were written 
 down ; and many of these histories are still in 
 existence. 
 
 If the student reads this work carefully, he will 
 find in it all the great facts of Irish history. 
 Above all, he will learn the true character of the 
 Irish Catholic patriot. He will find the Catholic 
 patriot sacrificing his life again and again willingly 
 and cheerfully for his holy faith. He will see 
 what sacrifices and privations the priests endured 
 to keep up the knowledge of religion in Ireland, and 
 what sacrifices the people made to protect their 
 
THE nVE TAKINGS OF IRELAND. 13 
 
 devoted priests in the hour of danger. That this 
 holy bond of union between Faith and Patriotism 
 may never be broken, should be the most earnest 
 prayer of every Irish Catholic patriot, of every 
 Irish priest, and of all the faithful. 
 
 I must now briefly describe the five great inva- 
 sions or " takings " of Ireland, as they are called in 
 our ancient annals. This is the first historical 
 fact to be remembered, and the next chapter should 
 be read carefully by those who wish for more than 
 a mere superficial knowledge of Irish history. 
 
14 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAPTEB ir. 
 
 The Landing of Partholan— History of the Five Great In- 
 vasions of Ireland— (1) The Nemedians— (2) The Fomo- 
 rians— (3) The Firbolgs— (4) The Tuatha de Dananns— 
 (5) The Milesians— The Famous Stone of Destiny — The 
 Reign of Tighernmas. 
 
 ^^HE five great invasions of Ireland may be 
 thus classified : — (1) the taking by the 
 Nemedians, (2) the taking by the Fomo- 
 rians, (3) the taking by the Firbolgs, (4) the 
 taking by the Tuatha de Dananns, (5) the last 
 and final taking by the Milesians. But our an- 
 nals go back still further, so far back indeed 
 that our claims to great national antiquity are met 
 with the taunts and laughter of those, who if they 
 were wise would first inquire our authority for 
 these claims to antiquity before they ridicule what 
 they do not understand. There is not a single 
 nation in Europe or in America which has such 
 ancient and authentic manuscripts as we have, and 
 in these the traditions and history of our country 
 for centuries before the Christian era are recorded. 
 Some of those records may be incorrect versions of 
 real occurrences ; many of them, without doubt, are 
 impartial records of facts. Now the most ancient 
 manuscripts mention that Ireland was visited 
 before the Flood by a maiden named Cesar and 
 her companions. It is, however, very improbable 
 
'li»W*« 
 
THE LANDING OF PARTHOLAN. 17 
 
 that any record could have been preserved of such 
 an event, even if it ever occurred. The next tra- 
 dition relates that Ireland was visited soon after 
 the Flood, and during the life time of the great 
 patriarch Abraham, by Partholan. He landed at 
 Inver Scene, now called the Kenmare river, in the 
 County Kerry, on the 14th of May, in the year of 
 the world 2520. This man was a parricide, and 
 fled from his country in disgrace and shame. One 
 must suppose that the few traitors who have dis- 
 graced the Irish name from time to time have 
 descended from this outcast. But he brought the 
 plague with him; and although he and his fol- 
 lowers lived long enough to clear many forests, and 
 plant many colonies, vengeance came at last. 
 Eventually, nearly the whole colony perished by 
 plague. The place is still shown where thousands 
 were buried in a common tomb. It is called Tal- 
 laght, and is near Dublin, the name Tallaght 
 meaning Tarn Lacht, or the plague sepulchre. 
 
 The first of the five takings which I have men- 
 tioned, however, is that of the Nemedians. They 
 came to Ireland, or lerne, as it was then more poeti- 
 cally called, about the year 2859, and erected forts to 
 protect themselves against invaders, clearing plains 
 to support their flocks and herds. Those Neme- 
 dians also came from the high table-lands in Asia, 
 travelling westward, and settling in various places. 
 But Nemedh and his followers were not destined 
 to have sole and undisputed possession of Ireland. 
 
18 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The Fomorians, a race of pirates, of whom little 
 is known, attacked them by sea and land, but 
 principally by sea. According to the Annals of 
 Clonmacnois, "they were a sept descended from 
 Cham, the sonne of Noeh, and lived by pyracie 
 and spoile of other nations, and were, in those 
 days, very troublesome to the whole world." 
 The few Nemedians who escaped alive after their 
 great battle with the Fomorians, fled into the 
 interior of the island. Three bands are said to 
 have emigrated with their respective captains. 
 One party wandered into the north of Europe, and 
 are believed to have been the progenitors of the 
 Tuatha de Dananns ; others made their way to 
 Greece, where they were enslaved, and obtained 
 the name of Firbolgs, or bagmen, from the leathern 
 bags which they were compelled to carry; and the 
 third section sought refuge in the north of England, 
 which is said to have obtained its name of Briton 
 from their leader, Briotan Maol. 
 
 The tliird immigration is that of the Firbolgs ; 
 and it is remarkable how early the love of country 
 is manifested in the Irish race, since we find those 
 who once inhabited its green plains still anxious to 
 return, whether their emigration proved prosperous 
 as to the Tuatha de Dananns, or painful, as to the 
 Firbolgs. 
 
 The Firbolgs divided the island into five pro- 
 vinces, governed by five brothers, the sons of Dela 
 Mac Loich : — " Slane, the eldest brother, had the 
 
THE TUATHA DE DANANNS. 19 
 
 province of Leynster for his part, which containeth 
 from Inver Colpe, that is to say, where the river 
 Boyne entereth into the sea, now called in Irish 
 Drogheda, to the meeting of the three waters, by 
 Waterford, where the three rivers, Suyre, Ffeoir, 
 and Barrow, do meet and run together into the sea. 
 Gann, the second brother's part, was South 
 Munster, which is a province extending from that 
 place to Bealagh-Conglaissey. Seangaun, the third 
 brother's part, was fiom Bealagh-Conglaissey toBos- 
 sedahaileagh, now called Limbriche, which is in the 
 province of North Munster. Geanaun, the fourth 
 brother, had the province of Connaught, containing 
 from Limerick to Easroe. Eorye, the fifth brother 
 and youngest, had from Easroe aforesaid to Inver 
 Colpe, which is in the province of Ulster." 
 
 The Firbolg chiefs had landed in different parts 
 of the island, but they soon met at the once famous 
 Tara, where they united their forces. To this 
 place they gave the name of Druim CaiUj or the 
 Beautiful Eminence. 
 
 The fourth, or Tuatha de Danann "taking" of 
 Ireland, occurred in the reign of Eochaidh, son of 
 Ere, A.M. 3303. The Tuatha de Dananns were a 
 brave, high-spirited race, and famous for their skill 
 in what was then termed magic. But it is probable 
 that all the magic of which they were guilty, Avas 
 being able to exercise many mechanical arts of 
 which those who had previously invaded Ireland 
 were then ignorant. 
 
20 THE PATEIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Their leader was called Nuad of the Silver 
 Hand. This chieftain had lost a hand in battle, 
 and his artificer or smith, as such workmen were 
 then called, made a silver hand for him with joints 
 which he used. This artisan was called Credne 
 Cert ; but Nuad had also a very skilful physician, 
 named Mioch, and he completed the convenience by 
 infusing motion and feeling into every joint and 
 finger of this wonderful hand. Of course this 
 could not be literally true, as there could be no 
 feeling without life, and God alone can give life. 
 But it is probable that the smith and the doctor 
 worked together, and turned out some clever sub 
 stitute for a hand which the great Nuada found very 
 useful. 
 
 The ancient laws of Ireland, called the Brehon 
 Laws, were then in force, and these laws require 
 that a king should be free from every personal 
 defect. Nuada, therefore, was obliged to resign 
 his sovereignty after the loss of his hand, until a 
 substitute was made for the defective member. 
 Nuada and Eochy, the Firbolg monarch, had a 
 great battle, recorded in our annals as the battle of 
 Moytur6. The Firbolgs were defeated, for they 
 were no fair match for the famous Tuatha de 
 Dananns. Their king was slain at Ballysadare, in 
 Sligo. This battle is one of the most famous 
 recorded in our ancient history. Full details are 
 given of it by the bards or poet-historians of that 
 age, and these details afford the most important 
 
THE WARRIORS BREAS AND SRENG. 21 
 
 illustrations of the habits, manners, and customs of 
 the ancient Irish. Their dress and weapons are fully- 
 described, and those who doubt the truth of our 
 traditional history would do well to remember 
 that the traditions, as recorded in our ancient 
 annals, are, day by day, more and more verified 
 by the researches of those who devote then* time 
 to the study of antiquities, such as the ancient 
 weapons, domestic utensils, &c., found in the great 
 cairns, or tombs, of ancient Irish chieftains. 
 
 One of these ancient bardic accounts describes 
 an interview between the two brave warriors, 
 Breas, the Tuatha de Danann, and Sreng, the 
 Fomorian. They conversed with each other, pro- 
 tected by their shields, fearing mutual treachery, 
 as well they might in these wild times. Then 
 gaining confidence, and finding that they both 
 spoke the same language, the old Celtic tongue, 
 they commenced an examination of each other's 
 weapons. These were very different. Breas had 
 *' two beautifully shaped, thin, slender, long, sharp 
 pointed spears," and Sreng was armed with " two 
 heavy, thick, pointless, but sharpley rounded 
 spears. ' Now, it has always been the tradition of 
 the Irish, that weapons of the former class were 
 made by the Tuatha de Dananns, who were so highly 
 skilled as artificers, and weapons of the latter class 
 by the Firbolgs ; and it is remarkable that weapons 
 of these very different kinds have been found in the 
 cairns, or grave mounds belonging to eacH tribe — 
 
22 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the inferior kind in Firbolg cairns, and the 
 superior kind in these of the Tuatha de Da- 
 nanns. 
 
 These wonderful people have also left records 
 after them in the traditions of fairies, and " good 
 people," so common in Ireland. The light, gay, 
 joyous element of the Irish character may be 
 traced to them also; and the special respect always 
 shown to the possessors of superior intellectual 
 power, as honourable to those who pay this respect 
 as to those who receive it. The Tuatha de 
 Dananns also brought the famous Lia Fail, or 
 Stone of Destiny, to Ireland. The history of this 
 stone is not easily verified. All kinds of wild 
 tales have been told about it. Some traditions 
 claim for it the honour of being the stone 
 pillar on which Jacob reposed. It will be re- 
 membered that it was usual for the Jews to erect 
 altars of stone or pillars of stone to commemorate 
 any special event. As the Tuatha de Dananns 
 undoubtedly came from the East, and as the Celtic 
 tribes claim a descent from Japhet through the 
 Phoenicians, it is quite possible that this stone was 
 really one of those thus consecrated. It is at least 
 certain that it is still in existence — a fact which 
 shows the peculiar veneration with which it was 
 regarded, which veneration secured its preserva- 
 tion from age to age. 
 
 According to one account, this stone is now 
 under the coron^tio^ chair in Westminster Abbey, 
 
THE STONE OF DESTINY. 23 
 
 It; was brought thither from Scone in Scotland, 
 where it was used in the same way. Those who 
 beHeve this account say that it was brought from 
 Tara, by Fergus king of Scotland, who wished to 
 be crowned on the stone of destiny. According to 
 another account, this pillar stone is still at Tara. 
 A pillar stone was removed in 1798 to the centre of 
 the mound of the Forradh; it formerly stood by the 
 side of a small mound lying within the enclosure 
 of Eath Eiogh. The late Dr. Petrie believed this 
 stone to be the identical Lia Fail, or stone of des- 
 tiny. 
 
 The fifth invasion, or taking of Ireland, was 
 that of the Milesians. This is, undoubtedly, one 
 of the most important subjects of our ancient 
 history. The four masters, the great authorities 
 of Irish history, thus record the event. '< The age 
 of the world 3500. The fleet of the sons of 
 Mihdh came to Ireland at the end of this year, to 
 take it from the Tuatha de Dananns, and they 
 fought the battle of Sliabh Mis with them on the 
 third day after landing. In this battle fell Scota, 
 the daughter of Pharaoh, the wife of Milidh ; and 
 the grave of Scota is [to be seen] between SHabh 
 Mis and the sea. Therein also fell Fas, the wife 
 of Un, son of Uige, from whom is [named] Gleann 
 Falsi. After this the sons of Milidh fought a battle 
 at Taillten against the three kings of the Tuatha 
 de Dananns, MacCuill, MacCeacht, and Mac- 
 Grri6Q6, The battle lasted for a long time, un^il 
 
24 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 MacCeacht fell by Eiremlion, MacCuill by Eim- 
 heur, and MacGri6n6 by Amliergen." 
 
 According to the ancient accounts, the IMilesians 
 landed at the mouth of the river Slaing^, or 
 Slaney, in the present county of Wexford, unper- 
 ceived by the Tuatha de Dananns. From thence 
 they marched to Tara, the seat of government, and 
 summoned the three Idngs to surrender. A curious 
 legend is told of this summons and its results, 
 which is probably true in the more important 
 details. The Tuatha de Danann princes com- 
 plained that they had been taken by surprise, and 
 proposed to the invaders to re-embark, and to go 
 out upon the sea *'the distance of nine waves," 
 stating that the country should be surrendered to 
 them if they could then effect a landing by force. 
 The Milesian chiefs assented; but when the original 
 inhabitants found them fairly launched at sea, 
 they raised a tempest by magical incantations, 
 which entirely dispersed the fleet. One part of it 
 was driven along the east coast of Erinn, to the 
 north, under the command of Eremon, the youngest 
 of the Milesian brothers; the remainder, under the 
 command of Donn, the elder brother, was driven 
 to the south-west of the island. 
 
 But the Milesians had druids also. As soon as 
 they suspected the agency which had caused the 
 storm, they sent a man to the topmast of the ship 
 to know " if the wind was blowing at that height 
 over the surface of the sea." The man reported 
 
THE BATTLE OF TAILLTEN. 25 
 
 that it was not. The druids then commence 
 pra,ctising counter arts of magic, in which they 
 soon succeeded, but not until five of the eight 
 brothers were lost. Four, including Donn, were 
 drowned in the wild Atlantic, off the coast of 
 Kerry. Colpa met his fate at the mouth of the 
 river Boyne, called from him Inbhear Colpa. 
 Eber Finn and Amergin, the survivors of the 
 southern party, landed in Kerry, and here the 
 battle of Sliabh Mis was fought, which has been 
 already mentioned. 
 
 The battle of Taillten followed ; and the Mile- 
 sians having become masters of the country, the 
 brothers Eber Finn and Eremon divided it between 
 them; the former taking all the southern part, 
 from the Boyne and the Shannon to Cape Clear, 
 the latter taking all the part lying to the north of 
 these rivers. 
 
 This arrangement, however, was not of long 
 continuance. Each was desirous of unlimited 
 sovereignty ; and they met to decide their claims 
 by an appeal to arms at G^isill, a place near the 
 present Tullamore, in the King's County. Eber 
 and his chief leaders fell in this engagement, and 
 Eremon assumed the sole government. 
 
 Our annals afford but brief details from the time 
 of Eremon to that of Ugain6 M6r. One hundred 
 and eighteen sovereigns are enumerated from the 
 IMilesian conquest of Ireland (according to the 
 Four Masters, B.C. 1700) to the time of St. 
 
26 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Patrick, A.D. 432. Tlie principal events re- 
 corded are deeds of arms, the clearing of woods, 
 the enactment of laws, and the erection of 
 palaces. 
 
 Tiernmas was undoubtedly the most famous of 
 these Milesian kings, and it is said that he 
 introduced the custom of worshipping idols into 
 ancient Erin; this statement requires some ex- 
 planation. 
 
 After the fall of man, the knowledge of God, 
 and consequently the knowledge of the way in 
 which the Almighty should be worshipped by his 
 creatures, was confined for many years to the 
 Jewish race. They were God's chosen people, and 
 to them He made known His will through special 
 revelations to their prophets. The Jews wor- 
 shipped the one true God, in the way in which He 
 had Himself directed. But the heathen, and all 
 who were not Jews were heathen, worshipped 
 idols. Some of them actually offered worship to 
 devils j some knelt before wooden or stone images, 
 and prayed to them, imagining that they could 
 hear them, or, perhaps, in some few cases looking 
 on them as the image only of some great unknown 
 deity. Some of the forms of worship used by 
 the heathen were very terrible. They sometimes 
 burned their children to death, thinking that this 
 cruel act would please their false gods. They did 
 not know that the true God was a God of love. 
 They ofteu performed tlie most immoral rites, not 
 
THE SUN-WORSmPPERS. 27 
 
 knowing that God was a God of purity as well as 
 a God of love. But there were some few amongst 
 the heathen nations who got some idea of a purer 
 religious worship from the Jews ; or who, perhaps, 
 had preserved some traditions of true religion from 
 the time of the dispersion of mankind after the 
 building of the tower of Babel, and these men 
 generally became Sun-worshippers. They saw that 
 light and heat, and consequently vegetation, and 
 countless other blessings, emanated from this great 
 luminary, and they put it in the place of God; not 
 knowing, or not reflecting, that, as a creature, it 
 must have had a Creator, greater, incomparably 
 greater, than itself. This worship, however, though 
 idolatrous, was comparatively pure and simple. 
 This was the worship of the Magi, or wise men of 
 the East, of whom we are told in Scripture, and 
 who were led by divine inspiration to Bethlehem, 
 that they might there see and know the true Light 
 of the World. 
 
 The early colonists of Ireland brought some such 
 form of worship with them from distant lands, 
 and undoubtedly there was some marked change in 
 the pagan religion of Ireland during the reign of 
 the Milesian king, Tiernmas. Where and how he 
 learned idol worship is another question, and one 
 which probably will never be known. He set up 
 the famous idol called Crom Cruach on the plain 
 of Moy Slaght, in the present county Cork. This 
 hideous figure was surrounded by twelve smaller 
 
28 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 idols, and was worshipped by the Irish until it 
 was destroyed by St. Patrick. 
 
 Tiernmas also has the credit of having intro- 
 duced certain distinctions in rank amongst thelrish, 
 which were indicated by the wearing of certain 
 colours. This was probably the origin of the Scotch 
 plaid. 
 
 Keating says that a slave was permitted only 
 one colour, a peasant two, a soldier three, a pubHc 
 victualler five. The Ollamh or poet-historian ranked 
 with royalty, and was permitted six — another of 
 the many proofs of extraordinary veneration for 
 learning in pre-Christian Erinn. The Four Mas- 
 ters, however, ascribe the origin of this distinction 
 to Eochaidh Eadghadhach. 
 
 This monarch also employed a refiner of gold, 
 and some of the very beautiful specimens of skil- 
 ful workmanship in this metal, preserved in the 
 Eoyal Irish Academy, may have been manufactured 
 during this reign. Engravings of those works of 
 art of which every Irishman is justly proud may 
 be found in the Illustrated History of Ireland, the 
 committee of that society having granted us the 
 rare privilege of making them public. Our Illus- 
 trated History of Ireland, indeed, is the only Irish 
 history ever published, which has made even 
 an attempt at giving representations of these 
 treasures. 
 
 Silver shields were now made (B.C. 1383) at 
 Airget-Eos, by Enna Airgtheach, and four-horse 
 
TARA'S HALLS. 29 
 
 chariots were first used in the time of Roitheach- 
 taigh, who was killed by lightning near the Giant's 
 Causeway. Ollamh Fodhla (the wise or learned 
 man) distinguished himself still more byinstituting 
 triennial assemblies at Tara. Even should the 
 date given by the Four Masters (1317 B.C.) be 
 called in question, there is no doubt of the fact, 
 which must have occurred some centuries before 
 the Christian era ; and this would appear to be the 
 earliest instance of a national convocation or par- 
 liament in any country. Ollamh Fodhla also ap- 
 pointed chieftains over every cantred or hundred, 
 he constructed a rath at Tara, and died there in 
 the fortieth year of his reign. 
 
 Who does not desire to know something of 
 Tara and its ancient glories 1 For centuries it was 
 supposed that Irishmen who spoke of the glories of 
 *' Tara's Halls," indulged in sentimental romance 
 about past imaginary greatness. But those who 
 thought thus only displayed their ignorance ot 
 everything Irish, or their prejudice against every- 
 thing Irish. Tara Avas, and is a reality, and may 
 be said to be a reality even now. The remains 
 of its "halls" may still be traced out, and have 
 been traced out by the late Dr. Petrie ; and, 
 lilce every other research into Irish antiquity, all 
 that was discovered tended to prove that our an- 
 cient records were ever literally correct in their 
 accounts. 
 
 A national parliament was held here every three 
 
30 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 years ; and learned men were summoned to attend 
 it, as well as men of rank. For six days the king 
 entertained all his guests at his own expense, and 
 did his utmost to promote social intercourse. 
 Here the poet-historians brought each his record of 
 the events which happened in his province or dis- 
 trict during the time that had elapsed since the 
 last assembly ; here also the national records were 
 examined with the greatest care. All that is on 
 record concerning this subject leads one to believe 
 that some method of conveying information by 
 writing must have been known to the Pagan Irish. 
 No people could have been, and no people, in point 
 of fact, ever have been so jealously careful of 
 their records. Family pedigrees were also ex- 
 amined and corrected in this assembly. This was 
 a point of great importance. 
 
 A man's right of inheritance to property depended 
 on his genealogy, except in the rare cases where 
 might took the place of right, as will happen even 
 in civilized nations. Hence, the care of the ancient 
 Irish in transmitting the names of their ancestors 
 was very great. When a man died possessed of 
 property, it was divided equally among his sons. 
 This custom had great disadvantages in many ways, 
 but it was a noble recognition of the equal right of 
 all to a share in the common stock of national goods. 
 But when the principle came to be applied to 
 royalty it eventually proved the destruction of Ire- 
 land. The successor to the throne of each little 
 
THE GREAT IRISH FAMILIES. 31 
 
 state was elected from amongst the members of the 
 reigning family — thus it was both elective and 
 hereditary. When a king was elected his successor 
 was generally chosen at the same time. This suc- 
 cessor might, or might not, be the eldest son of 
 the monarch ; and this plan of electing a person to 
 a position which he might never fill, caused the 
 most sanguinary divisions even in families, and led 
 to the many violent deaths which disgrace the early 
 annals of Ireland. Men who dared not assassinate 
 the reigning monarch made little scruple of assassin- 
 ating the heir apparent or Tanist, as such persons 
 were called ; and the plan of subdividing property 
 weakened the kingly power more and more, and 
 consequently lessened the national strength. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Names of the Princes from whom the priucipal Irish families 
 are descended — Ugany Mor — Story of the Tain bo 
 Chuailgne— Keign of Tuathal — History and Origin of 
 the Boromean Tribute— Conn of the Hundred Battles — 
 Reign of Cormac — Laws of Ancient Erinn — Fin Mac 
 Cuil — Division of Ancient Erinn — Niall of the nine 
 Hostages— Death of King Dathi in France. 
 
 ^ JHE great Irish families all trace their descent 
 from the Milesian chiefs, Ir, Eber, and 
 5IQ Eremon, and their cousin Lugaid, the son 
 of Ith. In the north the families of Magenis, 
 
32 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 O'Hara, O'Flynn, &c., claim their pedigree from Ir. 
 The O'Driscolls, O'Carrolls, O'Kennas, &c., from 
 Lugaid. The McCarthys and O'Briens from Eber. 
 The O'Neils, O'Donnels, O'Connors, and MacMur- 
 roughs from Eremon. 
 
 Ugaine M6r, or the great, was one of the most 
 famous of the Irish pagan kings. He was the 
 foster son of Queen Macha, who founded the 
 palace of Emania about 400 years before Christ. 
 Three brothers, Hugh Eoe, or the Eed, Darthbre, 
 and Kimbay claimed the throne. It was at last 
 agreed that each should reign for seven years in 
 turn, and the agreement was observed until 
 each had reigned three times in turn. At last 
 Hugh the Red was crowned at Assaroe, which 
 still bears his name. His daughter, Macha, insisted 
 on reigning when her father's turn came round; and 
 when her two uncles refused to acknowledge her 
 claim she had recourse to arms. She defeated her 
 opponents, slew Darthbre, and banished his sons. 
 In order to prevent further opposition from Kim- 
 bay, the only survivor, she married him. The 
 exiled princes returned, and revolted against her 
 once more, but they were again defeated, and the 
 relentless queen compelled them to work as slaves, 
 and erect a palace for her use. 
 
 It is said that she marked out the site of this 
 palace with the pin of her golden brooch, and that 
 it obtained thus the name of Eo-Muin, or Emania. 
 It is now fully two thousand years since this fort 
 
FAMOUS mLITARY COLLEGES. 33 
 
 was built, and its remains still exist near Armagh. 
 This is one of the most interesting and important 
 of our Irish antiquities. The fort covers upwards 
 of eleven acres of land, and from the summit of 
 one of the forts situated on the slope of a hill, there 
 is a splendid view of the surrounding country. 
 Here also the famous military college was erected, 
 called the " House of the Ked Branch." A neigh- 
 bouring townland still preserves the tradition in 
 the name of Creeve Roe. 
 
 Emania survived her husband seven years, and 
 was at last slain herself, and succeeded, as I have 
 said, by her foster son, Ugaine Mor. His reign 
 was long and prosperous, and he was singularly 
 devoted to learning. His sons also distinguished 
 themselves in this way. Ugain6 also exacted an 
 oath from his subjects, by the elements, which, as 
 Sun-worshippers, they would consider specially 
 sacred, that they would never deprive his family of 
 the sovereignty of Erin. 
 
 We must now reluctantly pass over the reigns 
 of many Irish monarchs who succeeded Ugaine 
 Mor, as the limits of this work will not permit 
 further details; neither can I give here a des- 
 cription of the social life of the ancient Irish, — 
 of their houses, their dress, their weapons, their 
 mode of life, their food, their language, their 
 games, their studies ; — all this I must pass over ; 
 but those who have carefully studied the outlines 
 of Irish history contained in this volume, and 
 
34 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 every event of importance is fully recorded herein, 
 will find a double interest afterwards in reading 
 larger works which will contain full details. In 
 my Illustrated History of Ireland many entire 
 chapters are devoted to these subjects. 
 
 We come now almost to Christian times, and to 
 the reign of King Cormac Mac Nessa, and of the 
 orave Queen M^av, or Mab. This lady's exploits 
 are so wonderful that they have been recorded in 
 a tale called the Tain bo Chuailgne, which is, per- 
 haps, one of the most interesting bardic stories 
 on record. Meav was married first to Conor, the 
 celebrated provincial King of Ulster ; but the mar- 
 riage was not a happy one, and was dissolved, in 
 modern parlance, on the ground of incompatibility. 
 In the meanwhile, Meav's three brothers had re- 
 belled against their father ; and though his arms 
 were victorious, the victory did not secure peace. 
 The men of Conn aught revolted against him, and 
 to retain their allegiance he made his daughter 
 Queen of Connaught, and gave her in marriage to 
 Ailill, a powerful chief of that province. This 
 prince, however, died soon after ; and Mdav, de- 
 termined for once, at least, to choose a husband 
 for herself, made a royal progress to Leinster, 
 where Hoss Ruadh held his court at Naas. She 
 selected the younger son of this monarch, who 
 bore the same name as her former husband, and 
 they lived together happily as queen and king 
 consort for many years. On one occasion, how- 
 
QUEEN MAB AND HER BULLS. 3c 
 
 ever, a dispute arose about their respective trea- 
 sures, and this dispute led to a comparison of their 
 property. The account of this, and the subsequent 
 comparison, is given at length in the story of the 
 Tain. They counted their vessels, metal and 
 wooden ; they counted their finger rings, their 
 clasps, their thumb rings, their diadems, and their 
 gorgets of gold. They examined their many- 
 coloured garments of crimson and blue, of black 
 and green, yellow and mottled, white and streaked. 
 All were equal. They then inspected their flocks 
 and herds, swine from the forests, sheep from the 
 pasture lands, and cows — here the first difierence 
 arose. It was one to excite M6av's haughty 
 temper. There was a young bull found in Ailill's 
 herd, which had been calved by one of Meav's 
 cows ; but " not deeming it honourable to be under 
 a woman's control," it had attached itself to Ailill's 
 flocks. M6av was not a lady who could remain 
 quiet under such provocation. She summoned her 
 chief courier, and asked him could he find a match 
 for Finnbheannach (the white-horned). The 
 courier declared that he could find even a superior 
 animal ; and at once set forth on his mission, 
 suitably attended. Meav had offered the most 
 liberal rewards for the prize she so much coveted ; 
 and the courier soon arranged for the purchase of 
 one from Dare, a noble of large estates, who pos- 
 sessed one of the valuable breed. A drunken 
 quarrel, however, disarranged his plans. One of 
 
36 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the men boasted that if Dar6 had not given the 
 bull for payment, he should have been compelled 
 to give it by force. Dar6's steward heard the ill- 
 timed and uncourteous boast. He flung down the 
 meat and drink which he had brought for their 
 entertainment, and went to tell his master the con- 
 temptuous speech. The result may be anticipated. 
 Dare refused the much-coveted animal, and M6av 
 proceeded to make good her claim by force of 
 arms ; at last the bulls ended the dispute by hav- 
 ing a battle of their own , the " white-horn " was 
 killed, and Donn Chuailgne the victor, dashed out 
 his brains in a fit of mad fury. 
 
 The insurrection of the Attacotti, is the next 
 event of importance in Irish history. Their plans 
 were deeply and wisely laid, and promised the 
 success they obtained. It is one of the lessons of 
 history which rulers in all ages would do well to 
 study. There is a degree of oppression which, 
 even the most degraded will refuse to endure; 
 there is a time when the injured will seek revenge, 
 even should they know that this revenge may bring 
 on themselves yet deeper wrongs. The leaders of 
 the revolt were surely men of some judgment; 
 and both they and those who acted under them 
 possessed the two great qualities needed for such 
 an enterprise. They were silent, for their plans 
 were not even suspected until they were accom- 
 plished ; they were patient, for these plans were 
 three years in preparation. During three years 
 
THE COLLAR OF GOLD. 37 
 
 the men saved their scanty earnings to prepare a 
 sumptuous deatli-feast for their unsuspecting vic- 
 tims. This feast was held at a place since called 
 Mach Cru, in Connaught. The monarch, Fiacha 
 Finnolaidh, the provincial kings and chiefs, were all 
 invited, and accepted the invitation. But while the 
 enjoyment was at its height, when men had drank 
 deeply, and were soothed by the sweet strains 
 of the harp, the insurgents did their bloody work. 
 Three ladies alone escaped. They fled to Britain, 
 and there each gave birth to a son — heirs to their 
 respective husbands, who had been slain. 
 
 After the massacre, the Attacotti elected their 
 leader, Cairbr^, the cat-headed, to the royal 
 dignity. He died at the end of five years, and 
 his son, the wise and prudent Morann, refused to 
 succeed him, and advised the people to recall the 
 rightful heirs. 
 
 Morann was the inventor of the famous collar 
 of gold, which was said to have closed of itself 
 round the necks of the guilty, and expanded to 
 the ground when the wearer was innocent. Tuathal 
 is the next monarch whose history demands special 
 notice- he was the son of a former legitimate 
 monarch, and had been invited to Ireland by a 
 powerful party. He was perpetually at war with 
 the Attacotti, but at last estabHshed himself firmly 
 on the throne, by exacting an oath from the 
 people, "by the sun, moon, and elements," that 
 his posterity should not be deprived of the 
 
38 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 sovereignty. This oath was taken at Tara, where 
 he had convened a general assembly, as had been 
 customary with his predecessors at the commence- 
 ment of each reign ; but it was held by him with 
 more than usual state. His next act was to take 
 a small portion of land from each of the four 
 provinces, forming what is now the present county 
 of Meath, and retaining it as the mensal portion of 
 the Ard-Righ, or supreme monarch. On each of 
 these portions he erected a palace for the king of 
 every province. Tuathal had at this time two 
 beautiful and marriageable daughters, named Fithir 
 and Dairin6. Eochaidh Aincheann, King of Lein- 
 ster, sought and obtained the hand of the younger 
 daughter, Dairine, and after her nuptials carried 
 her to his palace at Naas, in Leinster. Some time 
 after, his people persuaded him that he had made 
 a bad selection, and that the elder was the better 
 of the two sisters ; upon wliich Eochaidh deter- 
 mined by stratagem to obtain the other daughter 
 -also. For this purpose he shut the young queen 
 up in a secret apartment of his palace, and gave 
 out a report that she was dead. He then repaired, 
 apparently in great grief, to Tara, informed the 
 monarch that his daughter was dead, and demanded 
 her sister in marriage. Tuathal gave his consent, and 
 the false king returned home with his new bride. 
 Soon after her arrival at Naas, her sister escaped 
 from her prison, and suddenly and unexpectedly 
 encountered the prince and Fithir In a moment 
 
THE EOHOMEAN TRIBUTE. 39 
 
 she divined the truth, and had the additional 
 anguish of seeing her sister, who was struck with 
 horror and shame, fall dead before her face. The 
 death of the unhappy princess, and the treachery 
 of her husband, was too much for the young 
 queen ; she returned to her solitary chamber, and 
 in a very short time died of a broken heart. 
 
 The insult offered to his daughters, and their 
 untimely death, roused the indignation of the pagan 
 monarch, and was soon bitterly avenged. At the 
 head of a powerful force, he burned and ravaged 
 Leinster to its utmost boundary, and then com- 
 pelled its humbled and terror-stricken people to 
 bind themselves and their descendants for ever to 
 the payment of a triennial tribute to the monarcli 
 of Erinn, which, from the great number of cows 
 exacted by it, obtained the name of the " Boromean 
 Tribute" — ho being the Irish for a cow. 
 
 The tribute is thus described in the old annals : 
 
 " The men of Leinster were obliged to pay- 
 To Tuathal, and all tlie monarchs after him, 
 Three-score hundred of the fairest cows, 
 And three -score hundred ounces of [pure silver. 
 And three-score hundred mantles richly woven. 
 And three-score hundred of the fattest hogs, 
 And three-score hundred of the largest sheep, 
 And three-score hundred cauldrons strong and polished. " 
 
 It is elsewhere described as consisting of five 
 thousand ounces of silver, five thousand mantles, 
 five thousand fat cows, five thousand fat hogs, five 
 
40 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 tliousand wethers, and five thousand vessels of 
 brass or bronze for the king's laving, with men and 
 maidens for his service. 
 
 The levying of the tribute was the cause of peri- 
 odical and sanguinary wars, from the time of Tua- 
 thal until the reign of Finnachta the Festive. 
 About the year 680 it was abolished by him, at the 
 entreaty of St. Moling, of Tigh Moling (now St. 
 Mullen's, in the county Carlo w). It is said by 
 Keating, that he availed himself of a pious ruse for 
 this purpose, asking the king to j)ledge himself 
 not to exact the tribute until after Monday, and 
 then, when his request was complied with, declar- 
 ing that the Monday he intended was the Monday 
 after Doomsday. The tribute was again revived 
 and levied by Brian, the son of Cinneidigh, at the 
 beginning of the eleventh century, as a punishment 
 on the Leinster men for their adherence to the 
 Danish cause. It was from this circumstance that 
 Brian obtained the surname of Boroimh6. 
 
 Conn of the Hundred Battles, commenced his 
 reign about the year 123. He was constantly at 
 war with Eoghan, or Owen More, a prince of the 
 race of Eber, who had passed most of his early 
 youth in Spain. The cause of quarrel was the 
 shi^jping arrangements in Dublin, which was even 
 then a seaport of some importance. The northern, 
 Howth side, was considered the best, reversing 
 the opinion of the present day, and when each 
 claimed the best, only a battle could terminate the 
 
CONN OF THE HTTNDRED BATTLES. 41 
 
 dispute. Conn won the day, tliougli liis forces 
 were far inferior to those of his rival, whom he 
 slew. 
 
 Conn was succeeded by Conaire II., the father of 
 the three Cairbr^s, who were progenitors of im- 
 portant tribes. Cairbre Muse gave his name to 
 six districts in Munster ; the territory of Corca- 
 baiscinn, in Clare, was named after Cau-bre Bas- 
 cain ; and the Dalriada of Antrim were descended 
 from Cairbre Eiada. He is also mentioned by 
 Bede under the name of Eeuda, as the leader of 
 the Scots who came from Hibernia to Alba. 
 Three centuries later, a fresh colony of Dalriadans 
 laid the foundation of the Scottish monarchy under 
 Fergus, the son of Ere. Mac Con was the next 
 Ard-Bigh, or chief monarch of Ireland. He obtained 
 the royal power after a battle at Magh Mucruimh^, 
 near Athenry, where Art the Melancholy, son of 
 Conn of the Hundred Battles, and the seven sons 
 of Oilioll Oluim, were slain. 
 
 Cormac Mac Airt is unquestionably the most 
 celebrated of all our pagan monarchs. During his 
 early years he had been compelled to conceal him- 
 self among his mother's friends in Connaught; but 
 the severe rule of the usurper Mac Con excited a 
 desire for his removal, and the friends of the young 
 prince were not slow to avail themselves of the 
 popular feeling. He, therefore, appeared un- 
 expectedly at Tara, and happened to arrive when 
 the monarch was giving judgment in an important 
 
42 THE rATRIOT HISTORY OF IEElAND. 
 
 case, which is thus related : — Some sheep, the 
 property of a widow, residing at Tara, had strayed 
 into the queen's private lawn, and eaten the grass. 
 They were captured, and the case was brought 
 before the king. He decided that the trespassers 
 should be forfeited; but Cormac exclaimed that his 
 sentence was unjust, and declared that as the sheep 
 had only eaten the fleece of the land, they should 
 only forfeit their own fleece. The people ap- 
 plauded the decision. Mac Con started from his 
 seat, and exclaimed : " That is the judgment of a 
 king." At the same moment he recognized the 
 prince, and commanded that he should be seized ; 
 but he had already escaped. The people now 
 recognized their rightful king, and revolted against 
 the usurper, who was driven into Munster. Cor- 
 mac assumed the reins of government at Tara, and 
 thus entered upon liis brilliant and important 
 career, A.D. 227. 
 
 His name is famous in Irish annals for the kingly 
 state that he kept at Tara, and also for the laws 
 which he made. These laws of the ancient Irish, 
 are a code of which any nation might be justly 
 proud. They were collected into one volume 
 about the time of St. Patrick. The Irish in which 
 they are written is so diff'erent from what is 
 now spoken, that it can only be understood by 
 those who have made it a special study. Even 
 nine hundred years ago the language would scarcely 
 be understood. 
 
FIN MAC COOLE. 43 
 
 The great hall of Tara was also erected by 
 Cormac. This was also the great 'house of the 
 thousand soldiers, and the place where the Fes or 
 triennial assemblies were held. It had fourteen 
 doors — seven to the east and seven to the west. 
 Its length, taken from the road, is 759 feet, and 
 its breadth was probably about 90 feet. Kenneth 
 O'Hartigan is the great, and indeed almost the 
 only, authority for the magnificence and state with 
 which the royal banquets were held therein. As 
 his descriptions are written in a strain of eloquent 
 and imaginative verse, his account has been too 
 readily supposed to be purely fictitious. His ac- 
 count of the extent, if not of the exterior magnifi- 
 cence, of the building, has been fully verified ; and 
 there remains no reason to doubt that a " thousand 
 soldiers" may have attended their lord at his 
 feasts, or that " three times fifty stout cooks " may 
 have supplied the viands. There was also the 
 "House of the Women," a term savouring strangely 
 of eastern customs and ideas; and the "House 
 of the Fians," or common soldiers. 
 
 This reign was made more remarkable by the 
 exploits of Cormac's son-in-law, the famous Finn 
 Mac Cumhaill (pronounced "Coole"). Finn was 
 famous both as a poet and warrior. Indeed, poeti- 
 cal qualifications were considered essential to ob- 
 tain a place in the select militia of which he was the 
 last commander. The courtship of the poet-war- 
 rior with the Princess Ailbhe, Cormac's daughter, 
 
44 THE PATRIOT HISTOEY OF IRELAND. 
 
 is related in one of the ancient historic tales 
 called TocJmarca, or Courtships. The lady is said 
 to have been the wisest woman of her time, and 
 the wooing is described in the form of conversations, 
 which savour more of a trial of skill in ability and 
 knowledge, than of the soft utterances which dis- 
 tinguish such narratives in modern days. It is 
 supposed that the Fenian corps which he com- 
 manded was modelled after the fashion of the 
 Eomau legions ; but its loyalty is more question- 
 able, for it was eventually disbanded for insubordi- 
 nation, although the exploits of its heroes are a 
 favourite topic with the bards. The Fenian poems, 
 on which Macpherson founded his celebrated for- 
 gery, are ascribed to Finn's sons Oisin and Fergus 
 the Eloquent, and to his kinsman Caeilte, as well 
 as to himself. Five poems only are ascribed to him, 
 but these are found in MSS. of considerable an- 
 tiquity. The poems of Oisin were selected by the 
 Scotch writer for his grand experiment. He gave 
 a highly poetical translation of what purported to 
 be some ancient and genuine composition, but, 
 unfortunately for his veracity, he could not produce 
 the original. Some of the real compositions of 
 the Fenian hero are, however, still extant in the 
 Book of Leinster, as well as other valuable Fenian 
 poems. There are also some Fenian tales in prose, 
 of which the most remarkable is that of the Pur- 
 suit of Diarmaid and Grainne — a legend which has 
 left its impress in every portion of the island to 
 
DEATH OF KING CORIMAO. 45 
 
 the present day. Finn, in his old age, asked the 
 hand of Grainn6, the daughter of Cormac Mac 
 Airt ; but the lady being young, preferred a younger 
 lover. To effect her purpose, she drugged the 
 guest-cup so effectually that Finn, and all the 
 guests invited with him, were plunged into a pro- 
 found slumber after they liad partaken of it. 
 Oisin and Diarmaid alone escaped, and to them 
 the lady Grainne confided her grief. As true 
 knights the were bound to rescue her from the 
 dilemma. Oisin could scarcely dare to brave his 
 father's vengeance, but Diarmaid at once fled with 
 the lady. A pursuit followed, which extended all 
 over Ireland, during which the young couple al- 
 ways escaped. So deeply is the tradition engraven 
 in the popular mind, that the Cromlechs are still 
 called the " Beds of Diarmaid and Grainn^," and 
 shown as the resting-places of the fugitive lovers. 
 
 There are many other tales of a purely imagina- 
 tive character, which, for interest, might well rival 
 the world-famous Arabian Nights' Entertainments ; 
 and, for importance of details, illustrative of man- 
 ners, customs, dress, weapons, and localities, are, 
 perhaps, unequalled. 
 
 Cormac died A.d. 266, at Cleiteach, near Stack- 
 alien Bridge, on the south bank of the Boyne. It 
 is said that he was choked by a salmon bone, and 
 that this happened through the contrivances of the 
 druids, who wished to avenge themselves on him 
 for his rejection of their superstitions. 
 
46 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Nial of the Nine Hostages and Dathi are the last 
 pagan monarchs who demand special notice. In 
 the year 322, Fiacha Sraibhtine was slain by the 
 three CoUas, and a few short-lived monarchs suc- 
 ceeded. In 378, Crimhthann was poisoned by his 
 sister, who hoped that her eldest son, Brian, might 
 obtain the royal power. Her attempt failed, al- 
 though she sacrificed herself for its accomplishment, 
 by taking the poisoned cup to remove her brothers' 
 suspicions; and Nial of the Nine Hostages, the 
 son of her husband by a former wife, succeeded to 
 the coveted dignity. This monarch distinguished 
 liimself by predatory warfare against Albion and 
 Gaul. The ''groans" of the Britons testify to 
 his success in that quarter, which eventually 
 obliged them to become an Anglo-Saxon nation ; 
 and the Latin poet, Claudian, gives evidence that 
 troops were sent by Stilicho, the general of Theo- 
 dosius the Great, to repel his successful forays. 
 His successor, Dathi, was killed by lightning at 
 the foot of the Alps, and the possibility of this 
 occurrence is also strangely verified from extrinsic 
 sources. 
 
ST. PATRICK'S BIRTH PLACE. 47 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 Christianity first preached in Ireland— St. Patrick's Birth 
 Place — His Captivity in Ireland— His Generosity in 
 coming to preach to the Irish— The great success of his 
 Mission— He meets the King at Tara — The Conversion 
 of the whole Nation — St. Patrick's Death and Burial. 
 
 ^^HE first Christian mission to Ireland was 
 ^@ that of St. Palladius. St. Prosper, who held 
 ^^^ a high 230sition in the Eoman Church pub- 
 lished a chronicle in the year 433, in which we find 
 the following register : " Palladius was consecrated 
 by Pope Celestine, and sent as the first Bishop to 
 the Irish believing in Christ." This mission was 
 unsuccessful. Palladius was repulsed by the inha- 
 bitants of Wicklow, where he landed. He then 
 sailed northward, and was at last driven by stress 
 of weather towards the Orkneys, finding harbour, 
 eventually, on the shores of Kincardineshire. 
 Several ancient tracts give the details of his mis- 
 sion, his failure, and his subsequent career. The 
 first of those authorities is the Life of St. Patrick, 
 in the Book of Armagh ; and in this it is stated 
 that he died in the "land of the Britons." The 
 Second Life of St. Patrick, in Colgan's collection, 
 has changed Britons into "Picts." In the "An- 
 notations of Tierchan," also preserved in the Book 
 of Armagh, it is said that Palladius was also called 
 
48 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Patricius, and that he suffered martyrdom among 
 the Scots, " as ancient saints relate." 
 
 The honour of converting the whole nation to the 
 Holy Roman Catholic faith, was reserved for our 
 great Saint Patrick. 
 
 He was born about the year 373 at Nemthur, 
 in France. It is probable that this place was near 
 the present town of Boulogne. St. Patrick has 
 left a work written by himself, which he calls his 
 *' Confession," and in this he gives us full informa- 
 tion as to his bu'th-place and parentage. As, how- 
 ever, the names of places change with the lapse of 
 time, although we have the name which the saint 
 himself gave to this locality, it is by no means so 
 easy to identify it ; and in a popular life like the 
 present, it is unnecessary, and would indeed be 
 impossible, to give all the arguments of learned 
 men who have contended that the honour belonged 
 to many different places. St. Patrick says that his 
 father had a farm at Bonavem Taburnise, and it is 
 generally believed now that this was in the north 
 of G-aul, as France was then called. 
 
 The saint received the name of Succat in holy 
 baptism. This name signifies " brave in ■ the 
 battle." The name of Patrick, by which he has 
 been known and venerated for so many centuries, 
 was given to him by Pope Celestine. His father, 
 Calphurnius, was a deacon, and son of Potitus, a 
 priest ; his mother was called Conchessa, and she 
 was a niece of the famous St. Martin of Tours. It 
 
ST PATRICK'S CAPTIVITY. 49 
 
 must be remembered that some priests and deacons 
 of the holy Catholic Church were married men at 
 that time, for many of them were converts from 
 heathenism who had taken wives before they be- 
 came Christians. Many of their wives became 
 nuns and lived separate from their husbands, who 
 were then free to consecrate themselves to God in 
 the service of religion. 
 
 St. Patrick lived with his parents until his six- 
 teenth year. In his " Confession" he accuses him- 
 self of having been very heedless about his religious 
 duties ; but this statement, no doubt, is caused by 
 his humihty, for he himself admits after, that, 
 when in captivity, he was wholly devoted to God 
 and to prayer. We must always remember, in 
 reading the lives of the saints, that they often con- 
 sidered what we would call a trifling fault as a 
 very grievous sin. In his sixteenth year St. Patrick 
 was taken captive and sold as a slave in Ireland. 
 How wonderful are God's ways ! Doubtless, even 
 his most pious friends considered this a most 
 terrible misfortune, and yet it proved an inestim- 
 able blessing — a blessing for which God will be 
 praised to all eternity. 
 
 The Irish pagan kings were a brave and adven- 
 turous race : they had made more than one suc- 
 cessful raid even on the continent of Europe, and 
 the name of Nial of the Nine Hostages was famous 
 by land and sea. 
 
 Our saint was in his sixteenth year when he was 
 
 D 
 
50 THE PATHIOT history 01' ItlELANB. 
 
 taken captive. He was sold as a slave in that part 
 of Ireland now called Antrim, to four men, one of 
 whom, Milcho, bought up their right from the 
 other three, and employed him in feeding sheep or 
 swine. Exposed to the severity of the weather, day 
 and night, a lonely slave in a strange land, and 
 probably as ignorant of the language as of the 
 customs of his master, his captivity would, indeed, 
 have been a bitter one, had he not brought with 
 him, from a holy home, the elements of most fer- 
 vent piety. A hundred times in the day, and a 
 hundred times in the night, he lifted up the voice 
 of prayer and supplication to the Lord of the 
 bondman and free, and faithfully served the harsh, 
 and at times cruel, master to whom Providence 
 had assigned him. Perhaps he may have offered 
 his sufferings for those who were serving a master 
 even more harsh and cruel. 
 
 After six years he was miraculously delivered. 
 A voice, that was not of earth, addressed him in 
 the stillness of the night, and commanded him to 
 hasten to a certain port, where he would find a 
 ship ready to take him to his own country. "And 
 I came," says the saint, " in the power of the Lord, 
 who directed my course towards a good end ; and 
 I was under no apprehension until I arrived where 
 the ship was. It was then clearing out, and I 
 called for a passage. But the master of the vessel 
 got angry, and said to me, ' Do not attempt to 
 come with us.' On hearing this I retired, for the 
 
ST. Patrick's escape from captivity. 51 
 
 purpose of going to the cabin where I had been 
 received as a guest. And, on my way thither, I 
 began to pray but before I had finished my prayer, 
 I heard one ot the men crying out with a loud voice 
 after me, ' Come, quickly ; for they are calling you,' 
 and immediately I returned. And they said to 
 me, ' Come, we receive thee on trust. Be our 
 friend, just as it may be agreeable to you.' "VVe 
 then set sail, and after three days reached land." 
 They landed in a place called Treguir, in Brittany, 
 some distance from his native town. 
 
 But the coast was wild and desolate, and after 
 they had escaped the perils of the sea, they seemed 
 in no small danger of perishing by hunger on the 
 shore. Happily for them, they had a saint in their 
 company. Our Divine Lord had promised that His 
 disciples should do even greater things than He 
 did ; and He who had Himself taken pity on a 
 starving multitude and satisfied their hunger, en- 
 abled His servant, St. Patrick, to perform a some- 
 what similar miracle, and by his prayers he 
 obtained a supply of food for the good sailors. No 
 doubt they rejoiced now for their act of charity to 
 the saint ; and the master of the ship, who had at 
 first forbidden Patrick to come with them, must 
 have learned that most blessed lesson, that to be* 
 friend the good and holy is the best poHcy for our- 
 selves even in this world, and it assuredly will 
 promote our highest interests in the next. 
 
 St, Patrick's captivity had lasted for about six' 
 
52 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 teen years, so that lie had time to become thoroughly 
 acquainted with the language of the Irish, and 
 with their religion and customs. All this was 
 overruled by God to the one great end. The 
 Catholic missionaries who had previously visited 
 Ireland, must have found their ignorance of the 
 Celtic tongue a great hindrance to their success, for 
 then, as now, that beautiful and expressive language 
 was the only one to which the Celt could listen 
 with pleasure. 
 
 It is said that St. Patrick was taken captive a 
 second time, but this captivity only lasted sixty 
 days. Some historians have supposed that this 
 captivity occurred after his visit to St. Martin of 
 Tours. It is at least certain that the saint wished 
 now to dedicate his life to the God who had mira- 
 culously delivered him from slavery, by devoting 
 himself to His service, and preaching to poor sin- 
 ners the means of deliverance from a far worse 
 bondage than that which he had so patiently 
 endured. 
 
 As none were allowed to become priests without 
 many years of study and careful preparation, it 
 was necessary for Patrick, or Succat, as he was 
 then called, to spend some time at one or other of 
 the great monasteries established on the continent 
 of Europe, where the monks devoted themselves 
 to the education of youth. This example of the 
 saint must surely encourage those whose secular 
 education has been neglected, and who desire to 
 
ST. PATRICK AT TARA. 53 
 
 advance in knowledge to fit themselves for God's 
 holy service. Nothing but a most fervent love of 
 God and most ardent zeal for souls, could have 
 carried the saint through such an arduous course. 
 For j^ears he had not heard a word spoken except 
 in the Celtic tongue, and probably he had almost 
 forgotten the language of his own people. If he 
 had learned even the rudiments of Latin, this was 
 also most likely forgotten, and years of toil in 
 domestic service were in any case a bad preparation 
 for his new life. But Patrick was indeed "brave 
 in battle " — in battle with himself, and in battle 
 for God. 
 
 It is important however to remember these cir- 
 cumstances, as they account for what he says in 
 his " Confession" of his want of human learning. 
 Human learning is indeed greatly to be admired 
 and prized, and it is an inestimable blessing if it 
 is sanctified by Divine wisdom ; but learning was 
 not necessary for an apostle, and God seems to 
 have often chosen the unlearned for the evangeli- 
 zation of heathen nations, to show that the success 
 of their work was not to be attributed to them. 
 
 The great monastery where St. Patrick studied 
 was at Marmoutier, near Tours, under the direction 
 of his maternal uncle, St. Martin. Here he re- 
 ceived the tonsure, and was instructed by his 
 saintly relative in science and religion. Many 
 most interesting facts are recorded of St. Patrick 
 during his residence at Marmoutier, but these 
 
54 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 must be reserved for a larger work where there 
 will be space for fuller details. 
 
 It was here also that St. Patrick was favoured 
 with the vision wliich made kno^vn to him the 
 will of God concerning his mission to Ireland. 
 He thus records this favour in his Confession: 
 " I saw, in a vision of the night, a man named 
 Victoricus coming, as if from Ireland, with a large 
 parcel of letters, one of which he handed to me. 
 On reading the beginning of it, I found it con- 
 tained these words : ' The voice of the Irish,' and 
 while reading it, I thought I heard at the same 
 moment the voice of a multitude of persons near 
 the west of Ireland, which is near the western 
 sea j and they cried out as if with one voice. We 
 entreat thee, holy youth, to come and henceforth dwell 
 among us. And I was greatly affected in my 
 heart, and could read no longer, and then I 
 awoke." Like St. Joseph awakened from sleep by 
 the angels commanding him to go into Egypt, and 
 obeying promptly, so also is the blessed Patrick. 
 He hears to obey, and he knows that to pre- 
 pare himself for the work to which he is ap- 
 pointed is the truest form which his obedience can 
 take. 
 
 After the death of St. Martin, St. Patrick left 
 the monastery of Marmoutier, and proceeded to 
 Lerins, which was even then called the insula heata, 
 or holy island, from the number of holy men who 
 either dwelt there or came thither for instruction. 
 
THE .STAFF OF JESUS. 55 
 
 St. Honoratus, the founder of this famous school 
 and monastery, was then living, and at the time 
 of St. Patrick's visit, many saintly persons were 
 assembled there. Amongst others we find the 
 names of St. Hilary of Aries, St. Lupas of Troyes, 
 and the famous St. Vincent of Lerins. 
 
 St. Patrick is supposed to have remained about 
 nine years at Lerins. It was here he received the 
 Staff of Jesus, which was wantonly burned at 
 the time of the so-called Keformation. 
 
 St. Bernard mentions this Bachall Isu, in his 
 life of St. Malachy, as one of those insignia of the 
 see of Armagh, which were popularly believed to 
 confer upon the possessor a title to be regarded 
 and obeyed as the successor of St. Patrick. In- 
 deed, the great antiquity of this long-treasured relic 
 has never been questioned; nor is there any reason 
 to suppose that it was not some way made a mira- 
 culous gift. 
 
 St. Patrick now returned to his old master and 
 spiritual guide, St. Germanus, of whom we shall 
 here give some account. AVell might the guardian 
 angel of our great saint direct him to one so holy 
 and so full of zeal for souls, and so fervently de- 
 voted to the advancement of the holy Catholic 
 Church throughout the world. 
 
 St. Fiacc, one of St. Patrick's first converts, 
 vn'ote a life of the great saint in verse, and he 
 thus describes his intercourse with Germanus : 
 
56 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 " The angel Victor sent Patrick over the Alps ; 
 Admirable was his journey — 
 Until he took his abode with Germamis, 
 Far away in the south of Letha. 
 In the isles of the Tyrrhene sea he remained : 
 In them he meditated ; 
 He read the canon with Germanus— 
 This, histories made known." 
 
 In the year 432 St. Patrick landed in Ireland. 
 It was the first year of the pontificate of St. 
 Sixtus III., the successor to Celestine ; the fourth 
 year of the reign of Laeghair6, son of Nial of the 
 Nine Hostages, King of Ireland. It is generally 
 supposed that the saint landed first at a place 
 called Inbher De, believed to be the mouth of the 
 Bray river, in Wicklow. Here he was repulsed 
 by the inhabitants, — a circumstance which can be 
 easily accounted for from its proximity to the terri- 
 tory of King Nathi, who had so lately driven away 
 his predecessor, Palladius. 
 
 St. Patrick returned to his ship, and sailing 
 towards the north, landed at the little island of 
 Holm Patrick, near Skerries, off the north coast of 
 DubUn. After a brief stay he proceeded still 
 farther northward, and finally entering Strangford 
 Lough, landed with his companions in the district 
 of Magh-inis, in the present barony of Lecale. 
 Having penetrated some distance into the interior, 
 they were encountered by Dicho, the lord of the 
 soil, who, hearing of their embarkation, and sup- 
 posing them to be pirates, had assembled a for- 
 
ST. patrck's first convert. 57 
 
 midable body of retainers to expel them from his 
 shores. But it is said, that the moment he per- 
 ceived Patrick, his apprehensions vanished. After 
 some brief converse, Dicho imdted the saint and 
 his companions to his house, and soon after received 
 himself the grace of holy baptism. Dicho was St. 
 Patrick's first convert, and the first who erected a 
 Christian church under his direction. The memory 
 of this event is still preserved in the name Saull, 
 the modern contraction of Sahhall Padruic, or 
 Patrick's Barn. The saint was especially attached 
 to the scene of his first missionary success, and 
 frequently retired to the monastery which was 
 established there later. 
 
 After a brief residence with the new converts, 
 Patrick set out for the habitation of his old master, 
 Milcho, who lived near Slieve Mis, in the present 
 county of Antrim, then part of the territory called 
 Dalriada. It is said, that when Milcho heard of 
 the approach of his former slave, he became so 
 indignant, that, in a violent fit of passion, he set 
 fire to his house, and perished himself in the flames. 
 The saint returned to Saull, and from thence 
 journeyed by water to the mouth of the Boyne, 
 where he landed at a small port called Colp. Tara 
 was Ms destination ; but on his way thither he 
 stayed a night at the house of a man of property, 
 named Seschnan. This man and liis whole family 
 were baptized, and one of his sons received the 
 name of Benignus from St. Patrick, on account of 
 
53 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the gentleness of his manner. The holy youth 
 attached himself from this moment to his master, 
 and was his successor in the primatial see of 
 Armagh. 
 
 St. Patrick arrived at Slane on Holy Saturday, 
 where he caused a tent to be erected, and Hghted 
 the paschal fire at nightfall, preparatory to the 
 celebration of the Easter festival. The princes and 
 chieftains of Meath were, at the same time, as- 
 sembled at Tara, where King Laeghaire was holding 
 a great pagan festival. The object of this meeting 
 has been disputed, some authorities saying that it 
 was convoked to celebrate the Beltinne, or fire of 
 Bal, or Baal; others, that the king was commemorat- 
 ing his own birthday. On the festival of Beltinne it 
 was forbidden to light any fire until a flame was 
 visible from the top of Tara Hill. Laeghair6 was 
 indignant that this regulation should have been 
 infringed ; and, probably, the representation of his 
 druids regarding the mission of the great apostle 
 did not tend to allay his wrath. Determined to 
 examine himself into the intention of these bold 
 strangers, he set forth, accompanied by his bards 
 and attendants, to the place where the sacred fire 
 had been kindled, and ordered the apostle to be 
 brought before him, strictly commanding, at the 
 same time, that no respect should be shown to 
 him. 
 
 Notwithstanding the king's command, Ere, the 
 son of Dego, rose up to salute him, obtained the 
 
ST. PATRICK AT TAR A. 59 
 
 grace of conversion, and was subsequently pro- 
 moted to tlie episcopate. The result of this inter- 
 view was the appointment of a public discussion, 
 to take place the next day at Tara, between St. 
 Patrick and the pagan bards. 
 
 It was Easter Sunday, — a day ever memorable 
 for this event in the annals of Erin. Laeghair6 
 and his court sat in state to receive the ambassador 
 of the Eternal King. Treacherous preparations 
 had been made, and it was anticipated that Patrick 
 and his companions would scarcely reach Tara 
 alive. The saint was aware of the machinations 
 of his enemies, but that was of no value to 
 him save as it was in performing the great work 
 assigned him, and the success of that work was 
 in the safe keeping of Another. The old writers 
 love to dwell on the meek dignity of the apostle 
 during this day of trial and triumph. He set 
 forth with his companions, from where he had 
 encamped, in solemn procession, singing a hymn 
 of invocation which he had composed, in the Irish 
 tongue, for the occasion, and which is still pre- 
 served and well authenticated. He was clothed, 
 as usual, in white robes ; but he wore his mitre, 
 and carried in his hand the Staff of Jesus. Eight 
 priests attended him, robed also in white, and his 
 youthful convert Benignus, the son of Seschnan. 
 
 Thus, great in the arms of meekness and prayer, 
 did the Christian hosts calmly face the array of 
 pagan pomp and pride. Again the monarch had 
 
60 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 commanded that no honour should be paid to the 
 saint, and again he was disobeyed. His own chief 
 poet and druid, Dubtach, rose up instantly on the 
 entrance of the strangers, and saluted the venerable 
 apostle with affection and respect. The Christian 
 doctrine was then explained by St. Patrick to his 
 wondering audience, and such impression made, 
 that, although Laeghair6 lived and died an obsti- 
 nate pagan, he, nevertheless, permitted the saint to 
 preach where and when he would, and to receive 
 all who might come to him for instruction or holy 
 baptism. 
 
 On the following day St. Patrick repaired to 
 Taillten, where the public games were commencing; 
 and there he remained for a week, preaching to an 
 immense concourse of people. Here his life was 
 threatened by Oairbr6, a brother of King Laeg- 
 hair^ ; but the saint was defended by another of 
 the royal brothers, named Conall Creevan, who 
 was shortly after converted. The church of 
 Donough Patrick, in Meath, was founded by his 
 desire. It is said that all the Irish churches which 
 begin with the name Donough were founded by 
 the saint, the foundation being always marked out 
 by him on a Sunday, for which Domhnach is the 
 Irish word. 
 
 Ha^dng preached for some time in the western 
 part of the territory of Meath, the saint proceeded 
 as far as Magh Slecht, where the great idol of the 
 
ST. PATRICK BAPTIZES AENGUS. 63 
 
 nation, Ceann [or Crom] Cruach was solemnly 
 worshipped. 
 
 Nor is the story of Aengus, another royal con- 
 vert, less interesting. About the year 445, the 
 saint, after passing through Ossory, and converting 
 a great number of people, entered the kingdom of 
 Munster. His destination was Cashel, from whence 
 King Aengus, the son of Natfraech, came forth to 
 meet him with the utmost reverence. 
 
 This prince had already obtained some know- 
 ledge of Christianity, and demanded the grace of 
 holy baptism. 
 
 The saint wilHngly complied with his request. 
 His courtiers assembled with royal state to assist at 
 the ceremony. St. Patrick carried in his hand, as 
 usual, the Bachall Isu ; at the end of this crozier 
 there was a sharp iron spike, by which he could 
 plant it firmly in the ground beside him while 
 preaching, or exercising his episcopal functions. 
 On this occasion, however, he stuck it down into 
 the king's foot, and did not perceive his mistake 
 until — 
 
 *' The royal foot transfixed, the gushing blood 
 Enrich'd the pavement with a noble flood." 
 
 The ceremony had concluded, and the prince had 
 neither moved nor complained of the severe suffer- 
 ing he had endured. When the saint expressed 
 his deep regret for such an occurrence, Aengus 
 merely replied that he believed it to be a part of 
 
64 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the ceremony, and did not appear to consider any- 
 suffering of consequence at such a moment. 
 
 When such was the spirit of the old kings of 
 Erinn who received the faith of Christ from Patrick, 
 we can scarcely marvel that theii' descendants have 
 adhered to it with such unexam.pled fidelity. 
 
 After the conversion of the princesses Ethnea 
 and Fethlimia, the daughters of King Laeghair6, 
 St. Patrick traversed almost every part of Con- 
 naught, and, as our divine Lord promised to those 
 whom He commissioned to teach all nations, 
 proved his mission by the exercise of miraculous 
 powers. 
 
 The saint's greatest success was in the land of 
 Tirawley, near the town of Foclut, from whence he 
 had heard the voice of the Irish even in his native 
 land. As he approached this district, he learned 
 that the seven sons of King Amalgaidh were cele- 
 brating a great festival. Their father had but lately 
 died, and it was said these youths exceeded all the 
 princes of the land in martial courage and skill in 
 combat. St. Patrick advanced in solemn proces- 
 sion even into the very midst of the assembly, and 
 for his reward obtained the conversion of the seven 
 princes and twelve thousand of their followers. It 
 is said that his life was at this period in some 
 danger, but that Endeus, one of the converted 
 princes, and his son Conall, protected him. After 
 seven years spent in Connaught, he passed into 
 Ulster; there many received the grace of holy 
 
ST. PATRICK IN WESTMEATH. 65 
 
 baptism, especially in that district now comprised 
 in the county Monaghan. 
 
 It was probably about this time that the saint 
 returned to Meath, and appointed his nephew, St. 
 Secundinus or Sechnal, who was bishop of the 
 place, already mentioned as Domnach Sechnail, to 
 preside over the northern churches during his own 
 absence in the southern part of Ireland. 
 
 The saint then visited those parts of Leinster 
 which had been already evangelized by Palladius, 
 and laid the foundation of many new churches. 
 He placed one of his companions, Bishop Auxilius, 
 at Killossy, near Naas, and another, Isserinnus, at 
 I^ilcuUen, both in the present county of Kildare. 
 At Leix, in the Queen's County, he obtained a 
 great many disciples, and from thence he proceeded 
 to visit his friend, the poet Dubtach, who, it will bo 
 remembered, paid liim special honour at Tara, 
 despite the royal prohibition to the contrary. 
 Dubtach lived in that part of the country caUed 
 Hy-Kinsallagh, now the county Carlow. It was 
 here the poet Fiacc was first introduced to the saint, 
 whom he afterwards so faithfully followed. Fiacc 
 had been a disciple of Dubtach, and was by pro- 
 fession a bard, and a member of an illustrious 
 house. It was probably at this period that St. 
 Patrick visited Munster, and the touching inci- 
 dent already related occurred at the baptism of 
 Aengus. This prince was singularly devoted to 
 religion, as indeed his conduct during the ad- 
 
66 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 ministration of the sacrament of regeneration could 
 not fail to indicate. 
 
 The saint's mission in Munster was eminently 
 successful. Lonan, the chief of the district of 
 Ormond, entertained him -with great hospitality, 
 and thousands embraced the faith. Many of the 
 inhabitants of Corca Baiscin crossed the Shannon 
 in their hide-covered boats (curaghs) when the 
 saint was on the southern side, in Hy-Figeinte, and 
 were baptized by him in the waters of their mag- 
 nificent river. At their earnest entreaty, St. 
 Patrick ascended a hill which commanded a view 
 of the country of the Dalcassians, and gave his 
 benediction to the whole territory. The hill is 
 called Findine in the ancient lives of the saint ; 
 but this name is now obsolete. Local tradition and 
 antiquarian investigation make it probable that the 
 favoured spot is that now called Cnoc Patrick, 
 near Foynes Island. 
 
 The saint's next journey was in the direction of 
 Kerry, where he prophesied that " St. Brendan, 
 of the race of Hua Alta, the great patriarch of 
 monks, and star of the western world, would be 
 born, and that his birth would take place some 
 years after his own death." 
 
 We have now to record the obituary of the only 
 Irish martyr who suffered for the faith while Ire- 
 land was being evangelized. While the saint was 
 visiting Ui-Failghe, a territory now comprised in 
 the King's County, a pagan chieftain, named Ber- 
 
ST. PATRICE'S DEATH. 67 
 
 raidhe, formed a plan for murdering the apostle. 
 His wicked design came in some way to the know- 
 ledge of Odran, the saint's charioteer, who so 
 arranged matters as to take his master's place, and 
 thus received the fatal 'blow intended for him. 
 
 The see of Armagh was founded about the year 
 455, towards the close of the great Apostle's life. 
 The royal palace of Emania, in the immediate 
 neighbourhood, was then the residence of the kings 
 of Ulster. A wealthy chief, by name Daire, gave 
 the saint a portion of land for the erection of his 
 cathedral on an eminence called Druim-Sailecli, the 
 Hill of Sallows. This high ground is now occupied 
 by the city of Armagh (Ard Macha). Religious 
 houses for both sexes were established near the 
 church, and soon were filled with ardent and 
 devoted subjects. 
 
 The saint's labours were now drawn to a close, 
 and the time of eternal rest was at hand. He re- 
 tired to his favourite retreat at Saull, and there 
 probably wrote his Confessions. It is said that he 
 wished to die in the ecclesiastical metropolis of 
 Ireland, and for this purpose, when he felt his end 
 approaching, desired to be conveyed thither ; but 
 even as he was on his journey an angel appeared to 
 him, and desired him to return to Saull. Here he 
 breathed his last, on Wednesday, the 17th of 
 March, in the year of our Lord, 493. The holy 
 viaticum and last anointing were administered to 
 him by St. Tassach. 
 
68 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The inteliigence of the death of St. Patrick 
 spread rapidly through the country ; prelates and 
 priests flocked from all parts to honour the mortal 
 remains of their glorious father. As each arrived 
 at Saull he proceeded to offer the adorable sacrifice 
 according to his rank. At night the plain re- 
 sounded with the chanting of psalms; and the 
 darkness was banished by the light of such in- 
 numerable torches, that it seemed as if day had 
 hastened to dawn brightly on the beloved remains. 
 St. Fiacc, in his often quoted Hymn, compares it 
 to the long day caused by the standing of the sun 
 at the command of Joshua, when he fought against 
 the Gabaonites. 
 
 The hymn which St. Patrick composed when on 
 his journey to Tara has been preserved, but it is 
 too long for insertion here. We shall, however, 
 give one brief extract from it. 
 *' I bind to myself to-day, 
 
 The power of God to guide me ; 
 
 The might of God to uphold me ; 
 
 The wisdom of God to teach me ; 
 
 The eye of God to watch over me ; 
 
 The ear of God to hear me ; 
 
 The word of God to give me speech ; 
 
 The hand of God to protect me ; 
 
 The way of God to prevent me ; 
 
 The shield of God to shelter me ; 
 
 The host of God to defend me — 
 Against the snares of demons ; 
 Against the temptations of vices." 
 
HONOURS PAID TO ST. PATRICK. 69 
 
 There were four great honours paid to St. 
 Patrick in all the monasteries and churches in 
 Ireland from the time of his death. The first of 
 them was, that the Festival of St. Patrick in spring 
 was honoured for three days with special feasting 
 and rejoicing, except that flesh meat was not al- 
 lowed to be used, as the 17th of March always fell 
 in Lent. There were also other days kept in his 
 honour ; but then, as now, this was his Feast-Day 
 — the day on which he fell asleep in Christ, to use 
 the beautiful language of those ancient times. 
 
 The second honour was that there was a proper 
 preface said at his mass. 
 
 The thii'd and fourth honours were that his 
 hymn should be sung for the whole time, and his 
 Scotic Hymn always. Thus from the very death 
 of Patrick he was honoured in the land of Erinn, 
 still faithful to his memory. 
 
 One of the lessons which he specially inculcated 
 was, obedience to the See of Eome. All history 
 informs us how nobly and at what sacrifice this 
 obedience has been adhered to in Ireland. 
 
 The secular history of Ireland, during the mis- 
 sion of St. Patrick, affords but few events of 
 interest or importance. King Laeghaire died, 
 according to the Four Masters, A.D. 458. The 
 popular opinion attributed his demise to the viola- 
 tion of his oath to the Leinster men. It is doubt- 
 ful whether he died a Christian ; but the account 
 of his burial has been taken to prove the contrary. 
 
70 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 It is mucli to be regretted that persons entirely- 
 ignorant of the Catholic faith, whether that igno- 
 rance be wilful or invincible, should attempt to 
 write lives of Catholic saints, or histories of Catho- 
 hc countries. Such persons, no doubt uninten- 
 tionally, make the most serious mistakes, which a 
 well-educated Catholic child could easily rectify. 
 
 It is probable that Oiliol Molt, who succeeded 
 King Laeghaird, A.D. 459, Hved and died a pagan. 
 Before conciudins: this chapter I must say a few 
 words about St. Bridget. 
 
 Brigid belonged to an illustrious family, who 
 were lineally descended from Eochad, a brother of 
 Conn of the Hundred Battles. She was born at 
 Fochard, near Dundalk, about the year 453, where 
 her parents happened to be staying at the time ; 
 but Kildare was their usual place of residence, and 
 there the holy virgin began her saintly career. In 
 her sixteenth year she received the white cloak and 
 religious veil, which was then the distinctive gar- 
 ment of those who were specially dedicated to 
 Christ, from the hands of St. Macaille, the Bishop 
 of Usneach, in Westmeath. Eight young maidens 
 of noble birth took the veil with her. Their first 
 residence was at a place in the King's County, still 
 called Brigidstown. The fame of her sanctity now 
 extended far and wide, and she was earnestly 
 solicited from various parts of the country to found 
 similar establishments. Her first mission was to 
 Munster, at the request of Ere, the holy Bishop of 
 
ST, PATRICK IN THE SOUTH. 71 
 
 Slane, who had a singular respect for her virtue. 
 Soon after, she founded a house of her order in the 
 plain of CHach, near Limerick ; but the people of 
 Leinster at last became fearful of losing their trea- 
 sure, and sent a deputation requesting her return, 
 and offering land for the foundation of a large nun- 
 nery. Thus was established, in 483, the famous 
 Monastery of Kildare, or the Church of the Oak. 
 
 At the request of the saint, a bishop was ap- 
 pointed to take charge of this important work ; 
 and under the guidance of Conlaeth, who heretofore 
 had been an humble anchorite, it soon became dis- 
 tinguished for its sanctity and usefulness. The 
 concourse of strangers and pilgrims was immense ; 
 and in the once solitary plain one of the largest cities 
 of the time soon made its appearance. It is sin 
 gular and interesting to remark, how the call to a 
 life of virginity was felt and corresponded with in 
 the newly Christianized country, even as it had 
 been in the Eoman Empire, when it also received 
 the faith. Nor is it less noticeable how the same 
 safeguards and episcopal rule preserved the foun- 
 dations of each land in purity and peace, and have 
 transmitted even to our own days in the same 
 Church, and in it only, that privileged life. 
 
72 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Some Account of the famous Palace of Tara— The Cursing 
 of Tara — The First Saxon Invasion— The First Danish 
 Invasion — Cruelty of the Danes — The Black and White 
 Gentiles — The Danes Plunder Ireland. 
 
 ^^[^TrN the reign of Tuathal a portion of land was 
 fev^l ^ separated from each of the four provinces, 
 v/^1^ which met together at a certain place : this 
 portion was considered a distinct part of the country 
 from the provinces. It was situated in the present 
 county Meath. 
 
 In the tract separated from Munster, Tuathal 
 built the royal seat of Tlachtga, where the fire of 
 Tlachtga was ordained to be kindled. On the 
 night of All Saints, the Druids assembled here to 
 offer sacrifices, and it was established, under heavy 
 penalties, that no fire should be kindled on that 
 night throughout the kingdom, so that the fire 
 which was used afterwards might be procured from 
 this. To obtain the privilege, the people were 
 obliged to pay over a scraball, or about three-pence, 
 yearly, to the King of Munster. 
 
 On the 1st of May a convocation was held in the 
 royal palace of the King of Connaught. He ob- 
 tained subsidies in horses and arms from those who 
 came to this assembly. On this occasion two fires 
 
ROYAL PALACES. 73 
 
 were lit, between which cattle were driven as a 
 preventative or charm against the murrain and 
 other pestilential distempers. From this custom 
 the feast of St. Philip and St. James was anciently 
 called Beltinne, or the Day of Bel's Fire. 
 
 The third palace, erected by Tuathal, was on the 
 portion of land taken from the province of Ulster. 
 Here the celebrated fair of Tailtean was held, and 
 contracts of marriage were frequently made. The 
 royal tribute was raised by exacting an ounce of 
 silver from every couple who were contracted and 
 married at that time. The fair of Tailtean had 
 been instituted some years before, in honour of 
 Tailte, who was buried here. This fair, says Keat- 
 ing, was then kept upon the day known in the Irish 
 language as La Lughnasa, or the day ordained by 
 Lughaidh, and is called in English Lammas- day. 
 
 The fourth and the most important of the royal 
 seats was the palace of Temair, or Tara ; here, with 
 the greatest state and ceremony, the affairs of the 
 nation were discussed and decided. On these 
 occasions, in order to preserve the deliberations 
 from the public, the most strict secrecy was 
 observed, and women were carefully excluded. 
 Tara was cursed by St. Rodanus of Lothra, in Tip- 
 perary, in the reign of Diarmiad, in punishment 
 for violation of sanctuary ; and so complete was 
 its subsequent desertion, that in 975 it was de- 
 scribed as a desert overgrown with grass and 
 weeds. 
 
74 the" PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 But enough still remains to give ample evidence 
 of its former magnificence. An inspection of the 
 site must convince the beholder of tlie vast extent 
 of its ancient palaces ; no*r can we, for a moment, 
 coincide with those who are pleased to consider 
 that these palaces consisted merely of a few planks 
 of wood, rudely plastered over, or of hollow mounds 
 of earth. It is true that, from an association of 
 ideas, the cause of so many fallacies, we naturally 
 connect " halls " with marble pavements, magnifi- 
 cently carved pillars, and tesselated floors ; but the 
 harp that once resounded through Tara's halls, 
 may have had as appreciating, if not as critical an 
 audience as any which now exists, and the "halls" 
 may have been none the less stately, because 
 their floor was strewn with sand, or the tro- 
 phies which adorned them fastened to walls of 
 oak. 
 
 According to Celtic tradition, as embodied in 
 our annals, Tara became the chief residence of the 
 Irish kings on the first establishment of a monar- 
 chical government under Slainge : — 
 
 " Slainge of the Firbolgs was he by whom Te- 
 mair was first raised." 
 
 One hundred and fifty monarchs reigned there 
 from this period until its destruction in 563. The 
 Fees, or triennial assembly, was instituted by Ollamh 
 Fodhla. The nature of these meetings is explained 
 in a poem, which Keating ascribes to O'Flynn, who 
 died, A.D. 984. It is clear that what was then con- 
 
DANISH INVASION. 75 
 
 sidered crime was punished in a very peremptory 
 manner ; for — 
 
 "Gold was not received as retribution from him, 
 But his soul in one hour." 
 
 The first Saxon invasion of Ireland took place 
 about the year 623. A treacherous, false-hearted 
 Irishman, after killing the reigning sovereign, fled 
 to England for protection, and sought the assistance 
 of strangers to enable him to obtain the honours 
 he so unlawfully coveted. He met with a Avell 
 deserved fate, and was slain at the famous battle of 
 Magh Eath. But unfortunately the evil which he 
 did, lived after him, and many unprincipled men 
 were found who followed his perfidious example, 
 and were ready to sacrifice their country for some 
 miserable gain. With but some few exceptions, 
 however, they reaped the just reward of their 
 treachery. 
 
 The Danish invasion, one of the most important 
 and memorable events in Irish history, occurred at 
 the commencement of the seventh century. The 
 Danes were brave and cruel, but neither their 
 bravery nor their cruelty could have had much 
 effect on old Ireland, had they not found Irishmen 
 who were equally brave and equally cruel, who 
 helped them to attain their ends. I say those 
 Irishmen were equally brave ; no one has ever 
 questioned the valour of the Celt. I say they were 
 
76 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 equally cruel — nay, they were even more so. The 
 Dane only fought against strangers; the Irish 
 ■were more cruel because they fought against each 
 other. Had the Irish united as one man against 
 the Danes, they could never have plundered Ire- 
 land ; had the Irish united as one man against the 
 Saxons, they could never have conquered Ireland. 
 
 But why should we blame the men of those days 
 when even in our own time Irishmen will keep up 
 paltry quarrels and differences, instead of uniting 
 in one common band for the good of their ill-fated 
 country. Every Irishman should treat every other 
 Irishman as a friend and a brother. A united 
 people will always be a powerful people. A small 
 body united can effect what a multitude disunited 
 must fail to accomplish. 
 
 In the year 795, down came the wild, brave, 
 cruel Danes, upon the Irish coast. They had 
 already attacked the English coasts, " whilst the 
 pious King Bertric was reigning over its western 
 division." Their arrival was sudden and so un- 
 expected, that the king's officer took them for 
 merchants, paying with his life for the mistake. 
 A Welsh chronicle, known by the name of Brut-y 
 Tywysogion, or the Chronicle of the Chieftains, has 
 a corresponding record under the year 790 : " Ten 
 years with fourscore and seven hundred was the 
 age of Christ when the pagans went to Ireland." 
 Three MSS. add, " and destroyed Rechren." 
 Another chronicle mentions, that the black pagans, 
 
DANISH INVASION. 77 
 
 who were the first of their nation to land in 
 Ireland, had previously been defeated in Gla- 
 morganshire, and after their defeat they had 
 invaded Ireland, and devastated Rechru. 
 
 If by bravery we understand utter recklessness 
 of life, and utter recklessness in inflicting cruelties 
 on others, then the Vikings may be termed brave. 
 The heroism of patient endurance was a bravery 
 but little understood at that period; If the heathen 
 Viking was brave when he plundered and burned 
 monastic shrines — when he massacred the defence- 
 less with wanton cruelty — when he flung little 
 children on the point of spears, and gloated over 
 their dying agonies ; perhaps we may also admit 
 those who endured such torments, either in their 
 own persons, or in the persons of those who were 
 dear to them, and yet returned again and again to 
 restore the shrine so rudely destroyed, have also 
 their claims to be termed brave, and may demand 
 some commendation for that virtue from posterity. 
 
 As plunder was the sole object of these barba- 
 rians, they naturally sought it first where it could 
 be obtained most easily and surely. The islands 
 on the Irish coast were studded wdth monasteries. 
 Their position was chosen as one which seemed 
 peculiarly suitable for a life of retreat from worldly 
 turmoil, and contemplation of heavenly things. 
 They were richly endowed, for ancient piety 
 deemed it could never give enough to G-od. The 
 shrines were adorned with jewels, purchased with 
 
78 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the wealth which the monks had renounced for 
 their own use : the sacred vessels were costly, the 
 gifts of generous hearts. The Danes commenced 
 their work of plunder and devastation in the year 
 795. Three years after, A.D. 798, they ravaged 
 Inis-patrick of Man and the Hebrides. In 803 
 they burned " Hi-Coluim-Cille." In 806 they 
 attacked the island again, and killed sixty-eight of 
 the laity and clergy. In 807 they became em- 
 boldened by success, and for the first time marched 
 inland; and after burning Inishmurray, they 
 attacked Eoscommon. During the year 812 and 
 813 they made raids in Connaught and Munster, 
 but not without encountering stout resistance from 
 the native forces. After this predatory and inter- 
 necine warfare had continued for about thirty 
 years, Turgesius, a Norwegian prince, established 
 himself as sovereign of the Vikings, and made 
 Armagh his head-quarters, A.D. 830. If the Irish 
 chieftains had united their forces, and acted in 
 concert, the result would have been the expulsion 
 of the intruders ; but, unhappily, this unity of 
 purpose in matters political has never existed. The 
 Danes made and broke alliances with the provincial 
 kings at their own convenience, while these princes 
 gladly availed themselves of even temporary assis- 
 tance from their cruel foes, while engaged in 
 domestic wars which should never have been un- 
 dertaken. Still the Northmen were more than 
 once driven from the country by the braverjr of 
 
DANISH BARBARITIES. 79 
 
 the native commanders, and they often paid dearly 
 for the cruel wrongs they inflicted on their hapless 
 victims. Sometimes the Danish chiefs mustered 
 all their forces, and left the island for a brief 
 period, to ravage the shores of England or Scot- 
 land ; but they soon returned, to inflict new bar- 
 barities on the unfortunate Irish. 
 
 Burning churches or destroying monasteries, 
 was a favourite pastime of these pirates, wherever 
 they could obtain a landing on Christian shores ; 
 and the number of religious houses in Ireland, 
 aff*orded them abundant means of gratifying their 
 barbarous inclinations. But when they became so 
 far masters as to have obtained some permanent 
 settlement, this mode of j^roceeding was considered 
 either more troublesome or less profitable than 
 that of appropriating to themselves the abbeys and 
 churches. Turgesius, it is said, placed an abbot 
 of his own in every monastery ; and as he had 
 already conferred ecclesiastical offices on himself 
 and on his lady, we may presume he was not very 
 particular in his selections. The villages, too, 
 were placed under the rule of a Danish captain ; 
 and each family was obliged to maintain a soldier 
 of that nation, who made himself master of the 
 house, using and wasting the food, for lack of 
 which the starving children of the lawful owner 
 were often dying of hunger. 
 
 All education was strictly forbidden ; books and 
 manuscripts were burned and droivned ; and the 
 
80 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 poets, historians, and musicians, imprisoned and 
 driven to the woods and mountains. Martial 
 sports were interdicted, from the lowest to the 
 highest rank. Even nobles and princes were for- 
 bidden to wear their usual habiliments, the cast-off 
 clothes of the Danes being considered sufficiently- 
 good for slaves. 
 
 The clergy, who had been driven from their 
 monasteries, concealed themselves as best they 
 could, continuing still their prayers and fasts, and 
 the fervent recital of the Divine Office. The Irish, 
 true to their faith in every trial, were not slow to 
 attribute their deliverance to the prayers of these 
 holy men. 
 
 In 831, Nial Caille led an army against them, 
 and defeated them at Derry; but, in the mean- 
 while Felim, King of Cashel, with contemptible 
 selfishness, marched into Leinster to claim tribute, 
 and plundered every one except the Danes, who 
 should have been alone considered as enemies at 
 such a time. Even the churches were not spared 
 by him, for he laid waste the termon-lands of 
 Clonmacnois, " up to the church-door." After his 
 death, A.D. 843, a brave and good king came to 
 the rescue of his unfortunate country. ^V^lile still 
 King of Meath, Meloughlin had freed the nation 
 from Turgesius, one of its worst tyrants, by 
 drowning him in Lough Owel. His death was a 
 signal for general onslaught on the Danes. The 
 people rose simultaneously, and either massacre^ 
 
THE BLACK AND WHITE GENTILES. 81 
 
 their enemies, or drove them to their ships. In 
 846 Meloughlin met their forces at Skreen, where 
 they were defeated ; they also suffered a reverse at 
 Kildare. 
 
 The Danes themselves were now divided into 
 two parties — the Dubh Galls, or Black Gentiles ; 
 and the Finn Galls, or White Gentiles. A fierce 
 conflict took place between them in the year 850, 
 in which the Dubh Galls conquered. In the fol- 
 owing year, however, both parties submitted to 
 Amlaff, son of the Norwegian king; and thus 
 their power was once more consolidated. Amlaff 
 remained in Dublin ; his brothers, Sitric and Ivar, 
 stationed themselves in Waterford and limerick. 
 A great meeting was now convened by the eccle- 
 siastics of Ireland at Rathugh, for the purpose of 
 estabhshing peace and concord amongst the native 
 princes. The northern Hy-Nials alone remained 
 belligerent ; and to defend themselves, pursued the 
 usual suicidal course of entering into an alliance 
 with the Danes. Upon the death of the Irish 
 monarch, the northern chief, Hugh Finnlaith, suc- 
 ceeded to the royal power ; broke his treaty with 
 Amlaff, which had been only one of convenience, and 
 turned his arms vigorously against the foreigners. 
 This prince was married to a daughter of Kenneth 
 M 'Alpine, the first sole Monarch of Scotland. 
 After the death of the Irish prince, his wife married 
 his successor, Flann, who, according to the alter- 
 nate plan of succession, came of the southern Hy- 
 
82 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Nial family, and was a son of Melouglilin, once the 
 formidable opponent of his lady's former husband. 
 During the reign of Flann, Cormac Mac CuUinan, a 
 prelate, distinguished for his learning and sanctity, 
 was obliged to unite the office of priest and king. 
 This unusual combination, however, was not alto- 
 gether without precedent. The archbishopric of 
 Cashel owes its origin remotely to this great man ; 
 as from the circumstance of the city of Cashel 
 having been the seat of royalty in the south, and 
 the residence of the kings of Munster, it was ex- 
 alted, in the twelfth century, to the dignity of an 
 archiepiscopal see. 
 
 Of Cormac, however interesting his history, we 
 can only give a passing word. His reign com- 
 menced peaceably; and so wise — perhaps we should 
 rather say, so holy — was his rule, that his kingdom 
 once more enjoyed comparative tranquillity; and 
 religion and learning flourished again as it had 
 done in happier times. 
 
 But the kingdom which he had been compelled 
 to rule, was threatened by the very person who 
 should have protected it most carefully ; and 
 Cormac, after every effort to procure peace, was 
 obliged to defend his people against the attacks of 
 Flann. Even then a treaty might have been made 
 with the belligerent monarch ; but Cormac, unfor- 
 tunately for his people and himself, was guided by 
 an abbot, named Flahertach, who was by no means 
 so peaceably disposed as his good master. This 
 
CORMAC'S DEATH. 83 
 
 unruly ecclesiastic urged war on those who were 
 already too \\dlling to undertake it ; and then 
 made such representations to the bishop-king, as to 
 induce him to yield a reluctant consent. It is said 
 that Cormac had an intimation of his approaching 
 end. It is at least certain, that he made prepara- 
 tion for death, as if he believed it to be imminent. 
 
 On the eve of the fatal engagement he made his 
 confession, and added some articles to his will, in 
 which he left large bounties to many of the reli- 
 gious houses throughout the kingdom. To Lismore 
 he bequeathed a golden chalice and some rich 
 vestments ; to Armagh, twenty-four ounces of gold 
 and silver ; to his own church of Cashel, a golden 
 and silver chalice, with the famous Saltair. Then 
 he retired to a private place for prayer, desiring 
 the few persons whom he had informed of his ap- 
 proaching fate to keep their information secret, as 
 he knew well the effect such intelligence would 
 have on his army, were it generally known. 
 
 Though the king had no doubt that he would 
 perish on the field, he still showed the utmost 
 bravery, and made every effort to cheer and 
 encourage his troops ; but the men lost spirit in 
 the very onset of the battle, and probably were 
 terrified at the numerical strength of their oppo- 
 nents. Six thousand Munster men were slain, with 
 many of their princes and cliieftains. Cormac was 
 killed by falling under his horse, which missed its 
 footing on a bank, slippery with the blood of the 
 
84 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 slain. A common soldier, who recognized his 
 remains, cut off his head, and brought it as a 
 trophy to Flann ; but the monarch bewailed the 
 death of the good and great prince, and reproved 
 the indignity with which his remains had been 
 treated. This battle was fought at a place called 
 Bealagh Mughna, now Ballaghmoon, in the county 
 of Kildare, a few miles from the town of Carlow. 
 
 Flahertach survived the battle, and, after some 
 years spent in penance, became once more minister, 
 and ultimately King of Munster. As he advanced 
 in years, he learned to love peace, and his once 
 irascible temper became calm and equable. 
 
 The Eock of Cashel, and the ruins of a small but 
 once beautiful chapel, still preserve the memory of 
 the bishop-king. His literary fame also has its 
 memorials. His Eule is contained in a poem of 
 fourteen stanzas, written in the most pure and 
 ancient style of Gaedhilic, of which, as well as of 
 many other languages, the illustrious Cormac was 
 so profound a master. The Eule is general in 
 several of its inculcations ; but it appears to have 
 been written particularly as an instruction to a 
 priest, for the moral and spiritual direction of him- 
 self and his flock. He was also skilled in the 
 Ogham writings, as may be gathered from a poem 
 written by a contemporary, who, in paying com- 
 pliments to many of the Irish kings and chiefs, 
 addresses the following stanzas to Cormac : — 
 
LAMENT FOR THE DEATH OF CORMAC. 85 
 
 "Cormac of Cashel, with his champions, 
 Munster is his, — may he long enjoy it ! 
 Around the Eling of RaUh-Bicli are cultivated 
 The letters and the trees. " 
 
 The death of Cormac is thus pathetically deplored 
 by Dalian, son of M6r : — 
 
 "The bishop, the soul's director, the renowned illustrious 
 doctor, 
 King of Caiseal, King of Farnumha : God ! alas for 
 Cormac !" 
 
 Flann's last years were disturbed by domestic 
 dissensions. His sons, Donough and Conor, both 
 rebelled against him ; but Nial Glundubh (of the 
 black knee), a northern Hy-Nial chief, led an army 
 against them, and compelled them to give hostages 
 to their father. Flann died the following year, 
 A.D. 914, and was succeeded by the prince who 
 had so ably defended him. Meanwhile, the Danes 
 were not idle. Amlaff has signalized his advent 
 by drowning Conchobhar, " heir apparent of Tara ;" 
 by slajdng all the chieftains of the Deisi at Gluain- 
 Doimh ', by killing the son of Clennfaeladh, King 
 of Muscraighe Breoghain ; by smothering Mach- 
 daighren in a cave, and by the destruction of Caitill 
 Find (Ketill the White) and his whole garrison. 
 Oisill is the next chief of importance ; and he 
 " succeeded in plundering the greatest part of Ire- 
 land." It is not recorded how long he was occupied 
 in performing this exploit, but he was eventually 
 slain, and his army cut of, by the men of Erinn. 
 
86 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The deaths of several Danish chieftains are re- 
 corded about tliis period, and referred to the 
 vengeance of certain saints, whose shrines they had 
 desecrated. In A.d. 864 according to the Four 
 Masters, 867 according to O'Flaherty, the Danes 
 were defeated at Lough Foyle, by Hugh Finnliath, 
 King of Ireland. Soon after, Leinster and Mun- 
 ster were plundered by a Scandinavian chief, named 
 Baraid, who advanced as far as Ciarraighe (Kerry) : 
 " And they left not a cave under ground that they 
 did not explore ; and they left nothing, from 
 Limerick to Cork, that they did not ravish." What 
 treasures the antiquarian of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury must have lost by this marauder ! How great 
 must have been the wealth of the kings and 
 princes of ancient Erinn, where so much remains 
 after so much was taken! In 877 the Black 
 Gentiles took refuge in Scotland, after suffering 
 a defeat in an engagement with the White Gen- 
 tiles. They were, however consoled by a victory 
 over the men of Alba, in which Constantino, son 
 of Kenneth, was slain, and many others with him. 
 Their success proved beneficial to Ireland, for we 
 are told that a period of "rest to the men of 
 Erinn " ensued. The Danes still held their own 
 in Dublin and at Limerick, occasionally plundered 
 the churches, and now and then had a skirmish 
 with the " men of Erinn ;" but for forty years the 
 country was free from the foreign fleets, and 
 therefore, enjoyed a time of comparative quiet. 
 
THE DANISH FLEETS. 87 
 
 In the year 913 new fleets arrived. They landed 
 in the harbour of Waterford, where they had a 
 settlement formerly ; but though they obtained 
 assistance here, they were defeated by the native 
 Irish, both in Kerry and Tipperary. Sitric came 
 with another fleet in 915, and settled at Cenn- 
 Fuait. Here he was attacked by the Irish army, 
 but they were repulsed with great slaughter. Two 
 years after they received another disastrous defeat 
 at Cill-Mosanhog, near Eathfarnham. A large 
 cromlech, still in that neighbourhood, probably 
 marks the graves of the heroes slain in that engage- 
 ment. Twelve kings were slain in this battle. 
 Their names are given in the Wars of the Gaedhil, 
 and by other authorities, though in some places the 
 number is increased. Nial Glundubh was amongst 
 the slain. He is celebrated in pathetic verse by 
 the bards, Of the battle was said : — 
 
 " Fierce and hard was tlie Wednesday 
 On which hosts were strewn under the fall of shields; 
 It shall be called, till judgment's day. 
 The destructive burning of Ath-cliath." 
 
 The lamentation of Nial was, moreover, said ; — 
 
 *' Sorrowful this day is sacred Ireland, 
 Without a valiant chief of hostage reign ; 
 It is to see the heavens without a sun, 
 To view Magh-Neill without Nial." 
 
 *' There is no cheerfulness in the happiness of men ; . 
 There is no peace or joy among the hosts ; 
 No fair can be celebrated 
 Since the sorrow of sorrow died/* 
 
88 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Donough, son of Flann Sinna, succeeded, and 
 passed his reign in obscurity, with the exception of 
 a victory over the Danes at Bregia. Two great 
 chieftains, however, compensated by their prowess 
 for his indifference; these were Muiixheartach, son 
 of the brave Nial Glundubh, the next heir to the 
 throne, and Callaghan of Cashel, King of Munster. 
 The northern prince was a true patriot, wiUing to 
 sacrifice every personal feeling for the good of his 
 country : consequently, he proved a most formid- 
 able foe to the Danish invader. Callaghan of 
 Cashel was, perhaps, as brave, but his name cannot 
 be held up to the admiration of posterity. The 
 personal advancement of the southern Hy-Mals 
 was more to him than the political advancement of 
 his country; and he disgraced his name and his 
 nation by leaguing with the invaders. In the year 
 934 he pillaged Clonmacnois. Three years later 
 he invaded Meath and Ossory, in conjunction with 
 the Danes. Muircheartach was several times on 
 the eve of engagements with the feeble monarch 
 who nominally ruled the country, but he yielded 
 for the sake of peace, or, as the chroniclers quaintly 
 say, " God pacified them." After one of these 
 pacifications, they joined forces, and laid " siege to 
 the foreigners of Ath-cliath, so that they spoiled 
 and plundered all that was under the dominion of 
 the foreigners, from Ath-cliath to Ath-Truisten." 
 
 In the twenty-second year of Donough, Muir- 
 cheartach determined on a grand expedition for the 
 
muircheartach's exploits. 89 
 
 subjugation of the Danes. He had abeady con- 
 ducted a fleet to the Hebrides, from whence he 
 returned flushed with victory. His first care was 
 to assemble a body of troops of special valour; and 
 he soon found himself at the head of a thousand 
 heroes, and in a position to commence " his circuit 
 of Ireland." The Danish chief, Sitric, was first 
 seized as a hostage. He then carried ofl* Lorcan? 
 King of Leinster. He next went to the Munster 
 men, who were also prepared for battle ; but they 
 too yielded, and gave up their monarch also, " and 
 a fetter was put on him by Muircheartach." He 
 afterwards proceeded into Connaught, where Con- 
 chobhar, son of Tadhg, came to meet him, " but no 
 gyve or lock was put upon him." He then returned 
 to Oileach, carrying these kings with him as 
 hostages. Here he feasted them for five months 
 with knightly courtesy, and then sent them to the 
 Monarch Donough. 
 
 After these exploits, we cannot be surprised that 
 Muircheartach should be styled the Hector of the 
 west of Europe. But he soon finds his place in 
 the never-ceasing obituary. In two years after his 
 justly famous exploit, he was slain by " Blacaire, 
 son of Godfrey, lord of the foreigners." This 
 event occurred on the 26th of March, A.D. 941, 
 according to the chronology of the Four Masters. 
 The true year, however, is 943. The chroniclers 
 briefly observe, that " Ard-Macha was plundered 
 by the same foreigners, on the day after the killing 
 of Muircheartach." 
 
90 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Donough died in 942, after a reign of twenty- 
 five years. He was succeeded by Congallacli, who 
 was killed by the Danes, A.D. 954. Donnell 
 O'Neill, a son of the brave Muircheartach, now ob- 
 tained the royal power, such as it was ; and at his 
 death the throne reverted to Maelseachlainn, or 
 Malachy II., the last of his race who ever held the 
 undisputed sovereignty of Ireland. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Conversion of the Danes— Bricn Boroim^ and his brother 
 Mahoim— Defeat of the Danes at Sulcoit— Death of 
 Mahoun— Brian's Revenge— Brian and Malachy unite 
 against the Danes. 
 
 )ANY of the sea-coast towns were now in 
 possession of the Danes. They had 
 founded Limerick, and, indeed, Wex- 
 ford and Waterford almost owe them the debt of 
 parentage. Obviously, the ports were their grand 
 securities — a ready refuge if driven by native 
 valour to embark in their fleets ; convenient head- 
 quarters when marauding expeditions to England 
 or Scotland were in preparation. But the Danes 
 never obtained the same power in Ireland as in the 
 sister country. The domestic dissensions of the 
 men of Erinn, ruinous as they were to the nation, 
 gave it at least the advantage of having a brave 
 and resolute body of men always in armsj and 
 
CONVERSION OF THE DANES. 91 
 
 ready to face the foe at a moment's notice, when 
 no selfish policy interfered. 
 
 The year 948 has generally been assigned as that 
 of the conversion of the Danes to Christianity; 
 but, whatever the precise period may have been, 
 the conversion was rather of a doubtful character, 
 as we hear of their burning churches, plundering 
 shrines, and slaughtering ecclesiastics with appar- 
 ently as little remorse as ever. In the very year in 
 which the Danes of Dublin are said to have been 
 converted, they burned the belfry of Slane, while 
 filled with religious who had sought refuge there- 
 Meanwhile the Irish monarchies were daily weak- 
 ened by divisions and domestic wars. Connaught 
 was divided between two or three independent 
 princes, and Munster into two kingdoms. 
 
 The ancient division of the country into five 
 provinces no longer held good ; and the Ard-Eigh, 
 or chief monarch, was such only in name. Even 
 the great northern Hy-Nials, long the bravest and 
 most united of the Irish clans, were now divided 
 into two portions, the Cinel-Connaill and Cinei- 
 Owen ; the former of whom had been for some 
 time excluded from the alternate accession of sov- 
 reignty, which was still maintained betwen the two 
 great families of the race of Nial. But, though 
 this arrangement was persevered in with tolerable 
 regularity, it tended little to the promotion of 
 peace, as the northern princes were ever ready to 
 take advantage of the weakness of the Meath men. 
 
92 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The sovereignty of Munster had also been 
 settled on the alternate principle, between the 
 great tribe of Dalcassians, or north Munster race, 
 and the Eoghanists, or southerners. This plan of 
 succession, as may be supposed, failed to work 
 peaceably; and, in 942, Cinneidigh, the father of 
 the famous Brian Boroimh6 contested the sove- 
 reignty with the Eoghanist prince, Callaghan 
 Cashel ; but yielded in a chivalrous spirit, not very 
 common under such circumstances, and jo.ined his 
 former opponent in his contest with the Danes. 
 The author of the Wars of the Gaedhill with the 
 Gall gives a glowing account of the genealogy of 
 Brian and his eldest brother, Mathgamhain. They 
 are described as " two fierce, magnificent heroes, 
 the two stout, able, valiant pillars." 
 
 Mahoun was now firmly established on the 
 throne, but his success procured him many enemies. 
 A conspiracy was formed against him under the 
 auspices of Ivar of Limerick, and his son, Dubh- 
 cenn. The Eoghanist clans basely withdrew their 
 allegiance from their lawful sovereign, allied them- 
 selves with the Danes, and became principals in the 
 plot of assassination. Their motive was as simple 
 as their conduct was vile. The two Eoghanist 
 families were represented by Donovan and Molloy. 
 They were descendants of Oilioll Oluim, from 
 whom Mahoun was also descended, but his family 
 were Dalcassians. Hitherto the Eoghanists had 
 succeeded in depriving the tribes of Dal-Cais of 
 
BRIAN DORU'S REVENGE. 95 
 
 their fair share of alternate succession to the 
 throne of Munster ; they became alarmed at and 
 jealous of the advancement of the younger tribe, 
 and determined to do by treachery what they could 
 not do by force. With the usual headlong eager- 
 ness of traitors, they seem to have forgotten Brian, 
 and quite overlooked the retribution they might 
 expect at his hands for their crime. There are 
 two different accounts of the murder, which do 
 not coincide in detail. The main facts, however, 
 are reliable : Mahoun was entrapped in some way 
 to the house of Donovan, and there he was basely 
 murdered, in violation of the rights of hospitality 
 and in defiance of the safe conduct of the bishop, 
 which he secured before his visit. 
 
 The traitors gained nothing by their treachery 
 except the contempt of posterity. Brian was not 
 slow in avenging his brother. "He was not a 
 stone in place of an egg, nor a wisp of hay in place 
 of a club ; but he was a hero in place of a hero, and 
 valour after valour." 
 
 Public opinion was not mistaken in its estimate 
 of his character. Two years after the death of 
 Mahoun, Brian invaded Donovan's territory, drove 
 off his cattle, took the fortress of Cathair Cuan, 
 and slew Donovan and his Danish ally, Harolt. 
 He next proceeded to settle accounts with Molloy, 
 Cogar^n is sent to the whole tribe of Ui Eachach, 
 to know " the reason why " they killed Mahoun, 
 and to declare that no cumhal or fine would be 
 
96 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 received, either in the shape of hostages, gold or 
 cattle, but that MoUoy must himself be given up. 
 Messages were also sent to Molloy, both general 
 and particular— the general message challenged 
 him to battle at Belach-Lechta ; the particular 
 message, which in truth he hardly deserved, was a 
 challenge to meet Murrough, Brian's son, in single 
 combat. The result was the battle of Belach- 
 Lechta, where Molloy was slain, with twelve hun- 
 dred of his troops, both native and foreign. Brian 
 remained master of the field and of the kingdom, 
 A.D. 978. 
 
 Brian was now undisputed King of Munster 
 In 984 he was acknowledged Monarch of Leth 
 Mogha, the southern half of Ireland. Meanwhile 
 Malachy, who governed Leth Cuinn, or the northern 
 half of Ireland, had not been idle. He fought a 
 battle with the Danes in 979, near Tara, in which 
 he defeated their forces, and slew Raguall, son of 
 Amlaibh, King of Dublin. Amlaibh felt the defeat 
 so severely, that he retired to lona, where he died 
 of a broken heart. Donough O'Neill, son of Muir- 
 cheartach, died this year, and Malachy obtained the 
 regal dignity. Emboldened by his success at Tara, 
 he resolved to attack the foreigners in Dublin ; he 
 therefore laid siege to that city, and compelled it to 
 surrender after three days, liberated two thousand 
 prisoners, including the King of Leinster, and took 
 abundant spoils. At the same time he issued a 
 proclamation, freeing every Irishman then in 
 
BRIAN AND MALACHY FIGHT THE DANES. 97 
 
 bondage to the Dcanes, and stipulating that the 
 race of Nial should henceforth be free from tribute 
 to the foreigners. 
 
 It is probable that Brian had already formed 
 designs for obtaining the royal power. The country 
 resounded with the fame of his exploits, and 
 Malachy became aware at last that he should 
 either have him for an ally or an enemy. He 
 prudently chose the former alternative, and in the 
 nineteenth year of his reign (997 according to the 
 Four Masters) he made arrangements with Brian 
 for a great campaign against the common enemy. 
 Malachy surrendered all hostages to Brian, and 
 Brian agreed to recognize Malachy as sole monarch 
 of northern Erinn, "without war or trespass.'' 
 This treaty was absolutely necessary, in order to 
 oiler effective resistance to the Danes. The con- 
 duct of the two kings towards each other, had not 
 been of a conciliatory nature previously. In 981 
 Malachy had invaded the territory of the Dalcas- 
 sians, and uprooted the great oak-tree of Magh 
 Adhair, under which its kings were crowned — an 
 insult which could not fail to excite bitter feelings 
 both in prince and people. In 939 the monarch 
 occupied himself fighting the Danes in Dublin, to 
 whom he laid siege for twenty nights, reducing the 
 garrison to such straits that they were obhged to 
 drink the salt water when the tide rose in the river. 
 Brian then made reprisals on Malachy, by sending 
 boats up the Shannon, burning the royal rath of 
 
98 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Dun Sciath. Malachy, in his turn, recrossed the 
 Shannon, burned Nenagh, plundered Ormond, and 
 defeated Brian himself in battle. He then marched 
 again to Dublin, and once more attacked " the proud 
 invader." It was on this occasion that he obtained 
 the " collar of gold," which Moore has immortalized 
 in his world-famous " Melodies." 
 
 When the kings had united their forces, they 
 obtained another important victory at Glen-Mama. 
 Harolt, son of Olaf Cuaran, the then Danish king,, 
 was slain, and four thousand of his followers 
 perished with him. The victorious army marched 
 at once to Dublin. Here they obtained spoils of 
 great value, and made many slaves and captives. 
 According to some accounts, Brian remained in 
 Dublin until the feast of St. Brigid (February 1st) ; 
 other annalists say he only remained from Great 
 Christmas to Little Christmas. Meanwhile there 
 can be but little doubt that Brian had in view the 
 acquisition of the right to be called sole monarch 
 of Ireland. It is a blot on an othermse noble 
 character — an ugly spot in a picture of more than 
 ordinary interest. Sitric, another son of Olaf's, 
 fled for protection to Aedh and Eochaidh, two 
 northern chieftains ; but they gave him up, from 
 motives of fear or policy, to Brian's soldiers, and 
 after due submission he was restored to his former 
 position. Brian then gave his daughter in marriage 
 to Sitric, and completed the family alliance by 
 espousing Sitric's mother, Gormflaith, a lady of 
 
THE POET MOORE. 99 
 
 rather remarkable character, who had been divorced 
 from her second husband, Malachy. Brian now 
 proceeded to depose Malachy. The account of 
 this important transaction is given in so varied a 
 manner by different writers, that it seems almost 
 impossible to ascertain the truth. The south- 
 ern annalists are loud in their assertions of the in- 
 capacity of the reigning monarch, and would have 
 it believed that Brian only yielded to the urgent 
 entreaties of his countrymen in accepting the prof- 
 fered crown. But the warlike exploits of Malachy 
 have been too faithfully recorded to leave any 
 doubt as to his prowess in the field ; and we may 
 probably class the regret of his opponent in ac- 
 cepting his position with similar protestations made 
 under circumstances in wliich such regret was as 
 little likely to be real. 
 
 The poet Moore, with evident partiality for the 
 subject of his song, declares the magnanimous 
 character of Malachy was the real ground of peace, 
 under such provocation, and that he submitted to 
 the encroachments of his rival rather from motives 
 of disinterested desire for his country's welfare, 
 than from any reluctance or inability to fight his 
 own battle. 
 
 But Brian had other chieftains to deal with, of 
 less amiable or more warlike propensities : the 
 proud Hy-Nials of the north were long in yielding 
 to his claims ; but even these he at length subdued, 
 compelling the Cinel-Eoghain to give him hostages 
 
100 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 and carrying off the Lord of Cinel-Connaill bodily 
 to his fortress at Kincora. Here he had assembled 
 a sort of " happy family," consisting of refractory 
 princes and knights, who, refusing hostages to 
 keep the peace with each other, were obliged to 
 submit to the royal will and pleasure, and at least 
 appear outwardly in harmony. 
 
 These precautionary measures, however sum- 
 mary, and the energetic determination of Brian to 
 have peace kept either by sword or law, have given 
 rise to the romantic ballad of the lady perambu- 
 lating Erinn with a gold ring and white wand, and 
 passing unmolested through its once belUgerent 
 kingdoms. 
 
 Brian now turned his attention to the state of 
 religion and literature, restoring the churches and 
 monasteries which had been plundered and burnt 
 by the Danes. He is said also to have founded 
 the churches of Killaloe and Inniscealtra, and to 
 have built the round tower of Tomgrany, in the 
 present county Clare. A gift of twenty ounces of 
 gold to the church of Armagh,— a large donation 
 for that period, — is also recorded amongst his good 
 deeds. 
 
 There is some question as to the precise year in 
 which Brian obtained or usurped the authority and 
 position of Ard-Righ : A.D. 1002, however is the 
 date most usually accepted. He was probably 
 about sixty-one years of age, and Malachy was 
 then about fifty-three. 
 
A QUARRELSOME WOMAN. 101 
 
 It will be remembered that Brian had married 
 the Lady Gormflaith. Her brother, Maelmordha, 
 was King of Leinster, and he had obtained his 
 throne through the assistance of the Danes. 
 Brian was Gormflaith's third husband. In the 
 words of the Annals, she had made three leaps — 
 "jumps which a woman should never jump" — a 
 hint that her matrimonial arrangements had not 
 the sanction of canon law. She was remarkable 
 for her beauty, but her temper was proud and vin- 
 dictive. This was probably the reason why she 
 was repudiated both by Malachy and Brian. There 
 can be no doubt that she and her brother, Mael- 
 mordha, were the remote causes of the famous 
 battle of Clontarf. The story is told thus: 
 Maelmordha came to Brian with an offering of 
 three large pine-trees to make masts for shipping. 
 These were probably a tribute which he was bound 
 to pay to his liege lord. The trees had been cut in 
 the great forest of Leinster, called Fidh-Gaibhli. 
 Some other tribes were bringing their tree-tributes 
 at the same time ; and as they all journeyed over 
 the mountains together, there was a dispute for 
 precedency. Maelmordha decided the question by 
 assisting to carry the tree of the Ui-Faelain. He 
 had on a tunic of silk which Brian had given him, 
 with a border of gold round it, and silver buttons." 
 One of the buttons came off as he lifted the tree. 
 On his arrival at Kincora, he asked his sister, 
 Gormflaith, to replace it for him ; but she at once 
 
102 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 filing the garment into the fire, and then bitterly 
 reproached her brother with having accepted this 
 token of vassalage. The Sagas say she was 
 "grim" against Brian, which was undoubtedly true. 
 This excited Maelmordha's temper. An opportu- 
 nity soon offered for a quarrel. Brian's eldest son, 
 Murrough, was playing a game of Chess with his 
 cousin, Conoing ; Maelmordha was looking on, and 
 suggested a move by which Murrough lost the 
 game. The young prince exclaimed : " That was 
 like the advice you gave the Danes, which lost them 
 Glen-Mama." " I "will give them ad^dce now, and 
 they shall not be defeated," replied the other. 
 " Then you had better remind them to prepare 
 a yew-tree for your reception," answered Mur- 
 rough. 
 
 Early the next morning Maelmordha left the 
 place "without permission and wdthout taking 
 leave. Brian sent a messenger after him to pacify 
 him, but the angry chief, for all reply, "broke all 
 the bones in his head." He now proceeded to 
 organize a revolt against Brian, and succeeded. 
 Several of the Irish princes flocked to his standard. 
 An encounter took place in Meath, where they slew 
 Malachy's grandson, Domhnall, who should have 
 been heir if the usual rule of succession had been 
 observed. Malachy marched to the rescue, and 
 defeated the assailants with great slaughter, A.D. 
 1013. Fierce reprisals now took place on each 
 side. Sanctuary was disregarded, and Malachy 
 
THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF. 103 
 
 called on Brian to assist liim. Brian at once complied. 
 After successfully ravaging Ossory he marched 
 to Dublin, where he was joined by Murrough, 
 who had devastated Wicklow, burning, destrojdng, 
 and carrying off captives, until he reached Cill 
 Maighnenn (Kilmainham). They now blockaded 
 Dublin, where they remained from St. Ciaran's in 
 harvest (Sept. 9fch) until Christmas Day. Brian 
 was then obliged to raise the siege, and return 
 home for want of provisions. 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 Battle of Clontarf— Brian's Death, and Defeat of the 
 Danes — Eivalry and Reconciliation between Malachy 
 and Brian— Death of Turlough— Bravery of the Dalcas- 
 sians at Mullaghmast — Death of Malachy. 
 
 ii^gHE storm was now gathering in earnest; 
 . the most active preparations were made on 
 both sides for a mighty and decisive conflict. 
 The Danes had already obtained possession of Eng- 
 land, a country which had always been united in its 
 resistance to their power, a country numerically 
 superior to Ireland : why should they not hope to 
 conquer, with at least equal facility, a people who 
 had so many opposing interests, and who rarely 
 sacrificed these interests to the common good? 
 Still they must have had some fear of the result, if 
 we may judge by the magnitude of their prepara- 
 tions. They despatched ambassadors in all direc- 
 
104 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 tions to obtain reinforcements. Brodir, the earl, 
 and Amlaibh, son of the King of Lochlann, " the 
 two Earls of Cair, and of all the north of Saxon 
 land," came at the head of 2,000 men ; " and there 
 was not one villain of that 2,000 who had not 
 polished, strong, triple-plated armour of refined 
 iron or of cooling, uncorroding brass, encasing 
 their sides and bodies from head to foot." More- 
 over, the said villains "had no reverence, venera- 
 tion, or respect, or mercy for God or man, for 
 church or for sanctuary ; they were cruel, ferocious, 
 plundering, hard-hearted, wonderful Dannarbrians, 
 selling and hiring themselves for gold and silver, 
 and other treasure as well." Gormflaith was evi- 
 dently " head centre" on the occasion ; for we find 
 wonderful accounts of her zeal and efforts in col- 
 lecting forces. "Other treasures" may possibly 
 be referred to that lady's heart and hand, of which 
 she appears to have been very liberal on this occa- 
 sion. She despatched her son, Sitric, to Siguard, 
 Earl of the Orkneys, who promised his assistance, 
 but he required the hand of Gormflaith as payment 
 for his services, and that he should be made King 
 of Ireland. Sitric gave the required promise, and 
 found, on his return to Dublin, that it met with 
 his mother's entire approbation. She then de- 
 spatched him to the Isle of Man, where there were 
 two Vikings, who had thirty ships, and she desired 
 him to obtain their co-operation " at any price." 
 They were the brothers Ospak and Brodir. The 
 
BRODIR THE APOSTATE. 105 
 
 latter demanded the same conditions as the Earl 
 Siguard, which were promised quite as readily by 
 Sitric, only he charged the Viking to keep the 
 agreement secret, and above all not to mention it 
 to Siguard. 
 
 Brodir, according to the Saga, was an apostate 
 Christian, who had "thrown off his faith, and be- 
 come God's dastard." He was both tall and strong, 
 and had such long black hair that he tucked it 
 under his belt ; he had also the reputation of being 
 a magician. The Viking Ospak refused to fight 
 against " the good King Brian," and, touched by 
 some prodigies, became a convert to Christianity, 
 joined the Irish monarch at Kincora, on the Shan- 
 non, and received holy baptism. The author of 
 the Wars of the Gaedhil gives a formidable list of 
 the other auxiliaries who were invited by the Dub- 
 lin Danes. The Annals of Loch C^ also give an 
 account of the fleet he assembled, and its " chosen 
 braves." Maelmordha had mustered a large army ; 
 indeed, he was too near the restless and revenge- 
 ful Lady Gormflaith to have taken matters quietly, 
 even had he been so inclined. 
 
 Meanwhile Brian had been scarcely less success- 
 ful, and probably not less active. He now marched 
 towards Dublin " with all that obeyed him of the 
 men of Ireland." These were the provincial troops 
 of Munster and Connaught and the men of Meath. 
 His march is thus described in the Wars of the 
 Gaedhil : — " Brian looked out behind him, and 
 
106 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 beheld the battle phalanx — compact, huge, disci- 
 plined, moving in silence, mutely, bravely, 
 haughtily, unitedly, with one mind, traversing the 
 plain towards them ; threescore and ten banners 
 over them — of red, and of yellow, and of green, 
 and of all kinds of colours ; together with the ever- 
 lasting, variegated, lucky, fortunate banner, that 
 had gained the victory in every battle, and in every 
 conflict, and in every combat." The portion of the 
 narrative containing this account is believed to be 
 an interpolation, but the description may not be 
 the less accurate. Brian plundered and destroyed 
 ^s usual on his way to Dublin. When he had en- 
 camped near that city, the Danes came out to give 
 him battle on the plain of Magh-n-Ealta. The 
 king then held a council of war, and the result, 
 apparently, was a determination to give battle in 
 the morning. It is said that the Northmen pre- 
 tended flight in order to delay the engagement. 
 The Njal Saga says the Yiking Brodir had found 
 out by his sorcery, ''that if the fight were on Good 
 Friday, King Brian would fall, but win the day ; 
 but, if they fought before, they would all fall who 
 were against liim." Some authorities also men- 
 tion a traitor in Brian's camp, who had informed 
 the Danes that his forces had been weakened by 
 the absence of liis son Donough, whom he had sent 
 to devastate Leinster. Malachy has the credit of 
 this piece of treachery, with other imputations 
 scarcely less disreputable. 
 
THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF. 107 
 
 The site of the battle has been accurately defined. 
 It took place on the plain of Clontarf, and is called 
 the Battle of the Fishing Weir of Clontarf. The 
 weir was at the mouth of the river Tolka, where 
 the bridge of Ballybough now stands. The Danish 
 Kne was extended along the coast, and protected 
 at sea by their fleets. It was disposed in three 
 divisions, and comprised about 21,000 men, the 
 Leinster forces being included in the number. The 
 first division or left wing was the nearest to Dub- 
 lin. It was composed of the Danes of Dublin, and 
 headed by Sitric, who was supported by the thou- 
 sand mail-clad Norwegians commanded by Carlus 
 and Anrud. In the centre were the Legennians 
 under the command of Maelmordha. The right 
 wing comprised the foreign auxiliaries, under the 
 command of Brodir and Siguard. 
 
 Brian's army was also disposed in three divisions. 
 The first was composed of his brave Dalcassians, 
 and commanded by his son Murrough, assisted by 
 his four brothers, Teigue, Donough, Connor, and 
 Flann, and his youthful heir, Turlough, who per- 
 ished on the field. The second division or centre 
 was composed of troops from Munster, and was 
 commanded by Mothla, grandson of the King of 
 the Deisi, of Waterford, assisted by many native 
 princes. The third battalion was commanded by 
 Maelruanaidh (Mulrooney of the Pater Nosters) 
 and Teigue O'Kelly, with all the nobles of Con- 
 naught. Brian's army numbered about twenty 
 
108 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 thousand men. The accounts which relate the 
 position of Malachy, and his conduct on this occa- 
 sion, are hopelessly conflicting. It appears quite 
 impossible to decide whether he was a victim to 
 prejudice, or whether Brian was a victim to his not 
 unnatural hostility. 
 
 On the eve of the battle, one of the Danish 
 chiefs. Plait, son of King Lochlainn, sent a chal- 
 lenge to Domhnall, son of Emhin, High Steward 
 of Mar. The battle commenced at daybreak. Plait 
 came forth and exclaimed three times, " Faras 
 Domhnall f (Where is Domhnall T) Domhnall re- 
 plied : " Here, thou reptile." A terrible hand-to- 
 hand combat ensued. They fell dead at the same 
 moment, the sword of each through the heart of 
 the other, and the hair of each in the clenched 
 hand of the other. And the combat of those two 
 was the first combat of the battle. 
 
 Before the engagement, Brian harangued his 
 troops, with the crucifix in one hand and a sword 
 in the other. He reminded them of all they had 
 suffered from their enemies, of their tyranny, their 
 sacrilege, their innumerable perfidies; and then, 
 holding the crucifix aloft, he exclaimed : " The 
 great God has at length looked down upon our 
 sufferings, and endued you with the power and 
 the courage this day to destroy for ever the tyranny 
 of the Danes, and thus to punish them for their 
 innumerable crimes and sacrileges by the avenging 
 power of the sword. Was it not on this day that 
 Christ himself suftered death for you T 
 
THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF. 109 
 
 He Wcas then compelled to retire to the rear, 
 and await the result of the conflict, but Murrough 
 performed prodigies of valour. Even the Danish 
 historians admit that he fought his way to their 
 standard, and cut down two successive bearers of 
 it. 
 
 The mailed armour of the Danes seems to have 
 been a source of no little dread to their opponents. 
 But the Irish battle-axe might Avell have set even 
 more secure protection at defiance. It was wielded 
 with such skill and force, that frequently a limb 
 was lopped off with a single blow, despite the mail 
 in which it was encased ; while the short lances, 
 darts, and slinging-stones proved a speedy means 
 of decapitating or stunning a fallen enemy. 
 
 The Dalcassians surpassed themselves in feats of 
 arms. They hastened from time to time to refresh 
 their thirst and cool their hands in a neighbouring 
 brook j but the Danes soon filled it up, and de- 
 prived them of this resource. It was a conflict of 
 heroes — a hand-to-hand fight. Bravery was not 
 wanting on either side, and for a time the result 
 seemed doubtful. Towards the afternoon, as many 
 of the Danish leaders were cut down, their followers 
 began to give way, and the Irish forces prepared 
 for a final efibrt. At this moment the Norwegian 
 prince, Anrud, encountered Murrough, whose arms 
 were paralysed from fatigue ; he had still physical 
 strength enough to seize his enemy, fling him on 
 the ground, and plunge his sword into the body 
 
110 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 of his prostrate foe. But even as he inflicted the 
 death-wound, he received "a mortal blow from the 
 dagger of the Dane, and the two chiefs fell to- 
 gether. 
 
 The Northmen and their allies were flying hard 
 and fast, the one towards their ships, the others 
 towards the city. But as they fled across the 
 Tolka, they forgot that it was now swollen with 
 the incoming tide, and thousands perished by water 
 who had escaped the sword. The body of Brian's 
 grandson, the boy Turlough, was found in the river 
 after the battle, with his hands entangled in the 
 hair of two Danish warriors, whom he had held 
 down until they were drowned. Sitric and his 
 wife had watched the combat from the battlements 
 of Dublin. It will be remembered that this lady 
 was a daughter of King Brian, and her interests 
 were naturally with the Irish troops. Some rough 
 words passed between her and her lord, which 
 ended in his giving her so rude a blow, that he 
 knocked out one of her teeth. But we have yet 
 to record the crowning tragedy of the day. Brian 
 had retired to his tent to pray, at the commence- 
 ment of the conflict. When the forces met, he 
 began his devotions, and said to his attendant : — 
 *' Watch thou the battle and the combats, whilst 
 I say the psalms." After he had recited fifty 
 psalms, fifty collects, and fifty paternosters, he 
 desired the man to look out and inform him how 
 the battle went, and the position of Murrough's 
 
DEATH AND PIETY OF BRIAN BORU. Ill 
 
 standard. He replied the strife was close and 
 vigorous, and the noise was as if seven batta- 
 lions were cutting down Tomar's wood; but 
 the standard was safe. Brian then said fifty 
 more psalms, and made the same inquiry. The 
 attendant replied that all was in confusion, but 
 that Murrough's standard still stood erect, and 
 moved westwards towards Dublin. " As long as 
 that standard remains erect," replied Brian, "it 
 shall go well with the men of Erinn." The aged 
 king betook himself to his prayers once more, saying 
 again fifty psalms and collects ; then for the last 
 time, he asked intelligence of the field. Latean 
 replied : " They appear as if Tomar's wood was on 
 fire, audits brushwood all burned down;" meaning 
 that the private soldiers of both armies were 
 nearly all slain, and only a few of the chiefs had 
 escaped ; adding the most grievous intelligence of 
 all, that Murrogh's standard had fallen. " Alas !" 
 replied Brian, " Erinn has fallen with it : why 
 should I survive such losses, even should I attain 
 the sovereignty of the world 1" His attendant 
 then urged him to fly, but Brian replied that flight 
 was useless, for he had been warned of his fate by 
 Aibinn (the banshee of his family), and that he 
 knew that his death was at hand. He then gave 
 directions about his will and his funeral, leaving 
 240 cows to the " successor of Patrick." Even at 
 this moment his death was impending. A party 
 of Danes approached, headed by Brodir. The 
 
112 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND, 
 
 king sprang up from the cushion where he had 
 been kneeling, and unsheathed his sword. At 
 first Brodir did not know him, and thought he was 
 a priest from finding liim at prayer ; but one of 
 his followers informed him that it was the Monarch 
 of Ireland. In a moment the fierce Dane had 
 opened his head with his battle-axe. It is said 
 that Brian had time to inflict a wound on the 
 Viking, but the details of this event are so varied 
 that it is impossible to decide which account is 
 most reliable. The Saga states that Brodir knew 
 Brian, and, proud of his exploit, held up the 
 monarch's reeking head, exclaiming, " Let it 
 be told from man to man that Brodir felled Brian.'* 
 All accounts agree that the Viking was slain im> 
 mediately, if not cruelly, by Brian's guards, who 
 thus revenged their own neglect of their master. 
 Had Brian survived this conflict, and had he been 
 but a few years younger, how difi'erent might have 
 been the political and social state of Ireland even 
 at the present day ! The Danish power was over- 
 thrown, and never again obtained an ascendancy 
 in the country. It needed but one strong will, 
 one wise head, one brave arm, to consolidate the 
 nation, and to establish a regular monarchy; for 
 there was mettle enough in the Celt, if only 
 united, to resist foreign invasion for all time to 
 come. 
 
 On Easter Monday the survivors were employed 
 in burying the dead and attending to the wounded 
 
BURIAL OF THE BRAVE BRIAN BORU. 113 
 
 The remains of more than thirty chieftains were 
 borne off to their respective territorial churches 
 for interment. But even on that very night dis- 
 sension arose in the camp. The chieftains of 
 Desmond, seeing the broken condition of the 
 Dalcassian force, renewed their claim to the alter- 
 nate succession. AVhen they had reached Eath 
 Maisten (Mullaghmast, near Athy) they claimed 
 the sovereignty of Munster, by demanding hostages. 
 A battle ensued, in which even the wounded Dal- 
 cassians joined. Their leader desired them to be 
 placed in the fort of Maisten, but they insisted on 
 being fastened to stakes, firmly planted in the 
 ground to support them, and stuffing their wounds 
 with moss, they awaited the charge of the enemy. 
 The men of Ossory, intimidated by their bravery, 
 feared to give battle. But many of the wounded 
 men perished from exhaustion — a hundred and 
 fifty swooned away, and never recovered conscious- 
 ness again. The majority were buried where they 
 stood j a few of the more noble were carried to 
 their ancestral resting-places. " And thus far the 
 wars of the Gall with the Gaedhil, and the battle 
 of Clontarf." 
 
 The Annals state that both Brian and his son, 
 Murrough, lived to receive the rites of the Church, 
 and that their remains were conveyed by the 
 monks to Swords, and from thence, through Duleek 
 and Louth, to Armagh, by Archbishop Maelmuire, 
 the "successor of St. Patrick." Their obsequies 
 
114 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAl^D. 
 
 were celebrated with great splendour for twelve 
 days and nights by the clergy, after which the 
 body of Brian was deposited in a stone coffin, on 
 the north side of the high altar, in the cathedral. 
 Murrough was buried on the south side. Turlough 
 was interred in the old churchyard of Kilmainham, 
 where the shaft of an ancient cross still marks the 
 site. 
 
 Malachy once more assumed the reigns of go- 
 vernment by common consent, and proved himself 
 fully equal to the task. A month before his death 
 he gained an important victory over the Danes at 
 Athboy, A.D. 1022. An interregnum of twenty 
 years followed his death, during which the country 
 was governed by two wise men, Ouan O'Lochlann, 
 a poet, and Corcaan Cleireach, an anchoret. The 
 circumstances attending Malachy's death are thus 
 related by the Four Masters : — " The age of Christ 
 1022. Maelseachlainn Mor, pillar of the dignity 
 and nobility of the west of the world, died in 
 Croinis Locho-Aininn, in the seventy-third year of 
 his age, on the 4th of the nones of September, on 
 Sunday precisely, after intense penance for his sins 
 and transgressions, after receiving the body 6f 
 Christ and His blood, after being anointed by 
 the hands of Amhalgaidh, successor of Patrick, 
 for he and the successor of Colum-Cille, and the 
 successor of Ciaran, and most of the seniors of 
 Ireland were present [at his death], and they 
 sung masses, hymns, psalms, and canticles for the 
 welfare of his soul." 
 
IRISH SAINTS AND SCHOLARS. 115 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Distinguished Irish Scholars— St, Brendan and St, Ita— 
 St. Brendan visits America — St, Malachy and St. 
 Bernard — St. Columbanus and St, Laurence O'Toole. 
 
 OMESTIC wars were, as usual, productive 
 of the worst consequences, as regards the 
 social state of the country. The schools 
 and colleges, which had been founded and richly 
 endowed by the converted Irish, were now, with- 
 out exception, plundered of their wealth, and, in 
 many cases, deprived of those who had dispensed 
 that wealth for the common good. It has been 
 already shown that men lived holy lives, and died 
 peaceful deaths, during the two hundred years of 
 Danish oppression ; we shall now find that schools 
 were revived, monasteries repeopled, and mission- 
 aries sent to convert and instruct in foreign lands. 
 A few monks from Ireland settled in Glastonbury 
 early in the tenth century, where they devoted 
 themselves to the instruction of youth. St. Dun- 
 stan, who was famous for his skill in music, was 
 one of their most illustrious pupils j he was 
 a scholar, an artist, and a musician. But English 
 writers, who give him the credit of having brought 
 "Englishmen to care once more for learning, 
 after they had quite lost the taste for it, and had 
 
116 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 sunk back into ignorance and barbarism," forgot 
 to mention who were his instructors. 
 
 Before the death of St. Patrick, Christianity 
 had been firmly established in Ireland, and it is 
 our greatest national honour that from the hour 
 in which the Catholic faith was first taught in 
 Ireland to the present day Irishmen have remained 
 true to their religion. No matter what persecu- 
 tions they suffered, they braved the storm ; and 
 we may believe this singular fact is due to the 
 prayers of our great apostle, St. Patrick, who, we 
 may be assured, watches over the land and the 
 people of his adoption as tenderly and carefully, 
 now as he did in the centuries after his entrance 
 into the eternal reward of his labours. 
 
 Ireland was distinguished for her scholars and 
 learned men after the Christian era as well as 
 before it. So famous were those Irish schools and 
 colleges, that the great nobles and lords of France 
 and England sent their sons to be educated here. 
 When shall such a glorious time come again for 
 our native land ? It could come, and it would 
 come in a few short years, if Irishmen themselves 
 willed it. In these matters no one can be our 
 masters ; our minds are free, and if we attain 
 again the proud and enviable distinction of being 
 a learned nation, it will be all the more to our 
 credit, if we have many difficulties to encounter 
 in attaining our end. Let Irishmen cultivate their 
 own minds by reading good solid literature, and 
 
SAINT BRENDAN AND SAINT ITA. 11 7 
 
 let them seek to have their children well educated ; 
 not by making them learn sho'wy and useless 
 accomplishments, but by placing them only at 
 such schools and under such masters as shall give 
 them instruction of real and permanent value for 
 their after life. 
 
 I must again refer you to the Illustrated Eistm-y 
 of Ireland, if you wish for fuU information as to 
 the learning of ancient Erinn ; its customs ] and the 
 valuable old books which we still possess, which 
 were written hundreds of years ago. But I must 
 here find space for a few words about our Christian 
 missionaries and the learned men who made 
 Ireland famous after the time of St. Patrick. 
 
 St. Brendan was one of the most remarkable ol 
 our early saints. His early youth was passed 
 under the care of St. Ita, a lady of the princely 
 family of the Desii. By divine command she 
 established the convent of Cluain Credhuil, in the 
 present county of Limerick, and there, it would 
 appear, she devoted herself specially to the care of 
 youth. When Brendan had attained liis fifth year, 
 he was placed under the protection of Bishop 
 Ercus, from whom he received such instruction as 
 befitted his advancing years. But Brendan's 
 tenderest afi'ection clung to the gentle nurse of his 
 infancy ; and to her, in after years, he frequently 
 returned, to give or receive counsel and sympathy. 
 
 The legend of his western voyage, if not the 
 most important, is at least the most interesting 
 
118 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 part of his history. Kerry was the native home 
 of the enterprising saint ; and as he stood on its 
 bold and beautiful shores, his naturally contem- 
 plative mind was led to inquire what boundaries 
 chained that vast ocean, whose grand waters rolled 
 in mighty waves beneath his feet. His thoughtful 
 piety suggested that where there might be a 
 country there might be life — human life and human 
 souls dying day by day, and hour by hour, and 
 knowing of no other existence than that which at 
 best is full of sadness and decay. 
 
 Traditions of a far-away land had long existed 
 on the western coast of ancient Erinn. The brave 
 Tuatha D6 Dananns were singularly expert in 
 iiaval aifairs, and their descendants were by no 
 means unwilling to impart information to the 
 saint. 
 
 The venerable St. Enda, the first Abbot of 
 Arran, was then living, and thither St. Brendan 
 journeyed for counsel. Probably he was encouraged 
 in his design by the holy abbot ; for he proceeded 
 along the coast of Mayo, inquiring as he went for 
 traditions of the western continent. On his return 
 to Kerry, he decided to set out on the important 
 expedition. St. Brendan's Hill still bears his 
 name ; and from the bay at the foot of this lofty 
 eminence he sailed for the ^' far west." Directing 
 his course towards the south-west, with a few faith- 
 ful companions, in a well-provisioned bark, he came, 
 after some rough and dangerous navigation, to calm 
 
ST. BRENDAN VISITS AMERICA. 119 
 
 seas, where, without aid of oar or sail, he was borne 
 along for many weeks. It is probable that he had 
 entered the great Gulf Stream, which brought his 
 vessel ashore somewhere on the Virginian coasts. 
 He landed with his companions, and penetrated 
 into the interior, until he came to a large river 
 flowing from east to west, supposed to be that now 
 known as the Ohio. Thus, you will see that Ire- 
 land looked even in early ages towards America, 
 and that it was probably visited by Irishmen long 
 before its discovery by Columbus. 
 
 After many adventures, St, Brendan returned 
 safely to his native land, where he died. 
 
 St. Columbanus was born about the year 539. 
 The care of his education was confided to the 
 (venerable Senile, who was eminent for his sanctity 
 and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, It was pro- 
 bably through his influence that the young man 
 resolved to devote himself to the monastic life. 
 For this purpose he placed himself under the direc- 
 tion of St. Comgall, who then governed the great 
 Monastery of Bangor (Banchorr). 
 
 It was not until he entered his fiftieth year that 
 he decided on quitting his native land, so that there 
 can be no reason to doubt that his hisrh intellectual 
 attainments were acquired and perfected in Ireland. 
 
 With the blessing of his superior, and the com- 
 panionship jf twelve faithful monks, he set forth 
 on his arduous mission ; and arduous truly it proved 
 to be. 
 
120 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 In the year 1111a synod was convened at Fidh 
 Aengussa, or Aengus Grove, near the Hill of Uis- 
 neach, in Westmeath. It was attended by fifty 
 bishops, 300 priests, and 3,000 religious. Murtough 
 O'Brien was also permitted to be present, and some 
 of the nobles of his province. The object of the 
 synod was to institute rules of life and manners for 
 the clergy and people. St. Celsus, the Archbishop 
 of Armagh, and Maelmuire or Marianus O'Dunain 
 Archbishop of Cashel, were present. Attention 
 had already been directed to certain abuses in ec- 
 clesiastical discipline. Such abuses must always 
 arise from time to time in the Church, through the 
 frailty of her members. 
 
 St. Celsus appointed St. Malachy his successor in 
 the Archiepiscopal See of Armagh. Malachy had 
 been educated by the Abbot Imar O'Hagan, who 
 presided over the great schools of that city ; and 
 the account given of his early training, sufficiently 
 manifests the ability of his gifted instructor, and 
 the high state of intellectual culture which existed 
 in Ireland. While still young, St. Malachy under- 
 took the restoration of the famous Abbey of 
 Bangor. Here he erected a small oratory of wood, 
 and joined himself to a few devoted men ardent 
 for the perfection of a religious life. He was soon 
 after elected Bishop of Connor. With the assist- 
 ance of some of his faithful monks he restored 
 what war and rapine had destroyed ; and was pro- 
 ceeding peacefully and successfully in his noble 
 

ST. MALACHY AND ST. BERNARD. 123 
 
 work, when he was driven from his diocese by a 
 hostile prince. He now fled to Cormac Mac Carthy, 
 King of Desmond, but he was not permitted to 
 remain here long. The See of Armagh was vacated 
 by the death of St. Celsus, and Malachy was 
 obliged to commence another arduous mission. It 
 is said that it almost required threats of excom- 
 munication to induce him to undertake the charge. 
 Bishop Gilbert of Limerick, the Apostolic-Delegate, 
 and Bishop Malchus of Lismore, with other bishops, 
 and several chieftains, visited him in the monastery 
 which he had erected at Ibrach, and at last obtained 
 compliance by promising him permission to retire 
 when he had restored order in his new diocese. 
 
 St. Malachy was now appointed Bishop of Down, 
 to which his old see of Connor was united. He 
 had a long desire to visit Eome — a devotional 
 pilgrimage to the men of Erinn from the earliest 
 period. He was specially anxious to obtain a 
 formal recognition of the archiepiscopal sees in 
 Ireland, by the granting of palliums. On his way 
 to the Holy City he visited St. Bernard at Clair- 
 vaux, and thus commenced and cemented the 
 friendship which forms so interesting a feature in 
 the lives of the French and Irish saints. It is 
 probable that his account of the state of the Irish 
 Church took a tinge of gloom from the heavy 
 trials he had endured in his efforts to remove its 
 temporary abuses. St. Bernard's ardent and im- 
 petuous character, even his very affectionateness, 
 
124 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAITD. 
 
 would lead him also to look darkly on the picture : 
 hence the somewhat over-coloured accounts he has 
 given of its state at that eventful period. St. 
 Malachy returned to Ireland after an interview 
 with the reigning Pontiff, Pope Innocent II. His 
 Holiness had received him with open arms, and ap- 
 pointed him Apostolical Legate ; but he declined to 
 give the palliums, until they were formally de- 
 manded by the Irish prelates. 
 
 In virtue of his legatine power, the saint as- 
 sembled local synods in several places. He rebuilt 
 and restored many churches ; and in 1142 he built 
 the famous Cistercian Abbey of Mellifont, near 
 Drogheda. This monastery was liberally endowed 
 by 0' Carroll, King of Oriel, and was peopled by 
 Irish monks, whom St. Malachy had sent to Clair- 
 vaux, to be trained in the Benedictine rule and 
 observances. But his great act was the convoca- 
 tion of the Synod of Inis Padraig. It was held in 
 the year 1148. St. Malachy presided as Legate of 
 the Holy See ; fifteen bishops, two hundred priests, 
 and some religious were present at the delibera- 
 tions, which lasted for four days. The members of 
 the Synod were unwilling that Malachy should 
 leave Ireland again ; but Eugene III., who had been 
 a Cistercian monk, was visiting Clairvaux, and it 
 was hoped he might grant the favour there. The 
 Pope had left the abbey when the saint arrived, 
 who, in a few days after, was seized with mortal 
 sickness, and died on the 2nd November, 1148. 
 
ST. LAURENCE O'TOOLE. 125 
 
 His remains were interred at Clairvaux. His feast 
 was changed from the 2nd of November, All Souls, 
 to the 3rd, by " the seniors," that he might be the 
 more easily revered and honoured. 
 
 In 1162 St. Laurence O'Toole was chosen to 
 succeed Greine, or Gregory, the Danish Archbishop 
 of Dublin. He belonged to one of the most noble 
 ancient families of Leinster. His father was chief- 
 tain of the district of Hy-Muirahy, a portion of the 
 present county Kildare. St. f Laurence had chosen 
 the ecclesiastical state early in life ; at the age of 
 twenty-five he was chosen Abbot of St. Kevin's 
 Monastery, at Glendalough, The Danish Bishop 
 of Dublin had been consecrated by the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, but the saint received the episcopal 
 office from the successor of St. Patrick. A synod 
 was held at Clane the year of his consecration ; it 
 was attended by twenty-six prelates and many 
 other ecclesiastics. The college of Armagh was 
 then virtually raised to the rank of a University, as 
 it was decreed that no one, who had not been an 
 alumnus of Armagh, should be appointed lector or 
 professor of theology in any of the diocesan schools 
 in Ireland. Indeed, the clergy at this period were 
 most active in promoting the interests of religion, 
 and most successful in their efforts, little antici- 
 pating the storm which was then impending over 
 their country. 
 
123 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Englisli Invasion under Henry II. — Treachery of 
 Dermod— The Lauding of Strongbow— Marriage of Eva 
 and Strongbow — Siege of Dublin — Arrival of Henry II. — 
 Treaty between Brien and Henry — Henry's rapacity — 
 Insolence of his Courtiers. 
 
 ^^I^E have now arrived at one of the most im- 
 wWm^ portant periods of Irish History; to under- 
 ^*S^ stand it fully we must devote a few pages 
 to the History of England. Although England and 
 Ireland are divided by a narrow channel, which can 
 now be crossed in a few hours, it must be remem- 
 bered that there were no steam-packets, or swiftly 
 sailing vessels at the time of which we write. It 
 sometimes took several weeks for a vessel to sail 
 from England to Ireland, and at all times the voyage 
 was tedious and more or less dangerous. After the 
 establishment of Christianity in Ireland, many 
 English nobles sent their sons to be educated in 
 that country; but as the English were fully oc- 
 cupied with their own domestic wars, they had 
 neither the ability nor inclination to attempt any 
 conquest of Ireland. The Eomans conquered and 
 civilized the English, but when their power declined, 
 the English were at war amongst themselves, and 
 had neither time nor ability to make war on others. 
 Until the year 1066 the Saxons had been the 
 
THE ENGLISH INVASION UNDER HENRY II. 127 
 
 masters of England, but in that year they were 
 conquered by the famous William of Normandy, 
 a Norman prince, as his second title implies. He 
 conquered the Saxon Harold at the battle of Has- 
 tings, and is known in history as William the Con- 
 queror. The Norman kings continued to govern 
 England for many centuries. The Normans were 
 a brave and restless people, always eager for new 
 conquests, and dividing their time between fighting 
 and feasting. They were a more cultivated race 
 than the Saxons, although they had certainly less 
 solidity of character, and were more skilled in 
 accomplishments than in solid learning. Irishmen 
 often accuse the Saxons as being the cause of all 
 their miseries, but this is a mistake. It was the 
 Normans, not the Saxons, who oppressed and mis- 
 governed Ireland for so many centuries. The term 
 Saxon however was applied to all strangers in 
 Ireland at the period of which we write, and hence 
 the term Saxon became associated with the English 
 race. The Norman kings had quite enough to do 
 to hold their power in England, and to keep their 
 Norman vassals in subjection, for over a hundred 
 j^ears after their conquest of England. 
 
 WilUam Rufus, the third son of William the 
 Conquerer, who commenced his reign in 1187, is 
 reported to have said, as he stood on the rocks 
 near St. David's, that he would make a bridge with 
 his ships from that spot to Ireland — a haughty 
 boast, not quite so easily accomplished. His speech 
 
128 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 was repeated to the King of Leinster who inquired 
 " if the Idng, in his great threatening, had added, 
 * if it so please God ' ? " The reporter replied in the 
 negative. " Then," said he, " seeing this king put 
 teth his trust only in man, and not in God, I fear 
 not his coming." And so the matter ended. But 
 this incident shows that the Enghsh kings were 
 only biding their time, and waiting a favourable 
 opportunity to attempt the conquest of Ireland. 
 
 After the death of William Eufus, the English 
 were occupied mth domestic wars. In the yeai 
 1154 Henry II. was crowned King of England, and 
 as that nation was then at peace he naturally turned 
 his thoughts to the long wished for invasion of 
 Ireland. It must be remembered, however, that 
 he might never have attempted this invasion but 
 for the base treachery of an Irishman. The traitor's 
 name was Dermod. He was King of Leinster, but 
 the other kings of Ireland drove him out of the 
 country for his infamous conduct in carrying off the 
 wife of O'Eourke, lord of Breffny. The traitor at 
 once set out for Aquitaine, where Henry then was, 
 and declared himself a vassal of that prince. Der- 
 mod's sole object was to secure his dominions in 
 Ireland; the English king was not slow to perceive 
 the advantage he might gain by the traitor's con- 
 duct, and who can blame him 1 He at once wrote 
 a letter declaring that he had taken Dermod under 
 his protection, and authorising all his subjects 
 English, Norman, Welsh, and Scotch, to assist in 
 
THE ENGLISH INVASION. 129 
 
 reinstating him in the kingdom from which he had 
 been so deservedly expelled. 
 
 For some time Dermod failed in his efforts to 
 obtain assistance. After some fruitless negociations 
 with the needy and lawless adventurers who 
 thronged the port of Bristol, he applied to the Earl 
 of Pembroke, Richard de Clare. This nobleman 
 had obtained the name of Strongbow, by which he 
 is more generally known, from his skill in archery. 
 Two other young men of rank joined the party; 
 they were sons of the beautiful and infamous Nesta, 
 once the mistress of Henry I., but now the wife of 
 Gerald, Governor of Pembroke and Lord of Carew. 
 The knights were Maurice FitzGerald and Robert 
 FitzStephen. Dermod had promised them the city 
 of Wexford and two cantreds of land as their 
 reward. Strongbow was to succeed him on the 
 throne of Leinster, and to receive the hand of his 
 j^oung and beautiful daughter, Eva, in marriage. 
 
 There is considerable uncertainty as to the rea* 
 date and the precise circumstances of Dermod's 
 arrival in Ireland. According to one account, he 
 returned at the close of the year 1168, and con- 
 cealed himself during the winter in a monastery of 
 Augustinian Canons at Perns, which he had founded. 
 The two principal authorities are Giraldus Cam- 
 brensis and Maurice Regan ; the latter was Dermod 
 Mac Murrough's secretary. According to his 
 account, Robert FitzStephen landed at Bannow, 
 n^ar Waterford, in May, 1169, with an army of 
 
130 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 three hundred archers, thirty knights, and sixty 
 men-at-arms. A second detachment arrived the 
 next day, headed by Maurice de Prendergast, a 
 Welsh gentleman, with ten knights and sixty 
 archers. Dermod at once assembled his men, and 
 joined his allies. He could only muster five hun- 
 dred followers ; but with their united forces, such 
 as they were, the outlawed king and the needy 
 adventurers laid siege to the city of Wexford. The 
 brave inhabitants of this mercantile town at once 
 set forth to meet them ; but fearing the result if 
 attacked in open field by well-discplined troops, 
 they fired the suburbs, and entrenched themselves 
 in the town. Next morning the assaulting party 
 prepared for a renewal of hostilities, but the clergy 
 of Wexford advised an eff^ort for peace : terms of 
 capitulation were negotiated, and Dermod was 
 obliged to pardon, when he would probably have 
 preferred to massacre. It is said that FitzStephen 
 burned his little fleet, to show his followers that 
 they must conquer or die. Two cantreds of land, 
 comprising the present baronies of Forth and 
 Bargy, were bestowed on him : and thus was esta- 
 blished the first English colony in Ireland. The 
 Irish princes and chieftains appear to have regarded 
 the whole afi'air Avith silent contempt. The Annals 
 say they "setnothing by the Flemings;" practically, 
 they set nothing by any of the invaders. Could 
 they have foreseen, even for one moment, the conse- 
 quences of their indifierence, we cannot doubt but 
 
WHY THE ENGLISH INVASION SUCCEEDED. 131 
 
 that they would have acted in a very different 
 manner. Eoderic, the reigning monarch, was not 
 the man either to foresee danger, or to meet it when 
 foreseen ; though we might pardon even a more 
 sharp-sighted and vigilant warrior, for overlooking 
 the possible consequence of the invasion of a few 
 mercenary troops, whose only object appeared to 
 be the reinstatement of a petty king. Probably, 
 the troops and their captains were equally free from 
 suspecting what would be the real result of their 
 proceedings. 
 
 The fair of Telltown was celebrated about this 
 time ; and from the accounts given by the Annals 
 of the concourse of people, and the number of 
 horsemen who attended it, there can be little doubt 
 that Ireland was seldom in a better position to 
 resist foreign invasion. But unity of purpose and a 
 competent leader were wanted then, as they have 
 been wanted but too often since. Finding so little 
 opposition to his plans, Mac Murrough determined 
 to act on the offensive. He was now at the head 
 of 3,000 men. With this force he marched into 
 the adjoining territory of Ossory, and made war on 
 its chief, Donough FitzPatrick ; and after a brave 
 but unsuccessful resistence, it submitted to his rule. 
 The Irish monarch was at length aroused to some 
 degree of apprehension. He summoned a hosting 
 of the men of Ireland at Tara ; aiid with the army 
 thus collected, assisted by the Lords of Meath, 
 Oriel, Ulidia, Breffni, and some northern chieftains, 
 
132 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 he at once proceeded to Dublin. Dermod was 
 alarmed, and retired to Ferns. Eoderic pursued 
 him thither. But dissension had already broken 
 out in the Irish camp : the Ulster chiefs returned 
 home ; the contingent was weakened ; and, either 
 through fear, or from the natural indolence of his 
 pacific disposition, he agreed to acknowledge Mac 
 Murrough's authority. Mac Murrough gave his 
 son Cormac as hostage for the fulfilment of the 
 treaty. A private agreement was entered into 
 between the two kings, in which Dermod pledged 
 himself to dismiss his foreign allies as soon as 
 possible, and to bring no more strangers into the 
 country. It is more than probable that he had 
 not the remotest idea of fulfilling his promise ; it 
 is at least certain that he broke it the first moment 
 it was his interest to do so. Dermod's object 
 was simply to gain time, and in this he suc- 
 ceeded. 
 
 Maurice FitzGerald arrived at Wexford a few 
 days after, and the recreant king at once proceeded 
 to meet him ; and with this addition to his army, 
 marched to attack Dublin. The Dano-Celts, who 
 inhabited this city, had been so cruelly treated by 
 him, that they dreaded a repetition of his former 
 tyrannies. They had elected a governor lor them- 
 selves ; but resistance was useless. After a brief 
 struggle, they were obliged to sue for peace — a 
 favour which probably would not have been granted 
 without further massacres and burnings, had not 
 
THE TRAITOR DERMOD. 133 
 
 Dermod wished to bring his arms to bear in another 
 quarter. 
 
 Donnell O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, who had 
 married a daughter of Dermod' s, had just rebelled 
 against Eoderic, and the former was but too 
 willing to assist him in his attempt. Thus en- 
 couraged where he should have been treated with 
 contempt, and hunted down with ignominy, his 
 ambition became boundless. He played out the 
 favourite game of traitors ; and no doubt hoped, 
 when he had consolidated his own power, that he 
 could easily expel his foreign allies. Strongbow 
 had not yet arrived, though the winds had been 
 long enough " at east and easterly." His appear- 
 ance was still delayed. The fact was, that the Earl 
 was in a critical position. Henry and his barons 
 were never on the most amiable terms ; and there 
 were some very special reasons why Strongbow 
 should prove no exception to the rule. 
 
 The first member of the Earl's family who had 
 settled in England was Richard, son of the Norman 
 Earl Erien, a direct descendant of Eobert " the 
 Devil," Duke of Normand}^, father of William the 
 Conqueror. In return for ser^dces at the battle 
 of Hastings, and general assistance in conquering 
 the Saxon, this family obtained a large grant of 
 land in England, and took the title of Earl of 
 Clare from one of their ninety-five lordships in 
 Suff'olk. The Strongbow family appears to have 
 inherited a passion for making raids on neigh- 
 
134 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 bouring lands, from their Viking ancestors. 
 Strongbow's father had obtained his title of Earl 
 Pembroke, and his property in the present county 
 of that name, from his successful marauding ex- 
 pedition in Wales, in 1138. But as he revolted 
 against Stephen, his lands were seized by that 
 king ; and after his death in 1148, his son succeeded 
 to his very numerous titles, without any property 
 commensurate thereto. Richard was not in favour 
 with his royal master, who probably was jealous 
 of the Earl, despite his poverty ; but as Strongbow 
 did not wish to lose the little he had in England, 
 or the chance of obtaining more in Ireland, he 
 proceeded at once to the court, then held in 
 Normandy, and asked permission for his new 
 enterprise. Henry's reply was so carefully worded, 
 he could declare afterwards that he either had or 
 had not given the .permission, whichever version 
 of the interview might eventually prove most 
 convenient to the royal interests. Strongbow 
 took the interpretation which suited his own 
 views, and proceeded to the scene of action with 
 as little delay as possible. He arrived in Ireland, 
 according to the most generally received account, 
 on the vigil of St. Bartholomew, A.D. 1170, and 
 landed at Dundonnell, near Waterford. His uncle, 
 Hervey de Montmarisco, had already arrived, and 
 established himself in a temporary fort, where he 
 had been attacked by the brave citizens of Wexford. 
 But the besieged maintained their position, killed 
 
STRONGBOW PREPARES TO INVADE IRELAND. 135 
 
 five hundred men, and made prisoners of seventy 
 of the principal citizens of Waterford. Large sums 
 of money were offered for their ransom, but in 
 vain. They were brutally murdered by the English 
 soldiers, who first broke their limbs, and then 
 hurled them from a precipice into the sea. It 
 was the first instalment of the utterly futile theory, 
 so often put in practice since that day, of " striking 
 terror into the Irish;" and the experiment was 
 quite as unsuccessful as all such experiments have 
 ever been. 
 
 While these cruelties were enacting, Strongbow 
 had been collecting forces in South Wales ; but, as 
 he was on the very eve of departure, he received 
 a peremptory order from Henry, forbidding him to 
 leave the kingdom. After a brief hesitation he 
 determined to bid defiance to the royal mandate, 
 and set sail for Ireland. The day after his arrival 
 he laid siege to AVaterford. The citizens behaved 
 like heroes, and twice repulsed their assailants ; 
 but their bravery could not save them in the face 
 of overpowering numbers. A breach was made in 
 the wall ; the besiegers poured in ; and a merciless 
 massacre followed. Dermod arrived while the 
 conflict was at its height, and for once he has the 
 credit of interfering on the side of mercy. Eegi- 
 nald, a Danish lord, and O'Phelan, Prince of 
 Deisi, were about to be slain by their captors, but 
 at his request they were spared, and the general 
 carnage was suspended. For the sake of common 
 
136 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 humanity one could wish to think that this was 
 an act of mercy. But Mac Murrough had his 
 daughter Eva with him ; he wished to have her 
 nuptials with Strongbow celebrated at once ; and 
 he could scarcely accomplish his purpose while 
 men were slaying their fellows in a cold-blooded 
 massacre. The following day tlie nuptials were 
 performed. The English Earl, a widower, and long 
 past the prime of manhood, was wedded to the fair 
 young Celtic maiden ; and the marriage procession 
 passed lightly over the bleeding bodies of the dying 
 and the dead. Thus commenced the union between 
 Great Britain and Ireland : must those nuptials 
 be for ever celebrated in tears and blood ! 
 
 Immediately after the ceremony, the army set 
 out for Dublin. Roderic had collected a large force 
 near Clondalldn,and Hosculf, the Danish governor of 
 the city, encouragedby their presence, had once more 
 revolted against Dermod. The English army having 
 learned that the woods and defiles between AVex- 
 ford and Dublin were well guarded, had made 
 forced marches along the mountains, and succeeded 
 in reaching the capital long before they were ex- 
 pected. Their decision and mihtary skill alarmed 
 the inhabitants — they might also have heard of 
 the massacres at Wexford ; be this as it may, they 
 determined to negotiate for peace, and commis- 
 sioned their illustrious Archbishop, St. Laurence 
 O'Toole, to make terms with Dermod. While the 
 discussion was pending, two of the English leaders, 
 
EERMOD BIARCHES TO MEATH. 137 
 
 Eaymund U Gros and Miles de Cogan, obtained 
 an entrance into the city, and commenced a mer- 
 ciless butchery of the inhabitants. When the 
 saint returned he heard cries of misery and groans 
 of agony in all quarters, and it was not without 
 difficulty that he succeeded in appeasing the fury 
 of the soldiers, and the rage of the people who 
 had been so basely treated. 
 
 The Four Masters accuse the people of Dublin 
 of having attempted to purchase their own safety 
 at the expense of the national interests, and say 
 that " a miracle was wrought against them," as a 
 judgment for their selfishness. Hosculf, the 
 Danish governor, fled to the Orkneys, with some 
 of the principal citizens, and Roderic withdrew 
 his forces to Meath, to support O'Rourke, on whom 
 he had bestowed a portion of that territory. Miles 
 de Cogan was invested with the government of 
 Dublin, and Dermod marched to Meath, to attack 
 Eoderic and O'Rourke, against whom he had an 
 old grudge of the worst and bitterest kind. He 
 had injured him by carrying off his wife, Der- 
 vorgil, and men generally hate most bitterly those 
 whom they have injured most cruelly. 
 
 Meanwhile MacCarthy of Desmond had attacked 
 and defeated the English garrison at Waterford, 
 but without any advantageous results. Roderic's 
 weakness now led him to perpetrate an act of 
 cruelty, although it could scarcely be called unjust 
 according to the ideas of the times. It will be 
 
138 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OY IRELAND. 
 
 remembered that lie had received hostages from 
 Dermod for the treaty of Ferns. That treaty had 
 been openly violated, and the King sent ambas- 
 sadors to him to demand its fulfilment, by the 
 withdrawal of the English troops, threatening, in 
 case of refusal, to put the hostages to death. Der- 
 mod laughed at the threat. Under any circum- 
 stances he was not a man who would hesitate to 
 sacrifice his own flesh and blood to his ambi- 
 tion. Eoderic was as good as his word; and 
 the three royal hostages were put to death at 
 Athlone. 
 
 In 1171 Dermod MacMurrough, the author of 
 so many miseries, and the object of so much just 
 reprobation, died at Ferns, on the 4th of May. 
 His miserable end was naturally considered a 
 judgment for his evil life. His obituary is thus 
 recorded : " Diarmaid Mac Murchadha, King of 
 Leinster, by whom a trembling soil was made ol 
 all Ireland, after having brought over the Saxons, 
 after having done extensive injuries to the Irish, 
 after plundering and burning many churches, as 
 Ceanannus, Cluain-Iraired, &c., died before the 
 end of a year [after this plundering], of an insuf- 
 ferable and unknown disease ; for he became putrid 
 while living, through the miracle of God, Colum- 
 cille, and Finnen, and the other saints of Ireland, 
 whose churches he had profaned and burned some 
 time before ; and he died at Fearnamore, without 
 [making] a will, without penance, without the 
 
THE traitor's WORK ACCOMPLISHED. 139 
 
 body of Christ, without miction, as his evil deeds 
 deserved." 
 
 But the death of the traitor could not undo the 
 traitor's work. Men's evil deeds live after them, 
 however they may repent them on their deathbeds. 
 Strongbow had himself at once proclaimed King of 
 Leinster — his marriage with Eva was the ground 
 of his claim ; but though such a mode of succession 
 might hold good in Normandy, it was perfectly 
 illegal in Ireland. The question, however, was not 
 one of right but of might, and it was settled as all 
 such questions invariably are. But Strongbow 
 had a master on the other side of the Channel who 
 had his own views of these complications. His 
 tenure, however, was somewhat precarious. His 
 barons, always turbulent, had now a new ground 
 for aggression, in the weakness to which he had 
 exposed himself by his virtual sanction of the 
 murder of St. Thomas of Canterbury, and he was 
 fain to content himself with a strong injunction 
 commanding all his English subjects then in Ire- 
 land to return immediately, and forbidding any 
 further reinforcements to be sent to that country. 
 Strongbow was alarmed, and at once despatched 
 Raymond U Gros with apologies and explanations, 
 oflPering the King all the lands he had acquired in 
 Ireland. Henry does not appear to have taken the 
 slightest notice of these communications, and the 
 Earl determined to risk his displeasure, and remain 
 in Ireland. 
 
140 THE PATPJOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 His prospects, however, were by no means pro- 
 mising. His Irish adherents forsook him on the 
 death of Dermod ; Dubhn was besieged by a Scan- 
 dinavian force, whioh Hosculf had collected in the 
 Orkneys, and which was conveyed in sixty vessels, 
 under the command of Johan le D4ve (the Furious). 
 Miles de Cogan repulsed this formidable attack 
 successfully, and captured the leaders. Hosculf 
 was put to death ; but he appears to have brought 
 his fate on himself by a proud and incautious boast. 
 
 At this period the thoughtful and disinterested 
 Archbishop of Dublin saw a crisis in the history of 
 his country on which much depended. He endea- 
 voured to unite the national chieftains, and rally 
 the national army. His words appeared to have 
 had some effect. Messengers were sent to ask as- 
 sistance from Godfred, King of the Isle of Man, 
 and other island warriors. Strongbow became 
 aware of his danger, and threw himself into Dublin ; 
 but he soon found himself landlocked by an arm}^, 
 and enclosed at sea by a fleet. Roderic O'Connor 
 commanded the national forces, supported by 
 Tiernan O'Rourke and Murrough 0' Carroll. St. 
 Laurence O'Toole remained in the camp, and strove 
 to animate the men by his exhortations and ex- 
 ample. The Irish army contented themselves mth 
 a blockade, and the besieged were soon reduced to 
 extremities from want of food. Strongbow offered 
 terms of capitulation through the Archbishop, pro- 
 posing to hold the kingdom of Leinster as Hoderic's 
 
STRONGBOW AT WEXTOHD. 141 
 
 vassal ; but the Irish monarch demanded the sur- 
 render of the towns of Dublin, Wexford, and 
 Waterford, and required the English invaders to 
 leave the country by a certain day. 
 
 While these negotiations were pending, Donnell 
 Cavanagh, son of the late King of Leinster, got into 
 the city in disguise, and informed Strongbow that 
 FitzStephen was closely besieged in Wexford. It 
 was then at once determined to force a j^assage 
 through the Irish army. Eaymond h Gros led the 
 van, Miles de Cogan followed; Strongbow, and 
 Maurice FitzGerald, who had proposed the sortie, 
 with the remainder of their force, brought up the 
 rear. The Irish army were totally unprepared for 
 this sudden move ; they fled in panic, and Eoderic, 
 who was bathing in the Liffey, escaped with diffi- 
 culty. 
 
 Strongbow again committed the government of 
 Dublin to Miles de Cogan, and set out for Wex- 
 ford. On his "Vfay thither he was opposed by 
 O'Regan, Prince of Idrone; an action ensued, 
 which might have terminated fatally for the army, 
 had not [the Irish prince received his death- wound 
 from an English archer. His troops took to flight, 
 and Strongbow proceeded on his journey. But he 
 arrived too late. Messengers met him on the way, 
 to inform him that the fort of Carrig had fallen 
 into the hands of the Irish, who are said to have 
 practised an unjustifiable stratagem to obtain pos- 
 session of the place. As usual there are two ver- 
 
142 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 sions of the story. One of these versions, which 
 appears not improbable, is that the besieged had 
 heard a false report of the affair in Dublin ; and 
 believing Strongbow and the English army to havQ 
 been overthrown, they surrendered on the promise 
 of being sent in safety to Dubhn. On their sur- 
 render, the conditions were violated, FitzStephen 
 was imprisoned, and some of his followers killed. 
 The charge against the besiegers is that they in- 
 vented the report as a stratagem to obtain their 
 ends, and that the falsehood was confirmed in a 
 solemn manner by the bishops of Wexford and 
 Kildare. 
 
 As soon as the Wexford men had heard of 
 Strongbow's approach, they set fire to the town, 
 and fled to Beg-Erin, a stockaded island, at the 
 same time sending him a message, that, if he 
 attempted to approach, they would kill all their 
 prisoners. The Earl withdrew to Waterford in con- 
 sequence of this threat, and here he learned that 
 his presence was indispensable in England ; he 
 therefore set off at once to plead his own cause 
 with his royal master. A third attack had been 
 made on Dubhn in the meantime by the Lord of 
 Breffni, but it was repulsed by Miles. With this 
 exception, the Irish made no attempt against the 
 common enemy, and domestic wars were as fre- 
 quent as usual. 
 
 Henry had returned to England, and was now 
 in Newenham, in Gloucestershire, making active 
 
HENRY THE SECOND IN IRELAND. 143 
 
 preparations for his visit to Ireland. The odium 
 into which he had fallen, after his complicity in the 
 murder of St. Thomas of Canterbury, had rendered 
 his position perilous in the extreme ; and probably 
 his Irish expedition would never have been under- 
 taken, had he not required some such object to 
 turn his thoughts and the thoughts of his subjects 
 from the consequences of his crime. He received 
 Strongbow coldly, and at first refused him an inter- 
 view. After a proper delay, he graciously accepted 
 the Earl's offer of " all the lands he had won in 
 Ireland" — a very questionable gift, considering 
 that there was not an inch of ground there which 
 he could securely call his own. Henry, however, 
 was pleased to restore his English estates ; but, 
 with consummate hypocrisy and villany, he seized 
 the castles of the Welsh lords, whom he hated for 
 their vigorous and patriotic opposition, and pun- 
 ished them for allowing the expedition, which he 
 had just sanctioned, to sail from their coasts un- 
 molested. 
 
 Henry landed in Ireland on the 18th of October, 
 1171, at Crook, in the county of Waterford. He 
 was accompanied by Strongbow, William Fitz- 
 Aldelm, Humphrey de Bohun, Hugh de Lacy, 
 Eobert Fitz-Barnard, and many other lords. His 
 whole force, which, according to the most authentic 
 English accounts, was distributed in four hundred 
 ships, consisted of 500 knights, and 4,000 men-at- 
 arms. It would appear the Irish had not the least 
 
144 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 idea that he intended to claim the kingdom as his 
 own, and rather looked upon him as a powerful 
 potentate, who had come to assist the native admin- 
 istration of justice. Even had they suspected his 
 real object, no opposition might have been made to 
 it. The nation had suffered much from domestic 
 dissension ; it had yet to learn that foreign oppres- 
 sion was an incomparably greater evil. 
 
 MacCarthy of Desmond was the first Irish prince 
 who paid homage to the EngHsh king. At Cashel, 
 Donnell O'Brien, King of Thomond, swore fealty, 
 and surrendered the city of Limerick. Other 
 princes followed their example. The " pomp and 
 circumstance" of the royal court, attracted the ad- 
 miration of a people naturally defferential to 
 authority ; the condescension and apparent disinte- 
 restedness of the monarch, won the hearts of an 
 impulsive and affectionate race. They had been 
 accustomed to an Ard-Eigh, a chief monarch, who, 
 in name at least, ruled all the lesser potentates : 
 why should not Henry be such to them 1 and why 
 should they suppose that he would exercise a 
 tyranny as yet unknown in the island 1 
 
 The northern princes still held aloof ; but Eoderic 
 had received Henry's ambassadors personally, and 
 paid the usual deference which one king owed to 
 another who was considered more powerful. Henry 
 determined to spend his Christmas in Dublin, and 
 resolved on a special display of royal state. His 
 grey bloodshot eyes and tremulous voice, were 
 
CHARACTER OF HENRY II. 145 
 
 neither knightly nor kingly qualifications; his savage 
 and ungovernable temper made him appear at 
 times rather like a demon than a man. He was 
 charged with having violated the most solemn oaths 
 when it suited his convenience. A cardinal had 
 pronounced him an audacious liar. Count Thiebault 
 of Champagne had warned an archbishop not to 
 rely on any of his promises, however sacredly 
 made. He and his sons spent their time quarrel- 
 ling with their subjects. His eldest son, Richard, 
 thus graphically sketched the family characteristics : 
 — " The custom in our family is that the son shall 
 hate the father ; our destiny is to detest each other ; 
 from the devil we came, to the devil we shall go." 
 And the head of this family had now come to re- 
 form the Irish, and to improve their condition — 
 social, secular, and ecclesiastical ! 
 
 When the Christmas festivities had passed, 
 Henry turned his attention to business, if, indeed, 
 the same festivities had not also been a part of his 
 diplomatic plans, for he was not deficient in king- 
 craft. In a synod at Cashel he attempted to settle 
 ecclesiastical afi'airs. In a Curia Begis, held at Lis- 
 more, he imagined he had arranged temporal affairs. 
 These are subjects which demand our best conside- 
 ration. It is an historical fact, that the Popes 
 claimed and exercised great temporal power in the 
 Middle Ages ; it is admitted also that they used 
 this power in the main for the general good ; and 
 that, as monks and friars were the preservers of 
 
146 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 literature, so Popes and bishops were the protectors 
 of the rights of nations, as far as was possible in 
 such turbulent times. It does not belong to our 
 present subject to theorize on the origin or the 
 grounds of this power ; it is sufficient to say that 
 it had been exercised repeatedly both before and 
 after Adrian granted the famous Bull, by which he 
 conferred the kingdom of Ireland on Henry II. 
 The Merovingian dynasty was changed on the de- 
 cision of Pope Zachary. Pope Adrian threatened 
 Frederick I., that if he did not renounce all pre- 
 tensions to ecclesiastical property in Lombardy, he 
 should forfeit the crown " received from himself, 
 and through his unction." When Pope Innocent 
 III, pronounced sentence of deposition against 
 Lackland in 1211, and conferred the kingdom of 
 England on Philip Augustus, the latter instantly 
 prepared to assert his claim, though he had no 
 manner of title, except the Papal grant. In fact, 
 at the very moment when Henry was claiming the 
 Irish crown in right of Adrian's Bull, given some 
 j^ears previously, he was in no small trepidation at 
 the possible prospect of losing his Enghsh domi- 
 nions, as an excommunication and an interdict were 
 even then hanging over his head. 
 
 It has been already shown that the possession of 
 Ireland was coveted at an early period by the 
 Norman rulers of Great Britain. When Henry II. 
 ascended the throne in 1154, he probably intended 
 to take the matter in hands at once. An English- 
 
POPE ADRIAN'S BULL. 147 
 
 man, Adrian lY., filled the Papal chair. The 
 Enghsh monarch would naturally find him favour- 
 able to his own country. John of Salisbury, then 
 chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, was 
 commissioned to request the favour. No doubt he 
 represented his master as very zealous for the in- 
 terests of religion, and made it appear that his sole 
 motive was the good, temporal and spiritual, of the 
 barbarous Irish ; at least this is plainly implied in 
 Adrian's bull. The Pope could have no motive 
 except that which he expressed in the document 
 itself. He had been led to believe that the state 
 of Ireland was deplorable ; he naturally hoped that 
 a wise and good government would restore what 
 was amiss. There is no doubt that there was much 
 which required amendment, and no one was more 
 conscious of this, or strove more earnestly to effect 
 it, than the saintly prelate who governed the archi- 
 episcopal see of Dublin. The Irish clergy had 
 already made the most zealous efforts to remedy 
 whatever needed correction ; but it was an age of 
 lawless "vdolence. Eeform was quite as much 
 wanted both in England and in the Italian States ; 
 but Ireland had the additional disadvantage of 
 having undergone three centuries of ruthless plun- 
 der and desecration of her churches and shrines, 
 and the result told fearfully on that land which 
 had once been the home of saints. 
 
 Dublin was now made over to the inhabitants of 
 Bristol. Hugh de Lacy, its governor, has been 
 
14:8 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 generally considered in point of fact the first Vice- 
 roy for Ireland. He was installed in the Norman 
 fashion, and the sword and cap of maintenance 
 were made the insignia of the dignity. Waterford 
 and Wexford were also bestowed on royal favour- 
 ites, or on such knights as were supposed most 
 likely to hold them for the crown. Castles were 
 erected throughout the country, which was por- 
 tioned out among Henry's needy followers ; and, 
 for the first time in Ireland, a man was called a 
 rebel if he presumed to consider his house or lands 
 as his own property. 
 
 In 1179 several Irish bishops were summoned 
 by Alexander III. to attend the third General 
 Council of Lateran. These prelates were St. Lau- 
 rence of Dublin, O'Duffy of Tuam, O'Brien of 
 Killaloe, Felix of Lismore, Augustine of Waterford, 
 and Brictius of Limerick. Usher says several other 
 bishops were summoned ; it is probable they Avere 
 unable to leave the country, and hence that their 
 names have not been given. The real state of the 
 Irish Church was then made known to the Holy 
 See j no living man could have described it more 
 accurately and truthfully than the sainted prelate 
 who had sacrificed himself for so many years for its 
 good. Even as the bishops passed through Eng- 
 land, the royal jealousy sought to fetter them with 
 new restrictions; and they were obliged to take 
 an oath that they would not sanction any infringe- 
 ments on Henry's prerogatives. St. Malachy was 
 
DEATH OF ST. LAURENCE O'TOOLE. 149 
 
 now appointed Legate by the Pope, with jurisdic- 
 tion over the five suffragans, and the possessions 
 attached to his see were confirmed to him. As the 
 bull was directed to Ireland, it would appear that 
 he returned there ; but his stay was brief, and the 
 interval was occupied in endeavouring to repress 
 the vices of the Anglo-Norman and Welsh clergy, 
 many of whom were doing serious injury to the 
 Irish Church by their immoral and dissolute lives. 
 Henry now became jealous of the Archbishop, 
 and perhaps was not overpleased- at his efiorts to 
 reform these ecclesiastics. Eoderic O'Connor had 
 asked St. Laurence to undertake a mission on his 
 behalf to the EngHsh court ; but the King refused 
 to listen to him, and forbid him to return to Ire- 
 land. After a few weeks' residence at the Monas- 
 tery of Abingdon, in Berkshire, the saint set out for 
 France. He fell ill on his journey, in a religious 
 house at Eu, where his remains are still preserved. 
 When on his deathbed, the monks asked him to 
 make his will; but he exclaimed, "God knows 
 that out of all my revenues I have not a single coin 
 to bequeath." With the humility of true sanctity, 
 he was heard frequently calling on God for mercy, 
 and using the words of the Psalmist, so familiar to 
 ecclesiastics, from their constant perusal of the Holy 
 Scriptures. ' As he was near his end, he was heard 
 exclaiming, in his own beautiful mother-tongue : 
 <' Foolish people, what will become of you 1 "Wlio 
 will relieve you ] Who will heal you f And well 
 
150 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 might his paternal heart ache for those who were 
 soon to be left doubly orphans, and for the beloved 
 nation whose sorrows he had so often striven to 
 alleviate. 
 
 St. Laurence went to his eternal reward on the 
 14th of November, 1180. His obsequies were 
 celebrated with great pomp and solemnity, and 
 attended by the Scotch Legate, Alexis, an immense 
 concourse of clergy, and many knights and nobles. 
 His remains were exposed for some days in the 
 church of Notre Dame, at Eu. 
 
 Prince John, now preparing for his visit to Ire- 
 land, and his singular and unfelicitous attempt at 
 royalty; it would appear that he wished to decHne 
 both the honour and the expedition; for, as he 
 was on the eve of his departure, Eraclius, Patriarch 
 of Jerusalem, arrived in England, to enjoin the ful- 
 filment of the king's vow to undertake a crusade to 
 Palestine. As Henry had got out of his difficulties, 
 he declined to fulfil his solemn engagement, and 
 refused permission to his son John, who threw him- 
 self at his father's feet, and implored leave to be 
 his substitute. Eraclius then poured forth his 
 indignation upon Henry, with all the energetic 
 freedom of the age. He informed him that God 
 would punish his impieties — that he was worse 
 than any Saracen ; and hinted that he might have 
 inherited his wickedness from his grandmother, the 
 Countess of Anjou, who was reported to be a witch, 
 and of whom it was said that she had flown 
 
JOHN'S COURTIERS INSULT THE IRISH. 151 
 
 through the window during the most solemn part 
 of Mass, though four squires attempted to hold her. 
 
 John sailed from Milford Haven on the evening 
 of Easter Wednesday, 1185. He landed with his 
 troops at Waterford, at noon, on the following day. 
 His retinue is described as of unusual splendour, 
 and, no doubt, was specially appointed to impress 
 the "barbarous" Irish. Gerald Barry, the famous 
 Cambrensis, who had arrived in Ireland some little 
 time before, was appointed his tutor, in conjunction 
 with Eanulf de Glanville. The bitter prejudices 
 of the former against Ireland and the Irish is a 
 matter of history, as well as the indefatigable zeal 
 of the latter in pursuit of his own interests at the 
 expense of justice. 
 
 A retinue of profligate Normans completed the 
 court, whom an English authority describes as 
 " great quaffers, lourdens, proud, belly swaines, fed 
 with extortion and bribery." The Irish were looked 
 upon by these worthies as a savage race, only 
 created to be plundered and scoffed at. The Nor- 
 mans prided themselves on their style of dress, and, 
 no doubt, the Irish costume surprised them. 
 Common prudence, however, might have taught 
 them, when the Leinster chieftains came to pay 
 their respects to the young Prince, that they should 
 not add insult to injury ; for, not content with open 
 ridicule, they proceeded to pull the beards of the 
 chieftains, and to gibe their method of wearing 
 their hair. 
 
152 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 De Lacy has the credit of having done his utmost 
 to render the Prince's visit a failure. But his 
 efforts were not necessary. The insolence of the 
 courtiers, and the folly of the youth himself, were 
 quite sufficient to ruin more promising j)rospects. 
 In addition to other outrages, the Irish had seen 
 their few remaining estates bestowed on the new 
 comers ; and even the older Anglo-Norman and 
 Welsh settlers were expelled to make room for the 
 Prince's favourites — an instalment of the fatal 
 policy which made them eventually " more Irish 
 than the Irish." When the colony was on the verge 
 of ruin, the young Prince returned to England. He 
 threw the blame of his failure on Hugh de Lacy ; 
 but the Norman knight did not live long enough 
 after to suffer from the accusation. De Lacy was 
 killed while inspecting a castle which he had just 
 built on the site of St. Columkille's Monastery at 
 Burrow, in the Queen's County. He was accom- 
 panied by three Englishmen ; as he was in the act 
 of stooping, a youth of an ancient and noble family, 
 named O'Meyey, gave him his deathblow, severed 
 his head from his body, and then fled with such 
 swiftness as to elude pursuit. It is said that he was 
 instigated to perform this deed bySumagh O'Cahar- 
 nay (the Fox), with whom he now took refuge. 
 
DEATH OF HENRY II. 153 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The English Settlers quarrel with each other — Scandal- 
 ous Conduct of the Viceroys sent to govern Ireland by 
 the English Kings— The Burkes and Geraldines — The 
 Statute of Kilkenny, and its effects. 
 
 N 1189 Henry 11. died at Chinon, in Nor- 
 mandy. He expired launching anathemas 
 against his sons, and especially against 
 John, as he had just discovered that he had joined 
 those who conspired against him. In liis last 
 moments he was stripped of his garments and jewels, 
 and left naked and neglected. 
 
 Richard I., who succeeded to the throne, was too 
 much occupied about foreign affairs to attend to his 
 own kingdom. He was a brave soldier, and as such 
 merits our respect ; but he can scarcely be credited 
 as a wise king. Irish affairs were committed to the 
 care of John, who does not appear to have profited 
 by his former experience. He appointed Hugh 
 de Lacy Lord Justice, to the no small disgust of 
 John de Courcy ; but it was little matter to whom 
 the government of that unfortunate country was 
 confided. There were nice distinctions made about 
 titles ; for John, even when King of England, did 
 not attempt to write himself king of Ireland. But 
 there were no nice distinctions about property ; for 
 the rule seemed to be, that whoever could get it 
 
154: THE PAXraOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 should have it, and whoever could keep it should 
 possess it. 
 
 The great difference between the conduct of 
 ecclesiastics who have no family hut the Church, 
 and no interests but the interests of religion, is very 
 observable in all history. While English and Nor- 
 man soldiers were recklessly destroying church pro- 
 perty and domestic habitations in the country they 
 had invaded, we find, with few exceptions, that the 
 ecclesiastic, of whatever nation, is the friend and 
 father of the people, wherever his lot may be cast. 
 The English Archbishop resented the wrongs of the 
 Irish Church as personal injuries, and devoted him- 
 self to its advancement as a personal interest. We 
 are indebted to Archbishop Comyn for building St. 
 Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, as well as for his 
 steady efforts to promote the welfare of the nation. 
 After an appeal in person to King Richard and 
 Prince John, he was placed in confinement in Nor- 
 mandy, and was only released by the interference 
 of the Holy See ; but Innocent III. had probably 
 by this time discovered tliat the English monarchs 
 were not exactly the persons to reform the Irish 
 
 King John was soon obliged to interfere between 
 his English barons in Ireland, who appear to have 
 been quite as much occupied with feuds among 
 themselves as the native princes. In 1201 Philip 
 of Worcester and William de Braose laid waste the 
 greater part of Munster in their quarrels. John 
 Walter to the latter, for four thousand marks— 
 
AN INTERDICT IN ENGLAND. 157 
 
 had sold the lands of the former and of Theobald 
 Walter redeemed his property for five hundred 
 marks; Philip obtained his at the point of the 
 sword. De Braose had large property both in 
 Normandy and in England. He had his chancellor, 
 chancery, and seal, recognizances of all pleas, not 
 even excepting those of the crown, with judgment 
 of life and limb. His sons and daughters had mar- 
 ried into powerful famihes. His wife, Matilda* 
 was notable in domestic affairs, and a vigorous 
 oppressor of the Welsh. A bloody war was waged 
 about the same time between De Lacy, De Marisco, 
 and the Lord Justice. Cathal Crovderg and 
 O'Brien aided the latter in besieging Limerick, 
 while some of the English fortified themselves in 
 their castles, and plundered indiscriminately. 
 
 In 1205 the Earldom of Ulster was granted to 
 Hugh de Lacy. The grant is inscribed on the 
 charter roll of the seventh year of King John, and 
 is the earliest record, now extant, of the creation 
 of an Anglo-Norman dignity in Ireland. England 
 was placed under an interdict in 1207, in conse- 
 quence of the violence and wickedness of its sove- 
 reign. He procured the election of John de Grey 
 to the see of Canterbury, a royal favourite, and, if 
 only for this reason, unworthy of the office. Ano- 
 ther party who had a share in the election chose 
 Reginald, the sub-prior of the monks at Canterbury. 
 But when the choice was submitted to Pope Inno- 
 cent III., he rejected both candidates, and fixed 
 
158 TITE PATRIOT HISTOKY OF IRELAND. 
 
 on an English Cardinal, Stephen Langton, who was 
 at once elected, and received consecration from the 
 Pope himself. John was highly indignant, as 
 might be expected. He swore his favourite oath, 
 ^' by God's teeth," that he would cut off the noses 
 and pluck out the eyes of any priest who attempted 
 to carry the Pope's decrees against him into Eng- 
 land. But some of the bishops, true to their God 
 and the Church, promulgated the interdict, and 
 then fled to France to escape the royal vengeance. 
 It was well for them they did so ; for Geoffrey, 
 Archdeacon of Norwich, was seized, and enveloped, 
 by the royal order, in a sacerdotal vestment of 
 massive lead, and thus thrown into prison, where 
 he was starved to death beneath the crushing 
 weight. We sometimes hear of the cruelties of the 
 Inquisition, of the barbarity of the Irish, of the 
 tyranny of priestcraft; but such cruelties, bar- 
 barities, and tyrannies, however highly painted, 
 pale before the savage vengeance which English 
 kings have exercised, on the slightest provocation, 
 towards their unfortunate subjects. But we have 
 not yet heard all the refinements of cruelty which 
 this same monarch exercised. Soon after, John 
 was excommunicated personally. When he found 
 that Philip of Prance was prepared to seize his 
 kingdom, and that his crimes had so alienated him 
 from his own people that he could hope for little 
 help from them, he cringed with the craven fear so 
 usually found in cruel men, and made the most 
 
BLACK MONDAY. 169 
 
 abject submission. In the interval between tlie 
 proclamation of the interdict and the fulmination of 
 the sentence of excommunication (a.d. 1210), John 
 visited Ireland. It may be supposed his arrival 
 could not excite much pleasure in the hearts of his 
 Irish subjects, though, no doubt, he thought it a 
 mark of disloyalty that he should not be welcomed 
 with acclamations. A quarter of a century had 
 elapsed since he first set his foot on Irish ground. 
 He had grown grey in profligacy, but he had not 
 grown wiser or better with advancing years. 
 
 The year before his arrival, Dublin had been 
 desolated by a pestilence, and a number of people 
 from Bristol had taken advantage of the decrease 
 in the population to establish themselves there. 
 On the Easter Monday after their arrival, when 
 they had assembled to amuse themselves in CuUen's 
 Wood, the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles rushed dow^n 
 upon them from the Wicldow Mountains, and took 
 a terrible vengeance for the many wrongs they had 
 suffered, by a massacre of some three hundred men. 
 The citizens of Bristol sent over new colonists; 
 but the anniversary of the day was long known as 
 Black Monday. 
 
 Henry III, succeeded his father, John, while 
 only in his tenth year, Wilham Marshal, Earl of 
 . Pembroke, was appointed protector of the kingdom 
 and the king. The young monarch was hastily 
 crowned at Bristol, with one of his mother's golden 
 bracelets. 
 
160 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 In 1217 he, or rather his advisers, sent the 
 Archbishop of Dublin to that city to Iqyj a 
 " tallage " or tax for the royal benefit. The Arch- 
 bishop and the Justiciary were directed to repre- 
 sent to the ''Kings of Ireland," and the barons 
 holding directly from the crown, that their libera- 
 lity would not be forgotten; but neither the 
 politeness of the address nor the benevolence of 
 the promise was practically appreciated, probably 
 because neither was believed to be sincere, and 
 the King's coffers were not much replenished. 
 
 Arrangements were now made defining the 
 powers of the Viceroy or Justiciary. The earliest 
 details on this subject are embodied in an agree- 
 ment between Henry III, and Geoffrey de Marisco, 
 sealed at Oxford, in March, 1220, in presence of 
 the Papal Legate, the Archbishop of Dublin, and 
 many of the nobility. 
 
 By these regulations the Justiciary was bound 
 to account in the Exchequer of Dublin for all taxes 
 and aids received in Ireland for the royal purse. 
 He was to defray all expenses for the maintenance 
 of the King's castles and lands out of the revenues. 
 In fact, the people of the country were taxed, 
 either directly or indirectly, for the support of the 
 invaders. The King's castles were to be kept by 
 loyal and proper constables, who were obliged 
 to give hostages. Indeed, so little faith had the 
 English Kings in the loyalty of their own subjects 
 
THE SCOTCH VILLAIN. 161 
 
 tliat the Justiciary himself was obliged to give a 
 hostage as security for his own behaviour. 
 Neither does the same viceroy appear to have 
 benefited trade, for he is accused of exacting wine, 
 clothing, and victuals, without payment, from 
 the merchants of Dublin. In 1221, the Arch- 
 bishop of Dublin, Henry de Londres, was made 
 Governor. He obtained the name of ''Scotch 
 Villain,'" from having cast into the fire the leases 
 of the tenants of his see, whom he had cited to 
 produce these documents in his court. The enraged 
 land-holders attacked the attendants, and laid 
 hands on the Archbishop, who was compelled to 
 do them justice from fear of personal violence. 
 When such was the mode of government adopted 
 by the English ofiicials, we can scarcely wonder 
 that the people of Ireland have not inherited very 
 ardent feelings of loyalty and devotion to the 
 crown and constitution of that countiy. 
 
 Such serious complaints were made of the unjust 
 Governor, that Henry was at last obliged to check 
 his rapacity. Probably, he was all the more willing 
 to do so, in consequence of some encroachments on 
 the royal prerogative. 
 
 After the death of the Earl of Pembroke, who 
 had obtained the pardon of Hugh de Lacy, a feud 
 arose between the latter and the son of his former 
 friend. In consequence of this quarrel, all Meath 
 was ravaged, Hugh O'Neill having joined De Lacy 
 in the conflict. 
 
 Some of the Irish chieftains now tried to obtain 
 
 L 
 
162 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 protection from the rapacity of the Anglo-Norman 
 barons, by paying an annual stipend to the crown : 
 but the crown, though graciously pleased to accept 
 anything which might be offered, still held to its 
 royal prerogative of disposing of Irish property as 
 appeared most convenient to royal interests. 
 Though Cathal Crovderg had made arrangements 
 with Henry III, at an immense sacrifice, to secure 
 his property, that monarch accepted his money, 
 but, nevertheless, bestoAved the whole province of 
 Connaught shortly after on Pdchard de Burgo. 
 
 For the next ten years the history of the country 
 is the history of deadly feuds between the native 
 princes, carefully fomented by the English settlers, 
 whose interest it was to make them exterminate 
 each other. 
 
 The quarrel for the possession of Connaught 
 began in the year 1225. The Anglo-Normans had 
 a large army at Athlone, and Hugh Cathal went to 
 claim their assistance. The Lord Justice put him- 
 self at the head of the army ; they marched into 
 Connaught, and soon became masters of the situa- 
 tion. Eoderic's sons at once submitted, but only 
 to bide their time. During these hostilities the 
 English of Desmond and O'Brien, a Thomond 
 prince, assisted by the Sheriff of Cork, invaded the 
 southern part of Connaught for the sake of plunder. 
 In the previous year, 1224, "the corn remained 
 unreaped until the festival of St. Brigid [1st Feb.], 
 when the ploughing was going on." A famine 
 
' HUGH CROVDERG'S ESCAPE. 163 
 
 also occurred, and was followed by severe sick- 
 ness. 
 
 O'Neill had inaugurated Turlougli at Carnfree. 
 He appears to have been the most popular claimant. 
 The northern chieftains then returned home. As 
 soon as the English left Connaught, Turlough 
 again revolted. Hugh Cathal recalled his allies; 
 and the opposite party, finding their cause hope- 
 less, joined him in such numbers that Roderic's 
 sons fled for refuge to Hugh O'Neill. 
 
 Soon after these events, Hugh O'Connor was 
 captured by liis English allies, and would have 
 been sacrificed to their vengeance on some pre- 
 tence, had not Earl Marshall rescued him by force 
 of arms. 
 
 At the close of the year 1227, Turlough again 
 took arms. The English had found it their con- 
 venience to change sides, and assisted him with all 
 their forces. Probably they feared the brave 
 Hugh, and were jealous of the very power they 
 had helped him to obtain. Hugh Roderic attacked 
 the northern districts, with Richard de Burgo. 
 Turlough Eoderic marched to the peninsula of 
 Pdndown, with the Viceroy. Hugh Crovderg had 
 a narrow escape near the Curlieu Mountains, where 
 his wife was captured by the Enghsh. The fol- 
 lowing year he appears to have been reconciled to 
 the Lord Deputy, for he was killed in his house by 
 an EngHshman, in revenge for a liberty he had 
 taken with a woman. 
 
164 THE PATRIOT* HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 As usual, on the death of Hugh O'Connor, the 
 brothers who had fought against him now fought 
 against each other. The Saxon certainly does not 
 deserve the credit of all our national miseries. If 
 there had been a little less home dissension, there 
 would have been a great deal less foreign oppres- 
 sion. The English, however, helped to foment the 
 discord. The Lord Justice took part with Hugh, 
 the younger brother, who was supported by the 
 majority of the Connaught men, although Turlough 
 had already been inaugurated by O'Neill. A third 
 competitor now started up ; this was Felim, 
 brother to Hugh O'Connor. Some of the chief- 
 tains declared that they would not serve a prince 
 who acknowledged English rule, and obliged Hugh 
 to renounce his allegiance. But this question was 
 settled with great promptitude. Eichard de Burgo 
 took the field, desolated the country — if, indeed, 
 there was anything left to desolate — killed Donn 
 Oge Mageraghty, their bravest champion, expelled 
 Hugh, and proclaimed Felim. 
 
 Eelim fled to the north, and sought refuge with 
 O'Donnell of Tir-Connell. O'Flaherty, who had 
 always been hostile to Fehm, joined the English, 
 and, by the help of his boats, they were able to 
 lay waste the islands of Clew Bay. Nearly all the 
 inhabitants were killed or carried off. The vic- 
 torious forces now laid siege to a castle on the 
 Rock of Lough Key, in Roscommon, which was 
 held for O'Connor by MacDermod. They sue- 
 
MISFORTUNES OF THE ENGLISH SETTLERS. 165 
 
 ceeded in taking it, but soon lost their possession 
 by tlie quick-witted cleverness of an Irish soldier, 
 who closed the gates on them when they set out 
 on a plundering expedition. The fortress was at 
 once demolished, that it might not fall into English 
 hands again. 
 
 It could not) fail to be remarked by the Irish 
 annalists, that the first Anglo-Norman settlers had 
 been singularly unfortunate. They can scarcely be 
 blamed for supposing that these misfortunes were 
 a judgment for their crimes. Before the middle of 
 this century (the thirteenth) three of the most im- 
 portant families had become extinct. De Lacy, 
 Lord of Meath, died in 1241, infirm and blind; 
 his property was inherited by his grand-daughters, 
 in default of a male heir. Hugh de Lacy died 
 in 1240, and left only a daughter. The Earl oi 
 Pembroke died from wounds received at a tourna- 
 ment. Walter, who succeeded him, also died 
 without issue. The property came eventually to 
 Anselm, a younger brother, who also died child- 
 less ; and it was eventually portioned out among 
 the females of the family. 
 
 In 1248 the young men of Connaught inaugu- 
 rated the periodical rebellions, which a statesman 
 of modern times has compared to the dancing 
 manias of the Middle Ages. Unfortunately for his 
 comparison, there was a cause for the one, and 
 there was no cause for the other. They acted 
 unwisely, because there was not the remotest possi- 
 
166 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 bility of success ; and to rebel against an oppression 
 wHcli cannot be remedied, only forges closer 
 chains for the oppressed. But it can scarcely be 
 denied that their motive was a patriotic one. 
 Felim's son, Hugh, was the leader of the youthful 
 band. In 1249, Maurice FitzGerald arrived to 
 crush the movement, or, in modern parlance, " to 
 stamp it out " — not always a successful process ; 
 for sparks are generally left after the most careful 
 stamping, which another method might effectually 
 have quenched. 
 
 Under the year 1249 the Annals mention a de- 
 feat which the Irish suffered at Athenry, which 
 they attribute to their refusal to desist from war- 
 fare on Lady Day, the English having asked a truce 
 in honour of the Blessed Virgin. They also record 
 the death of Donough O'Gillapatrick, and say that 
 this was a retaliation due to the English ; for he 
 had killed, burned, and destroyed many of them. 
 He is characterized, evidently with a httle honest 
 pride, as the third greatest plunderer of the Eng- 
 lish. The names of the other two plunderers 
 are also carefully chronicled; they were Connor 
 O'Melaghlin and Connor MacCoghlan. The 
 *' greatest plunderer" was in the habit of going 
 about to reconnoitre the English towns in the dis- 
 guise of pauper or poet, as best suited him for the 
 time. 
 
 Henry III. died in 1272, after a reign of fifty-six 
 years. He was succeeded by his son, Edward I, 
 
STATE OE IRELAND. 167 
 
 who was ill tlie Holy Land at the time of his 
 father's death. In 1254 his father had made him 
 a grant of Ireland, with the express condition that 
 it should not be separated from England. It would 
 appear as if there had been some apprehension of 
 such an event since the time of Prince John. The 
 English monarchs apparently wished the benefit of 
 Ent^lish laws to be extended to the native popula- 
 tion, but their desire was invariably frustrated by 
 such of their nobles as had obtained grants of land 
 in Ireland, and whose object appears to have been 
 the extermination and, if this was not possible, the 
 depression of the Irish race. 
 
 Ireland was at this time convulsed by domestic 
 dissensions. Sir Eobert D'UfFord, the Justiciary, 
 was accused of fomenting the discord; but he appears 
 to have considered that he only did liis duty to 
 his royal master. When sent for into England, to 
 account for his conduct, he " satisfied the King that 
 all was not true that he was charged withal ; and 
 for further contentment yielded this reason, that 
 in policy he thought it expedient to wink at one 
 knave cutting off another, and that would save the 
 King's coffers, and purchase peace to the land. 
 Whereat the King smiled, and bid him return to 
 Ireland." The saving was questionable ; for to 
 prevent an insurrection by timely concessions, is 
 incomparably less expensive than to suppress it 
 when it has arisen. The '' purchase of peace" was 
 equally visionary ; for the Irish never appear to 
 
168 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IIIELA.ND. 
 
 have been able to sit down quietly under unjust 
 oppression, however hopeless resistance might be. 
 In 1280 the Irish who lived near the Anglo- 
 Norman settlers presented a petition to the English 
 King, praying that they might be admitted to the 
 privileges of the English law. Edward issued a 
 writ to the then Lord Justice, D'UfFord, desiring 
 him to assemble the lords spiritual and temporal 
 of the "land of Ireland," to deliberate on the sub- 
 ject. But the writ was not attended to ; and even 
 if it had been, the lords " spiritual and temporal" 
 appear to have decided long before, that the Irish 
 should not participate in the benefit of English 
 laws, however much they might suffer from English 
 oppression. A pagan nation pursued a more liberal 
 IDolicy, and found it eminently successful. The 
 Eoman Empire was held together for many cen- 
 turies, quite as much by the fact of her having 
 made all her dependencies to share in the benefits 
 of her laws, as by the strong hand of her cohorts. 
 She used her arms to conquer, and her laws to 
 retain her conquests.^ 
 
 ^ Conquests. — We recally must enter a protest against the 
 way in which Irish history is written by some English 
 hi^orian£3. In Wright's History of Ireland we find the 
 following gratuitous assertion offered to excuse a crime : — 
 "Such a refinement of cruelty must have arisen from a 
 suspicion of treachery, or from some other grievous ofleuce 
 with which we are not acquainted." If all the dark deeds 
 in history are to be accounted for in this way, we may bid 
 farewell to historical justice. And yet this work, which is 
 
THE ENGLISH INVASIOIf. 169 
 
 We now come to an important period of Irish 
 history, in whicli we find special mention of the 
 two great families of the Burkes and Geraldines. 
 The Burkes were now represented by the Red 
 Earl, Eichard de Burgo, and had become very 
 powerful. The Eed Earl's grandson, AVilliam, who 
 was murdered, in 1333, by the English of Ulster, 
 and whose death was most cruelly revenged, was 
 the third and last of the De Burgo Earls of Ulster. 
 The Burkes of Connaught are descended from Wil- 
 liam, the younger brother of Walter, the first Earl. 
 
 John EitzThomas FitzGerald, Baron of Ofi'aly, 
 was the common ancester of the two great branches 
 of the Geraldines. One of his sons, John, was 
 created Earl of Kildare ; the other, Maurice, Earl 
 Desmond. 
 
 Wogan was Viceroy during the close of this cen- 
 tury, and had ample occupation pacifying the 
 Geraldines and Burkes — an occupation in which 
 he was not always successful. Tliom^as FitzMaurice, 
 " of the ape," father of the first Earl of Desmond, 
 had preceded him in the office of Justiciary. 
 This nobleman obtained his cognomen from the 
 circumstance of having been carried, when a cliild, 
 by a tame ape round the walls of a castle, and then 
 restored to his cradle without the slightest injury. 
 
 written in the most prejudiced manner, has had large cir- 
 culation in Ireland, and amougst Irishmen in England. 
 When Irishmen support such works, they must not blame 
 the English for acceptingthem as truthful liistories. 
 
170 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The English possessions in Ireland at the close 
 of this century consisted of the " Liberties" and 
 ten counties — Dublin, Louth, Kildare, Waterford, 
 Tipperary, Cork, Limerick, Kerry, Eoscommon, 
 and part of Connaught. The "Liberties" were 
 those of Connaught and Ulster, under De Burgo ; 
 Meath, divided between De Mortimer and De 
 Verdun ; Wexford, Carlow, and Kilkenny, under 
 the jurisdiction of the respective representatives of 
 the Marshal heiresses ; Thomond, claimed by De 
 Clare ; and Desmond, partly controlled by the 
 FitzGeralds. 
 
 Such portions of the country as lay outside the 
 land of which the Anglo-Normans had possessed 
 themselves, were called " marches." These were 
 occupied by troops of natives, who continually 
 resisted the aggressions of the invader, always 
 anxious to add to his territory. These troops 
 constantly made good reprisals for what they had 
 taken, by successful raids on the castle or the 
 garrison. Fleet-footed, and well aware of every 
 spot which would afford concealment, these hardy 
 Celts generally escaped scot-free. Thus occupied 
 for several centuries, they acquired a taste for this 
 roving life ; and they can scarcely be reproached 
 for not having advanced in civilization with the 
 age, by those who placed such invincible obstacles 
 to their progress. 
 
 The famous invasion of Ireland by Bruce took 
 place on the 16th of May, A.D. 1315. On that day 
 
BRUCE INVADES IRELAND. 171 
 
 Edward landed on the coast of Ulster, near Carrick- 
 fergus, with six thousand men. He was attended 
 by the heroes of Bannockburn ; and as a consider- 
 able number of native forces soon joined him, the 
 contingent was formidable. Although a few of the 
 Irish had assisted Edward 11. in his war against 
 Scotch independence, the sympathies of the nation 
 were with the cause of freedom ; and they gladly 
 hailed the arrival of those who had delivered their 
 own country, hoping they would also deliver Ire- 
 land. It was proposed that Edward Bruce should 
 be made King of Ireland. The Irish chieftain, 
 Donnell O'Neill, King of Ulster, in union with the 
 other princes of the province, wrote a spirited but 
 respectful remonstrance to the Holy See, on the 
 part of the nation, explaining why they were 
 anxious to transfer the kingdom to Bruce. 
 
 Eichard de Burgo, the Red Earl, died in 1326. 
 He took leave of the nobles after a magnificent 
 banquet at Kilkenny. When he had resigned his 
 possessions to his grandson, William, he retired 
 into the Monastery of Athassel, where he expired 
 soon after. In the same year Edward II. attempted 
 to take refuge in Ireland from the vengeance of his 
 people and his false Queen, the " she- wolf of 
 France." He failed in his attempt, and was mur- 
 dered soon after — a.d. 1327. 
 
 The Butler family now appear prominently in 
 Irish history for the first time. It would appear 
 from Carte that the name was originally Walter, 
 
172 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OP IRELAND. 
 
 Butler being an addition distinctive of office. The 
 family was established in Ireland by Theobald 
 Walter (Gaultier), an Anglo-Norman of high rank, 
 who received extensive grants of land from Henry 
 II., together with the hereditary office of " Pin- 
 cerna," Boteler, or Butler, in Ireland, to the Kings 
 of England. In this capacity he and his successors 
 were to attend these monarchs at their coronation, 
 and present them with the first cup of wine. In 
 return they obtained many privileges. On account 
 of the quarrels between this family and the De 
 Burgos, De Berminghams, Le Poers, and the 
 southern Geraldines, royal letters were issued, com- 
 manding them, under pain of forfeiture, to desist 
 from warring on each other. The result was a 
 meeting of the factious peers in Dublin, at which 
 they engaged to keep the -' King's peace." On the 
 following day they were entertained by the Earl of 
 Ulster ; the next day, at St. Patrick's, by Maurice 
 FitzThomas ; and the third day, by the Viceroy and 
 his fellow Knights Hospitallers, who had succeeded 
 the Templars at Kilmainham. The Earldoms of 
 Ormonde and Desmond were now created. The 
 heads of these families long occupied an important 
 place in Irish affairs. Butler died on his return 
 from a pilgrimage to Compostella, and was suc- 
 ceeded by his eldest son, Jacques — " a liberal, 
 friendly, pleasant, and stately youth" — who was 
 married tliis year to King Edward's cousin, Eleanor, 
 daughter of the Earl of Essex. The Desmond 
 
THE BURKES OF CONNAUGHT. 173 
 
 peerage was created in 1329, when the County 
 Palatine of Kerry was given to that family. 
 
 The years 1333 and 1334 were disgraced by 
 fearful crimes, in which the English and Irish 
 equally participated. In the former year the Earl 
 of Ulster seized "Walter de Burgo, and starved him 
 to death in the Green Castle of Innishowen. The 
 sister of the man thus cruelly murdered was married 
 to Sir Eichard Mande^dlle, and she urged her hus- 
 band to avenge her brother's death. Mandeville 
 took the opportunity of accompanying the Earl 
 with some others to hear Mass at Carrickfergus, 
 and killed him as he was fording a stream. The 
 young Earl's death was avenged by his followers, 
 who slew 300 men. His wife, Maud, fled to Eng- 
 land with her only child a daughter, named Eliza- 
 beth, who was a year old. The Burkes of Con- 
 naught, who were the junior branch of the family, 
 fearing that she would soon marry again, and 
 transfer the property to other hands, immediately 
 seized the Connaught estates, declared themselves 
 independent of English law, and renounced the 
 English language and customs. They were too 
 powerful to be resisted with impunity ; and while 
 the ancestor of the Clanrickardes assumed the Irish 
 title of Mac William Oughter, or the Upper, 
 Edmund Burke, the progenitor of the Viscounts of 
 Mayo, took the appellation of Mac William JEighterj 
 or the Lower. This was not the last time v/hen 
 English settlers identified themselves, not merely 
 
174 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 from policy, but even from inclination, with the 
 race whom they had once hated and oppressed. 
 
 On the 2nd October, A.D. 1394, Richard II. 
 landed on the Irish shores. The country was in 
 its usual state of partial insurrection and general 
 discontent ; but no attempt was made to remove 
 the cause of all this unnecessary misery. There 
 was some show of submission from the Irish chief- 
 tains, who were overawed by the immense force 
 which attended the King. Art MacMurrough, the 
 heir of the ancient Leinster Kings, was the most 
 formidable of the native nobles ; and from his 
 prowess and success in several engagements, was 
 somewhat feared by the invaders. He refused to 
 defer to any one but Eichard, and was only pre- 
 vailed on to make terms when he found himself 
 suddenly shut up in Dublin Castle, during a 
 friendly visit to the court. 
 
 The King's account of his reception shows that 
 he had formed a tolerably just opinion of the 
 political state of the country. He mentions, in a 
 letter from Dublm, that the people might be divided 
 into three classes — the "wild Irish, or enemies," the 
 Irish rebels, and the English subjects; and he had 
 just discernment enough to see that the "rebels 
 had been made such by wrongs, and by want of 
 close attention to their grievances," though he had 
 not the judgment or the justice to apply the neces- 
 sary remedy. His next exploit was to persuade the 
 principal Irish kings to receive knighthood in the 
 
THE o'byrnes of wicklow. 175 
 
 Englisli fashion. They submitted with the worst 
 possible grace, having again and again repeated that 
 they had already received the honour according 
 to the custom of their own country; The dealings 
 of the Anglo-Norman knights, with whom they 
 already had intercourse, were not likely to have 
 inspired them with very sublime ideas of the 
 dignity. 
 
 The customs of the Irish nobles were again made 
 a subject of ridicule, as they had been during the 
 visit of Prince John ; though one should have sup- 
 posed that an increased knowledge of the world 
 should have led to a wiser policy, if not to an 
 avoidance of that ignorant criticism, which at once 
 denounces everything foreign as inferior. Richard 
 returned to England in 1395, after nine months of 
 vain display. He appointed Eoger Mortimer his 
 Viceroy. Scarcely had the King and his fleet 
 sailed from the Irish shores, when the real nature 
 of the proffered allegiance of seventy-two kings 
 and chieftains became apparent. The O'Byrnes 
 rose up in Wicklow, and were defeated by the 
 Viceroy and the Earl of Ormonde ; the MacCarthys 
 rose up in Munster, and balanced affairs by gaining 
 a victory of the English. The Earl of Kildare was 
 captured by Oalvagh O'Connor of Off'aly, in 1398 ; 
 and, in the same year, the O'Briens and O'Tooles 
 avenged their late defeat, by a great victory, at 
 Kenlis, in Ossory. 
 
 In 1399 King Richard paid another visit to Ire- 
 
176 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 land. His exactions and oppressions had made him 
 very unpopular in England, and it is probable that 
 this expedition was planned to divert the minds of 
 his subjects. If this was his object, it failed sig- 
 nally ; for the unfortunate monarch was deposed by 
 Parliament the same year, and was obliged to per- 
 form the act of abdication with the best grace he 
 could. 
 
 On the accession of Henry lY,-, his second son, 
 Thomas, Duke of Lancaster, was made Viceroy, 
 and landed at Bullock, near Dalkey, on Sunday, 
 November 13, 1402. As the youth was but twelve 
 years of age, a council was appointed to assist him. 
 Soon after his arrival, the said Council despatched 
 a piteous document from " Le Naas," in which they 
 represent themselves and their youthful ruler as on 
 the very verge of starvation, in consequence of not 
 having received remittances from England. In 
 conclusion, they gently allude to the possibility — 
 of course carefully deprecated — of " peril and dis- 
 aster" befalling their lord, if further delay should 
 be permitted. The King, however, was not in a 
 position to tax his English subjects ; and we find 
 the prince himself writing to his royal father on tlie 
 same matter, at the close of the year 1 402. He 
 mentions also that he had entertained the knights 
 and squires with such cheer as could be procured 
 under the circumstances, and adds : " I, by the 
 advice of my Council, rode against the Irish, your 
 enemies, and did my utmost to harass them." 
 
THE ANGLO-IRISH. 177 
 
 Probably, had he shared the cheer with " the Irish 
 his enemies," or even showed them some little kind- 
 ness, he would not have been long placed in so mi- 
 pleasant a position for want of supplies. 
 
 John Duke, the then Mayor of Dubhn, obtained 
 the privilege of having the sword borne before the 
 chief magistrate of that city, as a reward for his 
 services in routing the O'Byrnes of Wicklow. 
 About the same time John Dowdall, Sheriff of 
 Louth, was murdered in Dublin, by Sir Bartholomew 
 Vernon and three other English gentlemen, who 
 were outlawed for this and other crimes, but soon 
 after received the royal pardon. In 1404 the 
 the English were defeated in Leix. In 1405 Art 
 MacMurrough committed depredations at Wexford 
 and elsewhere, and 1406 the settlers suffered a 
 severe reverse in Meath. 
 
 The Irish of English descent were made to feel 
 their position painfully at the close of this reign, 
 and this might have led the new settlers to reflect, 
 if capable of reflection, that their descendants 
 would soon find themselves in a similar condition. 
 The commons presented a petition complaining of 
 the extortions and injustices practised by the 
 Deputies, some of whom had left enormous debts 
 unpaid. They also represented the injustice of ex- 
 cluding Irish law students from the Inns of Court 
 in London. A few years previous (A.D. 1417), the 
 settlers had presented a petition to Parliament, 
 praying that no Irishman should be admitted to 
 
 M 
 
178 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 any office or benefice in the Church, and that no 
 bishop should be permitted to bring an Irish 
 servant with him when he came to attend Parlia- 
 ment or Council. This petition was granted ; and 
 soon after an attempt was made to prosecute the 
 Archbishop of Cashel, who had presumed to dis- 
 regard some of its enactments. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Quarrels between the Houses of York and Lancaster — 
 Their effect upon Ireland — Why the Yorkists were popu- 
 lar—Accession of the Enghsh King Henry VII, — 
 Poyning's Parliament, and its effect— The Earl of Kildare 
 accused of Treason — Irish War Cries forbidden. 
 
 ^ENRY YL succeeded to the English throne 
 ^\ while still a mere infant, and, as usual, the 
 "Irish question" was found to be one of 
 the greatest difficulties of the new administration. 
 The O'Neills had been carrying on a domestic feud 
 in Ulster ; but they had just united to attack the 
 English, when Edward Mortimer, Earl of March, 
 assumed the government of Ireland (a.d. 1425). 
 He died of the plague the following year ; but his 
 successor in office, Lord Furnival, contrived to 
 capture a number of the northern chieftains, who 
 were negotiating peace with Mortimer at the very 
 time of his death. Owen O'Neill was ransomed, 
 
THE YORKISTS AND LANCASTRIANS. 179 
 
 but the indignation excited by tbis act served only 
 to arouse angry feelings ; and the northerns united 
 against their enemies, and soon recovered any 
 territory they had lost. 
 
 Donough MacMorough was released from the 
 Tower in 1428, after nine years' captivity. It is 
 said the Leinster men paid a heavy ransom for 
 him. The young prince's compulsory residence in 
 England did not lessen his disaffection, for he made 
 war on the settlers as soon as he returned to his 
 paternal dominions. The great family feud between 
 the houses of York and Lancaster, had but little 
 effect on the state of Ireland. Different members 
 of the two great factions had held the office of 
 Lord Justice in that country, but, with one excep- 
 tion, they did not obtain any personal influence 
 there. Indeed, the Viceroy of those: days, whether 
 an honest man or a knave, was sure to be unpopular 
 with some party. 
 
 The Yorkists and Lancastrians, were descended 
 directly from Edward III. The first Duke of York 
 was Edward's fifth son, Edmund Plantagenet ; the 
 first Duke of Lancaster was John of Gaunt, the 
 fourth son of the same monarch. Eichard II. suc- 
 ceeded his grandfather, Edward III., as the son of 
 Edward the Black Prince, so famed in English 
 chivalry. His arrogance and extravagance soon 
 made him unpopular ; and, during his absence in 
 Ireland, the Duke of Lancaster, whom he had 
 banished, and treated most unjustly, returned to 
 
180 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 England, and inaugurated the fatal quarrel. The 
 king was obliged to return immediately, and com- 
 mitted the government of the country to his cousin, 
 Roger de Mortimer, who was next in succession to 
 the English crown, in right of his mother, Philippa, 
 the only child of the Duke of Clarence, third son 
 of Edward III. The death of this nobleman opened 
 the way for the intrusion of the Lancastrians, the 
 Buke of Lancaster having obtained the crown 
 during the lifetime of E-ichard, to the exclusion of 
 the rightful heir-apparent, Edmund, Earl of March, 
 son of the late Viceroy. 
 
 The feuds of the Earl of Ormonde and the Tal- 
 bots in Ireland, proved nearly as great a calamity 
 to that nation as the disputes about the English 
 succession. A Parliament was held in Dublin in 
 1441, in which Eichard Talbot, the English Arch- 
 bishop of Dublin, proceeded to lay various requests 
 before the king, the great object of which was the 
 overthrow of the Earl, who, by the intermarrying 
 of his kinsmen with the Irish, possessed great in- 
 fluence among the native septs contiguous to his 
 own territory. 
 
 In the 3^ear 1447 Ireland was desolated by a 
 fearful plague, in which seven hundred priests are 
 said to have fallen victims, probably from their 
 devoted attendance on the sufferers. In the same 
 year Felim O'Reilly was taken prisoner treacherously 
 by the Lord Deputy ; and Finola, the daughter of 
 Calvagh O'Connor Faly, and wife of Hugh Boy 
 
THE ENGLtSS POWER REDUCED. 181 
 
 O'Neill, " the most beautiful and stately, the most 
 renowned and ilhistrious woman of all her time in 
 Ireland, her own mother only excepted, retired 
 from this transitory world, to prepare for eternal 
 life, and assumed the yoke of piety and devotion 
 in the Monastery of Cill-Achaidh." 
 
 During the reigns of Edward IV., Edward V., 
 and the usurper, Kichard, there was probably more 
 dissensions in England than there ever had been 
 at any time among the native Irish chieftains. 
 Princes and nobles were sacrificed by each party as 
 they obtained power, and regicide might almost be 
 called common. The number of English slain in 
 the Wars of the Eoses was estimated at 100,000. 
 Parliament made acts of attainder one day, and re- 
 versed them almost on the next. Neither life nor 
 property was safe. 
 
 The English power in Ireland was reduced at 
 this time to the lowest degree of weakness. This 
 power had never been other than nominal beyond 
 the Pale ; within its precincts it Avas on the whole 
 all-powerful. But now a few archers and spearmen 
 were its only defence ; and had the Irish combined 
 under a competent leader, there can be little doubt 
 that the result would have been fatal to the colony. 
 It w^ould appear as if Henry VII. hoped to pro- 
 pitiate the Yorkists in Ireland, as he allowed the 
 Earl of Kildare to hold the office of Lord Deputy ; 
 his brother, Thomas FitzGerald that of Chancellor ; 
 and his father-in-law, FitzEustace, that of Lord 
 
182 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Treasurer. After a short time, however, he restored 
 the Earl of Ormonde to the family honours and 
 estates, and thus a Lancastrian influence was 
 secured. The most important events of this reign, 
 as far as Ireland is concerned, are the plots of 
 Simnel and Perkin Warbeck, and the enactments 
 of Poyning's Parliament. 
 
 In May, 1492, the Warbeck plot was promul- 
 gated in Ireland, and an adventurer landed on the 
 Irish shores, who declared himself to be Eichard, 
 Duke of York, the second son of Edward IV., who 
 Was supposed to have perished in the tower. His 
 stay in Ireland, hoAvever, was brief, although he 
 was favourably received. The French monarch 
 entertamed him with the honours due to a crowned 
 head ; but tliis, probably, was purely for political 
 purposes, as he was discarded as soon as peace had 
 been made with England. He next visited Mar- 
 garet, the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy, who 
 treated him as if he were really her nephew. 
 
 Henry now became seriously alarmed at the state 
 of affairs in Ireland, and sent over Sir Edward 
 Poyning, a privy councillor and a Knight of the 
 Garter, to the troublesome colony. He was 
 attended by some eminent Enghsh lawyers, and 
 what was of considerably greater importance, by a 
 force of 1,000 men. But neither the lawyers nor 
 the men succeeded in their attempt, for nothing was 
 done to conciliate, and the old policy of force was 
 the rule of action, and failed as usual. The first 
 
ENACTMENTS OF POYNING'S PARLIAMENT. 183 
 
 step was to hunt out the abettors of Warbeck's in- 
 surrection, who had taken refuge in the north ; but 
 the moment the Deputy marched against them, the 
 Earl of Kildare's brother rose in open rebelUon, 
 and seized Carlow GAstle. The Viceroy was, 
 therefore, obhged to make peace with O'Hanlon 
 and Magennis, and to return south. After recover- 
 ing the fortress, he held a parhament at Drogheda, 
 in the month of November, 1494. In this parlia- 
 ment the celebrated statute was enacted, which 
 provided that henceforth no parhament should be 
 held in Ireland until the Chief Governor and 
 Council had first certified to the king, under the 
 Great Seal, as well the causes and considerations as 
 the Acts they designed to pass, and till the same 
 should be approved by the king and Council. This 
 Act obtained the name of " Poyning's Law." It 
 became a serious grievance when the whole of Ire- 
 land was brought under Enghsh government ; but 
 at the time of its enactment it could only 
 afifect the inhabitants of the Pale, who formed a 
 very small portion of the population of that coun- 
 try ; and the colonists regarded it rather favourably, 
 as a means of protecting them against the legis 
 lative oppressions of the Viceroys. 
 
 The general object of the Act was nominally to 
 reduce the people to ''whole and perfect obedience." 
 The attempt to accomplish this desirable end had 
 been continued for rather more than two hundred 
 years, and had not yet been attained. The Parlia- 
 
184 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 ment of Drogheda did not succeed, although the 
 Viceroy returned to England afterwards under the 
 happy conviction that he had perfectly accomphshed 
 his mission. Acts were also passed that ordnance 
 should not be kept in fortresses without the Vice- 
 regal licence ; that the lords spiritual and temporal 
 were to appear in their robes in parliament, for the 
 English lords of Ireland had, " through penurious- 
 ness, done away the said robes to their own great 
 dishonour, and the rebuke of all the whole land /' 
 that the "many damnable customs and uses," 
 practised by the Anglo-Norman lords and gentle- 
 men, under the names of " coigne, livery, and pay," 
 should be reformed ; that the inhabitants on the 
 frontiers of the four shires should forthwith build 
 and maintain a double ditch, raised six feet above 
 the ground on the side which " meared next unto 
 the Irishmen," so that the said Irishmen should be 
 kept out ; that all subjects were to provide them- 
 selves with cuirasses and helmets, with English 
 bows and sheaves of arrows ; that every parish 
 should be provided with a pair of butts, and the 
 constables were ordered to call the parishioners 
 before them on holidays, to shoot at least two or 
 three games. 
 
 The Irish war-cries which had been adopted by 
 the English lords were forbidden, and they wxre 
 commanded to call upon St. George or the King of 
 England. The Statutes of Kilkenny were confirmed, 
 with the exception of the one which forbid the use 
 
KtLDARE MARRIES THE KINQ'S COUSIN. 185 
 
 of the Irish Language. As nearly all the English 
 settlers had adopted it, such an enactment could 
 not possibly have been carried out. Three of the 
 principal nobles of the country were absent from 
 this assembly : Maurice, Earl of Desmond, was in 
 arms onbehalf of Warbeck; Gerald, Earl of Kildare, 
 was charged with treason; and Thomas, Earl of 
 Ormonde, was residing in England. The Earl of 
 Kildare was sent to England to answer the charges 
 of treason which were brought against him. Henry 
 had discovered that Poynmg's mission had not been 
 as successful as he expected, and, what probably 
 influenced him still more, that it had proved very 
 expensive. He has the credit of being a wise king 
 in many respects, notwithstanding his avaricious- 
 ness ; and he at once saw that Kildare would be 
 more useful as a friend, and less expensive, if he 
 ceased to be an enemy. The result was the pardon 
 of the " rebel," his marriage with the king's first 
 cousin, Ehzabeth St. John, and his restoration to 
 the office of Deputy. His quick-witted speeches, 
 when examined before the king, took the royal 
 fancy. He was accused of having burned the 
 Cathedral of Cashel, to revenge himself on the 
 Archbishop, who had sided with his enemy, Sir 
 James Ormonde. There was a great array of wit- 
 nesses prepared to prove the fact; but the Earl 
 excited shouts of laughter by exclaiming, " I would 
 never have done it had it not been told me the 
 Archbishop was within.'* 
 
186 THE- PATRIOT HISTOHY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The Archbishop was present, and one of his 
 most active accusers. The king then gave him 
 leave to choose his counsel, and time to prepare his 
 defence. Kildare exclaimed that he doubted if he 
 should be allowed to choose the good fellow whom 
 he would select. Henry gave liim his hand as an 
 assurance of his good faith. "Marry," said the 
 Earl, "■ I can see no better man in England than 
 your Highness, and will choose no other." The 
 affair ended by his accusers declaring that "all Ire- 
 land could not rule this Earl," to which Henry 
 replied : " Then, in good faith, shall this Earl rule 
 all Ireland." 
 
 In August, 1489, Kildare was appointed Deputy 
 to Prince Henry, who was made Viceroy. In 1498 
 he was authorized to convene a Parliament, which 
 should not sit longer than half a year. This was 
 the first parliament held under Poyning's Act. 
 
 Gerald, the ninth and last Catholic Earl of Kil- 
 dare, succeeded his father as Lord Deputy in 1513. 
 But the hereditary foes of his family were soon 
 actively employed in working his ruin ; and even 
 his sister, who had married into that family, proved 
 not the least formidable of his enemies. He was 
 summoned to London ; but either the charges 
 against him could not be proved, or it was deemed 
 expedient to defer them, for we find him attending 
 Henry for four years, and forming one of his retinue 
 at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Kildare was 
 permitted to return to Dublin again in 1523, but 
 he was tracked by Wolsey's implacable hatred to 
 
REPORT ON THE STATE OF IRELAND. 189 
 
 his doom. In 1533 he was confined in the Tower 
 for the third time. The charges against him were 
 warmly urged by his enemies. Two of his sisters 
 were married to native chieftains ; and he was 
 accused with playing fast and loose with the Eng- 
 lish as a baron of the Pale— with the Irish as a 
 warm ally. Two English nobles had been appointed 
 to assist him, or rather to act the spy upon his 
 movements, at different times. One of these, Sir 
 Thomas Skefiington, became his most dangerous 
 enemy. 
 
 In 1515 an elaborate report on the state of Ire- 
 land was prepared by the royal command. It gives 
 a tolerably clear idea of the military and political 
 condition of the country. According to this account, 
 the only counties subject to English rule, were Louth, 
 Meath, Dublin, Kildare, and Wexford. Even the 
 residents near the boundaries, of these districts, 
 were obliged to pay "blackmail" to the neighbour- 
 ing Irish chieftains. The king's writs were not 
 executed beyond the bounds described ; and 
 within thirty miles of Dublin, the Brehon law was 
 in full force. This document, which is printed in 
 the first volume of the " State Papers " relating to 
 Ireland, contains a list of the petty rulers of sixty 
 diff'erent states or " regions," some of which " are 
 as big as a shire ; some more, some less." The 
 writer then gives various opinions as to the plans 
 which might be adopted for improving the state oi 
 Ireland. 
 
190 THE PATRIOT HISTOEY OF IHELAND. 
 
 It cannot now be ascertained whether Kildare 
 had incited the Irish chieftains to rebelHon or not. 
 In 1520, during one of his periods of detention in 
 London, tlie Earl of Surrey was sent over as 
 Deputy, with a large force. The new Viceroy was 
 entirely ignorant of the state of Ireland, and 
 imagined he had nothing to do but conquer. 
 As a last resource he suggested the policy of con- 
 ciliation, which Henry appears to have adopted, 
 as he empowered him to confer the honour of 
 knighthood on any of the Irish chieftains to whom 
 he considered it desirable to offer the compliment, 
 and he sent a collar of gold to O'Neill, About 
 the same time Surrey wrote to inform Wolsey, 
 that Cormac Oge MacCarthy and MaCarthy Reagh 
 were "two wise men, and more conformable to 
 order than some English were ;" but he was still 
 careful to keep up the old policy of fomenting 
 discord among the native princes, for he wrote to 
 the king that "it would be dangerful to have 
 them both agreed and joined together, as the 
 longer they continue in war, the better it should 
 be for your Grace's poor subjects here." 
 
 Surrey became weary at last of the hopeless 
 conflict, and at his own request he was permitted to 
 return to England and resign his office, which was 
 conferred on his friend, Pierse Butler, of Carrick, 
 subsequently Earl of Ormonde. The Scotch had 
 begun to immigrate to Ulster in considerable 
 numbers, and acquired large territories there j the 
 
MARTYRDOM OF MORE AND FISHER. 191 
 
 Pale was almost unprotected ; and the Irisli Privy- 
 Council applied to Wolsey for six ships of -war, to 
 defend the northern coasts, A.D. 1522. The dis- 
 sensions between the O'Neills and O'Donnells had 
 broken out into sanguinary warfare. 
 
 The Earl of Kildare left Ireland, for the third 
 and last time, in February, 1534:. Before his de- 
 parture he summoned a council at Drogheda, and 
 appointed his son, Thomas, to act as deputy in his 
 absence. On the Earl's arrival in London, he was 
 at once seized and imprisoned in the Tower. A 
 false report was carefully circulated in Ireland 
 that he had been beheaded, and that the destruc- 
 tion of the whole family was even then impending. 
 Nor was there anything very improbable in this 
 statement. The English king had already inau- 
 gurated his sanguinary career. One of the most 
 eminent English laymen, Sir Thomas More, and 
 one of her best ecclesiastics, Bishop Fisher, had 
 been accused and beheaded, to satisfy the royal 
 caprice. When the king's tutor and his chan- 
 cellor had been sacrificed, who could hope to 
 escape 1 
 
 The unfortunate Earl had advised his son to 
 pursue a cautious and gentle policy j but Lord 
 Thomas' fiery temper could ill brook such precau- 
 tion, and he was but too easily roused by the artful 
 enemies who incited him to rebellion. The reports 
 of his father's execution were confirmed. His 
 proud blood was up, and he rushed madly on the 
 
192 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 career of self-destruction. On the 11th of June, 
 1534, he flung down the sword of state on the 
 table of the council-hall at St. Mary's Abbey, and 
 openly renounced his allegiance to the English 
 monarch. Archbishop Cromer implored him with 
 tears to reconsider his purpose, but all entreaties 
 were vain. Even had he been touched by this 
 disinterested counsel, it would probably have failed 
 of its effect ; for an Irish bard commenced chanting 
 his praises and his father's wrongs, and thus his 
 doom was sealed. An attempt was made to arrest 
 him, but it failed. Archbishop Allen, his father's 
 bitterest enemy, fled to the Castle, with several 
 other nobles, and here they were besieged by Fitz- 
 Gerald and his followers. The Archbishop soon 
 contrived to effect his escape. He embarked at 
 night in a vessel which was then lying at Dame's 
 Gate ; but the ship was stranded near Clontarf, 
 either through accident or design, and the unfor- 
 tunate prelate was seized by Lord Thomas' people, 
 who instantly put him to death. The young 
 nobleman is said by some authorities to have been 
 present at the murder, as well as his two uncles : 
 there is at least no doubt of his complicity in the 
 crime. The sentence of excommunication was pro- 
 nounced against him, and those who assisted him, 
 in its most terrible form. 
 
 Ecclesiastical intervention was not necessary to 
 complete his ruin. He had commenced his wild 
 career of lawless violence with but few followers, 
 
EXECUTION or SILKEN THOMAS. 193 
 
 and without any influential companions. The 
 Castle of Maynooth, the great stronghold of the 
 Geraldines, was besieged and captured by his 
 father's old enemy, Sir 'Winiam Skeffington . In the 
 meanwhile the intelHgence of his son's insurrection 
 had been communicated to the Earl, and the news 
 of his excommunication followed quickly. The 
 unfortunate nobleman succumbed beneath the two- 
 fold blow, and died in a few weeks. Lord Thomas 
 surrendered himself in August, 1535, on the guar- 
 antee of Lord Leonard and Lord Butler, under a 
 solemn promise that his life should be spared. But 
 his fate was in the hands of one who had no pity, 
 even where the tenderest ties were concerned. 
 Soon after the surrender of " Silken Thomas," his 
 five uncles were seized treacherously at a banquet ; 
 and although three of them had no part in the 
 rebellion, the nephew and the uncles were all exe- 
 cuted together at Tj^burn, on the 3rd of February, 
 1537. If the King had hoped by this cruel injus- 
 tice to rid himself of the powerful family, he was 
 mistaken. Two children of the late Earl's still 
 existed. They were sons by his second wife. Lady 
 Elizabeth Grey. The younger, still an infant, was, 
 conveyed to his mother in England. The elder, a 
 youth of twelve years of age, was concealed by his 
 aunts, who were married to the chieftains of Offaly 
 and Donegal, and was soon conveyed to France 
 out of the reach of the enemies who eagerly sought 
 his destruction. It is not a little curious to find 
 
194 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the ative princes, who had been so cruelly 
 oppressed by his forefathers, protecting and help- 
 ing the hapless youth, even at the risk of their 
 lives. It is one of many evidences that the anti- 
 pathy of Celt to Saxon is not so much an antipathy 
 of race or person, as the natural enmity which 
 the. oppressed entertains towards the oppressor. 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 (l full and clear explanation of the causes that led to 
 the so-called Reformation in England— Accession of 
 Henry VIII. — His marriage with Catherine of Arra- 
 gon — He becomes weary of her, and wishes to marry 
 Anne Boleyn— His scandalous conduct with Anne Boleyn 
 — He revolts against the Holy See, because the Pope 
 ■will not allow him to have two wives— Conduct of the 
 Protestant Archbishop Cranmer— Henry makes himself 
 head of the Church— The Irish will not become Protes- 
 tants for either fear or favour. 
 
 )N order to understand the period of Irish 
 history at which we have now arrived, 
 it will be necessary to enter into a full 
 explanation of the state of the country at this 
 time, and also to give some account of English his- 
 tory. We all very justly consider a great victory as 
 one of the most important events in the history of 
 any people ; and if an entire change occurs in tho 
 government of the country, in consequence of this 
 
ACCESSION OF HENRY VIII. 195 
 
 victory, it is carefully recorded with all the events 
 which led to it, and the probable causes which 
 obtained so great a triumph. I am now going 
 to write of one of the greatest, if not the very 
 greatest of "factories ever obtained by any nation ; 
 and I shall request your careful attention. The 
 victory was obtained by Irishmen. We much 
 fear that many of the conquerors in the bravest 
 conflicts ever recorded, had their share of praise 
 in this world only, and will have but little praise 
 hereafter. But in this victorj^, to which I must 
 now call your attention, the victors had Httle 
 praise in this world, but their reward and triumph 
 will be eternal. The victory of which I write 
 was a moral victory — a victory, in which the weak 
 triumphed over the strong : and Irishmen sacri- 
 ficed their lives and those who were dearer to 
 them even than their lives, sooner than jdeld to 
 the cruel oppressor who sought to compel them 
 to accept a false religion. The history of the 
 brave and effectual resistance which Irishmen 
 made to the new religion, or rather to the new 
 heresy, is of interest to every Catholic and every 
 thoughtful Protestant. It was introduced by Mar- 
 tin Luther, a wicked monk, who apostatised from 
 his creed in order to marry, and brought into 
 England by Henry VIII., who wished not only to 
 marry as many wives as he pleased, but to kill 
 them as soon as he was tired of them. 
 Henry VIII. was the second son of Henry VII., 
 
196 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 and was born at GreenTvicli, June 28, 1491. His 
 father, Henry VII., had married Elizabeth of York, 
 and had two sons and two daughters, besides 
 three children who died young. His eldest son was 
 called Arthur, his second son, Henry, afterwards 
 Henry YIII. All this you must remember and 
 understand thoroughly, that you may know exactly 
 what led to the introduction of Martin Luther's 
 heresy into England, and how it then came to 
 be forced on the Irish by the sword, Arthur, 
 Henry YII's eldest son, died in 1502. He had 
 married a Spanish princess, Catherine of Arragon, 
 in 1501. You will observe that the marriage 
 took place in November, and the young prince 
 died in April. The young widow, Catherine of 
 Arragon, had brought a very large fortune with 
 her to England ; and the old king, Henry YII., 
 did not wish to let the money go out of the coun- 
 trv, so he made a marriasje contract between her 
 and his second son, Henry, in June, 1502, just 
 three months after her husband's death. Henry 
 was only fourteen when this contract was made ; 
 and by his father's advice, he made a secret pro- 
 test against it, so that if he wished he might 
 refuse to marry Catherine when he came of age. 
 Thus you will see the poor young widow was 
 treated very treacherously. Henry did not be- 
 come king for seven years after, and then he was 
 free to choose whether he would abide by the con- 
 tract or not. He chose, however, to marry Cathe- 
 
INFLUENCE OF ANNE BOLEYN. 197 
 
 rine, and they were crowned afterwards with great 
 splendour, June 24, 1509. 
 
 For several years Henry was very popular with 
 his subjects. The English arms were victorious in 
 many engagements in France and Scotland ; and 
 all promised a long, prosperous, and compara- 
 tively peaceful reign. Henry had one daughter 
 by Catherine, named Mary, who was afterwards 
 Queen of England. He lived, to all appearance, 
 very happily and contentedly with his wife, until 
 the year 1526. About this time a lady named 
 Anne Boleyn came to court as maid of honour to 
 the queen. This lady was very beautiful, very 
 vain, and very ambitious. She began to have 
 great influence with the king, and when he found 
 that she had been engaged to Lord Percy, he in- 
 sisted that the engagement should be broken off. 
 She was willing enough to be the king's mistress, 
 but she determined if possible to be his queen 
 also, and used every effort to attain her end. 
 There are always plenty of flatterers round a 
 prince ready to urge him on to evil, and to help 
 him in every way to attain his ends, whatever 
 they may be; such persons hoping to advance 
 their interests by making themselves useful to 
 their master. It cannot be known for certain 
 now whether it was Henry himself or one of his 
 bad advisers who suggested that he should get a 
 divorce. It matters but little from whom the susr- 
 gestion came, for Henry was only too ready to act 
 upon it. 
 
198 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Henry was at this time a Catholic, at least in 
 name ; but it should be remembered, and remem- 
 bered carefully, that when a man sets the com- 
 mands of God and the Church at defiance by living 
 in constant sin and absenting himself from the 
 sacraments, he becomes in great danger of losing 
 his faith. God may withdraw that great grace 
 from him if he proves himself unworthy of it. 
 Henry probably knew this very well; he was 
 clever and, it would appear, highly educated. He 
 had even defended the Holy See against the attacks 
 of Martin Luther, and wrote a work on the Seven 
 Sacraments, which he published in 1521, and for 
 which he obtained the title of Defender of the 
 Faith. But while he was himself despising and 
 contemning the sacraments, it was little use for 
 him to write in their defence. How Httle he 
 really cared for the sacraments is shown by the 
 way in which he violated the solemn engagements 
 of the Sacrament of Matrimony. 
 
 His object now was to get rid of his wife quietly, 
 and to marry Anne Boleyn. But in order to do 
 this he wanted a dispensation from the Holy See. 
 He had already got a dispensation to marry 
 Catherine, although it was believed that her 
 marriage with his brother Arthur had never been 
 consummated, this dispensation was necessary, as 
 she was legally his sister-in-law. Now, however, 
 he pretended that his conscience would not allow 
 him to live with her any longer ; and this was the 
 
HENRY SEEKS FOR A DIVORCE. 199 
 
 excuse he made to the Pope for wanting the dis- 
 pensation. His conscience, however, did not 
 prevent him from living with Anne Boleyn for 
 three years before he married her ; and her child, 
 afterwards Queen Elizabeth, was in consequence 
 illegitimate. 
 
 It is probable the Pope was very well aware of 
 the whole state of affairs. But Henry knew that he 
 was a very powerful monarch, and he thought to 
 frighten the Pope into complying with his desires. 
 He had yet to learn that Popes can neither be 
 frightened nor cajoled, and that they would give 
 up their lives and their liberties, were it possible, 
 fifty times over, sooner than yield to the wicked 
 will of any king or prince. 
 
 The Pope, however, very ^visely sent a legate to 
 England to inquire into the matter, as this mark 
 of respect was due to Henry. But the Pope's ad- 
 visers saw plainly the great injustice of the whole 
 proceeding, and that Henry only wished to gratify 
 his passions. Cardinal Wolsey died soon after, 
 and the Pope's legate found that he had only been 
 summoned to England to give judgment in the 
 king's favour, and that if he refused to do it, the 
 king was determined to take his own course. 
 Still, be it remembered, Henry was a professing 
 Catholic. If the Pope had given him a dispensa- 
 tion to commit sin, as so many Protestants 
 ignorantly think that popes and priests can do, 
 he would certainly have remained a Catholic. The 
 
200 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Pope knew very well what would be likely to hap- 
 pen. Already many German princes had become 
 Protestants, and followed Martin Luther's example 
 of profligacy ; but even to save the whole kingdom 
 of England from becoming Protestant the Pope 
 would not sanction sin. All this, you must re- 
 member, is not my opinion, or my view of the 
 Reformation ; it is a matter of History ; and it is 
 a subject with which every Irishman should be 
 very fully acquainted. 
 
 After Wolsey's death, Henry got a new adviser, 
 a man named Cromwell, whom you must not con- 
 found with the cruel and infamous Oliver Crom- 
 well, who devastated Ireland many years after. 
 This Cromwell was a follower of Anne Boleyn's 
 family, and of course anxious that she should be- 
 come queen. He had spent a long time on the 
 continent, where he served as a common soldier, and 
 he had learned the new doctrines taught by Martin 
 Luther and his followers. He now came to the 
 assistance of Henry, and suggested that he should 
 set the Pope at defiance, that he should declare 
 himself head of the Church, and then as head of 
 the Church, he could legalize the sin which the 
 Pope's authority would not allow. Henry at once 
 acted on the advice ; it flattered his vanity to place 
 himself, as far as he could, in the position of the 
 Pope in England, and he was 'very anxious to get 
 rid of his wife. Cromwell was ordered to make 
 the necessary arrangements, which may be simply 
 
PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE CLERGY. 201 
 
 explained thus. The English kings, though some 
 of them had been really good CathoHcs, were always 
 anxious for an increase of power, and particularly 
 wished to get some kind of power over the bishops 
 and clergy. They had made laws at different times 
 to try and effect this object. One of these laws 
 was called the statute of prmmunire. This statute 
 made it necessary, under certain circumstances, for 
 ecclesiastics to obtain a patent from the crown 
 before exercising the office of Papal legate. 
 
 When Cardinal Wolsey was appointed Papal 
 legate he was granted this patent to enable him to 
 exercise his office, but when Henry turned against 
 him he had him accused of having accepted the 
 office without obtaining the necessary permission. 
 Of course, this permission had nothing whatever to 
 do with the spiritual power of ecclesiastics ; for no 
 English king, however wicked, thought of assuming 
 to himself any spiritual power until Henry VHI. 
 made himself head of the Church. Wolsey pleaded 
 guilty of the crime against the State, although he 
 knew very well that he was not guilty, but he 
 thought that by pleading guilty the king would 
 have mercy on him. Henry, however, was too 
 cruel and too selfish to show him any considera- 
 tion. The Cardinal was now dead, and Henry, or 
 his minister Cromwell, thought of this very clever 
 plan to attain his wicked ends. He now proceeded 
 to charge the clergy with having recognised Wol- 
 sey's authority, and thus infringed the statute. 
 
202 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 But you will remember that as Wolsey had not 
 been guilty of this oifence against the law of the 
 land, they were not guilty. This, however, was 
 nothing to the king, and the unfortunate clergy 
 knew but too well with whom they had to deal. 
 
 The clergy at once consulted together, and offered 
 the king the enormous sum of one hundred thou- 
 sand pounds, if he would forgive their pretended 
 offence. It would have been far better had they 
 firmly resisted the king, and had they united in 
 doing so, they would probably have carried the day. 
 The king graciously accepted the offer, but refused 
 to forgive the clergy unless they introduced a clause 
 into the preamble of their grant, acknowledging 
 him as " the protector and only supreme head of 
 the Church and clergy of England." The clergy 
 were not a little astonished at this demand ; they 
 did not know, then, that it was the real object 
 which Henry had in prosecuting them, and they 
 probably never foresaw, or even suspected, the 
 fearful consequences which the admission of his claim 
 would involve. The clergy debated the matter for 
 three days in convocation, and at last agreed to do 
 what the king wished, provided he would allow 
 them to insert the clause " in so far as the law of 
 Christ will allow." This, of course, quite did 
 away with the meaning intended by the king in 
 his clause ; for both the clergy and the king knew 
 very well that Christ's law had made St. Peter 
 and the Popes, his successors, the_ heads of his 
 
HENRY CLAIMS SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 203 
 
 Church, and that this place and authority could 
 never be given to any king or prince, or layman. 
 
 The king, however, accepted the money and the 
 clause. He feared to press the clergy too far, and 
 hoped that the clause, even as it stood, would be- 
 come generally known amongst the people of Eng- 
 land, and that they would get used to the idea of 
 his being called the head of the Church. This, 
 then, was the commencement of what has been so 
 foolishly called the "Glorious Eeformation" in 
 England. The king, Henry YIH., wished to get 
 rid of his lawful wife, and to make Anne Boleyn 
 his queen, a bad woman, by whom he had a child 
 before he made even the pretence of marrying her. 
 The Pope would not give his consent to the 
 king's committing this sin, and when Henry could 
 not get the Pope's consent, either by bribes or 
 threats, he was determined to commit the sin, and 
 made himself Pope, as far as he could do so, that 
 he might be at liberty to commit sin. Surely Pro- 
 testants have no cause for being proud of a religion 
 which commenced in such a disgraceful manner. 
 But it must be remembered that although Henry 
 made himself head of the Church to legalize his sin, 
 he did not as yet wish to renounce all the articles 
 of the Holy Catholic Faith. He went on in sin and 
 in heresy step by step. Mass was still said, and 
 the sacraments administered in England, and the 
 English people had not yet formally renounced the 
 Faith of the one True Church. 
 
204 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 In the year 1532 AVareliam the last Catholic 
 Archbishop of Canterbury died, worn out by 
 the troubles of the times, and grief at the national 
 apostasy even then impending. Henry knew that 
 a great deal depended on whom he put into his place, 
 and he found a man exactly suited to his purpose. 
 This man, Thomas Cranmer, of whom English 
 Protestants are so proud, and whom they consider 
 justly the great promoter of the Protestant Re- 
 formation in England. But if they knew more 
 about this wretched man, and his real character, 
 they would be ashamed of him and of his re- 
 ligion. This man, like Cromwell, had been a de- 
 pendant on the Boleyn family, and got himself 
 into power by encouraging her adultery with the 
 king. How then could he be fit, even if guilty 
 of no other crime, for the awful and solemn 
 charge of guiding and teaching the church of God. 
 But there was worse still. His friend and com- 
 panion, Cromwell, made no pretence of religion; 
 his religion was to get himself on in the world. 
 But Cranmer was always canting about his con- 
 science, and boasting of his piety. He gave a 
 fine specimen of both when he was made Arch- 
 bishop ; for he swore inviolable fidelity to the Holy 
 See, although he knew perfectly well that Henry 
 got him consecrated Archbishop that he might 
 overturn the power of the Pope in England. 
 
 This is no mere statement of mine ; if it were, it 
 would not be history, and I am now writing a 
 
CRANMEE'S SUBSERVIENCy. 205 
 
 history, and not opinions. On the morning of the 
 day on which Cranmer was consecrated he called 
 four witnesses, unprincipled men like himself, into 
 St. Stephen's chapel, and there declared that he 
 did not intend to keep the oath he was about to 
 make. He then went and celebrated the Holy 
 Sacrifice of the Mass, although he did not believe 
 in it, for he was at heart a follower of Martin 
 Luther, and all this time he was privately married, 
 although the king knew nothing of it. Had the 
 king known it, probably he would not have had 
 Cranmer made an Archbishop ; for though he liked 
 to be free to commit sin himself, he did not wish 
 the clergy to do it, unless in some special mattei 
 where his own personal convenience was concerned. 
 
 Cranmer was now fairly afloat on the ocean of 
 duplicity, and he continued his career until his 
 death. Afortnio-ht after his consecration he wrote 
 a letter to the king, calling on him " for the good 
 of his soul" to grant him his royal license to 
 examine the question of his marriage. 
 
 This, then, is a true, though somewhat severe, 
 account of the origin of the Church by law estab- 
 lished. These proceedings hastened the decision of 
 the Holy See; and on the 20th of March, 1534, 
 the sentence was pronounced, which declared the 
 marriage with Catherine to be valid and indis- 
 soluble, and charged the king to restore her to 
 her rights, under pain of excommunication. But 
 when that sentence reached the court, England 
 
206 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 had been already severed from the communion of 
 tlie Church. Acts of Parliament had been passed 
 by which all jurisdiction in spiritual things was 
 transferred from the Holy See to the Crown ; the 
 king was formally declared the only supreme head 
 of the Church of England ; and his subjects were 
 called on to acknowledge his supremacy and the 
 lawfulness of his late marriage, under the penalties 
 attached to treason. " In the course of one short 
 session," says Lingard, " the whole papal power 
 was swept away." If the reader ask how such 
 measures could have been made into laws, we can 
 only reply that Cromwell prepared the bill, and 
 that the houses of Parliament passed them. Re- 
 sistance to the royal will was a thing they never 
 dared to dream of j and one man alone, of all the 
 lords spiritual, refused to take the oaths. This 
 was John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester — a name 
 which no Catholic can pronounce but with senti- 
 ments of the profoundest veneration. 
 
 Those who would not submit to the king's 
 assumed spiritual authority paid for their loyalty 
 to the Catholic faith by the sacrifice of their lives. 
 Amongst the most illustrious victims were Sir 
 Thomas More, and Bishop Fisher. They were ex- 
 ecuted in 1535, simply and solely for denying the 
 king's supremacy in religious matters. 
 
 As the king had put himself in the place of the 
 Pope, he was obliged to appoint a Vicar-General, 
 and he gave this office to Cromwell. The next 
 
SUPPRESSION OF MONASTERIES. 207 
 
 move of these worthies was to suppress the monas- 
 teries, and to get possession of all the money which 
 the good monks and nuns had distributed so freely 
 to the poor. Of course the king was determined 
 to establish the new religion firmly in England 
 before he attempted to do anything in Ireland. He 
 probably cared very little what the Irish said or 
 thought about it, but there were monasteries and 
 convents in Ireland also, and he could not rob 
 them of their property without some excuse. 
 
 The Irish parliament which was composed solely 
 of persons whom the English government had 
 permitted to be elected, were sure to do exactly 
 what the English government wished. Hence 
 they were quite ready to imitate the English par- 
 liament by declaring the king's marriage with 
 Catherine of Arragon null and void, and by sanc- 
 tioning his marriage 'vvith Anne Boleyn. All this 
 was done in the year 1536. 
 
 But Henry soon found that there was something 
 more than mere Acts of Parliament necessary in 
 order to establish the new religion in faithful 
 Catholic Ireland. He therefore looked out for 
 some apostate priest who might do for Ireland 
 what the wicked Cranmer had done for England. 
 He found the kind of man he wanted, but he 
 found also that no amount of persecution or 
 bribery would induce the Irish to become Pro- 
 testants. A few persons here and there might be 
 tempted to renounce the old faith, sooner than 
 
208 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND, 
 suffer death, or lose their temporal possessions, 
 
 but, AS A NATION, THE IRISH PEOPLE ALWAYS 
 HAVE, AND PLEASE GOD ALWAYS WILL REMAIN 
 TRUE TO THE ONE HOLY CATHOLIC EAITH. 
 
 The person selected by Henry VIII. for the very 
 useless attempt of trying to make Protestants of 
 the Irish was an apostate priest named Browne. 
 He had been Archbishop Cranmer's secretary, and 
 was also a great friend of Cromwell's. Early in 
 March 1535, he was appointed by Henry YIIL, 
 Archbishop of Dublin, and he was consecrated by 
 Cranmer. Thus a wicked king, who had made 
 himself head of the Church, took upon himself to 
 appoint bishops, and a still more wicked arch- 
 bishop, who pretended to be a Catholic, while in 
 private he declared himself a Protestant, took 
 upon himself to* ordain the new prelate, of course 
 having no other authority to do so except what he 
 could get from Henry VIII. Dr. Browne knew 
 all this very well, and never made any pretence of 
 having any divine authority for his office. So 
 far at least he was honest. He knew well enough 
 that he was no successor of St. Patrick, and no 
 true son of the one holy Catholic Church, yet from 
 him, and from this sole and single will of the pro- 
 fligate monarch, Henry VIII., all the Protestant 
 clergy of Ireland derive their sole authority. 
 
 Indeed Henry took very good care there should 
 be no mistake about the matter. A letter of his 
 to this same Dr. Browne is still in existence, and 
 
HENRY'S LETTER TO ARCHBISHOP BROWN. 209 
 
 in this letter he thus issues his royal commands and 
 declares his royal opinion : 
 
 " Do then your duty towards us in the advance- 
 ment of our affairs there, and in the signifaction 
 hither, from time to time, of the state of the same, 
 and we shall put your former negligence in oblivion. 
 If this will not serve to induce you to it, but that 
 you will still persevere in your fond folly and un- 
 grateful ungentleness, that you cannot remember 
 what we have done, and how much above many 
 others you be bound in all the points before touched, 
 to do your duty ; let it sink into your remembrance 
 that we be as able for the not doing thereof, to 
 remove you again, and to put another man of more 
 virtue and honesty in your place, both for our dis- 
 charge against God, and for the comfort of our good 
 subjects there ; as we were at the beginning to pre- 
 fer you, upon hope that you would in the same do 
 your office, as to your profession and our opinion 
 conceived of you appertaineth." 
 
 Soon after his arrival in Ireland, Dr. Browne 
 received a formal letter from Lord Cromwell, 
 acquainting him with " the royal will and pleasure 
 of his Majesty ; that his subjects in Ireland, even 
 as those of England, should obey his commands in 
 spiritual matters as in temporal, and renounce their 
 allegiance to the See of Rome." 
 
 The Irish people, however, were not so very 
 
 obliging, and had no idea whatever of renouncing 
 
 their allegiance to the See of Rome, and so the 
 
 o 
 
210 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 unfortunate prelate who wished very much both to 
 please Henry VIII. and to keep his archbishopric, 
 found himself in a very unpleasant position, and 
 he writes thus to his great patron, Cromwell. 
 
 *' My most honoured Lord, — Your humble ser- 
 vant, receiving your mandate as one of his high- 
 ness's commissioners, hath endeavoured, almost to 
 the danger and hazard of his temporal life to 
 procure the nobility and gentry of this nation to 
 due obedience, in owning of this highness their 
 supreme head as well spiritual as temporal, and do 
 find much oppugning therein, especially by my 
 brother, Armagh, who hath been the main op 
 pugner, and so hath withdrawn most of his suffra- 
 gans and clergy within his see and jurisdiction. 
 He made a speech to them, laying a curse on the 
 people whosoever should own his highness's supre- 
 macy, saying that isle — as it is in their Irish 
 chronicles — ^insula sacra, belongs to none but the 
 Eishop of Eome, and that it was the Bishop of 
 Rome that gave it to the Idng's ancestors. There 
 be two messengers, by the priests of Armagh and 
 by that archbishop, now lately sent to the Bishop 
 of Eome. Your lordship may inform his highness 
 that it is convenient to call a parliament in his 
 nation, to pass the supremacy by act ; for they do not 
 much matter his highness's commission, which your 
 lordship sent us over. This island hath been for 
 a long time held in ignorance by the Eomish orders. 
 The common people of this isle are more zealous in 
 
PERSECUTION OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 211 
 
 their blindness than the saints and martyrs were in 
 truth, at the beginning of the gospel. I send to 
 you, my very good lord, these things, that your 
 lordship and his highness may consult what is to 
 be done. It is feared O'Neill will be ordered by 
 the Bishop of Rome to oppose your lordship's order 
 from the king's highness, for the natives are very 
 much in numbers within his powers. I do pray 
 the Lord Christ to defend your lordship from your 
 enemies. — Dublin, 4th Kal. Dec, 1535." 
 
 As it was now found the Irish people would not 
 apostatize, the most cruel persecutions commenced, 
 and every religious order in Ireland, Franciscans, 
 Dominicans, and Augustinians, sent numbers of 
 holy souls to join the royal army of martyrs in 
 heaven. It will be impossible here to give details 
 of all their martyrdoms, and of the fidelity and 
 generosity of the Irish, where all, with but few 
 exceptions, from the highest in the land to the 
 very poorest, were willing to lay down their lives 
 cheerfully for the faith which had been taught them 
 by their glorious apostle, St. Patrick. I refer 
 those who wish for further information to the 
 Illustrated History of Ireland. 
 
 The reformers now began to upbraid each other 
 with the very crimes of which thej^ had accused 
 the clergy in England, When mention is made of 
 the immense sums of money which were obtained 
 by the confiscation of religious houses at tliis 
 period, it has been commonly and naturally sup 
 
212 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 posed, that the religious were possessors of im- 
 mense wealth, which they hoarded up for their 
 own benefit; and although each person made a 
 vow of poverty, it is thought that what was pos- 
 sessed collectively, was enjoyed individually. But 
 this false impression arises from a mistaken idea of 
 a monastic life, and from a misapprehension as to 
 the kind of property possessed by the religious. 
 
 A brief account of some of the property for- 
 feited in Ireland, will explain this important 
 matter. We do not find in any instance that reli- 
 gious communities had large funds of money. If 
 they had extensive tracts of land, they were rather 
 the property of the poor, who farmed them, than of 
 the friars, who held them in trust. Any profit they 
 produced made no addition to the fare or the 
 clothing of the religious, for both fare and clothing 
 were regulated by certain rules framed by the 
 original founders, and which could not be altered. 
 These rules invariably required the use of the 
 plainest diet and of the coarsest habits. A consi- 
 derable portion — indeed, by far the most consi- 
 derable portion — of conventual wealth, consisted 
 in the sacred A^essels and ornaments. These had 
 been bestowed on the monastic churches by bene- 
 factors, who considered that what was used in the 
 service of God should be the best which man could 
 offer. The monk was none the richer if he offered 
 the sacrifice to the Eternal Majesty, each morning 
 in a chalice of gold, encrusted with the most pre- 
 
I'LUNDER OV THE CHURCHES IN IRELAND. 213 
 
 cious jewels ; but if it were right and fitting to 
 present that chalice to God for the service of his 
 Divine Majesty, who shall estimate the guilt of 
 those who presumed to take the gift from Him to 
 whom it had been given 1 We know how terrible 
 was the judgment which came upon a heathen 
 monarch who dared to use the vessels which had 
 belonged to the Jewish Temple, and we may well 
 believe that a still more terrible judgment is pre- 
 pared for those who desecrate Christian churches, 
 and that it will be none the less sure because, 
 under the new dispensation of mercy, it comes less 
 swiftly. 
 
 All the gold and silver plate, jewels, ornaments, 
 lead, bells, &c., were reserved by special command 
 for the king's use. The church-lands were sold to 
 the highest bidder, or bestowed as a reward on 
 those who had helped to enrich the royal coffers 
 by sacrilege. Amongst the records of the sums 
 thus obtained, we find £326 2s. lid., the price of 
 divers pieces of gold and silver, of precious stones, 
 silver ornaments, &c. ; also £20, the price of 
 1,000 lbs. of wax. The sum of £1,710 2s. was 
 realized from the sale of sacred vessels belonging 
 to thirty-nine monastries. The profits on the spo- 
 liation of St. Mary's Dublin, realized £385. The 
 destruction of the Collegiate Church of St. Patrick 
 must have procured an enormous profit, as we find 
 that Cromwell received £60 for his pains in eff'ect- 
 ing the same. It should also be remembered that 
 
214 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the value of a penny then was equal to the value 
 of a shilling now, so that we should multiply 
 these sums at least by ten to obtain an approxi- 
 mate idea of the extent of this wholesale robbery. 
 The spoilers now began to quarrel over the 
 spoils. The most active or the most favoured re- 
 ceived the largest share ; and Dr. Browne grumbled 
 loudly at not obtaining all he asked for. But we 
 have not space to pursue the disedifying history of 
 their quarrels. The next step was to accuse each 
 other. In the report of the Commissioners ap- 
 pointed in 1538 to examine into the state of the 
 country, we find complaints made of the exaction 
 of undue fees, extortions for baptisms and mar- 
 riages, &c. They also (though this was not made 
 an accusation by the Commissioners) received the 
 fruits of benefices in which they did not officiate, 
 and they Avere accused of taking wives and dis- 
 pensing with the sacrament of matrimony. The 
 king, whatever personal views he might have on 
 this subject, expected his clergy to live virtuously; 
 and in 1542 he wrote to the Lord Deputy, requir- 
 ing an Act to be passed " for the continency of the 
 clergy," and some " reasonable plan to be devised 
 for the avoiding of sin." However, neither the 
 Act nor the reasonable plan appears to have suc- 
 ceeded. In 1545 Dr. Browne writes: "Here 
 reigneth insatiable ambition; here reigneth con- 
 tinually coigne and livery, and callid extortion." 
 Five years later, Sir Anthony St. Leger, after 
 
PROTESTANT BISHOPS ACCUSE EACH OTHEE. 215 
 
 piteous complaints of the deccay of piety and the 
 increase of immorality, epitomizes the state of the 
 country thus : " I never saw the land so far out o^ 
 good order," Pages might he filled with such 
 details ; but the subject shall be dismissed -with a 
 brief notice of the three props of the Reformation 
 and the king's supremacy in Ireland. These were 
 Dr. Browne of Dublin, Dr. Staples of Meath, and 
 Dr. Bale of Ossory. The latter, writing of the 
 former in 1553, excuses the corruption of his own 
 reformed clergy, by stating that " they would at 
 no hand obey; alleging for their vain and idle 
 excuse, the lewd example of the Archbishop of 
 Dublin, who was always slack in things pertaining 
 to God's glory." He calls him *' an epicurious arch- 
 bishop, a brocldsh srnne, and a dissembling prose- 
 lyte," and accuses him in plain terms of " drunken- 
 ness and gluttony." Dr. Browne accuses Dr. Staples 
 of having preached in such a manner, "as I think 
 the three-mouthed Cerberus of hell could not have 
 uttered it more viperously." And Dr. Mant, the 
 Protestant panegyrist of the Beformation and the 
 Eeformers, admits that Dr. Bale was guilty of " un- 
 common warmth of temperament" — a polite appel-. 
 lation for a most violent temper ; and of " unbe- 
 coming coarseness" — a delicate definement of a 
 profligate life. His antecedents were not very 
 creditable. After flying from his convent in England, 
 lie was imprisoned for preaching sedition in York 
 and London. He obtained his release by professing 
 
216 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 conformity to the new creed. He eventually 
 retired to Canterbury, after his expulsion from 
 Kilkenny by the Catholics, and there he died, in 
 1563. 
 
 CHAPTER XHI. 
 
 The Insurrection of Silken Thomas— Joy of the Irisli attli^ 
 Accession of Queen Mary — Accession of Queen Eliza- 
 beth—Martyrs during her Reign— Shane O'Neill— Help 
 obtained from Si>ain— Failure of this attempt for Free- 
 dom—O'Neill's Insurrection— The Siege of Dunboy. 
 
 We must now return to secular history. In 1537. 
 the English tried to bribe the Irish chieftains into 
 submission to their rule by making O'Conor Faly 
 a baron, thinking that Irishmen would so hate him 
 afterwards, that he would be forsaken by them and 
 obliged to persevere in allegiance to the Saxon. 
 But the plan failed, for O'Brien, Caber's brother, 
 expelled the new-made lord and took possession of 
 his territory. In 1538 there was a great Geraldine 
 league formed by the O'Neill's, O'Donnell's, O'Briens, 
 O'Eourkes, and the Earl of Desmond, but they 
 failed to effect any good for their oppressed 
 country, simply and solely from their want of 
 unanimity of purpose. It does, indeed, seem as if 
 Irishmen never would, and never could learn the 
 most important of all lessons for the oppressed, to 
 meet in vigorous unity against the oppressor. 
 On the 1st of July, 1643, Murrough O'Brien was 
 
?0IS0KING THE EARL OP OHMONDE. 217 
 
 cfeated Earl of Thomond and Baron of Incliiquin ; 
 and De Burgo, known by the soubriquet of Ulich- 
 na-gceann (" of the heads"), from the number of 
 persons whom he decapitated in his wars, was 
 created Earl of Clanrickarde and Baron of Dun- 
 kellin. These titles were conferred by the king, 
 with great pomp, at Greenwich ; but the Irish chief- 
 tains paid for the honour, if honour it could be 
 called whrere honour was forfeited, by acknowledg- 
 ing the royal supremacy. 
 
 The Four Masters record the followins^ events 
 under the year 1545 : — A dispute between the Earl 
 of Ormonde and the Lord Justice. Both repaired 
 to the King of England to decide the quarrel, and 
 both swore that only one of them should return to 
 Ireland. " And so it fell out ; for the Earl died in 
 England, and the Lord Justice returned to Ireland." 
 Sir Eichard Cox asserts that the Earl and thirty- 
 five of his servants were poisoned, at a feast at Ely 
 House, Holborn, and that he and sixteen of them 
 died ; but he does not mention any cause for this 
 tragedy. It was probably accidental, as the Earl 
 was a favourer of the reformed religion, and not 
 likely to meet with treachery in England. The 
 Irish annalists do not even allude to the catas- 
 trophe; the Four Masters merely observe, that "he 
 would have been lamented, were it not that he 
 had greatly injured the Church by advice of the 
 heretics." 
 
 Great dearth prevailed this year, so that sixpence 
 
218 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 of the old money was given for a cake of bread in 
 Connauglit, or six white pence in Meath. 
 
 In 1546 they mention a rising of the Geraldines, 
 " which did indescribable damages ; and two inva- 
 sions of the Lord Justice in Offaly, who plundered 
 and spoiled^ burning churches and monasteries, 
 crops and corn. They also mention the introduc- 
 tion of a new copper coin into Ireland, which the 
 men of Ireland were obliged to use as silver. 
 
 The immense sums which Henry had accumulated 
 by the plunder of religious houses, appear to' have 
 melted away, like snow-wreaths in sunshine, long 
 before the conclusion of his reign. His French 
 and Scotch wars undoubtedly exhausted large sup- 
 plies ; liis mistresses made large demands for their 
 pleasures and their needy friends ; yet there should 
 have been enough, and to spare, for all these claims. 
 
 Yet in 1545 a benevolence was demanded, though 
 benevolences had been declared illegal by Act of 
 Parliament. This method of raising money had 
 been attempted at an early period of this reign ; 
 but the proposal met with such sphited opposition 
 fi-om the people, that even royalty was compelled 
 to yield. A few years later, when the fatal result 
 of opposition to the monarch's will and pleasure had 
 become apparent, he had only to ask and obtain. 
 Yet neither per-centage, nor tenths, nor sacrilegious 
 spoils, sufficed to meet his expenses : and, as a last 
 expedient, the coin was debased, and irreparable 
 injury inflicted on the country. 
 
EDWAED VI. CROWNED KING. 219 
 
 On the 28th of January, 1547, Edward VI. was 
 crowned King of England. The Council of Eegency 
 appointed by Henry was set aside, and Seymour, 
 Duke of Somerset, appointed himself Protector. St. 
 Leger was continued in the office of Lord Deputy 
 in Ireland ; but Sir Edward Bellingham was sent 
 over as Captain-General, with a considerable force, 
 to quell the ever-recurring disturbances. His ener- 
 getic character bore down all opposition, as much 
 by the sheer strength of a strong will as by force 
 of arms. In 1549 the Earl of Desmond refused to 
 attend a Council in Dublin, on the plea that he 
 wished to keep Christmas in his own castle. Bel- 
 lingham, who had now replaced St. Leger as Lord 
 Deputy, set out at once, with a small party of 
 horse, for the residence of the refractory noble, 
 seized him as he sat by his own fire-side, and 
 carried him off in triumph to Dublin. 
 
 In 1551 the Lord Deputy, Crofts, who suc- 
 ceeded Sir Thomas Cusack, led an army into Ulster 
 against the Scotch settlers, who had long been 
 regarded with a jealous eye by the English Go- 
 vernment j but he was defeated both at this time 
 and on a subsequent occasion. No Parliament 
 was convened during this short reign, and the 
 affairs of the country were administered by the 
 Privy Council. 
 
 The most important native chieftain of the age 
 was Shane O'Neil. His father, surnamed Con 
 Baccagh (" the lame") had procured the title of 
 
220 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Baron of Dungannoii, and the entail of the earldom 
 of Tyrone, from Henry YIL, for his illegitimate 
 son, Ferdoragh. He now wished to alter this 
 arrangement ; but the ungrateful youth made such 
 charges against the old man, that he was seized 
 and imprisoned by the Deputy. After his death, 
 Shane contended bravely for his rights. The 
 French appear to have made some attempt about 
 this period to obtain allies in Ireland, but the 
 peace which ensued between that country and 
 England soon terminated such intrigues. 
 
 AH efforts to establish the new religion during 
 this reign were equally unsuccessful. On Easter 
 Sunday, A.D. 1551, the liturgy was read for the 
 first time in the English tongue, in Christ Church 
 Cathedral. As a reward for his energy in intro- 
 ducing the reform in general, and the liturgy in 
 particular, Edward VI. annexed the primacy of 
 all Ireland to the See of Dubhn by Act of Par- 
 liament. There was one insuperable obstacle, 
 however, in the way of using the English tongue, 
 which was simply that the people did not under- 
 stand it. Even the descendants of the Anglo- 
 Normans were more familiar with the Celtic dialect, 
 and some attempt was made at this time to procure 
 a Latin translation of the Protestant communion 
 service. 
 
 Dr. Dowdall had been appointed, in 1543, to 
 the primatial See of Armagh, by Henry YIIL, 
 who naturally hoped he would prove a ready in- 
 
QUEEN IMAPvY. 221 
 
 strument in his service ; but, to the surprise of 
 the court, he put liimself at the head of the 
 CathoKc party, and was one of the most faithful 
 opposers of the introduction of the Protestant form 
 of prayer. 
 
 Mary succeeded to the crown in 1553. A Pro- 
 testant writer explains the difference between the 
 religious persecutions of her reign, and those which 
 occurred during the reign of Henry VIII., with 
 admirable discrimination and impartiality. " The 
 religious persecutions %hich prevailed in this reign 
 proceeded altogether from a different cause from 
 that which stands as an everlasting blot on the 
 memory of Henry VIII. In Henry's instance, 
 people were tortured and murdered in the name 
 of religion, but the real cause was their opposition 
 to the will of an arbitrary tyrant ; whereas those 
 who suffered under Mary, were martyred because 
 the Queen conscientiously believed in those princi- 
 ples to which she clung with such pertinacity." 
 One of the principal of these victims was Arch- 
 bishop Cranmer, who had already caused several 
 persons to suffer in the flames for differing from 
 his opinions, and thus almost merited his fate. 
 It is a curious fact that several Protestants came 
 to Ireland during this reign, and settled in Dublin ; 
 they were subsequently the founders of respectable 
 mercantile families. 
 
 Although the English people had adopted the 
 reformed religion nationally, there were still a few 
 
222 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND, 
 
 persons whom neither favour nor indifference could 
 induce to renounce the ancient faith; and this brief 
 respite from persecution tended to confirm and 
 strengthen those who wavered. In Ireland, always 
 Catholic, the joy was unbounded. Archbishop 
 Dowdall immediately prepared to hold a provincial 
 synod at Drogheda, where enactments were made 
 for depriving the conforming prelates and priests. 
 Happily their number were so few that there was 
 but little difficulty in making the necessary arrange- 
 ments. The only prelates that were removed were 
 Browne, of Dublin ; Staples of Meath ; Lancaster, 
 of Kildare ; and Travers of Leighlin. Goodacre 
 died a few months after his intrusion into the See 
 of Armagh ; Bale of Ossory, fled beyond the seas ; 
 Casey, of Limerick, followed his example. All 
 were English except the latter, and all, except 
 Staples, were professing Protestants at the time of 
 their appointment to their respective sees. Bale, 
 who owed the Kilkenny people a grudge, for the 
 indignant reception with which they greeted him 
 on his intrusion into the see, gives a graphic account 
 of the joy with which the news of Edward's death 
 was received. The people " flung up their caps to 
 the battlements of the great temple ;" set the 
 bells ringing ; brought out incense and holy water, 
 and formed once more a Catholic procession, chant- 
 ing the Sanda 3faria, ora loro nobis, as of old. In 
 fact, " on the accession of Mary to the throne, so 
 little had been done in the interest of the Refor- 
 
KILDAEE'S FAMILY EEINSTATED. 223 
 
 mation, that there was httle or nothing to undo. 
 She issued a license for the celebration of Mass in 
 Ireland, where no other service was, or had been 
 celebrated worth mentioning, and where no other 
 supreme head had been ever in earnest acknow- 
 ledged but the Pope." 
 
 In the year 1553 Gerald and Edward, the sons 
 of the late Earl of Kildare, returned from exile, 
 and were restored to the family honours and 
 possessions. The Four Masters say that " there 
 was great rejoicing because of their arrival, for 
 it was thought that not one of the decendants of 
 the Earls of Kildare or of the O'Connors Faly 
 would ever again come to Ireland." They also 
 mention that Margaret, daughter of O'Connor Faly, 
 went to England, " rel}dng on the number of her 
 friends and relatives there, and her knowledge of 
 the English language, to request Queen Mary to 
 restore her father to her." Her petition was 
 granted, but he was soon after seized again by the 
 English officials, and cast into prison. 
 
 Shane O'Neil made an unsuccessful attempt to 
 recover his paternal dominions, in 1557. The 
 following year his father died in captivity, in 
 Dublin, and he procured the murder of Ferdoragh, 
 so that he was able to obtain his wishes without 
 opposition. Elizabeth had now ascended the Eng- 
 lish throne (a.d. 1558), and, as usual, those in 
 power, who wished to retain office, made their 
 religion suit the views of the new ruler. The Earl 
 
224 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 of Sussex still continued Viceroy, and merely 
 reversed his previous acts. Sir Henry Sydney 
 also made his worldly intei'ests and his religious 
 views coincide. A Parliament was held in Dublin, 
 in 1560, on the 12th of January. It was com- 
 posed of seventy-six members, the representatives 
 of ten counties, the remainder being citizens and 
 burgesses of those towns in which the royal autho- 
 rity was predominant. " It is little wonder," ob- 
 serves Leland, " that, in despite of clamour and 
 opposition, in a session of a few weeks, the whole 
 ecclesiastical system of Queen Mary was entirely 
 reversed." Every subject connected with this 
 assembly and its enactments demands the most 
 careful consideration, as it has been asserted by 
 some writers — who, however, have failed to giva 
 the proofs of their assertion — that the Irish Church 
 and nation conformed at this time to the Protestant 
 religion. This, certainly, was not the opinion of 
 the Government officials who were appointed by 
 royal authority to enforce the Act, and who would 
 have been only too happy could they have reported 
 success to their mistress. 
 
 A recent writer, whose love of justice has led 
 him to take a position in regard to Irish ecclesias- 
 tical history which has evoked unpleasant remarks 
 from those who are less honest, writes thus : — 
 " There was not even the show of free action in 
 the ordering of that parliament, nor the least pre- 
 tence that liberty of choice was to be given to it. 
 
THE PENAL LAWS ENFORCED. 225 
 
 Notwithstanding the solemn promise of the Lord 
 Deputy, the penal statutes against Catholics were 
 carried out. In 1563 the Earl of Essex issued a 
 proclamation, by which all priests, secular and 
 regular, were forbidden to officiate, or even to 
 reside in Dublin. Fines and penalties were 
 strictly enforced for absence from the Protestant 
 service; before long, torture and death were 
 inflicted. Priests and rehgious were, as might be 
 expected, the first victims. They were hunted into 
 mountams and caves ; and the parish churches and 
 few monastic chapels which had escaped the 
 rapacity of Henry YIII., were sacrificed to the sa' 
 crilegious emissaries of Elizabeth. Curry gives some 
 account of those who sufi'ered for the faith in this 
 reign. He says : " Among many other Roman 
 Catholic bishops and priests, who were put to 
 death, for the exercise of their function in Ireland, 
 Globy O'Boyle, Abbot of Boyle, and Owen O'Mul- 
 keran, Abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, 
 were hanged and quartered by Lord Grey, in 1580. 
 
 Dr. Adam Loftus, the Protestant Archbishop of 
 Armagh, was one of the most violent persecutors 
 of the Catholics. In his first report to the Queen, 
 dated May 17, 1565, he describes the nobility of 
 the Pale as all devoted to the ancient creed j and 
 he recommends that they should be fined " in a 
 good round sum," which should be paid to her 
 Majesty's use, and " sharply dealt withal." An 
 original method of conversion, certainly ! But it 
 
226 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 did not succeed. On the 22nd September, 1590, 
 after twenty-five years had been spent in the fruit- 
 less attempt to convert the Irish, he writes to Lord 
 Burleigh, detailing the causes of the general decay 
 of the Protestant religion in Ireland, and suggest- 
 ing " how the same may be remedied." He advises 
 that the ecclesiastical commission should be put in 
 force, " for the people are poor, and fear to be 
 fined." He requests that he and such commissioners 
 as are '' well affected in religion, may be permitted 
 to imprison and fine all such as are obstinate and 
 disobedient f and he has no doubt, that " within 
 a short time they will be reduced to good confor- 
 mity." He concludes : "And this course of reforma- 
 tion, the sooner it is begun the better it will prosper; 
 and the longer it is deferred, the more dangerous 
 it will be. " AVhen Catholics remember that such 
 words were written, and such deeds were enacted, 
 by the head of the Protestant Church in Ireland, 
 and sanctioned by the head of the Protestant 
 Church in England, they may surely be content to 
 allow modern controversialists the benefit of their 
 pleasant dream that Catholic bishops conformed. If 
 they had conformed to such doctrines and such 
 practices, it can scarcely be seen what advantage 
 the Anglican Establishment could gain from their 
 patronage. 
 
 Seven years later, when the same prelate found 
 that the more the Church was persecuted the more 
 she increased, he wrote to advise pacification : "The 
 
THE IRISH TRUE TO THEIR FAITH. 229 
 
 rebels are increased, and grown insolent. I see no 
 cure for this cursed country but pacification [he 
 could not help continuing], until, hereafter, when 
 the fury is passed, her Majesty may, with more 
 convenience, correct the heads of those traitors.'* 
 The prelate was ably seconded by the J^ord Deputy. 
 Even Sir John Perrot, who has the name of being 
 one of the most humane of these governors, could 
 not refrain from acts of cruelty where Catholics 
 were concerned. 
 
 Father Dominic a Eosario, the author of '' The 
 Geraldines," scarcely exceeded truth when he wrote 
 these memorable words : '' This far-famed Enghsh 
 Queen has grown drunk on the blood of Christ's 
 martyrs ; and, like a tigress, she has hunted down 
 our Irish Catholics, exceeding in ferocity and wan- 
 ton cruelty the emperors of pagan Rome." We shall 
 conclude this painful subject for the present -wdth 
 an extract from O'Sullivan Beare : " All alarm from 
 the Irish chieftains being ceased, the persecution 
 was renewed with all its horrors. A royal order 
 was promulgated, that all should renounce the 
 CathoUc faith, yield up the priests, receive from 
 the heretical minister the morality and tenets of 
 the Gospel. Threats, penalties, and force were to 
 be employed to enforce compliance. Every effort 
 of the Queen and her emissaries was directed to 
 despoil the Irish Catholics of their property, and 
 exterminate them. More than once did they 
 attempt this, for they knew that not otherwise 
 
230 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 could the Catholic religion be suppressed in our 
 island, unless hy the extermination of those in whose 
 hearts it was implanted; nor could their heretical 
 teachings be propagated, while the natives were 
 alive to detest and execrate them." 
 
 In 1561 Sussex returned from England with re- 
 inforcements for his array, and marched to Armagh, 
 where he established himself in the cathedral. 
 From thence he sent out a large body of troops to 
 plunder in Tyrone, but they were intercepted by the 
 redoubtable Shane O'Neill, and suffered so serious a 
 defeat as to alarm the inhabitants of the Pale, and 
 even the English nation. Fresh supplies of men 
 and arms were hastily despatched from England, 
 and the Earls of Desmond, Ormonde, Kildare, 
 Thomond, and Clanrickarde assembled round the 
 Viceregal standard to assist in suppressing the 
 formidable foe. And well might they fear the 
 lion-hearted chieftain ! A few years later, Sidney 
 describes him as the only strong man in Ireland. 
 The Queen was warned, that unless he were speedily 
 put down, she would lose Ireland, as her sister had 
 lost Calais. He had gained all Ulster by his sword, 
 and ruled therein ^Yith. a far stronger hand, 
 and on a far firmer foundation, than ever any 
 English monarch had obtained in any part of 
 Ireland. 
 
 As this man was too clever to be captured, and 
 too brave to be conquered, a plan was arranged, 
 with the full concurrence of the Queen, by which 
 
PROPOSAL TO 3MURDER SHANE O'NEILL. 231 
 
 he miglit be got rid of by poison or assassination. 
 Had sucb an assertion been made by the Irish an- 
 nalists, it would have been scouted as a calumny 
 on the character of '^ good Queen Bess 3" but the 
 evidence of her complicity is preserved in the re- 
 cords of the State Paper Office. I shall show 
 presently that attempts at assassination were a 
 common arrangement for the disposal of refractory 
 Irish chieftains during this reign. 
 
 The proposal for this diabolical treachery, and 
 the arrangements made for carrying it out, were 
 related by Sussex to the Queen. He writes thus : 
 **In fine, I brake with him to kill Shane, and bound 
 myself by my oath to see him have a hundred 
 marks of land to him and to his heirs for reward. 
 He seemed desirous to serve your Highness, and to 
 have the land, but fearful to do it, doubting his 
 own escape after. I told him the ways he might 
 do it, and how to escape after with safety ; which 
 he offered and promised to do." The Earl adds a 
 piece of information, which, no doubt, he com- 
 municated to the intended murderer, and which 
 probably decided him on making the attempt : " I 
 assure your Highness he may do it without danger 
 if he will j and if he will not do what he may in 
 your service, there will be done to him what others 
 may." 
 
 Her Majesty, however, had a character to sup- 
 port j and whatever she may have privately wished 
 and commanded, she was obliged to disavow com- 
 
232 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 l^licity publicly. In two despatches from court 
 she expresses her "displeasure at John Smith's 
 horrible attempt to poison Shane O'Neill in his 
 wine." In the following spring John Smith was 
 committed to prison, and " closely examined by 
 Lord Chancellor Cusake." What became of John 
 is not recorded, but it is recorded that " Lord 
 Chancellor Cusake persuaded O'Neill to forget the 
 poisoning." 
 
 In October, 1562, Shane was invited to England, 
 and was received by Elizabeth with marked 
 courtesy. His appearance at court is thus de- 
 scribed : " From Ireland came Shane O'Neill, who 
 had promised to come the year before, with a guard 
 of axe-bearing galloglasses, their heads bare, their 
 long curling hair flowing on their shoulders, their 
 linen garments dyed with saffron, with long open 
 sleeves, with short tunics, and furry cloaks, whom 
 the English wondered at as much as they do now 
 at the Chinese or American aborigines." Shane's 
 visit to London was considered of such importance, 
 that we find a memorandum in the State Paper 
 Office, by "Secretary Sir W. Cecil, March, 1562," 
 of the means to be used with Shane O'Neill, in 
 which the first item is, that " he be procured to 
 change his garments, and go like an Englishman." 
 But this was precisely what O'Neill had no idea of 
 doing. Sussex appears to have been O'Neill's de- 
 clared and open enemy. There is more than one 
 letter extant from the northern chief to the 
 
LORD CHANCELLOR CUSAKE. 233 
 
 Deputy. In one of these he says : ''I wonder 
 very much for what purpose your Lordship strives 
 to destroy me." In another, he declares that his 
 delay in visiting the Queen had been caused " by 
 the amount of obstruction which Sussex had tlirown 
 in his way, by sending a force of occupation into 
 his territory without cause ; for as long as there 
 shall be one son of a Saxon in my territory against 
 my will, from that time forth I will not send you 
 either settlement or message, but will send my 
 complaint through some other medium to the 
 Queen." In writing to the Baron of Slane, he says 
 that " nothing will please him [the Deputy] but to 
 plant himself in my lands and my native territorj^, 
 as I am told every day that he desires to be styled 
 Earl of Ulster." 
 
 The Lord Chancellor Cusake appears, on the 
 contrary, to have constantly befriended him. On 
 12th January, 1568, he writes of O'Neill's "duti- 
 fulness and most commendable dealing with the 
 Scots ;" and soon after three English members of 
 the Dublin Government complain that Cusake 
 had entrapped them into signing a letter to the 
 unruly chieftain. There is one dark blot upon the 
 escutcheon of this remarkable man. He had mar- 
 ried the daughter of O'Donnell, Lord of one of the 
 Hebrides. After a time he and his father-in-law 
 quarrelled, and Shane contrived to capture OJDon- 
 nell and his second wife. He kept this lady for 
 several years as his mistress 3 and his own wife is 
 
234 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 said to have died of shame and horror at his con- 
 duct, and at his cruel treatment of her father. 
 English writers have naturally tried to blacken his 
 character as deeply as possible, and have represented 
 him as a drunkard and a profligate ; but there 
 appears no foundation for the former accusation. 
 The foundation for the latter is simply what we 
 have mentioned, which, however evil in itself, would 
 scarcely appear so very startling to a court over 
 which Henry VIII. had so long presided. 
 
 After many attempts at assassination, Shane-an- 
 Diomais [John the Ambitious] fell a victim to 
 English treachery. Sir William Piers, the Governor 
 of Carrickfergus, invited some Scotch soldiers over 
 to Ireland, and then persuaded them to quarrel 
 with him and kill him. They accomplished their 
 purpose by raising a disturbance at a feast, when 
 they rushed on the northern chieftain, and de- 
 spatched him with their swords. His head was 
 sent to Dublin, and his old enemies took the poor 
 revenge of impaling it on the Castle walls. 
 
 The Earl of Sussex was recalled from Ireland in 
 1564, and Sir Henry Sidney was appointed Vicero3^ 
 The Earls of Ormonde and Desmond had again 
 quarrelled, and, in 1562, both Earls were summoned 
 to court by the Queen. Elizabeth was related to 
 the Butlers through her mother's family, and used 
 to boast of the loyalty of the house of Ormonde. 
 The Geraldines adhered to the ancient faith, and 
 Buffered for it. A battle was fought at Affane, near 
 
SIR HENRY SYDNEY'S VISITATION. 235 
 
 Cappoqnin, between the two parties, in which Des- 
 mond was wounded and made prisoner. The man 
 who bore him from the field asked, tauntingly : 
 " Where is now the proud Earl of Desmond f He 
 replied, with equal pride and mt : " Where he 
 should be; upon the necks of the Butlers." 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Spenser's Castle— Sidney's Oflolcial Account of Ireland- 
 Miserable State of the Protestant Churcli— The Catholic 
 Church and its Persecuted Eulers— The Viceroy's Ad- 
 ministration—A Packed Parliament and its Enact- 
 ments — Claim of Sir P. Carew— An Attempt to plant 
 in Ulster — Smith's Settlement in the Ards — His De-. 
 Bcription of the Native Irish— He tries to induce Eng- 
 lishmen to join him — Smith is killed, and the attempt to 
 plant fails —Essex next tries to colonize Ulster — He dies in 
 Dublin — Sidney returns to Ireland— His Interview with 
 Granuaile- Massacre at Mullamast— Spenser's Account 
 of the State of Ireland. 
 
 jj^T the close of the month of January, 1567, 
 the Lord Deputy, Sir Henry Sidney, set 
 out on a visitation of Munster and Con- 
 naught. In his ofiicial account he writes thus of 
 Munster : " Like as I never was in a more pleasant 
 country in all my life, so never saw I a more waste 
 and desolate land. Such horrible and lamentable 
 spectacles are there to behold — as the burning 
 of villages, the ruin of churches, the wasting of 
 such as have been good towns and castles ; yea, 
 
236 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the view of the loones and skulls of the dead sub- 
 jects, who, partly by murder, partly by famine, 
 have died in the fields— as, in truth, hardly any 
 Christian with dry eyes could behold." 
 
 In 15 76 Sidney complains of the state of the 
 Protestant Church, and addresses himself, with 
 almost blasphemous flattery, to the head of that 
 body, " as to the only sovereign salvegiver to this 
 your sore and sick realm, the lamentable state of 
 the most noble and principal limb thereof — the 
 Church I mean — as foul, deformed, and as cruelly 
 crushed as any other part thereof, only by your 
 generous order to be cured, or at least amended. I 
 would not have believed, had I not, for a greater 
 part, viewed the same throughout the whole 
 realm." He then gives a detailed account of the 
 state of the diocese of Meath, which he declares to 
 be the best governed and best peopled diocese in 
 the realm ; and from his official report of the state 
 of religion there, he thinks her Majesty may easily 
 judge of the spiritual condition of less favoured 
 districts. He says there are no resident i^arsons 
 or vicars, and only a very simple or sorry curate 
 appointed to serve them ; of these only eighteen 
 could speak English, the rest being " Irish minis- 
 ters, or rather Irish rogues, having very little 
 Latin, and less learning or civility." In many 
 places he found the walls of the churches thrown 
 down, the chancels uncovered, and the windows 
 and doors ruined or spoiled — fruits of the icono- 
 
MISERABLE STATE OF THE PROTESTANTS. 237 
 
 clastic zeal of the original reformers, and of the 
 rapacity of the nobles, who made religion an 
 excuse for plunder. He complains that the sacra- 
 ment of baptism was not used amongst them, and 
 he accuses the " prelates themselves" of despoiling 
 their sees, declaring that, if he told all, he should 
 make " too long a libel of his letter, But your 
 Majesty may believe it, that, upon the face of the 
 earth where Christ is professed, there is not a 
 Church in so miserable a case." 
 
 It should be observed, however, that Sir Henry 
 Sidney's remarks apply exclusively to the Protes- 
 tant clergy. Of the state of the Catholic Church 
 and clergy he had no knowledge, neither had he 
 any interest in obtaining information. His account 
 of the Protestant clergy who had been intruded 
 into the Catholic parishes, and of the Protestant 
 bishops who had been placed in the Catholic 
 dioceses, we may presume to be correct, as he had 
 no interest or object in misrepresentation. 
 
 It is also a matter of fact, that although the 
 Protestant services were not attended, and the 
 lives of the Protestant ministers were not edifying, 
 that the sacraments were administered constantly 
 by the Catholic clergy. It is true they date their 
 letters " from the place of refuge," which might be 
 the wood nearest to their old and ruined parish- 
 church, or the barn or stable of some friend, who 
 dared not shelter them in his house ; yet this was 
 no hindrance to their ministrations j for we find 
 
238 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Dr. Loftus complaining to Sir William Cecil that 
 the persecuted Bishop of Meath, Dr. Walsh, was 
 ." one of great credit amongst his countrymen, and 
 upon whom (as touching cause of religion) they 
 wholly depend." Sir Henry Sidney's efforts to 
 effect reformation of conduct in the clergy and 
 laity, do not seem to have been so acceptable at 
 court as he might have supposed. His strong 
 measures were followed by tumults ; and the way in 
 which he obtained possession of the persons of some 
 of the nobles was not calculated to enhance his po- 
 pularity. He was particularly severe towards the 
 Earl of Desmond, whom he seized in Kilmallock, 
 after requiring his attendance on pretence of wish- 
 ing him to assist in his visitation of Munster. In 
 October, 1567, the Deputy proceeded to England 
 to explain his conduct, taking with him the Earl 
 of Desmond and his brother, John, whom he also 
 arrested on false pretences. Sidney was, however, 
 permitted to return in September, 1568. He 
 landed at Carrickfergus, where he received the sub- 
 mission of Turlough O'Neill, who had been elected 
 to the chieftaincy on the death of Shane the Proud. 
 The first public act of the Lord Deputy was to 
 assemble a parliament, in which all constitutional 
 rules were simply set at defiance (January 17th, 
 1569). In this parliament — if, indeed, it could be 
 called such — Acts were passed for attainting Shane 
 O'Neill, for suppressing the name, and for annexing 
 Tyrone to the royal possessions. 
 
ENGLISH ADVENTUREIIS. 239 
 
 Sidney now began to put Ms plan of local govern- 
 ments into execution ; but this arrangement simply- 
 multiplied the number of licenced oppressors. Sir 
 Edward Fitton was appointed President of Con- 
 naught, and Sir John Perrot, of Munster. Both 
 of these gentlemen distinguished themselves by 
 "strong measures," of which cruelty to the un- 
 fortunate natives was the predominant feature. 
 Perrot boasted that he would " hunt the fox out 
 of his hole," and devoted himself to the destruc- 
 tion of the Geraldines. Pitton arrested the Earl 
 of Clanrickarde, and excited a general disturbance. 
 In 1570 the Queen determined to lay claim to the 
 possessions in Ulster, graciously conceded to her 
 by the gentlemen who had been permitted to vote 
 according to her royal pleasure in the so-called 
 parliament of 1569. She bestowed the district of 
 Ards, in Down, upon her secretary, Sir Thomas 
 Smith. It was described as "divers parts and 
 parcels of her Highness' Earldom of Ulster that 
 lay waste, or else was inhabited with a wicked, 
 barbarous, and unci^dl people." There were, how- 
 ever, two grievous misstatements in this document. 
 Ulster did not belong to her Highness, unless, 
 indeed, the Act of a packed parliament could be 
 considered legal ; and the people who inhabited it 
 were neither " wicked, barbarous, nor uncivil." 
 The tract of country thus unceremoniously be- 
 stowed on an English adventurer, was in the pos- 
 session of Sir Rowland Savage. His first ancestor 
 
24:0 THE PATEIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 was one of the most distinguished of the Anglo- 
 Norman settlers who had accompanied De Courcy 
 to Ireland. Thus, although he could not claim 
 the prescriptive right of several thousand years 
 for his possession, he certainly had the right of 
 possession for several centuries. The next attempt 
 was made by Walter Devereux, Earl of Essex, 
 who received part of the seignories of Clannaboy 
 and Ferney, provided he could expel the "rebels" 
 who dwelt thQre. Essex mortgaged his estates to 
 the Queen to obtain funds for the enterprise. He 
 was accompanied by Sir Henry Kenlis, Lord Dacres, 
 and Lord Norris's three sons. 
 
 Sir AVilliam EitzGerald, the then Lord Deputy, 
 complained loudly of the extraordinary powers 
 granted to Essex ; and some show of deference to 
 his authority was made by requiring the Earl to 
 receive his commission from him. Essex landed 
 in Ireland in 1573, and the usual career of tyranny 
 and treachery was enacted. The native chieftains 
 resisted the invasion of their territories, and endea- 
 voured to drive out the men whom they could 
 only consider as robbers. The invaders, when 
 they could not conquer, stooped to acts of trea- 
 chery. Essex soon found that the conquest of 
 Ulster was not quite so easy a task as he had 
 anticipated. Many of the adventurers who had 
 assumed his liver}^ and joined his followers, de- 
 serted him; and Brian O'Neill, Hugh O'Neill, 
 and Turlough O'Neill, rose up against him. Essex 
 
MASSACRE OF BRIAN O'NEILL. 241 
 
 then invited Conn O'Donnell to his camp ; but, as 
 soon as he secured him, he seized his Castle of 
 Lifford, and sent the unfortunate chieftain a pri- 
 soner to Dublin. 
 
 In 1574 the Earl and Brian O'Neill made peace. 
 A feast was prepared by the latter, to which Essex 
 and his principal followers were invited; but 
 after this entertainment had lasted for three days 
 and nights, " as they were agreeably drinking and 
 making merry, Brian, his brother, and his wife 
 were seized upon by the Earl, and all his people 
 put unsparingly to the sword — men, women, youths, 
 and maidens — in Brian's own presence. Brian was 
 afterwards sent to Dublin, together with his wife 
 and brother, where they were cut in quarters. 
 Such was the end of their feast. This wicked and 
 treacherous murder of the lord of the race of Hugh 
 Boy O'Neil, the head and the senior of the race of 
 Eoghan, son of Nial of the Nine Hostages, and of 
 all the Gaels, a few only excepted, was a sufficient 
 cause of hatred and dispute to the English by the 
 Irish." 
 
 In 1586 a thousand soldiers were withdrawn from 
 Ireland to serve in the Netherlands; and as the 
 country was always governed by force, it could 
 scarcely be expected not to rebel when the restraint 
 was ^withdrawn. O'Neill manifested alarming 
 symptoms of independence. He had married a 
 daughter of Sir Hugh O'Donnell, and Sir Hugh 
 refused to admit an English sheriff into his territory. 
 
242 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The Government had, therefore, no resource but war 
 or treachery. War was impossible, when so large 
 a contingent had been withdrawn ; treachery was 
 always possible; and even Sir John Perrot stooped 
 to this base means of attaining his end. The object 
 was to get possession of Hue Roe O'Donnell, a noble 
 youth, and to keep him as hostage. The treachery 
 was accomplished thus : a vessel laden with Spanish 
 wine was sent to Donegal on pretence of traffic. 
 It anchored at RathmuUen, where it had been 
 ascertained that Hugh Roe O'Donnell was staying 
 with his foster-father, MacSweeney. The wine was 
 distributed plentifully to the country people ; and 
 when MacSweeny sent to make purchases, the men 
 declared there was none leffc for sale, but if the 
 gentlemen came on board they should have what 
 was left. Hugh and his companions easily fell into 
 the snare. They were hospitably entertained, but 
 their arms were carefully removed, the hatches were 
 shut down, the cable cut, and the ship stood off to 
 sea. The guests who were not wanted were put 
 ashore, but the unfortunate youth was taken to 
 Dublin, and confined in the Castle. 
 
 In 1588 Sir John Perrot was succeeded by Sir 
 William FitzWilliam, a nobleman of the most 
 opposite character and disposition. Perrot was 
 generally regretted by the native Irish, as he was 
 considered one of the most humane of the Lord 
 Deputies. The wreck of the Spanish Armada occur- 
 red during this year, and was made at once an 
 
O'NEILL AND MISS BAGNAL. 243 
 
 excuse for increased severity towards tlie Catholics, 
 and for acts of grievous injustice. 
 
 In 1590 Hugh of the Fetters, an illegitimate son 
 of the famous Shane O'Neill, was hanged by the 
 Earl of Tyrone, for having made false charges 
 against him to the Lord Deputy. This exercise of 
 authority excited considerable fear, and the Earl 
 was obliged to clear'himself of blame before Elizabeth. 
 After a brief detention in London, he was permit- 
 ted to return to Ireland, but not until he had signed 
 certain articles in the Enghsh interest, which he 
 observed precisely as long as it suited his own 
 convenience. About this time his nephew, Hugh 
 O'Donnell, made an ineffectual attempt to escape 
 from Dubhu Castle, but he was recaptured, and 
 more closely guarded. This again attracted the 
 attention of Government to the family; but a more 
 important event was about to follow. O'Neill's 
 wife was dead, and the cliieftain was captivated by 
 the beauty of Sir Henry Bagnal's sister. How they 
 contrived to meet and to plight their vows is not 
 known, though State Papers have sometimes reveal- 
 ed as romantic particulars. It has been discovered, 
 however, from that invaluable source of information, 
 that Sir Henry was furious, and cursed himself and 
 his fate that his " bloude, which had so often been 
 spilled in repressinge this rebellious race, should 
 nowe be mingled with so treacherous a stocke and 
 kindred." He removed the lady from Newry to 
 her sister's house, near Dublin, who was the wife 
 
244 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 of Sir Patrick BarnWell. The Earl followed Miss 
 Bagnal thither. Her brother-in-law received him 
 courteously; and while the O'Neill engaged the 
 family in conversation, a confidential friend rode off 
 with the lady, who was married to O'Neill imme- 
 diately after. 
 
 Hugh O'Donnell made another attempt to escape 
 from confinement at Christmas, a.d. 1592. He 
 succeeded on this ocassion, though his life was 
 nearly lost in the attempt. Turlough Roe O'Hagan, 
 his father's faithful friend, was the principal agent 
 in efi'ecting his release. Henry and Art O'Neill, 
 sons of Shane the Proud, were companions in his 
 flight. They both fell exhausted on their home- 
 ward journey. Art died soon after, from the effects 
 of fatigue and exposure, and Hugh recovered but 
 slowly. He continued ill during the remainder of 
 the winter, and was obliged to have his toes 
 amputated. As soon as he was sufficiently recover- 
 ed, a general meeting of his sept was convened? 
 when he was elected to the chieftaincy, and inau- 
 gurated in the usual manner. He then commenced 
 incursions on the territories occupied by the English; 
 but as the Earl of Tyrone was anxious to prevent 
 a premature rebellion, he induced the Lord Deputy 
 to meet him at Dundalk, where he obtained a full 
 pardon for his escape from Dublin Castle, and a 
 temporary pacification was arranged. 
 
 In 1593 he collected another army; Turlough 
 Luineach resigned his chieftaincy to the Earl of 
 
THE TOtfD OF THE BISCUITS. 245 
 
 Tyrone ; and Ulster became wholly the possession 
 of its old chieftains — the O'Neill and O'Donnell. 
 An open rebellion broke out soon after, in con- 
 sequence of the exactions of two English officers on 
 the territories of Oge O'Eourke and Maguire. 
 Several trifling engagements took place. The Earl 
 of Tyrone was placed in a difficult position. He 
 was obliged to join the English side while his heart 
 and inclinations were with his own people ; but he 
 contrived to send a messenger to Hugh Eoe, who 
 had joined Maguire's party, requesting him not to 
 fight against him. He was placed in a still greater 
 difficulty at the siege of Enniskillen, which took 
 place the following year. He compromised matters 
 by sending his brother, Cormac O'Neill, with a 
 contingent, to fight on the national side. Cormac 
 met the English soldiers, who had been sent to 
 throw provisions into the town, almost five miles 
 from their destination, and routed them with great 
 slaughter. The site of the engagement was called 
 the "Ford of the Biscuits," from the quantity 
 of those provisions which he obtained there. An 
 Irish garrison was left at Enniskillen, and th^ 
 victorious party, after retaliating the cruelties 
 which had been inflicted on the natives, marched 
 into northern Connaught to attack Sir Richard 
 Bingham. 
 
 Many Catholics sufl'ered most cruelly foi' their 
 faith about this time. One of the principal of 
 these suflfererSj and one of those who was mois;^ 
 
24:6 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 barbarously tortured, was Archbishop 0' Hurley. 
 He was martyred in Stephen's-green on the 6th 
 of May, 1584. The details of his heroic endurance 
 form one of the most glorious epochs in the history 
 of our country. Many brave and true men have 
 shed their blood in her defence — all honour to their 
 memories ; but amongst the bravest and the truest 
 have been the priests of Ireland, who suffered, as 
 far as cruel torture goes, far — far more agonising 
 pain than could be inflicted even by the crudest 
 soldiers on the field of battle. 
 
 In 1598 another conference was held, the inter- 
 vening years having been spent in mutual hostilities, 
 in which, on the whole, the Irish had the advan- 
 tage. O'Neill's tone was proud and independent; 
 he expected assistance from Spain, and he scorned 
 to accept a pardon for what he did not consider a 
 crime. The Government was placed in a difficult 
 position. The prestige of O'Neill and O'Donnell 
 was becommg every day greater. On the 7th of 
 June, 1598, the Earl laid siege to the fort of the 
 Blackwater, then commanded by Captain Williams, 
 and strongly fortified. Reinforcements were sent 
 to the besieged from England, but they were at- 
 tacked en route by the Irish, and lost 400 men at 
 Dungannon. At last the Earl of Ormonde and 
 Bagnal determined to take up arms — the former 
 marching against the Leinster insurgents; the 
 latter, probably but too willing, set out to encounter 
 Ms old enemy and brother-in-law. He commanded 
 
BATTLE OF THE YELLOW FORD. 247 
 
 a fine body of men, and had but little doubt on 
 wliich side victory should declare itself. 
 
 The contingent set out for Armagh on the 14th 
 of August, and soon reached the Yellow Ford, 
 about two miles from that city, where the main 
 body of the Irish had encamped. They were at 
 once attacked on either flank by skirmishers from 
 the hostile camp ; but the A^'anguard of the Eng- 
 lish army advanced gallantly to the charge, and 
 were soon in possession of the first entrenchments 
 of the enemy. Although Bagnal's personal valour 
 is unquestionable, he was a bad tactician. His 
 leading regiment was cut to pieces before a support 
 could come up ; his divisions were too far apart to 
 assist each other. Bagnal raised the visor of his 
 helmet for one moment, to judge more efi'ectually 
 of the scene of combat, and that moment proved 
 his last. A musket-ball pierced his forehead, and 
 he fell lifeless to the ground. Almost at the same 
 moment an ammunition waggon exploded in his 
 ranks — confusion ensued. O'Neill took advantage 
 of the panic ; he charged boldly ; and, before one 
 o'clock, the rout had become general. 
 
 The English officers and their men fled to 
 Armagh, and shut themselves up in the cathedral ; 
 but they had left twenty-three officers and 1,700 
 rank and file dead or dying on the field. O'Neill 
 retired for a time to recruit his forces, and to rest 
 his men; and a revolt was organized under his 
 auspices iuMunster, mth immense success. O'Don- 
 
248 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAKD. 
 
 nell was making rapid strides ; but a new Yiceroy 
 was on his way to Ireland, and it was hoped by 
 the royalist party that he would change the aspect 
 of affairs. 
 
 Essex arrived on the 15th of April, 1599. He 
 had an army of 20,000 foot and 2,000 horse— the 
 most powerful, if not the best equipped force ever 
 sent into the country. He at once issued a pro- 
 clamation, offering pardon to all the insurgents 
 who should submit; and he despatched reinforce- 
 ments to the northern garrison towns, and to 
 Wicklow and Naas. He then marched southward, 
 not without encountering a sharp defeat from 
 Kory O'More. He attacked the Geraldines, with- 
 out much success, in Fermoy and Lismore, having, 
 on the whole, lost more than he had accomplished 
 by the expedition. An engagement took place 
 between O'Donnell and Sir Conyers Clifford, in 
 the pass of Balloghboy, on the 16th of August, in 
 which Conyers was killed, and his army defeated. 
 His body was recognized by the Irish, towards 
 whom he had always acted honourably, and they 
 interred the remains of their brave and noble 
 enemy with the respect which was justly due to 
 him. 
 
 Essex wrote to England for more troops, and his 
 enemies were not slow to represent his incapacity, 
 and to demand his recall ; but he had not yet lost 
 grace mth his royal mistress, and his request was 
 granted. The Viceroy now marched into the 
 
RELEASE 0:F THE EARL OF DESMOND. 5149 
 
 northern provinces. When he arrived at the Lagan, 
 where it bounds Louth and Monaghan, O'Neill 
 appeared on the opposite hill with his army, and 
 sent the O'Hagan, his faithful friend and atten- 
 dant, to demand a conference. The interview 
 took place on the following day j and O'Neill, with 
 chivalrous courtesy, dashed into the river on his 
 charger, and there conversed with the English 
 Earl, while he remained on the opposite hank. 
 It was supposed that the Irish chieftain had made 
 a favourable impression on Essex, and that he was 
 disposed to concihate the Catholics. He was obliged 
 to go to England to clear himself of these charges ; 
 and his subsequent arrest and execution would 
 excite more sympathy, had he been as amiable in 
 his domestic relations as he is said to have been in 
 his public life. 
 
 O'Neill had now obtained a position of consider- 
 able importance, and one which he appears to 
 have used invariably for the general good. The 
 fame of his victories had spread throughout the 
 Continent. It was well known now that the Irish 
 had not accepted the Protestant Reformation, and it 
 appeared as if there was at last some hope of per- 
 manent peace in Ireland. 
 
 James, son of Gerald, Earl of Desmond, who 
 had long been imprisoned in London, was now 
 sent to Ireland, and a patent, restoring his title and 
 estates, was forwarded to Carew, with private in- 
 structions that it should be used or not, as might 
 
250 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 be found expedient. The people flocked with joy- 
 to meet the heir of the ancient house, but their 
 enthusiasm was soon turned into contempt. He 
 arrived on a Saturday, and on Sundaj'- went to the 
 Protestant service, for he had been educated in the 
 new religion in London. His people were amazed ; 
 they fell on their knees, and implored him not to 
 desert the faith of his fathers ; but he was igno • 
 rant of their language as well as of their creed. 
 Once this was understood, they showed how much 
 dearer that was to them than even the old ties of 
 kindred, so revered in their island ; and his return 
 from prayers was hailed by groans and revilings. 
 The hapless youth was found to be useless to his 
 employers ; he was therefore taken back to Lon- 
 don, where he died soon after of a broken heart. 
 Attempts were made to assassinate O'lSTeill in 
 IGOl. £2,000 was offered to anyone who would 
 capture him alive ; j£ 1,0 00 was offered for his head ; 
 but none of his own people could be found to play 
 the traitor even for so high a stake. The '' Sugane 
 Earl " was treacherously captured about the end of 
 August, and was sent to London in chains, with 
 Florence MacCarthy. But the long-expected aid 
 from Spain had at last arrived. The fleet conveyed 
 a force of 3,000 infantry, and entered the harbour 
 of Kinsale 'on the 23rd of September, under the 
 command of Don Juan dAquila. The northern 
 chieftains set out at once to meet their alHes when 
 informed of their arrival; and O'Donnell, with 
 
SIEGE OF KINS ALE. 251 
 
 characteristic impetuosity, was the first on the 
 road. Carew attempted to intercept him, but des- 
 paired of coming up with '• so swift-footed a gene- 
 ral," and left him to pursue his way unmolested. 
 
 The Lord Deputy was besieging Kinsale, and 
 Carew joined him there. The seige was continued 
 through the month of November, during which 
 time fresh reinforcements came from Spain ; and 
 on the 21st of December O'Neill arrived with all 
 his force. Unfortunately, the Spanish general had 
 become thoroughly disgusted with the enterprise ; 
 and, although the position of the English was such 
 that the Lord Deputy had serious thoughts of 
 raising the siege, he insisted on decisive measures j 
 and O'Neill was obliged to surrender his opinion, 
 which was entirely against this line of action. A 
 sortie was agreed upon for a certain night ; but a 
 youth in the Irish camp, who had been in the 
 President's service formerly, warned him of the 
 intended attack. This was sufficient in itself to 
 cause the disaster wliich ensued. But there were 
 other misfortunes. O'Neill and O'Donnell lost 
 their way ; and, when they reached the English 
 camp at dawn, found the soldiers under arms, and 
 prepared for an attack. Their cavalry at once 
 charged, and the new comers in vain struggled to 
 maintain their ground, and a retreat which they 
 attempted was turned into a total rout. 
 
 A thousand Irish were slain, and the prisoners 
 were hanged without mercy. The loss on the 
 
252 THE PATHIOT HISTORY OV IRELAND. 
 
 English side was but trifling. It was a fatal blo\v 
 to the Irish cause. Heavy were the hearts and 
 bitter the thoughts of the brave chieftains on that 
 sad night. O'Neill no longer hoped for the de- 
 liverance of his country ; but the more sanguine 
 O'Donnell proposed to proceed at once to Spain, to 
 explain their position to King Philip. He left 
 Ireland in a Spanish vessel three days after the 
 battle — if battle it can be called ; and O'Neill 
 inarched rapidly back to Ulster with Eory O'Don- 
 nell, to whom Hugh Roe had delegated the chief- 
 taincy of Tir-Connell. 
 
 D'Aquila, whose haughty manners had rendered 
 him very unpopular, now surrendered to Mountjoy, 
 who received his submission with respect, and 
 treated his army honourably. According to one 
 account, the Spaniard had touched some English 
 gold, and had thus been induced to desert the 
 Irish cause ; according to other authorities, he 
 challenged the Lord Deputy to single combat, and 
 wished them ^to decide the question at issue. In 
 the meantime, O'Sullivan Beare contrived to get 
 possession of his own Castle of Dunboy, by 
 breaking into the wall at the dead of night, while 
 the Spanish garrison were asleep, and then de- 
 claring that he held the fortress for the King of 
 Spain, to whom he transferred his allegiance. 
 Don Juan offered to recover it for the EngHsh by 
 force of arms ; but the Deputy, whose only anxiety 
 was to get him quietly out of the country, urged 
 
SIEGE OF DUNBOY. 253 
 
 his immediate departure. He left Ireland on the 
 20th of February; and the suspicions of his 
 treachery must have had some foundation, for he 
 was placed under arrest as soon as he arrived in 
 Spain. 
 
 The siege of Dunhoy is one of the most famous 
 and interesting episodes in Irish history. The 
 castle was deemed almost impregnable from its 
 situation ; and every argument was used with Sir 
 George Carew to induce him to desist from at- 
 tacldng it. But the Lord Deputy had resolved 
 that it should be captured. The Lord President 
 considered the enterprise would be by no means 
 difficult, for " he declared that he would plant the 
 ordnance without the losse of a man ; and within 
 seven dayes after the battery was begun, bee 
 master of all that place." There was cosiderable 
 delay in the arrival of the shipping which conveyed 
 the ordnance, and operations did not commence 
 until the 6th of June. The defence of the castle 
 was entrusted by O'SuUivan to Eichard MacGeo- 
 ghegan. The chief himself was encamped with 
 Tyrrell in the interior of the countrj^. The soldiers 
 were tempted, and the governor was tempted, but 
 neither flinched for an instant from their duty. 
 The garrison only consisted of 143 fighting men, 
 with a few pieces of cannon. The besieging army 
 was about 3,000 strong, and they were amply 
 supplied with ammunition. On the 17th of June, 
 when the castle was nearly shattered to pieces, its 
 
254 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OP IRELAND. 
 
 brave defenders offered to surrender if they were 
 allowed to depart with their arms ; but the only 
 reply vouchsafed was to hang their messenger, and 
 to commence an assault. 
 
 The storming party were resisted for an entire 
 day with undaunted bravery. Their leader was 
 mortally wounded, and Taylor took the command. 
 The gal-rison at last retreated into a cellar, into 
 which the only access was a narrow flight of stone 
 steps, and where nine barrels of gunpowder were 
 stored. Taylor declared he would blow up the 
 place if life were not promised to those who sur- 
 rendered. Carew refused, and retired for the 
 night, after placing a strong guard over the un- 
 fortunate men. The following morning he sent 
 cannon-ball in amongst them, and Taylor was 
 forced by his comnanions to yield without condi- 
 tions. As the English soldiers descended the 
 steps, the wounded MacGeoghegan staggered 
 towards the gunpowder with a lighted candle, and 
 was in the act of throwing it in when he was 
 seized by Captain Power, and in another moment 
 he was massacred. Fifty- eight of those who had 
 surrendered were hanged immediately ; a few were 
 reserved to see if they could be induced to betray 
 their old companions, or to renounce their faith ; 
 but, as they " would not endeavour to merit life," 
 they were executed without mercy. One of these 
 prisoners was a Father Dominic Collins. He was 
 executed in Youghal, his native town — a most 
 
FALL OF DUNBOY. 255 
 
 unwise proceeding ; for his fate was sure to excite 
 double sympathy in the place where he was known, 
 and, consequently, to promote double disaffection, 
 O'Sullivan Beare assigns the 31st of October as 
 the day of his martyrdom. 
 
 The fall of Dunboy was a fatal blow to the na- 
 tional cause. The news soon reached Spain. Hugh 
 O'Donnell had been warmly received there ; but 
 the burst of grief which his people uttered, when 
 they saw him departing from his native land, was 
 his death-keen, for he did not long survive his 
 voluntary expatriation. 
 
 Donneil O'Sullivan now found his position hope- 
 less, and commenced his famous retreat to Leitrim. 
 He set out with about 1,000 followers, of whom 
 only 400 were fighting men ; the rest were ser- 
 vants, women, and children. He fought all the 
 way, and arrived at his destination with only 
 thirty-five followers. 
 
 O'Neill now stood merely on the defensive. The 
 land was devastated by famine ; Docwra, Governor 
 of Derry, had planted garrisons at every available 
 point ; and Mountjoy plundered Ulster. In August 
 he prepared to attack O'Neill with a large army ; 
 and, as he informs Cecil, '' by the grace of God, as 
 near as he could, utterly to waste the country of 
 Tyrone." O'Neill had now retired to a fastness at 
 the extremity of Lough Erne, attended by his 
 brother, Cormac Art O'Neill, and MacMahon. 
 Mountjoy followed him, but could not approach 
 
256 THE PATRIOT HISTOHY OF IRELAND. 
 
 nearer than twelve miles; he therefore returned to 
 Newry. In describing this march to Cecil, he says, 
 " O'Hagan protested to us, that between TuUaghoge 
 and Toome there lay, unburied, 1,000 dead." 
 
 The news of O'Donnell's death had reached Ire- 
 land ; and his brother submitted to the Deputy. 
 In 1603 Sir Garret More entered into negotiations 
 with O'Neill, which ended in his submitting also. 
 The ceremony took place at Mellifont, on the 31st 
 of March. Queen Elizabeth had expired, more 
 miserably than many of the victims who had been 
 executed in her reign, on the 24th of March ; but 
 the news was carefully concealed until O'Neill had 
 made terms with the Viceroy. 
 
 CHAPTER XY. 
 
 The Eeign of James T. — His Treachery towards the Irish — 
 Persecutiou of the Catholics — The Plantation of Ulster — 
 Accession of Charles I. — His Treachery — The Plantation 
 of Connanght— Irish Parliament at Kilkenny — The Pope 
 sends over the Legate Einuccinni — His Plans are de- 
 feated by intrigues — He returns to Italy. 
 
 j^ EEAT was the joy of the Irish nation when 
 
 James the First of England and the Sixth 
 
 of Scotland ascended the throne. 
 
 The Irish Catholics, only too ready to rejoice in 
 
 the faintest gleam of hope, took possession of their 
 
 own churches, and hoped they might practise their 
 
REIGN OF JAMES I. 257 
 
 religion openly, but they weresoon undeceived. 
 The penal statutes were renewed, and enforced with 
 increased severity. Several members of the Cor- 
 poration and some of the principal citizens of Dublin 
 were sent to prison ; similar outrages on religious 
 liberty were perpetrated at Waterford, Ross, and 
 Limerick. In some cases these gentlemen were 
 only asked to attend the Protestant church once ; 
 but they nobly refused to act against their con- 
 science even once, though it should procure them 
 freedom from imprisonment, or even from death. 
 
 In 1611 the Bishop of Down and Connor was 
 executed in Dublin. He had been seized, in 1587, 
 by Perrot, and thrown into prison. He was re- 
 leased in 1593, and, according to Dr. Loftus, he 
 took the oath of supremacy. This statement, how- 
 ever, is utterly incredible ; for he devoted himself 
 to his flock immediately after his release, and con- 
 tinued to administer the sacraments to them, at the 
 risk of his life, until June, 1611, when he was 
 again arrested in the act of administering the 
 sacrament of confirmation to a Catholic family. 
 Father O'Luorchain was imprisoned with him, and 
 they were both sentenced and executed together. 
 
 Communications with Rome were still as fre- 
 quent and as intimate as they had ever been since 
 Ireland received the faith at the hands of the great 
 Apostle. The Irish were always children of Patrick 
 and children of Rome ; and the Holy See watched 
 still more tenderly over this portion of the Church 
 
258 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 while it was suffering and persecuted. Paul V. 
 wrote a special letter to the Irish Catholics, dated 
 from "St. Mark's, 22nd of September, 1606," in 
 which he mourns over their afflictions, commends 
 their marvellous constancy, which he says can only 
 be compared to that of the early Christians, and 
 exhorts them specially to avoid the sin of attend- 
 ing Protestant places of worship — a compliance to 
 which they were strongly tempted, when even one 
 such act might procure exemption, for a time at 
 least, from severe persecution or death. 
 
 O'Neill and O'Donnell may be justly considered 
 the last of the independent native chieftains. 
 When the latter died in exile, and the former ac- 
 cepted the coronet of an English earl, the glories 
 of the olden days of princes, who held almost 
 regal power, had passed away for ever. 
 
 In May, 1603, O'Neill had visited London in 
 company with Lord Mountjoy and Eory O'Don- 
 nell. The northern chieftains were graciously re- 
 ceived ; and it was on this occasion that O'Neill 
 renounced his ancient name for his new titles. 
 O'Donnell was made Earl of Tyrconnell at the same 
 time. The first sheriffs appointed for Ulster were 
 Sir Edward Pelham and Sir John Davies. The 
 latter has left it on record, as his deliberate opinion, 
 after many years experience, " that there is no 
 nation of people under the sun that doth love 
 equal and indifferent justice better than the Irish, 
 or will rest better satisfied with the execution 
 
FLIGHT OF THE EAELS. 259 
 
 thereof, although it he against themselves, so that they 
 may have the protection and benefits of the laio, luhen, 
 upon just cause, they do desire it" 
 
 A plot was now got up to entrap O'Neill and 
 O'Donnell. Their complicity in it has long been 
 questioned, though Dr. O'Donovan appears to 
 think that Moore has almost decided the question 
 against them. 
 
 The Four Masters give a touching account of 
 the flight of the Earl, and exclaim : " Woe to the 
 heart that meditated, woe to the mind that con- 
 ceived, woe to the council that decided on the pro- 
 ject of their setting out on the voyage !" The 
 exiles left EathmuUen on the 1 4th of September, 
 1607. O'Neill had been with the Lord Deputy 
 shortly before; and one cannot but suppose that 
 he had then obtained some surmise of premeditated 
 treachery, for he arranged his flight Gecretly and 
 swiftly, pretending that he was about to visit Lon- 
 don. O'Neill was accompanied by his countess, 
 his three sons, O'Donnell, and other relatives. They 
 first sailed to Normandy, where an attempt was 
 made by the English Government to arrest them, 
 but Henry IV. would not give them up. In Rome 
 they were received as confessors exiled for the faith, 
 and were liberally supported by the Pope and the 
 King of Spain. They all died in a few years after 
 their arrival, and their ashes rest in the Franciscan 
 Church of St. Peter-in-Montorio. 
 
 The Red Hand of the O'Neills had hitherto been 
 
260 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 a powerful protection to Ulster. The attempts ' ' to 
 plant " there had turned out failures ; but now 
 that the chiefs were removed, the people became 
 an easy prey. O'Dogherty, Chief of Innishoweu, 
 was insulted by Sir George Paulett, in a manner 
 which no gentleman could be expected to bear 
 without calling his insulter to account ; and the 
 young chieftan took fearful vengeance for the rude 
 blow which he had received from the English 
 sheriff. 
 
 There can be little doubt, from Sir Henry 
 Docwra's own account, that O'Dogherty was pur- 
 posely insulted, and goaded into rebellion. He 
 was the last obstacle to the grand scheme, and he 
 was disposed of. Ulster was now at the mercy of 
 those who chose to accept grants of land ; and the 
 grants were made to the highest bidders, or to 
 those who had paid for the favour by previous 
 services. Sir Arthur Chichester evidently consi- 
 dered that he belonged to the latter class ; for we 
 find him writing at considerable length to the Earl 
 of Northampton, then a ruling member of King 
 James' cabinet, to request that he may be appointed 
 President of Ulster. 
 
 The plan of the plantation was agreed upon in 
 1609. It was the old plan which had been at- 
 tempted before, though with less show of legal 
 arrangement, but with quite the same proportion 
 of legal iniquity. The simple object was to expel 
 the natives, and to extirpate the Catholic religion. 
 
CHICHESTER'S PARLIAMENT, 261 
 
 Tlie six counties to be planted were Tyrone, Derry, 
 Donegal, Armagh, Fermanagh, and Cavan. These 
 were parcelled out into portions varying from 2,000 
 to 4,000 acres, and the planters were obliged to 
 build bawns and castles, such as that of Castle 
 Monea, co. Fermanagh. 
 
 Chichester now proposed to call a parliament. 
 The plantation of Ulster had removed some diffi- 
 culties in the way of its accomplishment. The 
 Protestant University of Dublin had obtained 
 3,000 acres there, and 400,000 acres of tillage land 
 had been partitioned out between English and 
 Scotch proprietors. It was expressly stipulated 
 that their tenants should be English or Scotch, and 
 Protestants ; the Catholic owners of the land were, 
 in some cases, as a special favour, permitted to re- 
 main, if they took the oath of supremacy, if they 
 worked well for their masters, and if they paid 
 double the rent fixed for the others. Sixty thousand 
 acres in Dublin and Waterford, and 385,000 acres 
 in Westmeath, Longford, King's County, Queen's 
 County, and Leitrim, had been portioned out in 
 a similar manner. 
 
 Chichester retired from the government of 
 Ireland in 161 G. In 1617 a proclamation was 
 issued for the expulsion of the Catholic clergy, 
 and the city of Waterford was deprived of its 
 charter in consequence of the spirited opposition 
 which its Corporation offered to the oath of spiritual 
 supremacy. In 1622 Viscount Falkland came over 
 
262 THE PATEIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 as Lord Deputj^ ; and Usher, who was at heart a 
 Puritan, preached a violent sermon on the occasion, 
 in which he suggested a very literal application of 
 the text, " He beareth not the sword in vain." If 
 a similar application of the text had been made by 
 a Catholic divine, it would have been called intole- 
 rance, persecution, and a hint that the Inquisition 
 was at hand ; as used by him, it was supposed to 
 mean putting down Popery by the sword. 
 
 James I. died on the 27th March, 1625, and left 
 his successor no very pleasant prospects in any 
 part of his kingdom. 
 
 On the accession of Charles I., in 1625, it was so 
 generally supposed he would favour the Catholic 
 cause, that the earliest act of the new parliament 
 in London was to vote a petition, begging the King 
 to enforce the laws against recusants and Popish 
 priests. The Viceroy, Lord Falkland, advised the 
 Irish Catholics to propitiate him with a voluntary 
 subsidy. They offered the enormous sum of 
 £120,000, to be paid in three annual instalments, 
 and in return he promised them certain " graces." 
 The contract was ratified by royal proclamation, in 
 which the concessions were accompanied by a 
 promise that a Parliament should be held to confirm 
 them. The first instalment of the money was paid, 
 and the Irish agents returned home to find them- 
 selves cruelly deceived and basely cheated. 
 
 The Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Bulkely, 
 was foremost in commencing the persecution. He 
 
Charles's "faith." 263 
 
 marched, with the Mayor and a file of soldiers, 
 to the Franciscan Church in Cook-street, on St. 
 Stephen's Day, 1629, dispersed the congregation, 
 seized the fiiars, profaned the church, and broke 
 the statue of St. Francis. The friars were rescued 
 by the people, and the Archbishop had "to take 
 to his heels and cry out for help," to save himself. 
 Eventually the Franciscans established their novi- 
 tiates on the Continent, but still continued their 
 devoted ministrations to the people, at the risk of 
 life and liberty. 
 
 "Charles' faith" might now safely rank with 
 Grey's ; and the poor impoverished Irishman, who 
 would willingly have given his last penny, as well 
 as the last drop of his blood, to save his faith, was 
 again cruelly betrayed where he most certainly 
 might have expected that he could have confided 
 and trusted. One of the "graces" was to make 
 sixty years of undisputed possession of property a 
 bar to the claims of the crown ; and certainly if 
 there ever was a country where such a demand was 
 necessary and reasonable, it was surely Ireland. 
 There had been so many plantations, it was hard 
 for anything to grow ; and so many settlements, it 
 was hard for anything to be settled. Each new 
 monarch, since the first invasion of the country by 
 Henry II., had his favourites to provide for and his 
 friends to oblige. The island across the sea was 
 considered "no man's land," as the original in- 
 habitants were never taken into account, and were 
 
2Q4: THE PATRIOT HISTOEY OF IRELAND. 
 
 simply ignored, unless, indeed, when they made 
 their presence very evident by open resistance to 
 this wholesale robbery. It was no wonder, then, 
 that this " grace" should be specially solicited. It 
 was one in which the last English settler in Ulster 
 had quite as great an interest as the oldest Celt in 
 Connemara. The Burkes and the Geraldines had 
 suffered almost as much from the rapacity of their 
 own countrymen as the natives, on whom their 
 ancestors had inflicted such cruel wrongs. No 
 man's property was safe in Ireland, for the tenure 
 was depending on the royal will ; and the caprices 
 of the Tudors were supplemented by the necessities 
 of the Stuarts. 
 
 But the "grace" was refused, although, pro- 
 bably, there was many a recent colonist who would 
 have willingly given one-half of his plantation to 
 have secured the other to his descendants. The 
 reason of the refusal was soon apparent. As soon 
 as parliament was dissolved, a Commission of 
 "Defective Titles" was issued for Connaught. 
 Ulster had been settled, Leinster had been settled, 
 Munster had been settled; there remained only 
 Connaught, hitherto inaccessible, now, with ad- 
 vancing knowledge of the art of war, and new 
 means of carrying out that art, doomed to the 
 scourge of desolation. 
 
 It was now discovered that the lands and lord- 
 ships of De Burgo, adjacent to the Castle of Ath- 
 lone, and, in fact, the whole remaining province, 
 
CONFISCATIONS AND EVICTIONS. 265 
 
 belonged to the crown. It would be impossible 
 here to give details of the special pleading on 
 which this statement was founded; and I must 
 again refer you to the Illustrated History of Ireland 
 for full particulars ; it is an illustration of what I 
 have observed before, that the tenure of the English 
 settler was quite as uncertain as the tenure of the 
 Celt. The jury found for the King ; and, as a re- 
 ward, the foreman, Sir Lucas Dillon, was graciously 
 permitted to retain a portion of his own lands. 
 The juries of Mayo and Sligo were equally com- 
 placent ; but there was stern resistance made in 
 Galway, and stern reprisals were made for the re- 
 sistance. The jurors were fined £4,000 each, and 
 were imprisoned, and their estates seized until that 
 sum was paid. The sheriff was fined £1,000, and 
 being unable to pay that sum, he died in prison. 
 And all this was done with the full knowledge and 
 the entire sanction of the " royal martyr." 
 
 The country was discontented, and the Lord 
 Deputy demanded more troops, " until the in- 
 tended plantation should be settled." He could 
 not see why the people .should object to what was 
 so very much for their own good, and never 
 allowed himself to think that the disturbance had 
 anything to do with the land question. The new 
 proprietors were of the same opinion. Those who 
 were or who feared to be dispossessed, and those 
 who felt that their homes, whether humble or 
 noble, could not be called their own, felt diffe- 
 
266 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 rently ; but their opinion was as little regarded as 
 their sufferings. 
 
 The kingdom of England was never in a more 
 critical state than at this period. The King was 
 such only in name, and the ruling powers were the 
 Puritan party, who already looked to Cromwell as 
 their head. The resistance which had begun in 
 opposition to tyrannical enactments, and to the 
 arbitrary exercise of authority by the King and his 
 High Church prelates, was fast merging into, what 
 it soon became, an open revolt against the Crown, 
 and all religion which did not square with the very 
 peculiar and ill-defined tenets of the rebellious 
 party. In 1641 the Queen s confessor was sent to 
 the Tower, and a resolution was passed by both 
 houses never to consent to the toleration of the 
 Catholic worship in Ireland, or in any other part of 
 his Majesty's dominions. The country party had 
 determined to possess themselves of the command 
 of the army, and whatever struggles the King 
 might make to secure the only support of his 
 throne, it was clear that the question was likely 
 to be decided in their favour. The conduct of 
 Holies, Pym, Hampden, and Stroud, was well 
 known even in Ireland ; and in Ireland fearful ap- 
 prehensions were entertained that still more cruel 
 sufferings were preparing for that unfortunate 
 country. 
 
 An insurrection was organized, and its main 
 supports were some of the best and bravest of 
 
ROGER O'MORE. 267 
 
 the old race, who had been driven by political 
 and religious persecutions to other lands, where 
 their bravery had made them respected, and their 
 honourable dealings had made them esteemed. 
 
 The movement in Ireland was commenced by 
 Roger O'More, a member of the ancient family of 
 that name, who had been so unjustly expelled from 
 their ancestral home in Leix ; by Lord Maguire, 
 who had been deprived of nearly all his ancient 
 patrimony at Fermanagh, and his brother Eoger ; 
 by Sir Phelim O'Neill, of Kinnare, the elder branch 
 of whose family had been expatriated; by Tur- 
 lough O'Neill, his brother, and by several other 
 gentlemen similarly situated. O'More was the 
 chief promoter of the projected insurrection. He 
 was eminently suited to become a popular leader, 
 for he was a man of great courage, fascinating 
 address, and imbued with all the high honour of 
 the old Celtic race. In May, 1641, Nial O'Neill 
 arrived in Ireland with a promise of assistance from 
 Cardinal Richelieu ; and the confederates arranged 
 that the rising should take place a few days before 
 or after All Hallows, according to circumstances. 
 In the meanwhile the exiled Earl of Tyrone was 
 killed ; but his successor. Colonel Owen Roe 
 O'Neill, then serving in Flanders, entered warmly 
 into all their plans. 
 
 The King was now obliged to disband his Irish 
 forces, and their commanders were sent orders for 
 that purnose. They had instructions, however, to 
 
268 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 keep the men at home and together, so that they 
 might easily be collected again if they could be 
 made available, as, strange to say, the so-called 
 "Irish rebels" v/ere the only real hope which 
 Charles had to rely on in his conflict with his dis- 
 loyal English subjects. An understanding was 
 soon entered into between these officers and the 
 Irish party. They agreed to act in concert ; and 
 one of the former, Colonel Plunket, suggested the 
 seizure of Dublin Castle. The 23rd of October 
 was fixed on for the enterprise ; but, though 
 attempted, the attempt was frustrated by a be- 
 trayal of the plot, in consequence of an indiscretion 
 of one of the leaders. 
 
 The rage of the Protestant party knew no limits. 
 The Castle was put in a state of defence, troops 
 were ordered in all directions, and proclamations 
 were issued. In the meantime the conspirators at 
 a distance had succeeded better, but, unfortunately, 
 they were not aware of the failure in Dublin until 
 it was too late. Sir Phelim O'Neill was at the 
 head of 30,000 men. He issued a proclamation 
 stating that he intended " no hurt to the King, or 
 hurt of any of his subjects, English or Scotch ;" 
 but that his only object was the defence of Irish 
 liberty. He added, that whatever hurt was done 
 to anyone should be personally repaired. This 
 proclamation was dated from "Dungannon, the 
 23rd of October, 1641," and signed "Phelim 
 O'Neill. ' 
 
]\IASSACRE AT ISLAND MAGEE. 269 
 
 The massacre of Island Magee took place altoiit 
 this period ; and though the exact date is disputed, 
 and the exact number of victims has been ques- 
 tioned, it cannot be disproved that the English 
 and Scotch settlers at Carrickfergus sallied forth 
 at night, and murdered a number of defenceless 
 men, women, and children. That there was no 
 regular or indiscriminate massacre of Protestants 
 by the Catholics at this period, appears to be 
 proved beyond question by the fact, that no 
 mention of such an outrage was made in any of 
 the letters of the Lords Justices to the Privy 
 Council. It is probable, however, that the Catholics 
 did rise up in diflferent places to attack those by 
 whom they had been so severely and cruelly 
 oppressed; and although there was no concerted 
 plan of massacre, many victims, who may have 
 been personally innocent, paid the penalty of the 
 guilty. In such evidence as is still on record 
 ghost stories predominate ; and even the Puritans 
 seem to have believed the wildest tales of the 
 apparition of Protestants, who demanded the im- 
 molation of the Catholics who had murdered them. 
 
270 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IREL.^D. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 English Adventurers speculate on Irish Disaffection — 
 Coote's Cruelties— Meeting of Irish Xoblemen and Gen- 
 tlemen—Discontent of the People — The Catholic Priests 
 try to save Protestants from tlieir Fury— A National 
 Synod to deliberate on the State of Irish Affairs — The 
 General Assembly is convened at Kilkenny— A Mint is 
 established— A Printing Press set up — Relations are en- 
 tered into with Foreign States, and a method of Govern- 
 ment is organized — Differences of opinion between the 
 Old Irish and Anglo-Irish — A Year's Treaty is made — 
 Arrival of Rinuccinni — He lands at Kenmare — His ac- 
 count of the Irish People— His Reception at Kilkenny— 
 His Opinion of the State of Affairs — Divisions of the Con- 
 federates — Ormonde's Intrigues— The Battle of Benburb 
 — Divisions and Discord in Camp and Senate — A Treaty 
 signed and published by the Representatives of the Eng- 
 lish Eling — Rinuccinni returns to Italy. 
 
 NEILL now took the title of "Lord- 
 Mi General of the Catholic army in Ulster." 
 •^^^ A proclamation was issued by the Irish 
 Government, declaring he had received no autho- 
 rity from the King ; and the ruling powers were 
 often heard to say, " that the more were in rebel- 
 lion, the more lands should be forfeited to them." 
 A company of adventurers were already formed in 
 London on speculation, and a rich harvest was 
 anticipated. Several engagements took place, in 
 which the insurgents were on the whole successful. 
 It was now confidently stated that a general mas- 
 
MEETING OF IRISH NOBLEMEN. 271 
 
 sacre of the Catholics was intended ; and, indeed 
 the conduct, of those engaged in putting down the 
 rising was very suggestive of such a purpose. In 
 Wicklow Sir Charles Coote put many innocent 
 persons to the sword, without distinction of age or 
 sex j and on one occasion, when he met a soldier 
 carrying an infant on the point of his pike, he was 
 charged with saying that " he liked such frolics." 
 
 Before taking an open step, even in self-defence, 
 the Irish noblemen and gentlemen sent another 
 address to the King ; but their unfortunate mes- 
 senger, Sir John Read, was captured, and cruelly 
 racked by the party in power — their main object 
 being to obtain something from his confessions 
 which should imphcate the King and Queen. 
 Patrick Barnwell, an aged man, was also racked for 
 a similar purpose. The Lord's Justices now endea- 
 voured to get several gentlemen into their posses- 
 sion, on pretence of holding a conference. Their 
 design was suspected, and the intended victims 
 escaped ; but they wrote a courteous letter, stating 
 the ground of their refusal. A meeting of the 
 principal Irish noblemen and gentlemen was now 
 held on the Hill of Crofty, in Meath. 
 
 After they had been a few hours on the ground, 
 the leaders of the insurgent party came up, and 
 were accosted by Lord Gormanstown, who inquired 
 why they came armed into the Pale. O'More 
 replied that they had *' taken up arms for the 
 freedom ^nd liberty of their consciences, the 
 
273 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 maintenance of his Majesty's prerogative, in which 
 they understood he was abridged, and the making 
 the subjects of this kingdom as free as those of 
 England." Lord Gormanstown answered: " Seeing 
 these be your true ends, we will likewise join wdth 
 you therein." 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1642, Charles issued a 
 proclamation against the Irish rebels, and wished 
 to take the command against them in person ; but 
 his parliament was his master, and they were glad 
 enough of the excuses afforded by the troubles in 
 Ireland to increase the army, and to obtain a more 
 direct personal control over its movements. They 
 voted away Irish estates, and uttered loud threats 
 of exterminating Popery ; but they had a more 
 important and interesting game in hand at home, 
 which occupied their attention, and made them 
 comparatively indifferent to Irish affairs. 
 
 Sir Phelim O'Neill was not succeeding in the 
 north. He had been obliged to raise the siege of 
 Drogheda, and the English had obtained possession 
 of Dundalk. £1,000 was offered for his head, and 
 £600 for the heads of some of his associates. 
 
 A synod met at Kilkenny, on the 10th of May, 
 1642. It was attended by the Archbishops of 
 Armagh, Cashel, and Tuam, and the Bishops of 
 Ossory, Elphin, Waterford, and Lismore, Kildare, 
 Clonfert, and Down and Connor. Proctors at- 
 tended for the Archbishop of Dublin, and for the 
 Bishops of Limerick, Emly, and Killaloe. There 
 
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 273 
 
 were present, also, sixteen other dignitaries and 
 heads of religious orders. They issued a mani- 
 festo explaining their conduct ; and, forming a 
 Provisional Government, concluded their labours, 
 after three days spent in careful deliberation. 
 
 Owen Eoe O'Neill and Colonel Preston arrived 
 in Ireland in July, 1642, accompanied by a 
 hundred officers, and well supplied with arms and 
 ammunition. Sir Phelim O'Neill went at once to 
 meet O'Neill, and resigned the command of the 
 army; and all promised fairly for the national 
 cause. The Scots, who had kept up a war of their 
 own for some time against both the King and the 
 Catholics, were wasting Down and Antrim ; and 
 O'Neill was likely to need all his military skill and 
 all his political -wdsdom in the position in which he 
 was placed. 
 
 Preston had landed in Wexford, and brought a 
 8till larger force ; while all the brave expatriated 
 Irishmen in foreign service, hastened home the 
 moment there appeared a hope that they could 
 strike a blow with some effect for the freedom of 
 their native land. 
 
 The General Assembly projected by the national 
 synod in Kilkenny, held its first meeting on 
 October 14, 1642 — eleven spiritual and fourteen 
 temporal peers, with 226 commoners, representing 
 the Catholic population of Ireland. It was, in 
 truth, a proud and glorious day for the nation. 
 For once, at least, she could speak through 
 
274 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 channels chosen by her own free will; and for 
 once there dawned a hope of legislative freedom of 
 action for the long-enslaved people. The old 
 house is still shown where that assembly deli- 
 berated — a parliament all but in name. The 
 table then used, and the chair occupied by the 
 Speaker, are still preserved as sad mementos of 
 freedom's blighted cause. The house used was in 
 the market-place. The peers and commoners sat 
 together ; but a private room was allotted for the 
 lords to consult in. Dr. Patrick Darcy, an eminent 
 lawyer, represented the Chancellor and the judges. 
 Mr. Nicholas Plunket was chosen as speaker ; the 
 Rev. Thomas O'Quirke, a learned Dominican friar, 
 was appointed Chaplain to both houses. 
 
 The Assembly at once declared that they met as 
 a provisional government, and not as a parliament. 
 The preliminary arrangements occupied them until 
 the 1st of November. From the 1st until the 
 4th the committee were engaged in drawing up a 
 form for the Confederate Government ; on the 4th 
 it was sanctioned by the two houses. Magna 
 Charta, and the common and statute law of 
 England, in all points not contrary to the Catholic 
 religion, or inconsistent with the liberty of Ireland, 
 were the basis of the new government. The ad- 
 ministrative authority was vested in a Supreme 
 Council, which was then chosen, and of which Lord 
 Mountgarret was elected President. 
 
 The Assembly broke up on the 9 th of January, 
 
FATAL DIVISIONS OF THE CONFEDERATES. 275 
 
 1643, after sending a remonstrance to the King, 
 declaring their loyalty and explaining their griev- 
 ances. The complicated state of English politics 
 proved the ruin of this noble undertaking, so auspi- 
 ciously commenced. Charles was anxious to make- 
 terms with men whom he knew would probably 
 be the only subjects on whose loyalty he could 
 thoroughly depend. His enemies — and the most 
 cursory glance at English history during this 
 period proves how many and how powerful they 
 were — desired to keep open the rupture, and, if 
 possible, to bring it down from the high stand of 
 dignified remonstrance to the more perilous and 
 lower position of a general and ill-organized insur- 
 rection. The Lords Justices Borlase and Parsons 
 were on the look-out for plunder ; but Charles had 
 as yet sufficient power to form a commission of his 
 own, and he sent the Marquis of Ormonde and some 
 other noblemen to treat with the Confederates. 
 Ormonde was a cold, calculating, and, if we must 
 judge him by his acts, a cruel man ; for, to give 
 only one specimen of his dealings, immediately 
 after his appointment he butchered the brave gar- 
 rison of Timolin, who had surrendered on promise 
 of quarter. 
 
 The Confederates were even then divided into 
 two parties. That section of their body princi- 
 pally belonging to the old English settlers, wore 
 willing to have peace on almost any terms ; the 
 ancient Irish had their memories burthened with 
 
276 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 SO many centuries of wrong, that they demanded 
 something like certainty of redress before they 
 would yield. Ormonde was well aware of the men 
 with whom, and the opinions with which, he 
 had to deal, and he acted accordingly. In the 
 various engagements which occurred, the Irish 
 were, on the whole, successful. They had gained 
 an important victory near Fermoy, principally 
 through the headlong valour of a troop of mere 
 boys, who dashed down with wild impetuosity on the 
 Endish, and showed what metal there was still left 
 in the country. Envoys were arriving from foreign 
 courts, and Urban VIII. had sent Father Scarampi 
 with indulgences and a purse of 30,000 dollars, 
 collected by Father Wadding. It was, therefore, 
 most important that the movement should be 
 checked in some way ; and, as it could not be sup- 
 pressed by force, it was suppressed by diplomac}^ 
 
 On the 15th of September, 1643, a cessation of 
 arms for one year was agreed upon ; and the tide 
 which had set in so gloriously for Irish indepen- 
 dence, rolled back its sobbing waves slowly and 
 sadly towards the EngUsh coast, and never returned 
 again with the same hopeful freedom and over- 
 powering strength. 
 
 In August, 1644, the cession was again pro- 
 foged by the General Assembly until December, 
 and subsequently for a longer period. Thus, pre- 
 cious time, and the fresh energies and interests 
 of the Confederates were hopelessly lost. 
 
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AT KILKENNY. 279 
 
 In the meantime Belling, the Secretary of the 
 Supreme Council, was sent to Eome, and presented 
 to Innocent X., by father Wadding, as the envoy 
 of the Confederate Catholics, in February, 1G45. 
 On hearing his report, the Pope sent John Bab- 
 tist Einucinni, Archbishop of Fermo, to Ireland as 
 Nuncio-Extraordinary, This prelate set out im- 
 mediately ; and, after some detention at St. Ger- 
 mains, for the purpose of conferring with the Eng- 
 lish Queen, who had taken refuge there, he 
 purchased the frigate of San Fietro at Kochelle, 
 stored it with arms and ammunition ; and, after 
 some escapes from the parliamentary cruisers, 
 landed safely in Kenmare Bay, on the 21st of 
 October, 1645. 
 
 The General Assembly met in Kilkenny, in 
 January, 1646, and demanded the release of Gla- 
 morgan. He was bailed out ; but the King disowned 
 the commission, as Einuccinni had expected, and 
 proved himself therby equally a traitor to his Ca- 
 tholic and Protestant subjects. Ormonde took care 
 to foment the division between the Confederate 
 party, and succeeded so well that a middle party 
 was formed, who signed a treaty consisting of 
 thirty articles. This document only provided for 
 the religious part of the question, that Eoman 
 Catholics should not be bound to take the oath of 
 supremacy. An act of oblivion was passed, and 
 the Catholics were to continue to hold their pos- 
 sessions until a settlement could be made by Act 
 
280 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 of Parliament. Even in a political point of view, 
 this treaty was a failure; and one should have 
 thought that Irish chieftains and Anglo-Irish 
 nobles had known enough of Acts of Parliament 
 to have prevented them from confiding their hopes 
 to such an uncertain future. 
 
 The division of the command in the Confederate 
 army had been productive of most disastrous con- 
 sequences. The rivalry between O'Neill, Preston, 
 and Owen Hoe, increased the complication ; but 
 the Nuncio managed to reconcile the two O'Neill's, 
 and active preparations were made by Owen Eoe 
 for his famous nothern campaign. The Irish troops 
 intended for Charles had remained in their own 
 country ; the unfortunate monarch had committed 
 his last fatal error by confiding himself to his 
 Scotch subjects, who sold him to his own people 
 for £400,000. Ormonde now refused to publish 
 the treaty which had been just concluded, or even 
 to enforce its observance by Monroe, although the 
 Confederates had given him £3,000 to get up an 
 expedition for that purpose. 
 
 In the beginning of June, A.D. 1646, Owen Eoe 
 O'Neill marched against Monroe, with 5,000 foot 
 and 500 horse. Monroe received notice of his ap- 
 proach ; and although his force was far superior to 
 O'Neill's, he sent for reinforcements of cavalry from 
 his brother. Colonel George Monroe, who w^as 
 stationed at Coleraine. But the Irish forces ad- 
 advanced more quickly than he expected j and on 
 
BATTLE OF BENBUKB. 281 
 
 the 4tli of June they had crossed the Blackwater, 
 and encamped at Benburb. The approach was 
 anticipated; and, on the 5th of June, 1646, the 
 most magnificent victory ever recorded in the 
 annals of Irish history was won. The Irish army 
 prepared for the great day with solemn rehgious 
 observances. The whole army approached the 
 sacraments of penance and holy communion, and 
 thus were prepared alike for death or victory. 
 O'Neill's skill as a military tactician is beyond all 
 praise. For four long hours he engaged the atten- 
 tion of the enemy, until the glare of the burning 
 summer sun had passed away, and until he had 
 intercepted the reinforcements which Monroe ex- 
 pected. At last the decisive moment had arrived. 
 Monroe thought he saw his brother's contingent 
 in the distance; O'Neill knew that they were 
 some of his own men who had beaten that very 
 contingent. "When the Scotch General was un- 
 deceived, he resolved to retire. O'Neill saw his 
 advantage, and gave the command to charge. 
 With one wild cry of vengeance for desecrated 
 altars and desolated homes, the Irish soldiers 
 dashed to the charge, and Monroe's ranks were 
 broken, and his men driven to flight. Even 
 the General himself fled so precipitately, that he 
 left his hat, sword, and cloak after him, and never 
 halted until he reached Lisbui-n. Lord Montgomery 
 was taken prisoner, and 3,000 of the Scotch were 
 left on the field. Of the Irish, only seventy men 
 
282 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 were killed, and 200 wounded. It was a great 
 victory; and it was something more — it was a 
 glorious victory ; although Ireland remained, both 
 as to political and religious freedom, much as it 
 had been before. 
 
 Rinuccinni now took a high hand. He entered 
 Kilkenny in state, on the 18th of September, and 
 committed the members of the Supreme Council 
 as prisoners to the Castle, except Darcy and 
 Plunket. A new Council was appointed, or self- 
 appointed, on the 20th, of which the Nuncio was 
 chosen President. The imprisonment of the old 
 Council was undoubtedly a harsh and unwise 
 proceeding, which can scarcely be justified; but 
 the times were such that prompt action was de- 
 manded, and the result alone, which could not be 
 foreseen, could justify or denounce its conse- 
 quences. 
 
 The Generals were again at variance ; and, 
 although the new Council had decided on attack- 
 ing Dublin, their plans could not be carried out. 
 Preston was unquestionably playing fast and loose; 
 and when the Confederate troops did march towards 
 Dublin, his duplicity ruined the cause which might 
 even then have been gained. A disgraceful retreat 
 was the result. An Assembly was again convened 
 at Kilkenny ; the old Council was released ; the 
 Generals promised to forget their animosities ; but 
 three weeks had been lost in angry discussion ; and 
 although the Confederates bound themselves by 
 
inchiquin's cruelties. 283 
 
 oath not to lay down their arms until their de- 
 mands were granted, their position was weakened 
 to a degree which the selfishness of the contending 
 parties made them quite incapable of estimating. 
 
 The fact was, the Puritan faction in England 
 was every day gaining an increase of power ; while 
 every hour that the Confederate Catholics wasted 
 in discussion or division was weakening their 
 moral strength. 
 
 In the meantime, Inchiquin was distinguishing 
 himself by his cruel victories in the south of Ireland. 
 The massacre of Cashel followed. When the w^alls 
 were battered down, the hapless garrison sur- 
 rendered without resistance, and were butchered 
 without mercy. The people fled to the cathedral, 
 hoping there, at least, to escape ; but the savage 
 general poured volleys of musket-balls through the 
 doors and windows, and his soldiers, rushing in 
 afterwards, piked those who were not yet dead. 
 Twenty priests were dragged out as objects of 
 special vengeance ; and the total number of those 
 who were thus massacred amounted to 3,000. 
 
 Inchiquin had been treating with the Supreme 
 Council for a truce ; but Einuccinni, who detested 
 his duplicity, could never be induced to listen to 
 his proposals. On the 27th of May, the Nuncio 
 promulgated a sentence of excommunication against 
 all cities and villages where it should be received, 
 and, at the same time, he withdrew to the camp oi 
 Owen Roe O'Neill, against whom Inchiquin and 
 
284 THE PATUIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Preston were prepared to march. It was a last 
 and desperate resource, and, as might be expected, 
 it failed signally of its intended effects. Various 
 attempts to obtain a settlement of the question at 
 issue, by force of arms, were made by the con- 
 tending parties ; but O'Neill baffled his enemies, 
 and the Nuncio withdrew to Galway. 
 
 Ormonde arrived in Ireland soon after, and was 
 received at Cork, on the 27th of September, 1G48, 
 by Inchiquin. He then proceeded to Kilkenny, 
 ■where he was received in great state by the Con- 
 federates. On the 1 7th of January, 1 649, he signed 
 a treaty of peace, which concluded the seven years' 
 war. This treaty afiorded the most ample indul- 
 gences to the Catholics, and guaranteed fairly that 
 civil and rehgious liberty for which alone they had 
 contended; but the ink upon the deed was scarcely 
 dry, ere the execution of Charles I., on the 30th 
 of January, washed out its enactments in royal 
 blood; and civil war, with more than ordinary 
 complications, was added to the many miseries of 
 our unfortunate country. 
 
 Einuccinni embarked in the San Pietro once more, 
 and returned to Italy, February 23, 1649. Had 
 his counsels been followed, the result might have 
 justified him, even in his severest measui-es ; as it 
 is, we read only failure in his career ; but it should 
 be remembered, that there are circumstances under 
 which failure is more noble than success. 
 
CROMWELL IN IRELAND. 285 
 
 CHAPTEE XYII. 
 
 Cromwell arrives in Ireland— His cruel Massacres — His 
 Treachery at Drogheda— The Siege of Limerick— The 
 Ii-ish to Connaught— The Irish sold as Slaves— The 
 Wolf, the Priest, and the Tory— Origin and Causes of 
 Agrarian Outrages — Accession of Charles II. — His 
 Injustice— Execution of the Most Rev, D. Plunket— The 
 Battle of the Boyne. 
 
 y|,jROMWELL'S command in Ireland extends 
 i?M from the middle of August, 1649, to the 
 end of May, 1650, about nine months in 
 all, and is remarkable for the number of sieges of 
 ■vvalled towns crowded into that brief period. 
 
 Of the spirit in which these several sieges were 
 conducted, it is impossible to speak without a 
 shudder. It was, in truth, a spirit of hatred and 
 fanaticism, altogether beyond the control of the 
 revolutionary leader. At Drogheda, the work of 
 slaughter occupied five entire days. Of the brave 
 garrison of 3,000 men, not thirty were spared, and 
 these '' were in hands for the Barbadoes;" old men, 
 women, children, and priests, were unsparingly put 
 to the sword. AVexford was basely betrayed by 
 Captain James Stafford, commander of the castle, 
 whose midnight interview with Cromwell, at a 
 private house without the walls, tradition still re- 
 counts with horror and detestation. This port was 
 particularly obnoxious to the parliament, as, from 
 
286 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 its advantageous position on the Bristol Channel, 
 its cruisers greatly annoyed and embarrassed their 
 commerce. 
 
 The unexpected death of O'lSTeill favoured still 
 farther Cromwell's southern movements. The gal- 
 lant, but impetuous Bishop of Clogher, Heber 
 M'Mahon, was the only northern leader who could 
 command confidence enough to keep CNeill's 
 force together, and on him, therefore, the command 
 devolved. OTerrall, one of Owen's favourite 
 ofl&cers, was despatched to Waterford, and mainly 
 contributed to Cromwell's repulse before that city ; 
 Hugh O'Neill covered himself with glory at Clon- 
 mel and Limerick ; Daniel O'Neill, another nephew 
 of Owen, remained attached to Ormond, and ac- 
 companied him to France ; but within six months 
 from the loss of their Fabian chief, who knew as 
 well when to strike as to delay, the brave Bishop 
 of Clogher sacrificed the remnant of "the Catholic 
 Army" at the pass of Scariffhollis, in Donegal, 
 and, two days after, his own liie by a martyr's 
 death, at Oraagh. At the date of Cromwell's de- 
 parture — when Ireton took command of the 
 southern ariny — there remained to the Confe- 
 derates only some remote glens and highlands of 
 the North and West, the cities of Limerick and 
 Galway, with the county of Clare, and some de- 
 tached districts of the province of Connaught. 
 
 The last act of Cromwell's proper campaign was 
 the seige of Clonmel, where he met the stoutest 
 
CROIMWELL LEAVES IRELAND. 287 
 
 resistance he had anywhere encountered. The 
 Puritans, after effecting a breach, made an attempt 
 to enter, chanting one of their scriptural battle- 
 songs. They were, by their own account, " obliged 
 to give back a while," and finally night settled 
 down upon the scene. The following day, finding 
 the place no longer tenable, the garrison silently 
 withdrew to Waterford, and subsequently to Lime- 
 rick. The inhabitants demanded a parley, which 
 was granted ; and Cromwell takes credit, and de- 
 serves it, when we consider the men he had to 
 humour, for having kept conditions with them. 
 
 From before Clonmel he returned at once to Eng- 
 land, where he was received with royal honours. 
 
 Henry Ireton, son-in-law of Cromwell, by a 
 marriage contracted about two years before, was 
 now in command, and in August following Crom- 
 well's departure, Waterford and Duncannon were 
 taken by him ; and there only remained to the 
 Confederates the fortresses of Sligo, Athlone, Lime- 
 rick, and Galway, with the country included 
 within the irregular quadrangle they describe. 
 
 Political events of great interest happened 
 during the two short years of Ire ton's command. 
 The Assembly, which met at Jamestown in August, 
 and again at Loughrea in November, 1650, made 
 the retirement of Ormond from the Government 
 a condition of all future efforts in the royal 
 cause, and that nobleman, deeply wounded by this 
 condition, had finally sailed from Galway. 
 
2S8 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The decisive battle of Worcester, fought on the 
 3rd of September, 1651, drove Charles II. into that 
 nine years' exile, from which he only returned on 
 the death of Cromwell. It may be considered the 
 last military event of importance in the English 
 civil war. In Ireland the contest was destined to 
 drag out another campaign, before the walls of 
 the two gallant cities, Galway and Limerick. 
 
 Ireton now prepared to lay siege to the latter. 
 To effect this, Coote made a feint of attacking 
 Sligo ; and when he had drawn off Clanrickarde's 
 forces to oppose him, marched back hastily, and 
 took Athlone. By securing this fortress he opened 
 a road into Connaught ; and Ireton, at the same 
 time, forced the passage of the river at O'Briens- 
 bridge, and thus was enabled to invest Limerick. 
 Muskerry marched to its relief ; but he was inter- 
 cepted by Lord Broghill, and his men were routed 
 with great slaughter. The castle at the salmon 
 weir was first attacked ; and the men who defended 
 it were butchered in cold blood, although they had 
 surrendered on a promise of quarter. At length 
 treachery accomplished what valour might have 
 prevented. The plague was raging in the city, and 
 many tried to escape ; but were either beaten back 
 into the town, or killed on the spot by Ireton's 
 troopers. The corporation and magistrates were 
 in favour of a capitulation ; but the gallant 
 Governor, Hugh O'Neill, opposed it earnestly. 
 Colonel Fennell, who had already betrayed the 
 
MARTYRDOM OF BISHOP O'BRIEN. 289 
 
 pass at Killaloe, completed his perfidy by seizing 
 St. John's Gate and Tower, and admitting Ireton's 
 men by night. On the following day the invader 
 was able to dictate his own terms. 2,500 soldiers 
 laid down their arms in St. Mary's Church, and 
 marched out of the city, many dropping dead on 
 their road of the fearful pestilence. Twenty-four 
 persons were exempted from quarter. Amongst 
 the number were a Dominican prelate, Dr. Terence 
 O'Brien, Bishop of Emly, and a Franciscan, Father 
 Wolfe. Ireton had special vengeance for the 
 former, who had long encouraged the people to 
 fight for their country and their faith, and had 
 refused a large bribe which the Cromwellian 
 General had offered him if he would leave the city. 
 The ecclesiastics were soon condemned; but ere the 
 bishop was dragged to the gibbet, he turned to the 
 dark and cruel man who had sacrificed so many 
 lives, and poured such torrents of blood over the 
 land, summoning him, in stern and prophetic tones, 
 to answer at God's judgment-seat for the evils he 
 had done. The bishop and his companion were 
 martyred on the Eve of All Saints, October 31st, 
 1651. On the 26th of November Ireton was a 
 corpse. He caught the plague eight days after he 
 had been summoned to the tribunal of eternal 
 justice; and he died ra'sdng wildly of the men 
 whom he had murdered, and accusing every one 
 but himself of the crime he had committed. 
 
 Several of the leading gentry of Limerick were 
 
 T 
 
290 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 also executed; and the traitor Fennell met the 
 reward of his treachery, and was hanged. Hugh 
 O'Neill was saved through the remonstrances of 
 Bome of the parliamentary officers, who had the spirit 
 to appreciate his valour and llis honourable dealing. 
 The Long Parhament declared, in its session of 
 1652, that the rebellion in Ireland "was subdued 
 and ended," and proceeded to legislate for that 
 kingdom as a conquered country. On the 12th of 
 August they passed their Act of Settlement, the 
 authorship of which was attributed to Lord Orrery, 
 in this respect the worthy son of the first Earl of 
 Cork. Under this Act, there were four chief 
 descriptions of persons whose status was thus 
 settled: 1st. All ecclesiastics and royalist pro- 
 prietors were exempted from pardon of life or 
 estate. 2nd. All royalist commissioned officers were 
 condemned to banishment, and the forfeit of two- 
 thirds of their property, one-third being retained 
 for the support of their wives and children. 
 3rd. Those who had not been in arms, but who 
 could be shown, by a parliamentary commission, 
 to have manifested " a constant, good affection," to 
 the war, were to forfeit one-third of their estates, 
 and receive " an equivalent" for the remaining two- 
 thirds west of the Shannon. 4th. All husband- 
 men and others of the inferior sort, " not possessed 
 of lands or goods exceeding the value of ^10," 
 were to have a free pardon, on condition also of 
 transporting themselves across the Shannon. 
 
THE BANISHMENT TO CONNATJGHT. 291 
 
 This is the official proclamation which was issued 
 on the subject : " The Parliament of the Common- 
 wealth of England, having, by an Act lately passed 
 (entitled an Act for the Settling of Ireland), de- 
 clared that it is not their intention to extirpate this 
 whole nation .... it is ordered that the Go- 
 vernor and Commissioners of Ee venue .... do 
 cause the said Act of Parliament, with this present 
 declaration, to be published and proclaimed in their 
 respective precincts, by beat of drum and sound of 
 trumpet, on some market-day, within ten days 
 after the same shall come unto them within their 
 respective precincts." 
 
 Connaught was selected as the place of banish- 
 ment for two reasons : first, because it was the 
 most wasted province of Ireland ; and, secondly, 
 because it could be, and in fact was, most easily 
 converted into a national prison, by erecting a 
 cordon militaire across the country, from sea to sea. 
 To make the imprisonment more complete, a belt 
 four miles wide, commencing one mile to the west 
 of Sligo, and thence running along the coast and 
 the Shannon, was to be given to the soldiery to 
 plant. Thus, any Irishman who attempted to 
 escape, would be sure of instant capture and exe- 
 cution. 
 
 Children under age, of both sexes, were captured 
 by thousands, and sold as slaves to the tobacco- 
 planters of Virginia and the West Indies. Secre- 
 tary Thurloe informs Henry CromweU that the 
 
292 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 '^ Committee of the Council have authorized 1,000 
 girls and as many youths to be taken up for that 
 purpose." Sir William Petty mentions 6,000 Irish 
 boys and girls shipped to the West Indies. Some 
 contemporary accounts make the total number of 
 children and adults so transported 100,000 souls. 
 To this decimation, we may add 34,000 men of 
 fighting age, who had permission to enter the 
 armies of foreign powers, at peace with the Com- 
 monwealth. 
 
 Charles II. commenced his reign in 1660, under 
 the most favourable auspices. In England public 
 affairs were easily settled. Those who had been 
 expelled from their estates by the Cromwellian 
 faction, were driven out by the old proprietors ; 
 but in Ireland the case was very different. Even 
 the faithful loyalists, who had sacrificed everything 
 for the King, and had so freely assisted his ne- 
 cessities out of their poverty, were now treated 
 with contempt, and their claims silenced by pro- 
 clamation; while the men who had been most 
 opposed to the royal interests, and most cruel in 
 their oppression of the natives, were rewarded and 
 admitted into favour. Coote and Broghill were of 
 this class. Each tried to lessen the other in the 
 opinion of their royal master as they ran the race 
 for favour, and each boasted of services never 
 accomplished, and of loyalty which never existed. 
 The two enemies of each other and of the nation 
 were now appointed Lords Justices of Ireland. 
 
TEIAL OF DR. PLUNKETT. 293 
 
 In 1679, the example of successful villany in 
 England, of Gates, pensioned and all-powerful, 
 brought an illustrious victim to the scaffold. Thia 
 was Oliver Plunkett, a scion of the noble family 
 of Fingal, who had been Archbishop of Armagh 
 since the death of Dr. O'Reilly, in exile, in 1699. 
 
 Such had been the prudence and circumspection 
 of Dr. Plunkett, during his perilous adminis- 
 tration, that the agents of Lord Shaftesbury, 
 sent over to concoct evidence for the occasion, 
 were afraid to bring him to trial in the vicinage 
 of his arrest, or in his own country. Accord- 
 ingly, they caused him to be removed from Dublin 
 to London, contrary to the laws and customs of both 
 kingdoms. 
 
 Dr. Plunkett, after ten months' confinement 
 without trial in Ireland, was removed, 1680, and 
 arraigned at London, on the 8th of June, 1G81, 
 without having had permission to communicate with 
 his friends or to send for witnesses. The prosecution 
 was conducted by Maynard and Jeffries, in viola- 
 tion of every form of law, and every consideration 
 of justice. A " crown agent," whose name is given 
 as Gorman, was introduced by " a stranger," in 
 court, and volunteered testimony in his favour. 
 The earl of Essex interceded with the King on hia 
 behalf, but Charles answered, almost in the words 
 of Pilate — " I cannot pardon him, because I dare 
 not. His blood be upon your conscience ; you 
 could have saved him if you pleased." The Jury, 
 
296 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 after a quarter of an hour's deliberation, brought 
 in their verdict of guilty, and the brutal chief- 
 justice condemned him to be hung, emboweled, 
 and quartered, on the 1st day of July, 1681. The 
 venerable martyr bowed his head to the bench, 
 and exclaimed : Deo Ch'aiias 1 Eight years from 
 the very day of his execution, on the banks of 
 that river beside which he had been seized and 
 dragged from his retreat, the last of the Stuart 
 Kings was stricken from his throne, and his dynasty 
 stricken from history ! Does not the blood of the 
 innocent cry to Heaven for vengeance 1 
 
 The charges against Dr. Plunkett were, that he 
 maintained treasonable correspondence with France 
 and Rome, and the Irish on the continent ; that he 
 had organized an insurrection in Louth, Monaghan, 
 Cavan, and Armagh ; that he made preparations 
 for the landing of a French force at Carlingford ; 
 and that he had held several meetings to raise 
 men and money for these purposes. 
 
 From the accession of King James till his final 
 flight from Ireland, in July, 1690, there elapsed an 
 interval of five years and five months ; a period 
 fraught with consequences of the highest interest 
 to this history. The new king was, on his acces- 
 sion, in his fifty-second year ; he had served as 
 Duke of York with credit, both by land and sea, was 
 an avowed Catholic, and married to a Catholic prin- 
 cess, the beautiful and unfortunate Mary of Modena. 
 
 Within a month from the proclamation of the 
 
JAMES ATTACKED BY WILLIAM 01* ORANGE. 297 
 
 King, Ormond quitted the government for the 
 last time, leaving Primate Boyle and Lord Granard 
 as Justices. In January, 1686, Lord Clarendon, 
 son of the historian, assumed the government, in 
 which he continued till the 16th of March, 1687. 
 The day following the national anniversary. 
 Colonel Eichard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnell, a 
 Catholic, and the former agent for the Catholics, 
 was ins tailed as Lord Deputy. 
 
 On the 5th of November, the anniversary of the 
 gunpowder plot, William of Orange landed at 
 Torbay ; on the 25th of December, James, deserted 
 by his nobles, his army, and even his own unnatural 
 children, arrived, a fugitive and a suppliant at the 
 Court of France. 
 
 James at last determined to make an effort to 
 regain his throne ; and by this act rendered the 
 attempt of his son-in-law simply a rebellion. Had 
 the King declined the contest, had he violated the 
 rules of government so grossly as no longer to 
 merit the confidence of his people, or had there 
 been no lawful heir to the throne, William's 
 attempt might have been legitimate ; under the 
 circumstances, it was simply a successful rebellion. 
 The King landed at Kinsale, on the 12th of March, 
 1689, attended by some Irish troops and French 
 officers. He met Tyrconnell in Cork, created him 
 a duke, and then proceeded to Bandon, where he 
 received the submission of the people. 
 
 The great event of James' visit to Ireland was 
 
298 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the battle of tlie Boyne, •which took place June 
 30, 1689. The Jacobite army was posted on the 
 declivity of the Hill of Dunore. The centre 
 was at the small hamlet of Oldbridge. Entrench- 
 ments were hastily thrown up to deiend the fords, 
 and James took up his position at a ruined church 
 on the top of the Hill of Dunore. The Williamite 
 army approached from the north, their brave leader 
 directing every movement, and inspiring his men 
 with courage and confidence. He obtained a 
 favourable position, and was completely screened 
 from view until he appeared on the brow of the 
 hill, where his forces debouched slowly and steadily 
 into the ravines below. After planting his batteries 
 on the heights, he kept up an incessant fire on 
 the Irish lines during the afternoon of the 30th. 
 But James' ofl^cers were on the alert, even if 
 their King was indiff"erent. William was recog- 
 nized as he approached near their lines to recon- 
 noitre. Guns were brought up to bear on him 
 quietly and stealthily ; "six shots were fired at him, 
 one whereof fell and struck off the top of the Duke 
 of Wurtemberg's pistol and the whiskers of his 
 horse ; another tore the King's coat on his shoulder." 
 William, like a wise general as he was, took care 
 that the news of his accident should not dispirit 
 his men. He showed himself everywhere, rode 
 through the camp, was as agreeable as it was in 
 his nature to be ; and thus made capital of what 
 might have been a cause of disaster. In the mean- 
 
THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE. 299 
 
 time James did all that was possible to secure a 
 defeat. At one moment he decided to retreat, at 
 the next he would risk a battle ; then he sent off 
 his baggage and six of his field-pieces to Dublin, 
 for his own special proctection ; and while thus so 
 remarkably careful of himself, he could not be per- 
 suaded to allow the most necessary precaution to 
 be taken for the safety of his army. Hence the 
 real marvel to posterity is, not that the battle of 
 the Boyne should have been lost by the Irish, but 
 that they should ever have attempted to fight at 
 all. Perhaps nothing but that inherent loyalty of 
 the Irish, which neither treachery nor pusillanimity 
 could destroy, and that vivid remembrance of the 
 cruel wrongs always inflicted by Protestants when 
 in power, prevented them from rushing over en 
 masse to William's side of the Boyne. Perhaps, 
 in the history of nations, there never was so brave 
 a resistance made for love of royal right and re- 
 ligious freedom, as that of the Irish officers and 
 men who fought on the Jacobite side that fatal 
 day. 
 
 The first attack of William's men was made at 
 Slane. This was precisely what the Jacobite officers 
 had anticipated, and what James had obstinately 
 refused to see. When it was too late, he allowed 
 Lauzan to defend the ford, but even Sir Mai O'NeiU's 
 galantry was unavailing. The enemy had the ad- 
 vance, and Portland's artillery and infantry crossed 
 at Slane. William now felt certain of victory, if, 
 indeed, he had ever doubted it. It was low water 
 
300 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 at ten o'clock ; the fords at Oldbridge were pass- 
 able; a tremendous battery was opened on the 
 Irish lines ; thej^ had not a single gun to reply, and 
 yet they waited steadily for the attack. The Dutch 
 Blue Guards dashed into the stream ten a-breast, 
 commanded by the Count de Solmes ; the London- 
 derry and Enniskillen Dragoons followed, supported 
 by the French Huguenots. The English infantry 
 came next, under the command of Sir John Hanmer 
 and the Count Nassau. WilHam crossed at the 
 fifth ford, where the water was deepest, with the 
 cavalry of his left wing. It was a grand and ter- 
 rible sight. The men in the water fought for 
 William and Protestantism ; the men on land 
 fought for their King and their faith. The men 
 were equally gallant. Of the leaders I shall say 
 nothing, least I should be tempted to say too much. 
 James had followed Lauzan's forces towards Slane. 
 Tryconnell's valour could not save the day for Ire- 
 land against fearful odds. Sarsfield's horse had 
 accompanied the King. The Huguenots were so 
 warmly received by the Irish at the fords that they 
 recoiled, and their commander, Caillemont, was 
 mortally wounded. Schomberg forgot his age, 
 and the afront he had received from William in 
 the morning ; and the man of eighty-two dashed 
 into the river with the impetuosity of eighteen. 
 He was killed immediately, and so was Dr. Walker, 
 who had headed the Ulster Protestants. AVilliam 
 may have regretted the brave old General, but he 
 certainly did not regret the Protestant divine. 
 
THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE. 301 
 
 He had no fancy for churchmen meddling in secular 
 affairs, and a rough " What brought him there V 
 was all the reply vouchsafed to the news of his de- 
 mise. The tide now began to flow, and the battle 
 raged with increased fury. The valour displayed 
 by the Irish was a marvel even to their enemies. 
 Hamilton was wounded and taken prisoner — 
 William headed the Enniskilleners, who were put 
 to flight soon after- by the Irish Horse, at Flatten, 
 and were only rallied again by himself. When the 
 enemy had crossed the ford at Oldbridge, James 
 ordered Lauzan to march in a parallel with Douglas 
 and young Schomberg to Duleek. Tryconnell fol- 
 lowed. The French infantry covered the retreat 
 in admirable order, with the Irish cavalry. AVhen 
 the defile of Duleek had been passed, the royalist 
 forces again presented a front to the enemy 
 William's horse halted. The retreat was again 
 resumed ; and at the deep defile of Naul the last 
 stand was made. The shades of a summer evening 
 closed over the belligerent camps. The Williamites 
 returned to Duleek ; and eternal shadows clouded 
 over the destinies of the unfortunate Stuarts — a 
 race admired more from sympathy with their 
 miseries, than from admiration of their virtues. 
 
 Thus ended the famous battle of the Boyne. 
 England gained thereby a new governor and a 
 national debt ; Ireland, fresh oppression, and an 
 intensification of religious and political animosity, 
 unparalleled in the history of nations. 
 
802 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Plight of King James — William of Orange at the Siege of 
 Limerick — Violation of the Treaty of Limerick— The 
 Penal Laws— The Whiteboys — Grattau demands Irish 
 Independence. 
 
 I^S soon as the battle was over James took to 
 flight. He reached Dublin late in the 
 evening, and had the bad taste and cow- 
 ardice to insult Lady Tj^rconnell by telling her how 
 fleetly her countrymen had run from the field of 
 battle. With truth and spirit she very properly 
 retorted that his Majesty had set them the exam- 
 ple. James embarked for France at Kinsale, and 
 left the command in Ireland to Tyrconnell. Wil- 
 liam marched to Dublin and was received there by 
 the Protestants in great triumph. The siege of 
 Limerick is the next national event of great im- 
 portance. The French officers determined to leave 
 the country, and Lauzan, their commander, ordered 
 all his troops off to Galway. But the brave de- 
 fenders of Limerick were not discouraged, and 
 refused to yield. 
 
 William laid siege to the gallant city on the 1 7th 
 of August, 169L William sent for more artiUery 
 
SIEGE OF LIMERICK. 303 
 
 to Waterford ; and it was found that two of the 
 guns which Sarsfield had attempted to destroy 
 were still available. 
 
 The trenches were opened on the 1 7th of August. 
 On the 20th the garrison made a vigorous sortie, 
 and retarded the enemy's progress; but on the 
 24th the batteries were completed, and a murder- 
 ous fire of red-hot shot and shells was poured into 
 the devoted city. The trenches were carried 
 within a few feet of the palisades, on the 27th ; 
 and a breach having been made in the wall near 
 St. John's Gate, William ordered the assault to 
 commence. The storming party were supported 
 by ten thousand men. For three hours a deadly 
 struggle was maintained. The result seemed 
 doubtful, so determined was the bravery evinced 
 on each side. Boisseleau, the Governor, had not 
 been unprepared, although he was taken by sur- 
 prise, and had opened a murderous cross-fire on the 
 assailants when first they attempted the storm. 
 The conflict lasted fornearly three hours. The 
 Brandenburg regiment had gained the Black Bat- 
 tery, when the Irish sprung a mine, and men, fag- 
 gots, and stones were blown up in a moment. A 
 council of war was held ; William, whose temper was 
 not the most amiable at any time, was unusually 
 morose. He had lost 2,000 men between the killed 
 and the wounded, and he had not taken the city, 
 which a French General had pronounced attainable 
 with " roasted aj)ples." On Sunday, the 31st of 
 
304 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 August, the seige was raised. William returned to 
 England, where his presence was imperatively 
 demanded. The military command was confided 
 to the Count de Solmes, who was afterwards suc- 
 ceeded by de Ginkell ; the civil government was 
 entrusted to Lord Sidney, Sir Charles Porter, and 
 Mr. Coningsby. 
 
 The famous battle of Aughrim occurred imme- 
 diately after the gallant defence and fall of Athlone. 
 St. Ruth removed his troops to Ballinasloe, and 
 subsequently to Aughrim. He chose his ground 
 well, and was fully prepared to meet the William- 
 ites, who came up on Sunday, July 11th, while the 
 Irish army was hearing Mass. The most probable 
 estimate of the Irish force appears to be 15,000 
 horse and foot ; and of the English, 20,000. Gin- 
 kell opened fire on the enemy as soon as his guns 
 were planted. Some trifling skirmishes followed. 
 A council of war was held, and the deliberation 
 lasted until half-past four in the evening, at which 
 time a general engagement was decided on. A 
 cannonade had been kept up on both sides, in 
 which the English had immensely the advantage, 
 St. Ruth's excellently-chosen position being almost 
 useless for want of sufficient artillery. At half-past 
 six Ginkell ordered an advance on the Irish right 
 centre, having previously ascertained that the bog 
 was passable. The defenders, after discharging 
 their fire, gradually drew the Williamites after them 
 by an almost imperceptible retreat, until they had 
 
BATTLE OF AUGHRBr. 305 
 
 them face to face with their main line. Then the 
 Irish cavalry charged with irresistible valour, and 
 the English were thrown into total disorder. St. 
 Ruth, proud of the success of his strategies and the 
 valour of his men, exclaimed, " Le jour est a nous, 
 mes enfans." But St. Ruth's weak point was his 
 left wing, and this was at once perceived and taken 
 advantage of by the Dutch General. Some of his 
 infantry made good their passage across the morass, 
 which St. Ruth had supposed impassable ; and the 
 men, who commanded this position from a ruined 
 castle, found that the balls with which they had 
 been served did not suit theii' fire-arms, so that 
 they were unable to defend the passage. St. Ruth 
 at once perceived his error. He hastened to sup- 
 port them with a brigade of horse ; but even as he 
 exclaimed, " They are beaten ; let us beat them to 
 the purpose," a cannon-ball carried off his head, 
 and all was lost. Another death, which occurred 
 almost immediately after, completed the misfortunes 
 of the Irish. The infantry had been attended and 
 encouraged by Dr. Aloysius Stafford, chaplain to 
 the forces ; but when " death interrupted his glo- 
 rious career," they were panic-struck ; and three 
 hours after the death of the General and the priest, 
 there was not a man of the Irish army left upon 
 the field. But the real cause of the failure was 
 the fatal misunderstanding which existed be- 
 tween the leaders. Sarsfield, who was thorough^ 
 able to have taken St. Ruth's position, and to 
 
306 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 have retrieved the fortunes of the day, had 
 been placed in the rear by the jealousy of the 
 latter, and kept in entire ignorance of the plan of 
 battle. He was now obliged to withdraw without 
 striking a single blow. The cavalry retreated 
 along the highroad to Loughrea ; the infantry fled 
 to a bog, where numbers were massacred, unarmed 
 and in cold blood. 
 
 The loss on both sides was immense, and can 
 never be exactly estimated. Harris says that " had 
 not St. Ruth been taken off, it would have been 
 hard to say what the consequences of this day would 
 have been." Many of the dead remained unburied, 
 and their bones were left to bleach in the storms of 
 winter and the sun of summer. There was one 
 exception to the general neglect. An Irish officer, 
 who had been slain, was followed by his faithful 
 dog. The poor animal lay beside his master's body 
 day and night; and though he fed upon other 
 corpses with the rest of the dogs, he would not 
 permit them to touch the treasured remains. He 
 continued his watch until January, when he flew at 
 a soldier, who, he feared, was about to remove the 
 bones, which were all that remained to him of the 
 being by whom he had been caressed and fed. 
 The soldier, in his fright, unslung his piece and 
 fired, and the faithful wolf-dog laid down and 
 died by his charge. 
 
 Ginkell laid siege to Galway a week after the 
 battle of Aughrim. The inhabitants relied princi- 
 
ARTICLES OF THE TREATY. 307 
 
 pally upon the arrival of Balldearg O'Donnell for 
 their defence ; but, as he did not appear in time, 
 they capitulated on favourable terms, and the Dutch 
 General marched to Limerick. 
 
 Tyrconnell had died there on the Uth of August, 
 and on the 25th de Ginkell invested the devoted 
 city on three sides. An English fleet assailed it 
 from the river. Eut the valour of the brave 
 Limerick men was more than a match for all, and 
 on the 3rd of October the famous Treaty of Limerick 
 was signed by the English. Whether they ever 
 intended to keep it or not is another question. 
 
 The civil articles of Limerick were thirteen in 
 number. Art. I. guaranteed to Cathohcs remain- 
 ing in the kingdom, " such privileges in the exer- 
 cise of their religion as are consistent with the law 
 of Ireland, or as they enjoyed in the reign of King 
 Charles IL ;" this article further provided, that 
 *' their Majesties, as soon as their affairs will permit 
 them to summon a parliament in this kingdom, will 
 endeavour to procure the said Roman Catholics 
 such further security in that particular as may 
 preserve them from any disturbance on account of 
 their said religion." Art. II. guaranteed pardon 
 and protection to all who had served King James, 
 on taking the oath of allegiance prescribed in Art. 
 IX,, as follows : — 
 
 " I, A. B., do solemnly promise and swear that I 
 will be faithful, and bear true allegiance, to their 
 Majesties, King William and Queen Mary ; so help 
 jne, God." 
 
308 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Arts. III., IV., v., and VI. extended the provi- 
 sions of Arts. I. and II. to merchants and other 
 classes of men. Art. VII. permits " every noble- 
 man and gentleman compromised in the said 
 articles" to carry side-arms, and keep a gun in their 
 houses." Art. VIII. gives the right of removing 
 goods and chattels without search. Art. IX. is as 
 follows : 
 
 " The oath to be administered to such Eoman 
 Catholics as submit t.o their Majesties' government 
 shall be the oath aforesaid, and no other." 
 
 Art. X. guarantees that " no person or persons 
 who shall at any time hereafter break these articles, 
 or any of them, shall thereby make or cause any 
 other person or persons to forfeit or lose the benefit 
 of them." Arts. XL and XII. relate to the ratifi- 
 cation of the articles " within eight months or 
 sooner." Art. XIII. refers to the debts of '' Colonel 
 John Brown, commissary to the Irish army, to 
 several Protestants," and arranges for their satis- 
 faction. 
 
 These articles were signed, before Limerick, at 
 the well-known '' Treaty Stone," on the Clare side 
 of the Shannon, by Lord Scravenmore, Generals 
 Mackay, Talmash, and De Ginkell, and the Lords- 
 Justices Porter and Coningsby, for King William, 
 and by Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, Viscount Galmoy, 
 Sir Toby Butler, and Colonels Purcell, Cusack, 
 Dillon, and Brown, for the Irish. On the 24th 
 of February following, royal letters patent confir- 
 
THE PENAL LAWS. o09 
 
 matory of the treaty were issued from Westminster, 
 in the name of the king and queen, whereby they 
 declared, that " we do for us, our heirs and succes- 
 sors, as far as in us lies, ratify and confirm the same 
 and every clause, matter, and thing therein con- 
 tained." 
 
 In a few short months every article in this treaty 
 was violated. A " No Popery" cry was raised, and 
 the Catholics were persecuted with unceasing 
 cruelty. This persecution was formally legalized 
 in the year 1695. Additions were made to the old 
 penal laws enhancing their severity tenfold. It 
 would be impossible here to give full details of 
 these atrocious enactments. I must, therefore, 
 again refer the reader to my larger history, or to 
 the " Student's History of Ireland/' where an exact 
 account of these nefarious laws will be found. 
 
 In the reign of Queen Anne additional laws 
 were made, and there was an attempt to " plant" 
 some German Protestants in different parts of Ire- 
 land. 
 
 In 1723, when the quarrels between the Whigs 
 and Tories were at their height, Dr. Swift's talent 
 and influence did much for Ireland ; and his letters 
 accomplished what the Irish Parliament was power- 
 less to effect. But the sufferings of the Catholics 
 still continued, and were not a little increased by 
 the cruel repacity of the landlords. The imme- 
 diate cause of the landlord grievance, and of what 
 are called agrarian outrages, was the enclosing of 
 
310 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 certain commons from which the tenants were 
 enabled to draw some slight profit, and thus to 
 meet the exhorbitant rents demanded of them. 
 But the landlords unhappily, like the Egyptian 
 oppressors of the Jews, still demanded the rent, 
 but refused the people the only chance they had of 
 paying it. Immediately after the accession of 
 George III., the Levellers and the Whiteboys com- 
 menced their rude method of obtaining revenge, if 
 they could not obtain justice. A good deal has 
 been said in condemnation of their outrages, but 
 it seems to be forgotten in some quarters that there 
 were "agrarian outrages" on the landlord side as 
 well, or rather that the agrarian outrages com- 
 menced with the landlords. 
 
 On the 17th April, 1780, Grattan made hisfamous 
 demand for Irish independence. The Volunteer 
 Corps was formed in 1779, and in 1782 the delegates 
 met in Dublin, and demanded civil rights and the 
 removal of commercial restraints. They also passed 
 a resolution most creditable to their good feeling, 
 expressing their pleasure at the relaxation of the 
 penal laws. Their unanimity of action had its 
 effect, and on the 27th May, 1782, the Duke of 
 Portland announced the unconditional concessions 
 which had been made to Ireland by the English 
 Parliament. 
 
ORIGIN OF THE UNITED IRISHMEN. 311 
 
 CHAPTER. XIX. 
 
 Causes which led to the great Eehellion of '98 — Cruelties 
 of the Orangemen — Spies and Informers— Lord E. Fitz- 
 gerald—The Rising commences — Massacres at Wexford 
 —Treatment of the Eebellion — Efforts made to procure 
 the Unioa — The Last I^ight of the Irish Parliament. 
 
 CATHOLIC meeting, held in DubHn, 
 May 11, 1791, was really the origin of 
 the United Irishmen. Catholics and Protes- 
 tants began to work together harmoniously, for the 
 first time, for the common good of their common 
 country. Had they continued to do so, or should they 
 ever thus unite again, no foreign power could resist 
 their demands. The leading Catholics were — Keogh, 
 M'Cormic, Sweetman, Byrne, &c. The leading 
 Protestants were — Wolfe Tone, Butler, Napper 
 Tandy, Neilson, &c. In May, 1794, the govern- 
 ment attempted to put down this movement by 
 arresting some of the leaders. It would have been 
 incomparably more prudent to have removed 
 some of the causes of discontent, for the move- 
 ment at once resolved itself into the far more 
 dangerous form of a secret society. 
 
 In May, 1799, the new organization lost the 
 services of Wolfe Tone, who was compromised, by 
 a strange incident, to a very serious extent. The 
 incident was the arrest and trial of the Eev. 
 William Jackson, an Anglican clergyman, who had 
 
312 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 imbibed the opinions of Price and Priestly, and bad 
 been sent to Ireland by the French Republic on a 
 secret embassy. Betrayed by a friend and country- 
 man named Cockayne, the unhappy Jackson took 
 poison in prison, and expired in the dock. Tone 
 had been seen with Jackson, and through the in- 
 fluence of his friends, was alone protected from 
 arrest. He was compelled, however, to quit the 
 country, in order to preserve his personal liberty. 
 He proceeded with his family to Belfast, where, 
 before taking shipping for America, he renewed 
 with his first associates their vows and projects, on 
 the summit of "the Cave Hill," which looks down 
 upon the rich valley of the Laggan, and the noble 
 town and port at its outlet. Before quitting Dub- 
 lin, he had solemnly promised Emmett and Russell, 
 in the first instance, as he did his Belfast friends in 
 the second, that he would make the United States 
 his rout& to France, where he would negociate a 
 formidable national alliance, for " the United 
 Irishmen." 
 
 In the year in which Tone left the country. Lord 
 Edward Fitzgerald, brother of the Duke of Lienster, 
 and formerly a major in the British Army, joined 
 the society ; in the next year — near its close — 
 Thomas Addis Emmett, who had long been in the 
 confidence of the promoters, joined ; as did, about 
 the same time, Arthur O'Connor, nephew of Lord 
 Longueville, and ex-member for Philipstown, and 
 Dr. AVilliam James McNevin, a Connaught Catholic, 
 
COMMENCEMENT OF THE REBELLION. 313 
 
 educated in Austria, then practising his profession 
 with eminent success in Dubhn. These were 
 felt to be important accessions, and all four were 
 called upon to act on " the Executive Directory," 
 from time to time, during 1796 and 1797. 
 
 The coercive legislation carried through Parlia- 
 ment, session after session — the Orange persecutions 
 in Armagh and elsewhere— the domiciliary visits 
 — the military outrages in town and country — the 
 free quarters, whipping, and tortures — the total 
 suppression of the public press — the bitter disap- 
 pointment of Lord Fitz William's recall — the annual 
 failure of Ponsonby's motion for reform — finally, 
 the despairing secession of Grattan and his friends 
 from Parliament — had all tended to expand the 
 system, which six years before was confined to a 
 few dozen enthusiasts of Belfast and Dublin, into 
 the dimensions of a national confederacy. By the 
 close of this year 500,000 men had taken the test, in 
 every part of the country, and nearly 300,000 were 
 reported as armed, either with firelocks or pikes. 
 Of this total 1 1 0,000 alone were returned for Ulster, 
 about 60,000 for Leinster, and the remainder from 
 Connaught and Munster. Of this movement Lord 
 Edward Fitzgerald was chosen Commander-in- 
 Chief, but the funds at his disposal were miserably 
 small, and he placed his chief reliance on assistance 
 from France. Every effort was made to obtain 
 this assistance; but the 20th of May, 1798 — within 
 three days of the outbreak in Dublin, Wexford and 
 
314: THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Kildare — Buonaparte sailed with the 4lite of all 
 that expedition for Alexandria, and " the Army of 
 England " became in reality, " the Army of Egypt." 
 
 It is said that Buonaparte bitterly regretted his 
 choice in his exile, and saw, when it was too late, 
 how different his future might have been. 
 
 The rising was fixed to take place on the 23rd 
 day of May — and the signal was to be the simul- 
 taneous stoppage of the mail coaches, which started 
 nightly from the Dublin post-office to every quarter 
 of the kingdom. But the counter-plot anticipated 
 the plot. Lord Edward, betrayed by a person 
 called Higgins, proprietor of the Freeman^ s Journal, 
 was taken on the 19th of May, after a desperate 
 struggle with Majors Swan and Sirr, and Captain 
 Eyan, in his hiding-place in Thomas-street ; the 
 brothers Sheares were arrested in their own house 
 on the morning of the 21st, while Surgeon Lawless 
 escaped from the city, and finally from the country, 
 to France. Thus for the second time was the in- 
 surrection left without a head; but the organization 
 had proceeded too far to be any longer restrained, 
 and the Castk, moreover, to use the expression of 
 Lord Castlereagh, " took means to make it explode." 
 
 The first intelligence of the rebellion was re- 
 ceived in Dublin, on the morning of the 24th of 
 May. At Rathfarnham, within three miles of the 
 city, oOO insurgents attacked Lord Ely's yeomanry 
 corps with some success, till Lord Roden's dra- 
 groons, hastily despatched from the city, compelled 
 
VINEGAR HILL- 315 
 
 them to retreat, with the loss of some prisoners 
 and two men killed, whom Mr. Beresford saw the 
 next day, literally " cut to ^pieces — a horrid sight!" 
 AtDunboyne, the insurgents piked an escort of the 
 Royal Fencibles (Scotch) passing through their 
 village, and carried off their baggage. At Naas, 
 a large popular force attacked the garrison, con- 
 sisting of regulars. Ancient Britons (Welsh) part 
 of a regiment of dragoons, and the Armagh Militia ; 
 the attack was renewed three times with great 
 bravery, but, finally, discipline, as it always will, 
 prevailed over mere numbers, and the assailants 
 were repulsed with the loss of 140 of their com- 
 rades. At Prosperous, where they cut off to a 
 man a strong garrison, composed of North Cork 
 Militia, under Captain Swayne, the rising was more 
 successful. 
 
 But the principal, and, indeed, the only really 
 important rising took place in Wexford, then one 
 of the most populous and prosperous parts of 
 Ireland ; and there can be but little doubt, that 
 the people were mainly incited to it by the diabo- 
 lical cruelties which were practised on them. 
 
 On Whit-Sunday, the 27th of May, the yeomen 
 burned the Catholic Chapel of Boulavogue. Father 
 John Murphy, the parish priest, who had hitherto 
 tried to suppress the insurrection, placed himself 
 at the head of the insurgents. The men now rose 
 in numbers, and marched to Enniscorthy, which 
 they took after some fighting. Vinegar Hill, a 
 
316 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 lofty eminence overlooking the town, was chosen 
 for their camp. Some of the leading Protestant gen- 
 tlemen of the county had either favoured or joined 
 the movement ; and several of them had been 
 arrested on suspicion, and were imprisoned at 
 Wexford. The garrison of this place, however, 
 fled in a panic, caused by some successes of the 
 Irish troops, and probably from a very clear idea 
 of the kind of retaliation they might expect for 
 their cruelties. Mr. Harvey, one of the prisoners 
 mentioned above, was now released, and headed 
 the insurgents ; but a powerful body of troops, 
 under General Loftus, was sent into the district, 
 and eventually obtained possession of New Ross, 
 wdiich the Irish had taken with great bravery, 
 but which they had not been able to hold for want 
 of proper military discipline and command. They 
 owed their defeat to insubordination and drunken- 
 ness. A number of prisoners had been left at 
 Scullabogue House, near Carrickburne Hill. Some 
 fugitives from the Irish camp came up in the 
 afternoon, and pretended that Mr. Harvey had 
 given orders for their execution, alleging as a reason, 
 what, indeed, was true, that the royalists massacred 
 indiscriminately. The guard resisted, but were 
 overpowered by the mob, who were impatient to 
 revenge, without justice, the cruelties which had 
 been inflicted on them without justice. A hun- 
 dred were burned in a barn, and thirty-seven were 
 shot or piked. This massacre has been held up as 
 
DEATH OF FATHER MUPJ>HY. 317 
 
 a horrible example of Irish treachery and cruelty. 
 It was horrible, no doubt, and cannot be de- 
 fended or palliated ; but, amid these contending 
 horrors of civil war, the question still recurs — 
 upon whom is the original guilt of causing them 
 to be charged ? 
 
 Father Murphy was killed in an attack on 
 Carlow, and his death threw the balance strongly 
 in favour of the Government troops, who eventually 
 proved victorious. After the battle of Eoss, the 
 Wexford men chose the Rev. PhiUp Eoche as their 
 leader, in place of Mr. Bagenal Harvey, who had 
 resigned the command. The insurgents were now 
 guilty of following the example of their persecutors, 
 if not with equal cruelty, at least with a barbarity 
 which their leaders in vain reprobated. The 
 prisoners whom they had taken were confined in the 
 jail, and every effort was made to save them from 
 the infuriated people. But one savage, named 
 Dixon, would not be content Avithout their blood ; 
 and while the army and their leaders were en- 
 camped on Vinegar Hill, he and some other Adllains 
 as wicked as himself found their way into the jail, 
 and marching the prisoners to the bridge, held a 
 mock trial, and then piked thirty-five of their 
 victims, and flung them into the water. At this 
 moment a priest, who had heard of the bloody 
 deed, hastened to the spot; and after in vain 
 commanding them to desist, succeeded at last ir 
 making them kneel down, when he dictated t» 
 
318 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 prayer, that God might show them the same 
 mercy which they would show to the surviving 
 prisoners. This had its effect; and the men who 
 waited in terror to receive the doom they had so 
 often and mercilessly inflicted on others, were 
 marched back to prison. 
 
 The camp on Vinegar Hill was now beset on 
 all sides by the royal troops. An attack was 
 planned by General Lake, with 20,000 men and a 
 large train of artillery. General Needham did 
 not ariive in time to occupy the position appointed 
 for him; and after an hour and a-half of hard 
 fighting, the Irish gave way, principally from want 
 of gunpowder. The soldiers now indulged in the 
 most wanton deeds of cruelty. The hospital at 
 Enniscorthy was set on fire, and the Avounded 
 men shot in their beds. At Wexford General 
 Moore prevented his troops from committing such 
 outrages ; but when the rest of the army arrived, 
 they acted as they had done at Enniscorthy. 
 Courts-martial were held, in which the officei-s 
 were not even sworn, and victims were consigned 
 to execution with reckless atrocity. The bridge 
 of Wexford, where a Catholic priest had saved so 
 many Protestant lives, was now chosen for the 
 scene of slaughter; and all this in spite of a 
 promise of amnesty. The " rebellion " was at last 
 subdued, and the unfortunate Irish were reduced 
 to the greatest depth of misery ; and this was the 
 moment chosen by the English Government with 
 
HOW THE "union" WAS MANAGED. 319 
 
 more tact than justice, to effect a nominal union 
 of the two countries. A cordial union there could 
 scarcely be till men had forgotten the scenes of 
 misery and cruelty so recently enacted. But Mr. 
 Pitt had set his heart upon the Union, and Mr. 
 Pitt had determined it should be carried ; and he 
 availed himself for this end of two all-powerful 
 engines : force and fraud. 
 
 He secured the Orangemen by large promises to 
 their leaders ; he secured the Catholics by giving 
 them to understand that Catholic Emancipation 
 should be the first act of the united Parliament ; and 
 as people are generally willing to believe what they 
 wish, the Orangemen and the Catholics, and the 
 people generally, all believed, and all were duped. 
 The great overture for a union was made by the 
 then Viceroy, on the 22nd of January, 1799 ; and 
 it was rejected by a majority of only one. But 
 even this defeat was a triumph, for it showed the 
 English Government what bribery and corruption 
 could effect, and how nearly those means had accom- 
 plished the desired end. There were brave, true- 
 hearted Irishmen in the house ; there were men of 
 wonderful powers of eloquence ; Grattan was there, 
 although in almost a dying state ; Plunkett, Parnell, 
 Ponsonby, Foster, and Egan were there also ; but 
 they were powerless where so many base and 
 selfish motives were in action. The measure 
 passed, as its promoters expected, and on the 1st 
 of January, 1801, a new imperial standard was 
 
320 THE PATRIOT HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 exhibited on London Tower, and on the Castles 
 of Dublin and Edinburgh. It was formed of the 
 three crosses of St. George, St. Patrick, and St- 
 Andrew, and is popularly known as the Union 
 Jack. The fleur-de-lis and the word "France" were 
 omitted from royal prerogatives and titles ; and a 
 proclamation was issued appointing the words — 
 Dei Gratia^ Britaniaruni Rex, Fidei Defensor. The 
 DuUin Gazette of July, 1800, contained the signi- 
 ficant announcement of the creation of sixteen new 
 peerages. The same publication for the last week 
 of the year contained a fresh list of twenty-six 
 others. Forty-two creations in six months were 
 rather an extensive stretch of prerogative ; and we 
 cannot be surprised if the majority of the nation 
 had more respect for the great untitled, whose 
 ancestry were known, and were quite above ac- 
 cepting the miserable bribe of a modern peerage. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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