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diff --git a/old/2003_01_06_6632.txt b/old/2003_01_06_6632.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1a2d077 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2003_01_06_6632.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17419 @@ +Project Gutenberg's A Popular History of Ireland V1, by Thomas D'Arcy McGee +#1 in our series by Thomas D'Arcy McGee + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: A Popular History of Ireland V1 + From the earliest period to the emancipation of the Catholics + +Author: Thomas D'Arcy McGee + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6632] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on January 6, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND *** + + + + +This etext was produced by Gardner Buchanan with help from +Charles Aldarondo and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +A Popular History of Ireland: from the Earliest +Period to the Emancipation of the Catholics + +by Thomas D'Arcy McGee + +In Two Volumes + +Volume I + + + + +PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. + +Ireland, lifting herself from the dust, drying her tears, +and proudly demanding her legitimate place among the +nations of the earth, is a spectacle to cause immense +progress in political philosophy. + +Behold a nation whose fame had spread over all the earth +ere the flag of England had come into existence. For 500 +years her life has been apparently extinguished. The +fiercest whirlwind of oppression that ever in the wrath +of God was poured upon the children of disobedience had +swept over her. She was an object of scorn and contempt +to her subjugator. Only at times were there any signs of +life--an occasional meteor flash that told of her olden +spirit--of her deathless race. Degraded and apathetic as +this nation of Helots was, it is not strange that political +philosophy, at all times too Sadducean in its principles, +should ask, with a sneer, "Could these dry bones live?" +The fulness of time has come, and with one gallant sunward +bound the "old land" comes forth into the political day +to teach these lessons, that Right must always conquer +Might in the end--that by a compensating principle in +the nature of things, Repression creates slowly, but +certainly, a force for its overthrow. + +Had it been possible to kill the Irish Nation, it had +long since ceased to exist. But the transmitted qualities +of her glorious children, who were giants in intellect, +virtue, and arms for 1500 years before Alfred the Saxon +sent the youth of his country to Ireland in search of +knowledge with which to civilize his people,--the legends, +songs, and dim traditions of this glorious era, and the +irrepressible piety, sparkling wit, and dauntless courage +of her people, have at last brought her forth like. +Lazarus from the tomb. True, the garb of the prison or +the cerements of the grave may be hanging upon her, +but "loose her and let her go" is the wise policy of +those in whose hands are her present destinies. + +A nation with such a strange history must have some great +work yet to do in the world. Except the Jews, no people +has so suffered without dying. + +The History of Ireland is the most interesting of records, +and the least known. The Publishers of this edition of +D'Arcy McGee's excellent and impartial work take advantage +of the awakening interest in Irish literature to present +to the public a book of _high-class history_, as +cheap as _largely circulating romance_. A sale as +large as that of a popular romance is, therefore, necessary +to pay the speculation. That sale the Publishers expect. +Indeed, as truth is often stranger than fiction, so Irish +history is more romantic than romance. How Queen Scota +unfurled the Sacred Banner. How Brian and Malachy contended +for empire. How the "Pirate of the North" scourged the +Irish coast. The glories of Tara and the piety of Columba. +The cowardice of James and the courage of Sarsfield. How +Dathi, the fearless, sounded the Irish war-cry in far +Alpine passes, and how the Geraldine forayed Leinster. +The deeds of O'Neil and O'Donnell. The march of Cromwell, +the destroying angel. Ireland's sun sinking in dim eclipse. +The dark night of woe in Erin for a hundred years. +'83--'98--'48--'68. Ireland's sun rising in glory. Surely +the Youth of Ireland will find in their country's records +romance enough! + +The English and Scotch are well read in the histories of +their country. The Irish are, unfortunately, not so; and +yet, what is English or Scottish history to compare with +Irish? Ireland was a land of saints and scholars when +Britons were painted savages. Wise and noble laws, based +upon the spirit of Christianity, were administered in +Erin, and valuable books were written ere the Britons +were as far advanced in civilization as the Blackfeet +Indians. In morals and intellect, in Christianity and +civilization, in arms, art, and science, Ireland shone +like a star among the nations when darkness enshrouded +the world. And she nobly sustained civilization and +religion by her missionaries and scholars. The libraries +and archives of Europe contain the records of their piety +and learning. Indeed the echoes have scarcely yet ceased +to sound upon our ears, of the mighty march of her armed +children over the war-fields of Europe, during that +terrible time when England's cruel law, intended to +destroy the spirit of a martial race, precipitated an +armed torrent of nearly 500,000 of the flower of the +Irish youth into foreign service. Irish steel glittered +in the front rank of the most desperate conflicts, and +more than once the ranks of England went down before "the +Exiles," in just punishment for her terrible penal code +which excluded the Irish soldier from his country's +service. + +It was the Author's wish to educate his countrymen in +their national records. If by issuing a cheap edition +the present Publishers carry out to any extent that wish, +it will be to them a source of satisfaction. + +It is impossible to conclude this Preface without an +expression of regret at the dark and terrible fate which +overtook the high-minded, patriotic, and distinguished +Irishman, Thomas D'Arcy McGee. He was a man who loved +his country well; and when the contemptible squabbles +and paltry dissensions of the present have passed away, +his name will be a hallowed memory, like that of Emmet +or Fitzgerald, to inspire men with high, ideals of +patriotism and devotion. + +CAMERON & FERGUSON. + + + + +[Note: From 1857 until his death, McGee was active in +Canadian politics. A gifted speaker and strong supporter +of Confederation, he is regarded as one of Canada's +fathers of Confederation. On April 7, 1868, after +attending a late-night session in the House of Commons, +he was shot and killed as he returned to his rooming +house on Sparks Street in Ottawa. It is generally believed +that McGee was the victim of a Fenian plot. Patrick +James Whelan was convicted and hanged for the crime, +however the evidence implicating him was later seen to +be suspect.] + + + + +CONTENTS--VOL. I. + + +BOOK I. + +CHAPTER I.--The First Inhabitants + +CHAPTER II.--The First Ages + +CHAPTER III.--Christianity Preached at Tara--The Result + +CHAPTER IV.--The Constitution, and how the Kings kept it + +CHAPTER V.--Reign of Hugh II.--The Irish Colony in + Scotland obtains its Independence + +CHAPTER VI.--Kings of the Seventh Century + +CHAPTER VII.--Kings of the Eighth Century + +CHAPTER VIII.--What the Irish Schools and Saints did in the + Three First Christian Centuries + + +BOOK II. + +CHAPTER I.--The Danish Invasion + +CHAPTER II.--Kings of the Ninth Century (Continued)-- + Nial III.--Malachy I.--Hugh VII + +CHAPTER III.--Reign of Flan "of the Shannon" (A.D. 879 + to 916) + +CHAPTER IV.--Kings of the Tenth Century--Nial IV.-- + Donogh II.--Congal III.--Donald IV + +CHAPTER V.--Reign of Malachy II. and Rivalry of Brian + +CHAPTER VI.--Brian, Ard-Righ--Battle of Clontarf + +CHAPTER VII.--Effects of the Rivalry of Brian and Malachy + on the Ancient Constitution + +CHAPTER VIII.--Latter Days of the Northmen in Ireland + + +BOOK III. + +CHAPTER I.--The Fortunes of the Family of Brian + +CHAPTER II.--The Contest between the North and South-- + Rise of the Family of O'Conor + +CHAPTER III.--Thorlogh More O'Conor--Murkertach of + Aileach--Accession of Roderick O'Conor + +CHAPTER IV.--State of Religion and Learning among the + Irish previous to the Anglo-Norman Invasion + +CHAPTER V.--Social Condition of the Irish previous to + the Norman Invasion + +CHAPTER VI.--Foreign Relations of the Irish previous to + the Anglo-Norman Invasion + + +BOOK IV. + +CHAPTER I.--Dermid McMurrogh's Negotiations and Success-- + The First Expedition of the Normans into + Ireland + +CHAPTER II.--The Arms, Armour and Tactics of the Normans + and Irish + +CHAPTER III.--The First Campaign of Earl Richard--Siege + of Dublin--Death of King Dermid McMurrogh + +CHAPTER IV.--Second Campaign of Earl Richard--Henry II. + in Ireland + +CHAPTER V.--From the Return of Henry II. to England + till the Death of Earl Richard and his + principal Companions + +CHAPTER VI.--The Last Years of the Ard-Righ, Roderick + O'Conor + +CHAPTER VII.--Assassination of Hugh de Lacy--John + "Lackland" in Ireland--Various Expeditions + of John de Courcy--Death of Conor Moinmoy, + and Rise of Cathal, "the Red-Handed" + O'Conor--Close of the Career of De Courcy + and De Burgh + +CHAPTER VIII.--Events of the Thirteenth Century--The + Normans in Connaught + +CHAPTER IX.--Events of the Thirteenth Century--The + Normans in Munster and Leinster + +CHAPTER X.--Events of the Thirteenth Century--The + Normans in Meath and Ulster + +CHAPTER XI.--Retrospect of the Norman Period in + Ireland--A Glance at the Military Tactics + of the Times--No Conquest of the Country + in the Thirteenth Century + +CHAPTER XII.--State of Society and Learning in Ireland + during the Norman Period + + +BOOK V. + +CHAPTER I.--The Rise of "the Red Earl"--Relations of + Ireland and Scotland + +CHAPTER II.--The Northern Irish enter into Alliance with + King Robert Bruce--Arrival and First Campaign + of Edward Bruce + +CHAPTER III.--Bruce's Second Campaign and Coronation at + Dundalk--The Rising in Connaught--Battle of + Athenry--Robert Bruce in Ireland + +CHAPTER IV.--Battle of Faughard and Death of King Edward + Bruce--Consequences of his Invasion-- + Extinction of the Earldom of Ulster--Irish + Opinion of Edward Bruce + + +BOOK VI. + +CHAPTER I.--Civil War in England--Its Effects on the + Anglo-Irish--The Knights of St. John-- + General Desire of the Anglo-Irish to + Naturalize themselves among the Native + Population--A Policy of Non-Intercourse + between the Races Resolved on in England + +CHAPTER II.--Lionel, Duke of Clarence, Lord Lieutenant-- + The Penal Code of Race--"The Statute of + Kilkenny," and some of its Consequences + +CHAPTER III.--Art McMurrogh, Lord of Leinster--First + Expedition of Richard II. of England to + Ireland + +CHAPTER IV.--Subsequent Proceedings of Richard II.-- + Lieutenancy and Death of the Earl of March-- + Second Expedition of Richard against Art + McMurrogh--Change of Dynasty in England + +CHAPTER V.--Parties within "the Pale"--Battles of + Kilmainham and Killucan--Sir John Talbot's + Lord Lieutenancy + +CHAPTER VI.--Acts of the Native Princes--Subdivision of + Tribes and Territories--Anglo-Irish Towns + under Native Protection--Attempt of + Thaddeus O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, to + Restore the Monarchy--Relations of the + Races in the Fifteenth Century + +CHAPTER VII.--Continued Division and Decline of "the + English Interest"--Richard, Duke of York, + Lord Lieutenant--Civil War again in England-- + Execution of the Earl of Desmond-- + Ascendancy of the Kildare Geraldines + +CHAPTER VIII.--The Age and Rule of Gerald, Eighth Earl of + Kildare--The Tide begins to turn for the + English Interest--The Yorkist Pretenders, + Simnel and Warbeck--Poyning's Parliament-- + Battles of Knockdoe and Monabraher + +CHAPTER IX.--State of Irish and Anglo--Irish Society + during the Fourteenth and Fifteenth + Centuries + +CHAPTER X.--State of Religion and Learning during the + Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries + + +BOOK VII. + +CHAPTER I.--Irish Policy of Henry the Eighth during + the Lifetime of Cardinal Wolsey + +CHAPTER II.--The Insurrection of Silken Thomas--The + Geraldine League--Administration of Lord + Leonard Gray + +CHAPTER III.--Sir Anthony St. Leger, Lord Deputy-- + Negotiations of the Irish Chiefs with + James the Fifth of Scotland--First Attempts + to Introduce the Protestant Reformation-- + Opposition of the Clergy--Parliament of + 1541--The Protectors of the Clergy + Excluded--State of the Country--The Crowns + United-Henry the Eighth Proclaimed at + London and Dublin + +CHAPTER IV.--Adhesion of O'Neil, O'Donnell, and O'Brien-- + A new Anglo-Irish Peerage--New Relations + of Lord and Tenant--Bishops appointed by + the Crown--Retrospect + + +BOOK VIII. + +CHAPTER I.--Events of the Reign of Edward Sixth + +CHAPTER II.--Events of the Reign of Philip and Mary + +CHAPTER III.--Accession of Queen Elizabeth--Parliament of + 1560--The Act of Uniformity--Career and + Death of John O'Neil "the Proud" + + + + +HISTORY OF IRELAND + + +BOOK I. + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE FIRST INHABITANTS. + +Ireland is situated in the North Atlantic, between the +degrees fifty-one and a half and fifty-five and a half +North, and five and a quarter and ten and a third West +longitude from Greenwich. It is the last land usually +seen by ships leaving the Old World, and the first by +those who arrive there from the Northern ports of America. +In size it is less than half as large as Britain, and in +shape it may be compared to one of those shields which +we see in coats-of-arms, the four Provinces--Ulster, +Connaught, Leinster, and Munster--representing the four +quarters of the shield. + +Around the borders of the country, generally near the +coast, several ranges of hills and mountains rear their +crests, every Province having one or more such groups. +The West and South have, however, the largest and highest +of these hills, from the sides of all which descend +numerous rivers, flowing in various directions to the +sea. Other rivers issue out of large lakes formed in the +valleys, such as the Galway river which drains Lough +Corrib, and the Bann which carries off the surplus waters +of Lough Neagh (_Nay_). In a few districts where +the fall for water is insufficient, marshes and swamps +were long ago formed, of which the principal one occupies +nearly 240,000 acres in the very heart of the country. +It is called "the Bog of Alien," and, though quite useless +for farming purposes, still serves to supply the surrounding +district with fuel, nearly as well as coal mines do in +other countries. + +In former times, Ireland was as well wooded as watered, +though hardly a tree of the primitive forest now remains. +One of the earliest names applied to it was "the wooded +Island," and the export of timber and staves, as well as +of the furs of wild animals, continued, until the beginning +of the seventeenth century, to be a thriving branch of +trade. But in a succession of civil and religious wars, +the axe and the torch have done their work of destruction, +so that the age of most of the wood now standing does +not date above two or three generations back. + +Who were the first inhabitants of this Island, it is +impossible to say, but we know it was inhabited at a very +early period of the world's lifetime--probably as early +as the time when Solomon the Wise, sat in Jerusalem on +the throne of his father David. As we should not altogether +reject, though neither are we bound to believe, the wild +and uncertain traditions of which we have neither +documentary nor monumental evidence, we will glance over +rapidly what the old Bards and Story-tellers have handed +down to us concerning Ireland before it became Christian. + +The _first_ story they tell is, that about three hundred +years after the Universal Deluge, Partholan, of the stock +of Japhet, sailed down the Mediterranean, "leaving Spain +on the right hand," and holding bravely on his course, +reached the shores of the wooded western Island. This +Partholan, they tell us, was a double parricide, having +killed his father and mother before leaving his native +country, for which horrible crimes, as the Bards very +morally conclude, his posterity were fated never to +possess the land. After a long interval, and when they +were greatly increased in numbers, they were cut off to +the last man, by a dreadful pestilence. + +The story of the _second_ immigration is almost as vague +as that of the first. The leader this tune is called +Nemedh, and his route is described as leading from the +shores of the Black Sea, across what is now Russia in +Europe, to the Baltic Sea, and from the Baltic to Ireland. +He is said to have built two royal forts, and to have +"cleared twelve plains of wood" while in Ireland. He +and his posterity were constantly at war, with a terrible +race of Formorians, or Sea Kings, descendants of Ham, +who had fled from northern Africa to the western islands +for refuge from their enemies, the sons of Shem. At length +the Formorians prevailed, and the children of the second +immigration were either slain or driven into exile, from +which some of their posterity returned long afterwards, +and again disputed the country, under two different +denominations. + +The _Firbolgs_ or Belgae are the _third_ immigration. +They were victorious under their chiefs, the five sons +of Dela, and divided the island into five portions. But +they lived in days when the earth--the known parts of it +at least--was being eagerly scrambled for by the overflowing +hosts of Asia, and they were not long left in undisputed +possession of so tempting a prize. Another expedition, +claiming descent from the common ancestor, Nemedh, arrived +to contest their supremacy. These last--the _fourth_ +immigration--are depicted to us as accomplished soothsayers +and necromancers who came out of Greece. They could quell +storms; cure diseases; work in metals; foretell future +events; forge magical weapons; and raise the dead to +life; they are called the _Tuatha de Danans_, and by +their supernatural power, as well as by virtue of "the +Lia Fail," or fabled "stone of destiny," they subdued +their Belgic kinsmen, and exercised sovereignty over +them, till they in turn were displaced by the Gaelic, or +_fifth_ immigration. + +This fifth and final colony called themselves alternately, +or at different periods of their history, _Gael_, from +one of their remote ancestors; _Milesians_, from the +immediate projector of their emigration; or _Scoti_, from +Scota, the mother of Milesius. They came from Spain +under the leadership of the sons of Milesius, whom they +had lost during their temporary sojourn in that country. +In vain the skilful _Tuatha_ surrounded themselves and +their coveted island with magic-made tempest and terrors; +in vain they reduced it in size so as to be almost +invisible from sea; Amergin, one of the sons of Milesius, +was a Druid skilled in all the arts of the east, and led +by his wise counsels, his brothers countermined the +magicians, and beat them at their own weapons. This +Amergin was, according to universal usage in ancient +times, at once Poet, Priest, and Prophet; yet when his +warlike brethren divided the island between them, they +left the Poet out of reckoning. He was finally drowned +in the waters of the river Avoca, which is probably the +reason why that river has been so suggestive of melody +and song ever since. + +Such are the stories told of the _five_ successive hordes +of adventurers who first attempted to colonize our wooded +Island. Whatever moiety of truth may be mixed up with +so many fictions, two things are certain, that long before +the time when our Lord and Saviour came upon earth, the +coasts and harbours of Erin were known to the merchants +of the Mediterranean, and that from the first to the +fifth Christian century, the warriors of the wooded Isle +made inroads on the Roman power in Britain and even in +Gaul. Agricola, the Roman governor of Britain in the +reign of Domitian--the first century--retained an Irish +chieftain about his person, and we are told by his +biographer that an invasion of Ireland was talked of at +Rome. But it never took place; the Roman eagles, although +supreme for four centuries in Britain, never crossed the +Irish Sea; and we are thus deprived of those Latin helps +to our early history, which are so valuable in the first +period of the histories of every western country, with +which the Romans had anything to do. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE FIRST AGES. + +Since we have no Roman accounts of the form of government +or state of society in ancient Erin, we must only depend +on the Bards and Story-tellers, so far as their statements +are credible and agree with each other. On certain main +points they do agree, and these are the points which it +seems reasonable for us to take on their authority. + +As even brothers born of the same mother, coming suddenly +into possession of a prize, will struggle to see who can +get the largest share, so we find in those first ages a +constant succession of armed struggles for power. The +petty Princes who divided the Island between them were +called _Righ_, a word which answers to the Latin _Rex_ +and French _Roi_; and the chief king or monarch was called +_Ard-Righ_, or High-King. The eldest nephew, or son of +the king, was the usual heir of power, and was called +the _Tanist_, or successor; although any of the family +of the Prince, his brothers, cousins, or other kinsmen, +might be chosen _Tanist_, by election of the people over +whom he was to rule. One certain cause of exclusion was +personal deformity; for if a Prince was born lame or a +hunchback, or if he lost a limb by accident, he was +declared unfit to govern. Even after succession, any +serious accident entailed deposition, though we find the +names of several Princes who managed to evade or escape +this singular penalty. It will be observed besides of +the _Tanist_, that the habit of appointing him seems to +have been less a law than a custom; that it was not +universal in all the Provinces; that in some tribes the +succession alternated between a double line of Princes; +and that sometimes when the reigning Prince obtained the +nomination of a _Tanist_, to please himself, the choice +was set aside by the public voice of the clansmen. The +successor to the Ard-Righ, or Monarch, instead of being +simply called _Tanist_, had the more sounding title of +_Roydamna_, or King-successor. + +The chief offices about the Kings, in the first ages, +were all filled by the Druids, or Pagan Priests; the +_Brehons_, or Judges, were usually Druids, as were also +the _Bards_, the historians of their patrons. Then came +the Physicians; the Chiefs who paid tribute or received +annual gifts from the Sovereigns, or Princes; the royal +stewards; and the military leaders or Champions, who, +like the knights of the middle ages, held their lands +and their rank at court, by the tenure of the sword. Like +the feudal _Dukes_ of Prance, and _Barons_ of England, +these military nobles often proved too powerful for their +nominal patrons, and made them experience all the +uncertainty of reciprocal dependence. The Champions play +an important part in all the early legends. Wherever +there is trouble you are sure to find them. Their most +celebrated divisions were the warriors of the _Red +Branch_--that is to say, the Militia of Ulster; the +_Fiann_, or Militia of Leinster, sometimes the royal +guard of Tara, at others in exile and disgrace; the +_Clan-Degaid_ of Munster, and the _Fiann_ of Connaught. +The last force was largely recruited from the Belgic race +who had been squeezed into that western province, by +their Milesian conquerors, pretty much as Cromwell +endeavoured to force the Milesian Irish into it, many +hundred years afterwards. Each of these bands had its +special heroes; its Godfreys and Orlandos celebrated in +song; the most famous name in Ulster was Cuchullin: so +called from _cu_, a hound, or watch-dog, and _Ullin_, +the ancient name of his province. He lived at the dawn +of the Christian era. Of equal fame was Finn, the father +of Ossian, and the Fingal of modern fiction, who flourished +in the latter half of the second century. Gall, son of +Morna, the hero of Connaught (one of the few distinguished +men of Belgic origin whom we hear of through the Milesian +bards), flourished a generation earlier than Finn, and +might fairly compete with him in celebrity, if he had +only had an Ossian to sing his praises. + +The political boundaries of different tribes expanded or +contracted with their good or ill fortune in battle. +Immigration often followed defeat, so that a clan, or +its offshoot is found at one period on one part of the +map and again on another. As _surnames_ were not generally +used either in Ireland or anywhere else, till after the +tenth century, the great families are distinguishable at +first, only by their tribe or clan names. Thus at the +north we have the Hy-Nial race; in the south the Eugenian +race, so called from Nial and Eoghan, their mutual +ancestors. + +We have already compared the shape of Erin to a shield, +in which the four Provinces represented the four quarters. +Some shields have also _bosses_ or centre-pieces, and +the federal province of MEATH was the _boss_ of the old +Irish shield. The ancient Meath included both the present +counties of that name, stretching south to the Liffey, +and north to Armagh. It was the mensal demesne, or "board +of the king's table:" it was exempt from all taxes, except +those of the Ard-Righ, and its relations to the other +Provinces may be vaguely compared to those of the District +of Columbia to the several States of the North American +Union. ULSTER might then be defined by a line drawn from +Sligo Harbour to the mouth of the Boyne, the line being +notched here and there by the royal demesne of Meath; +LEINSTER stretched south from Dublin triangle-wise to +Waterford Harbour, but its inland line, towards the west, +was never very well defined, and this led to constant +border wars with Munster; the remainder of the south to +the mouth of the Shannon composed MUNSTER; the present +county of Clare and all west of the Shannon north to +Sligo, and part of Cavan, going with CONNAUGHT. The chief +seats of power, in those several divisions, were TARA, +for federal purposes; EMANIA, near Armagh, for Ulster; +LEIGHLIN, for Leinster; CASHEL, for Munster; and CRUCHAIN, +(now Rathcrogan, in Roscommon,) for Connaught. + +How the common people lived within these external divisions +of power it is not so easy to describe. All histories +tell us a great deal of kings, and battles, and +conspiracies, but very little of the daily domestic life +of the people. In this respect the history of Erin is +much the same as the rest; but some leading facts we do +know. Their religion, in Pagan times, was what the moderns +call _Druidism_, but what they called it themselves we +now know not. It was probably the same religion anciently +professed by Tyre and Sidon, by Carthage and her colonies +in Spain; the same religion which the Romans have described +as existing in great part of Gaul, and by their accounts, +we learn the awful fact, that it sanctioned, nay, demanded, +human sacrifices. From the few traces of its doctrines +which Christian zeal has permitted to survive in the old +Irish language, we see that _Belus_ or "Crom," the god +of fire, typified by the sun, was its chief divinity--that +two great festivals were held in his honour on days +answering to the first of May and last of October. There +were also particular gods of poets, champions, artificers +and mariners, just as among the Romans and Greeks. Sacred +groves were dedicated to these gods; Priests and Priestesses +devoted their lives to their service; the arms of the +champion, and the person of the king were charmed by +them; neither peace nor war was made without their +sanction; their own persons and their pupils were held +sacred; the high place at the king's right hand and the +best fruits of the earth and the waters were theirs. Old +age revered them, women worshipped them, warriors paid +court to them, youth trembled before them, princes and +chieftains regarded them as elder brethren. So numerous +were they in Erin, and so celebrated, that the altars of +Britain and western Gaul, left desolate by the Roman +legions, were often served by hierophants from Erin, +which, even in those Pagan days, was known to all the +Druidic countries as the "Sacred Island." Besides the +princes, the warriors, and the Druids, (who were also +the Physicians, Bards and Brehons of the first ages,) +there were innumerable petty chiefs, all laying claim to +noble birth and blood. They may be said with the warriors +and priests to be the only freemen. The _Bruais_, or +farmers, though possessing certain legal rights, were an +inferior caste; while of the Artisans, the smiths and +armorers only seem to have been of much consideration. +The builders of those mysterious round towers, of which +a hundred ruins yet remain, may also have been a privileged +order. But the mill and the loom were servile occupations, +left altogether to slaves taken in battle, or purchased +in the market-places of Britain. The task of the herdsman, +like that of the farm-labourer, seems to have devolved +on the bondsmen, while the _quern_ and the shuttle were +left exclusively in the hands of the bondswomen. + +We need barely mention the names of the first Milesian +kings, who were remarkable for something else than cutting +each other's throats, in order to hasten on to the solid +ground of Christian tunes. The principal names are: Heber +and Heremhon, the crowned sons of Milesians; they at +first divided the Island fairly, but Heremhon soon became +jealous of his brother, slew him in battle, and established +his own supremacy. Irial the Prophet was King, and built +seven royal fortresses; Tiern'mass; in his reign the arts +of dyeing in colours were introduced; and the distinguishing +of classes by the number of colours they were permitted +to wear, was decreed. Ollamh ("the Wise") established +the Convention of Tara, which assembled habitually every +ninth year, but might be called oftener; it met about +the October festival in honour of Beleus or _Crom_; Eocaid +invented or introduced a new species of wicker boats, +called _cassa_, and spent much of his time upon the sea; +a solitary queen, named Macha, appears in the succession, +from whom Armagh takes its name; except Mab, the +mythological Queen of Connaught, she is the sole female +ruler of Erin in the first ages; Owen or Eugene Mor ("the +Great") is remembered as the founder of the notable +families who rejoice in the common name of Eugenians; +Leary, of whom the fable of Midas is told with variations; +Angus, whom the after Princes of Alba (Scotland) claimed +as their ancestor; Eocaid, the tenth of that name, in +whose reign are laid the scenes of the chief mythological +stories of Erin--such as the story of Queen Mab--the +story of the Sons of Usna; the death of Cuchullin (a +counterpart of the Persian tale of Roostam and Sohrab); +the story of Fergus, son of the king; of Connor of Ulster; +of the sons of Dari; and many more. We next meet with +the first king who led an expedition abroad against the +Romans in Crimthan, surnamed _Neea-Naari_, or Nair's +Hero, from the good genius who accompanied him on his +foray. A well-planned insurrection of the conquered +Belgae, cut off one of Crimthan's immediate successors, +with all his chiefs and nobles, at a banquet given on +the Belgian-plain (Moybolgue, in Cavan); and arrested +for a century thereafter Irish expeditions abroad. A +revolution and a restoration followed, in which Moran the +Just Judge played the part of Monk to _his_ Charles II., +Tuathal surnamed "the Legitimate." It was Tuathal +who imposed the special tax on Leinster, of which, we +shall often hear--under the title of _Borooa_, or Tribute. +"The Legitimate" was succeeded by his son, who introduced +the Roman _Lex Talionis_ ("an eye for an eye and a tooth, +for a tooth") into the Brehon code; soon after, the +Eugenian families of the south, strong in numbers, and +led by a second Owen More, again halved the Island with +the ruling race, the boundary this time being the _esker_, +or ridge of land which can be easily traced from Dublin +west to Galway. Olild, a brave and able Prince, succeeded +in time to the southern half-kingdom, and planted his +own kindred deep and firm in its soil, though the unity +of the monarchy was again restored under Cormac Ulla, or +_Longbeard_. This Cormac, according to the legend, was +in secret a Christian, and was done to death by the +enraged and alarmed Druids, after his abdication and +retirement from the world (A.D. 266). He had reigned full +forty years, rivalling in wisdom, and excelling in justice +the best of his ancestors. Some of his maxims remain to +us, and challenge comparison for truthfulness and foresight +with most uninspired writings. + +Cormac's successors during the same century are of little +mark, but in the next the expeditions against the Roman +outposts were renewed with greater energy and on an +increasing scale. Another Crimthan eclipsed the fame of +his ancestor and namesake; Nial, called "of the Hostages," +was slain on a second or third expedition into Gaul (A.D. +405), while Dathy, nephew and successor to Nial, was +struck dead by lightning in the passage of the Alps (A.D. +428). It was in one of Nial's Gallic expeditions that +the illustrious captive was brought into Erin, for whom +Providence had reserved the glory of its conversion to +the Christian faith--an event which gives a unity and a +purpose to the history of that Nation, which must always +constitute its chief attraction to the Christian reader. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +CHRISTIANITY PREACHED AT TARA--THE RESULT. + +The conversion of a Pagan people to Christianity must +always be a primary fact in their history. It is not +merely for the error it abolishes or the positive truth +it establishes that a national change of faith is +historically important, but for the complete revolution +it works in every public and private relation. The change +socially could not be greater if we were to see some +irresistible apostle of Paganism ariving from abroad in +Christian Ireland, who would abolish the churches, +convents, and Christian schools; decry and bring into +utter disuse the decalogue, the Scriptures and the +Sacraments; efface all trace of the existing belief in +One God and Three Persons, whether in private or public +worship, in contracts, or in courts of law; and instead +of these, re-establish all over the country, in high +places and in every place, the gloomy groves of the +Druids, making gods of the sun and moon, the natural +elements, and man's own passions, restoring human sacrifices +as a sacred duty, and practically excluding from the +community of their fellows, all who presumed to question +the divine origin of such a religion. The preaching of +Patrick effected a revolution to the full as complete as +such a counter-revolution in favour of Paganism could +possibly be, and to this thorough revolution we must +devote at least one chapter before going farther. + +The best accounts agree that Patrick was a native of +Gaul, then subject to Rome; that he was carried captive +into Erin on one of King Nial's returning expeditions; +that he became a slave, as all captives of the sword did, +in those iron times; that he fell to the lot of one +Milcho, a chief of Dalriada, whose flocks he tended for +seven years, as a shepherd, on the mountain called Slemish, +in the present county of Antrim. The date of Nial's death, +and the consequent return of his last expedition, is set +down in all our annals at the year 405; as Patrick was +sixteen years of age when he reached Ireland, he must +have been born about the year 390; and as he died in the +year 493, he would thus have reached the extraordinary, +but not impossible age of 103 years. Whatever the exact +number of his years, it is certain that his mission in +Ireland commenced in the year 432, and was prolonged till +his death, sixty-one years afterwards. Such an unprecedented +length of life, not less than the unprecedented power, +both popular and political, which he early attained, +enabled him to establish the Irish Church, during his +own time, on a basis so broad and deep, that neither +lapse of ages, nor heathen rage, nor earthly temptations, +nor all the arts of Hell, have been able to upheave its +firm foundations. But we must not imagine that the powers +of darkness abandoned the field without a struggle, or +that the victory of the cross was achieved without a +singular combination of courage, prudence, and +determination--God aiding above all. + +If the year of his captivity was 405 or 406, and that of +his escape or manumission seven years later (412 or 413), +twenty years would intervene between his departure out +of the land of his bondage, and his return to it clothed +with the character and authority of a Christian Bishop. +This interval, longer or shorter, he spent in qualifying +himself for Holy Orders or discharging priestly duties +at Tours, at Lerins, and finally at Rome. But always by +night and day he was haunted by the thought of the Pagan +nation in which he had spent his long years of servitude, +whose language he had acquired, and the character of +whose people he so thoroughly understood. These natural +retrospections were heightened and deepened by supernatural +revelations of the will of Providence towards the Irish, +and himself as their apostle. At one time, an angel +presented him, in his sleep, a scroll bearing the +superscription, "the voice of the Irish;" at another, he +seemed to hear in a dream all the unborn children of the +nation crying to him for help and holy baptism. When, +therefore, Pope Celestine commissioned him for this +enterprise, "to the ends of the earth," he found him not +only ready but anxious to undertake it. + +When the new Preacher arrived in the Irish Sea, in 432, +he and his companions were driven off the coast of Wicklow +by a mob, who assailed them with showers of stones. +Running down the coast to Antrim, with which he was +personally familiar, he made some stay at Saul, in Down, +where he made few converts, and celebrated Mass in a +barn; proceeding northward he found himself rejected with +scorn by his old master, Milcho, of Slemish. No doubt it +appeared an unpardonable audacity in the eyes of the +proud Pagan, that his former slave should attempt to +teach him how to reform his life and order his affairs. +Returning again southward, led on, as we must believe, +by the Spirit of God, he determined to strike a blow +against Paganism at its most vital point. Having learned +that the monarch, Leary (_Laeghaire_), was to celebrate +his birthday with suitable rejoicings at Tara, on a day +which happened to fall on the eve of Easter, he resolved +to proceed to Tara on that occasion, and to confront the +Druids in the midst of all the princes and magnates of +the Island. With this view he returned on his former +course, and landed from his frail barque at the mouth of +the Boyne. Taking leave of the boatmen, he desired them +to wait for him a certain number of days, when, if they +did not hear from him, they might conclude him dead, and +provide for their own safety. So saying he set out, +accompanied by the few disciples he had made, or brought +from abroad, to traverse on foot the great plain which +stretches from the mouth of the Boyne to Tara. If those +sailors were Christians, as is most likely, we can conceive +with what anxiety they must have awaited tidings of an +attempt so hazardous and so eventful. + +The Christian proceeded on his way, and the first night +of his journey lodged with a hospitable chief, whose +family he converted and baptized, especially marking out +a fine child named Beanen, called by him Benignus, from +his sweet disposition; who was destined to be one of his +most efficient coadjutors, and finally his successor in +the Primatial see of Armagh. It was about the second or +third day when, travelling probably by the northern road, +poetically called "the Slope of the Chariots," the +Christian adventurers came in sight of the roofs of Tara. +Halting on a neighbouring eminence they surveyed the +citadel of Ancient Error, like soldiers about to assault +an enemy's stronghold. The aspect of the royal hill must +have been highly imposing. The building towards the north +was the Banquet Hall, then thronged with the celebrants +of the King's birth-day, measuring from north to south +360 feet in length by 40 feet wide. South of this hall +was the King's Rath, or residence, enclosing an area of +280 yards in diameter, and including several detached +buildings, such as the house of Cormac, and the house of +the hostages. Southward still stood the new rath of the +reigning king, and yet farther south, the rath of Queen +Mab, probably uninhabited even then. The intervals between +the buildings were at some points planted, for we know +that magnificent trees shaded the well of Finn, and the +well of Newnaw, from which all the raths were supplied +with water. Imposing at any time, Tara must have looked +its best at the moment Patrick first beheld it, being in +the pleasant season of spring, and decorated in honour +of the anniversary of the reigning sovereign. + +One of the religious ceremonies employed by the Druids +to heighten the solemnity of the occasion, was to order +all the fires of Tara and Meath to be quenched, in order +to rekindle them instantaneously from a sacred fire +dedicated to the honour of their god. But Patrick, either +designedly or innocently, anticipated this striking +ceremony, and lit his own fire, where he had encamped, +in view of the royal residence. A flight of fiery arrows, +shot into the Banqueting Hall, would not have excited +more horror and tumult among the company there assembled, +than did the sight of that unlicensed blaze in the +distance. Orders were issued to drag the offender against +the laws and the gods of the Island before them, and the +punishment in store for him was already decreed in every +heart. The Preacher, followed by his trembling disciples, +ascended "the Slope of the Chariots," surrounded by +menacing minions of the Pagan law, and regarded with +indignation by astonished spectators. As he came he +recited Latin Prayers to the Blessed Trinity, beseeching +their protection and direction in this trying hour. +Contrary to courteous custom no one at first rose to +offer him a seat. At last a chieftain, touched with +mysterious admiration for the stranger, did him that +kindness. Then it was demanded of him, why he had dared +to violate the laws of the country, and to defy its +ancient gods. On this text the Christian Missionary spoke. +The place of audience was in the open air, on that +eminence, the home of so many kings, which commands one +of the most agreeable prospects in any landscape. The +eye of the inspired orator, pleading the cause of all +the souls that hereafter, till the end of time, might +inhabit the land, could discern within the spring-day +horizon, the course of the Blackwater and the Boyne before +they blend into one; the hills of Cavan to the far north; +with the royal hill of Tailtean in the foreground; the +wooded heights of Slane and Skreen, and the four ancient +roads, which led away towards the four subject Provinces, +like the reins of empire laid loosely on their necks. +Since the first Apostle of the Gentiles had confronted +the subtle Paganism of Athens, on the hill of Mars, none +of those who walked in his steps ever stood out in more +glorious relief than Patrick, surrounded by Pagan Princes, +and a Pagan Priesthood, on the hill of Tara. + +The defence of the fire he had kindled, unlicensed, soon +extended into wider issues. Who were the gods against +whom he had offended? Were they true gods or false? They +had their priests: could they maintain the divinity of +such gods, by argument, or by miracle? For his God, he, +though unworthy, was ready to answer, yea, right ready +to die. His God had become man, and had died for man. +His name alone was sufficient to heal all diseases; to +raise the very dead to life. Such, we learn from the +old biographers, was the line of Patrick's argument. This +sermon ushered in a controversy. The king's guests, who +had come to feast and rejoice, remained to listen and to +meditate. With the impetuosity of the national character +--with all its passion for debate--they rushed into this +new conflict, some on one side, some on the other. The +daughters of the king and many others--the Arch-Druid +himself--became convinced and were baptized. The +missionaries obtained powerful protectors, and the king +assigned to Patrick the pleasant fort of Trim, as a +present residence. From that convenient distance, he +could readily return at any moment, to converse with the +king's guests and the members of his household. + +The Druidical superstition never recovered the blow it +received that day at Tara. The conversion of the Arch-Druid +and the Princesses, was, of itself, their knell of doom. +Yet they held their ground during the remainder of this +reign--twenty-five years longer (A.D. 458). The king +himself never became a Christian, though he tolerated +the missionaries, and deferred more and more every year +to the Christian party. He sanctioned an expurgated code +of the laws, prepared under the direction of Patrick, +from which every positive element of Paganism was rigidly +excluded. He saw, unopposed, the chief idol of his race, +overthrown on "the Plain of Prostration," at Sletty. Yet +withal he never consented to be baptized; and only two +years before his decease, we find him swearing to a +treaty, in the old Pagan form--"by the Sun, and the Wind, +and all the Elements." The party of the Druids at first +sought to stay the progress of Christianity by violence, +and even attempted, more than once, to assassinate Patrick. +Finding these means ineffectual they tried ridicule and +satire. In this they were for some time seconded by the +Bards, men warmly attached to their goddess of song and +their lives of self-indulgence. All in vain. The day of +the idols was fast verging into everlasting night in +Erin. Patrick and his disciples were advancing from +conquest to conquest. Armagh and Cashel came in the wake +of Tara, and Cruachan was soon to follow. Driven from +the high places, the obdurate Priests of Bel took refuge +in the depths of the forest and in the islands of the +sea, wherein the Christian anchorites of the next age +were to replace them. The social revolution proceeded, +but all that was tolerable in the old state of things, +Patrick carefully engrafted with the new. He allowed much +for the habits and traditions of the people, and so made +the transition as easy, from darkness into the light, as +Nature makes the transition from night to morning. He +seven times visited in person every mission in the kingdom, +performing the six first "circuits" on foot, but the +seventh, on account of his extreme age, he was borne in +a chariot. The pious munificence of the successors of +Leary, had surrounded him with a household of princely +proportions. Twenty-four persons, mostly ecclesiastics, +were chosen for this purpose: a bell-ringer, a psalmist, +a cook, a brewer, a chamberlain, three smiths, three +artificers, and three embroiderers are reckoned of the +number. These last must be considered as employed in +furnishing the interior of the new churches. A scribe, +a shepherd to guard his flocks, and a charioteer are also +mentioned, and their proper names given. How different +this following from the little boat's crew, he had left +waiting tidings from Tara, in such painful apprehension, +at the mouth of the Boyne, in 432. Apostolic zeal, and +unrelaxed discipline had wrought these wonders, during +a lifetime prolonged far beyond the ordinary age of man. + +The fifth century was drawing to a close, and the days +of Patrick were numbered. Pharamond and the Franks had +sway on the Netherlands; Hengist and the Saxons on South +Britain; Clovis had led his countrymen across the Rhine +into Gaul; the Vandals had established themselves in +Spain and North Africa; the Ostrogoths were supreme in +Italy. The empire of barbarism had succeeded to the empire +of Polytheism; dense darkness covered the semi-Christian +countries of the old Roman empire, but happily daylight +still lingered in the West. Patrick, in good season, +had done his work. And as sometimes, God seems to bring +round His ends, contrary to the natural order of things, +so the spiritual sun of Europe was now destined to rise +in the West, and return on its light-bearing errand +towards the East, dispelling La its path, Saxon, Frankish, +and German darkness, until at length it reflected back +on Rome herself, the light derived from Rome. + +On the 17th of March, in the year of our Lord 493, Patrick +breathed his last in the monastery of Saul, erected on +the site of that barn where he had first said Mass. He +was buried with national honours in the Church of Armagh, +to which he had given the Primacy over all the churches +of Ireland; and such was the concourse of mourners, and +the number of Masses offered for his eternal repose, that +from the day of his death till the close of the year, +the sun is poetically said never to have set--so brilliant +and so continual was the glare of tapers and torches. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE CONSTITUTION, AND HOW THE KINGS KEPT IT. + +We have fortunately still existing the main provisions +of that constitution which was prepared under the auspices +of Saint Patrick, and which, though not immediately, nor +simultaneously, was in the end accepted by all Erin as +its supreme law. It is contained in a volume called "the +Book of Rights," and in its printed form (the Dublin +bilingual edition of 1847), fills some 250 octavo pages. +This book may be said to contain the original institutes +of Erin under her Celtic Kings: "the Brehon laws," (which +have likewise been published), bear the same relation to +"the Book of Rights," as the Statutes at large of England, +or the United States, bear to the English Constitution +in the one case, or to the collective Federal and State +Constitutions in the other. Let us endeavour to comprehend +what this ancient Irish Constitution was like, and how +the Kings received it, at first. + +There were, as we saw in the first chapter, beside the +existing four Provinces, whose names are familiar to +every one, a fifth principality of Meath. Each of the +Provinces was subdivided into chieftainries, of which +there were at least double or treble as many as there +are now counties. The connection between the chief and +his Prince, or the Prince and his monarch, was not of +the nature of feudal obedience; for the fee-simple of +the soil was never supposed to be vested in the sovereign, +nor was the King considered to be the fountain of all +honour. The Irish system blended the aristocratic and +democratic elements more largely than the monarchical. +Everything proceeded by election, but all the candidates +should be of noble blood. The Chiefs, Princes, and +Monarchs, so selected, were bound together by certain +customs and tributes, originally invented by the genius +of the Druids, and afterwards adopted and enforced by +the authority of the Bishops. The tributes were paid in +kind, and consisted of cattle, horses, foreign-born +slaves, hounds, oxen, scarlet mantles, coats of mail, +chess-boards and chess-men, drinking cups, and other +portable articles of value. The quantity in every case +due from a King to his subordinate, or from a subordinate +to his King--for the gifts and grants were often +reciprocal--is precisely stated in every instance. Besides +these rights, this constitution defines the "prerogatives" +of the five Kings on their journeys through each other's +territory, their accession to power, or when present in +the General Assemblies of the Kingdom. It contains, +besides, a very numerous array of "prohibitions"--acts +which neither the Ard-Righ nor any other Potentate may +lawfully do. Most of these have reference to old local +Pagan ceremonies in which the Kings once bore a leading +part, but which were now strictly prohibited; others are +of inter-Provincial significance, and others, again, are +rules of personal conduct. Among the prohibitions of the +monarch the first is, that the sun must never rise on +him in his bed at Tara; among his prerogatives he was +entitled to banquet on the first of August, on the fish +of the Boyne, fruit from the Isle of Man, cresses from +the Brosna river, venison from Naas, and to drink the +water of the well of Talla: in other words, he was entitled +to eat on that day, of the produce, whether of earth or +water, of the remotest bounds, as well as of the very +heart of his mensal domain. The King of Leinster was +"prohibited" from upholding the Pagan ceremonies within +his province, or to encamp for more than a week in certain +districts; but he was "privileged" to feast on the fruits +of Almain, to drink the ale of Cullen, and to preside +over the games of Carman, (Wexford.) His colleague of +Munster was "prohibited" from encamping a whole week at +Killarney or on the Suir, and from mustering a martial +host on the Leinster border at Gowran; he was "privileged" +to pass the six weeks of Lent at Cashel (in free quarters), +to use fire and force in compelling tribute from north +Leinster; and to obtain a supply of cattle from Connaught, +at the time "of the singing of the cuckoo." The Connaught +King had five other singular "prohibitions" imposed on +him--evidently with reference to some old Pagan rites--and +his "prerogatives" were hostages from Galway, the monopoly +of the chase in Mayo, free quarters in Murrisk, in the +same neighbourhood, and to marshal his border-host at +Athlone to confer with the tribes of Meath. The ruler +of Ulster was also forbidden to indulge in such +superstitious practices as observing omens of birds, or +drinking of a certain fountain "between two darknesses;" +his prerogatives were presiding at the games of Cooley, +"with the assembly of the fleet;" the right of mustering +his border army in the plains of Louth; free quarters in +Armagh for three nights for his troops before setting +out on an expedition; and to confine his hostages in +Dunseverick, a strong fortress near the Giant's Causeway. +Such were the principal checks imposed upon the individual +caprice of Monarchs and Princes; the plain inference from +all which is, that under the Constitution of Patrick, a +Prince who clung to any remnant of ancient Paganism, +might lawfully be refused those rents and dues which +alone supported his dignity. In other words, disguised +as it may be to us under ancient forms, "the Book of +Rights" establishes Christianity as the law of the land. +All national usages and customs, not conflicting with +this supreme law, were recognized and sanctioned by it. +The internal revenues in each particular Province were +modelled upon the same general principle, with one +memorable exception--the special tribute which Leinster +paid to Munster--and which was the cause of more bloodshed +than all other sources of domestic quarrel combined. The +origin of this tax is surrounded with fable, but it +appears to have arisen out of the reaction which took +place, when Tuathal, "the Legitimate," was restored to +the throne of his ancestors, after the successful revolt +of the Belgic bondsmen. Leinster seems to have clung +longest to the Belgic revolution, and to have submitted +only after repeated defeats. Tuathal, therefore, imposed +on that Province this heavy and degrading tax, compelling +its Princes not only to render him and his successors +immense herds of cattle, but also 150 male and female +slaves, to do the menial offices about the palace of +Tara. With a refinement of policy, as far-seeing as it +was cruel, the proceeds of the tax were to be divided +one-third to Ulster, one-third to Connaught, and the +remainder between the Queen of the Monarch and the ruler +of Munster. In this way all the other Provinces became +interested in enforcing this invidious and oppressive +enactment upon Leinster which, of course, was withheld +whenever it could be refused with the smallest probability +of success. Its resistance, and enforcement, especially +by the kings of Munster, will be found a constant cause +of civil war, even in Christian times. + +The sceptre of Ireland, from her conversion to the time +of Brian, was almost solely in the hands of the northern +Hy-Nial, the same family as the O'Neills. All the kings +of the sixth and seventh centuries were of that line. In +the eighth century (from 709 to 742), the southern +annalists style Cathal, King of Munster, Ard-Righ; in +the ninth century (840 to 847), they give the same high +title to Felim, King of Munster; and in the eleventh +century Brian possessed that dignity for the twelve last +years of his life, (1002 to 1014). With these exceptions, +the northern Hy-Nial, and their co-relatives of Meath, +called the southern Hy-Nial, seem to have retained the +sceptre exclusively in their own hands, during the five +first Christian centuries. Yet on every occasion, the +ancient forms of election, (or procuring the adhesion of +the Princes), had to be gone through. Perfect unanimity, +however, was not required; a majority equal to two-thirds +seems to have sufficed. If the candidate had the North +in his favour, and one Province of the South, he was +considered entitled to take possession of Tara; if he +were a Southern, he should be seconded either by Connaught +or Ulster, before he could lawfully possess himself of +the supreme power. The benediction of the Archbishop of +Armagh, seems to have been necessary to confirm the choice +of the Provincials. The monarchs, like the petty kings, +were crowned or "made" on the summit of some lofty mound +prepared for that purpose; an hereditary officer, appointed +to that duty, presented him with a white wand perfectly +straight, as an emblem of the purity and uprightness +which should guide all his decisions, and, clothed with +his royal robes, the new ruler descended among his people, +and solemnly swore to protect their rights and to administer +equal justice to all. This was the civil ceremony; the +solemn blessing took place in a church, and is supposed +to be the oldest form of coronation service observed +anywhere in Christendom. + +A ceremonial, not without dignity, regulated the gradations +of honour, in the General Assemblies of Erin. The time +of meeting was the great Pagan Feast of Samhain, the 1st +of November. A feast of three days opened and closed the +Assembly, and during its sittings, crimes of violence +committed on those in attendance were punished with +instant death. The monarch himself had no power to pardon +any violator of this established law. The _Chiefs_ of +territories sat, each in an appointed seat, under his +own shield; the seats being arranged by order of the +Ollamh, or Recorder, whose duty it was to preserve the +muster-roll, containing the names of all the living +nobles. The _Champions_, or leaders of military bands, +occupied a secondary position, each sitting' under his +own shield. Females and spectators of an inferior rank +were excluded; the Christian clergy naturally stepped +into the empty places of the Druids, and were placed +immediately next the monarch. + +We shall now briefly notice the principal acts of the +first Christian kings, during the century immediately +succeeding St. Patrick's death. Of OLLIOL, who succeeded +Leary, we cannot say with certainty that he was a Christian. +His successor, LEWY, son of Leary, we are expressly told +was killed by lightning (A.D. 496), for "having violated +the law of Patrick"--that is, probably, for having +practised some of those Pagan rites forbidden to the +monarchs by the revised constitution. His successor, +MURKERTACH, son of Ere, was a professed Christian, though +a bad one, since he died by the vengeance of a concubine +named Sheen, (that is, _storm_,) whom he had once put +away at the instance of his spiritual adviser, but whom +he had not the courage--though brave as a lion in battle--to +keep away (A.D. 527). TUATHAL, "the Rough," succeeded +and reigned for seven years, when he was assassinated by +the tutor of DERMID, son of Kerbel, a rival whom he had +driven into exile. DERMID immediately seized on the throne +(A.D. 534), and for twenty eventful years bore sway over +all Erin. He appears to have had quite as much of the +old leaven of Paganism in his composition--at least in +his youth and prime--as either Lewy or Leary. He kept +Druids about his person, despised "the right of sanctuary" +claimed by the Christian clergy, and observed, with all +the ancient superstitious ceremonial, the national games +at Tailteen. In his reign, the most remarkable event was +the public curse pronounced on Tara, by a Saint whose +sanctuary the reckless monarch had violated, in dragging +a prisoner from the very horns of the altar, and putting +him to death. For this offence--the crowning act of a +series of aggressions on the immunities claimed by the +clergy--the Saint, whose name was Ruadan, and the site +of whose sanctuary is still known as Temple-Ruadan in +Tipperary, proceeded to Tara, accompanied by his clergy, +and, walking round the royal rath, solemnly excommunicated +the monarch, and anathematized the place. The far-reaching +consequences of this awful exercise of spiritual power +are traceable for a thousand years through Irish history. +No king after Dermid resided permanently upon the hill +of Tara. Other royal houses there were in Meath--at +Tailteen, at the hill of Usna, and on the margin of the +beautiful Lough Ennell, near the present Castlepollard, +and at one or other of these, after monarchs held occasional +court; but those of the northern race made their habitual +home in their own patrimony near Armagh, or on the +celebrated hill of Aileach. The date of the malediction +which left Tara desolate is the year of our Lord, 554. +The end of this self-willed semi-Pagan (Dermid) was in +unison with his life; he was slain in battle by Black +Hugh, Prince of Ulster, two years after the desolation +of Tara. + +Four kings, all fierce competitors for the succession, +reigned and fell, within ten years of the death of Dermid, +and then we come to the really interesting and important +reign of Hugh the Second, which lasted twenty-seven years +(A.D. 566 to 593), and was marked by the establishment +of the Independence of the Scoto-Irish Colony in North +Britain, and by other noteworthy events. But these +twenty-seven years deserve a chapter to themselves. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +REIGN OF HUGH II.--THE IRISH COLONY IN SCOTLAND OBTAINS +ITS INDEPENDENCE. + +Twenty-seven years is a long reign, and the years of +King-Hugh II. were marked with striking events. One +religious and one political occurrence, however, threw +all others into the shade--the conversion of the Highlands +and Islands of Scotland (then called Alba or Albyn by +the Gael, and Caledonia by the Latins), and the formal +recognition, after an exciting controversy, of the +independence of the Milesian colony in Scotland. These +events follow each other in the order of time, and stand +partly in the relation of cause and effect. + +The first authentic Irish immigration into Scotland seems +to have taken place about the year of our Lord 258. The +pioneers crossed over from Antrim to Argyle, where the +strait is less than twenty-five miles wide. Other +adventurers followed at intervals, but it is a fact to +be deplored, that no passages in our own, and in all +other histories, have been so carelessly kept as the +records of emigration. The movements of rude masses of +men, the first founders of states and cities, are generally +lost in obscurity, or misrepresented by patriotic zeal. +Several successive settlements of the Irish in Caledonia +can be faintly traced from the middle of the third till +the beginning of the sixth century. About the year 503, +they had succeeded in establishing a flourishing +principality among the cliffs and glens of Argyle. The +limits of their first territory cannot be exactly laid +down; but it soon spread north into Rosshire, and east +into the present county of Perth. It was a land of stormy +friths and fissured headlands, of deep defiles and snowy +summits. "'Tis a far cry to Lough Awe," is still a lowland +proverb, and Lough Awe was in the very heart of that old +Irish settlement. + +The earliest emigrants to Argyle were Pagans, while the +latter were Christians, and were accompanied by priests, +and a bishop, Kieran, the son of the carpenter, whom, +from his youthful piety and holy life, as well as from +the occupation followed by his father, is sometimes +fancifully compared to our Lord and Saviour himself. +Parishes in Cantyre, in Islay, and in Carrick, still bear +the name of St. Kieran as patron. But no systematic +attempt--none at least of historic memory--was made to +convert the remoter Gael and the other races then inhabiting +Alba--the Picts, Britons, and Scandinavians, until the +year of our era, 565, Columba or COLUMBKILL, a Bishop of +the royal race of Nial, undertook that task, on a scale +commensurate with its magnitude. This celebrated man has +always ranked with Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget as +the most glorious triad of the Irish Calendar. He was, +at the time he left Ireland, in the prime of life--his +44th year. Twelve companions, the apostolic number, +accompanied him on his voyage. For thirty-four years he +was the legislator and captain of Christianity in those +northern regions. The King of the Picts received baptism +at his hands; the Kings of the Scottish colony, his +kinsmen, received the crown from him on their accession. +The islet of I., or Iona, as presented to him by one of +these princes. Here he and his companions built with +their own hands their parent-house, and from this Hebridean +rock in after times was shaped the destinies, spiritual +and temporal, of many tribes and kingdoms. + +The growth of Iona was as the growth of the grain of +mustard seed mentioned in the Gospel, even during the +life of its founder. Formed by his teaching and example, +there went out from it apostles to Iceland, to the Orkneys, +to Northumbria, to Man, and to South Britain. A hundred +monasteries in Ireland looked to that exiled saint as +their patriarch. His rule of monastic life, adopted either +from the far East, from the recluses of the Thebaid, or +from his great contemporary, Saint Benedict, was sought +for by Chiefs, Bards, and converted Druids. Clients, +seeking direction from his wisdom, or protection through +his power, were constantly arriving and departing from +his sacred isle. His days were divided between manual +labour and the study and transcribing of the Sacred +Scriptures. He and his disciples, says the Venerable +Bede, in whose age Iona still flourished, "neither thought +of nor loved anything in _this_ world." Some writers have +represented Columbkill's _Culdees_, (which in English +means simply "Servants of God,") as a married clergy; so +far is this from the truth, that we now know, no woman +was allowed to land on the island, nor even a cow to be +kept there, for, said the holy Bishop, "wherever there +is a cow there will be a woman, and wherever there is a +woman there will be mischief." + +In the reign of King Hugh, three domestic questions arose +of great importance; one was the refusal of the Prince +of Ossory to pay tribute to the Monarch; the other, the +proposed extinction of the Bardic Order, and the third, +the attempt to tax the Argyle Colony. The question between +Ossory and Tara, we may pass over as of obsolete interest, +but the other two deserve fuller mention: + +The Bards--who were the Editors, Professors, Registrars +and Record-keepers--the makers and masters of public +opinion in those days, had reached in this reign a number +exceeding 1,200 in Meath and Ulster alone. They claimed +all the old privileges of free quarters on their travels +and freeholdings at home, which were freely granted to +their order when it was in its infancy. Those chieftains +who refused them anything, however extravagant, they +lampooned and libelled, exciting their own people and +other princes against them. Such was their audacity, that +some of them are said to have demanded from King Hugh +the royal brooch, one of the most highly prized heirlooms +of the reigning family. Twice in the early part of this +reign they had been driven from the royal residence, and +obliged to take refuge in the little principality of +Ulidia (or Down); the third time the monarch had sworn +to expel them utterly from the kingdom. In Columbkill, +however, they were destined to find a most powerful +mediator, both from his general sympathy with the Order, +being himself no mean poet, and from the fact that the +then Arch-Poet, or chief of the order, Dallan Forgaill, +was one of his own pupils. + +To settle this vexed question of the Bards, as well as +to obtain the sanction of the estates to the taxation of +Argyle, King Hugh called a General Assembly in the year +590. The place of meeting was no longer the interdicted +Tara, but for the monarch's convenience a site farther +north was chosen--the hill of Drom-Keth, in the present +county of Deny. Here came in rival state and splendour +the Princes of the four Provinces, and other principal +chieftains. The dignitaries of the Church also attended, +and an occasional Druid was perhaps to be seen in the +train of some unconverted Prince. The pretensions of the +mother-country to impose a tax upon her Colony, were +sustained by the profound learning and venerable name of +St. Colman, Bishop of Dromore, one of the first men of +his Order. + +When Columbkill "heard of the calling together of that +General Assembly," and of the questions to be there +decided, he resolved to attend, notwithstanding the stern +vow of his earlier life, never to look on Irish soil +again. Under a scruple of this kind, he is said to have +remained blindfold, from Ms arrival in Ms fatherland, +till his return to Iona. He was accompanied by an imposing +train of attendants; by Aidan, Prince of Argyle, so deeply +interested in the issue, and a suite of over one hundred +persons, twenty of them Abbots or Bishops. Columbkill +spoke for his companions; for already, as in Bede's time, +the Abbots of Iona exercised over all the clergy north +of the Humber, but still more directly north of the Tweed, +a species of supremacy similar to that which the successors +of St. Benedict and St. Bernard exercised, in turn, over +Prelates and Princes on the European Continent. + +When the Assembly was opened the holy Bishop of Dromore +stated the arguments in favour of Colonial taxation with +learning and effect. Hugh himself impeached the Bards +for their licentious and lawless lives. Columbkill defended +both interests, and, by combining both, probably +strengthened the friends of each. It is certain that he +carried the Assembly with him, both against the monarch +and those of the resident clergy, who had selected Colman +as their spokesman. The Bardic Order was spared. The +doctors, or master-singers among them, were prohibited +from wandering from place to place; they were assigned +residence with the chiefs and princes; their losel +attendants were turned over to honest pursuits, and thus +a great danger was averted, and one of the most essential +of the Celtic institutions being reformed and regulated, +was preserved. Scotland and Ireland have good reason to +be grateful to the founder of Iona, for the interposition +that preserved to us the music, which is now admitted to +be one of the most precious inheritances of both countries. + +The proposed taxation Columbkill strenuously and +successfully resisted. Up to this time, the colonists +had been bound only to furnish a contingent force, by +land and sea, when the King of Ireland went to war, and +to make them an annual present called "chief-rent." + +From the Book of Rights we learn that (at least at the +time the existing transcript was made) the Scottish +Princes paid out of Alba, seven shields, seven steeds, +seven bondswomen, seven bondsmen, and seven hounds all +of the same breed. But the "chief-rent," or "eric for +kindly blood," did not suffice in the year 590 to satisfy +King Hugh. The colony had grown great, and, like some +modern monarchs, he proposed to make it pay for its +success. Columbkill, though a native of Ireland, and a +prince of its reigning house, was by choice a resident +of Caledonia, and he stood true to his adopted country. +The Irish King refused to continue the connection on the +old conditions, and declared his intention to visit Alba +himself to enforce the tribute due; Columbkill, rising +in the Assembly, declared the Albanians "for ever free +from the yoke," and this, adds an old historian, "turned +out to be the fact." From the whole controversy we may +conclude that Scotland never paid political tribute to +Ireland; that their relation was that rather of allies, +than of sovereign and vassal; that it resembled more the +homage Carthage paid to Tyre, and Syracuse to Corinth, +than any modern form of colonial dependence; that a +federal connection existed by which, in time of war, the +Scots of Argyle, and those of Hibernia, were mutually +bound to aid, assist, and defend each other. And this +natural and only connection, founded in the blood of both +nations, sanctioned by their early saints, confirmed by +frequent intermarriage, by a common language and literature, +and by hostility to common enemies, the Saxons, Danes, +and Normans, grew into a political bond of unusual +strength, and was cherished with affection by both nations, +long ages after the magnates assembled at Drom-Keth had +disappeared in the tombs of their fathers. + +The only unsettled question which remained after the +Assembly at Drom-Keth related to the Prince of Ossory. +Five years afterwards (A.D. 595), King Hugh fell in an +attempt to collect the special tribute from all Leinster, +of which we have already heard something, and shall, by +and by, hear more. He was an able and energetic ruler, +and we may be sure "did not let the sun rise on him in +his bed at Tara," or anywhere else. In his time great +internal changes were taking place in the state of society. +The ecclesiastical order had become more powerful than +any other in the state. The Bardic Order, thrice proscribed, +were finally subjected to the laws, over which they had +at one time insolently domineered. Ireland's only colony +--unless we except the immature settlement in the Isle +of Man, under Cormac Longbeard--was declared independent +of the parent country, through the moral influence of +its illustrious Apostle, whose name many of its kings +and nobles were of old proud to bear--_Mal-Colm_, meaning +"servant of Columb," or Columbkill. But the memory of +the sainted statesman who decreed the separation of the +two populations, so far as claims to taxation could be +preferred, preserved, for ages, the better and far more +profitable alliance, of an ancient friendship, unbroken +by a single national quarrel during a thousand years. + +A few words more on the death and character of this +celebrated man, whom we are now to part with at the close +of the sixth, as we parted from Patrick at the close of +the fifth century. His day of departure came in 596. +Death found him at the ripe age of almost fourscore, +_stylus_ in hand, toiling cheerfully over the vellum +page. It was the last night of the week when the +presentiment of his end came strongly upon him. "This +day," he said to his disciple and successor, Dermid, "is +called the day of rest, and such it will be for me, for +it will finish my labours." Laying down the manuscript, +he added, "let Baithen finish the rest." Just after +Matins, on the Sunday morning, he peacefully passed away +from the midst of his brethren. + +Of his tenderness, as well as energy of character, +tradition, and his biographers have recorded many instances. +Among others, his habit of ascending an eminence every +evening at sunset, to look over towards the coast of his +native land. The spot is called by the islanders to this +day, "the place of the back turned upon Ireland." The +fishermen of the Hebrides long believed they could see +their saint flitting over the waves after every new storm, +counting the islands to see if any of them had foundered. +It must have been a loveable character of which such +tales could be told and cherished from generation to +generation. + +Both Education and Nature had well fitted Columbkill to +the great task of adding another realm to the empire of +Christendom. His princely birth gave him power over his +own proud kindred; his golden eloquence and glowing +verse--the fragments of which still move and delight the +Gaelic scholar--gave him fame and weight in the Christian +schools which had suddenly sprung up in every glen and +island. As prince, he stood on equal terms with princes; +as poet, he was affiliated to that all-powerful Bardic +Order, before whose awful anger kings trembled, and +warriors succumbed in superstitious dread. A spotless +soul, a disciplined body, an indomitable energy, an +industry that never wearied, a courage that never blanched, +a sweetness and courtesy that won all hearts, a tenderness +for others that contrasted strongly with his rigour +towards himself--these were the secrets of the success +of this eminent missionary--these were the miracles by +which he accomplished the conversion of so many barbarous +tribes and Pagan Princes. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +KINGS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY. + +THE five years of the sixth century, which remained after +the death of Hugh II., were filled by Hugh III., son of +Dermid, the semi-Pagan. Hugh IV. succeeded (A.D. 599) +and reigned for several years; two other kings, of small +account, reigned seven years; Donald II. (A.D. 624) +reigned sixteen years; Connall and Kellach, brothers, +(A.D. 640) reigned jointly sixteen years; they were +succeeded (A.D. 656) by Dermid and Blathmac, brothers, +who reigned jointly seven years; Shanasagh, son of the +former, reigned six years; Kenfala, four; Finnacta, "the +hospitable," twenty years, and Loingsech (A.D. 693) eight +years. + +Throughout this century the power of the Church was +constantly on the increase, and is visible in many +important changes. The last armed struggle of Druidism, +and the only invasion of Ireland by the Anglo-Saxons, +are also events of the civil history of the seventh +century. + +The reign, of Donald II. is notable for the passing away +of most of those saintly men, the second generation of +Irish abbots and bishops; for the foundation of the +celebrated school of Lismore on the Munster Blackwater; +and the battle of Moira, in the present county of Down. +Of the school and the saints we shall speak hereafter; +the battle deserves more immediate mention. + +The cause of the battle was the pretension of the petty +Prince of Ulidia, which comprised little more than the +present county of Down, to be recognised as Prince of +all Ulster. Now the Hy-Nial family, not only had long +given monarchs to all Ireland, but had also the lion's +share of their own Province, and King Donald as their +head could not permit their ascendency to be disputed. +The ancestors of the present pretender, Congal, surnamed +"the squint-eyed," had twice received and cherished the +licentious Bards when under the ban of Tara, and his +popularity with that still powerful order was one prop +of his ambition. It is pretty clear also that the last +rally of Druidism against Christianity took place behind +his banner, on the plain of Moira. It was the year 637, +and preparations had long gone on on both sides for a +final trial of strength. Congal had recruited numerous +bands of Saxons, Britons, Picts and Argyle Scots, who +poured into the Larbours of Down for months, and were +marshalled on the banks of the Lagan, to sustain his +cause. The Poets of succeeding ages have dwelt much in +detail on the occurrences of this memorable day. It was +what might strictly be called a pitched battle, time and +place being fixed by mutual agreement. King Donald was +accompanied by his Bard, who described to him, as they +came in sight, the several standards of Congal's host, +and who served under them. Conspicuous above all, the +ancient banner of the Red Branch Knights-"a yellow lion +wrought on green satin"--floated over Congal's host. On +the other side the monarch commanded in person, accompanied +by his kinsmen, the sons of Hugh III. The red hand of +Tirowen, the cross of Tirconnell, the eagle and lion of +Innishowen, the axes of Fanad, were in his ranks, ranged +closely round his own standard. The cause of the +Constitution and the Church prevailed, and Druidism +mourned its last hope extinguished on the plains of Moira, +in the death of Congal, and the defeat of his vast army. +King Donald returned in triumph to celebrate his victory +at Emania and to receive the benediction of the Church +at Armagh. + +The sons of Hugh III., Dermid and Blathmac, zealous and +pious Christian princes, survived the field of Moira and +other days of danger, and finally attained the supreme +power--A.D. 656. Like the two kings of Sparta they +reigned jointly, dividing between them the labours and +cares of State. In their reign, that terrible scourge, +called in Irish, "the yellow plague," after ravaging +great part of Britain, broke out with undiminished +virulence in Erin (A.D. 664). To heighten the awful sense +of inevitable doom, an eclipse of the sun occurred +concurrently with the appearance of the pestilence on +the first Sunday in May. It was the season when the +ancient sun-god had been accustomed to receive his annual +oblations, and we can well believe that those whose hearts +still trembled at the name of Bel, must have connected +the eclipse and the plague with the revolution in the +national worship, and the overthrow of the ancient gods +on that "plain of prostration," where they had so long +received the homage of an entire people. Among the victims +of this fearful visitation--which, like the modern cholera, +swept through all ranks and classes of society, and +returned in the same track for several successive +seasons--were very many of those venerated men, the third +and fourth generation of the Abbots and Bishops. The +Munster King, and many of the chieftain class shared the +common lot. Lastly, the royal brothers fell themselves +victims to the epidemic, which so sadly signalizes their +reign. + +The only conflicts that occurred on Irish soil with a +Pictish or an Anglo-Saxon force--if we except those who +formed a contingent of Congal's army at Moira--occurred +in the time of the hospitable Finnacta. The Pictish force, +with their leaders, were totally defeated at Rathmore, +in Antrim (A.D. 680), but the Anglo-Saxon expedition +(A.D. 684) seems not to have been either expected or +guarded against. As leading to the mention of other +interesting events, we must set this inroad clearly +before the reader. + +The Saxons had now been for four centuries in Britain, +the older inhabitants of which--Celts like the Gauls and +Irish--they had cruelly harassed, just as the Milesian +Irish oppressed their Belgic predecessors, and as the +Normans, in turn, will be found oppressing both Celt and +Saxon in England and Ireland. Britain had been divided +by the Saxon leaders into eight separate kingdoms, the +people and princes of several of which were converted to +Christianity in the fifth, sixth, and seventh century, +though some of them did not receive the Gospel before +the beginning of the eighth. The Saxons of Kent and the +Southern Kingdoms generally were converted by missionaries +from France or Rome, or native preachers of the first or +second Christian generation; those of Northumbria recognise +as their Apostles St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert, two Fathers +from Iona. The Kingdom of Northumbria, as the name +implies, embraced nearly all the country from the Humber +to the Pictish border. York was its capital, and the +seat of its ecclesiastical primacy, where, at the time +we speak of, the illustrious Wilfrid was maintaining, +with a wilful and unscrupulous king, a struggle not unlike +that which Becket maintained with Henry II. This Prince, +Egfrid by name, was constantly engaged in wars with his +Saxon cotemporaries, or the Picts and Scots. In the summer +of 683 he sent an expedition under the command of Beort, +one of his earls, to ravage the coast of Leinster. Beort +landed probably in the Boyne, and swept over the rich +plain of Meath with fire and sword, burning churches, +driving off herds and flocks, and slaughtering the clergy +and the husbandmen. The piety of an after age saw in the +retribution which overtook Egfrid the following year, +when he was slain by the Picts and Scots, the judgment +of Heaven, avenging the unprovoked wrongs of the Irish. +His Scottish conquerors, returning good for evil, carried +his body to Iona, where it was interred with all due +honour. + +Iona was now in the zenith of its glory. The barren rock, +about three miles in length, was covered with monastic +buildings, and its cemetery was already adorned with the +tombs of saints and kings. Five successors of Columbkill +slept in peace around their holy Founder, and a sixth, +equal in learning and sanctity to any who preceded him, +received the remains of King Egfrid from the hands of +his conquerors. This was Abbot Adamnan, to whom Ireland +and Scotland are equally indebted for his admirable +writings, and who might almost dispute with Bede himself, +the title of Father of British History. Adamnan regarded +the fate of Egfrid, we may be sure, in the light of a +judgment on him for his misdeeds, as Bede and British +Christians very generally did. He learned, too, that +there were in Northumbria several Christian captives, +carried off in Beort's expedition and probably sold into +slavery. Now every missionary that ever went out from +Iona, had taught that to reduce Christians to slavery +was wholly inconsistent with a belief in the doctrines +of the Gospel. St. Aidan, the Apostle of Northumbria, +had refused the late Egfrid's father absolution, on one +occasion, until he solemnly promised to restore their +freedom to certain captives of this description. In the +same spirit Adamnan voluntarily undertook a journey to +York, where Aldfrid (a Prince educated in Ireland, and +whose "Itinerary" of Ireland we still have) now reigned. +The Abbot of Iona succeeded in his humane mission, and +crossing over to his native land, he restored sixty of +the captives to their homes and kindred. While the +liberated exiles rejoiced on the plain of Meath, the tent +of the Abbot of Iona was pitched on the rath of Tara--a +fact which would seem to indicate that already, in little +more than a century since the interdict had fallen on +it, the edifices which made so fine a show in the days +of Patrick were ruined and uninhabitable. Either at Tara, +or some other of the royal residences, Adamnan on this +visit procured the passing of a law, (A.D. 684,) forbidding +women to accompany an army to battle, or to engage +personally in the conflict. The mild maternal genius of +Christianity is faithfully exhibited in such a law, which +consummates the glory of the worthy successor of Columbkill. +It is curious here to observe that it was not until +another hundred years had past--not till the beginning +of the ninth century--that the clergy were "exempt" from +military service. So slow and patient is the process by +which Christianity infuses itself into the social life +of a converted people! + +The long reign of FINNACTA, the hospitable, who may, for +his many other virtues, be called also the pious, was +rendered farther remarkable in the annals of the country +by the formal abandonment of the special tax, so long +levied upon, and so long and desperately resisted by, +the men of Leinster. The all-powerful intercessor in this +case was Saint Moling, of the royal house of Leinster, +and Bishop of Fernamore (now Ferns). In the early part +of his reign Finnacta seems not to have been disposed to +collect this invidious tax by force; but, yielding to +other motives, he afterwards took a different view of +his duty, and marched into Leinster to compel its payment. +Here the holy Prelate of Ferns met him, and related a +Vision in which he had been instructed to demand the +abolition of the impost. The abolition, he contended, +should not be simply a suspension, but final and for +ever. The tribute was, at this period, enormous; 15,000 +head of cattle annually. The decision must have been made +about the time that Abbot Adamnan was in Ireland, (A.D. +684,) and that illustrious personage is said to have been +opposed to the abolition. Abolished it was, and though +its re-enactment was often attempted, the authority of +Saint Moling's solemn settlement, prevented it from being +re-enforced for any length of time, except as a political +or military infliction. + +Finnacta fell in battle in the 20th year of his long and +glorious reign; and is commemorated as a saint in the +Irish calendar. St. Moling survived him three years, and +St. Adamnan, so intimately connected with his reign, ten +years. The latter revisited Ireland in 697, under the +short reign of Loingsech, and concerned himself chiefly +in endeavouring to induce his countrymen to adopt the +Roman rule, as to the tonsure, and the celebration of +Easter. On this occasion there was an important Synod of +the Clergy, under the presidency of Flan, Archbishop of +Armagh, held at Tara. Nothing could be more natural than +such an assembly in such a place, at such a period. In +every recorded instance the power of the clergy had been +omnipotent in politics for above a century. St. Patrick +had expurgated the old constitution; St. Ruadan's curse +drove the kings from Tara; St. Columbkill had established +the independence of Alba, and preserved the Bardic Order; +St. Moling had abolished the Leinster tribute. If their +power was irresistible in the sixth and especially in +the seventh centuries, we must do these celebrated Abbots +and Bishops the justice to remember that it was always +exercised against the oppression of the weak by the +strong, to mitigate the horrors of war, to uphold the +right of sanctuary (the _Habeus Corpus_ of that rude +age), and for the maintenance and spread of sound +Christian principles. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +KINGS OF THE EIGHTH CENTURY. + +The kings of the eighth century are Congal II. (surnamed +Kenmare), who reigned seven years; Feargal, who reigned +ten years; Forgartah, Kenneth, Flaherty, respectively +one, four, and seven years; Hugh V. (surnamed Allan), +nine years; Donald III., who reigned (A.D. 739-759) twenty +years; Nial II. (surnamed Nial of the Showers), seven +years; and Donogh I., who reigned thirty-one years, A.D. +766-797. The obituaries of these kings show that we have +fallen on a comparatively peaceful age, since of the +entire nine, but three perished in battle. One retired +to Armagh and one to Iona, where both departed in the +monastic habit; the others died either of sickness or +old age. + +Yet the peaceful character of this century is but +comparative, for in the first quarter (A.D. 722), we have +the terrible battle of Almain, between Leinster and the +Monarch, in which 30,000 men were stated to have engaged, +and 7,000 to have fallen. The Monarch who had double +the number of the Leinster Prince, was routed and slain, +_apropos_ of which we have a Bardic tale told, which +almost transports one to the far East, the simple lives +and awful privileges of the Hindoo Brahmins. It seems +that some of King FEARGAL's army, in foraging for their +fellows, drove off the only cow of a hermit, who lived +in seclusion near a solitary little chapel called Killin. +The enraged recluse, at the very moment the armies were +about to engage, appeared between them, regardless of +personal danger, denouncing ruin and death to the monarch's +forces. And in this case, as in others, to be found in +every history, the prophecy, no doubt, helped to produce +its own fulfilment. The malediction of men dedicated to +the service of God, has often routed hosts as gallant as +were marshalled on the field of Almain. + +FEARGAL'S two immediate successors met a similar fate +--death in the field of battle--after very brief reigns, +of which we have no great events to record. + +FLAHERTY, the next who succeeded, after a vigorous reign +of seven years, withdrew from the splendid cares of a +crown, and passed the long remainder of his life--thirty +years--in the habit of a monk at Armagh. The heavy burthen +which he had cheerfully laid down, was taken up by a +Prince, who combined the twofold character of poet and +hero. HUGH V. (surnamed Allan), the son of FEARGAL, of +whom we have just spoken, was the very opposite of his +father, in his veneration for the privileges of holy +persons and places. His first military achievement was +undertaken in vindication of the rights of those who were +unable by arms to vindicate their own. Hugh Roin, Prince +of the troublesome little principality of Ulidia (Down), +though well stricken in years and old enough to know +better, in one of his excursions had forcibly compelled +the clergy of the country through which he passed to give +him free quarters, contrary to the law everywhere existing. +Congus, the Primate, jealous of the exemptions of his +order, complained of this sacrilege in a poetic message +addressed to Hugh Allan, who, as a Christian and a Prince, +was bound to espouse his quarrels. He marched into the +territory of the offender, defeated him in battle, cut +off his head on the threshold of the Church of Faughard, +and marched back again, his host chanting a war song +composed by their leader. + +In this reign died Saint Gerald of Mayo, an Anglo-Saxon +Bishop, and apparently the head of a colony of his +countrymen, from whom that district is ever since called +"Mayo of the Saxons." The name, however, being a general +one for strangers from Britain about that period, just +as Dane became for foreigners from the Baltic in the next +century, is supposed to be incorrectly applied: the colony +being, it is said, really from Wales, of old British +stock, who had migrated rather than live under the yoke +of their victorious Anglo-Saxon Kings. The descendants +of these Welshmen are still to be traced, though intimately +intermingled with the original Belgic and later Milesian +settlers in Mayo, Sligo, and Galway--thus giving a peculiar +character to that section of the country, easily +distinguishable from all the rest. + +Although Hugh Allan did not imitate his father's conduct +towards ecclesiastics, he felt bound by all-ruling custom +to avenge his father's death. In all ancient countries +the kinsmen of a murdered man were both by law and custom +the avengers of his blood. The members of the Greek +_phratry_, of the Roman _fatria_, or _gens_, of the +Germanic and Anglo-Saxon _guild_, and of the mediaeval +sworn _commune_, were all solemnly bound to avenge the +blood of any of their brethren, unlawfully slain. So that +the repulsive repetition of reprisals, which so disgusts +the modern reader in our old annals, is by no means a +phenomenon peculiar to the Irish state of society. It +was in the middle age and in early times common to all +Europe, to Britain and Germany, as well as to Greece and +Rome. It was, doubtless, under a sense of duty of this +sort that Hugh V. led into Leinster a large army (A.D. +733), and the day of Ath-Senaid fully atoned for the day +of Almain. Nine thousand of the men of Leinster were left +on the field, including most of their chiefs; the victorious +monarch losing a son, and other near kinsmen. Four years +later, he himself fell in an obscure contest near Kells, +in the plain of Meath. Some of his quartrains have come +down to us, and they breathe a spirit at once religious +and heroic--such as must have greatly endeared the Prince +who possessed it to his companions in arms. We are not +surprised, therefore, to find his reign a favourite epoch +with subsequent Bards and Storytellers. + +The long and prosperous reign of Donald III. succeeded +(A.D. 739 to 759). He is almost the only one of this +series of Kings of whom it can be said that he commanded +in no notable battle. The annals of his reign are chiefly +filled with ordinary accidents, and the obits of the +learned. But its literary and religious record abounds +with bright names and great achievements, as we shall +find when we come to consider the educational and missionary +fruits of Christianity in the eighth century. While on +a pilgrimage to Durrow, a famous Columbian foundation in +Meath, and present King's County, Donald III. departed +this life, and in Durrow, by his own desire, his body +was interred. + +Nial II. (surnamed of the Showers), son to FEARGAL and +brother of the warrior-Bard, Hugh V., was next invested +with the white wand of sovereignty. He was a prince less +warlike and more pious than his elder brother. The +_soubriquet_ attached to his name is accounted for by a +Bardic tale, which represents him as another Moses, at +whose prayer food fell from heaven in time of famine. +Whatever "showers" fell or wonders were wrought in his +reign, it is certain that after enjoying the kingly office +for seven years, Nial resigned, and retired to Iona, +there to pass the remainder of his days in penance and +meditation. Eight years he led the life of a monk in +that sacred Isle, where his grave is one of those of "the +three Irish Kings," still pointed out in the cemetery of +the Kings. He is but one among several Princes, his +cotemporaries, who had made the same election. We learn +in this same century, that Cellach, son of the King of +Connaught, died in Holy Orders, and that Bec, Prince of +Ulidia, and Ardgall, son of a later King of Connaught, +had taken the "crostaff" of the pilgrim, either for Iona +or Armagh, or some more distant shrine. Pilgrimages to +Rome and to Jerusalem seem to have been begun even before +this time, as we may infer from St. Adamnan's work on +the situation of the Holy Places, of which Bede gives +an abstract. + +The reign of Donogh I. is the longest and the last among +the Kings of the eighth century (A.D. 776 to 797). The +Kings of Ireland had now not only abandoned Tara, but +one by one, the other royal residences in Meath as their +usual place of abode. As a consequence a local sovereignty +sprung up in the family of O'Melaghlin, a minor branch +of the ruling race. This house developing its power so +unexpectedly, and almost always certain to have the +national forces under the command of a Patron Prince at +their back, were soon involved in quarrels about boundaries, +both with Leinster and Munster. King Donogh, at the outset +of his reign, led his forces into both principalities, +and without battle received their hostages. Giving +hostages--generally the sons of the chiefs--was the usual +form of ratifying any treaty. Generally also, the Bishop +of the district, or its most distinguished ecclesiastic, +was called in as witness of the terms, and both parties +were solemnly sworn on the relics of Saints--the Gospels +of the Monasteries or Cathedrals--or the croziers of +their venerated founders. The breach of such a treaty +was considered "a violation of the relics of the saint," +whose name had been invoked, and awful penalties were +expected to follow so heinous a crime. The hostages were +then carried to the residence of the King, to whom they +were entrusted, and while the peace lasted, enjoyed a +parole freedom, and every consideration due to their +rank. If of tender age they were educated with the same +care as the children of the household. But when war broke +out their situation was always precarious, and sometimes +dangerous. In a few instances they had even been put to +death, but this was considered a violation of all the +laws both of hospitality and chivalry; usually they were +removed to some strong secluded fort, and carefully +guarded as pledges to be employed, according to the +chances and changes of the war. That Donogh preferred +negotiation to war, we may infer by his course towards +Leinster and Munster, in the beginning of his reign, and +his "kingly parlee" at a later period (A.D. 783) with +FIACHNA, of Ulidia, son of that over-exacting Hugh Roin, +whose head was taken from his shoulders at the Church +door of Faughard. This "kingly parlee" was held on an +island off the Methian shore, called afterwards "King's +Island." But little good came of it. Both parties still +held their own views, so that the satirical poets asked +what was the use of the island, when one party "would +not come upon the land, nor the other upon the sea?" +However, we needs must agree with King Donogh, that war +is the last resort, and is only to be tried when all +other means have failed. + +Twice during this reign the whole island was stricken +with panic, by extraordinary signs in the heavens, of +huge serpents coiling themselves through the stars, of +fiery bolts flying like shuttles from one side of the +horizon to the other, or shooting downward directly to +the earth. These atmospheric wonders were accompanied by +thunder and lightning so loud and so prolonged that men +hid themselves for fear in the caverns of the earth. The +fairs and markets were deserted by buyers and sellers; +the fields were abandoned by the farmers; steeples were +rent by lightning, and fell to the ground; the shingled +roofs of churches caught fire and burned whole buildings. +Shocks of earthquake were also felt, and round towers +and cyclopean masonry were strewn in fragments upon the +ground. These visitations first occurred in the second +year of Donogh, and returned again in 783. When, in the +next decade, the first Danish descent was made on the +coast of Ulster (A.D. 794), these signs and wonders were +superstitiously supposed to have been the precursors of +that far more terrible and more protracted visitation. + +The Danes at first attracted little notice, but in the +last year of Donogh (A.D. 797) they returned in greater +force, and swept rapidly along the coast of Meath; it +was reserved for his successors of the following centuries +to face the full brunt of this new national danger. + +But before encountering the fierce nations of the north, +and the stormy period they occupy, let us cast back a +loving glance over the world-famous schools and scholars +of the last two centuries. Hitherto we have only spoken +of certain saints, in connection with high affairs of +state. We must now follow them to the college and the +cloister, we must consider them as founders at home, and +as missionaries abroad; otherwise how could we estimate +all that is at stake for Erin and for Christendom, in +the approaching combat with the devotees of Odin,--the +deadly enemies of all Christian institutions? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHAT THE IRISH SCHOOLS AND SAINTS DID IN THE THREE FIRST +CHRISTIAN CENTURIES. + +We have now arrived at the close of the third century, +from the death of Saint Patrick, and find ourselves on +the eve of a protracted struggle with the heathen warriors +of Scandinavia; it is time, therefore, to look back on +the interval we have passed, and see what changes have +been wrought in the land, since its kings, instead of +waiting to be attacked at home, had made the surrounding +sea "foam with the oars" of their outgoing expeditions. + +The most obvious change in the condition of the country +is traceable in its constitution and laws, into every +part of which, as was its wont from the beginning, the +spirit of Christianity sought patiently to infuse itself. +We have already spoken of the expurgation of the +constitution, which prohibited the observance of Pagan +rites to the kings, and imposed on them instead, certain +social obligations. This was a first change suggested by +Saint Patrick, and executed mainly by his disciple, Saint +Benignus. We have seen the legislative success which +attended the measures of Columbkill, Moling, and Adamnan; +in other reforms of minor importance the paramount +influence of the clerical order may be easily traced. + +But it is in their relation as teachers of human and +divine science that the Irish Saints exercised their +greatest power, not only over their own countrymen, but +over a considerable part of Europe. The intellectual +leadership of western Europe--the glorious ambition of +the greatest nations--has been in turn obtained by Italy, +Prance, Britain and Germany. From the middle of the sixth +to the middle of the eighth century, it will hardly be +disputed that that leadership devolved on Ireland. All +the circumstances of the sixth century helped to confer +it upon the newly converted western isle; the number of +her schools, and the wisdom, energy, and zeal of her +masters, retained for her the proud distinction for two +hundred years. And when it passed away from her grasp, +she might still console herself with the grateful reflection +that the power she had founded and exercised, was divided +among British and continental schools, which her own +_alumni_ had largely contributed to form and establish. +In the northern Province, the schools most frequented +were those of Armagh, and of Bangor, on Belfast lough; +in Meath, the school of Clonard, and that of Clomnacnoise, +(near Athlone); in Leinster, the school of Taghmon +(_Ta-mun_), and Beg-Erin, the former near the banks of +the Slaney, the latter in Wexford harbour; in Munster, +the school of Lismore on the Blackwater, and of Mungret +(now Limerick), on the Shannon; in Connaught, the school +of "Mayo of the Saxons," and the schools of the Isles of +Arran. These seats of learning were almost all erected +on the banks of rivers, in situations easy of access, to +the native or foreign student; a circumstance which proved +most disastrous to them when the sea kings of the north +began to find their way to the shores of the island. They +derived their maintenance--not from taxing their pupils +--but in the first instance from public endowments. They +were essentially free schools; not only free as to the +lessons given, but the venerable Bede tells us they +supplied free bed and board and books to those who resorted +to them from abroad. The Prince and the Clansmen of every +principality in which a school was situated, endowed it +with a certain share--often an ample one--of the common +land of the clan. Exclusive rights of fishery, and +exclusive mill-privileges seem also to have been granted. +As to timber for building purposes and for fuel, it was +to be had for carrying and cutting. The right of quarry +went with the soil, wherever building stone was found. +In addition to these means of sustenance, a portion of +the collegiate clergy appeared to have discharged missionary +duty, and received offerings of the produce of the land. +We hear of periodical _quests_ or collections made for +the sustenance of these institutions, wherein the learned +Lectors and Doctors, no doubt, pleaded their claims to +popular favour, with irresistible eloquence. Individuals, +anxious to promote the spread of religion and of science, +endowed particular institutions out of their personal +means; Princes, Bishops, and pious ladies, contributed +to enlarge the bounds and increase the income of their +favourite foundations, until a generous emulation seems +to have seized on all the great families as well as on +the different Provinces, as to which could boast the most +largely attended schools, and the greatest number of +distinguished scholars. The love of the _alma mater_ +--that college patriotism which is so sure a sign of the +noble-minded scholar--never received more striking +illustration than among the graduates of those schools. +Columbkill, in his new home among the Hebrides, invokes +blessings on blessings, on "the angels" with whom it was +once his happiness to walk in Arran, and Columbanus, +beyond the Alps, remembers with pride the school of +Bangor--the very name of which inspires him with poetic +rapture. + +The buildings, in which so many scholars were housed and +taught, must have been extensive. Some of the schools we +have mentioned were, when most flourishing, frequented +by one, two, three, and even, at some periods, as many +as seven thousand scholars. Such a population was alone +sufficient to form a large village; and if we add the +requisite number of teachers and attendants, we will have +an addition of at least one-third to the total. The +buildings seem to have been separately of no great size, +but were formed into streets, and even into something +like wards. Armagh was divided into three parts-- +_trian-more_ (or the town proper), _trian-Patrick_, the +Cathedral close, and _trian-Sassenagh_, the Latin quarter, +the home of the foreign students. A tall sculptured +Cross, dedicated to some favourite saint, stood at the +bounds of these several wards, reminding the anxious +student to invoke their spiritual intercession as he +passed by. Early hours and vigilant night watches had +to be exercised to prevent conflagrations in such +village-seminaries, built almost wholly of wood, and +roofed with reeds or shingles. A Cathedral, or an Abbey +Church, a round tower, or a cell of some of the ascetic +masters, would probably be the only stone structure within +the limits. To the students, the evening star gave the +signal for retirement, and the morning sun for awaking. +When, at the sound of the early bell, two or three thousand +of them poured into the silent streets and made their +way towards the lighted Church, to join in the service +of matins, mingling, as they went or returned, the tongues +of the Gael, the Cimbri, the Pict, the Saxon, and the +Frank, or hailing and answering each other in the universal +language of the Roman Church, the angels in Heaven must +have loved to contemplate the union of so much perseverance +with so much piety. + +The lives of the masters, not less than their lessons, +were studied and observed by their pupils. At that time, +as we gather from every authority, they were models of +simplicity. One Bishop is found, erecting with his own +hands, the _cashel_ or stone enclosure which surrounded +his cell; another is labouring in the field, and gives +his blessing to his visitors, standing between the stilts +of the plough. Most ecclesiastics work occasionally either +in wood, in bronze, in leather, or as scribes. The +decorations of the Church, if not the entire structure, +was the work of those who served at the altar. The +tabernacle, the rood-screen, the ornamental font; the +vellum on which the Psalms and Gospels were written; the +ornamented case which contained the precious volume, were +often of their making. The music which made the vale of +Bangor resound as if inhabited by angels, was their +composition; the hymns that accompanied it were their +own. "It is a poor Church that has no music," is one of +the oldest Irish proverbs; and the _Antiphonarium_ of +Bangor, as well as that of Armagh, remains to show that +such a want was not left unsupplied in the early Church. + +All the contemporary schools were not of the same grade +nor of equal reputation. We constantly find a scholar, +after passing years in one place, transferring himself +to another, and sometimes to a third and a fourth. Some +masters were, perhaps, more distinguished in human Science; +others in Divinity. Columbkill studied in two or three +different schools, and _visited_ others, perhaps as +disputant or lecturer--a common custom in later years. +Nor should we associate the idea of under-age with the +students of whom we speak. Many of them, whether as +teachers or learners, or combining both characters +together, reached middle life before they ventured as +instructors upon the world. Forty years is no uncommon +age for the graduate of those days, when as yet the +discovery was unmade, that all-sufficient wisdom comes +with the first trace of down upon the chin of youth. + +The range of studies seems to have included the greater +part of the collegiate course of our own times. The +language of the country, and the language of the Roman +Church; the languages of Scripture--Greek and Hebrew; +the logic of Aristotle, the writings of the Fathers, +especially of Pope Gregory the Great--who appears to have +been a favourite author with the Irish Church; the +defective Physics of the period; Mathematics, Music, and +Poetical composition went to complete the largest course. +When we remember that all the books were manuscripts; +that even paper had not yet been invented; that the best +parchment was equal to so much beaten gold, and a perfect +MS. was worth a king's ransom, we may better estimate +the difficulties in the way of the scholar of the seventh +century. Knowing these facts, we can very well credit +that part of the story of St. Columbkill's banishment +into Argyle, which turns on what might be called a +copyright dispute, in which the monarch took the side of +St. Finian of Clonard, (whose original MSS. his pupil +seems to have copied without permission,) and the Clan-Conal +stood up, of course, for their kinsman. This dispute is +even said to have led to the affair of Culdrum, in Sligo, +which is sometimes mentioned as "the battle of the book." +The same tendency of the national character which +overstocked the Bardic Order, becomes again visible in +its Christian schools; and if we could form anything like +an approximate census of the population, anterior to the +northern invasions, we would find that the proportion of +ecclesiastics was greater than has existed either before +or since in any Christian country. The vast designs of +missionary zeal drew off large bodies of those who had +entered Holy Orders; still the numbers engaged as teachers +in the great schools, as well as of those who passed +their lives in solitude and contemplation, must have been +out of all modern proportion to the lay inhabitants of +the Island. + +The most eminent Irish Saints of the fifth century were +St. Ibar, St. Benignus and St. Kieran, of Ossory; in +the sixth, St. Bendan, of Clonfert; St. Brendan, of +Birr; St. Maccartin, of Clogher; St. Finian, of Moville; +St. Finbar, St. Cannice, St. Finian, of Clonard; and +St. Jarlath, of Tuam; in the seventh century, St. Fursey, +St. Laserian, Bishop of Leighlin; St. Kieran, Abbot of +Clonmacnoise; St. Comgall, Abbot of Bangor; St. Carthage, +Abbot of Lismore; St. Colman, Bishop of Dromore; St. Moling, + Bishop of Ferns; St. Colman Ela, Abbot; St. Cummian, +"the White;" St. Fintan, Abbot; St. Gall, Apostle of +Switzerland; St. Fridolin, "the Traveller;" St. Columbanus, +Apostle of Burgundy and Lombardy; St. Killian, Apostle +of Franconia; St. Columbkill, Apostle of the Picts; +St. Cormac, called "the Navigator;" St. Cuthbert; and +St. Aidan, Apostle of Northumbria. In the eighth century +the most illustrious names are St. Cataldus, Bishop of +Tarentum; St. Adamnan, Abbot of Iona; St. Rumold, Apostle +of Brabant; Clement and Albinus, "the Wisdom-seekers;" +and St. Feargal or Virgilius, Bishop of Saltzburgh. Of +holy women in the same ages, we have some account of +St. Samthan, in the eighth century; of St. Bees, +St. Dympna and St. Syra, in the seventh century, and of +St. Monina, St. Ita of Desies, and St. Bride, or Bridget, +of Kildare, in the sixth. The number of conventual +institutions for women established in those ages, is less +easily ascertained than the number of monastic houses +for men; but we may suppose them to have borne some +proportion to each other, and to have even counted by +hundreds. The veneration in which St. Bridget was held +during her life, led many of her countrywomen to embrace +the religious state, and no less than fourteen _Saints_, +her namesakes, are recorded. It was the custom of those +days to call all holy persons who died in the odour of +sanctity, _Saints_, hence national or provincial tradition +venerates very many names, which the reader may look for +in vain, in the Roman calendar. + +The intellectual labours of the Irish schools, besides +the task of teaching such immense numbers of men of all +nations on their own soil, and the missionary conquests +to which I have barely alluded, were diversified by +controversies, partly scientific and partly theological +--such as the "Easter Controversy," the "Tonsure +Controversy," and that maintained by "Feargal the Geometer," +as to the existence of the Antipodes. + +The discussion, as to the proper time of observing Easter, +which had occupied the doctors of the Council of Nice in +the fourth century, was raised in Ireland and in Britain +early in the sixth, and complete uniformity was not +established till far on in the eighth. It occupied the +thoughts of several generations of the chief men of the +Irish Church, and some of their arguments still fortunately +survive, to attest their learning and tolerance, as well +as their zeal. St. Patrick had introduced in the fifth +century the computation of time then observed in Gaul, +and to this custom many of the Irish doctors rigidly +adhered, long after the rest of Christendom had agreed +to adopt the Alexandrian computation. Great names were +found on both sides of the controversy: Columbanus, +Fintan, and Aidan, for adhering exactly to the rule of +St. Patrick; Cummian, the White, Laserian and Adamnan, +in favour of strict agreement with Rome and the East. +Monks of the same Monastery and Bishops of the same +Province maintained opposite opinions with equal ardour +and mutual charity. It was a question of discipline, not +a matter of faith; but it involved a still greater +question, whether national churches were to plead the +inviolability of their local usages, even on points of +discipline, against the sense and decision of the Universal +Church. + +In the year of our Lord 630, the Synod of Leighlin was +held, under the shelter of the ridge of Leinster, and +the presidency of St. Laserian. Both parties at length +agreed to send deputies to Rome, as "children to their +mother," to learn her decision. Three years later, that +decision was made known, and the midland and southern +dioceses at once adopted it. The northern churches, +however, still held out, under the lead of Armagh and +the influence of Iona, nor was it till a century later +that this scandal of celebrating Easter on two different +days in the same church was entirely removed. In +justification of the Roman rule, St. Cummian, about the +middle of the seventh century, wrote his famous epistle +to Segenius, Abbot of Iona, of the ability and learning +of which all modern writers from Archbishop Usher to +Thomas Moore, speak in terms of the highest praise. It +is one of the few remaining documents of that controversy. +A less vital question of discipline arose about the +tonsure. The Irish shaved the head in a semicircle from +temple to temple, while the Latin usage was to shave the +crown, leaving an external circle of hair to typify the +crown of thorns. At the conference of Whitby (A.D. 664) +this was one of the subjects of discussion between the +clergy of Iona, and those who followed the Roman method--but +it never assumed the importance of the Easter controversy. + +In the following century an Irish Missionary, Virgilius, +of Saltzburgh, (called by his countrymen "Feargal, the +Geometer,") was maintaining in Germany against no less +an adversary than St. Boniface, the sphericity of the +earth and the existence of antipodes. His opponents +endeavoured to represent him, or really believed him to +hold, that there were other men, on our earth, for whom +the Redeemer had not died; on this ground they appealed +to Pope Zachary against him; but so little effect had +this gross distortion of his true doctrine at Rome, when +explanations were given, that Feargal was soon afterwards +raised to the See of Saltzburgh, and subsequently canonized +by Pope Gregory IX. In the ninth century we find an Irish +geographer and astronomer of something like European +reputation in Dicuil and Dungal, whose treatises and +epistles have been given to the press. Like their +compatriot, Columbanus, these accomplished men had passed +their youth and early manhood in their own country, and +to its schools are to be transferred the compliments paid +to their acquirements by such competent judges as Muratori, +Latronne, and Alexander von Humboldt. The origin of the +scholastic philosophy--which pervaded Europe for nearly +ten centuries--has been traced by the learned Mosheim to +the same insular source. Whatever may now be thought of +the defects or shortcomings of that system, it certainly +was not unfavourable either to wisdom or eloquence, since +among its professors may be reckoned the names of St. +Thomas and St. Bernard. + +We must turn away our eyes from the contemplation of +those days in which were achieved for Ireland the title +of the land of saints and doctors. Another era opens +before us, and we can already discern the long ships of +the north, their monstrous beaks turned towards the holy +Isle, their sides hung with glittering shields and their +benches thronged with fair-haired warriors, chanting as +they advance the fierce war songs of their race. Instead +of the monk's familiar voice on the river banks we are +to hear the shouts of strange warriors from a far-off +country; and for matin hymn and vesper song, we are to +be beset through a long and stormy period, with sounds +of strife and terror, and deadly conflict. + + + + +BOOK II. + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE DANISH INVASION. + +Hugh VI., surnamed Ornie, succeeded to the throne vacant +by the death of Donogh I. (A.D. 797), and reigned twenty-two +years; Conor II. succeeded (A.D. 819), and reigned fourteen +years; Nial III. (called from the place of his death Nial +of Callan), reigned thirteen years; Malachy I. succeeded +(A.D. 845), and reigned fifteen years; Hugh VII. succeeded +and reigned sixteen years (dying A.D. 877); Flan (surnamed +Flan of the Shannon) succeeded at the latter date, and +reigned for thirty-eight years, far into the tenth century. +Of these six kings, whose reigns average twenty years +each, we may remark that not one died by violence, if we +except perhaps Nial of Callan, drowned in the river of +that name in a generous effort to save the life of one +of his own servants. Though no former princes had ever +encountered dangers equal to these--yet in no previous +century was the person of the ruler so religiously +respected. If this was evident in one or two instances +only, it would be idle to lay much stress upon it; but +when we find the same truth holding good of several +successive reigns, it is not too much to attribute it to +that wide diffusion of Christian morals, which we have +pointed out as the characteristic of the two preceding +centuries. The kings of this age owed their best protection +to the purer ethics which overflowed from Armagh and +Bangor and Lismore; and if we find hereafter the regicide +habits of former times partially revived, it will only +be after the new Paganism--the Paganism of interminable +anti-Christian invasions--had recovered the land, and +extinguished the beacon lights of the three first Christian +centuries. + +The enemy, who were now to assault the religious and +civil institutions of the Irish, must be admitted to +possess many great military qualities. They certainly +exhibit, in the very highest degree, the first of all +military virtues--unconquerable courage. Let us say +cheerfully, that history does not present in all its +volumes a braver race of men than the Scandinavians of +the ninth century. In most respects they closely resembled +the Gothic tribes, who, whether starting into historic +life on the Euxine or the Danube, or faintly heard of by +the Latins from the far off Baltic, filled with constant +alarm the Roman statesmen of the fourth century; nor can +the invasions of what we may call the maritime Goths be +better introduced to the reader than by a rapid sketch +of the previous triumphs of their kindred tribes over +the Roman Empire. + +It was in the year of our Lord 378 that these long-dreaded +barbarians defeated the Emperor Valens in the plain of +Adrianople, and as early as 404--twenty-six years after +their first victory in Eastern Europe--they had taken +and burned great Rome herself. Again and again--in 410, +in 455, and in 472--they captured and plundered the +Imperial City. In the same century they had established +themselves in Burgundy, in Spain, and in Northern Africa; +in the next, another branch of the Gothic stock twice +took Rome; and yet another founded the Lombard Kingdom +in Northern Italy. With these Goths thus for a time +masters of the Roman Empire, whose genius and temper has +entered so deeply into all subsequent civilization, war +was considered the only pursuit worthy of men. According +to their ideas of human freedom, that sacred principle +was supposed to exist only in force and by force; they +had not the faintest conception, and at first received +with unbounded scorn the Christian doctrine of the unity +of the human race, the privileges and duties annexed to +Christian baptism, and the sublime ideal of the Christian +republic. But they were very far from being so cruel or +so faithless as their enemies represented them; they were +even better than they cared to represent themselves. And +they had amongst them men of the highest capacity and +energy, well worthy to be the founders of new nations. +Alaric, Attila, and Genseric, were fierce and unmerciful +it is true; but their acts are not all written in blood; +they had their better moments and higher purposes in the +intervals of battle; and the genius for civil government +of the Gothic race was in the very beginning demonstrated +by such rulers as Theodoric in Italy and Clovis in Gaul. +The rear guard of this irresistible barbaric invasion +was now about to break in upon Europe by a new route; +instead of the long land marches by which they had formerly +concentrated from the distant Baltic and from the +tributaries of the Danube, on the capital of the Roman +empire; instead of the tedious expeditions striking across +the Continent, hewing their paths through dense forests, +arrested by rapid rivers and difficult mountains, the +last northern invaders of Europe had sufficiently advanced +in the arts of shipbuilding and navigation to strike +boldly into the open sea and commence their new conquests +among the Christian islands of the West. The defenders +of Roman power and Christian civilization in the fifth +and sixth centuries, were arrayed against a warlike but +pastoral people encumbered with their women and children; +the defenders of the same civilization, in the British +Islands in the ninth and tenth centuries, were contending +with kindred tribes, who had substituted maritime arts +and habits for the pastoral arts and habits of the +companions of Attila and Theodoric. The Gothic invasion +of Roman territory in the earlier period was, with the +single exception of the naval expeditions of Genseric +from his new African Kingdom, a continental war; and +notwithstanding the partiality of Genseric for his fleet, +as an arm of offence and defence, his companions and +successors abandoned the ocean as an uncongenial element. +The only parallel for the new invasion, of which we are +now to speak, is to be found in the history and fortunes +of the Saxons of the fifth century, first the allies and +afterwards the conquerors of part of Britain. But even +their descendants in England had not kept pace, either +in the arts of navigation or in thirst for adventure, +with their distant relatives, who remained two centuries +later among the friths and rocks of Scandinavia. + +The first appearance of these invaders on the Irish and +British coasts occurred in 794. Their first descent on +Ireland was at Rathlin island, which may be called the +outpost of Erin, towards the north; their second attempt +(A.D. 797) was at a point much more likely to arouse +attention--at Skerries, off the coast of Meath (now +Dublin); in 803, and again in 806, they attacked and +plundered the holy Iona; but it was not until a dozen +years later they became really formidable. In 818 they +landed at Howth; and the same year, and probably the same +party, sacked the sacred edifices in the estuary of the +Slaney, by them afterwards called Wexford; in 820 they +plundered Cork, and in 824--most startling blow of +all--they sacked and burned the schools of Bangor. The +same year they revisited Iona; and put to death many of +its inmates; destroyed Moville; received a severe check +in Lecale, near Strangford lough (one of their favourite +stations). Another party fared better in a land foray +into Ossory, where they defeated those who endeavoured +to arrest their progress, and carried off a rich booty. +In 830 and 831, their ravages were equally felt in +Leinster, in Meath, and in Ulster, and besides many +prisoners of princely rank, they plundered the primatial +city of Armagh for the first time, in the year 832. The +names of their chief captains, at this period, are +carefully preserved by those who had so many reasons to +remember them; and we now begin to hear of the Ivars, +Olafs, and Sitricks, strangely intermingled with the +Hughs, Nials, Connors, and Felims, who contended with +them in battle or in diplomacy. It was not till the middle +of this century (A.D. 837) that they undertook to fortify +Dublin, Limerick, and some other harbours which they had +seized, to winter in Ireland, and declare their purpose +to be the complete conquest of the country. + +The earliest of these expeditions seem to have been annual +visitations; and as the northern winter sets in about +October, and the Baltic is seldom navigable before May, +the summer was the season of their depredations. Awaiting +the breaking up of the ice, the intrepid adventurers +assembled annually upon the islands in the Cattegat or +on the coast of Norway, awaiting the favourable moment +of departure. Here they beguiled their time between the +heathen rites they rendered to their gods, their wild +bacchanal festivals, and the equipment of their galleys. +The largest ship built in Norway, and probably in the +north, before the eleventh century, had 34 banks of oars. +The largest class of vessel carried from 100 to 120 men. +The great fleet which invaded Ireland in 837 counted 120 +vessels, which, if of average size for such long voyages, +would give a total force of some 6,000 men. As the whole +population of Denmark, in the reign of Canute who died +in 1035, is estimated at 800,000 souls, we may judge from +their fleets how large a portion of the men were engaged +in these piratical pursuits. The ships on which they +prided themselves so highly were flat-bottomed craft, +with little or no keel, the sides of wicker work, covered +with strong hides. They were impelled either by sails or +oars as the changes of the weather allowed; with favourable +winds they often made the voyage in three days. As if to +favour their designs, the north and north-west blast +blows for a hundred days of the year over the sea they +had to traverse. When land was made, in some safe estuary, +their galleys were drawn up on shore, a convenient distance +beyond highwater mark, where they formed a rude camp, +watch-fires were lighted, sentinels set, and the fearless +adventurers slept as soundly as if under their own roofs, +in their own country. Their revels after victory, or on +returning to their homes, were as boisterous as their +lives. In food they looked more to quantity than quality, +and one of their most determined prejudices against +Christianity was that it did not sanction the eating of +horse flesh. An exhilarating beer, made from heath, or +from the spruce tree, was their principal beverage, and +the recital of their own adventures, or the national +songs of the Scalds, were their most cherished amusement. +Many of the Vikings were themselves Scalds, and excelled, +as might be expected, in the composition of war songs. + +The Pagan belief of this formidable race was in harmony +with all their thoughts and habits, and the exact opposite +of Christianity. In the beginning of time, according to +their tradition, there was neither heaven nor earth, but +only universal chaos and a bottomless abyss, where dwelt +Surtur in an element of unquenchable fire. The generation +of their gods proceeded amid the darkness and void, from +the union of heat and moisture, until Odin and the other +children of Asa-Thor, or the Earth, slew Ymer, or the +Evil One, and created the material universe out of his +lifeless remains. These heroic conquerors also collected +the sparks of eternal fire flying about in the abyss, +and fixed them as stars in the firmament. In addition, +they erected in the far East, Asgard, the City of the +Gods; on the extreme shore of the ocean stood Utgard, +the City of Nor and his giants, and the wars of these +two cities, of their gods and giants, fill the first and +most obscure ages of the Scandinavian legend. The human +race had as yet no existence until Odin created a man +and woman, Ask and Embla, out of two pieces of wood (ash +and elm), thrown upon the beach by the waves of the sea. + +Of all the gods of Asgard, Odin was the first in place +and power; from his throne he saw everything that happened +on the earth; and lest anything should escape his knowledge, +two ravens, Spirit and Memory, sat on his shoulders, and +whispered in his ears whatever they had seen in their +daily excursions round the world. Night was a divinity +and the father of Day, who travelled alternately throughout +space, with two celebrated steeds called Shining-mane +and Frost-mane. Friga was the daughter and wife of Odin; +the mother of Thor, the Mars, and of the beautiful Balder, +the Apollo, of Asgard. The other gods were of inferior +rank to these, and answered to the lesser divinities of +Greece and Rome. Niord was the Neptune, and Frega, daughter +of Niord, was the Venus of the North. Heimdall, the +watchman of Asgard, whose duty it was to prevent the +rebellious giants scaling by surprise the walls of the +celestial city, dwelt under the end of the rainbow; his +vision was so perfect he could discern objects 100 leagues +distant, either by night or day, and his ear was so fine +he could hear the wool growing on the sheep, and the +grass springing in the meadows. + +The hall of Odin, which had 540 gates, was the abode of +heroes who had fought bravest in battle. Here they were +fed with the lard of a wild boar, which became whole +every night, though devoured every day, and drank endless +cups of hydromel, drawn from the udder of an inexhaustible +she-goat, and served out to them by the Nymphs, who had +counted the slain, in cups which were made of the skulls +of their enemies. When they were wearied of such +enjoyments, the sprites of the Brave exercised themselves +in single combat, hacked each other to pieces on the +floor of Valhalla, resumed their former shape, and returned +to their lard and their hydromel. + +Believing firmly in this system--looking forward with +undoubting faith to such an eternity--the Scandinavians +were zealous to serve their gods according to their creed. +Their rude hill altars gave way as they increased in +numbers and wealth, to spacious temples at Upsala, Ledra, +Tronheim, and other towns and ports. They had three great +festivals, one at the beginning of February, in honour +of Thor, one in Spring, in honour of Odin, and one in +Summer, in honour of the fruitful daughter of Niord. The +ordinary sacrifices were animals and birds; but every +ninth year there was a great festival at Upsala, at which +the kings and nobles were obliged to appear in person, +and to make valuable offerings. Wizards and sorcerers, +male and female, haunted the temples, and good and ill +winds, length of life, and success in war, were spiritual +commodities bought and sold. Ninety-nine human victims +were offered at the great Upsala festival, and in all +emergencies such sacrifices were considered most acceptable +to the gods. Captives and slaves were at first selected; +but, in many cases, princes did not spare their subjects, +nor fathers their own children. The power of a Priesthood, +who could always enforce such a system, must have been +unbounded and irresistible. + +The active pursuits of such a population were necessarily +maritime. In their short summer, such crops as they +planted ripened rapidly, but their chief sustenance was +animal food and the fish that abounded in their waters. +The artizans in highest repute among them were the +shipwrights and smiths. The hammer and anvil were held +in the highest honour; and of this class, the armorers +held the first place. The kings of the North had no +standing armies, but their lieges were summoned to war +by an arrow in Pagan times, and a cross after their +conversion. Their chief dependence was in infantry, +which they formed into wedge-like columns, and so, clashing +their shields and singing hymns to Odin, they advanced +against their enemies. Different divisions were differently +armed; some with a short two-edged sword and a heavy +battle-axe; others with the sling, the javelin, and the +bow. The shield was long and light, commonly of wood and +leather, but for the chiefs, ornamented with brass, with +silver, and even with gold. Locking the shields together +formed a rampart which it was not easy to break; in bad +weather the concave shield seems to have served the +purpose of our umbrella; in sea-fights the vanquished +often escaped by swimming ashore on their shields. Armour +many of them wore; the Berserkers, or champions, were so +called from always engaging, _bare_ of defensive armour. + +Such were the men, the arms, and the creed, against which +the Irish of the ninth age, after three centuries of +exemption from foreign war, were called upon to combat. +A people, one-third of whose youth and manhood had embraced +the ecclesiastical state, and all whose tribes now +professed the religion of peace, mercy, and forgiveness, +were called to wrestle with a race whose religion was +one of blood, and whose beatitude was to be in proportion +to the slaughter they made while on earth. The Northman +hated Christianity as a rival religion, and despised it +as an effeminate one. He was the soldier of Odin, the +elect of Valhalla; and he felt that the offering most +acceptable to his sanguinary gods was the blood of those +religionists who denied their existence and execrated +their revelation. The points of attack, therefore, were +almost invariably the great seats of learning and religion. +There, too, was to be found the largest bulk of the +portable wealth of the country, in richly adorned altars, +jewelled chalices, and shrines of saints. The ecclesiastical +map is the map of their campaigns in Ireland. And it is +to avenge or save these innumerable sacred places--as +countless as the Saints of the last three centuries--that +the Christian population have to rouse themselves year +after year, hurrying to a hundred points at the same +time. To the better and nobler spirits the war becomes +a veritable crusade, and many of those slain in +single-hearted defence of their altars may well be +accounted martyrs--but a war so protracted and so +devastating will be found, in the sequel, to foster and +strengthen many of the worst vices as well as some of +the best virtues of our humanity. + +The early events are few and ill-known. During the reign +of Hugh VI., who died in 819, their hostile visits were few +and far between; his successors, Conor II. and Nial III., +were destined to be less fortunate in this respect. During +the reign of Conor, Cork, Lismore, Dundalk, Bangor and +Armagh, were all surprised, plundered, and abandoned by +"the Gentiles," as they are usually called in Irish +annals; and with the exception of two skirmishes in which +they were worsted on the coasts of Down and Wexford, they +seem to have escaped with impunity. At Bangor they shook +the bones of the revered founder out of the costly shrine +before carrying it off; on their first visit to Kildare +they contented themselves with taking the gold and silver +ornaments of the tomb of St. Bridget, without desecrating +the relics; their main attraction at Armagh was the same, +but there the relics seemed to have escaped. When, in +830, the brotherhood of Iona apprehended their return, +they carried into Ireland, for greater safety, the relics +of St. Columbkill. Hence it came that most of the memorials +of SS. Patrick, Bridget, and Columbkill, were afterwards +united at Downpatrick. + +While these deplorable sacrileges, too rapidly executed +perhaps to be often either prevented or punished, were +taking place, Conor the King had on his hand a war of +succession, waged by the ablest of his contemporaries, +Felim, King of Munster, who continued during this and +the subsequent reign to maintain a species of rival +monarchy in Munster. It seems clear enough that the +abandonment of Tara, as the seat of authority, greatly +aggravated the internal weakness of the Milesian +constitution. While over-centralization is to be dreaded +as the worst tendency of imperial power, it is certain +that the want of a sufficient centralization has proved +as fatal, on the other hand, to the independence of many +nations. And anarchical usages once admitted, we see from +the experience of the German Empire, and the Italian +republics, how almost impossible it is to apply a remedy. +In the case before us, when the Irish Kings abandoned +the old mensal domain and betook themselves to their own +patrimony, it was inevitable that their influence and +authority over the southern tribes should diminish and +disappear. Aileach, in the far North, could never be to +them what Tara had been. The charm of conservatism, the +halo of ancient glory, could not be transferred. Whenever, +therefore, ambitious and able Princes arose in the South, +they found the border tribes rife for backing their +pretensions against the Northern dynasty. The Bards, too, +plied their craft, reviving the memory of former times, +when Heber the Fair divided Erin equally with Heremon, +and when Eugene More divided it a second time with Con +of the Hundred Battles. Felim, the son of Crimthan, the +contemporary of Conor II. and Nial III., during the whole +term of their rule, was the resolute assertor of these +pretensions, and the Bards of his own Province do not +hesitate to confer on him the high title of _Ard-Righ_. +As a punishment for adhering to the Hy-Nial dynasty, or +for some other offence, this Christian king, in rivalry +with "the Gentiles," plundered Kildare, Burrow, and +Clonmacnoise--the latter perhaps for siding with Connaught +in the dispute as to whether the present county of Clare +belonged to Connaught or Munster. Twice he met in conference +with the monarch at Birr and at Cloncurry--at another +time he swept the plain of Meath, and held temporary +court in the royal rath of Tara. With all his vices lie +united an extraordinary energy, and during his time, no +Danish settlement was established on the Southern rivers. +Shortly before his decease (A.D. 846) he resigned his +crown and retired from the world, devoting the short +remainder of his days to penance and mortification. What +we know of his ambition and ability makes us regret that +he ever appeared upon the scene, or that he had not been +born of that dominant family, who alone were accustomed +to give kings to the whole country. + +King Conor died (A.D. 833), and was succeeded by Nial III., +surnamed Nial of Callan. The military events of this last +reign are so intimately bound up with the more brilliant +career of the next ruler--Melaghlin, or Malachy I.--that +we must reserve them for the introduction to the next +chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +KINGS OF THE NINTH CENTURY (CONTINUED)--NIAL III.-- +MALACHY I.--HUGH VII. + +When, in the year 833, Nial III. received the usual homage +and hostages, which ratified his title of _Ard-Righ_, +the northern invasion had clearly become the greatest +danger that ever yet had threatened the institutions of +Erin. Attacks at first predatory and provincial had so +encouraged the Gentile leaders of the second generation +that they began to concert measures and combine plans +for conquest and colonization. To the Vikings of Norway +the fertile Island with which they were now so familiar, +whose woods were bent with the autumnal load of acorns, +mast, and nuts, and filled with numerous herds of +swine--their favourite food--whose pleasant meadows were +well stored with beeves and oxen, whose winter was often +as mild as their northern summer, and whose waters were +as fruitful in fish as their own Lofoden friths; to these +men, this was a prize worth fighting for; and for it they +fought long and desperately. + +King Nial inherited a disputed sovereignty from his +predecessor, and the Southern annalists say he did homage +to Felim of Munster, while those of the North--and with +them the majority of historians--reject this statement +as exaggerated and untrue. He certainly experienced +continual difficulty in maintaining his supremacy, not +only from the Prince of Cashel, but from lords of lesser +grade--like those of Ossory and Ulidia; so that we may +say, while he had the title of King of Ireland, he was, +in fact, King of no more than Leath-Con, or the Northern +half. The central Province, Meath, long deserted by the +monarchs, had run wild into independence, and was parcelled +out between two or three chiefs, descendants of the same +common ancestor as the kings, but distinguished from them +by the tribe-name of "the _Southern_ Hy-Nial." Of these +heads of new houses, by far the ablest and most famous +was Melaghlin, who dwelt near Mullingar, and lorded it +over western Meath; a name with which we shall become +better acquainted presently. It does not clearly appear +that Melaghlin was one of those who actively resisted +the prerogatives of this monarch, though others of the +Southern Hy-Nial did at first reject his authority, and +were severely punished for their insubordination, the +year after his assumption of power. + +In the fourth year of Nial III. (A.D. 837), arrived the +great Norwegian fleet of 120 sail, whose commanders first +attempted, on a combined plan, the conquest of Erin. +Sixty of the ships entered the Boyne; the other sixty +the Liffey. This formidable force, according to all Irish +accounts, was soon after united under one leader, who is +known in our Annals as _Turgeis_ or _Turgesius_, but of +whom no trace can be found, under that name, in the +chronicles of the Northmen. Every effort to identify him +in the records of his native land has hitherto failed--so +that we are forced to conclude that he must have been +one of those wandering sea-kings, whose fame was won +abroad, and whose story, ending in defeat, yet entailing +no dynastic consequences on his native land, possessed +no national interest for the authors of the old Norse +Sagas. To do all the Scandinavian chroniclers justice, +in cases which come directly under their notice, they +acknowledge defeat as frankly as they claim victory +proudly. Equal praise may be given to the Irish annalists +in recording the same events, whether at first or +second-hand. In relation to the campaigns and sway of +Turgesius, the difficulty we experience in separating +what is true from what is exaggerated or false, is not +created for us by the annalists, but by the bards and +story-tellers, some of whose inventions, adopted by +_Cambrensis_, have been too readily received by subsequent +writers. For all the acts of national importance with +which his name can be intelligibly associated, we prefer +to follow in this as in other cases, the same sober +historians who condense the events of years and generations +into the shortest space and the most matter of fact +expression. + +If we were to receive the chronology while rejecting the +embellishments of the Bards, Turgesius must have first +come to Ireland with one of the expeditions of the year +820, since they speak of him as having been "the scourge +of the country for seventeen years," before he assumed +the command of the forces landed from the fleet of 837. +Nor is it unreasonable to suppose that an accurate +knowledge of the country, acquired by years of previous +warfare with its inhabitants, may have been one of the +grounds upon which the chief command was conferred on +Turgesius. This knowledge was soon put to account; Dublin +was taken possession of, and a strong fort, according to +the Scandinavian method, was erected on the hill where +now stands the Castle. This fort and the harbour beneath +it were to be the _rendezvous_ and arsenal for all future +operations against Leinster, and the foundation of foreign +power then laid, continued in foreign hands, with two or +three brief intervals, until transferred to the Anglo-Norman +chivalry, three centuries and a half later. Similar +lodgment was made at Waterford, and a third was attempted +at Limerick, but at this period without success; the +Danish fort at the latter point is not thought older than +the year 855. But Turgesius--if, indeed, the independent +acts of cotemporary and even rival chiefs be not too +often attributed to him--was not content with fortifying +the estuaries of some principal rivers; he established +inland centres of operation, of which the cardinal one +was on Lough Ree, the expansion of the Shannon, north of +Athlone; another was at a point called Lyndwachill, on +Lough Neagh. On both these waters were stationed fleets +of boats, constructed for that service, and communicating +with the forts on shore. On the eastern border of Lough +Ree, in the midst of its meadows, stood Clonmacnoise, +rich with the offerings and endowments of successive +generations. Here, three centuries before, in the heart +of the desert, St. Kieran had erected with his own hands +a rude sylvan cell, where, according to the allegory of +tradition, "the first monks who joined him," were the +fox, the wolf, and the bear; but time had wrought wonders +on that hallowed ground, and a group of churches--at one +time, as many as ten in number--were gathered within two +or three acres, round its famous schools, and presiding +Cathedral. Here it was Turgesius made his usual home, +and from the high altar of the Cathedral his unbelieving +Queen was accustomed to issue her imperious mandates in +his absence. Here, for nearly seven years, this conqueror +and his consort exercised their far-spread and terrible +power. According to the custom of their own country--a +custom attributed to Odin as its author--they exacted +from every inhabitant subject to their sway--a piece of +money annually, the forfeit for the non-payment of which +was the loss of the nose, hence called "nose-money." +Their other exactions were a union of their own northern +imposts, with those levied by the chiefs whose authority +they had superseded, but whose prerogatives they asserted +for themselves. Free quarters for their soldiery, and +a system of inspection extending to every private relation +of life, were the natural expedients of a tyranny so +odious. On the ecclesiastical order especially their yoke +bore with peculiar weight, since, although avowed Pagans, +they permitted no religious house to stand, unless under +an Abbot, or at least an _Erenach_ (or Treasurer) of +their approval. Such is the complete scheme of oppression +presented to us, that it can only be likened to a monstrous +spider-web spread from the centre of the Island over its +fairest and most populous districts. Glendalough, Ferns, +Castle-Dermid, and Kildare in the east; Lismore, Cork, +Clonfert, in the southern country; Dundalk, Bangor, Derry, +and Armagh in the north; all groaned under this triumphant +despot, or his colleagues. In the meanwhile King Nial +seems to have struggled resolutely with the difficulties +of his lot, and in every interval of insubordination to +have struck boldly at the common enemy. But the tide of +success for the first few years after 837 ran strongly +against him. The joint hosts from the Liffey and the +Boyne swept the rich plains of Meath, and in an engagement +at Invernabark (the present Bray) gave such a complete +defeat to the southern Hy-Nial clans as prevented them +making head again in the field, until some summers were +past and gone. In this campaign Saxolve, who is called +"the chief of the foreigners," was slain; and to him, +therefore, if to any commander-in-chief, Turgesius must +have succeeded. The shores of all the inland lakes were +favourite sites for Raths and Churches, and the beautiful +country around Lough Erne shared the fiery ordeal which +blazed on Lough Ree and Lough Neagh. In 839 the men of +Connaught also suffered a defeat equal to that experienced +by those of Meath in the previous campaign; but more +unfortunate than the Methians, they lost their leader +and other chiefs on the field. In 840, Ferns and Cork +were given to the flames, and the fort at Lyndwachill, +or Magheralin, poured out its ravages in every direction +over the adjacent country, sweeping off flocks, herds, +and prisoners, laymen and ecclesiastics, to their ships. +The northern depredators counted among their captives +"several Bishops and learned men," of whom the Abbot of +Clogher and the Lord of Galtrim are mentioned by name. +Their equally active colleagues of Dublin and Waterford +took captive, Hugh, Abbot of Clonenagh, and Foranan, +Archbishop of Armagh, who had fled southwards with many +of the relics of the Metropolitan Church, escaping from +one danger only to fall into another a little farther +off. These prisoners were carried into Munster, where +Abbot Hugh suffered martyrdom at their hands, but the +Archbishop, after being carried to their fleet at Limerick, +seems to have been rescued or ransomed, as we find him +dying in peace at Armagh in the next reign. The martyrs +of these melancholy times were very numerous, but the +exact particulars being so often unrecorded it is impossible +to present the reader with an intelligible account of +their persons and sufferings. When the Anglo-Normans +taunted the Irish that their Church had no martyrs to +boast of, they must have forgotten the exploits of their +Norse kinsmen about the middle of this century. + +But the hour of retribution was fast coming round, and +the native tribes, unbound, divided, confused, and long +unused to foreign war, were fast recovering their old +martial experience, and something like a politic sense +of the folly of their border feuds. Nothing perhaps so +much tended to arouse and combine them together as the +capture of the successor of Saint Patrick, with all his +relics, and his imprisonment among a Pagan host, in Irish +waters. National humiliation could not much farther go, +and as we read we pause, prepared for either alternative +--mute submission or a brave uprising. King Nial seems +to have been in this memorable year, 843, defending as +well as he might his ancestral province--Ulster--against +the ravagers of Lough Neagh, and still another party +whose ships flocked into Lough Swilly. In the ancient +plain of Moynith, watered by the little river Finn, (the +present barony of Raphoe,) he encountered the enemy, and +according to the Annals, "a countless number fell"--victory +being with Nial. In the same year, or the next, Turgesius +was captured by Melaghlin, Lord of Westmeath, apparently +by stratagem, and put to death by the rather novel process +of drowning. The Bardic tale told to _Cambrensis_, or +parodied by him from an old Greek legend, of the death +by which Turgesius died, is of no historical authority. +According to this tale, the tyrant of Lough Ree conceived +a passion for the fair daughter of Melaghlin, and demanded +her of her father, who, fearing to refuse, affected to +grant the infamous request, but despatched in her stead, +to the place of assignation, twelve beardless youths, +habited as maidens, to represent his daughter and her +attendants; by these maskers the Norwegian and his boon +companions were assassinated, after they had drank to +excess and laid aside their arms and armour. For all this +superstructure of romance there is neither ground-work +nor license in the facts themselves, beyond this, that +Turgesius was evidently captured by some clever stratagem. +We hear of no battle in Meath or elsewhere against him +immediately preceding the event; nor, is it likely that +a secondary Prince, as Melaghlin then was, could have +hazarded an engagement with the powerful master of Lough +Ree. If the local traditions of Westmeath may be trusted, +where _Cambrensis_ is rejected, the Norwegian and Irish +principals in the tragedy of Lough Owel were on visiting +terms just before the denouement, and many curious +particulars of their peaceful but suspicious intercourse +used to be related by the modern story-tellers around +Castle-pollard. The anecdote of the rookery, of which +Melaghlin complained, and the remedy for which his visitor +suggested to be "to cut down the trees and the rooks +would fly," has a suspicious look of the "tall poppies" +of the Roman and Grecian legend; two things only do we +know for certain about the matter: _firstly_, that +Turgesius was taken and drowned in Lough Owel in the year +843 or 844; and _secondly_, that this catastrophe was +brought about by the agency and order of his neighbour, +Melaghlin. + +The victory of Moynith and the death of Turgesius were +followed by some local successes against other fleets +and garrisons of the enemy. Those of Lough Ree seem to +have abandoned their fort, and fought their way (gaining +in their retreat the only military advantage of that +year) towards Sligo, where some of their vessels had +collected to bear them away. Their colleagues of Dublin, +undeterred by recent reverses, made their annual foray +southward into Ossory, in 844, and immediately we find +King Nial moving up from the north to the same scene of +action. In that district he met his death in an effort +to save the life of a _gilla_, or common servant. The +river of Callan being greatly swollen, the _gilla_, in +attempting to find a ford, was swept away in its turbid +torrent. The King entreated some one to go to his rescue, +but as no one obeyed he generously plunged in himself +and sacrificed his own life in endeavouring to preserve +one of his humblest followers. He was in the 55th year +of his age and the 13th of his reign, and in some traits +of character reminded men of his grandfather, the devout +Nial "of the Showers." The Bards have celebrated the +justice of his judgments, the goodness of his heart, and +the comeliness of his "brunette-bright face." He left a +son of age to succeed him, (and who ultimately did become +_Ard-Righ_,) yet the present popularity of Melaghlin of +Meath triumphed over every other interest, and he was +raised to the monarchy--the first of his family who had +yet attained that honour. Hugh, the son of Nial, sank +for a time into the rank of a Provincial Prince, before +the ascendant star of the captor of Turgesius, and is +usually spoken of during this reign as "Hugh of Aileach." +He is found towards its close, as if impatient of the +succession, employing the arms of the common enemy to +ravage the ancient mensal land of the kings of Erin, and +otherwise harassing the last days of his successful rival. + +Melaghlin, or Malachy I. (sometimes called "of the +Shannon," from his patrimony along that river), brought +back again the sovereignty to the centre, and in happier +days might have become the second founder of Tara. But +it was plain enough then, and it is tolerably so still, +that this was not to be an age of restoration. The kings +of Ireland after this time, says the quaint old translator +of the Annals of Clonmacnoise, "had little good of it," +down to the days of King Brian. It was, in fact, a +perpetual struggle for self-preservation--the first duty +of all governments, as well as the first law of all +nature. The powerful action of the Gentile forces, upon +an originally ill-centralized and recently much abused +Constitution, seemed to render it possible that every +new Ard-Righ would prove the last. Under the pressure +of such a deluge all ancient institutions were shaken to +their foundations; and the venerable authority of Religion +itself, like a Hermit in a mountain torrent, was contending +for the hope of escape or existence. We must not, therefore, +amid the din of the conflicts through which we are to +pass, condemn without stint or qualification those Princes +who were occasionally driven--as some of them _were_ +driven--to that last resort, the employment of foreign +mercenaries (and those mercenaries often anti-Christians,) +to preserve some show of native government and kingly +authority. Grant that in some of them the use of such +allies and agents cannot be justified on any plea or +pretext of state necessity; where base ends or unpatriotic +motives are clear or credible, such treason to country +cannot be too heartily condemned; but it is indeed far +from certain that such were the motives in _all_ cases, +or that such ought to be our conclusion in any, in the +absence of sufficient evidence to that effect. + +Though the Gentile power had experienced towards the +close of the last reign such severe reverses, yet it was +not in the nature of the men of Norway to abandon a prize +which was once so nearly being their own. The fugitives +who escaped, as well as those who remained within the +strong ramparts of Waterford and Dublin, urged the fitting +out of new expeditions, to avenge their slaughtered +countrymen and prosecute the conquest. But defeat still +followed on defeat; in the first year of Malachy, they +lost 1,200 men in a disastrous action near Castle Dermot, +with Olcobar the Prince-bishop of Cashel; and in the same +or the next season they were defeated with the loss of +700 men, by Malachy, at Forc, in Meath. In the third year +of Malachy, however, a new northern expedition arrived +in 140 vessels, which, according to the average capacity +of the long-ships of that age, must have carried with +them from 7,000 to 10,000 men. Fortunately for the +assailed, this fleet was composed of what they called +_Black_-Gentiles, or Danes, as distinguished from their +predecessors, the _Fair_-Gentiles, or Norwegians. A +quarrel arose between the adventurers of the two nations +as to the possession of the few remaining fortresses, +especially of Dublin; and an engagement was fought along +the Liffey, which "lasted for three days;" the Danes +finally prevailed, driving the Norwegians from their +stronghold, and cutting them off from their ships. The +new Northern leaders are named Anlaf, or Olaf, Sitrick +(Sigurd?) and Ivar; the first of the Danish Earls, who +established themselves at Dublin, Waterford and Limerick +respectively. Though the immediate result of the arrival +of the great fleet of 847 relieved for the moment the +worst apprehensions of the invaded, and enabled them to +rally their means of defence, yet as Denmark had more +than double the population of Norway, it brought them +into direct collision with a more formidable power than +that from which they had been so lately delivered. The +tactics of both nations were the same. No sooner had they +established themselves on the ruins of their predecessors +in Dublin, than the Danish forces entered East-Meath, +under the guidance of Kenneth, a local lord, and overran +the ancient mensal, from the sea to the Shannon. One of +their first exploits was burning alive 260 prisoners in +the tower of Treoit, in the island of Lough Gower, near +Dunshaughlin. The next year, his allies having withdrawn +from the neighbourhood, Kenneth was taken by King Malachy's +men, and the traitor himself drowned in a sack, in the +little river Nanny, which divides the two baronies of +Duleek. This death-penalty by drowning seems to have been +one of the useful hints which the Irish picked up from +their invaders. + +During the remainder of this reign the Gentile war resumed +much of its old local and guerrilla character, the +Provincial chiefs, and the Ard-Righ, occasionally employing +bands of one nation of the invaders to combat the other, +and even to suppress their native rivals. The only pitched +battle of which we hear is that of "the Two Plains" (near +Coolestown, King's County), in the second last year of +Malachy (A.D. 859), in which his usual good fortune +attended the king. The greater part of his reign was +occupied, as always must be the case with the founder of +a new line, in coercing into obedience his former peers. +On this business he made two expeditions into Munster, +and took hostages from all the tribes of the Eugenian +race. With the same object he held a conference with all +the chiefs of Ulster, Hugh of Aileach only being absent, +at Armagh, in the fourth year of his reign, and a General +_Feis_, or Assembly of all the Orders of Ireland, at +Rathugh, in West-Meath, in his thirteenth year (A.D. +857). He found, notwithstanding his victories and his +early popularity, that there are always those ready to +turn from the setting to the rising sun, and towards the +end of his reign he was obliged to defend his camp, near +Armagh, by force, from a night assault of the discontented +Prince of Aileach; who also ravaged his patrimony, almost +at the moment he lay on his death-bed. Malachy I. departed +this life on the 13th day of November, (A.D. 860), having +reigned sixteen years. "Mournful is the news to the Gael!" +exclaims the elegiac Bard! "Red wine is spilled into the +valley! Erin's monarch has died!" And the lament contrasts +his stately form as "he rode the white stallion," with +the striking reverse when, "his only horse this day"--that +is the bier on which his body was borne to the +churchyard--"is drawn behind two oxen." + +The restless Prince of Aileach now succeeded as Hugh VII., +and possessed the perilous honour he so much coveted for +sixteen years, the same span that had been allotted to +his predecessor. The beginning of this reign was remarkable +for the novel design of the Danes, who marched out in +great force, and set themselves busily to breaking open +the ancient mounds in the cemetery of the Pagan kings, +beside the Boyne, in hope of finding buried treasure. +The three Earls, Olaf, Sitrick, and Ivar, are said to +have been present, while their gold-hunters broke into +in succession the mound-covered cave of the wife of Goban, +at Drogheda, the cave of "the Shepherd of Elcmar," at +Dowth, the cave of the field of Aldai, at New Grange, +and the similar cave at Knowth. What they found in these +huge cairns of the old _Tuatha_ is not related; but Roman +coins of Valentinian and Theodosius, and torques and +armlets of gold, have been discovered by accident within +their precincts, and an enlightened modern curiosity has +not explored them in vain, in the higher interests of +history and science. + +In the first two years of his reign, Hugh VII. was occupied +in securing the hostages of his suffragans; in the third +he swept the remaining Danish and Norwegian garrisons +out of Ulster, and defeated a newly arrived force on the +borders of Lough Foyle; the next the Danish Earls went +on a foray into Scotland, and no exploit is to be recorded; +in his sixth year, Hugh, with 1,000 chosen men of his +own tribe and the aid of the Sil-Murray (O'Conor's) of +Connaught, attacked and defeated a force of 5,000 Danes +with their Leinster allies, near Dublin at a place supposed +to be identical with Killaderry. Earl Olaf lost his son, +and Erin her _Roydamna_, or heir-apparent, on this field, +which was much celebrated by the Bards of Ulster and of +Connaught. Amongst those who fell was Flan, son of Conaing, +chief of the district which included the plundered +cemeteries, fighting on the side of the plunderers. The +mother of Flan was one of those who composed quatrains +on the event of the battle, and her lines are a natural +and affecting alternation from joy to grief--joy for the +triumph of her brother and her country, and grief for +the loss of her self-willed, warlike son. Olaf, the Danish +leader, avenged in the next campaign the loss of his son, +by a successful descent on Armagh, once again rising from +its ruins. He put to the sword 1,000 persons, and left +the primatial city lifeless, charred, and desolate. In +the next ensuing year the monarch chastised the Leinster +allies of the Danes, traversing their territory with fire +and sword from Dublin to the border town of Gowran. This +seems to have been the last of his notable exploits in +arms. He died on the 20th of November, 876, and is +lamented by the Bards as "a generous, wise, staid man." +These praises belong--if at all deserved--to his old age. + +Flan, son of Malachy I. (and surnamed like his father +"of the Shannon"), succeeded in the year 877, of the +Annals of the Four Masters, or more accurately the year +879 of our common era. He enjoyed the very unusual reign +of thirty-eight years. Some of the domestic events of +his time are of so unprecedented a character, and the +period embraced is so considerable, that we must devote +to it a separate chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +REIGN OF FLAN "OF THE SHANNON" (A.D. 879 TO 916). + +Midway in the reign we are called upon to contemplate, +falls the centenary of the first invasion of Ireland by +the Northmen. Let us admit that the scenes of that +century are stirring and stimulating; two gallant races +of men, in all points strongly contrasted, contend for +the most part in the open field, for the possession of +a beautiful and fertile island. Let us admit that the +Milesian-Irish, themselves invaders and conquerors of an +older date, may have had no right to declare the era of +colonization closed for their country, while its best +harbours were without ships, and leagues of its best land +were without inhabitants; yet what gives to the contest +its lofty and fearful interest, is, that the foreigners +who come so far and fight so bravely for the prize, are +a Pagan people, drunk with the evil spirit of one of the +most anti-Christian forms of human error. And what is +still worse, and still more to be lamented, it is becoming, +after the experience of a century, plainer and plainer, +that the Christian natives, while defending with unfaltering +courage their beloved country, are yet descending more +and more to the moral level of their assailants, without +the apology of their Paganism. Degenerate civilisation +may be a worse element for truth to work in than original +barbarism; and, therefore, as we enter on the second +century of this struggle, we begin to fear for the +Christian Irish, _not_ from the arms or the valour, but +from the contact and example of the unbelievers. This, +it is necessary to premise, before presenting to the +reader a succession of Bishops who lead armies to battle, +of Abbots whose voice is still for war, of treacherous +tactics and savage punishments; of the almost total +disruption of the last links of that federal bond, which, +"though light as air were strong as iron," before the +charm of inviolability had been taken away from the +ancient constitution. + +We begin to discern in this reign that royal marriages +have much to do with war and politics. Hugh, the late +king, left a widow, named Maelmara ("follower of Mary"), +daughter to Kenneth M'Alpine, King of the Caledonian +Scots: this lady Flan married. The mother of Flan was +the daughter of Dungal, Prince of Ossory, so that to the +cotemporary lords of that borderland the monarch stood +in the relation of cousin. A compact seems to have been +entered into in the past reign, that the _Roydamna_, or +successor, should be chosen alternately from the Northern +and Southern Hy-Nial; and, subsequently, when Nial, son +of his predecessor, assumed that onerous rank, Flan gave +him his daughter Gormley, celebrated for her beauty, her +talents, and her heartlessness, in marriage. From these +several family ties, uniting him so closely with Ossory, +with the Scots, and with his successor, much of the wars +and politics of Flan Siona's reign take their cast and +complexion. A still more fruitful source of new +complications was the co-equal power, acquired through +a long series of aggressions, by the kings of Cashel. +Their rivalry with the monarchy, from the beginning of +the eighth till the end of the tenth century, was a +constant cause of intrigues, coalitions, and wars, +reminding us of the constant rivalry of Athens with +Sparta, of Genoa with Venice. This kingship of Cashel, +according to the Munster law of succession, "the will of +Olild," ought to have alternated regularly between the +descendants of his sons, Eugene More and Cormac Cas--the +Eugenians and Dalcassians. But the families of the former +kindred were for many centuries the more powerful of the +two, and frequently set at nought the testamentary law +of their common ancestor, leaving the tribe of Cas but +the border-land of Thomond, from which they had sometimes +to pay tribute to Cruachan, and at others to Cashel. In +the ninth century the competition among the Eugenian +houses--of which too many were of too nearly equal +strength--seems to have suggested a new expedient, with +the view of permanently setting aside the will of Olild. +This was, to confer the kingship when vacant, on whoever +happened to be Bishop of Emly or of Cashel, or on some +other leading ecclesiastical dignitary, always provided +that he was of Eugenian descent; a qualification easily +to be met with, since the great sees and abbacies were +now filled, for the most part, by the sons of the +neighbouring chiefs. In this way we find Cenfalad, Felim, +and Olcobar, in this century, styled Prince-Bishops or +Prince-Abbots. The principal domestic difficulty of Flan +Siona's reign followed from the elevation of Cormac, son +of Cuillenan, from the see of Emly to the throne of Cashel. + +Cormac, a scholar, and, as became his calling, a man of +peace, was thus, by virtue of his accession, the +representative of the old quarrel between his predecessors +and the dominant race of kings. All Munster asserted that +it was never the intention of their common ancestors to +subject the southern half of Erin to the sway of the +north; that Eber and Owen More had resisted such pretensions +when advanced by Eremhon and Conn of the Hundred Battles; +that the _esker_ from Dublin to Galway was the true +division, and that, even admitting the title of the +Hy-Nial king as Ard-Righ, all the tribes south of the +_esker_, whether in Leinster or Connaught, still owed +tribute by ancient right to Cashel. Their antiquaries +had their own version in of "the Book of Rights," which +countenanced these claims to co-equal dominion, and their +Bards drew inspiration from the same high pretensions. +Party spirit ran so high that tales and prophecies were +invented to show how St. Patrick had laid his curse on +Tara, and promised dominion to Cashel and to Dublin in +its stead. All Leinster, except the lordship of Ossory-- +identical with the present diocese of the same name-was +held by the _Brehons_ of Cashel to be tributary to their +king; and this _Borooa_ or tribute, abandoned by the +monarchs at the intercession of Saint Moling, was claimed +for the Munster rulers as an inseparable adjunct of their +southern kingdom. + +The first act of Flan Siona, on his accession, was to +dash into Munster, demanding hostages at the point of +the sword, and sweeping over both Thomond and Desmond +with irresistible force, from Clare to Cork. With equal +promptitude he marched through every territory of Ulster, +securing, by the pledges of their heirs and _Tanists_, +the chiefs of the elder tribes of the Hy-Nial. So +effectually did he consider his power established over +the provinces, that he is said to have boasted to one of +his hostages, that he would, with no other attendants +than his own servants, play a game of chess on Thurles +Green, without fear of interruption. Carrying out this +foolish wager, he accordingly went to his game at Thurles, +and was very properly taken prisoner for his temerity, +and made to pay a smart ransom to his captors. So runs +the tale, which, whether true or fictitious, is not +without its moral. Flan experienced greater difficulty +with the tribes of Connaught, nor was it till the thirteenth +year of his reign (892) that Cathal, their Prince, "came +into his house," in Meath, "under the protection of the +clergy" of Clonmacnoise, and made peace with him. A brief +interval of repose seems to have been vouchsafed to this +Prince, in the last years of the century; but a storm +was gathering over Cashel, and the high pretensions of +the Eugenian line were again to be put to the hazard of +battle. + +Cormac, the Prince-Bishop, began his rule over Munster +in the year 900 of our common era, and passed some years +in peace, after his accession. If we believe his +panegyrists, the land over which he bore sway, "was filled +with divine grace and worldly prosperity," and with order +so unbroken, "that the cattle needed no cowherd, and the +flocks no shepherd, so long as he was king." Himself an +antiquary and a lover of learning, it seems but natural +that "many books were written, and many schools opened," +by his liberality. During this enviable interval, +councillors of less pacific mood than their studious +master were not wanting to stimulate his sense of kingly +duty, by urging him to assert the claim of Munster to +the tribute of the southern half of Erin. As an antiquary +himself, Cormac must have been bred up in undoubting +belief in the justice of that claim, and must have given +judgment in favour of its antiquity and validity, before +his accession. These _dicta_ of his own were now quoted +with emphasis, and he was besought to enforce, by all +the means within his reach, the learned judgments he +himself had delivered. The most active advocate of a +recourse to arms was Flaherty, Abbot of Scattery, in the +Shannon, himself an Eugenian, and the kinsman of Cormac. +After many objections, the peaceful Prince-Bishop allowed +himself to be persuaded, and in the year 907 he took up +his line of march, "in the fortnight of the harvest," +from Cashel toward Gowran, at the head of all the armament +of Munster. Lorcan, son of Lactna, and grandfather of +Brian, commanded the Dalcassians, under Cormac; and Oliol, +lord of Desies, and the warlike Abbot of Scattery, led +on the other divisions. The monarch marched southward to +meet his assailants, with his own proper troops, and the +contingents of Connaught under Cathel, Prince of that +Province, and those of Leinster under the lead of Kerball, +their king. Both armies met at Ballaghmoon, in the southern +corner of Kildare, not far from the present town of +Carlow, and both fought with most heroic bravery. The +Munster forces were utterly defeated; the Lords of Desies, +of Fermoy, of Kinalmeaky, and of Kerry, the Abbots of +Cork and Kennity, and Cormac himself, with 6,000 men, +fell on the ensanguined field. The losses of the victors +are not specified, but the 6,000, we may hope, included +the total of the slain on both sides. Flan at once improved +the opportunity of victory by advancing into Ossory, and +establishing his cousin Dermid, son of Kerball, over that +territory. This Dermid, who appears to have been banished +by Munster intrigues, had long resided with his royal +cousin, previous to the battle, from which he was probably +the only one that derived any solid advantage. As to the +Abbot Flaherty, the instigator of this ill-fated expedition, +he escaped from the conquerors, and, safe in his island +sanctuary, gave himself up for a while to penitential +rigours. The worldly spirit, however, was not dead in +his breast, and after the decease of Cormac's next +successor, he emerged from his cell, and was elevated to +the kingship of Cashel. + +In the earlier and middle years of this long reign, the +invasions from the Baltic had diminished both in force +and in frequency. This is to be accounted for from the +fact, that during its entire length it was contemporaneous +with the reign of Harold, "the Fair-haired" King of +Norway, the scourge of the sea-kings. This more fortunate +Charles XII., born in 853, died at the age of 81, after +sixty years of almost unbroken successes, over all his +Danish, Swedish, and insular enemies. It is easy to +comprehend, by reference to his exploits upon the Baltic, +the absence of the usual northern force from the Irish +waters, during his lifetime, and that of his cotemporary, +Flan of the Shannon. Yet the race of the sea-kings was +not extinguished by the fair-haired Harold's victories +over them, at home. Several of them permanently abandoned +their native coasts never to return, and recruited their +colonies, already so numerous, in the Orkneys, Scotland, +England, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. In 885, Flan was +repulsed in an attack on Dublin, in which repulse the +Abbots of Kildare and Kildalkey were slain; in the year +890, Aileach was surprised and plundered by Danes, for +the first time, and Armagh shared its fate; in 887, 888, +and 891, three minor victories were gained over separate +hordes, in Mayo, at Waterford, and in Ulidia (Down). In +897, Dublin was taken for the first time in sixty years, +its chiefs put to death, while its garrison fled in their +ships beyond sea. But in the first quarter of the tenth +century, better fortune begins to attend the Danish cause. +A new generation enters on the scene, who dread no more +the long arm of the age-stricken Harold, nor respect the +treaties which bound their predecessors in Britain to +the great Alfred. In 912, Waterford received from sea a +strong reinforcement, and about the same date, or still +earlier, Dublin, from which they had been expelled in +897, was again in their possession. In 913, and for +several subsequent years, the southern garrisons continued +their ravages in Munster, where the warlike Abbot of +Scattery found a more suitable object for the employment +of his valour than that which brought him, with the +studious Cormac, to the fatal field of Ballaghmoon. + +The closing days of Flan of the Shannon were embittered +and darkened by the unnatural rebellion of his sons, +Connor and Donogh, and his successor, Nial, surnamed +_Black-Knee_ (_Glundubh_), the husband of his daughter, +Gormley. These children were by his second marriage with +Gormley, daughter of that son of Conaing, whose name has +already appeared in connection with the plundered sepulchres +upon the Boyne. At the age of three score and upwards +Flan is frequently obliged to protect by recourse to arms +his mensal lands in Meath-their favourite point of +attack-or to defend some faithful adherent whom these +unnatural Princes sought to oppress. The daughter of +Flan, thus wedded to a husband in arms against her father, +seems to have been as little dutiful as his sons. We have +elegiac stanzas by her on the death of two of her husbands +and of one of her sons, but none on the death of her +father: although this form of tribute to the departed, +by those skilled in such compositions, seems to have been +as usual as the ordinary prayers for the dead. + +At length, in the 37th year of his reign, and the 68th +of his age, King Flan was at the end of his sorrows. As +became the prevailing character of his life, he died +peacefully, in a religious house at Kyneigh, in Kildare, +on the 8th of June, in the year 916, of the common era. +The Bards praise his "fine shape" and "august mien," as +well as his "pleasant and hospitable" private habits. +Like all the kings of his race he seems to have been +brave enough: but he was no lover of war for war's-sake, +and the only great engagement in his long reign was +brought on by enemies who left him no option but to fight. +His munificence rebuilt the Cathedral of Clonmacnoise, +with the co-operation of Colman, the Abbot, the year +after the battle of Ballaghmoon (908); for which age, it +was the largest and finest stone Church in Ireland. His +charity and chivalry both revolted at the cruel excesses +of war, and when the head of Cormac of Cashel was presented +to him after his victory, he rebuked those who rejoiced +over his rival's fall, kissed reverently the lips of the +dead, and ordered the relics to be delivered, as Cormac +had himself willed it, to the Church of Castledermot, +for Christian burial. These traits of character, not less +than his family afflictions, and the generally peaceful +tenor of his long life, have endeared to many the memory +of Flan of the Shannon. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +KINGS OF THE TENTH CENTURY; NIAL IV.; DONOGH II.; +CONGAL III.; DONALD IV. + +Nial IV. (surnamed _Black-Knee_) succeeded his +father-in-law, Flan of the Shannon (A.D. 916), and in +the third year of his reign fell in an assault on Dublin; +Donogh II., son of Flan Siona, reigned for twenty-five +years; Congal III. succeeded, and was slain in an ambush +by the Dublin Danes, in the twelfth year of his reign +(A.D. 956); Donald IV., in the twenty-fourth year of his +reign, died at Armagh, (A.D. 979); which four reigns +bring us to the period of the accession of Malachy II. +as _Ard-Righ_, and the entrance of Brian Boru, on the +national stage, as King of Cashel, and competitor for +the monarchy. + +The reign of Nial _Black-Knee_ was too brief to be +memorable for any other event than his heroic death in +battle. The Danes having recovered Dublin, and strengthened +its defences, Nial, it is stated, was incited by his +confessor, the Abbot of Bangor, to attempt their +re-expulsion. Accordingly, in October, 919, he marched +towards Dublin, with a numerous host; Conor, son of the +late king and _Roydamna_; the lords of Ulidia (Down), +Oriel (Louth), Breagh (East-Meath), and other chiefs, +with their clans accompanying him. Sitrick and Ivar, sons +of the first Danish leaders in Ireland, marched out to +meet them, and near Rathfarnham, on the Dodder, a battle +was fought, in which the Irish were utterly defeated and +their monarch slain. This Nial left a son named Murkertach, +who, according to the compact entered into between the +Northern and Southern Hy-Nial, became the _Roydamna_ of +the next reign, and the most successful leader against +the Danes, since the time of Malachy I. He was the step-son +of the poetic Lady Gormley, whose lot it was to have been +married in succession to the King of Munster, the King +of Leinster, and the Monarch. Her first husband was +Cormac, son of Cuilenan, before he entered holy orders; +her second, Kerball of Leinster, and her third, Nial +_Black-Knee_. She was an accomplished poetess, besides +being the daughter, wife, and mother of king's, yet after +the death of Nial she "begged from door to door," and no +one had pity on her fallen state. By what vices she had +thus estranged from her every kinsman, and every dependent, +we are left to imagine; but that such was her misfortune, +at the time her brother was monarch, and her step-son +successor, we learn from the annals, which record her +penance and death, under the date of 948. + +The defeat sustained near Rathfarnham, by the late king, +was amply avenged in the first year of the new _Ard-Righ_ +(A.D. 920), when the Dublin Danes, having marched out, +taken and burned Kells, in Meath, were on their return +through the plain of Breagh, attacked and routed with +unprecedented slaughter. "There fell of the nobles of +the Norsemen here," say the old Annalists, "as many as +fell of the nobles and plebeians of the Irish, at +Ath-Cliath" (Dublin). The Northern Hydra, however, was +not left headless. Godfrey, grandson of Ivar, and Tomar, +son of Algi, took command at Dublin, and Limerick, infusing +new life into the remnant of their race. The youthful +son of the late king, soon after at the head of a strong +force (A.D. 921), compelled Godfrey to retreat from +Ulster, to his ships, and to return by sea to Dublin. +This was Murkertach, fondly called by the elegiac Bards, +"the Hector of the West," and for his heroic achievements, +not undeserving to be named after the gallant defender +of Troy. Murkertach first appears in our annals at the +year 921, and disappears in the thick of the battle in +938. His whole career covers seventeen years; his position +throughout was subordinate and expectant--for King Donogh +outlived his heir: but there are few names in any age of +the history of his country more worthy of historical +honour than his. While Donogh was king in name, Murkertach +was king in fact; on him devolved the burden of every +negotiation, and the brunt of every battle. Unlike his +ancestor, Hugh of Aileach, in his opposition to Donogh's +ancestor, Malachy I., he never attempts to counteract +the king, or to harass him in his patrimony. He rather +does what is right and needful himself, leaving Donogh +to claim the credit, if he be so minded. True, a coolness +and a quarrel arises between them, and even "a challenge +of battle" is exchanged, but better councils prevail, +peace is restored, and the king and the _Roydamna_ march +as one man against the common enemy. It has been said of +another but not wholly dissimilar form of government, +that Crown-Princes are always in opposition; if this +saying holds good of father and son, as occupant and +expectant of a throne, how much more likely is it to be +true of a successor and a principal, chosen from different +dynasties, with a view to combine, or at worst to balance, +conflicting hereditary interests? In the conduct of +Murkertach, we admire, in turn, his many shining personal +qualities, which even tasteless panegyric cannot hide, +and the prudence, self-denial, patience, and preservance +with which he awaits his day of power. Unhappily, for +one every way so worthy of it, that day never arrived! + +At no former period,--not even at the height of the +tyranny of Turgesius,--was a capable Prince more needed +in Erin. The new generation of Northmen were again upon +all the estuaries and inland waters of the Island. In +the years 923-4 and 5, their light armed vessels swarmed +on Lough Erne, Lough Ree, and other lakes, spreading +flame and terror on every side. Clonmacnoise and Kildare, +slowly recovering from former pillage, were again left +empty and in ruins. Murkertach, the base of whose early +operations was his own patrimony in Ulster, attacked near +Newry a Northern division under the command of the son +of Godfrey (A.D. 926), and left 800 dead on the field. +The escape of the remnant was only secured by Godfrey +marching rapidly to their relief and covering the retreat. +His son lay with the dead. In the years 933, at Slieve +Behma, in his own Province, Murkertach won a third victory; +and in 936, taking political advantage of the result of +the great English battle of Brunanburgh, which had so +seriously diminished the Danish strength, the Roydamna, +in company with the King, assaulted Dublin, expelled its +garrison, levelled its fortress, and left the dwellings +of the Northmen in ashes. From Dublin they proceeded +southward, through Leinster and Munster, and after taking +hostages of every tribe, Donogh returned to his Methian +home and Murkertach to Aileach. While resting in his own +fort (A.D. 939), he was surprised by a party of Danes, +and carried off to their ships, but, says the old translator +of the Annals of Clonmacnoise, "he made a good escape +from them, as it was God's will." The following season +he redoubled his efforts against the enemy. Attacking +them on their own element, he ravaged their settlements +on the Scottish coasts and among the isles of Insi-Gall +(the Hebrides), returned laden with spoils, and hailed +with acclamations as the liberator of his people. + +Of the same age with Murkertach, the reigning Prince at +Cashel was Kellachan, one of the heroes of the latter +Bards and Story-tellers of the South. The romantic tales +of his capture by the Danes, and captivity in their fleet +at Dundalk, of the love which Sitrick's wife bore him, +and of his gallant rescue by the Dalcassians and Eugenians, +have no historical sanction. He was often both at war +and at peace with the foreigners of Cork and Limerick, +and did not hesitate more than once to employ their arms +for the maintenance of his own supremacy; but his only +authentic captivity was, as a hostage, in the hands of +Murkertach. While the latter was absent, on his expedition +to Insi-Gall, Kellachan fell upon the Deisi and Ossorians, +and inflicted severe chastisement upon them-alleging, as +his provocation, that they had given hostages to Murkertach, +and acknowledged him as _Roydamna_ of all Erin, in contempt +of the co-equal rights of Cashel. When Murkertach returned +from his Scotch expedition, and heard what had occurred, +and on what pretext Kellachan had acted, he assembled at +Aileach all the branches of the Northern Hy-Nial, for +whom this was cause, indeed. Out of these he selected +1000 chosen men, whom he provided, among other equipments, +with those "leathern coats," which lent a _soubriquet_ +to his name; and with these "ten hundred heroes," he set +out--strong in his popularity and his alliances--to make +a circuit of the entire island (A.D. 940). He departed +from Aileach, says his Bard, whose Itinerary we have, +"keeping his left hand to the sea;" Dublin, once more +rebuilt, acknowledged his title, and Sitrick, one of its +lords, went with him as hostage for Earl Blacair and his +countrymen; Leinster surrendered him Lorcan, its King; +Kellachan, of Cashel, overawed by his superior fortune, +advised his own people not to resist by force, and +consented to become himself the hostage for all Munster. +In Connaught, Conor, (from whom the O'Conors take their +family name), son of the Prince, came voluntarily to his +camp, and was received with open arms. Kellachan alone +was submitted to the indignity of wearing a fetter. With +these distinguished hostages, Murkertach and his +leather-cloaked "ten hundred" returned to Aileach, where, +for five months, they spent a season of unbounded rejoicing. +In the following year, the _Roydamna_ transferred the +hostages to King Donogh, as his _suzerain_, thus setting +the highest example of obedience from the highest place. +He might now look abroad over all the tribes of Erin, +and feel himself without a rival among his countrymen. +He stood at the very summit of his good fortune, when +the Danes of Dublin, reinforced from abroad, after his +"Circuit," renewed their old plundering practices. They +marched north, at the close of winter, under Earl Blacair, +their destination evidently being Armagh. Murkertach, +with some troops hastily collected, disputed their passage +at the ford of Ardee. An engagement ensued on Saturday, +the 4th of March, 943, in which the noble _Roydamna_ +fell. King Donogh, to whose reign his vigorous spirit +has given its main historical importance, survived him +but a twelvemonth; the Monarch died in the bed of repose; +his destined successor in the thick of battle. + +The death of the brave and beloved Murkertach filled all +Erin with grief and rage, and as King Donogh was too old +to avenge his destined successor, that duty devolved on +Congal, the new _Roydamna_. In the year after the fatal +action at Ardee, Congal, with Brann, King of Leinster, +and Kellach, heir of Leinster, assaulted and took Dublin, +and wreaked a terrible revenge for the nation's loss. +The "women, children, and plebeians," were carried off +captive; the greater part of the garrison were put to +the sword; but a portion escaped in their vessels to +their fortress on Dalkey, an island in the bay of Dublin. +This was the third time within a century that Dublin had +been rid of its foreign yoke, and yet as the Gaelic-Irish +would not themselves dwell in fortified towns, the site +remained open and unoccupied, to be rebuilt as often as +it might be retaken. The gallant Congal, the same year, +succeeded on the death of Donogh to the sovereignty, and, +so soon as he had secured his seat, and surrounded it +with sufficient hostages, he showed that he could not +only avenge the death, but imitate the glorious life of +him whose place he held. Two considerable victories in +his third and fourth years increased his fame, and rejoiced +the hearts of his countrymen: the first was won at Slane, +aided by the Lord of Breffni (O'Ruarc), and by Olaf the +Crooked, a northern chief. The second was fought at Dublin +(947), in which Blacair, the victor at Ardee, and 1,600 +of his men were slain. Thus was the death of Murkertach +finally avenged. + +It is very remarkable that the first conversions to +Christianity among the Danes of Dublin should have taken +place immediately after these successive defeats--in 948. +Nor, although quite willing to impute the best and most +disinterested motives to these first neophytes, can we +shut our eyes to the fact that no change of life, such +as we might reasonably look for, accompanied their change +of religion. Godfrid, son of Sitrick, and successor of +Blacair, who professed himself a Christian in 948, +plundered and destroyed the churches of East-Meath in +949, burnt 150 persons in the oratory of Drumree, and +carried off as captives 3,000 persons. If the tree is to +be judged by its fruits, this first year's growth of the +new faith is rather alarming. It compels us to disbelieve +the sincerity of Godfrid, at least, and the fighting men +who wrought these outrages and sacrileges. It forces us +to rank them with the incorrigible heathens who boasted +that they had twenty times received the Sacrament of +Baptism, and valued it for the twenty white robes which +had been presented to them on those occasions. Still, we +must endeavour hereafter, when we can, to distinguish +Christian from Pagan Danes, and those of Irish birth, +sons of the first comers, from the foreign-born kinsmen +of their ancestors. Between these two classes there grew +a gulf of feeling and experience, which a common language +and common dangers only partially bridged over. Not seldom +the interests and inclinations of the Irish-born Dane, +especially if a true Christian, were at open variance +with the interests and designs of the new arrivals from +Denmark, and it is generally, if not invariably, with +the former, that the Leinster and other Irish Princes +enter into coalitions for common political purposes. +The remainder of the reign of Congal is one vigorous +battle. The Lord of Breffni, who had fought beside him +on the hill of Slane, advanced his claim to be recognised +_Roydamna_, and this being denied, broke out into rebellion +and harassed his patrimony. Donald, son of Murkertach, +and grandson of Nial, (the first who took the name of +_Uai-Nial_, or O'Neill), disputed these pretensions of +the Lord of Breffni; carried his boats overland from +Aileach to Lough Erne in Fermanagh, and Lough Oughter in +Cavan; attacked the lake-islands, where the treasure and +hostages of Breffni were kept, and carried them off to +his own fortress. The warlike and indefatigable king was +in the field summer and winter enforcing his authority +on Munster and Connaught, and battling with the foreign +garrisons between times. No former Ard-Righ had a severer +struggle with the insubordinate elements which beset him +from first to last. His end was sudden, but not inglorious. +In returning from the chariot-races at the Curragh of +Kildare, he was surprised and slain in an ambuscade laid +for him by Godfrid at a place on the banks of the Liffey +called Tyraris or Teeraris house. By his side, fighting +bravely, fell the lords of Teffia and Ferrard, two of +his nephews, and others of his personal attendants and +companions. The Dublin Danes had in their turn a day of +rejoicing and of revenge for the defeats they had suffered +at Congal's hands. + +This reign is not only notable for the imputed first +conversion of the Danes to Christianity, but also for +the general adoption of family names. Hitherto, we have +been enabled to distinguish clansmen only by tribe-names +formed by prefixing _Hy_, _Kinnel_, _Sil_, _Muintir_, +_Dal_, or some synonymous term, meaning race, kindred, +sept, district, or part, to the proper name of a remote +common ancestor, as Hy-Nial, Kinnel-Connel, Sil-Murray, +Muintir-Eolais, Dal-g Cais, and Dal-Riada. But the great +tribes now begin to break into families, and we are +hereafter to know particular houses, by distinct hereditary +surnames, as O'Neill, O'Conor, MacMurrough, and McCarthy. +Yet, the whole body of relatives are often spoken of by +the old tribal title, which, unless exceptions are named, +is supposed to embrace all the descendants of the old +connection to whom it was once common. At first this +alternate use of tribe and family names may confuse the +reader--for it _is_ rather puzzling to find a MacLoughlin +with the same paternal ancestor as an O'Neill, and a +McMahon of Thomond as an O'Brien, but the difficulty +disappears with use and familiarity, and though the number +and variety of newly-coined names cannot be at once +committed to memory, the story itself gains in distinctness +by the change. + +In the year 955, Donald O'Neill, son of the brave and +beloved Murkertach, was recognised as Ard-Righ, by the +required number of Provinces, without recourse to coercion. +But it was _not_ to be expected that any Ard-Righ should, +at this period of his country's fortunes, reign long in +peace. War was then the business of the King; the first +art he had to learn, and the first to practise. Warfare +in Ireland had not been a stationary science since the +arrival of the Norwegians and their successors, the Danes. +Something they may have acquired from the natives, and +in turn the natives were not slow to copy whatever seemed +most effective in their tactics. Donald IV. was the +first to imitate their habit of employing armed boats on +the inland lakes. He even improved on their example, by +carrying these boats with him overland, and launching +them wherever he needed their co-operation; as we have +already seen him do in his expedition against Breffni, +while _Roydamna_, and as we find him doing again, in the +seventh year of his reign, when he carried his boats +overland from Armagh to West-Meath in order to employ +them on Loch Ennell, near Mullingar. He was at this time +engaged in making his first royal visitation of the +Provinces, upon which he spent two months in Leinster, +with all his forces, coerced the Munster chiefs by fire +and sword into obedience, and severely punished the +insubordination of Fergal O'Ruarc, King of Connaught. +His fleet upon Loch Ennell, and his severities generally +while in their patrimony, so exasperated the powerful +families of the Southern Hy-Nial (the elder of which was +now known as O'Melaghlin), that on the first opportunity +they leagued with the Dublin Danes, under their leader, +Olaf "the Crooked" (A.D. 966), and drove King Donald out +of Leinster and Meath, pursuing him across Slieve-Fuaid, +almost to the walls of Aileach. But the brave tribes of +Tyrconnell and Tyrowen rallied to his support, and he +pressed south upon the insurgents of Meath and Dublin; +West-Meath he rapidly overran, and "planted a garrison +in every cantred from the Shannon to Kells," In the +campaigns which now succeeded each other, without truce +or pause, for nearly a dozen years, the Leinster people +generally sympathised with and assisted those of West-Meath, +and Olaf, of Dublin, who recruited his ranks by the +junction of the Lagmans, a warlike tribe, from Insi-Gall +(the Hebrides). Ossory, on the other hand, acted with +the monarch, and the son of its Tanist (A.D. 974) was +slain before Dublin, by Olaf and his Leinster allies, +with 2,600 men, of Ossory and Ulster. The campaign of +978 was still more eventful: the Leinster men quarrelled +with their Danish allies, who had taken their king captive, +and in an engagement at Belan, near Athy, defeated their +forces, with the loss of the heir of Leinster, the lords +of Kinsellagh, Lea and Morett, and other chiefs. King +Donald had no better fortune at Killmoon, in Meath, the +same season, where he was utterly routed by the same +force, with the loss of Ardgal, heir of Ulidia, and +Kenneth, lord of Tyrconnell. But for the victories gained +about the same period in Munster, by Mahon and Brian, +the sons of Kennedy, over the Danes of Limerick, of which +we shall speak more fully hereafter, the balance of +victory would have strongly inclined towards the Northmen +at this stage of the contest. + +A leader, second in fame and in services only to Brian, +was now putting forth his energies against the common +enemy, in Meath. This was Melaghlin, better known afterwards +as Malachy II., son of Donald, son of King Donogh, and, +therefore, great-grandson to his namesake, Malachy I. He +had lately attained to the command of his tribe--and he +resolved to earn the honours which were in store for him, +as successor to the sovereignty. In the year 979, the +Danes of Dublin and the Isles marched in unusual strength +into Meath, under the command of Rannall, son of Olaf +the Crooked, and Connail, "the Orator of Ath-Cliath," +(Dublin). Malachy, with his allies, gave them battle near +Tara, and achieved a complete victory. Earl Rannall and +the Orator were left dead on the field, with, it is +reported, 5,000 of the foreigners. On the Irish side fell +the heir of Leinster, the lord of Morgallion and his son; +the lords of Fertullagh and Cremorne, and a host of their +followers. The engagement, in true Homeric spirit, had +been suspended on three successive nights, and renewed +three successive days. It was a genuine pitched battle--a +trial of main strength, each party being equally confident +of victory. The results were most important, and most +gratifying to the national pride. Malachy, accompanied +by his friend, the lord of Ulidia (Down), moved rapidly +on Dublin, which, in its panic, yielded to all his demands. +The King of Leinster and 2,000 other prisoners were given +up to him without ransom. The Danish Earls solemnly +renounced all claims to tribute or fine from any of the +dwellers without their own walls. Malachy remained in +the city three days, dismantled its fortresses, and +carried off its hostages and treasure. The unfortunate +Olaf the Crooked fled beyond seas, and died at Iona, in +exile, and a Christian. In the same year, and in the +midst of universal rejoicing, Donald IV. died peacefully +and piously at Armagh, in the 24th year of his reign. He +was succeeded by Malachy, who was his sister's son, and +in whom all the promise of the lamented Murkertach seemed +to revive. + +The story of Malachy II. is so interwoven with the +still-more illustrious career of Brian _Borooa_, that it +will not lose in interest by being presented in detail. +But before entering on the rivalry of these great men, +we must again remark on the altered position which the +Northmen of this age hold to the Irish from that which +existed formerly. A century and a half had now elapsed +since their first settlement in the seaports, especially +of the eastern and southern Provinces. More than one +generation of their descendants had been born on the +banks of the Liffey, the Shannon, and the Suir. Many of +them had married into Irish families, had learned the +language of the country, and embraced its religion. When +Limerick was taken by Brian, Ivar, its Danish lord, fled +for sanctuary to Scattery Island, and when Dublin was +taken by Malachy II., Olaf the Crooked fled to Iona. +Inter-marriages with the highest Gaelic families became +frequent, after their conversion to Christianity. The +mother of Malachy, after his father's death, had married +Olaf of Dublin, by whom she had a son, named _Gluniarran +(Iron-Knee_, from his armour), who was thus half-brother +to the King. It is natural enough to find him the ally +of Malachy, a few years later, against Ivar of Waterford; +and curious enough to find Ivar's son called +Gilla-Patrick--servant of Patrick. Kellachan of Cashel +had married a Danish, and Sitrick "of the Silken beard," +an Irish lady. That all the Northmen were not, even in +Ireland, converted in one generation, is evident. Those +of Insi-Gall were still, perhaps, Pagans; those of the +Orkneys and of Denmark, who came to the battle of Clontarf +in the beginning of the next century, chose to fight on +Good Friday under the advice of their heathen Oracles. +The first half of the eleventh century, the age of Saint +Olaf and of Canute, is the era of the establishment of +Christianity among the Scandinavians, and hence the +necessity for distinguishing between those who came to +Ireland, direct from the Baltic, from those who, born in +Ireland and bred up in the Christian faith, had as much +to apprehend from such an invasion, as the Celts themselves. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +REIGN OF MALACHY II. AND RIVALRY OF BRIAN. + +Melaghlin, or Malachy II., fifth in direct descent from +Malachy I. (the founder of the Southern Hy-Nial dynasty), +was in his thirtieth year when (A.D. 980) he succeeded +to the monarchy. He had just achieved the mighty victory +of Tara when the death of his predecessor opened his way +to the throne; and seldom did more brilliant dawn usher +in a more eventful day than that which Fate held in store +for this victor-king. None of his predecessors, not even +his ancestor and namesake, had ever been able to use the +high language of his "noble Proclamation," when he +announced on his accession--"Let all the Irish who are +suffering servitude in the land of the stranger return +home to their respective houses and enjoy themselves in +gladness and in peace." In obedience to this edict, and +the power to enforce it established by the victory at +Tara, 2,000 captives, including the King of Leinster and +the Prince of Aileach, were returned to their homes. + +The hardest task of every Ard-Righ of this and the previous +century had been to circumscribe the ambition of the +kings of Cashel within Provincial bounds. Whoever ascended +the southern throne--whether the warlike Felim or the +learned Cormac--we have seen the same policy adopted by +them all. The descendants of Heber had tired of the long +ascendancy of the race of Heremon, and the desertion of +Tara, by making that ascendancy still more strikingly +Provincial, had increased their antipathy. It was a +struggle for supremacy between north and south; a contest +of two geographical parties; an effort to efface the real +or fancied dependency of one-half the island on the will +of the other. The Southern Hy-Nial dynasty, springing up +as a third power upon the Methian bank of the Shannon, +and balancing itself between the contending parties, +might perhaps have given a new centre to the whole system; +Malachy II. was in the most favourable position possible +to have done so, had he not had to contend with a rival, +his equal in battle and superior in council, in the person +of Brian, the son of Kennedy, of Kincorra. + +The rise to sovereign rank of the house of Kincorra (the +O'Briens), is one of the most striking episodes of the +tenth century. Descending, like most of the leading +families of the South, from Olild, the Clan Dalgais had +long been excluded from the throne of Cashel, by successive +coalitions of their elder brethren, the Eugenians. Lactna +and Lorcan, the grandfather and father of Kennedy, intrepid +and able men, had strengthened their tribe by wise and +vigorous measures, so that the former was able to claim +the succession, apparently with success. Kennedy had +himself been a claimant for the same honour, the alternate +provision in the will of Olild, against Kellachan Cashel +(A.D. 940-2), but at the Convention held at Glanworth, +on the river Funcheon, for the selection of king, the +aged mother of Kellachan addressed his rival in a quatrain, +beginning-- + + "Kennedi Cas revere the law!" + +which induced him to abandon his pretensions. This Prince, +usually spoken of by the Bards as "the chaste Kennedy," +died in the year 950, leaving behind him four or five +out of twelve sons, with whom he had been blessed. Most +of the others had fallen in Danish battles--three in the +same campaign (943), and probably in the same field. +There appear in after scenes, Mahon, who became King of +Cashel; Echtierna, who was chief of Thomond, under Mahon; +Marcan, an ecclesiastic, and Brian, born in 941, the +Benjamin of the household. Mahon proved himself, as Prince +and Captain, every way worthy of his inheritance. He +advanced from victory to victory over his enemies, foreign +and domestic. In 960 he claimed the throne of Munster, +which claim he enforced by royal visitation five years +later. In the latter year, he rescued Clonmacnoise from +the Danes, and in 968 defeated the same enemy, with a +loss of several thousand men at Sulchoid. This great blow +he followed up by the sack of Limerick, from which "he +bore off a large quantity of gold, and silver, and jewels." +In these, and all his expeditions, from a very early age, +he was attended by Brian, to whom he acted not only as +a brother and prince, but as a tutor in arms. Fortune +had accompanied him in all his undertakings. He had +expelled his most intractable rival--Molloy, son of +Bran, lord of Desmond; his rule was acknowledged by the +Northmen of Dublin and Cork, who opened their fortresses +to him, and served under his banner; he carried "all the +hostages of Munster to his house," which had never before +worn so triumphant an aspect. But family greatness begets +family pride, and pride begets envy and hatred. The +Eugenian families who now found themselves overshadowed +by the brilliant career of the sons of Kennedy, conspired +against the life of Mahon, who, from his too confiding +nature, fell easily into their trap. Molloy, son of Bran, +by the advice of Ivar, the Danish lord of Limerick, +proposed to meet Mahon in friendly conference at the +house of Donovan, an Eugenian chief, whose rath was at +Bruree, on the river Maigue. The safety of each person +was guaranteed by the Bishop of Cork, the mediator on +the occasion. Mahon proceeded unsuspiciously to the +conference, where he was suddenly seized by order of his +treacherous host, and carried into the neighbouring +mountains of Knocinreorin. Here a small force, placed +for the purpose by the conspirators, had orders promptly +to despatch their victim. But the foul deed was not done +unwitnessed. Two priests of the Bishop of Cork followed +the Prince, who, when arrested, snatched up "the Gospel +of St. Barry," on which Molloy was to have sworn his +fealty. As the swords of the assassins were aimed at his +heart, he held up the Gospel for a protection, and his +blood spouting out, stained the Sacred Scriptures. The +priests, taking up the blood-stained volume, fled to +their Bishop, spreading the horrid story as they went. +The venerable successor of St. Barry "wept bitterly, and +uttered a prophecy concerning the future fate of the +murderers;" a prophecy which was very speedily fulfilled. + +This was in the year 976, three or four years before the +battle of Tara and the accession of Malachy. When the +news of his noble-hearted brother's murder was brought +to Brian, at Kinkora, he was seized with the most violent +grief. His favourite harp was taken down, and he sang +the death-song of Mahon, recounting all the glorious +actions of his life. His anger flashed out through his +tears, as he wildly chanted + + "My heart shall burst within my breast, + Unless I avenge this great king; + They shall forfeit life for this foul deed + Or I must perish by a violent death." + +But the climax of his lament was, that Mahon "had not +fallen in battle behind the shelter of his shield, rather +than trust in the treacherous words of Donovan." Brian +was now in his thirty-fifth year, was married, and had +several children. Morrogh, his eldest, was able to bear +arms, and shared in his ardour and ambition. "His first +effort," says an old Chronicle, "was directed against +Donovan's allies, the Danes of Limerick, and he slew Ivar +their king, and two of his sons." These conspirators, +foreseeing their fate, had retired into the holy isle of +Scattery, but Brian slew them between "the horns of the +altar." For this violation of the sanctuary, considering +his provocation, he was little blamed. He next turned +his rage against Donovan, who had called to his aid the +Danish townsmen of Desmond. "Brian," says the Annalist +of Innisfallen, "gave them battle where Auliffe and his +Danes, and Donovan and his Irish forces, were all cut +off." After that battle, Brian sent a challenge to Molloy, +of Desmond, according to the custom of that age, to meet +him in arms near Macroom, where the usual coalition, +Danes and Irish, were against him. He completely routed +the enemy, and his son Morrogh, then but a lad, "killed +the murderer of his uncle Mahon with his own hand." Molloy +was buried on the north side of the mountain where Mahon +was murdered and interred; on Mahon the southward sun +shone full and fair; but on the grave of his assassin, +the black shadow of the northern sky rested always. Such +was the tradition which all Munster piously believed. +After this victory over Molloy, son of Bran (A.D. 978), +Brian was universally acknowledged King of Munster, and +until Malachy had won the battle of Tara, was justly +considered the first Irish captain of his age. + +Malachy, in the first year of his reign, having received +the hostages of the Danes of Dublin, having liberated +the Irish prisoners and secured the unity of his own +territory, had his attention drawn, naturally enough, +towards Brian's movements. Whether Brian had refused +him homage, or that his revival of the old claim to the +half-kingdom was his offence, or from whatever immediate +cause, Malachy marched southwards, enforcing homage as +he went. Entering Thomond he plundered the Dalcassians, +and marching to the mound at Adair, where, under an old +oak, the kings of Thomond had long been inaugurated, he +caused it to be "dug from the earth with its roots," and +cut into pieces. This act of Malachy's certainly bespeaks +an embittered and aggressive spirit, and the provocation +must, indeed, have been grievous to palliate so barbarous +an action. But we are not informed what the provocation +was. At the time Brian was in Ossory enforcing his tribute; +the next year we find him seizing the person of +Gilla-Patrick, Lord of Ossory, and soon after he burst +into Meath, avenging with fire and sword the wanton +destruction of his ancestral oak. + +Thus were these two powerful Princes openly embroiled +with each other. We have no desire to dwell on all the +details of their struggle, which continued for fully +twenty years. About the year 987, Brian was practically +king of half Ireland, and having the power, (though not +the title,) he did not suffer any part of it to lie waste. +His activity was incapable of exhaustion; in Ossory, in +Leinster, in Connaught, his voice and his arm were felt +everywhere. But a divided authority was of necessity so +favourable to invasion, that the Danish power began to +loom up to its old proportions. Sitrick, "with the silken +beard," one of the ablest of Danish leaders, was then at +Dublin, and his occasional incursions were so formidable, +that they produced (what probably nothing else could have +done) an alliance between Brian and Malachy, which lasted +for three years, and was productive of the best +consequences. Thus, in 997, they imposed their yoke on +Dublin, taking "hostages and jewels" from the foreigners. +Reinforcements arriving from the North, the indomitable +Danes proceeded to plunder Leinster, but were routed by +Brian and Malachy at Glen-Mama, in Wicklow, with the loss +of 6,000 men and all their chief captains. Immediately +after this victory the two kings, according to the Annals, +"entered into Dublin, and the fort thereof, and there +remained seven nights, and at their departure took all +the gold, silver, hangings, and other precious things +that were there with them, burnt the town, broke down +the fort, and banished Sitrick from thence" (A.D. 999). + +The next three years of Brian's life are the most complex +in his career. After resting a night in Meath, with +Malachy, he proceeded with his forces towards Armagh, +nominally on a pilgrimage, but really, as it would seem, +to extend his party. He remained in the sacred city a +week, and presented ten ounces of gold, at the Cathedral +altar. The Archbishop Marian received him with the +distinction due to so eminent a guest, and a record of +his visit, in which he is styled "Imperator of the Irish," +was entered in the book of St. Patrick. He, however, got +no hostages in the North, but on his march southward, he +learned that the Danes had returned to Dublin, were +rebuilding the City and Fort, and were ready to offer +submission and hostages to him, while refusing both to +Malachy. Here Brian's eagerness for supremacy misled him. +He accepted the hostages, joined the foreign forces to +his own, and even gave his daughter in marriage to Sitrick +of "the silken beard." Immediately he broke with Malachy, +and with his new allies and son-in-law, marched into +Meath in hostile array. Malachy, however, stood to his +defence; attacked and defeated Brian's advance guard of +Danish horse, and the latter, unwilling apparently to +push matters to extremities, retired as he came, without +"battle, or hostage, or spoil of any kind." + +But his design of securing the monarchy was not for an +instant abandoned, and, by combined diplomacy and force, +he effected his end. His whole career would have been +incomplete without that last and highest conquest over +every rival. Patiently but surely he had gathered +influence and authority, by arms, by gifts, by connections +on all sides. He had propitiated the chief families of +Connaught by his first marriage with More, daughter of +O'Heyne, and his second marriage with Duvchalvay, daughter +of O'Conor. He had obtained one of the daughters of +Godwin, the powerful Earl of Kent, for his second son; +had given a daughter to the Prince of Scots, and another +to the Danish King of Dublin. + +Malachy, in diplomatic skill, in foresight, and in tenacity +of purpose, was greatly inferior to Brian, though in +personal gallantry and other princely qualities, every +way his equal. He was of a hospitable, out-spoken, +enjoying disposition, as we gather from many characteristic +anecdotes. He is spoken of as "being generally computed +the best horseman in those parts of Europe;" and as one +who "delighted to ride a horse that was never broken, +handled, or ridden, until the age of seven years." From +an ancient story, which represents him as giving his +revenues for a year to one of the Court Poets and then +fighting him with a "headless staff" to compel the Poet +to return them, it would appear that his good humour and +profusion were equal to his horsemanship. Finding Brian's +influence still on the increase west of the Shannon, +Malachy, in the year of our Lord 1000, threw two bridges +across the Shannon, one at Athlone, the other at the +present Lanesborough. This he did with the consent and +assistance of O'Conor, but the issue was as usual--he +made the bridges, and Brian profited by them. While +Malachy was at Athlone superintending the work, Brian +arrived with a great force recruited from all quarters +(except Ulster), including Danish men-in-armour. At +Athlone was held the conference so memorable in our +annals, in which Brian gave his rival the alternative of +a pitched battle, within a stated time, or abdication. +According to the Southern Annalists, first a month, and +afterwards a year, were allowed the Monarch to make his +choice. At the expiration of the time Brian marched into +Meath, and encamped at Tara, where Malachy, having vainly +endeavoured to secure the alliance of the Northern Hy-Nial +in the interval, came and submitted to Brian without +safeguard or surety. The unmade monarch was accompanied +by a guard "of twelve score horsemen," and on his arrival, +proceeded straight to the tent of his successor. Here +the rivals contended in courtesy, as they had often done +in arms, and when they separated, Brian, as Lord Paramount, +presented Malachy as many horses as he had horsemen in +his train when he came to visit him. This event happened +in the year 1001, when Brian was in his 60th and Malachy +in his 53rd year. There were present at the Assembly all +the princes and chiefs of the Irish, except the Prince +of Aileach, and the Lords of Oriel, Ulidia, Tyrowen and +Tyrconnell, who were equally unwilling to assist Malachy +or to acknowledge Brian. What is still more remarkable +is, the presence in this national assembly of the Danish +Lords of Dublin, Carmen (Wexford), Waterford and Cork, +whom Brian, at this time, was trying hard to conciliate +by gifts and alliances. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +BRIAN, ARD-RIGH--BATTLE OF CLONTARF. + +By the deposition of Malachy II., and the transfer of +supreme power to the long-excluded line of Heber, Brian +completed the revolution which Time had wrought in the +ancient Celtic constitution. He threw open the sovereignty +to every great family as a prize to be won by policy or +force, and no longer an inheritance to be determined by +usage and law. The consequences were what might have been +expected. After his death the O'Conors of the west competed +with both O'Neills and O'Briens for supremacy, and a chronic +civil war prepared the path for Strongbow and the Normans. +The term "Kings with Opposition" is applied to nearly all +who reigned between Brian's time and Roderick O'Conor's, +meaning, thereby, kings who were unable to secure general +obedience to their administration of affairs. + +During the remainder of his life, Brian wielded with +accustomed vigour the supreme power. The Hy-Nials were, +of course, his chief difficulty. In the year 1002, we +find him at Ballysadare, in Sligo, challenging their +obedience; in 1004, we find him at Armagh "offering twenty +ounces of gold on Patrick's altar," staying a week there +and receiving hostages; in 1005, he marched through +Connaught, crossed the river Erne at Ballyshannon, +proceeded through Tyrconnell and Tyrowen, crossed the +Bann into Antrim, and returned through Down and Dundalk, +"about Lammas," to Tara. In this and the two succeeding +years, by taking similar "circuits," he subdued Ulster, +without any pitched battle, and caused his authority to +be feared and obeyed nearly as much at the Giant's Causeway +as at the bridge of Athlone. In his own house of Kinkora, +Brian entertained at Christmas 3,000 guests, including +the Danish Lords of Dublin and Man, the fugitive Earl of +Kent, the young King of Scots, certain Welsh Princes, +and those of Munster, Ulster, Leinster and Connaught, +beside his hostages. At the same time Malachy, with the +shadow, of independence, kept his unfrequented court in +West-Meath, amusing himself with wine and chess and the +taming of unmanageable horses, in which last pursuit, +after his abdication, we hear of his breaking a limb. To +support the hospitalities of Kinkora, the tributes of +every province were rendered in kind at his gate, on the +first day of November. Connaught sent 800 cows and 800 +hogs; Ulster alone 500 cows, and as many hogs, and "sixty +loads of iron;" Leinster 300 bullocks, 300 hogs, and 300 +loads of iron; Ossory, Desmond, and the smaller territories, +in proportion; the Danes of Dublin 150 pipes of wine, and +the Danes of Limerick 365 of red wine. The Dalcassians, +his own people, were exempt from all tribute and taxation +--while the rest of Ireland was thus catering for Kinkora. + +The lyric Poets, in then nature courtiers and given to +enjoyment, flocked, of course, to this bountiful palace. +The harp was seldom silent night or day, the strains of +panegyric were as prodigal and incessant as the falling +of the Shannon over Killaloe. Among these eulogiums none +is better known than that beautiful allegory of the poet +McLaig, who sung that "a young lady of great beauty, +adorned with jewels and costly dress, might perform +unmolested a journey on foot through the Island, carrying +a straight wand, on the top of which might be a ring of +great value." The name of Brian was thus celebrated as +in itself a sufficient protection of life, chastity, and +property, in every corner of the Island. Not only the +Poets, but the more exact and simple Annalists applaud +Brian's administration of the laws, and his personal +virtues. He laboured hard to restore the Christian +civilization, so much defaced by two centuries of Pagan +warfare. To facilitate the execution of the laws he +enacted the general use of surnames, obliging the clans +to take the name of a common ancestor, with the addition +of "Mac," or "O"--words which signify "of," or "son of," +a forefather. Thus, the Northern Hy-Nials divided into +O'Neils, O'Donnells, McLaughlins, &c.; the Sil-Murray +took the name of O'Conor, and Brian's own posterity became +known as O'Briens. To justice he added munificence, and +of this the Churches and Schools of the entire Island +were the recipients. Many a desolate shrine he adorned, +many a bleak chancel he hung with lamps, many a long +silent tower had its bells restored. Monasteries were +rebuilt, and the praise of God was kept up perpetually +by a devoted brotherhood. Roads and bridges were repaired +and several strong stone fortresses were erected, to +command the passes of lakes and rivers. The vulnerable +points along the Shannon, and the Suir, and the lakes, +as far north as the Foyle, were secured by forts of clay +and stone. Thirteen "royal houses" in Munster alone are +said to have been by him restored to their original uses. +What increases our respect for the wisdom and energy thus +displayed, is the fact, that the author of so many +improvements, enjoyed but five short years of peace, +after his accession to the Monarchy. His administrative +genius must have been great when, after a long life of +warfare, he could apply himself to so many works of +internal improvement and external defence. + +In the five years of peace just spoken of (from 1005 to +1010), Brian lost by death his second wife, a son called +Donald, and his brother Marcan, called in the annals +"head of the clergy of Munster;" Hugh, the son of Mahon, +also died about the same period. His favourite son and +heir, Morrogh, was left, and Morrogh had, at this time, +several children. Other sons and daughters were also left +him, by each of his wives, so that there was every prospect +that the posterity for whom he had so long sought the +sovereignty of Ireland, would continue to possess it for +countless generations. But God disposes of what man only +proposes! + +The Northmen had never yet abandoned any soil on which +they had once set foot, and the policy of conciliation +which the veteran King adopted in his old age, was not +likely to disarm men of their stamp. Every intelligence +of the achievements of their race in other realms stimulated +them to new exertions and shamed them out of peaceful +submission. Rollo and his successors had, within Brian's +lifetime, founded in France the great dukedom of Normandy; +while Sweyn had swept irresistibly over England and Wales, +and prepared the way for a Danish dynasty. Pride and +shame alike appealed to their warlike compatriots not to +allow the fertile Hibernia to slip from their grasp, and +the great age of its long-dreaded king seemed to promise +them an easier victory than heretofore was possible. In +1012 we find Brian at Lough Foyle repelling a new Danish +invasion, and giving "freedom to Patrick's Churches;" +the same year, an army under Morrogh and another under +Malachy was similarly engaged in Leinster and Meath; the +former carrying his arms to Kilmainham, on the south side +of Dublin, the other to Howth, on the north; in this year +also "the Gentiles," or Pagan Northmen, made a descent +on Cork, and burned the city, but were driven off by the +neighbouring chiefs. + +The great event, however, of the long war which had now +been waged for full two hundred years between the men of +Erin and the men of Scandinavia was approaching. What +may fairly be called the last field day of Christianity +and Paganism on Irish soil, was near at hand. A taunt +thrown out over a game of chess, at Kinkora, is said to +have hastened this memorable day. Maelmurra, Prince of +Leinster, playing or advising on the game, made, or +recommended, a false move, upon which Morrogh, son of +Brian, observed, it was no wonder his friends, the Danes, +(to whom he owed his elevation,) were beaten at Glen-Mama, +if he gave them advice like that. Maelmurra, highly +incensed by this allusion--all the more severe for its +bitter truth--arose, ordered his horse, and rode away in +haste. Brian, when he heard it, despatched a messenger +after the indignant guest, begging him to return, but +Maelmurra was not to be pacified, and refused. We next +hear of him as concerting with certain Danish agents, +always open to such negotiations, those measures which +led to the great invasion of the year 1014, in which the +whole Scanian race, from Anglesea and Man, north to +Norway, bore an active share. + +These agents passing over to England and Man, among the +Scottish isles, and even to the Baltic, followed up the +design of an invasion on a gigantic scale. Suibne, Earl +of Man, entered warmly into the conspiracy, and sent the +"war arrow" through all those "out-islands" which obeyed +him as Lord. A yet more formidable potentate, Sigurd, of +the Orkneys, next joined the league. He was the fourteenth +Earl of Orkney of Norse origin, and his power was, at +this period, a balance to that of his nearest neighbour, +the King of Scots. He had ruled since the year 996, not +only over the Orkneys, Shetland, and Northern Hebrides, +but the coasts of Caithness and Sutherland, and even Ross +and Moray rendered him homage and tribute. Eight years +before the battle of Clontarf, Malcolm II., of Scotland, +had been feign to purchase his alliance, by giving him +his daughter in marriage, and the Kings of Denmark and +Norway treated with him on equal terms. The hundred +inhabited isles which lie between Yell and Man,--isles +which after their conversion contained "three hundred +churches and chapels"--sent in their contingents, to +swell the following of the renowned Earl Sigurd. As his +fleet bore southward from Kirkwall it swept the subject +coast of Scotland, and gathered from every lough its +galleys and its fighting men. The rendezvous was the Isle +of Man, where Suibne had placed his own forces under the +command of Brodar or Broderick, a famous leader against +the Britons of Wales and Cornwall. In conjunction with +Sigurd, the Manxmen sailed over to Ireland, where they +were joined, in the Liffey, by Carl Canuteson, Prince of +Denmark, at the head of 1400 champions clad in armour. +Sitrick of Dublin stood, or affected to stand, neutral +in these preparations, but Maelmurra of Leinster had +mustered all the forces he could command for such an +expedition. He was himself the head of the powerful family +of O'Byrne, and was followed in his alliances by others +of the descendants of Cahir More. O'Nolan and O'More, +with a truer sense of duty, fought on the patriotic side. + +Brian had not been ignorant of the exertions which were +made during the summer and winter of the year 1013, to +combine an overwhelming force against him. In his +exertions to meet force with force, it is gratifying to +every believer in human excellence to find him actively +supported by the Prince whom he had so recently deposed. +Malachy, during the summer of 1013, had, indeed, lost +two sons in skirmishes with Sitrick and Maelmurra, and +had, therefore, his own personal wrongs to avenge; but +he cordially co-operated with Brian before those +occurrences, and now loyally seconded all his movements. +The Lords of the southern half-kingdom--the Lords of +Desies, Fermoy, Inchiquin, Corca-Baskin, Kinalmeaky, +Kerry, and the Lords of Hy-Many and Hy-Fiachra, in +Connaught, hastened to his standard. O'More and O'Nolan +of Leinster, and Donald, Steward of Marr, in Scotland, +were the other chieftains who joined him before Clontarf, +besides those of his own kindred. None of the Northern +Hy-Nial took part in the battle--they had submitted to +Brian, but they never cordially supported him. + +Clontarf, the lawn or meadow of bulls, stretches along +the crescent-shaped north strand of Dublin harbour, from +the ancient salmon-weir at Ballyboght bridge, towards +the promontory of Howth. Both horns of the crescent were +held by the enemy, and communicated with his ships: the +inland point terminating in the roofs of Dublin, and the +seaward marked by the lion-like head of Howth. The meadow +land between sloped gently upward and inward from the +beach, and for the myriad duels which formed the ancient +battle, no field could present less positive vantage-ground +to combatants on either side. The invading force had +possession of both wings, so that Brian's army, which +had first encamped at Kilmainham, must have crossed the +Liffey higher up, and marched round by the present +Drumcondra in order to reach the appointed field. The +day seems to have been decided on by formal challenge, +for we are told Brian did not wish to fight in the last +week of Lent, but a Pagan oracle having assured victory +to Brodar, one of the northern leaders, if he engaged on +a Friday, the invaders insisted on being led to battle +on that day. And it so happened that, of all Fridays in +the year, it fell on the Friday before Easter: that awful +anniversary when the altars of the Church are veiled +throughout Christendom, and the dark stone is rolled to +the door of the mystic sepulchre. + +The forces on both sides could not have fallen short of +twenty thousand men. Under Carl Canuteson fought "the +ten hundred in armour," as they are called in the Irish +annals, or "the fourteen hundred," as they are called in +northern chronicles; under Brodar, the Manxmen and the +Danes of Anglesea and Wales; under Sigurd, the men of +Orkney and its dependencies; under Maelmurra, of Leinster, +his own tribe, and their kinsmen of Offally and Cullen +--the modern Kildare and Wicklow; under Brian's son, +Morrogh, were the tribes of Munster; under the command +of Malachy, those of Meath; under the Lord of Hy-Many, +the men of Connaught; and the Stewart of Marr had also +his command. The engagement was to commence with the +morning, so that, as soon as it was day, Brian, Crucifix +in hand, harangued his army. "On this day Christ died +for _you_!" was the spirit-stirring appeal of the venerable +Christian King. At the entreaty of his friends, after +this review, he retired to his tent, which stood at some +distance, and was guarded by three of his aids. Here, he +alternately prostrated himself before the Crucifix, or +looked out from the tent door upon the dreadful scene +that lay beyond. The sun rose to the zenith and took his +way towards the west, but still the roar of the battle +did not abate. Sometimes as their right hands swelled +with the sword-hilts, well-known warriors might be seen +falling back to bathe them, in a neighbouring spring, +and then rushing again into the melee. The line of the +engagement extended from the salmon-weir towards Howth, +not less than a couple of miles, so that it was impossible +to take in at a glance the probabilities of victory. Once +during the heat of the day one of his servants said to +Brian, "A vast multitude are moving towards us." "What +sort of people are they?" inquired Brian. "They are +green-naked people." said the attendant. "Oh!" replied +the king, "they are the Danes in armour!" The utmost fury +was displayed on all sides. Sigurd, Earl of Orkney, fell +by Thurlogh, grandson of Brian; and Anrud, one of the +captains of the men in armour, by the hand of his father, +Morrogh; but both father and son perished in the dreadful +conflict; Maelmurra of Leinster, with his lords, fell on +one side, and Conaing, nephew of Brian, O'Kelly, O'Heyne, +and the Stewart of Marr, on the other. Hardly a nobly-born +man escaped, or sought to escape. The ten hundred in +armour, and three thousand others of the enemy, with +about an equal number of the men of Ireland, lay dead +upon the field. One division of the enemy were, towards +sunset, retreating to their ships, when Brodar, the +Viking, perceiving the tent of Brian, standing apart, +without a guard, and the aged king on his knees before +the Crucifix, rushed in, cut him down with a single blow, +and then continued his flight. But he was overtaken by +the guard, and despatched by the most cruel death they +could devise. Thus, on the field of battle, in the act +of prayer, on the day of our Lord's Crucifixion, fell +the Christian King in the cause of native land and Holy +Cross. Many elegies have been dedicated to his memory, +and not the least noble of these strains belong to his +enemies. In death as in life he was still Brian "of the +tributes." + +The deceased hero took his place at once in history, +national and foreign. On hearing of his death, Maelmurra, +Archbishop of Armagh, came with his clergy to Swords, in +Meath, and conducted the body to Armagh, where, with his +son and nephew and the Lord of Desies, he was solemnly +interred "in a new tomb." The fame of the event went out +through all nations. The chronicles of Wales, of Scotland, +and of Man; the annals of Ademar and Marianus; the Sagas +of Denmark and the Isles all record the event. In "the +Orcades" of Thormodus Torfaeus, a wail over the defeat +of the Islesmen is heard, which they call + + "Orkney's woe and Randver's bane." + +The Norse settlers in Caithness saw terrific visions of +Valhalla "the day after the battle." In the NIALA SAGA +a Norwegian prince is introduced as asking after his men, +and the answer is, "they were all killed." Malcolm of +Scotland rejoiced in the defeat and death of his dangerous +and implacable neighbour. "Brian's battle," as it is +called in the Sagas, was, in short, such a defeat as +prevented any general northern combination for the +subsequent invasion of Ireland. Not that the country was +entirely free from their attacks till the end of the +eleventh century, but from the day of Clontarf forward, +the long cherished Northern idea of a conquest of Ireland, +seems to have been gloomily abandoned by that indomitable +people. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +EFFECTS OF THE RIVALRY OF BRIAN AND MALACHY ON THE +ANCIENT CONSTITUTION. + +If a great battle is to be accounted lost or won, as it +affects principles rather than reputations, then Brian +lost at Clontarf. The leading ideas of his long and +political life were, evidently, centralization and an +hereditary monarchy. To beat back foreign invasion, to +conciliate and to enlist the Irish-born Danes under his +standard, were preliminary steps. For Morrogh, his +first-born, and for Morrogh's descendants, he hoped to +found an hereditary kinship after the type universally +copied throughout Christendom. He was not ignorant of +what Alfred had done for England, Harold for Norway, +Charlemagne for France, and Otho for Germany; and it was +inseparable from his imperial genius to desire to reign +in his posterity, long after his own brief term of sway +should be for ever ended. A new centre of royal authority +should be established on the banks of the great middle +river of the island--itself the best bond of union, as +it was the best highway of intercourse; the Dalgais +dynasty should there flourish for ages, and the descendants +of Brian of the Tributes, through after centuries, eclipse +the glory of the descendants of Nial of the Hostages. It +is idle enough to call the projector of such a change an +usurper and a revolutionist. Usurper he clearly was not, +since he was elevated to power by the action of the old +legitimate electoral principle; revolutionist he was not, +because his design was defeated at Clontarf, in the death +of his eldest son and grandson. Not often have three +generations of Princes of the same family been cut off +on the same field; yet at Clontarf it so happened. Hence, +when Brian fell, and his heir with him, and his heir's +heir, the projected Dalgais dynasty, like the Royal Oak +at Adair, was cut down and its very roots destroyed. For +a new dynasty to be left suddenly without indisputable +heirs is ruinous to its pretensions and partizans. And +in this the event of the battle proved destructive to +the Celtic Constitution. Not from the Anglo-Norman +invasion, but from the day of Clontarf we may date the +ruin of the old electoral monarchy. The spell of ancient +authority was effectually broken and a new one was to be +established. Time, which was indispensable, was not given. +No Prince of the blood of Brian succeeded immediately to +himself. On Clontarf Morrogh, and Morrogh's heir fell, +in the same day and hour. The other sons of Brian had no +direct title to the succession, and, naturally enough, +the deposed Malachy resumed the rank of monarch, without +the consent of Munster, but _with_ the approval of all +the Princes, who had witnessed with ill-concealed envy +the sudden ascendancy of the sons of Kennedy. While McLaig +was lamenting for Brian, by the cascade of Killaloe, the +Laureat of Tara, in an elegy over a lord of Breffni, was +singing-- + + "Joyful are the race of Conn after Brian's + Fall, in the battle of Clontarf." + +A new dynasty is rarely the work of one able man. Designed +by genius, it must be built up by a succession of politic +Princes, before it becomes an essential part of the +framework of the State. So all history teaches--and Irish +history, after the death of Brian, very clearly illustrates +that truth. Equally true is it that when a nation breaks +up of itself, or from external forces, and is not soon +consolidated by a conqueror, the most natural result is +the aggrandizement of a few great families. Thus it was +in Rome when Julius was assassinated, and in Italy, when +the empire of the west fell to pieces of its own weight. +The kindred of the late sovereign will be sure to have +a party, the chief innovators will have a party, and +there is likely to grow up a third or moderate party. So +it fell out in Ireland. The Hy-Nials of the north, deprived +of the succession, rallied about the Princes of Aileach +as their head. Meath, left crownless, gave room to the +ambition of the sons of Malachy, who, under the name of +O'Melaghlin, took provincial rank. Ossory, like Issachar, +long groaning beneath the burdens of Tara and of Cashel, +cruelly revenged on the Dalgais, returning from Clontarf, +the subjection to which Mahon and Brian had forcibly +reduced that borderland. The Eugenians of Desmond withdrew +in disgust from the banner of Donogh O'Brien, because he +had openly proclaimed his hostility to the alternate +succession, and left his surviving clansmen an easy prey +to the enraged Ossorians. Leinster soon afterwards passed +from the house of O'Byrne to that of McMurrogh. The +O'Briens maintained their dominant interest in the south; +as, after many local struggles, the O'Conors did in the +west. For a hundred and fifty years, after the death of +Malachy II., the history of Ireland is mainly the history +of these five families, O'Neils, O'Melaghlins, McMurroghs, +O'Briens and O'Conors. And for ages after the Normans +enter on the scene, the same provincialized spirit, the +same family ambitions, feuds, hates, and coalitions, with +some exceptional passages, characterize the whole history. +Not that there will be found any want of heroism, or +piety, or self-sacrifice, or of any virtue or faculty, +necessary to constitute a state, save and except the +_power of combination_, alone. Thus, judged by what came +after him, and what was happening in the world abroad, +Brian's design to re-centralize the island, seems the +highest dictate of political wisdom, in the condition to +which the Norwegian and Danish wars had reduced it, +previous to his elevation to the monarchy. Malachy II. +--of the events of whose second reign some mention will +be made hereafter--held the sovereignty after Brian's +death, until the year 1023, when he died an edifying +death in one of the islands of Lough Ennel, near the +present Mullingar. He is called, in the annals of +Clonmacnoise, "the last king of Ireland, of Irish blood, +that had the crown." An ancient quatrain, quoted by +Geoffrey Keating, is thus literally translated: + + "After the happy Melaghlin + Son of Donald, son of Donogh, + Each noble king ruled his own tribe + But Erin owned no sovereign Lord." + +The annals of the eleventh and twelfth centuries curiously +illustrate the workings of this "anarchical +constitution"--to employ a phrase first applied to the +Germanic Confederation. "After Malachy's death," says +the quaint old Annalist of Clonmacnoise, "this kingdom +was without a king 20 years, during which time the realm +was governed by two learned men; the one called Con +O'Lochan, a well learned temporal man, and chief poet of +Ireland; the other Corcran Claireach, a devout and holy +man that was anchorite of all Ireland, whose most abiding +was at Lismore. The land was governed like a free state, +and not like a monarchy by them." Nothing can show the +headlessness of the Irish Constitution in the eleventh +century clearer than this interregnum. No one Prince +could rally strength enough to be elected, so that two +Arbitrators, an illustrious Poet and a holy Priest, were +appointed to take cognizance of national causes. The +associating together of a Priest and a layman, a southerner +and a northerner, is conclusive proof that the bond of +Celtic unity, frittered away during the Danish period, +was never afterwards entirely restored. Con O'Lochan +having been killed in Teffia, after a short jurisdiction, +the holy Corcran exercised his singular jurisdiction, +until his decease, which happened at Lismore, (A.D. +1040.) His death produced a new paroxysm of anarchy, out +of which a new organizer arose among the tribes of +Leinster. This was Dermid, son of Donogh, who died (A.D. +1005), when Dermid must have been a mere infant, as he +does not figure in the annals till the year 1032, and +the acts of young Princes are seldom overlooked in Gaelic +Chronicles. He was the first McMurrogh who became King +of Leinster, that royalty having been in the O'Byrne +family, until the son of Maelmurra, of Clontarf, was +deposed by O'Neil in 1035, and retired to a monastery in +Cologne, where he died in 1052. In 1036 or 1037 Dermid +captured Dublin and Waterford, married the grand-daughter +of Brian, and by '41 was strong enough to assume the rank +of ruler of the southern half-kingdom. This dignity he +held with a strong and warlike hand thirty years, when +he fell in battle, at Ova, in Meath. He must have been +at that time full threescore years and ten. He is described +by the elegiac Bards as of "ruddy complexion," "with +teeth laughing in danger," and possessing all the virtues +of a warrior-king; "whose death," adds the lamentation, +"brought scarcity of peace" with it, so that "there will +not be peace," "there will not be armistice," between +Meath and Leinster. It may well be imagined that every +new resort to the two-third test, in the election of +Ard-Righ, should bring "scarcity of peace" to Ireland. +We can easily understand the ferment of hope, fear, +intrigue, and passion, which such an occasion caused +among the great rival families. What canvassing there +was in Kinkora and Cashel, at Cruachan and Aileach, and +at Fernamore! What piecing and patching of interests, +what libels on opposing candidates, what exultation in +the successful, what discontent in the defeated camp! + +The successful candidate for the southern half-kingdom +after Dermid's death was Thorlogh, grandson of Brian, +and foster-son of the late ruler. In his reign, which +lasted thirty-three years, the political fortunes of his +house revived. He died in peace at Kinkora (A.D. 1087), +and the war of succession again broke out. The rival +candidates at this period were Murrogh O'Brien, son of +the late king, whose ambition was to complete the design +of Brian, and Donald, Prince of Aileach, the leader of +the Northern Hy-Nials. Two abler men seldom divided a +country by their equal ambition. Both are entered in the +annals as "Kings of Ireland," but it is hard to discover +that, during all the years of their contest, either of +them submitted to the other. To chronicle all the incidents +of the struggle would take too much space here; and, as +was to be expected, a third party profited most by it; +the West came in, in the person of O'Conor, to lord it +over both North and South, and to add another element to +the dynastic confusion. + +This brief abstract of our civil affairs after the death +of Brian, presents us with the extraordinary spectacle +of a country without a constitution working out the +problem of its stormy destiny in despite of all internal +and external dangers. Everything now depended on individual +genius and energy; nothing on system, usage, or +prescription. Each leading family and each province +became, in turn, the head of the State. The supreme title +seems to have been fatal for a generation to the family +that obtained it, for in no case is there a lineal descent +of the crown. The prince of Aileach or Kinkora naturally +preferred his permanent patrimony to an uncertain tenure +of Tara; an office not attached to a locality became, of +course, little more than an arbitrary title. Hence, the +titular King of Ireland might for one lifetime reign by +the Shannon, in the next by the Bann, in a third, by +Lough Corrib. The supremacy, thus came to be considered +a merely personal appurtenance, was carried about in the +old King's tent, or on the young King's crupper, +deteriorating and decaying by every transposition it +underwent. Herein, we have the origin of Irish disunion +with all its consequences, good, bad, and indifferent. + +Are we to blame Brian for this train of events against +which he would have provided a sharp remedy in the +hereditary principle? Or, on the other hand, are we to +condemn Malachy, the possessor of legitimate power, if +he saw in that remedy only the ambition of an aspiring +family already grown too great? Theirs was in fact the +universal struggle of reform and conservatism; the reformer +and the heirs of his work were cut off on Clontarf; the +abuses of the elective principle continued unrestrained +by ancient salutary usage and prejudice, and the land +remained a tempting prey to such Adventurers, foreign or +native, as dare undertake to mould power out of its +chaotic materials. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +LATTER DAYS OF THE NORTHMEN IN IRELAND. + +Though Ireland dates the decay of Scandinavian power from +Good Friday, 1014, yet the North did not wholly cease to +send forth its warriors, nor were the shores of the +Western Island less tempting to them than before. The +second year after the battle of Clontarf, Canute founded +his Danish dynasty in England, which existed in no little +splendour during thirty-seven years. The Saxon line was +restored by Edward "the Confessor;" in the forty-third +year of the century, only to be extinguished for ever by +the Norman conquest twenty-three years later. Scotland, +during the same years was more than once subject to +invasion from the same ancient enemy. Malcolm II., and +the brave usurper Macbeth, fought several engagements +with the northern leaders, and generally with brilliant +success. By a remarkable coincidence, the Scottish +chronicles also date the decadence of Danish power on +their coasts from 1014, though several engagements were +fought in Scotland after that year. + +Malachy II. had promptly followed up the victory of +Clontarf by the capture of Dublin, the destruction of +its fort, and the exemplary chastisement of the tribes +of Leinster, who had joined Maelmurra as allies of the +Danes. Sitrick himself seems to have eluded the suspicions +and vengeance of the conquerors by a temporary exile, as +we find in the succession of the Dublin Vikings, "one +Hyman, an usurper," entered as ruling "part of a year +while Sitrick was in banishment." His family interest, +however, was strong among the native Princes, and whatever +his secret sympathies may have been, he had taken no +active part against them in the battle of Clontarf. By +his mother, the Lady Gormley of Offally, he was a half +O'Conor; by marriage he was son-in-law of Brian, and +uterine brother of Malachy. After his return to Dublin, +when, in 1018, Brian, son of Maelmurra, fell prisoner +into his hands, as if to clear himself of any lingering +suspicion of an understanding with that family, he caused +his eyes to be put out--a cruel but customary punishment +in that age. This act procured for him the deadly enmity +of the warlike mountaineers of Wicklow, who, in the year +1022, gave him a severe defeat at Delgany. Even this he +outlived, and died seven years later, the acknowledged +lord of his town and fortress, forty years after his +first accession to that title. He was succeeded by his +son, grandson, and great-grandson during the remaining +half century. + +The kingdom of Leinster, in consequence of the defeat of +Maelmurra, the incapacity of Brian, and the destruction +of other claimants of the same family, passed to the +family of McMurrogh, another branch of the same ancestry. +Dermid, the first and most distinguished King of Leinster +of this house, took Waterford (A.D. 1037), and so reduced +its strength, that we find its hosts no longer formidable +in the field. Those of Limerick continued their homage +to the house of Kinkora, while the descendants of Sitrick +recognised Dermid of Leinster as their sovereign. In +short, all the Dano-Irish from thenceforward began to +knit themselves kindly to the soil, to obey the neighbouring +Princes, to march with them to battle, and to pursue the +peaceful calling of merchants, upon sea. The only peculiarly +_Danish_ undertaking we hear of again, in our Annals, +was the attempt of a united fleet, equipped by Dublin, +Wexford, and Waterford, in the year 1088, to retake Cork +from the men of Desmond, when they were driven with severe +loss to their ships. Their few subsequent expeditions +were led abroad, into the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, or +Wales, where they generally figure as auxiliaries or +mercenaries in the service of local Princes. They appear +in Irish battles only as contingents to the native +armies--led by their own leaders and recognized as a +separate, but subordinate force. In the year 1073, the +Dublin Danes did homage to the monarch Thorlogh, and from +1095, until his death (A.D. 1119), they recognized no +other lord but Murkertach More O'Brien; this king, at +their own request, had also nominated one of his family +as Lord of the Danes and Welsh of the Isle of Man. + +The wealth of these Irish-Danes, before and after the +time of Brian, may be estimated by the annual tribute +which Limerick paid to that Prince--a pipe of red wine +for every day in the year. In the year 1029, Olaf, son +of Sitrick, of Dublin, being taken prisoner by O'Regan, +the Lord of East-Meath, paid for his ransom--"twelve +hundred cows, seven score British horses, three score +ounces of gold!" sixty ounces of white silver as his +"fetter-ounce;" the sword of Carlus, besides the usual +legal fees, for recording these profitable formalities. + +Being now Christians, they also began to found and endow +churches, with the same liberality with which their Pagan +fathers had once enriched the temples of Upsala and +Trondheim. The oldest religious foundations in the +seaports they possessed owe their origin to them; but +even as Christians, they did not lose sight of their +nationality. They contended for, and obtained Dano-Irish +Bishops, men of their own race, speaking their own speech, +to preside over the sees of Dublin, Waterford, and +Limerick. When the Irish Synods or Primates asserted over +them any supervision which they were unwilling to +admit--except in the case of St. Malachy--they usually +invoked the protection of the See of Canterbury, which, +after the Norman conquest of England, became by far the +most powerful Archbishopric in either island. + +In the third quarter of this century there arose in the +Isle of Man a fortunate leader, who may almost be called +the last of the sea kings. This was Godard _Crovan_ (the +white-handed), son of an Icelandic Prince, and one of +the followers of Harald Harfagar and Earl Tosti, in their +invasion of Northumbria (A.D. 1066). Returning from the +defeat of his chiefs, Godard saw and seized upon Man as +the centre of future expeditions of his own, in the course +of which he subdued the Hebrides, divided them with the +gallant Somerled (ancestor of the MacDonalds of the +Isles), and established his son Lagman (afterwards put +to death by King Magnus _Barefoot_) as his viceroy in +the Orkneys and Shetlands. The weakened condition of the +Danish settlement at Dublin attracted his ambition, and +where he entered as a mediator he remained as a master. +In the succession of the Dublin Vikings he is assigned +a reign of ten years, and his whole course of conquest +seems to have occupied some twenty years (A.D. 1077 to +1098). At length the star of this Viking of the Irish +sea paled before the mightier name of a King of Norway, +whose more brilliant ambition had a still shorter span. +The story of this _Magnus_ (called, it is said, from his +adoption of the Scottish kilt, Magnus _Barefoot_) forms +the eleventh Saga in "the Chronicles of the Kings of +Norway." He began to reign in the year 1093, and soon +after undertook an expedition to the south, "with many +fine men, and good shipping." Taking the Orkneys on his +way, he sent their Earls prisoners to Norway, and placed +his own son, Sigurd, in their stead. He overran the +Hebrides, putting Lagman, son of Godard Crovan, to death. +He spared only "the holy Island," as Iona was now called, +even by the Northmen, and there, in after years, his own +bones were buried. The Isles of Man and Anglesea, and +the coast of Wales, shared the same fate, and thence he +retraced his course to Scotland, where, borne in his +galley across the Isthmus of Cantyre, to fulfil an old +prophecy, he claimed possession of the land on both sides +of Loch Awe. It was while he wintered in the Southern +Hebrides, according to the Saga, that he contracted his +son Sigurd with the daughter of Murkertach O'Brien, called +by the Northmen "Biadmynia." In summer he sailed homeward, +and did not return southward till the ninth year of his +reign (A.D. 1102), when his son, Sigurd, had come of age, +and bore the title of "King of the Orkneys and Hebrides." +"He sailed into the west sea," says the Saga, "with the +finest men who could be got in Norway. All the powerful +men of the country followed him, such as Sigurd Hranesson, +and his brother Ulf, Vidkunner Johnsson, Dag Eliffsson, +Sorker of Sogn, Eyvind Olboge, the king's marshal, and +many other great men." On the intelligence of this fleet +having arrived in Irish waters, according to the annals, +Murkertach and his allies marched in force to Dublin, +where, however, Magnus "made peace with them for one +year," and Murkertach "gave his daughter to Sigurd, with +many jewels and gifts." That winter Magnus spent with +Murkertach at Kinkora, and "towards spring both kings +went westward with their army all the way to Ulster." +This was one of those annual visitations which kings, +whose authority was not yet established, were accustomed +to make. The circuit, as usual, was performed in about +six weeks, after which the Irish monarch returned home, +and Magnus went on board his fleet at Dublin, to return +to Norway. According to the Norse account he landed again +on the coast of Ulidia (Down), where he expected "cattle +for ship-provision," which Murkertach had promised to +send him, but the Irish version would seem to imply that +he went on shore to seize the cattle perforce. It certainly +seems incredible that Murkertach should send cattle to +the shore of Strangford Lough, from the pastures of +Thomond, when they might be more easily driven to Dublin, +or the mouth of the Boyne. "The cattle had not made their +appearance on the eve of Bartholomew's Mass" (August +23rd, A.D. 1103), says the Saga, so "when the sun rose +in the sky, King Magnus himself went on shore with the +greater part of his men. King Magnus," continues the +scald, "had a helmet on his head; a red shield, in which +was inlaid a gilded lion; and was girt with the sword +Legbiter, of which the hilt was of ivory, and the hand +grip wound about with gold thread; and the sword was +extremely sharp. In his hand he had a short spear, and +a red silk short cloak over his coat, on which both before +and behind was embroidered a lion, in yellow silk; and +all men acknowledged that they had never seen a brisker, +statelier man." A dust cloud was seen far inland, and +the Northmen fell into order of battle. It proved, however, +by their own account to be the messengers with the promised +supply of cattle; but, after they came up, and while +returning to the shore, they were violently assailed on +all sides by the men of Down. The battle is described, +with true Homeric vigour, by Sturleson. "The Irish," he +says, "shot boldly; and although they fell in crowds, +there came always two in place of one." Magnus, with most +of his nobles, were slain on the spot, but Vidkunner +Johnsson escaped to the shipping, "with the King's banner +and the sword Legbiter." And the Saga of Magnus Barefoot +concludes thus: "Now when King Sigurd heard that his +father had fallen, he set off immediately, leaving the +Irish King's daughter behind, and proceeded in autumn, +with the whole fleet directly to Norway." The annalists +of Ulster barely record the fact, that "Magnus, King of +Lochlan and the Isles, was slain by the Ulidians, with +a slaughter of his people about him, while on a predatory +excursion." They place the event in the year 1104. + +Our account with the Northmen may here be closed. Borne +along by the living current of events, we leave them +behind, high up on the remoter channels of the stream. +Their terrible ravens shall flit across our prospect no +more. They have taken wing to their native north, where +they may croak yet a little while over the cold and +crumbling altars of Odin and Asa Thor. The bright light +of the Gospel has penetrated even to those last haunts +of Paganism, and the fierce but not ungenerous race, with +which we have been so long familiar, begin to change +their natures under its benign influence. + +Although both the scalds and chroniclers of the North +frequently refer to Ireland as a favourite theatre of +their heroes, we derive little light from those of their +works which have yet been made public. All connection +between the two races had long ceased, before the first +scholars of the North began to investigate the earlier +annals of their own country, and then they were content +with a very vague and general knowledge of the western +Island, for which their ancestors had so, fiercely +contended throughout so many generations. The oldest +maps, known in Scandinavia, exhibit a mere outline of +the Irish coast, with a few points in the interior; +fiords, with Norse names, are shown, answering to Loughs +Foyle, Swilly, Larne, Strang_ford_, and Carling_ford_; +the Provincial lines of Ulster and of Connaught are rudely +traced; and the situation of Enniskillen, Tara, Dublin, +Glendaloch, Water_ford_, Limer_ick_, and Swer_wick_, +accurately laid down. It is thought that all those places +ending in _wick_ or _ford_, on the Irish map, are of +Scandinavian origin; as well as the names of the islets, +Skerries, Lambey, and Saltees. Many noble families, as +the Plunkets, McIvers, Archbolds, Harolds, Stacks, +Skiddies, Cruises, and McAuliffes, are derived from the +same origin. + +During the contest we have endeavoured to describe, three +hundred and ten years had passed since the warriors of +Lochlin first landed on the shores of Erin. Ten generations, +according to the measured span of adult life, were born, +and trained to arms and marshalled in battle, since the +enemy, "powerful on sea," first burst upon the shield-shaped +Isle of Saints. At the close of the eighth century we +cast back a grateful retrospect on the Christian ages of +Ireland. Can we do so now, at the close of the eleventh? +Alas! far from it. Bravely and in the main successfully +as the Irish have borne themselves, they come out of that +cruel, treacherous, interminable war with many rents and +stains in that vesture of innocence in which we saw them +arrayed at the close of their third Christian century. +Odin has not conquered, but all the worst vices of +warfare--its violence, its impiety, discontent, +self-indulgence, and contempt for the sweet paths of +peace and mild counsels of religion--these must and did +remain, long after Dane and Norwegian have for ever +disappeared! + + + + +BOOK III. + +WAR OF SUCCESSION. + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE FORTUNES OF THE FAMILY OF BRIAN. + +The last scene of the Irish monarchy, before it entered +on the anarchical period, was not destitute of an +appropriate grandeur. It was the death-bed scene of the +second Malachy, the rival, ally, and successor of the +great Brian. After the eventful day of Clontarf he resumed +the monarchy, without opposition, and for eight years he +continued in its undisturbed enjoyment. The fruitful +land of Meath again gave forth its abundance, unscourged +by the spoiler, and beside its lakes and streams the +hospitable Ard-Righ had erected, or restored, three +hundred fortified houses, where, as his poets sung, +shelter was freely given to guests from the king of the +elements. His own favourite residence was at Dunnasciath +("the fort of shields"), in the north-west angle of Lough +Ennel, in the present parish of Dysart. In the eighth +year after Clontarf--the summer of 1022--the Dublin Danes +once again ventured on a foray into East-Meath, and the +aged monarch marched to meet them. At Athboy he encountered +the enemy, and drove them, routed and broken, out of the +ancient mensal land of the Irish kings. + +Thirty days after that victory he was called on to confront +the conqueror of all men, even Death. He had reached the +age of seventy-three, and he prepared to meet his last +hour with the zeal and humility of a true Christian. To +Dunnasciath repaired Amalgaid, Archbishop of Armagh, the +Abbots of Clonmacnoise and of Durrow, with a numerous +train of the clergy. For greater solitude, the dying king +was conveyed into an island of the lake opposite his +fort--then called Inis-Cro, now Cormorant Island--and +there, "after intense penance," on the fourth of the +Nones of September precisely, died Malachy, son of Donald, +son of Donogh, in the fond language of the bards, "the +pillar of the dignity and nobility of the western world:" +and "the seniors of all Ireland sung masses, hymns, +psalms, and canticles for the welfare of his soul." + +"This," says the old Translator of the Clonmacnoise +Annals, "was the last king of Ireland of Irish blood, +that had the crown; yet there were seven kings after +without crown, before the coming in of the English." Of +these seven subsequent kings we are to write under the +general title of "the War of Succession." They are called +Ard-Righ _go Fresabra_, that is, kings opposed, or +unrecognised, by certain tribes, or Provinces. For it +was essential to the completion of the title, as we have +before seen, that when the claimant was of Ulster, he +should have Connaught and Munster, or Leinster and Munster, +in his obedience: in other words, he should be able to +command the allegiance of two-thirds of his suffragans. +If of Munster, he should be equally potent in the other +Provinces, in order to rank among the recognised kings +of Erin. Whether some of the seven kings subsequent to +Malachy II., who assumed the title, were not fairly +entitled to it, we do not presume to say; it is our +simpler task to narrate the incidents of that brilliant +war of succession, which occupies almost all the interval +between the Danish and Anglo-Norman invasions. The chaunt +of the funeral Mass of Malachy was hardly heard upon +Lough Ennel, when Donogh O'Brien despatched his agents, +claiming the crown from the Provincial Princes. He was +the eldest son of Brian by his second marriage, and his +mother was an O'Conor, an additional source of strength +to him, in the western Province. It had fallen to the +lot of Donogh, and his elder brother, Teigue or Thaddeus, +to conduct the remnant of the Dalcassians from Clontarf +to their home. Marching through Ossory, by the great +southern road, they were attacked in their enfeebled +state by the lord of that brave little border territory, +on whom Brian's hand had fallen with heavy displeasure. +Wounded as many of them were, they fought their way +desperately towards Cashel, leaving 150 men dead in one +of their skirmishes. Of all who had left the Shannon side +to combat with the enemy, but 850 men lived to return to +their homes. + +No sooner had they reached Kinkora, than a fierce dispute +arose, between the friends of Teigue and Donogh, as to +which should reign over Munster. A battle ensued, with +doubtful result, but by the intercession of the Clergy +this unnatural feud was healed, and the brothers reigned +conjointly for nine years afterwards, until Teigue fell +in an engagement in Ely (Queen's County), as was charged +and believed, by the machinations of his colleague and +brother. Thorlogh, son of Teigue, was the foster-son, +and at this time the guest or hostage of Dermid of +Leinster, the founder of the McMurrogh family, which had +now risen into the rank justly forfeited by the traitor +Maelmurra. When he reached man's age he married the +daughter of Dermid, and we shall soon hear of him again +asserting in Munster the pretensions of the eldest +surviving branch of the O'Brien family. + +The death of his brother and of Malachy within the same +year, proved favourable to the ambition of Donogh O'Brien. +All Munster submitted to his sway; Connaught was among +the first to recognise his title as Ard-Righ. Ossory and +Leinster, though unwillingly, gave in their adhesion. +But Meath refused to recognise him, and placed its +government in commission, in the hands of Con O'Lochan, +the arch-poet, and Corcran, the priest, already more than +once mentioned. The country, north of Meath, obeyed +Flaherty O'Neil, of Aileach, whose ambition, as well as +that of all his house, was to restore the northern +supremacy, which had continued unbroken, from the fourth +to the ninth century. This Flaherty was a vigorous, able, +and pious Prince, who held stoutly on to the northern +half-kingdom. In the year 1030 he made the frequent but +adventurous pilgrimage to Rome, from which he is called, +in the pedigree of his house, _an Trostain_, or the +cross-bearer. + +The greatest obstacle, however, to the complete ascendency +of Donogh, arose in the person of his nephew, now advanced +to manhood. Thorlogh O'Brien possessed much of the courage +and ability of his grandfather, and he had at his side, +a faithful and powerful ally in his foster-father, Dermid, +of Leinster. Rightly or wrongly, on proof or on suspicion, +he regarded his uncle as his father's murderer, and he +pursued his vengeance with a skill and constancy worthy +of _Hamlet_. At the time of his father's death, he was +a mere lad--in his fourteenth year. But, as he grew +older, he accompanied his foster-father in all his +expeditions, and rapidly acquired a soldier's fame. By +marriage with Dervorgoil, daughter of the Lord of Ossory, +he strengthened his influence at the most necessary point; +and what, with so good a cause and such fast friends as +he made in exile, his success against his uncle is little +to be wondered at. Leinster and Ossory, which had +temporarily submitted to Donogh's claim, soon found good +pretexts for refusing him tribute, and a border war, +marked by all the usual atrocities, raged for several +successive seasons. The contest, is relieved, however, +of its purely civil character, by the capture of Waterford, +still Danish, in 1037, and of Dublin, in 1051. On this +occasion, Dermid, of Leinster, bestowed the city on his +son Morrogh (grandfather of Strongbow's ally), to whom +the remnant of its inhabitants, as well as their kinsmen +in Man, submitted for the time with what grace they could. + +The position of Donogh O'Brien became yearly weaker. +His rival had youth, energy, and fortune on his side. +The Prince of Connaught finally joined him, and thus, a +league was formed, which overcame all opposition. In the +year 1058, Donogh received a severe defeat at the base +of the Galtees; and although he went into the house of +O'Conor the same year, and humbly submitted to him, it +only postponed his day of reckoning. Three years after +O'Conor took Kinkora, and Dermid, of Leinster, burned +Limerick, and took hostages as far southward as Saint +Brendan's hill (Tralee). The next year Donogh O'Brien, +then fully fourscore years of age, weary of life and of +the world, took the cross-staff, and departed on a +pilgrimage to Rome, where he died soon after, in the +monastery of St. Stephen. It is said by some writers that +Donogh brought with him to Rome and presented to the +Pope, Alexander II., the crown of his father--and from +this tradition many theories and controversies have +sprung. It is not unlikely that a deposed monarch should +have carried into exile whatever portable wealth he still +retained, nor that he should have presented his crown to +the Sovereign Pontiff before finally quitting the world. +But as to conferring with the crown, the sovereignty of +which it was once an emblem, neither reason nor religion +obliges us to believe any such hypothesis. + +Dermid of Leinster, upon the banishment of Donogh, son +of Brian (A.D. 1063), became actual ruler of the southern +half-kingdom and nominal Ard-Righ, "with opposition." +The two-fold antagonism to this Prince, came, as might +be expected from Conor, son of Malachy, the head of the +southern Hy-Nial dynasty, and from the chiefs of the +elder dynasty of the North. Thorlogh O'Brien, now King +of Cashel, loyally repaid, by his devoted adherence, the +deep debt he owed in his struggles and his early youth +to Dermid. There are few instances in our Annals of a +more devoted friendship than existed between these brave +and able Princes through all the changes of half a century. +No one act seems to have broken the life-long intimacy +of Dermid and Thorlogh; no cloud ever came between them; +no mistrust, no distrust. Rare and precious felicity of +human experience! How many myriads of men have sighed +out their souls in vain desire for that best blessing +which Heaven can bestow, a true, unchanging, unsuspecting +friend! + +To return: Conor O'Melaghlin could not see, without +deep-seated discontent, a Prince of Leinster assume the +rank which his father and several of his ancestors had +held. A border strife between Meath and Leinster arose +not unlike that which had been waged a few years before +for the deposition of Donogh, between Leinster and Ossory +on the one part, and Munster on the other. Various were +the encounters, whose obscure details are seldom preserved +to us. But the good fortune of Dermid prevailed in all, +until, in the year 1070, he lost Morrogh, his heir, by +a natural death at Dublin, and Gluniarn, another son, +fell in battle with the men of Meath. Two years later, +in the battle of Ova, in the same territory, and against +the same enemy, Dermid himself fell, with the lord of +Forth, and a great host of Dublin Danes and Leinster men. +The triumph of the son of Malachy, and the sorrow and +anger of Leinster, were equally great. The bards have +sung the praise of Dermid in strains which history accepts: +they praise his ruddy aspect and laughing teeth; they +remember how he upheld the standard of war, and none +dared contend with him in battle; they denounce vengeance +on Meath as soon as his death-feast is over--a vengeance +too truly pursued. + +As a picture of the manners and habits of thought in +those tunes, the fate of Conor, son of Melaghlin, and +its connection with the last illness and death of Thorlogh +O'Brien, are worthy of mention. Conor was treacherously +slain, the year after the battle of Ova, in a parley with +his own nephew, though the parley was held under the +protection of the _Bachall-Isa_, or Staff, of Christ, +the most revered relic of the Irish Church. After his +death, his body was buried in the great Church of +Clonmacnoise, in his own patrimony. But Thorlogh O'Brien +perhaps, from his friendship for Dermid, carried off his +head, as the head of an enemy, to Kinkora. When it was +placed in his presence in his palace, a mouse ran out +from the dead man's head, and under the king's mantle, +which occasioned him such a fright that he grew suddenly +sick, his hair fell off, and his life was despaired of. +It was on Good Friday that the buried head was carried +away, and on Easter Sunday, it was tremblingly restored +again, with two rings of gold as a peace offering to the +Church. Thus were God and Saint Kieran vindicated. +Thorlogh O'Brien slowly regained his strength, though +Keating, and the authors he followed, think he was never +the same man again, after the fright he received from +the head of Conor O'Melaghlin. He died peaceably and full +of penitence, at Kinkora, on the eve of the Ides of July, +A.D. 1086, after severe physical suffering. He was in +the 77th year of his age, the 32nd of his rule over +Munster, and the 13th--since the death of Dermid of +Leinster--in his actual sovereignty of the southern half, +and nominal rule of the whole kingdom. He was succeeded +by his son Murkertach, or Murtogh, afterwards called +_More_, or the great. + +We have thus traced to the third generation the political +fortunes of the family of Brian, which includes so much +of the history of those times. That family had become, +and was long destined to remain, the first in rank and +influence in the southern half-kingdom. But internal +discord in a great house, as in a great state, is fatal +to the peaceable transmission of power. That "acknowledged +right of birth" to which a famous historian attributes +"the peaceful successions" of modern Europe, was too +little respected in those ages, in many countries of +Christendom--and had no settled prescription in its favour +among the Irish. Primogeniture and the whole scheme of +feudal dependence seems to have been an essential +preparative for modern civilization: but as Ireland had +escaped the legions of Rome, so she existed without the +circle of feudal organization. When that system did at +length appear upon her soil it was embodied in an invading +host, and patriot zeal could discern nothing good, nothing +imitable in the laws and customs of an enemy, whose armed +presence in the land was an insult to its inhabitants. +Thus did our Island twice lose the discipline which +elsewhere laid the foundation of great states: once in +the Roman, and again in the Feudal era. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE CONTEST BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH--RISE OF THE +FAMILY OF O'CONOR. + +Four years before the death of Thorlogh O'Brien, a Prince +destined to be the life-long rival of his great son, had +succeeded to the kingship of the northern tribes. This +was Donald, son of Ardgall, Prince of Aileach, sometimes +called "O" and sometimes "Mac" Laughlin. Donald had +reached the mature age of forty when he succeeded in the +course of nature to his father, Ardgall, and was admitted +the first man of the North, not only in station but for +personal graces and accomplishments; for wisdom, wealth, +liberality, and love of military adventure. + +Murkertach, or Murtogh O'Brien, was of nearly the same +age as his rival, and his equal, if not superior in +talents, both for peace and war. During the last years +of his father's reign and illness, he had been the real +ruler of the south, and had enforced the claims of Cashel +on all the tribes of Leath Mogha, from Dublin to Galway. +In the year 1094, by mutual compact, brought about through +the intercession of the Archbishop of Armagh and the +great body of the clergy, north and south--and still more +perhaps by the pestilence and famine which raged at +intervals during the last years of the eleventh century +--this ancient division of the midland _asker_, running +east and west, was solemnly restored by consent of both +parties, and Leath Mogha and Leath Conn became for the +moment independent territories. So thoroughly did the +Church enter into the arrangement, that, at the Synod of +Rath-Brazil, held a few years later, the seats of the +twelve Bishops of the southern half were grouped round +the Archbishop of Cashel, while the twelve of the northern +half were ranged round the Archbishop of Armagh. The +Bishops of Meath, the ancient mensal of the monarchy, +seem to have occupied a middle station between the benches +of the north and south. + +Notwithstanding the solemn compact of 1094, Murtogh did +not long cease to claim the title, nor to seek the hostages +of all Ireland. As soon as the fearful visitations with +which the century had closed were passed over, he resumed +his warlike forays, and found Donald of Aileach nothing +loath to try again the issue of arms. Each prince, however, +seems to have been more anxious to coerce or interest +the secondary chiefs in his own behalf than to meet his +rival in the old-style pitched battle. Murtogh's annual +march was usually along the Shannon, into Leitrim, thence +north by Sligo, and across the Erne and Finn into Donegal +and Derry. Donald's annual excursion led commonly along +the Bann, into Dalriada and Ulidia, Whence by way of +Newry, across the Boyne, into Meath, and from West-Meath +into Munster. In one of these forays, at the very opening +of the twelfth century, Donald surprised Kinkora in the +absence of its lord, razed the fort and levelled the +buildings to the earth. But the next season the southern +king paid him back in kind, when he attacked and demolished +Aileach, and caused each of his soldiers to carry off a +stone of the ruin in his knapsack. "I never heard of +the billeting of grit stones," exclaims a bard of those +days, "though I have heard of the billeting of soldiers: +but now we see the stones of Aileach billeted on the +horses of the King of the West!" + +Such circuits of the Irish kings, especially in days of +opposition, were repeated with much regularity. They seem +to have set out commonly in May--or soon after the festival +of Easter--and when the tour of the island was made, they +occupied about six weeks in duration. The precise number +of men who took part in these visitations is nowhere +stated, but in critical times no prince, claiming the +perilous honour of _Ard-Righ_, would be likely to march +with less than from five to ten thousand men. The +movements of such a multitude must have been attended +with many oppressions and inconveniences; their encampment +for even a week in any territory must have been a serious +burthen to the resident inhabitants, whether hostile or +hospitable. Yet this was one inevitable consequence of +the breaking up of the federal centre at Tara. In earlier +days, the _Ard-Righ_, on his election, or in an emergency, +made an armed procession through the island. Ordinarily, +however, his suffragans visited him, and not he them; +all Ireland went up to Tara to the _Feis_, or to the +festivals of Baaltine and Samhain. Now that there was no +Tara to go to, the monarch, or would-be monarch, found +it indispensable to show himself often, and to exercise +his authority in person, among every considerable tribe +in the island. To do justice to Murtogh O'Brien, he does +not appear to have sought occasions of employing force +when on these expeditions, but rather to have acted the +part of an armed negotiator. On his return from the +demolition of Aileach (A.D. 1101), among other acts of +munificence, he, in an assembly of the clergy of Leath +Mogha, made a solemn gift of the city of Cashel, free of +all rents and dues, to the Archbishop and the Clergy, +for ever. His munificence to churches, and his patronage +of holy men, were eminent traits in this Prince's character. +And the clergy of that age were eminently worthy of the +favours of such Princes. Their interposition frequently +brought about a truce between the northern and southern +kings. In the year 1103, the hostages of both were placed +in custody with Donald, Archbishop of Armagh, to guarantee +a twelvemonth's peace. But the next season the contest +was renewed. Murtogh besieged Armagh for a week, which +Donald of Aileach successfully defended, until the siege +was abandoned. In a subsequent battle the northern force +defeated one division of Murtogh's allies in Iveagh, +under the Prince of Leinster, who fell on the field, with +the lords of Idrone, Ossory, Desies, Kerry, and the Dublin +Danes. Murtogh himself, with another division of his +troops, was on an incursion into Antrim when he heard of +this defeat. The northern visitors carried off among +other spoils the royal tent and standard, a trophy which +gave new bitterness on the one side, and new confidence +on the other. Donald, the good Archbishop, the following +year (A.D. 1105) proceeded to Dublin, where Murtogh was, +or was soon expected, to renew the previous peace between +North and South, but he fell suddenly ill soon after his +arrival, and caused himself to be carried homewards in +haste. At a church by the wayside, not far from Dublin, +he was anointed and received the viaticum. He survived, +however, to reach Armagh, where he expired on the 12th +day of August. Kellach, latinized Celsus, his saintly +successor, was promoted to the Primacy, and solemnly +consecrated on Saint Adamnan's day following--the 23rd +of September, 1105. + +Archbishop Celsus, whose accession was equally well +received in Munster as in Ulster, followed in the footsteps +of his pious predecessor, in taking a decided part with +neither Leath Mogha nor Leath Conn. When, in the year +1110, both parties marched to Slieve-Fuaid, with a view +to a challenge of battle, Celsus interposed between them +the _Bachall-Isa_--and a solemn truce followed; again, +three years later, when they confronted each other in +Iveagh, in Down, similar success attended a similar +interposition. Three years later Murtogh O'Brien was +seized with so severe an illness, that he became like to +a living skeleton, and though he recovered sufficiently +to resume the exercise of authority he never regained +his full health. He died in a spiritual retreat, at +Lismore, on the 4th of the Ides of March, A.D. 1119, and +was buried at Killaloe. His great rival, Donald of Leath +Conn, did not long survive him: he died at Derry, also +in a religious house, on the 5th of the Ides of February, +A.D. 1121. + +While these two able men were thus for more than a quarter +of a century struggling for the supremacy, a third power +was gradually strengthening itself west of the Shannon, +destined to profit by the contest, more than either of +the principals. This was the family of O'Conor, of +Roscommon, who derived their pedigree from the same stock +as the O'Neils, and their name from Conor, an ancestor, +who ruled over Connaught, towards the end of the ninth +century. Two or three of their line before Conor had +possessed the same rank and title, but it was by no means +regarded as an adjunct of the house of Rathcrogan, before +the time at which we have arrived. Their co-relatives, +sometimes their rivals, but oftener their allies, were +the O'Ruarcs of Breffny, McDermots of Moylurg, the +O'Flahertys of _Iar_ or West Connaught, the O'Shaughnessys, +O'Heynes, and O'Dowdas. The great neighbouring family +of O'Kelly had sprung from a different branch of the +far-spreading Gaelic tree. At the opening of the twelfth +century, Thorlogh More O'Conor, son of Ruari of the Yellow +Hound, son of Hugh of the Broken Spear, was the recognised +head of his race, both for valour and discretion. By +some historians he is called the half-brother of Murtogh +O'Brien, and it is certain that he was the faithful ally +of that powerful prince. In the early stages of the recent +contest between North and South, Donald of Aileach had +presented himself at Rathcrogan, the residence of O'Conor, +who entertained him for a fortnight, and gave him hostages; +but Connaught finally sided with Munster, and thus, by +a decided policy, escaped being ground to powder, as corn +is ground between the mill-stones. But the nephew and +successor of Murtogh was not prepared to reciprocate to +Connaught the support it had rendered to Munster, but +rather looked for its continuance to himself. Conor +O'Brien, who became King of Munster in 1120, resisted +all his life the pretensions of any house but his own to +the southern half-kingdom, and against a less powerful +or less politic antagonist, his energy and capacity would +have been certain to prevail. The posterity of Malachy +in Meath, as well as the Princes of Aileach, were equally +hostile to the designs of the new aspirant. One line had +given three, another seven, another twenty kings to +Erin--but who had ever heard of an _Ard-Righ_ coming out +of Connaught? 'Twas so they reasoned in those days of +fierce family pride, and so they acted. Yet Thorlogh, +son of Ruari, son of Hugh, proved himself in the fifteen +years' war, previous to his accession (1021 to 1136), +more than a match for all his enemies. He had been chief +of his tribe since the year 1106, and from the first had +begun to lay his far forecasting plans for the sovereignty. +He had espoused the cause of the house of O'Brien, and +had profited by that alliance. Nor were all his thoughts +given to war. He had bridged the river Suca at Ballinasloe, +and the Shannon at Athlone and Shannon harbour, and the +same year these works were finished (1120 or '21) he +celebrated the ancient games at Tailtean, in assertion +of his claim to the monarchy. His main difficulty was +the stubborn pride of Munster, and the valour and enterprise +of Conor O'Brien, surnamed Conor "of the fortresses." Of +the years following his assertion of his title, few passed +without war between those Provinces. In 1121 and 1127, +Thorlogh triumphed in the south, took hostages from +Lismore to Tralee, and returned home exultingly; a few +years later the tide turned, and Conor O'Brien was equally +victorious against him, in the heart of his own country. +Thorlogh played off in the south the ancient jealousy of +the Eugenian houses against the Dalcassians, and thus +weakened both, to his own advantage. In the year 1126 he +took Dublin and raised his son to the lordship, as Dermid +of Leinster, and Thorlogh O'Brien had done formerly: +marching southward he encamped in Ormond, from Lammas to +St. Bridget's day, and overran Munster with his troops +in all directions, taking Cork, Cashel, Ardfinnan, and +Tralee. Celsus, the holy Primate of Armagh, deploring +the evils of this protracted year, left his peaceful +city, and spent thirteen months in the south and west, +endeavouring to reconcile, and bind over to the peace, +the contending kings. In these days the Irish hierarchy +performed, perhaps, their highest part--that of peacemakers +and preachers of good will to men. When in 1132 and '33 +the tide had temporarily turned against Thorlogh, and +Conor O'Brien had united Munster, Leinster, and Meath, +against him, the Archbishop of Tuam performed effectually +the office of mediator, preserving not only his own +Province, but the whole country from the most sanguinary +consequences. In the year 1130, the holy Celsus had +rested from his labours, and Malachy, the illustrious +friend of St. Bernard, was nominated as his successor. +At the time he was absent in Munster, as the Vicar of +the aged Primate, engaged in a mission of peace, when +the crozier and the dying message of his predecessor were +delivered to him. He returned to Armagh, where he found +that Maurice, son of Donald, had been intruded as Archbishop +in the _interim_, to this city peace, order, and unity, +were not even partially restored, until two years +later--A.D., 1132. + +The reign of Thorlogh O'Conor over Leath Mogha, or as +Ard-Righ "with opposition," is dated by the best authorities +from the year 1136. He was then in his forty-eighth year, +and had been chief of his tribe from the early age of +eighteen. He afterwards reigned for twenty years, and +as those years, and the early career of his son Roderick +are full of instruction, in reference to the events which +follow, we must relate them somewhat in detail. We again +beg the reader to observe the consequences of the +destruction of the federal bond among the Irish; how +every province has found an ambitious dynasty of its own, +which each contends shall be supreme; how the ambition +of the great families grows insatiable as the ancient +rights and customs decay; how the law of Patrick enacted +in the fifth century is no longer quoted or regarded; +how the law of the strong hand alone decides the quarrel +of these proud, unyielding Princes. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THORLOGH MORE O'CONOR--MURKERTACH OF AILEACH--ACCESSION +OF RODERICK O'CONOR. + +The successful ambition of Thorlogh O'Conor had thus +added, as we have seen in the last chapter, a fifth +dynasty to the number of competitors for the sovereignty. +And if great energy and various talents could alone +entitle a chief to rule over his country, this Prince +well merited the obedience of his cotemporaries. He is +the first of the latter kings who maintained a regular +fleet at sea; at one time we find these Connaught galleys +doing service on the coast of Cork, at another co-operating +with his land forces, in the harbour of Derry. The year +of his greatest power was the fifteenth of his reign +(A.D. 1151), when his most signal success was obtained +over his most formidable antagonists. Thorlogh O'Brien, +King of Munster, successor to Conor of the fortresses, +had on foot, in that year, an army of three battalions +(or _caths_), each battalion consisting of 3,000 men, +with which force he overawed some, and compelled others +of the southern chiefs to withdraw their homage from his +western namesake. The latter, uniting to his own the +forces of Meath, and those of Leinster, recently reconciled +to his supremacy, marched southward, and, encamping at +Glanmire, received the adhesion of such Eugenian families +as still struggled with desperation against the ascendency +of the O'Briens. With these forces he encountered, at +Moanmore, the army of the south, and defeated them, with +the enormous loss of 7,000 men--a slaughter unparalleled +throughout the war of succession. Every leading house in +North Munster mourned the loss of either its chief or +its tanist; some great families lost three, five, or +seven brothers on that sanguinary day. The household of +Kinkora was left without an heir, and many a near kinsman's +seat was vacant in its hospitable hall. The O'Brien +himself was banished into Ulster, where, from Murkertach, +Prince of Aileach, he received the hospitality due to +his rank and his misfortunes, not without an ulterior +politic view on the part of the Ulster Prince. In this +battle of Moanmore, Dermid McMurrogh, King of Leinster, +of whom we shall hear hereafter, fought gallantly on the +side of the victor. In the same year--but whether before +or after the Munster campaign is uncertain--an Ulster +force having marched into Sligo, Thorlogh met them near +the Curlew mountains, and made peace with their king. A +still more important interview took place the next year +in the plain, or _Moy_, between the rivers Erne and +Drowse, near the present Ballyshannon. On the _Bachall-Isa_ +and the relics of Columbkill, Thorlogh and Murkertach +made a solemn peace, which is thought to have included +the recognition of O'Conor's supremacy. A third meeting +was had during the summer in Meath, where were present, +beside the Ard-Righ, the Prince of Aileach, Dermid of +Leinster, and other chiefs and nobles. At this conference +they divided Meath into east and west, between two branches +of the family of Melaghlin. Part of Longford and South +Leitrim were taken from Tiernan O'Ruarc, lord of Breffni, +and an angle of Meath, including Athboy and the hill of +Ward, was given him instead. Earlier in the same year, +King Thorlogh had divided Munster into three parts, giving +Desmond to MacCarthy, Ormond to Thaddeus O'Brien, who +had fought under him at Moanmore, and leaving the remainder +to the O'Brien, who had only two short years before +competed with him for the sovereignty. By these subdivisions +the politic monarch expected to weaken to a great degree +the power of the rival families of Meath and Munster. +It was an arbitrary policy which could originate only on +the field of battle, and could be enforced only by the +sanction of victory. Thorlogh O'Brien, once King of all +Munster, refused to accept a mere third, and carrying +away his jewels and valuables, including the drinking +horn of the great Brian, he threw himself again on the +protection of Murkertach of Aileach. The elder branch +of the family of O'Melaghlin were equally indisposed to +accept half of Meath, where they had claimed the whole +from the Shannon to the sea. To complicate still more +this tangled web, Dermid, King of Leinster, about the +same time (A.D. 1153), eloped with Dervorgoil, wife of +O'Ruarc of Breffni, and daughter of O'Melaghlin, who both +appealed to the monarch for vengeance on the ravager. Up +to this date Dermid had acted as a steadfast ally of +O'Conor, but when compelled by the presence of a powerful +force on his borders to restore the captive, or partner +of his guilt, he conceived an enmity for the aged king, +which he extended, with increased virulence, to his son +and successor. + +What degree of personal criminality to attach to this +elopement it is hard to say. The cavalier in the case +was on the wintry side of fifty, while the lady had +reached the mature age of forty-four. Such examples have +been, where the passions of youth, surviving the period +most subject to their influence, have broken out with +renewed frenzy on the confines of old age. Whether the +flight of Dermid and Dervorgoil arose from a mere criminal +passion, is not laid down with certainty in the old +Annals, though national and local tradition strongly +point to that conclusion. The Four Masters indeed state +that after the restoration of the lady she "returned to +O'Ruarc," another point wanting confirmation. We know +that she soon afterwards retired to the shelter of +Mellifont Abbey, where she ended her days towards the +close of the century, in penitence and alms-deeds. + +Murtogh of Aileach now became master of the situation. +Thorlogh was old and could not last long; Dermid of +Leinster was for ever estranged from him; the new arbitrary +divisions, though made with the general consent, satisfied +no one. With a powerful force he marched southward, +restored to the elder branch of the O'Melaghlins the +whole of Meath, defeated Thaddeus O'Brien, obliterated +Ormond from the map, restored the old bounds of Thomond +and Desmond, and placed his guest, the banished O'Brien, +on the throne of Cashel. A hostile force, under Roderick +O'Conor, was routed, and retreated to their own territory. +The next year (A.D. 1154) was signalized by a fierce +naval engagement between the galleys of King Thorlogh +and those of Murtogh, on the coast of Innishowen. The +latter, recruited by vessels hired from the Gael and +Galls of Cantire, the Arran Isles, and Man, were under +the command of MacScellig; the Connaught fleet was led +by O'Malley and O'Dowda. The engagement, which lasted +from the morning till the evening, ended in the repulse +of the Connaught fleet, and the death of O'Dowda. The +occurrence is remarkable as the first general sea-fight +between vessels in the service of native Princes, and as +reminding us forcibly of the lessons acquired by the +Irish during the Danish period. + +During the two years of life--which remained to King +Thorlogh O'Conor, he had the affliction of seeing the +fabric of power, which had taken him nearly half a century +to construct, abridged at many points, by his more vigorous +northern rival. Murtogh gave law to territories far +south of the ancient _esker_. He took hostages from the +Danes of Dublin, and interposed in the affairs of Munster. +In the year 1156, the closing incidents which signalized +the life of Thorlogh More, was a new peace which he made +between the people of Breffni, Meath, and Connaught, and +the reception of hostages from his old opponent, the +restored O'Brien. While this new light of prosperity was +shining on his house, he passed away from this life, on +the 13th of the Kalends of June, in the 68th year of his +age, and the 50th of his government. By his last will he +bequeathed to the clergy numerous legacies, which are +thus enumerated by Geoffrey Keating: "namely, four hundred +and forty ounces of gold, and forty marks of silver; and +all the other valuable treasures he possessed, both cups +and precious stones, both steeds and cattle and robes, +chess-boards, bows, quivers, arrows, equipments, weapons, +armour, and utensils." He was interred beside the high +altar of the Cathedral of Clonmacnoise, to which he had +been in life and in death a munificent benefactor. + +The Prince of Aileach now assumed the title of Monarch, +and after some short-lived opposition from Roderick +O'Conor, his sovereignty was universally acknowledged. +From the year 1161 until his death, he might fairly be +called Ard-Righ, without opposition, since the hostages +of all Ireland were in those last five years in his hands. +These hostages were retained at the chief seat of power +of the northern dynasty, the fortress of Aileach, which +crowns a hill nearly a thousand feet high, at the head +of Lough Swilly. To this stronghold the ancestor of +Murtogh had removed early in the Danish period, from the +more exposed and more ancient Emania, beside Armagh. On +that hill-summit the ruins of Aileach may still be traced, +with its inner wall twelve feet thick, and its three +concentric ramparts, the first enclosing one acre, the +second four, and the last five acres. By what remains we +can still judge of the strength of the stronghold which +watched over the waters of Lough Swilly like a sentinel +on an outpost. No Prince of the Northern Hy-Nial had +for two centuries entered Aileach in such triumph or with +so many nobles in his train, as did Murtogh in the year +1161, But whether the supreme power wrought a change for +the worse in his early character, or that the lords of +Ulster had begun to consider the line of Conn as equals +rather than sovereigns, he was soon involved in quarrels +with his own Provincial suffragans which ended in his +defeat and death. Most other kings of whom we have read +found their difficulties in rival dynasties and provincial +prejudices; but this ruler, when most freely acknowledged +abroad, was disobeyed and defeated at home. Having taken +prisoner the lord of Ulidia (Down), with whom he had +previously made a solemn peace, he ordered his eyes to +be put out, and three of his principal relatives to be +executed. This and other arbitrary acts so roused the +lords of Leath Conn, that they formed a league against +him, at the head of which stood Donogh O'Carroll, lord +of Oriel, the next neighbour to the cruelly ill-treated +chief of Ulidia. In the year 1166, this chief, with +certain tribes of Tyrone and North Leitrim, to the number +of three battalions (9,000 men), attacked the patrimony +of the monarch--that last menace and disgrace to an Irish +king. Murtogh with his usual valour, but not his usual +fortune, encountered them in the district of the Fews, +with an Inferior force, chiefly his own tribesmen. Even +these deserted him on the eve of the battle, so that he +was easily surprised and slain, only thirteen men falling +in the affray. This action, of course, is unworthy the +name of a battle, but resulting in the death of the +monarch, it became of high political importance. + +Roderick O'Conor, son of Thorlogh More, was at this period +in the tenth year of his reign over Connaught, and the +fiftieth year of his age. Rathcrogan, the chief seat of +his jurisdiction, had just attained to the summit of its +glory. The site of this now almost forgotten palace is +traceable in the parish of Elphin, within three miles of +the modern village of Tulsk. Many objects contributed to +its interest and importance in Milesian times. There were +the _Naasteaghna_, or place of assembly of the clans of +Connaught, "the Sacred Cave," which in the Druidic era +was supposed to be the residence of a god, and the _Relig +na Righ_-the venerable cemetery of the Pagan kings of +the West, where still the red pillar stone stood over +the grave of Dathy, and many another ancient tomb could +be as clearly distinguished. The relative importance of +Rathcrogan we may estimate by the more detailed descriptions +of the extent and income of its rivals--Kinkora and +Aileach. In an age when Roscommon alone contained 470 +fortified _duns_, over all which the royal rath presided; +when half the tributes of the island were counted at its +gate, it must have been the frequent _rendezvous_ of +armies, the home of many guests, the busy focus of +intrigue, and the very elysium of bards, story-tellers, +and mendicants. In an after generation, Cathal, the +red-handed O'Conor, from some motive of policy or pleasure, +transferred the seat of government to the newly-founded +Ballintober: in the lifetime of Thorlogh More, and the +first years of Roderick, when the fortunes of the O'Conors +were at their full, Rathcrogan was the co-equal in strength +and in splendour of Aileach and Kinkora. + +Advancing directly from this family seat, on the first +tidings of Murtogh's death, Roderick presented himself +before the walls of Dublin, which opened its gates, +accepted his stipend of four thousand head of cattle, +and placed hostages for its fidelity in his hands. He +next marched rapidly to Drogheda, with an auxiliary force +of Dublin Danes, and there O'Carroll, lord of Oriel +(Louth), came into his camp, and rendered him homage. +Retracing his steps he entered Leinster, with an augmented +force, and demanded hostages from Dermid McMurrogh. +Thirteen years had passed since his father had taken up +arms to avenge the rape of Dervorgoil, and had earned +the deadly hatred of the abductor. That hatred, in the +interim, had suffered no decrease, and sooner than submit +to Roderick, the ravager burned his own city of Ferns to +the ground, and retreated into his fastnesses. Roderick +proceeded southward, obtained the adhesion of Ossory and +Munster; confirming Desmond to McCarthy, and Thomond to +O'Brien. Returning to Leinster, he found that Tiernan +O'Ruarc had entered the province, at the head of an +auxiliary army, and Dermid, thus surrounded, deserted by +most of his own followers, outwitted and overmatched, +was feign to seek safety in flight beyond seas (A.D. +1168). A solemn sentence of banishment was publicly +pronounced against him by the assembled Princes, and +Morrogh, his cousin, commonly called Morrogh _na Gael_, +or "of the Irish," to distinguish him from Dermid _na +Gall_, or "of the Stranger," was inaugurated in his stead. +From Morrogh _na Gael_ they took seventeen hostages, and +so Roderick returned rejoicing to Rathcrogan, and O'Ruarc +to Breffni, each vainly imagining that he had heard the +last of the dissolute and detested King of Leinster. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +STATE OF RELIGION AND LEARNING AMONG THE IRISH, PREVIOUS +TO THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION. + +At the end of the eighth century, before entering on the +Norwegian and Danish wars, we cast a backward glance on +the Christian ages over which we had passed; and now +again we have arrived at the close of an era, when a +rapid retrospect of the religious and social condition +of the country requires to be taken. + +The disorganization of the ancient Celtic constitution +has already been sufficiently described. The rise of the +great families, and their struggles for supremacy, have +also been briefly sketched. The substitution of the clan +for the race, of pedigree for patriotism, has been +exhibited to the reader. We have now to turn to the inner +life of the people, and to ascertain what substitutes +they found in their religious and social condition, for +the absence of a fixed constitutional system, and the +strength and stability which such a system confers. + +The followers of Odin, though they made no proselytes to +their horrid creed among the children of St. Patrick, +succeeded in inflicting many fatal wounds on the Irish +Church. The schools, monasteries, and nunneries, situated +on harbours or rivers, or within a convenient march of +the coast, were their first objects of attack; teachers +and pupils were dispersed, or, if taken, put to death, +or, escaping, were driven to resort to arms in self-defence. +Bishops could no longer reside in their sees, nor anchorites +in their cells, unless they invited martyrdom; a fact +which may, perhaps, in some degree account for the large +number of Irish ecclesiastics, many of them in episcopal +orders, who are found, in the ninth century, in Gaul arid +Germany, at Rheims, Mentz, Ratisbon, Fulda, Cologne, and +other places, already Christian. But it was not in the +banishment of masters, the destruction of libraries and +school buildings, the worst consequences of the Gentile +war were felt. Their ferocity provoked retaliation in +kind, and effaced, first among the military class, and +gradually from among all others, that growing gentleness +of manners and clemency of temper, which we can trace in +such princes as Nial of the Showers and Nial of Callan. +"A change in the national spirit is the greatest of all +revolutions;" and this change the Danish and Norwegian +wars had wrought, in two centuries, among the Irish. + +The number of Bishops in the early Irish Church was +greatly in excess of the number of modern dioceses. From +the eighth to the twelfth century we hear frequently of +_Episcopi Vagantes_, or itinerant, and _Episcopi Vacantes_, +or unbeneficed Bishops; the Provincial Synods of England +and Gaul frequently had to complain of the influx of such +Bishops into their country. At the Synod held near the +Hill of Usny, in the year 1111, fifty Bishops attended, +and at the Synod of Rath-Brazil, seven years later, +according to Keating, but twenty-five were present. To +this period, then, when Celsus was Primate and Legate of +the Holy See, we may attribute the first attempted +reduction of the Episcopal body to something like its +modern number; but so far was this salutary restriction +from being universally observed that, at the Synod of +Kells (A.D. 1152), the hierarchy had again risen to +thirty-four, exclusive of the four Archbishops. Three +hundred priests, and three thousand ecclesiastics are +given as the number present at the first-mentioned Synod. + +The religious orders, probably represented by the above +proportion of three thousand ecclesiastics to three +hundred [secular] priests had also undergone a remarkable +revolution. The rule of all the early Irish monasteries +and convents was framed upon an original constitution, +which St. Patrick had obtained in France from St. Martin +of Tours, who in turn had copied after the monachism of +Egypt and the East. It is called by ecclesiastical writers +the Columban rule, and was more rigid in some particulars +than the rule of St. Benedict, by which it was afterwards +supplanted. Amongst other restrictions it prohibited the +admission of all unprofessed persons within the precincts +of the monastery--a law as regards females incorporated +in the Benedictine constitution; and it strictly enjoined +silence on the professed--a discipline revived by the +brethren of La Trappe. The primary difference between +the two orders lay perhaps in this, that the Benedictine +made study and the cultivation of the intellect subordinate +to manual labour and implicit obedience, while the Columban +Order attached more importance to the acquisition of +knowledge and missionary enterprise. Not that this was +their invariable, but only their peculiar characteristic: +a deep-seated love of seclusion and meditation often, +intermingled with this fearless and experimental zeal. +It was not to be expected in a century like the ninth, +especially when the Benedictine Order was overspreading +the West, that its milder spirit should not act upon the +spirit of the Columban rule. It was, in effect, more +social, and less scientific, more a wisdom to be acted +than to be taught. Armed with the syllogism, the Columbites +issued out of their remote island, carrying their strongly +marked personality into every controversy and every +correspondence. In Germany and Gaul, their system blazed +up in Virgilius, in Erigena, and Macarius, and then +disappeared in the calmer, slower, but safer march of +the Benedictine discipline. By a reform of the same +ancient order, its last hold on native soil was loosened +when, under the auspices of St. Malachy, the Cistercian +rule was introduced into Ireland the very year of his +first visit to Clairvaux (A.D. 1139). St. Mary's Abbey, +Dublin, was the first to adopt that rule, and the great +monastery of Mellifont, placed under the charge of the +brother of the Primate, sprung up in Meath, three years +later. The Abbeys of Bective, Boyle, Baltinglass, and +Monasternenagh, date from the year of Malachy's second +journey to Rome, and death at Clairvaux--A.D. 1148. +Before the end of the century, the rule was established +at Fermoy, Holycross, and Odorney; at Athlone and Knockmoy; +at Newry and Assaroe, and in almost every tribe-land of +Meath and Leinster. It is usually but erroneously supposed +that the Cistercian rule came in with the Normans; for +although many houses owed their foundation to that race, +the order itself had been naturalized in Ireland a +generation before the first landing of the formidable +allies of Dermid on the coast of Wexford. The ancient +native order had apparently fulfilled its mission, and +long rudely lopped and shaken by civil commotions and +Pagan war, it was prepared to give place to a new and +more vigorous organization of kindred holiness and energy. + +As the horrors of war disturbed continually the clergy +from their sacred calling, and led many of them, even +Abbots and Bishops, to take up arms, so the yoke of +religion gradually loosened and dropped from the necks +of the people. The awe of the eighth century for a Priest +or Bishop had already disappeared in the tenth, when +Christian hands were found to decapitate Cormac of Cashel, +and offer his head as a trophy to the Ard-Righ. In the +twelfth century the Archbishop and Bishops of Connaught, +bound to the Synod of Trim, were fallen upon by the Kern +of Carbre the Swift, before they could cross the Shannon, +their people beaten and dispersed and two of them killed. +In the time of Thorlogh More O'Conor, a similar outrage +was offered by Tiernan O'Ruarc to the Archbishop of +Armagh, and one of his ecclesiastics was killed in the +assault. Not only for the persons of ministers of religion +had the ancient awe and reverence disappeared, but even +for the sacred precincts of the Sanctuary. In the second +century of the war with the Northmen we begin to hear of +churches and cloisters plundered by native chiefs, who +yet called themselves Christians, though in every such +instance our annalists are careful to record the vengeance +of Heaven following swift on sacrilege. Clonmacnoise, +Kildare, and Lismore, were more than once rifled of their +wealth by impious hands, and given over to desolation +and burning by so-called Christian nobles and soldiers! +It is some mitigation of the dreadful record thus presented +to be informed--as we often are--especially in the annals +of the twelfth century, that the treasures so pillaged +were not the shrines of saints nor the sacred ornaments +of the altar, but the temporal wealth of temporal +proprietors, laid up in churches as places of greatest +security. + +The estates of the Church were, in most instances, farmed +by laymen, called _Erenachs_, who, in the relaxation of +all discipline, seem to have gradually appropriated the +lands to themselves, leaving to the Clergy and Bishops +only periodical dues and the actual enclosure of the +Church. This office of Erenach was hereditary, and must +have presented many strong temptations to its occupants. +It is indeed certain that the Irish Church was originally +founded on the broadest voluntaryism, and that such was +the spirit of all its most illustrious fathers. "Content +with food and raiment," says an ancient Canon attributed +to St. Patrick, "reject the gifts of the wicked beside, +seeing that the lamb takes only that with which it is +fed." Such, to the letter, was the maxim which guided +the conduct of Colman and his brethren, of whom Bede +makes such honourable mention, in the third century after +the preaching of St. Patrick. But the munificence of +tribes and Princes was not to be restrained, and to +obviate any violation of the revered canons of the apostle, +laymen, as treasurers and stewards over the endowments +of the Church, were early appointed. As those possessions +increased, the desire of family aggrandizement proved +too much for the Erenachs not only of Armagh, but of most +other sees, and left the clergy as practically dependent +on free-will offerings, as if their Cathedrals or Convents +had never been endowed with an acre, a mill, a ferry, or +a fishery. The free offerings were, however, always +generous, and sometimes munificent. When Celsus, on his +elevation to the Primacy, made a tour of the southern +half-kingdom, he received "seven cows and seven sheep, +and half an ounce of silver from every cantred [hundred] +in Munster." The bequests were also a fruitful source of +revenue to the principal foundations; of the munificence +of the monarchs we may form some opinion by what has been +already recorded of the gifts left to churches by Thorlogh +More O'Conor. + +The power of the clerical order, in these ages of Pagan +warfare, had very far declined from what it was, when +Adamnan caused the law to be enacted to prevent women +going to battle, when Moling obtained the abolition of +the Leinster tribute, and Columbkill the recognition of +Scottish independence. Truces made in the presence of +the highest dignitaries, and sworn to on the most sacred +relics, were frequently violated, and often with impunity. +Neither excommunication nor public penance were latterly +inflicted as an atonement for such perjury: a fine or +offering to the Church was the easy and only mulct on +the offender. When we see the safeguard of the Bishop of +Cork so flagrantly disregarded by the assassins of Mahon, +son of Kennedy, and the solemn peace of the year 1094 so +readily broken by two such men as the Princes of the +North and the South, we need no other proofs of the +decadence of the spiritual authority in that age of Irish +history. + +And the morals of private life tell the same sad tale. +The facility with which the marriage tie was contracted +and dissolved is the strongest evidence of this degeneracy. +The worst examples were set in the highest stations, for +it is no uncommon incident, from the ninth century +downwards, to find our Princes with more than one wife +living, and the repudiated wife married again to a person +of equal or superior rank. We have the authority of Saint +Anselm and Saint Bernard, for the existence of grave +scandal and irregularities of life among the clergy, and +we can well believe that it needed a generation of Bishops, +with all the authority and all the courage of Saint +Celsus, Saint Malachy, and Saint Lawrence, to rescue from +ruin a Priesthood and a people, so far fallen from the +bright example of their ancestors. That the reaction +towards a better life had strongly set in, under their +guidance, we may infer from the horror with which, in +the third quarter of the twelfth century, the elopement +of Dermid and Dervorgoil was regarded by both Princes +and People. A hundred years earlier, that event would +have been hardly noticed in the general disregard of the +marriage tie, but the frequent Synods, and the holy lives +of the reforming Bishops, had already revived the zeal +that precedes and ensures reformation. + +Primate Malachy died at Clairvaulx, in the arms of Saint +Bernard, in the year 1148, after having been fourteen +years Archbishop of Armagh and ten years Bishop of Down +and Conor. His episcopal life, therefore, embraced the +history of that remarkable second quarter of the century, +in which the religious reaction fought its first battles +against the worst abuses. The attention of Saint Bernard, +whose eyes nothing escaped, from Jerusalem to the farthest +west, was drawn ten years before to the Isle of Saints, +now, in truth, become an Isle of Sinners. The death of +his friend, the Irish Primate, under his own roof, gave +him a fitting occasion for raising his accusing voice--a +voice that thrilled the Alps and filled the Vatican--against +the fearful degeneracy of that once fruitful mother of +holy men and women. The attention of Rome was thoroughly +aroused, and immediately after the appearance of the Life +of Saint Malachy, Pope Eugenius III.--himself a monk of +Clairvaulx--despatched Cardinal Papiron, with legantine +powers, to correct abuses, and establish a stricter +discipline. After a tour of great part of the Island, +the Legate, with whom was associated Gilla-Criost, or +Christianus, Bishop of Lismore, called the great Synod +of Kells, early in the year after his arrival (March, +1152), at which simony, usury, concubinage, and other +abuses, were formally condemned, and tithes were first +decreed to be paid to the secular clergy. Two new +Archbishoprics, Dublin and Tuam, were added to Armagh +and Cashel, though not without decided opposition from +the Primates both of Leath Mogha and Leath Conn, backed +by those stern conservatives of every national usage, +the Abbots of the Columban Order. The _pallium_, or Roman +cape, was, by this Legate, presented to each of the +Archbishops, and a closer conformity with the Roman ritual +was enacted. The four ecclesiastical Provinces thus +created were in outline nearly identical with the four +modern Provinces. Armagh was declared the metropolitan +over all; Dublin, which had been a mere Danish borough-see, +gained most in rank and influence by the new arrangement, +as Glendalough, Ferns, Ossory, Kildare and Leighlin, were +declared subject to its presidency. + +We must always bear in mind the picture drawn of the +Irish Church by the inspired orator of Clairvaulx, when +judging of the conduct of Pope Adrian IV., who, in the +year 1155--the second of his Pontificate--granted to King +Henry II. of England, then newly crowned, his Bull +authorising the invasion of Ireland. The authenticity of +that Bull is now universally admitted; and both its +preamble and conditions show how strictly it was framed +in accordance with St. Bernard's accusation. It sets +forth that for the eradication of vice, the implanting +of virtue, and the spread of the true faith, the Holy +Father solemnly sanctions the projected invasion; and it +attaches as a condition, the payment of Peter's pence, +for every house in Ireland. The bearer of the Bull, John +of Salisbury, carried back from Rome a gold ring, set +with an emerald stone, as a token of Adrian's friendship, +or it may be, his subinfeudation of Henry. As a title, +however powerless in modern times such a Bull might prove, +it was a formidable weapon of invasion with a Catholic +people, in the twelfth century. We have mainly referred +to it here, however, as an illustration of how entirely +St. Bernard's impeachment of the Irish Church and nation +was believed at Rome, even after the salutary decrees of +the Synod of Kells had been promulgated. + +The restoration of religion, which was making such rapid +progress previous to the Norman invasion, was accompanied +by a relative revival of learning. The dark ages of +Ireland are not those of the rest of Europe--they extend +from the middle of the ninth century to the age of Brian +and Malachy II. This darkness came from the North, and +cleared away rapidly after the eventful day of Clontarf. +The first and most natural direction which the revival +took was historical investigation, and the composition +of Annals. Of these invaluable records, the two of highest +reputation are those of Tigernach (Tiernan) O'Broin, +brought down to the year of his own death, A.D. 1088, +and the chronicle of Marianus Scotus, who died at Mentz, +A.D. 1086. Tiernan was abbot of Clonmacnoise, and Marian +is thought to have been a monk of that monastery, as he +speaks of a superior called Tigernach, under whom he had +lived in Ireland. Both these learned men quote accurately +the works of foreign writers; both give the dates of +eclipses, in connection with historical events for several +centuries before their own time; both show a familiarity +with Greek and Latin authors. _Marianus_ is the first +writer by whom the name _Scotia Minor_ was given to the +Gaelic settlement in Caledonia, and his chronicle was an +authority mainly relied on in the disputed Scottish +succession in the time of Edward I. of England. With +_Tigernach_, he may be considered the founder of the +school of Irish Annalists, which flourished in the shelter +of the great monasteries, such as Innisfallen, Boyle and +Multifernan; and culminated in the great compilation made +by "the Four Masters" in the Abbey of Donegal. + +Of the Gaelic metrical chroniclers, Flann of the Monastery, +and Gilla-Coeman; of the Bards McLiag and McCoisse; of +the learned professors and lectors of Lismore and +Armagh--now restored for a season to studious days and +peaceful nights, we must be content with the mention of +their names. Of Lismore, after its restoration, an old +British writer has left us this pleasant and happy picture. +"It is," he says, "a famous and holy city, half of which +is an asylum, into which no woman dares enter; but it is +full of cells and monasteries; and religious men in great +abundance abide there." + +Such was the promise of better days, which cheered the +hopes of the Pastors of the Irish, when the twelfth +century had entered on its third quarter. The pious old +Gaelic proverb, which says, "on the Cross the face of +Christ was looking westwards--," was again on the lips +and in the hearts of men, and though much remained to be +done, much had been already done, and done under +difficulties greater than any that remained to conquer. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE IRISH PREVIOUS TO THE NORMAN +INVASION. + + +The total population of Ireland, when the Normans first +entered it, can only be approximated by conjecture. +Supposing the whole force with which Roderick and his +allies invested the Normans in Dublin, to be, as stated +by a cotemporary writer, some 50,000 men, and that that +force included one-fourth of all the men of the military +age in the country; and further, supposing the men of +military age to bear the proportion of one-fifth to the +whole number of inhabitants, this would give a total +population of about one million. Even this conjecture is +to be taken with great diffidence and distrust, but, for +the sake of clearness, it is set down as a possible Irish +census, towards the close of the twelfth century. + +This population was divided into two great classes, the +_Saer-Clanna_, or free tribes, chiefly, if not exclusively, +of Milesian race; and the _Daer-Clanna_, or unfree tribes, +consisting of the descendants of the subjugated older +races, or of clans once free, reduced to servitude by +the sword, or of the posterity of foreign mercenary +soldiers. Of the free clans, the most illustrious were +those of whose Princes we have traced the record--the +descendants of Nial in Ulster and Meath, of Cathaeir More +in Leinster, of Oliold in Munster, and of Eochaid in +Connaught. An arbitrary division once limited the free +clans to six in the southern half-kingdom, and six in +the north; and the unfree also to six. But Geoffrey +Keating, whose love of truth was quite as strong as his +credulity in ancient legends--and that is saying +much--disclaimed that classification, and collected his +genealogies from principal heads--branching out into +three families of tribes, descended from Eber Finn, one +from Ir, and four from Eremhon, sons of Milesians of +Spain; and ninth tribe sprung from Ith, granduncle to +the sons of Milesius. The principal Eberian families' +names were McCarthy, O'Sullivan, O'Mahony, O'Donovan, +O'Brien, O'Dea, O'Quin, McMahon (of Clare), McNamara, +O'Carroll (of Ely), and O'Gara; the Irian families were +Magennis, O'Farrall, and O'Conor (of Kerry); the posterity +of Eremhon branched out into the O'Neils, O'Donnells, +O'Dohertys, O'Gallahers, O'Boyles, McGeoghegans, O'Conors +(of Connaught), O'Flahertys, O'Heynes, O'Shaughnessys, +O'Clerys, O'Dowdas, McDonalds (of Antrim), O'Kellys, +Maguires, Kavanaghs, Fitzpatricks, O'Dwyers, and O'Conors +(of Offally). The chief families of Ithian origin were +the O'Driscolls, O'Learys, Coffeys, and Clancys. Out of +the greater tribes many subdivisions arose from time to +time, when new names were coined for some intermediate +ancestor; but the farther enumeration of these may be +conveniently dispensed with. + +The _Daer-Clanna_, or unfree tribes, have left no history. +Under the despotism of the Milesian kings, it was high +treason to record the actions of the conquered race; so +that the Irish Belgae fared as badly in this respect, at +the hands of the Milesian historians, as the latter fared +in after times from the chroniclers of the Normans. We +only know that such tribes were, and that their numbers +and physical force more than once excited the apprehension +of the children of the conquerors. What proportion they +bore to the _Saer-Clanna_ we have no positive data to +determine. A fourth, a fifth, or a sixth, they may have +been; but one thing is certain, the jealous policy of +the superior race never permitted them to reascend the +plane of equality, from which they had been hurled, at +the very commencement of the Milesian ascendency. + +In addition to the enslaved by conquest and the enslaved +by crime, there were also the enslaved by purchase. From +the earliest period, slave dealers from Ireland had +frequented Bristol, the great British slave market, to +purchase human beings. Christian morality, though it may +have mitigated the horrors of this odious traffic, did +not at once lead to its abolition. In vain Saint Wulfstan +preached against it in the South, as Saint Aidan had done +long before him in the North of England. Files of +fair-haired Saxon slaves, of both sexes, yoked together +with ropes, continued to be shipped at Bristol, and +bondmen and bondwomen continued to be articles of +value--exchanged between the Prince and his subordinates, +as stipend or tribute. The King of Cashel alone gave to +the chief of the Eugenians, as part of his annual stipend, +ten bondmen and ten women; to the lord of Bruree, seven +pages and seven bondwomen; to the lord of Deisi, eight +slaves of each sex, and seven female slaves to the lord +of Kerry; among the items which make up the tribute from +Ossory to Cashel are ten bondmen and ten grown women; +and from the Deisi, eight bondmen and eight "brown-haired" +women. The annual exchanges of this description, set down +as due in the Book of Rights, would require the transfer +of several hundreds of slaves yearly, from one set of +masters to another. Cruelties and outrages must have been +inseparable from the system, and we can hardly wonder at +the sweeping decree by which the Synod of Armagh (A.D. +1171) declared all the English slaves in Ireland free to +return to their homes, and anathematized the whole inhuman +traffic. The fathers of that council looked upon the +Norman invasion as a punishment from Heaven on the slave +trade; for they believed in their purity of heart, that +power _is_ transferred from one nation to another, because +of injustices, oppressions, and divers deceits. + +The purchased slaves and unfree tribes tilled the soil, +and practised the mechanic arts. Agriculture seems first +to have been lifted into respectability by the Cistercian +Monks, while spinning, weaving, and almost every mechanic +calling, if we except the scribe, the armorer, and the +bell-founder, continued down to very recent tunes to be +held in contempt among the Gael. A brave man is mentioned +as having been a "weaving woman's son," with much the +same emphasis as Jeptha is spoken of as the son of an +Harlot. Mechanic wares were disposed of at those stated +gatherings, which combined popular games, chariot races +for the nobles, and markets for the merchants. A Bard of +the tenth or eleventh century, in a desperate effort to +vary the usual high-flown descriptions of the country, +calls it "Erin of the hundred fair greens,"--a very +graphic, if not a very poetic illustration. + +The administration of justice was an hereditary trust, +committed to certain judicial families, who held their +lands, as the Monks did, by virtue of their profession. +When the posterity of the Brehon, or Judge failed, it +was permitted to adopt from the class of students, a male +representative, in whom the judicial authority was +perpetuated: the families of O'Gnive and O'Clery in the +North, of O'Daly in Meath, O'Doran in Leinster, McEgan +in Munster, Mulconry or Conroy in Connaught, were the +most distinguished Brehon houses. Some peculiarities of +the Brehon law, relating to civil succession and +sovereignty, such as the institution of Tanistry, and +the system of stipends and tributes, have been already +explained; parricide and murder were in latter ages +punished with death; homicide and rape by _eric_ or fine. +There were, besides, the laws of gavelkind or division +of property among the members of the clan; laws relating +to boundaries; sumptuary laws regulating the dress of +the various castes into which society was divided; laws +relating to the planting of trees, the trespass of cattle, +and billeting of troops. These laws were either written +in detail, or consisted of certain acknowledged ancient +maxims of which the Brehon made the application in each +particular case, answering to what we call "Judge-made +law." Of such ancient tracts as composed the Celtic code, +an immense number have, fortunately survived, even to +this late day, and we may shortly expect a complete digest +of all that are now known to exist, in a printed and +imperishable form, from the hands of native scholars, +every way competent to the task. + +The commerce of the country, in the eleventh and twelfth +centuries, was largely in the hands of the Christian +Hiberno-Danes, of the eastern and southern coast. By them +the slave trade with Bristol was mostly maintained, and +the Irish oak, with which William Rufus roofed Westminster +Abbey, was probably rafted by them in the Thames. The +English and Welsh coasts, at least, were familiar to +their pilots, and they combined, as was usual in that +age, the military with the mercantile character. In 1142, +and again in 1165, a troop of Dublin Danes fought under +Norman banners against the brave Britons of Cambria, and +in the camps of their allies, sung the praises of the +fertile island of the west. The hundred fairs of Erin-- +after their conversion and submission to native authority +--afforded them convenient markets for disposing of the +commodities they imported from abroad. + +The Gaelic mind, long distracted by the din of war from +the purifying and satisfying influences of a Christian +life, naturally fell back upon the abandoned, half-forgotten +superstitions of the Pagan period. Preceding every fresh +calamity, we hear of signs and wonders, of migratory +lakes disappearing in a night, of birds and wolves speaking +with human voices, of showers of blood falling in the +fields, of a whale with golden teeth stranded at +Carlingford, of cloud ships, with their crews, seen +plainly sailing in the sky. One of the marvels of this +class is thus gravely entered in our Annals, under the +year 1054--"A steeple of fire was seen in the air over +Rossdala, on the Sunday of the festival of St. George, +for the space of five hours; innumerable black birds +passed into and out of it, and one large bird in the +middle of them; and the little birds went under his wings +when they went into the steeple. They came out and raised +up a greyhound that was in the middle of the town aloft +in the air, and let it drop down again, so that it died +immediately; and they took up three cloaks and two shirts, +and let them drop down in the same manner. The wood on +which these birds perched fell under them; and the oak +tree on which they perched shook with its roots in the +earth." In many other superstitions of the same age we +see the latent moral sentiment, as well as the over-excited +imagination of the people. Such is the story of the stolen +jewels of Clonmacnoise, providentially recovered in the +year 1130. The thief in vain endeavoured to escape out +of the country, from Cork, Lismore, and Waterford, "but +no ship into which he entered found a wind to sail, while +all the other ships did." And the conscience stricken +thief declared, in his dying confession, that he used to +see Saint Kieran "stopping with his crozier, every ship +into which he entered." It was also an amiable popular +illusion that abundant harvests followed the making of +peace, the enacting of salutary laws, and the accession +of a King who loved justice; and careful entry is made +in our chronicles of every evidence of this character. + +The literature of the masses of the people was pretty +equally composed of the legends of the Saints and the +older Ossianic legend, so much misunderstood and distorted +by modern criticism. The legends of the former class +were chiefly wonders wrought by the favourite Saints of +the district or the island, embellished with many quaint +fancies and tagged out with remnants of old Pagan +superstition. St. Columbkill and St. Kieran were, most +commonly, the heroes of those tales, which, perhaps, were +never intended by their authors to be seriously believed. +Such was the story of the great founder of Iona having +transformed the lady and her maid, who insulted him on +his way to Drom-Keth, into two herons, who are doomed to +hover about the neighbouring ford till the day of doom; +and such that other story of "the three first monks" who +joined St. Kieran in the desert, being a fox, a badger, +and a bear, all endowed with speech, and all acting a +part in the legend true to their own instincts. Of higher +poetic merit is the legend of the voyage of St. Brendan +over the great sea, and how the birds which sung vespers +for him in the groves of the Promised Land were inhabited +by human souls, as yet in a state of probation waiting +for their release! + +In the Ossianic legend we have the common stock of Oriental +ideas--the metamorphosis of guilty wives and haughty +concubines into dogs and birds; the speaking beasts and +fishes; the enchanted swans, originally daughters of Lir; +the boar of Ben Bulben, by which the champion, Diarmid, +was slain; the Phoenix in the stork of Inniskea, of which +there never was but one, yet that one perpetually reproduced +itself; the spirits of the wood, and the spirits inhabiting +springs and streams; the fairy horse; the sacred trees; +the starry influences. Monstrous and gigantic human +shapes, like the Jinns of the Arabian tales, occasionally +enter into the plot, and play a midnight part, malignant +to the hopes of good men. At their approach the earth is +troubled, the moon is overcast, gusts of storm are shaken +out from the folds of their garments, the watch dogs and +the war dogs cower down, in camp and rath, and whine +piteously, as if in pain. + +The variety of grace, and peculiarities of organization, +with which, if not the original, certainly the Christianized +Irish imagination, endowed and equipped the personages +of the fairy world, were of almost Grecian delicacy. +There is no personage who rises to the sublime height of +Zeus, or the incomparable union of beauty and wisdom in +Pallas Athene: what forms Bel, or Crom, or Bride, the +queen of Celtic song, may have worn to the pre-Christian +ages we know not, nor can know; but the minor creations +of Grecian fancy, with which they peopled their groves +and fountains, are true kindred of the brain, to the +innocent, intelligent, and generally gentle inhabitants +of the Gaelic Fairyland. The _Sidhe_, a tender, tutelary +spirit, attached herself to heroes, accompanied them in +battle, shrouded them with invisibility, dressed their +wounds with more than mortal skill, and watched over them +with more than mortal love; the _Banshee_, a sad, +Cassandra-like spirit, shrieked her weird warning in +advance of death, but with a prejudice eminently Milesian, +watched only over those of pure blood, whether their +fortunes abode in hovel or hall. The more modern and +grotesque personages of the Fairy world are sufficiently +known to render description unnecessary. + +Two habitual sources of social enjoyment and occupation +with the Irish of those days were music and chess. The +harp was the favourite instrument, but the horn or trumpet, +and the pibroch or bagpipe, were also in common use. Not +only professional performers, but men and women of all +ranks, from the humblest to the highest, prided themselves +on some knowledge of instrumental music. It seems to have +formed part of the education of every order, and to have +been cherished alike in the palace, the shieling, and +the cloister. "It is a poor church that has no music," +is a Gaelic proverb, as old, perhaps, as the establishment +of Christianity in the land; and no house was considered +furnished without at least one harp. Students from other +countries, as we learn from _Giraldus_, came to Ireland +for their musical education in the twelfth century, just +as our artists now visit Germany and Italy with the same +object in view. + +The frequent mention of the game of chess, in ages long +before those at which we have arrived, shows how usual +was that most intellectual amusement. The chess board +was called in Irish _fithcheall_, and is described in +the Glossary of Cormac, of Cashel, composed towards the +close of the ninth century, as quadrangular, having +straight spots of black and white. Some of them were +inlaid with gold and silver, and adorned with gems. +Mention is made in a tale of the twelfth century of a +"man-bag of woven brass wire." No entire set of the +ancient men is now known to exist, though frequent mention +is made of "the brigade or family of chessmen," in many +old manuscripts. Kings of bone, seated in sculptured +chairs, about two inches in height, have been found, and +specimens of them engraved in recent antiquarian +publications. + +It only remains to notice, very briefly, the means of +locomotion which bound and brought together this singular +state of society. Five great roads, radiating from Tara, +as a centre, are mentioned in our earliest record; the +road _Dala_ leading to Ossory, and so on into Munster; +the road _Assail_, extending western through Mullingar +towards the Shannon; the road _Cullin_, extending towards +Dublin and Bray; the exact route of the northern road, +_Midhluachra_, is undetermined; _Slighe Mor_, the great +western road, followed the course of the _esker_, or +hill-range, from Tara to Galway. Many cross-roads are +also known as in common use from the sixth century +downwards. Of these, the Four Masters mention, at various +dates, not less than forty, under their different local +names, previous to the Norman invasion. These roads were +kept in repair, according to laws enacted for that purpose, +and were traversed by the chiefs and ecclesiastics in +_carbads_, or chariots; a main road was called a _slighe_ +(_sleigh_), because it was made for the free passage of +two chariots--"i.e. the chariot of a King and the chariot +of a Bishop." Persons of that rank were driven by an +_ara_, or charioteer, and, no doubt, made a very imposing +figure. The roads were legally to be repaired at three +seasons, namely, for the accommodation of those going to +the national games, at fair-time, and in time of war. +Weeds and brushwood were to be removed, and water to be +drained off; items of road-work which do not give us a +very high idea of the comfort or finish of those ancient +highways. + +Such, faintly seen from afar, and roughly sketched, was +domestic life and society among our ancestors, previous +to the Anglo-Norman invasion, in the reign of King Roderick +O'Conor. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE IRISH PREVIOUS TO THE ANGLO-NORMAN +INVASION. + +The relations of the Irish with other nations, +notwithstanding the injurious effects of their War of +Succession on national unity and reputation, present +several points of interest. After the defeat of Magnus +Barefoot, we may drop the Baltic countries out of the +map of the relations of Ireland. Commencing, therefore, +at the north of the neighbouring island--which, in its +entirety, they sometimes called _Inismore_--the most +intimate and friendly intercourse was always upheld with +the kingdom of Scotland. Bound together by early +ecclesiastical and bardic ties, confronting together for +so many generations a common enemy, those two countries +were destined never to know an international quarrel. +About the middle of the ninth century (A.D. 843), when +the Scoto-Irish in Caledonia had completely subdued the +Picts and other ancient tribes, the first national dynasty +was founded by Kenneth McAlpine. The constitution given +by this Prince to the whole country seems to have been +a close copy of the Irish--it embraced the laws of Tanistry +and succession, and the whole Brehon code, as administered +in the parent state. The line of Kenneth may be said to +close with Donald Bane, brother of Malcolm III., who died +in 1094, and not only his dynasty but his system ended +with that century. Edgar, Alexander I., and David I., +all sons of Malcolm III., were educated in England among +the victorious Normans, and in the first third of the +twelfth century, devoted themselves with the inauspicious +aid of Norman allies, to the introduction of Saxon settlers +and the feudal system, first into the lowlands, and +subsequently into Moray-shire. This innovation on their +ancient system, and confiscation of their lands, was +stoutly resisted by the Scottish Gael. In Somerled, lord +of the Isles, and ancestor of the Macdonalds, they found +a powerful leader, and Somerled found Irish allies always +ready to assist him, in a cause which appealed to all +their national prejudices. In the year 1134, he led a +strong force of Irish and Islesmen to the assistance of +the Gaelic insurgents, but was defeated and slain, near +Renfrew, by the royal troops, under the command of the +Steward of Scotland. During the reigns of William the +Lion, Alexander II., and Alexander III., the war of +systems raged with all its fierceness, and in nearly all +the great encounters Irish auxiliaries, as was to be +expected, were found on the side of the Gaelic race and +Gaelic rights. Nor did this contest ever wholly cease in +Scotland, until the last hopes of the Stuart line were +extinguished on the fatal field of Culloden, where Irish +captains formed the battle, and Irish blood flowed freely, +intermingled with the kindred blood of Highlanders and +Islesmen. + +The adoption of Norman usages, laws, and tactics, by the +Scottish dynasties of the twelfth and succeeding centuries, +did not permanently affect the national relations of +Ireland and Scotland. It was otherwise with regard to +England. We have every reason to believe--we have the +indirect testimony of every writer from Bede to Malmsbury +--that the intercourse between the Irish and Saxons, +after the first hostility engendered by the cruel treatment +of the Britons had worn away, became of the most friendly +character. The "Irish" who fought at Brunanburgh against +Saxon freedom were evidently the natural allies of the +Northmen, the Dano-Irish of Dublin, and the southern +seaports. The commerce of intelligence between the islands +was long maintained; the royalty of Saxon England had +more than once, in times of domestic revolution, found +a safe and desired retreat in the western island. The +fair Elgiva and the gallant Harold had crossed the western +waves in their hour of need. The fame of Edward the +Confessor took such deep hold on the Irish mind that, +three centuries after his death, his banner was unfurled +and the royal leopards laid aside to facilitate the march +of an English King, through the fastnesses of Leinster. +The Irish, therefore, were not likely to look upon the +establishment of a Norman dynasty, in lieu of the old +Saxon line, as a matter of indifference. They felt that +the Norman was but a Dane disguised in armour. It was +true he carried the cross upon his banner, and claimed +the benediction of the successor of St. Peter; true also +he spoke the speech of France, and claimed a French +paternity; but the lust for dominion, the iron self-will, +the wily devices of strategy, bespoke the Norman of the +twelfth, the lineal descendant of the Dane of the tenth +century. When, therefore, tidings reached Ireland of the +battle of Hastings and the death of Harold, both the +apprehensions and the sympathies of the country were +deeply excited. Intelligence of the coronation of William +the Conqueror quickly followed, and emphatically announced +to the Irish the presence of new neighbours, new dangers, +and new duties. + +The spirit with which our ancestors acted towards the +defeated Saxons, whatever we may think of its wisdom, +was, at least, respectable for decision and boldness. +Godwin, Edmund, and Magnus, sons of Harold, had little +difficulty in raising in Ireland a numerous force to +co-operate with the Earls Edwin and Morcar, who still +upheld the Saxon banner. With this force, wafted over in +sixty-six vessels, they entered the Avon, and besieged +Bristol, then the second commercial city of the kingdom. +But Bristol held out, and the Saxon Earls had fallen back +into Northumberland, so the sons of Harold ran down the +coast, and tried their luck in Somersetshire with a better +prospect. Devonshire and Dorsetshire favoured their +cause; the old Britons of Cornwall swelled their ranks, +and the rising spread like flame over the west. Eadnoth, +a renegade Saxon, formerly Harold's Master of Horse, +despatched by William against Harold's sons, was defeated +and slain. Doubling the Land's End, the victorious force +entered the Tamar, and overran South Devon. The united +garrisons of London, Winchester, and Salisbury, were sent +against them, under the command of the martial Bishop of +Coutances; while a second force advanced along the Tamar, +under Brian, heir of the Earl of Brittany, who routed +them with a loss of 2,000 men, English, Welsh, and Irish. +The sons of Harold retreated to their vessels with all +their booty, and returned again into Ireland, where they +vanish from history. Such, in the vale of Tamar, was the +first collision of the Irish and Normans, and as the race +of Rolla never forgot an enemy, nor forewent a revenge, +we may well believe that, even thus early, the invasion +of Ireland was decided upon. Meredith Hanmer relates in +his Chronicle that William Rufus, standing on a high +rock, and looking towards Ireland said: "I will bring +hither my ships, and pass over and conquer that land;" +and on these words of the son of the Conqueror being +repeated to Murkertach O'Brien, he replied: "Hath the +King in his great threatening said _if it please God?_" +and when answered "No;" "Then," said the Irish monarch, +"I fear him not, since he putteth his trust in man and +not in God." + +Ireland, however, was destined to be reached through +Wales, and along that mountain coast we early find Norman +castles and Norman ships. It was the special ambition of +William Rufus to add the principality to the conquests +of his father, and the active sympathy of the Welsh with +the Saxons on their inland border gave him pretexts +enough. A bitter feud between North and South Wales +hastened an invasion, in which Robert Fitz-Aymon and his +companions played, by anticipation, the parts of Strongbow +and Fitz-Stephen, in the invasion of Ireland. + +The struggle, commenced under them, was protracted through +the reign of Rufus, who led an army in person (A.D. +1095) against the Welsh, but with little gain and less +glory. As an after thought he adopted the device of his +father, (followed, too, in Ireland by Henry II.,) of +partitioning the country among the most enterprising +nobles, gravely accepting their homage in advance of +possession, and authorizing them to maintain troops at +their own charges, for making good his grant of what +never belonged to him. Robert Fitz-Aymon did homage for +Glamorgan, Bernard Newmarch for Brecknock, Roger de +Montgomery for Cardigan, and Gilbert de Clare for Pembroke: +the best portions of North Wales were partitioned between +the Mortimers, Latimers, De Lacys, Fitz-Alans, and +Montgomerys. Rhys, Prince of Cambria, with many of his +nobles, fell in battle defending bravely his native hills; +but Griffith, son of Rhys, escaped into Ireland, from +which he returned some twenty years later, and recovered +by arms and policy a large share of his ancestral dominions. +In the reign of Henry I. (A.D. 1110), a host of Flemings, +driven from their own country by an inundation of the +sea, were planted upon the Welsh marches, from which they +soon swarmed into all the Cambrian glens and glades. The +industry and economy of this new people, in peaceful +times, seemed almost inconsistent with their stubborn +bravery in battle; but they demonstrated to the Welsh, +and afterwards to the Irish, that they could handle the +halbert as well as throw the shuttle; that men of trade +may on occasion prove themselves capable men of war. + +The Norman Kings of England were not insensible to the +fact that the Cymric element in Wales, the Saxon element +in England, and the Gaelic element in Scotland, were all +more agreeable to the Irish than the race of Rollo and +William. They were not ignorant that Ireland was a refuge +for their victims and a recruiting ground for their +enemies. They knew, furthermore, that most of the strong +points on the Irish coast, from the Shannon to the Liffey, +were possessed by Christian Northmen kindred to themselves. +They knew that the land was divided within itself, weakened +by a long war of succession; groaning under the ambition +of five competitors for the sovereignty; and suffering +in reputation abroad under the invectives of Saint Bernard, +and the displeasure of Rome. More tempting materials for +intrigue, or fairer opportunities of aggrandizement, +nowhere presented themselves, and it was less want of +will than of leisure from other and nearer contests, +which deferred this new invasion for a century after the +battle of Hastings. + +While that century was passing over their heads, an +occasional intercourse, not without its pleasing incidents, +was maintained between the races. In the first year of +the twelfth, Arnulph de Montgomery, Earl of Chester, +obtained a daughter of Murkertach O'Brien in marriage; +the proxy on the occasion being Gerald, son of the +Constable of Windsor, and ancestor of the Geraldines. +Murkertach, according to Malmsbury, maintained a close +correspondence with Henry I., for whose advice he professed +great deference. He was accused of aiding the rebellion +of the Montgomerys against that Prince; and if at one +time he did so, seems to have abandoned their alliance, +when threatened with reprisals on the Irish engaged in +peaceful commerce with England. The argument used on this +occasion seems to be embodied in the question of +Malmsbury--and has since become familiar--"What would +Ireland do," says the old historian, "if the merchandize +of England were not carried to her shores?" + +The estimation in which the Irish Princes were held in +the century preceding the invasion, at the Norman Court, +may be seen in the style of Lanfranc and Anselm, when +addressing the former King Thorlogh, and the latter King +Murkertach O'Brien. The first generation of the conquerors +had passed away before the second of these epistles was +written. In the first, the address runs--"Lanfrancus, a +sinner, and the unworthy Bishop of the Holy Church of +Dover, to the illustrious Terdelvacus, King of Ireland, +blessing," &c., &c.; and the epistle of Anselm is +addressed--"To Muriardachus, by the grace of God, glorious +King of Ireland, Anselm, servant of the Church of +Canterbury, greeting health and salvation," &c., &c. This +was the tone of the highest ecclesiastics in England +towards the ruler of Ireland, in the reigns of William I. +and Henry I., and equally obsequious were the replies of +the Irish Princes. + +After the death of Henry I., nineteen years of civil war +and anarchy diverted the Anglo-Normans from all other +objects. In the year 1154, however, Henry of Anjou +succeeded to the throne, on which he was destined to act +so important a part. He was born in Anjou in the year +1133, and married at eighteen the divorced wife of the +King of France. Uniting her vast dominions to his own +patrimony, he became the lord of a larger part of France +than was possessed by the titular king. In his twenty-first +year he began to reign in England, and in his thirty-fifth +he received the fugitive Dermid of Leinster, in some camp +or castle of Aquitaine, and took that outlaw, by his own +act, under his protection. The centenary of the victory +of Hastings had just gone by, and it needed only this +additional agent to induce him to put into execution a +plan which he must have formed in the first months of +his reign, since the Bull he had procured from Pope +Adrian, bears the date of that year--1154. The return +from exile, and martyrdom of Beckett, disarranged and +delayed the projects of the English King; nor was he able +to lead an expedition into Ireland until four years after +his reception of the Leinster fugitive in France. + +Throughout the rest of Christendom--if we except Rome-- +the name of Ireland was comparatively little known. The +commerce of Dublin, Limerick, and Galway, especially in +the article of wine, which was already largely imported, +may have made those ports and their merchants somewhat +known on the coasts of France and Spain. But we have no +statistics of Irish commerce at that early period. Along +the Rhine and even upon the Danube, the Irish missionary +and the Irish schoolmaster were still sometimes found. +The chronicle of Ratisbon records with gratitude the +munificence of Conor O'Brien, King of Munster, whom it +considers the founder of the Abbey of St. Peter in that +city. The records of the same Abbey credit its liberal +founder with having sent large presents to the Emperor +Lothaire, in aid of the second crusade for the recovery +of the Holy Land. Some Irish adventurers joined in the +general European hosting to the plains of Palestine, but +though neither numerous nor distinguished enough to occupy +the page of history, their _glibs_ and _cooluns_ did not +escape the studious eye of him who sang Jerusalem Delivered +and Regained. + + + + +BOOK IV. + +THE NORMANS IN IRELAND. + + +CHAPTER I. + +DERMID McMURROGH'S NEGOTIATIONS AND SUCCESS--THE FIRST +EXPEDITION OF THE NORMANS INTO IRELAND. + +The result of Dermid McMurrogh's interview with Henry II., +in Aquitaine, was a royal letter, addressed to all his +subjects, authorizing such of them as would, to enlist +in the service of the Irish Prince. Armed alone with +this, the expelled adulterer, chafing for restoration +and revenge, retraced his course to England. He was at +this time some years beyond three score, but the snows +of age had no effect in cooling his impetuous blood; his +stature is described as almost gigantic; his voice loud +and harsh; his features stern and terrible. His cruel +and criminal character we already know. Yet it is but +just here to recall that much of the horror and odium +which has accumulated on his memory is posthumous and +retrospective. Some of his cotemporaries were no better +in their private lives than he was; but then they had no +part in bringing in the Normans. Talents both for peace +and war he certainly had, and there was still a feeling +of attachment, or at least of regret, cherished towards +him among the people of his patrimony. + +Dermid proceeded at once to seek the help he so sorely +needed, upon the marches of Chester, in the city of +Bristol, and at the court of the Prince of North Wales. +At Bristol he caused King Henry's letter to be publicly +read, and each reading was accompanied by ample promises +of land and recompense to those disposed to join in the +expedition--but all in vain. From Bristol he proceeded +to make the usual pilgrimage to the shrine of St. David, +the Apostle of Wales, and then he visited the Court of +Griffith ap Rhys, Prince of North Wales, whose family +ties formed a true Welsh triad among the Normans, the +Irish, and the Welsh. He was the nephew of the celebrated +Nest or Nesta, the Helen of the Welsh, whose blood flowed +in the veins of almost all the first Norman adventurers +in Ireland, and whose story is too intimately interwoven +with the origin of many of the highest names of the +Norman-Irish to be left untold. + +She was, in her day, the loveliest woman of Cambria, and +perhaps of Britain, but the fabled mantle of Tregau, +which, according to her own mythology, will fit none but +the chaste, had not rested on the white shoulders of +Nesta, the daughter of Rhys ap Tudor. Her girlish beauty +had attracted the notice of Henry I., to whom she bore +Robert Fitz-Roy and Henry Fitz-Henry, the former the +famous Earl of Gloucester, and the latter the father of +two of Strongbow's most noted companions. Afterwards, +by consent of her royal paramour, she married Gerald, +constable of Pembroke, by whom she had Maurice Fitzgerald, +the common ancestor of the Kildare and Desmond Geraldines. +While living with Gerald at Pembroke, Owen, son of Cadogan, +Prince of Powis, hearing of her marvellous beauty at a +banquet given by his father at the Castle of Aberteivi, +came by night to Pembroke, surprised the Castle, and +carried off Nesta and her children into Powis. Gerald, +however, had escaped, and by the aid of his father-in-law, +Rhys, recovered his wife and rebuilt his castle (A.D. +1105). The lady survived this husband, and married a +second time, Stephen, constable of Cardigan, by whom she +had Robert Fitzstephen, and probably other children. One +of her daughters, Angharad, married David de Barri, the +father of Giraldus and Robert de Barri; another, named +after herself, married Bernard of Newmarch, and became +the father of the Fitz-Bernard, who accompanied Henry II. +In the second and third generations this fruitful Cambrian +vine, grafted on the Norman stock, had branched out into +the great families of the Carews, Gerards, Fitzwilliams, +and Fitzroys, of England and Wales, and the Geraldines, +Graces, Fitz-Henries, and Fitz-Maurices, of Ireland. +These names will show how entirely the expeditions of +1169 and 1170 were joint-stock undertakings with most of +the adventurers; Cambria, not England, sent them forth; +it was a family compact; they were brothers in blood as +well as in arms, those comely and unscrupulous sons, +nephews, and grand-sons of Nesta! + +When the Leinster King reached the residence of Griffith +ap Rhys, near St. David's, he found that for some personal +or political cause he held in prison his near kinsman, +Robert, son of Stephen, who had the reputation of being +a brave and capable knight. Dermid obtained the release +of Robert, on condition of his embarking in the Irish +enterprise, and he found in him an active recruiting +agent, alike among Welsh, Flemings, and Normans. Through +him Maurice Fitzgerald, the de Barris, and Fitz-Henrys, +and their dependents, were soon enlisted in the adventure. +The son of Griffith ap Rhys, who may be mentioned along +with these knights, his kinsmen, and whom the Irish +annalists consider the most important person of the first +expedition--their pillar of battle--also resolved to +accompany them, with such forces as he could enlist. + +But a still more important ally waited to treat with +Dermid, on his return to Bristol. This was Richard de +Clare, called variously from his castles or his county, +Earl of Strigul and Chepstow, or Earl of Pembroke. From +the strength of his arms he was nicknamed Strongbow, and +in our Annals he is usually called Earl Richard, by which +title we prefer hereafter to distinguish him. His father, +Gilbert de Clare, was descended from Richard of Normandy, +and stood no farther removed in degree from that Duke +than the reigning Prince. For nearly forty years under +Henry I. and during the stormy reign of King Stephen, he +had been Governor of Pembroke, and like all the great +Barons played his game chiefly to his own advantage. His +castle at Chepstow was one of the strongest in the west, +and the power he bequeathed to his able and ambitious +son excited the apprehensions of the astute and suspicious +Henry II. Fourteen years of this King's reign had passed +away, and Earl Richard had received no great employments, +no new grants of land, no personal favours from his +Sovereign. He was now a widower, past middle age, condemned +to a life of inaction such as no true Norman could long +endure. Arrived at Bristol, he read the letter of Henry, +and heard from Dermid the story of his expulsion and the +grounds on which he vested his hopes of restoration. A +consultation ensued, at which it is probable the sons of +Nesta assisted, as it was there agreed that the town of +Wexford, with two cantreds of land adjoining it, should +be given to them. The pay of the archers and men-at-arms, +and the duration of their service, were also determined. +Large grants of land were guaranteed to all adventurers +of knightly rank, and Earl Richard was to marry the King's +daughter and succeed him in the sovereignty of Leinster. + +Having by such lavish promises enlisted this powerful +Earl and those adventurous knights, Dermid resolved to +pass over in person with such followers as were already +equipped, in order to rally the remnant of his adherents. +The Irish Annals enter this return under the year 1167, +within twelvemonths or thereabouts from the time of his +banishment; by their account he came back, accompanied +by a fleet of strangers whom they called Flemings, and +who were probably hired soldiers of that race, then easily +to be met with in Wales. The Welsh Prince already mentioned +seems to have accompanied him personally, as he fell by +his side in a skirmish the following year. Whatever this +force may have amounted to, they landed at Glascarrig +point, and wintered--probably spent the Christmas--at +Ferns. The more generally received account of Dermid's +landing alone, and disguised, and secretly preparing his +plans, under shelter of the Austin Friary at Ferns, must +be rejected, if we are still to follow those trite but +trustworthy guides, whom we have so many reasons to +confide in. The details differ in many very important +particulars from those usually received, as we shall +endeavour to make clear in a few words. + +Not only do they bring Dermid over with a fleet of +Flemings, of whom the natives made "small account," but +dating that event before the expiration of the year 1167, +at least sixteen months must have elapsed between the +return of the outlaw and the arrival of the Normans. By +allowing two years instead of one for the duration of +his banishment, the apparent difficulty as to time would +be obviated, for his return and Fitzstephen's arrival +would follow upon each other in the spring and winter of +the same year. The difficulty, however, is more apparent +than real. A year sufficed for the journey to Aquitaine +and the Welsh negotiations. Another year seems to have +been devoted with equal art and success to resuscitating +a native Leinster party favourable to his restoration. +For it is evident from our Annals that when Dermid showed +himself to the people after his return, it was simply to +claim his patrimony--Hy-Kinsellagh--and not to dispute +the Kingdom of Leinster with the actual ruler, _Murrogh +na Gael_. By this pretended moderation and humility, he +disarmed hostility and lulled suspicion asleep. Roderick +and O'Ruarc did indeed muster a host against him, and +some of their cavalry and Kernes skirmished with the +troops in his service at Kellistown, in Carlow, when six +were killed on one side and twenty-five on the other, +including the Welsh Prince already mentioned; afterwards +Dermid emerged from his fastnesses, and entering the camp +of O'Conor, gave him seven hostages for the ten cantreds +of his patrimony; and to O'Ruarc he gave "one hundred +ounces of gold for his _eineach_"--that is, as damages +for his criminal conversation with Devorgoil. During the +remainder of the year 1168, Dermid was left to enjoy +unmolested the moderate territory which he claimed, while +King Roderick was engaged in enforcing his claims on the +North and South, founding lectorships at Armagh, and +partitioning Meath between his inseparable colleague, +O'Ruarc, and himself. He celebrated, in the midst of an +immense multitude, the ancient national games at Tailtin, +he held an assembly at Tara, and distributed magnificent +gifts to his suffragans. Roderick might have spent the +festival of Christmas, 1168, or of Easter, 1169, in the +full assurance that his power was firmly established, +and that a long succession of peaceful days were about +to dawn upon Erin. But he was destined to be soon and +sadly undeceived. + +In the month of May, a little fleet of Welsh vessels, +filled with armed men, approached the Irish shore, and +Robert Fitzstephen ran into a creek of the bay of Bannow, +called by the adventurers, from the names of two of their +ships, Bag-and-Bun. Fitzstephen had with him thirty +knights, sixty esquires, and three hundred footmen. The +next day he was joined by Maurice de Prendergast, a Welsh +gentleman, with ten knights and sixty archers. After +landing they reconnoitred cautiously, but saw neither +ally nor enemy--the immediate coast seemed entirely +deserted. Their messenger despatched to Dermid, then +probably at Ferns, in the northern extremity of the +county, must have been absent several anxious days, when, +much to their relief, he returned with Donald, the son +of Dermid, at the head of 500 horsemen. Uniting their +troops, Donald and Fitzstephen set out for Wexford, about +a day's march distant, and the principal town in that +angle of the island which points towards Wales. The +tradition of the neighbourhood says they were assailed +upon the way by a party of the native population, who +were defeated and dispersed. Within ten days or a +fortnight of their landing, they were drawn up within +sight of the walls of Wexford, where they were joined by +Dermid, who obviously did not come unattended to such a +meeting. What additional force he may have brought up is +nowhere indicated; that he was not without followers or +mercenaries, we know from the mention of the Flemings in +his service, and the action of Kellistown in the previous +year. The force that had marched from Bannow consisted, +as we have seen, of 500 Irish horse under his son Donald, +surnamed _Kavanagh_; 30 knights, 60 esquires, and 300 +men-at-arms under Fitzstephen; 10 knights and 60 archers +under Prendergast; in all, nobles or servitors, not +exceeding 1,000 men. The town, a place of considerable +strength, could muster 2,000 men capable of bearing arms, +nor is it discreditable to its Dano-Irish artizans and +seamen that they could boast no captain equal to Fitzstephen +or Donald Kavanagh. What a town multitude could do they +did. They burned down an exposed suburb, closed their +gates, and manned their walls. The first assault was +repulsed with some loss on the part of the assailants, +and the night past in expectation of a similar conflict +on the morrow. In the early morning the townsmen could +discern that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was being +offered in the camp of their besiegers as a preparative +for the dangers of the day. Within the walls, however, +the clergy exercised all their influence to spare the +effusion of blood, and to bring about an accommodation. +Two Bishops who were in the town especially advised a +surrender on honourable terms, and their advice was taken. +Four of the principal citizens were deputed to Dermid, +and Wexford was yielded on condition of its rights and +privileges, hitherto existing, being respected. The +cantreds immediately adjoining the town on the north and +east were conferred on Fitzstephen according to the treaty +made at Bristol, and he at once commenced the erection +of a fortress on the rock of Carrig, at the narrowest +pass on the river Slaney. Strongbow's uncle, Herve, was +endowed with two other cantreds, to the south of the +town, now known as the baronies of Forth and Bargey, +where the descendants of the Welsh and Flemish settlers +then planted are still to be found in the industrious +and sturdy population, known as Flemings, Furlongs, +Waddings, Prendergasts, Barrys, and Walshes. Side by +side with them now dwell in peace the Kavanaghs, Murphys, +Conors, and Breens, whose ancestors so long and so fiercely +disputed the intrusion of these strangers amongst them. + +With some increase of force derived from the defenders +of Wexford, Dermid, at the head of 3000 men, including +all the Normans, marched into the adjoining territory of +Ossory, to chastise its chief, Donogh Fitzpatrick, one +of his old enemies. This campaign appears to have consumed +the greater part of the summer of the year, and ended +with the submission of Ossory, after a brave but unskilful +resistance. The tidings of what was done at Wexford and +in Ossory had, however, roused the apprehension of the +monarch Roderick, who appointed a day for a national +muster "of the Irish" at the Hill of Tara. Thither +repaired accordingly the monarch himself, the lords of +Meath, Oriel, Ulidia, Breffni, and the chiefs of the +farther north. With this host they proceeded to Dublin, +which they found as yet in no immediate danger of attack; +and whether on this pretext or some other, the Ulster +chiefs returned to their homes, leaving Roderick to +pursue, with the aid of Meath and Breffni only, the +footsteps of McMurrogh. The latter had fallen back upon +Ferns, and had, under the skilful directions of Fitzstephen, +strengthened the naturally difficult approaches to that +ancient capital, by digging artificial pits, by felling +trees, and other devices of Norman strategy. The season, +too, must have been drawing nearly to a close, and the +same amiable desire to prevent the shedding of Christian +blood, which characterized all the clergy of this age, +again subserved the unworthy purposes of the traitor and +invader. Roderick, after a vain endeavour to detach +Fitzstephen from Dermid and to induce him to quit the +country, agreed to a treaty with the Leinster King, by +which the latter acknowledged his supremacy as monarch, +under the ancient conditions, for the fulfilment of which +he surrendered to him his son Conor as hostage. By a +secret and separate agreement Dermid bound himself to +admit no more of the Normans into his service--an engagement +which he kept as he did all others, whether of a public +or a private nature. After the usual exchange of stipends +and tributes, Roderick returned to his home in the west; +and thus, with the treaty of Ferns, ended the comparatively +unimportant but significant campaign of the year 1169. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE ARMS, ARMOUR AND TACTICS OF THE NORMANS AND IRISH. + +This would seem to be the proper place to point out the +peculiarities in arms, equipment, and tactics, which gave +the first Normans those military advantages over the +Irish and Dano-Irish, which they had hitherto maintained +over the Saxons, Welsh and Scots. In instituting such a +comparison, we do not intend to confine it strictly to +the age of Strongbow and Dermid; the description will +extend to the entire period from the arrival of Fitzstephen +to the death of Richard, Earl of Ulster--from 1169 to +1333--a period of five or six generations, which we +propose to treat of in the present book. After this Earl's +decease, the Normans and Irish approximated more closely +in all their customs, and no longer presented those marked +contrasts which existed in their earlier intercourse and +conflicts with each other. The armour of the first +adventurers, both for man and horse, excited the wonder, +the sarcasms, and the fears of the Irish. No such equipments +had yet been seen in that country, nor indeed in any +other, where the Normans were still strangers. As the +Knights advanced on horseback, in their metal coating, +they looked more like iron cylinders filled with flesh +and blood, than like lithe and limber human combatants. +The man-at-arms, whether Knight or Squire, was almost +invariably mounted; his war-horse was usually led, while +he rode a hackney, to spare the _destrier_. The body +armour was a hauberk of netted iron or steel, to which +were joined a hood, sleeves, breeches, hose and sabatons, +or shoes, of the same material. Under the hauberk was +worn a quilted gambeson of silk or cotton, reaching to +the knees; over armour, except when actually engaged, +all men of family wore costly coats of satin, velvet, +cloth of gold or cloth of silver, emblazoned with their +arms. The shields of the thirteenth century were of +triangular form, pointed at the bottom; the helmet conical, +with or without bars; the beaver, vizor and plate armour, +were inventions of a later day. Earls, Dukes, and Princes, +wore small crowns upon their helmets; lovers wore the +favours of their mistresses; and victors the crests of +champions they had overthrown. The ordinary weapons of +these cavaliers were sword, lance, and knife; the +demi-launce, or light horsemen, were similarly armed; +and a force of this class, common in the Irish wars, was +composed of mounted cross-bow men, and called from the +swift, light _hobbies_ they rode, Hobiler-Archers. Besides +many improvements in arms and manual exercise, the Normans +perfected the old Roman machines and engines used in +sieges. The scorpion was a huge cross-bow, the catapults +showered stones to a great distance; the ballista discharged +flights of darts and arrows. There were many other +varieties of stone-throwing machinery; "the war-wolf" +was long the chief of projectile machines, as the ram +was of manual forces. The power of a battering-ram of +the largest size, worked by a thousand men, has been +proven to be equal to a point-blank shot from a thirty-six +pounder. There were moveable towers of all sizes and of +many names: "the sow" was a variety which continued in +use in England and Ireland till the middle of the +seventeenth century. The divisions of the cavalry were: +first, the _Constable's_ command, some twenty-five men; +next, the _Banneret_ was entitled to unfurl his own +colours with consent of the Marshal, and might unite +under his pennon one or more constabularies; the _Knight_ +led into the field all his retainers who held of him by +feudal tenure, and sometimes the retainers of his squires, +wards, or valets, and kinsmen. The laws of chivalry were +fast shaping themselves into a code complete and coherent +in all its parts, when these iron-clad, inventive and +invincible masters of the art of war first entered on +the invasion of Ireland. + +The body of their followers in this enterprise, consisting +of Flemish, Welsh, and Cornish archers, may be best +described by the arms they carried. The irresistible +cross-bow was their main reliance. Its shot was so deadly +that the Lateran Council, in 1139, strictly forbade its +employment among Christian enemies. It combined with +its stock, or bed, wheel, and trigger, almost all the +force of the modern musket, and discharged square pieces +of iron, leaden balls, or, in scarcity of ammunition, +flint stones. The common cross-bow would kill, point +blank, at forty or fifty yards distance, and the best +improved at fully one hundred yards. The manufacture of +these weapons must have been profitable, since their cost +was equal, in the relative value of money, to that of +the rifle, in our times. In the reign of Edward II. each +cross-bow, purchased for the garrison of Sherborne Castle, +cost 3 shillings and 8 pence; and every hundred of +_quarrels_--the ammunition just mentioned--1 shilling +and 6 pence. Iron, steel, and wood, were the materials +used in the manufacture of this weapon. + +The long-bow had been introduced into England by the +Normans, who are said to have been more indebted to that +arm than any other, for their victory at Hastings. To +encourage the use of the long-bow many statutes were +passed, and so late as the time of the Stuarts, royal +commissions were issued for the promotion of this national +exercise. Under the early statutes no archer was permitted +to practise at any standing mark at less than "eleven +score yards distant;" no archer under twenty-four years +of age was allowed to shoot twice from the same stand-point; +parents and masters were subject to a fine of 6 shillings +and 8 pence if they allowed their youth, under the age +of seventeen, "to be without a bow and two arrows for +one month together;" the walled towns were required to +set up their butts, to keep them in repair, and to turn +out for target-practice on holidays, and at other convenient +times. Aliens residing in England were forbidden the +use of this weapon--a jealous precaution showing the +great importance attached to its possession. The usual +length of the bow--which was made of yew, witch-hazel, +ash, or elm--was about six feet; and the arrow, about +half that length. Arrows were made of ash, feathered with +part of a goose's wing, and barbed with iron or steel. +In the reign of Edward III., a painted bow cost 1 shilling +and 6 pence, a white bow, 1 shilling; a sheaf of +steel-tipped arrows (24 to the sheaf), 1 shilling and 2 +pence, and a sheaf of _non accerata_ (the blunt sort), +1 shilling The range of the long-bow, at its highest +perfection, was, as we have seen, "eleven score yards," +more than double that of the ordinary cross-bow. The +common sort of both these weapons carried about the same +distance--nearly 100 yards. + +The natural genius of the Normans for war had been +sharpened and perfected by then: campaigns in France and +England, but more especially in the first and second +Crusades. All that was to be learned of military science +in other countries--all that Italian skill, Greek subtlety, +or Saracen invention could teach, they knew and combined +into one system. Their feudal discipline, moreover, in +which the youth who entered the service of a veteran as +page, rose in time to the rank of esquire and +bachelor-at-arms, and finally won his spurs on some +well-contested field, was eminently favourable to the +training and proficiency of military talents. Not less +remarkable was the skill they displayed in seizing on +the strong and commanding points of communication within +the country, as we see at this day, from the sites of +their old Castles, many of which must have been, before +the invention of gunpowder, all but impregnable. + +The art of war, if art it could in their case be called, +was in a much less forward stage among the Irish in the +twelfth and thirteenth centuries than amongst the Normans. +Of the science of fortification they perhaps knew no more +than they had learned in their long struggle with the +Danes and Norwegians. To render roads impassable, to +strengthen their islands by stockades, to hold the +naturally difficult passes which connect one province or +one district with another--these seem to have been their +chief ideas of the aid that valour may derive from +artificial appliances. The fortresses of which we hear +so frequently, during and after the Danish period, and +which are erroneously called _Danes'-forts_, were more +numerous than formidable to such enemies as the Normans. +Some of these earth-and-stone-works are older than the +Milesian invasion, and of Cyclopean style and strength. +Those of the Milesians are generally of larger size, +contain much more earth, and the internal chambers are +of less massive masonry. They are almost invariably of +circular form, and the largest remaining specimens are +the Giant's Ring, near Belfast; the fort at Netterville, +which measures 300 paces in circumference round the top +of the embankment; the Black Rath, on the Boyne, which +measures 321 paces round the outer wall of circumvallation; +and the King's Rath, at Tara, upwards of 280 in length. +The height of the outer embankment in forts of this size +varied from fifteen to twenty feet; this embankment was +usually surrounded by a fosse; within the embankment +there was a platform, depressed so as to leave a circular +parapet above its level. Many of these military raths +have been found to contain subterranean chambers and +circular winding passages, supposed to be used as granaries +and armories. They are accounted capable of containing +garrisons of from 200 to 500 men; but many of the fortresses +mentioned from age to age in our annals were mere private +residences, enclosing within their outer and inner walls +space enough for the immediate retainers and domestics +of the chief. Although coats of mail are mentioned in +manuscripts long anterior to the Norman invasion, the +Irish soldiers seem seldom or never to have been completely +clothed in armour. Like the northern _Berserkers_, they +prided themselves in fighting, if not naked, in their +orange coloured shirts, dyed with saffron. The helmet +and the shield were the only defensive articles of dress; +nor do they seem to have had trappings for their horses. +Their favourite missile weapon was the dart or javelin, +and in earlier ages the sling. The spear or lance, the +sword, and the sharp, short-handled battle-axe, were +their favourite manual weapons. Their power with the +battle-axe was prodigious; _Giraldus_ says they sometimes +lopped off a horseman's leg at a single blow, his body +falling over on the other side. Their bridle-bits and +spurs were of bronze, as were generally their spear heads +and short swords. Of siege implements, beyond the torch +and the scaling-ladder, they seem to have had no knowledge, +and to have desired none. The Dano-Irish alone were +accustomed to fortify and defend their towns, on the +general principles, which then composed the sum of what +was known in Christendom of military engineering. Quick +to acquire in almost every department of the art, the +native Irish continued till the last obstinately insensible +to the absolute necessity of learning how modern +fortifications are constructed, defended, and captured; +a national infatuation, of which we find melancholy +evidence in every recurring native insurrection. + +The two divisions of the Irish infantry were the +_galloglass_, or heavily armed foot soldier, called +_gall_, either as a mercenary, or from having been equipped +after the Norman method, and the _kerne_, or light +infantry. The horsemen were men of the free tribes, who +followed their chief on terms almost of equality, and +who, except his immediate retainers, equipped and foraged +for themselves. The highest unit of this force was a +_Cath_, or battalion of 3,000 men; but the subdivision +of command and the laws which established and maintained +discipline have yet to be recovered and explained. The +old Spanish "right of insurrection" seems to have been +recognized in every chief of a free tribe, and no Hidalgo +of old Spain, for real or fancied slight, was ever more +ready to turn his horse's head homeward than were those +refractory lords, with whom Roderick O'Conor and his +successors, in the front of the national battle, had to +contend or to co-operate. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE FIRST CAMPAIGN OF EARL RICHARD--SIEGE OF DUBLIN--DEATH +OF KING DERMID McMURROGH. + +The campaigns of 1168 and 1169 had ended prosperously +for Dermid in the treaty of Ferns. By that treaty he had +bound himself to bring no more Normans into the country, +and to send those already in his service back to their +homes. But in the course of the same autumn or winter, +in which this agreement was solemnly entered into, he +welcomed the arrival at Wexford--of Maurice Fitzgerald +--son of the fair Nesta by her first husband--and +immediately employed this fresh force, consisting of 10 +knights, 30 esquires, and 100 footmen, upon a hosting +which harried the open country about Dublin, and induced +the alarmed inhabitants to send hostages into his camp, +bearing proffers of allegiance and amity. As yet he did +not feel in force sufficient to attack the city, for, if +he had been, his long cherished vengeance against its +inhabitants would not have been postponed till another +season. + +In the meantime he had written most urgent letters to +Earl Richard to hasten his arrival, according to the +terms agreed upon at Bristol. That astute and ambitious +nobleman had been as impatiently biding his time as Dermid +had been his coming. Knowing the jealous sovereign under +whom he served, he had gone over to France to obtain +Henry's sanction to the Irish enterprise, but had been +answered by the monarch, in oracular phrases, which might +mean anything or nothing. Determined, however, to interpret +these doubtful words in his own sense, he despatched his +vanguard early in the spring of the year 1170, under the +command of his uncle Herve and a company of 10 knights +and 70 archers, under Raymond, son of William, lord of +Carew, elder brother of Maurice Fitzgerald, and grandson +of Nesta. In the beginning of May, Raymond, nicknamed +_le gros_, or the Fat, entered Waterford harbour, and +landed eight miles below the city, under the rock of +Dundonolf, on the east, or Wexford side. Here they rapidly +threw up a camp to protect themselves against attack, +and to hold the landing place for the convenience of the +future expedition. A tumultuous body of natives, amounting, +according to the Norman account, to 3,000 men, were soon +seen swarming across the Suir to attack the foreigners. +They were men of Idrone and Desies, under their chiefs, +O'Ryan and O'Phelan, and citizens of Waterford, who now +rushed towards the little fortress, entirely unprepared +for the long and deadly range of the Welsh and Flemish +crossbows. Thrown into confusion by the unexpected +discharge, in which every shot from behind the ramparts +of turf brought down its man, they wavered and broke; +Raymond and Herve then sallied out upon the fugitives, +who were fain to escape, as many as could, to the other +side of the river, leaving 500 prisoners, including 70 +chief citizens of Waterford behind them. These were all +inhumanly massacred, according to _Giraldus_, the eulogist +of all the Geraldines, by the order of Herve, contrary +to the entreaties of Raymond. Their legs were first +violently broken, and they were then hurled down the +rocks into the tide. Five hundred men could not well be +so captured and put to death by less than an equal number +of hands, and we may, therefore, safely set down that +number as holding the camp of Dundonolf during the summer +months of the year. + +Earl Richard had not completed his arrangements until +the month of August--so that his uncle and lieutenant +had to hold the post they had seized for fully three +months, awaiting his arrival in the deepest anxiety. At +last, leaving his castle in Pembroke, he marched with +his force through North Wales, by way of St. David's to +Milford Haven--"and still as he went he took up all the +best chosen and picked men he could get." At Milford, +just as he was about to embark, he received an order from +King Henry forbidding the expedition. Wholly disregarding +this missive he hastened on board with 200 knights and +1,200 infantry in his company, and on the eve of St. +Bartholomew's Day (August 23rd), landed safely under the +earthwork of Dundonolf, where he was joyfully received +by Raymond at the head of 40 knights, and a corresponding +number of men-at-arms. The next day the whole force, +under the Earl, "who had all things in readiness" for +such an enterprise, proceeded to lay siege to Waterford. +Malachy O'Phelan, the brave lord of Desies, forgetting +all ancient enmity against his Danish neighbours, had +joined the townsmen to assist in the defence. Twice the +besieged beat back the assailants, until Raymond perceiving +at an angle of the wall the wooden props upon which a +house rested, ordered them to be cut away, on which the +house fell to the ground, and a breach was effected. The +men-at-arms then burst in, slaughtering the inhabitants +without mercy. In the tower, long known as Reginald's, +or the ring tower, O'Phelan and Reginald, the Dano-Irish +chief, held out until the arrival of King Dermid, whose +intercession procured them such terms as led to their +surrender. Then, amid the ruins of the burning city, and +the muttered malediction of its surviving inhabitants, +the ill-omened marriage of Eva McMurrogh with Richard de +Clare was gaily celebrated, and the compact entered into +at Bristol three years before was perfected. + +The marriage revelry was hardly over when tidings came +from Dublin that Asculph MacTorcall, its Danish lord, +had, either by the refusal of the annual tribute, or in +some other manner, declared his independence of Dermid, +and invoked the aid of the monarch Roderick, in defence +of that city. Other messengers brought news that Roderick +had assumed the protection of Dublin, and was already +encamped at the head of a large army at Clondalkin, with +a view of intercepting the march of the invaders from +the south. The whole Leinster and Norman force, with the +exception of a troop of archers left to garrison Waterford, +were now put in motion for the siege of the chief city +of the Hibernicized descendants of the Northmen. Informed +of Roderick's position, which covered Dublin on the south +and west, Dermid and Richard followed boldly the mountain +paths and difficult roads which led by the secluded city +of Glendalough, and thence along the coast road from Bray +towards the mouth of the Liffey, until they arrived +unexpectedly within the lines of Roderick, to the amazement +and terror of the townsmen. + +The force which now, under the command-in-chief of Dermid, +sat down to the siege of Dublin, was far from being +contemptible. For a year past he had been recognized in +Leinster as fully as any of his predecessors, and had so +strengthened his military position as to propose nothing +short of the conquest of the whole country. His choice +of a line of march sufficiently shows how thoroughly he +had overcome the former hostility of the stubborn +mountaineers of Wicklow. The exact numbers which he +encamped before the gates of Dublin are nowhere given, +but on the march from Waterford, the vanguard, led by +Milo de Cogan, consisted of 700 Normans and "an Irish +battalion," which, taken literally, would mean 3,000 men, +under Donald _Kavanagh_; Raymond the Fat followed "with +800 British;" Dermid led on "the chief part of the Irish" +(number not given), in person; Richard commanded the +rear-guard, "300 British and 1,000 Irish soldiers." +Altogether, it is not exorbitant to conjecture that the +Leinster Prince led to the siege of Dublin an army of +about 10,000 native troops, 1,500 Welsh and Flemish +archers, and 250 knights. Except the handful who remained +with Fitzstephen to defend his fort at Carrick, on the +Slaney, and the archers left in Waterford, the entire +Norman force in Ireland, at this time, were united in +the siege. Of the foreign knights many were eminent for +courage and capacity, both in peace and war. The most +distinguished among them were Maurice Fitzgerald, the +common ancestor of the Geraldines of Desmond and Kildare; +Raymond the Fat, ancestor of the Graces of Ossory; the +two Fitz-Henries, grandsons of Henry I., and the fair +Nesta; Walter de Riddlesford, first Baron of Bray; Robert +de Quincy, son-in-law and standard-bearer to Earl Richard; +Herve, uncle to the Earl, and Gilbert de Clare, his son; +Milo de Cogan, the first who entered Dublin by assault, +and its first Norman governor; the de Barries, and de +Prendergast. Other founders of Norman-Irish houses, as +the de Lacies, de Courcies, le Poers, de Burgos, Butlers, +Berminghams, came not over until the landing of Henry II., +or still later, with his son John. + +The townsmen of Dublin had every reason, from their +knowledge of Dermid's cruel character, to expect the +worst at his hands and those of his allies. The warning +of Waterford was before them, but besides this they had +a special cause of apprehension, Dermid's father having +been murdered in their midst, and his body ignominiously +interred with the carcase of a dog. Roderick having +failed to intercept him, the citizens, either to gain +time or really desiring to arrive at an accommodation, +entered into negotiations. Their ambassador for this +purpose was Lorcan, or Lawrence O'Toole, the first +Archbishop of the city, and its first prelate of Milesian +origin. This illustrious man, canonized both by sanctity +and patriotism, was then in the thirty-ninth year of his +age, and the ninth of his episcopate. His father was +lord of Imayle and chief of his clan; his sister had been +wife of Dermid and mother of Eva, the prize-bride of Earl +Richard. He himself had been a hostage with Dermid in +his youth, and afterwards Abbot of Glendalough, the most +celebrated monastic city of Leinster. He stood, therefore, +to the besieged, being their chief pastor, in the relation +of a father; to Dermid, and strangely enough to Strongbow +also, as brother-in-law and uncle by marriage. A fitter +ambassador could not be found. + +Maurice Regan, the "_Latiner_," or Secretary of Dermid, +had advanced to the walls, and summoned the city to +surrender, and deliver up "30 pledges" to his master, +their lawful Prince. Asculph, son of Torcall, was in +favour of the surrender, but the citizens could not agree +among themselves as to hostages. No one was willing to +trust himself to the notoriously untrustworthy Dermid. +The Archbishop was then sent out on the part of the +citizens to arrange the terms in detail. He was received +with all reverence in the camp, but while he was +deliberating with the commanders without, and the townsmen +were anxiously awaiting his return, Milo de Cogan and +Raymond the Fat, seizing the opportunity, broke into the +city at the head of their companies, and began to put +the inhabitants ruthlessly to the sword. They were soon +followed by the whole force eager for massacre and pillage. +The Archbishop hastened back to endeavour to stay the +havoc which was being made of his people. He threw +himself before the infuriated Irish and Normans, he +threatened, he denounced, he bared his own breast to the +swords of the assassins. All to little purpose; the blood +fury exhausted itself before peace settled over the city. +Its Danish chief, Asculph, with many of his followers, +escaped to their ships, and fled to the Isle of Man and +the Hebrides in search of succour and revenge. Roderick, +unprepared to besiege the enemy who had thus outmarched +and outwitted him at that season of the year--it could +not be earlier than October--broke up his encampment at +Clondalkin, and retired to Connaught. Earl Richard having +appointed de Cogan his governor of Dublin, followed on +the rear of the retreating _Ard-Righ_, at the instigation +of McMurrogh, burning and plundering the churches of +Kells, Clonard and Slane, and carrying off the hostages +of East-Meath. + +Though Dermid seemed to have forgotten altogether the +conditions of the treaty of Ferns, yet not so Roderick. +When he reached Athlone he caused Conor, son of Dermid, +and the son of Donald _Kavanagh_, and the son of Dermid's +fosterer, who had been given him as hostages for the +fulfilment of that treaty, so grossly violated in every +particular, to be beheaded. Dermid indulged in impotent +vows of vengeance against Roderick, when he heard of +these executions which his own perjuries had provoked; +he swore that nothing short of the conquest of Connaught +in the following spring would satisfy his revenge, and +he sent the Ard-Righ his defiance to that purport. Two +other events of military consequence marked the close of +the year 1170. The foreign garrison of Waterford was +surprised and captured by Cormac McCarthy, Prince of +Desmond, and Henry II. having prohibited all intercourse +between his lieges and his disobedient subject, Earl +Richard, the latter had despatched Raymond the Fat, with +the most humble submission of himself and his new +possessions to his Majesty's decision. And so with Asculph, +son of Torcall, recruiting in the isles of Insi-Gall, +Lawrence, the Archbishop, endeavouring to unite the proud +and envious Irish lords into one united phalanx, and +Roderick, preparing for the new year's campaign, the +winter of 1170-'71, came, and waned, and went. + +One occurrence of the succeeding spring may most +appropriately be dismissed here--the death of the wretched +and odious McMurrogh. This event happened, according to +_Giraldus_, in the kalends of May. The Irish Annals +surround his death-bed with all the horrors appropriate +to such a scene. He became, they say, "putrid while +living," through the miracles of St. Columbcille and St. +Finian, whose churches he had plundered; "and he died at +Fernamore, without making a will, without penance, without +the body of Christ, without unction, as his evil deeds +deserved." We have no desire to meditate over the memory +of such a man. He, far more than his predecessor, whatever +that predecessor's crimes might have been, deserved to +have been buried with a dog. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SECOND CAMPAIGN OF EARL RICHARD--HENRY II. IN IRELAND. + +The campaign of the year 1171 languished from a variety +of causes. At the very outset, the invaders lost their +chief patron, who had been so useful to them. During the +siege of Dublin, in the previous autumn, the townsmen of +Wexford, who were in revolt, had, by stratagem, induced +Robert Fitzstephen to surrender his fort at Carrick, and +had imprisoned him in one of the islands of their harbour. +Waterford had been surprised and taken by Cormac McCarthy, +Prince of Desmond, and Strongbow, alarmed by the +proclamation of Henry, knew hardly whether to consider +himself outlaw, subject, or independent sovereign. + +Raymond the Fat had returned from his embassy to King +Henry, with no comfortable tidings. He had been kept day +after day waiting the pleasure of the King, and returned +with sentences as dubious in his mouth, as those on which +Earl Richard had originally acted. It was evidently not +the policy of Henry to abandon the enterprise already so +well begun, but neither was it his interest or desire +that any subject should reap the benefit, or erect an +independent power, upon his mere permission to embark in +the service of McMurrogh. Herve, the Earl's uncle, had +been despatched as ambassador in Raymond's place, but +with no better success. At length, Richard himself, by +the advice of all his counsellors, repaired to England, +and waited on Henry at Newenham, in Gloucestershire. At +first he was ignominiously refused an audience, but after +repeated solicitations he was permitted to renew his +homage. He then yielded in due form the city of Dublin, +and whatever other conquests he claimed, and consented +to hold his lands in Leinster, as chief tenant from the +crown: in return for which he was graciously forgiven +the success that had attended his adventure, and permitted +to accompany the King's expedition, in the ensuing autumn. + +Before Strongbow's departure for England three unsuccessful +attempts had been made for the expulsion of the Norman +garrison from Dublin. They were unfortunately not undertaken +in concert, but rather in succession. The first was an +attempt at surprising the city by Asculph MacTorcall, +probably relying on the active aid of the inhabitants of +his own race. He had but "a small force," chiefly from +the isles of Insi-Gall and the Orkneys. The Orcadians +were under the command of a warrior called John the +Furious or Mad, the last of those wild Berserkers of the +North, whose valour was regarded in Pagan days as a +species of divine frenzy. This redoubted champion, after +a momentary success, was repulsed by Milo and Richard de +Cogan, and finally fell by the hand of Walter de +Riddlesford. Asculph was taken prisoner, and, avowing +boldly his intention never to desist from attempting to +recover the place, was put to death. The second attack +has been often described as a regular investment by +Roderick O'Conor, at the head of all the forces of the +Island, which was only broken up in the ninth week of +its duration, by a desperate sally on the part of the +famished garrison. Many details and episodes, proper to +so long a beleaguerment, are given by _Giraldus_, and +reproduced by his copyists. We find, however, little +warrant for these passages in our native annals, any more +than for the antithetical speeches which the same partial +historian places in the mouths of his heroes. The Four +Masters limit the time to "the course of a fortnight." +Roderick, according to their account, was accompanied by +the lords of Breffni and Oriel only; frequent skirmishes +and conflicts took place; an excursion was made against +the Leinster Allies of the Normans, "to cut down and burn +the corn of the Saxons." The surprise by night of the +monarch's camp is also duly recorded; and that the enemy +carried off "the provisions, armour, and horses of +Roderick." By which sally, according to _Giraldus_, Dublin +having obtained provisions enough for a year, Earl Richard +marched to Wexford, "taking the higher way by Idrone," +with the hope to deliver Fitzstephen. But the Wexford +men having burned their suburbs, and sent their goods +and families into the stockaded island, sent him word +that at the first attack they would put Fitzstephen and +his companions to death. The Earl, therefore, held +sorrowfully on his way to Waterford, where, leaving a +stronger force than the first garrison, to which he had +entrusted it, he sailed for England to make his peace +with King Henry. The third attempt on Dublin was made by +the lord of Breffni during the Earl's absence, and when +the garrison were much reduced; it was equally unsuccessful +with those already recorded. De Cogan displayed his usual +courage, and the lord of Breffni lost a son and some of +his best men in the assault. + +It was upon the marches of Wales that the Earl found King +Henry busily engaged in making preparations for his own +voyage into Ireland. He had levied on the landholders +throughout his dominions an escutage or commutation for +personal service, and the Pipe roll, which contains his +disbursements for the year, has led an habitually cautious +writer to infer "that the force raised for the expedition +was much more numerous than has been represented by +historians." During the muster of his forces he visited +Pembroke, and made a progress through North Wales, severely +censuring those who had enlisted under Strongbow, and +placing garrisons of his own men in their castles. At +Saint David's he made the usual offering on the shrine +of the Saint and received the hospitalities of the Bishop. +All things being in readiness, he sailed from Milford +Haven, with a fleet of 400 transports, having on board +many of the Norman nobility, 500 knights, and an army +usually estimated at 4,000 men at arms. On the 18th of +October, 1171, he landed safely at Crook, in the county +of Waterford, being unable, according to an old local +tradition, to sail up the river from adverse winds. As +one headland of that harbour is called _Hook_, and the +other _Crook_, the old adage, "by hook or by crook," is +thought to have arisen on this occasion. + +In Henry's train, beside Earl Richard, there came over +Hugh de Lacy, some time Constable of Chester; William, +son of Aldelm, ancestor of the Clanrickardes; Theobald +Walter, ancestor of the Butlers; Robert le Poer, ancestor +of the Powers; Humphrey de Bohun, Robert Fitz-Barnard, +Hugh de Gundeville, Philip de Hastings, Philip de Braos, +and many other cavaliers whose names were renowned +throughout France and England. As the imposing host formed +on the sea side, a white hare, according to an English +chronicler, leapt from a neighbouring hedge, and was +immediately caught and presented to the King as an omen +of victory. Prophecies, pagan and Christian--quatrains +fathered on Saint Moling and triads attributed to +Merlin--were freely showered in his path. But the true +omen of his success he might read for himself, in a +constitution which had lost its force, in laws which had +ceased to be sacred, and in a chieftain race, brave indeed +as mortal men could be, but envious, arrogant, revengeful, +and insubordinate. For their criminal indulgence of +these demoniacal passions a terrible chastisement was +about to fall on them, and not only on them, but also, +alas! on their poor people. + +The whole time passed by Henry II. in Ireland was from +the 18th October, 1171, till the 17th of April following, +just seven months. For the first politician of his age, +with the command of such troops, and so much treasure, +these seven months could not possibly be barren of +consequences. Winter, the season of diplomacy, was seldom +more industriously or expertly employed. The townsmen of +Wexford, aware of his arrival as soon as it had taken +place, hastened to make their submission and to deliver +up to him their prisoner, Robert Fitzstephen, the first +of the invaders. Henry, affecting the same displeasure +towards Fitzstephen he did for all those who had anticipated +his own expedition, ordered him to be fettered and +imprisoned in Reginald's tower. At Waterford he also +received the friendly overtures of the lords of Desies +and Ossory, and probably some form of feudal submission +was undergone by those chiefs. Cormac, Prince of Desmond, +followed their example, and soon afterwards Donald O'Brien +of Thomond met him on the banks of the Suir, not far from +Cashel, made his peace, and agreed to receive a Norman +garrison in his Hiberno-Danish city of Limerick. Having +appointed commanders over these and other southern +garrisons, Henry proceeded to Dublin, where a spacious +cage-work palace, on a lawn without the city, was prepared +for winter quarters. Here he continued those negotiations +with the Irish chiefs, which we are told were so generally +successful. Amongst others whose adhesion he received, +mention is made of the lord of Breffni, the most faithful +follower the Monarch Roderick could count. The chiefs of +the Northern Hy-Nial remained deaf to all his overtures, +and though Fitz-Aldelm and de Lacy, the commissioners +despatched to treat with Roderick, are said to have +procured from the deserted _Ard-Righ_ an act of submission, +it is incredible that a document of such consequence +should have been allowed to perish. Indeed, most of the +confident assertions about submissions to Henry are to +be taken with great caution; it is quite certain he +himself, though he lived nearly twenty years after his +Irish expedition, never assumed any Irish title whatever. +It is equally true that his successor, Richard I., never +assumed any such title, as an incident of the English +crown. And although Henry in the year 1185 created his +youngest son, John _Lackland_, "lord of Ireland," it was +precisely in the same spirit and with as much ground of +title as he had for creating Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath, +or John de Courcy, Earl of Ulster. Of this question of +title we shall speak more fully hereafter, for we do not +recognize any English sovereign as _King_ of Ireland, +previous to the year 1541; but it ought surely to be +conclusive evidence, that neither had Henry claimed the +crown, nor had the Irish chiefs acknowledged him as their +_Ard-Righ_, that in the two authentic documents from his +hand which we possess, he neither signs himself _Rex_ +nor _Dominus Hibernioe_. These documents are the Charter +of Dublin, and the Concession of Glendalough, and their +authenticity has never been disputed. + +After spending a right merry Christmas with Norman and +Milesian guests in abundance at Dublin, Henry proceeded +to that work of religious reformation, under plea of +which he had obtained the Bill of Pope Adrian, seventeen +years before, declaring such an expedition undertaken +with such motives, lawful and praiseworthy. Early in the +new year, by his desire, a synod was held at Cashel, +where many salutary decrees were enacted. These related +to the proper solemnization of marriage; the catechising +of children before the doors of churches; the administration +of baptism in baptismal or parish churches; the abolition of +_Erenachs_ or lay Trustees of church property, and the +imposition of tithes, both of corn and cattle. By most +English writers this synod is treated as a National +Council, and inferences are thence drawn of Henry's +admitted power over the clergy of the nation. There is, +however, no evidence that the Bishops of Ulster or +Connaught were present at Cashel, but strong negative +testimony to the contrary. We read under the date of the +same year in the Four Masters, that a synod of the clergy +and laity of Ireland was convened at Tuam by Roderick +O'Conor and the Archbishop Catholicus O'Duffy. It is +hardly possible that this meeting could be in continuation +or in concord with the assembly convoked at the instance +of Henry. + +Following quickly upon the Cashel Synod, Henry held a +"Curia Regis" or Great Court at Lismore, in which he +created the offices of Marshal, Constable, and Seneschal +for Ireland. Earl Richard was created the first Lord +Marshal; de Lacy, the first Lord Constable. Theobald, +ancestor of the Ormond family, was already chief Butler, +and de Vernon was created the first high Steward or +Seneschal. Such other order as could be taken for the +preservation of the places already captured, was not +neglected. The surplus population of Bristol obtained a +charter of Dublin to be held of Henry and his heirs, +"with all the same liberties and free customs which they +enjoyed at Bristol." Wexford was committed to the charge +of Fitz-Aldelm, Waterford to de Bohun, and Dublin to de +Lacy. Castles were ordered to be erected in the towns +and at other points, and the politic king, having caused +all those who remained behind to renew their homage in +the most solemn form, sailed on Easter Monday from Wexford +Haven, and on the same day, landed at Port-Finan in Wales. +Here he assumed the Pilgrim's staff, and proceeded humbly +on foot to St. David's, preparatory to meeting the Papal +Commissioners appointed to inquire into Beckett's murder. + +It is quite apparent that had Henry landed in Ireland at +any other period of his life except in the year of the +martyrdom of the renowned Archbishop of Canterbury, while +the wrath of Rome was yet hanging poised in the air, +ready to be hurled against him, he would not have left +the work he undertook but half begun. The nett result of +his expedition, of his great fleet, mighty army, and +sagacious counsels, was the infusion of a vast number of +new adventurers (most of them of higher rank and better +fortunes than their precursors), into the same old field. +Except the garrisons admitted into Limerick and Cork, +and the displacing of Strongbow's commandants by his own +at Waterford, Wexford, and Dublin, there seems to have +been little gained in a military sense. The decrees of +the Synod of Cashel would, no doubt, stand him in good +stead with the Papal legates as evidences of his desire +to enforce strict discipline, even on lands beyond those +over which he actually ruled. But, after all, harassed +as he was with apprehensions of the future, perhaps no +other Prince could have done more in a single winter in +a strange country than Henry II. did for his seven months' +sojourn in Ireland. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +FROM THE RETURN OF HENRY II. TO ENGLAND TILL THE DEATH +OF EARL RICHARD AND HIS PRINCIPAL COMPANIONS. + +The Ard-Righ Roderick, during the period of Henry the +Second's stay in Ireland, had continued west of the +Shannon. Unsupported by his suffragans, many of whom +made peace with the invader, he attempted no military +operation, nor had Henry time sufficient to follow him +into his strongholds. It was reserved for this ill-fated, +and, we cannot but think, harshly judged monarch, to +outlive the first generation of the invaders of his +country, and to close a reign which promised so brightly +at the beginning, in the midst of a distracted, war-spent +people, having preserved through all vicissitudes the +title of sovereign, but little else that was of value to +himself or others. + +Among the guests who partook of the Christmas cheer of +King Henry at Dublin, we find mention of Tiernan O'Ruarc, +the lord of Breffni and East-Meath. For the Methian +addition to his possessions, Tiernan was indebted to his +early alliance with Roderick, and the success of their +joint arms. Anciently the east of Meath had been divided +between the four families called "the four tribes of +Tara," whose names are now anglicized O'Hart, O'Kelly, +O'Connelly, and O'Regan. Whether to balance the power of +the great West-Meath family of O'Melaghlin, or because +these minor tribes were unable to defend themselves +successfully, Roderick, like his father, had partitioned +Meath, and given the seaward side a new master in the +person of O'Ruarc. The investiture of Hugh de Lacy by +King Henry with the seignory of the same district, led +to a tragedy, the first of its kind in our annals, but +destined to be the prototype of an almost indefinite +series, in which the gainers were sometimes natives, but +much oftener Normans. + +O'Ruarc gave de Lacy an appointment at the hill of Ward, +near Athboy, in the year 1173, in order to adjust their +conflicting claims upon East-Meath. Both parties naturally +guarded against surprise, by having in readiness a troop +of armed retainers. The principals met apart on the +summit of the hill, amid the circumvallations of its +ancient fort; a single unarmed interpreter only was +present. An altercation having arisen, between them, +O'Ruarc lost his temper, and raised the battle-axe, which +all our warriors carried in those days, as the gentlemen +of the last century did their swords; this was the signal +for both troops of guards to march towards the spot. De +Lacy, in attempting to fly, had been twice felled to the +earth, when his followers, under Maurice Fitzgerald and +Griffith, his nephew, came to his rescue, and assailed +the chief of Breffni. It was now Tiernan's turn to attempt +escaping, but as he mounted his horse the spear of Griffith +brought him to the earth mortally wounded, and his +followers fled. His head was carried in triumph to Dublin, +where it was spiked over the northern gate, and his body +was gibbeted on the northern wall, with the feet uppermost. +Thus, a spectacle of intense pity to the Irish, did these +severed members of one of their most famous nobles remain +exposed on that side of the stronghold of the stranger +which looks towards the pleasant plains of Meath and the +verdant uplands of Cavan. + +The administration of de Lacy was now interrupted by a +summons to join his royal master, sore beset by his own +sons in Normandy. The Kings of France and Scotland were +in alliance with those unnatural Princes, and their +mother, Queen Eleanor, might he called the author of +their rebellion. As all the force that could be spared +from Ireland was needed for the preservation of Normandy, +de Lacy hastened to obey the royal summons, and Earl +Richard, by virtue of his rank of Marshal, took for the +moment the command in chief. Henry, however, who never +cordially forgave that adventurer, first required his +presence in France, and when alarmed by ill news from +Ireland, he sent him back to defend the conquests already +made, he associated with him in the supreme command--though +not apparently in the civil administration--the gallant +Raymond _le gros_. And it was full time for the best head +and the bravest sword among the first invaders to return +to their work--a task not to be so easily achieved as +many confident persons then believed, and as many +ill-informed writers have since described it. + +During the early rule of de Lacy, Earl Richard had +established himself at Ferns, assuming, to such of the +Irish as adhered to him, the demeanour of a king. After +Dermid's death, he styled himself, in utter disregard of +Irish law, "Prince of Leinster," in virtue of his wife. +He proceeded to create feudal dignitaries, placing at +their head, as Constable of Leinster, Robert de Quincy, +to whom he gave his daughter, by his first wife, in +marriage. At this point the male representatives of King +Dermid came to open rupture with the Earl. Donald +_Kavanagh_, surnamed "the Handsome," and by the Normans +usually spoken of as "Prince" Donald, could scarcely be +expected to submit to an arrangement, so opposed to all +ancient custom, and to his own interests. He had borne +a leading part in the restoration of his father, but +surely not to this end--the exclusion of the male +succession. He had been one of King Henry's guests during +the Christmas holidays of the year 1172, and had rendered +him some sort of homage, as Prince of Leinster. Henry, +ever ready to raise up rivals to Strongbow, seems to have +received him into favour, until Eva, the Earl's wife, +proved, both in Ireland and England, that Donald and his +brother Enna, were born out of wedlock, and that there +was no direct male heir of Dermid left, after the execution +of Conor, the hostage put to death by King Roderick. To +English notions this might have been conclusive against +Donald's title, but to the Irish, among whom the electoral +principle was the source of all chieftainry, it was not +so. A large proportion of the patriotic Leinstermen--what +might be called the native party--adhered to Donald +_Kavanagh_, utterly rejecting the title derived through +the lady Eva. + +Such conflicting interests could only be settled by a +resort to force, and the bloody feud began by the Earl +executing at Ferns one of Donald's sons, held by him as +a hostage. In an expedition against O'Dempsey, who also +refused to acknowledge his title, the Earl lost, in the +campaign of 1173, his son-in-law, de Quincy, several +other knights, and the "banner of Leinster." The following +year we read in the Anglo-Irish Annals of Leinster, that +King Donald's men, being moved against the Earl's men, +made a great slaughter of English. Nor was this the worst +defeat he suffered in the same year--1174. Marching into +Munster he was encountered in a pitched battle at Thurles +by the troops of the monarch Roderick, under command of +his son, Conor, surnamed _Moinmoy_, and by the troops of +Thomond, under Donald More O'Brien. With Strongbow were +all who could be spared of the garrison of Dublin, +including a strong detachment of Danish origin. Four +knights and seven hundred (or, according to other accounts, +seventeen hundred) men of the Normans were left dead on +the field. Strongbow retreated with the remnant of his +force to Waterford, but the news of the defeat having +reached that city before him, the townspeople ran to arms +and put his garrison of two hundred men to the sword. +After encamping for a month on an island without the +city, and hearing that Kilkenny Castle was taken and +razed by O'Brien, he was feign to return to Dublin as +best he could. + +His fortunes at the close of this campaign, were at their +lowest ebb. The loss of de Quincy and the defeat of +Thurles had sorely shaken his military reputation. His +jealousy of that powerful family connexion, the Geraldines, +had driven Maurice Fitzgerald and Raymond the Fat to +retire in disgust into Wales. Donald Kavanagh, O'Dempsey, +and the native party in Leinster, set him at defiance, +and his own troops refused to obey the orders of his +uncle Herve, demanding to be led by the more popular and +youthful Raymond. To add to his embarrassments, Henry +summoned him to France in the very crisis of his troubles, +and he dared not disobey that jealous and exacting master. +He was, however, not long detained by the English King. +Clothed with supreme authority, and with Raymond for his +lieutenant, he returned to resume the work of conquest. +To conciliate the Geraldines, he at last consented to +give his sister Basilia in marriage to the brilliant +captain, on whose sword so much depended. At the same +time Alina, the widow of de Quincy, was married to the +second son of Fitzgerald, and Nesta Fitzgerald was united +to Raymond's former rival, Herve. Thus, bound together, +fortune returned in full tide to the adventurers. +Limerick, which had been taken and burned to the water's +edge by Donald O'Brien after the battle of Thurles, was +recaptured and fortified anew; Waterford was more strongly +garrisoned than ever; Donald _Kavanagh_ was taken off, +apparently by treachery (A.D. 1175), and all seemed to +promise the enjoyment of uninterrupted power to the Earl. +But his end was already come. An ulcer in his foot brought +on a long and loathsome illness, which terminated in his +death, in the month of May, 1176, or 1177. He was buried +in Christ Church, Dublin, which he had contributed to +enlarge, and was temporarily succeeded in the government +of the Normans by his lieutenant and brother-in-law, +Raymond. By the Lady Eva he left one daughter, Isabel, +married at the age of fourteen to William Marshall, Earl +of Pembroke, who afterwards claimed the proprietary of +Leinster, by virtue of this marriage. Lady Isabel left +again five daughters, who were the ancestresses of the +Mortimers, Braces, and other historic families of England +and Scotland. And so the blood of Earl Richard and his +Irish Princess descended for many generations to enrich +other houses and ennoble other names than his own. + +Strongbow is described by _Giraldus_, whose personal +sketches, of the leading invaders form the most valuable +part of his book, as less a statesman than a soldier, +and more a soldier than a general. His complexion was +freckled, his neck slender, his voice feminine and shrill, +and his temper equable and uniform. His career in Ireland +was limited to seven years in point of time, and his +resources were never equal to the task he undertook. +Had they been so, or had he not been so jealously +counteracted by his suzerain, he might have founded a +new Norman dynasty on as solid a basis as William, or as +Rollo himself had done. + +Raymond and the Geraldines had now, for a brief moment, +the supreme power, civil and military, in their own hands. +In his haste to take advantage of the Earl's death, of +which he had privately been informed by a message from +his wife, Raymond left Limerick in the hands of Donald +More O'Brien, exacting, we are told, a solemn oath from +the Prince of Thomond to protect the city, which the +latter broke before the Norman garrisons were out of +sight of its walls. This story, like many others of the +same age, rests on the uncertain authority of the vain, +impetuous and passionate _Giraldus_. Whether the loss of +Limerick discredited him with the king, or the ancient +jealousy of the first adventurers prevailed in the royal +councils, Henry, on hearing of Strongbow's death, at once +despatched as Lord Justice, William Fitz-Aldelm de Burgo, +first cousin to Hubert de Burgo, Chief Justiciary of +England, and, like Fitz-Aldelm, descended from Arlotta, +mother of William the Conqueror, by Harlowen de Burgo, +her first husband. From him have descended the noble +family of de Burgo, or Burke, so conspicuous in the after +annals of our island. In the train of the new Justiciary +came John de Courcy, another name destined to become +historical, but before relating his achievements, we must +conclude the narrative so far as regards the first set +of adventurers. + +Maurice Fitzgerald, the common ancestor of the Earls of +Desmond and Kildare, the Knights of Glyn, of Kerry, and +of all the Irish Geraldines, died at Wexford in the year +1177. Raymond the Fat, superseded by Fitz-Aldelm, and +looked on coldly by the King, retired to his lands in +the same county, and appears only once more in arms--in +the year 1182--in aid of his uncle, Robert Fitzstephen. +This premier invader had been entrusted by the new ruler +with the command of the garrison of Cork, as Milo de +Cogan had been with that of Waterford, and both had been +invested with equal halves of the principality of Desmond. +De Cogan, Ralph, son of Fitzstephen, and other knights +had been cut off by surprise, at the house of one McTire, +near Lismore, in 1182, and all Desmond was up in arms +for the expulsion of the foreign garrisons. Raymond sailed +from Wexford to the aid of his uncle, and succeeded in +relieving the city from the sea. But Fitzstephen, afflicted +with grief for the death of his son, and worn down with +many anxieties, suffered the still greater loss of his +reason. From thenceforth, we hear no more of either uncle +or nephew, and we may therefore account this the last +year of Robert Fitzstephen, Milo de Cogan, and Raymond +_le gros_. Herve de Montmorency, the ancient rival of +Raymond, had three years earlier retired from the world, +to become a brother in the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, +at Canterbury. His Irish estates passed to his brother +Geoffrey, who subsequently became Justiciary of the +Normans in Ireland, the successful rival of the Marshals, +and founder of the Irish title of Mountmorres. The +posterity of Raymond survived in the noble family of +Grace, Barons of Courtstown, in Ossory. It is not, +therefore, strictly true, what Geoffrey Keating and the +authors he followed have asserted--that the first Normans +were punished by the loss of posterity for the crimes +and outrages they had committed, in their various +expeditions. + +Let us be just even to these spoilers of our race. They +were fair specimens of the prevailing type of Norman +character. Indomitable bravery was not their only virtue. +In patience, in policy, and in rising superior to all +obstacles and reverses, no group of conquerors ever +surpassed Strongbow and his companions. Ties of blood +and brotherhood in arms were strong between them, and +whatever unfair advantages they allowed themselves to +take of their enemy, they were in general constant and +devoted in then--friendships towards each other. Rivalries +and intrigues were not unknown among them, but generous +self-denial, and chivalrous self-reliance were equally +as common. If it had been the lot of our ancestors to be +effectually conquered, they could hardly have yielded to +nobler foes. But as they proved themselves able to resist +successfully the prowess of this hitherto invincible +race, their honour is augmented in proportion to the +energy and genius, both for government and war, brought +to bear against them. + +Neither should we overstate the charge of impiety. If +the invaders broke down and burned churches in the heat +of battle, they built better and costlier temples out of +the fruits of victory. Christ Church, Dublin, Dunbrody +Abbey, on the estuary of Waterford, the Grey Friars' +Abbey at Wexford, and other religious houses long stood, +or still stand, to show that although the first Norman, +like the first Dane, thirsted after spoil, and lusted +after land, unlike the Dane, he created, he enriched, he +improved, wherever he conquered. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE LAST YEARS OF THE ARD-RIGH, RODERICK O'CONOR. + +The victory of Thurles, in the year 1174, was the next +important military event, as we have seen, after the +raising of the second siege of Dublin, in the first +campaign of Earl Richard. It seems irreconcilable, with +the consequences of that victory, that Ambassadors from +Roderick should be found at the Court of Henry II. before +the close of the following year: but events personal to +both sovereigns will sufficiently explain the apparent +anomaly. + +The campaign of 1174, so unfavourable to Henry's subjects +in Ireland, had been most fortunate for his arms in +Normandy. His rebellious sons, after severe defeats, +submitted, and did him homage; the King of France had +gladly accepted his terms of peace; the King of Scotland, +while in duress, had rendered him fealty as his liege +man; and Queen Eleanor, having fallen into his power, +was a prisoner for life. Tried by a similar unnatural +conspiracy in his own family, Roderick O'Conor had been +less fortunate in coercing them into obedience. His +eldest son, Murray, claimed, according to ancient custom, +that his father should resign in his favour the patrimonial +Province, contenting himself with the higher rank of King +of Ireland. But Roderick well understood that in his +days, with a new and most formidable enemy established +in the old Danish strongholds, with the Constitution torn +to shreds by the war of succession, his only real power +was over his patrimony; he refused, therefore, the +unreasonable request, and thus converted some of his own +children into enemies. Nor were there wanting Princes, +themselves fathers, who abetted this household treason, +as the Kings of France and Scotland had done among the +sons of Henry II. Soon after the battle of Thurles, the +recovery of Limerick, and the taking of Kilkenny, Donald +More O'Brien, lending himself to this odious intrigue, +was overpowered and deposed by Roderick, but the year +next succeeding having made submission he was restored +by the same hand which had cast him down. It was, therefore, +while harassed by the open rebellion of his eldest son, +and while Henry was rejoicing in his late success, that +Roderick despatched to the Court of Windsor Catholicus, +Archbishop of Tuam, Concors, Abbot of St. Brendan's, and +Laurence, Archbishop of Dublin, whose is styled in these +proceedings, "Chancellor of the Irish King," to negotiate +an alliance with Henry, which would leave him free to +combat against his domestic enemies. An extraordinary +treaty, agreed upon at Windsor, about the feast of +Michaelmas, 1175, recognized Roderick's sovereignty over +Ireland, the cantreds and cities actually possessed by +the subjects of Henry excepted; it subinfeudated his +authority to that of Henry, after the manner lately +adopted towards William, King of Scotland; the payment +of a merchantable hide of every tenth hide of cattle was +agreed upon as an annual tribute, while the minor chiefs +were to acknowledge their dependence by annual presents +of hawks and hounds. This treaty, which proceeded on +the wild assumption that the feudal system was of force +among the free clans of Erin, was probably the basis of +Henry's grant of the Lordship of Ireland to his son, John +_Lackland_, a few years later; it was solemnly approved +by a special Council, or Parliament, and signed by the +representatives of both parties. + +Among the signers we find the name of the Archbishop of +Dublin, who, while in England, narrowly escaped martyrdom +from the hands of a maniac, while celebrating Mass at +the tomb of St. Thomas. Four years afterwards, this +celebrated ecclesiastic attended at Rome, with Catholicus +of Tuam, and the Prelates of Lismore, Limerick, Waterford, +and Killaloe, the third general council of Lateran, where +they were received with all honour by Pope Alexander III. +From Rome he returned with legantine powers which he used +with great energy during the year 1180. In the autumn of +that year, he was entrusted with the delivery to Henry II. +of the son of Roderick O'Conor, as a pledge for the +fulfilment of the treaty of Windsor, and with other +diplomatic functions. On reaching England, he found the +king had gone to France, and following him thither, he +was seized with illness as he approached the Monastery +of Eu, and with a prophetic foretaste of death, he +exclaimed as he came in sight of the towers of the Convent, +"Here shall I make my resting-place." The Abbot Osbert +and the monks of the Order of St. Victor received him +tenderly, and watched his couch for the few days he yet +lingered. Anxious to fulfil his mission, he despatched +David, tutor of the son of Roderick, with messages to +Henry, and awaited his return with anxiety. David brought +him a satisfactory response from the English King, and +the last anxiety only remained. In death, as in life, +his thoughts were with his country. "Ah, foolish and +insensible people!" he exclaimed in his latest hours, +"what will become of you? Who will relieve your miseries? +Who will heal you?" When recommended to make his last +will, he answered, with apostolic simplicity--"God knows, +out of all my revenues, I have not a single coin to +bequeath." And thus on the 11th day of November, 1180, +in the 48th year of his age, under the shelter of a Norman +roof, surrounded by Norman mourners, the Gaelic +statesman-saint departed out of this life, bequeathing +--one more canonized memory to Ireland and to Rome. + +The prospects of his native land were, at that moment, +of a cast which might well disturb the death-bed of the +sainted Laurence. Fitz-Aldelm, advanced to the command +at Dublin in 1177, had shown no great capacity for +following up the conquest. But there was one among his +followers who, unaffected by his sluggish example, and +undeterred by his jealous interference, resolved to push +the outposts of his race into the heart of Ulster. This +was John de Courcy, Baron of Stoke Courcy, in Somersetshire, +a cavalier of fabulous physical strength, romantic courage, +and royal descent. When he declared his settled purpose +to be the invasion of Ulster, he found many spirits as +discontented with Fitz-Aldelm's inaction as himself ready +to follow his banner. His inseparable brother-in-arms, +Sir Almaric of St. Laurence, his relative, Jourdain de +Courcy, Sir Robert de la Poer, Sir Geoffrey and Walter +de Marisco, and other Knights to the number of twenty, +and five hundred men at arms, marched with him out of +Dublin. Hardly had they got beyond sight of the city, +when they were attacked by a native force, near Howth, +where Saint Laurence laid in victory the foundation of +that title still possessed by his posterity. On the +fifth day, they came by surprise upon the famous +ecclesiastical city of Downpatrick, one of the first +objects of their adventure. An ancient prophecy had +foretold that the place would be taken by a chief with +birds upon his shield, the bearings of de Courcy, mounted +on a white horse, which de Courcy happened to ride. Thus +the terrors of superstition were added to the terrors of +surprise, and the town being entirely open, the Normans +had only to dash into the midst of its inhabitants. But +the free clansmen of Ulidia, though surprised, were not +intimidated. Under their lord Rory, son of Dunlevy, they +rallied to expel the invader. Cardinal Vivian, the Papal +Legate, who had just arrived from Man and Scotland, on +the neighbouring coast, proffered his mediation, and +besought de Courcy to withdraw from Down. His advice was +peremptorily rejected, and then he exhorted the Ulidians +to fight bravely for their rights. Five several battles +are enumerated as being fought, in this and the following +year, between de Courcy and the men of Down, Louth, and +Antrim, sometimes with success, at others without it, +always with heavy loss and obstinate resistance. + +The barony of Lecale, in which Downpatrick stands, is +almost a peninsula, and the barony of the Ardes on the +opposite shore of Strangford Lough is nearly insulated +by Belfast Lough, the Channel, and the tides of Strangford. +With the active co-operation from the sea of Godred, King +of Man, (whose daughter Africa he had married), de Courcy's +hold on that coast became an exceedingly strong one. A +ditch and a few towers would as effectually enclose Lecale +and the Ardes from any landward attack, as if they were +a couple of well-walled cities. Hence, long after "the +Pale" ceased to extend beyond the Boyne, and while the +mountain passes from Meath into Ulster were all in native +hands, these two baronies continued to be succoured and +strengthened by sea, and retained as English possessions. +Reinforced from Dublin and from Man after their first +success, de Courcy's companions stuck to their +castle-building about the shores of Strangford Lough, +while he himself made incursions into the interior, by +land or by sea, fighting a brisk succession of engagements +at Newry, in Antrim, at Coleraine, and on the eastern +shore of Lough Foyle. + +At the time these operations were going forward in Ulster, +Milo de Cogan quitted Dublin on a somewhat similar +expedition. We have already said that Murray, eldest +son of Roderick, had claimed, according to ancient usage, +the O'Conor patrimony, his father being Ard-Righ; and +had his claim refused. He now entered into a secret +engagement with de Cogan, whose force is stated by +_Giraldus_ at 500 men-at-arms, and by the Irish annalists +as "a great army." With the smaller force he left Dublin, +but marching through Meath, was joined at Trim by men +from the garrisons de Lacy had planted in East-Meath. So +accompanied, de Cogan advanced on Roscommon, where he +was received by the son of Roderick during the absence +of the Ard-Righ on a visitation among the glens of +Connemara. After three days spent in Roscommon, these +allies marched across the plain of Connaught, directed +their course on Tuam, burning as they went Elphin, Roskeen, +and many other churches. The western clansmen everywhere +fell back before them, driving off their herds and +destroying whatever they could not remove. At Tuam they +found themselves in the midst of a solitude without food +or forage, with an eager enemy swarming from the west +and the south to surround them. They at once decided to +retreat, and no time was to be lost, as the Kern were +already at their heels. From Tuam to Athleague, and from +Athleague to their castles in East-Meath, fled the remnant +of de Cogan's inglorious expedition. Murray O'Conor being +taken prisoner by his own kinsmen, his eyes were plucked +out as the punishment of his treason, and Conor Moinmoy, +the joint-victor with Donald O'Brien over Strongbow at +Thurles, became the _Roydamna_ or successor of his father. + +But fresh dissensions soon broke out between the sons +and grandsons of Roderick, and the sons of his brother +Thurlogh, in one of whose deadly conflicts sixteen Princes +of the Sil-Murray fell. Both sides looked beyond Connaught +for help; one drew friends from the northern O'Neills, +another relied on the aid of O'Brien. Conor Moinmoy, in +the year 1186, according to most Irish accounts, banished +his father into Munster, but at the intercession of the +Sil-Murray, his own clan allowed him again to return, +and assigned him a single cantred of land for his +subsistence. From this date we may count the unhappy +Roderick's retirement from the world. + +Near the junction of Lough Corrib with Lough Mask, on +the boundary line between Mayo and Galway, stands the +ruins of the once populous monastery and village of Cong. +The first Christian kings of Connaught had founded the +monastery, or enabled St. Fechin to do so by their generous +donations. The father of Roderick had enriched its shrine +by the gift of a particle of the true Cross, reverently +enshrined in a reliquary, the workmanship of which still +excites the admiration of the antiquaries. Here Roderick +retired in the 70th year of his age, and for twelve years +thereafter--until the 29th day of November, 1198, here +he wept and prayed, and withered away. Dead to the world, +as the world to him, the opening of a new grave in the +royal corner at Clonmacnoise was the last incident +connected with his name, which reminded Connaught that +it had lost its once prosperous Prince, and Ireland, that +she had seen her last Ard-Righ, according to the ancient +Milesian Constitution. Powerful Princes of his own and +other houses the land was destined to know for many +generations, before its sovereignty was merged in that +of England, but none fully entitled to claim the +high-sounding, but often fallacious title, of Monarch of +all Ireland. + +The public character of Roderick O'Conor has been hardly +dealt with by most modern writers. He was not, like his +father, like Murkertach O'Brien, Malachy II., Brian, +Murkertach of the leathern cloaks, or Malachy I., eminent +as a lawgiver, a soldier, or a popular leader. He does +not appear to have inspired love, or awe, or reverence, +into those of his own household and patrimony, not to +speak of his distant cotemporaries. He was probably a +man of secondary qualities, engulfed in a crisis of the +first importance. But that he is fairly chargeable with +the success of the invaders--or that there was any very +overwhelming success to be charged up to the time of his +enforced retirement from the world--we have failed to +discover. From Dermid's return until his retreat to Cong, +seventeen years had passed away. Seventeen campaigns, +more or less energetic and systematic, the Normans had +fought. Munster was still in 1185--when John Lackland +made his memorable exit and entrance on the scene--almost +wholly in the hands of the ancient clans. Connaught was +as yet without a single Norman garrison. Hugh de Lacy +returning to the government of Dublin, in 1179, on +Fitz-Aldelm's recall, was more than half _Hibernicized_ +by marriage with one of Roderick's daughters, and the +Norman tide stood still in Meath. Several strong fortresses +were indeed erected in Desmond and Leinster, by John +Lackland and by de Courcy, in his newly won northern +territory. Ardfinan, Lismore, Leighlin, Carlow, +Castledermot, Leix, Delvin, Kilkay, Maynooth and Trim, +were fortified; but considering who the Anglo-Normans +were, and what they had done elsewhere, even these very +considerable successes may be correctly accounted for +without overcharging the memory of Roderick with folly +and incapacity. That he was personally brave has not +been questioned. That he was politic--or at least capable +of conceiving the politic views of such a statesman as +St. Laurence O'Toole, we may infer from the rank of +Chancellor which he conferred, and the other negotiations +which he entrusted to that great man. That he maintained +his self-respect as a sovereign, both in abstaining from +visiting Henry II. under pretence of hospitality at +Dublin, and throughout all his difficult diplomacy with +the Normans, we are free to conclude. With the Normans +for foes--with a decayed and obsolete national constitution +to patch up--with nominal subordinates more powerful than +himself--with rebellion staring him in the face out of +the eyes of his own children--Roderick O'Conor had no +ordinary part to play in history. The fierce family +pride of our fathers and the vices of their political +system are to be deplored and avoided; let us not make +the last of their national kings the scape-goat for all +his cotemporaries and all his predecessors. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +ASSASSINATION OF HUGH DE LACY--JOHN "LACKLAND" IN +IRELAND--VARIOUS EXPEDITIONS OF JOHN DE COURCY--DEATH OF +CONOR MOINMOY, AND RISE OF CATHAL, "THE RED-HANDED" +O'CONOR--CLOSE OF THE CAREER OF DE COURCY AND DE BURGH. + +Hugh de Lacy, restored to the supreme authority on the +recall of Fitz-Aldelm in 1179, began to conceive hopes, +as Strongbow had done, of carving out for himself a new +kingdom. After the assassination of O'Ruarc already +related, he assumed without further parley the titles of +Lord of Meath and Breffni. To these titles, he added +that of Oriel or Louth, but his real strength lay in +Meath, where his power was enhanced by a politic second +marriage with Rose, daughter of O'Conor. Among the Irish +he now began to be known as King of the foreigners, and +some such assumption of royal authority caused his recall +for a few months in the year 1180, and his substitution +by de Courcy and Philip de Broasa, in 1184. But his great +qualities caused his restoration a third time to the rank +of Justiciary for Henry, or Deputy for John, whose title +of "Lord of Ireland" was bestowed by his father, at a +Parliament held at Oxford, in 1177. + +This founder of the Irish de Lacys is described by +_Giraldus_, who knew him personally, as a man of Gallic +sobriety, ambitious, avaricious, and lustful, of small +stature, and deformed shape, with repulsive features, +and dark, deep-set eyes. By the Irish of the midland +districts he was bitterly detested as a sacrilegious +spoiler of their churches and monasteries, and the most +powerful among their invaders. The murder of O'Ruarc, +whose title of Breffni he had usurped, was attributed to +a deep-laid design; he certainly shared the odium with +the advantage that ensued from it. Nor was his own end +unlike that of his rival. Among other sites for castles, +he had chosen the foundations of the ancient and much +venerated monastery of Durrow, planted by Columbcille, +seven centuries before, in the midst of the fertile region +watered by the Brosna. This act of profanity was fated +to be his last, for, while personally superintending the +work, O'Meyey, a young man of good birth, and foster-brother +to a neighbouring chief of Teffia, known as _Sionnach_, +or "the Fox," struck off his head with a single blow of +his axe and escaped into the neighbouring forest of +Kilclare during the confusion which ensued. De Lacy left +issue--two sons, Hugh and Walter, by his first wife, and +a third, William _Gorm_, by his second--of whom, and of +their posterity, we shall have many occasions to make +mention. + +In one of the intervals of de Lacy's disfavour, Prince +John, surnamed _Sans-terre_, or "lack-land," was sent +over by his father to strengthen the English interest in +Ireland. He arrived in Waterford, accompanied by a fleet +of sixty ships, on the last of March, 1185, and remained +in the country till the following November. If anything +could excuse the levity, folly and misconduct of the +Prince on this expedition, it would be his youth;--he +was then only eighteen. But Henry had taken every precaution +to ensure success to his favourite son. He was preceded +into Ireland by Archbishop Cuming, the English successor +of St. Laurence; the learned Glanville was his legal +adviser; John de Courcy was his lieutenant, and the +eloquent, but passionate and partial _Giraldus Cambrensis_, +his chaplain and tutor. He had, however, other companions +more congenial to his age and temper, young noblemen as +froward and as extravagant as himself; yet, as he surpassed +them all in birth and rank, so he did in wickedness and +cruelty of disposition. For age he had no reverence, for +virtue no esteem, neither truth towards man, nor decency +towards woman. On his arrival at Waterford, the new +Archbishop of Dublin, John de Courcy, and the principal +Norman nobles, hastened to receive him. With them came +also certain Leinster chiefs, desiring to live at peace +with the new Galls. When, according to the custom of the +country, the chiefs advanced to give John the kiss of +peace, their venerable age was made a mockery by the +young Prince, who met their proffered salutations by +plucking at their beards. This appears to have been as +deadly an insult to the Irish as it is to the Asiatics, +and the deeply offended guests instantly quitted Waterford. +Other follies and excesses rapidly transpired, and the +native nobles began to discover that a royal army +encumbered, rather than led by such a Prince, was not +likely to prove itself invincible. In an idle parade from +the Suir to the Liffey, from the Liffey to the Boyne, +and in issuing orders for the erection of castles, (some +of which are still correctly and others erroneously called +King John's Castles,) the campaign months of the year +were wasted by the King of England's son. One of these +castles, to which most importance was attached, Ardfinan +on the Suir, was no sooner built than taken by Donald +More O'Brien, on midsummer day, when four knights and +its other defenders were slain. Another was rising at +Lismore, on the Blackwater, under the guardianship of +Robert Barry, one of the brood of Nesta, when it was +attacked and Barry slain. Other knights and castellans +were equally unfortunate; Raymond Fitz-Hugh fell at +Leighlin, another Raymond in Idrone, and Roger le Poer +in Ossory. In Desmond, Cormac McCarthy besieged Theobald, +ancestor of the Butlers in Cork, but this brave Prince +--the worthy compeer of O'Brien--was cut off "in a parlee +by them of Cork." The Clan-Colman, or O'Melaghlins, had +risen in West-Meath to reclaim their own, when Henry, +not an hour too soon, recalled his reckless son, and +entrusted, for the last time, the command to Hugh de +Lacy, whose fate has been already related. + +In the fluctuations of the power of the invaders after +the death of de Lacy, and during the next reign in England, +one steadfast name appears foremost among the adventurers +--that of the gallant giant, de Courcy, the conqueror of +the Ards of Down. Not only in prowess, but also in piety, +he was the model of all the knighthood of his time. We +are told that he always carried about his person a copy +of the prophecies attributed to Columbcille, and when, +in the year 1186, the relics of the three great saints, +whose dust sanctifies Downpatrick, were supposed to be +discovered by the Bishop of Down in a dream, he caused +them to be translated to the altar-side with all suitable +reverence. Yet all his devotions and pilgrimages did not +prevent him from pushing on the work of conquest whenever +occasion offered. His plantation in Down had time to take +root from the unexpected death of Donald, Prince of +Aileach, in an encounter with the garrison of one of the +new castles, near Newry. (A.D. 1188.) The same year he +took up the enterprise against Connaught, in which Milo +de Cogan had so signally failed, and from which even de +Lacy had, for reasons of his own, refrained. The feuds +of the O'Conor family were again the pretext and the +ground of hope with the invaders, but Donald More O'Brien, +victorious on the Suir and the Shannon, carried his strong +succours to Conor _Moinmoy_ on the banks of the Suca, +near the present Ballinasloe, and both powers combined +marched against de Courcy. Unprepared for this junction, +the Norman retreated towards Sligo, and had reached +Ballysadare, when Flaherty, Lord of Tyrconnell (Donegal), +came against them from the opposite point, and thus placed +between two fires, they were forced to fly through the +rugged passes of the Curlieu mountains, skirmishing as +they went. The only incidents which signalized this +campaign on their side was the burning of Ballysadare +and the plunder of Armagh; to the Irish it was creditable +for the combinations it occasioned. It is cheering in +the annals of those desultory wars to find a national +advantage gained by the joint action of a Munster, a +Connaught, and an Ulster force. + +The promise of national unity held out by the alliance +of O'Brien and O'Conor, in the years 1188-'89, had been +followed up by the adhesion of the lords of Breffni, +Ulidia, or Down, the chiefs of the Clan-Colman, and +McCarthy, Prince of Desmond. But the assassination of +Conor Moinmoy, by the partizans of his cousins, extinguished +the hopes of the country, and the peace of his own +province. The old family feuds broke out with new fury. +In vain the aged Roderick emerged from his convent, and +sought with feeble hand to curb the fiery passions of +his tribe; in vain the Archbishops of Armagh and of Tuam +interposed their spiritual authority, A series of +fratricidal contests, for which history has no memory +and no heart, were fought out between the warring branches +of the family during the last ten years of the century, +until by virtue of the strong-arm, Cathal _Crovdearg_, +son of Turlogh More, and younger brother of Roderick, +assumed the sovereignty of Connaught about the year 1200. + +In the twelve years which intervened between the death +of _Moinmoy_ and the establishment of the power of Cathal +_Crovdearg_ O'Conor, the Normans had repeated opportunities +for intervention in the affairs of Connaught. William de +Burgh, a powerful Baron of the family of Fitz-Aldelm, +the former Lord Justice, sided with the opponents of +Cathal, while de Courcy, and subsequently the younger de +Lacy, fought on his side. Once at least these restless +Barons changed allies, and fought as desperately against +their former candidate for the succession as they had +before fought for him. In one of these engagements, the +date assigned to which is the year 1190, Sir Armoric St. +Laurence, founder of the Howth family, at the head of a +numerous division, is said to have been cut off with all +his troop. But the fortune of war frequently shifted +during the contest. In the year 1199, Cathal _Crovdearg_, +with his allies de Lacy and de Courcy, was utterly defeated +at Kilmacduagh, in the present county of Galway, and were +it not that the rival O'Conor was sorely defeated, and +trodden to death in the route which ensued, three years +later, Connaught might never have known the vigorous +administration of her "red-handed" hero. + +The early career of this able and now triumphant Prince, +as preserved to us by history and tradition, is full of +romantic incidents. He is said to have been born out of +wedlock, and that his mother, while pregnant of him, was +subject to all the cruel persecutions and magical torments +the jealous wife of his father could invent. No sooner +was he born than he became an object of hatred to the +Queen, so that mother and child, after being concealed +for three years in the sanctuaries of Connaught, had to +fly for their lives into Leinster. In this exile, though +early informed of his origin, he was brought up among +the labourers in the field, and was actually engaged, +sickle in hand, cutting the harvest, when a travelling +_Bollscaire_, or newsman from the west, related the events +which enabled him to return to his native province. +"Farewell sickle," he exclaimed, casting it from him +--"now for the sword." Hence "Cathal's farewell to the +rye" was long a proverbial expression for any sudden +change of purpose or of condition. Fortune seems to have +favoured him in most of his undertakings. In a storm upon +Lough Ree, when a whole fleet foundered and its warrior +crew perished, he was one of seven who were saved. Though +in some of his early battles unsuccessful, he always +recovered his ground, kept up his alliances, and returned +to the contest. After the death of the celebrated Donald +More O'Brien (A.D. 1194), he may certainly be considered +the first soldier and first diplomatist among the Irish. +Nor was his lot cast on more favoured days, nor was he +pitted against less able men than those with whom the +brave King of Munster--the stoutest defender of his +fatherland--had so honourably striven. Fortunate it was +for the renown of the Gael, that as one star of the race +set over Thomond, another of equal brilliancy rose to +guide them in the west. + +With the end of the century, the career of Cathal's +allies, de Courcy and de Burgh, may be almost said to +have ended. The obituary of the latter bears the date +of 1204. He had obtained large grants from King John of +lands in Connaught--if he could conquer them--which his +vigorous descendants, the Burkes of Clanrickarde, did +their best to accomplish. De Courcy, warring with the +sons of de Lacy, and seeking refuge among the clansmen +of Tyrone, disappears from the stage of Irish affairs. +He is said to have passed on to England, and ended his +days in prison, a victim to the caprice or jealousy of +King John. Many tales are--told of his matchless +intrepidity. His indirect descendants, the Barons of +Kinsale, claim the right to wear their hats before the +King in consequence of one of these legends, which +represents him as the champion Knight of England, taken +from, a dungeon to uphold her honour against a French +challenger. Other tales as ill authenticated are founded +on his career, which, however, in its literal truth, is +unexcelled for hardihood and adventure, except, perhaps, +by the cotemporaneous story of the lion-hearted Richard, +whom he closely resembled. The title of Earl of Ulster, +created for de Courcy in 1181, was transferred in 1205, +by royal patent, to Walter de Lacy, whose only daughter +Maud brought it in the year 1264 to Walter de Burgh, lord +of Connaught, from whose fourth female descendant it +passed in 1354, by her marriage with Lionel, Duke of +Clarence, into the royal family of England. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +EVENTS OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY--THE NORMANS IN +CONNAUGHT. + +Ireland, during the first three quarters of the thirteenth +century, produced fewer important events, and fewer great +men, than in the thirty last years of the century preceding. +From the side of England, she was subjected to no imminent +danger in all that interval. The reign of John ending in +1216, and that of Henry III. extending till 1271, were +fully occupied with the insurrections of the Barons, with +French, Scotch, and Welsh wars, family feuds, the rise +and fall of royal favourites, and all those other incidents +which naturally, befall in a state of society where the +King is weak, the aristocracy strong and insolent, and +the commons disunited and despised. During this period +the fusion of Norman, Saxon, and Briton went slowly on, +and the next age saw for the first time a population +which could be properly called English. "Do you take me +for an Englishman?" was the last expression of Norman +arrogance in the reign of King John; but the close of +the reign of Henry III., through the action of commercial +and political causes, saw a very different state of +feeling growing up between the descendants of the races +which contended for mastery under Harold and William. +The strongly marked Norman characteristics lingered in +Ireland half a century later, for it is usually the case +that traits of caste survive longest in colonies and +remote provinces. In Richard de Burgo, commonly called +the Red Earl of Ulster, all the genius and the vices of +the race of Rollo blazed out over Ireland for the last +time, and with terrible effect. + +During the first three quarters of the century, our +history, like that of England, is the history of a few +great houses; nation there is, strictly speaking, none. +It will be necessary, therefore, to group together the +acts of two or three generations of men of the same name, +as the only method of finding our way through the shifting +scenes of this stormy period. + +The power of the great Connaught family of O'Conor, so +terribly shaken by the fratricidal wars and unnatural +alliances of the sons and grandsons of Roderick, was in +great part restored by the ability and energy of Cathal +_Crovdearg_. In his early struggles for power he was +greatly assisted by the anarchy which reigned among the +English nobles. Mayler Fitz-Henry, the last of Strongbow's +companions, who rose to such eminence, being Justiciary +in the first six years of the century, was aided by +O'Conor to besiege William de Burgo in Limerick, and to +cripple the power of the de Lacys in Meath. In the year +1207, John Gray, Bishop of Norwich, was sent over, as +more likely to be impartial than any ruler personally +interested in the old quarrels, but during his first term +of office, the interdict with which Innocent III. had +smitten England, hung like an Egyptian darkness over the +Anglo-Norman power in Ireland. The native Irish, however, +were exempt from its enervating effects, and Cathal +O'Conor, by the time King John came over in person--in +the year 1210--to endeavour to retrieve the English +interest, had warred down all his enemies, and was of +power sufficient to treat with the English sovereign as +independently as Roderick had done with Henry II. +thirty-five years before. He personally conferred with +John at Dublin, as the O'Neil and other native Princes +did; he procured from the English King the condemnation +of John de Burgo, who had maintained his father's claims +on a portion of Connaught, and he was formally recognised, +according to the approved forms of Norman diplomacy, as +seized of the whole of Connaught, in his own right. + +The visit of King John, which lasted from the 20th of +June till the 25th of August, was mainly directed to the +reduction of those intractable Anglo-Irish Barons whom +Fitz-Henry and Gray had proved themselves unable to cope +with. Of these the de Lacys of Meath were the most +obnoxious. They not only assumed an independent state, +but had sheltered de Braos, Lord of Brecknock, one of +the recusant Barons of Wales, and refused to surrender +him on the royal summons. To assert his authority, and +to strike terror into the nobles of other possessions, +John crossed the channel with a prodigious fleet--in the +Irish annals said to consist of 700 sail. He landed at +Crook, reached Dublin, and prepared at once to subdue +the Lacys. With his own army, and the co-operation of +Cathal O'Conor, he drove out Walter de Lacy, Lord of +Meath, who fled to his brother, Hugh de Lacy, since de +Courcy's disgrace, Earl of Ulster. From Meath into Louth +John pursued the brothers, crossing the lough at Carlingford +with his ships, which must have coasted in his company. +From Carlingford they retreated, and he pursued to +Carrickfergus, and from that fortress, unable to resist +a royal fleet and navy, they fled into Man or Scotland, +and thence escaped in disguise into France. With their +guest de Braos, they wrought as gardeners in the grounds +of the Abbey of Saint Taurin Evreux, until the Abbot, +having discovered by their manners the key to their real +rank, negotiated successfully with John for their +restoration to their estates. Walter agreed to pay a +fine of 2,500 marks for his lordship in Meath, and Hugh +4,000 marks for his possessions in Ulster. Of de Braos +we have no particulars; his high-spirited wife and children +were thought to have been starved to death by order of +the unforgiving tyrant in one of his castles. The de +Lacys, on their restoration, were accompanied to Ireland +by a nephew of the Abbot of St. Taurin, on whom they +conferred an estate and the honour of knighthood. + +The only other acts of John's sojourn in Ireland was his +treaty with O'Conor, already mentioned, and the mapping +out, on paper, of the intended counties of Oriel (or +Louth), Meath, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Katherlough +(or Carlow), Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, +and Tipperary, as the only districts in which those he +claimed as his subjects had any possessions. He again +installed the Bishop of Norwich as his justiciary or +lieutenant, who, three years, later, was succeeded by +Henry de Londres, the next Archbishop of Dublin, and he +again (A.D. 1215), by Geoffrey de Marisco, the last of +John's deputies. In the year 1216, Henry III., an infant +ten years of age, succeeded to the English throne, and +the next dozen years the history of the two islands is +slightly connected, except by the fortunes of the family +of de Burgh, whose head, Hubert de Burgh, the Chief +Justiciary, from the accession of the new King, until +the first third of the century had closed, was in reality +the Sovereign of England. Among his other titles he held +that of Lord of Connaught, which he conveyed to his +relative, Richard de Burgo, the son or grandson of William +Fitz-Aldelm de Burgo, about the year 1225. And this brings +us to relate how the house of Clanrickarde rose upon the +flank of the house of O'Conor, and after holding an almost +equal front for two generations, finally overshadowed +its more ancient rival. + +While Cathal _Crovdearg_ lived, the O'Conor's held their +own, and rather more than their own, by policy or arms. +Not only did his own power suffer no diminution, but he +more than once assisted the Dalgais and the Eugenians to +expel their invaders from North and South Munster, and +to uphold their ancient rights and laws. During the last +years of John's reign that King and his Barons were +mutually too busy to set aside the arrangement entered +into in 1210. In the first years of Henry it was also +left undisturbed by the English court. In 1221 we read +that the de Lacys, remembering, no doubt, the part he +had played in their expulsion, endeavoured to fortify +Athleague against him, but the veteran King, crossing +the Shannon farther northward, took them in the rear, +compelled them to make peace, and broke down their Castle. +This was almost the last of his victories. In the year +1213 we read in the Annals of "an awful and heavy shower +which fell over Connaught," and was held to presage the +death of its heroic King. Feeling his hour had come, +this Prince, to whom are justly attributed the rare union +of virtues, ardour of mind, chastity of body, meekness +in prosperity, fortitude under defeat, prudence in civil +business, undaunted bravery in battle, and a piety of +life beyond all his cotemporaries--feeling the near +approach of death, retired to the Abbey of Knockmoy, +which he had founded and endowed, and there expired in +the Franciscan habit, at an age which must have bordered +on fourscore. He was succeeded by his son, Hugh O'Conor, +"the hostages of Connaught being in his house" at the +time of his illustrious father's death. + +No sooner was Cathal _Crovdearg_ deceased than Hubert de +Burgo procured the grants of the whole Province, reserving +only five cantreds about Athlone for a royal garrison to +be made to Richard de Burgo, his nephew. Richard had +married Hodierna, granddaughter to Cathal, and thus, like +all the Normans, though totally against the Irish custom, +claimed a part of Connaught in right of his wife. But in +the sons of Cathal he found his equal both in policy and +arms, and with the fall of his uncle at the English court +(about the year 1233), Feidlim O'Conor, the successor of +Hugh, taking advantage of the event, made interest at +the Court of Henry III. sufficient to have his overgrown +neighbour stripped of some of his strongholds by royal +order. The King was so impressed with O'Conor's +representations that he wrote peremptorily to Maurice +Fitzgerald, second Lord Offally, then his deputy, "to +root out that barren tree planted in Offally by Hubert +de Burgh, in the madness of his power, and not to suffer +it to shoot forth." Five years later, Feidlim, in return, +carried some of his force, in conjunction with the deputy, +to Henry's aid in Wales, though, as their arrival was +somewhat tardy, Fitzgerald was soon after dismissed on +that account. + +Richard de Burgo died in attendance on King Henry in +France (A.D. 1243), and was succeeded by his son, Walter +de Burgo, who continued, with varying fortunes, the +contest for Connaught with Feidlim, until the death of +the latter, in the Black Abbey of Roscommon, in the year +1265. Hugh O'Conor, the son and successor of Feidlim, +continued the intrepid guardian of his house and province +during the nine years he survived his father. In the year +1254, by marriage with the daughter of de Lacy, Earl of +Ulster, that title had passed into the family of de Burgh, +bringing with it, for the time, much substantial, though +distant, strength. It was considered only a secondary +title, and as the eldest son of the first de Lacy remained +Lord of Meath, while the younger took de Courcy's forfeited +title of Ulster, so, in the next generation, did the sons +of this Walter de Burgh, until death and time reunited +both titles in the same person. Walter de Burgh died in +the year 1271, in the Castle of Galway; his great rival, +Feidlim O'Conor, in 1274, was buried in the Abbey of +Boyle. The former is styled King of the English of +Connaught by the Irish Annalists, who also speak of +Feidlim as "the most triumphant and the most feared (by +the invaders) of any King that had been in Connaught +before his time." The relative position of the Irish and +English in that Province, towards the end of this century, +may be judged by the fact, that of the Anglo-Normans +summoned by Edward I. to join him in Scotland in 1299, +but two, Richard de Burgo and Piers de Bermingham, Baron +of Athenry, had then possessions in Connaught. There +were Norman Castles at Athlone, at Athenry, at Galway, +and perhaps at other points; but the natives still swayed +supreme over the plains of Rathcrogan, the plains of +Boyle, the forests and lakes of Roscommon, and the whole +of _Iar_, or West Connaught, from Lough Corrib to the +ocean, with the very important exception of the castle +and port of Galway. A mightier de Burgo than any that +had yet appeared was to see in his house, in the year +1286, "the hostages of all Connaught;" but his life and +death form a distinct epoch in our story and must be +treated separately. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +EVENTS OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY--THE NORMANS IN MUNSTER +AND LEINSTER. + +We have already told the tragic fate of the two +adventurers--Fitzstephen and de Cogan--between whom the +whole of Desmond was first partitioned by Henry II. But +there were not wanting other claimants, either by original +grant from the crown, by intermarriage with Irish, or +Norman-Irish heiresses, or new-comers, favourites of John +or of Henry III., or of their Ministers, enriched at the +expense of the native population. Thomas, third son of +Maurice Fitzgerald, claimed partly through his uncle +Fitzstephen, and partly through his marriage with the +daughter of another early adventurer, Sir William Morrie, +whose vast estates on which his descendants were afterwards +known as Earls of Desmond, the White Knight, the Knight +of Glyn, and the Knight of Kerry. Robert de Carew and +Patrick de Courcy claimed as heirs general to de Cogan. +The de Mariscoes, de Barris, and le Poers, were not +extinct; and finally Edward I., soon after his accession, +granted the whole land of Thomond to Thomas de Clare, +son of the Earl of Gloucester, and son-in-law of Maurice, +third Baron of Offally. A contest very similar to that +which was waged in Connaught between the O'Conors and de +Burghs was consequently going on in Munster at the same +time, between the old inhabitants and the new claimants, +of all the three classes just indicated. + +The principality of Desmond, containing angles of Waterford +and Tipperary, with all Cork and Kerry, seemed at the +beginning of the thirteenth century in greatest danger +of conquest. The O'Callaghans, Lords of Cinel-Aedha, in +the south of Cork, were driven into the mountains of +Duhallow, where they rallied and held their ground for +four centuries; the O'Sullivans, originally settled along +the Suir, about Clonmel, were forced towards the mountain +seacoast of Cork and Kerry, where they acquired new vigour +in the less fertile soil of Beare and Bantry. The native +families of the Desies, from their proximity to the port +of Waterford, were harassed and overrun, and the ports +of Dungarvan, Youghal, and Cork, being also taken and +garrisoned by the founder of the earldom of Desmond, easy +entrance and egress by sea could always be obtained for +his allies, auxiliaries, and supplies. It was when these +dangers were darkening and menacing on every side that +the family of McCarthy, under a succession of able and +vigorous chiefs, proved themselves worthy of the headship +of the Eugenian race. Cormac McCarthy, who had expelled +the first garrison from Waterford, ere he fell in a parley +before Cork, had defeated the first enterprises of +Fitzstephen and de Cogan; he left a worthy son in Donald +na Curra, who, uniting his own co-relations, and acting +in conjunction with O'Brien and O'Conor, retarded by his +many exploits the progress of the invasion in Munster. +He recovered Cork and razed King John's castle at +Knockgraffon on the Suir. He left two surviving sons, of +whom the eldest, Donald _Gott_, or the Stammerer, took +the title of _More_, or Great, and his posterity remained +princes of Desmond, until that title merged in the earldom +of Glencare (A.D. 1565); the other, Cormac, after taking +his brother prisoner compelled him to acknowledge him as +lord of the four baronies of Carbury. From this Cormac +the family of McCarthy Reagh descended, and to them the +O'Driscolls, O'Donovans, O'Mahonys, and other Eugenian +houses became tributary. The chief residence of McCarthy +Reagh was long fixed at Dunmanway; his castles were also +at Baltimore, Castlehaven, Lough-Fyne, and in Inis-Sherkin +and Clear Island. The power of McCarthy More extended at +its greatest reach from Tralee in Kerry to Lismore in +Waterford. In the year 1229, Dermid McCarthy had peaceable +possession of Cork, and founded the Franciscan Monastery +there. Such was his power, that, according to Hamner and +his authorities, the Geraldines "dare not for twelve +years put plough into the ground in Desmond." At last, +another generation rose, and fierce family feuds broke +out between the branches of the family. The Lord of +Carbury now was Fineen, or Florence, the most celebrated +man of his name, and one whose power naturally encroached +upon the possession of the elder house. John, son of +Thomas Fitzgerald of Desmond, seized the occasion to make +good the enormous pretension of his family. In the +expedition which he undertook for this purpose, in the +year 1260, he was joined by the Justiciary, William Dene, +by Walter de Burgo, Earl of Ulster, by Walter de +Riddlesford, Baron of Bray, by Donnel Roe, a chief of +the hostile house of McCarthy. The Lord of Carbury united +under his standard the chief Eugenian families, not only +of the Coast, but even of McCarthy More's principality, +and the battle was fought with great ferocity at +Callan-Glen, near Kenmare, in Kerry. There the Anglo-Normans +received the most complete defeat they had yet experienced +on Irish ground. John Fitz-Thomas, his son Maurice, eight +barons, fifteen knights, and "countless numbers of common +soldiers were slain." The Monastery of Tralee received +the dead body of its founder and his son, while Florence +McCarthy, following up his blow, captured and broke down +in swift succession all the English castles in his +neighbourhood, including those of Macroom, Dunnamark, +Dunloe, and Killorglin. In besieging one of these castles, +called Ringrone, the victorious chief, in the full tide +of conquest, was cut off, and his brother, called the +_Atheleireach_ (or suspended priest), succeeded to his +possessions. The death of the victor arrested the panic +of the defeat, but Munster saw another generation before +her invaders had shaken off the depression of the battle +of Callan-glen. + +Before the English interest had received this severe blow +in the south, a series of events had transpired in +Leinster, going to show that its aspiring barons had been +seized with the madness which precedes destruction. +William, Earl Marshal and Protector of England during +the minority of Henry III., had married Isabella, the +daughter of Strongbow and granddaughter of Dermid, through +whom he assumed the title of Lord of Leinster. He procured +the office of Earl Marshal of Ireland--originally conferred +on the first de Lacy--for his own nephew, and thus +converted the de Lacys into mortal enemies. His son and +successor Richard, having made himself obnoxious, soon +after his accession to that title, to the young King, or +to Hubert de Burgh, was outlawed, and letters were +despatched to the Justiciary, Fitzgerald, to de Burgo, +de Lacy, and other Anglo-Irish lords, if he landed in +Ireland, to seize his person, alive or dead, and send it +to England. Strong in his estates and alliances, the +young Earl came; while his enemies employed the wily +Geoffrey de Mountmorres to entrap him into a conference, +in order to his destruction. The meeting was appointed +for the first day of April, 1234, and while the outlawed +Earl was conversing with those who had invited him, an +affray began among their servants by design, he himself +was mortally wounded and carried to one of Fitzgerald's +castles, where he died. He was succeeded in his Irish +honours by three of his brothers, who all died without +heirs male. Anselme, the last Earl Marshal of his family, +dying in 1245, left five co-heiresses, Maud, Joan, Isabel, +Sybil, and Eva, between whom the Irish estates--or such +portions of them in actual possession--were divided. They +married respectively the Earls of Norfolk, Suffolk, +Gloucester, Ferrers, and Braos, or Brace, Lord of Brecknock, +in whose families, for another century or more, the +secondary titles were Catherlogh, Kildare, Wexford, +Kilkenny, and Leix,--those five districts being supposed, +most absurdly, to have come into the Marshal family, from +the daughter of Strongbow. The false knights and dishonoured +nobles concerned in the murder of Richard Marshal were +disappointed of the prey which had been promised them--the +partition of his estates. And such was the horror which +the deed excited in England, that it hastened the fall +of Hubert de Burgh, though Maurice Fitzgerald, of +Offally--ancestor of the Kildare family--having cleared +himself of all complicity in it by oath--was continued +as Justiciary for ten years longer. In the year 1245, +for his tardiness in joining the King's army in Wales, +he was succeeded by the false-hearted Geoffrey de +Mountmorres, who held the office till 1247. During the +next twenty-five years, about half as many Justices were +placed and displaced, according to the whim of the +successive favourites at the English Court. In 1252, +Prince Edward, afterwards Edward I., was appointed with +the title of Lord Lieutenant, but never came over. Nor +is there in the series of rulers we have numbered, with, +perhaps, two exceptions, any who have rendered their +names memorable by great exploits, or lasting legislation. +So little inherent power had the incumbents of the highest +office--unless when, they employed their own proper forces +in their sovereign's name--that we read without surprise, +how the bold mountaineers of Wicklow, at the opening of +the century (A.D. 1209) slaughtered the Bristolians of +Dublin, engaged at their archery in Cullenswood, and at +the close of it, how "one of the Kavanaghs, of the blood +of McMurrogh, living at Leinster," "displayed his standards +within sight of the city." Yet this is commonly spoken +of as a country overrun by a few score Norman Knights, +in a couple of campaigns! + +The maintenance of the conquest was in these years less +the work of the King's Justices than of the great houses. +Of these, two principally profited, by the untimely +felling of that great tree which overshadowed all others +in Leinster, the Marshals. The descendants of the eldest +son of Maurice Fitzgerald clung to their Leinster +possessions, while their equally vigorous cousins pushed +their fortunes in Desmond. Maurice, grandson of Maurice, +and second Baron of Offally, from the year 1229 to the +year 1246, was three times Lord Justice. "He was a valiant +Knight, a very pleasant man, and inferior to none in the +kingdom," by Matthew Paris's account. He introduced the +Franciscan and Dominican orders into Ireland, built many +castles, churches, and abbeys at Youghal, at Sligo, at +Armagh, at Maynooth, and in other places. In the year +1257, he was wounded in single combat by O'Donnell, Lord +of Tyrconnell, near Sligo, and died soon after in the +Franciscan habit in Youghal. He left his successor so +powerful, that in the year 1264, there being a feud +between the Geraldines and de Burghs, he seized the Lord +Justice and the whole de Burgh party at a conference at +Castledermot, and carried them to his own castles of Lea +and Dunamase as prisoners. In 1272, on the accidental +death of the Lord Justice Audley, by a fall from his +horse, "the council" elected this the third Baron of +Offally in his stead. + +The family of Butler were of slower growth, but of equal +tenacity with the Geraldines. They first seem to have +attached themselves to the Marshals, for whom they were +indebted for their first holding in Kilkenny. At the +Conference of Castledermot, Theobald Butler, the fourth +in descent from the founder of the house, was numbered +among the adherents of de Burgh, but a few years later +we find him the ally of the Geraldines in the invasion +of Thomond. In the year 1247, the title of Lord of Carrick +had been conferred on him, which in 1315 was converted +into Earl of Carrick, and this again into that of Ormond. +The Butlers of this house, when they had attained their +growth of power, became the hereditary rivals of the +Kildare Geraldines, whose earldom dates from 1316, as +that of Ormond does from 1328, and Desmond from 1329. + +The name of Maurice, the third Baron of Offally, and +uncle of John, the first Earl of Kildare, draws our +attention naturally to the last enterprise of his life +--the attempt to establish his son-in-law, Thomas de +Clare, in possession of Thomond. The de Clares, Earls of +Gloucester, pretended a grant from Henry II. of the whole +of Thomond, as their title to invade that principality; +but their real grant was bestowed by Edward I., in the +year 1275. The state of the renowned patrimony of Brian +had long seemed to invite such an aggression. Murtogh, +son of Donnell More, who succeeded his father in 1194, +had early signalized himself by capturing the castles of +Birr, Kinnetty, Ballyroane and Lothra, in Leix, and razing +them to the ground. But these castles were reconstructed +in 1213, when the feuds between the rival O'Briens--Murtogh +and Donogh Cairbre--had paralyzed the defence force of +Thomond. It was, doubtless, in the true divide-and-conquer +spirit, that Henry the Third's advisers confirmed to +Donogh the lordship of Thomond in 1220, leaving to his +elder brother the comparatively barren title of King of +Munster. Both brothers, by alternately working on their +hopes and fears, were thus for many years kept in a state +of dependence on the foreigner. One gleam of patriotic +virtue illumines the annals of the house of O'Brien, +during the first forty years of the century--when, in +the year 1225, Donogh Cairbre assisted Felim O'Conor to +resist the Anglo-Norman army, then pouring over Connaught, +in the quarrel of de Burgh. Conor, the son of Donogh, +who succeeded his father in the year 1242, animated by +the example of his cotemporaries, made successful war +against the invaders of his Province, more especially in +the year 1257, and the next year; attended with O'Conor +the meeting at Beleek, on the Erne, where Brian O'Neil +was acknowledged, by both the Munster and the Connaught +Prince, as _Ard-Righ_. The untimely end of this attempt +at national union will be hereafter related; meantime, +we proceed to mention that, in 1260, the Lord of Thomond +defeated the Geraldines and their Welsh auxiliaries, at +Kilbarran, in Clare. He was succeeded the following season +by his son, Brian Roe, in whose time Thomas de Clare +again put to the test of battle his pretensions to the +lordship of Thomond. + +It was in the year 1277, that, supported by his +father-in-law, the Kildare Fitzgerald, de Clare marched +into Munster, and sought an interview with the O'Brien. +The relation of gossip, accounted sacred among the Irish, +existed between them, but Brien Roe, having placed himself +credulously in the hands of his invaders, was cruelly +drawn to pieces between two horses. All Thomond rose in +arms, under Donogh, son of Brian, to revenge this infamous +murder. Near Ennis the Normans met a terrible defeat, +from which de Clare and Fitzgerald fled for safety into +the neighbouring Church of Quin. But Donogh O'Brien burned +the Church over their heads, and forced them to surrender +at discretion. Strange to say they were held to ransom, +on conditions, we may suppose, sufficiently hard. Other +days of blood were yet to decide the claims of the family +of de Clare. In 1287, Turlogh, then the O'Brien, defeated +an invasion similar to the last, in which Thomas de Clare +was slain, together with Patrick Fitzmaurice of Kerry, +Richard Taafe, Richard Deriter, Nicholas Teeling, and +other knights, and Gerald, the fourth Baron of Offally, +brother-in-law to de Clare, was mortally wounded. After +another interval, Gilbert de Clare, son of Thomas, renewed +the contest, which he bequeathed to his brother Richard. +This Richard, whose name figures more than his brother's +in the events of his time, made a last effort, in the +year 1318, to make good the claims of his family. On the +5th of May, in that year, he fell in battle against +McCarthy and O'Brien, and there fell with him Sir Thomas +de Naas, Sir Henry Capell, Sir James and Sir John Caunton, +with four other knights, and a proportion of men-at-arms. +From thenceforth that proud offshoot of the house of +Gloucester, which, at its first settling in Munster, +flourished as bravely as the Geraldines themselves, became +extinct in the land. + +Such were the varying fortunes of the two races in Leinster +and Munster, and such the men who rose and fell. We must +now turn to the contest as maintained at the same period +in Meath and Ulster. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +EVENTS OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY--THE NORMANS IN MEATH +AND ULSTER. + +We may estimate the power of the de Lacy family in the +second generation, from the fact that their expulsion +required a royal army and navy, commanded by the King in +person, to come from England. Although pardoned by John, +the brothers took care never to place themselves in that +cowardly tyrant's power, and they observed the same +precaution on the accession of his son, until well assured +that he did not share the antipathy of his father. After +their restoration the Lacys had no rivals among the +Norman-Irish except the Marshal family, and though both +houses in half a century became extinct, not so those +they had planted or patronized, or who claimed from them +collaterally. In Meath the Tuites, Cusacks, Flemings, +Daltons, Petits, Husseys, Nangles, Tyrrells, Nugents, +Verdons, and Gennevilles, struck deep into the soil. The +co-heiresses, Margaret and Matilda de Lacy, married Lord +Theobald de Verdon and Sir Geoffrey de Genneville, between +whom the estate of their father was divided; both these +ladies dying without male issue, the lordship was, in +1286, claimed by Richard de Burgo, Earl of Ulster, whose +mother was their cousin-germain. But we are anticipating +time. + +No portion of the island, if we except, perhaps, Wexford +and the shores of Strangford Lough, was so thoroughly +castellated as the ancient Meath from the sea to the +Shannon. Trim, Kells and Durrow were the strongest holds; +there were keeps or castles at Ardbraccan, Slane, Rathwyre, +Navan, Skreen, Santry, Clontarf, and Castleknock--for +even these places, almost within sight of Dublin, were +included in de Lacy's original grant. None of these +fortresses could have been more than a few miles distant +from the next, and once within their thick-ribbed walls, +the Norman, Saxon, Cambrian, or Danish serf or tenant +might laugh at the Milesian arrows and battle-axes without. +With these fortresses, and their own half-Irish origin +and policy, the de Lacys, father and son, held Meath for +two generations in general subjection. But the banishment +of the brothers in 1210, and the death of Walter of Meath, +presented the family of O'Melaghlin and the whole of the +Methian tribes with opportunities of insurrection not to +be neglected. We read, therefore, under the years 1211, +'12 and '13, that Art O'Melaghlin and Cormac, his son, +took the castles of Killclane, Ardinurcher, Athboy, and +Smerhie, killing knights and wardens, and enriching +themselves with booty; that the whole English of Ireland +turned out _en masse_ to the rescue of their brethren in +Meath; that the castles of Birr, Durrow, and Kinnetty +were strengthened against Art, and a new one erected at +Clonmacnoise. After ten years of exile, the banished de +Lacys returned, and by alliance with O'Neil, no less than +their own prowess, recovered all their former influence. +Cormac, son of Art, left a son and successor also named +Art, who, we read at the year 1264, gave the English of +Meath a great defeat upon the Brosna, where he that was +not slain was drowned. Following the blow, he burned +their villages and broke the castles of the stranger +throughout Devlin, Calry, and Brawny, and replaced in +power over them the McCoghlans, Magawleys, and O'Breens, +from whom he took hostages according to ancient custom. +Two years afterwards he repulsed Walter de Burgh at +Shannon harbour, driving his men into the river, where +many of them perished. At his death (A.D. 1283) he is +eulogized for having destroyed seven-and-twenty English +castles in his lifetime. From these exploits he was called +Art _na Caislean_, a remarkable distinction, when we +remember that the Irish were, up to this time, wholly +unskilled in besieging such strongholds as the Norman +engineers knew so well how to construct. His only rival +in Meath in such meritorious works of destruction was +Conor, son of Donnell, and O'Melaghlin of East-Meath, or +_Bregia_, whose death is recorded at the year 1277, "as +one of the three men in Ireland" whom the midland English +most feared. + +From the ancient mensal the transition is easy to the +north. The border-land of Breffni, whose chief was the +first of the native nobles that perished by Norman perfidy, +was at the beginning of the century swayed by Ulgarg +O'Rourke. Of Ulgarg we know little, save that in the year +1231 he "died on his way to the river Jordan"--a not +uncommon pilgrimage with the Irish of those days. Nial, +son of Congal, succeeded, and about the middle of the +century we find Breffni divided into two lordships, from +the mountain of Slieve-an-eiran eastward, or Cavan, being +given to Art, son of Cathal, and from the mountain +westward, or Leitrim, to Donnell, son of Conor, son of +Tiernan, de Lacy's victim. This subdivision conduced +neither to the strengthening of its defenders nor to the +satisfaction of O'Conor, under whose auspices it was +made. Family feuds and household treasons were its natural +results for two or three generations; in the midst of +these broils two neighbouring families rose into greater +importance, the O'Reillys in Cavan and the Maguires in +Fermanagh. Still, strong in their lake and mountain +region, the tribes of Breffni were comparatively unmolested +by foreign enemies, while the stress of the northern +battle fell upon the men of Tyrconnell and Tyrone, of +Oriel and of the coast country, from Carlingford to the +Causeway. + +The borders of Tyrconnell and Tyrone, like every other +tribe-land, were frequently enlarged or contracted, +according to the vigour or weakness of their chiefs or +neighbours. In the age of which we now speak, Tyrconnell +extended from the Erne to the Foyle, and Tyrone from the +Foyle to Lough Neagh, with the exception of the extreme +north of Berry and Antrim, which belonged to the O'Kanes. +It was not till the fourteenth century that the O'Neils +spread their power east of Lough Neagh, over those baronies +of Antrim long known as north and south _Clan-Hugh-Buidhe_, +(Clandeboy.) North Antrim was still known as Dalriada, +and South Antrim and Down, as Ulidia. Oriel, which has +been usually spoken of in this history as Louth, included +angles of Monaghan and Armagh, and was anciently the most +extensive lordship in Ulster. The chieftain families of +Tyrconnell were the O'Donnells; of Tyrone, the O'Neils +and McLaughlins; of Dalriada, O'Kanes, O'Haras, and +O'Shields; of Ulidia, the Magennis of Iveagh and the +Donlevys of Down; of Oriel, the McMahons and O'Hanlons. +Among these populous tribes the invaders dealt some of +their fiercest blows, both by land and sea, in the +thirteenth century. But the north was fortunate in its +chiefs; they may fairly contest the laurel with the +O'Conors, O'Briens and McCarthys of the west and south. + +In the first third of the century, Hugh O'Neil, who +succeeded to the lordship of Tyrone in 1198, and died in +1230, was cotemporary with Donnell More O'Donnell, who, +succeeding to the lordship of Tyrconnell in 1208, died +in 1241, after an equally long and almost equally +distinguished career. Melaghlin O'Donnell succeeded +Donnell More from '41 to '47, Godfrey from '48 to '57, +and Donnell Oge from 1257 to 1281, when he was slain in +battle. Hugh O'Neil was succeeded in Tyrone by Donnell +McLaughlin, of the rival branch of the same stock, who +in 1241 was subdued by O'Donnell, and the ascendancy of +the family of O'Neil established in the person of Brian, +afterwards chosen King of Ireland, and slain at Down. +Hugh Boy, or the Swarthy, was elected O'Neil on Brian's +death, and ruled till the year 1283, when he was slain +in battle, as was his next successor, Brian, in the year +1295. These names and dates are worthy to be borne in +mind, because on these two-great houses mainly devolved +the brunt of battle in their own province. + +These northern chiefs had two frontiers to guard or to +assail: the north-eastern, extending from the glens of +Antrim to the hills of Mourne, and the southern stretching +from sea to sea, from Newry to Sligo. This country was +very assailable by sea; to those whose castles commanded +its harbours and rivers, the fleets of Bristol, Chester, +Man, and Dublin could always carry supplies and +reinforcements. By the interior line one road threaded +the Mourne mountains, and deflected towards Armagh, while +another, winding through west Breffni, led from Sligo +into Donegal by the cataract of Assaroe,--the present +Ballyshannon. Along these ancient lines of communication, +by fords, in mountain passes, and near the landing places +for ships, the struggle for the possession of that end +of the Island went on, at intervals, whenever large bodies +of men could be spared from garrisons and from districts +already occupied. + +In the year 1210, we find that there was an English Castle +at Cael-uisge, now Castle-Caldwell, on Lough Erne, and +that it was broke down and its defenders slain by Hugh +O'Neil and Donald More O'Donnell acting together. After +this event we have no trace of a foreign force in the +interior of Ulster for several years. Hugh O'Neil, who +died in 1230, is praised by the Bards for "never having +given hostages, pledges, or tributes to English or Irish," +which seems a compliment well founded. During several +years following that date the war was chiefly centred in +Connaught, and the fighting men of the north who took +part in it were acting as allies to the O'Conors. Donald +More O'Donnell had married a daughter of Cathal Crovdearg, +so that ties of blood, as well as neighbouring interests, +united these two great families. In the year 1247, an +army under Maurice Fitzgerald, then Lord Justice, crossed +the Erne in two divisions, one above and the other at +Ballyshannon. Melaghlin O'Donnell was defending the +passage of the river when he was taken unexpectedly in +the rear by those who had crossed higher up, and thus +was defeated and slain. Fitzgerald then ravaged Tyrconnell, +set up a rival chief O'Canavan, and rebuilt the Castle +at Cael-uisge, near Beleek. Ten years afterwards Godfrey +O'Donnell, the successor of Melaghlin, avenged the defeat +at Ballyshannon, in the sanguinary battle of Credran, +near Sligo, where engaging Fitzgerald in single combat, +he gave him his death-stroke. From wounds received at +Credran, Godfrey himself, after lingering twelve months +in great suffering, died. But his bodily afflictions did +not prevent him discharging all the duties of a great +Captain; he razed a second time the English Castle on +Lough Erne, and stoutly protected his own borders against +the pretensions of O'Neil, being carried on his bier in +the front of the battle of Lough Swilly in 1258. + +It was while Tyrconnell was under the rule of this heroic +soldier that the unfortunate feud arose between the +O'Neils and O'Donnells. Both families, sprung from a +common ancestor, of equal antiquity and equal pride, +neither would yield a first place to the other. "Pay me +my tribute," was O'Neil's demand; "I owe you no tribute, +and if I did---" was O'Donnell's reply. The O'Neil at +this time--Brian--aspiring to restore the Irish sovereignty +in his own person, was compelled to begin the work of +exercising authority over his next neighbour. More than +one border battle was the consequence, not only with +Godfrey, but with Donnell Oge, his successor. In the year +1258, Brian was formally recognized by O'Conor and O'Brien +as chief of the kingdom, in the conference of Cael-uisge, +and two years later, at the battle of Down, gallantly +laid down his life, in defence of the kingdom he claimed +to govern. In this most important battle no O'Donnell is +found fighting with King Brian, though immediately +afterwards we find Donnell Oge of Tyrconnell endeavouring +to subjugate Tyrone, and active afterwards in the aid of +his cousins, the grandsons of Cathal Crovdearg, in +Connaught. + +The Norman commander in this battle was Stephen de +Longespay, then Lord Justice, Earl of Salisbury in +England, and Count de Rosman in France. His marriage with +the widow of Hugh de Lacy and daughter of de Riddlesford +connected him closely with Irish affairs, and in the +battle of Down he seems to have had all the Anglo-Irish +chivalry, "in gold and iron," at his back. With King +Brian O'Neil fell, on that crimson day, the chiefs of +the O'Hanlons, O'Kanes, McLaughlins, O'Gormlys, McCanns, +and other families who followed his banner. The men of +Connaught suffered hardly less than those of Ulster. +McDermott, Lord of Moylurgh, Cathal O'Conor, O'Gara, +McDonogh, O'Mulrony, O'Quinn, and other chiefs were among +the slain. In Hugh _Bwee_ O'Neil the only hope of the +house of Tyrone seemed now to rest; and his energy and +courage were all taxed to the uttermost to retain the +place of his family in the Province, beating back rapacious +neighbours on the one hand, and guarding against foreign +enemies on the other. For twelve years, Hugh _Bwee_ +defended his lordship against all aggressors. In 1283, +he fell at the hands of the insurgent chiefs of Oriel +and Breffni, and a fierce contest for the succession +arose between his son Brian and Donald, son of King Brian +who fell at Down. A contest of twelve years saw Donald +successful over his rival (A.D. 1295), and his rule +extended from that period until 1325, when he died at +Leary's lake, in the present diocese of Clogher. + +It was this latter Donnell or Donald O'Neil, who, towards +the end of his reign, addressed to Pope John XXII. (elected +to the pontificate in 1316) that powerful indictment +against the Anglo-Normans, which has ever since remained +one of the cardinal texts of our history. It was evidently +written after the unsuccessful attempt, in which Donald +was himself a main actor, to establish Edward Bruce on +the throne of Ireland. That period we have not yet +reached, but the merciless character of the warfare waged +against the natives of the country could hardly have been +aggravated by Bruce's defeat. "They oblige us by open +force," says the Ulster Prince, "to give up to them our +houses and our lands, and to seek shelter like wild beasts +upon the mountains, in woods, marshes, and caves. Even +there we are not secure against their fury; they even +envy us those dreary and terrible abodes; they are +incessant and unremitting in their pursuit after us, +endeavouring to chase us from among them; they lay claim +to every place in which they can discover us with +unwarranted audacity and injustice; they allege that the +whole kingdom belongs to them of right, and that an +Irishman has no longer a right to remain in his own +country." + +After specifying in detail the proofs of these and other +general charges, the eloquent Prince concludes by uttering +the memorable vow that the Irish "will not cease to fight +against and among their invaders until the day when they +themselves, for want of power, shall have ceased to do +us harm, and that a Supreme Judge shall have taken just +vengeance on their crimes, which we firmly hope will +sooner or later come to pass." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +RETROSPECT OF THE NORMAN PERIOD IN IRELAND--A GLANCE AT +THE MILITARY TACTICS OF THE TIMES--NO CONQUEST OF THE +COUNTRY IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. + +Though the victorious and protracted career of Richard +de Burgh, the "Red Earl" of Ulster, might, without +overstraining, be included in the Norman period, yet, as +introductory to the memorable advent and election of King +Edward Bruce, we must leave it for the succeeding book. +Having brought down the narrative, as regards all the +provinces, to the end of the first century, from the +invasion, we must now cast a backward glance on the events +of that hundred years before passing into the presence +of other times and new combinations. + +"There were," says _Giraldus Cambriensis_, "three sundry +sorts of servitors which served in the realm of Ireland, +Normans, Englishmen, and the Cambrians, which were the +first conquerors of the land: the first were in most +credit and estimation, the second next, but the last were +not accounted or regarded of." "The Normans," adds the +author, "were very fine in their apparel, and delicate +in their diets; they could not feed but upon dainties, +neither could their meat digest without wine at each +meal; yet would they not serve in the marches or any +remote place against the enemy, neither would they lie +in garrison to keep any remote castle or fort, but, would +be still about their lord's side to serve and guard his +person; they would be where they might be full and have +plenty; they could talk and brag, swear, and stare, and, +standing in their own reputation, disdain all others." +This is rather the language of a partizan than of an +historian; of one who felt and spoke for those, his own +kinsmen many of them, who, he complains, although the +first to enter on the conquest, were yet held in contempt +and disdain, "and only new-comers called to council." + +The Normans were certainly the captains in every campaign +from Robert Fitzstephen to Stephen de Longespay. They +made the war, and they maintained it. In the rank and +file, and even among the knighthood, men of pure Welsh, +English, and Flemish and Danish blood, may be singled +out, but each host was marshalled by Norman skill, and +every defeat was borne with Norman fortitude. It may seem +strange, then, that these greatest masters of the art of +war, as waged in the middle ages, invincible in England, +France, Italy, and the East, should, after a hundred +years, be no nearer to the conquest of Ireland than they +were at the end of the tenth year. + +The main causes of the fluctuations of the war were, no +doubt, the divided military command, and the frequent +change of their civil authorities. They had never marched +or colonized before without their Duke or King at their +head, and in their midst. One supreme chief was necessary +to keep to any common purpose the minds of so many proud, +intractable nobles. The feuds of the de Lacys with the +Marshals, of the Geraldines with the de Burghs, broke +out periodically during the thirteenth century, and were +naturally seized upon, by the Irish as opportunities for +attacking either or both. The secondary nobles and all +the adventurers understood their danger and its cause, +when they petitioned Henry II. and Henry III. so often +and so urgently as they did, that a member of the royal +family might reside permanently in Ireland, to exercise +the supreme authority, military and civil. + +The civil administration of the colonists passing into +different hands every three or four years, suffered from +the absence of permanent authority. The law of the marches +was, of necessity, the law of the strong hand, and no +other. But _Cambrensis_, whose personal prejudices are +not involved in this fact, describes the walled towns as +filled with litigation in his time. "There was," he says, +"such _lawing_ and vexation, that the veteran was more +troubled in _lawing_ within the town than he was in peril +at large with the enemy." This being the case, we must +take with great caution the bold assertions so often made +of the zeal with which the natives petitioned the Henrys +and Edwards that the law of England might be extended to +them. Certain Celts whose lands lay within or upon the +marches, others who compounded with their Norman invaders, +a chief or prince, hard pressed by domestic enemies, may +have wished to be in a position to quote Norman law +against Norman spoilers, but the popular petitions which +went to England, beseeching the extension of its laws to +Ireland, went only from the townsmen of Dublin, and the +new settlers in Leinster or Meath, harassed and impoverished +by the arbitrary jurisdiction of manorial courts, from +which they had no appeal. The great mass of the Irish +remained as warmly attached to their Brehon code down to +the seventeenth century as they were before the invasion +of Norman or Dane. It may sound barbarous to our ears +that, according to that code, murder should be compounded +by an _eric_, or fine; that putting out the eyes should +be the usual punishment of treason; that maiming should +be judiciously inflicted for sundry offences; and that +the land of a whole clan should be equally shared between +the free members of that clan. We are not yet in a position +to form an intelligent opinion upon the primitive +jurisprudence of our ancestors, but the system itself +could not have been very vicious which nourished in the +governed such a thirst for justice, that, according to +one of their earliest English law reformers, they were +anxious for its execution, even against themselves. + +The distinction made in the courts of the adventurers +against natives of the soil, even when long domiciled +within their borders, was of itself a sufficient cause +of war between the races. In the eloquent letter of the +O'Neil to Pope John XXII.--written about the year 1318--we +read, that no man of Irish origin could sue in an English +court; that no Irishman, within the marches, could make +a legal will; that his property was appropriated by his +English neighbours; and that the murder of an Irishman +was not even a felony punishable by fine. This latter +charge would appear incredible, if we had not the record +of more than one case where the homicide justified his +act by the plea that his victim was a mere native, and +where the plea was held good and sufficient. + +A very vivid picture of Hiberno-Norman town-life in those +days is presented to us in an old poem, on the "Entrenchment +of the Town of Ross," in the year 1265. We have there +the various trades and crafts-mariners, coat-makers, +fullers, cloth-dyers and sellers, butchers, cordwainers, +tanners, hucksters, smiths, masons, carpenters, arranged +by guilds, and marching to the sound of flute and tabor, +under banners bearing a fish and platter, a painted ship, +and other "rare devices." On the walls, when finished, +cross-bows hung, with store of arrows ready to shoot; +when the city horn sounded twice, burgess and bachelor +vied with each other in warlike haste. In time of peace +the stranger was always welcome in the streets; he was +free to buy and sell without toll or tax, and to admire +the fair dames who walked the quiet ramparts, clad in +mantles of green, or russet, or scarlet. Such is the +poetic picture of the town of Ross in the thirteenth +century; the poem itself is written in Norman-French, +though evidently intended for popular use, and the author +is called "Friar Michael of Kildare." It is pretty evident +from this instance, which is not singular, that a century +after the first invasion, the French language was still +the speech of part, if not the majority, of these +Hiberno-Norman townsmen. + +So walls, and laws, and language arose, a triple barrier +between the races. That common religion which might be +expected to form a strong bond between them had itself +to adopt a twofold organization. Distinctions of nationality +were carried into the Sanctuary and into the Cloister. +The historian _Giraldus_, in preaching at Dublin against +the alleged vices of the native Clergy, sounded the first +note of a long and bitter controversy. He was promptly +answered from the same pulpit on the next occasion by +Albin O'Mulloy, the patriot Abbot of Baltinglass. In +one of the early Courts or Parliaments of the Adventurers, +they decreed that no Monastery in those districts of +which they had possession, should admit any but natives +of England, as novices,--a rule which, according to +O'Neil's letter, was faithfully acted upon by English +Dominicans, Franciscans, Benedictines, and regular canons. +Some of the great Cistercian houses on the marches, in +which the native religious predominated, adopted a +retaliatory rule, for which they were severely censured +by the general Chapter of their Order. But the length to +which this feud was carried may be imagined by the sweeping +charge O'Neil brings against "Brother Symon, a relative +of the Bishop of Coventry," and other religious of his +nation, who openly maintained, he says, that the killing +of a mere Irishman was no murder. + +When this was the feeling on one side, or was believed +to be the feeling, we cannot wonder that the war should +have been renewed as regularly as the seasons. No sooner +was the husbandman in the field than the knight was upon +the road. Some peculiarities of the wars of those days +gleam out at intervals through the methodic indifference +to detail of the old annals, and reveal to us curious +conditions of society. In the Irish country, where +castle-building was but slowly introduced, we see, for +example, that the usual storage for provisions, in time +of war, was in churches and churchyards. Thus de Burgh, +in his expedition to Mayo, in 1236, "left neither rick +nor basket of corn in the large churchyard of Mayo, or +in the yard of the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel, +and carried away eighty baskets out of the churches +themselves." When we read, therefore, as we frequently +do, of both Irish and Normans plundering churches in the +land of their enemies, we are not to suppose the plunder +of the sanctuary. Popularly this seizing the supplies of +an enemy on consecrated ground was considered next to +sacrilege; and well it was for the fugitives in the +sanctuary in those iron times that it should be so +considered. Yet not the less is it necessary for us to +distinguish a high-handed military measure from actual +sacrilege, for which there can be no apology, and hardly +any earthly atonement. + +In their first campaigns the Irish had one great advantage +over the Normans in their familiarity with the country. +This helped them to their first victories. But when the +invaders were able to set up rival houses against each +other, and to secure the co-operation of natives, the +advantage was soon equalized. Great importance was attached +to the intelligence and good faith of the guides, who +accompanied every army, and were personally consulted by +the leaders in determining their march. A country so +thickly studded with the ancient forest, and so netted +with rivers (then of much greater volume than since they +have been stripped of their guardian woods), afforded +constant occasion for the display of minute local knowledge. +To miss a pass or to find a ford might determine a +campaign, almost as much as the skill of the chief, or +the courage of the battalion. + +The Irish depended for their knowledge of the English +towns and castles on their daring _spies_, who continually +risked their necks in acquiring for their clansmen such +needful information. This perilous duty, when undertaken +by a native for the benefit of his country, was justly +accounted highly honourable. Proud poets, educated in +all the mysteries of their art, and even men of chieftain +rank, did not hesitate to assume disguises and act the +patriot spy. One of the most celebrated spies of this +century was Donogh Fitzpatrick, son of the Lord of Ossory, +who was slain by the English in 1250. He was said to be +"one of the three men" most feared by the English in his +day. "He was in the habit of going about to reconnoitre +their market towns," say the Annalists, "in various +disguises." An old quatrain gives us a list of some of +the parts he played when in the towns of his enemies-- + + "He is a carpenter, he is a turner. + My nursling is a bookman. + He is selling wine and hides + Where he sees a gathering." + +An able captain, as well as an intrepid spy, he met his +fate in acting out his favourite part, "which," adds our +justice-loving Four Masters, "was a retaliation due to +the English, for, up to that time, he had killed, burned, +and destroyed many of them." + +Of the equipments and tactics of the belligerents we get +from our Annals but scanty details. The Norman battalion, +according to the usage of that people, led by the marshal +of the field, charged, after the archers had delivered +their fire. But these wars had bred a new mounted force, +called hobiler-archers, who were found so effective that +they were adopted into all the armies of Europe. Although +the bow was never a favourite weapon with the Irish, +particular tribes seem to have been noted for its use. +We hear in the campaigns of this century of the archers +of Breffni, and we may probably interpret as referring +to the same weapon, Felim O'Conor's order to his men, in +his combat with the sons of Roderick at Drumraitte (1237), +"not to shoot but to come to a close fight." It is +possible, however, that this order may have reference to +the old Irish weapon, the javelin or dart. The pike, the +battle-axe, the sword, and skein, or dagger, both parties +had in common, though their construction was different. +The favourite tactique, on both sides, seems to have been +the old military expedient of outflanking an enemy, and +attacking him simultaneously in front and rear. Thus, in +the year 1225, in one of the combats of the O'Conors, +when the son of Cathal _Crovdearg_ endeavoured to surround +Turlogh O'Conor, the latter ordered his recruits to the +van, and Donn Oge Magheraty, with some Tyronian and other +soldiers to cover the rear, "by which means they escaped +without the loss of a man." The flank movement by which +the Lord Justice Fitzgerald carried the passage of the +Erne (A.D. 1247) against O'Donnell, according to the +Annalists, was suggested to Fitzgerald by Cormac, the +grandson of Roderick O'Conor. By that period in their +intercourse the Normans and Irish had fought so often +together that their stock of tactical knowledge must have +been, from experience, very much common property. In the +eyes of the Irish chiefs and chroniclers, the foreign +soldiers who served with them were but hired mercenaries. +They were sometimes repaid by the plunder of the country +attacked, but usually they received fixed wages for the +length of time they entered. "Hostages for the payment +of wages" are frequently referred to, as given by native +nobles to these foreign auxiliaries. The chief expedient +for subsisting an army was driving before them herds and +flocks; free quarters for men and horses were supplied +by the tenants of allied chiefs within their territory, +and for the rest, the simple outfit was probably not very +unlike that of the Scottish borderers described by +Froissart, who cooked the cattle they captured in their +skins, carrying a broad plate of metal and a little bag +of oatmeal trussed up behind the saddle. + +One inveterate habit clung to the ancient race, even +until long after the times of which we now speak--their +unconquerable prejudice against defensive armour. Gilbride +McNamee, the laureate to King Brian O'Neil, gives due +prominence to this fact in his poem on the death of his +patron in the battle of Down (A.D. 1260). Thus sings the +northern bard-- + + "The foreigners from London, + The hosts from Port-Largy * + Came in a bright green body, + In gold and iron armour. + + "Unequal they engage in the battle, + The foreigners and the Gael of Tara, + _Fine linen shirts on the race of Conn_, + And the strangers _one mass of iron_." + + [Footnote: Port-Largy, Waterford.] + +With what courage they fought, these scorners of armour, +their victories of Ennis, of Callanglen, and of Credran, +as well as their defeats at the Erne and at Down, amply +testify. The first hundred years of war for native land, +with their new foes, had passed over, and three-fourths +of the _Saer Clanna_ were still as free as they had ever +been. It was not reserved even for the Norman race--the +conquest of Innisfail! + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +STATE OF SOCIETY AND LEARNING IN IRELAND DURING THE NORMAN +PERIOD. + +We have already spoken of the character of the war waged +by and against the Normans on Irish soil, and as war was +then almost every man's business, we may be supposed to +have described all that is known of the time in describing +its wars. What we have to add of the other pursuits of +the various orders of men into which society was divided, +is neither very full nor very satisfactory. + +The rise, fall, and migrations of some of the clans have +been already alluded to. In no age did more depend on +the personal character of the chief than then. When the +death of the heroic Godfrey left the free clansmen of +Tyrconnell without a lord to lead them to battle, or rule +them in peace, the Annalists represent them to us as +meeting in great perplexity, and engaged "in making +speeches" as to what was to be done, when suddenly, to +their great relief, Donnell Oge, son of Donnell More, +who had been fostered in Alba (Scotland), was seen +approaching them. Not more welcome was Tuathal, the +well-beloved, the restorer of the Milesian monarchy, +after the revolt of the _Tuatha_. He was immediately +elected chief, and the emissaries of O'Neil, who had been +waiting for an answer to his demand of tribute, were +brought before him. He answered their proposition by a +proverb expressed in the Gaelic of Alba, which says that +"every man should possess his own country," and Tyrconnell +armed to make good this maxim. + +The Bardic order still retained much of their ancient +power, and all their ancient pride. Of their most famous +names in this period we may mention Murray O'Daly of +Lissadil, in Sligo, Donogh O'Daly of Finvarra, sometimes +called Abbot of Boyle, and Gilbride McNamee, laureate to +King Brian O'Neil. McNamee, in lamenting the death of +Brian, describes himself as defenceless, and a prey to +every spoiler, now that his royal protector is no more. +He gave him, he tells us, for a poem on one occasion, +besides gold and raiment, a gift of twenty cows. On +another, when he presented him a poem, he gave in return +twenty horned cows, and a gift still more lasting, "the +blessing of the King of Erin." Other chiefs, who fell in +the same battle, and to one of whom, named Auliffe +O'Gormley, he had often gone "on a visit of pleasure," +are lamented with equal warmth by the bard. The poetic +Abbot of Boyle is himself lamented in the Annals as the +Ovid of Ireland, as "a poet who never had and never will +have an equal." But the episode which best illustrates +at once the address and the audacity of the bardic order +is the story of Murray O'Daly of Lissadil, and Donnell +More O'Donnell, Lord of Tyrconnell. + +In the year 1213, O'Donnell despatched Finn O'Brollaghan, +his _Aes graidh_ or Steward, to collect his tribute in +Connaught, and Finn, putting up at the house of O'Daly, +near Drumcliff, and being a plebeian who knew no better, +began to wrangle with the poet. The irritable master of +song, seizing a sharp axe, slew the steward on the spot, +and then to avoid O'Donnell's vengeance fled into +Clanrickarde. Here he announced himself by a poem addressed +to de Burgh, imploring his protection, setting forth the +claims of the Bardic order on all high-descended heroes, +and contending that his fault was but venial, in killing +a clown, who insulted him. O'Donnell pursued the fugitive +to Athenry, and de Burgh sent him away secretly into +Thomond. Into Thomond, the Lord of Tyrconnell marched, +but O'Brien sent off the Bard to Limerick. The enraged +Ulsterman appeared at the gates of Limerick, when O'Daly +was smuggled out of the town, and "passed from hand to +hand," until he reached Dublin. The following spring +O'Donnell appeared in force before Dublin, and demanded +the fugitive, who, as a last resort, had been sent for +safety into Scotland. From the place of his exile he +addressed three deprecatory poems to the offended Lord +of Tyrconnell, who finally allowed him to return to +Lissadil in peace, and even restored him to his friendship. + +The introduction of the new religious orders--Dominicans, +Franciscans, and the order for the redemption of Captives +into Ireland, in the first quarter of this century +gradually extinguished the old Columban and Brigintine +houses. In Leinster they made way most rapidly; but Ulster +clung with its ancient tenacity to the Columban rule. +The Hierarchy of the northern half-kingdom still exercised +a protectorate, over Iona itself, for we read, in the +year 1203, how Kellagh, having erected a monastery in +the middle of Iona, in despite of the religious, that +the Bishops of Derry and Raphoe, with the Abbots of Armagh +and Derry and numbers of the Clergy of the North of +Ireland, passed over to Iona, pulled down the unauthorized +monastery, and assisted at the election of a new Abbot. +This is almost the last important act of the Columban +order in Ireland. By the close of the century, the +Dominicans had some thirty houses, and the Franciscans +as many more, whether in the walled towns or the open +country. These monasteries became the refuge of scholars, +during the stormy period we have passed, and in other +days full as troubled, which were to come. Moreover, as +the Irish student, like all others in that age, desired +to travel from school to school, these orders admitted +him to the ranks of widespread European brotherhoods, +from whom he might always claim hospitality. Nor need we +reject as anything incredible the high renown for +scholarship and ability obtained in those times by such +men as Thomas Palmeran of Naas, in the University of +Paris; by Peter and Thomas Hibernicus in the University +of Naples, in the age of Aquinas; by Malachy of Ireland, +a Franciscan, Chaplain to King Edward II. of England, +and Professor at Oxford; by the Danish Dominican, Gotofrid +of Waterford; and above all, by John Scotus of Down, the +subtle doctor, the luminary of the Franciscan schools, +of Paris and Cologne. The native schools of Ireland had +lost their early ascendancy, and are no longer traceable +in our annals; but Irish scholarship, when arrested in +its full development at home, transferred its efforts to +foreign Universities, and there maintained the ancient +honour of the country among the studious "nations" of +Christendom. Among the "nations" involved in the college +riots at Oxford, in the year 1274, we find mention of +the Irish, from which fact it is evident there must have +been a considerable number of natives of that country, +then frequenting the University. + +The most distinguished native ecclesiastics of this +century were Matthew O'Heney, Archbishop of Cashel, +originally a Cistercian monk, who died in retirement at +Holy Cross in 1207; Albin O'Mulloy, the opponent of +_Giraldus_, who died Bishop of Ferns in 1222; and Clarus +McMailin, Erenach of Trinity Island, Lough Key-if an +_Erenach_ may be called an ecclesiastic. It was O'Heney +made the Norman who said the Irish Church had no martyrs, +the celebrated answer, that now men had come into the +country who knew so well how to make martyrs, that reproach +would soon be taken away. He is said to have written a +life of Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, and we know that +he had legantine powers at the opening of the century. +The _Erenach_ of Lough Key, who flourished in its second +half, plays an important part in all the western feuds +and campaigns; his guarantee often preserved peace and +protected the vanquished. Among the church-builders of +his age, he stands conspicuous. The ordinary churches +were indeed easily built, seldom exceeding 60 or 70 feet +in length, and one half that width, and the material +still most in use was, for the church proper, timber. +The towers, cashels, or surrounding walls, and the cells +of the religious, as well as the great monasteries and +collegiate and cathedral churches, were of stone, and +many of them remain monuments of the skill and munificence +of their founders. + +Of the consequences of the abolition of slavery by the +Council of Armagh, at the close of the twelfth century, +we have no tangible evidence. It is probable that the +slave trade, rather than domestic servitude, was abolished +by that decree. The cultivators of the soil were still +divided into two orders--Biataghs and Brooees. "The +former," says O'Donovan, "who were comparatively few in +number, would appear to have held their lands free of +rent, but were obliged to entertain travellers, and the +chief's soldiers when on their march in his direction; +and the latter (the Brooees) would appear to have been +subject to a stipulated rent and service." From "the Book +of Lecan," a compilation of the fourteenth century, we +learn that the Brooee was required to keep an hundred +labourers, and an hundred of each kind of domestic animals. +Of the rights or wages of the labourers, we believe, +there is no mention made. + + + + +BOOK V. + +THE ERA OF KING EDWARD BRUCE. + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE RISE OF "THE RED EARL"--RELATIONS OF IRELAND AND +SCOTLAND. + +During the half century which comprised the reigns of +Edward I. and II. in England (A.D. 1272 to 1327), Scotland +saw the last of her first race of Kings, and the elevation +of the family of Bruce, under whose brilliant star Ireland +was, for a season, drawn into the mid-current of Scottish +politics. Before relating the incidents of that revolution +of short duration but long enduring consequences, we must +note the rise to greatness of the one great Norman name, +which in that era mainly represented the English interest +and influence in Ireland. + +Richard de Burgh, called from his ruddy complexion "the +Red Earl" of Ulster, nobly bred in the court of Henry III. +of England, had attained man's age about the period when +the de Lacys, the Geraldines, de Clares, and other great +Anglo-Irish, families, either through the fortune of war +or failure of issue, were deprived of most of their +natural leaders. Uniting in his own person the blood of +the O'Conors, de Lacys, and de Burghs, his authority was +great from the beginning in Meath and Connaught. In his +inroads on West-Meath he seems to have been abetted by +the junior branches of the de Lacys, who were with his +host in the year 1286, when he besieged Theobald de Verdon +in Athlone, and advanced his banner as far eastward as +the strong town of Trim, upon the Boyne. Laying claim to +the possessions of the Lord of Meath, which touched the +Kildare Geraldines at so many points, he inevitably came +into contact with that powerful family. In 1288, in +alliance with Manus O'Conor, they compelled him to retreat +from Roscommon into Clanrickarde, in Mayo. De Verdon, +his competitor for West-Meath, naturally entered into +alliance with the Kildare Geraldine, and in the year +1294, after many lesser conflicts, they took the Red Earl +and his brother William prisoners, and carried them in +fetters to the Castle of Lea, in Offally. This happened +on the 6th day of December; a Parliament assembled at +Kilkenny on the 12th of March following, ordered their +release; and a peace was made between these powerful +houses. De Burgh gave his two sons as hostages to +Fitzgerald, and the latter surrendered the Castle of +Sligo to de Burgh. From the period of this peace the +power of the last named nobleman outgrew anything that +had been known since the Invasion. In the year 1291, he +banished the O'Donnell out of his territory, and set up +another of his own choosing; he deposed one O'Neil and +raised up another; he so straitened O'Conor in his +patrimony of Roscommon, that that Prince also entered +his camp at Meelick, and gave him hostages. He was thus +the first and only man of his race who had ever had in +his hand the hostages both of Ulster and Connaught. When +the King of England sent writs into Ireland, he usually +addressed the Red Earl, before the Lord Justice or Lord +Deputy--a compliment which, in that ceremonious age, +could not be otherwise than flattering to the pride of +de Burgh. Such was the order of summons, in which, in +the year 1296, he was required by Edward I. to attend +him into Scotland, which was then experiencing some of +the worst consequences of a disputed succession. As +Ireland's interest in this struggle becomes in the sequel +second only to that of Scotland, we must make brief +mention of its origin and progress. + +By the accidental death of Alexander III., in 1286, the +McAlpine, or Scoto-Irish dynasty, was suddenly terminated. +Alexander's only surviving child, Margaret, called from +her mother's country, "the Maid of Norway," soon followed +her father; and no less than eight competitors, all +claiming collateral descent from the former Kings, appeared +at the head of as many factions to contest the succession. +This number was, however, soon reduced to two men--John +Baliol and Robert Bruce--the former the grandson of the +eldest, the latter the son of the second daughter of King +David I. After many bickerings these powerful rivals were +induced to refer their claims to the decision of Edward I. +of England, who, in a Great Court held at Berwick in the +year 1292, decided in favour of Baliol, not in the +character of an indifferent arbitrator, but as lord +paramount of Scotland. As such, Baliol there and then +rendered him feudal homage, and became, in the language +of the age, "his man." This sub-sovereignty could not +but be galling to the proud and warlike nobles of Scotland, +and accordingly, finding Edward embroiled about his French +possessions, three years after the decision, they caused +Baliol to enter into an alliance, offensive and defensive, +with Philip IV. of France, against his English suzerain. +The nearer danger compelled Edward to march with 40,000 +men, which he had raised for the war in France, towards +the Scottish border, whither he summoned the Earl of +Ulster, the Geraldines, Butlers, de Verdons, de Genvilles, +Berminghams, Poers, Purcells, de Cogans, de Barrys, de +Lacys, d'Exeters, and other minor nobles, to come to him +in his camp early in March, 1296. The Norman-Irish obeyed +the call, but the pride of de Burgh would not permit him +to embark in the train of the Lord Justice Wogan, who +had been also summoned; he sailed with his own forces in +a separate fleet, having conferred the honour of knighthood +on thirty of his younger followers before embarking at +Dublin. Whether these forces arrived in time to take part +in the bloody siege of Berwick, and the panic-route at +Dunbar, does not appear; they were in time, however, to +see the strongest places in Scotland yielded up, and John +Baliol a prisoner on his way to the Tower of London. They +were sumptuously entertained by the conqueror in the +Castle of Roxburgh, and returned to their western homes +deeply impressed with the power of England, and the +puissance of her warrior-king. + +But the independence of Scotland was not to be trodden +out in a single campaign. During Edward's absence in +France, William Wallace and other guerilla chiefs arose, +to whom were soon united certain patriot nobles and +bishops. The English deputy de Warrane fought two +unsuccessful campaigns against these leaders, until his +royal master, having concluded peace with France, summoned +his Parliament to meet him at York, and his Norman-Irish +lieges to join him in his northern camp, with all their +forces, on the 1st of March, 1299. In June the English +King found himself at Roxburgh, at the head of 8,000 +horse, and 80,000 foot, "chiefly Irish and Welsh." With +this immense force he routed Wallace at Falkirk on the +22nd of July, and reduced him to his original rank of a +guerilla chief, wandering with his bands of partizans +from one fastness to another. The Scottish cause gained +in Pope Boniface VII. a powerful advocate soon after, +and the unsubdued districts continued to obey a Regency +composed of the Bishop of St. Andrews, Robert Bruce, +and John Comyn. These regents exercised their authority +in the name of Baliol, carried on negotiations with France +and Rome, convoked a Parliament, and, among other military +operations, captured Stirling Castle. In the documentary +remains of this great controversy, it is curious to find +Edward claiming the entire island of Britain in virtue +of the legend of Brute the Trojan, and the Scots rejecting +it with scorn, and displaying their true descent and +origin from Scota, the fabled first mother of the Milesian +Irish. There is ample evidence that the claims of kindred +were at this period keenly felt by the Gael of Ireland, +for the people of Scotland, and men of our race are +mentioned among the companions of Wallace and the allies +of Brace. But the Norman-Irish were naturally drawn to +the English banner, and when, in 1303, it was again +displayed north of the Tweed, the usual noble names are +found among its followers. In 1307 Scotland lost her most +formidable foe, by the death of Edward, and at the same +time began to recognize her appointed deliverer in the +person of Robert Bruce. But we must return to "the Red +Earl," the central figure in our own annals during this +half century. + +The new King, Edward II., compelled by his English barons +to banish his minion, Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall, had +created him his lieutenant of Ireland, endowed him with +a grant of the royalties of the whole island, to the +prejudice of the Earl and other noblemen. The sojourn of +this brilliant parasite in Ireland lasted but a year--from +June, 1308, till the June following. He displayed both +vigour and munificence, and acquired friends. But the +Red Earl, sharing to the full the antipathy of the great +barons of England, kept apart from his court, maintained +a rival state at Trim, as Commander-in-Chief, conferring +knighthood, levying men, and imposing taxes at his own +discretion. A challenge of battle is said to have passed +between him and the Lieutenant, when the latter was +recalled into England by the King, where he was three +years later put to death by the barons, into whose hands +he had fallen. Sir John Wogan and Sir Edmund Butler +succeeded him in the Irish administration; but the real +power long remained with Richard de Burgh. He was appointed +plenipotentiary to treat with Robert Brace, on behalf of +the King of England, "upon which occasion the Scottish +deputies waited on him in Ireland." In the year 1302 +Brace had married his daughter, the Lady Ellen, while of +his other daughters one was Countess of Desmond, and +another became Countess of Kildare in 1312. A thousand +marks--the same sum at which the town and castle of Sligo +were then valued-was allowed by the Earl for the marriage +portion of his last-mentioned daughter. His power and +reputation, about the period of her marriage, were at +the full. He had long held the title of Commander of the +Irish forces, "in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Gascony;" +he had successfully resisted Gaveston in the meridian of +his court favour; the father-in-law of a King, and of +Earls of almost royal power, lord paramount of half the +island-such a subject England had not seen on Irish ground +since the Invasion. This prodigious power he retained, +not less by his energy than his munificence. He erected +castles at Carlingford, at Sligo, on the upper Shannon, +and on Lough Foyle. He was a generous patron of the +Carmelite Order, for whom he built the Convent of Loughrea. +He was famed as a princely entertainer, and before retiring +from public affairs, characteristically closed his career +with a magnificent banquet at Kilkenny, where the whole +Parliament were his guests. Having reached an age +bordering upon fourscore he retired to the Monastery of +Athassil, and there expired within sight of his family +vault, after half a century of such sway as was rarely +enjoyed in that age, even by Kings. But before that +peaceful close he was destined to confront a storm the +like of which had not blown over Ireland during the long +period since he first began to perform his part in the +affairs of that kingdom. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE NORTHERN IRISH ENTER INTO ALLIANCE WITH KING ROBERT +BRUCE--ARRIVAL AND FIRST CAMPAIGN OF EDWARD BRUCE. + +No facts of the ages over which we have already passed +are better authenticated than the identity of origin and +feeling which existed between the Celts of Erin and of +Albyn. Nor was this sympathy of race diminished by their +common dangers from a common enemy. On the eve of the +Norman invasion we saw how heartily the Irish were with +Somerled and the men of Moray in resisting the feudal +polity of the successors of Malcolm _Caen-More_. As the +Plantagenet Princes in person led their forces against +Scotland, the interest of the Irish, especially those of +the North, increased, year by year, in the struggles of +the Scots. Irish adherents followed the fortunes of +Wallace to the close; and when Robert Bruce, after being +crowned and seated in the chair of the McAlpin line, on +the summit of the hill of Scone, had to flee into exile, +he naturally sought refuge where he knew he would find +friends. Accompanied by three of his brothers, several +adherents, and even by some of the females of his family, +he steered, in the autumn of 1306, for the little island +of Rathlin--seven miles long by a mile wide--one point +of which is within three miles of the Antrim beach. In +its most populous modern day Rathlin contained not above +1,000 souls, and little wonder if its still smaller +population, five centuries ago, fled in terror at the +approach of Bruce. They were, however, soon disarmed of +their fears, and agreed to supply the fugitive King daily +with provisions for 300 persons, the whole number who +accompanied or followed him into exile. His faithful +adherents soon erected for him a castle, commanding one +of the few landing places on the island, the ruins of +which are still shown to strangers as "Bruce's Castle." +Here he passed in perfect safety the winter of 1306, +while his emissaries were recruiting in Ulster, or passing +to and fro, in the intervals of storm, among the western +islands. Without waiting for the spring to come round +again, they issued from their retreat in different +directions; one body of 700 Irish sailed under Thomas +and Alexander, the King's brothers, for the Clyde, while +Robert and Edward took the more direct passage towards +the coast of Argyle, and, after many adventures, found +themselves strong enough to attack the foreign forces in +Perth and Ayrshire. The opportune death of Edward of +England the same summer, and the civil strife bred by +his successor's inordinate favour towards Gaveston, +enabled the Bruces gradually to root out the internal +garrisons of their enemies; but the party that had sailed, +under the younger brothers, from Rathlin, were attacked +and captured in Loch Ryan by McDowell, and the survivors +of the engagement, with Thomas and Alexander Bruce, were +carried prisoners to Carlisle and there put to death. + +The seven years' war of Scottish independence was drawn +to a close by the decisive campaign of 1314. The second +Edward prepared an overwhelming force for this expedition, +summoning, as usual, the Norman-Irish Earls, and inviting +in different language his "beloved" cousins, the native +Irish Chiefs, not only such as had entered into English +alliances at any time, but also notorious allies of Bruce, +like O'Neil, O'Donnell, and O'Kane. These writs were +generally unheeded; we have no record of either Norman-Irish +or native-Irish Chief having responded to Edward's summons, +nor could nobles so summoned have been present without +some record remaining of the fact. On the contrary all +the wishes of the old Irish went with the Scots, and the +Normans were more than suspected of leaning the same way. +Twenty-one clans, Highlanders and Islemen, and many +Ulstermen, fought on the side of Bruce, on the field of +Bannockburn; the grant of "Kincardine-O'Neil," made by +the victor-King to his Irish followers, remains a striking +evidence of their fidelity to his person, and their +sacrifices in his cause. The result of that glorious day +was, by the testimony of all historians, English as well +as Scottish, received with enthusiasm on the Irish side +of the channel. + +Whether any understanding had been come to between the +northern Irish and Bruce, during his sojourn in Rathlin, +or whether the victory of Bannockburn suggested the +design, Edward Bruce, the gallant companion of all his +brother's fortunes and misfortunes, was now invited to +place himself at the head of the men of Ulster, in a war +for Irish independence. He was a soldier of not inferior +fame to his brother for courage and fortitude, though he +had never exhibited the higher qualities of general and +statesman which crowned the glory of King Robert. Yet as +he had never held a separate command of consequence, his +rashness and obstinacy, though well known to his intimates, +were lost sight of, at a distance, by those who gazed +with admiration on the brilliant achievements, in which +he had certainly borne the second part. The chief mover +in the negotiation by which this gallant soldier was +brought to embark his fortunes in an Irish war, was +Donald, Prince of Ulster. This Prince, whose name is so +familiar from his celebrated remonstrance addressed to +Pope John XXII., was son of King Brian of the battle of +Down, who, half a century before, at the Conference of +Caeluisge, was formally chosen Ard-Righ, by the nobles +of three Provinces. He had succeeded to the principality +--not without a protracted struggle with the Red Earl +--some twenty years before the date of the battle of +Bannockburn. Endued with an intensely national spirit, +he seems to have fully adopted the views of Nicholas +McMaelisa, the Primate of Armagh, his early cotemporary. +This Prelate--one of the most resolute opponents of the +Norman conquest--had constantly refused to instal any +foreigner in a northern diocese. When the Chapter of +Ardagh delayed their election, he nominated a suitable +person to the Holy See; when the See of Meath was distracted +between two national parties he installed his nominee; +when the Countess of Ulster caused Edward I. to issue +his writ for the installation of John, Bishop of Conor, +he refused his acquiescence. He left nearly every See +in his Province, at the time of his decease (the year +1303), under the administration of a native ecclesiastic; +a dozen years before he had established a formal +"association" among the Prelates at large, by which they +bound themselves to resist the interference of the Kings +of England in the nomination of Bishops, and to be subject +only to the sanction of the See of Rome. In the Provinces +of Cashel and Tuam, in the fourteenth century, we do not +often find a foreign born Bishop; even in Leinster double +elections and double delegations to Rome, show how deeply +the views of the patriotic Nicholas McMaelisa had seized +upon the clergy of the next age. It was Donald O'Neil's +darling project to establish a unity of action against +the common enemy among the chiefs, similar to that which +the Primate had brought about among the Bishops. His own +pretensions to the sovereignty were greater than that of +any Prince of his age; his house had given more monarchs +to the island than any other; his father had been +acknowledged by the requisite majority; his courage, +patriotism, and talents, were admittedly equal to the +task. But he felt the utter impossibility of conciliating +that fatal family pride, fed into extravagance by Bards +and Senachies, which we have so often pointed out as the +worst consequence of the Celtic system. He saw chiefs, +proud of their lineage and their name, submit to serve +a foreign Earl of Ulster, who refused homage to the native +Prince of Ulster; he saw the seedlings of a vice of which +we have seen the fruit--that his countrymen would submit +to a stranger rather than to one of themselves, and he +reasoned, not unnaturally, that, by the hand of some +friendly stranger, they might be united and liberated. +The attempt of Edward Bruce was a failure, and was followed +by many disasters; but a more patriotic design, or one +with fairer omens of success, could not have entered the +mind or heart of a native Prince, after the event of the +battle at Bannockburn. Edward of England, having +intelligence of the negotiations on foot between the +Irish and Scots, after his great defeat, summoned over +to Windsor during the winter, de Burgh, Fitzgerald, de +Verdon, and Edmund Butler, the Lord Deputy. After conferring +with them, and confirming Butler in his office, they were +despatched back in all haste to defend their country. +Nor was there time to lose. Edward Bruce, with his usual +impetuosity, without waiting for his full armament, had +sailed from Ayr with 6,000 men in 300 galleys, accompanied +by Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, Sir John Stuart, Sir +Philip Moubray, Sir Fergus of Ardrossan, and other +distinguished knights. He landed on the 25th day of May, +1315, in the Glendun river, near Glenarm, and was promptly +joined by Donald O'Neil, and twelve other chiefs. Their +first advance was from the coast towards that angle of +Lough Neagh, near which stands the town of Antrim. Here, +at Rathmore, in the plain of Moylinny, they were attacked +by the Mandevilles and Savages of the Ards of Down, whom +they defeated. From Antrim they continued their route +evidently towards Dublin, taking Dundalk and Ardee, after +a sharp resistance. At Ardee they were but 35 miles +north of Dublin, easy of conquest, if they had been +provided with siege trains--which it seemed they were not. + +While Bruce and O'Neil were coming up from the north, +Hugh O'Donnell, lord of Tyrconnell, as if to provide +occupation for the Earl of Ulster, attacked and sacked +the castle and town of Sligo, and wasted the adjacent +country. The Earl, on hearing of the landing of the Scots, +had mustered his forces at Athlone, and compelled the +unwilling attendance of Felim O'Conor, with his clansmen. +From Athlone he directed his march towards Drogheda, +where he arrived with "20 cohorts," about the same time +that the Lord Deputy Butler came up with "30 cohorts." +Bruce, unprepared to meet so vast a force--taken together +some 25,000 or 30,000 men--retreated slowly towards his +point of debarkation. De Burgh, who, as Commander-in-Chief, +took precedence in the field of the Lord Deputy, ordered +the latter to protect Meath and Leinster, while he pursued +the enemy. Bruce, having despatched the Earl of Moray to +his brother, was now anxious to hold some northern position +where they could most easily join him. He led de Burgh, +therefore, into the North of Antrim, thence across the +Bann at Coleraine, breaking down the bridge at that point. +Here the armies encamped for some days, separated by the +river, the outposts occasionally indulging in a "shooting +of arrows." By negotiation, Bruce and O'Neil succeeded +in detaching O'Conor from de Burgh. Under the plea--which +really had sufficient foundation--of suppressing an +insurrection headed by one of his rivals, O'Conor returned +to his own country. No sooner had he left than Bruce +assumed the offensive, and it was now the Red Earl's turn +to fall back. They retreated towards the castle of Conyre +(probably Conor, near Ballymena, in Antrim), where an +engagement was fought, in which de Burgh was defeated, +his brother William, Sir John Mandeville, and several +other knights being taken prisoners. The Earl continued +his retreat through Meath towards his own possession; +Bruce followed, capturing in succession Granard, Fenagh, +and Kells, celebrating his Christmas at Loughsweedy, in +West-Meath, in the midst of the most considerable chiefs +of Ulster, Meath, and Connaught. It was probably at this +stage of his progress that he received the adhesion of +the junior branches of the Lacys--the chief Norman family +that openly joined his standard. + +This termination of his first campaign on Irish soil +might be considered highly favourable to Bruce. More than +half the clans had risen, and others were certain to +follow their example; the clergy were almost wholly with +him; and his heroic brother had promised to lead an army +to his aid in the ensuing spring. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +BRUCE'S SECOND CAMPAIGN, AND CORONATION AT DUNDALK--THE +RISING IN CONNAUGHT--BATTLE OF ATHENRY-ROBERT BRUCE IN +IRELAND. + +From Loughsweedy, Bruce broke up his quarters, and marched +into Kildare, encamping successively at Naas, Kildare, +and Rathangan. Advancing in a southerly direction, he +found an immense, but disorderly Anglo-Irish host drawn +out, at the moat of Ardscull, near Athy, to dispute his +march. They were commanded by the Lord Justice Butler, +the Baron of Offally, the Lord Arnold Poer, and other +magnates; but so divided were these proud Peers, in +authority and in feeling, that, after a severe skirmish +with Bruce's vanguard, in which some knights were killed +on both sides, they retreated before the Hiberno-Scottish +army, which continued its march unmolested, and took +possession of Castledermot. + +Animated by these successes, won in their midst, the +clans of Leinster began in succession to raise their +heads. The tribes of Wicklow, once possessors of the +fertile plains to the east and west, rallied in the +mountain glens to which they had been driven, and commenced +that long guerilla war, which centuries only were to +extinguish. The McMurroghs along the ridge of Leinster, +and all their kindred upon the Barrow and the Slaney, +mustered under a chief, against whom the Lord Justice +was compelled to march in person, later in the campaign +of 1316. The Lord of Dunamase was equally sanguine, but +800 men of the name of O'Moore, slain in one disastrous +encounter, crippled for the time the military strength +of that great house. Having thus kindled the war, in the +very heart of Leinster, Bruce retraced his march through +Meath and Louth, and held at Dundalk that great assembly +in which he was solemnly elected King of Ireland. Donald +O'Neil, by letters patent, as son of Brian "of the battle +of Down," the last acknowledged native king, formally +resigned his right, in favour of Bruce, a proceeding which +he defends in his celebrated letter to Pope John XXII., +where he speaks of the new sovereign as the illustrious +Earl of Carrick, Edward de Bruce, a nobleman descended +from the same ancestors with themselves, whom they had +called to their aid, and freely chosen as their king and +lord. The ceremony of inauguration seems to have been +performed in the Gaelic fashion, on the hill of +Knocknemelan, within a mile of Dundalk, while the solemn +consecration took place in one of the churches of the +town. Surrounded by all the external marks of royalty, +Bruce established his court in the castle of Northburgh +(one of de Courcy's or de Verdon's fortresses), adjoining +Dundalk, where he took cognizance of all pleas that were +brought before him. At that moment his prospects compared +favourably with those of his illustrious brother a few +years earlier. The Anglo-Irish were bitterly divided +against each other; while, according to their joint +declaration of loyalty, signed before de Hothun, King +Edward's special agent, "all the Irish of Ireland, several +great lords, and many English people," had given in their +adhesion to Bruce. In Ulster, except Carrickfergus, no +place of strength remained in the hands of any subject +of Edward of England. The arrival of supplies from Scotland +enabled Bruce to resume that siege in the autumn of 1316, +and the castle, after a heroic defence by Sir Thomas de +Mandeville, was surrendered in mid-winter. Here, in the +month of February, 1317, the new King of Ireland had the +gratification of welcoming his brother of Scotland, at +the head of a powerful auxiliary force, and here, according +to Barbour's _Chronicle_, they feasted for three days, +in mirth and jollity, before entering on the third campaign +of this war. + +We have before mentioned that one of the first successes +obtained by Bruce was through the withdrawal of Felim +O'Conor from the Red Earl's alliance. The Prince thus +won over to what may be fairly called the national cause, +had just then attained his majority, and his martial +accomplishments reflected honour on his fosterer, McDermott +of Moylurg, while they filled with confidence the hearts +of his own clansmen. After his secession from de Burgh +at Coleraine, he had spent a whole year in suppressing +the formidable rival who had risen to dispute his title. +Several combats ensued between their respective adherents, +but at length Roderick, the pretender, was defeated and +slain, and Felim turned all his energies to co-operate +with Bruce, by driving the foreigner out of his own +province. Having secured the assistance of all the chief +tribes of the west, and established the ancient supremacy +of his house over Breffni, he first attacked the town of +Ballylahen, in Mayo, the seat of the family of de Exeter, +slew Slevin de Exeter, the lord de Cogan, and other +knights and barons, and plundered the town. At the +beginning of August in the same year, in pursuance of +his plan, Felim mustered the most numerous force which +Connaught had sent forth, since the days of Cathal More. +Under his leadership marched the Prince of Meath, the +lords of Breffni, Leyny, Annally, Teffia, Hy-Many, and +Hy-Fiachra, with their men. The point of attack was the +town of Athenry, the chief fortified stronghold of the +de Burghs and Berminghams in that region. Its importance +dated from the reign of King John; it had been enriched +with convents and strengthened by towers; it was besides +the burial place of the two great Norman families just +mentioned, and their descendants felt that before the +walls of Athenry their possessions were to be confirmed +to them by their own valour, or lost for ever. A decisive +battle was fought on St. Laurence's day--the 10th of +August--in which the steel-clad Norman battalion once +more triumphed over the linen-shirted clansmen of the +west. The field was contested with heroic obstinacy; no +man gave way; none thought of asking or giving quarter. +The standard bearer, the personal guard, and the Brehon +of O'Conor fell around him. The lords of Hy-Many, Teffia, +and Leyny, the heir of the house of Moylurg, with many +other chiefs, and, according to the usual computation, +8,000 men were slain. Felim O'Conor himself, in the +twenty-third year of his age, and the very morning of +his fame, fell with the rest, and his kindred, the +Sil-Murray, were left for a season an easy prey to William +de Burgh and John de Bermingham, the joint commanders in +the battle. The spirit of exaggeration common in most +accounts of killed and wounded, has described this day +as fatal to the name and race of O'Conor, who are +represented as cut off to a man in the conflict; the +direct line which Felim represented was indeed left +without an immediate adult representative; but the +offshoots of that great house had spread too far and +flourished too vigorously to be shorn away, even by so +terrible a blow as that dealt at Athenry. The very next +year we find chiefs of the name making some figure in +the wars of their own province, but it is observable that +what may be called the national party in Connaught for +some time after Athenry, looked to McDermott of Moylurg +as their most powerful leader. + +The moral effect of the victory of Athenry was hardly to +be compensated for by the capture of Carrickfergus the +next winter. It inspired the Anglo-Irish with new courage. +De Bermingham was created commander-in-chief. The citizens +of Dublin burned their suburbs to strengthen their means +of defence. Suspecting the zeal of the Red Earl, so +nearly connected with the Bruces by marriage, their Mayor +proceeded to Saint Mary's abbey, where he lodged, arrested +and confined him to the castle. To that building the +Bermingham tower was added about this time, and the +strength of the whole must have been great when the +skilful leaders, who had carried Stirling and Berwick, +abandoned the siege of Dublin as hopeless. In Easter +week, 1317, Roger Mortimer, afterwards Earl of March, +nearly allied to the English King on the one hand, and +maternally descended from the Marshals and McMurroghs on +the other, arrived at Youghal, as Lord Justice, released +the Earl of Ulster on reaching Dublin, and prepared to +dispute the progress of the Bruces towards the South. + +The royal brothers had determined, according to their +national Bard, to take their way with all their host, +from one cud of Ireland to the other. Their destination +was Munster, which populous province had not yet ratified +the recent election. Ulster and Meath were with them; +Connaught, by the battle of Athenry, was rendered incapable +of any immediate effort, and therefore Edward Bruce, in +true Gaelic fashion, decided to proceed on his royal +visitation, and so secure the hostages of the southern +half-kingdom. At the head of 20,000 men, in two divisions, +the brothers marched from Carrickfergus; meeting, with +the exception of a severe skirmish in a wood near Slane, +with no other molestation till they approached the very +walls of Dublin. Finding the place stronger than they +expected, or unwilling to waste time at that season of +the year, the Hiberno-Scottish army, after occupying +Castleknock, turned up the valley of the Liffey, and +encamped for four days by the pleasant waterfall of +Leixlip. From Leixlip to Naas they traversed the estates +of one of their active foes, the new made Earl of Kildare, +and from Naas they directed their march to Callan in +Ossory, taking special pleasure, according to Anglo-Irish +Annals, in harrying the lands of another enemy, the Lord +Butler, afterwards Earl of Ormond. From Callan their +route lay to Cashel and Limerick, at each of which they +encamped two or three days without seeing the face of an +enemy. But if they encountered no enemies in Minister, +neither did they make many friends by their expedition. +It seems that on further acquaintance rivalries and +enmities sprung up between the two nations who composed +the army; that Edward Bruce, while styling himself King +of Ireland, acted more like a vigorous conqueror exhausting +his enemies, than a prudent Prince careful for his friends +and adherents. His army is accused, in terms of greater +vehemence than are usually employed in our cautious +chronicles, of plundering churches and monasteries, and +even violating the tombs of the dead in search of buried +treasure. The failure of the harvest, added to the effect +of a threefold war, had so diminished the stock of food +that numbers perished of famine, and this dark, indelible +remembrance was, by an arbitrary notion of cause and +effect, inseparably associated in the popular mind, both +English and Irish, with the Scottish invasion. One fact +is clear, that the election of Dundalk was not popular +in Munster, and that the chiefs of Thomond and Desmond +were uncommitted, if not hostile towards Bruce's +sovereignty. McCarthy and O'Brien seized the occasion, +indeed, while he was campaigning in the North, to root +out the last representative of the family of de Clare, +as we have already related, when tracing the fortunes of +the Normans in Munster. But of the twelve reguli, or +Princes in Bruce's train, none are mentioned as having +come from the Southern provinces. + +This visitation of Munster occupied the months of February +and March. In April, the Lord Justice Mortimer summoned +a Parliament at Kilkenny, and there, also, the whole +Anglo-Irish forces, to the number of 30,000 men, were +assembled. The Bruces on their return northward might +easily have been intercepted, or the genius which triumphed +at Bannockburn might have been as conspicuously signalized +on Irish ground. But the military authorities were waiting +orders from the Parliament, and the Parliament were at +issue with the new Justice, and so the opportunity was +lost. Early in May, the Hiberno-Scottish army re-entered +Ulster, by nearly the same route as they had taken going +southwards, and King Robert soon after returned into +Scotland, promising faithfully to rejoin his brother, as +soon as he disposed of his own pressing affairs. The King +of England in the meantime, in consternation at the news +from Ireland, applied to the Pope, then at Avignon, to +exercise his influence with the Clergy and Chiefs of +Ireland, for the preservation of the English interest in +that country. It was in answer to the Papal rescripts so +procured that Donald O'Neil despatched his celebrated +Remonstrance, which the Pontiff enclosed to Edward II., +with an urgent recommendation that the wrongs therein +recited might be atoned for, and avoided in the future. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +BATTLE OF FAUGHARD AND DEATH OF KING EDWARD BRUCE-- +CONSEQUENCES OF HIS INVASION--EXTINCTION OF THE EARLDOM +OF ULSTER--IRISH OPINION OF EDWARD BRUCE. + +It is too commonly the fashion, as well with historians +as with others, to glorify the successful and censure +severely the unfortunate. No such feeling actuates us +in speaking of the character of Edward Bruce, King of +Ireland. That he was as gallant a knight as any in that +age of gallantry, we know; that he could confront the +gloomiest aspect of adversity with cheerfulness, we also +know. But the united testimony, both of history and +tradition, in his own country, so tenacious of its +anecdotical treasures, describes him as rash, headstrong, +and intractable, beyond all the captains of his time. +And in strict conformity with this character is the +closing scene of his Irish career. + +The harvest had again failed in 1317, and enforced a +melancholy sort of truce between all the belligerents. +The scarcity was not confined to Ireland, but had severely +afflicted England and Scotland, compelling their rulers +to bestow a momentary attention on the then abject class, +the tillers of the soil. But the summer of 1318 brightened +above more prosperous fields, from which no sooner had +each party snatched or purchased his share of the produce, +than the war-note again resounded through all the four +Provinces. On the part of the Anglo-Irish, John de +Bermingham was confirmed as Commander-in-Chief, and +departed from Dublin with, according to the chronicles +of the Pale, but 2,000 chosen troops, while the Scottish +biographer of the Bruces gives him "20,000 trapped horse." +The latter may certainly be considered an exaggerated +account, and the former must be equally incorrect. Judged +by the other armaments of that period, from the fact that +the Normans of Meath, under Sir Miles de Verdon and Sir +Richard Tuit, were in his ranks, and that he then held +the rank of Commander-in-Chief of all the English forces +in Ireland, it is incredible that de Bermingham should +have crossed the Boyne with less than eight or ten thousand +men. Whatever the number may have been, Bruce resolved +to risk the issue of battle contrary to the advice of +all his officers, and without awaiting the reinforcements +hourly expected from Scotland, and which shortly after +the engagement did arrive. The native chiefs of Ulster, +whose counsel was also to avoid a pitched battle, seeing +their opinions so lightly valued, are said to have +withdrawn from Dundalk. There remained with the iron-headed +King the Lords Moubray, de Soulis, and Stewart, with the +three brothers of the latter; MacRory, lord of the Isles, +and McDonald, chief of his clan. The neighbourhood of +Dundalk, the scene of his triumphs and coronation, was +to be the scene of this last act of Bruce's chivalrous +and stormy career. + +On the 14th of October, 1318, at the hill of Faughard, +within a couple of miles of Dundalk, the advance guard +of the hostile armies came into the presence of each +other, and made ready for battle. Roland de Jorse, the +foreign Archbishop of Armagh--who had not been able to +take possession of his see, though appointed to it seven +years before--accompanied the Anglo-Irish, and moving +through their ranks, gave his benediction to their banners. +But the impetuosity of Bruce gave little time for +preparation. At the head of the vanguard, without waiting +for the whole of his company to come up, he charged the +enemy with impetuosity. The action became general, and +the skill of de Bermingham as a leader was again +demonstrated. An incident common to the warfare of that +age was, however, the immediate cause of the victory. +Master John de Maupas, a burgher of Dundalk, believing +that the death of the Scottish leader would be the signal +for the retreat of his followers, disguised as a jester +or fool, sought him throughout the field. One of the +royal esquires, named Gilbert Harper, wearing the surcoat +of his master, was mistaken for him, and slain; but the +true leader was at length found by de Maupas, and struck +down with the blow of a leaden plummet or slung-shot. +After the battle, when the field was searched for his +body, it was found under that of de Maupas, who had +bravely yielded up life for life. The Hiberno-Scottish +forces dispersed in dismay, and when King Robert of +Scotland landed a day or two afterwards, he was met by +the fugitive men of Carrick, under their leader Thompson, +who informed him of his brother's fate. He returned at +once into his own country, carrying off the few Scottish +survivors. The head of the impetuous Edward was sent to +London; but the body was interred in the churchyard of +Faughard, where, within living memory, a tall pillar +stone was pointed out by every peasant of the neighbourhood +as marking the grave of "King Bruce." + +The fortunes of the principal actors, native and Norman, +in the invasion of Edward Bruce, may be briefly recounted +before closing this book of our history, John de Bermingham, +created for his former victory Baron of Athenry, had now +the Earldom of Louth conferred on him with a royal pension. +He promptly followed up his blow at Faughard by expelling +Donald O'Neil, the mainspring of the invasion, from +Tyrone; but Donald, after a short sojourn among the +mountains of Fermanagh, returned during the winter and +resumed his lordship, though he never wholly recovered +from the losses he had sustained. The new Earl of Louth +continued to hold the rank of Commander-in-Chief in +Ireland, to which he added in 1322 that of Lord Justice. +He was slain in 1329, with some 200 of his personal +adherents, in an affair with the natives of his new +earldom, at a place called Ballybeagan. He left by a +daughter of the Earl of Ulster three daughters; the title +was perpetuated in the family of his brothers. + +In 1319, the Earls of Kildare and Louth, and the Lord +Arnold le Poer, were appointed a commission to inquire +into all treasons committed in Ireland during Bruce's +invasion. Among other outlawries they decreed those of +the three de Lacys, the chiefs of their name, in Meath +and Ulster. That illustrious family, however, survived +even this last confiscation, and their descendants, +several centuries later, were large proprietors in the +midland counties. + +Three years after the battle of Faughard, died Roland de +Jorse, Archbishop of Armagh, it was said, of vexations +arising out of Bruce's war, and other difficulties which +beset him in taking possession of his see. Adam, Bishop +of Ferns, was deprived of his revenues for taking part +with Bruce, and the Friars Minor of the Franciscan order, +were severely censured in a Papal rescript for their zeal +on the same side. + +The great families of Fitzgerald and Butler obtained +their earldoms of Kildare, Desmond, and Ormond, out of +this dangerous crisis, but the premier earldom of Ulster +disappeared from our history soon afterwards. Richard, +the Red Earl, having died in the Monastery of Athassil, +in 1326, was succeeded by his son, William, who, seven +years later, in consequence of a family feud, instigated +by one of his own female relatives, Gilla de Burgh, wife +of Walter de Mandeville, was murdered at the Fords, near +Carrickfergus, in the 21st year of his age. His wife, +Maud, daughter of Henry Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, +fled into England with her infant, afterwards married to +Lionel, Duke of Clarence, son of King Edward III., who +thus became personally interested in the system which he +initiated by the odious Statute of Kilkenny. But the +misfortunes of the Red Earl's posterity did not end with +the murder of his immediate successor. Edmond, his +surviving son, five years subsequently, was seized by +his cousin, Edmond, the son of William, and drowned in +Lough Mask, with a stone about his neck. The posterity +of William de Burgh then assumed the name of McWilliam, +and renounced the laws, language, and allegiance of +England. Profiting by their dissensions, Turlogh O'Conor, +towards the middle of the century, asserted supremacy +over them, thus practising against the descendants the +same policy which the first de Burghs had successfully +employed among the sons of Roderick. + +We must mention here a final consequence of Edward Bruce's +invasion seldom referred to,--namely, the character of +the treaty between Scotland and England, concluded and +signed at Edinburgh, on St. Patrick's Day, 1328. By this +treaty, after arranging an intermarriage between the +royal families, it was stipulated in the event of a +rebellion against Scotland, in Skye, Man, or the Islands, +or against England, in Ireland, that the several Kings +would not abet or assist each other's rebel subjects. +Remembering this article, we know not what to make of +the entry in our own Annals, which states that Robert +Bruce landed at Carrickfergus in the same year, 1328, +"and sent word to the Justiciary and Council, that he +came to make peace between Ireland and Scotland, and that +he would meet them at Green Castle; but that the latter +failing to meet him, he returned to Scotland." This, +however, we know: high hopes were entertained, and immense +sacrifices were made, for Edward Bruce, but were made in +vain. His proverbial rashness in battle, with his total +disregard of the opinion of the country into which he +came, alienated from him those who were at first disposed +to receive him with enthusiasm. It may be an instructive +lesson to such as look to foreign leaders and foreign +forces for the means of national deliverance to read the +terms in which the native Annalists record the defeat +and death of Edward Bruce: "No achievement had been +performed in Ireland, for a long time," say the Four +Masters, "from which greater benefit had accrued to the +country than from this." "There was not a better deed +done in Ireland since the banishment of the Formorians," +says the Annalist of Clonmacnoise! So detested may a +foreign liberating chief become, who outrages the feelings +and usages of the people he pretends, or really means to +emancipate! + + + + +BOOK VI. + +THE NATIVE, THE NATURALIZED, AND "THE ENGLISH INTEREST." + + +CHAPTER I. + +CIVIL WAR IN ENGLAND--ITS EFFECTS ON THE ANGLO-IRISH-- +THE KNIGHTS OF SAINT JOHN--GENERAL DESIRE OF THE ANGLO-IRISH +TO NATURALIZE THEMSELVES AMONG THE NATIVE POPULATION-- +A POLICY OF NON-INTERCOURSE BETWEEN THE RACES RESOLVED ON +IN ENGLAND. + +The closing years of the reign of Edward II. of England +were endangered by the same partiality for favourites +which, had disturbed its beginning. The de Spensers, +father and son, played at this period the part which +Gaveston had performed twenty years earlier. The Barons, +who undertook to rid their country of this pampered +family, had, however, at their head Queen Isabella, sister +of the King of France, who had separated from her husband +under a pretended fear of violence at his hands, but in +reality to enjoy more freely her criminal intercourse +with her favourite, Mortimer. With the aid of French and +Flemish mercenaries, they compelled the unhappy Edward +to fly from London to Bristol, whence he was pursued, +captured, and after being confined for several months in +different fortresses, was secretly murdered in the autumn +of 1327, by thrusting a red hot iron into his bowels. +His son, Edward, a lad of fifteen years of age, afterwards +the celebrated Edward III., was proclaimed King, though +the substantial power remained for some years longer with +Queen Isabella, and her paramour, now elevated to the +rank of Earl of March. In the year 1330, however, their +guilty prosperity was brought to a sudden close; Mortimer +was seized by surprise, tried by his peers, and executed +at Tyburn; Isabella was imprisoned for life, and the +young King, at the age of eighteen, began in reality that +reign, which, through half a century's continuance, proved +so glorious and advantageous for England. + +It will be apparent that during the last few years of +the second, and under the minority of the third Edward, +the Anglo-Irish Barons would be left to pursue undisturbed +their own particular interests and enmities. The renewal +of war with Scotland, on the death of King Robert Bruce, +and the subsequent protracted wars with France, which +occupied, with some intervals of truce, nearly thirty +years of the third Edward's reign, left ample time for +the growth of abuses of every description among the +descendants of those who had invaded Ireland, under the +pretext of its reformation, both in morals and government. +The contribution of an auxiliary force to aid him in his +foreign wars was all the warlike King expected from his +lords of Ireland, and at so cheap a price they were well +pleased to hold their possessions under his guarantee. +At Halidon hill the Anglo-Irish, led by Sir John Darcy, +distinguished themselves against the Scots in 1333; and +at the siege of Calais, under the Earls of Kildare and +Desmond, they acquired additional reputation in 1347. +From this time forward it became a settled maxim of +English policy to draft native troops out of Ireland for +foreign service, and to send English soldiers into it in +times of emergency. + +In the very year when the tragedy of Edward the Second's +deposition and death was enacted in England, a drama of +a lighter kind was performed among his new made earls in +Ireland. The Lord Arnold le Poer gave mortal offence to +Maurice, first Earl of Desmond, by calling him "a Rhymer," +a term synonymous with poetaster. To make good his +reputation as a Bard, the Earl summoned his allies, the +Butlers and Berminghams, while le Poer obtained the aid +of his maternal relatives, the de Burghs, and several +desperate conflicts took place between them. The Earl of +Kildare, then deputy, summoned both parties to meet him +at Kilkenny, but le Poer and William de Burgh fled into +England, while the victors, instead of obeying the deputy's +summons, enjoyed themselves in ravaging his estate. The +following year (A.D. 1328), le Poer and de Burgh returned +from England, and were reconciled with Desmond and Ormond +by the mediation of the new deputy, Roger Outlaw, Prior +of the Knights of the Hospital at Kilmainham. In honour +of this reconciliation de Burgh gave a banquet at the +castle, and Maurice of Desmond reciprocated by another +the next day, in St. Patrick's Church, though it was +then, as the Anglo-Irish Annalist remarks, the penitential +season of Lent. A work of peace and reconciliation, +calculated to spare the effusion of Christian blood, may +have been thought some justification for this irreverent +use of a consecrated edifice. + +The mention of the Lord Deputy, Sir Roger Outlaw, the +second Prior of his order though not the last, who wielded +the highest political power over the English settlements, +naturally leads to the mention of the establishment in +Ireland, of the illustrious orders of the Temple and the +Hospital. The first foundation of the elder order is +attributed to Strongbow, who erected for them a castle +at Kilmainham, on the high ground to the south of the +Liffey, about a mile distant from the Danish wall of old +Dublin. Here, the Templars flourished, for nearly a +century and a half, until the process for their suppression +was instituted under Edward II., in 1308. Thirty members +of the order were imprisoned and examined in Dublin, +before three Dominican inquisitors--Father Richard Balbyn, +Minister of the Order of St. Dominick in Ireland, Fathers +Philip de Slane and Hugh de St. Leger. The decision +arrived at was the same as in France and England; the +order was condemned and suppressed; and their Priory of +Kilmainham, with sixteen benefices in the diocese of +Dublin, and several others, in Ferns, Meath, and Dromore, +passed to the succeeding order, in 1311. The state +maintained by the Priors of Kilmainham, in their capacious +residence, often rivalled that of the Lords Justices. +But though their rents were ample, they did not collect +them without service. Their house might justly be regarded +as an advanced fortress on the south side of the city, +constantly open to attacks from the mountain tribes of +Wicklow. Although their vows were for the Holy Land, they +were ever ready to march at the call of the English +Deputies, and their banner, blazoned with the _Agnus +Dei_, waved over the bloodiest border frays of the +fourteenth century. The Priors of Kilmainham sat as Barons +in the Parliaments of "the Pale," and the office was +considered the first in ecclesiastical rank among the +regular orders. + +During the second quarter of this century, an extraordinary +change became apparent in the manners and customs of the +descendants of the Normans, Flemings, and Cambrians, +whose ancestors an hundred years earlier were strangers +in the land. Instead of intermarrying exclusively among +themselves, the prevailing fashion became to seek for +Irish wives, and to bestow their daughters on Irish +husbands. Instead of clinging to the language of Normandy +or England, they began to cultivate the native speech of +the country. Instead of despising Irish law, every nobleman +was now anxious to have his Brehon, his Bard, and his +Senachie. The children of the Barons were given to be +fostered by Milesian mothers, and trained in the early +exercises so minutely prescribed by Milesian education. +Kildare, Ormond, and Desmond, adopted the old military +usages of exacting "coyne and livery"--horse meat and +man's meat--from their feudal tenants. The tie of Gossipred, +one of the most fondly cherished by the native population, +was multiplied between the two races, and under the wise +encouragement of a domestic dynasty might have become a +powerful bond of social union. In Connaught and Munster +where the proportion of native to naturalized was largest, +the change was completed almost in a generation, and +could never afterwards be wholly undone. In Ulster the +English element in the population towards the end of this +century was almost extinct, but in Meath and Leinster, +and that portion of Munster immediately bordering on +Meath and Leinster, the process of amalgamation required +more time than the policy of the Kings of England allowed +it to obtain. + +The first step taken to counteract their tendency to +_Hibernicize_ themselves, was to bestow additional honours +on the great families. The baronry of Offally was enlarged +into the earldom of Kildare; the lordship of Carrick into +the earldom of Ormond; the title of Desmond was conferred +on Maurice Fitz-Thomas Fitzgerald, and that of Louth on +the Baron de Bermingham. Nor were they empty honours; +they were accompanied with something better. The "royal +liberties" were formally conceded, in no less than nine +great districts, to their several lords. Those of Carlow, +Wexford, Kilkenny, Kildare, and Leix, had been inherited +by the heirs of the Earl Marshal's five daughters; four +other counties Palatine were now added--Ulster, Meath, +Ormond, and Desmond. "The absolute lords of those +palatinates," says Sir John Davis, "made barons and +knights, exercised high justice within all their +territories; erected courts for civil and criminal causes, +and for their own revenues, in the same form in which +the king's courts were established at Dublin; they +constituted their own judges, seneschals, sheriffs, +coroners, and escheators." So that the king's writs did +not run in their counties, which took up more than two +parts of the English colony; but ran only in the +church-lands lying within the same, which was therefore +called THE CROSSE, wherein the Sheriff was nominated by +the King. By "high justice" is meant the power of life +and death, which was hardly consistent with even a +semblance of subjection. No wonder such absolute lords +should be found little disposed to obey the summons of +deputies, like Sir Ralph Ufford and Sir John Morris, men +of merely knightly rank, whose equals they had the power +to create, by the touch of their swords. + +For a season their new honours quickened the dormant +loyalty of the recipients. Desmond, at the head of 10,000 +men, joined the lord deputy, Sir John Darcy, to suppress +the insurgent tribes of South Leinster; the Earls of +Ulster and Ormond united their forces for an expedition +into West-Meath against the brave McGeoghegans and their +allies; but even these services--so complicated were +public and private motives in the breasts of the actors +--did not allay the growing suspicion of what were commonly +called "the old English," in the minds of the English +King and his council. Their resolution seems to have been +fixed to entrust no native of Ireland with the highest +office in his own country; in accordance with which +decision Sir Anthony Lucy was appointed, (1331;) Sir John +Darcy, (1332-34; again in 1341;) and Sir Ralph Ufford, +(1343-1346.) During the incumbency of these English +knights, whether acting as justiciaries or as deputies, +the first systematic attempts were made to prevent, both +by the exercise of patronage or by penal legislation, +the fusion of races, which was so universal a tendency +of that age. And although these attempts were discontinued +on the recommencement of war with France in 1345, the +conviction of their utility had seized too strongly on +the tenacious will of Edward III. to be wholly abandoned. +The peace of Bretigni in 1360 gave him leisure to turn +again his thoughts in that direction. The following year +he sent over his third son, Lionel, Duke of Clarence and +Earl of Ulster, (in right of his wife,) who boldly +announced his object to be the total separation, into +hostile camps, of the two populations. + +This first attempt to enforce non-intercourse between +the natives and the naturalized deserves more particular +mention. It appears to have begun in the time of Sir +Anthony Lucy, when the King's Council sent over certain +"Articles of Reform," in which it was threatened that if +the native nobility were not more attentive in discharging +their duties to the King, his Majesty would resume into +his own hands all the grants made to them by his royal +ancestors or himself, as well as enforce payment of debts +due to the Crown which had been formerly remitted. From +some motive, these articles were allowed, after being +made public, to remain a dead letter, until the +administration of Darcy, Edward's confidential agent in +many important transactions, English and Irish. They were +proclaimed with additional emphasis by this deputy, who +convoked a Parliament or Council, at Dublin, to enforce +them as law. The same year, 1342, a new ordinance came +from England, prohibiting the public employment of men +born or married, or possessing estates in Ireland, and +declaring that all offices of state should be filled in +that country by "fit Englishmen, having lands, tenements, +and benefices in England." To this sweeping proscription +the Anglo-Irish, as well townsmen as nobles, resolved to +offer every resistance, and by the convocation of the +Earls of Desmond, Ormond, and Kildare, they agreed to +meet for that purpose at Kilkenny. Accordingly, what is +called Darcy's Parliament, met at Dublin in October, +while Desmond's rival assembly gathered at Kilkenny in +November. The proceedings of the former, if it agreed to +any, are unrecorded, but the latter despatched to the +King, by the hands of the Prior of Kilmainham, a +Remonstrance couched in Norman-French, the court language, +in which they reviewed the state of the country; deplored +the recovery of so large a portion of the former conquest +by the old Irish; accused, in round terms, the successive +English officials sent into the land, with a desire +suddenly to enrich themselves at the expense both of +sovereign and subject; pleaded boldly their own loyal +services, not only in Ireland, but in the French and +Scottish wars; and finally, claimed the protection of +the Great Charter, that they might not be ousted of their +estates, without being called in judgment. Edward, sorely +in need of men and subsidies for another expedition to +France, returned them a conciliatory answer, summoning +them to join him in arms, with their followers, at an +early day; and although a vigorous effort was made by +Sir Ralph Ufford to enforce the articles of 1331, and +the ordinance of 1341, by the capture of the Earls of +Desmond and Kildare, and by military execution on some +of their followers, the policy of non-intercourse was +tacitly abandoned for some years after the Remonstrance +of Kilkenny. In 1353, under the lord deputy, Rokeby, an +attempt was made to revive it, but it was quickly abandoned; +and two years later, Maurice, Earl of Desmond, the leader +of the opposition, was appointed to the office of Lord +Justice for life! Unfortunately that high-spirited nobleman +died the year of his appointment, before its effects +could begin to be felt. The only legal concession which +marked his period was a royal writ constituting the +"Parliament" of the Pale the court of last resort for +appeals from the decisions of the King's courts in that +province. A recurrence to the former favourite policy +signalized the year 1357, when a new set of ordinances +were received from London, denouncing the penalties of +treason against all who intermarried, or had relations +of fosterage with the Irish; and proclaiming war upon +all kernes and idle men found within the English districts. +Still severer measures, in the same direction, were soon +afterwards decided upon, by the English King and his +council. + +Before relating the farther history of this penal code +as applied to race, we must recall the reader's attention +to the important date of the Kilkenny Remonstrance, 1342. +From that year may be distinctly traced the growth of +two parties among the subjects of the English Kings in +Ireland. At one time they are distinguished as "the old +English" and "the new English," at another, as "English +by birth" and "English by blood." The new English, fresh +from the Imperial island, seem to have usually conducted +themselves with a haughty sense of superiority; the old +English, more than half _Hibernicized_, confronted these +strangers with all the self-complacency of natives of +the soil on which they stood. In their frequent visits +to the Imperial capital, the old English were made sensibly +to feel that their country was not there; and as often +as they went, they returned with renewed ardour to the +land of their possessions and their birth. Time, also, +had thrown its reverent glory round the names of the +first invaders, and to be descended from the companions +of Earl Richard, or the captains who accompanied King +John, was a source of family pride, second only to that +which the native princes cherished, in tracing up their +lineage to Milesius of Spain. There were many reasons, +good, bad, and indifferent, for the descendants of the +Norman adventurers adopting Celtic names, laws, and +customs, but not the least potent, perhaps, was the +fostering of family pride and family dependence, which, +judged from our present stand-points, were two of the +worst possible preparations for our national success in +modern times. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +LIONEL, DUKE OF CLARENCE, LORD LIEUTENANT--THE PENAL CODE +OF RACE--"THE STATUTE OF KILKENNY," AND SOME OF ITS +CONSEQUENCES. + +While the grand experiment for the separation of the +population of Ireland into two hostile camps was being +matured in England, the Earls of Kildare and Ormond were, +for four or five years, alternately entrusted with the +supreme power. Fresh ordinances, in the spirit of those +despatched to Darcy, in 1342, continued annually to +arrive. One commanded all lieges of the English King, +having grants upon the marches of the Irish enemy, to +reside upon and defend them, under pain of revocation. +By another entrusted to the Earl of Ormond for promulgation, +"no mere Irishman" was to be made a Mayor or bailiff, or +other officer of any town within the English districts; +nor was any mere Irishman "thereafter, under any pretence +of kindred, or from any other cause, to be received into +holy orders, or advanced to any ecclesiastical benefice." +A modification of this last edict was made the succeeding +year, when a royal writ explained that exception was +intended to be made of such Irish clerks as had given +individual proofs of their loyalty. + +Soon after the peace of Bretigni had been solemnly ratified +at Calais, in 1360, by the Kings of France and England, +and the latter had returned to London, it was reported +that one of the Princes would be sent over to exercise +the supreme power at Dublin. As no member of the royal +family had visited Ireland since the reign of John--though +Edward I., when Prince, had been appointed his father's +lieutenant--this announcement naturally excited unusual +expectations. The Prince chosen was the King's third son, +Lionel, Duke of Clarence; and every preparation was made +to give _eclat_ and effect to his administration. This +Prince had married, a few years before, Elizabeth de +Burgh, who brought him the titles of Earl of Ulster and +Lord of Connaught, with the claims which they covered. +By a proclamation, issued in England, all who held +possessions in Ireland were commanded to appear before +the King, either by proxy or in person, to take measures +for resisting the continued encroachments of the Irish +enemy. Among the absentees compelled to contribute to +the expedition accompanying the Prince, are mentioned +Maria, Countess of Norfolk, Agnes, Countess of Pembroke, +Margery de Boos, Anna le Despenser, and other noble +ladies, who, by a strange recurrence, represented in this +age the five co-heiresses of the first Earl Marshal, +granddaughters of Eva McMurrogh. What exact force was +equipped from all these contributions is not mentioned; +but the Prince arrived in Ireland with no more than 1,500 +men, under the command of Ralph, Earl of Strafford, James, +Earl of Ormond, Sir William Windsor, Sir John Carew, and +other knights. He landed at Dublin on the 15th of September, +1361, and remained in office for three years. On landing +he issued a proclamation, prohibiting natives of the +country, of all origins, from approaching his camp or +court, and having made this hopeful beginning he marched +with his troops into Munster, where he was defeated by +O'Brien, and compelled to retreat. Yet by the flattery +of courtiers he was saluted as the conqueror of Clare, +and took from the supposed fact, his title of _Clarence_. +But no adulation could blind him to the real weakness of +his position: he keenly felt the injurious consequences +of his proclamation, revoked it, and endeavoured to remove +the impression he had made, by conferring knighthood on +the Prestons, Talbots, Cusacks, De la Hydes, and members +of other families, not immediately connected with the +Palatine Earls. He removed the Exchequer from Dublin to +Carlow, and expended 500 pounds--a large sum for that +age--in fortifying the town. The barrier of Leinster was +established at Carlow, from which it was removed, by an +act of the English Parliament ten years afterwards; the +town and castle were retaken in 1397, by the celebrated +Art McMurrogh, and long remained in the hands of his +posterity. + +In 1364, Duke Lionel went to England, leaving de Windsor +as his deputy, but in 1365, and again in 1367, he twice +returned to his government. This latter year is memorable +as the date of the second great stride towards the +establishment of a Penal Code of race, by the enactment +of the "Statute of Kilkenny." This memorable Statute was +drawn with elaborate care, being intended to serve as +the corner stone of all future legislation, and its +provisions are deserving of enumeration. The Act sets +out with this preamble: "Whereas, at the conquest of the +land of Ireland, and for a long time after, the English +of the said land used the English language, mode of +riding, and apparel, and were governed and ruled, both +they and their subjects, called Betaghese (villeins), +according to English law, &c., &c.,--but now many English +of the said land, forsaking the English language, manners, +mode of riding, laws, and usages, live, and govern +themselves according to the manners, fashion, and language +of the Irish enemies, and also have made divers marriages +and alliances between themselves and the Irish enemies +aforesaid--it is therefore enacted, among other provisions, +that all intermarriages, fosterings, gossipred, and buying +or selling with the 'enemie,' shall be accounted +treason--that English names, fashions, and manners shall +be resumed under penalty of the confiscation of the +delinquent's lands--that March-law and Brehon-law are +illegal, and that there shall be no law but English +law--that the Irish shall not pasture their cattle on +English lands--that the English shall not entertain Irish +rhymers, minstrels, or newsmen; and, moreover, that no +'mere Irishmen' shall be admitted to any ecclesiastical +benefice, or religious house, situated within the English +districts." + +All the names of those who attended at this Parliament +of Kilkenny are not accessible to us; but that the Earls +of Kildare, Ormond, and Desmond, were of the number need +hardly surprise us, alarmed as they all were by the late +successes of the native princes, and overawed by the +recent prodigious victories of Edward III. at Cressy and +Poictiers. What does at first seem incomprehensible is +that the Archbishop not only of Dublin, but of Cashel +and Tuam--in the heart of the Irish country--and the +Bishops of Leighlin, Ossory, Lismore, Cloyne, and Killala, +should be parties to this statute. But on closer inspection +our surprise at their presence disappears. Most of these +prelates were at that day nominees of the English King, +and many of them were English by birth. Some of them +never had possession of their sees, but dwelt within the +nearest strong town, as pensioners on the bounty of the +Crown, while the dioceses were administered by native +rivals, or tolerated vicars. Le Reve, Bishop of Lismore, +was Chancellor to the Duke in 1367; Young, Bishop of +Leighlin, was Vice-Treasurer; the Bishop of Ossory, John +of Tatendale, was an English Augustinian, whose appointment +was disputed by Milo Sweetman, the native Bishop elect; +the Bishop of Cloyne, John de Swasham, was a Carmelite +of Lyn, in the county of Norfolk, afterwards Bishop of +Bangor, in Wales, where he distinguished himself in the +controversy against Wycliffe; the Bishop of Killala we +only know by the name of Robert--at that time very unusual +among the Irish. The two native names are those of the +Archbishops of Cashel and Tuam, Thomas O'Carrol and John +O'Grady. The former was probably, and the latter certainly, +a nominee of the Crown. We know that Dr. O'Grady died an +exile from his see--if he ever was permitted to enter +it--in the city of Limerick, four years after the sitting +of the Parliament of Kilkenny. Shortly after the enactment +of this law, by which he is best remembered, the Duke of +Clarence returned to England, leaving to Gerald, fourth +Earl of Desmond, the task of carrying it into effect. In +the remaining years of this reign the office of Lord +Lieutenant was held by Sir William de Windsor, during +the intervals of whose absence in England the Prior of +Kilmainham, or the Earl of Kildare or of Ormond, discharged +the duties with the title of Lord Deputy or Lord Justice. + +It is now time that we should turn to the native annals +of the country to show how the Irish princes had carried +on the contest during the eventful half century which the +reign of Edward III. occupies in the history of England. + +In the generation which elapsed from the death of the +Earl of Ulster, or rather from the first avowal of the +policy of proscription in 1342, the native tribes had on +all sides and continuously gained on the descendants of +their invaders. In Connaught, the McWilliams, McWattins, +and McFeoriss retained part of their estates only by +becoming as Irish as the Irish. The lordships of Leyny +and Corran, in Sligo and Mayo, were recovered by the +heirs of their former chiefs, while the powerful family +of O'Conor Sligo converted that strong town into a +formidable centre of operations. Rindown, Athlone, +Roscommon, and Bunratty, all frontier posts fortified +by the Normans, were in 1342, as we learn from the +Remonstrance of Kilkenny, in the hands of the elder race. + +The war, in all the Provinces, was in many respects a +war of posts. Towards the north Carrickfergus continued +the outwork till captured by Neil O'Neil, when Downpatrick +and Dundalk became the northern barriers. The latter +town, which seems to have been strengthened after Bruce's +defeat, was repeatedly attacked by Neil O'Neil, and at +last entered into conditions, by which it procured his +protection. At Downpatrick also, in the year 1375, he +gained a signal victory over the English of the town and +their allies, under Sir James Talbot of Malahide, and +Burke of Camline, in which both these commanders were +slain. This O'Neil, called from his many successes Neil +_More_, or the Great, dying in 1397, left the borders of +Ulster more effectually cleared of foreign garrisons than +they had been for a century and a half before. He enriched +the churches of Armagh and Deny, and built a habitation +for students resorting to the primatial city, on the site +of the ancient palace of Emania, which had been deserted +before the coming of St. Patrick. + +The northern and western chiefs seem in this age to have +made some improvements in military equipments, and tactics. +_Cooey-na-gall_, a celebrated captain of the O'Kanes, is +represented on his tomb at Dungiven as clad in complete +armour--though that may be the fancy of the sculptor. +Scottish gallowglasses--heavy-armed infantry, trained +in Bruce's campaigns, were permanently enlisted in their +service. Of their leaders the most distinguished were +McNeil _Cam_, or the Crooked, and McRory, in the service +of O'Conor, and McDonnell, McSorley, and McSweeney, in +the service of O'Neil, O'Donnell, and O'Conor Sligo. The +leaders of these warlike bands are called the Constables +of Tyr-Owen, of North Connaught, or of Connaught, and +are distinguished in all the warlike encounters in the +north and west. + +The midland country--the counties now of Longford, +West-Meath, Meath, Dublin, Kildare, King's and Queen's, +were almost constantly in arms, during the latter half +of this century. The lords of Annally, Moy-Cashel, Carbry, +Offally, Ely, and Leix, rivalled each other in enterprise +and endurance. In 1329, McGeoghegan of West-Meath defeated +and slew Lord Thomas Butler, with the loss of 120 men at +Mullingar; but the next year suffered an equal loss from +the combined forces of the Earls of Ormond and Ulster; +his neighbour, O'Farrell, contended with even better +fortune, especially towards the close of Edward's reign +(1372), when in one successful foray he not only swept +their garrisons out of Annally, but rendered important +assistance to the insurgent tribes of Meath. In Leinster, +the house of O'Moore, under Lysaght their Chief, by a +well concerted conspiracy, seized in one night (in 1327) +no less than eight castles, and razed the fort of Dunamase, +which they despaired of defending. In 1346, under Conal +O'Moore, they destroyed the foreign strongholds of Ley +and Kilmehedie; and though Conal was slain by the English, +and Rory, one of their creatures, placed in his stead, +the tribe put Rory to death as a traitor in 1354, and +for two centuries thereafter upheld their independence. +Simultaneously, the O'Conors of Offally, and the O'Carrolls +of Ely, adjoining and kindred tribes, so straightened +the Earl of Kildare on the one hand, and the Earl of +Ormond on the other, that a cess of 40 pence on every +carucate (140 acres) of tilled land, and of 40 pence on +chattels of the value of six pounds, was imposed on all +the English settlements, for the defence of Kildare, +Carlow, and the marches generally. Out of the amount +collected in Carlow, a portion was paid to the Earl of +Kildare, "for preventing the O'Moores from burning the +town of Killahan." The same nobleman was commanded, by +an order in Council, to strengthen his Castles of Rathmore, +Kilkea, and Ballymore, under pain of forfeiture. These +events occurred in 1856, '7, and '8. + +In the south the same struggle for supremacy proceeded +with much the same results. The Earl of Desmond, fresh +from his Justiceship in Dublin, and the penal legislation +of Kilkenny, was, in 1370, defeated and slain near Adare, +by Brian O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, with several knights +of his name, and "an indescribable number of others." +Limerick was next assailed, and capitulated to O'Brien, +who created Sheedy McNamara, Warden of the City. The +English burghers, however, after the retirement of O'Brien, +rose, murdered the new Warden, and opened the gates to +Sir William de Windsor, the Lord Lieutenant, who had +hastened to their relief. Two years later the whole +Anglo-Irish force, under the fourth Earl of Kildare, was, +summoned to Limerick, in order to defend it against +O'Brien. So desperate now became the contest, that William +de Windsor only consented to return a second time as Lord +Lieutenant in 1374, on condition that he was to act +strictly on the defensive, and to receive annually the +sum of 11,213 pounds 6 shillings 8 pence--a sum exceeding +the whole revenue which the English King derived from +Ireland at that period; which, according to Sir John +Davies, fell short of 11,000 pounds. Although such was +the critical state of the English interest, this lieutenant +obtained from the fears of successive Parliaments annual +subsidies of 2,000 pounds and 3,000 pounds. The deputies +from Louth having voted against his demand, were thrown +into prison; but a direct petition from the Anglo-Irish +to the King brought an order to de Windsor not to enforce +the collection of these grants, and to remit in favour +of the petitioners the scutage "on all those lands of +which the Irish enemy had deprived them." + +In the last year of Edward III. (1376), he summoned the +magnates and the burghers of towns to send representatives +to 'London to consult with him on the state of the English +settlements in Ireland. But those so addressed having +assembled together, drew up a protest, setting forth that +the great Council of Ireland had never been accustomed +to meet out of that kingdom, though, saving the rights +of their heirs and successors, they expressed their +willingness to do so, for the King's convenience on that +occasion. Richard Dene and William Stapolyn were first +sent over to England to exhibit the evils of the Irish +administration; the proposed general assembly of +representatives seems to have dropped. The King ordered +the two delegates just mentioned to be paid ten pounds +out of the Exchequer for their expenses. + +The series of events, however, which most clearly exhibits +the decay of the English interest, transpired within the +limits of Leinster, almost within sight of Dublin. Of +the actors in these events, the most distinguished for +energy, ability, and good fortune, was Art McMurrogh, +whose exploits are entitled to a separate and detailed +account. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ART McMURROGH, LORD OF LEINSTER--FIRST EXPEDITION OF +RICHARD II., OF ENGLAND, TO IRELAND. + +Whether Donald Kavanagh McMurrogh, son of Dermid, was +born out of wedlock, as the Lady Eva was made to depose, +in order to create a claim of inheritance for herself as +sole heiress, this, at least, is certain, that his +descendants continued to be looked upon by the kindred +clans of Leinster as the natural lords of that principality. +Towards the close of the thirteenth century, in the third +or fourth generation, after the death of their immediate +ancestor, the Kavanaghs of Leighlin and Ballyloughlin +begin to act prominently in the affairs of their Province, +and then--chief is styled both by Irish and English "the +McMurrogh." In the era of King Edward Bruce, they were +sufficiently formidable to call for an expedition of the +Lord Justice into their patrimony, by which they are said +to have been defeated. In the next age, in 1335, Maurice, +"the McMurrogh," was granted by the Anglo-Irish Parliament +or Council, the sum of 80 marks annually, for keeping +open certain roads and preserving the peace within its +jurisdiction. In 1358, Art, the successor of Maurice, +and Donald Revagh, were proclaimed "rebels" in a Parliament +held at Castledermot, by the Lord Deputy Sancto Amando, +the said Art being further branded with deep ingratitude +to Edward III., who had acknowledged him as "the Mac-Murch." +To carry on a war against him the whole English interest +was assessed with a special tax. Louth contributed 20 +pounds; Meath and Waterford, 2 shillings on every carucate +(140 acres) of tilled land; Kilkenny the same sum, with +the addition of 6 pence in the pound on chattels. This +Art captured the strong castles of Kilbelle, Galbarstown, +Rathville, and although his career was not one of invariable +success, he bequeathed to his son, also called Art, in +1375, an inheritance, extending over a large portion-- +perhaps one-half--of the territory ruled by his ancestors +before the invasion. + +Art McMurrogh, or Art Kavanagh, as he is more commonly +called, was born in the year 1357, and from the age of +sixteen and upwards was distinguished by his hospitality, +knowledge, and feats of arms. Like the great Brian, he +was a younger son, but the fortune of war removed one by +one those who would otherwise have preceded him in the +captaincy of his clan and connections. About the year +1375--while he was still under age--he was elected +successor to his father, according to the Annalists, who +record his death in 1417, "after being forty-two years +in the government of Leinster." Fortunately he attained +command at a period favourable to his genius and enterprise. +His own and the adjoining tribes were aroused by tidings +of success from other Provinces, and the partial victories +of their immediate predecessors, to entertain bolder +schemes, and they only waited for a chief of distinguished +ability to concentrate their efforts. This chief they +found, where they naturally looked for him, among the +old ruling family of the Province. Nor were the English +settlers ignorant of his promise. In the Parliament held +at Castledermot in 1377, they granted to him the customary +annual tribute paid to his house, the nature of which +calls for a word of explanation. This tribute was granted, +"as the late King had done to his ancestors;" it was +again voted in a Parliament held in 1380, and continued +to be paid so late as the opening of the seventeenth +century (A.D. 1603). Not only was a fixed sum paid out +of the Exchequer for this purpose--inducing the native +chiefs to grant a right of way through their territories +--but a direct tax was levied on the inhabitants of +English origin for the same privilege. This tax, called +"black mail," or "black rent," was sometimes differently +regarded by those who paid and those who received it. +The former looked on it as a stipend, the latter as a +tribute; but that it implied a formal acknowledgment of +the local jurisdiction of the chief cannot be doubted. +Two centuries after the time of which we speak, Baron +Finglas, in his suggestions to King Henry VIII. for +extending his power in Ireland, recommends that "no black +rent be paid to any Irishman _for the four shires_"--of +the Pale--"and any black rent they had afore this time +be paid to them for ever." At that late period "the +McMurrogh" had still his 80 marks annually from the +Exchequer, and 40 pounds from the English settled in +Wexford; O'Carroll of Ely had 40 pounds from the English +in Kilkenny, and O'Conor of Offally 20 pounds from those +of Kildare, and 300 pounds from Meath. It was to meet +these and other annuities to more distant chiefs, that +William of Windsor, in 1369, covenanted for a larger +revenue than the whole of the Anglo-Irish districts then +yielded, and which led him besides to stipulate that he +was to undertake no new expeditions, but to act entirely +on the defensive. We find a little later, that the +necessity of sustaining the Dublin authorities at an +annual loss was one of the main motives which induced +Richard II. of England to transport two royal armies +across the channel, in 1394 and 1399. + +Art McMurrogh, the younger, not only extended the bounds +of his own inheritance and imposed tribute on the English +settlers in adjoining districts, during the first years +of his rule, but having married a noble lady of the +"Pale," Elizabeth, heiress to the barony of Norragh, in +Kildare, which included Naas and its neighbourhood, he +claimed her inheritance in full, though forfeited under +"the statute of Kilkenny," according to English notions. +So necessary did it seem to the Deputy and Council of +the day to conciliate their formidable neighbour, that +they addressed a special representation to King Richard, +setting forth the facts of the case, and adding that +McMurrogh threatened, until this lady's estates were +restored and the arrears of tribute due to him fully +discharged, he should never cease from war, "but would +join with the Earl of Desmond against the Earl of Ormond, +and afterwards return with a great force out of Minister +to ravage the country." This allusion most probably refers +to James, second Earl of Ormond, who, from being the +maternal grandson of Edward I., was called the noble +Earl, and was considered in his day the peculiar +representative of the English interest. In the last +years of Edward III., and the first of his successor, he +was constable of the Castle of Dublin, with a fee of 18 +pounds 5 shillings per annum. In 1381--the probable date +of the address just quoted--he had a commission to treat +with certain rebels, in order to reform them and promote +peace. Three years later he died, and was buried in the +Cathedral of St. Canice, Kilkenny, the place of sepulture +of his family. + +When, in the year 1389, Richard II., having attained his +majority, demanded to reign alone, the condition of the +English interest was most critical. During the twelve +years of his minority the Anglo-Irish policy of the +Council of Regency had shifted and changed, according to +the predominance of particular influences. The Lord +Lieutenancy was conferred on the King's relatives, Edward +Mortimer, Earl of March (1379), and continued to his son, +Roger Mortimer, a minor (1381); in 1383, it was transferred +to Philip de Courtenay, the King's cousin. The following +year, de Courtenay having been arrested and fined for +mal-administration, Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, the +special favourite of Richard, was created Marquis of +Dublin and Duke of Ireland, with a grant of all the powers +and authority exercised at any period in Ireland by that +King or his predecessors. This extraordinary grant was +solemnly confirmed by the English Parliament, who, perhaps +willing to get rid of the favourite at any cost, allotted +the sum of 30,000 marks due from the King of France, with +a guard of 500 men-at-arms and 1,000 archers for de Vere's +expedition. But that favoured nobleman never entered into +possession of the principality assigned him; he experienced +the fate of the Gavestons and de Spencers of a former +reign; fleeing, for his life, from the Barons, he died +in exile in the Netherlands. The only real rulers of the +Anglo-Irish in the years of the King's minority, or +previous to his first expedition in 1394, (if we except +Sir John Stanley's short terms of office in 1385 and +1389,) were the Earls of Ormond, second and third, Colton, +Dean of Saint Patrick's, Petit, Bishop of Meath, and +White, Prior of Kilmainham. For thirty years after the +death of Edward III., no Geraldine was entrusted with +the highest office, and no Anglo-Irish layman of any +other family but the Butlers. In 1393, Thomas of Woodstock, +Duke of Gloucester, uncle to Richard, was appointed Lord +Lieutenant, and was on the point of embarking, when a +royal order reached him announcing the determination of +the King to take command of the forces in person. + +The immediate motives for Richard's expedition are +variously stated by different authors. That usually +assigned by the English--a desire to divert his mind from +brooding over the loss of his wife, "the good Queen Anne," +seems wholly insufficient. He had announced his intention +a year before her death; he had called together, before +the Queen fell ill, the Parliament at Westminster, which +readily voted him "a tenth" of the revenues of all their +estates for the expedition. Anne's sickness was sudden, +and her death took place in the last week of July. +Richard's preparations at that date were far advanced +towards completion, and Sir Thomas Scroope had been +already some months in Dublin to prepare for his reception. +The reason assigned by Anglo-Irish writers is more +plausible: he had been a candidate for the Imperial Crown +of Germany, and was tauntingly told by his competitors +to conquer Ireland before he entered the lists for the +highest political honour of that age. This rebuke, and +the ill-success of Ms arms against France and Scotland, +probably made him desirous to achieve in a new field some +share of that military glory which was always so highly +prized by his family: + +Some events which immediately preceded Richard's expedition +may help us to understand the relative positions of the +natives and the naturalized to the English interest in +the districts through which he was to march. By this time +the banner of Art McMurrogh floated over all the castles +and raths, on the slope of the Ridge of Leinster, or the +steps of the Blackstair hills; while the forests along +the Barrow and the Upper Slaney, as well as in the plain +of Carlow and in the South-western angle of Wicklow (now +the barony of Shillelagh), served still better his purposes +of defensive warfare; So entirely was the range of country +thus vaguely defined under native sway that John Griffin, +the English Bishop of Leighlin, and Chancellor of the +Exchequer, obtained a grant in 1389 of the town of +Gulroestown, in the county of Dublin, "near the marches +of O'Toole, seeing he could not live within his own see +for the rebels." In 1390, Peter Creagh, Bishop of Limerick, +on his way to attend an Anglo-Irish Parliament, was taken +prisoner in that region, and in consequence the usual +fine was remitted in his favour. In 1392, James, the +third Earl of Ormond, gave McMurrogh a severe check at +Tiscoffin, near Shankill, where 600 of his clansmen were +left dead among the hills. + +This defeat, however, was thrown into the shade by the +capture of New Boss, on the very eve of Richard's arrival +at Waterford. In a previous chapter we have described +the fortifications erected round this important seaport +towards the end of the thirteenth century. Since that +period its progress had been steadily onward. In the +reign of Edward III. the controversy which had long +subsisted between the merchants of Ross and those of +Waterford, concerning the trade monopolies claimed by +the latter, had been decided in favour of Ross. At this +period it could muster in its own defence 363 cross-bowmen, +1,200 long-bowmen, 1,200 pikemen, and 104 horsemen--a +force which would seem to place it second to Dublin in +point of military strength. The capture of so important +a place by McMurrogh was a cheering omen to his followers. +He razed the walls and towers, and carried off gold, +silver, and hostages. + +On the 2nd of October, 1394, the royal fleet of Richard +arrived from Milford Haven, at Waterford. To those who +saw Ireland for the first time, the rock of Dundonolf, +famed for Raymond's camp, the abbey of Dunbrody, looking +calmly down on the confluence of the three rivers, and +the half-Danish, half-Norman port before them, must have +presented scenes full of interest. To the townsmen the +fleet was something wonderful. The endless succession +of ships of all sizes and models, which had wafted over +30,000 archers and 4,000 men-at-arms; the royal galley +leading on the fluttering pennons of so many great nobles, +was a novel sight to that generation. Attendant on the +King were his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, the young +Earl of March, heir apparent, Thomas Mowbray, Earl of +Nottingham, the Earl of Rutland, the Lord Thomas Percy, +afterwards Earl of Westmoreland, and father of Hotspur, +and Sir Thomas Moreley, heir to the last Lord Marshal of +the "Pale." Several dignitaries of the English Church, +as well Bishops as Abbots, were also with the fleet. +Immediately after landing, a _Te Deum_ was sung in the +Cathedral, where Earl Richard had wedded the Princess +Eva, where Henry II. and John had offered up similar +thanksgivings. + +Richard remained a week at Waterford; gave splendid +_fetes_, and received some lords of the neighbouring +country, Le Poers, Graces, and Butlers. He made gifts to +churches, and ratified the charter given by John to the +abbey of Holy Cross in Munster. He issued a summons to +Gerald, Earl of Desmond, to appear before him by the +feast of the Purification "in whatever part of Ireland +he should then be," to answer to the charge of having +usurped the manor, revenues, and honour of Dungarvan. +Although it was then near the middle of October, he took +the resolution of marching to Dublin, through the country +of McMurrogh, and knowing the memory of Edward the +Confessor to be popular in Leinster, he furled the royal +banner, and hoisted that of the saintly Saxon king, which +bore "a cross patence, or, on a field gules, with four +doves argent on the shield." His own proper banner bore +lioncels and fleur-de-lis. His route was by Thomastown +to Kilkenny, a city which had risen into importance with +the Butlers. Nearly half a century before, this family +had brought artizans from Flanders, who established the +manufacture of woollens, for which the town was ever +after famous. Its military importance was early felt and +long maintained. At this city Richard was joined by Sir +William de Wellesley, who claimed to be hereditary +standard-bearer for Ireland, and by other Anglo-Irish +nobles. From thence he despatched his Earl Marshal into +"Catherlough" to treat with McMurrogh. On the plain of +Ballygorry, near Carlow, Art, with his uncle, Malachy, +O'Moore, O'Nolan, O'Byrne, MacDavid, and other chiefs, +met the Earl Marshal. The terms proposed were almost +equivalent to extermination. They were, in effect, that +the Leinster chieftains, under fines of enormous amount, +payable into the Apostolic chamber, should, before the +first Sunday of Lent, surrender to the English King "the +full possession of all their lands, tenements, castles, +woods, and forts, which by them and all other of the +Kenseologhes, their companions, men, or adherents, late +were occupied within the province of Leinster." And the +condition of this surrender was to be, that they should +have unmolested possession of any and all lands they +could conquer from the King's other Irish enemies elsewhere +in the kingdom. To these hard conditions some of the +minor chiefs, overawed by the immense force brought +against them, would, it seems, have submitted, but Art +sternly refused to treat, declaring that if he made terms +at all, it should be with the King and not with the Earl +Marshal; and that instead of yielding his own lands, his +wife's patrimony in Kildare should be restored. This +broke up the conference, and Mowbray returned discomfitted +to Kilkenny. + +King Richard, full of indignation, put himself at the +head of his army and advanced against the Leinster clans. +But his march was slow and painful: the season and the +forest fought against him; he was unable to collect by +the way sufficient fodder for the horses or provisions +for the men. McMurrogh swept off everything of the nature +of food--took advantage of his knowledge of the country +to burst upon the enemy by night, to entrap them into +ambuscades, to separate the cavalry from the foot, and +by many other stratagems to thin their ranks and harass +the stragglers. At length Richard, despairing of dislodging +him from his fastnesses in Idrone, or fighting a way out +of them, sent to him another deputation of "the English +and Irish of Leinster," inviting him to Dublin to a +personal interview. This proposal was accepted, and the +English king continued his way to Dublin, probably along +the sea coast by Bray and the white strand, over Killiney +and Dunleary. Soon after his arrival at Dublin, care was +taken to repair the highway which ran by the sea, towards +Wicklow and Wexford. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SUBSEQUENT PROCEEDINGS OF RICHARD II.--LIEUTENANCY AND +DEATH OF THE EARL OF MARCH--SECOND EXPEDITION OF RICHARD +AGAINST ART McMURROGH--CHANGE OF DYNASTY IN ENGLAND. + +At Dublin, Richard prepared to celebrate the festival of +Christmas, with all the splendour of which he was so +fond. He had received letters from his council in England +warmly congratulating him on the results of his "noble +voyage" and his successes against "his rebel Make Murgh." +Several lords and chiefs were hospitably entertained by +him during the holidays--but the greater magnates did +not yet present themselves--unless we suppose them to +have continued his guests at Dublin, from Christmas till +Easter, which is hardly credible. + +The supplies which he had provided were soon devoured by +so vast a following. His army, however, were paid their +wages weekly, and were well satisfied. But whatever the +King or his flatterers might pretend, the real object of +all the mighty preparations made was still in the distance, +and fresh supplies were needed for the projected campaign +of 1395. To raise the requisite funds, he determined to +send to England his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester. +Gloucester carried a letter to the regent, the Duke of +York, countersigned "Lincolne," and dated from Dublin, +"Feb. 1, 1395." The council, consisting of the Earls of +Derby, Arundel, de Ware, Salisbury, Northumberland, and +others, was convened, and they "readily voted a tenth +off the clergy, and a fifteenth off the laity, for the +King's supply." This they sent with a document, signed +by them all, exhorting him to a vigorous prosecution of +the war, and the demolition of all forts belonging to +"MacMourgh [or] le grand O'Nel." They also addressed him +another letter, complimentary of his valour and discretion +in all things. + +While awaiting supplies from England, Richard made a +progress as far northward as Drogheda, where he took up +his abode in the Dominican Convent of St. Mary Magdalen. +On the eve of St. Patrick's Day, O'Neil, O'Donnell, +O'Reilly, O'Hanlon, and MacMahon, visited and exchanged +professions of friendship with him. It is said they made +"submission" to him as their sovereign lord, but until +the Indentures, which have been spoken of, but never +published, are exhibited, it will be impossible to +determine what, in their minds and in his, were the exact +relations subsisting between the native Irish princes +and the King of England at that time. O'Neil, and other +lords of Ulster, accompanied him back to Dublin, where +they found O'Brien, O'Conor, and McMurrogh, lately arrived. +They were all lodged in a fair mansion, according to the +notion of Master Castide, Froissart's informant, and were +under the care of the Earl of Ormond and Castide himself, +both of whom spoke familiarly the Irish language. + +The glimpse we get through Norman spectacles of the +manners and customs of these chieftains is eminently +instructive, both as regards the observers and the +observed. They would have, it seems, very much to the +disedification of the English esquire, "their minstrels +and principal servants sit at the same table and eat from +the same dish." The interpreters employed all their +eloquence in vain to dissuade them from this lewd habit, +which they perversely called "a praiseworthy custom," +till at last, to get rid of importunities, they consented +to have it ordered otherwise, during their stay as King +Richard's guests. + +On the 24th of March the Cathedral of Christ's Church +beheld the four kings devoutly keeping the vigil preparatory +to knighthood. They had been induced to accept that honour +from Richard's hand. They had apologized at first, saying +they were all knighted at the age of seven. But the +ceremony, as performed in the rest of Christendom, was +represented to them as a great and religious custom, +which made the simplest knight the equal of his sovereign, +which added new lustre to the crowned head, and fresh +honour to the victorious sword. On the Feast of the +Annunciation they went through the imposing ceremony, +according to the custom obtaining among their entertainers. + +While the native Princes of the four Provinces were thus +lodged together in one house, it was inevitable that +plans of co-operation for the future should be discussed +between them. Soon after the Earl of Ormond, who knew +their language, appeared before Richard as the accuser +of McMurrogh, who was, on his statement, committed to +close confinement in the Castle. He was, however, soon +after set at liberty, though O'Moore, O'Byrne, and John +O'Mullain were retained in custody, probably as hostages, +for the fulfilment of the terms of his release. By this +time the expected supplies had arrived from England, and +the festival of Easter was happily passed. Before breaking +up from his winter quarters Richard celebrated with great +pomp the festival of his namesake, St. Richard, Bishop +of Chichester, and then summoned a parliament to meet +him at Kilkenny on the 12th of the month. The acts of +this parliament have not seen the light; an obscurity +which they share in common with all the documents of this +Prince's progress in Ireland. The same remark was made +three centuries ago by the English chronicler, Grafton, +who adds with much simplicity, that as Richard's voyage +into Ireland "was nothing profitable nor honourable to +him, therefore the writers think it scant worth the +noting." + +Early in May a deputation, at the head of which was the +celebrated William of Wyckham, arrived from England, +invoking the personal presence of the King to quiet the +disturbances caused by the progress of Lollardism. With +this invitation he decided at once to comply, but first +he appointed the youthful Earl of March his lieutenant +in Ireland, and confirmed the ordinance of Edward III., +empowering the chief governor in council to convene +parliament by writ, which writ should be of equal obligation +with the King's writ in England. He ordained that a fine +of not less than fifty marks, and not more than one +hundred, should be exacted of every representative of a +town or shire, who, being elected as such, neglected or +refused to attend. He reformed the royal courts, and +appointed Walter de Hankerford and William Sturmey, two +Englishmen, "well learned in the law" as judges, whose +annual salaries were to be forty pounds each. Having made +these arrangements, he took an affectionate leave of his +heir and cousin, and sailed for England, whither he was +accompanied by most of the great nobles who had passed +over with him to the Irish wars. Little dreamt they of +the fate which impended over many of their heads. Three +short years and Gloucester would die by the assassin's +hand, Arundel by the executioner's axe, and Mowbray, Earl +Marshal, the ambassador at Ballygorry, would pine to +death in Italian banishment. Even a greater change than +any of these--a change of dynasty--was soon to come over +England. + +The young Earl of March, now left in the supreme direction +of affairs, so far as we know, had no better title to +govern than that he was heir to the English throne, unless +it may have been considered an additional recommendation +that he was sixth in descent from the Lady Eva McMurrogh. +To his English title, he added that of Earl of Ulster +and Lord of Connaught, derived from his mother, the +daughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, and those of Lord +of Trim and Clare, from other relations. The counsellors +with whom he was surrounded included the wisest statesmen +and most experienced soldiers of "the Pale." Among them +were Almaric, Baron Grace, who, contrary to the statute +of Kilkenny, had married an O'Meagher of Ikerrin, and +whose family had intermarried with the McMurroghs; the +third Earl of Ormond, an indomitable soldier, who had +acted as Lord Deputy, in former years of this reign; +Cranley, Archbishop of Dublin, and Roche, the Cistercian +Abbot of St. Mary's, lately created Lord Treasurer of +Ireland; Stephen Bray, Chief Justice; and Gerald, fifth +Earl of Kildare. Among his advisers of English birth were +Roger Grey, his successor; the new Judges Hankerford and +Sturmey, and others of less pacific reputation. With +the dignitaries of the Church, and the innumerable priors +and abbots, in and about Dublin, the court of the +Heir-Presumptive must have been a crowded and imposing +one for those times, and had its external prospects been +peaceful, much ease and pleasure might have been enjoyed +within its walls. + +In the three years of this administration, the struggle +between the natives, the naturalized, and the English +interest knew no cessation in Leinster. Some form of +submission had been wrung from McMurrogh before his +release from Dublin Castle, in the spring of 1395, but +this engagement extorted under duress, from a guest +towards whom every rite of hospitality had been violated, +he did not feel bound by after his enlargement. In the +same year an attempt was made to entrap him at a banquet +given in one of the castles of the frontier, but warned +by his bard, he made good his escape "by the strength of +his arm, and by bravery." After this double violation of +what among his countrymen, even of the fiercest tribes, +was always held sacred, the privileged character of a +guest, he never again placed himself at the mercy of +prince or peer, but prosecuted the war with unfaltering +determination. In 1396, his neighbour, the chief of +Imayle, carried off from an engagement near Dublin, six +score heads of the foreigners: and the next year--an +exploit hardly second in its kind to the taking of Ross +--the strong castle and town of Carlow were captured by +McMurrogh himself. In the campaign of 1398, on the 20th +of July, was fought the eventful battle of Kenlis, or +Kells, on the banks of the stream called "the King's +river," in the barony of Kells, and county of Kilkenny. +Here fell the Heir-Presumptive to the English crown, +whose premature removal was one of the causes which +contributed to the revolution in England, a year or two +later. The tidings of this event filled "the Pale" with +consternation, and thoroughly aroused the vindictive +temper of Richard. He at once despatched to Dublin his +half-brother, Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent, recently +created Duke of Surrey. To this duke he made a gift of +Carlow castle and town, to be held (if taken) by knights' +service. He then, as much, perhaps, to give occupation +to the minds of his people, as to prosecute his old +project of subduing Ireland, began to make preparations +for his second expedition thither. Death again delayed +him. John of Ghent, Duke of Lancaster, his uncle, and +one of the most famous soldiers of the time, suddenly +sickened, and died. As Henry, his son, was in banishment, +the King, under pretence of appropriating his vast wealth +to the service of the nation, seized it into his own +hands, and despite the warnings of his wisest counsellors +as to the disturbed state of the kingdom, again took up +his march for Milford Haven. + +A French knight, named Creton, had obtained leave with +a brother-in-arms to accompany this expedition, and has +left us a very vivid account of its progress. Quitting +Paris they reached London just as King Richard was about +"to cross the sea on account of the injuries and grievances +that his mortal enemies had committed against him in +Ireland, where they had put to death many of his faithful +friends." Wherefore they were further told, "he would +take no rest until he had avenged himself upon MacMore, +who called himself most excellent King and Lord of great +Ireland; where he had but little territory of any kind." + +They at once set out for Milford, where, "waiting for +the north wind," they remained "ten whole days." Here +they found King Richard with a great army, and a +corresponding fleet. The clergy were taxed to supply +horses, waggons, and money--the nobles, shires, and towns, +their knights, men-at-arms, and archers-the seaports, +from Whitehaven to Penzance, were obliged, by an order +in council, dated February 7th, to send vessels rated at +twenty-five tons and upwards to Milford, by the octave +of Easter. King's letters were issued whenever the usual +ordinances failed, and even the press-gang was resorted +to, to raise the required number of mariners. Minstrels +of all kinds crowded to the camp, enlivening it by their +strains, and enriching themselves the while. The wind +coming fair, the vessels "took in their lading of bread, +wine, cows and calves, salt meat and plenty of water," +and the King taking leave of his ladies, they set sail. + +In two days they saw "the tower of Waterford." The +condition to which the people of this English stronghold +had been reduced by the war was pitiable in the extreme. +Some were in rags, others girt with ropes, and their +dwellings seemed to the voyagers but huts and holes. They +rushed into the tide up to their waists, for the speedy +unloading of the ships, especially attending to those +that bore the supplies of the army. Little did the proud +cavaliers and well-fed yeomen, who then looked on, imagine, +as they pitied the poor wretches of Waterford, that before +many weeks were over, they would themselves be reduced +to the like necessity--even to rushing into the sea to +contend for a morsel of food. + +Six days after his arrival, which was on the 1st of June, +King Richard marched from Waterford "in close order to +Kilkenny." He had now the advantage of long days and warm +nights, which in his first expedition he had not. His +forces were rather less than in 1394; some say twenty, +some twenty-four thousand in all. The Earl of Rutland, +with a reinforcement in one hundred ships, was to have +followed him, but this unfaithful courtier did not greatly +hasten his preparations to overtake his master. With the +King were the Lord Steward of England, Sir Thomas Percy; +the Duke of Exeter; De Spencer, Earl of Gloucester; the +Lord Henry of Lancaster, afterwards King Henry V.; the +son of the late Duke of Gloucester; the son of the Countess +of Salisbury; the Bishop of Exeter and London; the Abbot +of Westminster, and a gallant Welsh gentleman, afterwards +known to fame as Owen Glendower. He dropped the subterfuge +of bearing Edward the Confessor's banner, and advanced +his own standard, which bore leopards and flower de luces. +In this order, "riding boldly," they reached Kilkenny, +where Richard remained a fortnight awaiting news of the +Earl of Rutland from Waterford. No news, however, came. +But while he waited, he received intelligence from Kildare +which gratified his thirst for vengeance. Jenico d'Artois, +a Gascon knight of great discretion and valour, who had +come over the preceding year with the Duke of Surrey, +marching towards Kilkenny, had encountered some bands of +the Irish in Kildare (bound on a like errand to their +prince), whom he fought and put to flight, leaving two +hundred of them dead upon the field. This Jenico, relishing +Irish warfare more than most foreign soldiers of his age, +continued long after to serve in Ireland--married one of +his daughters to Preston, Baron of Naas, and another to +the first Lord Portlester. + +On the 23rd of June, "the very vigil of St. John," a +saint to whom the King was very much devoted, Richard, +resolving to delay no longer, left Kilkenny, and marched +directly towards Catherlough. He sent a message in advance +to McMurrogh, "who would neither submit nor obey him in +anyway; but affirmed that he was the rightful King of +Ireland, and that he would never cease from war and the +defence of his country until his death; and said that +the wish to deprive him of it by conquest was unlawful." + +Art McMurrogh, now some years beyond middle age, had with +him in arms "three thousand hardy men," "who did not +appear," says our French knight, "to be much afraid of +the English." The cattle and corn, the women and the +helpless, he had removed into the interior of the +fastnesses, while he himself awaited, in Idrone, the +approach of the enemy. + +This district, which lies north and south between the +rivers Slaney and Barrow, is of a diversified and broken +soil, watered with several small streams, and patched +with tracts of morass and marsh. It was then half covered +with wood, except in the neighbourhood of Old Leighlin, +and a few other places where villages had grown up around +the castles, raths, and monasteries of earlier days. On +reaching the border of the forest, King Richard ordered +all the habitations in sight to be set on fire; and then +"two thousand five hundred of the well affected people," +or, as others say, prisoners, "began to hew a highway +into the woods." + +When the first space was cleared, Richard, ever fond of +pageantry, ordered his standard to be planted on the new +ground, and pennons and banners arrayed on every side. +Then he sent for the sons of the Dukes of Gloucester and +Lancaster, his cousins, and the son of the Countess of +Salisbury and other bachelors-in-arms, and there knighted +them with all due solemnity. To young Lancaster, he said, +"My fair cousin, henceforth, be preux and valiant, for +you have some valiant blood to conquer." The youth to +whom he made this address was little more than a boy, +but tall of his age, and very vigorous. He had been a +hard student at Oxford, and was now as unbridled as a +colt new loosed into a meadow. He was fond of music, and +afterwards became illustrious as the Fifth Henry of +English history. Who could have foreseen, when first he +put on his spurs by the wood's side, in Catherlough, that +he would one day inherit the throne of England and make +good the pretensions of all his predecessors to the throne +of France? + +Richard's advance was slow and wearisome in the forests +of Idrone. His route was towards the eastern coast. +McMurrogh retreated before him, harassing him dreadfully, +carrying off everything fit for food for man or beast, +surprising and slaying his foragers, and filling his camp +nightly with alarm and blood. The English archers got +occasional shots at his men, "so that they did not all +escape;" and they in turn often attacked the rear-guard, +"and threw their darts with such force that they pierced +haubergeon and plates through and through." The Leinster +King would risk no open battle so long as he could thus +cut off the enemy in detail. Many brave knights fell, +many men-at-arms and archers; and a deep disrelish for +the service began to manifest itself in the English camp. + +A party of Wexford settlers, however, brought one day to +his camp Malachy McMurrogh, uncle to Art, a timid, +treaty-making man. According to the custom of that +century--observed by the defenders of Stirling and the +burgesses of Calais--he submitted with a _wythe_ about +his neck, rendering up a naked sword. His retinue, +bareheaded and barefoot, followed him into the presence +of Richard, who received them graciously. "Friends," +said he to them, "as to the evils and wrongs that you +have committed against me, I pardon you on condition that +each of you will swear to be faithful to me for the time +to come." Of this circumstance he made the most, as our +guide goes on to tell in these words: "Then every one +readily complied with his demand; and took the oath. When +this was done he sent word to MacMore, who called himself +Lord and King of Ireland, (_that country_,) where he has +many a wood but little cultivated land, that if he would +come straightways to him with a rope about _his_ neck, +as his uncle had done, he would admit him to mercy, and +elsewhere give him castles and lands in abundance." The +answer of King Art is thus reported: "MacMore told the +King's people he would do no such thing for all the +treasures of the sea or on this side, (the sea,) but +would continue to fight and harass him." + +For eleven days longer Richard continued his route in +the direction of Dublin, McMurrogh and his allies falling +back towards the hills and glens of Wicklow. The English +could find nothing by the way but "a few green oats" for +the horses, which being exposed night and day, and so +badly fed, perished in great numbers. The general discontent +now made itself audible even to the ears of the King. +For many days five or six men had but a "single loaf." +Even gentlemen, knights and squires, fasted in succession; +and our chivalrous guide, for his part, "would have been +heartily glad to have been penniless at Poitiers or +Paris." Daily deaths made the camp a scene of continued +mourning, and all the minstrels that had come across the +sea to amuse their victor countrymen, like the poet who +went with Edward II. to Bannockburn to celebrate the +conquest of the Scots, found their gay imaginings turned +to a sorrowful reverse. + +At last, however, they came in sight of the sea-coast, +where vessels laden with provisions, sent from Dublin, +were awaiting them. So eager were the famished men for +food, that "they rushed into the sea as eagerly as they +would into their straw." All their money was poured into +the hands of the merchants; some of them even fought in +the water about a morsel of food, while in their thirst +they drank all the wine they could lay hands on. Our +guide saw full a thousand men drunk that day on "the wine +of Ossey and Spain." The scene of this extraordinary +incident is conjectured to have been at or near Arklow, +where the beach is sandy and flat, such as it is not at +any point of Wicklow north of that place. + +The morning after the arrival of these stores, King +Richard again set forward for Dublin, determining to +penetrate Wicklow by the valleys that lead from the +Meeting of the Waters to Bray. He had not proceeded far +on his march, when a Franciscan friar reached his camp +as Ambassador from the Leinster King. This unnamed +messenger, whose cowl history cannot raise, expressed +the willingness of his lord to treat with the King, +through some accredited agent--"some lord who might be +relied upon"--"so that _their_ anger (Richard's and his +own), that had long been cruel, might now be extinguished." +The announcement spread "great joy" in the English camp. +A halt was ordered, and a council called. After a +consultation, it was resolved that de Spencer, Earl of +Gloucester, should be empowered to confer with Art. This +nobleman, now but 26 years of age, had served in the +campaign of 1394. He was one of the most powerful peers +of England, and had married Constance, daughter of the +Duke of York, Richard's cousin. From his possessions in +Wales, he probably knew something of the Gaelic customs +and speech. He was captain of the rearguard on this +expedition, and now, with 200 lances, and 1,000 archers, +all of whom were chosen men, he set out for the conference. +The French knight also went with him, as he himself +relates in these words: + +"Between two woods, at some distance from the sea, I +beheld MacMore and a body of the Irish, more than I can +number, descend the mountain. He had a horse, without +housing or saddle, which was so fine and good, that it +had cost him, they said, four hundred cows; for there is +little money in the country, wherefore their usual traffic +is only with cattle. In coming down, it galloped so +hard, that, in my opinion, I never saw hare, deer, sheep, +or any other animal, I declare to you for a certainty, +run with such speed as it did. In his right hand he bore +a great long dart, which he cast with much skill. * * * +His people drew up in front of the wood. These two +(Gloucester and the King), like an out-post, met near a +little brook. There MacMore stopped. He was a fine large +man--wondrously active. To look at him, he seemed very +stern and savage, and an able man. He and the Earl spake +of their doings, recounting the evil and injury that +MacMore had done towards the King at sundry times; and +how they all foreswore their fidelity when wrongfully, +without judgment or law, they most mischievously put to +death the courteous Earl of March. Then they exchanged +much discourse, but did not come to agreement; they took +short leave, and hastily parted. Each took his way apart, +and the Earl returned towards King Richard." + +This interview seems to have taken place in the lower +vale of Ovoca, locally called Glen-Art, both from the +description of the scenery, and the stage of his march +at which Richard halted. The two woods, the hills on +either hand, the summer-shrunken river, which, to one +accustomed to the Seine and the Thames naturally looked +no bigger than a brook, form a picture, the original of +which can only be found in that locality. The name +itself, a name not to be found among the immediate chiefs +of Wicklow, would seem to confirm this hypothesis. + +The Earl on his return declared, "he could find nothing +in him, (Art,) save only that he would ask for _pardon_, +truly, upon condition of having _peace without reserve_, +free from any molestation or imprisonment; otherwise, he +will never come to agreement as long as he lives; and, +(he said,) 'nothing venture, nothing have.' This speech," +says the French knight, "was not agreeable to the King; +it appeared to me that his face grew pale with anger; he +swore in great wrath by St. Edward, that, no, never would +he depart from Ireland, till, alive or dead, he had him +in his power." + +The King, notwithstanding, was most anxious to reach +Dublin. He at once broke up his camp, and marched on +through Wicklow, "for all the shoutings of the enemie." +What other losses he met in those deep valleys our guide +deigns not to tell, but only that they arrived at last +in Dublin "more than 30,000" strong, which includes, of +course, the forces of the Anglo-Irish lords that joined +them on the way. There "the whole of their ills were +soon forgotten, and their sorrow removed." The provost +and sheriffs feasted them sumptuously, and they were all +well-housed and clad. After the dangers they had undergone, +these attentions were doubly grateful to them. But for +long years the memory of this doleful march lived in the +recollection of the English on both sides the Irish sea, +and but once more for above a century did a hostile army +venture into the fastnesses of Idrone and Hy-Kinsellah. + +When Richard arrived in Dublin, still galled by the memory +of his disasters, he divided his force into three divisions, +and sent them out in quest of McMurrogh, promising to +whosoever should bring him to Dublin, alive or dead, "100 +marks, in pure gold." "Every one took care to remember +these words," says Creton, "for it was a good hearing." +And Richard, moreover, declared that if they did not +capture him when the autumn came, and the trees were +leafless and dry, he would burn "all the woods great and +small," or find out that troublous rebel. The same day +he sent out his three troops, the Earl of Rutland, his +laggard cousin, arrived at Dublin with 100 barges. His +unaccountable delay he submissively apologized for, and +was readily pardoned. "Joy and delight" now reigned in +Dublin. The crown jewels shone at daily banquets, +tournaments, and mysteries. Every day some new pastime +was invented, and thus six weeks passed, and August drew +to an end. Richard's happiness would have been complete +had any of his soldiers brought in McMurrogh's head: but +far other news was on the way to him. Though there was +such merriment in Dublin, a long-continued storm swept +the channel. When good weather returned, a barge arrived +from Chester, bearing Sir William Bagot, who brought +intelligence that Henry of Lancaster, the banished Duke, +had landed at Ravenspur, and raised a formidable +insurrection amongst the people, winning over the Archbishop +of Canterbury, the Duke of York, and other great nobles. +Richard was struck with dismay. He at once sent the Earl +of Salisbury into Wales to announce his return, and then, +taking the evil counsel of Rutland, marched himself to +Waterford, with most part of his force, and collected +the remainder on the way. Eighteen days after the news +arrived he embarked for England, leaving Sir John Stanley +as Lord Lieutenant in Ireland. Before quitting Dublin, +he confined the sons of the Dukes of Lancaster and +Gloucester, in the strong fortress of Trim, from which +they were liberated to share the triumph of the successful +usurper, Henry IV. + +It is beyond our province to follow the after-fate of +the monarch, whose Irish campaigns we have endeavoured +to restore to their relative importance. His deposition +and cruel death, in the prison of Pontefract, are familiar +to readers of English history. The unsuccessful +insurrections suppressed during his rival's reign, and +the glory won by the son of that rival, as Henry V., seem +to have established the house of Lancaster firmly on the +throne; but the long minority of Henry VI.--who inherited +the royal dignity at nine months old--and the factions +among the other members of that family, opened +opportunities, too tempting to be resisted, to the rival +dynasty of York. During the first sixty years of the +century on which we are next to enter, we shall find the +English interest in Ireland controlled by the house of +Lancaster; in the succeeding twenty-five years the +partizans of the house of York are in the ascendant; +until at length, after the victory of Bosworth field +(A.D. 1485), the wars of the roses are terminated by the +coronation of the Earl of Richmond as Henry VII., and +his politic marriage with the Princess Elizabeth-the +representative of the Yorkist dynasty. It will be seen +how these rival houses had their respective factions +among the Anglo-Irish; how these factions retarded two +centuries the establishment of English power in Ireland; +how the native lords and chiefs took advantage of the +disunion among the foreigners to circumscribe more and +more the narrow limits of the Pale; and lastly, how the +absence of national unity alone preserved the power so +reduced from utter extinction. In considering all these +far extending consequences of the deposition of Richard II., +and the substitution of Henry of Lancaster in his stead, +we must give due weight to his unsuccessful Irish wars +as proximate causes of that revolution. The death of the +Heir-Presumptive in the battle of Kells; the exactions +and ill-success of Richard in his wars; the seizure of +John of Ghent's estates and treasures; the absence of +the sovereign at the critical moment: all these are causes +which operated powerfully to that end. And of these all +that relate to Irish affairs were mainly brought about +by the heroic constancy, in the face of enormous odds, +the unwearied energy, and high military skill exhibited +by one man--Art McMurrogh. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +PARTIES WITHIN "THE PALE"--BATTLES OF KILMAINHAM AND +KILLUCAN-SIR JOHN TALBOT'S LORD LIEUTENANCY. + +One leading fact, which we have to follow in all its +consequences through the whole of the fifteenth century, +is the division of the English and of the Anglo-Irish +interest into two parties, Lancasterians and Yorkists. +This division of the foreign power will be found to have +produced a corresponding sense of security in the minds +of the native population, and thus deprived them of that +next best thing to a united national action, the combining +effects of a common external danger. + +The new party lines were not drawn immediately upon the +English revolution of 1399, but a very few years sufficed +to infuse among settlers of English birth or descent the +partizan passions which distracted the minds of men in +their original country. The third Earl of Ormond, although +he had received so many favours from the late King and +his grandfather, yet by a common descent of five generations +from Edward I., stood in relation of cousinship to the +Usurper. On the arrival of the young Duke of Lancaster +as Lord Lieutenant, in 1402, Ormond became one of his +first courtiers, and dying soon after, he chose the Duke +guardian to his heir, afterwards the fourth Earl. This +heir, while yet a minor (1407), was elected or appointed +deputy to his guardian, the Lord Lieutenant; during almost +the whole of the short reign of Henry V. (1413-1421) he +resided at the English Court, or accompanied the King in +his French campaigns, thus laying the foundations of that +influence which, six several times during the reign of +Henry VI., procured his appointment to office as Lord +Deputy, Lord Justice, or Lord Lieutenant. At length, in +the mid-year of the century, his successor was created +Earl of Wiltshire, and entrusted with the important duties +of one of the Commissioners for the fleet, and Lord +Treasurer of England; favours and employments which +sufficiently account for how the Ormond family became +the leaders of the Lancaster party among the Anglo-Irish. + +The bestowal of the first place on another house tended +to estrange the Geraldines, who, with some reason, regarded +themselves as better entitled to such honours. During +the first official term of the Duke of Lancaster, no +great feeling was exhibited, and on his departure in +1405, the fifth Earl of Kildare was, for a year, entrusted +with the office of Deputy. On the return of the Duke, +in August, 1408, the Earl rode out to meet him, but was +suddenly arrested with three other members of his family, +and imprisoned in the Castle, His house in Dublin was +plundered by the servants of the Lord Lieutenant, and +the sum of 300 marks was exacted for his ransom. Such +injustice and indignity, as well as the subsequent arrest +of the sixth Earl, in 1418, "for having communicated with +the Prior of Kilmainham"--still more than their rivalry +with the Ormonds, drove the Kildare family into the ranks +of the adherents of the Dukes of York. We shall see in +the sequel the important reacting influence of these +Anglo-Irish combinations upon the fortunes of the white +rose and the red. + +To signalize his accession and remove the reproach of +inaction which had been so often urged against his +predecessor, Henry IV, was no sooner seated on the throne +than he summoned the military tenants of the Crown to +meet him in arms upon the Tyne, for the invasion of +Scotland. It seems probable that he summoned those of +Ireland with the rest, as we find in that year (1400) +that an Anglo-Irish fleet, proceeding northwards from +Dublin, encountered a Scottish, fleet in Strangford Lough, +where a fierce engagement was fought, both sides claiming +the victory. Three years later the Dubliners landed at +Saint Ninians, and behaved valiantly, as their train +bands did the same summer against the mountain tribes of +Wicklow. Notwithstanding the personal sojourn of the +unfortunate Richard, and his lavish expenditure among +them, these warlike burghers cordially supported the new +dynasty. Some privileges of trade were judiciously extended +to them, and, in 1407, Henry granted to the Mayors of +the city the privilege of having a gilded sword carried +before them, in the same manner as the Mayors of London. + +At the period when these politic favours were bestowed +on the citizens of Dublin, Henry was contending with a +formidable insurrection in Wales, under the leadership +of Owen Glendower, who had learned in the fastnesses of +Idrone, serving under King Richard, how brave men, though +not formed to war in the best schools, can defend their +country against invasion. In the struggle which he +maintained so gallantly during this and the next reign, +though the fleet of Dublin at first assisted his enemies, +he was materially aided afterwards by the constant +occupation furnished them by the clans of Leinster. The +early years of the Lancasterian dynasty were marked by +a series of almost invariable defeats in the Leinster +counties. Art McMurrogh, whose activity defied the chilling +effects of age, poured his cohorts through Sculloge gap, +on the garrisons of Wexford, taking in rapid possession +in one campaign (1406) the castles of Camolin, Ferns, +and Enniscorthy. Returning northward he retook Castledermot, +and inflicted chastisement on the warlike Abbot of Conal, +near Naas, who shortly before attacked some Irish forces +on the Curragh of Kildare, slaying two hundred men. +Castledermot was retaken by the Lord Deputy Scrope the +next year, with the aid of the Earls of Ormond and Desmond, +and the Prior of Kilmainham, at the head of his Knights. +These allies were fresh from a Parliament in Dublin, +where the Statute of Kilkenny had been, according to +custom, solemnly re-enacted as the only hope of the +English interest, and they naturally drew the sword in +maintenance of their palladium. Within six miles of +Callan, in "McMurrogh's country," they encountered that +chieftain and his clansmen. In the early part of the day +the Irish are stated to have had the advantage, but some +Methian captains coming up in the afternoon turned the +tide in favour of the English. According to the chronicles +of the Pale, they won a second victory before nightfall +at the town of Callan, over O'Carroll of Ely, who was +marching to the aid of McMurrogh. But so confused and +unsatisfactory are the accounts of this twofold engagement +on the same day, in which the Deputy in person, and such +important persons as the Earls of Desmond, of Ormond, +and the Prior of Kilmainham commanded, that we cannot +reconcile it with probability. The Irish Annals simply +record the fact that a battle was gained at Callan over +the Irish of Munster, in which O'Carroll was slain. Other +native authorities add that 800 of his followers fell +with O'Carroll, but no mention whatever is made of the +battle with McMurrogh. The English accounts gravely add, +that the evening sun stood still, while the Lord Deputy +rode six miles, from the place of the first engagement +to that of the second. This was the last campaign of +Sir Stephen Scrope; he died soon after by the pestilence +which swept over the island, sparing neither rich nor +poor. + +The Duke of Lancaster resumed the Lieutenancy, arrested +the Earl of Kildare as before related, convoked a Parliament +at Dublin, and with all the forces he could muster, +determined on an expedition southwards. But McMurrogh +and the mountaineers of Wicklow now felt themselves strong +enough to take the initiative. They crossed the plain +which lies to the north of Dublin, and encamped at +Kilmainham, where Roderick when he besieged the city, +and Brien before the battle of Clontarf, had pitched +their tents of old. The English and Anglo-Irish forces, +under the eye of their Prince, marched out to dislodge +them, in four divisions. The first was led by the Duke +in person; the second by the veteran knight, Jenico +d'Artois, the third by Sir Edward Perrers, an English +knight, and the fourth by Sir Thomas Butler, Prior of +the Order of Saint John, afterwards created by Henry V., +for his distinguished service, Earl of Kilmain. With +McMurrogh were O'Byrne, O'Nolan, and other chiefs, besides +his sons, nephews, and relatives. The numbers on each +side could hardly fall short of ten thousand men, and +the action may be fairly considered one of the most +decisive of those times. The Duke was carried back wounded +into Dublin; the slopes of Inchicore and the valley of +the Liffey were strewn with the dying and the dead; the +river at that point obtained from the Leinster Irish the +name of _Athcroe_, or the ford of slaughter; the widowed +city was filled with lamentation and dismay. In a petition +addressed to King Henry by the Council, apparently during +his son's confinement from the effects of his wound, they +thus describe the Lord Lieutenant's condition: "His +soldiers have deserted him; the people of his household +are on the point of leaving him; and though they were +willing to remain, our lord is not able to keep them +together; our said lord, your son, is so destitute of +money, that he hath not a penny in the world, nor a penny +can he get credit for." + +One consequence of this battle of Kilmainham was, that +while Art McMurrogh lived, no further attacks were made +upon his kindred or country. He died at Ross, on the +first day of January, 1417, in the 60th year of his age. +His Brehon, O'Doran, having also died suddenly on the +same day, it was supposed they were both poisoned by a +drink prepared for them by a woman of the town. "He was," +say our impartial _Four Masters_, who seldom speak so +warmly of any Leinster Prince, "a man distinguished for +his hospitality, knowledge, and feats of arms; a man full +of prosperity and royalty; a founder of churches and +monasteries by his bounty and contributions," and one +who had defended his Province from the age of sixteen to +sixty. + +On his recovery from the effects of his wound, the Duke +of Lancaster returned finally to England, appointing +Prior Butler his Deputy, who filled that office for five +consecutive years. Butler was an illegitimate son of +the late Earl of Ormond, and naturally a Lancasterian: +among the Irish he was called Thomas _Baccagh_, on account +of his lameness. He at once abandoned South Leinster as +a field of operations, and directed all his efforts to +maintain the Pale in Kildare, Meath, and Louth. His chief +antagonist in this line of action was Murrogh or Maurice +O'Conor, of Offally. This powerful chief had lost two or +three sons, but had gamed as many battles over former +deputies. He was invariably aided by his connexions and +neighbours, the MacGeoghegans of West-Heath. Conjointly +they captured the castles and plundered the towns of +their enemies, holding their prisoners to ransom or +carrying off their flocks. In 1411 O'Conor held to ransom +the English Sheriff of Meath, and somewhat later defeated +Prior Butler in a pitched battle. His greatest victory +was the battle of Killucan, fought on the 10th day of +May, 1414. In this engagement MacGeoghegan was, as usual, +his comrade. All the power of the English Pale was arrayed +against them. Sir Thomas Mereward, Baron of Screen, "and +a great many officers and common soldiers were slain," +and among the prisoners were Christopher Fleming, son of +the Baron of Slane, for whom a ransom of 1,400 marks was +paid, and the ubiquitous Sir Jenico d'Artois, who, with +some others, paid "twelve hundred marks, beside a reward +and fine for intercession." A Parliament which sat at +Dublin for thirteen weeks, in 1413, and a foray into +Wicklow, complete the notable acts of Thomas _Baccagh's_ +viceroyalty. Soon after the accession of Henry V. (1413), +he was summoned to accompany that warlike monarch into +France, and for a short interval the government was +exercised by Sir John Stanley, who died shortly after +his arrival, and by the Archbishop of Dublin, as +Commissioner. On the eve of St. Martin's Day, 1414, Sir +John Talbot, afterwards so celebrated as first Earl of +Shrewsbury, landed at Dalkey, with the title of Lord +Lieutenant. + +The appointment of this celebrated Captain, on the brink +of a war with France, was an admission of the desperate +strait to which the English interest had been reduced. +And if the end could ever justify the means, Henry V., +from his point of view, might have defended on that ground +the appointment of this inexorable soldier. Adopting the +system of Sir Thomas Butler, Talbot paid little or no +attention to South Leinster, but aimed in the first place +to preserve to his sovereign, Louth and Meath. His most +southern point of operation, in his first Lieutenancy, +was Leix, but his continuous efforts were directed against +the O'Conors of Offally and the O'Hanlons and McMahons +of Oriel. For three succeeding years he made circuits +through these tribes, generally by the same route, west +and north, plundering chiefs and churches, sparing "neither +saint nor sanctuary." On his return to Dublin after these +forays, he exacted with a high hand whatever he wanted +for his household. When he returned to England, 1419, he +carried along with him, according to the chronicles of +the Pale--"the curses of many, because he, being run much +in debt for victuals, and divers other things, would pay +little or nothing at all." Among the natives he left a +still worse reputation. The plunder of a bard was regarded +by them as worse, if possible, than the spoliation of a +sanctuary. One of Talbot's immediate predecessors was +reputed to have died of the malediction of a bard of +West-Meath, whose property he had appropriated; but as +if to show his contempt of such superstition, Talbot +suffered no son of song to escape him. Their satires fell +powerless on his path. Not only did he enrich himself, +by means lawful and unlawful, but he created interest, +which, a few years afterwards, was able to checkmate the +Desmonds and Ormonds. The see of Dublin falling vacant +during his administration, he procured the appointment +of his brother Richard as Archbishop, and left him, at +his departure, in temporary possession of the office of +Lord Deputy. Branches of his family were planted at +Malahide, Belgarde, and Talbotstown, in Wicklow, the +representatives of which survive till this day. + +One of this Lieutenant's most acceptable offices to the +State was the result of stratagem rather than of arms. +The celebrated Art McMurrogh was succeeded, in 1417, by +his son, Donogh, who seems to have inherited his valour, +without his prudence. In 1419, in common with the O'Conor +of Offally, his father's friend, he was entrapped into +the custody of Talbot. O'Conor, the night of his capture, +escaped with his companions, and kept up the war until +his death: McMurrogh was carried to London and confined +in the Tower. Here he languished for nine weary years. +At length, in 1428, Talbot, having "got license to make +the best of him," held him to ransom. The people of his +own province released him, "which was joyful news to the +Irish." + +But neither the aggrandizement of new nor the depression +of old families effected any cardinal change in the +direction of events. We have traced for half a century, +and are still farther to follow out, the natural +consequences of the odious _Statute of Kilkenny_. Although +every successive Parliament of the Pale recited and +re-enacted that statute, every year saw it dispensed in +particular cases, both as to trading, intermarriage, and +fostering with the natives. Yet the virus of national +proscription outlived all the experience of its futility. +In 1417, an English petition was presented to the English +Parliament, praying that the law, excluding Irish +ecclesiastics from Irish benefices, should be strictly +enforced; and the same year they prohibited the influx +of fugitives from Ireland, while the Pale Parliament +passed a corresponding act against allowing any one to +emigrate without special license. At a Parliament held +at Dublin in 1421, O'Hedian, Archbishop of Cashel, was +impeached by Gese, Bishop of Waterford, the main charges +being that he loved none of the English nation; that he +presented no Englishman to a living; and that he designed +to make himself King of Minister. This zealous assembly +also adopted a petition of grievances to the King, praying +that as the Irish, who had done homage to King Richard, +"had long since taken arms against the government +notwithstanding their recognizances payable in the +Apostolic chamber, his Highness the King would lay their +conduct before the Pope, and prevail on the Holy Father +to publish _a crusade against them_, to follow up the +intention of his predecessor's grant to Henry II.!" + +In the temporal order, as we have seen, the policy of +hatred brought its own punishment. "The Pale," which may +be said to date from the passing of the _Statute of +Kilkenny_ (1367), was already abridged more than one-half. +The Parliament of Kilkenny had defined it as embracing +"Louth, Meath, Dublin, Kildare, Catherlough, Kilkenny, +Wexford, Waterford, and Tipperary," each governed by +Seneschals or Sheriffs. In 1422 Dunlavan and Ballymore +are mentioned as the chief keys of Dublin and Kildare +--and in the succeeding reign Callan in Oriel is set down +as the chief key of that part. Dikes to keep out the +enemy were made from Tallaght to Tassagard, at Rathconnell +in Meath, and at other places in Meath and Kildare. +These narrower limits it long retained, and the usual +phrase in all future legislation by which the assemblies +of the Anglo-Irish define their jurisdiction is "the four +shires." So completely was this enclosure isolated from +the rest of the country that, in the reign at which we +have now arrived, both the Earls of Desmond and Ormond +were exempted from attending certain sittings of Parliament, +and the Privy Council, on the ground that they could not +do so without marching through the enemy's country at +great risk and inconvenience. It is true occasional +successes attended the military enterprises of the +Anglo-Irish, even in these days of their lowest fortunes. +But they had chosen to adopt a narrow, bigoted, unsocial +policy; a policy of exclusive dealing and perpetual +estrangement from their neighbours dwelling on the same +soil, and they had their reward. Their borders were +narrowed upon them; they were penned up in one corner of +the kingdom, out of which they could not venture a league +without license and protection, from the free clansmen +they insincerely affected to despise. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ACTS OF THE NATIVE PRINCES--SUBDIVISION OF TRIBES AND +TERRITORIES--ANGLO-IRISH TOWNS UNDER NATIVE +PROTECTION--ATTEMPT OF THADDEUS O'BRIEN, PRINCE OF THOMOND, +TO RESTORE THE MONARCHY--RELATIONS OF THE RACES IN THE +FIFTEENTH CENTURY. + +The history of "the Pale" being recounted down to the +period of its complete isolation, we have now to pass +beyond its entrenched and castellated limits, in order +to follow the course of events in other parts of the +kingdom. + +While the highest courage was everywhere exhibited by +chiefs and clansmen, no attempt was made to bring about +another National Confederacy, after the fall of Edward +Bruce. One result of that striking _denouement_ of a +stormy career--in addition to those before mentioned--was +to give new life to the jealousy which had never wholly +subsided, between the two primitive divisions of the +Island. Bruce, welcomed, sustained, and lamented by the +Northern Irish, was distrusted, avoided, and execrated +by those of the South. There may have been exceptions, +but this was the rule. The Bards and Newsmen of subsequent +times, according to their Provincial bias, charged the +failure of Bruce upon the Eugenian race, or justified +his fate by aspersing his memory and his adherents of +the race of Conn. This feeling of irritation, always most +deep-seated when driven in by a consciousness of +mismanagement or of self-reproach, goes a great way to +account for the fact, that more than one generation was +to pass away, before any closer union could be brought +about between the Northern and Southern Milesian Irish. + +We cannot, therefore, in the period embraced in our +present book, treat the Provinces otherwise than as +estranged communities, departing farther and farther from +the ancient traditions of one central legislative council +and one supreme elective chief. Special, short-lived +alliances between lords of different Provinces are indeed +frequent; but they were brought about mostly by ties of +relationship or gossipred, and dissolved with the +disappearance of the immediate danger. The very idea of +national unity, once so cherished by all the children of +_Miledh Espaigne_, seems to have been as wholly lost as +any of those secrets of ancient handiwork, over which +modern ingenuity puzzles itself in vain. In the times to +which we have descended, it was every principality and +every lordship for itself. As was said of old in Rome, +"Antony had his party, Octavius had his party, but the +Commonwealth had none." + +Not alone was the greater unity wholly forgotten, but no +sooner were the descendants of the Anglo-Normans driven +into their eastern enclosure, or thoroughly amalgamated +in language, laws and costume with themselves, than the +ties of particular clans began to loose their binding +force, and the tendency to subdivide showed itself on +every opportunity. We have already, in the book of the +"War of Succession," described the subdivisions of Breffni +and of Meath as measures of policy, taken by the O'Conor +Kings, to weaken their too powerful suffragans. But that +step, which might have strengthened the hands of a native +dynasty, almost inevitably weakened the tribes themselves +in combating the attacks of a highly organized foreign +power. Of this the O'Conors themselves became afterwards +the most striking example. For half a century following +the Red Earl's death, they had gained steadily on the +foreigners settled in Connaught. The terrible defeat of +Athenry was more than atoned for by both other victories. +At length the descendants of the vanquished on that day +ruled as proudly as ever did their ancestors in their +native Province. The posterity of the victors were merely +tolerated on its soil, or anxiously building up new houses +in Meath and Louth. But in an evil hour, on the death of +their last King (1384), the O'Conors agreed to settle +the conflicting claims of rival candidates for the +succession by dividing the common inheritance. From this +date downwards we have an O'Conor Don and an O'Conor Roe +in the Annals of that Province, each rallying a separate +band of partizans; and according to the accidents of age, +minority, alliance, or personal reputation, infringing, +harassing, or domineering over the other. Powerful lords +they long continued, but as Provincial Princes we meet +them no more. + +This fatal example--of which there had been a faint +foreshadowing in the division of the McCarthys in the +preceding century--in the course of a generation or two, +was copied by almost every great connection, north and +south. The descendants of yellow Hugh O'Neil in Clandeboy +claimed exemption from the supremacy of the elder family +in Tyrone; the O'Farells, acknowledged two lords of +Annally; the McDonoghs, two lords of Tirerril; there was +McDermott of the Wood claiming independence of McDermott +of the Rock; O'Brien of Ara asserted equality with O'Brien +of Thomond; the nephews of Art McMurrogh contested the +superiority of his sons; and thus slowly but surely the +most powerful clans were hastening the day of their own +dissolution. + +A consequence of these subdivisions was the necessity +which arose for new and opposite alliances, among those +who had formerly looked on themselves as members of one +family, with common dangers and common enemies. The pivot +of policy now rested on neighbourhood rather than on +pedigree; a change in its first stages apparently unnatural +and deplorable, but in the long run not without its +compensating advantages. As an instance of these new +necessities, we may adduce the protection and succour +steadily extended by the O'Neils of Clandeboy, to the +McQuillans, Bissets, of the Antrim coast, and the McDonnells +of the Glens, against the frequent attacks of the O'Neils +of Tyrone. The latter laid claim to all Ulster, and long +refused to acknowledge these foreigners, though men of +kindred race and speech. Had it not been that the interest +of Clandeboy pointed the other way, it is very doubtful +if either the Welsh or Scottish settlers by the bays of +Antrim could have made a successful stand against the +overruling power of the house of Dungannon. The same +policy, adopted by native chiefs under similar +circumstances, protected the minor groups of settlers of +foreign origin in the most remote districts--like the +Barretts and other Welsh people of Tyrawley--long after +the Deputies of the Kings of England had ceased to consider +them as fellow-subjects, or to be concerned for their +existence. + +In like manner the detached towns, built by foreigners, +of Welsh, Flemish, Saxon, or Scottish origin, were now +taken "under the protection" of the neighbouring chief, +or Prince, and paid to him or to his bailiff an annual +tax for such protection. In this manner Wexford purchased +protection of McMurrogh, Limerick from O'Brien, and +Dundalk from O'Neil. But the yoke was not always borne +with patience, nor did the bare relation of tax-gatherer +and tax-payer generate any very cordial feeling between +the parties. Emboldened by the arrival of a powerful +Deputy, or a considerable accession to the Colony, or +taking advantage of contested elections for the chieftaincy +among their protectors, these sturdy communities sometimes +sought by force to get rid of their native masters. Yet +in no case at this period were such town risings ultimately +successful. The appearance of a menacing force, and the +threat of the torch, soon brought the refractory burgesses +to terms. On such an occasion (1444) Dundalk paid Owen +O'Neil the sum of 60 marks and two tuns of wine to avert +his indignation. On another, the townsmen of Limerick +agreed about the same period to pay annually for ever to +O'Brien the sum of 60 marks. Notwithstanding the precarious +tenure of their existence, they all continued jealously +to guard their exclusive privileges. In the oath of office +taken by the Mayor of Dublin (1388) he is sworn to guard +the city's franchises, so that no Irish rebel shall +intrude upon the limits. Nicholas O'Grady, Abbot of a +Monastery in Clare, is mentioned in 1485 as "the twelfth +Irishman that ever possessed the freedom of the city of +Limerick" up to that time. A special bye-law, at a still +later period, was necessary to admit Colonel William +O'Shaughnessy, of one of the first families in that +county, to the freedom of the Corporation of the town of +Galway. Exclusiveness on the one side, and arbitrary +taxation on the other, were ill means of ensuring the +prosperity of these new trading communities; Freedom and +Peace have ever been as essential to commerce as the +winds and waves are to navigation. + +The dissolution and reorganization of the greater clans +necessarily included the removal of old, and the formation +of new boundaries, and these changes frequently led to +border battles between the contestants. The most striking +illustration of the struggles of this description, which +occurs in our Annals in the fifteenth century, is that +which was waged for three generations between a branch +of the O'Conors established at Sligo, calling themselves +"lords of Lower Connaught," and the O'Donnells of Donegal. +The country about Sligo had anciently been subject to +the Donegal chiefs, but the new masters of Sligo, after +the era of Edward Bruce, not only refused any longer to +pay tribute, but endeavoured by the strong hand to extend +their sway to the banks of the Drowse and the Erne. The +pride not less than the power of the O'Donnells was +interested in resisting this innovation, for, in the +midst of the debateable land rose the famous mountain of +Ben Gulban (now Benbulben), which bore the name of the +first father of their tribe. The contest was, therefore, +bequeathed from father to son, but the family of Sligo, +under the lead of their vigorous chiefs, and with the +advantage of actual possession, prevailed in establishing +the exemption of their territory from the ancient tribute. +The Drowse, which carries the surplus waters of the +beautiful Lough Melvin into the bay of Donegal, finally +became the boundary between Lower Connaught and Tyrconnell. + +We have already alluded to the loss of the arts of +political combination among the Irish in the Middle Ages. +This loss was occasionally felt by the superior minds +both in church and state. It was felt by Donald More +O'Brien and those who went with him into the house of +Conor Moinmoy O'Conor, in 1188; it was felt by the nobles +who, at Cael-uisge, elected Brian O'Neil in 1258; it was +felt by the twelve reguli who, in 1315, invited Edward +Bruce, "a man of kindred blood," to rule over them; it +was imputed as a crime to Art McMurrogh in 1397, that he +designed to claim the general sovereignty; and now in +this century, Thaddeus O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, with +the aid of the Irish of the southern half-kingdom, began +(to use the phrase of the last Antiquary of Lecan) "working +his way to Tara." This Prince united all the tribes of +Munster in his favour, and needing, according to ancient +usage, the suffrages of two other Provinces to ensure +his election, he crossed the Shannon in the summer of +1466 at the head of the largest army which had followed +any of his ancestors since the days of King Brian. He +renewed his protection to the town of Limerick, entered +into an alliance with the Earl of Desmond--which alliance +seems to have cost Desmond his head--received in his camp +the hostages of Ormond and Ossory, and gave gifts to the +lords of Leinster. Simultaneously, O'Conor of Offally +had achieved a great success over the Palesmen, taking +prisoner the Earl of Desmond, the Prior of Trim, the +Lords Barnwall, Plunkett, Nugent, and other Methian +magnates--a circumstance which also seems to have some +connection with the fate of Desmond and Plunkett, who +were the next year tried for treason and executed at +Drogheda, by order of the Earl of Worcester, then Deputy. +The usual Anglo-Irish tales, as to the causes of Desmond's +losing the favour of Edward IV., seem very like +after-inventions. It is much more natural to attribute +that sudden change to some connection with the attempt +of O'Brien the previous year--since this only makes +intelligible the accusation against him of "_alliance_, +fosterage, and alterage with the King's Irish enemies." + +From Leinster O'Brien recrossed the Shannon, and overran +the country of the Clan-William Burke. But the ancient +jealousy of Leath-Conn would not permit its proud chiefs +to render hostage or homage to a Munster Prince, of no +higher rank than themselves. Disappointed in his hopes +of that union which could alone restore the monarchy in +the person of a native ruler, the descendant of Brian +returned to Kinkora, where he shortly afterwards fell +ill of fever and died. "It was commonly reported," says +the Antiquary of Lecan, "that the multitudes' envious +eyes and hearts shortened his days." + +The naturalized Norman noble spoke the language of the +Gael, and retained his Brehons and Bards like his Milesian +compeer. For generations the daughters of the elder race +had been the mothers of his house; and the milk of Irish +foster-mothers had nourished the infancy of its heirs. +The Geraldines, the McWilliams, even the Butlers, among +their tenants and soldiers, were now as Irish as the +Irish. Whether allies or enemies, rivals or as relatives, +they stood as near to their neighbours of Celtic origin +as they did to the descendants of those who first landed +at Bannow and at Waterford. The "Statute of Kilkenny" +had proclaimed the eternal separation of the races, but +up to this period it had failed, and the men of both +origins were left free to develop whatever characteristics +were most natural to them. What we mean by being left +free is, that there was no general or long-sustained +combination of one race for the suppression of the other +from the period of Richard the Second's last reverses +(A.D. 1399) till the period of the Reformation. Native +Irish life, therefore, throughout the whole of the +fifteenth, and during the first half of the sixteenth +century, was as free to shape and direct itself, to ends +of its own choosing, as it had been at almost any former +period in our history. Private wars and hereditary +blood-feuds, next after the loss of national unity, were +the worst vices of the nation. Deeds of violence and acts +of retaliation were as common as the succession of day +and night. Every free clansman carried his battle-axe to +church and chase, to festival and fairgreen. The strong +arm was prompt to obey the fiery impulse, and it must be +admitted in solemn sadness, that almost every page of +our records at this period is stained with human blood. +But though crimes of violence are common, crimes of +treachery are rare. The memory of a McMahon, who betrayed +and slew his guest, is execrated by the same stoical +scribes, who set down, without a single expression of +horror, the open murder of chief after chief. Taking +off by poison, so common among their cotemporaries, seems +to have been altogether unknown, and the cruelties of +the State Prisons of the Middle Ages undreamt of by our +fierce, impetuous, but not implacable ancestors. The +facts which go to affix the imputation of cruelty on +those ages are, the frequent entries which we find of +deposed chiefs, or conspicuous criminals, having their +eyes put out, or being maimed in their members. By these +barbarous punishments they lost caste, if not life; but +that indeed must have been a wretched remnant of existence +which remained to the blinded lover, or the maimed warrior, +or the crippled tiller of the soil. Of the social and +religious relations existing between the races, we shall +have occasion to speak more fully before closing the +present book. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +CONTINUED DIVISION AND DECLINE OF "THE ENGLISH INTEREST"-- +RICHARD, DUKE OF YORK, LORD LIEUTENANT--CIVIL WAR AGAIN +IN ENGLAND--EXECUTION OF THE EARL OF DESMOND--ASCENDANCY +OF THE KILDARE GERALDINES. + +We have already described the limits to which "the Pale" +was circumscribed at the beginning of the fourteenth +century. The fortunes of that inconsiderable settlement +during the following century hardly rise to the level of +historical importance, nor would the recital of them be +at all readable but for the ultimate consequences which +ensued from the preservation of those last remains of +foreign power in the island. On that account, however, +we have to consult the barren annals of "the Pale" through +the intermediate period, that we may make clear the +accidents by which it was preserved from destruction, +and enabled to play a part in after-times, undreamt of +and inconceivable, to those who tolerated its existence +in the ages of which we speak. + +On the northern coasts of Ireland the co-operation of +the friendly Scots with the native Irish had long been +a source of anxiety to the Palesmen. In the year 1404, +Dongan, Bishop of Derry, and Sir Jenico d'Artois, were +appointed Commissioners by Henry IV., to conclude a +permanent peace with McDonald, Lord of the Isles, but, +notwithstanding that form was then gone through during +the reigns of all the Lancasterian Kings, evidence of +the Hiberno-Scotch alliance being still in existence, +constantly recurs. In the year 1430 an address or petition +of the Dublin Council to the King sets forth "that the +enemies and rebels, _aided by the Scots_, had conquered +or rendered tributary almost every part of the country, +_except the county of Dublin_." The presence of Henry V. +in Ireland had been urgently solicited by his lieges in +that kingdom, but without effect. The hero of Agincourt +having set his heart upon the conquest of France, left +Ireland to his lieutenants and their deputies. Nor could +his attention be aroused to the English interest in that +country, even by the formal declaration of the Speaker +of the English Parliament, that "the greater part of the +lordship of Ireland" had been "conquered" by the natives. + +The comparatively new family of Talbot, sustained by the +influence of the great Earl of Shrewsbury, now Seneschal +of France, had risen to the highest pitch of influence. +When on the accession of Henry VI., Edward Mortimer, Earl +of March, was appointed Lord Lieutenant, and Dantsey, +Bishop of Meath, his deputy, Talbot, Archbishop of Dublin, +and Lord Chancellor, refused to acknowledge Dantsey's +pretensions because his commission was given under the +private seal of Lord Mortimer. Having effected his object +in this instance, the Archbishop directed his subsequent +attacks against the House of Ormond, the chief favourites +of the King, or rather of the Council, in that reign. In +1441, at a Dublin Parliament, messengers were appointed +to convey certain articles to the King, the purport of +which was to prevent the Earl of Ormond from being made +Lord Lieutenant, alleging against him many misdemeanours +in his former administration, and praying that some +"mighty lord of England" might be named to that office +to execute the laws more effectually "than any Irishman +ever did or ever will do." + +This attempt to destroy the influence of Ormond led to +an alliance between that Earl and Sir James, afterwards +seventh Earl of Desmond. Sir James was son of Gerald, +fourth Earl (distinguished as "the Rhymer," or Magician), +by the lady Eleanor Butler, daughter of the second Earl +of Ormond. He stood, therefore, in the relation of cousin +to the cotemporary head of the Butler family. When his +nephew Thomas openly violated the Statute of Kilkenny, +by marrying the beautiful Catherine McCormac, the ambitious +and intriguing Sir James, anxious to enforce that statute, +found a ready seconder in Ormond. Earl Thomas, forced to +quit the country, died an exile at Rouen, in France, and +Sir James, after many intrigues and negotiations, obtained +the title and estates. For once the necessities of Desmond +and Ormond united these houses, but the money of the +English Archbishop of Dublin, backed by the influence of +his illustrious brother, proved equal to them both. In +the first twenty-five years of the reign of Henry VI. +(1422-1447,) Ormond was five times Lieutenant or Deputy, +and Talbot five times Deputy, Lord Justice, or Lord +Commissioner. Their factious controversy culminated with +"the articles" adopted in 1441, which altogether failed +of the intended effect; Ormond was reappointed two years +afterwards to his old office; nor was it till 1446, when +the Earl of Shrewsbury was a third time sent over, that +the Talbots had any substantial advantage over their +rivals. The recall of the Earl for service in France, +and the death of the Archbishop two years later, though +it deprived the party they had formed of a resident +leader, did not lead to its dissolution. Bound together +by common interests and dangers, their action may be +traced in opposition to the Geraldines, through the +remaining years of Henry VI., and perhaps so late as the +earlier years of Henry VII. (1485-1500). + +In the struggle of dynasties from which England suffered +so severely during the fifteenth century, the drama of +ambition shifted its scenes from London and York to Calais +and Dublin. The appointment of Richard, Duke of York, +as Lord Lieutenant, in 1449, presented him an opportunity +of creating a Yorkist party among the nobles and people +of "the Pale." This able and ambitious Prince possessed +in his hereditary estate resources equal to great +enterprises. He was in the first place the representative +of the third son of Edward III.; on the death of his +cousin the Earl of March, in 1424, he became heir to that +property and title. He was Duke of York, Earl of March, +and Earl of Rutland, in England; Earl of Ulster and Earl +of Cork, Lord of Connaught, Clare, Meath, and Trim, in +Ireland. He had been, twice Regent of France, during the +minority of Henry, where he upheld the cause of the +Plantagenet King with signal ability. By the peace +concluded at Tours, between England, France, and Burgundy, +in 1444, he was enabled to return to England, where the +King had lately come of age, and begun to exhibit the +weak though amiable disposition which led to his ruin. +The events of the succeeding two or three years were +calculated to expose Henry to the odium of his subjects +and the machinations of his enemies. Town after town and +province after province were lost in France; the Regent +Somerset returned to experience the full force of this +unpopularity; the royal favourite, Suffolk, was banished, +pursued, and murdered at sea; the King's uncles, Cardinal +Beaufort and the Duke of Gloucester, were removed by +death--so that every sign and circumstance of the time +whispered encouragement to the ambitious Duke. When, +therefore, the Irish lieutenancy was offered, in order +to separate him from his partizans, he at first refused +it; subsequently, however, he accepted, on conditions +dictated by himself, calculated to leave him wholly his +own master. These conditions, reduced to writing in the +form of an Indenture between the King and the Duke, +extended his lieutenancy to a period of ten years; allowed +him, besides the entire revenue of Ireland, an annual +subsidy from England; full power to let the King's land, +to levy and maintain soldiers, to place or displace all +officers, to appoint a Deputy, and to return to England +at his pleasure. On these terms the ex-Regent of France +undertook the government of the English settlement in +Ireland. + +Arrived at Dublin, _the_ Duke (as in his day he was always +called,) employed himself rather to strengthen his party +than to extend the limits of his government. Soon after +his arrival a son was born to him, and baptized with +great pomp in the Castle. James, fifth Earl of Ormond, +and Thomas, eighth Earl of Desmond, were invited to stand +as sponsors. In the line of policy indicated by this +choice, he steadily persevered during his whole connection +with Ireland--which lasted till his death, in 1460. +Alternately he named a Butler and a Geraldine as his +deputy, and although he failed ultimately to win the Earl +of Ormond from the traditional party of his family, he +secured the attachment of several of his kinsmen. Stirring +events in England, the year after his appointment, made +it necessary for him to return immediately. The unpopularity +of the administration which had banished him had rapidly +augmented. The French King had recovered the whole of +Normandy, for four centuries annexed to the English Crown. +Nothing but Calais remained of all the Continental +possessions which the Plantagenets had inherited, and +which Henry V. had done so much to strengthen and extend. +Domestic abuses aggravated the discontent arising from +foreign defeats. The Bishop of Chichester, one of the +ministers, was set upon and slain by a mob at Portsmouth. +Twenty thousand men of Kent, under the command of Jack +Cade, an Anglo-Irishman, who had given himself out as a +son of the last Earl of March, who died in the Irish +government twenty-five years before, marched upon London. +They defeated a royal force at Sevenoaks, and the city +opened its gate at the summons of Cade. The Kentish men +took possession of Southwark, while their Irish leader +for three days, entering the city every morning, compelled +the mayor and the judges to sit in the Guildhall, tried +and sentenced Lord Say to death, who, with his son-in-law, +Cromer, Sheriff of Kent, was accordingly executed. Every +evening, as he had promised the citizens, he retired with +his guards across the river, preserving the strictest +order among them. But the royalists were not idle, and +when, on the fourth morning Cade attempted as usual to +enter London proper, he found the bridge of Southwark +barricaded and defended by a strong force under the Lord +Scales. After six hours' hard fighting his raw levies +were repulsed, and many of them accepted a free pardon +tendered to them in the moment of defeat. Cade retired +with the remainder on Deptford and Rochester, but gradually +abandoned by them, he was surprised, half famished in a +garden at Heyfield, and put to death. His captor claimed +and received the large reward of a thousand marks offered +for his head. This was in the second week of July; on +the 1st of September, news was brought to London that +the Duke of York had suddenly landed from Ireland. His +partizans eagerly gathered round him at his castle of +Fotheringay, but for five years longer, by the repeated +concessions of the gentle-minded Henry, and the +interposition of powerful mediators, the actual war of +the roses was postponed. + +It is beyond our province to follow the details of that +ferocious struggle, which was waged almost incessantly +from 1455 till 1471--from the first battle of St. Albans +till the final battle at Tewksbury. We are interested in +it mainly as it connects the fortunes of the Anglo-Irish +Earls with one or other of the dynasties; and their +fortunes again, with the benefit or disadvantage of their +allies and relatives among our native Princes. Of the +transactions in England, it may be sufficient to say that +the Duke of York, after his victory at St. Albans in '55, +was declared Lord Protector of the realm during Henry's +imbecility; that the next year the King recovered and +the Protector's office was abolished; that in '57 both +parties stood at bay; in '58 an insecure peace was patched +up between them; in '59 they appealed to arms, the Yorkists +gained a victory at Bloreheath, but being defeated at +Ludiford, Duke Richard, with one of his sons, fled for +safety into Ireland. + +It was the month of November when the fugitive Duke +arrived to resume the Lord Lieutenancy which he had +formerly exercised. Legally, his commission, for those +who recognized the authority of King Henry, had expired +four months before--as it bore date from July 5th, 1449; +but it is evident the majority of the Anglo-Irish received +him as a Prince of their own election rather than as an +ordinary Viceroy. He held, soon after his arrival, a +Parliament at Dublin, which met by adjournment at Drogheda +the following spring. The English Parliament having +declared him, his duchess, sons, and principal adherents +traitors, and writs to that effect having been sent over, +the Irish Parliament passed a declaratory Act (1460) +making the service of all such writs treason against +_their_ authority--"it having been ever customary in +their land to receive and entertain strangers with due +respect and hospitality." Under this law, an emissary of +the Earl of Ormond, upon whom English writs against the +fugitives were found, was executed as a traitor. This +independent Parliament confirmed the Duke in his office; +made it high treason to imagine his death, and--taking +advantage of the favourable conjuncture of affairs--they +further declared that the inhabitants of Ireland could +only be bound by laws made in Ireland; that no writs were +of force unless issued under the great seal of Ireland; +that the realm had of ancient right its own Lord Constable +and Earl Marshal, by whom alone trials for treason alleged +to have been committed in Ireland could be conducted. In +the same busy spring, the Earl of Warwick (so celebrated +as "the Kingmaker" of English history) sailed from Calais, +of which he was Constable, with the Channel-fleet, of +which he was also in command, and doubling the Land's +End of England, arrived at Dublin to concert measures +for another rising in England. He found the Duke at Dublin +"surrounded by his Earls and homagers," and measures were +soon concerted between them. + +An appeal to the English nation was prepared at this +Conference, charging upon Henry's advisers that they had +written to the French King to besiege Calais, and to the +Irish Princes to expel the English settlers. The loyalty +of the fugitive lords, and their readiness to prove their +innocence before their sovereign, were stoutly asserted. +Emissaries were despatched in every direction; troops +were raised; Warwick soon after landed in Kent-always +strongly pro-Yorkist-defeated the royalists at Northampton +in July, and the Duke reaching London in October, a +compromise was agreed to, after much discussion, in which +Henry was to have the crown for life, while the Duke was +acknowledged as his successor, and created president of +his council. + +We have frequently remarked in our history the recurrence +of conflicts between the north and south of the island. +The same thing is distinctly traceable through the annals +of England down to a quite recent period. Whether difference +of race, or of admixture of race may not lie at the +foundation of such long-living enmities, we will not here +attempt to discuss; such, however, is the fact. Queen +Margaret had fled northward after the defeat of Northampton +towards the Scottish border, from which she now returned +at the head of 20,000 men. The Duke advanced rapidly to +meet her, and engaging with a far inferior force at +Wakefield, was slain in the field, or beheaded after the +battle. All now seemed lost to the Yorkist party, when +young Edward, son of Duke Richard, advancing from the +marches of Wales at the head of an army equal in numbers +to the royalists, won, in the month of February, 1461, +the battles of Mortimers-cross and Barnet, and was crowned +at Westminster in March, by the title of Edward IV. The +sanguinary battle of Towton, soon after his coronation, +where 38,000 dead were reckoned by the heralds, confirmed +his title and established his throne. Even the subsequent +hostility of Warwick--though it compelled him once to +surrender himself a prisoner, and once to fly the +country--did not finally transfer the sceptre to his +rival. Warwick was slain in the battle of Tewkesbury +(1471), the Lancasterian Prince Edward was put to death +on the field, and his unhappy father was murdered in +prison. Two years later, Henry, Earl of Richmond, grandson +of Catherine, Queen of Henry V. and Owen Ap Tudor, the +only remaining leader capable of rallying the beaten +party, was driven into exile in France, from which he +returned fourteen years afterwards to contest the crown +with Richard III. + +In these English wars, the only Irish nobleman who +sustained the Lancasterian cause was James, fifth Earl +of Ormond. He had been created by Henry, Earl of Wiltshire, +during his father's lifetime, in the same year in which +his father stood sponsor in Dublin for the son of the +Duke. He succeeded to the Irish title and estates in +1451: held a foremost rank in almost all the engagements +from the battle of Saint Albans to that of Towton, in +which he was taken prisoner and executed by order of +Edward IV. His blood was declared attainted, and his +estates forfeited; but a few years later both the title +and property were restored to Sir John Butler, the sixth +Earl. On the eve of the open rupture between the Roses, +another name intimately associated with Ireland disappeared +from the roll of the English nobility. The veteran Talbot, +Earl of Shrewsbury, in the eightieth year of his age, +accepted the command of the English forces in France, +retook the city of Bordeaux, but fell in attack on the +French camp at Chatillon, in the subsequent campaign-1453. +His son, Lord Lisle, was slain at the same time, defending +his father's body. Among other consequences which ensued, +the Talbot interest in Ireland suffered from the loss of +so powerful a patron at the English court. We have only +to add that at Wakefield, and in most of the other +engagements, there was a strong Anglo-Irish contingent +in the Yorkist ranks, and a smaller one--chiefly tenants +of Ormond--on the opposite side. Many writers complain +that the House of York drained "the Pale" of its defenders, +and thus still further diminished the resources of the +English interest in Ireland. + +In the last forty years of the fifteenth century, the +history of "the Pale" is the biography of the family of +the Geraldines. We must make some brief mention of the +remarkable men to whom we refer. + +Thomas, eighth Earl of Desmond, for his services to the +House of York, was appointed Lord Deputy in the first +years of Edward IV. He had naturally made himself obnoxious +to the Ormond interest, but still more so to the Talbots, +whose leader in civil contests was Sherwood, Bishop of +Meath--for some years, in despite of the Geraldines, Lord +Chancellor. Between him and Desmond there existed the +bitterest animosity. In 1464, nine of the Deputy's men +were slain in a broil in Fingall, by tenants or servants +of the Bishop. The next year each party repaired to London +to vindicate himself and criminate his antagonist. The +Bishop seems to have triumphed, for in 1466, John Tiptoft, +Earl of Worcester, called in England, for his barbarity +to Lancasterian prisoners, "the Butcher," superseded +Desmond. The movement of Thaddeus O'Brien, already related, +the same year, gave Tiptoft grounds for accusing Desmond, +Kildare, Sir Edward Plunkett, and others, of treason. On +this charge he summoned them before him at Drogheda in +the following February. Kildare wisely fled to England, +where he pleaded his innocence successfully with the +King. But Desmond and Plunkett, over-confident of their +own influence, repaired to Drogheda, were tried, condemned, +and beheaded. Their execution took place on the 15th day +of February, 1467. It is instructive to add that Tiptoft, +a few years later, underwent the fate in England, without +exciting a particle of the sympathy felt for Desmond. + +Thomas, seventh Earl of Kildare, succeeded on his safe +return from England to more than the power of his late +relative. The office of Chancellor, after a sharp +struggle, was taken from Bishop Sherwood, and confirmed +to him for life by an act of the twelfth, Edward III. He +had been named Lord Justice after Tiptoft's recall, in +1467, and four years later exchanged the title for that +of Lord Deputy to the young Duke of Clarence--the nominal +Lieutenant. In 1475, on some change of Court favour, the +supreme power was taken from him, and conferred on the +old enemy of his House, the Bishop of Meath. Kildare died +two years later, having signalized his latter days by +founding an Anglo-Irish order of chivalry, called "the +Brothers of St. George." This order was to consist of 13 +persons of the highest rank within the Pale, 120 mounted +archers, and 40 horsemen, attended by 40 pages. The +officers were to assemble annually in Dublin, on St. +George's Day, to elect their Captain from their own +number. After having existed twenty years the Brotherhood +was suppressed by the jealousy of Henry VII., in 1494. + +Gerald, eighth Earl of Kildare (called in the Irish Annals +Geroit More, or "the Great"), succeeded his father in +1477. He had the gratification of ousting Sherwood from +the government the following year, and having it transferred +to himself. For nearly forty years he continued the +central figure among the Anglo-Irish, and as his family +were closely connected by marriage with the McCarthys, +O'Carrolls of Ely, the O'Conors of Offally, O'Neils and +O'Donnells, he exercised immense influence over the +affairs of all the Provinces. In his tune, moreover, the +English interest, under the auspices of an undisturbed +dynasty, and a cautious, politic Prince (Henry VII.), +began by slow and almost imperceptible degrees to recover +the unity and compactness it had lost ever since the Red +Earl's death. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE AGE AND RULE OF GERALD, EIGHTH EARL OF KILDARE--THE +TIDE BEGINS TO TURN FOR THE ENGLISH INTEREST--THE YORKIST +PRETENDERS, SIMNEL AND WARBECK--POYNING'S PARLIAMENT-- +BATTLES OF KNOCKDOE AND MONABRAHER. + +Perhaps no preface could better introduce to the reader +the singular events which marked the times of Gerald, +eighth Earl of Kildare, than a brief account of one of +his principal partizans--Sir James Keating, Prior of the +Knights of St. John. The family of Keating, of Norman-Irish +origin, were most numerous in the fifteenth century in +Kildare, from which they afterwards spread into Tipperary +and Limerick. Sir James Keating, "a mere Irishman," became +Prior of Kilmainham about the year 1461, at which time +Sir Robert Dowdal, deputy to the Lord Treasurer, complained +in Parliament, that being on a pilgrimage to one of the +shrines of the Pale, he was assaulted near Cloniff, by +the Prior, with a drawn sword, and thereby put in danger +of his life. It was accordingly decreed that Keating +should pay to the King a hundred pounds fine, and to Sir +Robert a hundred marks; but, from certain technical errors +in the proceedings, he successfully evaded both these +penalties. When in the year 1478 the Lord Grey of Codner +was sent over to supersede Kildare, he took the decided +step of refusing to surrender to that nobleman the Castle +of Dublin, of which he was Constable. Being threatened +with an assault, he broke down the bridge and prepared +his defence, while his Mend, the Earl of Kildare, called +a Parliament at Naas, in opposition to Lord Grey's Assembly +at Dublin. In 1480, after two years of rival parties and +viceroys, Lord Grey was feign to resign his office, and +Kildare was regularly appointed Deputy to Richard, Duke +of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III. Two years later, +Keating was deprived of his rank by Peter d'Aubusson, +Grand Master of Rhodes, who appointed Sir Marmaduke +Lumley, an English knight, in his stead. Sir Marmaduke +landed soon after at Clontarf, where he was taken prisoner +by Keating, and kept in close confinement until he had +surrendered all the instruments of his election and +confirmation. He was then enlarged, and appointed to the +commandery of Kilseran, near Castlebellingham, in Louth. +In the year 1488, Keating was one of those who took an +active part in favour of the pretender Lambert Simnel, +and although his pardon had been sternly refused by +Henry VII., he retained possession of the Hospital until +1491, when he was ejected by force, "and ended his +turbulent life," as we are told, "in the most abject +poverty and disgrace." All whom he had appointed to office +were removed; an Act of Parliament was passed, prohibiting +the reception of any "mere Irishman" into the Order for +the future, and enacting that whoever was recognized as +Prior by the Grand Master should be of English birth, +and one having such a connection with the Order there as +might strengthen the force and interest of the Kings of +England in Ireland. + +The fact most indicative of the spirit of the times is, +that a man of Prior Keating's disposition could, for +thirty years, have played such a daring part as we have +described in the city of Dublin. During the greater part +of that period, he held the office of Constable of the +Castle and Prior of Kilmainham, in defiance of English +Deputies and English Kings; than which no farther evidence +may be adduced to show how completely the English, interest +was extinguished, even within the walls of Dublin, during +the reign of the last of the Plantagenet Princes, and +the first years of Henry VII. + +In 1485, Henry, Earl of Richmond, grandson of Queen +Catherine and Owen ap Tudor, returned from his fourteen +years' exile in France, and, by the victory of Bosworth, +took possession of the throne. The Earl of Kildare, +undisputed Deputy during the last years of Edward IV., +had been continued by Richard, and was not removed by +Henry VII. Though a staunch Yorkist, he showed no outward +opposition to the change of dynasty, for which he found +a graceful apology soon afterwards. Being at Mass, in +Christ's Church Cathedral, on the 2nd of February, 1486, +he received intelligence of Henry's marriage with Elizabeth +of York, which he at once communicated to the Archbishop +of Dublin, and ordered an additional Mass for the King +and Queen. Yet, from the hour of that union of the houses +of York and Lancaster, it needed no extraordinary wisdom +to foresee that the exemption of the Anglo-Irish nobles +from the supremacy of their nominal King must come to an +end, and the freedom of the old Irish from any formidable +external danger must also close. The union of the Roses, +so full of the promise of peace for England, was to form +the date of a new era in her relations with Ireland. The +tide of English power was at that hour at its lowest ebb; +it had left far in the interior the landmarks of its +first irresistible rush; it might be said, without +exaggeration, that Gaelic children now gathered shells +and pebbles where that tide once rolled, charged with +all its thunders; it was now about to turn; the first +murmuring menace of new encroachments began to be heard +under Henry VII.; as we listen they grow louder on the +ear; the waves advance with a steady, deliberate march, +unlike the first impetuous onslaught of the Normans; they +advance and do not recede, till they recover all the +ground they had abandoned. The era which we dated from +the Red Earl's death, in 1333, has exhausted its resources +of aggression and assimilation; a new era opens with the +reign of Henry VII.--or more distinctly still, with that +of his successor, Henry VIII. We must close our account +with the old era, before entering upon the new. + +The contest between the Earl of Kildare and Lord Grey +for the government (1478-1480) marks the lowest ebb of +the English power. We have already related how Prior +Keating shut the Castle gates on the English deputy, and +threatened to fire on his guard if he attempted to force +them. Lord Portlester also, the Chancellor, and +father-in-law to Kildare, joined that Earl in his Parliament +at Naas with the great seal. Lord Grey, in his Dublin +Assembly, declared the great seal cancelled, and ordered +a new one to be struck, but after a two years' contest +he was obliged to succumb to the greater influence of +the Geraldines. Kildare was regularly acknowledged Lord +Deputy, under the King's privy seal. It was ordained that +thereafter there should be but one Parliament convoked +during the year; that but one subsidy should be demanded, +annually, the sum "not to exceed a thousand marks." +Certain Acts of both Parliaments--Grey's and +Kildare's--were by compromise confirmed. Of these were +two which do not seem to collate very well with each +other; one prohibiting the inhabitants of the Pale from +holding any intercourse whatsoever with the mere Irish; +the other extending to Con O'Neil, Prince of Tyrone, and +brother-in-law of Kildare, the rights of a naturalized +subject within the Pale. The former was probably Lord +Grey's; the latter was Lord Kildare's legislation. + +Although Henry VII. had neither disturbed the Earl in +his governments, nor his brother, Lord Thomas, as +Chancellor, it was not to be expected that he could place +entire confidence in the leading Yorkist family among +the Anglo-Irish. The restoration of the Ormond estates, +in favour of Thomas, seventh Earl, was both politic and +just, and could hardly be objectionable to Kildare, who +had just married one of his daughters to Pierce Butler, +nephew and heir to Thomas. The want of confidence between +the new King and his Deputy was first exhibited in 1486, +when the Earl, being summoned to attend on his Majesty, +called a Parliament at Trim, which voted him an address, +representing that in the affairs about to be discussed, +his presence was absolutely necessary. Henry affected to +accept the excuse as valid, but every arrival of Court +news contained some fresh indication of his deep-seated +mistrust of the Lord Deputy, who, however, he dared not +yet dismiss. + +The only surviving Yorkists who could put forward +pretensions to the throne were the Earl of Lincoln, +Richard's declared heir, and the young Earl of Warwick, +son of that Duke of Clarence who was born in Dublin Castle +in 1449. Lincoln, with Lord Lovell and others of his +friends, was in exile at the court of the dowager Duchess +of Burgundy, sister to Edward IV.; and the son of +Clarence--a lad of fifteen years of age--was a prisoner +in the Tower. In the year 1486, a report spread of the +escape of this Prince, and soon afterwards Richard Symon, +a Priest of Oxford, landed in Dublin with a youth of the +same age, of prepossessing appearance and address, who +could relate with the minutest detail the incidents of +his previous imprisonment. He was at once recognized as +the son of Clarence by the Earl of Kildare and his party, +and preparations were made for his coronation by the +title of Edward VI. Henry, alarmed, produced from the +Tower the genuine Warwick, whom he publicly paraded +through London, in order to prove that the pretender in +Dublin was an impostor. The Duchess of Burgundy, however, +fitted out a fleet, containing 2,000 veteran troops, +under the command of Martin Swart, who, sailing up the +channel, reached Dublin without interruption. With this +fleet came the Earl of Lincoln, Lord Lovell, and the +other English refugees, who all recognized the _protege_ +of Father Symon as the true Prince. Octavius, the Italian +Archbishop of Armagh, then residing at Dublin, the Bishop +of Clogher, the Butlers, and the Baron of Howth, were +incredulous or hostile. The great majority of the +Anglo-Irish lords, spiritual and temporal, favoured his +cause, and he was accordingly crowned in Christ Church +Cathedral, with a diadem taken from an image of our Lady, +on the 24th of May, 1487; the Deputy, Chancellor, and +Treasurer were present; the sermon was preached by Pain, +Bishop of Meath. A Parliament was next convoked in his +name, in which the Butlers and citizens of Waterford were +proscribed as traitors. A herald from the latter city, +who had spoken over boldly, was hanged by the Dubliners +as a proof of their loyalty. The Council ordered a force +to be equipped for the service of his new Majesty in +England, and Lord Thomas Fitzgerald resigned the +Chancellorship to take the command. This expedition--the +last which invaded England from the side of Ireland +--sailed from Dublin about the first of June, and landing +on the Lancashire shore, at the pile of Foudray, marched +to Ulverstone, where they were joined by Sir Thomas +Broughton and other devoted Yorkists. From Ulverstone +the whole force, about 8,000 strong, marched into Yorkshire, +and from Yorkshire southwards into Nottingham. Henry, +who had been engaged in making a progress through the +southern counties, hastened to meet him, and both armies +met at Stoke-upon-Trent, near Newark, on the 16th day of +June, 1487. The battle was contested with the utmost +obstinacy, but the English prevailed. The Earl of Lincoln, +the Lords Thomas and Maurice Fitzgerald, Plunkett, son +of Lord Killeen, Martin Swart, and Sir Thomas Broughton +were slain; Lord Lovell escaped, but was never heard of +afterwards; the pretended Edward VI. was captured, and +spared by Henry only to be made a scullion in his kitchen. +Father Symon was cast into prison, where he died, after +having confessed that his _protege_ was Lambert Simnel, +the son of a joiner at Oxford. + +Nothing shows the strength of the Kildare party, and the +weakness of the English interest, more than that the +deputy and his partizans were still continued in office. +They despatched a joint letter to the King, deprecating +his anger, which he was prudent enough to conceal. He +sent over, the following spring, Sir Richard Edgecombe, +Comptroller of his household, accompanied by a guard of +500 men. Sir Richard first touched at Kinsale, where he +received the homage of the Lords Barry and de Courcy; he +then sailed to Waterford, where he delivered to the Mayor +royal letters confirming the city in its privileges, and +authorizing its merchants to seize and distress those of +Dublin, unless they made their submission. After leaving +Waterford, he landed at Malahide, passing by Dublin, to +which he proceeded by land, accompanied with his guard. +The Earl of Kildare was absent on a pilgrimage, from +which he did not return for several days. His first +interviews with Edgecombe were cold and formal, but +finally on the 21st of July, after eight or ten days' +disputation, the Earl and the other lords of his party +did homage to King Henry, in the great chamber of his +town-house in Thomas Court, and thence proceeding to the +chapel, took the oath of allegiance on the consecrated +host. With this submission Henry was fain to be content; +Kildare, Portlester, and Plunkett were continued in +office. The only one to whom the King's pardon was +persistently refused was Sir James Keating, Prior of +Kilmainham. + +In the subsequent attempts of Perkin Warbeck (1492-1499), +in the character of Richard, Duke of York, one of the +Princes murdered in the tower by Richard III., the +Anglo-Irish took a less active part. Warbeck landed at +Cork from Lisbon, and despatched letters to the Earls of +Kildare and Desmond, to which they returned civil but +evasive replies. At Cork he received an invitation from +the King of France to visit that country, where he remained +till the conclusion of peace between France and England. +He then retired to Burgundy, where he was cordially +received by the Duchess; after an unsuccessful descent +on the coast of Kent, he took refuge in Scotland, where +he married a lady closely allied to the crown. In 1497 +he again tried his fortune in the South of Ireland, was +joined by Maurice, tenth Earl of Desmond, the Lord Barry, +and the citizens of Cork. Having laid siege to Waterford, +he was compelled to retire with loss, and Desmond having +made his peace with Henry, Warbeck was forced again to +fly into Scotland. In 1497 and '8, he made new attempts +to excite insurrection in his favour in the north of +England and in Cornwall. He was finally taken and put +to death on the 16th of November, 1499. With him suffered +his first and most faithful adherent, John Waters, who +had been Mayor of Cork at his first landing from Lisbon, +in 1492, and who is ignorantly or designedly called by +Henry's partizan "O'Water." History has not yet positively +established the fraudulency of this pretender. A late +eminently cautious writer, with all the evidence which +modern research has accumulated, speaks of him as "one +of the most mysterious persons in English history;" and +in mystery we must leave him. + +We have somewhat anticipated events, in other quarters, +in order to dispose of both the Yorkist pretenders at +the same time. The situation of the Earls of Kildare in +this and the next reign, though full of grandeur, was +also full of peril. Within the Pale they had one part to +play, without the Pale another. Within the Pale they held +one language, without it another. At Dublin they were +English Earls, beyond the Boyne or the Barrow, they were +Irish chiefs. They had to tread their cautious, and not +always consistent way, through the endless complications +which must arise between two nations occupying the same +soil, with conflicting allegiance, language, laws, customs, +and interests. While we frequently feel indignant at +the tone they take towards the "Irish enemy" in their +despatches to London--the pretended enemies being at that +very time their confidants and allies-on farther reflection +we feel disposed to make some allowance on the score of +circumstance and necessity, for a duplicity which, in +the end, brought about, as duplicity in public affairs +ever does, its own punishment. + +In Ulster as well as in Leinster, the ascendency of the +Earl of Kildare over the native population was widespread +and long sustained. Con O'Neil, Lord of Tyrone, from 1483 +to 1491, and Turlogh, Con and Art, his sons and successors +(from 1498 to 1548), maintained the most intimate relations +with this Earl and his successors. To the former he was +brother-in-law, and to the latter, of course, uncle; to +all he seems to have been strongly attached. Hugh Roe +O'Donnell, Lord of Tyrconnell (1450-1505), and his son +and successor, Hugh Dhu O'Donnell, (1505-1530), were also +closely connected with Kildare both by friendship and +intermarriage. In 1491, O'Neil and O'Donnell mutually +submitted their disputes to his decision, at his Castle +of Maynooth, and though he found it impossible to reconcile +them at the moment, we find both of these houses cordially +united with him afterwards. In 1498, he took Dungannon +and Omagh, "with great guns," from the insurgents against +the authority of his grandson, Turlogh O'Neil, and restored +them to Turlogh; the next year he visited O'Donnell, and +brought his son Henry to be fostered among the kindly +Irish of Tyrconnell. In the year 1500 he also placed +the Castle of Kinnaird in the custody of Turlogh O'Neil. +In Leinster, the Geraldine interest was still more entirely +bound up with that of the native population. His son, +Sir Oliver of Killeigh, married an O'Conor of Offally; +the daughter of another son, Sir James of Leixlip, +(sometimes called the Knight of the Valley) became the +wife of the chief of Imayle. The Earl of Ormond, and +Ulick Burke of Clanrickarde, were also sons-in-law of +the eighth Earl, but in both these cases the old family +feuds survived in despite of the new family alliances. + +In the fourth year after his accession, Henry VII., +proceeding by slow degrees to undermine Kildare's enormous +power, summoned the chief Anglo-Irish nobles to his Court +at Greenwich, where he reproached them with their support +of Simnel, who, to their extreme confusion, he caused to +wait on them as butler, at dinner. A year or two afterwards, +he removed Lord Portlester, from the Treasurership, which +he conferred on Sir James Butler, the bastard of Ormond. +Plunkett, the Chief-Justice, was promoted to the +Chancellorship, and Kildare himself was removed to make +way for Fitzsymons, Archbishop of Dublin. This, however, +was but a government _ad interim_, for in the year 1494, +a wholly English administration was appointed. Sir Edward +Poynings, with a picked force of 1,000 men, was appointed +Lord Deputy; the Bishop of Bangor was appointed Chancellor, +Sir Hugh Conway, an Englishman, was to be Treasurer; and +these officials were accompanied by an entirely new bench +of judges, all English, whom they were instructed to +instal immediately on their arrival. Kildare had resisted +the first changes with vigour, and a bloody feud had +taken place between his retainers and those of Sir James +of Ormond, on the green of Oxmantown--now Smithfield, in +Dublin. On the arrival of Poynings, however, he submitted +with the best possible grace, and accompanied that deputy +to Drogheda, where he had summoned a Parliament to meet +him. From Drogheda, they made an incursion into O'Hanlon's +country (Orior in Armagh). On returning from Drogheda, +Poynings, on a real or pretended discovery of a secret +understanding between O'Hanlon and Kildare, arrested the +latter, in Dublin, and at once placed him on board a +barque "kept waiting for that purpose," and despatched +him to England. On reaching London, he was imprisoned in +the Tower, for two years, during which time his party in +Ireland were left headless and dispirited. + +The government of Sir Edward Poynings, which lasted from +1494 till Kildare's restoration, in August, 1496, is most +memorable for the character of its legislation. He +assembled a Parliament at Drogheda, in November, 1495, +at which were passed the statutes so celebrated in our +Parliamentary history as the "10th Henry VII." These +statutes were the first enacted in Ireland in which the +English language was employed. They confirmed the Provisions +of the Statute of Kilkenny, except that prohibiting the +use of the Irish language, which had now become so deeply +rooted, even within the Pale, as to make its immediate +abolition impracticable. The hospitable law passed in +the time of Richard, Duke of York, against the arrest of +refugees by virtue of writs issued in England, was +repealed. The English acts, against provisors to Rome-- +ecclesiastics who applied for or accepted preferment +directly from Rome--were adopted. It was also enacted +that all offices should be held at the King's pleasure; +that the Lords of Parliament should appear in their robes +as the Lords did in England; that no one should presume +to make peace or war except with license of the Governor; +that no great guns should be kept in the fortresses except +by similar license; and that men of English _birth_ only +should be appointed Constables of the Castles of Dublin, +Trim, Leixlip, Athlone, Wicklow, Greencastle, Carlingford, +and Carrickfergus. But the most important measure of all +was one which provided that thereafter no legislation +whatever should be proceeded with in Ireland, unless the +bills to be proposed were first submitted to the King +and Council in England, and were returned, certified +under the great seal of the realm. This is what is usually +and specially called in our Parliamentary history "Poyning's +Act," and next to the Statute of Kilkenny, it may be +considered the most important enactment ever passed at +any Parliament of the English settlers. + +The liberation of the Earl of Kildare from the Tower, +and his restoration as Deputy, seems to have been hastened +by the movements of Perkin Warbeck, and by the visit of +Hugh Roe O'Donnell to James IV., King of Scotland. +O'Donnell had arrived at Ayr in the month of August, +1495, a few weeks after Warbeck had reached that court. +He was received with great splendour and cordiality by +the accomplished Prince, then lately come of age, and +filled with projects natural to his youth and temperament. +With O'Donnell, according to the Four Masters, he formed +a league, by which they bound themselves "mutually to +assist each other in all their exigencies." The knowledge +of this alliance, and of Warbeck's favour at the Scottish +Court, no doubt decided Henry to avail himself, if +possible, of the assistance of his most powerful Irish +subject. There was, moreover, another influence at work. +The first countess had died soon after her husband's +arrest, and he now married, in England, Elizabeth St. +John, cousin to the King. Fortified in his allegiance +and court favour by this alliance, he returned in triumph +to Dublin, where he was welcomed with enthusiasm. + +In his subsequent conduct as Lord Deputy, an office which +he continued to hold till his death in 1513, this powerful +nobleman seems to have steadily upheld the English +interest, which was now in harmony with his own. Having +driven off Warbeck in his last visit to Ireland (1497), +he received extensive estates in England, as a reward +for his zeal, and after the victory of Knock-doe (1505), +he was installed by proxy at Windsor as Knight of the +Garter. This long-continued reign--for such in truth it +may be called--left him without a rival in his latter +years. He marched to whatever end of the island he would, +pulling down and setting up chiefs and castles; his +garrisons were to be found from Belfast to Cork, and +along the valley of the Shannon, from Athleague to +Limerick. + +The last event of national importance connected with the +name of Geroit More arose out of the battle of KNOCK-DOE, +("battle-axe hill"), fought within seven or eight miles +of Galway town, on the 19th of August, 1504. Few of the +cardinal facts in our history have been more entirely +misapprehended and misrepresented than this. It is usually +described as a pitched battle between English and Irish +--the turning point in the war of races--and the second +foundation of English power. The simple circumstances +are these: Ulick III., Lord of Clanrickarde, had married +and misused the lady Eustacia Fitzgerald, who seems to +have fled to her father, leaving her children behind. +This led to an embittered family dispute, which was +expanded into a public quarrel by the complaint of William +O'Kelly, whose Castles of Garbally, Monivea, and Gallagh, +Burke had seized and demolished. In reinstating O'Kelly, +Kildare found the opportunity which he sought to punish +his son-in-law, and both parties prepared for a trial of +strength. It so happened that Clanrickarde's alliances +at that day were chiefly with O'Brien and the southern +Irish, while Kildare's were with those of Ulster. From +these causes, what was at first a family quarrel, and at +most a local feud, swelled into the dimensions of a +national contest between North and South--Leath-Moghda +and Leath-Conn. Under these terms, the native Annalists +accurately describe the belligerents on either side. With +Kildare were the Lords of Tyrconnell, Sligo, Moylurg, +Breffni, Oriel, and Orior; O'Farrell, Bishop of Ardagh, +the Tanist of Tyrowen, the heir of Iveagh, O'Kelly of +Hy-Many, McWilliam of Mayo, the Barons of Slane, Delvin, +Howth, Dunsany, Gormanstown, Trimblestown, and John Blake, +Mayor of Dublin, with the city militia. With Clanrickarde +were Turlogh O'Brien, son of the Lord of Thomond, McNamara +of Clare, O'Carroll of Ely, O'Brien of Ara, and O'Kennedy +of Ormond. The battle was obstinate and bloody. Artillery +and musketry, first introduced from Germany some twenty +years before (1487), were freely used, and the ploughshare +of the peasant has often turned up bullets, large and +small, upon the hillside where the battle was fought. +The most credible account sets down the number of the +slain at 2,000 men--the most exaggerated at 9,000. The +victory was with Kildare, who, after encamping on the +field for twenty-four hours, by the advice of O'Donnell, +marched next day to Galway, where he found the children +of Clanrickarde, whom he restored to their injured mother. +Athenry opened its gates to receive the conquerors, and +after celebrating their victory in the stronghold of the +vanquished, the Ulster chiefs returned to the North, and +Kildare to Dublin. + +Less known is the battle of Monabraher, which may be +considered the offset of Knock-doe. It was fought in +1510--the first year of Henry VIII., who had just +confirmed Lord Kildare in the government. The younger +O'Donnell joined him in Munster, and after taking the +Castles of Kanturk, Pallis, and Castelmaine, they marched +to Limerick, where the Earl of Desmond, the McCarthys of +both branches, and "the Irish of Meath and Leinster," in +alliance with Kildare, joined them with their forces. +The old allies, Turlogh O'Brien, Clanrickarde, and the +McNamaras, attacked them at the bridge of Portrush, near +Castleconnell, and drove them through Monabraher ("the +friar's bog"), with the loss of the Barons Barnwall and +Kent, and many of their forces; the survivors were feign +to take refuge within the walls of Limerick. + +Three years later, Earl Gerald set out to besiege Leap +Castle, in O'Moore's country; but it happened that as he +was watering his horse in the little river Greese, at +Kilkea, he was shot by one of the O'Moores: he was +immediately carried to Athy, where shortly afterwards he +expired. If we except the first Hugh de Lacy and the Red +Earl of Ulster, the Normans in Ireland had not produced +a more illustrious man than Gerald, eighth Earl of Kildare. +He was, says Stainhurst, "of tall stature and goodly +presence; very liberal and merciful; of strict piety; +mild in his government; passionate, but easily appeased." +And our justice-loving _Four Masters_ have described him +as "a knight in valour, and princely and religious in +his words and judgments." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +STATE OF IRISH AND ANGLO-IRISH SOCIETY DURING THE +FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES. + +The main peculiarities of social life among the Irish +and Anglo-Irish during the fourteenth and fifteenth +centuries are still visible to us. Of the drudges of the +earth, as in all other histories, we see or hear little +or nothing, but of those orders of men of whom the historic +muse takes count, such as bards, rulers, builders, and +religious, there is much information to be found scattered +up and down our annals, which, if properly put together +and clearly interpreted, may afford us a tolerably clear +view of the men and their times. + +The love of learning, always strong in this race of men +and women, revived in full force with their exemption +from the immediate pressure of foreign invasion. The +person of Bard and Brehon was still held inviolable; to +the malediction of the Bard of Usnagh was attributed the +sudden death of the Deputy, Sir John Stanley; to the +murder of the Brehon McEgan is traced all the misfortunes +which befell the sons of Irial O'Farrell. To receive the +poet graciously, to seat him in the place of honour at +the feast, to listen to him with reverence, and to reward +him munificently, were considered duties incumbent on +the princes of the land. And these duties, to do them +justice, they never neglected. One of the O'Neils is +specially praised for having given more gifts to poets, +and having "a larger collection of poems" than any other +man of his age. In the struggle between O'Donnell and +O'Conor for the northern corner of Sligo, we find mention +made of books accidentally burned in "the house of the +manuscripts," in Lough Gill. Among the spoils carried +off by O'Donnell, on another occasion, were two famous +books--one of which, the Leahar Gear (Short Book), he +afterwards paid back, as part of the ransom for the +release of his friend, O'Doherty. + +The Bards and Ollams, though more dependent on their +Princes than we have seen them in their early palmy days, +had yet ample hereditary estates in every principality +and lordship. If natural posterity failed, the incumbent +was free to adopt some capable person as his heir. It +was in this way the family of O'Clery, originally of +Tyrawley, came to settle in Tyrconnell, towards the end +of the fourteenth century. At that time O'Sgingin, chief +Ollam to O'Donnell, offered his daughter in marriage to +Cormac O'Clery, a young professor of both laws, in the +monastery near Ballyshannon, on condition that the first +male child born of the marriage should be brought up to +his own profession. This was readily agreed to, and from +this auspicious marriage descended the famous family, +which produced three of the Four Masters of Donegal. + +The virtue of hospitality was, of all others, that which +the old Irish of every degree in rank and wealth most +cheerfully practised. In many cases it degenerated into +extravagance and prodigality. But in general it is +presented to us in so winning a garb that our objections +on the score of prudence vanish before it. When we read +of the freeness of heart of Henry Avery O'Neil, who +granted all manner of things "that came into his hands," +to all manner of men, we pause and doubt whether such a +virtue in such excess may not lean towards vice. But when +we hear of a powerful lord, like William O'Kelly of +Galway, entertaining throughout the Christmas holydays +all the poets, musicians, and poor persons who choose to +flock to him, or of the pious and splendid Margaret +O'Carroll, receiving twice a year in Offally all the +Bards of Albyn and Erin, we cannot but envy the professors +of the gentle art their good fortune in having lived in +such times, and shared in such assemblies. As hospitality +was the first of social virtues, so inhospitality was +the worst of vices; the unpopularity of a churl descended +to his posterity through successive generations. + +The high estimation in which women were held among the +tribes is evident from the particularity with which the +historians record their obits and marriages. The maiden +name of the wife was never wholly lost in that of her +husband, and if her family were of equal standing with +his before marriage, she generally retained her full +share of authority afterwards. The Margaret O'Carroll +already mentioned, a descendant and progenitress of +illustrious women, rode privately to Trim, as we are +told, with some English prisoners, taken by her husband, +O'Conor of Offally, and exchanged them for others of +equal worth lying in that fortress; and "this she did," +it is added, "without the knowledge of" her husband. This +lady was famed not only for her exceeding hospitality +and her extreme piety, but for other more unexpected +works. Her name is remembered in connection with the +erection of bridges and the making of highways, as well +as the building of churches, and the presentation of +missals and mass-books. And the grace she thus acquired +long brought blessings upon her posterity, among whom +there never were wanting able men and heroic women while +they kept their place in the land. An equally celebrated +but less amiable woman was Margaret Fitzgerald, daughter +of the eighth Earl of Kildare, and wife of Pierce, eighth +Earl of Ormond. "She was," says the Dublin Annalist, "a +lady of such port that all the estates of the realm +couched to her, so politique that nothing was thought +substantially debated without her advice." Her decision +of character is preserved in numerous traditions in and +around Kilkenny, where she lies buried. Of her is told +the story that when exhorted on her death-bed to make +restitution of some ill-got lands, and being told the +penalty that awaited her if she died impenitent, she +answered, "it was better one old woman should burn for +eternity than that the Butlers should be curtailed of +their estates." + +The fame of virtuous deeds, of generosity, of peace-making, +of fidelity, was in that state of society as easily +attainable by women as by men. The Unas, Finolas, Sabias, +Lasarinas, were as certain of immortality as the Hughs, +Cathals, Donalds and Conors, their sons, brothers, or +lovers. Perhaps it would be impossible to find any history +of those or of later ages in which women are treated upon +a more perfect equality with men, where their virtues +and talents entitled them to such consideration. + +The piety of the age, though it had lost something of +the simplicity and fervour of older times, was still +conspicuous and edifying. Within the island, the pilgrimage +of Saint Patrick's purgatory, the shrine of our Lady of +Trim, the virtues of the holy cross of Raphoe, the miracles +wrought by the _Baculum Christi_, and other relics of +Christ Church, Dublin, were implicitly believed and +piously frequented. The long and dangerous journeys to +Rome and Jerusalem were frequently taken, but the favourite +foreign vow was to Compostella, in Spain. Chiefs, Ladies, +and Bards, are almost annually mentioned as having sailed +or returned from the city of St. James; generally these +pilgrims left in companies, and returned in the same way. +The great Jubilee of 1450, so enthusiastically attended +from every corner of Christendom, drew vast multitudes +from our island to Rome. By those who returned tidings +were first brought to Ireland of the capture of +Constantinople by the Turks. On receipt of this +intelligence, which sent a thrill through the heart of +Europe, Tregury, Archbishop of Dublin, proclaimed a fast +of three days, and on each day walked in sackcloth, with +his clergy, through the streets of the city, to the +Cathedral. By many in that age the event was connected +with the mystic utterances of the Apocalypse, and the +often-apprehended consummation of all Time. + +Although the Irish were then, as they still are, firm +believers in supernatural influence working visibly among +men, they do not appear to have ever been slaves to the +terrible delusion of witchcraft. Among the Anglo-Irish +we find the first instance of that mania which appears +in our history, and we believe the only one, if we except +the Presbyterian witches Of Carrickfergus, in the early +part of the eighteenth century. The scene of the ancient +delusion was Kilkenny, where Bishop Ledred accused the +Lady Alice Kettel, and William her son, of practising +black magic, in the year 1327. Sir Roger Outlaw, Prior +of Kilmainham, and stepson to Lady Alice, undertook to +protect her; but the fearful charge was extended to him +also, and he was compelled to enter on his defence. The +tribunal appointed to try the charge--one of the main +grounds on which the Templars had been suppressed +twenty-five years before--was composed of the Dean of +St. Patrick's, the Prior of Christ Church, the Abbots of +St. Mary's and St. Thomas's, Dublin, Mr. Elias Lawless, +and Mr. Peter Willeby, lawyers. Outlaw was acquitted, +and Ledred forced to fly for safety to England, of which +he was a native. It is pleasant to remember that, although +Irish credulity sometimes took shapes absurd and grotesque +enough, it never was perverted into diabolical channels, +or directed to the barbarities of witch-finding. + +About the beginning of the fifteenth century we meet with +the first mention of the use of Usquebagh, or _Aqua +Vitae_, in our Annals. Under the date of 1405 we read +that McRannal, or Reynolds, chief of Muntireolais, died +of a surfeit of it, about Christmas. A quaint Elizabethan +writer thus descants on the properties of that liquor, +as he found them, by personal experience: "For the rawness +(of the air) they (the Irish) have an excellent remedy +by their _Aqua Vitae_, vulgarly called _Usquebagh_, which +binds up the belly and drieth up moisture more than our +_Aqua Vitae_, yet inflameth not so much." + +And as the opening of the century may be considered +notable for the first mention of _Usquebagh_, so its +close is memorable for the first employment of fire-arms. +In the year 1489, according to Anglo-Irish Annals, "six +hand guns or musquets were sent to the Earl of Kildare +out of Germany," which his guard bore while on sentry at +Thomas Court--his Dublin residence. But two years earlier +(1487) we have positive mention of the employment of guns +at the siege of Castlecar, in Leitrim, by Hugh Roe +O'Donnell. Great guns were freely used ten years later +in the taking of Dungannon and Omagh, and contributed, +not a little to the victory of Knock-doe--in 1505. About +the same time we begin to hear of their employment by +sea in rather a curious connection. A certain French +Knight, returning from the pilgrimage of Lough Derg, +visiting O'Donnell at Donegal, heard of the anxiety of +his entertainer to take a certain Castle which stood by +the sea, in Sligo. This Knight promised to send him, on +Ms return to France, "a vessel carrying great guns," +which he accordingly did, and the Castle was in consequence +taken. Nevertheless the old Irish, according to their +habit, took but slowly to this wonderful invention, though +destined to revolutionize the art to which they were +naturally predisposed--the art of war. + +The dwellings of the chiefs, and of the wealthy among +the proprietors, near the marches, were chiefly situated +amid pallisaded islands, or on promontories naturally +moated by lakes. The houses, in those circumstances, +were mostly of framework, though the Milesian nobles, in +less exposed districts, had castles of stone, after the +Norman fashion. The Castle "bawn" was usually enclosed +by one or more strong walls, the inner sides of which +were lined with barns, stables, and the houses of the +retainers. Not unfrequently the thatched roofs of these +outbuildings taking fire, compelled the castle to surrender. +The Castle "green," whether within or without the walls, +was the usual scene of rural sports and athletic games, +of which, at all periods, our ancestors were so fond. Of +the interior economy of the Milesian rath, or dun, we +know less than of the Norman tower, where, before the +huge kitchen chimney, the heavy-laden spit was turned by +hand, while the dining-hall was adorned with the glitter +of the dresser, or by tapestry hangings;-the floors of +hall and chambers being strewn with rushes and odorous +herbs. We have spoken of the zeal of the Milesian Chiefs +in accumulating MSS. and in rewarding Bards and Scribes. +We are enabled to form some idea of the mental resources +of an Anglo-Irish nobleman of the fifteenth century, from +the catalogue of the library remaining in Maynooth Castle, +in the reign of Henry VIII. Of Latin books, there were +the works of several of the schoolmen, the dialogues of +St. Gregory, Virgil, Juvenal, and Terence; the Holy Bible; +Boethius' Consolations of Philosophy, and Saint Thomas's +Summa; of French works, Froissart, Mandeville, two French +Bibles, a French Livy and Caesar, with the most popular +romances; in English, there were the Polychronicon, +Cambrensis, Lyttleton's Tenures, Sir Thomas More's book +on Pilgrimages, and several romances. Moreover, there +were copies of the Psalter of Cashel, a book of Irish +chronicles, lives of St. Beraghan, St. Fiech and St. +Finian, with various religious tracts, and romantic tales. +This was, perhaps, the most extensive private collection +to be found within the Pale; we have every reason to +infer, that, at least in Irish and Latin works, the +Castles of the older race--lovers of learning and +entertainers of learned men--were not worse furnished +than Maynooth. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +STATE OF RELIGION AND LEARNING DURING THE FOURTEENTH +AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES. + +Although the English and Irish professed the same religion +during these ages, yet in the appointment of Bishops, +the administration of ecclesiastical property, and in +all their views of the relation of the Church to the +State, the two nations differed almost as widely as in +their laws, language, and customs. The Plantagenet +princes and their Parliaments had always exhibited a +jealousy of the See of Rome, and statute upon, statute +was passed, from the reign of Henry II. to that of Richard +II., in order to diminish the power of the Supreme Pontiffs +in nominating to English benefices. In the second Richard's +reign, so eventful for the English interest in Ireland, +it had been enacted that any of the clergy procuring +appointments directly from Rome, or exercising powers so +conferred, should incur the penalty of a praemunire--that +is, the forfeiture of their lands and chattels, beside +being liable to imprisonment during the King's pleasure. +This statute was held to apply equally to Ireland, being +confirmed by some of those petty conventions of "the +Pale," which the Dublin Governors of the fourteenth +century dignified with the name of Parliaments. + +The ancient Irish method of promotion to a vacant see, +or abbacy, though modelled on the electoral principle +which penetrated all Celtic usages, was undoubtedly open +to the charge of favouring nepotism, down to the time of +Saint Malachy, the restorer of the Irish Church. After +that period, the Prelates elect were ever careful to +obtain the sanction of the Holy See, before consecration. +Such habitual submission to Rome was seldom found, except +in cases of disputed election, to interfere with the +choice of the clergy, and the custom grew more and more +into favour, as the English method of nomination by the +crown was attempted to be enforced, not only throughout +"the Pale," but, by means of English agents at Rome and +Avignon, in the appointment to sees, within the provinces +of Armagh, Cashel, and Tuam. The ancient usage of farming +the church lands, under the charge of a lay steward, or +_Erenach_, elected by the clan, and the division of all +the revenues into four parts--for the Bishop, the Vicar +and his priests, for the poor, and for repairs of the +sacred edifice, was equally opposed to the pretensions +of Princes, who looked on their Bishops as Barons, and +Church temporalities, like all other fiefs, as held +originally of the crown. Even if there had not been those +differences of origin, interest, and government which +necessarily brought the two populations into collision, +these distinct systems of ecclesiastical polity could +not well have existed on the same soil without frequently +clashing, one with the other. + +In our notice of the association promoted among the +clergy, at the end of the thirteenth century, by the +patriotic McMaelisa, ("follower of Jesus"), and in our +own comments on the memorable letter of Prince Donald +O'Neil to Pope John XXII., written in the year 1317 or +'18, we have seen how wide and deep was the gulf then +existing between the English and Irish churchmen. In +the year 1324, an attempt to heal this unchristian breach +was made by Philip of Slane, the Dominican who presided +at the trial of the Knights Templars, who afterwards +became Bishop of Cork, and rose into high favour with +the Queen-Mother, Isabella. As her Ambassador, or in the +name of King Edward III., still a minor, he is reported +to have submitted to Pope John certain propositions for +the promotion of peace in the Irish Church, some of which +were certainly well calculated to promote that end. He +suggested that the smaller Bishoprics, yielding under +sixty pounds per annum, should be united to more eminent +sees, and that Irish Abbots and Priors should admit +English lay brothers to their houses, and English +Superiors Irish brothers, in like manner. The third +proposition, however, savours more of the politician +than of the peacemaker; it was to bring under the bann +of excommunication, with all its rigorous consequences +in that age, those "disturbers of the peace" who invaded +the authority of the English King in Ireland. As a +consequence of this mission, a Concordat for Ireland +seems to have been concluded at Avignon, embracing the +two first points, but omitting the third, which was, no +doubt, with the English Court, the main object of Friar +Philip's embassy. + +During the fourteenth century, and down to the election +of Martin V. (A.D. 1417), the Popes sat mainly at Avignon, +in France. In the last forty years of that melancholy +period, other Prelates sitting at Rome, or elsewhere in +Italy, claimed the Apostolic primacy. It was in the midst +of these troubles and trials of the Church that the +powerful Kings of England, who were also sovereigns of +a great part of France, contrived to extort from the +embarrassed pontiffs concessions which, however gratifying +to royal pride, were abhorrent to the more Catholic spirit +of the Irish people. A constant struggle was maintained +during the entire period of the captivity of the Popes +in France between Roman and English influence in Ireland. +There were often two sets of Bishops elected in such +border sees as Meath and Louth, which were districts +under a divided influence. The Bishops of Limerick, Cork, +and Waterford, liable to have their revenues cut off, +and their personal liberty endangered by sea, were almost +invariably nominees of the English Court; those of the +Province of Dublin were necessarily so; but the prelates +of Ulster, of Connaught, and of Munster--the southern +seaports excepted--were almost invariably native +ecclesiastics, elected in the old mode, by the assembled +clergy, and receiving letters of confirmation direct from +Avignon or Italy. + +A few incidents in the history of the Church of Cashel +will better illustrate the character of the contest +between the native episcopacy and the foreign power. +Towards the end of the thirteenth century, Archbishop +McCarwill maintained with great courage the independence +of his jurisdiction against Henry III. and Edward I. +Having inducted certain Bishops into their sees without +waiting for the royal letters, he sustained a long +litigation in the Anglo-Irish courts, and was much harassed +in his goods and person. Seizing from a usurer 400 pounds, +he successfully resisted the feudal claim of Edward I., +as lord paramount, to pay over the money to the royal +exchequer. Edward having undertaken to erect a prison +--or fortress in disguise--in his episcopal city, the +bold Prelate publicly excommunicated the Lord Justice +who undertook the work, the escheator who supplied the +funds, and all those engaged in its construction, nor +did he desist from his opposition until the obnoxious +building was demolished. Ralph O'Kelly, who filled the +same see from 1345 to 1361, exhibited an equally dauntless +spirit. An Anglo-Irish Parliament having levied a subsidy +on all property, lay and ecclesiastical, within their +jurisdiction, to carry on the war of races before described, +he not only opposed its collection within the Province +of Cashel, but publicly excommunicated Epworth, Clerk of +the Council, who had undertaken that task. For this +offence an information was exhibited against him, laying +the King's damages at a thousand pounds; but he pleaded +the liberties of the Church, and successfully traversed +the indictment. Richard O'Hedian, Archbishop from 1406 +to 1440, was a Prelate of similar spirit to his +predecessors. At a Parliament held in Dublin in 1421, it +was formally alleged, among other enormities, that he +made very much of the Irish and loved none of the English; +that he presented no Englishman to a benefice, and advised +other Prelates to do likewise; and that he made himself +King of Munster--alluding, probably, to some revival at +this time of the old title of Prince-Bishop, which had +anciently belonged to the Prelates of Cashel. O'Hedian +retained his authority, however, till his death, after +which the see remained twelve years vacant, the +temporalities being farmed by the Earl of Ormond. + +From this conflict of interests, frequently resulting in +disputed possession and intrusive jurisdiction, religion +must have suffered much, at least in its discipline and +decorum. The English Archbishops of Dublin would not +yield in public processions to the Irish Archbishops of +Armagh, nor permit the crozier of St. Patrick to be borne +publicly through their city; the English Bishop of +Waterford was the public accuser of the Irish Archbishop +of Cashel, last mentioned, before a lay tribunal--the +knights and burgesses of "the Pale." The annual expeditions +sent out from Dublin, to harass the nearest native clans, +were seldom without a Bishop or Abbot, or Prior of the +Temple or Hospital, in their midst. Scandals must have +ensued; hatreds must have sprung up; prejudices, fatal +to charity and unity, must have been engendered, both on +the one side and the other. The spirit of party carried +into the Church can be cherished in the presence of the +Altar and Cross only by doing violence to the teachings +of the Cross and the sanctity of the Altar. + +While such was the troubled state of the Church, as +exemplified in its twofold hierarchy, the religious orders +continued to spread, with amazing energy, among both +races. The orders of Saint Francis and Saint Dominick, +those twin giants of the thirteenth century, already +rivalled the mighty brotherhood which Saint Bernard had +consecrated, and Saint Malachy had introduced into the +Irish Church. It is observable that the Dominicans, at +least at first, were most favoured by the English and +the Anglo-Irish; while the Franciscans were more popular +with the native population. Exceptions may be found on +both sides: but as a general rule this distinction can +be traced in the strongholds of either order, and in the +names of their most conspicuous members, down to that +dark and trying hour when the tempest of "the Reformation" +involved both in a common danger, and demonstrated their +equal heroism. As elsewhere in Christendom, the sudden +aggrandizement of these mendicant institutes excited +jealousy and hostility among certain of the secular clergy +and Bishops. This feeling was even stronger in England +during the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II., when, +according to the popular superstition, the Devil appeared +at various places "in the form of a grey friar." The +great champion of the secular clergy, in the controversy +which ensued, was Richard, son of Ralph, a native of +Dundalk, the Erasmus of his age. Having graduated at +Oxford, where the Irish were then classed as one of "the +four nations" of students, Fitz-Ralph achieved distinction +after distinction, till he rose to the rank of Chancellor +of the University, in 1333. Fourteen years afterwards +he was consecrated, by provision of Pope Clement VI., +Archbishop of Armagh, and is by some writers styled +"Cardinal of Armagh." Inducted into the chief see of his +native Province and country, he soon commenced those +sermons and writings against the mendicant orders which +rendered him so conspicuous in the Church history of the +fourteenth century. Summoned to Avignon, in 1350, to be +examined on his doctrine, he maintained before the +Consistory the following propositions: 1st, that our Lord +Jesus Christ, as a man, was very poor, not that He loved +poverty for itself; 2nd, that our Lord had never begged; +3rd, that He never taught men to beg; 4th, that, on the +contrary, He taught men not to beg; 5th, that man cannot, +with prudence and holiness, confine himself by vow to a +life of constant mendicity; 6th, that minor brothers are +not obliged by their rule to beg; 7th, that the bull of +Alexander IV., which condemns the Book of Masters, does +not invalidate any of the aforesaid conclusions; 8th, +that by those who, wishing to confess, exclude certain +churches, their parish one should be preferred to the +oratories of monks; and 9th, that, for auricular +confession, the diocesan, bishop should be chosen in +preference to friars. + +In a "defence of Parish Priests," and many other tracts, +in several sermons, preached at London, Litchfield, +Drogheda, Dundalk, and Armagh, he maintained the thesis +until the year 1357, when the Superior of the Franciscans +at Armagh, seconded by the influence of his own and the +Dominican order, caused him to be summoned a second time +before the Pope. Fitz-Ralph promptly obeyed the summons, +but before the cause could be finally decided he died at +Avignon in 1361. His body was removed from thence to +Dundalk in 1370 by Stephen de Valle, Bishop of Meath. +Miracles were said to have been wrought at his tomb; a +process of inquiry into their validity was instituted by +order of Boniface IX., but abandoned without any result +being arrived at. The bitter controversy between the +mendicant and other orders was revived towards the end +of the century by Henry, a Cistercian monk of Baltinglass, +who maintained opinions still more extreme than those of +Fitz-Ralph; but he was compelled publicly and solemnly +to retract them before Commissioners appointed for that +purpose in the year 1382. + +The range of mental culture in Europe during the fourteenth +century included only the scholastic philosophy and +theology with the physics, taught in the schools of the +Spanish Arabs. The fifteenth century saw the revival of +Greek literature in Italy, and the general restoration +of classical learning. The former century is especially +barren of original _belles lettres_ writings; but the +next succeeding ages produced Italian poetry, French +chronicles, Spanish ballads, and all that wonderful +efflorescence of popular literature, which, in our far +advanced cultivation, we still so much envy and admire. +In the last days of Scholasticism, Irish intelligence +asserted its ancient equality with the best minds of +Europe; but in the new era of national literature, unless +there are buried treasures yet to be dug out of their +Gaelic tombs, the country fell altogether behind England, +and even Scotland, not to speak of Italy or France. +Archbishop Fitz-Ralph, John Scotus of Down, William of +Drogheda, Professor of both laws at Oxford, are respectable +representatives among the last and greatest group of the +School-men. Another illustrious name remains to be added +to the roll of Irish Scholastics, that of Maurice O'Fihely, +Archbishop of Tuam. He was a thorough Scotist in philosophy, +which he taught at Padua, in discourses long afterwards +printed at Venice. His Commentaries on _Scotus_, his +Dictionary of the Sacred Scriptures, and other numerous +writings, go far to justify the compliments of his +cotemporaries, though the fond appellation of the "flower +of the earth" given him by some of them sounds extravagant +and absurd. Soon after arriving from Rome to take possession +of his see he died at Tuam in 1513, in the fiftieth year +of his age--an early age to have won so colossal a +reputation. + +Beyond some meagre annals, compiled in monastic houses, +and a few rhymed panegyrics, the muses of history and of +poetry seem to have abandoned the island to the theologians, +jurists, and men of science. The Bardic order was still +one of the recognized estates, and found patrons worthy +of their harps in the lady Margaret O'Carroll of Offally, +William O'Kelley of Galway, and Henry Avery O'Neil. Full +collections of the original Irish poetry of the Middle +Ages are yet to be made public, but it is scarcely possible +that if any composition of eminent merit existed, we should +not have had editions and translations of it before now. + + + + +BOOK VII. + +UNION OF THE CROWNS OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND. + + +CHAPTER I. + +IRISH POLICY OF HENRY THE EIGHTH DURING THE LIFETIME +OF CARDINAL WOLSEY. + +Henry the Eighth of England succeeded his father on the +throne, early in the year 1509. He was in the eighteenth +year of his age, when he thus found himself master of a +well-filled treasury and an united kingdom. Fortune, as +if to complete his felicity, had furnished him from the +outset of his reign with a minister of unrivalled talent +for public business. This was Thomas Wolsey, successively +royal Chaplain, Almoner, Archbishop of York, Papal Legate, +Lord Chancellor, and Lord Cardinal. From the fifth to +the twentieth year of King Henry, he was, in effect, +sovereign in the state, and it is wonderful to find how +much time he contrived to borrow from the momentous +foreign affairs of that eventful age for the obscurer +intrigues of Irish politics. + +Wolsey kept before his mind, more prominently than any +previous English statesman, the design of making his +royal master as absolute in Ireland as any King in +Christendom. He determined to abolish every pretence to +sovereignty but that of the King of England, and to this +end he resolved to circumscribe the power of the Anglo-Irish +Barons, and to win over by "dulce ways" and "politic +drifts," as he expressed it, the Milesian-Irish Chiefs. +This policy, continued by all the Tudor sovereigns till +the latter years of Elizabeth, so far as it distinguished +between the Barons and Chiefs always favoured the latter. +The Kildares and Desmonds were hunted to the death, in the +same age, and by the same authority, which carefully +fostered every symptom of adhesion or attachment on the +part of the O'Neils and O'Briens. Neither were these last +loved or trusted for their own sakes, but the natural enemy +fares better in all histories than the unnatural rebel. + +We must enumerate some of the more remarkable instances +of Wolsey's twofold policy of concession and intimidation. +In the third and fourth years of Henry, Hugh O'Donnell, +lord of Tyrconnell, passing through England, on a pilgrimage +to Rome, was entertained with great honour at Windsor +and Greenwich for four months each time. He returned to +Ulster deeply impressed with the magnificence of the +young monarch and the resources of his kingdom. During +the remainder of his life he cherished a strong predilection +for England; he dissuaded James IV. of Scotland from +leading a liberating expedition to Ireland in 1513-- +previous to the ill-fated campaign which ended on Flodden +field, and he steadily resisted the influx of the Islesmen +into Down and Antrim. In 1521 we find him described by +the Lord Lieutenant, Surrey, as being of all the Irish +chiefs the best disposed "to fall into English order." +He maintained a direct correspondence with Henry until +his death, 1537, when the policy he had so materially +assisted had progressed beyond the possibility of defeat. +Simultaneously with O'Donnell's adhesion, the same views +found favour with the powerful chief of Tyrone. The +O'Neils were now divided into two great septs, those of +Tyrone, whose seat was at Dungannon, and those of Clandeboy, +whose strongholds studded the eastern shores of Lough +Neagh. In the year 1480, Con O'Neil, lord of Tyrone, +married his cousin-germain, Lady Alice Fitzgerald, daughter +of the Earl of Kildare. This alliance tended to establish +an intimacy between Maynooth and Dungannon, which subserved +many of the ends of Wolsey's policy. Turlogh, Art, and +Con, sons of Lady Alice, and successively chiefs of +Tyrone, adhered to the fortunes of the Kildare family, +who were, however unwillingly, controlled by the superior +power of Henry. The Clandeboy O'Neils, on the contrary, +regarded this alliance as nothing short of apostasy, and +pursued the exactly opposite course, repudiating English +and cultivating Scottish alliances. Open ruptures and +frequent collisions took place between the estranged and +exasperated kinsmen; in the sequel we will find how the +last surviving son of Lady Alice became in his old age +the first Earl of Tyrone, while the House of Clandeboy +took up the title of "the O'Neil." The example of the +elder branch of this ancient royal race, and of the hardly +less illustrious family of Tyrconnell, exercised a potent +influence on the other chieftains of Ulster. + +An elaborate report on "the State of Ireland," with "a +plan for its Reformation"--submitted to Henry in the year +1515--gives us a tolerably clear view of the political +and military condition of the several provinces. The only +portions of the country in any sense subject to English +law, were half the counties of Louth, Meath, Dublin, +Kildare, and Wexford. The residents within these districts +paid "black rent" to the nearest native chiefs. Sheriffs +were not permitted to execute writs, beyond the bounds +thus described, and even within thirty miles of Dublin, +March-law and Brehon-law were in full force. Ten native +magnates are enumerated in Leinster as "chief captains" +of their "nations"--not one of whom regarded the English +King as his Sovereign. Twenty chiefs in Munster, fifteen +in Connaught, and three in West-Meath, maintained their +ancient state, administered their own laws, and recognized +no superiority, except in one another, as policy or custom +compelled them. Thirty chief English captains, of whom +eighteen resided in Munster, seven in Connaught, and the +remainder in Meath, Down, and Antrim, are set down as +"rebels" and followers of "the Irish order." Of these, +the principal in the midland counties were the Dillons +and Tyrrells, in the West the Burkes and Berminghams, in +the South the Powers, Barrys, Roches--the Earl of Desmond +and his relatives. The enormous growth of these Munster +Geraldines, and their not less insatiable greed, produced +many strange complications in the politics of the South. +Not content with the moiety of Kerry, Cork, and Waterford, +they had planted their landless cadets along the Suir +and the Shannon, in Ormond and Thomond. They narrowed +the dominions of the O'Briens on the one hand and the +McCarthys on the other. Concluding peace or war with +their neighbours, as suited their own convenience, they +sometimes condescended to accept further feudal privileges +from the Kings of England. To Maurice, tenth Earl, Henry +VII. had granted "all the customs, cockets, poundage, +prize wines of Limerick, Cork, Kinsale, Baltimore and +Youghal, with other privileges and advantages." Yet Earl +James, in the next reign, did not hesitate to treat with +Francis of France and the Emperor of Germany, as an +independent Prince, long before the pretence of resisting +the Reformation could be alleged in his justification. +What we have here to observe is, that this predominance +of the Munster Geraldines drove first one and then another +branch of the McCarthys, and O'Briens, into the meshes +of Wolsey's policy. Cormac Oge, lord of Muskerry, and +his cousin, the lord of Carbery, defeated the eleventh +Earl (James), at Moore Abbey, in 1521, with a loss of +1,500 foot and 500 or 600 horsemen. To strengthen himself +against the powerful adversary so deeply wounded, Cormac +sought the protection of the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl +of Surrey, and of Pierce Roe, the eighth Earl of Ormond, +who had common wrongs to avenge. In this way McCarthy +became identified with the English interest, which he +steadily adhered to till his death--in 1536. Driven by +the same necessity to adopt the same expedient, Murrogh +O'Brien, lord of Thomond, a few years later visited Henry +at London, where he resigned his principality, received +back his lands, under a royal patent conveying them to +him as "Earl of Thomond, and Baron of Inchiquin." Henry +was but too happy to have raised up such a counterpoise +to the power of Desmond, at his own door, while O'Brien +was equally anxious to secure foreign aid against such +intolerable encroachments. The policy worked effectually; +it brought the succeeding Earl of Desmond to London, an +humble suitor for the King's mercy and favour, which were +after some demur granted. + +The event, however, which most directly tended to the +establishment of an English royalty in Ireland, was the +depression of the family of Kildare in the beginning of +this reign, and its all but extinction a few years later. +Gerald, the ninth Earl of that title, succeeded his father +in the office of Lord Deputy in the first years of Henry. +He had been a ward at the court of the preceding King, +and by both his first and second marriages was closely +connected with the royal family. Yet he stood in the way +of the settled plans of Wolsey, before whom the highest +heads in the realm trembled. His father, as if to secure +him against the hereditary enmity of the Butlers, had +married his daughter Margaret to Pierce Roe, Earl of +Ossory, afterwards eighth Earl of Ormond--the restorer +of that house. This lady, however, entered heartily into +the antipathies of her husband's family, and being of +masculine spirit, with an uncommon genius for public +affairs, helped more than any Butler had ever done to +humble the overshadowing house of which she was born. +The weight of Wolsey's influence was constantly exercised +in favour of Ormond, who had the skill to recommend +himself quite as effectually to Secretary Cromwell, after +the Cardinal's disgrace and death. But the struggles of +the house of Kildare were bold and desperate. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE INSURRECTION OF SILKEN THOMAS--THE GERALDINE +LEAGUE--ADMINISTRATION OF LORD LEONARD GRAY. + +The ninth and last _Catholic_ Earl of Kildare, in the +ninth year of Henry VIII., had been summoned to London +to answer two charges preferred against him by his +political enemies: "1st, That he had enriched himself +and his followers out of the crown lands and revenues. +2nd, That he had formed alliances and corresponded with +divers Irish enemies of the State." Pending these charges +the Earl of Surrey, the joint-victor with his father at +Flodden field, was despatched to Dublin in his stead, +with the title of Lord Lieutenant. + +Kildare, by the advice of Wolsey, was retained in a sort +of honourable attendance on the person of the King for +nearly four years. During this interval he accompanied +Henry to "the field of the cloth of Gold," so celebrated +in French and English chronicles. On his return to Dublin, +in 1523, he found his enemy, the Earl of Ormond, in his +old office, but had the pleasure of supplanting him one +year afterwards. In 1525, on the discovery of Desmond's +correspondence with Francis of France, he was ordered to +march into Munster and arrest that nobleman. But, though +he obeyed the royal order, Desmond successfully evaded +him, not, as was alleged, without his friendly connivance. +The next year this evasion was made the ground of a fresh +impeachment by the implacable Earl of Ormond; he was +again summoned to London, and committed to the Tower. +In 1530 he was liberated, and sent over with Sir William +Skeffington, whose authority to some extent he shared. +The English Knight had the title of Deputy, but Kildare +was, in effect, Captain General, as the Red Earl had +formerly been. Skeffington was instructed to obey him +in the field, while it was expected that the Earl, in +return, would sustain his colleague in the Council. A +year had not passed before they were declared enemies, +and Skeffington was recalled to England, where he added +another to the number of Kildare's enemies. After a short +term of undisputed power, the latter found himself, in +1533, for the third time, an inmate of the Tower. It is +clear that the impetuous Earl, after his second escape, +had not conducted himself as prudently as one so well +forewarned ought to have done. He played more openly than +ever the twofold part of Irish Chief among the Irish, +and English Baron within the Pale. His daughters were +married to the native lords of Offally and Ely, and he +frequently took part as arbitrator in the affairs of +those clans. The anti-Geraldine faction were not slow to +torture these facts to suit themselves. They had been +strengthened at Dublin by three English officials, +Archbishop Allan, his relative John Allan, afterwards +Master of the Rolls, and Robert Cowley, the Chief Solicitor, +Lord Ormond's confidential agent. The reiterated +representations of these personages induced the suspicious +and irascible King to order the Earl's attendance at +London, authorizing him at the same time to appoint a +substitute, for whose conduct he would be answerable. +Kildare nominated his son, Lord Thomas, though not yet +of man's age; after giving him many sage advices, he +sailed for England, no more to return. + +The English interest at that moment had apparently reached +the lowest point. The O'Briens had bridged the Shannon, and +enforced their ancient claims over Limerick. So defenceless, +at certain periods, was Dublin itself that Edmond Oge O'Byrne +surprised the Castle by night, liberated the prisoners, and +carried off the stores. This daring achievement, unprecedented +even in the records of the fearless mountaineers of Wicklow, +was thrown in to aggravate the alleged offences of Kildare. +He was accused, moreover, of having employed the King's great +guns and other munitions of war to strengthen his own Castles +of Maynooth and Ley--a charge more direct and explicit than +had been alleged against him at any former period. + +While the Earl lay in London Tower, an expedient very +common afterwards in our history-the forging of letters +and despatches-was resorted to by his enemies in Dublin, +to drive the young Lord Thomas into some rash act which +might prove fatal to his father and himself. Accordingly +the packets brought from Chester, in the spring of 1534, +repeated reports, one confirming the other, of the +execution of the Earl in the Tower. Nor was there anything +very improbable in such an occurrence. The cruel character +of Henry had, in these same spring months, been fully +developed in the execution of the reputed prophetess, +Elizabeth Barton, and all her abettors. The most eminent +layman in England, Sir Thomas More, and the most illustrious +ecclesiastic, Bishop Fisher, had at the same time been +found guilty of misprision of treason for having known +of the pretended prophecies of Elizabeth without +communicating their knowledge to the King. That an +Anglo-Irish Earl, even of the first rank, could hope to +fare better at the hands of the tyrant than his aged +tutor and his trusted Chancellor, was not to be expected. +When, therefore, Lord Thomas Fitzgerald flung down the +sword of State on the Council table, in the hall of St. +Mary's Abbey, on the 11th day of June, 1534, and formally +renounced his allegiance to King Henry as the murderer +of his father, although he betrayed an impetuous and +impolitic temper, there was much in the events of the +times to justify his belief in the rumours of his father's +execution. + +This renunciation of allegiance was a declaration of open +war. The chapter thus opened in the memoirs of the Leinster +Geraldines closed at Tyburn on the 3rd of February, 1537. +Within these three years, the policy of annexation was +hastened by several events--but by none more than this +unconcerted, unprepared, reckless revolt. The advice of +the imprisoned Earl to his son had been "to play the +gentlest part," but youth and rash counsels overcame the +suggestions of age and experience. One great excess +stained the cause of "Silken Thomas," while it was but +six weeks old. Towards the end of July, Archbishop Allan, +his father's deadly enemy, left his retreat in the Castle, +and put to sea by night, hoping to escape into England. +The vessel, whether by design or accident, ran ashore at +Clontarf, and the neighbourhood being overrun by the +insurgents, the Archbishop concealed himself at Artane. +Here he was discovered, dragged from his bed, and murdered, +if not in the actual presence, under the same roof with +Lord Thomas. King Henry's Bishops hurled against the +assassins the greater excommunication, with all its +penalties; a terrific malediction, which was, perhaps, +more than counterbalanced by the Papal Bull issued against +Henry and Anne Boleyn on the last day of August--the +knowledge of which must have reached Ireland before the +end of the year. This Bull cited Henry to appear within +ninety days in person, or by attorney, at Rome, to answer +for his offences against the Apostolic See; failing which, +he was declared excommunicated, his subjects were absolved +from their allegiance, and commanded to take up arms +against their former sovereign. The ninety days expired +with the month of November, 1534. + +Lord Thomas, as he acted without consultation with others, +so he was followed but by few persons of influence. His +brothers-in-law, the chiefs of Ely and Offally, O'Moore +of Leix, two of his five uncles, his relatives, the +Delahides, mustered their adherents, and rallied to his +standard. He held the castles of Carlow, Maynooth, Athy, +and other strongholds in Kildare. He beseiged Dublin, and +came to a composition with the citizens, by which they +agreed to allow him free ingress to assail the Castle, +into which his enemies had withdrawn. He despatched agents +to the Emperor, Charles V., and the Pope, but before +those agents could well have returned--March, 1535-- +Maynooth had been assaulted and taken by Sir William +Skeffington--and the bands collected by the young lord +had melted away. Lord Leonard Gray, his maternal uncle, +assumed the command for the King of England, instead of +Skeffington, disabled by sickness, and the abortive +insurrection was extinguished in one campaign. Towards +the end of August, 1535, the unfortunate Lord Thomas +surrendered on the guarantee of Lord Leonard and Lord +Butler; in the following year his five uncles--three of +whom had never joined in the rising--were treacherously +seized at a banquet given to them by Gray, and were all, +with their nephew, executed at Tyburn, on the 3rd of +February, 1537. The imprisoned Earl having died in the +Tower on the 12th of December, 1534, the sole survivor +of this historic house was now a child of twelve years +of age, whose life was sought with an avidity equal to +Herod's, but who was protected with a fidelity which +defeated every attempt to capture him. Alternately the +guest of his aunts married to the chiefs of Offally and +Donegal, the sympathy everywhere felt for him led to a +confederacy between the Northern and Southern Chiefs, +which had long been wanting. A loose league was formed, +including the O'Neils of both branches, O'Donnell, O'Brien, +the Earl of Desmond, and the chiefs of Moylurg and Breffni. +The lad, the object of so much natural and chivalrous +affection, was harboured for a time in Munster, thence +transported through Connaught into Donegal, and finally, +after four years, in which he engaged more of the minds +of statesmen than any other individual under the rank of +royalty, was safely landed in France. We shall meet him +again in another reign, under more fortunate auspices. + +Lord Leonard Gray continued in office as Deputy for nearly +five years (1535-40). This interval was marked by several +successes against detached clans and the parties to the +Geraldine league, whom he was careful to attack only in +succession. In his second campaign, O'Brien's bridge +was carried and demolished, one O'Brien was set up against +another, and one O'Conor against another; the next year +the Castle of Dungannon was taken from O'Neil, and Dundrum +from Magennis. In 1539, he defeated O'Neil and O'Donnell, +at Bolahoe, on the borders of Farney, in Monaghan, with +a loss of 400 men, and the spoils they had taken from +the English of Navan and Ardee. The Mayors of Dublin and +Drogheda were knighted on the field for the valour they +had shown at the head of their train-bands. The same +year, he made a successful incursion into the territory +of the Earl of Desmond, receiving the homage of many of +the inferior lords, and exonerating them from the exactions +of those haughty Palatines. Recalled to England in 1540, +he, too, in turn, fell a victim to the sanguinary spirit +of King Henry, and perished on the scaffold. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SIR ANTHONY ST. LEGER, LORD DEPUTY--NEGOTIATIONS OF THE +IRISH CHIEFS WITH JAMES THE FIFTH OF SCOTLAND--FIRST +ATTEMPTS TO INTRODUCE THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION-- +OPPOSITION OF THE CLERGY--PARLIAMENT OF 1541--THE PROCTORS +OF THE CLERGY EXCLUDED--STATE OF THE COUNTRY--THE CROWNS +UNITED--HENRY THE EIGHTH PROCLAIMED AT LONDON AND DUBLIN. + +Upon the disgrace of Lord Leonard Gray in 1540, Sir +Anthony St. Leger was appointed Deputy. He had previously +been employed as chief of the commission issued in 1537, +to survey land subject to the King, to inquire into, +confirm, or cancel titles, and abolish abuses which might +have crept in among the Englishry, whether upon the +marches or within the Pale. In this employment he had at +his disposal a guard of 340 men, while the Deputy and +Council were ordered to obey his mandates as if given by +the King in person. The commissioners were further +empowered to reform the Courts of Law; to enter as King's +Counsel into both Houses of Parliament, there to urge +the adoption of measures upholding English laws and +customs, establishing the King's supremacy, in spirituals +as in temporals, to provide for the defence of the marches, +and the better collection of the revenues. In the three +years which he spent at the head of this commission, St. +Leger, an eminently able and politic person, made himself +intimately acquainted with Irish affairs; as a natural +consequence of which knowledge he was entrusted, upon +the first vacancy, with their supreme directions. In this +situation he had to contend, not only with the complications +long existing in the system itself, but with the formidable +disturbing influence exercised by the Court of Scotland, +chiefly upon and by means of the Ulster Princes. + +Up to this period, the old political intimacy of Scotland +and Ireland had known no diminution. The Scots in Antrim +could reckon, soon after Henry's accession to the throne, +2,000 fighting men. In 1513, in order to co-operate with +the warlike movement of O'Donnell, the Scottish fleet, +under the Earl of Arran, in his famous flagship, "the +great Michael," captured Carrickfergus, putting its +Anglo-Irish garrison to the sword. In the same Scottish +reign (that of James IV.), one of the O'Donnells had a +munificent grant of lands in Kirkcudbright, as other +adventurers from Ulster had from the same monarch, in +Galloway and Kincardine. In 1523, while hostilities raged +between Scotland and England, the Irish Chiefs entered +into treaty with Francis the First of France, who bound +himself to land in Ireland 15,000 men, to expel the +English from "the Pale," and to carry his arms across +the channel in the quarrel of Richard de la Pole, father +of the famous Cardinal, and at this time a formidable +pretender to the English throne. The imbecile conduct of +the Scottish Regent, the Duke of Albany, destroyed this +enterprise, which, however, was but the forerunner, if +it was not the model, of several similar combinations. +When the Earl of Bothwell took refuge at the English +Court, in 1531, he suggested to Henry VIII., among other +motives for renewing the war with James V., that the +latter was in league "with the Emperor, the Danish King, +and O'Donnell." The following year, a Scottish force of +4,000 men, under John, son of Alexander McDonald, Lord +of the Isles, served, by permission of their King, under +the banner of the Chieftain of Tyrconnell. An uninterrupted +correspondence between the Ulster Chiefs and the Scottish +Court may be traced through this reign, forming a curious +chapter of Irish diplomacy. In 1535, we have a letter +from O'Neil to James V., from which it appears that +O'Neil's Secretary was then residing at the Scottish +Court; and as the crisis of the contest for the Crown +drew near, we find the messages and overtures from Ulster +multiplying in number and earnestness. In that critical +period, James V. was between twenty and thirty years old, +and his powerful minister, Cardinal Beaton, was acting +by him the part that Wolsey had played by Henry at a like +age. The Cardinal, favouring the French and Irish alliances, +had drawn a line of Scottish policy, in relation to both +those countries, precisely parallel to Wolsey's. During +the Geraldine insurrection, Henry was obliged to remonstrate +with James on favours shown to his rebels of Ireland. +This charge James' ministers, in their correspondence of +the year 1535, strenuously denied, while admitting that +some insignificant Islesmen, over whom he could exercise +no control, might have gone privily thither. In the spring +of 1540, Bryan Layton, one of the English agents at the +Scottish Court, communicated to Secretary Cromwell that +James had fitted out a fleet of 15 ships, manned by 2,000 +men, and armed with all the ordinance that he could +muster; that his destination was Ireland, the Crown of +which had been offered to him, the previous Lent, by +"eight gentlemen," who brought him written tenders of +submission "from all the great men of Ireland," with +their seals attached; and, furthermore, that the King +had declared to Lord Maxwell his determination to win +such a prize as "never King of Scotland had before," or +to lose his life in the attempt. It is remarkable that +in this same spring of 1540-while such was understood to +be the destination of the Scottish fleet-a congress of +the Chiefs of all Ireland was appointed to be held at +the Abbey of Fore, in West-Meath. To prevent this meeting +taking place, the whole force of the Pale, with the +judges, clergy, townsmen and husbandmen, marched out +under the direction of the Lords of the Council (St. +Leger not having yet arrived to replace Lord Gray), but +finding no such assembly as they had been led to expect, +they made a predatory incursion into Roscommon, and +dispersed some armed bands belonging to O'Conor. The +commander in this expedition was the Marshal Sir William +Brereton, for the moment one of the Lords Justices. He +was followed to the field by the last Prior of Kilmainham, +Sir John Rawson, the Master of the Rolls, the Archbishop +of Dublin, the Bishop of Meath, Mr. Justice Luttrell, +and the Barons of the Exchequer-a strange medley of civil +and military dignitaries. + +The prevention or postponement of the Congress at Fore +must have exercised a decided influence on the expedition +of James V. His great armada having put to sea, after +coasting among the out-islands, and putting into a northern +English port from stress of weather, returned home without +achievement of any kind. Diplomatic intercourse was +shortly renewed between him and Henry, but, in the +following year, to the extreme displeasure of his royal +kinsman, he assumed the much-prized title of "Defender +of the Faith." Another rupture took place, when the Irish +card was played over again with the customary effect. In +a letter of July, 1541, introducing to the Irish Chiefs +the Jesuit Fathers, Salmeron, Broet, and Capata, who +passed through Scotland on their way to Ireland, James +styles himself "Lord of Ireland"--another insult and +defiance to Henry, whose newly-acquired kingly style was +then but a few weeks old. By way of retaliation, Henry +ordered the Archbishop of York to search the registers +of that see for evidence of _his_ claim to the Crown of +Scotland, and industriously cultivated the disaffected +party amongst the Scottish nobility. At length these +bickerings broke out into open war, and the short, but +fatal campaign of 1542, removed another rival for the +English King. The double defeat of Fala and of Solway +Moss, the treason of his nobles, and the failure of his +hopes, broke the heart of the high-spirited James V. He +died in December, 1542, in the 33rd year of his age, a +few hours after learning the birth of his daughter, so +celebrated as Mary, Queen of Scots. In his last moments +he pronounced the doom of the Stuart dynasty--"It came +with a lass," he exclaimed, "and it will go with a lass," +And thus it happened that the image of Ireland, which +unfolds the first scene of the War of the Roses, which +is inseparable from the story of the two Bruces, and +which occupies so much of the first and last years of +the Tudor dynasty, stands mournfully by the deathbed of +the last Stuart King who reigned in Scotland--the only +Prince of his race that had ever written under his name +the title of "_Dominus Hiberniae_." + +The premature death of James was hardly more regretted +by his immediate subjects than by his Irish allies. All +external events now conspired to show the hopelessness +of resistance to the power of King Henry. From Scotland, +destined to half a century of anarchy, no help could be +expected. Wales, another ancient ally of the Irish, had +been incorporated with England, in 1536, and was fast +becoming reconciled to the rule of a Prince, sprung from +a Welsh ancestry. Francis of France and Charles V., rivals +for the leadership of the Continent, were too busy with +their own projects to enter into any Irish alliance. +The Geraldines had suffered terrible defeats; the family +of Kildare was without an adult representative; the +O'Neils and O'Donnells had lost ground at Bellahoe, and +were dismayed by the unlooked-for death of the King of +Scotland. The arguments, therefore, by which many of the +chiefs might have justified themselves to their clans in +1541, '2 and '3, for submitting to the inevitable laws +of necessity in rendering homage to Henry VIII., were +neither few nor weak. Abroad there was no hope of an +alliance sufficient to counterbalance the immense resources +of England; at home life-wasting private wars, the conflict +of laws, of languages, and of titles to property, had +become unbearable. That fatal family pride, which would +not permit an O'Brien to obey an O'Neil, nor an O'Conor +to follow either, rendered the establishment of a native +monarchy--even if there had been no other obstacle-- +wholly impracticable. Among the clergy alone did the +growing supremacy of Henry meet with any effective +opposition. + +At its first presentation in Ireland, and during the +whole of Henry's lifetime, the "Reformation" wore the +guise of schism, as distinguished from heresy. To deny +the supremacy of the Pope and admit the supremacy of the +King were almost its sole tests of doctrine. All the +ancient teaching in relation to the Seven Sacraments, +the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Real Presence, +Purgatory, and Prayers for the Dead, were scrupulously +retained. Subsequently, the necessity of auricular +confession, the invocation of Saints, and the celibacy +of the clergy came to be questioned, but they were not +dogmatically assailed during this reign. The common +people, where English was understood, were slow in taking +alarm at these masked innovations; in the Irish-speaking +districts--three-fourths of the whole country--they were +only heard of as rumours from afar, but the clergy, +secular and regular, were not long left in doubt as to +where such steps must necessarily lead. + +From 1534, the year of his divorce, until 1541, the year +of his election, Henry attempted, by fits and starts, to +assert his supremacy in Ireland. He appointed George +Browne, a strenuous advocate of the divorce, some time +Provincial of the order of St. Augustine in England, +Archbishop of Dublin, vacant by the murder of Archbishop +Allan. On the 12th of March, 1535, Browne was consecrated +by Cranmer, whose opinions, as well as those of Secretary +Cromwell, he echoed through life. He may be considered +the first agent employed to introduce the Reformation +into Ireland, and his zeal in that work seems to have +been unwearied. He was destined, however, to find many +opponents, and but few converts. Not only the Primate of +Armagh, George Cromer, and almost all the episcopal order, +resolutely resisted his measures, but the clergy and +laity of Dublin refused to accept his new forms of prayer, +or to listen to his strange teaching. He inveighs in his +correspondence with Cromwell against Bassenet, Dean of +St. Patrick's, Castele, Prior of Christ's Church, and +generally against all the clergy. Of the twenty-eight +secular priests in Dublin, but three could be induced to +act with him; the regular orders he found equally +intractable--more especially the Observantins, whose name +he endeavoured to change to Conventuals. "The spirituality," +as he calls them, refused to take the oaths of abjuration +and supremacy; refused to strike the name of the Bishop +of Rome from their primers and mass-books, and seduced +the rest into like contumacy. Finding persuasion of little +avail, he sometimes resorted to harsher measures. + +Dr. Sall, a grey friar of Waterford, was brought to Dublin +and imprisoned for preaching the new doctrines in the +Spring of 1538; Thaddeus Byrne, another friar, was put +in the pillory, and was reported to have committed suicide +in the Castle, on the 14th of July of the same year; Sir +Humfrey, parson of Saint Owens, and the suffragan Bishop +of Meath, were "clapped in ward," for publicly praying +for the Pope's weal and the King's conversion; another +Bishop and friar were arrested and carried to Trim, for +similar offences, but were liberated without trial, by +Lord Deputy Gray; a friar of Waterford, in 1539, by order +of the St. Leger Commission, was executed in the habit +of his order, on a charge of "felony," and so left hanging +"as a mirror for all his brethren." Yet, with all this +severity, and all the temptations held out by the wealth +of confiscated monasteries, none would abide the preaching +of the new religion except the "Lord Butler, the Master +of the Rolls (Allan), Mr. Treasurer (Brabazon), and one +or two more of small reputation." + +The first test to which the firmness of the clergy had +been put was in the Parliament convoked at Dublin by Lord +Deputy Gray, in May, 1537. Anciently in such assemblies +two proctors of each diocese, within the Pale, had been +accustomed to sit and vote in the Upper House as +representing their order, but the proposed tests of +supremacy and abjuration were so boldly resisted by the +proctors and spiritual peers on this occasion that the +Lord Deputy was compelled to prorogue the Parliament +without attaining its assent to those measures. During +the recess a question was raised by the Crown lawyers as +to the competency of the proctors to vote, while admitting +their right to be present as councillors and assistants; +this question, on an appeal to England, was declared in +the negative, whereupon that learned body were excluded +from all share in the future Irish legislation of this +reign. Hence, whoever else are answerable for the election +of 1541 the proctors of the clergy are not. + +Having thus reduced the clerical opposition in the Upper +House, the work of monastic spoliation, covertly commenced +two years before, under the pretence of reforming abuses, +was more confidently resumed. In 1536, an act had been +passed vesting the property of all religious houses in +the Crown; at which time the value of their moveables +was estimated at 100,000 pounds and their yearly value +at 32,000 pounds. In 1537, eight abbeys were suppressed +during the King's pleasure; in 1538, a commission issued +for the suppression of monasteries; and in 1539, twenty-four +great Houses, whose Abbots and Priors had been lords of +Parliament, were declared "surrendered" to the King, and +their late superiors were granted pensions for life. +How these "surrenders" were procured we may judge from +the case of Manus, Abbot of St. Mary's, Thurles, who was +carried prisoner to Dublin, and suffered a long confinement +for refusing to yield up his trust according to the +desired formula. The work of confiscation was in these +first years confined to the walled towns in English hands, +the district of the Pale, and such points of the Irish +country as could be conveniently reached. The great order +of the Cistercians, established for more than four +centuries at Mellifont, at Monastereven, at Bective, at +Jerpoint, at Tintern, and at Dunbrody, were the first +expelled from their cloisters and gardens. The Canons +regular of St. Augustine at Trim, at Conal, at Athassel +and at Kells, were next assailed by the degenerate +Augustinian, who presided over the commission. The orders +of St. Victor, of Aroacia, of St. John of Jerusalem, were +extinguished wherever the arm of the Reformation could +reach. The mendicant orders, spread into every district +of the island, were not so easily erased from the soil; +very many of the Dominican and Franciscan houses standing +and flourishing far into the succeeding century. + +If the influence of the clergy counterbalanced the policy +of the chiefs, the condition of the mass of the +population--more especially of the inhabitants of the +Pale and the marches--was such as to make them cherish +the expectation that any governmental change whatever +should be for the better. It was, under these circumstances, +a far-reaching policy, which combined the causes and the +remedy for social wrongs, with invectives against the +old, and arguments in favour of the new religion. In +order to understand what elements of discontent there +were to be wrought to such conclusions, it is enough to +give the merest glance at the social state of the lower +classes under English authority. The St. Leger Commission +represents the mixed population of the marches, and the +Englishry of "the Pale" as burthened by accumulated +exactions. Their lords quartered upon them at pleasure +their horses, servants, and guests. They were charged +with coin and livery--that is, horse-meat and man's-meat +--when their lords travelled from place to place--with +summer-oats, with providing for their cosherings, or +feasts, at Christmas and Easter, with "black men and +black money," for border defence, and with workmen and +axemen from every ploughland, to work in the ditches, or +to hew passages for the soldiery through the woods. Every +aggravation of feudal wrong was inflicted on this harassed +population. When a le Poer or a Butler married a daughter +he exacted a sheep from every flock, and a cow from every +village. When one of his sons went to England, a special +tribute was levied on every village and ploughland to +bear the young gentleman's travelling expenses. When the +heads of any of the great houses hunted, their dogs were +to be supplied by the tenants "with bread and milk, or +butter." In the towns tailors, masons, and carpenters, +were taxed for coin and livery; "mustrons" were employed +in building halls, castles, stables, and barns, at the +expense of the tenantry, for the sole use of the lord. +The only effective law was an undigested jumble of the +Brehon, the Civil, and the Common law; with the arbitrary +ordinances of the marches, known as "the Statutes of +Kilcash"--so called from a border stronghold near the +foot of Slievenamon--a species of wild justice, resembling +too often that administered by Robin Hood, or Rob Roy. + +Many circumstances concurring to promote plans so long +cherished by Henry, St. Leger summoned a Parliament for +the morrow after Trinity Sunday, being the 13th of the +month of June, 1541. The attendance on the day named was +not so full as was expected, so the opening was deferred +till the following Thursday--being the feast of Corpus +Christi. On that festival the Mass of the Holy Ghost was +solemnly celebrated in St. Patrick's Cathedral, in which +"two thousand persons" had assembled. The Lords of +Parliament rode in cavalcade to the Church doors, headed +by the Deputy. There were seen side by side in this +procession the Earls of Desmond and Ormond, the Lords +Barry, Roche and Bermingham; thirteen Barons of "the +Pale," and a long train of Knights; Donogh O'Brien, Tanist +of Thomond, the O'Reilly, O'Moore and McWilliam; Charles, +son of Art Kavanagh, lord of Leinster, and Fitzpatrick, +lord of Ossory. Never before had so many Milesian chiefs +and Norman barons been seen together, except on the field +of battle; never before had Dublin beheld marshalled in +her streets what could by any stretch of imagination be +considered a national representation. For this singularity, +not less than for the business it transacted, the Parliament +of 1541 will be held in lasting remembrance. + +In the sanctuary of St. Patrick's, two Archbishops and +twelve Bishops assisted at the solemn mass, and the whole +ceremony was highly imposing. "The like thereof," wrote +St. Leger to Henry, "has not been seen here these many +years." On the next day, Friday, the Commons elected Sir +Thomas Cusack speaker, who, in "a right solemn proposition," +opened at the bar of the Lords' House the main business +of the session--the establishment of King Henry's supremacy. +To this address Lord Chancellor Allen--"well and prudentlie +answered;" and the Commons withdrew to their own chamber. +The substance of both speeches was "briefly and prudentlie" +declared in the Irish language to the Gaelic Lords, by +the Earl of Ormond, "greatly to their contentation." Then +St. Leger proposed that Henry and his heirs should have +the title of King, and caused the "bill devised for the +same to be read." This bill having been put to the Lords' +House, both in Irish and English, passed its three readings +at the same sitting. In the Commons it was adopted with +equal unanimity the next day, when the Lord Deputy most +joyfully gave his consent. Thus on Saturday, June 19th, +1541, the royalty of Ireland was first formally transferred +to an English dynasty. On that day the triumphant +St. Leger was enabled to write his royal master his +congratulations on having added to his dignities "another +imperial crown." On Sunday bonfires were made in honour +of the event, guns fired, and wine on stoop was set in +the streets. All prisoners, except those for capital +offences, were liberated; _Te Deum_ was sung in St. +Patrick's, and King Henry issued his proclamation, on +receipt of the intelligence, for a general pardon throughout +_all_ his dominions. The new title was confirmed with +great formality by the English Parliament in their session +of 1542. Proclamation was formally made of it in London, +on the 1st of July of that year, when it was moreover +declared that after that date all persons being lawfully +convicted of opposing the new dignity should "be adjudged +high traitors"--"and suffer the pains of death." + +Thus was consummated the first political union of Ireland +with England. The strangely-constituted Assembly, which +had given its sanction to the arrangement, in the language +of the Celt, the Norman, and the Saxon, continued in +session till the end of July, when they were prorogued +till November. They enacted several statutes, in completion +of the great change they had decreed; and while some +prepared for a journey to the court of their new sovereign, +others returned to their homes, to account as best they +could for the part they had played at Dublin. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ADHESION OF O'NEIL, O'DONNELL AND O'BRIEN--A NEW +ANGLO-IRISH PEERAGE--NEW RELATIONS OF LORD AND +TENANT--BISHOPS APPOINTED BY THE CROWN--RETROSPECT. + +The Act of Election could hardly be considered as the +Act of the Irish nation, so long as several of the most +distinguished chiefs withheld their concurrence. With +these, therefore, Saint Leger entered into separate +treaties, by separate instruments, agreed upon, at various +dates, during the years 1542 and 1543. Manus O'Donnell, +lord of Tyrconnell, gave in his adhesion in August, 1541, +Con O'Neil, lord of Tyrowen, Murrogh O'Brien, lord of +Thomond, Art O'Moore, lord of Leix, and Ulick Burke, lord +of Clanrickarde, 1542 and 1543; but, during the reign of +Henry, no chief of the McCarthys, the O'Conors of Roscommon +or of Offally, entered into any such engagement. The +election, therefore, was far from unanimous, and Henry +VIII. would perhaps be classed by our ancient Senachies +among the "Kings with opposition," who figure so often +in our Annals during the Middle Ages. + +Assuming, however, the title conferred upon him with no +little complacency, Henry proceeded to exercise the first +privilege of a sovereign, the creation of honours. Murrogh +O'Brien, chief of his name, became Earl of Thomond, and +Donogh, his nephew, Baron of Ibrackan; Ulick McWilliam +Burke became Earl of Clanrickarde and Baron of Dunkellin; +Hugh O'Donnell was made Earl of Tyrconnell; Fitzpatrick, +became Baron of Ossory, and Kavanagh, Baron of Ballyan; +Con O'Neil was made Earl of Tyrone, having asked, and +been refused, the higher title of Earl of Ulster. The +order of Knighthood was conferred on several of the +principal attendants, and to each of the new peers the +King granted a house in or near Dublin, for their +accommodation, when attending the sittings of Parliament. + +The imposing ceremonial of the transformation of these +Celtic chiefs into English Earls has been very minutely +described by an eye-witness. One batch were made at +Greenwich Palace, after High Mass on Sunday, the 1st of +July, 1543. The Queen's closet "was richly hanged with +cloth of arras and well strawed with rushes," for their +robing room. The King received them under a canopy of +state, surrounded by his Privy Council, the peers, +spiritual and temporal, the Earl of Glencairn, Sir George +Douglas, and the other Scottish Commissioners. The Earls +of Derby and Ormond led in the new Earl of Thomond, +Viscount Lisle carrying before them the sword. The +Chamberlain handed his letters patent to the Secretary +who read them down to the words _Cincturam gladii_, when +the King girt the kneeling Earl, baldric-wise, with the +sword, all the company standing. A similar ceremony was +gone through with the others, the King throwing a gold +chain having a cross hanging to it round each of their +necks. Then, preceded by the trumpeters blowing, and the +officers at arms, they entered the dining hall, where, +after the second course, their titles were proclaimed +aloud in Norman-French by Garter, King at Arms. Nor did +Henry, who prided himself on his munificence, omit even +more substantial tokens of his favour to the new Peers. +Besides the town houses near Dublin, before mentioned, +he granted to O'Brien all the abbeys and benefices of +Thomond, bishoprics excepted; to McWilliam Burke, all +the parsonages and vicarages of Clanrickarde, with +one-third of the first-fruits, the Abbey of _Via Nova_ +and 30 pounds a year compensation for the loss of the +customs of Galway; to Donogh O'Brien, the Abbey of +Ellenegrane, the moiety of the Abbey of Clare, and an +annuity of 20 pounds a year. To the new lord of Ossory +he granted the monasteries of Aghadoe and Aghmacarte, +with the right of holding court lete and market, every +Thursday, at his town of Aghadoe. For these and other +favours the recipients had been instructed to petition +the King, and drafts of such petitions had been drawn up +in anticipation of their arrival in England, by some +official hand. The petitions are quoted by most of our +late historians as their own proper act, but it is quite +clear, though willing enough to present them and to accept +such gifts, they had never dictated them. + +In the creation of this Peerage Henry proclaimed, in the +most practical manner possible, his determination to +assimilate the laws and institutions of Ireland to those +of England. And the new made Earls, forgetting their +ancient relations to their clans--forgetting, as O'Brien +had answered St. Leger's first overtures three years +before, "that though he was captain of his nation he was +still but one man," by suing out royal patents for their +lands, certainly consented to carry out the King's plans. +The Brehon law was doomed from the date of the creation +of the new Peers at Greenwich, for such a change entailed +among its first consequences a complete abrogation of +the Gaelic relations of clansman and chief. + +By the Brehon law every member of a free clan was as +truly a proprietor of the tribe-land as the chief himself. +He could sell his share, or the interest in it, to any +other member of the tribe--the origin, perhaps, of what +is now called tenant-right; he could not, however, sell +to a stranger without the consent of the tribe and the +chief. The stranger coming in under such an arrangement, +held by a special tenure, yet if he remained during the +time of three lords he became thereby naturalized. If +the unnaturalized tenant withdrew of his own will from +the land he was obliged to leave all his improvements +behind; but if he was ejected he was entitled to get +their full value. Those who were immediate tenants of +the chief, or of the church, were debarred this privilege +of tenant-right, and if unable to keep their holdings +were obliged to surrender them unreservedly to the church +or the chief. All the tribesmen, according to the extent +of their possessions, were bound to maintain the chief's +household, and to sustain him, with men and means, in +his offensive and defensive wars. Such were, in brief, +the land laws in force over three-fourths of the country +in the sixteenth century; laws which partook largely of +the spirit of an ancient patriarchal justice, but which, +in ages of movement, exchange, and enterprise, would have +been found the reverse of favourable to individual freedom +and national strength. There were not wanting, we may be +assured, many minds to whom this truth was apparent so +early as the age of Henry VIII. And it may not be +unreasonable to suppose that one of the advantages which +the chief found in exchanging this patriarchal position +for a feudal Earldom would be the greater degree of +independence on the will of the tribe, which the new +system conferred on him. With the mass of the clansmen, +however, for the very same reason, the change was certain +to be unpopular, if not odious. But a still more serious +change--a change of religion--was evidently contemplated +by those Earls who accepted the property of the confiscated +religious houses. The receiver of such estates could hardly +pretend to belong to the ancient religion of the country. + +It is impossible to understand Irish history from the +reign of Henry VIII. till the fall of James II.--nearly +two hundred years--without constantly keeping in mind +the dilemma of the chiefs and lords between the requirements +of the English Court on the one hand and of the native +clans on the other. Expected to obey and to administer +conflicting laws, to personate two characters, to speak +two languages, to uphold the old, yet to patronize the +new order of things; distrusted at Court if they inclined +to the people, detested by the people if they leaned +towards the Court--a more difficult situation can hardly +be conceived. Their perilous circumstances brought forth +a new species of Irish character in the Chieftain-Earls +of the Tudor and Stuart times. Not less given to war than +their forefathers, they were now compelled to study the +politician's part, even more than the soldier's. Brought +personally in contact with powerful Sovereigns, or pitted +at home against the Sydneys, Mountjoys, Chichesters, and +Straffords, the lessons of Bacon and Machiavelli found +apt scholars in the halls of Dunmanway and Dungannon. +The multitude, in the meanwhile, saw only the broad fact +that the Chief had bowed his neck to the hated Saxon +yoke, and had promised, or would be by and by compelled, +to introduce foreign garrisons, foreign judges, and +foreign laws, amongst the sons of the Gael. Very early +they perceived this; on the adhesion of O'Donnell to the +Act of Election, a part of his clansmen, under the lead +of his own son, rose up against his authority. A rival +McWilliam was at once chosen to the new Earl of +Clanrickarde, in the West. Con O'Neil, the first of his +race who had accepted an English title, was imprisoned +by his son, John the Proud, and died of grief during his +confinement. O'Brien found, on his return from Greenwich, +half his territory in revolt; and this was the general +experience of all Henry's electors. Yet such was the +power of the new Sovereign that, we are told in our +Annals, at the year 1547--the year of Henry's death +--"no one dared give food or protection" to those few +patriotic chiefs who still held obstinately out against +the election of 1541. + +The creation of a new peerage coincided in point of time +with the first unconditional nomination of new Bishops +by the Crown. The Plantagenet Kings, in common with all +feudal Princes, had always claimed the right of investing +Bishops with their temporalities and legal dignities; +while, at the same time, they recognized in the See of +Rome the seat and centre of Apostolic authority. But +Henry, excommunicated and incorrigible, had procured from +the Parliament of "the Pale," three years before the Act +of Election, the formal recognition of his spiritual +supremacy, under which he proceeded, as often as he had +an opportunity, to promote candidates for the episcopacy +to vacant sees. Between 1537 and 1547, thirteen or fourteen +such vacancies having occurred, he nominated to the +succession whenever the diocese was actually within his +power. In this way the Sees of Dublin, Kildare, Ferns, +Ardagh, Emly, Tuam and Killaloe were filled up; while +the vacancies which occurred about the same period in +Armagh, Clogher, Clonmacnoise, Clonfert, Kilmore, and +Down and Conor were supplied from Rome. Many of the latter +were allowed to take possession of their temporalities +--so far as they were within English power--by taking an +oath of allegiance, specially drawn for them. Others, +when prevented from so doing by the penalties of +_praemunire_, delegated their authority to Vicars General, +who contrived to elude the provisions of the statute. On +the other hand, several of the King's Bishops, excluded +by popular hostility from the nominal sees, never resided +upon them; some of them spent their lives in Dublin, and +others were entertained as suffragans by Bishops in +England. + +In March, 1543, Primate Cromer, who had so resolutely +led the early opposition to Archbishop Browne, died, +whereupon Pope Paul III. appointed Robert Waucop, a +Scotsman (by some writers called _Venantius_), to the +See of Armagh. This remarkable man, though afflicted +with blindness from his youth upwards, was a doctor of +the Sorbonne, and one of the most distinguished Prelates +of his age. He introduced the first Jesuit Fathers into +Ireland, and to him is attributed the establishment of +that intimate intercourse between the Ulster Princes and +the See of Rome, which characterized the latter half of +the century. He assisted at the Council of Trent from +1545 to 1547, was subsequently employed as Legate in +Germany, and died abroad during the reign of Edward VI. +Simultaneously with the appointment of Primate Waucop, +Henry VIII. had nominated to the same dignity George +Dowdal, a native of Louth, formerly Prior of the crutched +friars at Ardee, in that county. Though Dowdal accepted +the nomination, he did so without acknowledging the King's +supremacy in spirituals. On the contrary he remained +attached to the Holy See, and held his claims in abeyance, +during the lifetime of Waucop. On the death of the latter, +he assumed his rank, but was obliged to fly into exile, +during the reign of Edward. On the accession of Mary he +was recalled from his place of banishment in Brabant, +and his first official act on returning home was to +proclaim a Jubilee for the public restoration of the +Catholic worship. + +The King's Bishops during the last years of Henry, and +the brief reign of Edward, were, besides Browne of Dublin, +Edward Staples, Bishop of Meath, Matthew Saunders and +Robert Travers, successively Bishops of Leighlin, William +Miagh and Thomas Lancaster, successively Bishops of +Kildare, and John Bale, Bishop of Ossory--all Englishmen. +The only native names, before the reign of Elizabeth, +which we find associated in any sense with the +"reformation," are John Coyn, or Quin, Bishop of Limerick, +and Dominick Tirrey, Bishop of Cork and Cloyne. Dr. Quin +was promoted to the See in 1522, and resigned his charge +in the year 1551. He is called a "favourer" of the new +doctrines, but it is not stated how far he went in their +support. His successor, Dr. William Casey, was one of +the six Bishops deprived by Queen Mary on her accession +to the throne. As Bishop Tirrey is not of the +number--although he lived till the third year of Mary's +reign--we may conclude that he became reconciled to the +Holy See. + +The native population became, before Henry's death, fully +aroused to the nature of the new doctrines, to which at +first they had paid so little attention. The Commission +issued in 1539 to Archbishop Browne and others for the +destruction of images and relics, and the prevention of +pilgrimages, as well as the ordering of English prayers +as a substitute for the Mass, brought home to all minds +the sweeping character of the change. Our native Annals +record the breaking out of the English schism from the +year 1537, though its formal introduction into Ireland +may, perhaps, be more accurately dated from the issuing +of the Ecclesiastical Commission of 1539. In their eyes +it was the offspring of "pride, vain-glory, avarice, and +lust," and its first manifestations were well calculated +to make it for ever odious on Irish soil. "They destroyed +the religious orders," exclaimed the Four Masters! "They +broke down the monasteries, and sold their roofs and +bells, from Aran of the Saints to the Iccian Sea!" "They +burned the images, shrines, and relics of the Saints; +they destroyed the Statue of our Lady of Trim, and the +Staff of Jesus, which had been in the hand of St. Patrick!" +Such were the works of that Commission as seen by the +eyes of Catholics, natives of the soil. The Commissioners +themselves, however, gloried in their work, and pointed +with complacency to their success. The "innumerable +images" which adorned the churches were dashed to pieces; +the ornaments of shrines and altars, when not secreted +in time, were torn from their places, and beaten into +shapeless masses of metal. This harvest yielded in the +first year nearly 3,000 pounds, on an inventory, wherein +we find 1,000 lbs. weight of wax, manufactured into +candles and tapers, valued at 20 pounds. Such was the +return made to the revenue; what share of the spoil was +appropriated by the agents employed may never be known. +It would be absurd, however, to expect a scrupulous regard +to honesty in men engaged in the work of sacrilege! And +this work, it must be added, was carried on in the face +of the stipulation entered into with the Parliament of +1541, that "the Church of Ireland shall be free, and +enjoy all its accustomed privileges." + +The death of Henry, in January, 1547, found the Reformation +in Ireland at the stage just described. But though all +attempts to diffuse a general recognition of his spiritual +power had failed, his reign will ever be memorable as +the epoch of the union of the English and Irish Crowns. +Before closing the present Book of our History, in which +we have endeavoured to account for that great fact, and +to trace the progress of the negotiations which led to +its accomplishment, we must briefly review the relations +existing between the Kings of England and the Irish +nation, from Henry II. to Henry VIII. + +If we are to receive a statement of considerable antiquity, +a memorable compromise effected at the Council of Constance, +between the ambassadors of France and England, as to who +should take precedence, turned mainly on this very point. +The French monarchy was then at its lowest, the English +at its highest pitch, for Charles VI. was but a nominal +sovereign of France, while the conqueror of Agincourt +sat on the throne of England. Yet in the first assembly +of the Prelates and Princes of Europe, we are told that +the ambassadors of France raised a question of the right +of the English envoys to be received as representing a +nation, seeing that they had been conquered not only by +the Romans, but by the Saxons. Their argument further +was, that, "as the Saxons were tributaries to the German +Empire, and never governed by native sovereigns, they +[the English] should take place as a branch only of the +German empire, and not as a free nation. For," argued +the French, "it is evident from Albertus Magnus and +Bartholomew Glanville, that the world is divided into +three parts, Europe, Asia, and Africa;--that Europe is +divided into four empires, the Roman, Constantinopolitan, +the Irish, and the Spanish." "The English advocates," we +are told, "admitting the force of these allegations, +claimed their precedency and rank from Henry's being +monarch of Ireland, and it was accordingly granted." + +If this often-told anecdote is of any historical value, +it only shows the ignorance of the representatives of +France in yielding their pretensions on so poor a quibble. +Neither Henry V., nor any other English sovereign before +him, had laid claim to the title of "Monarch of Ireland." +The indolence or ignorance of modern writers has led +them, it is true, to adopt the whole series of the +Plantagenet Kings as sovereigns of Ireland--to set up in +history a dynasty which never existed for us; to leave +out of their accounts of a monarchical people all question +of their crown; and to pass over the election of 1541 +without adequate, or any inquiry. + +It is certain that neither Henry II., nor Richard I., +ever used in any written instrument, or graven sign, the +style of king, or even lord of Ireland; though in the +Parliament held at Oxford in the year 1185, Henry conferred +on his youngest son, John _lack-land_, a title which he +did not himself possess, and John is thenceforth known +in English history as "Lord of Ireland." This honour was +not, however, of the exclusive nature of sovereignty, +else John could hardly have borne it during the lifetime +of his father and brother. And although we read that +Cardinal Octavian was sent into England by Pope Urban +III., authorized to consecrate John, _King_ of Ireland, +no such consecration took place, nor was the lordship +looked upon, at any period, as other than a creation of +the royal power of England existing in Ireland, which +could be recalled, transferred, or alienated, without +detriment to the prerogative of the King. + +Neither had this original view of the relations existing +between England and Ireland undergone any change at the +time of the Council of Constance. Of this we have a +curious illustration in the style employed by the Queen +Dowager of Henry V., who, during the minority of her son, +granted charters, as "Queen of England and France, and +lady of Ireland." The use of different crowns in the +coronations of all the Tudors subsequent to Henry VIII. +shows plainly how the recent origin of their secondary +title was understood and acknowledged during the remainder +of the sixteenth century. Nothing of the kind was practised +at the coronation of the Plantagenet Princes, nor were +the arms of Ireland quartered with those of England +previous to the period we have described--the memorable +year, 1541. + + + + +BOOK VIII. + +THE ERA OF THE REFORMATION. + + +CHAPTER I. + +EVENTS OF THE REIGN OF EDWARD SIXTH. + +On the last day of January, 1547, Edward, son of Henry, +by Lady Jane Seymour, was crowned by the title of Edward +VI. He was then only nine years old, and was destined +to wear the crown but for six years and a few months. No +Irish Parliament was convened during his reign, but the +Reformation was pushed on with great vigour, at first +under the patronage of the Protector, his uncle, and +subsequently of that uncle's rival, the Duke of +Northumberland. Archbishop Cranmer suffered the zeal of +neither of these statesmen to flag for want of stimulus, +and the Lord Deputy Saint Leger, judging from the cause +of his disgrace in the next reign, approved himself a +willing assistant in the work. + +The Irish Privy Council, which exercised all the powers +of government during this short reign, was composed +exclusively of partizans of the Reformation. Besides +Archbishop Browne and Staples, Bishop of Meath, its +members were the Chancellor, Read, and the Treasurer, +Brabazon, both English, with the Judges Aylmer, Luttrel, +Bath, Cusack, and Howth--all proselytes, at least in +form, to the new opinions. The Earl of Ormond, with +sixteen of his household, having been poisoned at a +banquet in Ely House, London, in October before Henry's +death, the influence of that great house was wielded +during the minority of his successor by Sir Francis Bryan, +an English adventurer, who married the widowed countess. +This lady being, moreover, daughter and heir general to +James, Earl of Desmond, brought Bryan powerful connections +in the South, which he was not slow to turn to a politic +account. His ambition aimed at nothing less than the +supreme authority, military and civil; but when at length +he attained the summit of his hopes, he only lived to +enjoy them a few months. + +To enable the Deputy and Council to carry out the work +they had begun, an additional military force was felt to +be necessary, and Sir Edward Bellingham was sent over, +soon after Edward's accession, with a detachment of six +hundred horse, four hundred foot, and the title of Captain +General. This able officer, in conjunction with Sir +Francis Bryan, who appears to have been everywhere, +overran Offally, Leix, Ely and West-Meath, sending the +chiefs of the two former districts as prisoners to London, +and making advantageous terms with those of the latter. +He was, however, supplanted in the third year of Edward +by Bryan, who held successively the rank of Marshal of +Ireland and Lord Deputy. To the latter office he was +chosen on an emergency, by the Council, in December, +1549, but died at Clonmel, on an expedition against the +O'Carrolls, in the following February. His successes and +those of Bellingham hastened the reduction of Leix and +Offally into shire ground in the following reign. + +The total military force at the disposal of Edward's +commanders was probably never less than 10,000 effective +men. By the aid of their abundant artillery, they were +enabled to take many strong places hitherto deemed +impregnable to assault. The mounted men and infantry, +were, as yet, but partially armed with musquetons, or +firelocks--for the spear and the bow still found advocates +among military men. The spearmen or lancers were chiefly +recruited on the marches of Northumberland from the hardy +race of border warriors; the mounted bowmen or hobilers +were generally natives of Chester or North Wales. Between +these new comers and the native Anglo-Irish troops many +contentions arose from time to time, but in the presence +of the common foe these bickerings were completely +forgotten. The townsmen of Waterford marched promptly at +a call, under their standard of the three galleys, and +those of Dublin as cheerfully turned out under the +well-known banner, decorated with three flaming towers. + +The _personnel_ of the administration, in the six years +of Edward, was continually undergoing change. Bellingham, +who succeeded St. Leger, was supplanted by Bryan, on +whose death, St. Leger was reappointed. After another +year Sir James Croft was sent over to replace St. Leger, +and continued to fill the office until the accession of +Queen Mary. But whoever rose or fell to the first rank +in civil affairs, the Privy Council remained exclusively +Protestant, and the work of innovation was not suffered +to languish. A manuscript account, attributed to Adam +Loftus, Browne's successor, assigns the year 1549 as the +date when "the Mass was put down," in Dublin, "and divine +service was celebrated in English." Bishop Mant, the +historian of the Established Church in Ireland, does not +find any account of such an alteration, nor does the +statement appear to him consistent with subsequent facts +of this reign. We observe, also, that in 1550, Arthur +Magennis, the Pope's Bishop of Dromore, was allowed by +the government to enter on possession of his temporalities +after taking an oath of allegiance, while King's Bishops +were appointed in that and the next two years to the +vacant Sees of Kildare, Leighlin, Ossory, and Limerick. +A vacancy having occurred in the See of Cashel, in 1551, +it was unaccountably left vacant, as far as the Crown +was concerned, during the remainder of this reign, while +a similar vacancy in Armagh was filled, at least in name, +by the appointment of Dr. Hugh Goodacre, chaplain to the +Bishop of Winchester, and a favourite preacher with the +Princess Elizabeth. This Prelate was consecrated, according +to a new form, in Christ Church, Dublin, on 2nd of +February, 1523, together with his countryman, John Bale, +Bishop of Ossory. The officiating Prelates were Browne, +Staples, and Lancaster of Kildare--all English. The Irish +Establishment, however, does not at all times rest its +argument for the validity of its episcopal Order upon +these consecrations. Most of their writers lay claim to +the Apostolic succession, through Adam Loftus, consecrated +in England, according to the ancient rite, by Hugh Curwen, +an Archbishop in communion with the See of Rome, at the +time of his elevation to the episcopacy. + +In February, 1551, Sir Anthony St. Leger received the +King's commands to cause the Scriptures translated into +the English tongue, and the Liturgy and Prayers of the +Church, also translated into English, to be read in all +the churches of Ireland. To render these instructions +effective, the Deputy summoned a convocation of the +Archbishops, Bishops, and Clergy, to meet in Dublin on +the 1st of March, 1551. In this meeting--the first of +two in which the defenders of the old and of the new +religion met face to face--the Catholic party was led by +the intrepid Dowdal, Archbishop of Armagh, and the +Reformers by Archbishop Browne. The Deputy, who, like +most laymen of that age, had a strong theological turn, +also took an active part in the discussion. Finally +delivering the royal order to Browne, the latter accepted +it in a set form of words, without reservation; the +Anglican Bishops of Meath, Kildare, and Leighlin, and +Coyne, Bishop of Limerick, adhering to his act; Primate +Dowdal, with the other Bishops, having previously retired +from the Conference. On Easter day following, the English +service was celebrated for the first tune in Christ +Church, Dublin, the Deputy, the Archbishop, and the Mayor +of the city assisting. Browne preached from the text: +"Open mine eyes that I may see the wonders of the law" +--a sermon chiefly remarkable for its fierce invective +against the new Order of Jesuits. + +Primate Dowdal retired from the Castle Conference to +Saint Mary's Abbey, on the north side of the Liffey, +where he continued while these things were taking place +in the city proper. The new Lord Deputy, Sir James +Crofts, on his arrival in May, addressed himself to the +Primate, to bring about, if possible, an accommodation +between the Prelates. Fearing, as he said, an "order ere +long to alter church matters, as well in offices as in +ceremonies," the new Deputy urged another Conference, +which was accordingly held at the Primate's lodgings, on +the 16th of June. At this meeting Browne does not seem +to have been present, the argument on the side of the +Reformers being maintained by Staples. The points discussed +were chiefly the essential character of the Holy Sacrifice +of the Mass, and the invocation of Saints. The tone +observed on both sides was full of high-bred courtesy. +The letter of the Sacred Scriptures and the authority of +Erasmus in Church History were chiefly relied upon by +Staples; the common consent and usage of all Christendom, +the primacy of Saint Peter, and the binding nature of +the oath taken by Bishops at their consecration, were +pointed out by the Primate. The disputants parted, with +expressions of deep regret that they could come to no +agreement; but the Primacy was soon afterwards transferred +to Dublin, by order of the Privy Council, and Dowdal fled +for refuge into Brabant. The Roman Catholic and the +Anglican Episcopacy have never since met in oral controversy +on Irish ground, though many of the second order of the +clergy in both communions have, from time to time, been +permitted by their superiors to engage in such discussions. + +Whatever obstacles they encountered within the Church +itself, the propagation of the new religion was not +confined to moral means, nor was the spirit of opposition +at all tunes restricted to mere argument. Bishop Bale +having begun at Kilkenny to pull down the revered images +of the Saints, and to overturn the Market Cross, was set +upon by the mob, five of his servants, or guard, were +slain, and himself narrowly escaped with his life by +barricading himself in his palace. The garrisons in the +neighbourhood of the ancient seats of ecclesiastical +power and munificence were authorized to plunder their +sanctuaries and storehouses. The garrison of Down sacked +the celebrated shrines and tomb of Patrick, Bridget, and +Columbkill; the garrison of Carrickfergus ravaged Rathlin +Island and attacked Derry, from which, however, they were +repulsed with severe loss by John the Proud. But the most +lamentable scene of spoliation, and that which excited +the profoundest emotions of pity and anger in the public +mind, was the violation of the churches of St. Kieran--the +renowned Clonmacnoise. This city of schools had cast its +cross-crowned shade upon the gentle current of the Upper +Shannon for a thousand years. Danish fury, civil storm, +and Norman hostility had passed over it, leaving traces +of their power in the midst of the evidences of its +recuperation. The great Church to which pilgrims flocked +from every tribe of Erin, on the 9th of September--St. +Kieran's Day; the numerous chapels erected by the chiefs +of all the neighbouring clans; the halls, hospitals, +book-houses, nunneries, cemeteries, granaries-all still +stood, awaiting from Christian hands the last fatal blow. +In the neighbouring town of Athlone--seven or eight miles +distant--the Treasurer, Brabazon, had lately erected a +strong "Court" or Castle, from which, in the year 1552, +the garrison sallied forth to attack "the place of the +sons of the nobles,"--which is the meaning of the name. +In executing this task they exhibited a fury surpassing +that of Turgesius and his Danes. The pictured glass was +torn from the window frames, and the revered images from +their niches; altars were overthrown; sacred vessels +polluted. "They left not," say the Four Masters, "a book +or a gem," nor anything to show what Clonmacnoise had +been, save the bare walls of the temples, the mighty +shaft of the round tower, and the monuments in the +cemeteries, with their inscriptions in Irish, in Hebrew, +and in Latin. The Shannon re-echoed with their profane +songs and laughter, as laden with chalices and crucifixes, +brandishing croziers, and flaunting vestments in the air, +their barges returned to the walls of Athlone. + +In all the Gaelic speaking regions of Ireland, the new +religion now began to be known by those fruits which it +had so abundantly produced. Though the southern and +midland districts had not yet recovered from the exhaustion +consequent upon the suppression of the Geraldine league +and the abortive insurrection of Silken Thomas, the +northern tribes were still unbroken and undismayed. They +had deputed George Paris, a kinsman of the Kildare +Fitzgeralds, as their agent to the French King, in the +latter days of Henry VIII., and had received two ambassadors +on his behalf at Donegal and Dungannon. These ambassadors, +the Baron de Forquevaux, and the Sieur de Montluc, who +subsequently became Bishop of Valence, crossing over from +the west of Scotland, entered into a league, offensive +and defensive, with "the princes" of Tyrconnell and +Tyrowen, by which the latter bound themselves to recognize, +on certain conditions, "whoever was King of France as +King of Ireland likewise." This alliance, though prolonged +into the reign of Edward, led to nothing definitive, and +we shall see in the next reign how the hopes then turned +towards France were naturally transferred to Spain. + +The only native name which rises into historic importance +at this period is that of Shane, or John O'Neil, "the +Proud." He was the legitimate son of that Con O'Neil who +had been girt with the Earl's baldric by the hands of +Henry VIII. His father had procured at the same time for +an illegitimate son, Ferodach, or Mathew, of Dundalk, +the title of Baron of Dungannon, with the reversion of +the Earldom. When, however, John the Proud came of age, +he centred upon himself the hopes of his clansmen, deposed +his father, subdued the Baron, and assumed the title of +O'Neil. In 1552 he defeated the efforts of Sir William +Brabazon to fortify Belfast, and delivered Derry from +its plunderers. From that time till his tragical death, +in the ninth year of Queen Elizabeth, he stood +unquestionably the first man of his race, both in lineage +and action. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +EVENTS OF THE REIGN OF PHILIP AND MARY. + +The death of Edward VI. and the accession of the lady +Mary were known in Dublin by the middle of July, 1553, +and soon spread all over the kingdom. On the 20th of that +month, the form of proclamation was received from London, +in which the new Queen was forbidden to be styled "head +of the church," and this was quickly followed by another +ordinance, authorizing all who would to publicly attend +Mass, but not compelling thereto any who were unwilling. +A curious legal difficulty existed in relation to Mary's +title to the Crown of Ireland. By the Irish Statute, 38. +Hen. VIII., the Irish crown was entailed by name on the +Lady Elizabeth, and that act had not been repealed. It +was, however, held to have been superseded by the English +Statute, 35. Hen. VIII., which followed the election of +1541, and declared the Crown of Ireland "united and knit +to the Imperial Crown of the Realm of England." Read in +the light of the latter statute, the Irish sovereignty +might be regarded a mere appurtenance of that of England, +but Mary did not so consider it. At her coronation, a +separate crown was used for Ireland, nor did she feel +assured of the validity of her claim to wear it till she +had obtained a formal dispensation to that effect from +the Pope. + +The intelligence of the new Queen's accession, and the +public restoration of the old religion, diffused a general +joy throughout Ireland. Festivals and pageants were held +in the streets, and eloquent sermons poured from all the +pulpits. Archbishop Dowdal was called from exile, and +the Primacy was restored to Armagh. Sir Anthony St. Leger, +his ancient antagonist, had now conformed to the Court +fashion, and was sent over to direct the establishment +of that religion which he had been so many years engaged +in pulling down. In 1554, Browne, Staples, Lancaster, +and Travers, were formally deprived of their sees; Bale +and Casey of Limerick fled beyond seas, without awaiting +judgment. Married clergymen were invariably silenced, +and the children of Browne were declared by statute +illegitimate. + +What, however, gratified the public even more than these +retributions was the liberation of the aged Chief of +Offally from the Tower of London, at the earnest +supplication of his heroic daughter, Margaret, who found +her way to the Queen's presence to beg that boon; and +the simultaneous restoration of the Earldom of Kildare, +in the person of that Gerald, who had been so young a +fugitive among the glens of Muskerry and Donegal, and +had since undergone so many continental adventures. With +O'Conor and young Gerald, the heirs of the houses of +Ormond and of Upper Ossory were also allowed to return +to their homes, to the great delight of the southern half +of the kingdom. The subsequent marriage of Mary with +Philip II. of Spain gave an additional security to the +Irish Catholics for the future freedom of their religion. + +Great as was the change in this respect, it is not to be +inferred that the national relations of Ireland and +England were materially affected by such a change of +sovereign. The maxims of conquest were not to be abandoned +at the dictates of religion. The supreme power continued +to be entrusted only to Englishmen; while the same +Parliament (3rd and 4th Philip and Mary) which abolished +the title of head of the Church, and restored the Roman +jurisdiction in matters spiritual, divided Leix and +Offally, Glenmalier and Slewmargy, into shire ground, +subject to English law, under the name of King's and +Queen's County. The new forts of Maryborough and +Philipstown, as well as the county names, served to teach +the people of Leinster that the work of conquest could +be as industriously prosecuted by Catholic as by Protestant +rulers. Nor were these forts established and maintained +without many a struggle. St. Leger, and his still abler +successor, the Earl of Sussex, and the new Lord Treasurer, +Sir Henry Sidney, were forced to lead many an expedition +to the relief of those garrisons, and the dispersion of +their assailants. It was not in Irish human nature to +submit to the constant pressure of a foreign power without +seizing every possible opportunity for its expulsion. + +The new principle of primogeniture introduced at the +commutation of chieftainries into earldoms was productive +in this reign of much commotion and bloodshed. The seniors +of the O'Briens resisted its establishment in Thomond, +on the death of the first Earl; Calvagh O'Donnell took +arms against his father, to defeat its introduction into +Tyrconnell; John the Proud, as we have seen in the reign +of Edward, had been one of its earliest opponents in +Ulster. Being accused in the last year of Queen Mary of +procuring the death of his illegitimate brother, the +Baron of Dungannon, in order to remove him from his path, +he was summoned to account for those circumstances before +Sir Henry Sidney, then acting as Lord Justice. His plea +has been preserved to us, and no doubt represents the +prevailing opinion of the Gaelic-speaking population +towards the new system. He answered, "that the surrender +which his father had made to Henry VIII., and the +restoration which Henry made to his father again were of +no force; inasmuch as his father had no right to the +lands which he surrendered to the King, except during +his own life; that he (John) himself was the O'Neil by +the law of Tanistry, and by popular election; and that +he assumed no superiority over the chieftains of the +North except what belonged to his ancestors." To these +views he adhered to the last, accepting no English honours, +though quite willing to live at peace with English +sovereigns. When the title of Earl of Tyrone was revived, +it was in favour of the son of the Baron, the celebrated +Hugh O'Neil, the ally of Spain, and the most formidable +antagonist of Queen Elizabeth. + +In the Irish Parliament already referred to (3rd and 4th +Philip and Mary) an Act was passed declaring it a felony +to introduce armed Scotchmen into Ireland, or to intermarry +with them without a license under the great seal. This +statute was directed against those multitudes of Islesmen +and Highlanders who annually crossed the narrow strait +which separates Antrim from Argyle to harass the English +garrisons alongshore, or to enlist as auxiliaries in +Irish quarrels. In 1556, under one of their principal +leaders, James, son of Conal, they laid siege to +Carrickfergus and occupied Lord Sussex some six weeks in +the glens of Antrim. Their leader finally entered into +conditions, the nature of which may be inferred from the +fact that he received the honour of knighthood on their +acceptance. John O'Neil had usually in his service a +number of these mercenary troops, from among whom he +selected sixty body-guards, the same number supplied by +his own clan. In his first attempt to subject Tyrconnell +to his supremacy in 1557, his camp near Raphoe was +surprised at night by Calvagh O'Donnell, and his native +and foreign guards were put to the sword, while he himself +barely escaped by swimming the Mourne and the Finn. +O'Donnell had frequently employed a similar force, in +his own defence; and we read of the Lord of Clanrickarde +driving back a host of them engaged in the service of +his rivals, from the banks of the Moy, in 1558. + +Although the memory of Queen Mary has been held up to +execration during three centuries as a bloody-minded and +malignant persecutor of all who differed from her in +religion, it is certain that in Ireland, where, if +anywhere, the Protestant. minority might have been +extinguished by such severities as are imputed to her, +no persecution for conscience' sake took place. Married +Bishops were deprived, and married priests were silenced, +but beyond this no coercion was employed. It has been +said there was not time to bring the machinery to bear; +but surely if there was time to do so in England, within +the space of five years, there was tune in Ireland also. +The consoling truth--honourable to human nature and to +Christian charity, is--that many families out of England, +apprehending danger in their own country, sought and +found a refuge from their fears in the western island. +The families of Agar, Ellis, and Harvey, are descended +from emigrants, who were accompanied from Cheshire by a +clergyman of their own choice, whose ministrations they +freely enjoyed during the remainder of this reign at +Dublin. The story about Dr. Cole having been despatched +to Ireland with a commission to punish heretics, and, +losing it on the way, is unworthy of serious notice. If +there had been any such determination formed there was +ample time to put it into execution between 1553 and 1558. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ACCESSION OF QUEEN ELIZABETH--PARLIAMENT OF 1560-- +THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY--CAREER AND DEATH OF +JOHN O'NEIL "THE PROUD." + +The daughter of Anna Boleyn was promptly proclaimed Queen +the same day on which Mary died--the 17th of November, +1558. Elizabeth was then in her 26th year, proud of her +beauty, and confident in her abilities. Her great capacity +had been cultivated by the best masters of the age, and +the best of all ages, early adversity. Her vices were +hereditary in her blood, but her genius for government +so far surpassed any of her immediate predecessors as to +throw her vices into the shade. During the forty-four +years in which she wielded the English sceptre, many of +the most stirring occurrences of our history took place; +it could hardly have fallen out otherwise, under a +sovereign of so much vigour, having the command of such +immense resources. + +On the news of Mary's death reaching Ireland, the Lord +Deputy Sussex returned to England, and Sir Henry Sidney, +the Treasurer, was appointed his successor _ad interim_. +As in England, so in Ireland, though for somewhat different +reasons, the first months of the new reign were marked +by a conciliating and temporizing policy. Elizabeth, who +had not assumed the title of "Head of the Church," +continued to hear Mass for several months after her +accession. At her coronation she had a High Mass sung, +accompanied, it is true, by a Calvinistic sermon. Before +proceeding with the work of "reformation," inaugurated +by her father, and arrested by her sister, she proceeded +cautiously to establish herself, and her Irish deputy +followed in the same careful line of conduct. Having +first made a menacing demonstration against John the +Proud, he entered into friendly correspondence with him, +and finally ended the campaign by standing godfather to +one of his children. This relation of gossip among the +old Irish was no mere matter of ceremony, but involved +obligations lasting as life, and sacred as the ties of +kindred blood. By seeking such a sponsor, O'Neil placed +himself in Sidney's power, rather than Sidney in his, +since the two men must have felt very differently bound +by the connection into which they had entered. As an +evidence of the Imperial policy of the moment, the incident +is instructive. + +Bound the personal history of this splendid, but by no +means stainless Ulster Prince, the events of the first +nine years of Elizabeth's reign over Ireland naturally +group themselves. Whether at her Majesty's council-board, +or among the Scottish islands, or in hall or hut at home, +the attention of all manner of men interested in Ireland +was fixed upon the movements of John the Proud. In tracing +his career, we therefore naturally gather all, or nearly +all, the threads of the national story, during the first +ten years of Queen Mary's successor. + +In the second year of Elizabeth, Lord Deputy Sussex, who +returned fully possessed of her Majesty's views, summoned +the Parliament to meet in Dublin on the 12th day of +January, 1560. It is to be observed, however, that though +the union of the crowns was now of twenty years' standing, +the writs were not issued to the nation at large, but +only to the ten counties of Dublin, Meath, Louth, +West-Meath, Kildare, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford, +and Tipperary, with their boroughs. The published +instructions of Lord Sussex were "to make such statutes +(concerning religion) as were made in England, _mutatis +mutandis_." As a preparation for the legislature, St. +Patrick's Cathedral and Christ Church were purified by +paint; the niches of the Saints were for the second time +emptied of their images; texts of Scripture were blazoned +upon the walls, and the Litany was chanted in English. +After these preparatory demonstrations, the Deputy opened +the new Parliament, which sat for one short but busy +month. The Acts of Mary's Parliament, re-establishing +ecclesiastical relations with Rome, were the first thing +repealed; then so much of the Act 33, Henry VIII., as +related to the succession, was revived; all ecclesiastical +jurisdiction was next declared vested in the Crown, and +all "judges, justices, mayors, and temporal officers were +declared bound to take tie oath of supremacy;" the penalty +attached to the refusal of the oath, by this statute, +being "forfeiture of office and promotion during life." +Proceeding rapidly in the same direction, it was declared +that commissioners in ecclesiastical causes should adjudge +nothing as heresy which was not expressly so condemned +by the Canonical Scriptures, the received General Councils, +or by Parliament. The penalty of _praemunire_ was declared +in force, and, to crown the work, the celebrated "Act of +Uniformity" was passed. This was followed by other statutes +for the restoration of first fruits and twentieths, and +for the appointment of Bishops by the royal prerogative, +or _conge d'elire_--elections by the chapter being declared +mere "shadows of election, and derogatory to the +prerogative." Such was, in brief, the legislation of that +famous Parliament of ten counties--the often quoted +statutes of the "2nd of Elizabeth." In the Act of +Uniformity, the best known of all its statutes, there +was this curious saving clause inserted: that whenever +the "priest or common minister" could not speak English, +he might still continue "to celebrate the service in the +Latin tongue." Such other observances were to be had as +were prescribed by the 2nd Edward VI., until her Majesty +should "publish further ceremonies or rites." We have no +history of the debates of this Parliament of a month, +but there is ample reason to believe that some of these +statutes were resisted throughout by a majority of the +Upper House, still chiefly composed of Catholic Peers; +that the clause saving the Latin ritual was inserted as +a compromise with this opposition; that some of the other +Acts were passed by stealth in the absence of many members, +and that the Lord Deputy gave his solemn pledge the +statute of Uniformity should be enforced, if passed. So +severe was the struggle, and so little satisfied was +Sussex with his success, that he hastily dissolved the +Houses and went over personally to England to represent +the state of feeling he had encountered. Finally, it is +remarkable that no other Parliament was called in Ireland +till nine years afterwards--a convincing proof of how +unmanageable that body, even constituted as it was, had +shown itself to be in matters affecting religion. + +The non-invitation of the Irish chiefs to this Parliament, +contrary to the precedent set in Mary's reign and in +1541, the laws enacted, and the commotion they excited +in the minds of the clergy, were circumstances which +could not fail to attract the attention of John O'Neil. +Even if insensible to what transpired at Dublin, the +indefatigable Sussex-one of the ablest of Elizabeth's +able Court-did not suffer him long to misunderstand his +relations to the new Queen. He might be Sidney's gossip, +but he was not the less Elizabeth's enemy. He had been +proclaimed "O'Neil" on the rath of Tullahoge, and had +reigned at Dungannon, adjudging life and death. It was +clear that two such jurisdictions as the Celtic and the +Norman kingship could not stand long on the same soil, +and the Ulster Prince soon perceived that he must establish +his authority, by arms, or perish with it. We must also +read all Irish events of the time of Elizabeth by the +light of foreign politics; during the long reign of that +sovereign, England was never wholly free from fears of +invasion, and many movements which now seem inexplicable +will be readily understood when we recollect that they +took place under the menaces of foreign powers. + +The O'Neils had anciently exercised a high-handed +superiority over all Ulster, and John the Proud was not +the man to let his claim lie idle in any district of that +wide-spread Province. But authority which has fallen +into decay must be asserted only at a propitious time, +and with the utmost tact; and here it was that Elizabeth's +statesmen found their most effective means of attacking +O'Neil. O'Donnell, who was his father-in-law, was studiously +conciliated; his second wife, a lady of the Argyle family, +received costly presents from the Queen; O'Reilly was +created Earl of Breffni, and encouraged to resist the +superiority to which the house of Dungannon laid claim. +The natural consequences followed; John the Proud swept +like a storm over the fertile hills of Cavan, and compelled +the new-made Earl to deliver him tribute and hostages. +O'Donnell, attended only by a few of his household, was +seized in a religious house upon Lough Swilly, and +subjected to every indignity which an insolent enemy +could devise. His Countess, already alluded to, supposed +to have been privy to this surprise of her husband, became +the mistress of his captor and jailer, to whom she bore +several children. What deepens the horror of this odious +domestic tragedy is the fact that the wife of O'Neil, +the daughter of O'Donnell, thus supplanted by her shameless +stepmother, under her own roof, died soon afterwards of +"horror, loathing, grief, and deep anguish," at the +spectacle afforded by the private life of O'Neil, and +the severities inflicted upon her wretched father. All +the patriotic designs, and all the shining abilities of +John the Proud, cannot abate a jot of our detestation of +such a private life; though slandered in other respects +as he was, by hostile pens, no evidence has been adduced +to clear his memory of these indelible stains; nor after +becoming acquainted with their existence can we follow +his after career with that heartfelt sympathy with which +the lives of purer patriots must always inspire us. + +The pledge given by Sussex, that the penal legislation +of 1560 should lie a dead letter, was not long observed. +In May of the year following its enactment, a commission +was appointed to enforce the 2nd Elizabeth, in West-Meath; +and in 1562 a similar commission was appointed for Meath +and Armagh. By these commissioners Dr. William Walsh, +Catholic Bishop of Meath, was arraigned and imprisoned +for preaching against the new liturgy; a Prelate who +afterwards died an exile in Spain. The primatial see was +for the moment vacant, Archbishop Dowdal having died at +London three months before Queen Mary-on the Feast of +the Assumption, 1558. Terence, Dean of Armagh, who acted +as administrator, convened a Synod of the English-speaking +clergy of the Province in July, 1559, at Drogheda, but +as this dignitary followed in the steps of his faithful +predecessors, his deanery was conferred upon Dr. Adam +Loftus, Chaplain of the Lord Lieutenant; two years +subsequently the dignity of Archbishop of Armagh was +conferred upon the same person. Dr. Loftus, a native of +Yorkshire, had found favour in the eyes of the Queen at +a public exhibition at Cambridge University; he was but +28 years old, according to Sir James Ware, when consecrated +Primate-but Dr. Mant thinks he must have attained at +least the canonical age of 30. During the whole of this +reign he continued to reside at Dublin, which see was +early placed under his jurisdiction in lieu of the +inaccessible Armagh. For forty years he continued one of +the ruling spirits at Dublin, whether acting as Lord +Chancellor, Lord Justice, Privy Councillor, or First +Provost of Trinity College. He was a pluralist in Church +and State, insatiable of money and honours; if he did +not greatly assist in establishing his religion, he was +eminently successful in enriching his family. + +Having subdued every hostile neighbour and openly assumed +the high prerogative of Prince of Ulster, John the Proud +looked around him for allies in the greater struggle +which he foresaw could not be long postponed. Calvagh +O'Donnell was yielded up on receiving a munificent ransom, +but his infamous wife remained with her paramour. A +negotiation was set on foot with the chiefs of the Highland +and Island Scots, large numbers of whom entered into +O'Neil's service. Emissaries were despatched to the French +Court, where they found a favourable reception, as +Elizabeth was known to be in league with the King of +Navarre and the Huguenot leaders against Francis II. The +unexpected death of the King at the close of 1560; the +return of his youthful widow, Queen Mary, to Scotland; +the vigorous regency of Catherine de Medicis during the +minority of her second son; the ill-success of Elizabeth's +arms during the campaigns of 1561-2-3, followed by the +humiliating peace of April, 1564--these events are all +to be borne in memory when considering the extraordinary +relations which were maintained during the same years by +the proud Prince of Ulster, with the still prouder Queen +of England. The apparently contradictory tactics pursued +by the Lord Deputy Sussex, between his return to Dublin +in the spring of 1561, and his final recall in 1564, when +read by the light of events which transpired at Paris, +London, and Edinburgh, become easily intelligible. In +the spring of the first mentioned year, it was thought +possible to intimidate O'Neil, so Lord Sussex, with the +Earl of Ormond as second in command, marched northwards, +entered Armagh, and began to fortify the city, with a +view to placing in it a powerful garrison. O'Neil, to +remove the seat of hostilities, made an irruption into +the plain of Meath, and menaced Dublin. The utmost +consternation prevailed at his approach, and the Deputy, +while continuing the fortification of Armagh, despatched +the main body of his troops to press on the rear of the +aggressor. By a rapid countermarch, O'Neil came up with +this force, laden with spoils, in Louth, and after an +obstinate engagement routed them with immense loss. On +receipt of this intelligence, Sussex promptly abandoned +Armagh, and returned to Dublin, while O'Neil erected his +standard, as far South as Drogheda, within twenty miles +of the capital. So critical at this moment was the aspect +of affairs, that all the energies of the English interest +were taxed to the utmost. In the autumn of the year, +Sussex marched again from Dublin northward, having at +his side the five powerful Earls of Kildare, Ormond, +Desmond, Thomond, and Clanrickarde--whose mutual feuds +had been healed or dissembled for the day. O'Neil prudently +fell back before this powerful expedition, which found +its way to the shores of Lough Foyle, without bringing +him to an engagement, and without any military advantage. +As the shortest way of getting rid of such an enemy, the +Lord Deputy, though one of the wisest and most justly +celebrated of Elizabeth's Counsellors, did not hesitate +to communicate to his royal mistress the project of hiring +an assassin, named Nele Gray, to take off the Prince of +Ulster, but the plot, though carefully elaborated, +miscarried. Foreign news, which probably reached him +only on reaching the Foyle, led to a sudden change of +tactics on the part of Sussex, and the young Lord +Kildare--O'Neil's cousin-germain, was employed to negotiate +a peace with the enemy they had set out to demolish. + +This Lord Kildare was Gerald, the eleventh Earl, the same +whom we have spoken of as a fugitive lad, in the last +years of Henry VIII., and as restored to his estates and +rank by Queen Mary. Although largely indebted to his +Catholicity for the protection he had received while +abroad from Francis I., Charles V., the Duke of Tuscany +and the Roman See--especially the Cardinals Pole and +Farnese--and still more indebted to the late Catholic +Queen for the restoration of his family honours, this +finished courtier, now in the very midsummer of life, +one of the handsomest and most accomplished persons of +his time, did not hesitate to conform himself, at least +outwardly, to the religion of the State. Shortly before +the campaign of which we have spoken, he had been suspected +of treasonable designs, but had pleaded his cause +successfully with the Queen in person. From Lough Foyle, +accompanied by the Lord Slane, the Viscount Baltinglass, +and a suitable guard, Lord Kildare set out for John +O'Neil's camp, where a truce was concluded between the +parties, Lord Sussex undertaking to withdraw his wardens +from Armagh, and O'Neil engaging himself to live in peace +with her Majesty, and to serve "when necessary against +her enemies." The cousins also agreed personally to visit +the English Court the following year, and accordingly in +January ensuing they went to England, from which they +returned home in the latter end of May. + +The reception of John the Proud, at the Court of Elizabeth, +was flattering in the extreme. The courtiers stared and +smiled at his bareheaded body-guard, with their crocus-dyed +vests, short jackets, and shaggy cloaks. But the +broad-bladed battle-axe, and the sinewy arm which wielded +it, inspired admiration for all the uncouth costume. The +haughty indifference with which the Prince of Ulster +treated every one about the Court, except the Queen, gave +a keener edge to the satirical comments which were so +freely indulged in at the expense of his style of dress. +The wits proclaimed him "O'Neil the Great, cousin to +Saint Patrick, friend to the Queen of England, and enemy +to all the world besides!" O'Neil was well pleased with +his reception by Elizabeth. When taxed upon his return +with having made peace with her Majesty, he answered--"Yes, +in her own bed-chamber." There were, indeed, many points +in common in both their characters. + +Her Majesty, by letters patent dated at Windsor, on the +15th of January, 1563, recognized in John the Proud "the +name and title of O'Neil, with the like authority, +jurisdiction, and pre-eminence, as any of his ancestors." +And O'Neil, by articles, dated at Benburb, the 18th of +November of the same year, reciting the letters patent +aforesaid, bound himself and his suffragans to behave as +"the Queen's good and faithful subjects against all +persons whatever." Thus, so far as an English alliance +could guarantee it, was the supremacy of this daring +chief guaranteed in Ulster from the Boyne to the North Sea. + +In performing his part of the engagements thus entered +into, O'Neil is placed in a less invidious light by +English writers than formerly. They now describe him as +scrupulously faithful to his word; as charitable to the +poor, always carving and sending meat from his own table +to the beggar at the gate before eating himself. Of the +sincerity with which he carried out the expulsion of the +Islesmen and Highlanders from Ulster, the result afforded +the most conclusive evidence. It is true he had himself +invited those bands into the Province to aid him against +the very power with which he was now at peace, and, +therefore, they might in their view allege duplicity and +desertion against him. Yet enlisted as they usually were +but for a single campaign, O'Neil expected them to depart +as readily as they had come. But in this expectation he +was disappointed. Their leaders, Angus, James, and Sorley +McDonald, refused to recognize the new relations which +had arisen, and O'Neil was, therefore, compelled to resort +to force. He defeated the Scottish troops at Glenfesk, +near Ballycastle, in 1564, in an action wherein Angus +McDonald was slain, James died of his wounds, and Sorley +was carried prisoner to Benburb. An English auxiliary +force, under Colonel Randolph, sent round by sea, under +pretence of co-operating against the Scots, took possession +of Derry and began to fortify it. But their leader was +slain in a skirmish with a party of O'Neil's people who +disliked the fortress, and whether by accident or otherwise +their magazine exploded, killing a great part of the +garrison and destroying their works. The remnant took to +their shipping and returned to Dublin. + +In the years 1565, '6 and '7, the internal dissensions +of both Scotland and France, and the perturbations in +the Netherlands giving full occupation to her foreign +foes, Elizabeth had an interval of leisure to attend to +this dangerous ally in Ulster. A second unsuccessful +attempt on his life, by an assassin named Smith, was +traced to the Lord Deputy, and a formal commission issued +by the Queen to investigate the case. The result we know +only by the event; Sussex was recalled, and Sir Henry +Sidney substituted in his place! Death had lately made +way in Tyrconnell and Fermanagh for new chiefs, and these +leaders, more vigorous than their predecessors, were +resolved to shake off the recently imposed and sternly +exercised supremacy of Benburb. With these chiefs, Sidney, +at the head of a veteran armament, cordially co-operated, +and O'Neil's territory was now attacked simultaneously +at three different points--in the year 1566. No considerable +success was, however, obtained over him till the following +year, when, at the very opening of the campaign, the +brave O'Donnell arrested his march along the strand of +the Lough Swilly, and the tide rising impetuously, as it +does on that coast, on the rear of the men of Tyrone, +struck them with terror, and completed their defeat. +From 1,500 to 3,000 men perished by the sword or by the +tide; John the Proud fled alone, along the river Swilly, +and narrowly escaped by the fords of rivers and by solitary +ways to his Castle on Lough Neagh. The Annalists of +Donegal, who were old enough to have conversed with +survivors of the battle, say that his mind became deranged +by this sudden fall from the summit of prosperity to the +depths of defeat. His next step would seem to establish +the fact, for he at once despatched Sorley McDonald, the +survivor of the battle of Glenfesk, to recruit a new +auxiliary force for him amongst the Islesmen, whom he +had so mortally offended. Then, abandoning his fortress +upon the Blackwater, he set out with 50 guards, his +secretary, and his mistress, the wife of the late O'Donnell, +to meet these expected allies whom he had so fiercely +driven off but two short years before. At Cushendun, on +the Antrim coast, they met with all apparent cordiality, +but an English agent, Captain Piers, or Pierce, seized +an opportunity during the carouse which ensued to recall +the bitter memories of Glenfesk. A dispute and a quarrel +ensued; O'Neil fell covered with wounds, amid the exulting +shouts of the avenging Islesmen. His gory head was +presented to Captain Piers, who hastened with it to +Dublin, where he received a reward of a thousand marks +for his success. High spiked upon the towers of the +Castle, that proud head remained and rotted; the body, +wrapped in a Kerns saffron shirt, was interred where he +fell, a spot familiar to all the inhabitants of the Antrim +glens as "the grave of Shane O'Neil." And so may be said to +close the first decade of Elizabeth's reign over Ireland! + + + + +End of Volume 1 of 2 + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Popular History of Ireland V1 +by Thomas D'Arcy McGee + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND *** + +This file should be named 6632.txt or 6632.zip + +This etext was produced by Gardner Buchanan with help from +Charles Aldarondo and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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