Part 30 (1/2)

[307] Abstracted from Hogan's _Hibernia Ignatiana_, p. 4, where Paul's letter may be also read in the original Latin.

[308] Hogan's _Hibernia Ignatiana_, pp. 3-9. Paul III.'s letter to Con O'Neill is dated April 24, 1541. The Jesuits were in Ireland in February and March, 1542. O'Sullivan Beare, lib. iii. cap. 8. James V. to the Irish chiefs, in S.P., vol. v. p. 202; Paget to Henry VIII. from Lyons, July 13, 1542, in S.P., vol. ix. p. 106.

[309] _Calendar of Patent Rolls_, p. 73; Grey to Cromwell, Feb. 4, 1537.

The last session began Oct. 13, 1537; a detailed account is given by Brabazon in a letter to Cromwell in S.P., vol. ii. p. 524, and in the note there.

[310] Grey and Brabazon to Cromwell, May 18, 1537. The King to the Lord Deputy and Council, S.P., vol. ii. p. 425. Harris's _Ware_ under Staples, Bishop of Meath. For the names of the dissolved houses, see the Statute, 28 Henry VIII. cap. 16, and _Calendar of Patent Rolls_, p. 38. There were twenty-five mitred abbots and priors in Ireland, ten of Canons Regular, one of Benedictines, one of Hospitallers, and thirteen of Cistercians.

Ware, in his _Annals_, says the heads of St. Mary's and St. Thomas's, Dublin, of Kilmainham, and of Mellifont were regularly summoned to Parliament--the more distant ones very seldom. The Augustinians were the most numerous and probably the richest of the sedentary orders. Their rule was adopted by most of the ancient Irish monasteries, the small residue becoming Benedictine. Alemand, who was originally a Huguenot and who was Voltaire's countryman, remarks that in order to become quickly a bishop in Ireland, it was necessary first to be a Regular Canon.

[311] Chiefly from Alemand; the words of John's grant are 'ante adventum _Francorum_ in Hiberniam.' For the final grant, see Archdall's _Lodge_.

Art. Earl of Drogheda.

[312] Alemand. Sidney to Queen Elizabeth, April 20, 1567, in the _Sidney Papers_.

[313] Alemand and Archdall. As to the intended combat, see _Carew_, miscellaneous vol., pp. 446, 447.

[314] Most of the pensions mentioned in the text are traceable in Morrin's _Calendar of Patent Rolls_. For Cahir, see Archdall's _Monasticon_. Queen Mary's instructions to Lord Fitzwalter, April 28, 1556, in _Carew_.

[315] Alemand, _pa.s.sim_; Doc.u.ments in the supplementary volume of _King's Primer_, No. 66; the Waterford doc.u.ment is in Brennan's _Ecclesiastical History_, p. 459.

[316] Sir John Davies's _Discovery_.

[317] In Mant's _Church History_ is an estimate of the monastic property founded on the Loftus MS.; but such calculations must be very rough. R.

Cowley to Cromwell, Oct. 4, 1536.

[318] Agard to Cromwell, April 4, 1538. James White to Cromwell, March 28. _Spicilegium Ossoriense_, vol. i. p. 437. _Hibernia Dominicana._

[319] In recommending a grant of Dusk to Ormonde the Council say they 'cannot perceive, as it is situated, that any man can keep it for the King, but only the said Earl or his son.' For Toem and Dunmore, see _Calendar of Patent Rolls_, pp. 73 and 84. Browne to Cromwell, May 21, 1538.

[320] Ware's _Antiquities_, by Harris, chap. x.x.xvii., sec. 3. Lord L.

Grey to Cromwell, Jan. 19, 1538.

[321] The King to Browne in S.P., vol. ii. p. 174; Browne's answer, Sept.

27, 1537; Staples to St. Leger, June 17, 1538; Ware's _Life and Death of Browne_.

[322] Ware's _Bishops_; Staples to St. Leger, June 17, 1538; Devices by Travers for the Reformation in 1542, S.P., vol. iii., No. 382. The King's rebuke was in 1537, see S.P., vol. ii. p. 174, note.

CHAPTER XVI.

FROM THE ACCESSION OF EDWARD VI. TO THE YEAR 1551.

[Sidenote: Accession of Edward VI. Ormonde and Desmond.]

The death of Henry VIII. made no immediate difference to Ireland, for St.

Leger continued to govern as before. There was such a tendency to depress the Ormonde interest that the widowed countess thought it wise to go to London, where she pleaded her own cause with much success. She was supposed to have designs upon the heir of Desmond's hand, and the English statesmen, who naturally dreaded such an alliance, encouraged her to marry Sir Francis Bryan, who was in favour with Somerset as he had been with Henry VIII. The new government directed their attention to economy and the repression of jobbery among the Dublin officials. It was discovered that many who drew the King's pay were serving in the houses of councillors, 'some in the place of a cook, some of a butler, housekeeper, and other like,' so that they were practically useless when called to arms. This was strictly forbidden for the future. The Irish Council were earnestly charged finally to put down 'that intolerable extortion, coyne and livery, having always respect to some recompense to be given to the lords and governors of our countries for the defending of the same.' Desmond was thanked for his services, and the young king offered to have his eldest son brought up as his companion, 'as other n.o.blemen's sons whom we favour are educated with us in learning and other virtuous qualities, whereby hereafter, when we come to just age, we, in remembrance of our childhood spent together, may the rather be moved to prosecute them with our wonted favour, and they all inclined to love and serve us the more faithfully. We shall consent and right glad to have him with us, and shall so cherish him as ye shall have cause to thank us, and at his return to think the time of his attendance on us to be well employed.' If this offer had been accepted, and if the same results had followed as in the cases of the young Earl of Ormonde and of Barnaby Fitzpatrick, the unspeakable miseries of the Desmond rebellion might have been avoided.[323]

[Sidenote: The b.a.s.t.a.r.d Geraldines.]

The Pale was at this time much disturbed by the depredations of a gang of freebooters, headed by some of the b.a.s.t.a.r.d Geraldines who had lost their lands. They overran the southern half of Kildare and the northern half of Carlow, plundering and burning Rathangan, Ballymore Eustace, and Rathvilly. At first they acted with O'Connor, but he was forced to go to Connaught to look for reinforcements, and the MacGeohegans and others were induced by St. Leger to kill his men and drive his cattle. The Fitzgeralds, after defying the Government for a year, were crushed at Blessington in the autumn of 1547. The O'Tooles sided with the English, and thus justified Henry VIII.'s policy towards them. The Irish generally fell away from O'Connor and O'More, to whom they feared to give food and shelter; and the chiefs were obliged to make such a peace as was possible with the Government. The annalists dwell strongly on the strength of the English at this time, on the unexampled bondage in which they held the southern half of Ireland, and on their complete victory over the man who had been 'the head of the happiness and prosperity of that half of Ireland in which he lived, namely, Brian O'Connor.'[324]