CHAPTER II
The year 1326 is memorable in English annals because of the deposition of Edward II. The Viceroy of Ireland, Thomas, second Earl of Kildare, was appointed that year, the warrant stating that he represented Edward III., then a boy of fourteen. The deposed monarch immediately looked to Ireland for support, and to Dublin he came, having heard that the English colony refused to acknowledge the authority of the Earl of Kildare. He was misinformed, however, and he lost his throne without being able to strike a blow for it.
Prior Utlagh and witchcraft
The Earl of Kildare gave way in 1328 to a remarkable ecclesiastic, Prior Roger Utlagh, Chancellor and Prior of the Knights Hospitallers of Kilmainham. He ruled as an autocrat, outwardly acknowledging Edward's sovereignty, but in reality a combination of layman and priest, who feared neither God nor man. When King Robert Bruce visited Ireland, and invited the Prior to a conference, he was ordered to leave the country, and he had to obey. Fellow-ecclesiastics plotted against him, but he was more than their match. When the Bishop of Ossory openly accused the viceroy of favouring heretics, Roger Utlagh made it the occasion of a great public demonstration of his virtuous qualities. The charge was based on a rumour that the viceroy had shown kindness to a man imprisoned in Dublin Castle because he was the patron of a supposed witch's son. The position was serious enough, and the viceroy, therefore, issued proclamations for three successive days, calling upon his enemies to appear and prefer a charge against him. No one came forward, as was only to be expected, the viceroy possessing arbitrary punitive powers, and Utlagh thereupon nominated six commissioners in Dublin Castle and examined witnesses provided by himself. The complacent commissioners formally declared Prior Utlagh's character to be spotless, and in return for this testimonial the worthy ecclesiastic presided over a banquet in the Castle. Thus were his enemies confounded.
The Prior retired for William de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, who was styled Lieutenant, or locum tenens. De Burgh's reign was brief, and in 1332, within a year of his appointment, he was replaced by Sir Jean d'Arcy, an ex-viceroy. The Earl of Ulster was murdered in 1333, an act of revenge inspired by an aunt whose husband the earl had starved to death in one of his castles. The crime had its effect on English history, as the Countess of Ulster fled to England with her only child, Elizabeth, who married a son of Edward III. and became an ancestor of Edward IV. Sir Jean d'Arcy was merely viceroy in name, the deputy, Sir Thomas de Burgh, ruling in Dublin Castle until 1337, when Sir John de Cherlton, who had been appointed in place of the deputy—dismissed for irregularities—occupied the post for a year. His successor was his brother, the Bishop of Hereford, who also became Chancellor. Like most ecclesiastics of the time, the Bishop of Hereford was a very zealous politician, drawing a sharp line between his spiritual and his temporal powers. He seized the cattle of the native Irish in large quantities, frequently despoiling the whole countryside of every head of live stock, and this so delighted the valorous Edward III. that he wrote a long letter of commendation to his faithful representative, and ordered the treasurer at Dublin Castle to pay the viceroy's salary before that of any other official. The year 1340 witnessed the retirement of the cattle-stealing Bishop, the reappointment and death of Prior Utlagh, and the conferring for life of the viceroyalty upon Sir Jean d'Arcy, who had covered himself with glory in the numerous wars of Edward III. D'Arcy did not, of course, come to Ireland. The appointment was in reality the king's way of rewarding his faithful warrior, and, therefore, D'Arcy was content to share in the spoils and gains of his deputy, Sir John Moriz.
Rise of the Anglo-Irish
By now, however, a new factor entered into the protracted struggle for the possession of the rich lands of Ireland. During the centuries of English occupation several great Anglo-Irish families had arisen, and, fattening upon their spoils, gradually came to occupy positions more powerful than the representatives of the king. The heads of the Desmonds, the Geraldines, the De Burghs, and others, resented the intrusion of English warriors sent to Dublin to refill their treasure chests. They wished to rule Ireland, and declined to bow the knee to impecunious adventurers invested with royal powers by the King of England. Slowly yet surely these powerful chieftains ranged themselves on one side until hostilities in Ireland were not between the English and the natives, but between the English by birth and the English by blood, jealousy and greed of gain forming the motive.
The Viceregal lodge, Dublin
When Sir John Moriz, D'Arcy's deputy, called a Parliament together at Dublin to consider the state of the country and to promulgate new Edwardian ordinances, the Earl of Desmond and other leaders of the English by blood declined to attend. In their opinion Sir Jean d'Arcy and his deputy were 'needy adventurers'—a description they applied to them in a petition sent direct to Edward III. Desmond was a clever man, who openly advocated peace and secretly prepared for war. His diplomacy, however, gained a surer victory than all his legions were capable of accomplishing, for in the petition already referred to he asked politely why his Majesty did not receive larger revenues from Ireland. This caused Edward to realize some of the disadvantages of conferring the viceroyalty upon impecunious warriors, and he promptly surrendered to the petitioners, removing Moriz, and appointing Sir Raoul d'Ufford, who became viceroy in the early part of 1344.
D'Ufford was wealthy enough to be trusted with the government of Ireland, and Edward owed him something for his services in the French and Flemish wars. It is more than likely, however, that he was indebted for his viceroyalty to the fact that his wife was Maud Plantagenet, widow of the murdered Earl of Ulster and also of Edward's son. D'Ufford's commission authorized him to grant pardon to rebels on their swearing allegiance to the king, and, furthermore, it enjoined him to search for Irish mines of gold, silver, lead, and tin. D'Ufford's appointment evoked no enthusiasm and some fear. The English colony knew the temper of Maud Plantagenet, a proud, revengeful, and ambitious woman, and greatly as they feared D'Ufford's reputation for severity, they realized that, urged on by his wife, he might be guilty of excesses exceeding those which had won for him the fear of his enemies in France.
The entrance of the viceregal pair into Dublin in July, 1345, foreshadowed the kingly state they maintained throughout their brief reign. They resided in the Priory of the Knights Hospitallers of Kilmainham, and Maud Plantagenet, Countess of Ulster, put into practice the lessons she had learnt at the English court. She exacted homage from her friends, maintained ladies-in-waiting, held courts of her own, and, in fact, was Queen of Ireland. Letters were sent to Edward describing the conduct of his ambitious representatives, and the king's jealousy and fears were aroused. Action on his part, however, was forestalled by the death of D'Ufford, who expired from a malignant disease on Palm Sunday, 1346. Clergy and laity combined to celebrate the tyrant's death, and thanksgiving services were held throughout the English colony. D'Ufford and his wife occupied the viceroyalty for less than twelve months, but in that brief space of time they committed many acts of oppression, torturing, robbing, despoiling, and executing enemies and even friends to gratify a lust for gain and exhibit to the world their vanity of power. Most of D'Ufford's tyrannies were ascribed by the populace to the evil counsels of his wife, and when he was no more they sought out the widow with the intention of laying violent hands upon her. Tyrants have no friends when they fall from power, and Maud Plantagenet suffered the usual indignities of a changeable fate, though she managed to escape from Ireland and carry her husband's body to England. She passed the remainder of her life in retirement.
Since his dismissal Sir John Moriz had laboured to obtain his restoration, and he succeeded in this three days before D'Ufford's death. Meanwhile the council in Ireland had elected Roger, son of Sir Jean d'Arcy, who, however, gave way to Moriz when the latter arrived.
The profits of the post
The new viceroy had been charged by the king to secure supplies of money for him from out of Ireland. Indeed, the appointment was based on a sort of co-partnership, the king insisting upon a large percentage of the profits of the post. Moriz knew that conciliation was the only means of obtaining the money, and he began by releasing the Earl of Kildare from imprisonment in Dublin Castle, and showing similar clemency to other distinguished prisoners. The policy of Walter de Bermingham (1348-49), John, Lord Carew (1349), and Sir Thomas de Rokeby (1349-55), was in direct contrast. They favoured war where Moriz had tried peace, and with the usual result. The native Irish had by now the protection and assistance of the leading Anglo-Irish families, who were influenced by the Irish blood in their veins, and took common cause against the viceroy and his battalions. In almost every encounter the English were defeated, and, finally, Dublin itself was threatened. In alarm the English colony began to make hasty preparations for flight to England. They sold what they could and abandoned the rest, and it seemed as though the English in Ireland would cease to exist when an order came from England declaring that any English colonist deserting Ireland would be put to death. Compelled to remain, they continued their miserable existence, threatened with murder by their foes, and in continual danger of robbery by the very men appointed to protect them. Dublin at this period was in a wretched condition. There had been no attempt to build a city, and in reality the place was a fort whereby England maintained its footing in Ireland. In the country the native chiefs and the Anglo-Irish noblemen ruled, administering justice in their crude fashion, and in some cases issuing their own coinage. The Viceroy of Ireland was in reality Viceroy of Dublin, and not always even that.
The next Lord-Deputy was Maurice, first Earl of Desmond, an Anglo-Irishman. He died in 1356, a year after his appointment, and Sir Thomas de Rokeby, who succeeded him, succumbed the same year. A return to the old condition of things was marked by the appointment of Baron Almaric de St. Amaud, who was created Lord of Gormanstown, but the baron did not care for Ireland, and he went back to England, leaving Maurice, fourth Earl of Kildare, to act as his deputy. He gave way to James le Botiller, second Earl of Ormonde, who was a great-grandson of Edward I. The appointment won the allegiance of Ormonde to the throne of England, and when, two years later—1361—Prince Lionel, third son of Edward III., was appointed viceroy and sent to Ireland with a large army, Ormonde promptly became one of his Generals. In 1347, when the Prince was ten, he had been married to Elizabeth, daughter of the murdered Earl of Ulster and Maud Plantagenet, the girl being sixteen. The object was to secure for the Royal Family the immense estates and vast wealth of the late Earl of Ulster, and when in 1361 Prince Lionel and his wife travelled with their army to Ireland, a considerable part of the expenditure was borne by his wife's estate. Remembering the hostility of the Irish against his wife's mother, Lionel issued a proclamation forbidding the natives to approach his camp.
English army defeated
Having rested for a time, Prince Lionel began the march which was to conquer the land, but again an English army, strong, well armed and victualled, was outmatched and defeated by the Irish. Disaster after disaster followed the prince, who could do nothing right. Edward, when he heard the news, was alarmed and astounded. The first thing he did was to create the prince Duke of Clarence. His second step was more practical, and consisted in raising another army, while he increased his son's allowance from 6s. 8d. a day to 13s. 4d. Victory, however, was denied the prince, and though he returned to Ireland with increased forces in 1364, 1365, and 1366, he failed to improve upon his previous attempts. In 1362 his wife had died, leaving an only child in the person of Phillipa.
The Statute of Kilkenny
Prince Lionel's term of office is chiefly remarkable because it witnessed the creation of the famous, or infamous, Statute of Kilkenny. At a special Parliament held in Kilkenny in 1367, the viceroy endeavoured to gain by legislation that which he and his soldiers had lost in a dozen battles. It was therefore decreed that no English settler could marry into an Irish family; the selling of horses, armour, or victuals in peace or war was declared treason; English was the only language to be spoken; the English style of horsemanship was to be adopted; and no subject of the king's could be known except by an English name, and the education of the Irish was forbidden, no colleges or seminaries being permitted to receive them. There were also special clauses dealing with ecclesiastics, who were ordered to expel any Irish amongst them. The use of the English tongue was enjoined strictly, and if anyone offended the profits of his benefice were to be seized by his superior. The English colonists were likewise warned against admitting itinerant musicians into their houses, for these men were regarded as spies, and therefore dangerous. The custom of calling the English by birth 'English Hobbes,' or clowns, was forbidden, as well as the nickname of 'Irish dogs' bestowed upon the English by blood. The Government could not afford the luxury of schisms amongst its friends. The common people were ordered not to play hurlings and quoitings, 'which had caused evils and maims,' but to accustom themselves 'to draw bows and cast lances and other gentleman-like sports whereby the Irish enemies might be better checked.' Constables of castles were forbidden to take more than 5d. per day from any prisoner for maintenance, and torture was vetoed. Not the least important enactment of the Statute of Kilkenny was the 'one war one peace' declaration. This meant that in the event of a rebellion or uprising all those who did not side with the viceroy were to be regarded as the open enemies of the King of England. Neutrality could not be acknowledged.
When this laborious and comprehensive statute had been drawn up the viceroy requested the Archbishops of Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam, and the Bishops of Lismore and Waterford, Killaloe, Leighlin, and Cloyne to pronounce sentence of excommunication against all those who might by 'rebellion of heart' resist the Statute of Kilkenny.
This was Lionel's last act as viceroy, and he retired, being succeeded by Gerald, fourth Earl of Desmond, known as 'The Poet' by reason of his writings. He was popular, witty, and just, and for two years he ruled the English colony. In 1369, however, Sir William de Windsor, who had been one of the leaders of Prince Lionel's army, was appointed viceroy, and given an annuity of £1,000 until lands producing an equal amount could be settled on him. De Windsor's time was occupied chiefly in repelling attacks on the city of Dublin by the border Irish, but he performed an heroic action by marching to the South of Ireland and rescuing the preceding viceroy, whose poetical temperament and mild manner had not saved him from the hostility of the Irish. In 1371 De Windsor retired for over two years. The appointment of a successor caused Edward great trouble. He was averse to sending a pauper, because that would entail a diminution in the royal receipts from Ireland, while the wealthy men about his court would not accept the post at any price. Ireland to them was a savage country; a stay there tantamount to punishment and exile. There was no prospect of military glory, for they knew that many of the gallant victors of France, Flanders, and Scotland had left their reputations behind them on many a lost battlefield in Ireland. Edward thought that he could compel anybody he chose to go to Ireland, and he selected Sir Richard de Pembridge, who held several very profitable offices under the English Crown. Naturally Pembridge declined the post, and Edward retorted by depriving him of his offices. Pembridge, however, appealed to the Council and to Parliament, and it was decided that it was not the king's prerogative to order anybody to leave the country. Magna Charta distinctly stated that exile from England was the punishment for felony or treason, and that Parliament alone had the power to expel a subject.
The 'Lady of the Sun'
Prior to the return of Sir William de Windsor, the government was undertaken for various short periods by Maurice Fitz-Thomas, Earl of Kildare, Dean de Colton, of St. Patrick's, who secured the post by undertaking to repel the O'Briens at his own expense, and William de Taney, an ecclesiastic. De Windsor came back in April, 1374, having come to an agreement with his royal master, whereby he was allowed 500 marks from the Exchequer and the sum of £11,213 6s. 8d. In return for the money he guaranteed to maintain 200 men-at-arms and 40 archers. De Windsor's object was obviously to make as much money as he could out of the unfortunate country, which was already sending annually the enormous sum for the period of £10,000. The viceroy came to regard all surplus moneys above that sum to be his perquisites, and his efforts to increase taxation and enrich himself were so unscrupulous and cynical that reports and complaints soon reached Edward. The king immediately appointed Sir Nicholas de Dagworth to proceed to Ireland, and investigate the charges against De Windsor. But the enemies of the viceroy reckoned without the famous Alice Perrers. She was the aged king's favourite, and was clever and unscrupulous, a woman of humble birth who had risen high without the aid of a pretty face. In love with Sir William de Windsor, she remained faithful to him during his absence in Ireland, and although surrounded by his enemies, the 'Lady of the Sun,' as Edward styled her, outwitted them all, her greatest achievement being the prevention of Dagworth's departure for Ireland. Subsequently she married De Windsor, but as she belongs more to the history of England than Ireland her career cannot be treated here.
In 1376 De Windsor was ordered to come to Westminster, and confer with the king on the state of his Irish dominions, but this was merely a pretext to deprive him of his post, and he never returned. Maurice Fitz-Thomas, Earl of Kildare, once more acted as deputy for a short time, and then James le Botiller, Earl of Ormonde, carried on the government from 1376 to 1378. Ormonde retired dissatisfied, and the colony was governed by two members of the Council, Alexander de Balscot and John de Bromwich, until in 1380 the king sent over Edmund de Mortimer, Earl of March and Ulster, husband of Phillipa, daughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, and therefore owner of vast estates and commander of an army of his own. On his appointment the colonists petitioned the king to compel De Mortimer to live in Dublin and protect his property. The petitioners were successful, and the viceroy, instead of appointing a deputy and sharing the profits, graciously agreed to govern Ireland in person for a period of three years at a salary of 2,000 marks. In princely splendour he entered the country, and immediately inaugurated a campaign against the rebellious south. Death, however, claimed him on December 26, 1381, and he died at Cork in a Dominican Abbey, being only thirty years of age.
The vacancy thus created was offered in turn to the Earls of Desmond and Ormonde, but they declined on the ground that if they were in Dublin they could not protect their own territories. Dean de Colton, therefore, was appointed pending the pleasure of the king, who, when he heard of De Mortimer's death, at once nominated the deceased viceroy's son Roger to the post. Roger de Mortimer was only eleven, but the viceroyalty was intended as a monetary compensation for the death of his father, and the commission appointing him stated that he was to receive all the profits of the office as well as a salary of 2,000 marks. Furthermore, as soon as he attained his majority he could retire from the post. In pursuance of this convenient plan the boy's uncle, Sir Thomas de Mortimer, was chosen as his deputy.
A Parliament in Dublin
The presence of a deputy, however, always had an irritating effect upon the English colonists, and when in 1382 Richard II. ordered a Parliament to meet in Dublin, its first act was to protest against the absence of the viceroy. To satisfy the nobles and prelates the king appointed Philip de Courtenay, a cousin of his, viceroy for life. The commission was drawn up in 1385, but it was not until two years later that de Courtenay landed in Ireland. His reign was brief and stormy. The two great Anglo-Irish families, the Desmonds and the Ormondes, were in conflict, and the Irish were besieging and harassing the colonists. De Courte was not the man for the occasion. He was charged with oppression and extortion, and the king, who had already made up his mind to make his favourite, de Vere, Earl of Oxford, Viceroy of Ireland, gladly accepted the accusations against de Courtenay, and ordered him to remain under arrest in Dublin until the arrival of his successor, who would investigate the charges against his character. De Courtenay appealed to the Council in Dublin, and they declared the accusations to be unjust.
The Throne Room, Dublin Castle
The appointment of de Vere to the viceroyalty was an outcome of the struggle between Richard II. and his Barons. De Vere was the reigning favourite, and when it was proposed that he should be sent to Ireland as viceroy, the nobles enthusiastically endorsed the selection, and, glad to be rid of him at any price, cheerfully voted supplies. Richard created his creature Marquis of Dublin, and allowed him to nominate Sir John de Stanley as his deputy. It was not de Vere's intention to proceed to Ireland, and under various pretexts he avoided assuming personal control of the Irish government. Meanwhile Richard had created him Duke of Ireland, and entrusted him with powers almost regal, at one time actually proposing to make him King of Ireland. When the nobles rebelled against Richard, de Vere raised an army on behalf of his king, but was defeated in his first encounter with the barons. He died abroad after the five judges, who had supported Richard in his attempt to make de Vere King of Ireland, were brought to trial for having declared that the king was above the law, and were punished by being exiled to Ireland! Richard, weak-minded and unreliable, was at least faithful to de Vere, and he had his favourite's corpse brought from Louvain, and interred to the accompaniment of magnificent ceremonies at Colne Priory in Essex.
Richard II. arrives
From 1387 to 1389 the government was again in the hands of Alexander de Balscot, Bishop of Meath, who was assisted by Richard White, Prior of Kilmainham. Then Sir John de Stanley came back until 1391, and was succeeded by James le Botiller, third Earl of Ormonde. During Ormonde's term of office the king's uncle, Thomas Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, was nominated Viceroy of Ireland, but the commission was quickly revoked. Richard had decided to visit Ireland in person, and thus an English monarch again prepared a great army with which to conquer Ireland. The king landed at Waterford on October 13, 1394, accompanied by the Duke of Gloucester. Ormonde soon joined him, and the Irish were engaged in battle. If the English king cherished any hopes that his deeds in Ireland might secure his tottering throne in England he was doomed to grievous disappointment. He was defeated every time he joined battle with the natives, and in the end he was compelled to withdraw to Dublin and pass Christmas there. A further series of reverses followed, and Richard decided to have recourse to arbitration and conciliation. The Irish chieftains and nobles responded, and by means of various concessions Richard was enabled to return to England with at least a remnant of his army.
The viceroy was now Roger de Mortimer, Earl of March, cousin to Richard and heir to the throne of England. De Mortimer had been viceroy in his youth, but not until this appointment—in 1395—did he rule in person. In 1398 de Mortimer was killed in battle while leading his soldiers, a tragedy which paved the way for Richard's deposition and the accession of Henry IV., and created the motive that led to the Wars of the Roses. John de Colton, now Archbishop of Armagh, again acted as temporary Governor while the Council proceeded to elect Reginald Grey of Ruthyn, whose appointment, however, was vetoed by Richard. His nominee was Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey, who entered Dublin in 1399. Surrey's chief object was to people Ireland with English settlers, a plan that was to be tried again some 200 years later. The viceroy could not carry out his plan for dispossessing the Irish, and he appealed to Richard for help, and so the king came on another Irish expedition, landing in Ireland in 1399. This time his army was stronger and more experienced, but the result was a series of defeats and the loss of the throne of England. While Henry was seizing the crown his son, afterwards Henry V., was with Richard in Ireland, but the king accepted the youth's explanation that he knew nothing of his father's designs. As it was, Richard trusted to the fact that the legal heir to the throne was Edmund, Earl of March, son of the late viceroy. Henry's success to the exclusion of Edmund de Mortimer was the cause of the Wars of the Roses.
Viceregal poverty
Sir John de Stanley, ever ready to step into a breach, was again deputy, and he reigned in Dublin Castle to November, 1402. In 1401 Henry IV., anxious to secure the allegiance of the English colony, appointed his second son, Prince Thomas of Lancaster, viceroy. The youthful prince—he was only thirteen when in November, 1402, he arrived in Ireland—was provided with a specially selected Council, but evidently not with the necessary money, as there is a letter extant from the Council to King Henry which vividly describes the position of the viceroy. Henry had been asked for supplies, but as his own coffers were empty he could not send anything, and, realizing the seriousness of their position, the Council addressed His Majesty in the following terms:
'With heavy hearts we testify anew to your highness that our lord, your son, is so destitute of money that he has not a penny in the world, nor can borrow a single penny, because all his jewels and his plate that he can spare of those which he must of necessity keep are pledged, and lie in pawn. Also his soldiers have departed from him, and the people of his household are on the point of leaving, and, however much they might wish to remain, it is not in our lord's power to keep together, with a view to his aid, twenty or a dozen persons with me, your humble applicant of Dublin, and your humble liege, Janico, who has paid for your use his very all, but we will render our entire duty to him so long as we shall live, as we are bound by our sovereign obligation to you. And the country is so weakened and impoverished by the long nonpayment, as well in the time of our lord, your son, as in the time of other lieutenants before him, that the same land can no longer bear such charge as they affirm, and on this account have they importuned me. In good faith, our most sovereign lord, it is marvellous that they have borne such a charge so long. Wherefore we entreat, with all the humility and fulness that we may, that you will please to ordain speedy remedy of these said dangers and inconveniences, and to hold us excused also if any peril or disaster—which may God avert—befall our lord, your son, by the said causes. For the more full declaring of these matters to your highness the three of us should have come to your high presence, but such is the great danger on this side that not one of us dares depart from the person of our lord.'
Prince Thomas's tenure
This eloquent appeal was unheeded, but the prince did not return to England until November, 1403, appointing Sir Stephen le Scrope, his deputy, and when that soldier retired in 1405 placing James, third Earl of Ormonde, at the head of the Government. The death of the deputy in the same year led to the advancement of Gerald, fifth Earl of Kildare, whose rule was ended dramatically by the sudden reappearance of Prince Thomas in 1408 and the imprisonment of his deputy. Two years earlier the prince, having lost his indenture creating him Viceroy of Ireland, was reappointed for twelve years at a salary of £7,000 a year. Remembering his previous experiences, the prince had a clause inserted which entitled him to leave Ireland if his salary was a month in arrear. It was also agreed that in the event of the king or the Prince of Wales deciding to take over the government Prince Thomas was to have six months' notice. The Earl of Kildare was released as soon as he paid a fine of 300 marks for having interfered in an ecclesiastical appointment. Prince Thomas remained two years at his post, retiring from the country in 1410, and selecting a son of James, third Earl of Ormonde, as his deputy. This was Prior Thomas le Botiller.
But the colonists could endure the Prior for three years only, and they succeeded in getting Sir John de Stanley reappointed. He was, however, too old to be of much use, and at his death in 1414 the Archbishop of Dublin, who was the author of the pathetic plea to Henry IV., assumed the government for a few months.