Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 1 (of 3)

by Richard Bagwell

FOOTNOTES:

[247] Indenture in O’Carroll’s case, July 2, 1541, in Carew.

[248] Submission of O’Donnell, Aug. 6, 1541; O’Donnell to the King, April 20, 1542: ‘Iterum Vestram Majestatem exortor, mittatis mihi instrumentum illud aureum, quo colla nobilium cinguntur, aut katenam, vestesque congruentes, quibus vestirer decenter, quoties accederem (data opportunitate) ad Parliamentum.’

[249] Lord Deputy and Council to the King, Aug. 28, 1541; Four Masters, 1541: ‘he left them without corn for that year.’

[250] St. Leger to the King, Dec. 17, 1541.

[251] Articles binding Con Bacagh O’Neill, in S.P., vol. iii., No. 356: ‘Regem recognosco Supremum Caput Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ et Hibernicanæ immediate sub Christo; et imposterum, in quantum potero, compellam omnes degentes sub meo regimine, ut similiter faciant; et si contingat aliquem provisorem aut provisores aliquas facultates sive bullas obtinere de prædicta usurpata auctoritate, illos sursum reddere dictas bullas et facultates cogam, et semetipsos submittere ordinationi Regiæ Majestatis.’

[252] Council of Ireland to the King, S.P., vol. iii., No. 357.

[253] The King to the Lord Deputy and Council, S.P., vol. iii., No. 348.

[254] The session was from Feb. 15 to March 7 or 10; see Lord Deputy in Council to the King, March 31, 1542; for the robbers, see same to same, Nov. 25, 1544.

[255] See the submissions in Carew—MacBrien Coonagh, March 18, 1542; Rory O’More, May 13; MacQuillin, May 18; MacDonnell, May 18; Hugh O’Kelly, May 24; O’Byrnes, July 4; O’Rourke, Sept. 1; MacQuillin and O’Cahan, May 6, 1543. Lord Deputy and Council to the King, July 12, 1542, and Aug. 24.

[256] Desmond’s visit to Court was between June 2 and July 5, 1542. Lord Deputy and Council to the King, June 2; J. Alen to the King, June 4; the King to the Lord Deputy and Council, July 5; St. Leger to the King, Aug. 27.

[257] Indentura facta 26 die Septembris, 1542, in S.P. The signatories promised jointly and severally ‘usurpatam primatiam et auctoritatem Romani Episcopi annihilare, omnesque suos fautores, adjutores, et suffragatores, ad summum posse illorum precipitare et abolere ... omnes et singulos provisores ... apprehendere et producere ad Regis communem legem,’ &c.

[258] Lord Deputy and Council to the Privy Council, Sept. 1, 1542; Four Masters, 1542.

[259] Submission made at Greenwich, Sept. 24, 1542.

[260] The creation was Oct. 1, 1542. The patent is in Rymer; the Herald’s account in Carew, Oct. 1. O’Neill was back in Ireland before Dec. 7, when the Irish Government wrote of him to the King. Tyrone’s style was—‘Du treshaut et puissant Seigneur Con, Conte de Tyrone, en le Royaulme d’Irlande.’

[261] The heraldic account is printed in S.P., vol. iii. p. 473, from the Cotton MSS.; the O’Brien and Burke patents are in Rymer, Conatius being by mistake printed for Donatus; see the King to the Lord Deputy and Council, July 9, 1543; MacWilliam submitted much in the same terms as O’Neill.

[262] Hill’s MacDonnells of Antrim, chaps. i. and ii.; Archdall’s Lodge’s Peerage, Earl of Antrim and Baron MacDonnell; Burton’s History of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 149. For the antiquarian controversy in 1617, see Carew, vol. vi., Nos. 183, 188, 189, 190. 191.

[263] Hill, p. 37; John Travers’s Devices in S.P., vol. iii. p. 382.

[264] Hill, p. 41; St. Leger to the King, June 4, 1543; Lord Deputy and Council to the King, June 5.

[265] St. Leger to the King, July 18, 1543, and the notes; see also Carew, July 15 and 16.

[266] Lord Deputy and Council to the King, May 15, 1543; same to same, Dec. 7, 1542, and the King’s answer.

[267] St. Leger to the King, April 6, 1543; the King to the Lord Deputy and Council, Aug. 9; Lord Justice Brabazon and Council to St. Leger, March 24, 1544.

[268] Lord Justice Brabazon and Council to the King, May 7, 1544; same to St. Leger, March 24, where the kerne are first mentioned in the S.P.; Privy Council to Lord Justice and Council, March 30; Ormonde to the King, May 7. In a letter to the King printed in S.P., vol. iii., No. 437, O’Reilly complains that his contingent cost him 600l., that eight weeks of their wages remained unpaid, and that his chaplain had been taken prisoner in Scotland, and had paid eight nobles for his ransom. This shows that some of the 1,000 kerne went to Scotland.

[269] Stanihurst.

[270] For these rumours, see the S.P. from May 20, 1544, till May 11, 1545, vol. iii., Nos. 407, 408, 411, 414, 415.

[271] St. Leger to Wriothesley, Feb. 26, 1545, with Lord Upper Ossory’s letter in a note; to the Privy Council, April 14.

[272] Hill, p. 43. In a letter printed in S.P., vol. v. p. 483, Donnell Dhu speaks of himself as ‘in materno utero inimicorum jugo et captivitati astricti, et in hoc pene tempus carceris squalore obruti, et intolerabilibus compedibus truculentissime ligati.’ The notarial instrument between the islemen is in S.P., vol. v. p. 477. Lord Deputy and Council of Ireland to the King, Aug. 13, 1545.

[273] Privy Council to Lord Deputy and Council of Ireland, in S.P., vol. iii., No. 422. See S.P., vol. v. pp. 505-7.

[274] Ormonde to Russell, Nov. 15, 1545; Lord Deputy and Council to the King, Nov. 19. Donnell Dhu died before Jan. 20, 1546, the date of a letter from James MacDonnell in S.P., vol. iii. p. 548. Dowling.

[275] Lord Deputy and Council to the Privy Council, Feb. 15, 1546, and a letter in a note from ‘Ewyne Allane of Locheld.’ James MacDonnell is called Lord of the Isles ‘by consent of the nobility,’ ‘apparent heir,’ ‘worthy to succeed,’ and ‘Lord elect.’

[276] Ormonde to Russell, Nov. 15, 1545.

[277] Cusack to Paget, March 28, 1546. See the S.P. from Feb. 20 to March 28, vol. iii., Nos. 431, 433, 434, 435, 438, 439, and 440.

[278] See S.P. 1546, vol. iii., Nos. 441 to 448. No. 439 is a letter from certain Irish chiefs to the King in St. Leger’s favour, and they make the reflection, ‘Oh si majoribus nostris tales contigissent moderatores.’

[279] Alen’s Answer to St. Leger in S.P., vol. iii. No. 446, and W. Cowley’s Letter to the Privy Council, No. 448; Alen to Paget, April 21, 1549; St. Leger to Cecil, Dec. 5, 1550.

[280] Stanihurst; Morrin’s Patent Rolls, p. 168.

CHAPTER XV.
THE IRISH CHURCH UNDER HENRY VIII.

King and Pope.

During the quarter of a century which elapsed between Henry’s accession and his final breach with Rome, the King showed great submission to the papal chair. The wishes of such a faithful son could not be lightly regarded, and royal nominations to English bishoprics were invariably confirmed by the Pontiff. Capitular elections still took place; but they had ceased to be free, and preferment was really given by the joint fiat of the Crown and the Tiara. In Ireland the King was less absolute. The popes had not forgotten their original gift of the island; and the clergy, more especially in remote regions, would naturally look to them for promotion, rather than to a King whose power was uncertain and to whom they had a national antipathy. In the year 1520 the united sees of Cork and Cloyne became vacant. Surrey, then Lord-Lieutenant, was besieged with applications, but preferred the claims of Walter Wellesley, head of the great Augustinian house of Conal in Kildare. In right of his priory Wellesley had already a seat in the Irish House of Lords, and Surrey recommended him to Wolsey as ‘a famous clerk, noted the best in the land—a man of gravity and virtuous conversation and a singular mind having to English order.’ Wellesley was not nominated on this occasion, either because he preferred his priory to a bishopric, or because the Cardinal had other views. In the following year the Bishop of Limerick died, and the Lord-Lieutenant and Council again strongly recommended the Prior of Conal; but the Pope nevertheless provided John Quin, a Dominican friar, and Wellesley did not become a bishop till 1529. He was then at last consecrated to Kildare, and allowed to keep his monastery, as in that situation he might very fairly do.[281]

Case of Clonfert.

The points at issue between King and Pope are well illustrated by the case of Clonfert, which fell vacant at the moment of separation. Clement provided the Dean, Roland de Burgo, and Henry appointed Richard Nangle Provincial of the Irish Austinfriars. Nangle was consecrated and took possession of his see. Relying on his family influence, and probably upheld by popular opinion, the Papal prelate, who was armed with the power of granting indulgences and dispensations, defied the royal nominee, and Nangle was afraid to appear in public. It was proposed to bring the Burkes to their senses by laying an embargo on the trade of Galway, but this does not seem to have been done. Ten years after his original provision, and probably after the death of Nangle, De Burgo was confirmed by the King and allowed to hold his deanery and other benefices, of which he had all along kept possession, on condition of renouncing the Pope’s bulls and acknowledging that he held from the Crown. The Bishop, who must have had an elastic conscience, died in harness in 1580.[282]

Armagh.

The more important bishoprics were generally given to men whom the English Government could trust, and it is not likely that they were ever filled up in defiance of the King until after his rupture with Rome. Armagh, Dublin, and Meath were rarely entrusted to any but men of English birth. In 1513 John Kite, a Londoner, was appointed by provision to Armagh, but the nomination was certainly agreeable to Henry, who had before employed Kite as a diplomatist in Spain. The temporalities of the diocese were almost immediately restored to him, and he was soon afterwards present in London at the grand reception of Wolsey’s red hat. Kite, who received many tokens of royal favour, was translated by the Pope to Carlisle. The Holy See claimed very full rights in the case of a translation; but George Cromer, an Englishman, was appointed to Armagh at the King of England’s supplication. Such was the form preferred by the Pope, but the supplication was in fact a nomination.[283]

Dublin.

William Rokeby, a Yorkshireman, was translated from Meath to Dublin in 1512. Henry made him his chancellor, and he also was present at the hat ceremony. After his death a Somersetshire man, Hugh Inge, was translated by the Pope from Meath to Dublin. There can be little doubt that this was done with the King’s full consent, for Inge acknowledged that he owed all to Wolsey. As a special favour the tax on this occasion was reduced from 1,600 to 1,000 florins, on the suggestion of Campeggio, who reported that certain noblemen had intruded into the diocesan lands and greatly diminished the income. Inge also held the office of chancellor, which at this time was almost invariably given to an archbishop. When Inge died, John Alen, one of Wolsey’s chaplains, was provided to Dublin at the King’s instance, or supplication as the Pope called it, and immediately received the Great Seal. Alen had been employed by the Cardinal in the suppression of the lesser monasteries, and had incurred great odium in that office.[284]

Meath.

The see of Meath, which has the singular distinction of having never possessed a cathedral, was from its position of especial importance. After being successively filled by Rokeby and Inge, it was given by the Pope, but probably at Wolsey’s instigation, to Richard Wilson, Prior of Drax in Yorkshire. It is remarkable that Wilson, who does not seem ever to have resided in his see, fully acknowledged that the Cardinal’s legatine authority extended to Ireland. This was vehemently denied by Primate Cromer and his suffragans, who were able to make their objections good; the whole province of Armagh, except Meath, being situated among the Irishry. On the resignation of Wilson, Edward Staples, a Lincolnshire man, was provided by Clement on the King’s nomination. He was allowed to hold St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, and other benefices, along with his bishopric, and he had a special Papal dispensation for filling offices with incompatible duties. Staples fully embraced the Reformation, and was a principal instrument in carrying out the changed religious policy of the English Crown.[285]

Cashel.

In 1524 Edmund Butler, Prior of Athassel, a natural son of Sir Piers Butler, was appointed by the Pope to Cashel, and by him recommended to the King, who addressed letters in his favour to the Irish Government. Kildare alleged that Butler was opposed by his father, and there was certainly a contest between them. The Archbishop’s object was to prevent his father, as acting Earl Palatine of Tipperary, from raising a revenue in that county, the larger part of which was in his diocese. The citizens of Waterford complained that his Grace used every kind of Irish extortion, and his opposition to the palatinate jurisdiction clearly arose from no wish to leave the people untaxed. In one respect indeed the prelate bettered the instruction of the temporal magnates, for he ‘retained Dermond Duff for his official and counsellor or commissary, which so entertaineth the King’s people by colour of canon law that there can be no more extortion committed by any Irish Brehon, and polleth the King’s subjects as he lists, and taketh for fee of sentence of a divorce 10l. or more.’ He openly robbed a boat laden with merchandise, and held the owners to ransom. Butler’s consecration was delayed for three years: it is not easy to say why, as there is no trace of a dispute between the Crown and the Pope. Ultimately he became a very important person, and generally acted with the other Butlers in support of the King’s authority. He accepted the royal supremacy, and surrendered his monastery when called on to do so.[286]

Tuam.

The western province was so entirely Irish that the King could hardly have interfered effectually with Papal nominees. On the death of the learned Maurice O’Fiehely in 1513, Thomas O’Mullally was provided to Tuam, and lived unmolested by Henry till 1536. But Christopher Bodkin, who had been preferred to Kilmacduagh at the King’s request, was translated purely by royal authority to Tuam. The breach with Rome had at this time become irreparable; and Bodkin, whom the Vatican regards as a schismatic but not as a heretic, acknowledged the royal supremacy and held the temporalities of both his sees, as well as the minor ones of Enaghdune and Mayo, until his death in 1572. His astuteness far exceeded that of the Vicar of Bray, for he seems to have kept his preferments and his opinions as well. A rival archbishop was appointed by Clement in 1538, and is now considered the true one by writers on the Papal side. The double line has continued ever since.[287]

Remoter sees.

To the less important and more distant bishoprics appointments were probably very often made by the popes without the King’s interference, and even without his notice. But when he did make a recommendation it is hardly likely to have been neglected at Rome. Thus the sees of Clonmacnoise, Clogher, Ardagh, and Kilmore were on particular occasions filled by the King, and the appointments confirmed by the Pope at his request. The case of Clogher is the more remarkable in that a provision of Julius II. had lately declared that church to be immediately subject to the Holy See. In the yet more remote districts of Down, Dromore, Raphoe, and Derry, the King does not seem to have interfered at all. In providing Edmund O’Gallagher to the see of Raphoe, Clement VII. observed that the diocese was vacant because the King had neglected to nominate any one for seventeen years.[288]

Leinster.

In Leinster the King must generally have had power to prevent any bishop from enjoying the profits of his see. The patronage was very laxly managed, for Kildare lay vacant from 1513 to 1526. In 1523 the Earl of Kildare tried to get the preferment for the dean, Edward Dillon, whom he recommended to Wolsey as of virtuous living and of English name and condition. The application failed, but Thomas Dillon was at last appointed both by King and Pope. This promotion was probably effected in Kildare’s interest; for Cowley, a partisan of the Butlers, called Dillon an Irish vagabond, without learning, manners, or other good quality, and not fit to be a holy water clerk. This Irish vagabond had, however, been educated at Oxford. Thomas Halsey was persuaded by Wolsey to accept the bishopric of Leighlin, and Maurice Doran was, at the King’s request, provided to the same see. There may be no positive evidence as to Ossory and Ferns, but there is no reason to doubt that the persons appointed were acceptable to the Government.[289]

Munster.

In Munster it is not likely that bishops would be appointed without the consent of the Crown, except perhaps to the remote sees of Killaloe and Kilfenora, in which the succession at this period is almost hopelessly confused. In filling the scarcely less completely Irish bishopric of Ross, the King took a direct part. He called upon the Pope to accept the resignation of Edmund Courcey, and to appoint as his successor the Cistercian John O’Murrilly, with leave to hold the Abbey of Maur in addition. Leo X. complied in every particular; but when O’Murrilly died two years later, the Pope took the strong step of uniting Ross with Dromore in the distant north. We may infer from this that Henry did not always choose to interfere, but that when he did the Pope paid the greatest attention to his wishes; and that this rule applied to Munster generally. At Waterford and Cork, the strongholds of English law, it was hardly possible for a bishop to enjoy his revenues in defiance of the Government.[290]

Connaught.

In Connaught the popes seem to have provided bishops as a general rule; but they generally avoided a collision when the King’s wish was openly expressed. As late as 1533 Christopher Bodkin was appointed to Kilmacduagh at Henry’s request; and this is a very strong case, because a purely papal nominee seems to have resigned in his favour. In Elphin John Max was appointed by the Pope; but as he held the abbeys of Welbeck or Tichfield, or both, along with his bishopric, he can hardly have been distasteful to Henry. The case of Burke and Nangle, already mentioned, shows King and Pope openly at variance. But even at the beginning of that contest the schism was almost complete.[291]

Bad state of the Irish Church.

In the ‘Description of Ireland,’ written early in Henry VIII.’s reign, there is a story of St. Brigid, who inquired of her good angel of what Christian land most souls were damned. He showed her a land in the west part of the world, where was continually root of hate and envy, and vices contrary to charity, for lack of which souls kept continually falling down into hell as thick as hail showers. It is inferred that the angel spoke of Ireland, ‘for,’ says the writer, ‘there is no land in this world of so long continual war within himself, nor of so great shedding of Christian blood, nor of so great robbing, spoiling, preying, and burning, nor of so great wrongful extortion continually as Ireland.’ Among the various causes of this state of things the bishops and clergy are blamed, ‘for there is no archbishop nor bishop, abbot nor prior, parson nor vicar, nor any other person of the Church, high or low, great or small, English or Irish, that useth to preach the Word of God saveing the poor friars’ beggars ... Also the Church of this land use not to learn any other science but the law of Canon, for covetyce of lucre transitory; all other science whereof grows none such lucre, the parsons of the Church doth despise. They hold more by the plough rustical than by lucre of the plough celestial, to which they have stretched their hands, and look always backwards. They tend much more to lucre of that plough, whereof groweth slander and rebuke, than to lucre of the souls, that is the plough of Christ. And to the transitory lucre of that rustical plough they tender so much, that little or nought there chargeth to lucre to Christ, the souls of their subjects, of whom they bear the cure, by preaching and teaching of the Word of God, and by their good ensample giveing; which is the plough of worship and of honour, and the plough of grace that ever shall endure.’[292]

State of Ardagh, Ross, Clonmacnoise, and Enaghdune.

This is a heavy indictment, but it is sustained by very many facts which have come down to us. The state of many important churches shows how ill religion was supported. A report to Leo X. on Ardagh Cathedral states that there was no sacristy, no bell nor belfry, no proper appliances for service; and that the walls of the church itself were but just standing. There was only one altar, which was exposed to the weather. Mass was rarely celebrated, and then by a single priest, and the scanty vestments and utensils were kept in a chest in the church. The town consisted of four thatched cabins; and there were few inhabitants, owing to continual wars caused by the conduct of the late Bishop, William O’Ferrall, who had excited the animosity of his neighbours by attempting to exercise temporal power. The bishopric of Ross was in rather better case. The town of 200 houses was walled, and the cathedral church was built of stone in regular cruciform fashion, and with a tiled roof. There was decent provision for the mass. On the other hand, the church was unpaved, and the income of the see no more than sixty marks. At Clonmacnoise, one of the most famous ecclesiastical places in Ireland, things were scarcely better than at Ardagh. The town could boast but twelve houses, built of wicker and straw. The church was roofless, and half ruined; with a single altar protected by a thatched shed, one vestment, and a cross made of brass. Mass was rarely celebrated, but the body of St. Ciaran was preserved and reverenced. The Pope’s informant was an Irishman, but the saint’s name was unknown to him. The ancient see of Enaghdune or Annaghdown on Lough Corrib was in a deplorable state. The church was in ruins, the clergy far out of order, and the revenue not more than 20l., which could only be collected by a steward who had the favour of the country.[293]

Corruption among dignitaries.

The above cases are all of bishoprics situated in remote parts among the Irishry. The state of the Church in the Pale and other obedient districts was of course better, but even in Dublin the metropolitan crozier remained in pawn for eighty years, from 1449 until Archbishop Alen redeemed it by paying one hundred ounces of silver. The clergy were charged with seeking money more than souls; and many acts of violence and extortion are reported on oath against the Archbishop of Cashel and the Bishops of Ferns, Ossory, Leighlin, Waterford, and Limerick; against the Abbots of Tintern, Jerpoint, Kilcooley, Holy Cross, Dusk, and Innislonagh; against the Priors of Kilclogan, Knocktopher, Inistiogue, Kells, Cahir, and Lady Abbey; and against the Prioress of Moylagh. In general bishops and heads of houses were not less extortionate than other gentlemen. They exacted coyne and livery and the other multifarious Irish imposts with neither more nor less severity than the laity. But it should not be forgotten that these ecclesiastical dignitaries were also great landowners, and that they were forced to provide the means of defence in the only possible way. The Archbishop of Cashel and the Bishops of Waterford and Ossory had other means of taxing the people peculiar to their offices; they took excessive fees in all matrimonial and probate cases, and appropriated a portion of every dead man’s goods. The Archbishop’s lowest charge for a divorce was 5l., and it was generally double that or more. The citizens of Waterford declared that the canonists were as burdensome as the Irish Brehons.[294]

Parochial clergy no better.

The parochial clergy were no better than the dignitaries. They made charges varying from sixpence to two shillings for all weddings, christenings, churchings, and burials; and at the death of any married person, man or wife, they exacted five shillings, or one-fifth of the personalty, or the best article of apparel, from the survivor. In many places divine service was neglected or was only performed at irregular intervals. The Earl of Kildare, who was not impartial but who probably spoke truly, declared that the churches in Tipperary and Kilkenny were generally in ruins through the system of Papal provisions, ‘so as, and if the King’s Grace do not see for the hasty remedy of the same, there is like to be no more Christianity there, than in the midst of Turkey.’ Henry was just beginning to quarrel with the Pope, and would be ready enough to believe that provisions had ruined the churches. No doubt many bad appointments were thus made, but it may have been impossible to get fit men; for Browne reports the clergy as unlearned persons, who repeated the Latin offices like parrots and without understanding them.[295]

Evils of Papal patronage.

Piers, Earl of Ossory, also adopted the doctrine that the Papal system of patronage had been the chief cause of the utter ruin and destruction ‘of cathedral churches, monasteries, parish churches, and all other regular and secular.’ Murderers, thieves, and ‘light men of war’ obtained provisions, ousted the rightful incumbents, ignored the rightful patrons, held livings by force, and wasted them in riotous living. Violence indeed was the rule. John Purcell, Bishop of Ferns, was in close alliance with the dangerous rebel and freebooter, Cahir MacArt Kavanagh, was present when his men sacked the town of Fethard, and himself called loudly for fire to burn the houses. Milo Baron, Bishop of Ossory, was said to be as bad as the Bishop of Ferns, and to ‘have no virtuous quality nor obedience to any good laws.’ Archbishop Butler was accused of riotous conduct and of at least one highway robbery, a richly laden boat having been plundered by him on the Suir within four miles of Waterford. Amid the general corruption a bright example was shown by the Franciscan Maurice Doran, Bishop of Leighlin, a learned theologian, an eloquent preacher, and a man of blameless life. Being advised to increase the burdens of his clergy, he replied that he had rather shear his sheep than flay them. Doran was allowed to tend his flock for twenty months only. Having corrected the irregularities of his Archdeacon Maurice Kavanagh, he was treacherously murdered by him. It is some satisfaction to know that Kildare afterwards caught the Archdeacon and his accomplices, and hanged them in chains on the scene of the Bishop’s murder.[296]

The Regulars not exempt from censure.

The Regulars by no means escaped censure. The Prior of the Hospitallers of Kilclogan in Wexford was as bad as Bishop Purcell, and ‘kept fire in the steeple door of St. John’s, until such time as he had out the ward that was within.’ James Butler, Cistercian Abbot of Innislonagh and Dean of Lismore, attained a bad eminence. The citizens of Waterford represented him as a man of odious life, who neglected every duty, gave himself up to voluptuosity, and wasted the property of his house to provide for his open and scandalous immoralities. The people of Clonmel repeat the charge, and extend it to the other monks. The Augustinian Canons, in the great monastery of Athassel, of which Archbishop Butler was Prior, were no better. Nor were the mendicants blameless. The Carmelite Prior of Lady Abbey, near Clonmel, which was a parish church, kept a mistress and provided no divine service. The Prior of Knocktopher, also a Carmelite, and the Cistercian Abbot of Dusk, had sons. That secular priests should be fathers of families was of course common both in England and Ireland; and they may be defended on the ground that they were really married, and that such unions, though condemned by the Church, were not repugnant to the public feeling of the age. But this can hardly be pleaded in favour of monks, and perhaps still less of friars. The Prior of Cahir neglected divine service, but was not accused of immorality. Many enormous crimes were objected against the Abbess of Kilclehin. The canons of St. Catherine’s at Waterford had fallen out among themselves, and divided the revenues. All these houses were in south-eastern Ireland, but from what has been said of the state of cathedral churches in Irish districts it may be inferred that proportional irregularities existed elsewhere. The fact that priests were often the sons of priests rests upon less partial evidence than that of Bale, and it was condoned by the Holy See. Leo X. even showed special favour to a monk of Monasterevan, notwithstanding that he was a priest’s son. Dispensations on account of defective birth are very common in the Papal correspondence, and were a source of income to the Curia. Archbishop Browne believed that in the Irishry not one parson in five was of legitimate birth. He cannot be considered impartial, but legitimacy was little regarded by the Irish.[297]

The good side of the monastic system.

That some monks were immoral or useless is doubtless true. There were critics who represented them as in every way worse than their English brethren, but some of these were men who desired the destruction of the abbeys that they might divide their lands, and whose indignation had not been excited by abuses until the wishes of the English Court were known. Robert Cowley, for instance, accused them generally of loose living and of ‘keeping no hospitality save to themselves.’ There is ample evidence that the monks were not all bad. The education of children was almost entirely in their hands. Six houses in Dublin, Kildare, and Kilkenny are mentioned as the only places where the rising generation might be brought up in virtue, learning, and good behaviour. The boys were cared for by the Cistercians of St. Mary’s, Dublin, and of Jerpoint, and by the Augustinian canons of Christ Church, Dublin, and of Kells and Conal. The girls were brought up by the canonesses of Gracedieu, near Swords. St. Mary’s was also noted for its hospitality, being the only inn fit for men of rank; and the doors of Christ Church were always open for Parliament, Council, or Conference. To escape dissolution all the monks of these houses were ready to don secular habits. As to the services of the friars in holding stations, in visiting the sick, and in preaching, there can be no doubt whatever. Religion in Ireland was in fact only maintained by them. Most of the friaries had been founded or beautified by great families, who still continued to befriend them, and who reserved a last resting-place within their walls. The Franciscans were especially favoured in this way. Thus, the MacDonnells of Antrim were buried at Bunamargy, the Desmonds at Youghal and Tralee, the O’Briens at Ennis, the O’Donnells at Donegal, the Macnamaras at Quin, the Burkes at Athenry, and the MacCarthies at Irrelagh or Muckross. The Franciscan dress was often assumed in death and burial, and was thought to bespeak the favours of heaven. The Dominicans were planted and cherished in the same way. The Augustinian hermits and the Carmelites had many houses, but were much less important than the other two orders.[298]

Parliament of 1536.

When the Irish Parliament met for the despatch of business in May 1536 many important bills passed without any great difficulty. The proctors of the clergy, who had voices and claimed votes in the Lower House, objected to the King being declared supreme head of the Church; but their opposition was little regarded. Appeals to Rome were forbidden, the jurisdiction of the Pope abolished, and first-fruits vested in the Crown. Grey then prorogued Parliament, first to Kilkenny, and afterwards to Dublin again. In the meantime Archbishop Browne had landed, and lost no time in recommending the royal supremacy to the people. He had but little success, and incurred some personal danger. Primate Cromer, who was in communication with Rome, took the other side, laying a curse on all who should accept the new system, and reminding his clergy that Ireland was the Pope’s gift to England. Browne is said to have made a speech to Parliament, in which he appealed to the example of Christ, who paid tribute to Cæsar, and of the earliest popes, who acknowledged the supremacy of emperors and kings. A bill was then brought in for the suppression of twelve religious houses, and for giving the King a twentieth of all ecclesiastical revenues. A formidable opposition at once arose in both houses, and particularly in the Commons under the leadership of the King’s sergeant, Sir Patrick Barnewall, who declared openly that the King’s supremacy gave him power to reform abbeys but not to secularise them. He then went to England to lay his views before Henry, and Parliament was again prorogued for nearly four months.[299]

The Reformation makes no progress.

After eighteen months residence in Ireland Browne could report scarcely any progress. The new Head of the Church, by the mouth of his Archbishop, gave the people orders for their spiritual conduct; but they were not well received. All true Christian subjects were ordered to repudiate the Bishop of Rome, and to erase him from their service-books and manuals; but this was never done unless Browne sent his own servants to see to it. The power of binding and loosing and the system of indulgences were called juggling, and the people were reminded that God only could forgive sins. There was no Mediator but Christ, and the so-called Pope’s ‘great thunderclap of excommunication’ could hurt nobody. These exhortations were in vain, while a conditional general indulgence was eagerly taken advantage of. A copy of the paper was even hung up openly in Kilmainham Church. Pilgrimages to Rome were never commoner, and bishops and priors appointed by provision were received with open arms. The circular which spoke so contemptuously of the Holy See was Browne’s composition, but it inculcated at least two doctrines which all modern Protestants reject—the invocation of the Virgin and prayers for the dead.[300]

Troubles of Archbishop Browne.

Lord Deputy Grey was opposed to doctrinal changes, and made no secret of his dislike to Browne, whom he suspected of traducing him. The Archbishop had little help from other officials, and the lawyers opposed him strongly. Lord Butler, Brabazon, Alen, and one or two others of small importance, constituted the whole innovating party. They arrogated to themselves the title of Catholic; they were the right Christians, and their opponents were sectaries. But Browne’s antagonists were active and numerous. The Observants took the lead everywhere, and they relied on the support of Grey to defy the Archbishop’s authority. Browne had imprisoned one of his own prebendaries. ‘Howbeit, spite of my beard, whiles that I was at an house of Observants, to swear them, and also to extinct that name among them, my Lord Deputy hath set him at liberty. I think the simplest holy water clerk is better esteemed than I am.’ Most of the clergy were unwilling to acknowledge the royal supremacy, or to denounce the Pope’s authority, and they refused to preach at all. The most active preachers now contented themselves with holding forth in corners to select knots of sympathisers, and took no notice either of threats or exhortations. The oath of supremacy had as much effect as oaths taken under pressure usually have. Now and then some bold spirit would openly defy Browne. James Humfrey, the prebendary whom he imprisoned and Grey released, officiated at High Mass in St. Andrew’s Church, and omitted to read the Archbishop’s circular. The parish priest ascended the pulpit, and began to read the paper; but Humfrey gave a signal to the choir, and the reader’s voice was drowned by those of the singers.[301]

He cannot agree with Bishop Staples.

By the admission of so zealous a reformer as Brabazon, Staples promoted the Word of God; but the effect of his eloquence was much lessened by the ill-feeling existing between him and the Archbishop. A report of one of Browne’s sermons, which, as he alleged, was fabricated by Humfrey, had so excited the wrath of Staples that he denounced it from the pulpit. The Archbishop himself was present, and thought ‘the three-mouthed Cerberus of hell could not have uttered it more viperiously.’ The scene was in the church of Kilmainham, which was an exempt jurisdiction under the sole charge of Rawson the Prior. Browne also accused Staples of indulging in other ‘rabulous revilings’ against him, of denying that men should search the Scriptures, and of allowing his suffragan to pray first for the Pope, then for the Emperor, and lastly for the King, in the words, ‘I pray God he never depart this world, until that he hath made amends.’ Browne imprisoned the suffragan, whom Grey seems to have released without trial. Staples, on the other hand, reported that everyone was weary of the Archbishop’s demeanour, and that he himself had never said a word against the King’s supremacy, or in favour of the Pope. After an inquiry by Paynswick, Prior of Christ Church, and two others, the quarrel was patched up; but the relations existing between the two chief supporters of the Reformation were not at all conducive to its success.[302]

Lord Leonard Grey obnoxious to both parties.

It was bad enough to be called a heretic by the Bishop of Meath, but worse to be called a poll-shorn knave friar by a Lord Deputy who had soldiers and prisons. Browne said it was no safer to speak against Papal usurpations before Grey than if the Pope had been present. Lord Butler agreed with the Archbishop that Grey had a special zeal for popery, allowed the new system to be openly impugned in his presence, and in fact headed the reactionary party. According to Browne, he went so far as to maintain a bishop appointed by the Pope against the King’s nominee; but this is scarcely credible. Grey, however, had the Corporation of Limerick, and the Bishop and clergy there solemnly sworn to maintain the new order, and renounce the usurpations of Rome. He is said to have burned Down Cathedral, and defaced the tombs of the three saints there; and he was accused on his trial of turning the church into a stable, of pulling down the tower, and of sending the famous peal of bells to England: ‘had not God of His justice prevented his iniquity by sinking the vessel and passengers wherein the said bells should have been conveyed.’ Grey has himself recorded his proceedings at the Franciscan friary of Killeigh, whence he carried off the organ, the glass windows, and other valuable things. On the other hand, he spared Armagh; and, being at Trim shortly before the destruction of the miraculous Virgin there, ‘very devoutly knelt before the idol, and heard three or four masses.’ This may have been done from devotional feeling, or through sheer inconsistency, or to annoy Browne, Brabazon, and Alen, who were present, and who refused to enter the chapel, by way of showing an example to the people.[303]

Images, relics, and pilgrimages.

Browne had a conscientious hatred to images, which he called idols, and destroyed them wherever he could. In this case coming events had cast their shadow before, and he at one time thought it prudent to disclaim iconoclasm. ‘There goeth,’ he wrote in June 1538, ‘a common bruit among the Irishmen, that I intend to pluck down our Lady of Trim, with other places of pilgrimages, as the Holy Cross, and such like, which indeed I never attempted, although my conscience would right well serve me to oppress such idols.’ Even more celebrated than the miraculous Virgin was the crozier with which St. Patrick had banished the snakes, and which had been brought from Armagh to Dublin. This wonder-working staff was said to have been delivered by Christ Himself to a hermit in a Mediterranean island, with directions to take it to Ireland, and hand it over to the saint. It was compared to the rod of Moses, and was the chief of a large tribe of croziers upon which people swore in preference to the gospels. The staff was burned publicly, and so was the Virgin of Trim, and a crucifix of peculiar sanctity kept at Ballibogan in Westmeath. The holy cross of Tipperary was probably spared for a time. Browne and his successors nearly put an end to relics, which are now so scarce that a learned member of Parliament in our own times is said to have imported the bones of a more or less authentic foreign saint. But it was beyond the power of Government to put down pilgrimages, which were numerous down to the present century. Of the holy places still remaining, Croagh Patrick in Mayo is probably the most remarkable.[304]

Conformity of Munster Bishops.

When the four Protestant members of Council—Browne, Brabazon, Alen, and Aylmer—visited Clonmel early in 1539, two archbishops and eight bishops took the oath of supremacy before them. The archbishops were Butler of Cashel and Bodkin of Tuam—the first regularly appointed, the second not acknowledged at Rome, but both in undisputed possession. Of the eight bishops, Milo Baron or Fitzgerald of Ossory, Nicholas Comyn of Waterford and Lismore, John Coyne or Quin of Limerick, Thomas Hurley of Emly, Matthew Sanders of Leighlin, and James O’Corrin of Killaloe, appear to have been regularly appointed. The submission of O’Corrin seems to have been resented at Rome; for a Papal administrator was appointed to oust him eighteen months afterwards. He found it necessary to make his peace, and his resignation in 1542 was accepted by the Pope. No attempt was made to displace Baron, Comyn, Quin, Hurley, or Sanders. The remaining prelates present at Clonmel were probably Dominick Tirrey of Cork and Cloyne, and Richard Nangle of Clonfert. Tirrey was the King’s nominee, and continued to hold the temporalities till his decease in 1556. Lewis Macnamara, a Franciscan, was set up against him at Rome, but he soon died, and the Pope did not again interfere for a long time. Nangle, being kept out of Clonfert by his rival, whom Grey was accused of favouring, at this time acted as Browne’s suffragan or coadjutor. It is expressly stated that all the Bishops of Munster were present at Clonmel, and all have been mentioned but three. Ross was vacant, and probably Kilfenora. Young James Fitzmaurice, who had been lately provided to Ardfert, may have kept away in Kerry, or very probably he was not in Ireland at all. We must guard against hastily supposing that all, or even any, of these prelates were Protestants. Like Gardiner, Bonner, and Tunstal, they accepted the formulation of the old English principle of national independence, but they had not therefore necessarily any sympathy with the doctrines of Luther.[305]

The Pope makes Wauchop Primate.

Primate Cromer opposed the royal supremacy, but he was none the less accused of heresy at Rome, and Robert Wauchop, a priest of St. Andrews, was appointed to administer the see until the Archbishop should purge himself. Wauchop was a noted theologian, and, in spite of his imperfect sight, had the singular reputation of riding post better than any man in Europe. He had lived chiefly at Rome, and was employed by the Holy See on many missions, including attendance at the diets of Worms, Ratisbon, and Spires. The choice of a purblind man to persuade the sharp-eyed Germans gave rise to a proverb, and the reputation for riding post may have been gained by the rapidity with which he went from place to place. After Cromer’s death Wauchop received the pall, and bore the title of Primate at the Council of Trent, where he attended for eleven sessions, and where he shared with the Archbishop of Upsala the distinction of having never seen his church. In the meantime George Dowdall was appointed by the King on St. Leger’s recommendation, and it must be supposed that he took the oath of supremacy. In spite of Dowdall’s zeal against the reformed doctrines, he was never acknowledged by the Pope until after Wauchop’s death. The latter does not appear to have landed in Ireland, and his bolts were shot from Scotland or France. When preparing at last in 1551 to visit his diocese, he met a most edifying death in the Jesuit Church at Paris.[306]

The Jesuits sent to Ireland, 1542.

It was by Wauchop’s advice that the disciples of Loyola began their work in Ireland. Paul III. addressed a brief to Con O’Neill, as prince of the Irish of Ulster, acknowledging the receipt of letters which he had sent to Rome by the hands of Raymond O’Gallagher, ‘by which letters,’ wrote the Pope, ‘and by his fuller verbal communications, our mind has been variously affected; for we have learned with the pain it calls for how that island is cruelly ravaged by the present King, and to what a pitch of impiety he has brought it, and with what savage ferocity he has spurned the honour of God Almighty. But when, on the other hand, we learned from thy letters and Raymond’s words that there existed in thy person a champion of God, and of the Roman Church and of the Catholic religion, we rejoiced greatly in the heavenly Father’s love. We praise thee then, beloved son, as thou hast deserved, and commend thee in the Lord; and we give Him thanks for granting thee to us and endowing thee with such virtue and piety for the preservation of that island at the present time, and we pray Him long to prosper thee, and to preserve thee to us unchanged. We have taken such care as we were bound, and as thou hast asked us to take for thee and for the other champions of the Catholic Faith. We therefore exhort your lordship, and all the peoples of Ireland who follow your authority and piety, to preserve you all as becomes faithful servants of the True Christ, in the Catholic Faith which you have received from your fathers, and preserved with the greatest constancy to this day. For we who embrace that island with singular affection and desire to preserve it in its ancient attachment to the Holy Faith, will never be wanting to your lordship or to your followers in piety.’

The first Jesuit missionaries.

John Codure and Alphonso Salmeron were selected by the Pope as nuncios to Ireland, and another brief was sent to the clergy of Ireland exhorting them to receive the Jesuits with honour and goodwill. Codure died before he could visit Ireland, and Paschal Broet accompanied Salmeron in his stead. Francesco Zapata, not yet admitted to the society, was their secretary. Broet, whom Loyola called the angel of his society, was a native of Picardy. Salmeron was a Spaniard, and one of the original seven companions who took the momentous vow upon the hill of Montmartre. Ignatius himself gave directions to the mission:—

Loyola’s instructions to them.

1. They were to use caution in talking, especially with inferiors and equals, to ‘take each man’s censure but reserve their judgment.’ When they could not avoid expressing an opinion, it was to be delivered briefly and with a careless air, so as to avoid further argument.

2. They were to be all things to all men, like St. Paul. An angry man was to be treated with great circumspection.

3. The precept of Basilius was to be observed, that the devil must be fought with his own weapons. To gain favour at first they were to praise virtues rather than denounce vices. Medicine might then by degrees be administered. Morose men might be won by cheerfulness.

4. In public and private, and especially when performing the duty of peacemakers, they were to remember that ‘all their words and deeds might become known, and that the things done in darkness would be brought to light.’

5. Appointments were to be anticipated rather than deferred, so that there might be plenty of time for the business in hand.

6. In money matters they were to meddle as little as possible. Even the fines which they took for dispensations should be given in alms by the hands of others, so that they might be able to swear that they had not touched one penny.

7. Paschal was to be chief speaker in dealing with great men. In doubtful cases there was to be a consultation, and the opinion of two was to bind the other.

8. They were to correspond with Rome frequently on their journey, immediately on their arrival either in Ireland or Scotland, and at least once a month afterwards.[307]

Their adventures in Scotland and Ireland.

After narrowly escaping imprisonment in France, the three emissaries reached Scotland and saw James V., who gave them a commendatory letter to the Irish nobility and a special one to O’Neill, whom he exhorted so to receive the strangers that they might feel the advantage of his introduction. A brother of Bishop Farquharson of the Isles accompanied them to Ireland, where they found nothing to their liking, either civil or ecclesiastical. The people were savage and the clergy negligent, and neither bishoprics nor parishes were properly served. All the chiefs but one were not only sworn to the royal supremacy, but had declared their readiness to burn the Pope’s letters and to deliver his messengers bound to the King or his Deputy. The single exception was about to follow the general example. The Irish chiefs were all afraid to confer with the nuncios, or even to secure them a safe passage out of the island. The Jesuits also complained that the Scottish King had not performed his promises. But if Paschal and his companions could do nothing with the chiefs, they were successful with the people. They changed their place of abode constantly, exhorting men everywhere in private, hearing confessions, and celebrating the Mass as often as possible. Indulgences were sparingly granted, but they gained goodwill by varying burdensome vows, and by remitting fines and dues. Their personal virtue was evident; they never spared themselves, and they asked for nothing. Any money that came within their reach they diverted through the debtor himself, or through the bishop, to such good work as the repair of churches, the relief of widows, and the care of unprotected girls. After thirty-four days thus spent the pursuit waxed too hot. Rewards were offered for their apprehension, and they escaped to Scotland, where they vainly hoped to find a quieter people. The Scotch chiefs seemed as bad as the Irish, and the foreigners were fain to sail to Dieppe, whence they reached Paris on foot. Zapata remained there for study, and the two Jesuits pursued their journey to Rome in rags, and almost penniless. They were arrested as spies at Lyons, but rescued by Cardinals Tournon and Gaddi, who were passing through and who recognised them. Thus, in apparent, but only apparent, failure ended the first descent of the Jesuits upon Ireland.[308]

The royal supremacy opposed by the friars.

In the days of Henry VIII. the majority of Irish chiefs seem to have cared greatly for land, much less, but still a great deal, for titles and gold chains, and very little for religion. They were, therefore, ready enough to accept the King’s ecclesiastical polity; the rather that they hoped to go on exactly as they had done before. But with the people it was different. It was not for their interest that tribal lands should be turned into private estates, nor could they hope for special marks of royal favour. They were barbarous, but they could appreciate virtue, and in the austere self-denial of some friars they could discern glimmerings of a higher light. Against the friars Henry had no available weapon; they could not even be prevented from preaching. Under the very shadow of Dublin Castle the King could give no peace to his reformed Church, of which the only sincere supporters were a few new comers from England. Except Browne and Staples, who, as we have seen, did not agree, there was no one to preach what Henry wished the people to learn. And neither of them could speak a word of Irish. The lawyers in Dublin heard and disliked the expounders of the new ideas, but the great mass of the population did not even hear them. The friars had it all their own way, and every feeling, national and sentimental, predisposed the Irish to believe their statement of the case. The people were told that Ireland was a fief of the Holy See, and that the vassal had forfeited all by treason to his sovereign lord. The Defender of the Faith had become its assailant, and he was manifestly no longer a Catholic. These were the arguments used daily and never answered. ‘In the Irishry,’ Staples reported, ‘the common voice runneth that the supremacy of our sovereign lord is maintained only by power, and not reasoned by learning.’ He recommended that all Irish clerks should have safe-conduct to come and go, and to dispute with himself. ‘I trust then,’ he added, perhaps with a side cut at the Archbishop, ‘to do my master good service, without railing or “frasing,” which doth well nowhere, but least in a good cause.’ And he strongly urged the assumption of the royal title, as at least one means to disabuse the popular mind. In the meantime the counter reformation had begun. The official Church was to be defended mainly by power, by a few English-speaking ecclesiastics, and by the self-seekers who sought preferment where the sceptre was strong enough to protect them. On the side of Rome was ranged every popular feeling and prejudice, and it was to have the support of crowds of devoted men who could exhort the people in their own tongue, and whose example was sometimes more eloquent than their words.

Irish view of Henry’s innovations.

The ‘Four Masters’ describe Henry’s reformation as ‘a heresy and new error in England, through pride, vain-glory, avarice, and lust, and through many strange sciences, so that the men of England went into opposition to the Pope and to Rome. They at the same time adopted various opinions and the old law of Moses, and they styled the King the chief head of the Church of God in his own kingdom. New laws were enacted by the King and Council according to their own will. They destroyed the orders to whom worldly possessions were allowed ... and the four poor orders ...; and the lordships and livings of all these were taken up for the King. They broke down the monasteries, and sold their roofs and bells, so that from Arran of the Saints to the Straits of Dover there was not one monastery that was not broken and shattered, with the exception of a few in Ireland, of which the English took no heed. They afterwards burned the images, shrines, and relics of the saints of Ireland and England.... They also appointed archbishops and sub-bishops for themselves; and though great was the persecution of the Roman emperors against the Church, scarcely had there ever come so great a persecution from Rome as this; so that it is impossible to narrate or tell its description, unless it should be narrated by one who saw it.’ There can be no doubt that these were the ideas prevalent in Ireland in the sixteenth century, and they remain essentially unchanged in the nineteenth. That the annalists tell but a small part of the whole truth must be plain to candid students; but it is the only part which the native Irish have ever accepted. In England Anglicanism was the outcome of national independence; in Ireland it was the badge of conquest.

The King resolves to dissolve the religious houses.

Barnewall’s mission failed; but he did not lose the King’s favour, and was soon promoted: had he been an English lawyer he would have lost his head. While denying the King’s right to dissolve monasteries, he made no objection to receiving a grant of their lands, and accepted that very nunnery of Gracedieu where all the young ladies of the Pale had been educated. When the houses met again the clergy opposed all legislation, being perhaps excited by rumours of a Geraldine restoration. The proctors insisted on their right to vote as an estate, and the bishops and abbots, who formed a majority in the Lords, declined to entertain any business until the point was decided. The Council gave a decided opinion that the claim of the proctors was unfounded, and the spiritual peers at last agreed to proceed to business with or without their consent. The Lords threw out the Bill for confirming the King’s title to certain abbeys, most of which had already been suppressed; making an exception only in the case of St. Wolstan’s. The Bill for giving the King a twentieth part of all spiritualities was also rejected. After a further prorogation for four months this resistance was at length overcome. An Act was passed declaring the proctors to be no members of Parliament, the first-fruits of abbeys were given to the King, the suppressions were confirmed, the much desired twentieth was granted, and the questions of faculties and testamentary dispositions were arranged in a sense hostile to Rome. As far as an Act of Parliament could do it, the Church in Ireland was now placed on the same footing as the Church in England.[309]

First convent dissolved, 1535. Relative strength of different orders.

The first Irish religious house dissolved by Henry VIII. seems to have been the nunnery of Grane, which gave a title to Lord Leonard Grey; but the nuns were quartered on other houses: this was in 1535. In the latter half of 1536 a commission under the Great Seal not now extant was issued for the suppression of eight Irish abbeys named therein. The earliest victim of the batch was probably St. Wolstan’s near Leixlip, a house of canons of the congregation of St. Victor, which was granted to John Alen, the Master of the Rolls. The necessary inquiries into the condition and property of the doomed institutions were too slow for Henry, who chided the Irish Council for remissness. They promised to proceed as speedily as was consistent with his Highness’s profit. Before the end of 1537 fifteen more houses had fallen, all within the Pale or in the immediate neighbourhood of walled towns. After this the process of surveying and suppressing went on rapidly, so that by 1541 all, or very nearly all, the houses in Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Louth, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Tipperary, Waterford, and Limerick city had been surrendered. A careful calculation makes the whole number about seventy-eight, of which thirty-eight were Canons Regular, eleven Crutched Friars, fifteen Hospitallers, two Benedictines, and twelve Cistercians. Only ten of the number were nunneries, all belonging to Regular Canonesses. To these may be added a few in other districts, such as Aghmacarte in MacGillapatrick’s country, and Midleton in the county of Cork.[310]

The Cistercians. Mellifont.

Some monasteries deserve particular mention, and of these Mellifont, the oldest of the Cistercian houses, is perhaps the most famous. It is said to have contained 140 monks, and was called Monastermore, or the Great Monastery. The Cistercians were introduced about 1142 by Donough O’Carroll, Prince of Oriel, at the instance of Malachy, the friend of Bernard of Clairvaux, who wrote his life and in whose arms he died. St. Bernard supplied the new foundation with monks from his own monastery, under the leadership of Christian O’Conarchy, afterwards Bishop of Lismore and papal legate, who presided in that synod of Cashel where the Irish Church was first formally subjected both to Rome and to England. King John afterwards confirmed all grants made before the conquest, and several later sovereigns were benefactors of Mellifont. The abbot was always summoned to Parliament, where he took precedence of all his mitred brethren, and ranked immediately below the bishops. The buildings, of which there are still some remains, are said to have greatly resembled those of Clairvaux. The rich estates were granted by Elizabeth to Lord Drogheda’s ancestor as a reward for defending the northern border of the Pale against the Ulster Irish.[311]

Holy Cross.

Another famous Cistercian abbey was that of Holy Cross on the Suir, whose beautiful ruins recall, though they do not rival, Fountains, Furness, and Rivaulx. This monastery was founded by Donald O’Brien, King of Limerick, shortly before the Anglo-Norman invasion. A fragment of the true cross preserved here attracted many pilgrims, and is thought by some to have been contained in a richly sculptured shrine which still stands. Long after the dissolution pilgrimages continued, and Sir Henry Sidney noted the ‘detestable idolatry used to an idol called the Holy Cross, whereunto there is no small confluence of people daily resorting.’ The abbots had seats in Parliament, and from the extent of their territorial power were sometimes called Earls.[312]

Dunbrody and Tintern.

Two Cistercian abbeys near one another in Wexford are remarkable from the circumstances of their foundations. Dunbrody was built by the ruthless conqueror, Hervey de Montmorenci, who sought to expiate his cruelties by becoming its abbot and endowing it with all his property. Tintern was founded in fulfilment of a vow made during a storm at sea by William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, who brought monks and a name from Wales. Tintern was the only Irish abbey which retained the original black dress of Citeaux, thus acknowledging the foundation of Stephen Harding rather than that of Bernard.

Hospitallers. Kilmainham.

Strongbow founded a preceptory for Templars at Kilmainham in 1174, and it became rich and powerful. Under Edward II. the order was suppressed in Ireland with as little pretence of justice as elsewhere, and its possessions granted to the Hospitallers, who showed less charity to the really poor, though their doors were always open to strangers and travellers of importance. The priors of Kilmainham were often chosen from the greatest families—Talbots, Butlers, and Fitzgeralds—were always summoned to Parliament, and became very important personages. Being exempt from episcopal jurisdiction they sometimes acted almost like independent princes. In 1444 the Prior, Thomas Fitzgerald, espoused the cause of Archbishop Talbot in his quarrel with the White Earl of Ormonde, and he challenged the latter to trial by combat. The fight was appointed to take place at Smithfield, and both champions were kept in close custody; the Earl being confined in the Tower, of which the Duke of Exeter, inventor of the rack and other gentle instruments, was then constable. The Duke was authorised to allow his distinguished prisoner exercise enough to keep him in good fighting condition, his swordsmanship being evidently thought adequate. The representative of the Church militant was considered wanting in skill, and was detained in the city to receive instructions at the royal expense from Philip Treherne, fishmonger and fencing master. Ormonde’s friends cleared his character, and the combat never took place. Many acts of turbulence were charged against Fitzgerald; but he was far outstripped by James Keating, who became prior in 1461, and who defied the King, the Deputy, and his own Grand Master for thirty years. Marmaduke Lumley was sent to supersede him, but died of the ill-treatment which he received. In 1511 Sir John Rawson, the last prior, was appointed. He was an able man and a chief supporter of the Government, but did not think it necessary to observe his vow of chastity. At the dissolution Rawson was created Viscount of Clontarf, where there was a cell of his house, and enjoyed a pension of 500 marks till his death in Edward VI.’s time. Sir William Weston, the English Provincial, was less fortunate, for he was forced to leave his priory and died the same day. The great possessions of Kilmainham were granted to different persons, and the site of the commandery is now fitly occupied by a military hospital, which owes its foundation to the great Duke of Ormonde.[313]

Pensions to monks.

Pensions were generally granted to the heads of the dissolved houses and sometimes to the other monks. Thus the Abbot of Mellifont received 40l., and several of the monks from 3l. 6s. 8d. to 20s. The Prior of Fower in Westmeath and the Abbot of St. Mary’s, Dublin, received each 50l.; the Prior of St. Thomas’s, Dublin, 42l.; and others were paid in proportion to the importance of their convents. In a few cases priors received as little as 3l., and monks as little as 13s. 4d. The ejected brethren often got other preferment. Edmond O’Lonergan, Prior of Cahir, who received a pension of 3l. 6s. 8d., was made vicar of the parish, and William Walsh, Prior of Ballydrohid, had a pension of 6l. 8s. 4d. till he should receive a benefice of greater value. Hugh Doyne, one of the monks of Conal, who had received a pension of 40s., surrendered it on being presented by the Crown to a vicarage. Pensions were charged on the lands of the dissolved houses, and power of distress was sometimes given. The absence of complaints may justify a supposition that payments were pretty regularly made. Great numbers of monks doubtless withdrew to the Continent. Mary herself grumbled at the numerous pensions payable to clerks, and directed her Deputy to make them the first objects of his patronage, so that the pensions might be gradually absorbed.[314]

Titular abbots still appointed. Cistercians.

In the case of the Cistercians at least titular abbots were sometimes appointed for many generations. Alemand, the French historian of Irish monasteries, says that the learned Nicholas Fagan, Bishop of Waterford, was Abbot of Innislonagh, and was buried in the abbey in 1617. According to the same author, who wrote towards the end of the seventeenth century, there were in his time Abbots of Mellifont, Tintern, and Boyle, living in the neighbourhood of their abbeys, but dressing like laymen. They were probably chiefly occupied in receiving novices for education in foreign convents. An important paper drawn up at Waterford in 1646 bears the signature of one prior of Augustinian canons, and of four Cistercian abbots, to say nothing of Jesuits and mendicants, but some of these may have been appointed after the breaking out of the rebellion. In the reign of James I. some Cistercians certainly lurked in Ireland. The nuncio Rinuccini, who had the charge of Irish patronage from 1645, apologised for preferring so many regulars on the ground that men of family seldom became secular priests.[315]

The dissolution not carried out in remote districts.

In 1541 a commission was issued to the Earl of Desmond and others to survey and dissolve all religious houses in Cork, Limerick, Kerry, and Desmond. In these districts and in the purely Irish regions of Connaught and Ulster, the process of dissolution was slow and uncertain. The title of the Crown was theoretically acknowledged, but in some cases nothing was done for many years. As the native nobility were subdued or reconciled, Henry VIII.’s policy was gradually carried out. In the wildest parts of Ulster the consummation was delayed until after the flight of the Earls in the reign of James I.[316]

Number and wealth of religious foundations.

Many are losers by the dissolution.

Without counting the mendicant orders, about 350 religious houses can be traced in Ireland. Many of these had disappeared before the reign of Henry VIII., having become parish churches, or been absorbed in episcopal establishments. Others were dependent on English foundations, and were destroyed by the Act of Absentees; others, again, were cells to more important houses, and followed their fortunes. A yearly income of 32,000l., with personalty to the amount of 100,000l., has been attributed to the Irish monasteries, and their possessions must certainly have been considerable. The monks, and especially the Cistercians, generally chose fertile situations near a river or on the coast, for the sake of fish and water carriage. The most beautiful and convenient sites were in their hands, and their system of cultivation was much superior to that of lay proprietors. The ceaseless wars of Ireland did not entirely spare the religious houses, but they escaped better than other kinds of property. The spoiling of the Church could never have been considered a great or glorious work. The wealth of the monks is not to be measured by the extent of their lands. It is in the vast number of their houses, orchards, gardens, fishing-weirs, and mills, that we must seek the evidence of accumulated capital. The immense circuit of the walls at Kells or Athassel seems to show that great numbers of artificers and labourers were sheltered within the enclosures, and that the monks knew how to defend their own. The system of corrodies or resident pensions probably reconciled the great nobles, and opposition to the dissolution came partly from those who were impoverished by their abolition. It is to these pensions, which were perhaps often abused, that Cowley probably alludes when he accuses the monks generally of immorality and of showing no hospitality save to themselves and ‘certain bell-wedders, which ringleaders have good fees, fat, profitable farms, the finding of their children, with other daily pleasures of the abbeys, and fearing to lose the profit thereof, repugn and resist the suppressing of abbeys, surmising it should be prejudicial to the common weal, which is otherwise.’[317]

The Friaries suppressed. Not before 1541.

In 1541 a commission was issued to Sir Anthony St. Leger and others to survey and suppress all the friaries in Ireland. The total number was rather under two hundred, of which the Franciscans had more than half, the Dominicans forty-three, the Augustinian hermits twenty-four, and the Carmelites twenty-one. As in the case of the older monasteries, the houses within reach were at once dissolved, and the rest were perforce respited. Their possessions were not large, and the friars managed to exist without them. The Dominican historian says there were about six hundred members of his order in Ireland just before Cromwell’s conquest, and the Franciscans were probably much more numerous. The houses of Grey Friars had been very generally reformed by the Observants, and it is with these stricter votaries that we generally meet. They swarmed everywhere, and to them is due the preservation of the Roman tradition until the Jesuits made head in Ireland. Archbishop Browne is never tired of testifying against them, and Thomas Agard, his enthusiastic supporter, calls them crafty bloodsuckers. Almost the only open opposition to the dissolution came from a Franciscan, Dr. Sall, who boldly preached against it at Waterford. During the Cromwellian war and subsequent persecution the Franciscans claim thirty-one martyrs, which shows that they must have been very numerous. In 1645 the Carmelites reckoned twenty-seven houses in Ireland, but most of these were doubtless desecrated and deserted. No candid Protestant can altogether sympathise with Browne and Agard, for we have the most overwhelming proof that but for the friars a large part of the population would have been altogether debarred from the exercise of religion.[318]

All kinds of men share the plunder.

Most of the men who had been useful in carrying out the suppression received a share of the spoils. Brabazon, St. Leger, Sir John Alen, Chief Justice Luttrell, Edmund Sexton, Sir Thomas Cusack, and Robert Dillon, were all enriched in this way. Prime-serjeant Barnewall denied the King’s right to dissolve the monasteries, but profited largely by the measure. Celts, Normans, and Saxons, Papists and Protestants alike, showed a fine appetite for the confiscated lands. Desmond had a lease of part of St. Mary Abbey, perhaps to induce him to spend some of his time in Dublin. Three at least of the new peerages—Upper Ossory, Carbery, and Cahir, were partially endowed from similar sources. Edward Power, bastard brother of the first baron of Curraghmore, was granted the possession of Mothel, of which he had been prior. In some cases, as in Clanricarde and Thomond, the Government made a virtue of necessity, and gave monastic lands to lords or chiefs who would have had the power to seize them in any case. It is scarcely necessary to say that the House of Ormonde profited enormously by the dissolution. Sometimes the plunder was too small to excite much cupidity, and then the monks might be spared. Thus the Austinfriars of Dunmore in Galway, who had ‘neither land nor profit, but only the small devotion of the people,’ were respited during the King’s pleasure, on condition of assuming a secular habit. A like indulgence was given to the canons of Toem in Tipperary, which the O’Meaghers had been able to prevent the Royal Commissioners from visiting. Many houses were reasonably granted to the founders’ kin, for the dissolution must have been a heavy loss to some families. Most of the corporate towns had founded or fostered monasteries, and Waterford, Drogheda, Kilkenny, Galway, Limerick, Clonmel, and Athenry received a portion of the spoils. All Saints was specially granted to the citizens of Dublin in compensation of their loss during the Geraldine siege. As a general rule, monastic lands were at first let only on lease, and in succeeding reigns large fines were obtained by the Crown. At the first threat of dissolution some houses hastened to let their lands for long terms, and to cut down their woods and sell their jewels, and thus the plunder actually realised often fell below expectation. I have met with but one case of a charitable foundation being laid immediately upon the ruins of a monastery, and that was owing to private liberality. Henry Walshe, son of a Waterford merchant, bought the Grey Friars from the King, and founded a hospital for sixty or more sick persons. This institution received a royal charter, and still exists on a reduced scale.[319]

No university in Ireland.

No care was taken to supply the place of the monasteries which were devoted to education. There had been three attempts to found a university in Ireland before the reign of Henry VIII. In 1310 John Lech, Archbishop of Dublin, obtained a bull from Clement V., who ordered the establishment of the desired institution, which would, he hoped, ‘sprinkle the said land, like a watered garden, to the exaltation of the Catholic faith, the honour of the mother church, and the profit of all the faithful.’ Lech died soon after, and his project was buried with him; but his successor, Alexander de Bicknor, actually made a foundation in connection with St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and under the patronage of John XXII. Bicknor’s University maintained a very precarious existence till the time of Henry VII., when it finally disappears. The institution was not crushed by the weight of its endowments, for it does not seem to have had any. In 1465 Bicknor’s work was ignored by the Parliament of Drogheda, which founded a new university on the ground that there was none in Ireland. But it was not enough to declare that Drogheda should be as Oxford: there was no endowment and no popular support, and this scheme also failed. Very near the end of his reign Henry VIII. made up his mind that one cathedral was enough for Dublin, and he suppressed St. Patrick’s. Christ Church had already been acknowledged as the metropolitan church. But it was not till the next reign that Archbishop Browne propounded his abortive plan for restoring the University which had once faintly glimmered.[320]

Archbishop Browne.

The principal instrument by which Henry carried out his ecclesiastical revolution was George Browne, Provincial of the English Austinfriars, who was appointed Archbishop of Dublin in 1535 after regular election by the two chapters. He was consecrated by Cranmer, Fisher, and Shaxton of Salisbury, who were significantly commanded to invest him with the pall. Browne’s appointment is ignored at Rome, but no rival prelate was at first set up. He had already distinguished himself by preaching strongly against the invocation of saints, and, whatever his faults were, he was certainly a sincere Protestant. ‘The common voice goeth,’ said Staples, who had not quite made up his own mind, ‘that he doth abhor the Mass.’ Browne was married, but whether before or after his consecration does not appear. He zealously promoted the King’s supremacy and the destruction of images, and complained bitterly of being thwarted by his colleague of Armagh, by the Irish generally, and even by Lord Deputy Grey. Cromer was in communication with Rome, and circulated a sort of Papal oath of allegiance among the clergy, in which obedience to heretical powers was denounced and all their acts declared null and void. The old jealousy between Armagh and Dublin may have had something to say to this; for Browne, if we may believe Staples, claimed authority over all the clergy of Ireland. The new Archbishop did not bear himself meekly in his great office, and he received a stinging rebuke, which the writer was pleased to call a gentle advertisement, from the King himself. Henry accused his nominee of neglecting the instruction of the people and the interests of the Crown. ‘Such,’ he added, ‘is your lightness in behaviour and such is the elation of your mind in pride, that glorying in foolish ceremonies, and delighting in we and us, in your dreams comparing yourself so near to a prince in honour and estimation, that all virtue and honesty is almost banished from you. Reform yourself therefore ... and let it sink into your remembrance that we be as able for the not doing thereof to remove you again and to put another man of more virtue and honesty in your place, both for our discharge against God, and for the comfort of our good subjects there, as we were at the beginning to prefer you.’ Well might Browne answer that the King’s letter made him tremble in body for fear. He defended himself at length, and invoked the fate of Korah should he fail to advance the King’s service. His defence seems to have satisfied Henry, but he continued to make many enemies and to excite much criticism. ‘His pride and arrogance,’ said Staples, ‘hath ravished him from the right remembrance of himself.’[321]

Bishop Staples.

Edward Staples, originally a Cambridge man, and afterwards parson of Tamworth and a canon of Cardinal College, was appointed to the see of Meath in 1530 by Papal provision. Either as Bishop or Privy Councillor he incurred the hatred of the Geraldine faction, and fled to England on the breaking out of the rebellion in 1534. Early next year he returned, and was one of the commissioners for suppressing the nunnery of Grane. Staples did not at first fully embrace the reformed doctrines, for he accused the Archbishop of Dublin of heresy, and appears to have been attached to the Mass; but he was as zealous as Browne for the royal supremacy, and his conversion to thorough Protestantism was gradual like Cranmer’s. Staples was a noted preacher, and was promoted for that reason; but the King at one time accused him of slackness and threatened to remove him.[322]