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

by Richard Bagwell

FOOTNOTES:

[300] Parallel between Essex and Buckingham in Reliquiæ Wottonianæ.

[301] Reliquiæ Wottonianæ; Camden; Essex to the Queen in Devereux’s Earls of Essex, i. 493. The letter quoted in the text is the best proof that Camden’s story is substantially true. See also Spedding’s Life of Bacon, ii. 91, 103. For Spanish popular notions on Philip III. see Carew, Aug. 23, 1602. Beaumont, the French ambassador in 1602, says the Queen told him, in a broken voice, that she had warned Essex long since ‘qu’il se contestast de prendre plaisir de lui déplaire à toutes occasions, et de mepriser sa personne insolemment comme il faisait, et qu’il se gardast bien de toucher à son sceptre.’—Von Raumer, Letter 60.

[302] Spedding, ii. 124-126; Essex to John Harrington in Park’s edition of Nugæ Antiquæ, i. 246.

[303] Bacon’s advice to Essex immediately before his going to Ireland, Spedding, ii. 129; Essex to Southampton, Jan. 1, 1599, printed by Abbott; Bacon’s Apology, first printed in 1604.

[304] The letter of advice is in Spedding, ii. 129; Apology concerning the Earl of Essex; Essex to Southampton in Abbott’s Bacon and Essex, chap. ix. Jan. 1, 1599. Essex wrote to the Queen, just before starting, as follows: ‘From a mind delighting in sorrow, from spirits wasted with passion, from a heart torn with care, grief, and travail, from a man that hateth himself and all things also that keepeth him alive, what service can your Majesty expect? since my service past deserves no more than banishment and proscription into the cursedst of all other countries.’ The letter ends with some verses in praise of a contemplative life, and Essex signs himself ‘your Majesty’s exiled servant.’—MS. Harl. 35, p. 338.

[305] The progress of the negotiations may be traced in Chamberlain’s Letters (Camden Society). Essex to Southampton, Jan. 1, 1599; and Charles Blount (afterwards Lord Mountjoy) to Essex, Jan. 3, both in Abbott, chap. ix.

‘Full little knowest thou, that has not tried,
What hell it is in suing long to bide;
To lose good days that might be better spent
To waste long nights in pensive discontent;
To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow, &c.’—Spenser.

[306] Devereux, ii. 16-24; Four Masters; Prayer for the good success of Her Majesty’s forces in Ireland (black letter, London, 1599).

Were now the general of our gracious empress
(As in good time he may), from Ireland coming,
Bringing rebellion broached on his sword,
How many would the peaceful city quit,
To welcome him?—Henry V. Act 5.

[307] Chamberlain’s Letters, 1599. Robert Markham to John Harrington in Nugæ Antiquæ, i. 239; Fenton to Cecil, May 7; Fynes Moryson’s Itinerary, part i. book i. ch. i. At Hatfield there are a great many letters asking Essex to employ the writers or their friends in Ireland. Most of these anticipate triumph. William Harborn on Feb. 3 asks for nothing, but presents the Earl with an Italian history of the world in four volumes, ‘to attend your honour, if they be permitted, in this your pretended Irish enterprise, at times vacant to recreate your most heroical mind.’ The Queen’s instructions speak of a ‘royal army, paid, furnished, and provided in other sorts than any king of this land hath done before.’ Its nominal strength was raised to 20,000, but they were never really under arms at once.

[308] The Commission, dated March 12, is in Morrin’s Patent Rolls, ii. 520. The instructions, dated March 27, are fully abstracted by Devereux, and in Carew.

[309] Chichester to Cecil, March 17, 1599, MS. Hatfield. Account of Sir Arthur Chichester by Sir Faithful Fortescue in Lord Clermont’s privately printed Life of Sir John Fortescue, &c.

[310] Report on state of Ireland April 1599, in Carew, and further particulars in Dymmok’s Treatise of Ireland (ed. Butler, Irish Arch. Society, 1843). Dymmok’s account of the Leinster and Munster journey is, with slight omissions, word for word (but better spelt) Harrington’s journal from May 10 to July 3, after which it is continued from other sources. (Nugæ Antiquæ, i. 268-292.) There is an independent journal in Carew from May 21 to July 1. The opinion of the Irish Council is printed by Devereux, i. 24. Essex to the Privy Council, April 29. Sir H. Wotton to Ed. Reynolds, April 19, MS. Hatfield, where it is noted that Sir H. Wallop died within an hour of the Lord Lieutenant’s arrival.

[311] Nugæ Antiquæ, i. 269-275; Four Masters; O’Sullivan Bere, tom. iii. lib. v. cap. 9. O’Donovan cannot exactly identify the ‘transitus plumarum,’ and the name is forgotten in the district. Harrington places it between Croshy Duff hill, which is two and a half miles from Maryborough on the Timahoe road, and Cashel, which is four miles from Maryborough on the Ballyroan road. Captain Lee, in Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica, i. 114, suggests that Tyrone would willingly settle all his differences with Bagenal (whom he very wrongly accuses of cowardice) by a duel. Tyrone was the last man in the world to do such an act of folly, but Lee exposes his own character.

[312] The Lord President, Ormonde, and other councillors ‘hath persuaded me for a few days to look into his government.’—Essex to the Privy Council, May 21, 1599, MS. Hatfield. The few days were a full month. Nugæ Antiquæ, i. 275-278; Journal of occurrents in Carew, under June 22. The battery was planted on May 28, and all was over by the 31st. ‘The castle of Cahir, very considerable, built upon a rock, and seated in an island in the midst of the Suir, was lately rendered to me. It cost the Earl of Essex, as I am informed, about eight weeks’ siege with his army and artillery. It is now yours without the loss of one man.’—Cromwell to Bradshaw, March 5, 1649. Thus history is falsified by flattery and local vanity. There is a picture-plan of the siege in Pacata Hibernia.

[313] Journal of occurrents in Carew, under June 22; Nugæ Antiquæ, i. 278-280. The Journal, the Four Masters, and O’Sullivan Bere, tom. iii. lib. v. cap. 6, all agree that Norris died of a wound in the head. ‘Kilthilia’ may be Kilteely near Hospital, whither the Journal says the wounded man was first carried. He died in his own house at Mallow.

[314] Nugæ Antiquæ and Journal ut sup. Essex left Askeaton on the 8th, and arrived at Waterford on June 21. The Queen to Lord and Lady Norris, Sept. 6, in S.P. Domestic, and Rowland Whyte to Sir R. Sidney, Sept. 8, in Sidney Papers.

[315] The contemporary accounts are collected in National MSS. of Ireland, part iv. i. app. xiv. Atherton’s is the most minute. There is also a field-sketch made by Captain Montague. The Irish were not numerically stronger than Harrington’s force. Loftus, who died at Wicklow for want of a skilful surgeon, was the archbishop’s son.

[316] Journal in Carew, under July 1; Nugæ Antiquæ, i. 254, 259, and 286-292; Dymmok’s Treatise. Essex left Waterford June 22, and reached Dublin July 2.

[317] Essex to the Privy Council, July 11; Devereux, ii. 50-52; Fynes Moryson, part ii. lib. i. cap. i.; Nugæ Antiquæ, i. 292; Reliquiæ Wottonianæ.

[318] Privy Council to Essex, June 10; Essex to the Privy Council, July 11; the Queen to Essex, July 19.

[319] Essex to the Privy Council, May 21, MS. Hatfield; Cecil to Sir H. Neville, May 23, in Winwood’s Memorials; Chamberlain’s Letters, June 10; Essex to the Queen, June 25, in Moryson; the Queen to Essex, July 19.

[320] Dymmok’s Treatise, p. 43; Nugæ Antiquæ, i. 255; the Queen to Essex, July 19 and Aug. 10. Harrington’s comrade was Gerald, fourteenth Earl of Kildare. The ‘sergeant-major’ was either Captain Richard Cuny or Captain George Flower.

[321] The Queen to the Lord Lieutenant and Council, Aug. 10 in Carew; Chamberlain’s Letters, Aug. 23.

[322] Dymmok’s Treatise, p. 44; Nugæ Antiquæ, i. 255-257 and 264-268; Four Masters. Harrington was present, and Dymmok’s account is from those who were. O’Sullivan Bere says the English lost 1,400 men, but Harrington says Clifford’s whole force hardly amounted to that number. O’Donnell, though not far off, took no actual part in the fight. H. Cuffe to E. Reynolds, Aug. 11, MS. Hatfield, written when the bad news was quite fresh.

[323] Four Masters; MacDermot’s letter is in Dymmok; Essex’s instructions for Dillon, Savage, and Dunkellin in Carew, Aug. 10. Dymmok gives Aug. 15 as the date of Clifford’s death, but it must have been a week earlier.

[324] Essex to the Queen, soon after Aug. 15, in Devereux, ii. 56, and two other letters at p. 67. The officers’ declaration is at p. 55, where the names of the signatories are given. They fairly justify the Queen’s stricture in her letter of Sept. 14.

[325] Dymmok’s Treatise; Journal in Carew, No. 315. The two accounts substantially agree. It was the hereditary privilege of O’Hagan to inaugurate O’Neill.

[326] Journal in Carew and Dymmok ut sup. Moryson and Camden closely agree. The chronology is as follows: Essex leaves Dublin Aug. 28; musters at Castle Kieran, Aug. 31; between Robinstown and Newcastle, Sept. 2; Ardee, Sept. 3; Mills of Louth, Sept. 4; O’Hagan’s first overtures, Sept. 5; the meeting at Bellaclinthe, Sept. 7; cessation concluded, Sept. 8; Essex goes to Drogheda, Sept. 9. See also Shirley’s Monaghan, p. 104. There is a story told somewhere that Tyrone spoke much of religion, and that Essex answered, ‘Go to, thou carest as much for religion as my horse.’ The original articles of cessation, dated Sept. 8 and signed Hugh Tyrone, are at Hatfield.

[327] Essex to the Queen, Aug. 30, from Ardbraccan; the Queen to Essex. Sept. 14 and 17—all printed by Devereux. On March 27, Essex had licence at his own request ‘to return to her Majesty’s presence at such times as he shall find cause,’ but this was revoked by her letter of July 30. Sir H. Wotton to E. Reynolds, April 19, MS. Hatfield.

[328] Harrington to Justice Carey in Nugæ Antiquæ, i. 247. Park gives April as the date of this letter, but this is disproved by internal evidence, and it certainly belongs to October. See also ib. pp. 260 and 340. Warren’s own account of his ‘second journey to the Earl of Tyrone,’ is dated Oct. 20. The first lines of the 45th canto of Harrington’s translation of Orlando are:—

Look how much higher Fortune doth erect
The climbing wight on her unstable wheel,
So much the higher may a man expect
To see his head where late he saw his heel, &c.

[329] Sir Christopher St. Lawrence, according to Camden, offered his services to kill both the peer and the secretary.

[330] Letters from Rowland Whyte to Sir Robert Sidney in Sidney Papers, ii. 117, 127, from Sept. 19 to Oct. 2; Essex’s Relation, written by him during his imprisonment.

[331] The letter to Essex is of Nov. 22, and with seventeen others belonging to the last three months of 1599, is printed by Mr. Gilbert in App. 16 to National Manuscripts, Ireland, part iv. 1. In a letter of Nov. 6, to the Lords Justices, Lord Lieutenant (Ormonde), and Council, the Queen approves of the slaughter by Ormonde ‘in revenge of that that brake the cessation in Wexford... do not irritate nor oppress any such as have submitted ... in respect of any private unkindness of your own.’

[332] ‘Tyrone’s Propositions, 1599’ are in Winwood’s Memorials, i. 118, immediately after Cecil’s letter of Oct. 8 to Neville, and are reprinted by Spedding and Abbott. The letter does not mention any enclosure. In Bacon and Essex, pp. 134-148, Dr. Abbott endeavours, not very successfully, I think, to show that the document is entirely unworthy of credit. It is, however, not called ‘Essex’s propositions,’ but ‘Tyrone’s,’ and I have shown that the most outrageous part of it was regarded by the Queen as a serious proposal. Essex should have broken off the conference at the mere mention of such a thing. Sidney would have done so, or Norris, or Mountjoy. The Queen’s letters to Fenton and to the Lords Justices, &c., are of Nov. 5 and 6.

[333] The Queen to the Lords Justices, &c. Nov. 6; Tyrone to Warren, Dec. 25; to the King of Spain, Dec. 31; to Lord Barry and others, Feb. 1600, in Carew. On Feb. 13, 1600, the Vicar Apostolic Hogan told Lord Barry he had ‘received an excommunication from the Pope against all those that doth not join in this Catholic action.’ James Archer, S.J., in a letter of Aug. 10, 1598, printed in Hibernia Ignatiana, p. 39, informs Aquaviva of ‘frequentes Catholicorum victorias, unde fit ut hæretici ex multis locis migrare cogantur.’ For Henry Fitzimon, S.J., the priest of whose imprisonment Tyrone complained, see his Life by Rev. E. Hogan, S.J., p. 209. ‘I never went to Tyrone,’ Warren wrote to Cecil, on Dec. 24, 1599, ‘but I was forced to bribe his Friars and Jesuits.’

[CHAPTER XLIX.]

GOVERNMENT OF MOUNTJOY, 1600.

The government is entrusted to Mountjoy.

In October 1599 the government of Ireland was offered to Mountjoy, who refused it. He may have thought that Essex would have to go back, or he may have been unwilling to leave Lady Rich. But in the following month he was nevertheless ordered to be ready within twenty days. It became evident that Essex would not be employed again; he made Mountjoy and Southampton guardians of his interests, and for his sake they both went perilously near to treason. Mountjoy undertook the thankless office with a heavy heart. He told the Queen that everyone of his predecessors had without exception been blamed, and that there was no one in Ireland whom he could trust. Very unjustly, he included even Ormonde in this sweeping censure. It was Raleigh who had insisted that he should be appointed, and the Queen listened chiefly to him about Irish affairs. ‘This employment of me is by a private man that never knew what it was to divide public and honourable ends from his own, propounded and laboured to you (without any respect to your public service) the more eagerly, by any means to rise to his long expected fortune. Wherein, by reason of the experience I have heard your Majesty holds him to have in that country, he is like to become my judge, and is already so proud of this plot that he cannot keep himself from bragging of it.’[334]

Raleigh’s advice.

The usual delays took place, and the twenty days were prolonged to eleven weeks. Raleigh’s advice, like that of everyone who really understood the problem, was for a system of garrisons. A Lord President in Munster with a considerable force, a local governor in Connaught with smaller means, a strong post at Lough Foyle, and the remaining troops under the Lord Deputy’s immediate command—these were the means by which it was hoped to reduce Ireland. A large army under Essex had failed, and his successor was expected to do everything with 12,000 foot and 1,200 horse, though everyone but the Queen thought this force too small. Lord Grey de Wilton, who was Essex’s known enemy, desired the command at Lough Foyle; but Mountjoy resented this idea as an insult, and the choice fell upon Sir Henry Docwra, who had served under Bingham in Connaught and under Essex at Cadiz. Grey consoled himself by sending a challenge to Southampton, who said he was ready to fight when time and place served, but that one so out of favour as himself could hope for no mercy if he broke the law in England. Mountjoy took leave of the Queen on the 24th of January, but was not made a Privy Councillor, that honour being reserved till his return. Those who were to accompany him also kissed hands, and Elizabeth read a little lecture to each upon his duties. A fortnight later the Lord Deputy left London with an escort of 100 horse, and wrote from Daventry to Cecil begging that he might not be kept too closely to the 13,000 men. Southampton was not allowed to go with him.[335]

Tyrone’s Holy War in Munster.

Whether Tyrone cared much or little for religion, it became an object with him to appear publicly as the champion of Rome, and as such he sought help from Spain and Austria. He then marched into Munster, and, acting in concert with Desmond and the ecclesiastics there, called upon all to take part in the holy war. He wasted a considerable part of Westmeath, and carefully ravaged Ely O’Carroll. ‘All its movable possessions,’ say the Four Masters, ‘were carried away, and nothing left but ashes instead of corn, and embers in place of mansions. Great numbers of men, women, sons, and daughters were left in a dying state.’ The reason or pretext for this severity was that O’Carroll had hired certain warriors of the Macmahons, and had killed instead of paying them when the settling day came round. At Holy Cross Abbey the relic, which had been hitherto preserved in spite of the dissolution, was brought out to do him honour. Ormonde and Delvin watched his course, but did not venture to attack him. The annalists oddly remark that on his progress by Cashel to the neighbourhood of Bandon he only injured those who were opposed to him. Among these was David Lord Barry, who had remained firmly loyal since his pardon in Lord Grey’s time. Tyrone reviled him for deserting the cause of the Church, and as the principal means of preventing the southern nobility from joining him in rebellion. ‘Her Highness,’ replied Barry, ‘hath never restrained me for matters of religion,’ and he demanded the restoration of some of his followers who had been captured, and of 4,000 kine and 3,000 horses. He defied Tyrone, and promised to have his revenge some day, with her Majesty’s assistance. He had hoped to save the island on which Queenstown now stands, but the castle commanding the bridge over the narrow strait was of no avail to protect his property. Tyrone landed his parties in boats, and not a single house was left unburned.[336]

Arrival of Mountjoy and Carew (February).

In the meantime Mountjoy had been appointed Deputy, and Carew President of Munster. They landed together at Howth on February 26, and found things in as bad a state as possible, almost the whole island being virtually under the sway of the victorious rebel. The Queen realised that the country could not be bridled without fixed garrisons, but she cautioned Mountjoy against frittering away his strength by multiplying small posts. It had long been recognised that fortifications at Lough Foyle would do more than anything to cripple the O’Neills, and 4,000 foot and 200 horse were assigned for this service to Docwra; while 3,000 foot and 250 horse were allotted, by official orders from England, to the presidency of Munster. The force left under Mountjoy’s immediate control did not, therefore, exceed 5,000 men, and he was thus prevented from repeating Essex’s mistake, that of ‘making progresses’ at a great expense without achieving any permanent results.[337]

Tyrone plays the king in Munster.

Carew was necessarily delayed in Dublin for about six weeks, and in the meantime Tyrone went where he pleased in Munster. His principal camp was at Inniscarra on the Lee, and thither came friendly messages or hostages from nearly all the neighbouring magnates, whether of English or Irish race. Among his trustiest lieutenants was his son-in-law, Hugh Maguire, who, on or about the last day of February, made a raid in the immediate neighbourhood of Cork. Sir Warham St. Leger and Sir Henry Power, the acting commissioners for Munster, went out for a ride, in no expectation of an attack so near the town. Their men were marching at ease and in loose order when they suddenly came in contact with Maguire’s party. St. Leger fired his pistol at the chief with fatal effect, but the latter had strength enough to retaliate with his half-pike; and so the two leaders fell by each other’s hands, and with few or no other casualties on either side. To Tyrone the loss was great, and probably decided him to leave the province before Carew could appear. Marching through the eastern part of Cork, and leaving Cashel on his right hand, he passed through Westmeath and reached his own country without striking a blow or ever seeing an enemy. Ormonde and Thomond came out from Limerick with a considerable force, but no battle took place, though Carew has recorded his opinion that the loyal Earls were very anxious to fight.[338]

Tyrone’s march through Ireland.

Tyrone left about 1,800 men behind him in Munster, chiefly under the command of Richard Tyrrell, and with 600, which were probably his best, he travelled so fast as to elude Mountjoy, who had made preparations for intercepting him in Westmeath. The Ulster men marched twenty-seven miles in one day, and reached Tyrone in less than a quarter of the time that it had taken them to perform the outward journey. The Queen and her viceroy did not escape ‘the great dishonour of this traitor passing home to his den unfought with.’ Ormonde and Thomond, who had been keeping Easter together at Kilkenny, then repaired to Dublin; and Mountjoy matured his plan for the re-conquest of Ireland in detail. Carew was ready before Docwra, and on April 7 he set out for his province, the two Earls having preceded him to Kilkenny.[339]

Ormonde is taken prisoner by the O’Mores (April).

The Jesuit Archer.

Carew reached Kilkenny on the third day, and his company of 100 horse were billeted in the neighbourhood by Ormonde’s directions. Each day the Earl proposed that the President should accompany him to a parley with Owen MacRory at a point between Ballyragget and Ballinakill in the Queen’s County. So little did he dream of danger on the border of his own county, that he refused Carew’s proffered escort, and set out with about forty mounted men, of whom more than one half were ‘lawyers, merchants, and others, upon hackneys,’ and with no weapons but the swords ordinarily worn. His company of 200 foot were left two miles short of the place of meeting. O’More brought a picked troop of spearmen with him, leaving in the rear 500 foot and twenty horse, ‘the best furnished for war and the best apparelled that we have seen in this kingdom,’ 300 of them being Ulster mercenaries, left by Tyrone on his return to the North. The two parties met upon a heath sloping down towards a narrow defile, and with a bushy wood on each side, ‘the choice of which ground,’ says Carew, ‘we much misliked.’ An hour’s conversation then ensued between Ormonde and O’More about such questions as would naturally arise between warlike neighbours. Carew, who noticed that the Irish kept edging further forward in the covert on each side, was for departing before mischief could happen; but Ormonde, who was quite unsuspicious, desired first to speak with Archer, who as a Kilkenny man might be open to the arguments of his natural chief. The Jesuit came forward, and after some talk the Earl called him a traitor, and upbraided him with seducing the Queen’s subjects into rebellion. Archer replied that the Pope was the Sovereign of Ireland, and that he had excommunicated Elizabeth. Ormonde then spoke of the Pope in contemptuous terms, whereupon Archer threatened him with his stick. At this signal, whether premeditated or not, the two parties became suddenly intermingled, and Melaghlin O’More pulled the Earl off his pony. Others, wrote Carew, and Thomond, ‘tried to seize us too. We had more hanging upon us than is credibly to be believed; but our horses were strong and by that means did break through them, tumbling down on all sides those that were before and behind us; and, thanks be to God, we escaped the pass of their pikes, which they freely bestowed and the flinging of their skeynes.... Owen MacRory laid hands on me the President, and, next unto God, I must thank my Lord of Thomond for my escape, who thrust his horse upon him. And at my back a rebel, newly protected at my suit, called Brian MacDonogh Kavanagh, being a-foot, did me good service. For the rest I must thank my horse, whose strength bore down all about him.’ Thomond received the stab of a pike in his back, but the wound did not prove dangerous.[340]

Mountjoy and Ormonde.

Ormonde a prisoner, (April to June).

His release (June).

Mountjoy distrusted Ormonde, more perhaps from jealousy than because there was any real pretext for doing so. ‘Taking notice,’ the Queen told her Deputy, ‘of our cousin of Ormonde’s good services, and in respect that he hath been much toiled now in his latter years, we have left unto him the choice whether he will retain the place of Lieutenant under you or not. We would have himself and all the world know that we make extraordinary estimation of him.’ He retained his post with an allowance of three pounds a day, and his almost independent position galled Mountjoy, as it had galled other Deputies before his time. Ormonde had trusted to his own vast influence, and he would certainly have been warned had the intention of seizing him been known generally among O’More’s followers. If there was any premeditated design, it was probably divulged only to a few. At first he was confined at Gortnaclea Castle, near Abbeyleix, where he was allowed to have his own cook and other comforts, but not to see anyone, except in Owen MacRory’s presence. Archer plied him hard with religious argument, and some believed that he conformed to Rome; but this is at least extremely doubtful. Tyrone was anxious to get him into his power, but O’More had no idea of giving up such a hostage, and it is probable that the Leinster men would, in any case, have refused to let him be carried out of their province. A rescue was feared, and after a month the Earl was removed from Gortnaclea, and carried from cabin to cabin in the woods. From the intolerable hardship of this life he was relieved by Sir Terence O’Dempsey, who allowed his castle of Ballybrittas, near Portarlington, to be used as a prison. It was supposed that the Ulster mercenaries, or Bonaghts, wished to carry off the Earl to Tyrone by force, and the transfer was made by the O’Mores without their knowledge. Besides this, Dermot MacGrath, papal bishop of Cork, who is called legate by the English, and who was, perhaps, vicar-apostolic, was of opinion that the capture had been treacherous, and was thus opposed to Archer. Fenton managed to get access, for his spies, to the Earl, among whom a ‘gentlewoman’ named Honora is particularly mentioned. Finding, perhaps, that his prisoner was not likely to be as useful as he first supposed, and fearing that he might lose all advantage by death, O’More gradually relaxed his demands. The first terms offered were that all garrisons should be removed out of both Leix and Offaly; that the former county should be given up to Owen MacRory; that all his nominees should have protection for six weeks; and that during that time there should be no invasion of Ulster. Afterwards there was an attempt to make Ormonde sign a paper, which would have involved him in the guilt of O’More’s rebellion, but he eluded these snares, and was released after two months’ detention. ‘It may please your sacred Majesty to be advertised,’ he wrote to the Queen, ‘that it pleased God of his goodness to deliver me, though weak and sick, from the most malicious, arrogant, and vile traitor of the world, Owen MacRory, forced to put into his hands certain hostages for payment of 3,000l. if at any time hereafter I shall seek revenge against him or his, which manner of agreement, although it be very hard, could not be obtained before he saw me in that extremity and weakness, as I was like, very shortly, to have ended my life in his hands.’ He believed that he owed his liberty to the report that Leinster would be overrun with troops, to prevent which the Irishry of the province themselves offered hostages, and were ready to quarrel with O’More should he refuse them. They were twelve in number, one being Sir Terence O’Dempsey’s son, and Ormonde’s intention was to ransom them one by one. Sir Terence had married a Butler, and whatever became of the other hostages, a ransom appears to have been paid for this one.

Mountjoy was fain to confess that ‘the Earl doth continue with as great affection as ever to her Majesty, and with much more spleen against the rebel; but the tie upon him to the contrary are the pledges he hath put in, whom no doubt the traitors will retain upon their own conditions whatsoever his were. I do not think he will deliver his daughter, although I believe he hath promised to do it... I cannot but bear a kind of reverence to so ancient a servant of her Majesty, and a compassion to the miserable fortune he was in... it shall be hard, but I will put the Earl and the fathers of the pledges in blood against the rebels, and that will soon mar all contracts between them. I have many plots upon Owen MacRory to take him, and I think it is a thing that the Earl doth very much practise, and will go very near to perform.’[341]

Tyrone and Ormonde.

Lady Ormonde was in bad health at this time, and her death in the following year was perhaps hastened by anxiety. She begged that her husband’s military allowance might still be paid, as absolutely necessary for her support. Mountjoy took proper measures for her protection, and even if he had not done so from kindness, the custody of her daughter was a matter of public importance. She was Ormonde’s only child, and there were sure to be many candidates for her wardship, and for her hand. Besides which, possible heirs male would be ready to advance their claims should anything happen to the Earl. Tyrone was supposed to desire the heiress for his son, and he took the trouble to deny the imputation, but this may not have been until he saw that O’More had no idea of surrendering his great prisoner. ‘Use him honourably,’ he wrote from Dungannon, ‘but keep him very sure until he be sent hither by the help of yourself and such as we have appointed for that purpose. Therefore be not tempted to enlarge him upon any proffer, for if you will desire ransom you shall have money and gold at my hands.’

It was not till more than a month later that he denied any wish to have the young ‘lady’ or ‘my lady mistress,’ as he calls Lady Elizabeth, ‘for by demanding her, men would say that I should have her for my son.’ It seems clear that his first object was to get Ormonde into his hands, and failing that he wished to have credit for liberality and kindness. ‘For any motion,’ said Ormonde contemptuously, ‘of marriage of my daughter to any of that base traitor Tyrone’s brood, upon my duty of allegiance to your highness, I never thought of any like matter, neither was it demanded of me.’[342]

Carew in Munster. Florence MacCarthy.

Barbarous warfare.

As soon as Mountjoy had provided for the safety of Kilkenny, Carew started for his own province, where St. Leger’s death had left Sir Henry Power in temporary charge of a very troubled community. The rebels in the county of Waterford came in to the Lord President at once, and it was thought wiser not to ask questions. In Cork, Florence MacCarthy was trying to play the impossible part of a neutral, while Dermot O’Connor, at the head of a strong body of mercenaries, was really the most powerful person in the province. Essex had been authorised to give Florence a patent of inheritance to his father-in-law, with discretionary power so to limit it as might seem best for the public safety, but his sudden departure prevented this being done. St. Leger and Power wished the patent to issue, and thought the best way of restraining Donell’s violence would be to acknowledge Florence as MacCarthy More. To show his power, or to annoy a personal enemy, Florence soon afterwards ravaged Lord Barry’s barony of Ibane with ‘700 of the traitors’ bonies, otherwise called here among us cabbage-soldiers.’ Yet he continued constantly to protest his loyalty, while maintaining that he dared not declare openly for the Queen, lest Dermot should forsake him and secure the triumph of that ‘bastardly rascal Donell MacCarthy,’ whom Tyrone had acknowledged as MacCarthy More. O’Connor was not originally a person of much importance, but he had married Lady Margaret Fitzgerald, the late Earl of Desmond’s daughter, and, being a valiant man, found himself at the head of 1,400 Connaught free companions. Tyrone had given him the chief command in Munster, and the loose swordsmen flocked to his standard. He was, however, ‘a mere mercenary serving in Munster only for pay,’ and probably quite ready to sell himself to the highest bidder. Lady Margaret could speak English, and it was thought that she would do anything to procure her brother’s restoration to the earldom of Desmond. According to Florence’s account it was the fear of Dermot, and the necessity of doing something to make his own people believe in him, that induced him to appear in arms on the rebel side; and provocation was not wanting which might justify such action on his part. Sir Henry Power sent 1,000 men into Carbery, under Captain Flower, with general orders to spoil all who failed to give securities for their good behaviour. It does not appear that any time or much notice was given, but Flower carried out the work of destruction thoroughly. From Kinsale to Glandore harbour, and from that to Dunmanus Bay, not a grain of corn was left unburned within ten miles of his line of march, 500 cows were drowned to save the trouble of driving them, and ‘the churls and poor people’ were treated as enemies and killed. On his return Flower was threatened by Florence with a superior force, but reached Kinsale without any serious encounter. Near Ballinhassig, between that town and Cork, the troops were near falling into an ambuscade, and even for a time put to flight. In the end they made good their retreat, but the victory was not much to boast of. When Carew heard of the affair, he regretted deeply what had been done. He could not reckon on much above 1,700 effective men in the field, too few to fight the Sugane Earl and the MacCarthies at once, and it was better to have Florence as a faithless, but on the whole peaceable neutral, than as an open enemy.[343]

Sir Henry Docwra occupies Derry (May).

While Carew was preparing to re-conquer the South by a mixture of force and fraud, a successful lodgment was made in the extreme north. On May 6, Sir Henry Docwra sailed from Carrickfergus with 4,000 foot and 200 horse. Boards and spars for building, master carpenters and master masons, and a great quantity of tools and victuals were provided. The mortality among Randolph’s men was not forgotten, and there were 100 flock-beds for a hospital. Three pieces of cannon were thought sufficient in view of an Irish siege. On the seventh day the ships grounded at the entrance of Lough Foyle, waited for the tide, advanced a little, and then grounded again. At last, on May 16, the work of unloading began at Culmore. One hundred men fired a volley from the shore, and horse were also visible; but they did not venture to dispute the landing, and in six days an entrenchment capable of sheltering 200 men was thrown up about some ruined walls. O’Dogherty had dismantled his castle of Ellogh in the immediate neighbourhood; but it was easily repaired, and received a garrison of 150 men. Having thus made good his ground, Docwra marched with his main body to Derry on the 22nd, and this is how he describes its then condition:—‘A place in manner of an island comprehending within it forty acres of ground, whereon were the ruins of an old abbey, of a bishop’s house, of two churches, and at one of the ends of it an old castle, the river called Lough Foyle encompassing it all on one side, and a bog, most commonly wet and not easily passable except in two or three places, dividing it from the mainland... the ground being high, and therefore dry, and healthy to dwell upon. At that end where the old castle stood, being close to the water side, I presently resolved to raise a fort to keep our store of ammunition and victuals in, and in the other a little above, where the walls of an old cathedral church were yet standing, to erect another for our future safety and retreat unto upon all occasions.’ Wisely refusing to be tempted into pursuit of cunning enemies on their own ground, Docwra devoted his whole strength to the task of making the place habitable for the winter. Two ships were sent to coast along for timber and building materials, and a strong party was sent to cut birch in O’Cahan’s woods on the other side of the Foyle. ‘There was,’ he said, ‘not a stick brought home that was not well fought for.’ The ruins of old Derry and of Randolph’s settlement were utilised, stone and slate were found hard by, and ‘of cockle shells to make a lime we discovered infinite plenty of in a little island in the mouth of the harbour as we came in.’[344]

Docwra fortifies Derry (May to June).

To prevent Tyrone’s whole force from being directed against Docwra before he was in a position to stand a siege, Mountjoy himself moved northwards at the same time. He advanced as far as Newry, and Tyrone immediately faced him and turned his back to Lough Foyle. Southampton followed the Deputy with a small force, and the Irish attempted to cut him off in the Moyry pass. There was some sharp fighting, but the Earl, who behaved valiantly, charging more than 200 horse with only six followers, made good his junction with the main army, and Mountjoy, having waited at Newry till he heard that Docwra was safe, turned back to Dublin. Tyrone and O’Donnell, with about 5,000 men, then threatened the new settlement at Derry, but the garrison stood strictly on the defensive and nothing was done. Docwra thought it prudent to abandon the project of detaching 1,000 men to Ballyshannon, and losses by sickness soon showed the wisdom of his decision. Sir Arthur O’Neill, son of old Tirlogh Luineach, came to the fort with a few followers, and the garrison found abundant occupation in hunting cows for their own consumption, and in skirmishing with the O’Cahans and O’Dogherties.[345]

Carew in Munster. Florence MacCarthy.

Carew’s great idea was to divide his enemies by policy before he proceeded to crush them by force. His first object was to disarm the active hostility of Florence MacCarthy, and to that end he sought an interview with him. ‘So fearful a creature,’ he said, ‘I did never see, mistrusting to be killed by every man he saw,’ but both Lord Thomond and Sir Nicholas Walshe swore solemnly that he should return safely. The practical result of the conference was that Florence promised the President to remain neutral, while the Sugane Earl reminded him that he would be more than 1,700 strong, and that he would take no excuse. Another means of weakening the rebels was to make them distrust each other, and to this end Carew encouraged a protected rebel, named John Nugent, who had been in the service of Sir Thomas Norris and had deserted, to kill John Fitzthomas, the Sugane Earl’s brother. The attempt failed, and Nugent was promptly hanged; but it was known that the would-be assassin had obtained money, a horse and arms from the President, and the feeling of insecurity among the Irish became as great as if the murder had actually taken place.[346]

Carew employs Dermot O’Connor,

who arrests Desmond (June).

Another plot was directed against the Sugane Earl himself, and it came very near succeeding. Dermot O’Connor and his wife proved quite ready to do the President’s work, and Lady Margaret’s unwillingness to acknowledge any Desmond but her brother was an excuse which would have some weight with the people of Munster. The jealousy between Dermot’s mercenaries and the followers of James Fitzthomas was already excessive. At all events Dermot agreed to deliver up the Sugane Earl for 1,000l. Archbishop MacGrath had been active in the matter, and his two sons became securities for Carew, along with two of Lady Margaret’s foster-brothers, named Power. To give up these hostages openly would have disclosed the plot, and it was arranged that they should fall as it were accidentally into Dermot’s hands. They very nearly fell victims to the violence of his men, who were not in the secret. To give Dermot the desired opportunity of seizing his ally, the President ostentatiously dispersed his force, by way of putting him off his guard. As a further protection Carew wrote a letter to the Sugane Earl, which made it appear that he had undertaken to deliver O’Connor alive or dead; and it was calculated that this would be sufficient defence for the latter when the treachery should have taken effect. The letter was placed in Dermot’s hands in such a way that he could say he had intercepted it. All precautions having been taken, O’Connor asked for an interview with the man whom he intended to betray. They distrusted one another, and each brought an armed force with him. The ill-feeling already existing between the followers of Tyrone and Desmond soon found a vent, and, to avoid further disunion, the two leaders agreed to dismiss their men. Dermot had a few trusty adherents in ambush, and with their help he arrested the Sugane Earl in O’Neill’s name, producing Carew’s letter as sufficient warrant. The prisoner was secured at Castle Ishin, near Charleville, and word was sent to the President to come to Kilmallock, where Lady Margaret was to meet him and receive the promised thousand pounds.[347]

O’Donnell harries Clare

In the meantime Hugh Roe O’Donnell had resolved to follow up Tyrone’s plan of persecuting all native lords who refused to join the confederacy. Lord Barry had already suffered, and the Earls of Clanricarde and Thomond were now to have their turn. It was seen that Docwra was not strong enough to take the offensive, and Tyrone, therefore, required no help as against him. Leaving a corps of observation under O’Dogherty and Nial Garv O’Donnell, Hugh Roe mustered all his forces at Ballymote. The chiefs who came to him were O’Rourke, O’Connor Sligo, O’Connor Roe, MacDermot, and Theobald Burke, calling himself MacWilliam Iochtar. The allies marched without fighting to the neighbourhood of Gort, and then suddenly burst into Clare. A camp was pitched near Ennis, where only the monastery was spared, and plundering parties were sent in all directions west of the Fergus. ‘Many a feast,’ say the annalists, ‘fit for a goodly gentleman, or for the lord of a territory, was enjoyed throughout Thomond this night by parties of four or five men, under the shelter of a shrubbery or at the side of a bush.’

and Clanricarde.

Retreating slowly to Corcomroe Abbey, and scouring the country right and left, the invaders burned every house; and we are particularly told that the smoke enveloped the whole line of march, and that it was dense enough to make them lose their way. The rocky passes of Burren were passed without opposition, and the victorious raiders encamped near Oranmore, where they divided their immense booty of cattle. A few had been killed and wounded in the foray, especially in the attack on Clare Castle, and the survivors were sent home in charge of Theobald Burke and of those who guarded the cattle. O’Donnell himself, with 500 foot and 60 horse, went to Loughrea, and drove off all the herds they could find to Ballymote. The English account says that Thomond punished his enemies with the help of Captain Flower and of over 800 English soldiers, and that he recovered a great part of his cattle; but of this the annalists—ever favourable to O’Donnell—make no mention. In Clanricarde there seems to have been no opposition at all.[348]

The Sugane Earl rescued.

O’Donnell’s enterprise restored the spirits of the Irish, and perhaps prevented Carew from seizing his prey promptly. Piers Lacy collected 4,000 men and suddenly surrounded Castle Ishin. Carew had vainly awaited Lady Margaret for a week at Kilmallock, and he now, in spite of Flower’s absence, advanced to the rescue. But it was too late. A priest had persuaded the garrison, and the Sugane Earl was already in Lacy’s hands. Dermot O’Connor excused himself, and no doubt this failure was not his fault; but the chance of 1,000l. was lost, and he soon made friends with the rebels once more. The Munster Irish still very naturally mistrusting him, he withdrew into Connaught, and on his brother-in-law’s restoration to the honours of Desmond again offered his services to Carew. A safe-conduct was accordingly sent to him, but he was waylaid near Gort by Tibbot-ne-Long Burke, with 100 men in the Queen’s pay, taken prisoner, and put to death. Private revenge was Burke’s motive, but Clanricarde and the President were ‘exceedingly incensed’ at a murder which threw doubts upon the good faith of both.[349]

Mountjoy’s share in the Essex conspiracy.

Elizabeth’s dislike to name a successor was well known, and should have been respected by one who owed so much to her as Essex did. That there was, in fact, no dispute about the matter was due to Cecil’s admirable management, but the Earl’s uneasy ambition was not likely to lose the chance of establishing a claim on the coming man. He entered into negotiations with James in 1598, representing that Cecil favoured the claims of the Infanta and was plotting to make them good. James had little to fear from any rival; but it was in his nature to be busy, and he intrigued with Tyrone as well as with Essex. In August 1599, immediately before his journey to the north, the latter thought seriously of taking 2,000 or 3,000 men over to Wales, and broached the design privately to Southampton and Blount, who both earnestly dissuaded him. It was about that time that Mountjoy also opened communications with James, and with him the influence of Lady Rich may have counted for much. His first proposals to the Scottish king are not known, but we may judge of their nature by what happened afterwards. When Essex after his return from Ireland, was committed to the Lord-Keeper’s house, and in daily fear of being sent to the Tower, he called upon Mountjoy and Southampton to look after his interests. They were willing to help him to escape, but he declared himself ready ‘rather to run any danger than to lead the life of a fugitive.’ When it was finally decided that Mountjoy should undertake the government of Ireland, Essex pressed him to take some more decided course. ‘He then swore,’ says one who was present, ‘exacting the like oaths from my Lord of Southampton and myself, to defend with the uttermost of our lives her Majesty’s person and government during her life against all persons whatsoever, and it was resolved to send Henry Lee again into Scotland, with offer that if the King would enter into the cause at that time, Lord Mountjoy would leave the kingdom of Ireland defensibly guarded, and with 4,000 or 5,000 men assist that enterprise, which, with the party that my Lord of Essex would be able to make, were thought sufficient to bring that to pass which was intended.’ It seems that James was not expected to do more than show himself on the border, while his ambassador in London pressed for a public acknowledgment of his right to the succession. Lee was still in Scotland when Mountjoy went to Ireland, and he was arrested as soon as he returned. What Essex intended, or whether he had any definite plan at all, may be doubted; but Mountjoy made it clear that he at least was playing only ‘for the establishment of the succession, and not for private ambition.’[350]

James VI., Essex, and Mountjoy.

Mountjoy told Southampton that he had foreseen Essex’s ruin before his return from Ireland, and that he had opened the correspondence with James as a possible means of saving him. The king was advised not to leave the whole realm in the hands of his enemies, and it was hoped that a diversion might thus be made. In his second letter, if not in his first, Mountjoy proposed that James ‘should prepare an army, declare his intent, and that he would be ready to assist him with the army in Ireland, whither he was going,’ but insisting on his former stipulation that nothing should be done against Queen Elizabeth. This might, perhaps, mean no more than that, if the succession were declared in England, he would see the same done in Ireland. Southampton made similar offers, but also reserved his allegiance to the Queen. James gave an evasive answer, declaring that he would bear the matter in mind, but that the establishment of a garrison at Lough Foyle was a condition precedent to any action on his part. Mountjoy did not afterwards deny that he had entertained the idea of bringing troops over to Wales, but only in consideration of the heir to the throne being engaged in the business. James’s caution did not suit the impatient Essex, who approved of a suggestion by Danvers, ‘that the army of Ireland would suffice alone.’ He sent Southampton over to sound Mountjoy, ‘which,’ says the envoy, ‘I did, and he utterly rejected it as a thing which he could no way think honest, and dissuaded me from any such courses.’ Lady Rich was on the other side of the Channel, and loyalty now resumed its sway. Willing, as he says, to redeem his fault of intention, the Earl remained as a volunteer in Ireland, and Mountjoy vainly tried to have him made Governor of Connaught. This was in June, and in the following month Southampton went to Holland. The probability is that Cecil had a shrewd suspicion of the truth. But Essex determined to make another attempt. Early in August Danvers and Cuffe met at the Cross Inn at Oxford, and the latter brought a direct message from Essex. ‘My Lord requested,’ says Danvers, ‘that notwithstanding my Lord of Southampton’s departure, I would proceed in my journey, and communicate the projects with my Lord Mountjoy, and procure his letter.’ He took the precaution of sending a special messenger to London, who returned with reiterated instructions from Essex, and thereupon he started for Ireland. He was met with a positive refusal from Mountjoy, who spoke even more decidedly than he had done to Southampton. ‘He desired my lord to have patience, to recover again by ordinary means the Queen’s ordinary favour; that though he had it not in such measure as he had had heretofore, he should content himself; that at his coming home he would do for him like a friend; that he hoped my lord would do nothing but that which should be justifiable in honour and honesty. In that confidence, if he sent for a letter, he would send him such a one as he might justify.’ Very good advice, but not such as Essex was capable of following for long. The spoiled child would have all or nothing.[351]

The Pale: Mountjoy’s plan.

The defeat at the Blackwater and the complete failure of Essex had reduced the army to a miserable state. Under Mountjoy the soldiers gradually gained confidence, and no doubt he was well advised in not hurrying matters. After the skirmish in the Moyry pass he lay for some days at Newry, and in the meantime a certain amount of damage was done in the Pale. The causeway through the pass was partly broken up by the Irish, and he thought it prudent to return by Carlingford to Dundalk. ‘At this time,’ says Moryson, who, as Mountjoy’s secretary, was an eye-witness of what he describes, ‘the county of Dublin on the south of the Liffey was, in effect, entirely overrun by the rebels; the county of Kildare was likewise possessed or wasted by them. The county of Meath was wasted, as also the county of Westmeath (excepting the barony of Delvin) and the county of Louth; so that in the English Pale, the towns having garrisons, and the lands from Drogheda to Navan, and thence back to Trim, and so to Dublin, were only inhabited, which were also like to grow waste, if they were further charged with the soldiers.’ The English writer excepts Delvin, but the annalists say it was invaded by Tyrone six months before, who wasted it until the Baron ‘submitted to O’Neill on his terms.’ Maryborough and Philipstown were cut off from Dublin, and Mountjoy’s first care was to restore perfect communications. His plan was to strengthen and victual the garrisons so as to secure them against attack, while harrying the country so thoroughly as to make it impossible for the Irish to keep the field.[352]

Mountjoy in King’s County (July).

The remnant of the O’Connors were still troublesome in Offaly, and they had the help of Captain Tyrrell, a renowned partisan who was much in Tyrone’s confidence. Mountjoy, to quote his own words, went ‘into the country on foot over a bog, and went out of it in like sort.’ But he was not always on foot, for he records that grey Davies, his easiest-going horse, was shot under him. With little loss he drove the Irish up and down the country, and the O’Connors never made much head against him. During the three or four years of Tyrone’s supremacy they had destroyed most of the King’s County castles, and Mountjoy’s care now was to destroy the crops, so that they could not reoccupy the ground. Not only did he reap the green corn, but used harrows and grubbers with long teeth, called pracas, to root it up.[353]

Mountjoy in Queen’s County. Death of Owen MacRory (August).

A fortified post was established at the Togher, between Monasterevan and Maryborough, thus securing access to Philipstown at all times; and here again Southampton did good service by his gallantry and by his example to the soldiers. Sir Samuel Bagenal was able to take the offensive in the neighbourhood of Newry, and Sir Richard Moryson about Dundalk. O’Donnell wasted much of his strength in useless forays, and Docwra was beginning to make himself felt in Tyrone’s rear. In the middle of August Mountjoy started from Carlow with 800 foot and 100 horse, and entered the Queen’s County, burning the villages and destroying the standing corn. Owen MacRory remonstrated, in a letter to Ormonde, against this ‘execrable and abominable course,’ and also wrote to ask Mountjoy for a conference with some gentleman sent by him. The Lord Deputy handed the letter to an Irish fool named Neale Moore, who answered that no one in the camp was base enough to confer with him, but that if Owen would submit to him on his knees, he, the said Neale, would undertake that his submission should be accepted or that he should return safe. Next day O’More was killed in a skirmish near Timahoe, and with him Callogh MacWalter, the man who first laid hands on Ormonde at his late capture. The Earl was now in the field with a large force, and Mountjoy’s plan of embroiling him with the O’Mores had taken full effect. After Owen’s death the sept never made head again, and the English settlers gradually returned to their houses. There was much hard fighting both going and returning, but everywhere the Lord Deputy was victorious. From Carlow almost to the foot of Slieve Bloom the cattle were driven off and the crops destroyed. But on returning, the pass of Cashel was found to be occupied by more than 2,000 men. Donell Spaniagh, seeing how the event was likely to turn out, begged for protection to go to Dublin, which was granted, since it was impossible to take him; and then, like Rob Roy at Sheriffmuir, he drew his men off to a hill whence they could see the fight. Keeping on the high ground, the troops passed safely to Stradbally and thence to Naas. But Sir Arthur Savage, the new governor of Connaught, was unable to effect a junction. The great point gained was that the soldiers began to think themselves invincible, and that they had confidence in their general.[354]

Mountjoy presses Tyrone back (September to October).

After a short rest in Dublin, Mountjoy established a camp at Faughard near Dundalk. The array was supposed to be over 4,000 strong, but was in reality under 3,000, and the weather caused much sickness. ‘Our tents,’ said the Lord Deputy, ‘are often blown down, and at this instant it doth rain into mine, so that I can scant write.’ Great floods prevented any forward movement, but there were constant skirmishes. Tyrone had an entrenched camp in the Moyry pass, which was twice captured, though no attempt was made to hold it; and finding that Mountjoy’s progress could not be stopped, Tyrone left the passage open to Newry. The earthworks in the pass were levelled, and the woods on both sides cut down. The facts are clear enough; but the Irish annalists give a totally misleading account of these movements, and of those that followed them.[355]

Mountjoy bridles Tyrone (November).

After waiting ten days at Newry for provisions, Mountjoy marched out towards Armagh. Rather less than half-way he built a fort in a strong position, and named it Mount-Norris, after Sir John, his master in the art of war. Tyrone was near, and did what he could to hinder the work; but he was defeated with loss, and the fort finished, victualled, and garrisoned with 400 men in one week. Finding it impossible to keep his horses alive in a country where the grass had been eaten down by cattle, the Lord Deputy did not attempt Armagh, but proclaimed a reward of 2,000l. for Tyrone alive and 1,000l. for him dead, and then returned to Carlingford, where there was a good store of provisions. At Narrow-water a vessel brought cheese and biscuit for the soldiers, who had been fasting for two days, and having eaten it ‘never men went on in a greater jollity.’ The narrow pass between Carlingford mountain and the sea was disputed by Tyrone. The ground was thickly wooded, and the Irish had erected a strong barricade and dug several trenches. Mountjoy’s principal secretary was killed by his side, and the place fell to Moryson, the historian, but the troops made steady progress. Tyrone narrowly escaped a shot, and his men gradually yielded to the disciplined valour of soldiers who fought under the eye of a captain in whom they believed. Fynes Moryson, who was staying that day with his brother, the governor of Dundalk, could hear the volleys seven miles distant ‘sensibly by reverberation of the garden wall;’ and says ‘the Irish lost 800 men, while the English had 200 killed and 400 not seriously wounded, and that Tyrone’s reputation (who did all things by reputation) was clean overthrown, so that from all places they began to seek pardons and protections.’ Strength, or the appearance of strength, has always ruled in Ireland.[356]

Docwra extends his power in Ulster.

While Mountjoy slowly but surely reduced the Pale and the district bordering on it, Sir Henry Docwra held his own at Derry. Sir Arthur O’Neill, old Tirlogh Luineach’s eldest son, joined him, and did good service both as adviser and ally, but he brought no great force into the field. Tyrone derided him as ‘Queen Elizabeth’s earl that cannot command 100 kerne,’ and she felt the sarcasm keenly, having really contemplated the transfer of the arch-rebel’s honours to his kinsman. Sir Arthur advised a raid into O’Cahan’s country, and 700 men were sent by night along the Donegal shore of Lough Foyle. At Greencastle they took boat, and crossing silently came upon all the cattle collected in fancied security, for attack from that side had not been dreamed of. One hundred live cows and some carcases were secured, ‘but for want of means to bring all away the soldiers hacked and mangled as many as they could.’ The process of exhausting the country was deliberately undertaken. Sir John Chamberlain, who was the leader of this expedition, was killed a few days later in repelling an attack upon Aileach castle by the O’Dogherties, his body being pierced by no less than sixteen wounds. Four days after this fight, in which Docwra himself had a horse shot under him, a strong outpost was fortified at Dunalong on the eastern bank of the Foyle. In this case also the approach was made by water, and Tyrone, who was encamped not far off, found the entrenchments unassailable after a single day’s work upon them. Within their lines everywhere the English were safe, but not a mile outside.[357]

Fighting about Lough Foyle.

Among the Irishmen who had been recommended to Docwra by the Government was Maelmory MacSwiney, who had been chief of O’Donnell’s gallowglasses, and connected with him by close ties; but who was now in receipt of a life pension of six shillings a day and in command of 100 English soldiers. This man opened communications with O’Donnell, and drove out a large number of horses on purpose that they might be seized. This was done before daylight, and near 200 were swept off into the heart of Tyrconnell. The alarm being given, Docwra leaped from his bed and pursued with a score of horsemen, leaving the rest to follow as soon as they were ready. He was wounded in the head and his men had enough to do to carry him off, leaving the prey with the O’Donnells. Docwra was confined to his bed for a fortnight, and on his recovery found that not more than twenty per cent. of his men were able to pass muster. It was clearly proved that MacSwiney was the cause of the late disaster, and he was sent by sea to Dublin; but the hatchway being left open for the reception of the beer barrels, he sprang on deck, threw himself into the Foyle, and reached O’Cahan’s country, the people on board being too much amazed to stop him. Instigated perhaps by this keen spirit, Rory O’Cahan, the chief’s brother, brought a present of sixty fat beasts, which were much wanted, and afterwards put the soldiers in the way of taking as many more. Having thus made himself agreeable, Rory asked for 800 men to do a more important piece of service. Sir Arthur O’Neill warned Docwra not to trust him, and it turned out that his object was to lead the soldiers into an ambuscade prepared by Tyrone himself. Having secured his own safety, Rory then offered to ransom his hostages for a certain quantity of cattle, threatening that he would never spare an Englishman if they came to any harm. Docwra’s answer was to erect a gibbet on the rampart, and to hang the poor wretches before the face of their principal, who stood with 300 men on the other side of the Foyle.[358]

Sufferings of Derry garrison (September to October).

They are relieved.

As the autumn days closed in, the garrison of Derry were in a miserable state, ‘men wasted with continual labours, the island scattered with cabins full of sick, our biscuit all spent, our other provisions of nothing but meal, butter, and a little wine, and that, by computation, to hold out but six days longer.’ The temptation to desert was great, and both Tyrone and O’Donnell offered free passage through their territories. Not only was the garrison diminished, but the loss of horses and the miserable condition of those left made it impossible to patrol at any distance from the walls. On the night of September 16, O’Donnell crept up unseen to the very edge of the bog which bounded Derry on the land side, and then, for some inexplicable reason, his men fired a volley. The garrison sallied out, and put them to flight. It was probably a last effort to frighten Docwra into a parley, for he was relieved the very next day. A plentiful supply of provisions, 50 fresh horse and 600 foot were introduced from the sea, as well as two timber frames upon which water-tight storehouses might easily be erected. And it was announced to the men that they were to receive 4d. a day extra when they worked upon the fortifications. The Irish had lost their opportunity, and it never returned.[359]

Neill Garv O’Donnell.

Docwra wins Lifford (October).

A more important recruit than either MacSwiney or Sir Arthur O’Neill was Neill Garv O’Donnell, grandson of Calvagh and husband of Hugh Roe’s sister Nuala, who separated from him in consequence of his defection. He brought 100 men with him, and was promised a grant of Tyrconnell as soon as his brother-in-law had been expelled. The O’Donnells had never been a united family, and Neill Garv probably thought his claim at least as good as that of the actual chief. His three brothers took part with him, the immediate consequence being that the English had plenty of fresh meat and that they were much less closely beleaguered than before. The first actual service required of Neill Garv was to take the ancestral seat at Lifford, and for this purpose over 300 men were sent under his guidance. The castle had been razed, but a weak earthwork defended the small town, and Hugh Roe had left some thirty men in charge. They fled without resistance, after setting fire to the place, and the English proceeded to entrench themselves strongly, finding welcome shelter in about twenty houses, which were all that the late garrison had left unburned. Twice within a fortnight O’Donnell vainly exerted all his force to recover the place, though his presence enabled the country people to get in their crops and to carry away the produce safely. On the second occasion there was a sharp skirmish, in which Captain Heath was killed, and Neill Garv had a horse shot under him, but Lifford was not retaken. Four days later Sir Arthur O’Neill died of a fever brought on by ‘drinking too many carouses on his marriage-day,’ and his brother Cormac claimed to succeed him. But Tirlogh, his son by a former wife, was accepted by Docwra, and did such service as his youth permitted.[360]

Spaniards in the North (November).

About the beginning of November, two Spanish ships put into Broadhaven, with money, arms, and ammunition for the Irish. O’Donnell sent the foreigners word that Killybegs would be a better place for them, and also announced their arrival to Tyrone. Eventually the Spaniards put into the little harbour of Teelin, whence the cargo was carried to Donegal, and divided between the two chiefs. A descent of this kind had been talked of for months, but Cecil had given little credence to these rumours, and when the long-expected aid actually came, it was not enough to affect the result, or to imperil Docwra’s position in any way.[361]

Docwra annoys Tyrone.

The O’Dogherties.

Neill Garv and his brothers Hugh, Donnell, and Con made several raids from Lifford into Tyrone, and took Newtown, now Newtown Stewart, from the O’Neills. O’Donnell’s great object was to get possession of his formidable kinsman, and he employed two of the MacDevitts, a sept of O’Dogherties, named Hugh Boy and Phelim Reagh. Captain Alford, the governor of Culmore, pretended friendship with these men, and engaged to give up the fort to them, with Neill Garv inside. Alford’s object was to draw them into an ambuscade, and he pretended to make conditions. 1,000l. down and 3,000l. a year pension from Spain were promised him, and a chain of gold formerly given by Philip II. to O’Donnell, and worth 160l., was actually given in earnest. A day was appointed for the treason, but the Irish broke their tryst. In a short time Hugh Boy and Phelim Reagh were Docwra’s firm friends. Cahir O’Dogherty, the chief’s son, had been fostered by them, and was now in O’Donnell’s hands, who had announced that he should succeed his father. But when Sir John died, he favoured Cahir’s uncle, and the foster-parents were very angry. On condition that their nursling should be established, they offered to keep Innishowen at Docwra’s service. O’Donnell was induced to free the young man, and immediately all the O’Dogherties, with their cattle, left him, and returned to their own district. Supplies were thus secured to the English garrison, as well as good intelligence, and Docwra confesses that without their aid the progress made would have been comparatively small. Thus it ever was in Ireland: the natives fought among themselves, and so lost all. ‘They had their own ends in it,’ said Docwra, ‘which were always for private revenge; and we ours, to make use of them for the furtherance of the public service.’[362]

Carew subdues Munster (July to August).

Glin Castle.

Murder of a loyalist.

Shortly before midsummer the White Knight made his submission, and was soon to do signal service. The castles of Bruff and Lough Gur were taken and garrisoned, the mere preparations for a scientific cannonade being enough to cause their evacuation, and the triangle made by Limerick, Cashel, and Kilmallock was freed from the rebels. The county of Waterford was almost cleared, and Connello and Aherlow alone harboured any considerable number. Cahir was voluntarily surrendered, and the ordnance left there by Essex was sent to Clonmel. Glin in Limerick and Carrigafoyle in Kerry still held out, and the first was besieged by Carew on July 7. Sending his guns by water, he passed on his way through the heart of Connello, and Piers Lacy abandoned Croom Castle at his approach, having already ruined the other Kildare house at Adare. The Sugane Earl marched near the President, and encamped only a mile off at Glin, but never ventured to make any attack. The ordnance, ‘one demi-cannon and a saker,’ were landed and placed in position. The Knight, who believed in Desmond’s boasts, expected to be relieved, and would not surrender at discretion, although his son was in Carew’s power, and in some danger of being hanged. The first day’s firing made a breach, and a lodgment was effected in the basement under the hall. Three out of the four towers were thus made untenable, and the fourth, into which all the garrison had retired, was attacked in the same way, and a fire lit in it, which burned many. Next day the tower was assaulted, and those who survived of the eighty defenders were cut in pieces or thrown over the walls. Captain Flower, who led the stormers, was wounded in four places, and there was a loss to the besiegers of eleven killed and twenty-one wounded. The moral effect of this siege was great. Desmond seems to have believed that the carriages of the cannon were unserviceable, but Carew had discovered and remedied their defects some weeks before. O’Connor Kerry, who despaired of defending Carrigafoyle, voluntarily surrendered it, and was received to protection. The small castle of Liscahan near Ardfert was taken by surprise, and entrusted to Maurice Stack, a native of Kerry, ‘and a man of small stature but invincible courage,’ who with fifty men successfully defended it against Desmond’s attacks and Florence MacCarthy’s plots. Stack was afterwards murdered in cold blood by Lady Honora Fitzmaurice’s men, and Thomond never spoke to his sister afterwards. Sir Edward Denny’s house at Tralee, and Sir William Herbert’s at Castle Island, were found in ruins, no attempt being made to defend these old Desmond strongholds. Lixnaw the Fitzmaurices had not time to raze, and at the end of August Carew was able to give a good account of Munster generally. ‘All our garrisons,’ he wrote, ‘in Kerry, Askeaton, Kilmallock, Youghal, and Lismore, I thank God do prosper and are now at their harvest, which must be well followed, or else this summer service is lost. Wherein I will be careful to lose no time, for the destruction of it will procure the next year’s famine; by which means only the wars of Ireland must be determined... no day passeth without report of burning, killing, and taking prey ... infinite numbers of their cattle are taken, and besides husbandmen, women, and children, of weaponed men there hath been slain in this province, since my coming, above 1,200, and of her Majesty’s army not forty slain by the enemy.’[363]

Final defeat of the Sugane Earl (September).

Tyrone was himself so much pressed by Mountjoy that he was less able to send help to his Earl of Desmond, who was driven by Wilmot first into Connello and then into the great fastness of Aherlow. A gallant officer, Captain Richard Greame, lay at Kilmallock with his troop of horse, and attacked Desmond’s greatly superior force on the march. The Irish were surprised, and completely routed, with the loss of 200 men. The 400 who remained unwounded dispersed into Connaught or Ulster, and the Sugane Earl never recovered the blow. 300 horseloads of plunder, besides the usual prey of cattle, fell into Greame’s hands; but Cecil remarked that the prize was hardly so marketable as that which came in Spanish carracks, and directed that 100l. should be given him. Carew asked that he should be knighted, and Mountjoy willingly complied, though he hesitated for some time in view of the very strict orders which he had, not to make chivalry too cheap.[364]

The Queen’s Earl of Desmond.

As the fortunes of one Desmond fell, those of another brightened for a moment. James, the son of the rebel Earl who fell at Glanageenty, was born in 1571, and had been in the Tower since 1584, much of his time before that having been spent in Irish prisons. The quantity of medicine administered to him was enough to ruin any constitution, and in fact he possessed little vigour either of mind or body, though the Desmond pride sometimes showed itself; and of course he knew nothing of the rough world, or of the rough ways by which his ancestors had raised themselves to almost regal power. But his letters show that his education had not been neglected, though no mere instruction could make up for the want of practical training. It occurred to Carew, who saw the difficulty of purely forcible conquest, that the affection still felt for his house might be utilised in Munster, and Raleigh strongly supported this view. Cecil had not much faith in the plan, but he submitted to the judgment of those who knew Ireland, and joined them in urging the young man’s restoration upon the Queen. Elizabeth yielded, but slowly and with many misgivings. Failure would make her ridiculous, and too great success on the legitimate Earl’s part might make him harder to pull down than the pretender had been. He was allowed to assume the title, and here is his letter of thanks to Cecil:—

‘Right honourable, I have received by Sir Geoffrey Fenton your honour’s directions how I should subscribe unto my letters, which I protest unto your honour is much troublesome unto me, in regard that I had no further assurance than by his word of mouth. I am so jealous and fearful of her highness’s grace and displeasure that I beseech your honour to bear with my overpressing you with my many importunities. I must hold myself as your honour’s poor creature, in which ever I will acknowledge your favours in that height of regard as to your direction I will ever tie myself. And so I rest your honour’s in very affectionate assurance,

J. Desmond.’[365]

The Queen is persuaded to send Desmond over.

His reception in Munster.

Cecil’s idea was to send Desmond’s patent to Carew, ‘to be shewed to that generation of incredulity’ the people of Munster, and not to be delivered to the Earl unless his services made it worth while. But when the document was brought to the Queen she refused to sign it, and Desmond left London before it was done. Two days later she relented, and Archbishop Miler Magrath, who overtook him on the road, carried it to Carew in Ireland. ‘God doth know it,’ said Cecil, ‘the Queen hath been most hardly drawn unto it that could be, and hath laid it on my dish a dozen times: “Well, I pray God you and Carew be not deceived.”’ Captain Price, a plain soldier who had no object but to do his duty and return, was sent in charge of the young Earl. It seems that some wished to send Raleigh, but Cecil objected upon Carew’s account. The party sailed from Bristol, and reached Youghal after being two days and a night at sea. ‘I was so sea-sick,’ Desmond wrote, ‘as whilst I live I shall never love that element.... I had like, coming new of the sea, and therefore somewhat weak, to be overthrown with the kisses of old calleaks; and was received with that joy of the poor people as did well shew they joyed in the exceeding mercy of her sacred Majesty towards me.’ Weak and sickly, and never likely to take to Irish life, was what Cecil had pronounced him to be, and the kisses of the old wives at Youghal were the only successes which awaited him. That noted loyalist, Mr. John Fitzedmond, received him with profuse hospitality at Cloyne. At Cork things were different, and there can be little doubt that intentional discourtesy was shown to the Queen’s Earl. Neither lodging nor supper could be had, and Desmond was feign to seek shelter with the mayor. This was John Meade, a lawyer who had been chosen in pursuance of a settled policy adopted by the corporate towns at this time. Limerick, Waterford, Clonmel, and Kinsale preferred political agitators to merchants, and lawyers were the fittest to make civic immunities and privileges a means of embarrassing the Government. The portreeve of Cashel was the most profound civilian in Ireland, and as obstinate as learned. As to Meade, said Desmond, he might be called Lack-law, ‘if he had no better insight in Littleton than in other observations of his place for her Majesty’s service, for it was much ado that we got anything for money, but that most of my people lay without lodging, and Captain Price had the hogs for his neighbours.’ Meade excused himself by saying that he did not know how far attentions to Desmond could be agreeable to the President, since he came to Cork direct from the sea, and that he feared any public welcome might be ill-taken by the Government. The arrival of 400 Welsh soldiers had made lodgings scarce, and the learned mayor found plenty of reasons for his neglect. But Captain Price, who had the best means of knowing, took the same view of the matter as the young Earl, and Meade was soundly reprimanded by the Privy Council.[366]

Fortunes of the restored Desmond.

Strange scene at Kilmallock.

The Geraldine who held Castlemaine for the Sugane Earl now gave it up to the real Desmond, and this was the only important result of his restoration. The Queen was half-hearted about the matter, hesitated to bestow an estate, and did not care to provide the means for much show. Five hundred pounds a year was not a bad allowance in those days, but the young Earl was inclined to extravagance, and he felt acutely that he could do nothing unless he were trusted with the command of men. His adherents among the people might give information as to his rival’s whereabouts, but there was no chance of catching him if he had to apply to the nearest garrison for means to follow up the clue. In the meantime Greame’s victory had made the fugitive insignificant, and Carew had little doubt about being able to hunt him down. The true Desmond spent part of his time at Mallow, where some supposed him to have become enamoured of Lady Norris. Carew sent him to Kilmallock in the company of Archbishop Magrath, and of his friend Boyle, who was to report privately as to his reception by the people. At Youghal men, women, and children had upset each other in the streets to see the restored exile, but at Kilmallock the excitement was still greater. A guard of soldiers lined the street between his lodgings and Sir George Thornton’s house, where he went to sup; but the crowd broke the line, and the short walk took half an hour. Doors, windows, and roofs were filled with people, ‘as if they came to see him, whom God had sent to be that comfort and delight their souls and hearts most desired, and they welcomed him with all the expressions and signs of joy, everyone throwing upon him wheat and salt (an ancient ceremony used in the province upon the election of their new mayors and officers) as a prediction of future peace and plenty.’ Next day was Sunday, and the Protestant Earl went to church. On his way the country folk shouted to him not to go, and when he came back after service they abused and spat upon him. The multitude which had flocked the little garrison town soon deserted it, and he whom they had come to welcome might walk the empty streets and sup where he pleased with as little danger of being mobbed as any private gentleman. He oscillated between Kilmallock and Mallow, but felt himself powerless, and the murder of his brother-in-law, Dermot O’Connor, made him think that his life was not safe. The poor lad soon expressed his desire to be back in England, and to live there quietly, in preference to any Irish greatness which the Queen might intend for him. Cecil rather encouraged him to return, at least for a time, and till the question of an estate could be settled, and held out some hopes of an English wife, ‘a maid of noble family, between eighteen and nineteen years of age, no courtier, nor yet ever saw you, nor you her.’[367]

The end of the house of Desmond.

In 1598 Tyrone announced, and possibly believed, that Desmond had escaped ‘by means of the Lieutenant of the Tower’s daughter, who had gone with him,’ that he had reached Spain, and that he would be in Munster within a month, with men, munitions, and treasure. Had this been true, he could hardly have done Elizabeth more harm than the Sugane; but coming, as he did, with an Earl’s patent and a Protestant archbishop, he neither hindered Tyrone nor served the Queen, and he slunk back to England almost unnoticed. He did not marry, nor was his allowance at all lavish, but he was kindly treated and not shut up in the Tower; and his last days seem not to have been unhappy. ‘If I turn me,’ he wrote from Greenwich, ‘into time past, I behold a long misery; if into the present, such a happiness in the comparison of that hell as may be a stop to any further encroachment.’ He died nine months after his return from Ireland, leaving five sisters, for whom the Queen made some provision until they found husbands. The eldest, Lady Margaret, was married to Dermot O’Connor, and his murder left her a widow; she received a pension of 100l. Catharine, the third, was the wife of Lord Roche, and the three unmarried ones had pensions of 33l. 6s. 8d. The second, Lady Joan, was destined by her mother, who had married O’Connor Sligo, to match with Hugh Roe O’Donnell. Her brother opposed this, as well as Carew, and she seems to have had no great mind for it herself; but the plot cost her a short detention with the Mayor of Cork, who again made what difficulties he could. Lady Joan afterwards married Dermot O’Sullivan Bere. Lady Ellen, the fourth sister, married three times, her last husband being Edmund Lord Dunboyne, and she lived till 1660, when her stepson was restored to his country but not to his property. Lady Ellice, the fifth, married Sir Valentine Browne the younger, of Ross Castle at Killarney, and thus, as the wife of an undertaker’s son, enjoyed some portion of the vast estates which had been forfeited by her father’s rebellion. The title of Desmond was given by James I. to a Scotch courtier, upon whom he also bestowed the only daughter and heir-general of the great Earl of Ormonde. It was Buckingham’s plan to depress the Butlers by separating their title and estates, and by giving the latter to a favourite like himself. But Lady Elizabeth Butler defeated this scheme by marrying her cousin, the future Duke; and thus, through the greatest of the cavaliers, the long strife between Ormonde and Desmond was ended at last.[368]