Martin Pirry, Comptroller of the Mint, who brought over bullion collected in France and Flanders, had to stay seven days at Holyhead for fear of five great ships which he saw drifting about in the tideway. In the end he secured a quick and safe passage by hiring a twenty-five ton pinnace with sixteen oars, into which he put twenty-five well-armed men. St. Leger had been complaining bitterly that he could get no money out of the mint, although 2,000l. was owing. Pirry seems to have had only a limited authority, for though over 7,000l. was delivered by him on the Lord Deputy’s warrant, St. Leger still objected that he had to make bricks without straw, and to put port towns in a posture of defence without being allowed to draw for the necessary expenses.[355]
Abortive scheme for fortifying in Munster. Apprehensions of French invasion.
The expedition did not take place, but Sir James Croft was sent over with instructions to inspect all the harbours between Berehaven and Cork, to make plans of the most important, and to select sites for fortification; utilising existing buildings as much as possible, and taking steps for the acquisition of the necessary land. He was then to extend his operations as far east as Waterford, acting in all things in concert with the Lord Deputy. It is evident that things were in a state quite unfit to resist a powerful French armament; but the weather as usual was on the side of England, and of eighteen French vessels laden with provisions, more than one-half were lost in a storm off the Irish coast. This fleet was, no doubt, destined only for the relief of the French party in Scotland, and there does not seem to have been any real intention of breaking the peace with England. But the Irish exiles were unwilling to believe this. George Paris, who had been despatched from Blois about Christmas 1550, returned to France in the following spring, bringing with him an Irishman of importance. The Irish offered Ireland to Henry, and begged him to defend his own, saying that Wales would also rise as soon as foreign aid appeared. Their avowed object was ‘the maintenance of religion, and for the continuance of God’s service in such sort as they had received from their fathers. In the which quarrel they were determined either to stand or to die.’ It would be better to invade England than Ireland; for the English Catholics would receive an invader with open arms. Paris spoke much of the frequent conquests of England. No outward enemy, once landed, had ever been repulsed, and the thing was easier now than ever. The sanguine plotter talked loudly of all that had been promised him, and professed to believe that the Dauphin would soon be King of Ireland and Scotland at the very least. ‘With these brags, and such others, he filleth every man’s ears that he chanceth to talk withal.’ He had constant interviews with the Nuncio, but the French grew every day cooler. The English ambassador perceived that the Irish envoy was ‘not so brag,’ and at last reported that he had been denied help. He attributed this change of policy entirely to the fear of increasing the difficulties in which the Queen Dowager of Scotland already found herself.[356]
Difficulties in Ulster. Andrew Brereton.
While Scots and Frenchmen threatened its shores, Ulster furnished more even than its normal share of home-grown strife. Captain Andrew Brereton, who seems to have been a son or grandson of Sir William Brereton, held Lecale as a Crown tenant at will. He was a man singularly unfit to deal with a high-spirited race like the O’Neills. When Tyrone, according to ancient Irish custom, sent a party to distrain for rent among the MacCartans, Brereton set upon them and killed several men, including two brothers of the Countess. To the Earl’s remonstrances he replied by calling him a traitor, and threatening to treat him as he had treated O’Hanlon—that is, to spoil him, slay his men, and burn his country. It is clear that Brereton was not actuated by any special love of the MacCartans, for he beheaded a gentleman of that clan—without trial. He forcibly expelled Prior Magennis from his farm on the church lands of Down; and Roger Broke, a congenial spirit, shut up the Prior in Dundrum Castle. Tyrone went to Dublin to welcome St. Leger on his arrival, and Brereton openly called him a traitor at the Council Board, in the presence of the Lord Deputy and of the Earls of Thomond and Clanricarde. The proud O’Neill of course took the accusation ‘very unkindly.’ St. Leger was of opinion that such handling of wild men had done much harm in Ireland; and the Council, while admitting that Tyrone was ‘a frail man, and not the perfectest of subjects,’ thought that this was not the way to make the best of him. Brereton had no better justification for his conduct than the gossip of one of MacQuillin’s kerne, who said that Tyrone had sent a messenger to the King of France to say that he would take his part against King Edward, and would send him Brereton and Bagenal as prisoners. Brereton was very properly relieved of his command in Lecale, on the nominal ground that he had refused to hold the Crown land there upon the Lord Deputy’s terms; which St. Leger evidently thought more likely to have weight with the English Council than any amount of outrages committed against the Irish. He was afterwards restored, and gave trouble to later governors.[357]
FOOTNOTES:
[323] Lord Protector and Privy Council to Lord Deputy St. Leger and Council, March 25, 1547; the King to the same, April 7; King Edward VI. to the Earl of Desmond, Oct. 6. In a letter dated Lambeth, July 6, to her ‘assured loving friend Mr. Cecil, Master of Requests,’ Lady Ormonde begs that Abbeyleix may not be granted to Barnaby Fitzpatrick to her son’s detriment, and she refers to Cecil’s ‘former friendship.’ Here we see the beginning of a most important connection.
[324] Four Masters, 1546, 1547.
[325] Introduction to Carew, vol. ii. p. lxxxv.; Archbishop Butler to the Lord Protector, Feb. 25, 1548; Calendar of Patent Rolls, p. 154.
[326] Calendar of Patent Rolls, p. 66. For Butler and Powell, see three letters calendared under April and May 1548, Nos. 16, 17, and 19.