The statutes known in after days as Poynings’ Acts were two in number. By the first it was enacted that no future Parliaments should be held in Ireland, ‘but at such season as the King’s Lieutenant and Council there first do certify the King under the great seal of that land (Ireland), the causes and considerations, and all such acts as them seemeth should pass in the same Parliament.’ Should the King in Council approve them, then the Irish Parliament should be summoned under the great seal of England, and not otherwise. By the second Act it was provided that all public statutes ‘late made within the said realm of England’ should be in force in Ireland. The lawyers decided that this applied to all English Acts prior to the tenth year of Henry VII. And thus the dependence of the Irish Parliament on that of England was established in the fullest degree.[60]
Attainder of Kildare.
Kildare was attainted by the Drogheda Parliament, the Act stating that he had provoked Irish enemies and English rebels to levy war against the King, that he had conspired with O’Hanlon to kill the Deputy, that he had caused his brother James to seize Carlow and hold it against the King, that he had used coyne and livery, and that he had conspired with the King of Scots and the Earl of Desmond for an invasion of Ireland. The Earl was arrested and sent to England, there to await Henry’s own judgment on these and other matters. The chief of the southern Geraldines had in the meantime again given his adhesion to the cause of Perkin Warbeck.[61]
Second visit of Perkin Warbeck. Siege of Waterford, 1495.
Less than three weeks after his disgraceful failure in Kent, Perkin was with Desmond in Munster. Eleven ships, of which some were Scotch, attacked Waterford from the river, while Desmond and his Irish allies with 2,400 men threatened the city from the southern side. Poynings marched against the invaders in person; but the real work was done by the mayor and citizens, who dammed the stream called John’s River, so as to prevent Desmond from joining Perkin: while they battered the fleet with cannon planted on Reginald’s Tower. They made several sallies, killed their prisoners, and stuck their heads on stakes in the market-place. When the siege had lasted eleven days one of Perkin’s ships was sunk by the fire from the town, and the adventurer then fled precipitately. At least three vessels fell into the hands of the besieged or their allies, and the citizens followed Perkin to Cork, where his friends protected him. Afterwards he made his way to Scotland, where James IV. received him with the honours due to a prince, and gave him the hand of his cousin, Lady Catherine Gordon. James, who was of an ambitious and visionary turn of mind, may perhaps have thought it possible to restore the days of Bruce, and to conquer some part of Ireland for himself. Two successive O’Donnells acknowledged themselves his subjects, and with their help and that of sailors like the Bartons, Scotland might have disputed with England the possession of Northern Ireland at least. The elder Hugh O’Donnell, who died in 1505, was a man of considerable ability, the annalists, with their usual magniloquence, styling him the ‘Augustus of the North of Europe;’ and with more truth asserting that he was the most powerful person in the North of Ireland.[62]
Poynings leaves Ireland, 1496.
Poynings quitted Ireland in January 1496, leaving the government in the Bishop of Bangor’s hands. Important as was the recent legislation, it cannot be said that Henry had made any real change in the system of government. His great idea, like that of his descendants, was to make Ireland pay her own expenses, and for that purpose he sent over two able officers, with instructions to overhaul the entire system of government. Plenty of zeal seems to have been shown, but the result was not encouraging. No year passed in Ireland without some small war, and the established custom of hiring native mercenaries tended to prevent any improvement. Sir James Ormonde and other leaders found their account in constant disturbance, and expense always more than kept pace with revenue.[63]
Friars employed by the Government.
The accounts of Vice-Treasurer Hattecliffe, to whom Henry committed the control of Irish finance, seem to show that Poynings and others found a difficulty in obtaining the aid of subordinate officers. They had, however, a resource which Elizabeth lacked, in the power of employing priests and friars. Thus we find a Franciscan of Dublin sent to spy out the manners of the people inhabiting the marches of the Pale, and again acting as a messenger between the Council in Dublin and the Deputy in the field. A canon named John Staunton was sent to act as a spy ‘in Munster and elsewhere about the Earl of Desmond, Perkin Warbeck, and other rebels.’ On another occasion a Carmelite was the means of communication between the Government and Sir James Ormonde, and it is probable that many more of the messengers were clergymen, though the fact is not so mentioned.[64]