Kilkenny and Waterford.
Kilkenny, ‘the sink and receptacle’ of stolen goods, was not found to have profited much by the continuance of coyne and livery, ‘which yet was done by order, and for the avoidance of a greater, or, at the least, a more present evil.’ Ormonde, though he had no love for Sidney, entertained him very handsomely, and gave his word to Rory Oge, who accordingly came in and solemnly in the cathedral submitted and promised amendment. The Earl was made Lieutenant of Tipperary and Kilkenny, and he then escorted Sidney to Waterford, where the citizens feasted him with shows and rejoicings both by land and water.[315]
Sidney in Munster.
From Waterford Sidney went to stay at Curraghmore with Lord Power, and found his country ‘comparable with the best ordered county in the English Pale: whereby a manifest and most certain proof may be conceived what benefit riseth both to the Prince, mesne lord, and inferior subject, by suppressing of coyne and livery.’ Lord Power’s neighbour, Sir James Fitzgerald, who had succeeded his brother Sir Maurice but without the title of Viscount Decies, ruled a district four times as large, with the result of making it so waste ‘as it is not able to find competent food for a mean family in good order; yet are there harboured and live more idle vagabonds than good cattle bred.’ The smaller country gentlemen, as well as the citizens who held mortgages, were anxious to live quietly and pay their taxes. Desmond himself came to Sidney at Dungarvan, and ‘very humbly offered any service that he was able to do to her Majesty.’ The town was half ruined by the late rebellion of James Fitzmaurice, but Henry Davells, the constable, was labouring with some success to restore it, and to punish malefactors. The people of Youghal pleaded that they had suffered too much by the rebellion to bear the cost of a viceregal reception, and Sidney passed by Castle Martyr to Barry’s Court, and thence to Cork. Kinsale, which the Deputy visited a little later, he found much decayed; the castle and pier both so ruinous that the townsmen were almost defenceless against both pirates and gales. But they were loyal and willing to help themselves, and Sidney gave them a small sum to spend in wages, on condition that they should supply everything else, and not rest till both castle and pier were again serviceable. He was much struck by the advantages of the Old Head for a fortified post.[316]
Cork. The nobles flock to Sidney.
The citizens of Cork received the Lord Deputy with manifestations of joy, and willingly allowed the troops quarters for six weeks. The soldiers paid half their wages for board, lodging, and fire, and this arrangement satisfied all parties. The Earls of Desmond, Thomond, and Clancare, the Archbishop of Cashel, the Bishops of Cork and Cloyne and of Ross, Viscounts Barry and Roche, and Lords Courcy, Lixnaw, Dunboyne, Power, and Barry Oge attended Sidney the whole time of his stay, as did also Lord Louth, ‘who only to do me honour came out of the English Pale to that city, and did great good among great ones; for being of this country birth, and of their language and well understanding their conditions and manners, did by example of himself, being but a mean man of lands in respect of their large patrimonies and living, both at home and abroad, live more commendably than they did or were able to do; which did much persuade them to leave their barbarity and to be ashamed of their wilful misery.’ MacCarthy Reagh and MacCarthy of Muskerry were also present, and made a good impression on Sidney. They seemed to him, both for their possessions and their law-abiding disposition, to be worthy of baronies at least. The latter especially, well known in Irish history as Sir Cormac MacTeigue, was, he thought ‘the rarest man that ever was born in the Irishry; of him I intend to write specially, for truly he is a special man.’ O’Mahon came from the shores of Dunmanus Bay and O’Donoghue from the Lakes of Killarney, and there was scarcely an important chief, whether English or Irish, who was not present; Sir John of Desmond and his brother James and Sir Thomas Roe being particularly assiduous in their attendance. ‘There came also many of the ruined relics of the ancient English inhabitants of this province, as the Arundels, Rochfords, Barretts, Flemings, Lombards, Tirries, and many others whose ancestors, as it may appear by monuments, as well in writing as of building, were able, and did live like gentlemen and knights; and now all in misery, either banished from their own or oppressed upon their own.’ As representatives of the Celtic order, to which that of the Anglo-Normans had given place, came five MacSwineys, captains of gallowglasses, originally from Donegal, but maintained by the Desmonds and others as condottieri. They had no lands, but were of as much power and consequence as any landowners, ‘the greatest being both in fear of them and glad of their friendship.’ Finally, Sidney records that most of the chiefs brought their wives, ‘who truly kept very honourable, at least very plentiful houses,’ and there were many widows of consideration, including some dowager countesses.[317]
James Fitzmaurice.
Sidney knew too much about Ireland to be sanguine, but he hoped that the Munster lords would consent to support 100 English foot and 50 English horse free of charge to the Queen. They generally professed themselves ready to do this from May 1, 1576, though the sincerity of one or two great ones was doubtful. But a cloud was gathering in the distance; James Fitzmaurice having fled to France early in 1575 with his wife and children and several companions, of whom the most important were the seneschal of Imokilly, a son of the Knight of Glin, and Edmund Fitzgibbon, eldest surviving son of the late White Knight, and claiming that dignity in spite of his father’s attainder. Fitzmaurice maintained that his object was to make interest abroad for the Queen’s pardon, and both he and the White Knight asked Ormonde to intercede for them. To Englishmen in France he said that he had been driven from Ireland by Desmond’s unkindness, who had refused to give him the means of living, and that he had been forced to bring his wife and children with him because he had no house of his own in Ireland. This tallies with the statements of the family historians, one of whom attributes Desmond’s conduct to the influence of his wife, who could not bear to see her only son deprived of any portion of his vast heritage. A ship of war followed the fugitives to France, and Captain Thornton gave an interesting account of their proceedings.[318]
Fitzmaurice lands in France, 1576,
Sailing from Glin in the Shannon, on board La Arganys of St. Malo, whose master, Michael Garrett, was no doubt a fellow-clansman, the Geraldine party landed at a village in Brittany. They brought 1,000l. worth of plate with them, and had, therefore, no difficulty in exchanging their Irish costume for French clothes. While the tailors were still at work they received visits from the chief townsmen of St. Malo, and when the transformation was complete, they all repaired to the town. The Governor and other principal people with their wives met them on the sands, and brought them to their lodgings at Captain Garrett’s house. Here Mrs. Fitzmaurice and her family remained, but Fitzmaurice with half-a-dozen companions went on to Nantes, and from thence to Paris. He received money and good words, and it was officially given out that his object was to gain a pardon from Queen Elizabeth through French intercession. Latin versions of letters purporting to be written by Henry III. to the Queen and to De la Motte Fénelon were shown in Ireland by Geraldine partisans.