Cork.
Youghal itself had suffered much from pirates. Here Desmond appeared, and Sidney went into the controversy about the possession of Kilsheelan and some other manors. He found that Ormonde was in the right, and from the time that decision was given Desmond gave him all the trouble in his power. ‘Your name,’ said the Deputy to Queen Elizabeth, ‘is no more reverenced, nor letters of commandment obeyed, within any place within his rule, than it would be in the kingdom of France.’ But the greater part of the noblemen and gentlemen of Cork came to Sidney craving justice and protection against the Desmond tyranny.
Horrible destitution of the people.
The absence of a stable government and the trade with Spain had, in Sidney’s opinion, so weakened the Crown that Philip might, with 3,000 men and 20,000l., become supreme in Munster and Connaught, which 20,000 men and 100,000l. would not suffice to recover. The whole county of Cork was waste, the villages burned, and everywhere were exposed ‘bones and skulls of the dead subjects, who, partly by murder, partly by famine, have died in the fields, as in troth hardly any Christian with dry eyes could behold.’ Women upon the point of becoming mothers were murdered by one of Desmond’s vassals, and the Earl lodged and feasted in the murderer’s house. ‘Surely,’ said Sidney, ‘there was never people that lived in more misery than they do, nor as it should seem of worse minds, for matrimony among them is no more regarded in effect than conjunction between unreasonable beasts. Perjury, robbery, and murder counted allowable. Finally, I cannot find that they make any conscience of sin, and I doubt whether they christen their children or no; for neither find I place where it should be done, nor any person able to instruct them in the rules of a Christian; or if they were taught I see no grace in them to follow it; and when they die I cannot see they make any account of the world to come.’[121]
Desmond’s boasts. He is sent as prisoner to Dublin.
Desmond, who was given to bravado, attempted to overawe Sidney, who had but 200 men with him. He boasted that he would never dispense with the old state of his family, but would have five gallowglasses where he had formerly had one. He secretly directed his dependents to make a show of force, but Sidney told him that he would hold him responsible if anything happened, and finally sent him through Clare and Connaught a prisoner to Dublin. He did not, however, believe that rebellion was meant, but merely empty display. In the meantime the English Government received information which, had it been earlier available, would have prevented Desmond’s last enlargement.[122]
Sidney continues his journey. Limerick.
Galway.
At Limerick, Sidney was received by the Bishop, Hugh Lacy, in full pontificals, and with much ceremony of an entirely Roman character. The city he found much decayed, partly through the misdeeds of Desmond, but more through those of the Earl of Thomond, who was both incompetent and treacherous. Galway more ‘resembled a town of war, frontiering upon an enemy, than a civil town in a country under the sovereign. They watch their walls nightly, and guard their gates daily with armed men.’ Clanricarde’s sons John and Ulick, by two wives both living, were the chief disturbers of the West, and they too were sent prisoners to Dublin. The town of Athenry was deserted, four families only remaining, who greeted the Viceroy with cries of ‘Succour, succour.’ Clanricarde’s own country was in pretty good condition, and Sidney found nothing to complain of in his conduct, but he was quite unable to keep his sons in check.[123]
Sidney’s opinion of the Munster and Connaught gentry. He advises a President.