The Geraldines are unchecked.
The Queen chided Sidney for coupling Sir Edmund’s name with Fitzmaurice’s and MacCarthymore’s, for which, however, there was abundant justification, and she let Ormonde go as the only chance of restoring peace. Before he could leave London, his brothers Edmund, Piers, and Edward had joined Fitzmaurice, with whom MacCarthy had made plans for concerted action. The Butlers had done their own part by devastating the eastern part of the Queen’s County, and killing the warders of Balliknockane. Fitzmaurice followed up the blow by attacking Kilmallock and extorting a ransom of 160l., the townsmen fearing that they would after all have to receive a Geraldine garrison. He met the Earl of Thomond and John Burke close to Limerick, and the citizens, who feared to lose all their cattle, were in some doubt as to the proper course. The men of Waterford, as became the city’s ancient reputation, did not wait for orders, but worked hard at their fortifications, sent provisions to Cork and Youghal, and gave shelter to the miserable inhabitants of the country. They reported that the Geraldine rebels burned and slew where they listed, stripping honest men and women naked and using more cruel tortures ‘than either Phalaris or any of the old tyrants could invent.’ Even before the open rebellion great disorders had been caused by the general poverty. On Good Friday the city, according to ancient custom, opened its gates to 1,100 poor men, who, when they had eaten, fell to plundering and housebreaking; and it took three weeks to get rid of them by beating out the sturdy beggars, and coaxing out those of a weaker sort. Corn was daily growing dearer, and ‘the caterpillars’ boasted that they would reap the next harvest. The kine, ‘which by milk used to keep the poor wretches alive,’ were killed or driven away. Edward Butler had devastated Waterford County, but the citizens feared nothing. To attack them without the aid of a foreign prince would be to ‘spurn against a wall,’ and Spain was of no such force in Ireland as their own sovereign liege.[166]
Waterford and Cork.
Waterford was a stronghold for its own people, and a city of refuge for many others, but the rebels had complete possession of the open country. English settlers were plundered and killed, or led about with halters round their necks. Sir Edmund Butler and his brother Piers devoted themselves to the district between Waterford and the Pale, of which the northern boundary was threatened by Tirlogh Luineach. Edward Butler was busy south-west of Waterford, and Fitzmaurice preached a crusade in the Desmond country, calling upon the citizens of Cork and the clergy of the diocese to send away all Protestants by the next wind. ‘The Queen,’ he said, ‘is not satisfied with our worldly goods, bellies, and lives, but must also counsel us to forsake the Catholic faith by God unto His Church given, and by the See of Rome hitherto prescribed to all Christian men.... If you follow not this Catholic and wholesome exhortation, I will not nor may not be your friend.’[167]
Carew and the Butlers.
Unable for the moment to visit the South, Sidney sent Carew and Gilbert to Kilkenny, in a sally from which town they inflicted a severe defeat on Sir Edmund Butler. In a second encounter Carew was less successful, but was able, within a few days, to lay siege to Clogrennan, which the garrison had orders to defend against all but the Lord Deputy himself. Hooker represents the capture of this castle as a great feat of arms, but Ormonde says that it contained only eight armed men. Being hard pressed, the commandant asked if Sidney was present, and being told that he was, went out on safe-conduct. Finding himself deceived, he returned into the house, but a soldier named Baker followed, shot or stabbed him in the back, and threw a log of wood between the doors, so that they could not be shut. Carew’s men then poured in, and killed not only the garrison but the women and children, including ‘an honest gentleman’s son, not three years old.’ This rascally breach of faith is represented by Hooker as fair stratagem of war.[168]
Atrocities on both sides.
It is needless to recapitulate all the outrages committed on either side, or to inquire whether certain attempts on Carew’s life were instigated by Sir Edmund Butler or not; but Enniscorthy was remarkable for the rapes and murders committed on the merchants and their families frequenting the great annual fair on August 15. Agriculture was quite neglected, and few houses were inhabited except those belonging to Ormonde. Carew laid all the blame on Irish ferocity, but Ormonde declared that the mischief was caused by rash attacks on landed property, which were shaking the loyalty of the highest and noblest. Sir Edmund had been a good subject, and was rewarded by losing his estate. He tried to defend his property, and was proclaimed a traitor. ‘A wiser man than he,’ said his brother, ‘might be brought beside himself thus.’ The following is too interesting to omit:—
Sinister rumours.
‘Old Grace, my man,’ the Earl wrote, ‘landed three weeks ago in Waterford sore handled with gout; my brother hearing of his being there came to the waterside to talk with him. Grace was carried between men to his boat, and in the boat talked with my brother, who asked very earnestly of the Queen’s Majesty. The other told him she was in health and very well. "No, no," says he, "I know well enough she is poisoned, and my brother put into the Tower and there put to death." My man told him he might know my handwriting: he answered my letter bore an old date. He asked again twice if the Queen were alive. The other sware she was alive and in as good health as ever she was. "Well," said my brother, "if my lord is alive and that I may see him, I will believe his word, and then will I go into England and let her Highness know how I am dealt withal by my Lord Deputy and Sir Peter Carew."’