The Spaniards brought arms for the country people, but very few of them came in, and they were ordered by Mountjoy to drive all their cattle to the eastward of the Carrigaline river. The corn for five miles round Kinsale was burned, and the inhabitants were warned by proclamation not to take part with the Pope and the King of Spain, who were unjustly maintaining rebels against their anointed sovereign. Among those who accompanied Don Juan was Matthew de Oviedo, a Spanish Franciscan who had been papal commissary with Desmond twenty years before, and who was now titular Archbishop of Dublin; and he was probably the author of the Latin counter-proclamation. In this document the deposing power is claimed for the Pope, and its exercise by Pius V., Gregory XIII., and Clement VIII. is treated as conclusive. Elizabeth being thus made a mere usurping heretic, the Irish are absolved from all allegiance to her and are ordered to support the Catholic cause, on pain of being considered heretics themselves. In his own name the Archbishop wrote to O’Neill and O’Donnell, and Don Juan sent more than one messenger to hasten their coming. The Spaniards were without cavalry, having been given to understand that horses would be provided for the 1,600 saddles which they brought with them. Finding no allies, they had thus no means of acting on the offensive, and the English horse rode up to the very gates of Kinsale. The townsfolk were encouraged to withdraw their families and property, and were allowed to come and go until October 8, ‘without any imputation of treason.’ Don Juan gave them equal liberty; and this increased his chance of a successful defence, for he had about 4,000 men, and there were only about 200 houses in the town. Lord Barry went to Galbally with such forces as he could collect, in the hope of intercepting Tyrone on his march southwards, and Mountjoy made such haste as was possible to be at Kinsale before him.[382]
Kinsale besieged (October).
Rincurren taken.
On October 16 Mountjoy marched out of Cork, encamping on the first night at the Carrigaline river, and on the second under Knock Robin, a hill close to Kinsale. Ten days were spent in the wet fields without the means to entrench, for it was thought that longer delay would have a bad moral effect. At last the ships, with guns and tools, came to Cork, and were sent round to Oyster Haven, where there was no difficulty in unlading them. Don Juan had garrisoned Castle Park, on the west side of Kinsale Harbour, probably in the vain hope of preventing the entry of English vessels. He had another outpost at Rincurren on the east side, but neither work gave serious annoyance to the army, which was now entrenched on the Spittle hill, to the north side of the town. Carew found the artillery in very bad order; but the delay was of no service to the Spaniards, whose boats were effectually kept off by Captain Button in his pinnace. At last two pieces opened on Rincurren, ‘but within two or three shot the carriage of the better culverin brake, and, about two of the clock in the afternoon, the other received a flaw.’ The rest of the day was occupied in mending the carriage of the sound gun, and Don Juan tried to make a diversion by dragging artillery out of the town and firing into the camp. Two men were killed near the Lord Deputy’s tent, and two hogsheads of his beer broached, but no serious harm was done. In the morning ‘the culverin began to play, and about nine of the clock the demi-culverin was mounted, which after a few shot brake her axletree; before three she was remounted, and by that time a cannon likewise planted, and all three pieces without intermission played.’ But Carew thought the fire too vague, and, having obtained Mountjoy’s leave, he laid the guns himself, so that the fire might converge on one spot. The true range was got with a quadrant, and the cannonade was thus continued after sunset. Another attempt was made to relieve the post by land, but this was frustrated, with loss to the besieged, and by six o’clock the Spaniards in the castle called for a parley. They offered to surrender the fort on condition of being allowed to depart with arms and baggage. This was refused, a further parley declined, and the battery continued until two in the morning, when many of the besieged attempted to escape by the waterside. Twenty-three Spaniards were taken and thirty killed. Of the Irish all the fighting men escaped, but churls, women, and children were taken. The captain in command had his leg broken, and his subaltern, Don Bartholomeo Paez de Clavijo, was forced to surrender next morning, being allowed to carry out his own sword and give it up to Carew in person. He was quite ready to blow up the fort, with himself and all his men in it, but the eighty-six surviving soldiers threatened to throw him over the walls. The lives of the Spaniards were spared, and they were sent to Cork, but no terms had been granted to the Irish, of whom Dermot MacCarthy, called Don Dermutio, was the only person of note. He had been in Florence’s service, had lived in Spain as a pensioner, and was able to disclose many important secrets. He was, however, afterwards hanged at Cork.[383]
Progress of the siege (November).
Castle Park taken.
A few days after the first success Thomond arrived from England with 1,000 foot and 100 horse, after having been blown far to the westward and forced to take refuge in Castle Haven. Both men and horses were worn out by the long confinement on board, and had to be sent to Cork to recruit. About the same time Sir Richard Leveson arrived with his squadron and 2,000 soldiers, and the ships were warped into harbour in spite of the wind. Neither guns nor men were now wanting, and the siege began in earnest. The camp had already been fortified on the north side, so as to prevent an attack by Tyrone’s forces, which were daily expected, and Castle Park, on the south side of the harbour, was taken, after two ineffectual attempts. After a long cannonade the Spaniards, who were but seventeen in number, surrendered, and it is hard to see how so small a garrison could ever have been expected to maintain itself. The fact probably was that Don Juan expected to find an Irish army to help him, and that he found an English one instead. Mountjoy’s camp was thoroughly fortified, and his approaches almost completed before any relieving force appeared. O’Donnell had, however, been long on his way. On hearing of the Spanish descent he at once raised the siege of Donegal, and, accompanied by Brian Oge O’Rourke, MacDermot, and others, including some Munster exiles, marched from Ballymote through Roscommon and Galway to Shannon Harbour, where he was ferried across, and through Westmeath and King’s County into Tipperary. At Moydrum, in O’Meagher’s country, between Roscrea and Templemore, he lay for three weeks waiting for Tyrone, and the annalists observe, with apparent pride, that his people ‘continued plundering, burning, and ravaging the country around them, so that there was no want of anything necessary for an army in his camp, for any period, short or long.’ The Irish and Catholic hero knew no better way to advance the cause than by harrying people who were as Irish and as Catholic as himself.[384]
O’Donnell joins Tyrone (November).
A council of war decided to send Carew to Tipperary, in the hope of intercepting O’Donnell before his junction with Tyrone. Carew obeyed, though he considered the expedition useless. Having the goodwill of the country O’Donnell was sure to have news of his coming, and against such a light-footed enemy he expected to have no better success than Ormonde had with Tyrone. He left the camp on November 7, with 1,000 foot and 250 horse, and was afterwards joined by Sir Christopher St. Laurence’s regiment and by the irregular forces under Lord Barry’s command. On arriving at Ardmayle on the Suir, he found that there was no possibility of attacking O’Donnell among the bogs and woods, but supposed that the latter would hardly be able to go by without fighting, for the mountains of Slieve Phelim, which in summer offered a road into Limerick, were impassable from the rain. A great and sudden frost disconcerted these plans, and O’Donnell made a night march of over twenty Irish miles on hard ground. More than 200 years later Lord Anglesea had personal experience of a winter’s ride over these hills, and his sufferings resulted in the road which still bears his name. Carew hastened to intercept O’Donnell on his descent into Limerick, but found that he had already passed. To follow him into the wilds of Connello would be to court disaster, and there was nothing for it but to return to Kinsale.[385]
Spanish ships come to Castle Haven (December);