Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 2 (of 3). Bagwell Richard

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СКАЧАТЬ help is doubtful, for although it may be said that the wisest to win peace will take war in hand, and that it is likely Shane will not be reformed but by war,’ yet the poverty of Ireland and the occupation of England made war well-nigh impracticable.84

the Queen receives him kindly, but he fears Arnold, and withdraws to Scotland

      Arnold seems to have thought himself bound to do in all things exactly the opposite of Sussex, and he accepted Cusack’s rose-coloured view of Shane’s intentions. But Wrothe’s reasoning was more dispassionate. He saw the danger of letting O’Donnell’s country come under the power of O’Neill, who gave good words but went his own way nevertheless. If possible he was to be pacified, but war might prove inevitable, and to be successful it would have to be conducted in a new way. He saw that O’Donnell was determined to go to the Queen with or without license, and if necessary by way of Scotland. The Queen said she would willingly see O’Donnell at Court if it would do him any good, but that the causes between him and Shane would have to be tried in Ireland, and she did not see what he could gain by the journey. She saw Arnold’s bias clearly enough, and said plainly that the Dean and Chapter of Armagh, who had been named, were no fit Commissioners to judge of this matter. Terence Daniel and his colleague had a too natural affection towards O’Neill. As Wrothe had foreseen, O’Donnell, who feared that chains and torture awaited him in Ulster, would not be denied, but took the first opportunity of slipping over to England during Arnold’s temporary absence, and he made his appearance at Court, where he told his griefs to the Queen, and to Leicester, Winchester, and Cecil. Elizabeth evidently felt much for the unfortunate chief, gave him money, and sent him back to Ireland, directing Arnold to make him some allowance until his causes were decided. ‘We are not,’ she said, ‘without compassion for him in this calamity, specially considering his first entry thereto was by taking part against Shane when he made war against our good subjects there.’ No one was ever able to resist Elizabeth when she spoke graciously, but O’Donnell’s experience of Arnold had not been satisfactory, and he thought it prudent to withdraw for a time to the Scottish Court, where he was sure of sympathy from the relations of his foolish and guilty wife, the daily victim of Shane’s brutality.85

Shane attacks the Scots

      His hereditary enemies having been reduced to a harmless state, Shane proceeded, with the full approval of the Government, to attack the Scots, who prevented him from doing as he pleased in the North. But Arnold was not so completely blinded by his professions as to make him free of Carrickfergus, which he claimed as of ancient right. Neither was it thought convenient to withdraw Kildare from the defence of the Pale, as Shane urgently desired. Eight or nine hundred Scots, under the command of Sorley Boy, lay near the left bank of the Bann, opposite Coleraine, where Shane had made the old castle tenable. His object being to get complete command of the estuary, he sent over a small party in the country boats or ‘cots,’ which were his only means of transport, and having posted them strongly in the Dominican Friary, withdrew to his main body. The Scots attacked the outpost like madmen, as Dean Danyell expressed it, and lost many men, but succeeded in killing all the defenders except the mounted men, who were seized with a panic and swam their horses over the flooded river. Neither party had much to boast, but Shane could point to the affair as a test of his sincerity. He bragged about what he would do next time, when there might be no flood, and he again suggested that he might be allowed to make Carrickfergus his base until preparations for renewing the war were complete. Arnold yielded so far as to sanction his entry with some of his chief followers. Captain Piers was to show the formidable visitor every civility, but for sparing of the poor town was to keep the multitude of his company as far off as possible. Shane’s views changed, or the policy of Piers was successful in keeping him at arm’s length, but he plundered the town of Carlingford before doing any further service against the Scots, burned the country all about, and ravished the women far and wide, up to the walls of Dundalk. More damage has been done, said Fitzwilliam, ‘than seven years of such profit as is from Shane.’86

Nothing so dangerous as loyalty. Calvagh O’Connor

      When Sussex left Ireland Leix and Offaly were pretty quiet, but his departure had been the signal for disturbance. Arnold was accused of oppressing the remnant of the O’Connors, and by his own account he cared little for peace. Ormonde’s brother persecuted the O’Mores, who were reduced to a state not much above brigandage. He killed a dozen kerne near Castle-comer, and apologised for not doing more: ‘if we had any ground for horsemen we should have made a fair haul.’ Arnold praised Sir Edmund’s activity, but looked forward to general disorder as soon as the long nights, which are still dreaded in Ireland, should give better opportunities to the disaffected. By way of precaution he imprisoned Calvagh O’Connor, as some said, with little or no cause, but, as Arnold maintained, for intriguing with tribes on both sides the Shannon, and for engaging Scots mercenaries. Yet there is good ground for believing that this poor O’Connor tried to be a loyal subject, with the result of being mistrusted by both parties. ‘When I was a rebel,’ he said, ‘I had friends enough, but now I serve the Queen’s Majesty I am daily in fear of my life.’ Unable to get a hearing, Calvagh, though heavily ironed, managed to break prison, and having been treated as a rebel became one in earnest. Great preparations were made on the borders of the Pale. Arnold demanded help from all the Irish clans in the central parts of the island. The Earl of Kildare was ordered to assemble his people, and letters were sent to the gentlemen of the Pale and to the settlers in the King’s and Queen’s counties. Wexford and Carlow were not forgotten, and Ormonde, who received a special commission and pay for 200 kerne for three months, was directed to watch the rebels, who were proclaimed by name, and to attack them if they came near his border. These tremendous preparations for the hunt, for it was little more, were crowned with such success as was possible. Calvagh O’Connor was killed by a near kinsman, and his head presented to the Lord Justice. Sir Barnaby Fitzpatrick, Edward VI.’s old companion, dutifully attacked the O’Mores. But Sir Barnaby himself was little better off than an outlaw, for his father, the first Baron of Upper Ossory, had but imperfectly laid aside Celtic usages when he accepted an Anglo-Norman title; and under the influence of a wicked second wife, he persecuted his loyal and civilised heir. The O’Connors were dispersed into little parties of eight or ten, who lived as best they might in the bogs. The O’Mores had wider contiguous wastes, and managed to keep better together, but they were glad to sue for peace. It was an inglorious campaign, which only served to show how completely the settlement of the country had failed to reconcile the native population.87

      CHAPTER XXIII.

      1565

Desmond, Thomond, and Clanricarde

      After his return from England, Desmond kept quiet for a time. The indefatigable Cusack visited Waterford for the purpose of settling his dispute with Ormonde, but had to leave his work unfinished so as to proceed with the more pressing business of O’Neill. But Desmond’s men were not idle, for they were allowed to interfere in the affairs of Thomond, taking part with Sir Donnell the tanist against the Earl. The help of Clanricarde, whose interests inclined him to the side of the latter, alone prevented him from being driven out of the country. Clanricarde expressly says that Desmond himself crossed the Shannon, and set on him by surprise, killing 30 men, and taking 800 cows, which helped to pay the intruder’s gallowglasses. They were indeed well paid, for they received more than half the cattle of Thomond. There was some talk of giving Clanricarde cannon to take the castle of Inchiquin, and Desmond was straightly charged by Arnold to abstain from further interference. Royal Commissioners, of whom Parker was one, visited Cork, and the gentlemen of the county appeared, offering to hold their lands by knight service, and to give security for good behaviour. Desmond described the proceedings in glowing language, but did not recall his gallowglasses from Thomond, whence the Earl continued to beg earnestly for help. Ormonde was directed to give such help as he could spare from pursuing the O’Mores, and Cusack, the general pacificator, again made his way to the South, when it was agreed that Manus Oge O’Sheehy, with his 400 gallowglasses and 200 musketeers and horsemen, should be withdrawn, and that those who ferried them over Shannon should be punished. Differences were to СКАЧАТЬ