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 I
 
 I
 
 TRUE STORIES 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 ] I J MT DRY OF IRKLxVN JD. 
 
 JOHX JAMES 3IVC;RKG0U 
 
 
 -»*!l^ 
 
 DCBU!4< 
 lAM CURRY *U.
 
 i
 
 TRUE STORIES 
 
 FROM TUt: 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 By 
 
 JOHN JAMES MCGREGOR, 
 
 AUTHOR OF " A HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTIOX, 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 WILLIAM CURRY, JUN. AND CO. 
 
 9, UPPER SACKVILLE-STREET. 
 
 182U.
 
 D 
 
 v./ 
 
 r ) THE YOUTH OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS, 
 
 THIS COMPENDIUM OF IRISH HISTORY 
 IS RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIOXATELY INSCBIBKI) ; 
 
 WITH THE HOPE 
 THAT IT MAY TEXD TO EXCITE IN THEIR MINDS 
 
 A TASTE FOR THE STUDY OF A SUBJECT^ 
 WHICH HAS, UNHAPPILY, 
 
 BEEN TOO MUCH NEGLECTED BY THEIR FATHERS, 
 
 r^ .i'> ^"v^Tt ■ST: rz 
 '^/. K? i^ u* ''■^ <.^
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ANCIENT IRELAND. 
 
 irihabitants— Government — Military Force — Laws 
 — Manners— Religion — St. Patrick 6 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE DANES. 
 
 Battle of Armagh— Heroic Conduct and Death of 
 Nial III. — Horrible Cruelties of Turgesius — Stra- 
 tagem of the Monarch Malachy — Death of the 
 Tyrant- General Destruction of the Danes.... 22
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Reign of Flan-Cormac Mac Cuillenan,Kingof Mun- 
 ster— Battle of Magh-Albe and Death of Cormac 
 — Settlement of Munster— Story of Callaghan — 
 Perfidy of Sitricus the Dane — Extraordinary Sea- 
 Fight at Dundalk — Battle of Singland — Mahon 
 King of Munster — Capture of Limerick — Murder 
 of Mahon 34 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Brien Boiromhe — Victories over the Danes— Wise j 
 Government — Becomes Supreme Monarch — Bat- 
 tle of Clontarf 55 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ENGLISH INVASION. 
 
 King Henry II. — Dermod Mac Murchard, King 
 of Leinster— ^Roderick O'Connor — Robert Fitz- 
 Stephen — Surrender of Wexford— Defeat of the 
 Prince of Ossory — Maurice Fitz-Gerald — Imbe- 
 cile conduct of Roderick O'Connor — Raymond le 
 Gross -Battle of Don-Isle 79 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Arrival of Strongbow— Siege of Walerford —Cap- 
 lure of Dublin— Synod of Armagh — Reverses 
 sustained by Strongbow-— Death of Dermod Mac
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Murchard — Repulse of the Danes of Dublin— 
 Siego of Dublin by Roderick O'Connor — Bril- 
 liant Exploit of Strongbow — Capture of Fitz- 
 Stephen— Battle of Idrone 112 
 
 i 
 
 I CHAPTEll yill. 
 
 Arrival of Henry TI. — Submission of the Chieftains 
 of Munster and Leinster — Royal Festivities in 
 Dublin — Synod of Cash^l The King's Depar- 
 ture — Hugh De Lacy, Chief Governor \3S 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Revolt of the Irish Chieftains — Attempt to assassi- 
 nate Hugh De Lacy — Death of O'Ruarc- Hervey 
 of Mountniorres and Raymond le Gross — Defeat of 
 Mac Arthy of Desmond — Gallant Exploit of Do- 
 nald-More at Thurles — Massacre at Waterford— 
 Raymond le Gross captures Limerick — Submission 
 of Roderick O'Connor -Battle of Cashel — Death 
 of Strongbow — Donald-More burns Limerick.. 149 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Wlliam Fitz-Andelm De Burgo, Chief Governor — 
 Bull of Pope Alexander — Sir John De Courcey 
 and Sir Amoric St. Lawrence — Vigorous Admi- 
 nistration of Hugh De Lacy — Progress of De 
 Courcey in Ulster -Buttle of Dundalk — Murder 
 of Miles De Cogau — Successful Defence of Cork
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 by Raymond le Gross — Prince John, Chief Go- 
 vernor — Interview with the Irish Chieftains at 
 Waterford — General Revolt— Murder of Hugh 
 De Lacy — John De Courcey, Chief Governor — 
 Death of Henry II 172 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Accession of Richard Cceur De Lion— Hugh De 
 Lacy, the younger, Chief Governor — Cathal, the 
 Bloody-handed, Sovereign of Connaught — Battle 
 of Collis Victorias— Heroic Death of Sir Amoric St. 
 Lawrence — William Earl Marshal, Chief Gover- 
 nor — Death of Roderick O'Connor and Richard 
 I. — Accession of John — Meyler Fitz-Henry, 
 Chief Governor — Ambitious proceedings of Wil- 
 liam De Burgo in Connaught — Subdued by Mey- 
 ler Fitz-Henry — Dissensions between De Cour- 
 cey and De Lacy — De Courcey committed to the 
 Tower — Story of his Rencounter with the French 
 Champion— Black Monday — King John's disputes 
 with his Barons — Sufferings of William De Bruse 
 and his Family — Banishment aud Return of the 
 Lacys— Death of King John 200 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Accession of Henry III. — Geoffry De Maurisco, 
 Chief Governor — Sanguinary Hostilities in Con- 
 naught— Maurice Fitz-Gerald,Lord OfFaley, Chief 
 Governor —Arbitrary proceedings of Hubert De
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Burgo — Rash Project and tragical Death of Rich- 
 ard Earl of Pembroke — Rise of the great power 
 of the Geraldines — Story of Thomas Fitz-Gerald 
 Nappagh — Death of Henry III. — Accession of 
 Edward I.— Hostilities between Thomas De Clare 
 and the O'Briens — Battle of Magh-Gressain — 
 Quarrel between De Vesey, the Chief Governor, 
 and John Lord OfFaley — Vigorous Government 
 of Sir John Wogaa 224 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Accession of Edward II. — Piers Gaveston, Chief 
 Governor — Great power and ambition of the Earl 
 of Ulster— Lord Edmund Butler, Chief Governor 
 — Invasion of Edward Bruce — Joint Expedition 
 ofthe Earl of Ulster and Fedhlim O'Connor— Bat- 
 tleofColerain — Defection of Fedhlim O'Connor — 
 Edward Bruce, crowned King of Ireland — Arriv- 
 al of the King of Scotland — Anecdote of Robert 
 Bruee — Progress of Edward Bruce in Munsler — 
 Battle of Athenry— Roger Mortimer, Chief Go- 
 vernor— Battle of Dundalk - Defeat and Death 
 of Bruce 249 
 
 CHAPTER XIV, 
 
 Edward IIL— The Bishop of Ossory and Lady Alice 
 Kettle — Maurice of Desmond and John de la 
 Poer — Insurrection of the Irish — The Palati- 
 nates — Sir Anthony Lucy — Seizure of Desnioad
 
 i:ONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 — Murder of the young Earl of Ulster— Severe 
 Ordinances of King Edward— Contentions among 
 the English Settlers - Vigorous Administration 
 of Sir flalph Ufford— Lionel Duke of Clarence, 
 Chief Governor — Perilous Campaign in Munster 
 — Statute of Kilkenny— Battle of Manister-Ne- 
 nagh <■ » 27 1 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Richard II. — Robert De Vere,Duke of Ireland — 
 King Richard's Expedition to Ireland — Submis- 
 sion of the Irish Chieftains — Royal Festivities in 
 Dublin — Fresh Insurrections — Death of the Earl 
 of March — Richard's Second Expedition— Art 
 Mac Murchard — Deposition and Death of Rich- 
 ard II 293 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Accession of Henry IV. — Duke of Lancaster, Ctief 
 Governor — Insurrections— Loyal Exertions of the 
 Citizens of Dublin — Henry V. — Talbot, Lord 
 Furnival, Chief Governor — Feuds at Waterford — 
 Accession of Henry VI. — Thomas Earl of Des- 
 mond dispossessed by his Uncle —Ambition of the 
 Ustirper — Feuds between Desmond and Ormond 
 — Rise of the contentions between the Houses of 
 York and Lancaster — Richard Duke of York, Lord 
 Lieutenant — Great Popularity of bis Government 
 — O'Connor of Offaley — Wars of the Roses —
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 Thomas Earl of Kildare, Lord Lieutenant — Death 
 of the Duke of York — Accession of Edward IV. 
 — Disordered State of Ireland at this period — 
 Hostilities between the Geraldines and the But- 
 lers — Thomas Earl of Desmond, Chief Governor 
 — His Fall and Execution — The Earl of Kildare, 
 Chief Governor — John Earl of Ormond— Rival 
 Governments of Gerald Earl of Kildare and Lord 
 Grey— Richard III 316
 
 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 Ireland, in extent and population, compre- 
 hends about a third part of the British empire 
 in Europe. Its length is more than three hun- 
 dred English miles ; its breadth about one hun- 
 dred and ninety, while its population exceeds 
 seven millions, a greater number of inhabitants 
 in proportion to its size than any European 
 country possesses, with the exception of the 
 island of jNIalta. The constant freshness of its 
 verdure, owing to the mild temperature of th© 
 climate, has obtained for it the name of the 
 Emerald Isle. Its fertility is so great, that if 
 the waste lands were cultivated, it is calculated 
 that Ireland could support three times its pre-
 
 11 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 sent population. It is less mountainous than 
 Scotland, while its surface is less flat than that 
 of England ; so that the intermixture of hill and 
 dale in almost every part of the country, gene- 
 rally adorned with handsome mansions and rich 
 plantations, and enlivened with smiling corn- 
 fields and herds of cattle, presents to the eye 
 of the traveller a succession of charming scenery, 
 well calculated to fill his soul with delight 
 and gratitude to bounteous heaven. Numer- 
 ous rivers and lakes embellish the glowing 
 landscape ; many fine cities and towns stand on 
 their margins ; while along the coast, command- 
 ing promontories form noble havens capable of 
 containing the largest navies, and the surround- 
 ing seas abound with an inexhaustible supply 
 of the finest fish. 
 
 With these great natural advantages, it is 
 matter of surprize and wonder that the people 
 of Ireland should still be the most wretched 
 portion of the British empire ; and particularly 
 when it is acknowledged that they are brave, 
 generous, talented, and industrious, when the 
 means of industry are in their power. But a
 
 INTRODUCTION. Ill 
 
 great man told the cause some years since, when 
 lie said, that God had done much for Ireland, 
 and man but little. Though abounding with 
 beauties and comforts, the gifts of our Creator, 
 this country from the remotest ages has been so 
 torn by civil warfare and distracted by bad 
 passions, that the inhabitants till very lately 
 have been unable, in any degree, to improve 
 their great advantages. It is true, that the sis- 
 ter nations of England and Scotland also suf- 
 fered many centuries of civil strife, but they 
 have enjoyed with little interruption domestic 
 tranquillity for more than a hundred years, and 
 the advance of their prosperity during that pe- 
 riod has been rapid almost beyond belief; so 
 that the writers of Popular Stories for the young 
 people of those countries, can now sit securely 
 under their own vine and fig-tree, while they 
 celebrate the virtuous and heroic actions of 
 their forefathers, who, by their wisdom and 
 their blood, laid the foundation of that prospe- 
 rity and happiness with which their descen- 
 dants are now so abundantly blessed. 
 
 But though we have not yet attained to this 
 B 2
 
 IV ■ INTRODUCTIONT. 
 
 desirable state, it is no reason that the history 
 of our land of heroes and of song should conti- 
 nue, in this age of advancing light, so little 
 known to its youthful population. I shall, 
 therefore, my young readers, attempt in the 
 following pages to lay before you the most pro- 
 minent features in the history of your native 
 country. You will find in them much to amuse, 
 no little to lament, and if rightly studied, a con- 
 siderable portion of instruction. For history 
 teaches by example, and affords , -incentives to 
 virtue and arguments against vice more powerful 
 than the best-wrought moral theories. But, as 
 the people of this country are the descendants 
 of three different nations, the Irish, the Eng- 
 lish, and the Scotch, its history should be read 
 with considerable caution ; and you should not 
 suffer the cruel and unjust actions committed 
 by the forefathers of any of these to embitter 
 your minds against their descendants. This 
 would be both wicked and unreasonable ; and 
 we accordingly find, that as nations advance in 
 knowledge and the fear of God, these foolish 
 prejudices die away. England and Scotland
 
 INTRODUCTIOX. » V 
 
 are Inhabited by different races as -vvcll as Ire- 
 land ; in the former the English and W^lcli, 
 and in the latter the Highlanders and Lowland- 
 ers were for many ages perpetually quarrelling ; 
 but now they are all loyal and obedient subjects 
 to the same government, and live together in 
 perfect tranquillity.
 
 ANCIENT IRELAND. 
 
 CHAPTER. I 
 
 ANCIENT IRELAND. 
 
 Inhabitants — Government — Military Force — 
 Laws — Manners — Religion. 
 
 The ancient history of Ireland is so full of 
 fable, that I can give you but a hasty glance 
 at it. Many different races of men are said 
 to have inhabited the country before the Dano- 
 nians, m ho, we are told, came from Norway and 
 Sweden about thirteen hundred years previous 
 to the birth of our Saviour. We know so little 
 about this people that I should not have men- 
 tioned them but to tell you an old tradition of 
 the Laigh Fail, or Stone of Destiny. The 
 Danonians are said to have brought this famous 
 stone into Ireland, on which our ancient mo- 
 narchs were crowned, till Fergus the Great,
 
 TUE MILESIANS. 7 
 
 having conquered Scotland, removed it into 
 that country, relying on an old prediction, 
 which has been thus translated, 
 
 Or Fate's belied, or where this stone is found, 
 
 A prince of Scottish* race shall there be crowned. 
 
 This stone was preserved in the xVbbey of 
 Scone with the regalia of Scotland till the year 
 3 296, when Edward I. conveyed it to West- 
 minster Abbey ; and the Kings of Great Bri- 
 tain, who are lineally descended from our old 
 Irish Kings, have been crowned on it ever 
 since. 
 
 The Milesians, a Spanish colony, are said to 
 have arrived in this country about eleven hun- 
 dred years before the birth of our Saviour. — 
 Some celebrated writers have doubts respecting 
 this Milesian colony, but as their existence is 
 the most generally received opinion, we shall 
 not here dispute it. They were under the 
 guidance of two brothers, Heber and Heremon, 
 who were the progenitors of a long line of kings 
 
 * Ireland was then sometimes called Scotia Major, or 
 tlie greater Scotland.
 
 8 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 that ruled for many centuries in different parts 
 of the island. The country, however, appears 
 to have been during that time in such a conti- 
 nual state of distraction, that more than a hun- 
 dred Irish mouarchs are recorded to have pe- 
 rished in battle or by assassination ; nor will you 
 wonder at this when you are made acquainted 
 with the nature of the government that then 
 existed. 
 
 Ireland, for many hundred years before the 
 English invaded the island, was divided into a 
 pentarchy, or five different kingdoms, viz. 
 Munster, (which being the largest, w as again 
 divided into two. North and South,) Leinster, 
 Ulster, Connaught, and Meath. One of the kings 
 always held the dignify of Supreme Monarch, 
 and each had under him various orders of petty 
 chieftains, every one of whom exercised royul 
 power in his own territory. Now you may 
 reasonably suppose, that having so small a coun- 
 try divided into so many little states, must have 
 created endless disorder and confusion among 
 the people, as it was very difficult to prevent 
 them from encroaching on the rights of each
 
 ROYAL RESIDENCES. V 
 
 other ; and what greatly increased the distrac- 
 tions that then prevailed was, that when a king 
 or chief died, he was not succeeded, as in our 
 times, by his eldest son, but elected by the sub- 
 ordinate chieftains from among the relatives of 
 the deceased prince. These elections often 
 occasioned bitter feuds, which caused great des- 
 truction of life and property. 
 
 The Supreme Monarch, who was also general- 
 ly King of Meath, resided at Tarah, in that 
 county, where historians inform us the greatest 
 hospitality and magnificence were displayed. 
 The palace of Eamania, of which some traces 
 still remain near Armagh, w as the royal seat of 
 the Kings of Ulster. The chief residence of 
 the Munster Kings, in early ages, was the city 
 of Cashel ; but in later times they removed to 
 Limerick, and some remains of Kinkora, the 
 palace of the famous Brian Boiromhe, are still to 
 be seen near Killaloe in the county of Clare. — 
 The Sovereigns of Connaught had their royal 
 residence at Cruachain, not far from Boyle in 
 the county of Roscommon, and the Kings of 
 Leinster, at Ferns, in the county of We?iford. 
 B 3
 
 10 MILITARY FORCE. 
 
 Not only the principal sovereigns, but the 
 petty chiefs, derived their revenue from the 
 contributions of their vassals, which were usual- 
 ly delivered in corn or cattle. Justice was ad- 
 ministered in the open air by a certain des- 
 cription of lawyers, called Brehons ; and one of 
 these judgment seats, called the Brehon's Chair, 
 is still shewn on the hill of Kyle, in the 
 Queen's County. Few crimes were at that 
 time punished with death, but by fines propor- 
 tioned to the offence, which were given to the 
 injured party. The general affairs of the na- 
 tion were regulated by an assembly which was 
 held every third year at Tarah. The military 
 force of the country consisted of a militia com- 
 posed of horse and foot. The former were 
 armed with arrows and javelins, and the latter 
 with darts, long swords, pole-axes, and a kind 
 of knives called skeyns. They had but too many 
 occasions to exhibit their bravery, and who has 
 not heard of the exploits of the Irish militia 
 under Fionn Mac Cumhail, as recorded by the 
 Poet Ossian, and our ancient historians ? 
 
 These writers also inform us, that this
 
 MILITARY FORCE. 11 
 
 band of heroes, which might be called the Irish 
 standing army, consisted of nine thousand men 
 during peace, and twenty-one thousand in time 
 of war, and that the following qualifications were 
 required to be possessed by every candidate 
 for admission into it :^he should have a poetical 
 genius — be able to leap over a tree as high as 
 his forehead, and stoop easily under ano- 
 ther as low as his knees — should be chari- 
 table to the poor, never do violence to a 
 woman, or turn his back on nine men of any 
 other nation! They had subsistence allowed 
 them only in the winter half-year. In the sum- 
 mer months they were encamped in the fields, 
 and lived by hunting and fishing ; and the hus- 
 bandman is said still frequently to discover 
 marks of their fires. The other troops consisted of 
 the vassals of the crown and of the petty chief- 
 tains, who were bound to attend their leader to 
 the field ; and they always rushed to the fight 
 to the sound of military music, and the martial 
 cry of Farrah ! Farrah ! that is, Fall on ! Fall 
 on ! In later times the war-cry of the diff"erent 
 septs or clans, terminated with the word abo ! or
 
 12 MANNERS. 
 
 Huzza! with the name of their leader or his 
 crest prefixed — thus the O'Neills' cry was 
 Lamh-dearg-abo ! Huzza for Red Hand ! and 
 that of the Butlers, Butler-abo ! Huzza for 
 Butler 1 
 
 You may now be curious to know how 
 the people generally lived in those days. — 
 As the cultivation of corn was then little at- 
 tended to, the food of the peasantry mostly 
 consisted of milk, wild vegetables, and the 
 flesh of animals taken in hunting, whose skins 
 also furnished them with clothing, before they 
 learned the art of manufacturing woollen and 
 linen cloth. The higher orders enjoyed the 
 luxury of bread usually baked under the em- 
 bers, and their entertainments exhibited a 
 degree of hospitality which would not shame 
 their descendants of the present day, though 
 not attended with the same accompaniments of 
 magnificent apartments, or splendid furniture. 
 Three-le'jged tables were covered with milk- 
 meats, bread, and a variety of flesh and fish, 
 dressed in different ways, round which the 
 gaests sat ou rushes or beds of grass, instead of
 
 RELIGION. 13 
 
 chairs or benches ; while the attendants served 
 them, in cups of wood, horn, or brass, with mead, 
 a strong drink called criirmi, extracted from bar- 
 ley or milk, and sometimes with Poitou wine, 
 which the Irish received from France in ex- 
 change for the skins of animals. At these en- 
 tertainments, bards or minstrels always attend- 
 ed, and sang the praises of their heroes to the 
 music of the harp. 
 
 The religion that existed in Ireland before 
 the establishment of Christianity was similar to 
 that which then prevailed in England and 
 many other countries. It was called the Drui- 
 dical religion, and its priests appear to have 
 acquired great authority in directing the affairs 
 of the state. They had no temples , but cele- 
 brated the rites of their religion in groves of 
 oak, where they worshipped the sun, moon, 
 and other celestial luminaries. We are left 
 very much in the dark as to the opinions and 
 practices of the Druids ; for while some writers 
 assert that they had neither idols nor sacrifices ; 
 others, and particularly Julius Caesar, state, 
 that they sometimes made images of osier of a
 
 14 ANCIENT KINGS. 
 
 monstrous size, A?hlch they filled with living 
 men, and then setting them on fire, burned the 
 enclosed victims to death. 
 
 We have also very imperfect accounts of the 
 Irish Kings while Paganism prevailed in the 
 country. A few, however, have been celebrat- 
 ed for their wisdom and bravery. Amongst 
 these was Ollam Fodhla, the celebrated law- 
 giver of Ireland, who flourished about eight hun- 
 dred years before the Christian era. Hugony, 
 Crimthan, and other kings, distinguished them- 
 selves in after times by assisting the Scots and 
 Picts against the Romans, and they frequently 
 returned with rich trophies of their prowess. — 
 Niall (surnamed of the Nine Hostages) carried 
 his arms both into England and France, but he 
 perished by assassination A. D. 379, on the 
 banks of the river Loire. There is little doubt 
 that the Irish of that period were as distin- 
 guished for their valour as they have been in 
 later times.
 
 INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY, 
 
 St. Patrick. 
 
 By whom Christianity was first introduced 
 into this country is as uncertain, as many other 
 particulars of our early history. It is, how- 
 ever, very generally believed that some Christian 
 churches were established, particularly in the 
 South, before the arrival of St. Patrick. This 
 great and good man, who is called the Apostle 
 of Ireland, was born in Scotland, in the year 
 372. When only sixteen years old, he was 
 taken prisoner by some Irish pirates, and was 
 kept six years in slavery by an Ulster prince. 
 At the end of that period he escaped, and 
 spent many years under the tuition of his uncle, 
 who was bishop of Tours in France. ^ lie af-
 
 16 ST. PATRICK. 
 
 terwards entered the church, and continued in 
 France and Italy till he had attained his sixtieth 
 year, when, accompanied by more than thirty 
 assistants, men of great piety and learning, he 
 undertook the mission for the conversion of the 
 Irish, a people by whom he had been so cruelly 
 treated in his youth. He first landed at Wick- 
 low, and converted a prince named Sinell to 
 Christianity, but being greatly opposed by 
 other Pagan chieftains, he was compelled to 
 return to his ship, and directed his course to 
 that part of the North of Ireland where he had 
 formerly been a captive. 
 
 I am suie you must feel greatly interested in 
 the future success of our patron saint, as he is 
 called, whose memory is annually celebrated on 
 the 17th of March, not indeed in the manner 
 which the good man, were he now alive, 
 would approve of, as drunkenness and debauch- 
 ery are very muchopposed to the religionwhich 
 he taught. St. Patrick's first convert in the 
 North was a prince of Down, named Di- 
 chu, who immediately erected a church to 
 the true God, near the bay of Dundrum^ which
 
 ST. PATRICK. 17 
 
 was afterwards called the Abbey of Saul ; so 
 that this was the first Christian church in the 
 North of Ireland. V After this, he and his com- 
 panions preached the Gospel with great suc- 
 cess in other parts of the Xorth, and in the fol- 
 lowing year, that is A. D. 433, St. Patrick re- 
 paired to Tarah in the county of Meath, where 
 Leogair, then the Supreme Monarch, resided, 
 and at a time when the Grand Convention of 
 Parliament was assembled ; and he preached 
 before them with such powerful effect, that the 
 king, the queen, and a great number of the no- 
 bility, embraced Christianity ; and their exam- 
 ple was soon followed by multitudes of the 
 common people. He was equally successful in 
 Dublin, where he baptized King Alphin, with 
 a vast number of his subjects, in a fountain, 
 (from this called St. Patrick's Well,), which 
 the learned Archbishop Usher tells us" stood 
 near the present cathedral church of St. Pa- 
 trick, and that he saw it in the year 1639, but 
 that soon after it was shut up and enclosed 
 within a private house. Connaught was next 
 blessed by his labours, and St Patrick spent
 
 18 ST. PATRICK. 
 
 sixteen years in planting and establishing 
 churches in the three provinces. During this 
 time he founded the city and cathedral of Ar- 
 magh, and made it the primatial or head see of 
 Ireland. 
 
 You may be somewhat surprised that our 
 faithful and zealous Apostle, had not, in all this 
 time visited the great kingdom of Munster; 
 but he knew that some good missionaries had 
 arrived in that quarter, as I told you before, 
 who had for many years been preaching the 
 doctrines of Christianity. They had obtain- 
 ed considerable success among the poor and the | 
 middle ranks of the people, but very few of the 
 princes or great men paid any attention to them. ,/ 
 St. Patrick, therefore, found it necessary at 
 length to go himself to Munster, hoping that 
 through the blessing of God, he might effect 
 their conversion. And he succeeded according to 
 his wish ; for soon after he began his ministry in 
 Cashel, the royal seat of Aengus, king of Mun- 
 ster, that sovereign and all the nobles of his 
 court became obedient to the faith. St. Pa- 
 trick then made the four missionaries who had
 
 ST. PATRICK. 19 
 
 arrived in Munster before him, whose names 
 were Ailbe, Declan, Kiaran, and Ibar, bishops, 
 and placed the church in that kingdom on a regu- 
 lar footing. After spending seven years in tra- 
 velling about that part of the country, he re- 
 signed the government of the See of Armagh, 
 and passed the remaining thirty years of his 
 life in retirement at the Abbey of Saul, where 
 he died A. D. 492, aged one hundred and twen- 
 ty, and was buried in Downpatrick. 
 
 But though all the kings of Ireland with 
 their subjects now openly professed the Chris- 
 tian religion, it appears to have produced little 
 effect on their general character and conduct, 
 though no doubt some good men were occa- 
 sionally to be found amongst them. The perpe- 
 tual quarrels between the numerous indepen- 
 dent chieftains, and their thirst for military 
 glory, rendered our island during the sixth and 
 seventh centuries a frightful picture of intestine 
 war. The great men, however, evinced much 
 ardour in the building of churches and colleges ; 
 and it is very probable that from this circum- 
 stance rather than from any superiority in the
 
 20 ST. PATRICK. 
 
 practice of piety, Ireland got the name of the 
 Island of Saints.., You are not, however, to 
 suppose, that it was at that time in a worse 
 state with regard to religion than the neigh- 
 bouring nations ; for it is too evident from 
 history, that in all countries during what are 
 called the dark ages, the form was too often 
 substituted for the substance of religion ; and 
 that while men were building churches and 
 endowing monasteries in honour of their Maker, 
 they indulged the most brutal passions, and 
 practised every vice in opposition to his most 
 sacred prohibitions. There can, however, be 
 little doubt, that learning at that time flourish- 
 ed more in Ireland than in any other country 
 in Europe. This is proved by the magnificent 
 colleges that existed at Armagh, Lismore, ( where 
 the great king Alfred is said to have studied,) 
 Clonard and other places, to which students re- 
 sorted from many foreign kingdoms, and from 
 the fact that some of the highest offices of the 
 Church in France, Italy, and Germany, were 
 fdled by Irishmen. Yet notwithstanding the 
 apparently flourishing state of religion and
 
 ST. PATRICK. 21 
 
 learning at this time, the Irish historians tell us, 
 that out of twenty-three monarchs who reigned 
 in the sixth and seventh centuries, not less 
 than twenty perished by violent deaths, and 
 many thousands of their subjects experienced a 
 similar fate.
 
 22 THE DANES. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE DANES. 
 
 Battle of Armagh — Heroic Conduct and Death 
 of Niall III. — Horrible Cruelties of Tur- 
 gesius — Stratagem of the Monarch Malachy 
 — Death of the Tyrant — General Destruc- 
 tion of the Danes. 
 
 We have now come to a period in our his- 
 tory, when a neAV era of suffering opened on 
 this country, by adding the miseries attend- 
 ant on a foreign invasion to the horrors of 
 domestic strife. In the eighth century hordes 
 of Danes, Norwegians, and other Northern na- 
 tions, rushed from their inhospitable deserts, to 
 plunder and, if possible, form establishments in 
 the more fertile regions of the South. France, 
 England, and Scotland, were greatly harassed 
 by these barbarians ; and towards the close
 
 THE DANES. 23 
 
 of the century, bodies of them disembarked 
 on ^^rious parts of tlie Irish coast. They 
 penetrated the country, seized immense plunder, 
 and with merciless rage killed all the inhabi- 
 tants who fell into their power. Amongst 
 many other depredations in Ulster, they des- 
 troyed the famous Abbey of Bangor, and put 
 the monks, nine hundred in number, to the 
 sword ; but the massacre of these good men was 
 soon avenged by the king of that country, who 
 destroyed twelve hundred of the barbarians, 
 and drove the remainder to their ships. The 
 people of Leinster and Munster also defeated 
 the invaders in several encounters ; but after 
 thus for several years bravely repelling them 
 from their coasts, their own fatal intestine com- 
 motions at length rendered the Irish an easy 
 prey to this ruthless enemy. 
 
 Hugh V. who then reigned over Ireland, 
 and the provincial kings, instead of uniting 
 their stretigth to resist the common foe, by 
 whom they were so constantly harassed, were 
 continually quarrelling amongst themselves, 
 and the consequences proved horribly destruc-
 
 24 TURGESIUS. 
 
 tive to the country. You may recollect the' 
 fable of the bundle of sticks, wliich the wise 
 old man when he was dying, desired his sons 
 to attempt to break. They endeavoured in 
 vain to do it — but when their father desired 
 them to separate the bundle, each stick was 
 easily broken. This he did to teach his chil- 
 dren the great advantages of union ; and with- 
 out it neither families or nations can be secure 
 or happy. This want of union left Ireland at 
 the mercy of the Northern barbarians for near- 
 ly three centuries, and it has been the chief 
 cause of her miseries ever since. 
 
 Early in the ninth century, a larger army of 
 the Danes than had been previously landed in 
 Ireland arrived, under the command of Turge- 
 sius, the son of Harold Harfager, King of 
 Norway, who dividing his force into three bo- 
 dies, carried desolation and death through the 
 entire Northern half of the island, while his 
 fleet ravaged the coasts, and plundered Lime- 
 rick, Cork, and Galway. They spared neither 
 age or sex ; and as the Danes were at that time 
 Pagans, the clergy were peculiar objects of
 
 TURGE5IUS. 25 
 
 their vengeance, all who escaped death being 
 obliged to conceal themselves in woods, bogs, 
 or subterraneous caves. Manj churches, ab- 
 beys, and colleges were destroyed, as these 
 barbarians were enemies alike of religion and 
 learning, and in this general devastation many 
 of our ancient records w ere lost. But w hile 
 the country was suffering all these calamities, 
 Connor, the reigning monarch, was carrying 
 on a destructive warfare with the people 
 of Leinster, in which thousands perished ; and 
 when at length this dispute was terminated by 
 his successor Nial III. and the Irish united to 
 resist their cruel invaders, their strength was so 
 weakened, that the Danes put them to a total 
 route. 
 
 After this victory Turgesius proceeded to 
 adopt the most vigorous measures to secure his 
 conquests. He erected fortifications in differ- 
 ent parts of the country, many of which still 
 remain, and are known by the name of Danish 
 raths ; and having taken Dublin by storm in 
 838, he built a fort in it, from whence he 
 spread his ravages through all the surrounding 
 c
 
 26 BATTLE OF THE ARMAGH. 
 
 country. But the spirit of the Irish was not 
 yet subdued, and having for a time abandoned 
 their private quarrels, they gained some impor- 
 tant advantages over their oppressors. Se- 
 ven hundred of them were slain by Malachy, 
 King of Meath ; while Tomair, prince Royal of 
 Denmark, with twelve hundred of his followers, 
 perished in a battle with the united forces of 
 Munster and Leinster. The monarch Nial III. 
 now resolved on vigorous measures to drive the 
 enemy from his strong holds in Ulster, and af- 
 ter gaining an important triumph over them in 
 Tirconnell (now Donegal) he pursued them to 
 Armagh, their head-quarters. The Danes met 
 Niall in his advance, and the contending hosts 
 fought spear to spear, and man to man, with 
 desperate valour. Victory, however, declared 
 for the native troops ; the Danes were com- 
 pletely vanquished ; the few survivors of their 
 army fled precipitately towards the river Callan to 
 take refuge in the numerous fortifications which 
 they had erected in that part of the country, 
 and thither they were pursued by the victors
 
 HEROIC DEATH OF NIALL III. 27 
 
 till the night closed upon this scene of car- 
 nas^e. 
 
 But the exultation caused by this signal vic- 
 tory, was quickly damped by the death of the 
 heroic Niall, in consequence of an action which 
 confers on his memory more glory than even 
 his triumph over the cruel oppressors of his 
 country. Heavy rains having swelled the Cal- 
 lan, the river had burst its usual bounds, and 
 interrupted the march of the victors to Armagh. 
 At the foot of TuUachmore-hill, which the river 
 divides from Umgola, Niall halted the troops 
 that surrounded his person, and at his command 
 one of the warriors attempted to pass the ford, 
 but was instantly dashed from his horse by the 
 impetuosity of the torrent. Niall commanded 
 his guard to make every effort for his preserva- 
 tion : as they seemed, however, transfixed by 
 terror at the danger, the magnanimous king 
 pushed forward with the generous determina- 
 tion to save the warrior or perish in the attempt. 
 But when he approached the brink of the river, 
 the ground, undermined by the torrent, sank 
 beneath his horse's feet, and the monarch was 
 
 I
 
 28 MALACIIY I. 
 
 precipitated into the flood, where death termi- 
 nated his career in the 55th year of his age. — 
 Until very lately a simple tumulus or elevation of 
 earth called ' Nial's Mound,' marked the spot 
 on the banks of the Callan where this heroic 
 prince met his death, while human skulls, 
 bones, brazen trumpets, and other vestiges of 
 this sanguinary day, have been frequently 
 found in the neighbouring fields and bogs. 
 
 Malachy, the successor of Niall, was a mo' 
 narch only in name. Turgesius usurped the 
 entire sovereignty of the country, and having 
 received great reinforcements from the North 
 of Europe to support his authority, commenced 
 a system of operations for breaking the spirit and 
 destroying the religion and liberties of the un- 
 happy Irish, the horrible recital of which you 
 cannot read without shuddering. It should, 
 however, make you extremely grateful to God 
 that the times you live in are so different ; and 
 as you grow up to manhood it should render 
 you anxious to support that happy system of 
 government under which you enjoy so many 
 blessings.
 
 DANISH CRUELTIES. 29 
 
 Turgesius now spread devastation and ra- 
 pine on every side. All wlio resisted were 
 put to instant death, or compelled to fly 
 into the woods or fastnesses, where they pc 
 rished by thousands. The fate of those who 
 submitted to the tyrant was still more horrible. 
 Danish governors were placed over certain 
 districts of the country, and in every town or 
 village ; while the soldiers w ere quartered in 
 the houses of the people, many of whom were 
 impoverished to supply the wants of these vo- 
 racious monsters ; and their wives and children 
 often became the victims of their libidinous de- 
 sires. Every master of a family was obliged to 
 pay annually into the tyrant's treasury an ounce 
 of gold, in failure of which his nose was pub- 
 licly cut off — hence this tax was called the nose- 
 rent. The very kind of clothes they wore 
 was prescribed to them ; and they were not al- 
 lowed to have any social entertainments amongst 
 themselves, to practice any feats of activity or 
 martial sports, to enter any school, monastery, 
 or church, or employ a clergyman, lawyer, or 
 bard. All the churches and monasteries were 
 c 2
 
 30 malachy's stratagem. 
 
 either devoted to the flames, or converted into 
 temples for the worship of their gods Woden, 
 Thor and Friga. 
 
 Having suppressed every attempt of the na- 
 tives for the subversion of his cruel tyranny, 
 Turgesius conceived that his authority was now 
 firmly fixed. He took up his residence in the 
 neighbourhood of Malachy, whom he acknow- 
 ledged only as king of Meath ; and at length he 
 carried his insolence so far as to demand for a 
 concubine, the daughter of the unhappy monarch, 
 a princess of great beauty and accomplishments. 
 Incensed as Malachy was at this insulting pro- 
 posal, he thought it necessary to dissemble, 
 and made it the ground-work of a plan for rid- 
 ding his country of this vile monster. He even 
 affected to feel pleased with the demand, as a 
 proof of the friendship of Turgesius, and told 
 him that his daughter should be accompanied 
 to his residence by fifteen young ladies of his 
 court, which would probably make her less re- 
 luctant to leave her father's palace. As soon as 
 Turgesius had retired, Malachy communicated 
 Ills project to fifteen youthful warriors on
 
 DEATH OF TURGESIUS. 31 
 
 •whose valour and integrity he could depend ; 
 and on the appointed night they accompanied 
 the young princess, all dressed in rich female 
 attire, to the palace of the Danish king. Tur- 
 gesius was then feasting with some of his fa- 
 vourite chieftainSj to whom he boasted of this 
 fresh triumph over the unfortunate Malachy ; 
 but as soon as the arrival of the princess and 
 her train was announced, he and his licentious 
 companions hastened to receive them, first lay- 
 ing aside their arms, that they might not terri- 
 fy the ladies. Turgesius immediately advanced 
 towards the princess, when at that moment the 
 Irish youths threw aside the robes by which 
 they had been disguised, drew their swords, 
 and put every one of the Danish chieftains to 
 death, with the exception of Turgesius himself, 
 who was commanded on pain of instant des- 
 truction to make no alarm. 
 
 Malachy had by this time arrived with 
 a chosen band of soldiers, and having burst 
 into the fort sword in hand, put the whole 
 garrison to death. Turgesius, loaded with 
 fetters, was thrown into prison, and was
 
 32 GENERAL SLAUGHTER OF 
 
 drawn a few days after to Loch Annin, 
 in which lie was drowned in the presence 
 of thousands of exulting spectators. — " Out 
 flew," says old Campion, " the fame of this 
 action into all quarters of Ireland, and the 
 princes nothing dull to catch hold of such ad- 
 vantage, with one assent rose ready to pursue 
 their liberty. All Meath and Leinster were 
 soon gathered to Malachy, the father of this 
 practice, who lightly leapt to horse, and com- 
 mending their forwardness in so natural a quar- 
 rel, said, ' Lordings and friends, this case nei- 
 ther admitteth delay nor asketh policy, heart 
 and haste is all in all ; while the feat is young 
 and strong, that of our enemies some sleep, 
 some sorrow, some curse, some consult, all dis- 
 mayed, let us anticipate their fury, dismember 
 their force, cut off their flight, occupy their 
 ])laces of refuge and succour. It is no mastery 
 to pluck their feathers but their necks, nor to 
 chase them in, but to rouse them out ; to weed 
 them, not to rake them ; not to tread them 
 down but to dig them up. This lesson the 
 tyrant himself hath taught me: I once de-
 
 THE DANES. 33 
 
 maiided liim in a parable, by what good hus- 
 bandry the land might be rid of certain crows 
 that annoyed it ; he advised to watch where 
 they had bred, and to fire the nests about their 
 ears. We go thus upon these cormorants that 
 shroud themselves in our possessions, and let 
 us destroy them so, that neither nest, nor root, 
 nor seed, nor stalk, nor stubble may remain of 
 this ungracious generation." 
 
 Nor were the natives slow in following this 
 exhortation. In every quarter they rose upon 
 their cruel oppressors, stormed their towns and 
 forts, and slaughtered many of their chief no- 
 bility with thousands of their soldiers. Num- 
 bers of the Danes fled to their ships, and escap- 
 ed to their own country, while the few that 
 remained were disarmed and received to mercy 
 by the natives.
 
 UEIflN OF FLAN. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Reign of Flan—Cormac Mac Cuillenan^ King 
 of Munster— Battle of Magh-Albe^ and 
 Death of Cormac—Settlement of Munster— 
 Stori/ of Callaghan— Per fall) of Sitricus the 
 Dane— Extraordinary Sea Fight at Dimdalk 
 — Ihillle of Sin gland— Mahon King of Mun- 
 ster— Capture of Limerick — Murder of 
 Mahon. 
 
 Vou are, no doubt, ready to suppose, that 
 tlu" cruel and long protracted suiferings which 
 tlu- Irish had endured under their foreign ty- 
 rants, Mould have tauglit their rulers the neces- 
 sity of cultivating union amongst themselves, 
 aiul guarding uith the utmost vigilance against 
 any future inroads of their barbarous enemies. 
 Hill unhaj)pily this uas not the case. The 
 Daiiixli merchants had introduced a taste for
 
 REIGN OF FLAN. 35 
 
 foreign luxuries, and rather than give them up, 
 the Irish entrusted the remnant of their van- 
 quished foes with the guardianship of their 
 sea-ports, the great outworks of the nation ; 
 and no sooner were the natives delivered from 
 the detested yoke of the foreigners, than civil 
 discord again burst forth amongst themselves in 
 all its horrors. In the midst of these convulsions 
 fresh colonies of the Northern rovers took pos- 
 session of the important cities of Dublin, Wa- 
 terford, and Limerick, which they fortified; but 
 various attempts to re-establish their authority 
 in the interior of the country, being repulsed 
 with great slaughter, Ireland, during the reign 
 of the monarch Flan, which commenced in 879, 
 enjoyed an unusual degree of prosperity. — 
 The lands w ere every where cultivated ; the 
 churches and abbeys, which had so long been 
 in ruins, were rebuilt, and the schools of learn- 
 ing again opened and filled with students. But 
 this state of things was too soon interrupted 
 by hostilities between Flan and Cormac Mac 
 Cuillenan, who was at the same time king of 
 Munster and Archbishop of Cashcl. Cormac
 
 36 CORMAC MAC CUILLENAN. 
 
 has been greatly celebrated for his piety and 
 talents, but he unfortunately allowed himself 
 to be too much guided by his relation O'Fla- 
 herty, Abbot of Inniscattery, a fiery and am- 
 bitious man, who urged him to invade the ter- 
 ritories of Leinster, under the unjust pretext 
 of demanding tribute. Though the king en- 
 tertained a presentiment that he should perish 
 in the expedition, he unaccountably followed 
 the advice of the ambitious abbot, and march- 
 ed towards Leinster at the head of a numerous 
 army. On the way he was met by a herald 
 from the king of Leinster oflfering the most ho- 
 nourable terms of peace, which Cormac was 
 disposed to accept ; but the furious abbot went 
 so faras to upbraid him with cowardice, and such 
 was his influence over his infatuated sovereign, 
 that he dismissed the ambassador. The mo- 
 narch Flan, disgusted at this conduct, joined 
 his forces to those of the king of Leinster, and 
 this intelligence spread such alarm amongst the 
 Munster troops, that they broke out into loud 
 murmurs against the king and his unworthy 
 favorite.
 
 BATTLE OE MAGH-ALBE. 37 
 
 But notwithstanding these unfavourable ap- 
 pearances, Cormac was persuaded to engage in 
 an unequal contest, the force of his enemies 
 being more than two to one, and in a cause 
 which was considered unjust even by the prin- 
 cipal leaders of his army. From the high cha- 
 racter which he had previously possessed, 
 this is the more extraordinary, and presents one 
 of the most striking proofs which history af- 
 fords us of the fatal influence which unworthy 
 favourites sometimes acquire over the actions of 
 princes. The king of IMunster pitched his camp 
 in the plain of Magh-Albe, where he resolved to 
 wait for his antagonist. He divided his array into 
 three bodies, the first of which was command- 
 ed by the prince of Ossory and the abbot of 
 Inniscattery (for churchmen often headed ar- 
 mies in those days;) Cormac himself Mas to 
 lead on the second, and at the head of the third 
 was the prince of the Decies. 
 
 The Allies with the monarch of Ireland at 
 their head, were soon in sight of Cormac's en- 
 campment ; and the moment the signal was made 
 for battle, the prince of Ossory with another 
 
 D_ 
 
 ^1 ;• 'V/?._. -^ 

 
 38 DEATH OF KING CORMAC. 
 
 general, who had opposed the war, abandoned 
 a contest wliich he looked upon as hopeless. 
 The battle began witli irresistible fury on the 
 part of tlic Leinster forces, while the Munster 
 army, dispirited at once by the inferiority of 
 their numbers, and the injustice of their cause, 
 scarcely made resistance, but quickly abandon- | 
 ed tlu' field, and were miserably slaughtered in 
 the pursuit. The king of Munster vainly en- 
 deavoured to rally his broken forces by ex- 
 posing his person wherever danger pressed ; but 
 wliile thus endeavouring to animate his flying 
 soldiers he was flung from his horse into a pit, 
 from whence he was extricated and with diffi- 
 culty remounted by some of his followers, who 
 after this service abandoned him to his fate. — 
 This was quickly decided, but not by the hand 
 of the enemy. Attempting to climb a steep 
 ascent, made slippery with blood, his horse 
 ni;ul«' a false step, and tumbled with his rider 
 to the bottom. Cormac's neck and back bone 
 w«t«- broken, and he instantly expired. 
 
 His body being found by a party of the 
 victorious troops, tliey cut off his head, and
 
 GENEROUS CONDUCT OF FLAX. 30 
 
 carried it in triumph to the Irish monarch ; 
 but the generous Flan, instead of appearing 
 gratified, loudlj condemned the barbarous 
 act; taking up the ghastly head, he kissed it, 
 and, with tears, lamented the instability of human 
 greatness, as evinced in the sad fate of this re- 
 vered prince and prelate, and ordered his re- 
 mains to be interred with all the respect due 
 to royal dignity. Tn this sanguinary battle six 
 princes of Munster fell, with many of the nobi- 
 lity and clergy ; and the abbot of Inniscattery, 
 the first fomenter of this fatal war, was among 
 the prisoners. 
 
 I told you before, that Cormac Mac Cuillenan 
 was an archbishop as well as a king ; he was 
 consequently a great friend to the church. He 
 built the cathedral, the ruins of which are still 
 to be seen on the celebrated Rock of Cashel. — 
 He wrote a book called the Royal Psalter, in 
 which he transcribed the ancient records of his 
 kingdom, and by his will he left a number of 
 rich vestments, and a great many ounces of 
 gold and silver to different churches and abbeys. 
 You may be surprised to hear of ounces of gold
 
 40 TllF. AnnOT OF INNISC.VTTF.RY. 
 
 niid silver, inst<';i<I of pounds, shillioi^s mid poiico ; 
 but you must uudcrstand tliatat the timo wlirn 
 C'ormar livod, tlicrc was little or no roincd 
 money in Ireland except among tl»e Danes ; and 
 every (hinj; was paid for in corn or cattle, or with 
 gold and silver by weight. The precious me- 
 tals were at fhat time very scarc<', as the rich 
 mines of Soutli America were not then disco- 
 vered. 15ut (o make annMuls for this, all sorts 
 of j)rovisions wore exceedingly cheap, so that 
 in those days one could purchase u cow for (ivo 
 shillings which would now cost more than us 
 many pounds. 
 
 You may now, 1 doubt not, be anxious to know 
 what became of the abbot Flaherty, who had 
 advised the good king ('ormac to measures 
 whicli ciulrd in liis defeat and deatli. I told you 
 before that he was tak«Mi prisoner by the victo- 
 rious army, and tlu' clergy and peoi)l(; of Lein- 
 sterwereso enraged against him as the caus(M)f 
 so much bloodslied, tliat they assailed him with 
 the most opj)robrious language, and he was kept 
 in prison during the life of Carol, the king of 
 Leinster. A t his drath, the abbot was liberated ;
 
 NIALL IV. 41 
 
 but even then such was the rage of the peo- 
 ple against him, that they would have torn him 
 to pieces, had not the clergy escorted him out 
 of Leinster. Yet I have the happiness to tell 
 you, that his sufferings, and the recollection of 
 the miseries his bad advice had occasioned, pro- 
 duced a good effect upon him, and he retired 
 to his monastery of Inniscattery, (a celebrated 
 island in the river Shannon, Avhere the ruins of 
 eleven churches are still to be seen ;) and there 
 he gave himself up wholly to devotion. But 
 in a few years after this, on the death of Cor- 
 mac's successor, the abbot Flaherty was called 
 to iill the throne of Munster, and he governed 
 the kingdom with great applause till his death. 
 From the whole of this narrative, we may learn 
 these important lessons, that the best and wisest 
 of men may be led astray by listening to evil 
 counsellors ; and that the m orst, by repentance 
 and reformation, may again become useful 
 members of society. . 
 
 The generous monarch Flan died in the year 
 916, after the unusually long reign in Ireland of 
 thirty-seven years, and was succeeded by Niall 
 D 2
 
 42 DONOGH II. 
 
 IV. who was soon called to defend his domi- 
 nions against fresh inroads of the Danes. — 
 Amelanus, after committing great ravages in 
 Munster and Leinster, proceeded to the North, 
 where he stormed the city of Armagh, and put 
 a thousand of the inhabitants to death. The 
 monarch Niall avenged this act of cruelty by a 
 great victory which he gained over Amelanus 
 near Lough Foyle ; but the Danes being fur- 
 nished with fresh reinforcements from their own 
 country under Sitricus, the gallant Niall, with 
 most of his generals, was defeated and slain be- 
 fore he had completed the third year of his reign. 
 His successor was Donogh II. the son of Flan, 
 a man in every way unworthy of such a father, as 
 not only being wholly unequal to the task of 
 governing the country at such a crisis, but be- 
 cause he was the first who had the baseness to 
 enter into an alliance with the destroyers of his 
 country. 
 
 The story which I am now going to relate, 
 obliges me to call your attention to the settle- 
 ment of the kingdom of Munster. Afterthe death 
 of Flaherty, the succession to the crown was
 
 KENNEDY. 43 
 
 contested for some time between Callaghaiij a 
 prince of the same house, and Kennedy the son of 
 Lorcan, king of Thomond, (a country compris- 
 ing the present counties of Clare, Limerick, and 
 part of Tipperary,) whom Cormac had appointed 
 his successor. Both these families were descend- 
 ed from Olliol-Ollum,a king who reigned in Mun- 
 ster about seven hundred years before; and who, 
 previous to his death, made a singular regulation, 
 that a prince of each family should alternately 
 enjoy the crown. But this had never been 
 acted upon, and forty-four kings of what was 
 called the Eugenian race followed in lineal suc- 
 cession. Callaghan had no military force to 
 support his claim to the crown, yet on the inter- 
 cession of his mother, the generous Kennedy 
 waved his right, and continued ever after the 
 faithful adviser and friend of his rival. I am 
 more particular in mentioning this circumstance 
 to you, because Kennedy was the father of one 
 of the best friends to his country that Ireland 
 ever possessed, whom J will soon introduce to 
 your notice. 
 
 Callaghan was scarcely seated on his throne
 
 44 CALLAGHA.N, KING OF MUNSTER. 
 
 when he was called upon to defend it against 
 the ever-watchful enemies of the peace of Ire- 
 land. This he accomplished with great vigour 
 and bravery, defeating the Danes in several 
 pitched battles, till he completely reduced their 
 power in Munster. In one of these engage- 
 ments, the wife and sister of the Danish prince 
 Sitricus, were taken prisoners, and conveyed to 
 Waterford, where they were treated by Cal- 
 laghan with marked attention until their release. 
 Sitricus was soon after appointed king of Dub- 
 lin by his countrymen, and believing that the 
 charms of the princess had made some impres- 
 sion on the youthful king of Munster, he laid a 
 stratagem of getting him by this means into his 
 power. Having for some time kept up a 
 friendly correspondence with Donogh, and 
 knowing that he was then on ill terms with the 
 king of Munster, he ventured to disclose his 
 project to him, which was not only acquiesced 
 in,' but applauded by that base and inglorious 
 monarch. 
 
 Having secured this important point, the 
 crafty Sitricus sent an ambassador to Callaghan
 
 STRATAGEM OF SITRICUS. 45 
 
 to propose a treaty of alliance to him, and as a 
 means of cementing it, he offered him his sister, 
 the princess Bevina, in marriage. As the young 
 king was already enamoured of this lady's 
 beauty and accomplishments, he lost sight of 
 every prudential consideration which should 
 have prevented him from forming so close a 
 connexion with the devoted enemy of his family 
 and his country ; and notwithstanding the 
 remonstrances of his faithful counsellor Ken- 
 nedy, who pointed out the hazard of trusting 
 to the promises of a deadly foe and a Pagan, he 
 fell into the snare. Leaving the government of 
 the kingdom to Kennedy, he set out soon after 
 for the court of Sitricus, accompanied by a 
 splendid retinue of eighty young nobles of 
 Munster, among whom was Dunchan, the son 
 of Kennedy, to ratify the treaty in person, and 
 solemnize his marriage. 
 
 Sitricus had communicated his intentions to 
 his wife, who was a native of Ireland ; and she, 
 either from personal regard for Callaghan, whom 
 she had known when his captive at Water- 
 ford, or from the higher motive of love of couu- 
 F 3
 
 46 BATTLE OF KILMAINIIAM. 
 
 try, sent him secret information of the treach- 
 erous design, as soon as he arrived in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Dublin. The king of Munster 
 now saw his folly and imprudence when it was 
 too late ; for Sitricus, lest his devoted prey 
 should escape his toils, had placed bodies of 
 Danish soldiers in ambush for a considerable 
 distance along the road, who, when Callaghan 
 attempted to retrace his steps, completely cut 
 off his retreat. His valour, however, and that 
 of his brave nobles, was almost roused to mad- 
 ness by this act of perfidy ; and near Kilmain- 
 ham, this small but gallant band rushed upon 
 their treacherous assailants with such irresisti- 
 ble fury, that the Danes must have been ex- 
 terminated, had they not received strong rein- 
 forcements from the city. Still the nobles of 
 Munster fought around their sovereign, till 
 almost every man had ceased to breathe, and 
 then Callaghan with his young friend Dunchan 
 were led in triumph into Dublin, having stipu- 
 lated that they should be treated as prisoners of 
 war. 
 
 The perfidious Sitricus now finding that he
 
 KENNEDY'S PRECAUTION. 47 
 
 was prevented by the law of nations from putting 
 his victims to death, threatened to send them 
 to Armagh, and from thence to Norway, unless 
 the cities of Limerick, Cashel, Waterford, 
 and Cork were put into his hands, and a fine 
 or eric paid for every Danish soldier killed by 
 the troops of Munster. Callaghan immediately 
 despatched one of his domestics to Kennedy to 
 acquaint him with his situation, and the exor- 
 bitant demands which were made for his 
 ransom ; commanding him, at the same time, 
 whatever the event might be, not to comply 
 with them, but to send his General Donogh, 
 with as powerful a force as he could collect, to 
 Armagh, to rescue him from the hands of his 
 enemies. The prudent Kennedy was already 
 prepared for an event which he had foreseen ; 
 and he immediately despatched a strong naval 
 force of seventy ships, under Failbhe Fionn, 
 prince of Desmond, against Dundalk, where the 
 Danish fleet lay ; and at the same time Donogh 
 Mac KeefFe, chieftain of Fermoy, marched 
 through Connaught to Armagh, at the head of 
 several thousand chosen troops. V
 
 48 SEA-FIGHT AT DUNDALK. 
 
 When Sitricus was informed of these move- 
 ments, he marched with his main force to Dun- 
 dalk, and hurrying Callaghan and Dunchan on 
 board a ship, tied them to the mast. In the 
 mean time the Munster army reached Armagh, 
 which they took by storm, putting the whole 
 garrison to the sword, and then pursued the 
 main body of the Danes to Dundalk. But 
 when they came within view of the town, they 
 were filled with consternation to find that their 
 king was a prisoner on board the enemy's fleet, 
 which was now completely beyond their reach. 
 Their despair, however, was soon converted 
 into hope and exultation, when they beheld the 
 Munster ships enter the bay, and the Irish 
 admiral quickly alongside that of the Danish 
 general. Failbhe Fionn instantly boarded his 
 antagonist sword in hand, and, filled with in- 
 dignation at the sight of his captive sovereign, 
 he rushed with irresistible fury through blood 
 and slaughter, to cut the cords which bound 
 him and Dunchan to the mast ; and after hur- 
 rying them on board his own ship, returned 
 to finish the victory which he had so gloriously
 
 HEROISM OF FINGALL. 49 
 
 begun. But he speedily fell a sacrifice in the 
 cause of his country, and Sitricus cutting off 
 his head, exposed it under the impression that 
 it would strike his antagonists with terror and 
 dismay. It had, however, an opposite effect ; 
 for, Fingall, the second in command, excited to 
 fury by the death of his brave admiral, re- 
 newed the combat, resolved to conquer or die. 
 A most sanguinary conflict now ensued, but 
 the vast superiority of the Danes left the brave 
 Irish faint prospects of ultimate success. At 
 this moment of despair, Fingall, being a pow- 
 erful man, adopted a means of securing the vic- 
 tory, for which we have scarcely a parallel 
 in history. Having singled out Sitricus, he 
 suddenly rushed on him, grasped him in his 
 arms, and threw himself with him into the sea, 
 where they both perished. Two other Irish 
 chieftains, fired by this example, jumped over- 
 board with Tor and Magnus, the brothers of 
 Sitricus, in their arms, and the Danes, appalled 
 by such heroism and the loss of their comman- 
 ders, gave way on every side, and were routed 
 with prodigious slaughter.
 
 50 BATTLE OF SINGLAND. 
 
 Callaghan, after his singular deliverance, led 
 his victorious troops back to Munster, where 
 he was joyfully received by Kennedy, his 
 faithful viceroy, and his people. He instantly 
 proposed to root out the treacherous foreigners 
 wiio still remained in his dominions ; at least so 
 to weaken them as that they might not be able 
 to do him further injury. He committed the chief 
 command of his army to Kennedy, the king of 
 Thomond, who, with his warlike sons Mahon 
 and the afterwards celebrated Brien Boiromhe, 
 then In his 16th year, defeated them in several 
 actions ; and Limerick being at that time the 
 strong hold of the Danes of Munster, Callaghan, 
 in the year 943, advanced against that city at the 
 head of a numerous army. The Danes, under 
 the command of Amlave, their chief, marched 
 out of the city to give battle to the Irish forces, 
 and a fierce engagement was fought at a place 
 now called Singland. It was long contested, 
 (fire-arms not being known in those days) by 
 discharges of stones from the slings of the light 
 troops, followed by flights of arrows and lances, 
 while the heavy armed warriors fought breast
 
 CAPTURE OF LIMERICK. 51 
 
 to breast with their swords, skeyns, and pole- 
 axes. At length the Danish chief fell by the 
 hand of the brave Callaghan, while O'SuUivanj 
 a distinguished Irish leader, slew Moran, a son 
 of the king of Denmark ; and the death of 
 their generals so dispirited the foreigners, that 
 they gave way on every side, and were pursued 
 to the walls of Limerick with prodigious 
 slaughter. The victors entered the city with 
 them, pell mell ; but as the Danish merchants 
 were considered serviceable to the country, 
 they permitted them to retain possession of the 
 place, after exacting vast contributions in gold 
 and merchandize. 
 
 Callaghan lived for several years after this 
 event in great tranquillity ; and his successor 
 having been assassinated after a short reign of 
 two years, !Mahon, king of Thomond, son of 
 the famous Kennedy, was called to the throne 
 of Munster. The Danes were, at this time, 
 again becoming troublesome to the natives ; 
 fresh reinforcements from their own country, 
 enabling them to harass the neighbourhood of 
 their strong holds by predatory incursions. In
 
 32 ACTION AT ROSCREA. 
 
 one of these, the king of Leinster and his chil- 
 dren were taken prisoners, m hile the Danes of 
 Limerick greatly ravaged the kingdom of Con- 
 naught, plundered and murdered many of the 
 inhabitants, and destroyed all the churches and 
 religious houses in their progress. But the 
 kings that reigned at that time in Ireland, were 
 wise and brave men, and they adopted such 
 vigorous measures as greatly crippled the power 
 of this cruel enemy. Congall, the Supreme 
 Monarch, defeated them at a place called 
 Mune-Bregan, with the loss of seven thousand 
 men. Niall, the king of Ulster, gained ano- 
 ther victory over them near Armagh, which 
 they had so often pillaged ; while in Munster 
 the warlike Mahon checked every attempt 
 which they made to regain their former supe- 
 riority. Indeed so little were the native Irish 
 terrified, at this time, by these once dreaded 
 foreigners, that we are told when a numerous 
 body of Danes marched to Roscrea, (which 
 was then a considerable town, and a bishop's 
 see) for the purpose of carrying off all the goods 
 and merchandize which Avere exhibited at a
 
 BATTLE OF SULCHOID. 53 
 
 fiiir that was then held there, the merchants and 
 the towns-people defended their property with 
 such bravery, that the enemy fled, after losing 
 a great number of men. 
 
 But after Mahon had reigned for eight years 
 with great honor and success, Muiris, the king 
 of the Danes of Limerick, formed a confede- 
 racy with his countrymen at AVaterford and 
 Cork, and they collected an army which they 
 hoped would be sufficient to overthrow the 
 king of Munster. They accordingly invaded 
 his territories on every side ; but the warlike 
 Mahon vigorously repulsed them, and assisted 
 by his brother Brian, he brought them to a ge- 
 neral action at Sulchoid, near Pallas, in the 
 county of Limerick. We have no farther par- 
 ticulars of this engagement than that the 
 Danes were totally discomfited, and that the 
 victorious Irish pursued them to Limerick, 
 where they found immense plunder of jewels, 
 gold, and rich merchandize, and then set fire to 
 the town. The valiant Mahon did not long 
 survive this victory, for while on a visit at the 
 house of O' Donovan, a chieftain of Kenry, he
 
 54 MURDER OF KING MAHON. 
 
 was treachously seized by O'Mahony, prince 
 of Oneachach, who coQveyed him to the 
 mountains of Mussin near Macroom, where he 
 was basely murdered, as it is supposed, by the 
 instigation of the Danes who had so often felt 
 *the force of his sword.
 
 BRIEN BOIROMHE. 55 
 
 CHAPTER. V. 
 
 Brien Boiromhe — Victories over the Danes — 
 JVise Government — Becomes Supreme Mo- 
 narch — Battle of Clontarf, 
 
 Ox the death of Mahon, his brother Brien 
 was chosen to succeed him on the throne of 
 Munster; and as he is generally acknowledged 
 to have been one of the most accomplished 
 warriors and statesmen that Ireland has ever 
 produced, I shall relate to you all the par- 
 ticulars of his history which I have been able 
 to collect. He was born in the year 926, and 
 his father Kennedy, observing his extraordinary 
 endowments, took particular care of his edu- 
 cation. He made his first essay in the art of war, 
 when he had scarcely arrived at his fourteenth
 
 56 BRIEN BOIROMHE. 
 
 year, under his gallant father ; and shared in all 
 the subsequent triumphs gained by him and 
 his elder brother over the enemies of his coun- 
 try. He ascended the throne of Munster in 
 his forty-third year, and by the first act of his 
 reign, took signal vengeance on the murderers 
 of his brother. The traitor O'Mahony had on 
 this occasion, called fifteen hundred Danes to 
 his assistance ; but king Brien pursued him 
 so quickly into his fastnesses, that he slew 
 him with his own hand, and exterminated the 
 greater part of his followers and auxiliaries. 
 
 These hostilities were scarcely terminated 
 when a new enemy appeared in the person of 
 Donald, prince of the Decies, who having also 
 formed an unnatural alliance with the destroy- 
 ers of his country, ravaged with fire and sword 
 the territories of the king of Munster. But 
 his triumph was short-lived; his army being 
 routed with great slaughter, and pursued to 
 Waterford, (then inhabited by the Danes,) 
 which was plundered and burnt by the vic- 
 torious Brien. He now turned hisanjis against 
 his Irish and Danish tributaries in Leinster who
 
 MALACHY II. 57 
 
 had revolted, and after defeating them in a 
 pitched battle with the loss of five thousand 
 men, pursued them even to the walls of 
 Dublin. 
 
 Having given this signal blow to the power 
 of the foreigners, he returned to Munster ; and 
 landing on the island of Inniscattery, which 
 was then a great depot for their merchandize, 
 he put the whole garrison to the sword. He 
 then sailed up to Limerick, which having spee- 
 dily surrendered, he confided the government 
 of the city henceforth to Irish magistrates, but 
 permitted the Danish merchants to reside there, 
 on condition of sending annually to his palace 
 of Kincora near Killaloe, a stipulated supply of 
 wine. 
 
 Donald O'Neill, the supreme monarch, was 
 also at this time, engaged in active hostilities 
 with the Danes of Dublin ; but, wearied of the 
 pomp and cares of royalty, he abdicated the 
 throne in the twenty-fourth year of his reign ; 
 and ended his days as a monk at a convent in 
 Armagh. His successor, INIalachy II. gave 
 early promise of a vigorous government, by
 
 58 MALACIIY II. 
 
 defeating the Danes at the battle of Tarah ; 
 and then in conjunction with the king of Ulster, 
 he laid siege to Dublin, where the remnant of 
 the defeated army had taken refuge. As in 
 those early times artillery was unknown, the 
 walls of fortified places were not so strong as 
 they are at present ; and the successful attack 
 or defence of a fortress depended chiefly on 
 the courage and activity of the soldiers. In 
 these qualities the Irish now shewed that they 
 were not deficient, for three days after they 
 had entered their entrenchments, they assaulted 
 the city on every side ; and although the Danes 
 made a desperate resistance, the flag of the 
 besiegers was soon planted on the ramparts. 
 The city immediately surrendered, and the 
 allies had the great satisfaction of liberating the 
 king of Leinster and his family, who had been 
 confined there for a great number of years. — 
 Malachy with great moderation spared the 
 lives of the garrison, and the Danish comman- 
 ders engaged that they would abandon all 
 their conquests eastward of the Shannon, refrain
 
 WISE GOYFRMMENT OF BRIEX. 59 
 
 in future from hostile incursions, and pay to 
 the supreme monarch a large annual tribute. 
 
 The sovereign of Munster was at this time 
 assisting the king of Connaught to repel an 
 inroad of the common enem j in his territories, 
 when ^Nlalachy ungenerously took advantage of 
 his absence to penetrate into Thomond, where 
 he devastated the country with fire and sword ; 
 and even cut down the tree at Magh Adair, 
 under whose branches the Munster kings were 
 always inaugurated. Brien speedily returned 
 and chased the invader from his kingdom ; and 
 this laid the foundation of the subsequent ani- 
 mosities between the two princes, i^/ 
 
 The power of the Danes was now so com- 
 pletely crushed in Munster, by the valour and 
 activity of the heroic Brien, that he had leisure 
 to enter upon the nobler task of repairing the 
 injuries which his kingdom had suffered, and 
 reforming such abuses as still existed in the 
 state. For he had never engaged in war mere- 
 ly for the sake of what the world calls glory, 
 or to aggrandize himself at the expense of his
 
 60 ASSEMBLY AT CASHEL. 
 
 neighbours, but to protect his subjects from 
 unjust aggression, and to deliver them from 
 the hateful yoke of a race of foreigners who 
 had long sought by force or artifice to rivet 
 their chains on the people of Ireland. Some 
 years of tranquillity "vvhich now ensued, enabled 
 him to carry his patriotic design into effect, 
 and he soon established a character as a legis- 
 lator equally high with that which he had 
 acquired as a warrior. Having assembled all 
 the nobility, clergy, and principal men at 
 Cashel, he, with their concurrence, expunged all 
 the corruptions which had crept into the estab- 
 lished laws of his kingdom, and made many new 
 regulations for its better government, and for 
 the promotion of religion and learning. He 
 restored the lands which had been usurped by 
 the Danes to their original proprietors, and to 
 preserve the genealogies more accurately, he 
 ordained that surnames should be adopted by 
 all the principal families, a practice which 
 now, for the first time, became prevalent 
 throughout Europe. To encourage trade and 
 commerce, he permitted the Danish merchants, i
 
 IMPROVEMENT OF MUNSTER. 61 
 
 (who had generally embraced Christianity) to 
 inhabit the different sea-ports ; but all the 
 Pagan Danes were expelled from the kingdom. 
 With these enactments his subsequent proceed- 
 ings fully corresponded. Governors were 
 appointed over every city, and over each of 
 the districts into which the country was di- 
 vided. The ruined churches, monasteries, and 
 colleges were re-edified, and established on 
 their former foundations. Bridges were erected 
 and roads constructed wherever they were 
 necessary, and the laws were so vigorously 
 executed and respected, that (as we are told 
 by the historians,) a young lady, adorned with 
 the richest jewels, might travel alone without 
 danger from one end of the kingdom to the 
 other. 
 
 But these efforts of the king of Munster to 
 promote the best interests of the country were 
 not imitated by the monarch of Ireland, who 
 by the splendor of his early achievements, had 
 excited in the minds of the people strong 
 hopes of a vigorous and prosperous reign. He 
 had for some time given himself up to a life of 
 
 E
 
 62 DEPOSITION OF MALACIIY II. 
 
 pleasure ; and while the cominon enemy con* 
 tinued their devastations on his subjects, and 
 those of the provincial kings, his allies, he 
 passed his time in inglorious ease. From one 
 end of the island to the other his conduct was 
 contrasted with the magnanimous wisdom and 
 activity of the king of Munster, and about the 
 year 1001, the states of Connaught and 
 Munster held a convention in which it was 
 resolved to adopt immediate measures for de- 
 posing the inactive and pusillanimous Malachy, 
 and conferring on Brien the sovereignty of Ire- 
 land. The latter having consented to this 
 arrangement, ambassadors were despatched to 
 Tarah, demanding the monarch's abdication for 
 the causes above mentioned ; but Malachy, on 
 this occasion, resumed his former dignity, and 
 declared that he would maintain his right to 
 the last extremity. 
 
 King Brien, determined to avail himself of 
 the just popularity which his signal services 
 had acquired, now marched to Tarah at the 
 head of a numerous army drawn from the pro- 
 vinces of Munster and Connaught, and a part
 
 GEXER05ITY OF KING BIllEN. 63 
 
 of Leinster, having previously despatched a 
 herald to Malachj, demanding the resignation 
 of his crown, or otherwise that he would com- 
 mence immediate hostilities. Alarmed at the 
 vigour and force of his enemy, the king of 
 Ireland acknowledged that he was in no con- 
 dition to meet him in battle, but he solicited 
 from the generosity of his antagonist a month 
 to collect his forces ; at the expiration of 
 which time, he would either accept his chal- 
 lenge, or if his subjects refused to support him 
 he would comply with the alternative of resign- 
 ing his crown. Brien magnanimously agreeing 
 to these conditions, Malachy employed this 
 interval in soliciting aid from the kings and 
 princes of Ulster and Connaught, to whom he 
 made the most flattering promises; but these 
 chieftains, anxious to see the crown transferred 
 to a man more capable of protecting them, 
 received his message with coldness, pointed out 
 the folly of contending with the king of INIun- 
 ster, and advised him to submission. "With 
 this counsel the mortified monarch now found 
 himself under the necessity of complying, and
 
 64 ABDICATION OF MALACIIY II. 
 
 on the appointed day, he proceeded with an 
 escort of twelve hundred horse to the camp of 
 Brien, by whom he was received with all the 
 honour due to his rank. He there abdicated 
 the crown of Ireland, which he declared he 
 was compelled to do, not by want of courage 
 to defend it, but by the treachery of his allies. 
 Brien was now proclaimed supreme monarch 
 and crowned at Tarah, after which he assigned 
 to Malachy his old inheritance as king of Meath, 
 and made to him and his retinue many rich 
 presents. 
 
 Brien Boiromhe was in his 76th year when 
 he ascended the throne of Ireland, yet he 
 still combined all the vigour of youth with 
 the wisdom acquired by long experience. 
 With the exception of a few partizan chiefs of 
 the late sovereign, his authority was univer- 
 sally acknowledged; but these malcontents 
 were soon brought to submission by the valour 
 and activity of prince Mortogh, the monarch's 
 eldest son, who also vigorously repressed some 
 fresh insurrectionary movements of the Danes. 
 Tranquillity being thus completely established,
 
 MALMORDIIA MAC MURROGH. 65 
 
 Brieii commeDced the great work of exteiidmg 
 to the whole island those advantages of which 
 Munster had already partaken, and in every 
 quarter the disorder and misery which so 
 lately prevailed, gave place to happiness and 
 civilization : property was respected, religion 
 venerated, and literature, with the arts of peace, 
 encouraged. At his palace of Kincora, near 
 Limerick, where he still kept his court, a mag- 
 nificent hospitality was maintained ; and here 
 the great and the learned both of his own and 
 foreign nations were constant guests. 
 
 When Brien had reigned nearly twelve years 
 in glory and tranquillity, an unexpected inci- 
 dent called him once more to the field of battle, 
 where he terminated a long and useful life by 
 an heroic death. Malmordha Mac iVIurrogh, 
 king of Leinster, whose sister the monarch had 
 married, while on a visit at the palace of Kin- 
 cora, had a quarrel with prince Mortogh, the 
 particulars of which are thus related by our 
 historians. While Mortogh was playing a 
 game of chess with one of his cousins, Mal- 
 E 2
 
 66 MALMOR,»iIA MAC MURROGII. 
 
 mordha, looking on, advised a move which lost 
 Mortogh the game. The latter, vexed at this 
 impertinent interposition, observed, that if the 
 king of Leinster had given as good advice to 
 his allies the Danes, they would not have lost 
 the battle of Glen-madma where their defeat 
 was owing to him. The king of Leinster 
 sharply replied, that if the Danes had been 
 defeated through his advice, he would soon put 
 them in a way to retrieve their loss, and take 
 vengeance on him and his father; to wliich 
 Mortogh sternly answered, that he feared 
 nothing from the foreigners though commanded 
 by the king of Leinster himself. On the fol- 
 lowing day, Malmordha secretly withdrew 
 from the court meditating revenge, and he 
 proclaimed the circumstances of his quarrel 
 with prince IVIortogh with such exaggerations, 
 that the states of Leinster consented to unite 
 with the Danes in carrying on a vigorous war i 
 against the Irish monarch; and thus basely ' 
 did Malmordha ally himself with the deadly , 
 enemies of his country to avenge an insult 
 which he himself had provoked. At his request
 
 BATTLE OF CLONTAllF. 67 
 
 the king of Denmark sent over a fresh rein- 
 forcement of twelve thousand men, who, when 
 joined by the Danes of Dublin and the Lein- 
 ster forces, encamped on the plains of Clontarf, 
 (then called Cluon-Tarbhe,) within two miles 
 of that city, the whole forming an army ex- 
 ceeding thirty thousand men. IVIalmordha now 
 proclaimed war against the king of Ireland, 
 and challenged him to battle. The venerable 
 monarch, though in his eighty-eighth year, deter- 
 mined once more to draw the sword in defence 
 of his country and his throne ; and the chiefs 
 of Munster and Connaught flocking with 
 eagerness to his standard, he entered Leinster 
 early in the month of April 1014, at the head 
 of thirty thousand men. Here the deposed 
 Malachy, with dissembled friendship, joined 
 him with the forces of Meath, and the whole 
 army having reached the vicinity of Dublin, 
 encamped near Kilmainham. As the hostile 
 troops could not long continue tranquil so near 
 each other, the 23d of April, which hap- 
 pened to be Good Friday, was fixed on for 
 the important conflict.
 
 68 BATTLE OF CLONTAUF. 
 
 Early on the morning of that day, the -'kigg 
 of Leinster, who acted as commander-in-cntef 
 of the enemy's army, made his dispositioiis'j^ 
 battle. On the right he placed the auxiliaries, 
 who lately arrived from Sweden and Denmark, 
 in number 12,000, under two distinguished 
 chiefs named Brodar and Airgiodal. The 
 Irish Danes, consisting of an equal number, 
 were on the left, under Sitric Mac Lodair, 
 while Malmordha placed himself in the centre 
 at the head of the Leinster troops. As Brien 
 advanced, he viewed the enemy's arrangements 
 with the eye of an experienced warrior, and 
 made a suitable disposition of his own troops. 
 The celebrated Dalgais (so the troops of Tho- 
 mond, or North Munster, were denominated,) 
 with Malachy and the forces of Meath, were 
 on the left under the command of prince Mor- 
 togh and Sitric, prince of Ulster. The troops 
 of South Munster and the Decies, were in the 
 centre under their respective chiefs ; and the 
 right wing was composed of the forces of Con- 
 naught under their king. Having thus mar- 
 shalled his army, the venerable monarch rode
 
 BATTLE OF CLONTARF. 69 
 
 through the lanks with a crucifix in one hand, 
 and a drawn sword in the other, exhorting the 
 soldiers to perform their duty manfully in the 
 cause of their religion and their country. He 
 reminded them of the sufferings of their ances- 
 tors from foreign barbarians, whose perfidy and 
 cruelty had proved, that they were strangers 
 alike to religion and humanity ; and that now 
 their successors, aided by some traitors to their 
 native country, looked anxiously to the result 
 of the approaching conflict, hoping that it 
 would enable them to renew similar scenes of 
 devastation and cruelty. He called on them 
 to rely upon the God of armies, in whose cause 
 they were about to fight, and not to doubt but 
 that he would deliver their implacable enemies 
 into their hands. 
 
 The heroic veteran now proceeded towards 
 the centre to lead the troops to action ; but the 
 chiefs unanimously declaring that his extreme 
 age forbade his further exertions in the field, 
 he reluctantly resigned the command to his son 
 prince Mortogh, and retired to his tent. At 
 eight in the morning the signal being made for
 
 70 BATTLE or CLONTARF. 
 
 the dreadful onset, the brave Dalgais rushed 
 forward to attack the enemy's right wing, con- 
 sisting^ of the Danes under Brodar and Airgio- 
 dal ; but at this moment the treacherous Ma- 
 lachy abandoned the field with his Meathian 
 forces, leaving his gallant countrymen to con- 
 tend with an enemy nearly two to one. Prince 
 Mortogh observing the flight of his perfidious 
 ally, exclaimed, " Be not discouraged, my brave 
 Dalgais, at the loss of these traitors, who have 
 thus left you the unrivalled glory of vanquish- 
 ing the enemy without their aid — On to vic- 
 tory !" With gallant hearts the summons was 
 obeyed, and the battle soon raged in every 
 quarter of the field ; for while the Dalgais 
 assailed the foreign auxiliaries on the enemy's 
 right, the troops of South Munster attacked 
 the apostate Malmordha in the centre, and the 
 king of Connaught assailed the Danes of Lein- 
 ster. As the situation of the ground admitted 
 of no manoeuvring, they fought man to man, and 
 breast to breast — the sword, the battle-axe, and 
 the dagger were wielded on both sides with 
 dreadful effect, and the victors of one moment.
 
 EXPLOITS OF PRINCE MORTOGII. 71 
 
 were the victims of the next ! All depended on 
 dauntless courage and strength of arm, and never 
 were those martial qualities more signally dis- 
 played than on this eventful day. Innumera- 
 ble Mere the instances of individual heroism, 
 amongst which the exploits of the gallant 
 Mortogh and his friend the prince of Ulster 
 were eminently conspicuous. They had fre- 
 quently to retire from the work of slaughter to 
 an adjoining brook to slake their thirst and 
 cool their hands, which were swelled by the 
 incessant use of the sword and battle-axe. At 
 one time, two Danish chiefs named Carolus and 
 Conmaol rushed together on prince Mortogh, 
 but they both fell by his arm : at another, 
 perceiving a large body of Danes under Sitric 
 Miic Lodair rushing on the Dalgais, he singled 
 out their leader, and with a blow of his battle- 
 axe cut him in two. 
 
 The battle raged with undiminished fury till 
 four in the afternoon, when the Danes deprived 
 of their principal leaders, Avere no longer able 
 to withstand the reiterated charges of the Irish 
 troops, and fled on every side. But at the
 
 72 DEATH OF PRINCE MORTOGII. 
 
 moment when victory crowned his heroic exer- 
 tions, the gallant Mortogh received his death 
 wound. While in eager pursuit of the flying 
 foe, he was assailed by a Danish prince, named 
 Henry. His right hand and arm being at this 
 time so swelled and painful that he was unable 
 to lift them up, he seized his antagonist with the 
 left, aind shaking him out of his coat of mail, 
 threw him prostrate on the ground — then 
 placing the pummel of his sword against his 
 own breast he mortally wounded the Dane, 
 by pressing the weight of his body on the 
 sword. But the latter, in his dying agonies, 
 seized the dagger which hung by the side of 
 his conqueror, with which he gave him a deadly 
 lunge, and on the following day the heroic 
 Mortogh expired. 
 
 The aged monarch passed the day in his tent, 
 anxiously listening to the details which were 
 brought to him by his aides-du-camp of the 
 progress of the battle, and at intervals implor- 
 ing the blessing of heaven on the arms of his 
 country. Corcoran, one of his attendants, per- 
 ceiving the flag of prince Mortogh struck, which
 
 AND BRIEN EOIROMHE. 73 
 
 notified the fall of the chief, supposed that the 
 Irish army had been defeated; and entering the 
 royal tent, on his knees he implored his revered 
 sovereign to mount his horse and fly. " No," 
 replied the veteran, " I came here to die or 
 conquer, and my enemies shall not boast of my 
 death by inglorious wounds ; but let you and 
 my other attendants hasten your escape, and 
 announce, that I bequeath my soul to God, my 
 body to Armagh, and my blessing to Denis 
 O'Brien. Proceed this night to Swords of 
 Colum-cille, and let the clergy come for my 
 body to-morrow, convey it to Duleek, and 
 thence to Louth, and let the archbishop of 
 Armagh, successor to St. Patrick, accompanied 
 by his clergy come thither for my remains." 
 While he yet spoke the oflicer exclaimed, " I 
 perceive a body of men advancing towards us." 
 " What sort of men are they ?" asked the 
 monarch. " Grey, naked looking men," an- 
 swered Corcoran. " They are Danes com- 
 pletely armed," observed Brien, and instantly 
 grasped his sword. At the next moment the 
 troop, with Brodar at their head, rushed into
 
 74 DEATH OF THE PRINCE OF ULSTER, 
 
 the royal tent. The aged monarch drew his j 
 sword, and with the vigour of youth cut oif 
 Brodar's left leg from the knee ; but almost at 
 the same instant he received a deadly blow 
 from the battle-axe of his antagonist. Though 
 he felt that the wound was mortal, the hero 
 summoned up all his dying energies, and with 
 two strokes of his well-tried sword, slew the 
 Danish leader and one of his followers, and 
 then expired himself, falling like Leonidas or 
 Epaminondas, a sacrifice in the cause of his 
 country, and grasping victory even in death.£^ 
 
 This sad event had scarcely occurred when 
 the brave prince of Ulster, eager in pursuit of 
 Brodar's troop, rushed into the royal tent,and cut 
 the remnant of them to pieces. But the sight of 
 the lifeless body of the venerable monarch 
 was more than his exhausted strength could 
 bear. He threw himself upon it — his nu- 
 merous wounds burst forth afresh, and refusing 
 all assistance, the gallant Sitric breathed his 
 last in the arms of his friend and faithful ally. 
 
 Thus fell the illustrious Brien Boiromhe, a 
 name that will ever be considered the glory of
 
 AND THE KING OF LEINSTER. 75 
 
 Ireland. Sagacious, humane, pious, valiant, 
 and munificent, he merits a distinguished rank 
 amongst those soverei^^ns who have been the 
 benefactors, not the scourges of mankind. He 
 conquered as much by the splendour of a cha- 
 racter, acquired by his philanthropic acts, as 
 by his great military achievements. His bodily 
 endowments and mental powers were of the 
 very first order, and he was at once the hero 
 and the lawgiver of his country. Besides 
 the illustrious monarch, his eldest son, and 
 the prince of Ulster, many of the Irish 
 chiefs, among whom were Conaing, the ne- 
 phew of king Brien, and Methlin, prince of 
 the Decies, fell on this sanguinary day, and 
 their fate was shared by more than five thou- 
 sand of their followers. Of the Danes and 
 their Leinster auxiliaries, eleven thousand are 
 said to have perished, including the traitor 
 Malmordha and two sons of the king of Den- 
 mark. The battle of Clontarf proved the death- 
 blow of their political power in Ireland ; but 
 that this and the otherwise and vigorous acts of 
 king Brien's reign, did not prove more lastingly 
 f2
 
 76 RESTORATION OF MALACHY II. 
 
 beneficial to his country, must be attributed 
 to the character of the age in which he lived, 
 and the faulty nature of the Irish government. 
 
 Malachy II. notwithstanding his treachery at 
 the battle of Clontarf, was now restored to the 
 supreme monarchy, and for eight years he wield- 
 ed the sceptre with considerable vigour. In the 
 meantime Donogh, the son of the late monarch, 
 meeting considerable opposition to his claim 
 on the crown of Munster, repaired to Germa- 
 ny, where he commanded a chosen corps of the 
 Dalgais in the service of the emperor. On the 
 death of Malachy in 1022, he laid claim to the 
 throne of Ireland ; but he found a powerful 
 opponent in Turlogh, the son of his elder bro- 
 ther, and for the space of nearly forty years, 
 the lives and properties of the unhappy people 
 were sacrificed to the caprice or vengeance of 
 these competitors. Donogh being ultimately 
 vanquished, fled to Rome in the anguish of 
 disappointed ambition, and is said to have laid 
 his crown at the feet of the holy pontiff; and 
 upon this donation. Pope Adrian is supposed 
 to have founded his subsequent grant of the
 
 TURLOGII O'BRIEN. 77 
 
 kingdom of Ireland to Henry II. Donogh 
 afterwards assumed the habit of a monk, and 
 ended his days in the abbey of St. Stephen at 
 Rome. 
 
 Turlogh reigned for thirty years after the 
 flight of his rival : and as far as the distraction 
 of the times would permit, endeavoured to 
 Imitate the example of his grandfather, king 
 Brien; so that the fame of his wise government 
 has received ample testimony, not only from 
 native, but foreign writers. On his death, 
 in 1094, new political storms were engen- 
 dered by the competition of Mortogh, son of 
 the late monarch, and Donald O'Neill, the 
 sovereign of Ulster. For more than twenty 
 years they held divided sway; the former being 
 acknowledged by the Southern, and the latter 
 by the Northern half of the island. At the 
 close of that period, Turlogh, the young king 
 of Connaught, offered himself as a new compe- 
 titor for the crown and ultimately succeeded ; 
 Turlogh O'Brien retiring in 1121 to a convent 
 at Armagh, while Donald died in two years 
 after. The reign of Turlogh O'Connor which
 
 78 RODERICK O'CONNOR. 
 
 lasted thirty-five years, was a scene of constant 
 warfare with INIortogh the son of the late mo- 
 narch, Donald O'Neill, the remnant of the 
 Danes, and the naval power of Scotland. His 
 son, Roderick O'Connor, continued the con- 
 test ; and being at length left without a rival, 
 became the last monarch of Ireland in 1166. 
 Great unanimity appeared to prevail among the 
 states at his inauguration ; and at a general 
 assembly which he held at Athboy in the 
 county of Meath, in the second year of his 
 reign, besides the trains of all the provincial 
 kings, princes, and prelates, thirteen thousand 
 horsemen were numbered.
 
 THE ENGLISH INVASION. 79 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ENGLISH INVASIOX. 
 
 King Henri) 11. — Deimod Mac Mmxhard, 
 King of Leinster — Roderick O'Connor — 
 Robert Fitz- Stephen — Surrender of TVex' 
 ford — Defeat of the Prince of Ossory — 
 Maurice Fitz-Gerald — Imbecile conduct of 
 Roderick O'Connor —Raymond le Gross — 
 Battle of Don-Isle, 
 
 While you were reading the foregoinsf 
 accounts of the suflferings which the people 
 of Ireland endured by the cruel inroads of 
 the Danes, as well as by their own intestine 
 divisions ; you were, no doubt, sometimes 
 surprized that their powerful neighbours, the 
 English, did not take advantage of the weak- 
 ness thus occasioned, to obtain possession of 
 the island. But this surprize will cease, when 
 you recollect, that England herself had suffered
 
 80 THE ENGLISH INVASION. 
 
 much from the same causes. During the Saxon 
 Heptarchy, it contained seven diiferent king- 
 doms, continually at war with each other ; and 
 the Danes at one time got complete possession of 
 the country, and held it till near the arrival of 
 William the Conqueror. From the Norman Con- 
 quest, it was, that England, under a powerful 
 and settled government, began to acquire that 
 strength which flows alone from union, and 
 which, notwithstanding her various revolutions, 
 has raised her to the rank of one of the chief 
 states of Europe. The English, until about 
 two centuries before this period, appear to 
 have been little acquainted with the value of 
 our island, though the fame of Irish valour was 
 sometimes spread through England by the part 
 which our countrymen took in the contests of 
 AVales ; and the Irish warriors who accompa- 
 nied the sons of Harold into England, in their 
 futile attempt to overthrow the government of 
 William the Conqueror, encouraged the cu- 
 pidity of many of the great lords by the splen- 
 did accounts which they gave of their native 
 country.
 
 KING HENRY II. 81 
 
 But such were the distractions of England 
 during the reigns of the early Norman kings, 
 that no thought of conquering Ireland, appears 
 to have been entertained by any of them till 
 Henry II. ascended the throne with an undis- 
 puted title. That ambitious and politic prince 
 eagerly listened to the counsels of his courtiers 
 on this subject, and in 1156, solicited the sanc- 
 tion of Pope Adrian to his design, assigning 
 as his principal motive, the pious wish of re- 
 forming the dreadful state of corruption, both 
 in religion and morals, in which the inhabitants 
 of Ireland were sunk; and his anxious desire to 
 establish the kingdom of God in that unhappy 
 country. On condition of receiving the ap- 
 probation of his Holiness, Henry promised to 
 reduce the country to obedience to the Holy 
 See, and to pay a yearly tribute to St. Peter 
 from the kingdom of Ireland, which has been 
 usually called Peter's Pence. It is easy to 
 perceive that Henry put forward these reasons, 
 merely to gain the good will of the Pope ; but 
 he had objects in undertaking this expedition 
 F 3
 
 82 KING HENRY II. 
 
 of greater importance to himself and his dotni- 
 nions. There is little doubt but king Henry 
 was at this time much alarmed lest Ireland 
 should be occupied by some other power, as 
 Magnus, king of Norway, after conquering the 
 Orkneys and the Isle of Man, had already made 
 an attempt on this country, where the Danes, 
 or Ostmen, as they were sometimes called, still 
 kept possession of the principal sea-ports. — 
 Henry knew well that should one of the Nor- 
 thern Potentates, possessing as they did, a great 
 number of ships and good seamen, get posses- 
 sion of this valuable island, they would render 
 it a dangerous neighbour to his dominions. 
 
 Pope Adrian listened very willingly to this 
 proposal of king Henry, as, according to a very 
 ancient book called the Annals of the Four 
 Masters, O'Halloran, and other respectable 
 Roman Catholic writers, Ireland had not till 
 very lately submitted to the supremacy of 
 Rome, her own prelates having previously 
 exercised all ecclesiastical authority. The 
 Danes of Ireland, after their conversion to 
 Christianity, had set the example, by sending
 
 BULL OF POPE ADRIAN. 83 
 
 their bishops to be consecrated by the arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury; and in 1152, Cardinal 
 Paparon, legate from Pope Eugene III. as- 
 sembled the Irish clergy at a synod in Drogh- 
 eda, where he conferred palls, blessed by the 
 Pope, on the archbishops of Armagh, Dublin, 
 Cashel, and Tuam; and the ecclesiastical affairs 
 of Ireland were adjusted according to the 
 system of the church of Rome. Adrian, there- 
 fore, ready to embrace this opportunity of at 
 once securing the papal authority which had 
 been so recently established in this country, 
 and conciliating the friendship of so powerful 
 a monarch as the king of England, granted a 
 Bull to Henry, in which he highly compli- 
 mented him for his pious wishes to enlarge the 
 borders of the church ; and, as his Holiness 
 declared that Ireland and all other islands on 
 which the Sun of Righteousness had shone, 
 belonged of right to the jurisdiction of St. 
 Peter and of the Holy Roman See, he gave 
 the king full authority to enter into the island 
 of Ireland to extend the borders of the church, 
 for the restraining of vice, the correction of
 
 84 BULL OF rOPE ADRIAN. 
 
 manners, the planting of virtue, and the increase 
 of religion. He commanded the people of that 
 land to reverence him as their lord, and a ring 
 accompanied the Bull as a token of Henry's 
 investiture as the rightful sovereign of Ireland* 
 When you have read what I am now going 
 to relate, you will be surprised how such a 
 handful of invaders should have established 
 the power of England so effectually in this 
 extensive country, as to bid defiance to every 
 effort of the natives for many hundred years 
 after to root it out. You are not, however, to 
 suppose that this arose from the superior cou- 
 rage of the English ; for in this respect the two 
 nations have always been acknowledged to be 
 pretty equal ; but it originated solely from the 
 nature of the government, which, as I frequent- 
 ly told you before, created such jealousies, 
 dissensions, and civil strife, among the dif- 
 ferent petty states, as continually retarded the 
 strength and prosperity of the country, and 
 thus rendered her an easy prey to every suc- 
 cessive invader. Nor in such a state of things 
 could domestic traitors ever be wanted to aid
 
 DISORGANIZED STATE OF IRELAND. 85 
 
 the projects of the foreign enemy. The state 
 of Ireland -^vas at this period peculiarly dis- 
 organized. The authority of the monarch had 
 become little more than nominal, the provin- 
 cial chiefs, considering themselves rather his 
 allies than his subjects. The family of O'Neill 
 exercised an hereditary jurisdiction over Ulster. 
 The government of Munster was divided be- 
 tween the descendants of Brien Bolromhe, 
 now reduced to their original kingdom of 
 North Munster, which w^as sometimes called 
 Thomond, or Limerick, and the Mac Arthys, 
 who were kings of Cork and Desmond, or 
 South ^Munster. In Connaught, the O'Connors 
 were sovereigns of the eastern territory, while 
 O'Ruarc, prince of Breffney, governed in Lei- 
 trim and the adjoining districts. Another branch 
 of the O'Neills ruled Meath ; while Dermod 
 Mac Murchard Mas king of Leinster, having 
 under his authority the princes of Ossory and 
 the Decies, and the remnant of the Danes still 
 inhabiting Dublin and AVaterford. 
 
 King Henry would, probably, have under- 
 taken his expedition to Ireland immediately on
 
 86 DERMOD MAC MURCIIARD. 
 
 receiving the Pope's authority, but that he 
 was engaged in a war with France, and had 
 serious disputes with Thomas a Becket, arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, which are copiously 
 detailed in the History of England. And, 
 perhaps, he might never have attempted the 
 conquest of Ireland, but for new quarrels which 
 rose amongst some of her principal chieftains. 
 The origin of the dispute is thus related by 
 our Irish historians. You will recollect that 
 Dermod Mac Murchard, was at that time king 
 of Leinster, His great stature, bodily strength, 
 and boisterous valour rendered him a particular 
 favorite with the common people, while his 
 munificence to the church equally recommended 
 him to the clergy : but his pride and tyranny 
 caused him to be detested by the inferior 
 chieftains, and he was so destitute of any stea- 
 diness of principle, that he alternately attached 
 himself to the various factions which distracted 
 the country, as it suited his own selfish policy. 
 During the long contests between the families 
 of O'Neill and O'Connor for the supreme go- 
 vernment of Ireland, Dermod supported the
 
 DEKMOD MAC MURCHARD. 87 
 
 former. In the year 1154, about sixteen years 
 before the English invasion, he led an army into 
 the territories of O'Ruarc, prince of BreiFney, 
 who was a partisan of the O'Connors, and 
 chased him from his dominions. Having long 
 entertained an unlawful passion for Dervorghil, 
 the wife of O'Ruarc, who was a princess of 
 Meath, he availed himself of this opportunity 
 to gratify it ; and having obtained possession 
 of the lady by the assistance of a base brother ; 
 she, with affected reluctance, accompanied him 
 to Leinster. O'Ruarc complained of this out- 
 rage to Turlogh O'Connor, the reigning mo- 
 narch, who avenged it by ravaging Leinster 
 and rescuing the princess of Breffney from her 
 paramour. A sanguinary warfare was now 
 kept up between the king of Leinster and 
 O'Ruarc for several years, with alternate suc- 
 cess, till the accession of Roderick, whose vi- 
 gorous preparations for the invasion of Lein- 
 ster so terrified Dermod, that he set fire to 
 Ferns, his capital city. His apprehensions 
 were speedily realized when the monarch, 
 accompanied by O'Ruarc, entered his territo-
 
 88 FLIGHT OF DERMOD. 
 
 ries, and Dermod endured the usual fate of 
 tyrants in being deserted by his subjects. The 
 prince of Ossory joined his enemies, and when 
 the chief of the 0' Byrnes of Wicklovv was 
 prevailed on by the clergy to hold an interview 
 with the fallen prince, he treated him with the 
 haughtiness of a superior, and commanded him 
 to depart as he regarded his personal safety. 
 
 Defeated and degraded, Dermod now re- 
 solved to seek the means of vengeance in a 
 foreign land, which his crimes forbade him to 
 expect in his own. Accompanied by about 
 sixty of his friends he embarked for Bristol, 
 where he was cordially received by the clergy, 
 and hospitably entertained in the monastery of 
 the Augustines, to whom he made such a re- 
 presentation of his sufferings and the malice of 
 his enemies, that he was generally regarded as 
 an object of respect and the deepest commi- 
 seration. Learning that king Henry was then 
 in France, he set out in a few days for that 
 country, and meeting the English monarch at 
 Acquitain, he fell at his feet, pathetically de- 
 picted his misfortunes, and the treachery of his
 
 INTERVIEW WITH HENRY II. 89 
 
 subjects ; and appealing to Henry's magnanimity 
 and generosity in the most forcible language, 
 declared that if he should by his powerful 
 assistance restore him to his dominions, he 
 would hold them in vassalage of him and his 
 heirs, and ever acknowledge the king of Eng- 
 land as his liege Lord. 
 
 The affairs of Henry were at this time too 
 much perplexed to permit him openly to es- 
 pouse the cause of the king of Leinster : but 
 he was, at the same time, unwilling to miss so 
 fair an opportunity of taking some step towards 
 the accomplishment of a project which he had 
 so long meditated. He entertained Dermod 
 for some days with all the respect becoming 
 his rank ; accepted his terms of allegiance ; 
 made him magnificent presents, and dismissed 
 him with a letter of credence to all his sub- 
 jects, declaring that he had granted his royal 
 grace and protection to the king of Leinster, 
 and assured his free license and favour to any 
 of them who might be disposed to aid him in 
 the recovery of his territory. 
 
 Dermod returned to England, highly elated
 
 90 EARL STRONGBOW. 
 
 at the favourable reception he had met from 
 king Henry ; and at Bristol he publislied the 
 royal letter, and made the most flattering pro- 
 mises to all who should assist him in the re- 
 covery of his dominions. But a month hav- 
 ing elapsed without any prospect of succour, 
 he was about to abandon his project in des- 
 pair, when he was advised to apply to Rich- 
 ard, earl of Chepstow, (afterwards better 
 known by the name of Strongbow, because 
 of his great skill in archery,) who was the 
 son of Gilbert, Earl of Pembroke, a noble- 
 man of the illustrious house of Clare. Strong- 
 bow, as I shall call this celebrated man, was 
 not more distinguished by his high rank than 
 by his military genius ; and his generosity and 
 courtesy had gained him the affections of a 
 powerful train of followers. But having, by 
 his profusion, dissipated his fortune, and being 
 for some cause estranged from the royal favour, 
 he now lived in retirement in Wales, and it 
 was believed that the circumstances in which 
 he was placed would incline him to listen to 
 the overtures of the exiled chieftain. These,
 
 THE BISHOP OF ST. DAVID's. 91 
 
 however, were at first received by Strongbow 
 with great coldness and reserve, which were 
 not overcome till Dermod covenanted, that on 
 the recovery of his dominions he would give 
 him his daughter Eva in marriage, and make 
 him heir to his kingdom. On these conditions 
 Strongbow engaged to transport a considerable 
 force into Ireland in the ensuing spring, pro- 
 vided he could obtain the king^s particular li- 
 cense and approbation. 
 
 Having thus far succeeded in his object, 
 Dermod resolved to return privately to Ireland, 
 and prepare for the reception of his ally, by 
 collecting his adherents. At. St. David's he 
 met with some new partisans, through the 
 friendship of the bishop. These were Maurice 
 Fitz-Gerald, a lord of distinguished worth and 
 valour, and his maternal brother, Robert Fitz- 
 Stephen, who had formerly been govenior of 
 Cardigan ; to whom Dermod engaged to cede 
 the town of AVexford, with a large adjoining 
 territory, as soon as he should be restored to 
 his dominions. Some other Welch knights, 
 hoping, should the adventure prove successful,
 
 92 RETURN OF DERMOD. 
 
 to make advantageous settlements for them- 
 selves, agreed also to embark in the enterprize ; 
 and Dermod, filled with the most sangaine 
 hopes, returned to Ireland. 
 
 When he arrived at Ferns, he gave the cler- 
 gy flattering accounts of his reception by 
 king Henry ; and, no doubt, greatly exagge- 
 rated the force of his English confederates. 
 He remained concealed in the Abbey of Ferns 
 for some time, waiting the arrival of his aux- 
 iliaries ; but the zeal of his friends, the clergy, 
 so circulated the report of his rising fortune, 
 that numbers of his adherents flocked to Ferns ; 
 and being forced peremptorily to put himself 
 at tlieir head, he took possession of a part of 
 his dominions, called Hy-Kinsellagh. When 
 intelligence of this event, and of the near ap- 
 proach of a foreign invasion, reached the ears 
 of the monarch Roderick, he suddenly col- 
 lected some troops, and, with his faithful asso- 
 ciate, O'Ruarc, marched into Hy-Kinsellagh. 
 Terrified at their approach, Dermod fled into 
 the woods, and, conscious of his own weak- 
 ness, found it necessary to temporize till the
 
 dermod's duplicity. 93 
 
 arrival of his expected auxiliaries. He accord- 
 ingly made professions to Roderick, of the most 
 abject submission, — formally renounced his 
 claim to the government of Leinster, request- 
 ing only, as an object of compassion, to be 
 allowed a certain portion of land, which he 
 promised to hold in absolute dependence upon 
 the Irish monarch. He offered hostages as a 
 security for his obedience, and to give O'Ruarc 
 one hundred ounces of gold, (equal to at least 
 ten thousand pounds of our present money,) as 
 an inducement to bury all old animosities in 
 oblivion. If Roderick had acted with becom- 
 ing vigour upon this occasion, he might have 
 speedily extinguished the hopes of Dermod ; 
 but as the regulation of some disorders which at 
 that time prevailed in Meath and North IVIun- 
 ster, appeared to him of more importance, he 
 fell into the snare which his adversary had laid 
 for him, and agreed to all his conditions. 
 
 In the mean time, the agents whom the king 
 of Leinster had left in Wales, were actively 
 engaged in equipping an armament for the in- 
 vasion of Ireland, which, at the present day,
 
 94 ARRIVAL OF ROBERT FITZ-STEPHEN. 
 
 would appear to have been very inadequate 
 to the undertaking. It was, however, several 
 months before it could be accomplished; but at 
 length, on the 1st of May, 1170, Robert Fitz 
 Stephen, David Barry, and Hervey of Mount- 
 morres, a nephew of Strongbow, with thirty 
 knights, sixty men at arms, well mounted, and 
 three hundred archers, all chosen men of Wales, 
 arrived in three ships at a little creek called 
 Bagganbun, near Fethard, in the county of 
 Wexford, of which the following rhyme ap- 
 pears in an old author : — 
 
 " At the creeke of Bagganbun 
 Irelande was lost and wonne." 
 
 This force was followed on the next day by 
 Maurice Prendergast, at the head of ten knights 
 and two hundred archers ; and the whole ad- 
 joining country was thrown into such commo- 
 tion, that the Britons for a moment felt some 
 alarm ; but this was speedily dissipated by the 
 arrival of five hundred Irish auxiliaries, under 
 Donald Kavanagh, Dermod's illegitimate son. 
 These were soon followed by fresh rein- 
 forcements under the king of Leinster himself.
 
 SIEGE OF WEXFORD. 95 
 
 M ho now, throwiag aside the mean habiliments 
 in which he had been so long disguised, ap- 
 peared in royal pomp to welcome his deliverers. 
 Having solemnly ratified all their former en- 
 gagements, the allies commenced their opera- 
 tions by marching to Wexford, a considerable 
 town, which was garrisoned by two thousand 
 Irish and Danes, — men of the most daring but 
 undisciplined valour. Unwilling to await the 
 attack of their enemies, they rushed out of the 
 town to meet it ; but the spectacle of a regu- 
 lar, though not numerous body of men, with 
 barbed horses and shining armour, checked 
 their forwardness, and they returned to their 
 fortifications, resolved to defend them to the 
 last extremity. Encouraged by the retreat of 
 his antagonists, Fitz-Stephen boldly led his 
 forces up to the town, filled the trenches with 
 armed men, and appointed his archers to level 
 at the walls and turrets. But the garrison 
 made a most vigorous resistance, and cast down 
 great stones and pieces of timber on the assail- 
 ants, by which eighteen were killed, and many 
 severely wounded. One of these stones struck
 
 96 SIEGE OF WEXFORD. 
 
 David Barry, a valiant Welch knight, on 
 the head-piece, while he was attempting to 
 scale the walls, and he was carried away by 
 his comrades almost lifeless. 
 
 Fitz-Stephen now perceiving that the men 
 of Wexford were not to be so easily subdued, 
 withdrew his forces to the sea-shore, and 
 to convince them that he was resolved not to 
 abandon the enterprize, he set fire to his ships. 
 He then ordered mass to be celebrated in his 
 camp with much solemnity, and having mar- 
 shalled his army with great circumspection, he 
 again led them towards Wexford, deeply im- 
 pressed with the feeling, that nothing remained 
 for them but to conquer or die. This bold re- 
 solution of the invaders completely appalled 
 the garrison : when they saw the army, whom 
 they supposed to have been utterly vanquished, 
 again approaching, they began to consider the 
 improbability of a successful resistance, unpro- 
 vided as they were with ammunition and pro- 
 visions, and feared the vengeance of their late 
 sovereign, should the place be taken by storm. 
 The clergy loudly encouraged those feelings :
 
 SIEGE OF WEXFORD. 97 
 
 and, at length, a deputation of the principal 
 inhabitants, with two bishops at its head, 
 was sent from the town, to offer terms of capi- 
 tulation. To this Dermod was persuaded with 
 difficulty to agree ; but it was at length ar- 
 ranged, that the town should be surrendered 
 to him — that the inhabitants should again ac- 
 knowledge him as their sovereign, and that 
 four principal citizens should become hostages 
 for their fidelity. Dermod now took possession 
 of the place, and immediately proved his good 
 faith to his allies by investing Fitz-Stephen 
 and Fitz-Gerald (whose arrival was speedily 
 expected,) with the joint lordship of Wexford 
 and its domains. He also granted to Hervey 
 of Mountmorres, a large district on the coast ; 
 and here was planted the first British colony, 
 who, even to the present day, are distinguished 
 in many particulars from the natives, as it re- 
 spects manners and language. 
 
 After this conquest, Dermod led the British 
 forces to his residence at Ferns, where three 
 weeks were spent in feasting the leaders and 
 refreshing the soldiers ; and here he arranged 
 
 G
 
 98 DEFEAT OF THE PRINCE OF OSSOllY. 
 
 with his alHes the plan of their future opera- 
 tions. The king of Leinster now found him- 
 self at the head of three thousand men, hesides 
 his auxiliaries ; and he resolved that Fitz- 
 Patrick, the prince of Ossory, who in the time 
 of his distress had revolted from him, and put 
 his son to death, should feel the immediate 
 effects of his vengeance. The British leaders 
 promising him their unlimited support, he set 
 out on this expedition, while the prince of 
 Ossory, with five thousand men, strongly en- 
 trenched amidst w oods and fastnesses, awaited 
 the approach of his invaders. But notwith- 
 standing these obstacles, the allies attacked the 
 Ossorians with great impetuosity, and a san- 
 guinary contest ensued, which lasted from 
 morning till night. The efforts of the assail- 
 ants were frequently repelled, till a manoeuvre, 
 suggested by Prendergast, induced the troops 
 of Ossory to quit their advantageous position, 
 and rush into the plain, when the contest was 
 speedily decided by the superior skill and dis- 
 cipline of the British cavalry. But the latter, 
 in their ardour, pursuing the fugitives too far.
 
 DEFEAT OF THE PRINCE OF 05S0RY. 99 
 
 soon found themselves involved in dangerous 
 morasses, from which they were speedily 
 obliged to retire. The prince of Ossory, at- 
 tributing this retreat of the invaders to want of 
 courage, renewed his attack, and imprudently 
 permitted himself to be again drawn into the 
 plaio. Here superior discipline once more pre- 
 vailed ; the Ossorians fled on all sides, and 
 the Irish, under Dermod, joining in the pur- 
 suit, completed their rout. A barbarous prac- 
 tice then prevailed of mangling the bodies of 
 the unhappy men who fell in battle, which is 
 now known only among the Turks. Upon 
 this occasion, we are told that the troops of 
 Dermod returned from the field of slaughter 
 with three hundred heads, which they pre- 
 sented to their sovereign as trophies of their 
 prowess, and this brutal chieftain, discover- 
 ing among them the head of one of his most 
 determined foes, treated it with indignities 
 which it would be shocking to mention. 
 
 The king of Leinster now satiated his ven- 
 geance by devastating Ossory with fire and 
 sword, after which he carried his ravages into
 
 100 MAURICE FITZ-GERALD. 
 
 the territories of O'Phelan, prince of the De- 
 cies, and that part of Wicklow called Glenda- 
 lough. Meantime, the prince of Ossory, reco- 
 vered from his panic, again appeared in arms, 
 to defy the power of his implacable foe ; for 
 three days he gallantly repelled a fresh attempt 
 at invasion, and at length retired from the field, 
 though vanquished yet not subdued. An 
 event which occurred soon after encouraged 
 him to become the assailant in his turn. An 
 insult which Dermod had given to Maurice 
 Prendergast, had inspired that chieftain with 
 the resolution of returning to Wales ; but the 
 king of Leinster adopting measures to coun- 
 teract his intention, Prendergast with his whole 
 troop, entered the service of the prince of Os- 
 sory, who encouraged by the reinforcement, 
 made many successful inroads into the territory 
 of his adversary, though he was restrained by 
 the prudence of Prendergast from meeting him 
 in the field. Meantime Maurice Fitz-Gerald 
 arrived at Wexford with a fresh supply of 
 British troops, consisting of ten knights, thirty 
 horsemen, or men at arms, and one hundred
 
 OPERATIONS OF RODERICK o'cONNOR. ICl 
 
 archers, which recruited the loss sustained by 
 Prendergast's defection. The latter, also, hav- 
 ing soon become as much disgusted with his 
 new alliance, as he had been with that of 
 Dermod, made another effort to return to 
 Wales ; the prince of Ossory attempted to 
 oppose his passage by force ; but his retreat 
 being secured by the valour and address of 
 Maurice Fitz-Gerald, Fitz-Patrick was at 
 length compelled to offer terms of submission 
 to his former sovereign. 
 
 The exploits of the Britons, and the suc- 
 cess of Dermod in recovering his territories, 
 now spread alarm throughout every part of the 
 island. The monarch Roderick, who had at 
 first treated the report of this puny invasion 
 with contempt, began to entertain serious 
 apprehensions for its consequences, and re, 
 solved before the flame should take a wider 
 range, to march with all the force he could 
 collect, against the king of Leinster and his 
 foreign auxiliaries. Having summoned his 
 vassals to his standard, he collected a consider- 
 able army at Tarah, consisting, besides his 
 g2
 
 102 OPERATIONS OF RODERICK O'cONNOR. 
 
 Connaught forces, of the troops of Thomond, 
 under Donald O'Brien, those of O'Ruarc of 
 Breifney, and of many of the chieftains of 
 Leinster, who were still in revolt against their 
 sovereign. As this formidable army advanced, 
 Dermod appeared to lose all confidence even in 
 his British allies, and communicated his ap- 
 prehensions to their leaders in the language 
 of a man almost driven to desperation. Fitz- 
 Stephen endeavoured to allay his fears, and as- 
 sured him that the Britons were determined to 
 share his fortunes, and to be his friends in dis- 
 tress as well as in prosperity ; but as the ap- 
 proaching enemy was so superior to them in 
 number, they resolved to retire to a station 
 near Ferns, which being surrounded by woods, 
 morasses, and precipices, was difficult of access; 
 and it was in a few days so entrenched and 
 fortified as to bid defiance to the invader. 
 
 Roderick perceiving the danger of attacking 
 an enemy thus situated, endeavoured by ne- 
 gociation to divide his antagonists. He des- 
 patched a herald to Fitz-Stephen to point out 
 the injustice of his conduct in espousing the
 
 OPERATIONS OF RODERICK O'CONNOR. 103 
 
 odious cause of a tyrant and an adulterer, and 
 invading a country where he had no just claims 
 or pretensions. He warned him to avoid being 
 involved in the ruin which now menaced his 
 insidious ally, and oflfered him and his soldiers 
 a safe departure, with the expenses of their 
 voyage. To this message Fitz-Stephen re- 
 plied, that the Britons had not come to Ireland 
 to invade the rights of others, but to take pos- 
 session of their own, which they claimed by 
 treaty with the king of Leinster, to whom they 
 stood engaged by every tie of justice and ho- 
 nour — that they were at a loss to conceive the 
 object of his deputation, for they wanted nei- 
 ther his advice or his friendship — if he chose to 
 predict the event of the present contest, they 
 had no reliance on his sagacity — if he command- 
 ed as a monarch they were strangers to his 
 authority — and if he threatened as an enemy, 
 they set his power at defiance. 
 
 Having failed in his attempt on Fitz-Stephen, 
 Roderick endeavoured to impress the king 
 of Leinster with a sense of the duty which he 
 owed to his country. He exhorted him to
 
 104 OPERATIONS OF RODERICK o'cONNOR. 
 
 abandon the cause of the strangers before they 
 made a permanent and powerful establishment, 
 which might ultimately reduce the whole 
 country under their authority. On this condi- 
 tion the monarch offered to re-instate him in 
 his territories, but menaced him with the pu- 
 nishment of a traitor if he should persevere in 
 his rebellious practices. This proposition was 
 treated with as little respect as that which had 
 been sent to the British chieftain, and for some 
 time vigorous preparations were made on both 
 sides to decide the question by the sword. 
 The interval was occupied by the different 
 leaders, to inspire the soldiers under their 
 respective commands with courage for the 
 expected conflict. Roderick represented the 
 character of the king of Leinster in the most 
 odious colours as a tyrant, who, to gratify his 
 malice, had introduced a band of needy fo- 
 reign adventurers to gain a settlement in Ire- 
 land. Dermod, on the other hand, depicted 
 his adversary as the unprincipled and oppres- 
 sive invader of his province, who had compelled 
 him to take up arms in defence of his dearest
 
 OPERATIONS OF RODERICK O'CONNOR. 105 
 
 rights and those of his subjects : while Fitz- 
 Stephen told his countrymen that they were 
 engaged in an honorable contest by sup- 
 porting an injured prince, their friend and be- 
 nefactor, who had given them valuable settle- 
 ments; and he trusted that they would now 
 exert that valour which had ever been the glory 
 of Britons, and which he doubted not would 
 open a way to acquisitions still more important. 
 With the vastly superior force which the 
 Irish monarch possessed he might now, by act- 
 ing with vigour, have crushed in its infancy 
 an enterprize, which by being allowed to gain 
 strength, led to such important results ; but 
 Roderick was destitute of talents, either ".s u 
 statesman or a warrior, adequate to such a crisis. 
 After spending several days in hostile prepa- 
 rations, he was persuaded by his clergy to oifer 
 fresh terms to his rebellious vassal, by which he 
 acknowledged his right to the government of 
 Leinster, and that he would withdraw all oppo- 
 sition to his further progress in the reduction of 
 his revolted subjects, on the simple condition 
 of his acknowledging the supremacy of Ro-
 
 lOG INGLORIOUS PEACE. 
 
 derick, and yielding him the service usually 
 paid to the monarch of Ireland by the provin- 
 cial kino;s. Through the mediation of the 
 clergy, Dermod accepted these conditions, and 
 delivered his favourite son as an hostage for his 
 faithful adherence to them ; while by a secret 
 article he engaged to dismiss his British aux- 
 iliaries immediately after the settlement of the 
 province. But he resolved to fulfil the treaty 
 no longer than it suited his convenience. 
 
 The Irish monarch having thus ingloriously 
 terminated a contest for which he had made 
 such great preparations, Dermod and his allies 
 were left at full liberty to pursue their ambi- 
 tious designs. Fitz-Stephen, suspecting the 
 fidelity of the men of Wexford, commenced 
 the erection of a fort at a place called Carrig, 
 about two miles from the town, which was de- 
 fended on two sides by precipices, and on the 
 third by a navigable river. Dermod, in the 
 mean time, assisted by a strong body of the 
 British under Maurice Fitz-Gerald, marched to 
 take vengeance of the citizens of Dublin, who 
 at that period were chiefly composed of Ostmen,
 
 DONALD O'BRIEN. 107 
 
 for the murder of his father many years before, 
 and their subsequent revolt against himself. 
 As he approached the city, he committed the 
 most horrible ravages, which so terrified the 
 inhabitants who were totally unprepared for 
 resistance, that they offered to return to their 
 allegiance ; and through the intercession of 
 Fitz-Gerald, Dermod accepted their oaths of 
 fidelity, and permitted the Danish prince, 
 Hesculph Mac Torcall, still to govern the city 
 as his vassal. 
 
 While the king of Leinster was thus aug- 
 mentinor his strength, that of the Irish monarch 
 suffered a considerable diminution by the revolt 
 of Donald O'Brien, the sovereign of Thomond. 
 That chieftain had been the faithful adherent 
 of Roderick in all his expeditions, till his late 
 iusrlorious conduct led him to abandon his 
 cause, when he entered into an alliance with 
 Dermod, which he cemented by marrying one 
 of his daughters. Roderick proceeded at the 
 head of a considerable army to reduce his re- 
 bellious vassal, but Fitz-Stephen, at the request 
 of Dermod, marched rapidly to the assistance
 
 108 PERFIDY OF DERMOD. 
 
 of the latter, and the monarch had once mope 
 to retire from inferior forces disappointed and 
 disgraced. 
 
 This rapid career of success caused Dermod 
 to forget the solemn engagement, which he had 
 so recently entered into with his sovereign, 
 and hib ambition was so inflated that he re- 
 solved to contend with Roderick for the mo- 
 narchy of Ireland. He communicated his 
 design to the British leaders, who, while they 
 applauded his spirit, dissuaded him from the 
 attempt until he had received further reinforce- 
 ments from England ; and they urged him to 
 despatch another message to Strongbow, earn- 
 estly coliciting the fulfilment of his engagement. 
 He accordingly represented the posture of his 
 affairs, and the prospects he had of extending 
 his dominions, in such glowing terms to the 
 earl, that the ambition of the latter received 
 an additional impulse, and repairing to king 
 Henry, he requested that he might be permitted 
 to seek in a foreign country that return of 
 fortune which was denied him in his own. 
 Henry was unwilling that his subjects should
 
 RAYMOND LE GROSS. 109 
 
 make auy considerable progress in Ireland 
 without his own personal interposition, which 
 he was unable as yet to give — he was at the 
 same time unwilling that they should lose the 
 advantages which they had already gained. 
 He appeared to treat the project of Strongbow 
 with contempt and ridicule ; but after detain- 
 ing him for some days under various pretexts, 
 he at length said, as if to get rid of his impor- 
 tunity, ' Lo, whither and where thou wilt go 
 and wander from me, it shall be lawful for thee ; 
 take the wings of Dedalus, and fly away." 
 The earl accepted this as a sufficient licence, 
 and spent the winter in making vigorous pre- 
 parations for his expedition. 
 
 In May 1171, earl Strongbow despatched 
 Raymond le Gross, the kinsman of Fitz-Ste- 
 phen and Fitz-Gerald, with his advanced guard, 
 consisting of ten knights and seventy archers, 
 who were accompanied by Hervey of Mouut- 
 morres. This puny force landed at a place 
 called by some writers Dondrone, and by 
 others Don-Isle, a few miles from the city of 
 Waterford, where Raymond, for their security, 
 
 H
 
 110 BATTLE OF DON-ISLE. 
 
 cast up an entrenchment, and erected a tem- 
 porary fort. The necessity of these precau- 
 tions was soon apparent, as O'Phelan, prince 
 of the Decies, and O'Ryan of Idrone, quickly 
 assembled a tumultuary army of three thousand 
 men, with which they marched against this 
 handful of invaders. When Raymond per- 
 ceived the vast superiority of the assailants, he 
 ordered his men to retire within the fort. The 
 Irish pressed closely upon them, and some had 
 even entered their gates, when Raymond 
 boldly attacked and slew their leader, whose 
 followers instantly withdrew, and appeared 
 quite disconcerted as to their future plan of 
 operations. The skilful commander of the Britons 
 took advantage of this momentary pause, to 
 order a numerous herd of cattle which he had 
 collected for the subsistence of his troops, to 
 be driven against the enemy, and the animals 
 rushed forward with such irresistible violence 
 as threw the Irish into inextricable confusion. 
 The invaders now sallied out of the fort, 
 slaughtered the miserable fugitives without 
 mercy, and returned with seventy prisoners.
 
 BATTLE OF DOX-ISLE. Ill 
 
 all principal citizens of Waterford, who offered 
 large sums for their ransom. Raymond pleaded 
 forcibly for the lives of men who had fought in 
 an honourable cause, in defence of their coun- 
 try ; but his opinion w as opposed by Hervey 
 of Mountmorres, who argued that their destruc- 
 tion was necessary to strike terror into the 
 inhabitants, who, he said, would never submit 
 to the Britons till broken by rigour and severity. 
 This cruel policy prevailed, and every one of 
 these unfortunate men was cast from a rock 
 into the sea. Sir William Ferand was the only 
 Briton of note who fell in this singular action. 
 Notwithstanding this act of merciless barbarity, 
 "ffhich was well calculated to excite in the 
 minds of the Irish an ardent desire for ven- 
 geance on their enemies, the invaders were 
 permitted to retain possession of their strong 
 hold, till the arrival of their associates. 
 
 H 2
 
 112 ARRIVAL OF STRONGBOW. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Arrival of Strongbow — Siege of Waterford — 
 Capture of Dublin — Synod of Armagh — 
 Reverses sustained by Stf^ongbow — Death of 
 Dermod Mac Murchard — Repulse of the 
 Danes at Dublin — Siege of Dublin by 
 Roderick O'Connor — Brilliant Exploit of 
 Strongbow— Capture of Fitz- Stephen — Bat- 
 tle of Idrone. 
 
 The forces which the Britons had hitherto 
 brought into Ireland, did not amount to a 
 thousand men; yet with this trifling aid had 
 the king of Leinster been able, not only to re- 
 cover his territories, but even to set the su- 
 preme monarch at defiance; and such will 
 always be the consequences of a weak and 
 divided government. The Irish of that day
 
 ARRITAL OF STRONGBOW. 113 
 
 were not less brave than their ancestors who 
 fought and defeated the veteran and disciplined 
 Danes at Clontarf, as was proved in the various 
 actions which Dermod and his British aux- 
 iliaries fought with the troops of Ossory ; but 
 thej had not noAV a Brien Boiromhe to lead 
 them, and the various provinces were as little 
 united as the states of Germany in their late 
 wars with Bonaparte. The several tribes, 
 indeed, were alike in manners and language ; 
 but they were unconcerned about the in- 
 terest of a different province, and little af- 
 fected by the disgrace or defeat of any chief- 
 tain but their own. Hence the settlement of a 
 Welch colony in Leinster, produced no alarm 
 in the distant provinces, and the vassals of Ro- 
 derick followed him to the field, not so much to 
 repel a foreign invasion, as to crush a rebellious 
 subject. The prudence of the early adven- 
 turers in avoiding every thing that could pro- 
 voke the remote chieftains, contributed as 
 much as their valour to their final success over 
 a brave, but inexperienced and disunited 
 people.
 
 114 ARRIVAL OF STRONGBOW. 
 
 The arrival of earl Strongbow gave a 
 new aspect to the state of affairs in Ireland. He 
 had spent many months in collecting and 
 equipping his followers, whom at the close of 
 the summer, he led through Wales to Milford 
 Haven: but just as he was on the point of 
 embarking, he received a positive command 
 from king Henry to desist from his enterprize 
 on pain of being treated as a rebel. The earl, 
 however, considering that he had proceeded 
 too far to withdraw, affected to doubt the 
 authority of the mandate ; or at all events he 
 resolved to trust to his good fortune, which 
 might either render him independent of the 
 king, or supply means for appeasing his re- 
 sentment. He accordingly set sail for the port 
 of Waterford, where he arrived on the 23d of 
 August, with two hundred knights and twelve 
 hundred archers; and being joined on the same 
 day by the small force under Raymond, the 
 whole army, on the following morning, marched 
 to attack the city. Waterford was, at this time, 
 chiefly inhabited by Ostmcn, and was esteemed 
 for wealth and trade only inferior to Dublin.
 
 STORMING OF WATERFORD. 115 
 
 Situated on the southern side of the river 
 Suir, it was then surrounded by a ditch and 
 walls enclosing a triangular space, with fortified 
 towers at each of the angles, one of which, 
 named Reginald's Tower, is still in excellent 
 preservation. On the first alarm of invasion 
 prince Reginald, the Danish governor, prepared 
 for a vigorous defence, and the garrison re- 
 ceived considerable reinforcements from the 
 neighbouring chieftains. 
 
 About mid-day on the 24th, the Britons ap- 
 proached the place by land and water, proudly 
 displaying their banners. They commenced the 
 attack with their usual gallantry : but they expe- 
 rienced such a determined resistance, that they 
 were forced to retire. After a short pause they 
 returned to the assault, but were a second time 
 beaten off with considerable slaughter. At this 
 moment Raymond perceived in the eastern 
 angle a small wooden house which projected 
 beyond the walls, and was supported by posts 
 on the outside. He prevailed on his troops 
 to make a third assault on this quarter, which 
 they commenced by hewing down the posts.
 
 116 SACK OF WATERFORD. 
 
 the house immediately fell, and drew with it 
 such a portion of the walls as made a practica- 
 ble breach, through which the besiegers rushed 
 into the town, and soon bore down all opposi- 
 tion. And now a scene of horror commenced, 
 which, in those days was the common practice 
 of warriors in every country. For some hours 
 the whole city presented a sad spectacle of 
 promiscuous plunder and carnage, in which 
 neither age, nor rank was respected ; and the 
 Danish governor, with the prince of the Decies, 
 and his son, would have been among the vic- 
 tims, had not the king of Leinster arrived at 
 that moment; when a touch of compassion, or 
 some other motive, influenced a heart, usually 
 cruel, to interpose in behalf of the unfortunate 
 captives. It is lamentable that the sacking of 
 towns taken by storm is allowed, even by the 
 laws of modern warfare. The necessity of 
 this is contended for as a means of intimida- 
 tion ; but, surely war, in its mildest form, is suffi- 
 ciently full of horrors, without making those 
 who have never been, or by their submission, 
 have ceased to be active enemies, its victims.
 
 MARRIAGE OF STRONGBOW. 117 
 
 The practice is inconsistent both with reason 
 and justice. 
 
 Dermod now joyfully embraced his grand 
 confederate, and with an ostentation of good 
 faith, proceeded to ratify his original covenant 
 with Strongbow by presenting to him the 
 princess Eva. Amidst the smoking ruins of 
 Waterford, the nuptials were solemnized, as it 
 is said, in Reginald's Tower ; after which the 
 allies proceeded to arrange their future opera- 
 tions, which Dermod was anxious in the first 
 instance to direct against Dublin, where he had 
 discovered some recent symptoms of disaffec- 
 tion. In the mean time Roderick, alarmed at 
 the progress of the invaders, and the continued 
 perfidy of the chieftain of Leinster, had once 
 more taken the field, and being joined by 
 the forces of his ever faithful adherent O'Ruarc, 
 and O'Carrol, prince of Orgiel, (a district now 
 comprehending the counties of Louth, Armagh, 
 and Monaghan,) he encamped at Clondalkin, 
 a few miles south of Dublin, with an army, 
 which (probably with considerable exaggera- 
 tion) has been computed at thirty thousand men. 
 H 3
 
 118 CAPTURE OF DUBLIN. 
 
 Undaunted by his superior numbers, the con- 
 federates marched towards Dublin with a force 
 not amounting to five thousand. Seven hun- 
 dred Britons, with an Irish battalion, com- 
 manded by Donald Kavenagh, formed the van- 
 guard, under Miles de Cogan, a valiant English 
 knight. Raymond le Gross and the king of 
 Leinster were with the main body, consisting 
 of eight hundred British and the Leinster 
 troops; while the rear under Earl Strongbow 
 was composed of a thousand Irish and three 
 hundred English troops. As they approached 
 the army of Roderick he was dismayed at 
 their martial appearance and steady discipline ; 
 and after skirmishing with them for three days, 
 his tumultuary forces began to disperse, and 
 the Ostmen of Dublin were soon left alone to 
 sustain the fury of their offended sovereign and 
 his allies. 
 
 The garrison now utterly despaired of being 
 able to defend themselves against their implacable 
 foe, and their consternation was augmented by 
 an accidental fire which had destroyed one of 
 their principal gates. They resolved, therefore,
 
 SLAUGHTER OF THE OSTMEX. 119 
 
 once more to try the eflfect of negociation, and 
 selected their archbishop, Laurence O'Toole, 
 a prelate highly reverenced both for his piety 
 and exalted birth, as the mediator upon this 
 occasion. Him they authorized to express in 
 their name the deepest penitence for their past 
 transgressions, and to offer thirty hostages as 
 sureties for their future fidelity. But he met 
 nothing from the inexorable Dermod but eva- 
 sive answers ; and while the conference still 
 continued, the impetuous Britons, under Ray- 
 mond and Cogan, scaled the walls, pretending 
 that the time of parley had expired, and the 
 unprepared and unsuspecting garrison were 
 slaughtered without mercy. Many, to escape 
 the fury of their pursuers, plunged into the 
 river and were drowned, while Hesculph, the 
 governor, and a considerable body of the ci- 
 tizens, gained some vessels in the harbour, and 
 escaped with their effects to the northern is- 
 lands. 
 
 Dermod having invested Strongbow with the 
 lordship of Dublin, who appointed Milo Co- 
 gan his governor, proceeded now to over-run
 
 120 IMPOLITIC CRUELTY OF 
 
 Meath, the eastern part of which Roderick 
 had conferred on O'Ruarc, the old enemy of 
 the king of Leinster. A^nxious to support his 
 arrangements, and fearful that his antagonists 
 would speedily carry their arms into his own 
 province of Connaughtj Roderick again vio- 
 lently menaced a foe whom he had not the 
 courage or ability to meet in the field. He 
 charged him with having violated his solemn 
 engagements, and threatened that if he did not 
 abandon his cruel and unjust proceedings 
 against his unoffending neighbours, the life of 
 his son whom he held as a hostage in his hands, 
 must answer for the perfidy of his father. To 
 this communication the chieftain of Leinster 
 replied in terms of the most studied contempt. 
 He defied the power of the monarch, renounced 
 his auJ;hority, expressed the most careless in- 
 difference about the fate of his son, and openly 
 avowed his pretensions to the dominion of 
 all Ireland, which, he said, he was determined 
 to assert by every means in his power. En- 
 raged at this insulting answer, Roderick, in 
 the vexation of impotent dignity, ordered the
 
 RODERICK O'CONNOR. 121 
 
 head of his unhappy hostage, who is repre- 
 sented by the annalists as one of the finest 
 and most amiable youths of Leinster, to be 
 struck oif, together with that of a son of the 
 gallant Donald Kavenagh, who was also in his 
 power ; and this act of brutal revenge, which 
 could have no good tendency to the settlement 
 of his affairs, excited a general feeling of detes- 
 tation throughout the country. 
 
 The recent avowal of Dermod to contend 
 for the supreme monarchy, and the fact that 
 he and his foreign auxiliaries had commenced 
 their devastations beyond his own district, 
 at length began to spread alarm throughout the 
 whole island. The people considered the 
 calamities which threatened the country as a 
 visitation from heaven for their offences, and 
 the clergy convened a formal synod at Armagh 
 to inquire into the particular cause of the 
 Divine displeasure, when after much delibera- 
 tion it was unanimously agreed, that it could 
 be no other than the unchristian practice of 
 buying and selling Englishmen as slaves, which 
 the Almighty was now punishing by permit-
 
 122 REVERSES OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 ting English invaders to reduce the Irish to 
 slavery. To avert this evil they resolved that 
 all English bondsmen should be set at liberty; 
 and this determination served greatly to allay 
 the alarm which had been excited. Some 
 reverses sustained by the confederates con- 
 firmed the hopes which had thus been raised. 
 Dermod, pursuing O'Ruarc into Breffney, was 
 twice defeated, and obliged to retire; while 
 the king of England, jealous of the growing 
 power of Strongbow, had issued his royal 
 edict, not only forbidding the transmission of 
 further supplies to Ireland, but commanding 
 all his subjects in that kingdom to return to 
 England before the ensuing festival of Easter, 
 on pain of being considered as traitors. 
 
 This intelligence caused the greatest con- 
 sternation amongst the British adventurers, 
 who now apprehended that they should be 
 compelled to abandon all their prospects of 
 wealth and glory, covered with disappointment 
 and disgrace. But Strongbow, well acquaint- 
 ed with the character of his sovereign, resolved 
 not to yield without an effort, and he de-
 
 DEATH OF KING DERMOD. 123 
 
 spatched Raymond le Gross, in whose fidelity and 
 prudence he placed the fullest confidence, with 
 letters to king Henry, in which he expressed 
 the most unbounded loyalty, and declared that 
 whatever he and his felloAV soldiers had gained 
 in Ireland, they held of him as their natural 
 and rightful lord. Raymond was received by 
 the king with the severe dignity of an oiFended 
 monarch who, though apparently satisfied with 
 his representations, was not disposed to give 
 him a speedy or decisive answer ; and intelli- 
 gence of the death of Thomas a Becket, which 
 arrived at that juncture, threw Henry into 
 such consternation, that he had neither incli- 
 nation nor leisure to attend to the affairs of 
 Ireland. 
 
 In the mean time earl Strongbow experi- 
 enced a fresh disaster by the death of his 
 father-in-law, the king of Leinster, who ex- 
 pired, say the Irish annalists, the victim of a 
 loathsome disease, in a state of horrid impe- 
 nitence, and destitute of spiritual aid. This 
 event was followed by the immediate defec- 
 tion of his Irish allies with the exception of
 
 124 ASSAULT ON DUBLIN REPULSED. 
 
 Donald Kavenagh, and one or two other petty 
 chieftains ; and almost at the same moment 
 Hesculph, the Dane, who had lately escaped 
 from Dublin, appeared at its gates with a con- 
 siderable army of his countrymen which he had 
 collected in the northern islands. He landed 
 without opposition, and then marched in battle 
 array to the east-gate ; " his troops," says Han- 
 mer, " being all mighty men of war, and well 
 appointed after the Danish manner, being har- 
 nessed with good brigandines, jacks, and shirts 
 of mail : their shields, bucklers, and targets 
 were round, coloured red, and bound with 
 iron ; and as they seemed in arms, so they 
 were no less in minds, iron-strong and mighty." 
 Hesculph, determined to regain the seat of his 
 ancestors, advanced to the assault with the 
 greatest ardour ; but he met with a vigorous 
 opponent in Miles de Cogan, who, Strongbow 
 having been called away to Waterford, com- 
 manded the city in his absence. A bloody 
 contest ensued, in which the superior numbers 
 of the Danes would probably have borne down 
 all opposition, had not Richard Cogan, the
 
 DEATH OF HESCULPII. 125 
 
 governor's brother, issued from the south post- 
 ern-gate, and charged the enemy in the rear 
 with the most terrific shouts. The Danes 
 struck with terror and dismay, now broke their 
 ranks, and fled to their ships; and their pur- 
 suers made terrible slaughter amongst them, 
 and took prisoner Hesculph, their chief; while 
 John AVood, their Admiral, who, on account 
 of his reckless bravery, was called Mad John, 
 was among the slain. Hesculph, who had been 
 so lately their governor, was now led in tri- 
 umph through the city. Cogan intended to 
 have spared his life ; but he imprudently 
 boasted that the exultation of the Britons 
 would not long continue, as he hoped ere long 
 to meet them with a force that should defy op- 
 position. The governor, however, frustrated 
 his anticipations of personal revenge, by order- 
 ing his captive to immediate execution. 
 
 The events which quickly followed appear- 
 ed to verify the predictions of Hesculph. 
 Strongbow returned to Dublin in a state of 
 great dejection at the alarming posture of his 
 affairs, where he was soon joined by Raymond,
 
 126 GRAND CONFEDERACY OF 
 
 who could obtain no decisive answer from the 
 king. Roderick and the Irish chieftains were 
 fully acquainted with the distress of the adven- 
 turers ; and Laurence, archbishop of Dublin, 
 flew from province to province, exciting the 
 people to arms against the common enemy. 
 He also, in conjunction with tlie Irish mo- 
 narch, sent emissaries to Gothred, king of the 
 Isle of Man, and other princes of the North- 
 ern Isles, soliciting their aid against these am- 
 bitious foreigners ; and he so alarmed their 
 fears for their own security, that they agreed 
 to block up the harbour with thirty ships, 
 while the Irish should besiege the city by land. 
 Roderick and his vassals soon environed the 
 city on all sides. The monarch himself en- 
 camped with the Connaught troops, to the 
 westward, at Castleknock. O'Ruarc and 
 O'Carrol took post north of the harbour near 
 Clontarf. The lord of Hy-Kinsellagh (Wex- 
 ford) possessed the opposite side ; and the 
 prince of Thomond, who had again made his 
 peace with Roderick, was stationed at Kil- 
 mainham, within less than a mile of the walls.
 
 THE IRISH PRINCES. 127 
 
 Even the archbishop of Dublin appeared in 
 arins upon this occasion (a practice not unusual 
 among the ecclesiastics of that periodj) and 
 commanded a particular troop. 
 
 But this formidable force which has been 
 variously computed at from 40,000 to 60,000 
 men, instead of being under the absolute com- 
 mand of the monarch of Ireland, consisted of 
 separate armies, under distinct leaders, divided 
 by rivalries and jealousies, and without feeling 
 that common bond of interest, which in the 
 present state of the country could alone have 
 insured success. They appeared to think that 
 the sight of this great host would have been 
 sufficient to frighten the garrison into submis- 
 sion; and for two months they contented them- 
 selves with investing the city so closely as to 
 preclude the besieged from obtaining any sup- 
 plies. This indeed had the intended effect ; 
 for every day provisions became more scanty 
 ill the garrison, and the soldiers, in conse- 
 quence, grew weak and distempered ; and to 
 add to their distress, intelligence had arrived, 
 that Fitz-Stephen was besieged in his castle at
 
 128 SIEGE OF DUBLIN. 
 
 Carrig by the men of Wexford, and that if 
 not relieved within three days, he must inevi- 
 tably fall into their hands. Thus pressed by 
 misfortunes on every hand, Strongbow laid 
 this embarrassing state of alFairs before a coun- 
 cil of war, by whom it was determined to 
 enter into a treaty with the Irish monarch on 
 terms not inconsistent with their honor. They 
 requested the prelate of Dublin to become the 
 mediator on this occasion, an office which he 
 cheerfully accepted ; and through him Strong- 
 bow proposed to acknowledge Roderick as 
 his sovereign, and hold the province of Lein- 
 ter from the Irish monarch, provided he would 
 raise the siege and accept him as his vassal. 
 The archbishop having laid the proposition 
 before his sovereign, soon returned to the 
 council, and declared that the only terms 
 which the monarch of Ireland was willing to 
 grant, were these : that Dublin, Waterford, 
 and Wexford, with all the forts possessed by 
 the Britons, should be immediately surrendered 
 to him ; and that the earl and his associates 
 should, by an appointed day, depart from Ire-
 
 SIEGE OF DUBLIN. 129 
 
 land, absolutely renouncing all their pretended 
 claims on the country. If these conditions 
 were not instantly complied with, he declared 
 his resolution of storming the city. 
 
 When the prelate retired, the British lead- 
 ers appeared for some moments overwhelmed 
 with consternation. Silence was at length in- 
 terrupted by Fitz-Gerald, who dwelt on the 
 various changes of fortune which they had 
 undergone since their arrival in Ireland ; and 
 though they were now hemmed in on every 
 side, and shut out from all hope of relief ex- 
 cept their own well-tried valour, he exhorted 
 them not to despair, but rather than submit to 
 the degrading terms which had been made to 
 them, boldly to make the onset on the undis- 
 ciplined and ill-armed multitude by which 
 they were surrounded, while their wits were 
 fresh, and their bodies able. Raymond le 
 Gross seconded the opinion of his uncle in an 
 animated speech, and Miles de Cogan, starting 
 from his seat, declared that it was better to 
 die bravely with arms in their hands than sub- 
 rait to the mercy of barbarous enemies. A
 
 130 BRILLIANT EXPLOIT OF STRONGBOW. 
 
 spirit of desperate valour now seized the whole 
 council, and they hastened to their respective 
 posts to make the necessary preparations for 
 the perilous adventure. Having filled the 
 minds of the townsmen with dreadful appre- 
 hensions of the besiegers, numbers of them 
 joined their ranks ; and Strongbow after form- 
 ing his little army into three divisions, marched 
 in the greatest order against the quarter where 
 Roderick was encamped. Raymond led the 
 advanced-guard : Miles de Cogan commanded 
 the centre division ; and the earl with Fitz-Ge- 
 rald accompanied the rear. Trusting to their 
 numbers and the probable success of the nego- 
 ciation, little order was observed in the camp 
 of Roderick ; and the Irish troops were so com- 
 pletely taken by surprize, that they made but 
 a feeble resistance to the furious onset of their 
 enemies. The Britons rushed through the con- 
 fused crowds spreading death on every hand ; 
 while the monarch, who was then in his bath, 
 had scarcely time to seize his mantle, and join, 
 half naked, the general rout. The other chief- 
 tains observed the flight of their countrymen, and,
 
 ATTACK ON THE CASTLE OF CARRIG. 131 
 
 uuiii formed of the cause, broke up tlieir camps 
 precipitately ; and thus the Britons who, in 
 the morning, were on the point of desperation, 
 saw before evening their numerous enemies 
 dispersed on all sides, abandoning to an en- 
 feebled garrison, a rich booty, and provisions 
 sufficient to support them for a year. 
 
 The success of this valorous enterprise 
 having placed Dublin in a state of security, 
 Strongbow set out for Wexford with a consider- 
 able force, to relieve his friend Fitz-Stephen. 
 But a stratagem had already placed that gallant 
 knight in the hands of his enemies. Having 
 bravely repulsed every attack of the Wex- 
 fordians on his fort at Carrig, they at length 
 solicited a parley ; and at a conference to 
 which he admitted them, they with oaths as- 
 sured Fitz-Stephen that Roderick had stormed 
 the city of Dublin, and put the whole of the 
 Britons to the sword ; and that the Irish monarch 
 was now on his march to exterminate him and 
 his followers. They affected a personal regard 
 for him, and as an acknowledgment for his 
 great kindness towards them, declared their
 
 132 CAPTURE OF FITZ-STEPUEN. 
 
 anxiety to favor his escape ; and they solemnly 
 assured him that if he would commit himself 
 to their protection, they would convey him 
 and his garrison safely to Wales before the 
 arrival of Roderick. The British leader fell 
 into the snare thus artfully laid for him ; but 
 as soon as he had quitted the fort, the besiegers 
 instead of fulfilling their promises, cast him and 
 his principal officers into chains, while they put 
 the soldiers to death by a variety of cruel tor- 
 ments. But in the midst of their exultation, 
 hearing of Strongbow's victory and his near 
 approach, they set fire to the town of Wexford, 
 and retired with their prisoners to a strong 
 place in the middle of the harbour, called the 
 Holy Island. 
 
 Strongbow, on his march, had met with op- 
 position both vigorous and unexpected. While 
 passing through a defile in Idrone, a district 
 situated in the present county of Carlow, 
 O'Ryan, the lord of that country, lay in am- 
 bush with a considerable force to oppose his 
 progress ; and while the British were hemmed 
 in on all sides by woods, morasses, and preci-
 
 BATTLE OF IDRONE. 133 
 
 pices, the Irish rushed from their retreat with 
 such fury and terrific howlings, as threw their 
 adversaries into the utmost confusion, and they 
 would have experienced a total overthrow but 
 for the exertions of their leaders. Meiler Fitz- 
 Henry, a distinguished commander, was 
 wounded and rescued with difficulty, and the 
 result of the action would have been extremely 
 uncertain, had not a monk called Nicholas, w^ho 
 served with the British army, discharged an 
 arrow with such good aim against O'Ryan, 
 that he fell down dead ; and his followers, 
 confounded at the loss of their chief, instantly 
 abandoned the field. A tradition connected 
 with this action long prevailed, which, though 
 considered doubtful by our best historians, I 
 shall relate to you. It stated, that the son of 
 Strongbow, a youth of seventeen years, was so 
 terrified at the shouts of the Irish, that he fled 
 to Dublin in the greatest consternation, de- 
 claring that his father and his whole array were 
 cut oif — and that when he afterwards appeared 
 before his father to congratulate him on his 
 victory, the earl sternly condemned him to die 
 1
 
 134 RECALL OF STRONGBOW. 
 
 for cowardice, by being cut in two. The an- 
 cient monument in Christ-church, Dublin, on 
 which the statue of Strongbow's son is conti- 
 nued only to the middle, with the bowels 
 open, gives some countenance to this tradition. 
 AY hen the earl reached Wexford, he had the 
 mortification to witness the destruction of the 
 town, and to learn the precarious situation of 
 his friend Fitz-Stephen. His distress was fur- 
 ther augmented by receiving an intimation from 
 the Irish in the Holy Island, that if he adopted 
 any measures to molest them, they would in- 
 stantly strike off the heads of their prisoners. 
 Knowing the desperate violence by which men 
 placed in such circumstances are sometimes 
 actuated, he was forced to leave his countrymen 
 to their fate, and he marched to Waterford and 
 Ferns, where, acting in his new capacity of 
 prince of Leinster, he passed some time in set- 
 tling contests between the petty chieftains, 
 rewarding his friends, and punishing the dis- 
 affected, till an order from king Henry, sum- 
 moned him to his presence. He immediately
 
 TREATY WITH KING UENRY. 135 
 
 repaired to England, and met his sovereign at 
 Newenham, near Gloucester. 
 
 Henry, in a good measure escaped from the 
 embarrassments in which he had been involved 
 by the murder of Becket, had now resolved to 
 undertake the reduction of Ireland in person; 
 but it was still consistent with his policy to 
 disavow the proceedings of Strongbow and his 
 associates ; and when the earl presented him- 
 self before his offended sovereign, he was 
 sharply reproached for his presumption and 
 disobedience. But he soon found means to 
 allay this affected resentment, and the scene of 
 dissimulation was closed by a treaty, in which 
 Strongbow made a surrender of the city of 
 Dublin, with all the conquered towns to the 
 king, and the latter confirmed the earl in all his 
 other Irish possessions, to be held of the king 
 and his heirs. After the conclusion of this im- 
 portant transaction, Strongbow accompanied his 
 royal master to Milford, where the forces were 
 now assembling for the projected expedition. 
 
 In the mean time, a fresh attack had been
 
 136 REPULSE OF o'rUARC. 
 
 made on the garrison of Dublin, and though 
 undertaken by O'Ruarc alone, it was repulsed 
 with more difficulty than any of the preceding 
 assaults, and not without considerable loss 
 on the part of the British. But these unsuc- 
 cessful efforts of the natives, only tended 
 to impress them with terrible ideas of Bri- 
 tish valour, and take away all hope of a suc- 
 cessful resistance to the formidable force which 
 the renowned sovereign of England was about 
 to lead into the country. The imbecile cha- 
 racter of the Irish monarch added weight to 
 this opinion, and each petty chieftain seemed 
 more intent to avert the evils of invasion from 
 his own district, than to form any general plan 
 of insurrection for giving it effectual opposition. 
 Some of them seemed disposed to send their 
 submission to Henry before he appeared on their 
 coast — and the men of Wexford, to avert the 
 dreaded punishment of their conduct towards 
 Fitz-Stephen, sent deputies to the king at Pem- 
 broke, who humbly entreated that he would ac- 
 cept them as his vassals, and then made a merit of 
 their proceedings in seizing a traitor, who had
 
 SUBMISSION OF THE WEXFORDIAXS. 137 
 
 forcibly possessed himself of their territory 
 without the authority of his sovereign, and 
 keeping him in chains to be at his Majesty's 
 disposal. Henry received the deputies most 
 graciously, affected to applaud their conduct, 
 and declaring that he should soon inflict con- 
 dign punishment on his undutiful subjects, 
 dismissed the Irishmen with the most favoura- 
 ble dispositions to his interests. 
 
 I 2
 
 138 ARRIVAL OF IlENRY II. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Arrival of Henry If. — Submission of the Chief- 
 tains of Munster and Leinster — Royal Fes- 
 tivities in Dublin — Synod of Cashel — The 
 King's Departure — Hugh De Lacy^ Chief 
 Governor. 
 
 Two years had elapsed since the Britons 
 first set hostile step on the soil of Ireland, and 
 surely you cannot help feeling astonishment, that 
 a force scarcely amounting to two thousand men 
 should have accomplished so much in so short 
 a time. While we condemn the injustice of 
 the enterprizcj and the barbarous cruelty which 
 (.00 generally marked its progress, we cannot 
 b;it admire the valour which so repeatedly 
 foile'^ their numerous enemies, and the wisdom 
 with which they conciliated the friendship of
 
 ARRIVAL OF HENRY II. 139 
 
 the more distant chieftains. They directed 
 their principal hostility against the supreme 
 monarch, who was by no means popular, and 
 having obtained possession of the province of 
 Leinster, they gave not the slightest intimation 
 of invading the territories of the neighbouring 
 states : and thus by lulling the suspicions, and 
 gaining the confidence of the provincial prin- 
 ces, the latter became disposed to view the 
 king of England more in the character of a pro- 
 tector than a conqueror. 
 
 After a solemn act of devotion in the church 
 of St. David's, to implore the blessing of heaven 
 on his enterprize, king Henry II. embarked at 
 Milford, attended by earl Strongbow, William 
 Fitz-Andelm, Humphry de Bohun, Hugh de 
 Lacy, Robert Fitz-Bernard, with many other 
 barons, four hundred knights, and about four 
 thousand chosen soldiers. They were embark- 
 ed in a fleet of two hundred and forty ships ; and 
 this armament, which in those days was con- 
 sidered truly formidable, entered the harbour 
 of Waterford on the 18th of October 1172. 
 Henry having declared that he came not to
 
 140 henry's court at waterford. 
 
 Ireland with the view of conquest, but to take 
 peaceable possession of a country which had 
 been granted to him by the pope, entered on 
 the exercise of his sovereignty immediately after 
 he had landed. An Ostman lord, on hearing 
 that the fleet was at sea, feared that the land- 
 ing of the soldiers might expose his property to 
 depredation, and drew some chains across the 
 harbour, to direct their course to another 
 quarter. But the English soon breaking 
 through this obstacle, Henry ordered the sei- 
 zure of the chieftain and his assistants ; and, 
 instead of treating them as enemies who had 
 acted in open war, he had them tried and ex- 
 ecuted for treason as rebellious subjects, who 
 had presumed to impede the progress of their 
 rightful sovereign. 
 
 The most joyful acclamations hailed the 
 entrance of the king of England into Water- 
 ford. His high character and the magnificence 
 with which he was surrounded, seemed to 
 obliterate from the minds of the inhabi- 
 tants every recollection of their past sufferings 
 from his precursors. Strongbow did homage
 
 SUBMISSION OF THE IRISH PRINCES. 141 
 
 for his principality of Leinster, while the men 
 of Wexford appeared to present their prisoner 
 Fitz-Stephen, in chains to the king ; who, re- 
 proaching the captive with assumed sternness, 
 for his presumption, remanded him to prison. 
 On the following day, Mac Arthy, prince of 
 Desmond, appeared at Henry's court, surren- 
 dered into the king's hands his city of Cork, 
 and became his vassal and tributary for the 
 remainder of his territory. 
 
 The king of England now resolved to dis- 
 play his pomp by making a stately progress 
 into Munster. Attended by a magnificent 
 train he marched to Lismore, where he gave 
 orders for the erection of a fort; and then pro- 
 ceeded to Cashel, to impart to the archbishop 
 of that see, his gracious designs respecting the 
 church ; and here he received from Donald 
 O'Brien the surrender of Limerick ; and that 
 prince, with O'Phelan, of the Decies, Fitzpa- 
 trick, of Ossory, and all the inferior chiefs of 
 Munster, acknowledged him as their liege lord 
 and sovereign. All were received with gra-
 
 142 ROYAL PROGRESS TO DUBLIN. 
 
 cious assurances of favour and protection, and 
 dismissed with magnificent presents. 
 
 Having effected these important objects, 
 king Henry returned to Waterford ; and as it 
 was no longer necessary to maintain his show 
 of resentment against Fitz-Stephen, he permit- 
 ted his barons to intercede for him ; and on 
 his surrendering Wexford and its territory to 
 the king, he was set at liberty, and confirmed 
 in all his other acquisitions. Having stationed 
 garrisons in all the ceded cities, he now re- 
 solved in due form to take possession of Dub- 
 lin, which he determined to make the capital 
 of the island. He led his troops through the 
 intervening country in a slow and stately pro- 
 gress, to astonish the rude inhabitants with 
 the magnificent appearance of the royal army 
 — and it had the desired effect; for during his 
 route, all the chiefs of Leinster, including 
 O'CarroU of Louth, and O'Ruarc, the long 
 tried friend of Roderick, imitated the example 
 of the Munster princes, and did homage to the 
 king of England. Roderick, the monarch,
 
 ROYAL FESTIVITIES. 143 
 
 appears upon this occasion to have acted with a 
 degree of spirit which his former conduct would 
 not have led us to expect. Being abandoned 
 by his vassals, he knew he was not sufficiently 
 powerful to march against the royal invader, 
 yet he resolved to defend his own province 
 against hostile attack ; and for that purpose 
 placed his Connaught troops in entrenchments 
 on the banks of the Shannon, and rejected 
 every overture of De Lacy and Fitz-Andelm, 
 who were deputed to meet him, either to per- 
 suade or force him to a submission ; and his ex- 
 ample was followed by all the princes of Ulster. 
 In the mean time king Henry arrived in 
 Dublin, which at that period contained no 
 building sufficiently capacious to receive the 
 royal train ; but a large temporary structure 
 was raised with hurdles, and richly ornament- 
 ed, on a spot (now called College-green) in 
 the south-eastern suburbs. If you have ever 
 seen our fine metropolis, you will be surprised 
 to hear what a diminutive place Dublin was in 
 those days, compared with its present extent. 
 Its whole length within the walls, was from
 
 144 ROYAL FESTIVITIES. 
 
 near the entrance to the Lower Castle- Yard 
 to a little beyond Corn Market ; its breadth, 
 from the river to Little Ship-street; and the 
 entire circuit of its walls about a mile. It 
 contained few stone buildings except Christ's 
 church, erected by the Danes in 1038, and 
 some other religious edifices. One bridge 
 crossed the Liffey where Whitworth-bridge 
 now stands ; and on the North side of the 
 river there were scarcely any buildings except 
 a suburb called Ostmantown (afterwards 
 corrupted into Oxmantown,) which was inha- 
 bited by the Danes, from whom it was de- 
 nominated. 
 
 As Christmas approached all the vassal Irish 
 lords flocked to Dublin, and were sump- 
 tuously entertained by their new sovereign at 
 his pavilion. " Wonderful it was to the sim- 
 ple people to behold," says an ancient chroni- 
 cler, " the majesty of so puissant a prince ; 
 the sport, and the mirth, and the continual 
 music, the masking, mumming and strange shows, 
 the gold, the silver, and plate, the precious orna- 
 ments, the dainty dishes, furnished with all
 
 ROYAL FESTIVITIES. 145 
 
 sorts of fish and flesh, the wines, the spices, 
 the delicate and sumptuous banquets, the 
 orderly service ; the comely march, and seemly 
 array of all officers ; the gentlemen, the esquires, 
 the knio^hts and lords in their rich attire : the 
 running at tilt in complete harness, with barbed 
 horses, where the staves shivered and flew in 
 splinters, safer to sit then upon an Irish pilion 
 that playeth cross and pile with the rider." 
 Henry, like more modern princes, hoped by 
 this display of grandeur, and the most affable 
 condescensions, to raise the admiration, and gain 
 the affections of his new subjects, and thus 
 make them forget the loss of their indepen- 
 dence which they had so tamely forfeited.:;^ 
 
 But he did not neglect the still more impor- 
 tant objects of gaining the sanction of the 
 clergy, and fulfilling the condition of his grant 
 from pope Adrian with respect to what was 
 called the reformation of the church and the 
 people of Ireland ; that is, the bringing of them 
 into complete subjection to the see of Rome 
 in doctrine and practice. lie accordingly 
 issued orders, that a synod of the clergy should 
 
 K
 
 146 SYNOD AT CASUEL. 
 
 assemble at Cashel, and his mandate was 
 obeyed by three archbishops and most of the 
 bishops. But the primate Gelasius pleaded his 
 great age and infirmities for not attending this 
 important assembly, by which the dominion of 
 Ireland conferred on king Ilenrj by the bull 
 of pope Adrian was fully confirmed, and the 
 supremacy of Rome established in this country. 
 Some writers tell us that the primate Gelasius 
 afterwards gave his assent to the proceedings 
 of the synod of Cashel ; while others assert 
 that he assembled another synod in Ulster to 
 oppose its proceedings, by command of Roder- 
 ick. This primate was greatly esteemed for 
 his piety and mortified life; and we are told 
 that in all his journeys he carried with him a 
 favourite white cow to supply him with milk, 
 which was his only sustenance. 
 
 King Henry now conceived that his autho- 
 rity over Ireland was completely established. 
 The whole province of Leinster with a great 
 part of Meath, and the principal maritime 
 towns, had been ceded to him ; while all the 
 chieftains except those of Ulster and Con-
 
 ROYAL GilANTS. 147 
 
 naught, had acknowledged him as their liege 
 lord. To secure the possession of the ceded 
 districts he put them under the English laws, 
 divided them into counties, and appointed 
 sheriffs and itinerant judges for the regular 
 administration of justice. He granted the city 
 of Dublin to the inhabitants of Bristol, on whom 
 he conferred a charter as well as on the Ost- 
 men of Waterford. Being still jealous of the 
 authority and ambition of Strongbow, he sought 
 to detach the other chieftains from his interest 
 by conferring favours upon them. He granted 
 the whole territory of Meath to Hugh de Lacy, 
 whom he also appointed chief governor, with 
 Fitz-Stephen and Fitz-Gerald as his coadju- 
 tors. The custody of "Waterford was commit 
 ted to Humphry de Bohun, Robert Fitz- 
 Bernard and Hugh de Gunville : William 
 Fitz-Andelm de Burgo, Philip of Hastings, 
 and Philip de Braosa or Bruse, were stationed 
 at Wexford; and the whole province of Ulster 
 was conferred upon John De Courcey, an ad- 
 venturous knight, provided he could reduce it 
 
 by force of arms. 
 
 K 3
 
 148 DEPARTURE OF KING HENRY. 
 
 Having thus, as he vainly hoped, secured the 
 tranquil possession of his Irish dominions, king 
 Henry embarked in the spring of 1173 at Wex- 
 ford. Having passed rapidly through England, he 
 set sail for Normandy, where the pope's legates 
 had arrived to make inquisition into the death 
 of Thomas a, Becket. The king, not with- 
 out considerable difficulty, at length adjusted 
 this troublesome business, and received abso- 
 lution from pope Alexander, with a confirma- 
 tion of the grant of Ireland which pope Ad- 
 rian had made to him and his heirs for ever.
 
 REVOLT OF THE IRISH CHIEFTAINS. 149 
 
 CHAPTER. IX. 
 
 Revolt of the Irish Chieftains — Attempt to 
 assassinate Hugh de Lacy — Death of O'Ruarc 
 — Hervey of Mountmorres and Raymond le 
 Gross — Defeat of Mac Arthy of Desmond 
 — Gallant Exploit of Donald More at Thar- 
 les — Massacre at Waterford — Raymond le 
 Gross captures Limerick — Submission of Ro- 
 de?ic/c O'Connor — Battle of Cashel —Death 
 of Strongbozo — Donald More burns Li- 
 merick, 
 
 Soon after the departure of king Henrj, it 
 became evident that the Irish chieftains re- 
 garded their promises of submission to his au- 
 thority only so far as there was force and power 
 to command them ; and they seemed resolved 
 to defend their territories against every attempt 
 of the new settlers to extend their acquisitions.
 
 150 ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF 
 
 Strongbow, deprived by his jealous sovereign 
 of any direction in the affairs of government, 
 was now residing at Ferns, the chief city of 
 his principality, where he solemnized the 
 marriage of his daughter with Robert de Quiny, 
 one of the first adventurers, whom had created 
 constable and standard bearer of Leinster. But 
 the nuptial rejoicings were scarcely terminated, 
 when the new bridegroom was summoned by the 
 earl to attend him into Offaley (now the King's 
 County) to punish O'Dempsey, a refractory vas- 
 sal. In this expedition many of Strongbow's men, 
 including his standard bearer, were slain in one 
 of those sudden assaults for which the Irish were 
 at that time so famous. About the same period 
 Hugh de Lacy, the chief governor, began to 
 erect forts and take other measures for securing 
 the possession of Meath, which had been 
 granted to him by king Henry ; but he found 
 a powerful opponent to the establishment of an 
 English settlement in that quarter in O'Ruarc 
 of Breffney, on whom Roderick O'Connor had 
 conferred the eastern part of this province. 
 O'Ruarc having complained of various injuries
 
 HUGH DE LACY. 151 
 
 committed on his property by the new set- 
 tlers, a day was appointed for holding a con- 
 ference between him and de Lacy at the hill of 
 Tarah, to discuss the pretensions of both par- 
 ties, an old Irish custom which was frequently 
 resorted to for adjusting disputes. It is related 
 by historians, that on the night preceding the 
 conference. Griffith, a Welch knight, the ne- 
 phew of Maurice Fitzgerald, dreamed he saw a 
 number of wild boars rush on the chief gover- 
 nor and his uncle, and that one of them would 
 have slain the two lords had he not rescued 
 them by killing the monster. Alarmed at his 
 dream, Griffith strove to dissuade de Lacy 
 from holding the conference ; but the latter 
 ridiculed his superstitious fears, and the two 
 chiefs met at the appointed time and place, 
 accompanied by a few attendants on each side. 
 Yet Griffith, persuaded that some treache- 
 ry was intended by O'Ruarc, resolved to be 
 prepared for the worst, and having select- 
 ed seven of his associates on whose va- 
 lour he could depend, he drew near with them
 
 152 DEATH OF o'RUARC. 
 
 to the place of conference, and continued 
 for some time, as if for pastime, to ride in tour- 
 nament round the field. Meanwhile, the chief- 
 tains proceeded in their conference with lit- 
 tle prospect of coming to an accommodation ; 
 till O'Ruarc suddenly retiring, made a signal to 
 a party of armed men whom he had placed on 
 the opposite side of the hill, and then rushed 
 furiously with his battle-axe on de Lacy. His 
 interpreter interposing, was slain, and the chief 
 governor was twice beaten to the ground ; but 
 Fitz-Gerald flew to his rescue, and being 
 quickly followed by Griffith and his party, the 
 assailants were put to flight. O'Ruarc him- 
 self, while mounting his horse, was slain by 
 Griffith, and many of his followers perished 
 in the pursuit. It is difficult to say which 
 party was the aggressor in this business ; but 
 the result, though it freed De Lacy from a 
 dangerous rival, and left him in peaceable pos- 
 session of his extensive territories, excited the 
 jealousy of the native chieftains in every part 
 of the island, with respect to the ultimate de- 
 signs of the new settlers, and they became
 
 EMBARRASSMENTS OF KING HENRY. 133 
 
 every day more anxious to shake off the yoke 
 of the foreigners. . 
 
 The critical situation of king Henry's af- 
 fairs at this time, favoured the design of the 
 Irish chieftains. His sons had been excited 
 by their mother, queen Eleanor, and the king 
 of France, to raise the standard of rebellion 
 against an indulgent father, and he found him- 
 self involved at once in the horrors of both 
 foreign and domestic warfare. Deserted by 
 many both of his English and Norman nobi- 
 lity, he had to employ twenty thousand merce- 
 naries to fight his battles, and to recall a great 
 part of his troops, with several principal leaders, 
 from Ireland. Amongst others Strongbow flew 
 to the assistance of his sovereign in Normandy ; 
 and this zealous alacrity gave the king such a 
 proof of his attachment, that he entrusted him 
 with the government of Gisors. This great 
 diminution of the English force in the country, 
 now encouraged the Irish princes completely 
 to throw off the mask — they openly disavowed 
 their late submissions, and prepared to take 
 vengeance on the remnant of the invaders. 
 K 3
 
 154 STRONGDOW, CHIEF GOVERNOR. 
 
 These had been entrusted to the command of 
 Hervey de INIountmorres, who was extremely 
 unpopular with the soldiery, while Raymond 
 le Gross, his second in command, was their 
 idol, on account of his conciliating manners, 
 his attention to their wants, and his cheer- 
 fully participating with them in the hardships 
 of a military life. In all these qualifications 
 Ilervey was deficient, and this created a ri- 
 valry between the two commanders highly 
 detrimental to their common interest at such a 
 critical juncture. 
 
 When king Henry received intelligence of the 
 alarming state of affairs in Ireland, he resolved 
 once more to entrust earl Strongbow withthe di- 
 rection of its government ; and to enliven his 
 zeal, he made him a grant of the town of Wex- 
 ford, with a fort which had been lately erected 
 at Wicklow. Fitz-Stephen, de Lacy, and Co- 
 gan, were at the same time commanded to re- 
 pair to England or Normandy, lest their rivalry 
 should impede the measures of the chief go- 
 vernor for the pacification of the country. 
 When Strongbow arrived in Dublin, he found
 
 SEA-FIGHT AT DUXGARVAN. 155 
 
 the discontents of the soldiery inflamed to the 
 highest pitch. They openly demanded the dismis- 
 sal of his uncle r^Iountmorres, and that Raymond 
 le Gross should be appointed to command them. 
 Having no means of satisfying the arrears of 
 pay which were due to them, he was compelled 
 to submit; and he resolved immediately to 
 employ them in a course of active service as 
 the most likely means to allay this spirit of 
 disaffection. The petty lords of Offalcy having 
 committed some offence, Raymond over-raii 
 that country with fire and sword, and carried 
 the booty to Lismore, where finding that some 
 vessels lay at anchor in Dungarvan, he put liis 
 spoil on board them, in order to convey it to 
 Waterford. The Danes of Cork having heard 
 of these transactions, proceeded with a fleet of 
 thirty sail to attack the transports, thirteen in 
 number ; but they were totally defeated by 
 the commander, Adam de Hereford, and the 
 Danish admiral Gilbert was killed by David 
 Walsh of AVaterford. The victors captured 
 eight of the Danish vessels, and then sailed in 
 triumph to their place of destination. But
 
 156 EXPLOITS or RAYMOND LE GROSS. 
 
 when you read of naval engagements in those 
 days you are not to suppose that they were 
 like our modern sea-fights. They had then 
 neither cannon nor musketry, and the ships were 
 so small that they seldom contained more than 
 forty or fifty men. While at a distance, they 
 shot arrows at each other as in land battles ; 
 and when they came to close action, one party 
 generally boarded the ships of the other, and 
 the contest was decided by the sword and the 
 battle-axe. 
 
 While the sea-fight, was going on at Dungar- 
 van, Mac Arthy, the prince of Desmond, pro- 
 ceeded from Cork by land, with a considera- 
 ble force, to support his allies the Danes. But 
 Raymond encountered and defeated him on 
 the road, took from him four thousand head 
 of cattle, and then entered Waterford in all 
 the triumph of a conqueror. His popularity 
 with the soldiery was now at its very height; 
 and his recent career of success encouraged 
 him to demand Basilia, the sister of Strongbow, 
 in marriage, together with the post of consta- 
 ble and standard-bearer of Leinster ; but the
 
 BATTLE OF THURLES. 157 
 
 earl, jealous of Raymond's rising power, re- 
 jected the overture ; and the latter, provoked 
 and disgusted, retired abruptly into Wales, 
 under pretence of taking possession of some 
 lands which had fallen to him by the death of 
 his father, William Fitz-Gerald. 
 
 This event compelled Strongbow again to 
 confer the command of the army on Hervey of 
 Mountmorres, who, anxious to emulate the ac- 
 tivity of his predecessor, and thus regain his 
 popularity, solicited the Earl to undertake an 
 expedition into jNIunster, to chastise the revolt 
 of the Southern chieftains. The chief a^overnor 
 yielding to this advice, led, in conjunction with 
 Mountmorres, a considerable body of troops 
 to the city of Cashel. But Donald-]Morp, or 
 Donald the Great, a descendant of the famous 
 Brian Boiromhe, being at that time king of 
 Thomond, or North Munster, made vigorous 
 preparations to meet the invaders. When 
 Strongbow became acquainted with his pro- 
 ceedings, he despatched an order to Dublin, 
 that a considerable portion of the Danish gar- 
 rison should march to his assistance ; but when
 
 158 PROGRESS or RODERICK o'CONNOR. 
 
 Donald heard of their approach, he instantly 
 conceived the design of cutting them oif, as 
 the most effectual means of dispiriting his an- 
 tagonists, and this he carried into immediate 
 effect; for while the Ostmenlay encamped in 
 careless security at Thurles, he suddenly rushed 
 upon them at an early hour in the morning, 
 slew four of their principal commanders, and 
 four hundred of their men, and then returned 
 without molestation to Limerick. A\ hen 
 Strongbow received the news of this misfor- 
 tune, he threw liimself into Waterford with 
 all the precipitation of a routed general. 
 
 The disgrace which the English had sus- 
 tained at the battle of Thurles, roused the 
 disaffected Irish every where to arms. Rode- 
 rick O'Connor made active exertions to gain 
 the co-operation of the chiefs of Meath and 
 Ulster, while those of Leinster, including even 
 Donald Kavanagh, the son of the late king 
 Dermod, openly disclaimed their submission to 
 king Henry. Roderick had already passed 
 the Shannon, wasting the country almost to the 
 walls of Dublin ; and Strongbow, now reduced
 
 MASSACRE AT WATERFORD. 159 
 
 to act on the defensive, had no other resource 
 but to solicit the return of Raymond le Gross, 
 with such forces as he could procure ; and he 
 who so lately had proudly refused to grant him 
 his sister in marriage, now offered to gratify 
 him in all his demands, on condition that 
 he would come to the relief of his countrymen. 
 Listening to the voice of love and patriotism, 
 Raymond speedily assembled thirty knights of 
 his own kindred, a hundred horsemen, and 
 three hundred archers, with whom he arrived 
 in Waterford, early in 1174, at the very mo- 
 ment when the townsmen were preparing to 
 rid themselves of the English garrison by a 
 general massacre. His arrival, however, frus- 
 trated this project for the present; but when 
 Strongbow and Raymond, with the greater 
 part of the soldiers, left the town for Wexford, 
 to check the rising spirit of disaffection in 
 Leinster, the inhabitants suddenly assailed 
 those that remained, and put to the sword, 
 all the English who could be found, (including 
 Purcell, the governor,) without regard to age, 
 sex, or condition. A few, Avho had opportu-
 
 160 RETRE.\T OF THE IRISH. 
 
 nity to seize their arms, took refuge in the ci- 
 tadel, called Reginald's tower, where they 
 bravely defended themselves, and at length 
 forced the conspirators to submission. V 
 
 During these sanguinary transactions at Wa- 
 terford, Basilia, the sister of Strongbow, ar- 
 rived in Wexford with a magnificent train, and 
 w as solemnly espoused by the brave Raymond, 
 who received an extensive tract of land as her 
 dowry, with the appointment of constable and 
 standard-bearer of Leinster. But such was at 
 that time the unsettled state of the country, 
 that in the midst of the nuptial rites, intelli- 
 gence arrived that Roderick O'Connor had 
 suddenly passed the Shannon, with a great 
 army, — expelled the English colonists, with 
 Tyrrell, their commander, from Meath, and 
 destroyed all the forts which they had lately 
 erected ; and that he even threatened the 
 capital. The very morning after the celebra~ 
 tion of his marriage, Raymond was obliged to 
 gird on his armour, and lead his troops towards 
 Dublin ; but the Irish chieftains, contented 
 with the depredations which they had commit-
 
 CAPTURE OF LIMERICK. 161 
 
 ted in Meath, retired at his approach, and in 
 precipitating their flight, Raymond slew about 
 one hundred and fifty of their followers, amongst 
 whom was Donald Kavanagh, one of the ear- 
 liest allies of the English in Ireland. 
 
 The authority of Strongbow having been 
 thus re-established in Leinster, he resolved to 
 renew his attempt for bringing the prince of 
 Thomond to subjection. For that purpose he 
 ordered Raymond le Gross to march, with six 
 hundred chosen men, against Limerick, of 
 which Donald-More had possessedhimself since 
 the withdrawal of the English garrison. Ray- 
 mond reached the banks of the Shannon, which 
 encompasses the city, Avithout opposition ; but 
 here he found the bridges broken down, and 
 all access denied by the rapidity of the stream. 
 Two valorous knights plunged into the river, 
 hoping to discover a ford ; but while returning 
 to encourage the troops, one of them was 
 drowned. Undismayed by this disaster, Mey- 
 ler Fitz-Henry, the nephew of Raymond, put- 
 ting spurs to his horse, rushed into the river, 
 and having reached the opposite shore, he co-
 
 162 SUBMISSION OF 
 
 vered his head with his shield, to protect it 
 from the stones and other missiles which were 
 flung from the walls. Perceiving the perilous 
 situation of his kinsman, Raymond now ear- 
 nestly entreated the soldiers to fly to his relief. 
 lie set the example himself by plunging into 
 the river, while he shouted "St. David ;" upon 
 which he was followed by the whole army, 
 who reached the opposite bank with the loss 
 of only two of their number. The garrison, 
 astonished at the intrepidity of the assailants, 
 now fled from the ramparts, and Raymond en- 
 tered the city without resistance ; the soldiers 
 obtained a considerable booty, and Meyler 
 Fitz-Henry was entrusted with the custody of 
 the place, with a garrison of five hundred men. 
 As the re-establishment of the English power 
 in Leinster, and the reduction of Limerick, 
 completely subdued the spirit of the monarch 
 Roderick, he perceived the futility of attempt- 
 ing, with a vassal army on whose zeal or fide- 
 lity he could not for a moment depend, to 
 resist the augmented power of the king of 
 England, who was now triumphant over all his
 
 RODERICK o'cOJtNOR. 163 
 
 foreign and domestic enemies. Yet, resolving 
 still to act with the dignity of a sovereign, he 
 refused to treat with Strongbovv, but de- 
 spatched Catholicus, archbishop of Tuam, at- 
 tended by two other eminent ecclesiastics, to 
 London, to adjust the terms of a treaty with 
 king Henry in person, which w ere agreed upon 
 at V»'indsor in the year 1175. By this treaty 
 Roderick consented to do homage and pay tri- 
 bute as liege-man to the king of England, the 
 tribute to consist of every tenth merchantable 
 hide as well from Connaught as the rest of the 
 island, excepting those places which had been 
 ceded to king Henry, over which Roderick 
 claimed no authority ; and on these conditions 
 he was allowed to hold the kingdom of Con- 
 naught and all his other lands and sovereignties 
 in the most ample manner. This treaty was 
 soon afterwards ratified at Dublin in a grand 
 council of prelates and barons, and thus the 
 English authority seemed to be greatly strength- 
 ened, if not fully established in the island. 
 
 Strongbow now sought to unite the interests 
 of the principal English leaders by intermar-
 
 164 DONALD-MORE BESIEGES LIMERICK. 
 
 riages ; and to secure the attachment of Mau- 
 rice Fitzgerald, he made him a grant of Wicklow 
 Castle, in addition to a large district in Offaley, 
 which he had received from the king. But 
 new troubles were excited by the jealousy 
 whicli Ilervey of jMountmorres still entertained 
 for his old rival Raymond le Gross, who, he 
 assured king Henry by secret emissaries, was 
 aiming at an independent sovereignty in Ire- 
 land ; as a proof of which he said that he had 
 secured Limerick and other places with garri- 
 sons devoted to his interests, and Avho Avere 
 secretly sworn to support his designs, li was 
 not difficult to excite in the breast of Henry 
 suspicions of the rising power of the adven- 
 turers ; and accordingly, in 1176, he sent over 
 two commissioners to watch the conduct of 
 Strongbow, and two others to conduct Ray- 
 mond to the king. 
 
 The intrepid chieftain was on the point of 
 obeying the mandate of his sovereign, when 
 intelligence arrived that Donald-More, the ever 
 active enemy of the English power, had laid 
 siege to Limerick ; and that the garrison, cut
 
 BATTLE OF CASIIEL. 165 
 
 oif from all supplies, must inevitably perish 
 unless immediately relieved. Earl Strongbow, 
 though labouring at this time under a painful 
 disease, assembled his forces, in order to lead 
 them to the relief of Limerick ; but the sol- 
 diers with one voice refused to march against 
 O'Brien, unless their favourite general was once 
 more placed at their head. The commissioners, 
 considering the emergency, agreed to defer 
 their departure, and Raymond, with apparent 
 reluctance, but with conscious triumph over 
 his malignant enemies, yielded to the entrea- 
 ties of the earl, and accepted the command. 
 
 He left Dublin at the head of six hundred 
 British troops, and was joined on his route by 
 the forces of Ossory and Wexford, whose 
 chieftains were actuated to join the English 
 upon this occasion by a feeling of personal 
 hatred to O'Brien. On his march Raymond 
 learned that the prince of Thomond had raised 
 the siege of Limerick, and entrenched his army 
 in a defile near Cashel, through which the En- 
 glish had to pass. When he drew near this 
 spot, the British general reconnoitred the si-
 
 166 BATTLE OF CASllEL. 
 
 tuation of the enemy, whom he perceived to 
 be posted in considerable force behind their 
 works. lie then disposed his troops for the 
 assault, to which the English advanced Avith all 
 the calmness of experienced and disciplined 
 valour. This having been mistaken for timidity 
 by Fitzpatrick, the prince of Ossory, he bluntly 
 told his allies that they must exert themselves 
 more vigorously, and conquer or be destroyed, 
 for they were far from refuge or support : 
 adding, that if they gave way, he and his 
 countrymen would instantly join the enemy, 
 Raymond and his brave followers needed not 
 this stimulus to exertion; for no sooner were 
 they in sight of their antagonists, than they 
 rushed into the defile, and drove the Irish from 
 their entrenchments with great slaughter, 
 who in their flight spread terror and dismay 
 throughout all Munster. Donald-More, after 
 this defeat, was obliged to sue for peace, and 
 in one day Raymond had the honour of receiv- 
 ing hostages from him and from Roderick, king 
 of Connaught. 
 
 Having thus placed Limerick in a state of
 
 MAC AKTHY OF DESMOND. 167 
 
 security, the assistance of Raymond was re- 
 quired to adjust some diflferences in the family 
 of Mac Arthy of Desmond. That prince, after 
 resigning the city of Cork and his best lands 
 in that county to the English, had retired 
 into Kerry, where his own son had risen in 
 rebellion against him, and put him in prison. 
 The father stated his wrongs to Raymond, ear- 
 nestly soliciting his protection, and promising 
 great advantages to him and his associates, if 
 he should be restored to his dominions. Ray- 
 mond and his followers were nothing loath to 
 engage in such an enterprize. They speedily 
 overran Desmond, liberated the old prince, and 
 delivered the rebellious son to his father, by 
 whom he was beheaded. Raymond, for this 
 service, was rewarded with a valuable grant of 
 land, which was enjoyed for many centuries 
 by his descendants the earls of Kerry, and is 
 now in possession of their representative, the 
 marquis of Lansdowne. 
 
 But in the midst of this career of success, 
 the English general received from his wife, se- 
 cret information of the death of earl Strongbow,
 
 168 DEATH OF STRONGBOW. 
 
 which required his immediate return to Dublin. 
 Basilia, apprehensive that the letter, in the 
 present distracted state of the country, might 
 fall into the hands of enemies, couched the 
 important information "vvhich it contained in 
 mysterious terms, saying that her great tooth 
 zchich had ached so long^ had at last fallen out. 
 But Raymond well understood its meaning, 
 and immediately repaired to Limerick to con- 
 sult with some select friends on the plan which 
 he should pursue in the present emergency. 
 It was agreed that as the chief governor was 
 dead, while he, the second in command, was 
 summoned to England, their first object should 
 be to adopt measures for securing tlie English 
 province, and that for this purpose the garrison 
 must be withdrawn from Limerick. Raymond 
 was exceedingly mortified at being thus com- 
 pelled to abandon his conquest; but he in- 
 dulged the hope that he might now safely en- 
 trust the custody of the city to the prince of 
 Thomond, who by his late submission had 
 become one of the king's barons. He accord- 
 ingly sent for the chieftain, who, with affected
 
 BURNING OF LIMERICK. 169 
 
 humility and gratitude for the confidence re- 
 posed in him, accepted the trust, and took a 
 solemn oath to take custody of Limerick for 
 the king of England, and to restore it peace- 
 ably at the royal will and pleasure. Raymond, 
 now delivered from all apprehension, proceeded 
 to evacuate the town ; but the troops had 
 scarcely passed over one end of the bridge 
 when the other was broken down ; and Ray- 
 mond had the mortification to behold the city, 
 which he had taken singular pains to fortify, 
 set on fire in four different quarters, by order 
 of O'Brien, who declared that Limerick should 
 no longer be a nest for foreigners. Donald- 
 ?*Iore may be applauded for this act, as a proof 
 of his zeal in the cause of his country ; but this 
 is not sufficient to justify the dissimulation 
 which he used, or his deliberate breach of a 
 solemn oath ; though this alas ! was a crime too 
 common, at that period, in the history of all 
 nations. It is said that when this transaction 
 was reported to king Henry with a view of 
 injuring Raymond le Gross, the king, instead 
 of condemning his conduct, replied, that the
 
 170 CHARACTER OF 
 
 first gaining of Limerick by Raymond was a 
 noble exploit ; tbe recovery of it still nobler ; 
 but that the only act of -wisdom was his aban- 
 doning his conquest in this manner. 
 
 Raymond reached Dublin in time to attend 
 the obsequies of earl Strongbow, which were 
 conducted with great solemnity and magnifi- 
 cence by the archbishop Lawrence O' Toole. 
 The character of this famous chieftainj who 
 enjoyed his high dignity for so short a time^ is 
 very differently represented by Irish and En- 
 glish writers. The former consider him as a 
 cruel and unrelenting oppressor, and attribute 
 his death to the divine vengeance on his enor- 
 mities. The latter assert that his temper was 
 composed and uniform, not dejected by mis- 
 fortune nor elated by success — his disposition 
 liberal, and his manners courteous — that he 
 was diffident of his own judgment, and cau- 
 tious of proposing plans of operation, but un- 
 daunted and vigorous in executing them ; and 
 in battle he was the standard on which his 
 soldiers fixed their eyes. As you may be 
 curious to know what became of the vast 
 territory which he got by his wife the prin-
 
 EARL STRONGBOW. 171 
 
 cess of Leinster, I shall tell you, as it has been 
 stated to us by ancient writers. By the prin- 
 cess Eva he left but one daughter, named 
 Isabell, who was sole heiress to his vast es- 
 tates. When arrived at her fourteenth year, 
 king Richard I. gave her in marriage to Wil- 
 liam Maxfield, earl marshal of England, and 
 who now, in right of his wife, became earl of 
 Pembroke and prince of Leinster. This earl 
 left five sons and five daughters. All the sons 
 successively enjoyed their father's great patri- 
 mony, and died without issue ; it was then 
 divided among the daughters in the following 
 manner : — the eldest, Joan, who married Wil- 
 liam de Valence, son of the earl of March, 
 had the county of Wexford for her portion ; 
 Matilda, married to the earl of Norfolk, had 
 Carlow ; Isabell, married to Sir Gilbert de 
 Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, had 
 Kilkenny ; Sibilla, who married the earl of 
 Ferrers and Derby, had Kildare ; and Eva, 
 the youngest daughter, who was married to 
 Lord Bruce of Gower, had the manor of Dun- 
 amase, in the Queen's County.
 
 172 WILLIAM FITZ-ANDELM DE BURGO. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 William Fitz-Andelm De Burgo, Chief Gover- 
 nor — Bull of Pope Alexander — Sir John 
 De Courcey and Sir Amoric St. Lawrence — 
 Vigorous Administration of Hugh De Lacy 
 — Progress of De Courcey in Ulster — Battle 
 ofDundalk — Murder of Miles de Cogan— Suc- 
 cessful Defence of Cork by Raymond le Gross 
 — Prince John,, Chief Governor — Interview 
 with the Irish Cfiieftaijis at Waterford — 
 General Revolt — Murder of Hugh de Lacy 
 — John De Courcey ^ Chief Governor — Death 
 of Henry II. 
 
 The death of Strongbow made a great al- 
 teration in the relative situation of Raymond 
 le Gross ; and now instead of heing compelled 
 to embark for England as a delinquent, he 
 was considered bj the council as the fittest 
 L 2
 
 WILLIAM FITZ-ANDELM DE BUKGO. 173 
 
 person to fill the office of chief governoFj at 
 least, till the king's pleasure should be known. 
 The commissioners cheerfully concurred in this 
 choice, and hoped that they would, on their 
 return to England, be able to persuade their 
 royal master, that it would be highly advan- 
 tageous to his interest, and that of the country. 
 But Henry, who now seemed anxious to crush 
 the power of all the early adventurers, was 
 peculiarly jealous of the popularity which 
 Raymond had acquired by his activity and 
 success. He therefore annulled his appoint- 
 ment, and entrusted the government of Ireland 
 to William Fitz-Andelm de Burgo, a kinsman 
 of his own, and on whose loyalty he placed 
 unbounded reliance. The new chief governor, 
 attended by Vivian, the pope's legate, Robert 
 Fitz-Stephen, John de Courcey, Miles de Co- 
 gan, and a train of fifty knights, landed at 
 Wexford, where Raymond le Gross resigned 
 his office, and retired to a private station, with 
 the character of the wisest and bravest of the 
 English commanders. 
 
 Fitz-Andelm commenced his government by
 
 174 WILLIAM FITZ-ANDELM DE BURGO. 
 
 making a stately progress along the coast to 
 inspect the various cities and forts. He then 
 convened an assembly of the clergy at Water- 
 ford, where Vivian, the legate, produced the 
 bull of pope Alexander, which denounced the 
 most dreadful censures of the church on all 
 who should resist the sovereign authority of 
 king Henry as rightful lord of Ireland, or im- 
 peach the grant made to him by the Holy See. 
 But at the very moment when these denuncia- 
 tions were pronounced, the Irish chieftains of 
 Meath were slaughtering the English without 
 mercy or distinction, and demolishing their 
 forts ; and Fitz-Andelm, who appears to have 
 had no abilities for such a juncture, adopted 
 no means to repress their violence. Indeed the 
 leading object of the new chief governor ap- 
 peared to be to depress the power of the early 
 adventurers, and to enrich himself and his 
 Norman dependants at their expense. The 
 death of Maurice Fitz-Gerald, the progenitor 
 of the two great houses of Kildare and Des- 
 mond, about this time, furthered his views, as 
 lie prevailed on the sons of Fitz-Gcrald, with
 
 EXPEDITION TO ULSTER. 175 
 
 Raymond le Gross, and Fitz-Stephen, to ex- 
 change their peaceable settlements, for others 
 more liable to tVie incursions of the natives. 
 The first adventurers soon became restless under 
 the new government, and a spirit of mutiny 
 began to spread among the soldiery, who saw 
 their viceroy and his Normans revelling in 
 luxury, while they were left without pay or 
 necessaries. Fitz-Andelm was also accused of 
 using the meanest flatteries to the Irish chief- 
 tains, which tended to augment their confidence 
 without lessening their disaffection. 
 
 Amongst the English leaders John De Cour- 
 cey was the most remarkable for his strength 
 of body and vigour of constitution. Ilis pre- 
 cipitate valour, rendered him insensible to 
 danger, while his simple manners, and his dis- 
 regard of personal accommodation, made him 
 the idol of the soldiery. He had served with 
 distinction in all the wars of Henry II. His 
 brother-in-law. Sir Amoric St. Lawrence, was 
 his constant associate, and these two valiant 
 knights are said to have made a vow in the 
 church of the Blessed Vir^jiii at Rouen, to live
 
 176 SIR JOHN DE COUnCEY AND 
 
 and die together, and to divide between them 
 whatever they won by the sword. De Cour- 
 cey thought the present a favourable opportu- 
 nity for realizing the grant which the king 
 had made to him a short time before, of such 
 lands in JJlster as he could subdue, and he 
 promised to share his fortune with all who pre- 
 ferred a gallant enterprize, to a life of inglo- 
 rious ease. He fixed on Down as the first 
 object of attack, to which it is said he was 
 encouraged by an old prophecy, that it was to 
 be subdued by a stranger mounted on a white 
 horse, with a shield charged with painted 
 birds. 
 
 His old friend, Sir Amoric St. Lawrence, 
 and Roger de la Poer, a brave young knight, 
 accompanied De Courcey on this expedition, 
 and they were followed by six or seven hun- 
 dred soldiers. After a march of four days 
 they reached Down ; but Mac Dunleve, or 
 O'Donnell, the prince of that district, had fled 
 at the first approach of hostilities, and left his 
 people a prey to these invaders, who pillaged 
 them witliout mercy. Vivian, the legate.
 
 SIR AMORIC ST. LAWRENCE. 177 
 
 who happened to be in that quarter at the time, 
 interposed in their behalf, but his remonstrances 
 were unheeded ; the English continued their 
 ravages, and fortified themselves in Do^Yn, as a 
 proof that they were determined to maintain 
 their acquisition. The legate now advised the 
 Irish chieftain to have recourse to arms, and 
 rescue his country from these lawless invaders. 
 In conformity with this counsel, Mac Dunleve 
 quickly assembled a tumultuary force of ten 
 thousand men, and laid siege to Down : but 
 the chivalrous De Courcey, though his whole 
 force did not exceed seven hundred, rushed 
 forth from the city to meet the assailants. lie 
 posted his little army to great advantage, hav- 
 ing a bog on one side, and a great ditch on the 
 other. Sir Amoric St. Lawrence commanded 
 the horse on the left, which amounted to one 
 hundred and forty, each horseman having a 
 bowman behind him : the remainder of the 
 foot were in the centre, and on the right, under 
 De Courcey and Roger de la Poer. Mac 
 Dunleve, the Irish chief, observing the small 
 number of the English horse, ordered his foot-
 
 178 BATTLE OF DOWN. 
 
 to halt till he routed them, which he supposed 
 would be a matter of easy accomplishment. 
 But as he advanced furiously to the attack, he 
 was received with flights of arrows from the 
 English archers in the rear, who, when their 
 quivers were empty, rushed through the ranks 
 of their cavalry, houghed the horses of the 
 Irish, and when they had fallen, despatched 
 the riders with their skeyns. The attack of 
 the horse being thus repulsed. Sir John De 
 Courcey brought up his foot to oppose the 
 onset of the Irish infantry. A long and des- 
 perate conflict ensued, in which the English 
 arrows, spears, and swords, on the one side, 
 and the Irish darts, and battle-axes on the 
 other, did dreadful execution. But De Cour- 
 cey repulsed every attempt of his numerous, 
 though undisciplined opponents to force his 
 well-chosen position, and at length they fled 
 across the plain in the greatest confusion. 
 Sir Amoric St. Lawrence now called on Mont- 
 gomery, his standard-bearer, to advance his 
 standard, that they might pursue the flying 
 foe. Montgomery remonstrated against the
 
 BATTLE OF DOWN. 179 
 
 rashness of the attempt as they had but forty 
 horses left out of seven score. '' Then," said 
 Sir Amoric, " give me the standard, I will 
 bear it myself." '* If that be your pleasure," 
 replied Montgomery, " you shall not hereafter 
 charge me with cowardice ; under this stand- 
 ard I have got honour, and under this standard, 
 if God so please, I will die." Then the pur- 
 suit began, and they soon came up with two 
 hundred Irish under Connor O'Loghlin. A 
 terrible fight ensued, in which Sir Amoric 
 St. Lawrence was twice unhorsed, and his 
 nephew Lionel slain. The valiant knight 
 then fought on foot, surrounded by a few of his 
 bravest followers, till Sir John De Courcey 
 came to his rescue, and the Irish abandoned the 
 field. 
 
 De Courcey was, for some time, left at li- 
 berty to parcel out his lands, and build forts for 
 the security of his conquest. But he was 
 interrupted in the following summer by a fresh 
 attack from fifteen thousand of the Irish, when 
 both sides fought with the greatest despera- 
 tion. The English were again victorious, but
 
 180 MAC MAHON. 
 
 not without considerable loss, Sir Amorlc St. 
 Lawrence and his son being among the wounded. 
 These successes gave the neighbouring Irish 
 lords such an opinion of the invincible va- 
 lour of the invaders, that they now ap- 
 peared to court their favour, and gave De 
 Courcey the most flattering assurances of 
 their attachment. One of these chieftains named 
 Mac Mahon, even bound himself to the English 
 interests by the band of gossipred, the most 
 sacred tie amongst the Irish ; and De Courcey, 
 as a proof of his friendship and confidence, 
 admitted him into his councils, and gave him 
 the custody of two of his forts. But the Irish 
 chieftain speedily evinced the insincerity of his 
 professions by levelling the forts to the ground, 
 and when questioned for the sudden breach of 
 faith, he sternly answered, " that he promised; 
 not to hold stone walls of De Courcey, but the 
 land, and that it was contrary to his nature to 
 couch himself within cold stones, while the 
 w oods were nigh." To punish this revolt, the 
 English entered Mac Mahon's territory, ravaged 
 it with fire and sword, and swept all the cattle.
 
 AN AMBUSCADE. 181 
 
 the chief riches of the Irish, before them. The 
 prey was so great, that they were forced to 
 divide it into three herds, each of which was 
 conducted by a distinct body of the English 
 forces. The whole, which formed a line of 
 three miles, had to pass through a deep and 
 narrow defile, with vast woods on either side, 
 in which Mac INIahon lay in ambush with 
 eleven thousand men. At a concerted signal, 
 the Irish suddenly rushed from their conceal- 
 ment, attacked each division of the English 
 separately, and thus threw the whole army, 
 encumbered with their booty, into the most 
 terrible confusion, as they were at once assailed 
 by the enemy, and trodden down by the in- 
 furiated cattle. The prey was now abandoned, 
 and De Courcey forming his men as well as 
 circumstances would permit, had to fight his 
 way through the defile, surrounded by a host 
 of enemies. They were pursued into the plaint 
 by the Irish, where several desperate encoun- 
 ters took place with great loss of lives on both 
 sides. In one of these Mac Mahon was slain, 
 and on the part of the English, Sir Nicholas
 
 182 SURPRIZE OF AN IRISH CAMP. 
 
 St. Lawrence was desperately wounded, while 
 Sir Roger de la Poer being taken prisoner, was 
 afterwards rescued by the valiant Sir Amoric. 
 Four hundred English men fell in this action. 
 
 At length De Courcey reached one of his 
 forts with the remnant of his gallant band ; and 
 as the enemy's forces were encamped within 
 half a mile of him, he ordered a strict watch. 
 At midnight, after a short repose. Sir Amoric 
 ventured out with a small escort to view the 
 posture of the Irish, whom he found as he 
 expected, in a state of the most careless secu- 
 rity. He quickly returned to the fort, and 
 informed De Courcey that he supposed the 
 enemy to be about five thousand strong, who 
 were all sleeping or feasting ; and lie urged 
 him, instead of waiting to be surrounded by 
 the Irish, who would certainly renew the 
 assault on the following morning, to fall on 
 them at a moment when their vain confidence 
 and want of discipline afforded such advan- 
 tages to a small, but determined body of as- 
 sailants. The project was instantly adopted, 
 and executed with complete success. De
 
 INVASION OF CONNAUGHT. 183 
 
 Courcey and Sir Amoric sallied from the fort 
 at the head of five hundred men ; and when 
 they approached the enemy's camp, the horses 
 were let loose and driven amongst them. The 
 astonished Irish, roused from their sleep, be- 
 came the unresisting victims of their assailants, 
 and only a few hundreds escaped the slaughter. 
 De Courcey now returned triumphant to his 
 fort, and having received supplies of men and 
 provisions from England, remained for some 
 time in undisturbed possession of his conquest. 
 This year the English, for the first time, set 
 liostile foot in Connaught, encouraged as in 
 most other instances by dissensions among the 
 native chieftains. The sons of the unfortunate 
 Roderick O'Connor, like those of king Henry, 
 had rebelled against him, and one of them 
 named Murrough, invited the English to assist 
 him. Miles de Cogan gladly embracing the 
 proposal, marched from Dublin to Roscom- 
 mon with five or six hundred men. But the 
 people of Connaught destroyed or carried off 
 all the provisions, and left the whole country 
 a desert before tlie invaders, so that they were 
 M 2
 
 184 HUGH de lacy, chief governor. 
 
 soon obliged to retire for want of subsistence, 
 and leave the traitor Murrough to the resent- 
 ment of his father and countrymen, who ordered 
 his eyes to be put out. Every part of Ireland 
 as well as Connaught, was at this time greatly 
 distracted by the furious contentions of rival 
 chiefs. ' 
 
 These continued disorders led to a change 
 in the government. The rapacious and indo- 
 lent Fitz-Andelm was re-called, and Hugh de 
 Lacy appointed his successor. Henry, at the 
 same time, granted the territory of Cork to 
 Robert Fitz-Stephen and Miles de Cogan; 
 Limerick to Philip de Bruse ; Waterford, to 
 Robert de la Poer, and a great part of Con- 
 naught to William Fitz-Andelm; and he re- 
 newed his former grant of Meath to Hugh de 
 Lacy. All these grants were to be held of the 
 king and his son John, whom he had lately 
 created lord of Ireland. As Cork was then 
 held by an English garrison, Cogan and Fitz- 
 Steplien found there a hospitable reception, 
 and got possession of their settlements with 
 little difficulty ; but when Philip de Bruse
 
 BATTLE OF DUNDALK. 185 
 
 approached Limerick, the Irish iiiliabitauts set 
 it on fire ; and he was so shocked at this act of 
 determined violence, that he thought it wiser 
 to retrace his steps than entrust himself amongst 
 a people who had given such a signal proof of 
 their detestation of his authority. "^ 
 
 The government of Hugh de Lacy was marked 
 with vigour, justice, and impartiality. He set the 
 wise example of a coalition between the natives 
 of the two kingdoms by marrying a daughter of 
 Roderick O'Connor, and made considerable 
 progress in settling and strengthening the pro- 
 vince of Leinster, while the chivalrous John 
 De Courcey was equally indefatigable in main- 
 taining his conquests in Ulster against the 
 almost incessant attacks of the natives. In 
 the year 1178, he fought one of those romantic 
 battles in the county of Louth for which his life 
 was so celebrated. A ship of his laden with 
 provisions and ammunition, having been driven 
 by stress of weather into a creek near the town 
 of Newry, was plundered by a chieftain 
 named O'llanlon, who also put the crew to 
 death. When De Courcey heard of this, he
 
 186 BATTLE OF DUNDALK. 
 
 marched with a thousand men to Newry, where 
 he learned, that the Irish to the amount of six 
 thousand, were encamped near Dundalk. He 
 continued his march till he came within a mile 
 and a-half of the enemy, when Sir A.moric St. 
 Lawrence, observing their vast superiority in 
 point of number, employed a stratagem for 
 deceiving them witVi regard to the force of 
 their opponents. A friar went secretly from 
 the English camp, who told the Irish comman- 
 der, that Sir Hugh De Lacy had arrived at 
 Drogheda, and was in full march against them 
 with a large army. De Courcey and his fol- 
 lowers, at the same moment, advanced in the 
 greatest apparent confidence and security, and 
 the Irish, completely deceived, fled towards the 
 river. Thither they were pursued, and num- 
 bers of them slain by the English, who, dis- 
 covering a ford, crossed over, and continued 
 the pursuit on the opposite side, till the flight 
 of the Irish being stopped by an arm of the sea, 
 they turned on their assailants, and a furious 
 combat took place, in which De Courcey and 
 Sir Amoric St. Lawrence had some marvellous
 
 MURDER OF MILES DE COGAX. 187 
 
 escapes. Great numbers fell, though with little 
 advantage to either side, and when the battle 
 closed, the Irish retired to the Fews, and the 
 English to Dundalk. 
 
 Great comparative tranquillity reigned iu 
 Ireland during the first four years of the wise 
 government of De Lacy, with the exception of 
 the province of Connaught, which was kept in 
 such a state of dreadful hostility by the rebel- 
 lious sons of Roderick, that sixteen young 
 lords, heirs of the ruling families of that pro- 
 vince, are said to have fallen in one battle. But 
 in 11 82, Munster was again threatened with civil 
 war by an act of treachery of the basest descrip- 
 tion. Fitz-Stephen andlVIilesdeCoganhad, dur- 
 ing some years, enjoyed peaceable possession of 
 their lands in Desmond, and their conciliating 
 conduct towards the natives having apparently- 
 reconciled the latter to the new settlers, 
 both parties mingled together with the utmost 
 confidence. iVIiles de Cogan, having occa- 
 sion to hold a conference with the citizens of 
 Waterford, went to Lismore, where the inter- 
 view was appointed to take place, accompanied
 
 188 SIEGE OF CORK. 
 
 by a son of Fitz-Stephen, who had married his 
 daughter. They had been invited to lodge at 
 the house of an Irishman named Mac Tyrid, 
 with whom they had been on particular habits 
 of friendship. But this perfidious w retch me- 
 ditated the destruction of his guests at the 
 very moment of his hospitable invitation ; and 
 while they reposed in full security under his 
 roof, he and his associates assassinated Cogan 
 and his son-in-law, with five of their attendants. 
 Mac Tyrid then flew to his countrymen, and 
 boasting of his exploit, excited them to rise 
 against the foreigners. The prince of Des- 
 mond instantly flew to arms, and laid siege to 
 Cork, where Fitz-Stephen, overwhelmed with 
 grief by the murder of his son and his friend, 
 had to provide for his defence against an enemy 
 vastly superior in number, and resolved on his 
 destruction. He acquainted his nephew Ray- 
 mond le Gross, who was then stationed in 
 Wexford, with his distressing situation ; and 
 that brave commander soon entered the river 
 Lee with twenty knights and one hundred 
 bowmen. A successful sally, and the terror
 
 PHILIP DE BRUSE. CHIEF GOVERNOR. 1S9 
 
 of his name, quickly compelled the men of 
 Desmond to raise the siege ; and their chief 
 shortly after sued for and obtained conditions 
 of peace : this was the last military exploit 
 of the yaliant Raymond le Gross. His rival, 
 Her\'ey of iNIountmorres, became, about this 
 time, a monk, and founded the celebrated 
 abbey of Dunbrody, in the county of Wex- 
 ford. During the siege of Cork, grief and 
 fatigue had deprived the unhappy Fitz-Stephen 
 of his reason, and thus in twelve years the first 
 race of the English adventurers became ex- 
 tinct. 
 
 King Henry to supply these losses, sent over 
 a fresh body of chosen troops under the com- 
 mand of Richard Cogan, the brother of Miles, 
 and Philip Barry. But he at the same time, 
 with unaccountable folly, removed Lacy from a 
 government which he had so wisely adminis- 
 tered, and appointed as his successor, Philip 
 de Bruse, whose sole object seemed to be 
 to amass wealth. For this purpose he made 
 inroads into the country on the most trifling 
 pretences, and oppressed and plundered the 
 M 3
 
 190 INTERVIEW OF PRINCE JOHN 
 
 people in the most shameful manner. He 
 marched through INIeath and Ulster at the 
 head of a large body of troops, and the 
 city of Armagh was a particular object of his 
 rapacity. Here he spent six days in revelling 
 and feasting, while he extorted large sums from 
 the clergy, and the inhabitants were subjected 
 to the lawless pillage of his ferocious soldiery. 
 But the duration of this odious tyranny was 
 short, as Henry with a degree of levity which 
 we could not Viave expected from a prince re- 
 puted so wise, resolved to entrust the reins of 
 the Irish government to his son John, who was 
 then a boy in his fifteenth year ; supposing, 
 probably, that the dignity of his rank and the 
 splendour of his train would supply the want 
 of those qualifications, so necessary for regulat- 
 ing the aifairs of a divided and discontented 
 people. 
 
 Previous to his embarkation for Ireland, 
 king Henry conferred on his son the honour of 
 knighthood ; and at the same time a legate ar- 
 rived from the pope, who presented to the 
 young viceroy a curious diadem of peacock's
 
 WITH THE LEINSTER CHIEFTAINS. 191 
 
 feathers, interwoven with gold, and hallowed 
 by the benediction of the sovereign pontiif. 
 Prince John soon after left his father's court, 
 and landed at AVaterford on the 1st of April, 
 1185, attended by a splendid troop of young 
 Normans, luxurious, insolent, and profligate. 
 Glanville, a lawyer of great eminence, accom- 
 panied the prince as his chief adviser, and he 
 was also attended by several grave and digni- 
 fied ecclesiastics. The well-afFected among 
 the Irish chieftains were flattered by the ap- 
 pointment of a royal chief governor, M'hile the 
 refractory were terrified by the magnificent re- 
 presentation of his force ; and all, M'ith few 
 exceptions, made preparations to congratulate 
 his arrival. 
 
 The chieftains of Leinster quickly flocked to 
 Waterford, to do obeisance to the young 
 prince. But when they entered the court cir- 
 cle, their dress and appearance instantly be- 
 came a subject of astonishment and ridicule to 
 the proud Xorman lords, though perhaps not 
 less graceful than their own. The habiliments 
 of the Irish chieftains consisted, at that time, of
 
 192 INTERVIEW OF PRINCE JOHN 
 
 a trowsers made of weft, striped, or divided 
 with various colours, not unlike those worn by 
 the Scottish highlanders at the present day ; a 
 shirt of woollen or linen dyed yellow, which 
 was folded about the body, and made fast by 
 a girdle round the loins ; an upper garment, 
 which reached to the middle of the thigh, and 
 was fastened on the breast by a clasp or brooch 
 of gold or silver ; and, over all, a mantle of 
 scarlet cloth, bordered with a silken or woollen 
 fringe. The head was covered by a conical 
 cap, not unlike that of our present grenadiers ; 
 and on the feet they wore shoes of half- 
 tanned leather, consisting of a single sole from 
 toe to heel. They cherished the beard Avith 
 peculiar care, and took extraordinary pride in 
 the hair of their heads, which they threw back 
 from the forehead, and allowed to flow about 
 the neck in what they called glibbs. The 
 dress of the Normans differed little from the 
 court dress of the present day, except that 
 they wore a cloak, fastened on the right shoul- 
 der by a button, and a bonnet instead of a hat 
 ou the head. 
 
 Regardless of their unfashionable appear-
 
 WITH THE LEINSTER CHIEFTAINS. 1 93 
 
 ance, the Irish lords advanced through the 
 gUtterhig circle, and, according to the na- 
 tional custom, proceeded to embrace the 
 young prince ; but the courtiers, incensed at 
 what they ignorantly supposed to be rudeness, 
 thrust them away ; and then, with peals of 
 laughter, plucked their glibbs and beards, and 
 committed various other indignities on the per- 
 sons of their guests and allies. The chieftains 
 instantly quitted the court, and returned to 
 their several places of residence, boiling Avith 
 indignation at the treatment which they had 
 received ; and they quickly spread the flame 
 of discontent among the princes of INIunster 
 and Connaught, who Avere also on the point of 
 proceeding to do homage to the English prince. 
 The unjust and arrogant conduct of the new 
 adventurers soon fanned this flame into open 
 insurrection. The castles of Tipperary, Ard- 
 finnan, and Lismore, were attacked by the 
 Irish ; and Robert Barry, with his whole troop, 
 was put to the sword. Robert de la Poer, 
 and two other English lords, were also slain. 
 Cork was on the point of falling into the hands
 
 194 REVOLT or THE IRISH. 
 
 of Mac Arthy of Desmond, but was saved by 
 the valour of Theobald Fitz Walter, the an- 
 cestor of the Ormond family, who slew that 
 chief, with his whole party. During these 
 commotions, the whole country was devastated, 
 and the only effectual opposition the natives 
 experienced was from the original adventurers: 
 as the heavy arms of the Norman knights were 
 neither calculated to repel sudden and desul- 
 tory attacks, nor to pursue the natives into 
 their fastnesses : after some unsuccessful at- 
 tempts against their invaders, these gay sol- 
 diers secured themselves in their fortified towns, 
 where they lived in riot, while the open coun- 
 try was a universal scene of havock and con- 
 
 fusion.v/ 
 
 In less than a year, king Henry saw his folly 
 in committing the government of Ireland to 
 such wanton and imbecile hands, and he de- 
 termined to recal the giddy viceroy. But he 
 found it no easy task to choose a successor 
 adequate to the present exigency, for the wise 
 and vigorous De Lacy had lately been cut off 
 by the hands of an assassin. After he had re-
 
 MURDER OF DE LACY. 195 
 
 signed the cares of government, he retired to 
 his possessions in Meath, where he devoted all 
 his energies to the erection of forts for their 
 security. It was his practice to oversee the 
 labourers, amongst whom were many of his 
 Irish tenants, and as an example and encou- 
 ragement to diligence, he sometimes handled 
 the spade and the pick-axe himself. He was 
 proceeding in the erection of one of these forts 
 at a place called Durrow or Derwath, on the 
 site of an ancient abbey, which the Irish con- 
 sidered such a horrible profanation, that while 
 Lacy was engaged in the trenches, one of the 
 labourers drew a battle-axe from under his 
 mantle, and with one blow, cleft his head in 
 two, and the murderer, favoured by his coun- 
 trymen, effected his escape. This event, which 
 was considered by the natives a just punishment 
 of Lacy's sacrilege, inspired the insurgents every 
 where with fresh vigour, and such was the 
 threatening aspect of affairs at the beginning of 
 1186, that Henry selected John De Courcey 
 as the fittest person to govern Ireland at such a 
 crisis. The robust and boisterous valour of this
 
 196 JOHN DE COURCEY, CHIEF GOYERNOU. 
 
 distinguished chieftain soon struck terror into 
 the insurgents, and checked their inroads on 
 the English province. For some time he wise- 
 ly abstained from all oifensive operations, while 
 the Irish in the different provinces were weak- 
 ening themselves by intestine quarrels. In 
 Connaught the unnatural sons of the unfortu- 
 nate Roderick O'Connor, compelled him at 
 length to resign his nominal authority, and to 
 take refuge in the abbey of Cong, while his son 
 Connor, placed himself on the throne of Con- 
 naught. This event furnishing De Courcey 
 with a pretext for invading that province, he 
 entered it at the head of the greater part of his 
 English forces. But before he had penetrated 
 far into the country, he learned that Connor^ 
 the new sovereign, and Donald More, the prince 
 of Thomond, were assembling an army much 
 superior to his own ; and who, by their long 
 continued hostilities with the English, had 
 become much improved in discipline. He in- 
 stantly adopted the prudent resolution of re- 
 tracing his steps ; but he had only com- 
 menced his retreat when he learned that ano-
 
 HOSTILITIES IN CONN AUGHT. 1 97 
 
 ther powerful army was advantageously posted 
 to oppose his progress in that direction, and he 
 was compelled to return to his former camp. 
 He had scarcely reached it, when the united 
 army of Munster and Connaught appeared in 
 sight, and no other alternative remained to 
 De Courcey, but to fight his passage through a 
 host of enemies. This he eifected with his 
 usual valour, but with the loss of many of his 
 bravest knights, and the Irish princes were 
 contented with the glory of driving the Eng- 
 lish viceroy from the province. 
 
 The success which had attended the united 
 efforts of the sovereigns of Connaught and 
 Thomond, encouraged the Northern chieftains 
 to engage in a similar confederacy for the ex- 
 pulsion of the foreigners from their province. 
 They made some successful incursions into the 
 English settlements ; but their career was soon 
 checked by the vigour of De Courcey, who 
 overthrew the confederates in several encoun- 
 ters, in which Hugh O'Loghlin, king of Ty- 
 rone, O'Molruan, prince of Fermanagh, and 
 O'Carrol, the chieftain of Louth, were amongst
 
 198 DEATH OF HENRY II. 
 
 the slain. He then marched againt Armagh 
 which he pillaged and burned, and these 
 energetic proceedings restored temporary tran- 
 quillity to the province. Had the sovereign of 
 Connaught advanced to the assistance of the 
 Ulster princes, hostilities in that quarter might 
 have had a different termination, but sanguinary 
 dissensions had broken out among the sons of 
 the deposed Roderick. Connor, the reigning 
 sovereign, was put to death by one of his bro- 
 thers, mIio in turn, was slain by one of Con- 
 nor's sons. Cathal, surnamed Crov-dearg^ or 
 the Bloody-Handed, another son of Roderick, 
 was now placed on the vacant throne, and 
 proved to be one of the most active and vigi- 
 lant enemies which the English power had 
 experienced since its establishment in the 
 island. 
 
 The year 1189 was rendered remarkable 
 by the death of king Henry II. who was es- 
 teemed one of the greatest and wisest monarchs 
 of the age in which he lived. Yet it must be 
 confessed, that however conspicuous his policy 
 may appear in establishing his authority in
 
 DEATH OF HENRY II. 199 
 
 Ireland, little wisdom was manifested in his 
 subsequent mode of governing the country. The 
 difficulties of his perturbed reign was the 
 probable reason of his not making an eifectual 
 conquest of the island, and his temper rendered 
 him habitually jealous of every man who pos- 
 sessed talents or energy to extend the English 
 power or influence. lie appears to have con- 
 tented Viimself with the barren title of lord of 
 Ireland, while to his successors he bequeathed 
 the arduous task of reconciling the deadly 
 animosities of two races of men, embittered 
 against each other by a sanguinary struggle of 
 twenty years. How fallacious was the hope I 
 More than six: centuries have since rolled by, 
 yet the two races still view each other with 
 jealousy and distrust, and Ireland can scarcely 
 yet be called an integral member of the British 
 empire.
 
 200 RICHARD CCEUll DE LION. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Accessieji of Richard Cceur De Lion — Hugh 
 De Lacy the younger^ Chief Governor — 
 Cathal the Bloodjj Handed^ Sovereign of 
 Connaught — Battle of Collis Victorios — He- 
 roic Death of Sir Amoric St. Lawrence — 
 William Earl Marshal^ Chief Governor — 
 Death of Roderick O'Cojinor^ and Richard 
 L — Accession of John — Meijler Fitz-IIenry, 
 Chief Governor — Ambitions proceedings of 
 TVilliam de Burgo iji Connaught — Subdued 
 by Meyler Fitz- Henry — Dissensions betzoeen 
 De Courcey and De Lacy — De Courcey 
 committed to the Tower — Story of his Ren' 
 counter with the French Champion — Black 
 Monday — King Joht's Disputes with the Ba- 
 rons — Sufferings of William De Br use and 
 his family — Banishment and Retur/i of the 
 Lacys — Death of King John. 
 
 Richard I. (surnamed Co'ur-de-Lion,) now 
 succeeded to the extensive dominions of his
 
 CATHAL THE BLOODY-HANDED. 201 
 
 father, king Henry, In England, France and 
 Ireland ; but his romantic valour leading him 
 to seek laurels in the Holy Land, which during 
 the period of the Crusades, was the ultimate 
 ambition of all the crowned heads of Europe, 
 he resolved to rid himself of the unprofitable 
 charge of the Irish government by confirming 
 his father's grant to John, who was now 
 styled Earl of Moreton, and Lord of Ireland ; 
 and the speedy departure of the king to the 
 wars of Palestine, left in the hands of that 
 prince all the authority connected with it. 
 His first act of government was to appoint 
 Hugh De Lacy the younger to the office of 
 viceroy, in the room of De Courcey, who had 
 so gloriously retrieved the falling fortunes of 
 his country. The veteran retired to his own 
 settlements in Ulster ; and the Irish chieftains 
 sensible of the great advantage they had gained 
 by this change of government, once more took 
 the field. Cathal the Bloody-Handed, the 
 new sovereign of Connaught, w as now looked 
 up to by the natives as their chief hope, as 
 he had manifested an extraordinary passion for
 
 202 HEROISM AND DEATH OF 
 
 military glory, and a determined abhorrence 
 of the foreigners. Not only his own provincials 
 promised unbounded support to his efforts for 
 restoring independence to his country, but the 
 princes of Thomond and Desmond, with the 
 inferior chiefs of Munster, cordially embraced 
 his alliance. 
 
 The confederates speedily raised a force of 
 twenty thousand men, with which Cathal pro- 
 posed to drive the English out of Ulster. 
 Alarmed for the security of his settlements De 
 Courcey called to his aid his long-tried friend 
 and counsellor Sir Amoric St. Lawrence, who 
 was then engaged in some petty enterprize. 
 The brave knight obeyed the summons at the 
 head of two hundred and thirty chosen war- 
 riors. Their route lying partly through Con- 
 naught, Cathal obtained intelligence of their 
 motions, and placed an overwhelming force in 
 ambush to intercept them. " The English 
 marched without suspicion into the snare which 
 was laid for them, and at the first sight of their 
 antagonists, their vast superiority took away 
 all hope of a successful struggle — yet the thought
 
 SIR AMORIC ST. LAWRENCE. 203 
 
 of surrender to such a mind as that of Sir Amo- 
 ric was worse than death. The love of life 
 led the cavalry for a moment to resolve on 
 trusting to the fleetness of their horses, and 
 leaving the infantry to their fate ; but Sir Ni- 
 cholas St. Lawrence conjured them not to 
 abandon their fellow-soldiers, whom they had 
 so often bravely supported, to the fury of their 
 implacable foes. Sir Amoric gave instant 
 effect to his brother's exhortations by springing 
 from his horse ; then kneeling down for a mo- 
 ment, he kissed the cross of his sword, and 
 plunged it into the noble animal, exclaiming, 
 '^ thou shalt never serve against me that so 
 worthily hast served with me." All the caval- 
 ry followed the example, and Sir Amoric, after 
 viewing for a moment his brave associates with 
 a cheerful countenance, ordered the two 
 youngest of their body to retire to the top of a 
 neighbouring hill, there to witness the engage- 
 ment, and bear a faithful report to John De 
 Courcey. He then exhorted his followers to 
 meet boldly, with their weapons in their 
 hands, that death which was now inevitable,
 
 204 GENERAL CONFEDERACY. 
 
 rather than stain their honour by a base sur- 
 render. Thus saying, the valiant knight aad 
 his band of heroes rushed forward with the 
 firmness and composure of men determined to 
 sell their lives as dearly as possible. Their 
 first onset was so terrible, that Cathal supposed 
 they must have received a reinforcement ; but 
 the paucity of their numbers soon corrected his 
 mistake, and the English quickly found them- 
 selves assailed on all sides. Being in complete 
 armour, they sustained repeated assaults before 
 they could be wounded : but overwhelming 
 numbers, at length, prevailed, and Sir Amoric 
 with the whole of his gallant band, fell in this 
 desperate contest, not one deigning to survive 
 the carnage. Though this victory is said to have 
 cost Cathal a thousand men, he founded an 
 abbey on the field of battle which he called 
 Collis Vlctorice, 
 
 Ireland was at this time in a dreadful state of 
 confusion, not only from the powerful confe- 
 deracy of the Irish chieftains, but from the de- 
 predations of gangs of robbers in various quar- 
 ters, of whom Little John, the well known
 
 WILLIAM, EARL MARSHAL. 205 
 
 companion of the celebrated Robin Hood, is 
 said to have been the leader. To add to the 
 general distress, the city of Dublin was nearly 
 destroyed by an accidental fire, and the gene- 
 rally calamitous state of the country called for 
 a government of extraordinary wisdom and 
 vigor. William, earl Marshal of England, was 
 accordingly selected, not only on account of 
 the dignity of his rank and character, but be- 
 cause of the large possessions which he had ac- 
 quired in Ireland by his marriage with the daugh- 
 ter of earl Strongbow and the princess of Leinster. 
 Finding the country a prey to the most dread- 
 ful confusion, he took immediate measures for 
 stemming the progress of insurrection. O'Brien 
 of Thomond, encouraged by the success of the 
 sovereign of Connaught, had commenced hos- 
 tilities against the English, whom he defeated 
 at Thurles : but the death of the gallant Do- 
 nald O'Brien at this juncture enabled the 
 latter to retaliate by ravaging North IMunster, 
 and once more capturing Limerick. They 
 also erected several forts for the protection of 
 their settlements : but these were soon razed to
 
 206 DEATH OF RODERICK O'CONNOR. 
 
 the ground by the vigorous Cathal, who march- 
 ed with a large army to the assistance of his 
 Munster allies. At the same time Mac Arthy 
 of Desmond drove the English out of Limerick, 
 and being soon after joined by Cathal with the 
 Connaught troops and some forces from Ukter, 
 under the chief of the house of O'Neill, he 
 compelled the garrison of Cork to capitulate. 
 
 By this event, the English lost their last 
 place of strength in Munster, and they main- 
 tained their authority in Leinster with the 
 greatest difficulty ; while in Ulster and Meath 
 De Courcey and Lacy had assumed the port of 
 independent sovereigns. In the mean time 
 earl Marshal was removed from the government 
 to give place to Hamo de Valois, a Norman 
 lord, who quickly became involved in serious 
 difficulties with the clergy, by attempting to 
 seize their lands to supply the necessities of 
 the state. In 1198 in the midst of all this 
 disorder, Roderick O'Connor, the last monarch 
 of Ireland, departed this life in his ninetieth 
 year, at the monastery of Cong. That he lived 
 so long is matter of wonder, when we consi-
 
 KING JOHN. 207 
 
 der that few sovereigns ever more signally 
 experienced the unsatisfactory and unstable 
 nature of human greatness. He ascended the 
 throne under circumstances peculiarly brilliant ; 
 but these were soon overclouded by the united 
 horrors of intestine commotion and foreign in- 
 vasion. Compelled to retire discomfited from 
 the contest, his latter years were embittered 
 by the rebellious conduct of his unnatural sons; 
 and even his seclusion in a convent did not 
 secure him from the agony of hearing of their 
 cruel dissensions. He left the world at a 
 moment when a gleam of hope might have illu- 
 mined his dying hour, that his country was 
 about to recover her independence ; but as he 
 had long ceased to be an actor on the stage of 
 life, his death was quickly forgotten as an 
 incident of little importance. 
 
 In the year 1199 king Richard I. after mar- 
 vellous exploits and escapes in the Holy Land, 
 died of a mortal wound which he received at 
 the siege of the castle of Chalux in Acquitaine, 
 John earl of Moreton immediately usurped the 
 crown of England in prejudice of his nephew.
 
 208 MEYLER FITZ-HENRY. 
 
 prince Arthur, the son of an elder brother, and 
 commenced a reign both unhappy and inglorious. 
 Amidst the cares and difficulties in which he 
 soon found himself involved j he did not, how- 
 ever, wholly neglect the affairs of Ireland, 
 He recalled the rapacious Hamo de Valois 
 from the government, and replaced him by 
 ISIeyler Fitz-IIenry, a natural son of king Hen- 
 ry I. who was one of the most distinguished 
 of the original adventurers. But this wise and 
 vigorous governor, had to undertake a task of 
 no ordinary difficulty, with little aid from his 
 sovereign, and a probability of being opposed 
 rather than supported by many of the English 
 lords. De Courcey had openly impeached 
 John's title to the crown, and refused to yield 
 him his allegiance, while Lacy entered into 
 treaties with the neighbouring Irish chieftains, 
 and assisted in their local contests. Perceiv- 
 ing the great importance of fixing the English 
 power in Munster on a solid basis, king John 
 had renewed the former grant of Thomond to 
 Philip De Bruse, alid AVilliam his son, ex- 
 cepting the city of Limerick, which with cer-
 
 AMBITION OF WILLIAM DE BURGO. 200 
 
 tain territories formerly granted in Connaught, 
 he committed to the custody of William De 
 Burgo, who marched into Munster at the head 
 of a formidable army, and acted with such 
 vigour, that he soon possessed himself of Li- 
 merick, and formed there an English settle- 
 ment which, from that period, defied all the 
 power of the Irish, owing chiefly to the dis- 
 sensions that prevailed in the O'Brien family 
 since the death of the famous Donald More. 
 After this De Burgo marched into Connaught, 
 where espousing the cause of Carragh O'Con- 
 nor, an aspirer to the sovereignty, who pro- 
 mised to invest him with all the lands which 
 had been granted to him by the king of Eng- 
 land, he compelled Cathal to fly from the 
 province. The exiled prince sought the pro- 
 tection of O'Neill of Tyrone, and through his 
 influence a confederacy was formed to which 
 even De Courcey and Lacy united their forces ; 
 and now was seen the extraordinary spectacle 
 of English lords engaged against each other in 
 the local contentions of the natives. But they 
 had scarcely taken the fleld when De Burgo 
 2 N
 
 210 AMBITION OF WILLIAM DE BURGQ. 
 
 and Carragh marched against the invaders, and 
 routed them with great slaughter. 
 
 Inflated by this career of success, De Burga 
 forgot his allegiance to the crown of England, 
 made war and peace by his own proper autho- 
 rity, and established in Limerick the seat of 
 his power, from whence he carried his hostile 
 arms alternately into Munster and Connaught. 
 lie made himself the arbiter in the aflfairs of 
 the O'Brien family, and having listened to the 
 insi luxations of Cathal, the deposed sovereign 
 of Connaught, he now espoused his cause 
 against his rival Carragh, whom he defeated 
 and slew in the field. But Cathal, when res- 
 tored to his authority, refused to gratify all 
 the rapacious views of the English chief, who 
 having recourse to arms for his redress, was 
 driven to a precipitate flight from the superior 
 forces of the sovereign whom he had just 
 restored, after losing seven hundred of his men. 
 Yet the spirit of De Burgo was unbroken, for 
 having recruited his army in Limerick, he made 
 a fresh inroad into Connaught, which he filled 
 with slaughter and devastation, and put to
 
 DE BURGO EXPELLED FROM LIMERICK. 211 
 
 death two youths of the house of O'Connor 
 whom he found in a college at Mayo. But 
 from this sanguinary career he was recalled by 
 the approach of an enemy more formidable 
 than any whom he had yet encountered. 
 
 Alarmed at the frantic proceedings of this 
 ambitious chieftain, Meyler Fitz-Henry had 
 raised a considerable army, with which he 
 marched from Dublin to Limerick, the scene 
 of his early prowess, to chastise the disloyalty 
 of its revolted governor. On his route he was 
 reinforced by the troops of Cathal of Con- 
 naught, and O'Brien of Thomond, and for the 
 first time an English viceroy was seen at the 
 head of the native Irish, marching against his 
 own countrymen. The siege was speedily 
 formed by an army which De Burgo felt him- 
 self unable to resist, and he immediately ca- 
 pitulated and returned to his allegiance. The 
 viceroy seized the opportunity of entering into 
 a regular treaty with his Irish confederates, 
 who seemed heartily weary of the distractions 
 of civil warfare, in which the prince of Tho- 
 mond made large concessions, and Cathal agreed
 
 212 TREACHEROUS SEIZURE OF 
 
 to surrender two parts of Connaught to the 
 king, and pay one hundred marks annually for 
 the third as the king's vassal. 
 
 In the year 1203, the English barons of 
 Ireland were generally united with their bre- 
 thren of England, in detestation of the con- 
 duct of their sovereign, particularly with re- 
 gard to the death of his nephew prince Arthur. 
 The artless temper of Sir John De Courcey, led 
 him to express his feelings in terms of the bitter- 
 est indignation, and the more crafty and tempo- 
 rising De Lacy, whowas jealous of the growing 
 power of this lord, conveyed secret intelligence 
 of his indiscretion to the king. Stung almost 
 to madness by De Courcey's reproach, the Eng- 
 lish monarch commanded him immediately to 
 repair to England to do him homage for his 
 earldom of Ulster; but De Courcey treating 
 the royal mandate with contempt, Hugh and 
 Walter De Lacy were commissioned to seize 
 the refractory baron, and send him prisoner to 
 London. They proceeded with alacrity at 
 the head of a considerable force to execute 
 their trust, but De Courcey after a sanguinary
 
 SIR JOHN DE COURCEY. 213 
 
 battle fought at Down, defeated his rivals, and 
 chased them with disgrace from his territories. 
 De Lacj now denounced his antagonist as a 
 traitor and rebel, and offered a large reward to 
 any one who would seize and surrender him alive 
 or dead ; and at the same time secretly prac- 
 tised with some of the earl's attendants, who 
 by the promise of a large bribe were induced 
 to betray their master. ^\'hile De Courcey, 
 who combined in his character a spirit of the 
 raost chivalrous valour with an ardent devotion, 
 was in the act of performing penance on Good 
 Friday, by walking barefooted round the 
 church-yard of Down, his perfidious servants 
 took advantage of his defenceless state, and 
 rushed upon their unsuspecting master. Two of 
 his nephews, the sons of the brave Sir Amoric 
 St. Lawrence, flew to his aid; and the earl him- 
 self, seizing a wooden cross which lay in the 
 church-yard, wielded this singular weapon with 
 such gigantic force, that he is said to have slain 
 thirteen of his assailants. But his faithful 
 nephews having fallen in the conflict, he was 
 at length overpowered by the survivors, who
 
 214 SIR JOHN DE COURCEY AND 
 
 brought him a prisoner to his implacable enemy, 
 by whom he was transmitted to England. His 
 betrayers now demanded the reward of tlieir 
 perfidy; but De Lacy who abhorred the trai- 
 tors as much as he loved the treason, paid them 
 their hire, and then ordered them to be 
 hanged. 
 
 In the mean time the heroic De Courcey was 
 condemned to perpetual imprisonment in the 
 Tower of London, from which, according to the 
 English annalists, he was delivered a few years 
 after by the following singular incident. King 
 John being at this time in Normandy, a dis- 
 pute arose between him and Philip, king of 
 France, about some fortified town, and, as w as 
 the frequent practice of that age, it was agreed to 
 decide it by single combat. Much as John 
 hated De Courcey, he knew that he had no 
 knight in his dominions on whose strength and 
 prowess he could so fully depend. When so- 
 licited by a sovereign from whose tyranny he 
 had suffered so much, to engage in his quarrel, 
 he at first refused ; but on being informed that 
 the honor of his country was at stake, he said.
 
 THE FRENCH CHAMPION. 215 
 
 on that account, and not for the king, he would 
 undertake the matter. He then desired that 
 his own sword might be brought from Ireland, 
 and the rigors of his confinement being softened 
 and his strength restored by due care and 
 nourishment, he departed soon after for Nor- 
 mandy. The particulars of this singular com- 
 bat are thus quaintly given in one of our old 
 chronicles : — 
 
 " The day came, the place and lists were ap- 
 pointed, and the scaffolds were set up. The 
 princes, with their nobility on both sides, 
 waited the issue of the battle. The French 
 champion first sallied forth, gave a turn, and 
 rested himself in his tent. De Courcey was 
 sent for, who was trussing himself up with 
 strong points, and answered the messengers 
 that if any of their company were to go to 
 such a banquet, he would make no great haste. 
 He soon after came forth, gave a turn, and 
 went into his tent. When the trumpets sounded 
 the charge, the champions issued out, and 
 viewed each other. De Courcey eyed his ad- 
 versary with a wonderful stern countenance.
 
 216 DE courcey's prowess. 
 
 and passed by. The Frenchman, not liking 
 his grim look, and the strong proportion of his 
 person, stalked still along ; and when the trum- 
 pets sounded to battle a second time, De Courcey 
 drew his sword ; upon which the Frenchman 
 clapped spurs to his horse, broke through the 
 barrier, and fled into Spain ; whereupon they 
 sounded victory, the people threw up their caps, 
 and clapped their hands. King Philip desired 
 king John, that De Courcey might be called 
 before him, to show some proof of his strength. 
 A stake was set in the ground, and a shirt of 
 mail and an helmet placed thereon : De Courcey 
 drew his sword, looked wonderfully stern upon 
 the princes, and cleft the helmet, shirt of mail, 
 and stake so far, that none could pull out the 
 weapon but himself. The princes then asked 
 him, why he looked so sour at them? He said, 
 if he had missed his blow, he would have cut 
 olF both their heads; but all was taken in good 
 part. King John gave him great gifts, and 
 restored him to his former possessions. After 
 this he sailed for Ireland, and was several times, 
 by contrary winds, put back to West Chester,
 
 SINGULAR GRANT TO DE COURCEY. 217 
 
 in his attempt to pass into that kingdom, upon 
 Avhich he altered his course, went into France, 
 and there died." This extraordinary man is 
 said to Ijave possessed an estate of twentj-five 
 thousand marks annually, a vast sum in those 
 days. Besides restoring him to his former pos- 
 sessions, the king offered him any thing else 
 within his gift; to which De Courcey answered, 
 that he had titles and estate enough, but de- 
 sired that he and the heirs male of his family 
 might be permitted to be covered in the pre- 
 sence of the king and his successors, a privi- 
 lege which is enjoyed by his posterity to the 
 present day. — On the death of De Courcey, 
 however, the faithless and capricious monarch 
 transferred his earldom of Ulster to Hugh De 
 Lacy, to the prejudice of the claims of Milo, 
 the son of the deceased earl. This vast acces- 
 sion to their power, swelled the pride of this 
 ambitious family to an inordinate height, and 
 they carried their inveteracy against their late 
 rival to such a length, that they are said to 
 have procured the assassination of the lord of 
 Raheny, a natural sou of De Courcey. 
 
 o
 
 218 BLACK MONDAY. 
 
 The vigorous government of Meyler Fitz- 
 Henry having generally kept the Irish chief- 
 tains in awe, he found leisure in the year 1208 
 to commence the building of the castle of 
 Dublin. But the country was still dreadfully 
 infested by gangs of outlaws, who carried their 
 depredations to the very walls of the capital. 
 On Monday in Easter-week, 1209, an event 
 occurred which spread distress and lamentation 
 through the city. It was the custom of the 
 citizens at that season of festivity, to repair to 
 Cullen's-wood, a short distance from Dublin, 
 there to amuse themselves with rural pastimes. 
 While thus engaged in recreation some moun- 
 tain septs of Wicklow rushed on them, unarmed 
 and defenceless as they were, and slew three 
 hundred of their number. From, this horrible 
 massacre the anniversary of the day was ever 
 after denominated Black Monday, and for 
 several centuries, on Easter Monday, the 
 dreadful event was commemorated by the 
 mayor, sheriffs, and citizens of Dublin. Tents 
 were pitched in Cullen's-wood, a joyous feast 
 ensued, and in the midst of the banquet an
 
 MATILDA DE BKUSE. 219 
 
 imaginary enemy was publicly defied by mimic 
 heralds, and warned at his peril to forbear from 
 disturbing their revelry. The singing boys of 
 the cathedral were afterwards deputed to 
 deliver this mock challenge, and the choir 
 was annually regaled at the wood of Cullen. 
 
 King John appeared at this time well dis- 
 poned to make some efforts to promote the 
 welfare of his subjects in Ireland, but his good 
 intentions were frustrated by the difficulties 
 in which he was involved by his contests with 
 the pope and the barons of England, and his 
 vindictive jealousy M^as ever kept alive by ap- 
 prehensions of conspiracies. This feeling 
 extended to his barons in Ireland. He de- 
 nounced his vengeance against the overgrown 
 power of the Lacys, and his fury was increas- 
 ed by the following circumstance. 
 
 Among the nobles from whom he demanded 
 hostages was AVilliam de Braosa, or Bruse, 
 lord of Brecknock, who had lately taken pos- 
 session of his grants in North Munster. When 
 the king's messengers arrived for this purpose, 
 Matilda, the wife of de Bruse, told them with 
 o 2
 
 220 MATILDA DE BRUSE. 
 
 indiscreet severity, that her children should 
 never be entrusted to the man who had mur- 
 dered his own nephew. Though de Bruse 
 reproved his wife for her intemperate language, 
 and promised obedience to the king's man- 
 date, vengeance was denounced against him, 
 and orders being issued to seize his lands and 
 castles, and to secure his person, De Bruse 
 fled to Ireland with his wife and children, and 
 was protected by Hugh de Lacy. To punish 
 these chieftains was the reason which this 
 imbecile but vindictive prince assigned for 
 his expedition to this country in 1210; but the 
 Lacys and de Bruse fled to France, while the 
 wife of the latter Avith her children took refuge 
 in Scotland : there, however, they were seized 
 by one of John's secret agents, and sent pri- 
 soners to the castle of Bristol. The unfortu- 
 nate lady is said to have made the most humi- 
 liating concessions to the enraged tyrant ; and 
 we are told that she sought the mediation of 
 the queen by an off'er of the extraordinary pre- 
 sent of four hundred kine, all milk white ex- 
 cept the ears, which were red. But John
 
 HUGH AND WALTER DE LACY. 221 
 
 prove J unrelenting, and the unhappy Matilda 
 with her unoffending children were kept In 
 prison till they perished hy want. 
 
 More than twenty Irish chieftains did ho- 
 mage to the king of England after his landing 
 in Dublin, among whom were Cathal, the sove- 
 reign of Connaught, and O'Neill of Tyrone. 
 Having brought with him some able lawyers, 
 he now proceeded to give to his subjects- in 
 Ireland a more perfect code of laws than they 
 had yet enjoyed ; and for their more regular 
 execution he established courts of justice in 
 Dublin, and made a more ample division of the 
 king's lands into counties. lie gave orders for 
 a coinage of money, which should pass current 
 in both countries, and leaving the government 
 in the hands of John de Grey, bishop of Nor- 
 wich, he returned to England. 
 
 Hugh and Walter De Lacy, after their 
 flight, underwent many hardships in France ; 
 but in the end they were more fortunate than 
 poor William De Bruse. They are said to 
 have been reduced so low as to follow the 
 occupation of gardeners in the service of the
 
 222 John's disputes 
 
 abbot of St. Taurin for two years. The abbot 
 suspecting, at length, from the superiority of 
 their manners to those of common labourers, 
 that they could not be men of ordinary rank, 
 enquired respecting their former situation in 
 life, and they freely disclosed to him their 
 real history. The good abbot, affected by the 
 recital of their misfortunes, engaged to become 
 their mediator with the king of England, and 
 he finally succeeded in having the Lacys 
 restored to their possessions, on condition that 
 Hugh should pay four thousand marks for his 
 lands in Ulster, and Walter two thousand five 
 hundred for Meath. 
 
 The remainder of the reign of John was 
 fully occupied by his turmoils with the pope 
 and his barons, which ultimately led to his 
 degrading submission to the former, and his 
 grant of the famous Magna Charta at the field 
 of Runnymede to the latter. The distrac- 
 tions of the English government during this 
 period, afforded a fair opportunity to the Irish 
 chieftains to assert their independence ; but
 
 WITH THE BARONS. 223 
 
 the O'Briens, O'Neills, and O'Connors, had 
 so enfeebled their strength by their local 
 and provincial disputes, that they were now 
 in no condition to embrace it.
 
 224 HENRY III. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Accession of llenrij III. — Geoffri) de Mau- 
 riscoy Chief Governor — Sanguinary Hos- 
 tilities in Connaught — Maurice Fitz-Gerakly 
 Lord Offalei/, Chief Gover?iof— Arbitrary 
 proceedings of Hubert De Bur go — Rash 
 jiroject and tragical Death of Richard Earl 
 of Pemhroke — Rise of the great j)oioer of ■. 
 the Geraldines — Story of Thomas Fitz- 
 'Gerald Nappagh — Death of Hent^y HI. — 
 Accession of Edicsird I. — Hostilities betzveefi 
 Thomas De Clare and the O'Briens — Battle 
 of Magh Gressain. — Quarrel between De 
 Vesey^ the Chief Governor^ and John Lord 
 Offaley. — Vigorous Government of Sir John 
 Wogan. 
 
 Henry III. commenced his reign A. D. 
 1216 (being then but nine years old,) under 
 the guardianship of William Marshal earl of
 
 HOSTILITIES IN CONNAUGIIT. 225 
 
 Pembroke. During the life of this wise and 
 vigorous nobleman, Ireland enjoyed considera- 
 ble tranquillity under the joint administration of 
 Geoffrey De Maurisco and Henry De Loun- 
 dres, archbishop of Dublin. This prelate, who 
 completed the castle of Dublin, had been pre- 
 sent with Walter De Lacy at Runnymede, 
 at the granting of Magna Charta. But the 
 death of the great earl of Pembroke in 1219, 
 proved the signal for fresh commotions. Hugh 
 De Lacy forming an alliance with O'Neill of 
 Tyrone, spread desolation through Leinster, 
 while Geoffrey De Maurisco was called into 
 Munster to suppress an insurrection of the 
 Mac Arthys of Desmond. A fresh grant of 
 Thomond was made to O'Brien at a y^early 
 rent ; but with less equity, king Henry con- 
 ferred the whole of Connaught on Richard De 
 Burgo, the son of its first successful invader, 
 in contravention of the treaty with Cathal the 
 Bloody-Handed ; though De Burgo did not 
 assert his claim till after the death of Cathal 
 which occurred in 1228. This province now 
 became a scene of sanguinaiy violence between 
 3 o
 
 226 MAURICE LORD OFFALEY. 
 
 Turlough, the brother, and ^'Edh, the son of the 
 late sovereign, in which the latter was slain. 
 But Turlough found a more powerful rival in 
 Fedhlim, another son of Cathal, who resolutely 
 resisted De Burgo's claims. The latter com- 
 menced hostilities against him, and took him 
 prisoner; but Fedhlim having the good fortune 
 to escape, marched aoi'ainst Turlough, slew 
 him, and re-assumed his sovereignty. Fortu- 
 nately for this enterprising prince, Hubert De 
 Burgo, the justiciary of England, had about 
 this time, fallen into disgrace ; and his kinsman, 
 Fedhlim's great adversary, was removed from 
 the Irish government to give place to Maurice 
 Fitz-Gerald, lord of Offaley, grandson of the 
 celebrated companion of Strongbow. Encou- 
 raged by thesecircumstances, Fedhlim appealed 
 to the monarch of England, and soon after 
 passed over to that country. He was received 
 by king Henry with all the respect due to his 
 rank ; and the king was so touched with the 
 pathetic recital of his grievances, that he com- 
 manded the lord justice of Ireland to use all 
 his efforts to re-establish him in his territory.
 
 RICHARD EARL OF PEMBROKE. 227 
 
 The fall of the De Burgos was occasioned 
 by an event, Mhich well nigh involved the 
 two countries in the flames of civil war. AVil- 
 liam earl of Pembroke, who died in 1231, was 
 succeeded by his brother Richard, a young 
 nobleman of an independent and impetuous 
 character. When he demanded possession of 
 his lands, the king and Hubert De Burgo, 
 apprehensive of the effects which might flow 
 from his obtaining such an accession of power, 
 denied it, at first, on pretence that his brother's 
 wife was pregnant: and after the fallacy of this 
 device was discovered, on a charge that he had 
 held a treasonable correspondence with the 
 king's enemies in France. Being ordered to 
 quit the kingdom within fifteen days, earl 
 Richard instantly directed his course towards 
 Ireland, where, being descended on the one 
 side from an Irish king, and on the other from 
 the celebrated Strongbow, his family was re- 
 verenced by the inhabitants of Leinster, both 
 of the Irish and English race. He was re- 
 ceived with the cordiality Avhich he had 
 expected: and being invested with all his
 
 228 RICHARD EARL OF PEMBROKE. 
 
 lands and estates in Ireland, he soon after 
 returned to AVales with a considerable force, 
 took possession of the castle of Pembroke, and 
 appeared determined to assert his patrimonial 
 claims by arms. 
 
 Alarmed at these vigorous proceedings, the 
 timid Henry acceded to the demands of the 
 earl, and invested him with all his rights. En- 
 couraged by this first success, he now boldly 
 remonstrated with the king on the tyrannical 
 conduct of his favorite minister, and the inun- 
 dation of foreigners which had overspread the 
 land ; and he, with many other peers, among 
 whom was the king's brother, declared that 
 they would no longer deign to attend the royal 
 council, while the insolent and contemptible 
 Poitevins were allowed to engross the king's 
 favour and attention. Earl Richard and his 
 associates were soon after summoned to par- 
 liament ; but declaring that they were appre- 
 hensive of their personal safety, they refused to 
 obey the mandate : upon which they were imme- 
 diately proclaimed traitors, and their lands as- 
 signed to foreigners. But the influence of Hubert
 
 KICIIAUD EARL OF PEMBROKE. 229 
 
 Mas still sufficient to dra^- ofT the other lords 
 from the confederacy, and earl Richard was 
 left alone to maintain a desperate contest with 
 his sovereign. Still, however, disdaining to 
 submit, he retired into Wales, where he formed 
 an alliance with Llewelyn, the prince of that 
 country, and declared his resolution to defend 
 his lands and estates against hostile attack. 
 Every attempt to reduce this poAverful lord 
 being attended with disgrace to the king's arms, 
 Henry, at length, marched in person against 
 him ; but earl Richard with an affected re- 
 verence, declined to take any part in the 
 engagement. All his countrymen made pri- 
 soners in battle he treated with lenity, but he 
 gave no quarter to foreigners. Through his 
 successful opposition the ilame of discontent 
 began again to spread among the English peers 
 and prelates ; and they besought the king to 
 check the progress of disorder by a just redress 
 of grievances, but all their remonstrances Avere 
 treated with contempt by the imperious mi- 
 nister. 
 
 Finding that his efforts to reduce the refractory
 
 230 RICHARD EARL OF PEMBROKE. 
 
 earl by force proved unavailing, the crafty 
 Hubert soon concerted a plan for his destruc- 
 tion, which from his impetuous temper, he had 
 but too much reason to hope, would prove 
 successful. He directed letters under the king's 
 seal to Maurice Fitz-Gerald, the chief gover- 
 nor of Ireland, the two Lacys, Geoffry De 
 Maurisco, Richard De Burgo, and other lords, 
 signifying, that Richard, late earl Marshal and 
 Pembroke, had for his manifest treason, been 
 deprived of his estates, and banished from the 
 realm ; and directing them, if he should land 
 in Ireland, to endeavour to secure and send 
 him to the king, dead or alive ; in return for 
 which service, all his lands in Ireland were to 
 be divided amongst them and their heirs for 
 ever. 
 
 Whether prompted by zeal for the king's 
 service, or allured by the temptation of the 
 rich reward, these lords took an effectual me- 
 thod to ensnare their devoted victim. Private 
 intelligence having been conveyed to him that 
 the barons of Ireland had seized some of his 
 castles, the impetuous earl embraced the oppor-
 
 RICHARD EARL OF PEMBROKE. 231 
 
 tunity, which a suspension of hostilities in 
 Wales afforded to him, of embarking with only 
 fifteen attendants, as he expected ample sup- 
 port from his vassals in this country. He was 
 greeted on his landing by Geoffry De iVIau- 
 risco, who affected to commiserate his wrongs, 
 and applauded his efforts against injustice and 
 oppression. He even insinuated, that with 
 the support of his innumerable adherents 
 he might subdue all Ireland, by a due ex- 
 ercise of that vigour which he inherited from 
 his illustrious progenitors. Thus flattered, he 
 hastily collected some forces, and having reco- 
 vered all his castles in Leinster, he entered 
 Munster, and took possession of Limerick, after 
 a siege of four days. During this career of 
 conquest, De Burgo and the Lacys fled before 
 him with affected terror, till they had com- 
 pletely drawn him into their toils. Some of 
 their agents then told him, that as liege-men 
 to king Henry, they could no longer tamely 
 look on and see the lands devastated which the 
 king had committed to their custody ; but to 
 prevent the effusion of blood, they demanded a
 
 232 RICHARD EARL OF PEMBROKE. 
 
 truce ; and engaged, that if not speedily suc- 
 coured by the king, they should consider him 
 as relinquishing his power and authority in the 
 island, and would then peaceably resign it to 
 earl Richard, a\ ith whom they desired an in- 
 terview on the Curragh of Kildare to adjust the 
 terms of the truce. The earl of Pembroke 
 appeared at the place of meeting, attended by 
 a force nearly equal to that of his opponents; 
 but by the insidious advice of Geoifry, he 
 haughtily refused to grant a truce. The ba- 
 rons replied, that the contest, in that case, 
 should be instantly decided by the sword ; and 
 the intrepid earl was nothing loath to ac- 
 cept the challenge ; but at the moment of 
 onset, Geoifry De Maurisco told him coldly, 
 that he had no resource but to yield to the 
 demands of his antagonists, for that he would 
 not fight against Walter De Lacy, who had 
 married his sister : he then marched off with 
 eighty of the earl's company, who had been 
 bribed to this act of perfidy, leaving the un- 
 fortunate nobleman with only his fifteen Welch 
 followers to withstand the shock of one bun-
 
 RICHARD EARL OF PEMBROKE. 233 
 
 died and forty chosen men. Yet with a ro- 
 mantic bravery he disdained to fly ; and turning 
 to a brother, who was of too tender years to 
 share in so desperate an encounter, he took an 
 aifectionate farewell, and requested him to 
 consult his safety by retiring to a neighbouring 
 castle. The barons took no part in the unequal 
 contest, but their followers directed their prin- 
 cipal attack against the person of the earl. 
 Though surrounded on every side, he made a 
 desperate resistance, till being at length un- 
 horsed, one of his assailants plunged a dagger 
 in his back, where he was not defended by 
 armour ; but it is said he might have recovered, 
 had not a villainous surgeon designedly tor- 
 tured and thrown him into a burning fever, of 
 which he died in a few days. 
 
 This tragical termination of the life of earl 
 Richard, excited general indignation through- 
 out England and Ireland ; and such was the 
 popular fury in the former of these countries, 
 that in London an Irishman who indiscreetly 
 confessed that he had a share in the transac- 
 tion was instantly assassinated. Many of the
 
 234 FALL OF HUBERT DE BURGO. 
 
 nobles expressed the greatest alarm for the 
 safety of their own persons ; while the citizens 
 of Dublin inveighed loudly against the tyranny 
 of the minister, and seemed ripe for insurrec- 
 tion. The king, terrified at this general dis- 
 content, affected the greatest sorrow and in- 
 dignation at the death of the earl, and ordered 
 his chaplains to perform a solemn service for the 
 repose of his soul. He affirmed his total ig- 
 norance of the purport of the fatal letter to 
 which the crafty Hubert De Burgo had com- 
 pelled him to affix his seal; and that minister 
 was ordered to appear and answer for his con- 
 duct, but he with many of his creatures fled for 
 sanctuary to the church of Winchester. All 
 foreigners were now removed from office, while 
 the native lords were restored to the favour of 
 their sovereign ; and Gilbert, the brother of 
 the unfortunate earl Richard, was invested 
 with his lands, together with the office of earl 
 Marshal. 
 
 During these important transactions, Maurice 
 Fitz-Gerald, the Irish viceroy, arrived at the 
 English court, exculpated himself by oath from
 
 DEFEAT OF THE GERALDINES. 235 
 
 having taken any part in the death of earl 
 Richard ; and through the king's mediation, 
 was formally reconciled to his successor. He 
 appears to have retained his high office for fif- 
 teen years after, till 1248, when he incurred the 
 king's displeasure for not having come to his 
 succour in Wales with sufficient expedition. He 
 now took up his residence in Munster, and 
 from this period may be dated the rise of the 
 great power of the Geraldines in that province. 
 His son Thomas acquired vast possessions in 
 Cork and Kerry; but in the year 1261, John 
 his successor, met a great overthrow from the 
 Mac Arthys, at a place called Callan, in the 
 last mentioned county, in wliich he was slain, 
 with his son Maurice, eight barons, fifteen 
 knights, and a great number of inferior followers. 
 The Geraldines did not recover this se- 
 vere blow for many years, as the only repre- 
 sentative of the family that now remained was 
 Thomas, an infant nine months old, the son of 
 Maurice M'ho was slain at Callan ; and his sin- 
 gular preservation is ranked amongst the memo- 
 rable events of that distinguished family. Wlien
 
 236 THOMAS FITZ-GERALD NAPPAGH. 
 
 intelligence of the death of his fiither and grand- 
 father reached the castle of Tralee, the atten- 
 dants in their first panic ran out of the house, 
 leaving the child in the cradle, whence a ba- 
 boon or ape, which was kept in the family, 
 took. him to the battlements of the castle, and 
 after shewing him for some time to the as- 
 tonished and terrified spectators, brought him 
 down safe, and laid him again in the cradle. 
 From this circumstance we are told, the Fitz- 
 Geralds of Kildare took the baboon for the 
 supporters and crest of their arms ; and the 
 child thus singularly preseiTed, was ever after 
 called Thomas Nappagh, or the Ape. lie 
 afterwards became so powerful a man, that he 
 was styled prince or ruler of Munster ; he filled 
 the office of viceroy of Ireland, and was fiither 
 of the first earls of Kildare and Desmond. 
 
 The latter years of the reign of Henry III. 
 were dreadfully prolific of misery to this unfor- 
 tunate country. The great lords waged fre- 
 quent war with the natives, and with each other, 
 while all parties seemed equally regardless of 
 the king's authority. In vain did Henry com-
 
 EDWARD I. 237 
 
 mand his refractory subjects to observe the laws 
 and customs contained in the charter granted by 
 king John : in vain did his deputies, who were 
 sent over in quick succession, endeavour to re- 
 press these disorders. The turbulent English 
 chieftains not only refused to yield obedience 
 to these laws themselves, but resisted every 
 effort of the government to extend them to the 
 natives, many of whom sought the enjoyment 
 of the privileges which they afforded. To 
 augment the calamities of tliis melancholy pe- 
 riod, heavy exactions vrere made on the people- 
 both by the king and the pope, and dearth and 
 disease were the natural consequences of all this 
 confusion. 
 
 The death of Henry III. occurring in 1272, 
 great hopes were now entertained, that the ta- 
 lents and vigour of his successor, Edward I. 
 would prove highly beneficial to Ireland, by 
 repressing that spirit of domineering ambition on 
 the one hand, and seditious turbulence on the 
 other, which universally prevailed. A century 
 had elapsed since the arrival of the first ad- 
 venturers from Wales; but the connexion of
 
 238 INSURRECTIONS. 
 
 this country with England had yet been pro- 
 ductive of no advantage, except some improve- 
 ment in the cultivation of the soil wherever the 
 new settlers were established ; and the same 
 disorders continued, though under another form, 
 which had existed under the native government. 
 The great political and military talents of this 
 famous prince, finding adequate employment 
 in regulating the disordered state of England, 
 and in carrying on an unjust war with the 
 Welch and the Scots, Ireland was still left at the 
 mercy of the various factions that preyed upon 
 her vitals. 
 
 Maurice Fitz-Gerald, son of the late lord Of- 
 faley, held, at this time the vice-regal sword ; but 
 such was the weakness of the government, that in 
 an expedition agains the insurgents of Leinster, he 
 was betrayed by his own followers to the enemy, 
 who committed him to prison. Glenvill, his 
 successor, met a signal defeat from the Irish, 
 who now menaced the capital, while Ulster 
 was infested by frequent marauders from the 
 Scottish isles ; and all over the kingdom petty 
 chieftains, both English and Irish, pursued
 
 THOMAS DE CLARE. 239 
 
 their schemes of mterest aiid revenge in de- 
 fiance of the government. After Maurice 
 Fitz-Gerald Avas released from his confinement, 
 he united with lord Theobald Butler, to make 
 war upon the O'Briens of Thomond, for which 
 he found an additional pretext by the mar- 
 riage of his daughter with Thomas De Clare, 
 son of the earl of Gloucester, a young lord of 
 martial spirit, to whom king Edward had made 
 a considerable grant in Thomond, and who now 
 brought into Ireland a large body of forces 
 to assert his claims. The O'Briens remon- 
 strated against these encroachments ; but De 
 Clare, appealing to the sword, gave the Irish a 
 signal defeat, slew their chief, and then took 
 possession of his lands. He laid the foundation 
 of the celebrated castle of Bunratty, in 1277, 
 but he was not permitted to finish it without 
 interruption. Brien O'Brien, the late prince 
 of Thomond, had left two warlike sons, who 
 exerted themselves with great vigour to avenge 
 their father's death, and retrieve the honor of 
 their family ; and having received some aid 
 from Connaught, hostilities were renewed with
 
 240 BATTLE OF MAGH-GRESSAIN. 
 
 augmented fury, and they terminated in the 
 total overthrow of the new colonists at a place 
 called Magh-Gressain. Many of their bravest 
 knights were slaughtered ; while De Clare, his 
 father-in-law, and some other chieftains, were, 
 compelled to fly for shelter to an inaccessible 
 mountain, where being blocked up by the Irish, 
 they were reduced by famine to capitulate on 
 the most mortifying terms. They acknowledged 
 the sovereignty of the O'Briens, surrendered 
 the castle of Roscommon into their hands, and 
 gave hostages for the payment of the eric, or 
 satisfaction demanded for the death of the late 
 chieftain of Thomond. Sanguinary hostilities 
 raged at the same time in Connaught, during 
 which, many of the English castles fell into the 
 hands of the natives. In these commotions the 
 well- disposed and peaceable Irish were gene- 
 rally the greatest sufferers; and in 1278 they 
 again entreated the government to grant them 
 the full protection of the laws of England. 
 The application Avas favorably received by the 
 king ; but the benevolent intentions of the 
 monarch were still counteracted by the cruel
 
 THE O'BRIENS AND MAC ARTUYS. 241 
 
 policy of those chieftains, who well knew 
 that the measure, if adopted, would effectually 
 circumscribe their rapacious views, and even- 
 tually terminate their reign of violence and 
 oppression. 
 
 The various factions were thus abandon- 
 ed to the indulgence of their barbarous pas- 
 sions, and to spend their rage in petty con- 
 tentions for some object of rapacity or re^'enge, 
 which, without attaining any national benefit, 
 served only to desolate the districts exposed 
 to their fury. A more systematic plan of re- 
 sistance to the power of England was devised 
 in the year 1290 by the Mac Arlhys of Des- 
 mond, who, having elected Daniel Ruadh their 
 chief, drove the English from several of their 
 settlements, and destroyed their castles : but 
 violent dissensions at the same time prevailing 
 among the O'Briens, which were kept alive by 
 De Clare, who had again resumed his authority 
 in that quarter, the Mac Arthys relinquished 
 their object; and their chief secretly passing 
 into Thomond, used all his address to restrain the 
 blind rage of his countrymen, and exhorted them
 
 242 DEFEAT OF THE GERALDINES. 
 
 to compose their private differences, and wait 
 patiently till the mutual rivalry and jealousy of 
 the English should give them a fair occasion to 
 unite, and by one effectual blow, to avenge 
 themselves on their oppressors. The fierce con- 
 tentions which raged at this time amongst the 
 English settlers, gave w^eight to the arguments 
 of Mac Arthy. In Connaught, two English 
 leaders named Barret and Cusack were then 
 committing dreadful devastations on the lands 
 of each other ; and in Meath, Gerald, Lord 
 Offaley, had been defeated and imprisoned by 
 lord Theobald Verdon, son-in-law of Walter 
 De Lacy, while lord Geoffrey Genville had 
 been driven from all his posssessions in that 
 province. The death of lord Offaley with that 
 of Thomas De Clare, who was slain in battle 
 with Turlogh O'Brien, in 1286, left the undis- 
 puted rank of pre-eminence to Richard De 
 Burgo, earl of Ulster. That nobleman em- 
 ployed his great power and influence iu op- 
 pressing all who stood in the way of his insatia- 
 ble ambition ; and the flames of war were 
 quickly spread throughout Meath and the
 
 DE VESEY AND LORD OFFALEY. 243 
 
 Northern province. The miseries of tlie 
 wretched people were at the same time greatly 
 augmented by the heavy exactions of the king 
 to enable him to carry on the war against th« 
 Scots, and provide for an expedition to the 
 Holy Land. 
 
 In the year 1290, the government of Ireland 
 was entrusted to William De Vesey, an English 
 lord of an enterprising and inflexible character. 
 He gained some considerable advantages over 
 the Irish insurgents, but in attempting to check 
 the turbulent proceedings of the great lords, he 
 found a formidable opponent in John Fitz-Ge- 
 rald, the lord of Offaley. The most violent 
 animosities broke out between them, De Vesey 
 accusing Fitz-Gerald of a design to revolt from 
 his allegiance, while the latter recriminated by 
 charging his antagonist with uttering disloyal 
 expressions, and various corrupt practices in 
 the exercise of his ofiicial duties. King Ed- 
 ward, hearing of these contentions, summoned 
 the rival lords to appear before him at West- 
 minster, where Vesey preferred his accusation 
 against the baron of Offaley. Fitz-Gerald de-
 
 244 DE VESEY AND LORD OlFALFY. 
 
 fended himself by recriminating on his adver- 
 sary, and conduded a speech which affords a 
 deplorable picture of the state of Ireland at 
 that period, in the following words which we 
 quote as a curious specimen of the rude elo- 
 quence then in use. " You must not think, 
 Mr. Vesey, that you were sent into Ireland to 
 dandle your trulls, to pen yourself within a 
 town or city, to give the rebels the gage, to 
 pill the subjects, and animate traitors; to fill 
 your coffers, and to make yourself by marring 
 true men; to gather the birds, whilst others 
 beat the bushes ; and after to impeach the no- 
 bility of such treasons as you only have com- 
 mitted. But forasmuch as our mutual com- 
 plaints rest upon the one's yea, and the other's 
 nay, and that you would be taken for a cham- 
 pion, and I am known to be no coward, let us 
 leave lying for varlets, bearding for ruffians, 
 facing for cacklers, chattering for twattlers, 
 scolding for callots, booking for scriveners, 
 pleading for lawyers, and let's try with the 
 dint of the sword, (as becomes martial men to 
 do) oar mutual quarrels : therefore to justify
 
 DE VE3EY AND LOKt) OFFALEY. 245 
 
 that I am a true subject, and that thou, Vesey, 
 art an arch-traitor to God and my kina;, here 
 ill the presence of his highness, and in the liear- 
 ing of this assembly, I challenge the combat." 
 Upon this, says the Chronicle, Vesey fled to 
 France, and the king pronouncing Lord Offa- 
 ley innocent, conferred on him Vesey's ma- 
 nors and lordships of Kildare, Rathangan, Sec. 
 saying, that although he had conveyed his 
 person into France, he had left his lands behind 
 him in Ireland. 
 
 Fitz-Gerald now returned in triumph, and 
 he was not slow in taking possession of his 
 new acquisitions. His restless ambition led 
 him soon after to attack the earl of Ulster with 
 whom he disputed the right of some lands in 
 Connaught, and after conquering him in the 
 field he got possession of his person. For these 
 violent proceedings he was formally impeached, 
 and summoned to appear a second time before 
 the king. But he again found means to appease 
 the resentment of his sovereign, and after giving 
 security for his future peaceable demeanour he 
 w as permitted to return to Ireland, and fully 
 p 2
 
 246 SIR JOHN -VVOGAN. 
 
 justified the confidence which the king reposed 
 ill him. He was not onlj eminently success- 
 ful in suppressing domestic insurrections, but at 
 three several times he led considerable forces to 
 the assistance of his sovereign in Scotland. 
 
 The administration of Sir John Wogan, 
 which commenced in 1295, w^as marked with 
 great vigour and discretion, and he was continued 
 in his high office, at intervals, for twelve years. 
 King Edward appeared at this time extremely 
 anxious to adopt some elFectual measures for the 
 suppression of the spirit of factious turbulence 
 in Ireland, and with this laudable object a par- 
 liament was convened, to which, for the first 
 time, twoknights were returned from each of the 
 counties and liberties, as they were called. In 
 this assembly, some enactments were passed 
 which appeared well adapted to redress the 
 public grievances. A more- regular division of 
 the counties was made — the lord marchers 
 appointed for the protection of the borders, 
 were ordered to maintain the necessary wards, 
 on pain of forfeiting their lands ; and all the 
 teraants were commanded to furnish them-
 
 PARLIAMENTARY ENACTMEXT5. 247 
 
 selves with arms according to their rank — it 
 Avas ordained that no lord should make war 
 without the permission of the king or chief 
 governor, and that he should be answerable 
 for anj depredations committed bj his follow- 
 ers — all private truces with the Irish were for- 
 bidden, and it was ordered, that when the 
 natives had once concluded a fair and general 
 truce, thej should not be molested by insidious 
 hostilities. In case of a sudden insurrection, 
 each county was bound to rise in arms, to aid 
 the chief governor in its suppression, and two 
 lords were appointed in every county and li- 
 berty, with full power to make such stipulations 
 with the natives as should secure their district 
 from molestation. As many English subjects 
 were now in the habit of adopting the dress 
 and customs of the Irish to escape the penalties 
 of the English laws, this practice was strictly 
 prohibited. But notwithstanding the wisdom 
 of these enactments, they did not prove a suffi- 
 cient remedy for evils so deeply rooted, and 
 which were not a little invigorated by the con- 
 tinued exactions of the king and the pope.
 
 248 HOSTILITIES IN MUNSTER AND CONNAUGIIT. 
 
 Munster was still desolated by fierce contentions 
 between the families of De Clare and O'Brien, 
 while the house of O'Connor continued to pre- 
 sent a feeble resistance io the encroachments of 
 De Burgo.
 
 EDWARD II. 249 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Accession of Edzcard 11. — Piers Gavesfo?i^ 
 Chief Governor — Great Pozcer and Ambi- 
 tion of the Earl of Ulster — Lord Edmund 
 Butler^ Chief Governor — Invasion of Ed- 
 zcard Bruce — Joint Expedition of the Earl 
 of Ulster^ and Fedhlim O'Connor — Battle 
 of Colerain — Defection of Fedhlim — Edzcard 
 Bruce cron-ned King of Ireland — Arrival 
 of the King of Scotland — Anecdote of Ro- 
 bert Bruce — Progress of Edicard Bruce in 
 Munster — Battle of Athenry — Roger Mor- 
 timer^ Chief Governor — Battle of Dundalk 
 — Defeat and Death of Bruce. 
 
 At the accession of Edward II. in 1307, a 
 new era of misery opened on this unhappy 
 country. Sir John Wogan was removed from 
 the government to make way for Piers Gaves-
 
 250 PIERS QAVESTON. 
 
 ton, the well-known minion of this weak mo- 
 narch, who, proscribed by the English nobility, 
 was sent into dignified exile as vicegerent of 
 Ireland. The personal qualities of Gaveston 
 procured him a temporary popularity in this 
 country. His princely port, splendid retinue, 
 and fascinating manners, excited general admira- 
 tion ; and having soon taken the field, he dis- 
 played a degree of courage and enterprise which 
 gave omen of a vigorous administration. The 
 turbulent septs of Leinster were driven from 
 their retreats, and their chieftain O'Dempsey, 
 was slain in battle. Gaveston then marching 
 into Thomond, subdued O'Brien, and having 
 now no enemy to encounter, he proceeded 
 to adopt measures for the protection of the 
 English settlements. But the magnificence of 
 his court soon excited the jealousy of the great 
 English lords, particularly of Richard De Burgo, 
 earl of Ulster, who then kept his court at Trim, 
 with all the state of a sovereign prince. These 
 jealousies were on the point of breaking into 
 open hostilities, when Gaveston was recalled,
 
 RICHARD EARL OF ULSTER. 251 
 
 aud Sir John Wogan entrusted once more with 
 the viceroyalty of Ireland. 
 
 The power of the earl of Ulster, had now 
 attained so great a height, that he despised the 
 authority of a government without strength to 
 curb his violence. The imbecile Edward 
 sought to gain his confidence, by appointing him 
 his plenipotentiary to treat with Robert Bruce, 
 the king of Scotland, whose deputies attended 
 him in Ireland. Intoxicated by this flat- 
 tery, he soon spurned all restraint ; and in 
 1311, he entered Thomond with all the pride 
 of an independent sovereign, to espouse the 
 cause of Donogh O'Brien, against Dermod, his 
 competitor. But being signally defeated and 
 taken prisoner by Sir Robert De Clare and the 
 Geraldines, he was compelled to submit to 
 terms of peace dictated by his conquerors, and 
 give two of his daughters in marriage to Thomas 
 and Maurice Fitz-Gerald, who afterwards be- 
 came earls of Kildare and Desmond. 
 
 In the year 1313, the scourge of foreign in- 
 vasion was added to the other calamities under 
 which the country was suffering. The victory
 
 232 bruce's invasion. 
 
 of Robert Bruce at Bannockburn which secured 
 to him the possession of the crown of Scotland, 
 excited in the Irish chieftains an ardent desire 
 to emulate his example, and shake off the yoke 
 of a feeble government. Those of Ulster 
 opened a correspondence with the Scottish 
 king, and representing in the most pathetic 
 terms, the distresses of their country, entreated 
 his assistance for an unhappy people, the kins- 
 men and brethren of the Scots, from whom 
 they expressed their willingness to receive a 
 sovereign whose valour might rescue them from 
 the slavery they endured. Robert Bruce 
 gladly embraced the proposal of the Irish as a 
 favorable opportunity of providing employment 
 for his brother Edward, whose ambition he 
 dreaded, as, having bravely fought by his side 
 through all his wars, he now claimed a partici- 
 pation in the royal dignity, 
 
 The young Scottish prince was so impatient 
 to commence his enterprize, that in the year 
 1314, he made a precipitate attempt on the 
 Northern coast of Ireland with an insignificant 
 force, which was soon repulsed by the vigorous
 
 SIEGE OF CARRICKFERGUS. 253 
 
 measures adopted by lord Edmond Butler, the 
 chief governor. However, he proved more 
 Successful in the following year; for on the 25th 
 of May, he landed at Lame, in the county of 
 Antrim, with six thousand hardy Scots, com- 
 manded by Randolph, earl of Murray, Sirs 
 Philip Mowbray, John Stewart, Colin Camp- 
 bell, John Ramsey, John Monteith, and other 
 distinguished leaders. Bruce, soon after his 
 landing, detached a part of his army to lay 
 siege to Carrickfergus, which coutaifted an 
 English garrison under lord Thomas Mande- 
 ville; and in the attack and defence «f the 
 place, great bravery was displayed on both 
 sides. Upon one occasion, Neil Fkming, a 
 Scottish leader, nobly sacrificed himself and 
 his party to preserve the besiegers from the des- 
 tructive effects of a sally from the fortress. 
 Placing himself at the head of his troop, he 
 boldly advanced to meet the assailants, w hile 
 he despatched a messenger to prince Edward, 
 and his first desperate onset checked the pro- 
 gress of the English. Mandeville, the gover- 
 nor, now marched in person to their relief; 
 Q
 
 254 DEVASTATION OF ULSTER. 
 
 but while attempting to surround the Scots, 
 whose brave commander had fallen mortally 
 wounded, Bruce came up with his guards; 
 and Gilbert Harper, a man renowned for his 
 strength and valour, distinguishing Mandeville 
 by the richness of his armour, rushed forward 
 and felled him to the ground with his battle- 
 axe, in whicli situation he was despatched by 
 the prince of Scotland. The English, dispirited 
 by the loss of their commander, now fled to 
 the castle, leaving their wounded comrades to 
 the mercy of their ruthless enemies ; but they 
 gallantly maintained their post for several 
 months. 
 
 Encouraged by this success, Bruce now 
 advanced into the country. Many of the 
 Ulster lords flocked to his standard, bound 
 themselves by the most solemn engagements, 
 and marched with their followers under his 
 command, to wreak their vengeance on those 
 whom they considered the common enemy. 
 The whole of that district soon became a 
 terrible scene of carnage. Armagh, ]N'ewry, 
 Dundalk, and other places, were captured and
 
 RICHARD EARL OF ULSTER. 255 
 
 pillaged ; and the English settlers were every 
 where massacred, their castles levelled to the 
 ground, their towns set on fire, and the news 
 was received with exultation by all the ene- 
 mies of the English government throughout the 
 island. 
 
 The want of union which hitherto prevailed 
 amongst the great lords, had greatly facilitated 
 the progress of the invaders. At length the 
 earl of Ulster, commanding his vassals to attend 
 him at Roscommon, marched to Alhlone, 
 where he was joined by Fedhlim O'Connor, 
 the Irish prince of Connaught, with a consi- 
 derable force. From thence he advanced to 
 the Northern province, being joined on his 
 route by a reinforcement of Leinster troops, 
 under Butler, the lord deputy. But the 
 proud earl rejected the assistance of the king's 
 vicegerent, saying, that his own troops were 
 sufficient to repel the Scots, and Butler return- 
 ed to his seat of government. De Burgo's suc- 
 cess by no means realized his vaunting predic- 
 tion. Bruce, adopting the advice of his chief 
 associate, O'Neill of Tyrone, retreated farther 
 Q 2
 
 256 BATTLE OF COLERAIN. 
 
 into Ulster, whither he was pursued by the 
 earl, who, for a considerable time, was unable 
 to bring his adversary to action, while both 
 armies suiFered dreadfully for want of provi- 
 sions. A general battle was fought, at length, 
 near Colerain, in which Bruce proved vic- 
 torious ; and he immediately commenced a 
 secret negociation with Fedhlim, the young 
 prince of Connaught, to detach him from what 
 he termed his dishonourable alliance with the 
 earl of Ulster, assuring him, that if he deserted 
 the English interest, he would be re-instated 
 in his sovereignty in as ample a manner as any 
 of his most distinguished predecessors. 
 
 Fedhlim, a youth in his twenty-second year, 
 of a martial genius, high spirited, and inexpe- 
 rienced, listened with eagerness to these over- 
 tures. He found a plausible pretext for de- 
 taching himself from the earl, in the state of his 
 own province, where Roderick, one of his 
 kinsmen, had taken advantage of his absence 
 to collect some forces, in order to supplant 
 him ; and had even made offers to Bruce of 
 expelling the English from Connaught, if he
 
 FEDHLIM O'CONNOR. 257 
 
 would acknowledge him as the rightful sove- 
 reign. The Scottish prince readily received 
 him as his ally : he at the same time, re- 
 commended to him, to suspend the discus- 
 sion of his claims to the sovereignty, till the 
 common enemy had been subdued, and a ge- 
 neral peace restored. But Roderick, unin- 
 fluenced by this moderate counsel, continued 
 to harass the partisans of his rival, by burning 
 their towns, till he compelled them to acknow- 
 ledge his sovereignty. Fedhlim, to check the 
 farther progress of the usurper, marched home- 
 ward with his principal troops ; and the earl 
 of Ulster, being thus left unsupported, was 
 compelled to retire before the united army of 
 Scots and Northern Irish. Want of provisions, 
 however, prevented Bruce from pursuing his 
 advantage, and he remained a considerable time 
 in Ulster unmolested, holding courts of judi- 
 cature, and aflfecting all the state and dignity 
 of a sovereign. 
 
 Fedhlim, on his arrival in Connaught, found 
 his army too much weakened to make any 
 serious impression on the usurper, till he was
 
 258 GENERAL INSURRECTION. 
 
 joined by a select body of English forces, 
 under the command of Sir John Bermingham, 
 a distinguished general. He now brought his 
 antagonist to an engagement, when the defeat 
 and death of Roderick re-instated him in all 
 his former dignities and possessions. But this 
 signal service was not sufficient to divest his 
 mind of a deep-rooted antipathy to the Eng- 
 lish government. The first use he made of his 
 re-establishment, was to declare openly for 
 Bruce, and draw his sword against his late 
 auxiliaries. Making a rapid inroad into Mun- 
 ster, he slew Miles de Cogan, lord Stephen of 
 Exeter, and many of the English settlers. His 
 example was speedily followed by the prince 
 of Thomond and other chieftains of Munster 
 and Meath, as well as by some degenerate 
 English, (as they were called,) among whom 
 were the Lacys, with their numerous followers. 
 The clergy throughout the island, fanned the 
 rising flame of insurrection, by extolling the 
 Scottish prince as the deliverer of their coun- 
 try, and exhorting the laity to take up arms 
 against the enemies of the church and nation.
 
 ROBERT BRUCE. 259 
 
 To invigorate the exertions of his friends, 
 Edward Bruce now took the title of king of 
 Ireland, and was solemnly crowned at Dundalk. 
 His brother, king Robert, arrived soon after 
 from Scotland, with a powerful reinforcement, 
 and the town of Carrickfergus was compelled 
 to surrender after a brave resistance. The af- 
 fairs of his country did not permit Robert 
 Bruce to remain long enough in Ireland to add 
 many laurels to those he had already so glori- 
 ously won. Yet a story is related of him 
 during his short residence in our island, which 
 reflects more honor on his memory, than the 
 most brilliant victory would have done. AVhile 
 a division of the Scottish army was preparing to 
 retire before a greatly superior force of their 
 antagonists, king Robert heard the sliriek of a 
 w^oman. Inquiring from whence it proceeded, 
 he was informed by his attendants, that a poor 
 woman had just given birth to an infant; 
 being consequently unable to accompany the 
 army, she was about to be left behind, and 
 she had shrieked from terror at the pros- 
 pect of falling with her infant into the hands
 
 260 ROBERT BRUCE. 
 
 of a barbarous enemy. Distracted for a mo- 
 ment by the opposing feelings of humanity for 
 the poor woman's distress, and of fear for the 
 safety of his army, Bruce's eyes at length kindled 
 like fire, and he exclaimed, " Ah, gentlemen, 
 never let it be said, that a man who was born 
 of a woman, and nursed by a woman's ten- 
 derness, should leave a mother and her infant 
 to the mercy of barbarians. In the name of 
 God let the odds and the risk be what they 
 will, I will fight Edmond Butler, rather than 
 leave these poor creatures behind me ;" and he 
 instantly ordered his army to form in line of 
 battle. The English general, however, con- 
 ceiving from this boldness, that Bruce must 
 have received a reinforcement, did not think 
 proper to attack him ; the king of Scotland 
 accomplished his humane object of saving the 
 poor woman and her child, and then his army 
 retreated at leisure without suffering any in- 
 convenience from the halt."* l--, 
 
 * This trait in the character of Robert Bruce, has 
 been copied from Sir Walter Scott's " Tales of a Grand- 
 father."
 
 LOYAL EXERTIONS. 261 
 
 The reinforcement which he had received 
 from Scotland, and the junction of a great 
 number of Irish and English malcontents en- 
 couraged Edward Bruce to march southward 
 with an army, rendered ferocious bj their suf- 
 ferings from want of provisions, and resolved 
 to take the most deadly vengeance of their 
 enemies. The great English lords, now roused 
 from their apathy by the approach of a formi- 
 dable invasion both from Ulster and Con- 
 naught, adopted the most vigorous measures 
 to check the torrent which threatened to 
 overwhelm them, and they entered into an 
 association to support the interest of the king 
 of England with their lives and fortunes. To 
 encourage this rising spirit of loyalty, John lord 
 Oflfaley, was created earl of Kildare, and lord 
 Edmund Butler, was made earl of Carrick. 
 The earl of Kildare, and Maurice Fitz-Ge- 
 rald of Desmond, were eminently conspicuous 
 in their exertions upon this occasion: and, 
 while they, with the earl of Carrick, under- 
 took the protection of Leinster and Munster, 
 "William De Burgo and Richard De Berming- 
 Q 3
 
 262 BATTLE OF ATHENRY. 
 
 ham, marched into Connaught to attack Fedh- 
 lira O'Connor. This warlike young chieftain 
 soon collected his forces, and met the invaders 
 near the town of Athenry, in the county of 
 Galvvay. One of the most bloody engage- 
 ments recorded in Irish history ensued. Fedh- 
 lim, with eight thousand of his followers fell on 
 the field of battle, and with him perished the 
 last hope of the royal house of O'Connor. The 
 walls of Athenry are said to have been built 
 from the spoils of this terrible engagement. 
 
 After the battle. Sir Richard de Bermingham, 
 ordered one of his squires, or rather attendants, 
 John Hussey, to examine the dead bodies, in 
 order to discover whether O'Kelly, his mortal 
 foe, were among the slain. Hussey proceeded 
 to execute his commission, attended by one 
 man, which was soon perceived by O'Kelly, 
 who, lurking about the field, exclaimed, 
 " Hussey, thou seest I am at all points armed, 
 and have my esquire, a manly man, while thou 
 art thin, and thy page a youngling, so that if I 
 loved thee not for thine own sake, I might 
 betray thee for thy master's. But come
 
 BRUCE ADVANCES TO DUBLIS. 263 
 
 and serve me, and I promise thee by St. Pa- 
 trick's staff, to make thee a lord in Connaught, 
 of more ground than thy master hath in Ire- 
 land." Hussey's attendant soliciting him to 
 accept this proposal, was instantly slain by his 
 master, who then slew O'Kelly, and compelled 
 his squire to bear his head on a truncheon, into 
 Athenry, where it was presented to Sir Rich- 
 ard Bermingham, who instantly dubbed Hus- 
 sey a knight, and his family became afterwards 
 barons of Galtrim. 
 
 In the mean time, Edward Bruce advanced 
 to the walls of Dublin, and encamped near 
 Castleknock, where he took prisoners, lord 
 Hugh Tyrrell and his wife. His soldiers pil- 
 laged St. Patrick's church, and St. Mary*s 
 abbey; but the citizens under the direction of 
 Butler, the chief governor, to retard his ap- 
 proach, set fire to Thomas-street, by which St. 
 John's church without Newgate, Magdalen 
 chapel, and all the western suburbs were con- 
 sumed. This determined resolution of the 
 inhabitants of Dublin, caused Bruce to retire ;
 
 264 SIR HAMON GRACE. 
 
 and proceeding to Leixllp, he burned that town^ 
 and then marched under the guidance of the 
 Lacys, to Naas, which he pillaged, his soldiers 
 opening the very tombs in the church-yard in 
 search of treasure. Near Athy, he was en- 
 countered by Sir Hamon Grace, a descendant 
 of the celebrated Raymond le Gross, who by 
 his vigilance and activity, had greatly contri- 
 buted to frustrate the design of the Scottish 
 prince on the capital. This brave commander 
 now assailed him at a place called Ascul, with 
 a force scarcely exceeding a fourth of that of his 
 opponent, and he maintained the conflict with 
 unabated ardour, till he fell, with lord John 
 Bonneville and Sir William Prendergast, on 
 the field mortally wounded : his followers 
 then fled on all sides. Bruce now continued his 
 destructive career through Kildare and Ossory 
 into Munster, marking his progress with blood- 
 shed and desolation ; and the lands of the earl 
 of Carrick, in the neighbourhood of Nenagh, 
 became the particular theatre of his barbarous 
 violence. He entered Limerick on the 21st of
 
 ROGER MORTIMER 265 
 
 September, and there held his court till the 
 following' Easter, surrounded by many of the 
 chieftains of Munster and Connaught. 
 
 During this interval, a parliament assembled at 
 Kilkenny to adopt measures for the defence of 
 the realm; and the Butlers, Geraldines, and 
 Powers, raised an army of thirty thousand men; 
 Tfhile in Easter-week, 1317, Roger Mortimer, 
 (now appointed lord justice,) landed at Youghal, 
 with a large reinforcement from England. 
 Alarmed at these hostile preparations, Bruce 
 led his army back to Ulster, which he reached 
 unmolested, as the English were unable to pur- 
 sue him through a desolated country. 
 
 On his arrival in Dublin, Mortimer liberated 
 the earl of Ulster, who had been imprisoned by 
 the citizens, on account of his inglorious con- 
 duct in the North, which they attributed to 
 his sister being married to the king of Scotland. 
 John Lacy was condemned, and died in pri- 
 son, while Hugh was hanged at Drogheda. He 
 then marched into Meath, from whence he 
 chased the other Lacys into Connaught ; and 
 by wise and vigorous measures, he soon re-es-
 
 266 RETREAT OF BRUCE. 
 
 tablished the English interest in Leinster. In 
 this he was greatly assisted bj the fulmination 
 of the papal thunders which were now levelled, 
 not only against Bruce and his military associ- 
 ates, but against the Irish clergy, who had so 
 zealously excited their countrymen to insur- 
 rection. 
 
 Bruce's army were, in the mean time, pe- 
 rishing by hundreds, the victims of famine and 
 disease ; and to such extremity were they 
 driven, that in many instances the survivors are 
 said to have subsisted on the dead bodies 
 of their comrades. In the beginning of 1318, 
 Mortimer returned to England, leaving the 
 government in the hands of Bicknor and 
 Fitz-John, the archbishops of Dublin and Cash- 
 el, who, after tranquillizing Munster, despatched 
 Sir John Bermingham with several distinguished 
 officers, and fifteen hundred chosen men into 
 Ulster, to subdue the remnant of the Scots. 
 These were speedily to be followed by a vast 
 force from every province in the kingdom under 
 English or Irish leaders, who were now all 
 equally anxious to rid the country of a scourge
 
 BATTLE OF DUNDALK. 267 
 
 by which it had been so long afflicted. Bruce, 
 after all his losses had still three thousand men, 
 though they were extremely Aveakened by their 
 long continued privations and sufferings. His 
 brother, king Robert, was also on the point of 
 coming to his assistance ; but such was the ro- 
 mantic valour of Edward Bruce, that he resolv- 
 ed to meet the English in their advance, and 
 decide the contest by his own unassisted prow- 
 ess. At length the two armies met at the hill 
 of Faughard, near Dundalk, under leaders on 
 both sides of the most distinguished skill and 
 bravery. In the army of Bruce served lord 
 Philip De Mowbray, lord Walter Soulis, lord 
 Allan Stewart with his three brethren, Sir 
 Robert and Sir Aumar De Lacy, John Ker- 
 merdyne, and Walter White. On the Eng- 
 lish side, Sir John, Sir Edward, and Sir Wil- 
 liam Bermingham, Sir Richard Tuite, Sir Miles 
 Verdon,Sir Hugh Tripton, SirHerbert Sutton, 
 and Sir John Cusack, with Roland de 
 Jorse, primate of Armagh, who was a warm 
 partisan of the English interest ; they were 
 also joined by some choice soldiers from
 
 268 DEATH OF EDWAltD BRUCE. 
 
 Drogheda, under the command of Sir Walter 
 Lapulk and Sir John Maupas. 
 
 Before the .battle commenced, the primate 
 went through the English ranks, exhorted the 
 soldiers to fight valorously against the enemies 
 of their nation, and pronounced absolution on 
 all who should fall in so just and honourable a 
 cause. Encouraged by the prelate's benedic- 
 tion, the troops rushed with eagerness to the 
 fight; and for a long time the battle was con- 
 tested with equal bravery on both sides. While 
 the victory was yet undecided. Sir John 
 Maupas singled out the prince of Scotland. 
 They fought hand to hand with desperate 
 valour, till the gallant Bruce fell before his 
 antagonist, and Sir John Maupas, pierced 
 with mortal wounds, sank a victor in death, 
 on the body of his prostrate enemy. With 
 Bruce fell the brave Sirs Philip Mowbray, 
 Walter de Soulis, and Allan Stewart. On 
 the death of their leader, the enfeebled Nor- 
 therns fled, after sustaining a loss of two 
 thousand men. King Robert arrived only to hear 
 the sad tidings of the death of his brother, and
 
 SUPPRESSION OF THE INSURRECTION. 269 
 
 the destruction of his army ; and Sir John Ber- 
 mingham having expelled O'Neill from his ter- 
 ritory of Tyrone, marched his victorious troops 
 back to Dublin, ^v here he was now rewarded with 
 the earldom of Louth. It is supposed, that apiece 
 of cannon was used by the English at this bat- 
 tle, as about ninety years back a great gun 
 bound with iron hoops was dug up near Dun- 
 dalk church. Many coins of Robert Bruce 
 have been found in the same neighbourhood, 
 which, it is supposed, were thrown away by the 
 fugitive Scots in their flight. 
 
 Thus terminated the rash invasion of Ed- 
 ward Bruce, not less disastrously to himself 
 than to the people whose deliverance was his 
 professed object. For many subsequent years 
 the Irish nation felt the fatal effects of the mas- 
 sacres and devastations committed on both 
 sides during this sanguinary struggle, and 
 particularly the restoration of the long ex- 
 ploded custom of exacting provisions and mo- 
 ney for soldiers from the wretched people 
 without any satisfaction. This barbarous prac- 
 tice (which was termed coyne and livery^) was
 
 270 GREAT rOWER OF DESMOND. 
 
 re-introduced by Maurice Fitz-Gerald of Des- 
 mond, who also compelled the English settlers 
 in Cork, Waterford, Limerick, and Kerry, to 
 abandon their possessions, taking what he 
 pleased for his mixed rabble of Irish and de- 
 generate English of the worst description. By 
 these means he speedily raised his fortune 
 from £1000 to £10,000 annually, (a sum equal 
 to more than ^150,000 of our present money :) 
 and renouncing his allegiance to the English 
 government, he assumed the authority of an 
 Irish chieftain, and ruled his followers with a 
 barbarous magnificence. His example was fol- 
 lowed by other English lords, and before the 
 tragical termination of the re'gn of Edward II. 
 the people in many parts of Munster and Lein- 
 ster were driven by their oppressive violence 
 into open revolt. About this period O'Brien 
 of Thomond slew Sir Richard De Clare and 
 eighty of his followers.
 
 EDWARD III. 271 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Edzcard IIL—The Bishop of Ossorj/ and Lady 
 Alice Kettle — Maurice of Desmond and 
 Lord John de la Poer — hisurrection of the 
 Irish — The Palatinates — Sir Anihonij Luc if 
 — Seizure of Desmond — Murder of the 
 young Earl oj Ulster — Severe Ordinances 
 of King Edward — Contentions among the 
 English Settlers — Vigorous Administration 
 of Sir Ralph Ufford— Lionel Duke of Cla- 
 rence^ Chief Governor — Perilous Campaign 
 in Munstcr — Statute of Kilkenny — Battle 
 of Manister Nenagh. 
 
 Ix the year 1327 Edward III. ascended 
 the throne of England, when he had scarcely 
 attained his fifteenth year. Both countries 
 were at that period in a state of violent confu- 
 sion, owing to the turbulence of the great
 
 272 LEDRED BISHOP OF OSSORY. 
 
 lords; and this will not appear wonderful 
 when we consider the state of society that then 
 existed. The baron left his estate to the ma- 
 nagement of his bailiff, while all his tenants 
 or villains, as they were called, were at his 
 absolute disposal. The produce of his lands 
 was consumed in rustic hospitality, and he 
 maintained a host of idle retainers, who were 
 always ready to execute any mischief or disor- 
 der at his command. In fact each nobleman 
 was a kind of independent sovereign who ex- 
 ercised the power of life and death within his 
 own territories, and often encouraged his re- 
 tainers to the commission of the most horrible 
 crimes, while these lords sometimes confederated 
 together in mutual support of their iniquity. 
 The most barbarous ignorance and superstition 
 prevailed at the same time, a remarkable in- 
 stance of which occurred in Ireland in the 
 beginning of the reign of this monarch. 
 
 Richard Ledred, bishop of Ossory, a man 
 of a proud and vindictive character, brought a 
 charge of witchcraft against the lady Alice 
 Kettle of Kilkenny, and her son William,
 
 LADV ALICE KETTLE. 273 
 
 With two of her dependents ; and the folIovF- 
 ing were some of the grave charges preferred 
 against her, viz. — that she held conferences 
 w^ith a spirit named Robin Artisson, to whom 
 she sacrificed in the highway the ejes of nine 
 red cocks and nine peacocks — that in her clo- 
 set was found a sacramental wafer with the 
 devil's name stamped upon it, with a pipe of 
 ointment to grease a staff on which she was in 
 4;he habit of riding through the air — and that 
 in the night she raked all the filth towards the 
 door of her son, muttering these words : — 
 To the house of William my son, 
 Hie all the wealth of Kilkenny town. 
 
 On these charges Petronilla, her maid, was 
 convicted and burned. Lady Alice herself 
 was acquitted, but a new charge of heresy 
 being preferred against her, she underwent a 
 similar fate. Her son was kept in confinement 
 for nine weeks, but was liberated by the favor 
 of Arnold le Poer, one of the magistrates of 
 Kilkenny, Le Poer himself was now charged 
 with heresy; but being protected by the prior 
 of Kilmainham, who was then chief governor.
 
 274 WAR BETWEEN DESMOND AND LE POER. 
 
 the enraged and insolent bishop extended his 
 accusation even to the lord justice, who find- 
 ing it difficult to secure himself, was forced to 
 leave Le Poer to expire in prison. 
 
 This affair soon engaged the attention of the 
 whole island, and the king's writ was issued for 
 summoning a parliament to examine into the 
 proceedings ; who declared in favour of the 
 Lord Justice. At the same time Bicknor, the 
 archbishop of Dublin, retorted the charge of 
 heresy on the original author of all this trouble ; 
 but Ledred flying from the country, appealed 
 to the pope, and was not restored to his bi- 
 shopric till twenty-five years after. 
 
 Another insignificant circumstance which 
 occurred this year produced circumstances of 
 a still more sanguinary nature. Lord John de 
 la Poer had jestingly or contemptuously called 
 Maurice of Desmond, the rhymer or poet^ an 
 offence which was not to be expiated but by a 
 bloody war. Aided by his associates, Butler and 
 Bermingham, Maurice took the field against 
 de la Poer and his confederate de Burgo, and 
 in spite of the remonstrances of Kildare, the
 
 A HORRIBLE MASSACRE. 275 
 
 lord justice, he continued his ravages until he 
 drove de la Poer from the kingdom. King 
 Edward now issued his mandate to compel 
 these turbulent chieftains to lay down their 
 arms, and a formal reconciliation took place be- 
 tween the contending parties. The temporary- 
 tranquillity that ensued encouraged the Irish 
 once more to seek admission to the privileges 
 of English subjects ; but their wishes were, as 
 usual, defeated by the intrigues of the enemies 
 to the welfare of the two countries. Incensed 
 at the neglect with which their just remon- 
 strances were treated, they again flew to 
 arms, and having chosen O'Brien of Tho- 
 mond to be their leader, they burned the town 
 of Tipperary, slew lord Thomas Butler and 
 many of his followers near MuUingar, while the 
 earl of Louth with eight of his family and two 
 hundred soldiers, met a similar fate at Balbrig- 
 gan. An act of barbarous rage is recorded to 
 have occurred during this insurrection, which 
 must stamp it with infamy, however justly pro- 
 voked. In the course of their progress the iu- 
 sursjents surrounded a church, in which about
 
 276 ELEVATION OF DESMOND. 
 
 eighty persons were assembled at their devo- 
 tions. Despairing of escape the unhappy- 
 people requested only that the priest might be 
 suffered to depart without injury. But this de- 
 termined the merciless ruffians to make him 
 the first object of their vengeance ; and when 
 he ventured out, holding forth the Host as a 
 protection, they tore it from him, trampled it 
 under foot, then plunged their weapons into his 
 body, and afterwards destroyed the church and 
 all who were cooped up in it by fire. 
 
 Wexford was gallantly defended by James 
 Butler, who was lately created earl of Or- 
 mond ; and Darcy, the lord justice, made some 
 progress in subduing the disaffected of Leins- 
 ter : but the insurrection in Munster had be- 
 come so extensive, that he found his force too 
 weak to suppress it without the aid of Maurice 
 of Desmond, now become the most influential 
 lord in Ireland. The chief governor treated 
 with him as an independent sovereign ; and 
 so great was his power, that among his own 
 retainers he was able to raise an army of ten 
 thousand men* To bind him more closely to
 
 THE PALATJxVATES. 277 
 
 the English interests, king Edward created 
 him earl of Desmond, and granted him royal, 
 or as they were called, palatinate liberties in 
 the county of Kerry. Similar privileges were, 
 at the same time, conferred on the earl of Or- 
 mond ; and thus nine palatinates were created 
 in Ireland, viz. — Carlow, Wexford, Kilkenny, 
 Kildare, and Leix (afterwards the Queen's 
 County) Meath, Ulster, Ormond, and Des- 
 mond. The lords of these territories were 
 permitted to exercise all the authority of in- 
 dependent sovereigns within their respective 
 districts, and were thus rendered nearly 
 independent of the English crown. Had the 
 chivalrous king Edward devoted to the tran- 
 quillization of Ireland half the care and expense 
 which his French expeditions cost him, he 
 might have rendered this island a faithful and 
 valuable auxiliary to England, and saved that 
 vast expenditure of blood and treasure, which, 
 in subsequent reigns was found necessary to 
 reduce the exorbitant power of the Anglo- 
 Irish nobles, who had been thus unwisely 
 exalted to the rank of sovereign princes.
 
 278 VIGOUR OF SIR ANTHONY LUCY. 
 
 Notwitlistanding the great favors conferred 
 upon the earl of Desmond, his army performed 
 little valuable service. The Munster Irish 
 under O'Brien lay encamped at Cashel, and 
 repelled every attempt of their adversaries; 
 while violent disputes broke out between the 
 earls of Ulster and Desmond, respecting some 
 depredations committed by Sir AYalter de 
 Burgo on the lands of the Geraldines. Con- 
 fusion and disorder prevailed at this time in all 
 quarters, to suppress which, Sir Anthony Lucy, 
 a valiant English knight, was sent over as chief 
 governor in 1331. His first step was to as- 
 semble a parliament at Kilkenny, to which all 
 the great lords were summoned ; but his man- 
 date was treated with contempt. This con- 
 firming a suspicion which the viceroy enter- 
 tained, that the commotions which prevailed were 
 secretly countenanced by those turbulent chief- 
 tains, he resolved to strike at the root of the 
 evil by seizing their persons. After defeating 
 the Irish insurgents at Thurles, he seized Sir 
 William and Walter de Bermingham at Clon- 
 mel, and sent them prisoners to Dublin, where
 
 SEIZURE OF DESMOND. 279 
 
 the former was hanged in the following year. 
 The earl of Desmond, Walter de Burgo, and 
 many of their followers, were committed to the 
 custody of the marshal of Limerick, from 
 whence Desmond made his escape ; but bein^ 
 re-taken soon after, he was imprisoned for 
 eighteen months ; and having at length given 
 great security for his future good conduct, he 
 repaired to England, and was again received to 
 favour by King Edward. In the mean time 
 his attendants who continued confined in the 
 castle of Limerick, formed a conspiracy, slew 
 the constable, and seized the castle ; but the 
 citizens, headed by Bamberry, the mayor, acted 
 with such vigour and bravery, that they re- 
 covered the castle, and put all the prisoners to 
 the sword. 
 
 Had these vigorous measures for breaking 
 the power of the turbulent leaders been fol- 
 lowed up, lasting tranquillity might have been 
 established in this unhappy country ; but young 
 Edward having now attained his majority, was 
 more anxious to gain blood-stained laurels in 
 the wars of Scotland and France, than to pur"
 
 280 MURDER OF THE EARL OF ULSTER. 
 
 chase true glory by restoring peace and secu- 
 rity to this distracted portion of his dominions. 
 Strong measures against the insurgents were 
 once more laid aside^ and the old inglorious 
 system of treating with the adversaries of 
 government, was again resorted to, by which 
 the disaffected were made acquainted with the 
 weakness of the administration, and their own 
 real power. This was rendered manifest by 
 the consequences which followed the death of 
 William, the young earl of Ulster, who, in 
 1333, was basely assassinated near Carrickfer- 
 gus by his own servants. The countess with 
 her infant daughter, fled to England in the 
 greatest consternation, leaving the vast posses- 
 sions of that great family without protection. 
 The law which vested the earl's lands in the 
 hands of the king during the minority of the 
 infant was disregarded by O'Neill, who seizing 
 this opportunity of recovering his ancient pow- 
 er, instantly rose in arms, passed the river 
 Bann, and drove the English settlers planted 
 by De Burgo, from nearly all their possessions, 
 which he parcelled out among his followers.
 
 ROYAL ORDINANCES. 281 
 
 III Comiaught, Sir William and Sir Edmund de 
 Burgo, jiinior branches of the Ulster family, 
 seized the earl's lands in that province, and 
 divided his great seigniory between them : 
 but conscious that the law of England would 
 not sanction this usurpation, they renounced 
 their English names, language, manners, and 
 apparel, and adopted those of the Irish, the 
 one calling himself Mac IVilliam Eighter, and 
 the other Mac JVilliam lighter ; that is, the 
 Further and the Nether Mac IVilliam. V^ 
 
 The alternate systems of weakness and vi- 
 gour which had been hitherto pursued, having 
 failed to pacify the country, or produce the 
 expected revenue for carrying on his foreign 
 wars, King Edward, in 1341, resorted to a 
 measure which gave just alarm to all the des- 
 cendants of the first English settlers. By an 
 ordinance passed under the great seal, all re- 
 missions of debts due to the crown were de- 
 clared null and void ; all grants made by the 
 king or his father were resumed ; and all per 
 sons were ordered to be removed from office 
 Avho had not possessions in England. Desmond| 
 R %
 
 282 FACTIONS. 
 
 who since his reconciliation with the govern- 
 ment, had given many signal instances of his 
 loyal t J, resolved to give this unjust and im- 
 politic proceeding the most vigorous opposition. 
 In this resolution he was supported by his 
 kinsman, Maurice earl of Kildare, with many 
 of the nobility, as well as the cities and cor- 
 porate towns of the south ; and when Sir John 
 Morris, the chief governor, summoned them to 
 attend a parliament in Dublin, the Geraldines, 
 instead of obeying, convened another assembly 
 more numerous and respectable at Kilkenny, 
 who, styling themselves the prelates, nobles, 
 and commons of the land, sent a petition 
 of grievances to the king, which was graciously 
 received, and produced a considerable modi- 
 fication of the obnoxious ordinances. 
 
 From this period faction appears to have pre- 
 vailed with great violence among the descen- 
 dants of the old English adventurers and the 
 new settlers, or as they were called the English 
 hy blood and the English by birth. The Irish 
 took frequent advantage of these dissensions to 
 harass both parties, and -thus fresh disorders
 
 CONTENDING PARLIAMENTS. 283 
 
 were engendered. They had risen to such a 
 height in 1343, that the government resolved 
 on adopting the most vigorous measures for 
 their suppression, and for this purpose the king 
 conferred the office of chief governor on Sir 
 Ralph UfFord, a man equally indignant against 
 the Irish insurgents and the discontented Eng- 
 glish ; and who during his administration is 
 said to have wielded a two-edged sword. Af- 
 ter adopting the most prudential measures for 
 checking the depredations of the Irish, he 
 resolved to turn his attention towards the Eng- 
 lish malcontents, of whom Desmond was consi- 
 dered the head. As a test of his obedience he 
 summoned him to attend a parliament at Dub- 
 lin : but the earl, as upon a former occasion, 
 affected to despise the mandate of the viceroy, 
 and called an assembly of his own at Callan. 
 UfFord, who was not be intimidated like his 
 predecessor, immediately issued a royal procla- 
 mation, forbidding the nobles and commons at 
 their peril, to attend this illegal convention, 
 and to enforce his menace, he marched into 
 Munster at the head of a considerable force,
 
 284 VIGOUR OF SIR RALPH UFFORD. 
 
 took possession of Desmond's lands, executed 
 several of his principal partisans, and so terri- 
 fied this refractory lord, that he compelled him 
 to give securities to abide a fair and honorable 
 trial. The earl of Kildare was soon after 
 seized and imprisoned, and it is likely that the 
 vigorous conduct of this chief governor would 
 have quelled in a great measure the turbulence 
 of faction, had he had not been suddenly cut 
 oif by the hand of death. The succeeding ad- 
 ministration proved more lenient to the faults 
 of the Geraldines. Kildare was released from 
 prison, and Desmond was allowed to repair to 
 the English court, and plead his own cause, 
 and in 1352, he got the restoration of all his 
 possessions and privileges. He soon after with 
 the earl of Kildare attended king Edward into 
 France ; and Kildare was so distinguished by 
 his gallant conduct at the siege of Calais, that 
 he received the honor of knighthood from the 
 king's hand. 
 
 The earl of Desmond, who for nearly forty 
 years had embarrassed the government by his 
 ambitious and turbulent conduct, was now so
 
 SIR THOMAS ROKEBY. 285 
 
 completely restored to the royal favour, that 
 king Edward appointed him lord lieutenant of 
 Ireland in 1355 ; but he filled his high dig- 
 nity a very short time, being removed by the 
 stroke of death in the following year. Three 
 of his sons, Maurice, John, and Gerald, succes- 
 sively inherited his title, and vast possessions. 
 The two first enjoyed them but a few years, 
 when they fell to Gerald, commonly called the 
 poet, w ho is recorded to have made such extra- 
 ordinary proficiency in mathematics and other 
 branch£S of learning, as to be esteemed a magi- 
 cian in those rude and ignorant times. 
 
 Sir Thomas Rokeby, who succeeded Des-^ 
 mond in 1356, evinced great zeal in the refer-' 
 mation of the prevailing abuses, and punishing 
 those dissensions which continually prevailed 
 between the old and new English settlers. He 
 also adopted some measures for promoting the 
 instruction of the people ; and such Mas the 
 integrity of his private life, that when one of 
 his friends expressed surprise that the lord 
 justice should suffer himself to be served in 
 wooden cups, he is said to have answered,
 
 286 INSURRECTIONS. 
 
 ' These homely cups and dishes pay truly for 
 what they contain. I had rather drink out of 
 wood and pay gold and silver, than drink out 
 of gold and make wooden payment.' But 
 the evils of the country were too deeply rooted, 
 as well as too complicated to be remedied by 
 the well-intended efforts of this excellent chief 
 governor. Disunited among themselves, the 
 English settlers were continually harassed by 
 the irruptions of the natives, while the latter 
 were such objects of the jealousy of the go- 
 vernment, that to cut off, as much as possible, 
 all intercourse with them, it was ordained that 
 wo mere Irishman^ that is, such as had not been 
 admitted to the rights of an English citizen, 
 should be permitted to enjoy any office of 
 trust, civil or ecclesiastical. This proved a fresh 
 cause of irritation to the Irish ; and O'Neill in 
 the North, and O'Brien in the South, so en- 
 couraged and assisted the insurrections of the 
 other chieftains, that the country was kept in 
 a perpetual state of civil war. 
 
 The English monarch having brought his 
 long protracted contest with France, to a glo-
 
 LIONEL DUKE OF CLARENCE. 287 
 
 rious and successful terminatioiij now resolved 
 on vigorous measures for suppressing those 
 disorders in Ireland, which threatened the com- 
 plete subversion of his authority in the island. 
 His first step was to constitute Lionel duke of 
 Clarence, his second son, vicegerent, with extra- 
 ordinary powers ; with such a military force as 
 might enable him to attempt the pacification of 
 the country with vigour. The duke of Cla- 
 rence had also a personal interest in settling the 
 disorders of Ireland, as he was married to the 
 young heiress of the late earl of Ulster, whose 
 vast domains in Tyrone and Connaught, had 
 again fallen into the hands of their ancient pos- 
 sessors. To raise troops for this important 
 expedition, king Edward issued his writs to all 
 the English nobles who held lands in this coun- 
 try to repair to the service of prince Lionel ; 
 but not more than fifteen hundred men could 
 be collected, who embarked under the com- 
 mand of the earls of Stafford and Ormond, Sir 
 John Carew, and Sir William Windsore. 
 
 The duke of Clarence arrived in Ireland in 
 1361, and his first proceedings were ill-calcu-
 
 288 LIONEL DUKE OF CLARENCE. 
 
 lated to augment the puny force which he had 
 brought with him to tranquillize the country. 
 Taught to consider the old English settlers as 
 wholly unworthy of confidence, he forbade 
 them to approach his camp, and was thus left 
 without advice or direction among a strange 
 people, of whose manners, language, and mode 
 of making war, he was totally ignorant. The 
 security of Leinster against the insurgents of 
 the South being his first object, he precipitately 
 marched into Thomond without guidance or 
 intelligence ; but here his troops were extremely 
 harassed by the vigilance and activity of O'Bri- 
 en, who continually hovered about his camp, 
 and retarded the progress of the English by his 
 desultory attacks. In this way many of his 
 soldiers were cut off, while numbers deserted 
 to the enemy; and the duke was at length 
 placed in such perilous circumstances, that he 
 was forced to call the old English to his stand- 
 ard. By this means and the arrival of some 
 further reinforcements from England, his army 
 was so increased, as to enable him to gain some 
 considerable advantages over the insurgents.
 
 STATUTE OF KILKENNY. 289 
 
 and compelled O'Brien for the present to lay 
 down his arms. 
 
 He now returned in triumph to the capital, 
 where he conferred the honor of knighthood 
 on several of his followers, and was rewarded 
 for his success against the insurgents in the 
 South by large contributions, both from the 
 clergy and laity. In 1364, he returned to 
 England, leaving the country still a prey to the 
 dissensions of the new and the old English. 
 These rose at length to such a height, as to 
 demand the interposition of the royal authority, 
 and all contention on the subject v,as forbid- 
 den under the penalty of two years imprison- 
 ment. But this plan proving insufficient to 
 remedy the evil, Clarence resumed the Irish 
 government in 1367, and, taught by experience, 
 he perceived that the first step necessary to the 
 restoration of tranquillity, was the reformation 
 of the English settlers. With this object ho 
 summoned a parliament to meet at Kilkenny, 
 which was numerously attended, and the result 
 of its deliberations, was the famous act, known 
 by the name of the Statute of Kilkenny. By
 
 290 STATUTE OF KILKENNY. 
 
 this ordinance it was decreed, that any man of 
 English race contracting marriage, fostering, 
 or gossipred, (customs held more sacred than 
 the ties of blood) with the new Irish, should 
 be punished as a traitor — that any English- 
 man using any Irish name, apparel, or cus- 
 tom, should forfeit his lands and tenements ; 
 and it was also made penal for the English to 
 permit the Irish to graze their lands, or to enter- 
 tain their bards, or story-tellers. These enact- 
 ments for restraining all social intercourse be- 
 tween the two races, appear to have originated 
 in the opinion indulged by the government, 
 that if united, they w ould set the rule of Eng- 
 land at defiance — a supposition, probably, not 
 ill-founded. The only item favorable to the 
 Irish, contained in this celebrated statute, was, 
 that the English were forbidden to levy war 
 upon them without a special warrant from the 
 state. In other respects, they appear to have 
 been considered an irreclaimable race : yet no 
 efforts were used to reform those practices 
 amongst them which were prohibited to the 
 English, or lead them to exchange their own
 
 BATTLE OF MAM5TER NENAGII 291 
 
 petty factions and tyrannies, for an honorable 
 submission to the monarch of England. 
 
 The Statute of Kilkenny had considerable 
 effect in restraining the turbulence of the great 
 lords during the remainder of the duke of Cla- 
 rence's administration; but on his departure 
 it broke out afresh, and his successor, the earl 
 of Desmond, was unable to keep their violence 
 within due bounds. In 1369, Sir AVilliam 
 Windsore was appointed lord deputy. He 
 had scarcely entered upon the exercise of his 
 authority, when he was called on to march 
 against O'Brien and O'Connor, who had de- 
 feated the earl of Desmond near iNIanister- 
 Nenagh in the county of Limerick, and taken 
 him prisoner, with lord Kerry, and several 
 other persons of distinction. On the approach 
 of the king's deputy, the Irish retired to 
 their inaccessible haunts, and he was compelled 
 to return, without performing any effectual 
 service. Indeed, during the remainder of king 
 Edward's reign, the authority of the English 
 government was so weakened, that the lord 
 deputy could only maintain the peace of the 
 s 2
 
 292 IRISH PENSIONS 
 
 country by pensioning O'Brien and others of 
 the Irish chieftains, by whom the English set- 
 tlers, in many districtSj were held in a kind of 
 vassalage.
 
 RICHARD II. 293 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Richard II. — Robert De Vere, Duke of Ire' 
 land — King Richard's Expedition to Ire- 
 land — Stib>nission of the Irish Chieftains — 
 Rojjal Festivities in Dublin — Fresh Insur- 
 rections — Death of the Earl of March — 
 Richard^s Second Expedition — jirt Mac 
 Murchard— Deposition and Death of Rich- 
 ard 11. 
 
 The death of Edward III. took place in 
 the year 1377; his successor, Richard II. son 
 of the renowned Black Prince, being then a 
 minor in his eleventh year. During the non- 
 age of the young king, little change occurred 
 in the aspect of Irish affairs, except some for- 
 midable descents on the coast by the French 
 and Spaniards, which at length called forth the 
 English navy to oppose them, and a furious
 
 294 ABSENTEES. 
 
 engagement took place in the harbour of Kin- 
 sale, in which the invaders lost several of their 
 ships, the Irish inhabitants contributing much 
 to the victory. Soon after the death of king 
 Edward, Edmond INIortimer, earl of March 
 and Ulster, son to Lionel, duke of Clarence, 
 was appointed vicegerent; and during his ad- 
 ministration, a tax of two thirds of their income 
 was laid upon absentees, who were then loud- 
 ly complained of, as well as in our own days, 
 for abandoning their Irish lands, and impo- 
 verishing the country, by spending their re- 
 venues in a distant kingdom — thus leaving the 
 residents unequal to the charge and labour of 
 supporting the public burdens. A royal mint 
 was about this time established in Dublin, and 
 liberty granted to the king*s Irish subjects to 
 dig for mines, and to carry on a free trade w ith 
 Portugal. 
 
 The earl of March dying at Cork in 1381, 
 the viceroyalty was conferred on his young 
 son Roger, under the guardianship of his uncle, 
 Thomas Mortimer; but the administration of 
 a minor in Ireland, was found to be attended
 
 ROBERT DE VERE. 295 
 
 with the same inconveniencies as a minor reign 
 in England ; and the young deputy was quick- 
 ly recalled to make room for Philip De Court- 
 ney, a nobleman allied to the king, who go- 
 verned the country in so oppressive a manner, 
 that he was not only removed, but arrested on 
 various charges of tyranny and injustice. As 
 Richard approached his majority, the weakness 
 of his understanding, and the violence of his 
 passions became manifest ; and when he had 
 attained his full age, produced an extraordinary 
 change in the government of Ireland. Set free 
 from the trammels in M'hich he had been kept 
 during his minority by his uncle, the duke of 
 Gloucester, he now resigned himself wholly to 
 the guidance of Robert De Vere, earl of Ox- 
 ford, a young nobleman of a gay and insinuat- 
 ing deportment, and whoce profligate manners 
 rendered him a willing agent to the king's cri- 
 minal pleasures. In return, Richard permitted 
 his favorite to repudiate his wife, though she 
 was the king's own relative, and to marry a 
 foreigner, for whom he had conceived an un- 
 lawful passion. He loaded him with honours,
 
 296 ROBERT DE VERE. 
 
 and not contented with creating him marquis of 
 Dublin, he raised him to sovereign power, by 
 granting to him and his heirs, the entire domi- 
 nion of Ireland, as the king of England's liege- 
 man, empowering him to appoint all officers of 
 state and justice, who were to act in his name, 
 and by his authority. The English parliament, 
 anxious (hat this powerful nobleman should be 
 employed at a distance from the king's person, 
 confirmed this important grant, and consented 
 that five hundred men at arms, and a thousand 
 nrchers should assist the new sovereign in com- 
 pleting the conquest of Ireland. 
 
 The marquis of Dublin marched soon after 
 with great pomp to take possession of his do- 
 minions, the king himself accompanying his 
 minion to Wales. But here the violent par- 
 tiality of the imbecile Richard broke forth 
 afresh ; and when the moment of separation 
 arrived, he declared himself unable to support 
 the trial. The favorite accordingly returned to 
 London ; where by a new patent, he was created 
 duke of Ireland, with a confirmation of all his 
 former power and privileges, and the govern-
 
 SIR JOHN STANLEY. 297 
 
 ment of the kingdom was committed to depu- 
 ties. But this parade of sovereignty proved 
 short-lived. The nobles of England, headed 
 by the princes of the blood, entered into a 
 confederacy to curb the rising power of this 
 unworthy minion, who, after a futile attempt 
 at resistance, was defeated by the earl of Derby, 
 in 1388, and obliged to fly to the Low Coun- 
 tries, while the king was compelled to declare 
 that the marquis of Dublin had forfeited all his 
 grants, and that in future no acts of state in 
 Ireland should be executed under his signet. 
 
 The disaffected Irish princes, were not slow 
 in taking advantage of the present weakness of 
 the English government ; and we accordingly 
 find that perpetual hostilities raged from North 
 to South. But Sir John Stanley, the chief 
 governor, acted with such vi2;our, that he ulti- 
 mately reduced O'Neill, the turbulent chief- 
 tain of the North, to submission ; and his suc- 
 cessor, James, the third earl of Ormond, was 
 equally successful in Louth. This nobleman 
 is said to have possessed such great valour and 
 bodily strength, that he was styled the head of 
 s 3
 
 298 JAMES EARL OF ORMOND. 
 
 the chivalry of Ireland. He was equally re- 
 markable for his princely style of living, and 
 his munificence to the church ; and was the first 
 of his illustrious family who resided in the 
 castle of Kilkenny, which he purchased from 
 the representatives of the house of Gloucester, 
 by whose ancestor, William earl Marshal, it 
 was built in 1207. 
 
 But such was now the disordered state of Ire- 
 land that these occasional victories over the 
 insurgents proved but temporary remedies. 
 The revenue of the country fell far short of its 
 expenditure, and the giddy and voluptuous mo- 
 narch of England was frequently disturbed in 
 the midst of his revelry by the most affecting 
 details of the suiferings of his Irish subjects, 
 and the frightful ravages committed by the law- 
 less bands which devastated the island. The 
 duke of Gloucester, the king's uncle, now offer- 
 ed to repair to Ireland, and to use his distin- 
 guished abilities for the restoration of tranquil- 
 lity. The offer was accepted, and some forces were 
 marched to the coast; but at the moment when 
 the duke was about to embark with his train.
 
 RING Richard's expeditiox. 299 
 
 he was recalled by the fickle Richard, who 
 declared his intention of making an expedition 
 into Ireland himself, and taking that part of his 
 dominions under his own immediate care. Va- 
 rious reasons have been assigned for this sudden 
 caprice of king Richard. One of these was, 
 that he had been inspired by his flatterers with 
 apprehensions of the dartger of entrusting a 
 military force to his uncle, who was so power- 
 ful and popular'a prince. Another, that having 
 married the princess Anne of Bohemia, he had 
 vainly aspired to the honour of being elected em- 
 peror of Germany, whither he had sent ambas- 
 sadors to negotiate on the subject, and was so 
 inflated with hopes of success, that he assumed 
 all the parade of that high dignity. But he 
 was soon informed by his agents that the elec- 
 tors of Germany refused to choose a prince, 
 w'ho was unable to recover his dominions In 
 France — to restrain the insolence of his English 
 subjects ; or subdue his enemies in Ireland — 
 and that, stung with this reproach, Richard now 
 resolved to recover his reputation, by making
 
 300 KING Richard's expedition. 
 
 Ireland the first theatre of his military opera- 
 tions. 
 
 Tlie death of queen Anne whom he greatly 
 loved, retarded the king's preparations for 
 some time ; but it is said to have finally deter- 
 mined him to proceed on the expedition as a 
 means of diverting the melancholy with which 
 he was oppressed. On the 2d of October, 
 1 394, he landed at AVaterford with the greatest 
 military force that had yet reached these shores, 
 consisting of four thousand men at arms and 
 thirty thousand archers, commanded by the 
 duke of Gloucester, the earls of Nottingham 
 and Rutland, lord Thomas Percy, and other 
 distinguished leaders. They had been ship- 
 ped at Bristol, Holyhead, and Haverford-West, 
 and took near a month coming over. 
 
 It was naturally supposed, that this mighty 
 army, led on by the monarch in person, and 
 the prime nobility of England, would quickly 
 subdue the scattered and disunited levies of the 
 old natives, suppress all discontents among the 
 English settlers, and ultimately establish the
 
 KING RICHARD'S EXPEDITION. 301 
 
 authoritj of government on the firmest basis. 
 The news of its arrival spread dismay among 
 the disaffected chieftains. The insurgents of 
 Leinster retired to their woods and mountains, 
 from whence they occasionally issued forth to 
 attack detached parties of the royal army as it 
 marched towards the capital. Murrough 
 O'Brien of Thomond offered to do homage to 
 the king, pay tribute, and keep the peace invio- 
 late. O'Neill, the chieftain of Ulster, acknow- 
 ledged himself to be the king's liege-man, im- 
 puting the devastations which he had commit- 
 ed to the injustice of the English governors ; and 
 Richard, to receive his homage, resolved to pro- 
 ceed to Drogheda, while INIowbray, earl of 
 Nottingham, pitched his camp with 1500 
 lancers and 2000 archers, near Carlow, to le- 
 ceive the submission and fealty of the Leinster 
 toparchs, who did homage to the commissioners 
 in the most ample form, on bended knees, 
 their heads uncovered, their arms laid aside, 
 and their girdles loosed. To each the lord 
 marshal gave the kiss of peace, after which the 
 chieftains bound themselves by a solemn treaty
 
 302 KING RICHARD'S EXPEDITION. 
 
 to relinquish all the Jands which they held in 
 Leinster, and to serve in the king's wars, on 
 condition that they should be paid pensions by 
 the crown, and declared rightful proprietors of 
 all the territories which they should conquer 
 from his majesty's enemies in the other pro- 
 vinces. A similar treaty with the same cere- 
 monies was executed between the king and the 
 Ulster chiefs at Drogheda ; and you may form 
 some opinion of the distracted and dismember- 
 ed state of Ireland at that period, when you 
 are informed, that not less than seventy-five 
 Irish lords thus signified their submission to 
 the English government, all of whom ruled their 
 subjects with a kingly authority, led forth their 
 little armies, were jealous of the least Infringe- 
 ment on their rights and dignities, an(f devot- 
 edly attached to their ancient customs and modes 
 of living. 
 
 The vain and imbecile Richard, elevated at 
 what he considered the complete reduction of 
 the island, sent to England for the crown- 
 jewels, and with the air of a conqueror pro- 
 ceeded at the head of his new tributaries to
 
 ROYAL FESTIVITIES. 303 
 
 Dublin ; where for several months he made a 
 display of that voluptuous magnificence in 
 which he delighted, while his army occupied 
 a tract of about thirty miles around the metro- 
 polis. O'Neill, O'Brien, O'Connor, and Mac 
 Murchard, the principal Irish chieftains, were 
 special objects of his favour, and he sought by 
 various arts of condescension, to reconcile them 
 to the manners of the English. The earl of Or- 
 mond,who was acquainted with their language, 
 and Henry Castide, an English gentleman, who 
 had been taken prisoner by the Irish some years 
 before, and married a lady of their race, united 
 their entreaties with those of the king ; yet it was 
 with difficulty that the chieftains could be 
 brought to compliance. They were lodged in 
 a handsome house, with Henry Castide as their 
 instructor, and master of the ceremonies, he 
 being well acquainted with their language and 
 customs. For some days he indulged them 
 in their usual practice of permitting their min- 
 strels and principal servants to sit beside them, 
 to eat from their plates and drink from their 
 cups, which they justified by saying that every
 
 304 ROYAL FESTIVITIES. 
 
 thing was in common amongst them but their 
 beds. He at length, however, prevailed on 
 them to conform to the English fashion : the 
 kings were placed at an upper table — the min- 
 strels at another below, and the servants at one 
 still lower. He also induced them to exchange 
 their Irish mantles for robes of silk trimmed 
 with squirrel skin, or minnever ; and when on 
 horseback, to use saddles and stirrups to which 
 they had hitherto been unaccustomed. When 
 informed that the king intended to confer the 
 honour of knighthood upon them, they ex- 
 pressed their astonishment that he should con- 
 sider this as any accession to their dignity, as 
 they had received this honour in their earliest 
 years, it being the custom of every Irish king 
 to make his son or nearest kinsman a knight at 
 seven years old. " We assemble," they said, 
 " in a plain. The candidates run with slender 
 lances against a shield erected on a stake ; and 
 he who breaks the greatest number, is distin- 
 guished by particular honours annexed to his 
 new dignity." King Richard's courtiers ac- 
 knowledged, that these proofs of early prowess
 
 DEGENERATE ENGLISH. 305 
 
 were }i|o-lilv honourable; but that all the most 
 renowned states of Europe had adopted a more 
 solemn form of conferring the dignity of knight- 
 hood : and after describing the ceremonial with 
 minuteness, the chiefs were at length persuad- 
 ed to submit to its formalities. The installation 
 accordingly took place in the cathedral of 
 Christ Chuich; and the ceremony was succeed- 
 ed by a magnificent banquet, at which the four 
 Irish princes, decked in robes of state, were 
 seated at the king's table. 
 
 Those English lords, who, by uniting with 
 the Irish insurgents, had incurred the guilt of 
 treason, and in the common parlance of that 
 day, were denominated Degetierate English^ 
 now sent agents to solicit the king's pardon, 
 on the ground that they had been driven from 
 their allegiance by injustice and oppression, or 
 by the refusal of redress and protection by the 
 Irish government. Unwilling to interrupt his 
 course of luxurious gaiety by measures of seve- 
 rity, Richard the more readily listened to their 
 supplications, granted them a truce for several 
 months ; and, elated with the vain hope, that
 
 306 FRESH INSURRECTIONS. 
 
 he had now completely pacified the country, he 
 returned to England, where the church w as at 
 this time supposed to be in great danger from 
 the progress of the Lollards — a name applied 
 to the followers of the Reformer, Wickliffe. 
 
 King Richard had scarcely taken his depar- 
 ture, when the fallacious nature of the peace he 
 had concluded with the native princes, became 
 apparent. The government of Ireland was 
 entrusted to Roger Mortimer, earl of March, 
 who was speedily sent into Munster to check 
 some hostile movements of O'Brien. From 
 thence he was quickly recalled, by intelligence 
 that a formidable insurrection had broken out 
 in the very neighbourhood of the capital, in 
 consequence of an attempt to enforce the stipu- 
 lation in the late treaty, by which the Irish of 
 Leinster were bound to evacuate that province. 
 Unwilling to abandon the homes of their fa- 
 thers, the Irish delayed under various pre- 
 texts ; and when the requisitions of govern- 
 ment became at length peremptory, they flew 
 to arms in every direction ; and the English 
 lords were called forth against their several in-
 
 DEATH OF THE EARL OF MARCH. 307 
 
 vaders, -vvith such forces as they could collect. 
 The Berminghams and De Burgos gained some 
 advantages over the insurgents of their districts ; 
 and the lord lieutenant, accompanied by the 
 earl of Ormond, drove the powerful sept of 
 O'Byrne from their lands in Wicklow. But 
 in the very moment of triumph, while the 
 viceroy was engaged in creating knights and 
 feasting his followers, in honour of his success, 
 intelligence arrived that the O'Tcoles, another 
 numerous and turbulent sept, had gained an im- 
 portant victory, and slaughtered a great number 
 of the king's subjects ; and that the O'Byrues, 
 having retreated into Ossory, had there resum- 
 ed hostilities. The earl of ^larch pursued them 
 with more vigour than prudence ; and having 
 fallen into one of those ambuscades, for which 
 the Irish were so famous, was defeated and 
 slain upon the field of battle. 
 
 This fatal event furnished king Richard with 
 a pretext for a second expedition to Ireland ; 
 and though the death of Gloucester and Arun- 
 del, the banishment of the earl of Derby, with 
 his other acts of tyranny, extravagance, and
 
 308 KING RICHARD'S SECOND EXPEDITION. 
 
 caprice, had so alienated from him the affections 
 of his English subjects, that the country was 
 menaced with a violent revolution, he resolved 
 at every risk to punish the insolence of the 
 Irish, and avenge the death of his lieutenant. 
 To supply the forces necessary for the expedi- 
 tion, he was compelled to lay fresh burdens on 
 the people, which added new fuel to the dis- 
 contents that Avere ready to burst into a flame; 
 Before his departure, he proclaimed a grand 
 tournament at AVindsor, at which forty knights 
 and forty squires in green, with the device of 
 a white falcon, were to appear against all 
 comers; but though enlivened by the presence 
 of queen Isabella, a daughter of France, whom 
 Richard had lately espoused, and a brilliant 
 train of ladies and damsels, few of the Eng- 
 lish nobles honoured the festival with their 
 presence. 
 
 AVhen the giddy monarch left his capital for 
 his second expedition to Ireland, the London- 
 ers anticipated for him the fate of Edward II. 
 The duke of York was left regent of England, 
 and his son, the young duke of Aumerle was
 
 KIXG RICHARD'S SECOND EXPEDITION. 309 
 
 ordered to follow the king with a reinforce- 
 ment. At Bristol, Richard was joined by the 
 son of the late duke of Gloucester, the duke of 
 Exeter, the earl of Salisbury, and the young lord 
 Henry of Lancaster (afterwards the renown- 
 ed king Henry V.) The earl of Northumber- 
 land, and his son, Henry Percy, so well known 
 by the name of Hotspur, declining to attend 
 the king under various pretexts, were proclaim- 
 ed traitors, and banished the kingdom. 
 
 A force of twenty thousand men now em- 
 barked at Bristol, in two hundred sail of ships, 
 with Avhich Richard arrived at Waterford, on 
 the 13th of May, 1399, and spent near three 
 weeks in that city and Kilkenny in vain parade, 
 while the insurgents were wasting the whole 
 country on his route to the capital. Encour- 
 aged by the inactivity of the English monarch 
 and his mighty host, they declared their resolu- 
 tion to defend their liberty with their last 
 breath, and boasted that the hour was come for 
 their deliverance from foreign usurpation. Rous- 
 ed at length from his indolence by the appre- 
 hension of a want of provisionSj Richard com-
 
 310 ART MAC MURCHARD. 
 
 menced his march against Art Mac Murchard, 
 who, notwithstanding the honours and pensions 
 he received during the royal visit in 1394, was 
 still the inveterate enemy of the English govern- 
 ment. On the king's approach, Mac Murchard 
 appeared at the head of three thousand men, 
 well armed and appointed, as if determined to 
 withstand their progress. But no sooner had 
 Richard drawn up his army to meet the attack, 
 than the enemy suddenly disappeared, and the 
 vain-glorious monarch, as if he had gained a 
 signal triumph, ordered the adjacent houses and 
 villages to be set on fire : the royal standard 
 was then advanced, under which he created 
 several knights ; and among them, lord Henry 
 of Lancaster. A large body of the peasantry 
 was employed to open a passage through 
 the woods, which the art of Mac Murchard 
 had rendered nearly impassable; so that as the 
 king's army advanced, they continually met 
 impediments in their route, and sometimes 
 found themselves plunged in deep and dangerous 
 morasses. Upon these occasions, the Irish sud- 
 denly issued from their retreats with terrific
 
 ART MAC MURCIIAUD. 311 
 
 shouts, and cast their darts with a force which 
 no armour could withstand ; and then they as 
 suddenly disappeared. The English forces 
 were thus continually harassed, without the 
 possibility of bringing their ever-watchful foe 
 to a general engagement. 
 
 Yet many of the Irish lords were terrified 
 into submission by the great numerical strength 
 of the royal army : and, appearing before the 
 king, with halters round their necks, they fell 
 at his feet, and were again received to favour. 
 To induce Mac Murchard to return to his alle- 
 giance, Richard was weak enough to promise 
 him an accession of territory: but the Irish 
 chief, knowing the difficulties to which his 
 army was reduced, gave a haughty answer, in 
 which he set the royal power at defiance. The 
 king had no means of avenging this insult, as his 
 men were perishing by famine, nearly all the 
 horses incapable of service, while a general 
 gloom had spread through the camp ; and the 
 bravest knights appeared to sink under suffer- 
 ings, from which so little honour could be de- 
 rived. Some relief was at length received by
 
 312 ART MAC MURCHAllO. 
 
 a few ships from Dublin, laden with provisions, 
 which arrived on the neighbouring coast. No 
 sooner were they descried by the famished 
 soldiers, than they plunged into the sea, seized 
 and rilled the ships, and shed each other's blood 
 in their efforts to obtain some alleviation of 
 their complicated miseries. After this, the 
 royal army, no longer able to keep their ground 
 in a devastated country, proceeded slowly to 
 Dublin, continually harassed by an enemy 
 whom they despised. 
 
 The politic Mac Murchard, wisely judging 
 that the difficulties of his opponents would be 
 at an end as soon as they reached the capital, 
 conceived this to be the most favourable mo- 
 ment for attempting an accommodation ; and he 
 solicited a safe conduct from the king, that he 
 might repair to his camp, to negociate terms of 
 peace; or otherwise, that some English lords 
 might be deputed to confer with him. Richard 
 chose the latter ; and he commissioned the 
 young duke of Gloucester for that purpose. 
 The duke marched to the appointed place, at- 
 tended by a guard of two hundred lancers, and
 
 d 
 
 ART MAC MUllCHARD. 313 
 
 a thousand archers ; and soon after his arrival, 
 Mac INIurchard was seen darting rapidly from a 
 mountain between two woods, near the sea, 
 followed by a numerous train. lie was mount- 
 ed on a stately horse, without a saddle, and 
 appeared formed for agility and strength. At 
 the command of the chieftain, his followers 
 halted at due distance ; and then casting his 
 spear from him, he rushed forward to meet the 
 English lord. A parley now took place, in 
 which Mac Murchard was reproached for his 
 grievous infractions of his late solemn engage- 
 ments, by attacking the king's forces, and kill- 
 ing Mortimer, his vicegerent. He haughtily 
 defended his conduct on various pretences ; 
 bdt, after much debate, he consented to sub- 
 mit ; refusing, however, to be bound by any 
 special composition or conditions. This fruit- 
 ess conference then broke up ; and the king 
 ivas so provoked at Mac Murchard' s insolence, 
 hat he passionately vowed never to depart from 
 reland until he had possessed himself of this 
 Tch-rebel, alive or dead : three hundred marks 
 f gold were offered to any who should seize
 
 314 DErOSlTION AND DEATH OF 
 
 him, and a strong body of troops was detach- 
 ed to enforce the royal proclamation. 
 
 Bat the sun of Richard's glory was now 
 about to set. On the 28th of June, he made 
 his solemn entry into Dublin, and was sump- 
 tuously entertained by the provost and citizens. 
 Aumerle joined him soon after with a reinforce- 
 ment; and six weeks (during which period 
 tempestuous weather prevented the arrival of 
 any intelligence from England) were spent in 
 thoughtless dissipation. The giddy monarch 
 was at length checked in his career of volup- 
 tuous pleasure by the arrival of a bark, which 
 brought intelligence of his total ruin. Since 
 his departure from England, his enemies had 
 been actively engaged in forming a plan for de 
 throning him ; and their conferences ended in 
 an application to Henry, duke of Hereford, to 
 take up arms against a prince who had capri 
 ciously banished him from the kingdom, and 
 deprived him of the inheritance which had de- 
 volved to him by the death of his father, the 
 duke of Lancaster. Henry willingly accepted 
 the invitation, and landed in England with j
 
 RICHARD II. 315 
 
 small force, to which thousands of his partisans 
 quickly united themselves. The eyes of all 
 were soon fixed upon him as their deliverer ; 
 the clergy favoured his cause ; a papal bull de- 
 clared him the rightful inheritor of the crown ; 
 and York, the regent, abandoning his post, 
 submitted to the popular invader. The weak 
 and ill-fcited monarch received the fatal infor- 
 mation with abject dismay ; and though press- 
 ed by his friends to return to England without 
 delay, he lingered till his affairs became des- 
 perate. With a peevish resentment, he com- 
 mitted lord Henry of Lancaster, and the young 
 duke of Gloucester, to the castle of Trim, and 
 at length sailed for Wales, where he was soon 
 after betrayed into the hands of his rival, by 
 whom he was confined in the tower of London ; 
 and his deposition and death speedily followed.
 
 316 
 
 HENRY lY, 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Accession of Henry IV.— the Duke of Lan- 
 caster^ Chief Governor — Insurrections — 
 Loyal Exertions of the Citizens of Dublin — 
 Henry V. — Talbot^ Loi^d Furnival^ Chief 
 Go'cemor— Feuds at Watcrf or d-— Accession 
 of Henry VI. — Thomas Earl of Desmotid 
 disjjossessed by his Uncle — Ambition of the 
 Usurper — Feuds between Desmond and 
 Ormond — Kise of the contentions between 
 the Houses of York and Lancaster — Rich' 
 ard Duke of York., Lord Lieutenant — 
 Great Popularity of his Government — 
 O'Connor of Offaley — Wars of the Roses — 
 Thomas Earl of Kildare, Lord Lieutenant — 
 Death of the Duke of York — Accession of 
 Edward IV. — Disordered State of Ireland 
 at this period — Hostilities between the Ge- 
 raUines and the Butlers — Thomas Earl of
 
 THOMAS DUKE OF LANCASTER. 317 
 
 Desmond^ Chief Governor — His Fall and 
 Execution — The Earl of Kildare^ Chief Go- 
 vernor — John Earl of Ormond — Rival Go- 
 vernments of Gerald Earl of Kildare and 
 Lord Grey — Richard III, 
 
 The short, but disturbed reign of Henry 
 IV. was productive of few memorable inci- 
 dents in Ireland, though its intestine disorders 
 still continued, and in Ulster, were much 
 aggravated bj frequent invasions of the Scots. 
 The doubtful title by which the new sove- 
 reign held his crown, made him peculiarly so- 
 licitous to conciliate the good opinion of all his 
 subjects ; and at the commencement of his 
 reign, he declared that he would make Ireland 
 a particular object of his attention. To give 
 weight and dignity to the government, he 
 appointed Thomas duke of Lancaster, his 
 second son, vicegerent. The young prince 
 commenced his administration by a vigorous 
 effort to restore tranquillity to Leinster and 
 Meath; and his exertions were bravely seconded 
 by the citizens of Dublin, who, on the lltli of 
 T 2
 
 318 LOYALTY OF THE CITIZENS OF DUBLIN. 
 
 July 14G2, marched under the command of 
 John Drake, their provost, agamst the insur- 
 gents of Wicklow, of whom they slew many 
 hundreds. Several of the Lcinster chieftains 
 were again forced to submission ; and in 1 405, 
 a parliament which assembled at Castledermot, 
 resolved to adopt effectual measures against the 
 insurgents of Ulster, and to repel the invasion 
 of the Scots in that province. Upon this oc- 
 casion the citizens of Dublin again displayed 
 their loyalty, by fitting out, in conjunction with 
 those ofDrogheda, a fleet of barks, with which 
 they carried on a marauding war on the coasts 
 of Scotland, and avenged the depredations 
 committed in this country. They even extend- 
 ed their hostilities to Wales, from whence they 
 brought otr the shrine of St. Cubin, a famous 
 Welch saint, and with all the importance of 
 victory, deposited it in the cathedral. For 
 these services, king Henry IV. conferred on 
 Thomas Cusack, the provost, and his successors, 
 the title of mayor, with his licence, that a 
 gilded sword should be borne before them for 
 ever.
 
 HOSTILITIES IN LEINSTER. 319 
 
 But Art Mac Murchard still continued to set 
 the government at defiance ; and liaving se- 
 duced other chieftains from their allegiance, 
 appeared in 1407, at the head of a considerable 
 force. Scrope, the king's deputy, aided by 
 Kildare and the young earl of Ormond, at- 
 tacked and routed him with considerable slaugh- 
 er, and then marched to Callan, in the county 
 of Kilkenny, where he defeated another insur- 
 gent force under De Burgo and O'Carrol, who 
 lost eight hundred men. But these successes, 
 however important, were not sufficient to check 
 the spirit of insurrection which generally pre- 
 vailed, while the authority of government was 
 still openly despised by some of the great lords 
 of English race. The conduct of Kildare hav- 
 ing incurred some suspicion, he was imprisoned 
 and fined three hundred marks ; but the duke 
 of Lancaster, about the same time, was defeated 
 under the very walls of the capital, and his life 
 brought into imminent danger. In 1409, he 
 retired from the administration, and returned to 
 England, leaving the public defence in the 
 hands of Butler, the prior of St. John of Jeru-
 
 3^0 HENRY V. 
 
 salem. The deputy continued with no greater 
 success to resist the perpetual incursions of the 
 Irish insurgents, who, at this time, appear to 
 have been complete masters of the open coun- 
 try, so that the borderers were frequently ob- 
 liged to secure themselves from their depreda- 
 tions by bribes and pensions, usually known by 
 the name of Black Rent. 
 
 The state of the country was not improved 
 during the reign of Henry V. who ascended 
 the throne of England in 1412. That re- 
 nowned monarch w^as too much occupied with 
 the conquest of France, to regard the greater 
 glory of tranquillizing Ireland ; and his vice- 
 gerents who succeeded each other in rapid 
 succession, could do little more than preserve 
 the English settlers from total extinction. Sir 
 John Talbot, lord Furnival, who was appointed 
 to the Irish government in 1414, compelled 
 Art Mac Murchard, the turbulent chieftain 
 of Leinster, to renew his homage, and give his 
 son as a hostage for his future good conduct : 
 but during his long administration, which con- 
 tinued six years, he was unable to enlarge the
 
 THE EARL OF ORMOND. 321 
 
 English pale, or to subdue the dreadful animo- 
 sities which prevailed between the two races. All 
 the English who refused to adopt their language 
 and manners, were treated as aliens and intru- 
 ders bj the Irish ; while such of the latter as 
 ventured to seek a subsistence in England, 
 were often driven from that country, with cir- 
 cumstances of great contumely ; and, even stu- 
 dents who resorted to England for education, 
 w^ere excluded from the Inns of Court. The 
 dissensions betw^een the new and old English 
 prevailed at the same time with considerable vio- 
 lence ; and in every quarter, the wretched coun- 
 try was the prey of contending factions. 
 
 The government of lord Furnival was mark- 
 ed with great vigour ; but his oppressive exac- 
 tions rendered him an object of detestation to 
 all parties; and in 1429 he was removed to 
 give place to the popular earl of Ormond, who, 
 after serving his sovereign in many brilliant 
 campaigns in France, returned to his native 
 country with such ample powers, as intimated 
 the great confidence reposed in him, both by 
 the crown and the people. lie immediately
 
 322 FEUDS AT WATEUFORD. 
 
 summoned a parliament, who, by their libera- 
 lity in providing for the exigencies of the state, 
 manifested their extraordinary respect for the 
 new chief governor ; and he cheerfully trans- 
 mitted to the king a petition from the parlia- 
 ment, in which were enumerated the various 
 evils that prevailed in church and state, Ormond 
 retained his high office until some time after the 
 death of Henry V. and by his great vigilance 
 and activity, repressed all attempts of the dis- 
 aiFected to disturb the general tranquillity of the 
 nation, though local factions still continued as 
 prevalent as ever. For a long period, a terrible 
 feud had subsisted between the citizens of 
 Waterford, the Powers of that county, and the 
 O'Driscols of Cork. In the year 1368, the 
 Powers and O'Driscols united their forces to 
 plunder the city of Waterford ; but John Mal- 
 pas, the mayor, attended by the sheriff of the 
 county, and Richard Walsh, the master of St. 
 John of Jerusalem, proceeded with several 
 ships to meet the enemy. An action ensued, 
 in which the Waterford ians were defeated, the 
 mayor, the sheriff, and the master of the hos-
 
 FEUDS AT WATERFOIID. 323 
 
 pital, Avith ninety-six worthy citizens, or mer- 
 chant strangers being among the slain : and on 
 the other side fell Power, the lord of Don-Isle, 
 with his brothers, and some principal persons of 
 the sept of O'Driscol. But the men of Water- 
 ford fully avenged this disgrace some years 
 after. The Powers and O'Driscols having ef- 
 fected a landing at Tramore, Simon "VVickin, 
 the mayor of Waterford, with a large body of 
 the citizens, attacked them at Ballymacadane, 
 and slew one hundred and sixty. The enemy 
 flying to their ships, the mayor pursued them 
 by sea with a strong band of men in amiour, 
 and arriving before O'Driscol's strong castle of 
 Baltimore, on Christmas-day, he landed his 
 men, and marched up to the gate. The porter 
 was desired to tell his lord that the mayor of 
 Waterford was come to the haven m ith a ship 
 of wine, and would gladly come in to see him. 
 Unable to make an effectual resistance, O'Dris- 
 col ordered the gates to be thrown open, and 
 surrendered with six of his sons, who were 
 brought in triumph to Waterford. 
 
 The death of Henry V., in 1422, and the
 
 324 HENRY VI. 
 
 succession of an infant monarch, proved a seri- 
 ous impediment to the further reformation of 
 the country. The insurgents rose in arms in 
 various quarters ; and to intimidate them, the 
 English regency nominated the earl of March 
 and Ulster lord lieutenant, with the hishop of 
 Meath as his deputy, who was not admitted to 
 his office without violent altercation. He was 
 soon displaced by the earl of Ormond, whose 
 attention was quickly called to the northern 
 provinces, where fresh incursions of the Scottish 
 rovers enabled the Ulster Irish to commit ter- 
 rible depredations on the English settlements. 
 The earl of March and Ulster now considered 
 it necessary to repair to Ireland, and execute 
 his office in person, to rescue his inheritance 
 from those invaders; but dying suddenly at 
 Trim, he was succeeded by Talbot, lord Fur- 
 nival ; who, after an administration of a few 
 months, again gave place to the earl of Ormond^ 
 This nobleman used the most vigorous mea- 
 sures to restore tranquillity to Ulster; and 
 ultimately succeeded in compelling O'Neill, 
 and many of the subordinate chieftains to resign
 
 THE DESMOND FAMILY. 325 
 
 all the lands and possessions formerly enjoyed 
 by the earl of Ulster, and acknowledge them- 
 selves vassals of Richard, duke of York, the 
 heir and representative of the noble house of 
 De Burgo. They Mere also forced to relin- 
 quish the tribute generally known by the name 
 of Black Rent ; and they agreed to serve in 
 the king's army with their followers, when re- 
 quired by the lord deputy. 
 
 Though a considerable period of compara- 
 tive security from the native insurgents ensued, 
 yet the frequent succession of English gover- 
 nors which followed, created the most violent 
 jealousies amongst the great lords of the old 
 English race. Since the accession of the Lan- 
 castrian princes, the families of Kildare and 
 Desmond appear to have been wholly unnotic- 
 ed ; and the earl of Ormond w as the only 
 nobleman of Irish birth, in whom the crown 
 placed any confidence. James Fitz-Gerald 
 had, in 1418, unjustly usurped the title and 
 vast domains of Desmond, from the rightful 
 possessor, under the following pretext. Ger- 
 ald, surnamed the Poet, having been murdered 
 u
 
 326 THOMAS EARL OF DESMOND. 
 
 in the Island of Kerry, in 1397, was succeed- 
 ed by his son John, a man of distinguished 
 valour. He had been knighted for his ser- 
 vices to the crown ; and after returning from 
 an expedition to Scotland, he collected a force 
 to attack the earl of Ormond, with whom he 
 had a quarrel. They met near the abbey of 
 Innislaught, in Tipperary, in the month of 
 September, 1399: happily, however, no blood 
 was shed; for the two parties settled their 
 dispute by negociation, and signed a mutual 
 engagement to preserve a strict peace and 
 amity. But on the same night, while his army 
 was passing over the river Suir, at the ford of 
 Ardfinnan, the brave earl John was drowned. 
 He left by his wife, a daughter of Roche, 
 lord Fermoy, an infant son, named Thomas, the 
 sole inheritor of his vast possessions. This 
 young nobleman, when approaching towards 
 manhood, was benighted, while hunting be- 
 tween Tralee and Newcastle, in the county of 
 Limerick. He found a place of shelter at 
 Abbeyfeale, in the house of a respectable ten- 
 ant named William Mac Cormac; and during
 
 JAMES EARL OF DESMOND. 327 
 
 his short residence there, he conceived a passion 
 for the beautiful daughter of his host. Virtu- 
 ous as well as beautiful, she resisted every hint 
 of a dishonourable nature ; and this so increas- 
 ed the young earl's admiration for the object 
 of his affections, that he made Catherine Mac 
 Cormac his wife. His uncle James, a crafty 
 and ambitious man, represented this inferior 
 match as such a degradation to the family, 
 that he prevailed on his friends and followers 
 to abandon him ; then forcibly expelled him 
 from his estates, and finally compelled him to 
 make a formal surrender of the earldom to 
 himself, on assigning to his son, the manors of 
 Mallow, Broghill, and Kilcolman. After this, 
 Thomas retired to France ; where he died in 
 1420, broken-hearted, at Rouen ; and king 
 Henry V. honoured his funeral with his pre- 
 sence. 
 
 Earl James now sought to secure and ox- 
 tend the vast possessions which he had thus 
 basely acquired, by methods equally unjustifi- 
 able. By an illegal grant from Robert Cogan, 
 he took possession of a great district, called 
 u 2
 
 328 JAMES EARL OF DESMOND. 
 
 the kingdom of Cork, to the prejudice of the 
 rightful claims of the families of Carew and 
 De Courcey ; and exercising all the powers of 
 an independent prince, he lived in a state of 
 rude magnificence, which greatly augmented 
 his influence among his followers, both of the 
 English and Irish race. He was surrounded 
 by life-guards, styled himself earl of Desmond, 
 lord of Decies, O'Connello, and the liberties 
 of Kerry, and the government consolidated 
 his vast power, by giving its sanction to all 
 his usurpations. 
 
 The imprudence of this weak policy was 
 soon apparent. In the year 1443, Desmond 
 bade defiance to the government, and com- 
 menced hostilities, which the earl of Ormond 
 could terminate only by treating with him as 
 an independent sovereign. A truce was con- 
 cluded, during which Desmond found means 
 to strengthen his party, and to intrigue with 
 the enemies of the chief governor; and he 
 ultimately succeeded in rendering this once 
 popular nobleman suspected by the English 
 government. Henry VI. commanded Ormond
 
 THE EARL OF ORMOND. 329 
 
 to repair to his presence without delay, to ex- 
 plain the causes of the public discontents. 
 The lord lieutenant, perceiving the malice of 
 his enemies, summoned a meeting of the nobili- 
 ty and gentry of the pale to attend him at 
 Drogheda; and in the presence of the English 
 agents, who had brought the rojal mandate, he 
 demanded that his most inveterate enemy 
 should stand forth and declare in what he had 
 offended, or point out a single instance in which 
 the subject or the state had suffered by his in- 
 justice or neglect. This magnanimity produc- 
 ed a powerful effect ; and such unequivocal 
 testimony was given to the viceroy's integrity 
 by the whole assembly, that the order for his 
 departure was suspended. Yet the deter- 
 mined rancour of his indefatigable enemies 
 soon after prevailed, and Ormond was removed 
 from the government, on account, as it was 
 alleged, of his age and infirmities, which ren- 
 dered him incapable of conducting the affairs 
 of state. Some further attempts were made 
 to injure this excellent nobleman in the esti- 
 mation of his sovereign; but they failed of
 
 330 RICHARD DUKE OF YORK. 
 
 success, king Henry declaring by patent, that 
 the earl of Ormond was faithful in his allegi- 
 ance, meritorious in his services, and untainted 
 in his fame ; and that no one, on pain of his 
 indignation, should reproach his conduct. 
 
 Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury and Waterford^ 
 was constituted lord lieutenant, in 1445. Fierce 
 hostilities were at that time raging both in 
 Leinster and Munster ; and Desmond was 
 twice defeated at Gleanfogarta and Ballyanfoil, 
 by Turlogh O'Brien, and Mac William of 
 Clanrickard. The commotions of Leinster 
 were speedily quelled by the vigour of the 
 chief governor, who afterward called a parlia- 
 ment at Trim, which passed some trifling 
 enactments that had little influence on the dis- 
 ordered state of the nation. Another change in 
 the Irish government was occasioned shortly 
 after, by the violent feuds which commenced 
 in England about this time, between the houses 
 of York and Lancaster, the particulars of 
 which are copiously detailed in the history 
 of that country. The superior claims of Rich- 
 ard duke of York to the crown, as well as his
 
 RICHARD DUKE OF YORK. 331 
 
 personal qualifications, had rendered him the 
 idol of the people, while the imbecile charac- 
 ter of the king, who was entirely governed by 
 his consort and his partisans, caused his au- 
 thority to be regarded with contempt ; and 
 it was manifest, that the great majority of the 
 nation only waited for a favourable opportunity 
 to shake it off. Under these circumstances the 
 ruling party anxiously sought a pretext to re- 
 move the duke of York to a distance from the 
 court ; and this was found, in the alanning 
 state of Ireland in 1449, when all the pro- 
 vinces were so embroiled by the furious con- 
 tests of rival chieftains, as to threaten a gene- 
 ral rebellion. But this sagacious prince, who 
 by his alliance with the house of De Burgo, 
 was the inheritor of vast estates in Ireland, 
 comprehending the earldom of Ulster, and the 
 lordships of Connaught, Clare and Meath, would 
 only accept the government, on condition that 
 he should possess all the honour and authority 
 which had been enjoyed by the most distin- 
 guished of his predecessors. He stipulated 
 that he should hold the office of lord lieutenant
 
 332 RICHARD DUKE OF YORK. 
 
 for ten years, receive the whole revenue of 
 Ireland without account, with an immediate 
 advance of money, and an annual pension of 
 a thousand marks (equal to about ^^20,000 of 
 our present money) — that he should be em- 
 powered to let the king's lands, dispose of all 
 offices, levy troops, appoint his deputy, and 
 return at his pleasure. 
 
 The duke of York commenced his viceroy- 
 alty with a splendour and magnificence, which 
 speedily drew to his court, men of every party. 
 He received them all with equal kindness, 
 without declaring openly for any ; he engaged 
 their affections by his affability and condescen- 
 sion ; moderated their violence by his prudence 
 and caution, and in the whole of his conduct unit- 
 ed all the dignity of an English prince, with 
 the cordiality of a kinsman of the Irish sub- 
 jects. The earl of Ormond, who was known 
 to be particularly attached to the house of 
 Lancaster, was received at the Irish court with 
 all the attention due to his high rank, and he 
 returned these civilities by a like exterior of 
 respect and deference. Desmond, less expe-
 
 RICHARD DUKE OF YORK. 333 
 
 rienced in the wiles of courts, was quite cap- 
 tivated by the obliging demeanour of the royal 
 duke ; and the honour conferred upon him soon 
 after, in conjunction with lord Ormond, of 
 being chosen sponsor to George, afterwards 
 the ill-fated duke of Clarence, who Mas born 
 in the castle of Dublin, so intoxicated his va- 
 nity, that it encouraged him to many fresh acts 
 of insolence and oppression. 
 
 The presence of the duke of York appears 
 to have speedily calmed those commotions, 
 from which so much danger had been appre- 
 hended ; and during the two years which 
 followed, all his transactions with the natives, 
 were marked by justice and impartiality : the 
 English settlements were protected, and many 
 enactments passed by parliaments held in 
 Dublin and Drogheda, for improving the 
 condition of the people. But the successful 
 progress of the partisans of the House of York 
 in England, now began to open a wider field 
 for his ambition. The insurrection of Jack 
 Cade, an Irishman, who had assumed the po- 
 pular name of INIortimer, developed the dispo- 
 u 3
 
 334 RICHARD DUKE OF YORK. 
 
 sition of the people towards the reigning fami- 
 ly. The queen and her friends circulated 
 reports, that the insurrection had been planned 
 by the due of York; that he was about to 
 lead an Irish army into England to dethrone 
 the king ; and letters were despatched to the 
 western coast to oppose his landing. But 
 whatever may have been his ulterior designs, 
 he deemed it prudent for the present, to return 
 to England to defend his character against 
 these aspersions ; and eluding the vigilance of 
 his adversaries, he arrived in London without 
 an army, or any train that could give just 
 cause of suspicion. 
 
 The duke, at his departure, appointed the 
 earl of Ormond his deputy, who was soon 
 after created lord lieutenant by the king ; but 
 dying in 1452, he was succeeded in the ad- 
 nistration by Sir Edward Fitz-Eustace, who 
 exerted himself with great vigour to suppress 
 the commotions which broke out soon after. 
 In one of his expeditions against the insurgents 
 of Leinster, an affecting incident occurred, 
 which deserves to be recorded. O'Connor,
 
 O'CONNOR OF OFFALEY. 335 
 
 the Irish chieftain of Offaley, having made an 
 inroad into Kildare, was attacked and routed 
 by the lord deputy. While flying from his 
 pursuers, O'Connor fell from his horse, and his 
 son, the companion of his danger, stopped and 
 remounted him. The chieftain, unfortunately, 
 falling a second time to the ground, a generous 
 contest commenced betv^een the father and 
 son, which of them should be resigned to the 
 mercy of the enemy. The youth earnestly 
 urged the father to take his horse, and leave 
 him to his fate, which the old man obstinate- 
 ly refused, and commanding his son to fly, 
 was soon made prisoner. But when the de- 
 puty heard the circumstances of the case, he 
 generously set his captive at liberty. 
 
 About the same period, O'Neill and other 
 chieftains of the North, engaged in some ma- 
 rauding expeditions ; and having fitted out a 
 fleet of barks, they attacked some English ves- 
 sels which had sailed from Dublin, and having 
 rifled them, they made the passengers prisoners, 
 amongst whom was Michael Tregury, the 
 archbishop of Dublin. Enraged at this insult.
 
 33G WAUS OF THE roses. 
 
 the citizens of the capital assembled a consi- 
 derable force which marched against these 
 pirates ; and coming up with them at Ardglass, 
 a desperate engagement ensued, in which the 
 Northern Irish were completely discomfited 
 with the slaughter of five or six hundred men, 
 while O'Neill, their general, was taken pri- 
 soner. 
 
 The fatal rivalry which had so long existed 
 between the houses of York and Lancaster, 
 now burst forth into terrible hostilities, and 
 Ireland fully participated in the calamitous 
 consequences which flowed from the Wars of 
 the Roses. The birth of a young prince to 
 Henry VI. pointed out to the Yorkists the 
 necessity of immediate operations to place 
 duke Richard on the throne, which, as des- 
 cended from an elder branch of the royal fa- 
 mily, he claimed as his rightful inheritance. 
 Their first effort was successful. The parlia- 
 ment, under pretence of Henry's indisposition, 
 proclaimed the duke of York, protector of the 
 realm; and the battle of St. Alban's soon after 
 put the king's person into his .■^inds. This
 
 WARS OF THE ROSES. 337 
 
 event again called the Geraldines, the attached 
 friends of the house of York, to power. In 
 1454, Thomas earl of Kildare was appointed 
 lord lieutenant of Ireland : with the excep- 
 tion of the rival family of Butler, and a few 
 of the Irish chieftains, the whole country sub- 
 mitted to his sway ; and he maintained his 
 government with tolerable tranquillity till 1459, 
 when the defeat which the Yorkists received 
 at Bloreheath, compelled the duke to seek 
 refuge in Ireland from his triumphant enemies. 
 
 Richard was received in this country, not as 
 a fugitive, but as its chief governor, and the 
 rightful heir to the crown of England ; and 
 while the English parliament proclaimed all 
 his adherents rebels and traitors, and writs were 
 issued to seize and bring them to justice, the 
 parliament of Ireland enacted that it should be 
 high treason to carry these writs into execution. 
 The great body of the Irish subjects, at the 
 same time, declared for the cause of the York- 
 ists, and every necessary precaution w^as adopt- 
 ed to protect the duke and his partisans from 
 the malice of their enemies.
 
 338 WARS OF THE ROSES. 
 
 The defeat of the Lancastrians at Northamp- 
 ton, hj prince Edward and the earls of War- 
 wick and Salisbury, calling duke Richard 
 once more from his retirement, the Irish ma- 
 nifested their ardour in his cause by flocking 
 in thousands to his standard. His force re- 
 ceived a powerful augmentation on his landing 
 in England, and, reaching London at the head 
 of a formidable army, the parliament again 
 declared him the king's successor. But, before 
 the close of the year, the Yorkists were des- 
 tined to experience another reverse. The in- 
 trepid queen Margaret having fled to her friends 
 in the North of England, was enabled to bring 
 twenty thousand men into the field. Richard 
 marched against her with vastly inferior forces, 
 and the two armies met at Wakefield on the 
 31st of December, M'hen a sanguinary battle 
 ensued, in which duke Richard fell, with three 
 thousand of his followers. This victory was 
 attributed chiefly to the skill and bravery of 
 the earl of Ormond, who commanded one wing 
 of the Lancastrians. But so sudden were the 
 vicissitudes of this fatal contest, that in three
 
 COMMOTIONS IN IRELAND. 339 
 
 months after the battle of Wakefield, victory 
 declared for the Yorkists at the second battle 
 of St. Alban's, the unfortunate Henry was de- 
 posed, and the crown of England placed on the 
 head of Edward IV. the eldest son of the late 
 duke of York. The brave earl of Ormond 
 was taken prisoner on this occasion and be- 
 headed. 
 
 The Anglo-Irish had repaired in such num- 
 bers to England to take part in this terrible 
 war, that in many parts of the country, the 
 English settlements were left nearly without 
 protection, and the native chieftains seized the 
 opportunity of renewing their hostile incur- 
 sions ; but no general plan of confederacy ap- 
 pears to have been formed against the English 
 power ; and the chiefs were pacified by the 
 promise of pensions for the protection of their 
 English neighbours, of which they proudly 
 boasted as an acknowledgment of their so- 
 vereignty. Great mischief was done in Lein- 
 ster and INIunster during these fatal commo- 
 tions; towns were burnt, castles destroyed, 
 and many of the peaceable inhabitants put to
 
 340 EDWARD IV. I 
 
 the sword. In the county of Cork, the lord: 
 Courcey and Arundel were driven from theii 
 great possessions by the Mac Arthys ; and a1 
 Bearhaven, every individual of the great fami 
 ly of the Barnewalls, was slain by the O'Sul- 
 livans, except the wife of the chief, who es- 
 caped to Dublin, where she was soon after de- 
 livered of a son, from whom the lords Kings- 
 land and Trimblestown are descended. Ef- 
 fects, perhaps, still more fatal, flowed from the 
 resentment engendered in the breasts of the 
 great rival lords who engaged in the contests 
 of England, which burst forth on subsequent 
 occasions with dreadful violence, and greatly 
 retarded the prosperity of the country. 
 
 In the first year of Edward IV. George 
 duke of Clarence, was nominated lord lieutenant, 
 with Sir Roland Fitz-Eustace, lord Portlester, 
 as his deputy. In 1462, the Irish parliament 
 passed a bill of attainder against several adher- 
 ents of king Henry, amongst whom were in- 
 cluded Sir John Butler, brother and heir to 
 the late earl of Ormond, and other individuals 
 of his family. Sir John took refuge in Mun-
 
 DESMOND AND ORMOND. 341 
 
 ster with a large train of followers from England, 
 and he soon raised a force amongst his depen- 
 dents in the South, with which he conceived 
 himself strong enough to support his own rights 
 and those of the dethroned king Henry. Fitz- 
 Eustace might have found it difficult to sup- 
 press these alarming hostilities, had not Tho- 
 mas Fitz-Gerald, who had just succeeded his 
 father in the earldom of Desmond, flown to 
 arms against the enemies of the house of York. 
 Having collected amongst his followers an army 
 of twenty thousand men, he marched against 
 the Butlers, without demanding any assistance 
 from the government. His first efforts were 
 attended with disaster ; his brother Gerald was 
 taken prisoner, and Sir John Butler entering 
 Leinster, got possession of Wexford. Thither 
 Desmond pursued liim, and challenged him to a 
 pitched battle, which, in the romantic spirit of 
 the times, was accepted, though the army of 
 Ormond was vastly inferior in number. After 
 a desperate encounter. Sir John Butler was 
 defeated, and driven from his conquests, while 
 Desmond following up his victory, took pos-
 
 342 DESMOND, CHIEF GOVERNOR. 
 
 session of Kilkenny, and others of his towns, 
 and inflicted on his lands the severest military 
 execution. 
 
 For this important service Desmond was re- 
 warded by Edward with the high office of 
 lord deputy, an elevation which led to his ruin. 
 Surrounded by his former associates, he dis- 
 played the same rude magnificence, as if still 
 on his own lands : his undisguised conduct 
 afforded grounds of suspicion to his ever 
 watchful enemies ; and an unfortunate expe- 
 dition of the lord deputy into Meath soon 
 furnished cause of complaint. In an en- 
 gagement with the. Irish insurgents, Des- 
 mond was totally routed and taken pri- 
 soner, with some of his principal officers. The 
 son of O'Connor of OfFaley, who on a former 
 occasion had shown so generous a concern for 
 the safety of his father, now repaid the kindness 
 with which the latter was treated by the lord 
 deputy Fitz-Eustace, and released his noble 
 captive with many of his followers. But the 
 weakness thus manifested by the government 
 encouraged the disaffected to rise in various
 
 DESMOND, CHIEF GOVERNOR. 343 
 
 quarters. Turlogh O'Brien having expelled 
 lumbers of the English settlers in Munster, 
 crossed the Shannon, and by forming a confe- 
 ieracy with the Irish chieftains of Leinster 
 threatened to overwhelm the English pale, 
 which Desmond had no means of averting but 
 by ceding to him a considerable portion of his 
 conquests, and agreeing to secure to him an 
 annual tribute from the citizens of Limerick. 
 
 The consequence and popularity of the lord 
 deputy being greatly diminished by these un- 
 fortunate expeditions, his enemies openly ac- 
 cused him of a suspicious intercourse with the 
 Irish, while the English subjects were oppressed 
 by illegal exactions. A petty feud that occurred 
 in the neighbourhood of Dublin, in which 
 nine of Desmond's followers were slain, soon 
 brought the matter to an issue. Shirwood, bi- 
 shop of Meath, an Englishman, was accused 
 by the deputy as the instigator of this quarrel ; 
 the bishop recriminated with violence, and 
 the dispute at length, arose to such a height, that 
 both parties determined to lay their complaints 
 before the throne. The bishop having re-
 
 344 DESMOND, CHIEF GOVERNOR. 
 
 paired to the court of Edward, was speedily 
 followed by Desmond, who having received the 
 most honourable testimonials of his loyalty and 
 good conduct, obtained a complete triumph over 
 his accusers ; and after his return, he con- 
 ducted his government in a manner more fa- 
 vourable to the English interests. The Irish 
 who were permitted to reside among the Eng- 
 lish subjects, were required to take their sur- 
 names, conform to their mode of dress, and 
 take the oath of allegiance to king Edward. 
 A constable was, at the same time, appointed 
 for every town ; and it was ordained that all 
 the inhabitants, from sixteen to sixty, should 
 be exercised in archery on every holiday. But 
 though the earl of Desmond appears to have 
 conducted the administration for nearly three 
 years, with credit to himself and advantage to 
 the country, this did not abate the malice of 
 those enemies, who incessantly sought his ruin. 
 The marriage of king Edward with lady Eli- 
 zabeth Grey, facilitated their designs : her 
 father was soon created earl of Rivers, and lord 
 high constable of England, Tiptoft, earl of
 
 DESMOND, CHIEF GOVERNOR. 345 
 
 Worcester, having resigned that high office in 
 his favour, and for which he received, in ex- 
 change, the lord deputyship of Ireland, from 
 which Desmond was now removed. The Irish 
 annalists state, that these changes were effected 
 through the intrigues of the new queen, who 
 had imbihed a violent hatred of Desmond from 
 the following cause. King Edward, soon after 
 his marriage, having a dispute with the queen, 
 exclaimed, that if he had taken his cousin Des- 
 mond's advice, her pride would have been more 
 humbled. After their reconciliation, the king 
 is said to have explained the matter more fully 
 to her, bj which her resentment was so highly 
 provoked, that she gave secret instructions to 
 the new deputy, to examine strictly into the 
 conduct of his predecessor, and execute upon 
 him the utmost rigour of the law. 
 
 The earl of Worcester entered on his office 
 in October 1467, and immediately convened a 
 parliament in Dublin, in which the abolition of 
 Black-Rent was enacted, evidently for the pur- 
 pose of disparaging the conduct of Desmond 
 in the treaties he had made with the Irish.
 
 346 DISGRACE AND EXECUTION OF 
 
 Another act was passed declaratory of the grant 
 which Pope Adrian had made, in right of the 
 church, of the kingdom of Ireland to the king 
 of England and his heirs for ever ; and calling 
 on all bishops to excommunicate disobedient sub- 
 jects, under the penalty of one hundred pounds, 
 to be forfeited by every prelate refusing obe- 
 dience to this ordinance. Many of the parti- 
 sans of Desmond were prosecuted by this par- 
 liament, which adjourned soon after to Drogh- 
 eda, where the enemies of the Geraldines gave 
 full scope to their resentment. Thomas, earl 
 of Desmond, Thomas, earl of Kildare, and 
 Edward Plunket, esq. were attainted of trea- 
 son, for alliance and fostering with the king's 
 Irish enemies, and supporting them against the 
 king's subjects, and their lands and goods were t 
 forfeited. 
 
 The unhappy Desmond, either conscious of 
 his innocence, or relying on his great power 
 and influence, instantly repaired to the chief 
 governor to justify his conduct; but to the as- 
 tonishment and terror of all his friends, he was 
 brought to the scaflfold and beheaded on the
 
 TUOMAS EARL OF DESMOND. 347 
 
 15th of February, 1468. The earl of Kildare 
 was imprisoned ; but he effected liis escape, 
 and repairing to the court of Edward, he 
 boldly complained of the injuries which his 
 family had suffered, and urged the great ser- 
 vices which they had rendered to the crown. 
 His representations were favourably heard, and 
 he was not only pardoned, but, his attainder 
 being reversed by the very same parliament 
 that had passed it, he was restored to his 
 estate and dignity ; and, to complete his tri- 
 umph, was constituted lord deputy in the room 
 of the earl of Worcester, who, soon after his 
 return to England, suffered the same punishment 
 as that which he had inflicted on the earl of 
 Desmond. The attainder of this last ill-fated 
 lord was also reversed, and James, his eldest 
 son, now only in his ninth year, restored to all 
 the possessions and dignities of his family. 
 
 The short-lived revolution which once more 
 placed Henry VI. on the throne of England, 
 was soon followed by his deposition and death. 
 But these changes produced no alteration in 
 the Irish administration, which Kildare con-
 
 348 JOHN EARL OF ORMOND. 
 
 ducted for six years with considerable vigour 
 and success. For the protection of the Eng- 
 lish pale, comprising the counties of Dublin, 
 Kildare, Meath, and Louth, he established a 
 body of one hundred and sixty archers, and 
 sixty-four spearmen, which was styled the 
 Fraternity of St. George. Their officers con- 
 sisted of the principal nobility and gentry of 
 these counties, w ho had particular authority to 
 apprehend all rebels and others who refused 
 due obedience to the law. But his undeviat- 
 ing attachment to the house of York, and his 
 zealous services did not secure to Kildare the 
 permanent possession of the royal favour. 
 
 Since the execution of James earl of Or- 
 mond, and the defeat of his next brother and 
 heir, Sir John Butler, by Desmond, that family 
 had remained in disgrace and privacy ; but 
 they carefully watched the movements of their 
 rivals, the Geraldines ; and Sir John having 
 found means to reconcile himself to king Ed- 
 ward, not only obtained his pardon, but 
 was invited to attend him into France. His 
 polished manners and graceful de})ortment soon
 
 THE BUTLERS AND GERALDINES. 349 
 
 rendered him a peculiar favourite with a prince 
 distinguished for similar qualities; and Edward 
 is said to have declared of him upon one occa- 
 casion, " He is the goodliest knight and finest 
 gentleman in Christendom; and if good breed- 
 ing, nurture, and liberal qualities were lost in 
 the world, they might be found in John earl of 
 Ormond." The favour thus shown to their 
 chief could not fail to give spirit to the Butlers, 
 who now exerted themselves with such success 
 to procure the humiliation of the Geraldines, 
 that in 1475, Kildare was removed from the 
 government, and Shirwood, bishop of Meath, 
 the old enemy of liis house, appointed to suc- 
 ceed him. A parliament was immediately con- 
 vened by this prelate, which repealed the bill 
 of attainder passed against the earl of Ormond, 
 and restored the Butlers to all their former pos- 
 sessions and dignities. The ancient ijuarrelsof the 
 two great rival families instantly burst forth with 
 a violence augmented by the recent injuries 
 which they had inflicted on each other, and 
 which threatened to involve the whole island in 
 civil war. The king at length became alarmed
 
 350 GERALD EARL OF KILDARE. 
 
 by the feuds of these great rival lords, and 
 issued the royal mandate to the archbishop of 
 Armagh to mediate between them; but this 
 was rendered unnecessary by the death of 
 Kildare in 1478 ; and about the same time 
 John earl of Ormond made a pilgrimage 
 o the Holy Land, where he ended his days 
 soon after ; and was succeeded in his titles and 
 vast possessions by his brother Thomas, who 
 was grandfather of the celebrated Anna Bul- 
 len, and consequently, great-grandfather of 
 queen Elizabeth. 
 
 Gerald, the young earl of Kildare, soon 
 evincing the spirit of his family, suceeded in 
 obtaining the dismissal of the lord deputy 
 Shirwood, and procuring himself to be appoint- 
 ed in his room. The king, however, quickly 
 repented of this nomination, and sent over 
 Henry lord Grey, as deputy to the duke of 
 Clarence. But Kildare, pretending some in- 
 formalities in the letters of appointment, refus- 
 ed to resign his office ; lord Portlester, the 
 chancellor, withdrew with the great seal; 
 and Keating, the constable of the castle of
 
 RITAL PARLIAMENTS. 351 
 
 Dublin, fortified it against the new deputy. 
 The contentions of these rival governors noV 
 threatened to throw the country into terrible 
 confusion. Kildare continued his state, and 
 convened a parliament; while lord Grey sum- 
 moned a similar assembly, and annulled all the 
 acts passed in that of his opponent. During 
 this contest the office of lord lieutenant be- 
 came vacant by the death of the duke of Cla- 
 rence ; but king Edward immediately confer- 
 red it on his infant son George, continuing 
 Grey in the post of lord deputy. The Irish 
 council, however, chose Kildare to fill the 
 office, insisting that the right of election was 
 vested in them by a statute of Henry II. 
 
 The country was now involved in such 
 anarchy and confusion, that king Edward 
 became alarmed, and summoned the earl 
 of Kildare, the archbishop of Dublin, and 
 some other distinguished individuals to at- 
 tend his court in London, and acquaint him 
 with the causes of these disorders. Preston, 
 lord Gormanston, was appointed, at the same 
 time successor, to Grey, who was also com-
 
 352 GERALD EARL OF KILDARE. 
 
 manded to repair to England. In the end the 
 representations of Kildare proved so satisfac- 
 tory, that he was reinstated in his office with 
 a standing force, consisting of one hundred 
 and fifty horsemen, whose deficiencies were to 
 be supplied from England, if the Irish revenue 
 should prove unequal to their maintenance. 
 How low must have been the finances of the 
 country at that day, when its ability was 
 doubted to pay a small troop, whose annual 
 expense did not exceed five hundred pounds ! 
 
 Kildare continued to govern Ireland with 
 great wisdom and vigour through the remaining 
 years of the re-ign of Edward IV. and the usur- 
 pation of Richard III. He speedily allayed 
 the animosities which his contentions with 
 lord Grey had excited, and ratified such acts 
 of either of the rival parliaments as seemed 
 conducive to the interests of the crown or the 
 welfare of the people. By giving his sister in 
 marriage to Con O'Neill, the chieftain of Ty- 
 rone, he greatly increased his influence with 
 the native Irish, and he was particularly sedu- 
 lous in guarding the English counties against
 
 GERALD EARL OF KILDARE. 353 
 
 the depredations and encroachments of the dis- 
 aifected Irish septs, M'ho were now so gene- 
 rally weakened, that their attention was chief- 
 ly confined to their own local interests. 
 
 Here I close my First Series of True Stories 
 from the History of Ireland. It includes a detail 
 of the most memorable events which have oc- 
 curred in the country under its native princes, 
 and during the first three hundred years after 
 its occupation by the English ; a period of Bri- 
 tish frenzy or weakness, occasioned by almost 
 continual foreign and intestine wars. With the 
 sixteenth century commenced a new epoch in 
 the history of the Anglo-Irish, when the 
 union of the Red and White Roses in the 
 House of Tudor, gave a degree of consolidation 
 to the English government, which might soon 
 have annihilated opposition in this country, 
 had not the important changes in the religion 
 of the state fed with new fuel the flames of 
 contention. On the momentous transactions 
 of the two following centuries, I shall, proba- 
 bly, hereafter address you. 
 
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