CHAPTER XXXIII. JOHN. Condition of Ireland during the reign of king John.-The dissensions among the natives fomented by the great English Lords.-Contention between Cathal and Carrach for the principality of Connaught.-Each abetted by English auxiliaries.-Two thirds of that province surrendered by Cathal to king John.-Rivalry between John de Courcy and Hugh de Lacy.-De Courcy sent prisoner to England.-The earldom of Ulster transferred, on his death, to De Lacy.-Murder of De Courcy's natural son by one of the De Lacys.-Expedition of king John to Ireland.-Submission of many of the Irish chiefs.-Effect of his presence upon the English barons.-Panic and flight of William de Braosa and the two De Lacys.-Outrage committed by the septs of Wicklow.-Introduction by John of Eng. lish laws and usages into Ireland.—His return to England.-Administration of De Grey.Peace in Ireland. THE reign of king John, which, in the hands of the English historian, presents so proud and stirring an example of successful resistance to wrong, exhibits in our Irish records, but a melancholy picture of slavery and suffering. Some brief struggles were, indeed, attempted, in the course of this reign, by the natives; but, while fondly persuading themselves that, in these efforts, they fought in their own cause, they were, really, but instruments in the hands of some rival English lords, who, by exciting and assisting the native chieftains against each other, divided and weakened the national strength, and thereby advanced their own violent and rapacious views. Thus, when, on the death of the monarch Roderic, his two sons broke out into A. D. fierce contention for the right of succession, William de Burgh, a baron of the 1198. family of Fitz-Adelm, espoused the cause of the brother named Carrach, while John de Courcy and Walter de Lacy were seen to range themselves on the side of Cathal of the Bloody Hand;* and a signal victory gained over the latter and his English auxiliaries, at Kilmacdaugh, appeared, for a time, to have finally decided the contest. As the alliance, however, of William de Burgh had been chiefly the means of ensuring Carrach's success, there was yet a chance that this powerful lord might be brought to desert the chief's cause, and that thus the fortunes of the discomfited Cathal A. D. might again be retrieved. Speculating, justly, as it appears, on the selfish views 1200. of De Burgh, this prince held forth to him such prospects of gain and advantage, as succeeded in winning him over from the banner of his rival.† With the aid of so disreputable an alliance, Cathal again took the field against his brother, and, after a sanguinary action, in the course of which Carrach was slain, regained his principality.‡ Down to this period, the province of Connaught, the hereditary kingdom of the last Irish monarch, had, however, torn by civil dissension, continued to preserve its territorial integrity, as guaranteed by the solemn treaty between Henry and king Roderic. But at the crisis we have now reached, this inviolability of the realm of the O'Connors was set aside, and through the act of its own reigning prince. Whether from weariness of the constant dissensions he had been involved in, or, perhaps, hoping that by the cession of a part of his territories he might secure a more valid title to the remainder, Cathal, of his own free will, agreed to surrender to king John two parts of Connaught, and to hold the third from him in vassalage, paying annually for it the sum of 100 marks. The letter of king John, wherein the terms of this compact are stated and agreed to, is addressed to Meyler Fitz-Henry, who, was, at this time, justiciary or lord justice 1205. of Ireland and whose name is associated with the earliest adventures of the AngloNormans in this island. See chap. xxxii. of this Work, pp. 299. 300. † Ware's Annals, ad. an. 1200. Annal. Inisfall. The Book of Clonmacnoise, at the years 1201-2, commemorates a number of achievements performed by Cathal, in conjunction with William de Burgh. Close Roll, 6 John. This letter is given by Leland at full length, p. 175. The mischief of the policy pursued by Henry II., in deputing to an upstart and suddenly enriched aristocracy (the most odious, perhaps, of all forms of political power) the administration of Irish possessions, was in a few instances more strikingly exemplified than in the rivalry, which now had reached its most disturbing height, between John de Courcy and the rich and powerful baron, Hugh de Lacy, son of the first lord of Meath. Following the example of De Courcy himself, this baron had assumed for some time, a state of princely independence, entering into treaties with his brother lords and the native chiefs, and aiding the latter in their local and provincial feuds. On the accession, however, of John to the English throne, the daring openness with which De Courcy spoke of that event, as well as of the dark and guilty deed by which it was followed, drew down upon him the king's heaviest wrath; and to his rival, Hugh de Lacy, now made lord justice, was committed the not unwelcome task of seizing the rebellious baron, and sending him prisoner to England. What was ultimately the fate of this hardy warrior we have no trust-worthy means of ascertaining.* The stories toldt of his subsequent adventures in England, his acceptance of the challenge of the champion of France, and his display of prowess in the presence of the two kings, are all not only fabulous in themselves, but wholly at variance with known historical events. That he did not succeed, as some have alleged, in regaining his place in the royal favour, may be taken for granted from the fact that, though he left a son to inherit his possessions, both the title and property of the earldom of Ulster were, on his decease, transferred to his rival, Hugh de Lacy. Nor did the hatred he had awakened in this family die with A. D. himself, but extended also to his race; as we find that, not many years after, a 1205. natural son of his, who bore the title of lord of Ratheny and Kilbarrock, was assassinated in cold blood, by one of the De Lacys.§ A. D. In the year 1210, king John, with the view, chiefly, as it would seem, of diverting the minds of his people from the depressing effects of the papal interdict which now hung like a benumbing spell over his kingdom, undertook a military expedition against Scotland; and, having succeeded in that quarter, led, soon after, a numerous army 1210. into Ireland. Between the exactions and cruelties of the English on one side, and the constant revolts and fierce reprisals of the maddened natives on the other, a sufficient case for armed intervention was doubtless then, as it has been at almost all periods since, but too easily found. The very display, however, of so large a force was, of itself, sufficient to produce a temporary calm. No less than twenty, we are told, of the Irish princes, or chiefs, came to pay homage to the monarch, among whom were O'Neill of Tyrone, and the warlike Cathal, prince of Connaught; the latter offering, for the first time, his homage as a vassal of the English crown. After remaining but two days in Dublin,** the king proceeded to Carrickfurgus, the ancient castle of which town he took possession of, and fixed his abode there for ten days.tt While thus auspicious appears to have been the effect of the presence of royalty upon the natives, it produced, in a different way, no less salutary consequences, by the check it gave to the career of some of those rapacious barons, compared to whose multiform misrule the tyranny of one would have been hailed as a blessing. Among these, one of the most impracticable had been William de Breuse, or Braosa, to whom the king soon after his accession, had made a grant of estates in the south of Ireland. Struck with panic at the consciousness of his own misdeeds, this lord took flight precipitately from the kingdom, leaving his wife and daughter at the mercy of the monarch, who, when at Carrickfurgus,‡‡ had them both taken into custody, and brought them over with him, on his return into England. At Bristol, he yielded so far to the lady's entreaties, as to allow an interview According to the Annals of Inisfallen, he was slain by the De Lacys, Hanmar, whom Lodge follows, makes him die in France. † By Holinshed, Campion, and others. t Pat. Roll. 6 John. Annal. Hibern. apud Camden. To defray the expenses of this expedition, he had seized and plundered the wretched Jews, all over England; and the memorable torture inflicted upon a Jew at Bristol, by striking out, every day, one of his cheek. teeth, was for the purpose of forcing him to pay down 10,000 marks towards the cost of the Irish expedition. The religious house of Margam, in Wales, was specially exempted from the general exaction levied on this occasion, in consequence of the hospitality extended by its inmates to Henry and his army, both on their way to Ireland, and on their return.-Annal. de Margam. Walsingham represents Cathal as having been, at this time, conquered and reduced by John. "In suam ditionem redegat totam terram Cutalo rege Conacciæ triumphato,"-Ypodig Neustriæ. But the Annals of Inisfallen, with more correctness, state it to have been an act of willing homage. "Cathal Crob Dearg, king of Connaught, came with a great retinue to pay his court to king John." See, for John taking Cathal under his protection, Rymer, tom. i. p. 136. ** Itinerary of king John. + Ibid. tt Rex Johannes transfretavit in Hiberniam et cepit ibi castrum Krakefergus.—Chronic. Thoma. Wikes. See also Itinerary. between her and her husband ;* but she is said to have been afterwards, by his order, imprisoned in Windsor Castle, and, together with her son, inhumanly starved to death. The two De Lacys, alarmed at the arrival of the king in Ireland, took flight into France, and there found employment, as garden labourers, in the abbey of St. Taurin. In this retreat they had remained concealed for two or three years, when the abbot, induced, by some circumstances, to suspect their real rank, drew forth from themselves the particulars of their story; and then by appealing, in their behalf, to the clemency of John, succeeded in prevailing upon him to receive them again into favour. On condition of Walter paying 2500 marks for Meath, and Hugh, on his part, paying 4000 marks for the earldom of Ulster, the two brothers were both reinstated in their possessions. In grateful acknowledgment of the service rendered him by the abbot of St. Taurin, Walter de Lacy, in returning to Ireland, brought with him the abbot's nephew, and, after making him a knight, bestowed upon him the seignory, of Dingle. A. D. By a writ to his barons and justices, in the ninth year of his reign, John had ordered that measures should be taken for the expulsion from the king's lands of all robbers and plunderers, and all such persons as harboured them; and an instance of outrage, said to have occurred about the same time, will show how daring was the spirit of lawlessness then abroad, even in the neighbourhood of the chief seat of English power. 1209. The population of the city of Dublin, at this time, appears to have consisted, for the most part, of colonists from Bristol, who, induced by the grant which Henry II. had so unceremoniously made of Dublin to the Bristolians, established themselves there in great numbers. These citizens having, on the Monday of Easter week, flocked out from the town, for air and recreation, towards a place still called Cullen's Wood, were there attacked by some lawless septs, inhabiting the mountains in the neighbourhood of Wicklow, and no less than 300 of the assemblage, exclusive of women and children, inhumanly butchered. In commemoration of this massacre, it continued long after to be the custom of the citizens of Dublin to hold a feast every year, on Easter Monday, upon the spot where the memorable outrage had been committed. There, pitching their numerous tents, the citizens passed the day in sports and recreation; and, among other modes of celebrating the occasion, used to challenge, from time to time, the "mountain enemy" to come forth and attack them, if he dared. ¶ To introduce into the new territories of which they possessed themselves the laws and usages of the country they had left, would be naturally a favourite object of the first settlers in Ireland; and in this civilizing process Henry. II., though so limited in time for his task, made very considerable progress. Thus, for instance, the duties, conditions, and services by which, under the feudal system, property was held in.England, continued to be the grounds of tenure in all the grants made by him in locating his new.colony. The esta blishment, also, of courts baron, by the respective lords to whom he had granted lands, implies, manifestly, the adoption among them of the common law of England; and it appears, from a record of the reign of Edward III., that Hugh de Lacy, from the time of the grant to him of the territory of Meath by Henry II., held and enjoyed all jurisdictions and cognizance of all pleas within that district.** In the incorporation charter which John, as lord of Ireland, granted to the city of Dublin, in the year 1192, we find the principle of burgage tenure established, the messuages, plantations, and buildings, within the metes of the city, having been granted to the burgesses, "to be held by them ip free burgage, and by the service of landgable which they render within the walls." When John, for the second time, now landed upon, the Irish shore, not finding any anemy to encounter his mighty force, he was left the more leisure to attend to the civil condition of the realm; and not only did he give to the laws and institutions which he found there already established a more extended scope and exercise, but he had, also, the werit of introducing others of no less import to the future well being of the settlement.‡‡ * Letter of king John. See Description of the Patent Rolls, &c., by Thomas D. Hardy, F. S. A. Our histories in general represent De Braosa as being at this time in France. Pat. Roll 17 John. ↑ Annal Hibern. apud Camden. Hanmer. Pat. Roll, 9 John. In process of time the singing boys of the cathedral were deputed to offer this defiance (Stuart, Hist. Memoirs of Armagh, ch. viii. ;) and the choirs, says Leland, are annually regaled at this place, called the Wood of Cullen, to the present day. ** Chancery Roll, Dublin, cited by Lynch, View of Legal Institutions, p. 6. tt Gale, Inquiry into the Ancient Corporate System of Ireland, Appendix, iv. "Nor should it be concealed that, from the beginning of his reign, this inconsistent prince (John) had shown a singular readiness to convert demesne towns into corporate boroughs;-a measure inimical to all despotism."-Roger Wendover. 11 Mathew Paris,-Henry de Knyghton,-Walter de Hemingford, &c. "Statuitque ibidem (says Henry de Knyghton) legem Anglicanam, et ut omnia eorum judicia, secundum eandem, vel Anglicanam consuetudinem, terminarentur." Some writers, it is true, have asserted that on this monarch's accession to the throne, he found the laws of England already in full operation throughout his Irish dominions. But there seems little doubt that to him is to be attributed, besides other useful measures, the division of such parts of the kingdom as were in his possession into shires, or counties,* with their respective sheriffs and other officers, after the manner of England; and that the first sterling money circulated in Ireland was coined under his direction.t We need look, indeed, for no stronger evidence of the important share which this prince, in other respects so odious, took in the great task of transplanting his country's laws and institutions into Ireland, than is found in a record of the reign of his successor, Henry III., wherein it is set forth that "John brought with him into Ireland discreet men, skilled in the laws, by whose advice he commanded the laws of England to be observed in Ireland, and left the said laws reduced in writing, under his seal, in the Exchequer of Dublin." Having provided thus for the better administration of that kingdom's affairs, and in so far redeemed the disgrace of his former experiment, the king set sail for England, leaving to John de Grey, bishop of Norwich, whom he had appointed lord justice, the task of carrying all these measures into effect; and such was the tranquillizing influence, both of his policy and of the skill and vigour with which he administered it, that, when the French king, shortly after, threatened an invasion of England, the lord justice was enabled to spare from the force under his command a company of knights and 300 infantry, to aid the cause of his royal master.¡ Throughout the remainder of this monarch's reign, which passed in a series of struggles, as dishonouring as they were disastrous, first with the pope, and then with his own turbulent_barons, there appears to have been no effort made by his subjects in Ireland, whether English or native, to turn the embarrassments of his position to account for the advancement of their own several interests and views. On the contrary, in defiance of all ordinary speculation, and a similar anomaly presents itself at more than one crisis of our history, while England was affording an example of rebellion and riot, which mere neighbourhood, it might be supposed, would have rendered infectious, the sister country mean while looked quietly on, and remained in unbroken peace. There are extant, indeed, letters of John, written at the time when the English barons were in arms against his authority, returning thanks to the barons of Ireland for their fidelity and service to him, and asking their advice respecting some arduous affairs in which he was then engaged.|| It appears, also, from an order addressed at this time to the archbishop of Dublin, that seasonable presents to the native princes and chiefs were among the means adopted for keeping them in good humour; that prelate having been commissioned to purchase, forthwith, a sufficient quantity of scarlet cloth, to be made into robes for the Irish kings, and others of the native grandees. T A. D. As in the contentions between John and his barons the people of Ireland had taken no part, so neither in the Charter of Liberties wrung from him by those turbulent nobles did his Irish subjects enjoy any immediate communion or share. There were notwithstanding, present, on the side of the king, at Runnymede, two eminent personages, Henri de Londres,** and William, earl marshal,†† who might both, from their 1215. respective stations, be naturally looked to as representatives of Irish interests; De Londres being archbishop of Dublin, and at this time justiciary of Ireland, while the lord marshal was a baron of immense hereditary possessions in that country. By neither, however, of these great lords, does any claim appear to have been advanced in behalf Of the counties of Ireland, says Ware, "twelve were erected in Leinster and Munster, by king John: viz. Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Uriel (or Louth,) Catherlough (or Carlow.) Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Kerry, and Tipperary." † Some of the coins of John were struck before his accession to the throne. Those which he caused to be struck at this time (1210) consisted of pennies, half-pence, and farthings, of the same standard as the English which gives twenty-two and a half grains to the penny.-Lindsay's View of the Coinage of Ireland. 1 See this writ in Cox, p. 51. § Cox. Several of such writs from the crown, during this reign, asking "consilium et auxilium" of the nobles of Ireland, may be found among the records in the Tower. Rymer tom. i.-Presents of cloth were sometimes made to the chiefs in acknowledgment of their au thority; and so late as the middle of the fifteenth century, we find John May, on being appointed archbishop of Armagh presenting to O'Neil of Ulster, six yards of good cloth for his (O'Neil's) investiture, and three yards of like cloth for his wifes tunic.-(Regist. Armach. ** It is told of this prelate, that, having called together his tenants, for the purpose of learning, as he alleged, by what title they held their lands, he thus got possession of all their leases, and other evidences of their property, and then consigned the whole to the flames; for which act, it is added, he was nicknamed "Scorch villain," or "Burn bill" (as Holinshed explains it,) by the natives.-See this idle story, with all its redundant particulars, in Hanmer's Chronicle. tt The founder of Tintern abbey, in the county of Wexford. This lord, being in great danger at sea, made a vow to found an abbey on whatever spot he should reach in safety. His bark found shelter in Bannow bay, and he religiously performed his vow, filling the abbey which he there founded with Cistercian monks, brought from Tintern, in' Monmothshire.-Archdall, Monast. Hibern. of the king's Irish subjects, nor any effort made to include them specifically in the grants and privileges accorded by the charter. The same respite, however, from civil strife, continued through the remainder of John's inglorious reign; and the chief merit of this unusual calm may doubtless be attributed to the talent and judgment of Henri de Londres and Geoffrey de Marisco, to whom, successively, and, for a time, jointly, during this interval, was entrusted the task of administering the affairs of the realm. CHAPTER XXXIV. HENRY III. Accession of Henry III.-Grant of the great charter to his English subjects in Ireland.— Exclusion of the natives from all share of English laws and liberties.-Individual exceptions.-Hostilities between Hugh de Lacy and the Earl of Pembroke.-Surrender of their principalities by the Irish chiefs-agree to hold them in future as tenants of the crown.Breach of faith on the part of the King towards Cathal.-Visit of Feidlim, Prince of Connaught, to the English King.-Rebellion and death of Richard, Earl Marshall.-Irish forces employed by the King in his warfare against Wales.-Admission of a few natives to the participation of English law. Threatened invasion of the King's dominions in Gascony, and pressing requests for aid from Ireland.-Grant by Henry of the Lordship of Ireland to his son, Prince Edward.-Important reservations in that grant.-Probability that Prince Edward visited Ireland.-Renewal of hostilities with Wales.-General rising of the Mac Carthys of Desmond.—A number of Geraldine Lords and Knights put to death by them.Fall out among themselves and are crushed. Dissensions also between the De Burghs and the Geraldines.-A parliament, or council, held at Kilkenny, and peace restored between these two families.-Adininistration of Sir Robert de Ufford. THE new monarch being but ten years old when he ascended the throne, it became necessary to appoint a guardian both of the king and of the realm; and the earl A. D. of Pembroke, who, as marshal of England, was already at the head of the armies, 1216. and who, though faithful to the fortunes of John, had yet retained the respect of the people, was, by a general council of his brother barons, appointed protector of the realm. To this nobleman, in addition to his immense possessions in England and Wales, had devolved, by his marriage with Isabella, daughter and heiress of earl Strongbow, the lordship, or rather royal palatinate, of Leinster. Having, personally, therefore, so deep an interest in the prosperity of the English settlement, it could little be doubted that affairs connected with that country's welfare would under his government, become objects of special attention. Accordingly one of the first measures of the new reign was to transmit to Ireland a duplicate of the instrument by which, in a grand council held at Bristol, Henry had renewed and ratified the great Charter of Liberty granted by his father. Neither had the English settlers themselves been so little alive to the favourable prospect, which a reign, opening under the auspices of the lord of Leinster, presented, as not to avail themselves of the first opportunity of making an appeal to the consideration of the throne. Shortly after the king's accession, they had laid before him, through the medium of one of his chaplains, Ralph of Norwich, a statement of the grievances under which they laboured; and it was in about seven weeks after that the duplicate of the renowned English charter was transmitted to them,* "sealed," says the letter of Henry, which accompanied it, "with the seals of our lord Gualo, legate of the apostolical see, and of our trusty earl, William Marshall, our governor, and the governor of our kingdom,-because as yet we possess no seal."+ There prevailed a notion, it is evident, through the few first reigns of the Anglo-Irish period, that the kingdom of Ireland ought to have for its rulers some member of the reign *Pat. Roll, Henry III. ↑ Qaui sigillum nondum habuimus. |