Ireland under the Tudors Part 12

The rival house of Ormonde was at this time depressed by the loss of its head without male issue. Early in 1515 died Thomas, the seventh Earl, the only Irish peer whom Henry VII. or Henry VIII. called to the English House of Lords, who was reputed the richest subject of the Crown, and is said to have left the enormous sum of 40,000_l._ in money, besides jewels. He had two daughters, who inherited his personal property and seventy-two manors in England. Ann, the eldest, was married to Sir James St. Leger, Margaret, the younger, to Sir William Boleyn, by whom she had Sir Thomas, who became grandfather to Queen Elizabeth. Sir Piers Butler, a descendant of the third Earl, was heir male to the t.i.tle and to the settled Irish estates, which at once became matters of dispute between him and the ladies St. Leger and Boleyn. With the full approval of the Irish Butlers, Sir Piers at once a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of Earl. He had married Lady Margaret Fitzgerald, sister of the new Lord Deputy Kildare, a woman of lofty character and stature, to whom Irish tradition, with an endearing irony, has given the name of Magheen or Little Margaret. In compliance with letters from the King, Sir Piers was ordered to appear before his brother-in-law and the Irish Council; but he sent his wife instead, to urge that he was busy fighting. The lady, who must have had a delicate task between her husband and her brother, procured an adjournment, and it was stipulated that no rents should be paid in the meantime. The late Earl's daughters appeared by counsel in due course, and it is evident that Henry leaned strongly to their side. They offered evidence of t.i.tle, but Sir Piers staid away and left all to his wife and his lawyers. The latter contented themselves with practically demurring to the jurisdiction, and prayed to have the case tried at common law; which would probably have secured a decision for their client. The Lord Deputy referred all back to the King, and the tenants continued to pay no rent. Kildare wished to command Sir Piers on his allegiance to appear before the King in England on a certain day; but he was overruled by the Council, who believed that this would drive Butler into rebellion; and as its acknowledged chief, he could command all the forces of his family. He chanced, moreover, to be at peace with the reigning Desmond, and he had strengthened himself by alliances among the Irish. These considerations prevailed with the King or with Wolsey, and the case remained in abeyance; but it had gone far enough to cause an irreparable breach between Kildare and the rival chief.[79]

[Sidenote: Kildare visits England in 1515. His restless policy.]

Meanwhile, the Lord Deputy trod in his father's footsteps. He made successful raids on the O'Mores and O'Reillys, and for slaying many of the latter had a grant of the customs of Strangford and other places in Down. A visit to England in 1515 resulted in permission to hold a Parliament in the following year, but it produced no legislation of importance. He took and dismantled Leap Castle, the stronghold of the O'Carrolls, which his father had failed to gain, and he surprised Clonmel by a sudden march, though we know not what offence that town had given him. When he was busy in the north, where he destroyed O'Neill's castle at Dungannon and stormed Dundrum, which was defended by Magennis, the O'Carrolls rose again and invaded Meath. Again Kildare visited Ely and destroyed another castle. The history of two viceroyalties may indeed be told in a single sentence. Every year or two the Earl of Kildare harried some Irish country, and then reported such and such execution done upon the King's enemies. There was no attempt to keep the peace among the natives, the highest policy being the setting of one chief against another. The O'Neills and O'Donnells continued their everlasting feuds, and nearly every tribe was constantly at war. Occasionally they made foreign alliances, as in the case of O'Donnell, who was a travelled man.

A French knight coming on a visit to St. Patrick's Purgatory was hospitably received by the chief, and offered to recover Sligo from the O'Connors. The offer was accepted, and in due course an armed vessel appeared in Killybegs Harbour. Sligo was battered from the sea, the O'Donnells co-operating by land, and the castle surrendered. We hear no more of the mysterious Frenchman.[80] Ware says that Ireland was peaceable during the year 1518, but the Irish annalists tell a very different story.[81]

[Sidenote: Miserable state of the country.]

The chiefs of English race were almost as restless as the Celts whom they affected to despise, and the state of the Pale was as bad as bad could be. John Kite, a Londoner, who had been promoted to the throne of Armagh by Wolsey's influence, informed his patron that he tried to comfort the people by promising that the King would soon come to reform the land. He insisted very reasonably that the King was as much bound to maintain order and justice in Ireland as in England herself. The sea was no safer than the land, and the s.h.i.+p which brought the Archbishop from Chester had been attacked by two pirates; but the men of Drogheda--no thanks to the Government--had captured the rovers. Even the Countess Dowager of Kildare, who was the daughter of an English knight, complained that her stepson allowed O'Neill to levy tribute on her lands, and that her property and that of her dependents was laid waste. Portions that had escaped the Irish were seized by the Earl's own steward. Kildare had many other accusers, and was at length summoned over to give an account. He was allowed to appoint a Deputy, and nominated his cousin, Maurice Fitzgerald of Lackagh, who was soon afterwards killed by the O'Mores. But the cry of the land had been heard at last, and Henry resolved to send over a governor whom he could trust. The lot fell upon Thomas, Earl of Surrey, the son and companion in arms of the victor of Flodden, whose influence at Court probably made his absence desirable to Wolsey.[82]

[Sidenote: Thomas Earl of Surrey, Lord-Lieutenant, 1520. Anarchy.]

The first thirty pages of the printed State Papers are taken up with a report to the King on the state of Ireland, founded on an earlier doc.u.ment, but corrected and brought down nearly to the date of Surrey's appointment. It discloses a state of things calculated to try the ablest governor. In Ulster and Connaught, in the counties of Waterford, Cork, Kilkenny, Limerick, Kerry, Carlow, Westmeath, and Wicklow, and in parts of Kildare and Wexford, there was neither magistrate nor sheriff.

Districts wholly or partially peopled by men of English race were under black-rent to the native chiefs. This odious tax was paid by the Savages of Lecale in Down to the O'Neills of Clandeboye. The great chief of Tyrone levied his dues in Louth. Meath and Kildare were tributary to O'Connor Faly, Wexford to the Kavanaghs, Kilkenny and Tipperary to O'Carroll, Limerick to the O'Briens, and Cork to the MacCarthies.

MacMurrough Kavanagh, who in the eyes of the natives represented the ancient royalty of Leinster, actually received eighty marks out of an almost empty exchequer. The sum of the several black-rents amounted to 740_l._, and this was at a time when a soldier received fourpence a day.

Dublin was in constant danger, and one of Henry's first acts was to grant 20_l._, a year to the citizens for repairing their walls, which had crumbled through decrease of population, pestilence, and Irish violence.

A line drawn from Dundalk to Kells, from Kells to Kilcullen Bridge, and thence by Ballymore Eustace, and Tallaght to Dalkey, enclosed the whole actual Pale, upon which fell all the expenses of an establishment intended to meet the wants of all Ireland. The King's taxes had to be paid, coyne and livery were extorted, horses and carriages were requisitioned for the public service; and with all this the Government could give no protection, no judge went circuit, and black-rent was perforce paid in addition. 'The King's army in England,' said Henry's informant, 'is the commons, the King's army in Ireland is such as oppress the commons.' The n.o.bility and gentry copied the Government, and it was more than suspected that they dreaded any reform which would force them to obey the law; 'for there is no land in all this world that has more liberty in vices than Ireland, and less liberty in virtue.' The Church showed no better example than the lay magnates; 'for there is no archbishop nor bishop, abbot nor prior, parson nor vicar, nor any other person of the Church, high or low, great or small, that useth to preach the Word of G.o.d, saving the poor friars' beggars.' Some Irish chiefs kept better order than the Government; 'but not to the intent that his subjects should escape harmless, but to the intent to devour them by himself, like as a greedy hound delivereth the sheep from the wolf.'

[Sidenote: Remedies suggested.]

Ireland has never lacked physicians, though she has often been nothing bettered by them. The most obvious means to strengthen the English power was to make the men of the Pale keep arms and practice their use; and this had been the constant cry of governors and legislators for many generations. Henry had directed Kildare to get an Act pa.s.sed obliging every merchant trading from England to Ireland to bring a pound's worth of bows and arrows for every 20_l._ of wares, so as to prevent the King's subjects from applying themselves to Irish archery. Patrick Finglas, Baron of the Exchequer, was less sanguine than the writer of the State Paper which has been so largely quoted. That reformer ventured to prophesy that if his advice were taken the war of Ireland would cease for ever, the King would recover Constantinople and die Emperor of Rome, and Ireland once reduced to order would be 'none other than a very paradise, delicious of all pleasance.' But Finglas admitted that reform must necessarily be gradual, and advised the King to confine himself at first to the reclamation of Leinster. He recommended that the chief abbeys and castles should be entrusted to Englishmen, from Bray Head round the coast to Dunbrody on the Suir, and inland from Baltingla.s.s and Carlow along the Barrow to Ross. The Wicklow Highlanders would be thus bridled and unable to attack Kildare. Athy and other places were to be held against the O'Connors and O'Mores. The Butlers seem to have been thought able to take care of themselves. It would not do to give up the castles to men who had great possessions in England, and who would never encourage English farmers to become their tenants. At first settlers would have to be protected, but in time would take care of themselves. There would be no difficulty about tilling the soil, 'for there be no better labourers than the poor commons of Ireland, nor sooner will be brought to good frame, if they be kept under a law.'[83]

[Sidenote: Irish exactions.]

Besides the payment of black-rent, the commons of Ireland were oppressed by innumerable exactions, of which the princ.i.p.al may be described once for all. Bonaght was a tax imposed by a chief for the support of his mercenary hors.e.m.e.n, gallowgla.s.ses, and kerne. The name was often transferred from the tax to those who were maintained by it, and Bonaght, or Bony, became the generic name for an Irish mercenary or for one from the Scotch isles. Sorohen was an obligation on certain lands to support the chief with his train for twenty-four hours once a quarter, or, according to another account, as often as once a fortnight. Coshery was the chief's right to sponge upon his va.s.sals with as many followers as he pleased. Cuddies, or night-suppers, were due by certain lands upon which the chief might quarter himself and his train for four days four times a year. Shragh and mart were yearly exactions in money and kine respectively, apparently imposed at the will of the chief. Worse than any of these was coyne and livery--that is, the taking of horse-meat and man-meat from everyone at the will of the chief; in other words, the right of the strongest to take what he liked. Coyne and livery were not the invention of an Irish chief, but of one of those Anglo-Normans who knew how to better native instruction. Maurice Fitz-Thomas, Earl of Desmond, is said to have begun it under Edward II. as the only available means of coping with Edward Bruce. Originally a contrivance for carrying on war at the enemy's expense, it came to be used by all great men at all seasons. James, the ninth Earl of Desmond, has the credit of first imposing it on loyal subjects, but the Crown was primarily to blame for neglecting to keep order. Lords Deputies showed no better example than private oppressors.[84]

[Sidenote: Surrey finds all in confusion.]

Surrey landed with his family at Dublin on May 23, bringing 100 men of the royal guard as a peculiar mark of favour. He found the country in rather more than its usual confusion. He sent Archbishop Rokeby to Waterford, who succeeded in preventing Sir Piers Butler from fighting with Desmond, and he himself marched into Leix with his English soldiers, 120 Irish mercenaries, and 300 kerne. The English of the Pale, who, from love or fear of Kildare, usually mustered so strong on these occasions, contributed only forty-eight horse and 120 foot. Surrey made war in the usual Irish fas.h.i.+on, and burned Connell O'More's country. He was joined by Sir Piers Butler, who brought a strong contingent, including Mulrony O'Carroll, whom he induced to take the oath of allegiance. O'Carroll had latterly done great harm in the Pale, and he was considered the best leader among the Irish. He refused to take the oath until Surrey rashly promised that Kildare should never be Deputy again. On being pressed about a letter which the Earl was said to have written to him, he at first said that he would not inform even were he to receive the viceregal pavilion full of gold; but in spite of all this bravado he allowed his brothers to be examined, and they both swore that they had stood by and heard the letter read. Surrey never saw the doc.u.ment itself, nor has it been preserved. According to the report which we have, Kildare had directed O'Carroll to keep the peace till the arrival of an English Deputy, and then to make war on all Englishmen except the writer's friends. The object was to make all government but his own impossible.[85]

[Sidenote: O'Donnell is friendly.]

On his return to Dublin, Surrey found O'Donnell waiting for him. That chief had probably pleasant recollections of his visit to the English Court, and was not unwilling to strengthen himself against his rival O'Neill. He told Surrey that his powerful neighbour had urged him to make war on the Pale, and had declared his own intention of doing so, in compliance with Kildare's directions. O'Donnell promised to invade Tyrone if the Lord-Lieutenant would do likewise from the opposite quarter, and remarked emphatically that if the King ever set Kildare in authority again he might as well convey Ireland to him and his heirs for ever.

[Sidenote: O'Neill temporises.]

Early in August, Surrey, accompanied by Sir Piers Butler and his forces, entered Farney and punished MacMahon for the a.s.sistance given to O'Neill in his attacks on the Pale. O'Neill made some sort of verbal submission, and the Lord-Lieutenant returned to Dublin, where he detected a conspiracy among his soldiers, some of whom found life intolerable in Ireland. Their plan was to seize a small vessel in the river, and by her means a larger one on the high seas, and so to become rovers. The Irish lawyers held that the Viceroy could not hang them; for they had committed no overt act, and his patent did not authorise him to proceed by martial law. It is clear that the Crown was held capable of dispensing with the common law, at least in the case of soldiers.[86]

[Sidenote: Desmonds and MacCarthies.]

In September an important private war was waged in Munster. James, Earl of Desmond, according to the usual practice of his family, made a perfectly unprovoked attack upon Cormac Oge MacCarthy, the chief of Muskerry. Having secured the a.s.sistance of Sir Thomas Fitzgerald, the Earl's uncle and his own sister's husband, and of his kinsman MacCarthy Reagh, Cormac Oge defeated Desmond in a pitched battle near Mourne Abbey, to the south of Mallow. The messenger who brought the news to Dublin reported that the Earl had lost 1,500 foot and 500 horse. The Lord-Lieutenant was not sorry, for he had straitly charged Desmond to leave the MacCarthies alone. The fate of the Desmonds has excited much not very well directed sympathy: it would better become Irishmen to remember that they were the worst oppressors of their Celtic neighbours.

When Surrey visited Munster soon after, Desmond met him at Clonmel, and was as loyal in words as Sir Piers Butler had been in deeds. At Waterford he met MacCarthy Reagh and Cormac Oge, who were adherents of Sir Piers, and who had come on his invitation. They spoke fairly, bound themselves to keep the peace and professed themselves loyal, so that they might be protected. Surrey wished to make Cormac Oge a Privy Councillor and a Baron of Parliament, and he calls him a 'sad wise man.' Cormac produced a charter under the Great Seal, a copy of which was sent to England with an a.s.surance that it comprised no lands to which the King was ent.i.tled.[87]

[Sidenote: Henry speaks boldly to the Irish.]

It was probably to Cormac Oge that Henry wrote a remarkable letter, which shows his intentions at this time. The Irishman, whether Cormac Oge or another, was willing to surrender his lands and take an estate tail from the Crown at a fair rent. It was the interest of native chieftains to do this, because it secured them as against the Government, while it enabled them to transmit to their children a property which was not theirs at all, but held in trust for the clan at the election of the clansmen. The one fear of Henry's correspondent was that he should after all be abandoned to Kildare's vengeance, and he counselled the employment of a large army. To this the King answered that he had no intention whatever of giving up his plans for the reduction of Ireland, that he would not remove Surrey, and that he would not reinstate Kildare in the government.

When peaceful means failed it would be time to put forth his strength. In language which reminds us of the royal speech in the ballad of 'Chevy Chase,' he remarked that this Irish enterprise was a trifle compared with those which he had in hand against France and Scotland. This was politic language in dealing with a half-civilised MacCarthy, but Henry spoke very differently to his own servants. There was talk of an alliance between Argyll and O'Neill, and of a Scotch descent upon Ireland. The Continent was disturbed, and the burden of three armies would be intolerable. And yet he would try to do justice to Ireland. He was an absolute monarch and above legal trammels, but might even condescend to consider himself bound, if by so doing he could induce Irish chiefs to live by law. If that of England proved too strong for weak stomachs, they might even retain some of their native customs. The Earldom of Ulster was legally his own, but he would not willingly take it by force. If clemency failed, in the last resort he would try the strength of his hand, for realms without justice were but tyrannies, communities of beasts rather than reasoning men. Brave words! but woefully belied in action.[88]

[Sidenote: Surrey is not sanguine.]

Surrey was not to be deceived, and steadily refused to prophesy smooth things. He believed that Ireland could only be reduced by conquest, and that the easiest method was to master one district at a time, gradually pus.h.i.+ng forward the frontier until the whole country was obedient. A permanent army of 500 men might perhaps effect this, while at least 6,000 would be required for a rapid conquest. Edward I. had taken ten years to subdue Wales, and that great king had given almost constant personal attention to the work. Yet Wales was unprotected by the sea, and was not a fifth part the size of Ireland. All artillery and munitions of war would have to be brought from England, and fortresses must be built to bridle each tract of country successively occupied. Nor could a military occupation endure unless accompanied by a large plan of colonisation.

Thus only could the natives be brought to labour and settled order. We can see, though Henry VIII. could not, how justly Surrey estimated the magnitude of England's task in Ireland.[89]

[Sidenote: Activity of Surrey.]

In July 1521 the Irish bordering on the Pale took their usual advantage of the season. O'Connor, O'More, and O'Carroll, the latter all unmindful of his last year's oath and of more recent promises, collected a great host and prepared to attack the Pale. Surrey, who had lately prorogued his Parliament after a ten days' session, was in Dublin, and by his prompt.i.tude averted the danger. O'Connor's castle, near Edenderry, was soon in his hands, being unable to resist the fire of three pieces of heavy ordnance for a single day. It became an axiom in Irish warfare that the Government could always make its way with artillery. Surrey proposed to hold O'Connor's stronghold permanently, and to use it against the Irishry as Berwick was used against the Scots. He destroyed all the corn far and wide, the people with their cattle flying before him, while Sir Piers Butler played the like part in Ely O'Carroll. The vigour shown by the Lord-Lieutenant had the effect which vigour generally has in Ireland, and the confederacy gave him little further trouble. Meanwhile, the North was in a blaze. O'Donnell professed loyalty, but was not trusted by Surrey, who, however, thought it wise to humour him. O'Neill was willing to be on good terms with the Government, and was on his way to Dundalk accompanied by Magennis and a large force, when the O'Donnells attacked him in the rear. Fifteen hundred cows were driven off and seventeen of the Magennis' villages burned, so that the allies were forced to retrace their steps. The chief of Tyrconnell feared that if his great neighbour were once at peace with the Pale he would be too strong for him in the everlasting private war of Northern Ulster.[90]

[Sidenote: Uncertainty of English policy.]

It is not the least of Ireland's misfortunes that her rulers have ever been subject to hot and cold fits. In the autumn of 1521 Henry suddenly changed his mind. Disgusted at the apparently almost fruitless expense, he not only relieved Surrey at his own earnest request, but also abandoned his policy. War broke out between Charles and Francis, and the reformation of Ireland, which had but lately seemed so necessary a work for a Christian king, was lightly postponed to a more convenient season.

Surrey is the first of a long series of able men whose efforts, generally very ill seconded at home, in the end brought Ireland under the English sceptre. His means were inconsiderable. In the expedition against O'More, which he undertook very soon after landing, his whole force seems not to have exceeded 700. He then asked the King for eighty hors.e.m.e.n from the North of England, and for leave to discharge as many of the guardsmen as he might think fit. Many of these were well-to-do householders, and liked Ireland so little that they were content to leave it on receiving twopence, or even a penny, a day. One hundred hors.e.m.e.n were accordingly sent, under the command of Sir John Bulmer, who was Surrey's personal friend, and fifty more were added from Wales. The captain received half-a-crown and the lieutenant eighteenpence a day. On their arrival 117 guardsmen were discharged upon a penny a day. Fourpence appears to have been a soldier's ordinary pay in Ireland, and Surrey maintained that this was not enough. Neither Welshmen nor Northumbrians proved to his taste, most of them being mounted archers and not spearmen. He thought better men might be had in the country, and Henry was willing to give him much lat.i.tude, though he cautioned him against employing too many Irishmen, lest the sword should hurt his hand. The King gave his Viceroy the power of life and death, reserving n.o.ble personages, and the right of making knights. A golden collar was sent for O'Neill, and it was supposed that such cheap defences would avail against a chief who could easily raise 1,600 men. Of two evils Surrey chose the less; he discharged most of Bulmer's men, whom he p.r.o.nounced ill-looking, worthless rascals, and took Englishmen of the Pale in their places. The difficulty of buying forage was thus obviated, as native hors.e.m.e.n could find it for themselves.[91]

[Sidenote: Parliament of 1521.]

A Parliament sat in Dublin for ten days in June 1521, and after many prorogations was not finally dissolved till March 1522, when Surrey had left Ireland. There appears to be no record of the peers who attended, or of the places represented, and so little mention is afterwards made of this Parliament that the interest attaching to it was probably slight.

Acts were pa.s.sed making arson treason, forbidding the exportation of wool as the cause of a 'dearth of cloth and idleness of many folks,' and providing against the failure of justice through lack of jurors.[92]

[Sidenote: Want of money.]

The Irish Government had no command of money, the judicious employment of which might enable them to dispense with troops. Surrey's expedition to Munster was near failing for want of means to pay his men. Before the end of August the exchequer was habitually empty; no taxes were due till Michaelmas, nor leviable till Christmas; and nothing was to be had except for ready money.[93] The King sent 4,000_l._, but would not face the necessities of the case. It seemed to him monstrous to have to spend 1,600_l._ or 1,700_l._ a year merely for the defence of the Pale. His remittances were mere palliatives, and Surrey was in difficulties during his whole term of office.

[Sidenote: Surrey recalled at his own request, 1521.]

Surrey had to cope with disease as well as poverty. It was scarcely possible to find healthy quarters for soldiers, and the people fled everywhere into the fields, leaving unburied bodies behind them. No place in Ireland was safe, and the Lord-Lieutenant, who lost three of his servants, was anxious about his wife and children. Sir John Bulmer never had a day of health in Ireland, and was glad to get home safe without having seen any service. In the second year of his government, Surrey himself was affected with the fever and diarrhoea which have often been fatal to the English in Ireland, but his prayers were heard at last, and he was recalled in time to save his life. He was much regretted by the inhabitants of the Pale, who recognised his good nature, integrity, and ability. Those who best knew the subject believed that he really saw how the country might be reduced to order, and it was hoped that he would return with sufficient means. Meanwhile, the Irish Council entreated Wolsey to be guided by his advice.[94]

[Sidenote: He leaves a great reputation.]

Beloved by the King's subjects and feared by rebels, Surrey left one of the fairest names among those who have ruled Ireland. He paid in full for everything, so that the market followed him wherever he went, and he declared that he would rather eat gra.s.s than feast with the curses of the poor. His retinue had orders to behave in Ireland as they would at home.

So generous was he that the common people thought him the King's son. Nor was he less just, for he gave full notice of his intended departure, and discharged all debts due by him or his. It was thought that he never offended within the compa.s.s of the seven deadly sins during his stay in Ireland; tradition, with a fine contempt for facts, adds that 'in his time was corn, cattle, fish, health, and fair weather, that the like was not seen many years before.' We know from his own letters that corn was dear and sickness prevalent, and we may be very sure that the weather was not always fair.[95]

[Sidenote: Sir Piers Butler is made Lord Deputy, 1522.]

Henry had too much respect for Surrey's opinion to hand back Ireland at once to Kildare; but he had resolved to reduce expenses, and was therefore obliged to place the government in the hands of someone who had the strength to make authority respected. No one satisfied this condition except Sir Piers Butler, and Surrey was allowed to appoint him Deputy, retaining the office of Lord-Lieutenant himself. There were objections to Sir Piers, as to every Irish governor. The Butlers would not take the field except under him or his eldest son, and he was generally laid up with gout all the winter. Lord James, as the heir was called, was active enough, but young and inexperienced. The choice, however, lay between Ormonde and Kildare, and Sir Piers was so cautiously handled, that he abstained from driving a hard bargain.

[Sidenote: The experiment is not successful.]

[Sidenote: O'Neills and O'Donnells.]

The experiment was not very successful; for the Geraldines were all-powerful in the Pale, and the new Lord Deputy, when in Dublin, was separated from his own country by his rival's dominions. He took the oath on March 26, 1522, but the O'Mores, who had heard that Kildare was on his way to restore the good old times, soon began to threaten the Pale. In the North a war broke out on such an unusually large scale as to make it probable that O'Neill had promised Kildare to give the new Deputy as much trouble as possible. Indeed, when Kildare did actually return, he at once went to O'Neill's aid. The chief of Tyrone may have required little persuasion to attack his hereditary foes, but the number of his allies was very uncommon. MacWilliam of Clanricarde, Tirlough O'Brien, Bishop of Killaloe, with many of his clansmen, O'Connor Don and O'Connor Roe, MacWilliam of Mayo, and MacDermot of Moylurg, all agreed to a.s.semble on the southern border of Donegal. O'Neill brought to the trysting place Magennis, O'Rourke, and MacMahon, and many Scottish mercenaries in the hereditary service of his family. 'Great numbers,' we are told, 'of the English of Meath, and the gallowgla.s.ses of the province of Leinster, of the Clan-Donnell and Clan-Sheehy, also came thither, from their attachment to the daughter of the Earl of Kildare, who was O'Neill's mother.' To oppose this vast host, O'Donnell had only the clans immediately subject to him, O'Boyle, O'Gallagher, O'Dogherty, and the three septs of MacSwiney, hereditary gallowgla.s.ses of Tyrconnell. He mustered his forces near Trim, on the Tyrone side of the Finn, and there awaited the onset. But O'Neill adopted tactics very usual in Irish warfare, pa.s.sed by the northern sh.o.r.e of Lough Erne, reached Ballyshannon without fighting, and slaughtered the garrison of MacSwineys there.

O'Donnell retaliated by sending his son Ma.n.u.s to ravage the nearest districts of Tyrone, and himself hurried in pursuit of O'Neill across the pa.s.s now called Barnesmore Gap. Again declining battle, O'Neill turned back, spoiled the country between Donegal and Letterkenny, and encamped on the hill which overlooks Strabane. O'Donnell returned very quickly over Barnesmore, and, having been rejoined by his son, faced the enemy near Lifford. There he held a council of war, and his followers in desperation resolved on an immediate fight. Leaving their horses behind, the O'Donnells crept up unperceived, drove in the outposts, and entered the camp pell-mell. In the darkness and confusion faces could not be distinguished, and many O'Neills fell by the hands of their brethren.

Nine hundred dead bodies were counted in the morning, including many of the Leinster men who had come for the love of Kildare. Celtic war always presents the same features, and the victorious O'Donnells quickly disbanded with the horses and armour, the strong liquors and the rich drinking vessels of the vanquished.[96]

[Sidenote: O'Donnell is stronger than O'Neill.]

When he had again collected his men, O'Donnell recrossed Barnesmore, pa.s.sed between Lough Melvin and the sea, and encamped at the foot of Benbulben, the bold hill which tourists admire from Sligo. The Connaught men were besieging that place when they heard of O'Donnell's victory, and of his near approach. They offered to negotiate, and, having thus gained time, they broke up from Sligo and retreated rapidly to the Curlew mountains, where they separated. The panegyrists of the O'Donnells sing paeans over two victories obtained without the help of English or Scotch allies, and remarkable in Irish warfare, the one for its slaughter, the other for its bloodlessness. Next year O'Donnell carried the war into Tyrone, which he ravaged as far as Dungannon. At Knockinlossy he destroyed a beautiful herb-garden, which must have been a rare thing in those days, and from Tullahogue, where he established a temporary camp, he spoiled the land far and wide. All the plunder was carried off safely, and the invaders then returned for more; but peace was made instead, and they turned their arms against O'Rourke. Fermanagh was wasted as Tyrone had been, and we cannot be surprised that chiefs who thus preyed on each other should fail to make head against the English Government.[97]

[Sidenote: Sir Piers Butler is thwarted by the Geraldines.]