LITMIR.BIZ

      CHAPTER X.

       THE GERALDINE REBELLION—SKEFFINGTON’S ADMINISTRATION, 1534-1535.

       Table of Contents

      Kildare is sent to the Tower.

Among the letters which Alen brought with him from England was one of thanks for past services to Connor Maguire, chief of Fermanagh. Maguire belonged to the party in Ulster which opposed O’Neill, and consequently Kildare; and he seems to have been in some degree under Alen’s influence. He now wrote to the King, adding to the already overwhelming case against Kildare, and praying for the appointment of Skeffington. This despatch probably reached London about the same time as the Earl, who was examined by the Council and at once sent to the Tower. The heaviest charge against him was that of fortifying his own castles with the King’s artillery; and it was in fact this which enabled his son to make head for a time against the Crown. He could only answer that he had intended to defend the Pale against the Irish: perhaps the hesitation caused by his wound was taken for the confession of guilt. He was no longer the man who had bearded Wolsey in his pride; and, unfortunately, his old power of repartee had descended to his son, who annoyed with his taunts those whom he should most have conciliated. The young Vice-Deputy made no secret of his dislike to the King’s policy, sought alliances with O’Brien and Desmond, and gave the enemies of his House plausible grounds for stigmatising him as a traitor from the very first.126

      His death prematurely reported.

Early in the summer of 1534 a report reached Ireland that Kildare was to be beheaded, and his son and brother arrested. A poor retainer of his house living near Kilcullen is said to have brought to Lord Offaly from London a little silver-gilt heart and a pair of black dice, with a verbal message from his father bidding him not to trust the Irish Council, but to keep out of the way lest he should lose life and liberty. About the same time a private letter from Thomas Cannon, who had been in Skeffington’s service, confirmed the sinister rumours already afloat. In days when there were no newspapers such letters were handed about freely, and this one fell into the hands of a priest who read English with difficulty, and who put it aside until he had time to spell out its meaning. A retainer of Offaly’s, who chanced to stay the night in the priest’s house, used the letter as a shoe-horn, and forgot to withdraw it. Undressing in the evening he found the paper, read it out of curiosity, and found to his dismay that it announced Kildare’s death. He at once took the fatal missive to James Delahide, who carried it to the Vice-Deputy. Delahide was one of those whose advice Kildare had directed his son to take: he now counselled him to rebel and to avenge his father’s death.127

      His son rebels.

Though his death was at hand Kildare still lived, and there is no reason to suspect foul play: he was old and suffering from wounds, and confinement or anxiety may well have hastened his end. But his impetuous son assumed the worst, and at once prepared for war. His Irish connections O’Neill and O’Connor approved his resolution; but the Earl of Desmond, Sir Thomas Eustace of Baltinglass, Fitzmaurice of Kerry, Fleming, Lord of Slane, and most of the Anglo-Irish well-wishers of his House, counselled prudence. Lord Chancellor Cromer, a grave and learned divine, gave similar advice. But Rehoboam would not be persuaded. On St. Barnabas’ Day he rode through Dublin

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