LITMIR.BIZ

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this body by an Act of Parliament, passed in 1494. Its object had been the defence of the Pale against Irish enemies and English rebels. It was now proposed to erect a new order, not named after St. George, but holding its great ceremony on St. George’s day. It was to consist of a Grand Master and twelve pensioners, with salaries amounting in the aggregate to 1,000l. The majority were to be Irishmen of family, who might be kept out of mischief by fear of losing their pensions. After seven years, promotion was to depend on knowing English, or having spent two years in the public service in England; the object being to induce Irish gentlemen to cross the Channel and learn manners. As vacancies occurred the persons chosen were to be bound ‘not to have any wife or wives.’ The Council nominated Brabazon to be first Grand Master; but Ormonde put forth a list of his own, and preferred his brother Richard to the highest place. The Council also proposed to make a pensioner of Lord Kilcullen, and to place him in the castle of Clonmore, which had belonged to his family, but which the King had granted to Ormonde. The Earl naturally ignored this claim, and there were other differences in the rival lists. The Council suggested elaborate machinery by which the Order might be made to work for the reformation of Leinster; but St. Leger does not appear to have been a party to the scheme, and perhaps opposed it quietly. The King, who had just abolished the great military Order, had no idea of creating another, though its patron saint should be St. George instead of St. John. ‘We do in no wise,’ he said, ‘like any part of your device in that behalf.’ By minding their business and doing what they were told his Majesty hoped that they would ultimately succeed in reforming Leinster ‘without the new erection of any such fantasies.’240

      An arrangement is made with Desmond.

James Fitzjohn being now necessarily acknowledged Earl of Desmond, one of St. Leger’s first cares was to obtain his submission. Satisfied at last that no treachery was intended, Desmond agreed to meet the Lord Deputy at Cashel. Passing through Carlow and Kilkenny, St. Leger was joined by Ormonde, who took care that the viceregal retinue should be well treated on the journey; but Desmond at first held aloof, and demanded that the chief of the Butlers should give himself up as a hostage before he trusted himself in English hands. This was refused; but Archbishop Browne, Travers, the Master of the Ordnance, and the Deputy’s brother Robert consented to run the risk. Desmond then appeared, and said he was ready to do all that loyalty demanded. The proceedings were adjourned to Sir Thomas Butler’s house at Cahir, and there Desmond signed a solemn notarial instrument, by which he fully acknowledged the King’s supremacy in Church and State. ‘I do,’ he said, ‘utterly deny and forsake the Bishop of Rome, and his usurped primacy and authority, and shall with all my power resist and repress the same and all that shall by any means use and maintain the same.’ He renounced the pretensions of his family not to attend Parliament or enter any walled town. He agreed to abide by and to enforce the King’s decision as to the Kildare estates, and to pay all such taxes as were paid in the territories of Ormonde, Delvin, and other noblemen of like condition. He constituted himself the defender of the corporate towns, and gave up all claims to the allegiance of the Munster Englishry, with a partial reservation as to men of his own blood, who held their lands under him or his ancestors. Finally, he agreed to send his son to be educated in England. This was Gerald, the ill-starred youth whose folly and vanity were destined to work the final ruin of his House. The Archbishop of Cashel and the Bishops of Limerick and Emly witnessed the instrument, and the manner of the submission was as satisfactory as a Tudor could wish. ‘In presence,’ wrote St. Leger to the King, ‘of MacWilliam, O’Connor, and divers other Irish gentlemen, to the number of 200 at the least, he kneeled down before me and most humbly delivered his said submission, desiring me to deliver unto him his said pardon, granted by your Majesty; affirming that it was more glad to him to be so reconciled to your favours, than to have any worldly treasure; protesting that no earthly cause should make him from henceforth swerve from your Majesty’s obedience. And after that done, I delivered to him your said most gracious pardon, which he most joyfully accepted.’ He was immediately sworn of the Council, and St. Leger asked the King’s indulgence for having done this without warrant. Care was also taken to prevent a renewal of the quarrel between the new Privy Councillor and Ormonde, who had married the heiress-general of a former Earl of Desmond, and had thus large and indefinite claims on the family estates. The rivals bound themselves in 4,000l. to promote cross-marriages between their children, and to keep the peace. The claims of Ormonde through his wife were nevertheless destined in the next generation to deluge Munster in blood.241

      Dutiful attitude of Desmond and O’Brien.

Desmond accompanied St. Leger to Kilmallock, ‘where, I think, none of your Grace’s Deputies came this hundred years before,’ and treated him hospitably, openly declaring that he was ready if the Deputy wished it to go to London to see the King. O’Brien came peacefully to Limerick, complaining chiefly that he was not allowed to bridge the Shannon nor to exercise jurisdiction over friendly tribes on the left bank. St. Leger promised him perpetual war unless he would yield on both points, believing that he could do little harm without the concurrence of Desmond, of the Clanricarde Burkes, or of Donogh O’Brien. He was given till Shrovetide to consult his friends, and at last decided to keep quiet and to send agents to watch over his interests in Parliament. A pardon was issued under the Great Seal of Ireland, and towards the end of the year O’Brien spontaneously addressed a very dutiful letter to the King, begging personal as well as official forgiveness for his many sins. ‘My mind,’ he said, ‘is never satisfied till I have made the same submission to your Grace’s own person, whom I most desire to see above all creatures on earth living, now in mine old days; which sight I doubt not but shall prolong my life.’242

      MacWilliam Burke and MacGillapatrick.

MacWilliam Burke of Clanricarde and MacGillapatrick professed anxiety for the royal favour, and accompanied St. Leger on his tour. He prescribed an earldom for the former, a barony for the latter, and Parliament-robes and other fine clothes for both; in the belief that titles and little acts of civility would weigh more with these rude men than a display of force. He himself had given MacWilliam a silver-gilt cup, and in Limerick Desmond had from vanity or policy worn ‘gown, jacket, doublet, hose, shirts, caps, and a velvet riding coat,’ from the Lord Deputy’s wardrobe. It was very important to conciliate MacWilliam, who could always prevent a junction of the O’Briens and O’Donnells. MacGillapatrick soon afterwards covenanted with the King to live civilly, to act loyally, and to hold his lands of the Crown by knight-service. MacWilliam wrote a letter to Henry confessing and lamenting that his family had degenerated, and belied their English blood, ‘which have been brought to Irish and disobedient rule by reason of marriage and nurseing with those Irish, sometime rebels, near adjoining to me.’ He placed himself and all his possessions unreservedly in the King’s hands, but seems to have let it be known that he would like to be an Earl. Henry refused this unless the repentant Norman would come to Court, but he offered a barony or viscounty without any condition.243

      Parliament of 1541.

      Early in 1541 St. Leger received authority to summon a Parliament. The composition of the House of Commons is uncertain, for no list of members is extant between 1382 and 1559. In the former of those years eighteen counties or districts and eleven towns were represented. In the latter, ten counties and twenty-eight cities and boroughs returned two members each. Through the action of the royal prerogative the number was progressively increased until the 300 of the eighteenth century was reached. In St. Leger’s time the Upper House was the more important of the two, and was attended by four archbishops, nineteen bishops, and twenty temporal peers, of whom Desmond was one. Among the temporal peers was Rawson, late prior of Kilmainham and chief of the Irish Hospitallers, who had just been created Viscount Clontarf. There were four new Barons—Edmund Butler Lord Dunboyne, MacGillapatrick Lord Upper Ossory, Oliver Plunkett Lord Louth, and William Bermingham Lord Carbery. Richard le Poer had been created Baron of Curraghmore six years before. Besides the peers there were present in Dublin Donough O’Brien, MacWilliam Burke, O’Reilly, Cahir MacArt Kavanagh, Phelim Roe O’Neill

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