The Tudor Conquest
Four hundred years after King Henry II gained allegiance from the kings of Ireland the Church of England took root. The Irish had become firmly planted in their Catholic ways and refused to convert to the Protestant religion. Queen Elizabeth I, the current monarch and head of the Church, decided to force the religion onto the Irish people. One thing that has to be noted is that in the four or five hundred years that the English have attempted to take over Ireland, they viewed the Irish people, customs, and laws as savage. Historian Seumas MacManus says that it was “England’s wish, often expressed in the four hundred years, was to civilise Ireland. If that were impossible, then extermination.” (MacManus 374)
Queen Elizabeth ordered her troops to take extreme measures against all who practiced the Catholic religion. Abbeys and churches were burned, ministers supplanted priests, and, very quickly, all priests were declared criminals by the Dublin Parliament. The priests were to be “hanged, cut down when half dead, disembowelled and burnt, and their heads impaled in some public place.” (MacManus, 374) Although, this act was only followed in places where English forces had a strong hold. The Archbishop of Cashel was among one of many priests who were caught, tortured and hanged. However, this was not enough to supplant the Catholic religion.
Several of the royal and nobles of Ireland still practiced Catholicism in their houses. The Desmonds, the largest Norman noble family, were among the most powerful families in Ireland and wer a threat to the Church. Elizabeth sent the Black Earl of Ormond, whose family had many castles in southern Ireland, to capture Gerald, Earl of Desmond. He did so successfully and sent him to London. Upon arriving in London, the Earl was sent by the Queen to the Tower of London, where he was tortured until his death. His fate was shared by many in his family and others of noble descent.
However, Gerald’s cousin, James Fitzmaurice, drew his sword to protest against the captures of his family members. A large group of spirited young men joined him and they held the land of the Desmonds from England’s grasp. They fought many battles, winning most, and routed the Queen’s army several times. Elizabeth was soon forced to make peace with Fitzmaurice, but plotted to murder him when the time came. Fitzmaurice heard of this and escaped, running to Spain for safety. However, he soon returned with fourscore Spaniards, with a promise for more, but he vanished after a small skirmish.
Spain remembered its promise and sent eight hundred soldiers to Ireland, landing on the coast of Kerry. They fortified the Golden Island, “a rock connected with the land by a narrow neck.” (MacManus, 375) The Lord Deputy, Gray, attacked the Spaniards, but no breach was made in the fort. Gray sent a flag of truce and offered honourable terms if the Spanish would surrender. The Spanish commander accepted Gray’s terms and his men laid down their arms. “Then Gray sent in his soldiers and massacred seven hundred men.” (MacManus, 375) This massacre was led by the Queen’s advisor, Sir Walter Raleigh, who was congratulated by Elizabeth.
A Devonshire knight, Carew, fought with the Desmonds over their territory for five years and won. He soon took to marching across the county of Munster, burning and killing all that stood in his way. In Carew’s Pacata Hibernia he writes that he and his troops “killed all mankind that were found therein for a terror to those who would give relief to runagate traitors.”(Carew). James Froude, an English historian, wrote, “The English nation was shuddering over the atrocities of the Duke of Alva. Yet Alva’s bloody sword never touched the young, the defenceless... Sir Peter Carew has been seen murdering women and children and babies that had scarcely left the breast.” (Froude)
Carew was not alone is wreaking havoc across Munster. Sir George Perrin wiped out the schools of the province for the ‘pacification’ of the land. The county was soaked in the blood of hundreds. Queen Elizabeth thanked Perrin, as there “was no barbarous land where scholars filled the schools, where science and the classics were taught; where the pride of youth was stimulated, the imagination fired by the Hero-Tales of Ireland.” (MacManus, 376) Perrin wrote in his report that he had “left neither corn nor horn nor house unburnt” (Perrin’s Report) in all of Munster.
The people of Munster and the bordering towns were left dead, dying or severely wounded. Most of the survivors escaped into the woods, eating any unburnt cattle they found and sleeping in the forest. Spenser, the English poet, who had received a few acres of land from Raleigh, saw survivors “creeping out of every corner of the woods and glens on their hands, for their legs would not bear them. They did eat the dead carrion where they could find them, yea, and one another soon after.” (MacManus, 376) The English lords soon decided to take a smaller role in taking down the ‘savages’ ways. They decided that the Irish people were not to be allowed to till their land or pasture their cattle next season, and then, they reasoned, they would quickly start to devour one another. This theory, however, did not pan out. The people of Munster had knowledge of roots and berries, and ate those.
The English troops gained a hold in Leix and Offaly, but some of the more powerful families still had power over the people. So, the leader of the troops, Sir Francis Cosby, gave a feast in the Rath of Mullaghmast in Kildare. He invited all of the O’Conors and O’Mores and their followers. One gentleman, arriving late, noticed something and paused. He saw guests entering, but none leaving. “Advancing, he reconnoitred, beheld slaughtered bodies, and being now attacked himself, cut his way through and escaped. Of the O’Mores alone, one hundred and eighty were murdered... A tall tree with spreading branches grew before the door, upon which he [Cosby] hanged men and women and children. If he hanged a mother and an infant he hanged the child in the mother’s long hair.” (MacManus, 377)
In several counties English Law made a breach, Lord Presidents were appointed and the Irish were tried and sentenced. But some of the people had hope, for they had a Noble among them, young but showing promise. His name was Ruari (pronounced Rory) Og O’More. When he had grown and learned to use a sword he began attack the homes of English settlers. Ruari burnt their towns, made treaties with the local lords, and kept those treaties, something not seen often then. Six years of guerilla warfare led him to the battlefield where he died. The English brought a large army against him, outnumbered by great proportions. However, the idea of Ruari Og O’More never has died and never will. “His name remained an inspiration to oppressed Irish, down to the present day. ‘God, and Our Lady, and Rory O’More!’” (MacManus, 377)
But all of this suffering under the English lords would soon end. In the battle of Glenmalure, Cosby and Gray fell when attempting to attack Feach O’Byrne. O’Byrne was an Irish lord who had land in the Wicklow Mountains. He had held it against all English attacks and Gray wanted to wipe him out. Gray and Cosby gathered a great army and marched into Wicklow. The glen in which O’Byrne lived had cliffs and forests surrounding it, casting shadows on the town below. Cosby went on a higher peak to watch the battle. His soldiers entered the town, but there was no sign of the enemy, only the sound of their own footsteps. Cosby and his attenders joked, ‘The old fox had run to the earth.’ The English troops stood roughly in order, confused as to where the Irish were. The glen quieted for a moment until the silence was shattered as the bullets of the Irish were fired. They jumped out from the tree-clad slopes, leapt over the rocks, and attacked the English. Of the great force that came to Glenmalure, only a few broken companies returned. (MacManus 377)
The victory at Glenmalure left a portion of Ireland free, but most was now firmly in the hands of the English. However, the fight between the two people stopped for some time. For several years only a few minor skirmishes broke out across Ireland. The Irish still hated the English for what they did, but were cautious as to not die themselves. And thus, an uneasy hush settled over the land.
Queen Elizabeth ordered her troops to take extreme measures against all who practiced the Catholic religion. Abbeys and churches were burned, ministers supplanted priests, and, very quickly, all priests were declared criminals by the Dublin Parliament. The priests were to be “hanged, cut down when half dead, disembowelled and burnt, and their heads impaled in some public place.” (MacManus, 374) Although, this act was only followed in places where English forces had a strong hold. The Archbishop of Cashel was among one of many priests who were caught, tortured and hanged. However, this was not enough to supplant the Catholic religion.
Several of the royal and nobles of Ireland still practiced Catholicism in their houses. The Desmonds, the largest Norman noble family, were among the most powerful families in Ireland and wer a threat to the Church. Elizabeth sent the Black Earl of Ormond, whose family had many castles in southern Ireland, to capture Gerald, Earl of Desmond. He did so successfully and sent him to London. Upon arriving in London, the Earl was sent by the Queen to the Tower of London, where he was tortured until his death. His fate was shared by many in his family and others of noble descent.
However, Gerald’s cousin, James Fitzmaurice, drew his sword to protest against the captures of his family members. A large group of spirited young men joined him and they held the land of the Desmonds from England’s grasp. They fought many battles, winning most, and routed the Queen’s army several times. Elizabeth was soon forced to make peace with Fitzmaurice, but plotted to murder him when the time came. Fitzmaurice heard of this and escaped, running to Spain for safety. However, he soon returned with fourscore Spaniards, with a promise for more, but he vanished after a small skirmish.
Spain remembered its promise and sent eight hundred soldiers to Ireland, landing on the coast of Kerry. They fortified the Golden Island, “a rock connected with the land by a narrow neck.” (MacManus, 375) The Lord Deputy, Gray, attacked the Spaniards, but no breach was made in the fort. Gray sent a flag of truce and offered honourable terms if the Spanish would surrender. The Spanish commander accepted Gray’s terms and his men laid down their arms. “Then Gray sent in his soldiers and massacred seven hundred men.” (MacManus, 375) This massacre was led by the Queen’s advisor, Sir Walter Raleigh, who was congratulated by Elizabeth.
A Devonshire knight, Carew, fought with the Desmonds over their territory for five years and won. He soon took to marching across the county of Munster, burning and killing all that stood in his way. In Carew’s Pacata Hibernia he writes that he and his troops “killed all mankind that were found therein for a terror to those who would give relief to runagate traitors.”(Carew). James Froude, an English historian, wrote, “The English nation was shuddering over the atrocities of the Duke of Alva. Yet Alva’s bloody sword never touched the young, the defenceless... Sir Peter Carew has been seen murdering women and children and babies that had scarcely left the breast.” (Froude)
Carew was not alone is wreaking havoc across Munster. Sir George Perrin wiped out the schools of the province for the ‘pacification’ of the land. The county was soaked in the blood of hundreds. Queen Elizabeth thanked Perrin, as there “was no barbarous land where scholars filled the schools, where science and the classics were taught; where the pride of youth was stimulated, the imagination fired by the Hero-Tales of Ireland.” (MacManus, 376) Perrin wrote in his report that he had “left neither corn nor horn nor house unburnt” (Perrin’s Report) in all of Munster.
The people of Munster and the bordering towns were left dead, dying or severely wounded. Most of the survivors escaped into the woods, eating any unburnt cattle they found and sleeping in the forest. Spenser, the English poet, who had received a few acres of land from Raleigh, saw survivors “creeping out of every corner of the woods and glens on their hands, for their legs would not bear them. They did eat the dead carrion where they could find them, yea, and one another soon after.” (MacManus, 376) The English lords soon decided to take a smaller role in taking down the ‘savages’ ways. They decided that the Irish people were not to be allowed to till their land or pasture their cattle next season, and then, they reasoned, they would quickly start to devour one another. This theory, however, did not pan out. The people of Munster had knowledge of roots and berries, and ate those.
The English troops gained a hold in Leix and Offaly, but some of the more powerful families still had power over the people. So, the leader of the troops, Sir Francis Cosby, gave a feast in the Rath of Mullaghmast in Kildare. He invited all of the O’Conors and O’Mores and their followers. One gentleman, arriving late, noticed something and paused. He saw guests entering, but none leaving. “Advancing, he reconnoitred, beheld slaughtered bodies, and being now attacked himself, cut his way through and escaped. Of the O’Mores alone, one hundred and eighty were murdered... A tall tree with spreading branches grew before the door, upon which he [Cosby] hanged men and women and children. If he hanged a mother and an infant he hanged the child in the mother’s long hair.” (MacManus, 377)
In several counties English Law made a breach, Lord Presidents were appointed and the Irish were tried and sentenced. But some of the people had hope, for they had a Noble among them, young but showing promise. His name was Ruari (pronounced Rory) Og O’More. When he had grown and learned to use a sword he began attack the homes of English settlers. Ruari burnt their towns, made treaties with the local lords, and kept those treaties, something not seen often then. Six years of guerilla warfare led him to the battlefield where he died. The English brought a large army against him, outnumbered by great proportions. However, the idea of Ruari Og O’More never has died and never will. “His name remained an inspiration to oppressed Irish, down to the present day. ‘God, and Our Lady, and Rory O’More!’” (MacManus, 377)
But all of this suffering under the English lords would soon end. In the battle of Glenmalure, Cosby and Gray fell when attempting to attack Feach O’Byrne. O’Byrne was an Irish lord who had land in the Wicklow Mountains. He had held it against all English attacks and Gray wanted to wipe him out. Gray and Cosby gathered a great army and marched into Wicklow. The glen in which O’Byrne lived had cliffs and forests surrounding it, casting shadows on the town below. Cosby went on a higher peak to watch the battle. His soldiers entered the town, but there was no sign of the enemy, only the sound of their own footsteps. Cosby and his attenders joked, ‘The old fox had run to the earth.’ The English troops stood roughly in order, confused as to where the Irish were. The glen quieted for a moment until the silence was shattered as the bullets of the Irish were fired. They jumped out from the tree-clad slopes, leapt over the rocks, and attacked the English. Of the great force that came to Glenmalure, only a few broken companies returned. (MacManus 377)
The victory at Glenmalure left a portion of Ireland free, but most was now firmly in the hands of the English. However, the fight between the two people stopped for some time. For several years only a few minor skirmishes broke out across Ireland. The Irish still hated the English for what they did, but were cautious as to not die themselves. And thus, an uneasy hush settled over the land.