Ireland under the Tudors. Bagwell Richard

of his submission to his ‘most gracious sovereign lord’ was as ample as even that sovereign lord could wish:—

‘Pleaseth your most Excellent Majesty, I, O’Neill, one of your Majesty’s most humble subjects of your realm of Ireland, do confess and acknowledge before your most Excellent Highness, that by ignorance, and for lack of knowledge of my most bounden duty of allegiance, I have most grievously offended your Majesty, for the which I ask your Grace here mercy and forgiveness, most humbly beseeching your Highness of your most gracious pardon; refusing my name and state, which I have usurped upon your Grace against my duty, and requiring your Majesty of your clemency to give me what name, state, title, land, or living it shall please your Highness, which I shall knowledge to take and hold of your Majesty’s mere gift, and in all things do hereafter as shall beseem your most true and faithful subject. And God save your Highness.’259

      He is created Earl of Tyrone. Special remainder.

One week after the delivery of this submission O’Neill was created Earl of Tyrone, with remainder to his son Matthew in tail male: Matthew being at the same time created Baron of Dungannon, with remainder to the eldest son of the Earl of Tyrone for the time being. This patent afterwards gave rise to infinite bloodshed. Con O’Neill certainly acknowledged Matthew as his heir apparent; but it was afterwards stated, not only that he was illegitimate, which might not have mattered much, but that he was not Con’s son at all. There was no doubt about the legitimacy of Shane, and that able savage consistently refused to acknowledge the limitations of the patent. Henry dealt liberally with the new Earl, paying 60l. for a gold chain such as O’Donnell had asked for, 65l. 10s. 2d. for creation fees and robes, and 100 marks as a present in ready money. ‘The Queen’s closet at Greenwich was richly hanged with cloth of Arras, and well strewed with rushes’—no more was then thought of even in a palace—and Tyrone was led in by the Earls of Hertford and Oxford, the latter of whom was summoned specially for the purpose. Viscount Lisle bore the new Earl’s sword. Kneeling in the rushes, the descendant of Niall of the Nine Hostages submitted to be girt by the hands of Henry II.’s descendant. The King then gave him his patent, and he gave thanks in Irish, which his chaplain translated into English. Two of his neighbours, Donnell and Arthur Magennis, were knighted and received gifts from the King. A great dinner followed, to which the lords went in procession with trumpets blowing; and Tyrone carried his own patent. At second course Garter proclaimed the King’s style and that of the new Earl. The herald who tells the story is careful to note that Tyrone gave twenty angels to Garter, 10l. to the College of Arms, and 40s. to the trumpeters, with other fees ‘according to the old and ancient custom.’ Next day Con was taken to pay his respects to the young Prince Edward, and he soon afterwards returned to Ireland.260

      O’Brien created Earl of Thomond. Special remainder. MacWilliam Earl of Clanricarde. Knights.

Murrough O’Brien, his nephew Donough, MacWilliam of Clanricarde, and many other Irish gentlemen of note, went to Court during the summer of 1543. The three first were raised to the peerage in the same place and with the same ceremonies as O’Neill. Murrough O’Brien was created Earl of Thomond, with remainder to Donough, and Baron of Inchiquin in tail male. Donough’s right to succeed as tanist thus received official sanction. Donough was made Baron of Ibracken in tail male, and, curiously enough, the same patent created him Earl of Thomond for life in case he should survive his uncle. MacWilliam was created Earl of Clanricarde and Baron of Dunkellin. The Earls were introduced by Derby and Ormonde, the Barons by Clinton and Mountjoy, and the King gave a gold chain to each. The presence of the Scottish ambassadors, who had just concluded the abortive treaty of marriage between Edward and Mary Stuart, added to the interest of the ceremony; and no doubt Henry was glad to display his magnificence to the representatives of the poor northern kingdom. Macnamara, the most important person in Clare after the O’Briens, was knighted at the same time; as were O’Shaugnessy, chief of the country about Gort, and his neighbour O’Grady. Many other favours were conferred on these reclaimed Irishmen, and they all agreed to hold their lands of the King.261

      The MacDonnells in Antrim.

The relations between England and Scotland were at this time much strained. The miserable and mysterious death of James V. left the northern kingdom a battle-field for contending factions, and the restless Beaton had full scope for his intrigues. The Hebridean settlers on the Ulster coast had always been troublesome, since they were ever ready to sell their swords to the highest bidder; and they now became really important. These settlements originated with the Bysets or Bissets, sometimes called Missets, who were said to be of Greek origin and who accompanied the Conqueror to England. They afterwards settled in Scotland, whence they were expelled in 1242 on suspicion of being concerned in the murder of an Earl of Athole, and condemned to take the cross. Preferring Ireland to Palestine, the exiles bought the island of Rathlin from Richard de Burgo, Earl of Ulster. About the close of the fourteenth century, Margaret, the heiress of the Bysets, married John More MacDonnell, a grandson through his mother of Robert II. of Scotland. This lady is said to have known Richard II. during his second visit to Ireland, and to have recognised him afterwards, crazed and a refugee, in the island of Isla. By Margaret’s marriage the estates of the Bysets passed to the MacDonnells, and a close intercourse was thenceforth kept up between the Western Isles and Antrim, which are never out of sight of one another in clear weather. Matrimonial alliances with O’Neills, O’Donnells, and O’Cahans were frequent, and the islemen established themselves so firmly that Rathlin was as late as 1617 claimed as part of Scotland. It has an assured place in Scottish history; for, among the rocks of black basalt and white chalk which give Rathlin its curious piebald look, stand the ruins of the castle where Robert Bruce is said to have learned the lesson of perseverance from a spider. In Henry VIII.’s time the head of the Irish MacDonnells was Alexander or Alaster, whose influence at Court had been great enough to drive Argyle from the western government, but whose common place of residence was on the shore of Ballycastle Bay. Many other Hebrideans were settled in Antrim, but the MacDonnells were always the leading clan.262

      Contemporary description of them.

John Edgar, a reforming priest of the violent kind which Western Scotland has produced, gave Henry VIII. a graphic account of the islemen in his day. They spent much time in hunting and manly exercises, going barelegged and barefoot though the snow should be waist deep, ‘wherefore the tender and delicate gentlemen of Scotland call us Redshanks.’ Against exceptional frosts they protected themselves with moccasins made of fresh red-deer hide, secured with thongs and full of holes to let the water in and out. The hairy side being exposed gained them the name of ‘rough-footed Scots,’ and the whole description recalls a well-known nursery rhyme. The people of the Irish isles of Arran still use cowhide coverings exactly similar, to protect their feet from the sharp limestone rocks which are too slippery for soled boots. Edgar is careful to mention that the perones worn by the ancient Latines in Virgil were shoes of the same kind. Travers, who saw a great deal of the Hebrideans, was less struck by their poetic aspect, and simply describes them as ‘most vile in their living of any nation next Irishmen.’ ‘Nevertheless,’ says Edgar, who anticipated such criticism, ‘when we Redshanks come to the Court waiting on our lords and masters, who also for velvets and silks be right well arrayed, we have as good garments as some of our fellows which give attendance at Court every day.’ These hardy islanders were in great request as mercenaries even in the South of Ireland, and it was a far cry to Mull or Isla, where, and where only, the English or Irish Government could seriously injure them.263

      Fears of Scotland and France, 1543.

St. Leger was uneasy lest a combined Scotch and French attack should be made on Ireland. Two French ships in company with some Scotch galleys were seen off Carrickfergus. There was an English squadron off Lambay, and its appearance had at first had a good effect, but it could not even guard the sixty miles of water between Howth