or come to them; whereas, if any gentlemen of good minds or calling were in the places of those base men, they would yield the earl assistance in her majesty's service. "4. The earl's foster-brothers, captain Richard and Henry Hovendon, having the leading of 200 footmen upon the earl's charges, overthrew 500 or 600 Spaniards in Tireconnell, and brought all the best of them to the earl (see p. 32), whom he sent to the now lord deputy; but neither they [the Hovendens] nor the earl, had any recompence for that service, or so much as part of the ransom of those prisoners (which was great), they being greatly indebted for the furnishing of their companies at that time. "5. In the late service against Magwire (37), it was promised to the earl that he should be in commission, and he promised the lord chancellor [archbishop Loftus] that he would come with the marshal in that service, without remembering any causes of discord between them, being greatly moved against Magwire in that he brake his word with him. That service cost him near 3,000l. sterling, for which and the loss of his blood he had no thanks, but was called traitor by the lord deputy at his own table; while the marshal (having only her majesty's forces and none of his own) obtained a concordatum of 400%. "6. The earl and marshal encamping in Fermanaghe, the marshal caused a false alarm to be suddenly raised in his camp, in hope to find him unwatchful. "7. When the earl requested but 200 soldiers to enable his company to go upon the borders of Tireconnell to take a prey, the marshal would let him have only 60 or 80 men, the refuse of several companies. The earl, however, set forward, after obtaining the marshal's promise that he would follow next day, and meet the earl's men the second night at 'Le Place,' in Termon Magrath; but the marshal came not until the third or fourth night, wherein he colourably betrayed the earl and all his company, who had to continue in arms day and night until he came (38). "8. After the overthrow given at Beleeke by the earl's means, wherein he himself was sore hurt, the earl wrote to the lord deputy and council of the manner of the service, and showed the letter to the marshal, at whose request he added that both himself and the marshal did kill of the enemies with their own hands, though there was no eye-witness of the marshal's killing any man; but the marshal in his letter made no mention of the earl according to promise (39). "9. In the time of the government of Sir John Perrot, the earl brought unto him, to Drogheda, Sir Rosse McMahon, knight, for defraying of whose charges then, the earl gave his word to the town there for the sum of 1887. ster. The said Sir Rosse had also the earl's daughter to wife, with whom he gave a large portion of his goods in marriage. And the earl having exhibited (37). Against Magwire.-The inhabitants of Fermanagh had led the way in the great uprising, whilst the earl of Tyrone held back so long that he was literally employed for a time to quell the commencement of that revolt, at the head of which he was destined to take his place before many months. In this service against his kinsmen, the Maguires, he got severely wounded; and these native Irish of Ulster, who despised his apparent pusillanimity, were right glad to hear of his wounds. (38). Until he came.-The rising in Fermanagh was encouraged by O'Donnell (Hugh Roe), and, as punishment for so doing, the earl and Bagenall were sent by the government to take a prey' in O'Donnell's country. The treachery of Bagenall at Termonmagrath disgusted the earl, and prepared him to yield the more readily to the native pressure put upon him at the time. (39). To promise. As the earl in this instance had gone further to gratify Bagenall than truth required or permitted, he could not, with a good grace, accuse his brother in arms of deception. complaint hereupon in England, brought direction from thence that the said sum of 1887. ster. as also the goods which he gave with his daughter, might be paid unto the earl out of M'Mahon's country, or else by such to whom the country is fallen; or otherwise that his daughter, in lieu of her marriage goods, should have a third part of that country for her dowry; in neither of all which the earl got satisfaction. And when the country was divided, every peddling merchant, and other men of no account or desert, had a share thereof; and the marshal (who never took pains in the bringing of that country to subjection) had a great part of it almost within some part of the earl's inhabitants [tenants]; and the earl himself, neither for payment of the said debts or for his service done in that country, had any part thereof (40). "10. The lord deputy and marshal are knit together against the earl, and do and have sought his life. They are greatly befriended in court, while the earl himself, since the death of the Earl of Leicester (41), the late Lord Chancellor (42), Sir Francis Walshingham (43), and others of his friends in England, is destitute of friends. Therefore, although for the confidence he has in the Lord Chancellor and Sir Robert Gardiner, and also in Sir Anthony St. Leiger (44) (third now in the (40). Part thereof.-Rosse MacMahon, above named, is stated by the Four Masters to have been the son of Art, who was the son of Brian, nicknamed of the Early Rising,' who was the son of Redmond, who was the son of Glasny. Rosse died in the year 1589. The outlay by the Earl of Tyrone in bringing MacMahon to Dublin was incurred at the time the latter was induced to surrender his country to Elizabeth and receive it again by patent from the Crown. By this process the interest in the lands was drawn to the chief or landlord, and snatched from the members of the clan, who were the real owners. It would appear, on the distribution of MacMahon's lands soon afterwards, that neither the earl nor his daughter got any share as compensation for their claims. His daughter, however, married another MacMahon, named Brian McHugh Oge, who obtained a fragment of the estates, and with him, then an old man, and his moderate means, the lady Mary O'Neill was obliged to be content. The earl himself had owned 16 tates of land in the barony of Trough which were given to John O'Conolan, the renegade parson of Monaltie. See Ulster Inquisitions, Introduction, p. xxx. (41). Leicester.-This friend to the earl died in the year 1588. Robert Dudley was a famous man in his generation, not merely as a favourite of Elizabeth, but as the son of that Duke of Northumberland who was beheaded for proclaiming Lady Jane Grey as queen. He was created Earl of Denbigh on the 28th of September, 1563, and Earl of Leicester on the following day. In 1575, he gave the Queen a memorable entertainment at Kenilworth Castle, which lasted seventeen days, and cost £60,000. Naunton, the author of the Fragmenta Regalia, says of Leicester :-"To take him in the observation of his letters and writings, which should best set him off, for such as have fallen into my hands, I never yet saw a stile or phrase more seemingly religious, and fuller of the straines of devotion; and were they not sincere, I doubt much of his well-being; and I feare he was too well seene in the aphorisms of Nicholas the Florentine, and in the reaches of Cæsar Borgias." See F Lord Somers's Tracts, edited by Sir Walter Scott, vol. i., (42). The late Lord Chancellor.-The earl here refers to the court, that sprung up at night, and sunke again at his noone." See Lord Somers's Tracts, vol. i., p. 270. Hatton was familiarly known as the dancing chancellor. (43). Walshingham.-He was principal Secretary of State, and noted," says Naunton, "to have certain courtesies and secret ways of intelligence above the rest. Both himself and Stafford, that preceded him, might well have been compared to him in the gospel that sowed his tares in the night, so did they their seedes of division in the darke.' Walshingham is further described by a writer in the Biographia Britannica as one who "outdid the Jesuits in their own bow, and overreached them in their own mental reservations. For two pistoles an order he had all the private papers in Europe. Few letters escaped his hand, whose contents he could read, and not touch the seals. He had the wonderful art of weaving plots, in which busy people were so entangled that they could never escape, but were sometimes spared Lord on submission, at others, hanged, for example.' Somers's Tracts, vol. i., p. 264. (44). St. Leiger.-The three persons last named were commissioners who met the rebel Irish lords. commission), he is come to them, nevertheless, the earl will use the best means he can for preserving his life, and will not trust those that seek his death by indirect means; yet he will be true and faithful to her highness. "11. Hugh Roe McMahon succeeding his brother Sir Rosse McMahon by virtue of her majesty's letters patents, and coming to the State [i.e., going to Dublin] upon the word of a nobleman here, and the word also of Henry Moore, deceased, a gentleman of worship, was afterwards executed as a traitor for distraining for his right according to custom (45). "12. The lord deputy sent Humfrey Willis and John Fuller, a couple of base men, with 300 men or more, to invade Fermanagh suddenly, upon pretence that the said Humfrey Willis went thither as a sheriff; whereupon Magwire gathered 600 or 700 men, and besieged them in a church. The earl [of Tyrone] rescued them, and procured licence for them safely to return, with bag and baggage (46). "13. When the lord deputy made a journey into Tireconnell (after the said Hovendons overthrew the Spaniards), Sir Owen O'Toole [O'Gallagher], knight, came to his lordship upon his word, and he promised (as by witness shall be proved) not to take him any farther than Donnigall, being ten miles from the said Sir Owen's house, where the lord deputy then was, which was not performed, for that Sir Owen is detained prisoner ever sithence, though he had done good services. This has made the now O'Donnell to be most fearful (47). 66 14. These dealings have caused the earl to fear his life in coming to the State and to bring in any other. "15. The marshal, unknown to her majesty and the council of England, has procured a commission to end and determine all causes in Ulster, and appointed a chief sergeant to execute (45). To custom.-This affair will be noticed in connection with the MacMahons' statement of grievances. In the meantime, we quote a reference to it as corroborative of the earl's statement :-"When upon the death of a great lord of a country, there hath been another nominated, chosen, and created, he hath been entertained with fair speeches, taken down into his country, and for the offences of other men indictments have been framed against him, whereupon he hath been found guilty, and so lost his life; which hath bred such terror in other great lords of the like measure, as maketh them stand upon those terms which now they do." See A briefe Declaration of the Government of Ireland, by Captain Thomas Lee, 1594. (46). Baggage.-The following reference to this affair is supplied by Captain Thomas Lee-"A great part of that unquietness of O'Donnell's country [Maguire's country], came by Sir William Fitzwilliam his placing of one Wallis there to be sheriff, who had with him 300 of the very rascals and scum of that kingdom, which did rob and spoil that people, ravish their wives and daughters, and made havoc of all; which bred such a discontentment, as that the whole country was up in arms against them, so as if the Earl of Tyrone had not rescued and delivered him and them, out of the country, they had been all put to the sword." (47). Most fearful.-See p. 32. The following is Captain Lee's reflection on this wicked proceeding :-"When there have been means made to an aged gentleman (never traitor against your Majesty, neither he, nor any of his ancestors, and dwelling in one of the remotest parts of your kingdom), to come into your State; and that the hard courses used to others, made him demand security for his coming in, which hath been sent unto him by great oaths and protestations, delivered by the messenger, [the pursuivant Bermyngham], whereof he hath accepted, and thereupon come in; yet notwithstanding all these promised safeties this aged gentleman hath been detained prisoner for six years, and so yet remaineth. And his imprisonment is the only colour to satisfy your majesty for a wonderful great charge, which your majesty and your subjects were then put unto. But his detaining, contrary to promise, hath bred great fear in all, or most of his sort (in those parts) of crediting what your state there [in Ireland] shall promise." all his orders. The earl is not well pleased that the marshal should bear that sway over him (48). "16. Whereas, the late marshal, Sir Nicholas Bagnall, left his daughter, now married to the earl, 1,000l. current money of England for her preferment, the present marshal sithence the said marriage, being two years and upwards, wrongfully detains and withholds the said sum (49). "17. Finally, forasmuch as neither the earl himself nor any the inhabitants of his country can abide or digest the said malicious practices against him, insomuch as the chiefest in his country were ready to tear him (50) for his coming in to your honours, he therefore humbly prays that it would please her highness to remove those base, covetous, cowardly persons that only seek his overthrow. (Signed), HUGH TIRONE." "These articles were delivered to us, the commissioners, the 14th day of March, 1593, by the Earl of Tyrone. Ad. Dublin, canc., Robert Gardiner, Anthony St. Leiger." Carew MSS, third series, pp. 145-151. Next to O'Neill in importance as a 'rebel' was Hugh Roe O'Donnell, who had not long before made his escape from a dungeon in Dublin, and who now came forward with a statement of his grievances, in substance as follows: "1. It is well-known that O'Donnell's predecessors were always faithful subjects [to the (48). Sway over him.-The infamy of this tribunal—an abuse of the court-martial-set up by Bagenall, is illus trated by the following passage from Captain Lee's admirable tract:- "When some one who hath been a bad member (pardoned by your majesty) hath heard himself exclaimed against to be a notable thief after his pardon; and hath simply come in without any bonds, or any other enforcement, to an open session, to take his trial, by your majesty's laws, if any could accuse him : notwithstanding his coming in after this manner, and without any trial at the time (because he was a bad man in times past), there hath been order given in that session for the execution of him ; and so he has lost his life, to the great dishonour of your majesty, and discredit of your laws. There have been also divers others pardoned by your majesty, who have been held very dangerous men, and after their pardon have lived very dutifully, and done your majesty great service, and many of them have lost their lives therein; yet upon small suggestions to the lord deputy, that they should be spoilers of your majesty's subjects, notwithstanding their pardon, there have been bonds demanded of them for their appearance at the next sessions. They knowing themselves guiltless, have most willingly entered into bonds, and appeared, and there (no matter being found to charge them), they have been arraigned only for being in company with some one of your highness's servitors, at the killing of notorious known traitors; and for that only have been condemned of treason and lost their lives. And this dishonest practice hath been by consent of your deputies." (49). The said sum.-Respecting the Earl of Tyrone's marriage with Mabel Bagenall, the reader may find many curious details in the Journal of the Kilkenny Archaol. Society, new series, vol. i., pp. 298-309; Meehan's Franciscan Monasteries, pp. 30-32; Hill's Historical Account of the Macdonnells of Antrim, pp. 212, 213. (50). Ready to tear him.-This state of affairs in which the earl was literally placed between two fires, was brought on sooner than it might otherwise have occurred, by his own act of going forth with Bagenall to quell the beginnings of the insurrection in Fermanagh and Donegal. (see p. 40). On his return from that campaign, in which he inflicted a severe defeat on his friends the O'Donnells and Maguires, at Beleek, he found all his immediate kinsmen not only in a white heat of rage, but literally in arms, because of his vacillating conduct. His nephew Brian, son of his brother Art O'Neill, of Oneilan, in Armagh, had, in the meantime aroused nearly the whole province, and could have played the part of The O'Neill in a style superior to any member of the clan then alive. The O'Donnells, O'Doghertys, and MacSwynes, were already up in Donegal or Tirconnell; Cormac O'Neill, the earl's brother; Con, his illegitimate son; Henry Oge O'Neill, his son-in-law; Arthur and Cormac, the sons of Tirlagh Luineach; together with the O'Hagans, the Donnellys, and the O'Quinns were all ready in Tyrone. The leading Macmahons stood to their arms in Monaghan ; whilst in Armagh, the O'Neills of the Fews, headed by Tirlagh McHenry, the earl's half-brother; the O'Neills, of Clanbrazill and Oneilan, the Macans of Clancann, and the O'Hanlons of Orior, were mustering their hosts for the war. The O'Reillys of Cavan, jealous of the Maguires, hung fire for a time, but soon exploded like their neighbours. The Macdonnells of the Route and Glynns were devoted to the earl, whilst any doubtful parties in Ulster had a visit from Brian MacArt, who soon brought them to the test. On this mission, he required to visit the O'Neills of Upper and Lower Clannaboy, the O'Neills in the Dufferin, the O'Neills of Killultagh, and the Magennises of Kilwarlin; where he dwelt for a time among the creaghts of the several districts, and soon convinced them of the necessity for going to war. English]. (See p. 18). His father overthrew Shane O'Neile at Farsitmore, and killed and drowned 1,700 of his forces, thus forcing him to fly for refuge to the Scots, by whom he was betrayed and so lost his life (51). "2. In the rebellion of the late Earl of Desmond, Sir Turlaghe Lenaghe, the late O'Neale, sought by bribery to induce O'Donnell to join with him against her Majesty, and take part with the earl [of Desmond] that he might not be banished, which O'Donnell refused to do (52); though the reward that O'Donnell had for these and many other services was that Sir John Perrott, in the time of his government, sent Captain Boyne [Bowen] with 150 soldiers into Tireconnell under colour to help O'Donnell to set the country in good civility, to whom O'Donnell gave divers pledges, and four of the best towns for relief of his forces; but he [Bowen] not only took ransom for the pledges and sent some of them to Dublin, but also surrendered the same towns to a supposed base son of Callough [Calvagh] O'Donnell, named Hugh, the son of the dean of Galchoule [O'Gallagher], an utter enemy of O'Donnell. By this indirect dealing Tyrconnell grew then in uproar against O'Donnell, and was utterly wasted (53). "3. The said Lord Deputy Perrott, desiring to suppress the same O'Donnell, did countenance the said Dean O'Galcoule's [O'Gallagher's] son against O'Donnell, and sent his letters of special favour with him to her Majesty, from whom he obtained a yearly pension. By O'Donnell's (51). Lost his life.-The statement here made by Hugh Roe respecting the loyalty of the O'Donnells to the government was amply borne out by well-known facts. Captain Lee, who knew all about the political movements in Ulster, confirms this statement in the following terms:-"And one special matter more is to be thought upon, where your Majesty, in all the wars of Shane O'Neale, had Tyrconnel faithful and ready to do your Highness service, and to assist your soldiers, giving the traitor many overthrows (being then an utter enemy to all the Neals); now it is not so, for O'Donnell [Hugh Roe] is married to the Earl of Tyrone's daughter, and is thereby so linked to him, that no place of succour is left to your Majesty's forces in all the north; for Sir John O'Dogherty, who was well affected to your Majesty's service, is now held under O'Donnell, so as no aid is to be expected from him. This poor gentleman hath been hardly used on both sides; first by Sir William Fitzwilliam, who imprisoned him in hope to have some Spanish gold; and now by O'Donnell, because he shall not in these troubles annoy him." The battle of Farsitmore, at which the O'Donnells defeated Shane O'Neill, is described in the following terms in the Book of Howth:-"He [Shane] went with a great power upon O'Donyll to Teyreconell, and after great harms done there, this O'Neyll camped be-west the river Lough Foyll in A'Donyll's country, and might have comen over the water before. And upon the sudden O'Donyll set upon A'Neyll, and fought with his men, that with very force he dryve them to take the river, and there was drowned. At this time the sea was in; and O'Neyll, with seven horsemen, fled towards a ford that was besouth his camp, and so saved himself. And after, for very necessity of men of war to maintain his wars, he made his combination with the Scots, who traitorously slew him in their camp; whose head was brought and put upon the castle of Dublin. Calendar of Carew MSS., fifth series, pp. 208, 209. (52). Refused to do.-This attempted seduction of the O'Donnells by Tirlagh Luineach occurred in 1579. In the December of that year the lord justice wrote to the council in England, stating that "Desmond had daily messengers with Turlough Lenough," and that the latter was procuring Scots to go to Munster." The Book of Howth describes Turlough Luineach at this time as 66 not to be trusted, for he killed his own brother, and in his drunkenness slew three of the best captains of the Galloglas he had, by reason whereof all the Galloglas refused him, by reason whereof he became unable to the wars that he would." Ibid., p. 209. (53). Utterly wasted.-For the settlement of these commotions an indenture was entered into between Sir John Perrott and Sir Hugh O'Donnell in the following terms:-"Whereas, the said Sir Hugh, by his indenture dated at the camp, near Dunluce, the 20th Sept., 1584, did covenant to find and maintain in Tyrconnell 200 footmen; and whereas he seemeth to be grieved with the disorder of such soldiers as were laid upon him, the Lord Deputy and council are content to receive of him, for the year past, 700 good, fat, and large beeves to be delivered at Sligo, and afterwards yearly at Kells, co. Meath. Hugh also covenants to deliver to the castle of Dublin, his son Rowry O'Donnell, McSwyne Fanad's eldest son, and McSwyne na Doe's eldest son, as pledges; and to satisfy all controversies between him and William Bowen, and between the said Sir Hugh and one Hugh O'Donnell otherwise McEdegan [son of the Dean], and Sir John O'Dogherty, or any others." Calendar of Carew MSS., second series, pp. 444, 445. Sir |