conviction, if not to the satisfaction of the lords and chiefs of Thomond, lately annexed to the Presidency of Connaught by the name of the county Clare, that the main cause of their troubles was the uncertain grant and possession of their lands. He had brought them, therefore, he says in his letter, to agree to surrender all their lands, and take it of her Highness the Queen, again, and yield both rent and service. The evils attendant on the system of cuttings and cessings, exactions made by the chieftains under pretence of defending the people, were enlarged upon in a commission now issued, and the commissioners began their work with the county of " Clare and Thomond." Then followed the districts within the newly-created county of Galway, and "Indentures of Composition" were entered into for these territories. The nature of this Indenture appears from the following extract from the Four Masters.2 "The governor of the province of Connaught with a number of other men of distinction, and of the council of Dublin, went to the province of Connaught, to hold in the first place a session in the monastery of Ennis, in the county of Clare. Here they enacted universal ordinances, namely:-that ten shillings should be paid to the queen for every quarter of land in the country, as well ecclesiastical as lay lands, except the liberties which they themselves consented to grant to the gentlemen of the country; and that over and above the queen's rent, five shillings should be paid to the Lord of Thomond for every quarter of land free and unfree,3 in the whole country except the liberties and church lands. They took from the Earl of Thomond the district of Kenel-Fearmaie ["barony of Inchiquin,"] which had been heretofore under tribute to his ancestors, and gave the Lordship of it to the Baron of Inchiquin, Morrough the son of Murrough, son of Dermot O'Brien. It was also ordained and decreed that Turlough the son of Donnell, son of Connor O'Brien, should have the rents and court of Corcomroe, the Castle of Dumhach, in succession to his father, to whom it had first been given out of the Lordship of Thomond, by the Earl of Thomond, namely Connor the son of Donough O'Brien. They deprived of title and tribute, every head 1 Cox, Hib. Angl. See these indentures in Hardiman's edition of O'Flaherty's Description of Jar Connaught, pp. 309-362. The recital of the parties to the indenture about to be made contains the following list of the leading families of the County Clare at this period :— "Indenture made betwixt the Rt. Hon. Sir John Perrott, Knight, &c., of the one part, and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, chieftains, gentlemen, &c., of that part of the Province of Connaught called Thomond, that is to say, Donogh, Earl of Thomond, Morrogh, Lord Baron of Inchiquin; the Reverend Father in God, Mauricius, Bishop of Killaloe; Daniel, elect Bishop of Kylfinoraghe; Donogh O'Hiran, Dean of Killaloe; Daniel Shennagh, Dean of Killfinoragh; Denis, Archdeacon of the same; Sir Edward Waterhouse, of Downasse, Knight; Sir Torlogh O'Brien, of Ennistevey (Innistymon), Knight; John Macnamara, of Knappock, otherwise called Macnamara of West Glancuilen; Donald Reagh Macnamara, of East Glancuilen; Teige Mac Mahon, of Clonderalaw, otherwise called MacMahon of Castle Corrovaskin; Torlogh MacMahon, of Moyasta, chief of his name in West Corcovaskin; Moriertagh O'Brien, of Dromleyne Glu; Mahowne O'Brien, of Clondewan (Clonoon) gen. ; Owny O'Louglin, of the Greggans, otherwise called O'Loughlin; Rosse O'Loughlin, of Glan Columkille, tanist to the same O'Loughlin; Mohme and Dermod O'Dea, of Tullyadea, chiefs of their names; Conor MacGilreogho (Gallery) of Cragboren, chief of his name; Torlogh MacTeige O'Brien, of Beallacorriga, gen.; Luke Bradey, son and heir of the late Bishop of Meath; Edward White, of the Cralletagh, gen.; George Cusacke, of Dromoglen, gen.; Boethius Clancy, of Knockfinny, gen. ; John MacNamara, of the Moetullen, gen.; Henry O'Grady, of the Island of Inchicronan, gen. ; Donogh MacClanchy, of the Urlion, chief of his name; Donogh Yarrav O'Brien, of Ballycessy, gen.; Conor O'Brien, of Curharcercae (Cahercorcran), gen. ; and George Fanning, of Limerick, merchant, of the other part." 2 O'Donovan's Translation, ad. an. 1585. • 3 See O'Donovan for the meaning of this expression. or chief of a sept, and every other Lord of a triocha-ched (barony) throughout the whole county, with the exception of John MacNamara, Lord of the western part of the district of Clann-Coilein, who did not subscribe his signature to this ordinance of theirs. They made similar compositions in the counties of Galway, Roscommon, Mayo and Sligo." Such was the manner in which the settlement of Thomond was effected.1 About this time lived Richard Creagh, an illustrious native of the city of 1 This composition was signed by Murrogh and Murtagh, the last king of Thomond, by the former in person, by the latter through his nephew and representative, Sir Turlogh of Ennistymond. The majority of the chiefs, it may be presumed, yielded a reluctant acquiescence to this settlement. 2 We extract an account of his life and actions from the White MSS. :THE LIFE OF RICHARD CREAGH, PRIMATE OF ARMAGH. 1585. This great and illustrious Prelate and Primate of Ireland, was born in the City of Limerick, of honest and industrious parents. His father was Nicholas Creagh, a merchant, and his mother's name was Joan White; in his youth he was bound apprentice to a grocer, which calling, as he did not like, it being exposed to commit frauds, he soon obtained his indentures, and applied himself closely to his studies, in which he made a great proficiency. He then went to Louvain, where he studied philosophy and divinity, and argued being made a Bachelor. Being promoted, he returned to his native country and city, where he laboured indefatigably by his private teachings, his public sermons, and by his instructing the children and the ignorant in the rudiments of the faith. After thus exerting himself for some time in the mission, he again went abroad, as well to perfect himself more in his learning, as to embrace a more austere and religious life, for which purpose he went to Rome, but was forbid by Pope Pius V. to become a Regular until His Holiness's will was further signified to him, for the Pope designed him for filling the see of Armagh, then vacant by the death of George Dowdall, Archbishop, which he accordingly did; and as soon as Richard was consecrated he repaired to Ireland [Dowdall died in June, 1558-Ware], where in a short time after his landing, he was taken and confined in Dublin. After being some time in fetters, he, together with his keeper, made their escape, and he again retired to foreign countries, where, after breathing a little liberty, and understanding that it was the will of his Holiness that he should again return to the mission of Ireland, he accordingly did so, and there, for a while, he most strenuously laboured for the edification of his flock, until he was again taken and brought to Dublin, where he was arraigned for being a transgressor of the law and a breaker of the jail. He justified himself with great presence of mind, acknowledged himself to be a Catholic Prelate, but denied his breaking the jail, whereas his keeper made off along with him. The judge made a malevolent charge to the jury against him-the jury, according to custom, were locked up, but disagreeing to their verdict, they continued some days shut up, living on bread and water, and at length brought him not guilty; the jury thereupon were imprisoned and fined. The Prelate was transmitted to England, and fettered in a nauseous dark dungeon of the Tower of London; he was allowed no more light than what served him to eat his victuals by, but which he served to say his office with, and he likewise contrived to save the fat of his victuals, and with a rag to make a kind of a candle whereby to have light to say his office. He was at length brought out of this dark dungeon, and lodged in a more lightsome apartment of the Tower. It was during his abode here that the new Bishops appointed by Queen Elizabeth to fill the sees of England, not being able to find any Catholic Bishop to give them consecration, had resource to Archbishop Creagh in the Tower; for that purpose they therefore invited him to a neighbouring tavern; they flattered and caressed him; they offered him his liberty, the choicest church livings, the Queen's favor, and the highest bribes, if he would but consent to consecrate them; but all their offers were in vain ; he would not betray the trust reposed in him, nor give the bread of the children to Ward, in his cantos, thus satirically relates this passage : * "The good Armagh, in pious rage, Some time after this affair with Parker and his fellow Bishops, a trifling passage put it in our This answer given by Ward may be contested by many circumstances, one of which is, that Pius V. was not Pope in 1559, the year of Parker's appointment.-Note by Dr. Young, Catholic Bishop of Limerick. Limerick. Archbishop Creagh was the relative of Dr. Thomas Arthur, who gives in his MSS. a copy of the Archbishop's Bull of consecration.1 Prelate's mind to contrive his escape: a small bird came into his room, and as it were to show him, there began to prepare itself for flight, by composing its wings, stretching them, then flying from place to place, until at last it flew out. The Prelate thereat being inwardly moved, now found that he perhaps might also escape; he threw himself on his knees, he begged God to drive that distraction out of his mind; the same notion of escaping still returned to him-he packed up what little clothes he had; he returned to prayers; in short, he continued in a kind of anxiety and uneasiness of mind for some days—his nights were disturbed with visions in his sleep; he could not expel the thoughts of procuring his escape, and as if he was inwardly moved thereto, in Easter week, he goes to the prison door, which he finds open; he looks about him, and saw Copia Vera Bullæ qua Richardus Crevagh, Limericensis Sacerdos Assumptus est ad Archiepiscopatum Ardmachanum totiusque Hiberniæ Primatum. Pius Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei delicto filio Richardo Creuoch lecto Ardmichano Salutem et Apostolicam benedictionem. Divina disponente clementia cuius inscrutabile providentia ordinationem suscipuit universa ad apostolicæ dignitatis apicem sublimitati ad universas orbis ecclesias aciem nostræ considerationis extendimus et pro earum etatu salubriter dirigendo apostolice favoris auxilium adhibemus sed de illis propensius cogitare nos convenit, quas propriis carere pastoribus intuemur ut eis juxta cor nostrum pastores præficiantur idonei qui comisos sibi populos per suam circumspectionem providam et providentiam circumspectam salubriter dirigant et informent acEcclesiarum ipsarum bona non solum gubernant utiliter sed etiam multis modis afferant incrementis. Dudum siquidem provisiones Ecclesiarum omnium tunc vacantium et in antea vaciturarum ordinationi et dispositioni nostræ reservavimus. Decernentes ex tunc irritum et inane si secus super his per quosqunque gravis authoritate scienter vel ignoranter contigeret attemptari. Et deinde Ecclesia Ardmachana cui bonæ memoriæ Donatus Mac Teige Archiepiscopus Ardmachanus dum viverat præsidebat per obitum ejusdem Donati Archiepiscopi qui extra Romanam Curiam debitum naturæ persolvit pastoris solatio destituta. Nos vacationem hujusmodi fide diginis relatibus intellecta ad provisionem eiusdem ecclesiæ celerem et fælicem de qua nullus præter nos hac vice se intromittere potuit sive potest reservatione et decreto desistentibus supradictis ne ecclesia ipsa longæ vacationis exponatur incommodis paternis et solicitis studiis intendentes post deliberationem quam de præficiendo eidem ecclesiæ personam utilem et etiam fructuosam suis fratribus nostris habuimus diligentem Demum ad te Presbyterii Limericensis diocesis Baccalareum in Theologia de legitimo matrimonio procreatum et in ætate legitima constitutum vitæ ac morum honestate decorum in spiritualitus providum et temporalibus circumspectum alijsque multiplicum virtutum donis prout etiam fide dignorum testimoniis accepimus insignatum direximus oculos nostræ mentis. Quibus omnibus debita meditatione pensatis te a quibusvis ex communicationis suspensionis et interdicti alliisque ecclesiasticis sententiis, censuris et pænis a jure vel ab homine quamvis occasionem vel carisæ latissi quibus quomodo libet innodatus existis ad effectum præsentium duntaxat consequentum harum serie absolventes et absolutum fore consentes, De persona tua nobis et eisdem fratribus nostris ob tuorum exigentiam meritorum accepta, eidem ecclesiæ cuius Præsul pro tempore existens Primas totius Hiberniæ esse dignoscitur. De ipsorum fratrum consilio apostolica authoritate providemus teque illi in Archiæpiscopo preficimus et pastorem, curam et administratrionem ipsius ecclesiæ tibi in spiritualibus et temporalibus plenarie committendo in illo qui dat gratias et largitur præmia confidentes quod dirigente Domino actus tuas prefata ecclesia sub tuo fælice regimine regetur utiliter et prospere dirigetur et grata in eisdem spiritualibus et temporalibus suscipiet incrementa. Jugum igitur Domini tuis impositum humeris prompta devotione suscipiens curam et administrationem prædictas sic exercere studeas solicite fideliter et prudenter quod ecclesia ipsa gubernatori provido et fructuoso administratore gaudeat se commissam tuque præter æternæ retributionis premium, nostram et apostolice sedis benedictionem et gratiam exinde uberius consequi merearis. Quocirca venerabilibus fratribus nostris suffraganeis et Dillectis filiis capitulo et vassalis dictæ ecclesiæ ac clero et populo civitatis et Diæcesis Ardmachanæ per appostolicæ scripta mandamus et suffraganei tibi tanquam membra capiti obsequentes et capitulum tibi tanquam patri et pastori animarum suarum humiliter intendentes exhibeant tibi obedientiam et reverentiam delitas ac devotas. Ita quod mutua inteste et ipsos suffraganeos gratia gratos sortiatur effectus et nos æorum devotionem possimus propterea in domino commendare, ac clerus te pro nostra et sedis prædictæ reverenter benigne recipientes et honorifice pertractantes tua salubria monita et mandata suscipiant humiliter et efficaciter adimplere procuret; Populus vero te tanquam patrem et pastorem animarum suarum devote suscipientes ac debita honoroficientia prosequentes tuis monitis et mandatis salubribus humiliter intendant. Ita quod tu in eos devotionis filios et ipsi in te per consequentes patrem benevolum invenisse gaudeatis. Vassali autem præfati te debito honore prosequentes tibi fidelitatem solitam rec non consueta sevitia et jura tibi ab eis debita integre exhibere procurent Alioquin sententiam sive pæna quam respective in rebelles rite tuleris sive statueris ratam habebimus et faciemus auctore Domino usque ad satisfactionem condignam inviolabiliter observari. Datum Romæ apud Sanctum Petrum anno incarnationis Dominica 1564. Unedecimo Kalend. Aprilis Pontificatus nostri anno quinto. Cæ. Glorierius. Se Cæ. tan, Secretarius Apticus Glorierius. fr. De fforida. Maurice Kenrichy of Kilmallock, a great supporter of the unfortunate Earl of Desmond, was another celebrated priest in these days of trouble and disaster, of which the general character is well indicated in such notices of every passage open before him; he returns again, and had resource to prayers; at length he took his clothes, which he had packed up under his arm; he goes out through a passage before unknown to him, and passes through six gates, all of which he found open, until he came to the outward gate, where there was a guard of soldiers; he was asked by them if he had the marks, for that it seems was the watch now; he, not understanding what they meant, was silent, upon which one of the soldiers prudentially said drily, "you see he has his clothes under his arm;" they thereupon asked him who he was. He confidently answered, he belonged to a great Lord (for there were some lords confined in the Tower); the soldiers said, they would bring him before a proper person to know the truth; he answered, he could prove what he said before any one; they thereupon dismissed him. He afterwards for three days strolled through London without knowing any one; as he passed along he often heard the Irish people talk of the Irish Bishop with the grey beard who escaped out of the Tower; he even frequently met those who were in search for him, and with his very keeper, who was so blinded as not to know him. He agreed with the master of a ship for his passage to Flanders, but the master, as well as all his crew, were Presbyterians, and when they were just ready to sail, the Queen's officers came aboard, and put them all to their oath to tell if the old Irish Archbishop was aboard; they all swore he was not, for that they had no passenger but a young Frenchman, for such they mistook him to be. When they were to sail from the English coast one of the sailors discovered his breviary, and the men were intent upon turning back in order to get the 300 ducats which were offered for taking him, but the winds immediately began to blow so hard against them, and so fair for Flanders, they were obliged to steer thither, where our Prelate safely landed. He continued in these Catholic countries for some time; but it being intimated to him that it was the Pope's will he again should return to Ireland, he readily obeyed, and when he arrived in that country he went there warmly exerted himself, not only in the cure of his flock at Armagh, but also in his assiduity in visiting all other parts of the kingdom, then in the greatest confusion on account of the wars which then raged, and that by the violent persecution most of the dioceses were deprived of their Catholic Pastors. He was engaged in an unfortunate dispute with the O'Neil, Earl of Tyrone, who then at the head of the Ulster Irish waged war against the Queen. It seems that O'Neil unjustly seized and possessed many Church lands, which he turned to his own account, and likewise gave an unbridled liberty to his soldiers to plunder and ill-use ecclesiastics who came in his way. The Primate often laid these grievances before O'Neil, but instead of redress he met with insults and ill-usage from him. He used all possible means to reclaim O'Neil, but all was to no purpose; wherefore he was under a necessity of excommunicating him. But O'Neil laid but little stress on his censures, which proved unlucky to O'Neil, for from that time forth none of his proceedings were attended with success. This Prelate was at length taken the third time, sent to Dublin a prisoner, where he lay confined, and from Dublin was again transmitted to London, and was shut up in the Tower, where he remained for many years, consoling his fellow sufferers wherever he got liberty to see them, employing all vacant hours at prayers, dispersing through the city salutary letters to confirm the Catholics in their faith, and exhorting them to abstain from resorting to the Protestant churches which the laws urged them to. He and other Catholic prisoners were once compelled by the Lord Lieutenant of the Tower to hear a minister preach in the chapel of the Tower, who in his sermon greatly inveighed against the Catholics; but Bishop Creagh on the spot stopped the preacher short, and began to confute his doctrine, but his mouth was firmly shut with bands, and he was brought back to his dungeon. A malicious accusation, which was framed against him, gave the Prelate a great deal of uneasiness. This was framed against him by one of the keepers, who alleged the Bishop ravished his daughter. He was obliged to stand his trial for it at Westminster, yet notwithstanding the virulence of the accusers, the jury brought in a verdict of his innocence-even the very girl publicly acknowledged the bribe she received for accusing him. He at length, after a tedious confinement, or rather a long martyrdom, finished his days in the Tower in the year 1585. There are some who say that the keepers of the Tower, being tired of his long confinement, and the expenses of his support, poisoned him with a piece of cheese which one of them reached him, and which he ate suspecting no fraud; when he was, for some time, tormented with violent inward cuttings, he sent his urine by a boy to one Archow, a Catholic physician, who, as soon as he saw it, cried out, "The Irish Bishop is poisoned beyond all remedy." Perceiving his weakness to increase, and his end to approach, he sent to a neighbouring dungeon for one father P. Criton, of the Society of Jesus, detained likewise a prisoner there for the faith, who, having received his confession, and performed every other necessary which the place and circumstances would admit of, he never parted from him till the holy Prelate expired, the 14th October, 1585. It is said that the place in Connaught in which he was taken never since produced either grass or corn, and that when in the Tower he was closely manacled, yet when he was desirous of either erecting or opening his window for air, that his fetters would so far loosen as was necessary for what he wanted to do. Amongst other works of his, he wrote these books-viz., on the Origin of the Irish Language-on Controversy of Faith against Heretics a Chronicle of Ireland and an Irish Catechism. His catechism was published in 1560 (Dr. Young's note). He cotemporary events as the following four entries in the chronicles of the times : 1584. Thady Clanchy of Ballyrobert, in the county of Limerick, was for the faith put to death, 15th September-remarkable for his piety.-Analecta. 1588. Dermot Mulroony, or Moroney, a native of the county of Clare, and son of the Franciscan Convent of Limerick, was taken at Galbally, and obtained from Gregory XIII. a yearly subsidy for supporting Irish students for the mission, and was very intent on encouraging the Jesuits to come to Ireland. He was buried in the Tower of London. So far we quote from the White MSS. While our illustrious Archbishop lay a prisoner in the Tower of London, he underwent a series of interrogations at the hands of Sir William Cecil, as to his going to Rome, and as to the English and Irish subjects who were acquainted with his movements. In Shirley's Original Letters there is a copy of the examination taken from the holograph of Sir William Cecil. The Archbishop gave an account of those with whom he was acquainted, and whom he met in Rome, including Murtough and Donough O'Brien, scholars, Dermod O'Thady, Conor og, Owen Myers, &c. Whilst he was in Rome he was succored by the Pope, both in meat, drink, and house rent, because he was sent thither by the Pope's command, which he was bound to obey by an oath taken when a student in Louvain. On being questioned as to how many English, Irish, and others, he made privy to the cause of his return into Ireland, he replied, that with the exception of an English Jesuit, who was at Dellingen, near Augsburgh, and two friars of St. Francis, an English and an Irishman, whom he met at Antwerp, and one Doctor Clement, who lived in that city, no one knew of the circumstance. Some young Irish scholars had heard in Louvain, perhaps from persons who had come from Rome, of his appointment to the Archbishopric of Armagh. He said that he had spent a portion of his time in merchandise, which was true,that he carried a letter from the Pope to Shane O'Neil,-that he did not endeavour to procure the Bishopric of Down and Connor for Shane's brother, a young man of twenty-three years of age, and unlearned,—that he was aware the Queen only could found a university,-that he was anxious to convert those who were given to all kinds of iniquities, to murders, &c. He stated that he lost part of a ship, esteemed to be worth nine thousand ducats, by the French gallies in the war in King Henry's time, and that a sum of £32 was taken from his brother by the searcher of Dover when he was going with the money to Louvain, to pay for his (the Archbishop's) school expenses, &c. &c. This examination was taken on the 22nd of February, 1564-5, and on the 17th of March in the same year, another examination was taken by Richard Ousley, Recorder of London, and Thomas Wilson, Master of St. Katharine's Hospital, which is also given in Shirley's Original Letters. In this examination he stated that David Wolfe, a fellow citizen of Limerick, was the Pope's nuncio-that Wolfe was a professed Jesuit-that he had lived in Rome about eight years-that he was sent from Rome, by obedience, to Ireland, to see what Bishops did duties in this country, what sees were void, and that he himself had been most commonly in the Bishopric of Limerick, and had taught children there. His introduction to the nuncio arose from the fact that the nuncio had heard he was learned--that he so required him to go to Rome, and take upon him the Archbishopric of Cashel, and afterwards the Archbishopric of Armagh being void before his departure, the nuncio charged him to go to Rome for the Archbishopric of Cashel or Armagh, which he could not refuse, because when a bachelor of divinity in Louvain he swore obedience to the Pope, and therefore durst not disobey the nuncio. He stated that the nuncio gave him a letter to Cardinal Morone-that on his coming to Rome he delivered his letters to the superior of the Jesuits, he desiring to enter religion, but he was commanded shortly after by Cardinal Gonzage, who was acting in the place of Cardinal Morone, then at the Council of Trent, that he should not enter into religion till he had known the Pope's pleasure. In answer to further questions, he stated that when he was leaving Ireland the nuncio gave him forty crowns-that the Bishop of Limerick (Hugh Lacy) gave him twelve marks, "the which 12 markes he had as an exibion for his fyndy'g there," and twenty crowns he had of his own, and more he had not by credit or otherwise. On being questioned where the nuncio most commonly kept in Ireland, he stated that he had secretly come to Limerick, and had been the last summer with Shane O'Neil in Tyrone, as he heard, and that the letters he received were delivered to him in Limerick, in the presence of a Priest called Sir Thomas Molam. He stated further that he went out of Ireland two years before-that he came to Rome in January-that in February he was commanded not to enter into religion, and that afterwards he was charged upon the Pope's curse, not to refuse the Archbishopric of Armagh, and about Easter, twelve months after, he was consecrated by Lomelinus (Beneditto Lomellino of Genoa, born 1517, Clerk of the Apostolic Chamber, Bishop successively of Anagui, Vintimiglia, Luni, and Sarzana, and afterwards Cardinal, died in 1579), and another Bishop, in the Pope's chapel, and so came from Rome in July last past. He repeated that while in Rome the Pope bore all his expenses after he had warning not to enter religion, and had daily meat, drink, and wine, for himself and his servant at the Pope's cost-paying for his house room six crowns by the month, having had at various times from the Pope 700 crowns, of which he had 300 crowns from the Pope when leaving Rome, and 100 crowns from the nuncio-he had apparel of three |