ported by the money of foreign princes, delighting in intrigue, unscrupulous as to the means employed, and reckless of consequences, they were found wherever they hoped to be able to carry out a scheme for the overthrow of the English Govern

ment.

For a time their machinations produced little fruit. The Irish chiefs were so intimidated and humbled by the defeats they had recently experienced, that they were not now disposed to listen to the counsels of those who encouraged them to rebellion. Of late Henry had been rapidly rising in the estimation of the native nobility and gentry; and as they expected, no doubt, to obtain a goodly portion of the spoil,' they offered no opposition to the additional arrangements now made for the suppression of the monasteries. The wealth of the religious houses was a tempting bait; as, according to calculations which have been instituted, in this reign one half of the entire tithes of Ireland were in the possession of these establishments.2 In 1542 an Act of the legislature placed their property in the hands of the King. The heads of the principal houses received handsome pensions. The Prior of Kilmainham was secured an income of £500 per annum1-a sum equal to the salary long paid to the Irish Viceroy. Provision was also made in some cases for the support of the ordinary members of the extinguished fraternities.5

3

Though in the reign of Henry VIII. the doctrine of the royal supremacy was at length so generally accepted in Ireland, very little progress was made in the way of religious reformation. Archbishop Browne published for the use of his clergy a Form of Prayer in English containing petitions for the Catholic Church, the King, and some others, which were to be taught to the people. Translations into English of the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments, were also put into circulation. But the Mass

1 See Haverty, p. 372.

2 See Essays on the Irish Church, pp. 226-8. Oxford and London, 1866.

3 33rd of Henry VIII., sess. 2, chap. v.

4 Richey's Lectures, Second series, p. 148.

5 Ibid., Second series, pp. 147-8.

• King, ii. 698.

Ibid., ii. 700.

was still used in the Latin tongue; and with the exception of the recognition of the Papal Supremacy all the other leading peculiarities of Romanism were retained.1 Even the translations into English of the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Commandments, were of no service to a people who could not read, and more than nine-tenths of whom understood nothing but Irish.

It has often been observed that no blood was shed in Ireland on account of religion during the whole of the reign of Henry VIII. This fact, however, does not prove that a tolerant spirit now predominated. It rather indicates that there was at this time in the country very little enlightened and earnest Protestantism. We have no evidence that, at the death of this monarch, there was even one intelligent professor of the Reformed faith in all Ulster, Connaught, or Munster. The multitude were sunk in superstition; and those who moved in a higher sphere did not rightly appreciate the doctrines which were creating such excitement elsewhere. Had there been many to protest against the royal supremacy, or to deny transubstantiation, the Irish annals of this period would certainly not have been blank in the department of martyrology. The Act for the establishment of the King's title, as Head on earth of the Church, produced no change otherwise in the accustomed worship; and it is a singular fact that it led, not to the decrease, but to the extension of English influence. The very year before Henry's death the Irish chiefs addressed to him a letter in which they bear a remarkable testimony to the state of the island. "We acknowledge," say they, "that there lives not in Ireland any, were he of the age of Nestor, who has seen the country in a more peaceful condition; and although we who have hitherto by distinction been usually called Irish, do not as yet answer to right and

1 "Henry," says Brenan, was a schismatic; but there is no proof that he was ever a heretic."-Ecc. Hist., p. 396.

2 Haverty, p. 367. The exceptions cited by this writer apparently are not so, properly. Travers seems to have suffered for his complicity in the rebellion of Lord Thomas Fitzgerald. About the time of the suppression of the monasteries some of the monks exposed themselves to the charge of sedition.

VOL. I.

A A

law as exactly as the others, who from their cradles and earliest infancy have been well educated in the same; nevertheless, with our utmost efforts we strive to attain unto them, and we call God to witness that we acknowledge no other King or Lord on earth except your Majesty."1

1 State Papers, Ireland, vol. ii., part iii., p. 562.

CHAPTER II.

THE REIGNS OF EDWARD VI. AND MARY.1

A.D. 1547 TO A.D. 1558.

THE Reformation, properly so called, can scarcely be said to have made any progress in Ireland in the reign of Henry VIII. Though that monarch repudiated the dogma of the papal supremacy, he continued, as we have seen, till his death to adhere to almost all the other errors of Romanism; and those who ventured to deviate from his creed, could not reckon even on toleration. In the reign of his son and successor Edward VI., some important movements were made in the way of improvement; but the youth of the sovereign, his premature demise, the unsettled state of public affairs, and the want of evangelical preachers, all interfered with the vigorous development of the plans of the reformers.

Whilst the spiritual principles of Protestantism remained almost unknown, there was a party in the country anticipating their appearance, and prepared to resist their advances. We have stated 2 that, as early as 1541, provision had been made for the appearance of the Jesuits in Ireland. Their patron -Waucop, the Popish Primate of Armagh, who died in Paris in 1551 in a convent of the order-does not seem to have been much in this country after he became Romish metropolitan. But he contributed greatly to stir up a spirit of

1 Edward VI., A.D. 1547 to A.D. 1553; Mary, A. D. 1553 to A.D. 1558. * See preceding chapter, p. 351.

3 He was present at the Council of Trent during its sittings from 1545 to 1547. Brenan, p. 397.

resistance to Protestantism. Paul III., the reigning Pope, had his attention now earnestly directed to the state of the western isle; and he encouraged Waucop to plant the Jesuits in the country. John Codure-the first member of that Society appointed to come here was removed by death; but his place was supplied by Alphonsus Salmeron, Pasquier Brouet, and Francis Zapata. In Ireland these men found a most appropriate field for the exercise of all their zeal, cunning, and diplomacy. Taking advantage of the antipathy of the old Irish chiefs to English rule, they endeavoured to induce them to believe that, if they gave any countenance to heresy, national freedom was impossible. They assured them that, if they stood out against Protestantism, they might expect support from the great princes of the Continent in their struggle for independence. The Irish dynasts were not theologians; and they had no great reason to respect the Pope-for he had brought them into the very thraldom from which they now sought deliverance; but they saw that he could render them good service in their political movements, by inducing the Emperor of Germany, or the King of France, to come to their assistance. Thus it was that, before Protestantism could be fairly submitted to the consideration of the Irish people, many of them had made up their minds for its rejection. The very system which was fitted to deliver them from spiritual tyranny was associated in their imaginations with subjection to the hated yoke of England. The Jesuits did their utmost, not only to foster this prejudice, but also to obtain from abroad the substantial aid without which the natives could not free themselves from British domination.

Even before the appearance of the Jesuits in Ireland, the steps taken by the Pope to oppose the progress of the Reformation had not been without influence. He had threatened with excommunication all churchmen who dared to yield to the commands of Henry VIII.; and, in consequence, as early as 1538, several incumbents in the diocese of Dublin had resigned their livings rather than acknowledge

1 Brenan, p. 397; Cox, p. 272. See also Nicolini's Hist. of the Jesuits, p. 68. Bohn's Illustrated Library.