CHAPTER IV.

FROM THE DEATH OF SHANE O'NEILL TO THE DEATH OF THE EARL OF DESMOND. A.D. 1567 TO 1583.

AT the beginning of the sixteenth century Ireland had sunk lower in the scale of crime than perhaps any other country in Europe. An Irishman and a devout Romanist, writing in 1515, gives a most melancholy account of its moral condition. "There is," says he, "no land in this world of so long-continual war within itself, nor of so great shedding of Christian blood, nor of so great robbing, spoiling, preying, and burning, nor of so great wrongful extortion continually, as Ireland."1 As the century advances we can recognize few indications of improvement. Sir Henry Sidney-who was Lord Deputy when Shane O'Neill was killed, and who was one of the best and wisest statesmen of his age-has left behind him a harrowing description of the state of the island at that period. "As touching the estate of the whole country," says he, in a letter to Elizabeth, "for so much as I saw of it, having travelled from Youghall to Cork, from Cork to Kinsale, and from thence to the uttermost bounds of it towards Limerick, like as I never was in a more pleasant country in all my life, so never saw I a more waste and desolate land-no, not in the confines of other countries. where actual war hath continually been kept by the greatest princes in Christendom; and there heard I such lamentable cries and doleful complaints made by that small remain of poor people which yet are left, who (hardly escaping the

1 Carew MSS., 1575-1588. Introd. xvi.

fury of the sword and fire of their outrageous neighbours, or the famine which the same, or their extortious lords, hath driven them into, either by taking their goods from them or by spending the same, by their extort taking of coyne and livery) made demonstration of the miserable estate of that country. Besides this, such horrible and lamentable spectacles there are to behold as the burning of villages, the ruin of churches, the wasting of such as have been good towns and castles-yea, the view of the bones and skulls of your dead subjects, who, partly by murder, partly by famine, have died in the fields, as in troth hardly any Christian with dry eyes could behold. . . . Surely there was never a people that lived in more misery than they do, nor as it should seem of worse minds, for matrimony amongst them is no more regarded in effect than conjunction between unreasonable beasts; perjury, robbery, and murder, counted allowable. Finally, I cannot find that they make any conscience of sin, and doubtless I doubt whether they christen their children or no, for neither find I a place where it should be done, nor any person able to instruct them in the rules of a Christian, or if they were taught I see no grace in them to follow it; and when they die, I cannot see they make any account of the world to come."

The state of Ireland at this time proves conclusively that the true unity of the Church does not consist in the recognition of one ecclesiastical ruler. For upwards of thirty years at the beginning of the sixteenth century the whole country acknowledged the Pope, and yet meanwhile the people were living" in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another;" and the sword scarcely ever rested in its scabbard.2 For generations the business of religious instruction had devolved almost entirely on the begging friars. The multitude flocked to their services, because they preached, as well as celebrated

1 Sir Henry Sidney to Elizabeth, April 20th, 1567.. Carew MSS., 1589-1600. Introd. lviii. lix.

2 Mr. Kichey has remarked that, though the Annals of the Four Masters pass by without notice many of the transactions in Leinster and Munster, yet, from 1500 to 1534, they record no less than 116 battles and depredations, not reckoning the wars in which the English Government was engaged. Lectures, Second series, p. 11.

mass.

Their discourses were not, however, fitted either to sanctify or civilize. "The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul," and wherever it is promulgated it exerts a holy and happy influence. But the friars taught "for doctrines the commandments of men," and their sermons only nourished superstition. In the beginning of the sixteenth century a large portion of the property of the Irish Church-including advowsons and tithes-belonged to the monasteries. In all but the poorest parishes the ordinary service on the Lord's Day was performed by a vicar, appointed by one or other of these ecclesiastical corporations, and miserably remunerated. As the people preferred the ministrations of the monks, the cathedrals and churches in which the secular clergy officiated were often permitted to become dilapidated.3 But at the Reformation-when the lands belonging to the monasteries were distributed among the nobility and gentrythe poor vicars were continued; for the new lords of the soil were bound by their title-deeds to provide for the celebration of divine worship; and they endeavoured, in the most economical manner, to fulfil the stipulation. If, as often happened, the bishop neglected the care of his diocese, and if the vicar and the new landlord acted in collusion, "they contrived between them to dismantle the church of its lead, its windows, its stonework, and all that was valuable. In a few years, church, vicar, and congregation, all disappeared; and the small tithes, equally as the great tithes, fell into the hands of the patron." Thus it was that in the reign of Elizabeth so much ecclesiastical property was alienated, and that so many parish churches were in ruins. But the begging friars still prowled about the country, preached as before, denounced the change in religion, and fostered the discontent of the people." 5

4

1 Ps. xix. 7.

2 Calendar of Carew MSS., 1589-1600. Introd. xxxiv.

3 See before, pp. 335-7.

4 Calendar of Carew MSS., 1589-1600. Introd. xxxv.

5 In Burke's Hibernia Dominicana, p. 102, there is a Bull of Pope Pius V., issued in 1567, in which that Pontiff confirms certain privileges previously granted

to the Irish Dominicans.

influential in the country.

This Bull supplies evidence that these friars were still

Mr. Froude states that, at this time, half the so-called

religious houses in Ulster, Connaught, and Munster, were still occupied by the friars.-History of England, xi. 191.

From a higher quarter attempts were now made to subvert the authority of Elizabeth. When she reached the throne, hopes had been entertained that she would disappoint the expectations of the Protestants, and lend her support to Romanism. Philip II. of Spain, the husband of bloody Mary, had sought her in marriage; and was quite sure of obtaining from the Pope a dispensation for the union. In May 1560, Pius IV. sent her a letter in which he addresses her as his "dearest daughter in Christ," promises her "any reasonable length of compliance which lies within the compass of his station," and employs other soothing arguments with a view to induce her to return to his communion.1 But the Queen remained inflexible; and his successor, Pius V., lost patience, and in February 1570 issued against her a bull of excommunication.2 In this blasphemous document he affirms that "He who reigns above, to whom all power in Heaven and in Earth is given, has consigned His one holy Catholic Church, out of which there is no salvation, to the sole government of St. Peter, the prince of the Apostles, and his successor, the Bishop of Rome. This successor he has constituted supreme over all nations and kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy, to build, and to plant." "Out of the plenitude of our apostolical authority," he continues, "we declare Elizabeth a heretic and an encourager of heretics, and that those who adhere to her lie under the censure of an anathema, and are cut off from the unity of the body of Christ. We likewise declare Elizabeth deprived of the pretended right to the kingdom, and of all dominion, dignity, and privilege whatsoever, and that all the nobility and subjects of the said realm who have sworn to her in any manner whatsoever are for ever absolved from any such oaths, and from all obligation of fidelity and allegiance. . . . We likewise command all the nobility, subjects, and others, that they

1 This letter may be found in Collier, Ecc. Hist. of Great Britain, vi. 307-8. See also Dodd's Church of England, by Tierney, ii., appendix, cccxxi.

2 This Bull may be found in Collier, Ecc. Hist. of Great Britain, vi. 471-474. See also King's Primer, supplementary vol., 1258-1262; Macgeoghegan's Hist, of Ireland, 463-4. Dublin, 1844; and Dodd's Church History of England, by Tierney, vol. iii., appendix, p. ii. London, 1840.

do not presume to obey her orders, commands, or laws for the future; and those who act otherwise are involved in the same sentence of excommunication."

The author of this bull had evidently no claim to be considered a successor of Peter. The apostle instructed his brethren to "honour the King," and to submit even to heathen governors; but the Pontiff claims to be himself the prince of the Kings of the earth, asserts a right to depose sovereigns, and professes to be able to absolve from the guilt of perjury. Had his commands been now obeyed, England and Ireland would have been at once involved in the horrors of rebellion. Under terror of eternal perdition, every Romanist in these countries would forthwith have buckled on his armour, and attempted to hurl Elizabeth from the throne. But a bull so monstrous staggered the faith of many who could believe in transubstantiation. The Romanists had hitherto suffered little for their religion under a Protestant Queen; they were not generally prepared to peril property, liberty, and life at the bidding of this Italian high priest; and, notwithstanding the threat of excommunication, they remained quiescent. But not a few of them felt that they were placed in a false position-for they were shut up to the alternative of being either disobedient to the Head of their Church, or disloyal to their earthly sovereign. They were very unwilling to renounce their ancient worship; and yet they were equally unwilling to violate their oath of allegiance. The claims of the actual possessor of regal power proved stronger than theological scruples; and many Romanists, throughout the whole of this reign, remained faithful to the English Crown, despite all the papal fulminations.

There were others, however, who received the bull as if it had been a revelation from Heaven. Those who were under the influence of the Jesuits-including many of the more ignorant devotees of Romanism-did not hesitate to acknowledge that they were bound to obey the papal mandate. The friars openly proclaimed that Elizabeth had forfeited her right to the throne, and that she was to be detested and opposed as

VOL. I.

11 Pet ii., 17, 14.

D D