[113] Complaints of Recusants with Chichester’s answer, 1613, No. 709.
[114] Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica, i. 369; Irish Statutes, 10 and 11 Car. I. cap. 15; Dineley’s Voyage in 1681, p. 162; Confederation and War, v. 299. Cornwallis to Northampton, October 22, 1613, as to ‘what great sums of money have been drawn out of the supposed commiseration of the hinder parts of these poor Irish garrans.’ Ulster Journal of Archæology, vi. 212. Uvedale ultimately surrendered his grant for 1,250l., Cal., March 15, 1625. Cæsar Otway’s Erris and Tyrawly (1841), p. 358.
[115] Report of Commissioners in Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica, i. 359. Roger Wilbraham’s Diary (Camden Society’s Miscellany, vol. x.). Cornwallis to Northampton, October 22, 1613; Sir Robert Jacob to same, November 30. Both letters show that Cornwallis was closely in Northampton’s confidence.
[116] Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica, i. 291–301. Chichester left Chester March 21, but a letter calendared at March 27, shows that the Council were not then aware that he had left Ireland (he did not get it till the following December).
[117] Lord Deputy and Council to the Privy Council, November 24, 1613; Sir James Gough’s Discourse written and subscribed before the Lord Deputy, Chancellor and others, No. 973; Report to the King of Spain, ib. No. 969. ‘Hercules’ Posts’ was a tavern in Fleet Street.
[118] The King to Chichester, January 4, 1614. The submission, dated January 31, 1614, is in Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica, i. 287.
[119] Opinion of law officers in Spedding, iv. 388; Bacon’s Speech, January 31, 1614, ib. v. 5; Privy Council to Chichester, calendared No. 798 under January 27, 1614, but perhaps of earlier date; same to same, July 25, 1614. Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica, i. 321, 393.
[120] James’s speech is in Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica, i. 302, dated April 12, 1613, which is an obvious misprint. It is printed in Carew at April 20, 1614, the ‘Thursday before Easter.’
[121] The King to Chichester, August 7, 1614; St. John to Winwood, October 23 and November 4; Davies to Somerset, October 31, enclosing his speech of October 11, and to Winwood.
[122] Chichester to the King, October 16, 1614; St. John to Winwood, September 3 and 24 and October 23, 1614; Davies to Somerset, and also to Winwood, October 31; to Winwood, November 28; and to Somerset, December 2. Francis Blundell to Winwood, December 17; Chichester to same, December 18. Parliament was prorogued on November 29.
[123] Proposition for the increase of the Irish Revenue, September 1611, in Carew, No. 70, signed by Chichester, Carew, Vice-Treasurer Ridgeway, Chief Baron Denham, and Davies; Irish Statutes, 11, 12, and 13 James I., chap. 10; The King to Chichester, March 25, 1615; Chichester to the King and F. Blundell to Winwood, April 28; Ridgeway to Winwood, August 7; Chichester to Winwood, October 31; Council of War for Ireland (Grandison, Carew, and Chichester) to Conway, February 8, 1625.
[124] Abstract of Acts brought over by Sir H. Winch and Sir J. Davies 1812, No. 439. Irish Statutes, 11, 12, and 13 James I. Le Case de Gavelkind, 3 Jac. I., and Le Case de Tanistry, 5 Jac. I. in Davies’s Reports, 1628. Irish Statutes 1612, chap. 5.
[125] Irish Statutes, 1612, chaps. 6–9. Titles of proposed Acts, 1612, No. 530 in Calendar of State Papers, Ireland. St. John to Winwood. November 28, and December 9, 1614.
[126] Parliament was dissolved October 24, 1615. The King to Chichester, August 22, and October 17; Lords of Council to Chichester, June 26; Chichester to Winwood, October 31.
CHAPTER VIII LAST YEARS OF CHICHESTER’S GOVERNMENT, 1613–1615
The Ormonde heritage.
A new Earl of Desmond.
The palatinate of Tipperary.
Interference with property was not limited to the ancient Irish, but was extended by James to the greatest and most loyal of the Anglo-Norman families. The tenth Earl of Ormonde, known as Black Thomas, who played so great a part in Elizabeth’s time, had been blind ever since the King’s accession. During these years his chief care was to keep the estates and the title together, and he took every possible precaution both by will and deed. Having no son living, he married his only daughter Elizabeth to her cousin Theobald, Lord Tullophelim, who was the nearest male heir, and who was in great favour both with the King and Chichester, but not with the old Earl, who accused him of ill-using his wife and of keeping bad company. Tullophelim died childless early in 1613, and a son of Lord Thomond’s immediately sought the widow’s hand; but the King insisted on her marrying Richard Preston, a Scotch gentleman of the bedchamber, who, had been about him from his childhood, accompanied him to England, and was knighted at the coronation. The marriage took place, and the favourite, who in 1607 had been created Lord Dingwall in Scotland, became Earl of Desmond in Ireland in 1619. It was actually the intention of James to endow the new coronet with everything that had belonged to the old Desmonds; but little came of this, for the forfeited lands were already occupied by others. Dingwall was with his father-in-law when he died in 1614, and was immediately involved in litigation which lasted longer than his life. In announcing Ormonde’s death, Chichester pointed out that there was now an opportunity of abolishing the palatinate of Tipperary ‘so long enjoyed by that house to the offence of most of the inhabitants of that county and of the neighbouring counties adjoining.’ No doubt it was very desirable to get rid of such an anomaly, provided it were done openly on public grounds, and with some reasonable compensation for the financial loss. But that was not James’s way of doing things. The political advisability of dividing the great Ormonde heritage went for something with him, but the really important matter was to secure a large part of it for a Scotch courtier.[127]
Litigation about the Ormonde estates.
James I. as an arbitrator.
Harsh treatment of the Earl of Ormonde.
The heir to the late Earl’s title was his nephew, known for his devotion as ‘Walter of the beads and rosaries,’ and to make everything safe this had been secured to him by fresh letters patent. He married a daughter of Lord Mountgarret, and her brothers, after Earl Thomas’s death, plotted to carry off his widow and to secure her jointure by marriage to one of themselves; but this plan was frustrated, and she married Sir Thomas Somerset. The estates were all carefully entailed upon the new Earl; but Lady Desmond was heir general, and lawyers in those days could generally find flaws in titles if those in authority wished it.