Sir Piers Butler is made Lord Deputy, 1522.
Henry had too much respect for Surrey’s opinion to hand back Ireland at once to Kildare; but he had resolved to reduce expenses, and was therefore obliged to place the government in the hands of someone who had the strength to make authority respected. No one satisfied this condition except Sir Piers Butler, and Surrey was allowed to appoint him Deputy, retaining the office of Lord-Lieutenant himself. There were objections to Sir Piers, as to every Irish governor. The Butlers would not take the field except under him or his eldest son, and he was generally laid up with gout all the winter. Lord James, as the heir was called, was active enough, but young and inexperienced. The choice, however, lay between Ormonde and Kildare, and Sir Piers was so cautiously handled, that he abstained from driving a hard bargain.
The experiment is not successful.
O’Neills and O’Donnells.
The experiment was not very successful; for the Geraldines were all-powerful in the Pale, and the new Lord Deputy, when in Dublin, was separated from his own country by his rival’s dominions. He took the oath on March 26, 1522, but the O’Mores, who had heard that Kildare was on his way to restore the good old times, soon began to threaten the Pale. In the North a war broke out on such an unusually large scale as to make it probable that O’Neill had promised Kildare to give the new Deputy as much trouble as possible. Indeed, when Kildare did actually return, he at once went to O’Neill’s aid. The chief of Tyrone may have required little persuasion to attack his hereditary foes, but the number of his allies was very uncommon. MacWilliam of Clanricarde, Tirlough O’Brien, Bishop of Killaloe, with many of his clansmen, O’Connor Don and O’Connor Roe, MacWilliam of Mayo, and MacDermot of Moylurg, all agreed to assemble on the southern border of Donegal. O’Neill brought to the trysting place Magennis, O’Rourke, and MacMahon, and many Scottish mercenaries in the hereditary service of his family. ‘Great numbers,’ we are told, ‘of the English of Meath, and the gallowglasses of the province of Leinster, of the Clan-Donnell and Clan-Sheehy, also came thither, from their attachment to the daughter of the Earl of Kildare, who was O’Neill’s mother.’ To oppose this vast host, O’Donnell had only the clans immediately subject to him, O’Boyle, O’Gallagher, O’Dogherty, and the three septs of MacSwiney, hereditary gallowglasses of Tyrconnell. He mustered his forces near Trim, on the Tyrone side of the Finn, and there awaited the onset. But O’Neill adopted tactics very usual in Irish warfare, passed by the northern shore of Lough Erne, reached Ballyshannon without fighting, and slaughtered the garrison of MacSwineys there. O’Donnell retaliated by sending his son Manus to ravage the nearest districts of Tyrone, and himself hurried in pursuit of O’Neill across the pass now called Barnesmore Gap. Again declining battle, O’Neill turned back, spoiled the country between Donegal and Letterkenny, and encamped on the hill which overlooks Strabane. O’Donnell returned very quickly over Barnesmore, and, having been rejoined by his son, faced the enemy near Lifford. There he held a council of war, and his followers in desperation resolved on an immediate fight. Leaving their horses behind, the O’Donnells crept up unperceived, drove in the outposts, and entered the camp pell-mell. In the darkness and confusion faces could not be distinguished, and many O’Neills fell by the hands of their brethren. Nine hundred dead bodies were counted in the morning, including many of the Leinster men who had come for the love of Kildare. Celtic war always presents the same features, and the victorious O’Donnells quickly disbanded with the horses and armour, the strong liquors and the rich drinking vessels of the vanquished.96
O’Donnell is stronger than O’Neill.
When he had again collected his men, O’Donnell recrossed Barnesmore, passed between Lough Melvin and the sea, and encamped at the foot of Benbulben, the bold hill which tourists admire from Sligo. The Connaught men were besieging that place when they heard of O’Donnell’s victory, and of his near approach. They offered to negotiate, and, having thus gained time, they broke up from Sligo and retreated rapidly to the Curlew mountains, where they separated. The panegyrists of the O’Donnells sing pæans over two victories obtained without the help of English or Scotch allies, and remarkable in Irish warfare, the one for its slaughter, the other for its bloodlessness. Next year O’Donnell carried the war into Tyrone, which he ravaged as far as Dungannon. At Knockinlossy he destroyed a beautiful herb-garden, which must have been a rare thing in those days, and from Tullahogue, where he established a temporary camp, he spoiled the land far and wide. All the plunder was carried off safely, and the invaders then returned for more; but peace was made instead, and they turned their arms against O’Rourke. Fermanagh was wasted as Tyrone had been, and we cannot be surprised that chiefs who thus preyed on each other should fail to make head against the English Government.97
Sir Piers Butler is thwarted by the Geraldines.
During his short tenure of office, Sir Piers Butler undertook but one warlike expedition. He chastised the O’Briens, and killed one of their leaders at the ford of Camus on the Suir. But Kildare had returned to Ireland, and was active in the field, acting at first in apparent unison with the Lord Deputy. Supported by O’Neill, to whose arbitration differences were submitted, he reduced to quiet the clans on the border of the Pale. With both Butlers and Geraldines, the main object was to enlarge and secure their hereditary territories; but the former sought support in England, the latter among the wild tribes of Ulster. Lady Kildare, a daughter of Grey, Marquis of Dorset, whom the Earl had married during his late visit to England, complained bitterly to Wolsey that Sir Piers oppressed her husband, spoiled his tenants and friends, and made alliances with the wild Irish. She attributed this to Kildare’s refusal to act partially in the dispute with the Boleyn family. Sir Piers Butler had married Kildare’s sister, and he might not unreasonably count upon his brother-in-law’s assistance; but throughout the contests of this century personal considerations were of little power compared with those of clanship and family pride. Kildare’s brother James killed Robert Talbot of Belgard, on his way to Kilkenny, and it seems that the Geraldines regarded all gentlemen of the Pale who opposed them as no better than spies. But Sir Piers was naturally incensed at the outrage on his friend and visitor.98
Kildare in Ulster.
The general lawlessness is well shown by an expedition which Kildare undertook against O’Neill of Clandeboye, partly, as he owned, in revenge of the damage done to his property there, and partly, as he told the King, to punish attacks upon English merchants. At Carrickfergus he found a Breton ship which had just landed a cargo of Gascon wine. England and France were at peace, but the foreigners were fain to avoid capture by putting to sea without having been paid for their goods. The taste for claret was early developed in Ireland, and this relief from payment may have had a charm like the exemption from legal duties in more modern times. A Scotch vessel laden with provisions, which lay out in Belfast Lough, was attacked by the Geraldines in boats and forced ashore. Hugh O’Neill, who had 1,500 Scots with him, rescued the crew, and in revenge Kildare destroyed Belfast and two other castles, and burned the country for twenty-four miles round. The Mayor of Carrickfergus and three of the chief townsmen were sent prisoners to England for trading with the French and Scots. If we are to believe Kildare’s account, the Lord Deputy took the opportunity of handing over his castles to the O’Connors, of making a league with O’Carroll, and of carrying off 500 stud mares and colts from the county of Kildare.99
Kildare is restored.
It became evident at last that Sir Piers Butler was not strong enough to govern without Kildare’s help, and Henry reverted to his father’s policy of entrusting all Ireland to the man whom all Ireland could not govern. One more effort was made to reconcile the rivals by sending over royal commissioners, who prevailed upon them to make an agreement under seal as the basis of mutual concession. Kildare’s stud mares had been taken by a namesake