Arrangements for local government.
Butler and Kildare, and the principal gentlemen living on the marches of the Pale, were bound at this time to adopt a certain order in their countries, the two greater chiefs under penalties of 1,000 marks each, and the others in sums varying from 200 marks to 40l. They made themselves liable in general for their own acts and for those of their sons and brethren, covenanting not to use the Brehon law nor those Irish exactions which usually accompanied it, and to repress crime as far as their power reached. Kildare, on his appointment as Deputy, covenanted with the King not to make war or peace with Irishmen at the public charge without consent of the Council. This was intended to prevent another Knocktoe. Coyne and livery for the public service were to be reduced to fixed rules. Householders were to be allowed to compound by paying twopence a meal for a footman, and threehalfpence for a horseman or groom; twelve sheaves of oats for a trooper, and eight for a draught horse was to be the allowance, and not more than one boy was to accompany each horse. If the Earl travelled on private business, or on his way to attend Parliament, he was not to take coyne and livery save from his own tenants; and in no case except for the actual use of soldiers, nor for more than one night in one place, nor for successive nights within a distance of nine miles. It had been the custom to charge the farmers for ‘black men,’ that is, for soldiers who only existed in name and as a means of extortion. Treaties with Irishmen were not to be made to prejudice the Crown, nor were pardons to be given without the consent of the Council. The King’s castles were to be kept in repair, and the Earl was to do his best to make the people of the Pale speak, dress, and shave like Englishmen. The salaries of the judges were to be paid; and Kildare promised if possible to have sheriffs, escheators, and coroners appointed in Meath, Dublin, Louth, Wexford, Kilkenny, Tipperary, and Waterford, and to provide for the holding of Quarter Sessions in due course.101 It is noteworthy that the counties of Kildare and Cork are not mentioned, and that Tipperary is; the probability being that the two former were purposely excluded as being under Geraldine influence. As to the Butler Palatinate of Tipperary, it is possible that only the ecclesiastical portion or cross was intended, but it is more likely that Kildare purposely placed his rival’s district in a worse position than his own or those of Desmond. On the other hand, he promised not to go to war with the Butlers, or with their allies the Darcys and Nugents, without the consent of the Council. The new Lord Deputy promised not to purchase during his tenure of office any lands of which the title was in dispute. James Fitzgerald was carried to England to answer for the death of Talbot, and led through the streets of London with a halter round his neck; but was pardoned in defiance of Wolsey’s opinion at the intercession of Denton, Dean of Lichfield, who had been one of the commissioners lately sent to Ireland.102
The Butlers and Geraldines still quarrel.
In spite of all precautions, the perennial quarrel of Butlers and Geraldines was not stopped by the appointment of Kildare. Sir Piers sent his son James to London to watch the family interests there, in which task he was to be guided by Robert Cowley. Kildare even asserted that Sir Piers had given a signet to his trusty adherent, with the aid of which he might attest any written statement he chose to make. James Butler was either really too much occupied with the pleasure of the Court, or was crafty enough to appear so, while waiting for an opportunity. ‘Surely,’ his father wrote, ‘unless I see your time better employed in attendance of my great business, than ye have done hither, I will be well advised or I do send you any more, to your costs.’ A chief part of the business was the prisage of wines, especially at Waterford, which had always formed an important part of the Butler revenue. Kildare, as Lord Deputy, had insisted that an account should be given into the Exchequer, and Sir Piers argued that this was done merely to annoy him, and not at all out of regard to the King’s revenue. He declared that the indentures which the new Deputy had executed were ‘in no point observed,’ and, in particular, that coyne and livery were ruthlessly exacted, two villages in Kilkenny having to maintain no less than 420 gallowglasses. The Butler tenants were so impoverished that they could pay no rent and, moreover, the Deputy had not paid the half-subsidy of 800l. as he had bound himself to do. The King peremptorily ordered payment, but the claim was still disputed, and it does not appear that the money was ever handed over. Meanwhile, Lord Leonard Grey, the Deputy’s brother-in-law, pressed many grave complaints upon the royal attention. Sir Piers was accused of levying coyne and livery for craftsmen as well as soldiers, and for his hunting establishment. There were separate packs for hare, stag, and martin, and no less than sixty greyhounds; the whole charge on Kilkenny and Tipperary amounting to 2,000 marks.103
Recriminations. Great disorders.
Sir Piers was further accused of illegally occupying Callan and other royal manors in Kilkenny and Tipperary, but these lands were soon afterwards specially granted to him and his wife, and to their heirs male. Kildare charged his rival with helping O’Carroll and lending him cannon to defend Leap Castle against him. The fact was hardly disputed, but it had occurred as far back as 1516, and it was alleged in answer that the attack on O’Carroll was wanton and unprovoked. There were also accusations of intriguing with the O’Mores, of spoiling a village in Kildare and slaughtering the people even at the altar, of using the Castle of Arklow to rob the lieges by land and sea, of levying illegal taxes, and, in short, of behaving as Anglo-Irish noblemen generally did. A far graver charge against Sir Piers was the not having punished certain of his servants who were present at the barbarous murder of Maurice Doran, Bishop of Leighlin. The murderer was Maurice Kavanagh, his own Archdeacon, whom the Bishop had reproved for his crimes. It was said, moreover, that the churches in Tipperary and Kilkenny were ruinous, and that Sir Piers was in all things under the influence of his wife, the Lord Deputy’s sister. It is satisfactory to know that the Bishop’s tonsured assassin did not escape, for Kildare had him hanged and disembowelled at the scene of the murder: he was a near relation of Sir Piers Butler, which may account for the Lord Deputy’s anxiety to do justice in this particular case.104
Kildare again in Ulster, 1524.
Kildare never ceased to harass such Irish chiefs as he chose to consider his enemies. In the autumn of 1524 he led an army to help his kinsman O’Neill against O’Donnell, and encamped near Strabane. Manus O’Donnell, who had just returned from Scotland, wished to attack at once with his strong force of Macdonnells; but he was overruled by his father, who feared the Deputy’s artillery. Flights of arrows were directed against the intrenchments all night, and in the morning Kildare thought it prudent to make peace and to depart without fighting. His old enemy Hugh O’Neill attempted to intercept him, but was killed in the skirmish which ensued. After this Kildare seems to have kept quiet for some months, and to have endeavoured to make peace among the Ulster clans. O’Neill and O’Donnell, or O’Donnell’s son Manus, visited Dublin; but all efforts to reconcile them were ineffectual, ‘so that they returned to their homes in strife, and the war continued as before.’105
Butler goes to England, 1526. Kildare sent for the next year.
In September 1526 Sir Piers Butler went to England to press his various suits, and to complain of Kildare’s conduct. At Bristol he was in great danger of his life, the citizens having quarrelled with his retinue, who were probably for the most part Irish in speech and habits. According to Sir Piers the townsmen were the aggressors, and no provocation was given to the 600 men who surrounded his lodgings and threatened to set the house on fire. In spite of the interposition of the mayor and of some of the King’s officers, Sir Piers was obliged to surrender certain of his men and to find securities for the rest. A grant of considerable possessions in Ireland rewarded him for the troubles