their homage to him who thereupon came and performed the same accordingly which was don in the year after our Saviour's nativitie 579 and this prove's a claim at least made by the Kings of great Britain to the Island of Ireland as part of their dominions Afterwards as is known to all men of anie reading the Saxons and Angles out of Germanie invaded great Britain and by manie contests in Arms and bloudie Battels obteined the Dominion thereof dividing it into several Kingdoms amongst themselvs which continued for manie years In all which times the Irish Inhabitants took more Libertie to root themselvs in their barbarous usurpation and tyrannie for wee cannot finde that then before or since they established anie certain Government either regal or otherwise neither are there extant anie authentick memories of anie certain or passable Laws ordeined by them for the regulating of anie Christian people yet soon after the Saxon's Heptarchie was reduced into an Entire Monarchie It is manifest by good Historie and Record that Edgar King of great Britain then and now called England not unmindful of that Kingdom 's ancient right and interest in Ireland labored and obteined another reducement and had the possession of most of that continent as appear's by the Books of that excellent writer Judg Cook extracted out of Records of the Tower Afterwards when the Danes obteined the Rule and power in great Britain they so little forgot the ancient and just challenge to Ireland as that they sent thither good numbers of men who gained large footing in several places of the best parts of the Island of whom there yet remain manie visible Monuments as their intrenchments and Fortifications to this daie called Danes Mounts or Rathes in Irish Lisses and round slender high Towers yet called Danes Steeples or Danes Towers yea the best and largest Suburbs about Dublin is yet called Ostmantown which term the Saxons gave to the Danes as Easterlings and doubtless it is their then access and som former incursions made by them as aforesaid which left manie of them there fixed who were the ancestors to the now pretended original Nation as pretended to bee given to them by God and Nature Afterwards the Norman William the Conqueror became possessed of the Dominions of England it is universally known what business hee had aswel to settle that so gained Land as to content his Allies and parties brought with him and to preserv what hee left behind him in France to which retrospect hee was enforced by manie disturbances and attempts neither is it unknown how unwarrantably his three next successors came to the Crown in England and against what counterworkings and heart-burnings they held Regencie there besides their distractions in their affairs and from their neighbors of France beeing not free from incumbrances of Scots and Welsh whereby all judicious men may conclude that none of them could safely embrace the restitution of Ireland howsoever it concerned them But assoon as one lineal descent had setled the Crown of England upon King Henry the second who was great Granchilde of the said William the Norman and who is recorded to bee the most powerful English Monarch both in England and France since the Normans coming in That King applied to the Pope for his consent to regain his said Land of Ireland who consenting thereunto to the end it might bee brought into orderly Government as well Ecclesiastical as Civil Hee yet suspended all action thither for som years beeing interrupted by his affairs in France and the disobedient combinations of his sons But after an occasion hapning by the invocation of one of the Irish pettie Kings hee permitted manie of his Subjects of England and Wales to pass thither who by their valor possessed themselvs of a good part of that Island Then in the year 1172 did that King with a competent Armie repair thither in person and resumed into his hands his ancient right of Dominion and interest there without much bloudshed and was therein confirmed by the absolute and free submissions of all the pettie Kings and other Rulers aswel Ecclesiastical as Temporal and by all others then of anie value there which they delivered unto him under their Seals There did hee also receiv the Homage Fealtie Allegiance and subjection of all those pettie usurping Princes and others as his Liege Subjects There did hee hold a great Council or general Assmblie of all the Prime inhabitants of that Island at Lismore which they called a Parlament and gave them the English Laws Vbi Leges Angliae ab omnibus sunt gratanter receptae juratoriâ cautioone praestitâ confirmatae There did hee send his Mandats to the Archbishops Bishops and Clergie of Ireland to assemble in a Synod at Cashel wherein Cbristianus Bishop of Lismore was President in which Synod that King's entrance actions and atchievments there were declared to bee lawful and it was there also concluded that it was most meet that as Ireland by God's appointment had recovered a lawful Lord and King from England so also they should from thence receiv a better from of living they also then established that all Divine Offices of holy Church should from thenceforth bee handled in all parts of Ireland according as the Church of England did observ them In that Synod also they made divers other Canons concerning the Church-Government there which Acts were ratified by the Regal Autoritie of the same Henrie the second To the same purposes another general Synod was soon after held at Armagh in Vlster where the same things and others for right ordering of that Government were resolved and agreed upon There was also placed Hugh Lacie Justice of Ireland for the Government of that Land wherein that Land then seemed to bee formally setled in a peaceable subject condition to England as it ought to bee Thus may the Querist and all others see that that Land and supposed original Nation did not continue manie hundreds or thousands of years nor was enjoied till these times without anie others laying claim to have right to the same It may bee demanded though standing thus how might King Henrie the second seiz all that Land into his own hands and grant it to adventurers as after hee did To this the answer is easie For in a short time after that King and the greatest part of his Army withdrew into England Then did all those pettie Kings Rulers and men of value and the other Inhabitants falsly and traiterously join in a Confederacie and action to extirpate and expuls all the English and Welsh then left there and did cast aside their dutie and obedience to England and the good order and Laws so freely and lately entertained by them breaking all Faith and Allegiance to him to whom they had formerly sworn it they murthered as manie as they could take at advantage and at last besieged Dublin and other Towns intending to destroie all the English But the valor of those men left there and the
continued and having occasion to com into Britain his Father being dead he voyaged into Denmak and in his return a great multitude of his Subjects of Biscaie met him at Sea being streightned for relief in their Countrie and humbly besought him to assign them som place for habitation whereunto by advice of his Council he assented and directed them to his Island now called Ireland which wanted people and sent with them guides to bring them thither where finding a fertile soil they encreased abundantly bringing their language with them and being then the greater number of people after the new access involved the British-tongue into theirs yet in som sort mixed as may appear by many new words and names of things well understood by the Welsh It being of dailie experience that the Welsh do much more soon and easilie learn Irish then the English can do and that much of the Irish is understood by them Giraldus Cambrensis called these Biscayners Besclenses and Cambden write's very largely of their Ancestors coming into Spain at the confluence of the Northern Nations into those parts alleging that part of them were Scythians and part Gothes and to add to the truth of this relation their so coming thither is specified in many of the rude yet ancient Irish annals both in Irish and Latine The British Histories and som of the English Chronicles do make mention of Hiberus and Hermion then Captains of those Besclenses and their Bards who to this daie keep and at all feasts and publique meetings do chaunt and publish the Pedidigrees and Acts of the Irish do derive the most ancient Irish from those that came out of Spain rather choosing to glorifie themselvs in them then from the Britains from whom so manie of them are descended and from whom they had permission to dwell there For doubtless there are manie evident demonstrations that much of the East part of that Island continued still inhabited by Britains and that those Besclenses most inhabited the more Western parts of Mounster and Connaght where their former neighbors and friends might most easily eom to them yet dispersed as they found caus those in the Western parts speaking more broad do hardly understand much of the language of the other And to shew further that the Britains had a good share in the Original ancestrie of the ancient Irish the verie Officers which the Irish have from age to age used for their pedigrees and Annals are to this daie called Bards which were the same in office and denomination imploied by the ancient Britains And for their manner of holding Land it was till the first year of King James by Gavelkind as the ancient Britains held theirs though so corrupted in Ireland as when the Laws came to bee setled in the begining of King James his time it was adjudged a barbarous and unreasonable custom and so abolished Also their Irish Custom of Tainestrie which they called their Law is derived from British for amongst them the word Tane or Thane signified an Elder Governor or Lord of a territorie And the same word amongst the Irish had the same sence and therefore the second person to the Lord of the Countrie who was to succeed if a stronger force interpos'd not was called the Tanaist setled upon him as Seniori digniori and hee had Lands and Impositions on the Countrie assigned to him in right of that Office The Lord also of the Countrie beeing put into Office by the same Law where force did not overbear it all which is now also abolished as unlawful It appear's also by antiquitie that the Irish agreed with the Britains in the custom of observing the time of Easter both then therein differing from the Church of Rome The first known Inhabitants beeing thus sent into and setled in Ireland by the Britains they so continued in subjection to the King of great Britain for several ages the contrarie whereof hath appeared in no memorie And to enter into further Inquisition thereinto is not much material no other King Prince or Potentate having at anie time made claim unto them until the Romans entered Britain and held the same by conquest after manie and often conflicts In all which time during their strugling against and subjection to the Romans the British could not have that care and over-sight of them as formerly they had so as in that time they took head and set up amongst them in a barbarous waie Rulers and pettie Kings which Rulers and Kings Giraldus Cambrensis calleth Tributaries and what kinde of Kings those then were and afterwards continued to bee till King Henrie the second 's entrie into Ireland may much appear in an ancient Manuscript called the Book of Christ-Church in Dublin then a priorie lately a Cathedral Church In which Manuscript are these words concerning them viz. Isti Reges non fuerunt ordinati solemnitate alicujus ordinis nec unctionis Sacramento nec jure hereditario vel aliquâ proprietatis successione sed vi armis quilibet regnum suum obtinuit In all which time of the Roman's power in great Britain neither the ancient Britains in Ireland nor those permitted new-com Besclenses could extinguish or alter the original right which the Kings of great Britain undeniably had to their dominion there or to those Inhabitant's subjection It appeareth in Mr Cambden's and other Chronicles and Histories that during the Roman's power in great Britain the Norweyans and other Easterlings by waie of piracie and incursion infested those inhabitants of Ireland and though often beaten off yet manie got footing there the Monuments of whom remain to this daie and in after times when the Saxons warred in Britain they several times came over again and so setled on manie of the Sea-coasts as they built of the walled Sea-Towns excluding from amongst them the Irish not admitting them entrance other then with great caution for Merchandise onely And whereas the Querist would have it believed that the Irish as an entire Nation were originally impropriated in Ireland by God and nature for manie hundreds and some thousands of years without anie others laying claim to have special right to the same which hee seem's to insinuate did so continue to these times It doth and will appear aswel by what is formerly here remembred as what shall follow in this ensuing tract that it is a ridiculous and illusive surmise for it must not bee forgotten especially appearing by good Historie that soon after the Roman's departure out of great Britain the noble Prince Arthur obteined that Land who beeing a man of great action aswel at home as abroad passed into Ireland and reduced those Inhabitants to their ancient Subjection In proof whereof having som years after occasion for a time to keep his Court at Carlion in great Britain hee summoned the Governors and pettie Kings of Ireland of whom one viz. Mr Gellomurroe or Mr Gillemurry is by name recorded to appear before him at Carlion aforesaid there to do
the entire Countie of Meath the best and greatest part of the Countie of Westmeath all the Countie of Kildare the greatest and best part of the Countie of Catberlagh part of the Countie of Wickloe the greatest and best part of the Countie of Wexford all the Countie of Waterford the greatest and best part of the great Countie of Cork the greatest and best part of the Countie of Limerick a great part of the Countie of Kerrie the better half of the Countie of Tipperary all the Countie of Kilkennie all the Countie of Galwaie a good part of the Countie of Roscomon the most part of the Countie of Maye besides the large territories of Leix and Ophalie in the Queen's Countie and King's Countie planted in Queen Maries and the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reigns upon the Rebellion of the Mores and Conners the surnames of these old English so manie as of manie hundreds more can here bee remembred are annexed towards the end of this Answer to the first Quere Of these sirnames manie are spread into verie numerous Families and persons of which manie are advanced to degrees of Honor and verie manie possessed of great estates and further to prove that those English were so possessed of all those Lands King Henrie the second and som other succeeding Kings granted unto manie of those Adventurers Countie Palatines and unto manie other verie large Franchises and immunities for the better ordering of the Colonies those Adventurers divided the Lands generally into Mannors particular Freeholds and other English holdings which for the most part do so continue to this daie they granted all those Lands for easie rents and services to their Comilitants except som small parts which they kept in their own hands who or others deriving from them do still hold the same pro parte conquestus as generally appear's in their ancient evidences Yet further to prove the English great and general possessions there it is an apparent and unquestionable truth that the English and strangers onely did build all the Castles and stone-buildings which then and for som hundreds of years after were to bee seen in anie part of that Island neither had the Irish anie stone buildings of their own erecting till about the reign of King Henrie the eighth when som of them gained estates from the Crown howbeit it is related in Historie that the English built Castles from Sea to Sea beeing enjoined thereto by Law beside what was don by Kings great Lords and other principal adventurers It is further true that all the Cities Towns and Corporations throughout that Land are entirely English and onely and originally endowed with Charters Franchises and Lands by the English And howsoever som of the Maritim towns were at first planted as is traditioned from the Ancients by Owstmen or Easterlings who fully submitted to the English Law not suffering anie Irish to dwell amongst them yet those first Inhabitants were after either so retracted or so worne out as the Inhabitants became wholly English as they undoubtedly remained till the reign of Henrie the eighth and are for the most part hitherto the same where they have not in som parts of Ireland been ruined and corrupted by Irish Rebellions and insurrections It is true likewise that all the bridges and passages were built and made onely by the English of old and of late by the English autoritie And also that all Monasteries Religious Houses and Churches of anie good structure were founded built and endowed by the English only som few despicable Cels of Monks there were and some few poor Chappels dispised specially in some poore Islands thereof These being evident demonstrations of the universall possession of the English in that Island it is further verified by some of their Laws in that Land wherein mention is made of beautifull Cities and Townes planted by the English in that Island but destroyed by Irish Commotions and garboils And more particularly by the Statute of Absentees in tempore Henrie 8 and other Statutes wherein are expressions declaring the tranquillitie and good order of the English in that Land that the English long defended it in due subjection against the Irish enemies It is also much to be observed that it is not to be seen before the time of King Henry the 8 That the Irish had either Charter evidence or authentick writings for any Lands or possessions neither could they have Interest they being no other till then but enemies and Aliens neither had they distinctions or degrees of honor or Gentrie neither Armenor other Enfigns or Officers of honours or gentrie as Duke Marquess Earl Viscount Baron Knight of any Order Esquire or Gentleman till the English introduced them neither had they Governors of any legal or orderlie form or Judges or Officers of any certaine Law or judicial cours neither had they Migistrates of anie Cities Burroughs or other Corporations or Courts of Justice Ecclesiastical or Civil or seals either of Justice or honour or other species of civil or certain Reglement And to give you these truths of the ancient and modern right and possession of the Britains and English in and to Ireland somwhat further ratified in all the parts of interest in jurisdiction and dependence it appear's by good antiquities that long before the entrance of William the Norman into England the Arch-Bishops of Canterburie had primacie over all Ireland and that the Bishops of Ireland according to the ancient usage and custome as is written received their consecrations from the Metropolitan of England it being declared in the time of the said King William and his Son that Canterburie was the Mother Church of England Scotland and Ireland and other Islands adjacent there being no Arch-Bishops in Ireland till about the yeer 1152. In justification of what is before premised it is recorded that Gotherick one of the pettie Kings in Ireland did write to Lanfrank Arch-Bishop of Canterburie for consecration to be granted to Patrick nominated for a Bishoprick Also that the said Arch-Bishop Lanfrank out of his authoritie there did write to Thurdelnack another pettie King there wherein he laie's to their charge That the Irish men at their pleasure did forsake their wedded wives without canonicall caus and match with any others even such as were neer a kin to themselvs or their abandoned wives and that if another man with like wickedness cast off a Wife her also rashly and hand over head they joined withal by lawes of marriage or rather fornication an abuse worthy to be punished Also that Murchertagh another pettie King of Ireland and the Citizens of Waterford addressed to Anselmus Arch-Bishop of Canterburie Anno Dom. 1095. for erecting and ordaining at Waterford a Bishop where no Bishop had been and for consecrating a Bishop there whose name was Malchus hee also wrot for consecrating another to be Bishop of Dublin much about the same time also that the Citizens of Dublin sent Gregorie chosen to bee Bishop there unto Ralph Arch-Bishop of
Canterburie suing to him in these words viz. Antecessorum vestrorum magisterio c. that is Vnto the Mastership or chief rule of your Ancestors wee willingly submitted our Prelats from which wee remember that our Prelats have received their ecclesiasticall dignities c. All which and other applications of like nature doe cleerly evince the submission of the Irish Clergie to the rule and superintendencie of the Arch-Bishop of Canterburie their then acknowledged Metropolitan And to proceed yet a little further to prove the antient English Title to Ireland In the Statute of the 11. Reginae Elizabethae for granting lands in Vlster to that Queen her heirs and Successors It is declared That the Crown of England had ancient and authentick Titles to the State and possession of the Land of Ireland conveied farr beyond the linage of the Irish Also By a Statute tempore Philippi Mariae for vesting the two large Territories of Leix and Ophalie in the Crowne It is there again declared That the Crown of England had good right thereunto before and that the Irish had entred into those lands by force and wrongfully usurped the possession thereof Which Statutes were enacted by the immediate Ancestors of that supposed Nation now in Rebellion the one made under a Popish Prince the other under a Protestant Other Statutes and Records make like mention of the antient right of England to the Land of Ireland and where there is mention above made of about one hundred yeers quiet possession of the English over all that Island in the time of Henry the second and after it may be demanded how afterwards those despicable Irish so gain'd upon the English as in somtimes they did and how they obtained such large possessions as in later times they had A cleer and obvious Answer to all that well know Ireland may be given That those English Lords Adventurers having jura Regalia and other great priviledges and authorities within their Counties Palatine being eight in number at one time and therein power to pardon make Chancellors Barons and Knights to make Judges Sheriffs and all Officers within themselvs the Kings having few Sheriffs any where except in the Crosses or Tipperarie in Mounster neither was there much Law executed by the Kings immediate Authoritie those Lords received great yeerlie revenues and some of them often advanced to the government of that Land by the King's favour the Colonies under them being rich and spread all over the Land Those Lords being com to the height of prosperitie and not able wisely to manage and applie to their own good those great powers endowments and Graces of their Kings fell into jealousies and emulations one against another whereupon ensued sharp and bloudie contentions they having power to make peace and warr at pleasure without the licens or authority of their chief Governors which power was afterwards taken away by several statutes they entred into sundrie violences one against another and combined Parties against Parties to maintain which they called in to their Assistance their known enemies the Irish then grown up into som numbers and so farr were they transported with their blind envious surie that they put Arms into the hands of the Irish and conducted them to their battails as hired Souldiers they assumed power to lay Taxes Cesses and Impositions upon their English Colonies Tenants and Dependants and by that meanes supported both their English and Irish Soldiers to the oppression of the other English but Lords countenancing and strengthning of the Irish besides training them in Martiall actions These dissentions and animosities began in the reign of King John as is before touched but they rose not to much virulence till towards the end of the reign of King Henrie the third and so continued by fits in the reign of King Edward the first as that King 's greater actions in France Scotland and Wales averted him from the more special care of that Common-wealth they conflicted in this manner many times one against another to the great consumption of their English Tenants who served under them as the Lacies of Meath warred against Courcie of Vlster the foresaid Lacies after against the Bourks of Vlster and Connaght the foresaid Lacies against the Marshals of Leimster who held that Countrie in right of the daughter heir of the bovsaid Richard Earl of Pembroke of Stigil married to Marshal The Garaldines of Mounster Leimster against the Butlers the Garaldines against the Bourks the Bourks against the Verdons of Meath Lowth the Bourks against the Clares the Briminghams against the Verdons and other English in the Pale The Garaldines Butlers and Briminghams against the Bourks and Poers and indeed all the English Progenies by part-taking and private Offences given and taken were imbroiled in the same quarrels the Irish looking on and siding wheresoever they thought best striving by their cunning and malicious insinuations to enlarge and blow everie spark of discord amongst them into flames of hostilitie Hereupon start up that destructive and wicked custom of Coigne and Liverie which was hors-meat mans-meat and money taken by the Soldiers upon the Colonies and English Inhabitants which custom and exaction was afterwards by some Statutes made Felonie and by other Satutes made treason one whereof hath this expression Viz. At the request and supplication of the Commons of this Land of Ireland c. Whereas of long time there hath been used exacted by the Lords and Gentlemen of this Land many and divers damnable customs and usages which have been called Coigne and Liverie that is hors-meat and mans-meat for finding their Hors-men and Foot-men and over that four-pence a day for every of them to be had and paid of the poot earth-tillers and tenants inhabitants of the same Land without anie thing doing or paying for the same besides mante Robberies murthers rapes and other manifold extortions and oppressions by the said horsmen and footmen daily and nightly committed and don which bee the principal causes of the desolation and destruction of the said Land and hath brought the same into ruine and decaie so as most part of the English Freeholders and tenants have been departed thereof som into the realm of England and som into other strange Lands Whereupon the aforesaid Lords and Gentlemen have intruded into the said Freeholders and tenants inheritances and the same kept and occupied as their own and set under them in the same Lands the King's Irish enemies to the diminishing of holy Church-rights the disherison of the King and his obedient Subjects and the utter ruine and desolation of the Land For Reformation whereof bee it enacted c. By this and manie other like Laws it is apparent how the Irish thrust themselvs into great quantities of the English Land and afterwards as in the sequel appeareth made themselvs owners of them Another waie of their entrance was by frauduent force and incursion as when by these broils one Colonie had ruined another the Irish
the Irish Partisans fell into the more northern parts of Connaght as the Counties of Sligo and Leitrim and also the Northern parts of the Countie of Roscomon who so fully accomplished the expulsion of the English as in the time of King Charls an intention beeing to plant that Province upon Inquirie made into everie particular man's holding there could not bee shewed anie antient Evidence for anie Land holden amongst them as in the other Provinces of Mounster and Leimster are to bee shewed in great numbers About the twentie fifth year of King Edward the third was Richard de Clare murthered by the men of Thomond at what time and after the Irish so insulted there as the English were either in short time massacred or forced into other parts for their more safetie And thus is plainly evidenced in brief part of the means of the great incroachments of the Irish upon the English possessions especially in the remote parts and now were the English Lords and such of the English Freeholders as they could draw or force with them arrived at a great height of degeneration Now had they for the most part betaken themselvs to the Brehan or Tanistree Law as they called it and other Irish usages and customs so destructive to themselvs and repudiated the English Laws brought with them under which they happily lived and under which the people of England had and have so manie ages florished and been famous through providence except what remained in the five shiers of the Pale and in som small circuits about the walled-Towns which reteined in som measure the English Laws Now did they generally embrace the Irish garb of licentiousnes and tyrannie over the inferiors They erected amongst themselvs Captain-ships in their Countries after the Irish fashion and unwisely suffered the Irish to do the like where they had gotten footing applauding them in all things whereby the Irish were raised into a kinde of Dominion they little obeied or regarded the Governors sent out of England though for their onely good and manie times to rescue them from the Irish outrages and furie and reconcile their own unnatural jars they suffered not the King's Writs to run in their Countries but they would undertake in a summarie waie to answer for their followers as they now call them for what wrong or crime soever committed they assumed Irish nicknames as the chief of the Burks Mr William Brimingham Mr Yoris Mangle Mr Costelo Dexeter Mr Jorden Archdeacon Mr Odo Condon Mr Maiog one of the Garaldines Mr Gibbon and som hundreds the like in that Land and this they did in contempt of the English name and Nation They went to the wars in Irish furniture to their horses and Irish arms defensive and offensive shearing their horses mains after the Irish manner Insomuch as afterwards there was necessitie by Laws to enforce them to ride in saddles the Irish riding onely on small quilted pillions fastned onely with a sursingle they combined in sull complacencie for cours of life with the Irish in all things even to rebellious actions several times yea so far were they sunck in this base degeneration and defection as the Earl of Desmond claimed privilege never to com to Parlament or within walled Town but at his own pleasure which privilege hee in Queen Elizabeth's time surrendred and renounced And it was resolved amongst them that becaus they by violence and oppression had intruded into the Lands of the inferior English and given the Irish libertie to dwell there first at will though it proved otherwise after and finding the power out of England slack to controul them by reason of other imploiments They at length judged it most preservative to incorporate with the Irish and so cast off the English Law and Loialtie presuming thereby the better to keep what they had so ravished knowing well that if the English Law gained concurrencie amongst them the parties wronged or their descendents removed as aforesaid would doubtles recover their own and so shorten the great revenues and cuttings wherein they thought they had ascertained a compleat interest by those waies of confusion But it fell out otherwise in shor time for by God's just avengement on their wickedness the Irish who manie years lived in the Island as aforesaid by their sufferance neither of force nor anie waie deterred by the English daily increasing in numbers actuated in Martial Discipline possessed also though but at will of great quantities of Land they as opportunities offered part whereof is after herein expressed rose up against their Lords especially in the Woodland Countries and called the Lands their own and in short time became formidable to the English who began now to finde their error in so prodigiously forgetting themselvs their noble ancestors and originals and the glorious Kingdom from whence they came putting themselvs in a manner into the hands of their slavish enemies and as may bee said were transformed into another people These disorders fractures and insolencies and the great pressures and detriments of the English crying loud into England at last the noble and victorious Prince King Edward the third pitying their deformed and lapsed condition in the thirtie sixth year of his reign though his forrein engagements were great and heavie at that time sent thither as his Lieutenant Lionel Duke of Clarence his third son above mentioned with a competent strength to reduce things to some better form this young Lord continued there for the most part seven yeers brought with him a good and honorable Council both for peace and warr set himself with all zeal and affection specially to reorder the English Colonies if it might be to reintegrate them in their pristin estates freedom and government himself having good interest there as is above touched To this Livetenant manie of the Irish made submissions as they had manie times don before to King Henrie the second King John and after to King Richard the second and others authorised by the Kings of England he had sundrie conflicts with the Irish verie manie of the English after a short time siding with him About the 40 yeer of King Edward the third he held that famous Parlament at Kilkenny wherein plainly appear's by the Lawes made there and som others formerly enacted by Rockesby Justice of Ireland 25 E. 3 the great degeneration and deformitie of the old English above specified Laws and Statutes being the best Dictates of the maladies of times and that the principal labour was to reform and bring into temper and rule of Law the old English Colonies Som particulars of which Laws were viz. Against Parlies with the Irish without leave That Chieftains should assist and apprehend Felons Against barbarous Fees and extortions of the Lord's Officers called Marshals Against the English calling the Irish to help them in their quarrels Against the Lords distreining contrarie to the English Law That the English should only use the English Law and not the custom called the Brehan Law
vigilance of that King to reliev them did stoutly beat them off and frustrated their unchristian intention Then that King finding them so embarked in their former rudeness and barbarisme as there was no faith or dutie to bee exspected from them and that they could not sit down in anie civil societie Hee by advice of his Council confiscated all their Estates and adjudged and declared the Irish generally to bee enemies and aliens in which condition they continued long after as is manifest by the Records and Statute-Laws of those times And then hee set his Subjects of England and Wales at full Libertie to win what they could in that Land towards the reducement thereof to his just Subjection for better accomplishment whereof hee made chois of ten special persons of qualitie and power in his other Dominions to whom by grant of inheritance hee divided the Lands of that whole Island who drawing together their several Alies friends and other adventurers they by that King's countenance and assistance so bestirred themselvs as within few years they became Masters and possessors of the whole Island and so continued quietly possessed for almost one hundred years without anie offence to England forcing the perfidious Irish who were then few in number after manie conflicts with them into Mountains Bogs and boggie woods there to wander up and down with the remain of their Cattel not daring to bee seen or to graze in anie of the more habitable parts where the English had footing special Statute-Laws prohibiting the same Laws also were made that upon pain of fellonie no Merchant or other liege person should trade with the Irish in market or otherwise It was also made fellonie to succor anie of the Irish enemies from the time of the foresaid division forward was that Island onely called the King's Land of Ireland till the reign of King Henrie the eighth as appear's by Acts of Parlament and all Records mentioning the same The division hee made was as followeth viz. To Richard Earl of Pembroke of Strigil called Strongbow he regranted the Kingdom or Territories of Leimster surrendred to him by the said Earl Richard whose it was pretended to bee in right of his wife sole daughter and heir of the last nominal or tributarie King thereof except Dublin and som lands thereunto lying part whereof is yet called the King's Land and beeing divided into Mannors the Free-holders paie chief rents into the Exchequer to this daie and except som maritim Towns Castles and som lands about them which hee reserved to himself To Bobert Fitz-Stephens and Myles Cogan hee granted the Territories called the Kingdom of Cork the Citie of Cork and som lands thereunto lying reserved as aforesaid excepted the heir of Cogan is yet possessor of som of those lands To Phillip le Bruce the Territories called the Kingdom of Limerick with donation of Bishopricks and Abbeies except the Citie of Limerick and a Cantred of Land adjoining reserved as aforesaid To Sr Hugh de Lacie Justice or as som write Custos of Ireland the territories called the Kingdom of Meath then of far greater extent then the name Meath now import's To Sr John de Coursie all Vlster which beeing a large continent was quietly possessed by him and his English tenements manie years After his death without heirs it was granted to Hugh Lacie who held it till forfeited then was it granted by King Edward the first to Walter de Burgo from whom it descended to William de Burgo And after those Lands and Signories were by Edward the fourth adjoined to the Demesne and Crown-Lands of England To William Fitz-Adelme de Burgo all Connaght except a small part for life given to Rotherick formerly nominal King thereof after whose death that Land also was by King Henrie the third granted to Richard de Burgo heir to William except the Cantreds of Roscomon Randon and two or three other Cantreds neer Athlon All which were after granted by succeeding Kings to other English onely Roscomon remained in the Crown till Queen Elizabeth granted the same to one Mr Malby This whole Countrie came after to the Crown by the marriage of Lionel Duke of Clarence son to King Edward the third with the Daughter and heir of de Burgo To Sr Thomas Clare of the stock of the Earl of Glocester all Ghomond now the Countie of Clare which was confirmed to the same Familie by grant from King Edward the first to Robert le Poer all the Countie of Waterford except the Citie and cantred about it the chief of the Familie of which Poers is now a Baron to Otho de Grandison all Tipperarie Afterwards King John having intelligence that the English began to bee at variance amongst themselvs by reason that the Laws were not so spread and administred as they should bee made a voiage in person thither with a competent force for his honor and safetie and then did hee divide the whole Land into Counties as they for the most part stand at this daie though Connaght and Vlster since are much subdivided hee carried over with him divers learned men for civil and ecclesiastical Notion hee ordered and established the Courts of Justice as in England viz. the Chancerie the Kings Bench Common Pleas and Exchequer and other Ecclesiastical Judicatures and setled competent Judges in them hee appointed Justices Itinerant and all other Officers for Law and execution of Justice and four tearms in the year to bee kept as in England by which the people became subject to Law the Irish beeing still held as enemies and Aliens were better governed lived in peace and great prosperitie manie years save what ruptures it endured by their own dissentions as hereafter appeareth So as by what is above specified it appear's the English were made lawfully inheritable and became possessed of the whole continent wheresoever they could finde places anie waie fit for habitation And to prove their possessions as well as their grants besides that in all the ancient Records taking cognizance of all the habitable parts of that Land in which those English are named you shall finde no Juries upon Inquiries or trial of anie causes whatsoever Capital Criminal or common where is mentioned anie Irish name but all English All their Officers and Ministers of Justice beeing the same and beside several Statute-Laws do assert their universal possession It is undeniably evident that generally all the now Freeholders of several great continents in that Island are English either descendents or deriving from those first adventurers or by ancient grants from the Crown upon their forfeitures though the truth is manie of their laborers underfarmers and tennants which they call Churls are and still were Irish the territories and Countries which those English and som of late settlement did and do possess are viz. in the Countie of Down the Countries of little Ards the Duffrey Lecale Mourn the Newrie and several other places of lesser note all the Countie of Lowth the whole Countie of Dublin
or Marcheor Law That if anie of the English race should use an Irish name Irish language Irish apparrel or anie other guise or fashion of the Irish his Lands should bee seised till hee conformed Or if he no Land then other mulcts were appointed That the Lords should not disturb the King's Officers in executing their Offices That Serjeants Bailiffs should execute the commands of the King and of the Sheriffs that the Sheriffs and Serjeants of Franchises should give acquittances for the Kings money received of Debtors and receiv and pay by Indenture That no Sheriffs should hold Courts contrarie to the Common Law That the English should not marrie nor Gossip with the Irish That the English should use the English language and nurture That old and new English should all alike be called Lieges of the King That no English should use Irish or barbarous sports that no Irish Pipers Rimers bablers Skelaghs Ferdanes Carraghs or news-tellers should bee suffered to com amongst the English That no Kearns Hoblers nor idle men should range take meat c of the people against their wills but hue and crie to be made after them That no Irish should be admitted to benefits or entred into religious houses That Judges should travel half yeerly to enquire of offences and to execute the Law That four Justices of peace of and in each Countie should charge the Inhabitants with hors and foot to defend themselvs against Irish enemies That robberies committed in the guildable should not be protected in the franchises and so on the contrarie but the theeves to be delivered up to the proper officers and many other like Laws were then made towards restauration and recomposing of the then deformed and adulterated English and for the further redress divers other Laws som before and som after were made viz. One to take away protections which with frequent pardons were observed to be pestilent Remora's to the English restitution and secure peace insomuch as King Edward the third towards the later end of his reign sent two Ordinances into Ireland viz. First Justitiarius Hiberniae non concedat pardonationes de morte hominis nec de roberiis seu incendiis et quòd de caetero certificet dominum Regem de nominibus petentium Secondly Item quòd nec Justitiarius nec aliquis magnas Hiberniae concedat protectiones alicui contra pacem regis existentis And the experience of the common dammage by such pardons and protections ever since prove's the malignancie of them that being charged by divers good authors conversant in Irish affairs to be the dishonour and ruine of the Common-wealth Other Laws were also made viz. One to distinguish betwixt the English and Irish by the cutting off their beards Another against the taking of amends for the murther of a friend Another That no man should stirr up the Irish to assist in their warr Another Against taking Theeves into Comerick in English protection All which Laws at Kilkenny were after confirmed and revived by another Law made in the tenth yeer of King Henrie the seventh Chap. 8 Wherein are these words viz. As long as those Laws were put in ure and execution this Land continued in prosperitie and honor and since they were not executed the people rebelled and digressed from their obedience and the Land fell to ruine and desolation c. And the truth is it appear's by good Histories of those times and more authentically by Records both of the Exchequer Common-pleas of those yeers that by practice of these Lawes and the industrie travel of the said Lionel notable alteration was made in the manners of the people and much don of value towards the restitution of the English Government in the English Colonies That the Crown-Revenues both certain and casuall were duly accompted for in all the Provinces and that the King's Writ did run the common-Common-Law executed in all parts amongst the English This Duke built the wals of Catherlagh hee also reduced much lands in Connaght and Vlster into the English mens hands and this good order continued all the residue of that King's reign and part of the reign of King Richard the second but towards the middle of his time the Irish and som farr degenerate English hearing of the Duke of Clarence his death in Italie and finding great dissentions to arise in England combined themselvs to the fresh annoiance of the English and prosecuting their long intendment to exstirpate them And now did the English finde caus to rais themselvs into defens against the Irish which they were afterwards dangerously put unto thereupon that King having received repuls in his affectation to bee Emperor and desirous to act somthing of glorie and satisfaction to his people about the 18 yeer of his reign undertook a roial expedition into Ireland transporting with him 30000 foot and 4000 men at Arms as the Chronicles relate whereat the Irish being terrified fell into their old lock of submissions the verie gulf which hath hitherto swallowed up all the essaies and labors of reformation there hoping thereby to dissolv that force and frustrate his good design and to insist on the verie truth that cours of pardons upon submissions of the Irish hath for at least three hundred yeers past bottomed all the combustions and insults of the Irish That King being not in case to be long absent was perswaded to accept of their submissions which hee did from all the powerful men of the Irish and som degenerate English Lords those Irish of Leimster taking Oath to leav the Land to his free dispose by a certain time Great quantities of the Leimster land were granted to Sir John de Bellomonto and others whose issues long after enjoyed it he also conditioned with the Irish of Connaght and Ulster upon their submissions to restore the Lands to the English which the Irish never performed So this young Prince abused by the fraudulent submissions of the Irish as others before and after were returned with his men into England leaving the English in Ireland in but a little better case then he found them Soon after his departure the Irish brake forth and stood up for their ends as high as ever whereupon ensued great conflicts between them and the English in one of which was slain Mortimer Earl of March the King's Lievtenant thereupon did many of the English overhaled with burthens and harrowings relinquish their estates and resort into England to side with Parties there as their affections did lead them though Lawes were in Ireland and Ordinances in England as well to stop their going as to return them back It is not recorded nor known as is conceived that in the reigns of King Henrie the fourth or King Henrie the fifth who were much taken up in other business any forces were sent into Ireland whereby the Irish inlarged much partly through the departure of the English and chiefly by the great devastations they formerly suffered besides what diminutions they endured by