BOOK THREE CHAPTER FOUR

This chapter of Book Three will begin at 1360 A. D., which was that period of Irish history where the Normans who had invaded Ireland at its southern extremities, and expanded their conquests northerly, were attempting to consolidate their successes. The Norman forces had been followed by King Henry II and his large army, who arrived to complete their establishment of the English foothold into Ireland, and to expand it through confiscation of Irish lands to other parts of the country, mainly through grants of large parcels of land with the understanding that the grantees had to conquer any existing Irish occupants of those parcels, and continue to hold those grants of land against any attempts by the former occupants to get it back. The chapter will extend forward to about 1587A. D., which is the time when the English forces kidnapped and imprisoned the fifteen year old child who was heir to leadership of the O'Donnell clan of Tyrone. He would become their chief, and he would fight many battles against the Crown forces in Ireland. In 1338 A. D., the English had entered into The Hundred Years War with the French, and it would last until 1453 A. D. The war complicated things for Ireland. It eliminated any assistance that the Irish might have received from France, and it weakened the amount of control that England could exert over the Irish. In 1342 A. D., Laoiseach O'More was slain by one of his own people. At his death, the Lord Deputy Sir Roger Mortimer regained possession of Dunamase, and he fortified this former seat of the O'Mores of Leix to make it his center of control for the area. Mortimer also constructed castles to control various parts of the countryside. Prior to that, in 1325 A. D., Laoiseach O'More was acting for Lord Deputy Sir Roger Mortimer in the Leix area. He seized the castle at Dunamase, which was the seat of the Irish O'More tribe. He recovered all of the family lands that had been confiscated from his people. That encompassed all of the lands between the River Barrow and the River Nore, extending westerly toward the Slieve Bloom Mountains, plus portions of the present counties of Kildare and Kilkenny. In 1358 A. D., a large force of English left Dublin to invade the Leix area, and lay waste to it. The Irish natives met the Dublin soldiers in battle, and many of the English were killed.

In 1360 A. D., the following were noted: - At Moycullen in County Galway, at Kerrigan's Keep, Roe Kerrigan had warred with the Black Flaherty, and had given it up. He left his fiefdom, and he went to Moycullen where he built a fortress over a period often years. Roe Kerrigan's son, Anair, had married a Dartry from Leinster whose name was Marra. Marra Kerrigan led a raid to the O'Conahey demesne and she wiped them out. Then, she waged war against other nearby tribes. Her war banner had an orange stalking leopard, and it was spotted with crimson. At Lough Rea, near Killreekill, at Castle Kelso, Ordlin O'Downey put up a fight against Marra Kerrigan's forces, and Kerrigan retreated. Gathering 5,000 men, of which 1000 were horse, and 4,000 were foot, Kerrigan laid waste to the countryside. Ordlin O'Downey raised a force to combat them. Ailor Kerrigan, who was Marra's son, selected a campsite alongside the Bog of Bealaclugga. Ordlin O'Downey's men surprised them at dawn, flying his banner of a white heron in full flight on a background of grassy green. The O'Downey forces included: - The O'Harra clan, which was fighting under its banner of a purple lion on a red background - The O'Boylan clan whose sign was to carry a sapling larch tree - The Macarrick clan whose symbol was a banner with a mailed fist grasping a flaming arrow - The O'Malleys with their golden watchtower symbol. - Other clans, such as the McDuvans, the O'Hagans, the O'Conrans and young O'Mahoney Mor with his followers. The Kerrigans lost the fight, and Marra Kerrigan died there, and so did her sons, Ailor and Brodon. In blood, she wrote "Avenge Me - Never Cease". Ordlin O'Downey grew very old. At the age of ninety, he was living at Liscannor Bridge, when he was invited by Dulin Kerrigan, who was Marra's son, to a banquet at Kerrigan's Keep. On the second night of the feast, the Kerrigans killed one hundred of the unsuspecting O'Downeys and they pried the floor stones of the castle up to dump the bodies beneath it. The stones were then replaced, and the room that was involved was sealed up. Connard Kerrigan, in 1600 A. D., ran screaming through the door of this room, straight into the Lough of Liscannor below it. So did several others. It gained a reputation as "The Madman's Door". Then, Michael Dartry, in 1730 A. D., had a workman remove the floor stones, and the workman died. Next, Michael Dartry died in a fire while he was in bed. There is said to be a curse on anyone who has anything to do with the floor stones. In 1361 A. D., the Normans and the England launched a campaign against the Irish. In 1364 A. D., King Richard II of England arrived in Ireland with almost 10,000 men. At that time, the political situation in England became unstable, and the attacks against the Irish were not kept up. The situation in Ireland was that it did not have enough resources to support the English army that had accompanied King Richard II, and the country was also supporting many English settlers (or Undertakers) at the time. Also, the Black Plague had returned to Ireland, and it remained in parts of Europe until 1399 A. D. It would return during the 1600's. The effects of the Black Plague were many, and one of them was that it affected the birth rate, which dropped very significantly. By 1400 A. D., the population of Europe was about half of what it had been 55 years earlier, and it would not recover until another century had passed. In 1366 A. D., the Statutes of Kilkenny were enacted under Lionel, the Duke of Clarence, who was the son of Edward III, the King of England. At this time, the English lands, which they called a "land of peace", were considered to be Louth, Meath, Trim, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Wexford and Waterford. They banned the use of all of the Irish laws to settle conflicts, and they also banned the use of the Irish language. Their purpose was to keep the Normans in Ireland from becoming intertwined with the native Irish. Because of England's political situation, with the Hundred Years War with the French ongoing, the Statutes of Kilkenny were not a significant matter, at first. However, they would be revised and altered into the Penal Laws, which would have a very great impact upon the lives of all of the native Irish. The Statutes of Kilkenny were enacted against all gossipred, all fosterage, the Irish culture, Irish music and those who promoted it, Irish law and Irish judges, Irish games and other ways to pass the time, the Irish clergy, Insh manners, and customs, Irish trade and commerce and insults against the English. All who disobeyed were immediately excommunicated from the English churches. The penalties for these offenses included being hanged, drawn and quartered. If a wayfarer was seen riding in the Irish fashion, or dressed in a Gaelic costume, or not wearing an "English civil cap", it was advisable and lawful to murder the offender. If someone wore a mustache after the Irish fashion, instead of having a shaven upper lip, in the English fashion, An Act of Parliament (25 Henry VI, 1447) set forth that the offender was deserving of death, and that the offender's estate would escheat to the Crown. Also, no Irish were allowed to engage in any trade or commerce, or be accepted as an apprentice to any handicraft, wherever English authority ruled. All fraternizing between the English and the Irish was forbidden, as was marriage to the Irish. This was intended to make the Irish second class citizens in their own country. These Statutes excluded the Irish from going to cathedrals and abbeys. These Statutes would remain in effect for some 200 years, and while they were sometimes ignored, at other times, they were enforced. In 1369 A. D., King John's Castle in the City of Limerick was captured by the O'Briens and Macnamara In 1378 A. D., the following were noted: William Douglas led an expedition to Ireland's coast to avenge the depredations of the Irish pirates against the Galloway (Scotch) coastline, and he destroyed the town of Carlingford. He seized the ships in the harbor, loaded them with plunder, and returned, ravaging the Isle of Man along the way. Cork City was attacked and burned by the Irish forces. - The English colonists were not allowed to entertain the Irish poets and minstrels, and they could not play Insh games. The colonists were not allowed to sell horses or armor to the Irish. In 1394 A. D., King Richard II visited Ireland. The battles with the Irish had ceased. In 1395 A. D., and the following year, the English forces in Ireland achieved some military successes to stabilize their position. By 1397 A. D., the following were noted: Discontent in Ireland was becoming more apparent. King Richard II was becoming unpopular. He had married Princess Isabella of France who was 7 years old. He did not want to enter into a war with France, and he tried to avoid one. In England, Richard II was faced with the impeachments of Thomas Beauchamp, the Earl of Warwick, Thomas Arundel, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Thomas of Gloucester who was the Duke of Gloucester. There was also the matter of the likely complicity in the death of the Earl of Gloucester at Calais in 1397. King Richard II had a large army in Ireland, and it had defeated the forces of Art McMurrough in the Province of Leinster. Other Gaelic leaders had publicly submitted to King Richard. King Richard went back to England, and the fighting in Ireland started again. Roger Mortimer, who was King Richard's heir, was killed in battle. In 1399 A. D., the following were noted: King Richard of England arrived in Ireland with an army to avenge the death of Mortimer, his Viceroy, at the hands of the McMurroughs. His army was frustrated by the McMurrough forces, and he returned to England. The power and control of the area of King Richard of England's control in Ireland shrank only to the English Pale, which was the area around Dublin. Elsewhere, the Earls of Ireland still mled. They were the O'Neills, the O'Donnells and the O'Connors who controlled large areas of Ireland, and the O'Rourkes, the O'Reillys, the MacDonnells, the Magennis's the MacSweenys, the O'Doherty's and the O'Kellys who controlled smaller areas. - The power of the Anglo Irish Earldoms increased, and they were the Butlers of Ormond, the Fitzgeralds of Kildare and the Fitzgeralds of Desmond. While England's power decreased, the authority of the Gaelic and Norman aristocracy improved. King Richard II had to rash back to England because Henry of Lancaster had seized the English throne. King Henry of England died. In 1400 A. D., the following were noted: - English King Richard II died in prison after he had been forced to abdicate the English throne by Henry of Lancaster. At this time, England had its own problems, and Ireland was left alone for a while. The Gaels and the Anglo-Normans were getting along better, but their power was again limited to the area known as "The Pale". - This time in England was known as the time of "The Wars of the Roses". They were between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians during the 15th Century to decide who should rale England. The two groups were both parts of the Plantagenet family dynasty. The white rose was for the House of York, while the red rose was for the House of Lancaster. There was civil war between the two Houses in England after King Henry died in 1399 A. D. The conflict in England also affected events in Ireland. Irish affairs were important to some aspects of English society. In 1410 A. D., the "Curse of The Four Terrors", or "The Curse of the Grand Grantleys" came about. Rahee Keep was built by Shamus Roe, who was the head of the Tribe of O'Hanlon, and Rahee Keep was held by the O'Hanlons until this year of 1410 A. D. In 1411 A. D., the O'Hanlons gave Rahee Keep up to the Grantleys. Then, Gaynor Grantley killed three of his brothers and an uncle while in the Bog of Cardee, and he was cursed for it. The curse now lies with his descendents. The curse sometimes affects the vocal cords of the Grantleys, whereby they have great difficulty with their speech. Apparitions of ghosts in body armor, all rusted as if having been for a long time in a bog, are seen. When things are associated with the Grantley family in fours, such as four people, strange things happen to them. In 1417 A. D., King John's Castle in Limerick was given to the Mayor of Limerick and its citizens, provided it was kept in repair by them. In 1421 A. D., the men of Leix defeated the forces of the Earl of Ormond at Old Abbeyleix, and the English forces sought sanctuary in a Cisternian Monastery. The Lord Lieutenant gathered his forces, and invaded the Leix territory, where he defeated the forces of the O'More clan at the Red Bog of Athy, and laid waste to their territory. In 1422 A. D., during the time of King Henry V in England, there was an act passed against all of the English, including the English who were in Ireland, which forbade the wearing of a whisker on the upper lip, like the Irish In 1423 A. D., ten thousand Scotch were led by a Scotchman named Douglas, and they fought with the French in France against the English. This was a different Douglas from the marauder of 1387 A. D. In 1435 A. D., the "writ" or authority of the English king extended about 30 miles from Dublin. The area that it controlled was called "The Pale". In or around 1444 A. D., in the time of Malachy O'More, the O'More clan were forced to adopt the English system of primogeniture for succession of authority, as the Tanist system that was formerly in use caused many problems, and it led to quarrels over the rights of leadership of the clan. 1446 A. D. is the date on the Blarney Stone in Blarney Castle in Cork. In 1449 A. D., the following were noted: The Duke of York was appointed as the Lord Lieutenant (or Leader) for the English forces in Ireland. Blarney Castle was built by Cormac McCarthy in Blarney in County Cork. Blarney is a small manufacturing town on the outskirts of Cork, which has a castle with a special stone which, if kissed, gives one the gift of eloquence. In the 15th Century, Cormac MacCarthy the Strong, the builder of Blarney Castle, saved an old woman from drowning. We now know that she was Cliodhna, the Queen of the Fairies, and that she is the power behind the Blarney Stone. She gratified him by promising him a golden tongue, and she told him that a particular stone in the parapet of Blarney Castle, five feet from the top, should be kissed to gain the eloquence. He did it. Later, Sir John Coldthurst owned Blarney Castle and the area adjacent to a nearby lake. The story is told of how he sent down two Irish divers to see how deep the Blarney Lake was, and they never came up. Eight weeks later, he got a letter from them from Australia. Sir John claimed that the Blarney Stone fell from its place in the castle, but it was replaced, and to keep it to himself, was the reason that he placed it at the top of Blarney Castle. However, you never could believe anything that an Englishman says. The stone is dated 1446 A.D. There is another story of the origin of "blarney". Whenever Cormac was asked by the Queen of England to give her information about the Irish, Cormac replied with such confounded eloquence that the Queen would become exasperated, and so she told him to stop using that "blarney" on her. Prince Richard of England visited Ireland, and he obtained homage from the Irish. He went back to England, and his own forces were defeated there. England was supporting Henry VI as King of England, while Ireland was supporting Richard of York, ln 1450 A. D., the following were noted: It was recorded that prior to this date, the Black Church on the Cashel Road, which is a few miles from Dublin was burned by the followers of Sir Humphrey de Burgo during his depredations. This could have happened as early as 1100 A. D. - Centuries later, when King James fled from the Battle of the Boyne, which would take place in the century following this one, he stopped there for rest and sustenance on his "garran bane" (or white horse). A bam at that location has been converted into the Black Church Inn. The "garran bane" is the symbol of cowardice in Irelandbecause of its relationship to cowardly King James A sign of an outrage that was to take place was the sudden appearance of the head of a black bull. One was suddenly placed upon a table, and the young Earl Douglas and his brother were both seized, and they were tried in a "mock trial" for some unknown charge. They were condemned, and they were beheaded. In 1452 A. D., Sir Patrick Grey used a pole axe to complete the murder of another Douglas. The murder was begun by King James II of England. Douglas had been condemned by an Act of Parliament. In 1459 A. D., King Richard of England had returned to Ireland. In this year, he granted Ireland an independent Parliament. Next, he recmited an army in Ireland, and he returned with it to England. He was killed in a battle, and his son carried on in his place. In 1461 A. D., Richard II (who was also known as Edward IV) won the position as King of England over the House of Lancaster in March, and he brought the rule of England and Ireland closer together. In 1463 A. D., the following were noted: - Thomas Fitzgerald, the son of the Earl of Desmond, became the 8th Earl of Desmond when Sir John Butler of Ormond, a supporter of the House of Lancaster, was defeated in the War of the Roses battle at Pilltown at Carick on Suir in Ireland. Edward IV recognized Thomas Fitzgerald as the most powerful of the Irish lords, and appointed him as the chief governor of Ireland The rale of Thomas Fitzgerald in Ireland lasted for 4 years, when the English became suspicious of Fitzgerald's loyalty to the English Crown. In 1465 A. D., the English Pale was defined as being the counties of Louth, Meath, Dublin and Kildare. At times it was referred to by English authorities as "the Land of Peace". In 1466 A. D., the King of Thomond imposed a tribute upon the City of Limerick. In 1467 A. D., Fitzgerald was replaced as Ireland's chief governor by John Tiptoft, who was the Earl of Worcester. In 1468 A. D., Thomas Fitzgerald, the 8th Earl of Desmond, was tried for Treason, and he was beheaded in Drogheda. An uprising by the Gaelic and the Anglo-Irish chiefs plus the Earl of Kildare followed, as all of them had been similarly accused. The matter was settled to alleviate the concerns of all of them. In 1470, John Tiptoft, the Earl of Worcester was recalled to England. In Ireland, he had earned the title of "butcher" because of his actions, and he was executed in England. His attempt to impose English mle on Ireland had failed. England had no resources to invade Ireland to impose her will. In 1472 A. D., the wife of Red Hugh O'Donnell, who was Lady Nuala O'Donnell, attended "The Provincial Chapter" at Ross Errily at Headford in County Galway, and she forced the Provincial to send Friars to County Donegal to found a Friary there. It was completed two years later. In 1478 A. D., Garret mor Fitzgerald, the Earl of Kildare, became the Chief Governor of Ireland. He had 6 daughters who were married into important Anglo-Irish and Gaelic families, including the O'Neills of County Tyrone. Fitzgerald sought to promote the causes of the English Yorkists. In 1480 A. D., Gerald More, who was the Earl of Kildare, invaded Leix to punish the O'Mores for their raids and battles against the English Pale around Dublin. In 1485 A. D., on August 22, at the Battle of Bosworth Field in Britain, the Wars of the Roses ended when Richard III, who was the brother of Edward IV, was killed by the followers of the Lancaster pretender to the throne, who was Henry Tudor. There were repercussions from that event in Irish politics. In 1487 A D Lambert Simnel, (1475 to 1535), who was the Yorkist Pretender to the Crown of England, came into Ireland where he was crowned as King Edward VI of England with the support of Irish chieftains. Simnel returned to England with Fitzgerald's brother and his army, but their forces were defeated at Stoke in England. He was the son of a joiner, and he was unqualified to act as a great noble. In 1491 A D (See 1494 A. D. below) a second pretender to the Crown of England, Perkin Warbeck, (1474 to 1499) was in Cork where the Earl of Desmond and the Earl of Kildare tried to get him accepted as the King of England Warbeck was a pawn of other men. He was the son of a minor official. He was of Flemish origin, and he fried to impersonate Richard, the Duke of York, who was the younger of two princes that had been murdered in the Tower of London. In 1492 A. D., Christopher Columbus had two Irish sailors with him when he discovered America. In 1493 A. D., Judge Lynch, a Galway man, had his own son hanged. In 1494 A. D., the following were noted: .,,_,., j- ^ - The Dublin authorities suggested that the "English Pale" be protected by a double ditch extending from Dublin to Kildare to Trim, through Meath to Dundalk. The "Pale" was mostly Dublin, but at times, it extended to include parts of other counties. . - Sir Edward Poynings was sent by King Henry VII of England to Ireland, where he convened an Insh Parliament at the end of the year. The result of the Convention was Poynings Law. Its purpose was Irish obedience to English wishes. It imposed England as an all powerful authority over Ireland. - Garret Mor Fitzgerald, the Earl of Kildare, was arrested under the terms of Poynings Law. He was charged with "treasonable alliances with the Gaels". Because of this, an uprising occurred in Ireland. King Henry VII had to restore Fitzgerald to power in Ireland. His famous quote was "Since all Ireland cannot mle the Earl of Kildare, then the Earl of Kildare shall rale all Ireland". Kildare would remain in power in Ireland until his death in 1513 A. D.

In 1495 A. D., the following were noted: - Perkin Warbeck, the Yorkist Pretender to the Throne of England arrived in Cork. - Silken Thomas Fitzgerald burned down the church at Thurles in County Tipperary because he thought that the Archbishop was inside of it. Fitzgerald was a leader of the Geraldines. In 1497 A. D., the following were noted: - King Henry called Waterford in Ireland "Urbs Intacta" or "the Unconquered City" when it refused to recognize Lambert Simnel as King of England in 1487 A. D. Also, it had refused to recognize Perkin Warbeck to that same position during this year. nnar%f,n - Red Piers Butler slew his rival, who was Sir James Butler, near Kilkenny City, and he became the agent to the 7th Earl and the most important Butler person in Ireland.

THE FITZGERALDS IN IRELAND

"The Geraldines! The Geraldines! 'Tis full a thousand years Since 'mid the Tuscan vinyards, bright flashed their battle spears; When Capet seized the Crown of France, their iron shields were known, And their sabre dint struck terror on the banks of the Garonne; Across the towns of Hastings, they spurred hard by Wilson's side, And the grey sands of Palestine, with Moslem blood, they dyed; But never then, nor thence, till now, has falsehood or disgrace Been seen to soil Fitzgerald's plume or mantle in his face."

The Fitzgerald family was of mixed Continental and Welsh origin. The founder of the Irish branch of it was Maurice Fitzgerald, who traveled with the Norman and Strongbow in 1169 A. D. to assist him in his campaigns in the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. The grandfather of Maurice Fitzgerald was Otho, who was a powerful baron of "The House of Gherardine", who were the Dukes of Tuscany. This was the origin of the family name of the Geraldines. Otho migrated to Normandy in France during the reign of Edward the Confessor in England, where he obtained large grants of land. He became prominent m the social and political life of the times. The triumphs of William the Conqueror in England strengthened his position, his influence and his power. His son, Walter, married Gladyss, who was a Welsh woman, and Walter's son, Gerald, was confirmed by King Henry I. Gerald was given the title of Constable of Pembroke Castle in Wales by King Henry I for his services to England against the Welsh chieftains. Walter had a son named Maurice, and he was the first of the Fitzgeralds to settle into Ireland. He adopted the surname "Fitzgerald" or "son of Gerald" in 1173 A. D., and he was appointed as the Chief Governor of Ireland by King Henry II. Large tracts of Irish lands, confiscated from the natives in the present counties of Cork, Kerry,Kildare and Wicklow were granted to him in the English manner. Since the English did not own them to grant them, they had to be taken by armed force from the occupants. In this manner, one branch of the Fitzgerald family became the Earls of Desmond, which encompassed the "patrimony" of Cork, large estates in Kerry and smaller estates in Tipperary and Waterford. Another branch became the Barons of Offaly, which estates embraced large portions of what came to be known as Kings County, together with all of the lands of Kildare and Queens County. In more recent years, both Kings County and Queens County have returned to their original names of County Offaly and County Laois. The Fitzgeralds of Desmond held most of the offices that were made important by imposing Englsih law upon the Irish natives. They held the titles od Lord Deputy of Ireland during the 14th and 15th Centuries. They held the English rank of Prince Palestine, which made them virtual kings of their own demesne. Their family line in the Irish province of Leinster named twenty of their descendants as Earls, and in 1776 A. D., the Earl who reigned at that time was given a newly created English title of "The Duke of Leinster". By virtue of their ownership and confiscation of the Irish lands, they became the most wealthy and socially prominent Anglo- Irish people in many parts of Ireland. The Fitzgeralds adopted the manners and the customs of the Irish, among whom they had lived for so long. They spoke the Irish language, often contrary to English laws, as that was the language of the natives. They chose to follow Irish law in some circumstances, They claimed that they had become "Ipsis Hibemicus Hiberniores" or "more Irish than the Irish themselves". This attitude was anathema to their imposition of English laws upon the Irish natives whose lands that had confiscated, and their cooperation with English authorities in the subjugation of the Irish. When the English adopted Penal Laws under the Statutes of Kilkenny in 1367 and modified them through the years, those laws forbade intermarriage with Irish women, under penalty of high treason. The Anglo-Irish, such as the Fitzgeralds, were not allowed by law to adopt the dress of the Irish. The use of the Irish language or names could be penalized the forfeiture of their lands to other, more acquiescent Anglo-Irish. Many of the Penal Laws were enforced only upon those who could not respond to their unfairness, and so some groups, like the Geraldines, did not fully comply with their severity, when it was inconvenient to them. The family name of "Gerald" or "Garret" which means the same, was expanded to "the Geraldines". Gerald was followed in his Irish mle by Garret Mor and Garret Og. King Henry VII of England was told by his people that "All of Ireland could not govern the Earl of Kildare", to which the king responded "The, let the Earl of Kildare rule all of Ireland". The King recalled Garret Og, the Earl of Kildare, to England, and his son feared for his safety. His son was Thomas Fitzgerald, who was the Tenth Earl of Kildare. He was known as "Silken Thomas". The English authorities thought that his father was acting contrary to their wishes, and they had taken action against him. When Silken Thomas learned of this, he took rebellious actions against the English representatives in Ireland, and he refused to acknowledge allegiance to King Henry VIII. A long campaign took place, and against great odds, with treachery involved, Silken Thomas was induced to surrender, with a promise of security for him and his retainers. In 1537 A. D., he was taken to London, where he was executed, along with five of his uncles. Because of this change in leadership, the Butlers of Ormonde regained control of the government of Ireland. Another Fitzgerald, appropriately named Gerald Fitzgerald, who was the Fifteenth Earl of Desmond, denied that Queen Elizabeth was the spiritual leader of England, and he refused to conform to the standards of the English Church. He was slain by English forces in battle, and his head was sent to London, where it was impaled upon a spike on the London Bridge for display to the public as a traitor to England. During the controversies of 1688 A. D., various members of the Fitzgerald family chose to serve in the army of King James, who was a Catholic. They opposed the Protestant forces of King William of Orange, whom the Protestants in England had adopted as their sovereign. After the Battle of the Boyne, when the Catholic forces were defeated, and their remnants were led to the walled city of Limerick by Patrick Sarsfield, Colonel John Fitzgerald was a member of the Desmond branch of his family who fought in the defense of the city during the Siege of Limerick against William of Orange's forces. After the Treaty of Limerick was signed, he left Limerick, along with many others, to sail to France, where he fought with the Irish Brigade and the French forces against the Englih forces. Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Fitzgerald was another member of that family that also fought with the Irish Brigade, and there were others, also. In the Rebellion of 1798 A. D., Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the brother of the Duke of Leinster, was betrayed, wounded and arrested prior to the date of the rebellion, and he died in prison. He had been the leader of the United Irishmen. The leadership of the United Irishmen had been riddled with English spies, prior to the Rebellion, and while about 100 of the Anglo Irish leaders of the United Irishmen had died during the rebellion, about 30,000 Irish had been killed. In 1502 A. D., Arthur, the brother of Henry Tudor, died. Upon his death, Henry Tudor would subsequently become King of England. He had been bom on June 28,1491. In 1509 A. D., on April 21, Henry Tudor, the second son of Tudor King Henry VII became King Henry VIII of England. There was a Union between the two Plantagenet Houses of York and Lancaster in England. Religion became a major problem. Prior to this time, the Normans and the Gaels had worshipped at the same Church, but with some church differences between them. In 1513 A. D., Gerald More, the Earl of Kildare was wounded by the O'Mores and he died from his wound in Ley Castle. In 1514 A. D., Gerald Og defeated the O'Mores in their own territory of Leix, and to avenge their defeat, the O'Mores slew the son of the Earl of Kildare and others of his followers at a later date. In 1521 A. D., King Henry 8th demanded the allegiance of Ireland to England, and he sent the Earl of Surrey to Ireland. Surrey asked for 6,000 troops to accompany him. His plan was to conquer, build castles to defend the conquered lands, and to colonize them with loyal Englishmen. Mere military possession of Irish lands was no longer enough. Earlier, the English Cardinal Wolsey had recommended that the entire Irish Catholic Church in Ireland should be taken over, and it should become the state Church of England, no longer obedient or associated with Rome. This would eliminate all Irish Catholic conflict with England's plans for Ireland. Because the plan would have been expensive to implement, King Henry VIII did not agree to do so. In 1533 A. D., King Henry VIII married Ann Boleyn in England, and he rejected the authority of the Pope of Rome who refused his request for a divorce to do so. In 1534 A. D., Garret Og Fitzgerald, who was Lord Kildare, was summoned to England. He left his oldest son, Lord Offaly, in charge of his affairs, as Administrator for Ireland. Garret Og was imprisoned in England in the Tower of London. His son was known in Ireland as "Silken Thomas" Fitzgerald because he and his followers wore silk fringes attached to their jackets. Silken Thomas went to Dublin, and he announced that he was an opponent to the King of England, and that he was no longer his agent. He and his followers rose in rebellion against the authority of King Henry VIII. Red Piers Butler looked for a victory of the House of Butler in Ireland over the House of Kildare (or the Geraldines). Butler raised all of Kilkenny and Tipperary in rebellion against the House of Kildare and its Earl. Silken Thomas was forced to surrender in 1535. In 1537 A. D., the revolt of Silken Thomas Fitzgerald had ended, and he was executed along with five of his uncles. At this point, the Butlers of Ormond regained control of the government of Ireland. The mthless Sir William Skeffington had put down the Geraldines' rebellion with his 2,300 soldiers. He overran the Fitzgerald castle at Maynooth in County Kildare, using artillery to do so for the first time in Ireland. The garrison surrendered, and they were all executed. The only Fitzgerald left alive was the infant half brother of Silken Thomas. After this, all of the Anglo-Irish lords were terrorized, and all of Ireland's independence was eliminated. Laws were passed in Ireland that made it similar in many ways to England, and the Penal Laws were imposed against the Irish whenever the opportunity existed. King Henry VIII had become the head of the state Church of England. All wealth and properties of the Roman Catholic Church of Ireland were confiscated to the ownership of England and its nobles. The Anglican Church (which became known in Ireland as "The "Church of Ireland") was begun by the robbing of the assets of the Roman Catholic Church by England. Red Piers Butler tried to reconcile the differences between the Butlers and the Geraldines of Ireland. He married Margaret, the daughter of Garret Mor, and she became very popular. His slaying of Sir James Butler in 1497 had made him a powerful person in Ireland. He was said by some to have defeated the House of Kildare. With the power of Kildare gone, various family leaders tried to gain power and authority in Ireland, but none were able to do so. The English Viceroy now mled in Ireland, and a permanent English military garrison was established and maintained in Ireland. In 1538 A. D., all of the Catholic abbeys and monasteries in Ireland were suppressed by order of King Henry VIII of England. Between 1536 and 1540 A. D., King Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of all of the Catholic monasteries of Ireland and England, and the confiscation of their lands and properties by the English Crown. In 1536 and extending into the following year, there were uprisings in northern Ireland against King Henry VIII's actions to confiscate the properties of the Roman Catholic Church. In return, a military onslaught against Ireland was enacted, and the Catholic Church was attacked wherever it was deemed necessary by English authorities. It was an attempt to promote religious Reformation, which continued for centuries. It had only limited success, as the Catholics refused to become members of the Protestant Church. In 1541 A. D., King Henry VIII announced that he was the King of Ireland by vote of the Irish Parliament. He was the first ever to claim that title since Edward Bmce had done so. King Henry announced that the Anglicization of Ireland was a necessity, and that there should be no more separation between the two countries. He would compel the Irish to adhere to only the use of the English language, and to English customs and dress. There was no change in the English policy on these matters for several centuries. King Henry VIII tried to have his marriage to Catherine of Aragon nullified by Rome because of her failure to bear him a son to carry on his legacy upon his demise. Rome denied his request in 1531 A. D. King Henry VIII broke with Rome and with the Catholic Church. He began a Protestant National Church in England of which he became the Supreme Leader. In 1543 A. D., Murrough O'Brien submitted to King Henry VIII of England, and he became the Earl of Thomond and the Baron of Inchiquin, a title given to him by King Henry. He agreed to give up the name of O'Brien, and to take whatever name the King gave him. It was required that he and his heirs, and the occupants of his lands, should use the English dress, manners, customs and language. Also they were to keep no "kerns or gallowglasses" (which were lightly armed and heavily armed infantry of the time). The son of King Henry VIII followed him as King Edward VI of England. He tried to have Parliament pass legislation that would require changes in doctrines, but the scheme was not successful. By 1547 A. D., the English control of Ireland was again limited to the English Pale, which was an area that surrounded Dublin. A system of requiring Irish submissions to the English Crown, and the granting of lands, and their re-granting of those lands to other parties was occurring. These actions were in conflict with the Irish concepts of land, in which all land was owned by the tribe, and not by the individual. After 1547 A. D., the legislation passed by the English Parliament was strongly resisted by Catholics who would not change their one thousand years of devotion to Catholicity to conform with the wishes of an English king with marriage problems. The Protestants (or followers of King Henry VIII) became part of a repressive and unpopular English administration. In response, King Henry VIII sent Protestants to Ireland to colonize and control the Irish population. They were followed by Protestant mlers of Ireland, additional plantings of Protestants on Irish lands and the claiming of lands by Protestants that had always been owned by Irish, The Irish became renters upon their own lands, and many of the owners would become absentee landlords. Protestant successes were mainly limited to the area around Dublin which was known as "The English Pale" and the province of Ulster, which had been drowned in an influx of Protestants from London and the Scottish lowlands. This was the beginning of a time that became known as the Protestant Ascendency era. Shane O'Neill (1530 to 1576) was the son of Conn O'Neill who had made a submission to King Henry VIII. Shane was an Ulster chieftain who refused to accept his father's action, and he claimed that the lands which had been confiscated from his family without compensation and given to English planters should not have been taken from them. His claims extended for a period of five years. Lord Deputy St. Leger attacked the lands of the O'Mores of Leix and the O'Connors of Offaly with fire and sword and he named the chiefs of the two Irish tribes as traitors to the English Crown. The two tribes had been a continuous source of difficulty to the English forces, and both King Henry VIII and King Edward VI had spent great sums of money trying to control these Irish tribes. It was an amount said to be about 100,000 English pounds. The Irish tribes had been reduced to near starvation, and the two Irish leaders submitted to British authority, whereby they were imprisoned in the Tower of London, where The O'More died within the first year of captivity. - Lord Deputy St. Leger had the tribal properties of the Irish confiscated, and he gave or sold them to an Englishman named Francis Bryon and other English and Scotchmen. The new owners of the Irish lands were called "Adventuers" by the English and "Undertakers" by the Irish. This activity was a part of the first "Plantations" of Ireland, and many others were to follow. - Since all Irish lands belonged to the Irish tribes, and not to any individual, and it could not be sold off, the English used a technique of forcing the tribal leaders to submit to English authority, whereby, the English would claim all ownership authority over the tribal lands. To ameliorate the situation for the Irish, the English would often cede back the tribal lands by deed to the Irish. At a later date, a claim would be made that the deed that had been given to the Irish was fraudulent in some way, thus allowing for confiscation of the Irish properties by the English Crown. The new English owners were required to either clear the Irish lands of their former owners, or impress them into tenancies in order to gain profits from a form of Irish slavery. The Irish resisted against the Crown forces, and were forced to flee into the mountains and woodlands, from where they attacked their oppressors. The English Crown sent 10,000 soldiers led by Bellinghan to lay waste to the Irish lands, and to clear them of the opposition to their confiscations. It was Kedach O'More that had died in the tower of London. His brother, Lysaght, had previously been killed while fighting against Crown forces. A third brother, Rory O'More, became the leader of the Irish in Leix. This Rory O'More submitted to Bellingham's military authority for a while, and Bellingham's forces built a number of fortified castles as strongholds to maintain control of the Irish lands. - Rory O'More had two sons named Callagh and Rory Oge by his wife, Margaret, who was the daughter of Thomas Butler, and the granddaughter of Piers (or Pierce) Butler, the 8th Earl of Ormond. When his father had submitted to Bellingham, Callagh O'More had been sent as a hostage to England. In 1548 A. D., Teige Roe O'Melaghlin died. He had brought Edmond Fahy (alias White) into Delvin against his enemies, but Fahy turned on O'Melaghlin in the name of King Henry. From this time, the O'Melaghlins as Kings of Meath and chiefs of the old South Hy-Niall race, almost disappear from Irish history, except for a brief reference to them in the Seven Years War of 1641 A. D. In 1551 A. D., because he had been accused of being a Papist by a political enemy, Anthony St. Leger, who was England's Lord Deputy for Ireland, had became very upset and was insulted. In 1552 A. D., we note the following: - The English garrison from Athlone burned the monastery at Clonmacnois in County Offaly. - The Plantations of Ireland, which were specific actions by the English government to extirpate the Catholic religion in Ireland and to exterminate the Irish as a race, began. - These Plantations continued up to 1654 A.D. - Their effects are still in existence today. - These Plantations were to cause many wars between the English (or Great Britain) and the Irish. - These Plantations led to the separation of six counties of Northern Ireland from the rest of that island nation. - These Plantations led directly to the recent twenty three year war in Northern Ireland. The separation of the Six Counties of Ireland into a country called Northern Ireland by the treaty of 1922 was one of those major criminal actions toward the Irish. It led to the division of the Irish people when the members of the Irish Republican Army refused to accept the proposal, and it started a Civil War in 1922 when the Irish Free State was created. In 1553 A. D., the following were noted: The reign of Queen Mary (1516 to 1558) on the English throne began, and it would extend to 1558 A. D. She was a Catholic, but she presented no relief to the Irish. She was also known as Mary Tudor or as Bloody Mary, and her reign included both England and Ireland. Being of the House of Tudor, she was the daughter of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, and she became Queen upon the death of King Edward VI, who was her half brother, and after the deposition of Lady Jane Gregory. She married Philip II of Spain in 1554, and she repealed laws that established Protestantism in England and re-established Roman Catholicism. In Ireland, she confiscated the lands of the O'Moores (or O'Mores) and the O'Connors in Laois and Offaly, and she had them named as Kings County and Queens County in honor of herself and her husband. She planted them with English settlers. The chiefs who had lost their lands began a type of guerilla warfare against the English, and they became known as "Tories" which is the Gaelic word for "the pursued". The word was later adopted for use by the English Parliament as a name for one of their political parties. The English forces were unable to defeat these Tories, so they invited them and their families to a Conference at Mullaghmast to settle the differences. Upon the arrival of the Irish, they were all set upon and treacherously slain by their English hosts. Queen Mary became the Queen of England upon the demise of her stepbrother, King Edward VI. It was expected that changes would occur in issues that pertained to Catholics, and they did. The Protestant officials in Dublin, in order to maintain their positions affirmed that they also were Papists. Lord Deputy St. Leger had the Protestant Primate of Ireland Browne expelled from his Protestant See in Dublin. Browne, who was detested by St. Leger and others, died about 3 years later. The O'Connors and the O'Mores joined together to wage war against the Crown forces, and particularly against the settlers on their lands. Brian O'Connor had been imprisoned by the English in the Tower of London in 1547 and was still there. His daughter, Margaret, went to England and she petitioned the Queen for his release, and Brian was allowed to return to Ireland. However, the Lords Justices of Dublin arrested Brian O'Connor as he arrived in Dublin, and they notified Queen Mary of the acts of rebellion of the O'Connors of Offaly against the Crown forces. Gerald Fitzgerald of the House of the Geraldines was also released. Others also released were Fitzpatrick of Ossory and Thomas Butler, the Earl of Ormond. Queen Mary of England retracted her clemency for Brian O'Connor, and she authorized a new "Plantation" of the lands of Leix and Offaly, from which the English Adventurers and Undertakers and their colonists had recently been driven by the Irish tribesmen. In 1556 A. D., Leix and Offaly were planted first. They had previously been immune from Norman influence. Leix became "Queens County", named for Queen Mary. It was comprised ofLeix and a small portion of Offalt. The town of Maryborough was the name given to an old fortress of Campa (or Port Leix), and it became the capitol of Queens County. The remainder of Offaly, with the lands of the Omulloys and the O'Cameys, together with part of Ely O'Carroll and Delvin were joined to form Kings County, for King Philip of Spain, who was Queen Mary's husband. The name of Philipstown emerged from him. Sussex, who was now the Lord Deputy of Ireland for England, was authorized to restore the castles that the rebels had destroyed, and he prepared plans for the two counties, so as to divide them again among English settlers. While some of the lands of the two counties was supposed to be returned to the Irish natives, it never happened, and the war between the English and the Irish continued. The English historians claimed that the "settlement of Leix" had been attained, but that was not true. There was never any settlement of the confiscation of the Irish lands. Rory O'More, who was the Irish leader, had been captured and killed. He was succeeded as chieftain by his son, Rory Oge O'More (or in Irish, Ruaidhri Og un Mordha) who continued his father's battles against the English invaders. As a part of the "Settlement of Leix", the rapacious English Penal Laws were enforced against the Irish natives. The Irish fought to regain their properties, and the English fought to exterminate the Irish, who would battle, and withdraw into their woodlands and hills. Rory Oge O'More had only been 20 years old when he became a tribal chieftain in 1553 A. D. He had been proclaimed as an outlaw by the English, and his military actions had been of a guerilla nature. The English kept 200 soldiers in the area as protection for their settlers, and to attempt to capture or kill Rory, who was accompanied only by a small band of compatriates. Under those conditions, over a period of times, Rory's followers left him, and he submitted to English authority in return for a full pardon for his activities. It was granted on February 17,1565. In 1558 A. D., Conor O'Brien submitted to King Henry VIII in a manner similar to that which Murrough O'Brien did in 1543 a! D. , j u . . JU t . In 1562 A. D., Shane O'Neill, who was also known as "Shane the Proud" had revolted, submitted, and he returned to fight against the MacDonnells, who were migrants to Ireland from west Scotland and against the O'Donnells of Tir Connell. He wrote to Queen Elizabeth and he was tactful and diplomatic in his correspondence. In 1567 A D the forces of Shane O'Neill were defeated, and he fled to Scotland, where he was found and murdered by the MacDonnells. After Shane O'Neill had been killed by Sorley Boy MacDonnell in 1567, it was Hugh O'Neill who became the Irish leader in Ulster. There had not been much progress in the amount of influence that England had over the Irish in the Province of Ulster. In 1569 A. D., the following were noted: - Kilmallock was the key to the rest of Ireland. In a battle that year, between Fitzmaunce of Desmond and Sidney for the Crown forces, the English (or Crown forces) won. Then, Sidney left Humphrey Gilbert to garrison the town of Kilmallock. This ended the Geraldine Confederacy. Gilbert was a mthless ruler, and he slew many. Gilbert left for England, and the town was demolished by the forces of James Fitzmaurice, with the assistance of the men of Clan Sweeney and of Clan Sheehy - All of the lands of the Catholic Church and the Catholic Abbeys were confiscated by the English - All of the lands of O'Neill were forfeited to the English Crown after the death of Shane OI'Neill two years earlier. A colonization of the lands followed that was called "The Plantation of Ireland". These plantings took place in the provinces of Ulster, Leinster and Munster. Those who obtained grants of land through this means were the court favorite in England, and they included the Saint Legers, the Carews, the Devereaux and the Smiths. In 1570 A. D., the following were noted: The "presidencies" were established for both the Province of Munster and the Province of Connacht. Both of those provinces plus the Province of Leinster were subdivided into Counties for ease of their administration by the English. Munster presented some difficulties in doing so, as the people had a strong anti-English bias after Queen Elizabeth I had been excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Alternately, Connaught did not oppose the changes imposed by England. Elizabeth was generally regarded as one of England's greatest queens by her own people, but certainly not by the Irish. She renewed the supremacy of the English royalty as the head of the Anglican Church, and the authority of the Anglican Church over all of the Irish was again imposed upon the Irish. Rory Oge O'More of Queens County, who had submitted to English authority in 1565 A. D., was again trying to start a rebellion against the English. He met with the O'Connors of Offaly and the O'Mulloys and they began to raise an armed force. In 1571 A. D., the following were noted: In the summertime, when the numbers of English soldiers had been diminished, and when Lord Ormond was in England, Rory Oge O'More led his forces in battles against those of the Butlers and the Fitzgeralds, both of whom were Anglo-Irish leaders of the English forces. They English tried to quell his activities, but were unable to do so. Lord Ormond, on behalf of Rory Oge O'More, asked the English government to allow the return of Callagh O'More, the older brother of Rory Oge O'More o Ireland. He was being held in England by the government as a hostage. If returned, he would have become the chief of his clan. The English government refused to grant the request, as they already had enough troubles with one member of the family in Ireland. Callagh O'More remained in England until some years had passed after his brother's death, and his value as a hostage had faded. He returned to a family property in Leix and lived there without incident. In 1572 A. D., the following were noted: In a series of raids and battles and killings, the Plantation of Munster was wiped out. In other words, the efforts of the Crown forces to implement the "planting" of Englishmen on the Irish lands in Munster was resisted by the Irish to the effect that the "planters" were driven off. Gerald Fitzgerald, the Earl of Desmond, returned to Ireland from England after a prolonged period of imprisonment on various charges, and he was promptly arrested by the Irish Council of Dublin, but not confined, but he was kept under guard. In November, Gerald Fitzgerald escaped from his guard on a pretense that he was going hunting. He met with Rory Oge O'More, who escorted him to Kildare and offered protection for him. The Earl of Desmond was declared to be a traitor by the Dublin council, and a large reward was offered for his capture. The Earl of Desmond rejoined his own forces, and he took actions to remove English soldiers from some of his own former fortresses. In 1573 A. D., the following were noted: Gerald Fitzgerald was restored as Earl of Desmond, and he went to Askeaton, where he overturned Perrot's authority. He cleaned out all of the Undertakers, or he took away their power. Rory Oge O'More assisted Gerald Fitzgerald at this time by his actions against the English in Kings and Queens counties. In the province of Connaught, the two sons of the Earl of Clanrickard (or the Burkes) were fighting against the English government forces in that area. Rory Oge O'More entered into an alliance with the sons of the Earl of Clanrickard . The Earl of Desmond lost possession of two of his castles to English attackers at Derrinlare and Castlemain, and he was forced to submit to Essex, the Lord Deputy for Ireland.. In 1575 A. D., the following were noted: It was said that "now, both counties (Leix and Offaly) are much spoiled and wasted by the race and offspring of the old native inhabitors, which grow great and increase in number; and the English decay, both in force and in wealth, and are not of ability to answer their rents and services, but let their land to Irish tenants." In County Antrim, at Torr, an Irish leader called Sorley Boy (Somhairle Bui) MacDonnell (1505 to 1590) had sent some Irish natives to Rathlin Island for safety from English troops. He watched in anguish as 600 of them, including women and children, died by order of the Earl of Essex. Lord Essex was a typical military colonist, and the Irish natives were merely uncivilized, but they were heretical because they would not accept the Protestant Church. It was the policy of the colonists to "get rid of the Irish Catholics and to occupy their lands. Sorley Boy MacDonnell was the chief of the MacDonnells of county Antrim. He had led the Irish to defeat the English in a conflict at Carrickfergus in 1552. He had also been captured by the forces of Shane O'Neill in 1565. It was he who had arranged for the defeat and the death of Shane O'Neill in Scotland in 1567. In November, Rory Oge O'More was surprised by English soldiers, who took him prisoner, and transported him to Dublin. Sir William Fitzwilliam, who had been appointed as the Lord Deputy for Ireland, had resigned from his position, and Sir Henry Sidney had been returned to that position to replace him. Sir Henry Sidney, who wanted conciliation between the parties in Ireland, released Rory Oge O'More, and he returned to Queens County (or Leix) to resume control of his property and people, without penalty. Lord Deputy Sir Henry Sidney met with Rory Oge O'More in the Cathedral of Kilkenny in December. Rory Oge submitted to Lord Deputy Sidney there, according to Sidney. The meeting was arranged by Ormond to I an attempt to resolve issues regarding the English confiscation of Irish lands in Leix and Offaly. Sidney offered lands for Rory Oge O'More's use in return for his peaceful residence upon them, and felt that he had resolved the situation in those two former Irish tribal areas. He also named MacGillapatrick, the Lord of Upper Ossory as his emissary for Kings County and Queens County, the two newly established plantations upon Irish soil. Lord Deputy Sidney left Kilkenny thinki9ng that he had resolved all of the current issues regarding the English government in that area. In 1576 A. D., the following were noted: - Brehon Law was restored to use in the province of Munster., but the British still controlled Limerick City. - County Limerick had 300 stone keeps and County Cork had 400 stone keeps. Nearly all of them were in the possession of the Geraldines. - In the latter part of the 1570's, Gerald, the Earl of Desmond, left Asketon for Kilmallock and he gathered his forces. He had about 2,000 men at arms. He had prepared them against Black Tom, who was the son of the 9th Earl of Ormond, (who were the Butlers) and the situation became the people of Desmond against those of Ormond. At Bokermor, at the Limerick/Tipperary border, a total of more than 4,000 foot soldiers, and 750 horse with several batteries of cannon. For 13 days, there was no battle, and on the 14th day, a Truce was declared. Gerald's wife had intervened between her son and her husband. In 1579 A. D., the following were noted: - During one of the many fights at Gortnetubrid, in the southern part of County Limerick, 300 English soldiers and 3 officers were killed - Rory Oge O'More was granted a new pardon from the English government of Ireland in June of 1576, and he was no longer considered to be an outlaw (or "raparee"). Upon receipt of his pardon, he renounced his allegiance to England, and he met with the sons of the Earl of Clanrickarde. Clanrickarde's sons were communicating secretly with Sir James Fitzmaurice, a cousin of the Earl of Desmond. Fitzmaurice had entered into rebellion in Ireland in defense of his Catholic faith, and he had gone to Spain in an attempt to obtain aid from The Pope in Rome and from King Philip of Spain for his actions against the English forces. - Rory Oge O'More had been supplied with arms and money by John Burke, one of the sons of the Earl of Clanrickarde, and he joined his forces with those of Cormac McCormac O'Connor. Together, they gathered a substantial army, as they anticipated that Fitzmaurice would return from Spain with a large amount of aid, so that the predominance of the Catholic religion could be restored to Ireland, and that the country could gain her independence from England. In the autumn and winter of the year, the forces of Omore and O'Connor attacked the English settlements in their area, and in Meath and Fingall also. They almost eliminated English governmental control in the area. - County Limerick had 300 stone keeps and County Cork had 400 stone keeps. Nearly all of them were in the possession of the Geraldines. A "keep" was a part of a castle. In the latter part of the 1570's, Gerald, the Earl of Desmond, left Askeaton for Kilmallock and he gathered his forces. He had about 2,000 men at arms. He prepared them against Black Tom, who was the son of the 9th Earl of Ormond (who were the Butlers), and the situation became the people of Desmond against those of Ormond. At Bokermor at the Limerick and Tipperary border, a total of more than 4,000 foot soldiers, 750 horse and several batteries of cannon met. For 13 days there was no battle, and on the 14th day, a trace was declared. Gerald's wife had intervened between her son and her husband. In 1577 A. D., the following were noted: The tithes that were attributed to Ross Errily in Headford in County Galway were granted to the Burgesses of Athenry. - THE MASSACRE OF MULLAGHMAST took place. Sir Francis Cosby was the Senechel (or Sentinel) of Queen's county for the English government. Together with Robert Hartpole, an English colonist, they decided to attempt to eradicate all of the Irish leaders in one fell swoop, so as to eliminate all opposition to their situations and authority. Once it was underway, virtually all of the English Undertakers and Adventurers joined with them in this effort at mass assassination. One Irish family, the Dempseys, joined with the English Protestants. The English who were principally involved were the Deavils, the Grahams, the Piggots, the Hartpoles, the Hovendons, the Bowens and the Fitzgeralds. About 300 to 400 of the prominent leaders of the Irish families were invited to attend a friendly conference at the Rath of Mullaghmast. It was a circular fort which is near to the village of Ballitore in County Kildare. It is located about 5 miles easterly from the Town of Athy. Some of the Irish families that attended the proposed conference included the O'Mores, the O'Lalors, the O'Dowlings, the O'Nolans, the O'Kellys and others. The circular rath or fort was surrounded by a low earthen wall. As each person entered the rath, he was surrounded by a triple line of armed English soldiers. Every man was put to death, except for one. Henry Lalor had not entered into the circular rath. He arrived in time to see the slaughtering taking place. While he was also confronted, he drew his sword, and he fought his way out to rejoin his followers, who had remained outside of the rath. The Irish who were trapped and killed numbered about 400. Captain Thomas Lee, an English officer, wrote that this slaughter was done with the full knowledge and approval of Lord Deputy Sir Henry Sidney. It was considered to be just another action taken against the Irish, so that there was never any formal repercussion against the action by the English government. Rory Oge O'More had not been present at Mullaghmast, and he continued his actions against the English forces in Ireland, as he moved in and out of the hills and woodlands, echoing the cry "Remember Mullaghmast!" Many of the attacks by the the outlawed O'More faction took place at night against both isolated outposts and cities and towns. His attacks were swift and concise, and a price was placed upon his dead, dead or alive. On March 17th, O'More and his forces, with Cormac O'Connor at his side, arrived at the Town of Naas at night. The people of the town had gone to rest after a festive day celebrating St. Patrick. They were wakened to the torching of the thatched roofs of the town's houses, but orders had been given not to injure the inhabitants. On the following day, Sir Francis Cosby attempted to pursue the Irish rebels, but was unable to confront them. O'More's forces proceeded to the Town of Carlow, which they also set on fire by torching thatched roofs. After they left Carlow, O'More's forces proceeded southerly, and they set Leighlin Bridge afire also. The O'More forces avoided the troops of Sir Francis Cosby, and they went from English village to English village, destroying all of them in the Province of Leinster that he could reach. Toward the end of the year, the forces of O'More turned back toward their pursuers, confronting them, and defeating them in battle, capturing Sir Henry Harrington, who was the nephew of Lord Deputy Sidney, along with one of the Cosby relatives. Efforts were made by Lord Deputy Sidney to provide suitable terms so that the O'Mores would cease their battles against the Crown forces and the English colonists, but O'More refused to accept them or to release his captives unless all of his clan were given full pardons and allowed to be peacefully reinstated on their own former properties with full reparations. Sir Henry Sidney was not able to provide those conditions. In 1578 A. D., the following were noted: Lord Deputy Sir Henry Sidney wrote "The only gall is the rebel of Leinster. I waste him, and I kill his men off daily. To repress the arch-traitor James Fitzmaurice and that rebel Rory Oge, I am forced to employ no small extraordinary charge". A follower of Rory Oge O'More betrayed him. He led the forces of Robert Hartpole, a Constable of the Town of Carlow, by night to the house where O'More was staying, and it was surrounded. Being alarmed by the presence of his enemies, O'More attempted to kill Sir Henry Harrington, who was his prisoner, but only succeeded in wounding him seriously in the darkness. As the English military entered the house, O'More and four others escaped. O'More's wife and the remainder of the household were killed. On June 30th, O'More had gathered a small group of men, was confronted by soldiers led by Bamaby MacGillapatrick, the Baron of Upper Ossory, who had placed in charge of Kings and Queens Counties by Sir Henry Sidney. MacGillapatrick slew Rory Oge O'More with his sword, but O'More's followers were able to carry his body away. Ater, the head of O'More was retrieved by the Enlish, and it was sent to Dublin Castle where it was put on display on a spike. Rory Oge O'More left two sons, who were Owen (or Owney) and Brian. They were raised by John burke, who had become the Earl of Clanrickarde. They would later fight under the banner of Hugh O'Neill, and almost all of Leix would be retaken from the English colonists. In 1579 A. D., The following were noted: - An uprising occurred in Munster, and it was assisted by Spanish and Italian forces. In 1580 A. D., Walter Raleigh came to Ireland with troops to put down one of the rebellious Earls of Desmond in the Province of Munster. He was placed in charge of Smerwick in County Kerry. About 700 Spanish and Italian troops had been sent by Philip of Spain and Pope Gregory XIII to aid the Irish, and they were massacred. Their legs were broken, and they were catapulted into the nearby ocean according to some records, For his part in the massacre, Raleigh was given 4,000 acres of Irish land. With his grant of land, he became the Mayor of Youghal, a nearby community, where Raleigh was said to have planted the first potatoes in Ireland. The English writer, Spenser, visited with him often. Raleigh became notorious for his participation in the murdering of those captured Spanish troops in Cork, but has been glorified in English history books. - Youghal is a seaside town that was founded by the Anglo-Normans in the 13th Century. It was destroyed during the Desmond Rebellion of this year. Later, it would be handed over to Sir Walter Raleigh during the Elizabethan Plantations. Raleigh lived in a gabled house called "Myrtle Grove". In 1581 A. D., the following occurred: - Lord Deputy Grey de Wilton marched his forces against the Irish clans of County Wicklow, and they pitched camp near Glenmalure. A strong force entered a narrow part of Glenmalure, where they were attacked by the Irish and routed on August 25th. Grey's forces lost 800 men and 4 officers. The officers were Sir Peter Carew, Colonels Moor, Cosby and Audley. In time, the Dempsey family was reduced to poverty because of their involvement in the Mullaghmast Massacre. The Irish forces at Glenmalure were led by Fiach (Feagh) MacHugh O'Byrne and Viscount Ballinglass. They also included the O'Tooles and some of the fugitive O'Mores of Leix. Glenmalure is also known as Avonbeg. Its name is from Gleann Maoilughra (or the Glen of the Tribe called Mailura). - Sir Francis Crosby, who had slaughtered 400 leaders of Irish families at Mullaghmast in Kildare, was killed. - Richard, the Second Earl of Clanrickard had the Friary of Ross Errilly granted to him. - In County Wicklow, in the Wicklow Mountains, the Vale of Glenmalure was a seat of resistance to English authority. The stronghold of Feagh (or Fiach) MacHugh O'Byrne was at Ballincor, and long after he had routed the army of Lord Deputy Grey, a song was written about the event that is still sung by Wicklow advocates. It is:

FOLLOW ME UP TO CARLOW by P.J. McCall

Lift, Cahir, Oge, your face, brooding o'er the old disgrace, That Black Fitzwilliam stormed your place, and drove you to the ferns! Grey said victory was sure, and soon the firebrand, he'd secure, Until he met at Glenmalure, with Feagh MacHugh O'Byrne!

Choms:

Curse and swear, Lord Kildare! Feagh will do what Feagh will dare. Now, Fitzwilliam, have a care, for fallen is your star, low! Up with halbert. Out with sword! On we go, for by the Lord, Feagh MacHugh has given the word. Follow me up to Carlow! Chorus:

See the swords of Glen Imaal, flashing o'er the English Pale! See all the children of the Gael beneath O'Byrne's banners! Rooster of a fighting stock, would you let an English cock Crow out upon an Irish rock? Fly up and teach him manners!

Chorus:

From Tarsagart to Dromore, flows a stream of Saxon gore! Och! Great is Rory Oge O'More at sending'loons to Hades (Walloons) White is sick, and Lane has fled! Now, for Black Fitzwilliam's head; We'll send it over, dripping red, to 'Liza and her ladies! (Queen Elizabeth)

Choms:

In 1583 A. D., with the death of Gerald Fitzgerald, who was the Fifteenth Earl of Desmond, the Desmond Rebellion ended. Gerald Fitzgerald was said to have sought refuge in the Sliabh Luachra Mountains of County Kerry. His place of retreat was at Teach an Iarla, near the beginning of the Blackwater River. The Desmond Rebellion brought the English army of Queen Elizabeth into the Munster area, and that province suffered from the scourge of the land by those troops. A famine befell the area because of the loss of crops, people and devastation to places of occupation. One writer said that "the song of the thrush was not to be heard from Ventry to Cashel". Edward Spenser, the English historian, wrote "out of every comer of the woods and glens, they came creeping forth upon their hands, and their legs could not bear them. They looked like anatomies of death; they spoke like ghosts crying out of their graves. They did eat the dead carrions; happy were they that they could find them. Yea! And one another, soon after, insomuch as the very carcasses, they spared not to scrape out of their graves, and if they found a plot of watercresses or shamrocks, they flocked to a feast for a time, yet not able to continue there, withal, that in a short space, there were none almost left, and a most populous and plentiful country suddenly left void of man or beast"

In 1585 A. D., the following were noted: A report was circulated that King John's Castle would be unable to resist an attack, if any of the ships of the Spanish Armada arrived there within a three year period. Hugh O'Neill (1550 to 1616) had been educated in England, so that he better understood the ways of the English. He was the English Administrator as he was the Earl of Tyrone, and he built alliances between the English and the Gaels of Ulster. Through marriage, he had brought the O'Neills and the O'Donnells of Donegal together. They had been rivals. Queen Elizabeth of England wanted to subdue the influence of the Gaels of Ulster in favor of English colonists who had been sent there. She had MacMahon who was the chief of Monaghan executed by her order. - Red Hugh O'Donnell had been kidnapped as a young boy and imprisoned in Dublin Castle because he was a member of an important clan. Hugh O'Neill had assisted in his escape and return to his clan. Shane O'Neill had died in 1567, and Hugh O'Neill had become the chief of his O'Neill Clan. In 1586 A. D., the English began Plantation of the Province of Munster. Some aspects of it were: About 100,000 acres of the estates of the Earl of Desmond were forfeited to the English Crown. Another source says that one half of a million acres were confiscated by the English Crown. Other confiscations also took place. - Large parts of the Province were divided into signories, or lots of 12,000 or 8,000 or 4,000 acres, and they were to be held by Undertakers. Other lands to be used in common were also set aside. The settlers were promised the cost of a house, and the ability to keep it at a rate that was one fourth of the rate which was to be charged by the English Undertakers to settlers upon the land. - In an account written in 1590 A. D. by Robert Payne, who was a County Cork Undertaker, the report reads like a prospectus for a new company, extolling virgin land for settlers. - The newcomers (or settlers) to the land had to live "by prey and by pay". In other words, they might have to fight off any Irish marauders who used to own the property. Many who were undesirables in England came over to Ireland. - Many Undertakers limited the tenants to new settlers, and to 21 years, or three "lives". - Much of the land of Munster was rented back to the Irish, who had to pay higher rents to get its use. There were other specific areas which were rented to English settlers from places like Dorset, Somerset, Devon, Lancashire and Cheshire. Sir Walter Raleigh acquired lands in County Waterford, and to it, he added some 40,000 acres of land in County Cork, County Tipperary and County Waterford. They included Youghal, which was already a port town and it included the salmon fishing of the River Blackwater. In 1604 A. D., Raleigh sold these lands to Sir Richard Boyle, an Earl, who rebuilt various towns, and he founded the towns of Bandon, Clonakilty, Enniskean and Castletown, so that he could hold the settled country against the native Irish of West Carberry (in Cork), and Kerry. Sir Richard Boyle employed some hundreds of workmen who created several corporations for trading by Protestant English. - Sir Edmund Spenser obtained ownership of 3,000 acres in County Cork, and he lived in Kilcolman, which was located about three miles from Doneraile. - At this time, Ulster had only a few towns, but there were a number of Anglo Norman castles and some ancient ecclesiastical buildings which were in ruins. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth in England, the Earl of Essex was given the responsibility of the government of Ulster, and he reported that there would be difficulties in colonizing Ulster, because it was a waste country. Some of the difficulties were almost insurmountable. They included a strong opposition from the Catholic natives and the failures by the English Adventurers who had shown an eagerness to return to England. However, some of the English did settle there during Queen Elizabeth's reign. - In a survey made at this time, the whole Province of Ulster was in a primitive state, but it had great agricultural potential. In County Antrim and County Down, immigrants from the western islands of Scotland had settled along the coasts, encouraged by the O'Neill rulers. - To encourage immigration to Ulster by the the lowland Scots and English, the English government gave the MacDonnells a large part of the County of Antrim, which they had confiscated from the Irish. It was defined as the tuaths located between the River Bush and the River Bann, and they also added the Glenns of Antrim and The Route, early in the Seventeenth Century. In 1587 A. D., the following were noted: Using the methods long established by the English, Red Hugh O'Donnell, a fifteen year old boy who was an heir to the leadership of the O'Donnell faction of Tyrone, was kidnapped from his home in Tirconnell, and he was whisked away by boat to Dublin Castle, and imprisoned in its dungeon. He stayed there, a prisoner, for three years, only because he had the potential to be a leader of his people. With assistance provided through the influence of Hugh O'Neill, he managed to escape from the prison on a snowy night, and he fled into Wicklow. He was overcome by the cold, and his companion during the escape found local Irish people who saved Red Hugh's life. His feet had already become frostbitten, and he was to endure pain from them for the rest of his life. He returned to his people, and as their leader, he trained the forces of the O'Donnell clan, who were to join with the O'Neill clan to fight valiantly against the English forces in an effort to keep Ireland free. Their combined forces would be defeated some years later, and both men would leave Ireland for Spain in that group that has been known as the subject of song and story in "The Flight of the Earls". Sorley Boy MacDonnell had lost his family to the English forces in Ireland. He had lost control over the northern part of Ireland in Antrim, and he regained it during the following year, taking back his seat at Dunluce Castle. He agreed to a Trace with the English forces in 1587 A. D. He was succeeded by his son, Randal who was made the Earl of Antrim by the English. In 1588 A. D., an English fleet defeated the Spanish Armada, and it made England the leading Protestant power. It also became a Colonial power. It was in the Elizabethan age, and had a great national vigor, especially in literature. In 1592, England took another step toward the conversion of Ireland to a Protestant state by the creation of Trinity College in Dublin, which was a school exclusively for Protestants. It was constructed to support the Church of Ireland (which was another name for the Protestant Anglican Church). At this time, only Ulster remained as a Catholic area, opposed to the Protestant Church created by King Henry VIII of England. By 1595 A. D., Hugh O'Neill had made it clear as to where he stood on matters relating to Ireland. It was with the Irish. Before this time, others had fought his battles, but now O'Neill led the forces that attacked Blackwater Castle and they captured it. He led his forces to defeat those of Sir John Norris at Clonbret. In 1597 A. D., Owney O'More, the son of Rory Oge O'More of Leix, fought and killed both Alexander Cosby, the son of Sir Francis Cosby, and Francis Cosby, the grandson of Sir Francis Cosby. Sir Francis Cosby had been responsible for the Mullaghmast Slaughter of 1577, and this was some partial revenge for the families of the butchered Irish. In 15 98 A. D., the following were noted: Sir Edmund Spenser complained that the settlers had been attacked by the native Irish, and that, in reprisal, the English had become predatory in their attacks upon the Irish. Because of this local friction, Spenser's house was burned, and he returned to London. Hugh O'Neill joined with Red Hugh O'Donnell and Hugh Maguire of Fermanagh to defeat the forces of Henry Bagenal at the Battle of the Yellow Ford, and to slay Bagenal. The Irish forces needed to become consolidated. It was left to Red Hugh O'Donnell to ready the forces of the Irish of Connacht, while Hugh O'Neill concentrated his efforts in the Province of Munster and the Midlands. Queen Elizabeth had sent the Earl of Essex against the Irish with 20,000 troops, but an effective campaign was not waged. Without success, Essex was recalled to England, where he was tried for treason by the English government, and he was executed. - The successor to Essex in Ireland, and the leadership of the English troops there would fall to Mountjoy. He was mthless, and he had been given a large army which destroyed everything that it encountered. It burned the crops and building and slew every living thing that was encountered. Brian O'More, one of the two sons of Rory Oge O'More, led the forces that defeated those of Ormond's relative, James Butler. Near the Town of Maryborough . In 1599 A. D., on May 17,h, Owney (Owen) O'More and his forces met the cavalry of the Lord Viceroy of England in a defile that is now called "The Pass of the Plumes" (or Bearna na gCleiti). English forces had been defending the Town of Maryborough (now called Portlaoise), which had been placed under siege by the native Irish. The town's supplies had been reduced, and its situation was difficult. The English forces of the Earl of Ormond left Dublin in part to supply Maryborough, and to relieve the siege. The Earl of Essex had arrived in Ireland in April from England with a contingent of men, and as the leader of the forces of Queen Mary of England in Ireland, he was going southerly through the province of Leinster. He was traveling to subdue the Geraldines of Munster who had risen in opposition to the English government of Ireland. It was his intention to relieve the existing garrison at Maryborough. The forces of Lord Essex, which included 4,000 cavalry and foot soldiers, had occupied the Town of Athy in his passage and, as he moved his forces toward Stradbally, they marched through Blackford Pass. Owney O'More was waiting there with his Irish forces, and he withdrew them as the forces of Essex approached. The forces of Essex reached Stradbally on the evening of May 15th. After relieving and reinforcing Maryborough, the forces of Essex made camp at the base of Crosby Duff hill, which was near the demesne of Lamberton. On May 17th, Essex decided to march through the Pass of Cashel, where they were ambushed by O'More's forces. In a two hour battle, the rear guard of the forces of Essex and its train of supplies were attacked. There were a lot of plumes from helmets that were strewn around the ground of the defile after the battle that took place there. About 600 of the Viceroy's men were cut to pieces in a significant victory for the Irish forces against those of the Crown. The bodies of the English soldiers were placed in houses and burned in the English fashion, so that their enemies would not know the extent of the English losses. Alternately, they often made great efforts to expose the bodies of their enemies to public view, as warnings against their enemies. About 60 of the Irish forces were killed, and another 80 were wounded, but the numbers of Essex forces were sufficient to lift the siege of Maryborough, in spite of their losses. In another action in Offaly, Cahir, Murrough and John O'Connor gathered about 100 men of foot, and in a surprise attack against Castle Croghan, they scaled the walls using long ladders to surprise the garrison, which was led by Thomas More, an English knight and an Englishman named Siffford. The defenders of the castle were killed. As a part of the effort to resolve some of the issues between the warring parties, the Earl of Ormond, the Commander of the Royalist Army, and Owney O'More had a meeting to discuss them. The armed forces of both parties were held in abeyance while the meeting took place. A Catholic member of the Society of Jesus, named Father James Archer, was hated by the English, but his religious confederates persuaded him to attempt to bring the parties together under favorable terms. The Earl of Ormond agreed to meet with him. One of the groups on horseback consisted of the Earl of Ormond, with Donough O'Brien who was also an Earl of Ormond and a Chief of Limerick, and George Carew who held the title of President of Munster. The other group consisted of Father Archer, accompanied by three Irish soldiers. Carew did not speak Irish, so Father Archer led the conversation in English, and Ormond made a remark against the Catholic Pope, causing Father Archer to lift his staff. The three Irish soldiers did not speak English, and they thought that Father Archer was attempting to strike Ormond. Feari9ng danger to the aged Catholic priest, two Irish soldiers attacked Ormond and dragged him from his horse, and others of the forces of the O'Mores, came forward to capture Ormond. The other members of the Royalist group fled, and returned to their own forces. All of the Royalist forces rushed forward against the Catholic forces of O'More, until nightfall ended the fighting. On the following day, the forces of both parties departed, but Ormond remained as a captive of the Irish forces, until Hugh O'Neill ordered his release. In 1600 A. D., Owney O'More was killed at Timahoe in Leix (or Queens County). His passing marked the end of an era. He was succeeded by Owney MacShane. He only had a small number of men with him, and he was on his way to provide supplies for the town of Maryborough, which was one of the defensive locations of Leix. Owney had met up with some of the forces of Lord Viceroy Blount, and he went forward with a single companion beyond the lines of safety, when he was killed by a bullet. His death left a major void in the leadership of the Irishmen of Leinster, and soon afterward, many of the leaders of Leinster submitted to Viceroy Blount. Those submitting included Felim O'Bytne, the O'Tooles, Daniel the Spaniard and others, so that most of the Irish rebels of Leinster ended their war. Raymond O'Moore, who was the brother of Owney O'More, did not submit, and he continued in his efforts to oust the English from Leix. After another fifty years would pass, another Rory (or Roger) O'More would come to fame in another segment of Irish history. The O'Mores were descended from Ir, the fifth son of King Miled who led the Milesian race in Galicia in Spain, and who died prior to the third Celtic invasion of Ireland by his progeny in 1900 B. C. The descendants of Ir were considered to be princes of their Irish sept, who were the "Irians". The O'Mores were the leaders of their sept from the 2nd Century A. D. forward, nd their principal fortress was at Dunamase, which is located a few miles from Maryborough. It is sited atop a rock on a hill, as a fortification, and some rains may still be seen. The Irians retained their favored place in the line of Irish royalty as descendants of Irish kings, and for a time, they led the armies of the Province of Leinster. They claim to be the first in the bearna baoghail (or gap of danger) that is referred to in The Irish National Anthem. The following is a quote from O'Herrin "After Ui Failghe of the ancient lands, We advance to Leix of Leinster. Its brown haired heroes, in wealth abound. On their history, for some time, we dwell. "The great district of Leix of keen swords, It is the Leix of Raida, I now treat, And O'More the fighter of battles, Of the one-colored Golden shield".