Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T09:06:41.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Colonial Venture of Sir Thomas Smith in Ulster, 1571–1575

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Hiram Morgan
Affiliation:
St Catharine's College, Cambridge

Extract

Colonization, as a means of reforming Ireland, had been advocated by certain Anglo-Irish politicians and English administrators since the early sixteenth century. This policy had been activated in 1548. Sir Thomas Smith (1513–77), a leading political and intellectual figure, contributed to the policy's development in the early 1570s with his colonial venture in eastern Ulster. Under Elizabeth, he served as ambassador to France on two occasions and held the principal secretaryship between 1572 and 1576. Smith is regarded as an important English humanist. His main works, A discourse of the commonweal of this realm of England (1549) and De republica Anglorum (1565) analyse respectively the economic problems and the legal and political system of the period.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Brady, Ciarán. The government of Ireland (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Trinity College, Dublin, 1981)Google Scholar, ch. VIII. I would like to thank Dr Brendan Bradshaw of Queens' College, Cambridge for his healthy criticism of an earlier version of this paper.

2 Dewar, Mary, Sir Thomas Smith (London, 1964)Google Scholar, passim; Dewar, in the introduction to her edition of A discourse of the commonweal of this realm of England (Richmond, Va., 1969)Google Scholar, establishes Smith's authorship.

3 Public Record Office, S.P. 70/78, no. 1007.

4 Bodleian Library, Oxford, Carte MSS 56, no. 57.

5 Strype, John, The life of the learned Sir Thomas Smith Kt.D.C.L., principal secretary of state to King Edward the sixth and Queen Elizabeth (London, 1698)Google Scholar, passim; Dewar, Sir Thomas Smith, passim.

6 Hill, George, The MacDonnells of Antrim (Belfast, 1873), pp. 152–4, 405–15Google Scholar; Bagwell, Richard, Ireland under the Tudors (3vols., London, 1885–90), II, 211–14, 231–3, 247Google Scholar; Dunlop, Robert, ‘Sixteenth century schemes for the Plantation of Ulster’, Scottish Historical Review, XXII (1924–5), 119–23, 199Google Scholar.

7 Quinn, D. B., ‘Sir Thomas Smith and the beginning of English colonial theory’, Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., LXXXIX (1945), 543–60Google Scholar.

8 Canny, Nicholas, The Elizabethan conquest of Ireland (Hassocks, 1976)Google Scholar, ch. iv; Brady, Government of Ireland, ch. VIII.

9 Hill, MacDonnells of Antrim, p. 147.

10 Cal. patent and close rolls, Ireland, 1, 426–7; Appendix to The 12th report of the deputy keeper of the public records in Ireland (Dublin, 1880)Google Scholar, Fiants, Elizabeth, no. 2090.

11 Dunlop, , ‘Sixteenth century schemes’, pp. 5060, 115–26, 199212Google Scholar.

12 Canny, Elizabethan conquest, pp. 70–7.

13 S.P. 63/26, No. 18.

14 Brady asserts that Sidney advocated private colonization, not for reasons of sound policy, but simply as a means of gaining privy council acceptance of his programmatic style of government since it was a cheap and easy method of subjugation and gained his programme a lobby in England: Brady, Government of Ireland, p. 202.

15 Canny, , Elizabethan conquest, pp. 7784Google Scholar; Piveronius, P. J., ‘Sir Warham St Leger and the first Munster plantation’, Éire-Ireland, 14/2 (1979), 1636Google Scholar.

16 Hill, , MacDonnells of Antrim, pp. 148–52Google Scholar.

17 Canny, , Elizabethan conquest, pp. 84–5Google Scholar; S.P. 70/146, no. 107.

18 Cal. patent rolls, Elizabeth, v, no. 2167.

19 Canny, , Elizabethan conquest, p. 85Google Scholar.

20 Ibid. pp. 62–5.

21 S.P. 63/34, no. 42.

22 De I'Isle and Dudley MSS (London, H.M.C., 1934), II, 1215Google Scholar.

23 S.P. 63/34, no. 43.

24 British Library, Anon, , A letter sent by I. B. Gentleman unto his very frende Mayster R. C. Esquire, wherein is contained a large discourse of the peopling and inhabiting the Cuntrie called the Ardes, and other adiacent in the North of Ireland and taken in hand by Sir Thomas Smith, one of the Queens Maiesties priuie counsel, and Thomas Smith Esquire, his sonne (London, 1572)Google Scholar, B. II. This is reprinted in the appendix to Hill, MacDonnells of Antrim, pp. 405–15. Anonymous, but the style, content and circumstances point to Sir Thomas Smith's authorship.

25 The second expedition, led by Capt. Higgins, demonstrates the close relationship between the colonial ventures of the Elizabethans and their private activities at sea, since it became involved in piracy against Scottish shipping: S.P. 52/26, nos. 15, 34.

26 Quinn, ‘Sir Thomas Smith’, passim.

27 Hatfield House, Cecil MSS, 159, no. 38.

28 S.P. 63/13, no. 46; 33, no. 1.

29 S.P. 63/35, no. 32; 36, no. 46.

30 Carte 57, no. 180.

31 S.P. 63/38, no. 24; 41, no. 21.

32 Carte 57, no. 209.

33 Brady, , Government of Ireland, p. 219Google Scholar.

34 S.P. 63/35, no. 32.

35 S.P. 63/36, no. 48.

36 S.P. 63/39, no. 27.

37 S.P. 63/38, no. 24.

38 Carte 57, no. 207.

39 S.P. 63/38, nos. 25, 26.

40 S.P. 63/38, no. 38.

41 Carte 56, no. 57; Cal. patent and close rolls, Ireland, I, 553–4.

42 S.P. 63/39, no. 28.

43 S.P. 63/39, no. 45.

44 Bagwell, , Ireland under the Tudors, II, 211Google Scholar.

45 Fiants, Elizabeth, no. 2149.

46 S.P. 63/40, no. 77.

47 B.L. Lansdowne MSS, Burghley 16, no. 45; B.L., Harleian MSS 6991, no. 17; Cal. patent and close rolls, Ireland, I, 553.

48 Fiants, Elizabeth, nos. 2325, 2326, 2349, 2462.

49 Carte 55, nos. 76, 79.

50 S.P. 63/40, no. 76.

51 Carte 55, no. 76; S.P. 63/48, no. 5.

52 Quinn, D. B., ‘The Munster plantation: the problems and opportunities’, Jrl. of the Cork Hist, and Arch. Soc., LXXI (1966), 1940Google Scholar.

53 Collins, Arthur (ed.), Letters and memorials of state (London, 1746), I, 7580Google Scholar.

54 S.P. 63/52, nos. 45, 67.

55 Anon., A letter sent by I.B., E. I.

56 Nicholls, Kenneth, Gaelic and gaelicised Ireland in the middle ages (Dublin, 1972), pp. 114–9Google Scholar.

57 This is a composite view based on: Graham, J., ‘Rural life in Gonnacht, 1600–1640’, in Irish geographical studies, ed. Stephens, and Glasscock, (Belfast, 1970), pp. 192208Google Scholar; Robinson, Philip, ‘Irish settlement in Tyrone before the Ulster plantation’, Ulster Folklife, XXII (1976), 5969Google Scholar; Evans, E. Estyn, The personality of Ireland (Belfast, 1981)Google Scholar, passim.

58 Anon., A letter sent by I.B., B. II.

59 Carte 57, no. 259.

60 Statutes at large (Ireland) (Dublin, 17861804), I, 322–38Google Scholar.

61 Bradshaw, Brendan, The dissolution of the religous orders in Ireland under Henry VIII (Cambridge, 1979). PP. 176–8Google Scholar.

62 McNeil, T. E., Anglo-Norman Ulster (Edinburgh, 1980), pp. 33–6Google Scholar.

63 Statutes at large (Ireland), I, 331.

64 Hexter, and Surtz, (ed.), Complete works of St. Thomas More (New Haven, Conn., 1965), IV, 139, 415–6Google Scholar.

65 Anon., A letter sent by I.B., C. II.

66 More, Thomas, Utopia (London, Everyman edn, 1951), p. 70Google Scholar.

67 Anon., A letter sent by I. B., E. I.

68 Quinn, , ‘Sir Thomas Smith’, p. 552Google Scholar.

69 Quinn, D. B.. The voyages and colonising enterprises of Sir Humphrey Gilbert (London, Hakluyt Soc., 1940), pp. 160–1Google Scholar; Jones, H. M.. ‘The colonial impulse: an analysis of the promotion literature of colonisation’, Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., XC (1946), 146–52Google Scholar.

70 Anon., A letter sent by I.B., C.II.

71 Ibid. D. II.

72 Finlay, Moses, ‘Colonies: an attempt at typology’, Trans R. Hist. Soc, 5th series, XXV (1976), 178–80Google Scholar.

73 S.P. 70/146, no. 87.

74 S.P. 70/146, no. 90.

75 Carte 57, no. 208.

76 In Rowland White's Discors touching Ireland, waste land is an implicit justification for colonization; Smith makes it explicit: S.P. 63/31, no. 32, fo. 90 or for an edited version seeCanny, Nicholas, ‘Rowland White's Discors touching Ireland, c. 1569’, Irish Historical Studies, XXIV (1977)Google Scholar.

77 Moody, , Martin, and Byrne, (ed.), A new history of Ireland (Oxford, 1976), III, 17Google Scholar.

78 S.P. 63/33, no. I.

79 S.P. 63/32, no. 2; 33. no. 3; 35. nos. 32(1), 44, 45.

80 S.P. 63/35, nos. 44, 45

81 S.P. 63/32, no. 2.

82 S.P. 63/35, no. 45.

83 Carte 57, no. 207.

84 S.P. 63/38, no. 4

85 S.P. 63/38, no. 12.

86 S.P. 63/38, nos. 25, 26.

87 S.P. 63/38, no. 38; the same ploy was used against Essex: S.P. 63/42, nos. 18, 32.

88 S.P. 63/42, no. 55.

89 S.P. 63/42, no. 58.

90 S.P. 63/38, no. 22.

91 S.P. 63/40, no. 2(1).

92 Nicholls, . Gaelic and gaelicised Ireland, p. 135Google Scholar.

93 Fiants, Elizabeth, no. 2366; Col patent and dose rolls, Ireland, 1, 426–7.

94 Anon., A letter sent by I.B., B. II.

95 De l'Isle and Dudley MSS, 11, 12–15.

96 Fiants, Elizabeth, no. 2090.

97 S.P. 63/42, no. 58.

98 S.P. 63/43, no. 3.

99 Carte 55, no. 76.

100 Quinn, , ‘Sir Thomas Smith’, p. 549Google Scholar.

101 Savage-Armstrong, G. F., The Savage family in Ulster (London, 1906), p. 189Google Scholar; Annals of Loch Cé, trans. Hennessy, William M., (London, 1871), 11, 231Google Scholar.

102 S.P. 63/1, nos. 72, 73; 20, nos. 11, 11(1).

103 Cecil 210, no. 10.

104 B.L., Cotton MSS, Titus B. XIII, no. 1, fo. 9.

105 S.P. 70/146, no. 87.

106 B.L. The offer and order, Smith's broadsheet of 1571, which appends to A letter sent by I.B., G. II.

107 Essex Record Office, Smith family papers, D/Dsh 01, nos, 4, 6.

108 Anon., A letter sent by I.B., D.II.

109 Carte, 57, nos. 208, 236.

110 Anon., A letter sent by I.B., D.II.

111 S.P. 70/146, no. 107.

112 S.P. 63/31, no. 33, fos. 82–3, 90–1.

113 De l'lsle and Dudley MSS, II, 12–15.

114 S.P. 70/146, no. 79; D/Dsh 01, no. 2

115 Anon., A letter sent by I.B., C. II.

116 Ibid. H. II.

117 Ibid. E. I.

118 S.P. 70/146, no. 108.

119 Cotton MSS, Titus B. XIII, no. I, fos. 5, 7, 10; SP. 63/16, no. 45; S.P. 12/42, no. 27.

120 S.P. 63/31, no. 32, fos. 82–5.

121 S.P. 63/26, no. 53; 40, no. 22; Quinn, , Sir Humphrey Gilbert, pp. 124–8Google Scholar.

122 Wallenstein, Immanuel, The modern world system (London, 1974), 1, pp. 87100Google Scholar.

123 S.P. 70/146, no. 99; Carte 56, no. 49; Rabb, Theodore K., Enterprise and Empire (Cambridge, Mass., 1967), pp. 22–6, 35–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

124 D/Dsh 01, nos. 2, 7.

125 D/Dsh 01, no. 2.

126 Canny, Nicholas, ‘The permissive frontier: the problem of social control in English settlements in Ireland and Virginia, 1550–1650’, in The Westward Enterprise, ed. Andrews, , Canny, and Hair, (Liverpool, 1978), p. 19Google Scholar; Dewar, , Sir Thomas Smith, p. 166Google Scholar.

127 Canny, , ‘The permissive frontier’, pp. 1744Google Scholar; Boxer, C. R., The Portuguese seaborne empire, 1415–1825 (London, 1969), pp. 31–2, 296–307Google Scholar.

128 Anon., A letter sent by I. B., B. II.

129 Canny, , ‘The permissive frontier’, pp. 23–4Google Scholar.

130 Brady, , Government of Ireland, ch. vIIIGoogle Scholar; Cecil 207, no. 18, fo. 11.

131 D/Dsh 01, nos. 2, 3, 5.

132 Brady, , Government of Ireland, pp. 360–70Google Scholar.

133 D/Dsh 01, no. 2.

134 Anon., A letter sent by I. B., B. II.

135 D/Dsh 01, no. 2.

136 S.P. 70/146, no. 108.

137 D/Dsh 01, no. 2.

138 Ibid..

139 S.P. 63/42, no. 58.