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The end of Gaelic Ulster: a thematic interpretation of events between 1534 and 1610

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Hiram Morgan
Hiram Morgan*
Affiliation:
St Catharine’s College, Cambridge
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Extract

The period between the Kildare rebellion and the plantation of Ulster marks the final phase of a distinct political system. During these years the English administration in Ireland made strenuous efforts to reform Gaelic society. This paper aims to show that indigenous society was not inevitably doomed to submit before a superior Renaissance state. Indeed it proved flexible in responding to the challenge and was itself in the process of ‘modernisation’. This process was most marked in Ulster which was the strongest Gaelic region and the crown’s most intractable problem. The northern province was differentiated from the other Gaelic regions of Ireland by its political and physical geography. Ulster was an homogeneous cultural zone and contained the powerful polities of Tyrone, ruled by the O’Neills, and Tirconnell, ruled by the O’Donnells. Guarding the southern approaches of the province was a barrier of rough terrain interrupted by lakes and passes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 26 , Issue 101 , May 1988 , pp. 8 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1988

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References

1 Earlier surveys of this period are found in LordHamilton, Ernest, Elizabethan Ulster (London, 1919)Google Scholar, and Colles, Ramsey, The history of Ulster from the earliest times to the present day (4 vols, London, 1919-20), i-ii Google Scholar. Hayes-McCoy, Gerard with his monograph Scots mercenary forces in Ireland, 1565–1603 (Dublin, 1937)Google Scholar and Canny, Nicholas with his interpretative article ‘Hugh O’Neill, earl of Tyrone, and the changing face of Gaelic Ulster’ in Studia Hibernica, x (1970), pp 7–35 Google Scholar, have been notable trail-blazers. The writer is grateful to Dr Brendan Bradshaw and the participants in the Cambridge Group for Irish Studies for their useful criticisms of an earlier version of this paper.

2 This historiographical issue is tackled by Bradshaw, in ‘The Elizabethans and the Irish: a muddled model’ in Studies, xx (1981), pp 233-44Google Scholar.

3 English and Irish strategists were well aware of Ulster’s natural strengths: see Dawtrey, ‘Clandeboye’, ?1594, (B.L., Lansd. 111/46) and ‘The memorial of O’Neill and O’Donnell to Philip III’, 1608 (Archivo General de Simancas, Estado 1297).

4 The Gaelic lordships can be described as polities, because each was a sovereign entity whose lord possessed ‘imperial jurisdiction within his room’: ‘State of Ireland’, 1515 (S.P. Hen. VIII, ii, 1).

5 It was the weakness of rights to property which led English commentators to say that the Gaelic Irish did not distinguish between Meum and Tuum, e.g. Dawtrey, ‘Discourse on Ireland’, May 1594 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/174/62, enclosure i).

6 The importance of legitimacy is emphasised in the obituary of Hugh Dubh O’Donnell, Annála Connachta, sub anno 1537.

7 See ‘The opinion of the earl of Sussex’, 1562 (Cal. Carew MSS, 1515–74, p. 339). Our knowledge of Gaelic society has been greatly extended by the scholarship of recent years, esp. Nicholls, Kenneth, Gaelic and Gaelicised Ireland in the middle ages (Dublin, 1972)Google Scholar, and his 1976 lecture, O’Donnell, Land, law and society in sixteenth-century Ireland (Dublin, 1976)Google Scholar; O’Dowd, Mary, ‘Gaelic economy and society’ in Brady, Ciarán and Gillespie, Raymond (eds), Natives and newcomers: essays on the making of Irish colonial society, 1534–1641 (Dublin, 1986), pp 120–47 Google Scholar; Simms, Katharine, From kings to warlords: the changing political structure of Gaelic Ireland in the later middle ages (Woodbridge, 1987)Google Scholar and Morgan, Hiram, ‘The outbreak of the Nine Years War: Ulster in Irish politics, 1583–1596’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Cambridge, 1987)Google Scholar, chs 3–4.

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13 A.F.M., sub annis 1558 & 1559.

14 Sussex to William Cecil, 19 Aug. 1561 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/4/37).

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20 P.R.I. rep. D.K. 13, app., fiant no. 3021.

21 ‘Sir John Perrot’s opinion’, Dec. 1591 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/156/51).

22 Henry Bagenal to Burghley, 20 Feb. 1592 (P.R.O. S.P.63/163/29).

23 P.R.I. rep. D.K. 15, app., fiants nos 4560–61, 4809.

24 ‘Sir John O’Reilly knight his note’, Apr. 1585 (Lambeth, Carew MS 614, f. 162); ?Waterhouse ‘A treatise of Ireland’, 1585 (N.L.I., MS 669, ff 25–6). For a full treatment of this case, see Brady, Ciarán, ‘The O’Reillys of East Breifne and the problem of “surrender and regranť” in Breifne, vi (1985), pp 233–62 Google Scholar.

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28 Fitzwilliam to Burghley, 31 July 1593 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/170/58); ?Waterhouse ‘A treatise of Ireland’, 1585 (N.L.I., MS 669, f. 21); Robert Dillon, ‘The northern circuit for sessions’, Mar. 1589 (B.L., Add. MS 5754, f. 104); Hugh O’Neill to English privy council, 4 Aug. 1592 (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1588–92, pp 566–7); William Weston to Burghley, 28 Aug. 1593 (ibid., 1592-6, pp 141–2): P.R.I, rep. D.K. 16, app., fiant no. 5552.

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30 Quinn, D.B., ‘“Irish” Ireland and “English” Ireland’ in Cosgrove, Art (ed.), New hist., Ire., ii (Oxford, 1986), p. 622 Google Scholar; Henry Bagenal to Burghley, 3 June 1593 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/170/1); ‘Declaration of Ever O’Neill’, 1 June 1593 (ibid., enclosure i); ‘Declaration of Tadhg O’Nolan’, 17 May 1593 (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1592–6, pp 99–100); ‘Petition of Ever MacRory O’Neill and Colla MacFerdorcha of Killetra’, 21 June 1593 (ibid., pp 107–9).

31 ‘Declaration of Shane’s ordinary forces’, early 1560s (Bodl., Carte MS 55, f. 591); ?Waterhouse ‘A treatise of Ireland’, 1585 (N.L.I., MS 669, ff 50–52); O’Donnell to lord deputy, 1579 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/66/50, enclosure ii); Canny, ‘Hugh O’Neill’, pp 13–15.

32 Morgan, ‘Outbreak of the Nine Years War’, pp 176–7.

33 ‘John Smyth’s advice for Ireland’, placed in the calendar under Apr. 1569 but internal evidence points to 1573 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/28/10).

34 Dawtrey, ‘Knockfergus’, 29 June 1593 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/170/21).

35 Obligations by Lachlan MacLean of Duart, 27 Aug. 1579, 25 Mar. 1580 (H.M.C. rep. 6, p. 630).

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37 ?Waterhouse, ‘A treatise of Ireland’, 1585 (N.L.I., MS 669, ff 45–7).

38 Annaála Connachta, sub annis 1534 & 1537.

39 Conn O’Neill to queen, June 1558 (P.R.O., S.P. 62/2/56); Queen to Sussex, July 1558 (ibid., 58).

40 Sir Thomas Cusack’s ‘book’, 8 May 1553 (P.R.O., S.P. 61/4/43); ?Waterhouse ‘A treatise of Ireland’, 1585 (N.L.I., MS 669, ff 45–7).

41 Hill, MacDonnells of Antrim, pp 37, 125–6.

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45 Queen to Sidney, 6 July 1567, 6 June 1569 (Ó Laidhin (ed.), Sidney state papers, pp 70–72, 108).

46 Hill, MacDonnells of Antrim, pp 183–5.

47 Morgan, ‘Outbreak of the Nine Years War’, pp 34–5.

48 Hill, MacDonalds of Antrim, pp 132–40; ‘Sidney’s memoir’ in U.J.A., 1st ser., v (1857), p. 310; Sidney to queen, 15 Sept. 1577 (H.M.C., D’isle and Dudley MSS, ii, 66).

49 ‘Observations of Dioness Campbell Mr, deane of Limerick, on the West Isles of Scotland’ in Miscellany of the Maitland Club (Edinburgh, 1847), iv, no. 1, p. 53.

50 Loftus and Wallop to Walsingham, 9 May 1583 (B.L., Cott. MS Titus FV, f. 26).

51 Simms, From kings to warlords, p. 139.

52 A.F.M., sub annis 1522, 1524 & 1528.

53 Ibid., sub anno 1555; Cusack and Aylmer to English privy council, 22 Dec. 1552 (P.R.O., S.P. 61/4/69).

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56 Hayes-McCoy, Scots mercenary forces, pp 149–52; Irish council to queen, 31 Oct. 1564 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/11/97).

57 ’Answers by Thomas Phetyplace’, 19 May 1567 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/20/92).

58 Hayes-McCoy, Scots mercenary forces, p. 106.

59 ‘John Smyth’s advice for Ireland’, ?1573 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/28/10); Malby to Burghley, 9 May 1580 (ibid., 73/8).

60 Waterhouse to Walsingham, 23 July 1581 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/84/44).

61 Nicholas Bagenal to Walsingham, 25 Apr. 1581 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/82/52).

62 Cusack to Warwick, 27 Sept. 1551 (P.R.O., S.P. 61/3/52).

63 Stat. Ire., i, 274.

64 Essex, ‘My opinion for the government and reformation of Ulster’, Oct. 1574 (B.L., Add. MS 48015, f. 314); Monies issued by Fitton on privy seals, 1572–8 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/62/29, f. 102).

65 Brady, ‘The O’Reillys’, pp 244–6.

66 Perrot, ‘A discourse’, July 1581 (Northampton R.O., Fitzwilliam papers, Ireland, no. 66); English privy council memorandum, Mar. 1584 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/108/79); ‘Perrot’s plot for the government of Ulster’, 20 Oct. 1584 (ibid., 112/23).

67 Dawtrey’s account of his services, July 1597 (B.L., Cott. MS Titus BXII, ff 284–5); see also Morgan, Outbreak of the Nine Years War’, pp 23–31.

68 ‘A true discourse of the late rebellion of the Burkes’, 16 Nov. 1586 (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1586–8, pp 198–204); Bingham to Burghley, 30 Sept. 1595 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/183/65).

69 Thornton to Bagenal, 16 Aug. 1595 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/182/43, enclosure i).

70 Hayes-McCoy, Scots mercenary forces, chs 6–10.

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75 A.F.M., sub anno 1555.

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84 White, ‘Discourse touching Ireland’, с 1569 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/31/32, ff 81, 93); for edited version, see Canny, Nicholas, ‘Select documents: XXXIV’ in I.H.S., xx, no. 80 (Sept. 1977), pp 439–63 Google Scholar.

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88 Cullen to Nicholas Bagenal, 14 Nov. 1579 (Walsingham letter-bk, p. 225).

89 ?Waterhouse ‘A treatise of Ireland’, 1585 (N.L.I., MS 669, ff 52–3).

90 Carew, ‘A discourse for Ireland’, Apr. 1594 (Cambridge Univ. Lib., MS Kk 1 15, ff 52–6).

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92 Fitzwilliam to Burghley, 25 Oct. 1593 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/172/11).

93 Cusack to Warwick, 27 Sept. 1551 (P.R.O., S.P. 61/3/52).

94 ‘Articles of petition’, 2 Feb. 1595 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/178/36, enclosure iv).

95 Brian O’Neill to Irish council, 19 Mar. 1571 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/32/2, enclosure iv).

96 Dawtrey, ‘Knockfergus’, 29 June 1593 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/170/21); William Weston to Burghley, 28 Aug. 1593 (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1592–6, pp 141–2).

97 Maguire to Sussex, 20 Oct. 1562 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/7/34, enclosure i).

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110 Keys to Fitzwilliam, 8 July 1593 (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1592–6, p. 126); ‘Declaration of Edward Cornwall’, 19 Feb. 1595 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/178/70, enclosure i).

111 English privy council to Fitzwilliam, 8 July 1590 (Acts privy council, 1590, pp 306–7); Egerton to Fenton, 15 July 1594 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/175/35, enclosure iii).

112 Inquisitionum in officio rotulorum cancellariae Hiberniae asservatarum repertorum (2 vols, Dublin, 1826–9), ii, p. xxiii; ‘The petitions and offers of Philip O’Reilly’, Mar. 1596 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/188/4, enclosure i).

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135 Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Eliz., p. 373; ‘Names of servitors and natives...Dungannon’, 1611 (Cal. Carew MSS, 1603–24, p. 237).

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151 Letter of ordination, 1590 (B.L., Add. MS 4783, f. 39).

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153 Magrath, ‘Monasteries’, Aug. 1594 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/175/81).

154 Mooney, Donagh, ’De provincia Hiberniae S. Francisci’, ed. Jennings, Brendan, in Anal. Hib., no. 6 (1934), pp 36, 48, 150, 161Google Scholar; Inquisitionum, ii, xxxiv.

155 Cullen to Nicholas Bagenal, 14 Nov. 1579 (Walsingham letter-bk, pp 224–6); ‘Examination of Turlough O’Kenny’, 3 Jan. 1592 (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1588–92, p. 452); ‘Examination of Piers O’Cullan’, 29 Sept. 1595 (ibid., 7592–6, p. 409).

156 Loftus and Wallop, 26 Mar. 1584 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/108/56).

157 Magrath, ‘Information’, 17 Dec. 1590 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/156/12).

158 Conaghan, ‘McGonagle’, p. 181.

159 Byrne, M.J., The Irish war of defence, 1598–1600: extracts from De Hibernia insula commentarius of Peter Lombard, archbishop of Armagh (Cork, 1934), pp 34–7 Google Scholar.

160 Jones, ‘Counter-Reformation’, p. 29.

161 Cullen to Nicholas Bagenal, 14 Nov. 1579 (Walsingham letter-bk, pp 224–6).

162 Byrne, Irish war of defence, passim; Magrath ‘Certain brief notes concerning the present state of Ulster’, 10 June 1593 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/170/11); ‘Petition of John Thorn-burgh’, Nov. 1595 (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1592–6, pp 435–6); ‘The supplication of the blood of the English’, c. 1599 (B.L., Add. MS 34313, ff 116–19).

163 White ‘Discourse on Ireland’, c. 1569 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/31/32, ff 96–8): Magrath, ‘Book’, 30 May 1592 (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1588–92, p. 501).

164 Urwick, William, The early history of Trinity College, Dublin, 1591–1660 (London, 1891), ch. 1Google Scholar.

165 Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Eliz., pp 250–51.

166 Alexander (ed.), ‘O’Kane papers’, pp 79–123. In 1606 the attorney-general received news of four titular bishops of the archdiocese of Armagh who had remained in Ireland after the war. Niall O’Boyle (Raphoe) was being protected by Rory O’Donnell and Cornelius O’Devany (Down and Connor) by Cormac MacBaron O’Neill; Richard Brady (Kilmore) was described as aged and living in Westmeath while James Magauran (Ardagh) had no fixed abode in Longford (Davies to Salisbury, 12 Nov. 1606, Cal. S.P. Ire., 1606–8, pp 17–18).

167 Ford, Protestant reformation, ch. 7.

168 Bradshaw, Brendan has argued that the exclusivist nature of its Calvinist doctrine prevented the Church of Ireland from adopting a programme of proselytisation: ‘Sword, word and strategy in the Reformation in Ireland’ in Historical Journal, xxi (1978), pp 475–502 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. This argument has been elaborated by Alan Ford in Protestant reformation, ch. 8. By extension, it can be argued that this doctrinal position was a convenient ideological mask, a double-think, which justified the socio-economic goals of the British careerists in the Irish church.

169 Ford, Protestant reformation, pp 76–80.

170 Silke, J.J., ‘The Irish appeal of 1593 to Spain’ in Irish Ecclesiastical Record, 5th ser., xcii (1959), pp 279-90, 362–71Google Scholar; Walsh, Micheline K., ‘The military order of St Patrick, 1593’ in Seanchas Ard Mhacha, ix (1979), pp 274-85Google Scholar.

171 Morgan, Outbreak of the Nine Years War’, ch 7.

172 Jones, F.M., Mountjoy, 1563–1606: the last Elizabethan lord deputy (Dublin, 1958)Google Scholar, chs 14–17.

173 Kiernan, V.G., State and society in Europe, 1550–1650 (Oxford, 1980), ch. 11Google Scholar.

174 F.M. Jones, Mountjoy, ch. 20.

175 The post-war period is treated by Canny, Nicholas in his three articles: ‘Hugh O’Neill, earl of Tyrone, and the changing face of Gaelic Ulster’ in Studia Hibernica, x (1970), pp 7–35 Google Scholar; ‘The treaty of Mellifont and the reorganisation of Ulster, 1603’ in lrish Sword, ix (1970), pp 249–62, ‘The flight of the earls, 1607’ in I.H.S., xvii, no. 67 (Mar. 1971), pp 380–99, and at large in his M.A. thesis ‘The government reorganisation of Ulster, 1603–7’ (University College, Galway, 1967).

176 After all, in the mid-1590s James VI had permitted the forfeited catholic earls of Huntly and Errol to return from exile to their estates in Scotland ( Dickinson, W.C., Scotland from the earliest times to 1603 (London, 1961), pp 367–8 Google Scholar).

177 Walsh, Micheline K., ’Destruction by peace’: Hugh O’Neill after Kinsale (Armagh, 1986)Google Scholar, passim.