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The social and economic consequences of the Desmond rebellion of 1579–83

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Anthony M. McCormack
Anthony M. McCormack*
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Extract

The Desmond rebellion was one of the most brutal military conflicts to have taken place in Ireland in the sixteenth century. Initiated by James FitzMaurice Fitzgerald, cousin of Gerald, fifteenth earl of Desmond, in July 1579 in order to restore the Catholic faith in Ireland, the rebellion quickly developed from the landing of a small expeditionary force of approximately sixty men into a bloody contest which engulfed Munster for four and a half years. The rebellion was ultimately unsuccessful, but such was the ferocity of the conflict that it had a profound and devastating impact on Munster. The social and economic consequences were immense, for it exacted a huge economic cost on the province, both in terms of physical destruction and lost economic activity, and produced a very substantial depopulation of the province. The result was the overthrow and destruction of the traditional social order in Munster, an act that paved the way for the subsequent Munster plantation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 34 , Issue 133 , May 2004 , pp. 1 - 15
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 2004

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References

1 Spenser, Edmund, ‘A view of the state of Ireland ... in 1596’ in Morley, Henry (ed.), Ireland under Elizabeth and James I (London, 1890), pp 143–4.Google Scholar

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7 Sir John should not be confused with his namesake the seneschal of Imokilly, a Desmond adherent and one of the most feared and respected rebel leaders.

8 Richard Bingham to Walsingham, 9 June 1580 (P.R.O., SP 63/73/49); Sir William Morgan to Walsingham, 4 Aug. 1580 (ibid., SP 63/75/10).

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12 Elizabeth I to Lord Deputy Grey and the chancellor of Ireland, 16 May 1582 (ibid., SP 63/92/44).

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16 Secretary Edward Fenton to Burghley, 22 Apr. 1580 (ibid., SP 63/72/61).

17 Journal of Richard Bingham, [July] 1580 (ibid., SP 63/74/5 i); Fenton to Walsingham, 11 July 1580 (ibid., SP 63/74/21).

18 Malby to Walsingham, 12 Oct. 1579 (ibid., SP 63/69/52).

19 ‘Note of the earl of Ormond’s journey in Munster’, [Jan. 1580] (ibid., SP 63/71/3 ii).

20 Capt. Richard Bingham to Walsingham, 20 Sept. 1580 (ibid., SP 63/76/49); James Golde and Thomas Arthur to Wallop, 17 Sept. 1580 (ibid., SP 63/76/51 i).

21 Malby to Walsingham, 25 May 1582 (ibid., SP 63/92/64).

22 St Leger to Burghley, 25 Jan. 1580 (ibid., SP 63/71/25); Sir William Morgan to Burghley, 22 Feb. 1580 (ibid., SP 63/71/55).

23 Lord Justice Sir William Pelham to Burghley, 17 Apr. 1580 (ibid., SP 63/72/47).

24 Andrew Skiddy to Burghley, 20 Nov. 1579 (ibid., SP 63/70/15); Wallop to Walsingham, 23 Nov. 1579 (ibid., SP 63/70/19).

25 St Leger to Burghley, 16 Jan. 1583 (ibid., SP 63/99/26).

26 Ormond to Walsingham, 8 Apr. 1580 (ibid., SP 63/72/37).

27 Survey, Kerry, 1584 (N.A.I., M 5037, p. 10).Google Scholar

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29 Ormond to privy council, 3 Jan. 1584 (ibid., SP 63/107/2); petition of the portreeve and burgesses of Dungarvan to Burghley, Apr. 1584 (ibid., SP 63/109/77).

30 Col. John Zouche to Walsingham, 5 May 1582 (ibid., SP 63/92/7); Wallop to Walsingham, 7 May 1582 (ibid., SP 63/92/12); Fenton to Walsingham, 8 May 1582 (ibid., SP 63/92/18); St Leger to lords justices, 26 Sept. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/96/10 i); Geoffrey Storye and Robert Woodward to Thomas Norris, 26 Sept. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/96/17 ii).

31 Desmond to Ormond, 10 Oct. 1579 (ibid., SP 63/69/50); Desmond to ________ 10 Oct. 1579 (ibid., SP 63/69/51).

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34 Ormond to Grey, 13 Mar. 1581 (P.R.O., SP 63/81/36 i).

35 Wallop to Walsingham, 22 Apr. 1580 (ibid., SP 63/72/59); Fenton to Burghley, 22 Apr. 1580 (ibid., SP 63/72/61).

36 Sir Patrick Walshe to Walsingham, 28 Mar. 1580 (ibid., SP 63/72/19).

37 Nicholas White to Burghley, 24 Oct. 1581 (ibid., SP 63/72/19); Grey to privy council, 6 Nov. 1581 (ibid., SP 63/76/51); William Young, portreeve of Cashel, to lords justices, 28 Sept. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/96/3 iv).

38 Limerick Survey, 1584 (N.A.I., M 5038b, p. 65). This fair was probably held around the Feast of the Assumption (15 August), or possibly the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin (8 September).

39 Ibid., p. 13.

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41 Kerry Survey, 1584 (N.A.I., M 5037, p. 4).

42 Limerick Survey, 1584 (ibid., M 5039, pp 111-12, 130; M 5038b, pp 10-12, 119); Kerry Survey, 1584 (ibid., M 5037, pp 8, 12-13).

43 Limerick Survey, 1584 (ibid., M 5039, pp 123-6; M 5038b, pp 21, 40-41); Kerry Survey, 1584 (ibid., M 5037, pp 18-21); Blackwater fishery case (ibid., M 7068, p. 18); extract of Cork Survey, 1584, in Berry, ‘Manor and castle of Mallow’, p. 22.

44 Kerry Survey, 1584 (N.A.I., M 5037, p. 4). For the imports and exports of Ireland in the sixteenth century see Lennon, Colm, Sixteenth-century Ireland (Dublin, 1994), pp 39–40Google Scholar.

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46 In March 1580 Sir Warham St Leger, then provost-marshal of Munster, detained a Spanish ship at Baltimore and had its crew examined in the belief that they were carrying messages for the rebels: see St Leger and Justice Meagh to privy council, 23 Mar. 1580 (P.R.O., SP 63/72/16).

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48 Gentlemen freeholders of Clanwilliam to Ormond, 31 Aug. 1582 (P.R.O., SP 63/94/117).

49 Sir Cormac MacTeige MacCarthy to Elizabeth I, 18 Oct. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/96/19).

50 Donal MacCarthy, earl of Clancare, to Elizabeth I, 28 May 1583 (ibid., SP 63/102/46).

51 Grey and council to Elizabeth I, 12 Jan. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/88/13); St Leger to Elizabeth I, 20 Apr. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/91/41); St Leger to Loftus and Wallop, 13 Oct. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/107/15 ii); Justice Meagh to Loftus and Wallop, 15 Oct. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/107/15 iii).

52 Information derived from The Irish fiants of the Tudor sovereigns ... (4 vols, Dublin, 1994), ii, 493–755 (nos 3561-935)Google Scholar; iii, 1-135 (nos 4936-5523).

53 Excluded from the total of 1,600 are the 600 Spanish and Italian troops massacred at Smerwick, as they were not native to the province.

54 ‘Note of traitors executed by Ormond’, [1 Oct.] 1581 (P.R.O., SP 63/86/2); ‘Note of traitors slain and executed during Ormond’s charge in Munster’, [1 Oct.] 1581 (ibid., SP 63/86/3 i); Ormond to Burghley, 15 July 1581 (ibid., SP 63/84/19). Ormond also claimed his forces had executed or held for trial by martial law an additional 200 rebels between June and October 1581.

55 ‘A short note of some parts of Ormond’s service’, 1585 (Lambeth, Carew MSS, vol. 614, ff 222r-223v); ‘Names of principal leaders executed and put to the sword in Munster’, [Sept.] 1583 (P.R.O., SP 63/104/68 ii); ‘Names of rebels slain in Munster’, [Nov.] 1583 (ibid., SP 63/105/96).

56 ‘Names of such traitors and malefactors slain by Piers Butler’, [1 Oct.] 1581 (P.R.O., SP 63/86/5).

57 He was transferred in 1584 from Dublin Castle to the Tower of London, where he was to remain until 1600.

58 St Leger to Burghley, 20 Apr. 1582 (P.R.O., SP 63/91/41).

59 Roche to Burghley, 21 Dec. 1583 (ibid., SP 63/106/26); livery to Roche, 28 Nov. 1583 (Ir. fiants, ii, 597 (no. 4261)).

60 Nicholas White to Burghley, 22 Apr. 1581 (P.R.O., SP 63/82/46).

61 Thomas Arthur and Stephen White to Malby, [Nov.] 1579 (ibid., SP 63/70/32 ii).

62 Grey to privy council, 6 Nov. 1581 (ibid., SP 63/86/51).

63 Pelham to council in Ireland, 11 Feb. 1580 (Lambeth, Carew MSS, vol. 597, f. 244v).Google Scholar

64 Pelham to Burghley, 17 Apr. 1580 (P.R.O., SP 63/72/47).

65 Morgan to Walsingham, 23 Feb. 1581 (ibid., SP 63/80/76); Wallop to Burghley, 24 Oct. 1581 (ibid., SP 63/86/32); Wallop and Waterhouse to Burghley, 9 Dec. 1581 (ibid., SP 63/87/20).

66 Grey to Burghley, 14 Mar. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/90/23); St Leger to Fenton, 24 Mar. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/91/23 i).

67 Justice Meagh to Walsingham, 8 Feb. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/89/23).

68 St Leger to Burghley, 22 Sept. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/95/59); ‘Information by William Lyon, bishop of Ross, to the lords justices’, 9 Oct. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/96/10 ii); Fenton to Walsingham, 12 Oct. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/96/15).

69 Ormond to Burghley, 4 Sept. 1583 (ibid., SP 63/104/60).

70 William Wendover to Fenton, 6 Jan. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/88/14 i).

71 St Leger to Loftus and Wallop, 13 Oct. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/97/15 ii); Justice Meagh to Loftus and Wallop, 15 Oct. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/97/15 iii).

72 Ormond to Loftus and Wallop, 14 Dec. 1583 (ibid., SP 63/106/12).

73 Limerick Survey, 1584 (N.A.I., M 5038b, pp 8-9); Kerry Survey, 1584 (ibid., M 5037, p. 2).

74 Storye and Woodward to Thomas Norris, 26 Sept. 1582 (P.R.O., SP 63/96/17 ii).

75 Ormond to Elizabeth I, 24 Apr. 1583 (ibid., SP 63/101/40).

76 Capt. Edward Stanley to Ormond, 28 Apr. 1583 (ibid., SP 63/102/49 i).

77 St Leger to Elizabeth I, 12 Mar. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/91/41 i); see also St Leger to Perrot, 23 Apr. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/91/45). In the absence of other sets of figures for mortality in Munster that could either support or contradict St Leger’s numbers, the figure of 30,000 will be treated as an upper-limit estimate of the mortality due to famine and disease during those six months.

78 Loftus to Burghley, 5 Nov. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/97/16); Ormond to Walsingham, 28 May 1583 (ibid., SP 63/102/50).

79 St Leger to Fenton, 24 Mar. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/91/23 i).

80 St Leger to Burghley, 20 Apr. 1582 (ibid., SP 63/91/41).

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83 Desmond was posthumously attainted in 1586, whereupon his lands were forfeited to the crown: see Stat. Ire., i, 418-28. The palatine jurisdiction of Kerry was also terminated, and the medieval counties of [North] Kerry and Desmond (South Kerry) were united into the new county of Kerry by September 1606: see Falkiner, C. Litton, Illustrations of Irish history and topography, mainly of the eighteenth century (London, 1904), pp 132–3, 141-2.Google Scholar

84 For the emigration to Europe in the late sixteenth century see Hillgarth, J. N., The mirror of Spain, 1500-1700: the formation of a myth (Ann Arbor, 2000), pp 421–15CrossRefGoogle Scholar; O’Scea, Ciaran, ‘The devotional world of the Irish Catholic exile in early modern Galicia, 1598-1666’ in O’Connor, Thomas (ed.), The Irish in Europe, 1580-1815 (Dublin, 2001), pp 27–48Google Scholar; Éamon Ó Ciosáin, ‘A hundred years of Irish emigration to France, 1590-1688’, ibid., pp 93-106; Mary Ann Lyons, ‘The emergence of an Irish community in Saint-Malo, 1550-1710’, ibid., pp 107-26.

85 Limerick Survey, 1584 (N.A.I., M 5038b, pp 7, 11,13, 26; M 5038, p. 119); Kerry Survey, 1584 (ibid., M 5037, p. 20).

86 The justification was based upon the Roman legal concept of res nullius (things that belong to no one), by which things, in this case land, that had been abandoned by their owner could become the property of another who took possession of the thing with the intention of acquiring it. For the justification applied to Munster see Canny, N. P., Making Ireland British, 1580-1650 (Oxford, 2001), pp 133–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Thomas, J. A. C., Textbook of Roman law (Oxford, 1976), pp 166–8Google Scholar; Lee, R. W., The elements of Roman law (London, 1956), pp 108–10.Google Scholar

87 ‘The cost of Queen Elizabeth’s wars’, [Mar.] 1603 (H.M.C., Salisbury, xv, 2).

88 For the differences between the undertakers and the servitors see MacCarthy-Morrogh, Michael, The Munster plantation: English migration to southern Ireland, 1583-1641 (Oxford, 1986), pp 19–56Google Scholar; Canny, , Making Ireland British, pp 75–164.Google Scholar

89 Sheehan, A. J., ‘Official reaction to native land claims in the plantation of Munster’ in I.H.S., xxiii, no. 92 (Nov. 1983), pp 297–318Google Scholar; MacCarthy-Morrogh, , Munster plantation, pp 70–106.Google Scholar

90 The degree to which the devastation engendered bitterness towards the undertakers is a question suitable for further investigation, as is the role of the province in the Nine Years War. See Sheehan, Official reaction’, pp 313-17; idem, ‘The overthrow of the plantation of Munster in October 1598’ in Ir. Sword, xv (1982-3), pp 11-22.

91 ‘The cost of Queen Elizabeth’s wars’, [Mar.] 1603 (H.M.C., Salisbury, xv, 2).Google Scholar