1 Hadsor’s list of six ancient Irish kings does not correspond to the ‘five bloods’, or the Irish royal families whose descendants, according to some legal opinion, were the only ones to enjoy the privilege of initiating suits under English law (see Pawlisch, Davies, pp 59–60).

2 Irish act for the king’s style, 33 Hen. VIII, c. 1 (1541); text of the readopted text of 1542 (33 Hen. VIII, c. 1 (rot. pari. cap. 3); Stat. Ire., i, 176–7).

3 Hadsor, like many English lawyers, confused the Irish system of succession to leadership (tanistry) with the English landholding system. Tanistry was declared illegal by a commission in 1606: see Pawlisch, Davies, ch. 4.

4 The lords spiritual and temporal and the commons.

5 This is a fairly broad rendering of ‘Poynings’ law’ of 1495 (10 Hen. VII, c. 4; Stat. Ire., i, 44), with no mention of its later modification (3 & 4 P. & M., c. 4 (1557)); see Edwards, R.D. and Moody, T.W., ‘The history of Poynings’ law, 1494–1615’ in I.H.S., ii, no. 8 (Sept. 1941), pp 418-20Google Scholar.

6 10 Hen. VII, c. 22 (1495) (rot. pari. cap. 39); Stat. Ire., i, 56. In 1617 John Merick, an Inner Temple barrister from Connacht, published the first compendium of English statutes applicable to Ireland under this act: A compendious collection and breefe abstract . . . (Dublin, [1617]).

7 33 Hen. VIII, sess. 2, c. 2 (1544); Stat. Ire., i, 183–1.

8 Hadsor’s meaning is not entirely clear. The Elizabethan act of treason repeated what had been previously stipulated: Irish nobles ‘of English blood’ accused of treason were to be tried before a jury of peers (2 Eliz., c. 6, sect. 5 (1560); Stat. Ire., i, 306). On the other hand, the attainder of nobles for crimes such as treason was by specific act of parliament.

9 Although in England a court of wards had been erected in 1540, in Ireland the matter was handled by commissions issued out of Westminster until an Irish court was established in December 1622. Lords deputy served on these commissions until the end of Sir Arthur Chichester’s term in 1616 (see Liber mun. pub. Hib., pt 2, pp 176–8).

10 Appeals from Ireland to king’s bench in England seem to have begun in 1254–72, and by writs of error from the Irish bench from about 1278: see Hand, G.J., English law in Ireland, 1290–1324 (Cambridge, 1962), pp 14–19, 140–56Google Scholar.

11 Ireland had a mint until the 1550s. From then until 1607 various kinds of coins for Ireland were minted in London; after 1607 no special Irish coinage was struck.

12 Gerald Fitzgerald (1487-1534), ninth earl of Kildare, married as his second wife Lady Elizabeth Grey, the fourth daughter of Thomas, marquis of Dorset (1477-1530); their grandson Gerald (d. 1612) was the fourteenth earl of Kildare. The ninth earl, the last Old English lord deputy (1513-34), was attainted for treason by the Irish parliament (28 Hen. VIII, c. 1 (1537); Stat. Ire., i, 66–76); however, in 1569 his blood was restored (11 Eliz., sess. 4, c. 2; ibid., pp 356–7).

13 The ninth earl’s eldest son was Thomas (‘Silken Thomas’) Fitzgerald (d. 1537); he, five of his uncles and others were attainted for treason by the English parliament (28 Hen. VIII, c. 18 (1536)).

14 The ‘Irish chronicle’ refers to the first edition of Holinshed’s, Raphael Chronicles (London, 1577)Google Scholar, which included Richard Stanihurst’s (1547-1618) controversial ‘Historie of Ireland’, which, before it was censored by the English privy council, was especially critical of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII’s long-serving chancellor (1515-30), and others; Hadsor appears to refer to the uncensored text. There is still no critical edition (but see the version prepared by Liam Miller and Eileen Power (Dublin, 1979)). Hadsor’s references to a London play depicting Wolsey’s tragedy appears to refer to Shakespeare’s Henry VIII; see the case for this advanced by Russell and Prendergast in their preface to Cal. S.P. Ire., 1606–8, pp cviii-cxii.

15 28 Hen. VIII, c. 3 (1537); Stat. Ire., i, 84–9.

16 33 Hen. VIII, sess. 2, c. 1 (1542); Stat. Ire., i, 205–7.

17 Examples are recorded in Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Eliz.; e.g. John White of Clonmel, late sheriff of Waterford, and others received a general pardon on 3 March 1603 (ii, 629).

18 Lack of sufficient financial means of support for the reformed clergy in Ireland and England led to the abuse of pluralism: granting senior clergy multiple benefices in commendam (i.e. ‘temporarily’ in law) but thereby reducing the supply, to the detriment of junior clergy.

19 Apparently 10 Hen. VII, c. 19 (1495) (Stat. Ire., i, 54–5), an act stipulating the rates to be paid for quartering soldiers on the subjects.

20 Robert Devereux (1566-1601), second earl of Essex and lord lieutenant of Ireland in 1599, was the son of Walter (15417-76), who had been appointed governor of Ulster in 1573 in connexion with his ill-fated colonisation plan. In October 1601 Lord Deputy Mountjoy proposed a presidency for Ulster, recommending Sir Arthur Chichester for the post; nothing came of it ( Moryson, Fynes, An itinerary of ten yeeres travell (4 vols, Glasgow, 1907-8), iii, 460Google Scholar). Later Chichester himself proposed a presidential system for Ulster (Chichester to Salisbury, 10 May 1606 (P.R.O., SP 63/218/57; Cal. S.P. Ire., 1603–6, p. 482)).

21 James VI and I took a lenient policy towards the former rebel leaders in Ulster, pardoning almost all and creating Rory O’Donnell (1575-1608) earl of Tyrconnell on 4 September 1603. A general pardon was given on 11 March 1605 (proclamation, P.R.O., SP 63/217/16; Cal. S.P. Ire., 1603–6, p. 266).

22 11 Eliz., sess. 3, c. 9 (1569) (Stat. Ire., i, 347–9) provided for the shiring of unshired territory by commissioners. The shiring of Ulster was not completed until after the ‘flight of the earls’ in September 1607.

23 The grant to Hugh O’Neill (15407-1616) was made by charter, dated 10 May 1587; an indenture between the queen and O’Neill, dated 13 May 1587, somewhat restricted his powers (Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Eliz., ii, 123, 130; see also Cal. S.P. Ire., 1586–8, pp 348–9).

24 A proposal dated 1598 but not otherwise identified was advanced for establishing Dutch colonies in Ulster (P.R.O., SP 63/202/4/75; Cal. S.P. Ire., 1598–9, pp 438–42). What eventuated instead was the planting of English military garrisons in and around Derry and Ballyshannon in 1600.

25 12 Eliz., c. 1 (1570) (Stat. Ire., i, 361–2) provided for the erection of a free school in every diocese.

26 Hadsor refers here to the English statute, 1 Eliz., c. 19 (1558-9), which was not enacted in Ireland until 1634–5 (10-11 Chas I, c. 3; Stat. Ire., ii, 142–1).

27 Sir John Perrot (d. 1592), lord deputy (1584-8), was recalled in disgrace, convicted of treason, and died in the Tower of London.

28 Such a catalogue has not been found. In the case of anti-Scottish statutes enacted in Ireland, one stands out: against bringing Scots into Ireland and intermarrying with them (3 & 4 P. & M., c. 15 (1557); Stat. Ire., i, [10] before p. 275); it was repealed in 1615 (12-13 Jas I, c. 6; ibid., p. 443). In 1634 another Irish statute naturalised all Scots who were born before the accession of James I (10 Chas I, sess. 3, c. 4; ibid., ii, 100–2); in England only the post-nati Scots enjoyed this status, by virtue of the Calvin case in 1608. The Jacobean parliament of 1613–15 adopted another statute (12-13 Jas I, c. 5; ibid., i, 441–2) which repealed four earlier statutes against the native Irish: two acts of 10 Hen. V (1422) prohibiting trading with the Irish, one against marrying them (28 Hen. VIII, c. 28 (1537)) and one against fostering them (11 Eliz., c. 6 (1569)). The longstanding statutes for the English order, habit and language (e.g. 28 Hen. VIII, c. 15 (1537)) were not affected, but in 1634–5 several other anti-Irish statutes were repealed (10-11 Chas I, c. 6: ibid., ii, 153–1).

29 The fiant of 3 September 1587 for Sir Edward Fitton’s letters patent, which seems to be the ‘precedent for grants to be passed to the undertakers of the province of Munster’, included the provision that ‘the grantee and assigns may export to England and Wales corn, grain and other victuals whatsoever grown upon the premises free of custom poundage or other duty’ ( The Irish fiants of the Tudor sovereigns (4 vols, Dublin, 1994), iii, 20 (no. 5031)Google Scholar). In May 1588 Nicholas Walsh received a licence to similar effect, but with a restriction on the amount of exports, and later that same month John Garland’s licence allowed him to export corn, during times of plenty in Ireland, to ‘anny other Cuntrie in amytie with us’ (ibid., pp 59 (no. 5210), 55 (no. 5185)).