Ireland

by Vincent McDonnell

  Yet another reason was that there were continual disputes in England over who was the rightful king. The most vicious and long lasting of these disputes was the Wars of the Roses. It was given this name because each side in the dispute choose a rose, just like a badge, to represent them. This war lasted thirty years and was fought between the family of the House of York, whose supporters wore a white rose, and the family of the House of Lancaster, whose supporters wore a red rose.

  The House of York is in Yorkshire and one of its chief cities is Leeds. The House of Lancaster is in Lancashire and one of its chief cities is Manchester. Today, colours from that long ago War of the Roses are still worn by football teams from those two cities: Leeds United in white and Manchester United in red. So that old rivalry still exists, but thankfully players are not killed during the matches.

  But during the Wars of the Roses, it was a dangerous time to live in England, especially if you were related to, or supported, the rival claimants to the throne. When one claimant succeeded to the throne he would have all his rivals murdered, or tried for treason and beheaded. Even children were not safe, and one of the saddest stories from this time is that two young princes, Edward and Richard, were murdered while imprisoned in the Tower of London.

  This murder was carried out on the orders of Richard III. He was then king, but had no right to the throne. He was of the House of York, and was a cruel man, like many of the kings from that time. He was the uncle of the princes, one of whom – Edward – was the rightful heir to the throne. Richard, like all tyrants, was frightened that when Edward grew up he would try to reclaim the throne and have Richard tried as a traitor and executed.

  One night Richard sent men to the Tower of London and they murdered the two little princes while they were asleep. They buried the bodies beneath a stairway, and years afterwards they were found there. Richard denied that he was responsible for the disappearance of the princes, but the people knew that he had ordered their murder.

  Because of this, and because Richard was so cruel, the people hated him. When a man named Henry Tudor decided to fight Richard for the crown, the people supported him. The armies of these two men met on 22 August 1485 at a famous place called Bosworth Field, where Richard was defeated. Though a cruel man, he was very brave, and even when the battle seemed lost, he refused to flee. He died fighting, the last reigning English king to die in battle. It is said that his crown fell off during the fighting and that when the battle was over a man named Lord Stanley found the crown on the battlefield. Lord Stanley picked it up and placed it on Henry Tudor’s head while his supporters cried out, ‘Long Live King Henry’. The place where Henry was crowned is still called Crown Hill today.

  This Battle of Bosworth Field was the final battle in the Wars of the Roses. It ended the reign of the kings of England who were known as the Plantagenets, and which had begun with Henry II. They were called Plantagenets because an earlier member of the family, Geoffrey of Anjou, a place in France, wore a piece of broom in his cap. The Latin name for this plant is planta genista, from which the word Plantagenet comes.

  With the death of Richard III, a new family of monarchs – the Tudors – came to reign in England. They also became the Lords of Ireland. The first of these rulers was Henry VII, who was crowned by Lord Stanley on Crown Hill.

  Shortly after Henry VII became king, a young man arrived in Dublin claiming that he was the Earl of Warwick, and had a right to the English throne. He was an impostor, but the Irish people believed him and crowned him king of Ireland. He then returned to England with an army of Irish and German soldiers, intent on claiming the English crown. His army was small and ill-trained, and was defeated at the Battle of Stoke. The pretender was taken prisoner and it turned out that his name was Lambert Simnel, the son of a baker. Henry did not execute Lambert, but sent him to work in the royal kitchens. I suppose we could claim that Lambert Simnel, a baker’s son, was the last king of Ireland. But, in reality, he was no such thing.

  Shortly after this, another man claimed to be one of the two princes who had been murdered in the Tower of London on the orders of Richard III. But he, too, was an impostor, named Perkin Warbeck, who had been put up to this ruse by enemies of Henry’s who wanted the crown for themselves. Warbeck got support from Cornwall, which is part of England, but when Henry’s army came to do battle, Warbeck ran away to France. He was eventually captured and at first Henry treated him kindly. But when he found out that Warbeck was still plotting with others to overthrow him, he had the man beheaded.

  Henry VII reigned as king of England and Lord of Ireland until his death in 1509. During his life, he showed little interest in Ireland. But that changed with the coronation of his son, Henry VIII. Events that took place during his reign were to have terrible consequences for the people of both England and Ireland. They led to great bloodshed and suffering yet began over the simple matter of who should be Henry’s rightful wife.

  14

  The King with Six Wives

  The disasters, which were to befall Ireland and England at the beginning of the sixteenth century, began with two weddings. The first was in 1501, when sixteen-year-old Prince Arthur, heir to the throne, married Catherine of Aragon. Two months later the young prince died. On his death, the second son of Henry VII, also named Henry, became heir to the throne. When the king died in 1509, this second son was crowned Henry VIII. He was then just eighteen years old.

  Towards the end of his life, Henry VII had become greedy and cruel, and the people were glad to see an end to his reign. They hoped his son would be a better king than his father. At first, they were not disappointed. The young man was intelligent, he wrote books, music and songs, and loved wrestling and hunting. Soon his subjects came to love and admire him.

  After his coronation, the second wedding took place when Henry married Catherine, his brother Arthur’s widow. At this time, it was forbidden by the Catholic Church for any man to marry his brother’s widow. England was a Catholic country and in order to marry Catherine, Henry had to get permission from the Pope. Unfortunately, Henry and Catherine’s sons did not live. Henry blamed his wife for this, and began to worry about who should reign after his death. It was very important that a king had an heir. If he did not, then on his death there was likely to be disputes over who should be the next king. At times these disputes led to wars, something Henry wished to avoid.

  Henry decided to take a new wife who, he hoped, would bear him sons. He was in love with a woman, Anne Boleyn, and wished to marry her. But in order to marry, he would have to divorce Catherine and would again need permission from the Pope to do so. This time the Pope refused permission, which angered Henry. He was a powerful king and thought that the Pope should not tell him what he could or could not do. Henry declared himself head of the Church in England, divorced Catherine and married Anne. This had little effect on Ireland, which was also a Catholic country. But later it would have terrible consequences.

  Anne was a beautiful young woman and at first she and Henry were happy. Soon a daughter, Princess Elizabeth, was born, but they did not have any sons. Henry still did not have a male heir. He now decided to get rid of Anne and marry someone else. Rather than divorce Anne, he had her falsely accused of treason. When she was found guilty, she was beheaded. It was a terrible thing for Henry to do. Not only did he have his wife executed, but the little Princess Elizabeth, who was just two years old, lost her mother.

  On the day after Anne’s execution, Henry married Jane Seymour and they had a son, Edward. Shortly afterwards, Jane died. But despite now having an heir, Henry married three more times. He had six wives in all. You might think that he enjoyed weddings, but in fact he had become a cruel, heartless man like his father. He had two of his wives beheaded, as well as many of his best friends and advisers.

  Henry, like most kings, needed a great deal of money to run his palaces and to rule the country. To raise money, he taxed the people, but still did not have enough. He was still angry with the Pope and came up
with an idea of how he could have revenge on the Pope and raise the money he badly needed. He decided to close the Catholic churches, monasteries and convents in England and Ireland, and seize all their valuables and land. There were over 500 monasteries and convents in Ireland, although they were not immediately affected by Henry’s decision. But over the next 100 years most were closed down or destroyed. This was a terrible blow to the people because the monasteries and convents provided education, and were also hospitals and refuges for the poor. Without their charity and medical aid, the poor suffered greatly.

  There were many in England who were unhappy with Henry’s actions and opposed him. Meanwhile, the Irish ignored him as his actions still did not affect them. But there were many who believed that the Catholic Church was corrupt, and they supported Henry. The people who protested against the corruption became known as Protestants, a word that originated in Germany. There, in 1517, a man named Martin Luther began to preach against the corruption in the church, which he claimed needed reforming. Luther’s campaign became known as the Reformation. In 1529, German princes who supported Luther published a ‘protest’ against their Catholic Emperor. From this ‘protest’ we get the word Protestant.

  This Reformation, which was sweeping Europe, affected the church in England. Henry’s quarrel with the Pope, and his declaring himself head of the Church in England, helped the Reformation make the English Church Protestant. Catholics were now persecuted, and those who refused to recognise Henry as head of the Church were imprisoned or executed, and their property and lands seized.

  Again, this had little effect in Ireland, except for those English settlers who lived in the Pale. Outside this area, conflicts continued between the Irish clans and those settlers who had taken their land. The king, who lived in England, could do little about this. He relied on his Viceroy, his representative in Ireland, to rule the country in his name. At this time, Gearóid Óg Fitzgerald, of the Norman family of Kildare, was the Viceroy. Gearóid Óg ruled the country to his own advantage and King Henry was so displeased with him that he had him imprisoned in the Tower of London.

  Gearóid Óg had a son, who was known as Silken Thomas because he dressed in fine clothes and wore silk fringes on his jackets. When he heard a rumour, which proved to be false, that his father had been executed by Henry, he rebelled.

  Henry was furious and sent an army to Ireland under the command of Sir William Skeffington. He brought artillery to Ireland for the first time and easily took the Fitzgerald castle at Maynooth. On capturing it, he had all the defenders executed. This action terrified the Irish and the Normans. It made them realise that they could not defeat such a powerful army. Fearing for their lives and their lands, many of them submitted to Henry and also recognised him as the head of the Church in Ireland.

  Silken Thomas was eventually captured and taken to England with five of his uncles. All six were charged with treason and beheaded in 1537 in the Tower of London, where Gearóid Óg had already died a prisoner in 1534.

  At this time, the English king still only regarded himself as Lord of Ireland. But in 1642, Henry declared himself to be the king of Ireland, thus cementing the link between the two countries. From then on, only English-born men could hold the post of Viceroy, or other important government positions. A permanent English army was also stationed in Ireland to deal with any further rebellions that might arise.

  Henry declared that all Irish land belonged to the king. He then granted the land back to the owners so that they were under obligation to him, and gave them new titles. The chief of the O’Neills, who in the Gaelic tradition was known as ‘The O’Neill’, now became Earl of Tyrone in the English tradition. Henry rewarded those Englishmen who had supported him by granting them lands taken from the rebels. This began the policy that became known as plantation, and which later English monarchs ruthlessly pursued. It led to great hardship and turmoil for the Irish people. It signalled the beginning of the end of 2,000 years of the old Gaelic way of life, and was to be responsible for much bloodshed and slaughter in the coming centuries.

  15

  The Three Queens

  Henry VIII died in 1547 leaving three children: Mary, Elizabeth and Edward, who was the youngest of the three. Though only nine years old, as Henry’s only son, he succeeded to the throne. He was a quiet, gentle boy, who loved books, but he was also sickly and died aged fifteen in 1553. Before he died, English noblemen who wanted power for themselves forced him to make a will naming a young girl, Lady Jane Grey, as queen. She was also the queen of Ireland, but it is almost certain that the Irish didn’t even know this, nor cared all that much.

  Lady Jane was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII, but she was not the heir to the throne. She was Edward’s cousin and had loved him dearly. At just sixteen years of age, Lady Jane was like any young girl and wanted to be having fun with her friends, and did not wish to be queen. But she was forced to agree. She reigned for just nine days before she was deposed by other noblemen who supported Henry’s daughter, Mary, who was the rightful heir. Though she was the Queen of England and Ireland, poor Lady Jane Gray was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower.

  Mary was a Catholic, but she was a wicked woman and immediately set about punishing Protestants. During her reign many Protestant in England were burned at the stake. When some noblemen plotted against her, she blamed the innocent Lady Jane Grey. Lady Jane, along with her husband, father and her brother were beheaded. She was then just seventeen years old and it was an evil thing for the queen to do. With all the bloodshed she was responsible for, Queen Mary earned herself the appropriate nickname ‘Bloody Mary’.

  She was also a stubborn woman who wanted her own way. Much against the wishes of the English people she married Philip II of Spain. Spain was a Catholic country and England’s sworn enemy. At this time the Spanish were persecuting anyone they suspected of not being a true Catholic. These people were known as heretics and thousands of them were burned at the stake.

  Because Mary was Catholic, the Irish people thought that she would be kind to them. But she was not. When fighting arose between the Irish clans in the counties of Offaly and Laois and the English living in the Pale, Mary’s army drove out the Irish and took their land. She then gave it to English settlers, continuing the policy of plantation begun by her father and which would continue long after her death. She renamed Laois ‘Queen’s County’ in honour of herself, and renamed Offaly ‘King’s County’ in honour of her husband, Philip.

  The dispossessed Irish families tried to win back their lands, but they were betrayed and many of them were murdered. The remaining members either fled into the woods and bogs and continued to fight, or fled westward to Kerry. In the coming years, tens of thousands of Irish people who were driven from their lands would also flee to the west of Ireland.

  ‘Bloody Mary’ died in 1558 and her half-sister, Elizabeth, became queen of England and Ireland. Elizabeth was the daughter of Anne Boleyn, and was a staunch Protestant. She had been imprisoned by ‘Bloody Mary’, who feared that Elizabeth might try to seize her crown.

  When Elizabeth came to the throne she was determined to suppress any Irish rebellion that might break out and intended to continue the policy of plantation. The Irish who rebelled would have their lands taken and given to loyal Protestant English and Scottish settlers. The Viceroys, who had been Englishmen since the time of ‘Silken Thomas’, enforced English laws in Ireland with extreme brutality. This brutality even extended to the Norman families. They were also Catholics, and were seen as enemies of the queen, who was now head of the Protestant Church in England and Ireland.

  Most of the Irish clans were frightened of rebelling, aware that if they did so their lands would be seized. But one man, Shane O’Neill, did rebel. His father was the Earl of Tyrone and following his death Shane became head of the clan. But he refused to accept the title of Earl, and still called himself ‘The O’Neill’ in the old tradition. He proclaimed that Ulster belonged to his family and that he would make it
his. Because of his boasts, he was known as ‘Shane the Proud’.

  In 1562 he rebelled and attacked the MacDonnells of Antrim, who were old enemies, and defeated them at Glenshesk. The English tried to poison him and when that failed, they persuaded the O’Donnells of Donegal to attack him. The two armies met near Letterkenny and in the ensuing battle Shane was defeated. Foolishly, he fled to the MacDonnells seeking their help. Though they pretended to welcome him, they were still bitter at their defeat at Glenshesk and murdered Shane. They pickled his head to preserve it and sent it to Dublin Castle where it was stuck on a spike at the entrance, a dire warning to anyone else who might be considering rebellion.

  Despite this grim warning, a rebellion broke out in Munster. Some of the finest land in Ireland was in the province, and many Englishmen wished to possess it. One of the most important families in Munster was the Fitzgeralds. They were Normans and known as the Geraldines. They bitterly resented the English queen being head of the Irish Church, and were also angered by English interference in Munster, which was intended to make them rebel. At first they resisted rebellion, fearful of losing their land. But eventually they were forced to rebel.

  The rebellion was just what the English had been waiting for. They invaded Munster and laid waste to the province. There was fearful slaughter, both of people and animals. It has been claimed that from Limerick to Kerry not a single cow could be heard lowing. Those people who survived the slaughter fled into the bogs and woods where most died of starvation and disease.

  The Irish sought help from Spain, which was England’s enemy. A small Spanish force of about 800 landed at Smerwick, near Dingle in County Kerry. The English soldiers surrounded them in the fort of Dún an Óir and, outnumbered, the Spanish surrendered. They were shown no mercy and all of them were brutally slaughtered. When the rebellion was over, the best land in Munster was confiscated and given to English settlers, a policy which would be pursued with utter ruthlessness in the years to come. Among those who were given land were the seafarer Sir Walter Raleigh, and the poet Edmund Spenser, who wrote The Faerie Queen.