Henry VIII., are well shewn in a document preserved in the State Paper Office, and ascribed to the year 15158. The writer enumerates more than sixty "chief captains" of the king's "Irish enemies," and more than half as many "great captains of the English noble folk," some being distinguished as the "English great rebels," others as captains that obey not the king's law;" he names the districts that have neither justice nor sheriff, "wherein all the English folk are of Irish habit, of Irish language, and of Irish condition, except in the cities and the walled towns;" and states that, even in the English pale, (the eastern half of the counties of Louth, Meath, Dublin, Kildare, and Wexford, the western half of each being a march land, more disorderly, if possible, than the more distant districts,) "the common people, for the more part, be of Irish birth, of Irish habit, and of Irish language."

The Irish chief captains, the writer states, called themselves, "some kings, some king's peers, some princes, some dukes, some archdukes;" each made peace and war for himself, and held his place by the sword, having imperial jurisdiction within his country, and obeyed no person, English or Irish; their districts were some as large as a shire, some less, but the same state of things prevailed in them all, a multitude of minor chiefs ("tyshagh," or duke, in its original

It is printed in the State Papers of the reign of Henry VIII., Part III. p. 1. Many of its statements are borne out by acts of the English Parliament, particularly 13 Hen. VIII. c. 3, and 25 Hen. VIII. c. 15; and others are authenticated by the Ordinances for the Government of Ireland, issued in 1534, to be found in the same work, p. 207.

The sea-coast of Wexford had been reconquered by Mac Morough, an Irish chief, who received "tribute" from the royal exchequer at least as late as 1537,

sense of a military leader,) existing in each, who gave no more obedience to the nominal head than he was able to enforce by the sword. On the death of each chief his successor was appointed, not by any law, "but he that hath the strongest arm and the hardyest sword among them, hath best right and title;" so that few of the regions were ever at peace within themselves. The most potent chiefs maintained a force of from 200 to 500 mounted spearmen, as many galloglasses (heavy-armed men), and 1000 or more kernes (light-armed troopsi); these lived the whole year round at free quarter on the husbandmen either of their own or the neighbouring districts, having their portion of plunder for their only wages.

The English great captains lived as much as possible in the same way. In spite of the Statutes of Kilkennyj, they had universally adopted the Irish manners and language, many had taken Irish names, and all had, by in

i The kernes were the common people, the horsemen and galloglasses the gentry. Neither kerne nor horseman had any defensive armour, but the galloglasses were clad in mail, and carried a "spar," or long-handled axe; they usually decided the fate of any pitched battle. Sometimes they appear to have been Scottish mercenaries, ready to transfer their services to the best paymaster. "These sort of men," says the deputy St. Leger, "be those that do not lightly abandon the field, but bide the brunt to the death." Each horseman had at least three horses, and as many attendants; the galloglasses also had boys with them, bearing darts, which they cast at the enemy before their masters came to the hand-stroke. The horsemen were divided into "banners," varying from twenty to eighty men; and the galloglasses into "battles," of sixty or eighty. j See vol. i. p. 394.

For example, the lords Barry and De Courcy bore the names of Mac Adam and Mac Patrick; the Berminghams and De Burghs styled themselves Mac Fioris and Mac William; the Dexters (de Exonia) and Fitz-Stephens, Mac Jordan and Mac Slany. These and 30 more Anglo-Irish chiefs "follow the same Irish order and keep the same rule, and every one of them maketh war and peace

termarriages and fostering, so linked themselves with the native chiefs, that the king's officers' could never depend on any service from them against the great O'Neal, or O'Connor, or MacMorough, who perpetually harassed the pale, and received payments of "tribute" from each county, and even from the king's exchequerm; and any attempt to extend the king's authority over either English or Irish dwelling beyond the pale, was commonly met, and defeated, by the confederacy of both. Indeed, from the manner in which the royal officers generally behaved in the district under their power, there was little to induce any one to submit to their rule. The same number of judges and officers was kept up as when the greater part of the island acknowledged the royal authority; and the expense of their maintenance was so great that the freeholders of the pale daily deserted their holdings to escape the intolerable imposition: for, "what with the extor

for himself without any licence of the king, or any other temporal person, save him that may subdue them by the sword."

These officers, too, adopted the Irish custom most oppressive to the people. The writer, alluding doubtless to the earl of Kildare, who so long held the post of deputy, says, "Some time, in our days, the king's deputy used always to have about him, whenever that he did ride, a strong guard on horseback of spears and bows, well garnished, after the English manner, that paid truly for their meat and drink, wherever they did ride; now, guard of the king's deputy is none other than a multitude of Irish galloglasses, and a multitude of Irish kernes and spears, with infinite number of horselads; and with the said guard the king's deputy is ever moving and stirring from one place to another; and, with extortion of coin and livery, consumeth and devoureth all the substance of the poor folk, and of the common people of all the king's subjects." He, however, did not venture to practise these extortions on the port towns, or on the nobles of the pale.

The English counties that bear tribute to the wild Irish" are enumerated; the whole sum is £740 English money, of which eighty marks were paid from the exchequer to Mac Morough (or Kavanagh), of Idrone, county Carlow.

tion of coin and livery daily, and with the wrongful exaction of hosting money, and of carriage and cartage daily, and what with the king's great subsidy yearly, and with the said tribute and black rent to the king's Irish enemies, and other infinite extortions and daily exactions", all the English folk of the counties of Dublin, Kildare, Meath, and Uriel (Louth), be more oppressed than any other folk of this land, English or Irish, and of worse condition be they on this side than in the marches."

As might be expected, the Church was in a deplorable condition. "The noble folk of Ireland oppress and spoil the prelates of the Church of Christ of their possessions and liberties; and therefore they have no fortune, no grace, no prosperity of body or soul." The prelates and clergy, however, were themselves greatly to blame, "for there is no archbishop, no bishop, abbot, no prior, parson, no vicar, nor any other person of the Church, high or low, great or small, English or Irish. that useth to preach the word of God, saving the poor friars beggars; if their word of God do cease, there can be no grace, and without the special grace of God, this land may never be reformed.”

The writer then notices the various causes assigned for the decay of the land, and having shewn that it is mainly to be attributed to the evil conduct of the " English noble folk," advises "the sword of the common folk" to be employed against them; in other words, that the

"Some particulars of these exactions will be found under A.D. 1537, from the inquests taken by St. Leger and other commissioners on the subject. See p 182.

tenants of Meath shall first be armed and trained in the English manner, being supported by 500 English horsemen; then the same course to be taken in each county of the pale; and when the whole (estimated at 100,000 men) are ready, the king to come over with a body of 2,000 men, and force the "great English rebels" to submit to his laws; then to introduce at least one man from each parish in England; to compel the English to inclose their fields and gardens, and plant trees; and to conciliate the Irish (who are represented as well inclined to submit to the king's laws, if they could be sure of protection from the lawless English), by offering a peerage to each great captain, and knighthood to each petty captain; to appoint the bishops and great landholders justices of the peace, and oblige all to adopt the English habit, and to bring up their children to the English language, and in habits of industry, suffering no idle men or vagabonds, "upon pain of their lives."

These sensible suggestions are said to be taken from a work by the PandarP, who, however, ventures also on prophecy, and fixes the happy change he anticipates from them for the year 1517, and says, The prophecy is, that the king of England shall put this land in such order, that all the wars of the land, whereof groweth all the vices of the same, shall cease for ever; and after that, God shall give such grace and fortune to the said king, that he shall, with the army of England and of Ireland, subdue the realm of France to his obedience for ever,

• See vol. i. p. 370.

PA manuscript exists in the British Museum, entitled "Pandarus Salus Populi, de rebus Hibernicis, temp. Hen. VI.," which is probably the book referred to.