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CHAPTER XLVI.
GOVERNMENT OF LORD BURGH, 1597

Last acts of Russell

The destruction of Feagh MacHugh enabled Russell to leave Ireland without discredit, but the latter days of his government were darkened by a disaster of a very unusual kind. One hundred and forty barrels of powder which had been drawn from the quay to Wine-tavern Street exploded, accidentally as was supposed, and there was a great destruction of life and property. Men were blown bodily over the housetops, and among the dead were many ‘sons of gentlemen who had come from all parts of Ireland to be educated in the city.’

Appointment of Lord Burgh

The Queen had for some time made up her mind to entrust the civil and military government of Ireland to Thomas, Lord Burgh, though Burghley wished to leave Norris at the head of the army. Considered as general there could be no comparison between the two men; but it is absurd to say, as so many have said, that Burgh was totally ignorant of military matters. He was governor of Brill, and had fought in the Zutphen campaign, where he distinguished himself by gallantry of a rather headlong kind. But he was chiefly known as a diplomatist, and the fact that he was, or had been, a man of fortune may have weighed with the frugal Queen. Russell, who expected his recall daily, retired from Dublin Castle to a small house, and put his train upon board wages; but he need have been in no hurry, for his successor’s appointment hung fire.

‘The Queen,’ says a well-informed news-writer, ‘hastens the Lord Burgh’s despatch, but by-and-by it is forgotten; it lives some day or two, and lies a-dying twenty days. Many will not believe it till they see him go; but it is very certain that nobody gives it furtherance but the Queen’s own resolution; and his standing upon an imprest of 3,000l. and a house furnished makes her Majesty let it fall.’²⁶⁷

Arrival of Burgh, May

The financial question was settled at last, Lord Burgh receiving 1,200l. for immediate needs. He carried 24,000l. to Ireland with him, and was allowed to retain the governorship of Brill. His health was bad, but he did not let this delay him. ‘I am,’ he told Cecil, ‘cut all over my legs with the lancet, and have abidden loathsome worms to suck my flesh.’ He could not wish even his enemies to feel such anguish. But he managed to take leave of the Queen in spite of his swollen legs, and a week after the leeching, he travelled as far as St. Albans, accompanied by Raleigh, Southampton, and other distinguished men. On the morning of his departure, he went to see Essex at Barnes, and the Earl brought him back to London in his coach. At Stony Stratford he opened his instructions, and found, to his great chagrin, that one article had been added to those which he had already seen. The Queen had been dishonoured, she said, by the facility with which knighthood had been bestowed, and he was forbidden to give it ‘to any but such as shall be, both of blood and livelihood, sufficient to maintain that calling, except at some notable day of service to bestow it for reward upon some such as in the field have extraordinarily deserved it.’

He was thoroughly alive to the difficulties awaiting him in Ireland – difficulties which had been aggravated by the delay in despatching him, and now he was deprived of the means of rewarding his friends, and made to seem less trustworthy than his predecessors. He was in Dublin on the twelfth day after leaving London, and found nothing there to his liking. Almost all supplies were wanting, the number of effective soldiers was much below what it should have been, and the horses were too weak for active service.²⁶⁸

Burgh and Norris

General misery

It was known that Norris, who had been on bad terms with Lord Burgh in England, resented his appointment, which Essex may have promoted for that very reason, and it was supposed that he would submit to his authority grudgingly and of necessity, or not at all. But the general came to Dublin four days after the new Lord Deputy’s arrival, and the latter saw no reason to complain. ‘Sir John Norris and I,’ he wrote to Cecil, ‘have in public council and private conferences agreed well. I think you wrote to him to become compatible.’ Writing on the same day, Norris says nothing against Burgh, but shows some apprehension that Russell would be his enemy, and notes that both he and the Council had stated openly, in the new Lord Deputy’s presence, that there was no charge against him. But a news-writer in London, who retailed the Court gossip, talks of a solemn pacification between Norris and Burgh, ‘made with much counterfeit kindness on both sides.’ The general then returned to his province of Munster, begging to be recalled, and protesting at the same time that ill-health and not ill-temper had made him weary of the service. It may have been the reason why this greatest soldier of his age and country had of late constantly preferred negotiation to war. Russell was already gone, and on his arrival in London found that the Queen was too angry to see him, the world at the same time noticing that he was ‘very fat, both in body and purse.’ Lord Burgh threw all his energies into military organisation, and complained that his brains were tired by captains who expected to find a city of London in Dublin. Almost everything was wanting, and the general misery, he told Cecil, ‘lamentable to hear as I am sure in your ears, but woeful to behold to Christian eyes. I see soldiers, citizens, villagers, and all sorts of people daily perish through famine; meat failing the man of war makes him savage, so as the end is both spoiler and spoiled are in like calamity.’²⁶⁹

Burgh attacks Tyrone, crosses the Blackwater, and maintains his ground

Tyrone, with 800 foot and 80 horse, was encamped between Newry and Armagh, and Captain Turner was ordered to attack him suddenly. The surprise was almost, but not quite, complete, and the rebel Earl escaped through a bog on foot and with the loss of his hat. ‘I trust,’ said Turner, ‘it presages his head against the next time.’ Armagh was revictualled, and the Irish withdrew beyond the Blackwater. Early in July Burgh was able to advance to Armagh, whence he surveyed the famous ford which had given so much trouble. It was defended on the north side by a high bank and deep ditch manned by about forty men, and Tyrone, whose camp was near, thought it could not be carried until he had time to come up. Burgh saw that a surprise was his only chance, and, though some said he was no general, he was at least soldier enough to observe that the shape of the ground would shelter his men while they were in the water. Choosing out 1,200 foot and 300 horse, he started at daybreak and at once undertook the passage. His men wavered, but he led them on himself, and they swarmed over the breastwork before any reinforcements could arrive. The defenders ran away, and Tyrone hanged a score of them. Burgh’s success, which was a great one, seems to have been entirely due to his personal gallantry. Next day Tyrone made a strenuous effort to regain the position, and half-surprised the army, who were assembled ‘to hear a sermon and pray to God.’ Good watch was, however, kept, and the assailants were beaten back. The soldiers fell in rather confusedly, and in pursuing their advantage went too far into the woods. Burgh gave special orders to avoid all chance of an ambuscade, but there were many volunteers whose discipline was of the slightest. Some were relatives of his own, and all served out of friendship or for the fun of the thing. The horse became entangled in the woods; Turner and Sir Francis Vaughan, the Lord Deputy’s brother-in-law, were killed, and two of his nephews wounded. Again he had himself to come to the rescue, rallied the soldiers, and finally repulsed the Irish with loss. He felt he might be accused of rashness and of exposing himself; but his excuse was ready. ‘I have not,’ he said, ‘that wherein my Lord of Essex is and all generals be in a journey happy, scarcely any of such understanding as to do what they be bidden; as he hath many: when I direct, for want of others I must execute.’²⁷⁰

New fort built at the Blackwater

As soon as the news reached England Essex said that the extirpation of Tyrone would be easy work. Russell had ended well, Burgh had begun well, and Ireland was improving. But Feagh MacHugh’s sons were as bad as their father, and Tyrone’s power was destined to outlast both the life and the reputation of Essex. The Queen was much pleased, and upon the sore question of knighthood yielded so far as to say that she would sanction any reasonable list that the Lord Deputy might send over. At first she had complained of his rashness, but had satisfied herself that he had done rightly, only reminding him that he was a deputy, and that hazarding his person unduly was like hazarding her own. In seeking help from Spain Tyrone claimed a victory, and made much of having killed the Lord Deputy’s brother-in-law, but he could not prevent the English from building a fort at Blackwater. It was entrusted to Captain Thomas Williams, who had served most of the princes of Christendom for twenty-three years, and who proved himself a hero indeed.²⁷¹

Burgh’s plan of campaign

Lord Burgh’s plan was that Sir Conyers Clifford should invade Tyrconnell from Connaught, while he himself was at the Blackwater, but the latter found it impossible to be ready in time. Thomond and Inchiquin, Clanricarde and Dunkellin, O’Connor Sligo, and many others obeyed his summons; his object being to take and garrison Ballyshannon, which was now recognised as the key of Connaught and Ulster. O’Donnell made great efforts to prevent this, but Clifford crossed the Erne on July 29, about half a mile below Belleek, not without severe fighting. Lord Inchiquin and O’Connor Sligo vied with each other who should be the first over, and the former, who wore a cuirass, received a bullet under one arm which went out at the other. He fell from his horse, and perished in the waters. His body was carried to Assaroe and honourably buried by the Cistercians there, but was claimed by the Franciscans of Donegal, on the ground that his O’Brien ancestors had long been buried in a friary of their order in Clare. The dispute was referred by O’Donnell to the same bishop, Redmond O’Gallagher, who had befriended Captain Cuellar in the Armada days, and to Nial O’Boyle, bishop of Raphoe. The decision was in favour of the Franciscans, and this loyal O’Brien rested among the O’Donnells, for whose overthrow he had fought so well.²⁷²

Clifford attacks Ballyshannon, but has to retreat

Four guns were brought from Galway and landed near the castle of Ballyshannon, which was defended by a garrison of eighty men, of whom some were Spaniards, and commanded by a Scotchman named Crawford. After three days’ cannonade, ammunition began to run short, and little impression had been made on the castle, while O’Donnell’s force grew stronger every day. Clifford’s position was now very precarious, for the fords were held behind him, and all communications interrupted. He attempted to re-embark his ordnance, but the gyn broke, and he had to leave three out of four pieces behind him. Just above the fall of the Erne a passage, called by the Irish the ‘ford of heroes,’ was left unguarded, probably on account of its difficulty, and at daybreak Clifford, who had spent the hours of darkness in making his arrangements, waded the river unperceived by the Irish. Many were swept over the fall and out to sea, but the main body struggled over and formed upon the left bank. The O’Donnells pursued without stopping to put on their clothes, and there was a running fight for some fifteen miles; but Clifford reached Drumcliff in Sligo without much further loss. The English had no powder and were completely outnumbered, but torrents of rain fell and wetted the ammunition of their foes. Maguire and O’Rourke were both with O’Donnell in this affair. Clifford marched on foot in the rear, and indeed personal bravery was the only soldierly quality that could be shown. His ablest officer denied that forty years’ service in the best European army could teach a man anything useful for Irish warfare. The service was barbarous and hateful, and he begged to be put into some other war, for in Connaught nothing was to be got or learned.²⁷³

Tyrone’s pretensions

After his successful journey to the Blackwater, Burgh remained some weeks in the field, and during that time he vainly endeavoured to come to terms with Tyrone. The latter refused to give the pledge demanded, and while declaring that he was reasonable and that his conscience was discharged, talked of making peace with the Queen as if he had been an independent sovereign. In the meantime he was earnestly soliciting help from Spain, and the death of Lord Kildare was one success of which he boasted. That Earl was, however, not wounded at all, though some say that the loss of two foster brothers in the late fight had preyed upon his mind. Burgh now declared that his patience was exhausted, and went back to Dublin to make preparations for a further invasion of Ulster. ‘All your popish shaven priests,’ he wrote to Tyrone, ‘shall never absolve you, God destroying the counsels of the wicked against his anointed.’²⁷⁴

Gallant defence of the new fort

Death of Burgh

When Burgh had left Armagh, and Clifford had been driven from Ballyshannon, brave Captain Williams had a hard time at Blackwater. Tyrone found it impossible to prevent supplies from entering the ruined city, although he could and did surround the outpost completely; but when an escalade was attempted, the stout soldier within was more than able to hold his own. The storming party were picked men, who received the Sacrament and were sworn not to abandon their task till they had carried the fort, but they lost all their ladders and afterwards owned to 400 killed and wounded. Three days later Burgh left Dublin to relieve the beleaguered garrison, and reached Armagh without opposition. He perhaps hoped to surprise some of Tyrone’s people, but met none until he came near the Blackwater, which he passed after a sharp skirmish. His intention was to advance to Dungannon, or perhaps to establish an advanced post there, but he was taken suddenly ill. The fort was victualled and relieved, and the Deputy was carried in a litter to Armagh, and thence to Newry, where he died a few days later. He made a will in the presence of several witnesses, of whom John Dymmok, author of a well-known treatise on Ireland, was one; but his strength failed before he could sign it. Bagenal and Cecil were named executors, and all goods he bequeathed to his wife, Lady Frances, to do her best for the children; and for her and them he asked the Queen’s protection, ‘myself having spent my patrimony and ended my days in her service.’ To the Queen he left his garter and George, also his papers, and his body to be disposed of as she pleased. The dead Deputy’s servants ran away, and Bagenal was in some doubt as to what he should do; for no chief governor had died in office since Skeffington’s time. The body was buried at Westminster more than three months later, and Sir Francis Vere agreed to pay Lady Burgh 400l. a year out of his salary as governor of Brill. The money was perhaps badly paid, for the poor lady was long suppliant to Cecil, and described herself as his ‘unfortunate kinswoman.’²⁷⁵

Sir John Norris retires to Munster, and dies there

The death of Lord Burgh was a serious loss to the Queen’s service, and it did not come single. Sir John Norris retired to his province of Munster after conferring with the Lord Deputy, but there is nothing in his letters to show that the latter dismissed him in an unfriendly way. There was not much love lost between them, perhaps, but there is no evidence of anything more than this. Norris went to Waterford and Limerick, though every movement hurt him, and he reported that Munster was in a very poor state of defence. The Queen would not give the necessary funds, and the inhabitants of the town would do very little for themselves. But there was no immediate danger of a Spanish invasion, and he begged leave to recruit his health. Afterwards he could return to his post, and he was ready to remain at all risks if he could do any good. Tyrone wrote to him, but he sent the letter unopened to Burgh, apologising even for saving time by occasionally communicating directly with the English Government. He advised that the rebel should be well pressed during the summer, in which case many would leave him. ‘I am not envious,’ he said, ‘though others shall reap the fruits of my travail, an ordinary fortune of mine.’ To curry favour with Essex some insinuated that the President was shamming illness to get out of Ireland, but the event proved that his complaints were genuine. Old wounds neglected or unskilfully treated ended in gangrene, and he died at Mallow, in the arms of his brother Thomas. The most absurd fables were told about his last hours, and an historian gravely relates that the enemy of mankind, black and dressed in black, appeared to him while playing cards, reminded him of an old bargain, and claimed his soul then and there. ‘We may judge,’ adds this credulous writer, ‘how much God helped O’Neill, who had not only often beaten Norris, the best of English generals, in battle, but also vanquished the devil himself, who is believed to have helped him according to contract.’ The body was embalmed and taken to England, and Elizabeth wrote a beautiful letter of condolence to Lady Norris, in which she charged her to bear up for her husband’s sake, reminding her that her own loss as Queen was scarcely less grievous or less bitter than a mother’s.²⁷⁶

Consequences of Burgh’s death

Belfast in 1597

A vacancy in the chief governorship of Ireland was always a cause of weakness, and often of disaster. Discipline was relaxed, and enemies of the Government knew how to take their advantage. At Carrickfergus, which was an exposed place, there had lately been many bickerings among the authorities; insomuch that Captain Rice Maunsell, who commanded the troops, imprisoned Charles Egerton, who was constable of the castle. One consequence was that Belfast fell into the hands of Shane MacBrian O’Neill, who hanged and disembowelled every Englishman found therein. Sir John Chichester, a younger brother of the more famous Sir Arthur, was then appointed to the military command, and his first essay was most successful. ‘Belfast,’ he says, ‘is a place which standeth eight miles from Carrickfergus, and on the river, where the sea ebbs and flows, so that boats may be landed within a butte (musket) shot of the said castle; for the recovery whereof I made choice that it should be one of my first works; and on the eleventh day of July following attempted the same with some hundred men, which I transported thither in boats by sea; and indeed our coming was so unlooked for by them as it asked us no long time before we took the place, without any loss to us, and put those we found in it to the sword.’ Shane O’Neill’s castle of Edenduffcarrick was afterwards taken by Chichester, which afforded a means of victualling the Blackwater fort by way of Lough Neagh. Shane MacBrian and the other O’Neills of his sept then went to Dublin and submitted, giving sufficient hostages for their good behaviour.²⁷⁷

Disaster at Carrickfergus

By the death of his elder brothers, Donnell and Alaster, James MacSorley had become chief of the Irish MacDonnells. Though unable to speak the Lowland tongue, he had lately been knighted by James VI. and received with much distinction at court, where his liberality and fine manners made him a favourite, and at his departure he was thought worthy of a salute from Edinburgh Castle. He and his brother Randal soon aroused suspicion at Carrickfergus. They demolished their castles at Glenarm and Red Bay, and concentrated their strength at Dunluce, which they armed with three guns taken from the Spanish Armada. These pieces they refused to surrender at Chichester’s demand, and there were also suspicious dealings with Tyrone, whose daughter Randal afterwards married. The governor invited the MacDonnells to a parley, and they appeared with 600 men about four miles from the town. The immediate complaint was that they had been plundering in Island Magee. Chichester went to meet them, but his men had scarcely recovered from a long march two nights before, and much of their powder was still damp. A council of war was held, at which Moses Hill, lieutenant of horse and founder of the Downshire family, offered to surprise the MacDonnells in their camp if the governor could wait till night. This was agreed to, but rasher counsels ultimately prevailed. Captain Merriman, who was said to have captured 50,000 head of MacDonnell cattle in his time, thought it a shame to be braved by such beggars; others thought so too, and Chichester gave way willingly enough. As the English advanced the Scots retreated, but soon turned on their pursuers, whose ranks were not well kept and whose muskets were almost useless. Horse and foot were driven back pell-mell towards the town, and Chichester was killed by a shot in the head, after being wounded in the shoulder and in the leg. Maunsell and other officers also fell, and only two seem to have escaped unwounded. About 180 men were killed out of a force which probably did not exceed 300. Some saved their lives by swimming over into Island Magee, while Captain Constable and others were taken prisoners. The survivors from the battle and the officers who had remained in reserve named Egerton their governor and expected an attack, but MacDonnell chose rather to appear as an aggrieved man who had fought in self-defence. The check to the Government was a severe one, and Tyrone was greatly strengthened by it.²⁷⁸

Lords Justices appointed

Ormonde Lord General

The Irish Council made Sir Thomas Norris sole Lord Justice, very much against his will. He had succeeded his brother as Lord President of Munster, and left Captain Thornton there to do the work, and to draw most of the salary. This temporary arrangement was altered by the Queen, who appointed Archbishop Loftus and Chief Justice Gardiner Lords Justices, gave the supreme military command to Ormonde, with the title of Lieutenant-General, and ordered Norris back to his own province. The appointment of Ormonde involved fresh negotiations, and Tyrone was more likely to agree with him than with any English Deputy. ‘You now,’ the Queen wrote to her general, ‘represent our own person, and have to do with inferior people and base rebels, to whose submission if we in substance shall be content to condescend, we will look to have the same implored in such reverend form as becometh our vassals and such heinous offenders to use, with bended knees and hearts humbled; not as if one prince did treat with another upon even terms of honour or advantage, in using words of peace or war, but of rebellion in them, and mercy in us; for rather than ever it shall appear to the world that in any such sort we will give way to any of their pride, we will cast off either sense or feeling of pity or compassion, and upon what price soever prosecute them to the last hour.’²⁷⁹

Ormonde’s futile negotiations with Tyrone,

Tyrone himself sought an interview with Ormonde, and submitted humbly enough to him at Dundalk. ‘I do,’ he said, ‘here acknowledge, upon the knees of my heart, that I am sorry for this my late relapse and defection.’ He begged a truce for two months, and undertook not to prevent the Blackwater fort from being victualled in the meantime. In the negotiations which followed, ‘free liberty of conscience for all the inhabitants of Ireland’ was demanded by Tyrone; but while placing this claim in the forefront, he never really insisted upon it, and no doubt its main object was to make an impression abroad. In 1591 he had taken care to be married to Mabel Bagenal by a Protestant bishop, ‘according her Majesty’s laws,’ and he now undertook not to correspond with Spain or any foreign nation. Another promise was to victual the garrison at Blackwater, and he did actually furnish forty beeves, ten of which were rejected by the inexorable Williams, though the leanest beef was probably better than the horseflesh upon which he and his brave men had lately lived. In the end Tyrone refused to give up his eldest son, or any hostage; but he agreed to accept a sheriff provided a gentleman of the country was appointed, to maintain and victual Blackwater fort, to renounce the name of O’Neill, to renew his submission to Ormonde in some public place, and to pay a fine of 500 cows. On receipt of his pardon, he further agreed to disperse all his forces, and send Scots or other hired strangers out of the realm.

who despises a pardon

These terms were accepted, and a pardon passed under the great seal of Ireland; but the result was only a truce, and open hostilities were resumed within two months. At the very moment that the pardon was given, Tyrone was encouraging his confederates to believe in an imminent Spanish invasion of Munster, and it is evident that he had never intended to yield upon any essential point.²⁸⁰

Munster brigandage, 1597. Florence MacCarthy

Munster had lately been pretty quiet, but there were not wanting signs of the tremendous storm which was soon to burst over it. The MacSheehys, the remnant of the Desmond gallowglasses, ‘preyed, spoiled, and murdered’ over eighty English families. Of three brothers, one was sentenced ‘to have his arms and thighs broken with a sledge, and hang in chains, so was he executed without the north gate of Cork;’ the second was killed by an Irish kerne, and the third fell by an English hand when Spenser’s house at Kilcolman was sacked. Donnell MacCarthy saved himself by coming under protection and behaving well for a time. His father, the wicked Earl of Clancare, died late in 1596, and Sir Thomas Norris advised that some small property should be assigned to ‘his base son of best reputation,’ while Florence might be given the bulk of the remote and barren heritage of McCarthy More. Florence and Donell both went to plead their own causes in London, while the widowed countess complained that she and her daughter were ‘prisoners there for their diet.’ The poor lady begged for her thirds, ‘notwithstanding any wrangling between my son-in-law, Nicholas Browne, Donell MacCarthy, and the rest.’ She gained her cause, and Donell was given some lands which his father had conveyed to him. Ormonde thought the presence of Florence important for the peace of Munster, and asked Cecil not to detain him, while Florence himself begged the Secretary to let him serve her Majesty in Ireland, instead of keeping him in London at her cost. When the news of the outbreak arrived, he received 100l. for his journey to Ireland, but he lingered in the hope of getting all the late Earl’s estate, and Essex had left Ireland before his return.²⁸¹