Ireland under the Stuarts and during the Interregnum, Vol. I (of 3), 1603-1642

The case of Youghal College

Wentworth demands a fine of 30,000l., and takes 15,000l

Real reason of Wentworth’s hostility

Cork presents 1000l. to the King

Of the many disputes between the Lord Deputy and the Lord Treasurer one must be noticed particularly. In 1464 Thomas Earl of Desmond founded at Youghal a college for a warden, eight fellows, and eight singing men, who were to serve the church hard by and perhaps others in the neighbourhood. The institution slipped through the net which swept away ordinary monasteries, but the celibate life in common came to an end after the Reformation, and Wetheread, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, became warden. He died in 1592, having let the house to Sir Thomas Norris, and this lease was afterwards renewed to Raleigh’s trustees, whose interest Boyle purchased. That he was thus in possession of Church property was evident, but it was in lay hands before he acquired it, and he had bought out those concerned without any secrecy. The original title was not very good, and Cork took every means possible to strengthen his position. His cousin, Richard Boyle, Bishop of Cork, was warden many years before Wentworth’s arrival, and in 1627 agreed with the three then surviving fellows to release their claims in consideration of life annuities, amounting altogether to 86l. 13s. 4d. a year. Both parties swore to fulfil their contract. Wentworth determined to prosecute Cork in the Castle-chamber for being privy to a fabricated bond and for taking or imposing an illegal oath. Something would be recovered for the Church, but the main object was to extract enough money from the Earl to pay off or reduce the existing Crown debts in Ireland. Wentworth demanded 30,000l. as a voluntary fine to avoid exposure. The charge of forgery was found to be false, and as to the oath Cork, who throughout maintained that he had done nothing wrong, could show that it was voluntary on both sides, and of a character not uncommon in Ireland. His friends, including his eldest son, knew perfectly well what the result of a trial would be, and induced the Earl to pay 15,000l., Wentworth pleasantly representing this as a saving of that sum to the accused. The day of trial was actually fixed, and Cork found his old antagonist, the Chancellor, sitting on a form in the gallery, who said he had read all the pleadings and that there was nothing in them. ‘Then,’ says Cork, ‘I told his lordship that I hoped he would deliver his vote for my clearing. “Nay, by my faith (quoth he) I will not promise you that.” I replied again that if he were in my case I would clear him if my conscience did assure me he were not guilty. His lordship answered that it was very necessary for me to be exceeding careful of myself; for that it was not my cause, but my judges, I was to fear.’ In the end Cork had the property confirmed to him by the King, abandoning certain tithes and presentations worth about 700l. a year, which were recovered for the Church, but which were in lay hands when Cork acquired them. ‘God’s wounds, sir,’ said Wentworth to the Earl, ‘when the last Parliament in England broke up you lent the King 15,000l. And afterwards in a very uncivil unmannerly manner you pressed his Majesty to restore it you. Whereupon I resolved before I came out of England to fetch it back again from you, by one means or other. And now I have gotten what I desired you and I will be friends hereafter.’ The money was duly paid within two years. Laud congratulated himself on having kept the King steady throughout; but Charles seems to have had some misgivings, for he excused Cork from subscribing towards the Scotch campaign, and afterwards graciously accepted a thousand pounds in gold, which were sent down to the North after him.²³³

Sir Piers Crosbie’s case

Wentworth falsely accused of killing Esmond

Crosbie fined and imprisoned

Sir Piers Crosbie had been excluded from the Irish Council for opposing Wentworth in the Parliament of 1634. This action was sustained in England and might easily be defended, for the distinction between executive and legislative functions was not fully observed in those days. Privy Councillors were then the real advisers of the Crown, and Wentworth might fairly object to one who was an open opponent. In modern times the Cabinet has usurped the powers of the Council, but no one could long remain a member without submitting to the Prime Minister in his parliamentary capacity. By withholding his confidence from all except some half-dozen Englishmen, who owed their advancement to him, Wentworth made enemies or very lukewarm supporters of the Irish officials and their friends. Crosbie had commanded an Irish regiment at Rhé, but Wentworth wrote of him as ‘a gentleman of so fine and tender parts as qualifies him much better for a lady’s chamber. Was there ever man such an Adonis, think you?’ These words, or others to the like effect, were probably in circulation, and Crosbie was in a position to give some trouble. Lord Esmond spoke openly against the Lord Deputy, and the death of a relation of his in prison furnished the pretext for a false charge. Robert Esmond was a ship-owner, and he refused in November 1634 to take some timber of Wentworth’s on board. His own defence was that the pieces were too long to be stored on board his vessel, which was already laden with wood belonging to the Chief Justice. Perhaps the Lord Deputy did not believe him: at all events he shook his cane at him and sent him to gaol, and as he died of consumption soon after being released, it is possible that confinement may have hastened his death. It was generally given out that he died of the beating he had received, and Esmond, Mountnorris, and others appear to have combined with Crosbie to propagate the story. ‘There is,’ Wentworth wrote, ‘an impudent and false conspiracy against me. And, verily, my lord, on this Friday (a day on which it pleased God to bring me forth into the world) I renounce all the blessings of this passion if ever I did or had it in my thoughts to strike Esmond, and when the poor wand shall be shown in court wherewith I must have beaten the man to death, the impudent untruth will further appear to you.’ Lord Esmond himself seems to have ceased to believe the story, for he told Wentworth of the report early in 1636. It was not till 1639 that the Star Chamber in England decided the case in Wentworth’s favour. Crosbie was fined and imprisoned for a short time. According to his own account he was released on paying the fine, but Wentworth alleged that he broke out of the Fleet prison. From the charge of killing Esmond, Strafford may be fully exonerated; but it can never in any age have been right for the Chief Governor of Ireland to shake his stick at offenders, either in his judicial or in his military capacity.²³⁴

Case of Trinity College, Dublin

Cambridge influences

Provost Temple, 1609

Bedell provost, 1627

Laud chosen chancellor, 1633

It was originally intended that the University of Dublin should include several colleges, as at Oxford and Cambridge, and unsuccessful attempts were made to carry out the idea. But in fact the University and Trinity College remained one. Some short-lived halls were founded for the increase of accommodation. All the early provosts except Robert Ussher, who was educated in the college itself, were Cambridge men, and a Puritan or, as we might say, a Low Church tone was generally maintained. Sir William Temple, who was provost from 1609 to 1627, made the distinction between senior and junior fellows, and it was soon decided that the right of election lay in the seniors only. Temple, who was not in orders, objected to wear a surplice as directed by Abbot, who was chancellor of the University. Bedell, who succeeded Temple, had a comparatively short tenure of office, but he signalised his reign by promulgating revised statutes and by taking steps for the teaching of Irish, with a view to approach the natives through their own language. When Abbot died in 1633 the fellows, at the instance of Primate Ussher, chose Laud for their chancellor. Laud would have preferred that the lot had fallen upon Wentworth himself, but Ussher urged him not to refuse.²³⁵

Robert Ussher provost, 1629

Chappell provost, 1634

Chappell’s troubles

The Primate realised that his cousin Robert, who had succeeded Bedell in 1629, was not an efficient provost. His legal powers were too limited to control the senior fellows, who were always caballing against him, and he was of ‘too soft and gentle a disposition to rule so heady a company.’ He was weary of his work and would readily take an easier place and make room for ‘one of a more rigid temper and stouter disposition.’ Both Laud and Wentworth were of the same opinion, and the provost was glad to accept the archdeaconry of Meath, and later the bishopric of Kildare along with it. William Chappell, Dean of Cashel, was chosen provost in his place, though he had positively refused to be named when Bedell resigned. Perhaps he thought anything better than residence at Cashel. ‘God knows,’ he exclaimed, ‘what I suffered there!’ He wrote his own life, or part of it, in Latin iambics which are not very good for the head of a college; but he is perhaps best known as the fellow and tutor of Christ’s who is supposed to have flogged John Milton. Wentworth went to the college himself and ordered the fellows to elect Chappell, which they readily did; in any case the King had determined that he should be the man. Laud re-edited Bedell’s revised statutes, and reduced the number of visitors from seven, among whom Ussher had a preponderating influence, to three – namely, himself, the Primate, and the Archbishop of Dublin, who was an Englishman and certain not to oppose the Crown. Chappell was found to be a useful instrument, though he did not work at all smoothly, and Wentworth insisted on his accepting the bishopric of Cork and holding it along with the provostship. This he was unwilling to do, having sworn that he would not seek such a plurality of office either directly or indirectly; but he was overruled by Wentworth and Radcliffe. Both Ussher and Bramhall objected, and Laud evidently had misgivings, though he yielded to the Lord Deputy. The distance of Cork from Dublin seemed to him a real obstacle, though he considered that the appointment was not illegal, since the provost had not in any way solicited his bishopric. ‘So here I stick,’ cries Chappell, ‘distracted between remote places, both full of quarrels, which my soul abhors as my body does the journeys.’²³⁶

The Irish lecture abandoned

English fellows imported

Chappell suppressed the Irish lecture, abandoning all idea of reaching the natives through their own language; and this was in accordance with Wentworth’s policy. Above all things, wrote the latter to Laud, ‘I would recommend that we might have half a dozen good scholars to be sent over to us to be made fellows; there will be room for so many once in a year, and this encouragement I will give them, cæteris paribus I will prefer them before any but my own chaplains, which, I assure you, are not many.’ Some were brought over accordingly, and one of them, named Harding, became tutor to Wentworth’s son; but at the age of eleven he could hardly be considered a specimen undergraduate. Falkland had also placed his eldest son in the college, where he took his degree at fifteen. Wentworth’s plan was to put Englishmen into every position of power or influence in Ireland and to depress all of native birth. Even Primate Ussher, though the Lord Deputy respected and admired him, had much less influence than Bramhall. The King was to be absolute in both islands and State being reduced to uniformity. That was Thorough.²³⁷

CHAPTER XVI
STRAFFORD’S GOVERNMENT, 1638-1640

Wentworth’s account of his stewardship, 1636

The Church

Finance

The army

Law reform

Trade

Wentworth was in England from the beginning of June until late in November 1636, rooms being assigned to him at Hampton Court. Wandesford and the Chancellor were Lords Justices, and very careful to do nothing of themselves, so that the Lord Deputy found the situation unchanged at his return. His best work in Ireland was already done, and he was able to give a very good account of it. Thirty thousand pounds a year had been recovered for the Church, impropriations in the hands of the Crown having been all restored to the clergy. A High Commission Court had been erected, and measures taken to prevent improvident leases of Church lands. Some progress had been made in restoring the churches, most of which had been roofless ruins since the Desmond and Tyrone wars. Decency was re-established in service time, as to which it may be sufficient to say that Wentworth had found ‘the communion table was sat upon as ordinary as any other place.’ The English canons were put in force and the Thirty-nine Articles adopted, ‘those of Ireland silenced and passed by.’ He had found an excess of expenditure amounting to 24,000l. over income, and a debt of 94,000l. An equilibrium had now been established and the arrears cleared off; and a future surplus of 50,000l. might be secured if his plans were not thwarted by hasty grants. He had inspected every single man of the 2000 foot and 600 horse forming his army, ‘the great peacemaker between the British and the natives, between the Protestant and the Papist’; whereas some former generals had been several years in Ireland without reviewing one company. The troops were properly clothed, armed, and paid, and discipline was so strict that the soldiers dared not take a chicken without paying ‘at the owner’s price.’ The law had been assimilated by the late Parliament to that of England, and its administration was greatly improved. Trade had increased by the almost total suppression of piracy, and means were taken to encourage the growing and spinning of flax. But revenue was in his eyes the most important part of commerce, and the cloth business was depressed because it interfered with an English staple industry, ‘the rather that by the wool of Ireland the King hath four times custom: first, when it is brought into England, and here when it is landed, and then here when it is transported in cloth, and also for the commodities which is returned.’ On the other hand, he persuaded the King to take off a lately imposed export duty of four shillings a ton on coal for Ireland, and another heavy one on horses, which interfered with his military plans; and an import duty of eighteenpence and sixpence respectively upon Irish cattle and sheep.²³⁸

An earldom again refused

Lady Carlisle

Wentworth was useful to the King in the ship-money trouble as well as in Ireland, more than once expressing a wish that Mr. Hampden should be well whipped into his right senses. He had Charles’s entire approbation, and wished for a mark of honour to carry back to his government, without which it might be supposed that he was more or less in disgrace at Court. The last rebuff had made him shy, and this time he used Laud’s mediation; but the earldom was again refused. No answer was given to the Archbishop, who had observed that his Majesty ‘loved extremely to have such things, especially once moved, to come from himself,’ and on this occasion the sovereign laid down that titles were useful ‘not to quell envy, but to reward service.’ He had not much regard for his minister’s feelings. Wentworth knew very well that his hold upon Ireland depended on the belief that he was firmly rooted in the King’s favour, and he would have liked some outward and visible sign of it. He left London victorious for the time, but knowing that he had many enemies in high places and very few real friends. During this visit he formed a close alliance with Lady Carlisle, who had been lately left a widow. Her husband bequeathed to her his interest in Ireland, the value of which depended much upon the good will of the all-powerful Lord Deputy. Financial considerations may have moved the lady first, and Wentworth on his part may have desired the help of someone who stood well with the Queen. At all events, the admiration was mutual, for she even regulated her movements by his, and was repaid, as her sister Lady Leicester reported, by having ‘more power with him than any creature.’ When he reached York he was nearly killed with feasting, after which he had a few weeks’ rest in the country. ‘With what quietness in myself,’ he wrote from Gawthorp, ‘could I live here in comparison with that noise and labour I meet with elsewhere; and I protest put up more crowns in my purse at the year’s end too. But we’ll let that pass, for I am not like to enjoy that blessed condition upon earth. And therefore my resolution is set to endure and struggle with it as long as this crazy body will bear it, and finally drop into the silent grave where both all these and myself are to be forgotten.’²³⁹

Wentworth supreme in Ireland

His Irish estates

Country life

Game laws

Wentworth returned to Ireland late in 1636, and remained there for more than two years and a half. He continued to pursue the policy already described, and as he had completely defeated his enemies at Court his power was greater than ever, notwithstanding the last rebuff about an earl’s coronet. In every dispute he was victorious, though we know from what happened afterwards that there was deep discontent. He did not neglect his own affairs, and though he knew well by how frail a tenure he held authority, the founder of a dynasty could scarcely have proceeded with greater confidence. As a man of fortune, he could afford to wait for profits, and his delight in building and planting was great. He had 6000l. a year in England, which was a great deal in those days; and he told Laud that his expenditure in Ireland far exceeded his official emoluments. He did, however, acquire a large Irish estate, though he is not seriously accused of getting it by unfair means. In 1637 he had bought land worth some 13,000l., but his debts had increased by more than half that amount. A country residence for himself and his successors and another for the King’s representative, or for the sovereign himself should he visit Ireland, occupied as much of his time and thoughts as could be spared from public business. His love of the country was genuine. Writing from his Yorkshire home in 1623, he says that his ambition there was limited to ‘looking on a tulip, hearing a bird sing, a rivulet murmuring, or some such petty and innocent pastime … having recovered more in a day by an open country air than in a fortnight’s time in that smothering one of London.’ He was fond of field sports, and as there were no partridges near Dublin, he trained sparrow-hawks to fly at blackbirds. ‘It is excellent sport,’ he told Cottington, ‘there being sometimes two hundred horse in the field looking upon us.’ In Tipperary he found plenty of partridges, and killed them daily with his hawk, wishing that his children had some of the plums which that county also produced. In Wicklow he amused himself by shooting outlying bucks, complaining that he was bitten all over by much worse midges than are found in England – ‘surely they are younger brothers to the muskitoes the Indies brag of so much.’ By a drastic proclamation he tried to preserve all pheasants, grouse, and partridges within seven miles of Dublin or five miles of Naas. From time to time he sent eels, salt fish, and dried venison to Laud, who much appreciated these delicacies, while laughing at the badness of the hung beef which Wentworth procured from Yorkshire. On one occasion he sent the Archbishop ninety-two skins of the pine-marten, now very rare, to line a gown with. Ormonde entertained him twice, at Carrick-on-Suir and Kilkenny Castle, which he greatly admired as well as the country round. In writing to his wife he praised or criticised the ladies’ looks, but found no time to notice their dresses. At Kilkenny, he says, ‘the town entertained us with the force of oratory and the fury of poetry, and rather taught me what I should be than told me what I am.’²⁴⁰

Strafford’s buildings

The park of parks

‘They say I build up to the sky,’ Wentworth wrote in the autumn of 1637; but he had already several houses in Yorkshire, and his object was a public one. At Sigginstown or Jigginstown, near Naas, he had almost completed a palace at an expense of 6000l. The King might have it at cost price, otherwise he would bear the loss himself. He dissuaded his wife from joining him there while he was wrangling with workmen, but hoped it would soon be ready to receive her. Just six years afterwards Ormonde’s truce with the rebels was signed in this very house, which still stands, though roofless. It was built of bricks, probably Dutch-made, and there is a doubtful tradition that they were transmitted from hand to hand all the way from Dublin. Wentworth talked about spending 1200l. upon a residence for himself in what he calls ‘the park of parks’ near Tinahely in Wicklow, intending it as a health resort which might enable him to disappoint his enemies by living a little longer. The foundations of this house, locally known as ‘Black Tom’s Kitchen’, may still be seen; but the lands of Fairwood have for the most part been sold to the tenants, who have converted the fine old trees into ready money. Wentworth’s last visit was in August 1639, but he seems to have lived in a temporary wooden building, and the strong stone house was never finished. He then hoped to leave to his son one of the finest places in the King’s dominions, ‘where a grass-time may be passed with most pleasure of that kind,’ a good house and an income of near 3000l., with ‘wood on the ground as much, I daresay, if near London, as would yield 50,000l., besides a house within twelve miles of Dublin, the best in Ireland, and land to it which I hope will be 2000l. a year.’²⁴¹

Wentworth becomes the King’s chief adviser, 1639

His misgivings

While at Doncaster, after the treaty of Berwick, the King saw a messenger from Wentworth, who gave him his latest ideas on the Loftus case. Charles reached London on August 2 1639, and within three weeks it was known that the Lord Deputy would be sent for and perhaps made Lord Treasurer. He arrived at his own house in Covent Garden on September 21, and became virtually chief minister until the meeting of the Long Parliament, though his advice was not always taken. Juxon remained in charge of an empty Treasury. Lord Dillon and Wandesford had been left in Ireland as Lords Justices, but Radcliffe was more trusted than anyone. Wentworth did not neglect the affairs of Ireland, but he had no time to write at length, though he was able to bring the Loftus affair to the conclusion he desired. He was particularly anxious that Lady Carlisle’s interests in Ireland should not be neglected, and no doubt he often saw her. While devoting himself heart and soul to the King’s affairs, he was under no illusion as to their evil condition. Writing from St. Albans on the morning of the day when he reached London, ‘I find,’ he told Radcliffe, ‘a great expectation is drawn upon me, for which I am most sorry; and the nearer I come to it the more my heart fails me; nor can I promise unto myself any good by this journey.’²⁴²

Wentworth advises a Parliament

He is made Lord Lieutenant and Earl of Strafford

On November 19, in the King’s presence, the Privy Council gave judgment for Wentworth against the Irish Chancellor. Very soon afterwards it was decided on his recommendation that a Parliament should be held both in England and Ireland, and he fancied that some popularity had come to him in consequence. So much did Charles lean on him, that his presence at the opening of both Parliaments was considered necessary. He tried to maintain Sir John Coke in office, but indeed the Secretary was superannuated, and he failed to obtain the succession for Leicester, the appointment being given to Vane, whom he hated and despised. But he was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, a title which had not been conferred since Devonshire’s time, with power to appoint a deputy, and so to direct affairs on both sides of St. George’s Channel; and he received the earldom which had been twice refused. He had the bad taste to take a second title from Vane’s house at Raby, and the latter bitterly resented what was probably an intentional insult on Strafford’s part; ‘and I believe,’ says Clarendon, ‘it was the loss of his head.’²⁴³

Strafford reconciled to the Queen

An Irish army to subdue Scotland

An Irish Parliament, March, 1640

Before taking leave of the King, Strafford attended a meeting of the Council, where a subscription was opened to meet his Majesty’s most pressing needs, and he headed the list with 20,000l. He left London on March 5 in the Queen’s coach and six, which shows that he had been reconciled to her, and carried with him instructions as to the Irish Parliament. The King enlarged upon the enormities of the Scots, professing himself sure of Ireland, and demanding six subsidies to be paid in three years, but holding out hopes of two being remitted if the misguided faction in North Britain should submit to his just desires. That he did not much expect such submission is clear from his determination to raise 8,000 foot and 1000 horse in Ireland, ‘the better and more speedily to reduce those others in Scotland to their due obedience.’ Strafford was attacked by gout at Beaumaris, but hastened over to Ireland, determined, whatever pain he might have, to be back in time for the opening of Parliament at Westminster – ‘I should not fail, though Sir John Eliot were living.’ Halt, lame, or blind, he would be true to the King’s service, and he reflected on what he might be able to do with legs, since he was so brave without them. The Irish Parliament had been summoned for March 16, and the Lord-Lieutenant did not land until two days later. The Lords Justices and Council had already determined to ask for four subsidies, for six had been voted on a former occasion, and they feared an exact repetition lest the taxpayers might take alarm at the prospect of a recurrent charge. Nothing was actually done until Strafford arrived on the 18th, after forty-eight hours tossing in the channel. On the 19th he summoned the Council, and next day opened Parliament in state, and confirmed the election of Sir Maurice Eustace as Speaker of the House of Commons. Eustace made a pompous oration, containing six long quotations from Horace and abundance of other Latin. ‘The Brehon law,’ he said, ‘with her two brats of tanistry and Irish gavelkind, like the children of the bondwoman, are cast out as spurious and adulterate.’ Everyone rejoiced to see that the son of the free woman prevailed, and the King’s subjects should boast that they only had peace, while France, Germany, Spain, and the dominions of the House of Austria were laid waste by war.²⁴⁴

Four subsidies voted

Subservience of Parliament

Declaration in praise of Strafford

In his opening speech to Parliament, which the journals say was excellent, Strafford, having heard Wandesford and the rest, ventured slightly to vary the King’s instructions. Instead of demanding six subsidies he allowed four to be moved for, and they were granted with such alacrity that he acknowledged the plan of the Council to be best, and confidently affirmed his belief that the Commons would be ready to give as many subsidies more after the first four had been levied. Some members, indeed, declared themselves ready to give the fee of their estates, if occasion required, and to leave themselves nothing but hose and doublet. The native representatives were loud in their loyalty, and there were no dissentient voices, ‘all expressing even with passion how much they abhorred the Scotch Covenanters.’ Not only were the subsidies voted, but a declaration of the most extreme character was agreed to. Both Houses were ready to give their all for the reduction of the Covenanters, and desired that this should be ‘published in print for a testimony to all the world and succeeding ages that as this kingdom hath the happiness to be governed by the best of kings, so they are desirous to give his Majesty just cause to account of this people amongst the best of his subjects.’ To complete the Lord Lieutenant’s momentary triumph, the preamble of the Subsidy Bill was a panegyric upon that ‘just, wise, vigilant, and profitable governor.’ He was given full credit for the Commission for defective titles, for restoring the Church and reforming the army, for his justice and impartiality, and for his ‘care to relieve and redress the poor and oppressed.’ On March 31 he came down again to the House of Lords in state, and gave the royal assent to the Subsidy and eight other Bills. The declaration had been entered on the Parliament roll, and Strafford took care to have some hundreds of copies printed for distribution by him in England. The clergy taxed themselves very heavily, and so a revenue was provided for some years. Strafford seems actually to have believed that the King was infinitely reverenced in Ireland, and that he himself was quite popular, though some spiteful people had asserted the contrary. ‘God forgive their calumnies,’ he said, ‘and I do.’²⁴⁵