CHAPTER IX
Reign of Edward III. A.D. 1327 to A.D. 1377.
On the resignation of his father, Edward III was proclaimed King, the
'25th day of January, 1327; being then but fifteen years of age.
Friar William de Wall, was preceptor of Killarge at this period In.
1329, Donnell MacMorrough, who had been some time in prison, contrived
to make his escape, by means of a rope, conveyed to him through the
instrumentality of Adam Nangle, or Mangle; for which deed the latter was
afterwards, executed. A.D. 1331. The Irish of Leinster, at this period,
plundered the English and burned their churches. One outrage of the
latter description was attended with circumstances of peculiar atrocity.
The savages attacked the priest and congregation at the church of
Freineston, set fire to the building, and burned its inmates,
consisting, of about eighty persons. The priest, attired in his
vestments, and bearing the host in his hands, attempted to escape, but
these barbarous assailants, with an utter, and, it would seem,
extraordinary disregard of the circumstances, forced him back with their
javelins into the flames, where, with the entire congregation, he was
consumed. When the pope heard of this diabolical act, he remitted a bull
to the archbishop of Dublin, commanding him to excommunicate the persons
engaged in the affair, together with all their adherents and followers,
and to lay their lands under interdict; with which order the archbishop
immediately complied. But it would seen, that the Irish despised the
excommunication, interdict, and chastisement of the church, again
assembled in great numbers, and invaded the county of Wexford. However,
Richard White and Richard Fitz-Henry, with the burghers of Wexford, and
others of the English, attacked and defeated them; four hundred 'of the
Irish being killed, and many drowned in the river Slaney.
The situation of Freinestown is not exactly defined; but from the
context and collateral circumstances, I think it not improbable, that it
may have been the present Friarstown, a townland in the county of
Carlow. For the honour of our country, we could wish that the reader of
the above horrible massacre, were not thus reminded of a similar event,
which occurred in a neighbouring county, in the year 1798; most persons
will know, that we refer to the dreadful scenes at the barn of
Scullabogue. The depredations of the Irish had become so formidable
about this time, that decisive steps were necessary in order to check
them. It was, however, deemed advisable, in the first instance, to
summon the prelates and nobles of most distinguished rank in Ireland to
a council, or parliament in England; there to debate on the measures to
be adopted. The colonists of the Irish settlements regarded this
requisition as a grievance; and in few, if any instances, complied with
it. The return of the writ to the county of Carlow says: " Having by
virtue of this writ called before me the commons of the county, they
unanimously allege, that there is no layman able, by reason of poverty,
from the frequent robberies and depredations of the Irish enemies, to
meet our sovereign lord the king in his parliament in England," &c. We
further learn, that so degrading was the situation of the government,
and so weak and defenceless were the English settlers, that they became
tributary to the Irish chieftains, and paid them regularly for their
protection or cessation of hostilities, what was called the Black Rent.
In the year 1332, the castle of Clonmore was taken by the English, we
cannot say whether this is the castle of Clonmore, the ruins of which
now stand in our county. There is certainly no record of its erection
previously to the above period.
The lord justice, Sir John Darcy, not being invested with power
sufficient to oppose the great number of Irish now in rebellion, invited
Maurice (afterwards earl of Desmond) to his assistance, (A.D. 1332) with
a promise of pecuniary remuneration from the treasury. With this
proposition, Maurice complied; and advancing against the O'Nolans and
O'Morroughs, routed them, burned their district, and compelled them to
submit and give hostages. Finding himself unable to pay an army so
numerous as that now collected, (which amounted to ten thousand men),
the lord justice connived at the extortion of coin and livery, now first
practised by the English ; the evils of which custom are justly deplored
by all historians of the country. Sir John Davies thus alludes to this
practice: " But the most wicked and mischievous custom of all others was
that of coygne and livery, often before mentioned; which consisted in
taking man's-meat horse-meat, and money, of all the inhabitants of the
country at tin: will and pleasure of the soldier, who, as the phrase of
Scripture is, did eat up the people as it were bread, for that he had no
other entertainment. This extortion was originally Irish, for they used
to lay bonaght* upon the people, and never gave their soldiers any pay.
But when the English had learned it, they used it with more insolvency
and made it more intolerable ; for this oppression was not temporary, or
limited either to place or time : but because there was every where a
continual war, either offensive or defensive, and every lord of a
country, and every marcher made war and peace at his pleasure, it became
universal and perpetual;, and was indeed the most heavy oppression that
ever was used in any Christian or heathen kingdom."
In the year 1331, John de Kell held the rank of prior of the
Augustinian monastery near Tullow; when king Edward III. confirmed the
grant, which was made by Lombard and Tallon in the last reign A.D. 1335.
Friar Ralph de Bradley was preceptor of Killarge this year; which office
he continued to hold in 1337. In 1339 Friar John de Wassingle was
preceptor of the same establishment. A.D. 1339. At this time Edward III.
revoked, under his signet royal, all the franchises, liberties, and
grants, which had been made to the kingdom of Ireland, or to any
individuals thereof. This rash exercise of the prerogative justly
created universal dissatisfaction, and caused great discord among the
English of the pale. They laid a remonstrance before the king, which
produced a restoration of their possessions.
In this year the Irish were again in arms. The earl of Kildare
pursued the O'Dempsys, many of whom in their flight were drowned in the
river Barrow; and the greatest booty ever seized in the country was now
(February) brought from Idrone, in the county of Carlow, by the lord
justice (the bishop of Hertford) and the English army.
William St. Leger succeeded to the see of Leighlin, in 1341; and died
at Avignon, about the beginning of May, 1348. Thomas of Brackenberg next
filled the Episcopal office of this. diocese. He was a Franciscan friar.
Pope Clement VI. by a bull, (dated the 18th of March, and 7th year of
his pontificate), advanced him to this dignity. He was restored to the
temporalities on the 5th of August, 1349. It is thought, that he died in
July, 1360, in the eleventh year after his consecration; and that the
sea continued vacant three years.
John Young, treasurer of Leighlin, succeeded as bishop of this see.
Like his predecessor, he owed his advancement to an exercise of the
pope's prerogative, and was restored to the temporalities by king Edward
III., on the 21st of September, 1363.
In the twentieth year of his reign, Edward III. granted to Thomas de
Brotherton, earl of Norfolk and marshal of England, his uncle, licence
to hold the county of Catherlough and all castles, islands, manors,
towns, lands and tenements in capite.
Donald Oge MacMorrough, called prince of Leinster, was most
perfidiously murdered by his own followers, on the 5th day of June,
1347. A.D. 1358. About this time, the castle of Kilbelle, in our
country, the property of Sir John de Cornwalle, knight., was destroyed
by the O'Nolans and their accomplices. — Two fortalices at Galbarrstown
and Rathlyn near Leighlin, suffered the same fate at the hands of the
MacMorroughs and O'Birnes.
In the year 1359, the king ordered a proclamation to be issued in
Ireland, to the effect, that no mere Irishman should be mayor, bailiff,
or officer of any town within the English dominion, (i. e. the pale),
nor be eligible to any ecclesiastical office. In the following year, the
severity of the regulation was somewhat diminished by a provision, that
it should not extend to such clerks as had preserved their loyalty, or
rendered service to the king. Resolving to effect some reformation in
the unhappy state of Ireland, Edward determined on appointing his son
Lionel, duke of Clarence, lord lieutenant of that country. The king had,
however, sufficient sagacity to perceive, that, let the rank of the
individual be what it might, unless he had efficient and powerful
support, his mission must prove fruitless, his labours be nugatory. With
a view to the prevention of this inevitable result, he summoned all the
great proprietors of land in Ireland (among whom we find the duchess of
Norfolk) to appear in person, or by proxy, before him and the council,
in order to consult upon the defence of their possessions in Ireland.
They were further required, to repair to that kingdom in person, (or
send a sufficient deputy), with all the forces they could raise, by a
certain day. On the 8th of September, 1361, Lionel, arrived in Ireland,
with a large army. In the list of the officers who attended him, we find
the name of Sir John Carew, Banneret, who was allowed four shillings per
diem for himself, two shillings for one knight, and twelve pence each
for eight esquires, and six pence a day each for ten archers on
horseback. These allowances may seem exceedingly small to those who are
unacquainted with the exact value of money in those days; but when we
inform them, that the price of a cow was but ten goats, or three
shillings and four pence, they will be of a different opinion.
The new lord deputy immediately issued a proclamation commanding all
holders of land in Ireland, who might be absent from the country, to
return to it forthwith on pain of forfeiture. He prohibited all persons
of Irish birth, (without discrimination,) from approaching his camp; but
the impolicy of this decree becoming soon apparent, from the deficiency
in numbers of his army, he relaxed it soon afterwards; by which his
affairs were much benefited. Lionel soon marched against O'Brien of
Munster and defeated Lim; on which occasion, he created many knights
among the English of blood and of birth. Not long subsequently, he
removed the exchequer to Carlow, and expended a sum of five hundred
pounds in walling that town. He performed many other acts of a
beneficial character, by which the clergy and laity of the- time were so
much gratified that they presented him with two years profit of their
lands and tithes, to enable him more vigorously to prosecute the war in
Ireland. Indeed one feels somewhat of satisfaction, on meeting the
records of a chief governor, who seems to have acted with judgment,
energy, decision, and promptitude, in which many of his predecessors
appear to have been lamentably deficient. But men of the high endowments
of Edward III., and of his son, are not often to be encountered. The
duke of Clarence proceeded to England on the 22nd of April, 1364, and
returned to his government on the 8th of December following.*)
The evils of Ireland, the neglect of the English government, the
intestine feuds of the settlers, had been of long continuance; and no
individual, however gifted, could, in a short space of time, check the
current of events, or heal the disorders of the country In short, to
such a height had the power of the Irish (MacMorrough Kavanaghs, and
others) arisen, in the thirty-seventh year of Edward III., that the more
distant districts of the pale were in some instances relinquished, and
in the rest, with difficulty retained. An order appears in our records
of that year “Pro barrio amove mitt a Catherlogh usque ad” Dublin for
removing the barrier from. Carlow to Dublin. Thus the works erected by
Lionel, duke of Clarence, at Carlow, proved totally useless; in as much
as the retribution of that place was no longer possible. A.D. 1367. This
year, being the fortieth of the king's reign, aiamous parliament was
assembled at Kilkenny, by Lionel, duke of Clarence. This distinguished
personage perceived, that the lords and gentlemen of the Kings
territories in many instances began to degenerate, and adopt the Irish
laws and customs; and, in order to remedy the disastrous consequences,
already apparent, of this inclination of the settlers, and prevent its
further continuance, he caused certain laws to be enacted, which have
been since styled the statutes of Kilkenny. We notice this important
event, as it fully declares the state of our district at the time; on
which subject, much evidence of its unhappy circumstances has been
already adduced. In the fortieth year of his reign," says Sir John
Davies, " king Edward held that famous parliament at Kilkenny, wherein
many notable laws were enacted, which do now and lay open (for the law
doth best discover enormities) how much the English colonies were
corrupted at that time, and do infallibly prove that which is laid down
before: that they were wholly degenerate, and fallen away from their
obedience. For first it appeareth by the preamble of these laws, that
the English of this realm, before the coming over of Lionel, duke of
Clarence, were at that time become mere Irish in their language, names,
apparel, and all their manner of living, and had rejected the English
laws and submitted themselves to the Irish, with whom they had made many
marriages and alliances, which tended to the utter ruin and destruction
of the commonwealth."
The statutes enacted on this occasion were to the following purport:
that the Brehon (or old Irish) law is an evil custom, and the use of it
be deemed treason: that marriage, nursing, and conspired with the Irish,
be treason: that the use of Irish names, apparel, or language, be
punished with forfeiture of lands or imprisonment, until the party give
security to conform to English customs; that the settlers should not
make war upon the Irish without the order of the state: that the English
should not permit the Irish to graze upon their land: nor present an
Irishman to an ecclesiastical benefice: nor receive them into
monasteries or religious houses: nor entertain any of their minstrels,
rhymes, or news tellers: nor cess horse or foot upon the English subject
on pain of felony : and that sheriffs might enter any liberty or
franchise to apprehend felons, or traitors: and that four wardens of the
peace should be appointed in every county, to assess every man's equal
proportion of the public charge for men and armour. These laws may seem
severe, but we should first consider the circumstances which extorted
them. In short, the very existence of this country as an appendage to
the English crown, seemed the matter in question. So long as those
enactments were observed, a visible amelioration of the country took
place; but shortly after the departure of the duke of Clarence, an
infraction of some of them, by the great lords, (Kildare, Ormonde, and
Desmond), was unceremoniously made.* As regards the Irish, the statutes
of Kilkenny were a mere nullity; for they were governed by their own
laws till the reign of James I.
In 1369, the rebels of Leinster were vigorously opposed by Sir
William de Windsor, lord deputy. On the 3rd day of December, 1371, king
Edward III. granted to the prior of the Carmelite monastery at
Leighlin-bridge, the sum of ten marks yearly, for the repairing and
rebuilding of their house. In 1375, Alan was prior of this
establishment. A renewal of the grant of ten marks per annum was made in
1377, The priory of St. Stephen, at Old Leighlin, being situated in a
depopulated and wasted country, and the prior having given refuge and
succour to the king's good subjects in this neighbourhood, and intending
to pursue that laudable practice, Edward III. therefore, granted them &
concordatum on the 1st of May, 13724 A. D. 1376. James, earl of Ormond,
lord justice. During his administration, the counties, cities, and
boroughs of Ireland sent commissioners to the king to represent the
state of that kingdom, and consult on the means of its improvement.
Edward III. subsequently issued a writ to the lord justice and
chancellor, ordering them to levy the reasonable expenses of these
commissioners of the respective places from which they were chosen. King
Edward III. Died at Shene in Surrey, on the 21st day of June, 1377; in
the sixty-fourth year of his age, and fifty-first of his reign. He ranks
among the wisest and most powerful kings that have ruled the British
dominions. His career was, generally speaking, one of great glory and
brilliancy; but when we turn to Ireland, we are warned, that, no unmixed
eulogium can be bestowed upon his government. The details of the local
history just recounted, sufficiently evince the melancholy state of the
kingdom; while the simple fact that the revenue derived from Ireland did
not exceed £10,000 per annum, more fully evidences the 'feeble,
ill-supported and defective condition of the king's authority in the
country.
("Spelling are as seen in the book")
CHAPTER X
- The information contained in these
pages is provided solely for the purpose of sharing with
others researching their ancestors in Ireland.
- © 2001 reland Genealogy Projects,
IGP TM By
Pre-emptive Copyright - All rights reserved
Back to the top