a boy there? Let me have that Irish horson, Cormac Oge, and I will go into England before the King.’ Parry thought him as full of mischief as ever; but he agreed to meet the young Earl at Youghal, and also the obnoxious Cormac. It is curious to see how proud these Desmonds were of their Norman blood, and how they despised the Irish; while often straining every nerve against Henry II.’s successor, offering their allegiance to foreign princes, and boasting to them of their Irish allies.
Parry’s observations.
Returning to Clonmel by Kilmallock and Cashel, Parry was despatched to bring Vice-Treasurer Brabazon and Chief Justice Bermingham to a conference with Ossory and his son at Youghal. During the whole long journey from Dungarvan he had met no one who had ever seen an English soldier in those parts. Some days they rode sixteen miles at a stretch over what had once been really, and still remained nominally, Englishmen’s ground. The woods, the rivers, and the rich grass lands about them excited his admiration. Nor was there any want of ground suitable for corn, and the ridges showed that it had once been tilled, but not a blade of oats had grown there for twelve years. Parry, who had evidently been very well treated by him, seems to have formed a high idea of Lord Butler’s qualifications. If the King would give him artillery there was scarcely any limit to his possible services; for his own marriage with a daughter of Desmond and the marriages of his sisters, no less than his personal character, gave him great influence throughout the South of Ireland.168
Lord Leonard Grey made Marshal of the army. He and Skeffington disagree.
Having determined to continue Skeffington in the government of Ireland, notwithstanding his age and bad health, Henry took means to supply him with efficient subordinates. First among them was Lord Leonard Grey, who had returned with a new commission as marshal and with the title of Viscount Grane, which, however, he never chose to assume. The others were Sir John Saintloo, a brave soldier; the Vice-Treasurer Brabazon, who was already well tried; and John Alen, Master of the Rolls, who had been pushing his own interests at Court, and who was entrusted with the royal despatch. Honest musters leading to a reduction of expenses were the King’s great object at this time; for Kildare was safe in the Tower, and it seemed that a great army was no longer necessary. Special care was taken to define Grey’s position, and Skeffington, whose supremacy as Henry’s representative was fully acknowledged, was reminded that royal blood flowed in the marshal’s veins. Discipline had been much relaxed in Ireland, and no doubt reform was wanted; but Grey seems to have used his military authority with undue severity. Thomas Dacre, a member of the great northern family, who came in charge of some spearmen, was imprisoned for eight days, though nothing had been proved against him. Another Dacre was confined for seven weeks without any apparent reason, and during a fortnight he had irons on both arms and legs. Such proceedings certainly gave some grounds for supposing that Grey was not disposed to favour those who had helped to overthrow his rebellious nephew.169
Death and character of Skeffington, 1535.
Skeffington died about two months after Grey’s return. Though not very brilliant, he had been on the whole successful, and had shown that a private gentleman armed with the King’s commission could be more than a match for the greatest of Irish nobles. It was indeed part of Henry’s policy, as it had been his father’s, to rely much upon persons of far humbler birth. Fox and Wolsey were Churchmen, and the tonsure had been always powerful to counteract plebeian extraction; but Empson the pettifogger, Cromwell the clothier, Stile the scribe, and Tuke, who speculated in kerseys, with many others of no higher original pretensions, were often preferred for important affairs to the chiefs of the English aristocracy. The business was often better done, and the power of the Crown was brought into more prominent relief. Skeffington may be regarded as the first of that long line of able public servants who reduced Ireland to a tardy and unwilling obedience. ‘He was,’ said Brabazon, ‘a very good man of war, but not quick enough for Ireland, and somewhat covetous.’ The charge was made by others also, and is easier to make than to refute. But it is certain that Skeffington died in difficulties, and one fact may be set against many opinions.170
FOOTNOTES:
126. Conossius Maguire to the King, Feb. 20, 1534, in Carew. Letter from the five Alens, May 17, 1534. R.O. Ireland.
127. Examination of Robert Reyley, Aug. 5, 1536, in Carew. Stanihurst.
128. Stanihurst. Finglas to Cromwell, July 21, 1534. Dowling says Offaly was commonly called ‘Thomas sericus.’
129. The King to the Earl of Ossory, No. 72 in the printed State Papers. Butler’s letter is in Stanihurst.
130. Examination of Robert Reyley in Carew, Aug. 5, 1536; Sir John Rawson to the King, Aug. 7, 1534; Dowling’s Annals. Rawson says ‘divers of his chaplains and servants’ were killed with the Archbishop, and that the murder was in Offaly’s presence and ‘by his commandment.’
131. Wine, 20 tuns; beer, 20 tuns; powdered beef, 16 hogsheads; 2,000 dried ling, &c. &c.
132. Stanihurst.
133. Stanihurst. Ossory to Walter Cowley, No. 93 in the printed State Papers.
134. Stanihurst. Brereton and Salisbury to the King, Nov. 4, 1534.
135. Stanihurst.
136. Ibid.; Dowling. According to Stanihurst, Salisbury and Brereton did not land until after the fight in which Musgrave fell, but their own letter seems to contradict this.
137. John Alen to Cromwell, Oct. 4; Brereton and Salisbury to the King, Nov. 4; Skeffington to the King, Nov. 11; Ossory to Mr. Cowley, No. 93 in the printed State Papers.
138. Brereton and Salisbury to the King, Nov. 4; Skeffington to the King, Nov. 11; Ossory to Mr. Cowley, as above.
139. John Alen to Cromwell, Dec. 26, 1534, and Feb. 16, 1535; Vice-Treasurer Brabazon to Cromwell, Feb. 16, 1535; Skeffington to Sir Edmund Walsingham, March 13.
140. The sentence of excommunication is printed in the State Papers, No. 81; see No. 84; Stanihurst. Kildare died Dec. 12, 1534.
141. Stanihurst; Alen to Cromwell, Dec. 26, 1534.
142. Ossory to Skeffington, Jan. 17, 1535.
