whom Cromwell had sent over to gather information, and whom he afterwards mentioned in his will. Body travelled to Ireland with George Browne, the new Archbishop of Dublin, and first busied himself in trying to arrange Grey’s dispute with Lady Skeffington. He had particular instructions to inquire as to the possibility of increasing the Irish revenue.177
The Desmond country. Carrigogunnell.
Marching unopposed across the central plain, Grey found the great Desmond stronghold on Lough Gur undefended, the doors and windows having been carried off and the roof purposely burnt. It was handed over to Lord Butler, who undertook to repair and garrison it at his own expense. Grey then marched to Carrigogunnell, an immense fortress standing in a commanding position over the Shannon. Matthew O’Brien surrendered the place on condition, as was alleged by Body, that it should be garrisoned only by Englishmen. An order was nevertheless given to hand it over to Donogh O’Brien, Ossory’s son-in-law. This chief came to Grey and renewed the offers made to Butler. He was ready to serve the King against his father and all others, provided he might have Carrigogunnell; and the Council considered his services more important to them than the castle could be to him. But the English guard restored the place to Matthew O’Brien. Donogh was certainly not an Englishman, and George Woodward, ‘an honest and an hardy man,’ may have thought himself bound in honour to restore the original situation, or he may have thought one O’Brien as good as another. Grey merely says that Matthew held out boldly until the battering train was in position, when he was content to depart with bag and baggage.178
Grey attacks the O’Briens, August, 1536.
The next undertaking was an attack on O’Brien’s Bridge, which had long laid Limerick and Tipperary open to attack. The bridge was of wood, with a castle at each end built in the water. That near the Limerick shore was the strongest, and was of hewn limestone or marble, twelve or fourteen feet thick, and armed with an iron gun carrying shot as big as a man’s head, and two small pieces, of which one belonged to some ship, and the other was of Portuguese make. The garrison had also some muskets and hand-guns, and the work was skilfully strengthened with wooden barriers and with hogsheads full of sand. Under Donogh O’Brien’s guidance the Lord Deputy marched along the hilly bank of the great river by devious paths, untravelled hitherto, as he believed, by Englishmen or by wheels. The four land-arches had been broken down, and the castle was thus surrounded by water. The royal artillery consisted of one culverin, six falcons, and one half-saker, but these were not heavy enough. In a day and a half all the shot had been fired away, and the walls were almost as sound as ever. No baggage train had been brought, provisions were scarce, and two nights had been spent on the bare ground; it was necessary to retire or to take the castle. Brushwood was abundant, and Grey set his men to make fascines and to throw them into the channel. Ladders were also made, but it became unnecessary to use them; for Saintloo’s men advanced along the frail and shifting path and carried the castle with a rush. The garrison ran out at the other side, and the bridge was then broken down with such tools as were at hand. The army then returned to Limerick, and Lord Butler went to Carrick-on-Suir for more cannon before undertaking the recovery of Carrigogunnell, which the Irish had again seized by stratagem.179
William Body. His report to Cromwell.
Body, with the insolence of a great man’s favourite, had throughout this expedition assumed the character of a Royal Commissioner, to which he had not a shadow of title. He associated with the loosest of boon companions, who disturbed the camp by night and day and swore, with the truth born of alcohol, that he was no Commissioner. At O’Brien’s Bridge he blamed Grey for not providing sapping tools, which must have tired out the soldiers, and which would have been quite useless. He was very indignant at having to sleep on the ground ‘from Friday inclusive until Tuesday exclusive,’ but no one else was better off. Grey, a thorough soldier, was at no pains to conceal his contempt:—
‘I desired him to be contented, for I had seen better men than he was, or should be, or any that was there, lodged worse. He was displeased therewith, desiring me not to judge what his fortune might be. Then I said, I was sure he should never be so good as the Duke of Norfolk, and Suffolk, and my lord my brother (the Marquis of Dorset), whom I had seen lodged worse. Whereat he took a great fume for that I should judge any impossibility what he might be; and thereupon leaving us at our coming to Limerick, departed towards Dublin in a great anger. But of his gests by the way the folly of it is such, I will not commit to writing, but, I assure you, like no Commissioner.’
This short experience of Irish campaigning was enough for Body, who returned to Dublin and busied himself in undermining Grey’s influence. Few seem to have had his good word, except Ossory and his son, who took care to be civil to Cromwell’s confidential man. But Body was perhaps a better judge of a country than of a general’s qualifications. ‘As far as I have seen it,’ he wrote, ‘that is to say the counties of Dublin, Kildare, Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Ormond, Ossory, Desmond, Limerick, and Thomond, if there be any paradise in this world, it may be accounted for one among them, both for beauty and goodness.’180
The soldiers refuse to go beyond Shannon.
The army which Grey had at Limerick did not much exceed 2,000 men, including the Butlers and their not very trustworthy Irish allies. The Pale had been much exhausted by the Kildare rebellion, and it was purposely spared, much to the indignation of Body, who, like many other casual visitors, fancied he understood Ireland better than men who had studied it for years. The Lord Deputy had only 700 men of his own and had no money to pay them. Saintloo’s company had received some part of their money at Waterford, but broke out again soon after leaving that city; and it was supposed that two subalterns, Gerbert and Powell, were the true ringleaders. Grey’s gunners stood firm, and by threatening to use the guns he kept the mutineers quiet for a time. They behaved, as we have seen, with great gallantry at O’Brien’s Bridge; but they refused to go beyond the Shannon, and the idea of a pursuit into Clare was therefore given up. The Council thought Grey’s person in danger, and he owned to more peril from his soldiers than from the Irish enemy. He could depend only on his own immediate followers, 100 horse and as many foot, and upon one officer, that Stephen Parry whom we have met before. Whenever the bulk of the troops were called upon to perform a service they all answered together, ‘Let us have money, and we will do it.’181
The Butlers and O’Briens. Carrigogunnell.
The troops being pacified for the moment and Lord Butler having arrived with another battering piece, the garrison of Carrigogunnell, consisting partly of Desmond men and partly of O’Briens, were summoned to surrender on promise of their lives, and warned that if the castle had to be taken by force no quarter should be shown to man, woman, or child. They detained the messenger and returned no answer. A breach was soon made, and, after more than one failure and the loss of thirty men killed and wounded, the castle was taken by storm. Seventeen of the defenders were killed in the fight, and of forty-six survivors all were put to death on the spot, except certain gentlemen of the O’Briens, for whom large ransoms were refused, and who were taken to Limerick, tried for high treason, and immediately executed. Chief Justice Aylmer accompanied the army for such purposes. The castle was handed over to Lord Butler, who placed it in his brother-in-law’s charge, and Donogh, having gained his great object, became a scourge to the citizens of Limerick.182
Grey cannot pay his army.
The troops positively refused to go into Clare without receiving their arrears, and Grey had nothing to give. He therefore proposed to leave them at Limerick, Cork, and Kilmallock; giving his own and the Council’s security for their victualling until the King should think proper to
