A Popular History of Ireland : from the Earliest Period to the Emancipation of the Catholics — CompleteMcGee, Thomas D'Arcy
History
A Popular History of Ireland : from the Earliest Period to the Emancipation of the Catholics — Complete
McGee, Thomas D'Arcy
Ireland -- History
This first attempt to enforce non-intercourse between the natives and
the naturalized deserves more particular mention. It appears to have
begun in the time of Sir Anthony Lucy, when the King's Council sent
over certain "Articles of Reform," in which it was threatened that if
the native nobility were not more attentive in discharging their duties
to the King, his Majesty would resume into his own hands all the grants
made to them by his royal ancestors or himself, as well as enforce
payment of debts due to the Crown which had been formerly remitted.
From some motive, these articles were allowed, after being made public,
to remain a dead letter, until the administration of Darcy, Edward's
confidential agent in many important transactions, English and Irish.
They were proclaimed with additional emphasis by this deputy, who
convoked a Parliament or Council, at Dublin, to enforce them as law.
The same year, 1342, a new ordinance came from England, prohibiting the
public employment of men born or married, or possessing estates in
Ireland, and declaring that all offices of state should be filled in
that country by "fit Englishmen, having lands, tenements, and benefices
in England." To this sweeping proscription the Anglo-Irish, as well
townsmen as nobles, resolved to offer every resistance, and by the
convocation of the Earls of Desmond, Ormond, and Kildare, they agreed
to meet for that purpose at Kilkenny. Accordingly, what is called
Darcy's Parliament, met at Dublin in October, while Desmond's rival
assembly gathered at Kilkenny in November. The proceedings of the
former, if it agreed to any, are unrecorded, but the latter despatched
to the King, by the hands of the Prior of Kilmainham, a Remonstrance
couched in Norman-French, the court language, in which they reviewed
the state of the country; deplored the recovery of so large a portion
of the former conquest by the old Irish; accused, in round terms, the
successive English officials sent into the land, with a desire suddenly
to enrich themselves at the expense both of sovereign and subject;
pleaded boldly their own loyal services, not only in Ireland, but in
the French and Scottish wars; and finally, claimed the protection of
the Great Charter, that they might not be ousted of their estates,
without being called in judgment. Edward, sorely in need of men and
subsidies for another expedition to France, returned them a
conciliatory answer, summoning them to join him in arms, with their
followers, at an early day; and although a vigorous effort was made by
Sir Ralph Ufford to enforce the articles of 1331, and the ordinance of
1341, by the capture of the Earls of Desmond and Kildare, and by
military execution on some of their followers, the policy of
non-intercourse was tacitly abandoned for some years after the
Remonstrance of Kilkenny. In 1353, under the lord deputy, Rokeby, an
attempt was made to revive it, but it was quickly abandoned; and two
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account