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
All the names of those who attended at this Parliament of Kilkenny are
not accessible to us; but that the Earls of Kildare, Ormond, and
Desmond, were of the number need hardly surprise us, alarmed as they
all were by the late successes of the native princes, and overawed by
the recent prodigious victories of Edward III. at Cressy and Poictiers.
What does at first seem incomprehensible is that the Archbishop not
only of Dublin, but of Cashel and Tuam—in the heart of the Irish
country—and the Bishops of Leighlin, Ossory, Lismore, Cloyne, and
Killala, should be parties to this statute. But on closer inspection
our surprise at their presence disappears. Most of these prelates were
at that day nominees of the English King, and many of them were English
by birth. Some of them never had possession of their sees, but dwelt
within the nearest strong town, as pensioners on the bounty of the
Crown, while the dioceses were administered by native rivals, or
tolerated vicars. Le Reve, Bishop of Lismore, was Chancellor to the
Duke in 1367; Young, Bishop of Leighlin, was Vice-Treasurer; the Bishop
of Ossory, John of Tatendale, was an English Augustinian, whose
appointment was disputed by Milo Sweetman, the native Bishop elect; the
Bishop of Cloyne, John de Swasham, was a Carmelite of Lyn, in the
county of Norfolk, afterwards Bishop of Bangor, in Wales, where he
distinguished himself in the controversy against Wycliffe; the Bishop
of Killala we only know by the name of Robert—at that time very unusual
among the Irish. The two native names are those of the Archbishops of
Cashel and Tuam, Thomas O'Carrol and John O'Grady. The former was
probably, and the latter certainly, a nominee of the Crown. We know
that Dr. O'Grady died an exile from his see—if he ever was permitted to
enter it—in the city of Limerick, four years after the sitting of the
Parliament of Kilkenny. Shortly after the enactment of this law, by
which he is best remembered, the Duke of Clarence returned to England,
leaving to Gerald, fourth Earl of Desmond, the task of carrying it into
effect. In the remaining years of this reign the office of Lord
Lieutenant was held by Sir William de Windsor, during the intervals of
whose absence in England the Prior of Kilmainham, or the Earl of
Kildare or of Ormond, discharged the duties with the title of Lord
Deputy or Lord Justice.
It is now time that we should turn to the native annals of the country
to show how the Irish princes had carried on the contest during the
eventful half century which the reign of Edward III. occupies in the
history of England.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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