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
Lord Thomas, as he acted without consultation with others, so he was
followed but by few persons of influence. His brothers-in-law, the
chiefs of Ely and Offally, O'Moore of Leix, two of his five uncles, his
relatives, the Delahides, mustered their adherents, and rallied to his
standard. He held the castles of Carlow, Maynooth, Athy, and other
strongholds in Kildare. He besieged Dublin, and came to a composition
with the citizens, by which they agreed to allow him free ingress to
assail the Castle, into which his enemies had withdrawn. He despatched
agents to the Emperor, Charles V., and the Pope, but before those
agents could well have returned—March, 1535—Maynooth had been assaulted
and taken by Sir William Skeffington—and the bands collected by the
young lord had melted away. Lord Leonard Gray, his maternal uncle,
assumed the command for the King of England, instead of Skeffington,
disabled by sickness, and the abortive insurrection was extinguished in
one campaign. Towards the end of August, 1535, the unfortunate Lord
Thomas surrendered on the guarantee of Lord Leonard and Lord Butler; in
the following year his five uncles—three of whom had never joined in
the rising—were treacherously seized at a banquet given to them by
Gray, and were all, with their nephew, executed at Tyburn, on the 3rd
of February, 1537. The imprisoned Earl having died in the Tower on the
12th of December, 1534, the sole survivor of this historic house was
now a child of twelve years of age, whose life was sought with an
avidity equal to Herod's, but who was protected with a fidelity which
defeated every attempt to capture him. Alternately the guest of his
aunts married to the chiefs of Offally and Donegal, the sympathy
everywhere felt for him led to a confederacy between the Northern and
Southern Chiefs, which had long been wanting. A loose league was
formed, including the O'Neils of both branches, O'Donnell, O'Brien, the
Earl of Desmond, and the chiefs of Moylurg and Breffni. The lad, the
object of so much natural and chivalrous affection, was harboured for a
time in Munster, thence transported through Connaught into Donegal, and
finally, after four years, in which he engaged more of the minds of
statesmen than any other individual under the rank of royalty, was
safely landed in France. We shall meet him again in another reign,
under more fortunate auspices.
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