Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 3 (of 3)Bagwell, Richard
History
Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 3 (of 3)
Bagwell, Richard
Ireland -- History -- 16th century
Ormonde accompanied Pelham to Dingle and left him taking in provisions
from the fleet, while he went to look for James of Desmond in
O'Sullivan More's country. He had to pass round the bottom of Dingle
Bay through Clancare's territory, and that Earl met him and acted as
guide. The expedition was not expected, and 1,000 cows were taken; but
Ormonde's followers were closely pursued by O'Sullivan's sons. Many
of the chief's tenants sided with the strongest, and with their help
the cattle were brought away. Beef and water formed the only sustenance
of Ormonde's men, but they did not lag in their work of destruction,
and the fires which they raised in Valentia were seen across the bay
at Ventry. Pelham returned to Castlemaine, where Ormonde, 'sore broken
in his feet with rocks,' joined him after a foray of five or six days.
He brought with him Clancare, O'Sullivan Bere, and O'Sullivan More,
'Mac Fynyn of the kerne,' MacDonogh, O'Keefe, O'Callaghan, MacAuliffe,
O'Donoghue More, and all the other chiefs of Desmond except O'Donoghue
of Glenflesk, who remained with the traitor earl. The combined forces
of Pelham and Ormonde encamped between Pallice and Dunloe by the lower
lake of Killarney, 'the famous lake called Lough Leane.' Sir N. White
notes forty islands, an abbey--Innisfallen--in one, a parish church in
another, in a third a castle, 'out of which came to us a fair lady,
the rejected wife of Lord Fitzmaurice, daughter to the late MacCarthy
More, eldest brother to this earl.' Edward Fenton was struck by the
beauty of the scene, and interested by the report of large mussels
containing pearls; but he was even more struck by Clancare's castle,
'called the Palace, a name very unfit for so beggarly a building, not
answerable to a mean farmer's house in England, and his entertainment
much like to his dwelling.' O'Sullivan More's castle of Dunloe had been
razed by Ormonde during his first expedition against James Fitzmaurice.
Leaving Killarney, the army explored Glenflesk, which White, with
Virgil and Cacus in his mind, calls a 'famous spelunce.' But they
saw neither men, monsters, nor cattle, and crossed into the upper
valley of the Blackwater without any fighting. Near Kanturk Ormonde
recovered his heavy baggage which he had left behind on first entering
the mountains, and the whole army then marched by Mallow to Cork. The
citizens, who were half-starved themselves, were very slow to relieve
their wants, but at last agreed to send Pelham 100_l._, to give 100_l._
worth of wine on credit, and 100_l._ worth of friezes, brogues, and
stockings. Many soldiers had broken down for want of bread. They could
do anything, White said, 'if they had but bread, the lack whereof is
their only overthrow, and nothing else.'[41]
[Sidenote: Great gathering at Cork]
[Sidenote: Ormonde's speech.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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