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COUNTESS OF ABERDEEN     -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -          338

THE VICEROYS OF IRELAND

CHAPTER I

The conquest of Ireland by Henry II. is one of the myths of history which Time has endeavoured to crystallize into fact. Rome gave Ireland to the superstitious, cowardly King of England, but the Pope could not make Henry a conqueror, and so the invader, coming to claim that which did not belong to the Pope or to himself, discovered that the native Irish could defend themselves. Ireland was a land of saints according to the chroniclers of the time; Henry discovered that it was also a land of fighters, and the armour and superior weapons of his army were outmatched by the sturdy patriotism of the Irish, whose weapons and methods were, doubtless, crude, but whose courage and determination were inspired by a love of country and intensified by a passion for independence.

Henry II. landed at Waterford on October 11, 1171, accompanied by a great army. The conquest of Ireland was to be short, sharp, and decisive. The natives appeared to know nothing of the fine art of war, and even Henry must have tasted of courage when he viewed the ill-armed legions he had to fight. From Waterford he marched to Dublin, but the result of several battles and skirmishes was an attenuated army and unexpected defeat. Had it not been for the inevitable Irish traitor, Henry and his followers would have been swept into the sea, but it is Ireland's tragedy that she produces almost as many traitors as heroes. Dermot McMurrough, King of Leinster, anxious to gain the unmistakable advantages offered by an alliance with the King of England, came to Henry's aid, and thus the invader was at any rate able to claim the conquest of the land covered by the feet of his soldiers. Beyond that his jurisdiction was imaginary. Realizing this, Henry determined to leave Ireland. His expedition had proved profitless, but he foresaw possibilities of gain in the future. The first of a long line of Englishmen who have never known when they were beaten, Henry, with a statesmanlike disregard for the realities, divided Ireland between ten of his followers, and, nominating one of them to act as his representative, sailed from the country on Easter Monday, April 17, 1172. This, in brief, is the story of the conquest of Ireland.

The first Viceroy

Henry's representative, and, therefore, generally accepted as the first Viceroy of Ireland, was Hugh de Lacy, a descendant of one of William the Conqueror's companions in arms. To De Lacy was committed the care of Dublin Castle and the command of the English in Ireland. The viceroy was a small but muscular man, unscrupulous, immoral, and unsuccessful. Henry gave him 800,000 acres which were not the king's to give, even in the Dark Ages when right was might. To a person of De Lacy's qualities the gift was valueless, for he was not the man to gain and hold the land. Even when Tiarnan O'Ruarc, the original owner, was treacherously slain, the viceroy found it impossible to assert his authority over the vast estate.

De Lacy was soon succeeded by another Anglo-Norman baron, Fitz-Gislebert, who gained Henry's confidence and gratitude by helping to subdue the rebellious sons of the King of England. Fitz-Gislebert came from Normandy to Ireland. His viceroyalty was undistinguished, and he was chiefly occupied in defending himself from the attacks of the Irish or in vain endeavours to assert his authority as the representative of the King of England. When he died in 1176 his widow's brother, Raymond le Gros, acted as viceroy until Henry, having been acquainted with the decease of Fitz-Gislebert, appointed Guillaume Fitz-Aldelm de Burgh to the post in 1177. Raymond was not at all pleased with Henry's choice, but he dissembled sufficiently to receive the new viceroy at Wexford. Raymond had by now assumed the name and arms of the Geraldine family by virtue of his descent from an emigrant of an old Tuscan family, thus forming his kinsmen and followers under one banner, and becoming the most powerful member of the English colony in Ireland. Fitz-Aldelm and the Geraldines were never friendly, and it is not surprising, therefore, that one of the Geraldine chroniclers should describe the viceroy as 'corpulent, crafty, plausible, corrupt, addicted to wine and profligate luxuriousness.' The description, save for the physical details, would, however, apply to almost every one of the early Viceroys of Ireland. They were for the most part needy adventurers sent to Ireland to replenish empty purses, legalized robbers commissioned by the Kings of England, and none the less thieves because they were not always successful in their mission.

English defeats

In 1177 King Henry secured the permission of the Pope to style his son John, aged twelve, Lord of Ireland, and two years later the viceroy was recalled, De Lacy returning to Ireland as Governor with a colleague in the person of Robert de la Poer of Wexford. De Lacy, however, committed the heinous crime of marrying without the king's permission, his bride being the daughter of King O'Connor, and he was superseded by Jean, Constable of Chester, who held the viceroyalty in conjunction with Richard de Peche, Bishop of Coventry. The ex-viceroy, however, managed to secure a renewal of the king's favour, and he quickly returned to Ireland, though for safety's sake Henry gave him a colleague, the Bishop of Salisbury, who was the monarch's paid spy. De Lacy pursued his policy unhampered, and very soon became wealthy and powerful. The king, learning of his representative's arrogance, decided that it was dangerous to permit a subject to taste too much of kingly power, and in 1184 he appointed his son, Prince John, now nineteen years of age, to be the chief governor of Ireland. Fortified by the Papal sanction, Prince John came to Ireland with a large and costly army to impress De Lacy and his fellow-barons, and, incidentally, to subdue the turbulent Irish. An assassin removed De Lacy from his path, but the natives were stubborn, and the English were defeated whenever they gave battle. Thereupon John, with his retinue, indulged in a series of orgies, lost the remnant of his army, and after eight months returned to England in 1185.

During the succeeding four years De Courcy, a powerful baron, ruled Dublin in parts and none of the rest of Ireland, but, of course, maintained the fiction that he was the king's representative, and, therefore, Viceroy of Ireland. Then followed the first viceroyalty of Hugh de Lacy, a son of the previous viceroy, and in 1190 Guillaume le Petil took over the post and occupied it until 1191. After him came in quick succession Guillaume, Earl Marechal (1191-94), Pierre Pipard (1194), Hamon de Valognes (1197-99), and Fitz-Henry, whose father was an illegitimate son of Henry I., whose first term began in 1199 and ended in 1203. De Valognes, when he retired, had to pay 1,000 marks to the king's treasury to settle his viceregal accounts. This was not exceptional. The viceroys of Ireland were given considerable powers, but they had their responsibilities, and among these was a contract to supply so much money and soldiers to their royal masters. To satisfy these contracts, the viceroys, when denied the spoils of battle, had to rob and plunder, while the viceroy who paid his debts was