CHAPTER X
Reign of Richard II A.D. 1377 to
A.D. 1399.
RICHARD II., only son of Edward, (commonly called
the Black 'Prince), eldest son of Edward III., was declared heir to the
throne by his grand-father. The age of the young king, (being but eleven
years), rendered assistance indispensable the protection of the crown
and kingdom was entrusted to his uncles. Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, was
director of public affairs in, the early part of this reign; when a
severe tax was levied on all Irish absentees, except such as had
reasonable cause for non-residence. This statute was revived in 1392.
A.D. 1378. In consideration of the great labour,
burden, and expense, which the friars of the Carmelite monastery of
Leighlin- bridge had previously, and did at this time sustain in
supporting their house, and the bridge contiguous thereto, against the
king's enemies; he did, on the 13th of March, in this year, grant to the
priors thereof, an annual pension of twenty marks out of the rents of
the town of Newcastle of Lyons. This grant was again confirmed by the
king, February 20th, 1394.
John Young, bishop of Leighlin, expended a large
sum in repairs of the Episcopal houses in his manors; but in 1376, eight
years before his death, he was plundered of all his goods by the rebels.
He died towards the close of the year 1384, having governed the see
upwards of twenty-one years; during which time he was made deputy to
Alexander Balscot, bishop of Meath, treasurer of Ireland; as he had been
before in the year 1366, to John Troy, who was also treasurer of this
kingdom.
John Griffin was advanced from the chancellorship
of Limerick to the bishopric of Leighlin, in 1385 ; which he directed
for a period of thirteen years, and was then by the pope translated to
the see of Ossory; having been before, (viz. in 1391) made chancellor of
the exchequer by the king. He enjoyed the bishopric of Ossory only a
short time. While he held the see of Leighlin, Richard II.' issued a
writ in his favour, dated the 25th August, 1389, to this effect: that
the diocese of Leighlin reign so much devastated by the Irish enemies,
as to render it impossible for the bishop to reside within it, he,
therefore, granted him the village of Galroestown, in 'the county of
Dublin, near the marches of O'Toole, an Irish enemy, with all its
appurtenances, (being then part of the temporalities of the see of
Killaloe. and then in the king's hands, during the vacancy by the death
of the late bishop, predecessor to the present, who is a mere Irishman,
abiding among the Irish enemies, and of not amenable to law or
government); to hold by the said bishop of Leighlin, as long as from
that cause, the said village should continue in the king's hands. Under
this custodian he held Galroestown until September, 1391; when Mathew
MacCragh was restored to the temporalities of Killaloe, having been
deprived of them upwards of two years from the time of his advancement.
Being taunted by foreign powers with the weakness
of his authority and government in Ireland, Richard resolved to proceed
to that country, in person, and effect the complete conquest of it. On
the 2nd day of October, 1394, he landed at Waterford, with a large
military force. The Irish, unable to oppose so formidable an army in the
field, resolved on ready submission to the king. Thomas Mowbray, earl of
Nottingham, and earl marshal of England, was, in consequence, appointed
to receive their homage and oaths of fidelity. An open field at
Ballygorey, near Carlow, was the place selected for this purpose; when
Malachias O'Morrough, Arthur Mac Morrough, Girald O'Birne, Donald
O'Nolan, and others, swore fealty before the earl marshal, laying aside
their girdles, skeins, and caps, and falling on bended knee.
The ceremony being concluded, the marshal gave each
of them the one those Osculum Pacis. In addition to the foregoing, they
were bound in great penalties, (O'Nolan, for instance, in ten thousand
pounds,) not only to continue loyal subjects, but that on a prescribed
day, they and all their followers should relinquish all the lands and
possessions held by them in Leinster into the king's hands; and,
reserving their moveable goods, should serve him in the field against
the other rebels. In consideration of which, the king agreed to grant
them pay and pensions during life, and full possession of all such lands
as they should seize from his enemies in any other part of the realm. A
pension of eighty marcs per annum was then bestowed on Art MacMorrough,
chief of the Kavanaghs; which was continued to his family till the time
of Henry VIII, although, it has been observed, that they performed but
very few services for it.
Hardly, however, had the king departed from
Ireland, when the Irish threw away the mask of humility, and assumed as
bold a tone of independence as if none of the late arrangements had been
effected.
By an inquisition taken in the eighteenth year of
this king, it appears, that Sir John Carew died seized of the barony of
Idrone, anno 36 Edward III., and that, Sir Leonard Carew at his decease,
43rd year of that king, had possession of it; but that upon the death of
Sir Leonard, MacMorrough, otherwise Kavanagh, chief of his name,
possessed himself of the said barony, and (as the inquisition declares)
held it manuforti, by a strong hand. Thus it would seem that at this
period the English land-owners were almost totally dispossessed in our
county; a circumstance which can excite no surprise, when we consider
the small share of personal attention paid by them to their estates and
the general imbecility of the government. It is stated by a writer in
the Anthologies Hibernia, that in 1397, the castle of Carlow was seized
by Donald Mac Art Kavanagh, chief of the Mac Morroughs; but I cannot
find this substantiated by any ancient writer.
Richard Rocomb, or, as some style him, Bokum, a
Dominican friar, was consecrated bishop of Leighlin in 1399; though
Bernard Jong hesitates that he was not advanced to the see till the year
1400. During his government, the town of Old Leighlin was inhabited by
eighty-six burgesses; but was subsequently so much harassed and
plundered by the Irish, that in the seventeenth century, this
flourishing town was reduced to the state of "a very sorry village,"
containing nothing worthy of notice excepting the cathedral and
Episcopal house.
Determined now to effect a perfect subjugation of
the kingdom and punish the delinquent Irish, Richard again embarked for
Ireland, and landed at Waterford on the 1st of June, 1399. He marched to
Dublin through the districts possessed by the Morroughs, Kavanaghs,
Birnes and Tools; but, his army being much distressed for provisions and
means of conveyance through the Sun cultivated country, he performed no
action worthy particular notice, with the exception of the very useful
labour of felling timber and clearing the highways in Kavanagh's
country. It is worthy of note, that Henry, son of the duke of Lancaster,
(afterwards the distinguished Henry V.), was now knighted by Richard for
his services against the Irish. The state of affairs in England
compelled the speedy return of the King Richard II Resigned the crown on
Michaelmas day, 1399.
("Spelling are as seen in the book")
CHAPTER XI
- The information contained in these
pages is provided solely for the purpose of sharing with
others researching their ancestors in Ireland.
- © 2001 reland Genealogy Projects,
IGP TM By
Pre-emptive Copyright - All rights reserved
Back to the top