Poynings’ Parliament: Arrest of Kildare
Above: Picture of Sir Edward Poyning
Henry was determined to assert his authority, at least over his own officials and Parliament. Sir Edward Poynings was sent across as Lord Deputy in 1494, and Kildare joined him in an uneventful expedition to the north. Poynings had been accompanied by a full set of new officials and judges. A Parliament was summoned which met at Drogheda and passed some anti-Irish Acts, and also enactments against private wars, coyne and livery, etc.
Above: Picture of King Henry VII
It further declared that all offices were to be held during the King’s pleasure, and that none but persons of English birth should have the custody of the royal castles. The ” Brotherhood of St. George ” was suppressed as dangerous. Finally, all grants of land made by the Crown during the past two centuries were revoked : Kildare was attainted, captured and sent a prisoner to England (1495).
“Poynings’Act.”—The legislation of this Parliament, which has collectively acquired the name of “Poynings’ Act,” was, although it was at first acceptable to the Commons, as tending to protect them from the arbitrary power of the Deputy, ultimately destructive of the independence of the Irish Parliament itself, though whether this was the end aimed at by Henry VII is questionable. He had every motive to fear Kildare ; but as yet none to fear the Parliament.
The Parliament had, of course, never represented any but theNorman element. It had met irregularly at the summons of the Deputy, who put before it what measures he pleased, and practically compelled their adoption. Many of the Anglo-Irish lords, especially those whose lands lay far from the Pale, never troubled to attend ; most of the towns were represented by nominees of the Deputy. It was, in fact, a ” scratch assembly,” the mouthpiece of a powerful noble.
Above: Map of Kildare
The resolutions which it passed were totally disregarded outside the Pale, and very lightly regarded even inside its narrow limits.
Henry, however, had come to see that this assembly might be used against his authority in Ireland ; in fact it had been so used, for Kildare had summoned a Parliament in Lambert Simnel’s name (i486) and forced it to proclaim the Pretender. He, therefore, resolved to increase its dependence on the Crown.
was no difficulty in inducing the two Irish Houses to pass the desired legislation, for they did not dare to assert their independence, but were subservient to Poynings as before they had been to Kildare.
It was first decreed that all laws lately passed in England should be valid in Ireland, and this was afterwards taken to mean all English laws, even those passed long previously, but it must be borne in mind that the Act did not give the English Parliament any right to legislate for Ireland. Another and much more important Act declared that in future no Parliament was to meet in Ireland until the King had given his licence for it.
Moreover, the Deputy and Irish Privy Council should decide on the legislation which it seemed to them desirable to lay before the Parliament, and then forward the drafts of the proposed measures to England for the sanction of the King and the English Privy Council. Only when this had been obtained were the Bills to be laid before the Irish Houses.
This enactment did not, of course, make the Irish Parliament in any way dependent on the English one, for the drafts of Irish Bills were not submitted to the latter, but it rendered it impossible for the Irish Houses to pass, or even to consider, any legislation of which the King did not approve.
The Irish Parliament could not be used against the authority of the English Crown in Ireland or even against its wishes.
Originally directed against the influence of Kildare, and affecting a Parliament whose authority was only nominal, and extended over only a small portion of the country, ” Poynings’ Act” was not important. But when English law had been extended over all Ireland this fetter on the Irish Parliament was bitterly resented. It was, however, nearly three centuries before it was destroyed by Grattan and the Volunteers in 1782.
July 1st, 2008 at 9:24 pm
[…] Poynings’ Parliament: Arrest of Kildare Henry, however, had come to see that this assembly might be used against his authority in Ireland ; in fact it had been so used, for Kildare had summoned a Parliament in Lambert Simnel’s name (i486) and forced it to proclaim the … […]