The Power Of Kildare
Above : Picture Of Lambert Simnell, Edward IV
Lambert Simnel.—Henry found that the Yorkist Geraldines were too powerful to interfere with for the present. He did, indeed, summon Kildare to London, but the Earl evaded the call by getting a Parliament to declare that his presence in Ireland was essential. Kildare was continued as Deputy, his brother Thomas as Chancellor, and Portlester as Treasurer. But they, and nearly all the Anglo-Irish, were still Yorkist, and they soon had an opportunity of displaying their sympathies. The last male representative of the House of York, Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick, a boy of twelve, was a prisoner in the Tower of London. Some Yorkist adherents got a youth named Lambert Simnel to personate him, and brought him to Ireland, where he was received with open arms by the leading officials. Kildare held aloof for some time, but when Warwick’s aunt, the Duchess of Burgundy, sent an army of Germans to support the pretender, the Earl declared in his favour. Simnel was crowned in Christ Church as Edward VI, and was accepted by many of the Anglo-Irish and by many towns, but not by the Butlers or the city of Waterford. At the head of an army of Germans and Anglo-Irish Simnel landed in England, but was defeated and captured at Stoke (H87)-
Even this did not disturb Kildare’s position. Next year Henry sent a Commissioner to take the homage of those who had sided with the Pretender, and to lay down the conditions upon which they would be pardoned. Kildare kept out of the Commissioner’s way for some time, and when he and the Council heard the conditions, they declared that sooner than accept them they woidd one and all “become Irish.” At length the conditions were withdrawn, and Kildare and the other officials were pardoned and retained in office upon taking an oath of allegiance to Henry. Another impostor named Warbeck afterwards landed in the south of Ireland, but received little support except from the Earl of Desmond.
Below :Ruins Of St. Mary’s Church, Lambert Simnell Crowned Here
Soon, however, Kildare suffered a temporary eclipse. This was due in some measure to his hereditary rivals, the Butlers. Henry had restored their possessions to the Earls of Ormonde, who, however, continued to reside in England, and two rival members of the Butlers contested the leadership of the family in Ireland. One, Piers Butler (Piaras ” Ruadh “), was married to a daughter of Kildare, and the Deputy supported him; the other, Sir James Butler of Ormonde, had, however, the favour of the King. A fierce struggle took place between the rivals, stories were conveyed to England, and Kildare and the Geraldine officials were dismissed, Sir James Butler being appointed Treasurer (1492). (Sir James— who is also sometimes called Sir James Ormonde—was soon afterwards killed by Piers Ruadh, who figures prominently in later events as Earl of Ossory and Earl of Ormonde.)
It is evident that Henry had at length resolved to test the strength of the Geraldines, and if possible to curb their power. Kildare was the most powerful subject of the King, and his influence was even greater than that of a mere subject. The absence of the Earl of Ormonde, and the dissensions of the Butlers, together with the absorption of the Earl of Desmond at the time in his own remote territories, had left him, without question, the most prominent of all the Irish of Norman descent. He was steadily cultivating the friendship of the great chiefs, and his sister was married to an O’Neill (as his relative, the Earl of Desmond, was married to an O’Brien) in breach of the ” Statute of Kilkenny.” His great estates lay within easy distance of Dublin, and formed a barrier against the clans of the midlands. He, and not the Crown, was the protector of Dublin and the Pale. The officials, therefore, were his creatures, and the Parliament of the Pale was merely an instrument for expressing his wishes.