The Geraldine Rebellion (1565 – 1583)
Above: Sir Henry Sydney
The Fitzgeralds and the Butlers were at perpetual war. The earl of Desmond, the head of the southern Geraldines, was a Catholic, and took the Irisli side; the earl of Ormond, the leader of the Butlers, had conformed to the Protestant faith, and had taken the side of the English all along. By the tyranny and oppression of these two earls, as well as by their never- ending disputes, large districts in the south were devastated, and almost depopulated.
On one occasion Desmond, who claimed jurisdiction over Decies in Waterford, crossed the Black- water with his army to levy tribute, in the old form of coyne and livery. The chief of the district, Sir Maurice Fitzgerald, a relative of tlie Butlers, called in the aid of the earl of Ormond. Desmond, taken unawares, was defeated in a battle fought in 1565, at Affane in the- county Waterford, beside the Blackwater, and he him- self was wounded and taken prisoner. It is related that while he was borne from the field on a litter, one of his captors tauntingly asked him : ” Where is now the great earl of Desmond?” To which he instantly replied-” Where he ought to be: on the necks of the Butlers.”
At the same time Connaught was in a state almost as bad, by the broils of the earl of Clanrickard and his sons with each other, and with the chiefs all round.
The deputy, Sir Henry Sydney, a very able man, endeavored to make peace. He undertook a journey south and west in 1567; and having witnessed the miseries of the country, he treated the delinquents with merciless severity as he went along, hanging and imprisoning great numbers. He brought Desmond a prisoner to Dublin, leaving his brother John Fitzgerald, or John of Desmond as he is called, to govern South Munster in the earl’s absence.
He convened a parliament in Dublin in which during 1569, 1570, and 1571 were passed acts to spread the Reformation and to attaint Shane O’Neill and confiscate his lands.
In 1567, at Ormond’s instigation, John of Desmond was treacherously seized without any cause, and he and his brother the earl were sent to London, and consigned to the Tower, where they were detained for six years. All this was done without the knowledge of Sydney, who afterwards quite disapproved of it. It made a rebel of John Fitzgerald, who had been up to that time well affected towards the government.
There had been reports that. large districts in Ireland were to be taken from the owners and planted with colonies; and this, coupled with the proceedings in Dublin to force the Reformation, produced great alarm and discontent. Matters were brought to a crisis by the arrest of Desmond and John Fitzgerald. James Fitzmaunce Fitzgerald, the earl’s first cousin, now went among the southern chiefs and induced them all, both native Irish and Anglo-Irish, to unite in defense of their religion and their lands : and thus was formed what was called the Geraldine League. Thus also arose the Geraldine rebellion.
When Sydney heard of these alarming proceedings he proclaimed the chiefs traitors, and in 1569 made a journey south with his army, during which he and his officers acted with great severity. This circuit of Sydney’s went a good way to break up the confederacy, and many of the leaders were terrified into submission.
But Fitzmaunce never thought of yielding. On the approach of winter he took refuge in the great wooded Glen of Aherlow in the Galty mountains; and next spring, in 1570, he suddenly attacked Kilmallock, then held by an English garrison. Scaling the walls before sunrise, he plundered the town; after winch he set it on fire and retired to Aherlow, leaving the stately old capital a mere collection of blackened walls.
About this time Sydney appointed “Presidents” to govern Munster and Connaught. The object was to produce peace; but it did the very reverse; for the presidents used their great power so mercilessly that they drove both chiefs and people to rebellion every- where. Sir Edward Fitton and Sir Richard Bingham, two presidents of Connaught, were perhaps the worst, and Sir John Perrott, a brave old soldier, who was made President of Munster in 1571, though very severe, was about the best and most reasonable of all.
Perrott took Fitzmaurice’s castles one after another, and at last, in 1573, forced him to submit. After this, as the rebellion was considered at an end, the earl of Desmond and his brother were released.
Sydney had been lord justice in 1558; and after that he was three times lord deputy, 1565, 1568, 1575. In 1577 during his last deputyship, he raised a great disturbance at home by attempting to impose an illegal tax on the people of Dublin and the Pale, without obtaining the consent of the Irish parliament. His harshness on this occasion caused great excitement and discontent among the loyal people of the Pale, and helped to drive some into rebellion. In the end the matter was compromised.
