Ireland History

These vicious decrees, like similar earlier ones, fell most heavily on the colonists, and, like those, they were ignored or evaded. They were directed, indeed, against the social and economic life of the country.

Irish language, dress and customs prevailed every-where even within the Pale itself. The limits of the Pale were too narrow for its impoverished inhabitants to be able to exist if shut off from trade and intercourse with the country around.

When Mac Riocaird Butler wrote in the Saltair of Caiseal, it was in Irish ; when Desmond’s grandson placed the facts of the Great Earl’s death before the Council, it was in Irish ; Kildare’s great library in Maynooth Castle had as many books in Irish as in any other language.

Posted on July 20th, 2008 under Gaelic Feudalism. Tags: decrees, desmond, Futility, Irish dress, Kells, kildare, Maynooth Castle, Navan and Dundalk, ormonde, Trim. Comments: None

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.
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.

Posted on July 20th, 2008 under Gaelic Feudalism. Tags: earl of ormonde, great chiefs, Irish of Norman descent, kildare, pale, parliament, protector of Dublin, statute of kilkenny. Comments: None