The Statute Of Kilkenny
Above : Logo Of Lionel “Duke Of Clarence”
Lionel, Duke of Clarence, came back to Ireland in 1364, and again in 1367. On his third visit he summoned a Parliament at Kilkenny, and got it to pass the best known of the anti-Irish decrees, since known as the ” Statute of Kilkenny.” This famous statue shows the extent to which the settlers had been Gealicised, and the fear which the change instilled into the Government. Intermarriage, fosterage and gossipred with ” the Irish enemy ” were deemed treason, and so also was the adoption of the ” Brehon Law ” ; any of the King’s subjects who used the Irish language, assumed an Irish name, adopted Irish apparel, practised Irish customs—such as hurling, or riding without saddles—was to forfeit his property ; the Irish were not to pasture their cattle upon the ” English land” and severe penalties were provided for those English who should receive or entertain Irish bards, minstrels, or story-tellers. The practice of ” coyne and livery ” was denounced as treason, the employment of Irish troops was prohibited, and private wars against the ” Irish enemies ” were to be made only with the sanction of Government. In every phase of life, barriers were to be erected between the two races in Ireland ; the process of assimilation was to be arrested ; the island was to be permanently divided into two hostile nations, between whom all intercourse, social, economic, intellectual (and even spiritual) was prohibited.
The provisions of this malicious statute extended even into the Church. It has been observed that from the time of the invasion there were in the same Church two sets of clergy—Irish in the unconquered lands, Norman in the settlements. The ” Statute of Kilkenny ” enforced, by legislative sanction, this unedifying condition of affairs. No benefice, it enacted, was to be conferred upon anyone who did not speak English ; no ” mere Irishman ” was to be received into any cathedral chapter; nor could one be allowed to enter any abbey, monastery, or religious order in the ” English land.” Strange to say, there were amongst the members of the ” Parliament ” responsible for this un-Christian legislation eight bishops. Most of these, however, were foreigners,* and all—or nearly all—were the nominees of the English King. The struggle over the appointment of bishops was now acute. The Popes were at this time exiles in Avignon in the territories of the Kings of France, and concessions were often won from them by sovereigns according to changing political conditions. On the whole, however, the Irish bishops continued to be mostly nominees of the Crown in the ” English land,” and the chosen representatives of the native clergy in the rest of the island.
Such legislation was obviously inspired by a spirit of malevolence too strong to listen to reason. Its folly was only equalled by its futility. It applied only to what was claimed to be ” English land,” and even in such districts as could possibly be so entitled there were many Irish clans who were unconscious of its threats. It did not affect the Irish who occupied the great part of the island, and who it seemed would soon occupy it all. Only those on the ” marches ” or ” borders” found that it interfered with their relations with the colonists. It was upon the latter that all its penalties fell. It way they who found themselves restricted in their social life, their commercial intercourse, their acquired amusements, habits and tastes. But the change that had come about was too deep-seated to be affected by legislation which was opposed to nature itself. The provisions of the ” Statute of Kilkenny ” were practically ignored by the settlers, all of whom, high and low, continued to practise every usage against which it was directed. It was a conspicuous instance of impotent legislation.
Below : Brehon Laws Document
