NOTE.-A large part of the following account of the Scots in Ireland was written by Dr. W. T. Latimer, and is condensed, by permission, from that writer's valuable History of the Irish Presbyterians (James Cleland, Belfast, 1893) and from Mr. John Harrison's monograph on The Scot in Ulster (William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh, 1888). I CHAPTER XXXII IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS T has been said of Henry VIII. that the world gained more benefit from his vices than from his virtues. His failure to persuade the Pope to grant him a divorce from Catherine of Aragon led to the downfall of the Roman Church as the State religion of England. In its stead, Henry erected the Church of England, and in 1531 caused Parliament to declare him the supreme head of the Church. Three years later his Church was completely separated from that of Rome, the people accepting their new pope without demur. As has already been pointed out, the change of law produced in England a change of religion, which assumed the Protestant form not so much through the influence of the principles of the Reformation, as through the determination of Henry to make Anne Boleyn his wife. As the result of the Reformation in Scotland, a change of religion produced a change of law and of government; and the Scotch reformers purged their Church from its obvious errors, and stripped her of all forms and ceremonies. In England the form of the new religion arose from a silent compromise, the English Church being left as much like the Romish as possible, in order to get the people to acquiesce in the supremacy of the king. Hence it has never been as successful as the Church of Scotland in throwing off the bonds of feudalism. In Ireland, it was not until 1537 that the king was declared head of the Church and appeals to Rome were forbidden. But the Irish hated the English as oppressors, and they became more firmly attached to their religion when ordered to lay it aside by their enemies. For this reason, Protestantism made but little progress amongst the native Irish, even within the English The Irish language was proscribed by the Government, which thus refused to employ the only means by which the people could be made to understand the reformed faith, or be led to adopt the religion of England and become reconciled to her rule. The first preacher of the Protestant faith in Ireland was George Browne, whom Henry, in 1535, appointed Archbishop of Dublin. By his orders, the "Staff of Jesus" was consigned to the flames. This celebrated crozier, supposed to possess the power of working miracles, had for seven hundred years been regarded with the utmost veneration; and every adherent of the ancient faith was horrified by its destruction. In Ulster, Con O'Neill, incited by the Pope, made war on the English, but, being defeated in 1539, he promised to acknowledge Henry as head of the Church. Cromer, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, made a similar submission; and throughout the Pale the clergy generally took the oath of supremacy. But these submissions were merely nominal. Neither then nor afterwards did any large proportion of the Irish priests or people consent to give up a religion they loved, to please a people whom they hated. King Henry himself cannot be considered a reformer. In England he beheaded as traitors those who were for the Pope, and burned as heretics those who were against the Pope. At this time there was no persecution in Ireland. But the Reformed faith could not make progress when it was considered a crime to teach the people in the only language which they understood. Henry died in 1547, and was succeeded by his son, Edward VI., who, although not ten years of age, soon manifested a leaning towards Protestantism. During his reign the English liturgy was read in a few of the Irish cities and towns, but, not being understood by the natives, made only a slight impression. Several bishops favorable to the Reformed faith were now appointed. Of these the most celebrated was Bale, who attempted to instruct the people by dramatic representations of scriptural events. Even he could do but little, as he was opposed by an ignorant clergy who were Romanists in everything but name. Edward died in 1553, and was succeeded by his sister Mary, an ardent Roman Catholic, who soon re-established the ancient faith in both England and Ireland. Hugh Curwin was appointed Archbishop of Dublin, and others, supposed to be staunch Romanists, were nominated to the sees left vacant by the Protestant bishops, who were driven from the country. Bale remained for about two months; but five of his servants were killed, and he had to make his escape by night, lest he should be torn to pieces by a furious mob. A Parliament met, which restored the supremacy of the Pope, and enacted that heretics should be burnt for the terror of others. But there were few in Ireland firmly attached to the Reformed faith, and the viceroy was not anxious to appear as a persecutor. Accordingly, that country became a place of refuge for the Protestants persecuted in England, where Latimer and Ridley and many other distinguished leaders perished at the stake. Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII., ascended the throne in 1558. Fearing that the supremacy of the Pope would interfere with her own ambitious schemes, she inclined to the faith which permitted her to rule both. Church and State. In one session, without violence or tumult, the religion of the English nation was again changed. The people, ever ready to mould their moral principles according to the will of the sovereign, became Protestants for Elizabeth as readily as they had become Catholics for Mary. Attached to the old forms, yet hating the old abuses, they were ready to accept whatever religion it pleased their rulers to establish. In this case the will of one vain woman determined the future faith of the English race. In Ireland, the Earl of Sussex, who had been reappointed viceroy, caused the litany to be sung in English. The Romanists raised a report that an image of Christ in the cathedral had begun to sweat blood, to show the wrath of God against those who were trying to reform the Church. But Curwin, who had determined to again embrace Protestantism, found that a sponge soaked in blood had been placed behind the crown of thorns, on the head of the image. Those guilty of the trick had to do public penance. Like Cranmer in England, Curwin, the Archbishop, then once more changed his religion to preserve his position. In the presence of King Henry, he had preached against Frith, who was then in prison, for denying purgatory and transubstantiation, thus using his influence in favor of Frith's martyrdom. A Protestant under Edward VI., Curwin later became zealous for the Old Faith in the reign of Mary. His zeal under Elizabeth was now transferred to the religion which he had a few months previously labored to destroy. Curwin is the connecting link in the chain of Apostolic succession, which is supposed to join the Episcopal Church in Ireland with the ancient Church of St. Patrick. Of the bishops, only Curwin and Field embraced Protestantism, and only Curwin assisted at the consecration of newly appointed bishops. He had been himself consecrated at London House by English bishops, under the presidency of the bloody Bonner, whose orders can be traced step by step to Halsay, Bishop of Leighlin in Ireland. Halsay was an Englishman, who had been ordained at Rome. In 1570, Pope Pius V. excommunicated Queen Elizabeth, declared her deprived of the kingdom, and absolved the people from obedience to her commands. His Bull, although regarded with contempt in England, was the means of strengthening the opposition to Elizabeth in Ireland; but the government was administered with vigor, and every rebellion subdued. Con O'Neill, who ruled a large portion of Ulster, had, in 1542, accepted the earldom of Tyrone from Henry VIII., subject to the principles of English succession, and not according to the Irish custom of Tanistry, by which the most worthy of the tribe was, during the lifetime of the head, chosen as his successor. The new-made earl promised to give up calling himself "The O'Neill," to recognize Henry as head of the Church, and to compel his tribe to make a similar submission. His illegitimate son Matthew (supposed to be in reality the son of a blacksmith named Kelly) was created Baron of Dungannon, and recognized as his successor. But another son called Shane, or "John the Proud," refused to assent to this compact, made war on his father, and killed Matthew. Old Con did not live long afterwards, and Shane, despising an English title, was proclaimed "The O'Neill." As Protestantism was the religion of his enemies, he preferred the Roman Catholic faith. Fired with the ambition of being king of Ulster, he imagined that through the influence of the Pope he would procure aid from the Catholic sovereigns of the Continent to accomplish his designs. Having carried on a successful war against the English for a long period, he was at last defeated, and in 1567 slain in a drunken carousal by the MacDonnells, at Cuchendun. |