Irish History
And
The Fighting Irish
And
The Fighting Irish
( The Geraldines )
As
a patron of learning he endowed a college on the lands assigned by his father for that purpose. This
building was erected in 1518. it was called " The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Maynooth. O' Mulconry
was his professor, a man " full of the grace of God and of learning " Gerald had " The Red Book of Kildare " compiled for him. Philip Flattesbury, his secretary, likewise drew up " divers chronicles of Ireland " He possessed an excellent library of Latin, Irish, French and English books - 122 in all. Almost all the classics were included in this collection. Kildare was a man of culture, and was well read not only in the ancients but also in the literature of his day. His fame was European. Such a man's doom was certain. The Dublin Castle officials soon made up a bill of charges against his Irish rule, and Kildare found himself back in the Tower of London for the last time ( 1534 )
Before his departure from Dublin he appointed as vice-Deputy his son, a boy of twenty, the famous Silken Thomas
Disregarding his fathers advice to be guided by his elders, young Thomas fell an easy prey to the veteran English intriguers of Dublin Castle, who had secretly been mining the foundations of the House of Kildare for generations. A forged letter was shown round in official circles in Dublin alleging that the Earl's neck was already cut ' shorter '
in the Tower of London. Lord Thomas " rash and headlong and assuming himself that the knot of all Ireland was twisted under his girdle " having consulted with the young bloods, inopportunely raised the standard of revolt - against the entreaties of all the wisest heads.
was his professor, a man " full of the grace of God and of learning " Gerald had " The Red Book of Kildare " compiled for him. Philip Flattesbury, his secretary, likewise drew up " divers chronicles of Ireland " He possessed an excellent library of Latin, Irish, French and English books - 122 in all. Almost all the classics were included in this collection. Kildare was a man of culture, and was well read not only in the ancients but also in the literature of his day. His fame was European. Such a man's doom was certain. The Dublin Castle officials soon made up a bill of charges against his Irish rule, and Kildare found himself back in the Tower of London for the last time ( 1534 )
Before his departure from Dublin he appointed as vice-Deputy his son, a boy of twenty, the famous Silken Thomas
Disregarding his fathers advice to be guided by his elders, young Thomas fell an easy prey to the veteran English intriguers of Dublin Castle, who had secretly been mining the foundations of the House of Kildare for generations. A forged letter was shown round in official circles in Dublin alleging that the Earl's neck was already cut ' shorter '
in the Tower of London. Lord Thomas " rash and headlong and assuming himself that the knot of all Ireland was twisted under his girdle " having consulted with the young bloods, inopportunely raised the standard of revolt - against the entreaties of all the wisest heads.
Silken Thomas
His enemies rejoiced; his well-wishers were in despair. On the 11th June 1534, he rode through Dublin, attended by a guard of 140 horsemen in coats of mail, with silken fringes on their helmets, on which account he became known as ' Silken Thomas ' On reaching St. Mary's Abbey where the Council of State was assembled, his bard chaunting the ancient glories of the Gerladines, adding fuel to his ardour. Thomas flung the Sword of State " the English churls among " " This sword " he declared " was already bathed in Geraldine blood and now newly whetted i hope of a further destruction. I am none of Henry's Deputy. I am his foe. I have more mind to conquer than to govern, to meet him in the field than to serve him in office. "
At first Lord Thomas swept all before him. Then England poured troops lavishly into Ireland - accompanied by the new invention, the cannon, which proved the young leader's undoing. The impetuous valour of Geraldine and his skilful leadership won many battles. The fall of Maynooth Castle, the mightiest stronghold in the land, after ten day's battering with ' great guns ' was heard throughout Ireland. " Fooboon on the foreign grey " cursed the Irish. It was a portent that Silken Thomas's victories would avail him nothing. The eagerly awaited French arrived not. After several defeats the iron tongue of the cannon told him further resistance was useless. He submitted and was sent to the Tower of London - where his father had already died of a broken heart, on learning of Thomas's insurrection. Here the young rebel was treated with utmost cruelty. Finally, he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn ( 1537 )
At first Lord Thomas swept all before him. Then England poured troops lavishly into Ireland - accompanied by the new invention, the cannon, which proved the young leader's undoing. The impetuous valour of Geraldine and his skilful leadership won many battles. The fall of Maynooth Castle, the mightiest stronghold in the land, after ten day's battering with ' great guns ' was heard throughout Ireland. " Fooboon on the foreign grey " cursed the Irish. It was a portent that Silken Thomas's victories would avail him nothing. The eagerly awaited French arrived not. After several defeats the iron tongue of the cannon told him further resistance was useless. He submitted and was sent to the Tower of London - where his father had already died of a broken heart, on learning of Thomas's insurrection. Here the young rebel was treated with utmost cruelty. Finally, he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn ( 1537 )
Hung, Drawn and Quartered
The first known case of this punishment being carried out was in 1283. By the time Silken Thomas faced the executioner, it had been turned into a fine art. Originally horses were used to stretch the limbs of the victim, as seen in the diagram left, while the executioner then chopped the body into four parts. But as can be seen in the picture right, in later executions the horses were no longer required.
Hung: The victime was hanged by the neck for a short time until almost dead.
Drawn: The victim was dragged in a wooden hurdle ( sledge ) to a place of execution.
Quartered: At this location the victim was disembowelled and emasculated, his genitalia and entrails shown before his eyes. His body was then divided into four parts before being beheaded. The body parts were either displayed at various locations throughout the city, as a warning, or scattered as to be never found.
Hung: The victime was hanged by the neck for a short time until almost dead.
Drawn: The victim was dragged in a wooden hurdle ( sledge ) to a place of execution.
Quartered: At this location the victim was disembowelled and emasculated, his genitalia and entrails shown before his eyes. His body was then divided into four parts before being beheaded. The body parts were either displayed at various locations throughout the city, as a warning, or scattered as to be never found.
With him perished his five uncles, the half -brothers of his father, and the near kinsmen of Henry VIII. Three of these nobles, gentle scholarly men, had failed to aid the rebellion. The other two having actually helped to suppress it, were, in requital of their to England's crown, seized at a banquet to which they had been invited by the English Lord Deputy. But the troublesome house of Kildare must be wiped out for good. Two children, however, escaped from the butchery. The blotting out of the very name, the uprooting of the seed of the Leinster Geraldines, became the policy of the subsequent three years. Whilst Gerald, a boy of 12 years, remained free, the ' extirpation' of the race was incomplete. Lady Eleanor Fitzgerald, widow of MacCarthy Reagh, and aunt of the orphan Gerald, had learnt with grief and horror of the six outraged corpses of her kinsmen at Tyburn. She had seen the deeds of the English soldiers and officials in the Geraldine country who came to wean the people, so they said, " From the inordinate tyranny of their Irish lords " and " to teach them the sweets of civil English order " She had heard the wail of the ravished maidens, of the erstwhile gentlefolk lamenting beside heaps of ruins, once stately dwellinghouses; she saw the charred harvest fields, the " slaughter heaps " of youth and age. The churches and the schools, the abodes of the men of culture and refinement, had gone the way of the cot of the peasant. Such " sweets " were gall and wormwood to her compassionate soul.
The Act of Parliament ( 1537 ) decreed all the Geraldine counties to be forfeited to the Crown. Her nephew Gerald was being nursed in illness by his sister, Lady Mary O' Conor, wife of the Chieftain of Offaly, whilst the English government held the confident belief that the House of Kildare had ceased to exist. Through this Lady Eleanor's amazing energy, dauntless courage, and exquisite tact, all the great families were united in a vast confederacy against the English government. Everywhere local feuds and personal enemies were sacrificed on the altar of Nationality. All Ireland Old and New, Gael and Sean Ghall, took the boy under its protection. In spite of all political divisions and tribal distrusts, Ireland was essentially a nation to the 17th century; one in soul and mind, though not in body - one in language and in literature, one in manners, and customs, one in religion and in spiritual feeling, one in the nobler and more gentle arts of human fellowship, rooted in the soil of the sufferings, kindred, fosterage, marriage and death.
Through her marriage with the scholarly author, wise politician and stout warrior, Manus O' Donnell, Lady Eleanor healed an age long animosity between Tir-Eoghan and Tir-Chonaill. The news caused consternation at Dublin Castle and so in England. " Never was i in despair of Ireland until now " exclaimed the Lord deputy; another official added that their trust was " by the aid of the North of Ireland and of Scotland " to make war.
O' Neill and O' Donnell " by the procurement of the said Eleanor " had taken a solemn oath to take one part with the said Gerald against the Englishry ( 1538 )
The Act of Parliament ( 1537 ) decreed all the Geraldine counties to be forfeited to the Crown. Her nephew Gerald was being nursed in illness by his sister, Lady Mary O' Conor, wife of the Chieftain of Offaly, whilst the English government held the confident belief that the House of Kildare had ceased to exist. Through this Lady Eleanor's amazing energy, dauntless courage, and exquisite tact, all the great families were united in a vast confederacy against the English government. Everywhere local feuds and personal enemies were sacrificed on the altar of Nationality. All Ireland Old and New, Gael and Sean Ghall, took the boy under its protection. In spite of all political divisions and tribal distrusts, Ireland was essentially a nation to the 17th century; one in soul and mind, though not in body - one in language and in literature, one in manners, and customs, one in religion and in spiritual feeling, one in the nobler and more gentle arts of human fellowship, rooted in the soil of the sufferings, kindred, fosterage, marriage and death.
Through her marriage with the scholarly author, wise politician and stout warrior, Manus O' Donnell, Lady Eleanor healed an age long animosity between Tir-Eoghan and Tir-Chonaill. The news caused consternation at Dublin Castle and so in England. " Never was i in despair of Ireland until now " exclaimed the Lord deputy; another official added that their trust was " by the aid of the North of Ireland and of Scotland " to make war.
O' Neill and O' Donnell " by the procurement of the said Eleanor " had taken a solemn oath to take one part with the said Gerald against the Englishry ( 1538 )
