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The Butler revolt of 1569

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

David Edwards
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Extract

In June 1569 an English gentleman named Robert Mainwaring was seized on the borders of County Carlow by Irish rebels. They forced a noose around his neck, tightened it, and proceeded to drag him ‘up and down in a halter’, like a man condemned to be hanged. As with many terrorist acts, Mainwaring’s degradation was a carefully calculated publicity stunt, and it quickly achieved its objective. News of his predicament was relayed to London, where the identity of his captors aroused widespread alarm in government circles. He was persecuted on the orders of Sir Edmund Butler of Cloghgrenan, a leading Anglo-Irish lord who was the brother and principal heir of the then childless tenth earl of Ormond, Thomas Butler, and the recent recipient of some generous grants of land and office from the crown. Despite Sir Edmund’s position as deputy governor of the hitherto loyal Ormond lordship in Counties Kilkenny and Tipperary, it soon became clear that his seizure of Mainwaring had signalled the outbreak of a general revolt by several branches of the Butler family.

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Articles
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Irish Historical Studies , Volume 28 , Issue 111 , May 1993 , pp. 228 - 255
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Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1993

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References

1 Alias Mannering. For different spellings of the name see Fiants Ire., Eliz., nos 427, 1196, 2288.

2 Malby to Cecil, 21 June 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/28/45).

3 Earl Thomas (1531–1614) had no children by his first marriage to Elizabeth Berkeley, which ended with her death in 1582 (G.E.C., Peerage, sub ‘Ormond’).

4 E.g. Fiants Ire., Eliz., nos 724, 1014, 1216–17.

5 The precise date of Mainwaring’s capture is elusive, but it had occurred by 19 June. Depositions of Baltinglass and Shee, 19 June 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/28/42).

6 The late Hubert Butler went so far as to entitle his brief paper on the revolt ‘An anti-English Butler’ in Butler Soc. Jn., no. 1 (1968). See also Butler, W. F. T., ‘The descendants of James, ninth earl of Ormond’ in R.S.A.I. Jn., lix (1929), pp 34-5.Google Scholar

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8 Canny, Elizabethan conquest, pp 52–3, 149–50; Ellis, Tudor Ire., pp 260–61. The origins of the rising in the factional struggles at court are emphasised in Curtis, John, ‘The Butler revolt of 1569’ (unpublished M.A. thesis, St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, 1983).Google Scholar

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10 Hore, H. F. (ed.), ‘Sir Henry Sidney’s memoir of his government of Ireland, 1583’ in Ulster Jn. of Archaeology, 1st ser., iii (1855), p. 97 Google Scholar. This quotation has been cited in W. F. T. Butler, ‘Descendants’, p. 35; Hubert Butler, ‘Anti-English Butler’, p. 23; Canny, Elizabethan conquest, pp 145–6; Ellis, Tudor Ire., p. 260; and Sasso, C. R., The Desmond rebellions, 1569–73 and 1579–83 (doctoral dissertation, University Microfilms International, Michigan, 1984), pp 124-5.Google Scholar

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12 A detailed discussion of the evidence for the limited impact of Carew’s arrival upon landholding patterns in Idrone is given in Moore, Donal, ‘English action, Irish reaction: the MacMurrough Kavanaghs, 1530-1630’ (unpublished M.A. thesis, St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, 1985), ch. 3Google Scholar. Unfortunately Dr Loeber was unaware of Moore’s work when discussing Idrone in his book ( Loeber, Rolf, The geography and practice of English colonisation in Ireland, 1534-1609 (Dublin, 1991), p. 26).Google Scholar

13 Fiants Ire., Eliz., no. 427.

14 Ibid., no. 829.

15 Depositions of Baltinglass and Shee, 19 June 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/28/42).

16 Mainwaring to Agard, 18 Aug. 1569 (Salisbury MSS (24 vols, H.M.C., London, 1883–1976), i, 417).

17 Cosby to Sidney, 1 July 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/29/1).

18 Cosby to Kildare, 7 Aug. 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/31).

19 Canny, From Reformation to Restoration, p. 87.

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22 Hore (ed.), ‘Sidney’s memoir’, pp 97–8.

23 Ibid., p. 37.

24 Brady, ‘Government of Ireland’, pp 188, 208.

25 Ibid., pp 230–39, 298; Bagwell, , Tudors, ii, 327-52Google Scholar; see also Brady, ‘Thomas Butler’, p. 55.

26 Hore (ed.), ‘Sidney’s memoir’, p. 42.

27 Cosby to Sidney, 1 July 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/29/1).

28 Brady, ‘Thomas Butler’, p. 59.

29 See, e.g., the survey of Desmond’s lands in County Limerick made by Christopher Peyton in 1584 (National Archives of Ireland (henceforth N.A.I.), M. 5038).

30 A useful guide to the Ormond-Desmond feud is given in Sasso, Desmond rebellions, ch. 2.

31 Ormond deeds, 1509–47, no. 352.

32 For an outline of the careers of the tenth earl’s brothers see W. F. T. Butler, ‘Descendants’, pp 29–41.

33 For Glashare see Fiants Ire., Eliz., nos 1065, 1903, 2031, 2058. For Butlerswood see ibid., nos 90, 2064. Ormond also had four men living at Rathvilly, County Carlow (ibid., no 915). These figures were reached by counting the numbers of troops from Ormond’s castles pardoned between 1558 and 1572.

34 Apart from Glashare and Butlerswood, these included the castles of Kilkenny, Gowran, Callan, Knocktopher, Rosbercon, Danesfort (alias Dunfert), Ballykeefe, Pottlerath, Dammagh, Dunmore, Foulkscourt, Keappahedin, Kilmacow, Cottrellsrath, Danginmore, Meallaghmore, Ballysallagh, Ballyspellan, Graigerawe, the ‘Black Castle’ near Dunmore, and Castle Ellis near Gowran.

35 Martin Porterchelo of Kilkenny, gunner, received a grant from the ninth earl in 1543 (Ormond deeds, 1509–47, no. 305).

36 Fiants Ire., Eliz., nos 911, 1873, 1877, 1887, 2066.

37 Ibid., nos 140,911, 1877.

38 ‘A brief note of … traitors killed by the earl of Ormond’, 20 Sept. 1571 (Bodl., Carte MS 57, f. 148). There were at least six soldiers, including three galloglass, at Ballinahinch in 1575 (Fiants Ire., Eliz., no 2637).

39 Sir Henry Sidney, ‘A discourse of coign and livery’, 13 Mar. 1579 (Cal. Carew MSS, 1575–88, no. 123); ‘Notes’ by Edmund Tremayne, June 1571 (P.R.O., SP 63/32/66).

40 SirDavies, John, ‘A discovery of the true causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued’ [1612] in Morley, Henry (ed.), Ireland under Elizabeth and James I (London, 1890), pp 295-6.Google Scholar

41 E.g. Canny, Elizabethan conquest, pp 21–2.

42 Ormond deeds, 1547–84, no. 120. The exactions received widespread consent in the lordship in the fifteenth century (see Empey, C. A. and Simms, Katharine, ‘The ordinances of the White Earl and the problem of coign in the middle ages’ in R.I.A. Proc., lxxv (1975), sect. C, pp 161-87Google Scholar). However, there is no doubt that for several years following the succession of Sir Piers Butler as eighth earl of Ormond in 1515 coign was imposed in Kilkenny and Tipperary whether the local gentry consented to it or not. For a full discussion of this see Edwards, David, ‘The Ormond lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642’ (thesis currently in preparation, Trinity College, Dublin).Google Scholar

43 The amount depended on the number of horsemen involved. Unfortunately the function of each of the forty men is not recorded, but Sir Edmund did have five gunners, six horsemen and one galloglass in his castles; I doubt that the remaining twenty-eight were all kern. During the 1560s horsemen on the government payroll were paid 9d. a day, gunners received 6d., and kern 3d. ( Longfield, A. K. (ed.), Fitzwilliam accounts, 1560-65 (Dublin, 1960 Google Scholar), passim).

44 Order of the lord deputy and council, 10 May 1567 (P.R.O., SP 63/20/78).

45 Cal. pat. rolls, Ire., Eliz., pp 88–9. The date is misprinted as 1582.

46 ‘Irish privy council book, 1556–71’ in Holiday MSS (H.M.C., London, 1897), pp 71–3.

47 Ibid., p. 139.

48 Certificate of John McCragh to Desmond, 10 Nov. 1565 (P.R.O., SP 63/15/41).

49 Parke, Thomas (ed.), ‘The vocacyon of Johan Bale to the bishoprick of Ossorie in Ireland’ in Harleian Miscellany, vi (London, 1810), pp 451-2Google Scholar. All accounts of Bale’s experiences in Kilkenny have been superseded by Steven Ellis, G., ‘John Bale, bishop of Ossory, 1552-3’ in Butler Soc. Jn., ii, no. 3 (1984), pp 283-92.Google Scholar

50 Ormond deeds, 1547–84, nos 109–10, 112, 125, 153.

51 Fiants Ire., Eliz., no. 255.

52 See, e.g., the series of cases tried before Ormond’s seneschal etc. in the Tipperary liberty court (Ormond deeds, 1547–84, no. 39).

53 Ormond’s proclamation, 1 July 1564 (P.R.O., SP 63/11/39, ii).

54 Ormond deeds, 1547–84, no. 102.

55 Ibid., no. 140.

56 See, e.g., Desmond’s complaints, n.d., c. June 1562 (P.R.O., SP 63/6/38); Ormond’s answer, n.d., c. June 1562 (ibid., SP 63/6/39); orders concerning Desmond, [20 Dec] 1563 (ibid., SP 63/9/75).

57 White to Wrothe, 20 July 1564 (ibid., SP 63/11/39, i).

58 Ormond’s proclamation, 1 July 1564 (ibid., SP 63/11/39, ii).

59 Ibid. The rate set for the meals of the soldiers was twice that advocated by an act of parliament of 1495, i.e. 10 Hen. VII, c. 19 (Stat. Ire., i, 54–5). For the muster system in England see Williams, Penry, The Tudor regime (Oxford, 1979), pp 109-29Google Scholar; Cruickshank, C. G., Elizabeth’s army (2nd ed., Oxford, 1966), ch. 8Google Scholar; Boynton, Lindsay, The Elizabethan militia (London, 1967), esp. chs 1–2.Google Scholar

60 L. & P. Hen. VIII, 1544, pt 1, no. 473.

61 Annals of the kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, ed. O’Donovan, John (7 vols, Dublin, 1851), v, 1531.Google Scholar

62 Jordan, W. K. (ed.), The chronicle and political papers of Edward VI (London, 1966), p. 105.Google Scholar

63 Cecil to Sidney, 31 Mar. 1566 (P.R.O., SP 63/16/71).

64 Cal. S.P. for., 1547–53, p. 123.

65 Norfolk’s sister Katherine Howard had married Elizabeth’s brother Henry, Lord Berkeley, in 1554 ( Smyth, John, Lives of the Berkeleys (2 vols, Gloucester, 1883), ii, 252-5).Google Scholar

66 Cal. Carew MSS, 1515–74, no. 227.

67 Ormond’s petition, c. 16 July 1559 (P.R.O., SP 63/1/46).

68 Ormond deeds, 1547–84, no. 97.

69 Ibid., nos 58, 96.

70 Ibid., no. 64.

71 Empey, C. A., ‘Medieval Thurles: origin and development’ in Corbett, William and Nolan, William (eds), Thurles: the cathedral town (Dublin, 1989), pp 33-4.Google Scholar

72 E.g. Hore, H. F. and Graves, James (eds), The social state of south-east Ireland in the sixteenth century (Dublin, 1870), p. 116.Google Scholar

73 Events in the O’Brien lordship are briefly described in Nicholls, Kenneth, Gaelic and gaelicised Ireland in the middle ages (Dublin, 1972), pp 157-8.Google Scholar

74 Arnold and the Irish council to Ormond, 12 Aug. 1564 (P.R.O., SP 63/11/72).

75 Ormond to Dudley, 23 Nov. 1564 (Pepys MSS (H.M.C., London, 1911), p. 34); Ormond to Cecil, 22 Nov. 1564 (P.R.O., SP 63/11/108).

76 Butler, George, ‘The battle of Affane’ in Ir. Sword, viii (1967-8), pp 33–47.Google Scholar

77 Brady, ‘Thomas Butler’, p. 53.

78 Ellis, Tudor Ire., p. 252.

79 Queen to Ormond, n.d., c. 28 Feb. 1565 (P.R.O., SP 63/12/39).

80 E.g. Clanricard and Thomond to queen, 13 Apr. 1565 (ibid., SP 63/13/13).

81 Acts of the privy council, 1558–70 (London, 1893), p. 215.

82 These were Sir Nicholas Bacon, Sir William Cecil, the marquis of Northampton and the earl of Leicester (ibid., p. 235).

83 A note of interrogatories, 6 Aug. 1565 (P.R.O., SP 63/14/38).

84 The queen’s award, 24 Dec. 1565 (ibid., SP 63/15/72).

85 Acts of the privy council, 1558–70, pp 295–6.

86 Desmond’s petition, 17 June 1565 (P.R.O., SP 63/13/63).

87 It has been shown that this recognisance eventually proved too much for Desmond, and his rebellion in 1579 was partly caused by it ( Brady, Ciaran, ‘Faction and the origins of the Desmond rebellion of 1579’ in I.H.S., xxii, no. 88 (Sept. 1981), pp 293-4).Google Scholar

88 Jenkins, Elizabeth, Elizabeth and Leicester (London, 1961), pp 135, 139.Google Scholar

89 Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Hen. VIII-Eliz., p. 493.

90 E.g. Canny, Elizabethan conquest, pp 47–56.

91 Cecil to Sidney, 27 Mar. 1566 (P.R.O., SP 63/16/67).

92 Queen to Sidney, 30 Nov. 1566 ( Sidney state papers, 1565-70, ed. Laidhin, Tomás Ó (Dublin, 1962), no. 28(2)).Google Scholar

93 Sidney to Leicester, 5 Sept. 1566 (Pepys MSS, pp 90-92). The activities of White and Sidney in Kilkenny are noted in Masterson to Knollys, 10 Aug. 1566 (P.R.O., SP 63/18/78), and internal evidence suggests that Ormond already knew of events at the time it was written.

94 For the debate concerning the originality of Sidney’s policies see Canny, Elizabethan conquest, ch. 3, and Brady, ‘Government of Ireland’, ch. 5, esp. pp 172–8. Professor Canny has restated his position in From Reformation to Restoration, ch. 4.

95 Masterson to Knollys, 10 Aug. 1566 (P.R.O., SP 63/18/78).

96 Churchyard, Thomas, Churchyarde his choice (London, 1579), sig. D2v.Google Scholar

97 Cecil to Sidney, 16 June 1566 (P.R.O., SP 63/18/9); Fiants Ire., Eliz., no. 911.

98 Camden, William, History of the most renowned and victorious princess Elizabeth, late queen of England, ed. MacCaffrey, Wallace T. (London, 1970), p. 125 Google Scholar; queen to Sidney, 16 June 1566 (Sidney state papers, no. 18).

99 Horsey to Cecil, 21 Nov. 1566 (P.R.O., SP 63/19/53); same to same, 12 Dec. 1566 (ibid., SP 63/19/72).

100 Desmond to Sidney, 4 Jan. 1567 (ibid., SP 63/20/1).

101 Buckley, James (ed.), ‘A vice-regal progress through the south and west of Ireland in 1567’ in Waterford Arch. Soc. Jn., xii (1909), p. 66.Google Scholar

102 Ibid., p. 74.

103 Ibid., p. 73.

104 Brady, ‘Faction’, pp 301–2.

105 Fitzwilliam to Cecil, 22 Aug. 1567 (P.R.O., SP 63/21/87); Grace, Sheffield, Memorials of the family of Grace (2 vols, privately published, London, 1823), i, 11.Google Scholar

106 Note of horsemen, galloglass and kern, n.d., c. 1568 (P.R.O., SP 63/26/70); memorandum, n.d., c. 1568 (ibid., SP 63/26/71); note, n.d., c. 1568 (ibid., SP 63/26/72).

107 Queen to Sidney, 30 June 1569 (Sidney state papers, no. 67). An account of the legislation against coign which followed this is given in Treadwell, Victor, ‘The Irish parliament of 1569-71’ in R.I.A. Proc., lxvi (1966-7), sect. C, pp 57-8, 80.Google Scholar

108 Moore, ‘English action, Irish reaction’, pp 86–7. For a full appraisal of the impolicy of this decision see especially Hughes, ‘Sir Edmund Butler’, pp 167–72.

109 Abp Lancaster of Armagh to Cecil, 12 Nov. 1568 (P.R.O., SP 63/26/20); Walsh to lords justices, 11 Sept. 1568 (ibid., SP 63/25/86); ‘Memorial of things for Ireland’, 12 Nov. 1568 (ibid., SP 63/26/19).

110 Carew to Cecil, 26 Dec. 1568 (ibid., SP 63/26/59).

111 Treadwell, ‘Irish parliament’, pp 67–70.

112 Carew to Cecil, 23 Feb. 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/27/33).

113 Depositions of Dillon, Thomas and Fitzsimon, 16 June 1569 (ibid., SP 63/28/31).

114 ‘Irish privy council book, 1556–71’, pp 228–9.

115 Deposition of De Vawe, 16 June 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/28/32).

116 Depositions of Baltinglass and Shee, 19 June 1569 (ibid., SP 63/28/42).

117 Malby to Cecil, 21 June 1569 (ibid., SP 63/28/45).

118 Roger Hooker to Weston, 10 Aug. 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/45).

119 Cantwell to Sidney, 21 June 1569 (ibid., SP 63/28/46).

120 Mayor and corporation of Waterford to Cecil, 8 July 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/5); N.A.I., Lodge MSS: Wardships, liveries and alienations, Vol. I, p. 124; Ormond deeds, 1547–84, no. 100; Fiants Ire., Eliz., nos 724, 1669.

121 Hughes, ‘Sir Edmund Butler’, p. 171; Treadwell, ‘Irish parliament’, pp 73–4; Brady, ‘Faction’, pp 304–5; Pivernous, P. J., ‘Sir Warham St Leger and the first Munster plantation, 1568-9’ in Áire-Ireland, xiv, no. 2 (1979), pp 15–36.Google Scholar

122 Sweetman’s information, 27 July 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/29/24).

123 According to Camden, a Spanish envoy named Juan Mendoza landed in the south of Ireland in 1569 to ‘kindle the flame of rebellion there’ (Camden, History, p. 125).

124 Horsey to Sidney, 18 June 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/28/38); mayor and corporation of Cork to Sidney, 20 June 1569 (ibid., SP 63/28/43).

125 Binchy, D. A., ‘An Irish ambassador at the Spanish court, 1569-74’ in Studies, x (1921), pp 354-5, 365-7.Google Scholar

126 Sir Edmund Butler to Ormond, 24 Aug. 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/29/47, i). In this letter Sir Edmund protests his loyalty to the crown, but he followed it up a few days later by attacking the royal garrison at Ferns. See Agard to Weston, 28 Aug. 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/46).

127 Camden, History, p. 107.

128 Stat. Ire., i, 370; Cantwell to Sidney, 21 June 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/28/46).

129 For a contrary opinion see Hughes, ‘Sir Edmund Butler’, p. 173, where the author overlooks the fact that when the insurrection was beginning, one of Sidney’s agents only managed to see the Butlers after posing as a messenger from the earl of Ormond; had they really believed Ormond was dead, the messenger would have found himself in a tricky situation (deposition of De Vawe, 16 June 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/28/32)).

130 Langham to Sidney, 22 June 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/28/48); Tremayne to Pollard, 7 July 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/12, ii).

131 Grace landed on or about 3 July. It is interesting to note that he spoke to Sir Edmund from the safety of his boat. Bagwell, , Tudors, ii, 161 Google Scholar; Ormond to Cecil, 24 July 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/29/23).

132 Sweetman’s information, 27 July 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/24).

133 Mayor and corporation of Waterford to Cecil, 8 July 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/5); Sidney to privy council, 27 Dec. 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/86).

134 Journal of Sir Henry Sidney, 1569 (T.C.D., MS 660, p. 82); Ormond deeds, 1547–84, no. 177.

135 Slat. Ire., i, 370; sovereign of Kilkenny, Captain Collier and others to Sidney, 21 July 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/29/22).

136 Ibid. Collier was in Kilkenny by 12 July (Carew to Sidney, 12 July 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/10)). For the dean of Cashel, John Archdekin, see John Hooker, ‘Life of Sir Peter Carew’ (Cal. Carew MSS. 1515–74, p. cvii). For Shee see Ormond deeds, 1547–84, no. 152.

137 Ormond to Cecil, 24 July 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/29/23); Sir Edmund Butler’s supplication, 7 Sept. 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/60, iii).

138 O’Neill seems to have been reluctant to move until he had received reinforcements from his Scottish ally, the earl of Argyll, as part of a marriage settlement. See Dawson, Jane, ‘Two kingdoms or three? Ireland in Anglo-Scottish relations in the middle of the sixteenth century’ in Mason, Roger A. (ed.), Scotland and England, 1286-1815 (Edinburgh, 1987), pp 129, 137 nn 100-1.Google Scholar

139 Agard to Weston, 16 Aug. 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/29/40); Fitzwilliam to Cecil, 2 Sept. 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/56).

140 White to Cecil, 3 Sept. 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/57); Sir Edmund Butler’s submission, 1 Sept. 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/60, i).

141 Agard to Weston, 16 Aug. 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/40); Ormond to Cecil, 28 Aug. 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/47); lord deputy and council to the privy council, 26 Oct. 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/70); Stat. Ire., i, 371; Walsh to Weston, 17 Aug. 1569 (Salisbury MSS, i, 417).

142 The damage at Arklow is discussed in Price, Liam, ‘The Byrnes’ country in the sixteenth century’ in R.S.A.I. Jn., lxvi (1936), p. 58.Google Scholar

143 Ellis, Steven G., ‘Henry VIII, rebellion and the rule of law’ in Hist. Jn., xxiv, no. 3 (1981), p. 528.Google Scholar

144 Ellis, Tudor Ire., p. 235.

145 Queen to Sidney, 9 July 1569 (Sidney state papers, no. 69).

146 Queen to Sidney, 19 Aug. 1570 (ibid., no. 79(2)).

147 Ibid.; Stat. Ire., i, 369–73; Treadwell, ‘Irish parliament’, pp 81–2.

148 Lord deputy and council to privy council, 10 June 1573 (P.R.O., SP 63/41/17).

149 ‘A brief note of … traitors killed by the earl of Ormond’, 20 Sept. 1571 (Bodl., Carte MS 57, f. 148); Fiants Ire., Eliz., no. 911.

150 The Annals of Thady Dowling, ed. Butler, Richard (Dublin, 1849), sub 1575Google Scholar; Ormond deeds, 1547–84, nos 192, 203, 239.

151 Ormond deeds, 1547–84, nos 163, 168–9, 170(4–5), 237.

152 Ormonde MSS, i, 72–3(1).

153 A notable exception is Hughes. ‘Sir Edmund Butler’, pp 215–29.

154 Fitzwilliam to Cecil, 12 Sept. 1569 (P.R.O., SP 63/29/61); Sidney to Cecil, 25 Nov. 1569 (ibid.. SP 63/29/81).

155 Wise to Cecil, 27 Oct. 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/77).

156 Sidney to Cecil, 25 Nov. 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/81); Sidney to privy council, 27 Dec. 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/86).

157 Note concerning Ormond, n.d., c. 1569 (ibid., SP 63/29/88); Fitzwilliam to Burghley, 15 Mar. 1571 (ibid., SP 63/31/21).

158 ‘Irish privy council book, 1556–71’, pp 245–6.

159 Ibid., pp 238–9; Ellis, Tudor Ire., p. 261.

160 Marron, Laurence (ed.), ‘Documents from the state papers concerning Miler McGrath’ in Archiv. Hib., xxi (1958), pp 80–81 Google Scholar; Canny, Elizabethan conquest, p. 147.

161 ‘A brief note of … traitors killed by the earl of Ormond’, 20 Sept. 1571 (Bodl., Carte MS 57, f. 148); Ormond deeds, 1547–84, no. 166.

162 Brady, ‘Thomas Butler’, p. 55.

163 Ormond deeds, 1547–84, v, nos 199, 235, 257.

164 lbid., nos 266–7, 279.

165 For Desmond’s undoing see Brady, ‘Faction’, passim.

166 The Butlers’ troubles with Drury and Perrot are discussed in detail in chapter 5 of my forthcoming thesis.

167 See, e.g., Russell to Burghley, 15 Aug. 1596 (P.R.O., SP 63/192/11).

168 I would like to thank Clodagh Caulfield and Brian Donovan for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper.