Condition of the Irish People

In the early part of the seventeenth century, Ireland was occupied by three different classes of men. There were the native Irish, who, as we have seen, had in many instances, and in large numbers, been ousted from the land of which they and their ancestors had been the owners, or which they had tilled as peasants or as laborers for centuries. There were the Anglo-Irish, the descendants of the original Norman or English settlers, who dwelt in the Pale, who had acquired, in various ways, large estates in the country, and who were represented by such great nobles as the earls of Kildare, Desmond, Ormond, and Clanricarde. Lastly, there were the new English and Scottish settlers,—the men who had come as undertakers and colonists to plant the confiscated lands, and who had established large English colonies in Munster, Ulster, and Leinster. Of these classes, the native Irish almost to a man, and a very large majority of the Anglo-Irish, adhered firmly to the Roman Catholic faith; while nearly all of the new English and Scottish settlers were equally devoted to the Protestant creed.

The native Irish, as a people, were not subdued, excepting outwardly and physically, to English rule. They never had accepted that rule in their hearts, and they have never so accepted it since. The wrongs they had endured by the original English intruders had been continued and exceeded by later English sovereigns. The native Irish had to a great degree absorbed the Anglo-Irish, who had become Irish in custom, by marriage and descent, by harmony of interests, and in sympathy and love of country. But, when this had happened, other colonies of new English were thrust upon them by force of arms and gross tyranny; and the later tyrants now held Ireland in their grasp. In the course of the long, almost ceaseless conflicts, the repeated rebellions, and the succeeding devastations by the English conquerors, it is no wonder that the outcast and poverty-stricken natives sank into a semi-savage state. Great numbers of them dwelt in the forests, or in the vast boggy districts of the interior. Comparatively few served the new settlers as laborers and menials, or, in rare instances, held small patches of ground as tenants.

The most profitable property held by the Irish and Anglo-Irish was cattle, and their chief industry was cattle-raising. The old tribal custom of holding land in common still survived here and there in Ireland; and the pastures held by the tribes were used for rearing the herds of cows and the flocks of sheep. The forests were used for the keeping of hogs. In some parts of the country, too, large quantities of oats and barley were grown, not only for food, but also for the making of a strong drink commonly partaken of in those days, called "usquebaugh."

Grain was likewise exported, to some extent, from Ireland to England. The land was ploughed by six horses driven abreast, the ploughs being tied to the horses' tails. One great source of profit, sea and fresh-water fishing, which has since become a lucrative industry in Ireland, was pursued little, if at all, in the sixteenth century. The Irish had very little ready money. Almost all of their trading was done by exchanging one product or article for another, and they usually paid their fines and taxes with cattle or sheep.

The chiefs, both native and Anglo-Irish, lived in a sort of rude, barbaric state. They had large castles, built of rough-hewn stone, supplied with moats and draw-bridges and high donjon towers. These castles stood on islands, or promontories, or on the crests of high hills. Some of them even had the luxury of leaden roofs. In these mansions the chiefs exercised a primitive, but certainly bountiful and hilarious, hospitality. They had their retainers, who sometimes dwelt in huts within the castle-walls; but more often just outside, their huts clustered in a valley, or on the shores of a lake or river. The ancient Irish dress was still retained by many of the chiefs. It consisted usually of a saffron-colored shirt, over which a tunic with wide-flowing sleeves, and sometimes a fur cloak, was worn.

The Irish farmers and tenants, and the Anglo-Irish of the same rank, lived in a far humbler and ruder fashion than the chiefs. A few, perhaps, were sufficiently well-to-do to enjoy the comfort of clay cottages, with roofs made of rafters, wherein they dwelt, sheltered, at least, from the frequent rains. But a large majority of the farmers lived ill little hamlets of small cabins, built on islands, in order that they might be protected from the assaults of enemies. A hole in the roof sufficed for a chimney. The cabin had no other furniture than heaps of straw laid about in the corners on the unpaved ground. Their garments were of wool or flax, spun by their wives and daughters; and their ordinary food was oaten or barley cakes, cheese, milk, and butter. Only the wealthier farmers could afford an occasional chicken, rabbit, or piece of beef. At their meals, they sat upon the ground in their cabins, around the fire built in the center, which had been built to cook the food. They ate with their fingers; and, with the free use of usquebaugh, their meal was soon concluded.

As for the lowest class of the Irish,—those who had almost no property, and almost no occupation,—their state at the beginning of the seventeenth century was wretched beyond conception. They were half-starved. Often they were found wandering about absolutely naked, with no shelter except the trees of the forest. Sometimes they lived in miserable hovels, sleeping side by side with the sheep and pigs, and barely living on milk and curds and diseased meat. These poor creatures, expelled with the rest from the fat lands, died by thousands in the remote and barren places whither they fled for refuge. Sometimes they formed desperate marauding bands, and, maddened by hunger, fiercely attacked the thriving settlements of the English. The English destroyed them like vermin wherever they could. All the Irish high-roads were infested by men, women, and children in the last stages of want, who begged piteously of the passers-by, to be often answered with a shot, or a thrust from a pike.

It was towards the close of Elizabeth's reign that the famous university, Trinity College, was founded by that queen in Dublin (1593). It is said that this university owed its existence to the suggestion of the great and wise English philosopher, Lord Bacon. He proposed to Elizabeth that the Bible, liturgy, and catechism of the English church should be translated and spread in the Irish language; and this was one of the main purposes for which Trinity College was founded. It was, of course, as it has been ever since, a Protestant institution. No Catholics were, on any account, admitted, either to a share in its government, to its body of instructors, or to its classes of students. The spot where the ancient monastery of All Hallows stood was granted by Dublin for the building of the university. Elizabeth made generous grants of the lands which had been taken from the abbeys to support it; and, to these grants, James added still others of lands derived from the confiscations in Ulster. Many of the Protestants in Ireland subscribed generously to the funds of the university, and some English army officers presented it with a library.

When Trinity College had got fairly under way, the idea of printing the religious books in Irish was carried out. The casting of Irish type was begun; and the first book ever printed in the Irish tongue was the Protestant catechism, issued in the first year of the seventeenth century by the university press. The New Testament was translated into Irish, and was first published three years later (1603). The Old Testament did not appear until towards the close of the seventeenth century. Trinity College, under the fostering care of the crown, grew rapidly, and soon became wealthy and flourishing. It was intended as a bulwark of Protestantism in Ireland. Its influence was exerted to attempt the conversion of the people. But in this effort it did not achieve much success. The Irish clung to the Catholic faith through every persecution and persuasion, and a vast majority of them adhere to it to this day.

The older institutions of learning in Ireland, which had once spread the light of knowledge and the inspiration of religion through Europe, had been extinguished, or had decayed and died out, amid the long-continued civil convulsions. Only one Catholic college of any importance survived. This was the college of St. Nicholas at Galway. In the reign of James, this institution is said to have contained thirteen hundred Catholic and native scholars. Under James's harsh rule of Ireland, the college of St. Nicholas was abruptly closed, because its head, a courageous priest named John Lynch, would not desert his faith and accept that of the church of England. The Irish Catholics of the better class were now compelled to send their children to the continent to be educated; and large numbers, for a while, attended the famous schools of France and Germany. But even this was not long permitted. By a decree of the lord-deputy Chichester (1610), all Irish parents who had sent their children to foreign schools were ordered to call them back to Ireland within a year. Heavy penalties of fine and imprisonment were inflicted upon those who disobeyed this tyrannical command.

The reign of Elizabeth, noted for the great number of brilliant English writers who adorned it, was also marked by many good Irish historians and poets. Almost all of these, however, wrote their works in Latin. The most celebrated Irish writers of the reign were Richard Stanihurst, whose verses are still, to some degree, remembered; Lombard and Usher, the Catholic and Protestant archbishops; O'Sullivan, O'Meara, and White. The ancient order of bards, too, still survived. Their poems, relating the deeds of heroes, or breathing pious thoughts on the chief events of biblical history, won the praises of the great English poet, Edmund Spenser, who dwelt for some time in Ire-land. The bard Owen Ward followed Tyrone when he fled from Ireland, and wrote odes at Rome in praise of Tyrone's military prowess. But the bards were regarded with a jealous eye by the English masters of the country; for it was thought that their glowing verses kept alive the spirit of rebellion, and the desire for national freedom, among the native Irish. Edicts were therefore issued against them and many of them were forced to seek flight or to abandon their ancient calling.