Edward Poynings - in Ireland

In Ireland

Meanwhile in Ireland, a Yorkist stronghold, the struggles between the Butlers and Geraldines had reduced royal authority to a shadow even within the English Pale, and Gerald Fitzgerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, the head of Geraldines and lord deputy, was in treasonable relations with Warbeck. Henry appointed Prince Henry as viceroy, and made Poynings the prince's deputy.

Poynings landed at Howth on 13 October 1494 with a thousand men, and Henry Deane, bishop of Bangor, to act as chancellor, Hugh Conway as treasurer, and others to control the king's bench, common pleas, and exchequer. Poynings's first measure was an expedition into Ulster, in conjunction with Kildare, to punish O'Donnell, O'Hanlon, Magennis, and other chieftains who had abetted Warbeck's first invasion of Ireland. His progress was stopped by the news that Kildare was plotting with O'Hanlon against his life; some colour was given to the charge by the revolt of Kildare's brother James, who seized Carlow Castle, mounted the Geraldine banner, and refused to surrender when summoned in the king's name. Poynings abandoned the Ulster invasion, turned south, and with some difficulty reduced Carlow; he then proceeded to Drogheda and summoned a parliament.

It opened on 1 December 1494, and, after attainting Kildare, proceeded to pass for Poynings numerous acts tending to make Irish administration directly dependent on the Crown and privy council. Judges and others were to hold office during pleasure, and not by patent as hitherto; the chief castles were to be put in English hands; it was made illegal to carry weapons or make private war without license, and it was declared high treason to excite the Irish to take up arms. Further the statutes of Kilkenny passed in 1366, forbidding marriage or intercourse between the English colonists and the Irish, and the adoption by Englishmen of Irish laws, customs, or manners, were also re-enacted. Constitutionally, no parliament should be summoned in Ireland except under the Great Seal of England, or withoutnotice to the English privy council, and that no acts of the Irish parliament should be valid unless previously submitted. Another act declared all recent laws in England to be of force in Ireland (it was subsequently decided that this provision applied to all laws passed in England before 1494). These two measures, subsequently known as "Poynings's Law", or "The Statutes of Drogheda", rendered the Irish parliament completely subordinate to that of England. A slight modification of them was introduced in Mary I's reign, and during the rebellion of 1641 Charles promised their repeal; but their principle was extended by a statute passed in 1719, empowering the English parliament to legislate for Ireland, and it was not until 1782 that they were repealed, and the Irish parliament once more became independent.

While this parliament was sitting, Poynings made another expedition into Ulster, leaving a commission with his chancellor to continue, prorogue, or dissolve it as he thought fit. The Irish retreated, and the second expedition was even less successful than the first. Poynings now negotiated alliances with various septs, chiefly by money payments, and enforced on the inhabitants of the Pale the duty of protecting its borders against Irish incursions. With the help of his under-treasurer, William Hatteclyffe, with whom he was connected by marriage, Poynings endeavoured to reform the finances; but the opposition of subordinate officials largely impaired his success, and Warbeck's attack on Waterford in July 1495 interrupted the work. The lord deputy marched in person against Perkin, who blockaded Waterford with eleven ships, while Desmond, with 2,400 men, attacked it on land. The town held out for eleven days, and then, on Poynings's approach, Warbeck fled to Scotland.

Poynings was recalled in January 1496. The Yorkists in Ireland had been dealt with, but Henry was disappointed that Poynings, through his system of subsidising Irish chiefs, and the partial failure of his fiscal reforms, had been unable to make Ireland pay her own way; and he now fell back on the cheaper method of governing by the help of the great Anglo-Irish families. Kildare, who had regained favour, was once more appointed deputy, and the Geraldine supremacy lasted till 1534.