Page 168 - Demo

168 Stephen Dunford: The Journey of The IrIsh
during two subsequent periods, being appointed to the office for the third time in 1446. The aforementioned practice of ‘Coyne and Livery’ was an exaction levied on the colonists by the Anglo-Irish lords for the support of their soldiery. The soldiers were quartered on the people, who were obliged to supply them, free of charge, with food and drink, and to provide forage for the nobleman’s horses. It was first levied towards the middle of the four- teenth century by Maurice Fitzgerald, first Earl of Desmond.
Richard Duke of York. A very different character to Sir John Talbot, Richard Duke of York, heir to the English throne and a great lord of Ireland, Earl of Ulster and Lord of Connacht by inheritance from Lionel, Duke of Clarence, was appointed Lord-Lieutenant in 1449. Richard arrived at Howth, near Dublin, in July of that year accompanied by his wife Cicely Neville, whose renowned beauty had earned for her the title the ‘Rose of Raby,’-the couple were received with great honour and given an enthusiastic welcome. He conciliated the Irish and caused an Act to be passed forbidding the levying of the hated Coyne and Livery among the colonists. York left Ireland at the outbreak of the Cade rebellion in 1451, and to his sympathetic but shrewd administration must be attributed the popularity of the Yorkist cause in Ireland in the War of the Roses.
When in 1454 the War of the Roses broke out, the two most prominent Anglo-Irish houses took opposite sides: the Butlers, Earls of Ormond, sided with the House of Lancas- ter, while the Geraldine Houses of Kildare and Desmond espoused the Yorkist cause. These rival Anglo-Irish houses fought a pitched battle at Pilltown in county Kilkenny, where the Butlers were defeated. As we know, the Kings of England, being unable to spend much time in Ireland, appointed deputies to govern in their stead. The deputy held the title Viceroy, variously called Lord Deputy, Lord Lieutenant, and resided in Dublin. Since 1172 this emi- nent position was usually held by some important lord of the Sean-Ghaill, but the tempo- rary triumphs of the House of York placed the Geraldines in the ascendancy, and during the second half of the fifteenth and the early part of the sixteenth century, it was held by one or other of the Earls of Desmond and Kildare. Thomas, the seventh Earl of Desmond, was made Lord Deputy in 1463 and seems to have had the good wishes of both the Irish and Anglo-Irish on his taking up office. He was, however, dismissed in 1466, and shortly afterwards arrested for levying Coyne and Livery and making illegal treaties with the Irish. As these acts constituted treason, he was beheaded a year later.
fff