Page 179 - Demo

Chapter Six 179
Henry, being of the opinion that it might be both diicult and costly to use force against them, resolved to try cunning instead.
To this end, the clever soldier and shrew politician, the previously mentioned Sir An- thony St. Leger was given the task of winning over the independent chieftains by friendly persuasion. In this St. Leger was quite successful, and by the giving of gifts and favours, within a year he had induced almost all the chieftains to accept the King’s fruitless propos- als, including the great Con Bacach O’Neill, The O’Neill. In an agreement which became known as ‘Surrender and Regrant,’ each chief surrendered his lands to the King, purely as a matter of form, and the King then-regranted the lands to the chief as ‘a gift from their feudal lord.’ By this scheme the King of England was supposed to get vested rights in all their lands; but the lands of an Irish chief or king did not actually belong to the chief or king, and so were not in his power to give away.
As the Irish historian, Seamus MacManus noted ‘From time immemorial the lands had been the property of the whole people of the clan or territory; and chief or king had no more right to give what was euphemistically called “their lands” to Henry, than they had to give him the Highlands of Scotland.’
The chiefs also undertook to be faithful and obedient to the King, to pay him a certain yearly tribute, and to attrend the Viceroy’s “hosting,” with a certain number of men-at- arms. The re-granting of the lands was accompanied by the conferring of “Empty English Titles” as one chronicler described them. For example, The O’Neill had the title Earl of Ty- rone conferred upon him; in the same way his son Mathew became Baron of Dungannon; Murrough O’Brien became Earl of Thomond and Baron of Inchiquin; Ulick de Burgh, Bourke, or De Búrca in Irish, became Earl of Clanrickard; Mac Giolla Pádraig, Fitzpatrick, became Baron of Upper Ossory.
This new arrangement, which at irst appeared so simple and direct, was to be the cause of much confusion and strife and many far-reaching changes then unforeseen by the Irish people. Broadly it meant that Irish law had been forsaken and succession to a chieftaincy would now be determined by English law. The people were deprived of the ancient right of electing their chieftains and henceforth, according to the law of primogeniture-a law un- known to the Brehon code, on the death of a chief his lands and title passed to his eldest son. As already remarked, much trouble, mingled bewilderment and confusion, followed from this arrangement. In many cases the Gaedhil continued to elect their chieftains according to the old Irish laws, and consequently, very often there were two chiefs claiming authority