Page 221 - Demo

Chapter Seven 221
so quickly that they earned for themselves the title ‘The Mushroom Army,’ because they appeared and disappeared so speedily. In any case, Glamorgan came to an agreement with the Confederates, but later, when Ormond and his Dublin Council got wind of it, they im- mediately condemned it, and inally Charles himself repudiated the entire business. These negotiations cost the Confederation valuable time because throughout the process, its en- emies were gathering strength.
But that being said, in the interim the many Irish exiles of inluence throughout the Continent had not been inactive. Waterford-born, philosopher, theologian, ecclesiastical and international statesman, and Francisan Friar, Luke Wadding, was the most successful advocate of his country’s and his religion’s cause, and was mainly responsible for the ener- getic interest taken by the Vatican and also the French Court in Irish afairs.
So with the papacy taking an interest and papal envoys involving themselves in many of the debates, it is no surprise that at the request of the Confederation, the Pope sent a special Nuncio, Giovanni Battista Rinuccini, Archbishop of Fermo, to Ireland. Rinuccini landed at Kenmare, in Kerry, in October 1645, bringing with him a supply of arms and money for the Confederate cause. Upon arrival in Kilkenny, Rinuccini, a standard-bearer of the Counter- Reformation, quickly took a hard-line, and not being alone in his views that promises and ‘Graces’from the English King were not to be relied on, he supported the views of the Old Irish and forbid further negotiations with the King’s representatives until the full rights of the Catholic Church were restored, threatheing all who disobeyed with excommunication. Dissention now was prevalent in Kilkenny.
Alerted to the considerable discord then existing among the Confederate leaders, Gen- eral Monro the Parliamentarian leader in the north, determined by a bold move to over- throw Confederates and Royalists, in turn. He planned to march on Kilkenny, scatter the Confederation, then proceed to Dublin and crush Ormond. Setting out from Carrickfergus with a splendid, well-equipped army of 6,000 men, it was his intention to gather other forces to his standard on his march southward.
But if Rinuccini’s intransigence efectively derailed the cumbersome process of the Con- federation and its negotiations, his inluence extended to the military action in the ield, and he encouraged Eoghan Ruadh O’Neill to proceed directly against Monro. So before Monro’s reinforcements arrived, his 6,000 strong, puritan army, ably supported and bol- stered by artillery, was met and completely routed by O’Neill at Benburb, in county Tyrone,