Atrocities in Ireland

mattjack wrote: »

http://www.politics.ie/forum/history/23479-cromwell-revised-separating-myths-historical-reality.html


Cromwell Revised, Separating myths and Historical Reality


No one disputes Cromwell's forces committed atrocities and by commission Cromwell was responsible for those atrocities, but the reality is Cromwell forces massacred less then 1,000 civilians in Ireland, who were put to the sword.. Cromwell's forces actually killed more civilians in Bolton then Drogheda and nor did Cromwell authorise such atrocities.

I would have to agree - Cromwell was here for 9 months and focused on Royalist garrisons rather then the native population except when they were working in alliance with Ormonde's Royalist forces.
There were indeed atrocities - but the man to look at is Henry Ireton, not Cromwell.

If, indeed Cromwell - as Lord Protector - was ultimately responsible for the actions of his appointed officials such as Ireton then I do find it strange that the Tudors, in particular Elizabeth, seem to get off lightly.

Dave Edwards wrote an excellent article on the use of martial law in Ireland by Tudor officials - yet that is rarely mentioned on threads like this. It always Cromwell, Cromwell, Cromwell and the Black and Tans.

Edwards on Sussex in the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth Tudor

Pre-emptive coercion

The Oxford English Dictionary defines martial law as ‘military government superseding ordinary law for a time’. A harsh reactive measure in periods of emergency, it confers powers of summary execution on government officials charged with confronting the enemies of the state. From the fourteenth century onwards, in regions subject to the crown of England, it appeared only in time of rebellion, and was only used against people who were actively engaged in revolt. However, in the middle years of the sixteenth century—during the mid-Tudor crisis, a time of profound economic, religious and political dislocation in England and Wales—it underwent a major transformation, and was reinvented as a pre-emptive measure by hard-pressed officials anxious to quell the growing threat of unrest. This technical alteration of martial law was a crucial development, a major addition to the crown’s capacity for repression. Henceforth dissent could be crushed before it progressed to full-blown insurrection. Persons suspected of holding oppositionist sympathies could legitimately be ‘disappeared’, lawfully executed without trial, purely on the grounds that they might enter into a treasonous conspiracy. Under the mid-Tudor monarchs, the Protestant Edward VI and the Catholic Mary I, the English state came closer to embracing despotism than ever before.
This novel pre-emptive version of martial law was soon in force in Ireland, introduced in 1556 by Queen Mary’s new chief governor, Lord Deputy Sussex. Ireland at this time provided a perfect breeding ground for the advance of royal draconianism, as the crown faced a genuine state of emergency. In Ulster the ongoing infiltration of Antrim and Down by the Scottish highland MacDonnells was causing grave concern, especially as Shane O’Neill had entered into an opportunistic alliance with them in order to consolidate his own position in the province. Equally disconcerting, in Leinster, along the borders of the Pale, the O’Mores and O’Connors were continuing successfully to resist the government’s attempts to establish an Anglo-Welsh colony—the Laois/Offaly plantation—in their territories. To cap it all, it was widely feared that a French invasion of Ireland was imminent.

Together, these factors provided Sussex with more than enough justification to introduce martial law—yet they are not enough to explain the peculiar zeal he displayed towards the measure, and continued to display after conditions had settled down. For one thing, as Ciarán Brady, an expert on his career, has put it, Lord Deputy Sussex had ‘a marked intolerance of dissent’. For another, Sussex was the first of a new type of Irish viceroy, the programmatic governor, declaring himself able to deliver a better, more cost-effective form of government in Ireland—a vow made necessary by the crown’s determination to reduce its Irish expenditure. Martial law offered him a way to keep security costs low, for it was alluringly cheap. It did not require a large army to be effective; all that was needed was a suitable crown representative—usually an army officer or a gentleman—who, armed with a commission of martial law and supported by a gang of followers, was willing to go forth into the Irish interior to cow the native lords into submission.

Commissioners of martial law did not have to be paid; rather, they were licensed to collect the profits of their work, being legally entitled to ‘traitor’s goods’ which amounted to a third of the movable goods and possessions of those they put to death. In turn, this acted as an incentive to slaughter: the more ‘suspected traitors’ the commissioners killed, the more traitors’ goods they and their followers received.

Sussex was enchanted by the opportunity martial law presented to privatise state coercion. Even when the London Privy Council denied him permission to extend its use beyond disaffected clansmen in Laois/Offaly and eastern Ulster to include all ‘shameless offenders’ whatsoever—a deliberately vague term—he pressed on regardless in direct defiance of its orders. In November 1556 he and his advisers on the Irish Council drafted a commission granting powers of de facto martial law to commissioners who were directed to target (a) tax offenders and (b) displaced wandering poor and unemployed. Both groups were to be executed without trial. For the first time in its history, martial law was to be used against ordinary peaceful subjects who were not even suspected of treason. And this from an administration that promised assimilationist reforms aimed at bringing the common law and ‘good government’ to the Irish.

Sussex’s liking for martial law initiated a new pattern of government that long outlasted him (he left office in 1563) in which the central executive attempted to prepare whole areas of the country for assimilation through the unlimited use of terror. In other words, regions were partly conquered by centrally-sanctioned aggressors before reforms of local society were attempted. To an extent Sussex’s successors in the chief governor’s office, his brothers-in-law Sir Henry Sidney and Sir William Fitzwilliam were his protégés in that they too were greatly enamoured of martial law which seemed so effective, so terrifying, so cheap. Hence, throughout the 1560s and ‘70s martial law became commonplace in Ireland. In all, in the twenty-year period following the 1558 accession of Elizabeth I, a total of 259 commissions were issued, an average of more than twelve commissions a year (or one a month). At first, commissions were confined mainly to the east of the country, from Carrickfergus and the marches of Meath south to Waterford, but soon a wider area was affected, and during Sidney’s first lord deputyship (October 1565-April 1571) martial law became countrywide. All of Munster and the south-west was given over to it for the first time in 1566-7, and in 1569 commissions were issued introducing it to the whole of Ulster and Connaught. Moreover, as martial law spread, its personnel began to change, with gradually fewer and fewer native Anglo-Irish and Gaelic Irish employed as commissioners. By the early 1580s they were forced to make way for a predominantly New English (and increasingly Protestant) group.

Mounting severity

Most significantly, however, the actual form that martial law took was being constantly amended during this period to suit changing circumstances as the power of the crown grew, becoming more severe with each passing year. At the start of Elizabeth’s reign, martial law, when used against non-rebels, was directed usually against the poorer elements of Irish society, against those unfortunate enough to occupy land valued at less than twenty shillings or own chattels worth less than IR£10. By the mid-1570s this had changed dramatically, and martial law was being used against nearly all sections of society, including the rich and powerful. Thus in 1573 the chief commissioner for Connaught, Edward Fitton, was authorised to use martial law at his discretion ‘without any limitation’, and in 1576 Francis Agard was granted the same powers for use anywhere in County Dublin. Only the titled peerage—a tiny, highly privileged group —remained exempt from the threat of summary execution (unless, of course, they rebelled and so fell foul of the Tudor law of treason). Peers apart, by the 1570s martial law was, often as not, targeted at the local Irish elite—at untitled native lords, at chieftains and gentry—something which upped the stakes in political affairs, and created an environment for increasing conflict...


Twenty years of continuous martial law had encouraged the emergence of an uncompromising state ideology, one that automatically assumed the political and military independence of native lords must be reduced by any means whatsoever for their territories to be reformed. For the local lords themselves, pledges of loyalty and obedience to the crown no longer offered freedom from outside interference; with martial law commissioners marauding around the countryside, they must cede their ancient autonomy to the state or face the consequences. In Dublin the orthodox government view of the Irish became increasingly racialist and supremacist, maintaining that only force would make them governable. Without terror, without martial law, they would remain beyond reform.

Rest of the article can be read here: http://www.historyireland.com///volumes/volume5/issue2/features/?id=113279

dubhthach wrote: »

Perhaps we should rename the thread. Obviously the OP was asking specifically bout British against Irish. However like most things in life one could argue it's a two way street. For example the Scullabogue Barn massacre during 1798 in Wexford where anywhere between 100-200 "Loyalists" were burnt to death. Or the massacre at Wexford Bridge which has been reported as between 100 and 300 deaths.

I agree with duchthach - May I suggest 'Atrocities in Ireland'. If we continue with the current thread title perhaps we should also have a thread entitled 'Irish atrocities in Britain'- of which the Warrington Bombing would be one. In the interests of balance.

@CDfm :

The other view would be that what defined Irish was a moving target as exemplified by the Battle of the Boyne with a half Scottish-half French English King having a Battle over his throne with his Dutch son-in-law.(Bannasidhe have I got that right ?).

- Spot on - also worth mentioning was that William of Orange wanted the resources of England (in particular) to help him in his endless crusade against Louis XIV of France. It really had feck all to do with Ireland except for deciding whether a Scots/English king or a Dutch king got to strip its natural resources.

@Fatton Fred :

Surely a more legitimate question would be what were the worst atrocities carried out in Ireland?

How does one define worst? The greatest number killed at the time or the horror it caused?

For me, and 16th century Gaelic Irish commentators, one of the worst actions carried out by Richard Bingham while President of Connacht was the hanging of three hostages who were under the age of 5 .

From the Annals of Loch Cé http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100010B/index.html:

LC1586.17

The governor, and the Earl of Clann-Rickard, and the Earl of Tuadh-Mumha, accompanied by large armies, established a camp in the Tochar, and in Baile-in-Rodba; and they hanged three children in Ross-mor, whom they themselves had in their hands for a long time before that, viz., the son of the Blind Abbot, and the son of Meiler, son of Walter Fada, and the son of John Burk: and that was a pitiful deed—the hanging of the innocent children. And they killed Eoghan, the son of Domhnall-an-chogaidh O'Flaithbhertaigh, per dolum, and killed and hanged several of his people. And the army that committed those deeds brought three thousand cows with them, and entirely plundered Ciarraidhe.

The Gaelic Irish had a great regard for ruthlessness. They admired decisive military action but they also lived in a society that highly valued children. In their minds to hang a child was so horrific as to be unthinkable. In Tudor England, children were often subject to Capital punishment so to Bingham and Co - it was just another weapon of Terror.

These particular children had been handed over as hostages by the English backed claimant to the title of MacUilliam Íochtair { Mayo} (Ricard MacOliverus) -not by their parents as surety for good behaviour - they were the children of MacOliverus' opponents for the title of MacUilliam and, coincidently, their father's had been involved in a skirmish back in 1581 where MacOliverus' son had died. Blackmail for good behaviour and revenge all in one go.

None of their father's had actually risen in insurrection when these children were hanged - they did do so afterwards. Which supports Edwards' contention mentioned in the article I quoted earlier that Martial Law was used to provoke outright rebellion.

In terms of number killed - the Massacre at Ardnaree the same year (1586) has to rank highly.

Also from Loch Cé involving Richard Bingham that same year:

LC1586.18

The sons of James Mac Domhnaill came to Erinn, with fifteen hundred Albanachs; and they destroyed much in Uladh. And they went to Cill-Ronain in the territory of Connacht, and were five nights in it; and the governor was at Bel-an-atha-fada, a numerous host of the chieftains of Connacht, and of Saxons, being with him. And the Albanachs retreated to Cul-mhaine; and some of the Clann-William came to meet them; and they advanced to Droiched-in-chillín. And when the Saxons heard that the Albanachs had gone past them down, they followed them; and they encountered one another at Droiched-in-chilín, and delivered a vigorous battle to each other there; and five or six of the governor's horses were killed; and the Albanachs departed uninjured to Sliabh-damh, and carried a prey with them to Ard-na-riadh. As regards the governor, he was rendered furious and fully angry at the escape of the Albanachs from him, and he permitted all the 'rising out' of the Gaeidhil that he had to depart, and returned southwards towards the Caislén-mór.
And two Saxon companies that came from Mumha overtook him there; and he had then seven companies of the best army in the world; and he followed them nobly, valiantly, vigorously, until he reached Ard-na-riadh. And when the Albanachs saw them approaching they advanced from the town to meet and encounter the Foreigners, and discharged vehement, furious, showers from their firearms against the Foreigners; and such was the misfortune of the Albanachs, that they wounded neither man nor horse with that discharge, and that they commenced a movement of rout and flight towards the Muaidh, and that twenty hundred, or more, were killed and drowned. James Mac Domhnaill's two sons were killed there, viz., Domhnall Gorm and Alaster; and Gilla-espuig, son of Dubhghall, son of Donnchadh Cam MacAilin, was slain there; and Edmond Kiocarach, son of David Bán Burk, and Cathair, son of Domhnall, son of Donnchadh Ruadh Mac Domhnaill, were slain there, and many more whom we cannot reckon, from their number. And in Ard-na-riadh this slaughter was given, a week before the festival of Michael.

Some estimates put the number dead at 3,000. One of Bingham's captains - Geoffrey Fenton later wrote ' I was never so tired of killing men as I was that day.' He then added in a casual tone that once all the men were dead - they 'dispatched the women and children'.

Both of these were appalling atrocities - but ones that are rarely, if ever, mentioned in the history books. Why? I suspect it is because these two events do not conform to the 'Irish victims/ English (or British) evil oppressors' school of thought.

Firstly the 3 children. They were Bourkes of Mayo - and members of a sept or branch that was completely Gaelicised (Sliocht Ullig of Burrishoole, Achill and Erris) - but they described themselves as English being descended in the male line from Anglo-Normans. They were Seán-Gall (Old Foreigners) who were fighting a rear guard action to remain culturally Gaelic.

The children were handed over by the senior member of another sept of the Bourkes of Mayo (Slioct Ricard of Trawley)- who reckoned an alliance with the English was the best way to secure power for himself and his immediate family.

The hanging was ordered by Richard Bingham - Elizabeth's chief official in Connacht but accompanying him were the earls of Clanricard and Thomond - Burke of Galway and O'Brien of Thomond.

Can't get more 'Irish' then a descendent of Boru now can you?

So we have a 'new' English Tudor official and his Old English and Gaelic Irish allies executing children for a crime not actually committed (rebellion) by their Old English fathers who are trying to continue to live according to Gaelic Irish customs. O'Brien continued to support Bingham.


The estimated 3,000 killed (of which around half would have been women and children) were Scottish Redshanks - seasonal mercenaries employed by the Old English and Gaelic Irish to swell their ranks during the Summer fighting season. In this case they were MacDonnells from the Western Isles - Gaelic Scots. The initially were working in Ulster for O'Donnell but were approached by members of Sliocht Ullig - who had declared The Blind Abbot (Uilliam An t'Ab Caoch of Burrishoole - father of one of the hanged children mentioned above) as MacUilliam - in open defiance of Bingham who had declared the title outlawed.

Bingham, and his Gaelic allies such as O'Brien, were initially defeated and outflanked by MacDonnell who continued on towards Mayo. Richard Bingham 'the governor, he was rendered furious and fully angry at the escape of the Albanachs from him, and he permitted all the 'rising out' of the Gaeidhil that he had to depart, and returned southwards towards the Caislén-mór' - he sent O'Brien back to Cashel and continued to pursue MacDonnell who halted on the banks of the River Moy across from Ardnaree, but for some reason did not appear to take any safety precautions such as posting sentries.
Bingham surprised them at night. Not only did a massacre ensue - they went back and decapitated all of the bodies, including the children.

Those that attempted to escape by swimming the Moy were slaughtered by Bingham's Bourke allies in Tirawley - around 200 people.

3,000 Gaelic Scots who had been employed by Old English to help them fight against Anglicisation were massacred by 'New' English and 'Old English' - yet, these Scots died in the battle to preserve Gaelic Ireland.

Irony of Ironies - at the Battle of Kinsale, the Tirawley Bourkes fought for O'Donnell having changed sides when Bingham was recalled in 1595 while the staunchly Gaelic Bourkes of Burrishoole fought for Mountjoy - they were led by the son of Gráinne Ní Mháille, Tibbóid Na Long á Búrc. Why - because in their eyes Áodh Rua Uí Domhnaill (Red Hugh) was a far greater threat to them then Elizabeth.

Things are never clear cut and to define things according to some nonsensical definition of who was 'Irish' and who was 'English' just feeds jingoistic propaganda.

I should also point out that both of those entries in Loch Cé were written by a Gaelic Irish 'chieftain' Brian McDiarmida, of the McDiarmida's of Roscommon - a man not known for his love of the Bourkes of Burrishoole - he constantly criticises them in the Annals - and traditional ally of the Bourkes of Tirawley on whose behalf he engaged in some obvious spin - after they had changed sides that is...

dubhthach wrote: »

I've changed the name of the thread. Great post by Bannasidhe, just as an aside as I'm going off memory but to add a little folklore (as in memory survived down to today via folklore). During the Desmond Rebellion after Dún an Oir surrended the Papal troops (600 Italian/Spanish) and the Irish were executed. To this day there are two fields nearby which are called:

Gort a Ghearradh (The field of the cutting)
Gort na gCeann (The field of the heads)

Our buddy Richard Bingham was involved in that massacre too. I can't get access the relevant entry at the moment - but it is in the State Papers Ireland.

Bingham was the captain of a ship named Swiftsure under the over all command of an admiral named William Wynters.

Now, Bingham was a man quick to blame others for any **** up and equally quick to take credit for successes he was also obsessively resentful of those he believed had been granted royal recognition for lesser deeds then he himself had accomplished - such as Raleigh, Drake, Wynters etc. (There are reams of 'It's not my fault!' letters from him in the State Papers - nearly as many as there are letters where he describes how he saved the day against all the odds).

There is a full transcript of a 'poor Rich Bingham how he has been overlooked' document from around the 1570s published in Memoirs of the Binghams (full text available:
http://www.archive.org/stream/memoirsofbingham00mcca/memoirsofbingham00mcca_djvu.txt)

After Dún an Oir, Wynters brought charges against Bingham for disobeying orders - Bingham was meant to be on patrol against pirates in the English channel. Bingham's response is in the State Papers - sadly the questions put to him are not. In his defence he slams Wynter's as corrupt and incompetent and said the Swiftsure had no choice but to sail to Kerry as Wynter's failed utterly to respond to the Spanish/Papal threat.

According to Bingham's version - all of the Tudor officials were lax in performing their duties and it was only his arrival that saved the day.
He does mention the massacre of the prisoners - he explained that he had left the immediate scene in order to assess the fortifications and found them in an awful state. While he was overseeing repairs to the fortifications (which would have been Walter Raleigh's job) the sailors, and he simply could not explain why, went berserk and up and slaughtered the prisoners. By the time he got back to restore order, it was too late.

Bingham declared neither De Grey or Raleigh were there - yet we know they were (as was Edmund Spenser). That was his dig at those 'incompetents' who had gained advancement while he had been ignored.

According to Bingham's version - If those responsible had been doing their jobs, Bingham would not have had to A) to leave his assigned post in the Channel - so that was Wynter's fault. to save the day and defeat the Spanish/Italians - de Grey's fault. C) to check out and oversee repairs to the fortifications - Raleigh's fault. Plus, the implication of his statement is that the massacre would not have happened if de Gray etc had been present to keep order.