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The Promised Aid from Spain arrives - The
Spaniards enter and fortify Kinsale - Mountjoy and Carew leave Kilkenny
for Cork - The Spanish General's Proclamation - The Spaniards find no
Allies - O'Donnell's March to join them - Intercepted by Carew, but
escapes - Mountjoy besieges Kinsale - Arrival of Reinforcements for the
Spanish.
The Spanish fleet, conveying an army
of about 3500 men, most of them veteran soldiers, under the command of
Don Juan del Aguila, entered the harbour of Kinsale on the 23rd of
September; and the English garrison, which was less than 100 strong,
having evacuated the town on their approach and retired to Cork, the
Spaniards marched in with twenty-five colours, and taking possession of
the town proceeded to fortify themselves there, also in two castles
which defended the harbour, that of Rincorran on the east and Castle
Park on the west.
Mountjoy was at Kilkenny when he
received news of the invasion, and a council of war was hastily
summoned, at which Ormonde and Wingfield urged the Lord Deputy to return
to Dublin and arrange his forces, while Carew should make ready to
prepare for supplies at Cork. But the Lord President of Munster knew his
province, and begged the Lord Deputy not to turn his back on the scene
of action. His doing so, he urged, would be fatal, for it would be
attributed to weakness, and the result would be a general revolt. The
army also, he said, would naturally hasten to the field of conflict all
the more readily when its general had preceded it.
Carew's words carried weight, and when
he backed them up by announcing that he had supplies sufficient to
maintain the whole army for some months, Mountjoy arose from his chair
and embraced him (after the manner of those days), with many hearty
expressions of commendation. The following day the Deputy and President
set out with an escort of 100 horse and reached Kiltinan, where they
were entertained by Lord Dunboyne; the next night was spent at Clonmel,
and the third found the travellers the guests of Lord Roche at his
castle of Glanworth. After a day spent at Cork, Mountjoy proceeded to
reconnoitre, and, taking horse to a point from which he could overlook
Kinsale, he discovered to his astonishment that the Spanish fleet had
departed. Nothing could be done to disturb the enemy until the army
arrived from Dublin, so the Deputy had to content himself with burning
the corn for five miles round Kinsale, and issuing a proclamation
warning the inhabitants to beware of taking part with the Pope and the
King of Spain.
The Spanish general, who could not
understand the spirit of a national rising, and had no sympathy for a
rebellion of any kind, called on the people to rise in the name of the
Pope.
"First of all, ye feign that we would
lead away the pretended subjects of the Queen of England from their
allegiance, to bring them thence under our yoke, which is a very
untruth; for we endeavour not to persuade anybody, that he should deny
true obedience (according to the true Word of God) to his prince; but ye
know well that, for many years since, Elizabeth was deprived of her
kingdom, and all her subjects absolved from their fidelity, by the Pope,
under whom He that reigneth in the heavens, the King of kings, hath
committed all power, that he should root up, destroy, plant, and build
in such sort, that he may punish temporal kings (if it shall be good for
the spiritual building), even to their deposing, which thing hath been
done in the kingdoms of England and Ireland by many Popes, namely, by
Pius V, Gregory XIII, and now by Clement VIII, as it is well known,
whose Bulls are extant amongst us.
"I speak to Catholics, not to froward
heretics (who have fallen from the faith of the Roman Church). Seeing
they are blind leaders of the blind, and such as know not the grounds of
the truth, it is no marvel that they do also disagree from us in this
thing, that our brethren the Catholics, walking in the pureness of
faith, and yielding to the Catholic Church (which is the very pillar of
truth), will easily understand all these things. Therefore it remaineth
that the Irish (which adhere to us) do work with us nothing that is
against God's laws, or their due obedience nay, that which they do is
according to God's Word, and the obedience which they owe the Pope.
"Who is there that hath demolished all
the temporalities of this most flourishing kingdom, except the English?
Look upon this and be ashamed. Whereas we, commiserating the condition
of the Catholics here, have left our most sweet and happy country,
Spain, that is replenished with all good things; and being stirred by
their cries, which pierce the heavens, having reached to the ears of the
Pope and our good King Philip (III), they have (being moved with pity)
at last resolved to send unto you soldiers, silver, gold, and arms, with
a most liberal hand, not to the end they might (according as they feign)
exercise cruelty towards you, O Irish Catholics, but that you may be
happily reduced (being snatched out of the jaws of the Devil, and freed
from their tyranny) into your own pristine ingenuity, and that you may
freely profess the Catholic faith.
"Therefore, my most beloved, seeing
that which you have so many years before desired and begged for, with
prayers and tears, and that now even now the Pope, Christ's Vicar on
earth, doth command you to take arms for the defence of your faith, I
admonish, exhort, and beseech you all all, I say, unto whom these
letters shall come that as soon as possibly you can, you come to us with
your friends and weapons; whosoever shall do this, shall find us
prepared; and we will communicate unto them those things which we
possess; and whosoever shall (despising our wholesome counsel) do
otherwise, and remain in the obedience of the English, we will prosecute
him as an heretic, and a hateful enemy of the Church, even unto death."
There was with Don Aguila, a Spanish
Franciscan, one Matthew de Oviedo, the same as he who a little earlier
brought a crown of Phoenix feathers to Tyrone from the Pope. This Oviedo
had previously been papal commissary with Desmond twenty years; he was
in addition titular Archbishop of Dublin, and was probably the author of
the document of which the text is given above. He now wrote in his own
name to Tyrone and O'Donnell, and Don Juan sent frequently to them
urging upon them to hasten their coming, for the Spanish general's
proclamation had little or no effect. "Don Juan doth procure," a Spanish
authority states, "to draw from the country people, by love and reward
all he can; yet, with all this, findeth no assurance from them; and the
greater part have no will, seeing the small forces which have landed;
but, seeing that there are more, they be still coming, and some of them
receive pay, it will be very requisite to pay and arm them, because till
now many of them are past to the enemy."
The army which Carew had under his
command consisted of 3000 men, of whom, at least, 2000 were Irish, and
the entire royal army at this time mustered about 7000 men. The
Spaniards were not more than about half the number originally destined
for Ireland; but ill-luck seemed to attend this expedition from the
beginning. Owing to the absence of the fleet at Terceira, its departure
was retarded, until the 6000 men originally composing the armament were
diminished to less than 4000; and when the expedition did sail it
encountered a storm that compelled seven of the ships, conveying a chief
part of the artillery and military stores and the arms intended for
distribution to the Irish, to put back to Corunna. Tyrone and O'Donnell
had besought Philip to send his aid to Ulster, where they would be
prepared to co-operate with their Spanish allies, and where a smaller
force would have sufficed, while in Munster they could give no help; and
yet this small army was thrown into an inconsiderable part of the
southern province long after the war there had been totally
extinguished. The Spaniards also had been given to understand that
horses would be provided for the 1600 saddles which they had brought
with them. These certainly would have been supplied them had they landed
at Killybegs ; but, as it was, they were without cavalry, and, worse
luck still, without allies, and surrounded on all sides by active foes.
The northern chiefs, notwithstanding
the distance and the difficulties of so long a journey in winter,
prepared to set out to join their unfortunate allies. O'Donnell, with
characteristic ardour and alacrity, was first on the way. He was joined
by Felim O'Dogherty, MacSweeney - na - tuath, O'Boyle, O'Rourke, the
brother of O'Conor Sligo, the O'Conor Roe, MacDermot, O'Kelly, some of
the O'Flaherties, William and Redmond Burke, and others, and mustered
about 2500 hardy men. FitzMaurice of Kerry, and the Knight of Glin, who
had been with him for some time, were also in this corps. He set out
about the end of October, and had reached Ikerrin, in Tipperary, where
he proposed to await Tyrone, when he found that Sir George Carew, with
1000 foot and 250 horse, was encamped in the plains of Cashel, to cut
off his advance to the south, while Sir Christopher St. Laurence with
the army of the Pale and some irregular forces under Lord Barry's
command were approaching from Leinster. To the west the season rendered
the lofty mountains impassable to an army encumbered with baggage.
Fortunately for O'Donnell, a frost of unusual intensity suddenly set in
and formed a fine open road for him over the bogs. Of this he availed
himself, and by a circuitous route across Slieve Phelim, close to the
Abbey of Owney, he reached Croom on the 23rd of November, after a march
in one day of thirty-two Irish miles. Carew hastened to intercept
O'Donnell on his descent from Slieve Phelim into Limerick, but found he
had already passed, and, despairing of being able to cope with "so
swift-footed a general", he rejoined the Lord Deputy, then besieging
Kinsale, and left O'Donnell to pursue his march.
Mountjoy, having marched from Cork,
encamped at Knock Robin, a hill close to Kinsale. He had to await the
arrival of ships with guns and tools. These came to Cork, and were sent
round to Oyster Haven, where there was no difficulty in unlading them.
The English opened on Rincorran, "but within two or three shot the
carriage of the better culverin brake, and, about two of the clock in
the afternoon, the other received a flaw". In the morning the culverin,
having been repaired, "began to play, and about nine of the clock the
demi-culverin was mounted, which after a few shot brake her axletree;
before three she was remounted, and by that time a cannon likewise
planted, and all three pieces without intermission played". By six
o'clock the besieged called for a parley. They offered to surrender the
fort on condition of being allowed to depart with arms and baggage. This
was refused, and the battery continued until two in the morning, when
some of the besieged attempted to escape, and a score of Spaniards were
taken and thirty killed. The following morning the fort was surrendered.
The Captain having had his leg broken, the second in command was
permitted to carry out his own sword and hand it to Carew. He was a
brave man this Don Bartholomeo Paez de Clavijo, and wished to blow up
the fort with himself and his eighty-six warriors in it. But his men did
not see matters in the same light, and threatened, if he attempted any
such thing, to give him a more ignominious death by casting him over the
walls. Of the Irish all the fighting-men escaped, but "churls", women,
and children were taken. The lives of the Spaniards were spared, and
they were sent to Cork. Among the prisoners was one Don Dermutio,
otherwise Dermot MacCarthy, an Irishman who had been in Florence's
service, and had lived in Spain as a pensioner. As he was considered a
dangerous foe, he was hanged at Cork to prevent him doing any further
damage, and possibly, as in Byng's case long afterwards, pour encourager
les autres.
Meanwhile the siege, as sieges are
wont to do, went slowly, very slowly on. Captain Josiah Bodley, a
brother of the founder of the great Oxford library, proved himself an
admirable engineer officer. Thomond now arrived from England with 1000
foot and 100 horse, and Sir Richard Leveson also arrived with his
squadron and 2000 soldiers. Armed now with all the sinews of war, the
siege began in earnest. Castle Park, on the west side of the harbour,
was taken, and its garrison of seventeen surrendered. The Spaniards made
several desperate sorties, in which numbers were slain on both sides;
but as the principal portion of their artillery was in those ships which
had had to put back, they had only three or four cannon to defend the
fortifications, while the English had about twenty pieces of ordnance
continually playing on the walls of the town, and an army which, on the
20th of November, amounted, according to Fynes Moryson, to 11,800 foot
and 857 horse, but which, in the gross, was probably nearer in numerical
strength to 15,000 men.
The twenty guns having done great
execution on both man and works, Don Juan was called upon to surrender,
but refused to do so, saying he held the town, first for Christ, and
then for the King of Spain, and he now made his greatest effort for
both. About eight o'clock on the 2nd of December 2000 Spaniards sallied
forth and attacked the trenches with great determination. Running
headlong forward, blinded by rain and darkness, they managed to spike a
gun; but being overwhelmed by numbers they were beaten back with a loss
of 200 killed and as many wounded. Next day the missing portion of the
Spanish fleet, under Don Pedro Zubiaur, arrived at Castlehaven, some
twenty-five miles west of Kinsale, and landed five guns and over 700
men, some of whom were put in possession of Fineen O'DriscolPs castle of
Baltimore, or were accommodated in Donnell O'Sullivan Beare's castle of
Dunboy, or at Bearehaven and the fort of Castlehaven. Part of the
English fleet, consisting of four men-of-war and two tenders, under
Admiral Sir Richard Leveson, was sent from Kinsale to attack the
Spaniards at Castlehaven, and a smart action ensued, in which the roar
of Sir Richard's guns was heard in Mountjoy's camp. The result was that
of the twelve Spanish ships only one escaped; the rest were either
"shot-shattered" and sank, or were driven ashore. Leveson was windbound
for twenty-four hours, during which time he was the target of the
Spaniards, who fired 300 rounds at him, but he was nevertheless able to
return uninjured to Kinsale. |
