reappointed

Dublin, were devastated. Skeffington had been reappointed lord lieutenant in 1534, and his arrival Skeffington in Dublin was hailed by the colonists. It was lord lieulate in the year, and the lord lieutenant con- tenant. sidered it inadvisable to begin a campaign that winter. In the early spring hostilities were opened by Betrayal of the siege of Maynooth, one of the strongest of Maynooth. the Geraldine castles, on the borders of Kildare and Meath. Skeffington would never have been able to take

IRISH KNIGHTS AND THEIR ATTENDANTS IN 1521

From a drawing by Albert Dürer, preserved in Vienna. The artist, who was in the Low Countries at this time, and doubtless saw Irish knights and their followers, calls them "War Men" and "Poor Men." The mantles and axes of the latter are typically Irish; the armor and swords of the former are less typical

it had it not been betrayed to him. This loss somewhat discouraged the rebels, and Silken Thomas lost one of his strongest allies, O'Moore of Leix, who was persuaded by the Butlers to desert his cause.

Finally Lord Grey, commander of the English forces

Thomas

1535.

in Ireland, proceeded with a large force against Silken Thomas, and soon put an end to the rebellion. surrenders. Silken Thomas, who had lost all his allies but O'Conor, surrendered on condition that his life should be spared. He sailed for England in 1535 assured of a pardon. On his way to Windsor, however, he was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower, where he remained for eighteen months, when he was executed together with five of his kinsmen who had been captured by Grey. Thus the executioner's axe put an end to the greatness of the house of Kildare. Their lands were devastated, their strongholds torn down, and the glory of their family was eclipsed.

1537.

130. First Geraldine League. There remained, however, two young sons of the ninth earl of Kildare and the Lady Elizabeth Grey. Gerald Fitzgerald, brother and heir of Silken Thomas, was a boy of ten. The earls of Kildare were connected either by blood or by marriage with the chief Norman and native families of Ireland; the two youths were, therefore, well provided with protectors. With the hope of restoring the heir of the house of Kildare to his rights, the O'Donnells, Desmonds, O'Briens, O'Conors, and others combined in what was known as the first Geraldine League. Conn O'Neill was at its head. The king feared the threatening attitude of the league, and was not unwilling to conciliate them. But it was not until fifteen years later that the estates were restored to the heir of the Kildares, and two years more passed before the title was revived. The new earl never regained the position of power and influence held by his forefathers.

SUMMARY

When Henry VII ascended the throne, the Geraldines were the most influential of the Anglo-Irish families. In spite of their Yorkist sympathies Henry deemed it best to extend his favor to them, and placed Garrett, the eighth earl of Kildare, in the office of lord lieutenant. The latter was superseded by Poynings, shortly after the rebellion of Lambert Simnel. Henry now had a law passed known as Poynings' Law, which virtually destroyed the independence of the Irish Parliament, and made it absolutely subservient to the English Privy Council. The Geraldines were becoming daily more powerful. Kildare was reappointed lord lieutenant, and remained in office until his death in 1513. His son, Garrett the younger, ninth earl of Kildare, had two bitter enemies who finally accomplished his downfall, Pierce Roe, earl of Ormond, head of the Butlers, and Cardinal Wolsey. Twice he was summoned to England to answer charges, and acquitted, each time returning to enjoy increased power. The third time his enemies were successful. He was imprisoned in the Tower, and his son, Silken Thomas, a youth of little ability, led an unsuccessful rebellion. The old earl died of a broken heart in 1534. Silken Thomas was executed the following year. The power of the Geraldines was broken, and in years to come the family regained but little of its influence.

During

131. Henry VIII and the Reformation. the reign of Henry VIII of England, events took place in Europe which had a marked influence on Ireland. The various upheavals in the Catholic Church, inaugurated by Martin Luther and carried forward by Zwingli and Calvin, had developed into the movement called the Reformation. Protestantism spread gradually through Germany, Switzerland, and other parts of northern and western Europe. In this movement England at first took no part, though tendencies in the same direction had existed there since the days of John Wiclif. Henry VIII even wrote a book attacking Luther's views, and, in acknowledgment of this defence, the Pope conferred on him the title of "Defender of the Faith," still borne by the sovereigns of England. It is true that Henry VIII later came into open hostility to the Holy See, but this opposition concerned his divorce and remarriage, and not the questions of doctrine and discipline which had been raised by Martin Luther.

Henry's marriage in opposition to the decree of the

Act of

church caused his excommunication. He replied by disavowing the authority of Rome, and declaring himself the only Supreme Head of the Church within his dominions. He embodied this declaration in the Act of Supremacy passed in 1534. Many of the Supremacy leading men in his kingdom refused to acknowledge him as their spiritual head, and were put to death. Two of the most prominent of these were Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More, author of "Utopia."

in England.

Henry VIII was determined to establish his position as Supreme Head of the Church in Ireland also, and he intrusted the execution of his will to Skeffington, the lord lieutenant, Pierce Roe Butler, earl of Ormond, and a friar named George Brown who was appointed archbishop of Dublin. The latter was immediately and vigorously opposed by Archbishop Cromer, the Primate of Ireland, at the See of Armagh, and Henry was forced to recognize the fact that his revolutionary action would not be tamely accepted. In 1536, a parliament was assembled at Dublin, and an act was passed, similar to the English Act of Supremacy, by which Act of Henry VIII was declared Supreme Head of Supremacy the Church in Ireland. All government offi- 1536. cials were ordered to take the oath of supremacy, failure to do so being considered high treason, and involving loss of office, and probable imprisonment and death.

in Ireland.

It was practically impossible to enforce the new order. of things on all the religious houses in Ireland, which at that time were powerful institutions, affiliated with kindred bodies on the continent. Henry VIII determined to solve the matter by suppressing them outright. So far as it was possible to do so, his of the monofficers dispersed the friars and monks, seizing their lands and dispersing their communities. About

Suppression

asteries.