Four Masters. Execution of Lord Conor MacGuire.

**

CHAPTER XII.**

The Four Masters - Capture, Trial, and Execution of Lord Conor MacGuire - Introduction of Quakerism into Dublin.

The Franciscan Convent of Cook Street is also associated with the glorious work of the poor Franciscan Friar, Michael O’Cleary, chief of the Four Masters, since he spent some time there transcribing old material which he found concerning the Saints of Erin. In his transcript of the lives of St. Finnen of Clonard and St. Benean, O’Cleary writes:- “The lives of Finnen and Benean and their sequel were first written by me in the Convent of the Brotherhood at Dublin out of a vellum book which I borrowed from Father Nicholas O’Casey, and I wrote the same again in the House of the Fraternity at Bun Drobhaoisi (Bundroose), 7th March, 1629. The ancient book was written by Gillaglas O’Higgin in the year of Christ, 1471.”

Many may not be aware of the fact that the epoch in Ireland’s history of the year 1641 is closely connected with the Historical Jottings of Cook Street. It is not within the province of this book to discuss in detail “the reason why,” but simply to re-tell the story, trusting my humble attempt to revive the memory of the past may create in readers a spirit of inquiry to follow up the whole facts, of which I, of necessity, can only give an outline. This is more especially applicable to the revolt, arrest, and execution of Lord Conor MacGuire.

O’Conor; in his “History of the Irish Catholics,” writing of the rising of 1641, says:- “The decision of fortune and the prerogative of victory have stamped this unsuccessful effort with the name of rebellion; the malignity of party has blackened it with a conspiracy to massacre the Protestants, without distinction of sex or age, of birth or condition. The impartiality of history must urge that, if allegiance and protection are mutual and reciprocal duties, if the maintenance of civil and religious liberty be obligatory on every individual of the State, if self-preservation be a fair motive for resistance, the struggle of the Irish in 1641 for existence and toleration was a just and lawful exertion, warranted by the first law of nature and the original compact of society. The story of MacGuire’s capture, trial, and execution is extracted from the report published by Aaron Rhames, Dublin, 1724. The information of the Sheriff of Dublin, John Woodcock, is as follows

“The said Examinate deposeth and saith, That he, being one of the Sheriffs of the said City of Dublin, in the Year 1641, having Notice given him in the Night, upon the 22nd of October, in the same Year, of some great Design intended, did by vertue of his Office walk up and down the City that Night; and coming to the House of one Nevill, a Chirurgeon in Castle Street, he understood by the said Nevill, that the Lord Mac-Guire with some 10 or 12 others were there; This Examinate told him, it was fit for his Guests to be in Bed at that Time of Night; but the said Nevill did bring this Examinate word, that the Lord Mac-Guire and his Company were then going to Bed.

“The said Examinate departed, setting a Watch near his House; by which Watch he was informed, that the said Lord Mac-Guire and the rest were goine from the House, and were at the House in Cook Street, of one Kerne, a Taylor; Whereupon he searched the said House, and there found some Hatchets with the Helves newly cut off close to the Hatchets, five Petronels, five or six Swords, three or four small Pistols, five or six Skeins, with other Arms of the Lord Mac-Guire’s in an House of Office in the said House; in another Place divers Pole-Axes, and also behind a Hen-Roost some great Weapons with sharp Pikes of Iron in one End of them, the said Kerne affirming that he knew nothing of any of the Particulars before mentioned, nor how they came in his House.

“The said Examinate shewed all the said Instruments unto the said Lord Justices and Council of Ireland: and thereupon the said Lords Justices and Council, commanded Search to be made for the said Lord Mac-Guire. Upon which the said Examinate, searching narrowly for him, at last found him in a Cock-Loft, with a Cloak wrapt about him, standing by a Bed, the Door lockt upon him, there being no Key to be found; as also the Master of the House flying away, and making an Escape to the Enemy.

“On 10th February, 1644-5 - his trial lasted two days-the Judge who presided was most hostile to him - MacGuire was found guilty and condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. After Judgment pronounced, the King’s Counsel demanded of him, whether he would have any Ministers come to him, to prepare him for his End, and to advise him for the good of his Soul,

“Mac. - I desire none of them. But I desire I may be sent Prisoner to Newgate.

“Counsel - His Reason is, because there are some Popish Priests there.

“Judge - That cannot be. Your Judgment is to return to the Tower; where you may have Ministers (if you please) to return to advise you for your Soul.

“Mac. - I desire you, that some Gentlemen of my own Religion may have Access to me, to confer with me; and some who are my Fellow Prisoners in the Tower, to speak with me in my Keeper’s Presence.

“Judge - You must name some Body in particular.

“Mac. - I desire to confer with Mr. Walter Montague. (Belike he knew him to be a Popish Priest or Jesuit).

“Judge - You must prepare yourself to die against Saturday next.

“Mac. - I desire a Fortnights Time to prepare myself.

“Judge - This is too long a Space, and I cannot grant it; but you shall have convenient Time.

“Mac. - I desire you, that I may have three Days Notice at least, to prepare myself.

“Judge - You shall have three Days Warning, but however delay no Time to prepare yourself.

“Mac. - I desire my Execution to be altered and not according to the Judgment; and that I may not be hanged and quartered.

“Judge-This lies not in my power to grant: But here are some Members of the House of Commons in Court, and you were best address yourself to them, that they may acquaint the House with your Desires.

“Mac. - I shall desire the Gentlemen of the House of Commons, so many as are here, to move in the House in my Behalf; that I may have a Fortnights Time to prepare myself; and that the manner of my Execution may be changed.

“Sir John Clotworthy - My Lord, I have been your School-Fellow heretofore, and have found some Ingenuity in you; and I have seen some Letters of yours, importing some Remorse of Conscience in you for this Fact; and I should be glad to discern the like Ingenuity in you still; and shall move the House, that you may have some Ministers appointed to come to you; and likewise acquaint them with your other Desires.

“Then the Prisoner departing from the Bar, Mr. Pynne advising him to confer with some godly Ministers for the Good and Comfort of his Soul: He answered, that he would have none at all, unless he might have some Romish Priests of his own Religion.

“To which Mr. Pynne replied-My Lord, these Romish Priests are the chief Instruments who have advised you to plot and perpetrate those execrable Treasons for which you are now condemned, and have brought upon you that shameful Judgment of a Traytor, the Execution whereof you even now so earnestly deprecated. Since then they have proved such evil destructive Counsellours to you in your Life, you have great Reason to disclaim them with their bloody Religion, and to seek out better Advisers for you at your Death, lest you eternally lose your Soul, as well as your Life, for the Blood of those many thousand Innocents which have been shed by your Means. To which he, pausing a little, answered - That he was resolved in his Way. Whereupon another Lawyer said-My Lord, you were best to hear both sides. To which he answered, in an obstinate manner - I am settled on one side already, and therefore I desire not to confer with any other. And so departed through the Hall towards the Tower, the People crouding and running about to behold his Person.

“After the Sentence pronounced against the Lord Mac-Guire, as before said, he petitioned Parliament as followeth

“TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORDS AND COMMONS NOW ASSEMBLED IN PARLIAMENT.

The Humble Petition of the Lord Mac-Guire Humbly showeth,

“That your Petitioner stands condemned for his Life, and adjudged to be drawn, hanged and quartered: The Performance whereof (he humbly conceives) in some more favourable manner, will be satisfactory to Justice. And forasmuch as your Petitioner hath hitherto enjoyed the Degree and Dignity of a Lord, which he humbly conceives your Lordships are well acquainted with;

“In tender Consideration whereof; he desireth that your Honours would graciously be pleased, in Mercy, to mitigate the Rigour of his Sentence, and turn it to that Degree which most befits the Denomination he hath: And as he hath been looked on by the Eye of Justice in his Condemnation, so in this Particular he may be pitied, and have Mercy.

“And he shall ever pray, etc.,

“CORNELIUS MAC-GUIRE.

“But this Petition was rejected by the Parliament, and on Thursday, February the 20th, he was drawn on a Sledge from the Tower through London, and so to Tyburn; where being removed into a Cart, he kneeled and prayed a while; After which Sheriff Gibbs spake to him, representing the heinousness of his Crimes, and the vast Number that had been murthered by that Conspiracy for which he was to suffer, and therefore exhorted him to express his Sorrow for it; In answer to which he said - I desire Almight; God to forgive me my Sins.

“Sheriff Gibbs - Do you believe you did well in those wicked Actions?

“Mac-Guire - I have but a short Time, do not trouble me.

“Sher. - Sir, it is but just I should trouble you, that you may not be troubled for ever.

“Mac. - I beseech you, Sir! trouble me not, I have but a little Time to spend.

“Sher. - Sir, I shall give you as much Time after, as you shall spend to give Satisfaction to the People; I do require you, as an Instrument set in God’s stead here, to make an Acknowledgment to the People, whether you are sorry for what you have done or no? whether it be good or no?

“Mac. - I beseech you, do not trouble me; I am not disposed to give you an Account. Pray give me leave to pray.

“Doctor Sibbald - Give Glory to God, that your Soul may not be presented to God with the Blood of so many thousand People.

“Sher. - You are either to go to Heaven or Hell; if you make not an ingenuous Confession, your Case is desperate: Had you any Commission or no?

“Mac: - I tell you that there was no Commission that ever I saw.

“Sher. - Who were Actors or Plotters with you, or gave you any Commission?

“Mac. - For God’s sake, give me leave to depart in Peace.

“Then they asked him if he had not some Pardon or Bull from the Pope for what he did. To which he only answered, I am not of the same Religion with you. And being further urged about a Bull or Pardon, said, I saw none of it : All that I knew, I delivered in my Examinations; all that I said in my Examinations are true; all that I said is right; I beseech you, let me depart in Peace; and so not returning them any Answer to their Questions, he continued mumbling over a Taper which he had in his Hand, as he had done from his first coming.

The Sheriff commanded his Pockets to be searched, whether he had no Bull or Pardon about him, but they found in his Pockets only some beads and a crucifix, which were taken from him: And then Dr. Sibbald said to him-Come, my Lord, leave those and acknowledge your offence to God and the World; One drop of the Blood of Jesus Christ is able to purge away all the heavy Load of Blood that is upon you; it is not your *Ave Marias, *nor these things will do you any Good; But it is *Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata Mundi. *The Lord Mac-Guire seemed not to regard his Discourse, but read out of his Paper to the People as followeth:-

“Since I am here to die, I desire to depart with a quiet Mind, and with the marks of a good Christian, that is, asking Forgiveness first of God, and next of the World. And I do forgive (from the bottom of my Heart) all my Enemies and Offenders, even those that have an Hand in my Death. I die a Roman Catholick, and although I have been a great Sinner, yet am I now by God’s Grace, heartily sorry for all my Sins, and I do most confidently trust to be saved (not by my own Works, but only) by the Passion, Merits and Mercy of my dear Saviour Jesus Christ, into Whose Hand I commend my Soul.

“And then added:- I beseech you, Gentlemen, let me have a little Time to say my Prayers.

“Sher. - Sir, if you Answer ingenuously to those Questions we shall ask you, you shall have Time afterwards. Whether do you account the shedding of the Protestant Blood to be a Sin or not? And whether do you desire Pardon of God for that Sin?

“Mac - I do desire Pardon of God for all my Sins; I cannot resolve you in anything for my Part.

“Sher. - You can tell what your Conscience dictates to you ; Do you think it was a Sin or not?

“Mac. - For my part I cannot determine it.

“Sher. - Then now it seems nothing to you to kill so many?

“Mac-How do you mean killing of them? To tell you my Mind directly, for the killing I do not know that, but I think the Irish had a just Cause for their Wars.

“Sher. - Was there any Assault made upon you? Had you not entered into a Covenant? Had you not engaged by Oath your self to the King?

“Mac. - For Jesus Christ’s sake, I beseech you to give me a little Time to prepare my Self.

“Sher. - Have pity upon your own Soul.

“Mac. - For God’s sake, have pity upon me, and let me say my Prayers.

“Sher. - I say the like to you, in relation to your own Soul. Whether you think the Massacre of so many Thousand Protestants was a good Act? For Jesus Christ’s sake have pity upon your own Soul.

“Mac. - Pray let me have a little Time to say my Prayers.

“All this while his Eye was mostly upon his papers, mumbling over something out of them to himself; whereupon one of the Sheriffs demanding those papers of him, he flung them down. They were taken up and given to the Sheriff. They asked him further, whether there were not some Agreement with the Recusants here in England? Whereunto he answered - I take it upon my death, I do not know that any man knew of it; and after some other such like talk, the Sheriff bidding him prepare himself for death, he said - I do beseech all the Catholicks that are here to pray for me. I beseech God to have mercy upon my soul. And so was executed.”

I may add that Lord McMahon, MacGuire’s companion in the Tower, was, about two months previously, executed. To commemorate the capture of Lord MacGuire, in St. Audeon’s parish it was an annual custom down to the year of Catholic Emancipation, 1829, to toll the bells of St. Audeon’s Church at 12 o’clock on the night of the 22nd October, a special church service being held in the daytime.

In this church, in the year 1663, Elizabeth Fletcher and Elizabeth Smith, who had just arrived in Dublin, addressed the congregation on the principles of Quakerism, for which offence they were committed to Newgate by the Lord Mayor. After a short time they were released, and had a meeting at the house of Richard Fowkes, a tailor, near Polegate, which was the first meeting of Quakers ever held in Dublin.

Cook Street was a refuge for dissenters as well as Roman Catholics. In 1673 the Rev. E. Boyse, a Nonconformist minister, conducted service at a meeting house on the northern side of Cook Street. This body continued its independence till 1787, when it united with the Strand Street congregation on the 29th May, 1787, where were used the Communion cups bequeathed in 1682 by Dr. Thomas Harrison to the Cook Street Society.

To Chapter 13. Contents. Home.