Life of Archbishop Alen, Chancellor.

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CHAPTER XII.

Life Of Lord Chancellor Archbishop Alan, Chancellor.

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John Alen, or Allen, as the name is more constantly written, was born in the year 1476. He was of English descent, and, as far as I can learn, of a Norfolk family, several members of which subsequently settled in Ireland. Having resolved to enter the Church, he acquired an excellent knowledge of classics, and was a student of Oxford, but, for some reason or other, removed to the sister University of Cambridge, where he took the degree of Bachelor of Laws.

Stirring events followed each other in quick succession, and have found enduring place upon the page of history, while John Alan was preparing for holy orders. The wars which desolated England, the short reigns of Edward V. and Richard III., the victory of Bosworth, which made Henry of Lancaster master of the situation and King, under the title of Henry VII., all occurred before the young priest received his first mission. The Church of Sundrithe, in the Diocese of Kent, witnessed his early ministry at the altar. In 1510, he was collated to Aldington, in the same diocese, in which, on his being promoted to the Deanery of Riseburgh, in 1511, he was succeeded by the celebrated Erasmus.

Dean Alan had an eye for better preferment, and, in 1515, became Rector of South Oxyndon, in Essex. About. this time William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, had need of an intelligent and able agent at Rome, and selected Dean Alan, who then obtained his degree of Doctor of Laws, for the place. To the intimacy which then grew up, and was very great between Warham and Alan, we may trace much of the subsequent career of the latter. Warham was a man rough in speech, if we are to judge by his coarse language to the Duchess of Burgundy, when sent by Henry VII. to remonstrate with that Princess for the aid she had given Perkin Warbeck. ‘That how, in her later age, she brought forth, within the space of a few years, two detestable monsters, Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck, and being conceived of these two great babes, was not delivered of them in eight or nine months, but in one hundred and eighty months, for both were fifteen years of age, yet she would be brought to bed of them, and show them openlie, not infants, but of age sufficient to do battle with kings.’ These taunts, as may be supposed, angered the Duchess to the heart. [Holinshed, vol. iii. P. 506.]

Whether Alan considered the service of a Cardinal preferable to that of the Archbishop I know not, but on his return from Rome he was appointed Chaplain to Cardinal Wolsey, then Archbishop of York, who named him Commissary or Judge of his Legatine Court. Warham had made a very efficient Lord Chancellor of England, with the assistance of the Masters in Chancery, and, in difficult cases, he called in the aid of the common law Judges. He thus kept down arrears and gave general satisfaction. [Lord Campbell’s Lives of the Chancellors of England, voi. i. p. 423.] The Cardinal, in selecting Alan for Judge of the Legatine Court, we may be sure was well aware of the character of the Judge whom he chose. At this period, Wolsey was actively engaged in erecting colleges at Oxford, and also in his native town, Ipswich, and among the sources whence he sought to procure funds for this purpose, was the dissolution of monasteries. He and Warham were not friendly towards each other. Wolsey had received the Cardinal’s hat, and his appointment of Legate á Latere gave him jurisdiction and precedence over all ecclesiastics in England, which he employed to mortify the Primate. Wolsey was all-powerful with Henry VIII., whom he caused to dismiss Warham from the office of Chancellor, and confer it on himself. [Lord Campbell’s Lives of the Chancellors of England, voi. i. p. 450.]

The step now taken to enable the Cardinal to continue his works did not please the Primate, who was a friend to the monastic orders. This process of suppressing monasteries was actively promoted by his Chaplain Alan, and as no doubt this suppression was little short of a startling revolution, it caused the originators, as well as all who promoted their project, to be regarded very differently by those who approved or condemned this measure. A very eminent clergyman, when referring to the labours of the monks, who uses very eulogistic terms towards them, thus speaks of them as reclaimers and improvers of the soil:- ‘The usual indomitable energy of the monks has done much to cover barren spots with cultivation; but, like an imperfect garment, it only calls attention to the nakedness it would fain conceal. Yet I saw phalanxes of sheaves along the mountain side, and many unpromising spots were fragrant with sweet clover. Almost every Protestant in books, letters, and conversations, is ready with the hack phrases of “lazy monks,” “drones of, monasteries,” “fatteners upon the poor,” &c. Yet, if they would only wander up river courses, through sequestered valleys, and on sterile hills, they would see how, under the toiling hand of the monks, green grass and yellow corn encroached upon black heath and unhealthy fen, how lordly and precious woods rose upon unproductive steeps, how waters became a blessing where they had been a curse, irrigating the lands which once they ravaged; how poor communities were held together by their alms in unhopeful places for years, till the constrained earth yielded her reluctant fruits. If we are to add to this the improvements in husbandry and domestic arts, which we owe to the monks, and the copies of the Holy Scriptures, and other good books, multiplied by their astonishingly indefatigable pens, when printing was not, we surely shall not be so ready with our “drones.”’ [Life and Letters of the Rev. Frederick W. Faber.]

Considerations such as these did not deter Cardinal Wolsey or his Legatine Judge, John Alan, and others of the King’s Court, from shutting up the monasteries and turning the revenues into cash. It was a project which, according to the remarks of Dr. Godwin, Bishop of Hereford, ‘like the gold of Tholouse, brought either destruction or some great calamity on all who touched it.’ Two of them fought a duel, one was killed, and the other hanged; A third threw himself headlong into a well; and a fourth, though a rich man, came after to beg his bread; Wolsey was thrown out of the King’s favour, and died miserably; and the Pope, who gave his consent to the dissolution, lived to see Rome taken and plundered by the Imperial army, himself and Cardinals made prisoners, and become the sport and mockery of the licentious multitude. Alan’s own fate we shall learn in the termination of his life. Wood is very severe with him for his unworthy conduct in the case of the dissolved Priory of Daventry, Northamptonshire. [Athenae Oxonienses, vol. ii. P. 742.]

Jealousy prevailed between Alan and Stephen Gardiner, [Gardiner was Wolsey’s confidant. He calls him ‘primarium secretissimorum consiliorum secretarium, mei dimidium, et quo neminem habes cariorem.’ Gardiner was Secretary of State to Henry VIII., Bishop of Winchester, and Lord Chancellor of England. He died in 1555.] another of Wolsey’s chaplains, and, for the purpose of preventing a continuance of their contentions, which certainly was not creditable to the character of clergymen, Wolsey thought better to part them. He was not unmindful of the services Alan had rendered him in the dissolution of the monasteries, and, on the death of Archbishop Inge, in 1528, despite the opposition of the Earl of Kildare, Wolsey’s all-powerful influence in Rome and England procured for Alan, not only the Archbishopric of Dublin, but the Lord Chancellorship of Ireland. [Patent, September 19, 1528. 20 Hen. VIII.] In 1529, he was confirmed by the Pope in this See, and, in 1530, held a Consistory in Dublin, of which the records remain. He also promulgated rules for regulating his Metropolitan Court in St. Patrick’s. [Mason’s St. Patrick, p. 146.]

In 151, the Chancellor Archbishop addressed the following letter to Lord Cromwell. He first mentioned many obligations conferred on him by Cromwell. [Cromwell was another protégé of Wolsey. He was son of a fuller, had been a trooper, then a merchant’s clerk, Wolsey’s steward, Member of Parliament, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Chamberlain, and Lord Cromwell.] The Chancelbr continues:- ‘For the which your gentle manners I give you entire thanks, accordingly, no less now in heart, mouth, and writing, than I trust heretocome, if ever it fortune me to be able in deeds and acts effectually. In accomplishment whereof, and to the intent I may the sooner perform this my said unfeigned promise, I must instantly require you (necessitas facit licitum quod alias est illicitum) to move my Sovereign Lord, the King’s good grace, to give unto me a prebend of 100l. per annum in comnmendam, to maintain the state that his highness hath called me unto, being Primate of his Church in Ireland, and Chancellor of the same, without my merits and by obedience against my will truly. And here with us I cannot have the forty mark fee of the Chancellorship, now two years and a half past in arrear, nor yet such money as I laid out upon the King’s letters, as well for ships and mariners’ wages, as for reparation done in the King’s Chancery, also his castle. Sir, afore God I desire none translation, nor any manner of benefice of cure, or yet of dignity, but only (if it might please the King’s highness to have some compassion upon me) a prebend which should cause no murmur of absenty from thence, whereby I might keep a dozen yeomen archers in wages and livery, when I lie in the marches upon the Church lands, to keep me in the King’s service from his Irish enemies and English rebels. So knoweth God, who may send you (when I am out of half my debt) this next year, one hobby, one hawk, and one Limerick mantle, which three things be all the commodities for a gentleman’s pleasure in these partes.’ [State Papers, temp. Henry VIII.]

From this very pressing appeal I find the Court of Chancery was not in a flourishing condition, either in structure or in business, The Chancellor having to expend his own money in needful repairs shows the one, and his small stipend of forty marks having fallen into arrears for two years and a half shows the other; for had there been much business in Court I presume the fee would have been paid.

In 1532, Gerald Earl of Kildare was appointed Deputy to Henry Duke of Richmond, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. There are many anecdotes told of this Earl. One is, that being brought before Henry and accused of burning a church he admitted the fact, but alleged as excuse, ‘that he thought the Archbishop was in it.’ On being asked ‘who he would select as his counsel to undertake his defence,’ he pointed to the King, saying, ‘I don’t desire to go beyond this good fellow here.’ On one of the Lords of the Council saying, ‘All Ireland cannot govern this man.’ ‘Then,’ said the King, ‘he shall govern all Ireland,’ and appointed him Viceroy. As considerable ill-feeling had long subsisted between the Earl and Archbishop Alan, one of the first acts of the Lord Deputy was to displace Alan from the office of Lord Chancellor, and transfer the custody of the Great Seal to George Cromer, Archbishop of Armagh, a man of considerable ability and a devoted friend to the house of Kildare.

There were several discontented men about the castle ready to side with the displaced Chancellor, and several meetings were privately held, the object being to sow feelings of distrust of the Lord Deputy in the breast of the King. Alan from his high rank, great talents, and his recent grievance, naturally took the lead in their meetings, and, in 1533, procured the Privy Council of Ireland to sign a memorial to the King, setting forth the misgovernment of Ireland, and praying redress. This document states ‘the great decay of this land, which is so far fallen into misery, and brought into such ruin that neither the English order, tongue, nor habit be used, nor the King’s laws obeyed above twenty miles in compass.’ It advises ‘that all the lords and gentry within the four shires, Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Uriel (Louth) be compelled to obey the King’s laws. [State Papers, temp. Henry VIII.]

It also deplores the mischief arising from the black mail and tributes, which the Irish by violence obtained from the King’s subjects. It condemns admitting of natives of Ireland to the government of the country, and also to the constant change of Lords Deputy. [Ibid.]

The negligent manner in which the Records of the country were then kept was severely censured, as likewise the way in which the Exchequer was managed, and the memorial recommended sending thither to the government of Ireland, some loyal subject from the realm of England, whose sole object should be the honour and interest of the Crown, unconnected with Irish factions, and uninfluenced by prepossession or prejudice; a most valuable suggestion well worthy the consideration of those who regard the welfare of the United Kingdom.

The memorial had due effect with Henry VIII. No doubt the animosity of Alan’s patron, the potent Cardinal, to the Earl of Kildare was not allowed to cool, and it was rumoured the Deputy would be summoned from Ireland to account for his conduct, if not to answer a most serious bill of indictment. As no standing army had existence, all the great Lords, spiritual and temporal, had to contribute certain numbers of men. Regulations were made in 1534, respecting the number of soldiers to be sent by the Archbishops and other spiritual dignitaries to hostings. The Archbishop of Dublin was rated at twenty able archers or gunners appointed for the war; the Archbishop of Armagh, sixteen ditto.

The rumour proved well founded, Gerald, ninth Earl of Kildare, was summoned ,to England by Henry VIII. to answer certain charges of treason against the English rule in Ireland. He was at no loss to guess at whose instigation. He summoned a council at Drogheda, where in the presence of the Lords he nominated his son Thomas Lord Offaly Vice Deputy during his absence. This young nobleman, the, ‘Silken Thomas’ [So called from silken fringes ornamenting the caparisons of his horse, also floating from the helmets of his attendant knights.] of Irish history, was then only twenty years of age, and of a ‘hot and active temper.’ Previous to his departure the Earl addressed a very sage discourse to his son, advising him the course which he should pursue, and the advice he ought to take. I give the following extract from this discourse to his son in the presence of the council of Ireland:-

‘Wherefore my sonne, consider that it be easy to raze, harde to buylde, and in all your affayrs be schooled by this boorde, that for wisdom is able, and for the entier affection it beareth your house, will be found willing to lesson you with sound and sage advice. For albeit in authoritie you rule them, yet in counsaile they must rule you. My sonne, you know that my late maimes stifleth my talk, otherwise I would have grated longer on this matter, for a good tale may be twice told, and a sound advice eftsoones itirated, taketh the deeper impression in the attentive hearer his mind. But although my fatherly affection requireth my discourse to be longer, yet I trust that your good inclination asketh it to be shorter, and upon that assurance, here, in the presence of this honorably assembly, I delyver you this sword.’ [Holinshed, p. 89.]

Shortly after the Earl’s departure the young Deputy found those who held high offices in the Government were not pleasant persons to associate with. Many were Alan’s creatures and rather desirous to embarrass than assist the Deputy. At a banquet which he gave to the Lords of the Council and the Chief Officers of State, the conversation turning on heraldry, John Alan, Master of the Rolls, a relation of the Archbishop’s, said to Lord Offaly, ‘My Lord, your house giveth the marmoset, whose propertie is to eate his own tail,’ alluding to the Fitz Gerald supporters. The Deputy promptly replied he ‘had been fedde by his tail, and should take care that his tail did not eate him,’ Another day, happening to be late at the Council, the Lord Archbishop Alan petulantly exclaimed, ‘My Lords, is it not a prettie matter that we all should stay thus long for a boy?’ The Deputy, who, at the moment was coming up stairs and heard the remark, at once replied, ‘My Lords, I am heartily sorry that you stayed thus long for a boy.’ This put the Archbishop out of countenance. Both the Alans, who were enemies of the Geraldines, were much irritated by these taunts. [The Earls of Kildare, by the Marquis of Kildare, p. 129.]

Proceedings were taken to curtail the power of the Geraldines, and it is extremely probable Archbishop Alan lent them his best aid. When the Earl reached London he was committed to the Tower, and a rumour was spread he was to be beheaded; and that Lord Offaly and his uncles were to be apprehended. Letters were also written by persons in office ‘howe the Earl of Kildare was already cut shorter, as his issue presently should bee.’

‘One of these letters,’ relates the Marquis of Kildare, [Ibid. p. 130.] ‘fell into the hands of a priest, who threw it among other papers, meaning to peruse it at leisure. A gentleman, a retainer of Lord Offaly’s, who lodged with the priest, sought in the morning when he rose for some paper to draw on his strayt stockings, and taking this letter, bore it away in the heel of his stocking. At night he found the paper, and on reading it saw that it announced the Earl’s death. He immediately mounted his horse and took the letter to James Delahide, one of Lord Offaly’s principal counsellors, who showed it to Lord Offaly, and, without further inquiry, advised him to rebel openly against the King, as the only means of avenging his father, and saving himself. Lord Offaly being “rash and headlong, and assuring himself that the knot of all Irelande was twisted under his girdle,” consulted O’Neill, O’Connor, and other friends of his father, who confirmed what Delahide had said, and, in order that he might prosecute the war, delivered to him his father’s “Manors, Castles, garrisons, goods, and substances, of which they had charge, together with a large amount of the King’s ordnance and artillery that were in the Castles.”’

The advice of these fiery chieftains was, however, opposed by wiser heads, the best friends of the Earl of Kildare - Thomas Earl of Desmond, [Husband of the celebrated Catherine, styled the Old Countess of Desmond, and with good reason. She was daughter of Sir John Fitz Gerald of Decies; born at Dromana (now the seat of Lord Stuart de Decies) in 1464, tempore Edward IV. In 1484 she married Thomas Fitzgerald, who, in 1529, became twelfth Earl of Desmond. Though strongly urged by Lord Offaly to join the revolt, he remained quietly at Youghal, and tried to dissuade him, but in vain. The Earl died in 1534, and the widowed Countess, then in her seventieth year, survived for seventy years longer, having lived at her castle of Inchequin until she reached the extraordinary age of one hundred and forty years. Her death was caused by a fall from a tree, into which this lively old lady had climbed to gather nuts. A very interesting account of her is given in Sir Bernard Burke’s Vicissitudes of Families.] Sir Thomas Eustace, created Lord Baltinglass, Edmund Lord Kerry, James, Lord Slane, the Lord Chancellor Cromner, a singularly able and prudent prelate - one, and all, endeavoured to dissuade the vain and impetuous young nobleman from this mad enterprise. He was not to be diverted from his purpose; with that fatal impetuosity and enthusiasm which, in after years, impelled another of his race to risk all for his, native land, to peril life and rank, to leave wife and children, to whom he was so justly dear, and join those among whom the paid spy and the hired betrayer ever have their venal place, Lord Offaly unfurled the standard of revolt. It must have been a stirring sight for the citizens of Dublin, when the sun streamed on the narrow streets of the capital of the pale, on the Feast of St. Barnaby, June 11, 1534, to witness the gallant cavalcade of a hundred and forty mail-clad riders, with silken streamers from their helmets, attending as a body guard on the young and noble-looking Lord Offaly, as he rode through Dame’s Gate to St. Mary’s Abbey, [Dublin at this period was very different from the crowded and well-built city of today. The north side, then called Ostman or Oxmantown, consisted of but few streets in the neighbourhood of the church of St. Michans. These, called St. Mary’s Lane, Church Street, and Pill Lane, extended to the only bridge over the Liffey, opposite Bridge Street, which the passengers entered, through Bridge Gate. Walls of considerable height surrounded the south side of what was called the city. Beside the Bridge Gate, there were many other gates - Ormond’s Gate, New Gate, St. Nicholas Gate, Pale Gate, and Dame’s Gate, The tide flowed near the last, and a passage extended from it to the Castle, then defended by flanking towers, and was a place of considerable strength.] bent on casting a brave defiance in the face of the Lords of the council; loud shouts rose along the crowded streets, for we may be sure that ‘Thamaus an Sioda,’ or Silken Thomas as he was usually called, was beloved by the men and adored by the women. On swept the troops, their weapons glittering in the sun, as sword and spear point, steel bit and bridle rein, caught the rays. Having arrived at St. Mary’s Abbey, where the council were already assembled, they had not to wait this time for the boy. The boy now clad in complete armour, with stern resolve depicted on his eager yet youthful face, strode haughtily to the vacant place at the head of the council board. Scarcely was he seated when his knights also entered in armour, to the astonishment of these members of the council who were not aware of the report then spread. Having commanded silence, Lord Offaly said - ‘Howsoever injuriously we be handled, and forced to defend ourself in arms, when neither our service nor our good meaning towards our Prince’s Crown availeth, yet say not hereafter, but that, in this open hostility, which we here profess and proclaim, we have showed ourselves no villains, nor churls, but, warriors and gentlemen. This sword of estate is yours and not mine. I received it with an oath, and have used it to your benefit. I should abstain mine honour if I turned the same to your annoyance. Now have I need of mine own sword, which I dare trust. As for the common sword, it flattereth me with a painted scabbard, but hath, indeed, a pestilent edge, already bathed in the Geraldine blood, and now is newly whetted in hope of a further distinction. Therefore save yourselves from us, as from open enemies. I am none of Henry’s Deputie, I am his foe! I have more mind to conquer than to govern: to meet him in the field than to serve him in office. If all the hearts of England and Ireland that have cause thereto would join in this quarrel (as I hope they will) then should he soon aby (as I trust he shall) for his tyranny, for which the age to come may lawfully range him up among the ancient tyrants of most abominable and hateful memory.’ [Hollinshed’s History of Ireland, p. 78.]

So saying he presented the Sword of State (symbol of British rule in Ireland) to the Lord Chancellor; but he, a mild and gentle Prelate, and a sincere friend to the family of Kildare, with tears in his eyes, again tried by a very argumentative speech [Vide post. P. 182.] to dissuade Lord Offaly from his course. At this moment Nelan, an Irish bard, who accompanied the young Geraldine, commenced chanting, in Irish, an heroic poem in honour of Silken Thomas, reproaching him for tarrying so long. The harp of the minstrel prevailed against the counsels of the sage Chancellor; roused by the rebuke of the poet, turning to the Chancellor, Lord Offaly said:-

‘My Lord Chancellor, I came not hither to take advice what I should do, but to give you to understand what I had a mind to do. It is easy for the sound to counsel the sick; but if the sore hath smarteth you as much as it festereth me, you would be percase as impatient as I am. As you would wish me to honour my Prince, so duty willeth me to reverence my father. Wherefore he that will, with such tyranny, execute mine innocent parent, and withal threaten my destruction, I may not, nor will not, hold him for my King. And yet, in truth, he never yet was our King, but our Lord, as his progenitors have been before him. But if it be my hap to miscarry, as you seem to prognosticate, catch that catch may; I will take the market as it riseth, and will choose rather to die with valiantness and liberty than to live under King Henry in bondage and villany.’ [Ibid. p. 88.]

On these words he cast the sword on the council table and left the room, accompanied by his knights. He had no sooner quitted the Chamber, than the Lords of the Council deliberated what was best to be done. They sent a message to the Mayor of Dublin, ordering the arrest of Lord Offaly and his adherents; but this was fruitless, as the Mayor had no power to enable him to effect an affair of such magnitude. Chief Baron Finglass, wrote to Lord Cromwell, Secretary of State, urging him to send some troops to meet the rebels without delay; and, meantime, the Chief Baron, with Archbishop Alan, who knew he could expect no mercy if captured, sought refuge in the Castle of Dublin. Anxious to increase his forces by obtaining co-operation with the troops of the powerful house of Ormond, Lord Offaly sent messages to his cousin, Lord Butler, the Earl of Ormond’s son, offering to divide the kingdom with him, if he would unite his aid; but the proposition met with an indignant refusal. Many nobles and chiefs, however, combined with the Geraldines, and the Lord Archbishop, fearing the Castle of Dublin would be taken, determined to make his escape into England. He consulted a confidential servant, named Bartholomew Fitz Gerald, who provided a small vessel, in which the Archbishop embarked, near Dame’s Gate on July 11, 1534. The cruel destinies were unpropitious; the Archbishop was baffled; the wind proving contrary, the vessel ran ashore near Clontarf, and the Prelate with his attendants, landed most reluctantly and sought the nearest shelter. They were concealed in a mansion at Artane, the seat of a Mr. Hothe.

In later years I have passed many a happy day in the present Artane, and traced in the demesne of my friend, the late Mathew Callaghan, Esq., the site of the former mansion, where the tragedy I am about to record took place. Whether the sailors proclaimed who was their passenger, or the Geraldine in the Archbishop’s service proved false to his trust, or betrayed Archbishop Alan to his liege Lord, I cannot vouch; but a few hours after the Archbishop staking up his abode in Artane, Lord Offaly was apprised that escape was thus far ineffectual. He at once ordered the Archbishop into custody, and, determined to have his orders promptly executed, he started in company with two of his uncles, Sir James and Oliver Fitz Gerald, escorted by forty soldiers. In the early dawn of a summer morning the band of merciless soldiers entirely surrounded Mr. Hothe’s house. Having thus cut off the possibility of escape, Lord Offaly sent two of his escort to bring forth the Archbishop. The Prelate was in bed dreaming, perhaps, he was out of danger, when he was rudely shaken. He was not allowed a moment to dress himself, for in their rude haste, these ruthless men dragged the Prelate almost naked before their leader. Alarmed, as well he might be, by this discourteous and inhuman conduct, the Archbishop fell on his knees before Lord Offaly and ‘besought him not to remember former injuries, but to consider his present calamity, and, whatever malice he might bear his person, to respect his calling.’ [D’Alton’s Archbishops of Dublin, p. 195.]

It would be strange if any Christian could remain unmoved by an appeal thus made. Lord Offaly, struck with pity, desired the Archbishop to be removed, using the Irish words ‘beir naim an bodach’ (take away the churl). But his followers mistaking it for an order of summary execution instantly beat out the Archbishop’s brains.

Such was, the end of Archbishop Alan. Whether his death was intended by Lord Offaly or not is unknown. He himself declared what he meant was, that the Archbishop should be removed in custody; but the prevailing impression on the minds of contemporary writers was, that he was guilty of giving the order which caused the Archbishop’s death. It is said when the account of these calamitous acts reached the imprisoned Earl his heart was broken, well knowing the inevitable result. The cold hand of death rescued him from the sharp edge of the headman’s axe.

The fury of the King was unbounded, and Henry was not a man to be bearded with impunity; he resolved to be revenged for the insult offered by Lord Offaly, and he kept his stern resolve.

Lord Chancellor Alan was a careful observer of Irish antiquities, and compiled the ‘Liber Niger,’ which D’Alton describes as a mine of antiquarian treasures relating to the Archdiocese of Dublin. He also left an account of the state of the churches in his diocese, a work which he calls ‘Repertorium Viride.’ He wrote ‘Epistola de Pallii significatione activâ et passivâ,’ and a work entitled ‘De consuetudinibus ac statutis in tuitoriis causis observandis.” [Athenae Oxon, vi. 76.]

The deaths of the Geraldines followed fatally the slaughter of the Archbishop. The young and impetuous Silken Thomas was taken prisoner and beheaded in London on February 3, 1536. Five of his uncles, charged with aiding and abetting his rebellion, expiated their treason on fatal Tyburn; they were hanged and quartered. This noble race was preserved to reach our time through Gerald the younger son of the Earl of Kildare, who was prudently conveyed to Italy, the cradle of the race. The principal part of the estates of his family were restored to the young Earl by King Edward VI. and the ancient honours by Queen Mary. An Act of Parliament passed in the time of Queen Elizabeth freed him from the attainder, and in the person of his Grace the Duke of Leinster, his son, the Marquis of Kildare, and his grandson, Lord Offaly, the family is well represented at present.

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