Life of Sir Thomas Cusack.

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CHAPTER XV.

Life Of Sir Thomas Cusack To The Death Of Henry VIII. **

The family of Cusack is of great antiquity. Sir Bernard Burke, in his valuable Dictionary of ‘Landed Gentry,’ traces them from the Sieurs de Cusac, an illustrious race in Guienne, whence they passed with the Norman chivalry who conquered under William on the plains of Hastings. [They bear for their crest a mermaid, holding in the dexter hand a sword, in the sinister a sceptre. The motto is a pious one: Ave Maria plene gratia. A second motto is also indicative of religious faith: En Dien est mon espoir. This last motto, when taken in conjunction with the fact that this family obtained place and power in Ireland immediately after the settlement of the Anglo-Norman here, inclines me to the opinion of the French, in preference to the Irish origin.] Hence they accompanied John into Ireland. In the same careful work, another, and more national descent is given. That the race have sprung from Olioll Ollum, King of Munster, a.d. 24, who was ancestor of Isog, head of the Clanna Isog, or Cusack, of Clare, where they held large territories as a sept of the Macnamaras.

A brief glance at the high offices filled by members of this family, sufficiently attest the repute in which they were held. Geoffrey de Cusack, Lord of Killeen, was summoned to the first Irish parliament a.d. 1295. A dependant of this nobleman, named Joan, married Sir Christopher Plunkett, and, being an heiress, brought Killeen, Castle, County Meath, as portion of her estate to her husband. It has since been the family residence of the Earls of Fingall, and gives the title of Viscount to the eldest son of that nobleman, In 1309, Walter de Cusack was summoned to the Parliament of Kilkenny, and, a little later, Sir John Cusack, Lord of Beaupeyr and Gerardstown, in the County of Meath, had also summons to Parliament. Nor was it alone for wisdom in the councils of the nation the Cusacks were distinguished. They were famed for deeds of arms. On the invasion by the Scots, when Edward Bruce, fired by the victory gained by his brother Robert over the English at Bannockburn, sought in Ireland a fresh field for his prowess, and, united with the Northern Irish, spread the crimson tide of war over Erin, he advanced to the walls of Dublin, and struck such terror into the breasts of the citizens that they set fire to the suburbs, burning their Cathedral in their haste - the representative of the family of Cusack was ready to oppose him. This was John Cusack, second Lord of Gerardstown, who, with his brothers and men-at-arms, hastened to the field. They joined the troops led on by Sir John Bermingham against the Scots, who had retired to the friendly shelter of the Ulster hills. The opposing forces met near Dundalk, and a desperate conflict ensued. It was long and bloody; the troops were well matched, and fought with equal bravery, but an English Knight, named Maupas, encountered the Scottish leader in single combat, and gained a victory at the cost of his life, for his body was discovered lying over the corpse of his valiant foe. The death of Bruce terminated the engagement, and the Lord of Gerardstown, with his brothers Walter and Simon, were knighted on the field as a reward for their distinguished valour. [History of Dundalk by D’Alton and O’Flanagan, c. vi.]

Sir Geoffrey Cusack married the daughter and heiress of Adam Petit, who brought him the Manors of Cloney and Gonock, in frank marriage. A grandson of Sir Geoffrey, named John, married the daughter and heiress of Robert Cosyne of Cosyneston (now Cussington), who thus added this property to the other possessions of the Cusacks. From this marriage lineally descended John Cusack of Cussington, who married Alison, daughter of William Wellesley, of Dangan, and Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Plunkett, of Rathmore. The Wellesleys, or Wesleys, first came to Ireland in 1172; the founder of the Irish branch having filled the honourable office of standard-bearer to Henry II., which, probably, entitles them to bear the standard in the crest. They obtained various grants of land in Meath and Kildare in consideration of military services, and were soon recognised among the magnates of the land. William de Wellesley sat in the Irish Parliament in a.d. 1330 as Baron of Novagh, and Sir Richard de Wellesley was Sheriff of Kildare in a.d. 1418. They, like the Cusacks, had success in the matrimonial line, for, by the marriage of Sir Richard Wellesley with Johanna, daughter of Sir Nicholas de Castlemartin, he obtained the manors of Dangan and Mornington. From them descended Alison, wife of John Cusack, of Cussington. This marriage was blessed with increase; and, about the year 1490, Thomas Cusack, the subject of my present memoir, was born. The absence of any detailed. account of this great man, who filled so large a space in public estimation, renders it impossible for me to give any very precise narrative of his earlier years. It is quite true, however, that his parents resolved he should not incur the reproach conveyed in the representation of the then Archbishop of Dublin, Walter Fitz Simon, to King Henry VII., who deplored the state of young Irishmen - spending their time in idleness, disdaining trade, neglecting to qualify themselves for any learned profession, but depending entirely on the eldest son or head of the family, became useless to the public. The condition of the lower orders was not much better. Indeed, as the organisation of society is so closely connected that one class is, to a great degree the reflex of others, when we find habits of unthrift and improvidence in the superior, we generally remark the like disposition in those of inferior rank.

The mansion house of John Cusack being situate in the County Meath, there passed the youth of his children. Meath, signifying a flat country, is named from its almost uniformly level surface. Here no mountains stretch their sheltering arms to embrace the plains. No lofty peaks tower to the clouds, few highlands break the expanse of fertile champagne country. It is full of historic memories. Here on the hill of Tara stood the Teamor (Great House) where the national convention was held, when Ireland was governed by her native Kings. It was here St. Patrick first promulgated the Christian doctrine, and, after the advent of the English, King Henry II. granted the ancient kingdom of Meath to one of his principal warriors, Hugh de Lacy. Situated within the limits of the Pale and adjoining Dublin - it soon boasted a numerous band of resident nobles and gentlemen, and castles of Nangle’s, Phepoes, Missetts, De Bathes, and De Gernons, are extant in the walls of Surlogstown, Dunmoe, Athlumney, Slane, and Athcarne.

In this district, consecrated by the piety of St. Patrick and his successors, there arose many abodes of religious men; and at Duleek, Navan, Scryne, Slane, and other towns, monasteries were established. Here the pious monks diffused the blessing of religious teaching to the inhabitants, and, labouring in their scriptorium, transcribed those classic works which, but for their protection, would have been lost to us. ‘Had not these retreats,’ observes the eloquent historian Macaulay, ‘been scattered among the huts of a miserable peasantry and the castles of a ferocious aristocracy, European society would have consisted merely of beasts of burden and beasts of prey. The Church has been many times likened to the Ark which we read of in the book of Genesis, but never was the resemblance more complete than during those dark times when alone it rode, amid the gloom and the tempest, over that deluge in which all that remained of ancient power and ancient wisdom lay ingulfed.’ To the neighbouring school of Duleek, most probably, Thomas Cusack owed the seeds of learning first implanted in his breast, and from those revered lips of the monks he learned the languages of Greece and Rome. Duleek, in the vicinity of his paternal mansion, had long gained a well-merited name for sanctity. It derived its name, signifying ‘A house of stone,’ from a church said to be built by St. Patrick. Here the zealous St. Kinnian presided, but located near the coast; its reputation for holiness was no protection from the marauding Northmen, and it was often plundered. When Thomas Cusack resolved to study law he had to repair to England, for I cannot find there was any recourse to Preston’s Inn, and am disposed to concur in the remarks of an able Irish solicitor, Mr. Littledale, who observes, ‘This kingdom at an early period of English rule, seems to have been particularly unfortunate in the want of legal education even of the highest of its law officers, for we find that, in 1320, (14 Edw. II.) the liege people of Ireland petitioned Parliament “That inasmuch as the law is badly kept for want of wise justices, the King do order that in his Common Bench there be men knowing the law.’ [Rot. Parl. I. 386.] It cannot have been the case that Preston’s Inn was kept up in the time of Henry VIII., for we find from the State Papers extant of that time, that the Judges and members of the Bar in term times lodged with merchants in the city of Dublin, so that I am inclined to think Preston’s Inn must have fallen into ruin.’ [Littledale, On Legal Education in Ireland.]

When young Cusack entered as a student at law, either here or in England, the students at this period were divided into three classes. [Coke’s Reports (a.d. 1628), Preface, p. 2] ‘First, mootmen, which are those that argue readers’ cases in the Houses of Chancery, both in terms and grand vacations, but of these, after eight years’ study, or thereabouts, are chosen utter Barristers; but of the latter, Barristers, after they have been of that degree twelve years at least, are chosen Benchers, or Antients: of which one that is of the puisne sort reads yearly in summer vacation, and one of the Antients that hath formerly read, reads in Lent vacation, and is called a Double Reader; it being commonly betwixt his first and second reading about nine or ten years; out ,of which Double Readers the King makes choice of his Attorney and Solicitor-General, &c., and of these readers are Serjeants chosen, and out of them the King electeth two or three, as he pleaseth, to be his serjeants; and out of them are the judges chosen.’

Shortly before this time when young Cusack was preparing for his law studies, the kindly feelings towards students from Ireland which now exists was not established. Some of the Inns of Court in England would not receive Irish students. In 1414 a statute enacted in not very complimentary terms - ‘That for the quietness and tranquillity of England, and for the increase and maintenance of Ireland, all Irish, and Irish mendicant clerks called Deacons should quit the kingdom by a certain time, on pain of life and limb, except graduates in the schools, and serjeants and apprentices of the law, and those who had inheritances in England, and religious persons. Lincoln’s Inn passed a rule in the 16 Henry VI. that Irishmen should not be admitted into their society.’ [Rot. Parl. IV. 13, * in dorso*.] This conduct produced results so disastrous that the Privy Council in Ireland addressed the following remonstrance to the English Council. ‘And where dyverse gentlemen of this realm mynding to study the causes in the Innes of Courte in England, be by the resolutions of the said Innes restranyed from the same, so that in the Myddle Temple ys suffered to be none, we shall moste hartily beseche your Lordshipes, that, considering the cyvilite that this Realm ys now towarde, so as ther ys like to resorte thither from hens, for the purpose aforesaid, more students than did hitherto, and for that by the lawes by them in the said Innes lerned and to be lerned, the cyvilitie and good order of this Realme ys moche mayntayned, and like to be more, to move the Kynges Highnes that all gentlemen of that countrey repairing to any Inne of Courte their to study the lawes may be admytted as other the King’s subjects be.’

This reasonable proposition was favourably received,. and the King replied ‘that he had taken order with his Council,’ and ‘that all our subgiettes of that our realme resorting hither to study our lawes shal be as free in all the Innes of Courte as our subgiettes of this realme be.’ [State Papers, III. 417, 430.] Lincoln’s Inn submitted, and, set apart a chamber called the ‘Dove house’ (rather a sentimental name for an Inn of Court, where few of those very innocent creatures could find rest), for Irish students, thence called the Irishman’s chamber. So we may conclude Master Thomas Cusack consorted with the doves in the Irishman’s chamber.

In early times, I doubt not, this compulsory attendance in London was productive of great advantage to the Irish law students, however questionable the necessity for its observance now. The order and method observed in the course of procedure at Westminster Hall, the decorum and respect prevalent in the Courts, the able men who presided on the Bench and practised at the Bar, must have impressed itself strongly on the minds of the students, and given an influence to their conduct, a decorous tone and demeanour greatly beneficial during their career at the Irish Bar. Now that all these can be acquired in the precincts of our Four Courts, Dublin, I may be permitted to question the necessity for our students continuing to resort to English Inns. Our laws differ in some respects from the English, and therefore the time of Irish law students would, I humbly conceive, be more usefully employed in the chambers of an Irish barrister than an English one. The attention of the Irish Benchers has already been usefully and beneficially engaged in providing lectures, and it is likely many important changes with respect to the status of the Bar will result from adopting the English practice of electing Benchers now sought.

Law was always justly regarded as a noble science, and with young Cusack the prompting of ambition, and a desire for distinction, induced him, cheerfully to undergo the probationary training requisite for the call to the Bar. In the retirement in which his youth was passed, he was enabled to cultivate his mind and lay in a store of varied knowledge, the foundation of his future eminence. From the hands of the pious teachers of Duleek he received the writings of philosophers whose fame is fresh after three thousand years, and by their aid he mastered those priceless volumes which have come down through ages of antiquity, at once a memorial of the taste and industry of the laborious monks who preserved and perpetuated them. Imbued with skill in logic and scholastic reasoning, he was enabled readily to apprehend the abstract reasons on which all laws are founded, and soon the works of Justinian, Bracton, and Fleta, the Tenures of Littleton, the Treatises of Glanville, and other legal authors then extant were familiar to him. The young student reached London and entered his name at one of the English Inns, and pursued his studies with diligence and care. There was much in the appearance of London in 1515 to interest the youth. Henry VIII. was then not above thirty years old, and extremely fond of all kinds of manly sports which were carried on in public. He was very expert in arms; and the stately jousts, the frequent hunting parties, his playing at tennis, his processions to and from Richmond and Greenwich, attended with the utmost ‘magnificence, must have dazzled and delighted the beholders. These were the palmy days of the renowned Wolsey, Cardinal Archbishop of York, Lord Chancellor of England, whose retinue was little inferior to that of his Royal master. Cloth of gold, palfreys with housings embroidered in gold, triumphal cars with musicians and singers, lutes, harps, and viols, giants, dwarfs, and jesters, were continually met. But, intent on acquiring the requisite learning of his profession, Mr. Cusack was far better employed in mastering the Entries and Year books, and copying the precedents then in use, than attending many shows or parties of pleasure. Having kept the requisite terms previous to his admission to the Bar, he was duly admitted, and soon acquired the character of an able lawyer.

For some time after Mr. Cusack commenced to practise, the rebellion of Silken Thomas, as Lord Offaly was popularly called, prevented the due administration of the law. During this distracting event, men’s minds could hardly have much thought of the peaceful pursuits of industry, and the professional reputation of Mr. Cusack must have been well established, for immediately on the promotion of Gerald Aylmer, who was appointed Chief Baron from the Bench of the Common Pleas, Mr. Cusack was appointed Justice in his room, and at this time also filled the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was regarded as a truly practical man, carefully discriminating between truth and falsehood, and for his minutely examining every fact, as if upon it the whole case depended. He was also remarkable, in times of great danger, for his prudence and moderation on the judicial bench, and held in great respect. What contributed much to his popularity was, because he so respected the customs, the feelings, nay, the very prejudices and traditions of the Irish, and, however they dissented from his views or judgments, they always respected his motives, and gave him credit for uprightness in the discharge of his duties. In private life he was essentially domestic, with simple tastes and inexpensive habits. When he sought out a wife to share his advancing fortunes, he married a kinswoman, Joan Hussey. Her family was of Anglo-Norman descent, came over with Strongbow, and formed an alliance with the founder of the Ormond race; Sir Hugh Hussey having married the sister of Theobald Fitz Walter, in the reign of Henry II. When Meath became a palatinate, Peers were named, having a local rank, and, in 1347, Sir John Hussey, Knight, Baron of Galtrim, was summoned to Parliament. In the reign of Henry VIII., an Act of Parliament in 1534 recognised Nicholas Hussey as Baron of Galtrim, [Patent, May 24, 1535.] and from this marriage of Thomas Cusack with Joan Hussey was issue a son named Robert. The marriage, however, was not a happy one, causes arose which darkened the sunshine of the young couple and extinguished the fire of love. A separation was resolved upon, and they were divorced.

Undeterred by the ill-success of his first marital venture, Thomas Cusack resolved to try a second, and sought to strengthen his family interest by a prudent connection. He did not delay in fixing his choice, and married Maud, daughter of Sir George D’Arcy, Treasurer of Ireland. Sir Bernard Burke, in his ‘Landed Gentry,’ considers this family as the most eminent established in England by the Norman Conquest, and amongst the peerages of past times. As proof, this eminent genealogist reckons two baronies in abeyance, one forfeited barony, and three extinct baronies, all of which had been conferred upon the family of D’Arcy besides the earldom of Holderness. This house had large possessions in this country, especially in Westmeath, where the D’Arcys of Plattin have been recognised for centuries as among the most respected families in that county.

This union appears to have been productive of that domestic felicity which the previous one failed to afford. One son and seven daughters were the issue, and the state of distress to which the country was reduced at this period does not appear to have cast its shadow upon the mansion of Cussington. While Dublin was beset by hostile bands, so closely that the inhabitants were afraid to venture without the walls on the southern side, no apprehension was felt by the Judge or his family. We learn how towns and villages were glad to purchase that security which the State was unable to grant by money paid to some Irish chieftain, and many a haughty English noble was forced to procure peace for himself and his dependants by yielding black mail to the Celts of the district. The terror of the English was aroused, and kept excited by the marauding Irish, who used to descend from the fastnesses by night, and, crossing the Liffey close to the capital, would traverse Fingal, then the granary of Dublin, making prey of flocks and herds, and escape ere the return of day.

Matters of State, and especially the state of the Church, soon brought Judge Cusack prominently before the public. Efforts were made to induce the Irish nobility to give up the Brehon laws, which diverted the order of succession by Tanisty, and accept in lieu thereof hereditary peerages. From a mistaken policy, the benefits of English law were for centuries denied to the mere Irish, and when the mischief of this was proved, a change was desired, and the Privy Council and Courts of Law took cognisance and entertained most willingly the suits of all Irish who submitted their differences to the decision of the Judges. These learned functionaries were clearly of opinion that Ireland could never be under due government until the bonds which linked the aborigines to the customs of their forefathers and the regulations of the Brehon code were severed, and in their place were substituted the wise maxims and sound rules of the common laws of England. The zeal and energy which Judge Cusack displayed in these reforms procured him the honour of knighthood, and, in the Parliament of 1541, Sir Thomas Cusack was elected Speaker.

The esteem in which he was held at this time appears in a letter, dated May 17, 1540, written by Sir William Brereton, Lord Justice of Ireland, to the Earl of Essex. [State Papers, Hen. VIII., vol. ii. p. 205.]

‘And to certifie your good Lordship, as I am bounden, of all tho that doo the Kynges Highnes good servis, emongs whom, at this tyme, I do commend to your good Lordship Sir Thomas Cusack, for faithfull, diligent, and paynfull service, as well in Councill gyving, as other the Kyng’s affairs, to his powre and farr above, since my commynge here and afore (as it is said), is no less worthy than to have your lordship’s thankes, for I doe not perceyve him to doo it for any profitt, but only for the Kynges honor, and your lordships.’

In such times there was, I fear, very little morality among public men, and assuredly in Ireland it could not be found, Handed over, like India in later days, to the care of Viceroys, whose government was, at most, of brief duration, there was but one idea pervading the minds of those in power, viz., to make the most of it, and accordingly each chief Governor and his needy followers seized with avidity every thing that fell in their way. The law for dissolving monasteries was attended with disastrous results, not alone to the pious inmates, but to the poor, for whose benefit and relief the resources of the monks were so lavishly expended. When brought into operation in Ireland, it afforded a fine opportunity for providing means to satiate the avarice of hungry Peers and courtiers, and Ireland, having been prepared for obedience by a martial circuit of the Lord Deputy, Lord Leonard Grey, a Parliament met in 1537, which evinced great alacrity in Obeying the will of Henry VIII. It declared the King supreme head of the Church of Ireland, the provisions made in England for payment of first fruits to the King were adopted, and he was invested, not only with the first fruits of bishoprics, and other secular promotions in the Church of Ireland, but with those of religious houses. The authority of the Bishop of Rome was solemnly renounced, the oath of supremacy enjoined under pain of high treason. Thirteen religious establishments were suppressed, and their possessions vested in the Crown. Hitherto the style of the Sovereign was Lord of Ireland, but, at a meeting of the Privy Council, it was thought advisable to recommend his Majesty to alter the title, and, accordingly, Browne, then Archbishop of Dublin, addressed a letter recommending ‘that if it may so stand with your Majesty’s pleasure, that it were good that your Majesty were from henceforth called King of Ireland; whereunto we think that in effect all the nobility and other inhabitants of this land, would agree, and we think that they of the Irishry would more gladly obey your Highness by the name of King of this your land, than by the name of Lord thereof; having had heretofore a foolish opinion among them, that the Bishop of Rome should be King of the same. For extirpating whereof, we think it meet under your Highness’s pardon, that by authority of Parliament it should be ordained, that your Majesty, your heirs and successors, should be named Kings of this land, which, nevertheless, we remit to your excellent wisdom.’ [State Papers, Temp. Hen. VIII.]

A Parliament was accordingly summoned in 1541, when Sir Thomas Cusack was chosen Speaker of the Commons. He was likewise a Member of the Privy Council of Ireland. I cannot say for what place he sat in Parliament, although I have carefully examined the Lists as given in the ‘Liber Munerum Publicorum Hiberniae.’ In a later year (1559) he was returned a Member for Athenry. Great ceremonies attended the opening of this Parliament. The Houses met on Corpus Christi Thursday. After hearing Mass, the Lord Deputy was escorted by the Lord Chancellor, the Archbishop, the Bishops, and Members of the Privy Council, the Judges and a numerous retinue of guards. In the procession rode the Earls of Ormond and Desmond, the Lords Barry, Roche, Fitz Maurice, and Bermingham; and the despatch of the Lord Deputy (St. Leger) to the King, says: ‘All were present at the said Mass, the most present in their robes, rode in procession in such sort, as the like thereof hath not been seen here of many years. And the Friday following being assembled at the place of Parliament accustomed, the Commons presented unto us their Speaker, one Sir Thomas Cusack, a man that right painfully hath served your Majesty at all times, who made a right solemn proposition, in giving such laud and praise to your Majesty, as justly and most worthily your Majesty hath merited, as well for the extirpation of the usurped power of the Bishop of Borne out of this your realm, who had, of many years, been a great robber and destroyer of the same, as also for your innumerable benefits showed unto your realms and subjects of the same, which proposition was right well and prudently answered by your highness’s Chancellor here.’ [Sir John Alan was Chancellor.] As there were several Irish Lords present, MacGillaPhadrig, chieftain of Ossory; the O’Bryans, the MacCrathy Mor, the O’Reilly, and others, to whom the learned speeches of Sir Thomas Cusack and the Chancellor were unintelligible, because they knew no English, the Lord Deputy informs us, ‘both the effect of the proposition and answer was briefly and prudently declared in the Irish tongue to the said Lords by the mouth of the Earl of Ormonde, greatly to their contentation.’

The matter of title having been formally announced, the Speaker and Members of the Commons withdrew to their own House, [The houses were separate at this time.] when the Lords proceeded to pass the Bill, changing the King’s title, which was read in English and then in Irish. It was unanimously agreed to, and being read three times in the Lords was committed to the Commons, who were equally ready to agree to its passing. Next day, Saturday, it was again read in ‘plain’ [Probably for plein, full.] Parliament, before the Lords and Commons, before it received the assent of the Lord Deputy. There were great public rejoicings on this occasion in Dublin, ‘bonfires, wyne sette in the streetis, greate feastinges in their howses, with a goodly sort of gunnes.’ Theatricals, too, increased the merriment. ‘The Nine worthies - viz., Hector, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Joshua, David, Judas Maccabeus, King Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon.’ Tournaments, the favourite pastime of knights and nobles, gave opportunities for expert tilters to win favour in the eyes of the ladies by their martial deeds. Sir James Ware sums up the whole in these words: ‘Epulas, comoedas, et certamina ludicra quae sequebantur, quid attinet dicere.’

This Parliament formally suppressed the monasteriea and other religious houses in Ireland, but this Act was only obeyed in the Pale, for there alone the laws of England obtained, and the English rulers of the land could enforce submission. The abbeys and monastic institutions in other parts of the kingdom remained in the hands of the religious communities until the Plantation of Ulster, in the reign of King James I. When Sir Thomas Cusack found the Order for the Dissolution of Monasteries placed several eligible estates at the disposal of the Irish Government, he was desirous to profit by the opportunity, and take his share of the good things. He had only to give a hint, and his wishes were readily complied with. The Lord Deputy and Council were anxious that such services as Sir Thomas rendered should be rewarded, and they addressed the King, in his behalf, as follows:- ‘That it wolde please your Majestie, at this our humble ptycyon, to be so good and gracious Lord unto Sir Thomas Cusack, as, having respect to his honest service donne to your Majestic, both in this Parlament and otherwise, as well as to give hym your most gracious thanks for the same, as otherwise to consider hym as to your Highness shall be thought convenyent, whereby he shall be incouraged to proceed in your Grace’s servis as he is bounden to do. His especyall suite to your Majestie is, to have the prefermente of the Nonnery of Lismolyn, which he hath nowe in farm of your Highnes, being nigh to his house very commodious for him, yf it might stande with your Highnes pleasure to prefer hym to the same by purchase or otherwise.’ [State Papers, Temp. Hen. VIII. p. 315.] This request was promptly granted, and Sir Thomas Cusack had a grant of the Abbey of Lismullen, founded in 1240 by Alicia, sister of Richard Bishop of Meath, but neither antiquity, or purity, or learning, or charity, availed against the policy of Henry and his Ministers.

Wherever the houses of religion were suppressed a sad change took place in the neighbourhood. The poor had no refuge; the wearied in body, or in mind, were deprived of the pious retreats, where in meditation and prayer, their spirits could find rest. The devoted inmates were added to the number of alms-seekers, and those who had been the liberal dispensers of charity were doomed to solicit food for themselves. When the monasteries were suppressed, no means likely to succeed were taken to supply religious teaching instead of that heretofore given.

Sir Thomas Cusack pointed out strongly the necessity which existed for the maintenance of divine service, without which no King could expect good subjects. The Parliament, whereof he was Speaker, made provision, indeed, for the erection of vicarages into parish churches, and endowing them; but the Act proved abortive, because the Irish language was almost wholly used by the people, and there was no use in nominating English-speaking divines, while no Irish clergyman would own the King’s supremacy in spiritual affairs.

In the year 1541, Sir Thomas addressed a long letter to the Council of England. He called it ‘Cusack’s Devise to your Most Noble and Honorable Wisdomes, concerning such giftes as the King’s Maiestie shall make to Irishmen of the lande and countrie which now they have, and to give them names of honour, and upon what conditions they shall have the same, and their rights to have the land by gift.’

He advises that the natives should be treated as subjects, not enemies - the law of primogeniture established instead of gavelkind - that in place of the Brehon code, whereby the inferior in rank could not recover in a suit against his Lord, the people should be accepted as liege subjects and entitled to the benefit of the King’s laws. [State Papers, Hen. VIII., vol. iii. p. 326.]

On the promotion of Sir John Alan to the office of Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas Cusack was appointed Master of the Rolls. [Patent dated June 10, 1542, 34 Hen. VIII.] He had custody of all records of the Court of Chancery, with power to hear suits and occasionally execute special Commissions.

Sir Thomas Cusack continued to fill the office of Master of the Rolls in Ireland to the death of Henry VIII. Previous to his decease, that monarch resolved that St. Patrick’s Cathedral should share the fate of so many kindred edifices, and he sent letters patent to Sir Anthony St. Leger, Lord Deputy; Sir Richard Reade, Lord Chancellor, and others, empowering them to receive, in the Chapter-house of St. Patrick’s, from the Dean and Chapter, a surrender of the Church, and all its possessions. [Hist. of St. Patrick’s Cathedral by Mason, p. 150.] This was promptly yielded; but Dean Bassenet took special care, before complying, to make good terms for himself, so as not to retire empty-handed. He managed to secure for his own benefit, and that of members of his family, a considerable portion of the possessions of the deanery. One of the grants made to his brother, falling, subsequently, into the hands of Dean Swift, his sarcastic successor in the deanery recorded on the back of the deed, his indignation at the perfidious conduct of his predecessor. ‘This Bassenet was related to the scoundrel of the same name, who surrendered the Deanery to that Beast, Henry the VIII.’ [Mason’s Hist, of St Patrick’s Cathedral, p. 150, in note.]

Sir Anthony St. Leger, who, for some time, filled the arduous office of Lord Deputy of Ireland, was a man of great administrative capacity, and seems to have well understood the attachment the people of Ireland bore to the Catholic faith. He changed, altogether, the line of conduct pursued by the English rulers to the native chiefs, and which tended far more to alienate and disgust than conciliate and please. So kindred a spirit soon formed a very great friendship with Sir Thomas Cusack.

The high opinion which the Irish Chieftains entertained of the Lord Deputy St. Leger, may be seen from the following letter written by Sir Thomas Cusack to Sir Thomas Paget, Chief Secretary of State: [State Papers, Hen. VIII., Ireland, vol. iii. p. 563.] -

‘Right honorable and my singular good Master, after all due and most hartie comendacions, with lyk thankes for your honorable goodnes and gentlenes to me extended, as yet undeserved, which I wyll have in remembrance during my lyffe. Pleased the same to be advertysed that, wheare I have wryten to my Lord Chauncelor of the State and quyetnes of this Realme, which thankes be to God, is now verifyed in such sorte, as men wyll purchase small homstie that wyll aver the contrary. For at my Lord Deputies departing herefrom, he sent as well for the Erles of Desmounde, Tomounde, and Tyrone, the Lord of Upper Osserie, Oconnor, Omolmoy, the Kerroules and MacGoghecan, with dyverse other Iryshe Lordes, as also for all the Englyshe Lordes of this Realme; and they assemblying togyther in Dublin, I coulde not perceive non of bettre conformitie than those Iryshe lordes, promissing to helppe to see the country deffended as nead shall requyre from tyme to tyme, to the uttermost of ther powers, till the retourne of my Lord Deputie; weeping and lamenting his departing, giving his Lordship comendacion and prayer, in thanking God of his commying emonges them; ascrybing, that if such trouth and gentylnes had been shewed to them by the governours and rulers that were before his tyme, they had been refourmed as well then as nowe: and being so miche in dyspayre of his retorne they lament therefor his departing; the more, because they found him so good and just in his procedinges, who never toke of them nothing, but would give apparaile, and plate to them, and to his power woulde not suffre wrong to be doun to them, whereby they fealet both welth and greyetnes. So that, thankes be to God, those, which woulde not be brought undre subjeccion with 10 thousande men, cometh to Dublin with a lettre, which is no smale comforte to every faithfull hart to see. Fynally, this lande was never by our remembraunce, in so good case, be nothing lyke, for honest obedyence; and after that cometh the proffyte to the Kinge’s Majestie, if their contynew in the quyetnes they be in at this instant. Therefore it were great pittie, that the thing so well framed shoulde tourne to any other kynde, by th occasion of sedicious practis; and that his honorable proceedinges should be dysparaged, through the yll reaporte of malycious hartes, which wyll not tell trouth, although they knowyit to be trew, as well as I. I assure your good Mastership, that ther never lefte Ireland one that hath the prayers of pore people more than he bath; trusting to God that he shall prosper accordingly. Pyttie it were, that the occacioners of our inquyetnes here shoulde not be known, that such punyshment mought ensue, as others should therby feare to attempte the lyke; for tyll then men wyll be more busy than neadeth. Thus I am bold to encomber you with my rude lettre, which I trust you will accept and take in good parte. So beseeching Almightye God long to preserve your honourable Good Mastership in long lyffe with all fellicite.

‘Your Right Honorable good Masterships

‘to command,

(Signed) ‘Thomas Cusake.

‘To the Right Honorable and his Singular good Master Sir Thomas Patched, Knight, Chief Secretary unto the King’s Most Excellent Majestie.

‘From Dublin the 28th of March, Anno 1545.’

This letter was evidently intended to refute the reports of negligence and misconduct, and hostility to the Reformation, then made to the Government of England against St. Leger, by Browne, Archbishop of Dublin. It would seem from the letter that the author of these reports was not then known, but they were soon found to have originated with Browne, who preferred a variety of charges against him. [Vide ante, p. 205.]

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