POYNINGS, SIR EDWARD ( ,1459-1521), lord deputy of Ireland, was the only son of Robert Poynings, second son of the 5th Baron Poynings. His mother was a daughter of Sir William Paston, and some of her correspondence is to be found in the Paston Letters. Robert Poynings was implicated in Jack Cade's rebellion, and Edward was himself concerned in a Kentish rising against Richard III., which compelled him to escape to the Continent. He attached himself to Henry, earl of Richmond, afterwards King Henry VII., with whom he returned to England in 1485. By Henry VII. Poynings was employed in the wars on the Continent, and in 1493 he was made governor of Calais. In the following year he went to Ireland as lord deputy under the viceroyalty of Prince Henry, afterwards King Henry VIII. Poynings immediately set about Anglicizing the government of Ireland, which he thoroughly accomplished, after inflicting punish ment on the powerful Irish clans who supported the imposture of Perkin Warbeck. He then summoned the celebrated parliament
of Drogheda, which met in December 1494, and enacted the "Statutes of Drogheda," famous in Irish history as "Poyninps's law," subordinating the Irish legislature to that of England, till its repeal in 5782. After defeating Perkin Warbeck at Waterford and driving him out of Ireland, Poynings returned to England in 1496, and was appointed warden of the Cinque Ports. He was employed both in military commands and in diplomatic missions by Henry VII., and later by Henry VIII., his achievement being the negotiation of the "Holy League" in 1513.