The state of Ireland, at this period, presents the same picture of intrigue, domestic feuds, and poverty, which we so frequently have had occasion to exhibit before. henry seems to have been fully sensible, that territories in this state could be no source of power or revenue to the mo narch, but must rather tend to weaken and distract those parts of his dominions which wet e in a sounder and quiet er condition: but it was very difficult, in the first place, to detect the causes of this state of Ireland ; and it would have been still more difficult, had the causes been detected, to have removed them by the effectual application of the pro per remedy.
After much inquiry and deliberation, Sir Edward Poyn ing was appointed lord deputy, with instructions to probe the evil thoroughly, and to direct his whole thoughts to its removal ; and, in order that his measures might be proper ly executed, and well supported, he was attended by 1000 soldiers, and by a number of English, who were qualified to fill the offices of lord Chancellor, lord Treasurer, and judges in criminal and civil causes. His administration is particularly remarkable for the acts passed by the Irish parliament, called after him Poyning's Acts.
Some of these acts were evidently calculated and intend ed to repress the power of the barons, and to prevent the recurrence of their mutual quarrels. For this purpose they were forbidden to have any followers, except their household officers and servants ; and even the lords of the marches, who necessarily had a large retinue, were oblig ed to give in the names of their attendants. In order that the sheriffs should execute their duties with effect and im partiality, they were to be henceforward appointed by the lord treasurer. None but those of English birth were to command in the forts and other strong places. These enactments were calculated to preserve tranquillity among the barons, and, if possible, to insure their fidelity ; but there were also enactments, the object of which was to re lieve the mass of the people from the oppressions under which they laboured ; by levying the taxes in a more equal manner, and by protecting the people from the exactions of their lords and the military. But the act, which is more generally and particularly known by the name Poyning's Act, was of a different description from those first describ ed ; by this act, it was provided that no parliament should he held in Ireland, without previously stating to the king the reasons on account of which it was to be summoned, and the laws which it was intended to enact. Whatever
might have been the necessity, the expediency, or the be nefit of such an act, at the time it was passed, it is evident that it rendered the parliament of Ireland a mere mockery, while it enabled the English sovereign to enslave and tyran nize over the Irish, as well as to keep them back in civili zation and resources by means of their own parliament. Just before Poyning returned to England, he had an oppor tunity of crushing the power of the Yorkists, the chief, the Earl of Kildare, having imprudently joined the adventurer Warbeck in Munster, and on his defeat having been taken prisoner. Henry, however, had penetration enough to dis cover, that Vile could make Kildare his friend, no man was so well qualified to govern Ireland in tranquillity ; and as Kildare seemed equally disposed to attach himself to the king, and on his trial repelled the charges against him in a satisfactory manner, the king appointed him governor of Ireland.
The great objects which Kildare had in view were, the external defence and the internal tranquillity of the English settlements : The former he succeeded in effecting, and, indeed, rendered these settlements more secure than they had been for a very long period ; but his attempts to conci liate the Butlers were unsuccessful, though he succeeded so far as to form a matrimonial connection with that fami ly. Still farther to increase his own influence, he married his daughter to the Lord of Clanricard, who was the head Of a large number of those English who had assumed the manners, the language, and the dress of the Irish ; hut this marriage proved unfortunate, for such an inveterate quar rel arose between the earl and his son-in-law, that open and regular hostilities took place between them ; each par ty strengthened themselves by alliances, so that, from a petty dispute, it increased to a civil war. The Irish Prince of Connaught, the O'Briens of Thomond, and in general the chieftains of Munster, ranged themselves on the side of the Lord of Clanricard. On the side of the governor were the English barons, the O'Neill, and some other chieftains of the northern provinces. The hostile armies met at Knocktow, near Galway, on the 19th of August, :504. The forces of Clanricard were much superior in respect to numbers ; but in discipline, skill, and steadi ness, they were far inferior ; their first attack was very im petuous ; but that being received with coolness and firm ness by the archers in the governor's army, the assailants gave way, and in the confusion with which they fled, up wards of 2000 were slain.