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Nuachtán No.5 - June/Meitheamh 1999

The historical context in which the Ó Maelearcaidh clan developed in Ireland - Series Issue No. 5

We set out below part 5 of our short Irish history series. In order to place the Ó Maelearcaidh clan data into it's historical and sociological context we shall over several issues set out a history of Ireland, covering the period from approximately 1140 to the early 1800's. Within the context of a general history, we shall provide a more detailed account of events between 1500 and 1700, as this was the defining period during which the Gaelic order, the clan system and culture underpinning it were transformed into the proto system and culture of the modern day.

The title of the Lordship of Ulster devolved by marriage, from the de Burgo family to the de Mortimer's, who were cousin's of the king. Edmund de Mortimer enjoyed some success agaist the Irish in Ulster, before he and his family were struck down by the Black Death plague. Title to the Lordship now passed to the Duke of York, who went on to become Edward IV. The ongoing Yorkist - Lancastrian conflict in England more than preoccupied Edward IV in England, so that he was unable to persue a more active Irish policy. Nevertheless Edward hoped one way or another to limit the danger posed by Henry Ó Néill, the soon to be King of Tyrone. Persistent diplomacy via his Dublin administration succeeded in his gaining the Ó Néill's recognition of Edward IV as Lord of Ireland. In return Edward acknowledged the Ó Néill's position as overlord of Ulster, with the right to receive financial tribute from all Ulster's nobles. In truth Henry Ó Néill was probably the most powerful man in Ireland, so that Edward had no choice other than accept the real politik of Ó Néill power. In making this official, Edward hoped to use Henry to control the other Ulster Irish nobles. In particular he wanted to stop their increasingly bold raids into the Dublin Pale, which would give the Pale a breathing space until circumstances allowed Edward to mount an Irish campaign. In a series of lightening campaigns, Henry Ó Néill succeeded in reigning in the other independent Ulster princes like the Ó Reilly's, Ó Hanlons and MacMahons. To consolidate his position as king of Ulster, Henry Ó Néill demanded "bonnacht" (billeting of Ó Néill troops) by his Ulster nobility.

In Connacht the English had long since lost control of their Norman nobles, who had become more Irish than the Irish themselves. In Munster Tadhg Ó Briain, the native king of Thomand regained his kingdom, driving out Norman settlers. Many other Munster Norman nobles intermarried with the Gael, a trend mirroring that in Connacht, whereby the Normans of Munster were also going native.

There now occured one of those historic moments, one of those great "what if's." Tadhg Ó Briain of Thomand had the insight to recognise that the Gael had an historic opportunity, not just to role back English control in Ireland, not just to acquire petty advantage for the native clans, but the opportunity to overthrow English sovereignty. If they could agree to appoint a native Irish high king, he might unite all the Gael. In 1463 Tadhg contacted Henry Ó Néill, being the most powerful Gael in Ireland. Tadhg pledged the support of Munster for Henry's highkingship. The English king may also have realised the danger posed to English interests in Ireland. He increased the diplomatic effort, sending presents to Henry. It was a truly seminal moment, how was Henry going to act ? Sadly Henry just lacked the courage to seize the moment. He chose to strengthen his control over Ulster and leave it to some future time to take on the English. The decision guaranteed Ulster's independence of England in the short term, but viewing the big picture, Ó Néill lost a golden opportunity to win an independent Irish nation.

Edward IV viewed Henry Ó Néill's success in Ulster with dismay. In particular his granting Ó Néill the right to enforce his will in Ulster by force backfired, as Ó Néill began to encroach on Edward's residual Lordship of Ulster. Edward could not allow the last outpost of English presence in Ulster to fall without a fight. In 1467 he appointed a Seneschal to administer and look after the Lordship. The appointment was a poisoned chalace and soon the Seneschal was pleading direct to Edward IV for immediate military help, otherwise the Irish threatened,

"In short tyme fynally and utterly woll destroye your said Erldome."

In 1468 the Senescal's fears materialised, when the Conn Ó Néill attacked the Lordship in strength, during which the Seneschal was killed and his son mutilated. Glaisne Magennis led a further wave of Gaelic incursions, which occupied most of the remainder of County Down. The Irish drove out many of the remaining Old English colonists, leaving Carrickfergus as a beleagured outpost of Dublin's administration in Ulster.

Gaelicisation within even the top echelon of the leading English families in the Leinster Pale led the English Crown, through the Parliament in London, to suspect the loyalty of members of the Irish Parliament in Dublin. The fear was that the establishment in Dublin was riddled with pro-Irish Palesmen, who might introduce laws inconsistent with English interests in Ireland. Obsessed with control, Henry VII ensured the passing of Poynings Law in 1494, which provided that the Irish Council had to request permission from London, for the holding of a private assembly. Additionally the Irish Council had to submit to the English king and his Privy Council, any bills that it intended to pass in the Irish Parliament. Only when the bills had been so approved could they be presented to the Irish Parliament.

In 1495, in a further attempt to at least defend English culture in Dublin, and delineate the Leinster Pale, a 6 foot high double ditch was constructed around the boundary of the Pale. It is from this construction that the Pale derives its name and which inspired the phrase, "going beyond the Pale" (denoting exceeding the limits of civilized behaviour). The English appointed administrators and the elite in Dublin did and could speak English. Indeed until 1495 the laws in the Pale were still written in Norman French and/or Latin. But the daily language of the ordinary inhabitants of the Pale was Gaelic.

Henry VII found one Hiberno Norman who he did trust, Garret Mór Fitzgerald, the Earl of Kildare. Despite his Gaelic credentials, this Leinster noble so impressed Henry with his commitment to England's cause, that Henry appointed him Lord Deputy of Ireland. In 1498 Garret led an army from the Gaelicised Pale and using his knowledge of Gaelic politics, appealed to the Ulster subkings to join him in his war against the Ó Néill Overking of Ulster. He offered to liberate them from the oppression of Ó Néill rule! Sadly the appeal to selfish clan interests succeeded. The huge Anglo Irish force overan the Ó Néill stronghold at Dungannon. The new Ó Néill king, Art, was obliged to surrender to Fitgerald. The success effectively stemmed the military tide running against the Leinster Pale. Henry VII in England rewarded Garret and allowed him a freehand to maintain English interests in the Pale.

For now Garret did not have the resources to do more than maintain the borders of the Pale and intimidate the neighbouring Gaelic kings from further thoughts of reinstating a High king. He also fostered and controlled native division, guaranteeing that whilst Irishmen fought between themselves, non would emerge powerful enough to pose a threat to the Pale.

In 1500 the Scots Gael were caught in a pincer move, in which the Scottish king, James IV based at English speaking Edinburgh, attacked and defeated the semi independent Gaelic kingdom of the Hebrides and Western Highlands, ran by the clan MacDonald. James IV and his English queen, Mary Tudor were ultimately to weaken the Scots Catholic Gaels. War and persecution against the Gael in Scotland created refugees some of whom, despite the laws proscribing them, settled in the relative safety of Ulster, which remained outside English control. Doubtless James IV of Scotland married Mary Tudor the eldest daughter of Henry VII of England, in an attempt to establish a Stuart claim to the throne of England. This enterprising piece of diplomacy has to be put in the context of near continual attacks from England against Scottish independence. Despite the indifferent attitude of successive Stuart monarchs to the Gael, the loyalty of the Gael of both Scotland and Ireland to the Stuart claims to the England crown over the next three centuries, was to have disastrous consequences for them. As regards the Tudor monarchy in England, they had no desire for the fall out from Scotland to strengthen the Gael in Ireland. Hence the Tudors pursued a vigorous policy in opposing Highlanders and Islesmen from settling in Ulster.

Henry VIII

The change in king was a time of uncertainty. Would the new king want to introduce changes to personnel and policy in Ireland. Garret Mór had no need for concern, as Henry VIII confirmed his confidence in him by retaining him as Lord Deputy. Henry was a king intent on gaining glory on the battlefield. He was also an English nationalist, keen to obtain lands beyond England's borders to be populated by her growing population. In a campaign with the Spanish Hapsburg empire against the French he was successful in not only pushing out English influence on the continent beyond her Calais possession, but also in establishing England as a new force on the European scene. Though his sister was married to the King of Scotland, Henry contended that England had suzerainty over Scotland. War between England and Scotland was inevitable, but the invasion of France precipitated events, as the Scots declared their support for the French. Henry sent his armies into Scotland. Following the English victory at Flodden in 1513, the war culminated with the death of the Scots king, James IV.

The new gregarious English king was immature and susceptible to manipulation from older more mature advisors. A growing faction at court saw Ireland as a new land which could give them opportunity to accumulate wealth. But to acquire land required the king to treat not just the native Irish as enemies of the state, but also the Norman Irish lordships and Hibernicised Old English of the Pale. Despite a growing wispering campaign against the Norman Irish in the English court, when Garret Mór died in 1513, Henry VIII agreed to appoint his son, Garret Óg Fitzgerald, as his new Lord Deputy. In doing so, the Fitzgeralds became a political dynasty in Ireland. Garret Óg was head of his clan and was related by marriage to most of the principle Gaelic families. He was the unchallenged leader of the Norman Irish and Old English colonists and so close to the natives, that courtiers persuaded an unsureHenry that he might posed a danger to the state.Certainly all the ingredients existed for the emergence of a feudal independent state in Ireland. In 1513 Henry summoned Garret to London to answer the allegations of disloyalty. On this occasion Garret managed to convince his accusers of his loyalty, but he was made aware of the king's intolerance of opposition.

Henry's international alliances were also a major factor in his policies to his Celtic neighbours. The conflict with Scotland related to the ongoing dispute between the two main European super powers, France and Spain. Scotland was tied by the "old alliance" with France whereas England had allied itself to Spain.

Because of Spain's control of the Netherlands, a major trading partner with England and Henry's greater purpose of maintaining state security against the threat from France and Scotland, Henry had married the Spanish lady, Catherine of Aragon.

But Henry ran into marital problems, as Catherine could not produce a male heir for him. His eldest daughter, Mary was latter to become Queen, but his lack of a son drove him to seek an annulment to the marriage. Henry's antics severed the alliance with Spain. These were dangerous times and to ensure some degree of security, English diplomats forged a tentative alliance with the old enemy France. Under the terms of the alliance, Henry agreed to guarantee English support to the French king Francis I should Spain renew hostilities. But about this time Spanish imperial troops took control of much of Italy including the Papal States and in the process placed the Pope under house arrest. Henry now found himself trying to gain an annulment to his marriage from a Pope, who was himself under the total control of the Spanish king. It was a hopeless situation, as the Spanish were never going to allow the Pope to annul Henry's marriage. With the final defeat of the French Italian forces at the battle of Landriano in 1529, Henry saw little to be gained by continuing to antagonize Spain and commenced a process of downplaying his French connections.

But Henry saw himself as a supreme monarch who was not going to be thwarted by any power, including the church, from getting his annulment. As an alternative approach he tried to intimidate the Papacy into agreement to the annulment of his marriage, by attacks on the church apparatus in England. In particular with the Act for the Submission of the Clergy in 1532, he assumed a veto over new and existing ecclesiastical laws. Through the Act of Restraint in 1533, he abolished appeals to Rome in all legal matters including matrimonial cases. But with no hopeful response from the Vatican, Henry stepped beyond the point of no return with the Act of Supremacy in 1534, whereby he assumed supreme control over the church to control religious doctrine. To achieve his ends he enlisted the help of men who were known opponents of Rome. He placed these men into positions of power, both within government and in the Church.

The Rise of Thomas Cromwell

Henry had created a schism with Rome and whilst at no point did Henry declare himself to be a Protestant, his policy led to the appointment of committed Protestants into positions of power in the English church. These were momentous times. There had been a slow but steady growth in Protestantism amongst the educated classes and this had translated into a power struggle within the establishment, to gain access and influence over the king. The schism with Rome now saw the rise of Protestants, such as Thomas Cranmer, appointed to the Archbishopric of Canterbury. However the most significant of all the king's appointees was Thomas Cromwell. He held offices in both the royal household as Master of the Kings Jewels and Principal Secretary, and in the government as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord Privy Seal. Appointed as Principal Secretary in 1534, he became effectively the King's everyday confident and as Chancellor of the Exchequer, he was responsible for government finance. Combining these positions gave Cromwell a unique opportunities to influence both the financing of Government policies, as well as improve Royal income. In addressing the latter, Cromwell could only increase his influence with the King. But it was through his assistance in resolving the kings marital problems, that Cromwell achieved his meteoric rise. In this he supported the king in his divorce of Catherine of Aragon and re-marriage to Anne Boleyn, a Protestant. Cromwell hoped that Anne might further influence the king to move further away from Catholicism. Ann Boleyn produced a child for Henry, yet another girl, the future Queen Elizabeth I.

Cromwell had a genius for administration, the responsibility for which he lifted from a grateful Henry. He soon put in place new administrative structures to firmly establish control from the centre over the peripheral Crown possessions of Calais, Wales and the Pale area of Ireland. Crown control was very close to the heart of Henry's philosophy. In 1534 Cromwell appointed Rowland Lee, the unchristianly Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield to take control of the Council of the Welsh Marches. The violent regime imposed by Lee pacified the Marches and Wales. So successful was Lee, that Cromwell soon felt able to extend effective English administration into Wales. By acts of Parliament in 1536 the distinctions between Wales and England were effectively ended, with Wales allotted seats at the Westminster Parliament in London. In practice it took several decades before total administrative union was completed, but Cromwell ensured that Wales as a separate entity ceased to exist.

Cromwell knew that Henry was anxious to retain Calais and prepared a plan, which was incorporated into a major piece of legislation, placed before Parliament in 1536. Cromwell recognised that to retain the English toe-hold in France, required both the wholesale reorganization of the financing of the Calais territory and more direct English control of the Calais security and administration. Cromwell's Act of Parliament brought Calais under direct rule from London and to this end Calais was also allowed two English Parliamentary seats. But the Calais policy was less successful, as administering it continued to be a financial drain on the Exchequer. Nevertheless Henry had his French base, from which he dreamed of attaining European glory.

Despite the loyalty of the Old English and Palesmen, the "New English" faction at court encouraged Henry to accept a policy of encouraging new English settlers to settle in Ireland. They also suceeded in convincing him to replace Pale officials with pro London English speakers, who would be supportive of their land acquisitions at the expense of both natives and the Old English establishment. This new influential faction had set themselves against the Old English and in short time were serious competitors for power and land. In 1534, Garret Óg Fitzgerald, the ninth earl of Kildare, was again summoned to London to prove his loyalty. Whilst the Old English saw no contradiction between Irishness and loyalty to the Crown, the New English sold the idea to Henry that long term control of Ireland could only be guaranteed through Plantation of the country by new untainted English colonists. This time while Garret Óg was in London to defend himself, his son (Silken) Thomas, Lord Offaly, led an Irish Norman revolt against the New English appointees. His rather optimistic aim was to have his father restored to the position of Lord Deputy of Ireland. The reaction of London was to raise a large English army to march against the palesmen and "degenerate English" (Gaelicised settlers), which took control of the Pale for the New English.

Following the demise of Garret Óg there followed a period of internecine conflict, as Norman Irish, Old English and Gael rivals fought to inherit his mantel of champion of Gaelic culture. In the interim, London stepped up the replacement of suspect Norman Irish and Old English officials in the Pale from the ranks of the loyal New English. Some within the Old English tradition such as Sir Patrick Finglas, Chief Baron of the Exchequer in the Pale believed that the Pale could be expanded to give England control the whole of Ireland, by encouraging the Gael to see Ireland as a valued entity within a larger state. For now the Old English identity and politics were too revolutionary for a simplistic Henry to accept. In any event their approach also required enforcement of English law by force, to suppress the Irish Féineachas laws, in common use even in the Pale.

Henry wanted to make fact England's claim to the whole island of Ireland and not just to the Pale. To achieve this would initially require the wholesale reorganization of the Pale and expansion of Courts, local government services and military security, including a fort building program. Henry gave the task to his trusted servant, Thomas Cromwell, who he appointed as new Lord Deputy. In Ireland Cromwell saw his greatest challenge to extending Crown control. He spent a great deal of time on developing an Irish policy. Because of the extensive restructuring, his administration (1534-1536) became known as the Reformation Parliament. The lands confiscated from the Fitzgeralds of Kildare were awarded to New English settlers. Furthermore constitutional changes were implemented to secure the Pale as an English regional possession. Hence the office of Lord Deputy of Ireland was to be reserved for Englishmen only, and a permanent army was to be retained in the Pale. The message to the Old English was clear, following the new constitutional changes the Dublin administration lost its independence of action to London. Nevertheless the power struggle between the Old English and New English continued in the background to see whose approach would prevail as state policy.

The New English, whilst initially Catholic, were not interested in being culturally absorbed into Gaelic culture. They saw their allegiances entirely with England and became a force in Ireland in extending the power of English administration, laws and courts. But the process of legal repossession of land from the Gael and Norman Irish was slow and so many New English saw inter-marriage with the Norman Irish and Gaelic aristocracy as a shortcut to acquiring lands and wealth. Also the native chiefs saw it as important to forge family alliances through marriage with the new English to retain their position. Whilst links with Catholic New English helped the natives, the downside was an anglicizing process building within the core of native leadership. Such marriages of convenience did not alter the instinctive political allegiance of the New English. They often used such marriages just to acquire lands without the need for violence, but such contacts did not halt the irregular New English plantations.

Thomas Cromwell was enthusiastic to implement the reformation of religious practice and may well have helped Henry formulate his ideas on rejecting Papal authority. He naturally welcome Henry's rift with Rome, but he wanted to move further and faster than Henry. Cromwell realised that control of the church was insufficient in itself and to initiate a Protestant Reformation would require a dismantling of Catholic institutions. He adopted a step by step approach, to bring Henry with him. As a first step in this direction, he encouraged the passing of the Dispensations Act in 1534 depriving the Pope of Revenue from England. Revenue was a matter very close to Henry's heart. Henry was in desperate need for finance for his military budget and in essence the church was an easy target. But Cromwell ensured that opposition would not interfere in the process, by supporting the passing of the Treason Act in 1534. The act was designed to intimidate opposition to religious reforms, by threat of the death penalty. In the Act for First Fruits and Tenths in 1534, the taxation on the clergy was increased, which increased Henry's income dramatically. Cromwell's objective was to open Henry's eyes to the potential wealth of the church, and allaying his qualms to expropriating church property.

Henry now added to Cromwell's power, by appointing him Viceregent in Spiritual matters in 1535. Effectively Cromwell's powers in matters spiritual superceded those of the Archbishop of Canterbury. This allowed him the scope to intervene in gradual stages in church matters, to secure the appointment of Protestant Bishops and to attack Catholic expressions of faith. In 1535 Cromwell used his administrative resources to assess the wealth of the church in the "Valor Ecclesiasticus," the results of which he used to tantalize a receptive Henry. Henry agreed to a policy of suppressing some monastic institutions. The Act of 1536, resulted in the suppression of some 220 monastic institutions which supposedly had fallen into error. Henry put in place an institution to manage the confiscated church properties for the Crown. But he soon recognised that he was able to make even more money by selling the properties on to aristocrats, merchants and richer yeoman. In selling church property to this important class, he secured their complicity to his actions, thereby buying their support for rejection of Papal authority. But in appropriating church property Henry had set in motion a process which developed it's own economic momentum, similar to the trends in modern states for selling off state owned institutions.

In 1536 there was a renewal of the conflict between France and Spain. The death of Catherine of Aragon also in 1536, released Henry even in the eyes of Rome from his marital error. Rapprochement with Rome was possible. Furthermore the death even gave Henry an opportunity to renew his alliance with Spain. But Henry continued to assert state control over the church, thereby keeping Spain at a distance. Cromwell saw the tide turning as Catholics regained the kings ear. As worrying for his position, the king had tired of Ann Boleyn. The Catholic faction realised that there was an opportunity to get rid of Ann and thereby bastardized her Protestant daughter, Elizabeth. Ann Boleyn was accused of infidelity. Cromwell who had supported her rise, now jumped on the bandwagon against her to ingratiate himself with the king. Ann was duly executed and Cranmer declared that her marriage to the king had been annulled, thereby making her daughter Elizabeth illegitimate. This incidentally, strengthened the case of her Catholic half sister Mary in the royal succession.

A Catholic rebellion in the North of England known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, in protest against the attacks on the church, surprised Henry. Cromwell took the opportunity to restored order, and remove senior Catholics implicated . He also facilitated the king over the period, encouraging him to use his absolute power to remove obstacles to his will. In this way a terror began to surround both the king and Cromwell, as Cromwell became more powerful than ever. He supported the king in his brief marriage to Lady Jane Seymour who produced a boy for Henry, but sadly Jane died in the childbirth.

With great influence over the king, Cromwell encouraged Henry to issue Royal Injunctions prohibiting the practice of Pilgrimages, the offering of candles, use of Rosary beads and the practice of prayers to saints or worship of relics in 1536. Prohibiting these overtly public Catholic practices was designed to send a message to the clergy and laity. To further advance Protestantism, he appealed to Henry's Anglophile mentality, by gaining authority to publish the Bible in the vernacular. The English translation was that of a Protestant clergy man, Thomas Covendale. Cromwell ensured that copies of the bible were soon in every parish with parishioners encouraged to study it. The aim was to promote personal revelation in the laity, and to discourage acceptance of Catholic theological teaching by the church. The impact of these measures was immense on the physical fabric of the church, but still they did not significantly impact on the support for and service of the Mass, except amongst the educated and "chattering class" who helped formulate government policy.

As part of the general drive to enforce Crown authority on a uniform basis throughout the realm, Thomas Cromwell tried to ensure that similar measures were introduced in Ireland. In 1536 the Irish Parliament voted to accept the Supremacy of the king over the church. However there was opposition to this, both within the church and amongst the laity. Whilst most of the Irish bishops accepted the situation, the clergy on the whole did not. Accepting Crown Supremacy was one thing to attack the church was an entirely different matter. In 1537 when the Suppression bill was passed by the Irish Parliament, opposition was so great, that it was mainly just within the Pale itself that monasteries were suppressed. Outside the Pale, religious practice continued almost unchanged. Hence whilst Conn Bacach Ó Néill felt no problem in accepting Supremacy of the Crown and lack of jurisdiction of the Papacy in Irish church matters, it is clear that from this time religious trends within England and Ireland were beginning to move in different directions. There were no burnings of Henry's religious opponents in Ireland, indeed the fairly unanimous Catholicism guaranteed that religious difference remained fairly unimportant. Certainly the dedication of the friars acted as a bulwark to prevent the emergence of support for Protestantism.

New English influence continued to increase in Ireland, but in Ulster, North east Mayo and Sligo the Gael bucked the trend, rolling back English settlements.

Henry had by now developed his own religious philosophy. The stirrings of opposition to the attacks on traditional Catholicism, caused him to pause the rate of religious change. The Pilgrimage of Grace and eloquent, if futile opposition by Sir Thomas Moore, appears to have worried Henry of the prospects of provoking a serious Catholic rebellion. The Bishops book re-established all seven Catholic Sacraments, albeit with the demotion of four to a lower status than Baptism, Penance and Eucharist. Yet side by side with this restraint, Henry allowed Cromwell to use the Treason Act to persecute the particularly effective Catholic Orders such as the Carthusians, Brigettines and Franciscan Observants. In allowing the state to become increasingly involved in religious persecution, Henry was creating a dangerous precedent for the future.

Henry needed still more Revenue to fund his policies to retain Calais, dominate his Scottish neighbours and extend English control in the Irish Pale. Therefore he authorized the suppression of all monasteries (a process completed by 1540), generating a huge war chest from the sell-off bonanza. With yet another pillar of Catholicism removed, Protestantism continued to gain ground.

One ecclesiastical reform which genealogists can thank Cromwell for is his requirement, in 1538, for all parishes to maintain registers of baptisms, marriages and burials.

1538 also saw the end of hostilities between Spain and France. Henry and Cromwell feared the consequences for England. The worst possible outcome might be a shift of European alliances, with Catholic France and Spain united in a campaign against England to turn around the heretical trends. There were numerous possible routes for an attack on England, including Calais, the Spanish Netherlands and most likely, Catholic Scotland. Henry accelerated his military expenditure, with particular investment in the English navy, strategically aimed at deterring, or if necessary defeating any European invasion. Extensive resources had already been expended on naval expansion. When combined with a coastal fort building program and raising of a national militia, Henry's fortress England presented an impressive defensive wall to potential invaders.

The end of Welsh independence spurred on Henry towards a new goal, namely to extend English control to cover the whole island of Britain. Since the death of James IV of Scotland, Mary Tudor (sister of Henry VIII) had ruled Scotland as an ineffective regent on behalf of her young son, James V. Without a strong Scottish monarchy to control them, the Scots nobles had carved up the country into mini fiefdoms for their own aggrandizement. The effect was to seriously weaken Scottish independence. During the minority of James V, Henry had maintained reasonably friendly relations with the Scots. However from the mid 1530's, following Henry's anti-Catholic stance and the marriage of James V to the French Mary de Guise in 1538 (Mary de Guise was to play an important role in the history of Scotland until the death of Mary Stuart, Mary Queen of Scots.), the atmosphere changed. James moved Scotland closer to France, hoping to gain a strong European ally who would support his aim of reaffirming Scottish independence, from his ambitious English neighbour. War between England and Scotland was now just a matter of time.

On an international level, Cromwell recommended Henry to consider an alliance with the Protestant German states. Henry feared that such an alliance would be the catalyst to bring about a Catholic superpower alliance against him. However through the process of diplomatic contacts, he did conclude an alliance with the German state of Cleves. The ruler of Cleves, William, had followed a similar course to Henry, in separating from Rome whilst not adopting Protestantism. William had similarly formulated his own state version of Catholicism. The convergence of minds on religious philosophy, influenced Henry resulting in an alliance, formalized by the marriage of Henry to William's sister, Anne of Cleves in 1539. Embarrassingly, the marriage was a disaster, Henry so disliked Anne, that he immediately sought for and obtained an annulment from Cranmer. Henry blamed Cromwell for the debacle, which allowed the Catholic faction to regain influence with the king.

With Henry's divorce agreed, his alliance with Cleves ended. The danger to England of invasion had also passed, as Spain and France resumed their conflict over events in Italy. Inevitaby the court intrigue continued unabated, as the Catholic Lady Jane Howard was manoeuvered into Henry's life. In 1539 Henry issued his 6 Articles, a statement of doctrine, affirming in no uncertain terms the Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation amongst others. This was a tremendous set back to Cromwell, and spurred the Protestant faction to plot the end of Lady Jane. However before they could effect their plans, she and her supporters managed to convince a receptive king, that Cromwell had not only become too powerful but that he had treasonous ambition. They also used the king's own legislation to point out that Cromwell did not believe in transubstantiation (The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist). It was treason to oppose the king in matters of theology and so in 1540 the terror of royal dictat, which Cromwell had cultivated, was exercised against him. The execution of Cromwell was a blow to the Protestant faction at court, forcing it to reorganize itself, however it was still well placed to further it's long term aims.

This history series shall be continued in the next issue of the Clan Newsletter.

Books researched in the Society of Genealogists library, in London