Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 19.djvu/125

Fitzgerald and first cousin of Henry VIII. The same year he was removed from office and the Earl of Surrey appointed lord-lieutenant. Polydore Vergil was perhaps not an unprejudiced observer, but he undoubtedly expressed the general feeling when he remarked that in making this change Wolsey was actuated rather by hatred of Kildare than by any love for Surrey (Historia Anglica, lib. xxvii.) In June Kildare accompanied Henry to the Field of the Cloth of Gold, where he was distinguished for his gallant bearing. Fretting, however, under his detention, he seems to have entered into treasonable negotiations with the wild Irish to invade the Pale, but the charge was never brought home to him, and it ought to be noted that the chief witness against him, O'Carroll, was a kinsman of Ormonde's. He was placed under restraint, and though shortly afterwards released, it was not till July 1523 that he was allowed to return to Ireland. In 1521 Ormonde had been appointed deputy to the Earl of Surrey. For a brief period peace prevailed between the two rivals, but in October the feud broke out afresh. In November they consented to a treaty of peace 'for one year only.' But the murder of Robert Talbot, a retainer of Ormonde's, suspected of spying upon Kildare, by James Fitzgerald, in December, at once led to further acts of hostility on both sides. A new charge of treason was preferred against Mm, but by the influence of the Marquis of Dorset the commission of investigation was appointed to sit in Ireland, with the result that in August 1524 Ormonde was removed from office and Kildare established in his stead. Immediately afterwards he was ordered to arrest the Earl of Desmond, believed to be engaged in treasonable negotiations with Francis I, 'but whether willingly or wittingly he omitted the opportunity, as being loath to be the minister of his cousin Desmond's ruin, or that it lay not in his power and hands to do him hurt or harm, he missed the mark at which he aimed' (, Narrative). On his return he advanced into Ulster to the assistance of his son-in-law, Con O'Neill, assailed on one side by O'Donnell and on the other by his rival, Hugh O'Neill. In May 1525 he held a parliament at Dublin, and shortly afterwards 'crucified' Maurice Kavanagh, archdeacon of Leighlin, for the murder of his kinsman, Maurice Doran, bishop of Leighlin (, Annals). The same year the charge of treasonable practices was renewed against him by the Earl of Ossory {he had recently resigned the earldom of Ormonde to Sir Thomas Boleyn [q. v.]) on the ground that he had wilfully neglected to arrest the Earl of Desmond and that he had connected himself by marriage with the 'Irish enemy.' Accordingly, in compliance with a summons from Henry he passed over next year into England, and was immediately clapped in the Tower. As to the story told by Stanihurst of his trial before the council and of Wolsey's abortive attempt to have him secretly executed, it can only be said that there is perhaps a grain of truth in it. But that Wolsey's hatred should have led him to commit such an egregious piece of folly is incredible, if indeed it is not absolutely disproved by state documents (State Papers, Hen. VIII, ii. 138). However this may have been, he was shortly liberated on bail and went to reside at Newington in Middlesex, a seat of the Duke of Norfolk's. His detention proving irksome, he, in July 1528, sent his daughter Alice, lady Slane, to instigate his Irish allies to invade the Pale ; but his intrigues being suspected he was again confined to the Tower, and the office of deputy transferred to Ossory. In 1530, on the appointment of Sir W. Skeffington, he was allowed to return to Ireland, and in 1531 accompanied him on an expedition against O'Donnell. But he regarded the appointment with unconcealed dislike, and Ossory, ever ready to strike a blow at him, combined with the deputy. Once again was he compelled to appear in England, but this time he acquitted himself so successfully as to obtain Skeffington's removal and his own appointment. On his return in August 1532 he received an ovation from the populace of Dublin and forthwith proceeded with little ceremony to remove his enemies from office. In May 1533 he held a parliament at Dublin, and afterwards went to the assistance of his son-in-law, O'Carroll (son of Mulrony), whose position was challenged by the sons of John O'Carroll ; but during the siege of Birr Castle he received a bullet wound in his side, which partially deprived him of the use of his limbs and speech (Cox's assertion that he was wounded in the head is without foundation in fact). Meanwhile Ossory, Archbishop Allen, and Robert Cowley were busily complaining of his conduct to the king, and in consequence of their representations he was again summoned to England. Suffering acutely from his wound he, on 3 Oct., sent his wife to make his excuses, but the king was resolved on his coming, and gave him permission to appoint a vice-deputy. Accordingly, having held a council at Drogheda in February 1534, at which he delivered up the sword of state to his son and heir, Thomas, lord Oflaly [q. v.], he shortly afterwards set sail on his last and fatal voyage (his speech before the council recorded by Stani-