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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2016
The 1560s and 1570s saw the development of a new technique to meet the problem of governing Ireland: the establishment of provincial presidencies in Connacht and Munster, with composition agreements to finance these presidencies. This article re-examines the evidence for, and the nature of, the Connacht composition agreements, with particular reference to the lordships of Clanricard and Thomond, and analyses native reaction to the composition. It places the composition within the context of contemporary arguments about reform strategies for Ireland, and, finally, illustrates that the Composition of Connacht was essentially a form of taxation, and not, as historians have traditionally suggested, an agreement dealing with title to land.
English administrative policy in Elizabethan Ireland was influenced by the success of the provincial administrations of Wales and the north of England. This is most clearly reflected in the establishment of provincial presidencies in Connacht and Munster in 1569–70. The driving force behind English schemes for the administration of both provinces was Sir Henry Sidney, a former president of Wales, and lord deputy of Ireland, 1565–71 and 1575–78.
1 Canny, Nicholas, The Elizabethan conquest of Ireland: a pattern established, 1565–76 (Hassocks, 1976), ch. 3Google Scholar; Sidney S.P., p. 68.
2 Lord Deputy Sidney to the privy council, 27 Apr. 1576 (P.R.O., S.P 63/55/34).
3 ‘Abstract of the rents due by virtue of the compositions’, 1577(P.R.O., S.P. 63/59/71); Composition paid in Connacht and Thomond, Oct. 1581 (ibid., S.P. 63/86/35–7); Accounts for 1583 (ibid., S.P 63/106/50); Sir Nicholas Malby's accounts, 1 Oct. 1578 to 30 Sept. 1584 (ibid., S.P 63/112/79); see also notes on the earl of Clanricard, 10 Oct. 1578 (ibid., S.P 63/63/10).
4 ‘State of the new composition in Connacht’ enclosed by Sir Richard Bingham to Burghley. 10 Dec. 1586 (P.R.O., S.P 63/127/22 i).
5 Cornp. bk Conn., pp 3–4, Commission by the crown, 1585.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid., pp 12–15.
8 ‘State of the new composition in Connacht’ (P.R.O., S.P 63/127/22 i).
9 Comp. bk Conn., pp 17–24.
10 Ibid., p. 17.
11 Ibid., p. 18.
12 Ibid., pp 24–8.
13 Ibid., pp 28–30.
14 Ibid., pp 18–19.
15 ‘Collections touching the Composition rent in Connacht’, 20 May 1592 (P.R.O., S.P 63/164/39).
16 Comp. bk Conn., p. 37; see also Sir Richard Bingham to Burghley, 29 Dec. 1594 (P.R.O.,S.P 63/177/53); Bingham to Burghley, 11 May 1592 (ibid., S.P. 63/164/26); ‘Collections touching the Composition rent’ (ibid., S.P 63/164/39).
17 Bingham to the lord treasurer, May 1591 (P.R.O., S.P, 63/158/22).
18 ‘Review of the Composition of Connacht’. (Sept.) 1588 (P.R.O., S.P 63/136/66).
19 Bingham to Burghley, 6 Dec. 1594 (P.R.O., S.P 63/177/34); Bingham to Burghley, 17 Dec. 1592 (ibid., S.P 63/167/38).
20 Bingham to Burghley, 22 Apr. 1592 (P.R.O., S.P 63/164/13).
21 Hayes-McCoy, G. A., ‘The completion of the Tudor conquest and the advance of the counter-reformation, 1571–1603’ in Moody, T W, Martin, F X. and Byrne, F J. (eds), A new history of Ireland, iii (Oxford, 1976), p. 110 Google Scholar.
22 ‘Review of the Composition of Connacht’ (P.R.O., S.P 63/136/66).
23 Ibid.
24 Bradshaw, Brendan, ‘Sword, word and strategy in the Reformation in Ireland’ in Hist. Jn., xxi (1978), p. 483 Google Scholar.
25 ‘State of the new composition’, 1586 (P.R.O., S.P 63/127/22 i).
26 Sir Henry Wallop to Walsingham, 8 July 1586 (P.R.O., S.P 63/125/10); reply to Sir John Perrot's arguments on composition of Connacht, Mar. 1589 (ibid., S.P 63/142/67).
27 Canny, Nicholas (ed.), ‘Rowland White's “Discors touching Ireland”, c. 1569’ in I.H.S., xx, no. 80 (Sept. 1977), p. 462 Google Scholar.
28 Beacon, Richard, Solon his follie (Oxford, 1594), p. 78 Google Scholar.
29 Sir Robert Gardener and Roger Wilbraham to Burghley. 31 Dec. 1592 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/167/44 ii).
30 Bingham to Burghley, 24 Nov 1595 (P.R.O., S.P 63/184/31).
31 John Newton to Burghley, 17 Mar. 1587 (P.R.O., S.P 63/128/97); Bingham to Burghley, 5 Feb. 1589 (ibid., S.P 63/141/9).
32 ‘Collections touching the Composition rent’ (ibid., S.P 63/164/39).
33 Bingham to Burghley, 11 May 1592 (ibid., S.P 63/164/26).
34 Claims of the earl of Clanricard, 16 May 1571 (P.R.O., S.P 63/32/35); ‘Petition of the earl ofThomond to the lord deputy and council’, 15 May 1572 (ibid., S.P 63/36/20 i). See also Bernadette Cunningham, ‘Political and social change in the lordships of Clanricard and Thomond, 1569–1641’ (unpublished M.A. thesis, University College, Gal way, 1979), pp 120–22.
35 A version of this letter was published in Comp. bk Conn., p. 177 See also Chieftains and knights of Connacht and Thomond to Lord Deputy Perrot, 27 Sept. 1585 (P.R.O., S.P 63/119/38).
36 Butler, , Confiscation, pp 101–3Google Scholar.
37 See Nicholls, Kenneth, Land, law and society in sixteenth-century Ireland (O'Donnell lectures, Dublin, 1976), p. 1 Google Scholar.
38 Lords justices and council to Secretary Vane, 24 Apr. 1641 (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1633–47. pp 275–8).
39 G. A. Hayes-McCoy, Index to the Composition booke of Conought, 1585 (I.M.C., Dublin, 1942), verso of t.p.
40 Hayes-McCoy, G. A., ‘The completion of the Tudor conquest’ in N.H.I., iii (1976), pp 109–10Google Scholar.
41 Comp. bk Conn., p. 165.
42 Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Eliz., p. 145.
43 ‘Pedigree of Donough O'Conor.’, (24 Feb.) 1588 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/133/80); Sir Turlough O'Brien to Burghley, (June) 1588 (ibid., S.P 63/135/57).
44 Bingham to Burghley, 28 Feb. 1594 (P.R.O., S.P. 63/173/68).
45 Clarke, Aidan, ‘Pacification, plantation and the catholic question, 1603–23’ in N.H.I., iii, 222 Google Scholar.
46 See Bradshaw, ‘Sword, word and strategy’, passim.
