No. XXII. NOTES ON THE IRISH PARLIAMENT OF THE 28TH YEAR OF KING HENRY VIII., ETC. The dates connected with the transactions of A.D. 1536. the above-named assembly, (to which the reader's attention has been directed at p. 683 of the present work,) are thus given in the Irish Statutes, printed by authority, in 8 vols. Dublin, 1765. Vol. i. p. 66. The parliament commenced sitting "at Dublin, on Parliament Monday, the 1st of May, in the 28th year of the reign of meets in our lord the King, &c." (i. e. 1536.) Dublin May 1st. "Thence on Wednesday, the last day of the same At Kilkenmonth of May, it was adjourned to Tuesday, the 25th ny, July 25. day of July then next following, at Kilkenny, and there held and continued. "And there on Wednesday, the 26th of July, it was Cashel. adjourned to the next following Friday, viz., the 28th July 28. day of the same month of July, at Cashel, and there held and continued. "And there on the said Friday, viz., the 28th day of Limerick, the said month of July, adjourned to the Wednesday August 2. then next following, viz., the 2nd of August, at the city of Limerick, and there held and continued. "And there, on Saturday, the 19th day of the same Dublin, month of August, adjourned to Friday, the 15th day of Sep. 15. the month of September then next following, at the city of Dublin aforesaid, and there held and continued. "And there on Thursday, the 28th day of the same Prorogued to Jan. 20, Next, to Afterwards, to Oct. 13. month of September, prorogued to Saturday the 20th of January then next following, [i. e. 1536, O. S.] at the city of Dublin aforesaid, and there held and continued. "And there on Tuesday the 5th [lege 6th] day of February then next following, prorogued to Tuesday the 1st of May then next following, (i. e 1537) at the city of Dublin aforesaid, and there held and continued. "And there on Tuesday the 8th of May then next following, prorogued to Friday the 20th day of July then next following, at the city of Dublin aforesaid, and there held and continued. "And there on Saturday, the 21st day of July then next following, prorogued to Saturday the 13th of October then next following, at the city of Dublin aforesaid: Ends, Dec. and there on the 20th day of December then next following terminated and concluded. Anno 1537." 20. Note on the authority of the dates The statement here given of the days of meeting and adjournment of the Parliament in above given. question appears of doubtful authority. For it is quite at variance with an assertion contained in the letter of the Lord Deputy Grey (mentioned at p. 690 sup.) and Justice Brabazon to Lord Cromwell, written in May, 1537, which advertises his lordship "that the Wednesday before Pentecost, being the 16th day of this month, the Parliament was prorogued until the 20th day of July next coming;" whereas for "Wednesday the 16th," the above record has "Tuesday the 8th" of the month referred to. Leap year, where inter calated at For the use of any one who cares to look into this period. these dates, it may be proper to observe, that although 1536 was a leap year according to the usual rule, yet there is no intercalary day added to the February of this year, counted as commencing (where the legal, civil, and eeclesiastical years of that age are commonly reckoned to commence, viz.,) on March 25; that in fact no such day was intercalated where one might expect it, in the year from March 25, 1535, to March 24, 1536, ending, (as may be easily seen from studying the given dates themselves,) which year included the February after the opening of this Parliament. But in what is called the historical year 1536, reckoned from January 1st, 1535, to January 1st, 1536, of the other sort, the month of February so included, (and which was the February next before the Parliament sat,) was increased by the intercalary day; the Sunday letters being for the historical year 1535, C; for January and February, 1536, B; and after that, A. Speaking of the common legal and ecclesiastical year, we should have to call 1535 (not 1536) the leap year, having the Sunday letters, C and B. this Parlia In the statutes corrected by the Record Com- The Acts of mission, there is a note to the 28th Hen. VIII., ment rec. 2, (the Succession Act, in favour of the King rently all to and Queen Anna,) saying that the transmiss* of 1537. i. e. "a document sent over." By Poyning's Act, passed at Drogheda in 1494, every Irish measure was to be sent over to England, ferred appa that act was dated "Sep. 13, 27th year,” i. è. September, 13, 1535, seven days after Archbishop Brown's letter advising the holding of the Parliament. Now, ch. 17, which repeals this c. 2, recites the (English) Act of Succession made in a Parliament in Westminster the 8th of June, 28th year, (i. e. June, 1536,) and also an Act of Succession at a Parliament held by prorogation in Dublin, 13th Oct., 29th year, i. e. 13th October, 1537. If this latter act be the c. 2 aforesaid, as it would seem to be, then it would appear that in September, 1535, a copy of such an act was sent to London, in conformity with Poyning's Law, along with the advice to hold a Parliament; but although the latter met in May, 1536, by some means or other delay occurred, and the said act, c. 2, was not passed until October, 1537. The printed statutes refer all these acts to 1537. And ch. 12, which denies the proctors of the clergy any voice in the Parliament, is mentioned as one of a number of acts delivered for conveyance into Ireland, with a view to being passed by Parliament, in July, 1537. (Mant. i. 121.) How then could c. 2, be delayed to October 13th following, or how could Henry allow such a postponement of the Act es and submitted to the king for approval, before it could be entertained or discussed by the Parliament of Ireland. tablishing the succession to the kingdom to occur? These are questions which I cannot attempt just now fully to unravel. account of given by the Of the proceedings under Henry VIII. con- A curious nected with the interests of religion and the Henry's alChurch, at this period, the following is the cu- terations rious account provided for the instruction of Four Mastheir less learned countrymen, by the Four Masters, in their Annals, compiled A.D. 1641. See O'Donovan's Four Masters, in A.D. 1537, p. 1445. "A heresy and error of a new sort [sprang up] in England, through pride, vain glory, avarice, and lust, and through many strange sciences, so that the men of England went into opposition to the pope and to Rome. They at the same time adopted various opinions, and [among others] the old law of Moses in imitation of the Jewish people; and they styled the king the chief head of the Church of God in his own kingdom. New laws and statutes were enacted by the king and council [Parliament] according to their own will. They destroyed the Orders to whom worldly possessions were allowed namely the Monks, Canons, Nuns, Brethren of the Cross, and the four poor Orders, i. e. the orders of the Minors, Preachers, Carmelites, and Augustinians; and the lordships and livings of all these were taken up for the king. They broke down the Monasteries, and sold their roofs and bells, so that from Aran of the Saints to the Iccian Sea, [i. e. from Aranmore Id. in Galway Bay to the British Sea between England and France,] there was not one monastery that was not broken and shattered, with the exception of a few in Ireland of which the English ters. |