When Brian O'Rourke came to his castle in Dromahair to celebrate Christmas 1586, he was in a state of seething resentment. Tudor rule had made considerable inroads into his territory of Breifne. All around him other chieftains, such as the O'Connors of Sligo and McWilliam Burkes of Mayo, had made their submissions to Queen Elizabeth. His campaign of resistance had petered out, but he held on to his gallowglass soldiers. The English tried to sweeten him by granting him a title. He was now Sir Bryan O'Rourke. He could retain his castles at Dromahair, Newtown and Leitrim by agreeing to pay rent to the Queen. It was extremely galling for a man described by Sir Nicholas Malby "as the proudest man living on earth"
During the festivities at Christmas O'Rourke and his soldiers staged a pageant. An image of a woman, carved of wood, and believed to have been stolen from a church, was tied to a horse's tail and dragged though the mud. Excited onlookers asked who it was, and were told it was "an old Cailigh(hag) from across the water" Later, a witness said the name Elizabeth was written upon it. The soldiers hacked it with their axes in a ritual execution while reviling it with insults.
The insult to the Queen was reported to Lord Deputy Perrott who decided to ignore it and took no action. The incident was to have grave repercussions for both men at their subsequent trials for treason. Perrott was replaced and sent to the Tower.
In 1591 Brian O'Rourke, on trial for sheltering survivors from the Spanish Armada, also faced a charge of "lese-majeste" which stated that he "caused her Majesty's name to be set on the image of a woman, tied to a horse's tail and dragged through the mire"
Five days later on 3rd November 1591 "Bren O'Royrke was drawn to Tyborne and there hanged, his members and bowels burned in the fire, his heart taken out and holden up by the hangman, naming it to be the archtraytor's heart, his head stricken off and his body quartered'
The wretched death reserved for traitors.
Many thanks to Mary Weir for the above piece.
Well done.
ReplyDeleteseeing as there's still a bit of his DNA thriving around these parts I'm sorely tempted to drag a few politicians around behind my horse...this time for their treason by handing over the deeds of the country.
By the way..this was the thing that we attempted to re-enact on G-Day. We didn't have time to carve a wooden effigy of Queen Betty so used a floppy dummy. It cold have been anyone...hopefully even one of the judges or the production company members.
By the way...I have a copy of the grant of arms here. You will see the arms above with Serviendo Guberno. That was to be stamped into the gold bars that were handed over to the crown every year. The translation was actually "by service to the Crown I can govern". No self respecting O'Rourke would use that particular one lol.
Thanks for keeping up the historical profile of Dromahair Bernie.
Merry Xmas to all.
Patrick J.O'Rourke
sleepingwarrior.com