The deputy's defence: Sir William Fitzwilliam's Apology on the outbreak of the Nine Years War in Ireland

Abstract

The Apology of Sir William Fitzwilliam, Lord Deputy of Ireland from 1588 to 1594, offers a revealing insight into the origins of the Nine Years War, otherwise known as Tyrone’s Rebellion, which convulsed Ireland between 1594 and 1603. The Apology was addressed to Queen Elizabeth to allay suspicions that corrupt and high-handed dealings during Fitzwilliam’s governorship had provoked the war. It deals with key events*the execution of Hugh Roe MacMahon, the revolt of Hugh Maguire, the escape of Red Hugh O’Donnell*and, most importantly, reflects Fitzwilliam’s view of his relations with Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone. The prefatory analysis, far from revealing the Apology as some truth-telling end-of-life confession, exposes a belated, carefully manipulated attempt to rescue the author’s damaged reputation. This was under threat from the earl of Essex and his faction following the death of Fitzwilliam’s patron Lord Burghley in 1598. Introduction: prefatory analysis of the Apology The Apology of Sir William Fitzwilliam offers the lord deputy’s perspective on the origins of Hugh O’Neill’s revolt against the English crown in Ireland, which broke out during his second term as chief governor between 1588 and 1594. Sir William Fitzwilliam (1526 99) was Elizabeth’s most experienced Irish official, having served widely in treasury and executive positions. He composed this document towards the end of his life when England’s fortunes in Ireland were at a low point. Although essentially an attempt at exoneration, it contains useful information not available in the regular state papers. In Tyrone’s Rebellion I * Author’s e-mail: H.Morgan@ucc.ie doi: 10.3318/PRIAC.2014.114.01 1 I wish to thank Professor Paul Hammer of the University of Colorado for his helpful comments on this paper. I also wish to acknowledge the financial support of the Programme for Research in Third-level Institutions. 2 For William Fitzwilliam see Richard Bagwell, Ireland under the Tudors (3 vols, Dublin, 1885 90), ii, 207 306 and iii, 195 241; Robert Dunlop, ‘Fitzwilliam, Sir William (1526 1599)’, Dictionary of national biography (63 vols, Oxford, 1885 1901), xix, 232 5; Mary Ann Lyons, ‘Fitzwilliam, Sir William (1526 1599)’, Oxford dictionary of national biography (60 vols, Oxford, 2004), xix, 965 8. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy Vol. 114C, 181 214 # 2014 Royal Irish Academy This content downloaded from 207.46.13.51 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 06:04:18 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms referred to this document as a memoir. Yet it is not a sophisticated propaganda puff in the manner of Sir Henry Sidney’s memoir of 1583; it more closely 3 Hiram Morgan, Tyrone’s Rebellion: the outbreak of the Nine Years War in Tudor Ireland (Woodbridge, 1993), 62, 148, 201, on Fitzwilliam see especially chaps 4 and 7. Hiram Morgan