Earl Walter "of the Rosaries" had died before any effective steps had been taken towards a plantation, complaining bitterly that in spite of the eminent loyalty of his family he should be the first of the old Anglo-Norman blood marked out for spoliation.
His grandson and successor in the title, afterwards the great Duke of Ormond, was more prudent, or rather more selfish. His actual revenues from the disputed lands were small. He was promised special favours at the expense of the Irish under the plantation scheme for himself, and some two or three of his friends. Therefore he forebore to produce Henry VIII. 's grant, and in 1637 a jury at Clonmel found a title for the King.[1]
The troubles in Great Britain put a stop to any effectual proceedings in Connaught and Ormond. Before any of the landowners in these districts had been deprived of their lands, the English Parliament had deprived Strafford of his head.[2] And Charles was beginning to see that the loyalty of Irish Catholics might be worth cultivating as a support against the growing disloyalty of Scottish Presbyterians and English Puritans.
- ↑ A full account of these transactions is to be found in Prendergast: Plantation of Ormond. Trans. Kil. Arch. See. Vol. I. (1849). Carte says that the young Earl helped Strafford by producing the title deeds: Prendergast with more reason says he refrained from producing them.
- ↑ One confiscation was actually carried through by Strafford. The territory of Idough—the greater part of the barony of Faesadinin in Co. Kilkenny—was taken from the O'Brennans who had held it for centuries, and given to Wandesforde, Master of the Rolls. On an inquisition it was found that the O'Brennans were mere Irish who had entered and "held by the strong hand, and that they therefore had no title."Wandesforde intended to compensate the dispossessed landowners: but his heirs got rid of their claims through the share they had taken in the events of 1641.
