But though Ulster was left for a time undisturbed, in Munster a vast scheme of confiscation and settlement took shape. It is not clear whether the first steps were due to private enterprise, or to the initiative of the government.
A knight of Devonshire, a certain Sir Peter Carew, put forward claims to estates in Carlow and Meath, and to the moiety of the "Kingdom of Cork" as granted by Henry II. to Robert Fitzstephen. His claim to the barony of Idrone in Carlow,[1] and to an estate in Meath actually held by a certain Chevers was upheld by the courts.
It is the fashion to ridicule his claim to lands in Munster. To recognize it was contrary to the principles which had guided Henry VIII. in his dealings with Irish land, and the Tudors in general followed Henry's policy in this respect. But it was certainly the kind of claim that the Crown lawyers in the later days of James I. would have taken up with avidity. With the more accurate knowledge of the history of the early settlers which has been made possible in recent years we can no longer blindly accept the statements made by former writers that the Carew claims had already been investigated and set aside.
We need not accept the mythical "Marquess Carew" who, before such a title was known in England, held part of the coast line of Cork, and "gave his name" to the castle of Dunamark.[2]
But there had been Carews with great posses-
