[Sir] Thomas Stafford

Life
fl.1611-1633; prob. illeg. son of Sir George Carew, later Earl of Totnes, raised in his household, and his secretary in Ireland during the final campaign of the Nine Years War - otherwise the Rebellion of Hugh O’Neill in which he served as a captain; author of Pacata Hibernia, Ireland appeased and reduced; or, an historie of the late warres ... [ &c.] (1633), incl. ‘seventeene several mappes for the better understanding of the storie’; Carew (d.1629) bequeathed him a pension £500 p.a., and a large collection of MSS relating to Ireland, thirty nine vols. of which are held in Lambeth library, and four of which are in the Bodleian; a calendar of all these was edited by J. K. Brewer and William Bullen in 6 vols. (1867-73) [see infra];

Stafford alleges prefatorily that the original of Pacata was written by Carew but unpublished ‘out of his retyred Modestie’ but the consensus is that the book was composed by him [Stafford], drawing on Carew’s papers; Carew he was knighted by Lord Chichester 1611; intended to be buried in Carew’s tomb at Stratford-on-Avon, but it is uncertain whether he was so or not since the stone was engraved in advance; his famous book is considered impartial but mostly prized for the engravings; Pacata Hibernia was reprinted in Dublin by the Hibernia-Press (1810, rep. 1820), then in London by Bentley for Taylor (1821), and then by Downey, again in London, with an introduction and footnote annotations by Standish James O’Grady (1896). ODNB OCIL

[ top ]

Works
Pacata Hibernia, Ireland Appeased and Reduced; or, an History of the Late Wars of Ireland ... the Siege of Kinsale, .. Defeat of the Earl of Tyrone .. Expulsion and Send Home of Dun Juan d’Aquila (London: Aug. Mathewe for Robert Milbourne 1663), 391pp. [see details - and see “To the Reader” - as infra].

(London: A. Mathewes 1633) (Dublin: Hibernia Press 1810) (London: Downey 1896)

Bibliographical details
Pacata Hibernia, Ireland Appeased and redvced; or, an Historie of the Late Warres of Ireland, especially within the Province of Mounster, under the government of Sir George Carew, Knight, then Lord President of the Province and afterward Lord Carew of Clopton, and Earl of Totnes, &c., / Where the Siedge of Kinsale, the Defeat of the Earl of Tyrone, and his Armie; The Expulsion and Sending Home of Don Juan d’;Aguila, the Spanish General, with his Forces; and many other remarkable passages of that time are related, illustrated with Seventeen several mappes, for the better understanding of the Storie (London: Printed by Aug. Mathewes for Robert Milbourne, at the signe of the Grey-hound in Pauls Church-yard, 1633), [6], l, 391pp., ill. [2 ports.; 17 maps, partly folding]. [Epigraph:] Iuvenal Sat. 10: Bellorum Exuviæ truncis affixa [sic] tropæis / Lorica, & fractâ de Casside buccula pendens,/ Humanis majora bonis creduntur [ll.33-4; l.37 - see note]. Ded. To His Most Sacred Maiestie []. Maps. incl. large pl. Limerick, Kinsale, Youghal and Dunboy.

Note: Concluding material contains lists of combatants on both sides - supporters of the Crown and rebels - together with a list of 120 Irish nobles taking ship for Spain during Dec.-Feb. 1601/2 is given, leading off with O’Donnell, Redmond Burke, and Hugh Mostian. The tone is generally even, allowing chivalry and courage to the Irish soldiers and especially to the Spanish at Kinsale though the account of Irish ‘traitors’ and spying priests apprehended with documents to or from Tyrone in their possession (as elaborated in O’Grady’s novel Ulrick the Ready, 1899] is sharply hostile. The ‘jealous custom of their Nation’ refers to the custom of not admitting ‘strangers’ into castles ‘in their masters’ absence’ [599]. (Available at Internet Archive - online; accessed 23.06.2024. Note that the copy - which is photo-facs. without OCR - stops at p.388 incl.) Cat. occas. incls. add. detail: ‘part of the impresssion made over to be vented [i.e., vended] for the Benefit of the children of J. Mynshew, deceased’;.]

A note on epigraph: The lines are from Juneval’s tenth satire, usually called “The Vanity of Human Wishes” and a renowned classical text which was imitated by Samuel Johnson among others.The lines quoted here are ll 133-34 and 137 with an unmarked lacuna in the midde [ll.135-36]. (See G. G. Ramsey, ed., Juvenal and Perseus, London & NY 1928.) Aside from the lacuna, the Latin is copied accurately excepting only the substitution of the word affixa for adfixa - complicated by the ff symbols usually taken to represent ss in English texts of the period. (The phrase de casside is reproduced as de Casside in the epigraph.) In briefest summary it says that most people value such warlike trophies as breastplates [lorica], shields, and slaves from captured ships [triremes] but that these, too, are vanities. Does this, then, mean, that Thomas Stafford is belittling Carew’s achievement in his war against the Irish and their Spanish allies? Probably not. The abbreviation of the quote itself suggests that only the martial allusion are of interest to him, and not the idea that victory at war is vanity - which, in fact, is the last thing that he has in mind. In fact the scale of the victory by a lesser force and the sheer volume of war materials taken from the enemy is one of the salient features of the narrative outcome. [BS: 23.06.2024.]

Do. [1810 rep. as] Pacata Hibernia; or, A History of the Wars in Ireland, taken from the original chronicles, First published in Londn 1633, 2 vols. (Dublin: Hibernia-Press Company, No. 1, Temple Lane, 1810), 320pp., 17 folding pls. and maps; 2 ports.; Do. [2nd. Edn.] (Dublin: Hibernia-Press 1820), 320pp.

Note: a copy of Pacata Hibernia, Taken from the Original Chronicles, Illustrated with Portraits of Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Totness [sic], and Fac Similes of all the original Maps and Plans. Second Edition. First Published in London 1963. Dublin reprinted by the Hibernia-Press Company, No. 1, Temple Lane, 1820 [.e., second imp.]), bound as one vol. with marbled boards and leather embossed spine [Tho. Stafford / Pacata Hiberniais held at the Princess Grace Irish Libary (Monaco) - online.

Do. [rep. as] Pacata Hibernia : Ireland appeased and reduced, or, A History of the Wars of Ireland in the reign of Queen Elizabeth / by Thomas Stafford ; illustrated with portraits of Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Totness [sic]; and facsimiles of all the original maps, plans of castles, battles, &c., 2 volumes (London: Reprinted for James Taylor, by S. and R. Bentley 1821), [viii], 708pp, [viii]; 20 unnum. lvs. of pls.; ills. maps [some folding;, [2] ports., plans (some folded), facsimiles; 27cm. [See To the Reader (rep. of 1633) - infra.) (Available at Hathi Trust - online; accessed 23.06.2024.)

Do., [rep. as] Pacata Hibernia; or, A History of the Wars in Ireland, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth... : first published in London, 1633,  / edited and with an introduction and notes by Standish O’Grady, 2 vols. (London: Downey & Co. 1896), 4° [22 or 24cm; ‘This edition of “Pacata Hibernia” is limited to five hundred copies ...’. (Available at Internet Archive - online; accessed 23.06.2014.) For extracts from O’Grady footnotes [annotations] to this edition, see under O’Grady - as supra.

Note: Modern rep. copy of Pacata Hibernia [...] (British Library, Historical Print Editions 2011), 422pp. - cites authors: George Carew, O’Grady Standish James [sic], Thomas Stafford on front cover and offers the description ‘Compiled by G. Carew, Earl of Totnes. Edited by Sir Thomas Stafford. With portraits of the author and Queen Elizabeth’. (See Amazon - online; accessed 26.06.2024.)

See also ...

Hibernia Pacata: or, A narrative of the affairs of Ireland : from the famous battle of Clontarf, ... till the settlement under Henry II. / Written originally in Irish, and now first translated by Father Neri of Tuam ([Dublin]: [s.n.] Printed in the year, 1753), 23pp, [1], 8o.)] [Note: ‘Typographically this pamphlet belongs to the fictitious “T. Cooper” press’--Bradshaw]; Do. in The Patriot Miscellany', Vol. 1 (Dublin, 1756). Hibernia Pacata; or, Irish Autonomy viewed and considered from a new and original standpoint, as an imperial, Irish, religious and practical question[,] by a priest of the Alt Catholic Irish Church (Dublin: Hodges, Figgis & Co.; London : Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1887), 56pp. [“H”,] The New “Pacata Hibernia”: legislative measure of local government and county organization for Ireland (London: Hatchard 1881) [‘a new public code of common law and equity’. Poss. same author as Hibernia pacata [In English verse.] {London 1886), 1 sh.] The New “Hibernia Pacata,” or “The Message of Peace.” By Hibernicus (Dublin: Printed for the Author 1893), 35pp.

Calendar of the Carew Papers preserved in the Episcopal Library at Lambeth 1589-1600 ed. J. K. Brewer and William Bullen (Public Records Office 1869); facs. rep. Kraus (Nendeln/Liechtenstein 1974) - available online; accessed 24.06.2024.] The unsigned Introductory depicts Ireland during the decades before Seven Years War in which “Ulster and Munster were disquieted by insurrectionary chiefs, who hated English strangers much, but native rivals more” (p.xvii) at the time of O’Neill’s rebellion having declined from relative piece in the reign of Edward VI. He depicts a state of civil dissension and inter-tribal warfare in which Roman Catholic deputies “were compelled, or thought themselves compelled, to burn villages and fire upon rebels and traitors” and Roman Catholic bishops “just as ready to turn the spiritual artillery of the Church upon the wild Irish as Protestant bishops - even Browne and Bale - had ever thought of doing before them.” (p.xvii.) He continues: “In fact, whoever was the ruler, native or stranger, Protestant or otherwise, the same disorders prevailed, and had to be met by the same remedies. The mailed hand of authority could only repress violence by violence. Milder [xix] measures would have been considered by the Irish as a confession of weakness.” Much stress is laid on the fact that Queen Mary may have restored Catholicism but she did not relinquish the supremacy of the Crown in religious matters and styled herself “Queen of England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and on earth Supreme Head of the Churches of England and Ireland”, using the same formula as Henry VIII (p.xxi.) The Scots are persistently seen as “the implacable enemies of England” whose arrival in Ulster the English seem unable to stop. The most recurrent adjective attached to Irish is wild and references to the “wild Irish” occur equally in reports made by Archbishop Dowdall and by the Earl of Sussex, as well as the editors themselves. (In fact the introduction does make reference to its author as I and my but the owner of these words is not distinguished by name or signature.) A key element in the argument of the Introduction is that Royal Supremacy is not synonymous with Protestantism - viz.,

‘The conduct of Dowdall and others in submitting to the supremacy and afterwards refusing the English service book has sometimes been condemned as “shamelessly hyperbolical.” But writers who make this charge forget that in those days at all events, whatever it may be in these, the acknowledgment of the supremacy did not necessarily involve recantation of the ancient faith. How could it, when the hierarchy and almost all the clergy, when even Henry himself at the passing of the Act, accepted not a single doctrinal tenet of modern protestantism, and regarded protestantism itself as no better than heresy? It was the assertion of the royal supremacy which brought out in more distinct and prominent relief the papal supremacy. And the most rigid denouncers of protestantism, the most zealous upholders of Catholic tradition, would have heard with astonishment the modern dogma that by accepting of the royal supremacy they forfeited all claims to Catholic communion. That doctrine was not set up until the reign of Elizabeth, with what effect we shall see hereafter.’ (p.xvi.)

Another is the different temperament of Irish and English participants in any treaty:

‘Protestant historians of preceding centuries were wont to stigmatize as perfidious and hypocritical the readiness with which Irish chiefs promised submission, and the equal readiness with which they broke their vows on the slightest occasion. There was no deep-laid scheme of revenge, no profound policy in either case. The Irishman no more thought then, than he does now, — into whatever mischief or extravagance such humors might betray him, — that he was defying the Queen’s authority. He was indulging his whim or his caprice, — no more distasteful it might be to English notions of propriety, but, in his es timation, if ever he thought about it, it was no more than an agreeable pastime, not unbecoming a gentleman and a loyal subject.’ (p.xxvi.)

[ top ]

Commentary
George A. Little, Dublin Before the Vikings (1957), educes Stafford’;s testimony in regard to the 37 subsidiary roads mentioned by the Four Masters: ‘Their condition and construction is vouched for by the surprise and unwilling admiration expressed for them by leaders of English armies on first viewing those roads in a country which they despised but which they had not previously penetrated.’ (Op. cit., p.77.)

Quotations

[ top ]

Dictionary of National Biography: Robert Killigrew, author of entry, considers that Stafford may have been an Anglo-Irishman since ‘it is as an Irishman not an Englishman that he speaks [...] in his preface to Pacata’ but this is otherwise explained by a spirit of impartiality based in respect for the antagonists although his own side as a loyalist to the Crown is absolutely clear. It may also be that that the date of publication, during the reign of Charles I, there was less reason to express animosity than in a contemporary account. [BS]

Belfast Public Library holds Ireland Appeased and Reduced (1633) - i.e., Pacata Hibernia; also Pacata Hibernia, or A History of the War in Ireland during the Reign of Elizabeth, 3 vols. (1810).

Belfast Linen Hall Library holds Pacata Hibernia [by T. Stafford] ([1628?], 1810, 1896); also Hibernia Pacata, [trans.] by Father Neri, being Narrative of Affairs of Ireland from the Battle of Clontarf to the Settlement under Henry II (1753). Note inverted title.

University of Ulster Library, Morris Collection, holds Pacata Hibernia &c., 3 vols. (Hibernia Press 1810). A 1- vol. edn. also on open stacks.

[ top ]

Notes
Sir Thomas Stafford, author of Pacata Hibernia (1633) was the illegitimate son of Sir George Carew whose campaign against Hugh O’Neill in Munster, in which he served as a captain, is related in it under the title Pacata Hibernia, Ireland appeased and reduced; or, an historie of the late warres of Ireland [ ...&c.] (London 1633). The book incorporates a large collection of manuscripts relating to Ireland bequeathed to Stafford by Carew which Stafford expressly mentions using to compose the work in his notice “To the Reader”. he book was reprinted as Pacata Hibernia: Or, A History of the Wars in Ireland, During the Reign of Queen Elizabeth 2 vols. (Dublin: Hibernia-Press Co. 1801). Standish O’Grady characterises it as ‘the most famous of the Anglo-Irish historical classics’. Stafford took seats in Parliament for several English constituencies - ie., Weymouth and Melcombe Regis, 1593; Helsto, 1621; and Bodmin, 1624. He was knighted in 1611 and served a Gentleman Usher of the Privy Chamber to Queen Anne in 1619, and later the same to Queen Henrietta Maria. The book includes a series of accompanying maps was deemed ‘impartial’ by English commentators. Stafford is said to have been buried in Carew’s tomb at Stratford-on-Avon but this is not certain since the engraving was made prior to his death. (See Pacata Hibernia, in Ask About Ireland - online.) Note: Spenser’s A View of Ireland was also published by Sir Thomas Ware Dublin - also in 1633.

Battle of Kinsale (3 Jan. 1602): Juan d’Aguila (prop. Juan del Águila, 1545-1602) - had seen service in Sicily, Brittany, Africa, Malta, Corsica, Milan, and Flanders (Antwerp) prior to taking command of the expedition sent by Philip III to invade Ireland and thus support the Rebellion of Hugh O’Neill and Red Hugh O’Donnell at the conclusion of the Nine Years War. He left Lisboa on 2 Sept. 1601 with a fleet of 33 ships and the rank of Generale de campo, arriving at Kinsale on 1 October, where he landed 3,000 out of the 4,432 soldiers originally embarked - some ships having been driven back by gales. On 2 October, Viceroy Lord Mountjoy (Charles Blount) - acting in concert with George Carew (President of Munster) - besieged Kinsale with a force of 8,000 men, amplified by support from Donogh O’Brien (Earl of Thomond) and the Richard de Burgh [or Burke] (Earl of Clanrickard) - the latter commanding cavalry in the heavily-mounted English style. Irish forces under Hugh O’Neill now marched down from Ulster to support the Spanish - not before long consideration in view of the dual risks of hardships on the journey and the defence of Ulster - while reinforcements under Pedro de Zabiaur (although depleted by further storms) arrived by ship with 800 men and occupied Castlehaven, gathering more Irish forces there before moving on to support d’Aguila at Kinsale. English ships summoned by Mountjoy succeeded in sinking the Maria Francisca outside Castlehaven and causing other Spanish ships in the little fleet to scuttle yet some 6,500 Spanish troops were now concentrated in Kinsale. A Spanish break-out on December 16 cost the the English heavy casualties and raised Spanish morale before the arrival of O’Neill’s forces which immediately threatened the English camps. At this stage, however, O’Neill held his army back and the Spanish and Irish forces joined up and their organised for battle - the Spanish forming tercios - a kind of phalanx - designed to absorb heavy damage without being driven from the field of battle. When the English cavalry attacked they were repelled with spears and shot. Assuming that they had been beaten, O’Neill sent his lighter cavalry in pursuit but the heavier English cavalry with couched spears) reformed and stood their ground while a squadron of musketeers poured in fire from the side, causing the Irish cavalry to turn back into their own ranks. This triggered an alarm which quickly turned into a rout as the Irish soldiers - more accustomed to guerrilla war than set battles - ran from the risk of being cut down by the the English cavalry, of which Clanrickard’s contingent formed an important part. The late arrival of O’Donnell at the battle deprived O’Neill of support at that vital moment and d’Aguila, ignorant of the fact that reinforcements were about to arrive from Spain, surrendered to Carew “on terms” and was permitted to return to Spain with his surviving men, their arms and money - taking those Irish officers along who wished to depart with him. Back in Spain, he was arrested and looked to stern justice but died in prison before his trial could be conducted. In his edition of Pacata Hibernia, O'Grady denies in d’Aquila said ‘Christ never died for these people’ - often alleged against him as an expression of his discontent with his Irish allies.

Standard sources : Aside from Carew's Papers at Lambeth Library, the chief source of English records about the Battle of Kinsale are to be found in the State Papers Ireland (SP 63), held in the Public Record Office [National Archives], at Kew in Surrey [[TW9 4AD], compiled in 1912.
Modern accounts of the Battle of Kinsale incl. Gerald A. Hayes-McCoy, Ireland Battles: A Military History of Ireland (London: Longmans 1969), viii, 326pp. [ill.; 16 pls.]; John J. Silke, The Spanish Intervention in Ireland and the End of the Elizabethan Wars (Fordham UP 1970), and Hiram Morgan, ed., The Battle of Kinsale (Ireland: Wordwell 2004), xiii, 432pp.

Red Hugh O’Donnell and others departed from Castlehaven on 6 Jan. 1602. and died, presumably of poison, on 9 Sept. in the castle of Simancas in the presence of Frs. Florence Conry and Maurice Ultach, his secretary Matthew Tully and some others. His will has been discovered among Spanish state papers.

[Note that, in an alternative narrative, it was the impetuosity of Red Hugh McDonnell and d’Aguila in attacking the English which resulted in the catastrophe.]

Note: The correspondence between Carew and d’;Aguila in 1601/2 includes a letter of thanks from the latter in Spain: ‘To say the truth, I am very glad that I am in Spaine ... much obliged ... for the honourable and good tearmes which the Lord Deputy and your Lordship used in the servic [sic] of your Prince’ - further promising free passport for Carew and his ship in Spaine, and offering wines and oranges [621]

Stafford’;s Irish kings: Among the manuscripts in the library of TCD are genealogical notes on Irish kings extracted ‘out of an Irish booke’ owned by ‘Tho, Stafford esq.’. (Cited in Norman Vance, Irish Literature, A Social History, Basil Blackwell 1990, p.26.)

Standish James O’Grady: In Ulrick the Ready (1899), O’Grady characterises Pacata Hibernia as ‘the most famous of the Anglo-Irish historical classics’ (p.181) and dramatises the naming of the book in a scene between Stafford and Carew in 1602. O’Grady’s edition of Pacata Hibernia (London 1896) is cited in Roy Foster, Modern Ireland (London: Allen Lane 1988), Bibliog. Essay, p.644. See under O’Grady for some extracts from his annotations to the outcome of the Battle of Kinsale - as supra.)

J. S. Brewer, ed., Calendar of the Carew Manuscripts, 6 vols (PRO 1867; rep. 1974), contains The Book of Howth (Vol. V), a late sixteenth-century manuscript record kept in Dublin Castle which found its way into the possession of Thomas Stafford upon the death of George Carew, Earl of Totnes. it includes an English version of the dialogue between Ossian and Patrick along with colonial ‘descriptions’ of Ireland. [Information supplied by David Gardiner, Loyola College; taken from Newberry Coll.]

Auction: Bibliotheca Towneleiana. A second portion of the curious and extensive library of the late John Towneley, Esq. containing many rare and valuable articles in topography, history, natural history, voyages, and belles lettres. [incl.:]... Stafford’;s Pacata Hibernia. [...; et mult.] Which will be sold by auction, on Monday, June 19, and the nine following days, Sunday excepted. By R. H. Evans, at his house, No. 26, Pall-Mall (London 1815).

[ top ]