Biography of Sir Henry Bagenal (d. 1598)
Extracted
from a pamphlet: "A Brief Glimpse at the History of an Anglo-Irish Family
- The Bagenals"
by Reynolds Fieldcrest, 1990, and sold at Dunleckney, Muine Bheag (Bagenalstown),
Eire
Henry
Bagenal (d. 1598)
Born: 1556
at Geencastle in Newry, County Down. The eldest son, he was the first
of the Irish Bagenals.
Father: Sir Nicholas Bagenal - Marshal of Ireland.
Mother: Eleanor, 3rd daughter of Sir Edward Griffiths of Wales.
Brothers: Dudley, Ambrose.
Sisters: Frances, Mary, Margaret, Isabel, Ann, Mabel.
Married: Eleneor Savage (1557) daughter of Sir John Savage of Rock Savage, Clifton, Cheshire, England. (There are accounts of a second and third marriage by Sir Henry, but details are uncertain). She later married in 1602 Sir Sackville Trevor, RN, of Trevallyn.
Children: Sons: Arthur, Gryffth, John, Roger (these last 3 died without issue). Daughters: Eleanor, Mary, Elizabeth, Jane, Anne.
Religion: Protestant (he was sent at the age of 16 to Jesus College the then recently built and 1st endowed Protestant College at Oxford.
1577: He married, and was also associated with his father in a Commission of the Government of Ulster.
1578: Knighted at Athlone.
1580: He was with Sir William Stanley, in conmand of the rear of the English forces at Glenmalure, Co. Wicklow. Forces which were under the conmand of the Lord Deputy Arthur, Baron Grey of Wilton.
Viscount Baltinglass (James Eustace) joining forces with Fiach MacHugh O'Byrne, attacked the Lord Deputy s force, and annilated them almost to a man. Unfortunately this defeat did not prevent Grey from mustering and marching south in September towards the Fort of Smerwick. Here he engaged a force of some 600 Italian and Spanish soldiers who were landed there. After two days of fightingin the belief that they had a promise of their lives, they surrendered. Grey massacred them to a man. Even those women who were with them, some pregnant, were not spared.
1584: Sir John Perrot was Lord Deputy in this year. The Scots in Ulster were being unusually active. Sir Henry was ordered to attack 1300 of them who had landed on Rathlin Island under the leadership of Angus McDonnell. However, because of failure of ships to arrive he was unable to effect a crossing to the island. Sir William Stanley later attacked and drove them off.
1586: He became M.P. (Member of Parliament) for Anglesey, his mother's county. In the same year he wrote a report to Sir William Cecil (Lord Burghley) on the state of Ulster. (Printed in full in the proceedings of the Ulster Archaeological Magazine.). Also to be found in the Ms Volumes of the Royal Irish Academy is a document written on the 22nd August 1586 by Sir Nicholas and Henry Bagenal, entitled "The offer of Sir Henry Bagenal for the making of a walled town in Ulster".
1590: August 25th Sir Henry was granted the reversion of his fathers office of Marshall. He also obtained a seat on the Dublin Privy Council and was made a Commissioner of Ulster.
Between Sir Henry, Marshall of the Army in Ireland, and Sir Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone, no love was lost. Both men, by circumstances forced to work together, were on a personal level - enemies. Each disliked the other intensely. Neither Sir Nicholas, nor Sir Henry, trusted the loyalty of O'Neill to the Crown, they were always wary of him, and he was watched closely. O'Neill was only too aware of their distrust of him - particularly Sir Henry's. This suspicion and distrust was resented; it angered, it rankled, breeding hatred in his heart. Yet he did not allow his feelings for the brother to get in the way of his feelings for the sister!
1591: January: O'Neill's second wife died.
She was a daughter of Hugh Duv O'Donnell. (His first wife he divorced.
She was a daughter of Sir Brian McPhelim O'Neill).
May: O'Neill, tongue in cheek, asks Sir Henry for his sister's
hand in marriage (Mabel). Henry demurs, looking to put obstacles in the
way. He states that he is "not adverse' to the marriage but must first
confer with the Privy Council in Dublin. O'Neill agrees - he will wait.
Sir Henry quickly moves Mabel out of Newry to the home of his brother-in-law,
Sir Patrick Barnewell, near Dublin. O'Neill is just as quick, and rides
down to Sir Patrick. Here he meets and talks to Mabel. When he leaves,
they are secretly engaged.
August:: The continuing impediments put in his way by Bagenal exasperate
O'Neill, but he decides to elope with Mabel. At a dinner given by Sir
Patrick at which the Earl and his friends attend, arrangements are put
in train to distract the attention .of the host whilst a friend of the
Earl's, William Warren, quietly slips out to the courtyard with Mabel.
A horse is waiting, they mount - and are gone. Soon joined by O'Neill,
they make their way to Warren's House. The Protestant Bishop of Meath,
Thomas Jones is sent for. After some preliminary questioning of the Earl
and Mabel, he marries them. O'Neill is 41 years old - she is twenty. Mabel
was later to embrace the Catholic faith. When the Marshall was told of
the elopement and marriage, he tried his best to undo matters. His objections
and accusations, were the subject of enquiry by a special commission.
Nothing was found to invalidate the marriage and it was therefore allowed
to stand. Inwardly and outwardly Sir Henry fumed. In a letter to Sir William
Cecil he expresses those inner feelings: "I can but accurse myself and
fortune that my blood which in my father and myself hath often been spilled
in repressing this rebellious race, should now be mingled with so traitorous
a stock and kindred".He gave outward expression to his feelings by refusing
to pay over his sister's dowry of £2000.
When the first flush of the marriage was over, and Mabel began to settle down to her married state, she must have very quickly begun to realise the vast difference between an English household and a Gaelic one. The forbodings of her brother were to come only too true, when he gave as one of his objections, that "the incivility of the Earl's country did not agree with his sister's education" .
Before her untimely death in January of 1596 she was to witness at first hand events and sights which would remove all her illusions about the Lord O'Neill, and his Gaelic way of life. She would see and hear of murderous plans and deeds, acts of treachery and deceit - bribery, corruption, coercion In short, all the tools of the trade which a man perforce, living in those troublesome times, must of necessity make use.
But for her the hardest thing to bear must have been his mistresses. In the Gaelic society of the day this was tolerated as a way of life. For a time she left him, stating that "he affected two other gentlewomen". She went to her brother Sir Henry laying a public charge against her husband before Council. However, she did return to Dungannon, for it was there in the Earl's stronghold that she died.
1593: For the last time, these two, proud warriors Bagenall and O'Neill were to ride together in a collision course. Henceforth they would meet as enemies. In October Bagenall entered Fermanagh to attack Hugh Maguire - a brother-in-law of O'Neill. With Sir Richard Bingham he joined an unwilling O'Neill at Enniskillen. Maguire's men were met at Belleek and there defeated.
After this the Earl began to assert his independence. Bit by bit he prised himself loose of the restraining English shackles. On February 16th 1595 with an attack on the Fort and bridge at the River Blackwater, he broke free. Now he was committed. England would not lose, but perhaps for the first time ever in Ireland, she would know what it was like to tremble and taste fear. She would be well mauled and bruised long before her victory.
1595: On the 25th May Bagenall left at the head of a supply columnn heading for the garrison fort at Monaghan. O'Neill followed. Next day, the 26th, he attacked. After heavy fighting Bagenall broke through and reached the fort. The return journey conmenced the following day - the 27th. At a place call Clontibret, O'Neill made contact with him again. A fierce battle took place there which lasted some 6-8 hours. At its conclusion Bagenall reported a loss of 140 men.
The following day. the 28th. O'Neill again attacked and harassed Bagenall all the way to Newry. Even here Bagenall was not safe, and he had to be slipped out by river and sea to Dundalk.
1596: Sir Henry revictualled the garrison at Armagh. O'Neill received a pardon, and Mabel Bagenal died in January.
1597: Sir Henry again re-victualled Armagh. Thomas Lord Brough was now Deputy. A swift raid on .O'Neill's camp almost succeeded in capturing the Earl and his new wife, Catherine Magennis whom he had married in 1596 after Mabel's death. In this year Sir Henry had his revenge for Clontibret. He entered Dungannon and sacked the town. By mid-October the Lord Deputy was dead, whether from poison or disease it is not certain.
1598: An appeal for help was received by the Privy Council in Dublin from a Captain Williams at the Blackwater Fort near Armagh. He was surrounded and besieged by O'Neill. An attempt by the Council to allow Williams to surrender was blocked by Bagenal.
In June the Council sent Bagenal and his forces to wait at the Border. He was there by the 26th. In July he received reinforcements from Dublin. Not very well equipped, they were nonetheless welcome. A message from the Council requested Bagenal to come to terms with O'Neill for the surrender of the fort. Bagenal spurned this, and went direct to the Council to lodge his protest. It was decided to let him attack. Ormonde (Lord General of the Army) was asked to take conmand. He declined, the job going instead to the Marshall.
On the 12th of August Bagenal's forces arrived in Armagh, where they stayed the night. Next morning they set out for Blackwater fort. A river whicn had to be crossed was the river Callan. The crossing place was known as Yellow Ford because of the discoloration of the water at that point. It was here that O'Neill sprung his trap on the forces of the Marshall.
It proved effective, and was a resounding success. There, in what was to become known as The Battle of the Yellow Ford. Sir HenryBagenal, Knight-Marshall met his death. Lifting the visor of his helmet to better view the battle scene, a shot was fired from an unknown musket The Marshall fell, a shot, lodged in his brain.
Many thanks to Reynolds Fieldcrest author of the pamphlet: "A Brief Glimpse at the History of an Anglo-Irish Family - The Bagenals" from which the above is extracted, published in 1990 and sold at Dunleckney, Muine Bheag (Bagenalstown), Eire
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