a trusty and wellbeloved servant': the career and disinterment of edmond sexton of limerick, d....

'A Trusty and Wellbeloved Servant': The Career and Disinterment of Edmond Sexton ofLimerick, d. 1554Author(s): Clodagh TaitSource: Archivium Hibernicum, Vol. 56 (2002), pp. 51-64Published by: Catholic Historical Society of IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25484193 .

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Clodagh Tait

'A trusty and wellbeloved servant': The career

and disinterment of Edmond Sexton of Limerick, d. 15541

In the first year of the reign of Queen Mary I, possibly early in 1554, an unusual

incident occurred in Limerick. The body of one Edmond Sexton was secretly removed from his tomb in St Marys Cathedral by Alderman Christopher

Creagh, Mr White, brother-in-law of the deceased, and the organist, David

White.2 The corpse's right arm was cut off at the elbow and left in the tomb, while the rest of his remains were hung by the heels above the ceiling of the

chancel. The incident went unnoticed until three years later when Sextons

widow, Katherine Arthur, was interred in the same tomb. The part of Sextons

body not then in the tomb remained undiscovered until a thief, hiding in the

rafters of the church, came across it. It was then reburied at night. Edmond

Sexton, grandson of the original Edmond, who recorded these events many

years later, comments, by way of explanation: 'This was done for his religion he

imbraced uppon the refermation.'3

Intrigued by this incident when I first came across it in Colm Lennons

biography of the Limerick-born martyr Richard Creagh, Archbishop of Armagh,4 I became even more interested when I found out that the Edmond Sexton who

recounted the details was the same man who suffered a certain degree

of perse

cution for his own Protestantism and who may have been forcibly converted to

Catholicism on his deathbed eighty years later.5 When Dr Lennon encouraged me to edit the part of Edmond Sexton the younger s notebook that refers to

the disinterment, and to add an explanatory

article on the original Sexton, it

i The research for this article was carried out under a HEA postdoctoral research fellowship in the

Department of History, University College Cork, and was augmented under a Government of Ireland

postdoctoral fellowship in the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. Many thanks to David

Edwards and Colm Lennon for their valuable comments on earlier drafts and to those attending John Morrills Early Modern seminar in the University of Cambridge on i November 2000 for their remarks on my interpretation of the disinterment incident. Thanks also to Noel Kissane, Keeper of Manuscripts in the National Library of Ireland, for providing me wich further information about the manuscript, and

to the Council of Trustees and the staff of the National Library. 2 The Sexton chapel in the cathedral was off the south aisle. See R. F. Hewson, 'St. Mary's cathedral, Limerick: its development and growth'

in North Munster Antiquarian Journal 4 (1944), p. 58. 3 National Library of Ireland (hereafter NLI), MS

16,085, f. 49. 4 Colm Lennon, An Irish prisoner of conscience in the Tudor era: Archbishop Richard Creagh

of Armagh, 1523?86 (Dublin, 2000), p. 30. See also The urban patriciates of early modern Ireland: A case

study of Limerick (Maynooth, 1999), pp 5-6. 5 State Papers Ireland (hereafter SPI) 63/257, f. 45; Clodagh Tait, Death, burial, and commemoration in Ireland, c. 1550-1650 (forthcoming, 2002); Lennon, The urban

patriciates, p. 16.

51



ARCHIVIUM HIBERNICUM

seemed an open-and-shut

case. However, tracing the activities of Edmond

Sexton was a far more complicated, and lengthy, task than I expected. The

result is a very short document introduced by a rather long article, which is

incomplete in its account of Sextons life, the sources for which raise far more

questions than they answer.

This notebook or diary of Edmond the younger, which is housed in the

National Library of Ireland, chronicles many aspects of the history of the

Sexton family and of the city of Limerick.6 It is a relatively recent addition to

the library's collection, having been part of the family papers presented by the

earl of Limerick in 1967 (the Pery family, earls of Limerick, were descendants of

its compiler). It may be supplemented in the case of Edmond the elder by what

might be considered an

unusually large number of other sources, given Sexton's

background and the period in question. He appears regularly in the Irish and

English domestic state papers. The collection of transcripts of various Sexton

papers in the British Museum includes documents relating to Sexton's career,

most of which were noted in the calendars of state papers, as well as informa

tion on the later fortunes of the family.7 Sexton turns up in the records of the

dissolution of the monasteries in Ireland, in the Irish fiants and patents, and in the proceedings of the English Privy Council.8 Owing to the number of sources in which he is mentioned, several historians have referred to or dis

cussed his career: Colm Lennon, John Begley and Maurice Lenihan placing him in the context of contemporary Limerick; Brian Hodkinson in a lively short biography of the 'first Irish mayor of Limerick'; and Brendan Bradshaw,

who described his actions as those of an unscrupulous local gombeen'.9 This

article builds on their foundations to provide a more detailed biography of

Sexton, while at the same time attempting to contextualise his actions and his

eventual disinterment.

6 NLI MS 16,085. 7 British Library (hereafter BL), Additional MS 19,865; Calendars of state papers Ireland (hereafter Cal. S.P. Ire.); Calendars of letters and papers foreign and domestic (hereafter Letters and

papers); Calendar of the Carew manuscripts (hereafter Cal. Car. MSS); State papers . . . King Henry the

Eighth (hereafter State papers Henry VIII). 8 N. B. White, Extents of the Irish monastic possessions, 1540

1541 (Dublin, 1943); Brendan Bradshaw, The dissolution of the religious orders in Ireland under Henry VIII

(Cambridge, 1974); The Irish fiants of the Tudor sovereigns, vol. 1 (reprinted Dublin, 1994) (hereafter Fiants); John Morrin, Calendar of the patent and close rolls of Chancery in Ireland (Dublin, 1861) (hereafter Cal. patent rolls); J. C. Erck, A repertory of the inrolments on the patent rolls of Chancery in Ireland . . .

James I (Dublin, 1852) (hereafter Patent rolls . . . James I); J. R. Dasent (ed.), Acts of the Privy Council of

England (new series, vol. 1, London, 1890) (hereafter Acts of the Privy Council). 9 John Begley, The

diocese of Limerick in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Dublin, 1927); Maurice Lenihan, Limerick: its

history and antiquities, ecclesiastical, civil and military', ed. C. O'Connell (1866, reprinted Dublin, 1991); Lennon, Archbishop Richard Creagh; B. J. Hodkinson, 'Edmund Sexten: the first Irish mayor of Limer

ick', in D. Lee (ed.), Remembering Limerick (Limerick, 1997), pp 107-111; Bradshaw, The dissolution of the

religious orders; idem, The Irish constitutional revolution of the sixteenth century (Cambridge, 1979); idem, 'The Reformation in the cities', in John Bradley (ed.), Settlement and society in medieval Ireland: Studies

presented to Francis Xavier Martin, O.S.A. (Kilkenny, 1988). See also Gear?id MacSpeal?in, Cathair

Luimnighe I: 432-1691 (Baile ?tha Cliath, 1948), pp 70?71, where Sexton is described as a 'gleacaidhe ?irimeamhail sanntach', a greedy, intelligent trickster.

52



CAREER AND DISINTERMENT OF EDMOND SEXTON OF LIMERICK

Edmond Sexton's career

Edmond Sexton was born in i486, but little information regarding his early life

is available.10 The surname Sexton is an anglicisation of the Irish name

? Seasn?in, but the date of arrival of Edmond's branch of this Thomond

family in Limerick is unrecorded. He was the third son of Morris Sexton and

Christian Nagle, and his grandfather was a Denis Sexton.11 He had an uncle, also named Denis, and at least three brothers, who were named Humphrey,

Nicholas, and cMurtagh the Hunt'.11 He also had five sisters, Amy, Alson,

Anstace, Julian and Margaret.13 It is clear from his writings that Edmond

received a good education, presumably in Limerick, which suggests that his

parents were already well established in the city. The Sextons were certainly property holders there by the mid-i530s, when Edmond is mentioned as having

purchased a house from his cousin George, for whom he also acted as attor

ney.14 He and his brothers may have been apprenticed

to merchants in the town

and the first commercial record we have of him dates from May 1533, when his

activities in connection with the importation of gunpowder from Flanders were

under investigation.15 At this point Sexton is described as the servant of the

earl of Kildare. The record of his being presented with a grey hackney in 1525 or

early 1526 may indicate that he formally entered the earl's service at that point

and that he may also have taken on some military responsibilities. He was not

well rewarded, however. By 1534 he was owed arrears of wages amounting to

?55, at ?8 per annum.16

The rise of Edmond Sextons fortunes began when he arrived in London late

in 1533 in the entourage of the countess of Kildare, who had gone there to

convey her husband's excuses for failing to

obey a summons to the

king's side.

According to the evidence of Robert Reyley, another member of the countess's

household at the time, Sexton was a trusted servant. Probably early in 1534,

both Reyley and Sexton were sent to Ireland with letters for the earl from the countess and the king, and it seems to have been these letters that finally

prompted Kildare to depart for London, leaving his son, Lord Thomas, in charge of affairs in Ireland. When the earl's health began to deteriorate

io NLI, MS 16,085, f. 44. 11 NLI Geneological Office (hereafter NLI GO), MS 169, f. 57. 12 NLI

GO, MS 167, fT 159?61. In the document granting Edmond citizenship of Limerick, four other Sextons -

Humphrey, Nicholas, George and Robert - are mentioned. Letters and papers, foreign and domestic,

Henry VIII (21 vols, London, 1862-1932) (hereafter Letters and papers Henry VIII), 7, p. 443. A document in the uncatalogued Limerick MSS (NLI) identifies George as Edmonds cousin, so Robert may be

another cousin. As noted below, it seems that two or more of Edmonds' brothers died during the Kildare

rebellion. Nicholas and 'Murtagh the Hunt' may have been involved, or else close rather than immediate

family may have been meant. 13 NLI GO, MS 167, ff 57?8. 14 Cal. patent rolls 1, p. 4; NLI Limerick

MSS. George was still living in Limerick in 1541. G. MacNiocaill (ed.), Crown surveys of lands 1540-41, with the Kildare rental begun in 1518 (Dublin, 1992), p. 343. 15 Letters and papers Henry VIII, 6, pp 251-2. 16 MacNiocaill, Crown surveys, p. 343; Letters and papers Henry VIII, 14, part 1, p. 460. On Kildare's

horsemen, see M. A. Lyons, Church and society in County Kildare, c. 1470-1547 (Dublin, 2000), pp 41-4.

53




dramatically upon his arrival, a number of his servants began to look around for other masters. Reyley, Edward Rookes (a naval captain) and Humphrey Sexton (Edmonds eldest brother) chose in May to return to Ireland to the

service of Lord Thomas.17

Edmond Sexton, the trusted servant, made a quite different decision. By

August 1534 Sexton was riding high in the favour of Henry VIII. He had made a good enough impression to be appointed a 'Sewer of the Chamber' and had

acquired burgess status in Limerick for himself and his brothers.18 Brendan

Bradshaw has suggested that Sexton, along with others such as Thomas Agard and William Wise, was part of the network of Irish connections cultivated by

Thomas Cromwell as 'an alternative route to the localities in Ireland'.19 What

ever the case, Sexton soon proved his uses as the Crown's man in Limerick and

thereabouts. During 1534, he made several journeys carrying letters between the

Court and Ireland. He was later to claim that witnessing the 'detestable behav

iour' of 'Silken Thomas on one of these missions, he quickly returned, at his own expense, to inform the King, who thereupon dispatched him three times to Munster with letters to the earl of Desmond and others. In January 1535 he

was authorised to negotiate with the king's Munster subjects.20

As the Kildare

rebellion escalated, he continued his contacts with O'Brien of Thomond and

with John and James Fitzgerald of Desmond.21 Copies of a number of letters

carried by Sexton to these latter primary claimants to the then disputed earl

dom of Desmond survive. In these they were strongly urged to heed the coun

sel of the bearer, a 'trusty and welbeloved servant'.22 Sexton claimed later that

he had participated in military activities in this period and that he was present at the taking of Dungarvan Castle, County Waterford, and of Knockgraffon, County Tipperary. He seems rapidly to have established himself as a player in

Limerick's corporation, even involving himself alongside John Arthur, the city's mayor, in an attempt to bribe O'Brien's disaffected eldest son, Donough, to

hand over Silken Thomas, who was then in Thomond.23

In the middle of 1535 Edmond Sexton was elected mayor of Limerick, an

unusually rapid promotion that had probably been authorised and encouraged

17 Lambeth Palace, London, Carew MS 602, ff 138-141; B. Bradshaw, 'Cromwellian reform and the

origins of the Kildare rebellion, 1533-34' in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5th series, 27 (1977),

pp 69-93; P- 89 mentions this incident. See Laurence MacCorristine, The revolt of Silken Thomas: A

challenge to Henry VIII (Dublin, 1987), pp 53-5, also pp 85 and 105 for Rookes. Rookes was executed in

Dublin in 1535. See S. G. Ellis, 'Henry VIII, rebellion and the rule of law' in Historical Journal 24 (1981),

pp 518-9. 18 The post was that of'server' at table in the king's privy chamber. Letters and papers Henry VIII, 7, p. 443. 19 Bradshaw, Constitutional revolution, pp 144-5. 20 BL, Add. MS 19,865, ff 14-18 v; Letters and papers Henry VIII, 8, p. 19. 21 The Fitzgeralds of Desmond and some of the O'Briens of

Thomond were both part of the 'Kildare alliance', though they were antagonistic to one another at local

level. See Bradshaw, Constitutional revolution, pp 172-3. 22 BL, Add. MS 19,865, ff 7-14. See Letters

and papers Henry VIII, 8, pp 34, 115, 225, 293. For a summary of the competition over the earldom of

Desmond, see Anthony McCormack, 'Internecine warfare and the decline of the house of Desmond, c.

1510?c. 1541' in Irish Historical Studies, xxx, no. 120 (Nov. 1997), pp 497-512. 23 Letters and papers Henry VIII, 14, part 1, p. 458; Carew MS 602, ff 157-159; for O'Brien, see Bradshaw, Constitutional revolution, p. 173; Letters and papers Henry VIII, 9, p. 207.

54




by Cromwell. His petition for the confirmation of the city's charter plus a piece of ordnance, along with shot and powder,

was granted

in May.24 Late in the

year he was once again

on his way to London, carrying letters from various

local lords. This time he stayed at Court for over six months in order to pro duce a book on the 'reformacon of Ireland.25 This book does not seem to

survive, but its substance may be inferred from two pieces transcribed in his

great-grandsons papers. One of these names and discusses all the Havens Riv

ers Cricks Places of importance Territoryes and Lordships with the Landlords

of them' in the south of Ireland, describing certain sites suited to fortification, the location of resources such as woods, mines and fisheries, as well as

raising the topical subject of monasteries and friaries ripe for dissolution. The other, 'A declaration of the proportion of Irland', lists the Irish shires and discusses

matters such as the possibility of their yielding increased revenues for the

king/6 Sexton returned to Ireland in June of 1536, bringing with him a sheaf of

letters for James Fitzjohn of Desmond, O'Connor Kerry, Donough O'Brien, Theobald Bourke, Lord Deputy Grey, the Corporation of Limerick, Morrough O'Brien and others.27 There is an

interesting suggestion that some of those at

Court had by this stage grown tired of him, as suggested by Cromwell's note in

his 'remembrances', which reads 'To rid Edmund Sextoun'.28 One of the letters

that Sexton carried recommended that the Lord Deputy and Council should

draw on his expertise on matters

relating to the 'reformation of those there

abouts'.29 By July Sexton had again taken up his diplomatic role, participating in an embassy to O'Brien and Desmond. In August, he participated in Lord

Deputy Grey's punitive assaults against O'Brien's Bridge (where he and others were nearly drowned when part of the structure suddenly collapsed) and

Carrigogunnel Castle (although Grey hinted that it was the mayor of Limerick's

fault that the latter had to be retaken after being betrayed).30 In the further

negotiations with Desmond following this display of the power of the Crown

and lord deputy, Sexton participated in closing a deal whereby, amongst other

concessions, Desmond undertook to hand over his two sons as hostages (a

clause that seems never to have been enforced), to obey the king's laws and to

bring the king great profits in Munster.31 In late 1556 Sexton was still being described as 'mayor of Limerick'. His term seems to have extended beyond the

year traditionally allowed to such office-holders.

Throughout 1537 and 1538, Sexton persisted on a similar course, keeping the castle of Derriknockane on behalf of the Crown and being periodically

congratulated and rewarded for his continuing embassies to O'Brien and

24 Letters and papers Henry VIII, 8, p. 293. 25 Carew MS 602, f. 158; Letters and papers Henry VIII, 14,

part 1, p. 458. 26 BL, Add. Ms 19,865, ff 19-23. 27 SPI 60/3, 36; State papers Henry VIII, 10, p. 436. 28

Letters and papers Henry VIII, 10, p. 390. 29 BL, Add. Ms 19,865, ff 3V-4. Letters and papers Henry VIII, 10, p. 436. 30 SPI 60/3, 63; SPI 60/3, f. 66. Letters and papers Henry VIII, 11, pp 91, 108-9, 112-3, 117,

136. 31 Letters and papers Henry VIII, 11, pp 462, 536, 550; McCormack, 'Internecine warfare1,

p. 500.

55




Desmond.32 However, serious allegations were being made against him by the

inhabitants of his native city. In July 1538 several prominent citizens of Limer

ick, recorded as Stephen Harrold, treasurer of the city, Piers, Walter, James and

Edmond Harrold, Robert Lewes and Thomas and Bartholomew Striche, mer

chants, were accused of maintaining Murrough O'Brien and other rebels. James Harrold and Bartholomew Striche were imprisoned and impeached for trea

son.33 It seems that Sexton had a hand in this matter, given the Council's later

suspicions that he had misrepresented affairs in Limerick to the lord deputy.34 By November Sexton was himself in prison in Dublin Castle, countercharged with high treason for alleged mismanagement of the king's revenues in Limer

ick and, it seems, for releasing a friar who had preached traitorously against the

King. He was soon freed and went to England to plead his case.35 The Council

warned Cromwell of Sextons malicious intent, at this point mentioning that

the citizens of Limerick much abhorre him, for he is an Irishman of blode, and

(as they saie) he useth him self according to his nature'. He had been mayor of

the city contrary to the Inglishe statues and there liberties', and furthermore,

he, his brederne, kynsmen, and adh?rentes, been [being] mere Geraldines, and that parte of his brederne were slayne in defence of the castell of

Maynothe; so as in respecte of his Irishe bloode and corrupte affection to

traytours, as they saie, the! do not trust him.36

Incidentally, those of his relations mentioned as having been killed at

Maynooth may have included his brothers, Nicholas and Murtagh, who do not

seem to be heard of after 1535.37 It is clear that the citizens of Limerick resented Sextons rise to prominence

in the city. His Irish blood, his intervention in the city's affairs, his connections

with the increasingly unpopular Grey and his erstwhile connections with

Kildare were all convenient sticks with which to beat the upstart, but it seems

that Edmonds interference in the economic and religious life of the city was at

the core of opposition to him. It is probable that the visits of the lord deputy to

Limerick in the 1530s, and the continuing surveillance and curtailment of the

actions of the greater and lesser Irish and Old English lords of the city's hinter

land, meant that the merchants of Limerick found their trade links with those

who were at times the king's enemies were also coming under scrutiny. Hence

the mayor and Commons's petition that 'the prodetorious procedyngs of

Edmond Sexten may be herd and examined', alongside a request that they

might 'have their Chartoure confermyd with a speciall clause that they may bye

32 SPI 60/7, 15; 60/8, 10; Letters and papers Henry VIII, 12, part 2, pp 116-7, 277, 466; 13 (1), pp 66, 251,

454, 470-1, 511; BL, Add. MS 19,865, ff 6, nv. 33 Letters and papers Henry VIII, 13, part 2, p. 543. 34 State papers Henry VIII, 3, p. no. 35 Letters and papers Henry VIII, 16, p. 128. 36 State papers Henry VIII,

3, pp 107-8. 37 See note 12 above. Nicholas entered Kildare's service in 1530 or 1531, when he was given a

black hackney. He may have lost his life outside Ireland, given that he served in military campaigns abroad, killing 'two Turkes at Rhodes &C sixteen Men at the taking of Ninot'. NLI GO, MS 167, f. 57;

MacNiocaill, Crown surveys, p. 348.

56




and Sell with . . . Irishmen at all tymes like as hathe been allowed to theym and was thought resonable by all deputies of the land hitherto'.38 Another cause of resentment was the fact that during the early stages of the dissolution of the

monasteries in the Limerick area, Sexton was in receipt of a grant of the site,

lands, revenues and possessions of the Priory of St Mary, St Edward King and

Martyr, and the Holy Cross (the house of the Fratres Cruciferi, or Crouched or

Crutched Friars).39 The corporation argued that they should have received the

grant instead.40

Sexton was vigorous in his own defence, submitting a long petition to

Cromwell that stressed his services - military, diplomatic and financial - to the

Crown.41 This document provides much information about Sexton's career.

However, his close associations with Deputy Grey, who was soon afterwards

tried and executed in London, hot on the heels of Cromwell's own abrupt fall,

proved a significant further handicap.42 A number of Irish groups used their

depositions against Grey to air their own local grievances. Thus Bartholomew

Striche of Limerick seized the opportunity to condemn Sexton as well as Grey,

claiming that in the case of the friar who had preached traitorously in Limerick, the former lord deputy had signed a placard with an antedate' that sanctioned

Sexton's contact with the friar. It seems that Grey was

angered at the 'false

knave' Sexton's subsequent allegations while in England that it was the deputy rather than himself who had 'practised with' the friar. The real story in this

instance is rather muddied by the claims and counter-claims. Why, for exam

ple, was Sexton aiding a friar who spoke against the king? Whatever the case,

Grey had actually released Sexton from Dublin Castle while he was held there

for treason, a fact indignantly cited by the Irish Council and by the earl of

Ormond.43

While the Irish Council took all allegations against Sexton very seriously and seems to have been willing to sacrifice him to please the people of Limerick

and to save itself from possible suspicion of misgovernment, this appears to

have been merely a

temporary setback.44 By February 1541, with Grey more or

less safely disposed of, the new lord deputy, St Leger, seemed willing to over

look all charges against Sexton as having 'muche procided of malice', acknowl

edging to the king his servant's pains in 'brynging in' the earl of Desmond, who had submitted the month before.45 Pardoned along with other leading

inhabitants of the city, Sexton was once again in favour.46 In August 1541 he, Eneas O'Hefernane or O'Hernan, late master of the hospital of Any,47 Thomas

38 SPI 60I8, 16, 17. 39 See also Bradshaw, 'The Reformation in the cities', p. 453; idem, The dissolution

of the religious orders, pp 100-110. Aubrey Gwynn and R. N. Hadcock, Medieval religious houses Ireland

(Dublin, 1988), pp 213-4. 4? SPI 60/8, 17. 41 Carew MS 602, ff 157-9; Letters and papers, 14, part 1, pp

458-61. 42 S. G. Ellis, Ireland in the age of the Tudors 1447-1603 (Harlow, 1995), p. 149. 43 State papers

Henry VIII, 3, pp 260; Letters and papers, 16, pp 128, 131, 133. 44 SPI 60/8, 16; State papers Henry VIII,

3, p. 107; Letters and papers, 16, p. 128. 45 Letters and papers, 16, pp 261-2; State papers Henry VIII, 3,

p. 289; Ellis, Age of the Tudors, p. 151. 46 Cal. patent rolls, p. 22. 47 O'Hernan was later appointed

bishop of Emly: Cal. patent rolls, p. 29.

57




Agard (one of St Legers own, and Cromwell's former, close associates'4 ) and

the earl of Desmond were appointed

as commissioners 'to take inventories

of, dissolve, and put in safe custody, all religious houses in the counties of

Limerick, Cork, Kerry, and Desmond'.49 Earlier that year, Sexton had already obtained leases of St Peter's Nunnery in Limerick (which he later lost to

O'Brien), and part of the manor of the hospital of Any. His title to Holy Cross was finally confirmed. He was soon to benefit further from his involvement

in the dissolution programme, also acquiring the Franciscan monastery of

Limerick.50 In 1542, Sexton was also granted

?8 sterling per annum from the

fee-farm of Limerick.51 The spoils of the monasteries were the foundations of

a landed estate that sealed the fortunes of the Sexton family.52

Despite their linked successes, at some point in the early 1540s Sexton fell out with the earl of Desmond. He also lost the favour of Lord Deputy St Leger. A fascinating document amongst the Acts of the Privy Council chronicles the scene at Greenwich on 17 May 1546, when Sexton appeared before that body to

set forth allegations against Desmond and the mayntenaunce of him by the

Lord Deputie. He was answered both by St Leger and one Welsh, Desmond's

solicitor (who, incidentally, was another of the earl's associates who had ben

efited from the redistribution of monastic lands).53 For Sexton, the matter had a less than fortunate outcome: 'bicause his accusacion appered

to procede

of pryvate malice betwene him and the said Erie for lande, and that he was

universally noted a man disposed to sedici?n, he was committed to the

Marshalsey.'54 Sexton's name was mentioned at another Privy Council session in

Hampton Court in August of the same year, when his allegations, along with

those of the earl of Ormond, Walter Cowley and 'others of the Realme of

Irelond', against St Leger were dismissed and John Alen was severely censured

for his part as 'a grete promoter and procurer' of the matter.55 In November,

Sexton was pardoned for his actions (he appears as 'Edward' Sexton in the

records).5 However, the earl of Desmond got his revenge the following month, when he attacked land held by Sexton in Corbally, near Limerick city. The

details of this case are difficult to disentangle. Sexton claimed that the land was

part of his inheritance, but it may be that it was leased from Desmond. How

ever, this was not merely an

unusually abrupt repossession of lands at the end of

their lease, for Sexton claimed that all of the corne, graine, houshold stuffe and

goods that he had in the sayde towne and fyelds there' had also been taken from him.57 There seems to be no further record of the outcome of the dispute, but it

is unlikely that the lands were returned to Sexton.

48 Ciaran Brady, The chief governors: The rise and fall of reform government in Tudor Ireland 1536?1588

(Cambridge, 1994), p. 32; Bradshaw, Constitutional revolution, p. 144. 49 Fiants, 1, p. 30; Cal patent rolls, p. 73. 50 Fiants, 1, pp 24, 27, 36, 39, 41, 52 (in the last of these, the Franciscan friary is granted to

Humphrey rather than Edmund Sexton). See Lennon, Archbishop Richard Creagh, pp 28-9; Bradshaw, 'Reformation in the cities', pp 454-5. Ci Fiants, 1, p. 38. 52 Morrin, Cal. patent rolls i8th?4$Eliz., ii, pp 340-1; Patent rolls . . . James I, I, part 2, pp 573, 691-2. 53 For Walsh's gains in Youghal, see Bradshaw, The dissolution of the religious orders, pp 155-6, 197. 54 Acts of the Privy Council, I, p. 420. 55 Ibid., pp 523-4. 56 Cal. patent rolls, p. 119. 57 BL, Add. MS 19,865, 1^23-24.

58




Sexton was already linked to Ormond. Edmonds brother, Humphrey, appears on several occasions as a servant to the earl of Ormond and an associate

of others of his trusted servants, a fact that is interesting in itself, given that

the same person was last seen in 1534 leaving the service of the earl of Kildare

for that of his son, Lord Thomas.5 As early

as 1540, or before, Ormond sent

Humphrey Sexton to Lord Deputy Grey with a letter.59 In 1543, Humphrey witnessed a grant by Ormond of a castle in Kilkenny 'to Thomas Laules, chap lain, to the use of Walter Cowley'. In 1544 James Cossyn acknowledged receipt of ?280 from Ormond 'by the hand of his servant Humfrey Sexton'.60 In the same year Ormond granted his 'right well beloved servant . . . one

pipe of sack

or romney yearly from the customs of Limerick, in lieu of his previous 'sallary fee & wage'.61 This may be an indication that Humphrey already held the

position of gauger and searcher' of Limerick, in which position he is recorded in 1547 and 1550.6l

There were other connections also to the earl of Ormond, the shadowy traces of which reveal something of the dynamics of Irish society in this period.

Edmond Sexton, and probably Humphrey as well, shared with James Butler a

brand of proto-Protestantism which went on to turn itself into full-blooded

Protestant conviction in later generations of the Sexton family. Other proto

Protestants in the Ormond circle also had connections with Limerick. For

example, in 1544 while Morish Danyell, another Ormond servant, had lain sick

in the house of John Arthur of Limerick, 3 Arthur had come to his bedside,

enquiring about his beliefs. When the patient declared that 'he beleved as the

holy churche taught but not in the pope', Arthur told him 'thowe art a man

damned'. Unfortunately for Arthur, Danyell recovered, and carried his tale to

the earl of Ormond in Kilkenny, and thence to Sir William Wyse of Waterford, both of whom saw fit to report the incident to members of the government.

Ormond wrote to Lord Justice Brabazon and Wyse to St Leger, with both

sending Danyell as bearer of their letters for good measure.64 William Wyse or

Wise, one of the aldermen of Waterford, was another pro-Ormond proto

Protestant, with links also to Cromwell and St Leger.65 His son, George, was

later to hold the wardship of Edmond Sexton's heir, Nicholas.66 Robert and

Walter Cowley must also be mentioned in connection with this network.

Lawyers and agents to the earl of Ormond, this father-and-son team held a

number of important offices in the Irish government. Sexton came into contact

58 He was pardoned along with the citizens of Limerick in 1537, and may have been an alderman of the

city at this stage, suggesting that he had left Lord Thomas early on. See Morrin, Cal. patent rolls, 1, p. 27.

59 Letters and papers Henry VIII, 16, p. 131. 60 Edmund Curtis (ed.), Calendar of the Ormond deeds, iv

(Dublin, 1937), PP 25*> 259- 61 Trinity College Dublin (hereafter TCD), MS 656, f. 66v. 62 Cal. patent rolls, 1, pp 140, 215, 310. 63 Is this the same John [fitz Nicholas] Arthur who was mayor of Limerick in

1534 and 1547/8 and was an associate of Sextons in the 1535 attempt to bribe one of the O'Briens to hand

over Thomas Fitzgerald, but an opponent of his by 1548? If this is the case, he may also have been an

uncle to Sexton's wife, Katherine, who was 'daughter and coheir of Robert Arthur Fitz Nicholas.1 NLI

GO, MS 169, f. 57. 64 SPI 60/11, 39, 40. 65 Brady, The chief governors, p. 32; Bradshaw, Constitutional

revolution, pp 144-5. 66 Cal. patent rolls, p. 395, Fiants, p. 304.

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with them (and especially with Walter) at a number of points, with seemingly cool relations ensuing. Walter Cowley was one of those who adjudicated in the

dispute between Sexton and the citizens of Limerick in 1539. 7 However, as has

already been noted, Sexton was by 1546 a minor member of the team led

by Walter Cowley and Ormond that moved against St Leger in the Privy Council.68

Sexton's association with Ormond was ended by that lord's sudden death in

October 1546.69 His royal benefactor, King Henry VIII, died in January 1547. Ever the survivor, Sexton seems to have acquired another important patron by

1548. It was to Sir Edward Bellingham, lord deputy of Ireland from May 1548 to

December 1549, that Sexton had voiced his complaints about the earl of

Desmond. By August 1548 he had obviously impressed the lord deputy (was their shared Protestantism a factor?) and was once again employed in carrying letters from Dublin to Limerick, where he quickly managed to antagonise the

inhabitants by interfering in the matter of the FitzTheobald Burke hostages held there. Bellingham's slightly irate reply to their complaints (and, presum

ably, those of Sexton) urged them to listen to the advice of owr wyelbelovyd Edmund Sextyn, and ended with a request that he once more be elected mayor of Limerick. The latter request was politely but defiantly refused, with the

corporation choosing William Striche for the post.70 The final surviving com

munication from Bellingham to Sexton is slightly mysterious. It thanks him for

his good conformyte' and mentions, but does not give details of, a dispute with

the earl of Tyrone, to whom the lord deputy had written in Sexton's favour

'thynking that he whyll as he hathe promysyd desyst from burdenyng of [you] with any exactyons'.71

After this, Sexton seems to disappear from the records. He may have held the position of gauger and searcher of Limerick at some point, though the

reference to this could conceivably be a clerical error.72 His reactions to the

introduction by the reappointed Lord Deputy St Leger of a compromise Latin version of Edward VTs Reformation prayer book in 1551, to the possibly more

hardline stance of Lord Deputy Croft soon after, and to the restoration of

Catholicism at the accession of Mary I, can only be guessed at.73 As has been

6j SPI 60/8, 16. 68 On the Cowleys, see J. G. A. Prim, 'The family of Cowley of Kilkenny in Kilkenny

Archaeological Society Transactions (Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland), 2 (1852?3), pp 102-114; A. R. Hart, A history of the kings Serjeants at law in Ireland: Honour rather than advantage? (Dublin, 2000), pp 25-38; Brady, The chief governors; Bradshaw, Constitutional revolution; Ellis, Age ofthe

Tudors; Colm Lennon, Sixteenth century Ireland: The incomplete conquest (Dublin, 1994). 69 See David

Edwards, 'Malice aforethought? The death of the ninth earl of Ormond, 1546', Journal of the Butler

Society, iii, 1 (1986-7), pp 30?41; 'Further comments on the strange death of the 9th earl of Ormond1,

Journal of the Butler Society, iv, 1 (1997), pp 58-64. 70 SPI 61/1, 62, 97, 108. 71 SPI 61/1, 164. The

reference suggests that Sexton had some trade connections with Ulster, or that he held property in the

Pale, where Tyrone aiso had land. 72 Fiants 1, p. 301. As has been seen, his brother Humphrey held the

position for a long period. See Fiants 1, pp 147, 150, 296, 302; Cal. patent rolls, pp 140, 215, 310. 73 Brendan Bradshaw, 'The Edwardian Reformation in Ireland, 1547-53' m Archivium Hibemicum 34

(T977)> PP 83-99; idem, 'Reformation in the Cities', pp 457-8. For a new evaluation of the fortunes of

the Reformation in the east of the country, see H. A. Jefferies, 'The early Tudor Reformations in the

Irish Pale', J.E.H. 52 (2001), pp 34-62.

6o




noted, Sexton died in about 1554, when the events mentioned at the beginning of this paper occurred. His grandson alleged that he had been murdered by his

doctor on account of his religious stance, though there is no independent evi

dence to support this suspicion.74 Sexton left a will, written in 1552, which was

among his grandson's papers in 1630.75 His children were minors and were

orphaned three years later when their mother also died. Edmond's heir, Nicholas (born 28 August 1538), died before he attained his majority, and so it was Stephen who inherited the family estates.76 Edmond seems to have had at

least three other children. George, the eldest son, was killed in an accident in

London before 1547. Christopher, who was born on 6 December 1542, died

in Clonmel at some time 'before his brothers'. Humphrey, Stephen's twin, was

born on 18 February 1544.77 There were also three daughters, Margaret (who went on to marry into the Limerick families of Comyn and Harold), Ellis

and Anne.78 Stephen and his direct descendants went on to retain a solid

Protestantism, which ensured the survival of the family's fortunes in the late

seventeenth century and beyond.

Edmond Sexton's Protestantism and punishment

There is little evidence of the substance of Edmond Sexton's Protestant beliefs.

That he believed in the monarch's supremacy over the church and the dispos

ability of the monasteries may be inferred from his actions and his associates.

He disapproved of the 'idolatry' practised on Inis Scattery and the involvement

therein of the Limerick merchants, but this seems to be his only recorded

comment on such matters.79 He owned a Bible, a separate New Testament and

a 'booke of select psalms' that he had annotated himself, but there is nothing further to indicate how he used such texts.80 If the character of Sextons

Protestantism is largely unrecoverable, the

strength of his conviction cannot be

doubted. The fact that his heir and many of his descendants, though minors

when their father died, continued as Protestants in despite of considerable

pressures to conform to Catholicism (seen most starkly in the life, and espe

cially the death, of the second Edmond Sexton), may indicate that their

religious views were

implanted at an

early stage. Sixteenth-century Limerick

never became an environment that nurtured Protestantism. Fr Wolfe's oft

quoted comment in 1574 ? 'The city has about eight or nine hundred

households, Catholic all, except for seven or eight young men who embrace

the Lutheran leprosy more to please the Lady Elizabeth than for any other reason - was

probably reasonably close to the truth in terms of the numbers

74 Lennon, The urban patriciates, p. 5. 75 BL, Add. MS 19,865, f. 79; NLI, Limerick MSS. 76 Cal

patent rolls, pp 390, 395; Fiants 1, p. 324; Fiants 2, p. yy (1564). 77 NLI, MS 16,085, ff 49> H25 NLI GO, MS 167, ff 57?8. George died 'in King Henry the Eighth s days' when, while on his way to buy a pair of

shoes, he was accidentally 'brained' by a cowlestaff thrown by a brewer's man at a Limerick woman who

had been helping him to carry a cowle of ale. A cowlestaff was a wooden instrument carried across the

shoulders of two people to enable them to carry a load or barrel suspended between them. 78 NLI GO, MS 167, f. 58. 79 BL, Add. MS 19,865, f. 19. 80 BL, Add. MS 19,865, ff 74-5.

6i




of Protestants in the city, if an unkind assessment of the depth of their beliefs.81

Early indications of resistance to new religious directions during the reign of

Henry VIII are indicated in the words of John Arthur to his sick guest, quoted above, and in attempts to counter the dissolution of local monasteries.82 Such

resistance is also indicated, more dramatically, in the

townspeople's reactions to

Edmond Sexton and, ultimately, in his disinterment 'for his religion. The events of the disinterment suggest

a number of questions, some of

which are difficult to answer. Why was Sexton's body mutilated and mutilated so deliberately? What was the significance of the removal of his right arm? This

suggests that the remains were being punished for something more than

straightforward heresy, for which transferral of the body to unconsecrated

ground should have been sufficient. Was the arm removed to indicate that

Sexton had written something perceived as heretical or traitorous, his book

about the reformation of Ireland perhaps?83 Why, then, was it returned to the

tomb and not destroyed? Were the actions inspired by accounts in the books of

the Maccabees of the fate of 'godless' Nicanor, who had 'stretched out his right hand towards the shrine' in Jerusalem, swearing that he would raze the temple and its altar, and build in its place a temple to Dionysus? When Nicanor was

killed in battle, Judas Maccabaeus ordered that his head and 'the hand which

the bragging blasphemer had stretched out against the Almighty's holy temple' should taken to Jerusalem, where they were publicly displayed opposite the

shrine'.84 The similarities are intriguing and would explain the retention of the

severed arm, with which Sexton had both symbolically and literally threatened

the altars of the old faith. It may be that the gesture was intended to signify the

futility of such actions, echoing other biblical passages in which traitors and

enemies were threatened with the loss of their arms, a metaphor

for their inevi

table undoing. Take, for example, i Samuel 2:31: 'Behold, the days come, that

I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not

be an old man in thine house,' or Zechariah 11:17: 'Woe to the idle shepherd that leaveth his flock! The sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.'85

What then of the fact that Sexton's corpse was subsequently hanged by the

heels high in the rafters of the church? The ritual display of the bodies of

criminals is suggested, and the fact that the corpse was inverted would have

8i Brendan Bradshaw, 'Fr Wolfe's description of Limerick city, 1574' in North Munster Antiquarian Journal 17 (1975), p. 47. 82 See also Begley, The diocese of Limerick, p. 162. 83 By an act of 1555, those

writing seditious and slanderous words were to be punished by abscission of the right hand'. This act

must have come too late to affect this particular case, unless a similar law was already in use in Munster.

See J. Bellamy, The Tudor law of treason: An introduction (London, 1979), p. 46. Later in the century, in

Italy, loss of a hand was similarly recorded as a punishment for libel. See L. Puppi, Torment in art (New York, 1992), p. 25. 84 Mace. 14:33; 15:30-33; 1 Mace. 7:35, 47. 85 A final association might be made

with two fifteenth-century references in the Irish annals to men who had each been 'deprived of a foot

and a hand'. In the case of Donchadh Mag Uidhir of Tellach-Dunchada, who had killed his half

brother's son, the mutilation was carried out 'in satisfaction of that fratricide'. However, in the other

case, where Ua Domnaill was mutilated by a challenger to his authority, the purpose of the action was to

ensure that Ua Domnaill would be rendered unfit to rule. Given the circumstances in the Mag Uidhir

62




represented a further indictment of its owner's behaviour. Its display in the

chancel, before the altar, again has parallels with the fate of the head and arm of

Nicanor. However, the purpose of this gesture was not, in fact, display, because

the corpse was so well concealed as to remain undiscovered for several years.

Here we come to the most puzzling question of all - why was all of this done so

secretly? Surely the meaning of such actions is dependent on their public dis

play of punishment of an outsider or wrongdoer and the reconfirmation of the

unity and righteousness of the community? Was the ignorance of the family and the other citizens of Limerick exaggerated by the chronicler of the event

who, after all, was writing much later? Or were the

proceedings selectively

concealed for the benefit of Sexton's widow, herself a member of the prestigious local Arthur family?

Finally, if Sextons body was exhumed and mutilated merely because of his

religion, why were the corpses of other prominent Protestants not also treated

in this manner? The next recorded Irish examples of sectarian dis interments occur much later, in 1603, 1615 and the 1640s, and in demonstrably different

circumstances. What made Sexton's case unique amongst the small group of

inhabitants of Ireland who embraced religious changes at this stage? It has been

argued that other factors may have contributed to the affair. Colm Lennon

points to the resentment of civic leaders towards the underhand and precipi tous way in which Sexton had acquired wealth and favour, particularly at the

expense of local monasteries.87 His choice of a burial place that reflected this

newfound position may also have been important. It seems that this chapel was

a point of contention with the Creagh family, which may have contributed to

Creagh involvement in the disinterment. The original grant was of one third

of the chapel, from 'John Rhys and others', but Sexton may have claimed

possession of the whole space.88

To these reasons I would add Sexton's abrasive

manner, his interference in the other affairs of the city and the general slipperi ness evidenced each time he resurrected his own fortunes despite the downfall or

estrangement of various patrons. Sexton, the upstart and self-made man,

constantly stepped on the toes of the traditionally minded ruling elite of

Limerick. At his death his heirs were minors, and his family connections were

neither sufficiently numerous nor powerful to hinder anyone who sought vengeance. Religion

was a compelling

reason as well as a convenient excuse for

the response of the citizens of Limerick to Sexton's perceived misconduct. The

fate of Nicanor may have suggested an appropriate ritual procedure for the

expression of their frustrations.

Edmond Sexton's story, while incomplete, is instructive. Sexton was in many

ways unusual, especially given his Gaelic background, religious views and

case (Donchadh was also a challenger for power), that consideration is likely also to have been impor tant, and it would probably be unwise to link the mutilation unequivocally with the crime. See B.

MacCarthy (ed.), Annala Uladh: Annals of Ulster 3 (Dublin, 1895), pp 165, 203. 86 See Tait, Death, burial and commemoration, chapter 5. 87 Lennon, The urban patriciates, pp 5-6. 88 NLI, Limerick

MSS.

63




abrupt rise. However, otherwise his career can be seen to have been typical in

a manner not usually noticed in broader-based histories of chief governors,

constitutional revolutions, Reformations and Counter-Reformations. Each

person of substance or ambition in Ireland during the century that followed

Sexton's death was forced to arrange their own accommodations with the reli

gious and political forces and leaders of their time. Even Sexton's regular

re

adjusting of his allegiances was not unusual, though in his case it does appear to have become something of an art form. The rise and fall of higher officeholders in Ireland belies a strong element of continuity of more minor

personnel and at local level, particularly in the towns. However, changes were

also well under way. The explanation favoured by Sextons grandson that his

ancestor's disinterment was carried out for religious reasons, while not quite the

full story, is a strong indication of how lines of demarcation would come to be

drawn more definitely in subsequent years.

TEXT

National Library of Ireland, MS 16,085, f? 49

This was in queene Marys raigne ye first89

Edmond Sexton my Grandfather after his buriall po9? Marie was taken out of

his toumbe at night by Christopher Creaugh Alderman Pires Whit my grand fathers brother &: David Whit ye organist91 & his righe arme92 cut of at ye elbowe & lefte in ye tumbe the rest of his boddy hanged by ye hills over ye

Silling of ye chancell wher it continued some 3 years untill my grand mother

Kathren Arthur was bured Unknone but after found by one yt went over the

church to hidd himself after some fellony comitted. When he was taken thence

wacked yt night & bured. This was don for his religion he imbraced uppon ye refermation.

89 In margin. 90 I.e. 'primo'. 91 Six words interlined in the text. 92 The word 'hand' is deleted.

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a trusty and wellbeloved servant': the career and disinterment of edmond sexton of limerick, d....

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