Rossiters in Ireland

 

Rossiters in Ireland:

 

Various penal laws against the native Irish were passed in the parliaments of the Pale, particularly the Statute of Kilkenny in the year 1367, which prohibited, under penalty of high treason, any intermarriage, fosterage, or similar intercourse between the families of English descent and the native Irish; and enacted that any person of English race speaking the Irish language, or adopting the Irish name, dress, customs, or manners, ghojild forfeit all his goods, lands, and tenements.

On the Memoranda Roll of the Exchequer of the twenty- fifth and twenty-sixth years of the reign of Edward III. is the following ordinance : — " It is ordained that all those who have lands in the Marches and are resident in the land of peace, shall make their residence in their lands in the Marches, or shall put other sufficient persons in their place, in maintenance and aid of the Marches ; atid whosoever do not do so, their lands, shall be taken by the king's ministers, and expended on the March, for the safeguard thereof, according to the quantity of the land." On the 25th August, 1464, the king, by letters patent, granted to the Earl of Desmond an annuity chargeable on the principal seignories belonging to the Crown within the Pale, and the grant was confirmed by parliament.

(a) In the year 1364, the King's Bench and its records were removed to Dublin, and it appears by the Close Roll 1° Richard II., 1377, that the officers of the Exchequer, petitioned the Duke of Clarence, in the Parliament of Kilkenny, that the Exchequer should be removed from Carlow, where it was in danger from Irish enemies and rebels, to Dublin. It was asserted that it was a place unfit 'for the custody of the Exchequer, and that the allowances to the Judges (») Rot. Mem. 13° and 14° Eliz. U) Plea Roll. 37° Edward III.

 

The English territory gradually decreased in extent: " So wonderful had those Irish lords encroached into the Pale, that afterwards, when the king (Henry VHI.) came to the crown, taking in hand the general reformation of that country, it was found that the English Pale was restrained into four counties only, viz., Dublin, Kildare, Meath, and Louth, and those also not to be free from the Irish invasions; and so weakened withal, and corrupted, that scant four persons in any parish wore English habits, and coine and livery as current there as in the Irish countries, which was brought into the Pale by Sir James of Desmond, in the time of his government." And in the State Papers, part iii., vol. ii., p. 22, it is stated, that the inhabitants of the four shires " hath been so spoiled, op- pressed, and robbed, as they be not of ability to give to your grace any notable thing;" and "to the shires above the Barrow, viz., Kilkenny, Tipperary, Waterford, and Wexford, the king's judges and officers cannot resort to ministry justice."  The extent of territory under the influence of English domination materially varied at different times; and, in consequence, the extent of country represented in the Irish parliaments, holden by the English viceroys, was not always the same. I may venture to presume, that representation in Irish parliaments was at all times co-extensive, not merely with the Pale, but with whatever portion of the Irish territory acknowledged a subjection to English dominion, and acquiesced in its legislation. This, however, has been denied, and Sir John Da vies is tempted to assert, that the Parliament of 1613 was the first general representation of the people, which was not " confined to the Pale." The reasons which induced Sir John Davies to rush at tbi-; condnsion was his anxiety to flatter the vanity of James I., a prince proud and vain of his government in Ireland. It afforded him the greatest degree of satisfaction to be told that he was the founder of a constitution in this country ; but as a &ct, the positive limits of the Pale were never clearly defined. [According as the English power extended so did the Pale ; and it was considered to comprise at some periods the counties of Antrim, Down, part of Armagh, Louth, Meath, West- m6a,th, Dublin, Kildare,King's and Queen's Counties, Carlow, Killienny, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, and part of Wick- low; but in general the name of the Pale was confined to the counties of Dublin, Louth, Meath, and Kildare.

 

It appears that the Irish who dwelt within the Pale, and   acknowledged the English authority, were considered as subjects, and had to a certain extent the protection of English laws; but all the Irish outside the Pale were styled Irish enemies, not being recognised as subjects; while the Anglo-Irish, or Irish of English descent, who resisted the Government, were termed English rebels, being accounted as subjects.  The native Irish, according to Sir John Davies, being reputed as aliens, or rather enemies, it was adjudged no felony to kill a mere Irishman in time of peace ; and it appears that if an Englishman killed one of the mere Irish, he was only fined a mark.  He states in a letter to Earl of Salisbury, in 1610, that — " When the English Pale was first planted, all the natives were cleanly expelled, so as not one Irish family had so much as an acre of freehold in all the five counties of the Pale,.".  The Pale, which was in its commencement very indistinctly if at all, defined, became in the fifteenth century  better known as the English, part of the island, and more   accurately marked, until at length an Act of Parliament was   passed (10° Henry VII., c. 34), for making a ditch to enclose   the four shires to which the English dominion was at this   time nearly confined. Henry VII., however, introduced a better system of administration, but the English power did   not fully recover its stability til the reign of James I. The   greater part of the Irish chieftains acknowledged no superior   but the sword, and no law but their own will. 

 

Previous to the reign of Edward the Third, all public documents were  written in Norman-French ; but by the  statute of the 36° of that king it was  enacted that all law proceedings should  be conducted in the English tongue, but  be entered and enrolled in Latin, which  was observed until the protectorate of  Cromwell, when it was enacted that the  English language should alone be used  in the public records ; and the ancient  practice of using a corrupt Latin for  written pleadings was abolished, with  many other legal abuses. This innovation was not observed after the restoration of Charles the Second ; and when  the monarchy was restored, with much  of its inherent good and a considerable  portion of its trappings of evil, it was  held wise and reverential to restore the  old law language, and Latin continued  to be used down to the reign of George  the Second. In the year 1731, the magistrates of the North and East Ridings  of Yorkshire presented a petition to the  House of Commons, complaining " that  the obliging grand- jurymen at the sessions of the peace to make their pre-  sentiments in a language which few of  them understood, and the suffering, in  any of the proceedings of the courts of  justice, or in any of the transactions of  the law, whereby the person or property  of the subject may be affected, the use  of a language not intelligible and of a  character not legible but by the learned  in the law, were great occasion of the  delay of justice, and gave room to most  dangerous frauds." Lord Chancellor King, described as " one of the people" saw the necessity of attending to the  prayer of the Yorkshire petitions.

He directed a bill to be introduced to the House of Lords to enact "that all proceedings in courts of justice should be done into English;" the preamble setting forth "that the common people might have knowledge and understanding of  what was alleged or done for and against  them in the process and pleadings, the  judgment and entries in the cause."  The judges, speaking through the Lord Chief Justice, were decidedly against   the change " difficulties would arise in   translating the law out of Latin into English; law suits would be multiplied in regard to the interpretation of English words." The Duke of Argyle contended that our prayers were in our native tongue that they might be intelligible, and why should not the laws wherein our lives and properties are concerned. The complaint came from "the people," from magistrates and jurymen. There never was a period in our history, even in the darkest times, in which the remonstrances of the middle classes against prescriptive abuses were not faithfully seconded by some of an  aristocracy that did not stand, as a caste,  apart from "the people." The Bill passed after some opposition, such as is always at hand to resist what is dreaded as "innovation," and the lords added a clause  to provide that records and other documents should be written in a plain legible  hand, such as that in which Acts of Parliament are engrossed. The tenacity with which some minds, even of a high order, cling to custom and precedent, is shown in the lament of Blackstone that the old law Latin was disused. Lord Campbell adds — " I have heard the late Lord Ellenborough, from the Bench, regret the change, on the ground that it  has had the tendency to make attorneys illiterate."

8. Deed, whereby Sir Nicholas Devereux, of Belmagir, conveyed  to John  Rawcetor [Rosseter], of Rathmaoknee, Alexander Redmond of the Hooke, Richard Whittey and John Devereux, of Norriston, the Manor of Adameston, in the barony of Ballyfeoke, in the county of Wexford; To hold for ever, in trust for the use of the said Sir Nicholas for life, and after his decease to such uses as should be   expressed arid declared by his last will and testament. — Last of March, 1575.

 

38. Assignment from George, Earl of Shrewsbury, Wexford, and Waterford; Lord de Talbot, Furnivale, le Strange, and Wordon, to Robert Dauke, son of Henry Dauke, of a messuage and 1 20 acres of land, in Mowrontown, in the parish of Kildowan : To hold for ever, according to the antient custom and usage of the manor of Balma- karne : Witness, Thomas Rawcester, seneschal of the liberty of Wexford. — Wexford, September 20, 11° Henry VII being 1496. [Reign: 1485 -1509]

 

Rathmacknee Castle is believed to have been built by John Rosseter (Rossiter, Rositer, Rosceter) who was made seneschal of the Liberty of Wexford c. 1415. Other accounts associate its construction with his grandson Thomas Rossiter, seneschal in 1493. The Rossiters remained Catholic after the Reformation but stayed loyal to the monarchy and continued to hold their lands. Col. Thomas Rosseter [B: 1612 - ] fought against Oliver Cromwell at Wexford in the Irish Confederate Wars and the castle and lands were confiscated in 1654. The castle remained occupied until the 1760s. In the 19th century it was restored by its owner, Hamilton Knox Grogan Morgan

 

46.  Appointment of William Synnot, of Ballinran in " the Moroes," in the county of Wexford, to the office of Chief Justice of the liberties and privileges of the county of Wexford; To hold during good behaviour, in as ample manner as George Dormer held that office. — Castle of Dublin, Oct. 8, 36°-

 

67. Grant to Richard Chichester, in consideration of a fine of £20, of the custody, wardship, and marriage of John Rawceter, son and heir of Thomas Rawceter, late of Rathmakine, in the county of Wexford. — Bvhlin, Sept. 22 1594.

 

38. Licence to Sir Henry WaUopp to alienate and convey to   Lodovick Briskett, of Maighmaine, in the county of Wexford;   Oliver Wallpp, second son of Sir Henry, Richard Hopper, and   John Browne, the sit^, ambit, and precinct of the latp house of Priafs of Enniscorthy, in the county of Wexford; the manor of Enniscorthy, and all castles, messuages, mills, commons, ways, and tenements to the monastery belonging, and the towns and lands of   Enniscorthy, Garran, Kilkenan, Lougbwerrie, Barricroire, and Ballineparke, in the county of Wexford.— tZ^mJ/Jm, Apnl i, 4P°. 

 

26. Grant of the custody, wardship, and marriage of Marcus Novell, idiot, son and heir of Richard Novell, late of Ambrostowne, in the county of Wexford, to Walter Archer. — Dublin, May 30, 43°.