Deposition of Nicholas Simpson

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<ex>
Nicholas Simpson now one of the knights of the shire of Monoghan for <1> the present Parliament in Ireland sworne & examined deposeth and sayth That
On Saturdaye the 23th of October 1641, dyvers of the sept: of the Mcwades ffosterers to Turloghe oge o Neale Came to the towne of Glasloghe in the Countie of Monaghan beeing marketdaye, pretendinge that the said Turloghe o Neale had lost 30 englishe sheepe, whose tracks they brought to the ende of the Towne, for the followinge of which tracke they borrowed all the weapons they could gett in the towne, then Came the whole sept of the said Mcwades into the towne, & brak into every mans house on the suddayne, & possessed themselves of their weapons, & wyshed every man to yelde & no hurte shoulde bee done to any man, for itt was <2> not their doings, but they had good warrant for what they did, & itt was onelye to secure themselves agaynst an order made att the Counsell table of Ireland to hange all them that should refuse to Come to Churche on the All Saints daye after, which order dyvers ffryers affirmed in my this deponents hearinge that they had seene, & that they asked Sir Edward Trevor a privye Counsellor & then in their hands att the newrye whether there was not such an order made att the Counsell borde, & hee Confessed there was, & that his hande was to itt, & they farther Confidently affirmed that the warrants was out in every Countie vnder the hands of the Justics of the peace for the enforcinge them to Churche vppon the said order, which warrants the said ffryers tould every man they had seene, & named the Justics of the peace whose hands they sayd was to every warrant, & although all the Justics of the peace present protested to the Contrarye yett the multitude beleeved their holye ffryars, & this was the greatest Cause (as they pretended) of their Cruell murthers Comytted on the Brytishe, when these mc wades Came in such multitudes vppon vs, the Britishe in the towne (whiche were but fewe for the greatest parte were Irishe & came to them) were not able to resist them, ffor besides the suddaynenes, wee had no powder amongst vs, the late proclamacion against havinge of powder beeing so stricte that none Could bee gotten but by lycence from the newrye, yett wee refused to yelde to those mcwades vntill some gentleman of qualitye in the Cuntrye Came to vs, presentlye after night fallinge <B> Turloghe oge Came, & went dyrectlye into the Castle, & took possession thereof, & sent for all the Britishe in towne vnto him, & wished vs to feare nothinge for there was no hurte intended against vs, itt was but to secure the Catholicks, & kept mee this deponent & dyvers others with him that night,

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<hand> where hee discovered the whole plott vnto mee , but tould mee this deponent but sayd hee knewe not of itt above a fortnight before, b ut & that all the Noble men of Ireland had their heads & hands in itt, & many of the noble men of England, then I asked him, (because I knewe hee marryed my lord of Antryms bastard sister) whether hee had any knowledge of itt, hee tould mee hee could not tell, but hee <C> was sure that his duchesse had dyvers letters from the Queens & manye of the noble men of England about itt & his brother had the kings broade seale for i tt hee tould mee this deponent farther when he first heard of itt which was by his brother Sir Philomye that hee vtterlye disliked itt, & perswaded Sir Philomy from itt, & did thinke hee had prevayled with him, vntill hee heard hee had taken Charlemonte, & hee assured mee that Monaghan Newrye & Dublyn & all the fforts & Castles in Ireland were taken before that tyme, for that was the daye of takinge them, & that my lord McGwyre, & Hugh McMahone were gone out of the Northe to take Dublyn, & every messenger that Came to him, hee sayd had brought him letters that Dublyn & the Castle were taken, but att last Came Ever McMahone, the vycar generall of Clogher or titularye Bishopp of downe vnto vs, who I think was one of the principall plotters of this treason, & hee knowinge that my Lord mcGwyre & hugh mcMahone were apprehended devised to drawe Certayne Remonstrances of their greevances with the reasons of this their insurreccion & seazinge on the kings ffortes, & in every Countye thereabouts made Choyce of some gentlemen to send them vp to the State, to bee sent into England to his <D> Maiestie, & tould mee that the gent of the Countie of Monaghan had Chosen mee to bee their messenger to present them, & lefte the Coppie of the said Remonstrances, & a Coppie of a protestacion of their loyaltye which with mee both which I delyvered to Sir Robart Meredithe, & so hee lefte vs, going as hee said to gett the hands of the gent of the Countye to those Instruments & to provyde mee monye & a passe for my iournye, & presentlye after his departure was the overthrowe of the 600 neare droghedagh, of which hee sent notyce

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to Turloghe oge by his letters, which Caused great tryumphinge amongst them, leapinge & dancinge & Crying victoria God almightie had putt vs all into their hands, from which tyme I never sawe the vycar generall <hand> but am sure hee was a Contynuall bloudie prosecutor of the Brytishe, & the Cheefe incitor to all the barbarous murthers in the Northe. Turloghe oge <E> havinge gotten all the monye plate goods & Cattell about Glasloghe into his possession & Convayed them to his owne Castle & lands hee lefte Glasloghe & went to Armaghe, & by the waye protested way much against those Courses of his brother Sir Philomye, & that hee beeing Shreife of that Countie, woulde keepe the Brytishe from all oppression & wronge & that hee woulde Carrye the kings monye hee had receaved to Dublyn & passe his accompts & when wee Came to Armaghe wee fownd Sir <4> Philomy o Neale Rory o Moore & dyvers other principall Rebells there to whome the towne had then yelded, vppon promise vnder Sir Philomyes hande & seale which I have seene, which hee offred to signe with his bloude & to delyver his sonne in pledge, that they should not bee molested or troubled eyther in their lyves or estates, but should enyoye all they had as quietly & peaceably as they did before, & swore that hee dyd nothinge but by the kings Comand & by his especiall Comission, & in a great bravado offred 50 townelands for 50 barrells of powder & 50 musketts, & bragged that hee had gotten one barrell of powder out of the store in Dublyn in his owne name, his brothers, & Sir William Brownelowes, & that my Lord McGwyre had brought downe many musketts & Cosletts in <ff> in truncks & Chests from Dublyn, & that Phillip o Reelye had made 5000 pikes out of the woods of Logherne, Sir Philomy stayed in towne two or three dayes after itt was yelded vpp, & then departed leavinge one Hugh boy mc Gonnell (a man before that tyme of base Condicion) Governour who presentlye pillaged all the houses & shopps att his pleasure, tooke vpp the best house in Towne for his habitacion, Comanded every man to send him in provision, & domyneored vppon the spoyle of the Cyttie like an Emperour, Turlogh oge lyvinge then in Towne, & seeing the Porte & state of this base fellowe, & his wyfe beeing a woeman of a hautie & high spiritt & basely Covetous thinkinge all to any thinge to much that passed by her selfe, perswaded her husband to take vppon him the Government of the towne & att Sir Philomyes next Cominge

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hee was made Governour of the Countie of Armaghe, & what Hugh Boye had lefte, hee tooke into his possession, hee made the shoppkeapers both in Armaghe & Loughgall to bee accomptable to <G> his wyfe for all the wares they sould out of their shopps, In this his government. hee forgatt his promise to the Brytishe to protect them, & by the settinge on of his mother & wyfe, (two most Cruell woemen to the Englishe) hee turnd a bloudye persecutor of them, & was the Cause f or hee might have prev ented i tt i f hee had pleased) (as wee all Conceaved) of the death of above 20000 persons by drowninge hanginge pistoling stabbinge & starvinge, those that I knowe to bee murthered thereabouts & sawe most many of them Carryed to their ends, were att Corrbridge 68 drownd, att Portadowne 150 drownd, in one weeke or thereabouts ledd out by one Manus o Cane, att Armaghe 126 and drownd, att Loghgall 18 att one tyme drownd, besides It was observed that out of that parishe & killmoore where they reported there was three or fower thousand Comunycants, there Came not above two or three men alyve from them at Glasloghe 13 drowned, att kanard, that <6> night & the night before my Lord Caulfeild was shott by them 50 att least killed in the Towne, besides manye in the Cuntye Mr James Maxwell Mr Henry Cowell, & Mr Hugh Echlyn & his sonne & two servants hanged, & James Maxwells wyfe beeing in stronge labour was drawen downe to the Ryver by the hayre of her head & shee & her infant drowned, att least 200 as I was Cred i blye enformed killd & burnte <H> when Armaghe was burnte, I speak not of Clonys & thereabouts where the first daye they killed all the Britishe they lighted on, besides afterwards manye hangd & drownd, nor of Monaghan, Carick Castleblayneye & Drumbote where multitudes were hanged and drowned, nor of small numbers as Coronett ClLynton beeing blinde & ledd by his grandchilde they Cast them both into the Ryver & drownd them, nor of Ambrose Blayney Ensigne Peirce, & many others, they hangd Ensigne Pugh twise or thrise till hee was halfe dead & then lett him downe, & afterward Killed him & his wife, & as I heard sett a Scotswoma{n} vppon a hott grydiron, & boared another thorough the hands to make them Confesse there monye, to stripp men & woemen starke naked as they were borne was their ordinarye sport, To bee shorte there was

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<hand 7> never the like Crueltye read or heard of, nor did the malyce of those ffryers & Preists ende with the deathe of the poore Britishe, but when they had murdred them or that they dyed, they denyed them buryall <I> in the Churchyarde, but made them burye those that dyed in gardens & flunge them they killed into ditches, or lefte them for the doggs to devouure their Carcasses, & excomunicated all them that releeved them alyve, or buryed them beeing dead, & the fryers preached in their sermons as I was enformed by them that heard them that itt was as lawfull to kill an Englishman as a dogge whilst wee were in Armaghe Sir Philomy o Neale was <8> Created o Neale & Earle of Tyrone att Tulloghoge & proclamacions often made in the markett place in the name of o Neale Tyrone, hee tooke peticions directed to him as Earle of Tyrone, & so hee subscribed them & his letters, And I & others heard Turlogh oges sonne (a youth of <hand> 12 or 13 yeares of age) saye that his vncle Sir Philomye should bee kinge of Ireland, & Sir Philomye himselfe said to mee that hee would have that Statute repealed, that none borne in this kingdome should bee Governours thereof, & then they would geve his Maiestie the double Revenewe hee nowe receaved out of Ireland, by waye of tribute, <9> And att a meetinge att Caricke, there were dyvers statuts made for the government of the Cuntrye in Sir Philomyes name, wherein hee gave every gent power to trye treasons & felonyes & all other accions & to keepe Courts on his owne lands, this authorytie I sawe & read in his the said Sir Phelims owne name & vnder his owne hande & seale, wherein <K> hee wrote, Wee, after the manner of Kings, & accordinge to our Royall Intencion. In this his Comission the gent had power to sesse all the lands in the Countie towards the mayntenance of the Catholique Armye, except Church lands which were exempted att a former meetinge att Cavan Itt seemes this Rebellyon was not so suddayne as they pretend, for att the Somer Assizes before in the Countye of Monaghan, there was one Shane O Neale of Tyrone endited before Sir Samuell Mayart for stealinge of Cowes, whereof hee was apparantlye guiltye yet by the Cuminge of one William Kellye of Carricke nowe a great rebell hee was acquited, & Neale Mc Kena tould mee that if Shane o Neale had bene hangd, there was 500 horsemen well weaponed that would have hangd both the Judge & the Shreife before they Came to Armaghe

Nicola Sympson
Jur 6o Apr 1643 Randall: Adams:
John Sterne.