Montgomery manuscripts
(43) Page 29
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The Montgomery Manuscripts.
29
Esq. of the King's body, and after this was knighted, and therefore I must call him in the following
pages by the name of Sir Hugh Montgomery, who made speedy application to the King (already
prepared), on which the said Con was graciously received at Court, and kissed the King's hand, and
Sir Hugh's petition, on both their behalfs, was granted, and orders given, under the Privy Signet,
that his Majesty's pleasure therein should be confirmed by letters patent, under the great seal of
Ireland, at such rents as therein expressed, and under conditions that the lands should be planted
with British Protestants, and that no grant of fee farm should be made to any person of meer Irish
extraction^ 6 but in regard these letters took no effect, as in next paragraph appears, I shall make no
further mention thereof, but will proceed to what afterwards happened to the said Sir Hugh and
Con.
hold a commendain could only be given by the crown, and
was generally granted to favourites, as a means of supple-
menting small livings. But now, by 6 and 7 William IV. ,
c. 77, sec. 18, no ecclesiastical dignity, benefice, or office
can be held in commendain. — Wharton, Law Lexicon, p.
15; Penny Cyclopcedia, vol. vii., p. 398.
36 Meer Irish extraction. — The nicer Irish, or such of the
Iri s h as had no free or English blood, were forbidden by
law to purchase land. ' ' Though the English might take
from the Irish, the Irish could not, even by way of
gift or purchase, take any from the English. In every
charter of English liberty, as it was called, granted to an
Irishman, besides the right to bring actions in the King's
Courts, there was given an express power to him to pur-
chase lands to him and his heirs ; without this he could
not hold any so acquired. The exchequer officers con-
stantly held inquisitions for the purpose of obtaining a
return that certain lands had been aliened to an Irishman,
in order thereupon to seize them into the hands of the
crown as forfeited. . . . The Parliament Rolls are
full of cases where the inquisitions are set aside for the
finding having been malicious and untrue, the parties
complained of not being Irish, but English. They prove,
however, that no Irishman could take lands by convey-
ance from an Englishman ; and this continued to be the
law until the year 161 2, when sir John Davies framed an
Act abolishing the distinction of nations. But the prohi-
bition practically prevailed after the passing of the
Act ; for, by plantation rule, the English were for-
bidden, under pain of forfeiture, to convey any of the
lands taken from the Irish in the extensive plantations of
Munster, Ulster, and Leinster to any Irishman, and the
Irish there could only aliene to English ; so that the Irish
must be always losing, and the English gaining, by any
change. The prohibition was again extended to the
whole nation by the Commonwealth government ; and
when the lands forfeited for the war of 1690 came to be
sold at Chichester House, in 1703, the Irish were de-
clared by the English Parliament incapable of purchasing
at the auction, or of taking a lease of more than two
acres. Shortly afterwards, another Act disqualified them
for ever from purchasing or acquiring any lands in Ireland,
and declared the purchase void." — Prendergast, Cram-
wellian Settlement in Ireland, Introduction, pp. 1. — lii.
«A
29
Esq. of the King's body, and after this was knighted, and therefore I must call him in the following
pages by the name of Sir Hugh Montgomery, who made speedy application to the King (already
prepared), on which the said Con was graciously received at Court, and kissed the King's hand, and
Sir Hugh's petition, on both their behalfs, was granted, and orders given, under the Privy Signet,
that his Majesty's pleasure therein should be confirmed by letters patent, under the great seal of
Ireland, at such rents as therein expressed, and under conditions that the lands should be planted
with British Protestants, and that no grant of fee farm should be made to any person of meer Irish
extraction^ 6 but in regard these letters took no effect, as in next paragraph appears, I shall make no
further mention thereof, but will proceed to what afterwards happened to the said Sir Hugh and
Con.
hold a commendain could only be given by the crown, and
was generally granted to favourites, as a means of supple-
menting small livings. But now, by 6 and 7 William IV. ,
c. 77, sec. 18, no ecclesiastical dignity, benefice, or office
can be held in commendain. — Wharton, Law Lexicon, p.
15; Penny Cyclopcedia, vol. vii., p. 398.
36 Meer Irish extraction. — The nicer Irish, or such of the
Iri s h as had no free or English blood, were forbidden by
law to purchase land. ' ' Though the English might take
from the Irish, the Irish could not, even by way of
gift or purchase, take any from the English. In every
charter of English liberty, as it was called, granted to an
Irishman, besides the right to bring actions in the King's
Courts, there was given an express power to him to pur-
chase lands to him and his heirs ; without this he could
not hold any so acquired. The exchequer officers con-
stantly held inquisitions for the purpose of obtaining a
return that certain lands had been aliened to an Irishman,
in order thereupon to seize them into the hands of the
crown as forfeited. . . . The Parliament Rolls are
full of cases where the inquisitions are set aside for the
finding having been malicious and untrue, the parties
complained of not being Irish, but English. They prove,
however, that no Irishman could take lands by convey-
ance from an Englishman ; and this continued to be the
law until the year 161 2, when sir John Davies framed an
Act abolishing the distinction of nations. But the prohi-
bition practically prevailed after the passing of the
Act ; for, by plantation rule, the English were for-
bidden, under pain of forfeiture, to convey any of the
lands taken from the Irish in the extensive plantations of
Munster, Ulster, and Leinster to any Irishman, and the
Irish there could only aliene to English ; so that the Irish
must be always losing, and the English gaining, by any
change. The prohibition was again extended to the
whole nation by the Commonwealth government ; and
when the lands forfeited for the war of 1690 came to be
sold at Chichester House, in 1703, the Irish were de-
clared by the English Parliament incapable of purchasing
at the auction, or of taking a lease of more than two
acres. Shortly afterwards, another Act disqualified them
for ever from purchasing or acquiring any lands in Ireland,
and declared the purchase void." — Prendergast, Cram-
wellian Settlement in Ireland, Introduction, pp. 1. — lii.
«A
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Histories of Scottish families > Montgomery manuscripts > (43) Page 29 |
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Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/95233443 |
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Description | A selection of almost 400 printed items relating to the history of Scottish families, mostly dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Includes memoirs, genealogies and clan histories, with a few produced by emigrant families. The earliest family history goes back to AD 916. |
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