the ‘wyld Irishry,’ the reconciliation of the conflicting interests of the Earls of Kildare, Desmond, and Ossory, the raising of a subsidy, and the holding of a parliament. He was expressly forbidden to venture on any independent warlike enterprise against the natives, but was enjoined to render every assistance to the Earl of Kildare. On 2 Aug. he landed near Dublin, whither he was shortly afterwards followed by the Earl of Kildare himself. The effect of the limitations in his patent was soon apparent; for the Earl of Kildare, who did not scruple to show his contempt for him, and, as Ossory complained, openly to conduct himself as though he were the viceroy and Skeffington merely his instrument (State Papers, Hen. VIII, printed, ii. 157), contrived before long to deprive him of everything but the merest semblance of viceregal authority. For a time indeed Skeffington struggled hard, with the assistance of the Earl of Ossory, to assert an independent position; but the experiment, if such it deserves to be called, of trying to govern Ireland by the exercise of the royal authority alone came to an end in 1532. In May of that year Skeffington was formally charged by Sir John Rawson [q. v.], prior of Kilmainham, and Chief-justice Bermingham, with maladministration, or, in other words, with acting partially towards the Earl of Ossory. The influence of Kildare was sufficient to procure his recall, and, having been somewhat contumeliously treated by him, Skeffington quitted Ireland in the summer, and returned to his old post of master of the ordnance.
But his treatment by Kildare rankled deeply, and he assisted with all his might to bring about his downfall. Early in 1534 he had the satisfaction of seeing his enemy clapped in the Tower, and shortly afterwards, a rumour of his death having provoked a rising on the part of his son, Lord Thomas of Offaly, Skeffington was again nominated lord deputy. It is doubtful if he was very anxious for the task imposed upon him of suppressing the rebellion, and to an impartial witness like Chapuys it seemed as if Henry had been guilty of incredible folly in entrusting the enterprise to one ‘the most incompetent for such a charge that could be chosen.’ The news, early in August, of Archbishop Alan's murder hastened his departure from court. The vessel with the artillery had already sailed when he reached Chester, but whether it was that the winds were adverse, or, as Chapuys insinuated, that Skeffington wanted an excuse to withdraw from the undertaking, and pleaded the necessity of larger reinforcements as a reason for not immediately embarking, it was not till 14 Oct. that, in obedience to peremptory orders from Henry, he actually set sail from Graycot. The fleet was driven by a gale under Lambay, and in consequence of a report that Dublin had fallen into the hands of Lord Offaly, Skeffington determined, for not very obvious reasons, to proceed himself to Waterford, detaching Sir William Brereton and John Salisbury for the purpose of effecting a landing, if possible, at Dublin. But after in vain trying to make headway in a dead calm, he likewise steered for Dublin, where he landed a week after Brereton. Once landed, he displayed unexpected vigour, and, collecting his forces, marched on 28 Oct. to the relief of Drogheda, accomplishing the whole distance in one day. Offaly was proclaimed a traitor at the market-cross; but a plan for a combined attack on Kilkea Castle was frustrated by Skeffington's illness, and indeed it was not till the following spring that he was sufficiently recovered to take the field in person. ‘In the meane tyme,’ as the master of the rolls wrote, ‘the rebell hath brent moch of the countrie, trusting, if he may be sufferde, to wast and desolate the Inglishry, wherby he thinke to inforce this army to departe’ (ib. p. 226). In the general opinion, Skeffington's advanced age and illness rendered him unfit for the task imposed upon him; but Henry refused to withdraw his confidence from him, and on 14 March 1535 he sat down before Maynooth, the strongest of Earl Thomas's fortresses, commanded by his own foster-brother, Christopher Paris. The place was defended by some small pieces of ordnance, transplanted thither from Dublin Castle, and of the hundred men composing the garrison sixty at least were professional gunners. But impregnable as it had hitherto been deemed, it was not adapted to resist the heavy artillery (a novel feature in Irish warfare, and the origin probably of his title ‘The Gunner’) which Skeffington advanced against it. On the 16th the batteries were unmasked. The bombardment lasted six days without intermission, but on the 23rd, a breach having been made in the north side, the outworks were carried by assault and sixty of the defenders slain. The main tower still held out, but Paris, either thinking further resistance futile, or, as it has been improbably asserted (Stanihurst, but cf. Bagwell, i. 174–5, who sees no reason to doubt Stanihurst's account), having been bribed to betray his charge, offered to surrender. The surrender was apparently unconditional, and Skeffington, after consultation with the council, caused him and the garrison, to the number
