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Deposition of Jane Stewart

  • Reference:  MS 831, fols 073r-074v
  • County: Sligo
  • Date: 23/4/1644
  • Type: Dublin Original
  • Nature of Deposition: Captivity, Death, Multiple Killing, Robbery, Signs and Wonders, Stripping, Succour, Words
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  • How to Cite
    • fol. 73r


    304
    Jane the wiffe of Thomas Stewart late of the towne and County of Sligoe Merchant sworne and examined before his Maiesties Commissioners in that behalf authoryzed deposeth and sayth That after the present Rebellion was begun vizt about the begining of december 1641 Her said husband Liveing as a merchant in the towne aforesaid with her this deponent as for divers xxvj yeres he had done in very good estate and condicion And haveing contynually furnished the Inhabitants of theat part thereabouts of the province of Connaght with all sorts of wares and marchandize: & by that Course haveing acquired & gained to himself an estate of good, value He the said Tho: Stewart and she this deponent then possessing that estat e <A> estate were then at Sligoe aforesaid by Andrew Crane of Sligoe Esquire then high sherriff of that County: Neile ô Hart of Donnely in the same County gent Roger o Connor of Skarden in the same County gent Donnell ô Connor ofgent brother in law to Teige ô Connor Sligoe Richard ô Creane of Tirreraghe gent John ô Crane E squire & a Justice of the peace sonn to the said Andrew Crane, Anthony Crane ofnere Ballyshanny gent forceibly deprived robbed and dispoyled of their howshold goods wares merchandize specialties Cattle horses plate mony and other goodes & chattells of the value of one thowsand twoe hundred powndes sterling or thereabouts which Robbery and outrage was committed in the in or about the begining of December aforesaid att the very tyme of the Rebbells surprising robbing & pilladging of all the English and Scotts of the towne of Sligoe; In the doing whereof not only the persons Rebells beforenamed But alsoe Teige <B> ô Connor Sligoe now of the Castle of Sligoe generall of the Rebells in those parts James ffrench of Sligoe aforesaid Esquire a Justice of the peace (a notorious & cruell Rebell) Brian ô Connor of Drumcleeve gent Captain Charles ô Connor a frier Captain Hugh ô Connor all three capt ai ns & brothers to the said Teige ô Connor Sligoe Captain Patrick Plunckett nere killoony in the same County (a Justice of the peace) Captain Phelim ô Connor Captain Teige Boy ô Connor whoe dwelt with in 2 or 3 myles of Sligoe n ere the Glann Captain Conn ô Connor of the same, and divers others whose names she cannot for the present Remember, were
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    were most forward and cruell actors, And those Rebells haveing altogether deprived and stripped all the brittish of all the estats they had: shee this deponent and her husband & about many other Brittish were left in that towne, and amongst the rest there were left there which she can well remember vizt William Braxton, the deponent and her husband: & six children James Scott and his sonn of the age of fowre or five yeres Sampson Port and his wiffe Mary Port and her father (of thage of 70 yeres or thereabouts) John Littell Arthur Martin William Dowlittle & his wiff & [ ] children William Carter & John Lewis and Elizabeth his wiffe Robert Lyons Elizabeth Harlow and one woman that was then great [ ] with Child & within a month of her tyme Isabell Beard whoe was great with child & very nere her tyme and others whom shee cannott name, which Brittish people brittish (although they were promised faire quarter & taken into <A> the protection of the said Teige Connor Sligoe, whoe promissed them a Collection yet they were daily threatened to be murthered if they would not turne papists within one month then next after, which, for saveing of their liues they were inforced to doe Notwithstanding which, about the vjth of January then next following, the said ô Connor Sligoe (haveing before called a meeting of the Cuntry w his followers & kinred in the Counties of Sligoe and Leitrim: and consulted with them and with a Convent of ffriers of the Abbey of Sligoe for 3 dayes together where they sate in Counsell) All the men women & children of the brittish that then could bee fownd within the same towne saving this deponent whoe was soe sick that she would not sturr were sumoned to Goe into the g aole and as many as could could be mett withall & one woman were carryed and putt into the gaole of Sligoe, where about 12 a clocke in the night they were stript naked & after most of them w ere most cruelly and barbarously murthered with swords <B> axes & skeanes: & particulerly by twoe butchers namely James Butts and Robert Butts of Sligoe, whoe murthered many of them, th Wherein alsoe were actors Charles ô Connor the frier & Hugh ô Connor aforenamed brothers to the said Teige ô Connor Sligoe And saith & [ ] & Teige ô Sheile Kedagh ô Hart laborer Rich: Walsh and Tho: Walsh tho ne the gaylor the other a butcher & divers others whom she cannot name, And saith that above thirty
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    of the Brittish which were soe putt into the gaole were then and there murthered, Besides Robert Gamble then provost of the said towne of Sligoe Edward Newsham and Edward Mercer whoe were wounded & left for dead amongst the rest & John Stewart this deponents sonn was [ ] which foure being the next day fownd aliue yet all besmeared with bloud were with muc spared, to live the deponent. All which particulars the deponent was credibly told by those that soe escaped and by her irish servants & others of the towne: And saith that some of the women soe murthered being bigg with child (by their wounds received) the very Armes and leggs of their Children in their wombes appeared & were thrust out And one woman vizt <C> the said Isabell Beard hearing the pr being in the howse of the friers and hearing the Lamentable cry that was made ran vnto the streete and was pursued by one of the friers men vnto the River where she was barbarously murthered & fownd the next day with the childs feete appearing & thrust out of her wounds in her sides, And further saith that on the said vjth day of January there were murthered in the streets of the towne of Sligoe theis brittish protestants following vizt William Sheiles & John Sheiles his sonn William Maxwell & Robert Akin And the deponent further saith (as she was credibly informed by the persons before in that behalf named: That the Inhumane Rebells after their murthers committed in the said gaole Layd & placd c a st some of the dead bodyes of the naked murthered men vpon the naked bodyes of the women in a most immodest posture not fitt for chast eares to heare, In which posture they contynued to be seen the next morning by those Irish of the towne that came into the said gaole, whoe were delighted & reioyced in those bloudy murthers & uncivill actions although those Irish stood vpp And that they of the Irish that came to bury them stood vpp to the Midlegg in the bloud & braines of those that were soe murthered whoe were carried out & cast into a pitt digged for that purpose in the garden <B> of Mr Rycrofts (minister of Sligoe; And she further saith
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    That whereas the River of Sligoe was before very plentifull of fish: Itt did not for a long tyme after these murthers afford any fish at all And this deponent saw the friers in their white habits in great companies in procession goeing to sanctify the water Casting thereinto holy water, shee saith alsoe That the prior of the Convent of Sligoe after the murther of the said woman in the River fell franticke & run soe about the streets beating of the & contynued in that frenzie for 3 or 4 weekes. And saith that of her 6 children 3 nere starved & died after her release of imprisonment which had bin for 18 months amongst the Rebells
    Signum predictæ [mark] Janæ Stewart alias Meinzes
    Hen: Jones
    Hen: Brereton

    6
    Sligoe Exr
    Jane Stewart Jur
    23o Aprilis 1644
    Intw
    6 +

    307



    Henry Brereton
    Henry Jones



     

Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2