John Perrot - Ruin

Ruin

Upon Perrot's return to England, his enemies continued to work his ruin. At first he was received with favour and was appointed to the Privy Council, where he maintained his interest in Irish affairs through correspondence with several members of the council in Dublin. In the heated politics following the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, Perrot found himself accused of treason on allegations presented by a former priest and condemned prisoner, Dennis O'Roghan. The evidence was contained in correspondence allegedly addressed by Perrot as lord deputy (with his signature attached) to King Philip II of Spain and the Duke of Parma, in which certain treasonable promises and bargains were put forward concerning the future of England, Wales and Ireland.

Fitzwilliam set up an investigation in Dublin, but O'Roghan's record of forging documents was produced, and it seemed the allegations would fail for lack of evidence. Rather than let the matter lie, it was decided (probably at Perrot's urging) to pursue an inquiry into the manner in which the allegations had been brought in the first place, a process likely to embarrass Fitzwilliam. The inquiry was conducted in Dublin by a commission that included several of Perrot's favourites on the Irish council.

In a lengthy interrogation the priest alleged that he had been tortured by members of the commission. Fitzwilliam was instantly directed on strict instruction from the queen to resume his own investigation and forward his findings to the Privy Council in London. Perrot faced a moment of crisis when further allegations were made - most notably by his former secretary, Henry Bird - of his frequent use in private conversation of violent language against the queen. Allegations were also made of his prior knowledge of the rebellion in 1589 of Sir Brian O'Rourke (later extradited from Scotland and hanged at London), which had occurred under the government of Bingham in Connaught.

Perrot was confined to the Tower, and in 1592 was brought to trial before a special commission on charges of high treason. The O'Roghan's forged letters and the evidence concerning the O'Rourke rebellion played their part in the prosecution case, but the evidence most vividly presented was of his remarks about Elizabeth: he was said to have called the queen a "base bastard piskitchin" and to have disparaged her legitimacy on many occasions. Perrot protested his loyalty to the jury and, in reaction to a hectoring prosecution counsel, eloquently cried out, "You win men's lives away with words". But his defence then descended into blustering, and a verdict of guilty was returned. Sentencing was put off for some months in the expectation of a royal pardon, but Perrot died in the Tower in September 1592.

Following Perrot's arraignment several of his favourites from the Irish commission to inquire into O'Roghan's allegations were replaced in their council seats by English appointees, who fully equated the Protestant cause with the state and inclined to take a harder line in dealing with Gaelic Ireland. Fitzwilliam was thus free to pursue a policy opposed in crucial aspects to Perrot's, and the northern lords (including Hugh O'Neill) found themselves subjected to increasing government encroachment on their territories, which resulted in the outbreak of the Nine Years War (1595–1603).