Sir John Norris, or Norreys (ca. 1547 – 3 September 1597), of Rycote, Oxfordshire, and of Yattendon and Notley in Berkshire, was an English soldier. The son of Henry Norris, 1st Baron Norreys, he was a lifelong friend of Queen Elizabeth.
An active English soldier, Norreys participated in multiple Elizabethan theatres of war: the Wars of Religion in France, Flanders during the Eighty Years' War of Dutch liberation from Spain, the Anglo-Spanish War, and the Tudor conquest of Ireland.
Early life The eldest son of Henry Norreys by his marriage to Marjorie Williams, Norreys was born at Yattendon Castle. His paternal grandfather had been executed after being found guilty of adultery with Queen Anne Boleyn, the mother of Queen Elizabeth. His maternal grandfather was John Williams, Lord Williams of Thame.
Norreys' great uncle had been a guardian of the young Elizabeth, who was well acquainted with the family. She had stayed at Yattendon Castle on her way to imprisonment at Woodstock. The future Queen was a great friend of Norreys' mother, whom she nicknamed "Black Crow" on account of her jet black hair. Norreys inherited his mother's hair colour so that he was known as "Black Jack" by his troops.
Norreys grew up with five brothers, several of whom were to serve alongside him during Elizabeth's wars. He may briefly have attended Magdalen College, Oxford.
In 1566, Norreys' father was posted as English ambassador to France, and in 1567, when he was about nineteen, Norreys and his elder brother William were present at the Battle of Saint Denis. They drew a map of the battle which formed part of their father's report to the Queen.
Early military career When his father was recalled from France in January 1571, Norreys stayed behind and developed a friendship with the new ambassador, Francis Walsingham. In 1571, Norreys served as a volunteer under Admiral Coligny, fighting on the Huguenot side during the French Wars of Religion.
Two years later, Norreys served as a captain under Sir Walter Devereux, recently created first Earl of Essex, who was attempting to establish a plantation in the Irish province of Ulster as part of the Enterprise of Ulster, from a base at Belfast. He supported his elder brother William, Essex's chief lieutenant, who was in command of a troop of a hundred horse which had been recruited by their father, then serving as Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire. William was the first of Essex's commanders to be ambushed by Irish forces and when his horse was killed under him, near Massereene, east of Lough Neagh, John saved his brother from being slain. The Earl praised their actions in a letter to the queen.
While in Ulster Norreys took part in the arrest of Sir Brian McPhelim O'Neill, Chief of the Name of Clan O'Neill and Lord of Lower Clandeboye, and what has become known as the Clandeboye massacre. Lord Essex hosted The O'Neill and his clansmen at a banquet held at Belfast in October 1574. The O'Neill reciprocated by hosting Essex and his followers at a feast of his own, which lasted for three days; but on the third day, Norreys and his men slaughtered over 200 of O'Neill's unarmed clansmen. Essex took Sir Brian, his wife and others to Dublin where they were later executed.
When Lord Essex entered County Antrim, it was to Rathlin Island that the Scots Highlanders of Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg led by Somhairle Buidhe MacDonnell sent their wives and children, their aged and sick, for safety. Lord Essex, knowing that the Scots refugees were still on the island, sent orders to Norreys, who was in command at Carrickfergus, to take a company of soldiers with him, cross over to Rathlin Island, and kill everyone he could find. Norreys had brought cannon with him, so that the weak defences were speedily destroyed after a fierce assault in which several of the garrison were killed. The Scots were obliged to surrender with no quarter and all fell victim to the Rathlin Island Massacre, except the chief and his family, who were reserved for ransom. The death toll was two hundred. Then it was discovered that several hundred more, chiefly women and children, had been hidden in the caves about the shore, all of them were massacred, too.
A fort was erected on the island, but was evacuated by Norreys, and he was recalled with his troops to Dublin within 3 months, when it was clear that the colonisation would fail. William, his brother, died of fever in Newry, Christmas Day 1579 on returning to Ireland from England.
In 1577, Norreys led a force of English volunteers to the Low Countries, where he fought for the States General, then in revolt against the rule of the Spanish King Philip II at the beginning of the Eighty Years' War. At the battle of Rijmenam (2 August 1578), his force helped defeat the Spanish under the command of John of Austria (Don Juan de Austria), the king's brother; Norreys had three horses shot from under him.
Throughout 1579, he co-operated with the French army under François de la Noue, and was put in charge of all English troops, about 150-foot and 450 mounted. He took part in the battle of Borgerhout, where the Spanish army under Alexander Farnese was victorious. Later, he went on to match the Spanish in operations around Meppel and on 9 April 1580, his troops conquered Mechelen and brutally sacked the city in what has become known as the English Fury at Mechelen. During the 16th century, the usual laws and customs of war permitted up to three days of sacking after the fall of a city, while the English mercenaries under Norreys' command continued looting and pillaging the city for nearly an entire month. Furthermore, the sacking of Mechelen by Norreys' troops was far more brutal and systematic that the infamous "Spanish fury" that had hit the same city in 1572. Page 269.
On account of these successes, essentially as a mercenary, he boosted the morale in the Protestant armies and became famous in England. The morale of his own troops depended on prompt and regular payment by the States General for their campaign, and Norreys gained a reputation for forceful leadership.
In February 1581, he defeated the Count of Rennenburg by relieving Steenwijk under siege and in July inflicted a further defeat at Kollum near Groningen. In September 1581, however, he was dealt a serious defeat by a Spanish army under Colonel Francisco Verdugo at the Battle of Noordhorn, near Groningen. The following month Norris later checked Verdugo by repelling him at Niezijl. Later in the year, he along with the Count of Hohenlohe helped to relieve the city of Lochem which had been under siege by Verdugo.
After more campaigns in Flanders in support of François, Duke of Anjou, Norreys was sent back to the Dutch Republic as an unofficial ambassador of Elizabeth I.
In 1584, he returned to England to encourage an English declaration of war on Spain in order to support the States General's war against the House of Habsburg.
Return to Ireland
In March 1584, Norreys departed the Low Countries and was sent to Ireland in the following July, where he was appointed Lord President of Munster (at this time, his brother Edward was stationed there). Norris urged the Plantation of Munster with English Puritans (an aim adopted in the following years), but the situation proved so unbearably miserable that many of his soldiers deserted him for the Low Countries.
In September 1584 Norreys accompanied the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir John Perrot, and the earl of Ormonde into Ulster. The purpose, once again, was to dislodge the Highlander Scots of Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg, who, led by Somhairle Buidhe MacDonnell, had migrated into both the Route and the Glens of Antrim. Norreys helped rustle fifty thousand head of cattle from the woods of Glenconkyne in order to starve the Highlanders of their means of sustenance. The campaign was unsuccessful, as what is now called the Clan MacDonald of Antrim simply regrouped in Kintyre before crossing back to Ireland after the lord deputy had withdrawn south. Norreys returned to Munster, where he become unintentionally important to the history and martyrology of the Catholic Church in Ireland.
In April 1585, the jailer at Clonmel, County Tipperary was bribed by Victor White, a leading townsman, to release imprisoned Roman Catholic priest Fr. Muiris Mac Ionrachtaigh for one night to say Mass and administer Holy Communion inside White's house Kinrechtan (MacKenraghty), Maurice, Dictionary of Irish Biography on Easter Sunday (11 April 1585). Permission was granted and Fr. MacKenraghty spent the whole night hearing Confessions. Edited by Patrick J. Cornish and Benignus Millet (2005), The Irish Martyrs, Four Courts Press, Dublin. Page 88.
The jailer, however, had secretly tipped off Lord President of Munster Sir John Norreys, who had just arrived at Clonmel. According to historian James Coombes, "Norris (sic) arranged to have White's house surrounded by soldiers and raided. The raiding party entered it shortly before Mass was due to begin and naturally caused great panic. Some people tried to hide in the basement; others jumped through the windows; one woman broke her arm in an attempt to escape. The priest hid in a heap of straw and was wounded in the thigh by the probing sword of a soldier. Despite the pain, he remained silent and later escaped. The soldiers dismantled the altar and seized the sacred vessels." Edited by Patrick J. Cornish and Benignus Millet (2005), The Irish Martyrs, Four Courts Press, Dublin. Page 88.
Meanwhile, Victor White was arrested and threatened with execution unless he revealed where Fr. Muiris Mac Ionrachtaigh could be arrested. Upon hearing of the situation, Fr. Mac Ionrachtaigh sent an emissary to speak to White. Despite White's pleas that he preferred to lose his own life rather than have Fr. Mac Ionrachtaigh come to harm, the priest insisted upon giving himself up and was again thrown into Clonmel Gaol. Edited by Patrick J. Cornish and Benignus Millet (2005), The Irish Martyrs, Four Courts Press, Dublin. Page 88.
The trial of Fr. Mac Ionrachtaigh by martial law involved merely an interrogation before Sir John Norreys and his assistants. Pardon and high preferment were offered for conforming to the Church of Ireland and taking the Oath of Supremacy to accept the subservience of the Church to the State. Fr. Mac Ionrachtaigh, however, resolutely maintained the Roman Catholic faith and the Petrine Primacy and was accordingly condemned by Sir John Norreys, "after much invective", to death for high treason. After passing sentence, however, Norreys offered Fr. Mac Ionrachtaigh a full pardon in return for taking the Oath of Supremacy and naming those local Catholics who had attended his Mass or secretly received the Sacraments from him. A Protestant minister also attempted to convert the priest by engaging him in debate. All was in vain, and Fr. Mac Ionrachtaigh refused to conform. According to historian James Coombes, "Especially in trials by martial law, there was no fixed procedure or sequence of events. What is made perfectly clear is that Maurice MacKenraghty was condemned to death because he would not take the Oath of Supremacy." Edited by Patrick J. Cornish and Benignus Millet (2005), The Irish Martyrs, Four Courts Press, Dublin. Page 89.
On 30 April 1585, Fr. Muiris Mac Ionrachtaigh was dragged at the tail of a horse to be executed as a traitor. According to Bishop David Rothe, "When he came to the place of execution, he turned to the people and addressed them some pious words as far as time allowed; in the end he asked all Catholics to pray for him and he gave them his blessing." Edited by Patrick J. Cornish and Benignus Millet (2005), The Irish Martyrs, Four Courts Press, Dublin. Page 90.