1643 Reade escaped—perhaps there was no great wish to keep him—when Maguire and MacMahon were sent back to the Tower, with a weekly allowance of seven shillings each. In August 1644 both prisoners escaped, suspicion falling upon persons about the Spanish embassy, but were retaken within six weeks. After many delays Maguire was brought to trial in the king's bench before Mr. Justice Bacon in February 1644-5.
MacMahon had already been hanged, but the peerage in Maguire’s case made a difficulty. There were several precedents for trying in England treasons committed in Ireland. That being admitted as good law, it was easy to show that an Irish peer was a commoner in England, and as such Maguire was tried. Many points of law were raised, but the facts were patent, and he was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. After conviction Prynne, who was one of the prosecuting counsel, urged the prisoner to 'confer with some godly ministers,' but Maguire would have only a Roman catholic priest, and none was allowed. Sir John Clotworthy [q. v.], who had been at school with him, was present in court and behaved humanely. On the cart at Tyburn Maguire was cruelly harassed about religious matters, but he remained firm. He carried in his hand some curious papers, partly of a devotional character, with directions as to how he should bear himself (Contemp. History, i. 664). He declared that he forgave all his 'enemies and defenders, even those that have a hand in my death,' and that he died a Roman catholic.
Maguire married Mary, daughter of Thomas Fleming of Castle Fleming [Queen's County], by whom he had a son. The chieftainship of Fermanagh during the civil war fell to his brother Rory, who was killed in the winter of 1648. Descendants direct or collateral were long called Barons of Enniskillen in the service of France or of James II. The last titular lord was a retired captain of Lally's regiment at the outbreak of the revolution in 1689.
[Carte's Ormonde, bk. iii.; State Trials vol. i. ed. 1742: Nalson's Collections, vol. ii.; Burke's Extinct and Dormant Peerage; O'Callaghan's Irish Brigades, vol. i. The most important documents concerning Lord Maguire are collected in vol. i. of the Contemporary History of Affairs in Ireland, and in vol. iv. of the Confederation and War in Ireland, both edited by Mr. Gilbert.]
MAGUIRE, HUGH, Lord of Fermanagh (d. 1600), was eldest son of Cuconnaught Maguire (d. 1589) and Nuala, daughter of Manus O'Donnell. One of his earliest exploits was to attack and plunder a party of Scots who had in 1587 made a raid upon co. Down under his own auspices and those of Sir Arthur O'Neill. For some unknown reason Maguire fell upon his former friends on their return to Erne, killing and wounding many of them (Cal. State Papers, Ireland, 1586–8, pp. 146, 175, 179). He was also repeatedly in trouble with the English. In 1586 he appears to have surrendered and was pardoned on agreeing to pay five hundred beeves to the queen: two hundred of these were appropriated by Sir John Perrot [q. v.] as his perquisite for making Maguire a captain, but the lord-deputy's part of the bargain was not fulfilled (ib. p. 507). Although three pledges for Maguire's loyalty were placed in Dublin Castle, he entered in 1588 into league with O'Rourke, the Burkes, and the Spaniards (ib. 1588–92, p. 54). He was implicated in a plot of Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone (1540?–1616) [q. v.], to murder Con MacShane O'Neill, who petitioned the lord deputy for protection. In 1589, on the death of his father, Maguire succeeded to the estates held by his ancestors since 1302. These were situated in co. Fermanagh, and the position of a considerable portion of them on the islands of Lough Erne gave Maguire an almost impregnable retreat; he considered himself able to hold his country against any power in Ireland. Other of the Maguires, however, were eager to rid themselves of his supremacy, and were willing to join the English with that object (ib. p. 199). Maguire defied the Dublin government, and replied to the lord deputy, Sir William Fitzwilliam (1526–1599) [q. v.], when told that he must allow the queen's writs to run in Fermanagh, ‘Your sheriff shall be welcome, but let me know his eric [i.e. price due to his relatives in case of his death], that if my people should cut off his head, I may levy it upon the country.’ He said he had paid three hundred beeves to the deputy on the understanding that no sheriff should be appointed in his country. Nevertheless, a Captain Willis was made sheriff of Fermanagh; he maintained a force of a hundred men, and gathered as many more followers about him. Maguire in 1590 drove Willis and his men into a church and besieged them there. They were only saved from death by the intervention of Tyrone. Consequently the lord deputy invaded Fermanagh, declared Maguire to be a traitor, and took Enniskillen (Cox, Hibernia Anglicana, i. 402; Fynes Morison, Itinerary, ii. 12). Not discouraged by this reverse, and incited by the primate, Edmund Magauran [q. v.], although Tyrone declared against him, Maguire straightway invaded Connaught. Near Tulsk he fell in with Sir Richard Bingham [q. v.] during a
