William Meade (judge)

The Meade family, who were originally called Meagh or Miagh, had by the late sixteenth century become extremely influential in the city of Cork,[1] and were prominent in both law and politics.

[2] This caused something of a panic among the Irish law students in London: those of them like Meade himself who inclined to the Roman Catholic faith felt it prudent to absent themselves from their studies for a time.

James, whose mother, Mary Queen of Scots, had been a Catholic, was generally believed to be more tolerant in matters of religion than Elizabeth, and the rebels apparently hoped that pressure could be brought on the Crown by a show of force to relax the Irish Penal Laws.

[7] Sarsfield reportedly referred to the pretender Perkin Warbeck, whose attempt to seize the Crown in the 1490s had the backing of some of the Anglo-Irish nobility, and who had found his strongest support in the southern towns like Cork: the implication was presumably that the Irish could choose a different King from the English if they so wished.

Wilmot and Thornton were expelled from the city, the gates were barred and Meade was accused of urging the citizens to demolish the recently built fort at Haulbowline.

[8] The Lord President of Munster, Sir George Carew, on being informed of the riot, sent troops to Cork to restore order: he had a personal interest in suppressing the disturbance since his own wife, fearing for her safety, had barricaded herself in Shandon Castle.

Carew, no doubt enraged by the danger to his wife, urged that all the Cork city fathers be put on trial for treason, but Mountjoy took a more conciliatory approach.

[12] Sarsfield wisely made a full recantation of his misdeeds, and was pardoned by Mountjoy, as were his associates Thomas Fagan, a local churchwarden, and Richard Gould, a merchant, whose motives appear to have been financial, not political or religious.

Since Walsh had narrowly escaped death during a similar disturbance in Waterford, it is arguable that he should have recused himself from sitting as a judge at Meade's trial, on the grounds of perceived judicial bias.

Meade, who pleaded not guilty and insisted that he had never disputed the new King's authority, challenged all jurors of English birth - the jury, in the end, comprised nine Protestants and three Catholics, all Irish.

They were prosecuted in the Court of Castle Chamber, heavily fined, and ordered to stand outside Cork Courthouse holding placards proclaiming their offence.