[1] THese things thus ended & compleated, there was a synod or councell of all the cler|gie called and assembled at Armagh: there to intreat and examine what should be the causes and reasons, why & wherefore the realme was thus plagued by the resort and repaire of strangers in among them. At length it was fullie agreed, and euerie mans opinion was, that it was Gods iust plague for the sinnes of the people, and especiallie bi|cause they vsed to buie Englishmen of merchants and pirats, and (contrarie to all equitie or reason) did make bondslaues of them: and God now to auenge and acquit this their iniquitie, plagued them with the like, and hath set these Englishmen & strangers to reduce them now into the like slauerie and bon|dage. For the Englishmen, when their realme was at rest and peace, and their land in quiet estate, and they not in anie distresse, want, or penurie, their chil|dren and kinsmen were sold and made bondslaues in Ireland. And therefore it was most like, that God for the sin of the people would & did laie the like plague vpon the Irish people. It was therefore decréed by the said councell, and concluded by that synod, that all the Englishmen within that land, wheresoeuer they were, in bondage or captiuitie, should be manu|missed, set frée and at libertie.