Leonard Grey, Lord Deputy of Ireland, is…
1536 CE
As an active participant in the Tudor conquest of Ireland, Grey is one of the figures who brings a new element to Irish warfare, where the killing of non-combatants by Crown forces is seen as acceptable by the establishment.
"The killings went beyond usual practice in Ireland; as Grey noted in his own account, there were women and children among those he had killed. It is the very fact that he included this information in his report to London, deeming it a piece of service fit to be recorded, that pinpoints his significance in the military history of sixteenth-century Ireland. Traditionally, Irish warlords only rejoiced in the killing of soldiers, and passed over the killing of non-combatants in silence. Grey (and other English officers of the time) saw all killing as virtuous, an achievement worthy of commemoration."— David Edwards, Age of Atrocity: Violence and Political Conflict in Early Modern Ireland, 2010.