A decade had passed since the Siege of Cahir Castle and for young Colman Quinn, whose parents had died in the aftermath of the siege, there was an understandable dislike for the English and this new state that had been born with the completion of the Tudor Conquer of Ireland, yet most of his dislike was for the ones responsible for the conquest: the House of Tudor.
The House of Tudor was no more. With the expiry of Bloody Bess, the House of Tudor had gone the way of the House of Plantagenet before it. Under the tutelage of William Gardiner, the acting-Dean of Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin in the event of the actual dean being unable to perform his duties, Colman had learned to read and write as well as learning several languages, law, medicine, science and theology. He became poet, playwright and orator and to escape punishment he had all his plays and poems written in Greek and so there was the scene that festival day in Dublin: a play mocking the Tudor monarchs being performed in Greek.
With the passing of Bloody Bess, the throne passed to James VI of Scotland, twice great-grandson of Henry VII of England, the only good Tudor, and son of Mary, Queen of Scots, whom Bloody Bess had had executed. Mary may have been beheaded for plotting to assassinate Bloody Bess, but to the thinking of all true Irish hearts, Ireland would have been much happier if she had. In Dublin with his wife Anne of Denmark, their daughter Elizabeth and their guest Philip III of Spain, James watched Colman's play with amusement. As much as he believed in the Divine Right of Kings and would normally take offense to seeing a monarch portrayed in such a disrespectful manner, the Stuart King took great delight in seeing the one responsible for his mother's death posthumously mocked.
Standing from his seat, the forty-three-year-old monarch rose a hand and said: "Hold! Halt the play!" The players all did as ordered and James then inquired: "Who wrote this marvellous mockery of my mother's killer?" Nervously, Colman walked onto the stage. He was sixteen years of age and five feet and five inches in height with ruddy-skin, short, curly red hair, a lean body, a square jaw and a large hooked nose. His clothes, a red tunic, black trousers and boots looked as if they had seen better days a decade prior. "Come closer, boy!" James ordered. "Let your monarch get a better look at you!" Still nervous, Colman walked closer and it became apparent to the King, his family and guest that Colman was not particularly good-looking, quite common really with close-fitting lids that made his eyes look small and triangular, but that was not the most astounding bit about his appearance. "A blue left eye and a green right eye…" James mused. "How fantastic! Was one of your parents blue-eyed and the other green-eyed, boy?"
"Yes, Your Majesty." Replied Colman.
"What is your appellation?"
"Colman Quinn, student to William Gardiner, Acting Dean of Saint Patrick's Cathedral."
"Colman Quinn…" James repeated. "Student to a man of cloth who called my predecessor, my mother's killer, friend… I should like to meet him. Is he here to see his student's magnum opus?"
"Acting Dean Gardiner has not gone forth from the cathedral in ten years, Your Majesty." Answered Colman. "I may bring you to him, but I think you might find him boring, Your Majesty. Even he says that his hedonistic days are behind him!"