given, or were misunderstood. The night was dark and wet and this caused more confusion.
When the Irish attacked on Christmas Eve 1601, Lord Mountjoy was well prepared. A fierce, bloody battle raged in which the Irish were routed. O’Neill retreated north with the remnants of his army while O’Donnell managed to escape with the Spanish who had survived. He then travelled to Spain seeking further help. The English sent a spy named Blake to Spain to kill O’Donnell. Blake succeeded in poisoning O’Donnell’s food and the great Red Hugh died in September 1602. He was then only twenty-nine years old.
Also in 1602 the English attacked the castle of O’Sullivan Beare, chieftain of the O’Sullivans of Beara and Bantry in west Cork. They destroyed his castle and took his land. With no land and no home, he with his family and followers set out to march hundreds of kilometres to the home of their relatives, the O’Rourkes of Breifne. The winter was still bitterly cold with heavy snow, and the marchers had little food and hardly any shelter. Everywhere they went they were attacked by both English and Irish enemies and many of them were killed. Others died of hunger and cold and disease. At one point they had to cross the Shannon, but there was no bridge, and they had no boats. They killed some of their horses, kept the flesh for food, and used the skins, along with branches cut from trees, to build makeshift boats. With these they eventually crossed the river and continued their march.
After marching for over two weeks they reached O’Rourke’s castle, where they were warmly welcomed. About 1,000 men, women and children set out on the march, but only thirty-four survived to enter the castle, though a few stragglers did arrive in the following days.
With the rebellion at an end, the English soldiers again ravaged parts of the country, leaving it unfit for humans or animals to live there. It was a policy that the English forces would employ numerous times in their coming wars against the Irish, a policy by which it was intended to rule Ireland by terror and brute force if necessary.
Hugh O’Neill reached Ulster but his days were numbered, and he surrendered in 1603. Surprisingly, he was not executed, but was allowed to return to his home in Tyrone. However, he did not feel safe there, not even when Elizabeth died in 1603. So great was O’Neill’s fear for his life, and that of his family, that he decided to flee Ireland. The O’Donnells, Maguires and other Ulster families joined him.
These old Gaelic families, whose origins stretched back some 2,000 years, men women and children, sailed from Rathmullen, County Donegal, on 4 September 1607, an event known as the ‘Flight of the Earls’. Many of them stood on deck as the ship, with sails billowing in the wind, put out to sea. There was much crying among the women and children as they realised they were leaving their homes and their homeland forever. The men’s faces seemed carved from stone, but inside they, too, felt desolate. They had fought long and bravely, but eventually had been defeated by a stronger and more ruthless foe.
Hugh O’Neill never saw Ireland again. He died in Rome in 1616 far from his beloved land, the last of the great Irish chieftains. The other families were scattered throughout Europe, many of the men joining the armies of France and Spain where they excelled themselves. Today, the names of some of those Gaelic families can still be found in European countries.
That date – 4 September 1607 – is one of the saddest in Irish history. It signalled the beginning of the end of the old Gaelic Ireland, which had existed from the time of the Celts some 2,000 years before. This old Gaelic Ireland had experienced the coming of Christianity, the Golden Age of peace and learning, the invasion and eventual defeat of the Vikings and the arrival of the Normans, who became as Irish as the old Gaelic families themselves. Now the Gaelic people who remained
When the Irish attacked on Christmas Eve 1601, Lord Mountjoy was well prepared. A fierce, bloody battle raged in which the Irish were routed. O’Neill retreated north with the remnants of his army while O’Donnell managed to escape with the Spanish who had survived. He then travelled to Spain seeking further help. The English sent a spy named Blake to Spain to kill O’Donnell. Blake succeeded in poisoning O’Donnell’s food and the great Red Hugh died in September 1602. He was then only twenty-nine years old.
Also in 1602 the English attacked the castle of O’Sullivan Beare, chieftain of the O’Sullivans of Beara and Bantry in west Cork. They destroyed his castle and took his land. With no land and no home, he with his family and followers set out to march hundreds of kilometres to the home of their relatives, the O’Rourkes of Breifne. The winter was still bitterly cold with heavy snow, and the marchers had little food and hardly any shelter. Everywhere they went they were attacked by both English and Irish enemies and many of them were killed. Others died of hunger and cold and disease. At one point they had to cross the Shannon, but there was no bridge, and they had no boats. They killed some of their horses, kept the flesh for food, and used the skins, along with branches cut from trees, to build makeshift boats. With these they eventually crossed the river and continued their march.
After marching for over two weeks they reached O’Rourke’s castle, where they were warmly welcomed. About 1,000 men, women and children set out on the march, but only thirty-four survived to enter the castle, though a few stragglers did arrive in the following days.
With the rebellion at an end, the English soldiers again ravaged parts of the country, leaving it unfit for humans or animals to live there. It was a policy that the English forces would employ numerous times in their coming wars against the Irish, a policy by which it was intended to rule Ireland by terror and brute force if necessary.
Hugh O’Neill reached Ulster but his days were numbered, and he surrendered in 1603. Surprisingly, he was not executed, but was allowed to return to his home in Tyrone. However, he did not feel safe there, not even when Elizabeth died in 1603. So great was O’Neill’s fear for his life, and that of his family, that he decided to flee Ireland. The O’Donnells, Maguires and other Ulster families joined him.
These old Gaelic families, whose origins stretched back some 2,000 years, men women and children, sailed from Rathmullen, County Donegal, on 4 September 1607, an event known as the ‘Flight of the Earls’. Many of them stood on deck as the ship, with sails billowing in the wind, put out to sea. There was much crying among the women and children as they realised they were leaving their homes and their homeland forever. The men’s faces seemed carved from stone, but inside they, too, felt desolate. They had fought long and bravely, but eventually had been defeated by a stronger and more ruthless foe.
Hugh O’Neill never saw Ireland again. He died in Rome in 1616 far from his beloved land, the last of the great Irish chieftains. The other families were scattered throughout Europe, many of the men joining the armies of France and Spain where they excelled themselves. Today, the names of some of those Gaelic families can still be found in European countries.
That date – 4 September 1607 – is one of the saddest in Irish history. It signalled the beginning of the end of the old Gaelic Ireland, which had existed from the time of the Celts some 2,000 years before. This old Gaelic Ireland had experienced the coming of Christianity, the Golden Age of peace and learning, the invasion and eventual defeat of the Vikings and the arrival of the Normans, who became as Irish as the old Gaelic families themselves. Now the Gaelic people who remained
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