0a4 tudors ireland web

7/30/2019 0A4 Tudors Ireland Web

1/34

ENDRed Hugh's EscapeSpanish ArmadaGranuaile

MENU HOME

Who Should Control Ireland?

The external links to pdf files and other PowerPointpresentations will work only with CD-ROM versions.

They have been retained in this internet version to showwhat is possible.
http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Red_Hugh.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Spanish_Armada.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Granuaile.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/History_&_Literacy.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/History_&_Literacy.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/History_&_Literacy.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Granuaile.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Spanish_Armada.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Red_Hugh.ppt


2/34


MENU HOME

A burning question in the sixteenth century, 1500-99, was: Who should control Ireland - the Irish chiefsor the Tudor monarchs?

Henry VIII, King of Ireland

Henry VIII was in no doubt about the answer. Hewas Lord of Ireland as well as King of England. TheLordship had been enjoyed by English kings since thetwelfth century. However, it meant very little in

practice.English rule was obeyed only in a very small part ofIreland - around Dublin. This area was called ThePale. The rest of the country was controlled by thenative or Gaelic Irish or by Old English or Anglo-Irish. The latter had gone to Ireland in Norman

times but many had married into Irish families andadopted Irish ways and laws.

Possible activities on the period pdf

Images of Tudor Ireland slideshow

Tudor conquest of Ireland: note for teachers
http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Red_Hugh.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Spanish_Armada.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Granuaile.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/History_&_Literacy.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/Pdf/022_Controlling_Ireland.pdfhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/Pdf/022_Controlling_Ireland.pdfhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/Pdf/022_Controlling_Ireland.pdfhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/DS1_Times/013_Grace_O'Malley_&_Times.exehttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/DS1_Times/013_Grace_O'Malley_&_Times.exehttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/DS1_Times/013_Grace_O'Malley_&_Times.exehttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/DS1_Times/013_Grace_O'Malley_&_Times.exehttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/DS1_Times/013_Grace_O'Malley_&_Times.exehttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/DS1_Times/013_Grace_O'Malley_&_Times.exehttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/DS1_Times/013_Grace_O'Malley_&_Times.exehttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/Pdf/022_Controlling_Ireland.pdfhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/Pdf/022_Controlling_Ireland.pdfhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/Pdf/022_Controlling_Ireland.pdfhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/Pdf/022_Controlling_Ireland.pdfhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/History_&_Literacy.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/History_&_Literacy.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Granuaile.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Spanish_Armada.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Red_Hugh.ppt


3/34


MENU HOME

English law

Land was granted by theking to the lord.It passed on to the eldestson - the law ofprimogeniture.

Lord could inherit land andtitle.

Criminal courts existed withjudges who could orderimprisonment or execution.

Land and property was mostheld by men.

Gaelic Irish (Brehon) lawThe chieftain did not own theland.It belonged to the clan orfamily - the law of tanistry.

Chieftains were elected fromthe leading families.

Judges acted as arbitratorsand could order offenders topay compensation but theycould not order imprisonmentor execution.

Women could hold property.

A civil woman from thePale and a GaelicIrishman, c.1575.

The picture was intendedto show the deep divisionthat was thought to existin Irish society.


4/34


MENU HOME

Henry wanted to change this. He wanted to control the whole country; to make the Irishpeople obedient to their rule.

To show that he was serious, Henry stopped being Lord of Ireland. In 1541 he becameKing of Ireland.

This is one of the Irish coins issuedby Henry VIII as King of Ireland.In the centre are a crown and a harp.Can you guess what they stand for?


5/34


MENU HOME

Tudor policy

Henrys successors, especially Mary and Elizabeth I continued the policy of trying to

control Ireland by

introducing English laws, customs, language and methods of agriculture (crop

rather than cattle farming) to Ireland;

spreading the Protestant religion to Ireland; and

planting or settling English and Scottish people on land taken from the Irish.


6/34


MENU HOME

The main reason for wanting to control Ireland was

security. After the Reformation, Protestant England was

often at odds with Catholic Europe. Ireland might be used

as a base from which to attack England.The attempt to control Ireland became increasingly

determined, especially under Elizabeth (right). One of her

officials, Sir George Carew, said:

We must change Irish government, clothing, customs,manner of holding land, language and habits of life to

make them obedient.


7/34ENDRed Hugh's EscapeSpanish ArmadaGranuaile MENU HOME

Different ways of livingLeft

The OHagan hill-fort, Tullaghoe, Ulster

Below:Hugh de Lacys castle, Trim, County Meath


8/34ENDRed Hugh's EscapeSpanish ArmadaGranuaile MENU HOME

The Tudors in IrelandRight

The Lord Deputyleaving Dublin Castle

Below

English soldierson the march

Contemporary engravings by John Derrick


9/34

ENDRed Hugh's EscapeSpanish ArmadaGranuaile MENU HOME

Irish responsesMost Irish people opposed these changes, especially Irish chiefs

who wanted to rule their own territory. Some, like Grace OMalley(aliasGranuaile, the Pirate Queen) tried to be clever.

She pretended to co-operate with the Tudors, yet continued inher old ways. She remained a Roman Catholic, plundered ships,raided her neighbours and met Elizabeth I. She died in poverty in1603.

This is how one historical novel describes Graces attitude to theEnglish invader in an imaginary letter to her son, Toby, in 1575:

Are you well, my son? Are the priests teaching you as I haveinstructed them? Learn your letters, study Latin, and memorisethe names of the major seaports. Your older brothers by DonalOFlaherty are merely simply warriors, all strength and shouting.I want more than that for you. Against an enemy as powerfulas the English it is necessary to fight with ones brains.

Fortunately you and I both inherited good brains.Granuaile. The Pirate Queenby Llywelyn, M., OBrien Press, 0-86278-5780-2, p. 59

Others resisted violently. They raided the new settlements,burning houses and taking cattle.

Grace OMalley meetingElizabeth I

Eighteenth-centuryengraving


10/34


They spoil and burn and bear away as fit occasion serve,

And think the greater ill they do, the greater praise deserve.They pass not the poor mans cry nor yet respect his tears,But rather joy to see the fire to flash about his ears ...And thus bereaving him of house, of cattle and of store,They do return to the wood from whence they came before.

Cattle Raid, Image of Irelandby John Derrick, 1581

Can you find the firstthree letters of thealphabet in thepicture?

Why do you think theartist has put themthere?

Does the picture tellyou anything aboutJohn Derricks view ofIrish people?

English view of the IrishOne of these raids was described by an Englishman, John Derrick. He worked in Ireland at

that time for the English government. He thought that the Irish were backward and barbaric,ready to be civilised.
http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Red_Hugh.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Spanish_Armada.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Granuaile.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/History_&_Literacy.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/Pdf/021_Tudor_Images_of_Ireland.pdfhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/Pdf/021_Tudor_Images_of_Ireland.pdfhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/History_&_Literacy.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/History_&_Literacy.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Granuaile.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Spanish_Armada.ppthttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_15/010Red_Hugh.ppt


11/34


Irish view of the EnglishThe Irish thought themselves superior to the English. Gaelic poets described the Saxons

and the Scotch as an arrogant, impure crowd, of foreigners blood. They were very criticalof Irish people who adopted the ways of such foreigners:

You [Son 1] follow foreign waysand shave your thick-curled head:O slender fist, my choice!you are no good son of Donnchadh.

He [Son 2, Eogan Bn] loved no foreign ways,our ladies darling, Eogan Bn,nor bent his will to the stranger,but took to the wilds instead.

This very famous poem has been translated from Irish. It is calledTwo Sonsand waswritten in the late sixteenth century.

As you will have guessed, the poet criticises one Irishman for choosing to follow Tudorways, while his brother, Eogan Bn, has taken to the hills in revolt.

Another Gaelic poem (also translated): The Butter


12/34


Irish leadersTwo chiefs from Ulster, in the north of Ireland, led those

Irish chiefs who wanted to keep their independence. HughONeill of Tyrone was described by one Englishman as

Educated, more disciplined and naturally valiant, heis worthily reputed the best man of war of his nation.Most of his followers are well-trained soldiers, usingour weapons; and he is the greatest man of territoryand revenue within that kingdom, and is absolute

commander of the north of Ireland.

Hugh ODonnell of Donegal, Red Hugh, had beenkidnapped and held hostage in Dublin Castle for four years,sometimes in chains. In 1591, when he was nineteen,friends smuggled a rope and some files into the prison.

Hugh cut through his chains, got out through a window andlet himself down with a rope. On his return home toDonegal, he joined ONeill to plot his revenge.

Hugh ONeill, Earl of TyroneSixteenth-century engraving


13/34


This is how one historical novel imagines a discussion between Red Hugh and his captor, LordFitzwilliam:

... It is Her Majestys greatest wish that you should be taught and civilised.Civilised! And ... and is it her belief that to speak English is to be civilised?

Of course, that is a start. With the language and customs and the manners. Once you

understand our ways you will see how much better they are. We will teach you to build

proper houses and towns andI am going to scream, thought Hugh. It is like beatingyour head against a brick wall. We do not want your towns, he said patiently, nor your

houses nor your customs nor your language. We ... He took a deep breath. WE - ARE -

NOT - ENGLISH.

Red Hugh. The Kidnap of Hugh ODonnellby Lisson, D., OBrien Press, 0-86278-604-5, p. 84


14/34


The Nine Years War

The two Hughs took to the field against Elizabeth in a savage war which lasted for nineyears from 1594 until 1603. The outcome was often in doubt, for the Irish expected helpfrom Spain, which was at war with England.

ONeill approaching the English commander before battleThe Irish inflicted devastating defeats on the English. The most humiliating was the Yellow

Ford in 1598, when the English commander was killed. Enraged, Elizabeth sent the ruthlessLord Mountjoy to Ireland as viceroy in 1600 to deal with her Irish problem. He did just that.


15/34


The battle of Kinsale

A Spanish force arrived at Kinsale, County Cork, in October 1601. The Irish leaders

marched from Dungannon in the north to join them. The march was made in the heart of

winter, the worst time of the year for such a long march.Mountjoys forces were better prepared and defeated the Irish and the Spaniards at the

Battle of Kinsale in December 1601.

The Irish retreated to the north. In the following year the English strengthened their forts

around ONeills territory in Tyrone. Mountjoy ordered crops and cattle to be destroyed. He

intended to starve the Irish into submission.


16/34


Power of the chieftains broken

In 1603 ONeill and the other Irish chieftains did submit and signed the Treaty of Mellifont.

They promised to be subject to the English monarch and to adopt English customs and

language. ONeill was given the title of Earl of Tyrone and ODonnell became Earl ofTyrconnell. Ireland remained Catholic but the power of the chieftains had been broken.

ONeills submission to Mountjoy at Mellifont in March 1603, a seventeenth-century print


17/34


The Flight of the Earls

The two Hughs, ONeill and ODonnell, were unhappy with the restrictions on their power.Restless and fearful for their safety, they and over 100 Irish chiefs fled from Ulster to the

continent in 1607.The flight enabled the English to consolidate their hold on Ireland by settling even morepeople in Ireland, particularly in Ulster, the area which had most strongly resisted English rule.

The Flight of the EarlsA nineteenth-century picture (left) and a modern painting by Tom Ryan (right)


18/34


The plantation of UlsterThe biggest plantation of Ireland took place in Ulster, in 1609, when James I was king.The government gave to English and Scottish people land in places such as Donegal,

Londonderry, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Cavan and Armagh was given to English and Scottish

people. Many had fought in Ulster and saw how prosperous a land it could be and they wereprepared to take a chance to live there.

This plantation helped to solve one problem - establishing English control of Ireland. Did italso store up trouble for the future?


19/34


Different ways

Ulster houses in the seventeenth centuryIrish (top), planters (bottom)

BACK TO TEXT


20/34


ODonnell, Hugh (Aodh Ruadh Domhnaill) (1572-1602), called Red Hugh, lord ofTirconnell from 1592. Son of Hugh ODonnell and Finola MacDonnell, he saw his first militaryaction at the age of 12. In 1587 Perrot (the Lord Deputy), fearing the implications of RedHughs betrothal to a daughter of Hugh ONeill, had him captured by sending a ship to

Rathmullen, on board which he was lured to drink. He languished for four years in DublinCastle until he escaped, at the second attempt, with the connivance of ONeill. Upon hisreturn in 1592 his mother arranged the deposition of her senile husband in his favour.

During the Nine Years War the betrayal of Sligo Castle into ODonnells hands allowed him toexercise overlordship in north Connacht and to mount further raids into Clanricard andThomond. Only in 1600, with the establishment of Docwras garrison at Derry, did hisauthority begin to wane. When Spanish forces landed at Kinsale in 1601, ODonnell marchedhis army to Munster, evading George Carew, who blocked his passage at Cashel, by a brilliantflanking manoeuvre across the Slievefelim Mountains. After the Irish defeat at Kinsale, Hughwent to Spain to seek further help but died at Simancas. Allegations that he was poisonedare probably unfounded.

Red Hugh was immortalized soon afterwards in Lughaidh Clirighs Beatha Aodha Ruaidh UDhomhnaill(Life of Red Hugh ODonnell). This biography, which portrays Red Hugh at thecentre of events, has distorted historical interpretation. ODonnell was certainly moreimpulsive than ONeill, but he generally played second fiddle to the older man.

BACK TO TEXT


21/34


OMalley, Grace (c.1503-c.1603), alias Granuaile, legendary pirate-queen of Connacht, celebrated inpopular tradition as a nationalist heroine and now a feminist icon. She married first Donal OFlaherty, andlater Richard Iron Dick Bourke, but was a power-broker in her own right owing to the unique naval powerof the OMalleys.

One English official wrote in 1559: There are three very good galleys with Tibbot ne Longe, son of GranyO'Malley, his brother and O'Malley that will carry 300 men apiece. These, if employed by Her Majesty,would do much good in the north, and the O'Malleys are much feared everywhere by sea. There are nogalleys in Ireland but these.

More than the pirate queen of Irish legend, Granuaile was a courageous woman who stood up for herrights during the turbulent Tudor conquest of Ireland. When young, it is said she cut off her hair and wore

male clothes to go to sea. More than a woman, Granuaile was a Gaelic chieftain. She commanded a fleetof war and merchant ships, trading with France, Spain, England and Portugal, dominating the waters offWestern Ireland, and resisting and then treating with the invading Tudors. By land Granuaile stormed anddefended castles, engaged in the then favourite Irish practice of cattle-rustling, gave birth to four childrenand generally showed she was the equal if not the better of any man. According to one horrified Tudorofficial, she hath impudently passed the part of womanhood and been a great spoiler and chiefcommander and director of thieves and murderers at sea.

Despite clashes with the crown, which imprisoned her in 1577-79, she urged her husbands and sons toseek accommodation with the encroaching state. While in London in 1593 with other Connacht notablescomplaining of Binghams government, she petitioned the queen for a grant of lands - under Gaelic law shewas not entitled, as a widow, to any part of her husbands estate.

Her petition was successful, but Granuaile died ten years later outwitted and impoverished by Tudorofficials who never forgave her earlier betrayals.

BACK TO TEXT


22/34


ONeill, Hugh (c.1550-1616), and earl of Tyrone and last inaugurated ONeill. Hugh wasraised in the Pale after the assassination of his father Matthew in 1558. The crown re-established him in Ulster ten years later as a bulwark against the pretensions of TurloughONeill. When it tried to curb his growing power after 1587, Hugh resorted to bribing officials

and opened up contacts with Spain. Fitzwilliams partition of Monaghan proved the decisivebreak. ONeill tried to entangle the main beneficiary of government reform, Sir HenryBagenal, in a marriage alliance by eloping with his sister Mabel. In 1592 Red Hugh ODonnell,his son-in-law, assisted him in the encirclement of Turlough and the achievement ofsupremacy in Ulster.

At the start of the Nine Years War ONeill managed an outward show of loyalty while usingproxies to oppose militarily the implementation of further reform. Victory at the Yellow Fordin 1598 enabled the extension of his authority through the midlands and into Munster. Amajor stumbling block was the Old English, to whom ONeill appealed unsuccessfully on thegrounds of common nationality and religion. ONeill and ODonnell were defeated at Kinsaleand he himself surrendered at Mellifont in 1603. The subsequent Flight of the Earls was agamble by ONeill which went badly wrong. He died in Rome in 1616. That Hugh ONeill

enjoys such an enigmatic reputation is largely the result of 19th-century misinterpretation.Uncritical use of O Clirighs life of ODonnell, and the mistaken idea that ONeill was broughtup in England, fashioned a vacillating figure caught between two cultures. In fact ONeill wasan adept politician and gifted soldier who made the most of limited resources in a period ofrapid change.

BACK TO TEXT


23/34


You follow foreign ways

and shave your thick-curled head:O slender fist, my choice!you are no good son of Donnchadh.

If you were, you would not yieldyour hair to a foreign fashion- the fairest feature in Fdlas land -and your head done up in a crown.

Little you think of your yellow hair,but that other detests their locksand going cropped in the foreign way.

Your manners are little like.

He loved no foreign ways,our ladies darling, Eogan Bn,

nor bent his will to the stranger,but took to the wilds instead.

Eogan Bn thinks little of your views.He would give his britches gladlyand accept a rag for a cloakand ask no coat nor hose.

He hates the jewelled spur on his boot

at the narrow of his foot,or stockings in the foreign style,nor allows their locks upon him.

A blunt rapier wouldnt kill a flyholds no charm for Donnchadhs son,nor a bodkin weighing at his rumpas he climbs to the gathering place.

Little his wish for a gold cloakor a high Holland collar;a golden bangle would only annoyor a satin scarf to the heel.

He has no thought for a feather bedbut would rather lie on rushes,

more at ease - Donnchadhs good son -in a rough-wattled hut than a tower top.

Throng of horse in the mouth of a gap,foot-soldiers fight, the hard fray,are some of Donnchadhs sons delights,and looking for fight with the foreigner.

You are not like Eogan Ban.They laugh as you step to the

mounting block.A pity you cannot see your fault,as you follow foreign ways.

Two Sons Laoiseach Mac an Bhird, late 16th centuryIn the work of this Monaghan poet is the first occurrence of the great theme of the coming of the final stranger to Ireland.In this poem criticism is aimed at one of two brothers who has apparently chosen Tudor ways, while the other has taken tothe hills in revolt - an indication of the shape of much future history.

BACK TO TEXT


24/34


The Butter Tadgh Dall Huignn, late 16th centuryA sixteenth-century health warning

I myself got good butter from a womanThe good butter if it be good

I dont think it came from a cowWhatever its origin, it destroyed me.

There was a beard sprouting from it,Bad health to the fellows beard

A juice from it as venomous as poisonIt was tallow with a sour draught taste.

It was speckled, it was greyIt was not from a milch goatIt was no gift of butterWhen we had to look at it every day.

Its long lock was like a horses mane

Alas, no knives were found to crop itHe who partook of it has long been sickThe good butter that was in our hut.

A wrapping cloth (was placed) around the sour greaseLike a shroud taken from a corpse

It was disgusting to the eyeTo look at the rag from the amount of its foulness.

There was a strong stench from that fellowThat choked and stupified usWe imagined it to be multicolouredCovered by a branching crest of fungus.

It had never seen the saltThe salt never saw it except at a distanceIts memory does not leave us in healthWhite butter bluer than coal.

There was grease in it, and not only that

But every other bit was of waxLittle butter did I eat after itThe fleshy butter I received.

BACK TO TEXT


25/34


Granuaile. The Pirate Queenby Llywelyn, Morgan

OBrien Press, 0-86278-578-2

Grace OMalley, alias Granuaile, pirate & politician, c. 1530-1603, is one of Irelands mostinfamous figures. She was, however, more than the 'pirate queen' of Irish legend. She was acourageous woman who stood up for her rights during the turbulent Tudor conquest ofIreland.

This inventive, if uncritical, historical novel is an excellent source for storytelling. Thenarrative is interweaved with imaginary letters between Grace and her son, Tibert, whichcapture a lesser-known side of the Pirate Queen.

BACK TO TEXT


26/34


The extraordinary true story of Red Hugh ODonnell (1572-1602) - kidnap, gaol, dungeonsand escape. Ireland in 1587 was a tough place. The old Irish clans struggled desperately tohold on to their lands. With the Spanish Armada threatening her in the background, theEnglish queen, Elizabeth I, set out to subdue them.

A few weeks before his fifteenth birthday, Red Hugh was captured and taken to DublinCastle - held as hostage to ensure the good behaviour of his father, chief of the powerfulODonnell clan of Donegal. After several years, one freezing winters night the chance ofescape seemed to come at last, but there were great risks ...

In the Irish curriculum, the novel is used to debate aspects ofpersonal development andeducation for citizenship.

Red Hugh. The Kidnap of Hugh ODonnellby Lisson, Deborah

OBrien Press, 0-86278-604-5

BACK TO TEXT


27/34


MyselfGrowing & changing

Feeling and emotionsdiscussing and practisinghow to express feeling inappropriate manners

Discuss effectiveness of

the Earl of Tyronesdissembling (p. 52) andRed Hugh's rages ortempers ( pp 32, 100)

MyselfMaking decisions

Recognising thatopportunities to exercisechoice can increase asresponsibilities areaccepted and the trust ofothers is earned

Discuss Red Hughsreluctant and gradualacceptance ofresponsibility (pp 169,208, 210), andhis realisation that

bravery without brains isa 'dangerous virtue' (p203)

Myself & othersRelating to others

Examining the variousways in which languagecan be used to isolateand discriminate againstpeople

Discuss the insultingexpressions used by theIrish captives, e.g.,black as anEnglishman's guts (p.104),as tight as the truth in a

Saxon's mouth (p. 101)

Fitzwilliams arrogantbelief that to speakEnglish is to be civilised(p. 84)

Citizenship in Red Hugh

BACK TO TEXT


28/34



29/34



30/34

ENDRed Hugh's EscapeSpanish ArmadaGranuaile MENU HOMEBACK TO TEXT

Tudor conquest of Ireland note for teachersThe Oxford Companion to Irish Historyedited by S.J. Connolly, OUP, 1998, 0-19866-240-8, 553-4

Tudor conquest, a term denoting the extension of English lordship, previously effective only in the Pale, to full English sovereigntythroughout Ireland. This was the result of a reform policy which invariably ended being applied by force. Sir John DaviessDiscovery ofthe True Causes(1610), trumpeting the subsequent establishment of the common law, did not hesitate to use the term conquest. Theprocess, generally seen as getting under way in 1534 and lasting until 1603, involved conflicts of increasing scale: the Kildare rebellion,the war of the Geraldine League, the revolt of Shane ONeill, the Desmond and Baltinglass revolts, and the Nine Years War.

An important reason for the Tudor conquest was the existence of a frontier and the related problems of defence and grand strategy.The original objective in 1534 was merely the reform of the Pale under the closer direction of Whitehall. This departure coincided withEnglands break with Rome, which left her diplomatically isolated and strategically vulnerable. An English lord deputy with a standingarmy and little local support was always apt to take the military option. Such actions in Ireland created strategic threats where nonehad hitherto existed. The military activities of Lord Deputy Grey in the 1530s resulted in the establishment of the Geraldine League withits appeals to the Scottish king. The creation of the kingdom of Ireland (1541) necessarily entailed consideration of administrativecentralization across the whole island. When the related integrative policy of surrender and regrant faltered, the placement of garrisons

in Leix and Offaly caused the OMores and OConnors to appeal to France. The line of the Pale was breached, the frontier was nowmoving, and the process continuous.

The crown became anxious to assert control for fear that foreign powers would exploit the situation. It is not unreasonable to suggestthat the New English, as captains, constables, seneschals, and provincial presidents, deliberately provoked conflicts so as to reaprewards in the lands and offices which subsequently became available. The commissions of martial law to local commanders introducedby Sussex in 1556 escalated the level of violence involved. A new English colonialism justified by old chauvinist ideas and new religiousprejudices was generated, with land-hungry younger sons acquiring confiscated Irish estates as a means of providing an income andgentry status.

The role of lords deputy as architects of the conquest is a subject of debate. The most aggressive policies belong to Sussex, Sidney,Grey, and Perrot, but ironically those of the corrupt, reactive, and underfinanced Fitzwilliam caused the most bother. Canny asserts thatSidney produced a blueprint of plantations and provincial presidencies for the establishment of Tudor rule. Brady insists that thegovernments intention was always the establishment of the common law by reform not conquest, and concentrates on Sidneysalternative policy of composition. Crawford emphasizes the role of the privy council. This executive body had an obvious interest inmaking English sovereignty effective. At local level the object was shire government with sheriffs, justices of the peace, jailhouses, andvisiting assizes. Most of Ireland was shired on paper by the mid-1580s, but it was physical control of the country after 1603 thatenabled the system to operate.


31/34


Military matters bulk large in any account of the Tudor conquest. The army grew to a peak of 16,000 during the Nine Years War.Expeditions into the interior against errant Gaelic lords were pointless. The only effective strategy was the establishment of garrisonsfollowed by spoliation of the people, their crops, and their livestock, bringing starvation and eventual submission. These tactics werevery expensive to maintain and were employed only in the Desmond and Nine Years wars (1). Massacres took place at Rathlin, Belfast,Mullaghmast (2), and Smerwick. Hostages were frequently taken to guarantee ceasefires during wartime and to secure complianceduring peacetime. Irish revenues never sustained the cost of the standing army, which had always to be subsidized from England. TheIrish lords also increased and modernized their forces. They employed large numbers of redshanks (light infantry usually hired for the

summer months from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland during the summer) and then utilized the supply system these developed toincrease local infantry recruits. Firearms aided Irish guerrilla tactics, and assisted in victories such as Glenmalure (3) and the YellowFord (4), but the infrastructure needed for siege warfare was lacking.

Explanatory notes

1.Nine Years War (Apr. 1593-Mar. 1603), also known as Tyrones rebellion, after the states main antagonist in the conflict, HughONeill, 2nd earl of Tyrone. It arose from Fitzwilliams partition of Monaghan, which broke up the MacMahon lordship and threatenedother Ulster lordships with a similar fate. The states other main antagonist, Red Hugh ODonnell, was ONeills son-in-law. Theiralliance transcended traditional rivalry in Ulster and came to include many other Gaelic lords in an oath-bound confederacy which initiallytook the form of a secret conspiracy. Map of Nine Years War

The first action of the war was an exercise in manipulation and deceit by ONeill. After the ejection of a sheriff from Fermanagh, ONeillfought on the side of the government while simultaneously directing his brother Cormac, and other relatives whom he allegedly couldnot control, against the state. This was a delaying tactic, because the northern lords were hoping for aid from Spain, where they hadsent agents as early as 1592. ONeill disclosed his true role in February 1595 when he ordered the destruction of the garrison on theriver Blackwater. The state finally proclaimed him a traitor in June 1595.

Irish tactics during the war were primarily defensive. The buannacht system (billeting of mercenary soldiers on civilians) used toaccommodate redshanks was reoriented to put local troops into the field. These were well trained and leavened with English andSpanish veterans. Up to a third of the confederates fought with firearms, supplied by Scottish and Old English merchants, whichenhanced their traditional guerrilla-style tactics. A major lack was artillery, which made the taking of forts and towns, other than byruse or betrayal, impossible. The English army, surprised by the discipline of their opponents, suffered from a divided command,

BACK TO TEXT


32/34


between Lord Deputy Russell and Lord General Norris in 1596-7, and between Black Tom Butler of Ormond and Henry Bagenal in 1598.Their offensive tactics usually amounted to no more than a single expedition to establish or relieve outlying garrisons. The resulting Irishvictories were in fact large ambushes - the Ford of the biscuits (1594), Clontibret (1595), the Yellow Ford (1598). These successes,together with the fall of Sligo and Cavan, allowed the war to spread to Connacht and Leinster in 1595 and to Munster in 1598.

For the Irish, politics was an extension of war. ONeill used ceasefires and long-drawn-out negotiations as a delaying tactic in which thehard-pressed and factionalised state acquiesced. A compromise, which would have left ONeill supreme in Ulster, was negotiated in 1596

but aborted by the timely arrival of Spanish agents. Further negotiations, prolonged in the case of Ormond in 1598, and short and secretin the case of Essex in 1599, worked to ONeills advantage. After the debacle of Essexs lieutenancy, ONeill and his confederatescontrolled the greater part of Ireland. Unable to take the towns by force, ONeill now tried to win over the Old English Catholics. InNovember 1599 he issued a proclamation requesting the Old English to join his fight for faith and fatherland. A final negotiating positionwith the crown, which would have provided for an autonomous Catholic Ireland run jointly by its great lords and the Old English, wasdrawn up. Cecil, the English secretary of state, marked these 22 demands with the word Utopia.

ONeills adoption of the concept of fatherland frightened the crown more than it encouraged the Old English. Mountjoy was rapidlydispatched to Dublin and Docwra established at Lough Foyle behind confederate lines. The strategy was now the establishment of smallgarrisons, closely placed and mutually supporting, to wear down the economy that supported the irregular warfare of the Irish. Thelong-heralded Spanish expedition finally landed at Kinsale, only to withdraw ignominiously after ONeill and ODonnell abandoned theirdefensive tactics and risked all in a pitched battle. The garrisons in Ulster brought famine in their wake. One by one ONeills allies suedfor peace and he went into hiding. In September 1602 Mountjoy destroyed the symbol of his authority at Tullaghoge. However, thegarrison policy was proving very expensive and could be sustained only by the debasement of the Irish currency. The state wastherefore glad when ONeill submitted at Mellifont in March 16035. The war had cost the English exchequer nearly 2 million - eighttimes as much as any previous Irish war and as much as Elizabeths continental wars. But it had given England complete control ofIreland for the first time since the Anglo-Norman invasion. (pp 338-9)

2.

Mullaghmast, massacre of(Nov.-Dec. 1577), the slaughter of Moris OMore and at least 40 others after they had been summoned tothe fort of Mullaghmast, Co. Kildare, by the soldier-colonists Francis Cosby and Robert Hartpole to do military service. This bloodyepisode in the troubled relations between the Laois-Offaly planters and the displaced OMores and OConnors occurred at a time whenLord Deputy Sidney was trying to quell the revolt of Rory g OMore. (p. 372)

BACK TO TEXT


33/34


3.Glenmalure, battle of(25 Aug. 1580). The newly arrived Lord Deputy Grey decided on an immediate prosecution of the rebel forces of

Viscount Baltinglass and Feagh MacHugh OByrne, which had withdrawn into Glenmalure in the Wicklow Mountains. Grey sent halfhisarmy under George Moore to flush them out. Soldiers fresh from England in bright coats and officers in armour made easy targets,especially for the hundred shot (soldiers with firearms) at OByrnes disposal. At least 30 Englishmen were killed, including Moorehimself. (p. 222)

4.Yellow Ford, battle of(14 Aug. 1598), the greatest single defeat suffered by English forces in 16th-century Ireland. The queens armyunder Henry Bagenal, taking supplies to the beleaguered Blackwater Fort, was ambushed in difficult terrain north of Armagh by HughONeill. Bagenal and 800 of his men were killed and the Blackwater and Armagh garrisons had to be abandoned. ONeill gainedunimpeded access to the midlands enabling in turn the overthrow of the Munster plantation. (p. 601)

5.Mellifont, treaty of(30-1 Mar. 1603), ending the Nine Years War. Morysons account has Hugh ONeill making an unconditionalsurrender to Mountjoy, unaware of the death of Queen Elizabeth. However, it has been shown that, while the queens death was indeedkept secret, ONeills submission was the result of hard bargaining at Tullaghoge and later Mellifont. ONeill avoided confiscation, gaininga pardon and a new patent for his lands. He abandoned the ONeill title but crucially retained control of OCahan, his principal uirr (sub-kingship). His position was consolidated at a subsequent meeting with the English privy council.

BACK TO TEXT


34/34

R d H h' ES i h A dG il

Atlas of Irish Historyby Sen Duffy

Gill & Macmillan, 07173-093-2, p. 61

0a4 tudors ireland web

Documents