1567 - 1570 AD
1567 AD
Sir Henry Sidney
the English Lord Deputy in Ireland
for Elizabeth 1st the
Welsh Tudor
Queen of England
and Cecil her Chancellor in
England,
wanted to bring in
English shires in all
of the
Ulster
Province, so
Elizabeth 1st
to ensure that they would have no opposition put
out a reward on
125.Shane O Niall "
The O Niaill"
in
Ulster
and decreed that the "The
O Niaill"
name
should be obliterated
altogether, and the
English
authorities then brought in hired
assassins
from
Scotland
to murder him.
In the Spring,
125.Shane O Niall
was to
realise that now more then ever he needed to reassert his overall position in
the whole of the
Ulster Province
to take on the coming English onslaught,
and
to
this end he
decided to take his
Dal Cuinn
Cenel nEogain
warriors and his
Dal Cuinn
Colla Mac Uais
Mac Donnell
galloglasses and ensure compliance from his kinsmen, the
Dal Cuinn Cenel Conaill
O Donnells
in the west
of
Ulster.
Upon arriving at Farsetmore, which was a low sandy ford across the River Swilly
that crossed over into the
O
Donnell's
Tir
Conaill / Tyrconnell Co. Donegal
kingdom and territory, both of these
"northern"
Ui
Niaill
forces met head on, and
the
O Donnells
were able
to push
125.Shane
O
Niaill's
forces
back onto the surrounding boggy ground. The
O
Donnells
were then to be reinforced by their own personal galloglasses, the
Mac
Sweeneys,
and were then able to counter attack the
O Nialls,
and during the ferocious battle that was to last for quite a long time, many on
both sides were killed, which once again only suited the English purpose.
125.Shane
O Niall
decided to
make a hasty retreat back across the River Swilly,
with his
Cenel
nEogain
followers, but the river had since risen in height and this meant also that many of his men were drowned, and
125.Shane
O Niall
realising he had now lost his previous position in the scheme of things decided to seek sanctuary with his
previous supporters the
Colla Uais
Mac
Donnells,
and he returned to their territory in
Co. Antrim in
the north - east of
Ulster,
but fighting also soon broke out there, as the
Mac
Donnells
were to be stirred on by William Pierce an English officer.
125.Shane
O Niall
and his
followers were cut to pieces in
North
Clann Atha Buidhe
/ Clannaboye
near Cushendun, After
4 days, William Piers dug up
125.Shane O Niall's
body and cut off his head, pickled it and took it down to Dublin Castle were he
presented it
to
Sir Henry Sidney
125.Shane O Niall
"The O Niaill" was to leave behind
the young
126.Henry O Niall,
whose mother was
Catherine
Mac Lean,
who would later be imprisoned in the Dublin Castle from where he would escape with the
young
Aed Ruadh
/ Red Hugh
O Donnell
in
1592 AD who was also to be imprisoned at that time by the English authorities who would be holding them as hostages,
but unfortunately.
126.Henry O Niall
would die in 1622 AD and
126.Aed
Gavelach
O Niall,
his brother, who was a son
also of
Catherine Mac Lean,
would be
executed
by the
English in 1590 AD,
while another brother,
126.Art O
Niall,
also from
Catherine Mac Lean, was to
die soon after
while escaping with
the young
Aed Ruadh
/ Red Hugh
O Donnell
in 1592
AD from Dublin Castle and l
The English
in the Dublin Castle (The Devil's 1/2 Acre) acting on the instructions of Elizabeth 1st
confiscated
3 of the
Counties in the
Ulster Province
intending to bring in foreign English non - Catholic Episcopalian planters to
occupy their land instead, and
they were also to support
125.Turlogh
Luineach
O Niall,
who was 125.Shane O Niall's cousin,
to now become their puppet as "The O Niaill,"
but despite this
appointment
he too was to also to become under suspicion by the English, after he married
Agnes
Campbell,
the daughter of the
Scottish - Irish
Earl of Argyll, who also gave him
2,000 mercenaries
from the Hebrides as a dowry
but despite this
125.Turlogh Luineach O Niall was basically seen by the Irish Septs in the UIster Province as an English lackey, while the most probable main contender and future standout for the Dal Cuinn Cenel nEogain O Nialls would now be 126.Aed Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall, who was the son of 125.Fearadorach O Niall, who had been the oldest son of 124.Conn Bacach O Niaill, who had also been "The O Niaill," and the father also of 125.Shane O Niall, but he had previously accepted the position as the first English appointed Earl of Tyrone, which had upset his Cenel nEogain Septs. 126.Aed Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall's initial commitment had been also to the English cause, due to his controlled upbringing of previously being groomed in England for an English purpose in Ireland, and because of this he would be appointed the first English Baron of Dungannon in the Ulster Province as he had already proven his commitment to the English cause in the Munster Province and in Ulster and because of this he too would also be appointed by Elizabeth 1st the English third Earl of Dungannon and the second Earl of Tyrone to do away with the Irish title of The O Niall. Despite his English imposed upbringing he was to eventually become aware of what was really going on in Ireland and also realise his true Gaelic heritage and become "The O Niall" in his own right, and therefore the leader of the final Gaelic stand against Elizabeth 1st and her ongoing ethnic and religious persecution.
The
Fitz Geralds
who were
the
Anglo
- Irish
/ Old English Earls of Desmond
/
Southern Munster
had
continued to control their particular region in the
Munster Province from
Dungarvon to
Co. Kerry, Co. Limerick
to
Co. Cork,
for the English monarchy, but
by now due to the onslaught of the
Tudors
they were now only a
Junior
branch of the Geraldines
while the
Fitz Geralds who were the
Anglo
- Irish
/ Old English
Earls of Kildare
who were their kinsmen had
previously become the
Senior
branch, who had then ruled for the English monarchy over the most powerful
Irish
Families, the
Heberian Eoghanacht
Chaisil Mac Carthys and
O Sullivans
in
Southern
Munster.
(The
Fitz Geralds were
all usually up against the
Butlers
the English Earls of Ormonde, who were always reared
in England for an English purpose and because of this were fully committed to the English monarchy).
The English
authorities in the Dublin Castle
(The Devil's 1/2 Acre) who were
controlling
Ireland
for
Elizabeth
1st
were by this period in time
exchanging pardons
for sacks filled with
Irish
heads,
and
they
also introduced their
State Conformity Act
for the Episcopalian Church of
England / Ireland where
all
Irishmen
must
conform to
the English Episcopalian
religion or else. John Fitz
Gerald
who was now the
Catholic Anglo
- Irish
/ Old English Earl
of Desmond
was to refuse to conform, so
Elizabeth 1st sent more English Militia
to
Ireland
to carve out further Estates for themselves,
and the
Irish
and Anglo
- Irish
/ Old English
naturally rebelled
against this further imposition also. This then forced both the
Butlers the English Earls of
Ormonde
and the
Geraldines
of
Kildare
and
Desmond
to
combine briefly against these
particular foreign English military attacks and the imposition of further land confiscations
against them and
1568 AD
126.Aed
Dubh
/ Black Hugh
O Niall
who was from the Dal Cuinn
"northern"
Ui Niaill
Cenel nEogain Sept,
and a son
of
125.Fearadorach
O Niall,
the illegitimate older son
of
124.Conn
Bacach O Niall
who had been
The O Niall
and
the previous
English
appointed first English Earl of
Tyrone in the
Ulster Province,
returned to
Ireland
from England to carry out the policies of Elizabeth 1st in
Ireland and his father,
125.Fearadorach O Niall
had been previously killed by his younger half - brother,
125.Shane O Niall
"The O Niall"
who had been
the legitimate
Tanaiste
/ heir apparent of the
Cenel
nEogain
under the
Irish
Brehon Law.
126.Aed Dubh
/ Black Hugh
O Niall
who
had been born at Dungannon in the
Ulster Province,
had been taken as a child and reared in
England by the Earl of Leicester for an English purpose and he was now officially appointed the
first
English
Baron of Dungannon,
and would also in time
be appointed the
second Earl of Tyrone, as
he was to loyally serve
the English cause in
Ireland
against the
Irish
Septs in the
Munster
Province
and
also in
Co. Monaghan
in Ulster.
Because of this
early English influence, at this time
he was disturbed that the
Irish
people
were not following the English ways
and from now on he
was to hold the
Heremonian Dal Cuinn Cenel nEogain
"northern" Ui Niaill
territories in the
Ulster
Province
for
40 years, together with his kinsman from the other
Dal Cuinn
"northern"
Ui Niaill
Sept in the aged
Aed
O Donnell
who was also the English appointed
first Earl of
Tyrconnell
/
Tir Connell,
(The Land of
91.Conall Gulban.) by negotiation and
war.
Elizabeth 1st and her English authorities in the Dublin Castle
(The Devl's 1/2 Acre.) were now certain that they had firmly entrenched English
reared stooges in
Ulster, who would toe the line
The
Book of Kells,
"The Most Beautiful Book in
the World," at this time was in the custody of
Gerald Plunkett
/
Pluinceid who acted as a harbour master in
Dublin
in the north - east
of
Southern
Leinster,
1569
AD The
Catholic English Lords
in the north of
England
were
this year once again crushed after a
rebellion there against the ongoing
religious oppression
also being carried out there by the
English Earl of Sussex under the direction of
Elizabeth 1st, and the
Episcopalian
Ascendancy in England was also in
conflict with the Catholic populations in
Europe, with 1 in 14 remaing Catholic there in England regardless of what was
done to them there ,but despite this further setback, the
Irish
Catholic rebellion was to still continue on in
Ireland
against her ongoing ethnic and religious oppression, which
she was to continually impose on the whole
Irish
population with a vengeance until
1574 AD.
Turlogh O Brian
the
Catholic
Bishop
of
Killaloe
in
Co. Clare in
the north - west
of the
Munster Province,
died this year, and
Elizabeth 1st's
English
authorities in the Dublin Castle (The Devil's 1/2 Acre) took this opportunity to appoint one of their
previous supporters, a son of
Mac
O Brian of
Ara to the post, who became the
first Church of England / Ireland
Episcopalian Bishop in
West
Thomond
/ West
Munster.
1570 AD Elizabeth 1st, now "officially" appointed Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Walter Raleigh's older half - brother, the English Military commander in the Munster Province and he began his campaign by cutting off the heads of the Irish Families and placing them along the both sides of the road leading up to his camp, to the disgust of Sir James Croffs who was Elizabeth 1st's Deputy, who attacked him for "his savagery to ploughmen, babes in cradles and the decrepit aged." (As a reward for his inhumane actions in Ireland Elizabeth 1st was to give him a knighthood). She then appointed Sir Henry Sidney as the English President in the Munster Province to take it over with English Military force, together with the Leinster Province and the Connacht Province by outright "bloody murder and total massacre. To this end he also attacked the towns of Cork, Kinsale, Youghal and Kilmallock and the population in Munster who were by now pushed to the limit, eventually could not take any more of the brutality and they revolted against this ferocious never - ending inhumane oppression as these particular towns were defended by the Irish Septs under "The Mac Carthy Mor" the Heberian Eoghanacht Chaisil Lord of Muskerry and also James Fitz Maurice Fitz Gerald, a cousin to Gerald Fitz Gerald the 14th Earl of Desmond who Elizabeth 1st had also put in the Tower of London for his failure to suppress the Gaelic way of life and pay her official sanctioned dues. "The Mac Carthy Mor" was also the English appointed first Earl of Clan Carty and Baron of Blarney who had rebuilt the Blarney Castle and this particular revolt was to become known as the "1st Desmond Revolt."
James Fitzmaurice
Fitz Gerald,
had
stepped in to
take Gerald Fitz Gerald's place as the leader of the
Irish
defence,
with kerns (foot soldiers) and
galloglasses / mercenaries
and although he was
to be
defeated
he was able to repeatedly escape Elizabeth 1st's clutches who
then had an
English Act passed
making all the territories in
Ireland
into
English Shire Land,
whereby the
Irish
Chiefs
also lost all
of the agreements made with their
previous
English oppressors and she also abolished the
Irish Brehon Law
again, and all of the
Irish
under
English Law "officially" became
Irish "rebels
and outlaws"
if
they resisted any of the
English
imposed Legislation,
which was backed by English Military forces that removed
2,000 years of Celtic
possession of Ireland
by the Celtic
Irish
Septs. This English legislation was also to be enforced by
torturers and
hangmen
who were always
supported by the
English Militia,
and all of the
Irish
Families,
whether they were sick or old, women or children, scholars or bards, were now
branded as
Irish
"rebels." All
Irish
Books and
genealogies
were burnt,
"So
that no Irishman was ever to know his Grandfather."
This particular aspect of the ongoing English oppression was to be instigated
for
70 years,
as one piece of
Irish
territory after another was taken from any of those
Irish
Families who tried to resist by defending their homes, and
it was
even continued on with abandon throughout the
cold
Irish
Winters. All of the
Cistercian
monks were
also
driven out
of
Ireland
with
such cruelty and ferocity that they would not return until 1832 AD, which was over
260 years
later on. Under her "Slash and Burn" policy the
Munster Province
was to be totally destroyed,
while the
English
authorities continued on to exchanging
sacks full of
Irish
heads for pardons,
the undergrowth grew
thicker and the
Irish and
Anglo
- Irish
/ Old English slowly
starved to death.
(Sir
Edmund Fitz Gerald
also besieged
Wexford in
Co. Wexford
in the south - east of
Southern
Leinster
as he was a
fully
committed
non - conformist to the Church of England also).
125.Shane
O Niall
"The O Niall"
had been Attainted by Elizabeth 1st the
Welsh
Tudor
English Queen and the territory that actually belonged to the
combined
Heremonian
Dal Cuinn
"northern"
Ui Niaill
Cenel nEogain
Septs was now also
confiscated
in the
Ulster
Province,
but despite this, the removal of the
Irish
Families,
her intended foreign English non - Catholic Episcopalian plantations
there in the north - east of
Ulster
were to
fail.
February: Sir Edward Fitton, who was Elizabeth 1st's English appointed President in the Connacht Province, declared that an English Assizes was to be held at Ennis in Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province, and Teague O Brien, (the son of Murrogh - the Tanaiste O Brian who had also previously been the appointed English first Baron of Inchiquin), was now appointed the first English Sheriff of Co. Clare and he arranged for the Assizes to be held in what had been the Franciscan monastery there, and Conor O Brien the English appointed third Earl of Thomond, (who was a son of the deceased Donogh - the Fat O Brien) did not turn up. On the third day of the Assizes, Sir Edward Fitton endeavouring to assert his English authority over the Irish Septs in Co. Clare sent a detachment of English Military cavalry to bring him in from Clare Castle, which was only 2 miles away and once the cavalry were inside his stronghold Conor O Brien took them all prisoner and also killed those who were still outside. On hearing what happened Sir Edward Fitton fearing for his own life then headed north to the safety of the English stronghold in the City of Galway in Co. Galway in Southern Connacht with Conor O Brien hot in pursuit, and he was able to make it to the safety of the Gort Castle across the border. A large English Military force which was led by his kinsman, Butler the English appointed Earl of Ormonde was then sent to West Thomond to capture Conor O Brien, and bring him to submission, but their personal relationship allowed them to discuss the problem, and it was decided that it would be better for Conor O Brien to go into exile to France and all of the Irish territory in Co. Clare, that was previously under his control was then confiscated also by Elizabeth 1st.
Donnell Mac Brody from the Heberian Eoghanacht Chaisil Sept who were famous Historians and Poets in the Munster Province wrote a poem for James Fitz Maurice Fitz Gerald of Desmond.
The notorious Myler / Mael Muire Magrath, who had conformed to suite his own personal financial position in life, was appointed the first Church of England / Ireland Episcopalian Bishop of Clogher in Co. Tyrone in Central Ulster. (This was where the Irish Princes of Ergalia had, had their fortress in ancient times.)
Captain Brown
constructed
a castle near
Nendrum
on
Mahee Island off
of
Co. Down
in south - east
Ulster to resist the
Irish
Septs
there.