1596 - 1599 AD 

1596 AD The Mac Carthy Mor - the Greater, died, who was to be the first and last English appointed Earl of Clan Carty, and all of his remaining Irish territory was also confiscated by Elizabeth 1st  the Welsh Tudor English Queen and further foreign English non - Catholic planters were put in to his territory. He had been the last  surviving Heberian Eoghanacht Chaisil overall Chieftain in the south of the Munster Province, and Donnell Cam O Sullivan who was now " The O Sullivan Beare," the Heberian Eoghanacht Chaisil Chieftain who had his own kingdom and territory there in Co. Cork had been subject to his authority under the Irish Brehon Law. He was also a close neighbour, along with all of the other Irish Chieftains there who were still surviving in the Munster Province, who now had a lot more to worry about individually.

June 22nd: King Philip 11 of Spain, informed 126.Aed Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall "The O Niall""that he would now assist him to drive the English out of Ireland, to reintroduce freedom of religion and retain their Celtic way of life. In the meantime the Irish Chieftains, in the Ulster Province, attempting to end the ongoing ethnic and religious persecution carried out by Elizabeth 1st, made one last combined desperate call on her, to at least allow freedom of religion, and to stop harassing the Catholic clergy to no avail.

      Donogh O Brien, the English appointed fourth English Earl of Thomond, who was by now completely lost to the Irish cause, once again assisted Sir Richard  Bingham, the English officious Governor set up in Connacht  against the robust resistance of the Anglo - Irish Burkes there in the Connacht Province.

    The O Haras who were the Heberian Cianacht Chiefs of East and West Leyney in Co. Sligo in the Connacht Province, who were to continue to remain independent down to the time of the Oliver Cromwell Invasion. joined up with Aed Ruadh / Red Hugh O Donnell and Theobold Burke on the banks of the River Robe / Ballinrobe in Co. Mayo.

     Dunkeron Castle was constructed this year, by "The O Sullivan Mor - the Greater," the Heberian Eoghanacht Chaisil Chief, who had his territory at Little Nest / Neidin near Kenmare in Co. Kerry in the south - west of the Munster Province. (The ruins of the O Sullivan Cappanacrushy Castle is also still there to be seen nearby.)

1597 AD A 3 pronged attack was launched by the English Military forces against the Ulster Province, which were repulsed by the combined forces of 126.Aed Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall and Aed Ruadh / Red Hugh O Donnell. while Donogh O Brien, the English appointed fourth Earl of Thomond, who was now completely lost to the Irish cause, again assisted Sir Richard Bingham, the English officious Governor of Connacht, against the Anglo - Irish Burkes in the Connacht Province, and combined with the other O Brien who was now also the appointed English Baron of Inchiquin. This year, they also went further to the north of Connacht, and laid siege to Aed Ruadh / Red Hugh O Donnell "The O Donnell" the Heremonian Dal Cuinn "northern" Ui Niaill Cenel Conaill Chieftain and his Castle at Bally Shannon / Belashanny in Co. Donegal in the north - west of the Ulster Province and they then crossed over the River Erne there, were O Brien the English appointed Baron of Inchiquin was killed in battle, and was later buried at the Cistercian Assaroe Abbey. Sir Richard  Bingham's English Military forces were defeated there, and he retreated back across the River Erne, leaving all of his artillery pieces behind for Aed Ruadh / Red Hugh O Donnell to make use of and 126.Aed Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall, the second Earl of Tyrone, who was Aed Ruadh / Red Hugh O Donnell's ally, kept the English Military forces at bay near the River Blackwater. The Irish forces also won another battle further to the south at the Tyrrell Pass in Co. Westmeath in the south - west of Northern Leinster. (The ruins of the original Anglo - Irish Tyrrell's / Tirial stronghold is still there to be seen today).

      The dominance of the Anglo - Irish Fitz Geralds of Kildare in Central Southern Leinster, and that of their kinsmen, the Fitz Geralds of Desmond in the south of the Munster Province, had by now been well and truly done away with, previously under Henry V111 and now his daughter, Elizabeth 1st, which had ensured their greater control over most of Ireland, while the Heremonian Dal Cuinn Ui Niaill Septs, who were under the control of 126.Aodh Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall "The O Niall" and Aed Ruadh / Red Hugh O Donnell "The O Donnell" in the Ulster Province, were now all that was left of the actual Mere Irish leadership in Ireland. Only these two Gaelic Ulster Chieftains now stood between the unending ethnic and religious oppression of Elizabeth 1st and her "Slash and Burn" policies in Ireland, and the total obliteration of all of the remaining Gaelic Irish Septs and their way of life. The English authorities in the Dublin Castle (The Devil's 1/2 acre), now tried to remove any chance of further support for the Ulster Chieftains, from any of their other Irish and Anglo - Irish allies, by holding negotiations for a peaceful solution with the other Irish Chieftains they still had under their control.

1598 AD      Sir Henry Bagenal, the English Chief Marshal for Elizabeth 1st in Ireland, now totally controlled The English Pale, which at this time extended from Dundalk in Co. Louth in the north - east of Northern Leinster, down to Dublin in the north - east of Southern Leinster, and he was instructed by Elizabeth 1st to relieve the English fortress on the banks of the River Blackwater under siege in the Ulster Province and to add to his woes 126."Black "Hugh O Niall  "The O Niall" the Dal Cuinn "northern" Ui Niaill Cenel nEogain Ulster Chieftain, who was now also a widower, had since further antagonized him by eloping with his sister, Mabel Bagenal, which had upset him no end.     

August: 126.Aodh Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall "The O Niall" and Red Hugh / Aodh Dubh O Donnell  "The O Donnell" who were besieging the English fortress on the River Blackwater in Co. Armagh in the south - east of the Ulster Province, were victorious in the Battle of the Yellow Ford / Bel an Atha Buidhe there, which was situated only 2 mile out of Armagh, were they completely defeated the English Military forces under the command of Sir Henry Bagenal who had 4,000 foot soldiers and 300 horsemen. Sir Henry Bagenal his new reluctant brother - in - law, who was now Elizabeth 1st's appointed English Chief Marshall in Ireland. was also killed in the battle, along with 23 of his commanders, and 2,500 of his men, and 34 English Banners, together with their English artillery and supplies, were captured by the combined Irish forces. The English Military forces, in this particular conflict, had suffered the heaviest defeat ever in Ireland, and the Irish forces had allowed the defenders of the fort, to also leave unmolested, with only 200 of the Irish being killed, and 600 wounded, which further encouraged all of the other aligned Irish Septs and Families in Ireland, to now rally to 126.Aed Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall's cause of bringing about Irish freedom, against the never ending ethnic and religious oppression of the English under Elizabeth 1st the Welsh Tudor English Queen, and to try and rid Ireland, once and for all, of their overbearing presence. 

October: The Fitz Gerald's Desmond Kilcoman Castle, in Co. Kerry in the south - west of the Munster Province, was burnt down.

    John Oge - the Younger Mac Coghlan the last Heberian Dal gCais Prince of Delvin in Co. Offaly was in an alliance with Aodh Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall the Heremonian Dal Cuinn "northern" Ui Niall Cenel nEogain King of Ulster. 

      Philip 11 the King of Spain, died, and his son, Philip 111, was in as the new Spanish King, and he also promised further assistance to the Irish Septs against the English ethnic and religious oppression under Elizabeth 1st, who was to now send her particular favourite, Sir Robert Devereux the second English Earl of Essex with a further 20,000 English Military force to crush the Irish Septs altogether, and totally govern Ireland for her, by absolutely doing away with any further Irish resistance, by any means that he desired to use.

1599 AD Edmund Spencer, died, this year in London, as a pauper, and his descendants were to eventually come back to live in Ireland until the late 18th Century AD, including John Spencer, who was to eventually have his throat cut by his live - in house keeper on the day he was to marry another woman, and over time many of his descendants also became Anglo - Irish Catholics.

     Sir Robert Devereux, the English second Earl of Essex, arrived into Dublin as the English appointed Lord Lieutenant, with a further 20,000 English Military force, and at first went about subduing the Irish and the Anglo - Irish in the Munster Province, to the south of The English Pale and he then headed north into the Ulster Province, where he was also to come up against the Irish forces of 126.Aodh Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall "The O Niall" at the Ford of Annaclint on the border of Co. Monaghan in Southern Ulster. After many terrible battles along the way, against the guerrilla resistance carried out by the Irish Septs, and the lack of Military support coming from England, he was forced into a meeting with 126.Aodh Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall, where he convinced him to make a truce with him and he then returned to England, without seeking the authority of Elizabeth 1st, to inquire why he had not received the support needed to fully take over Ireland. On arriving in England he was to prove to be more popular among the common folk then Elizabeth 1st, who then saw him as a threat to her position, and subsequently, he too, was to become another of her victims. when she was later to try him for Treason, and cut off his head.

     Elizabeth 1st, with her anti - Irish Catholic edicts in Ireland, had tried to ensure that all the Irish and Anglo - Irish were to become members of the Episcopalian Church of England / Ireland, or else, as this was the only condition she allowed in Ireland, to obtain any chance of gaining positions in Public Life or any chance of ever owning or controlling any of their own Irish territory again. The English Pale, known by this time as the "Obedient Shires," ran along the east coast in the Leinster Province from Dundalk in the north to just below Dublin in the south, and over the following two Centuries, the introduced Episcopalian English planters were to be made use of to widen out these perimeters, which were to force many of the Mere Irish in the outer regions there, to also progress towards Dublin, were they became known generically as the Irish Conchies.    

      Aed Ruadh / Red Hugh O Donnell "The O Donnel" and Brian Oge - the Younger O Rourke "The O Rourke" in the last notable Irish victory, before the Battle of Kinsale, were to kill Sir Conyers Clifford the new English appointed Governor in the Connacht Province, in the Curlieu Mountains at Ballaghboy / Ballinfad in Co. Sligo in the north - west of Connacht and they had then cut off his head, and had it delivered to the leader of the Dal Cuinn Ui Briuin Ai Ui Conchobair O Connors "The O Connor" there in Connacht, at his castle at Collooney as the "The O Connor" at this time, had also gone over to the English side, while endeavouring to survive, and was collaborating with them by holding out against the Irish forces, by keeping his castle for the English foreigners as both of these Ulster Irish Chieftains, were hoping that this drastic action, would be enough to convince him to surrender it up to the Irish cause instead. This main Sept of the O Connors, who were from the Heremonian Dal Cuinn Ui Briuin Ai Siol Muireadhaigh Clann, who were descendents of 90.Brion the original first Dal Cuinn King of Connacht, were previously held in high esteem in Ireland, as they had also produced the last King of Ireland before the Anglo - Norman Invasion. (From now on they were never to regain the position they had previously held in Ireland.) Aed Ruadh / Red Hugh O Donnell, then split his Irish forces into 3 divisions at the border, and laid siege to the north and north - eastern parts of Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province, and during the conflict carried off the poet, Maolin Oge Mac Brody's / Maolin Og Mac Bruaideadha cattle and later restored them to him. This was intended to also send the same message to Donogh O Brien the English appointed fourth Earl of Thomond, for also selling out his own Irish Heberian Dal gCais people in his territory there. Sir John Chichester, the English appointed commander for Elizabeth 1st, in the Ulster Province was also defeated this year in the Old Mill Glen, by the Mac Donnells / Mac Donalds of the Glynns, the Heremonian Dal Cuinn Colla Uais Clann from Antrim, at Ballycarry / Bale Cora in Co. Antrim in the north - east. He too had been sent by Elizabeth 1st, with Sir Francis Drake, to also bring Ulster under her control, and after he was to kill 100 people there, sparing no person or thing, during her "]Slash and Burn / Scorched Earth" policy, he too was killed there, and interred in a tomb in St. Nicholas' church. 

September: During this month, Elizabeth 1st, the Welsh Tudor English Queen, had Sir Robert Devereux, her previous lover, and the second English Earl of Essex, who had since been held prisoner in the Tower of London, executed, by beheading as he had been replaced in his previous position, as the English Lord Lieutenant in Ireland, by Sir Charles Blount / Lord Mountjoy, who was to be more severe and methodical in carrying out her policy of "Slash and Burn" in Ireland, as to taking on 126.Aed Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall "The O Niall" in the Ulster Province. He was to let nothing, or no one, stand in his way, Irish women, Irish children, their stock, their property, whatever it took, was now to be subject to this dreadful inhumane policy as he began his campaign in Ulster by building forts in Co. Derry in the north - east and elsewhere, to try and and keep 126.Aed Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall wholly within Ulster itself, so as to cut off any chance of him receiving any further assistance from any of the other Irish Septs in the southern parts of Ireland.

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