RAINBOW FARMS    AUSTRALIA                                            

                                                                                                                                                  1601 AD 

 

1601 AD  Sir George Carew, the appointed English commander in Ireland for Elizabeth 1st, the Welsh Tudor English Queen, advised her that rebellion was rife in Ossory / Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of Southern Leinster, which was the territory controlled for her by James Butler the English twelth Earl of Ormonde, and that it would remain so, as long as he lived and Blount / Lord Mountjoy, the newly appointed English Lord Deputy in Ireland, then went on the attack in Southern Leinster, against the Heremonian Cu Corb Ui Dunlaing O Byrnes at Ballincor in Glenmalure in Co. Wicklow in the south - east, which bought to an end their resistance at this time, but Phelim O Byrne, their Chieftain, was able to escape to fight another day.

      James Fitz Thomas Fitzgerald, the sixteenth Sugan Anglo - Irish Catholic Earl of Desmond, with a force of 8,000 men had tried in vain to defend the English Galls onslaught in the Munster Province, but he had come to realise that all was now lost and he had since gone into hiding in the Mitchelstown Caves in Co. Cork in Southern Munster and Edmond Fitz Gibbon / Fitz Gerald his kinsman, who had his Estates at Killmallock in Co. Limerick in the north - west of Munster, was to be betray him there and by this terrible deed was then to be the last White Knight of Desmond as he was given a reward of 1000 pounds by Elizabeth 1st for his treachery, while James Fitz Thomas Fitz Gerald the sixteenth Earl of Desmond was to be sent to the Tower of London to meet his end.

July 12th: Pope Clement V111, attempting to stimulate some semblance of hope in Ireland, made a proclamation that anyone who visited St. Gobnat’s Church at Ballyvourney in Co. Cork in the Sullane Valley in Southern Munster on her feast day, and prayed for peace in Ireland, and the expulsion of heresy, obtained a special indulgence.

Autumn: The Spanish fleet being sent by Phillip 111, the King of Spain, to assist the Irish resistance, set out from Cadiz for Ireland with 4,000 men on board, but ran into a great storm on the high seas and were then split into 2 individual groups.

September: The larger of the 2  groups from the Spanish Fleet was under Don Juan de Aguila, and they arrived into the Brandon Estuary at Kinsale in Co. Cork in Southern Munster with 3,800 men on board, and fortified the town, and occupied the 2 castles near the entrance, at Kincurren and Castlepark, situated at the southern end of the harbou where they immediately came under heavy attack from the English Military forces and Donnell Cam O Sullivan the Heberian Eoghanacht Chaisil Chief of Beare and Bantry there in the west of Co. Cork, offered to supply him with a further 2,000 men, but he declined his offer.

      The O Sullivan Sept, who were also descended from 85.Eoghan Mor, originally had their kingdom and territory in Co. Tipperary in the north - east of the Munster Province, where they then controlled the region there from Clonmel to Knoch Graffan, overlooking the River Suir, but had then been driven further south by the invading Anglo - Normans, into the west of Co. Cork and Co. Kerry, were they had finally settled in the area from Bantry Bay to Dingle Bay and once settled there, they had then divided into 2 main O Sullivan / Ui Suilebhain Septs, who were to be known as "The O Sullivan Mor - the Greater" and "The O Sullivan Beare," where their new territories there took in the south of the River Kenmare and the Bear Haven Peninsula, along with Dursey Island and Bantry. Sir Owen Oge - the Younger O Sullivan, who was a cousin of Donnell Cam O Sullivan, always "had his eye on regaining the position of "The O Sullivan Beare" for himself, which had been previously held by his father, when Donnell Cam had been considered too young to take up the position. Previously many of the Irish Families had been removed from there, and English Episcopalian planters had then been installed along the Co. Cork coast, to further bolster the English hold over that particular region in Southern Munster. 

November 2nd: Aedh Dubh / Red Hugh O Donnell who was now "The O Donnell" had been previously held up in his campaign against the English onslaught while trying to restrain his kinsmen and brother - in - law, Niall Garbh - the Rough O Donnell, who had gone over to the English side due to his jealousy of the growing popularity of 126.Aedh Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall who was now "The O Niall" and the esteemed position he now held among all of the Heremonian Dal Cuinn "northern" Ui Niaill Septs. Conn O Donnell, the son of Niall Garbh - the Rough O Donnell had been killed near the monastery in Donegal in Co. Donegal in the west of the Ulster Province where he and his father were now fighting for the English cause against his young brother - in - law Aedh Ruadh / Red Hugh O Donnell. With the problem of Niall Garbh O Donnell now out of the way Aedh Ruadh / Red Hugh O Donnell decided to take his Dal Cuinn "northern" Ui Niaill Cenel Conaill forces, and his other Irish allies from Ballymote in Co. Sligo in the north - west of the Connacht Province, and head south down to Kinsale in Co. Cork in Southern Munster, to try and relieve the Spanish forces there and this was to involve a forced march of 12 weeks, after first crossing over the frozen Slieve Felim Mountains on his way down).

December 1st: The other smaller section of the Spanish Fleet under Don Pedro de Zuibar, who had since returned to Cadiz, had set out again with 6 ships, and had by now reached Castlehaven, nearly 30 miles west of Kinsale, just as 126.Aedh Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall and his Heremonian Dal Cuinn "northern" Ui Niaill Cenel nEogain forces also were reaching Kinsale themselves and many of the Gaelic Munster Irish Chiefs also joined in with him, and one of these was "The O Driscoll" who was the Ithian Chieftain there, who handed over his castle at Castlehaven to the Spanish commander and Sir Fineen O Driscoll, another Ithian Chieftain, who was also a Royalist, handed over his two castles also, which covered the entrance to parts of Baltimore and Donnell Cam O Sullivan also handed over his Dunboy Castle to them.

 December 20th: Donnell Cam O Sullivan, assisted Don Pedro de Zuibar, to drive off the English forces from out of Castlehaven, and had another of his uncles, the "aged," Dermot O Sullivan, escort the Spanish Captain Saavedra, to his Dunboy Castle with 60 soldiers and 6 cannons to protect the harbour at Beare, which meant that there was by then 140 men defending the Donnell Cam O Sullivan's Dunboy Castle.

December 23rd: Donnell Cam O Sullivan, took 1,000 of his Irish forces to the final Battle at Kinsale, after sending off a letter to Philip 111 the King of Spain, committing his all to the Irish cause, which would be seized by the English and used against him later on.

December 24th: The English Military forces were full on attacking the Spanish at the Battle of Kinsale in Co. Cork in Southern Munster, and 126.Aedh Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall and Aedh Ruadh / Red Hugh O Donnell, who had both made separate forced long marches with their individual Dal Cuinn "northern" Ui Niaill forces from the Ulster Province, had crossed the ford at Shannon Bridge and they had joined up by now just outside of Kinsale. (The Irish still wore their hair with a fringe at the front, known as a glib, which hid their eyes and made them hard to recognize individually, which only infuriated the English. The Irish forces then went directly into the battle against the English forces, who were under the command of Blount / Mountjoy the English appointed Lord Deputy in Ireland, for Elizabeth 1st, who had a total of 17,000 troops at his disposal. Brian Oge Mac Mahon, a son of Aedh / Hugh Mac Mahon, had previously informed the English commander about the approaching Irish Septs from the north, while he was involved in consuming a bottle of whiskey with him, and the English had then turned around to take the Irish head on. Although the battle was to continue on until Christmas Eve the Spanish, who were now in the rear of it all, would not come out and join in the fight, and this led to devastating results with 1,200 Irish killed and only 12 English, but during the end of the battle, 126.Aedh Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall managed to escape, and lead his remaining Irish forces back to the north to Co. Tyrone in Central Southern Ulster, to try and regroup there, but before he left he was to  install Donnell Cam O Sullivan as the commander of the Irish forces in the Munster Province, while Aedh Ruadh / Red Hugh O Donnell also handed over his command to his young brother, Rory O Donnell to lead his men back to Co. Donegal in the north - west of the Ulster Province to regroup also. He then set out personally for Spain, to try and obtain further assistance from King Philip 111, who was to promise him another fleet of ships to try and free the Ulster Province, but it was never to eventuate, as he now had personal problems of his own with the Dutch.         

      The Heremonian Dal Cuinn "northern" Ui Niaill Cenel nEogain O Cane / Kane / Ui Cathain territory near Coleraine in the north - east of the Ulster Province, was also still under heavy attack from the English Military forces there, and the Heremonian Dal Cuinn Ui Briuin Ai Mac Dermots, who had their territory in the Curlieu Mountains in Northern Connacht, were also now forced to submit, due to the devastating tactics of "Slash and Burn" being carried out by Blount / Mountjoy the English appointed Lord Deputy in Ireland. The Mac Dermot's original territory of 30,000 acres, was also confiscated, and the remaining members of his Dal Cuinn Ui Briuin Ai Ui Diarmada Sept, were then driven out of Loch Key, so they went on to Coolavin, to try and hide out in the forest there. Jordan's Castle at Ard Glass in Co. Down in the south - east of the Ulster Province, which was previously under siege by the Dal Cuinn "northern" Ui Niaill was now relieved by the English Military forces also. (Owing to the damage done to it on this occasion, and due to its prominence, it would later be restored). 126.Aedh Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall, had also previously held onto Jonesborough, which was situated nearby on the Co. Louth border in the north - east of Northern Leinster, for nearly 6 years, but this too was now lost to the English Military forces. 126.Aedh Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall and the young Rory O Donnell, were to be eventually defeated in his territory in Co. Tyrone in Central Southern Ulster, after they were driven back into Ulster to the forest of Glenconkein by the English Military forces under Blount / Lord Mountjoy. Those among the captured Irish leaders, were eventually taken to the English stronghold of Dublin Castle (The Devil's 1/2 acre), which would see the final end of the Celtic Gaelic Irish Septs, and the imposition of more forced religious oppression and land confiscation being carried out.

      Francis Bacon, a confidant of Elizabeth 1st, in England, appealed to her for the Irish people to be treated as if one nation, but they were portrayed there in England as, "Beasts and vermin, who were nevertheless still loyal to England, as there were only a few unnatural and barbarous pagan rebels there, who needed to be got rid of."

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