THE AGE OF CHRIST, 1601. The Age of Christ, one thousand six hundred one.
The sons of John of the Shamrocks, the son of Rickard Saxonagh, of whom we have already treated, happened to be encamped during the first days of the month of January in O'Meagher's country, in Ikerrin. Spies and scouts came upon them in that place from the Butlers, after it had been reported by some of their gentlemen that an advantage and opportunity could be had by attacking them in the place where they then were. For this purpose Sir Walter, the son of John, son of James Butler, and Mac Pierce, i.e. James, the son of Edmond, son of James, with some of the gentlemen of the two countries, i.e. of the county of Tipperary and of the county of Kilkenny, came to a conference and meeting on a certain night, at an appointed place. The result of their conference, and the resolution to which they agreed, was, to attack the Connaught camp at day-break next morning.
An unusual accident and a sad fatality occurred to the camp of the Bourkes, namely, an advantage was taken of their want of watching, so that their enemies came into the midst of them. They left them lying mangled and slaughtered, pierced and blood-stained corpses, throughout their tents and booths.
When Redmond arrived with his marauders on the confines of Thomond, they pitched a camp on the western side of Loch-Cutra. Here he was joined by a young gentleman of the Dal-Cais, namely, Teige, the son of Turlough, son of Donnell, son of Conor O'Brien, who had been induced to join him through the advice and solicitation of bad and foolish men, and without consulting or taking counsel of his father or the Earl of Clanrickard, to whom he was related
A great number of the Queen's people came from various places to assist the Earl of Clanrickard. Of these were eight or nine standards of soldiers, sent from the President of the two provinces of Munster. Thither came the Earl's own son, who had been for some time before along with the Lord Justice, with a band of foreign soldiers; thither also came the Deputy of the Governor of the province of Connaught, and there came also an auxiliary force from Galway.
When the Deputy of the Governor of Connaught and the Baron of Dunkellin received intelligence that Teige O'Brien was lying severely wounded in that camp of Redmond Burke, they sent him a protection in behalf of the Queen, upon which he repaired to them. The Baron sent an escort with him to Leitrim, one of the Earl's castles. But he did not live long there, for he died shortly afterwards; and he was buried successively at Loughrea and Athenry in one week. Alas to the country that lost this young scion! He was expert at every warlike weapon and military engine used by the Irish on the field of battle. He was full of energy and animation, and distinguished for agility, expertness, miIdness, comeliness, renown, and hospitality.
As for the camps in the district of Kinel-Fheichin, they were front to front, guarding against each other daily, from the festival of St. Patrick to the end of the month of April, when the provisions and stores of flesh meat of the sons of John Burke began to grow scant and to fail; and they, therefore, proceeded to quit the territory; and after their departure they carried off a prey from O'Madden, i.e. Donnell, the son of John, son of Breasal, and then proceeded across the Suck. The sons of the Earl, in the mean time, continued to pursue them; and many persons were slain between them on this occasion. The sons of John Burke then went to Tirconnell, to O'Donnell; and the sons of the Earl returned to their own country and their houses. Upon their return to their patrimony, they found their father, i.e. Ulick, the son of Rickard, son of Ulick-na-gCeann, in his last moments, after making his wild, and bidding farewell to
- 1] Sixteen hundred years and one besides,
2] From the time that Christ came into a body,
3] The advocate of our causes at every term,
4] To the death of the Earl Ulick.
O'Doherty (John Oge, the son of John, son of Felim, son of Conor Carragh) died on the 27th of January. He was Lord of the triocha-ched of Inishowen; and there was not among all the Irish of his time a lord of a triocha-ched of better hand or hospitality, or of firmer counsel, than he. O'Donnell nominated Felim Oge, i.e. the brother of the deceased John, the O'Doherty; but the Clann-Ailin and the Clann-Devitt took Cahir, the son of John Oge, to the English, to Derry; and the General, Sir Henry Docwra, styled him O'Doherty, to spite O'Donnell.
Redmond O'Gallagher, Bishop of Derry, was killed by the English in Oireacht-Ui-Chathain, on the 15th of March.
James, the son of Sorley Boy, son of Alexander, son of John Cahanagh,
Mac-I-Brien Ara, namely, Turlough, the son of Murtough,son of Donnell,son of Teige,died in the month of February.There was no other lord of a territory in Ireland so old as he on the night he died. He was an active, warlike man, who had led his followers in safety from every terrritory into which he had gone,and seldom had any troop who had entered his territory returned from him scathless; a man who had defended the rugged and hilly district which he had possessed until his death. He was interred in his own fortified residence of Baile-an-chaislen.
O'Reilly, i.e. Edmond, the son of Maelmora, son of John, son of Cathal, died
After the sons of John Burke had gone to O'Donnell, as we have already stated, they contiued, whithersoever they went, in company with O'Donnell, to harass and plunder the Queen's people; for which reason the Lord Justice of
Conor, the son of Murtough Garv, son of Brien, son of Teige O'Brian, died about May-day, at Craig-Chorcrain, and was buried in the monastery of Ennis.
Mary, daughter of Con O'Donnell, and wife of O'Boyle (Teige Oge, son of Teige, son of Turlough), died on the 6th of November, and was buried at Donegal.
O'Conor Sligo (Donough, the son of Cathal Oge) was taken prisoner by O'Donnell (Hugh Roe, the son of Hugh, son of Manus). The cause of this capture was this: O'Donnell had received intelligence that O'Conor was spying upon and betraying him to the Lord Justice and the English of Dublin; for the Lord Justice had promised some time before that he would obtain his own territory again for O'Conor from the Queen, and that the young Earl of Desmond (whose mother was the wife of O'Conor), namely, James, the son of Garrett, who was in custody in London, would be let home to his patrimony. When this fact was clear and certain to O'Donnell, he took O'Conor prisoner; and Ballymote, which he had previously given to O'Conor, and Cul-Maoile Collooney, were obliged to be again surrendered up to O'Donnell; and O'Conor was then sent into imprisonment in an island on Loch-Eascaigh in Tirconnell.
The young Earl of Clanrickard, whom we have mentioned as having been appointed in the place of his father, was ordered by the Lord Justice of Ireland, i.e. Lord Mountjoy, to march with all his host and forces to the monastery of Boyle, and from thence, if he could, to Sligo. At the command of the Lord Justice, countless numbers of the English, who were in garrison for the Queen in the towns of Munster, namely, in Limerick, Kilmallock, Askeaton, &c., came to join the Earl; and numbers of the soldiers of Galway and Athlone came to join the same hosting. When all these had collected together to the Earl,
As soon as O'Donnell heard of the arrival of this numerous army at the place which we have before mentioned, he assembled his forces, and did not halt until he crossed the Curlieus, and the River Boyle, into Moylurg; and pitched his camp directly opposite them his enemies. They remained thus for some time face to face, spying and watching each other. Many were the conflicts, manslaughters, and affrays which took place between them while they remained thus in readiness for each other, until at length the English army became wearied, and returned in sorrow to their houses.
After this, news reached O'Donnell, that Niall Garv, the son of Con, son of Calvagh, with his O'Donnell's English and Irish, had come from the east of Tirconnell, across Bearnas, and encamped at Donegal, in the east of Tirhugh. When O'Donnell received the news that the English had arrived at that place he felt grieved for the misfortune of the monastery, and that the English should occupy and inhabit it instead of the Sons of Life and the Culdees, whose rightful property it was till then; and he could not forbear from going to try if he could relieve them. What he did was this: he left the farmers and betaghs of Tirconnell, with their herds and flocks throughout Lower Connaught, with some of his soldiers to protect them against invaders from the harbours, kerns, and foreign tribes, and he himself proceeded with the greater part of his army, across the rivers Sligo, Duff, Drowes, and Erne, northwards, and pitched his camp in strong position exactly at Carraig, which is upwards of two thousand paces from Donegal, where Niall Garv O'Donnell and his English were stationed. As for O'Donnell he ordered great numbers of his forces alternately to blockade the monastery by day and night, so as to prevent the English from coming outside its walls to destroy anything in the country. Neither of the armies did by any means pass their time happily or pleasantly, for killing and destroying, conflict and shooting, were carried on by each party against the other. The English were reduced to great straits and
As soon as Niall Garv O'Donnell perceived the great jeopardy in which his people and the English were, he passed unnoticed westwards, along the margin of the harbour, to Machaire-beg, where a great number of the English were stationed; and he took them with him to the relief of the other party of English, who were reduced to distress by O'Donnell and his people; and the crew of the ship proceeded to fight, and kept up a fire in defence of them, until they had passed inside the central walls of the monastery.
When O'Donnell observed the great strength of the place in which they were, and the great force that had come to the relief of the English, he ordered his soldiers to withdraw from the conflict and to return back; for he did not deem it meet that they should be cut off in an unequal contest. This was done at his bidding; and he removed his camp nearer to the monastery, and sent some of his people to Machaire-beg, where the English whom Niall Garv had brought with him to assist his people were stationed. The burning of the monastery, and this occurrence, happened precisely on Michaelmas-day.
O'Donnell remained thus blockading the English, and reducing them to great straits and exigencies, from the end of September to the end of October, without any deed of note being achieved between them during that time, until news at length reached them that a Spanish fleet had arrived in the south of Ireland, to assist the Irish who were at war.
A hosting was made by the Lord Justice of Ireland, Lord Mountjoy, in the month of June, to proceed into Ulster. Nothing is related of his progress until he arrived at Bealach-an-Mhaighre. This place was defended and watched by O'Neill's guards. Many men and troops of the English and Irish had been often lamentably slain and slaughtered about that pass between O'Neill and the English. But the Lord Justice got an opportunity and advantage of him O'Neill at this time, a thing which seldom had happened previously; so that the borders and very centre of the pass were in his power on this occasion. He then pitched his camp on the spot which he thought proper on that road, and erected a castle of lime and stone upon a certain part of that road. Having finished this castle in the course of a month, he left two hundred soldiers to guard it, and proceeded forward, with the remainder of his forces to Sliabh Fuaid, to Armagh, and across the Abhainn-mor, he went to Portmore, a fortress which had been built four years before by the Lord Justice Borogh, who, shortly after its erection, while attempting to lay up provisions in it, came to a premature death by O'Neill. Moreover, O'Neill had taken the same fort from the Queen's people (about a year after the death of the Lord Justice); having in taking it from them made a slaughter of their men and heroes; and the fort had remained in O'Neill's possession thenceforward until this time that this new Justice came to it. When he came near this fort, O'Neill's people left it wide open to their foes and enemies, a thing that was unusual with them till then.
On the first days after the Lord Justice had encamped in this fortress, he set out to view, reconnoitre, and explore the country around. On arriving at the borders of Benburb, he was encountered near one of the passes of the country by some of O'Neill's kerns, in a heroic and hostile manner, with fierce and grim visages, and a frightful fierce battle was fought between them, in which many were slain on both sides, at that place; but, however, there were more of the Lord Justice's slain than of O'Neill's soldiers.
The Lord Justice returned back to the camp, in despite of all the overwhelming
The Earl of Essex, a brave, energetic, warlike, and victorious man, in the service of the Sovereign of England; a man who had been appointed chief leader of plundering and invasion by the men of England in other countries, and who had been in the name and place of the Sovereign in Ireland for half a year, as we have said before, began, in the first month of this year, to offer insult and indignity to the Sovereign, and to exert himself to transfer the crown. As soon as this treachery was perceived by the men of London, they quickly and actively rose up against the Earl, and chased and pursued him from one place to another, through the streets of the town, and also outside the town, so that he was compelled to go into Essex-house to defend himself. He had not been long there when he was summoned and compelled to deliver and surrender himself up an unarmed prisoner to the Queen's people. He was afterwards sent to be confined, as a traitor, to the Tower; and all those who had any share, counsel, participation, or alliance, in this act of treachery, were quartered, and their members placed on the gates and portals of the town. The Earl
James, the son of Thomas Roe, son of James, son of John, son of the Earl (who had been styled Earl of Desmond by the Irish, as we have said before), having become weak and powerless in the cliath of war in which he was engaged against the English, he sent his brother, John, the son of Thomas Roe, and Mac Maurice of Kerry (Thomas, the son of Patrickin, son of Thomas, son of Edmond, son of Thomas), and Pierce De Lacy, to Ulster, to request aid and assistance from the Irish of the North, and remained himself with a small party; concealing and hiding himself among his true friends in sequestered huts and caverns underground. He remained thus for some time, until, upon a certain occasion, the White Knight (Edmond, the son of John) was informed that James was in a certain cave on the borders of his (the Knight's) country and he resolved to lay violent hands on his relative by kindred and pedigree and his lord in treason for some years before, for the small portion of land
The young Earl of Desmond, namely, James, the son of Garret, son of James, son of John, whom we have made mention of as having come from England as an Earl in the auturun of the past year, went over to England in the
Captain Tyrrell (Richard, the son of Thomas, son of Richard) had remained with O'Neill during the preceding part of this year. This captain came about the Lammas of this year, with some retained kerns which he obtained from O'Neill, into Leinster. It would be impossible to reckon, describe, or enumerate the preys he made, the deaths he caused, the castles he took, the men he made prisoners, or the plunders and spoils he obtained throughout the county of Carlow, in the county of Kildare, and in the county of Offaly and Tipperary, from Lammas to the first month of the following winter.
The Lower Burkes, namely, Mac William Burke (Theobald, the son of Walter Kittagh), who was confederated with O'Donnell, and who had been
When Mac William (Theobald, the son of Walter) came to O'Donnell, he complained to him of his sufferings and difficulties, and told him how he had been banished from his country. This circumstance was grievous to Donnell; but, however, he was not able to relieve him immediately; for he was engaged, with his troops and forces, watching and restraining the movements of the English, who had arrived in his territory; so that he was not able to move into any external territory to relieve friend or ally, by reason of the overwhelming force that oppressed him in his own territory. Mac William remained with him from the first month of spring to the Michaelmas following, at which time O'Donnell sent with him, to visit his patrimony in MacWilliam's country, as many men as he could spare. On his arrival with his muster in the very middle of the territory, he was met on the road through which he was marching by the other Mac William, who had been set up against him as his rival and opponent, by the descendants of Ulick Burke, and by Theobald, the son of Rickard-an-Iarainn; and a fierce battle was fought between them, in which they were mutually mindful of their ancient grudges and recent enmities, until at length Richard, son of Rickard Burke, was defeated, and he himself killed in the conflict, and thus came the end of this chieftainship.
A Spanish fleet arrived in the south of Ireland. Don Juan de Aguila was
There was another castle, on the east side of the harbour of Kinsale, called Rinn-Corrain, situate in Kinelea, the territory of Barry Oge; in this town the Spaniards placed a garrison of some of their distinguished men, to guard it in like manner.
When the Lord Justice of Ireland heard these news, he did not delay until he arrived at Kinsale, with all the forces he was able to muster of those who were obedient to the Queen in Ireland. Thither arrived the President of the two provinces of Munster, with the forces of Munster along with him. The Earl of Clanrickard, and every head of a host and troop that was obedient to the command of the Lord Justice in Connaught, together with their forces, arrived at the same place. Thither in manner aforesaid came the Leinstermen and Meathmen, as they had been commanded by the Lord Justice.
After they had come together at one place, they pitched and arranged a camp before Kinsale, and from this they faced Rinn-Corrain; and they allowed them the garrison there neither quiet, rest, sleep, nor repose, for a long time and they gave each other violent conflicts and manly onsets, until the warders after all the hardships they encountered, were forced to come out unarmed,
The Lord Justice, and his forces, and the Spaniards at Kinsale, continued to shoot and fire at each other during the first month of winter, until the Queen and Council advised the Earl of Thomond to go with many ships, and vessels, with men, good arms, and stores, to relieve and succour the Sovereign's people in Ireland. On the Earl's arrival with the fleet in the harbour of Kinsale, they landed on that side of the harbour at which the Lord Justice's people were. Four thousand men was the number under the Earl of Thomond's command, of this army. Some say that, were it not for the great spirit and courage taken by the Lord Justice at the arrival of the Earl of Thomond and this force, he would have left the camp void and empty, and afterwards would have distributed the English forces among the great towns of Munster. The Earl of Thomond pitched a camp apart to himself, at that angle of the Lord Justice's camp which was nearest to Kinsale.
At this time the Spaniards made an assault by night upon a quarter of the Lord Justice's camp, and slew many men; and they thrust stones and wedges
When O'Neill, O'Donnell, and the Irish of Leath-Chuinn in general, heard the news of the arrival of this Spanish fleet, the resolution they came to, with one mind and one intention (although their chieftains and gentlemen did not assemble together to hold their consultation or conclude their counsel), was, that each lord of a territory among them should leave a guard and protection over his territory and fair land, and proceed, without dallying or delaying, to aid and assist the Spaniards, who had come at their call and instance; for it was distress of heart and disturbance of mind to them that they should be in such strait and jeopardy as they were placed in by their enemies, without relieving them, if they could.
O'Donnell was the first who prepared to go on this expedition. Having left guards over his creaghts and all his people in the county of Sligo, he set out from Ballymote in the very beginning of winter. The following were some of the chiefs who were along with him: O'Rourke ( Brian Oge, the son of Brian); the sons of John Burke; Mac Dermot of Moylurg; the sept of O'Conor Roe; O'Kelly; and the chiefs who had been banished from Munster, and were with him during the preceding part of this year, namely, MacMaurice of Kerry (Thomas, the son of Patrickin); the Knight of Glin (Edmond, the son of Thomas);
O'Donnell remained near twenty days on the hill of Druim-Saileach, in Ikerrin, awaiting O'Neill, who was marching slowly after him; and, while stationed at that place, O'Donnell's people continued plundering, burning, and ravaging the country around them, so that there was no want of anything necessary for an army in his camp, for any period, short or long.
As soon as the Lord Justice of Ireland heard that O'Donnell was marching towards him, he sent the President of the two provinces of Munster, namely, Sir George Carew, with four thousand soldiers, to meet him, in order to prevent him from making the journey on which his mind was bent, by blocking up the common road against him. When O'Donnell discovered that the President had arrived with his great host in the vicinity of Cashel, he proceeded with his
O'Donnell remained nearly a week in these districts of Hy-Connell-Gaura, plundering, devastating, ravaging, and destroying the territories of every person in his neighbourhood who had any connexion or alliance with the English. After this O'Donnell proceeded over the upper part of Sliabh-Luachra, through Clann-Auliffe, through Muskerry, and to the Bandon in the Carberys. All the Irish of Munster came to him there, except Mac Carthy Reagh (Donnell, the son of Cormac-na-h-Aaoine) and Cormac, the son of Dermot, son of Teige, Lord of Muskerry. All these Irishmen promised to be in alliance and in unison with him from thenceforward.
As for O'Neill, i.e. Hugh, the son of Ferdorcha, son of Con Bacagh, he left Tyrone a week after Allhallowtide, to go to assist the aforesaid Spaniards. After he had crossed the Boyne he proceeded to plunder and burn the territories of Bregia and Meath. He afterwards marched through the west of Meath, and through the east of Munster, westwards across the Suir; but his adventures are not related until he arrived at the River Bandon, where O'Donnell was. John, son of Thomas Roe, son of the Earl of Desmond, was along with O'Neill on this expedition.
When the Irish chiefs and their forces met together at one place, they encamped a short distance to the north of the camp of the Lord Justice at Bel-Guala, in Kinelea. Many a host and troop, and lord of a territory, and chief of a cantred, were along with O'Neill and O'Donnell at this place. Great were the spirit, courage, prowess, and valour, of the people who were there. There was not a spot or quarter in the five provinces of Ireland where these, or some party of them, had not impressed a horror and hatred, awe and dread of themselves among the English and Irish who were in opposition to them, till that time. Frequent and numerous had been their battles, their exploits, their depredations, their conflicts, their deeds, their achievements over enemies in other territories, up to this very hour. They met no mighty man whom they did not subdue, and no force over which they did not prevail, so long as the Lord and fortune favoured, that is, so long as they did the will of their Lord God, and kept his commandments and his will. Efficient for giving the onset, and gaining the battle over their enemies, were the tribes who were in this camp (although some of them did not assist one another), had God permitted them to fight stoutly with one mind and one accord, in defence of their religion and their patrimony, in the strait difficulty in which they had the enemy on this occasion.
The Irish reduced the English to great straits, for they did not permit hay, corn, or water, straw or fuel, to be taken into the Lord Justice's camp. They remained thus for some time watching each other, until Don Juan, the General of the Spaniards, sent a letter privately to the Irish, requesting them to attack a part of the Lord Justice's camp on a certain night, and adding that he himself would attack the other part of it on the same night; for they the Spaniards were reduced to great straits by the English, as the English were distressed by the Irish.
The chiefs of the Kinel-Connell and Kinel-Owen began to deliberate in council on this suggestion; and they were for some time dissentient on adopting this resolution, for it was O'Neill's advice not to attack them immediately by
When the particular night upon which it was agreed they should make this attack arrived, the Irish cheerfully and manfully put on their dresses of battle and conflict, and were prepared for marching. Their chiefs were at variance, each of them contending that he himself should go foremost in the night's attack; so that the manner in which they set out from the borders of their camp was in three strong battalions, three expensive and numerous hosts, shoulder to shoulder, and elbow to elbow. O'Neill, with the Kinel-Owen, and such of the people of Oriel and Iveagh-of-Uladh as adhered to him, were in a strong battalion apart; O'Donnell, with the Kinel-Connell, his sub-chieftains, and the Connaughtmen in general, formed the second battalion; and those gentlemen of Munster, Leinster, and Meath, with their forces, who had risen up in the confederacy of the Irish war, and who had been in banishment in Ulster during the preceding part of this year, were in the third battalion, and marched steadily and slowly, without mixing with any other host.
After they had marched outside their camp in this manner, the forces mistook their road and lost their way, in consequence of the great darkness of the night, so that their guides were not able to make their way to the appointed place, opposite the camp of the Lord Justice, until clear daylight next morning. Some assert that a certain Irishman had sent word and information to the Lord
As soon as the Lord Justice perceived this thing, he sent forth vehement and vigorous troops to engage them, so that they fell upon O'Neill's people, and proceeded to kill, slaughter, subdue, and thin them, until five or six ensigns were taken from them, and many of their men were slain.
O'Donnell advanced to the side of O'Neill's people after they were discomfitted, and proceeded to call out to those who were flying, to stand their ground,
Manifest was the displeasure of God, and misfortune to the Irish of fine Fodhla, on this occasion; for, previous to this day, a small number of them had more frequently routed many hundreds of the English, than they had fled from them, in the field of battle, in the gap of danger (in every place they had encountered), up to this day. Immense and countless was the loss in that place, although the number slain was trifling; for the prowess and valour, prosperity and affluence, nobleness and chivalry, dignity and renown, hospitality and generosity, bravery and protection, devotion and pure religion, of the Island, were lost in this engagement.
The Irish forces returned that night, with O'Neill and O'Donnell, to Inis-Eoghanain. Alas! the condition in which they were that night was not as they had expected to return from that expedition, for there prevailed much reproach on reproach, moaning and dejection, melancholy and anguish, in every quarter throughout the camp. They slept not soundly, and scarcely did they take any refreshment. When they met together their counsel was hasty, unsteady, and precipitate, so that what they at length resolved upon was, that O'Neill and Rury, the brother of O'Donnell, with sub-chieftains, and the chiefs of Leath-Chuinn in general, should return back to their countries, to defend their territories and lands against foreign tribes; and that O'Donnell (Hugh
These chiefs left some of their neighbouring confederates in Munster, to plunder it in their absence, namely: Captain Tyrrell, the other sons of John Burke, and other gentlemen besides them. These high Irishmen, namely, O'Neill and O'Donnell, ordered that the chief command and leadership of these should be given to O'Sullevan Beare, i.e. Donnell, the son of Donnell, son of Dermot; for he was, at this time, the best commander among their allies in Munster, for wisdom and valour.
On the third day of the month of January 1602 this overthrow was given to the Irish.