Warfare in sixteenth-century Ireland

Seán Ó Domhnaill

doi:10.1017/S002112140002681X

Warfare in sixteenth-century Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2016

Seán Ó Domhnaill

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Warfare in Ireland in the sixteenth century must be considered in close relation to the political conditions prevailing in the country during the century. In the beginning of the century the Pale, or that part of Ireland in which the writ of the king of England ran, comprised only half of the four counties lying near Dublin. Outside the Pale were ninety states or lordships ruled by lords, often called by the English captains, who, having despotic jurisdiction within the state, made peace or war as they chose. These lordships have, very appropriately, been called the autonomous states by a modern Irish historian. About one-third of these autonomous states were ruled by lords of English origin who had in language, manners, and customs become almost as Irish as the Irish themselves. Every state, even the smallest, had its armed forces.

Type: Articles
Information: Irish Historical Studies , Volume 5 , Issue 17 , March 1946 , pp. 29 - 54

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S002112140002681X [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1946

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References

^{page no 29 note 1} S.P. Hen. VIII, Ire., i. 9.

^{page no 29 note 2} Ibid., i. 1.

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^{page no 31 note 1} Cal. S.P. Ire., 1592–6, p. 320.

^{page no 31 note 2} Ibid., p. 322.

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^{page no 32 note 1} A.F.M., A.D. 1495.

^{page no 32 note 2} Rerum Hibernicarum annales, pp. 71–2. O’Donovan says (A.F.M., A.D. 1504 n.), quite mistakenly, that Ware gives the figures for MacUilliam’s losses as 2,000.

^{page no 32 note 3} As their names indicates, the gallóglaigh were soldiers of foreign origin, but, by the 16th century, Irish families like the O’Gallaghers had become gallóglaigh ( Ireland in 1598, ed. Hogan, , p. 29).Google Scholar The English corrupted the name into galloglasses. A battalion of gallóglaigh numbered 80 ( Dymmok, John, A treatise of Ireland, in Tracts relating to Ireland, 2. 7).Google Scholar

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^{page no 33 note 1} Bagwell, , Tudors, 1. 187.Google Scholar

^{page no 33 note 2} Oman, , The art of war in the sixteenth century, p. 194.Google Scholar

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^{page no 33 note 5} Ireland in 1598, ed. Hogan, E., p. 30.Google Scholar

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^{page no 34 note 1} A.F.M., A.D. 1557.

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^{page no 34 note 6} O’Sullevan Bearr, op. cit., pp. 209–10.

^{page no 34 note 7} Ibid., p. 210.

^{page no 34 note 8} Cal. S.P. Ire., 1596–7, pp. 190–1.

^{page no 35 note 1} Cal. S.P. Ire., 1596–7, p. 305.

^{page no 35 note 2} Ibid., p. 252.

^{page no 35 note 3} Cal. S.P. Ire., 1598–9, p. 202.

^{page no 35 note 4} Ormond to Elizabeth, , 18 Aug. 1598 (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1598–9, pp. 234–5).Google Scholar

^{page no 35 note 5} Privy Council to Essex, 17 Apr. 1599 (ibid., pp. 13–14).

^{page no 35 note 6} Jones, F.M., ‘The Spaniards and Kinsale, 1601’ in Galway Arch. Soc. Jn., 21 (1944).Google Scholar

^{page no 35 note 7} A.F.M., A.D. 1555.

^{page no 36 note 1} A.F.M., A.D. 1590.

^{page no 36 note 2} Ibid., A.D. 1557.

^{page no 36 note 3} Ó Cléirigh, Lughaidh, Beatha Aodha Ruaidh Uí Dhomhnaill, ed. Murphy, D., p. 72.Google Scholar

^{page no 36 note 4} Dymmok, op. cit., p. 16.

^{page no 36 note 5} Ibid., p. 7.

^{page no 36 note 6} Ó Cléirigh, op. cit., p. 256.

^{page no 36 note 7} John Derricke, The image of Irelande, plate II.

^{page no 36 note 8} Ibid., plate I.

^{page no 37 note 1} Moryson, op. cit., i. 235–7.

^{page no 37 note 2} Dymmok, op. cit., p. 7.

^{page no 37 note 3} S.P. Hen. VIII, Ire., ii. 177.

^{page no 37 note 4} Cal. Carew MSS, 1575–88, p. 248.

^{page no 37 note 5} Cal. S.P. Ire., 1592–6, p. 299.

^{page no 37 note 6} Bagwell, , Tudors, 2. 34.Google Scholar

^{page no 37 note 7} Hibernia (1610), p. 68.

^{page no 37 note 8} Dymmok, op. cit., pp. 7–8.

^{page no 37 note 9} O’Sullevan Bearr, op. cit, p. 193.

^{page no 37 note 10} Derrick, op. cit., plates II, III, IV.

^{page no 37 note 11} S.P. Hen. VIII, Ire., ii. 444.

^{page no 38 note 1} Dymmok, op. cit., p. 8.

^{page no 38 note 2} A.F.M., A.D. 14873.

^{page no 38 note 3} Ibid., A.D. 1488.

^{page no 38 note 4} A.F.M.

^{page no 38 note 5} Ibid., A.D. 1536.

^{page no 38 note 6} S.P. Hen. VIII, Ire., i. 444.

^{page no 38 note 7} Don, C.O. O’Conor, The O’Conors of Connaught, p. 212.Google Scholar

^{page no 38 note 8} Docwra, , Narration, p. 242.Google Scholar Docwra who was unhorsed and rendered unconscious by the blow of a javelin calls the weapon a horseman’s ‘stafe’.

^{page no 39 note 1} Dymmok, op. cit., p. 7.

^{page no 39 note 2} Seán Ó Néill’s country was so prosperous that hundreds of farmers had left the Pale to dwell in Tirowen ( Bagwell, , Tudors, 2. 17),Google Scholar and he armed all his tenants (D.N.B.).

^{page no 40 note 1} A.F.M., A.D. 1580.

^{page no 40 note 2} Report of commission on bogs in Ireland (1810), p. 4.

^{page no 41 note 1} A.F.M., A.D. 1597.

^{page no 41 note 2} Cal S.P. Ire., 1574–85, pp. 54–5.

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^{page no 42 note 1} Docwra, , Narration, p. 250.Google Scholar

^{page no 42 note 2} Ó Néill and Ó Domhnaill to Philip II, 16 May 1596 (Ó Cléirigh, op. cit., introd., p. lxxviii). See ibid., pp. 58–60, and Cal. S.P. Ire., 1596–7, pp. 286, 352–3.

^{page no 42 note 3} Burgh to Sir Robert Cecil, 10 Sept. 1597 (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1596–7, pp. 394–5).

^{page no 42 note 4} Meehan, , Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell (1868), p. 125 n.Google Scholar

^{page no 43 note 1} Cal. S.P. Ire., 1599–1600, p. 69.

^{page no 43 note 2} Bagwell, , Tudors, 3. 37.Google Scholar

^{page no 43 note 3} When it was proposed to rebuild the castle of Sligo it was learned that even the lime would have to be brought in four barks from Galway (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1599–1600, pp. 335–6).

^{page no 44 note 1} A.F.M., A.D. 1559. The annalists record the event wrongly under this year. Ó Néill’s exploit took place in 1561.

^{page no 44 note 2} Cal. S.P. Ire., 1509–73, p. 12, no. 39.

^{page no 44 note 3} A.L.C., A.D. 1567.

^{page no 44 note 4} Bagwell, , Tudors, 2. 302.Google Scholar

^{page no 44 note 5} Hayes-McCoy, G.A., Scots mercenary forces in Ireland, p. 174.Google Scholar

^{page no 44 note 6} A.F.M., A.D. 1595.

^{page no 44 note 7} Ibid., A.D. 1597.

^{page no 45 note 1} Lughaidh Ó Cléirigh, op. cit., p. 174.

^{page no 45 note 2} View, in Ware, Anc. Ir. hist., i. 166.

^{page no 45 note 3} ‘The historie of Irlande’, in Holinshed, Chronicles, i. 101.

^{page no 46 note 1} Hogan, J., Ireland in the European system, pp. 107–8, quoting the French historical writer, De Serigny.Google Scholar

^{page no 46 note 2} Cal. S.P. Ire., 1509–73, p. 298.

^{page no 46 note 3} Bagwell, , Tudors, 3. 451.Google Scholar

^{page no 47 note 1} Cal. Carew MSS, 1589–1600, p. 102.

^{page no 47 note 2} Marshal Bagnal to Burghley, 29 May 1595 (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1592–6, pp. 319–20).

^{page no 47 note 3} Lord deputy to Burghley, 4 June 1595 (ibid., pp. 322–3).

^{page no 47 note 4} Hayes-McCoy, op. cit., p. 74.

^{page no 47 note 5} Hayes-McCoy, G.A., ‘The early history of guns in Ireland’ in Galzvay Arch. Soc. Jn., 18 (1938–9). 43–65.Google Scholar

^{page no 48 note 1} Cal. S.P. Ire., 1600, p. 239.

^{page no 48 note 2} Cal. S.P. Ire., 1596–7, p. 35.

^{page no 49 note 1} A.F.M., A.D. 1597.

^{page no 49 note 2} Sir Conyers Clifford to lord deputy and council, 9 Aug. 1597 (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1596–7, pp. 373–7).

^{page no 49 note 3} O’Sullevan Bearr, op. cit., pp. 209–10.

^{page no 49 note 4} Cf. Cal. S.P. Ire., 1599–1600, p. 159.

^{page no 50 note 1} O’Sullevan Bearr, op. cit., p. 194.

^{page no 50 note 2} Ibid., p. 191. The Irish usually comprised more than half of Queen Elizabeth’s forces in Ireland.

^{page no 50 note 3} Cal. S.P. Ire., 1598–99, p. 227. The Four Masters incorrectly give the date as Aug. 10.

^{page no 50 note 4} O’Sullevan Bearr, op. cit., p. 193.

^{page no 50 note 5} Ibid.

^{page no 51 note 1} O’Sullevan Bearr, op. cit., p. 193.

^{page no 51 note 2} Facs. nat. MSS Ire., i. 206–7.

^{page no 51 note 3} Cal. S.P. Ire., 1598–9, pp. 253–4.

^{page no 51 note 4} O’Sullevan Bearr, op. cit., p. 194.

^{page no 51 note 5} Cal. S.P. Ire., 1598–9, p. 242.

^{page no 51 note 6} Cal. S.P. Ire., 1598–9, p. 241.

^{page no 52 note 1} O’Sullevan Bearr, op. cit., p. 194.

^{page no 52 note 2} Cal. S.P. Ire., 1598–9, p. 279, no. 94 III.

^{page no 52 note 3} Ibid., p. 242.

^{page no 52 note 4} Ibid., p. 278.

^{page no 52 note 5} Ibid.

^{page no 52 note 6} Ibid., p. 228.

^{page no 52 note 7} Ibid., p. 236, no. 28 II.

^{page no 52 note 8} O’Sullevan Bearr, op. cit., p. 195.

^{page no 53 note 1} Cal. S.P. Ire., 1598–9, p. 243.

^{page no 53 note 2} Ormond to the privy council, 18 Aug. (ibid., p. 235).

^{page no 53 note 3} Captain Montague’s report, 16 Aug. (ibid., pp. 227–8).

^{page no 53 note 4} Camden, , Hibernia (1610), p. 127 Google Scholar

^{page no 54 note 1} A.F.M., A.D. 1601.

^{page no 54 note 2} Pacata Hibernia (1810), ii. 414–15.

^{page no 54 note 3} Ibid., ii. 421.

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