O’Neill’s rebellion

Posted by Jim on July 22, 2017

O’Neill’s Rebellion took place in Ireland from 1590 until 1598. It was
fought between the Gaelic O’Neill family with their Spanish allies
against the Kingdom of England. The war was fought to end English rule
in Ireland and took place in all parts of the country, but mainly in
Ulster and the English controlled Pale around Dublin. The war ended in a
victory for the O’Neill family and the restoration of the power of
Gaelic families in Ireland.

O’Neill’s rebellion was a result of the Gaelic families of Ireland
attempting to resist the advance of English control in Ireland. The
English state sought to end Gaelic power in Ireland and bring the
Protestant religion to the almost exclusively Catholic country. Hugh
O’Neill was head of the House of O’Neill, who had lost a lot of their
influence in Ireland to the English. In 1588 Hugh O’Neill sent his
brother Shane O’Neill to the court of Rory O Donnell in Donegal to form
an alliance between the two families. Shane O’Neill was wildly
successful. O Donnell agreed to a military alliance with the O’Neills.
Shane O’Neill married Catherine, the daughter of Rory O Donnell, to
cement the alliance between the two families.

Capture and execution of Shane O’Neill

In the summer of 1590, Hugh O’Neill sent his brother Shane to form an
alliance with the FitzGeralds of Kildare, who were Catholics that were
determined to stop the spread of the protestant religion into Ireland.
However, Shane O’Neill never arrived in Kildare, he was captured by
English forces near the Pale. Hugh O’Neill demanded the return of Shane
O’Neill. The O’Neills argued Shane’s capture was unjust, but the English
were determined to stop the Catholic lords of Ireland creating alliances
with each other. In November, 1590. Shane O’Neill was brought to Dublin
castle and hanged by the English. This execution was supposed to send a
message to the Irish and old English Catholic families to cease plotting
against the English crown.

War breaks out

One week after the execution of Shane O’Neill, Hugh O’Neill raised an
army of 15,000 soldiers in Ulster and began marching towards the Pale.
When the English heard of O’Neill’s army marching towards the Pale,
which acted as the centre of English control in Ireland, they demanded
Hugh O’Neill disband his army and submit to the Queen of England,
Elizabeth I. They received no response and sent a force of 8000
professional English soldiers to Ireland. Initial reports led the
English to believe O’Neill was marching an army of no more than 4,500
men. In January 1591 O’Neill’s forces led siege to the town of Dundalk
in North eastern Leinster. The English authorities in the Pale were
alarmed at the size and professionalism of O’Neill’s army and requested
an additional 7000 soldiers. The English agreed to send 7000 soldiers
and the soldiers arrived in Drogheda, a town south of Dundalk. By
February O’Neill had taken Dundalk with very little casualties. In late
February Rory O Donnell joined O’Neill and sent 4000 soldiers to aid
O’Neills army in in the Pale.

Irish victory in Drogheda

After O’Neill’s victory in Dundalk he continued to march south and in
March, 1591 the first major fighting between Irish and English forces
took place. At the Battle of Drogheda, O’Neill’s army of 15,000 met the
English army consisting of 7000. The English army in Drogheda
desperately needed support from the 8000 soldiers making their way from
Dublin to Drogheda. O’Neills forces charged the English army of 7000
under the command of Lord Mountjoy before the 8000 English soldiers
under command of the Earl of Winchester could arrive. Mountjoy’s army
was wholly unprepared due to a spread of disease in his army. The battle
was a major victory for O’Neill. 1,500 English soldiers were killed with
an additional 2000 being captured by the Irish. Irish loses were minimal
ranging from 200-300 men. O’Neill continued south, he sent 3000 of his
men to take the town of Drogheda.

Capture of the Earl of Winchester

The Earl of Winchester’s army never reached Drogheda and began to
retreat south to Dublin to defend the city. However, the army of 4000
under command of Aodh O Donnell, son of Rory O Donnell, had been sent
south to meet with O’Neill’s army. O Donnell’s army instead attacked the
retreating English army of the Earl of Winchester. In the early hours of
the morning O Donnell’s army attacked the an English camp. The attack
seemed to be a complete failure for O Donnell, he had lost over 1,500
men and the English army had lost under 500 men. However, O Donnell’s
motive had not been to destroy the English army but in the midst of
battle his army had captured many high ranking officers, including the
Earl of Winchester. O Donnell retreated to O’Neill’s army with the Earl
of Winchester as a prisoner.

Assault on Dublin

The defeated army of Lord Mountjoy formed together with the army
retreating to Dublin. The force of some 11,000 men under command of Lord
Mountjoy had suffered great casualties due to disease. Morale was very
low among Mountjoy’s troops and Mountjoy had developed a reputation as a
coward and as a poor leader. The army of Hugh O’Neill had gathered
support from local people that opposed the English regime and O’Neill’s
army had reached over 25,000 men. But, O’Neill was badly in need of
arms. In May 1591 he sent his eldest son, Pheilim O’Neill to Spain for
support. The Spanish were at war with the English and King Philip II of
Spain hated Queen Elizabeth of England. The Spanish government listened
to Feilim O’Neill and agreed to send a force of 10,000 to Ireland, with
55 ships containing huge amounts of arms. The Spanish King recognised
Hugh O’Neill as the true King of Ireland and in September Prince Feilim
arrived in Ireland with the Spanish force. Hugh O’Neill was delighted
and arms were distributed among O’Neill’s forces. In December, 1592 the
huge force of 35,000 men commanded by both Irish and Spanish generals
attacked the city of Dublin. By this time Lord Mountjoy’s army had
managed to re-arm themselves and now had a force of 13,000 soldiers. The
55 Spanish ships blockaded any attempt to bring English supplies into
Dublin. In January 1593, the city of Dublin was besieged by O’Neill’s
army, O’Neill ordered an attack on the city. O’Neill’s army managed to
smash the gates down and Irish and Spanish forces quickly overran the
city. O’Neill’s son Feilim commanded 15,000 soldiers sent inside the
city to occupy it. 20,000 soldiers surrounded the city to kill any
English soldier who attempted to escape, and to stop any English force
that landed to try and break O’Neill’s siege. Prince Feilim occupied the
city in 2 days. He used over 100 cannons loaded with chain-shot.

English forces surrender

In March 1593, Lord Mountjoy signed an armistice with O’Neill. Half of
Mountjoy’s army were taken prisoner by O’Neill until a treaty was
signed, The rest were sent back to England. Queen Elizabeth was outraged
with Lord Mountjoy for surrendering and stripped him of his titles. In
May 1593, O’Neill sent his victory terms to Elizabeth, the terms were
that the English remove all forces from Ireland and recognise Hugh
O’Neill as the King of Ireland. Queen Elizabeth rejected the terms and
had the victory conditions burned and Irish messenger beheaded. In
retaliation, The Earl of Winchester was executed by O’Neill himself. By
this time, all English forces in Ireland had been captured, killed or
sent back to England. Hugh O’Neill was coronated in the Hill of Tara as
King of Ireland. All the families of Ireland recognised O’Neill as the
King, some were reluctant but did not want to face a war against
O’Neill’s huge army. King Hugh considered the war as good as over. King
Hugh moved the capital to Armagh in Ulster. The vassals of Ireland had a
large degree of autonomy.

Gaelic restoration

King Hugh, now set his sights on reversing the plantations of
Laois-Offaly and Munster. He revoked all titles owned by the planters
and granted the titles to the families that had lost land during the
plantations. He exiled the English planters and allowed the native Irish
to live on the land. This reversal of the plantations was known as the
Gaelic restoration. Hugh was torn on whether to allows the Old English
families to retain their lands or not. In the end, he decided to allow
the families to retain their lands, because most had supported him
during his rebellion. King Hugh began improving relations with Scotland.
He wanted the Celtic powers to join together and topple the English
government, but this proposal was rejected by the Scottish King. King
Hugh began to turn Ireland into an independent Gaelic state.

Last Elizabethan invasion of Ireland

In 1598, Queen Elizabeth, still refusing to accept the Kingdom of
Ireland, sent an invasion fleet of 50 ships carrying 20,000 marines to
Ireland with the goal of reinstating English rule in Ireland. The
invasion was a disaster as fierce storms wrecked the ships off the coast
of county Down. Only 15 ships, with 5000 men reached Ireland. The
English soldiers captured coastal fishing villages but realised that
defeating the Irish army was hopeless. An Irish army of 15,000 arrived
in county Down. The 5000 English soldiers looted the villages they had
taken and then burned them to the ground. This frustrated King Hugh. His
army was merciless and killed every man in the English army of 5000 men.
The 15 ships that safely reached Ireland were captured by the Irish and
were added to the Irish navy.

In 1603, Elizabeth died. Her successor, James I, agreed to end the war
and the Treaty of Naas was signed by King Hugh of Ireland and King James
of England. They treaty ended the war and the English conceded defeat.
The English dropped all claims to Ireland and recognised the Kingdom of
Ireland.