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By the end of the sixteenth century, the royal House of Tudors of England started re-conquest of Ireland whose climax was the so-called Nine Years War. This war was only a part of a major conflict between Protestant England and Catholic Spain. The Nine Years War finished with the defeat of the Gaelic lords and their Spanish allies at the battle of Kinsale in 1601. Six years later, a ship departed from a port in a small town of Rathmullan situated on the banks of Lough Swilly. The two earls of Ulster, the lord of Tyrone – Hugh O’Donnell, and the lord of Tyrconnell – Rory O’Donnell – were on board with their families, soldiers and clergy. They were going to Spain to get more support and to come back and oust the English invaders out of Ulster. They never returned and spent the rest of their lives in Rome, writing dozens of letters to the Spanish monarch, encouraging him to start a new campaign in support of his Irish allies. Their sophisticatedly planned retreat was later stygmatised as “the flight”, hence “the Flight of the Earls”. The account of their escape from Ulster and dangerous journey through the contenint – from Quilleboeuf through Alps and down to Rome – was written down by Tadhg Ó Cianáin. This composition provides us with a description of the seventeenth century Europe through the eyes of an Irish poet, and is full of insights and unique descriptions. We will also be looking at The Life of Red Hugh O’Donnell, the account of life of another important figure of the time, Red Hugh O’Donnell, the father of Rory O’Donnell, who actually made it to Spain and tried to persuade the Spanish court to start a new campaign following the unsuccessful Nine Years War.
Reading sources for the lectures include:
The Flight of the Earls Special Issue. History Ireland. Vol. 15, no. 4 (July-August 2007).
R. Welch, The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature, Oxford, 1996, relevant entries.