During these five years many political and religious advances were made in the communication between the English and the Irish. Perrott, Lord Deputy sent an army to occupy O’Donnell’s native Tyrconnell. It was in 1593 that O’Donnell escaped. He headed directly towards his homeland of Donegal and immediately gathered an army to drive the English out; despite his ill health he was successful. The English had kidnapped O’Donnell in an attempt to gain a firm hold over dangerous clans yet this had backfired and made him a much more bitter enemy towards them.
The English attempted to reconcile with the Gaelic Lords. O’Donnell was invited to attend the 1593 parliament at Dundalk, at which O’Neill became official Earl of Tyrone. O’Donnell however was still angry; despite the parliament he was in contact with Spain appealing for aid against the English. Prominent figures in Ireland such as O’Neill and O’Donnell were convinced the Spanish would be eager to help, it was obvious if the Spanish were willing to send out an expedition such as they did in 1588, they would probably be willing do dispatch another. O’Neill and O’Donnell, along with many other figures of prominence, especially religious figures such as the Archbishop of Dublin, come into contact with the Spanish.
Spain seemed to be a natural enemy of England; therefore she was a willing ally to Ireland. Philip II sent supplies to the Irish regularly, aiding O’Neill and O’Donnell in their fight against the English. They saw Ireland as a land base in order to attack England, and if they could gain the alliance of the Irish then it would not be difficult to attack England using her neighbours. Using Ireland as a base could have more to do with geographical and economical advantages than the need to help defeat Protestantism, they would rather have attacked England than defeated them in Ireland. The Spanish support meant that Ulster and many other areas of Ireland was now united in a unique situation under O’Neill and O’Donnell with O’Neill being referred to as king and O’Donnell his prince.
O’Donnell quickly achieved respect due to his skill as a military leader. In 1595 he took up arms against Queen Elizabeth, thus beginning the Nine Years War. He was admired (even by his enemies) for his skill and speed of movement, allowing it to become a regular occurrence for his army to ‘ambush’ English soldiers who were travelling from one place to another. O’Neill’s own skill as a military leader developed no doubt from his English ‘education’. His army was organised similarly to that of the English army, complete with similar divisions, structures and training methods.
1598 saw O’Neill and O’Donnell gain a remarkable victory against the English. A force of 4000 men, 320 horses, and four guns under the command of Bagenal attacked Armagh. O’Neill’s army was now of substantial size and along with O’Donnell’s army, victory was not difficult; the Irish had location to their advantage. The English attempted to move over bog land but with disastrous results. The English were defeated at the battle of Yellow Ford. This is one of the most successful battles achieved by the Gaelic Lords because the English suffered such a great loss, while the leader of the attack, Bagenal, was recalled to England. Victory helped to boost morale but things began to falter for the Irish, the English were recognising their mistakes and attempting to prevent them happening again.
Finally after much correspondence the Spanish sent aid to the Irish. In 1601 3000 Spanish troops under the command of Don Juan de Aguila landed at Kinsale, the very south of the Island of Ireland. Phillip II had willingly sent troops to the aid of the Irish but had ignored pleas to land further north of the Island. It is not known exactly why they landed at Kinsale, but it is thought that they followed the advice of the Archbishop of Dublin. At Kinsale they were warmly welcomed by the Irish, yet they were 250 miles away from their allies. The English immediately surrounded them effectively trapping them in Kinsale, thus preventing the armies to unite. O’Donnell’s nephew, who was representing the crown staged a rebellion in Donegal, which O’Donnell was forced to put down before he left for Kinsale.
Eventually the Irish began the long journey towards County Cork, ignoring the fact that it was the middle of winter. They were eager to keep relations with the Spanish strong in order to maintain support. The English had gained an advantage; they had managed to beat them to, and had set up camp around Kinsale, effectively trapping the Spanish. O’Donnell and O’Neill arrived with 6000 men to aid the Spanish. The Irish deliberately cut off relief supplies to the English, which left the English within days of starvation prior to the battle. Had the Irish and the Spanish been patient it is likely that the English would have been defeated through starvation.
O’Donnell sided with the opinion of Spain, he was eager to attack as soon as possible. The Spanish were beginning to run low on both food and morale, they had little assistance from the Irish since they landed and had been forced to defend themselves against a number of attacks from Mountjoy and his army. The Irish had travelled during winter and were not in fighting condition due to lack of food and general tiredness from their journey, however they were left prone to the elements and O’Donnell wanted the confrontation to be over with quickly in order to raise conditions for his men. Their plan was to make a path through the English in order to get to the Spanish troops. The Irish and some Spanish (who had landed later and a little further down the coast of Cork) decided on using a Continental form of attack, a way that was unfamiliar to the Irish.
The Irish moved by night towards battle but weather forced some divisions to lose their way. The English had received information on the attack so they were prepared for battle. During the early hours of Christmas Eve, 1601, the Irish attacked the English. The Spanish within the city did not even realise that the battle was taking place, so they offered no help. The Irish had planned the battle so the Spanish would attack the English from the other side but they were left fighting alone as their support against the English never came. Another problem saw O’Neill and O’Donnell’s forces fighting independently. The battle was over quickly and many Irish fled from the onslaught of the English.
It is unclear why the Irish did not organise a counter attack but it is obvious that they had lost all morale due to defeat at the hands of the English. The Irish had gone from a successful unit under two powerful leaders to coward’s running back to their homeland. O’Neill did not give up his war however until 1603. After the death of Queen Elizabeth O’Neill surrendered. The battle of Kinsale was a turning point, which allowed the English to gain the upper hand in the Nine Years War.
A number of blunders were made by the Irish and the Spanish leading up to and during the battle. It is clear that O’Neill had planned exactly how to use the Spanish; he was annoyed when he was ignored and they landed at Kinsale. Had they landed further north it is likely that the Irish and Spanish combined forces would have defeated the English. Their landing at Kinsale only allowed the English to surround them, and the long wait for Irish support allowed the force of the English to grow stronger around the Spanish. Another factor, which could have ensured Irish victory after they arrived in Munster, was the fact that they had cut off food supplies to the English. At the time of the battle the English only had enough food to last them for roughly six days. They were also riddled with diseases. Had the Irish and Spanish been patient they may have been able to defeat the English through ‘crafty’ tactics rather than full on battle, at least until the Spanish were weaker and the Irish had time to recuperate.
It is possible that O’Neill and O’Donnell became too confident. They had usually fought on familiar ground not far from their homes. To get to Kinsale however they were forced to march 250 miles with their weaponry and food during the winter. They were tired after their march and to add they were experiencing harsh winter conditions and they were attacking on unfamiliar ground.
After the battle was over O’Donnell handed his duties to his brother Rory and personally travelled to Spain himself in an attempt to encourage Philip to send another expedition. He was however killed by English plotters; James Blake poisoned him in the summer of 1602. It was likely he was acting on requests of leading Protestants and subjects.
O’Neill fled to Ulster after his defeat at Kinsale. It was not until 1603 after witnessing years of famine and suffering from his own people that he surrendered to the English. He delivered his surrender at Mellifont on March 30th 1603.
The battle of Kinsale was the end of the old Irish system. The Irish not only lost the battle but they lost their morale, and the definitive support of the Spanish. The English had defeated them in the battle and stood proud. When O’Neill surrendered to the English he was forced to give up his Gaelic ways and take on English laws, this is likely why he fled to Europe. A number of Lord Deputies had been insufficient in oppressing the ‘wild Ulster men’ yet Mountjoy was a different type of soldier. He planned to bring about ‘a new kind of war which was to beat O’Neill at his own game.’ After their defeat life was harsh for the Irish. Many did not want to be controlled by the English. They lost their morale and were suddenly deprived of familiar pride. The Nine Years War and battle of Kinsale wiped out the old Gaelic system, possibly wiping out a ‘nation’ as such.
T.W. Moody and F.X. Martin (ed's) The Course of Irish History 4th Ed., The Tudor Conquest 1543 – 1603, G.A. Hayes – McCoy. Pp 151 (Dublin: Mercier Press, 2001)
Stephen Gwyn The History of Ireland (Dublin: MacMillian & Co. 1924) pp 231
Stephen Gwyn The History of Ireland (Dublin: MacMillian & Co. 1924)
Edmund Curtis, A History of Ireland (London: Routledge: London & New York) 1988, pp 215