By Edward O’Mahony
In
1601, Castlehaven, played a small, but in certain respects, crucial role in the
history of Ireland. On December 1, a few weeks after the Spanish landed at
Kinsale in support of Hugh O’Neill’s rebellion, a second force landed at
Castlehaven and managed to fight off an English counter-attack. This event
radicalized the Gaelic clans of West Cork, most of whom had sided with the
English government up until that time. Hundreds of local people, particularly
O’Driscolls and O’Sullivans, flocked to join the Spanish and fight for O’Neill.
To fully understand why this occurred, it is perhaps necessary to examine the
earlier history of Castlehaven and the region.
At the time, Castlehaven was controlled by
the O’Driscolls, a wealthy and once powerful clan. There were two branches of
the O’Driscolls, the O’Driscoll Oge, who were located near present-day
Skibbereen, and the O’Driscoll Mor, the senior branch, whose territory extended
from Castlehaven, through Baltimore, to Cape Clear and the surrounding islands.
Although the territory they controlled was relatively small, the clan had grown
wealthy and powerful on the fish trade in the region. Foreign fishermen,
particularly Spaniards, were drawn to the rich fishing grounds off the West
Cork coast. These fishermen paid the local lords for permission to fish in
their territories and to land and preserve their catch.
During the 14th and 15th
centuries, the O’Driscolls used these dues to become one of the most powerful
maritime powers in the south-west of Ireland. As such they came into serious
conflict with the city of Waterford, and several pitched battles were fought
between the two sides during these years. In 1538, however, military forces
from Waterford attacked and destroyed the O’Driscoll castles and other
habitations on Sherkin Island and in Baltimore. (1) Castlehaven and Cape
Clear do not appear to have suffered any damage during the attack, but the
military power of the O’Driscolls was effectively broken at that point. There
are no recorded instances of the O’Driscolls attacking any cities or merchant
vessels after 1538, and they appear to have gone out of their way to avoid
conflict from that point onwards. Nevertheless, the O’Driscolls were left with
their fishing grounds intact, and they continued to grow wealthy on fishing
dues.
Throughout this period, the O’Driscolls had
been completely independent of government control, and they were only
subordinate to their overlords, the MacCarthys Reagh. On November 2, 1568,
however, the head of the O’Driscolls, Fineen O’Driscoll, went to Cork to submit
himself to the government. (2) This was the first mention of Fineen, who
was to play a significant role in the history of the O’Driscolls. At the time,
the English government was encouraging English adventurers to settle in Munster
as a way of controlling the country. A number of prominent Englishmen had
applied to the Queen for a grant of the fishing grounds off the south and
south-west of Ireland, and for the incorporation of the town of Baltimore,
presumably with the intention of establishing a settlement there. (3) It may have been
an attempt to head off this scheme that led Fineen O’Driscoll to submit himself
to government authority.
These colonization schemes led directly to
the outbreak of the first Desmond Rebellion in 1569. It is unclear what, if any
role, the O’Driscolls played during the uprising, but in 1577, Fineen
O’Driscoll of Baltimore and Conor O’Driscoll, the lord of Castlehaven, were included
in a long list of people who were pardoned for any transgressions they may have
committed during this period. (4). Earlier, in March 1573, Fineen
O’Driscoll had entered a “suit to surrender all his possessions to the Queen,
and to hold by such tenure as shall seem good to her.” (5) The uprising
had been almost completely crushed by that point, and O’Driscoll may have been
concerned that further confiscations were about to take place. The application
for a surrender and regrant, which would solidify Fineen O’Driscoll’s ownership
of the O’Driscoll territories, was formerly presented to the government in
September (6), where it received a favorable response. (7) Fineen
O’Driscoll would appear to have been regranted his lands shortly afterwards,
together with a knighthood. From that point onwards, the O’Driscolls remained
completely loyal to the crown until 1601.
In July 1579, the Fitzgeralds of Desmond once again rose in
rebellion. During this second rebellion, which lasted from 1579 until 1583,
Baltimore was used extensively as a staging ground for government forces trying
to put down the uprising. The O’Driscolls also provided valuable intelligence.
On May 25, 1582, for example, Conor O’Driscoll, the lord of Castlehaven and a
close relative of Sir Fineen, informed the government that a Spanish vessel had
been surveying Castlehaven and the surrounding coastline, possibly as a prelude
to invasion. (8) In August 1583, Sir Fineen was praised as having:
“…loyally behaved in this dangerous situation.” (9), and by November of
that year, the uprising had been crushed. Following the end of the second
Desmond Rebellion, the lands of the Earl of Desmond and his followers were
confiscated and extensively settled by colonists. In West Cork, colonial
settlements were established near modern-day Bantry, Rosscarbery, and Bandon.
Even though the rebels were
unsuccessful in 1579-1583, the involvement of the Spanish and Papal courts
during the rebellion meant that Ireland was becoming a new battleground in the
conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism-a deeply disturbing prospect for
Elizabeth and her government. With Anglo-Spanish relations becoming steadily
worse, the attention of the English government was increasingly drawn to the
defences of Ireland. On 31 October 1586, Geoffrey Fenton, a senior English
official, apprised the government of a journey he undertook through Munster. In
the course of his journey he found the inhabitants of West Cork to be very
knowledgeable and concerned about events in Spain, and in his own words he
reassured them that the government would protect them. When it came to the
harbours of West Cork he was not quite so sanguine, finding the defences at
Kinsale to be particularly poor.
After viewing Kinsale, Fenton had headed south to O'Driscoll
country: "Castlehaven and Glandore, alias Dumhaven are the next to
[Kinsale], and lie by west the Old Head of Kinsale, where I also was and viewed
it at large. They lie one near another, being divided but by a small neck of
land, which nevertheless doth not impeach them but that they may succour and
relieve one another. Their entry or mouth is somewhat large, but yet a bulwark
placed upon the easterly point of either of them may defend them and make it
too hot for ships to enter. Their harbours within, but chiefly that of
Castlehaven, are large, and draw great water, a good space up into the land,
with castles of either side the shore to answer any turn either with or against
Her Majesty, as they shall be possessed and employed. If the time continue
doubtful for a foreign invasion, it were to good purpose that these castles
were taken for Her Majesty, till the danger be past, for that if they should
fall into the hands of the enemy, I see not how they might be recovered by any
service or attempt by land, the ways being inaccessible either for horse or
great artillery, and almost for men to march on foot by reason of rocks and
mountainous ground full of difficulties.” (10) At Baltimore, Fenton was assured by a follower of
Sir Fineen O'Driscoll that a strategic castle on Sherkin Island would be made
available to the government at any time it was required. (11) It is
unclear what, if any measures were implemented to strengthen the O’Driscoll
harbours, but the destruction of the Spanish Armada in August 1588 removed the
immediate threat from Spain
In the early 1590s, a new rebellion broke out in Ulster under
the leadership of Hugh O’Neill, and by 1598 it had spread to the rest of the
country. In January 1600, O’Neill marched south as far as Kinsale, where he
proceeded to get submissions from local landowners. Neither Sir Fineen
O’Driscoll nor Donal Cam O’Sullivan Beare went to meet O’Neill at the time. (12)
The Spanish government had been impressed by O’Neill’s early successes, and it
decided it would send a military expedition to Ireland to support him. In April
1600, a Spanish delegation put into Donegal Bay, and met with Hugh O'Neill and
his chief lieutenant Hugh O'Donnell. During the conference, O'Neill outlined
his ideas for a Spanish invasion. He advised the delegation that if the
expedition were small it should put into Donegal Bay, specifically Teelin or
Killybegs. If the Spanish force numbered 6,000 or more, it should go to
Munster. Munster was easier to live off and operate in than Connacht or Ulster,
and it offered more prizes to an invading army. O’Neill emphasized, however,
that only a large army could maintain itself there until the Irish leader could
arrive with his forces. Of the ports in Munster, O'Neill overwhelmingly
favoured Cork as the best place for the Spanish to land. (13)
By May 1601, however, new English military tactics had
effectively crushed the rebellion in Munster. The two main leaders of the
rebellion in Munster, Florence MacCarthy and James Fitzthomas Fitzgerald, were
captured, and in a prescient letter, the commander of English forces in the
region, Sir George Carew later wrote to the privy council that: "As
Florence McCarthy and James Fitzthomas are now Her Majesty's prisoners the
Spaniards will either not come to Munster or, if they do, will hesitate which
way to advance after landing, not knowing which of the Irish leaders to
trust." (14) At the same time, English military forces
were also putting severe pressure on O’Neill in Ulster. The rebels’ only
hope now was that Spain would send troops to help them.
In the months leading up to the Spanish invasion, there was
considerable disagreement among the Spanish officials about where to land. Don
Juan del Aguila, who was to lead the military forces once they had landed,
wanted to sail to Donegal Bay, where he felt the northern leaders could join
him more easily. Another official, however, Fray Mateo de Oviedo, who had been
on the embassy to Ireland in 1600 and claimed to speak for O'Neill, insisted on
a Spanish landing at Cork, Waterford, or Limerick. On August 26, the war
council of the Spanish government ordered that the armada should go wherever
Oviedo ordered. Aguila continued to protest the decision to land in the south
but was only able to extract one concession from Oviedo-that the Spanish forces
could land at Kinsale (a port never mentioned by O'Neill) rather than Cork,
which was heavily fortified. (15)
On September 3, 1601, the armada for Ireland set sail with 4,
432 troops on board, well below the stipulated 6,000 thought necessary for a
Munster landing. In addition, the
weather now turned against the Spanish, with foul weather and contrary winds
preventing the fleet from reaching the Irish coast for almost four weeks.
Shortly before they reached Ireland, a conference was held among the Spanish
leaders, and it was decided that if the fleet should become separated everyone
should rendezvous at Kinsale, or if that were impossible at Castlehaven. On the
evening of September 17, the Spanish fleet reached the Irish coast, and
somewhere between the Blaskets and Dursey Island took on pilots preparatory to
landing the following morning. That night, however, a storm hit the fleet,
separating two galleons and six smaller craft from the main fleet. Despite this
loss, which left him with only 1,700 men, Aguila was determined to land, and on
September 21 the Spanish army landed unopposed at Kinsale. (16)
With the Spaniards was a
follower of Florence McCarthy, Cormack McFineen McCarthy, who inquired of the
mayor where Florence McCarthy and James Fitzthomas were. (17) Disappointed to discover that the two leaders had been captured, Aguila decided to
await reinforcements from Ulster or Spain and fortified himself in Kinsale.
Shortly afterwards, some of the ships that had been lost arrived at Kinsale
with reinforcements, bringing the total number of Spanish forces in the town to
between 3,300 and 3,400 men. The rest of ships, the galleon San Felipe, under the command of Don
Pedro de Zubiaur, and three hookers tried in vain for five days to link up with
the rest of the fleet, or to make it to Castlehaven. Zubiaur next tried to make
for Teelin in County Donegal, but again the winds were against him and so he
finally sailed for home. What made the loss of these vessels worse, apart from
the 674 soldiers they had on board, was the fact that they also carried most of
the munitions and match for the arquebuses, leaving Aguila very short. (18)
Afraid that a general insurrection would take place if Aguila
were not defeated, Lord Mountjoy, the leader of the English forces in Ireland,
immediately left for Cork and was besieging the Spaniards by October 26 with a
force of 7,000 men. On his arrival near Kinsale, the leading men of Carbery and
Beare, with the exception of Donell Cam O'Sullivan Beare, were brought by the
Lord President of Munster, Sir George Carew, before Mountjoy, where they swore
their allegiance to the Crown. They included the two sons of Sir Fineen
O'Driscoll, Conor and Fineen, who were undoubtedly there on their father’s orders.
(19)
On Aguila's arrival in Kinsale, Donell O'Sullivan Beare had offered to provide him with two
thousand men, one thousand armed, and another thousand to be armed by the
Spanish, in order to block Mountjoy's progress and prevent a siege until O'Neill's
army arrived. Suspicious of O'Sullivan's motives, however, Aguila decided to
wait until he had assurances from O'Neill and O'Donnell before trusting him. (20) Aguila may have been influenced in
his decision by the followers of Florence McCarthy whom he had brought with
him. For most of his life, Donal O'Sullivan Beare had been engaged in a bitter
legal battle with his uncle for possession of his father’s lands. As a result,
he had been forced to live in exile, and he had spent many years in Dublin and
London. In the end, the government divided the lands between Donal O’Sullivan
Beare and his uncle, in a decision that satisfied neither side. Throughout this
period, Donal O’Sullivan Beare had studiously avoided any contact with
insurgents, and he had repeatedly sworn to the government that he was loyal.
Only a few months before the Spanish landing, he had written to Sir George
Carew, thanking God that the times had been:"...reduced to some
quiet" (21) and asked him for
his help in surrendering his land to the Crown and having them regranted. All
of this would have been well-known among people in West CorkHis reasons for
joining the rebellion can only be guessed at now. He would undoubtedly have
been bitter about the division of his lands, and he would have seen firsthand
the effects of English colonization in Bantry. Perhaps it was simply the case
that the arrival of the Spanish provided the first real evidence that O’Neill
was not fighting on his own, and that there was now a good chance that the English
could be beaten. His subsequent record would indicate that he was strongly
motivated by patriotism.
In early November, the sons of Sir Fineen O’Driscoll, Conor and
Fineen, and the sons of Sir Owen MacCarthy Reagh, Donough Moyle and Fineen,
contacted Aguila in Kinsale and gave their word to support the Spanish. (22)
Such an offer, at a time when thousands of English troops were besieging the
Spanish in Kinsale, is somewhat harder to explain. The younger O’Driscolls and
MacCarthys may have been influenced by the actions of O’Sullivan Beare, and
their subsequent record shows that they too were strongly motivated by
patriotism. It could also be, however, that this was an instance of
generational conflict. Unlike their father, Fineen and Conor O’Driscoll would
not have had first-hand experience of the events of 1538 or of the two Desmond
rebellions. However, they would have-like Donough Moyle and Fineen
MacCarthy-witnessed how the older generation had steadily lost power as the
English government imposed its will on Ireland and how more and more Irish
lands were being taken over by English colonists. And they would undoubtedly
have realized that their world would change completely if O’Neill and the
Spanish were defeated.
Only days later, on the tenth of November, 1000 English foot and
100 horse, which had been blown off course, arrived at Castlehaven from Bristol
commanded by Donough O'Brien, the third earl of Thomond. It was now that
Aguila's unwillingness to allow O'Sullivan Beare to mobilize forces in support
of the Spaniards first really told.
Thomond's forces do not appear to have encountered any opposition from
the O'Driscolls of Castlehaven, and they were able to link up with Mountjoy
shortly afterwards without incident. (23)
At the end of November, the lost portion of Aguila's fleet under
Zubiaur finally arrived off the coast of West Cork. A few weeks after arriving
back in Spain, Zubiar had set out from Corunna in late November with ten ships
and once again headed for Ireland with the objective of reaching Kinsale. A
contrary wind once more prevented him from reaching Kinsale, splitting his
fleet during the course of it, and he finally decided to land at Castlehaven on
December 1. This turned out to be a fortuitous occurrence, since it prevented him
from being captured by the English fleet stationed off Kinsale. Zubiaur's fleet
of six ships carried food, arms, and artillery, as well as 621 infantry under
the command of Captain Alonso de Ocampo. (24)
At that time, Castlehaven was in the possession of four
brothers, the sons of Conor O’Driscoll. The O’Driscolls appear to have rowed
out to the Spanish vessels and showed Zubiaur how to enter the harbour. One of
the brothers, Dermot, who spoke Latin, informed the admiral about the political
situation. (25) In particular, Dermot O’Driscoll appears to have told
Zubiaur that government military forces were besieging Kinsale, and that an
English fleet was blockading Kinsale harbour. Realizing that the English would
probably send their naval forces against him, Zubiaur had five cannons unloaded
and placed along the shoreline. The O’Driscolls also apparently told Zubiaur
about Donal O’Sullivan Beare’s offer to help the Spanish at Kinsale. The
Spanish commander immediately sent letters to O’Sullivan Beare asking for his
help.
On December 2, a day after the Spanish arrived in Castlehaven, a
man by the name of Donogh O’Driscoll came to the English encampment outside
Kinsale and informed Lord Mountjoy that six Spanish ships had entered the
harbour of Castlehaven. (26) It is unclear if the man was from
Castlehaven, or whether he was sent by Sir Fineen. The English apparently sent
some men to check out the report, because on December 4, Mountjoy received
confirmation of the story. The danger posed by the Spaniards’ arrival was
immediately realized, and the government forces took immediate steps to
strengthen their defences. (27) The commander of the English naval
forces at Kinsale, Sir Richard Levison, was also ordered to “seeke
the Spanish fleete at Castlehaven, to take them if hee could, or otherwise to
distresse them as much as hee might.” (28) Levison had with him four
naval vessels, the Warspite, the Defiance, the Swiftsure, and the Marline, as
well as a merchantman and a carvel. The following day, the wind was blowing
inland, thereby preventing the English ships from leaving. Levison had his
vessels towed out of Kinsale harbour, and he then set off for Castlehaven. At
10 o’clock the next morning, the 6th of December, Levison’s fleet
arrived off Castlehaven and attacked the Spanish vessels. From then until four
o’clock that afternoon the two sides battled. One Spanish ship was sunk, while
Zubiaur’s vessel took nine feet of water in the hold before the Spanish beached
her. The remaining four Spanish vessels were also driven onto the shore. (29)
As the English fleet entered the harbour,
the Spanish opened fire with the cannon they had on the shore. Levison tried to
withdraw his forces, but the wind was blowing from the southeast and they were
unable to get out of the harbour. (30) The English started to take to
small boats in order to land and seize the Spanish cannon, but just at that
moment Donal O’Sullivan Beare arrived with his men. Faced with the combined
force of several hundred Spanish and Irish troops, the English reembarked onto
their ships. (31) For the rest of that day and the next, the Spanish
continued to fire on the English vessels. As Levison later reported, he “..was
forced to ride four and twentie hours within the play of those five Peeces of
Ordnance, and received in that time about three hundred shot, through Hulke,
Mast and Tackle being by no industry able to avoid it…All the shot were made
particularly at his ship, except some few at a Pinnace of the Queen, wherein
Captain Flemming was Commander..” (32) English losses were reported to
have been quite heavy. During the night of December 7, the wind finally began
to blow from the south-west and Levison was able to tow his vessels out of the
harbour and sail back to Kinsale.
Sir Fineen O'Driscoll and his son Conor, who appears to have
overruled his elderly father's objections towards supporting the rebels, had
also shown up with O'Sullivan Beare. Following the battle, Sir Fineen
O'Driscoll allowed Spanish troops to occupy the O'Driscoll castles of Donnelong
on Sherkin Island and Donneshed near Baltimore, while O'Sullivan Beare gave
them Dunboy castle. (33) Sir Fineen’s actions came as a major shock to
the English, for as Carew later wrote: “Sir Finnin
Odrischall…never in the course of his whole life had beene tainted with the
least spot of disloyaltie” (34)
Zubiaur's arrival brought a general rally of the lords of
south-west Cork to Castlehaven, where they took oaths of loyalty to the King of
Spain, Philip III, and were armed with 350 arquebuses and 650 pikes. O'Sullivan
Beare proceeded to assemble a force of 1,000 men, while Conor O'Driscoll raised
a company of horse. (35) Shortly
afterwards, O'Neill and his ally, Hugh Roe O'Donnell took the considerable risk
of marching south in mid-winter to relieve the Spanish. To distract the
attention of the government forces, O'Neill tarried for a while in Leinster
raiding the property of loyalists. O'Donnell headed straight down to Cork,
eluding a force of two regiments led by Sir George Carew. Once in County Cork,
which he reached on December 12, he camped near modern-day Bandon. He was
subsequently met there by 500 Munstermen under O'Sullivan Beare and 200 out of
the 500 Spanish reinforcements who had landed at Castlehaven.
On Christmas Eve, O'Neill gave in to the pleas of the besieged
Aguila and ordered his forces to move up towards the English lines. During the
night of December 24, the Irish forces marched into position for the attack. In
the vanguard was Tyrrell and his forces, the Munster Irish under O'Sullivan
Beare, and the 200 Spaniards from Castlehaven. The main Irish force was
commanded by O'Neil, while the rear was led by O'Donnell. During the night,
however, the three sections lost touch with each other. In additon, Tyrrell
failed to reach the rendezvous point where Aguila was to link up with the Irish
forces. When morning came, O’Neill realized that his men were not in position
and that the English were aware of the attack. Accordingly, O'Neill decided to
retreat.
Sensing his opportunity, Mountjoy launched his cavalry against
the rebels, forcing them to embattle their forces. Tyrrell was placed in the
center, O'Neill's section formed the right and O'Donnell came up with the rear
to form the left. During the subsequent confusion as the various units aligned
themselves, the English cavalry launched a massive attack on the Irish horse
assembled in front of O'Neill's section. This initial attack was repulsed by
the Irish horse, but the English attacked again shortly afterwards with reinforcements
and this time the Irish horse broke. The English cavalry now attacked the Irish
foot in the rear, while English infantry attacked them in front. These
simultaneous attacks-and the flight of the Irish horse, composed as it was of
their leading men-were too much for the Irish and they fled in a disorganized
manner. Seeing the rout of O'Neill's section, Tyrrell began a flanking movement
to try and place his forces between O'Neill and the English foot but was
himself attacked and forced to retreat. The Spanish forces with Tyrrell were
unable to move as fast as the Irish and made a stand instead. Ninety of them
died on the field and another fifty were captured.
O'Donnell's men had provided no support during the battle,
probably because they were stationed too far away. The sight of the other
sections being routed was too much for them, however, and they too became
demoralized and retreated. The English forces followed for about a mile and a
half, attacking constantly and killing many of the fleeing rebels. The whole
battle lasted for barely an hour but resulted in between 500 and 1,000 Irish
dead. The English lost fewer than a dozen men. At the end of the battle the
English fired off a volley to symbolize their victory. Believing this was
finally the signal for the Spanish to surge out and link up with their Irish
allies, Aguila advanced with his forces. He soon realized his mistake, however,
when he saw captured Spanish colours being carried by English soldiers, and he
beat a hasty retreat back into Kinsale. To emphasize the disaster that had
befallen the Irish forces, Mountjoy subsequently had between 200 and 300
prisoners hanged before the walls of Kinsale. (36)
The day after the battle, O'Neill informed Aguila that he could
no longer assist him since his own lands were now being devastated by the
English, and he headed back to the north. O'Donnell gave command of his forces
to his brother Rory, who also headed back home, while he went to join Zubiaur
at Castlehaven. O'Donnell arrived at Castlehaven on December 27, where he
informed the astonished Spaniards of the rebels' defeat. The following day,
Zubiaur left for Spain, together with O'Donnell who wanted to speak to the
Spanish king himself, and other Irish leaders. These included Donal O'Driscoll,
one of Sir Fineen’s sons, and O'Sullivan Beare's son, who was sent as a pledge
for his father.(37)
O'Sullivan Beare had decided to continue the fight in West Cork. (38)
He wrote to Aguila, urging him not to surrender Kinsale and promised to
cut off English supplies with his forces. At the time, O'Sullivan Beare had
with him not only his own forces, but also those of Conor O'Driscoll, Dermot
O’Driscoll, and Richard Tyrrell, numbering altogether between 2,000 and 3,000
men. Together with his men, O'Sullivan Beare now took up position at a mountain
pass a few miles from Castlehaven, while Tyrrell placed his forces on Cape
Clear where there was also an O'Driscoll castle. (39)
Although the English felt they could deal with this situation
and were confident of being able to root the Spanish out of Kinsale, they were
seriously worried that further reinforcements would be landed at Baltimore,
Bearhaven, and Castlehaven. Such reinforcements would not only encourage the
rebels to hold out, but it would also make it even harder to capture the
harbours. Just as important were the geographical obstacles the English would
be faced with, for as Sir George Carew wrote: "The West of Munster, where
these havens are seated, is a mountainous, barren country, wherein no horse can
serve or carriage pass..[and where] no relief can come unto us but by
sea.." (40)
As for Aguila, despite the defeat his positon was still quite
strong. The wind favoured ships from Spain, raising the hope that
reinforcements would arrive shortly, while the Spanish in Kinsale had six
week's food left. This compared with the six day's worth of food available to
Mountjoy and his men. In addition, Aguila's forces had more protection than the
English, and therefore were suffering less from exposure and disease.
Nevertheless, the Spanish were losing about a dozen men a day, and by late
December, Agulia had only 1,800 effective troops left. More importantly, he was
without the two major advantages necessary for a besieged place to hold out
indefinitely in those days: strong fortifications, and control of the water
approaches, allowing supplies and reinforcements to land. That, and the belief
that the Irish had let him down, led him to surrender to Mountjoy on January 2,
1602.
Under the terms of the surrender, Aguila agreed to hand over the
castles of Castlehaven, Donneshed (Baltimore), Donnelong (Sherkin), and Dunboy,
and promised not to take up arms again even if reinforcements arrived.
Mountjoy, who was very worried about the effect such reinforcements would have,
readily agreed to Aguila's terms, which involved providing the Spanish with
enough shipping and food to allow him to transport his men, Spaniards and Irish
back to Spain with all their arms, artillery, money, ensigns, and so forth. In
the event, reinforcements did arrive two days after the surrender on board
three vessels under the command of Captain Martin de Ballecilla. On arriving at
Kinsale, Ballecilla discovered that the town had surrendered, and so promptly
returned to Spain.(41)
The surrender of Aguila came as a considerable shock to the
chieftains of West Cork, most of whom, with the exception of McCarthy Reagh and
a few others, had given their support to the Spaniards. Many of them now
hurried to placate the government. On February 15, 1602, Sir George Carew wrote
to the government: "..Few of the 'provincials' here were in rebellion. The
best of them, namely Sir Fynin O'Driscoll, O'Donovan and Sir Owen McCartie's
sons, have not joined Tyrrell and the northern rebels, and ask to be received
to mercy. They say they only conversed with Tyrone, O'Donnell and the
Spaniards, and did no harm to any of her Majesty's subjects. I believe this is
true."(42)
Although the Spanish commanders were sympathetic to the rebel's
situation, they nevertheless followed their orders and prepared to surrender
the castles in their possession to the English. Despite this, the rebels
continued to believe that Spain would not abandon them and they renewed their
oaths of fidelity to the Spanish king, promising to hold out until the end of
May. Bad weather delayed the castles' handover, and government troops under
Captain Roger Harvey did not finally arrive in Castlehaven until February 10.
There they found the castle being besieged by the Spanish, who had lost it to
the O'Driscolls through a ruse. However, when the O'Driscolls saw the English
ships they surrendered the castle to the Spanish commander, Pedro Lopez de
Soto, on condition that they be allowed to leave in safety. Dermot O’Driscoll,
who had assisted Zubiaur when he first landed at Castlehaven, subsequently left
for Spain with Don Juan del Aguila in March 1602. He took with him his sons and
one of his brothers. (43)
Harvey decided to leave his brother Gawen in command in
Castlehaven and together with de Soto sailed to Baltimore where the English
took over the castles of Dunashed and Dunalong. Harvey also placed troops in
the O'Driscoll castle on Cape Clear. Before the troops' arrival on the island,
Richard Tyrrell and his forces retired to Dunboy, where they joined up with
O'Sullivan Beare. From Baltimore, two companies of troops were sent under the
command of Captain George Flower to take Dunboy. Contrary winds, however, kept
them out at sea, and although Harvey was eventually able to see Dunboy, he and
his forces were unable to land. (44)
On hearing that the Spanish were to hand over Dunboy to the
English, O'Sullivan Beare decided to take back his castle. He marched back to
Beare and on the night of February 23, he had a mason knock a hole in the wall and
then sent his forces in to capture the Spanish. A short but vicious fight
followed, in which three of the Irish were killed and several injured on both
sides, before the Spanish surrendered. They were then sent to Baltimore where
they were embarked for Spain. (45) O'Sullivan
Beare subsequently garrisoned Dunboy with 150 men, while stationing 1,200
others outside the walls as skirmishers. O'Sullivan Beare was well aware of the
difficulties in defending Dunboy against English bombardment, and decided to make
a last stand, if necessary, on Dursey Island. For that purpose, he placed Conor
O'Driscoll with 60 men, mostly O'Driscolls, and three artillery pieces there. (46) O’Sullivan Beare was to hang on to
Dunboy until June 17, 1602, when the castle was captured by Carew. At the same
time, English forces attacked the Irish positions on Dursey Island and
massacred the defenders.
Conor O'Driscoll, who does not appear to have been on Dursey
Island when it was captured, was sent to Spain on July 3 to seek more help. He left from Ardea and took with him his son,
as well as many of the O'Driscolls of Castlehaven and Cape Clear. (47)
None of the O’Driscolls were ever to return home. Around the same time, Carew
burnt and ransacked a castle called Lyttertenlis [Lettertinlish] belonging to
Conor O'Driscoll (49) to prevent it being taken over by the rebels. The O'Driscoll castles of Dunnalong,
Duneshead, and Castlehaven were temporarily spared pending further orders from
the government, although Carew did have the O'Driscoll castle on Cape Clear
destroyed.(177) O’Sullivan Beare continued to hold out until
early 1603, when he too was forced to flee to Spain. Sir Fineen O’Driscoll, who
actively helped to fight the rebels after Baltimore and Castlehaven were
retaken, (50) got his lands back after the war. A few
years later, however, he was forced to mortgage most of his lands, and he
subsequently lost them when he could not make the repayments. (51)
*********************************************************************
Footnotes:
1. O’Mahony, Edward; “The Sack of Baltimore, 1538,” The
Irish Sword Vol. XXI (Winter 1998), pp. 137-154
2.
CSP Ireland 1509-1573; p. 392
3. Ibid; p. 399
4. Nicholls, Kenneth and O'Canann, Tomas G.; The Irish
Fiants of the Tudor Sovereigns: During the Reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI,
Philip & Mary, and Elizabeth I, Vol. 2 1558-1586 (Dublin, 1994); p. 406
5. CSP Ireland 1509-1573; p. 498
6. Ibid; p. 523
7. Ibid; p.p. 523, 525
8. CSP Ireland 1574-1585; p. 342, 369
9. Ibid; p. 470
10. CSP Ireland 1586-1588; pp. 191-192
11. Ibid; p.p. 191-192
12. O'Mahony, Rev. Canon; “A History of the O'Mahony
Septs of Kinelmeky and Ivagha,” Journal of the Cork Historical and
Archaeological Society (1903)
13. Silke, John J.; Kinsale: The Spanish Intervention
in Ireland at the End of the Elizabethan Wars (Liverpool, 1970); pp. 73, 87-88
14. CSP Ireland 1601-3; p. 4
15. Silke; p. 102-103
16. CSP Ireland 1601-3; p.81 / Silke; pp. 109-111
17. CSP Ireland;
pp. 84-85
18. Silke; p. 110
19. CSP Ireland 1601-3; p. 217
20. Silke; p. 111
21. CSP Ireland 1 November, 1600-31 July, 1601; pp.
309-310
22. CSP Ireland 1601-3; p. 161
23. Falls, Cyril; Elizabeth's Irish Wars (Syracuse,
N.Y., 1997); p. 298
24. Silke; p. 131
25. O'Sullivan Beare, Don Philip (translated by Mathew J. Byrne); Ireland under Elizabeth: Chapters towards A History of Ireland in the Reign of Elizabeth (London, 1970); p. 143
26. Fynes
Moryson; An History of Ireland From the Year 1599, to 1603. With a short
Narration of the State of the Kingdom from the Year 1169. (Dublin 1735) Vol.
II, p. 22
27. Moryson; Vol. II, p. 23
28. Stafford, Thomas;
Pacata Hibernia; or, A history of the wars in Ireland, during the reign of
Queen Elizabeth (Dublin 1810); Vol. II; p. 399
29. Ibid; Vol. II, p. 403
30. Ibid; Vol. II, p. 403
31. O’Sullivan Beare; p. 143
32. Stafford; Vol. II, p. 403
33. O’Sullivan Beare; p. 143
34. Stafford; p. 401
35. Silke; p. 132
36. Ibid; pp. 140-146
37. Cal. Carew Mss 1601-1603; p. 200
38. CSP Ireland 1601-3; p. 244
39. Silke; p. 155
40. CSP Ireland 1601-3; p. 243
41. Silke; pp. 149-151
42. CSP Ireland 1601-3; p. 296
43. Stafford; Vol. II, p. 425
44. CSP Ireland 1601-3; p. 329
45. CSP Ireland 1601-3; p. 299
46. Ibid; p. 299
47. Ibid; p. 448
48. Cal. Carew Mss 1601-1603; p. 267
49. Ibid; p. 267
50. Stafford; Vol. II, p. 503
51. O’Mahony, Edward; “Baltimore, the O’Driscolls, and
the end of Gaelic Civilization 1538-1615,” The Mizen Journal No. 8 (2000); p.
124
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