When the Spanish Armada was routed in 1588, the surviving galleons sought shelter off the west coast of Ireland, where most were driven ashore or sank in bad weather. Those Spaniards who reached dry ground were quickly executed, except in Ulster, which remained largely untouched by Tudor conquest and the attempt to anglicise Ireland. It had become clear, however, that Ulster would have to fight to retain its independence. Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, took up the challenge, and was to prove a formidable statesman and soldier. His principal ally was Red Hugh O'Donnell, the ruler of Tyrconnell, whose bitter hatred of the English stemmed from his youthful imprisonment in Dublin as a hostage.

Fighting broke out in 1594, but not until 1598 did O'Neill show his potential strength as a national leader by defeating Sir Henry Bagenal at the Battle of the Yellow Ford in Armagh. In Munster a general uprising swept away the English plantation. Elsewhere a number of Irish rulers rebelled. In 1599 the Earl of Essex arrived in Ireland with a large army, but O'Neill outmanoeuvred him, and Lord Mountjoy assumed command in the following year. Mountjoy set about garrisoning the country, and used his troops to destroy O'Neill's food supplies and communications. O'Neill sought help from Spain, bur the Spanish army landed in 1601 at Kinsale in the south. O'Neill and O'Donnell marched to join the invaders, but were heavily defeated in unfamiliar country. O'Donnell sailed to Spain, where he died soon afterwards, but O'Neill continued the war. One by one the Gaelic rulers yielded, and in 1603 O'Neill himself signed the Treaty of Mellifont. Queen Elizabeth had died a few days before his surrender, and James I did not impose a harsh settlement. However, there was no doubt that the Tudor conquest was now complete and that the old Gaelic society was doomed.

> > > Read the concluding part of this article.

From the Appletree Press title: A Little History of Ireland, click here for more information or here to buy the book from Amazon. Also from Appletree: A Short History of Ireland, available from Amazon.com. Click here for more information.