The Nine Years’ War: The End of Gaelic Ireland

Ireland had been under nominal English control since the 1100s but across much of the island local Gaelic lords continued to enjoy great autonomy, similar to the highlands of Scotland. The English Crown’s efforts to extend its political control over the island during the 16th century inspired a rebellion among the Gaelic lords between 1593 and 1603 that came to be known as the Nine Years’ War. English victory brought an end to Gaelic Ireland and the imposition of centralized rule.

English control in Ireland was initially centered on a small region of the eastern coast around Dublin city known as the Pale of Settlement. A series of conflicts in the 16th century had expanded this control through the processes of plantation and surrender and regrant. Plantation was the act of evicting the local Irish population and bringing in settlers from Britain to replace them. Surrender and regrant involved Irish lords surrendering their Gaelic title to the crown and then being presented with an English title such as earl or duke.

Crown forces in Ireland were similar to their continental counterparts. Infantry were primarily musketeers or pikemen, working in concert. They fought in close packed formations that frequently brought them victory against superior numbers. Their cavalry were fewer in number but much more disciplined than their Gaelic counterparts. Irish forces typically preferred to fight in loose formations and were more effective carrying out ambushes and raids. They consisted mostly of kern, gallowglasses, and redshanks. Kern were light infantry that frequently turned to banditry in peacetime. Gallowglasses were heavy infantry, traditionally of Scottish origin, and armed with double handed swords or axes. Redshanks were mercenary soldiers who migrated with the seasons.

Among the independent lords across the island were the likes of Red Hugh O’Donnell in Tyrconnell or O’Sullivan Beare in southwest Munster, but the most dangerous was Hugh O’Neill in Tyrone. Areas of the island such as the Wicklow glens or the province of Ulster were effectively no go areas for Crown forces.

By this stage in the 16th century, Gaelic rule remained strongest in Ulster, which was accordingly the most hostile towards English rule. Leinster was considered relatively pacified though still possessing dangerous regions. The free clans in Wicklow were only a night’s march from the walls of Dublin. Connacht and Munster were under the rule of Lord Presidents, military leaders with wide ranging authority extending to the civilian sphere.

A further complication was that Ulster was the site of substantial Scottish settlement. The Gaels across the sea shared a language and in many cases intermarried and intervened in each other’s political affairs. Mercenary soldiers would cross the sea in both directions. Hugh O’Neill had emerged as the preeminent Gaelic leader in Ulster by the end of the 16th century, overcoming the machinations of his relatives and his rival Gaelic lords. While continuing to profess loyalty to the Crown, he secretly continued his preparations for war.

Other Gaelic lords continued to resist the encroaching English forces in the province, clashing with soldiers sent to enforce English laws while O’Neill hoped to be named the Lord President. He even fought in the initial stages of the war on the English side but he joined the rebellion with an assault on the Blackwater Fort, which commanded a strategic point deep inside Ulster. Since the Irish sought aid from the Catholic King of Spain, the war became part of the wider Anglo-Spanish War.

A Bloody Day at Yellow Ford

The repeated attempts to resupply the Blackwater Fort would lead to one of the most famous defeats of English forces in the field. By 1598, Henry Bagenal, O’Neill’s brother-in-law, was determined to accomplish the task. They were old rivals, O’Neill had eloped with Bagenal’s sister and believed Bagenal had prevented him from becoming Lord President of Ulster in response. Bagenal had a jaundiced view of O’Neill but was ultimately proved right that O’Neill had no intention of remaining a loyal subject of the Crown.

Although O’Neill did not completely abandon the traditional Gaelic methods of war, ambushing and raiding, he made great efforts to modernize his forces along continental lines. His gallowglasses and kerns had been retrained as pikemen and musketeers respectively by Irish veterans from the continent, Spanish advisors, and even English soldiers. During his years of loyalty to the Crown, he had taken advantage of the English trust to ensure his soldiers were trained in their style of fighting.

At Yellow Ford the relieving army fought a running battle over several miles before being halted and destroyed in a fierce fight, Bagenal dying with his troops. The survivors fought their way out to Armagh, shocked to have encountered Irish soldiers fighting in a conventional manner. Over 2,000 English soldiers had been lost, half the army, and hundreds of others deserted to O’Neill. Many Irish lords who had remained neutral now threw in their lot with O’Neill and English reinforcements were hurriedly dispatched to Ireland. The war had now escalated, no longer being a primarily Ulster affair.

While Yellow Ford and other battles in the north are the best known, the war also spread to the other provinces of Ireland. Formerly quiet regions erupted into violence as Gaelic lords joined the widening war. Gaelic forces raided deep into English controlled territory, torching villages and ambushing garrisons that ventured out to fight them.

Red Hugh routed an English force at Curlew Pass in August 1599 after ambushing the English army as they moved through the mountains. Similar to Yellow Ford, the Irish continually harassed the advancing English, using barricades to slow their advance and wearing them down with repeated attacks. Running low on ammunition, the English musketeers retreated, leaving the rest of the infantry to weather the assault. An Irish infantry attack broke their lines and only the courage of the English cavalry saved the entire army from being destroyed. A similar battle occurred in May 1599 at Deputy’s Pass in Wicklow where Irish skirmishers wore down the English troops until they could be engaged in open battle.

A change was needed and Charles Blount, Baron Mountjoy was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland and commander of English forces. A breath of fresh air, he negated the Irish successes by the use of strategic forts and scorched earth tactics, burning grain and killing animals. He denied his enemy supplies and avoided the mistakes of his predecessors. Mountjoy stabilized the Irish front and even succeeded in landing troops in Ulster to be a thorn in O’Neill’s stronghold. But victory for the English was still far off.

At the start of the 17th century, the situation appeared grim for the Crown forces. Most of the island was in open rebellion and English control was restricted to the Pale and a few strongholds dotted around the country. A renewed English offensive led by George Carew, Lord President of Munster, succeeded in pacifying the province to some extent. He offered pardons to those who would surrender while ruthlessly purging the rebels who continued to resist.

A Spanish force of 3,500 infantry led by Juan Del Águila succeeded in landing at Kinsale in October 1601 while other smaller groups landed in the Beara peninsula. Mountjoy stripped his garrisons to the bone and led an army of 12,000 men to besiege them. Harsh conditions devastated the besiegers while the Spanish forces mounted an active defence. Still, without relief, they were doomed to surrender. Urgent appeals were sent north to the main rebel armies and to other local lords.

The Irish forces arrived late after pillaging the countryside on their leisurely march south. Whether overconfident or pressured, the Irish chose to engage the besieging English army in open battle. Unused to pitched battles, they were routed by an English cavalry charge, causing their own cavalry to retreat into the path of the infantry. Only the Spanish detachment and some of the continental veterans stood to fight. The besieged Spanish had no option but to surrender while the Irish forces scattered. Agonisingly, Spanish reinforcements had been en route but turned back after hearing of the surrender.

Kinsale decided everything. Nearly half the English army had perished in the siege but the Irish forces had been shattered. Many Irish had escaped but their leaders decided to withdraw to the north or seek terms to preserve what power they could. In many cases former allies came to blows.

One spectacular event near the end of the war was the odyssey of O’Sullivan Beare and his followers. A powerful lord on the Beara peninsula, he had first returned to his own lands to rearm and fight on. Despite taking English castles and receiving arms from Spain, he was forced to abandon the peninsula and march north to join his allies. He retreated with a mixed column of 1,000 soldiers, women, and children, fighting his way through both English forces and former allies who had surrendered. It took them two weeks to travel over 300 miles, with only 35 survivors reaching safety.

O’Neill continued to fight on until March 1603 but was eventually forced to sue for peace. To his enemies’ fury, he retained some of his lands but his power was much reduced. The defeated Gaelic lords received more generous terms than were expected, because Elizabeth I had died and been succeeded by James I who was eager to seek an end to the war. Despite this, many left Ireland a few years later in the Flight of the Earls, clearing the way for increased plantations in Ulster, the effects of which are still felt today in Ireland.