Flight of the Earls

Flight of the Earls ( " Flight of the Earls ", Irish Imeacht na na nIarlaí or Teitheadh ​​nIarlaí ) refers to a historical event in Ireland in 1607, in which the Earl Hugh O'Neill (2nd Earl of Tyrone ) and Rory O'Donnell ( 1st Earl of Tyrconnell ) together with some of their members left the island of Ireland in order to escape a looming arrest.

The critical point of the Elizabethan conquest of Ireland was reached when the British tried to extend their power to the territory of Ulster and the clan of Hugh O'Neill ( the most powerful Lord in what was then Ireland). O'Neill resisted by force of arms and unleashed so the Nine Years' War ( 1594-1603 ), who captured the island and had the goal to drive out the English authority completely from the island of Ireland. O'Neill managed the establishment of a consisting of about 10,000 Irish army. One of O'Neill's troops to combat emitted, English army was at Clontibert surprisingly attacked by these and defeated. Three years later, on August 14, 1598, a battle took place at the Yellow Ford, which also ended in a heavy defeat English.

Queen Elizabeth I put 1600 Lord Mountjoy as the new Lord Deputy in Ireland. This made ​​in the north of Ireland for the destruction of the crop, leaving the local cattle herds seize, to deprive the insurgents of their food resources. Mountjoy further effort to Ulster was stopped by O'Neill and his troops on 2 and 3 October 1600 the Battle of Moyry pass. O'Neill received support in the form of 3,500 Spanish soldiers. Of King Philip III had been sent and went to Kinsale on September 21, 1601 Country. English troops under Mountjoy began shortly after the siege of the city. End of December, O'Neill met with his army at Kinsale, in order to end the siege by force (→ Battle of Kinsale ). The attempt failed and the Spanish garrison capitulated. After some further fighting O'Neill and O'Donnell 1603 negotiated a truce with the English, so that both could eventually retain their original lands and titles.

But 1605 began the new Lord Deputy of Ireland, Arthur Chichester, thus limiting the freedoms of the two counts. Both feared the detention, and since Ireland was now under English control completely again, both decided to leave the island of Ireland in the direction of the European continent.

In September 1607 O'Neill and O'Donnell sailed with 90 of her relatives and subordinates of Rathmullan ( a place on Lough Swilly in County Donegal) in the direction of Spain. But she already went to France on land and eventually reached by land Italy. They never returned to Ireland.

The " Flight of the Earls " marks the final resolution of the historical Gaelic aristocracy and paved the way to the Plantations of Ulster.

In " Flight of the Earls Centre " in the Martello Tower in Rathmullan an exhibition on this historical event.

Footnotes

• Irish history
• 1607