1.
Flight of the Wild Geese
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More broadly, the term Wild Geese is used in Irish history to refer to Irish soldiers who left to serve in continental European armies in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The first Irish troops to serve as a unit for a continental power formed an Irish regiment in the Spanish Army of Flanders in the Eighty Years War in the 1580s. The regiment had raised by an English Catholic, William Stanley, in Ireland from native Irish soldiers and mercenaries. Stanley was given a commission by Elizabeth I and was intended to lead his regiment on the English side, however, in 1585, motivated by religious factors and bribes offered by the Spaniards, Stanley defected to the Spanish side with the regiment. The unit fought in the Netherlands until 1600 when it was disbanded due to heavy wastage through combat, following the defeat of the Gaelic armies of the Nine Years War, the Flight of the Earls took place in 1607. They hoped to get Spanish help in order to restart their rebellion in Ireland, nevertheless, their arrival led to the formation of a new Irish regiment in Flanders, officered by Gaelic Irish nobles and recruited from their followers and dependents in Ireland. This regiment was more political than its predecessor in Spanish service and was militantly hostile to English Protestant rule of Ireland. The regiment was led by Hugh ONeills son John, prominent officers included Owen Roe ONeill and Hugh Dubh ONeill. A fresh source of recruits came in the early 17th century, as a result, the Irish units in the Spanish service began attracting Catholic Old English officers such as Thomas Preston and Garret Barry. These men had more views than their Gaelic counterparts and animosity was created over plans to use the Irish regiment to invade Ireland in 1627. Many of the Irish troops in Spanish service returned to Ireland after the Irish Rebellion of 1641, when the Confederates were defeated and Ireland occupied after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, around 34,000 Irish Confederate troops fled the country to seek service in Spain. Some of them later deserted or defected to French service, where the conditions were deemed better, during the 18th century, Spains Irish regiments saw service not only in Europe but also in the Americas. As examples, the Irlanda Regiment was stationed in Havana from 1770 to 1771, the Ultonia Regiment in Mexico from 1768 to 1771, at the time of the Napoleonic Wars all three of these Irish infantry regiments still formed part of the Spanish army. Heavy losses and recruiting difficulties diluted the Irish element in these units, the Hibernia Regiment had to be reconstituted with Galician recruits in 1811 and ended the war as an entirely Spanish corps. All three regiments were disbanded in 1818 on the grounds that insufficient recruits, whether Irish or other foreigners, were forthcoming. Main article, Irish Regiments in French Service, from the mid-17th century or so, France overtook Spain as the destination for Catholic Irishmen seeking a military career. The principal reason for this was that France was an ascendant power, rapidly expanding its armed forces, France recruited many foreign soldiers, Germans, Italians, Walloons and Swiss. André Corvisier, the authority on French military archives, estimates that foreigners accounted for around 12% of all French troops in peacetime, in common with the other foreign troops the Irish regiments were paid more than their French counterparts
2.
Rathmullan
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Rathmullan is a small seaside village on the Fanad Peninsula in County Donegal, Ireland. It is situated on the shore of Lough Swilly,11 km north-east of Ramelton and 12 km east of Milford. Rathmullan serves as an important historical village as it was the scene of the Flight of the Earls in 1607, there are also the ruins ol Carmelite Friary in Rathmullan which was built by Eoghan Rua MacSweeney in 1516. The Friary was sacked by the English garrison from Sligo in 1595, in 1607, Rathmullan was also said to have seen the last of the Gaelic Order, most notably the Clan Ó Néill and the Clan Ó Domhnaill, during the Flight of the Earls to the Continent. This flight took place from Portnamurray on the edge of the town. In 1617 the Friary was occupied by the Protestant Bishop of Raphoe, rev. Dr. Andrew Knox, Bishop of Rathoe who turned it into a fortified house in anticipation of a possible French invasion during the Napoleonic Wars. This battery still stands and today serves as a heritage centre, facilities in Rathmullan include 1 shop, a resource centre, and also includes hotels such as Rathmullan House, Fort Royal and the Waters Edge now closed. The Looking Glass Spa Therapy, Drumhalla House The sea is a part of the lives of the people of Rathmullan. The 2007 festival took place on Sat, June 2, and Sun, ian Anderson, former President of the Legislative Council of the Isle of Man. Mary McAlister Hugh Law, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, died here in 1883
3.
Lough Swilly
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Lough Swilly in Ireland is a glacial fjord or sea inlet lying between the western side of the Inishowen Peninsula and the Fanad Peninsula, in County Donegal. Along with Carlingford Lough and Killary Harbour it is one of three glacial fjords in Ireland, at the northern extremities of the lough are Fanad Head with its famous lighthouse and Dunaff Head. Towns situated on the lough include Buncrana on Inishowen and Rathmullan on the western side, at the southern end of the lough lies Letterkenny. Steeped in history the lough and the Grianán Ailigh hill fort at its southeastern bend was recorded on Ptolemys map of the world and it has numerous early Stone Age monuments and Iron Age fortifications along its shores as well as a number of shell middens dated to approximately 7000 BC. It is most famous for being the site of the Flight of the Earls, during a gale on 4 December 1811, the Royal Navy 36-gun Apollo-class frigate HMS Saldanha was shipwrecked in Lough Swilly. There were no survivors out of the estimated 253 aboard, due to its natural shelter and impressive depth the lough was an important naval port. Subsequently Tone was captured and taken ashore at Buncrana on the east side of the Swilly, martello towers were built around 1804 to defend the approaches to Derry. The six on the lough cost €1,800 each, were armed with smoothbore cannon, firing round shot and were completed in six months. The remains of fortifications can still be inspected at Lenan Head, Fort Dunree, Neds Point, Buncrana, Inch Island and on the west coast at Rathmullan, Knockalla. During this period a boom was placed across the lough between Macamish Point and Neds Point, supported by a number of trawlers, to prevent U-boat attacks. After the Irish War of Independence the lough was also one of the Treaty Ports specified in the Anglo-Irish Treaty until its final handing over at Fort Dunree in 1938. There was reportedly only one incident, when a Royal Navy ship entered the lough. However, the turned around before Irish forces fired upon it. List of loughs in Ireland Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway
4.
Irish language
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Irish, also referred to as Gaelic or Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people. Irish enjoys constitutional status as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland and it is also among the official languages of the European Union. The public body Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island of Ireland and it has the oldest vernacular literature in Western Europe. The fate of the language was influenced by the power of the English state in Ireland. Elizabethan officials viewed the use of Irish unfavourably, as being a threat to all things English in Ireland and its decline began under English rule in the 17th century. In the latter part of the 19th century, there was a decrease in the number of speakers. Irish-speaking areas were hit especially hard, by the end of British rule, the language was spoken by less than 15% of the national population. Since then, Irish speakers have been in the minority, efforts have been made by the state, individuals and organisations to preserve, promote and revive the language, but with mixed results. Around the turn of the 21st century, estimates of native speakers ranged from 20,000 to 80,000 people. In the 2011 Census, these numbers had increased to 94,000 and 1.3 million, there are several thousand Irish speakers in Northern Ireland. It has been estimated that the active Irish-language scene probably comprises 5 to 10 per cent of Irelands population, there has been a significant increase in the number of urban Irish speakers, particularly in Dublin. In Gaeltacht areas, however, there has been a decline of the use of Irish. Údarás na Gaeltachta predicted that, by 2025, Irish will no longer be the language in any of the designated Gaeltacht areas. Survey data suggest that most Irish people think highly of Irish as a marker of identity. It has also argued that newer urban groups of Irish speakers are a disruptive force in this respect. In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil the name of the language is Gaeilge, before the spelling reform of 1948, this form was spelled Gaedhilge, originally this was the genitive of Gaedhealg, the form used in Classical Irish. Older spellings of this include Gaoidhealg in Classical Irish and Goídelc in Old Irish, the modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent dh in the middle of Gaedhilge, whereas Goidelic languages, used to refer to the language family including Irish, comes from Old Irish
5.
Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone
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Hugh ONeill, was an Irish Gaelic lord, Earl of Tyrone and was later created The Ó Néill. ONeill came from a line of the ONeill dynasty - derbfine - that the English authorities recognized as the successors to the chieftainship of the ONeills. He was the son of Matthew ONeill, reputed illegitimate son of Conn. In the ensuing conflict for the succession Matthew was killed by the Ó Donnaile followers of Shane and Conn, placing his sons Brian and Hugh in a precarious situation. ONeill succeeded his brother, Brian, as baron of Dungannon, ONeill was brought up in London, but after the death of Shane he returned to Ulster in 1567 under the protection of Sir Henry Sidney, lord deputy of Ireland. In Tyrone, Hughs cousin, Turlough Luineach ONeill had succeeded Shane ONeill as The ONeill, or chieftain, the crown therefore supported Hugh ONeill as the rightful claimant and as an ally in Gaelic controlled Ulster. Hugh was subsequently inaugurated as The ONeill at Tullahogue in the style of the former Gaelic kings, in keeping with the practice common at the time, he bribed officials both in Ireland and at Elizabeths court in London. In the early 1590s, English government in Ulster took the form of a Provincial Presidency, to be headed by the colonist, after Mabels death, ONeill gradually fell into a barely concealed opposition to the crown and sought aid from Spain and Scotland. ONeill was instantly proclaimed a traitor at Dundalk, the war that followed is known as the Nine Years War. ONeill followed Shanes policy of arming the people, rather than relying as Turlough had done upon Scots mercenary soldiers and he and other clan chiefs then offered the crown of Ireland to Philip II of Spain who refused it. In April 1596, ONeill received promises of help from Spain and this policy was a success and, even though Sir John Norris sought to bring him to heel, ONeill managed to defer English attempts on his territory for more than two years. In 1598, a cessation of hostilities was arranged and a pardon granted to ONeill by Elizabeth. It was the greatest of all setbacks to English arms in Ireland, but Tyrone, who possessed but little generalship, procrastinated until the golden opportunity was lost. Eight months after the battle of the Yellow Ford, a new Lord Lieutenant, Essex found that ONeill had been waiting to see what might be attempted against him. At this point the controversial Jesuit, James Archer, was operating as his representative at the Spanish court. A large reward was offered for the capture, dead or alive. In October 1601, the aid from Spain appeared in the form of an army} under Don Juan de Aguila. They gained little support en route, at Bandon they joined together, and then blockaded the English army that was laying siege to the Spanish
6.
Hugh Roe O'Donnell
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Hugh Roe ODonnell, also known as Red Hugh ODonnell, was The ODonnell and king of Tyrconnell. He led a rebellion against English government in Ireland from 1593 and he is sometimes also known as Aodh Ruadh II or Red Hugh II, especially within County Donegal. He had numerous brothers and sisters including Donnell, Rory and Cathbarr, Sir Hugh was a long-standing ally of the Crown, in attempt to counterbalance the power of Shane ONeill and Turlough Luineach ONeill the rulers of neighboring Tyrone. In Sir Hughs later years, a succession dispute broke out to determine who would succeed him. Although Ineen Dubh pushed the case for Hugh Roe to succeed, the Crown chose to support Donnell as it regarded him as the rightful and most stable potential ruler, partly due to the fact that Donnells mother was a local woman while Hugh Roes was from Scotland. Donnell was strengthened by the arrival of a detachment of Irish Army troops dispatched from Dublin under John Connill. There were a number of claimants to the ODonnell title including Hugh Roes great uncle Hugh Dubh ODonnell. ODonnell escaped briefly in 1591 but was recaptured within days, Hugh ODonnell and his two companions, the brothers Art and Henry ONeill, were the only prisoners ever to successfully escape captivity in Dublin Castle. Upon his return to Ulster, he gained the leadership of the ODonnell Clan becoming The ODonnell, at this point, ONeill did not join ODonnell in open rebellion, but secretly backed him to enhance his bargaining power with the English. ONeill by now was also communicating with Philip II of Spain for military aid, declaring open rebellion against the English the following year, ODonnells forces captured Connacht from Sligo to Leitrim by 1595. Their greatest victory came two years later however at Battle of the Yellow Ford on the Blackwater River near the border of Tyrone in August 1598. At this battle, the Irish annihilated an English force marching to relieve Armagh, ONeill then went south to secure the allegiance of Irish lords in Munster, without much success. ODonnell raided Connacht, destroying the town of Athenry, laying waste to much of County Galway and they then leaped from the parapets, and gained the streets of the town, and opened the gates for those who were outside. They all then proceeded to demolish the storehouses and the strong habitations and they remained that night in the town. It was not easy to enumerate or reckon the quantities of copper, iron, clothes, and habiliments, as a result of these and other assaults, ODonnell was unable to persuade the local lords to join him. However, in the two years, ODonnell and ONeill were hard pressed with the deployment of thousands more English troops in the country. ODonnell repulsed an English expedition towards western Ulster at the battle of Curlew Pass in 1599, even worse for ODonnell than English offensives was the defection of his kinsman, Niall Garve ODonnell to the English side, in return for their backing his own claim the ODonnell chieftainship. Niall Garves brothers and hundreds of followers joined him in supporting the Crown
7.
Ulster
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Ulster is a province in the north of the island of Ireland. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a rí ruirech, the definition of the province was fluid from early to medieval times. It took a shape in the reign of King James I of England when all the counties of Ireland were eventually shired. This process of evolving conquest had been under way since the Norman invasion of Ireland, particularly as advanced by the Cambro-Norman magnates Hugh de Lacy, Ulster was a central topic role in the parliamentary debates that eventually resulted in the Government of Ireland Act 1920. Under the terms of the Act, Ireland was divided into two territories, Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland, with the passing through the province. While these six counties and two boroughs were all in the province of Ulster, three other counties of the province – Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan – were assigned to the Irish Free State. Ulster has no function for local government purposes in either country. However, for the purposes of ISO-3166-2, Ulster is used to refer to the three counties of Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan only, which are given country sub-division code IE-U. It has also suggested to have derived from Uladh plus the Norse suffix ster. The Irish name, Cúige Uladh, means the province of the Ulaid, the Ulaidh were a group of tribes who dwelt in the region. Ulaidh has historically been anglicised as Ulagh or Ullagh and Latinised as Ulidia or Ultonia, the latter two have yielded the terms Ulidian and Ultonian. Words that have used in English are Ullish and Ulsterman/Ulsterwoman. Northern Ireland is often referred to as Ulster, despite including only six of Ulsters nine counties and this usage is most common amongst people in Northern Ireland who are unionist, although it is also used by the media throughout the United Kingdom. Most Irish nationalists object to the use of Ulster in this context, Ulster has a population of just over 2 million people and an area of 21,552 square kilometres. About 62% of the area of Ulster is in the UK while the remaining 38% is in the Republic of Ireland. Ulsters biggest city, Belfast, has an population of over half a million inhabitants, making it the second-largest city on the island of Ireland. Three Ulster counties – Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan – form part of the Republic of Ireland, about half of Ulsters population lives in counties Antrim and Down. 8% to 42. 7%. While the traditional counties continue to demarcate areas of government in the Republic of Ireland
8.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time
9.
County Donegal
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County Donegal is a county of Ireland. It is part of the Border Region of the Republic of Ireland and is in the province of Ulster and it is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. Donegal County Council is the council for the county and Lifford serves as the county town. The population of the county is 158,755 according to the 2016 census and it has also been known as Tyrconnell, after the historic territory of the same name. In terms of size and area, it is the largest county in Ulster, uniquely, County Donegal shares a small border with only one other county in the Republic of Ireland – County Leitrim. The greater part of its border is shared with three counties of Northern Ireland, County Londonderry, County Tyrone and County Fermanagh. While Lifford is the county town, Letterkenny is by far the largest town in the county with a population of 19,588, Letterkenny and the nearby city of Derry form the main economic axis of the northwest of Ireland. Indeed, what became the City of Derry was officially part of County Donegal up until 1610, there are two Gaeltacht districts in the west, The Rosses, centred on the town of Dungloe, and Gweedore. Another Gaeltacht district is located in the north-west, Cloughaneely, centred on the town of Falcarragh, the most northerly part of the island of Ireland is the location for three peninsulas of outstanding natural beauty, Inishowen, Fanad and Rosguill. The main population centre of Inishowen, Irelands largest peninsula, is Buncrana, in the east of the county lies the Finn Valley. The Laggan district is centred on the town of Raphoe, according to the 1841 Census, County Donegal had a population of 296,000 people. As a result of famine and emigration, the population had reduced by 41,000 by 1851, by the time of the 1951 Census the population was only 44% of what it had been in 1841. The 2006 Census, undertaken by the States Central Statistics Office, had County Donegals population standing at 147,264, according to the 2011 Census, the countys population had grown to 161,137. It has an indented coastline forming natural sea loughs, of which both Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle are the most notable. The Slieve League cliffs are the sixth-highest sea cliffs in Europe, the climate is temperate and dominated by the Gulf Stream, with warm, damp summers and mild wet winters. Two permanently inhabited islands, Arranmore and Tory Island, lie off the coast, Irelands second longest river, the Erne, enters Donegal Bay near the town of Ballyshannon. The River Erne, along with other Donegal waterways, has been dammed to produce hydroelectric power, the River Foyle separates part of County Donegal from parts of both counties Londonderry and Tyrone. A survey of the marine algae of County Donegal was published in 2003
10.
Battle of Kinsale
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Owing to Spanish involvement, and the strategic advantages to be gained, the battle also formed part of the Anglo-Spanish War, the wider conflict of Protestant England against Catholic Spain. Ireland had been claimed as a lordship by the English Crown since 1175, by the 1350s, the area under government control had shrunk to the Pale, the area around Dublin. The rest of the country was controlled by the Gaelic lordships, king Henry VIII initiated a policy of conquest and colonisation during the 1530s, pursued by his successors. In 1594, forces in Ulster under the previously loyal Earl of Tyrone, Aodh Mór Ó Néill, supported by Aodh Ruadh Ó Dónaill, a number of Irish victories seemed to place English control of Ireland in the balance. Following the failure of the Spanish Armada in 1588 Philip II decided to take advantage of the Irish rebels in order to create a new front in the war against England. The 2nd Spanish Armada aimed at supporting the rebels however was smashed by storms off Cape Finisterre in October 1596, the ill Philip sent forth another armada the following year but this failed too due to storms, bad luck and ill planning. After Philip IIs death Philip III continued to direct support to the Irish rebels fighting England. In 1601 Philip sent Don Juan del Águila and Don Diego Brochero to Ireland with 6,000 men, bad weather separated the ships and nine of them, carrying the majority of veteran soldiers and gunpowder, had to turn back. The remaining 4000 men disembarked at Kinsale, just south of Cork on 2 October 1601, another force commanded by Alonso de Ocampo managed to land at Baltimore. The Spaniards rushed to fortify precarious fortifications to withstand the approaching English armies, while the Spanish army had secured the town of Kinsale, they failed to expand their base into the surrounding region and were vulnerable to becoming besieged by English forces. On hearing of the Spanish landing, Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, however many of these were Irish levies and many were not suited to siege warfare especially in winter, many fell ill, leaving about 7,500 capable of fighting. At the same time, the Gaelic Earls Hugh ONeill and his ally ODonnell considered their positions and their difficulty was that the Spanish had landed on the south coast of Ireland far away from the areas under control of the Irish Chieftains. In order to bring aid to the Spanish troops they would have to lead their troops into regions where support for their cause was most doubtful and they hesitated for weeks as autumn turned into a particularly wet and stormy winter. The besieged Spanish garrison began to suffer privation and ONeill was forced to go to their aid and he fully understood that should this first Spanish force suffer defeat he would be unlikely to receive further military help. A large force would be necessary, larger than they could afford to lose and they set out on a 300-mile winter march - separately, to ease supply - with a total of 5,000 infantry and 700 cavalry. The combined armies of O’Neill, O’Donnell and Tyrrell came to 6,180 and this included 500 of Donal Cam OSullivan Beare’s men, and 200 of Ocampo’s Spaniards. Lord Mountjoys forces were incapable of surrounding the town of Kinsale and its surrounding area, the English navy under Admiral Richard Leveson arrived with a squadron of ten ships and cut off the town from the sea. The English cavalry rode through the surrounding countryside destroying livestock and crops, ONeill and ODonnell were hesitant about leaving Ulster open to attack by marching south, especially given the lack of supplies for their troops
