Desmond Rebellions

The Desmond Rebellions occurred in the 1560s, 1570s and 1580s in Munster in southern Ireland. They were rebellions of the Earl of Desmond dynasty—the Fitzgerald family or Geraldines—and their allies against the efforts of the Elizabethan English government to extend their control over the province of Munster. The rebellions were primarily about the independence of feudal lords from their monarch but also had an element of religious conflict (Roman Catholic against Protestant). The result of the rebellions was the destruction of the Desmond dynasty and the subsequent plantation or colonisation of Munster with English settlers. See also Tudor re-conquest of Ireland

The Second Desmond Rebellion

The second Desmond rebellion was sparked when James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald launched an invasion of Munster in 1579. During his exile in Europe, he had reinvented himself as a soldier of the counter-reformation, arguing that since the Pope's excommunication of Elizabeth I in 1570 Irish Catholics did not owe loyalty to a heretical English monarchy. The Pope granted Fitzmaurice an "indulgence" and also Papal troops and money. The Catholic King of Spain accepted Ireland into his possessions, pending the expulsion of the English. Fitzmaurice and 700 Spanish and Italian soldiers landed in Dingle, Kerry in July 1579. He was immediately joined by John Fitzgerald, the brother of the Earl, who had a large following among his kinsmen and the disaffected swordsmen of Munster. Other Gaelic clans and Old English families also joined in the insurgency.

Related Topics:
Counter-reformation - Pope - Indulgence - Spanish - Italian - Dingle - 1579

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Gerald, the Earl of Desmond, initially tried to stay out of the rebellion but joined it being declared a traitor by the authorities. Fitzmaurice was killed shortly after he landed, leaving the rebellion under the command of John and Gerald Fitzgerald. The rebels sacked the towns of Youghal and Kinsale, and devastated the country of the English and their allies. In 1580, the rebellion spread to Leinster, under the leadership of Gaelic Irish chieftain Fiach MacHugh O'Byrne and the Pale lord Viscount Baltinglass—motivated by Catholicism and hostility to the English. A large English force under Earl Grey de Wilton were sent to subdue them, only to be ambushed and massacred at the battle of Glenmalure, losing over 800 dead. The rebels temporarily bestowed the title of King of Leinster on Creon MacMurrough Kavanagh, whose ancestors had held this title before the English conquest.

Related Topics:
Youghal - Kinsale - Leinster - Fiach MacHugh O'Byrne - The Pale - Baltinglass - Earl Grey de Wilton - Battle of Glenmalure

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However, the tide in Munster was already turning against the rebels. English troops and locally raised forces under Ormonde succeeded in re-taking the south coast, destroying the lands of the Desmonds and their allies in the process, and killing their tenants. By capturing Carrigafoyle, the principal Desmond castle on the mouth of Shannon river, they cut off the Geraldine forces from the rest of the country and prevented a landing of foreign troops into the main Munster ports. When the Catholic reinforcements did arrive, they were only 600 Papal troops, and they were bottled up in a castle at Smerwick in Kerry before being captured and massacred. By relentless scorched earth tactics, the English broke the momentum of the rebellion. By 1581, most of the Fitzgerald's allies in Munster and Leinster had submitted on terms.

Related Topics:
Shannon - 1581

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For the Geraldine family, however, there would be no pardon, and the rising would go on until the bitter end. From 1581 to 1583, the war dragged on, with the remaining Geraldines evading capture in the mountains of Kerry. The rebellion was finally ended in November 1583 when Gerald, the Earl of Desmond, was hunted down and killed in the Slieve Mish mountains in Kerry by a local clan named the O'Moriartys. The O'Moriarty chief, Maurice, received 1000 pounds of silver from the English government for Desmond's head, which was triumphantly displayed on the walls of Cork.

Related Topics:
1583 - Slieve Mish mountains - Cork

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