Irish Nine Years’ War: A Visual History

The Irish Nine Years' War (1593-1603) was the last great Gaelic resistance to English rule in Ireland, led by Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Hugh O'Donnell of Tyrconnell in Ulster. O'Neill's modernised army destroyed an English force at the Yellow Ford in August 1598, and the revolt spread across Ireland; the Earl of Essex's huge expedition of 1599 failed and he made a truce, but Lord Mountjoy from 1600 built forts, burned crops and starved Ulster into famine. A Spanish army of 3,500 landed at Kinsale in September 1601; the Irish marched south to relieve it and were routed on Christmas Eve 1601. O'Neill submitted at Mellifont in March 1603, days after Elizabeth I's death, kept his lands, but fled in the Flight of the Earls in 1607; the Plantation of Ulster followed. Perhaps 100,000 died, mostly of famine.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Irish Nine Years' War (Tyrone's Rebellion). The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

English army in Ireland

Timeline of the Irish Nine Years' War (Tyrone's Rebellion)

1. 1593
   Maguire's revolt begins
2. 1595
   O'Neill openly at war; Clontibret
3. 1598
   Yellow Ford14 August.
4. 1599
   Essex's expedition fails
5. 1600
   Mountjoy's attrition; Docwra at Derry
6. 1601
   Spanish landing; Battle of Kinsale24 December (old style).
7. 1603
   Treaty of Mellifont30 March.
8. 1607
   Flight of the Earls
9. 1609
   Plantation of Ulster begins

Tyrone's confederacy

O'Neill had been raised partly among the English and made earl, but as English sheriffs and garrisons pushed into Ulster he secretly armed and drilled his clansmen with pikes and muskets bought through Scotland, and joined Maguire's and O'Donnell's revolt openly in 1595. He won at Clontibret (1595) and, at the Yellow Ford near Armagh on 14 August 1598, killed the English commander Bagenal and 2,000 men, the worst English defeat in Ireland. Munster rose and the Plantation there was overthrown; O'Neill posed as champion of Catholic Ireland and asked Philip III of Spain for help.

Essex and Mountjoy

Essex landed with 17,000 men in 1599, wandered Munster and Leinster, met O'Neill alone at a ford and agreed a truce, and returned to face Elizabeth's fury and eventual execution. Mountjoy took over in 1600 with a strategy of attrition: Docwra landed at Derry behind O'Neill, Carew retook Munster, and Mountjoy's garrisons and cavalry destroyed crops and cattle so that Ulster starved. O'Neill's allies fell away as the English bought them off.

Kinsale and Mellifont

Spain finally sent Don Juan del Aguila with 3,500 men, who landed at Kinsale in the far south in September 1601 and were besieged by Mountjoy. O'Neill and O'Donnell marched the length of Ireland in winter and, against O'Neill's judgement, attacked on 24 December 1601; their army broke in confusion before English cavalry within an hour. Aguila surrendered on terms; O'Donnell died in Spain seeking help; O'Neill fought on in the wasted north until, on 30 March 1603, he made his submission at Mellifont to Mountjoy, who did not tell him the queen had died six days earlier. He was pardoned and restored, but hemmed in, and in September 1607 he and Tyrconnell sailed for the continent; their lands were planted with English and Scottish settlers from 1609.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• British Empire (1583 to 1997)
• Spanish Empire (1492 to 1976)

Wars of the same era and region

• Eighty Years' War (Dutch Revolt) (1568 to 1648)
• Hundred Years' War (1337 to 1453)
• Roman conquest of Britain (43 to 84)
• Nine Years' War (1688 to 1697)

8 surprising things about the Irish Nine Years' War (Tyrone's Rebellion)

1. The Yellow Ford was the greatest defeat of an English army in Ireland; the commander Bagenal was O'Neill's brother-in-law and enemy.
2. Elizabeth spent about 2 million pounds on the war, more than on the Armada, and it left her treasury bankrupt.
3. Mountjoy withheld news of Elizabeth's death so O'Neill would submit to her rather than to a new king who might have been more generous.
4. O'Neill reportedly wept when told the queen had died, realising he had surrendered to a corpse.
5. The Flight of the Earls in 1607 took O'Neill to Rome, where he died in 1616 and is buried on the Janiculum.
6. The Plantation of Ulster that followed settled the Protestants whose descendants shaped Northern Ireland.
7. Essex's secret parley with O'Neill was cited at his trial for treason before his execution in 1601.
8. Kinsale was fought on the day the English called 24 December and the Spanish and Irish, on the new calendar, 3 January.

Sources

• Nine Years' War (Ireland) Wikipedia
• Hugh O'Neill, 2nd earl of Tyrone Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Battle of Kinsale Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Hiram Morgan, Tyrone's Rebellion (1993) Boydell

Back to all empires and wars