kern descended to engage in hand-to-hand combat. Grey's troops were routed with the loss of hundreds, and much valuable equipment had to be discarded. Grey spurred his cavalry on to check the pursuit and force the rebels back into the glen, but even on the retreat to Dublin the punishment was withering.
Despite this disturbing setback, Grey was in a position to post a garrison in the locality, in the hope that this would contain O'Byrne; but the raids kept coming, even into the suburbs of Dublin. In the campaign that ensued, O'Byrne did suffer losses and failed to dislodge the garrison, but he held out, even after the crown had asserted its command in Munster with the
massacre at Smerwick of the
Papal invasion force.
In the following spring, when Grey passed through Wicklow, O'Byrne showed his forces on the hills and sent sorties to cut off the straggling plate wagons. He insisted that the terms offered to him include a pardon for Desmond and a guarantee of freedom of conscience. But the glens now became so frequented with crown troops that he was forced to accept the original terms and, once hostages had been given to the government, he received his pardon.
Quiet times
For some years after, O'Byrne remained docile and, following the death of the Earl of Desmond in 1583, had even received into his territory his old foe, Nicholas White, upon the first visit to that place by a senior crown judge. He gave his uncle and sons as hostages to the new governor, Sir
John Perrot, who hanged a piper sent in by O'Byrne after a cattle raid which had been carried out to the piper's tune. Some of the hostages escaped, but O'Byrne soon appeared before Perrot in English dress and supplied more hostages.
In March 1587 the Irish wife of the English captain, Sir
Thomas Lee, let it be known that her husband was plotting to capture O'Byrne, and Lee decided to separate from her. In 1589 twenty-two O'Byrne hostages escaped custody – including two of Fiach's sons and his brother-in-law – eleven were recaptured. O'Byrne's docility remained in doubt, and he was soon found attacking Arklow Castle in revenge for a private wrong.
Cat and mouse
In 1592 O'Byrne involved himself in another escape from Dublin Castle.
Hugh Roe O'Donnell
Hugh Roe O'Donnell ( Irish: ''Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill''), also known as Red Hugh O'Donnell (30 October 1572 – 10 September 1602), was a sixteenth-century leader of the Gaelic nobility of Ireland. He became Chief of the Name of Clan O'Don ...
had escaped the castle in the previous year, only to be betrayed while on the run. His second attempt was a success, and although he suffered frostbite O'Donnell was guided to Glenmalure, whence O'Byrne despatched him home to the province of Ulster. The grave of Art O'Neill (son of Shane O'Neill), a fellow prisoner who died during the escape, lies southwest of Granabeg towards Glenmalure, in the townland of Oakwood.
O'Byrne fell quiet again, but Lee insisted throughout the period 1594–96 that he was a traitor to the crown, and a new initiative against him was directed by the lord deputy, Sir
William Russell. After the Christmas festivities of 1594, Russell drove O'Byrne from Ballinacor in a three-day offensive and garrisoned his house. On their approach to the ramparts of Ballinacor a drum had been accidentally sounded before the troops could reach the gate, which put O'Byrne on his guard, and the gate was defended while those inside fled to safety. It was a mark of how close the government was coming in its efforts to tame the Wicklow highlands, and a reward of £150 was posted for O'Byrne's capture (or £100 for his head).
O'Byrne and his second wife, Rose O'Toole, were proclaimed traitors. Days later the Dublin suburb of Crumlin was burned by his son-in-law, Walter Reagh, and the flames of the raid were seen in the centre of Dublin, whereupon Russell ordered the city gates opened as he sent cavalry in pursuit, but to no avail. In response, a fort was built at Ballinacor with 100 O'Byrne labourers, and the pressure on the clan territory was increased. Walter Reagh Fitzgerald was captured and hanged alive in chains for 24 hours before being impaled on a spike.
Russell set up spring camp at Shillelagh, hunting and fishing and receiving the heads of rebels, but O'Byrne was elusive and he intrigued with
Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone
Hugh O'Neill ( Irish: ''Aodh Mór Ó Néill''; literally ''Hugh The Great O'Neill''; – 20 July 1616), was an Irish Gaelic lord, Earl of Tyrone (known as the Great Earl) and was later created ''The Ó Néill Mór'', Chief of the Name. O'N ...
. The O'Byrnes executed an attack at Athy, but Fiach denounced the raid. At about this time his wife,
Rose O'Toole, was captured and, upon her conviction for treason by a Dublin jury, sentenced to death by burning; her life was spared, only because she had been convinced to convey information to Fiach that his son Turlough was betraying him. O'Byrne delivered over Turlough, who was executed.
Ulster alliance
In his negotiations with Russell, during a truce in the
Nine Years War
The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monar ...
, Hugh O'Neill included terms for the treatment of O'Byrne, and reinforced his point with the capture of the Blackwater fort, which was said to have been in response to the lord deputy's campaign in Wicklow. O'Byrne sought pardon for himself and his family – excluding his most wayward sons – in the summer of 1596, by which time he was old and sick. He presented himself on his knees to the council sitting at Dublin to seek mercy and was granted his pardon upon petition to the queen. Even so, he was in alliance with O'Neill, acting as a Leinster base for rebel influence and maintaining a force on the borders of the Pale.
The fort at Ballinacor was retaken by O'Byrne, and the attacks on government forces in Wicklow began again. He had also allied with the O'Mores, Kavanaghs, O'Connors and O'Tooles, and was thought by Russell to be of far greater ability than O'Neill. However, the rest of the O'Byrnes were not considered a threat, indeed the clan were divided, with some engaging in the hunting down of Fiach, and a new fort was built at Rathdown.
During the winter, Russell scoured the mountains, taking in cattle and heads. He crossed the bridge at Ballinacor ford against resistance on 24 September 1596 and stayed on the mountain with his cavalry. Meanwhile, Captain Lee was sent with a force to Fananerin, on the west side of Glenmalure (i.e. in Manning's bog north of Greenane north of the river), where he burned the town before returning to camp. O'Neill complained of the attacks on O'Byrne, and Lee was left to engage in sporadic fighting. The government believed that O'Neill was attempting to divert the attacks, and so Russell made the final push in March 1597, when he marched over the mountains to Fananerin and on to Ballinacor and into the glen. There he made a show of dining, and knighted an officer in the place where one of the
Carews had been slain during Grey's campaign in 1580.
Russell withdrew, only to return two months later on the information of the northern branch of the O'Byrne clan. He was due for recall to London, and it seems that the defeat of O'Byrne himself had become the ultimate aim of his government. Again the Lord Deputy came to Fananerin (Sunday, 8 May 1597), with troops converging on the town from three directions. O'Byrne was in the company of a few swordsmen, who were killed at the first incursion, and fled on foot. He was compelled by exhaustion to seek refuge in a cave, where Captain
Thomas Lee caught up with him. He was executed by Lee's soldiers, and his own sword was used to cut off his head, which was presented to Russell before his return to Dublin the next day. It was the governor's final success in Ireland. Lee later met with O'Byrne's son, Phelim, at
Rathmines, and swore the killing had not been of his choice.
The Lost Head
O'Byrne's corpse was butchered and for months the head and quarters hung on pike staffs on the wall over Dublin Castle drawbridge. Several months later the pickled head was presented to the council secretary in London by an English adventurer, who was disappointed to find that the head-silver due on O'Byrne had already been paid in Ireland. The queen was angered that, "''the head of such a base Robin Hood was brought solemnly into England''". The offending item was prepared for burial, but was found a day or two later in Enfield Chase, outside London, perched in the fork of a tree.
Descendants
"Many efforts have been made over the years to find modern descendants of the Glenmalur Chief, Feach mac Hugh O'Byrne. None have met with any notable success."
Toirdelbhach, Fiach's eldest son, was executed on 18 July 1595. He had two daughters and no sons.
Fiach's second son,
Felim Buidh na Laragh, was an M.P. for
County Wicklow
County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered ...
and died in 1630. He married Winifred O'Toole of Castlekevin (daughter of Luke), who died in 1628. A son of the couple was Brian O'Birn of Ballincor, outlawed in 1652. His son was Colonel
Shane mac Brian O'Birn, who served in the army of the
Irish Catholic Confederation
Confederate Ireland, also referred to as the Irish Catholic Confederation, was a period of Irish Catholic self-government between 1642 and 1649, during the Eleven Years' War. Formed by Catholic aristocrats, landed gentry, clergy and militar ...
in the 1640s.
A family genealogy brings Fiach's descendants down to 1875, in the persons of brothers Alfred and John Byrne of Sleaty,
County Laois
County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a med ...
. Alfred, a soldier, was the eldest and would have been ninth in descent from Felim, his pedigree been Alfred, son of Gerald of Sleaty, son of Charles of Sleaty, son of Gerald of Ballinakill, son of Charles, son of Edmond of Ballinakill (died 1737,) son of Hugh, son of Shane, son of Brian, son of Felim, son of Fiach.
Mac Brádaigh agrees that the descent down to Colonel Shane O'Birn is correct, it has been verified in the genealogies of the Gabhal Raghnail. He furthermore is inclined to accept the descent from Edmond O'Birn of Ballinakill, Clonmore (died 1737) down to Alfred and John.
However, Mac Brádaigh casts grave doubts on the authenticity of Aodh Ó Broin, putative son of Colonel Ó Broin, stating that he "does not belong naturally in either section. ... He is called Aodh Gancagh in the description of his putative son Éamon, a description which associates the latter, and by implication the former, with the place called Clonmore. This makes it apparent that simple 'Aodh Ó Broin' is meant to be Aodh Gancagh of Clonmore but the later in its full form was the name of an uncle of Feach mac Aodha and brother to his mother Sadhbh. Could a member of Feach's family, five generations removed from Sadhbh, by strange chance be named Hugh and be connected with Clonmore? It seems very unlikely! Aodh Ó Broin looks phoney, so the genealogy ... is probably false, but perhaps there is someone out there who could prove me wrong."
Sadhbh Ní Bhroin was the daughter of Feidhlim Buidhe Ó Broin of Clonmore.
Legacy
O'Byrne's role has been overshadowed by accounts of O'Neill in the
Nine Years War
The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monar ...
. In June 1597, O'Neill attacked on several fronts – Carrickfergus, Newry and Westmeath – in retaliation for the killing of his ally. O'Byrne's sons, Phelim and Redmond, survived their father and were active during the remainder of the war.
On going north into Ulster, Phelim was given charge of the Blackwater fort. In October 1597, the brothers returned south and began active operations at O'Neill's direction with a force under the command of the O'Mores. In 1599, Phelim had a success against the ill-fated army of
the Earl of Essex (see
Essex in Ireland), and Redmond returned to O'Neill's ranks. The war ended with the
Treaty of Mellifont
The Treaty of Mellifont ( ga, Conradh na Mainistreach Móire), also known as the Articles of Mellifont, was signed in 1603 and ended the Nine Years' War which took place in the Kingdom of Ireland from 1594 to 1603.
End of war
Following the Eng ...
, and in 1606 Phelim and Redmond received grants of what lands were left to them in their father's estate.
It was under the patronage of Fiach McHugh O'Byrne that part of the
Book of O'Byrne, a collection of Gaelic poems, was compiled. A manuscript copy was sold at auction in 2000 in Dublin.
Feagh McHugh O'Byrne is celebrated in the song by P.J. McCall '
Follow me up to Carlow'.
"The Marching Song of Fiach Mac Hugh" by Irish
Folk metal
Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for exampl ...
band
Cruachan from their album
Blood for the Blood God is about the march into Carlow by O'Byrne.
Notes
References
*Daniel Byrne-Rothwell, "The Byrnes and the O'Byrnes", (House of Lochar, 2010).
*Richard Bagwell, ''Ireland under the Tudors'' 3 vols. (London, 1885–1890)
*John O'Donovan (ed.) ''Annals of Ireland by the Four Masters'' (1851).
*''Calendar of State Papers: Carew MSS.'' 6 vols (London, 1867–1873).
*''Calendar of State Papers: Ireland'' (London)
*Nicholas Canny ''The Elizabethan Conquest of Ireland'' (Dublin, 1976); ''Kingdom and Colony'' (2002).
*Steven G. Ellis ''Tudor Ireland'' (London, 1985) .
*Hiram Morgan ''Tyrone's Rebellion'' (1995).
*Standish O'Grady (ed.) "''Pacata Hibernia''" 2 vols. (London, 1896).
*Cyril Falls ''Elizabeth's Irish Wars'' (1950; reprint London, 1996) .
*''Dictionary of National Biography'' 22 vols. (London, 1921–1922).
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Obyrne, Fiach Mchugh
1534 births
1597 deaths
16th-century Irish people
Irish lords
People of Elizabethan Ireland
People of the Second Desmond Rebellion
Irish chiefs of the name