The Sack of Athenry was a 1572 battle in Ireland. For much of its history the town of

Athenry Athenry (; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland, which lies east of Galway city. Some of the attractions of the medieval town are its town wall, Athenry Castle, its priory and its 13th century street-plan. The town is also well known by virt ...

( ) was safe behind its walls, erected in the aftermath of the

Second Battle of Athenry The Second Battle of Athenry ( ) took place at Athenry ( gle, Áth na Ríogh) in Ireland on 10 August 1316 during the Bruce campaign in Ireland. Overview The collective number of both armies are unknown, and can only be estimated. Martyn bel ...

in 1316 during the height of the Bruce Wars. However, the beginning of the end occurred during the Mac an Iarla Wars in 1572, when, according to the

Annals of the Four Masters The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' ( ga, Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' (''Annála na gCeithre Máistrí'') are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Flood myt ...

: :"''They destroyed the walls of the town of Athenry, and also its stone houses and its castle; and they so damaged the town that it was not easy to repair it for a long time after them.''" This was the first of a number of attacks committed by the Mac an Iarlas, and later, by

Red Hugh 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'Donn ...

. By the end of the 16th century

, once the premier town in

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms ( Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Del ...

, was reduced to a shell, and did not begin to truly recover till the late 1990s.

References

{{Ireland-hist-stub Conflicts in 1572 History of County Galway Battles involving Ireland 1572 in Ireland Sack of Looting Razed cities

See also

References