Latest / Ebbs of History / When Ireland Had a Pirate Queen
Transcript
- Jason: Welcome to The Ebbs of History, show where we dive into the strangest, wildest, and sometimes downright creepiest stories the past has to offer. From dancing plagues to pirate queens, you'll laugh, you'll gasp, you'll even groan at my impeccable dad jokes. But most importantly, ⁓ you will learn how history is cooler than your textbook ever told you. We are history-loving hosts, Zoe. Lessons we've learned today. Gavin. And I'm Jason, and in every episode the three of us will take a quick trip through time and see what lessons we can still learn today. This is the Ebbs of History. Time for the Fun Fact Challenge! Hey there history lovers, welcome back to another episode of Ebbs of History. We're so glad you're here with us today. Zoe, Gavin, we are recording another one right after we just recorded our last one. So I can't ask you how your week was. So, my question for you is how you doin'? This day in History! Doing pretty good. I just got my Bryn Cow milk from that last episode. So I'm ready to go. That was a good episode. I liked that one. Me too. I I I had fun. I liked the connections we made. I thought they were relevant and really fun and so today we're finally touching on something that's in our intro. Fine. Pirate Queen Queens. Today we're sailing to sixteenth century Ireland, where the most feared pirate on the Atlantic wasn't a man with a peg leg and a parrot. She was a mom with her own navy, her own castles, zero patience for people who close their gates at dinner time. Meet Grace O'Malley. Okay, picture this. Year fifteen thirty. We're on the rocky western coast of Ireland in a place called County Mayo, in a wide bay dotted with more than a hundred little islands called Clue Bay, spelled C L E W Bay. I was putting clue like Clue Clue. Beautiful, misty, cold, full of people who really, really like boats. That's where a baby girl named Grene Ne Mihale is born into the O'Malley clan. I'm not writing that down. Don't worry about it. In English we call her Grace O'Malley. ⁓ I guarantee it is not. Her dad is the chieftain of the clan, A guy Black Oak and the family motto, written in Latin on their coat of arms, Terra Marik Potens my Latin pronunciation. Sound good to me. Uh-huh. What do you think it means? You probably have no idea, but think of think about you know what terra means? Is it something to do with like terracotta like in the ground, like you're close, yeah. Terra ⁓ terracotta for that is means it's earth. is it from the earth? Something like So Terra Marik potens. Does I'm I'm guessing like from the earth, like derived from like it's something from the earth or like You're close. You're real close. You are really close. Any guesses, Gavin? No. Okay. It means powerful by land and sea. not exactly a quiet, modest family, am I right? ⁓ Now, quick question. If your family's whole deal was sailing, trading, raiding ships, and basically running a small navy off the coast of Ireland, and you were the only daughter, you to stay home doing embroidery? Nope. Or would you want to sail with Dad? Sail Dad. ⁓ Exactly. Dad, can I come with you to work? And Dad would have been like, Yeah. ⁓ but that's where our story starts. ⁓ Because Grace begged her dad to let her come on a trading ship to Spain, and he said no. What do you think the reason is? Because she's a woman. Okay. And Gavin? She was too young. Okay. You might think it was too young or that she was a woman or that it's too dangerous. It was, and I'm not making this up. Her hair was too long. What? Her hair was too long. If she was that decommitted, she would cut her hair. He said it would get tangled in the ropes. So what did Little Grace do? I mean, I guess that just sounds like an excuse to me. It certainly does. Cuts it. Little Grace, somewhere around eight or nine years old at the time, marches off, finds a pair of scissors, and chops off all of her hair. She comes back basically bald and goes, Okay, Dad, now can I come? And from that day on, the family nickname for her was Grenet Mahol Grace the Bald That's a real nickname that historians still use today. Oof. It's like the worst nickname. It's being like Gaff in the dumps. What's wrong with being bald? Gav in the dumper. so young Grace grows up on the ships. She learns to read and write, which was rare for women back then, and picks up several languages, including Latin. She learns how to navigate by the stars. She learns how to fight. And the O'Malley's, by the way, weren't just sweet little merchants. They were absolutely pirates. They charged a quote unquote fishing tax to any ship, English or otherwise, that wanted to fish off of their coast. Pay up or we take your boat. That's insane. It's a little strict right there. It's like ultimate taxing. What do you think a fishing tax sounds like? When a fleet of armed Irish galleys pulls up next to your fishing boat. What what do you mean? Gimme your money. Gimme your money. Not a tax. Yells. Just piracy with extra paperwork. Yeah. At sixteen, Grace gets married off to a chieftain from another clan named Donald O'Flarity. His nickname was Donald of the Battle. They have three kids together, but Donald has a habit of picking fights he can't finish, and eventually he gets himself killed. According to legend, Grace then defended his castle from the attackers herself. The story says that she ripped lead sheets off of the roof, melted them down, and poured molten lead onto the attackers below. ⁓ my. Now, is that true? Probably more legend than fact. But the castle is still called the Hens Castle to this day because of that story. That sounds like some like home home alone shenanigans. It really does. After Donald dies, Grace doesn't go back to her family quietly. She takes about two hundred of her followers, packs them into ⁓ and sets up her own headquarters on Clare Island in Clue ⁓ She is now, officially, in charge of her own pirate operation. She's maybe thirty years old. ⁓ where gets really fun. ⁓ Grace's was these long, low Irish galleys. First of all, do you guys know what a galley is? Nope. ⁓ ships that could slip into shallow water bigger English warships couldn't ⁓ She would intercept merchant ships heading to and from Galway, demand a tribute tribute to let them pass safely, and if they refused, Well, she take the cargo anyway. Was she a Galway girl? English officials called her a most notorious woman in all the coasts of Ireland. One of them later wrote that she had been nurse to all rebellions in the province for forty years. That's basically history speak, for she has been a giant pain in our backside for our entire adult lives. Then there's a story everyone tells about Grace. And according to historian Anne Chambers, this one is actually backed up by a Latin document. So Grace is on a trading voyage in the Mediterranean, heavily pregnant. Like nine months pregnant. She gives birth to her son Tibet on the ship. Healthy baby, healthy mom. The very next day, the ship is attacked by Algerian pirates. The crew is losing the fight, so Grace, less than twenty-four hours after giving birth, gets up, grabs a gun, wraps herself in a blanket, and storms onto the deck, shouting at her men, basically, you can't handle this without me, even on my worst day. And they rally and beat the pirates back. Wow. I mean how badass is that? ⁓ Right? ⁓ How do you somebody has a baby on a Monday and fights off pirates on a Tuesday? ⁓ Because mom just doesn't cover Yeah. Right? Best mom ever. That's a ⁓ lie. She marries again, by way. time to a guy named Richard Bork. Nicknamed Iron Dick. ⁓ What? Because he wore so much armor all the time and his name was Richard. Why did you guys know? Why is the nickname why is the default nickname for Richard Dick? I don't understand. You know what? I'm sure there is a reason. And maybe we can do an episode of things like that. Who was the first who was the first person who nicknamed their f Who pissed off Rich? Like, what? Who's Richard? Richie. I'm fine. What'd you do? That is an insane name. What did Richard do? So I was talking about this with my friends too. Like wow. What did Richard? What did Richard do, that poor guy? Guys. Alright, so they get married according to old Irish Brahon Law on a one-year trial basis. Here's the part that the legend loves. Supposedly, after the year was almost up, Grace barricaded herself inside Richard's castle, called Rockfleet, with her own soldiers, and shouted out the window, Richard Bork, I dismiss you. Keeping the castle for herself. As she should. As she should. Now, historians say that this one's probably more legend than fact. The marriage definitely happened And Grace definitely ended up with the castle. But the dramatic dismissal scene? ⁓ Not we're not so sure on that. ⁓ Okay, my favorite story. The House Castle incident around fifteen seventy six. ⁓ Is that House or House ⁓ I know, I still have no front teeth. Okay, i which one? Like house or house? H O W T H Yeah, that's the one I'm still having trouble with. I got I got about House Castle. Three more weeks. Three more weeks. And I'll have teeth again. What House Castle? Yep. That is correct. Three more around fifteen seventy six. Grace is sailing back from a trip to Dublin and stops her ship at the port of Houth and to pick up supplies. I just can't say that right now. According to ancient Irish hospitality customs, you could walk up to any noble's castle, and they had to feed you and give you a place to sleep. It was sacred. So Grace walks up to the castle, knocks on the gate, and the gate is closed. The Earl is at dinner and doesn't want to be bothered. Zoe, on a scale of one to ten, how mad do you think Grace got? Pretty mad. I mean if it's tradition. Mm-hmm. Like I mean, i it's it's sacred. It's pr probably like in her mind, it's like if you're not on your deathbed, come and get this door right now. Pretty much. Being a pirate she's gonna be pretty mad. Do you think her temper is higher than normal because she's a pirate? Because she's you know, like No. No? No Interesting. Interesting you think that I like that. Grace storms back toward her ship, and on the way she runs into the Earl's young grandson, the heir to the entire estate, playing on the beach. Mm what do you think she did? Kill him. Slapped him. Okay. It's somewhere in between. We're on very different ends of the spectrum right now. So she does what any reasonable, deeply offended Irish pirate would do. She kidnaps him. Yeah. She takes the boy back to her castle in Clue Bay. The Earl, panicked, eventually catches up and asks how much ransom she wants. And Grace says, and this is what makes her amazing, she doesn't want gold. She wants a promise. The gates of Houth Castle must never again be closed at dinner time. And there must always be an extra place set at the table for any guest. You think the girl the Earl agrees? I mean, yeah, that's a pretty simple throne. Yeah, it's a pretty simple ask. Pretty simple ask, heir to the throne. Mm-hmm. Yeah. No. It's for Van Son, that's not much ⁓ Right, exactly. That's not random. Those are those are ⁓ peace terms. The Earl agrees. Grace returns the boy, but here's the kicker. At Health Castle, to this day, in the year twenty twenty six, they still set that extra plate at the table. For Grace. At that point that's traditional. Isn't that frickin' cool? That's so cool. I know, yeah. Maybe we could. That's in Ireland? Mm-hmm. Okay. Fast forward fifteen ninety three. Grace is now in her sixties. Her enemy is an English governor of Canuckt named Sir Richard Bingham. And Bingham has it out for her family. He captures Grace's son Tibbet, the one she gave birth to on the ship, and her half brother, on charges of treason, which means execution. So Grace decides to do something insane. She sails her own ship, a sixty-something-year-old grandma, by the way, around the south coast of Ireland, through the English Channel, up the River Thames, and parks at Greenwich Palace. ⁓ my god. To meet Queen Elizabeth I. Now, we stayed in Greenwich. We went to the Naval Academy. When you walked out of the Naval Academy, you could look one way. And it was the Thames. Uh-huh. And you could look another way, and there was a building just off that was Greenwich Palace. Okay. Mm-hmm. So you guys have seen it. Yes. It gets a little bit cinematic here. The two women, both in their sixties, both ruling in a dominated by men, sit down face to face. By some accounts they spoke in Latin, since neither spoke the other's native language. So Grace didn't speak English and Elizabeth didn't speak Irish. Wait, Irel ⁓ Ireland has its own language? Yeah. Hardcore. Yeah. ⁓ yeah. What's it called? Irish. Gaelic, isn't Gaelic. Is it Gaelic in Gaelic? I think it is Gaelic. Gaelic. I think it is. Other sources say that they spoke in English. So we really don't know. I I prefer Latin. I do too, one hundred percent. Truth is we don't know for sure. Mm-hmm. We don't even know why. What we do know is that Grace refused to bow. She considered herself a queen too, not Elizabeth's subject. And Elizabeth didn't have her executed for it, which is completely wild. Knowing her father. Wow. Grace presented her case, Elizabeth listened, and Elizabeth granted her requests. I just got Gavin's joke. Yeah. I forget that they're related. ⁓ Alright, so I'd say I do no Elizabeth granted her requests, releasing her son, give her a pension, and leave her clan alone. on the one condition that Grace would stop raiding English ships. Gavin. you think Grace actually stopped raiding English ships? ⁓ Of course not. ⁓ pirate just like does that. It's like the key pirate thing. They never do anything they're told. the minute Bingham went back on the deal and started harassing her family again, ⁓ Grace was right back at it. ⁓ She her fleet active into her seventies. my god. ⁓ Grace died in sixteen ⁓ three at her castle Rockfleet at seventy-three years old. Around seventy-three years old. The same year, by an absolutely wild coincidence that Queen Elizabeth also died. Two queens, two countries, gone in the same year. Historiography Here's the wild thing about Grace. For about three hundred years, official Irish histories barely mentioned her. The records were kept by men, in Latin and English, who didn't really know what to do with a woman who led a navy. The story survived mostly in folk songs and stories told around fires and mayo. But then, in nineteen seventy nine, an Irish historian named Anne Chambers, who we mentioned earlier, Went digging through English state papers and found Grace everywhere. Letters from Bingham complaining about her. The actual petition Grace sent to Elizabeth. A document listing 18 questions the English court asked Grace about her life with her answers. Chambers' book brought Grace back into the mainstream history, and modern historians now treat her as a real, well-documented figure. Though sorting which legends are true from which are exaggerated is still ongoing work. The kidnapping at Health, for example, is real history. The molten lead castle defense? Probably folklore. Grace's story has a few good lessons. You guys got any? Don't underestimate women. One hundred percent It's still bombing today. It's gotten way better, but it's still happening. It is, yeah. What what's the number now? It's like seventy three cents. A woman makes seventy three cents for every dollar a guy makes. There's still the wage gap. Yeah, there's still a wage gap. And then d that's just one aspect of it. I think there's a lesson to be learned about hospitality here from my favorite story. Mm-hmm. Grace didn't kidnap that boy because she was hungry. She did it because she was insulted on behalf of every traveler who'd ever been turned away. There's something powerful about defending a principle, not just yourself. Today when a stranger needs help, a kid lost in a store, someone new at school, a neighbor having a hard week, you don't have to kidnap anyone. Just keep your gate open. Second one is that history often forgets people who don't fit the pattern. Grace led a navy for forty years and almost vanished from the record completely because she was a woman. A woman. Whose stories aren't being told right now. The women's stories. Right. The loser stories. The loser stories. The LGBTQ stories. The African American stories. Like think about All the stories that aren't being told right now. Period. Yeah, and this is it took until nineteen seventy nine for her to you know, become part of history, which is all well and good, but it should have never been buried in the first place. Nineteen seventy nine. Yeah. That's not that long ago. No. No, that was what? Three well. no, I'm just like thinking relative. Yeah. And the last one. And the most important lesson from this one. You guys ready for this one? So ready. Never, ever underestimate someone's mom. ⁓ yeah. Yep. Period. I don't think I'm gonna win this one. ⁓ three hard ones again. You know the rules. Let me finish the question. First to three nope. Best of three wins. I do that every time. Question one. What was Grace O'Malley's childhood nickname and what does it mean? Loved it. I think I heard Gavin first. I didn't even get a sound out of my mouth. It was Grace the Bald. He wants it in Latin. ⁓ yes, please in Latin. What? Grenehul Wait, so do I get the point? Yeah, no, you got it. Okay. I was like, you're giving me that point. How did she get it, do you remember? ⁓ she sh like cut off her hair because so she could go on a trip with her daddy. Yeah. And the rest is Alright, one point for Gavin. Question two. When Grace finally got her audience with Queen Elizabeth in fifteen ninety three where exactly the meeting take place? Boston. Greenwich Palace. In England. She sailed her own ship up the Thames. At the age of sixty. ⁓ At the of sixty. ⁓ That is ⁓ All right. ball game, going into the ninth. ⁓ Okay. ⁓ ancient custom did Grace force the Earl of Health to promise to honor after she kidnapped his grandson? ⁓ A custom that the castle reportedly still honors today. Locked in. Can't I don't have a name for it. A specific name. Is it a specific name for It is not a specific name, though. Yeah. Hey, I don't You know what? No, you're right. No. You're right, Zoe. My rules are you can't lock in too early. Yeah. Go, Zoe. It's ⁓ having whenever a ship comes in ⁓ and they knock on the front door or the front gate wherever. They always have to let ⁓ in and t treat ⁓ and have ⁓ have a dinner. And that the hot ho house didn't accept that. So th Grace and then you know the rest of the story. Gavin, I want you to give an answer and I'm gonna I'm gonna judge who is more right. 'Cause that wasn't like that was kinda like Skirting around the actual answer. When people knock on rolled eyes. This is a audio podcast. Nobody can see how hard you just rolled your eyes at me. You can probably hear it, yes. Okay, go ahead, Gavin. When people come to the castle, I just like any castle, they need to treat the people with hospitality. Okay. You're both not really right. Am I closer? You are closer. So Zoe wins. What was the answer? She made him promise that the castle gates would never be closed at dinner time. I didn't know you wanted the clo I didn't know you wanted the specific And that an extra placeetting would always be laid as a table for an unexpected guest. So you guys were right. But not but I needed more specificity on that one. Because there was some some hard things there that she made him promise to do. Yeah. Which still happened today. Crazy. On day, June fourth, in eighteen ninety six, Henry Ford completes his first automobile, ⁓ the Quadricycle. Ooh. ⁓ He it for its maiden drive through streets Detroit at the blistering speed of what do you think? How fast do you think going? 18 miles an hour. Okay, and five miles an hour. Twenty miles an hour. It's closer. Let's go. The American audio industry had officially arrived. Did you know that o like in like the early car ages, there was only two ⁓ in Ohio and they somehow managed to crash into each other. Is that gonna be an e an episode? 'Cause that's kinda crazy. That is I think we should do an episode with a bunch of cool facts like that. Yeah, just like facts where there's not enough for an episode but just a bunch of women. Exactly. Yeah. I like that format. Yeah. ⁓ was fun. ⁓ think you just The list format. Yeah. ⁓ Also on this day in nineteen nineteen, the United States Congress approves the nineteenth amendment to the Constitution. What is the nineteenth amendment? Can I get the year again? Nineteen nineteen. Nineteen nineteen. Anti slavery act? No. No. It's not abolishing slavery. It's not women voting 'cause that's too early. It's it's women voting. It's women voting. It's the ratification ⁓ Yeah, because they approved the amendment. Yeah. Granting the vote right to vote. And ⁓ no, it's not it's not ratification. It's the Congress approving it and then they send it to the states for ratification. Yeah, 'cause yeah. So good on you, knowing that it was nineteen twenty that it was ratified. Good job. It would become law the following year. 'Cause I remember it was World War before World War One ish. Like I remember it being later, but ⁓ I think ⁓ 'cause it was the States. Mm-hmm. Okay, never mind. I actually am gonna do a little bit more than three 'cause there's a couple of really cool ones on here. This one, nineteen forty? The Battle of Dunkirk ends ⁓ the last Allied troops are from France across the English Channel. On the same day Winston Churchill delivers his famous ⁓ We Shall Fight on the Beaches to the British Parliament. What year is this? Nineteen forty. Do you know about Dunkirk, bud? I've heard of it. Mm-hmm. It's basically there was a bunch of troops in Dunkirk with their backs against the water and the German army was pushing them in. They had nowhere to go. Mm-hmm. And Germany let them go. And there was a whole fleet of This whole big thing happened where the British were trying to send ships over to Dunkirk to pick up these people and bring ⁓ back. And it was a it was a whole operation and there's movies made out of it and i it was a turning point. A a a not so good turning point in the war, but it ended up being okay after that. And in nineteen eighty nine, on this day, the Chinese government troops and tanks clear Tiananmen Square in Beijing, ending weeks of pro democracy protests. Was this the one where the guy got hit by the tank? Where he just stood in front of the tank. Yeah, it's a very, very famous picture. Yeah. This is it. Do you do you have the picture? I can show it to you. Okay. Can you show us? The exact death toll is still unknown. But it's estimated to be in the hundreds to thousands. we'd search Tiananmen Square and it would show up like you know nothing else. There's a video of it as well. He just stands there. They don't hit him. ⁓ they say they didn't, but I remember reading something that they did they like they did. Did they like edit out like where they like the video? ⁓ yeah. It's like Stalin using like basically Photoshop. I the courage. ⁓ Yeah. And one person just standing there in front of four tanks. It's g nuts. And they just roll ⁓ over. Yeah, we take for granted the the freedom that we have. Mm-hmm. When you don't have it and stuff like that happens. Yeah. So such bravery. It's crazy stuff. Alright, Grace O'Malley sailed, fought, and bargained her way through seventy years on the Irish coast, proving that one stubborn principle, kept fiercely enough, outlast empires. ⁓ That's it for this episode. Thanks for traveling through time with us on the Ebbs of History. If you like today's story, share it with a teacher, a friend, or your family on Instagram at Ebbs of History. If you have any show ideas, corrections, or questions, you can contact us at questions at ebbs of history dot com. Signing off, this has been your co-host, Gavin Zoe. And me, Jason. Reminding you that history is not just about the dates and battles, it's about the people, curiosity, And the weird, ⁓ wonderful choices that shaped our world. ⁓ Until next time. wondering. Keep laughing. ⁓ And keep learning through ⁓ ebbs of history. ⁓ You realize if you take that long of a pause, I'm gonna think it's my time. Look at like the indents.