Latest / The History of Ireland: Rebellion, Empire, and Independence — Fexingo History / The Flight of the Earls: Gaelic Ireland's Last Chapter
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Hugh O'Neill and the Nine Years' War, the Battle of Kinsale, the Treaty of Mellifont. But what happened after that treaty? It's not exactly a happy ending for the old Gaelic order. Luna: Right — I mean, the treaty let O'Neill keep his lands and title, didn't it? So what went wrong? Lucas: On paper, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and his ally Rory O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell, were allowed to keep their estates. They submitted to the Crown, renounced their Gaelic titles, and swore allegiance to Elizabeth's successor, James I. But in practice, the English administration in Dublin systematically undermined them. Lucas: Lord Deputy Arthur Chichester — the same man after whom Belfast's Chichester Street is named — worked to chip away at their authority. He encouraged lawsuits from local landowners, imposed English law on their tenants, and pushed the policy of 'surrender and regrant' to replace Brehon law with English common law. The earls were losing control of their own people. Luna: So it was a slow bleed rather than a sudden fall. Lucas: Exactly. And then there was the religious question. Both O'Neill and O'Donnell were Catholics, and the English government suspected them of plotting with Spain. There were constant rumours of a new Spanish invasion. In 1605, Chichester started demanding that all Irish lords take an oath of supremacy, acknowledging James I as head of the Church. That was a non-starter for devout Catholics. Lucas: By 1607, the pressure had become unbearable. O'Neill's brother, Cormac MacBaron, was arrested on charges of treason. O'Neill and O'Donnell feared they were next. So they made a desperate decision: leave Ireland and seek help from Catholic powers on the continent. Luna: Wait — they just fled? Abandoned everything? Lucas: Not quite abandoned. They planned to come back with Spanish or French support. On September 14, 1607, O'Neill, O'Donnell, their families, and about ninety followers gathered at Rathmullan, a small port in County Donegal on Lough Swilly. They boarded a French ship, the, and sailed into the night. It was a hasty departure — they left behind food on the table, livestock, most of their possessions. Luna: That's the Flight of the Earls. Lucas: Exactly. The name we know it by today. But at the time, it wasn't called a 'flight' — that word came later. Contemporary accounts like Tadhg Ó Cianáin's diary describe it as a journey, a pilgrimage even. They landed in France, then made their way overland to the Spanish Netherlands, hoping to raise an army. Lucas: But things didn't go to plan. In the Spanish Netherlands, the governor, Archduke Albert, was reluctant to start a war with England. They received polite welcomes but no real military commitment. Eventually they moved on to Rome, where Pope Paul V granted them a pension and a residence. O'Neill died in Rome in 1616, still hoping to return. Luna: And O'Donnell? Lucas: Rory O'Donnell died even earlier, in 1608, just a year after the flight. He was only 33. There are stories — maybe legend — that he was poisoned. His brother, Caffar, had died on the journey in a skirmish near Brussels. The O'Donnell line in Ireland effectively ended. Lucas: Back in Ireland, the English government declared the earls traitors. Their lands were confiscated. And that cleared the way for the Ulster Plantation — the systematic colonisation of the six northern counties with English and Scottish settlers, which we've touched on before. The Flight of the Earls removed the last major obstacle to that project. Luna: So it wasn't just a personal tragedy — it changed the entire structure of Irish society. Lucas: Completely. For centuries, Gaelic lords had held power through a system of clans, Brehon law, and local allegiances. The flight removed the top tier of that system. The Ulster Plantation introduced new landowners, new laws, a new language. It set the stage for the sectarian divisions that would define Irish history for centuries. Lucas: But we should also remember the ordinary people left behind. They weren't consulted. They lost their leaders, their patrons, their protectors. Many were evicted to make way for planters. Some turned to outlawry or rebellion, like Cahir O'Doherty, who led a short-lived revolt in 1608. Luna: What about the earls themselves in exile? Did they ever have a real chance of returning? Lucas: It's unlikely. By 1610, the plantation was already underway. The Spanish were negotiating peace with England. The Irish in exile became pensioners of the pope, living off small allowances. Some of their descendants went on to serve in the Spanish army — the famous 'Wild Geese' — but they never came back to reclaim their lands. Lucas: There's a poignant moment recorded by Tadhg Ó Cianáin. When the earls arrived in Rome, they were housed in the Palazzo della Cancelleria. O'Neill would stand at the window, looking out, and say nothing. He was a man who had fought for nine years, nearly defeated the English, and now he was a guest in a foreign city, waiting for a miracle that never came. Luna: That's heartbreaking. Lucas: It is. And it's a reminder that history is made up of these personal losses as much as big political shifts. The Flight of the Earls is both an end and a beginning — the end of Gaelic Ireland as a political force, and the beginning of a new Ireland shaped by plantation and exile. Luna: You know, episodes like this, where you dig into a single event with all its human weight — that's why I love doing this show. Lucas: And it's why we keep making them. A couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps these going — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, if you've gotten something out of them. Every bit helps us keep it ad-free and focused on the stories. Luna: Absolutely. And we're so grateful to everyone who does. Lucas: So back to Rome — after O'Neill died, his son, Hugh O'Neill the younger, tried to revive the cause. He returned to Ireland during the Confederate Wars in the 1640s, leading a regiment. But by then the world had changed. The Gaelic lords were gone, and the struggle had taken new forms. Luna: So the flight really was a watershed. Lucas: It was. A moment when a door closed. And for the people on that ship at Rathmullan, they must have known, even if they didn't say it aloud, that they were leaving for good.