HOME | DD

Description

The Nine Years' War or Tyrone's Rebellion 1593-1603;
Clashes between the Gaelic Irish lord Hugh O'Neill and the advancing English state in Ireland. O'Neill managed to rally other Irish dissatisfied clans and some Catholics who opposed the spread of Protestantism.
Exiled and brought up in the Pale, Hugh O'Neill was seen as reliable and, in 1587, Queen Elizabeth I made him Earl of Tyrone, however, real power in Ulster lay in the position of the Ó Néill, chief of the clan O'Neill. Only after 1595 was Hugh O'Neill inaugurated as 'The O'Neill'.
O'Neill enlisted Scottish mercenaries and was entitled to limited military service from his sub-lords. He also recruited tenants and dependents into military service, as well as hiring large contingents of Irish mercenaries. Muskets, ammunition, and pikes were obtained from Scotland and England. With Spanish help, O'Neill could arm and feed over 8,000 men.
In the 1590s, the north was under pressure from England to come under crown control. In 1591, the MacMahon lordship in Monaghan saw the imposition of an English sheriff, it’s Lord hung and his lordship divided. The same policy was soon applied in Longford, to the O'Farrells, and East Breifne in Cavan, to the O'Reillys. Any attempt at the same result in the O'Neill and O'Donnell territories would be resisted by force. Ulster had natural defences, mountains, woodland, bog, and marshes meant that entry was through Sligo, in the west, Sligo Castle was held by the O'Connor clan, but under constant threat from the O'Donnells, and Newry, in the east, but the road from Newry ran through several easily defended passes. A small colony had been planted in the 1570s around Carrickfergus north of Belfast Lough but Lough Neagh and the river Bann formed an effective barrier at the eastern edge of the O'Neill territory.
In 1592, an English sheriff was driven out of Tir Chónaill, part of Donegal. Troops from Tyrone helped resist the introduction of a Sheriff into Fermanagh. Fermanagh troops launched raids into Connacht, burning villages and, in June, when clashed with forces of the governor of Connacht. The English were beaten back and raids spread to Roscommon.
In September 1593 the Crown sent an expedition into Monaghan, then Fermanagh, consisting of 144 horse, 763 foot, O'Neill, as English ally, was to bring a further 200 horse and 1,200 foot. Blocking forces were overcome at the Battle of Belleek on 10 October.
O'Neill assisted the English, hoping to be named as Lord President of Ulster himself. Elizabeth, afraid that O'Neill would usurp her authority, refused to grant O'Neill provincial presidency or any position which would give him authority to govern Ulster. O'Neill realised that an English offensive was inevitable. He and his allies openly rebelled in February 1595.
In 1595, English armies tried to break into Ulster but were repulsed by a trained army, including musketeers in prepared positions; after defeat at the Battle of Clontibret, further English offensives were driven back in the following years. At the Battle of the Yellow Ford in 1598, 2,000 English troops were killed, attacked whilst marching to Armagh, the garrison in Armagh evacuated the town.
The victory prompted uprisings all over Ireland. O'Neill appointed his supporters as chieftains and earls around the country. In Munster 9,000 men joined the rebellion, the colonization of the province with English settlers was dealt a serious blow as the colonists fled. However, all the fortified cities and towns of the country sided with the English colonial government. O'Neill was unable to take walled towns and so, made overtures to inhabitants of the Pale to join the rebellion. The appeal failed.
In 1599, the 2nd Earl of Essex arrived with 17,000 English troops. He decided to subdue to settle the south before making an attempt on Ulster. Garrisons dissipated his forces, however, and when he sent an expedition to cross the Curlew mountains to Sligo, it was was mauled by O'Donnell at the Battle of Curlew Pass. Thousands of his garrison troops died of diseases such as typhoid and dysentery.  Essex entered a parley with O'Neill and agreed a truce that was criticised in London. Anticipating a recall to England, he set out for London in 1599 without the Queen's permission, where he was executed after attempting a coup. His successor was provided with far more administrative support.
In November 1599 O'Neill sent a peace proposal to Queen Elizabeth; this suggested a self-governing Ireland, restitution of confiscated lands and churches, freedom of movement, and a strong Roman Catholic identity. He accepted English overlord-ship. The English Lord President of Munster, managed to quell the rebellion in Munster by mid-1601 and, by the summer he had taken most of the principal castles in Munster, scattering the Irish forces. He did this by negotiating the neutrality of the MacCarthy clan, whilst attacking Fitzthomas Fitzgerald, commanding the main rebel force. The English routed Fitzthomas’ forces at Aherlow and in November. O'Neill's mercenaries had been expelled from the province.
Seaborne landings at Derry and Carrickfergus flanked the Ulster rebels, the chiefs were tied down in Ulster to defend their own territories.  O'Neill managed to repulse a land attack at the Battle of Moyry Pass near Newry in 1600 but, his position was becoming desperate.
In 1601, 3,500 Spanish soldiers landed at Kinsale, Cork, the southern tip of Ireland. They were besieged by 7,000 men. O'Neill, O'Donnell, and their allies marched south to sandwich the English between them and the Spaniards.  In early January 1602, O'Donnell decided to attack the English. Whist forming up for a surprise attack, the Irish were themselves surprised by an English cavalry charge, routing the Irish forces. The Spanish surrendered Kinsale after the defeat of their relief force.  Irish forces retreated north to Ulster to consolidate.  The last rebel stronghold in the south was taken at the siege of Dunboy.
Both O'Donnell and O'Neill were reduced to guerrilla tactics. O'Neill's sub-lords began to surrender and O'Donnell surrendered on terms at the end of 1602. O'Neill held out until March 1603, when he surrendered.
The leaders of the rebellion received good terms from the new King of England, James I, Elizabeth had died in March 1603.

Invisible armada 1599;
Invisible Armada refers to the 1599 panic in England over the supposed approach of a Spanish Armada.
After the Peace of Vervins between France and Spain in 1598, Spain was free to concentrate on the English and the Dutch and, by summer 1599, reports of a new fleet gathering in Andalusia began to reach England.  25,000 men concentrated around London and it was suggested the Thames be blocked.
Whilst the Spanish fleet was a reality, it had been targeted at Dutch naval forces, but, caught by winds, it ended up in the Azores.

Dutch Revolt 1599-1609;
Peace with France meant Spain ceased to pay its troops adequately and this produced widespread mutinies. With the Army of Flanders in disarray, the States General made a reluctant Maurice strike into Flanders towards Dunkirk, a den of privateers causing damage to Dutch shipping. Maurice moved into Flanders after an amphibious operation from Flushing, advancing along the coast. This forced the Spanish to end the mutiny, allowing them to strike Maurice in the flank. Maurice was caught near Nieuwpoort and forced to battle in July 1600. An inconclusive tactical draw still saw Maurice abandoning the offensive.
With the failure to eliminate the Dunkirk trade threat, the states decided to build up their navy which had already greatly increased through the creation of the Dutch East Indies Company, the VOC, in 1602. The goal of the VOC; the exploration of the East Indies and re-establishment of the spice trade. Spices generated high profits in the Netherlands and other European countries if bought at source and their supply controlled by a monopoly.
The four years, 1600-1604, were in stalemate. The Archdukes decided to subdue Oostende, the last Protestant enclave on the Flemish coast. The siege took three years and eighty days. Meanwhile, the Dutch took the Spanish fortresses of Grave in Brabant and Sluis and Aardenburg in Flanders. The loss of Oostende was a severe blow to the Republic, and brought about another Protestant exodus to the North.
The war expanded overseas with Dutch attacks on Portugal's overseas colonies. This forced Spain to divert financial and military resources away from the Netherlands.

Commander of the Spanish Army in Flanders was now Ambrosio Spinola. Campaigning in 1605 he feigned an attack on Sluis, leaving Maurice in his rear while he attacked the eastern Netherlands via Münster, Germany. He approached, recently captured, Oldenzaal and the Catholic city opened its gates without firing a shot. Next he captured Lingen. The Dutch had to evacuate the Twente, retiring to the IJssel river. In 1606, Spinola took the Zutphen quarter of Gelderland, proving that even the interior of the Republic was vulnerable to Spanish attack. Spinola did not press the attack, satisfied with the psychological effect of the incursion. Maurice used an autumn campaign to bolster the eastern defences, retaking Lochem, but failing in a siege of Oldenzaal in November 1606.

It was clear that Spanish control of the Southern Netherlands was strong, but, control over Zeeland meant that the Netherlands could control and close the Scheldt estuary, entry to the sea for the important port of Antwerp. As the port of Amsterdam gained great benefits from the blockade of Antwerp, merchants began to question the desirability of reconquering the South.
Military expenses and decreased trade had put financial strain on both Spain and the Dutch Republic. A ceasefire was signed in Antwerp on 9 April 1609. This also formally recognized the independence of the Republic. The truce was a major humiliation to Spain, losing prestige in a political, military and ideological defeat. The river Scheldt was closed to traffic, affecting Antwerp, and Dutch commerce allowed along Spanish and Portuguese colonial maritime lanes.
Both sides intensified fortress-building, enveloping the Republic in a double belt of fortresses on its outer borders, one Dutch, one Spanish. Dutch fortresses were garrisoned with mercenary troops under federal command. The Dutch States Army became a federal army, mostly of Scottish, English, German and Swiss mercenaries, but commanded by a Dutch officer corps. The army increased to 50,000 by 1607.
Although there was peace on an international level, political unrest took hold of Dutch domestic affairs.   A theological quarrel caused riots. Even the government was split, eventually Maurice of Nassau's supporters won, excommunicating their opponents from the national Public Church.

Negotiations for a permanent peace went on throughout the truce but, two major issues remained unresolved; the Spanish demand for religious freedom for Catholics in the Netherlands and the counter demand for religious freedom for Protestants in the South. Also, there was disagreement over the trade routes to the colonies in the Far East and the Americas, partly because Portugal was not party to the truce, despite being in personal union with Spain through King Phillip.

Description

The Nine Years' War or Tyrone's Rebellion 1593-1603;
Clashes between the Gaelic Irish lord Hugh O'Neill and the advancing English state in Ireland. O'Neill managed to rally other Irish dissatisfied clans and some Catholics who opposed the spread of Protestantism.
Exiled and brought up in the Pale, Hugh O'Neill was seen as reliable and, in 1587, Queen Elizabeth I made him Earl of Tyrone, however, real power in Ulster lay in the position of the Ó Néill, chief of the clan O'Neill. Only after 1595 was Hugh O'Neill inaugurated as 'The O'Neill'.
O'Neill enlisted Scottish mercenaries and was entitled to limited military service from his sub-lords. He also recruited tenants and dependents into military service, as well as hiring large contingents of Irish mercenaries. Muskets, ammunition, and pikes were obtained from Scotland and England. With Spanish help, O'Neill could arm and feed over 8,000 men.
In the 1590s, the north was under pressure from England to come under crown control. In 1591, the MacMahon lordship in Monaghan saw the imposition of an English sheriff, it’s Lord hung and his lordship divided. The same policy was soon applied in Longford, to the O'Farrells, and East Breifne in Cavan, to the O'Reillys. Any attempt at the same result in the O'Neill and O'Donnell territories would be resisted by force. Ulster had natural defences, mountains, woodland, bog, and marshes meant that entry was through Sligo, in the west, Sligo Castle was held by the O'Connor clan, but under constant threat from the O'Donnells, and Newry, in the east, but the road from Newry ran through several easily defended passes. A small colony had been planted in the 1570s around Carrickfergus north of Belfast Lough but Lough Neagh and the river Bann formed an effective barrier at the eastern edge of the O'Neill territory.
In 1592, an English sheriff was driven out of Tir Chónaill, part of Donegal. Troops from Tyrone helped resist the introduction of a Sheriff into Fermanagh. Fermanagh troops launched raids into Connacht, burning villages and, in June, when clashed with forces of the governor of Connacht. The English were beaten back and raids spread to Roscommon.
In September 1593 the Crown sent an expedition into Monaghan, then Fermanagh, consisting of 144 horse, 763 foot, O'Neill, as English ally, was to bring a further 200 horse and 1,200 foot. Blocking forces were overcome at the Battle of Belleek on 10 October.
O'Neill assisted the English, hoping to be named as Lord President of Ulster himself. Elizabeth, afraid that O'Neill would usurp her authority, refused to grant O'Neill provincial presidency or any position which would give him authority to govern Ulster. O'Neill realised that an English offensive was inevitable. He and his allies openly rebelled in February 1595.
In 1595, English armies tried to break into Ulster but were repulsed by a trained army, including musketeers in prepared positions; after defeat at the Battle of Clontibret, further English offensives were driven back in the following years. At the Battle of the Yellow Ford in 1598, 2,000 English troops were killed, attacked whilst marching to Armagh, the garrison in Armagh evacuated the town.
The victory prompted uprisings all over Ireland. O'Neill appointed his supporters as chieftains and earls around the country. In Munster 9,000 men joined the rebellion, the colonization of the province with English settlers was dealt a serious blow as the colonists fled. However, all the fortified cities and towns of the country sided with the English colonial government. O'Neill was unable to take walled towns and so, made overtures to inhabitants of the Pale to join the rebellion. The appeal failed.
In 1599, the 2nd Earl of Essex arrived with 17,000 English troops. He decided to subdue to settle the south before making an attempt on Ulster. Garrisons dissipated his forces, however, and when he sent an expedition to cross the Curlew mountains to Sligo, it was was mauled by O'Donnell at the Battle of Curlew Pass. Thousands of his garrison troops died of diseases such as typhoid and dysentery.  Essex entered a parley with O'Neill and agreed a truce that was criticised in London. Anticipating a recall to England, he set out for London in 1599 without the Queen's permission, where he was executed after attempting a coup. His successor was provided with far more administrative support.
In November 1599 O'Neill sent a peace proposal to Queen Elizabeth; this suggested a self-governing Ireland, restitution of confiscated lands and churches, freedom of movement, and a strong Roman Catholic identity. He accepted English overlord-ship. The English Lord President of Munster, managed to quell the rebellion in Munster by mid-1601 and, by the summer he had taken most of the principal castles in Munster, scattering the Irish forces. He did this by negotiating the neutrality of the MacCarthy clan, whilst attacking Fitzthomas Fitzgerald, commanding the main rebel force. The English routed Fitzthomas’ forces at Aherlow and in November. O'Neill's mercenaries had been expelled from the province.
Seaborne landings at Derry and Carrickfergus flanked the Ulster rebels, the chiefs were tied down in Ulster to defend their own territories.  O'Neill managed to repulse a land attack at the Battle of Moyry Pass near Newry in 1600 but, his position was becoming desperate.
In 1601, 3,500 Spanish soldiers landed at Kinsale, Cork, the southern tip of Ireland. They were besieged by 7,000 men. O'Neill, O'Donnell, and their allies marched south to sandwich the English between them and the Spaniards.  In early January 1602, O'Donnell decided to attack the English. Whist forming up for a surprise attack, the Irish were themselves surprised by an English cavalry charge, routing the Irish forces. The Spanish surrendered Kinsale after the defeat of their relief force.  Irish forces retreated north to Ulster to consolidate.  The last rebel stronghold in the south was taken at the siege of Dunboy.
Both O'Donnell and O'Neill were reduced to guerrilla tactics. O'Neill's sub-lords began to surrender and O'Donnell surrendered on terms at the end of 1602. O'Neill held out until March 1603, when he surrendered.
The leaders of the rebellion received good terms from the new King of England, James I, Elizabeth had died in March 1603.

Invisible armada 1599;
Invisible Armada refers to the 1599 panic in England over the supposed approach of a Spanish Armada.
After the Peace of Vervins between France and Spain in 1598, Spain was free to concentrate on the English and the Dutch and, by summer 1599, reports of a new fleet gathering in Andalusia began to reach England.  25,000 men concentrated around London and it was suggested the Thames be blocked.
Whilst the Spanish fleet was a reality, it had been targeted at Dutch naval forces, but, caught by winds, it ended up in the Azores.

Dutch Revolt 1599-1609;
Peace with France meant Spain ceased to pay its troops adequately and this produced widespread mutinies. With the Army of Flanders in disarray, the States General made a reluctant Maurice strike into Flanders towards Dunkirk, a den of privateers causing damage to Dutch shipping. Maurice moved into Flanders after an amphibious operation from Flushing, advancing along the coast. This forced the Spanish to end the mutiny, allowing them to strike Maurice in the flank. Maurice was caught near Nieuwpoort and forced to battle in July 1600. An inconclusive tactical draw still saw Maurice abandoning the offensive.
With the failure to eliminate the Dunkirk trade threat, the states decided to build up their navy which had already greatly increased through the creation of the Dutch East Indies Company, the VOC, in 1602. The goal of the VOC; the exploration of the East Indies and re-establishment of the spice trade. Spices generated high profits in the Netherlands and other European countries if bought at source and their supply controlled by a monopoly.
The four years, 1600-1604, were in stalemate. The Archdukes decided to subdue Oostende, the last Protestant enclave on the Flemish coast. The siege took three years and eighty days. Meanwhile, the Dutch took the Spanish fortresses of Grave in Brabant and Sluis and Aardenburg in Flanders. The loss of Oostende was a severe blow to the Republic, and brought about another Protestant exodus to the North.
The war expanded overseas with Dutch attacks on Portugal's overseas colonies. This forced Spain to divert financial and military resources away from the Netherlands.

Commander of the Spanish Army in Flanders was now Ambrosio Spinola. Campaigning in 1605 he feigned an attack on Sluis, leaving Maurice in his rear while he attacked the eastern Netherlands via Münster, Germany. He approached, recently captured, Oldenzaal and the Catholic city opened its gates without firing a shot. Next he captured Lingen. The Dutch had to evacuate the Twente, retiring to the IJssel river. In 1606, Spinola took the Zutphen quarter of Gelderland, proving that even the interior of the Republic was vulnerable to Spanish attack. Spinola did not press the attack, satisfied with the psychological effect of the incursion. Maurice used an autumn campaign to bolster the eastern defences, retaking Lochem, but failing in a siege of Oldenzaal in November 1606.

It was clear that Spanish control of the Southern Netherlands was strong, but, control over Zeeland meant that the Netherlands could control and close the Scheldt estuary, entry to the sea for the important port of Antwerp. As the port of Amsterdam gained great benefits from the blockade of Antwerp, merchants began to question the desirability of reconquering the South.
Military expenses and decreased trade had put financial strain on both Spain and the Dutch Republic. A ceasefire was signed in Antwerp on 9 April 1609. This also formally recognized the independence of the Republic. The truce was a major humiliation to Spain, losing prestige in a political, military and ideological defeat. The river Scheldt was closed to traffic, affecting Antwerp, and Dutch commerce allowed along Spanish and Portuguese colonial maritime lanes.
Both sides intensified fortress-building, enveloping the Republic in a double belt of fortresses on its outer borders, one Dutch, one Spanish. Dutch fortresses were garrisoned with mercenary troops under federal command. The Dutch States Army became a federal army, mostly of Scottish, English, German and Swiss mercenaries, but commanded by a Dutch officer corps. The army increased to 50,000 by 1607.
Although there was peace on an international level, political unrest took hold of Dutch domestic affairs.   A theological quarrel caused riots. Even the government was split, eventually Maurice of Nassau's supporters won, excommunicating their opponents from the national Public Church.

Negotiations for a permanent peace went on throughout the truce but, two major issues remained unresolved; the Spanish demand for religious freedom for Catholics in the Netherlands and the counter demand for religious freedom for Protestants in the South. Also, there was disagreement over the trade routes to the colonies in the Far East and the Americas, partly because Portugal was not party to the truce, despite being in personal union with Spain through King Phillip.