OTD 1599 Conyers Clifford marched from Boyle to relieve Collooney Castle. Engaged in the Curlew Pass north of Boyle. He overran the Irish barricades, but the vanguard was shattered in a firefight. They panicked & fled, breaking the rest of the army. Clifford slain during the rout #nineyearswar

Tyrone's daughters married into Irish and Scots nobility. Alice married Randal MacDonnell, one of whose descendants was Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, mother to Q. Elizabeth II. Ironic that a relative of Tyrone ended up on the British throne, what would Elizabeth I have thought of that?

OTD 1616 Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone died in Rome 'after exemplary penance for his sins, and gaining victory over the world and the devil'. Tyrone was buried in San Pietro in Montorio. His funeral was attended by cardinals, ambassadors and foreign dignitaries #nineyearswar

OTD 1599 Elizabeth was an angry elf with Essex 'We that have the eyes of foreign princes upon our actions & have the hearts of people to comfort & cherish, who groan under burden of continual levies...can little please ourself...with anything that has been effected' #nineyearswar

OTD 1945 Churchill's mendacious victory speech accused the Irish of frollicking with the Germans and Japanese, despite knowledge of extensive Irish cooperation with the Allies. When De Valera hit back, he didn't miss and hit the wall

Night of 4/5 May 1941, Belfast suffered its second major air raid. Fewer people are killed than previous raid (still over 200), but the city centre and much industry was devastated by incendiaries and high explosives

OTD 1600 For Arthur Chichester not enough blood was being spilled 'the traitors in many places receive blows though we kill not in multitudes which cannot be howsoever we be beat them they are swift of foot, it is famine not the sword that must reduce this country' #nineyearswar

OTD 1595 As the war escalated, Gráinne Ní Mháille sought to retrench her position with the crown, offering to serve 'at their own charges at sea upon the coast of Ireland in Her Majesties wars upon all occasions' as 'true and faithful subjects' #nineyearswar

OTD 1599 Earl of Essex arrived in Dublin. He believed the conflict to be 'a miserable beggarly...war'. Essex was driven by a need for glory to enhance his reputation & craved a grand tableau on which to demonstrate his knightly virtues. He wouldn't find it in Ireland #nineyearswar

OTD 1600 Earl of Ormond & Owny O'More's parley goes arse over tit. An argument with Fr Archer (a Jesuit) led to a melee & capture of the earl. Carew & Earl of Thomond narrowly escaped. Coldly, Mountjoy wrote of the incident, 'I know not well if this is good or evil news' #nineyearswar

OTD 1603 M'joy proclaimed the Scottish King James I and VI. Was 'very sorrowful...for the loss of their late dear sovereign were it not that God out of his wonted mercy hath recomforted us again by raising so rare, worthy and complete a prince to sit in her place' #nineyearswar

OTD 1599 Norreys returns to Cork, but on the way from Mallow, the Irish attacked, skirmishing with his column for 3 hours 'having the favour of 2 bogs'. Claimed 1 killed and 4 wounded, but 'slain above 80' Irish. Fanciful body counts were a feature of English reports #nineyearswar

OTD 1603 Tyrone submitted to M'joy at Mellifont, but it was no craven submission. He retained his lands and title. Elizabeth insisted he should not, but she was dead and MJ wanted this war done. Within months the earl would be off hunting with King James in England #nineyearswar

OTD 1599 This wasn't a war without rules. Con O'Neill spoiled and detained Miler McGrath, the protestant archbishop of Cashel. Tyrone immediately ordered his release and return of all spoils as only the Pope could 'allow us to apprehend him' or any other priest. #nineyearswar

Shall we play a game? Gemini (Google chatbot) v Grok (Twitter). I posed the question, "What weapons did the Irish use in the Nine Years war?" Gemini didn't get it all right, but a conclusive win against Grok. Grok? Failing mark for you

Oh ffs, why you never trust AI to do your history essays...Meta have ripped off my book but the AI's are talking utter bollocks

OTD 1603 The war had almost run its course. Mountjoy received Tyrone's letter requesting the Queen's 'gracious favour and to grant me her pardon...I am unworthy to be pardoned, yet still remembering that HM's mercy exceeds my ill-doings'-that's one way to put it #nineyearswar

OTD 1597 news of Tyrone's proclamation in #Dungannon for the raising of 3,000 troops for 3 months. They would receive 1 month up front and be paid 12d per day. Morgan Kavanagh, a veteran of the Low Countries, arrived to take up a command in the earl's army. #nineyearswar

OTD 1600 A Spy in Dungannon reported Tyrone knew Crown was sending a landing force to Lough Foyle. To counter Tyrone sends 'the greatest part of his forces', O'Donnell with Cormac MacBaron and O'Cahan with 1k foot. O'D took hostages from all 'he doth mistrust' #nineyearswar

OTD 1601 Scots merchant Thomas Douglas watched a Spanish officer drill Tyrone's pikemen in Dungannon. Surprised that experienced troops didn't use tight formation, the Spanish officer replied that close order would 'avail them nothing' in constricted Irish terrain #nineyearswar

Could the entire #nineyearswar be prevented? OTD 1594 Adam Loftus and Irish Privy Council recommended pardoning Hugh Maguire, revoking Henry Bagenal's commission and removing Capt. Henshaw as seneschal of Monaghan. Advice not taken, both men were killed at Battle of the Yellow Ford, 1598

OTD 1601 M'joy wrote the Queen 'neither do I think that any of our bloods be too precious to be ventured' taking Ireland. He displayed physical bravery throughout the war. M'joy's luck held but many officers, secretaries and horses were killed beside (or under) him #nineyearswar

OTD 1596 Capt Dowdall reported Tyrone's had 'drawn the greatest part of their kern to be musketeers & their gallowglass pikes, they want no furniture neither of muskets, fowling pieces, calivers, swords, graven morions, powder and shot'..'how cometh?'-good question #nineyearswar

OTD 1602 Juan del Aguila and the last of the Spanish (1,200 troops + women & boys) board ships at Kinsale to return home. Some harshly criticised M'joy and Carew for 'avoiding' the Spanish out of Ireland rather than destroying them in battle-can't please everyone #nineyearswar

OTD 1598 Ormond's exasperation clear when he noted the extreme want of the Crown garrisons and his lack of money or victuals to relieve them. Moreover, if Tyrone went on offensive 'I have neither money, victuals, nor munition to make an offensive or defensive war' #nineyearswar

OTD 1595 Deception key to war. In Dunluce James MacSorley MacDonnell claimed he had 'put his hand in that fire' with Tyrone, confiscating 2k pounds of powder & 1k of lead for Crown. In reality he facilitated many arms shipments & stored at Dunineny castle, Co Antrim #nineyearswar

OTD 1595 L'Dep expressed satisfaction that 2k veteran troops were on the way from Brittany. Ddismay that 'Tyrone knew that the forces from Brittany were to be sent to Ireland before their Lordships'. Irish intelligence network penetrated English gov't in Dublin #nineyearswar

OTD 1601 Robert Devereux, earl of Essex was executed. Found guilty of conspiring to depose & slay the queen & subvert the government, he was beheaded on Tower Green in the Tower of London, which was getting off light. His pal Tom Lee got hanged, drawn and quartered #nineyearswar

OTD 1603 dark days for the Irish as Tyrone took refuge in the forests around Toome with just 60 men 'shifting his lodging both night and day' to evade capture. Worse, Cormac MacBaron, Tyrone's brother and possibly finest field commander submitted to Sir Henry Docwra #nineyearswar

OTD 1600 Crown's darkest hour; Tyrone marched at will in Munster, O'Donnell threatened Thomond; Ulster lords surrounded the Pale; Loftus wrote 'we are at the end of our strength. We have no other hope but in God and Her Majesty for the preservation of this kingdom' #nineyearswar

OTD 1594 Dowdall re-edified Enniskillen & put 30 men in garrison. Castle was isolated at the end of vulnerable supply line, but assured by his spies that Hugh Maguire has 'not 8 horse and 20 foot' & all in Fermanagh loyal saving 1 or 2- Dowdall needed better spies #nineyearswar

OTD 1601 after a whirlwind trial Capt Thomas Lee executed at Tyburn. Lee's defence claimed he only planned to 'vex the queen' but ultimately 'it was ever my fault to be loose & lavish of my tongue and that was my fault now, and I am like to pay for it' #nineyearswar

OTD 1601 Capt Tom Lee, soldier, spy & inveterate bad boy of the #nineyearswar, comes a cropper when he attempted to accost Q. Elizabeth in her privy chamber. Planned to force her to sign a release warrant for the Earl of Essex. Doorway was defended by clerk of the kitchen & Lee apprehended

The invaluable lesson I learned researching this is always to look at what's happening where there's no fighting. Looking at battles tells only part of the story. Misdirecting enemy operations was a vital Irish (later English) tactic- the biggest gun & sharpest sword is no use in the wrong place

OTD 1600 Geffrey Fenton leaked info to Tyrone that an English landing was imminent on the Foyle, with the sole intention of drawing the earl & his forces out of Munster. Deft application of information had a dramatic effect on the balance of regional military power

OTD 1595 report from Scotland that Tyrone and James MacSorley MacDonnell bought £500 of gunpowder in Glasgow and shipped to Ireland. Glasgow merchants were key to providing war material to the Irish, helped by James VI turning a blind eye for most of the war #nineyearswar

OTD 1601 English getting with the programme, copied Tyrone by dropping numbers of pike from 40 to 15 in a company of infantry, but Capt Dawtry didn't like they were abandoning their armour 'a common fault here is that no pikemen weareth his [cuirass] & morions' #nineyearswar

OTD 1602 Tyrone tried to repair his broken estate. He downplayed casualties & advertised plans to invade the Pale 'to make the world believe that his loss in Munster was small and to prevent his countrymen falling away from him'. But Tyrone's mystique was shattered #nineyearswar

A rant about Osprey being shortsighted (in swearier vernacular) became an offer of an alternative, became lots of evening writing, and now The Nine Years War 1593-1603 part 1: the ascendancy of Irish arms...is a physical reality. Cheers Helion books www.helion.co.uk/military-his... 😃 #nineyearswar

OTD 1594 English assaulted #Enniskillen, breaking through the outer wall with pickaxes. Irish withdrew into the tower but soon surrendered when Dowdall threatened to destroy the castle w. gunpowder. All inside were put to the sword, including 40 women and children #nineyearswar

OTD 1600 Recommendations made to bring over Scots 'who of all others are fit for Irish service..if good security might be had for their faithful service and safe withdrawing'. 4,000 could be shipped and well-maintained for the price of 1,000 English troops-bargain #nineyearswar

OTD 1594 time was running out for the Irish garrison in #Enniskilen. Dowdall readied 3 boats for an assault on the castle. 2 cotts with scaling ladders carried 30 men and a larger boat w. 67 men. It's covered deck was protected by hurdles, hides and firing ports #nineyearswar

OTD 1596 Report Tyrone & allies signed ceasefire. English infuriated by Irish due to their 'arrogant insolency... except [O'Neill] who giveth mild speeches. Had we not considered our weakness we would have broken off our treaty..than endured their insolence' #nineyearswar

OTD 1596 Tyrone & Red Hugh O'Donnell sign articles of cessation. Crown offered 'free pardon for life, lands & goods' . Playing a double game-if Spanish failed to show they had pardons, if they arrived, well game on. 4 months later Spanish ships sailed into Killybegs #nineyearswar

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OTD 1600 Carew reported many of the foot companies in Munster are composed entirely of Irish and some with Irish captains. Over questions of loyalty he wrote ' [they] do as often break their necks in Her Majesty's service as any soldiers she has' #nineyearswar

OTD 1594 Blocked by stakes and fortifications, Captain John Dowdall opens siege operations around #Enniskillen Castle. Cuts trenches and by nightfall musketeers and falcons (light cannon) were 80m from walls. Guns could sweep parapets but too light to make a breach #nineyearswar

OTD 1598 Officers bemoan L Dep Burgh's evacuation of the garrison in #Armagh. It was 'ill-abandoned in regard of the conveniency of storage of both victual & munition'. It secured access to the Blackwater fort, which was now dangerously (in the end fatally) exposed #nineyearswar

OTD 1597 As Norreys gathered forces to break through to the garrison in Armagh, Tyrone suddenly relented, allowing English to pass. The earl had deliberately drawn the English out of Connacht, clearing Red Hugh O'Donnell's path to raid all the way to Galway suburbs #nineyearswar

OTD 1594 Hugh Maguire, lord of Fermanagh was almost killed when Capt Dowdall placed loose shot openly along the banks of the Erne. Thinking them his own Maguire approached in a cott, but a premature shot blew Dowdall's gaff; Maguire escaped with shots ringing past #nineyearswar