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Nine Years War
Judged by Irish standards the centuries following the 1175 Treaty of Windsor were relatively calm. The Anglo-Norman authority remained about the same as it was in 1175, roughly nowadays province Leinster, the south of Ulster and the east of Munster. The Irish aristocracy bore the rule outside the conquered territory. Both the occupying forces as the Irish forces seemingly respected the border. Of course occasional clashes occurred when an Anglo-Norman or English settler tried to confiscate a plot of land or when an Irish lord failed to pay his tribute, but large scaled armed conflicts were not launched.
Reformation
This tranquillity ended suddenly in the sixteenth century mainly because King Henry VIII kicked up a rumpus with Pope Urban VIII. This dispute eventually led to the establishment of the Church of England and the Reformation, a chaotic era in the English history. Under King Henry VIII the monasteries were dismantled and land owned by Irish Catholics who refused to abjure their religion was confiscated.
This colonisation process continued throughout the Reformation, but reached its peak under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, who secured the position of the Church of England. Mainly due to the strategically position of Ireland in the ongoing hostilities between England and Spain and France Queen Elizabeth I granted plots of land virtually for free and Protestant English settlers flooded Ireland, chasing the Catholic Irish away. These so-called New English settlers hold on to their English language and culture, in contrast to the Old English settlers, from England, France, Flanders and Wales who came to Ireland in the wake of the Anglo-Norman Invasion and mingled with the Irish.
Within a few years 40% of Ireland, by that time neatly divided in the counties as they still are today, was owned by English landlords and the Irish started to revolt.
Desmond Rebellions
The New English settlers incurred displeasure not only by clinging to their own language and culture, but also because the English culture and laws were imposed upon the native Irish and Old English settlers. The First Desmond Rebellion started with a dispute between the Butlers of Ormonde, an Old English settles family, and the Fitzgeralds, an Irish family. After interference of Queen Elizabeth I the rebellion turned against the English.
The First Desmond Rebellion was just a taste of what the Irish had in store for the English. Supported by Spanish and Italian forces James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald launched the Second Desmond Rebellion, which was a serious threat for England's authority in Munster. The violence from both the combined Irish-Spanish-Italian as the English forces was unprecedented. Despite the severe poverty and horrible famine which followed the rebellion Queen Elizabeth I made haste with the Plantation of Munster from 1583 onward.
The stress laid on Ireland and the Irish by the new settlers eventually led to the Nine Years War or Tyrone Rebellion.
Nine Years War
By 1590 the English controlled the most of Ireland to some extent. The colonisation of the provinces Leinster and Munster went like clockwork, while the barren and stony Province Connacht was unappealing for the settlers by that time. Ulster was the only fertile province left to colonise.
Key figure in Ulster was Hugh O'Neill, a prominent member of the Tyrone O'Neill clan. As a boy he was banished from Ulster after his father was killed. An English settlers family took care of him and, although Hugh O'Neill was a Catholic with all of his heart, he is known to have attended Protestant services. By his upbringing, and his education in England, Hugh seemingly grew up more an English Lord than an Irish clan leader. In 1587 his Lordship was formalised when Queen Elizabeth I granted him the title Earl of Tyrone, which once belonged to his father.
In Ulster however the title Earl of Tyrone had only little intrinsic value. Nevertheless Hugh O'Neill was greatly respected. He is often described as an extreme intelligent and ambitious man of distinction who maintained strong relations with clan leaders like Red Hugh O'Donnell of Tyrconnel (nowadays Donegal) and Hugh Maguire of Fermanagh.
Rooted in both cultures Hugh O'Neill had developed an ambiguous preference. A case in point is that he took land granted to the Sir Henry Sidney, the Earl of Essex, in 1568 and supported Sidney six years later to settle a dispute with Brian McPhelim O'Neill. Also during the Desmond Rebellions in the early 1580's Hugh O'Neill sided with the English.
Blackwater Fort
The Nine Years War, also known as the Tyrone Rebellion, started in 1592 when Red Hugh O'Donnell chased Captain Willis away from Tyrconnel. In 1593 Captain Willis tried to lay his hands on Fermanagh, but found himself hindered by Hugh Maguire and Red Hugh O'Donnell.
The same year Hugh O'Neill attracted the attention of Queen Elizabeth I by defeating Maguire. Probably assuming Hugh was loyal to the Crown the Queen admitted him to command an army of 600 men, which was a considerable large private army in those days by the way, unless the soldiers were trained by English officers. Hugh dealt with this favour in an unparalleled manner. Once the first 600 soldiers had finished their training he discharged them and engaged 600 new men to be trained. In all about 6000 to 8000 men were trained in the course of the following two years.
At the same time O'Donnell and Maquire carried out hit-and-run attacks on English forces. In 1594 they were joined by Hugh's younger brother. Hugh O'Neill took no actions against these isolated rebellions despite several requests and when he was in Dublin he was charged with favouring the rebels and conspiring with the King of Spain Philip II. The first charge is plausible, while the latter is unsure. It is known that O'Donnell was in contact with Spain (initially with King Philip II and from 1598 with his son King Philip III), but involvement of Hugh O'Neill is possible yet not proven.
O'Neill managed to escape detention. He returned to Ulster and in 1595 his well-trained and unprecedented large force joined the forces of O'Donnell and Maguire in a massive attack on Blackwater Fort near Portmore.
Unknowingly the English had created, trained and, at least partially, financed their own enemy.
The rebels scored several other victories. At this stage the Tyrone Rebellion was aimed at preservation of Irish culture in Ulster and when Hugh O'Neill started negotiations he only demanded the freedom to practise the Catholic religion in Ulster and security of land ownership. These demands were rejected and the confederate forces were seemingly unstoppable. Rebel victories followed each other closely, leaving the English forces weakened and embarrassed.
Several commanders tried to crush the Tyrone Rebellion. Bagenal (sometimes also referred to as Bagnal) for example was sent out in 1598 with a force of approximately 5000 men to relief Portmore. He engaged the confederate forces and in the battle that followed, the Battle of the Yellow Ford, about 2000 of his men were killed.
The next year Sir Henry Sidney, the Earl of Essex, arrived in Ireland with 17,000 men. As a whole his army outnumbered the confederate forces, but for reasons unknown he dispersed his forces throughout Ulster. The small scattered garrisons were defeated by either the rebels or diseases due to the poor living conditions.
Battle of Kinsale
The next full scale attempt to break the rebellion was led by Lord Mountjoy and Sir George Carew in 1600. Carew was sent to the Wicklow mountains to suppress the last spasms of the Second Desmond Rebellion, thereafter he joined Mountjoy and while advancing from the east and south they forced Hugh O'Neill in defence. At the same the confederate forces were pushed south-wards by Arthur Chichester, based in Carrickfergus, and Lieutenant Dowcra, based in Derry.
Just when the situation had become precarious for the insurgents in September 1601 a small Spanish force, consisting of just 3500 to 4000 soldiers, beached in County Cork near Kinsale, roughly the most southern town in Ireland, instead of Ulster. Nevertheless this expedition force, commanded by Don Juan del Aguilla, could be a threat for the English forces in the north if they managed to establish a bridgehead. Hence, the theatre of war moved.
Lord Mountjoy and Sir George Carew hurried to the south with 7000 men and the confederate forces, about 6000 men, followed. The situation was bizarre once all the forces had arrived. The Spanish army had laid siege on Kinsale, the forces of the Crown enclosed the Spanish and the English found themselves surrounded by confederate forces.
The severe winter weather took its toll and the situation seemed hopeless for the English forces. They were outnumbered, sandwiched and deprived from supplies.
Apparently out of nowhere the Battle of Kinsale started on Christmas Eve 1601 (according to the Julian calendar as handled by the English, which is 3 January 1602 according to the Gregorian calendar used by the Catholic Irish and Spanish forces). What exactly happened during the Battle of Kinsale is disputed, but as it seems O'Neill and O'Donnell had a difference of opinion which weakened the confederate forces. In a brief yet bloody battle the English defeated both the Spanish as the Irish.
A map of the battle depicts a white flag with a red diagonal cross, a so-called saltire cross. According to some this is the Spanish Cross of Burgundy Flag, from which the Saint Patrick's Cross is derived.
Flight of Earls
After the Battle of Kinsale the Nine Years War came to an end.
Red Hugh O'Donnell fled to Spain and died there in 1602. O'Neill and Maguire returned to Ulster and stood their ground for two more years, until O'Neill submitted to King James I at Mellifont Abbey in 1603. Although it is not sure it is assumed that Hugh O'Neill decided to submit after Lord Mountjoy had destroyed the coronation chair of the O'Neill clan in Tullyhogue Fort. In 1593 Hugh O'Neill was the last king to be enthroned on this coronation chair which was used in ceremonies for centuries.
O'Neill and the other Ulster leaders had to swear loyalty to the Crown and abandon their private armies to receive full pardon and permission to return to their estates. They tried to resume their lives, but noticed that Ireland has changed. Distrust reigned and in 1607 the Ulster aristocracy left Ireland in what is known as the Flight of Earls.
Occasionally the term Wild Geese is used in relation with the countrymen of lower standing and craftsmen who followed the aristocracy to Europe. Strictly speaking Wild Geese refers to the Irish who fled to France after the Williamite War and particularly after the introduction of the Penal Laws.
Many Irishmen enlisted in the armies of France or Spain to fight against England on the battlefields on the European mainland, while others joined the army of their former enemy.
The abandoned estates of the earls were confiscated and granted to, mostly Scottish Presbyterians, settlers in what is known as the Plantation of Ulster.
In the next two centuries several rebellions took place in Ireland, such as the Ulster Rebellion led by Hugh O'Neill's nephew Owen Roe O'Neill, but none of them on a scale like the Nine Years War or Tyrone Rebellion.