James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald had spent his exile on the Continent re-inventing himself as a crusader for the counter-Reformation. He argued that becasie Queen Elizabeth I had been ex-communicated by the Pope Pius V in 1570, Irish Catholics no longer owed their allegiance to the English Crown. The Pope granted troops and supplies to Fitzmaurice for his planned invasion of the province of Munster. He landed at Smerwick, near Dingle, Co. Kerry on July 18, 1579 with a small force of Spanish and Italian troops. He was joined by a number of Gaelic clans and Old English families, however he was killed in a minor skirmish and John Fitzgerald of Desmond assumed leadership of the rebellion. Gerald, the Earl of Desmond joined the rebellion and succeeded in sacking both Youghal and Kinsale. However by mid-1580, it appeared that the English forces had succeeded in crushing the insurrection, but in July it sparked off in the province of Leinster under the leadership of the Gaelic chieftain Fiach MacHugh O'Byrne and the Old English lord, Viscount Baltinglass. They destroyed a large English force at the Battle of Glenmalure. However, the rebel forces in Munster and Leinster failed to develop a co-ordinated strategy to capitalise on these early advances. In September 1580, six hundred Papal troops landed at Smerwick to support the rebels, however they made little impact, becoming sieged within the confines of a fort at Dun an Oir, they soon surrendered and were massacred. The English forces broke the back of the insurrection with a comprehensive and relentless scorched earth policy. As Fitzmaurice had done during the First Desmond Rebellion, the remaining Geraldines sought sanctuary in the Co. Kerry mountains. The rebellion ended with the killing of the Gerald, the Earl Of Desmond near Tralee, Co. Kerry by the local clan O'Moriarty. After the devastating scorched earth policy, a prolonged famine enveloped the province, it is estimated that by 1589, a third of the province's population had died.
Russell Shortt is a travel consultant with Exploring Ireland, the leading specialists in customised, private escorted tours, escorted coach tours and independent self drive tours of Ireland. Article source: http://www.exploringireland.net
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