O'Malley, Grace (c. 1530–1603)

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O'Malley, Grace (c. 1530–1603)

Shipowner, sea captain and pirate, who alternately resisted and negotiated with representatives of the crown in Ireland, and with Elizabeth I, in order to safeguard her own position and that of her dependents. Name variations: Grainne Ui Mhaille or Mhaol; Grany Imallye; Grana O'Malley; Grany O'Maly; Granuaile or Grania Uaile or Grana Wale; queen of Connaught. Born Grace O'Malley around 1530; died, probably at Rockfleet Castle, County Mayo, around 1603; daughter of Owen O'Malley (chieftain of Umhall Uachtarach) and Margaret (daughter of Conchobhar Og Mac Conchobhair mic Maoilseachloinn); married Donal O'Flaherty, around 1546 (died around 1565); married Richard Burke, around 1566 (died 1583); children: (first marriage) Owen, Murrough, Margaret; (second marriage) Tibbot.

As wife of Donal O'Flaherty, was involved in the government of the O'Flaherty territories and commanded the clan's vessels on missions of trade and piracy (c. 1546–65); on O'Flaherty's death, established her headquarters on Clare Island, from which she continued her activities; repulsed an attack on her fortress of Rockfleet (or Carrickahowley) by government forces (1574); met the viceroy, Sir Henry Sidney, to offer her services (1577); captured during a raid on the earl of Desmond's lands, and imprisoned in Limerick and Dublin (c. 1577–78); with her second husband, Richard Burke, attended a meeting between Gaelic chiefs and the president of Connaught in Galway (1582); on Burke's death, took possession of Rockfleet, from where she continued her operations (1583); implicated in rebellion on a number of occasions (1586–90); reported to have been involved in piracy off the west coast (1590–91); traveled to London, where she had an audience with, and obtained a pardon from, Queen Elizabeth I (1593); involved in rebellion, but subsequently came to terms with the government (1596–97); her ships intercepted on a raiding mission off the Mayo coast (1601).

In the late summer of 1593, a meeting took place at the palace of Greenwich, near London, between two equally remarkable women. On the one hand was Elizabeth I , then 60 years old and at the height of her power and splendor. The French ambassador, writing not long afterwards, reported that, despite her age, her appearance was as magnificent as ever and her intelligence as acute: "she is," he concluded, "a very great Princess who knows everything." Yet on this occasion it was her visitor who cut the more exotic figure. Wrapped in her great chieftain's cloak, her hair held with a silver bodkin, Grace O'Malley was the first Gaelic woman to visit the Elizabethan court, and as such was the object of considerable curiosity. Moreover, she was preceded by a formidable reputation. Hailing from the most far-flung of the queen's dominions, from the western coast of the troublesome neighboring island of Ireland, O'Malley was herself a ruler and commander, a woman, according to Elizabeth's officials, "famous for her stoutness of courage and person, and for sundry exploits done by her at sea," the "chief commander and director of thieves and murderers," a "terror to all merchantmen that sailed the Atlantic," and a significant threat to English authority in Ireland.

Undaunted by the unfamiliarity and brilliance of her surroundings and by the fact that she came as a supplicant, O'Malley apparently approached the encounter as one, not between sovereign and subject, but between equals. Certainly, this was the account favored by Irish sources, such as this, much later, description of the scene, reproduced in Anne Chambers ' biography Granuaile:

And courteous greeting Elizabeth then pays,
And bids her welcome to her English land
And humble hall. Each looked with curious gaze
Upon the other's face, and felt they stand
Before a spirit like their own. Her hand
The stranger raised—and pointing where all pale,
Thro' the high casement, came the sunlight bland,
Gilding the scene and group with rich avail;
Thus, to the English Sov'reign, spoke proud "Grana Wale."

More important, the outcome of this confrontation between the queen and the erstwhile rebel and pirate was to prove Grace O'Malley as impressive an opponent in debate as she had shown herself to be in action, a woman capable of responding pragmatically to circumstances and of defending her own interests in conditions of unprecedented danger and flux.

Like her contemporary Elizabeth, O'Malley came of a family accustomed to government and to political and military struggle. Born in about 1530, she was the daughter of Margaret O'Malley and a Gaelic chieftain Owen O'Malley. The O'Malleys were hereditary lords of an area known as the Umhalls (or Owels) in present-day County Mayo; situated on the rocky and dangerous northwest coast of Ireland, their domain included a large number of offshore islands as well as territory on the mainland, and the O'Malleys were known for their prowess as seafarers, having traditionally practiced as fishermen and traders. On occasion, too, their ships and sailors were hired to various warring tribes on a mercenary basis, while piracy was another, not uncommon, source of income for the clan. Thus, in 1513, not long before Grace's birth, three O'Malley vessels attacked the coastal settlement of Killybegs, burned the town and took many prisoners before being overcome by a local force. As the powerful and prosperous lords of a remote region, the O'Malleys' independence and way of life had been little affected by the Norman invasion of the 12th century, and the native Irish Brehon laws and customs continued to apply in their territories for another four centuries. During that period, English rule was largely confined to an area around Dublin; by the mid-16th century, however, efforts were underway to extend Crown authority throughout the country, thus placing unprecedented pressure on the old Gaelic order over which the O'Malleys and their fellow chieftains presided.

The young Grace O'Malley was brought up in her father's territory of the Umhalls, possibly on Clare Island, just off the Mayo coast. While little is known of her youth, it is likely, given the evidence of her later career, that she had an early training both in the business of government and in seafaring: according to legend, she acquired her nickname "Granuaile" when, in an effort to obtain permission to sail on one of her father's ships, she cut her hair short like a boy's, thus becoming known as Grainne Mhaol (Grace the bald). More probably, however, the name was a corruption of the Gaelic Grainne Ui Mhaille (O'Malley) or Grainne Umhaill (of the Umhalls).

When she was about 16 years old, Grace married for the first time. As the daughter of a chieftain, her marriage was a matter of some dynastic and political importance, and her husband Donal O'Flaherty was the tanaist, or designated successor, to the head of the O'Flaherty clan, which controlled the neighboring territory of Iar Connacht. There is evidence to indicate that women in Gaelic Ireland may have enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy within marriage and, in accordance with this tradition, Grace, in addition to her duties as wife and mother, apparently took an active part in local political affairs and in the seafaring enterprises in which the O'Flaherties, like the O'Malleys, had a traditional involvement. Thus, the mayor and corporation of the Galway, reporting at about this time to the English Council, deplored:

The continuing roads used by the O'Malleys and Flaherties with their galleys along our coasts, where there have been taken sundry ships and barks bound for this poor town, which they have not only rifled to the utter overthrow of the owners and merchants, but also have most wickedly murdered divers of young men to the great terror of such as would willingly traffic.

As the letter pointed out, activities of this kind also challenged the interests of the government, at a time when it was attempting, in a more forceful and systematic way than hitherto, to enforce its writ throughout the kingdom of Ireland. During the 1560s, this policy impacted directly on Grace's own position, when the authorities, in an effort to pacify a troublesome local chief and ensure his loyalty, named him ruler of Iar Connacht in place of the current chieftain, in the process disinheriting her husband as the acknowledged heir apparent. However, Grace's part in this particular dispute ended shortly afterwards, when Donal was killed in a tribal skirmish, leaving her free to return, with an entourage of about 200 followers, to her father's kingdom. Basing herself on Clare Island at the mouth of Clew Bay, she sent out her galleys to trade, to levy tolls on passing ships, and to plunder those which refused her demands. Not long afterwards she took as her second husband Richard Burke, whose territory included the northeastern coast of the Bay, a man described by the Gaelic annalists as "plundering, warlike, un-quiet and rebellious." The marriage was almost certainly one of convenience on O'Malley's part: tradition has it that, in accordance with Brehon law, she married him for "one year certain," and at the end of that time dismissed him, while retaining possession of his fortress of Rockfleet or Carrickahowley. In fact, her association with Burke continued for a longer period, but Rock-fleet was to be her main stronghold for the rest of her life, and, in 1574, she successfully defended it against an attack by government forces intent on putting an end to her piratical activities. Nevertheless, Grace was realistic enough to recognize the necessity of coming to terms with the queen's representatives, and, in 1577, she had a meeting in Galway with Sir Henry Sidney, in the course of which she offered the services of her "three galleys and 200 fighting men, either in Scotland or Ireland" to the lord deputy. Writing to the queen's secretary, Walsingham, of the encounter, Sidney described O'Malley as "a most famous feminine sea captain … a notorious woman in all the coasts of Ireland." Although O'Malley was accompanied on this occasion by her husband, Sidney had no doubt of her dominance over Burke: as he remarked, "she was as well by sea as by land more than Mrs Mate with him."

O'Malley's formal submission to English authority apparently brought about little alteration in her activities. Numerous legends record her presence in many different parts of the country, and describe her personal involvement in various battles and expeditions. During one of these, she was captured by the powerful southern magnate, the earl of Desmond, whose lands she had pillaged, and who, in a letter to the lord deputy, described her as "a woman that hath impudently passed the part of womanhood and been a great spoiler, and chief commander and director of thieves and murderers at sea to spoil this province." Imprisoned first for 18 months in Limerick jail and later in Dublin, Grace finally managed to secure her freedom on the promise of good behavior. Her release, however, coincided with the outbreak of a rising in which her husband was one of the insurgents. Whether O'Malley knew beforehand of Burke's intentions or sympathized with his actions is unknown; however, regarding the rebels' defeat as inevitable, she now intervened to urge his voluntary submission to the crown. Having made peace with the government, Burke won its support for his claim to assume the Gaelic title of the MacWilliam Burke, and was knighted in September 1581. In October of that year, he and other Gaelic and Anglo-Irish lords attended a conference in Galway with Malby, the current president of Connaught. Many of the nobles brought their wives with them, and Malby in his report gave a special mention to Grace as one of those present, and "thinketh herself," according to the governor, "to be no small lady."

This was a notorious woman in all the coasts of Ireland.
—Sir Henry Sidney

In April 1583, however, Richard Burke died, and Grace, entitled, according to Gaelic custom, to one-third of her dead husband's property, took immediate action to safeguard her inheritance. According to her own account, she "gathered together all her own followers, and with 1,000 head of cows and mares departed and became a dweller in Carrikahowley," from where she continued her operations, both on land and sea. In 1586, when her son-in-law, another Richard Burke, and other leading Gaelic families rose in a short-lived revolt against the crown forces in Connaught, she joined them, and took part in the successful defense of the island fortress of Castle Hag against the forces of the new governor of Connaught, Sir Richard Bingham. The rebellion, however, was finally crushed, and O'Malley was arrested, and deprived of much of her livestock. According to her own account (in the third person):

She was apprehended and tied with a rope, both she and her followers at that instant were spoiled of their said cattle and of all that ever they had besides the same, and brought to Sir Richard [Bingham] who caused a new pair of gallows to be made for her last funeral where she thought to end her days.

While Grace was released after a short period, her son, Owen O'Flaherty, who had not been involved in the rebellion, was murdered by the governor's forces, and her own freedom of action was hampered by close government scrutiny. When her son-in-law took up arms again, "fear compelled her to fly by sea into Ulster," where she found refuge with the two leading northern clans, the O'Neill and the O'Donnell, until after three months, with the rebellion under control and Bingham temporarily absent abroad, she felt able to return to her own territory. Aware of continuing government distrust, she took the precaution of traveling to Dublin to seek and obtain a royal pardon for herself and her family. Nevertheless, when further unrest broke out in Connaught following the defeat and shipwreck of the Spanish Armada in 1588, Grace and a number of her Burke relatives, including her son, Tibbot, were again implicated. Though the Gaelic forces enjoyed a number of successes, they were eventually forced to sue for peace in January 1590. Grace, however, was either unaware of or determined to disregard the truce, and continued her own operations; on April 21, Bingham reported to London that:

Immediately after the peace was concluded, Grana O'Malley, with two or three baggage boats full of knaves, not knowing that the peace was made, committed some spoil in the Island of Arran upon two or three of Sir Thomas le Strange's men.

According to Bingham, Grace's son-in-law, Richard Burke, himself deeply involved in the recent rebellion and now anxious to protect his own position, "hath Grana O'Malley in hand till she restore the spoils and repair the harms." However, O'Malley continued to give the government cause for concern: a few months later, in June 1591, Bingham, following a skirmish between some Scottish mercenaries and the Burkes, reported that "Grany O'Maly is preparing herself with some twenty boats in her company to repair after [the Scots] in revenge of her countrymen, and for the spoil they committed in those parts." Two years later, she launched an attack on her own son, Murrough O'Flaherty, who had allied himself with Bingham against Grace and the Burkes. According to the governor's report of the incident, O'Malley "manned out her navy of galleys and landed in Ballinehinchie where [Murrough] dwelleth, burned his town and spoiled his people of their cattle and goods and murdered 3 or 4 of his men which offered to make resistance."

It was scarcely surprising, given such activities, that Bingham, writing to his masters in London, should have described Grace as "a notable traitoress and nurse to all rebellions in the Province for 40 years." But at over 60 years old, with the English government slowly but surely extending its control over even the remotest areas of the country, including her own domain and, most significantly, undermining her domination of Clew Bay, Grace was prompted to seek her own accommodation with her longtime opponents. The course which she chose to take was typically bold: in mid-1593, she wrote directly, and as a "loyal and faithful subject," to Queen Elizabeth. Her object was to ensure her own survival and prosperity, and she began, therefore, by offering a justification of her past career, which implied that, as a result of the policies pursued by the queen's representatives in the west, she had been "constrained … to take arms and by force to maintain herself and her people by sea and land the space of forty years past." Describing her own history, pleading the "little time she has to live" and her current destitution, she listed her requests: firstly, "in regard of her great age, she most humbly beseeches your majesty of your princely bounty and liberality to grant her some reasonable maintenance for the little time she has to live," secondly, that her sons and other relations should be allowed to surrender and to retain their lands. Thirdly, and most audaciously, she requested that she should be permitted to continue her activities without interference from Bingham and under the command of the queen herself, "to invade with sword and fire all your highness' enemies, wheresoever they are or shall be, without any interruption of any person or persons whatsoever."

As a result of this appeal, Grace was asked to complete a questionnaire, which sought information on her family, her marriages, and her status as a widow. Meanwhile, however, Bingham had arrested both her son, Tibbot, and her brother, Donal, convincing Grace of the need for prompt and decisive action: in late July, therefore, she set sail from Connaught for London in one of her own ships, with the intention of obtaining an audience with the queen. Bingham, wary of the allegations which Grace might make against his own administration, felt it necessary to notify his superiors at court of O'Malley's coming, to urge that he be given a chance to defend himself against any accusations which she might make, and to warn them of the consequences of receiving her. As he reminded Lord Burghley, the queen's private secretary, she had been a "rebel from … childhood and continually in action," and for the queen to hear her complaints or to reward her in any way would be to encourage further treasons. Despite his protests, however, in early September 1593, Grace O'Malley was summoned to appear before Elizabeth at her summer palace at Greenwich.

Despite the legends which have grown up about the meeting between the two women, little is, in fact, known of their conversation, which was conducted in their common language of Latin, but the outcome makes it clear that Grace scored a notable success in securing the queen's goodwill and in achieving the goals which she had set herself. Shortly after the meeting, Elizabeth wrote to Bingham to order the release of Tibbot and of Grace's brother, Donal:

So as the old woman may understand we yield thereto in regard of her humble suit…. And further, for the pity to be had of this aged woman … we require you to deal with her sons in our name to yield to her some maintenance for her living the rest of her old years…. Although she hath in former times lived out of order … she hath confessed the same with assured promises by oath to continue most dutiful, with offer … that she will fight in our quarrel with all the world.

O'Malley, having returned to Mayo, immediately brought pressure to bear on Bingham to carry out the queen's wishes, and the governor, despite his own disapproval of the concessions granted to Grace and his continuing distrust of her, had little choice but to comply. In November, he reported to Burghley that he had gone some way to meet her demands, "the woman … swearing that she would else repair presently to England" to lodge further complaints against him. However, alarmed by Grace's potential to continue her seafaring career under the queen's protection, Bingham retaliated by quartering troops on her land and by ordering that all her voyages be placed under military surveillance. The limitation which this placed on her freedom, and the financial hardship which it entailed, prompted Grace to flee south. Taking refuge in Munster, she wrote to Burghley to declare her loyalty and seek fulfillment of the queen's promise of the "quiet possession of the third parts of the lands of her late husbands … and to live secure of her life."

The Council, however, faced with the possibility of further insurrection in Ulster and Connaught, had little time or inclination to attend to O'Malley's complaints and she had, once more, to rely on her own efforts to maintain her position. Thus, when the Burkes again rebelled and murdered Bingham's brother, Grace and her son, Tibbot, allied themselves with their kinsmen and joined the northern army of Red Hugh O'Donnell, which had invaded Connaught. Riven by internal differences, with the countryside devastated by warfare, and harried by government troops, the rebel forces soon fell into disarray; in April 1596, Tibbot, almost certainly with his mother's approval, deserted them and joined forces with the English. By now, Bingham had been removed from office, and Tibbot's alliance with the government and his usefulness to them secured not only his own safety and prosperity, but also that of Grace who, from her fortress of Rockfleet, was able once more to direct the operations, both legal and illegal, of her galleys. Reported to have taken part in raids on the lands of other chieftains, she was also engaged in trade and apparently provided support to the queen's forces in their continuing struggle against the rebels: in 1597, the new governor of Connaught, Clifford, recorded a payment of £200 to Tibbot, his brother and his mother "for their valuable services by sea."

Little further is known of the career of Grace O'Malley, although she was certainly still alive in July 1601, when an English warship, on patrol off the northwest coast, encountered and intercepted an Irish galley. This vessel, with 30 oars and a crew of 100, put up a spirited resistance before being overcome; it came, the captain discovered, "out of Connaught, and belongs to Grany O'Malley … and, as I learned since, this with one other galley, was set out and … was purposed to do some spoils upon the countries and islands" off Donegal. It is clear, therefore, that neither old age nor government supervision had been sufficient to diminish Grace's will or her capacity for survival. Her death, probably at Rockfleet in about 1603, coincided with the final defeat of the rebellion and the irretrievable breakdown of the old Gaelic order, but long before that she herself had shown an acute awareness of political realities and of the necessity to accommodate herself to them, in order to protect her own and her family's interests. The forcefulness of her personality and the uniqueness of her career are commemorated in folklore, in place names and, most remarkably, given the absence of such ideology in her own calculations, in her emergence as an embodiment of the nationalist Ireland of later centuries.

However distorted the version of events, O'Malley's hold on the popular imagination is evidence of the extent of her achievement: at a time when women, in both English and Gaelic society, were assigned a subordinate position, she maintained her personal independence in the management of her own affairs, in relations with her fellow nobles, and in negotiations with the crown and its representatives. In her struggle for survival, she made use of whatever weapons were available to her, at one moment exploiting her weakness as an "aged woman" and a widow in order to achieve concessions, at another, as "terror to all merchantmen that sailed the Atlantic," or as "notable traitoress," defending her rights against all, both Gaelic and English, who sought to restrict them.

sources:

Appleby, J.C. "Women and Piracy in Ireland: From Grainne O'Malley to Anne Bonny," in Margaret MacCurtain and Mary O'Dowd, eds. Women in Early Modern Ireland. Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 1991, pp. 53–68.

Chambers, Anne. Granuaile: The Life and Times of Grace O'Malley. Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 1979.

Schwind, Mona L. "Nurse to all rebellions: Grace O'Malley and sixteenth-century Connacht," in Eire-Ireland. Vol. 13, 1978, pp. 40–61.