'It is indeed certain that the sea had not supported, and the winds had not wafted from Ireland, in modern times, a party of one ship who had been more illustrious or noble, in point of genealogy, or more renowned for deeds, valour, prowess, or high achievements than they'.
This is just one of the many apposite quotes which enlivens John McCavitt's magisterial account of the Flight of the Earls, an event which did so much to shape the destiny of our country.
The event which McCavitt writes about occurred on 14 September (4 September, Old Calendar) 1607, and it is fitting that the work has been published to coincide with the 400th anniversary of that memorable milestone in Irish history.
The Flight of the Earls is based on John McCavitt's doctoral research at Queen's University, Belfast, and it bears all the hallmarks of meticulous research and impeccably argued exposition that one would expect. It is a good story, well told, and written in a splendidly lucid style. It is a story spiced with references to spies, assassins and outlaws, kidnappings, cannibalism and hostage taking. Extramarital affairs, rape and suggestions of homosexual liaisons also feature. It is 'a tale of epic proportions, an enthralling and momentous episode in the history of Ireland that has lost none of its drama and appeal in the passage of time.'
The ship which sailed from Rathmullan in Lough Swilly on that bleak day in 1607 carried with it the cream of Gaelic society in Ulster, and nothing would ever be the same after their departure. On board were Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, Rory O'Donnell, the Earl of Tyrconnell, Cúchonnacht Maguire, Lord of Fermanagh, together with an elite group of family members and loyal followers comprising 99 in all.
McCavitt is at pains to place the event in the wider context of British and European history of the time. He looks in depth at the background to the Earls' flight – the Nine Years War, the defeat at Kinsale, the surprisingly favourable Treaty of Mellifont, to be followed by the ever-encroaching demands of the hostile and greedy royal officials in Dublin who maintained a ruthless campaign of harassment against the northern chieftains. It was an era of deceit, conspiracy and intrigue, and the Earls themselves were by no means guiltless, but McCavitt concludes that the threat to O'Neill was nowhere nearly as serious as he himself believed and the Flight need never have occurred. The fact that O'Neill left his son, Conn, behind and O'Donnell sailed without his pregnant wife, points to the precipitate nature of their departure, a decision which both subsequently bitterly regretted.
On the Continent, O'Neill and his party of distinguished émigrés moved from one royal court to another before settling in Rome where the Earl, the champion of Catholicism in Ireland, was welcomed by the Pope and granted a generous pension. Yet, he yearned for his patrimony and never ceased to intrigue. The threat of his return loomed like a spectre over the nascent Plantation of Ulster. O'Neill found himself again caught up in a web of intrigue and international conspiracy, but increasingly he came to realize that he was but an isolated pawn on the chequered board of European politics. Saddened, disillusioned and disappointed, he died in Rome on 20 July 1616, convulsed by fever and sightless, like some blind Odysseus pining for his island home of Ithaca. O'Donnell and Maguire had both predeceased him.
The rich array of characters in the drama that was the Flight of the Earls are well delineated, with revealing detail and anecdote: James I, timorous and cowardly, whose only passion was the hunt, during which he forbore to dismount in order to relieve himself, and so habitually ended the day in a filthy and stinking condition; the Viceroy Chichester, the inveterate foe of O'Neill, high-handed, cruel, arrogant and ruthless, but pragmatic and efficient; the detestable Attorney General, Sir John Davies, corpulent, with pock-marked face, awkward carriage, clumsy gait and tempestuous personality; the greedy and avaricious Montgomery, Bishop of Derry, Raphoe and Clogher, and the odious Paulet, Governor of Derry, whose bumbling career came to an abrupt end when Sir Cahir O'Doherty captured the settlement at Derry in 1608.
The Irish, as one might expect, are treated more sympathetically: O'Neill himself, shrewd, pragmatic, courageous, resourceful, feisty in his old age, but increasingly irrelevant in the power politics then prevailing in Europe; Rory O'Donnell, a man of legendary generosity, whose star blazed brightly but briefly for just thirty-three years before his untimely death in Rome in 1608; Cúchonnacht Maguire, the Lord of Fermanagh, who had played a crucial role in the events leading up to the Earls' departure and described as 'intelligent, comely, courageous, magnanimous ... endowed with wisdom and personal beauty'. Interestingly, Fermanagh men are described as 'the worst swordsmen in the north, being rather inclined to be scholars, or husbandmen than to be kern or men of action'. Plus ça change...!
The reverberations caused by the Flight of the Earls still find an echo today. The end of the old Gaelic order made way for the Plantation of Ulster and sowed the seeds of bitterness and dissension which have blighted our society for generations. It also witnessed the beginning of the Irish diaspora and established links between Ireland and Continental Europe which are still evident today.
John McCavitt's Flight of the Earls is a measured, even-handed and scholarly examination of the causes, course and results of this seminal event in Irish history. It is copiously annotated and referenced, and succeeds in being both entertaining and informative. Maps and illustrations would have been helpful, and the tiny font size in which the book is printed does not make for quick or easy reading. Despite these reservations, The Flight of the Earls is a compelling account and a valuable and timely contribution by a distinguished author to the ever-burgeoning corpus of Irish history.
Frank Rogers (author of 'The History of Holy Cross').
