Pirate Queen of Ireland Read Free

husband’s castle was on the coast and that he also owned some ships helped ease the pain of being parted from her family and from the sea.
    On her marriage, her father gave Granuaile a large spréidh or dowry. This consisted of a number of cattle and sheep, as well as household linen, furnishings and utensils for her new home.
    Granuaile’s dowry was protected by legal safeguards, agreed by her father and her in-laws. This ensured that, in the event of Donal’s death, or if they became divorced, she would receive part of her husband’s property for her lifetime, equivalent to the amount of her dowry.
    Granuaile and Donal lived in Bunowen Castle. It was much like the castles she grew up in at home and it also looked out onto the sea. From the window to the east she could see the towering peaks of the Twelve Bens and knew that beyond them was her home in Umhall.
    Granuaile settled into her new home. Over time she and Donal had two sons, Owen and Murrough, and a daughter called Margaret, named after Granuaile’s mother.
    As the wife of a chieftain Granuaile was expected to manage his castle and servants, and organise food and lodging for his guests and fellow chieftains when they visited.
    Everything seemed to indicate a prosperous and happy life for Granuaile.
    But Donal had not earned his nickname for nothing. He was a reckless and warlike chieftain. He was constantly feuding with his neighbouring clans. This brought hardship to his own clan, whose lands, crops and herds were often destroyed in revenge attacks by Donal’s enemies.
    That is why his clansmen began to look to Granuaile to provide for and protect them. She did it in the way she knew best – by sea.
    The merchants of Galway had barred the O’Flahertys from entering the city. Over the western gate the citizens of the town had written: ‘From the Ferocious O’Flahertys, Good Lord Deliver Us.’
    Granuaile led her husband’s followers on attacks on ships sailing into Galway, taking tolls for safe passage.
    In her faster galley, Granuaile and her men lay in wait for the heavily-laden merchant ship. If the captain refused to pay, then Granuaile took part of his cargo instead. Then, as quickly as they appeared, Granuaile and her men disappeared, lost in the maze of the coastal inlets and islands off the coast of Connemara. With no accurate map, the captain knew he dare not follow her.
    Soon the name of Granuaile became known and feared all along the west coast.
    The Mayor and Corporation of Galway complained about her to the English Government in Dublin. But there was little they could do to stop her.
    In 1558 England got a new ruler, Henry VIII’s daughter, Elizabeth.
    Like her father, Elizabeth could not afford to conquer Ireland by force. Instead, she tried to use the feuding between the Irish chieftains to her advantage. Divide and conquer became her policy as she began to replace troublesome chieftains with those who promised to be loyal to her.
    Elizabeth’s policy soon affected Granuaile and her husband.
    When the senior chieftain of Iar-Chonnact died, Granuaile’s husband, as his tanaiste, should have succeeded him. But Elizabeth chose another O’Flaherty. He had no right by Gaelic law to become the chieftain but he had promised to rule Iar-Chonnact by English law.
    This was a big set-back for Granuaile and her husband. But instead of defending his rights from the English, Donal was fighting with his neighbours the Joyces over the ownership of a castle in Lough Corrib, known as Cock’s Castle.
    The castle changed hands many times in the dispute. Eventually Donal was killed while defending it from an attack by the Joyces.
    The Joyces thought the castle was theirs at last, but they had not thought about Granuaile.
    Leading her husband’s clansmen, she defended Cock’s Castle so bravely that it was at once renamed ‘Hen’s Castle’ in her honour. That is the name it still has