Grace O'Malley: Pirate Queen of Ireland (#173)

Grace O'Malley was believed to have been born in Ireland around 1530, when Henry VIII was King of England and held the title Lord of Ireland. Under the policies of the English government at the time, the semi-autonomous Irish clans were left mostly to their own devices. However, this was to change over the course of O'Malley's life as the Tudor conquest of Ireland gathered pace.

Little is known about the details of Grace O'Malley's childhood, but what is known is that she was the only daughter of the Irish Chieftain, Owen Duvara O’Malley - Chief of the Name of Clan Ó Máille and Lord of Umhaill - and Margaret (or Maeve, depending on the sources) O'Malley and was raised at Belcare Castle near Westport, County Mayo. She also had a half-brother on her father’s side called Dónal na Píopa.

Unlike most other Irish lords who made their living by farming, the O'Malleys were a seafaring family. They controlled most of what is now the barony of Murrisk, including Clew Bay (which is an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean on the west coast of Ireland – Westport can be found in the south-east corner) and the surrounding areas, where the clan fished, traded, and taxed others who fished off their coasts. The O'Malley clan's motto, "Powerful by land and by sea" which, as we will discover, would soon become an accurate description of Grace herself.

Has we have learnt over the years of doing this podcast, a lot of our awesome women of history (especially those that go further back in time) often have little to no details of their early life recorded in the annuals of time. However, oral tradition states that, as a young girl, she wished to go on a trading expedition to Spain with her father. Upon being told she could not because her long hair would catch in the ship's ropes, she cut off most of her hair to shame her father into taking her. This earned her the nickname “grawn-yuh way’ll” which basically translates to ‘Bald Grace’. 

Another cool fact is that, although under Brehon Law (aka Early Irish Law, the statutes which governed everyday life in early medieval Ireland) only male members of the derriveenee (or true kin) could inherit the mantle of Chief of the Name through tanistry (the gaelic system for passing on land and titles) – in layman’s terms, basically the most immediate members of the Chiefs family, upon his death, would have got together to elect the new chief from the pool of closest male family members. Despite this, Grace O'Malley "was considered to be the legal retainer of the family land and seafaring activities” over her half-brother. 

In 1546, Grace was married to the heir of the O’Flaherty clan, Donal O’Flaherty, which would have been a good political match for the daughter of the Chief of Clan O’Malley. Because of his aggressive behaviour, he had gained the nickname ‘the Cock’ and Grace was in turn was called ‘the Hen’.

Together they had three children (Owen, Maeve and Murrough) and during this time, she became active in Irish politics and was taught by Donal the arts of pirating. However, in 1565 her husband was killed in an ambush while hunting in the hills surrounding Lough Corrib, believed to have been due to an ongoing power struggle against rival clan, Clan Joyce, who soon moved to take their castle, Castlekirk, thinking that Grace would not resist. However, she fought back with fury and with such determination that the castle became known as ‘Hen’s Castle’, the name it still bears, and forced Clan Joyce to retreat. 

O'Malley then returned to her own lands and established her principal residence upon Clare Island and allegedly took a shipwrecked sailor as her lover. The affair lasted only briefly as he was killed by Clan MacMahon of Ballyvoy. Seeking vengeance, O'Malley attacked Clan MacMahon's stronghold of Doona Castle in Blacksod Bay and slew her lover's murderers upon Caher Island. Her vengeance against Clan MacMahon earned Grace the nickname the 'Dark Lady of Doona'. 

This wouldn’t be the only castle she’d acquire in her lifetime – either via conquest or marriage, she would go on to add Kildavnet on Achill Island, the O’Malley Castle on Clare Island and Rockfleet in Clew Bay. Each stronghold was situated in a strategically important location in guarding the coastline and defending the local waters against potential attacks. 

Speaking of acquisitions via marriages and Rockfleet Castle, this moves us nicely along to her second marriage, this time to ‘Iron Richard’ Burke in 1566 (only one year later from husband number ones death) another Irish Chieftain and noble. Together they had one son, Theobald Burke, and folklore suggests that Grace was pregnant with her Theobald while at sea. Within an hour of giving birth, Algerian pirates ambushed and boarded her ship. Wrapping the child in a blanket, she appeared on deck and rallied her crew, leading to the capture of the pirate vessel.

Still not satisfied with her revenge, O'Malley then sailed for Ballycroy and attacked the garrison at Doona Castle, overpowering the defenders and taking the castle for herself. Her attack against the MacMahons was not the first time she interrupted someone at their prayers. Legend tells of another lord who stole property from her and fled to a church for sanctuary. She was determined to wait out the thief, maintaining that he could starve or surrender. The thief dug a tunnel and escaped, however, and the hermit who took care of the church broke his vow of silence to scold her for attempting to harm someone who had sought sanctuary. Her reply is not recorded, but you could only imagine what it would have been…

But the good times couldn’t last forever. Remember earlier when I mentioned the Tudor conquest of Ireland? During the Tudor conquest of Ireland (c.1540–1603), there was a legal mechanism called "surrender and regrant" by which Irish clans were to be converted from a power structure rooted in clan and kin loyalties, to a late-feudal system under the English legal system. The policy was an attempt to incorporate the clan chiefs into the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland, and to guarantee their property under English common law, as distinct from the traditional Irish Brehon law system. 

Why is this important? Well, in 1576, O'Malley herself engaged in the surrender and regrant process with the Lord Deputy Sir Henry Sidney in respect of her lands. However, because Rockfleet was over a week's march from Dublin, and as she was so often at sea, control by the Crown was very weak. 

O'Malley had every reason, and used every opportunity, to limit the power of the Kingdom of Ireland (as the English were callingit) over her part of the country. An expedition from Galway attacked her castle at Clare Island in March 1579. However, they were put to flight and barely escaped.

At the age of 56, ten years after the original surrender and regrant process, O’Malley was captured and imprisoned by Sir Richard Bingham, the English governor who was appointed Lord President of Connacht to rule over Irish territories and therefore tasked with controlling local lords who had, until then, been mostly autonomous… except for Grace, of course. In fact, in a letter he wrote in 1593 to protest O'Malley's claims against him, Bingham claimed that she was "nurse to all rebellions in the province for [the last] forty years".

While she narrowly escaped a death sentence, her confinement meant she lost influence and wealth as English power in Ireland increased, until she was on the brink of poverty. 

It was only after hearing about Bingham's arrest of her brother and son (Theobald Burke for treason and Dónal na Píopa for the murder of some English soldiers), O’Malley petitioned the Crown for the release of her son and set sail for England. She asked the Queen "to grant her some reasonable maintenance for the little tyme she hath to live". In return she offered "a surrender at her hands" of the lands of her two sons and those of her two surviving Burke nephews. She asked for "free libertye during her lyve to envade with sword and fire all your highness enemyes wheresoever they are or shall be ... without any interruption of any person or persons whatsoever"

The historic meeting with Queen Elizabeth I and the 'pirate queen' took place in September 1593 at Greenwich Castle. Tradition states that Grace wearing a fine gown, and the two of them were surrounded by guards and the members of Elizabeth's royal court. 

Many "fanciful tales" have embellished the story of the meeting in Irish story-telling tradition. For example, O'Malley is said to have refused to bow before Elizabeth because she did not recognise her as the "Queen of Ireland". It was said that she had a dagger concealed about her person, which guards found upon searching her. Elizabeth's courtiers were said to be very upset and worried, but O'Malley informed the Queen that she carried it for her own safety. Elizabeth accepted this and seemed untroubled. It was said that O'Malley had sneezed and was given a lace-edged handkerchief from a noblewoman. She apparently blew her nose into it and then threw the cloth into a nearby fireplace, much to the shock of the court. O'Malley informed everyone that in Ireland, a used handkerchief was considered dirty and was properly destroyed. 

Their conversation was carried out in English, as Grace spoke no Latin and Elizabeth spoke no Irish. The Queen ordered her Privy Council to seek an explanation from Sir Richard Bingham regarding his treatment of O'Malley and her family and to investigate how her situation could best be relieved. Towards the end of September 1593 the Queen wrote to Bingham ordering the release of Theobald and Dónal from prison. She also ordered for provision to be made for Grace out of her sons' estates, the amount to be deducted from their crown taxes. She requested Bingham to allow them ownership of their lands and property and "protect them to live in peace to enjoy their livelihoods". 

Basically, the encounter was a success for Grace as Elizabeth granted each of her requests on the condition she ceased all rebellion against the crown. Unsurprisingly, Sir Richard Bingham disagreed with the decision of the Queen and initially did not obey her instructions, which O'Malley had personally delivered to him on her return to Ireland. O'Malley had to threaten him "that she would else repaire againe into England" if he did not comply. Therefore, he reluctantly agreed.

However, several of O'Malley's other demands (including the return of the land that Bingham had stolen from her) remained unresolved. Furthermore, Elizabeth eventually reinstated Bingham in Ireland. Upon Bingham's return to power, Grace realised that the meeting with Elizabeth had been useless, and her clan supported the Irish insurgents during later clashes with the English.

As a pirate, O'Malley was largely written out of Irish history, so limited information exists of her life. Contemporary Irish historians were usually religious monks, and being a woman, Grace was largely ignored in their writings. This makes it difficult to pinpoint the precise year and location of her death. Yet it is believed she most likely died at Rockfleet Castle around 1603, the same year as Queen Elizabeth's I death, and was buried in the abbey on Clare Island, the same abbey she learnt to read and write as a child.

I think Irish historian and novelist Anne Chambers in her 2006 biography of O'Malley, summed her up best:

“a fearless leader, by land and by sea, a political pragmatist and politician, a ruthless plunderer, a mercenary, a rebel, a shrewd and able negotiator, the protective matriarch of her family and tribe, a genuine inheritor of the Mother Goddess and Warrior Queen attributes of her remote ancestors. Above all else, she emerges as a woman who broke the mould and thereby played a unique role in history.”