# dungannon

OTD 1599 The Earl of Essex set out from Dublin leading 160 horse at the beginning of his expedition into Munster. With the army list expanded to 16K foot and 1.3k horse and massive shipments of supplies (including £20k worth munitions) what could possibly go wrong?

9 71
2021-05-09

OTD 1596 News of Spanish in Killybegs brought to Newry by Anne Willmar [Welsh woman], handmaid to Mabel Bagenal before her death. After spending 5 years at the heart of Tyrone's lordship she later suggested Queen would be willing to pay £10k for her info on Tyrone

7 21
2021-05-07

OTD 1598 Geffrey Fenton calls to block shipments of arms to Tyrone from Scotland 'great quantities of powder and other provisions for him and O'Donnell...considering the King's former favourable dealings with Tyrone, cannot but think the King is a secret supporter'

1 13
2021-05-07

OTD 1597 Report that Tyrone and Red Hugh O'Donnell's meeting with Spanish at Killybeggs did not go well. Frustrated by lack of Spanish landing reported O'D accused Spain of deceitfulness. Despite promises nothing but a little powder sent 'which they reckon not of'

7 53
2021-04-09

OTD 1601 Sir Arthur Chichester reported he had taken and fortified Masserine Friary. Also recaptured Edendufcarrick (Shane's Castle) and the queen's boat stationed there. Chichester now had bases for launching brutal amphibious raids into Tyrone across Lough Neagh

5 38
2021-04-06

OTD 1597 news of Tyrone's proclamation in for the raising of 3,000 troops for 3 months. They would receive 1 month up front and be paid 12d per day. Morgan Kavanagh, a veteran of the Low Countries arrived to take up a command in the earl's army.

8 59
2021-03-22

OTD 1601 Scots merchant Thomas Douglas watched a Spanish officer drill Tyrone's pikemen in Dungannon. Surprised that experienced troops didn't use tight formation the Spanish officer replied that close order would 'avail them nothing' in constricted Irish terrain

7 51
2021-03-17

OTD 1594 Bad day for Bagenal as Art MacBaron's son (Tyrone's nephew) with 400 troops stole the marshal's stud, taking them over the R. Bann. Irish threatened to burn Carrickfergus, should have made good as Carrick was key staging area for English throughout the war

10 51
2021-03-02

OTD 1595 With Tyrone in open war L. Dep Russell called for merchants to be restrained from selling gunpowder to the Irish, but hard cash trumped patriotism and merchants got rich throughout the war selling munitions to Tyrone at inflated (triple or quadruple) rates

4 18
2021-02-27

OTD 1603 dark days for the Irish as Tyrone took refuge in the forests around Toome with just 60 men 'shifting his lodging both night and day' to evade capture. Worse, Cormac MacBaron, Tyrone's brother and possibly finest field commander submitted to Sir Henry Docwra

15 77
2021-02-23

OTD 1594 Red Hugh O'Donnell planned to bring over 4,000 Scots redshanks to L. Foyle and Swilly. Plan fails & Scots troops have small role in war. Tyrone doesn't like using them due to indiscipline but powerful shock element missing from Irish army for rest of war

13 80
2021-02-17

OTD 1595 report from Scotland that Tyrone and James MacSorley MacDonnell bought £500 of gunpowder in Glasgow and shipped to Ireland. Glasgow merchants were key to providing war material to the Irish, helped by James VI turning a blind eye for most of the war

10 55
2021-02-10

OTD 1600 Recommendations made to bring over Scots 'who of all others are fit for Irish service..if good security might be had for their faithful service and safe withdrawing'. 4,000 could be shipped and well-maintained for the price of 1,000 English troops-bargain

7 43
2021-02-01

OTD 1597 As Norreys gathered forces to break through to the garrison in Armagh, Tyrone suddenly relented, allowing English to pass. The earl had deliberately drawn the English out of Connacht, clearing Red Hugh O'Donnell's path to raid all the way to Galway suburbs

9 39
2021-01-19

OTD 1602 Tyrone in Dungannon after a harrowing retreat north. Many deserted to shift for themselves while others drowned in swollen rivers. Worse, many Irish took their opportunity to exact their revenge & prove their loyalty to the Crown by attacking the Ulstermen

13 60
2021-01-10

OTD 1596 Confirmation of Mabel Bagenal, Countess Tyrone's death [Tyrone's 3rd wife]. Married in a protestant service in 1591. Tyrone was anything but a doting husband. His affairs and attempts to kill her brother drove her to return to Newry where she died age 24

9 46
2021-01-03

OTD 1601 Not everyone marched north, Hugh Roe O'Donnell arrived at Castlehaven and boarded a ship for Spain. Docwra had left him little to return to, so O'D planned to secure further aid from Philip III, but he never saw Ireland again-he was dead within the year

13 69
2020-12-27

OTD 1599 Enfant terrible Capt Humfrey Willis proposed plot of forts in Ulster, inc. Derry, Lifford, B'shannon, Cavan, Armagh, C'fergus, Coleraine and Toome. His incursion into Fermanagh sparked war in 1593. Fought throughout but killed in mopping up op. summer 1602

4 37
2020-12-19

OTD 1598 Arrival of 1,000 troops from England. They were 'well chosen, their furniture...good, but they are raw and inexpert'. Some were 'overburthened with heavy muskets'. Muskets were powerful but unsuited to fast-paced Irish warfare-good officers didnt want them

2 28
2020-12-09

OTD 1600 Discovering Tyrone had abandoned the Moyry Pass, Mountjoy marched from Dundalk to occupy the deserted fortifications. On the Irish works 'I did never see a more villainous piece of work, an impossible thing for an army to pass without an intolerable loss'

7 34
2020-10-17