Kinsale: The Spanish Intervention in Ireland at the End of the Elizabethan Wars (Four Courts History Classics)

The occupation of the Irish port of Kinsale by a Spanish force in 1601 and its surrender to an English army early in 1602 is an event of both European and Irish significance. This work, based mainly on research in the Archivo General de Simancas, tells the story of the invasion and its outcome which marked the last attempt by Spain to force a decision in the long sea war with England which had lasted since 1585. The prolonged Tudor attempt to reconquer Ireland met its strongest opposition from Hugh O'Neill. The records of Spanish and Roman archives show O'Neill's diplomacy at work, clear in its aims and far-reaching in extent, but finally unable to overcome deep-seated prejudices. The anarchy of the Gaelic system and the mistrust between Gael and Gall were the factors that most contributed towards the decisive English victory at Kinsale. This was a milestone on the way towards general disengagement on the Atlantic front, and was followed by the Peace of London in 1604 between Spain and England which enabled the papacy to take up with James I the question of toleration towards his Catholic subjects, forced O'Neill to retire to Ulster and ended, for a generation, serious resistance to English rule. Kinsale has been extensively written on from the Irish side and it is treated in most histories of Spain and some of Europe, but it has never been examined systematically from the Spanish side. Dr Silke has consulted the Spanish records which provide a full account of the inception of the Irish invasion project, its political setting, the logistics of the despatch of the expedition and the story of its fortunes in Ireland. He answers a great many questions which have hitherto remained obscureand places the episode properly in both its European and Irish setting.