A History of the Second Desmond Rebellion in Ireland

James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald had spent his exile onHowever, the rebel forces in Munster and Leinster
the Continent re-inventing himself as a crusaderfailed to develop a co-ordinated strategy to
for the counter-Reformation. He argued thatcapitalise on these early advances. In September
becasie Queen Elizabeth I had been1580, six hundred Papal troops landed at
ex-communicated by the Pope Pius V in 1570,Smerwick to support the rebels, however they
Irish Catholics no longer owed their allegiance tomade little impact, becoming sieged within the
the English Crown. The Pope granted troops andconfines of a fort at Dun an Oir, they soon
supplies to Fitzmaurice for his planned invasion ofsurrendered and were massacred. The English
the province of Munster. He landed at Smerwick,forces broke the back of the insurrection with a
near Dingle, Co. Kerry on July 18, 1579 with acomprehensive and relentless scorched earth
small force of Spanish and Italian troops. He waspolicy. As Fitzmaurice had done during the First
joined by a number of Gaelic clans and Old EnglishDesmond Rebellion, the remaining Geraldines
families, however he was killed in a minor skirmishsought sanctuary in the Co. Kerry mountains. The
and John Fitzgerald of Desmond assumedrebellion ended with the killing of the Gerald, the
leadership of the rebellion. Gerald, the Earl ofEarl Of Desmond near Tralee, Co. Kerry by the
Desmond joined the rebellion and succeeded inlocal clan O'Moriarty. After the devastating
sacking both Youghal and Kinsale. However byscorched earth policy, a prolonged famine
mid-1580, it appeared that the English forces hadenveloped the province, it is estimated that by
succeeded in crushing the insurrection, but in July1589, a third of the province's population had died.
it sparked off in the province of Leinster underRussell Shortt is a travel consultant with Exploring
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English force at the Battle of Glenmalure.