Shifting loyalties spark revolt

Historian Jonathan Bardon begins a four-page account of a journey with consequences for our relations with England and Europe to this day. As the story begins, England was close to losing its grip on Ireland. Its territory had contracted, reduced to coastal towns and the area around Dublin known as the Pale. The Reformation in the 16th century had changed everything. Philip 11 of Spain appointed himself standard bearer of the Counter Reformation with the object of crushing the Protestant English and Dutch. As the English thrust deep into their territories, the Catholic Gaelic lords of Ulster turned to Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, to lead them.

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The Flight of the Earls

» Click here to find out more about the special commemorative events planned to mark the 400th anniversary of the Flight of the Earls