Flight of the Earls

Uncommon card · No. 188208

The Flight of the Earls (Irish: Imeacht na nIarlaí) took place on 14 September [O.S. 4 September] 1607, when Irish earls Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell, permanently departed Rathmullan in Ireland for Catholic Europe during a period of extreme political tension with the English Crown. The Flight's exact motivation is unclear and the subject of debate. They were accompanied by their extended families, retinue, followers and fellow nobility, numbering about 100 people. The earls were patriarchs of the two most powerful clans in Ulster—the O'Neill and O'Donnell clans— which claim descent of Niall of the Nine Hostages and their emigration is considered to symbolise the end of Gaelic Irish society. The earls' lands were later escheated and settled by Protestants from Great Britain as part of the Plantation of Ulster. Both earls fought against the Crown in the Nine Years' War (1593–1603), which ended with their surrender. The newly crowned James I of England...

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