Services, Mapping the World, Seaborne Commerce & Piracy, Working Scholars® Bringing Tuition-Free College to the Community. Grace O'Malley was Queen of Umaill, chieftain of the O Maille clan, a rebel, seafarer, and fearless leader who challenged the turbulent politics of 16th century England and Ireland.While Irish legends have immortalized Grace as a courageous woman who overcame boundaries of gender imbalance and bias to fight for the independence of Ireland and protect it against the English crown; to … Grace O'Malley is also known as the Pirate Queen of Ireland. 1603: Grace dies at Rockfleet. She is remembered as a pirate queen who fought the English. Grace O'Malley (c. 1530 – c. 1603) - in her native Irish language Gráinne Ní Mháille, also known as Gráinne O'Malley, was the head of the Ó Máille dynasty in the west of Ireland, and the daughter of Eoghan Dubhdara Ó Máille. Little is known about Grace O'Malley's childhood. She was the Irish pirate queen, Grace O’Malley. Grace O’Malley (1530-1603) The Abbey, Clare Island, Co Mayo Pirate queen and warrior princess, clan chieftain and matriarch, Grace O’Malley had the type of dramatic life that demands a spectacular resting place – and this 12th-century Cistercian abbey, perched on a headland 5km off the Mayo coast, fits the bill to perfection. There are no records indicating the cause of death for Grace O'Malley. Ordnance Survey Letters, Mayo, vol. [9], As a child she most likely lived at her family's residence of Belclare and Clare Island,[2] but she may have been fostered to another family, for fosterage was traditional among Irish nobility at the time. Grace was one of 19 Children of Thomas O'Malley and Georgiana Reynolds. Grace O'Malley dominated the shipping lanes and accumulated tons of wealth during her lifetime. Her larger vessels were generally moored off Clare Island, where her chief stronghold was situated, whilst her smaller craft were kept at Carrigahowly Castle, in Newport Bay. She formally presented her request to Queen Elizabeth I at her court in Greenwich Palace. In 1593, in his letter to protest Ní Mháille's claims against him, Sir Richard Bingham claimed that she was "nurse to all rebellions in the province for this forty years". 1601: The Battle of Kinsale and the final demise of the Gaelic world of Grace O’Malley. Hence our Countrymen have been often called “Sons of old Grana Weal.”, Pirate, Queen of Umaill, chieftain of the Ó Máille clan, Statue of Grainne Mhaol Ní Mhaille, outside, harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFChambers2003 (, Lambeth Palace Library, ms. no 601, p. 10, cited in Chambers 2003, p. 85, Calendar of State Papers Relating to Ireland (James I) 1623, no. In fact, she was born into Irish nobility, the daughter of southern Irish chieftain and wealthy sea trader. Grace O’Malley was a powerful leader in Ireland in the 1500s. Create your account. She allegedly took a shipwrecked sailor as her lover. [15] The 1st Viscount Mayo was a child of this marriage. II, cited in Chambers 2003, spelling modernised. She was born in County Mayo in 1530, the daughter of Owen O’Malley… Mentxaka, 'Grainne: A Play'. In 1593, when her sons Tiobóid a Búrc (Tibbot Bourke) and Murchadh Ó Flaithbheartaigh (Murrough O'Flaherty), and her half-brother Dónal an Phíopa ("Dónal of the Pipes"), were taken captive by the English governor of Connacht, Sir Richard Bingham, Ní Mháille sailed to England to petition for their release. Elizabeth accepted this and seemed untroubled. Elizabeth I famously sent Ní Mháille a list of questions, which were answered and returned to Elizabeth. [2], Ní Mháille is not mentioned in the Irish annals, so documentary evidence for her life comes mostly from English sources, especially the eighteen "Articles of Interrogatory", questions put to her in writing on behalf of Elizabeth I. In a letter of 1838 he describes her as being "most vividly remembered by tradition and people were living in the last generation who conversed with people who knew her personally". Because Rockfleet was over a week's march from Dublin, and as she was so often at sea, control by the Crown was very weak. Ireland Before You Die. On 18 April 1595 she petitioned Lord Burghley, complaining of the activities of troops and asking to hold her estate for Elizabeth I. They controlled most of what is now the barony of Murrisk[5] in south-west County Mayo and recognised as their nominal overlords the Mac William Íochtar branch of the Bourkes, who controlled much of what is now County Mayo. Gracie will be deeply mourned by her son John and daughter Ellen (O'Malley-Dunlop), daughter-in-law Elaine, and son-in-law Sandy. Upon his death, she inherited his large shipping and trading business. When they were approached, if they resisted they were fought with violence, ending in many occasions the skirmish with the death of some men. The daughter of a powerful Irish chieftain, she inherited both her mother’s lands and her father’s fleet even though she had a brother, Dónal—an extremely unusual accomplishment for a woman in this time.