Hugh O'Neill's Irish Rebellion

Hugh O'Neill lived in England in the 1560s. He served the government in the 1580s but in 1594 rebelled. Dissatisfied with the English government's persistent policy of playing the chiefs against one another, O'Neill was also angered by the English refusal to restore the lands granted to his grandfather. At last he formed an alliance with the other Irish chiefs and sought aid against Protestant England from Catholic Spain. He achieved something like unity among his allies and, after 1595, defeated some of Queen Elizabeth's best commanders in Ireland. O'Neill was defeated while attempting to join a Spanish force that arrived at Kinsale in 1601. His Irish allies dispersed, and O'Neill retreated to Ulster. In 1603, he made peace with the English, surrendering his tribal authority. King James I later pardoned him.