![]() ![]() She killed Hugh’s murderer with her own sword, but her thirst for revenge was not slaked. From her castle she watched the MacMahons disembark from their boats, and then her own fleet swooped in to surround and overpower them. Granuaile was heartbroken, the warmth of her love turning to a cold fury that demanded vengeance.Īnother pilgrimage was due to take place, this time on the little island of Caher. Not long afterwards, Hugh went hunting deer on Achill and was killed by a member of the MacMahon clan. She took him home with the rest of the booty, and the two became lovers in her castle on Clare Island. He was Hugh de Lacey, son of a Wexford merchant, a handsome fellow at least a decade younger than Granuaile. A ship was foundering off Achill Head and a young man clung to the rocks. Her crew sailed hard into the wind across the narrow strait between the two islands. There was plunder to be had, and neither religious duty nor bad weather would stand between Granuaile and plunder! As Granuaile walked towards the well, a messenger stopped her with news of a shipwreck off Achill Island. Granuaile may have felt a connection to the formidable Saint Brigid, who had stood strong in her own time against the prejudices of men. The fact that they put aside their differences to unite behind one woman is testament to her abilities and charisma.įebruary 1st was Saint Brigid’s Day, a time of pilgrimage to the holy well on Clare Island. ![]() Granuaile’s crew came from multiple clans who were normally at war with one another. Predictably, Donal An Cogaigh died during one of his ongoing disputes.The young widow returned to the family home on Clare Island, which became a lucrative pirate base. They had two sons and a daughter together, but Donal was better at getting into fights than at ruling a clan territory, and Granuaile was the de facto chieftain during their marriage. Her parents arranged a useful political marriage between their teenage daughter and one of the Ferocious O’Flahertys, a pugnacious young man known as Donal An Cogaigh (“Donal of the Battles”). Ever practical, she’d shaved her head and snuck on board with the boys, and thereafter was known as Gráinne Mhaol (“Bald Gráinne”), or Granuaile. ![]() He told her that her long hair would get caught in the ship’s ropes. She had grown up on Clare Island, and as a child she’d asked her father to bring her on a journey to Spain with him. The English would call her Grace O’Malley. Her clan, the O’Malleys, controlled these waters their motto was “powerful by land and sea”. When she stood on its ramparts and looked eastwards, she could see the mainland ahead of her, Achill Island to her left, the holy island of Caher to her right, and the restless seas running between them. The castle on Clare Island had a perfect view. Óró Sé do Bheatha ‘Bhaile, by Padraig Pearse (1914) The Pirate Queen, Grace O’Malley by Tracy Feldman ![]()
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