[Narrator] The O'Malley clan
ruled western Ireland
with a fierce stronghold
on both land and sea.
The chieftain's daughter,
Grace O'Malley,
was drawn to the ocean.
[Expert 1] Where
Grace O'Malley is concerned,
the sea is in her DNA.
[Narrator] Defying the
conventions of her era,
she rose to become a feared
captain and clan ruler,
dominating Irish waters
for 50 w*r-torn years
as an infamous pirate
and respected leader of men.
[Expert 2] She was a force
to be reckoned with.
[Expert 3] In a period of time
when women did not have power.
[Narrator]
Her battles took O'Malley
from the Highlands of Scotland
to the heat of Spain
and the court
of Queen Elizabeth I.
She carved her mark
on history and legend
and will forever be known
as Ireland's Pirate Queen.
♪
♪
[Tara Rider] 16th-century
Ireland is not a nation.
There is no sense
of Ireland as a whole.
You have all of these clans that
rule their small territories.
[Oliver Finnegan] This was
a very different system
to having a singular kingdom.
There was a lot of moving parts
in terms of the politics
of any given region.
[Narrator] An extensive domain
in western Ireland
and the waters beyond
has been claimed
by the O'Malleys.
[Anne Chambers] The O'Malley
clan are associated with the sea
even before
written history of Ireland.
In the old legends of Ireland,
if you mention an O'Malley,
it was always
to do with the sea.
One of the medieval poets
of the time called them
the lions of the green sea.
[Narrator] Dubhdara O'Malley
is the head of the clan
and a fearless sailor.
His fierce reputation,
strength, and resilience
earns him the nickname
Black Oak O'Malley.
[Chambers]
Being a maritime clan,
plundering and piracy
was part and parcel
of seafaring at that period
and, indeed, long before it.
The richest fishing grounds
in Ireland happened to be
off the west coast of Ireland,
which was O'Malley territory.
[Rider] So, they are
able to basically tax
those who want to sail
in their water.
They have enough power
that they go,
"This is our water.
You want to traverse it?
Please pay us."
[Connie Kelleher] One example,
for instance, is in 1553.
King Philip II of Spain
paid 1,000 pounds a year
for 21 years to ensure
that his Spanish fleets
could use the waters around the
coast of Ireland for fishing.
♪
♪
[Chambers] Grace O'Malley
was born around the year 1530,
and she was actually
the daughter
of the O'Malley chieftain.
[Narrator] The wild Irish sea
courses through
young Grace's blood,
and yet her desire for
the waves remains forbidden.
Boats are no place for girls,
a female presence on board
supposedly inviting bad luck
and worse weather.
To a superstitious clan,
O'Malley's place was at home
and not at sea
beside her father.
[Rider] And we have to
recognize by the age of seven,
a young girl would be starting
to take on the responsibilities
of becoming a female
in a society
that is very patriarchal.
Definitely, if she was older,
she would be starting
to think about, you know,
potentially getting married
and running her own house.
But Grace wanted to go to sea.
[Narrator] According to legend,
Grace is warned
that life at sea
is too dangerous for women,
her long hair a hazard
among sheets and sails.
She hacks it off in defiance,
earning herself a moniker--
Grace the Bald.
[Chambers] You have this young
girl whose father agrees
to take her to sea
to instruct her
as he didn't do his son
who lived nearby.
So, we have to look
and see why is this,
and we will have to come
to the conclusion
that the daughter
made the better seaman.
And you had to know
what you were doing.
It's a very, very
dangerous coastline
all along the west coast
of Ireland.
Still is today, still has
its many tragedies every year.
♪
[Narrator] Grace swiftly
proves her worth as a sailor,
absorbing everything
her father teaches.
Soon after, she joins him
on voyages of trade and piracy
in the Irish seas and beyond.
♪
[Rider] There's a lot of
really strong currents there,
which means they have very easy
access to go all the way down
to areas like Spain and France.
But it also allows them to go
along the northern part of
Ireland and trade with Scotland.
And we know that the O'Malleys
had gallowglasses.
[Narrator] Gallowglasses are
fierce Scottish mercenaries
employed by the Irish to fight
battles between clans.
These soldiers for hire
held no political interest
in the conflict,
engaging in warfare for money.
[Rider] Part of what allowed
the O'Malleys to be strong
was that they had not only
the access to these waterways,
but they had the knowledge
of these seas,
and that's part of what
makes them so very strong.
[Narrator] Grace O'Malley
is now a trusted sailor
in her father's fleet,
but she remains more valuable
to him in other ways.
Dubhdara informs his daughter
that she's to leave
the sea behind
and is soon to be married.
[Chambers] Her marriage would
have been arranged for her
and had to pay political,
social, and monetary gain
to both her family
and to her clan.
The O'Flahertys
and the O'Malleys
occasionally came to blows,
and it was really to try
and cover over this animosity
that had grown between
two neighboring tribes
that Grace O'Malley's marriage
was made with the son
of the chieftain
of the O'Flahertys.
[Narrator] Upholding
ancient tradition
and her father's wishes,
O'Malley marries
Donal O'Flaherty,
marking a fresh chapter as
she settles into family life.
♪
[Chambers] She had two sons with
Donal O'Flaherty and a daughter,
so she became a full-time mother
from about the age of 17
to around her early 20s.
But also, as the wife
of a chieftain,
she has to look after him.
[Narrator] Donal,
O'Malley's husband,
is doggedly ambitious
but also dangerously reckless.
Waging w*r
on neighboring clans,
he fosters ugly feuds
with powerful enemies.
Donal's miscalculated attacks
lead to distrust
in his decision-making,
placing his leadership at risk.
[Rider] The O'Flaherty men
start to recognize
that Grace is really
more the leader.
[Kelleher]
She very much capitalized
on that Celtic
religious approach
where women were equal to men.
[Narrator] Before long, Donal's
exploits catch up with him.
Overwhelmed and outmatched,
he's cut down by a rival clan
whilst fighting for ownership
of a fortress, c*ck's Castle,
leaving O'Malley a widow.
[Chambers] And when his body
was returned to Grace O'Malley,
she mourned her husband.
She buried her husband.
And this is where she goes
on her first act of revenge
because she takes his clan
and goes and takes back
the castle that he
had lost and died for.
[Narrator] O'Malley
destroys her enemies,
fighting in her
husband's memory.
c*ck's Castle is now hers,
and in honor of her victory,
is renamed Hen's Castle.
[Chambers] And it is the name
it still bears today
and is still visible today.
Very rarely do women
lead on the b*ttlefield,
and this is the first time we
see Grace O'Malley doing that.
♪
♪
[Narrator] Despite having
avenged her husband's death,
the O'Flaherty elders
refuse her and her three
fatherless children a home
or financial support,
leaving her empty-handed.
[Chambers] And she was
literally forced to come back
to her father's chieftaincy
in Clew Bay, in County Mayo.
[Narrator] Another death throws
Grace's future into question,
the passing
of her father, Dubhdara,
leaving the O'Malley clan
leaderless.
Spotting a rare opportunity,
Grace seizes the mantle
of clan chief.
Long-standing tradition
dictates that only men
can become chieftains,
but Grace cares little
for such conventions
and nor do the men
who loyally flock to her side.
[Chambers] She's supposed
to have settled
on one of her father's castles
on the beautiful Clare Island.
And it is there that she set
herself up as a chieftain.
Whether they were attracted
to her by her possibilities
as a seafarer or her charisma,
men from other clans,
they agreed to come.
And over the years, she put
together an army of 200 men
who followed her
wherever she ordered.
This is where, I suppose,
the Pirate Queen
of the Grace O'Malley story
comes into play.
♪
She followed the business
that was in her DNA.
She started toll-taking
on the ships
that used the port of Galway,
so she made them pay tolls
for safe passage
through what she considered
O'Malley territory.
[Rider] Grace O'Malley is not
targeting treasure ships.
She's not bringing back gold
and silver and precious jewels.
She's targeting
small cargo ships.
It could be cloth,
potentially wine.
It could be various foodstuffs.
It doesn't matter whether you're
an English ship, a Spanish ship,
or even an Irish ship,
you are considered fair game
because it is
about family and clan.
[Chambers] There are many
references to her plundering.
For example, down in Thomond
in County Limerick,
she's found there.
She's also found up
in Donegal at this time,
taking cattle mainly
from the clans
who would have been
neighboring the sea,
all along the west coast
of Ireland.
And in Ireland at the time,
there was no such thing
as currency.
Everything was based on
the price of, literally, a cow.
So, to have as many cattle
in your possession,
that was your wealth,
and Grace O'Malley
admits herself to having
almost a thousand head
of cattle and horses.
♪
[Narrator] As Grace O'Malley
and her clan raid further
and increase in power,
frightening rumors of her
piracy reach English shores.
[Rider] The English have been
involved in Irish politics
since the 12th century.
But by the time we're getting
to the 16th century,
this is a period
of nation building
for countries like England
and Spain and France.
And England recognizes that
if they cannot control
Ireland as a whole,
that she would become a threat.
Spain could use it
as a jumping-off point,
a launching point
to attack the English.
And they are seeking
to bring Ireland
fully under English control.
And the challenge is there is no
one king of Ireland to capture.
You have all of these
different clan leaders.
[Narrator] Queen Elizabeth I
rules over England
in her father's shadow.
Henry VIII had established
a foothold in Dublin
as part of his campaign
to conquer Ireland.
Elizabeth needs to expand
her territories peacefully,
if possible,
but by force if necessary.
The English have control
over Dublin.
Now their gaze shifts west.
[Chambers]
The conquest of Ireland
now takes on a new urgency.
Henry VIII tried to seduce
the Gaelic chieftains
to adopt English law,
English custom,
and English titles.
Some of the bigger chieftains
actually did take on
English titles,
and in theory,
became English subjects.
The O'Malleys did not do that.
[Finnegan] In the context
of Grace O'Malley,
this meant that in the
world that she lived in
with the clan system, she could
hold a position of authority
and indeed be a ruler.
In a world
where English authority
was extended into Ireland,
it will be very tough for her
to hold a position of,
shall we say,
government authority,
or she would be subordinated
to an authority.
[Chambers] And it is during
these traumatic periods
for the latter half
of the 16th century
that Grace O'Malley has to
operate within that scenario.
[Narrator]
The English catch wind
of Grace O'Malley
and her clan
but are powerless
to stop her.
Not only does she bear
unrivaled knowledge
of the Irish Sea,
but there's a versatile fleet
of ships and seasoned sailors
at her disposal.
[Chambers] One entry
in the state paper
says there are no other galleys
in Ireland like these.
[Kelleher] On the tomb
of Grace O'Malley,
there's a representation
of a galley,
which looks like
a substantial vessel.
[Chambers] The galley was
an extraordinary vessel.
It had adapted over time
to the lateen sail,
the triangular sail,
which made it much more
versatile on the sea.
The old Viking square mast
could only sail with the wind,
whereas the galley,
with its lateen sail,
could maneuver
against contrary winds.
It also had a very shallow
draft, which meant that it could
come very close to the shore,
which for Grace O'Malley
and her trade
by sea was very, very important.
[Rider] Throughout the archives,
including in this period,
basically reference anything
from 3 to 20 galleys.
Even three would be
pretty significant.
20 would be a small navy
if we're thinking about it.
By having these galleys,
she has the ability
to really cover
a broad amount of territory.
She could travel potentially
all the way down to Spain.
She has the sail power
and the manpower to do this.
[Kelleher] At the same time,
she was looking beyond
her territorial waters
to gain greater control
and greater power.
[Narrator] As the English
slowly extend their control
from Dublin,
Grace O'Malley seeks
to expand her own domain
in western Ireland.
[Rider] This is
an interesting period
because this is when we see
the pragmatic side
of Grace O'Malley coming out.
She wants to claim
full control of Clew Bay.
At this point,
there is only one castle
that she does not control,
and it's at kind of
an important junction
within the waterways there,
and that's Rockfleet Castle.
[Chambers] Hidden away
with a fantastically sound
anchorage for her ships,
the owner of this castle is
called Richard-In-Iron Bourke.
He was quite a powerful
chieftain in Mayo at the time
and was next in line to succeed
to the overall chieftaincy
of all of Mayo.
[Rider] And so she makes
the very political,
pragmatic decision
of "Let's get married."
And so this was seen
as a meeting
of two very powerful leaders.
♪
[Narrator] Grace enters into
this marriage of convenience
with one ambition--
to take control
of Rockfleet Castle.
In Irish law, both husband
and wife have the legal right
to end their union
after one year.
[Rider] The stories go
that after a year and a day,
Grace O'Malley basically closed
the gates of Rockfleet Castle
and said, "I divorce thee,
but I'm keeping the castle."
And so this leads
to total control of Clew Bay.
[Narrator] Grace
places Bourke's shoes
outside the castle gate
in an accepted sign of divorce,
banishing her former husband
from his own castle.
♪
Grace O'Malley takes command
of Bourke's troops
to defend what is now
her domain.
This bloodless coup further
solidifies her control
of Ireland's western coast.
[Kelleher] She was playing
a really clever political game.
She was trying to expand
her area on the water
while also trying
to expand her connections
and her influence on land.
And it all was to the betterment
of her surviving
as a Gaelic ruler at a time
when the world around her
was changing.
[Narrator] Rival clans
and Queen Elizabeth I
are closing in
on O'Malley's territories,
forcing the Pirate Queen
to reunite
with her husband she abandoned,
to strengthen her clan.
Soon, O'Malley falls pregnant
with her fourth child.
[Rider] It is said that
she was out at sea pirating
when they got into a battle
with Algerian pirates.
[Narrator] Legends say
O'Malley gave birth
to her son Tibbot at sea,
only shortly before
their ship is besieged
by Algerian pirates,
the fearsome captain
drawing her weapon
and rushing the deck
in defense of her crew.
[Chambers] The pirates
were taken aback
by this disheveled appearance
and hearing the child
cry in the background
that they, for a moment,
were taken off their guard.
[Rider] So, she goes
onto the decks to rally them
and defeat these pirates.
This becomes a story of this
woman who just can do it all.
♪
It really demonstrates
why the English
are going to fear her so.
♪
[Narrator] The legend of Grace
O'Malley spreads like wildfire,
her reputation as a cunning
pirate and fierce warrior
earning her mentions
in official correspondence
between Queen Elizabeth
and her army in Dublin.
[Chambers] One dispatch says,
"The most notorious woman
in all the coasts of Ireland."
Another dispatch calls her
"A chief director of thieves
and murderers at sea."
Another calls her, "A nurse
to all rebellions in Ireland."
So, this identikit
of this strange woman
is being built up
at the Elizabethan court,
and it is amazing to read
all these descriptions about her
in the English state papers.
[Rider] By the 1570s, we're
seeing more and more pressure
being put on the English to not
just claim on a map Ireland,
but to fully have Ireland under
English law, English control.
[Narrator] Rather
than seizing land by force,
Queen Elizabeth plans
to offer titles to Irish chiefs
in exchange for their loyalty
under a policy labeled
surrender and regrant.
[Kelleher] Many of them handed
over their lands to the Crown
in agreement that they showed
fealty to Queen Elizabeth.
And in turn, by doing so,
they were allowed
to keep their lands.
[Narrator] O'Malley
and her husband
embrace surrender and regrant,
pledging their loyalty
to Queen Elizabeth
in order to become
Lord and Lady Bourke.
As a subject of the Crown
bound by English law,
Grace vows to end
her career of piracy.
Satisfied with her pledge
of allegiance,
the English return to Dublin,
trusting that this will be
the last they hear
of Grace O'Malley.
♪
[Finnegan] Not long
after she pledged herself
to the English administration,
she sailed immediately south
and started plundering lands
further down
the west coast of Ireland
in violation with her agreement,
so, in effect, she'd gone back
on her pledge almost right away.
[Narrator] In defiance
of the English law
designed to bind her,
O'Malley continues to plunder
ships and demand tolls.
[Kelleher] Again, we know
that she went across to Scotland
and raided places there
in her ships
and raided ships belonging
to the Scottish lords.
So, she did undertake,
I suppose,
direct acts of piracy.
[Finnegan] Grace O'Malley
really used coastal raiding
and intercepting shipping
as a form of warfare.
So, in other cases, if somebody
had double-crossed her
or if she felt the need to get
ahead of a political situation,
then she would raid towns.
So, she would move into
a region, go into that town,
plunder what they had
in the port and move on,
perhaps take hostages.
So, it had a political
purpose as well.
♪
[Rider] As we're getting
into the latter part
of the 16th century,
England is identifying
itself with this idea
of being an island nation.
And as an island nation,
they need to control
the seas around them.
Grace O'Malley is the figurehead
of all of the rebellions
that are going on.
It's just simply the successes
that her men and her vessels
are having in impacting
English trade,
English authority.
By getting rid of her,
the English would be able
to conquer and claim
leadership, authority,
and power in this area.
[Narrator] There is now
a target on O'Malley's back,
the English in hot pursuit
of the Pirate Queen.
A long, tireless search
by Elizabeth's men
leads to the eventual capture
of the clan leader.
[Kelleher] Those captured
with her were put to death,
so it was inevitable that
she, too, would have thought
that perhaps this is how she
was going to end her time.
[Narrator] Held in the gloomy
dungeons of Dublin Castle,
O'Malley awaits her fate.
[Chambers] Only the highest
political prisoners
were placed in Dublin Castle
by the English.
And Grace O'Malley was
considered one of these.
[Kelleher] There was
no real communications.
There was no way of finding out
what was happening
back home, as it were.
You know, you didn't have
a proper bed to sleep in.
These were harsh conditions,
they were
unforgiving conditions,
so it must have been
a horrendous time
for Grace O'Malley.
[Narrator] Meanwhile,
on the west coast of Ireland,
an uprising led by O'Malley's
husband, Lord Richard Bourke,
threatens the dominance
of the English in Clew Bay.
[Chambers] He has set up
a rebellion in Mayo
to hope to be able
to get her out.
[Narrator] Almost two years
of O'Malley's life
have been spent
in a prison cell.
But now her captors agree
to release the pirate
if she swears to return home
to Rockfleet Castle
and convince her husband
to stand down his aggression
against the English.
♪
[Narrator]
Over a decade has passed,
Ireland's landscape
dramatically altered
by an English Crown
insistent on tightening
its grip over the country.
And Lord Bourke dies,
making O'Malley a widow
for the second time.
It doesn't take long
for the Pirate Queen to rebel,
snatching back
her promise to the English
and taking to the open sea,
targeting any ship unfortunate
enough to sail nearby.
[Rider] She is taking on
an ever-growing myth
for the English
as instigating and inciting
the Irish in this area,
and potentially the fear
that one small area
would have a domino effect
and could then incite
others to rebel
against English authority.
[Narrator] The Crown appoints
Sir Richard Bingham
as the governor of Connacht.
A lifelong soldier
with a well-earned reputation
for cruelty,
he's determined to tame
the rebellious
Pirate Queen at last.
[Rider] He is very much
about bringing the Irish
under complete and utter control
by any means necessary.
[Chambers] Where
Grace O'Malley was concerned,
he took an instant
dislike to her,
and he set out to really
undermine her power.
[Rider] Very bluntly,
Bingham is not a fan
of the Irish to begin with,
so she becomes
the devil incarnate,
I guess we could almost say,
of what makes Ireland
so uncontrollable,
and so he is actively
going to target her.
[Narrator] Bingham's army
rampages across the countryside
in a scorched-earth campaign
designed to starve the Irish
rebels into submission.
His troops march
on the O'Malley stronghold
of Clew Bay.
♪
[Chambers] Now, Grace O'Malley
led three rebellions
against the very, very cruel
rule of Sir Richard Bingham.
And three times, he backed off.
However,
he got at Grace O'Malley
the way that one
would get at a mother,
and that was
by imprisoning her family.
He first had her eldest son,
Owen O'Flaherty, k*lled.
And Grace O'Malley talks,
as a mother,
how she counted 24 wounds on
the dead body of her eldest son.
Her second son
by Donal O'Flaherty
was called
Murrough-ne-Maor O'Flaherty,
and when he decided
to align with Bingham,
the vengeance of the mother
knew no stop.
She gets into her galleys,
attacks her son's castle,
and took some of his property
to teach that son a lesson
that he was not to side
with her enemy.
Bingham got to Grace O'Malley
through the third son,
Tibbot, born aboard
her ship at sea
and saved
from the Algerian pirates.
[Narrator] Tibbot is
arrested and imprisoned
on charges of treason.
♪
[Chambers] Grace O'Malley knows
that Tibbot's life is at stake.
Treason was punishable by death.
And this is really
what motivates her to try
and get directly
to Queen Elizabeth I.
For somebody
with a litany of misdeeds
registered against her
in the English court,
it was absolutely,
one would imagine, impossible,
but not to Grace O'Malley.
♪
[Narrator] Desperate
to save her son's life,
O'Malley attempts
the impossible,
requesting an audience
with the Queen of England.
Using her political
connections,
she sends a petition
to Elizabeth,
demanding the release
of her son Tibbot.
[Finnegan]
At the National Archives,
we have a petition issued
on behalf of Grace O'Malley
to Elizabeth I.
And in the petition,
she really outlines
and speaks to the difficulties
of being a ruler
in Ireland in that period
and really just how she's
had to advance her interests
just to stay afloat.
[Rider] Grace is creating
an image of a powerful woman
but also indicating her loyalty
to the Crown, while saying,
"I have also struggled because
of your English administrators.
They've not taken me seriously.
They've not given me my due,
even though
I'm a loyal subject."
♪
[Finnegan] I think
this is a very clever petition
in many ways because it's
being addressed to Elizabeth I,
who is somebody who probably
feels relatively similar,
that she's had to really
fight for her position,
she's had to really
advocate for herself
in a very politically
difficult climate,
particularly also
as a female ruler.
[Narrator] Queen Elizabeth
accepts O'Malley's request
and grants her
an invite to London.
[Chambers] So, Grace O'Malley,
a known pirate,
a known rebel at this stage,
had now a complete control
of her passage to England
because she had
her letter of introduction
to the English court.
♪
So, in June 1593,
to save the life of her son,
Grace O'Malley set out
on the most important voyage
of her long
and eventful career.
[Narrator] Queen Elizabeth
agrees to an audience
with O'Malley, meeting
the infamous pirate
and violent rebel
at Greenwich Palace,
these two formidable women,
who against all odds
have risen to become
rulers of their people.
Stories escape the palace
of tension building
as O'Malley refuses to bow
to a queen she sees
not as a representative of God
but as her equal.
[Rider] Grace O'Malley had taken
this trip from western Ireland
all the way to London.
She'd come up the Thames.
It's, it's cold, it's clammy.
She had a bit of a cold.
One of Elizabeth's courtiers
offered her a handkerchief,
and so she blew her nose
and then threw
the handkerchief into the fire.
All of the English were appalled
because from their viewpoint,
she had burnt
a valuable piece of cloth.
It indicates kind of
the, the social differences.
[Narrator]
The legends continue.
The queen's guards discover
a hidden dagger on O'Malley.
But Elizabeth accepts
the pirate's assurance
that the weapon is strictly
for self-protection.
Tensions subside as
the two leaders begin to talk.
[Chambers] Queen Elizabeth
was looked on
as the Queen of England,
the leader of her army.
She never led an army
in the field of battle.
She was looked on
as mistress of the oceans.
She never sailed further
downriver than Greenwich.
And here you had this woman
who had done all the things
that Elizabeth was
prohibited or unable to do.
And both women
were of a similar age.
They were in their 60s.
So, you had two
experienced elderly women
coming together
to exchange views
and one hoping
to get her son released.
♪
[Finnegan] What is perhaps
surprising is that the petition
seems to have been
completely successful.
I don't exactly think
it was common
for a ruler from County Mayo
to get on a ship
and sail to meet
the Queen of England herself,
much less be granted an audience
and get what she wanted.
♪
[Narrator] O'Malley secures
the release of her son
and confronts her old
adversary, Bingham.
But he refuses to believe
that this ill-famed Irish rebel
could be granted
such a favor from his queen.
[Rider] Richard Bingham
very much thinks
that the Queen
has been hoodwinked,
that she could not
possibly have fallen
for whatever lies
that Grace O'Malley had said.
And he actually refuses
to enforce it initially.
So, there's definitely a
questioning of authority there.
And the Crown very clearly
says, "This is our will,"
which, as far as he sees, means
that she is going to be able
to continue thieving
on the high seas.
[birds squawking]
♪
[Rider] It is definitely,
without a doubt, a victory
for Grace O'Malley.
And it's seen
as having basically
bypassed Richard Bingham,
which ultimately is not
going to make their relationship
any easier as you go forward.
[Chambers] Bingham took his
revenge out on Grace O'Malley,
and any time
her ship left shore,
he put on 20 English
soldiers on her ships,
so she couldn't really pursue
what she normally did,
a little bit of piracy
and plundering
as well as her trading.
That was prohibited by Bingham.
So, in a way, Bingham did get
some revenge on Grace O'Malley.
[Narrator] Bingham
continues to place troops
on Grace O'Malley's ships.
He also forces her men
to operate in service
of the English,
sometimes against
their own kinsmen.
Under constant supervision,
and unable to plunder or
take tolls from passing ships,
the O'Malley clan is forced
to retreat inland.
[Rider] Ireland is not the world
that Grace O'Malley
had been born into.
It is coming more completely
under the authority
of the English Crown.
And it is no longer being done
through a peaceful process
such as surrender and regrant.
We're seeing
the English military might
being brought to Ireland,
and so the force
of English authority
is very much at the end
of a sword at this point.
[Chambers] So, the only thing
that mattered to Grace O'Malley
was to be able to survive
within this new structure
that was being forced upon them.
[Narrator] O'Malley can
only see one way out--
to save her family
from the tyrannical campaign
of the English,
she must give up her fight,
handing over control
of her army to Tibbot,
and agreeing
to hold County Mayo
in the name of the Crown.
[Rider] Grace O'Malley
is a survivor,
and that's
an important element here.
She has survived all
of the changing politics
up until this point.
And we see this coming into play
at the Battle of Kinsale,
which is seen
as the last great battle
between Gaelic leadership
and English leadership
in the question of,
will they be able to overthrow
English authority?
[Chambers] Now, two chieftains
in Ulster at the time
decided to put behind them
centuries of intertribal warfare
between both their families
to try and unite
all the clans of Ireland.
[Narrator] 1601.
The English seize control
of vast swathes of Ireland,
and at the Battle of Kinsale,
the remaining clans unite
against their common enemy
in what would be the last stand
for Gaelic Ireland.
Grace O'Malley
dispatches Tibbot
and their armies
to join the battle.
The Gaelic chieftains hope
the O'Malleys will
arrive as allies,
to fight alongside
their countrymen,
against the crushing might
of the English army.
[Rider] Tibbot brings
the O'Malleys to it,
and the stories go
that he stood on the hill
and he kind of watched
the battle and went,
"Which way is it going to go?"
♪
All of the Gaelic lords
are excited,
the O'Malleys have come.
They will help turn the tide,
except he comes in on the side
of the English army.
♪
[Chambers] And with 3,000
other royalist Irish,
he decided to fight
on the side of the English
in order to preserve his own
patrimony and his own future.
♪
♪
[Narrator] These are the final
years of Grace O'Malley,
her long career as a ruthless
pirate now a distant memory,
her once-ferocious reputation
no longer deemed a threat
to the English.
[Chambers] The Gaelic world,
it petered out,
so Grace O'Malley did.
And I think it's right that we
really don't know how she died.
It is said she is buried
on Clare Island,
and indeed there's
a lovely tomb there
that is said to be
her final resting place.
[Narrator] 1603.
Queen Elizabeth dies.
And in the same year,
so does Grace O'Malley.
After a reign lasting
nearly half a century,
she leaves in her wake
a clan every bit
as resilient as she was,
enduring the pounding onslaught
of the English empire
and, against a sea of trouble,
always finding ways to prosper.
[Chambers] All of the seafaring
and all of the piracy
and toll-taking died
with Grace O'Malley.
[Rider] If you look
at the English archival records,
she is going to continue
to be mentioned
for almost 25 more years.
English administrators
are basically saying,
if it wasn't for Grace O'Malley,
western Ireland would
have been less problematic.
[Kelleher] Her career
spanned at least 40 years.
In the golden age
of the Caribbean,
18 months was looked upon as a
successful career for a pirate.
Grace O'Malley died in old age,
still as a ruler,
so she was extremely
successful as a leader,
as a pirate, as a Gaelic lord.
In a way, she carried out,
to the letter,
the motto of the O'Malley clan,
which is "maintenance
by land and by sea."
[Rider] She goes from simply
being a historical figure
to being part of living memory.
And she becomes a symbol of hope
and ultimately of survival.
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01x02 - The Tale of Grace O'Malley
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From legendary John Ward, immortalized in fiction as Jack Sparrow, and English explorer Francis Drake; branded Pirates by their enemies but heroes by their comrades, to the notorious Pirates of the Caribbean shrouded in myth.
From legendary John Ward, immortalized in fiction as Jack Sparrow, and English explorer Francis Drake; branded Pirates by their enemies but heroes by their comrades, to the notorious Pirates of the Caribbean shrouded in myth.