The Bay and harbour of Kinsale, is not a hidden sight but a very important site; for it’s here one of the most important battles in Irish history had its launching pad . Beginning on Christmas Eve (Some sources say the dates were mixed up - as there was a discrepancy over the calendars used, having the battle beginning in 1601 and other sources saying 1602!), it was the most decisive battle in the Nine Years War. The only defeat endured by the Ulster Chieftains, the Earl of Tyrone, Red Hugh O’Neill and the Earl of Tyrconnell, Red Hugh O’Donnell, the defeat resulted in a seminal event in Gaelic Ireland five years later, “The Flight of the Earls”, and hence the battle signalled the end of the Gaelic System and way of life! So the place could be described as the alma mater of the gaelic raison d'etre.
The circumstances of the battle are tinged with a number of ironies and what if’s, if only’s etc – something that has often been uttered and proclaimed at different junctures in Irish history, and would make one wonder, if history really does repeat itself! And also makes one pose the question: where is the veracity in that cliche: “The luck of the Irish”? For, the Spanish had already arrived there - since october - and were under siege (the place of landing was meant to be on the west coast, so even before it began, it was a bungled fiasco); consequentally, O’Neill and O’Donnell marched 300 miles, to rescue the beleagured Iberians (who were supposed to be the aid bringers!) – the stage was set for a military charade and if it wasn’t a real event, it would be portrayed as a tragi-comedy of immense and monumental proportions.
IRISH HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF AND THE REFRAIN OF WHAT IF!?
Of course during the 1798 rebellion, if Lord Edward Fitzgerald (with his intricate, three pronged military strategy of attack on Dublin), hadn’t been captured and mortally wounded before the rebellion, and if Wolfe Tone hadn’t been captured at Lough Swilly, the rebellion could have followed a different course, and indeed Irish history! And so the same thing can be said of the Battle of Kinsale; for the irony of the wrong place, the wrong time, the timing out of sync, was as glaring as a sun turned red, and the cruel fates that sprinkled their wares there, were as cruel as a vindictive tyrant roaming out of control! Fiasco was juxtaposed with a barrel of vile fortune.
Donal Mor O'Sullivan held out, waiting for more Spanish to come to regalvinise his defiance but ultimately the highlight or lowlight of the aftermath of the Battle of Kinsale, resulted in a legendary march called the March of O’Sullivan Beare in December 1602 - a gallant and heroic retreat amid the inclement and vicious winter of late '02 - from Cork up to Leitrim, after which only a mere 35 surivived out of the 1,000 that set out!
Kinsale - its coastline, the bay and the harbour but particularly the Bandon road - the actual battle site - is a place at which surely many spirits haunt, much like Culloden Moor in Scotland; for both locations saw the final curtain drawn on the Gaelic ways of life in each country. And moreover the place and battle site is a testimony to “THE BAD LUCK OF THE IRISH!”. Rather than just explore the touristy town, one needs to grasp this soul resonator of Ireland’s history - the site of the Battle of Kinsale.
“The day our kingdom died”
The winds changed like fickle Gods
and the seas rose up
like whipping rods
around the Bay of Kinsale;
the seagulls and swallows warmed
to the coming of the Gaels
the elements in strains
flickered for an eternity;
motion and time's warring trains
and the Clans fraternity
made shadows on the waves!
Alas! the seas were blighted
and troughs on the waves
no MORE Spanish ships were sighted!
Doomsday blazed in the sun
and the Munster sky strayed out
o'er the Kingdom of McCarthy
Armageddon's roots played out!
The two 'Red' Princes -
wind pacing to a halt -
their destiny locked in clinches:
O'Neill and O'Donnell
the twin maelstroms in twain
Tir Eoghain and Tir Connell!
Nature hung back
and clouds waited for the pall,
in dread of the battle's smoke
the clamour of the squall;
the two maelstroms held back
the fullness of their fall
infinitely waiting WAITING
for more Iberian ships
to answer the Gaels call!
Ah too late anchored the slips
too long the Princes did stall
and hence the Earls set sail
when the Gaelic life died at Kinsale!
* The above poem was written on the 400th anniversary of the Battle of Kinsale, January 2002.
