A BLOODY
CHESS
BOARD

Queen Elizabeth of England commences her reign as the unity of Christendom is increasingly torn by religious and dynastic strife – no more so than in her rebellious Kingdom of Ireland.

There, a foster parent fearing for the life of a young boy places him for safe-keeping in the hands of high-ranking Crown official. This child, Hugh O’Neill, is then brought to England by his guardian and brought up as a Puritan. Transformed into a young English gentleman by the age of eighteen years, Hugh is ordered to Ireland in the service of the Queen. There, he is to serve as a loyal counterweight to a ruthless uncle - Sean O’Neill - who seeks to rule Gaelic Ulster.

But in the south of Ireland, a long-simmering land dispute between two noblemen causes them to lead their private armies into a bloody battle. Elizabeth feels threatened by armed subjects who ignore the Queen’s justice to take the law into their own hands. She places one in the Tower of London and confiscates his holdings. Then, English Privateers from Cornwall and Devon find a way to advance a claim to the nobleman’s vast territory – a claim that is violently resisted by the Gaelic inhabitants and their Norman cousins.

The ensuing rebellion creates a chain of events that ultimately threaten the Gaelic and Elizabethan worlds and the future of the Reformation. Hugh O’Neill is made Baron of Dungannon and ordered to introduce English laws to his late father’s tiny Ulster barony in the heart of Tyrone. There, he is to introduce English laws to its Gaelic inhabitants. But Hugh discovers a savage world which answers only to the ancient laws and customs of the Gaels. There he encounters his murderous uncle - Sean O’Neill.

Hugh realizes that he is now a lowly pawn on what is soon to become a bloody chessboard where the nations of Christendom play a deadly game.