THE FALL OF
THE GAEL

Bedeviled by stormy weather the Spanish Armada delays departure while Hugh O’Neill and Red Hugh O’Donnell maintain their struggle against the forces of the Crown.

In London, Elizabeth’s grip on her throne is threatened by rumours of discontent and the impatience of those who have ambition to succeed her. The disgraced Earl of Essex and King James of Scotland plan a London uprising against Queen Elizabeth. Meanwhile in Ireland, the Crown forces are led by a new commander, Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, a friend of Essex. Under Mountjoy’s direction the English army adopts a new strategy to advance upon Hugh O’Neill’s forces from the North. Hard pressed, Hugh O’Neill again asks Pope Clement to excommunicate any Irish Catholics who refuse to join the Confederate Alliance.

Then, a Spanish force finally makes a landing, not in the north where the Gaelic armies are concentrated, but in the south of Ireland in the walled Town of Kinsale. The Spanish settle down to await the arrival of their Gaelic allies.

Lord Mountjoy leads the English forces to besiege the Spanish by inserting himself between the town and the expected line of approach of the distant Gaelic armies.

Hugh O’Neill and Red Hugh O’Donnell and the Gaelic and Norman members of the Irish Confederate Alliance hold a council of war to discuss what they should do.