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::''Not to be confused with the Flight of the Wild Geese.''
The 'Flight of the Earls' (Irish: ''Teitheadh na nIarlaí'') refers to the departure from Ireland in September 1607 of the Earl of Tyrone and the Earl of Tyrconnell. The Earls set sail from Rathmullan, a village on the shore of Lough Swilly in County Donegal, accompanied by ninety followers, many of them Ulster noblemen. Their destination was Spain, but they disembarked in France and proceeded overland to Italy. They planned to return to Ireland and oust English authority in a Spanish-supported military campaign, but both died in exile.
The Flight of the Earls was a watershed in Irish history, as the ancient Gaelic aristocracy of Ulster went in to permanent exile. Despite their attachment to the Gaelic system, the Earls had accepted their Earldoms from the English-run Kingdom of Ireland, under a policy known as ''surrender and re-grant''. But their flight was forced upon them by the Tudor re-conquest of Ireland, which cleared the way for the Plantation of Ulster.
After their defeat at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, and the suppression of their rebellion in Ulster in 1603, Tyrone and the Prince of Tyrconnell, Lord Tyrconnell's elder brother and predecessor, had been treated leniently by the victorious English government of Ireland under the leadership of the Lord Mountjoy. They retained their lands and titles, although with much diminished extent and authority.
On 10 September 1602 the Prince of Tyrconnell died, allegedly assassinated, in Spain, and his brother succeeded him as Chieftain of the O'Donnell clan. He was later granted the Earldom of Tyrconnell in exchange for his Irish title. In 1605 the new Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir Arthur Chichester, began to encroach on the freedoms of the two Earls. Fearing arrest, they chose to flee to the Continent, where they hoped to recruit an army for the invasion of Ireland with Spanish help. However, earlier in 1607 the Spanish fleet had been destroyed by the Dutch in the Battle of Gibraltar. Also as the Anglo–Spanish War (1585) had ended in 1604, King Philip III of Spain wanted to preserve the recent peace with England under its new Stuart dynasty. Tyrone ignored these realities, remained in Italy, and persisted with his invasion plan until his death in exile in 1616.
There is a permanent exhibition dedicated to the Flight of the Earls and the subsequent Plantation in Draperstown in Northern Ireland and at the "Flight of the Earls Centre" in the Martello Tower at Rathmullan.

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See also

External links

See also

★ Tudor re-conquest of Ireland

★ Contention of the bards

★ O'Cahan

★ Tadhg Ó Cianáin

★ "The Hunting of the Earl of Rone"

External links

★ Mural depicting flight of the Earls in Bruff Co. Limerick

★ 2007 - Donegal County Council/County Development Board - Yearlong Commemoration of Flight of the Earls (1607 - 2007)

★ The Flight Of The Earls - By Dr John McCavitt FRHistS

★ Information on the Flight of the Earls

★ Earls Heritage Centre, Rathmullan, County Donegal

★ BBC History article
Flight of the Earls Sterling Silver Coin launched in Donegal