Granuaile ~ Pirate Queen Of Connaught
Golden Years
The last official record of Gráinne dates to 1601, when the captain of an English warship reported a brief engagement with ‘a galley I met . . . she rowed with thirty oars and had on board . . . 100 good shot . . . This galley comes out of Connacht and belongs to Grace O’Malley’. Gráinne Ní Máille is believed to have died in 1603.
Behind the myths of Grace O’Malley, pirate queen, and Gráinne Mhaol, icon of Ireland, stands Gráinne Ní Máille, a proud and courageous woman, determined to ensure that she and her family received their rights. She earned and lost fortunes, each time rebuilding ‘by land and sea’. Her enemies were those who sought to impoverish her or her children. The ethnic origin of those enemies was immaterial. She used every method at her disposal and had no compunction about bending the truth, as her enemies had none about bending the law. She exploited the ignorance of English officials, and took what she could, when she could. Ultimately, Gráinne Ní Máille was a survivor who maintained the status of her family when the great earls had been forced into exile.
Behind the myths of Grace O’Malley, pirate queen, and Gráinne Mhaol, icon of Ireland, stands Gráinne Ní Máille, a proud and courageous woman, determined to ensure that she and her family received their rights. She earned and lost fortunes, each time rebuilding ‘by land and sea’. Her enemies were those who sought to impoverish her or her children. The ethnic origin of those enemies was immaterial. She used every method at her disposal and had no compunction about bending the truth, as her enemies had none about bending the law. She exploited the ignorance of English officials, and took what she could, when she could. Ultimately, Gráinne Ní Máille was a survivor who maintained the status of her family when the great earls had been forced into exile.
Granuaile's Castle on Clare Island
Sunday Miscellany on RTÉ Radio One
Anne Chambers discuss' the formidable warrior and pirate Granuaile on RTÉ's Radio One