A Gambler's chance

Setting up camp at Ballyshannon Fitzwilliam sought to exert his authority over the area. He had now entered the trouble zone where most of the Armada survivors had been sheltered during the previous weeks. MacClancy and O’Rourke strongholds lay south of the river while to the north the MacSweeneys occupied Killybegs and west Donegal. Fugitive Spaniards were finding shelter across Donegal and with Turlough O’Neill at Strabane. Further north in Derry the O’Cahan’s were providing help to Spaniards from their strongholds at Dungiven and Castleroe, near Coleraine, while on the Antrim coast the MacDonnells were defying the authorities as they sheltered many survivors.

There was a strong O’Donnell castle here commanding an important ford on the river Erne at the point where it entered the sea. Presumably Fitzwilliam based himself within this castle while he sought to bring the local chieftains to account. During the recent crisis English spies had found great difficulty passing through this area as they tried to get reports through to Bingham and the English authorities at Sligo about the activities of the Spaniards and those aiding them. The MacClancy’s blockaded the coastal route preventing messages getting through to Sligo with the result that rumours spread like wildfire through that town creating panic amongst the forces stationed there. At one stage in the middle of October the sheriff of Sligo believed the Spaniards and their supporters were on the march advancing towards Sligo. His appeals to Dublin and Athlone for aid rang with a note of hysteria. Ballymote had already been attacked by a combination of local rebels. A march on Sligo by the Spaniards would have resulted in a general rising of the clans of the northwest. If this had happened the Sheriff was ill-equipped to confront such a force. The Spaniards never left Killybegs and so the crisis passed. The Spaniards sailed away to their deaths at Lacada point near the Giants causeway allowing Fitzwilliam and the authorities to advance and reassert their authority over the region

When Owen MacTool O’Gallagher was summoned to Ballyshannon Fitzwilliam would already have known that MacClancy and his contingent of Spaniards lay nearby. Naturally he wanted to dispose of those Spaniards, recover any treasure that MacClancy may have acquired from the wrecks at Streedaagh and bring the wayward chieftain to heel for his actions. O’Gallagher would be able to guide his men to Lough Melvin to confront this rebellious chief. O’Gallagher was seen as a loyal chieftain. He doesn’t appear to have been active during the Armada crisis yet he was about to suffer as Fitzwilliam stamped his authority on the region. It was a time of acute danger for everybody in the area but particularly at Rosclogher. Five miles away as Fitzwilliam’s soldiers set out to march on Lough Melvin.

At Rosclogher De Cuellar and the eight other Spaniards discussed their options. They could flee to the mountains with MacClancy and his people or they could stay in the castle and make a stand. ‘I told them that they were aware of all our past misfortunes and of the approaching one, and that, to avoid more, it was better to make an end of it honourably, once and for all. And since we had a good chance of doing so, there was no point in waiting any longer, or in fleeing naked and barefoot through mountains and woods in such bitterly cold weather. As the savage was so upset about abandoning his castle, I argued that all nine of us Spaniards should get inside it and defend it to the death.’ One of the advantages the Spaniards would hold by remaining in the castle was that it would be particularly difficult for any attacking force to storm the stronghold. The castle was surrounded by water. It had been built on the foundations of an old crannog 150m from the southern shore of Lough Melvin. The northern shore lay more than four hundred metres away while the lake stretched for five miles to the east and a mile or so to the west. South of the lake the Dartry mountains, to which MacClancy and his people had fled, cut off all approaches from that direction while the land to the west formed a deep impenetrable marsh making an attack from the coast extremely difficult.

‘Having weighed all this up, we decided to tell the savage that we wanted to hold his castle and defend it to the death; and that he should with all dispatch lay in provisions for six months and some arms. So thrilled was the chieftain and to see our courage that he wasn’t long in making all the provisions with the cooperation of the principal men of his town, and everyone was pleased about it. But to be sure that we wouldn’t deceive him he made us take an oath that we wouldn’t abandon his castle, nor hand it over to the enemy as a result of any pact or agreement, even though we were dying of hunger, nor open the gates to let in any Irishman, Spaniard, or anyone else until he himself returned, as he fully intended to do. So, after the necessary preparations, we went inside the castle with all the ornaments and trappings from the church and a few relics that were there, and we put three or four boatloads of stones inside, and six muskets, six arquebusses and other arms. Then the chieftain embraced us and withdrew to the mountains where all his people had already gone; and he immediately spread word around the country that MacClancy’s castle was ready to be defended and not to be surrendered to the enemy,’

Did Fitzwilliam hear such defiant boasts? Did O’Gallagher inform him of the difficulty of taking the castle? Regardless of these boasts within days The Lord Deputy’s men appeared on the north shore of the lake. De Cuellar describes how they ‘came to a halt a mile and a half from it, unable to get closer because of that stretch of water between us. And from there he tried to frighten us, hanging two Spaniards and inflicting further harm to intimidate us. Using a trumpeter, he asked us several times to let him have the castle, for which he would spare our lives and grant us passage to Spain. We replied that he should come closer to the keep because we couldn’t understand him, always showing that we paid little heed to his threats and words.’

From Fitzwilliam’s point of view it was important to take Rosclogher. MacClancy was a noted belligerent, regarded as a right hand man to Brian O’Rouke who, if he revolted, had the capability of putting up to 1,000 men in the field. Rosclogher was the first location to offer open defiance to the Lord Deputy. It was a pretty audacious act and one the Lord Deputy would have felt honour bound to suppress. He could not allow such open defiance to his authority. He woud have to take the castle and make an example of MacClancy. He had already swept through the lands of the O’Hartes along the coast north of Sligo. These had offered no resisitance but they had none of the defences encountered at Rosclogher. Castles at Ardtarmon, Lissadell and Grange would have been searched for fugitives and Armada loot. Anyone who hadn’t managed to flee to the mountains before the arrival of Fitzwilliam’s force would have found themselves in great danger. A number of O’Harte men were imprisoned and spent the winter locked up. They were interrogated and tortured by the Sheriff of Sligo in an effort to force them to reveal the location of Armada treasures. De Cuellar himself alludes to reports that chieftains who’d sheltered Spaniards had been apprehended. ‘…he seized three or four savage chieftains who had castles where they had sheltered some Spaniards, took both parties prisoner, and marched them along the entire coastline until he came to the part where I was wrecked’. Two of these Spaniards had now been put to death in front of the defenders of Rosclogher castle as Fitzwilliam tried to intimidate De Cuellar’s men.

Despite the sight of the large force arrayed along the north shore De Cuellar was confident of holding out against the English. The Spaniards were well stocked with provisions and food. They had weapons and ammunition and, unlike the English force, they had warm shelter against the winter cold. Very quickly Fitzwilliam would have found himself in a quandry. He had no artillery, a necessity to batter the castle walls and, encamped on the north shore, the castle was out of musket range. There was a small boat available in which he sent a trumpeter across the lake to demand the surrender of the castle but this was totally inadequate as a means of assault. Fitzwilliam would have been in a much better position to take the castle had he established himself in MacClancy’s village on the southern shore of the lake but not knowing how get through the deep marshes surrounding the village the closest he could get to the castle was from the north shore.

The English attempts to take the castle soon became futile. The worst of the exchanges between the two camps were verbal. The Spaniards, confident in the strength of their position, taunted their opponents. Unable to mount an assault across the water they tried to besiege the Spaniards and starve them into submission. De Cuellar reckoned he had supplies enough to last a number of months. There were only nine men to feed in Rosclogher whereas the English had to find provisions enough over 1,500 men. Squads of men were normally detailed with duties to scour the countryside for provisions. Normally provisions would have been taken forcibly from local inhabitants. Herds of animals would have been rounded up and herded into camp while haggards would have been sought out for supplies of grain. Unfortunately for Owen O’Gallagher his haggards at Belleek were ransacked for provisions. For over two and a half weeks the English remained on the shores of Lough Melvin but then the weather intervened. Winter storms began to hit the area and, in an ironic reversal of fortune, the weather, which had been such a factor in destroying so many Armada vessels now came to the Spaniards rescue. ‘For seventeen days he had us besieged, but Our Lord deigned to come to our aid and deliver us from that enemy with severe gales and great blizzards which so swept down on us that he was compelled to raise the siege and march back with his army to Dublin, where his residence and garrisons were located. From there he sent us warning to keep out of his clutches and not to come within his power, threatening to return to that country when the weather improved.’

Fitzwilliam was forced to raise the siege of Rosclogher. His men retreated to Belleek where they consumed what remaining provisions were to be had. Failure to take Rosclogher was a setback for Fitzwilliam. Time and weather was against him otherwise he could have devoted more time to taking the stronghold. Rosclogher was merely a sidetrack on Fitzwilliam’s tour of the north. But it must have been extremely annoying for him to raise camp with the taunts of De Cuellar and his companions ringing in his ears. In response to a final warning from the departing English De Cuellar says ‘We answered him in a way which pleased both us and our castellan who, as soon as he got the news that the Englishman had withdrawn, came back to his town and castle, calmed down and relaxed now, and regaled us with all kinds of things.’ It was a great victory of sorts for the Spaniards, equally so for MacClancy whose castle and village remained intact

Fitzwilliam’s had been detained at Lough Melvin for the best part of three weeks. It was certainly the longest delay he would encounter in an otherwise whirlwind tour of the northwest. He had left Dublin on November 3rd and would return there on December 23rd having spent seven weeks on his circuit. He returned to Belleek with O’Gallagher. In subsequent reports of his progress he never mentions his attempt encounter with the Spaniards at Rosclogher. However he does allude to the fact that he was at Belleek with O’Gallagher. ‘…by courteous entreaty I had drawn thither to help the compounding of some good course for the well ordering of his country’. While he was at Ballyshannon he wrote to London to explain the difficulties he was experiencing in rounding up those Spaniards who remained in the area. ‘I am proceeded in my journey against the remain of Spaniards left straggling in the north parts of this realm, who I understand are in number 400 or 500 dispersed in poor estate into divers parts, and yet so favoured and succoured by the country people, as it will be hard to hunt them out, but with long time and great labour’. These were the only allusions Fitzwilliam makes to his confrontation with the fugitives. He certainly wasn’t going to admit to the Rosclogher episode where his men sat shivering on a lake shore for almost three weeks before retiring under a barrage to taunts and cat calls from a handful Spaniards. The rest of his report tells of a triumphant procession into Ulster where he dispenses the Queen’s justice, resolving disputes and enforcing his authority over the great lords of the O’Nells and the O’Donnells.

From Belleek Fitzwilliam compelled O’Gallagher to escort him to Hugh MacManus O’Donnell, Lord of Tirconnell, who was then at his principal castle in Donegal town. O’Gallagher, wary of Fitzwilliam, agreed to accompany him to Donegal but no further. Despite his loyalty O’Gallagher was not faring well out of this visit by the Lord Deputy. ‘Before the Deputy's departure out of Sir Owen's town, his haggard was all burned, and the town spoiled. Such was the reward that the old knight had for his services to her Highness’. At Donegal O’Donnell came out to greet Fitzwilliam. In spite of the earlier agreement O’Gallagher was not dismissed from The Lord Deputy’s side but instead was ordered to remain at Donegal. Fitzwilliam remained with O’Donnell for four days while he was attended by various chieftains of Tirconnell who made a show of loyalty. There remained the business of rents owed by O’Donnell. His rents had remained unpaid indefinitely despite the imprisonment of his son Aodh Rua in 1587 as a pledge against non-payment. The amount owed by O’Donnell was agreed and a date for payment was set. Owen O’Gallagher and Sir John O’Dogherty of Inishowen were then retained by the Lord Deputy as pledges for payment. O’Gallagher was imprisoned in Dublin alongside O’Donnell’s son and would remain so for six years. Harsh treatment for an innocent, and more particularly, loyal noble. Fitzwilliam moved onto Turlough Luineach O’Neill at Strabane and then Dungannon where he was entertained by Hugh O’Neill, the Earl of Tyrone before returning to Dublin via Newry on Dec 23rd. He happily to reported ‘The country standeth generally at this present in good and quiet terms and so continued during the journey, albeit at my going out it was doubted’. Contrary to his triumphant report of his proceedings Fitzwilliam had managed to exacerbate tensions in the northwest. He had been unable to round up any of the Spaniards in the region who remained at large. His treatment of senior figures in the north left a legacy of resentment and his only military action, the attempt to take MacClancy’s castle on Lough Melvin, had been an abject failure.

At Rosclogher Tadhg MacClancy made a joyous return from his mountain hideout. Given the stand that De Cuellar and his colleagues had made in the face of such a large force of English soldiers they must have been elevated to a heroic status in the eyes of their hosts. Having defended their homesteads and saved the village it appears they showered the Spaniards with gifts. ‘He solemnly confirmed us as very loyal friends, offering us whatever was his for our use, as did the principal men of his territory. To me he gave a sister of his so that I should marry her. I thanked him very much for the offer, but said I’d be happy enough with a guide to direct me to some place where I might find a boat to take me to Scotland’. How quickly fortunes change. It is said that fortune favours the brave but De Cuellar probably wasn’t expecting this sort reward when he aimed his musket in the direction of the English soldiers. Given all of his stated admiration for the beauty of Irish women the moment of truth had arrived. Facing the prospect of marriage with a local noble lady he promptly asked for a boat to get him out of the country!!