Spanish Irish relations in the sixteenth century
Introduction - Overview
To give some historical perspective to the battle / siege at Kinsale in 1601, it should be pointed out that the English pretty well controlled Ireland at that time. Author Paul State explains that Queen Elizabeth had attempted to put a stranglehold on Ireland going back ten years. Indeed by the 1590s, England had succeeded in "subduing Ireland, with one outstanding exception," and that was the heartland – the province of Ulster (State, 2009, p. 104). Ulster remained Gaelic in its culture and government, and the most powerful families in Ulster were the O'Neill family and the O'Donnell family, allies to be sure and in the eyes of the English they were a huge threat.
Queen Elizabeth worried about the Ulster "lords" (i.e., O'Neill and O'Donnell) breaching English security in the rest of the country. On page 105 State explains that by 1595 Hugh O'Neill had rallied other rebel forces from around Ireland, believing that "…in the end, only by expelling the English from the entire island could he make his title secure." Hence, attacking the English with "musketmen, cavalrymen, and pikemen in imitation of the English," along with "gallowglasses from Scotland" (gallowglasses were mercenary warriors), O'Neill ambushed and harassed the columns of English soldiers (State, 105).
San Francisco State University iLearn course materials and resources
I found the work of Saul Williams, K'Naan Warsame, and Margaret Cho to be transformative art. I focused on these three artists because they are all multi-talented, politically conscious artists with a cause. Their work is inspiration and powerful; a true testament to the power of art to move people and change the world.