No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
XV. Why Aguila Landed at Kinsale
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2016
Extract
One of the grounds on which standard histories of Ireland find fault with the Spanish expedition which Don Juan del Aguila led into Kinsale in 1601 is that it came to the wrong place. If, our authorities say, the expedition had come to Munster a year or two earlier, before the insurrection had been crushed there, it might have stood some chance; but now it ought to have come to some northern or western port where O’Neill and O’Donnell could readily have joined forces with it, and not to a port ‘in a province already subdued and all the length of Ireland from the northern chiefs’ (Curtis). The Spaniards in 1601 ‘had come at the wrong time and in the wrong place’ (Hayden and Moonan).
This judgement, in the form stated by D’Alton, is canonised by Hayden and Moonan and by Curtis, who both merely summarise D’Alton. Underlying this view, it will be noted, is the assumption that Aguila, had he so desired, might have landed elsewhere on the Irish coast. While accepting without challenge this assumption, some writers not unnaturally have wondered whether there might not be some hidden explanation for what at first sight appears to have been a ‘dreadful mistake’. Perhaps the Spaniards chose a southern port because their ulterior design was to launch an attack on England (O’Faolain’s suggestion); perhaps the journey to Ulster was considered too far, Ulster’s coasts too inhospitable (Falls). Father Jones, whose conclusions are otherwise tentative, has shown that the expedition (finally at least) did intend to go to Kinsale.
- Type
- Historical revision
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1963
References
1 D’Alton, E. A., History of Ireland (3rd ed., 1912), iii. 173 Google Scholar: ‘Under a capable leader such an army landed in Ulster might have done much, or if [sic] landed in Munster eighteen months earlier . . ., [but] when Daguilla landed at Kinsale, there was neither an Irish army nor an Irish leader in Munster to give him assistance ’. Cf.Hayden, and Moonan, , Short history, i. 262 Google Scholar; Curtis, , History (6th ed., 1950), p. 216 Google ScholarPubMed.
2 The phrase is Sean O’Faolain’s (The great O’Neill (1942), p. 245), who offers as variants ‘ calamitous choice ’ and ‘ incredibly unwise ’.
3 References are to O’Faolain, op. cit., p. 245; C. Falls, Mountjoy (1955), pp. 160-1; Jones, F.M., in Ir. Sword, ii. 29–32 (1954)Google Scholar.
4 To conduct the enquiry Lerma appointed a commission of three: the viceroy of Portugal (Moura, marqués de Castel Rodrigo), the governorof Galicia (Caracena) and Don Diego de Ibarra, councillor of war. (Thesecretary of war was Esteban de Ibarra). Their findings and the other documents from Simancas quoted are in the sections Guerra Antiguaor Estado. For some evaluation of Simancas material as a source for Irish history the reader may perhaps be referred to an article by the present writer in Studia Hibernica, no. 3 (1963).
5 Council of war to Brachero, Valladolid, 31 July 1601 (Archivo General de Simancas, Guerra Antigua 3144).
6 Early in 1601 Philip came to the decision to declare the infanta his claimant to the English throne. Philip to Ambassador Sessa, 24 Jan. 1601 (A.G.S., Estado 187).
7 Discourse by Cerda (1600) (A.G.S., Estado 185; abbreviated version Estado 840, f. 80).
8 Letters and memorials, dated July 26 to Sept. 10, from Philip and the council of war on the one hand to the viceroy of Portugal, Aguila, Brochera and Archbishop Oviedo on the other (Guerra Antigua 3144 and 3145. Cf. N.L.I., microfilm positives 94 and 95, and (Oviedo’s letters) Rep. Nov., i. 360-1, 366-7); Consulta by council of state, Valladolid, Aug. 4 (Estado 840, f. 276; Estado 961); Lerma to Ibarra, Valiid., Aug. 8 (Estado 187).
9 Cf.Silke, J., ‘The Irish appeal of 1593 to Spain’, in I.E.R., series 5, xcii (1959) p. 369 Google Scholar.
10 Memorial by Richard Owen, Madrid, 20 Nov. 1600 (Estado 840, f. 89; Cal. S.P. Spain, 1587-1603, pp. 673-4).
11 Junta of war to viceroy of Portugal, 31 July 1601 (Guerra Antigua 3145).
12 Brochera to Philip, July 26 (Guerra Antigua 3145); Moura tosame, same date; Same to Ibarra, same date (Guerra Antigua 3144). An explanation of why ‘ Obemdub ’, also called ‘ Odombuf ’ and ‘ Odemboy ’ (Abha Dhubh, or Abha Bhuí), is taken to be Teelin (or Killybegs) would take this discussion rather too far afield.
13 Junta of war’s commission, July 14 (Guerra Antigua 3144).
14 Schedules to Moura, to Aguila and to Brochero, Valladolid, July 31 (Guerra Antigua 3145).
15 Consulta by council of state, Vallid., Aug. 4 (Estado 840, f. 276; also Estado 961 and Estado 2511; cf. Ir. Sword, ii. 29-30 (1954));Lerma to Ibarra, Vallid., Aug. 8 (Estado 187).
16 Junta to Moura, Aug. 14 (Guerra Antigua 3144).
17 Memoranda by Aguila, Brachero and Oviedo, forwarded Aug. 18 by Moura to Philip (Guerra Antigua 3144, 3145; Rep. Nov., i. 360-1; 366-7).
18 Junta to Moura, Aug. 26 (Guerra Antigua 3144).
19 O’Donnell to Philip, Sligo, Aug. 26 (Guerra Antigua 587). It has not been realised that this letter gives the view of both O’Neill and O’Donnell. The latter forwarded Sandoval’s despatches from Sligo to Dungannon, and O’Neill replied by messenger.
20 The suggestion, sometimes made, that Aguila’s real intention was to land at Limerick or Galway rests on the reports received by Sir Geoffrey Fenton that such was the intention of the armada at leaving Lisbon. The reports made to Fenton were corroborated by a Galway merchant, Andrew Lynch, who testified that he had this information from one of the pilots of the admiral (Brochero). Very likely the Spanish command allowed this story to circulate among the fleet, in order to throw possible spies off the scent. Such devices were commonly resorted to. Fenton to Cecil, Dublin, 12 Oct. 1601 (O.S.) (Cal. S.P. Ire.,1601-3, p. 122); testimony of Lynch (ibid., p. 129).
21 Brochero to Esteban de Ibarra, Lisbon, 14 Apr. 1602 (Guerra Antigua 590); Oviedo’s answers to Diego de Ibarra, 6 Aug. 1602(Guerra Antigua 3144).
22 Consulta of 12 July 1603 (Guerra Antigua 3144).
23 Cf. letters and an account from López to the king and to Caracena, Ferrol, 22 Oct. 1601; Zubiaur to Caracena and to Moura, Ferrol, 22 and 23 Oct. 1601 (Guerra Antigua 3143, 3144, 3145; Epistolario del General Zubiaur, 1568-1605, ed. de Polentinos, Conde (C.S.I.C., Madrid, 1946), pp. 70-2)Google Scholar.
24 Consulta by council of war, Valladolid, 21 Oct. 1602 (Guerra Antigua 3143).