Battle of Affane
The Battle of Affane was fought in 1565 in County Waterford in south-eastern Ireland between the troops of the Fitzgeralds ( Earl of Desmond ) and the Butlers ( Earl of Ormonde ). The battle ended in the defeat of Desmond's troops. This was the last "privately led" (that is, without a royal mandate on either side) battle in Ireland.
origin
Munster province has been dominated by two families since the 13th century: the Fitzgeralds of Desmonds and the Butlers of Ormonde. The area of the Fitzgeralds lay in the south and southwest of Ireland, the area of Ormonde was centered around the city of Kilkenny. In the absence of a strong central government, the two dynasties found themselves in a spiral of violent rivalry. In the 1560s, this feud turned into a full blown war.
The widowed Comtess of Ormonde, mother of Sir Thomas Butler (10th Earl of Ormonde), married Gerald Fitzgerald (15th Earl of Desmond) with the ulterior motive of a reconciliation between the two Houses and it was thanks to her that the Battle of Bothermore (also known as The Battle That Was Not) ended peacefully. But her death in 1564 left a vacuum, whereupon the attacks began again on both sides.
As the dispute became stronger and weaker, Sir Maurice Fitzgerald - a citizen who lived in the borderland between the two territories but in the area controlled by Desmond - decided to accept an offer to protect Ormonde (one of his cousins). To get Fitzgerald back into his pangs, Desmond assembled his armies in January 1565 to move east. Ormonde, in turn, mobilized his troops to intercept Desmond's troops at the Affane ford across the Blackwater River .
The battle
Desmond's troops consisted of his relatives, allied Irish clans (e.g. the O'Connors and the O'Briens) and the troops of Sir Piers Butler of Cahir, a discontented subject of Ormonde. Ormonde's armed force was made up of the Butler Lords as well as Allied Gaelic and Old English subjects.
Desmond left the city of Lismore on the first line with 80-100 horsemen, 300-400 foot soldiers and hundreds of other followers. He reached the ford at the highest water level and demanded the presence of Fitzgerald - as it was regulated by the military regulations. Fitzgerald offered to settle the dispute through arbitration, but Desmond insisted on Sir Maurice Fitzgerald, and no agreement was reached.
Desmond then set up camp and Ormonde left the nearby hills with the troops of O'Kennedy, Gillapatrick and Burke towards the plain. Thereupon Desmond was urged by a resident citizen to attack, which, however, was based on the false information that Ormonde was not present; Lord Power, however, urged Desmond to retire to his house at Curraghmore and reschedule. But Desmond assumed that the opposing troops were weakened by Ormondes absence and decided to attack. He moved with his troops towards Dromana (in the parish of Affane) - the headquarters of the Fitzgeralds and planned to recruit more troops as support in Lismore on the way there.
At that time, Ormonde's troops had advanced close to the Affane ford - not far from Lismore Castle - when his men crossed the paths of Desmond's foot soldiers and the situation worsened. Ormonde caught sight of Desmond and haphazard gunfire developed. Ormonde withdrew into defensive formation, and his brother, Edmund Butler , hit Desmond in the right hip with a pistol, causing him to fall from his horse. With their wounded leader, his troops dispersed and were driven by Ormonde's men towards the river, where 300 of Desmond's soldiers died.
When Desmond, who had been captured, was being carried from the field on his shoulders, a commanding officer reportedly asked Ormondes jubilantly, "Where is the great Lord Desmond?" Thereupon Desmond allegedly replied with “Where he belongs. He's sitting on the butlers' necks! ”. Desmond was first taken to Clonmel and later to Waterford .
Consequences
Above all, the fact that both sides had presented their private banners during the battle was an affront to the English crown - this and the private battle as such was regarded as a symbolic rejection of English rule. Thereupon Elizabeth I ordered the leaders of both lordships to London to justify themselves. While Thomas Butler (3rd Earl of Ormonde), who was the Queen's cousin, was being pardoned, Gerald Fitzgerald and his brothers John and James were arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London . This power vacuum in Munster finally led to the 1st Desmond Rebellion in 1569 .
literature
- Cyril Falls: Elizabeth's Irish Wars. 1950; Reprinted London 1996. ISBN 0-09-477220-7 .
- Colm Lennon: Sixteenth Century Ireland - The Incomplete Conquest , Gill & Macmillan, Dublin 1994. ISBN 0-71-713947-6
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cyril Falls: Elizabeth's Irish Wars. 1950; Reprinted London 1996. ISBN 0-09-477220-7 , p. 102.