Tea at Trianon: Grace O'Malley the Pirate Queen

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, December 6, 2021

Grace O'Malley the Pirate Queen

From Mayo Ireland:

In the early 14th century the Clan O’Malley, a great seafaring family, rose to their power. They ruled the southern shore of Clew Bay and the most of barony of Murrisk for over 300 years. They were ruthless pirates and terrorised the ships to and from Galway town, taxing all those who fished off their coasts. They traded with some coastal areas of France and Spain and built a row of castles facing the sea to protect their territory.

Their coat of arm bore the Latin Motto “Terra Marique Putens” (Valiant by sea and land). The most famous O’Malley was Grainne or Grace O’Malley. She was born around 1530 at Belcare Castle near Westport. She was the only daughter of Eoghan Dubhdara (Black Oak) O’Malley and Margaret or Maeve Ní Mháille. She is commonly known by her Irish nickname Granuaile or Gráinne ni Mhaille, a name reputed to come from the Irish for bald (Mhaol). According to legend Grannie, as a young girl, wanted to join her father on the sea and travel with him to Spain. Her mother disagreed saying she was a girl and not a sailor. Grainne shaved off her hair to disguise herself as a boy. Her father gave in and so Grainne got on board and became Grainne Mhaol.

As a child she lived at her family’s castles of Belclare Castle and Clare Island. She was educated and it is said she spoke Latin. She was born to be galley captain, sea trader, sea raider, virago, diplomat and a great leader. She had a force of character that comes only once in a century. When her father died she inherited his large shipping and ‘trading business’ and became Queen of Umaill, chieftain of the Ó Máille clan. (Read more.)