Cheap The Great O'Neill: A Biography of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, 1550-1616 Discount Review Shop
This is a profound book full of fascinating historical data on one of the most complex characters of ancient Irish history. Much of what the author writes is of necessity speculation but he also has researched into the history of the O'Neills & the old gaelic Chieftain order. The result is a facinating drama from the pages of ancient Irish history presented in a most dramatic & colourful manner. Personally I believe here is a story that could transfer the world of cinema & rival & surpass Braveheart in its epic scale & mesmerising characters. There is firstly the young O'Neill born into the most eminent of all Irish families, suddenly orphaned & at risk from his own people. Forced to flee he is taken in by the English & raised to be their pawn. In time he grows to manhood, returns to his people & claims all that is his. At first he has the support of the English as they pit Irish against Irish but eventually he outgrows them & becomes instead the most dangerous foe the Elizabethan armies have ever encountered. He scores victory after vistory over the English, culminating with his destruction of their great army at The Battle of the Yellow Ford. Unfortunately for O'Neill English resources far outweigh his as he well knows & a single defeat will spell his ruin. This comes inevitably at the battle of Kinsale & then all are left to mourn not just the passing of the Ancient Gael & its great Lords but the entrenchment of the English in Ireland which resulted in such pleasures as the Penal Times, 1798, The Great Famine, the War of Independence & today's Troubles in Northern Ireland. All can be traced back to that single defeat at Kinsale. I rate this book as by far the most significant work that O'Faolain ever wrote & believe it should be compulsory for all Irish History students. One curious aside is the comparison between this period of Irish history & the Indian wars in the USA. Certain characters have an uncanny resemblance, Sitting Bull & Hugh O'Neill; Crazy Horse & Hugh O'Donnell; Mountjoy & Sherman(?). Also the desperate struggle to maintain an ancient way of life & the realisation on the part of the indigenous peoples that theirs was a hopeless battle & that eventually a single defeat would bring their end. Yet these people believed strongly enough in their culture to fight for it & as an Irishman I am proud that O'Neill & O'Donnell fought their great foes rather than going quietly into the night. A great book.
Available at Amazon
Cheap "The Great O'Neill: A Biography of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, 1550-1616" Discount Review Shop
"The Great O'Neill: A Biography of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, 1550-1616" Overview
Originally published in 1942, this is the story of Hugh O'Neill. Born in 1550, Hugh O'Neill lived in England from the age of nine as a protege of Queen Elizabeth I. He returned to Ireland as Baron Dungannon and was proclaimed Earl of tyrone in 1585, but when he went through the ancient ritual of becoming "The O'Neill", the chief of Tir Eoghain, in 1595, he had bthrown down the gauntlet to Tudor power. Elizabeth sent a succession of commanders to suppress the traitorous earl; the ensuing conflict, for which O'Neill combined forces with Red Hugh O'Donnell and other Gaelic chieftains, was the Nine Years War. The Battle of Kinsale, in which the Irish forces were defeated in 1601, marked the end of the possibility of a permanent victory for Gaelic Ireland. O'Neill subsequently travelled to Rome, where he lived in exile by the grace of the Pope and the King of Spain until his death in 1616.
Available at AmazonCheap "The Great O'Neill: A Biography of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, 1550-1616" Discount Review Shop
0 ความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น