Background
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth of England, the O'Byrne clan held sway in the territory of the Wicklow mountains south of Dublin covering about 153,000 acres (620 km2). The fastness of the Ranelagh O'Byrnes lay toward the south, at Ballinacor in Glenmalure, where they maintained a fort near to a ford with a bridge. The territory included the oak wood of Shillelagh, and part of Co. Wexford.
The clan was at times reckoned capable of fielding one hundred expert swordsmen and posed an ongoing threat to Tudor authority within the Pale through its raids on the lowlands. It also weighed in the balance of power between various factions and dynasties throughout the southern part of the province of Leinster.
The O'Byrne territory had been under the nominal authority of a sheriff, but in 1562 the task of bringing order to the border area was given to an English captain. So varied were the local allegiances, and so difficult did the territory prove to police, that little was achieved by the crown government and during the rest of the queen's reign (to 1603) the O'Byrnes proved adept at securing official pardons.
Read more about this topic: Fiach Mc Hugh O'Byrne
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