Early Career
In 1569 the Ranelagh O'Byrnes, under the leadership of Fiach's father, Hugh, had given help to the rebels during the Desmond Rebellions. Fiach (in Irish, the raven) assisted the escape of the imprisoned Edmund Butler, when the latter fell from a rope while climbing from the battlements of Dublin Castle. Thereafter he proved wily and skillful, and ultimately betrayed an ambition to undermine Tudor authority in Ireland.
In 1572, Fiach was charged with complicity in the murder of Robert Browne of Mulcranan, son-in-law of the seneschal of County Wexford, Sir Nicholas White. The crown commander in Wicklow led a punitive expedition from Newcastle near Bray, seizing a mountain man and forcing him at peril of his life to lead the crown troops into the heart of O'Byrne territory. Sixteen villages were burned and hundreds were slaughtered. Fiach escaped with the loss of two sisters and two foster brothers and in retaliation led 400 followers in raids on villages in Wexford, managing to retire to Glenmalure after evading the seneschal's forces. But in August he surrendered custody of the original murderer in return for a pardon and a fine of 20 marks.
Under the government of Sir Henry Sidney, O'Byrne gave support to his own brother-in-law, Rory Oge O'More, the pretender to the lordship of Leix, who broke out in rebellion in 1577. In a bloody fight with Sir John Harrington, many of O'More's household were killed, including O'Byrne's sister, who was spared by the crown forces. After the death of O'More, O'Byrne took in the rebel's son for training at Ballinacor, which by that time had become a martial academy.
O'Byrne was in correspondence with Gerald FitzGerald, 15th Earl of Desmond and never lost touch with Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare, for whom he did a great favour by hanging an important witness when Kildare was under government investigation. The O'Byrnes continued with their cattle raids, until Fiach made his submission in early 1579 at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, where he gave pledges of allegiance and acknowledged the authority of the crown government. This sequence of raids and pardons continued for some time.
Read more about this topic: Fiach Mc Hugh O'Byrne
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