Siege At Rosclogher
In November 1588 Cuellar moved on to the territory of the MacClancy with 8 other Spaniards, staying at one of the lord's castles - probably at Rosclogher on the south of Loch Melvin. News arrived that the English had sent 1,700 troops to MacClancy's country: in response, the lord opted to take to the mountains, while the Spaniards resolved to defend the castle. They had 18 firearms - muskets and arquebuses - and considered the castle impregnable because of its location in bogland, which precluded the use of artillery.
The English arrived under the command of the brother of Richard Bingham, governor of Connacht, and the siege lasted 17 days. During that time they were unable to cross the boggy terrain and, as Cuellar relates, having had their offer of safe passage to Spain turned down, they hanged two Spaniards in full view of the castle so as to terrorise the defenders. A storm closed in with heavy snow, and the English were forced to raise the siege and march off.
MacClancy returned and bestowed gifts on the defenders, including an offer to Cuellar of the hand of his daughter in marriage, which was declined. Against the chieftain's advice, the Spaniards secretly departed his country ten days before Christmas, bound for the north. They sought out the bishop of Derry, Redmond O'Gallagher, and found he had twelve other Spaniards in his care, whom he intended to assist in a crossing to Scotland.
Read more about this topic: Francisco De Cuellar
Famous quotes containing the word siege:
“One likes people much better when they’re battered down by a prodigious siege of misfortune than when they triumph.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)