Sorley Boy MacDonnell - Ambition Achieved

Ambition Achieved

For some years the politics of eastern Ulster were maintained in a balance. But in 1584 the recently arrived lord deputy of Ireland, Sir John Perrot, led his army into the province in a determined effort to dislodge the Scots. Following an expedition to Scotland in search of reinforcements, Sorley Boy landed at Cushendun in January 1585 with a substantial army, but after initial successes he was driven back to Scotland, where he offered to accept the terms formerly put to him by Sidney; Perrot declined, whereupon Sorley Boy returned and regained possession of Dunluce Castle. Perrot reluctantly opened negotiations with Sorley Boy, who in the summer of 1586 repaired to Dublin and made submission to Elizabeth's representative. When shown the severed head of his son, which had been nailed above the gate of Dublin Castle, Sorley Boy gave the memorable response, "My son hath many heads".

Having made his submission, Sorley Boy at last obtained a grant to himself and his heirs of the greater part of the Route country, between the rivers Bann and Bush (an area then called the Boys), with certain other lands to the east, and was made constable of Dunluce Castle. A month beforehand, Sorley Boy's nephew had received a grant in similar terms of the greater part of the Glynns. At the same time, in the Treaty of Berwick (1586), a clause was inserted recognising the right of the Clan MacDonnell to remain in Ireland.

Sorley Boy gave no further trouble to the English government, although he did assist survivors of the Spanish Armada to escape Ireland in 1588 (see Girona). He died in 1590 at the very place of his birth, the Castle of Dunanynie, and was buried in the traditional place of the MacDonnells, Bonamargy Friary at Ballycastle.