The Battle of Clontibret 1595

 

 
In 1595 Sir William Russell the English Lord Deputy in Dublin ordered a strong expedition to revictual the garrison at Monaghan.  As well as revictualing the fort the garrison was to be relieved and new troops placed there. It was also intended that the size of the expedition would intimidate the Irish.  Command was given to Sir Henry Bagenal.  The Crown went to considerable effort to ensure the expedition’s success nine new companies were raised in England and experienced soldiers were withdrawn from the Brittainy Garrison. 

Bagenal had 19 companies of foot, 14 of which were entirely English and 6 troops of horse. In theory each company was of 100 men but this was never the reality.  Mostly a company would muster 90 men or even less.  This would give us 1710 foot mainly armed with pike and musket or caliver.  The cavalry would be in the region of 290 Horse giving us 6 troops of 50 men slightly under strength. The English Army comprised around 2,000 men.

The five companies that included Irishmen would be experienced in theatre and in my opinion would have lightened the armour worn by their pike men and be more likely to be understrength. Otherwise they would function as the English companies.  It remains to us to divide the remaining 15 companies into the Brittainy companies and the new conscripts from England.  I think 9 newly raised companies went on the expedition leaving the remaining 6 to come from the Brittany Garrison.  

I have no concrete information about the composition of the English Horse but a mixture of Demi Lancers and Light Horse would be usual. Certainly Russell's troop would have been Demi Lancers.

Bagenal marched to Monaghan fort and revictualed it. On his way in he was beset by Irish skirmishers and as a consequence burned a great deal of powder.  This resulted in the fort garrison getting insufficient powder and shot.  He now had to get out.

The Lords of Ulster under the command of O’Neill were concentrating their forces and were far from intimidated.  We know that O’Donnell did not arrive in time for the Battle of Clontibret so we can discount his troops.  The Irish Army numbered under 3,000 men.  The composition as best as I can establish was 1,200 shot, 800 pike men, a minimum of 300 Horse and a strong force of Redshank Scots soldiers.  

The remainder are simply referred to as bonnacht so might be anything but Galloglaich axe men.  O'Neill's McDonnell Galloglaich weren't bonnacht. In return for their service they had their own lands, centred on Cnoc na Cluithe, .  They had been formed into four companies of Spanish trained pike men led by the following leading McDonnells, Gillespey, Rory and Randall Mac Owen and Donal Gruamdha Mac Emain.  Thus, they formed half of the Irish pike present at Clontibret.  I'd suggest that they continued to wear their panoply of helmet, aketon and mail shirt.

Look at Lorcan Ó Mearain's (of the Clogher Historical Society) excellent map at the foot of the page. Bagenal had to march along the Monaghan road heading for Ballymacowan and through the strait where Gallagh and Tonagh bogs met .  The English initially marched in a column of three divisions vanguard, main battle and rearward.  We do not know exactly how the column was ordered but some or all of the Horse led it.   

I’d suggest the Brittainy men came next, then the new companies and finally the old companies. One of the Brittainy Captains Thomas Maria Wingfield commanded at the rearward but I suspect this was because Bagenal had insufficient Captains and Wingfield knew his business. By the time they had passed the church they had formed into two batallia.

The Irish dispositions are clearer and can be followed on the map.  

The Scots under the command of Cormac Mac Baron and accompanied by some Irish shot initially attacked the English vanguard then moved to the Gallagh bog .  As the column advanced they gradually moved from the flank to the immediate rear of the column shooting  with their bows and calivers.

O’Neill with horse and shot first attacked the rearward then the other flank eventually moving onto Crossaghy Hill and ultimately taking station with horse, pike and shot blocking the strait where the Gallagh and Tonagh bogs met before the Ballymacowan road.

The Irish forces were moving in an anticlockwise fashion centred around the moving English column and always taking the advantage of ground. 

The column marched slowly in battle formation with two solid blocks of pike flanked by shot. It was continually attacked on both flanks with the Irish coming in to 30 paces range.   The Irish method was for shot and horse to advance in tandem.  Bagenal had to keep moving as the constant skirmishing meant his troops were running out of powder.  

When the head of the column reached the end of the strait a fire fight took place and the English ran out of powder.  They were confronted by Irish pike, shot and horse led by O’Neill who ordered a general advance. 

A very large Palesman named Seagrave saved the day for Bagenal by leading Russell’s troop of horse in a heroic charge at O’Neill himself.  Seagrave and O’Neill knocked each other to the ground where they continued to fight. The son of O'Cahan cut Seagrave’s arm off and O’Neill stabbed him in the groin.  Half of Russell’s troop died in the encounter.   Sir Robert Lane who was tasked with with interviewing the surviving English officers was told:
 

“But this incident stayed the charge that the rest of the rebel troops were want to have given, being content with the recovery of the Earl’s person, which ended that day’s work in very good time for our side”.

The Irish thought O’Neill might have been slain and their only concern was for his safety. They were subjected to an irresistible cultural and political imperative and immediately moved to protect him.   If he had died the inevitable succession dispute would have torn their army and their world apart.  Worse, it would have done so in the presence of a hostile English army.

In the resulting confusion the column made it out through the strait as one of them, Stafford, said "God be thanked we recovered the strait".  They presumably did so by simply avoiding the spot where O’Neill was recovering surrounded by his protective soldiers.

That was the Battle of Clontibret, it lasted for five hours or perhaps as Stafford thought eight.  The Irish seem to have lost 100 men killed and 300 wounded according to one of the O’Donnellan’s.  The English losses are harder to deduce as Secretary Sir Edward Fenton said it was not convenient to admit them. 

We can note that once secure in Newry many of the English who lay wounded were reported to be pike men shot through their armour.   

Significantly the English Army refused to face the Irish again demanding to be evacuated by sea.  Bagenal, no doubt embarrassed for he was a proud and brave man, said it was for want of powder and shot.  Sir John Norris, his senior commander and old in the wars, got to the truth of it when Lieutenant Perkins who fought at Clontibret told him “If they had had all the munition in Ireland, they would not have undertaken to come to Dundalk”.  The English soldiers were evacuated by sea.

O’Neill fined all his commanders present at the head of the strait at Clontibret 40 cows apiece.  By rushing to his aid, when he had already disposed of his attackers, they had compromised his honour (by letting the column escape) and had to pay his honour price for such affronts.  Gaelic Ireland was fiercely legalistic and the size of the payment 14 cumal (3 milch cows per cumal) from each offender confirms that O'Neill was recognised as King of the Province of Ulster.

The impressions of the Brittainy Captains gathered by Sir Robert Lane are of great interest.

“The Earl himself, besides his known valour, did show himself the day of the last fight a very skilfull commander, having divided both horse and foot into sundry troops, and every troop  of horse led by a troop of shot wherewith he would bring them within half a caliver shot of the main stand of our pikes, towards our horsemen which 250 were led by Sir Edward York could not advance 40 paces, but that they would have been over topped with double as many  and they flanked and fronted with loose shot and Scottish arrows… O’Neill had 1,000 shot as good as the world has.”

 “Sir Edward York did affirm to me for his own part that in no place whatsoever he had served in all his life he never saw readier or perfecter shot by estimation 2,000, nor a skirmish or rather fight for the space of 8 hours continually maintained, carried in better order than the last days fight was by the rebels divided into several troops of horse and foot, every troop of shot at the head of a troop of horse, the one never putting forth but seconded by the other, charging our two battles on each flank, holding our horse so short and our shot so close to our pikes.”

"In so much he told me upon his credit that the honourable retreat at Ghent which Sir John Norris won so great honour to our English nation  was neither for charges of fight continuance, nor order so maintained by the Prince of Parma as this was by the Earl of Tyrone from the first to the last.”

“They had many trained and experienced leaders as appeared by their manner of coming to the fight and their orderly carriage therein.”