The Untold Story of Gráinne Ní Mháille,
The Untameable Wild Women of Clew Bay, Ireland’s Legendary Pirate Queen
Grace O’Malley’s story is one of the lesser-known yet most impressive in history. I only became aware of her after reading Morgan Llywelyn’s wonderful book, Grania, which is a blend of fiction and nonfiction, incorporating many of the stories about Grace.
During her time, the church and leaders didn’t write about strong, independent women, so local Irish songs and folklore kept Grace’s memory alive until recently when historians, such as Anne Chambers, compiled all the stories into a biography. Her incredible life and achievements are now more widely known and recognized.
Grace was ahead of her time; her adventures are too numerous to detail in a single blog post. In summary, she was born around 1530 to a local Chieftain of the O’Malley clan and took over leadership after his death. She married twice, both times earning her more wealth and influence. She had sons and a daughter from her first marriage and one son from her second. For her second marriage, she agreed to a trial year, then changed the locks, thus locking her husband out of his own castle. Nevertheless, they stayed on good terms and partnered in many exploits until his death. She had her own clan and crew, and many of her first husband’s followers joined hers after he died. This was during a time when England was busy conquering Ireland, and Grace proved to be a thorn in their side, with a lifelong feud with the local governor Richard Bingham.
Grace was simply epic, and it’s hard to imagine a braver woman. She survived years in prison, countless battles, and the full wrath of Richard Bingham and his forces against her, her family, and her region, yet she prevailed for many years. She even sailed to London for an audience with Queen Elizabeth I.
In her 2006 biography of O’Malley, Irish historian and novelist Anne Chambers described her as:
a fearless leader, by land and by sea, a political pragmatist and politician, a ruthless plunderer, a mercenary, a rebel, a shrewd and able negotiator, the protective matriarch of her family and tribe, a genuine inheritor of the Mother Goddess and Warrior Queen attributes of her remote ancestors. Above all else, she emerges as a woman who broke the mould and thereby played a unique role in history.
It’s no wonder that Grace inspired a wealth of ballads and stories that continue to inspire those who
follow in her wake. Fireside, The Irish Storytelling Podcast, has done a couple of episodes on some of her tales, and her biography is well worth a read. Few women have had as adventurous a life as Grace O’Malley, so full of endless adventures, battles, victories and losses, and yet managed to survive and thrive amidst it all.
Her legend should live on, even though her story was omitted from traditional history books, it deserves to be told. It continues to inspire those of us who aspire to live life on our own terms rather than those set upon us by others.
Learn More:
Grace O’Malley Biography, By Anne Chambers
Fireside: Irish Story Telling Podcast
