Grace O’Malley, The 16th Century Pirate Queen of Ireland

Grace O’Malley was Queen of Umaill, chieftain of the O Maille clan, a rebel, seafarer, and fearless leader who challenged the turbulent politics of 16th century England and Ireland. While Irish legends have immortalized Grace as a courageous woman who overcame boundaries of gender imbalance and bias to fight for the independence of Ireland and protect it against the English crown; to the English, she was considered a brutal and thieving pirate, who controlled the coastlines through intimidation and plunder.

Through the course of her life, Grace raised and led armies, commanded a fleet of ships, was captured (twice), imprisoned, faced execution, secured her freedom (twice), fought pirates, was a master of political negotiation, and struck fear into one of the most powerful countries of the era – England. Yet, despite her accomplishments, Grace O’Malley was not remembered in Irish history. In The Annals of the Four Masters, the seminal source of Irish history compiled just a few years after her death and in a region where Grace was active, there is not one mention of her name. The only explanation for such an enormous ommission from Ireland’s historical records is that Grace’s power was uncomfortable for the men of her era and in Catholic Ireland. Fortunately, thanks to the work of biographer Anne Chambers, Grace’s life has been pieced back together, largely from English state records, and she is now a much loved hero in Ireland.