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| *Kindle Edition Available on Amazon, September 14, 2011* |
So If I could be anyone.....who would I be. Well that is a hard question to answer, because I am in awe of so many strong women in history. But today I chose Granuaile/Grace O'Malley, Queen of Connaught. Also known as the Pirate Queen!
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| Shaun Davey's Granuaile |
During her lifetime she sailed to many ports including Spain, Portugal, Scotland and Ulster for trade. She was notorious for taxing and raiding ships that had the misfortune to stray into the waters she deemed hers. Hence the Pirate label.
Granuaile was widowed twice. She divorced her third husband in accordance with Brehon Law. She gave birth to a son on board ship as it was being attacked by Turks. Her crew were being defeated and one very foolish Turk dared to enter her cabin demanding she surrender. She quickly dispatched him, went up on deck, rallied her crew and won the day. (Beware of sword welding, pistol toting Irish women!)
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| Wikipedia |
Her most daring feat was steering her galleon up the Thames and into London for an audience with Elizabeth Tudor. Granuaile spoke many languages but not English. Elizabeth did not speak Irish. She conversed with Elizabeth in Latin, much to Elizabeth's surprise as the Irish were regarded by the English as uneducated, uncivilized ruffians. Granuaile secured the release of her sons from the prison of the English Governor Bingham. It is also noted that Granuaile did not bow to Elizabeth as she did not recognise Elizabeth as Queen of Ireland, only of England..
Granuaile the Stuff of Legends!!!
47 comments:
Oh, wow! Fantastic person to pick. I've heard of Grace O'Malley, but I didn't know her other names.
Oh, what a fascinating woman!
Ann!!!
Eoghan Dubhdara Ó Máille
Granuaile
Maeve
My tongue is twisted in knots!! Yay for the Pirate Queen - what a woman!!! Oh I can see you waving your sword, babe in arms, wearing gorgeous heels rallying the troups on your ship!!
Fabulous! Take care
x
Wow, what a fascinating post! So interesting to read, and I learned something new. I never heard of the Pirate Queen, how awesome! Great choice!
Oh WOW... if sailing was only for boys, I guess she showed "them." What adventure, what daring. What a life. Maybe you were her. I want to be your sidekick. They always have a comic sidekick. Maybe I could work my way up. :) Strong women.... I guess you chose the strongest.
Manzanita@Wannabuyaduck
She sounds like strong person. :) I love your choice!
SO creative! Great job!
Wow, Ann, it appears that you have a bit of the adventuresome exciting swashbuckler in you! Have you read Ghost Waves by W. Everett Prusso? You would love it!
And best of everything to the fabulous Talli Roland and her fabulous Willow Watts!
Granuaile sounds like an amazing woman (and I wish I had a clue as to how to pronounce her name.)
Fellow WWWer her, stopping bye to say hi.
Totally and completely awesome choice!! Fascinating story :)
Very cool. I love the idea of a Pirate Queen.
Wonderful choice - I love her story!! ;-)
Awesome choice! And I've now learned something new! Wow. A pirate queen...
I've never heard of her, excellent choice. How lovely it is to hear from someone who actually know who Daniel is.
Thanks for commenting, good to see a new name.
Have a good day.
Yvonne.
That's a very interesting write up of your choice. I enjoyed reading it a lot.
Good morning Pirate Queen. Thanks so much for dropping by my blog on party/launch day yesterday. I am so glad it was such a success for Talli.
I see you are on Goodreads, I am a great fan of this site, so off to hopefully befriend you there.
Hi Ann .. this is amazing - so interesting as I'd never heard of her .. the stuff legends are made of ... that's for sure. What an interesting history lesson.
Then there's the music of Shaun Davey (www.shaundavey.com) and a para from this site: "In Rita Connolly, with a voice of the purity of crystal, he found the ideal Grace O'Malley. Together they have made the legend of 'Granuaile' (Grace O'Malley in Irish) come vividly to life. 'The Granuaile Suite' (1985) sets an episode of Irish history in the context of wider European history through a work which appeals to music lovers of all ages. One song in the cycle, 'Ripples in the Rockpools' quickly became a popular classic and is now in the official Irish school syllabus."
I bet there's plenty of bloggers who'd be interested to hear more of this Irish Folk music ..
Thanks Ann .. a great post - loved it - cheers Hilary
Okay, I really want to read up about this woman. And I'm surprised I've never heard of her. As for the Irish not being civilized... if it weren't for the Irish and their mania for copying books during the Dark Ages, Elizabeth wouldn't have been speaking/reading Latin!
Hi Ann. I've learned something from you here. Thanks for sharing this with us. I've been watching historical films and also reading British history on the internet. I will look it up to read more on Granuaile/Grace O'Malley, Queen of Connaught. I became interested to know more after reading this post yesterday. :)
Wow Ann, I love this! I always come up with lameo answers for these. This is great and tells us something about you, doesn't it!
Hi,
Ha ha, now there's a story and a commendable heroine! ;) My brain is storming up a pirate mistress already...
best
F
Well that was different, Ann. I dare say she lived an exciting life but do you really want to be her? I can think of nothing worse than having to give birth on a boat while the enemy was knocking my door down... Am I taking this a tad too seriously do you think?
You couldn't write a better tale than that!
Ooooh, what a cool answer! It's been so fun reading all the answers to this question.
WOW! What a gal. That would be a great one to be if only for a day. Tough stuff. :o)
Even if I'm merely a quarter Irish, this story makes me prouder of my heritage. :o)
Have a lovely day, Ann!
A very cool choice! And I loved the history.
Wow. That is a *brilliant* choice - I don't want to be her, but I would sure love to read novels about her! Imagine being one of her descendants...
What a fantastic choice of a very strong woman. Thanks for introducing me to her in such an entertaining way. And can I just say how envious I am of you living in Ireland? It's at the top of my list of dream trips.
Amazing!!! You definitely picked a wonderful strong woman.
Hugs!!!
AH! Ann! How have I missed yours? I'm so so sorry. I LOVE your choice. What a woman!
Thank you so much for taking part, and for all your wonderful help and support. xx
Wow, that's a new one for Talli's party. After reading this, I feel like can say something really intelligent at the next party. Thanks!!
She sounds like quite the lady! Have you practiced wielding your sword and pistol lately? :)
Very cool! I enjoyed learning about Granuaile. Thank you!
Fellow campaigner dropping by to say hello. Grace O'Malley's story offers fabulous fodder for historical fiction. I hope you're busy with Grace and her adventures. I've just signed a contract re a HF based in your country. It involves the Fitzgeralds in Kildare (1470). There's a 2nd to come and possibly a 3rd. Hmmm - I wonder if my characters will meet Grace. Anyway, nice to meet you - and your blog looks fabulous. Pauline.
What an interesting and original choice! Julie
She gave birth to her son on a ship while it was being attacked by Turks AND won the battle. All hail the pirate queen!
Oh Ann. This was an intriguing post to read. She was a super courageous woman. I had no idea. *feeling ashamed* I am going to dig up as much on her as I can now.
:-)
Another fellow campaigner here.
Love your choice!
Claire
What a character.
Great choice!
Grace O Malley - What a woman! What a character. Great choice Ann. Enjoyed the post.
Thanks for this piece of history. I had no idea!
Fascinating! Thanks, Ann! I love reading things like this - it's so thrilling to discover new facts and things I didn't know about people.
I'm a fellow campaigner in the mainstream/ contemporary category. I’m chagrined it's taken me so long to get over here - my last post leaned more towards fantasy/YA - that's what I'm writing at the moment.
But my first book that I'm going to be querying as soon as beta readers go over it once more is mainstream - I think. I'm having trouble figuring out for sure where it belongs! It's not a specific genre. I'm so glad to meet you.
I love your quote from James Dickey - fantastic!
Sounds like a woman who had an adventuresome life. Interesting choice.
Lee
Tossing It Out
Hi Ann, I wanted to let you know that I gave you a blog award over on my blog. You can find out about it here: http://findingthewriteway.blogspot.com/2011/09/one-to-follow-blog-award.html
...definitely a memorable choice of character. Well done ;)
El
Wow, what an incredible story. I am fascinated with history. I learned something new today from reading your post. I think you made an excellent choice and it shows how courageous you must be. I enjoyed reading about Granuaile/Grace O'Malley and her exciting adventures.
Thank you Ann, for visiting my blog and leaving such a kind and encouraging comment on my IWSG post. I am very pleased to meet you.
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