Grace O'Malley - Wonderful Woman No. 40

Grace O'Malley - 1530-1603
Irish Pirate Queen

I suspect part of what I know about The Pirate Queen is myth and that there is some blur between historical fact and Irish folklore where Grace O'Malley, or Grainne Mhaol to give her Gaelic name, is concerned. Even so, she was a force to be reckoned with and one of the most bad-ass ladies to be featured in this album. I remember my late paternal grandmother telling stories and singing about Grace, so perhaps her inclusion is also, in part, a nod to be celtic heritage.

The walls of Carrick Clooney
Now lie crumbling and low
Its battlements dismantled are
All most over every stone.
But the rebel youth in Westport
Feel their Irish hearts aglow
When they tell how Grace O'Malley
Fought and conquered in Mayo

After begging to go on a voyage with her father and brothers and being told she could not because she was a girl, it is said that Grace cut off all her blonde hair, put on her brother's clothes and demanded that she could do whatever the male members of the family could do. For many years, Grace commanded fleets of ships, she was a well respected sailor and captained many men. She fought off pirates and was a fierce swords woman as well as a master of the waves. She earned the family a great fortune, they owned islands and castles as well as a fleet of more than 200 ships.

As the English began to colonise the counties of Ireland, they forced clan leaders out of their positions and demanded the land of the people for themselves. Anyone who opposed British rule were deemed rebels and were at the mercy of Queen Elizabeth I's iron rule - this included Grace. She refused to pay taxes imposed on ships by the British, instead turning to piracy and attacking British ships and stealing their wealth, taking prisoners from the gentry and generally causing as much disruption to the invasion as possible. The British labelled her a pirate, the Irish labelled her the Pirate Queen.

There were many battles, her castles were captured and her lover killed. At the age of 56, Grace was captured by the English and execution was ordered. She escaped death by a prisoner exchange and by promising to reform her ways. For a while, her clan even joined forces with the British to counter attack after an attempted Spanish invasion. Grace herself is believed to have climbed aboard a ship and slayed hundreds of Spanish sailors with her men.

Grace wrote to Elizabeth Tudor, demanding that members of her clan be returned to Ireland after they had been captured in a raid by British forces. In fact, she did not wait for the Queen to respond, instead she set sail for England where she demanded an audience with the monarch. She is reported to have entered the chamber of Elizabeth I with a concealed dagger and refused to bow before her as she would not acknowledge her as Queen of Ireland, this was pretty risky given Elizabeth's reputation of being a bit of a bad-ass herself. The two came to an agreement, Grace's family would be returned if she stopped interfering with British rule.

Grace lived to the age of 70, in one of her castles, with her fortune in tact, having never been defeated in battle. I think that makes her pretty damned special and a noble member of this legion of wonderful women.