Sack of Athenry
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
The sack of Athenry was a 1572 battle in Ireland. For much of its history the town of Athenry (/æθənˈraɪ/ ath-ən-REYE) was safe behind its walls, erected in the aftermath of the Second Battle of Athenry in 1316 during the height of the Bruce Wars. However, the beginning of the end occurred during the Mac an Iarla Wars in 1572, when, according to the Annals of the Four Masters:
- "They destroyed the walls of the town of Athenry, and also its stone houses and its castle; and they so damaged the town that it was not easy to repair it for a long time after them."[1]
This was the first of a number of attacks committed by the Mac an Iarlas, and later, by Red Hugh O'Donnell. By the end of the 16th century Athenry, once the premier town in Connacht, was reduced to a shell, and did not begin to truly recover till the late 1990s.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ Owen Cornellan (1846). The Annals of Ireland, Translated from the Original Irish of the Four Masters ; with Annotations. Geraghty. p. 480.
Categories:
- Articles with short description
- Short description matches Wikidata
- Use dmy dates from June 2020
- Use Hiberno-English from June 2020
- All Wikipedia articles written in Hiberno-English
- All articles with unsourced statements
- Articles with unsourced statements from January 2022
- County Galway articles missing geocoordinate data
- All articles needing coordinates
- Articles missing coordinates without coordinates on Wikidata
- All stub articles
- Irish history stubs
- Conflicts in 1572
- History of County Galway
- Battles involving Ireland
- 1572 in Ireland
- Athenry
- Looting in Ireland
- Razed cities