Siege of Kinsale | |||||||
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Part of the Nine Years' War | |||||||
Map of the siege of Kinsale, 1602 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Irish confederacy Spain | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Charles Blount George Carew Richard Leveson Donogh O'Brien |
Hugh O'Neill Juan del Águila Hugh Roe O'Donnell Richard Tyrrell | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
11,800 infantry 857 cavalry[1] |
Irish alliance 6,000 Spanish 3,500 [2][3] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown casualties many deserted, sick or dead to disease[4] |
Irish alliance 1,200 killed, wounded or captured (many later executed)[5] Spanish 100 killed or wounded 3,400 surrendered[6] |
The siege of Kinsale (Irish: Léigear Chionn tSáile), also known as the battle of Kinsale, was the ultimate battle in England's conquest of Gaelic Ireland, commencing in October 1601, near the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and at the climax of the Nine Years' War—a campaign by Hugh O'Neill, Hugh Roe O'Donnell and other Irish lords against English rule.[7]
Owing to Spanish involvement and the strategic advantages to be gained, the battle also formed part of the Anglo-Spanish War, the wider conflict of Protestant England against Catholic Spain.[7]