#OnThisDay 1917 George Hanna from Belfast, was shot for desertion. Hanna's defence was that he wasn't deserting as he'd already served three years & that he'd lost three brothers in the war & hadn't been on leave since 1914 during WW1.

#OnThisDay 1650 Owen Roe O'Neill died. O'Neill was a member of the great northern O'Neill family. O'Neill was a soldier in Spain but returned to Ireland during the War of the Three Kingdoms. O'Neill died just after Cromwell's arrival sparking rumours he was poisoned.

'Going to Mass' (1939) by James Humbert Craig

The Belfast-born painter was a landscape artist whose figures largely appear minuscule. His work draws on aspects of the newly independent Ireland, like faith, frugality and community.

Galway Fisher Folk
James Humbert Craig
(1877-1944)

'The Flight of the Earls' was a phrase coined by English officials in Dublin within one week of O'Neill's departure. The word 'flight' had legal implications: they left without permission, thus broke all treaties with England. The Ulster Plantations could now begin.

Route taken by the Earls of Ulster, 1607:

After the war in Ireland, both France and Spain made peace with England, so could not help 'traitors' to the English Crown. The Ulster Earls had no choice but to winter at the Irish College in Louvain, then to seek exile in Rome.

Franciscan church of San Pietro in Montorio, Rome where the great earl of Tyrone, Hugh O'Neill is buried; one of the leading figures in the Catholic war (Nine Years War 1594-1603) against Queen Elizabeth.

Mount Errigal, the tallest peak in Donegal, was once a land surrogate for the god Lugh. To the north, 14 km off the coast, lies Tory Island, mythical home of the evil giant Balor. These ancient cosmological 'poles' could be the source for Tolkien's Minas Tirith & Sauron's Tower

Balor Of The Evil Eye was the Irish mythical king of the Formorians. He was a giant with one large eye in the middle of his forehead, when opened the eye wreaks destruction. He ruled all Ireland from his foreboding glass tower at Dún Bhaloir, Tory Island.