Ireland’s Pirate Queen Grace O’Malley, or Granuaile, the Gealic version, may have been lost forever from the historical record were it not for Anne Chambers.
Ireland’s Pirate Queen Grace O’Malley
Chambers summered as a child in county Mayo listening to the fantastic tales of Grace O’Malley, a seafaring Pirate Queen of the 16th century.
Years later in Dublin, Chambers’ interest in Granuaile was rekindled and she began research to determine if the tales from her childhood were just that – tales.
In her research she uncovered documentation proving many of the legends as factual. Turns out, Granuaile was real and every bit the force of her childhood tales. She had an audience with Queen Elizabeth I, commanded a fleet of 200 hundred fighting men men; entered into strategic marriages to improve her position of power; and owned and controlled numerous castles.
