Grace O'Malley

Gráinne Ní Mháille was born around 1530, daughter of the Ó Máille chieftain in the west of Ireland. When her father died she took active leadership of the dynasty by land and sea, sidelining her brother. Marriage to Dónal an Chogaidh Ó Flaithbheartaigh expanded her power; she reportedly controlled a thousand head of cattle and horses. In 1593 the English governor of Connacht took her sons Tibbot Bourke and Murrough O'Flaherty and her half-brother Dónal an Phíopa captive. O'Malley sailed to England and presented her petition directly to Elizabeth I at Greenwich Palace. The Irish annals never mention her - what survives comes from English state papers, including eighteen written interrogatories put to her on the queen's behalf. She died around 1603.