Rapparee
Encyclopedia
Rapparees were Irish
guerrilla
fighters who operated on the Jacobite
side during the 1690s Williamite war in Ireland
. Subsequently the name was also given to bandit
s and highwaymen in Ireland - many former guerrillas having turned to crime after the war was over. They share many similarities with the hajduk
s of Eastern Europe.
in Ireland
before the 1690s. Irish irregulars in the 16th century were known as ceithearnaigh choille, "wood-kerne", a reference to native Irish foot-soldiers called ceithearnaigh, or "kerne".
In the Irish Confederate Wars
of the 1640s and 50s, irregular fighters on the Irish Confederate
side were known as "tories", from the Irish word tóraidhe (modern tóraí) meaning "pursuer"; this is also the origin of the political term Tory
"traditionalist, conservative". The tories were usually Confederate soldiers whose units had broken up and who regrouped in small bands in rugged country such as the Wicklow Mountains
or the Bog of Allen
.
From 1650-53, during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
, the tories caused the occupying English Parliamentarian forces a great deal of trouble, attacking vulnerable garrisons, tax-collectors and supply columns and then melting away when faced with detachments of English troops. Henry Ireton
first led a sweep of County Wicklow
and the south midlands in September-October 1650 to try to clear it of tory guerrillas.
The Parliamentarian commander John Hewson
in the winter of 1650-51, led punitive columns into the midlands and the Wicklow mountains to try and root out the tory bands and although they captured a number of small castles and killed several hundred guerrillas, they were not able to stop the tories' attacks. In Wicklow especially he destroyed all the food he found in an attempt to starve the guerrillas into submission.
The guerrillas were eventually defeated by evicting all civilians from areas where they operated and killing those civilians then found within those zones. As of April 1651, the Parliamentarians designated areas such as Wicklow and much of the south of the country as what would now be called free-fire zones, where anyone found would be, "taken slain and destroyed as enemies and their cattle and good shall be taken or spoiled as the goods of enemies". Hewson also ordered the expulsion of Catholic
townsmen from Dublin, for fear they were aiding the tories in the countryside. Other counter-guerrilla
tactics included selling those captured as indentured labour and finally publishing surrender terms allowing tories to leave the country to enter military service in France and Spain.
The last organised bands of tories surrendered in 1653, when many of them left the country to serve in foreign armies.
After the war, many tories continued their activities, "a spasmodic and disconnected opposition to the new regime", in part as Catholic partisans, in part as ordinary criminals who"brought misery to friend and foe alike". The ranks of tories remained filled throughout the post-war period by displaced Irish Catholics whose land and property was confiscated in the Cromwellian Settlement
.
Redmond O'Hanlon
was one of the most famous of the post-war outlaws.
Similar outlaw
s were to be found in contemporary Scotland
, known as mosstroopers.
, the label "tory
" was insultingly given to the English supporters of James II
, to associate them with the Irish rebels and bandits of a generation earlier. In Ireland, Irish Catholics supported James - becoming known as Jacobites
.
Under Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, each locality had to raise a regiment to support the Jacobite cause. Most did so, but James and his French backers did not have the resources to arm and pay them all, so many of them were disbanded. It was from these bands that most of the Rapparees were organised. They armed themselves with whatever they could find or take from Protestant civilians, including musket
s, long knives (sceana or "skiens") and half-pikes. The rapparees got their name from this last weapon - a pike
about 6 feet (2 m) long, cut down from the standard military pike which was up to 16 feet (5 m) long - which was known in Irish
as a rapaire.
Throughout the campaign, the rapparees caused major logistical problems to the Williamite army, raiding their rear areas and killing their soldiers and supporters. Many rapparee bands developed a bad reputation among the general civilian population, including among Catholics, for robbing indiscriminately. George Warter Story
, a chaplain with a Williamite regiment, relates that the rapparees hid their weapons in bogs when Williamite troops were in the area and melted into the civilian population, only to re-arm and reappear when the troops were gone. The rapparees were a considerable help to the Jacobite war effort, tying down thousands of Williamite troops who had to protect supply depots and columns. The famous rapparee "Galloping Hogan
" is said to have guided Patrick Sarsfield's cavalry raid that destroyed the Williamite's siege train at the siege of Limerick (1690)
.
, and Eamonn Ryan
Some historians see the rapparees as an Irish version of the "social bandit" described by the historian Eric Hobsbawm
—who is an outlaw but not regarded as a criminal by his own community.
's Year of the French, "Joshua's son Jonathan, who in 1690 had raised his company to serve King William at the Boyne and Aughrim and Limerick, rode home to Mount Pleasant and defended it for five years against the sporadic sallies of the rapparees, the swordsman, masterless now, of the defeated James Stuart
."
Captain Cooper also boasts that, "When your great lords were off in England, it was men like my great grandfather fought off the rapparees."
Blending in with regular civilians and hiding their weapons in the bogs, these civilians were often able to avoid being captured or killed by enemy troops such as Captain Cooper's great grandfather.
Jack Vance
's novel The Five Gold Bands
is also entitled The Rapparee, in honor of its Irish protagonist.
There is an old folk song devoted to the subject of the Rapparee
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
guerrilla
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
fighters who operated on the Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
side during the 1690s Williamite war in Ireland
Williamite war in Ireland
The Williamite War in Ireland—also called the Jacobite War in Ireland, the Williamite-Jacobite War in Ireland and in Irish as Cogadh an Dá Rí —was a conflict between Catholic King James II and Protestant King William of Orange over who would be King of England, Scotland and Ireland...
. Subsequently the name was also given to bandit
Brigandage
Brigandage refers to the life and practice of brigands: highway robbery and plunder, and a brigand is a person who usually lives in a gang and lives by pillage and robbery....
s and highwaymen in Ireland - many former guerrillas having turned to crime after the war was over. They share many similarities with the hajduk
Hajduk
Hajduk is a term most commonly referring to outlaws, highwaymen or freedom fighters in the Balkans, Central- and Eastern Europe....
s of Eastern Europe.
Wood kerne and Tories
There was a long tradition of guerrilla warfareGuerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
before the 1690s. Irish irregulars in the 16th century were known as ceithearnaigh choille, "wood-kerne", a reference to native Irish foot-soldiers called ceithearnaigh, or "kerne".
In the Irish Confederate Wars
Irish Confederate Wars
This article is concerned with the military history of Ireland from 1641-53. For the political context of this conflict, see Confederate Ireland....
of the 1640s and 50s, irregular fighters on the Irish Confederate
Confederate Ireland
Confederate Ireland refers to the period of Irish self-government between the Rebellion of 1641 and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. During this time, two-thirds of Ireland was governed by the Irish Catholic Confederation, also known as the "Confederation of Kilkenny"...
side were known as "tories", from the Irish word tóraidhe (modern tóraí) meaning "pursuer"; this is also the origin of the political term Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
"traditionalist, conservative". The tories were usually Confederate soldiers whose units had broken up and who regrouped in small bands in rugged country such as the Wicklow Mountains
Wicklow Mountains
The Wicklow Mountains form the largest continuous upland area in Ireland. They occupy the whole centre of County Wicklow and stretch outside its borders into Counties Carlow, Wexford and Dublin. Where the mountains extend into County Dublin, they are known locally as the Dublin Mountains...
or the Bog of Allen
Bog of Allen
The Bog of Allen is a large raised bog in the centre of Ireland between the rivers Liffey and Shannon.The bog's 958 square kilometers stretch into County Offaly, County Meath, County Kildare, County Laois, and County Westmeath. Peat is mechanically harvested on a large scale by Bórd na Móna,...
.
From 1650-53, during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...
, the tories caused the occupying English Parliamentarian forces a great deal of trouble, attacking vulnerable garrisons, tax-collectors and supply columns and then melting away when faced with detachments of English troops. Henry Ireton
Henry Ireton
Henry Ireton was an English general in the Parliamentary army during the English Civil War. He was the son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell.-Early life:...
first led a sweep of County Wicklow
County Wicklow
County Wicklow is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Wicklow, which derives from the Old Norse name Víkingalág or Wykynlo. Wicklow County Council is the local authority for the county...
and the south midlands in September-October 1650 to try to clear it of tory guerrillas.
The Parliamentarian commander John Hewson
John Hewson (regicide)
Colonel John Hewson was a soldier in the New Model Army and signed the death warrant of King Charles I, making him a regicide.-Life:...
in the winter of 1650-51, led punitive columns into the midlands and the Wicklow mountains to try and root out the tory bands and although they captured a number of small castles and killed several hundred guerrillas, they were not able to stop the tories' attacks. In Wicklow especially he destroyed all the food he found in an attempt to starve the guerrillas into submission.
The guerrillas were eventually defeated by evicting all civilians from areas where they operated and killing those civilians then found within those zones. As of April 1651, the Parliamentarians designated areas such as Wicklow and much of the south of the country as what would now be called free-fire zones, where anyone found would be, "taken slain and destroyed as enemies and their cattle and good shall be taken or spoiled as the goods of enemies". Hewson also ordered the expulsion of Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
townsmen from Dublin, for fear they were aiding the tories in the countryside. Other counter-guerrilla
Counter-Guerrilla
Counter-Guerrilla is the Turkish branch of Operation Gladio, a clandestine stay-behind anti-communist initiative backed by the United States as an expression of the Truman Doctrine. The founding goal of the operation was to erect a guerrilla force capable of countering a possible Soviet invasion...
tactics included selling those captured as indentured labour and finally publishing surrender terms allowing tories to leave the country to enter military service in France and Spain.
The last organised bands of tories surrendered in 1653, when many of them left the country to serve in foreign armies.
After the war, many tories continued their activities, "a spasmodic and disconnected opposition to the new regime", in part as Catholic partisans, in part as ordinary criminals who"brought misery to friend and foe alike". The ranks of tories remained filled throughout the post-war period by displaced Irish Catholics whose land and property was confiscated in the Cromwellian Settlement
Plantations of Ireland
Plantations in 16th and 17th century Ireland were the confiscation of land by the English crown and the colonisation of this land with settlers from England and the Scottish Lowlands....
.
Redmond O'Hanlon
Redmond O'Hanlon (outlaw)
Redmond O'Hanlon was a 17th-century Irish tóraidhe or rapparee , and an important figure in the Irish Rebellion of 1641.- Early life :...
was one of the most famous of the post-war outlaws.
Similar outlaw
Outlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
s were to be found in contemporary Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, known as mosstroopers.
The Williamite War
In the 1690s, during the Glorious RevolutionGlorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
, the label "tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
" was insultingly given to the English supporters of James II
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
, to associate them with the Irish rebels and bandits of a generation earlier. In Ireland, Irish Catholics supported James - becoming known as Jacobites
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
.
Under Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, each locality had to raise a regiment to support the Jacobite cause. Most did so, but James and his French backers did not have the resources to arm and pay them all, so many of them were disbanded. It was from these bands that most of the Rapparees were organised. They armed themselves with whatever they could find or take from Protestant civilians, including musket
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
s, long knives (sceana or "skiens") and half-pikes. The rapparees got their name from this last weapon - a pike
Pike (weapon)
A pike is a pole weapon, a very long thrusting spear used extensively by infantry both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults. Unlike many similar weapons, the pike is not intended to be thrown. Pikes were used regularly in European warfare from the...
about 6 feet (2 m) long, cut down from the standard military pike which was up to 16 feet (5 m) long - which was known in Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
as a rapaire.
Throughout the campaign, the rapparees caused major logistical problems to the Williamite army, raiding their rear areas and killing their soldiers and supporters. Many rapparee bands developed a bad reputation among the general civilian population, including among Catholics, for robbing indiscriminately. George Warter Story
George Warter Story
George Warter Story was an English clergyman, known for his history of the Williamite War in Ireland, of which he was an eye witness.-Life:...
, a chaplain with a Williamite regiment, relates that the rapparees hid their weapons in bogs when Williamite troops were in the area and melted into the civilian population, only to re-arm and reappear when the troops were gone. The rapparees were a considerable help to the Jacobite war effort, tying down thousands of Williamite troops who had to protect supply depots and columns. The famous rapparee "Galloping Hogan
Galloping Hogan
Michael "Galloping" Hogan was born in the parish of Doon, at the foot of the Slieve Phelim hills in East Limerick.Possibly previously a relatively wealthy landowner, he became a 'rapparee' or brigand following the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland....
" is said to have guided Patrick Sarsfield's cavalry raid that destroyed the Williamite's siege train at the siege of Limerick (1690)
Siege of Limerick (1690)
Limerick, a city in western Ireland, was besieged twice in the Williamite War in Ireland, 1689-1691. On the first of these occasions, in August to September 1690, its Jacobite defenders retreated to the city after their defeat at the Battle of the Boyne...
.
Social Bandits?
Most rapparees surrendered at the end of the war. Some however, left to serve in foreign armies. Hogan, for instance, ended up in Portugal and served as a senior officer in the Portuguese army. Many rapparee bands operated in Ireland well into the 18th century. Famous figures include Count Redmond O'HanlonRedmond O'Hanlon (outlaw)
Redmond O'Hanlon was a 17th-century Irish tóraidhe or rapparee , and an important figure in the Irish Rebellion of 1641.- Early life :...
, and Eamonn Ryan
Some historians see the rapparees as an Irish version of the "social bandit" described by the historian Eric Hobsbawm
Eric Hobsbawm
Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm , CH, FBA, is a British Marxist historian, public intellectual, and author...
—who is an outlaw but not regarded as a criminal by his own community.
Rapparees in fiction
Raparees have often been depicted in fiction, for example in Thomas FlanaganThomas Flanagan (writer)
Thomas Flanagan was an American professor of English literature who specialized in Irish literature. He was also a successful novelist. Flanagan, who was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, graduated from Amherst College in 1945...
's Year of the French, "Joshua's son Jonathan, who in 1690 had raised his company to serve King William at the Boyne and Aughrim and Limerick, rode home to Mount Pleasant and defended it for five years against the sporadic sallies of the rapparees, the swordsman, masterless now, of the defeated James Stuart
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
."
Captain Cooper also boasts that, "When your great lords were off in England, it was men like my great grandfather fought off the rapparees."
Blending in with regular civilians and hiding their weapons in the bogs, these civilians were often able to avoid being captured or killed by enemy troops such as Captain Cooper's great grandfather.
Jack Vance
Jack Vance
John Holbrook Vance is an American mystery, fantasy and science fiction author. Most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance. Vance has published 11 mysteries as John Holbrook Vance and 3 as Ellery Queen...
's novel The Five Gold Bands
The Five Gold Bands
The Five Gold Bands is an early science fiction novel by Jack Vance, first published in the November 1950 issue of Startling Stories magazine...
is also entitled The Rapparee, in honor of its Irish protagonist.
There is an old folk song devoted to the subject of the Rapparee
How green are the fields that washed the Finn
How grand are the houses the Peelers live in
How fresh are the crops in the valleys to see
But the heath is the home of the wild rapparee
Ah, way out on the moors where the wind shrieks and howls
Sure, he'll find his lone home there amongst the wild foul
No one there to welcome, no comrade was he
Ah, God help the poor outlaw, the wild rapparee
He robbed many rich of their gold and their crown
He outrode the soldiers who hunted him down
Alas, he has boasted, They'll never take me,
Not a swordsman will capture the wild rapparee
There's a stone covered grave on the wild mountainside.
There's a plain wooden cross on which this is inscribed:
Kneel down, dear stranger, say an Ave for me
I was sentenced to death being a wild rapparee
See also
- Willy BrennanWilly BrennanWilliam "Willy" Brennan was an Irish Highwayman caught and hanged in County Cork in 1804 whose story was immortalised in the ballad Brennan on the Moor.-Brennan on the Moor:...
- Liam DeoisLiam DeoisLiam Deois, aka Liam Joyce, fl. early 19th century, was a highwayman who lived at Gleann 'a Ghadaí , Ballybackagh, some four miles north-west of Athenry, Co Galway, Ireland...
- Shane BernaghShane BernaghShane Bernagh Donnelly was a rapparee local to the Cappagh and Altmore area of County Tyrone during the 17th century who would use his the mountains as a vantage point to launch daring hold ups on carriages passing through the area on the main Dublin to Derry road nearby.Local legend has it that...
- Éamonn an ChnoicÉamonn an Chnoic"Éamonn an Chnoic" is a popular song in traditional Irish music. It is a slow, mournful ballad with a somber theme and no chorus.-Overview:...
- Patrick Fleming - possible protaganist of Whiskey in the JarWhiskey in the Jar"Whiskey in the Jar" is a famous Irish traditional song, set in the southern mountains of Ireland, with specific mention of counties Cork and Kerry, as well as Fenit, a village in county Kerry. It is about a Rapparee , who is betrayed by his wife or lover, and is one of the most widely performed...
- James FreneyJames Freney- Biography :James Freeney was a native of County Kilkenny, and from a respectable family who had been wealthy and powerful in the region since the 13th century, having their seat at Ballyreddy Castle. But during the 1650s they lost their lands and were reduced in status. His father, John Freeney,...
- Black Francis CorriganBlack Francis CorriganBlack Francis Corrigan also known as Black Francis McHugh or "Proinsias Dubh" was a notorious Rapparee who "robbed the rich to give to the poor" at the end of the 18th century. His origins lay in Meencloghore which borders on the Irish counties of Tyrone, Fermanagh and Donegal...
- Captain GallagherCaptain GallagherCaptain Gallagher was an Irish highwayman who, as one of the later Irish Rapparees, led a bandit group in the hills of the Irish countryside during the late 18th century....
- Galloping HoganGalloping HoganMichael "Galloping" Hogan was born in the parish of Doon, at the foot of the Slieve Phelim hills in East Limerick.Possibly previously a relatively wealthy landowner, he became a 'rapparee' or brigand following the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland....
- Tomás Bán Mac AodhagáinTomás Bán Mac AodhagáinTomás Bán Mac Aodhagáin is the name both of a person and of a song inspired by his life. A native of County Mayo, Mac Aodhagain fell in love with and eloped with a Ms. Stanley, daughter of an English settler. Mr...
- Dubhaltach Caoch Mac CoisdealbhaighDubhaltach Caoch Mac CoisdealbhaighColonel Dubhaltach Caoch Mac Coisdealbhaigh, Irish soldier and Rapparee, died Sunday 3 March 1667.-Life:Mac Coisdealbhaigh was a member of the Costello family of Connacht. His brother was the soldier and poet, Tomás Láidir Mac Coisdealbhaigh....
- Tomás Láidir Mac CoisdealbhaighTomás Láidir Mac CoisdealbhaighTomás Láidir Mac Coisdealbhaigh, Irish soldier and poet, fl.1660's.Tomás Láidir Mac Coisdealbhaigh was a member of the Costello family of north Connacht who lost their lands in the Cromwellian confications of the 1650s. He was a descendant of Sir William de Angulo, who died in 1206...
- Séamus Mór Mac MhurchaidhSéamus Mór Mac MhurchaidhSéamus Mór Mac Mhurchaidh, , Irish poet and outlaw, 1720-1750.-Biography:Mac Mhurchaidh was a tóraidhe or rapparee, and in 1740 the leader of a strong band of raparees.-Origins:...
- Donogh Dáll Ó DerrigDonogh Dáll Ó DerrigDonogh Dáll Ó Derrig, aka Blind Donogh O'Derrick, Irish rapparee, executed December 1656.-Biography:Ó Derrig was a rapparee active in County Kildare in the early 1650s in the aftermath of the Irish Confederate Wars....
- Redmond O'Hanlon (outlaw)Redmond O'Hanlon (outlaw)Redmond O'Hanlon was a 17th-century Irish tóraidhe or rapparee , and an important figure in the Irish Rebellion of 1641.- Early life :...
- Neesy O'HaughanNeesy O'HaughanNaoise O'Haughan, also known as Neesy, Ness and Nessie was a highwayman in County Antrim, Ireland in the late 17th and early 18th centuries....
- Dónal Ó MaoláineDónal Ó MaoláineDónal Ó Maoláine, aka Eamon Mhagaine, Irish poet and rapparee, fl. 18th century.Ó Maoláine, a naitive of County Mayo, is described by O'Rourke as a "shadowy figure" who figures in a 'chason d'aventure' where he is given a letter by the father of a woman who offers to marry him...
- Shane Crosagh O’MullanShane Crosagh O’MullanShane Crosagh Ó Maoláin was an Irish Rapparee/outlaw, who was executed 1722.-Biography:Shane Crosagh was a member of the Derry Ó Maoláin family, who were based in the Keenaght district of County Londonderry, having originally lived in the Laggan district of Donegal, and were followers of the Ó...