Noble Blood - The Queen of England and the Queen of Pirates

Episode Date: December 27, 2022

Grace O'Malley, or Gráinne Mhaol, has become an Irish folk hero, a woman who led a crew of men and galley ships and stood up to the English occupiers in Ireland. But it's her legendary meeting with Queen Elizabeth I—a moment of diplomacy—in England that has fascinated historians for centuries. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon — Merch! — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and pre-order its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Vodam. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot.

But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, The cat just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of IHeart Radio and grim and mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. Hey, this is Dana Schwartz. Just a quick reminder before the episode begins. My book, Immortality, A Love Story, is available for pre-order now. I'm sure if you bought it and printed out a little certificate for a holiday gift, people would not be upset about that because then they get like a second gift when the book comes out in February. It's great. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

There's also Noble Blood merch. That link is in the episode description. And very exciting, sort of unrelated to Noble Blood, but I am leading a pilgrimage to Cornwall to talk about the book Rebecca and the author Daphne DeMoyer. And you can sign up now. It's from a company called Common Ground. It's just amazing. I did one of these to talk about Mary Shelley and Frankenstein,

and it was just the best experience in the world. So if you're free next summer and you want to hang out and read and write and walk around and talk in a beautiful housing cornwall with me, you should do that. Let's dive into the episode. When you think of a rival queen from the British Isles standing up to Queen Elizabeth I'm sure a certain someone comes right to. to mind. Well, forget about Mary Queen of Scots for the next 30 or so minutes and travel southwest to Ireland with me. There we will meet Groniawale or Groniawale or Granny Nemeil or

Gronia Wally. But among the many, many variations of her name, the two that have stuck most prominently in today's popular culture are Grace O'Malley. and the pirate queen. Grace may not have been a queen in the same literal, monarchical sense as Mary and Elizabeth, but that didn't make her any less of a powerful force. At one point, she led an army of 200 men and captained a sizable fleet of galleys, those big pirate ships with the oars on the side. That's enough to be impressive, but Grace is perhaps most famous. for her historical meeting with Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich Palace, at which she petitioned against the mistreatment of her family at the hands

of one of the Queen's governors in Ireland. Hearing that today, you might be thinking, woo, let's go girl boss, hashtag shiro. I'm a little nauseous just saying that. You might be imagining that she instantly became a celebrated folk hero. But in the 1500s when Grace was active, Her subversion of the Times' Gaelic ideals of both heroism and womanhood would mean that she would be all but left out of recorded Irish history. Instead, much of what we know about Grace's life and her adventures comes from English sources,

due in large part to her contentious relationship with the Tudors during a pivotal moment in English-Irish history. Still, Grace was cemented in Irish history through folklore traditions and, And in more recent years, the Irish canon has adopted Grace as an iconic, even nationalist figure. Even on an international scale, Grace is held up today as an icon of perhaps anachronistic but still inspiring feminism. The story of Grace O'Malley has all the elements that can make one an icon, resilience, charisma, defiance of social stigma, and, at the end of the day, being a really cool lady pirate. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is Noble Blood.

Grace's connection with the sea began with her birth. As a member of the O'Malley clan and, notably, their sole heir, she was expected to live by their motto, Tara Marique Potens, or powerful by land and, sea. The O'Malley's were unique among the major Irish clans for making much of their money from the sea, which might seem surprising considering Ireland is surrounded by water. When the king would go to sea, he would use O'Malley fleets, an exchange documented in Irish records. Each year, the O'Malley's would pay taxes of, quote, 100 milk cows, 100 hogs, and 100 casks of beer, end quote. in exchange for the king's annual gift of, quote,

five ships, five horses, five swords, and five corslets, end quote. The sea provided the O'Malley's with four major sources of income, fishing, trading, mercenary work, and, of course, pirating, all of which Grace would involve herself in. Fishing is self-explanatory. The coast off the O'Malley territory was known as a particular great spot. But trading has a more complex history. Recent research confirms that from the

Middle Ages on, sea trade routes were established between Ireland and England, France, and Spain. Trading abroad was actually more profitable for the O'Malley's than trading in their own country, thanks to taxes in major cities like Galway that were placed on outsiders or non-city folk. For Grace, this meant that, unlike her peers, she grew up in a home furnished with foreign luxury goods and furniture. Mercenary work also deserves some context. Hired mercenaries played a big role in the history of Gaelic warfare, and according to documentation in the Irish Annals, O'Malley ships and crews were near constantly being hired by warring chieftains. Grace and her sons would take up that arm of the family business. And then, of course, there's the history of pirating. Every civilization in history has had them, and in Irish history, pirate and O'Malley go hand in hand.

A quote, quote, Owen Ovalia went with the crew of three ships against Chilbega, or Kilibegs in County Donegal. quote, in the night they raid and burned the town and take many prisoners, end quote. Fun fact, the galley, the pirate ship, the O'Malley's, and most famously Grace, sailed, is thought to derive its design from the longskips or long ships of the Vikings, who established their footholds in Ireland, in part due to pirating. This was the life Grace was born into, but at the time of her birth, around 50s, In 1530, Ireland was on the cusp of a major change.

The country hadn't seen much change since the Anglo-Norman invasion of the 12th century. Ireland had a total population of around 700,000 people, living in a land still densely occupied by thriving forests and woodlands, pastoral fields and bogs and marshes with very little in the way of bridges and roads to traverse the ecosystem. This landscape protected the Irish from English interference for a long time, but that would change in the 16th century, especially once Ireland began to become properly mapped. When Grace was born, the current English king, Henry VIII,

already held the title of Lord of Ireland, and the Crown had imposed a policy referred to as, quote, surrender and re-grant, in which they hoped to obtain Ireland through, willing participation instead of military action. But with their claws in the land, the tutors and their conquest of Grace's homeland will come more into play during her adolescence and eventually adulthood. Her father was Owen, or Black Oak O'Malley, chief of his name and ruler of Uwal Oghtarach.

Notably, he was one of the few Gaelic chieftains of the time who refused to submit to the English crown. Grace's mother, Margaret, was also in O'Malley, a cousin of her husband. Like her husband, she was a property owner in Ool. She inherited lands from her mother, which she hoped would pass down to her daughter. Irish law allowed for women to possess land, which directly opposed English law, which stated all property went to husbands, fathers, and sons. Earlier, I mentioned Grace was the sole heir of the O'Malley's, but that information comes with a caveat. Grace had an illegitimate brother, Donal, who lived in O'Malley Castle but did not inherit the lands or the title. Everything went to Grace. Still, Donal existed and he would play an important

role in her life. Grace's childhood is pretty much undocumented, not uncommon for Gaelic children of the age. I also noted earlier that while Grace wasn't formally documented, in Irish history, she remained in the culture through folklore traditions. The story behind her name is said to derive from an incident as a child in which she wanted to join her father on an expedition, but she was told she couldn't go because her long hair would catch in the ship's ropes. In defiance, she chopped off her hair so he wouldn't have an excuse to exclude her, earning her the nickname Granuel, or Grace with the chopped hair. former being the name she's best known by in Irish culture.

There are some more academic, animological explanations for the name, but I think that one's a lot more fun. Folklore aside, it's likely Grace had her sights set on seafaring from an early age, but as a woman, she had a more important obligation to the O'Malley clan. Marriage. Grace's first marriage happened when she was only 16 in 1546.

Her husband was Donal O'Flatery, son of the chieftain of the senior ruling branch of the O'Flatery clan, a title Donal himself would gain by the time of the marriage. Not Donal or half-brother, a different Donal. The O'Malley and O'Flaherty clans were neighbors and allies in war, so political marriages between them made perfect sense. We don't have any specifics of what her married life was like, but based on all we know of grace, We can imagine she wasn't content with the role of dutiful housewife,

but her husband seemed like the man who wouldn't want a woman threatening his power. Still, the couple had three children, two boys and a girl, Margaret, after Grace's mother. When it comes to Grace's husband, we know two main things about Donald. He was eager to war with neighboring plans, and he was bad at his job. When he was picking fights with the Joyce clan over castle ownership, Grace had plans at home. Over a century before Catherine the Greatwood, Grace O'Malley usurped her husband's position as chieftain, albeit probably less dramatically than Catherine the Great did it. We don't have any more details as to the how and why of this power transfer,

but we know most of the Klansmen supported her, even electing to leave their home, and live under her authority in Mayo. It's after she's chieftain that we finally get the first stories of Grace's pirate escapades, which she and her crew were essentially doing was disrupting cargo-carrying ships with their galleys, scamming Galway merchants that made their way into her territory into paying a tax for Safe Passage home. Fair payback for the taxes Galway merchants placed on those in coastal territories, wanting to trade. As described by Anne Chambers in her rich O'Malley biography, quote, laden with the agreed or extracted spoil, Gronuel and her men disappeared into one or other of the

numerous uncharted bays along the identified coastline. Frustrated merchants took their complaints to the English council in Dublin, complaints that were recorded as such. Quote, the continuing roads used by the O'Malley's and O'Flaherities with their galleys along our coasts, where there have been taken sundry ships, bound for this poor town, which they have not only rifled to the utter overthrow of the owners and merchants, but also have most wickedly murdered divers of young men to the great terror of such as would willingly traffic, end quote. Grace was already proving herself to be a strong, competent leader, the kind of person a crew would get behind. In 1564, Ireland found itself embroiled in a new conflict that would

have a large impact on Grace's life. A minor chieftain of the O'Flaherty sought to expand his territory, and in his campaign, he attacked two earls, which the Crown, Queen Elizabeth I at this point, could not ignore. To resolve the fighting, the Crown decided that they would grant O'Flaherty-Kinsman, overlordship over the territory and elected Donal O'Flaherty, Grace's husband, as deputy, when he thought he should have had the primary position. The arrangement temporarily satisfied the warring chieftain, but created a major new problem. The territory already had a legitimate chieftain before England came in and just decided who would be in charge, while Elizabeth's father, Henry, may have stuck to a policy of surrender and requite.

Grant, Queen Elizabeth preferred divide and conquer, in which English laws sought to break up the existing Gaelic order. New wars inevitably broke out among clans, and in one skirmish, Grace's husband, Donald, was mortally wounded. We're getting into the blurrier lines of folklore again, but tradition says that the Joyce's, the foremost of Donald's many enemies, took the opportunity to take his castle, which they nicknamed Coxcats, after their opinion of its leader. What they didn't account for was his far more competent wife's defenses, who apparently showed such strength that they decided to rename the castle yet again,

Hens Castle. Unfortunately for Grace, Gaelic Law didn't have as high an opinion of her or of women in general. She couldn't legally inherit the title of chieftain, so after her husband died, Donald's cousin, was officially given the position that she had been in for years. What's more, she couldn't inherit his lands. And so she returned to her birthplace of Ull, bringing along her children, any of her o'flatery men who wished to continue as part of her crew, three galleys, and a collection of smaller boats. This would be the place where the legend of the pirate queen would truly be born. Back in Ull, Grace settled on Clare Island as a base.

Its stronghold, a tower castle perfect for seafarers, is today known as Grawell Castle. We don't have documentation as to how she spent her time here, but from a collection of external sources, we know that she continued and expanded the practices she had begun with the O'Flaerties in her own territory. She also built alliances with a number of clans, the O'Malley's, the Berks, the O'Flaeteries, the McCormack's, the McNallies, the Conroy's, and the Clodonels. It's testament to her leadership that this many men agreed to follow a woman in a time and place when she couldn't officially become a chieftain. To get a picture of the power that she garnered in the years after returning back to Ool, take a quote from Sir Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland. in 1577, 13 years after Grace's husband died. Quote,

There came to me a most famous feminine sea captain named Granny Imali, with three galleys and 200 fighting men, either in Scotland or in Ireland. She brought with her her husband, for she was well by sea and by land, well more than Mrs. Mate with him. This was a notorious woman in all the coasts of Ireland,

and quote. You might be thinking, thinking, husband, I thought her husband was dead. You are correct. Sydney is actually referring to surprise, husband number two, to whom Grace married in 1567. This husband was, let me take a deep breath here, Richard on Einren Burke, chieftin of the Sep of Ulrich of Burrhusel and Kara. He was a wealthy, well-connected, and, most importantly, man who was fine with Grace continuing business as usual during their marriage. Unlike Donald, it seems Richard was less bothered by having a powerful wife, evidenced by Sidney's declaration that she was more than Mrs. Mate with him, and his usually being

referred to as, quote, Grace O'Malley's husband in English sources. Still, there are a number of legend of spats during their marriage, including one in which Grace locks Richard out of his own castle and shouts from the top of the tower declaring divorce. I wonder if this legend served to make Grace seem powerful or hysterical, but either way, in reality, the couple never divorced. Legend also tells that their only son, Theobald, whom the couple had the same year they married, was born at sea. The next day, Algerian, pirates attacked the ship, and Grace rose from bed to fight, apparently declaring, quote, take this from an unconsecrated hands, unquote, referring to the old Catholic custom that women who had

recently given birth could not participate in ceremonies. Legends also make up most of Grace's pirating stories from this time. She saved the wealthy son of a merchant from the wreckage of a ship, and he became her lover. When he was killed by the McMahones of Duna Castle, she seized it out of vengeance. Apparently, she kidnapped the grandson of an earl after he was inhospitable to her. What we know as truth is that her leadership skills,

along with the skills of her second husband, would be put to the test in the 1570s. That quote from Henry Sidney about his meeting with Grace was not just a chat over coffee. He and his son, the poet and soldier, Sir Philip Sidney, were making the rounds to actively get Irish lords to submit their lands to them,

and Grace and her husband Richard were facing increasing pressure to do the same. The extended version of that quote from Sydney actually reads, quote, There came to me also a most famous feminine sea captain named Granny Imali and offered her services unto me, wheresoever I would command her with three galleys and 200 fighting men." Grace knew that if power had to be exchanged,

she had something to bargain with. Offering an ally ship, instead of a surrender of her lands, was a shrewd move, one that Sydney accepted. He asked Grace if she could show him the seaside from one of her galleys, which she accepted if he paid for the trip. A few weeks after her encounter with Sydney, Gray set out on a routine plundering mission to Munster, the lands of the Earl of Desmond. But for the first time in her life, her mission failed, and she and three crew members were captured by the Earl's people.

Desmond was desperate for political power, and he thought imprisoning the famous Irish pirate would appeal to Queen Elizabeth. It would be a long confinement. 1578, the English president of Munster would write correspondence to Sydney, describing the Earl's prisoner as, quote, a woman that hath imprudently passed the part of womanhood, and been a great spoiler and chief commander and director of thieves and murderers at sea to spoil this provenance, end quote. As we often see with condemnations of women who transgress, there are two crimes, Grace is supposedly guilty of, pirating, and not fulfilling her designated role as a woman. A year and a half after her initial confinement, she was taken in chains to Dublin Castle,

where she was imprisoned again and her three companions were executed. We don't know why Grace was released in early 1579, but she was, and she resumed her life at Carragului Castle by March, thinking her vulnerable The Galway merchants anxious about the inevitable return of her less than legal taxes attacked her castle, but they were swiftly defeated. The next short period of Grace's life was largely political. Though she and her husband's combined forces were now about 2,000 men, Richard gained the position of the Mac William, one of the most powerful and prestigious chieftaincies as the leader of the Berks or Mayo Burks. This new level of power put them in closer proximity with the English, and Richard ended up signing a surrender and re-grant agreement, but one that uniquely let him retain autonomous control of his lands in County Mayo.

Still, there are stories of Grace and Richard refusing English taxes, threatening messengers never to return. Grace and Richard were well matched. But in 1583, Richard died of natural causes. At 53, Grace was yet again a widow. This time, however, she refused to lose what she had gained during her marriage, and she gathered her followers to reside in his castle. This apparently worked out well for her, as she retained Richard's assets and her own, even after his death. Life wasn't slowing down, though, and Grace was soon embroiled in a new way. rebellion. In 1584, an Englishman named Sir Richard Bingham was appointed provincial president of Kinnacht, which included Grace's Mayo. Bingham preferred a violent approach when it came to taking

Ireland, and he particularly singled out Grace as a potential threat. He kidnapped her son Theobald and held him hostage for a year. After a series of other violent transgressions, the Burke's rose up against Bingham. In the fighting, Bingham ordered his brother to seize the land of Grace's son, Owen. Grace later testified that Owen had offered hospitality, but he ended up, quote, cruelly murdered, having 12 deadly wounds, and quote. As you can imagine, Grace was infuriated and eagerly joined the rebellion against Bingham. In one of the most shocking stories from the time, Grace learned that her second son, still from her first marriage, had allied out of personal gain, with the man who had killed his brother. She did not hesitate to attack. A letter from Bingham

describes the conflict, which reads, his, referring to her second son, Afra-said mother, granny, being out of charity with her son for serving her matey, manned out her navy of galleys, and landed in Balinensee where he dwelleth, burned his town, and spoiled his people of their cattle and goods, and murdered three or four of his men, which offered to make resistance. Remember, her oldest son had been murdered and her youngest kidnapped. Her middle son was a traitor, and so she didn't hesitate to turn against him. By the late 1580s, Elizabeth I replaced Biggham with a man who she ordered to make peace with the

Together, she and the new Lord Deputy presented a list of crimes against Bingham. He was tried and acquitted in 1590. But that wasn't the end of Bingham's involvement in Grace's story, nor is it the end of Elizabeth's. Bingham wanted vengeance, and he blamed his downfall on Grace. On his return to Ireland, now demoted as a mere governor, he devastated Grace's lands while she was at sea. and when her son Theobald tried to stage another uprising against him, he impounded Grace's fleet and further plundered her territory, leaving her with nothing. Theobald was forced to surrender and was once again captured and imprisoned by Bingham.

With Grace's fleet destroyed and her resources massively depleted, she decided her best course of action in this case would be diplomacy. In a letter dated 1593, she goes for a strategic emotional appeal. She argues that everything she has done has been in self-defense, as Queen Elizabeth would do against her own enemies. Knowing that Queen Elizabeth I was a similar age to her 63, Grace asked, quote, in tender consideration whereof and in regard of her great age, to grant her some reasonable maintenance for the little time she hath to live.

Grace also appealed for sympathy as a widow, who was never granted her proper compensation from the government. The real meat of the letter is, of course, the exchange she proposes, the release of her son in exchange for her lands, along with the pledge of her services seafaring. She would, in other words, become a pirate on Elizabeth's behalf. It might seem like Grace was submitting to English rule, but as she did with Sir Sidney years earlier, she was playing a complex political game.

The English takeover of Ireland seemed imminent to Grace, but she could use her lands as a bargaining chip in the meantime to win back something she cared about more, her son. Let's also not forget how bold it was for her to appeal directly to the Queen of England. While Grace was a noble daughter in Ireland and a powerful political force, you couldn't exactly call her a peer in terms of on-paper status. While the petition was en route to London, things went from bad to worse. Theobald was named as a conspirator against England and was to be tried for treason. At the same time, Grace's half-brother Donnell, remember him, was arrested by Bingham. Legend says that at this point, Grace took matters into her own hands and set sail for London without an official response.

We know that she was at court from June to September of that year, and during that time, the Earl of Ormond, a cousin and favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, introduced Grace to the chief advisor to the queen, Lord Burgley. Berkeley sent O'Malley 18 articles of interrogatory to investigate her life, basically a Q&A intake form, which Grace answered and returned. Despite Bingham's protests, Elizabeth agreed to sit down with Grace and hear her petition. The two would officially meet over the summer in Greenwich Palace. As you can imagine, there are a number of bits of folklore that are associated with this meeting. Some legends tell that Grace carried a concealed dagger under her finery. Some believe she dressed in traditional Irish costume instead or walked barefoot.

Other stories are that she refused to bow before the queen. My personal favorite is an anecdote in which Grace was offered a noblewoman's lace handkerchief. After using it, she threw it into the fireplace, to the horror of the court. Elizabeth explained that the handkerchief was meant to be placed back into her pocket, but Grace explained that in Ireland, handkerchiefs are not reused on the basis of cleanliness. While we don't know what exactly happened in that meeting room, Elizabeth's own letter detailing her reactions paints the clearest picture.

The queen speaks of grace with respect, and when it comes to her transgression, Elizabeth writes that simply, quote, she half in times lived out of order, end quote. A simple way to put it. Elizabeth felt compassion as Grace described the mistreatment of her family. In fact, the only thing Queen Elizabeth was unsettled by was the way Grace spoke without remorse of the way she attacked her traitorous middle son.

Elizabeth even heard the pirate queen out as she argued that she wanted to be reinstated to her work in, as Elizabeth put it, quote, maintenance. by land and sea. Quite the euphemism for piracy. Elizabeth saw Grace as a valuable asset and additionally agreed on the basis that it, quote, might yield to her some maintenance for her living the rest of her old years, end quote. Grace had played her cards quite well. She may have been considered quite old at the time, but with Elizabeth's permission, she was ready to head back to see. The fruit of Grace, Grace's efforts was Elizabeth ordering an investigation into Richard Bingham and an explanation for his extreme actions. Toward the end of September, the Queen ordered the release of Theobald and Donal,

for Grace herself, with regards to what Elizabeth described as, quote, having not, by the customs of the Irish, any title to any livelihood, or position, or portion of her two husband's land, now being a widow, end quote, the queen ordered for portions of the taxes the crown would collect from her son's lands to be devoted to Grace instead. Satisfied Grace returned home, where Bingham initially refused to act in accordance to the queen's orders. Grace threatened him that she would call upon the queen once again, and ultimately, he complied. Bingham, of course, wasn't done, though, and once again sought to deplete Grace's resources. She sailed back to London one more time in 1595, where her claims were once again investigated. Bingham, fearing more charges in Ireland, fled back to England where he

was arrested. The closest I think we've ever come to a happy ending in one of these episodes. The last record we have of Grace's pirating comes in 1601 when the captain of an English warship came into contact with one of her galleys, and he named her as the ship's owner. This means that upon Grace's death in 1603, she might have been still sailing, up until the very end. That's the story of Grace O'Malley, but keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a little bit more about her legends. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Wodom. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and The Big Big. Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell.

Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day and I was like, and dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings, I'm working my way up through and I know it's a place that come look for up-and-coming talent. He said if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit.

If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, everyone.

Everyone, I'm Ago Wodom. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place they come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved.

And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat, just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Grace O'Malley was a fascinating figure and remains an icon to this day. Though she was long dismissed by official Irish sources, she's a local legend, and her meeting with Elizabeth is held up as a symbol of Irish strength in a desperate time for the country. Her cultural preservation is an odd mix. English sources documented her as a nuisance, Irish folklore mystifies her as an enigma, and feminist texts wouldn't even come into conversation with her until long after Grace was gone. As Anne Chambers points out in her book Grace O'Malley, the biography of Ireland's pirate queen, before the influence of the church, Ireland was once a matriarchal culture in which most of the deities were women. The name of Ireland itself is derived from the mother goddess, Ayru, or Ere, who was believed to be one of the three legendary goddesses who ruled the country. Ireland's official sources may have long dismissed that, but folklore never did.

As Chambers argues, quote, by the time of Granue in the 16th century, an analogy for an independent woman ruler could be found only in myth and legend. In turn, this caused the life of Gronue herself to be relegated to myth. Rather than acknowledged that a woman could usurp what had by then come to be accepted as the exclusive role of men. Noble Blood is a production of IHeart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky. Noble Blood is hosted by me, Dana Schwartz. Additional writing and researching done by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman. The show is produced by Rima Il Kiali,

with supervising producer Josh Thane, and executive producers Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from IHeartRadio, visit the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Vodom.

My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah. It would not be right. It wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Yeah. Listen to thanks dad on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.

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