Flight of the Earls

On 14 September [O.S. 4 September] 1607, Irish earls Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, permanently departed Rathmullan in Ireland for mainland Europe, accompanied by their extended families, retinue, followers and fellow nobility, numbering about 100 people. The earls were patriarchs of the two most powerful clans in Ulster-the O'Neill and O'Donnell clans-and their permanent exile is seen to symbolise the end of Gaelic Irish society. This event is known as the Flight of the Earls.