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Garret Barry
Frontispiece of his book "A Discourse ..."
Died	March 1646 Limerick
Allegiance	Spain Irish Confederation
Rank	Captain in the Spanish service, General of the Confederate Munster army
Battles / wars	Eighty Years' War Irish Confederate Wars

Garret Barry, also called Gerat (died 1646), was an Irish soldier and military writer, who fought for Spain in the Eighty Years' War and then for the Irish insurgents in the Rebellion and the Confederate Wars. When young he left Kinsale at its surrender in 1602 for Spain where he took service, first as marine in the Atlantic Fleet and then in the Army of Flanders. While in Spanish service, he fought at the Siege of Breda in 1624/1625. He retired with the rank of captain in 1632. Returning to Ireland he was at the Rebellion appointed general of the insurgents' Munster Army. He took Limerick in June 1642 but was defeated at Liscarroll by Inchiquin in September. He was confirmed as General of the Munster Army by the Irish Catholic Confederation but was in practice superseded by Castlehaven in 1643.

Birth and origins

Garret was probably born near the end of the 16th century. and is probably the 'Garrot Barry', eldest of the four sons of 'David FitzGarret Barry', 'dwelling at Rincorran', who is mentioned in Pacata Hibernia in the context of the Siege of Kinsale, Munster, Ireland in 1602. Rincurran, also spelled Rincorran, is a locality near Kinsale. Rincurran Castle stood where Charles Fort, built in 1677, now stands. It was also called Barry Óg's Castle as it belonged to the Barry Óg (younger) branch of the de Barrys. Garret's father was a member of a cadet branch of the De Barrys, possibly the Barry Ogs. The de Barrys were a landed Old English family, seated in County Cork. During most of Barry's life, first David de Barry, 5th Viscount Buttevant and then David Barry, 1st Earl of Barrymore were heads of the family. Unlike Barry, both sided with the government.

Siege of Kinsale

Tyrone's Rebellion, also called the Nine Years' War in Ireland was a theatre of the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604), as a Spanish expeditionary force under Juan del Águila landed at Kinsale end September 1601 Old Style (O.S.). Águila garrisoned Rincurran Castle. Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, Deputy of Ireland, rushed down to Munster and started the siege early in October. He took Rincurran Castle in November. After Tyrone's defeat at the battle of Kinsale in December and the surrender of Kinsale in February 1602, Barry, in company of his parents and three brothers, was allowed to leave Ireland together with the Spanish in March 1602.

Spanish Service

Barry served for four years as a marine in the Spanish Atlantic Fleet in the Irish company of Hugh Mostyn. In June 1605 his unit was transferred to the Army of Flanders to bolster the offensive led by Ambrogio Spinola, against the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Barry landed at Dunkirk (part of the Spanish Netherlands at the time) in December 1605. His unit joined the newly created Irish Tercio, commanded by Henry O'Neill, a younger son of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. Barry fought as a soldier at the siege of Rheinberg in 1608. Some time between 1610 and 1621 Henry died and was succeeded as maestre de campo by Shane O'Neill, who was however too young and Owen Roe O'Neill was acting commander. Tyrone died in far away Rome and in the eyes of the Spanish Shane O'Neill, the eldest surviving son, succeeded as Conde de Tyrone. His tercio became Tyrone's Tercio.

Barry was promoted ensign in 1623. The tercio's maestre de campo, Henry O'Neill, died about 1626 and Owen Roe O'Neill succeeded in his post. Barry fought at the capture of Breda in 1624 and 1625. In 1628 he became captain in command of a company in Tyrone's Tercio. In 1632 he retired from active service.

In about 1639 he returned to Ireland to recruit for the Army of Flanders.

General of the Munster Army

In October 1641 Phelim O'Neill launched the Irish Rebellion from the northern province of Ulster. When Barry visited Ireland in 1640 to recruit for the Spanish Army, his endeavour was interrupted by the arrival of the rebellion in Southern Ireland. Barry sided with his fellow Catholics.

In January 1642 Barry and Maurice Roche, 8th Viscount Fermoy besieged Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork in Youghal. On 2 March 1642 Donough MacCarty, the 2nd Viscount Muskerry joined the rebellion To resolve the rivalry between Muskerry and Fermoy, Barry was chosen as General of the insurgents' Munster army.

In March 1642 Barry, Muskerry besieged William St Leger, the President of Munster, in Cork but were driven off by Murrough O'Brien, 6th Baron Inchiquin, on 13 April.

Barry then besieged King John's Castle in Limerick for the insurgents and took it through skillful use of the siege techniques he had learnt in Flanders—in particular undermining of the castle's walls (see Siege of Limerick 1642). The castle surrendered in June 1642. He then used the artillery captured at King John's Castle to capture other castles in County Limerick. He then tried to invade County Cork again but was driven off in disorder at the Battle of Liscarroll on 3 September 1642 by Inchiquin with a numerically much inferior force.

When the insurgents organised themselves as the Irish Catholic Confederates in October 1642, Barry was confirmed as commander of the Munster army by the general assembly.

In 1643 Barry prepared to besiege the town of Cappoquin in County Waterford, held by Inchiquin. When Ormond came south from Dublin and besieged New Ross in March 1643, Barry tried to relieve it with the Munster army, but Thomas Preston with the Leinster army got there first. Preston relieved the town but was beaten by Ormond at the Battle of New Ross on 18 March 1643. The war in southern Ireland was stopped by the Cessation signed on 15 September 1643.

Barry seems to have kept the position until his death in early March 1646 at Limerick but took little further part in the war.

Works

Barry wrote two published books:

• The Siege of Breda (Louvain: Henricus Hastenius, 1627) online at Google Books
• A Discourse of Military Discipline (Brussels: Widow of John Mommart, 1634) online at the University of Michigan

The Siege of Breda is essentially a translation into English of the Obsidio Bredana by Herman Hugo with some additions from Barry's own participation in this siege. Hugo's book had appeared in Latin in 1626.

The Discourse was meant as an introduction to the subject for young Irishmen envisaging to take Spanish service as infantry officers. It was dedicated to David Barry, 1st Earl of Barrymore: "To the Right Honorable David Barry, Earle of Barry-Moor, Viconte of Butevante, Baron of Ibaune, Lord of Barrycourte and Castelliones", who was the head of the Barrys, even if a Protestant.

Notes and references

Notes

1. Muskerry changed sides on Ash Wednesday 1642. Calculations with the Easter Calculator of the University of Utrecht or that of the IMCCE show that Ash Wednesday fell on 2 March in 1642.

Citations

1. ^ Gilbert 1885, p. 319, right column. "Barry was born in the latter part of the sixteenth century ..."
2. ^ Lenihan 2004, p. 130, right column. "Barry, Gerat (d. 1646), army officer  ... was probably the individual of that name who embarked from Kinsale with the Spanish forces in March 1601 in the company of his father, David FitzGerrot Barry of Rincurran ..."
3. Stafford 1896, p. 66. "David FitzGarret Barry, and his wife and children dwelling at Rincorran. Garrot Barry, Nicholas Barry, John Barry, David Oge Barry – sons to David FitzGarrot aforesaid ..."
4. Lewis 1840, p. 514. "Rincurran a parish, partly in the baronny of Kinnalea, but chiefly in that of Kinsale ..."
5. Thuillier 2014, unknown. "... Barry Óg's Castle, now the site of Charles Fort."
6. Bagwell 1890, p. 399. "... on September 23 Don Juan disembarked all his men without opposition."
7. Hayes-McCoy 1976, p. 134. "About 3,500 of the troops landed unopposed at Kinsale on 21 September and the days following."
8. Silke 1970, p. 110. "... Kindsale where Águila disembarked om 2 October ."
9. Silke 1970, p. 112. "Rincorran Castle stood on the east bank of the harbour, about a mile from the entrance. ... This castle Águila garrisoned."
10. Silke 1970, p. 123. "On 11 November Mountjoy forced the surrender of the fort."
11. Ekin 2016, p. . ""
12. Dowen 2019, p. 38, line 11. "Numbered among them was Gerat Barry who, along with many other Irishmen and their families, had been allowed to leave Ireland under the terms of surrender negotiated by the Spanish commander Juan de Águila."
13. Dowen 2019, p. 38, line 14. "Initially serving as a marine in the Atlantic Fleet in the Irish company of Hugh Mostyn ..."
14. Mesa 2014, p. 13. "In 1605 the first Irish tercio, that of Henry O'Neill, its maestre de campo, was created in Flanders."
15. ^ Dunlop 1895a, p. 196, left column. "... Henry, a colonel of an Irish regiment in the Archduke's army, who died about 1626;"
16. ^ Lenihan 2004, p. 131, left column, line 1. "... a private soldier at the siege of Rheinsberg in 1608 and was promoted through the ranks to ensign (1623) ..."
17. Casway 1969, p. 48. "With the death of Henry O'Neill in August 1610 ..."
18. Canny 2004, p. 839, left column. "... and Henry O'Neill (1586?–1617x1621)."
19. Dowen 2019, p. 41. " Barry was placed in command of a company in Tyrone's Tercio ..."
20. ^ Armstrong 2009, 1st paragraph, 3rd sentence. "... by 1632 was awarded a pension as a wounded veteran ..."
21. Gilbert 1885, p. 320, left column. "Barry attained to the rank of colonel under the King of Spain, for whose service he was employed to raise troops in Ireland."
22. Dunlop 1895b, p. 205. "In accordance with the final arrangements for the rebellion, Sir Phelim on the evening of 22 Oct. surprised Charlemont Castle ..."
23. Corish 1976, p. 294, line 28. "... an army raised for the Spanish service by Colonel Garret Barry "
24. Townshend 1904, pp. 100–102. "... in the beginning of January Youghal had surrendered to the Irish under Lord Roche and General Barry. ... My Lord had some small notice of their coming, and therefore got with all his men into the castle ..."
25. McGrath 1997, p. 203, line 20. "He declared for his co-religionists on Ash Wednesday 1642 ..."
26. M'Enery 1904, p. 172. "Lord Muskerry joined the insurgents early in March ."
27. Corish 1976, p. 294, line 40. "... it was agreed that Colonel Barry should command the Munster forces."
28. Lenihan 1866, p. 37. "Lord Muskerry, Garret Barry, and other Irish commanders took possession of it the other day "
29. ^ M'Enery 1904, p. 176. "The castle was delivered up the same day ."
30. Ó Siochrú 2009, Last sentence of 2nd paragraph. "... appointed Garret Barry, a continental veteran, as compromise commander in Munster ..."
31. Coffey 1914, p. 122. "Barry, the General of the Munster Irish, who was preparing to attack Cappoquin, hurried to the relief of New Ross with fifteen hundred men."
32. ^ Airy 1886, p. 54, right column. "... and the cessation was signed on the 15 Sept. ."
33. ^ Lenihan 2004, p. 131, left column. "Barry died in Limerick City in early March 1646."
34. Armstrong 2009, last sentence of the article. "... seems to have retained his titular command until his death in March 1646."
35. Joyce 1903, p. 172. "On the 23d of September, 1601, a Spanish fleet entered the harbour of Kinsale with 3,400 troops ... "
36. Fryde et al. 1986, p. 44, line 1. "James I ... acc. 24 Mar. 1603 ..."
37. Fryde et al. 1986, p. 44, line 16. "Charles I. ... acc. 27 Mar. 1625 ..."
38. Asch 2004, p. 146, right column, line 23. "Wentworth was appointed lord deputy on 12 January 1632 ..."
39. Warner 1768, p. 6. "... the twenty-third October ... seized all the towns, castles, and houses belonging to the Protestants which they had force enough to possess;"
40. Cokayne 1895, p. 149, line 29. "Viceroy of Ireland, as Lord Lieutenant 1643–47 ..."
41. Coffey 1914, p. 152, line 16. "... landed at Kenmare October, 21st ."

Sources

• Airy, Osmund (1886). "Butler, James, twelfth Earl and first Duke of Ormonde (1610–1688)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. VIII. New York: MacMillan and Co. pp. 52–60. OCLC 8544105.
• Armstrong, Robert (October 2009). McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). "Barry, Garret (Gerat)". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
• Asch, Ronald G. (2004). "Wentworth, Thomas, first earl of Strafford (1593–1641)". In Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 56. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 142–157. ISBN 0-19-861408-X.
• Bagwell, Richard (1890). Ireland under the Tudors. Vol. III. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. OCLC 761857292. – 1579 to 1603
• Canny, Nicholas (2004). "O'Neill, Hugh [Aodh O'Neill], second earl of Tyrone (1583–1616)". In Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 41. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 837–845. ISBN 0-19-861391-1.
• Casway, Jerrold (1969). "Owen Roe O'Neill's Return to Ireland in 1642: The Diplomatic Background". Studia Hibernica (9): 48–64. doi:10.3828/sh.1969.9.2. JSTOR 20495923. S2CID 241936358.
• Coffey, Diarmid (1914). O'Neill and Ormond – A Chapter of Irish History. Dublin: Maunsel & Company. OCLC 906164979.
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• 1646 deaths
• De Barry family
• Irish Roman Catholic Confederates
• Irish soldiers in the Irish Confederate Wars
• Irish soldiers in the Spanish Army
• Military personnel from County Cork
• 17th-century Spanish military personnel
• Military writers