3 November 2015
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
H.E. Jose Maria Roderiguez-Coso, the Spanish Ambassador to Ireland, laid a wreath at the plaque on Fort Hill, Kinsale, remembering the Battle of Kinsale in 1601.
During the famous siege and Battle of Kinsale, 3,500 Spanish troops arrived in Ireland to support the rebellion of O’Neill and O’Donnell leading to the Nine Year’s War.
Earlier today, the Ambassador also met with the 25 Spanish students who are spending the academic year in the Kinsale Community School.
Since coming to Ireland the ambassador is reported to have learned some Irish and feels that he already knows Kinsale since reading The Last Armada by Des Ekin. He will also meet local Spanish residents, members of the Bandon Kinsale District, Chamber of Tourism & Business and The Kinsale History Society.
History notes
As well as that 1601 connection Kinsale has previous Spanish connections, being one of the harbours from where the Irish sailed to take part in the Camino to Santiago from A Corruna and Ferrol. There may even be an earlier connection as Leabhar Gabhala Eireann (the book of the conquests of Ireland) includes the possible myth that the Milesians who settled in the south of Ireland came from Galicia the area around A Corruna where an estimated 10.000 Irish exiles lived in the early 1600’s.
Even the Mexican / Spanish celebration of the “Day of the Dead “ has a connection with All Souls and All Saints days as their Day of the Innocents and Day of the Little Angels are also celebrated on November 1st and 2nd.
