A history of Ireland in 100 objects O'Queally Chalice, 1640

This superb silver chalice declares its origins very clearly. Engraved on the base in Latin is “Malachy O’Queally Doctor of Sacred Theology from Paris and Archbishop of Tuam had this chalice made for the convent of friars minor of Rosserrilly [Co Galway], 1640.” O’Queally, with his continental connections, was representative of the key role of the Franciscans in re-creating an Irish Catholic identity after the Flight of the Earls. Driven by the scholar and historian Luke Wadding, the order established the Irish colleges at Louvain and Rome and re-established their own houses in Ireland.

With its inscription “I will lift the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord”, and its bold engravings of the Crucifixion alongside O’Queally’s own coat of arms, the chalice speaks of a resurgent and militant faith. It is not surprising that, with the outbreak of a Catholic rebellion the year after it was made, O’Queally himself took up arms in its cause.

After initial rebel successes in Ulster, government forces quickly regained the upper hand, and by the summer of 1642 the rebellion was close to collapse. But in August civil war broke out between King Charles and his parliament in England. The government offensive ground to a halt. The war in Ireland settled down for seven years of bloody stalemate.

The indigenous and Old English sides of the Catholic elite formalised their alliance as the Confederate Association, with its capital in Kilkenny and its military organisation strengthened by the return from continental wars of veteran soldiers, most notably Owen Roe O’Neill. It was ostentatiously Catholic – its banners bore images of the Virgin Mary – and its effective leader was the nuncio, Archbishop Rinuccini.

At the same time, the Scottish Covenanters sent troops, under Gen Robert Monro, to Ulster to protect Protestant settlers; some of them committed revenge atrocities against Catholic civilians. The three armed forces in Ireland – royalist, confederate and Scots – became four in 1644, when the royalist commander in Munster, Lord Inchiquin, defected to parliament.

Archbishop O’Queally raised troops for the confederacy from the early stages of the rebellion. In October 1645 he led his forces to attempt to retake the port of Sligo, which had fallen to the parliamentarians. He was killed in a surprise attack by Scots and his army routed.

A similar fate met confederate troops in 1647. After the king’s defeat in England, Ormonde surrendered Dublin to the parliamentarians, under Michael Jones, who then routed a large confederate army outside the city at Dungan’s Hill. Large numbers of prisoners were put to the sword. Shortly afterwards, the confederates suffered further losses when Inchiquin, reinforced with fresh men and supplies from England, launched a bloody offensive in Munster.

In 1648 a second civil war erupted in England, stalling this parliamentary offensive. Owen Roe O’Neill, disgruntled over a renewed peace deal between the confederates and the royalists, agreed a temporary truce with parliamentary commanders. The following year, Jones repulsed Ormonde’s attack on Dublin, defeating his forces at Rathmines, clearing the way for the landing of the triumphant parliamentary New Model Army, led by Oliver Cromwell.

Thanks to Raghnall Ó Floinn

Where to see it In the Franciscan Faith exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts History, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7, 01-6777444,

[ museum.ie ]