Mellifont

Mellifont, Treaty of, brought the Nine Years War 1594-1603 to a conclusion. Having threatened the existence of English rule in Ireland with his famous victory at the battle of the Yellow Ford in 1598, the ambitions of Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone were thwarted following his defeat at Kinsale in 1601. Denied victory, Tyrone’s tenacity in withstanding English armies for a further sixteenth months proved the key to the propitious terms which he was ultimately granted in the Treaty of Mellifont. Far from suffering execution and confiscation of his family lands for treason, the earl of Tyrone suffered a marginal penalty so far as loss of territory was concerned. The financial costs of the English war effort had drained the English exchequer. Combined with the imminent demise of Elizabeth I and the expected ascension of James Stuart (widely suspected in England of being a sympathiser of the earl of Tyrone) to the English throne, Tyrone was offered surprisingly favourable terms.