GRACE O’MALLEY THREATENS QUEEN ELIZABETH’S REPRESENTATIVE. Annalisa gave me for Christmas GRANUAILE by Anne Chambers, a biography of Grace O’Malley, the pirate queen. Since there are many legends surrounding Grace O’Malley, it is good that there is good documentary evidence about her in the Elizabethan records. Anne Chambers quotes from the records extensively and reprints a number of the documents.
One example which suggests what Grace O’Malley was like in person is a report on a meeting made to Sir Francis Walsingham, the Queen’s secretary by an official sent to collect rent owing the Queen under a written agreement:
“I went ther hence towardes the plas wher M’William was, who met me and his wyfe Grayn Ny Mayle with all their force, and did swer they wolde hav my lyfe for comyng soo furr into ther countrie and specialie his wyfe wold fyght with me befor she was half a myle nier me….”