Qualla: Battle of Callann https://qualla.com/battle-of-callann en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:11 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Battle of Callann https://qualla.com/battle-of-callann Battle of Callann: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-callann/ On a summer day in August 1261, in a steep wooded townland near what is now the village of Kilgarvan, a Norman army marched into a Gaelic ambush and did not march out. John FitzThomas FitzGerald, 1st Baron Desmond - one of the most powerful Hiberno-Norman lords in Ireland - was killed alongside his son Maurice. Fifteen knights died with them. Eight noble barons. Countless soldiers. The annals of medieval Ireland recorded the dead with the careful precision of scribes who understood that something had shifted. The Norman tide that had been rolling west across Ireland for almost a century broke here, in a Kerry townland whose name most people have forgotten.

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/r/battle-of-callann-wp/gc1r-battle-of-callann-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Callann: The Long Conquest https://qualla.com/battle-of-callann/ The Normans had landed at Bannow Bay in May 1169, invited by Diarmait Mac Murchada, the ousted King of Leinster, who needed Cambro-Norman mercenaries to recover his throne. Within weeks they had seized Leinster. Within two years, Henry II of England had crossed the sea to formali...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/r/battle-of-callann-wp/gc1r-battle-of-callann-the-long-conquest.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Callann: Fínghin Mac Carthaigh https://qualla.com/battle-of-callann/ Fínghin Mac Carthaigh - Fineen MacCarthy in the anglicised form - was the son of Donal Gott MacCarthy and the reigning King of Desmond. He was the man whose lands FitzThomas had just been granted. He chose not to wait for the Normans to come to him. Throughout the early months of...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/r/battle-of-callann-wp/gc1r-battle-of-callann-f-nghin-mac-carthaigh.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Callann: What the Annals Recorded https://qualla.com/battle-of-callann/ Medieval Irish annals are spare. The scribes wrote in clipped Latin and Irish, noting deaths and battles in single lines. The Annals of Loch Cé recorded the day at Callann: 'John son of Thomas, and his son, and fifteen knights and eight noble barons along with them, were slain th...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/r/battle-of-callann-wp/gc1r-battle-of-callann-what-the-annals-recorded.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Callann: The Cost of Victory https://qualla.com/battle-of-callann/ Fínghin did not enjoy his triumph for long. The same annals that record the battle record his death later that year - killed by the Galls, in retaliation. The Norman response was swift, and it took the king of Desmond with it. The lordship passed to his brother, called the Aithcl...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/r/battle-of-callann-wp/gc1r-battle-of-callann-the-cost-of-victory.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Callann: A Battlefield Without a Monument https://qualla.com/battle-of-callann/ The Callann townland sits in the steep, wooded country north of the Roughty River, close to where it flows toward Kenmare Bay. There is no monument on the field. No interpretive panel marks the ambush site. The road from Kilgarvan winds up into the hills as it would have then, na...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/r/battle-of-callann-wp/gc1r-battle-of-callann-a-battlefield-without-a-monument.mp3 0:06 6 full