A funny piece in The Guardian about Gráinne Ni Mhaille (one of the myriad ways to say/spell her name – and perhaps the most poetic). Otherwise known as Grace (or Grania) O’Malley, Irish female pirate from the 16th century. I am descended from her, and my sister, Jean Grania, bears her name.
More on Grania (“the Pirate Queen”) here.
Thanks, peteb, for the heads up on these links.
CW has more on Grania, plus a ton of other stuff on cool pirates through the ages here, here, and here. There’s probably more, but his blog is now moving (at least for me) at the breakneck speed of a sluggish glacier, and I can’t seem to get around over there with ease. Lots of cool pirate stuff though, in those links.
That is so cool and we just don’t do nicknames like that anymore unless you count the whole porn star name thing, er.. anyway.
Hey, any pirate shirts maybe? Um, just askin’.
And, totally unconnected to this post, everyone will now be significantly more cautious in their comments… possibly ;)
Lots of cool pirate stuff definitely, and castle-attacker, cattle-rustler, commander of her own private army, and, according to a Tudor official of the time, a “director of thieves and murderers”… *ahem*
…well, the last one does sound like propaganda.. but that CV includes negotiations with Elizabeth I – negotiations that Gráinne did very well out of by all accounts. And that particular Queen was no push-over.
(As an aside, the ‘Asbo’ mentioned in the Guardian Pass Notes piece is an “Anti-Social Behaviour Order” – a curfew and movement restriction introduced by a certain Mr Blair.)
Very cool that you’re a descendent of such a grand figure, red. Her story reminds me in strong terms of “Fanny” by Erica Jong. It’s a good book, but I was considerably dismayed to learn that it’s been 24 years since it was published! In my poor, necrotic brain, I still think of something that came along many years after Fear Of Flying as being relatively RECENT…
Well, obviously, an ACTUAL PIRATE wearing a pirate shirt is feckin’ COOL. But some off-off-Broadway actor, who has carefully tousled hair, and sips mixed drinks in some nightclub? If he wears a pirate shirt, then I’m sorry. He is a total assclown.
Isn’t any shirt worn by a pirate by definition a pirate(‘s) shirt?
:)
Also sprach Sheila, Pirate Queen of the Interwebthingie. ;-)
Well, OK. But what if, say, you always wanted to be a pirate but you couldn’t afford it? You know, student loans and the pressures of rent and bills and all the rest, plus it’s really hard to explain that to your parents as a career choice. So say instead you went into investment banking, or legal work, or opened a small greengrocery store. Can you wear the pirate shirt then? 8)
Wear your pirate shirt if it’s what floats your boat. Er … so to speak. But don’t expect me to like it, or not to call you a moron behind your back. Deal?
Also, Linus, I think it’s a pretty funny concept:
I want to be a pirate, but I can’t afford it.
Like … isn’t one of the points of being a pirate to hijack OTHER people’s wealth???
So yeah, you may be broke, but get a little outboard motor, and hijack a yacht! Simple!
:)
Oh, go hijack a yacht!
heh heh heh
Now there’s an insult you don’t hear every day :)
heh heh It made me think of my boyfriend and I, tooling around the bay in Newport, in our tiny outboard motor, staring up at … oh … Billy Joel’s yacht, and Donald Trump’s yacht … and we were little paupers in our outboard motor, gaping up at all the wealth.
The bars in Newport have docks attached to them – so you can pull your boat up, and go inside and have a drink.
So you should have seen us … parallel parking our OUTBOARD MOTOR … in between these palatial yachts, so we could go have a beer at some swanky Newport bar. Hysterical. We felt a little bit like pirates, come to think of it.
Did the ancestral voices sing out to you as you snuck around those jewel-encrusted sailing vessels, Sheila Ni Mhaille? ;)
and I know what phrase I’ll be biting my lip against next time I see somone in a pirate shirt.
I don’t think it was the ancestral voice singing to me as much as it was my 3rd Bloody Mary before 11 am calling me.
Now THAT is happiness:
Tooling around with your boyfriend in an outboard motor on a sunny summer morning, the spray in your face, stopping off at bars here and there to have Bloody Marys … and talk the day away. Basically pretending we were rich, even though we were poor.
We LOVED to do that. We would spend entire summers behaving in that way. It was so damn cool.
*cue John Williams soundtrack*
;)
Nah. Too grandiose. More like Elvis Costello or something.
The nicest summer days ever…
There was one John Williams soundtrack in particular I had in mind, Sheila.. circa 1975..
heh heh heh Okay, okay. I was picturing Star Wars … but you’re thinking of a bigger boat, I believe. heh heh
heh heh
Yup, you’d definitely need a bigger boat for the soundtrack I was thinking of.
I am SO glad that that movie never once entered my mind during those glorious summer days. It would have wrecked it for me! heh heh
Arrrrh Sheila,
I learned new facts from one of your links about Grania: Her first husband was named “Donal the Cock”, and her second husband was named “Iron Dick”.
Also, real pyrates wear Royal Robbins.
“…Like … isn’t one of the points of being a pirate to hijack OTHER people’s wealth???
Well, yes. But, you know, the overhead. Dialog coach, cutlass, pistols, parrot. Once you get into the actual pirating thing it’s all gravy, but setup is a bitch.
So the names of her husbands seem to suggest, CW, that, for Grania, size obviously DID matter?
I like this woman more and more.
:)