Philip O'Sullivan Beare (Irish: Pilib Ó Súilleabháin Béirre, c. 1590–1660) was a military officer descended from the Gaelic nobility of Ireland, who became more famous as a writer. He fled to Habsburg Spain during the time of Tyrone's Rebellion, when the Irish clans and Gaelic Ireland were making their last stand against Tudor England. He subsequently authored the book, the Catholic History of Ireland, which offered a history from the perspective of the native Irish Catholic population.
Philip O'Sullivan Beare was born in Dursey, the son of Dermot O'Sullivan and nephew of Donal O'Sullivan Beare, Prince of Beare. The O'Sullivans, headed by the O'Sullivan Beare, owned much of Valentia Island in south-western Ireland.[1]
He was sent to Spain in 1602, and was educated at Compostela by Vendamma, a Spaniard, and John Synnott, an Irish Jesuit.[2]
He served in the Spanish army. In 1621 he published his Catholic History of Ireland, a work which is described as "deliberately polemical",[3] and in the Catholic Encyclopedia as "not always reliable, but valuable for the Irish wars of the author's own day".[4] He also wrote a Life of St. Patrick, a confutation of Gerald of Wales and a reply to James Usher's attack on his History.[4]
He died in 1660 in Spain, leaving a "daughter of twelve years to inherit his titles in Ireland and his goods".[5]
O'Sullivan Beare, Philip, Zoilomastix. Spain. 1625. Translated into English by Denis O'Sullivan 2009, titled The Natural History of Ireland. Cork: Cork University Press.
Magee, Thomas D'Arcy (1846). Irish Writers of the Seventeenth Century. Dublin.
O'Sullivan Beare, Philip (1850). Kelly, Matthew (ed.). Catholic History of Ireland. Dublin.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
O'Sullivan Beare, Philip (1904). History of Ireland. Translated by Byrne, Matthew J. London.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Philip O'Sullivan Beare". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
