Share This Article This event is known as "the Flight of the Earls." Catholics flee Henry VIII’s reforms Lancastrians flee after Bosworth O’Neill and O’Donnell flee Ireland Scot nobles flee after Culloden Earls O’Neill and O’Donnell flee Ireland. After the Battle of Kinsale, Dec. 24, 1601, and the end of the Nine Years War in Ulster, Hugh O’Neill and Hugh O’Donnell went into exile on the Continent to escape further English prosecution.