Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone

Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone^[b] (Irish: Aodh Mór Ó Néill; literally Hugh the Great O'Neill; c. 1550^[a] – 20 July 1616) was an Irish Gaelic lord and key figure of the Irish Nine Years' War. Known as the "Great Earl",^[4][5] O'Neill led the coalition of Irish clans against the English Crown in resistance to the Tudor conquest of Ireland under Queen Elizabeth I.

Hugh O'Neill Aodh Ó Néill
Earl of Tyrone
Tenure	1587–1607
Predecessor	Turlough Luineach O'Neill
Successor	Henry O'Neill
Born	c. 1550^[a] County Armagh, Ireland
Died	20 July 1616 (aged about 66) Rome, Papal States
Buried	San Pietro in Montorio, Rome
Spouse(s)	1. Katherine O'Neill 2. Siobhán O'Donnell 3. Mabel Bagenal 4. Catherine Magennis
Issue	Hugh, Henry, Alice, & others
Father	Matthew O'Neill
Mother	Siobhán Maguire

Though primarily raised in the Pale amongst English people, by the 1590s he was openly rebelling against the Crown's advances into Ulster, his province of birth. He formally allied with chiefs Red Hugh O'Donnell and Hugh Maguire via their marriages to his daughters.^[6][7]

He also held the title Baron Dungannon, and later became Chief of the Name of the O'Neill clan. O'Neill was decisively defeated at the Battle of Kinsale, and in what is known as the Flight of the Earls, fled with his countrymen to continental Europe. He was granted a small pension by Pope Paul V but died during his exile in Rome.^[8]

Family background and early life

Birth and family

Family tree

Hugh O'Neill with one of his wives, his father, and selected relatives^[c] Alice FitzGerald Conn 1st Earl Tyrone c. 1480 – 1559 Sorcha O'Neill Mathew 1st Baron Dungannon 1520–1558 Illegitimate d.v.p.* Joan Maguire 1558 Shane O'Neill c. 1530 – 1567 Art MacBaron Brian 2nd Earl Tyrone d. 1562 de jure Hugh 3rd Earl Tyrone c. 1540 – 1616 Siobhan O'Donnell d. 1591 Owen Roe O'Neill c. 1585 – 1649 Hugh O'Neill 1585–1609 d.v.p.* Randal 1st Earl Antrim d. 1636 Alice O'Neill 1583–1665 Legend XXX Subject of the article XXX Earl of Tyrone XXX Earls of Antrim XXX Baron Dungannon d.v.p. = decessit vita patris (predeceased his father)

Hugh O'Neill was born c. 1550^[a] in northern County Armagh - possibly in a crannog such as Marlacoo.^[12] He came from a line of the O'Neill dynasty—derbfine—that the English authorities recognized as the legitimate successors to the Chiefs of the O'Neills and to the title of Earl of Tyrone. He was the second son of Feardorcha "Matthew" O'Neill (reputed illegitimate son of Conn, 1st Earl of Tyrone)^[14] and Siobhan Maguire.^[8]

O'Neill succession conflict

During Hugh's childhood, a rivalry had formed between his uncle Shane and his father Matthew.^[12] Shane, a legitimate son of Conn O'Neill, employed the ambivalent status of Matthew's paternity to affirm his own claim to the title "The O'Neill". This centred on the claim that Matthew was the son of a Dublin blacksmith surnamed Kelly and his wife Alison, whom Conn Bacagh had had an affair with. This would render Matthew illegitimate in both the Irish and English systems of succession.^[15][8] Shane's immediate family became known as the "MacShanes", and Matthew's family as the "MacBarons". The English encouraged this conflict as it weakened the powerful O'Neill clan.^[12]

Matthew was killed in 1558^[5][8] by the O'Donnelly followers of Shane and Conn, placing his sons Brian and Hugh in a precarious situation. The continuing support for their claims came from the English administration in Dublin Castle, which was anxious to use the support of the sons of Matthew to break the independent power of the O'Neill lords of Ulster. This was part of a general English policy to transform Irish Gaelic titles into feudal titles granted under the Crown that would bring them entirely within the English legal system through a policy known as surrender and regrant, in which the Irish Clan Chiefs forcibly surrendered their lands to the Crown and had them granted back into their keeping as property of the Crown, rather than the property of the sept, or Gaelic extended family.^{[citation needed]}

Raised in the Pale

Upon his father's murder, Hugh O'Neill became a ward of the Crown. Hugh and his brother Brian were moved into the care of the Anglo-Irish Hovenden family, and were raised at their household in Balgriffin, County Dublin - a property that formerly belonged to Hugh's grandfather Conn.^[16][8] Giles Hovenden, Hugh's foster father, was an English settler in Laois.^[17] Growing up in the Pale, amongst English people, Hugh gained a knowledge of English customs and politics, mainly through his attendance at the Irish Parliament and the court in England. He was able to secure allies such as the Earls of Ormonde and Leicester.^[17][16] He would remain close with his adoptive family throughout the rest of his life.^[8]

Early political career

Baron of Dungannon

In 1562, he succeeded Brian, as Baron of Dungannon, when the latter was assassinated by Shane's tanist Turlough Luineach O'Neill.^[18][19] This suddenly made Hugh a significant figure in Ireland's political landscape.^[12]

Shane died in 1567. Hugh's wardship formally ended upon his return to Ulster under the protection of Sir Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland.^[4][8] Turlough had succeeded Shane as chief of the name, but was not recognized by the English as the legitimate Earl of Tyrone. The Crown, therefore, supported Hugh as the rightful claimant and as an ally in Gaelic-controlled Ulster.^{[citation needed]} Sidney granted Hugh territory in Oneilland, County Armagh, intending to keep Turlough from crossing south past the River Blackwater, thus creating further discord within the O'Neill family.^[8]

Now returned to his home province, Hugh began engaging the support of neighbouring Irish Gaelic families, including the O'Hagans, the O'Quinns and his own family the MacBarons. According to Sydney, these families "much repined that the great and regal estate of the O'Neill... should be so broken and dismembered". Hugh used his combined support from the Pale and Ulster to put Turlough under heavy pressure.^[8]

In 1580, during the Second Desmond Rebellion in Munster, Hugh fought with the English forces against Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond. In 1584 he assisted Sir John Perrot against Sorley Boy, the first Chief of Clan MacDonnell of the Glens. English commander Grey described him as the "first Irish lord to spill blood".^[4][16]

Earl of Tyrone

Hugh O'Neill was proclaimed Earl of Tyrone in 1585 but when he went through the ancient ritual of becoming 'The O'Neill', the Chief of Tír Eoghain, in 1595, he had thrown down the gauntlet to Tudor power.^[17][16]

 

Engraving of a portrait

Rise to power

In 1585 he was summoned to attend the Irish House of Lords in Dublin as Earl of Tyrone and,^[4] in 1587 after a visit to the Court in England, he was awarded a patent to the lands of his grandfather, the first earl, Conn O'Neill.^{[citation needed]}

However, with Turlough now having succeeded Shane as The O'Neill, he had yet to choose as tanist. The position was contested by Hugh and Shane's sons, the MacShanes. Due to their father, the MacShanes were favoured within Tyrone, but outside the kingdom, they were disliked because of the cruelty of their father towards the various smaller Kingdoms under the overlordship of the O'Neills. Furthermore, the MacShanes had lost a valuable ally in their kin, the Fitzgeralds of Desmond, following their defeat in the Desmond Wars.^[16]

Hugh, through marriage, was able to gain an important ally in Red Hugh O'Donnell of Tyrconnell, from whom he was able to secure Scottish mercenaries to fight the MacShanes. In turn, Hugh supported O'Donnell in a succession dispute within his own kingdom.^[16]

Through his other contacts, Hugh had the support of lords and earls in Ormonde, Leicester and Argyll, and even had the support of Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam, whom he bribed. With this overwhelming alliance, in 1592 Turlough was forced to name Hugh as his tanist. Afterwards, Hugh murdered Hugh Gavelagh McShane,^[16] who had exposed to Fitzwilliam that the Earl was making treasonous dealings with the Spanish.^[20] Hugh reputedly hanged Gavelagh over a Hawthorn tree with his bare hands^[16] - though some sources say the executioner was a man from County Meath.^[20]

It was during this war of succession that the English administration had begun to become suspicious of O'Neill's ambitions, and in 1587 they kidnapped Hugh's ally Red Hugh O'Donnell, holding him in Dublin Castle, along with Art MacShane O'Neill. After several failed attempts to break him out of prison, in the winter of 1591 O'Neill was finally able to successfully aid the escape of O'Donnell and MacShane, possibly through the bribing of high-level officials in Dublin.^[16]

The pair of fugitives fled the city to the Wicklow Mountains, a stronghold of the O'Byrnes, who were led by Fiach McHugh O'Byrne, one of O'Neill's allies. An O'Byrne search party found the two buried in snow and close to death near Glendalough. Red Hugh famously lost his two big toes to frostbite, but MacShane died. While it is believed MacShane died of exposure, there has been some speculation as to whether O'Neill had the O'Byrnes kill MacShane when they found him, to remove him as a political opponent of O'Neill.^[16]

His constant disputes with Turlough were fomented by the English with a view to weakening the power of the O'Neills,^[8][12] but the two came to some agreement and Turlough abdicated in 1593. Hugh was subsequently inaugurated as The O'Neill at Tullyhogue in the style of the former Gaelic kings, and became the most powerful lord in Ulster. Turlough died in 1595.^[4]

Career

O'Neill's career was marked by unceasing power politics: at one time he appeared to submit to English authority, and at another intrigued against the Dublin government in conjunction with lesser Irish clan chiefs.^[4] In keeping with the practice common at the time, he bribed officials both in Ireland and at Elizabeth I's court in London.^{[citation needed]} Though entirely supported by the Dublin administration in his early years, he seems to have been unsure whether his position as Chief of the O'Neills was best secured by an alliance with the English or by rebellion against the advance of their government into Ulster from 1585.^{[citation needed]}

O'Neill ruled as a sort of absolute monarch. Upon claiming the title of the O'Neill, Hugh decided that he needed to increase the revenue he was generating from the taxes on his subjects. Eventually, he was generating £80,000 of revenue. For comparison, in the 1540s the Tudor monarchy in England had been only making £40,000 of revenue. Although that figure had certainly increased since then, in financial terms O'Neill was in a position to challenge the English administration.^[16]

He also tied the peasantry to the land, effectively making them serfs, increasing production of materials and guaranteeing his supply of labour. The increased revenue allowed him to purchase muskets, pikes and ammunition from Britain. He also had several Spanish and English military advisors in his pay, the Spanish ones having been sent by Philip II of Spain.^[16]

O'Neill, like his predecessor Shane O'Neill, introduced conscription to all men within his country, regardless of their social class. Ultimately, the increased cash flow, coupled with the production of materials from the larger labour force, allowed O'Neill to arm and feed over 8,000 men—quite impressive for a Gaelic lord. The force was trained and equipped with the latest European weapons and tactics.^[16]

In the early 1590s, the English government in Ulster took the form of a Provincial Presidency, to be headed by the colonist, Henry Bagenal who lived at Newry.^{[citation needed]} In 1591, O'Neill roused the ire of Bagenal by eloping with his sister, Mabel, but showed his loyalty to the crown with his military support for his brother-in-law in the defeat of Hugh Maguire at Belleek in 1593.^[4] After Mabel's death,^{[citation needed]} O'Neill gradually fell into a barely concealed opposition to the crown and sought aid from Spain and the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. In 1595, Sir John Norris was ordered to Ireland at the head of a considerable force for the purpose of subduing him, but O'Neill succeeded in taking the Blackwater Fort before Norris could prepare his forces. O'Neill was instantly proclaimed a traitor at Dundalk.^[4] The war that followed is known as the Nine Years' War.

Nine Years' War

Main article: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

O'Neill followed Shane's policy of arming his Clansmen, rather than relying as Turlough had done upon Scots mercenary soldiers, such as redshanks or Irish professionals employed under buannacht. This policy allowed him to field an impressive force, with calivers and gunpowder supplied from Spain and Scotland, and in 1595 he gave the crown authorities a shock by ambushing and routing a small English army at the Battle of Clontibret. He and other clan chiefs then offered the crown of Ireland to King Philip II of Spain who refused it.^{[citation needed]}

In spite of the traditional enmity between his people and the Chiefs of Clan O'Donnell, O'Neill allied himself with Hugh Roe O'Donnell, son of Shane's former ally and enemy Hugh O'Donnell, and the two chieftains opened communications with King Philip II of Spain. In some of their letters to the king—intercepted by the lord deputy, Sir William Russell—they were shown to have promoted themselves as champions of the Roman Catholic Church, claiming liberty of conscience as well as political liberty for the native inhabitants of Ireland. In April 1596, O'Neill received promises of help from Spain and thereafter chose to temporize with the authorities, professing his loyalty to the crown whenever circumstances required.^[21] This policy was a success and, even though Sir John Norris sought to bring him to heel, O'Neill managed to defer English attempts on his territory for more than two years.^{[citation needed]}

In 1598, a cessation of hostilities was arranged and a formal pardon was granted to O'Neill by Queen Elizabeth. Within two months he was again in the field, and on 14 August he destroyed an English army at the Battle of the Yellow Ford on the Blackwater river,^[22] in which engagement the English Commander, Henry Bagenal, was killed.^[23] It was the greatest of all setbacks to English arms in Ireland.^{[citation needed]} If the Earl had been capable of driving home his advantage, he might have successfully upset English power in the country, as discontent had broken out in every part—and especially in the south, where James Fitzthomas Fitzgerald with O'Neill's support was asserting his claim to the Earldom of Desmond at the head of a formidable army of clans loyal to the Geraldines—discontent broke into open rebellion. But Tyrone, who possessed but little generalship, procrastinated until the golden opportunity was lost.^[22]

Eight months after the battle of the Yellow Ford, a new Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Essex, landed in Ireland^[22] with an expeditionary force sent there from England of 16,000 troops and 1,500 horses.^[24] After months of ill-managed operations in the south of the country, and the loss of three-quarters of his forces to disease, desertion, and execution of hundreds of troops for cowardice^[25] he had a parley with Tyrone at a ford on the Lagan on 7 September 1599, when a truce was arranged.^[22][26] Elizabeth was displeased by the favourable conditions allowed to O'Neill,^[22] as she pointed out, if she had intended to simply abandon Ireland she would not have needed to send Essex there,^{[citation needed]} and by Essex's treatment of him as an equal.^[22] The Lord Lieutenant then travelled back to the Queen's court near London without permission—a desperate move, which culminated, more than a year later, in a failed attempt at an uprising in London, and weeks after, his execution for high treason on 25 February 1601.^[27]

The queen was in a tricky situation because political discourse was dominated by the issue of the succession to the throne, just as her most illustrious military commanders were being frustrated by O'Neill in the middle of the Anglo-Spanish War.^{[citation needed]} Tyrone continued to concert measures with the Irish Clans in Munster, and issued a manifesto to the Catholics of Ireland, summoning them to join his standard as he protested that the interests of religion were his first care. After a campaign in Munster in January 1600, during which the Anglo-Irish Plantation of Munster was destroyed, he hastened north to Donegal, where he received supplies from Spain and a token of encouragement from Pope Clement VIII.^[22] At this point the controversial Jesuit, James Archer, was effectively operating as his representative at the Spanish court.^{[citation needed]}

In May 1600 the English achieved a strategic breakthrough, when Sir Henry Docwra, at the head of a considerable army, took up a position in O'Neill's rear at Derry; meanwhile, the new lord deputy, Sir Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy (a protégé of Essex^[28]), marched in support from Westmeath to Newry, compelling O'Neill to retire to Armagh. A large reward was offered for the rebel's capture, dead or alive.^[22]

In October 1601, the long-awaited aid from Spain appeared in the form of an army under Don Juan de Aguila, which occupied the town of Kinsale in the extreme south of the country.^[22] Mountjoy rushed to contain the Spanish, while O'Neill and O'Donnell were compelled to hazard their armies in separate marches from the north, through territories defended by Sir George Carew, in the depths of a severe winter. They gained little support en route.^{[citation needed]} At Bandon they joined, and then blockaded the English army that was laying siege to the Spanish.^[22] The English were in a poor state, with many of their troops disabled with dysentery, and the extreme winter weather made life in camp very difficult. But owing to poor communications with the besieged Spanish and a crucial failure to withstand the shock of a daring English cavalry charge, O'Neill's army was quickly dispersed. The Irish clans retreated, and the Spanish commander surrendered. The defeat at the battle of Kinsale was a disaster for O'Neill and ended his chances of winning the war.^{[citation needed]}

O'Donnell went to Spain to seek further assistance, where he died soon afterwards (there was evidence to show poisoning by Anglo-Irish double agent James "Spanish" Blake was suspected, however, he most likely died of the flu).^[22] With a shattered force, O'Neill made his way once more to the north, where he renewed his policy of ostensibly seeking pardon while warily defending his territory. English forces managed to destroy crops and livestock in Ulster in 1601–1602, especially in the lands of O'Neill's principal vassal, Donal O'Cahan. This led to O'Cahan's withdrawal from O'Neill, and fatally weakened his power. In June 1602 O'Neill destroyed his capital at Dungannon and retreated into the woods of Glenconkeyne.^[29] Early in 1603, Elizabeth instructed Mountjoy to open negotiations with the rebellious chieftains, and O'Neill made his submission in the following April to Mountjoy, who concealed the news of the queen's death until the negotiations had concluded.^[22]

Peace settlement

Main article: Treaty of Mellifont

O'Neill went with Mountjoy to Dublin, where he heard of the accession of King James I. He presented himself at the court of the king in June, accompanied by Rory O'Donnell, who had become chief of the O'Donnells after the departure of his brother Hugh Roe. The English courtiers were greatly incensed at the gracious reception accorded by James to these notable rebels.^[22]

Although O'Neill was confirmed in his title and core estates, upon his return to Ireland he immediately fell into dispute with Chichester's Dublin administration.^[22] Under the 1603 peace agreement most of his land had been given to his former Brehon law tenants. in the case of the Bann Fishery, the government eventually established that his entitlement to the benefit of that property was nullified on account of the original Anglo-Norman conquest in 1172, a precedent of significant implications for the former Gaelic polity.^[d] In the meantime, it was the dispute over O'Neill's rights concerning certain of his former feudatories—Donal O'Cahan being the most important—that led to his flight from Ireland. They were now freeholders of the Kingdom of Ireland, with new legal rights, but O'Neill expected them to support him as in the past, which they declined to do. In O'Cahan's case, the Ó Catháin clan had traditionally inaugurated the O'Neill kings in the past. Chichester considered O'Cahan's case to be pivotal, as if he caved in to O'Neill then other Ulster chiefs might also be persuaded to give up their freehold rights, and another war might follow.^{[citation needed]}

This dispute dragged on until 1607, when O'Neill was invited by King James to go to London to argue his case. Warned, however, that his arrest was imminent^{[citation needed]} (and possibly persuaded by Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell—whose relations with Spain had endangered his own safety) the decision was made to flee to Spain.^[22]

Flight

Main article: Flight of the Earls

"The Flight of the Earls" occurred on 14 September 1607, when O'Neill and O'Donnell embarked at midnight at Rathmullan on Lough Swilly on a voyage bound for Spain. Accompanying them were their wives, families and retainers, numbering ninety-nine persons. Driven by contrary winds to the east, they took shelter in the Seine estuary and were told by the Spanish to pass the winter in the Spanish Netherlands and not to proceed to Spain itself. In April 1608, they proceeded to Rome, where they were welcomed and hospitably entertained by Pope Paul V.^[22] The journey to Rome was recorded in great detail by Tadhg Ó Cianáin.^[30] In November 1607 the flight was proclaimed as treasonous by James I.^[31] A bill of attainder was passed against O'Neill by the Parliament of Ireland in 1613.^[22]

The hopes of the earls for military support foundered as Philip III of Spain wanted to maintain the recent 1604 peace treaty with James I of England, the Spanish economy had gone bankrupt in 1596 and its European fleet had been destroyed some months earlier by the Dutch Republic at the Battle of Gibraltar. This suggests that the Flight was impulsive and unplanned.^{[citation needed]}

O'Neill died in the city of Rome on 20 July 1616 and was interred in the church of San Pietro in Montorio.^[22] Throughout his nine-year exile he was active in plotting a return to Ireland, toying variously both with schemes to oust English authority outright and with proposed offers of pardon from London. When the former Crown loyalist Sir Cahir O'Doherty launched O'Doherty's rebellion by the Burning of Derry in 1608, it raised hopes of a return, but the rebellion was quickly defeated. Oghy (Eochaidh) O'Hanlon was Hugh's nephew and played a leading role in O'Doherty's rebellion. As a principal rebel leader, O'Hanlon had been stripped of his inheritance by Sir Arthur Chichester, and he may have been taken into protective custody before his exile to Sweden. O'Hanlon was pressed into Swedish military service and threatened with execution if he resisted.^[32][33]

Upon news of his death, the court poets of Ireland engaged in the contention of the bards.^{[citation needed]}

Status in Ireland

In 1598 O'Neill appointed James FitzThomas FitzGerald, the so-called Sugán Earl, as Earl of Desmond. Two years later in his camp at Inniscarra near Cork city, he recognized the celebrated Florence MacCarthy as The MacCarthy Mor or Prince of Desmond.^[34] The fiasco of the 1599 campaign by Essex in Ireland added to the power vacuum in most parts of Ireland.^{[citation needed]}

O'Neill had little influence on the Lords of the Pale in Leinster, and his army had to feed itself by plunder, making him unpopular. He made enemies of some lords by interfering in their traditional autonomy if they did not give him their entire support. These included Lord Inchiquin; Ulick Burke, 3rd Earl of Clanricarde; the Magennis of west County Down and Tiobóid na Long Bourke.^{[citation needed]}

O'Neill issued a proclamation to the Pale Lords on 15 November 1599, many of whom were Roman Catholic, protesting that his campaign was not for personal power but only for the freedom of the Catholic religion.^[35] This was unconvincing to them, as before 1593 he had practised as an Anglican, and was not known for having any great interest in religion.^{[citation needed]}

At the international level, O'Neill and O'Donnell had offered themselves as vassals of King Philip II of Spain in late 1595, and suggested that Archduke Albert might be crowned Prince of Ireland, which was declined. In late 1599, in a strong position after Essex's failed campaign, O'Neill sent a list of 22 proposed terms for a peace agreement to Queen Elizabeth, including a request on the status of future English viceroys. This amounted to accepting English sovereignty over Ireland as a reality while hoping for tolerance and a strong Irish-led administration. The proposal was ignored.^[36]

Personality and character

O'Neill was a consummate liar. He consistently deceived government officials, whether via bribes or simple bluffing. According to Hiram Morgan, O'Neill is an enigma to historians due to the successful and "elaborate campaign of disinformation he waged."^[37]

Although he lacked Red Hugh O’Donnell's charisma, O'Neill compensated with his caution and restraint, "laying his plans with care and refusing to be led by impulse or passion".^[38][39] Nevertheless, he was not opposed to murdering his opponents for political gain, as evident by his ordering the death of Hugh Gavelock. He was also willing to put himself in danger during his many travels to Dublin. Ultimately, O'Neill's political ambitions were not matched by his experience and training in warfare.^[37]

Family

O'Neill was married four times:

Katherine O'Neill

• Married a daughter, probably Katherine, of Brian MacPhelim O'Neill of Clandeboye. In 1574, the marriage was annulled on grounds of consanguinity.^[1][40] She subsequently married Niall MacBrian Faghartach.^[41]
  • Conn (died c. December 1600)^[40]
  • Mary (fl. 1579)^[40]
    • Married Sir Ross McMahon in c. 1579^[40]
    • Later married Brian McHugh Og MacMahon^[40]
  • A daughter^[40]
    • Married "M'Art"^[40]

Joanna O'Donnell

• Married Joanna O'Donnell (Siobhán Ní Domhnaill;^[e] died c. January 1591^[f]) on 14 June 1574.^[43][13][40] Their marriage was repudiated in 1579,^[45] but shortly afterwards they were reconciled^[8][1] They had two sons,^[1] and at least three daughters.^[41]
  • Margaret (died before 1651)^[40]
    • Married Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret sometime before 8 January 1598^[41][40]
  • Sarah (fl. 1595-1602)^[g][40][13]
    • Married Sir Arthur Magennis, 1st Viscount Iveagh^[41][40] sometime before 4 March 1595^[40]
  • Alice^[h] (1583 - c. 1665)^[i]
    • Married Randal MacDonnell, 1st Earl of Antrim.^[46]
  • Ursula^[41]
    • Said to have been married to Sir Nicholas Bagenal.^[41]
  • Hugh (1585 - 24 September 1609)^[48][13][40] known as the Baron of Dungannon. He died in Rome and was buried in San Pietro di Montorio.^[41]
  • Henry (c. 1586^[49] - c. 1620^[j]) He became a colonel of an Irish regiment in the Archduke's army.^[41]
  • They may have had another daughter, Mary O'Neill^[13]

Mabel Bagenal

• Betrothed to Mabel Bagenal (c. 1571 - December 1595) in July 1591^[40] - married on 3 August 1591.^[44][40]
  • No offspring^[13]

Catherine Magennis

• Married Catherine Magennis (died 15 March 1619)^[50][13] sometime before September 1597.^[40] She accompanied O'Neill on his flight, and had three sons:^[41]
  • Shane (October 1599 - 27 January 1641)^[49][41][40] who called himself the 3rd Earl of Tyrone. He entered the Spanish army, was called "El conde de Tyrone", and was killed in Catalonia.^[41]
  • Conn Ruadh^[k] (born c. 1601 - in or after 1622), also known as Conn na Creige. He was left behind at the time of the flight, was educated at Eton College as a Protestant, and was committed to the Tower of London on 12 August 1622.^[40][41]
  • Brian (died 16 August 1617)^[40][41] - also known as Con Brian. He either was murdered or committed suicide in Brussels.^[41]

Possible fifth wife

It is probable O'Neill married a fifth time,^[41][40] for mention is made of a young Countess of Tyrone during his residence in Rome.^[41]

Other children

O'Neill also had many illegitimate children, or children of unknown maternal origin:

• Conn O'Neill (born c. 1577)^[51][l]
• Rose O'Neill (fl. 1587 - 1595)^[52][8][m]
  • Betrothed to Hugh Roe O'Donnell in c. 1587^[52][40] - married in December 1592^[13] - separated in 1595^[52][40]
  • Remarried Donnell Ballagh O'Cahan^[40]
• Conn Mac An Íarla (fl. c. 1591)^[8][l]
• Margaret O'Neill^[53]
  • Married Hugh Maguire sometime after 17 May 1593^[53][40]
• A daughter, who married a "filius M'Guyr"^[40]
• Catherine O'Neill (fl. 1602)^[40]
• A daughter, who married Donnell Oneyle^[40]

Portrayals in culture

Literature

• In his 1861 poem Eirinn a' Gul ("Ireland Weeping"), Uilleam Mac Dhunlèibhe, an important figure in 19th century Scottish Gaelic literature, recalled the many stories about his fellow Gaels in Inis Fáil (Ireland) he had heard in the Ceilidh houses of Islay, before that island was emptied by the Highland Clearances. He then lamented the destruction wreaked upon the Irish people by both famine and similar mass evictions ordered by Anglo-Irish landlords. He particularly laments the loss of the Chiefs of the Irish clans, who led their clansmen in war and provided "leadership of the old and true Gaelic kind". Mac Dhunlèibhe comments sadly that the mid-19th century fighters for Irish republicanism had none of the heroic qualities shown by Red Hugh O'Donnell, Hugh O'Neill, and Hugh Maguire during the Nine Years War against Queen Elizabeth I. Sadly, but expressing hope for the future of the Irish people, Mac Dhunlèibhe closes by asking where are the Irish clan warriors who charged out of the mist and slaughtered the armies of the Stranger at the Battle of the Yellow Ford and the Battle of Moyry Pass.^[54]
• Flint and Mirror, a 2022 novel by John Crowley, depicts O'Neill as a man whose loyalties are magically divided between the Queen of England and the old gods of Ireland.

On screen

• Hugh O'Neill was played by Alan Hale Sr. in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939).
• Hugh O'Neill was portrayed by Tom Adams in the Disney film: The Fighting Prince of Donegal (1966) with a character name change to Henry O'Neill.
• In the 1971 BBC drama Elizabeth R he was played by Patrick O'Connell.

Theatre

• O'Neill is the central character in Brian Friel's play Making History (1989), which is concerned largely with his third marriage to Mabel Bagenal: Friel describes the marriage as a genuine if ill-fated love affair.
• Running Beast (2007), a musical theatre piece by playwright Donal O'Kelly with music by the composer Michael Holohan, commemorating The Flight of the Earls 1607–2007.

Notes and references

Notes

1. Early historians assumed O'Neill's birthdate to be within the 1540s. Modern historians believe O'Neill was born circa 1550, based on references in the state papers. Paul Walsh placed O'Neill's birthdate between July 1550 and July 1551.^[11] Sources that give a c. 1550 birthdate: ^{[12][8][13][5][1]}
2. Hugh is usually referred to as the 2nd Earl of Tyrone,^[1] but if his elder brother Brian is counted, Hugh is 3rd. By the patent of the earldom, Brian was de jure earl between their grandfather's death in 1559 and his own assassination in 1562. He never claimed the earldom and did not call himself earl. He may not have been of age to take his seat in the Irish House of Lords, and he certainly did not control Tyrone.^[2][3]
3. This family tree is based on genealogies of the MacDonnels of Antrim^[9] and the O'Neills of Tyrone.^[10] Also see the lists of children in the text.
4. See Peter Carew for similar legal moves in support of colonial policy
5. Concannon believes Siobhán was born c. 1569.^[42] However, Siobhán's marriage to O'Neill in 1574 makes that date of birth unlikely.
6. In a letter dated 31 January 1591, O'Neill references Siobhán's recent death.^[40] Other sources that corroborate this: ^{[13][43][44][41]}
7. Her death date has alternately been given as 1639, 26 April 1640, or sometime after 31 March 1642.^[40]
8. Dunlop believes that her mother was Catherine Magennis.^[41] Casway and Cokayne believe her mother was Siobhan O'Donnell,^[13][46] which, based on Alice's birthdate, is more likely.
9. Most sources give her a birthdate of c. 1583,^[47][46][13] though Walsh has demonstrated that a birthdate of c. 1588 is possible.^[40]
10. Sources disagree on Henry's date of death: 1610,^[13] c. 1620,^[49] or c. 1626.^[41] It is clear that he died sometime before the publication of Philip O'Sullevan's Historia Catholica in 1621.^[40]
11. Dunlop believes Conn Ruadh was illegitimate,^[41] though Walsh believes Conn Ruadh's mother was Catherine Magennis.^[40]
12. It is possible these are the same man.
13. Dunlop believes that Rose's mother was Catherine Magennis^[41] - however, since Rose was betrothed to Hugh Roe O'Donnell in the late 1580s, and Magennis married Rose's father in the 1590s, this is unlikely. According to Niall Garve O'Donnell, she is not a daughter of Siobhan O'Donnell.^[40]

Citations

1. Canny 2004.
2. Christopher Maginn, O'Neill, Shane (c.1530–1567), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008, accessed 25 April 2011
3. O'Byrne, Emmett (October 2009). "O'Neill (Ó Néill), Brian". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
4. McNeill 1911, p. 109.
5. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (12 April 2024). "Hugh O'Neill, 2nd earl of Tyrone". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
6. Barry, Judy (October 2009). "Maguire, Hugh". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.005379.v1. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
7. The Nine Years' War - Dr James O'Neill. Retrieved 12 May 2024 – via www.youtube.com.
8. Morgan, Hiram (September 2014). "O'Neill, Hugh". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006962.v1. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
9. Cokayne 1910, pp. 174–179. "Genealogies of the Earls of Antrim"
10. Cokayne 1896, pp. 448–470."Genealogies of the Earls of Tyrone"
11. Graham, John K. (1938). "The Birth-Date of Hugh O'Neill, Second Earl of Tyrone". Irish Historical Studies. 1 (1): 58–59. ISSN 0021-1214. JSTOR 30006560.
12. Hugh O'Neill with Dr. Hiram Morgan. Retrieved 11 May 2024 – via www.youtube.com.
13. Casway 2016.
14. O'Hart 1892, p. 723. "Feardorach (or Mathew) son of Conn Bacchach ..."
15. Brady 2015, p. 29. "The eldest, Feardorcha, was the most controversial. Shane, notoriously, charged that he was not an O'Neill at all, but the son of Alison and John Kelly, a blacksmith of Dundalk ..."
16. Dorney, John (10 January 2019). . The Irish Story. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019.
17. Morgan 1993, pp. 92–93.
18. Morgan 1993, p. 214.
19. O'Faolain 1942, p. 57.
20. Beare, Philip O'Sullivan. Chapters towards a History of Ireland in the reign of Elizabeth. Translated by Byrne, Matthew J. College Road, Cork, Ireland: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
21. McNeill 1911, pp. 109–110.
22. McNeill 1911, p. 110.
23. Lennon 2005, p. 298. "... the vanguard suffered severe losses including that of the marshal himself ..."
24. Strachey 1930, p. 199.
25. Strachey 1930, p. 202. "... he executed a lieutenant, and he had every tenth man in the rank file put to death."
26. Strachey 1930, p. 209. "The two men met alone, on horseback, at a ford on a river ..."
27. Strachey 1930, pp. 239–263.
28. Strachey 1930, p. 180. "Thus Mountjoy, doubly bound to the earl, had become—or so it seemed—the most faithful of his adherents."
29. McCavitt 2002, p. 44.
30. Ó Cianáin, T., "The Flight of the Earls", CELT (UCC) 7 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
31. A Proclamation touching the Earles of Tyrone and Tyrconnell, 1607; CELT (UCC) 7 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
32. Canny 2001.
33. Henry 1997.
34. O'Hart 1892, p. 119, left column. "In 1600, in The O'Neil's camp at Inniscarra, near Cork, Florence was solemnly created The MacCarthy Mór, with all the rites and ceremonies ... which title and dignity was formally approved by Aodh (or Hugh) O'Neill ..."
35. Morgan 1994.
36. "Hugh O'Neill's War aims", online version published by CELT (UCC) 7 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
37. Morgan 1993.
38. D'Alton, E A (1912). History of Ireland. London: The Gresham Publishing Company.
39. Rafferty, Pat John. "Reactions and reports on the death of the Great O'Neill". www.irishidentity.com. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
40. Walsh 1930.
41. Dunlop 1895, p. 196.
42. Concannon 1920, p. 218-219. "Siobhan was probably the eldest of the family, and must have been born not later than 1569." "We know little of Siobhan, who can hardly have been more than one-and- twenty, when she died in 1590."
43. Canny 2004, p. 511-512.
44. O'Byrne, Emmett; Clarke, Aidan; Barry, Judy (October 2009). "Bagenal (O'Neill), Mabel". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006953.v1. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
45. Canny 2004, p. 839.
46. Cokayne 1910, p. 174. "[The 1st Earl of Antrim] m., 1604, Alice, da. of Hugh (O'Neill), Earl of Tyrone [I], by his 2nd wife, Joanna, da. of Hugh McManus O'Donnell."
47. Hill 1873. "Sir Randal Macdonnell was married about the year 1604 to Ellis or Alice O'Neill, the third daughter of Hugh earl of Tyrone. This lady, who was born in 1583, was in her twenty-first year at the time of her marriage, and was younger than either of her sisters, lady Macmahon or Lady Maginnis. She was older than her brother Hugh, the baron of Dungannon."
48. Concannon 1920, p. 218. "The inscription on the tomb in San Pietro in Montorio shows that her eldest child, Hugh, was born in 1585."
49. Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 1867, p. 459.
50. Casway, Jerrold (2003). "Heroines or Victims? The Women of the Flight of the Earls". New Hibernia Review / Iris Éireannach Nua. 7 (1): 56–74. ISSN 1092-3977. JSTOR 20557855.
51. Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 1867, p. 458-459.
52. Morgan, Hiram (October 2009). "O'Donnell, 'Red' Hugh (Ó Domhnaill, Aodh Ruadh)". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006343.v1.
53. Moody, T. W. (1938). "Ulster Plantation Papers". Analecta Hibernica (8): 269–270.
54. Edited by Donald E. Meek (2019), The Wiles of the World Caran an t-Saohgail: Anthology of 19th-century Scottish Gaelic Verse, Birlinn Limited. Pages 348–351, 458–462.

Sources

• Brady, Ciaran (2015) [1st pub. 1996]. Shane O'Neill (New ed.). Dublin: University College Dublin Press for the Historical Association of Ireland. ISBN 978-1-91082005-6.
• Canny, Nicholas (2001). Making Ireland British 1580–1650. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-820091-9.
• Canny, Nicholas (2004). "O'Neill, Hugh [Aodh O'Neill], second earl of Tyrone (1583–1616)". In Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 41. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 837–845. ISBN 0-19-861391-1.
• Casway, Jerrold (2016). "Catherine Magennis and the Wives of Hugh O'Neill". Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society. 26 (1): 69–79. JSTOR 48568219.
• Cokayne, George Edward (1896). Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant. Vol. VII (1st ed.). London: George Bell and Sons. OCLC 1180891114. – S to T
• Cokayne, George Edward (1910). Gibbs, Vicary (ed.). The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant. Vol. I (2nd ed.). London: St Catherine Press. OCLC 228661424. – Ab-Adam to Basing
• Concannon, Helena (1920). "'The Woman of the Piercing Wail' (The Lady Nuala O'Donnell)". The Irish ecclesiastical record. 16. Dublin: John F. Fowler.
• Dunlop, Robert (1895). "O'Neill, Hugh, third Baron of Dungannon and second Earl of Tyrone 1540?–1616". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. XLII. New York: MacMillan and Co. pp. 188–196. OCLC 8544105.
• Henry, Gráinne (1997). "Ulster Exiles in Europe, 1605–1641". In Mac Cuarta, Brian (ed.). Ulster 1641: Aspects of the rising. Belfast: The Institute of Irish Studies. Queen's University of Belfast. pp. 37–60. ISBN 978-0-85389-591-6. – (Snippet view)
• Hill, George (1873). An historical account of the Macdonnells of Antrim: including notices of some other septs Irish and Scotch. Belfast: Archer & Sons. p. 222.
• Lennon, Colm (2005) [1st pub. 1994]. Sixteenth Century Ireland: The Incomplete Conquest (Revised ed.). Dublin: Gill & MacMillan. ISBN 978-0-7171-3947-7.
• McCavitt, John (2002). The Flight of the Earls. Dublin: Gill & MacMillan. ISBN 978-0-7171-3047-4. – (Snippet view)
• Morgan, Hiram (1993). Tyrone's Rebellion: The outbreak of the Nine Years' War in Tudor Ireland. London: The Boydell Press. ISBN 0-86193-224-2.
• Morgan, Hiram (1994). "Faith and Fatherland or Queen and Country?" (PDF). Dúiche Néill: Journal of the O'Neill Country Historical Society. 9: 1–49.
• O'Faolain, Sean (1942). The Great O'Neill: A biography of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, 1550–1616. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pierce. OCLC 1379073.
• O'Hart, John (1892). Irish Pedigrees: Or, the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation. Vol. I (5th ed.). Dublin: James Duffy & Co. OCLC 7239210. – Irish stem
• Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (1867). "PROCEEDINGS AND PAPERS". Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 5: 459.
• Strachey, Lytton (1930) [1st pub. 1928]. Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic History. London: Chatto & Windus. OCLC 1037867845.
• Walsh, Paul (1930). Walsh, Paul (ed.). THE WILL AND FAMILY OF HUGH O NEILL, EARL OF TYRONE [WITH AN APPENDIX OF GENEALOGIES] (PDF). Dublin: Sign of the Three Candles.

Attribution

•   This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: McNeill, Ronald John (1911). "O'Neill". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 107–111.

Further reading

Secondary sources

• Nicholas P. Canny – The Elizabethan Conquest of Ireland: A Pattern Established, 1565–76 (London, 1976) ISBN 0-85527-034-9.
• Jefferies, Henry A. (2000). "Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, c. 1550–1616". In Dillon, Charles; Jefferies, Henry A.; Nolan, William (eds.). Tyrone: History & Society. Dublin: Geography Publications. pp. 181–232. ISBN 978-0-906602-71-3.
• Ellis, Steven G. (2014). Ireland in the Age of the Tudors, 1447–1603 (2nd ed.). Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-90143-3. – (Preview)
• Falls, Cyril (1997) [1st pub. 1900]. Elizabeth's Irish Wars. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-8156-0435-1. – (Preview)
• Hayes-McCoy, Gerard Anthony (1990) [1st pub. 1969]. Irish Battles: A Military History of Ireland. Belfast: The Appletree Press. ISBN 0-86281-250-X. — For the Battle of the Yellow Ford
• McGurk, John (1997). "The Battle of the Yellow Ford, August 1598". Dúiche Néill: Journal of the O'Neill Country Historical Society. 11: 34–55.
• Morgan, Hiram (October 2014). McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). "O'Neill Hugh". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
• James O'Neill, The Nine Years War, 1593–1603: O'Neill, Mountjoy and the Military Revolution (Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2017).
• Silke, John J. (1970). Kinsale: The Spanish Intervention in Ireland at the End of the Elizabethan Wars. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 9780853230908.

Primary sources

• John O'Donovan, ed. (1856). Annála Rioghachta Éireann. Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters... with a Translation and Copious Notes. 7 vols. Translated by O'Donovan (2nd ed.). Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. CELT editions. Full scans at Internet Archive: Vol. 1; Vol. 2; Vol. 3; Vol. 4; Vol. 5; Vol. 6; Indices.
• Calendar of State Papers: Carew MSS. 6 vols. London. 1867–1873.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Calendar of State Papers relating to Ireland. London.
  • Hugh O'Neill, War aims, in Calendar of State Papers relating to Ireland, 1599–1600. London. 1899. pp. 279–81.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Mitchel, John (1845). Life of Aodh O'Neill, Prince of Ulster. Dublin: James Duffy.
• Stafford, Thomas (1896) [1st pub. 1633]. O'Grady, Standish (ed.). Pacata Hibernia. Vol. I. London: Downey and Co. OCLC 1050247906. – 1600 to 1601
• Stafford, Thomas (1896) [1st pub. 1633]. O'Grady, Standish (ed.). Pacata Hibernia. Vol. II. London: Downey and Co. OCLC 4313009. – 1601 to 1602

External links

• Cáit ar ghabhadar Gaoidhil? at History Ireland

Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone Ó Néill
Regnal titles
Preceded by Turlough Luineach O'Neill	Ó Néill 1595–1607	Dormant
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Conn O'Neill	Earl of Tyrone 1587–1608	Forfeit