Ellis MacDonnell, Countess of Antrim

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Ellis MacDonnell
Countess of Antrim
BornEllis O'Neill
1583
Died1665
Spouse(s) Randal, 1st Earl of Antrim
Issue
Detail 		Randal, Alexander, & others
Father Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone
Mother Siobhan O'Donnell

Ellis MacDonnell, Countess of Antrim was an Irish aristocrat of the late Elizabethan and early Stuart eras.

Contents

Birth and origins

Ellis [lower-alpha 1] was born in 1583, [lower-alpha 2] the third daughter of Hugh O'Neill and his second wife, Siobhan O'Donnell. [lower-alpha 3] Her father was Earl of Tyrone and the leading Gaelic figure in late 16th-century Ireland. He is counted as the second or the third earl. [9] Her paternal grandfather had been Matthew O'Neill, 1st Baron Dungannon, illegitimate son but recognised successor of Conn O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone. Ellis's mother was a daughter of Sir Hugh O'Donnell, king of Tyrconnell and his first wife whose name is not known.

Family tree
Ellis MacDonnell with husband, parents, and selected relatives. [lower-alpha 4]
Conn
1st Earl
Tyrone
c. 1480 – 1559
Alexander
MacDonnell
c. 1480 –
1538		Catherine Mathew
1st Baron
Dungannon
1520–1558
Illegitimate, d.v.p.*		Joan
Maguire
1558
Sorley Boy
MacDonnell
d. 1590		Mary
O'Neill		 Brian
2nd Earl
Tyrone
d. 1562
de jure		 Hugh
3rd Earl
Tyrone
c. 1550 – 1616		Siobhan
O'Donnell
d. 1591
James
MacDonnell
d. 1601
Dunluce		 Randal
1st Earl
Antrim
d. 1636		Alice
O'Neill
1583–1665
Catherine
Manners
1603–1649		 Randal
1st
Marquess
1609–1682		Rose
O'Neill
d. c. 1690		 Alexander
3rd Earl
1615–1699
Randal
4th Earl
1680–1721		Rachel
Skeffington
d. 1739
Legend
XXXSubject of
the article		XXX Earls & marquesses
of Antrim 		XXX Earl of
Tyrone 		XXX Baron
Dungannon
d.v.p. = decessit vita patris (predeceased his father).

Tyrone's Rebellion

While she was a child, her father was the leader of the insurgents in Tyrone's Rebellion, also called the Nine Years' War (1594-1603). James MacDonnells, third son of Sorley Boy MacDonnell succeeded his father [12] and supported the insurgents. However, he died in 1601 and Randal, the fourth brother and Alice's future husband became the head of the family. In August 1602 he submitted to the Lord Deputy Charles Blunt, 8th Baron Mountjoy, and changed sides. He was rewarded with most of the possessions of his father that should normally have gone to his brother's descendants.

Marriage and children

In 1604 Alice married Randal MacDonnell, the fourth son of Sorley Boy MacDonnell, Lord of the Glynns and the Route. [13] Alice was described as "of good cheerful aspect, freckled, not tall but strong, well set, and acquainted with the English tongue". [14] Her marriage was a dynastic match that brought Tyrone into an alliance with the MacDonnells, the dominant family in northern County Antrim, who also had strong connections in Scotland. Tyrone's other children made similar marriages with leading families across Ulster. Despite being Gaelic and Catholic, Randal was a strong supporter of settling Scottish Protestants in north-eastern Ulster, anticipating the Ulster Plantation. [15] After the Flight of the Earls in 1607, when her father fled into exile in continental Europe, Ellis's husband became the foremost Gaelic aristocrat in Ulster following.

Alice and Randal had two sons, both of whom followed their father as earls:

  1. Randal MacDonnell, a leading courtier under Charles I known for his involvement in the War of the Three Kingdoms
  2. Alexander MacDonnell succeeded to the title in 1683, and is best known as a Catholic leader during the Williamite Wars who had the city gates shut on him at the beginning of the Siege of Derry in 1688

—and six daughters:

  1. Ann, married firstly Christopher, Lord Delvin, and secondly William Fleming, Baron of Slane [16]
  2. Mary, married firstly Lucas, 2nd Viscount Dillon, and secondly Oliver, 6th Lord Louth [17]
  3. Sarah, married firstly Neile-Oge O'Neill of Killileagh in County Antrim, secondly Charles O'Conor Sligo, and thirdly Donald Macarthy More [18]
  4. Catherine, married Edward Plunkett of Castlecor [19]
  5. Rose, married Colonel Gordon, commander of a regiment in Robert Munroe's army [20]
  6. Margaret, (died 1623) never married [21]

Later life and death

In 1607 her father Hugh O'Neill left Ireland with the Flight of the Earls. He died in Rome in 1616. [22] On 12 December 1620 her husband was created Earl of Antrim [23] and Alice thereby became countess. Her husband died in 1636. [24] Ellis outlived him by almost 30 years, dying in 1665. [25]

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References

Notes

  1. ↑ Her first name is also variously spelled as Aellis, Elice or Alice
  2. ↑ Most sources give her a birthdate of c. 1583, [1] [2] though historian Paul Walsh has demonstrated that a birthdate of c. 1588 is possible. [3]
  3. ↑ Dunlop believes that her mother was Catherine Magennis. [4] Casway and Cokayne believe her mother was Siobhan O'Donnell, [5] [6] which, based on Alice's birthdate, is more likely, since Alice's father married Magennis in the 1590s. [7] [8]
  4. ↑ This family tree is based on genealogies of the MacDonnels of Antrim [10] and the O'Neills of Tyrone. [11] Also see the lists of children in the text.

Citations

  1. ↑ Hill 1873, p.  222. "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."
  2. ↑ 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."
  3. ↑ Walsh 1930, p. 41-42.
  4. ↑ Dunlop 1895, p. 196.
  5. ↑ Casway 2016, p. 71.
  6. ↑ Cokayne 1910, p.  174, line 29. "He [the 1st Earl of Antrim] m. [married] 1604 Alice, da. [daughter] of Hugh (O'Neill), Earl of Tyrone [I. [Ireland] ] by his 2nd wife, Johanna, da. of Hugh McManus O'Donnell"
  7. ↑ Walsh 1930, p. 20.
  8. ↑ Casway 2016, p. 73.
  9. ↑ Cokayne 1896, p.  449. "3. Hugh (O'Neill) Earl of Tyrone ..."
  10. ↑ Cokayne 1910, p.  174–179. "Genealogies of the Earls of Antrim"
  11. ↑ Cokayne 1896, p.  448–470."Genealogies of the Earls of Tyrone"
  12. ↑ Hill 1873, p.  187, line 24. "Sorley Boy was succeeded by his third son, sir James MacDonnell ..."
  13. ↑ Burke & Burke 1915, p.  115, right column, line 53. "His lordship [the 1st earl] m. 1604, Alice, dau. of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and had issue ..."
  14. ↑ Webb 1878, p.  416, right column, line 23. as quoted
  15. ↑ Bardon 2001, p.  122. "Sir Randal for his part pleased the king by inviting Lowland Scots to settle on the Route;"
  16. ↑ Lodge 1789, p.  207, line 12. "Daughter Lady Ann, was first married to Christopher, Lord Delvin; and secondly to William Fleming, Baron of Slane ..."
  17. ↑ Lodge 1789, p.  207, line 15. "Lady Mary, first in 1605 to Lucas, the second Viscount Dillon; and secondly to Oliver, the sixth Lord Louth."
  18. ↑ Lodge 1789, p.  207, line 17. "Lady Sarah, first to Neile-Oge O'Neill of Killileagh in the county of Antrim, Esq. (son of Neile Mac-Hugh O'Neile, who, in Q.Elizabeth's wars in Ireland, was slain in the service of the Crown) by whom she had Henry O'Neile, born in 1625, and other children; secondly to Sir Charles O'Conor Sligo, Knt., who died at Sligo 14 May 1634, without issue; and thirdly to Donald Mac-Carthy More, Prince of his sept in the Province of Munster."
  19. ↑ Lodge 1789, p.  207, line 25. "Lady Catherine, in 1639, to Edward Plunket, of Scatlecor, Esq. son and heir to Patrick, Lord Dunsany."
  20. ↑ Lodge 1789, p.  207, line 27. "Lady Rose, to Colonel Gordon, who commanded a regiment in Major-General Robert Munroe's army in the North."
  21. ↑ , Burke & Burke 1915, p.  115, right column, line 67:. "6. Margaret, d. unm. [died unmarried], 16 March 1623."
  22. ↑ & O'Hart 1892, p.  725. "He died at Bome, blind and worn out, in 1616."
  23. ↑ Cokayne 1910, p.  174. "On 28 May 1618 he was cr. Viscount Dunluce, co. Antrim [I.], and on 12 Dec. 1620 he was cr. Earl of Antrim [I.] ..."
  24. ↑ McDonnell 2004, p.  305, right column, bottom. "MacDonnell, Randal, 1st earl of Antrim (d. 1636) ..."
  25. ↑ Ohlmeyer 2001, p. 359. "O'Neill, Ellis (Alice), countess of Antrim (d. c. 1665) ..."

Sources


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