Hugh O'Neill, 4th Baron Dungannon (Irish: Aodh Ó Néill; c.1585 – c. 23 September 1609) was an Irish nobleman. The eldest son of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Siobhán O'Donnell, he was considered the heir to the O'Neill clan, though he predeceased his father.
Dungannon accompanied his family and countrymen on the Flight of the Earls, leaving Ireland for mainland Europe. A few months after settling in Rome, Dungannon became violently ill after catching fever during a holiday to Ostia. A year later he died in Rome aged 24. He is buried alongside his father and two half-uncles in San Pietro in Montorio. His title was attainted on 28 October 1614.
Hugh had had several older sisters, Sarah, Mary, and Alice,[6][7][8] and a younger brother, Henry.[9] Hugh also had an older half-brother, Conn, who was considered illegitimate by English society.[10] As the eldest son of Tyrone's second wife, Hugh was considered the heir to his father's titles and estates.[11][12]
Hugh became Baron Dungannon[13] after his father was named the Earl of Tyrone[14] on 10 May 1587.[2][15][16] His mother Siobhán died in January 1591.[17][18] According to Tyrone's letters, the young Baron Dungannon was in fosterage in August 1594.[19] In 1599, Sir John Harrington described brothers Hugh and Henry as "of good cheerful aspect, freckled, not tall, but strong, well-set, and acquainted with the English tongue".[20]
Following the Irish confederacy's surrender[4] in 1603, he received a new patent which elevated him to the baronage of Dungannon.[21]
Flight of the Earls
By September 1607, Dungannon was to be married to a daughter of Archibald Campbell, 7th Earl of Argyll.[16][4][22] However, Tyrone's snap decision to flee Ireland put an end to these plans.[4] With the ex-confederates potentially facing arrest for treason,[23] Dungannon accompanied his father on the Flight of the Earls in 1607.[10][24] The Irish refugees settled in Rome, where they were provided with a paltry pension from Pope Paul V.[4][25]
Death and legacy
The Irish nobles proved to be unhappy with the Italian climate and their poor accommodation.[26][4][25] In early July 1608, Dungannon travelled to Ostia, a coastal town fifteen miles west of Rome, for a holiday and change of air. He was accompanied by fellow nobles Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell and Cathbarr O'Donnell, and clergyman Donal O'Carroll. Unfortunately, the men "all agreed that that particular place [was] one of the worst and most unhealthy for climate in all Italy".[26][27][28] Ostia's marshlands were ridden with mosquitoes,[25][27] and after four days the young nobles became violently ill with fevers.[29][25][27] Tyrconnell had caught the fever on 18 July, and Dungannon caught it on the following Monday.[30]
Dungannon was ill for a year.[31][12] He recovered to some extent,[32] but he ultimately died in Rome in September 1609,[a] aged 24 years old.[b] He was unmarried.[36] Tyrone could not afford to pay for the funeral, so the new Spanish ambassador in Rome, the Conde de Castro, funded the funeral with 400 crowns.[31] Dungannon was buried in San Pietro in Montorio[4][1][33] on 24 September,[12] the Roman church where Tyrconnell, Cathbarr, and eventually his father Tyrone were also buried.[27][26][37] The inscription on his tomb (in Latin, translated to English) reads:
Original Latin
English translation
D.O.M. Hugoni Baroni de Donganan Hugonis Magni O'Neill Principis et Comitis Tironiae Primogenito, Patrem et Rodericum Comitem< Tirconalliae Avunculum, pro Fide Catholica quam multos annos contra haereticos in Hibernia fortiter defenderant, relictis statibus suis, sponte exulantes ad communem Catholicoruru asylum, Uibem Romam, pro sua singulari in Deum et Parentes pietate, secuto, cujus immatura Mors spem de eo restaurandae aliquando in illis partibus Catholicae Religionis, ob ejus insignes animi et corporis dotes ab omnibus, conceptam abstulit, ac dicto Roderico avunculo fato simili absumpto conjunxit Occidit tarn suis quam totae curiae flebilis Nono Kal. Oct MDCIX Aetatis suae xxiv[38]
D.O.M. To Hugh, Baron Dungannon Eldest son of the Prince, the Great Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. For his remarkable loyalty to God and also to his parents he followed his father and Rory, the Earl of Tyrconnell, his uncle and leaving their estates they deliberately went into exile to the city of Rome, the usual safe refuge for Catholics on behalf of the Catholic faith which they had strongly defended for many years against the heretics of Ireland. His lamentable death dashed the hopes which all had placed in him for his exemplary talents and distinction of soul and body so propitious for a future favourable return to that country once again. He is joined in death here with Rory the aforementioned uncle, who was also taken by death in the same manner, to the inexpressible grief of his relatives and all the court on 24 September 1609 in his 24th year.[39][40]
Dungannon's title was attainted[2] on 28 October 1614, at the same time that his father's title (Earl of Tyrone) was attainted.[16]
↑ According to the inscription on Dungannon's tomb, he was "joined in death here with Rory the aforementioned uncle, who was also taken by death in the same manner, to the inexpressible grief of his relatives and all the court on 24 September 1609..."[33] According to a contemporary letter, Dungannon was buried on 24 September.[12]Burke's Peerage and Cokayne stated he died on 23 September.[2][16] The historian Paul Walsh also gave this death date[34] before changing it to the 24th the following year.[19]
↑ The inscription on Dungannon's tomb stated he was 24 when he died.[35][19]
↑ Hugh O'Neill's parents were Matthew "Feardorcha" O'Neill and Siobhán Maguire.[41][4] Siobhán O'Donnell's parents were Hugh McManus O'Donnell[4] and his first wife,[42][43] Nuala O'Neill.[44] Matthew O'Neill's parents were Conn Bacagh O'Neill and Alison Kelly.[45] Siobhán Maguire's father was Cúconnacht Maguire.[41] Hugh McManus O'Donnell's parents were Manus O'Donnell and Siobhán O'Neill.[46] Nuala O'Neill's father was Shane O'Neill.[44]
Citations
1 2 Concannon 1920, p.218. fn. 3. "The inscription on the tomb in San Pietro in Montorio shows that her eldest child, Hugh, was born in 1585."
↑ Mosley 2003, p.3006; Dunlop 1895, p.196. "...he had Hugh, called the baron of Dungannon, who died in Rome..."; Casway 2016, p.71. "The son Hugh became the baron of Dungannon after his father was named the Earl of Tyrone."; Ellis 2002, p.236. "...Hugh, fourth Baron Dungannon..."; FitzPatrick 2007, p.47. "...Hugh, baron of Dungannon..."
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