Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone was an Irish Gaelic lord and key figure of the Irish Nine Years' War. Known as the "Great Earl", he led the confederacy of Irish clans against the English Crown in resistance to the Tudor conquest of Ireland under Queen Elizabeth I.
Shane O'Neill was an Irish chieftain of the O'Neill dynasty of Ulster in the mid-16th century. Shane O'Neill's career was marked by his ambition to be the O'Neill—sovereign of the dominant O'Neill family of Tír Eoghain. This brought him into conflict with competing branches of the O'Neill family and with the English government in Ireland, who recognised a rival claim. Shane's support was considered worth gaining by the English even during the lifetime of his father Conn O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone. But rejecting overtures from the 3rd Earl of Sussex, the lord deputy from 1556, Shane refused to help the English against the Scottish settlers on the coast of Antrim, allying himself for a short time instead with the MacDonnells, the most powerful of these settlers. Shane viewed the Scottish settlers as invaders, but decided to stay his hand against them with hopes of using them to strengthen his position with the English. However, tensions quickly boiled over and he declared war on the Scottish MacDonnell's defeating them at the Battle of Glentaisie despite the MacDonnells calling for reinforcements from Scotland. The Scottish MacDonnells would later assassinate Shane O'Neill and collect the bounty on his head.
Calvagh O'Donnell, eldest son of Manus O'Donnell, was an Irish King of Tyrconnell of the mid-16th century. He was king and chief of the O'Donnell dynasty based in Tyrconnell in western Ulster. He is best known for his conflict with Shane O'Neill – a dispute that involved the intervention of the English government in Ireland on Calvagh's side.
Manus O'Donnell was an Irish lord and son of Sir Hugh Dubh O'Donnell. He was an important member of the O'Donnell dynasty based in County Donegal in Ulster.
The Flight of the Earls took place in September 1607, when Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and about ninety followers, left Ulster in Ireland for mainland Europe. Their permanent exile was a watershed event in Irish history, symbolizing the end of the old Gaelic order.
Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, was an Irish Gaelic lord and the last King of Tyrconnell prior to the Plantation of Ulster. He succeeded his older brother Hugh Roe O'Donnell and in 1603 became the first to be styled the Earl of Tyrconnell. In 1607, following their defeat in the Nine Years' War, Tyrconnell and his wartime ally Tyrone fled Ireland for mainland Europe. Tyrconnell died of a fever shortly after settling in Rome.
The Nine Years' War, sometimes called Tyrone's Rebellion, took place in Ireland from 1593 to 1603. It was fought between an Irish confederation—led mainly by Hugh O'Neill of Tyrone and Hugh Roe O'Donnell of Tyrconnell—against English rule in Ireland, and was a response to the ongoing Tudor conquest of Ireland. The war began in Ulster and northern Connacht, but eventually engulfed the entire island. The Irish alliance won numerous victories against the English forces in Ireland, such as the Battle of Clontibret (1595) and the Battle of the Yellow Ford (1598), but the English won a pivotal victory against the alliance and their Spanish allies in the siege of Kinsale (1601–02). The war ended with the Treaty of Mellifont (1603). Many of the defeated northern lords left Ireland to seek support for a new uprising in the Flight of the Earls (1607), never to return. This marked the end of Gaelic Ireland and created the groundwork for the foundation of the Plantation of Ulster.
Peter Lombard was a prelate of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. He was Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland during the Counter Reformation.
Hugh Maguire was an Irish nobleman and military commander who served in the Nine Years' War. As Chief of the Maguire clan and Lord of Fermanagh, he was the first of the Gaelic chiefs to openly rebel against Elizabeth I's conquest of Ireland.
The Battle of Clontibret was fought in County Monaghan in May 1595, during the Nine Years' War in Ireland. A column of 1,750 English troops led by Henry Bagenal was ambushed near Clontibret by a larger Gaelic Irish army led by Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. The English column had been sent to relieve the besieged English garrison at Monaghan Castle. The English suffered very heavy losses, but a suicidal cavalry charge apparently saved it from destruction. The Irish victory shocked the English and was their first severe setback during the war.
Tír Eoghain, also known as Tyrone, was a kingdom and later earldom of Gaelic Ireland, comprising parts of present-day County Tyrone, County Armagh, County Londonderry and County Donegal (Raphoe). The kingdom represented the core homeland of the Cenél nEógain people of the Northern Uí Néill and although they ruled, there were smaller groups of other Gaels in the area. One part of the realm to the north-east broke away and expanded, becoming Clandeboye, ruled by a scion branch of the O'Neill dynasty. In one form or another, Tyrone existed for over a millennium. Its main capital was Dungannon, though kings were inaugurated at Tullyhogue Fort.
Elizabeth FitzGerald was the first wife of Lucas Plunket, who succeeded as Baron Killeen in 1613, and who in due course became the 1st Earl of Fingall in 1628. They lived at Killeen Castle, County Meath in Ireland. She was a daughter of Henry FitzGerald, 12th Earl of Kildare, and therefore sister to Bridget, the Countess of Tyrconnell and wife of Prince Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell.
Sir Henry Bagenal PC was marshal of the Royal Irish Army during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Brian O'Neill, also known as Brian "of the battle of Down" O'Neill, was the High King of Ireland from 1258 to 1260.
Sir Nicholas Bagenal or Bagenall was an English soldier and politician who became Marshal of the Army in Ireland during the Tudor era.
Sir Patrick Barnewall or Barnwall, was the eldest son of Sir Christopher Barnewall of Turvey House, Grace Dieu Abbey, and Fieldston. Christopher in turn was the son of the elder Sir Patrick Barnewall, who in 1534 was made Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) and Solicitor-General for Ireland, and in 1550 became Master of the Rolls in Ireland. Patrick's mother was Marion Sherle, daughter of Richard Sherle of Shallon, County Meath: after his father's death, she remarried the prominent judge Sir Lucas Dillon. She died in 1607.
Sir William Warren was an Irish landowner, statesman and soldier of the late sixteenth century. He is mainly remembered now for having facilitated the much-discussed marriage of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone and his third wife Mabel Bagenal, which took place at Warren's home, Drumcondra Castle, in 1591.
Catherine O'Neill, Countess of Tyrone was an Irish aristocrat. Born Catherine Magennis, she was the fourth and final wife of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, a leading Gaelic lord in Ireland during the late Elizabethan and early Stuart eras.
Mabel O'Neill, Countess of Tyrone was an Anglo-Irish noblewoman who was the third wife of prominent Irish lord Hugh O'Neill. She has been referred to as the "Helen of the Elizabethan Wars", on account of the dramatic circumstances of her marriage. Her brother Henry and her husband commanded opposing forces during the Nine Years' War.
Siobhán O'Neill, Countess of Tyrone, sometimes anglicised Joanna, Joan, or Judith, was a sixteenth-century Irish Gaelic noblewoman of the O'Donnell clan. She is known for being the second wife of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, bearing him most of his children.
