In July 1588, Sir Hugh promised Rory as a pledge for good behaviour.[4]
Nine Years' War
Rory O'Donnell became tanist upon his brother Hugh Roe's 1592 inauguration as Lord of Tyrconnell. Rory fought in the Nine Years' War, though his role is largely overshadowed by Hugh Roe's leadership.[4]
In 1598, Rory was engaged by the governor of Connacht, Sir Conyers Clifford, in a plot against his brother. When this news reached Hugh Roe, he put Rory in chains for an unspecified time. It seems their relationship improved by 1600.[4][12]
On 9 October 1600, Rory's distant cousin and brother-in-law, loyalist Niall Garve O'Donnell, seized Lifford from him with the help of English forces. Despite attempts from Rory and Hugh Roe to retake Lifford, they were unsuccessful. This culminated in a battle on 24 October, in which Niall fatally wounded Rory's younger brother Manus. Rory and Niall engaged in single combat, though both were lucky to leave the battle with their lives.[4][13]
That December, Hugh Roe marched to Mayo, leaving Rory temporarily in charge. According to historian Emmett O'Byrne, "his tenure was not distinguished", as during this time, Niall's forces continued to gain momentum.[4]
The Irish confederacy suffered a major defeat at Kinsale. Rory became acting Chief when Hugh Roe left to seek desperately-needed reinforcements from Spain. Rory led the clan back to Connacht and maintained guerilla warfare, with the help of his ally Brian Oge O'Rourke. However, the two men failed in their attempt to take back power in Connacht. They lost Ballyshannon to Niall in Spring 1602, and could not prevent Oliver Lambart from entering Sligo in June. Rory and O'Rourke also argued amongst themselves.[4]
Upon his older brother's death, O'Donnell succeeded him as King of Tyrconnell and Chief of the Clan O'Donnell.[4] However, it appears he was never formally inaugurated with the traditional Gaelic rites.[15] Having submitted in London to the newly crowned King James I, Rory, under the policy of surrender and regrant was required to renounce his traditional titles and was in return created as Earl of Tyrconnell[2] per letters patent of 4 September 1603, with the subsidiary title Baron of Donegal reserved for his heir apparent. He was further granted the territorial Lordship of Tyrconnell per letters patent of 10 February 1604.[citation needed]
A 1614 Hiberno-Latin history of Donegal Abbey, however, criticized the title of Earl as, "how inferior to that with which the Prince of Tyrconnell used to be acclaimed on the sacred rock of Kilmacrenan!"[16]
There was much fury in Ireland and England that he and Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, had been treated so gingerly after allegedly committing treason (this became known as the Sham Plot), but time was on the side of the English authorities.[citation needed] On 14 September 1607, both Earls set sail from Lough Swilly with their families and followers for eventual exile in the Spanish Netherlands and Rome.[17][18]
The journey was difficult and harsh, and conditions on their boat were extremely poor.[19] The Earls arrived in France, not Spain as expected, then made their way north to the Spanish Netherlands. They eventually arrived in Rome[17] on 29 April 1608. Tyrconnell and Tyrone were welcomed to Rome by a guard of cardinals.[4] The next day, they met with Pope Paul V, who gave them and their families a small pension.[17]
Rome
In early July 1608, Tyrconnell travelled to Ostia, a coastal town fifteen miles west of Rome, in order to "make holiday and take a change of air". He was accompanied by his brother Cathbarr, Hugh O'Neill, 4th Baron Dungannon, and Donal O’Carroll, Vicar General of Killaloe. Unfortunately, the men "all agreed that that particular place [was] one of the worst and most unhealthy for the climate in all Italy". Tyrconnell became ill on 18 July, and shortly afterwards he died in Rome on 28 July 1608. He was buried the next day in San Pietro in Montorio. His magnificent funeral was funded by the Marqués de Aytona, Spanish ambassador to Rome, who provided Tyrconnell's younger sister Nuala with 300 crowns.[20]
Lord Tyrconnell's only son, Hugh, was three weeks shy of his first birthday when the Earls sailed from Lough Swilly,[3][22] and was raised in Louvain, Spanish Flanders. In time he joined the service of the King of Spain, and was killed in action when his ship engaged a French vessel in August or September 1642 and caught fire. He succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell, but left no offspring; the title of Earl would have descended to his first cousin Domhnall Oge's line were it not meanwhile attainted in 1614.[citation needed]
Lord Tyrconnell's youngest child, Mary Stuart O'Donnell, left a more lasting impression on posterity. She was born in England[3] around 1607.[22] After her father's death, King James VI and I, the first Stuart King of England, gave her the name Stuart in recognition of their common Stuart ancestry – they were ninth cousins – hence she was known as Mary Stuart O'Donnell.[3] She was descended, through her mother, from the Stuarts. Mary was raised by her mother in the Kildare lands in Ireland until she was twelve years old.[citation needed] In 1619, Mary was sent to live with her grandmother, Lady Kildare, in London, where Lady Kildare aimed to educate the girl and make her her heiress.[23]
Portraiture
Lord Tyrconnell is depicted as part of a fresco in the Vatican. He stands next to Hugh O'Neill during the 1608 canonization of Frances of Rome by Pope Paul V.[24][25] It was painted circa 1610.[25]
According to historian Francis Martin O'Donnell, many historians believe that the figure next to O'Neill is actually a Spanish ambassador - either Francisco de Moncada or his father Gastón. Francis Martin O'Donnell argues that the figure lacks Francisco's distinctive facial hair and portly appearance, and looks too young to depict Gastón, who was in his mid-50s at the time. The figure also lacks the ornate clothing an ambassador would be required to wear during such a ceremony. Therefore, it is most likely that the figure standing next to O'Neill is fellow Irish earl Rory O'Donnell.[25]
Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone was an Irish Gaelic lord and key figure of the 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.
Niall Garve O'Donnell was an Irish nobleman and soldier, alternately a rebel against and ally of English rule in Ireland. He is best known for siding with the English against his kinsman Hugh Roe O'Donnell during the Nine Years' War.
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.
Hugh Roe O'Donnell II, also known as Red Hugh O'Donnell, was an Irish clan chief, Lord of Tyrconnell, and senior leader of the Irish confederacy during the Nine Years' War.
The O'Donnell dynasty were the dominant Irish clan of the kingdom of Tyrconnell in Ulster in the north of medieval and early modern Ireland.
Sir Cahir O'Doherty was the last Gaelic Chief of the Name of Clan O'Doherty and Lord of Inishowen, in what is now County Donegal. O'Doherty was a noted loyalist during Tyrone's Rebellion and became known as the Queen's O'Doherty for his service on the Crown's side during the fighting.
Lady Fiona MacDonald was a Scottish aristocrat and queen consort of Tyrconnell. She is better known by her nickname Iníon Dubh, pronounced in Ulster Irish and Scots Gaelic as in-NEEN DOO.
Sir Hugh McManus O'Donnell was an Irish Gaelic lord. He was The O'Donnell of his clan, and king of Tyrconnell in Tudor-era Ireland.
Sir Donal Dubh O'Donnell was a member of the O'Donnell dynasty of Tyrconnell in modern-day County Donegal. He was the eldest son of Sir Hugh McManus O'Donnell, the Lord of Tyrconnell for much of the reign of Elizabeth I.
Rosa O'Neill was a member of the Ó Dochartaigh noble family of Inishowen in County Donegal who lived during the late Tudor and Stuart eras.
Cathbarr O'Donnell was an Irish nobleman and member of the O'Donnell dynasty of Tyrconnell. His name is often anglicised as Caffar. It is latinised as Calfurnius on his tomb inscription.
Nuala O'Donnell was an Irish noblewoman of the O'Donnell dynasty who took part in the Flight of the Earls. She was known as "the Lady of the Piercing Wail".
Lady Mary Stuart O'Donnell was an English-born Irish noblewoman. Her father, the 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, left her pregnant mother behind in Ireland during the Flight of the Earls. Born in England, Mary and her mother survived on a pension from James VI and I and she grew up in Ireland as a Catholic.
Bridget FitzGerald, Countess of Tyrconnell, also known as Brighid Chill Dara, was an Irish poet and noblewoman.
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 was the second wife of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, bearing him most of his children.
Henry Hovenden was an Anglo-Irish secretary and lawyer. He was foster-brother and chief advisor to Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone during the Irish Nine Years' War.
Rose O'Neill was a Gaelic Irish noblewoman and queen consort of Tyrconnell. She was the daughter of Hugh O'Neill and wife of "Red" Hugh Roe O'Donnell, the two leaders of the Irish confederacy during the Nine Years' War. Her marriage to O'Donnell was a deliberate move to unite the O'Neills and the O'Donnells, the two most powerful Irish clans of their day. She separated from O'Donnell in 1595 and their marriage formally ended the following year.
Hugh O'Neill, 4th Baron Dungannon was an Irish nobleman. He was the son and heir to Irish Gaelic lord Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, though he predeceased his father. His title was attainted in 1608.
Manus O'Donnell was an Irish nobleman and member of the O'Donnell dynasty.
References
Citations
↑ O'Donnell 2018. Francis Martin O'Donnell names Sir Hugh's first wife as "Nuala, a daughter of O’Neill".
↑ Walsh 1922, p. 361–362. Walsh believed that the sister married to Teigue O'Rourke was neither Mary nor Margaret.
1 2 O'Donnell 2006, p. 38. Gráinne and Meadhb are known only as sisters of the Earl (i.e. Rory), with no additional information.
↑ An apparent original of the letters patent of the Earldom were in the possession of Count Maximilian Karl Lamoral O'Donnell in Austria, (See Ó Domhnaill Abu – O'Donnell Clan Newsletter, no.2, Summer 1985), although that family did not inherit the title, nor the related territorial Lordship of Tyrconnell, the remainders of which were destined elsewhere
1 2 Silke 2006. "Hugh Albert O'Donnell, born [to Rory and Bridget] about October 1606, was the only son of this marriage, Mary Stuart O'Donnell being born about a year later."
Wealth of Dignity, Poverty of Destiny – The Destitution of a Catholic Princess for her Devotion (The tragic story of Mary, Princess of Tyrconnell, Rory's daughter), by Francis Martin O'Donnell, Knight of Malta, in pages 3–6 of O'Domhnaill Abu, the O'Donnell Clann Newsletter no. 32, published by V. O'Donnell, Inver, County Donegal, Summer 2004 [ISSN 0790-7389].
History of Killeen Castle, by Mary Rose Carty, published by Carty/Lynch, Dunsany, County Meath, Ireland, April 1991 ( ISBN0-9517382-0-8) – page 18 refers to Elizabeth O'Donnell as 1st Countess of Fingall.
Calendar of State Papers – 1603-4 – James I (item 123, pages 79–80), National Library of Ireland, Dublin.
Red Hugh O Donnell's sisters, Siobhan and Nuala, Paul Walsh, in Irish Leaders and Learning, ed. O'Muraile, Dublin, 2003, pp.326–29.
Burke, Sir Bernard (1866), "O'Donnell–Earl of Tyrconnell", A Genealogical History of the Dormant: Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire, Harrison, pp.408–410
Kinney, Arthur F; Copeland, Thomas W; Kinney, Arthur F; Swain, David W; Hill, Eugene D; Long, William A (2000), "O'Donnell, Hugh Roe, Lord of Connell", Tudor England: An Encyclopedia, Routledge, p.517, ISBN978-1-136-74530-0
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