Hugh O'Neill, 3rd Earl of Tyrone
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This article is about Hugh O'Neill the 16th century Irish chieftain. For other uses see Hugh O'Neill (disambiguation)
Aodh Mór Ó Néill (anglicised as Hugh O'Neill), (c. 1540 - July 20, 1616), was an Irish chieftain of the late 16th century, who became 2nd Earl of Tyrone (known as the Great Earl). O'Neill's career was played out against the background of the Tudor re-conquest of Ireland, and he is best known for leading the resistance during the Nine Years War (Ireland), the strongest threat to English authority in Ireland since the Anglo-Norman conquest in 1172.
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Early life
O'Neill came from a line of the O'Neill clan that the English authorities recognised as the legitimate successors to the chieftainship of the O'Neills and to the title of Earl of Tyrone. He was the second son of Matthew, reputed illegitimate son of Conn, 1st Earl of Tyrone. However, his succession was disputed violently by other branches of the O'Neills, and especially by Shane O'Neill. His father, Mathew (also known in Irish as Fear Dorcha or "Dark Man"), was killed by followers of Shane, and Hugh was banished from the O'Neill territory in central Ulster.
O'Neill succeeded his brother, Brian, as baron of Dungannon, when the latter was murdered by Shane O'Neill in 1562. He was brought up in the Pale, by the Hoveneden family, but after the death of Shane he returned to Ulster in 1567 under the protection of Sir Henry Sidney, lord deputy of Ireland. In Tyrone, Hugh's cousin, Turlough Luineach O'Neill had succeeded Shane O'Neill as The O'Neill, or chieftain, but was not recognised by the English as the legitimate Earl of Tyrone. The crown therefore suported Hugh O'Neill as the rightful claimant and as an ally in Gaelic controlled Ulster. He served with the English during the Desmond Rebellions against Desmond in Munster in 1580, and assisted Sir John Perrot against the Scots of Ulster in 1584. In the following year he was allowed to attend parliament as Earl of Tyrone and, 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. His constant disputes with Turlough were fomented by the English with a view to weakening the power of the O'Neills, but after Hugh's inauguration as the O'Neill on Turlough's resignation in 1595, he was left without a rival in the north.
O'Neill's career was marked by unceasing duplicity: at one time he appeared to submit to English authority, and at another intrigued against the Dublin government in conjunction with lesser Irish chieftains. He seems to have been unsure whether his position as head of the O'Neills was best secured by alliance with the English or by rebellion against the advance of their government into Ulster. In the early 1590s, English government in Ulster took the form of a Provincial Presidency, to be headed by the colonist, Henry Bagenal. In 1591, O'Neill roused the ire of Bagenal by eloping with his sister, Mabel; but he afterwards assisted his brother-in-law in defeating Hugh Maguire at Belleek in 1593. After Mabel's death, he switched to opposing the government and sought aid from Spain and 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 was prepared, whereupon he was proclaimed a traitor at Dundalk. 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 the people, rather than rely mostly upon mercenary soldiers, such as redshanks and bonnaught. 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.
In spite of the traditional enmity between his people and the O'Donnells, 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 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 as circumstances required. 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.
In 1598, a cessation of hostilities was arranged and a formal pardon granted to O'Neill by Elizabeth. Within two months he was again in the field, and on August 14 he destroyed an English army at the battle of the Yellow Ford on the Blackwater river, in which engagement Henry Bagenal was killed; it was the greatest of all setbacks to English arms in Ireland. If the earl had been capable of driving home his advantage, he might have successfully upset English power in country, as discontent had broken out in every part - and especially in the south, where James Fitzthomas Fitzgerald was asserting his claim to the earldom of Desmond. In reality, O'Neill required foreign intervention and, despite his growing reputation in Europe as a commander in the field, this was not yet forthcoming.
Eight months after the battle of the Yellow Ford, a new lord lieutenant, the Earl of Essex, landed in Ireland with the largest expeditionary force ever sent there from England (17,000 troops). Essex found that O'Neill had been waiting to see what might be attempted against him; acting on the queen's explicit instructions, and after some ill-managed operations in the south of country, he had a parley with Tyrone at a ford on the Lagan on the 7th of September 1599, when a truce was arranged. Elizabeth was displeased by the favourable conditions allowed to O'Neill and by Essex's treatment of him as an equal. The lord lieutenant travelled to the queen's court without permission - a desperate move, which culminated in his failed attempt against the queen's authority and his execution for treason.
The queen was in a tricky situation, because the political scene had been set by issue of the succession to her throne, just as her most illustrious military commanders were being frustrated by O'Neill in the middle of the Anglo-Spanish War. The rebel continued to concert measures with the Irish leaders 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 English 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. In May of the same year, the English achieved a strategic breakthrough, when Sir Henry Docwra, at the head of a considerable army, took up a position to his rear at Derry; meanwhile, the new lord deputy, Sir Charles Blount, 5th Baron Mountjoy (a protegé of Essex), 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.
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. 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. At Bandon they joined together, and then blockaded the English army that was laying siege to the Spanish. 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 army 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.
O'Donnell went to Spain to seek further assistance, where he died soon afterwards (poisoning was suspected), and O'Neill, with a shattered force, made his way once more to the north, where he renewed his policy of ostensibly seeking pardon while warily defeding his territory. Early in 1603, Elizabeth instructed Mountjoy to open negotiations with the rebellious chieftains, and O'Neill made his submission to Mountjoy in the following April, unaware of Elizabeth's death.
Peace Settlement and Flight
In Dublin, whither he proceeded with Mountjoy, O'Neill heard of the accession of King James, at whose court he presented himself 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 the king to these notable rebels. Although Tyrone was confirmed in his title and estates, he had no sooner returned to Ireland than he again engaged in dispute with the government. A strong policy of restricting his rights and powers by means of the common law would soon bear fruit: in the case of the Bann Fishery (1609), 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 Gaelic polity - (see Peter Carew for similar legal moves in support of colonial policy). In the meantime, it was the dispute over O'Neill's rights concerning certain of his feudatories - Donal O'Cahan being the most important - that led to his flight from Ireland. This dispute dragged on till 1607, when O'Neill arranged to go to London to submit the matter to the king. Warned, however, that his arrest was imminent (and possibly persuaded by Rory O'Donnell - created Earl of Tyrconnel in 1603 - whose relations with Spain had endangered his own safety) the decision was made.
The Flight of the Earls, one of the most celebrated episodes in Irish history, occurred on September 14, 1607, when O'Neill and O'Donnell embarked at midnight at Rathmullen on Lough Swilly, with their wives, families and retainers, numbering ninety-nine persons, on a voyage for Spain. Driven by contrary winds to the east, the refugees took shelter in the Seine estuary and passed the winter in the Netherlands. In April 1608, they proceeded to Rome, where they were welcomed and hospitably entertained by Pope Paul V. O'Donnell died there the same year.
In 1613 O'Neill was outlawed and attainted by the Irish parliament; he died in Rome on the 20th of July 1616. 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. Upon news of his death, the court poets of Ireland engaged in the Contention of the bards.
O'Neill was four times married, and had a large number both of legitimate and illegitimate children. One of his sons was Sean or John O'Neill and was recognized by King Phillip III of Spain as the 4th Earl of Tyrone in 1616. This John spent his life in the service of Spain as a Regimental commander in the Spanish Netherlands.
References
- Richard Bagwell, Ireland under the Tudors 3 vols. (London, 1885–1890).
- John O'Donovan (ed.) Annals of Ireland by the Four Masters (1851).
- Calendar of State Papers: Carew MSS. 6 vols (London, 1867-1873).
- Calendar of State Papers: Ireland (London)
- Colm Lennon Sixteenth Century Ireland — The Incomplete Conquest (Dublin, 1995) ISBN 0312124627.
- Nicholas P. Canny The Elizabethan Conquest of Ireland: A Pattern Established, 1565–76 (London, 1976) ISBN 0855270349.
- Nicholas P. Canny Making Ireland British, 1580–1650 (Oxford University Press, 2001) ISBN 0198200919.
- Steven G. Ellis Tudor Ireland (London, 1985) ISBN 0582493412.
- Hiram Morgan Tyrone's Rebellion (1995).
- Standish O'Grady (ed.) "Pacata Hibernia" 2 vols. (London, 1896).
- Cyril Falls Elizabeth's Irish Wars (1950; reprint London, 1996) ISBN 0094772207.
- Gerard Anthony Hayes McCoy Irish Battles (Belfast, 1989) ISBN 0862812127.
- J.J. Silke The Siege of Kinsale
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