Back هيو اونيل ايرل تيرون ARZ Hugh O'Neill Czech Aodh Mór Ó Néill, 2. Earl of Tyrone German Aodh Mór Ó Néill Esperanto Hugo O'Neill Spanish Hugh O’Neill Finnish Hugh O'Neill French Aodh Ó Néill Irish Aodh Mór Ó Néill Scots/Gaelic Hugh O'Neill Italian

Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone

Hugh O'Neill
Aodh Ó Néill
Earl of Tyrone
A portrait of Hugh O'Neill, part of a fresco, showing the head of a bearded man
Hugh O'Neill, part of a fresco in the Vatican (see Portraiture)
Coat of arms
Tenure1587–1607
PredecessorTurlough Luineach O'Neill
SuccessorHenry O'Neill
Bornc. 1550[a]
County Armagh, Ireland
Died20 July 1616 (aged about 66)
Rome, Papal States
BuriedSan Pietro in Montorio, Rome
Noble familyO'Neill dynasty (MacBaron branch)
Spouse(s)
IssueHugh, Henry, Alice, Conn, Shane, Rose and others
FatherFeardorcha "Matthew" O'Neill
MotherSiobhán Maguire
Signature

Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone[b] (Irish: Aodh Mór Ó Néill; literally Hugh the Great O'Neill; c. 1550[a] – 20 July 1616) was an Irish Gaelic lord and key figure of the Irish Nine Years' War. Known as the "Great Earl",[4][5] he led the confederacy of Irish clans against the English Crown in resistance to the Tudor conquest of Ireland under Queen Elizabeth I.

He was born to the O'Neill clan, a prominent Gaelic Irish noble family, during a violent succession conflict which saw his father assassinated. At the age of eight O'Neill was relocated to the Pale where he was raised by an English family. Although the Crown hoped to mold him into a puppet ruler sympathetic to the English government, by the 1570s he had built a strong network of both British and Irish contacts which he utilised for his pursuit of political power.

Through the early 1590s, O'Neill secretly led rebellions against the Crown's advances into Ulster whilst publicly maintaining a loyal appearance. He regularly deceived government officials via bribes and convoluted disinformation campaigns. O'Neill formally allied with Irish chiefs Hugh Roe O'Donnell and Hugh Maguire via their marriages to his daughters.[6] Via these and other alliances, he could arm and feed over 8,000 men,[7] leaving him well-prepared to resist English incursions. He also heavily taxed his subjects and tied the peasantry to the land,[8] allowing him to buy weaponry and ammunition from Britain and making his wealth comparable with Elizabeth I.

In 1591 he caused a stir when he eloped with Mabel Bagenal, younger sister of the Marshall of the Irish Army.[9] During the Battle of Belleek O'Neill fought alongside his brother-in-law Henry Bagenal whilst covertly commanding the very troops they were fighting against. After years of playing both sides,[10] he finally went into open rebellion in February 1595 with an assault on the Blackwater Fort.

Despite victories at the Battle of the Yellow Ford and Battle of Curlew Pass, around 1600 the Irish confederacy began to suffer major losses due to Lord Deputy Mountjoy's scorched earth tactics.[11][12] The confederacy was decisively defeated at the Battle of Kinsale, and O'Neill surrendered to Mountjoy in April 1603 with the signing of the Treaty of Mellifont.

Due to increasing hostility against O'Neill and his allies,[13] in 1607 he made the "snap decision" to flee with his countrymen to continental Europe in what is known as the Flight of the Earls. He settled in Rome where he was granted a small pension by Pope Paul V. Despite his plans to return to and retake Ireland, he died during his exile.[14]

In comparison to his "warlike and arrogant" ally Hugh Roe O'Donnell, O'Neill was cautious and deliberative.[15][16] He is considered an "enigma" to historians due to the elaborate bluffs he employed to mislead his opponents as well as his unknown religious convictions. Although wartime propaganda promoted O'Neill as a Catholic crusader, modern historians believe his motivations were always more political than religious - though he apparently underwent a genuine conversion around 1598.

He also held the title Baron Dungannon, and in 1595 he became Chief of the Name of the O'Neill clan. He had four wives, many concubines and various children.[17]


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Canny 2004.
  2. ^ Maginn, Christopher (January 2008) [2004]. "O'Neill, Shane [Sean O'Neill] (c. 1530–1567)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  3. ^ O'Byrne, Emmett (October 2009). "O'Neill (Ó Néill), Brian". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  4. ^ McNeill 1911, p. 109.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference brit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Barry, Judy (October 2009). "Maguire, Hugh". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.005379.v1. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dorney was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Canny 1970.
  9. ^ Walsh 1930, p. 16.
  10. ^ O'Neill 2017, p. 32-33.
  11. ^ Lennon 1995, p. 303. "Mountjoy aimed at the abject submission of O'Neill in the field. Tyrone itself was constricted by the spoiling tactics of the Lord Deputy...with famine conditions resulting in the winter of 1602–1603"
  12. ^ O'Neill 2017, p. 108-109.
  13. ^ McGurk, John (August 2007). "The Flight of the Earls: escape or strategic regrouping?". History Ireland. 15 (4).
  14. ^ Morgan, Hiram (September 2014). "O'Neill, Hugh". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006962.v1. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Morgan 1993, p. 216-217.
  17. ^ Casway 2016, p. 69, 73.

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