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 Aodh Ó Néill | |
|---|---|
| Earl of Tyrone | |
 | |
| Coat of arms |  |
| Tenure | 1587–1607 |
| Predecessor | Turlough Luineach O'Neill |
| Successor | Henry O'Neill |
| Born | c. 1550[a] Oneilland, Tír Eoghain, Ireland (modern-day County Armagh) |
| Died | 20 July 1616 (aged about 66) Rome, Papal States |
| Buried | San Pietro in Montorio, Rome |
| Noble family | O'Neill dynasty (MacBaron branch) |
| Spouse(s) |
|
| Issue | Hugh, Henry, Alice, Conn, Shane, Rose and others |
| Father | Feardorcha "Matthew" O'Neill, 1st Baron Dungannon |
| Mother | Siobhán Maguire |
| Signature |  |
Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone[b] (Irish: Aodh Mór Ó Néill;[c] 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",[2][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 he 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, Tyrone 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. Via his web of alliances and the heavy taxation of his subjects, he could arm and feed over 8,000 men, leaving him well-prepared to resist English incursions. In 1591 he caused a stir when he eloped with Mabel Bagenal, younger sister of the Marshal of the Irish Army.[6] During the Battle of Belleek Tyrone fought alongside his brother-in-law Henry Bagenal whilst covertly commanding the very troops they were fighting against.[7] After years of playing both sides,[2] he finally went into open rebellion in early 1595 with an assault on the Blackwater Fort.[8] Despite victories at the Battle of the Yellow Ford and Battle of Curlew Pass, the Irish confederacy began to suffer major losses due to Lord Deputy Mountjoy's scorched earth tactics.[9][10] The confederacy was decisively defeated at the Battle of Kinsale, and Tyrone surrendered to Mountjoy in April 1603 with the signing of the Treaty of Mellifont.
Due to increasing hostility against Tyrone and his allies,[11] 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.[12]
In comparison to his "warlike and arrogant" ally Hugh Roe O'Donnell, Tyrone was cautious and deliberative.[13][14] 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 Tyrone 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.[15]
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).
- ^ Canny 2004, p. 837.
- ^ a b c McNeill 1911, p. 109.
- ^ 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.
- ^ O'Byrne, Emmett (October 2009). "O'Neill (Ó Néill), Brian". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
- ^ The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (12 April 2024). "Hugh O'Neill, 2nd earl of Tyrone". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 12 July 2024.
- ^ Walsh 1930, p. 16.
- ^ O'Neill 2017, p. 32–33.
- ^ O'Neill 2017, p. 47.
- ^ 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"
- ^ O'Neill 2017, p. 108–109.
- ^ McGurk, John (August 2007). "The Flight of the Earls: escape or strategic regrouping?". History Ireland. 15 (4). Archived from the original on 18 April 2024.
- ^ Morgan, Hiram (September 2014). "O'Neill, Hugh". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006962.v1. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Morgan 1993, p. 216–217.
- ^ Casway 2016, p. 69, 73.
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