Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone

Hugh O'Neill Aodh Ó Néill
Earl of Tyrone
Hugh O'Neill, part of a fresco in the Vatican (see Portraiture)
Coat of arms
Tenure	1587–1607
Predecessor	Turlough Luineach O'Neill
Successor	Henry O'Neill
Born	c. 1550[a] County Armagh, Ireland
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)	1. Katherine O'Neill 2. Siobhán O'Donnell 3. Mabel Bagenal 4. Catherine Magennis
Issue	Hugh, Henry, Alice, Conn, Shane, Rose and others
Father	Feardorcha "Matthew" O'Neill
Mother	Siobhán 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] O'Neill led the coalition of Irish clans against the English Crown in resistance to the Tudor conquest of Ireland under Queen Elizabeth I.

Though primarily raised in the Pale amongst English people, by the 1590s he was openly rebelling against the Crown's advances into Ulster, his province of birth. He formally allied with chiefs Red Hugh O'Donnell and Hugh Maguire via their marriages to his daughters.^[6][7]

He also held the title Baron Dungannon, and later became Chief of the Name of the O'Neill clan. O'Neill was decisively defeated at the Battle of Kinsale, and in what is known as the Flight of the Earls, fled with his countrymen to continental Europe. He was granted a small pension by Pope Paul V but died during his exile in Rome.^[8]

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