Ellis MacDonnell, Countess of Antrim

Ellis MacDonnell, Countess of Antrim was an Irish aristocrat of the late Elizabethan and early Stuart eras.

Ellis MacDonnell
Countess of Antrim
Born	Ellis O'Neill 1583
Died	1665
Spouse(s)	Randal, 1st Earl of Antrim
Issue Detail	Randal, Alexander, & others
Father	Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone
Mother	Siobhan O'Donnell

Birth and origins

Ellis was born in 1583, the third daughter of Hugh O'Neill and his second wife, Siobhan O'Donnell. Her father was Earl of Tyrone and the leading Gaelic figure in late 16th-century Ireland. He is counted as the second or the third earl. Her paternal grandfather had been Matthew O'Neill, 1st Baron Dungannon, illegitimate son but recognised successor of Conn O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone. Ellis's mother was a daughter of Sir Hugh O'Donnell, king of Tyrconnell and his first wife whose name is not known.

Family tree

Ellis MacDonnell with husband, parents, and selected relatives. Conn 1st Earl Tyrone c. 1480 – 1559 Alexander MacDonnell c. 1480 – 1538 Catherine Mathew 1st Baron Dungannon 1520–1558 Illegitimate, d.v.p.* Joan Maguire 1558 Sorley Boy MacDonnell d. 1590 Mary O'Neill Brian 2nd Earl Tyrone d. 1562 de jure Hugh 3rd Earl Tyrone c. 1550 – 1616 Siobhan O'Donnell d. 1591 James MacDonnell d. 1601 Dunluce Randal 1st Earl Antrim d. 1636 Alice O'Neill 1583–1665 Catherine Manners 1603–1649 Randal 1st Marquess 1609–1682 Rose O'Neill d. c. 1690 Alexander 3rd Earl 1615–1699 Randal 4th Earl 1680–1721 Rachel Skeffington d. 1739 Legend XXX Subject of the article XXX Earls & marquesses of Antrim XXX Earl of Tyrone XXX Baron Dungannon d.v.p. = decessit vita patris (predeceased his father).

Tyrone's Rebellion

Main article: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

While she was a child, her father was the leader of the insurgents in Tyrone's Rebellion, also called the Nine Years' War (1594-1603). James MacDonnells, third son of Sorley Boy MacDonnell succeeded his father and supported the insurgents. However, he died in 1601 and Randal, the fourth brother and Alice's future husband became the head of the family. In August 1602 he submitted to the Lord Deputy Charles Blunt, 8th Baron Mountjoy, and changed sides. He was rewarded with most of the possessions of his father that should normally have gone to his brother's descendants.

Marriage and children

In 1604 Alice married Randal MacDonnell, the fourth son of Sorley Boy MacDonnell, Lord of the Glynns and the Route. Alice was described as "of good cheerful aspect, freckled, not tall but strong, well set, and acquainted with the English tongue". Her marriage was a dynastic match that brought Tyrone into an alliance with the MacDonnells, the dominant family in northern County Antrim, who also had strong connections in Scotland. Tyrone's other children made similar marriages with leading families across Ulster. Despite being Gaelic and Catholic, Randal was a strong supporter of settling Scottish Protestants in north-eastern Ulster, anticipating the Ulster Plantation. After the Flight of the Earls in 1607, when her father fled into exile in continental Europe, Ellis's husband became the foremost Gaelic aristocrat in Ulster following.

Alice and Randal had two sons, both of whom followed their father as earls:

1. Randal MacDonnell, a leading courtier under Charles I known for his involvement in the War of the Three Kingdoms
2. Alexander MacDonnell succeeded to the title in 1683, and is best known as a Catholic leader during the Williamite Wars who had the city gates shut on him at the beginning of the Siege of Derry in 1688

—and six daughters:

1. Ann, married firstly Christopher, Lord Delvin, and secondly William Fleming, Baron of Slane
2. Mary, married firstly Lucas, 2nd Viscount Dillon, and secondly Oliver, 6th Lord Louth
3. Sarah, married firstly Neile-Oge O'Neill of Killileagh in County Antrim, secondly Charles O'Conor Sligo, and thirdly Donald Macarthy More
4. Catherine, married Edward Plunkett of Castlecor
5. Rose, married Colonel Gordon, commander of a regiment in Robert Munroe's army
6. Margaret, (died 1623) never married

Later life and death

In 1607 her father Hugh O'Neill left Ireland with the Flight of the Earls. He died in Rome in 1616. On 12 December 1620 her husband was created Earl of Antrim and Alice thereby became countess. Her husband died in 1636. Ellis outlived him by almost 30 years, dying in 1665.

References

Sources

• Bardon, Jonathan (2001). A History of Ulster (new updated ed.). Belfast: Blackstaff Press. ISBN 0-85640-703-8.
• Burke, Bernard; Burke, Ashworth Peter (1915). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage (77th ed.). London: Harrison. OCLC 1155471554.
• Casway, Jerrold (2016). "Catherine Magennis and the Wives of Hugh O'Neill". Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society. 26 (1): 69–79. JSTOR 48568219.
• Cokayne, George Edward (1896). Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant. Vol. 7 (1st ed.). London: George Bell and Sons. OCLC 1180891114. – S to T
• Cokayne, George Edward (1910). Gibbs, Vicary (ed.). The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). London: St Catherine Press. – Ab-Adam to Basing (for Antrim family tree)
• Dunlop, Robert (1895). "O'Neill, Hugh, third Baron of Dungannon and second Earl of Tyrone 1540?–1616". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. XLII. New York: MacMillan and Co. pp. 188–196. OCLC 8544105.
• Hill, Rev. George (1873). An Historical Account of the MacDonnells of Antrim. Belfast: Archer & Sons.
• Lodge, John (1789). The Peerage of Ireland. Vol. 1. Dublin: James Moore. – Blood royal, dukes, earls (for Antrim)
• McDonnell, Hector (2004). "MacDonnell, Randal, 1st Earl of Antrim (d. 1636)". In Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 35. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 305–307. ISBN 0-19-861385-7.
• O'Hart, John (1892). Irish Pedigrees: Or, the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation. Vol. 1 (5th ed.). Dublin: James Duffy & Co. OCLC 7239210. – Irish stem
• Ohlmeyer, Jane H (2001) [1993]. Civil War and Restoration in the Three Stuart Kingdoms: The Career of Randal MacDonnell, Marquis of Antrim. Dublin: Four Courts Press. ISBN 978-0521419789. (Snippet view)
• \Walsh, Paul (1930). Walsh, Paul (ed.). THE WILL AND FAMILY OF HUGH O NEILL, EARL OF TYRONE [WITH AN APPENDIX OF GENEALOGIES] (PDF). Dublin: Sign of the Three Candles.
• Webb, Alfred (1878). "O'Neill, Hugh, Earl of Tyrone". Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son. pp. 410–416. OCLC 122693688.