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Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell

Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell (Irish: Ruaidrí Ó Domhnaill, 1d Iarla na Tír Chonaill; 1575 – 28 July 1608), was an Irish Gaelic lord and the last King of Tyrconnell prior to the Plantation of Ulster. He succeeded his older brother Hugh Roe O'Donnell and in 1603 became the first to be styled the Earl of Tyrconnell.[1] In 1607, following their defeat in the Nine Years' War, Tyrconnell and his wartime ally Tyrone fled Ireland for mainland Europe. Tyrconnell died of a fever shortly after settling in Rome.

Rory O'Donnell
Ruaidrí Ó Domhnaill
Earl of Tyrconnell
Rory O'Donnell, depicted in a fresco in the Vatican, painted c. 1610
King of Tyrconnell
Reign10 September 1602 – 4 September 1603
PredecessorHugh Roe O'Donnell
SuccessorTitle abolished
1st Earl of Tyrconnell
Reign4 September 1603 – 14 September 1607
PredecessorTitle created
SuccessorThe 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell
Born1575
Tyrconnell, Ireland
Died28 July 1608(1608-07-28) (aged 32–33)
Rome, Papal States
Burial29 July 1608
San Pietro in Montorio, Rome
SpousesBridget Fitzgerald
IssueThe 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell
Lady Mary Stuart O'Donnell
DynastyO'Donnell
FatherSir Hugh O'Donnell
MotherInion Dubh
ReligionRoman Catholic

Early life

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Born in 1575,[2][3][4] Rory O'Donnell was the second son of Irish lord Sir Hugh McManus O'Donnell and his second wife Iníon Dubh.[4] Hugh McManus reigned as Chief of the Name and Lord of Tyrconnell from 1566 until his 1592 abdication in favour of Rory's older brother Hugh Roe O'Donnell.[5][6][7] Iníon Dubh was a Scottish aristocrat of Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg.[8]

Rory's full-siblings included Hugh Roe,[5] Nuala, Manus,[9] Mary,[10] and Cathbarr.[9] Rory's older half-siblings (children of his father's first wife) included Donal and Siobhán.[11][8]

In July 1588, Sir Hugh promised Rory as a pledge for good behaviour.[4]

Nine Years' War

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Rory O'Donnell became tanist upon his brother Hugh Roe's 1592 inauguration as Lord of Tyrconnell. Rory fought in the Nine Years' War, though his role is largely overshadowed by Hugh Roe's leadership.[4]

In 1598, Rory was engaged by the governor of Connacht, Sir Conyers Clifford, in a plot against his brother. When this news reached Hugh Roe, he put Rory in chains for an unspecified time. It seems their relationship improved by 1600.[4][12]

On 9 October 1600, Rory's distant cousin and brother-in-law, loyalist Niall Garve O'Donnell, seized Lifford from him with the help of English forces. Despite attempts from Rory and Hugh Roe to retake Lifford, they were unsuccessful. This culminated in a battle on 24 October, in which Niall fatally wounded Rory's younger brother Manus. Rory and Niall engaged in single combat, though both were lucky to leave the battle with their lives.[4][13]

That December, Hugh Roe marched to Mayo, leaving Rory temporarily in charge. According to historian Emmett O'Byrne, "his tenure was not distinguished", as during this time, Niall's forces continued to gain momentum.[4]

The Irish confederacy suffered a major defeat at Kinsale. Rory became acting Chief when Hugh Roe left to seek desperately-needed reinforcements from Spain. Rory led the clan back to Connacht and maintained guerilla warfare, with the help of his ally Brian Oge O'Rourke. However, the two men failed in their attempt to take back power in Connacht. They lost Ballyshannon to Niall in Spring 1602, and could not prevent Oliver Lambart from entering Sligo in June. Rory and O'Rourke also argued amongst themselves.[4]

Hugh Roe died in Spain on 10 September [O.S. 30 August] 1602.[5] In December, Rory O'Donnell submitted to Lord Deputy Mountjoy at Athlone.[4]

Head of the clan O'Donnell

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Upon his older brother's death, O'Donnell succeeded him as King of Tyrconnell and Chief of the Clan O'Donnell.[4] Having submitted in London to the newly crowned King James I, Rory, under the policy of surrender and regrant was required to renounce his traditional titles and was in return created as Earl of Tyrconnell[2] per letters patent of 4 September 1603, with the subsidiary title Baron of Donegal reserved for his heir apparent. He was further granted the territorial Lordship of Tyrconnell per letters patent of 10 February 1604.[citation needed]

A 1614 Hiberno-Latin history of Donegal Abbey, however, criticized the title of Earl as, "how inferior to that with which the Prince of Tyrconnell used to be acclaimed on the sacred rock of Kilmacrenan!"[14]

 
Grave of Tyrconnell, Rome.

Flight of the Earls

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Main article: Flight of the Earls

There was much fury in Ireland and England that he and Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, had been treated so gingerly after allegedly committing treason (this became known as the Sham Plot), but time was on the side of the English authorities.[citation needed] On 14 September 1607, both Earls set sail from Lough Swilly with their families and followers for eventual exile in the Spanish Netherlands and Rome.[15][16]

The journey was difficult and harsh, and conditions on their boat were extremely poor.[17] The Earls arrived in France, not Spain as expected, then made their way north to the Spanish Netherlands. They eventually arrived in Rome[15] on 29 April 1608. Tyrconnell and Tyrone were welcomed to Rome by a guard of cardinals.[4] The next day, they met with Pope Paul V, who gave them and their families a small pension.[15]

Rome

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In early July 1608, Tyrconnell travelled to Ostia, a coastal town fifteen miles west of Rome, in order to "make holiday and take a change of air". He was accompanied by his brother Cathbarr, Hugh O'Neill, 4th Baron Dungannon, and Donal O’Carroll, Vicar General of Killaloe. Unfortunately, the men "all agreed that that particular place [was] one of the worst and most unhealthy for climate in all Italy". Tyrconnell became ill on 18 July, and shortly afterwards he died in Rome on 28 July 1608. He was buried the next day in San Pietro in Montorio. His magnificent funeral was funded by the Marqués de Aytona, Spanish ambassador to Rome, who provided Tyrconnell's younger sister Nuala with 300 crowns.[18]

Family

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Around Christmas 1606,[4] Tyrconnell married Bridget FitzGerald, daughter of the 12th Earl of Kildare,[2] by whom he had two children: Hugh and Mary.[3] Tyrconnell left his wife behind in Ireland during his flight.[4] After his death, Bridget married the 1st Viscount Barnewall (1592–1663), with whom she had five sons and four daughters that survived him.[19]

Lord Tyrconnell's only son, Hugh, was three weeks shy of his first birthday when the Earls sailed from Lough Swilly,[3][20] and was raised in Louvain, Spanish Flanders. In time he joined the service of the King of Spain, and was killed in action when his ship engaged a French vessel in August or September 1642 and caught fire. He succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell, but left no offspring; the title of Earl would have descended to his first cousin Domhnall Oge's line were it not meanwhile attainted in 1614.[citation needed]

Lord Tyrconnell's youngest child, Mary Stuart O'Donnell, left a more lasting impression on posterity. She was born in England[3] around 1607.[20] After her father's death, King James VI and I, the first Stuart King of England, gave her the name Stuart in recognition of their common Stuart ancestry – they were ninth cousins – hence she was known as Mary Stuart O'Donnell.[3] She was descended, through her mother, from the Stuarts. Mary was raised by her mother in the Kildare lands in Ireland until she was twelve years old.[citation needed] In 1619, Mary was sent to live with her grandmother, Lady Kildare, in London, where Lady Kildare aimed to educate the girl and make her her heiress.[21]

Portraiture

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Lord Tyrconnell is depicted as part of a fresco in the Vatican. He stands next to Hugh O'Neill during the 1608 canonization of Frances of Rome by Pope Paul V.[22][23] It was painted circa 1610.[23]

According to historian Francis Martin O'Donnell, many historians believe that the figure next to O'Neill is actually a Spanish ambassador - either Francisco de Moncada or his father Gastón. Francis Martin O'Donnell argues that the figure lacks Francisco's distinctive facial hair and portly appearance, and looks too young to depict Gastón, who was in his mid-50s at the time. The figure also lacks the ornate clothing an ambassador would be required to wear during such a ceremony. Therefore, it is most likely that the figure standing next to O'Neill is fellow Irish earl Rory O'Donnell.[23]

Family tree

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Notes

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References

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Citations

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  1. ^ O'Donnell, Francis Martin (2018). The O'Donnells of Tyrconnell – A Hidden Legacy. Francis Martin O'Donnell names Sir Hugh's first wife as "Nuala, a daughter of O’Neill".
  2. ^ Ó Domhnaill, Niall (1952). Na Glúnta Rosannacha, page 87. The historicity of this person is disputed.
  3. ^ a b c O'Donnell, Francis Martin (2020). Memorialising Emigré Dignity - The Cultural Heritage of St. Anthony's College, Leuven Irish College Leuven - Memorialising Emigré Dignity - The Cultural Heritage of St. Anthony's College, Leuven. p. 7. Francis Martin O'Donnell believes that Margaret was the widow of O'Rourke.
  4. ^ a b c d O'Donnell, Eunan (2006). Reflection on the Flight of the Earls. Donegal Annual (58): 31–44. Meadhb and Gráinne are known only as sisters of the Earl (i.e., Rory), with no additional information.
  1. ^ An apparent original of the letters patent of the Earldom were in the possession of Count Maximilian Karl Lamoral O'Donnell in Austria, (See Ó Domhnaill Abu – O'Donnell Clan Newsletter, no.2, Summer 1985), although that family did not inherit the title, nor the related territorial Lordship of Tyrconnell, the remainders of which were destined elsewhere
  2. ^ a b c Webb, Alfred (1878). "Rury O'Donnell". A Compendium of Irish Biography.
  3. ^ a b c d e Bagwell, Richard (1895). "O'Donnell, Rory" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 41. pp. 444–447.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m O'Byrne, Emmett (October 2009). "O'Donnell (Ó Domhnall), Ruaidhrí". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006701.v1. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Dunlop, Robert (1894). "O'Donnell, Hugh Roe" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 40. pp. 436–440.
  6. ^ O'Byrne, Emmett (October 2009). "O'Donnell (Ó Domhnaill), Sir Aodh mac Maghnusa". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006332.v1.
  7. ^ McNeill 1911.
  8. ^ a b O'Byrne, Emmett (October 2009). "MacDonnell (Nic Dhomhnaill), Fiona (Fionnghuala) ('Iníon Dubh')". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006337.v1.
  9. ^ a b Concannon, H. (1920). "'The Woman of the Piercing Wail' (The Lady Nuala O'Donnell)". The Irish Ecclesiastical Record. 16. Dublin: John F. Fowler.
  10. ^ Clavin, Terry (October 2009). "O'Cahan, Sir Donnell Ballach". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006536.v1. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  11. ^ Morgan, Hiram (September 2014). "O'Neill, Hugh". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006962.v1. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  12. ^ McCavitt, John (21 March 2016). "Red Hugh O'Donnell and the Nine Years War. By Darren McGettigan. Pp 190, illus. Dublin: Four Courts Press. 2005. €45". Irish Historical Studies. 35 (140): 562–563. doi:10.1017/S0021121400005198. ISSN 0021-1214.
  13. ^ Clavin, Terry (October 2009). "O'Donnell, Sir Niall Garvach". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006345.v1. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  14. ^ Meehan 1870b, p. 15.
  15. ^ a b c Morgan, Hiram (September 2014). "O'Neill, Hugh". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006962.v1. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  16. ^ Smith, Murray (1996). "Flight of the Earls?: changing views on O'Neill's departure from Ireland". History Ireland. 4 (1). Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  17. ^ Casway 2016, p. 75.
  18. ^ FitzPatrick, Elizabeth (August 2007). "San Pietro in Montorio, burial-place of the exiled Irish in Rome, 1608-1623". History Ireland. 15 (4).
  19. ^ Harrison, Robert (1885). "Barnewall, Nicholas (1592-1663)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 03. p. 261.
  20. ^ a b Silke 2006. "Hugh Albert O'Donnell, born [to Rory and Bridget] about October 1606, was the only son of this marriage, Mary Stuart O'Donnell being born about a year later."
  21. ^ Casway 2003, p. 60-61
  22. ^ "Priest penetrates Vatican secrecy in quest for lost portrait of Irish rebel leader Hugh O'Neill". Mid-Ulster Mail. 18 February 2016. Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  23. ^ a b c O'Donnell, Francis Martin (2020). What did they really look like? An Iconography of the O'Donnells of Tyrconnell: myth, allegory, prejudice, and evidence. Tyrconnell-Fyngal Publishing.

Sources

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Further reading

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Regnal titles
Preceded by King of Tir Conaill
1602–1608 		Vacant
Peerage of Ireland
New creation Earl of Tyrconnell
1602–1608 		Succeeded by
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