Hugh Roe O'Donnell

For the earlier ruler of Tyrconnell, see Hugh Roe O'Donnell (died 1505).

Hugh Roe O'Donnell II Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill II
King of Tyrconnell
1934 depiction of O'Donnell by Richard King
Reign	April 1592 – 10 September 1602
Inauguration	3 May 1592
Predecessor	Hugh McManus O'Donnell
Successor	Rory O'Donnell
Born	(1572-10-30)30 October 1572 Tyrconnell, Ireland (present-day County Donegal)
Died	10 September 1602(1602-09-10) (aged 29) Castle of Simancas, Province of Valladolid, Crown of Castile
Burial	September 1602 Convent of St. Francis, Valladolid
Spouse	Rose O'Neill ​ ​ (m. 1592; div. 1596)​
Issue	None
House	O'Donnell dynasty
Father	Hugh McManus O'Donnell
Mother	Iníon Dubh
Signature

Hugh Roe O'Donnell II (Irish: Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill; 30 October 1572 – 10 September 1602), also known as Red Hugh O'Donnell, was an Irish clan chief, Lord of Tyrconnell, and senior leader of the Irish confederacy during the Nine Years' War.

He was born in Tyrconnell (present-day County Donegal) into the powerful O'Donnell clan of the Gaelic nobility of Ireland. At 14 years old, he was engaged to the daughter of Tír Eoghain's ascendant lord Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and elevated to the position of his father's tanist. The English government feared that an alliance between the O'Donnell and O'Neill clans would threaten the Crown's control over Ulster, so in 1587 the Lord Deputy arranged for Hugh Roe's kidnapping. The government subsequently backed regime change in Tyrconnell. After four years' imprisonment in Dublin Castle, Hugh Roe escaped circa Christmas 1591 with the assistance of Irish lords O'Neill and Fiach McHugh O'Byrne. He was inaugurated as clan chief ("The O'Donnell") at the Rock of Doon on 3 May 1592.

Along with his father-in-law Tyrone, Hugh Roe O'Donnell led a rising of the Irish clans in the Nine Years' War, motivated to prevent English incursions into Irish territory and to end Catholic persecution under Queen Elizabeth I. O'Donnell and Tyrone also sought the Kingdom of Ireland's political independence with Archduke Albert VII as High King. O'Donnell led the confederacy to victory in the Battle of Curlew Pass. His cousin Niall Garve defected to the English in 1600, which greatly emboldened Henry Docwra's troops and forced O'Donnell out of Tyrconnell.

After a crushing defeat at 1602's Siege of Kinsale, O'Donnell travelled to Habsburg Spain to seek badly needed reinforcements from King Philip III. Whilst on route to an audience with the king, O'Donnell died of a sudden illness at the Castle of Simancas, aged 29. His body was buried inside the Chapel of Wonders at the Convent of St. Francis, Valladolid. He was succeeded by his younger brother Rory. O'Donnell's premature death disheartened an already withering Irish resistance; Tyrone ended the Nine Years' War in 1603 with the Treaty of Mellifont.

Fiercely patriotic and militarily aggressive, O'Donnell is considered a folk hero and a symbol of Irish nationalism. He has drawn comparisons to El Cid and William Wallace. In 2020, an archaeological dig for his remains in Valladolid drew international media attention. Since 2022, the city has annually reenacted his 1602 funeral procession in period costumes and with an empty casket draped with an Irish tricolour.

Early life

For the political context of O'Donnell's life, see Tudor conquest of Ireland.

Family background

Hugh Roe O'Donnell was born on 30 October 1572, the eldest son of Irish lord Hugh McManus O'Donnell and his second wife, Scottish aristocrat Fiona "Iníon Dubh" MacDonald. He was born into the ruling branch of the O'Donnell clan, a Gaelic Irish noble dynasty based in Tyrconnell (a kingdom geographically associated with present-day County Donegal). He had three younger brothers, Rory, Manus and Cathbarr (ordered oldest to youngest), and several sisters, Nuala, Margaret and Mary. He also had older half-siblings from his father's previous relationships, including Donal and Siobhán.

Paternally Hugh Roe claimed descent, via the lineage of Conall Gulban of the Cenél Conaill, from the Pre-Christian High King Niall of the Nine Hostages. Through his mother, Hugh Roe was a descendant of the first six Scottish Chiefs of Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg and from Somerled, the first Lord of the Isles. He was also descended from King of Scots Robert the Bruce and his grandson Robert II, the first Stuart king of Scotland.

Arms of Clan O'Donnell

Hugh Roe's father, Hugh McManus, had ruled as clan chief and Lord of Tyrconnell since 1566. He was a wary politician who alternated between alliances with the O'Neill clan, his long-established rivals in Ulster, and the English government, which controlled the area around Dublin. In 1569 Hugh McManus married Iníon Dubh of Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg, as part of a marriage alliance, which gave the O'Donnell clan access to the formidable Scottish mercenary forces known as Redshanks. Iníon Dubh pushed the O'Donnell clan further into opposition with the English, and in 1574 the clan established an alliance with ascendant O'Neill clansman Hugh O'Neill (future Earl of Tyrone) via his marriage to Siobhán.

Education

Like other local members of the Gaelic nobility of Ireland, Hugh Roe would have received a Classical Christian education from the Franciscan Friars at Donegal Abbey, whose practice, ever since the beginning of the Reformation in Ireland under King Henry VIII, had been to grant sanctuary to Old English refugees, particularly Roman Catholic priests and religious, who had fled from religious persecution in the Pale. In his biography of Rob Roy MacGregor, W. H. Murray described the code of conduct as follows, "The abiding principle is cast up from the records of detail: that right must be seen to be done, no man left destitute, the given word honoured, the strictest honour observed to all who have given implicit trust, and that a guest's confidence in his safety must never be betrayed by his host, or vice versa. There was more of like kind, and each held as its kernel the simple ideal of trust honoured... Breaches of it were abhorred and damned... The ideal was applied 'with discretion'. Its interpretation went deeply into domestic life, but stayed shallow for war and politics."

Fosterage

The children of Gaelic Irish nobility were traditionally fostered to fellow clans, typically in the hopes of developing political alliances. As such, Hugh Roe was fostered by four families of differing political alignments: Clans Sweeney na dTuath and O'Cahan, as well as two rival O'Donnell branches led by Hugh McHugh Dubh O'Donnell and Conn O'Donnell. Conn had a strong claim to the lordship as his father Calvagh was a prior ruler of Tyrconnell. In 1581 Conn turned hostile towards the ruling O'Donnells and Hugh Roe was removed from his care. Conn died in 1583 and Hugh Roe's succession seemed assured. Nevertheless, Conn's sons, particularly Niall Garve, looked to the English government as a means of restoring their branch of the family to power.

Family tree

Hugh Roe O'Donnell and selected relatives Hugh Dubh O'Donnell d. 1537 Manus O'Donnell 1490–1563 Hugh McHugh Dubh O'Donnell c. 1537–1618 Calvagh O'Donnell c. 1515–1566 Hugh McManus O'Donnell c. 1520–1600 Fiona "Iníon Dubh" MacDonald Hugh MacEdegany d. 1588 illegitimate Conn O'Donnell d. 1583 Donal O'Donnell d. 1590 Hugh Roe O'Donnell 1572–1602 Nuala O'Donnell c. 1575–c. 1630 Niall Garve O'Donnell c. 1569–1626 Legend XXX Subject of the article XXX King of Tyrconnell XXX Succession Challenger XXX Foster-father of Hugh Roe

By 1587, Hugh Roe was in the care of Owen Óg MacSweeney na dTuath, his final foster-father. According to historian Darren McGettigan, MacSweeney na dTuath "appears to have given [Hugh Roe] much freedom".

Ultimately Hugh Roe's fosterage did not engender much loyalty in his foster-families. Hugh Dubh antagonised the ruling O'Donnells into the 1590s, and the sons of MacSweeney na dTuath and Conn eventually opposed Hugh Roe by defecting to the English.

Rise to prominence

Hugh Roe saw his first military action in 1584, with his father's chief advisor Sir Eoin O'Gallagher, against Clan O'Rourke of West Breifne. Even before reaching the age of fifteen, Hugh Roe had become well known across Ireland and England. Biographer Lughaidh Ó Cléirigh praised the young noble: "He continued to grow and increase in comeliness and urbanity, tact and eloquence, wisdom and knowledge, goodly size and noble deeds". Hugh Roe began to be associated with Aodh Eangach, a prophesied high king. It was foretold that if two men named Hugh succeeded each other as O'Donnell chief, the last Hugh shall "be a monarch in Ireland and quite banish thence all foreign nations and conquerors".

By 1587, Hugh Roe was formally betrothed to Tyrone's daughter Rose. In addition to Tyrone's marriage to Siobhán, this betrothal would further cement a growing alliance between two clans who had traditionally been mortal enemies for centuries. Hugh Roe had become a focus of authority within Tyrconnell, and Tyrone described him as "the stay that his father had for the quieting of his inhabitance". As tanist of the O'Donnell clan, Hugh Roe was widely considered to be his father's most likely successor.

Imprisonment and escape

Capture at Rathmullan

The English government feared that the emergence of a powerful O'Neill-O'Donnell alliance, which would be cemented by Hugh Roe's marriage to Rose, would threaten English control over Ulster. Though Tyrone professed loyalty to the Crown, he was attracting suspicion from the government due to his growing power. Hugh Roe's familial links to various Scottish Highland clans were also a cause for concern; English officials often pejoratively referred to him as "Scottish". Additionally Hugh Roe's father had failed to pay annual rents promised to the government, and at the time the English government kept hostages for policy reasons. Ultimately the government decided that Hugh Roe must not be allowed to succeed as O'Donnell clan chief, and so the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Welsh statesman John Perrot, hatched a plan to kidnap the young noble. In May 1587, Perrot wrote to Lord Burghley that he planned to capture Hugh Roe "by sending thither a boat with wines".

Lord Deputy John Perrot authorised Hugh Roe's kidnapping

In September, Hugh McManus was summoned to a conference with Perrot. Meanwhile the ship Matthew, captained by Dublin merchant Nicholas Barnes (alias Nicholas Skipper) was dispatched to Rathmullan on Lough Swilly, where fourteen-year-old Hugh Roe was sojourning with his foster-father MacSweeney na dTuath. The ship was anchored and the crew went on shore under the guise of ordinary merchants selling wine. Hugh Roe heard of the merchant ship and arrived with several young companions. Barnes claimed that they had no wine left unsold except for what was left on their ship, and the group were invited aboard. According to 17th-century accounts, Chief Donnell MacSweeney Fanad, Hugh Roe's host, was ashamed that the young noble had missed out on the wine and unwittingly encouraged him to take a small boat to the Matthew.

Chief MacSweeney Fanad, Chief MacSweeney na dTuath and Eoin O'Gallagher accompanied Hugh Roe onto the Matthew. Once on board, Hugh Roe and his compatriots were conducted into a secured cabin and plied with food and wine. Whilst they were enjoying themselves, the hatches were fastened and their weapons were removed. MacSweeney Fanad was released in exchange for his eldest son Donnell Gorm MacSweeney Fanad. O'Gallagher likewise gave his nephew Hugh O'Gallagher. MacSweeney na dTuath was also released upon giving "his eldest son"—actually a young peasant dressed in his son's clothes—as a hostage. Hostages were offered in Hugh Roe's stead to no avail, and the ship set sail for Dublin.

Hugh Roe arrived in Dublin on 6 October [O.S. 25 September]; Queen Elizabeth I was informed the next day. Perrot ascertained that the peasant was not MacSweeney na dTuath's son and dismissed him. Hugh Roe and his two fellow hostages were imprisoned in Dublin Castle's Bermingham Tower.

Within three months, Tyrone was lobbying the queen for Hugh Roe's release. In 1588, he offered a bribe of £1000 to William FitzWilliam, Perrot's successor as Lord Deputy, plus £300 to newly-appointed officials. Tyrone was later accused of offering a further £1000 to Dublin Castle's constable. In spring 1588, Iníon Dubh offered Perrot a bribe of £2000, plus sureties and hostages, for her son's release. In September 1588, Hugh McManus offered thirty Spanish officers, taken from the Spanish Armada's shipwreck in Inishowen, in exchange for his son. FitzWilliam refused due to "the dangers that might grow unto this miserable realm by letting loose the reins unto so harebrain and ungracious an imp". In 1590 FitzWilliam indicated a willingness to release Hugh Roe, but this came to naught.

The English attempted to convert Hugh Roe and his fellow Catholic hostages to Protestantism by bringing them to a Protestant service, but the boys shouted over the hymns and music so the service could not be heard. They did not desist even when carried out of the church and sent back to Bermingham Tower, and were never again summoned.

"It was anguish and sickness of mind and great pain to [Hugh Roe] to be as he was, and it was not on his own account but because of the great helplessness in which his friends and kinsmen, his chieftains and leaders, his clerics and holy ecclesiastics, his poets and learned men, his subjects and whole people were, owing to their expulsion and banishment to other territories throughout Erin. He was always meditating and searching how to find a way of escape."

Lughaidh Ó Cléirigh, on Hugh Roe's imprisonment

During his time in Dublin Castle, Hugh Roe had little interaction with the outside world beyond conversations with fellow political prisoners. In witnessing first-hand the brutality inflicted by the Dublin government on Irish rebels, he became embittered and resentful of English authority. Captain Thomas Lee warned the government that O'Donnell's youth would make him impressionable and radicalised. Ironically, Hugh Roe learnt to speak English during his imprisonment. Ó Cléirigh highlights the young noble's growing distress for his kinsmen. Hugh Roe's imprisonment is seen as the defining event of his life.

Chaos in Tyrconnell

Hugh McManus had become senile in his later years, and Hugh Roe's imprisonment exacerbated a long-running succession dispute which had consumed Tyrconnell since October 1580. The dispute was bloody; three of Conn's sons were violently killed in the conflict. Iníon Dubh effectively took over Tyrconnell and ruled in her husband's name. She pushed successfully for Hugh Roe to become her husband's successor by spreading the Aodh Eangach prophecy and by directing her Redshanks to kill any challengers. Hugh MacEdegany, an illegitimate son of Calvagh O'Donnell, was the first major challenger. He was assassinated on Inion Dubh's orders during a visit to her residence, Mongavlin Castle, in May 1588.

Further disruptions developed as the government appointed various administrators in Tyrconnell who ransacked and pillaged the kingdom. Perrot appointed William Mostian as Sheriff of Tyrconnell—he quickly carried out eight cattle raids, ransacking Donegal Abbey and murdering its guardian. Later the same year, FitzWilliam gave Captain John Connill charge of Tyrconnell after being bribed with two Spanish gold chains. Connill assisted the opponents of the ruling O'Donnells. He was later joined by Captain Humphrey Willis and two hundred soldiers. At one point Connill befriended then captured Hugh McManus, but he was freed by Niall Garve. Another brutal administrator was Captain Bowen, a notorious torturer who fried the soles of his victims' feet. This chaos created mass resentment towards the English government.

Map of Ulster's Gaelic kingdoms in the 16th century

Hugh Roe's elder half-brother Donal remained the Crown's favored candidate for the chiefdom, and shortly after the Armada's shipwreck, FitzWilliam knighted and appointed Donal as Sheriff. FitzWilliam also imprisoned important Tyrconnell nobles Sean O'Doherty (Lord of Inishowen) and Eoin O'Gallagher, believing them to possess Spanish treasure from the Armada. O'Gallagher's imprisonment also had political motivations as he was a major adherent of Hugh Roe during the succession dispute. Donal made an effort to depose as his father, backed by Connill's troops. Iníon Dubh, backed by her Redshanks and the clans of the Cenél Conaill who remained loyal to her husband, crushed Donal at the Battle of Doire Leathan on 14 September [O.S. 3 September] 1590.

Willis (who replaced Donal as Sheriff) and Connill exploited the ensuing chaos in Tyrconnell. They took control of western Tyrconnell and began raiding into the east. The English forces raided and pillaged, extorting supplies and protection money from the local population.

In 1591 Iníon Dubh bought off rival Niall Garve with a political marriage to her daughter Nuala, in an attempt to temper his hostility. Despite the continual presence of freebooting government troops, Tyrconnell's nobility remained obsessed with their succession conflict.

First escape attempt

The Bermingham Tower at Dublin Castle, where state prisoners were held during the Elizabethan era.

After three years and three months in English captivity, Hugh Roe made his first escape attempt in January 1591, in the company of fellow Ulster hostages Donnell Gorm MacSweeney Fanad and Hugh O'Gallagher. Before Hugh Roe and his companions were put in their cells one night, they escaped through a nearby window and climbed down a rope onto the drawbridge. They jammed a block of timber into the door, preventing the guards from pursuing them. By the time the guards noticed Hugh Roe's absence and gave chase, the fugitives had already escaped past the open city gates.

Hugh Roe's shoes fell apart and he was left behind by his companions in the thick woods beyond Three Rock Mountain. He sent word to Castlekevin in County Wicklow, the territory of Chief Felim O'Toole, who had visited him in Dublin Castle. O'Toole wanted to assist Hugh Roe but faced pressure from his clan, who feared the consequences of aiding a high profile fugitive. O'Toole's sister Rose quickly planned for her husband Fiach McHugh O'Byrne, of Clan O'Byrne, to take Hugh Roe to his house in Glenmalure. According to O'Sullivan Beare, O'Byrne and his clansmen immediately set out to rescue Hugh Roe, but their inability to cross a flooded river prevented them from reaching Castlekevin in time. English officer George Carew was dispatched to Castlekevin on 15 January and Hugh Roe was surrendered and returned to Dublin Castle in chains. Ó Cléirigh states the Privy Council were pleased with Hugh Roe's recapture: "they made little or no account of all the hostages and pledges who escaped from them, and they were thankful for the visit which restored him to them again". Hugh Roe was returned to Dublin Castle, more heavily shackled, and checked by the chief gaoler twice a day.

Second escape attempt

Around Christmas 1591, Hugh Roe made a successful escape attempt with his fellow prisoners Henry MacShane O'Neill and Art MacShane O'Neill. After years of lobbying and bribery, Tyrone had managed to bribe FitzWilliam, one of Tudor Ireland's most corrupt Lord Deputies, with £1,000 to secretly assist in Hugh Roe's escape. In summer 1590, Conn MacShane O'Neill alleged that Tyrone "did lay down a plot and practised the escape of Hugh Roe" from prison—the plot apparently involved a silk rope and prepared horses. This is obviously a reference to some previous attempt, but is an accurate forecast of Hugh Roe's eventually successful escape.

Hugh Roe O'Donnell's father-in-law, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, bribed officials to ensure the successful prison escape.

This escape plan was far more prepared than Hugh Roe's prior attempt. The constable of Dublin Castle John Maplesden was on his deathbed which distracted the chief gaoler from his duties, making it the perfect time to mount an escape. A gaoler's servant named Edward Eustace promised four horses which would be saddled in a nearby stable for three days prior. Fiach McHugh O'Byrne promised shelter for the fugitives at Glenmalure. Richard Weston, a servant of Tyrone, managed to supply Hugh Roe with a silk rope, and winter clothes were acquired for the long journey.

When the three prisoners were unshackled to eat, they "took advantage of the keepers". The prisoners made their way to the privy house. They tied one end of the rope there, and fed the other end down the privy hole which led outside the castle. Henry made his way down the rope first, and without waiting for the others, escaped safely back to Ulster. Hugh Roe followed, but Art MacShane was badly injured by a falling stone whilst sliding down the rope. Although Eustace had promised horses, on that day they had been removed without his knowledge. Once outside the castle, Hugh Roe and Art MacShane met with Eustace who guided them through Dublin. The trio proceeded through the dark streets, mixing with the crowds, and safely escaped the city.

The escape plan went awry. The fugitives had left their winter clothes in prison and Hugh Roe's shoes became worn out, exposing him to the elements. Art MacShane had grown fat and unfit in prison and had to be carried by the others. The trio made it into the Wicklow Mountains at which point they sought shelter in a cave, traditionally said to be along the slopes of Conavalla. Hugh Roe and Art MacShane were too weak to reach Glenmalure, so Eustace left them in the cave and went on ahead to get help. Hugh Roe managed to survive by eating leaves and bark, but despite his pleas, Art MacShane could not eat. After three nights, when O'Byrne's men arrived to rescue them, Hugh Roe and Art MacShane were found covered in snow. Art MacShane died of hypothermia. According to O'Sullivan Beare, Hugh Roe refused to eat due to his grief over Art MacShane's death, but was compelled to do so by O'Byrne's men. He was taken to Glenmalure where he was revived with difficulty, tended to and recovered.

Art MacShane's family were rivals to Tyrone, so it was speculated that Tyrone had O'Byrne's party kill him, though it is more likely he died of exposure. He was buried on the mountainside.

A cross marks the spot where Art MacShane O'Neill is said to have died.

Unusually, the state papers do not reference Hugh Roe's escape until his safe return to Ulster. This could point to corruption or embarrassment on the part of government officials. An outraged Queen Elizabeth I wrote to statesman Thomas Burgh in May 1592 and decreed that "[O'Donnell escaped] by the practice of money bestowed on somebody. Call to you the Chancellor, Chief Justice Gardiner, and the Treasurer, and inquire who they are that have been touched by it." In a letter to Lord Burghley, FitzWilliam attempted to vindicate himself by declaring he had sacked Maplesden, the aging constable who died mere days after the escape. FitzWilliam was attracting suspicion at this stage.

Becoming Chief of the Name

Return to Ulster

For a few days after his rescue, Hugh Roe was tended to in a hidden cabin in Glenmalure. Hugh Roe and O'Byrne swore oaths to mutually assist each other if they came under English attack. Turlough Boye O'Hagan, a trusted emissary of Tyrone, arrived to escort Hugh Roe back to Ulster; they set out immediately. Hugh Roe's feet were frostbitten so he had to be lifted up and off of his horse. He was escorted across the Liffey by a band of horsemen (which included Felim O'Toole). He proceeded northwards under O'Hagan's guidance and crossed the Boyne on a small ferry kept by a "poor little fisherman", whilst his attendant led their horses through Drogheda. At Mellifont, he rested one night at the house of English ally Garret Moore, travelled through Dundalk and the Fews, and on the third day reached Armagh. The next day Hugh Roe arrived at Dungannon, Tyrone's residence, where the two men presumably discussed their plans to retake Tyrconnell's lordship. It is also here that they may have planned their future attack on Turlough Luineach O'Neill, Tyrone's rival in Tír Eoghain. Hugh Roe remained at Tyrone's residence for four days, hidden in a secret chamber to avoid corrupting Tyrone's loyalist public image. Afterwards, Hugh Roe was received by Chief Hugh Maguire of Fermanagh. Maguire conveyed Hugh Roe across Lough Erne and brought him to the border of Tyrconnell where a party of supporters welcomed him. Hugh Roe then arrived at his father's castle in Ballyshannon.

Attack on English occupation

Hugh Roe arrived in a Tyrconnell which had suffered much repression and turmoil in his absence. A few months before Hugh Roe's return, Willis and Connill's forces raided Donegal in the dead of night, killed thirty people, and occupied Donegal Abbey as a garrison. Ballyshannon Castle and Donegal Castle were the two major strongholds in Tyrconnell not yet deprived by the Crown. Hugh Roe made expelling the English forces his first order of business. He summoned and rallied his family's followers to Ballyshannon. Even nobles in Tyrconnell who previously favoured the Crown had become resentful due to the pillaging committed in Hugh Roe's absence.

Donegal Castle and Ballyshannon Castle were Hugh Roe O'Donnell's two major strongholds. The former (pictured) was restored in the 1990s; the latter was demolished in 1720.

As soon as Chief Donough MacSweeney Banagh heard of Hugh Roe's safe return, he attacked Willis, forcing him and his soldiers into their garrison in Donegal Abbey. Hugh Roe's forces killed a number of English troops, forcing them to abandon plunder. Hugh Roe travelled to Donegal to face Willis and forced the English troops to depart Tyrconnell. Sources conflict on the exact circumstances. According to Ó Cléirigh, Hugh Roe informed Willis that if he and his men left, they would not be harmed. According to a seventeenth-century account written by the clergy of Donegal Abbey, Willis threatened to set the church on fire, but Hugh Roe was "anxious to preserve the sacred edifice" and allowed Willis to depart unharmed. According to English soldier Thomas Lee, O'Donnell intended to destroy Willis's men but was held back by Tyrone.

According to O'Sullivan Beare, "Being surrounded there [Willis] surrendered to Roe by whom he was dismissed in safety with an injunction to remember his words, that the Queen and her officers were dealing unjustly with the Irish; that the Catholic religion was contaminated by impiety; that holy bishops and priests were inhumanely and barbarously tortured; that Catholic noblemen were cruelly imprisoned and ruined; that wrong was deemed right; that he himself had been treacherously and perfidiously kidnapped; and that for these reasons he would neither give tribute or allegiance to the English." The peace terms stipulated that Willis and his soldiers were forbidden to take any stolen cattle or other looted property with them as they crossed back into Connacht. Afterwards the clergy returned to the abbey.

Inauguration

1885 illustration of O'Donnell's inauguration by John Dooley Reigh

After the expulsion of Willis's forces in February, Hugh Roe returned to Ballyshannon where his big toes were amputated due to frostbite. He remained in recovery from February to April. In April, before an assembly of fellow nobles in Kilmacrennan, Hugh McManus abdicated in favour of Hugh Roe. This was accepted by the nobility present. The abdication, though apparently voluntary, was "stage-managed" by Iníon Dubh, who remained the "head of advice and counsel" in the kingdom. Following his abdication, Hugh McManus spent his final years living in retirement among the Franciscans at Donegal Abbey and doing penance for his sins.

Hugh Roe O'Donnell was inaugurated at Kilmacrennan Friary.

19-year-old Hugh Roe O'Donnell was inaugurated as Chief of the O'Donnell clan on 3 May 1592. The ceremony, which involved the O'Donnell clan's ornamental inauguration stone (the "Rock of Doon"), was held in a church at Kilmacrennan. The inauguration stone was traditionally located at the Hill of Doon, but by 1592 it had been moved to a church at Kilmacrennan. Theologian Timothy T. O'Donnell describes the traditions of the ceremony, which was both civil and religious in nature: "It began with the religious rites in the church of the nearby monastery and holy well singing Psalms and hymns in honor of Christ and St. Columba for the success of the Prince's sovereignty. Standing on the Rock surrounded by nobles and his clansmen, the Prince received an oath in which he promised to preserve the Church and the laws of the land. The Prince also vowed to deliver the succession of the realm peacefully to his Tanist (his successor). O'Ferghil, the hereditary warden and abbot of Kilmacrenan, performed the religious ceremony of the inauguration of The O'Donnell. O'Gallagher was the Prince's Marshal and O'Clery was the Ollamh, or scholarly lawyer who presented to him the book containing the laws and customs of the land and the straight white wand symbolizing the moral rectitude demanded of his judgments and rule." Hugh Roe would have walked three times clockwise around the inauguration stone, after which the spectators present would have loudly acclaimed him as "O'Donnell! O'Donnell! O'Donnell!"

The major surviving opponents to Hugh Roe's succession—including Niall Garve, Hugh McHugh Dubh and Sean O'Doherty—did not attend the inauguration out of protest. At the time, Niall Garve was in Dublin unsuccessfully seeking support from authorities.

Rise in power

Immediately after his inauguration, Hugh Roe O'Donnell and Tyrone mounted raids against Tyrone's rival Turlough Luineach. Turlough Luineach had provided assistance to O'Donnell's rivals such as Niall Garve. O'Donnell would have desired revenge and felt a need to assist his new ally Tyrone. From Tyrone's perspective, a key reason for maintaining his alliance with the O'Donnell clan was to defeat Turlough Luineach and gain control of Tír Eoghain.

In June, Hugh Roe O'Donnell renewed the O'Donnell clan's interest in north Connacht by supporting a revolt among the lower MacWilliam Burkes, to the chagrin of Lord President Richard Bingham. O'Donnell imposed his control over Tyrconnell. He dispelled bandits from Barnesmore Gap, established an execution site at Mullaghnashee beside Ballyshannon Castle, and took pledges from all nobles wealthy enough to maintain four horsemen.

O'Donnell despatched letters to the state informing of his inauguration and giving justification for attacking Turlough Luineach. He unseriously offered to submit to FitzWilliam in person if he was lent £800 or £900. Fitzwilliam recognised the necessity of conciliating O'Donnell. He reprimanded O'Donnell for his arrogance but promised, if they could meet at Dundalk by 16 July [O.S. 6 July], to pardon his escape and lend him £200. Tyrone was anxious to improve his own standing with the government. At FitzWilliam's request, Tyrone travelled to Donegal to confer with O'Donnell. After some convincing, O'Donnell accompanied Tyrone to Dundalk to submit to FitzWilliam and gain government recognition. Bribery was probably involved in the meeting, which took place in a church on 12 August [O.S. 2 August] 1592. According to Thomas Lee, O'Donnell bribed FitzWilliam with £500 to ensure favourable negotiations. O'Donnell made various agreements with FitzWilliam; he pledged his loyalty to Elizabeth I, agreed to receive a Sheriff in Tyrconnell, promised to pay his father's covenanted rents, to treat his rivals (O'Doherty, Niall Garve and Hugh McHugh Dubh) fairly, to banish Catholic clergy from Tyrconnell, and to avoid supporting the MacWilliam Burkes in Connacht. O'Donnell successfully negotiated to retain about 100 redshanks in Tyrconnell for use as his mother's bodyguards, ostensibly because O'Donnell was concerned for her safety. After the meeting, the two Hughs feasted at Dungannon where they further discussed their developing alliance. The submission to FitzWilliam put O'Donnell temporarily in favour with the government, and he took advantage of this to crush his opponents.

Despite his promises, O'Donnell began to subjugate his rivals. Sean O'Doherty was captured at a parley and imprisoned; only then did he acknowledge O'Donnell's lordship. In early 1593, O'Donnell obtained Hugh McHugh Dubh's submission by taking his last stronghold at Belleek and beheading sixteen of his followers "by train of a feigned treaty of friendship, mediated by Maguire". This sufficiently intimidated Niall Garve that he submitted to his younger cousin through fear, though he did not give up his ambitions to seize the lordship. With the O'Neill-O'Donnell alliance against him, Turlough Luineach surrendered his lordship in May 1593. Tyrone took over rule of Tír Eoghain, making both O'Donnell and his father-in-law the rulers of the two major kingdoms of Gaelic Ulster.

Wartime leadership

Conference of bishops

By late 1592 the Crown's continual advances into Ireland, as well as the recent executions of chieftains Hugh Roe MacMahon (September/October 1590) and Brian O'Rourke (November 1591), had created a fierce resentment in the Gaelic nobility and Irish clergy. Catholic priests were suffering harassment and imprisonment from English authorities, and Spain had been a refuge to the clergy since the 1570s. In September 1592, Archbishop Edmund MacGauran returned from Spain having recently met with King Philip II. MacGauran was eager to obtain Spanish military aid to combat English forces in Ireland. Philip II promised support, as he wanted Ireland as an ally in the Anglo-Spanish War, but only if Ireland proved itself by launching prior military action. Thus MacGauran sought powerful Irish lords willing to openly rebel against the Crown. He organised a conference of seven Catholic bishops in Tyrconnell that December. The bishops saw O'Donnell as their main hope, and declared he was "fittest for the part" and thus to be "their leader or general". On 8 April 1593, O'Donnell addressed Irish nobles living in Spain: "I and the other chiefs who have united with me and are striving to defend ourselves, cannot hold out long against the power of the Crown of England without the aid of his Grace the Catholic King.... We have thought it well to send the Archbishop of Tuam [James O'Hely] to treat of this matter with his Majesty".

Maguire's revolt

The Irish confederacy began to form following a meeting at Enniskillen Castle.

Captain Willis was appointed by FitzWilliam as Sheriff of Fermanagh against Maguire's will. In early April 1593, Willis entered Fermanagh with at least 100 men and began violently pillaging and raiding. This exacerbated resentment towards the Crown, and after Willis' first offensive O'Donnell met with MacGauran, Maguire, Brian Oge O'Rourke and Theobald, Richard and John Bourke at Enniskillen Castle on 8 May. MacGauran advised that the noblemen present sign a letter addressed to Philip which emphasised their oppression and which requested urgent reinforcements from the Spanish army. Archbishop O'Hely was tasked with delivering the confederates' messages: two letters from O'Donnell, one letter from MacGauran, and the 8 May letter signed by the confederates.

Maguire managed to obtain reinforcements from Tyrone's brother and foster-brothers, who were likely involved on Tyrone's behalf. Similarly to O'Donnell, Maguire besieged Willis and his men in a church and planned to starve them out, but Tyrone intervened and negotiated their safe rescue. Shortly afterwards MacGauran died in a skirmish on 3 July [O.S. 23 June]. Maguire's revolt marks the start of the Nine Years' War.

Historians disagree with O'Donnell's position in the confederacy. Contemporary accounts agree that he was playing a lead role at this time. Historians such as Hiram Morgan and James O'Neill have disputed this by emphasising that Tyrone was a more important figure who hid his allegiance to the confederacy for strategic reasons. Historians Nicholas Canny and Michael Finnegan credit O'Donnell as the confederacy's driving force until Tyrone's break into open rebellion. O'Hely reached the Spanish court by September 1593 where he met with Juan de Idiáquez, the royal secretary. In Idiáquez's notes to Philip II, he notes that the early confederates wanted Tyrone to join them in open rebellion, though it appears Tyrone refused without reassurance that Spanish reinforcements would arrive.

Early rebellion

Catholic bishops began to spread the Aodh Eangach prophecy to advance the Irish rebellion. O'Donnell aided Maguire's rebellion by sending soldiers, but he feigned neutrality. At the Battle of Beleek, O'Donnell was in nearby Ballyshannon when the battle was taking place, but he was ordered by Tyrone not to reinforce Maguire. However, O'Donnell sent 60 horsemen, 60 swordsmen and 100 gallowglass under the command of Niall Garve. Historian James O'Neill has theorised that Hugh Roe intentionally dispatched Niall to Belleek with the hope that he would die in the slaughter, thus easily eliminating a potential enemy.

Hugh Maguire (memorial pictured) was a significant ally to O'Donnell during the early Nine Years' War

In early 1594, the crown demanded that Tyrone discipline O'Donnell and bring him under control. Soon after, in March, Tyrone and O'Donnell met with government commissioners near Dundalk. After the meeting, government commissioners surmised that a confederacy had been established between the Ulster lords, and that Tyrone was the leader.

Open rebellion

In summer 1594, O'Donnell rebelled against the state at the siege of Enniskillen, though he continued to negotiate through his father-in-law Tyrone. O'Donnell presented his grievances over many years in a lengthy document titled "A note of such oppressions and indirect courses as hath been held in Tirconnell and other places".

O'Donnell also began to demand that Connacht lords who exiled in Tyrconnell be returned to their lands. He also increasingly demanded the restoration of lands in Connacht formerly under the control of the O'Donnell clan.

In 1595, O'Donnell began to expand his rebellion. He launched large raids into Longford and Roscommon. In June 1595, the castle of Sligo, which was key to securing control over Connacht, was betrayed to O'Donnell "in a stroke of luck". Bingham's government collapsed. O'Donnell reestablished brehon law and asserted suzerainty over north Connacht. During Christmas-time, O'Donnell stage-managed the election of exiles Tibbot Fitzwalter Kittagh as the Lower MacWilliam Bourke.

Peace treaty

Tyrone sought to delay the war in order to buy time for the arrival of Spanish troops, and in September 1595, he sent overtures of submission to the Crown, and a ceasefire was enacted whilst the settlement could be negotiated. The discovery of the confederacy's letters to Spain affected negotiations, but ultimately the government was willing to accept Tyrone's assurances. After much deliberation and negotiation, a cessation of arms was signed by Tyrone on 27 October 1595. In January 1596, O'Donnell and Tyrone entered into face-to-face negotiations with government commissioners. O'Donnell demanded ancestral claims of lands in Sligo, as well as the right to seek pardon for Connacht men including O'Rourke and Burke. He also similarly demanded liberty of conscience. A compromise was created, but O'Donnell refused to give hostages or make a personal submission. A hollow peace was signed on 24 April 1596. Further negotiations to develop a peace treaty were almost complete by May.

In May, Spanish captain Alonso Cobos met with O'Donnell in Lifford. O'Donnell refused to go further into conversation without Tyrone present, "because there was one above him naming O'Neill, which if he would consent unto it he would do the same". When Tyrone finally arrived, a secret talk between Cobos and O'Donnell, Tyrone, and Tyrone's brother Cormac MacBaron occurred in a small house beside Lifford's castle. Hugh Boye MacDavitt of Inishowen, a war veteran who had served in the Low Countries, served as their interpreter. After the meeting, the Irishmen agreed to abandon the peace treaty and become vassals of Philip II. Tyrone and O'Donnell also petitioned Philip II to make Albert VII, Archduke of Austria the new monarch of Ireland. After these developments, Tyrone and O'Donnell began to deliberately derail peace negotiations and provoke war in previously peaceful parts of the country. It became clear to the English that the confederacy intended the war to be not just a war for Ulster, but for all of Ireland.

Tyrone sent his secretary Henry Hovenden to ostensibly aid O'Donnell in pacifiying Connacht. The government intercepted a letter in which Hovenden stated that "all the delays that could possibly be used for prolonging the causes here have not been omitted". Soon after this, O'Donnell met with other confederate lords at Strabane. Together, they issued a letter to Munster's population demanding an adherence to Catholicism.

Renewal of hostilities

The English attacked again in 1597 but O'Donnell won a victory over Lord President Conyers Clifford. Negotiations were renewed in autumn 1597, government commissioners abandoned them by spring 1598, beliving that O'Donnell and Tyrone were manipulating them with a cat-and-mouse, good-cop-bad-cop routine. On many occasions, Tyrone would claim that agreements could not be made in O'Donnell's absence. On one occasion Tyrone presented a letter from O'Donnell which allegedly prevented him from agreeing to terms.

Initially, negotiators considered O'Donnell to be the more aggressive, extremist confederacy, but upon negotiations with both men, it was concluded that the two Hughs were partners. In negotiations, the confederacy leaders deliberately increased their demands for their confederacy and intentionally bought time for Spanish reinforcements to reach Ireland. After much delay, the 2nd Spanish Armada sailed from Lisbon in October 1596, though the armada ended in failure when it was met with a sudden storm which claimed over 3,000 lives.

Kern and gallowglass armed with pikes, longswords, and the Lochaber axe. 1521 drawing by Albrecht Dürer

O'Donnell successfully led two expeditions against Turlough Luineach O'Neill in 1593, to force Turlough to abdicate his chieftainship in favour of Tyrone. At this point, Tyrone did not join O'Donnell in open war but secretly backed him to enhance their bargaining power with the English. Tyrone by now was also communicating with Philip II of Spain in a quest for military aid.

Declaring open rebellion against the English the following year, O'Donnell received fealty within Connacht from counties Sligo to Leitrim by 1595, and O'Donnell personally re-instated the Chiefdom of Clan MacWilliam Íochdar of the completely Gaelicised House of Burgh in County Mayo, which had been abolished under the policy of surrender and regrant. Instead, however, of allowing Clan a Burc to summon a gathering at which the nobles and commons would debate and then choose one of the derbhfine of the last chief to lead them, O'Donnell instead chose to appoint his ally Tiobóid mac Walter Ciotach Búrca as Chief of the Name. By also passing over the claim of her son Tiobóid na Long Búrca of the Chiefdom, O'Donnell made himself a permanent and very dangerous enemy out of his mother's former ally; the famous pirate queen Grace O'Malley. The latter was swift to retaliate by launching an English-backed regime change war, in which she fought against Hugh Roe in order to wrest the White Wand of the Chiefdom away from Tiobóid Mac Walter Ciotach and give it to her son. In this same year Tyrone abandoned negotiation with the English by raising his clan and launching the successful Assault on the Blackwater Fort.

In 1596, the combined forces of O'Donnell and Tyrone defeated an English army under Sir Henry Bagenal at the Battle of Clontibret.

Their greatest victory came two years later however at Battle of the Yellow Ford on the Blackwater River near the southern border of Tír Eoghain in August 1598. At this battle, the Irish annihilated an English force marching to relieve the siege of Blackwater Fort, five miles northwest of the Elizabethan Army's government's garrison town of Armagh. Later that year, O'Donnell purchased Ballymote Castle from the Chief of Clan MacDonagh and subsequently made it his primary residence.

Tyrone then went south to secure the allegiance of Irish clans in Munster, without much success. Meanwhile, O'Donnell claimed sovereignty over the Irish clans and Old English town-dwellers of Connacht and, as is traditional in the warfare of Gaelic Ireland, Hugh Roe subjected those among both ethnicities who sided with the Queen to both cattle raiding and arson. As part of his war against the Pro-English Ulick Burke, 3rd Earl of Clanricarde, Hugh Roe besieged the Earl's town of Athenry. During the 16th century, the usual laws and customs of war permitted up to three days of sacking after the fall of a city, but, according to Ó Cléirigh, after the fall of Athenry, Hugh Roe allowed his troops to sack the city for only one day.

Upon being refused entry to Galway City by the Old English and Royalist city government, Hugh Roe burned the suburbs:

"... he sent forth swift-moving marauding parties through the district of Caladh, and the upper part of the territory; and they carried off many herds of cows and other preys to O'Donnell, to the town of Athenry; and though the warders of the town attempted to defend it, the effort was of no avail to them, for O'Donnell's people applied fires and flames to the strongly-closed gates of the town, and carried to them great ladders, and, placing them against the walls, they recte, some of them ascended to the parapets of the wall. They then leaped from the parapets, and gained the streets of the town, and opened the gates for those who were outside. They all then proceeded to demolish the storehouses and the strong habitations; and they carried away all the goods and valuables that were in them. They remained that night in the town. It was not easy to enumerate or reckon the quantities of copper, iron, clothes, and habiliments, which they carried away from the town on the following day. From the same town he sent forth marauding parties to plunder Clanrickard, on both sides of the river; and these marauders totally plundered and ravaged the tract of country from Leathrath to Magh-Seanchomhladh. The remaining part of his army burned and ravaged the territory, from the town of Athenry and Rath-Goirrgin Westwards to Rinn-Mil and Meadhraige, and to the gates of Galway, and burned Teagh-Brighde, at the military gate of Galway".

Despite these and other assaults, however, O'Donnell was unable to persuade local Royalist Old English and Irish clans to change their allegiance.

However, in the next two years, O'Donnell and Tyrone were hard-pressed with the deployment of thousands more English troops in the country. The O'Donnell also ambushed and slew an English expedition led by Sir Conyers Clifford to relieve the siege of the pro-English Clan O'Connor Sligo at Colloney Castle at the Battle of Curlew Pass in 1599. After Sir Conyers' severed head was shown to the Castle's defenders, they surrendered.

O'Rourke and MacDermott attacked Conyers Clifford in August 1599. Clifford's head was delivered to O'Donnell. O'Donnell carried the head around as a trophy. As a result of the victory at Curlew Pass, O'Donnell could imprison O'Connor Sligo, whom Clifford was using to counter O'Donnell.

The Gaelic Chieftan - a 1999 statue of O'Donnell by Maurice Harron, near Boyle, County Roscommon

According to the Chronicle of Donegal Abbey, "Right heartily did the friars of Donegal pray for the success of their prince, for the repose of the clansmen who fell in his cause; and, oh! how their jubilant voices made vault and cloister ring, when forty throats pealed out Te Deum, for the defeat of Norris at Clontibret, Bagnal on the field of the Yellow Ford, and Clifford in the passes of the Curlew Mountains!"

Teigue O'Rourke was captured by O'Donnell in early 1598. O'Donnell forced Teigue to marry his sister Mary, in order to formalise an alliance and antagonise Brian Oge. By the late 1590s, O'Donnell's relationship with his father-in-law was coming under strain. The confederacy leaders argued over the division of resources sent from Spain. Tyrone claimed a superior portion at Lifford, but an argument in summer 1599 over the Barrionuevo delivery led to a treaty of equality being established between the two men. Further conflict occurred when, at a banquet, O'Donnell named Cúconnacht Maguire as Hugh Maguire's successor. Tyrone favoured Connor Roe Maguire.

The Spanish failed to send the resources that O'Donnell sought. In April 1600, he sent as hostages the sons of O'Doherty and O'Gallagher. When another Spanish mission arrived in late 1600, "O'Donnell was like a madman when he saw no kind of news, neither of men nor money to come". During this waiting period O'Donnell extended his power southwards with various devastating raids. In 1597 and 1598, Hugh Roe O'Donnell burned County Galway, accompanied by competitors to the Clanricarde title.

A major cause of tension between O'Donnell and Tyrone was the landing of Henry Docwra in Derry in May 1600, and the confederates' failure to dislodge Docwra's forces.

Upon Hugh McManus's death in 1600, his remains were first clothed in the habit of a Franciscan monk and then buried underneath the Chapel of Donegal Abbey.

Marriage

In December, Rose was escorted to O'Donnell's house in Tyrconnell for the marriage ceremony. The couple were formally married during Christmas-time 1592 at O'Donnell's house. According to McGettigan, the marriage started out as a success with Rose having some measure of influence over O'Donnell.

By 1595, O'Donnell and his wife were facing difficulties. That year, with her father's consent, Rose and O'Donnell were separated. Her marriage to O'Donnell did not result in any children. In 1598, the author of The Description of Ireland claimed the separation was due to Rose's "barrenness". In order to increase his influence in southern Connacht, O'Donnell had hopes of a dynastic marriage alliance with Lady Margaret Burke, daughter of the Ulick Burke, 3rd Earl of Clanricarde, who had refused to join the war. This was part of O'Donnell's overall expansionary plan of 1595. His plan failed and O'Donnell took Rose back. Hiram Morgan believes that O'Donnell's choice to remain in a barren marriage is symbolic of his dependence on Tyrone.

The Calendar of State Papers makes reference to "some breach between Tirone and O Donnell about Tirone's daughter" on 2 April 1596, probably referring to Rose and her husband's eventual divorce. The divorce was likely against Tyrone's wishes.

In 1600, O'Donnell schemed to marry Joan, sister of royal ally James FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond. This was blocked by loyalist George Carew towards the end of the year-the government placed Joan under house arrest to avoid O'Donnell from spiriting her away.

The Siege of Donegal

Even worse for O'Donnell was a regime change war launched by Niall Garve, based on Sir Henry Docwra's agreement to support his claim to the O'Donnell Chiefdom. Niall Garbh's brothers and an estimated one thousand Clan O'Donnell warriors also joined his efforts to wrest the White wand away from Hugh Roe with the support of the Crown.

Niall Garbh's support, however, allowed the Tudor navy under Sir Henry Docwra and Humphrey Willis to land a seaborne force at Derry into the heart of Tyrconnell and also capture Clan O'Donnell's traditional stronghold, which Hugh Roe had entrusted to Niall Garbh, in the Battle of Lifford.

In response, Hugh Roe's half-sister, Nuala O'Donnell, immediately separated from her husband, joined the court of her half-brother, and brought her children with her. Meanwhile, Hugh Roe was at the head of his army in Thomond when he received word of Niall Garbh's uprising. O'Donnell and his followers immediately hurried back to Tyrconnell to retake control of his native district.

According to the Elizabeth era English officials who wrote the Calendar of State Papers—specifically Henry Docwra—Hugh Roe was so outraged by his brother-in-law's defection that he ordered mass hangings of Niall Garbh's followers, and personally killed Niall Garbh's four-year-old son (and his own nephew) by bashing his brains out against a post. Allegations about Hugh Roe's murder of her child, however, do not explain why Nuala O'Donnell did not similarly change her allegiance, as the code of conduct would have demanded. It is very well-documented, in fact, that Nuala remained loyal to her half-brother and his siblings, for which she has been praised in Irish bardic poetry. Furthermore, the Hiberno-Latin historians from Donegal Abbey did not consider Niall Garbh's efforts to seize the Chiefdom to be justified under the traditional code of conduct and according denounced Niall Garbh as, "a traitor" and "a perfidious wretch." Docwra's biographer John McGurk acknowledges the uncertainty of the report's truthfulness. He points out that Docwra's "blunt" personality would indicate that he reported current affairs accurately, though it is unclear where Docwra received this intelligence. McGurk also acknowledges that infanticide was a feature of warfare in the early modern period. Historian Hiram Morgan notes that since this is a contemporary account, it should not be dismissed out of hand.

O'Sullivan Beare, on the other hand, was more nuanced in his assessment, "Garve was a man of great spirit and daring, skilled in military matters and had many of the men of Tyrconnell on his side, fortified by whose aid and valour he did not decline a fight with the Catholics in the open. However, he always retained the Catholic Faith and kept aloof from heretical rites."

On 10 August 1601, the monks of Donegal Abbey carefully removed all sacred objects and fled by ship from their enclosure shortly before Niall Garbh O'Donnell seized control of the monastery buildings and fortified them with earthenworks, which he built with the assistance of Tudor navy engineers, who also helped him to repair the dilapidated buildings of Donegal Castle for the expected siege by Hugh Roe's forces.

According to the history of Donegal Abbey, "Meanwhile, O'Donnell arrived, pitched his camp at Carrig, within two thousand paces of Donegal, and resolved to give Nial and his followers no rest, night or day, as long as they remained within the desecrated walls. A series of hand to hand conflicts, in which Nial's people suffered severely, ensued; and in the course of a fortnight many of the revolted Irish, repenting their treason, deserted in twos and threes to our Prince's camp."

According to Philip O'Sullivan Beare, "There was frequent and sharp fighting between the Catholics and royalists round Derry and Lifford. We may mention a cavalry fight in which the royalists being routed, Manus, brother of O'Donnell's, would have run through with his spear Garve as he retired, had not the blow been parried Owen O'Gallagher, surnamed Oge, a comrade of Manus, but actuated by his devotion and affection for Niall's family who were their lords. Cornelius O'Gallagher was differently disposed to this family, and is said to have persuaded Garve to go over to the English, and who wounded Manus at Monin, near Lifford, where a cavalry fight was suddenly sprung on both parties and Manus charging into five Irish royalists was struck in the right side by a spear thrust from Grave and being surrounded was struck by Cornelius under the shoulder. However, the points of the spears did not penetrate the cuirass, but nevertheless reached the body of Manus. Roderick coming to his brother's aid aimed his spear at Garve's breast. Garve tightening the reins raised his horse's head which received Roderick's blow by which the horse fell dead under Garve; but he, lifted up by his men, returned to Lifford when O'Donnell was coming up with the foot. Manus died of his wounds after fifteen days and shortly after Cornelius was captured by O'Donnell and hanged."

Sir Henry Docwra was reportedly delighted by Niall Garbh's role in the slaying of Hugh Roe's brother Manus. Niall Garbh had previously shown signs of wanting to call off the uprising and make peace with his cousin and brother in law, but Docwra knew that the death of Manus O'Donnell represented such an insult under the traditional honour code as to make a peaceful solution far more difficult if not outright impossible. Even so, Niall Garbh is still said to have tried to arrange one.

The ruins of Donegal Abbey, as they appeared in 2009

According to the history of Donegal Abbey, "Cooped up in the monasteries, so vigilantly watched by O'Donnell that they could not come out into the open country to lift preys, Nial's people began to mutiny; when on the night of Michaelmas, the powder stored in the monastery of Donegal took fire, whether accidentally or by the special interposition of Heaven I know not, and exploded with a terrible crash, that was heard far out at sea, may, scared the wild deer in the coverts of Barnesmore. Oh, the appalling spectacle! Hundreds of the besieged were blown to atoms; others, among the rest Nial's own brother, were crushed to death by masses of the rent masonry; and all that night, while the woodwork blazed like a red volcano, in whose glare friend and foe were distinctly visible to each other, O'Donnell's swordsmen pressed the survivors back across the trenches into the flames, where upwards of a thousand of them perished miserably. Nor should it be forgotten that a ship, laden with munitions for the besieged, ran in a rock, and went to pieces that very night, just as she was entering the bay of Donegal. Next morning Nial proceeded unobserved by O'Donnell's troops, along the strand to Magherabeg, and returned, under cover of the guns of the English war vessel, with the soldiers he had left in that place, determined to maintain himself to the last among the smoldering ruins. O'Donnell immediately shifted his camp nearer to Donegal, and continued the siege till October; when, being informed that the Spaniards had landed at Kinsale, he struck his tents and marched to their assistance."

Kinsale

The Spanish General Juan del Águila finally landed and was besieged by the English Army inside the walled city of Kinsale – at virtually the opposite end of Ireland from the Northern clans - in September 1601. Seeking to break the siege and rescue their Spanish allies, O'Donnell led his warriors in a hard march during the extremely bitter winter conditions of 1601, often covering over 40 miles a day, to join Tyrone and his warriors at Kinsale, arriving in early December 1601.

Holy Cross Abbey, Thurles, County Tipperary.

En route, true to his family arms and Constantinian motto In Hoc Signo Vinces and in anticipation of the battle to come, Red Hugh visited and venerated the relic of the True Cross, the Holy rood, on the Feast of St. Andrew, on 30 November 1601 at Holy Cross Abbey, and removed a portion of it.

From there he dispatched an expedition to Ardfert in County Kerry, to win a quick victory and successfully recover the territory of his ally, James Fitzmaurice, Lord of Kerry, who had lost it and his 9-year-old son, to Sir Charles Wilmot. Red Hugh also left some O'Donnell clansmen behind in Ardfert to defend Clanmaurice country, notably his first cousin and nephew, Domhnall Óg, son of his late half-brother and rival for the succession, Sir Domhnall O'Donnell, and who appears in the FitzMaurice pardon of 16 July 1604.

Battle of Kinsale, 1601.

At the Battle of Kinsale on (according to the Julian Calendar then used in Elizabethan era England: 24 December 1601) Gregorian Calendar: 5/6 January 1602, the combined forces of Irish clans were defeated by Sir Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy. O'Donnell and his clansmen arrived as the defeated Irish clans were withdrawing with heavy losses from the field and he tried in vain to rally them, but in the end, Clan O'Donnell escaped the battle without serious losses. The defeat at Kinsale, for which O'Donnell unjustly blamed himself, would prove every bit as devastating for Gaelic Ireland as the Battle of Culloden would be for their fellow Gaels in Scotland in 1746.

Juan del Aguila then surrendered Kinsale on terms and departed with his forces for Spain. Based almost certainly upon Jesuit lay brother and future Irish Catholic Martyr Dominic Collins' tactical assessments, Irish Jesuit priest and Spanish Royal Army military chaplain Fr. James Archer immediately engaged in recrimination. He accused Spanish expeditionary force commander Juan del Águila of cowardice, vacillation, and dereliction of duty for both refusing to heed the advice of the local Irish clans and refusing to sally forth and meet his Ulster allies at the critical point. Archer concluded, "[He] has the reputation in other parts of being a brave soldier, but [in Ireland he was] cowardly and timorous."

Meanwhile, as the defeated Irish clans gathered in a conference at Inishannon, an outraged and heartbroken Hugh Roe O'Donnell announced his plans to travel to Spain to seek further reinforcements from King Philip III. This announcement devastated his supporters, who suspected, despite O'Donnell's vow he would return before the next spring with twenty thousand more Spanish Royal Army soldiers, that they would never see him again.

Spain

After the Irish defeat at Kinsale, O'Donnell left Ireland on 6 January 1602 and sailed to Corunna in Galicia, Spain, where many other Irish clan chiefs were already arriving as refugees with their families. O'Donnell travelled with Florence Conroy, Muiris mac Donnchadh Ulltach, Redmond Burke and Captain Hugh Mostian. They arrived in Luarca on 13 January after travelling through a stormy passage. On arrival O'Donnell was received with great honours by the Governor of Galicia and the Lord Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, where an Irish College was founded. He was also taken to "visit the Tower of Brigantiums, where according to bardic legends the sons of Milesius left to the Isle of Destiny".

O'Donnell then travelled to Valladolid to ask further assistance from King Philip III. When he arrived in the Royal presence, O'Donnell knelt before the King and vowed not to rise until three requests were granted, "The first is that you send a Spanish Army with me to Ireland. The second is that once you rule Ireland, I will be the most powerful Irish noble there. The third is that you protect the rights of the O'Donnells forever." The King immediately agreed and ordered O'Donnell to rise.

O'Donnell travelled to Spain to seek assistance from Philip III of Spain

According to Irish historian John McCavitt, "He made sure to position himself with a recognisable aristocratic rank while he also emphasised the Irish's sacrifice for Spain in turning down the chance for peace with England in the hope a further Spanish invasion force would be sent to Ireland."

Tyrconnell physician Niall Ó Glacáin treated O'Donnell for a bubonic plague sore at the Spanish court. Whilst in Spain, O'Donnell asked to see Henry O'Neill (Tyrone's son) who was then studying in Salamanca. Henry was summoned to Zamora. O'Donnell spent less than a week in Zamora before moving on to La Coruña.

During his time at court, O'Donnell also spent much of his time assisting the gathering of evidence for the court martial of Juan del Aguila. After two weeks, however, the King granted O'Donnell a generous pension and reassigned him to supervise naval preparations for another Spanish expeditionary force at Coruña.

The Spanish Council of State also reported to the King about O'Donnell, "His zeal and loyalty should be highly praised... He should be assured that His Majesty regards the Irish Catholics as his subjects."

Upon his own arrival on 21 March 1602, Juan del Aguila was met at the quay of Coruña by a livid Hugh Roe O'Donnell, whom del Águila told in a buoyant, positive tone, "Be of good comfort. We will have one more turn at Ireland." O'Donnell's reply is not recorded.

The Venetian Ambassador to Spain reported, "[The Spanish authorities] now insist that Águila made a mistake in coming to terms with the English and surrendering to them two places which he held. Some prophesy ill for him, declaring that he has escaped an honourable death in Ireland to meet with a shameful one in Spain."

The 31 July 1602 execution of the Duc de Biron, for allegedly plotting with Spanish backing to assassinate King Henri IV, brought France to the brink of entering the war as an ally of England and drastically increased the risk that further Spanish intervention in Ireland would result in French troops being dispatched there, as well.

Despite this fact, O'Donnell continued being told, according to Des Ekin, by the Spanish Council of State, "anything he wanted to hear." At the same time, according to intelligence reports received by Sir George Carew, O'Donnell's reputation remained, "great in Spain", while there was widespread, "dislike of Don Juan." Feelings regarding both men remained almost identical in Ireland.

Death and burial

In the middle of 1602, Hugh Roe O'Donnell, suffering from, "anguish of heart and sickness of mind", finally left for Valladolid, "to go into the King's presence again to learn the cause of the delay." Instead, Hugh Roe O'Donnell unexpectedly fell ill at the Castle of Simancas.

Hugh Roe O'Donnell received the Last Rites and was attended by Archbishop of Tuam Fláithrí Ó Maol Chonaire and two refugee Franciscans from Donegal Abbey; Friars Muiris mac Donnchadh Ulltach and Muiris mac Seán Ulltach. After sixteen days of suffering, Hugh Roe O'Donnell died at the Castle of Simancas on 10 September (30 August in Old Style) 1602. He was 29 years of age. There is no record of any visitors to O'Donnell.

O'Donnell's Last Will and Testament, written in his dying moments with his loyal retinue, is an extremely evocative and moving document. One original is preserved in Simancas and the other in the Chancellery archive in Valladolid. Whilst on his deathbed, O'Donnell dictated his will in Irish but it was translated into Spanish for official purposes. O'Donnell requested that he be buried in the Convent of St. Francis in Valladolid. O'Donnell warned against news of his death reaching Ireland before further Spanish reinforcements arrived. He believed news of his death would demotivate the Irish and lead to a peace treaty with England. It is clear that O'Donnell was content to be a vassal of the Spanish king if the Gaelic chiefs could keep their power over Ireland. This would have effectively made Ireland a Spanish colony.

O'Donnell died at the Castle of Simancas in 1602.

Similarly to the explorer Christopher Columbus, Hugh Roe was buried in the Chapel of Wonders of the Franciscan monastery in Valladolid. Although both the monastery buildings and the land upon which they stood were confiscated, demolished, and sold by the anti-Catholic and Liberal Spanish Government of Queen Isabella II in 1837, the exact location of the tomb may have been discovered following a Spanish archaeological dig in May 2020. If Red Hugh O'Donnell's remains are successfully identified, they will be repatriated to Ireland for burial in County Donegal.

But he never said
And -- it seemed odd -- he
Never had heard
The aspirated name
Of the centuries-dead
Bright-haired young man
Whose grave I sought
(...)

They brought
His blackening body
Here
To rest
Princes came
Walking
Behind it
And all Valladolid knew
And out to Simancas all knew
Where they buried Red Hugh.

Excerpt from Thomas MacGreevy's 20th-century poem Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill, which describes a search for O'Donnell's grave

The Anglo-Irish spy James "Spanish" Blake later claimed to have poisoned Red Hugh O'Donnell. The Calendar of the Carew Manuscripts, preserved in the Archepiscopal Library at Lambeth, 1601–1603, was copied and published in 1870 by Longmans, Green & Co. in London detailing the official preserved letters from Sir George Carew, Lord President of Munster during part of the Nine Years' War, to Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, who was nominated as Lord Lieutenant over Ireland by Queen Elizabeth I. Some of these letters were written in cipher, but the key to the cipher was to use a substitute letter six spaces earlier in the alphabet. In the letter from Carew to Mountjoy dated 28 May 1602, Carew reported to Mountjoy "One James Blake...took a solemn oath to do service...and is gone into Spain with a determination (bound with many oaths) to kill O'Donnell", and then another letter, written partially in cipher, was sent from Carew to Mountjoy dated 9 October 1602, "O'Donnell is dead... he is poisoned by James Blake, of whom your lordship hath been formerly acquainted...".

It is, however, unlikely that Red Hugh O'Donnell was poisoned. A more probable cause of death was the tapeworm that Simancas documents of the time stated to have been the cause of his demise. It should be said that spies and spymasters of the era often made improbable claims about their operations, and in this case as in many others like it, it is very likely that Carew exaggerated the success of his operative.

Even so, with O'Donnell's death, Spanish plans to send further assistance to the Irish clans were abandoned. According to Des Ekin, "The Duke of Lerma was in no hurry. He was still playing the long game. He aimed for peace with England, and Kinsale had achieved his aim of strengthening Spain's hand. True, Queen Elizabeth had inconsiderately refused to die while del Águila clung on his bridgehead: that was too bad. But still, for the price of a thousand Spanish deaths in Ireland, his Irish expedition had cost the Queen 6,000 to 10,000 of her best soldiers, diverted her from the Low Countries, and almost bankrupted her. It had worked out okay. Now it was time to move on. Soon, the Council of State would recommend a new policy towards the Irish: 'These people should be undeceived, so that they may be able to make the best terms [with the English] they can, bad as the consequences may be."

The Treaty of Mellifont that ended the war, was accordingly signed by Tyrone on 30 March 1603. For this reason, John McCavitt has recently stated about Hugh Roe O'Donnell, "Had he lived, this was a distinct possibility. It could have changed the course of Irish history forever."

Dynastic and local legacy

Hugh Roe O'Donnell's younger brother Rory O'Donnell succeeded him as ruler of Tyrconnell.

Hugh Roe was succeeded by the Tanist of Clan O'Donnell, his younger brother, Rory O'Donnell, as both Lord of Tír Chonaill and Chief of the Name of a still polarised Clan O'Donnell. After submitting 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 hereditary Earl of Tyrconnell per letters patent of 4 September 1603, with the subsidiary title Baron of Donegal reserved for his heir apparent, but both titles were to be passed down by primogeniture rather than the Brehon law tradition of Tanistry. Rory was further granted the territorial Lordship of Tyrconnell per letters patent of 10 February 1604.

A 1614 Hiberno-Latin history of Donegal Abbey, however, harshly 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!"

Hugh Roe's nephew, Hugh Albert O’Donnell at 10 years of age as a page at the court in Vienna of Albert VII, Archduke of Austria.

Rory and his family ultimately joined the 1607 Flight of the Earls. In 1603, the last Chief of the Name and Lord of Tyrconnell to be acclaimed at the Rock of Doon was Red Hugh's treacherous cousin and brother in law Niall Garve O'Donnell; who now led the Clan with English backing.

For this reason, despite his praise for some elements of Niall Garbh O'Donnell's character, Philip O'Sullivan Beare also went on the record as a very harsh critic of him, Tiobóid na Long Búrca, Grace O'Malley, and other members of the Gaelic nobility of Ireland who similarly launched regime change wars within their clans with English backing. Having the benefit of hindsight regarding the long-term fallout from Niall Garbh's uprising against his Chief and many others like it nationwide, O'Sullivan Beare wrote, "The Catholics might have been able to find a remedy for all these evils, had it not been that they were destroyed from within by another and greater internal disease. For most of the families, clans, and towns of the Catholic chiefs, who took up arms in defense of the Catholic Faith, were divided into different factions, each having different leaders and following lords who were fighting for their estates and chieftaincies. The less powerful of them joined the English party in the hope of gaining the chieftainship of their clans, if the existing chieftains were removed from their position and property, and the English craftily held out that hope to them. Thus, short-sighted men, putting their private affairs before the public defence of their Holy Faith, turned their allies, followers, and towns from the Catholic chiefs and transferred to the English great resources, but in the end did not obtain what they wished for, but accomplished what they did not desire. For it was not they, but the English who got the properties of and rich patrimonies of the Catholic nobles and their kinsmen; and the Holy Faith of Christ Jesus, bereft of its defenders, lay open to the barbarous violence and lust of the heretics. There was one device by which the English were able to crush the forces of the Irish Chiefs, by promising their honours and revenues to such of their own kinsmen as would seduce their followers and allies from them, but when the war was over the English did not keep their promises."

Niall Garbh would prove no exception, as his alliance with Sir Henry Docwra collapsed due to a subsequent conflict over both money and power. Niall Garbh had been promised that he would rule Tyrconnell just as his ancestors had done, while Docwra had every intention of supplanting him and, along with other Royal officials, sought to frame him on charges of high treason, based on a nonexistent conspiracy with the Earl of Tyrone and the Spanish Crown. Iníon Dubh, who had outlived all her sons, belatedly took her revenge by informing Dublin Castle that Niall Garbh had encouraged Sir Cahir O'Doherty, whose lands in Inishowen Niall Garbh coveted, to launch O'Doherty's rebellion, and had then broken his word by refusing to raise his own clan and join the rising once it began. On 15 June 1608, Niall Garbh was arrested and imprisoned in October 1609 in the Tower of London. He remained there until his death in 1626.

In contrast to Niall Garbh, the descendants of Grace O'Malley became completely assimilated into the British upper class, as did those of O'Donnell's other enemy, Richard Burke, 4th Earl of Clanricarde, who was knighted on the battlefield of Kinsale and whose modern descendants include Diana, Princess of Wales, William, Prince of Wales, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.

As stated by Philip O'Sullivan Beare, the loss of their former protectors among the Gaelic nobility of Ireland drove the Catholic Church in Ireland deeper underground in the face of an escalating religious persecution that ended only with Catholic Emancipation in 1829. Historian and folklorist Tony Nugent accordingly lists twelve Mass rocks located throughout County Donegal that were used for illegal religious worship over the following centuries in defiance of the law, the Redcoats and the priest hunters. One is located beside the holy well near the Rock of Doon near both Termon and Kilmacrenan. The grave of Friar Rory O'Hegarty, who was captured and summarily executed by priest hunters while offering Mass near Buncrana in 1711 and buried where he fell, remains a local site of Christian pilgrimage. Ballyshannon Castle, Hugh Roe O'Donnell's key residence, was demolished in 1720, though Donegal Castle was restored in the 1990s.

Following the Irish War of Independence, the ascendant Fianna Fail political party began a policy of granted courtesy recognition as Chief of the Name to the senior male descendants of the Gaelic nobility of Ireland. With regard to the O'Donnell dynasty, the succession came down to a contest between the O'Donnell family of Newport House and the Duke of Tetuan of the Spanish nobility. The Irish State ultimately ruled in favor of Fr. Hugh O'Donnell, OFM, a Roman Catholic missionary in Zimbabwe who could document his descent from Manus O'Donnell, the second son of Niall Garbh and Nuala O'Donnell, who was killed in action while fighting for the Confederation of Kilkenny under the command of Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill at the Battle of Benburb in 1646.

In September 2002, Eunan O'Donnell, BL, gave the Simancas Castle Address in honour of Red Hugh, during an O'Donnell Clan Gathering in Spain. In that same year, a monument upon the battlefield at Kinsale was unveiled by Nuala O'Donnell, the sister of Fr. Hugh O'Donnell, OFM. Following the death of Fr. Hugh O'Donnell, OFM on 11 July 2023, the White Wand of the Chiefdom and his seat in the Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains were both inherited by his Tanist and distant relative, don Hugo O'Donnell, 7th Duke of Tetuan (b.1948).

During an interview with Peter Berresford Ellis, don Leopoldo O'Donnell y Lara, 6th Duke of Tetuán (1915-2002), don Hugo's father and the Irish State's then recognized Tanist of Tyrconnell, commented, "Being in my mid-eighties, perhaps I will not inherit the title of my forebears, nor even my son in his lifetimes. But one of my grandsons doubtless will. Our family, forced to flee from our native land to maintain our own existence, has never really abandoned Ireland, our patrimony nor our people of Tirconnell. We would sincerely wish to maintain their interest in the ancient Gaelic culture and civilization that once made Ireland the cradle of civilization during the grim, bleak days of the European Dark Ages."

Family

O'Donnell family tree

Issue of Hugh McManus O'Donnell (Aodh mac Maghnusa Ó Domhnaill; c. 1520 - 1600), son of King of Tyrconnell Manus O'Donnell (Maghnas Ó Domhnaill), and Judith O'Neill (Siobhán Ó Néill). First marriage: Nuala O'Neill Joanna O'Donnell (Siobhán Ní Domhnaill) Died c. January 1591 Married Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone in June 1574 - marriage repudiated in 1579 - later reconfirmed Margaret O'Neill (fl. c. 1596) Married Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret shortly before 8 October 1596 Sarah O'Neill (fl. 1595–1602) Married Sir Arthur Roe Magennis before 4 March 1595 Mary O'Neill (fl. 1608) Married Brian McHugh Og MacMahon Alice O'Neill (1583 – c. 1665) Married Randal MacDonnell, 1st Earl of Antrim in 1604 Hugh O'Neill (c. 1585 – September 1609) Henry O'Neill (c. 1586 – 25 August 1610) Daughter (name unknown) Married a son of Turlough Lynagh O'Neill Duncan "Scaite" O'Donnell (Donnchadh Ó Domhnaill) Rory O'Donnell (Ruaidhri Ó Domhnaill) Died 1575 Donal O'Donnell (Domhnall Ó Domhnaill) Died 14 September 1590 Married a daughter of Turlough Lynagh O'Neill, c. 1588 Unknown woman Donnell Oge O'Donnell (c. 1585 – 5 September 1620) Second marriage, 1569: Fiona MacDonald (Fionnghuala Nic Dhomhnaill, also known as Iníon Dubh), daughter of James MacDonald, 6th of Dunnyveg and Agnes Campbell. Hugh Roe O'Donnell (Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill) Born 30 October 1572 Died 10 September 1602 Betrothed to Rose O'Neill, c. 1587; married in December 1592; separated in 1595; divorced in 1596 Rory O'Donnell (Ruaidrí Ó Domhnaill) Born 1575 Died 28 July 1608 Married Bridget FitzGerald, c. December 1606 Hugh Albert O'Donnell (October 1606 – 1642) Married Anna-Margaret de Hénin, c. 1635 Mary Stuart O'Donnell (c. 1607 – after 1639) Married Dualtach O'Gallagher after 1629 Some sources incorrectly suggest that they had an elder daughter named Elizabeth (see Elizabeth_Plunket#Errors in her genealogy) Nuala O'Donnell (Nuala Ní Domhnaill) Born c. 1575 Died c. 1630 Married Niall Garve O'Donnell in 1591 - separated 1600 A son (c. 1596 – 1600) Child of unknown paternity: Grania O'Donnell (fl. 1607 - 1617) Children of Niall Garve, possibly by Nuala: Naghtan O'Donnell (died 1640) Manus O'Donnell (died 5 June 1646) George Hill mentions Naghtan having two younger brothers (see Niall_Garve_O'Donnell#Family) Manus O'Donnell (Maghnus Ó Domhnaill) Born c. 1579 Died 22 October 1600 Margaret O'Donnell (Mairghead Ní Domhnaill) fl. 1608 – 1662 Married Nugent Richard Nugent Mary O'Donnell (Máire Ní Domhnaill) Died 1662 Married Donnell Ballagh O'Cahan in June 1593; separated 1598 Rory Oge O'Cahan A daughter Married Teigue O'Rourke in 1599 Brian O'Rourke (born 1599) Hugh O'Rourke (born c. 1600) Caffar O'Donnell (Cathbarr Ó Domhnaill) Born c. 1583 Died 15 September 1608 Married Rose O'Doherty Hugh O'Donnell (c. June 1605 – 1625) Relationship with an unmarried woman Conn O'Donnell (fl. 1608–1629) Gráinne O'Donnell (Gráinne Ní Domhnaill) Meadhb O'Donnell (Meadhb Ní Domhnaill)

Legacy

Monument to the Four Masters, located at the bridge over the Drowes River near Kinlough, County Leitrim.

Hugh Roe O'Donnell was highly praised in the Irish language chronicles of the era, the Renaissance Latin histories of Philip O'Sullivan Beare, and centuries of subsequent Irish bardic poetry for his personal commitment to the honour code of an Irish clan chief and, during the same era as the Irish Catholic Martyrs, his determined defense of the Catholic Church in Ireland against the religious persecution ordered by Queen Elizabeth I. Most notably, the Annals of the Four Masters, which was compiled between 1632 and 1636, either in a cottage beside the ruins of Donegal Abbey and just outside of Donegal Town or in a Franciscan house of refuge beside the River Drowes in County Leitrim and just outside Ballyshannon by Friars Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh, Fearfeasa Ó Maol Chonaire and Cú Choigríche Ó Duibhgeannáin, is a highly important source about his life from the perspective of Gaelic Ireland.

Also, the Classical Gaelic saga Beatha Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill ("The Life of Red Hugh O'Donnell") by Lughaidh Ó Cléirigh, one of the five sons of Maccon Ó Cléirigh, the former official bard to the Chief of Clan O'Donnell, is another highly important source for Red Hugh's life and times. According to historian Hiram Morgan, "When Spanish interest in Ireland was renewed again in the Anglo-Spanish war of 1625–31, Lughaidh Ó Cléirigh wrote a biography of Red Hugh in the anachronistic style, placing him in a vaunted role in the Nine Years War in the hope of another O'Donnell leading the recovery of Ireland. In fashioning this bellicose Irish hero, Ó Cléirigh deliberately marginalised the role of [Tyrone] in the war." It is essentially a eulogy of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, placing him as the central figure of the Nine Years' War and minimising Tyrone's involvement. Ó Cléirigh lionises Hugh Roe; he claims that Hugh McHugh Dubh submitted willingly to Hugh Roe, when it reality it took Hugh Roe beheading followers to obtain a submission.

This, according to James Henthorn Todd, would not at all have been unusual, however. In his introduction to the 1867 edition of Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh, Todd explained, "It was unfortunately the custom of Irish scribes to take considerable liberties with the works they transcribed. They did not hesitate to insert poems or other additional matter, with a view to gratify their patrons or chieftains, and to flatter the vanity of their clan. It is to be feared, that for the same reason, they frequently omitted what might be disagreeable to their patrons, or scandalous to the Church; thus they were guilty of anachronisms and various mistakes, which have the effect of throwing discredit upon the works so transmitted to us, as disproving apparently their claim to antiquity."

At the same time, although Hugh Roe O'Donnell's posthumous reputation has been overshadowed in recent Irish nationalism by that of Tyrone, Red Hugh's leadership and tactical abilities were quite considerable, especially when considering that he was only 29 years old at the Battle of Kinsale in 1602. His personal charisma seems to have been particularly magnetic, and contemporary sources are united in their praise of his oratorical ability.

In 1977, the Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill Guild was formed to seek his Cause for Canonization as a Saint of the Roman Catholic Church. His current title is Servant of God.

In the early 1980s, O'Donnell's will was discovered by a Donegal priest.

In 1991, a plaque was erected at Simancas Castle in commemoration of Red Hugh O'Donnell. A large cross in honour of Art MacShane O'Neill stands near the site of his death and secret burial in the Wicklow Mountains. Red Hugh and Art's 55 km. escape route from Dublin Castle to Glenmalure is also retraced by long-distance runners every January in "Art O'Neill's Challenge".

A sculpture by Maurice Harron, titled The Gaelic Chieftan, was unveiled in 1999 near Boyle, County Roscommon. Overlooking the N4, the sculpture depicts O'Donnell on horseback and commemorates his victory at the battle of Curlew Pass.

Search for remains

The Chapel of Wonders was destroyed in 1836 during a wave of monastic expropriations, and its exact location was lost. In 2019, Donegal man and retired soldier Brendan Rohan visited Valladolid and persuaded city authorities to conduct a dig to for O'Donnell's grave. The following year, a week-long excavation of Valladolid's Constitution Street revealed the walls of what was believed to be the Chapel of Wonders undeneath a four-storey building. On 25 May 2020, archaelogists began a dig inside the chapel's remains, with the aim of finding the exact location of O'Donnell's grave. A number of modern descendants of O'Donnell's kin were "lined up for DNA tests" to confirm O'Donnell's identity if his remains are found. It was hoped his skeleton would be easy to identify due to his two missing big toes. However many of the skeletons discovered were in a state of decay and did not have any existing feet. In 2021, archaeologists believed the Chapel of Wonders extended further beneath the dig site, and went into negotiations to resume the excavation.

As of 2024, O'Donnell's grave has not been discovered, though the media attention garnered by the dig has promoted Hispano-Irish relations. The dig has been spearheaded by the local Hispanic-Irish Association. Eventually twenty skeletons were discovered during the dig, though DNA testing showed they were from an earlier period. The site has been used for burials for hundreds of years, making O'Donnell's discovery near-impossible. There has been call for repatriation of O'Donnell's remains if discovered, though O'Donnell himself asked to be buried in the Convent of St. Francis in his will. The investigation is not closed.

O'Donnell's birthday has been celebrated in County Donegal. Plans are currently afoot to erect statues of him in both Lifford and in Simancas.

Re-enactment of funeral

Valladolid has re-enacted O'Donnell's funeral in 2022, 2023 and 2024, on the instigation of chairman of the Hispano-Irish Society, Carlos Burgos. It is based on historical records of the real funeral.

Character

Personality

Hugh Roe O'Donnell was a highly charismatic individual. Contemporary sources state that, though not physically imposing, O'Donnell had "great powers of command, and a look of amiability on his countenance that captivated everyone who beheld him".

In his youth, a bardic poet claimed that O’Donnell was arrogant and in need of maturity. Hugh Roe's four-year imprisonment radicalised him into having a profound anti-English stance, which he carried through the rest of his life. This contributes towards his aggressive military strategy. English sources note his antagonism during the war; he was described as the "firebrand of all the rebels". Hugh Roe became distrustful of English people, making him wary during peace talks. Particularly because Hugh Roe had not committed any offence, he saw his imprisonment as unjust and villainising.

O'Donnell had an aggressive, pride and arrogant personality, lacking patience and caution. As Edward Alfred Dalton put it, "the ordinary Irish chief... boasted much, and talked much, and did little, and... heedlessly rushed into war without estimating his difficulties or his resources". Historical records show O'Donnell to be "a wily negotiator, an effective and pragmatic power broker, and a brave soldier".

Military strategy, Relationship with Tyrone

O'Donnell and Tyrone had contrasting temperaments, which often caused disputes over their military tactics. In contrast to Tyrone, who was known for elaborately bluffing his way out of trouble, O’Donnell preferred force over diplomacy and was uncompromising. This attitude led to military successes as well as failures. The age difference between the two men may have been a source of conflict; Tyrone was O'Donnell's senior by 22 years. Unlike Tyrone, who was raised in the Pale, O'Donnell had a traditional Gaelic upbringing.

Historian Hiram Morgan believes that O'Donnell's choice to remain in a barren marriage with Tyrone's daughter is symbolic of his dependence on Tyrone. Many of Tyrone's contemporaries who knew Tyrone, such as John Perrot, considered O'Donnell to be the junior partner in the confederacy. An alliance with Hugh Roe O'Donnell was clearly of vital importance to Tyrone.

Tyrone restrained O'Donnell from openly attacking English forces in the early stages of the war. During the Battle of Beleek, which was secretly planned to result in an Irish failure to divert English attention, Tyrone ordered O'Donnell not to send reinforcements. O'Donnell withdrew his most of his forces, suggesting that Tyrone had a level of control over the young noble. Nevertheless, O'Donnell sent 220 men under Niall Garve to the battle, possibly in the hopes that the insolent Niall Garve would be easily eliminated.

In 1594 O'Donnell's strategy was successful when he was able to push Tyrone into supplying soldiers for an attack. In 1594, O'Donnell warned that "he must consider [Tyrone] his enemy, unless he came to his aid in such a pinch". Tyrone subsequently sent reinforcements under his brother Cormac MacBaron to the Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits.

During their negotiations with the government, O'Donnell played the "bad cop" to Tyrone's "good cop". During the 1596 peace talks, O'Donnell's insolence was remarked on by English officials. O'Donnell criticised Tyrone's diplomatic strategy in a letter in December 1597, and declared he would break the cessation, though he never did.

In 1598, Tyrone was struggling to seize the Blackwater fort using siege warfare. O'Donnell pushed Tyrone to launch a full frontal assault. The assault was a disaster with over one hundred Irish men lost.

O'Donnell was furious at Tyrone's September 1599 parley with the Earl of Essex; O'Donnell wanted to avoid any association with English officials in favour of soliciting aid from the Spanish.

Tyrone continued to restrain O'Donnell's aggressive strategy. He forbid O'Donnell from travelling to Connacht during the 1599 cessation. Tyrone also prevented O'Donnell from burning the Pale, so as not to provoke an English counter-attack.

Tyrone's strategy typically won out, though not always. The Irish failure at the battle of Kinsale has been attributed to O'Donnell naively urging Tyrone to attack, rather than starving out the English as was the previously agreed-upon strategy. This account by contemporary writers Ó Cléirigh and O'Sullivan Beare is not unanimously believed by historians. John McGurk, J. J. Silke, Cyril Falls and McGettigan concur; Morgan and Gerard Anthony Hayes-McCoy disagree. O'Donnell had previously induced Tyrone into a full frontal assault during a campaign in 1598, so this narrative is not out of the question. Morgan claims it was the pressure from the beleaguered Spaniards that wore down Tyrone, and that the Earl also had his reputation on the line. Don Juan del Águila was also in favour of an immediate attack.

In historian Darren McGettigan's biography, he praises O'Donnell's leadership abilities. However, John McCavitt notes that O'Donnell's failure to forsee Niall Garve's betrayal displays clear flaws in O'Donnell's foresight. Evidence suggests that O'Donnell's military capability was quite limited, although his notes on the Battle of Moyry Pass show that he could develop complex battle plans. O'Donnell stated it was better to attack Mountjoy's forces when they were deep in Irish territory, away from reinforcements, and in poor weather.

Physical appearance

There are no surviving portraits or visual representations of Hugh Roe O'Donnell made in his lifetime. Franciscan Donagh O'Mooney, who knew O'Donnell personally, described him as of “middle height, ruddy, of comely face, and beautiful to behold... his voice was like the music of a silver trumpet". He probably had red hair, as adjectives such as ruadh (Irish for red) were commonly employed in Irish names to refer to hair colour. This epithet would have differentiated him from kinsmen also named "Hugh O'Donnell". After losing his big toes to frostbite, Hugh Roe would have hobbled around or travelled on horseback for the rest of his life. If discovered intact, O'Donnell's skeleton would reveal his stature and height, and technology might allow researchers to recreate his facial features. His remains may also provide insight into his health, nutrition and diet.

Although O'Donnell was fiercely patriotic, he had no aversion to foreign dress. He was described in 1601 as wearing English clothing and even going to mass in a "fine English gown". Historian Francis Martin O'Donnell suggests that Hugh Roe O'Donnell dressed in Spanish clothing, as his grandfather Manus was known for preferring continental fashion over traditional Gaelic clothing.

In popular culture

Music

• The Irish language and Sean-nós song Róisín Dubh, which remains one of the most popular Irish rebel songs ever written, is addressed in Red Hugh's voice to his wife Róisín. The song is believed to have its origins in the rebel encampments during the Nine Years War, and has been attributed to a Tyrconnellian poet under the reign of Red Hugh. Conversely, music scholar Donal O'Sullivan claims there is no evidence it was composed that early.
• In 1843, Michael Joseph MacCann wrote the song O'Donnell Abu in tribute, drawing on the tradition of romantic nationalism which was popular during the era.
• Hugh O'Donnell is the subject of the Irish ballad "If These Stones Could Speak", as featured on the Phil Coulter album Highland Cathedral.
• In 1992, commemorating the 390th anniversary of the arrival of O'Donnell in Galicia, the Grammy Award-winning composer of Riverdance, Bill Whelan, brought together musicians from both Ireland and Galicia to perform his newest symphony From Kinsale to Corunna.

Poetry

• In his 1861 poem Eirinn a' Gul ("Ireland Weeping"), Uilleam Mac Dhunlèibhe, an important figure in 19th century Scottish Gaelic literature, recalled the many stories about his fellow Gaels in Inis Fáil (Ireland) he had heard in the Ceilidh houses of Islay, before that island was emptied by the Highland Clearances. He then lamented the destruction wreaked upon the Irish people by both famine and similar mass evictions ordered by Anglo-Irish landlords. He particularly laments the loss of the chiefs of the Irish clans, who led their clansmen in war and provided "leadership of the old and true Gaelic kind". Mac Dhun Lèibhe comments sadly that the mid-19th century fighters for Irish republicanism had none of the heroic qualities shown by Red Hugh O'Donnell, Hugh O'Neill, and Hugh Maguire during the Nine Years War against Queen Elizabeth I. Sadly, but expressing hope for the future of the Irish people, Mac Dhun Lèibhe closes by asking where are the Irish clan warriors who charged out of the mist and slaughtered the armies of the Stranger at the Battle of the Yellow Ford and the Battle of Moyry Pass.
• O'Donnell is the subject of James Clarence Mangan's poem Ceann Salla.

Novels

Novels based on O'Donnell's life include:

• O'Donel of Destiny (1939) by Mary Kiely
• Red Hugh, Prince of Donegal (1957) by Robert T Reilly
• Red Hugh: The Kidnap of Hugh O'Donnell (1999) by Deborah Lisson

Film

• Hugh O'Donnell serves as the main character in the 1966 Walt Disney feature film The Fighting Prince of Donegal in which he is portrayed by Peter McEnery. It is based on the 1957 book Red Hugh, Prince of Donegal by Robert T Reilly.

Theatre

• O'Donnell is a major character in Brian Friel's 1989 play Making History. According to historian Jane Ohlmeyer, "Friel portrayed the youthful Red Hugh as fiery, headstrong, quick-witted, passionate, committed to Catholicism, and to the preservation of the values, language, and culture of the Gaelic world into which he had been born and reared... Though limited and often biased against Red Hugh, extant historical records largely validate Friel’s representation. They also recapture the complexities of Red Hugh’s highly militarised world, where local lords raided for cattle and reduced neighbouring lords to submission, and show Red Hugh to be a wily negotiator, an effective and pragmatic power broker, and a brave soldier." In its original production, O'Donnell was played by Peter Gowen.

Other

• Aodh Ruadh CLG in Ballyshannon and Red Hughs Gaelic Athletic Association club at Crossroads, Killygordon, are named after Red Hugh O'Donnell.

See also

• O'Donnell
• Irish kings
• Tyrconnell
• County Donegal
• Kings of Tir Connaill
• Early Modern Ireland 1536-1691

References

Primary sources

• Annals of the Four Masters. CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts. 2008 [1636].
• Brewer, John Sherren; Bullen, William, eds. (1870), The Calendar of the Carew Manuscripts, 1601–1603, London, p. 350{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Meehan, Charles Patrick (1870). The Rise and Fall of the Irish Franciscan Monasteries (3 ed.). Dublin: J. Duffy.
• McNeill, Charles (1930). "Rawlinson Manuscripts (Class A)". Analecta Hibernica (1): 12–117. ISSN 0791-6167. JSTOR 25510904.
• Murphy, Reverend Denis (1893), "Translation, Notes, and Illustrations", The Life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, with Historical Introduction, Dublin{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• O'Clery, Lughaidh; O'Clery, Cucogry; Murphy, Denis (1895). Beatha Aodha Ruaidh ui Dhomhnaill. The life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, prince of Tirconnell (1586-1602). Boston College Libraries. Dublin, Fallon.
• O'Sullivan Beare, Philip (1903) [1621]. Chapters towards a History of Ireland in the reign of Elizabeth. Translated by Byrne, Matthew J. CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts. Archived from the original on 10 March 2024.

Secondary sources

• Canny, Nicholas (7 June 2022). "Hugh O'Neill in Irish historical discourse, c.1550–2021". Irish Historical Studies. 46 (169): 25–51. doi:10.1017/ihs.2022.2. ISSN 0021-1214.
• Concannon, Helena (1920). "'The Woman of the Piercing Wail' (The Lady Nuala O'Donnell)". The Irish Ecclesiastical Record. 16. Dublin: John F. Fowler.
• Dalton, G. F. (1974). "The Tradition of Blood Sacrifice to the Goddess Éire". Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review. 63 (252): 343–354. ISSN 0039-3495. JSTOR 30088757.
• Dunlop, Robert (1894). "O'Donnell, Hugh Roe" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 40. pp. 436–440.
• Dunlop, Robert (1895). "O'Donnell, Niall Garv" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 41. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 443–444.
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Attribution

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: McNeill, Ronald John (1911). "O'Donnell s.v. Hugh Roe O'Donnell". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 7–8.

Further reading

• The O’Donnells of Tyrconnell – A Hidden Legacy, by Francis Martin O'Donnell, published by Academica Press LLC in London and Washington, D.C., 2018, (750 pages) (ISBN 978-1-680534740).
• 'Simancas Castle Address', Adhamhnan O Domhnaill, Journal of Donegal Historical Society, pp. 94–96
• 'Niall Garbh O'Donnell – A man more sinned against than sinning', Eunan O'Donnell, BL, Journal of the Donegal Historical Society, 2000 & 1941.
• Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland (Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) by the Four Masters, from the earliest period to the year 1616, compiled during the period 1632–1636 by Brother Michael O’Clery, translated and edited by John O'Donovan in 1856, and re-published in 1998 by De Burca, Dublin.
• A View of the Legal Institutions, Honorary Hereditary Offices, and Feudal Baronies established in Ireland, by William Lynch, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, published by Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, Paternoster Row, London, 1830 (O’Donnell: p. 190, remainder to Earl's patent).
• Vicissitudes of Families, by Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster King of Arms, published by Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts, Paternoster Row, London, 1861. (Chapter on O’Donnells, pp. 125–148).
• Meehan, Charles Patrick (1868). The fate and fortunes of Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donel, earl of Tyrconnel; their flight from Ireland, their vicissitudes abroad, and their death in exile. University of California Libraries. Dublin, J. Duffy.
• Falls, Cyril (1950). Elizabeth's Irish Wars. London.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Erin's Blood Royal – The Gaelic Noble Dynasties of Ireland, by Peter Berresford Ellis, Constable, London, 1999, (pp. 251–258 on the O'Donel, Prince of Tirconnell).
• Dispatches and Letters between Ireland and Spain (PDF), An Chartlann, archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2024

External links

• The Life of Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill, transcribed from the Book of Lughaidh Ó Clérigh
• The Hugh O'Donnell Guild
• The O'Donnell Coat of Arms and Family History
• Aodh Rua Ó Domhnaill Genealogy