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Hugh O'Neill

1550–1616

 

The departure in 1607 of Hugh O'Neill and other leaders from Ireland - what later came to be called the Flight of the Earls, was seen by many as the end of the old Gaelic order and any chance of its restoration.  If a date is needed for the start of modern Irish history, with its saga of war, famine, and exile, this might be it.

      O'Neill's career was a hectic one, in which all the vacillations of Ireland under the Tudors were displayed.  With his departure and eventual death in Rome, an epoch had been reached.  If he had succeeded in what he had hoped, he might have made himself a king of a united Ireland (fulfilling that old dream of Brian Boru), and with Spanish aid driven the English out of Ireland.  But this was not to be.

      Hugh O'Neill was the son of Matthew O'Neill, himself the natural son of Conn, the first earl of Tyrone.  In Irish eyes the earl was 'The O'Neill', the English feudal title that had been bestowed on him by the queen on the surrender and regranting of his (or rather his people's) land.  In 1559 he was taken by Sir Henry Sidney, the viceroy, to his castle and Ludlow, converted to Anglicanism, and taught English manners.  In 1562 Huge succeeded his brother Brian as baron of Dungannon.

      The English historian William Camden described O'Neill at this time as a man 'whose industry was great, his mind large and fit for the weightiest businesses ... he had much knowledge in military affairs and a profound, dissembling heart, so as many deemed him born either for the great good or ill of his country'.

      O'Neill returned to Ireland in 1568.  Having been educated in both Ireland and England, he approximated more the English idea of a nobleman than an Irish chieftain.  Unlike his relative Shane O'Neill, who was cast more in the old Gaelic mould, Hugh tried to avoid direct conflict with the powerful English.  Indeed, he helped them in their campaign between 1574 and 1587.  He was rewarded for his supposed loyalty by Queen Elizabeth, who made him earl of Tyrone in his own right in 1587,

      But all was not well.  In 1588 he aided the survivors of the Spanish Armada that were cast up in Donegal.  In 1593 he revived for himself the ancient Irish title of 'The O'Neill', the use of which had been banned under English law.  He was thought to be in league with Hugh Roe O'Donnell and Hugh Maguire when they rebelled in 1594.  Accused of treason, he finally joined their revolt in 1595.

      He proved to be a great asset to the Irish forces through his skills as a diplomat and a soldier.  He was cool, farsighted, and calculating.  Allowed a certain number of men under arms, he changed them frequently, so that a large number of his clansmen were trained in modern arms.  Claiming he needed the metal to roof his castles, he had bought large quantities of lead and saved it for bullets.  His careful planning and cautious strategy provided the Irish with the natural leader they have long lacked.  He also sought the help of both Scotland and Spain against the common English enemy.

      The true campaign began in 1596, and O'Neill led the Irish to a great victory at the Yellow Ford (on 15th August 1598).  But the English began to strike back.  Anxious for Spanish aid, O'Neill made an interim peace with the Earl of Essex.  But Lord Mountjoy deployed his army, and O'Neill and his allies were cornered at Kinsale, where he was defeated after rashly choosing to attack.

      The war went on until O'Neill was pardoned and his land holdings were confirmed by James I.  But it was obvious which way the tide was running.  English interference continued.  Soon O'Neill had had enough of it all.  On 14th September 1607, O'Neill, together with Rory O'Donnell, left Ireland, sailing from Rathmullen on the shores of Lough Swilly with an entourage of a hundred or so of the Ulster nobility.  Landing in Le Havre, they made their way to Flanders, and from there to Rome.  Outlawed by the Irish parliament, the last of his estates were now confiscated and planted.

      The Flight of the Earls left the way open for a final solution, so to speak, of the Irish problem.  The lands of O'Neill and O'Donnell to the west of Lough Neagh were confiscated and planted with settlers from England and Scotland.  Derry became Londonderry, having been granted to companies in the City of London.  This plantation might have worked if it had been wholesale, but the policy was not consistently applied, and so there remained enough of the old stock of the Irish to foment further troubles in later centuries.  W.B. YEATS [8] spoke of the Flight of the Earls as one of 'Four bells - four deep, tragic notes in Irish history'.  Though the Gaelic ways lingered on here and there, they had been badly damaged by Mountjoy's campaign.  The old rulers never again came anywhere near achieving the success they had had under O'Neill at the battle of the Yellow Ford.

      O'Neill heard little of this.  The last years of his life were passed in melancholy and idleness in Rome as a pensioner of the pope and the king of Spain.  He died there on 20th July 1616.