Hiram Morgan tells the story of the Irish earl Hugh O’Neill,
a brilliant warrior and slippery negotiator who ran rings
around Elizabeth I’s greatest generals and almost ended
English rule in Ireland
I
n the dying days of the 16th century,
one man drove Elizabeth I to
distraction, wrecked the career of
one of her most celebrated captains,
brought her nation close to bank-
ruptcy, and threw the very survival of
her administration in Ireland into
grave doubt. That man was Hugh O’Neill,
Earl of Tyrone. His story is one of the most
remarkable in the history of Anglo-Irish
relations – and the Nine Years’ War
empowered by O’Neill’s uprising threatened
England’s hold on the island.
When Hugh was born, in about 1550,
Ireland was a divided island – one whose
history had been shaped by its English
neighbour. In 1171, Henry II had launched
a concerted invasion of Ireland, setting the
scene for four centuries of considerable
English influence, culminating with
Henry VIII’s decision to have himself
declared King of Ireland in 1541.
As Elizabeth I ascended the throne in 1558,
there were effectively two Irelands: the
‘English Pale’ around Dublin and the south,
containing English-style towns; and the
predominately Gaelic west and north,
dominated by powerful clans such as the
O’Neills and O’Donnells. Suspicious of
English attempts to exert control over them,
in the late 16th century the Gaelic Irish
became ever more restive.
This unrest was to heavily influence
Hugh O’Neill’s early years. His father
Matthew, Baron of Dungannon, was
assassinated by his own half-brother Shane
in 1558, and Hugh’s elder brother Brian was
killed by another dynastic competitor in- Hugh, taken into crown wardship near
Dublin, was at first happy to work with the
English occupiers, accepting the role of
maintaining a troop of soldiers to protect the
borders of the Pale. But his attempts to
increase his power in Ulster soon brought
him into conflict with the authorities.
Double alliance
Hugh’s political ambitions stemmed from the
O’Neill family heritage as Ulster overlords.
His grandfather Conn O’Neill had been
made Earl of Tyrone by Henry VIII, though
internecine fighting between Conn’s heirs
had temporarily robbed Hugh of power. To
remedy this situation, he decided to build an
alliance with historic rivals the O’Donnells of
Tirconnell. In 1574 O’Neill divorced his first
wife and married Siobhan, daughter of Sir
Hugh O’Donnell. Then, in 1587 – the sameELIZABETH’S
IRISH
NEMESIS
Queen Elizabeth, pictured around 1580,
struggled to cope with the Irish rebellionHugh O’Neill’s
escalating
demands forced
Elizabeth back
on the offensive
- with disastrous
consequences for
the English