Hugh O'Neill
The last great leader of the Gaelic nobility, who led the Nine Years' War against Elizabeth I.
Life
Earl raised by the English
Hugh O'Neill was a member of the O'Neills of Ulster. He grew up under English protection as a youth and was created Earl of Tyrone in 1587, regarded by the English as a reliable ally.
Nine Years' War
While professing loyalty to the English crown, he secretly expanded his army and acquired firearms. When war against the English broke out in Ulster in 1594, he openly joined in 1595 and became its leader, and in 1598 he crushed the English army at the Yellow Ford, one of England's worst defeats in Ireland. He won Spanish support.
Flight of the Earls
In 1601 Spanish reinforcements landed at Kinsale in the south; O'Neill marched south with his army and suffered a crushing defeat. He surrendered in 1603, left Ireland with other Gaelic nobles in 1607 (the Flight of the Earls), and died in Rome in 1616.
Legacy
Hugh O'Neill's defeat marked the end of the Gaelic political order in Ireland, and the Plantation of Ulster that followed transformed Northern Ireland.
Did you know? He is buried in the church of San Pietro in Montorio on the Janiculum Hill in Rome.
Key dates
- 1587Created Earl of Tyrone
- 1595Joins and leads the war against England
- 1598Victory at the Yellow Ford
- 1601Defeated at the Battle of Kinsale
- 1603Surrenders
- 1607Flight of the Earls
- 1616Dies in Rome