Tyrconnell

Kingdom of Tyrconnell Tír Chonaill
5th century–1607
Flag Coat of arms
Tyrconnell at its late maximum extent.
Capital	Dun na nGall
Common languages	Irish
Government	Monarchy
King
• d. 464	Conall Gulban (first)
• 1602–1607	Rory Ó Donnell (last)
History
• Established	5th century
• Disestablished	1607
Preceded by Succeeded by Ulster Kingdom of Ireland

Tyrconnell (Irish: Tír Chonaill, meaning 'Land of Conall') can refer to:

• Ostensibly, the last truly independent Gaelic sovereignty, which had achieved a status of medieval statehood, and hence the last Gaelic state in Ireland, although never covering more than a part of the country, until its rulers, the O'Donnells, who governed under the Brehon Laws, fell from power after defeat by English forces at Kinsale in 1601.
• a territory in Ireland, now more commonly referred to as County Donegal, although the Kingdom and later Principality of Tyrconnell was broader than that, including parts of Sligo, Leitrim (present day Republic of Ireland), Tyrone, Fermanagh and a southern part of Derry (currently Northern Ireland). It was founded in the fifth century by a supposed son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, Conall Gulban, the eponymous ancestor of the Cenél Conaill. His descendants ruled the kingdom till the Flight of the Earls in September 1607, which marked the end of the kingdom.
• the Kingdom (O'Donnell), Principality (O'Donnell), Jacobite Dukedom (Richard Talbot), 4 Earldoms (separate Earldoms created for O'Donnell, Fitzwilliam, Talbot, Carpenter, each progressively following the extinction of the previous), Viscountcy (Brownlow); all of these are extinct titles, except the 1st Earldom (O'Donnell), which was attainted in 1614.
• the dynastic House of O'Donnell of Tyrconnell, which includes the Chieftancy and its successors in direct descent from the last inaugurated Chieftain and his predecessors.
• the Chieftaincy (O'Donnell) which is also extinct, although a Chief of the Name was recognised by the Chief Herald of Ireland, as the legitimate successor in a putative sequence of Chiefs of the Name, and will default to the Duke of Tetuan in Spain in succession to the current Chief, a Franciscan priest, who has no eligible progeny.
• the Hereditary Seneschal (vested in a living O'Donnell, who was already ennobled as a Knight of Malta, and who inherited the Seneschalship from his father), which survives under the auspices of the Hereditary Great Seneschal or Lord High Steward of Ireland, the Premier Earl of Ireland (Chetwynd-Talbot), who is the Earl of Shrewsbury, Waterford and Talbot, and is senior direct descendant of the 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell (extinct), and senior kin of the Duke of Tyrconnel Richard Talbot (extinct),
• the Earldom of Tyrconnell, of which there were 4 separate creations
• The Tyrconnell, a racehorse in 1876,
• The Tyrconnell, a revived brand of single-malt Irish whiskey originally named for the horse,
• a gold mine near Mareeba, Queensland, Australia.
• Tirconnell, County Fermanagh, a townland in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland

Related Bibliography

• The Life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, Prince of Tyrconnell (Beatha Aodh Ruadh O Domhnaill) by Lughaidh O'Cleirigh. Edited by Fr. Paul Walsh and Colm Ó Lochlainn. Irish Texts Society, vol. 42. Dublin: Educational Company of Ireland, 1948 (original Gaelic manuscript in the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin).
• 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.
• Blood Royal - From the time of Alexander the Great to Queen Elizabeth II, by Charles Mosley (genealogist), published for Ruvigny Ltd., London, 2002 [ISBN 0-9524229-9-9]
• 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, pages 125-148).
• The Fate and Fortunes of the Earls of Tyrone (Hugh O’Neill) and Tyrconnel (Rory O’Donel), their flight from Ireland and death in exile, by the Rev. C. P. Meehan, M.R.I.A., 2nd edition, James Duffy, London, 1870.
• Erin’s Blood Royal – The Gaelic Noble Dynasties of Ireland, by Peter Berresford Ellis, Constable, London, 1999, (pages 251-258 on the O’Donel, Prince of Tirconnell).
• Vanishing Kingdoms - The Irish Chiefs and Their Families, by Walter J. P. Curley (former US Ambassador to Ireland), with foreword by Charles Lysaght, published by The Lilliput Press, Dublin, 2004 [ISBN 1-84351-055-3 & ISBN 1-84351-056-1]. (Chapter on O'Donnell of Tyrconnell, page 59).
• 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: page 190, remainder to Earl’s patent).