Nuala O'Donnell (Irish: Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill; c. 1565 - 1630) was a member of the O'Donnell dynasty in sixteenth century Ireland who took part in the 1607 Flight of the Earls.[1]
Biography
Nuala was the daughter of Sir Hugh O'Donnell, the Gaelic lord of Tyrconnell and head of the O'Donnells. Her siblings include her full brother Sir Donnell O'Donnell and her half-brothers Hugh Roe O'Donnell, Rory O'Donnell and Cathbarr O'Donnell. She was also a sister-in-law of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone due to his marriage with her sister Siobhán. Much of her family became engulfed in the violent O'Donnell succession dispute of the 1580s and 1590s, as various claimants attempted to secure the right to succeed her father even while Sir Hugh was still alive. Her elder brother Donnell was killed in battle in 1590 by Scottish redshank mercenaries hired by her stepmother Iníon Dubh, allowing her half-brother Hugh Roe to emerge victorious by 1592.[2]
Nuala made a dynastic marriage with Niall Garve O'Donnell, a cousin and a rival claimant to the O'Donnell lordship. After the marriage Niall Garve became an ally of Hugh Roe and joined him after he took part in the 1594 Siege of Enniskillen, triggering the nine-year Tyrone's Rebellion. However Niall Garve, along with three of his brothers and many followers, dramatically switched sides and began assisting Crown forces under the English commander Sir Henry Docwra who were operating out of Derry. He led forces during the Crown victories at the Battle of Lifford and Siege of Donegal, and had troops of the Royal Irish Army placed under his command. Niall's ambition was to have himself declared the Gaelic lord of Tyrconnell.
When Nuala heard of her husband's defection, Nuala left him and returned to live with her brother Hugh Roe, taking some of her children with her. In a furious reaction to Niall Garve's betrayal, Hugh Roe reportedly beat his infant son (and his own nephew) to death.[3] Nuala subsequently divorced Niall. Following her brother Hugh Roe's death in 1602, she joined the household of his successor Rory, who was made Earl of Tyrconnell following the Treaty of Mellifont which made peace with the Crown.
In 1607 she took part in the Flight of the Earls which took several Gaelic nobles, including her brother Rory, into Continental exile. She played a role in the raising of Rory's son Hugh, whose mother had remained behind in Ireland. She appears to have died in Rome. Her surviving child with Niall Garve, Grania O'Donnell, had accompanied her into Italian exile.
^Concannon believed Siobhán was born c. 1569, and that her mother was Iníon Dubh,[iii] who married Sir Hugh around that time. However, Siobhán married Hugh O'Neill in 1574, making that date of birth unlikely. Casway and Walsh believe Siobhán's mother was Sir Hugh's first wife.[iv][v]
^In a letter dated 31 January 1591, O'Neill references Siobhán's recent death.[v]
^Her death date has alternately been given as 1639, 26 April 1640, or sometime after 31 March 1642.[v]
^Sources disagree on Henry's date of death: 1610,[iv] c. 1620,[xix] or c. 1626.[viii] It is clear that he died sometime before the publication of Philip O'Sullevan's
Historia Catholica in 1621.[v]
^According to the English officials who wrote the Calendar of State Papers, Hugh Roe personally killed Niall Garve's four-year-old son (also his own nephew)[xlviii]
^Gráinne is known only as a sister of the Earl (i.e., Rory), with no additional information.[lix]
^ abConcannon, p. 218-219 "Siobhan was probably the eldest of the family, and must have been born not later than 1569." "We know little of Siobhan, who can hardly have been more than one-and- twenty, when she died in 1590."
^ abHill 1873, page 222. "Sir Randal Macdonnell was married about the year 1604 to Ellis or Alice O'Neill, the third daughter of Hugh earl of Tyrone. This lady, who was born in 1583, was in her twenty-first year at the time of her marriage, and was younger than either of her sisters, lady Macmahon or Lady Maginnis. She was older than her brother Hugh, the baron of Dungannon."
^Cokayne 1910. "[The 1st Earl of Antrim] m., 1604, Alice, da. of Hugh (O'Neill), Earl of Tyrone [I], by his 2nd wife, Joanna, da. of Hugh McManus O'Donnell."
^Cokayne 1910. "[The 1st Earl of Antrim] m., 1604, Alice, da. of Hugh (O'Neill), Earl of Tyrone [I], by his 2nd wife, Joanna, da. of Hugh McManus O'Donnell."
^Concannon, p. 218 "The inscription on the tomb in San Pietro in Montorio shows that her eldest child, Hugh, was born in 1585."
^Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 1867, p. 459: "..he died unmarried on the 23rd of September, 1609, aged twenty-four... and was buried in the church of St. Peter's in Montorio..."
^ abRoyal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 1867, p. 459
^Ó Domhnaill, Niall; Na Glúnta Rosannacha (1952), page 87
^Annals of the Four Masters: "1590: ...the son of O'Donnell himself, who, being unable to display prowess or defend himself, was slain at Doire-leathan, on one side of the harbour of Telinn, on the 14th of September."
^Annals of the Four Masters: "1602:...O'Donnell should take the disease of his death and the sickness of his dissolution; and, after lying seventeen days on the bed, he died, on the 10th of September, in the house which the King of Spain himself had at that town (Simancas)...""
^ abSilke 2006 "Hugh Albert O'Donnell, born [to Rory and Bridget] about October 1606, was the only son of this marriage, Mary Stuart O'Donnell being born about a year later."
^Bagwell 1895 "About ninety persons sailed with the earls, among whom were Tyrconnel's son Hugh, aged eleven months..."
^Ulwencreutz, Lars (2013), Ulwencreutz's The Royal Families in Europe V, Lulu.com, p. 136, ISBN978-1-304-58135-8 "Hugh O'Donnell, 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell (1606-1642) Prince and Lord of Tryconnell".
^Casway 2009. Casway gives her birthdate as c. 1575
^Concannon, p. 218 "O'Clery tells us that Nuala was already married to Niall Garbh in 1592. This will place her birth-year with some degree of probability about 1577 — not later."
^Knox 2002, p. 26. In contrast to Concannon, Knox believes Nuala was Rory's older sister.
^Annals of the Four Masters: "1608: Niall Garv O'Donnell, with his brothers Hugh Boy and Donnell, and his son, Naghtan, were taken prisoners about the festival of St. John in this year."
^Concannon, p. 218 "Manus may have been born about 1579 or 1580. He was old enough to play a man's part in the battle in which he met his death at the hands of Niall Garbh (A.D. 1600)"Lughaidh Ó Cléirigh names the sons in the order of their birth: Hugh Roe, Ruairi, Manus and Cathbar.
^O'Donnell, Eunan; Reflection on the Flight of the Earls; Donegal Annual, Bliainiris Dhún na nGall, Journal of the County Donegal Historical Society, No. 58 (2006); pp. 31-44.