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Hugh Maguire (Lord of Fermanagh)

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Hugh Maguire
Aodh Mág Uidhir
Memorial in Garravagh, Co. Cork
Lord of Fermanagh
Reign1589-1600
PredecessorCú Connacht Óg (died 1589)
SuccessorCú Connacht Óg (c. 1570–1608)
BornBefore 1570
Fermanagh, Ireland
Died1 March [N.S. 11 March] 1600
near Cork, Ireland
ConsortMargaret O'Neill, daughter of Hugh O'Neill
HouseMaguire Dynasty
FatherCú Connacht Óg Mag Uidhir
MotherNuala O'Donnell
ReligionRoman Catholicism

Hugh Maguire (Irish: Aodh Mág Uidhir;[1] before 1570[a] – 1 March [N.S. 11 March] 1600) was an Irish nobleman and military commander who served in the Nine Years' War. As Chief of the Maguire clan and Lord of Fermanagh, he was the first[2][3] of the Gaelic chiefs to openly rebel against Elizabeth I's conquest of Ireland.

In early 1593, the appointment of an English Sheriff of Fermanagh led to Maguire making the first strikes against the Crown's governance in Ireland.[4] The subsequent conflicts, which included the Battle of Belleek and the Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits, were among the first of the Nine Years' War. Maguire held command at the Battle of the Yellow Ford, which resulted in a crucial victory for the Irish confederacy. In 1600, he was shot and killed by British officer Warham St Leger in a skirmish near Cork.

Family background

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Hugh Maguire was the eldest son of Cúconnacht Maguire (Chief of the Name Maguire, 1566–1589) and Nuala O'Donnell, daughter of Manus O'Donnell.[5][6][1] His siblings included younger half-brothers Brian and Cúconnacht.[1] His family's country was in southern Ulster - a terrain of difficult access as it was covered with forest, lakes and rivers.[7]

Early career

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Maguire coat of arms

The Crown's authorities made sporadic attempts to subdue his clan.[citation needed] As a young man, Maguire had repeated run-ins with the English governance in Dublin. In 1586 he surrendered to the English. He was pardoned in return for an agreement to pay 500 beeves to the crown,[6][5] of which 200 were appropriated by Lord Deputy John Perrot as his perquisite to make Maguire's Gaelic lordship recognised by English law. This was not carried through, even though Maguire had lodged three pledges for his loyalty in Dublin Castle.[6]

In 1587 Maguire, along with Art O'Neill's forces, attacked and plundered a party of Scots which had invaded Down. On their return towards the river Erne, for unknown reasons Maguire attacked O'Neill's men and killed and wounded many of them.[6] In 1588 he was in league with Sir Brian O'Rourke, the Burkes and the Spanish following the wreckage of the Spanish Armada on the north and west coasts of Ireland.[5] Thereafter, he was implicated in the plot of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, to murder Conn MacShane O'Neill, who petitioned Lord Deputy William Fitzwilliam for protection.[6]

Succession

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Hugh Maguire succeeded to the lordship upon his father's death in 1589.[5][4][6] He was inaugurated as Lord of Fermanagh and Maguire clan chief by his military ally Donnell O'Donnell,[8][9] son of O'Donnell clan chief Hugh McManus O'Donnell.[10] As Maguire clan chief, Hugh Maguire inherited lands in Fermanagh with a retreat in the islands of Lough Erne which were considered impregnable.[5][6]

Rebellion

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Sheriff of Fermanagh

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In the summer of 1590, Maguire travelled to Dublin and met with Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam. They discussed the appointment of a Sheriff of Fermanagh, who would govern Maguire's lands on behalf of the Crown - Maguire was only willing to accept a sheriff "chosen of his own name".[4] In October 1591, he bribed Fitzwilliam and Henry Bagenal (Marshal of the Irish Army) with 300 beeves to postpone the appointment of a sheriff.[4][6]

In 1592, Maguire provided refuge for Hugh Roe O'Donnell after his escape from imprisonment in Dublin Castle.[5][11][12]

In early 1593, Maguire learnt that Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam would be appointing Captain Humphrey Willis as sheriff.[5] Maguire argued that this violated the deal they had made, and retorted to Fitzwilliam that "your sheriff shall be welcome but let me know his eric [price of compensation for his death] that if my people should cut his head off I may levy it upon the country".[6][12] Nevertheless, in spring 1593 Willis invaded Maguire's country and asserted himself as Sheriff of Fermanagh.[4]

Willis commanded at least 100 men,[4][13] and he quickly began pillaging and raiding Fermanagh. He had similarly pillaged Tyrconnell the previous year in his capacity as Sheriff of Tyrconnell (kingdom of the O'Donnell clan). Willis's marauding was not justified by authorities in Dublin.[14] Disaffected members of the Maguire clan were encouraged to defy their chief.[12]

It was after Willis' first offensive[4] that Maguire, O'Donnell and Brian Oge O'Rourke met in Enniskillen Castle on 8 May 1593.[15] Maguire and O'Donnell wrote letters addressed to Philip II of Spain, requesting urgent reinforcements from the Spanish army. They tasked Catholic Archbishop of Tuam James O'Hely with delivering their messages.[16][17]

Initially Maguire was not in a position to militarily oppose Willis. However, he was able to gain reinforcements of 100 men led by Tyrone’s half-brother Cormac MacBaron O'Neill, and 120 men under the commands of Donnall and Donough O’Hagan.[14][18] Later the same year, Maguire besieged the sheriff and his men by driving them into a church.[12] Driving Willis and his men into a church was the same technique Hugh Roe O'Donnell used to expell Willis from Tyrconnell in 1592.[19][20] Maguire planned to starve them out, but Tyrone (then an ally to the Crown) intervened and negotiated their rescue.[12] After six to seven days, Willis and his men were conducted safely out of Fermanagh. Maguire used the opportunity to push them into the lands of his rival, loyalist Connor Roe Maguire.[15]

Enniskillen Castle

From an English perspective, Maguire's response was extreme. However it came at a time of high tension between Ulster lords and the Dublin government. The 1590 execution of Lord Hugh Roe MacMahon had caused anger across the Ulster lords.[15] Additionally neighbouring kingdom Tyrconnell had suffered heavily under Willis's command.[21] By the end of May, Maguire was openly at war with the Crown.[15]

Open rebellion

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Encouraged by the Catholic archbishop of Armagh, Edmund MacGauran, but opposed by Tyrone, Maguire invaded Connacht straight away and met with the army of Sir Richard Bingham, president of the province, on mid-summer eve. The battle of Sciath na Feart took place at Tulsk, in a fog so dense that the sides only realised their proximity when their cavalries were almost upon one another. Bingham's men fled to their camp, and Maguire pursued but was repulsed and in his turn pursued. The Irish lost MacGauran; the English lost William Clifford. Maguire retired into his country with considerable spoil.[12][citation needed]

At the end of 1593, Maguire was wounded in an attempt to prevent Sir Henry Bagenal and Tyrone from crossing the Erne. In June of the following year he besieged Enniskillen with Hugh Roe O'Donnell, Lord of Tyrconnell.[22] Sir Henry Duke sought to relieve the garrison, but Maguire intercepted him at the Arney River and defeated him in the Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits (Beal atha na mBriosgaidh).[23] In the following year he devastated Cavan and was again proclaimed a traitor by the English.[12]

Nine Years' War

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During the Irish Nine Years' War (1593–1603), Maguire participated in the Battle of Clontibret in 1595, a significant early defeat for the English, and commanded the cavalry at Mullaghbrack in 1596. He sent in his submission to the government later in the year.[22]

In 1598, he held a command at the Battle of the Yellow Ford, at which Bagenal was slain and the English army annihilated. In 1599, he helped raid Thomond and took Inchiquin Castle in County Clare.[22]

Maguire was one of six confederate witnesses present at a riverside conference with English officers on 7 September 1599.[24][25][26] This was a follow-up to the well-known riverside parley between Tyrone and Lord Deputy Essex earlier that day.[27][28] Ironically, Warham St Leger, the man who would kill Maguire, was also present.[24][25]

In early 1600, Maguire commanded Tyrone's cavalry in the Leinster and Munster campaigns.[22][12]

Death

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On 1 March [N.S. 11 March] 1600,[b] Maguire and a small party were conducting reconnaissance a mile from Cork.[32][5][22] They were intercepted by British officers Sir Warham St Leger and Sir Henry Power.[12] Maguire, undaunted, rode his horse into the midst of the enemy party. He was shot by St Leger, but managed to thrust his lance through St Leger's helmet and into his skull, killing him instantly.[12][5] Maguire had not passed far from the scene of the battle when he died of his wounds.[37] His body was buried with full military honours, in an unknown plot around Inniscarra.[38][39]

On 4 March, Power informed the council of Maguire's death. Maguire's foster father, his priest, and all the commanders of his regiment were also killed.[22] St Leger is not to be confused with his better-known uncle, also named Warham St Leger (c. 1525–1597).[33]

Family

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On 17 May 1593, Fitzwilliam reported that Maguire was to marry Margaret O'Neill, Tyrone's daughter. Their marriage occurred shortly after the report.[40][41]

Maguire had at least three children: Seaan Ruadh, Aodh and Eamonn. Maguire's eldest son (possibly Seaan Ruadh) was killed in the same skirmish as his father. Paul Walsh points out that this eldest son would not been the child of Margaret O'Neill.[3]

In 1607, the Earl of Clanricarde referenced a son of Maguire and Margaret.[3]

Legacy

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Maguire's death was a blow to the rebel cause.[5] He had educated and advanced notions of cavalry warfare; so too did St Leger, and their meeting was as much one of minds as of force.[citation needed] It is assumed that Maguire's death was the reason Tyrone abruptly left Munster and returned to Ulster.[5][42]

The Annals of the Four Masters (c. 1630) describes the reaction to Maguire's death: "[his death caused] a giddiness of spirits and depression of mind in O'Neill and the Irish chiefs in general; and this was no wonder, for he was the bulwark of valour and prowess, the shield of protection and shelter, the tower of support and defence, and the pillar of the hospitality and achievements of the Oirghialla, and of almost all the Irish of his time".[5][22][12]

The lordship of Fermanagh was contested by two rival claimants - Connor Roe Maguire (grandson of a former chief) and Cúconnacht Maguire (Hugh Maguire's younger half-brother). Tyrone favoured Connor. At a banquet attended by the claimants and Tyrone, Hugh Roe O'Donnell proclaimed Cúconnacht as chief, presenting them with a fait accompli. After many years of rivalry, in 1603 Cúconnacht defeated Connor in battle and was accepted as Maguire clan chief. Cúconnacht departed Ireland with Tyrone during the Flight of the Earls in 1607. On 12 August 1608, he died of a fever in Genoa.[1]

As part of the Plantation of Ulster, almost all of Fermanagh was confiscated by the Crown and populated by English settlers and lowland Scots,[43] particularly border reivers.[44]

In 2001, a monument commemorating Maguire was erected in Garravagh, near Cork.[30][31]

In literature

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Maguire's bard, Eochaidh Ó hÉoghusa (English: O'Hussey), composed an ode upon his patron's death. Centuries later it was translated into English by James Clarence Mangan.[45][32] An extract reads:

Tho’ he were even a wolf ranging the round green woods,
Tho’ he were even a pleasant salmon in the unchainable sea,
Tho’ he were a wild mountain eagle, he could scarce bear, he,
This sharp sore sleet, these howling floods.[46]

In his 1861 poem Eirinn a' Gul ("Ireland Weeping"), Uilleam Mac Dhunlèibhe, an important figure in 19th century Scottish Gaelic literature, recalled the many stories about his fellow Gaels in Inis Fáil (Ireland) he had heard in the Ceilidh houses of Islay, before that island was emptied by the Highland Clearances. He then lamented the destruction wreaked upon the Irish people by both famine and similar mass evictions ordered by Anglo-Irish landlords. He particularly laments the loss of the Chiefs of the Irish clans, who led their clansmen in war and provided "leadership of the old and true Gaelic kind". Mac Dhunlèibhe comments sadly that the mid-19th century fighters for Irish republicanism had none of the heroic qualities shown by Red Hugh O'Donnell, Hugh O'Neill, and Hugh Maguire during the Nine Years' War. Sadly, but expressing hope for the future of the Irish people, Mac Dhunlèibhe closes by asking where are the Irish clan warriors who charged out of the mist and slaughtered the armies of the Stranger at the Battle of the Yellow Ford and the Battle of Moyry Pass.[47]

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ His younger half-brother Cúconnacht was born c. 1570.[1]
  2. ^ Sources agree that Maguire died in early 1600, but differ on the exact date of death. Both Alfred Webb and the Annals of the Four Masters claim that Maguire died in March.[12][29] The Dictionary of Irish Biography claims 4 March.[5] Maguire's monument in Garravagh claims 11 March.[30][31]
    Kate Newmann's Dictionary of Ulster Biography claims 18 February.[32] Both St Leger's and Maguire's entries in the Dictionary of National Biography claim they died on 18 February.[33][22] According to Maguire's entry, 4 March was merely the date that Sir Henry Power informed the council of Maguire and St Leger's deaths.[22] However, Tyrone's entry in the Dictionary of National Biography claims that Maguire died on 1 March, and that 18 February was the date that Tyrone passed the Blackwater into Inniscarra.[34] The Calendar of the Carew manuscripts has an entry dated March 5, which states that Maguire died on the Saturday after "Tuesday last".[35] This would be 1 March in England's Julian calendar, and 11 March in Ireland's Gregorian calendar.[36]

Citations

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  1. ^ a b c d e Morley, Vincent (October 2009). "Mág Uidhir (Maguire), Cú Chonnacht Óg ('an Comharba')". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.005370.v1.
  2. ^ "Dispatches: Letters Between Ireland and Spain - Cartlann". cartlann.org. 30 January 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Walsh 1930, p. 34.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Morgan 1993, p. 143.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barry, Judy (October 2009). "Maguire, Hugh". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.005379.v1. Archived from the original on 18 April 2024. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pollard 1893, p. 329.
  7. ^ The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (19 June 2018). "Fermanagh". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
  8. ^ Morgan 1993, p. 119.
  9. ^ Annals of the Four Masters 2008, pp. 1875–1877.
  10. ^ O'Byrne, Emmett (October 2009). "MacDonnell (Nic Dhomhnaill), Fiona (Fionnghuala) ('Iníon Dubh')". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006337.v1.
  11. ^ Webb, Alfred (1878). "Hugh Roe O'Donnell". A Compendium of Irish Biography. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Webb, Alfred (1878). "Hugh Maguire, Lord of Fermanagh". A Compendium of Irish Biography. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  13. ^ O'Neill 2017, p. 99.
  14. ^ a b O'Neill 2016, p. 43-44.
  15. ^ a b c d O'Neill 2016, p. 44.
  16. ^ Morgan, Hiram (2013). Peduelo Martin, Eduardo; Rodriguez de Diego, Julia (eds.). "The establishment of the Irish-Spanish relationship" (PDF). Los Irlandeses y la Monarquia Hispanica (1529-1800): Vinculos in Espacio y Tiempo. Madrid.
  17. ^ García Hernán, Enrique (2004). Morgan, Hiram (ed.). "Philip II's forgotten armada" (PDF). The Battle of Kinsale. Dublin: Wordwell Ltd: 45–58. ISBN 1-869857-70-4.
  18. ^ O'Hart 1892, p. 723
  19. ^ Meehan 1870, p. 11-12.
  20. ^ O'Sullivan Beare 1903, p. 68.
  21. ^ McGinty 2013, p. 27.
  22. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pollard 1893, p. 330.
  23. ^ O'Neill 2017, p. 38.
  24. ^ a b Brewer & Bullen 1869, pp. 320–325.
  25. ^ a b Falls 1997, pp. 245–246.
  26. ^ Hull, Eleanor (1931). "Essex in Ireland and the Ulster Campaign". A History of Ireland and Her People. Archived from the original on 8 September 2024.
  27. ^ Morgan 2002, pp. 17–20.
  28. ^ Morgan, Hiram (June 2021). "Elizabeth R". History Ireland. 29 (3). Archived from the original on 16 May 2024.
  29. ^ Annals of the Four Masters 2008, p. 2163-2165.
  30. ^ a b Inscriptions from Aghavea, Co. Fermanagh Clogher Record, Vol. IV, Nos. 1 and 2, pp. 95102
  31. ^ a b Paterson, Ian (1 October 2008), English: Killed by English Forces On 11 March 1600, Hugh Maguire*, Chief of Fermanagh was killed in this area by English Forces. This memorial was erected in 2001 to his memory., retrieved 9 August 2024
  32. ^ a b c Newmann, Kate. "Hugh Maguire ( - 1600)". Dictionary of Ulster Biography. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  33. ^ a b Archbold, William Arthur Jobson; Pollard, Albert (1897). "St. Leger, Warham" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 50. pp. 167–168.
  34. ^ Dunlop 1895, p. 196.
  35. ^ Brewer & Bullen 1869, p. 366.
  36. ^ "1600 Julian calendar / Old style - New style synoptical reference". 5ko.free.fr. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  37. ^ Annals of the Four Masters 2008, pp. 2163–2165.
  38. ^ Higgins, Jacqui (26 April 2001). "Commemoration of an Irish hero". Irish Independent. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  39. ^ Higgins, Jacqui (3 May 2001). "Inniscara gathers to pay chieftain tribute". Irish Independent. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  40. ^ Moody 1938, pp. 269–270.
  41. ^ Walsh 1930, p. 33-34.
  42. ^ Lennon 2005, p. 301.
  43. ^ Stewart 1989, p. 38.
  44. ^ Bell, Robert (1994). "'Sheep stealers from the north of England': the Riding Clans in Ulster". History Ireland. 2 (4). Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  45. ^ "Ó hEODHASA, Eochaidh (C.1568–1612)".
  46. ^ Mangan, James Clarence, O'Hussey's Ode to the Maguire, CELT
  47. ^ Meek, Donald E., ed. (2019). The Wiles of the World Caran an t-Saohgail: Anthology of 19th-century Scottish Gaelic Verse. Birlinn Limited. pp. 348–351, 458–462.

Sources

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Further reading

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