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Hugh O'Donnell, 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell

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Hugh Albert O’Donnell
2nd Earl of Tyrconnell
Hugh Albert O’Donnell, at 10 years of age as a page at the court of Albert VII, Archduke of Austria
Tenure1608–1642
PredecessorRory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell
BornOctober 1606
Ireland
DiedAugust/September 1642 (aged 35)
At sea
NationalityIrish
Noble familyO'Donnell dynasty
FitzGerald family
Spouse(s)Anna-Margaret de Hénin
FatherRory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell
MotherBridget FitzGerald

Hugh Albert O'Donnell, 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell (Irish: Aodh Ailbhe mac Rudhraighe Uí Dhomhnaill; October 1606 – August/September 1642[1]) was titular King of Tír Conaill, and son of Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell whose title was however attainted in 1614.[a] In adult life, he used the style Earl of Tyrconnell, Baron of Donegal and Lifford, Lord of Sligo and Lower Connaught, and Knight Commander of the Order of Alcántara.[2]

Family background

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He was born about October 1606,[3] the only son of Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and his wife Bridget FitzGerald.[4] His paternal grandparents were Irish Gaelic lord Hugh McManus O'Donnell and Scottish noblewoman Fiona "Iníon Dubh" MacDonald.[5] His maternal grandparents were Irish peer Henry FitzGerald, 12th Earl of Kildare,[4] and English noblewoman Frances Howard.[6]

Hugh Albert had a mixed ancestry of various noble families. His father's paternal family were the Gaelic Irish O'Donnell clan of Tyrconnell, who claimed descent, via Conall Gulban of the Cenél Conaill, from High King Niall of the Nine Hostages.[7] He was also a descendant of the first six Scottish Chiefs of Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg, as well as being descended from Robert the Bruce via Robert II.[8][9] His mother was descended from the Hiberno-Norman FitzGerald dynasty and the English Howard family.[citation needed]

His father's branch of the O'Donnell clan had ruled Tyrconnell since 1566.[10] The Irish confederacy's defeat in the Nine Years' War (which ended three years before his birth) marked the beginning of the end for Gaelic Irish society.[citation needed] Although Rory had fought against the English during the war, he managed to secure favour with King James I and was made 1st Earl of Tyrconnell in 1603.[11][5] The government thus recognised Rory as Tyrconnell's rightful landlord,[11] though Rory's cousin and rival Niall Garve had himself inaugurated per the traditional ceremony in 1603.[12][11][13]

Hugh Albert's parents married around Christmas 1606.[5]

Life in Europe

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In September 1607, due to increasing hostility from the government, Rory and his wartime ally Hugh O'Neill fled from Ireland along with ninety of their followers. Hugh Albert accompanied his father on the flight,[14] but in the haste, his pregnant mother Bridget was left behind in Maynooth.[15][16] Hugh Albert O'Donnell's younger sister Mary was born around 1607.[17][3] Bridget remarried to Irish peer Nicholas Barnewell.[15][18]

Hugh Albert was three weeks shy of his first birthday when he sailed from Lough Swilly during the Flight of the Earls. He accompanied his father to Rome, where his father and uncle Cathbarr O'Donnell died of fevers. His aunt Rosa, the wife of Cathbarr, met and married Owen Roe O'Neill, and it is probable that O'Donnell was in her care, because both he and his cousin, also named Hugh O'Donnell, received a modest pension from Archduke Albert, governor of the Low Countries, from 1615,[b] and were raised in Leuven where they were educated by Franciscan colleagues of Archbishop Conry.[19][20] He was a page to the Infanta Isabella, daughter of King Philip III of Spain.[19][21] A portrait exists of Hugh Albert O'Donnell as a young page. This portrait is the only authentic and contemporary portrait of the last regnant O'Donnell dynasty of Tyrconnell.[22][c]

In October 1610, Hugh Albert and his cousin Hugh were given over to Hugh MacCaughwell, the Franciscan superior of the Irish College in Leuven.[23]

He was made a knight of Alcántara in 1625.[24] Hugh Albert became 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell after his father's death.[14]

Military service and death

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In time O'Donnell joined the service of King Philip, and was commissioned colonel of a tercio in 1632.[20] He was killed in action when his ship engaged a French vessel in August or September 1642 and caught fire.[citation needed] In 1642, he drowned in the Mediterranean whilst fighting against the French.[14] According to historian Eunan O'Donnell, Hugh Albert O'Donnell died on 1 July 1642 in Barcelona.[25] He had no issue.[19][25] His death was announced by his aunt Rosa in an Irish letter written at Leuven dated 16 September 1642.[26]

O'Donnell left no immediate heirs, although the Earldom, were it not attainted in 1614, would have passed by remainder to his uncle Cathbarr O'Donnell, whose line was extinct by then, and thence, to his 1st cousin Donal Oge O'Donnell, according to the terms of the letters patent.[27]

As Hugh had never recognised James I as his monarch, he had no hope of being recognised as the 2nd Earl, under the principle of the "Fount of honour". He had an undoubted claim to the title, but took no steps in 1614 to defend it when it was debated in the Irish House of Lords. He would at least have had to submit to King James to take his place in the House of Lords, and until then he did so the title was "in abeyance".[citation needed]

Family

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Around 1635, O'Donnell married Anna-Margaret, daughter of Maximilien II de Hénin, 5th Count of Bossu, Knight of the Golden Fleece (died 8 December 1625) and Alexandrine Franeoise de Gavre; and a near kinswoman of the last eccentric Charles, Duke of Guise.[19][28][d]

Ancestors of Hugh O'Donnell, 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell
8. Manus O'Donnell, King of Tyrconnell
4. Hugh McManus O'Donnell, King of Tyrconnell
9. Siobhán O'Neill
2. Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell
10. James MacDonald, 6th of Dunnyveg
5. Fiona MacDonald
11. Agnes Campbell
1. Hugh Albert O'Donnell
12. Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare
6. Henry FitzGerald, 12th Earl of Kildare
13. Mabel Browne, Countess of Kildare
3. Bridget FitzGerald, Countess of Tyrconnell
14. Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham
7. Frances Howard, Countess of Kildare
15. Catherine Howard, Countess of Nottingham

Notes

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  1. ^ He was also equally styled Hugh-Albert or Albert-Hugh O'Donnell (Burke 1866, p. 410).
  2. ^ The "Conde de Tyrconnell" and Don Hugo O'Donnell were in the receipt of a modest pension from Archduke Albert. As both boys were called Hugh, Conde de Tyrconnell was given the additional name of Albert, after Archduke Albert, his protector, and who was in all likelihood his godfather in confirmation, which is the reason why Tyrconnell was known as Hugh-Albert or Albert-Hugh (Burke 1866, p. 410).
  3. ^ His father Rory was depicted in a fresco in the Vatican dated c. 1610. Rory died in 1608.
  4. ^ Maximilian de Hennin, Baron of Liederkerke, Viscount of Brussels, Count of Bossut, etc., Knight of the Golden Fleece (Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society 1866, p. 461).

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ Ulwencreutz 2013, p. 136.
  2. ^ O'Donnell 2018, p. 146.
  3. ^ a b Silke 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."
  4. ^ a b McNeill 1911, p. 8.
  5. ^ a b c O'Byrne, Emmett (October 2009). "O'Donnell (Ó Domhnall), Ruaidhrí". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006701.v1. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  6. ^ Lundy 2015, p. 1265 § 12649 cites Cokayne 2000, p. 428
  7. ^ O'Clery, O'Clery & Murphy 1895, p. xii.
  8. ^ O'Clery, O'Clery & Murphy 1895, p. xxx.
  9. ^ The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (15 April 2024). "Robert II". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 31 May 2024.
  10. ^ Morgan, Hiram (October 2009). "O'Donnell, 'Red' Hugh (Ó Domhnaill, Aodh Ruadh)". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006343.v1. Archived from the original on 25 July 2021.
  11. ^ a b c Clavin, Terry (October 2009). "O'Donnell, Sir Niall Garvach". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006345.v1. Archived from the original on 3 January 2024. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  12. ^ Ó Canann 2007
  13. ^ O'Donnell 2006, p. 31
  14. ^ a b c McGurk, John (August 2007). "The Flight of the Earls: escape or strategic regrouping?". History Ireland. 15 (4). Archived from the original on 18 April 2024.
  15. ^ a b (McNeill 1911, p. 8)
  16. ^ Casway 2003, p. 59.
  17. ^ Clavin, Terry (October 2009). "O'Donnell, Mary Stuart". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006694.v1. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  18. ^ Casway 2003
  19. ^ a b c d Burke 1866, p. 410.
  20. ^ a b Campbell 2015, p. 103.
  21. ^ RIA 1830, p. 134.
  22. ^ O'Donnell, Francis Martin (2020). What did they really look like? An Iconography of the O'Donnells of Tyrconnell: myth, allegory, prejudice, and evidence. Tyrconnell-Fyngal Publishing.
  23. ^ Casway 2003, p. 66.
  24. ^ Canann, Tomás G. Ó (2007). "Ó Domhnaill's inauguration, according to Pilib Ó Súilleabháin Bhéarra". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 137: 101–116. ISSN 0035-9106. JSTOR 23024262.
  25. ^ a b O'Donnell 2006, p. 44.
  26. ^ Bagwell 1895, p. 446.
  27. ^ The text of the Letters Patent is referenced in G.O. Ms. 169 (National Library of Ireland) and in several slight variations as follows: (a) in pages 2388-2389 of the Appendix in Volume VI of the Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters (De Burca’s 1990 re-print of the 1856 edition by John O’Donovan); (b) in page 39 of the Fate and Fortunes of the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, by Rev. C.P. Meehan (1870); (c) in a partial translation of the Latin original of the Letters Patent held by Count O’Donnell von Tyrconnell in Austria, and recounted in O’Domhnaill Abu (the O’Donnell Clan Newsletter no. 12 of Winter 1989). Versions (a) and (b) referenced above make explicit reference to the remainder to Donal Oge O’Donnell
  28. ^ Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society 1866, p. 461.

Sources

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Further reading

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Regnal titles
Preceded by King of Tir Conaill
1608–1642 		Vacant
Preceded by Earl of Tyrconnell
1608–1642 		Vacant
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