1st Earl of Tyrone

The O'Neills of Ulster were for ages the most formidable of the indigenous clans in Ireland.

HENRY MacOWEN O'NEILL, King of Tyrone, chief of his nation in the 15th century, married the daughter of MacMurrough, and by her, who was living in 1452, he had issue,

CON MÓR, of whom presently;

Henry, slain at the house of Art O'Neill, of The Fews, 1498;

Donald, competitor with his brother Henry;

Bryan.

The eldest son,

CONN MÓR O'NEILL, King of Tyrone, who founded the Franciscan monastery of Ballynasaggart, in Tyrone, 1489, wedded the Lady Eleanor FitzGerald, daughter of Thomas, 7th Earl of Kildare, and was murdered by his brother Henry in 1493.

He had issue,

CONN BACACH, of whom presently;

Art Oge;

John, father of Sir Henry O'Neill;

Turlough, Governor of Kinard;

Bryan;

Joanne.

The eldest son,

CONN BACACH O'NEILL (c1480-1559), King of Tyrone, having, according to Fynes Moryson, joined in the Geraldine Rebellion, and fearing the King's vengeance, "sayled into England," and renouncing the title of The O'Neill, surrendered his royalty, had a re-grant of his lands by patent in 1541, and was created, in 1542, EARL OF TYRONE for life, with remainder to his son MATTHEW.

He married the Lady Alice FitzGerald, daughter of Gerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, and had issue,

Shane;

Phelim Caoch;

Turlough;

Mary, m Sorley Boy MacDonnell, father of the 1st Earl of Antrim.

Conn Bacach O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, had also by Alison Kelly, the wife of a blacksmith at Dundalk, an illegitimate son,

MATTHEW O'NEILL (1520-58), called Feardorcha, who was created, in 1542, Baron Dungannon.

This Matthew wedded Siobhan, daughter of Constantine (or Cuconnaught) Maguire, Lord of Fermanagh, and had issue,

Brian, murdered by MacDonnell;

HUGH, of whom hereafter;

Cormac (Sir);

Barnaby;

Art MacBaron.

The second son,

HUGH O'NEILL (c1550-1616), Earl of Tyrone, was chiefly educated at the court of ELIZABETH I, where he learnt, from the English statesmen, Burghley, Leicester, and Hatton, that knowledge of political craft which marked his entire career.

Eventually, throwing off his allegiance to the English sovereign, the "Arch Rebel," as he was styled, disclaimed the title of Earl of Tyrone and proclaimed himself The O'Neill.

He conquered every army sent to him by The Queen; until after the siege of Kinsale in 1603, he found his cause hopeless and surrendered to LORD MOUNTJOY, by whom he was received into protection.

Subsequently, in 1607, he fled to France, and thence proceeded to Louvain, and finally to Rome where he was maintained on a monthly allowance granted by Pope PAUL V and the King of Spain.

He married firstly, in 1574, a daughter of Brian MacPhelim O'Neill, of Clandeboye, County Down, from whom he was legitimately divorced.

Hugh wedded secondly, ca 1574, Joanna (or Siobhán), daughter of SIR HUGH O'DONNELL, and had issue,

HUGH (1585-1609), Baron Dungannon, died at Rome;

Henry, a colonel of an Irish regiment, in the Archduke's service;

Ursula; Sarah (or Sorcha); Margaret.

He espoused thirdly, Mabel, daughter of SIR NICHOLAS BAGENAL, to whom he was married by the Most Rev Thomas Jones, Lord Bishop of Meath, 1591; she dsp.

Hugh wedded fourthly, Catherine, daughter of Sir Hugh Magennis of Iveagh, who accompanied him to Rome where she died. 

By Catherine he had further issue,

John (or Shane), called El Condé de Tyrone, in Spain, where he had attained the rank of Lieutenant-General; killed in Catalonia.

Con Brian, page to the Archduke, murdered at Brussels, 1617.

Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, died at Rome, old and blind, on the 20th July, 1616, and was buried with great pomp in the church of San Pietro in Montorio, where the tombs of O'Donnell and O'Neill, Baron Dungannon, are objects of attraction to English and Irish sojourners in the Eternal City.

The tomb of the Earl of Tyrone is no longer in existence, but happily the inscription it bore is still preserved in the Book of Obits, of San Pietro's monastery, and runs thus: 

D.O.M. 

Hic Quiescunt Ossa

Hugonis Principis O'Neill

It would appear that this brief epitaph was suggested by that on the tomb of Tasso in the neighbouring church of Sant'Onofrio.

Hugh, Earl of Tyrone, was attainted in 1612.

Extracts from Burke's Genealogical History of Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages (1866).