O'Neill

O'Neill. Descended from Niall Glúndub (d. 919), high king from the Cenél nEógain branch of the northern Uí Néill, the O'Neills suffered a prolonged eclipse c.1033–1170 at the hands of their Mac Lochlainn kinsmen. Their restoration to power began in 1167 when Rory O'Connor divided Tír Eógain in two, between the MacLochlainn claimant and Áed ‘an Macaomh Tóinleasc’ O'Neill (d. 1177). The latter's son, Áed Méith O'Neill (d. 1230), achieved province‐wide kingship, leading the forces of Tír Conaill and Airgialla as well as Tír Eógain against the attempts of Bishop Grey, the justiciar, to conquer mid‐Ulster 1211–12. Áed Méith's nephew Brian O'Neill eliminated the MacLochlainn threat at the battle of Caimeirghe (1241), before taking submissions from the heirs of O'Connor and O'Brien at Caoluisce near Belleek (1258) in an unsuccessful attempt to revive the high kingship which ended in his defeat and death at the battle of Down in 1260.

Brian was succeeded by Áed Buidhe O'Neill (d. 1283), grandson of Áed Méith, who co‐operated with the Anglo‐Normans of Ulster rather than resisting them. His death was followed by a prolonged feud between his immediate kin, the Clann Aodha Buidhe or Clandeboye O'Neill's, and Brian's son Domhnall (d. 1325), who was to ally with Robert and Edward Bruce against the earl of Ulster and the English king Edward II. Even after the defeat at Faughart (1318), Domhnall retained his position in western Tír Eógain, though his son Aodh Reamhar (or Aodh Mór, d. 1364) had to contend with the rivalry of Henry O'Neill of the Clann Aodha Buidhe (d. 1347) during the earlier part of his reign.

However, the close relations between the Clandeboye O'Neills and the Ulster colonists led to Henry O'Neill's involvement in rebellion following the assassination of the de Burgh earl in 1333, so in 1344 the justiciar, Ralph Ufford, deposed him and recognized Aodh Reamhar as king. The title on Aodh's extant seal reads ‘king of the Irish of Ulster’. Formerly a MacDonlevy title, this implies overlordship of the Irish east of the Bann, which would now include the Clandeboye O'Neills themselves, but there is better evidence for Aodh's dominance of O'Donnell, Maguire, MacMahon, and O'Hanlon.

Aodh's son and successor Niall Mór O'Neill (d. 1397) mounted an aggressive campaign against the Ulster earldom, continued by his son Niall Óg (d. 1403) when he partnered his father in kingship c.1390. This led to strife with Earl Roger Mortimer when the O'Neill father and son submitted to Richard II in 1395. It was probably to distinguish the father from his son of the same name that the expression Ó Néill Mór (the Great O'Neill, or O'Neill Senior) was first used, but the Anglo‐Irish continued to employ the expression ‘The Great O'Neill’ in the reign of Niall Óg's nephew and successor Domhnall Bog O'Neill (d. 1432), apparently to contrast him with O'Neill of Clandeboye ( Brian Ballach, d. 1425).

The succession of Domhnall Bog, made possible by the premature death of Niall Óg's eldest son Brian (d. 1404), led to a crippling civil war between Domhnall and Eoghan (d. 1456), a younger son of Niall Óg, during which much land in western Tír Eógain was annexed by O'Donnell. Eoghan, however, began to take back control even before Domhnall Bog's murder by some O'Cahans. He recovered territory from O'Donnell, added O'Reilly to his list of vassal chieftains, and imposed a regular tribute of black rent on Dundalk. His son Henry (d. 1489) ruled over an area equivalent to all nine counties of Ulster, including the remnants of the Ulster colony, and in 1463 received a present of livery to attach him to the service of King Edward IV, who was also absentee earl of Ulster.

In 1480 Conn Mór (d. 1493), son and heir of Henry O'Neill, married Elinor, sister to the 8th earl of Kildare, and received a grant of full rights under English law. Consequently, after Conn's assassination by his own brother Henry Óg, the earl became closely involved in the subsequent war of succession. Ultimately Elinor's son Conn Bacach O'Neill succeeded to the chieftaincy in 1519. A staunch ally of the 9th earl of Kildare, he participated in the Geraldine League before surrendering his lands and rights and receiving them back from Henry VIII (1542) with the title earl of Tyrone and remainder to his illegitimate son Matthew, Baron Dungannon. A rebellion by Conn's legitimate son Shane O'Neill resulted, followed by a succession struggle for the chieftaincy between Turlough Luineach O'Neill (d. 1595), great‐grandson of Conn Mór, and Matthew's son Hugh O'Neill, from 1593 recognized as ‘the Great O'Neill’, one of the chief leaders in the Nine Years War (1594–1603). After the treaty of Mellifont (1603) Hugh O'Neill's jurisdiction as a chieftain ended and his departure to seek help on the Continent in the Flight of the Earls (1607) proved fruitless. Although Hugh's nephew Owen Roe O'Neill, and the more distantly related Phelim Roe O'Neill of Kinnaird (d. 1653), were prominent in the Confederate War, neither was formally inaugurated as chief.

Bibliography

Mathews, T. , The O'Neills of Ulster (1907)
Simms, K. , ‘ “The King's Friend”: O'Neill, the Crown and the Earldom of Ulster’, in J. Lydon (ed.), England and Ireland in the Later Middle Ages (1981)

Katharine Simms