O'Neill of Clandeboye

O'Neill of Clandeboye (Clann Aodha Buidhe). This subdivision of the O'Neill family descended from the king Aodh Buidhe (‘Hugh, the yellow‐haired’) O'Neill (d. 1283), notable for his close co‐operation with the earldom of Ulster, in contrast to his cousin Brian O'Neill (d. 1260). His brother Niall Cúlánach (d. 1291), his son Brian O'Neill II (d. 1296), and his grandson Henry (d. 1347) were likewise maintained by the Ulster colonists against Donal O'Neill, son of Brian I, a supporter of Edward Bruce. Henry's implication in the Anglo‐Norman rising of 1333, although it gained him much land in south Antrim, led to his deposition, and none of his descendants ruled Tír Eógain. Instead from the 15th century they had an independent chieftainship in south Antrim and north Down. Aodh Buidhe II (d. 1444) and Conn, son of Aodh Buidhe (d. 1482), seriously menaced the residual Ulster colony, and in 1574 Sir Brian mcPhelim Bacagh O'Neill was hanged for opposing a local plantation. But the family survived and in the late 17th century still sponsored Gaelic literature including the Leabhar Cloinne Aodha Buidhe or ‘Book of Clandeboye’.

Katharine Simms