# Sir Hugh O'Donnell

Sir Hugh McManus O'Donnell (Irish: Sir Aodh mac Maghnusa Ó Domhnaill; c. 1520 – 7 December 1600) was an Irish Gaelic lord. He was The O'Donnell of his clan, and Lord of Tyrconnell in Tudor-era Ireland.
In 1561, O'Donnell imprisoned his half-brother and rival Calvagh with the assistance of Shane O'Neill. Under brehon law he succeeded as The O'Donnell upon Calvagh's death in 1566. A "wary politician", O'Donnell's lordship was marked by political indecision. He attempted to appease both pro- and anti-English factions in Tyrconnell, and thus alternated between varying alliances. His clan ultimately united with long-time enemies the O'Neills against the English – this alliance would continue into the Nine Years' War (1593–1603).
O'Donnell's health had heavily declined by the 1580s, leading to a major succession crisis which was compounded by the kidnapping of his son and tanist Red Hugh O'Donnell. His second wife, Scotswoman Iníon Dubh, organised his abdication in 1592, in favour of Red Hugh.

## Family background

Hugh McManus O'Donnell was born circa 1520. His parents were Manus O'Donnell, Lord of Tyrconnell, and Judith O'Neill (Irish: Siobhán Ó Néill), daughter of Conn O'Neill. Some sources have referred to Hugh McManus as Hugh Dubh or Hugh Dubh McManus.

## Early career

During 1542, he was recorded campaigning for his father against the lords of north Connacht.
An old poem identifies Sir Hugh's first wife as "Nuala, daughter of the O’Neill". She would have been the daughter of Shane O'Neill. Their children include Donal and Siobhán O'Donnell. This first wife probably died by 1566.
According to historian Robert Dunlop, "for a long time past there had existed two parties in Tyrconnell" – those who supported an alliance with the English, and those who preferred to side with the O'Neills. The O'Neill clan were hereditary rivals to the O'Donnells.
Around 1557, Hugh O'Donnell feuded with his half-brother Calvagh for control of Tyrconnell's lordship. He allied himself with the O’Neill family against Calvagh.

## Reign
### Initial rule

In May 1561, Shane O'Neill captured Calvagh and imprisoned him in Tír Eóghain, the O'Neills' kingdom. Hugh O'Donnell was set up as the effective ruler of Tyrconnell.
O'Donnell was initially a proactive ruler. In 1561 he defeated Cathal O'Connor at Sligo. With the assistance of the English, Calvagh was reinstated in September 1565. O'Donnell fled to his ally Shane O'Neill and the two returned with reinforcements.

### Succession

Under brehon law, O'Donnell succeeded to the lordship upon Calvagh's death in October 1566. O'Donnell raided Tír Eóghain. O'Neill invaded Tyrconnell in response, but O'Donnell managed to pin O'Neill's forces against the high tide of Lough Swilly and thus drowned them.
The same year, O'Donnell's claim to the lordship was disputed by Calvagh's son Hugh MacEdegany.

### Politics

O'Donnell's succession to the lordship of Tyrconnell was a triumph for the pro-O'Neill faction. However, O'Donnell attempted to appease both factions by avoiding overt political declarations. This greatly diminished the confidence his own party had in him as leader, and his indecision also failed to satisfy the English government. According to historian Emmett O'Byrne, O'Donnell was "always too weak politically and militarily to deal with the combined challenges of the power of the O'Neills in Ulster, the extension of English control into north Connacht, and the strength of his rivals in Tyrconnell".
O'Donnell later did an about-face and allied with the English to crush the O’Neills. In 1567, he defeated clan chief Shane O’Neill at Letterkenny. Shane lost 1,300 men, and was compelled to seek refuge with the MacDonnells of Antrim, who assassinated him.

### Marriage alliances

O'Donnell's second wife was Scottish aristocrat Iníon Dubh of Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg - they married in 1569. At the time, marriage into the MacDonald family was particularly coveted due to their military might. It was ultimately the influence of Iníon Dubh that pushed the O'Donnell clan further into opposition with the English – though publicly Sir O'Donnell maintained his loyalty to the Crown.
In June 1574, powerful O'Neill clansman Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, married O'Donnell's daughter Siobhán. In 1587, O'Donnell's son (and tanist) Hugh Roe O'Donnell was betrothed to Tyrone's daughter Rose O'Neill. These dynastic marriages would further cement a growing alliance between two Irish clans who had traditionally been mortal enemies for centuries. The Description of Ireland (1598) makes reference to this alliance: "This controversie was taken away by a double marriage, Tyrone having married [Hugh Roe]'s sister, by whom he hath diverse sons, and [Hugh Roe] having married his daughter..."

### Spanish Armada

In late 1588, 23 ships of the Spanish Armada were lost on Ireland's coast. Lord Deputy William FitzWilliam ordered the execution of Spanish survivors. The Armada ship La Trinidad Valencera sank in Kinnagoe Bay, Inishowen. Upon hearing of the presence of Spanish fugitives there, Tyrone's mercenary forces, commanded by his foster-brothers Richard and Henry Hovenden, proceeded to Inishowen. Tyrone's instructions to the Hovendens are unknown; ultimately his forces committed the largest single massacre of Armada survivors in Inishowen.
Historians Marshall and Morgan characterise Tyrone as reluctantly ordering the massacre to keep in the English government's good graces. However, contemporary sources seem to imply that the massacre was carried out on the actions of the O'Donnell clan – O'Neill's forces were counselled by O’Donnell and Iníon Dubh. In a report from Inishowen prior to the massacre, the Hovendens wrote to FitzWilliam: "O'Donnell is willing to serve against [the Spaniards], and hath none of his country as yet come in to him passing thirty horsemen; he hath sent for all his forces, but it is doubtful whether they will come in to him or not". Government officials reported that Tyrone heavily reprimanded O'Donnell for betraying the Spaniards and their refuge; he contemptuously told O'Donnell to seek dwelling in another country. A 1614 history of Donegal Abbey references O'Donnell doing penance for his sins in his retirement, "the weightiest of which was a cruel raid on the wrecked Spaniards of the Armada, whom he slew in Innishowen, at the bidding of deputy Fitzwilliam".

### Succession dispute

In the 1580s, a violent succession dispute broke out amongst the O'Donnell family over who would succeed him. With the help of her Scottish kinsmen, Iníon Dubh had MacEdegany killed in May 1588, and Donal O'Donnell killed in September 1590. When Sir Hugh O'Donnell became senile in his old age, Iníon Dubh effectively took over leadership of the territory. The succession dispute was compounded by Hugh Roe's kidnapping from Tyrconnell in 1587. O'Donnell offered thirty Spanish officers, taken from the Inishowen shipwreck, as prisoners in the hope to exchange them for his son, but this was unsuccessful. Hugh Roe eventually returned in 1592; Tyrone had bribed officials in Dublin to secure his release.

### Abdication

In 1592, before an assembly of fellow nobles in Kilmacrennan, Sir Hugh O'Donnell abdicated in favour of Hugh Roe. This was accepted by the nobility. Though apparently voluntary, his abdication was largely organised by Iníon Dubh. Hugh Roe was inaugurated as The O'Donnell on 3 May 1592.

## Later life and death

According to Philip O'Sullivan Beare, "[O'Donnell], after the manner of Irish Chiefs, devoted the seven years which he lived after this, to prayer and meditation on holy things". He spent his final years living in retirement among the Franciscans at Donegal Abbey and doing penance for his sins. He died from old age on 7 December 1600. His remains were clothed in the habit of a Franciscan monk and then buried underneath the Chapel of Donegal Abbey.