Mary Stuart O'Donnell

Irish noblewoman

Mary Stuart O'Donnell
Máire Stiúbhart Ní Dhomhnaill
Bornc. 1607
London, England
DiedIn or after 1639
SpousesDualtach O'Gallagher
(1630-1635)
DynastyO'Donnell
FatherRory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell
MotherBridget FitzGerald
ReligionCatholic

Lady Mary Stuart O'Donnell (Irish: Máire Stíobhartach Ní Dhomhnaill; c. 1607[1] - in or after 1639) was an English-born noblewoman of Irish heritage.[2] Her father was Gaelic nobleman Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, who fled Ireland in 1607 whilst his wife Bridget FitzGerald was still pregnant.[3] Mary was born in England, though she lived in Ireland for ten years and associated with Catholics.

Life

Lady Mary was the daughter of Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and Bridget, daughter of the 12th Earl of Kildare.[4][1] As the daughter of an earl, she was styled as 'Lady Mary'. She was born in England after her father's flight (see Flight of the Earls), and the royal name "Stuart" was given to her by King James VI and I. Her mother, Bridget, Countess of Tyrconnell, returned to Ireland with Mary in 1609, where they lived on the FitzGerald estates in Kildare until 1619, after which they were summoned to live in England. She was granted a generous dowry by the King and was placed into the care of her grandmother, Lady Kildare.[5]

Lady Mary lived in London for the next few years where Lady Kildare attempted to anglicise the young girl and proposed to leave Mary her substantial inheritance and to provide a husband for her. Mary objected to the favoured suitor on the grounds that he was an Irishman who had converted to Protestantism; perhaps also because she had formed a previous attachment to Dualtach O'Gallagher. Much to the consternation of her mother's family, she increasingly associated with the young, disaffected Irish Catholics of London. In the summer of 1626, Mary and several friends broke into Gatehouse Prison and freed her half-brother Caffer "Con" O'Donnell and her first cousin, Hugh (Aedh) O'Rourke, who had recently been incarcerated for refusing to revoke their claims over planted land in Ireland.[6][7] Following this incident, her identity was compromised and she was ordered to appear before the royal court. She instead opted to flee London during the latter months of 1626. Dressed in male attire, and wearing a sword, she got clear of London, and after many wanderings arrived in Bristol. She was accompanied by a maid, Anne Baynham, similarly disguised, and by a young "gentilhomme son parent",[5] who was most likely O'Gallagher.[5]

Lady Mary's father, Rory O'Donnell of Tyrconnell

At Bristol her sex was suspected; but, according to a Spanish panegyrist, who likens her to various saints, she bribed a magistrate, offered to fight a duel, and made fierce love to another girl. Two attempts were made to reach Ireland, but the ship was beaten back into the Severn. At last Lady Mary Stuart got off in a Dutch vessel, and was carried, with her two companions, to La Rochelle. She retained her doublet, boots, and sword, and at Poitiers made love to another lady. On her arrival at Brussels in January 1627, Pope Urban VIII wrote a special congratulatory letter; but she soon estranged her elder brother, Hugh, who she had never met before, by continuing to seek adventures in men's clothes and for refusing to marry yet another suitor, John O'Neill, 3rd Earl of Tyrone.[5] Hugh had hoped to allay hostilities between the O'Donnell and O'Neill dynasties in preparation for a planned invasion of Ireland in 1627 by enlisting the help of Archbishop Florence Conry, who arranged for Mary to marry the Earl of Tyrone. Her secret relationship with O'Gallagher was exposed when she became pregnant in 1629 and they fled Brussels in disgrace.

She and O'Gallagher arrived in Rome in 1630, where she was greeted with admiration as the daughter of the late Rory, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and was provided a place to live and financial support by the Catholic Church. They married and she gave birth to a boy in Genoa,[2] and in February 1632 wrote to Cardinal Barberini, saying that another child was expected. They later moved to Austria where O'Gallagher rose to the rank of captain in the Imperial Army in 1635, but was killed that same year fighting in the Thirty Years' War. Her infant son fell ill and died shortly after her husband's passing.[5] Beset by grief and estranged from her family, she travelled Europe once again before eventually settling down in Rome, where she married a poor Irish naval captain in 1639. Nothing more is known of her life after this.

Family tree

  • v
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  • e
O'Donnell family tree

Issue of Hugh McManus O'Donnell (Aodh mac Maghnusa Ó Domhnaill; c. 1520 - 1600)[i]

First marriage: Nuala O'Neill[α]

  • Duncan "Scaite" O'Donnell (Donnchadh Ó Domhnaill)[η]
  • Rory O'Donnell (Ruaidhri Ó Domhnaill)
    • Died 1575

Second marriage, 1569: Fiona MacDonald (Fionnghuala Nic Dhomhnaill, also known as Iníon Dubh; fl. 1567–1611), daughter of James MacDonald, 6th of Dunnyveg and Agnes Campbell.[xxiv][xxv][xxvi]

  • Manus O'Donnell (Maghnus Ó Domhnaill)
    • Born c. 1579[l]
    • Died 22 October 1600[li]
  • Margaret O'Donnell (Mairghead Ní Domhnaill)
    • fl. 1608, possibly died 1662
  • Gráinne O'Donnell (Gráinne Ní Domhnaill)[ι]

Notes

  1. ^ Historian Francis Martin O'Donnell has named Sir Hugh's first wife as "Nuala, a daughter of O’Neill".[ii]
  2. ^ Concannon believed Siobhán was born c. 1569, and that her mother was Iníon Dubh,[iii] who married Sir Hugh around that time. However, Siobhán married Hugh O'Neill in 1574, making that date of birth unlikely. Casway and Walsh believe Siobhán's mother was Sir Hugh's first wife.[iv][v]
  3. ^ In a letter dated 31 January 1591, O'Neill references Siobhán's recent death.[v]
  4. ^ Her death date has alternately been given as 1639, 26 April 1640, or sometime after 31 March 1642.[v]
  5. ^ Walsh believes her birth date was c. 1588.[v]
  6. ^ Sources disagree on Henry's date of death: 1610,[iv] c. 1620,[xix] or c. 1626.[viii] It is clear that he died sometime before the publication of Philip O'Sullevan's Historia Catholica in 1621.[v]
  7. ^ The historicity of this person is disputed.[xx]
  8. ^ According to the English officials who wrote the Calendar of State Papers, Hugh Roe personally killed Niall Garve's four-year-old son (also his own nephew)[xlviii]
  9. ^ Gráinne is known only as a sister of the Earl (i.e., Rory), with no additional information.[lix]

References

  1. ^ O'Byrne, Emmett (October 2009). "O'Donnell (Ó Domhnaill), Sir Aodh mac Maghnusa". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006332.v1.
  2. ^ O'Donnell, Francis Martin (15 November 2018). "The O'Donnells of Tyrconnell – A Hidden Legacy (Maunsel Irish Research Series)". Academica Press. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  3. ^ a b Concannon, p. 218-219 "Siobhan was probably the eldest of the family, and must have been born not later than 1569." "We know little of Siobhan, who can hardly have been more than one-and- twenty, when she died in 1590."
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Casway 2016
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Walsh 1930
  6. ^ a b Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2004, p. 511-512
  7. ^ O'Byrne, Emmett; Clarke, Aidan; Barry, Judy (October 2009). "Bagenal (O'Neill), Mabel". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006953.v1. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d e Dunlop 1895, p. 196
  9. ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2004, p. 839
  10. ^ Morgan 2014
  11. ^ Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.
  12. ^ a b Hill 1873, page 222. "Sir Randal Macdonnell was married about the year 1604 to Ellis or Alice O'Neill, the third daughter of Hugh earl of Tyrone. This lady, who was born in 1583, was in her twenty-first year at the time of her marriage, and was younger than either of her sisters, lady Macmahon or Lady Maginnis. She was older than her brother Hugh, the baron of Dungannon."
  13. ^ Cokayne 1910. "[The 1st Earl of Antrim] m., 1604, Alice, da. of Hugh (O'Neill), Earl of Tyrone [I], by his 2nd wife, Joanna, da. of Hugh McManus O'Donnell."
  14. ^ Ohlmeyer, Jane H (2001) [1993]. Civil War and Restoration in the Three Stuart Kingdoms: The Career of Randal MacDonnell, Marquis of Antrim. Dublin: Four Courts Press. p. 359. ISBN 978-0521419789.
  15. ^ Cokayne 1910. "[The 1st Earl of Antrim] m., 1604, Alice, da. of Hugh (O'Neill), Earl of Tyrone [I], by his 2nd wife, Joanna, da. of Hugh McManus O'Donnell."
  16. ^ Ohlmeyer, Jane H (2001) [1993]. Civil War and Restoration in the Three Stuart Kingdoms: The Career of Randal MacDonnell, Marquis of Antrim. Dublin: Four Courts Press. p. 359. ISBN 978-0521419789.
  17. ^ Concannon, p. 218 "The inscription on the tomb in San Pietro in Montorio shows that her eldest child, Hugh, was born in 1585."
  18. ^ Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 1867, p. 459: "..he died unmarried on the 23rd of September, 1609, aged twenty-four... and was buried in the church of St. Peter's in Montorio..."
  19. ^ a b Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 1867, p. 459
  20. ^ Ó Domhnaill, Niall; Na Glúnta Rosannacha (1952), page 87
  21. ^ Annals of the Four Masters: "1590: ...the son of O'Donnell himself, who, being unable to display prowess or defend himself, was slain at Doire-leathan, on one side of the harbour of Telinn, on the 14th of September."
  22. ^ Morgan 1993, page 107
  23. ^ 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.
  24. ^ O'Byrne, Emmett (2009). "MacDonnell (Nic Dhomhnaill), Fiona (Fionnghuala) ('Iníon Dubh')". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006337.v1.
  25. ^ Walsh 1930, p. 17
  26. ^ Morgan 1993, p. 124
  27. ^ Starke 1984, page 3
  28. ^ Donegal County Archives. The Flight of the Earls: Document Study Pack.
  29. ^ Annals of the Four Masters: "1602:...O'Donnell should take the disease of his death and the sickness of his dissolution; and, after lying seventeen days on the bed, he died, on the 10th of September, in the house which the King of Spain himself had at that town (Simancas)...""
  30. ^ a b Morgan, Hiram (October 2009). "O'Donnell, 'Red' Hugh (Ó Domhnaill, Aodh Ruadh)". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006343.v1.
  31. ^ a b c Bagwell 1895
  32. ^ a b c O'Byrne, Emmett (October 2009). "O'Donnell (Ó Domhnall), Ruaidhrí". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006701.v1. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  33. ^ a b c Webb 1878
  34. ^ 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."
  35. ^ Bagwell 1895 "About ninety persons sailed with the earls, among whom were Tyrconnel's son Hugh, aged eleven months..."
  36. ^ Ulwencreutz, Lars (2013), Ulwencreutz's The Royal Families in Europe V, Lulu.com, p. 136, ISBN 978-1-304-58135-8 "Hugh O'Donnell, 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell (1606-1642) Prince and Lord of Tryconnell".
  37. ^ "O'Donnell, Lady Mary Stuart (b. 1607?, d. in or after 1639), noblewoman". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20557. Retrieved 24 April 2024. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  38. ^ Casway 2009. Casway gives her birthdate as c. 1575
  39. ^ Concannon, p. 218 "O'Clery tells us that Nuala was already married to Niall Garbh in 1592. This will place her birth-year with some degree of probability about 1577 — not later."
  40. ^ Knox 2002, p. 26. In contrast to Concannon, Knox believes Nuala was Rory's older sister.
  41. ^ Casway, Jerrold (July 2007). "Women in Flight". History Ireland. 15 (4). Retrieved 18 April 2024.
  42. ^ a b c Casway 2009
  43. ^ O'Sullivan Beare 2008. Philip O'Sullivan Beare notes that Manus's death (October 1600) occurred shortly after Nuala and Niall separated.
  44. ^ a b Dunlop, Robert. "O'Donnell, Niall Garv". Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900. 41.
  45. ^ a b Hill 1873, page 221
  46. ^ Annals of the Four Masters: "1608: Niall Garv O'Donnell, with his brothers Hugh Boy and Donnell, and his son, Naghtan, were taken prisoners about the festival of St. John in this year."
  47. ^ McGurk, John (August 2007). "The Flight of the Earls: escape or strategic regrouping?". History Ireland. 15 (4).
  48. ^ McGurk, John (2006). Sir Henry Docwra, 1564-1631: Derry's Second Founder. Four Courts Press. p. 93–95.
  49. ^ "O'Donnell". 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 20. 1911.
  50. ^ Concannon, p. 218 "Manus may have been born about 1579 or 1580. He was old enough to play a man's part in the battle in which he met his death at the hands of Niall Garbh (A.D. 1600)" Lughaidh Ó Cléirigh names the sons in the order of their birth: Hugh Roe, Ruairi, Manus and Cathbar.
  51. ^ Concannon, p. 232
  52. ^ a b c Clavin 2009
  53. ^ Pollard, Albert Frederick. "O'Cahan, Donnell Ballagh". Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900. 41.
  54. ^ a b Gallogy, Dan (1963). "Brian Oge O'Rourke and the Nine Years War". Breifne Journal. 2: 194–195.
  55. ^ a b Casway, Jerrold (1988). "The Last Lords of Leitrim: The Sons of Teige O'Rourke". Breifne Journal. VII: 561–562.
  56. ^ Concannon, p. 218
  57. ^ a b c d e McGettigan 2009
  58. ^ Annals of the Four Masters: "[Flight of the Earls, September] 1607: ...Rose, the daughter of O'Doherty, and wife of Caffar, with her son, Hugh, aged two years and three months..."
  59. ^ O'Donnell, Eunan; Reflection on the Flight of the Earls; Donegal Annual, Bliainiris Dhún na nGall, Journal of the County Donegal Historical Society, No. 58 (2006); pp. 31-44.

Bibliography

  • Bagwell, Richard (1895). "O'Donnell, Rory" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 41. pp. 444–447.
  • Casway, Jerrold (2009). "O'Donnell, Nuala". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006696.v1. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
  • Casway, Jerrold (2016). "Catherine Magennis and the Wives of Hugh O'Neill". Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society. 26 (1): 69–79. JSTOR 48568219.
  • Clavin, Terry (October 2009). "O'Cahan, Sir Donnell Ballach". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006536.v1. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  • Cokayne, George Edward (1910). The Hon. Vicary Gibbs (ed.). The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom : extant, extinct, or dormant. The St. Catherine Press Ltd. p. 174.
  • Concannon, Helena (1920). "'The Woman of the Piercing Wail' (The Lady Nuala O'Donnell)". The Irish ecclesiastical record. 16. Dublin: John F. Fowler.
  • Dunlop, Robert (1895). "O'Neill, Hugh, third Baron of Dungannon and second Earl of Tyrone 1540?–1616". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. XLII. New York: MacMillan and Co. pp. 188–196. OCLC 8544105.
  • Hill, George (1873). An historical account of the Macdonnells of Antrim: including notices of some other septs Irish and Scotch. Belfast: Archer & Sons. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  • Knox, Andrea (1 January 2002). ""Women of the Wild Geese": Irish Women, Exile, and Identity in Spain, 1596–1670". Quidditas. 23 (1).
  • Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, Brian, eds. (2004). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: in association with the British Academy: from the earliest times to the year 2000. Vol. 41. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-861411-1.
  • McGettigan, Darren (October 2009). "O'Donnell, Caffar". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.002288.v1.
  • Morgan, Hiram (1993). Tyrone's Rebellion : the outbreak of the Nine Years War in Tudor Ireland. Internet Archive. [London] : Royal Historical Society ; Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK ; Rochester, NY, USA : Boydell Press. ISBN 978-0-86193-224-5.
  • Morgan, Hiram (September 2014). "O'Neill, Hugh". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006962.v1. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  • O'Sullivan Beare, Philip (2008). Chapters towards a History of Ireland in the reign of Elizabeth. Translated by Byrne, Matthew J. CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts.
  • Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (1867). "PROCEEDINGS AND PAPERS". Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 5: 459.
  • Silke, John J. (May 2006). "O'Donnell, Rury , styled first earl of Tyrconnell (1574/5–1608)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20559. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  • Starke, Shirley (1984). Red Hugh: The Story of Hugh Roe O'Donnell (PDF). Valley City, North Dakota: The Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill Guild.
  • Walsh, Paul (1930). Walsh, Paul (ed.). THE WILL AND FAMILY OF HUGH O NEILL, EARL OF TYRONE [WITH AN APPENDIX OF GENEALOGIES] (PDF). Dublin: Sign of the Three Candles.
  • Webb, Alfred (1878). "Rury O'Donnell". A Compendium of Irish Biography.


References

Citations

  1. ^ 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."
  2. ^ a b Casway 2004.
  3. ^ Casway 2003.
  4. ^ Bagwell 1895
  5. ^ a b c d e Bagwell 1895
  6. ^ "Irish Lives - Mary Stuart O'Donnell".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ Casway 2003, p. 72.

Sources

  • Casway, Jerrold (2003). "Heroines or Victims? The Women of the Flight of the Earls". New Hibernia Review / Iris Éireannach Nua. 7 (1): 56–74. ISSN 1092-3977. JSTOR 20557855.
  • Casway, Jerrold I. (2004). "O'Donnell, Lady Mary Stuart (b. 1607?, d. in or after 1639)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20557. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  • Silke, John J. (May 2006). "O'Donnell, Rury , styled first earl of Tyrconnell (1574/5–1608)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20559. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Further reading

  • Burke, Sir Bernard (1866), A Genealogical History of the Dormant: Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire, Harrison, p. 410
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