Hugh McShane O'Neill
| Hugh McShane O'Neill | |
|---|---|
| Prince of Tyrone, The MacShane of Glenconkeyne | |
|
Titles and styles
Lord of Glenconkeyne and Killetragh
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| Born |
c. 1575 Glenconkeyne (modern County Londonderry), Ulster, Ireland |
| Died | after 1621 Glenconkeyne (modern County Londonderry), Ulster, Ireland |
| Family | O'Neill / MacShane |
| Father | Con MacShane O'Neill |
| Mother | Catherine/Julian Maclean |
| Occupation | Prince, Chief of the MacShane O'Neill sept |
Hugh McShane O'Neill was an early modern Irish nobleman and rebel. Genealogies list Hugh as either the son of Con MacShane O'Neill, 3rd son of Shane O'Neill, or as the 10th son of Shane O'Neill. In either case he was a grandson of Conn O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone, and Gearoid Mór Fitzgerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, and of the primary line of the O'Neill of Tyrone clan. Shane was the Prince of Ulster and Chief of all the O'Neill septs until his death in 1567. Hugh gained his patrimony, like his father, from the O'Neill sept clan he'd been fostered by; the McShanes of Killetragh and the Glenconkeyne forest (modern south County Londonderry). This group was also called the "Wild Clan Shanes of Killetragh" or the "McShane-O'Neills".
Hugh was an active rebel and commander in the 1580s through 1615. His first deed of historical note was a raid his brothers conducted on Maguire of Fermanagh and his lands in early 1573. They were stated to have done great damage to the lands of Maguire. The genealogy that states Hugh was the son of Shane "The Proud" O'Neill is based on his moniker and the fact that he is often in the company of other known sons of Shane O'Neill, collectively known across Ireland in the late 16th century as "The Mac Shanes". According to Scottish sources, he and his brothers Henry MacShane O'Neill and Art "MacShane" invaded Ireland with 3000 Scots from his cousin Lachlan MacLean in 1587. The link between the MacLeans and the MacShanes was close in that their mother was the daughter of Hector Mor, Chief of the MacLeans, and he and two other brothers had been secured with the MacLeans after the murder of their father, Shane in 1567. See O'Neill dynasty.
When his cousin Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, went into rebellion in 1593 against Queen Elizabeth, Hugh and some of the McShanes put aside internal family fighting and joined their cousin the Earl. Others did not, and were eventually imprisoned by the Earl. During this war Hugh commanded a force of "200-foot and 50 Horsemen" raised out of the McShane Clan from forests of Killetragh and Glenconkeyn, then the most inhospitable and desolate forests in all of Ireland. Carew is guoted as stating that Hugh was able to field this force in 24 hours against the English. The State Papers of Ireland, in the various assessments of the strength of the rebellious Earl 1586 to 1602, state that this territory and the "woodkern race of outlaws" who lived there (the clan McShane) is considered primary to O'Neill, as it was his most secure refuge for cattle, goods, and people, and away from the military might of the English. Further, it was the Earl's secure, geographical "connection to the Clanaboy O'Neill". However, the Lord Lieutenant also lamented in 1599 that they (the English) should have "given Glenconkeyn to the sons of Shane, instead of the Earl". It was with Hugh and his McShanes that the Earl spent the final months of his rebellion in the winter of 1602–03. The Earl lived with the McShane-O'Neills after the Battle of Kinsale and the fall of Dungannon to Lord Mountjoy on the slopes of Sleive Gallion. Finally in March 1603, the Earl made peace.
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