Red Hugh O'Donnell
| Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill Hugh Roe O'Donnell |
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|---|---|
| King of Tyrconnell | |
"The Gaelic Chieftain", a modern sculpture commemorating O'Donnell's victory at the battle at Curlew Pass in 1599
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| Reign | 1587–1602 |
| Coronation | 1587 |
| Predecessor | Aodh mac Maghnusa Ó Domhnaill |
| Heir | Ruairí Ó Domhnaill |
| Born | 30 October 1572 Lifford (in modern County Donegal) |
| Died | 10 September 1602 Simancas Castle, Valladolid |
| Burial | Franciscan monastery, Valladolid, Spain |
| Issue | none |
| House | Uí Dhomhnaill |
| Father | Sir Aodh mac Maghnusa Ó Domhnaill |
| Mother | Ineen Dubh (Finola MacDonald) |
Hugh Roe O'Donnell (Irish: Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill), also known as Red Hugh O'Donnell (30 October 1572 – 10 September 1602), was "The O'Donnell" and king of Tyrconnell. He led a rebellion against English government in Ireland from 1593 and helped to lead the Nine Years' War from 1595 to 1603. He is sometimes also known as Aodh Ruadh II or Red Hugh II, especially within County Donegal.
For the political context of O'Donnell's life see the Tudor conquest of Ireland
Hugh Roe O'Donnell was born to the Gaelic Lord of Tyrconnell, Sir Hugh O'Donnell, and his second wife, the Ineen Dubh, in 1572. He had numerous brothers and sisters including Donnell, Rory and Cathbarr. Sir Hugh was a long-standing ally of the Crown, in attempt to counterbalance the power of Shane O'Neill and Turlough Luineach O'Neill the rulers of neighboring Tyrone. In Sir Hugh's later years, a long-running succession dispute broke out to determine who would succeed him. Although Ineen Dubh pushed the case for Hugh Roe to succeed, it was his elder half-brother Donnell who emerged as the leading candidate. The Crown chose to support Donnell as it regarded him as the rightful and most stable potential ruler, partly due to the fact that Donnell's mother was a local woman while Hugh Roe's was from Scotland.
Donnell was strengthened by the arrival of a small detachment of Irish Army troops dispatched from Dublin under John Connill. Ineen Dubh countered this by hiring large numbers of Redshank mercenaries from her native Scotland who defeated and killed Donnell at the Battle of Doire Leathan in 1590, by which time Hugh Roe was a prisoner in Dublin. There were a number of other claimants to the O'Donnell title including Hugh Roe's great uncle Hugh Dubh O'Donnell.
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