The Lament for Owen Roe

"The Lament for Owen Roe" is a traditional Irish ballad dating from the nineteenth century. With a mournful tune, based on an eighteenth-century composition called Lament for Owen Roe O'Neill by the harpist Turlough O'Carolan, it is a lament for the death of Owen Roe O'Neill. Its lyrics were written by Thomas Davis and draw on the tradition of romantic nationalism which was at its height during the era.

Owen Roe O'Neill (c.1585-1649), a member of the O'Neill dynasty of Ulster, was a veteran soldier who had spent most of his life serving as a mercenary in the Spanish Army. Following the Irish Rebellion of 1641 in which Catholics rose up to assert their rights while pledging their allegiance to Charles I, O'Neill returned to Ireland. During the ensuing Irish Confederate Wars he commanded the Ulster Army, mostly campaigning against the Scottish Covenanter Army who he defeated at the Battle of Benburb. Following the execution of Charles I in 1649 and the declaration of the English Commonwealth, the Irish Confederates and the Covenanters united in a new alliance under his son Charles II. In the face of a potential landing by a large expedition of English troops, O'Neill quarreled with his rival Catholic commanders and refused to accept the Treaty. He instead began co-operation with local English troops under Sir Charles Coote, assisting them during the Siege of Derry.

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