Hugh Dubh O'Neill (abt. 1611 - abt. 1660)

Born about 1611 in Brussel, Hertogdom Brabant, Spaanse Nederlanden

Ancestors

Died about 24 Nov 1660 at about age 49 in Madrid, España

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Dennis Gordon [send private message]

Hugh O'Neill is Notable.

Hugh O'Neill was born in Ireland.

Biography

Hugh "Dubh" O'Neill (in Irish, Hugh being Aodh) was the son of Art "Oge" and the grandson of Art MacBaron O'Neill (1558-1618).

Both Hugh Dubh and his well-known uncle Owen Roe O'Neill are profiled in the documentary "Cromwell: God's Executioner".^[1]

Excerpts from his profile in the Dictionary of Irish Biography, with edits for clarity:^[2]

• Hugh "Dubh" O'Neill, officer in the Spanish army, the son of Art Og O'Neill and the great-nephew of the famous Hugh O'Neill (1550-1616), 2nd Earl of Tyrone, was born in exile in the Spanish Netherlands, and like so many of his class joined the Spanish army. He served in the regiment of his uncle, Owen Roe O'Neill (ca.1585-1649), and distinguished himself in several battles, earning a reputation as a brave and courageous officer.

• In 1642, Hugh Dubh and Owen Roe sailed with other Irish émigrés out of Dunkirk for Ireland, landing at Killybegs, Co. Donegal. Hugh Dubh was captured by English forces in Co. Monaghan in 1643 and remained in captivity until the victory of Owen Roe over the Scots at Benburb in 1646. Owen Roe traded hostages to gain the freedom of Hugh Dubh and other experienced Catholic officers. Once free, Hugh Dubh was promoted to the rank of Major-General and entrusted with considerable responsibility.

• After his uncle Owen Roe's death on 6 November 1649, Hugh Dubh put himself forward for election to the position of commander-in-chief of the Ulster army. Although he was unsuccessful, he enjoyed the confidence of the royalist James Butler, Marquess of Ormond, and in February 1650 Ormond appointed him governor of Clonmel with instructions to defend the town against the advancing forces of Oliver Cromwell.

• After surrendering Clonmel in May 1650, Hugh Dubh made his way to Limerick, the last bastion of the king's support in Ireland. On 19 June 1651 Cromwell's son-in-law Major-General Henry Ireton appeared before Limerick and called for its surrender. When Hugh Dubh refused, Ireton's artillery rained down upon the town, destroying the castle the following day. Limerick held out until 29 October, when, weakened by hunger, plague, and the bombardment, the people of Limerick finally surrendered to Ireton. More than 5,000 inhabitants and 800 of the garrison had lost their lives during the siege. As Hugh Dubh marched out of the city with his remaining 1,200 men, some of them were seen to fall dead of the plague.

• Ireton immediately hanged General Patrick Purcell^[3] but he spared the life of Hugh Dubh. At a council of war the next day Hugh Dubh was condemned to execution, but the death sentence was revoked on 1 November in response to his appeal on the grounds that he had only performed his duty as a soldier. Hugh Dubh was sent to the Tower of London to await his fate, arriving there on 10 January 1652.

• In July the Spanish ambassador appealed for his freedom because he was a subject of the Spanish king, and claimed that his release would encourage troublesome Irish soldiers to leave Ireland and enter the Spanish service. His plea was granted, and Hugh Dubh took ship for Spain. He is last heard of in October 1660 when he wrote from Madrid to Ormond and Charles II, enquiring about his rights to the then-vacant earldom of Tyrone.

Excerpts from his Wikipedia profile, with edits for clarification:

• Hugh Dubh O'Neill, 5th Earl of Tyrone ("Black Hugh", meaning "black-haired" or "dark tempered") (1611–1660) is best known for his participation in the Irish Confederate Wars starting in 1641 and his defence of Clonmel, County Tipperary, during the siege of 1650.

• O'Neill was a member of the O'Neill dynasty, the leaders of which left Ireland in the Flight of the Earls in 1607. Hugh Dubh's father, Art Óg O'Neill, was among those exiles who made careers for themselves in the Spanish (but multinational) Army of Flanders. As a result, Hugh Dubh was born in Brussels in 1611 and grew up in the Irish military community there, becoming a professional soldier and serving in the Irish regiment of the Spanish army in Flanders during the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) against the United Provinces of the Netherlands.

• In 1642, his uncle, Owen Roe O'Neill, organised the return of 300 Irish officers in the Spanish service to Ireland to support the Irish Rebellion of 1641. O'Neill's men became the nucleus of the Ulster army of Confederate Ireland -- a de facto independent Irish state. Hugh Dubh was captured early in the war by Scottish Covenanter enemies, but was exchanged back to his own side after the Confederate victory at the Battle of Benburb (County Tyrone) in 1646. He subsequently rose to prominence after the death of his uncle and commander, Owen Roe O'Neill, in 1649.

• In 1649, after the onset of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Hugh Dubh was sent south with 2,000 of the best Ulster troops to defend southern Ireland. He distinguished himself at the Siege of Clonmel in May 1650, inflicting the worst casualties ever experienced by the New Model Army. He was then made commander of the defenders at the Siege of Limerick (1650-51), fighting off the Parliamentarians' first attempt to take the city in late 1650. However, the following year, General Henry Ireton^[4] (Cromwell's son-in-law) besieged the city again, eventually forcing Hugh Dubh to surrender when the city's population was dying of hunger and plague, and part of his garrison mutinied against him. Ireton himself died of disease.

• Under the terms of surrender, Hugh Dubh was to be executed for his stubborn defence of the city, but the Parliamentarian general Edmund Ludlow^[5] did not carry out the sentence and instead sent Hugh Dubh into imprisonment in the Tower of London.

• Hugh Dubh's imprisonment was cut short by the intervention of the Spanish Ambassador to England, who argued that Hugh Dubh was a Spanish subject. Hugh Dubh was subsequently released into Spanish custody on condition that he would not serve in campaigns against English forces. He did not, therefore, return to Flanders, but was posted to Spain, where he became a General of Artillery, helping to suppress a rebellion known as the Reaper's War in Catalonia, a region in northeast Spain on the French border. He became the Spanish-recognised 5th Earl of Tyrone upon the death of his first cousin, Hugh Eoghan. In around 1660, after the English Restoration, Hugh Dubh wrote to Charles II and asked for his family's ancestral lands to be restored, and that he be made the English Earl of Tyrone. However, Charles did not grant the request and Hugh Dubh died of disease later that year.

Research Notes

Wikitree does not use Geni.com profiles as sources, but the link is included here "for further exploration only" and so as not to lose the potential family connections. A solid source will be needed to connect Mary Sybilla (unknown surname) as wife and Angelina as daughter:

• https://www.geni.com/people/Aodh-Dubh-O-Neill/6000000041597299868?through=6000000008630935964

Sources

1. ↑ The documentary "Cromwell: God's Executioner" (2008) is narrated by Trinity College historian Micheál Ó Siochrú:
   • https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1zjdde
   • https://tilefilms.ie/productions/cromwell-in-ireland-gods-executioner/
   • https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1437747
2. ↑ Dictionary of Irish Biography entry for Hugh "Dubh" O'Neill, author Emmett O'Byrne:
   • https://www.dib.ie/biography/oneill-hugh-aodh-dubh-o-neill-a6926
   O'Byrne cites the following sources:
   • Donal F. Cregan, An Irish cavalier: Daniel O'Neill in the civil wars, 1642–51
   • Studia Hibernica, iv (1964), pp.126–133
   • H. O'Reilly, Lismaine Castle, Breifne, vi (1985), p.270
   • P. Beresford Ellis, Hell or Connaught (1990), pp.23–4
3. ↑ From the Official List of the Irish Martyrs (1918) we find the following individuals hanged at Limerick in 1651 after the Siege of Limerick:
   • 228: Dominick Fanning, Alderman and Mayor of Limerick
   • 229: Daniel O'Higgin, Physician
   • 230: Thomas Stritch, once Mayor of Limerick, a strong supporter of the Papal Nuncio
   • 232: Geoffrey Galway, MP for Limerick City (1634), grandson of an earlier Sir Geoffrey, Mayor of Limerick
   • 233. Patrick Purcell, Croagh, near Adare; fought in the Imperial Army against Sweden and France; returning to Ireland fought in the Confederate War, and became Major-General; executed at Limerick, 1651
   • 235. Geoffrey Baron, nephew of Luke Wadding; member of Supreme Council and agent of Irish Confederates to France
4. ↑ Wikipedia: Gen. Henry Ireton
5. ↑ Wikipedia: Edmund Ludlow

• J.G. Simms, War and Politics in Ireland 1649-1730, Hambledon Press, London, 1986.