Count of Tyrone - Earls of Tyrone

Earls of Tyrone

The O'Neill dynasty descends from Niall Glundub, High King of Ireland in the tenth century; since the twelfth century, their rulers, whom the English called "the O'Neill", have been chosen from two families: the O'Neills of Antrim, descended from Aodh Meth ("Aodh the Fat"), King of Ailech from 1196 to 1230, and the O'Neills of Tyrone (including the Earls of Tyrone), descended from his brother, Niall the Red.

The family of Aodh Meth take their name from Aodh Buidhe ("Aodh the Yellow"), Aodh Meth's grandson, the last King at Ailech from 1263 to 1283; they settled and named Clanaboy or Clandeboye in Antrim. The two branches deposed each other from the leadership of the O'Neills, which was in effect the lordship of Ulster, quite often until 1345; after that, all of the princes of the O'Neills but one were from Tyrone, the head of which came to known as the Great O'Neill (Ua Neill Mor); the exception was Art mac Aodha, prince from 1509 to 1513, who was of the Clann Aedh Buidhe but whose mother was an O'Neill of Tyrone, daughter of The O'Neill. He was succeeded in turn by two sons of Conn Mor O'Neill, his cousin of the Tyrone branch.

When Henry VIII of England had himself declared King of Ireland (rather than Lord of Ireland, as his predecessors had been) he persuaded many of the Irish princes to surrender their Celtic lordships, and accept titles in the Peerage of Ireland instead. In exchange for their allegiance, they received the King's protection from their neighbours and his support in dealing with their fellow-clansmen. This also meant that their clans came under Anglo-Irish law, which made the new peers owners of the land, and their clansmen their tenants; the descent of the new peerages were also regulated by patents issued by the Crown (and so pass to their own descendants), not by the elections under brehon law.

The princes of the Cenell Eoghain had been elected for three centuries from two families named O'Neill, who were distant cousins; they were called "the O'Neill". In 1542, the O'Neill was Conn Bacach O'Neill, younger son of Conn Mor O'Neill in Tyrone; he resigned the position of the O'Neill, and accepted the Earldom of Tyrone; by the patent, his successor was to be his eldest, but illegitimate, son Ferdoragh, who took the name of Matthew, and Matthew's heirs male.

This did not work out well for the O'Neills. Many of them resisted the new laws, and elected Conn Bacach's younger son, Shane O'Neill the Proud, to be The O'Neill in his father's place; the resulting civil war lasted several decades. Matthew was killed, Conn Bacach was driven out of Tyrone, Matthew's eldest son was assassinated. In 1585, Queen Elizabeth confirmed Matthew's second son, Hugh O'Neill as Earl of Tyrone; in 1593, he was chosen to be the O'Neill (replacing Shane's tanist, Turlough Luineach O'Neill, his second cousin) despite Elizabeth's policy that all such principalities be abolished. He attempted to exercise both powers at the same time; his neighbours quarrelled with him, and the Irish Government waged war against him for nine years, one of the many fronts in Elizabeth's desultory war with Spain. His forces exacted tribute from much of Ireland, but he could not take all the country.

James I made peace with Spain after his accession in 1603; he also reconciled with Earl Hugh. But grievances arose again, and (rather than a renewed war without support) the Earl of Tyrone left for Spanish territory to ask for help, taking his family and his closest allies with him, in 1607. He was attainted the next year; in 1614, this was confirmed by the Irish Parliament; his title and lands were forfeit. This Flight of the Earls was the legal basis, therefore, for the Plantation of Ulster by the Scots; since Earl Hugh had personally owned much of Ulster, it was now in the King's hands, to give away as he pleased.

The Earldom of Tyrone was created twice more for prominent Anglo-Irish families, who owned land in the far south of Ireland; it is now a subordinate title of the Marquess of Waterford.