O'Neills of Clanaboy
Aodh Buidhe, son of Domhnall Óc Ó Néill, grandson of Aodh Meith O'Neill (Hugh the Fat), and great-gransdon of Áed in Macáem Tóinlesc (Hugh the Lazy-Arsed Youth), all High Kings of Cínel Eóghain, was the eponymous ancestor of the Ó Néill Cloinne Aodha Buidhe, or Clanaboy O'Neill, line. He had come to an arrangement with the Norman Earls of Ulster which allowed his sons, particularly Briain Mac Aedo Buidhe to consolidate O'Neill power within Ulster at the expense of their kinsmen, the O'Donnells. Aodh Buidhe was married Eleanor de Nangle, a kinswoman to his nominal enemy, Walter de Burgh, the Earl of Ulster and Jocelyn de Angulo; Aodh died in 1283. At this time, there was only one O'Neill clan. However, the line he established remained one of the leaders of the overall O'Neill clan, and in 1338 they became independent with a relatively peaceful split of territory within the family. Having helped the Anglo-Normans barons in a rebellion against their fellow Norman lord, the Earl of Ulster, the family was removed from the main chiefship line by treaty and granted a war-torn strip of land in south Antrim. That was the official establishment of the Lordship of Cloinne Aodha Buidhe, or the O'Neills of Clandeboye.
There were incursions by the Normans from the south and the Scots from the east. And though they made small gains, Ulster remained firmly in the control of the O'Neills until 1608. The family fought on both sides of the civil wars that wracked Ireland from 1642–1693. The end result was a significant loss of territory and influence due to political alliances and an influx of new families flowing in from Scotland and England.
In the beginning of the 18th century Féilim Ó Néill (in English Felix O'Neill), senior male in linear descent of the line of Brian Ballach Ó Néill, Niall Mór Ó Néill's second eldest son, was dispossessed of all his estate through the confiscation applied via the Penal Laws, which led him to emigrate to France. He was a Cavalry Officer who took part in many battles with the vaunted Irish Brigade of the French Army. He fought aside with the French against the British, the Austrians, and the Dutch (during the War of the Spanish Succession), in the celebrated Battle of Malplaquet (settlement located in the former Province of Flanders, in Belgium, present-day France), and where he died on 11 September 1709.
His son was Conn (Constantine) O'Neill, an officer who spent his life in exile in France and married to Cecilia O'Hanlon. Their eldest son, João O'Neill (in Irish Shane O'Neill, in English John O'Neill), who was born in County Tyrone, Richhill Village, Parish of Kilmore, Ireland and died in Lisbon, Santos o Velho, on 21 January 1788. He left France with his brothers and established their noble line permanently under in the Kingdom of Portugal. He was the titular head of the Clanaboy O'Neill dynasty, whose family have been in Portugal since the 18th century. The current head of the Clanaboy O'Neill dynasty is a direct descendant of João; a Portuguese nobleman named Hugo Ricciardi O'Neill, the son of Jorge Maria O'Neill, whose family has been remarkable in the modern history of Portugal.
The issue of Sir Henry Ó Néill, who had been granted the Edendubhcarrig estate and majority of the Cloinne Aodha Buidhe lands by conforming to English ways and converting to Anglicanism, died off in 1855. At this time, the barrister Charles Henry Ó Néill of the Ó Néills of the Feeva, descendant of the last Tanaiste of Clanaboy Sir Henry's uncle Con mac Brian Ó Néill, became officially recognised as The Ó Néill Clanaboy. "The descendants of Prince Con MacBryan O'Neill, Tanist of Clanaboy, remained loyal, under every viccissitude, to the traditions of their house, and saved little out of the general wreck of confiscation. They seemed to have preferred fulfilling the solemn pledge of their ancestor, Donald O'Neill, King of Ulster, to 'fight out as long as life should last,' rather than adapt themselves to altered circumstances, as the descendants of Shane MacBryan had wisely done.". In fact both Sir Henry and his daughter Rose willed the Shane's Castle estate to the descendants of Prince Con mac Brian, however while Charles Henry assumed the title, the Clanaboy Ó Néill estate was passed to William Chichester through his grandmother Mary Ó Néill in a matter of great dispute. Charles Henry Ó Néill had his first and only child, a daughter named Elizabeth Catherine Theresa Mary Ó Néill, in 1845, during the Great Hunger, and had no further issue. From the death of Charles Henry Ó Néill until Hugo Ricciardi assumed the chieftainship the family had no presently known chief.
Hugo Riccardi is officially recognized by the offices of arms throughout Europe as titular Prince and Count of Clanaboy, but he uses the title and style of The O'Neill of Clanaboy. The name Clanaboy (or Clandeboye) is a curruption of the Gaelic family name of 'Cloinne Aodha Buidhe' or the 'Family of Fair Hugh' 'fair' being a reference to hair colour, most likely. The O'Neills of Bellaghy are of this line. Count O'Nelley of the Austro-Hungarian Army (circa 1750) is of this line, as are the O'Neills of the Feeva. The traditional title of the head of this family branch is The O'Neill Buidhe or The O'Neill of Clannabuidhe. The O'Neill of Clanaboy is the only O'Neill prince recognized as one of the hereditary Chiefs of the Name of Ireland. They are a dominant family to this day in Counties Antrim, Louth, and eastern Armagh.
Read more about this topic: O'Neill Dynasty