Sir Phelim Roe O'Neill of
Kinard (
Irish: ''Sir Féilim Rua Ó Néill na Ceann Ard''; 1604–1653) was an Irish politician and soldier who started the
Irish rebellion in
Ulster
Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
on 23 October 1641. He joined the
Irish Catholic Confederation in 1642 and fought in the
Wars of the Three Kingdoms
The Wars of the Three Kingdoms were a series of conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, then separate entities in a personal union un ...
under his cousin,
Owen Roe O'Neill, in the Confederate Ulster Army. After the
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649–1653) was the re-conquest of Ireland by the Commonwealth of England, initially led by Oliver Cromwell. It forms part of the 1641 to 1652 Irish Confederate Wars, and wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three ...
O’Neill went into hiding but was captured, tried and executed in 1653.
Birth and origins
Phelim was born in 1604, the eldest son of
Turlough O'Neill and his wife Catherine O'Neill. His father was a member of the Kinard branch of the
O'Neills who were descendants of Shane O'Neill of Kinard, a half-brother of
Conn Baccach O'Neill. His father and paternal grandfather were killed on 20 June 1608, while defending Kinard against the insurgents during the
O'Doherty's Rebellion. This grandfather, Sir Henry Óg O'Neill, had fought for his second cousin and father-in-law,
Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone
Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone (; – 20 July 1616) was an Irish lord and key figure of the Nine Years' War. Known as the "Great Earl", he led the confederacy of Irish lords against the English Crown in resistance to the Tudor conquest of Ir ...
in the
Nine Years' War
The Nine Years' War was a European great power conflict from 1688 to 1697 between Kingdom of France, France and the Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg), Grand Alliance. Although largely concentrated in Europe, fighting spread to colonial poss ...
, but had received a pardon and was confirmed in his lands in Tiranny and Minterburn. His second great-grandfather, Sean, a brother of Conn Bacach, had settled in Tynan parish by at least 1514 in a sub-district called Cluain Dabhal. Phelim's name in Irish shows his paternal genealogy as: "Felim mac Turlogh mac Henry Óg mac Henry mac Seán mac Conn Mór Ó Néill" (father of
Conn Bacach O'Neill).
Phelim's mother was Catherine, daughter of Turlough MacHenry O'Neill, chief of
the Fews branch of the O'Neills. After Phelim's father's death, she remarried to Robert Hovenden, a Catholic of recent
English descent. He had two half-brothers from his mother's second marriage:
Robert Hovenden and Alexander Hovenden. The latter was killed as a captain in 1644 fighting for Phelim.
Early life
Felim, together with his younger brother Turlough, entered
King's Inns
The Honorable Society of King's Inns () is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environments.
The Benchers of King's Inns aw ...
in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
in June 1621, as a knowledge of the law was considered important for landowners of the era. He briefly converted to
Protestantism
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
, before returning to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
.
He married three times. In 1629 he married a daughter of Arthur Magennis, the 3rd Viscount Magennis of Iveagh. Her first name is unknown.
On 17 March 1639 in Dublin O'Neill was knighted by
Thomas Wentworth, Lord Deputy, thanks to the influence of his relation the
Earl of Antrim
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ''countess'' is used.
The titl ...
. Shortly before the rebellion, O'Neill evicted some of his Gaelic tenants near
Kinard and replaced them with British settler families who paid higher rents.
In summer 1641, O'Neill was elected MP for
Dungannon
Dungannon (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 16,282 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2021 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Counci ...
in County Tyrone in a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections.
A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
for the
Irish Parliament of 1640–1649, replacing
Thomas Madden, who had died in office.
His first wife died in September 1641 shortly before the rebellion. He married secondly Louise, daughter of
Thomas Preston, 1st Viscount Tara, a younger brother of the 5th
Viscount Gormanston.
Rebellion
Like many Irish Catholics and especially Gaelic Irish Catholics, O'Neill felt threatened by the Protestant English government of Ireland. In particular, they were aggrieved at Catholic exclusion from public office and the continual confiscations of Catholic-owned land. Another reason pressing him into desperate action was that Phelim was deep in debt.
Plot
This fear reached its high point in the late 1630s and early 1640s, when
Thomas Wentworth, Lord Deputy for
Charles I, was known to be planning widespread new
plantations. A crisis point was reached in 1641, when the Scottish Covenanters and English
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...
threatened to invade Ireland to finally subdue Catholicism there. In this atmosphere of fear and paranoia, Phelim O'Neill became involved in a plot hatched by fellow Gaelic Irish Catholics from Ulster, to seize
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
and swiftly take over the other important towns of Ireland. After this, they planned to issue their demands for full rights for Catholics and Irish self-government in the King's name. O'Neill's role was to take towns and fortified places in the north of the country whereas Maguire was tasked with seizing
Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle () is a major Government of Ireland, Irish government complex, conference centre, and tourist attraction. It is located off Dame Street in central Dublin.
It is a former motte-and-bailey castle and was chosen for its position at ...
.
O'Neill was a latecomer to the plot, brought into it by
Lord Maguire in early September 1641. On 23 October 1641 he surprised
Lord Caulfeild in
Charlemont Fort. O'Neill was instrumental in shaping many of the political objectives of the rebellion. He rapidly assumed command of the Ulster rising.
Outbreak
However, the plan to take Dublin was bungled by two conspirators, Maguire and MacMahon, who were captured by the authorities. O'Neill went ahead and started the rebellion in the north, capturing the important fort of Charlemont but quickly found that he could not control the Irish Catholic peasantry he had raised. These people, many of whom had been displaced during the
Plantation of Ulster
The Plantation of Ulster (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ) was the organised Settler colonialism, colonisation (''Plantation (settlement or colony), plantation'') of Ulstera Provinces of Ireland, province of Irelandby people from Great ...
, began attacking the Scottish and English Protestant settlers with varying intensity over a period of 5 months. Being in command, O'Neill has been blamed for complicity or lack of oversight in these
massacres, the detail of which is still a matter of contentious debate.
On 24 October 1641 O'Neill issued the
Proclamation of Dungannon in which he claimed to have the King's authorisation to rise in defence of the Crown and the Catholic religion. On 4 November 1641 O'Neill repeated these claims in his proclamation alongside
Rory Maguire at
Newry
Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...
and read out a commission from
Charles I of England
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649.
Charles was born ...
dated 1 October, commanding him to seize: "... all the forts, castles, and places, of strength and defence within the
kingdom, except the places, persons, and estates of Our loyal and loving subjects the Scots; also to arrest and seize the goods, estates, and persons of all the English Protestants, within the said kingdom to Our use. And in your care and speedy performance of this Our will and pleasure We shall rely on your wonted duty and allegiance to Us which We shall accept and reward in due time." This gave O'Neill's forces the impression that they were acting within the law. Charles later denied having issued the commission.
In November O'Neill attacked
Lisburn
Lisburn ( ; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with t ...
several times but failed to take it.
Like other rebel leaders, O'Neill had difficulty with the discipline of his troops, which was compounded by his comparative lack of social status. In an effort to improve this O'Neill planned to have himself declared
Earl of Tyrone at the historic site of
Tullyhogue.
Nalson, in his "History of the General Rebellion in Ireland", described O'Neill as: "Sir Phelemy Roe O Neill, captain-generall of all the rebels, and chieftain of the O Neills, O Hagans, O Quyns, O Mellans, O Hanlons, O Corrs, McCans, McCawells, Mac Enallyes, O Gormelys, and the rest of the Irish septs in the counties of Tyrone and Ardmagh."
Confederate
The rebellion quickly spread to the rest of Ireland. By the spring of 1642 only fortified Protestant enclaves, around
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
,
Cork and
Derry
Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...
, held out. King
Charles I sent a large army to Ireland, which would probably have put down the rebellion, had the
English Civil War
The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
not broken out. As it was, the Irish Catholic upper classes had breathing space to form the
Irish Catholic Confederation, which acted as a ''de facto'' independent government of Ireland until 1649. Phelim O'Neill was a member of the Confederate's General Assembly, but was sidelined in the leadership of Irish Catholics by wealthier landed magnates.
O'Neill was also sidelined on the military side. After his disastrous defeat on 16 July 1642 at
Glenmaquin near
Raphoe in County Donegal against the Protestant
Laggan Army led by
Sir Robert Stewart, his kinsman,
Owen Roe O'Neill, a professional soldier, arrived from the
Spanish Netherlands
The Spanish Netherlands (; ; ; ) (historically in Spanish: , the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the Habsburg Netherlands ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1556 to 1714. They were a collection of States of t ...
and was made general of the Confederate's
Ulster
Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
army. Phelim O'Neill served as
cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...
commander under him and spent most of the next six years fighting against the Scottish
Covenanter
Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son C ...
army that had landed in Ulster. He fought in the army's victory at the
Battle of Benburb on 5 June 1646.
In Confederate politics, O'Neill was a moderate, advocating a deal with
Charles I and the Irish and English
Royalists as a means of winning the war against the English Parliament and the Scottish Covenanters. In 1648, he voted for such a deal, the Second Ormond Peace, splitting with Owen Roe O'Neill, who opposed it along with most of the Ulster army. He and several other moderates such as
Alexander MacDonnell, 3rd Earl of Antrim and
Arthur Magennis, Viscount Iveagh left the Ulster army because of their dispute with the hard-liners. In the summer of that year, the Confederate armies fought among themselves over this issue, with the pro-Royalists prevailing.
However, this was not enough to stop Ireland from being
conquered
Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or legal prohibitions against conquest ...
by the
New Model Army
The New Model Army or New Modelled Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 t ...
of
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...
in 1649–53. The well-trained and supplied Parliamentarians crushed all Confederate and Royalist resistance and imposed a harsh settlement on Irish Catholics.
Third marriage
In November 1649 O'Neill married Jean Gordon, the widow of
Claud Hamilton, 2nd Baron Hamilton of Strabane, who had died on 14 June 1638.
Defeat at Scarrifholis and surrender of Charlemont
O'Neill fought in the Ulster Army at the
Battle of Scarrifholis in 1650 where it was routed by
Charles Coote, 2nd Baronet of Castle Cuff. O'Neill escaped from the battle and retreated with a rest of the Ulster army to the
Charlemont Fort. Together with his stepson
James Hamilton, 3rd Baron Hamilton of Strabane he held the fort against Coote, inflicting heavy casualties on the English troops in the
Siege of Charlemont, but surrendered on terms on 6 August 1650 and marching away with his remaining troops was expected to embark and take service in France. However, O'Neill decided to rather go into hiding.
Trial and execution
Anyone implicated in the
Rebellion of 1641 was held responsible for the massacres of Protestant civilians and was executed. O'Neill was specifically named as a ringleader in the Cromwellian
Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652 and could therefore expect no mercy. A bounty of £100 was put on his head. O'Neill was captured on 4 February 1653 by
William Caulfeild, 1st Viscount Charlemont on a ''crannog'' (artificial island) in Roughan Lough next to
Roughan Castle, Newmills, County Tyrone where he had taken refuge. He was taken to
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, where his trial was held. He was found guilty,
hanged, drawn and quartered
To be hanged, drawn and quartered was a method of torture, torturous capital punishment used principally to execute men convicted of High treason in the United Kingdom, high treason in medieval and early modern Britain and Ireland. The convi ...
for treason on 10 March 1653.
O'Neill may have been able to avoid execution had he testified that he had Charles I's commission for the uprising of 1641, as the Parliamentarians claimed at the time. However, O'Neill refused to do so. He was survived by at least one child,
Gordon O'Neill, who would serve as a colonel in the
Jacobite forces during the
Williamite War.
Phelim O'Neill in literature
O'Neill is depicted as a historical character in several books.
Annraoi Ó Liatháin
Annraoí Ó Liatháin (15 October 1917 – 1981) was an Irish writer and film narrator.
Early life
Born in Portumna, County Galway to Michael Lyons and Annie McKee. His family moved to Waterford when he was a child, and he attended primary sc ...
's Irish-language novel ''Dún na Cinniúna'' centres on the 1651 siege of Charlemont Fort in Tyrone.
O'Neill's defeat at the battle of Glanmaquin in 1642 is described in
Darach Ó Scolaí's novel ''
An Cléireach''.
The use of "P. O'Neill" as a pseudonym in
Provisional IRA
The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...
public statements is thought by some to be a reference to Phelim O'Neill.
Notes and references
Notes
Citations
Sources
Subject matter monographs:
*
Click here. Casway 2004 in
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
*
Click here. McGrath 1997 in ''A Biographical Dictionary of the Membership of the Irish House of Commons 1640 to 1641''
*
Click here. Ó Siochrú in
Dictionary of Irish Biography
The ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' (DIB) is a biographical dictionary of notable Irish people and people not born in the country who had notable careers in Ireland, including both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
History
The ...
*
Click here. Dunlop 1895 in
Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
*
Click here. Webb 1878 in ''Compendium of Irish Biography''
*
Click here. Wills 1840 in ''Lives of illustrious and distinguished Irishmen''
*
*
*
* – 1650 to 1653
* – 1653 to 1660
*
* – (Preview)
* – (for timeline)
*
* – Preface, Introduction, Depositions
*
*
* – Not available online
* – Parliaments & Biographies (PDF downloadable from given URL)
* – (Snippet view)
* – (PDF downloadable from given URL)
*
* – (Preview)
* – Knights bachelors & Index
* – 1643 to 1660 and index
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:ONeill of Kinard, Felim
1604 births
1653 deaths
17th-century rebels
Executed Irish people
O'Neill of Kinard, Felim
Irish Rebellion of 1641
O'Neill
Irish soldiers in the Irish Confederate Wars
O'Neill dynasty
People executed under the Interregnum (England) by hanging
People from County Armagh
O'Neill
Year of birth unknown