| One of the great
O'Neill clan of Ulster O'Neill he was born in
1550 and claimed a royal Irish heritage spanning
over a thousands years. For co-operation early in
his career with the English ruling class he was
rewarded with the Earldom of Tyrone by Queen
Elizabeth I. But his support for Irish resistance
to foreign rule grew as he established his
supremacy over the other lords and cheiftans in
Ulster. In 1595 he lead confederation of
chieftans in revolt adopting the role of champion
of Christ's Catholic religion and appealed for
help from Spain. During the winter of 1598
O'Neill ambushed and defeated a large English
force in Armagh. He was then hailed as the
'Prince of Ireland'. In September of 1601 three
and a half thousand Spaniards landed at Kinsale.
Elizabeth's deputy Lord Mountjoy lay siege to the
town. O'Neill marched south to link up with the
Spaniards but met Mountjoy's forces before he
could do so on Christmas Eve. Within hours
O'Neill was defeated and submitted to Moutjoy. By
1607 he had abandoned hope of further revolt and
sailed to Lough Foyle with other chieftans where
he died in 1616. Known as 'The Flight of the
Earl's' this marked the beginning of the end of
Gaelic Ireland. |
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