Rose O'Neill (Irish noblewoman)

Rose O'Neill (Irish: Róisín Dubh Ní Néill; fl. 1587–1607) was a Gaelic Irish noblewoman and queen consort of Tyrconnell. She was the daughter of Hugh O'Neill and wife of "Red" Hugh Roe O'Donnell, the two leaders of the Irish confederacy during the Nine Years' War. Her marriage to O'Donnell was a deliberate move to unite the O'Neills and the O'Donnells, the two most powerful Irish clans of their day. She separated from O'Donnell in 1595.

Rose O'Neill Róisín Dubh Ní Néill
Coat of arms
Born	Sixteenth century
Noble family	O'Neill dynasty
Spouse(s)	Hugh Roe O'Donnell (1592–1595) Donnell Ballagh O'Cahan (c. 1598 – c. 1607)
Father	Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone

She has been the subject of several poems and songs, particularly rebel song "Róisín Dubh", making her somewhat of a nationalist figure for Gaelic Ireland. In poetry, her name is often anglicised Rosaleen.

Family background

Rose was born into the O'Neill dynasty, specifically the MacBaron branch, in the sixteenth century. The O'Neills were the most powerful Gaelic Irish clan of their time, but by the mid-to-late sixteenth century, they had fallen into internal conflict due to a succession dispute. The clan split into many septs: the MacShanes, the MacBarons and the followers of Turlough Luineach O'Neill. It is possible this conflict influenced her upbringing.

Parentage

Rose O'Neill's father, the Earl of Tyrone

Her father, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, was the son of Feardorcha "Matthew" O'Neill, 1st Baron Dungannon, and his wife Siobhán Maguire.

The identity of Rose's mother is unclear, as Tyrone is known to have four wives and various mistresses. Historian Robert Dunlop believed that Rose's mother was Catherine Magennis—however, since Rose was betrothed to Hugh Roe O'Donnell in the late 1580s, and Magennis married Tyrone in the 1590s, this is unlikely. According to brother-in-law Niall Garve O'Donnell, Rose was not a daughter of Tyrone's second wife Siobhán O'Donnell.

Historian Hiram Morgan presumes that Rose came from Tyrone's annulled first marriage to a daughter of Brian McPhelim O'Neill (possibly named Katherine or Feodora). Historian Jerrold Casway confirms that this is possible. If so, Rose would be seen by the English as illegitimate. Indeed, loyalist Niall Garve O'Donnell described her as "illegitimate" in a 1606 deposition. This could make Rose's birthdate sometime between the earliest date for Tyrone's first marriage, c. 1569, and its annulment in 1574.

Historian Darren McGettigan believes that Rose was a child of Tyrone's concubine, which would make her illegitimate under both English law and Gaelic brehon law. However, Rose's status as the daughter of a powerful and ascendant Irish lord might have led Hugh Roe O'Donnell and Gaelic society to overlook any issues relating to her legitimacy.

Marriages

Hugh Roe O'Donnell

By 1587, Rose was formally betrothed to Hugh Roe O'Donnell, tanist and son to the O'Donnell clan chief. Hugh Roe O'Donnell was 14 at the time—it is likely Rose was around the same age. The O'Donnell clan, Tyrconnell's ruling noble family, were one of the strongest Irish clans in Ulster, and thus were typically rivals to the O'Neills. This dynastic marriage would further cement a growing alliance between two clans who had traditionally been mortal enemies for centuries. To this end, Tyrone had married Siobhan O'Donnell, Hugh Roe's elder half-sister, in June 1574, with The Description of Ireland (1598) making reference to this alliance.

Hugh Roe O'Donnell, Rose's first husband

To prevent the impending alliance of the two powerful Ulster clans, Hugh Roe O'Donnell was kidnapped on the orders of Lord Deputy John Perrot in September 1587. O'Donnell eventually escaped with the help of Tyrone's bribery and returned to Ulster in 1592. In December, the Earl's seneschal O'Hagan and brehon William McCrodan escorted Rose to O'Donnell's house in Tyrconnell for the marriage ceremony. The couple were formally married in December 1592 at O'Donnell's house. According to McGettigan, the marriage started out as a success with Rose having some measure of influence over O'Donnell.

However, by 1595 the couple were facing difficulties. That year, with her father's consent, Rose and O'Donnell were separated. Her marriage to O'Donnell did not result in any children. In 1598, the author of The Description of Ireland claimed the separation was due to Rose's "barrenness".

In order to increase his influence in southern Connacht, O'Donnell had hopes of a dynastic marriage alliance with Lady Margaret Burke, daughter of the Ulick Burke, 3rd Earl of Clanricarde, who had refused to join the war. O'Donnell briefly took Rose back. Historian Hiram Morgan believes that O'Donnell's choice to remain in a barren marriage is symbolic of his dependence on Tyrone.

The Calendar of State Papers makes reference to "some breach between Tirone and O Donnell about Tirone's daughter" on 2 April 1596. This probably refers to a divorce, likely against the wishes of Tyrone. The marriage was eventually annulled. Later in 1600, O'Donnell schemed to marry Joan, sister of royal ally James FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond. This was blocked by loyalist George Carew towards the end of the year.

Donnell Ballagh O'Cahan

Rose married Donnell Ballagh O'Cahan, an Ulster landowner and later clan chief, sometime before the publication of The Description of Ireland in 1598. O'Cahan had previously been married to Hugh Roe O'Donnell's sister Mary since about June 1593. It seems O'Cahan was never divorced from Mary which created enmity between him and his new father-in-law.

George Montgomery, the new Protestant Bishop of Derry, encouraged O'Cahan to leave Rose and return to his first wife, writing to Lord Deputy Arthur Chichester on 4 March 1607: "the breach between [O'Cahan] and his landlord [the Earl of Tyrone] will be the greater by means of [the Earl's] daughter, his reputed wife, whom he has resolved to leave, having a former wife lawfully married to him." The English government was using O'Cahan's hostility towards Rose's father to orchestrate the latter's undoing.

O'Cahan later repudiated his marriage to her. Tyrone would ask for Rose's dowry back, but O'Cahan retained it. It is possible that the couple had children. After O'Cahan was arrested in 1608, Chichester suggested placing O'Cahan's eldest son with the Provost of Trinity College. Sources do not mention Rose after 1607.

In poetry

Her name, as commonly used in poetry, translates to "Dark Rose"

According to G. F. Dalton, Rose O'Neill's "misfortunes and her high birth attracted the attention of ballad-makers" who saw her as a symbol for collapsing Gaelic Irish society. She is typically called Róisín Dubh (Dark Rose) in poetry, on account of her dark hair.

James Clarence Mangan's Irish language and Sean-nós song "Róisín Dubh", one of the most popular Irish rebel songs ever written, is based on a fragmentation of an older existing love song to Rose. It is addressed in Hugh Roe's voice to Rose, and is believed to have its origins in the rebel encampments during the Nine Years' War. One source attributes it to a Tyrconnellian poet under the reign of Red Hugh. Music scholar Donal O'Sullivan believes there is no evidence to suggest the original song was composed in the Elizabethan era.

Although "Róisín Dubh" is superficially a love song, it has been described as a patriotic poem that hides its nationalism via allegory. In a time when nationalistic expression was outlawed in Ireland, the poem was a way to covertly express nationalistic beliefs. Hugh Roe's love for Rose is symbolic for his love for Ireland, and his resolve to raise Ireland again to the position she held before the Norman conquest. In this way, Rose O'Neill has become a nationalist symbol for Gaelic Ireland.

Rose O'Neill has also been alluded to by English poets. She is referenced in Edmund Spenser's poem The Faerie Queene. Sir Aubrey de Vere wrote two poems about her: "Little Black Rose" and "Róisín Dubh or the Bleeding Heart".

References

Notes

1. Also known as Dark Rosaleen,My Dark Rosaleen or The Black-Haired Little Rose.

Citations

1. Mangan, James Clarence; Guiney, Louise Imogen (1897). James Clarence Mangan, His Selected Poems. Boston, New York; London: Lamson, Wolffe & Co.; John Lane. p. 115.
2. Deffenbacher, Kristina (2014). "Revisioning of Cultural Memory and Identity through Dialogic Mythmaking in Roddy Doyle's The Last Roundup Trilogy". Nordic Irish Studies. 13 (1): 149–168. ISSN 1602-124X. JSTOR 24332398.
3. Morgan, Hiram (October 2005). "Gaelic lordship and Tudor conquest: Tír Eoghain, 1541–1603". History Ireland. 13 (5). Archived from the original on 10 June 2024.
4. Morgan, Hiram (September 2014). "O'Neill, Hugh". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006962.v1. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
5. Morgan, Hiram (October 2009). "O'Donnell, 'Red' Hugh (Ó Domhnaill, Aodh Ruadh)". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006343.v1. Archived from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
6. Walsh 1930, p. 22.
7. Walsh 1930, p. 16.
8. Casway 2016, pp. 69, 73.
9. Dunlop 1895, p. 196.
10. Walsh 1930, p. 36.
11. Walsh 1930, p. 20.
12. Casway 2016, p. 73.
13. Walsh 1930, p. 37.
14. Morgan 1993, p. 96.
15. Walsh 1930, pp. 16–17.
16. Casway 2016, p. 70.
17. Canny 2004, p. 839.
18. Neary, Marina J. (2010). "Hugh O'Neill: a Provocateur of Fate". Bewildering Stories. Archived from the original on 13 October 2011. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
19. Gibson 2013. "Hugh O’Neill [d.1616] m Feodora O’Neill"
20. Casway 2016, p. 78.
21. Casway 2016, pp. 71, 78.
22. Walsh 1930, p. 29.
23. Casway 2016, pp. 70–71.
24. McGettigan 2005, pp. 54–55.
25. Morgan 1993, p. 124.
26. McNeill 1911, p. 6.
27. Morgan 1993, p. 135.
28. Walsh 1930, pp. 17–18.
29. Casway 2016, p. 71.
30. Webb, Alfred (1878). "Hugh Roe O'Donnell". A Compendium of Irish Biography. Archived from the original on 17 January 2024. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
31. McGettigan 2005, p. 55.
32. McGettigan 2005, p. 81.
33. Morgan 1993, p. 216.
34. Calendar of State Papers, page 506
35. McGinty 2013, p. 44.
36. Clavin, Terry (October 2009). "O'Cahan, Sir Donnell Ballach". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006536.v1.
37. Walsh 1930, p. 38.
38. McGurk, John (August 2007). "The Flight of the Earls: escape or strategic regrouping?". History Ireland. 15 (4). Archived from the original on 18 April 2024.
39. Smith, Murray (1996). "Flight of the Earls?: changing views on O'Neill's departure from Ireland". History Ireland. 4 (1). Archived from the original on 25 February 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
40. McGurk, John (August 2007). "The Flight of the Earls: escape or strategic regrouping?". History Ireland. 15 (4). Archived from the original on 18 April 2024.
41. Dalton 1974, pp. 348–349.
42. Kinsella, Thomas; Ó Tuama, Seán, eds. (1981). Duanaire, 1600–1900: Poems of the Dispossessed. Dolmen Press. p. 309. ISBN 0851053645.
43. Pearse, Pádraig. Róisín Dubh  – via Wikisource.
44. Mangan, James Clarence (1851). O'Daly, John (ed.). The poets and poetry of Munster: a selection of Irish songs by the poets of the last century. Boston College Libraries (3 ed.). Dublin: Edward Bull. pp. 210–217.
45. Ó Canainn (Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland), 1995; No. 45, p. 41. O'Sullivan/Bunting, 1983; No. 18, pp. 27-31.
46. Dalton 1974, pp. 349–350.

Sources

• Canny, Nicholas (2004). "O'Neill, Hugh [Aodh O'Neill], second earl of Tyrone (1583–1616)". In Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 41. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 837–845. ISBN 0-19-861391-1.
• Casway, Jerrold (2016). "Catherine Magennis and the Wives of Hugh O'Neill". Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society. 26 (1): 69–79. JSTOR 48568219.
• Dalton, G. F. (1974). "The Tradition of Blood Sacrifice to the Goddess Éire". Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review. 63 (252): 343–354. ISSN 0039-3495. JSTOR 30088757.
• Dunlop, Robert (1895). "O'Neill, Hugh, third Baron of Dungannon and second Earl of Tyrone 1540?–1616". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. XLII. New York: MacMillan and Co. pp. 188–196. OCLC 8544105.
• Gibson, Joyce, ed. (August 2013). IRELAND IN TUDOR TIMES (PDF). Retrieved 23 July 2024.
• McGettigan, Darren (2005). Red Hugh O'Donnell and the Nine Years War. Dublin: Four Courts Press. ISBN 978-1-84682-485-2.
• McGinty, Matthew (2013). "The Development and Dynamics of the Relationship between Hugh O'Neill and Red Hugh O'Donnell".
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: McNeill, Ronald John (1911). "O'Donnell". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 6–8.
• Morgan, Hiram (1993). Tyrone's Rebellion: The outbreak of the Nine Years' War in Tudor Ireland. London: The Boydell Press. ISBN 0-86193-224-2.
• Walsh, Paul (1930). Walsh, Paul (ed.). THE WILL AND FAMILY OF HUGH O NEILL, EARL OF TYRONE [WITH AN APPENDIX OF GENEALOGIES] (PDF). Dublin: Sign of the Three Candles.