Iníon Dubh

Finola McDonnell, Lady Ó Domhnaill, also known by the Irish nickname Iníon Dubh (pronounced in both Scots Gaelic and Ulster Irish as 'In-neen Doo'), was queen consort of Tyrconnell (fl. 1570 - 1608). She was the daughter of James MacDonald, 6th Laird of Dunnyveg, and Lady Agnes Campbell, and the second wife of Sir Hugh O'Donnell, king of Tyrconnell, and the mother of, amongst others: Hugh Roe O'Donnell; Rory, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell; and Cathbarr O'Donnell. Finola's alias Iníon Dubh comes from the Irish for 'dark daughter', and has been anglicised as Ineen Dubh and Ineen Doo.

Background

The Iníon Dubh was raised at the Stuart court in Scotland, and her powerful connections ensured a healthy recruitment of Scottish mercenaries to O'Donnell's armies after her marriage to him in around 1570.^[1]

She bore An Ó Domhnaill (The O'Donnell) four sons, including the last two reigning Kings of Tyrconnell, Hugh and Rory. When her husband Sir Hugh grew senile in his old age, she took over the effective leadership of the territory. She is described in the Annals of the Four Masters as "like the mother of Machabees who joined a man's heart to a woman's thought".^[2]

Political activity

In 1587 her eldest child Hugh Roe O'Donnell was kidnapped and imprisoned in Dublin Castle. In his absence, she devoted herself to defending her son's claim to the chieftaincy. In 1588 she had her nephew, Hugh Gavelach O'Neill, assassinated, following an attempted coup on his part.^[1] In 1590, a son by her husband's first marriage, Sir Domhnall Dubh O'Donnell, attempted to seize power but was defeated and killed in battle at Lug na Cnamh.^[1] Throughout this period she made repeated attempts to secure Red Hugh's release or escape from Dublin Castle.

When Red Hugh finally escaped in 1592, she bought off the remaining claimant Niall Garve O'Donnell (Niall Garbh Ó Domhnaill) and persuaded her husband to abdicate in their son's favour. Historian Hiram Morgan notes that the election of Red Hugh as The O'Donnell in 1592 was "a stage managed affair in which the influence of his mother was paramount".^[3]

She retired to Kilmacrennan. In 1608, with all her sons dead, she implicated her son-in-law, Niall Garve, in treasonous activities and saw him sent to the Tower of London.^[1] Her date of death is unknown. She also, in her later years, maintained Mongavlin Castle, a small fortress on the banks of the River Foyle, as a residence just south of St Johnston in The Laggan of East Donegal.

O'Donnell family tree

Sir Hugh O'Donnell (Aodh mac Maghnusa Ó Domhnaill; died 1600)^{[lower-roman 1]}
- Married first: an unnamed Irish woman
  - Donnchadh (Scaite)
  - Donnell (Domhnall d.1590
    - Wife: daughter of Turlough O'Neill
      - Dómhnall Óg^{[lower-roman 2]}
  - Ruadhri (died 1575)
  - Siobhán, or Joan (died 1591)^{[lower-roman 1]}
    - Married: Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone.^{[lower-roman 3]}
      - Hugh (1585–1609)^{[lower-roman 3]} He was known as the baron of Dungannon, died in Rome and was buried in San Pietro di Montorio.^{[lower-roman 4]}
      - Henry O'Neill (1586?–1617×21)^{[lower-roman 3]} He became a colonel of an Irish regiment in Archduke Albert's army.^{[lower-roman 4]}
      - Margaret, who married Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret.^{[lower-roman 4]}
  - daughter (fl. 1579)
  - Nuala (fl. 1592)^{[lower-roman 1]}
    - Married Niall Garbh O'Donnel(1569–1626)
      - Grania
- Second marriage: Fionnghuala "Inghean Dubh" Ní Seamus MacDonnell (married Aodh in 1569)
  - Aodh Ruadh (1571–1602).^{[lower-roman 1]}
  - Rudhraighe (died 1608).^{[lower-roman 1]}
    - - Elizabeth^{[lower-roman 5]}
        Husband: Luke Plunket later 1st Earl of Fingall survived Elizabeth and married twice more.
    - Wife: Brigid daughter of Earl of Kildare
      - Hugh O'Donnell, 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell.^{[lower-roman 5]}^{[lower-roman 2]}
        Married: Anna-Margaret, daughter of Maximilian de Hennin, Count de Bossut.^{[lower-roman 6]}
      - Mary Stuart O'Donnell (1607–1639?).^{[lower-roman 5]}
  - Maghnus alive 1608
  - Mairghead died 1662
  - Máire (died 1662)
    - Married: Tadhg Ó Ruairc, King of West Breifne (died 1605)
  - Cathbarr (dead by September 1608)
    - Wife: Rosa (c.1588–1660) the daughter of Sir John O'Doherty — married secondly Owen Roe O'Neill (c. 1585–1649) who she met in the Low Countries
      - Hugh O'Donnell (died 1625), became a captain in the Spanish Army, serving in Flanders in the regiment of his stepfather (Owen Roe O'Neill). He was killed during the Siege of Breda.^{[lower-roman 7]}

Notes:

1 2 3 4 5 Burke 1866, p. 409.
1 2 If the Earldom of Tyrconnell had not been attained, then next in line as 3rd Earl of Tyrconnell would have been Dómhnall Óg son of Sir Donnell O'Donnell (an elder half brother of the 1st Earl)
1 2 3 Canny 2008
1 2 3 Dunlop 1895, p. 196
1 2 3 "Hugh Albert O'Donnell, born [to Rory and Brigid] about October 1606, was the only son of this marriage, Mary Stuart O'Donnell being born about a year later. Some authorities give an eldest child, Elizabeth, probably illegitimate, who became first wife of Luke Plunkett, first earl of Fingall" (Silke 2006).
↑ Burke 1866, p. 410.
↑ Casway 1984, pp. 27–28.

Sources:

Burke, Sir Bernard (1866), A Genealogical History of the Dormant: Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire, Harrison, pp. 409–410
Canny, Nicholas (January 2008) [2004], "O'Neill, Hugh , second earl of Tyrone (c.1550–1616)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.), Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20775 (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Casway, Jerrold (1984), Owen Roe O'Neill and the Struggle for Catholic Ireland, University of Pennsylvania Press
Dunlop, Robert (1895), "O'Neill, Hugh (1540?-1616)", Dictionary of National Biography, 42, pp. 188–196
Silke, John J. (May 2006) [2004]. "O'Donnell, Rury , styled first earl of Tyrconnell (1574/5–1608)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20559. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

References

1 2 3 4 "Iníon Dubh - Forgotten heroine". An Phoblacht. 2007-12-20. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
↑ Highley, Christopher (1997), Shakespeare, Spenser, and the Crisis in Ireland, Cambridge University Press, p. 103, ISBN 978-0-521-58199-8
↑ Morgan, Hiram (1999). Tyrone's Rebellion. Rochester, NY: Boydell & Brewer. p. 133. ISBN 0-85115-683-5.

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