O’Donnell, Hugh Roe (1572?-1602), was a leader of Irish resistance against English rule in the late 1500’s. O’Donnell, who was called “Red Hugh,” led a failed revolt against the English with his brother-in-law, an Irish chieftain named Hugh O’Neill.
O’Donnell was born about 1572. His father was the Irish chieftain Hugh MacManus O’Donnell, Lord of Tyrconnell. In 1587, the English administrator John Perrott kidnapped the younger O’Donnell, who was engaged to O’Neill’s daughter. Perrott feared that the merger of the O’Donnell and O’Neill families would greatly increase their power.
O’Donnell escaped in 1591 with help from the O’Neill family. In 1592, he took over the lordship of Tyrconnell from his father. Although he pledged support to the English government, he secretly sought to take back Irish land from English control, with assistance from Spain. At that time, Spain was a rival of England. By the late 1590’s, O’Donnell had seized the territories of Sligo and Connacht, in what is now northwestern Ireland. In August 1598, O’Donnell and O’Neill joined forces and defeated English troops at Yellow Ford, near Armagh, in what is now Northern Ireland.
In 1600, Queen Elizabeth I of England sent additional soldiers to defeat the Irish uprising. The English troops strengthened their forts in the north and began to destroy Irish crops and drive cattle from the area. In response to O’Donnell and O’Neill’s request for assistance, Spain sent about 4,000 troops to help the Irish rebels. The Spaniards landed at Kinsale, in what is now County Cork, in September 1601. On December 24, the English won a decisive victory against the Irish and Spanish forces at the Battle of Kinsale. The English victory ended the power of the Irish chiefs.
O’Donnell fled to Spain to seek help from the Spanish king, Philip III. He died in Spain on Sept. 10, 1602. Some historians believe that an English agent poisoned O’Donnell.
See also Ireland, History of (The Irish recovery); O’Neill, Hugh.
