O'Neill dynasty
The O'Neill dynasty are a lineage of Irish Gaelic origin that held prominent positions and titles in Ireland and elsewhere. As kings of Cenél nEógain, they were historically one of the most prominent family of the Northern Uí Néill, along with the O'Donnell dynasty. Some O'Neills state that their ancestors were kings of Ailech during the Early Middle Ages, as descendants of Niall of the Nine Hostages.
Two of their progenitors were High Kings of Ireland: Niall Glúndub and Domnall ua Néill. From 1232 until 1616, the O'Neills were sovereign kings of Tír Eógain, holding territories in the north of Ireland in the province of Ulster, particularly around modern County Tyrone, County Londonderry and County Antrim, in what is now Northern Ireland. After their territory was merged with the Kingdom of Ireland and the land was caught up in the Plantation of Ulster, they were involved in a number of events, such as Tyrone's Rebellion, the Flight of the Earls, the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and the Irish Confederate Wars.
Naming conventions
| Male | Daughter | Daughter | Wife | Wife |
| Ó Néill | Iníon Uí Néill | Ní Néill | Bean Uí Néill | Uí Néill |
Origins
The O'Neill lineage claims descent from Niall Glúndub, a 10th-century king of Ailech as well as High King of Ireland. Niall was descended from the Cenél nEógain branch of the Northern Uí Néill. The first to adopt the patronymic surname was Niall Glúndub's great-grandson, Flaithbertach Ua Néill.The clan is not mentioned in the Annals of Ireland between the 1080s and 1160s, during which period they emerged from a "very murky background". In 1167, King Ruaidrí Ua Conchobhair of Ireland marched north and split the kingdom of Ailech into two areas. The portion north of Slieve Gallion was given to Niall Mac Lochlainn, with the portion south of Slieve Gallion given to Áed Ua Néill. The two rival dynasties contested for control over Tír Eoghain until the battle of Caimeirge in 1241, where the O'Neills killed the MacLoughlin leadership.
O'Neills of Tyrone
After 1241, the O'Neill house dominated and displaced other clans, using the disruption of the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169 to their benefit and consolidating power. The Bruce Invasion of Ireland devastated the Norman Earldom of Ulster, which held sway over eastern Ulster and most of its north coast all the way to Derry. Its collapse in 1333 allowed a branch of the O'Neill that had been on good terms with the Normans, Clandeboye, to step into the power vacuum and take control over large parts of eastern Ulster.In 1493, Henry VII of England referred to Henry O'Neill, King of Tyrone, as "the Chief of the Irish Kings" and gave him a gift of livery.
The earldom of Tyrone was eventually granted in 1542.
After nearly a decade of warfare with the English forces in Ireland, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, surrendered in 1603, just days after the death of his enemy Queen Elizabeth. Hugh stayed in Ulster as the Earl for another five years. But after numerous threats to his life, he secretly departed Ireland for the French coast in 1607 in what is famously called the Flight of the Earls. Hugh continued to use his title after he fled to the Continent in the Flight of the Earls, although in the law of the Kingdom of Ireland it was forfeit by act of the Irish Parliament a year later. So did his son Shane O'Neill, whose will left his title to his only, if illegitimate, son Hugo Eugenio O'Neill; when he died in 1641 at the head of his regiment in Spain. Other Spanish exiled descendants of Hugh Rua continued to use the title and command the Ulster Irish Regiment in the Spanish Army through the seventeenth century.
O'Neills of Clanaboy
"The descendants of Prince Con MacBryan O'Neill, Tanist of Clanaboy, remained loyal, under every vicissitude, to the traditions of their house, and saved little out of the general wreck of confiscation. They seemed to have preferred fulfilling the solemn pledge of their ancestor, Donald O'Neill, King of Ulster, to 'fight out as long as life should last' rather than adapt themselves to altered circumstances, as the descendants of Shane MacBryan had wisely done," according to Burke's Peerage.O'Neill descendants in France, Spain, and Portugal
In the beginning of the 18th century Felix O'Neill: senior male in linear descent of the line of Brian Ballach O'Neill, and Niall Mór O'Neill's second eldest son, was dispossessed of all his estate through the confiscation applied via the Penal Laws, which led him to immigrate to France. He was a cavalry officer who took part in many battles with the Irish Brigade of the French Army. He fought with the French against the British, the Austrians, and the Dutch, in the celebrated Battle of Malplaquet, where he died on 11 September 1709.In 1896 Jorge O'Neill of Portugal, paternal nephew of the 1st Viscount of Santa Mónica, submitted his genealogy to the Somerset Herald in London. Five years later, Sir Henry Farnham Burke, KCVO, CB, FSA, Somerset Herald stated in 1900 that "the only Pedigree at present on record in either of the Offices of Arms showing a lineal male descent from the House of O'Neill, Monarchs of Ireland, Kings of Ulster, and Princes of Tyrone and Claneboy, is the one registered in the fifty-ninth year of the Reign of Our Sovereign Lady Victoria, in favor of His Excellency Jorge O'Neill of Lisbon". He then recognized him as the Representative of the House of O'Neill and as the Representative of the Earldom created in 1542 for his kinsman Conn Baccagh O'Neill. All of this was granted under Letters Patent issued by the English College of Heralds. Later, the Ulster and Norroy King of Arms granted him the undifferenced arms as the head of the House of O'Neill. Upon that Letters Patent, Pope Leo XIII, the King of Spain, and the King of Portugal all recognized Jorge O'Neill as the Prince of Clanaboy, Tyrone, Ulster, as the Count of Tyrone, and the Head of the Royal House of O'Neill and all of its septs. It was from this grant that the Chief Herald of Ireland recognized the family as the Princes of Clannaboy in 1945. The grandson of Jorge and present Prince of Clanaboy, Hugo, has not pressed his senior claim to the entire House of O'Neill out of respect for his O'Neill chief cousins and their own histories.
O'Neills of Shane's Castle
The castle at Edenduffcarrick now called Shane's Castle has long been a key family in the Clannaboy clan of O'Neills. Shane MacBrien O'Neill changed the name to Shane's Castle in 1722. After the Plantation of Ulster, some O'Neill families converted to the Church of Ireland and began to intermarry with the new nobility coming from England. One such union was between Mary O'Neill, the daughter of Henry O'Neill the lord of Shane's Castle, and Arthur Chichester. It is through this marriage that the present day Barons of Shane's Castle trace their lineage to the royal family of O'Neill. The present day title of Baron O'Neill of Shane's Castle is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1868 for the musical composer The Reverend William O'Neill. Born William Chichester, he succeeded to the estates of his cousin John Bruce Richard O'Neill, 3rd Viscount O'Neill, in 1855 and assumed by Royal licence the surname of O'Neill in lieu of Chichester in order to inherit the lands of his cousin, despite not being descended in the male line from an O'Neill, daughter of Henry O'Neill of Shane's Castle. Lord O'Neill was the patrilineal great-great-great-grandson of John Chichester, younger brother of Arthur Chichester, 2nd Earl of Donegall. The latter two were both nephews of Arthur Chichester, 1st Earl of Donegall, and grandsons of Edward Chichester, 1st Viscount Chichester. Lord O'Neill was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Baron. He sat as a Conservative Member of Parliament for Antrim.O'Neills of the Fews
"The Fews" is an area in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, that was a sub-territory under the O'Neills of Tyrone. This O'Neill branch is related to the O'Neill of Tyrone through King Eoghan Mor, circa 1432–1436. The king's younger son Aodh pushed into the territory known as the Fews and founded a lordship there based largely on the unlawful confiscation of considerable amounts of land belonging to the archbishop of Armagh.In the rebellion of 1642, Sir Henry O'Neill, a member of the Fews O'Neills, sided with the English crown while his sons and brothers played a prominent part in the rising. Despite his choice of sides his lands were confiscated and divided among a number of Cromwellian settlers. The chief beneficiary was Thomas Ball, whose grants totalled more than. Sir Henry O'Neill was banished to Connacht, to land in County Mayo, Ireland. Exiled with him was his son Captain Sean/Shane O'Neill. Shane's sons took the surname MacShane, or son of Shane. His grandson William anglicized the name to Johnson. He was a major-general in the American Colonial Army and fought the French at Niagara, New York in French-Indian War. For his significant victory he was granted a baronetcy and made Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet of New York in 1753. The present holder of that estate is Sir Colpoys Johnson, 8th Baronet of New York.
When the Williamite War began in Ireland in 1689, Sir Henry O'Neill's son Turlough was dead and so was Turlough's son Con. The heir to the family's Mayo estate was Con's son Henry, who was a minor and had been sent to France for his education. Despite their non-participation in the war, the O'Neill estates were seized by the Crown. Henry should subsequently have recovered the confiscated lands; his relatives on the continent feared to send him back to Ireland to stake his claim and the property went by default and was sold in 1702–3. Henry had a heroic career in the French army, rising to become a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Regiment of Clare. He was killed at the Battle of Fontenoy in May 1745, aged 69. Henry was the last undisputed claimant to the lordship of the Fews.
Some O'Neill families today claim descent from this Henry O'Neill, but contemporary documentation show that he died without leaving any descendants. Following Henry's death, Felix O'Neill was identified by contemporaries as the "person to whom the Lordship of the Fews in the North of Ireland in right and justice belongeth". Indeed, Felix was considered to have a valid claim to be the Chief of the entire O'Neill clan. In his book "History of Ireland" Abbé James MacGeoghegan of the Irish College in Paris wrote of the house of the O'Neills that "the present representative is Felix O'Neill, the chief of the house of the Fews, and an officer of rank in the service of his Catholic Majesty".
Felix O'Neill was born in Creggan in County Armagh. He descended from Aodh Buidhe O'Neill, brother of Sir Henry O'Neill. Felix left Ireland for a career in the Spanish Army and is well remembered for his rescue of Charles Edward Stuart following the Battle of Culloden. Felix became a lieutenant general in the Spanish Army and his four sons in turn all had honourable careers in the Spanish military. While most of them did not marry and have families, the youngest son Juan O'Neill married Vincenta Gual y Vives de Cananas from Palma, Mallorca, and took up residence on the island. Having attained the rank of Captain-General, he died aged 40 leaving a son Felix who was only a year old. Through this man the O'Neills of the Fews line continued in Mallorca in the 19th century and in Argentina in the 20th century. The current day Argentinean descendants of Lieutenant General Felix O'Neill therefore have an historical claim to be leaders of this branch of the O'Neill dynasty. In the 2000s, Dr. Tulio José O'Neille of Buenos Aires in Argentina has come to light as the genealogically senior living heir of the O'Neill of the Fews. His grandfather moved from Spain and he is descended from Lt. Gen Felix O'Neille, from the Creggan, who serve in the Spanish Army, serving at times at Captain General of Aragon and Galicia.
A contrary claim to the leadership of the dynasty comes from Spanish nobleman Don Carlos O'Neill, 12th Marquis de la Granja, who has been described as "the Prince of the Fews". He claims direct descent from the last undisputed "Lord of the Fews" Henry O'Neill although contemporary evidence shows that Henry had no descendants. While the family's precise link to the historical O'Neills of the Fews therefore remains unclear, their descent can be traced back to a certain 'Red' Henry O'Neill and his wife Hanna née O'Kelly, the daughter of counselor John O'Kelly of Keenagh, County Roscommon, whose children relocated to Spain in the 1750s and 1760s.
Henry and Hanna O'Neill became the parents of Arthur O'Neill in 1736. He was born in Dublin, Ireland. He joined the Spanish army in 1752 and was known by the name Don Arturo O'Neill de Tyrone. He served over 20 years in the Spanish colonial service, becoming Governor of Yucatan in October 1792, and later Governor of West Florida. On his return to Spain in 1803 he was appointed to the Supreme Council of War and was awarded the title of the 1st Marques Del Norte two years later. Arturo's brothers included Lieutenant-Colonel Niall 'Nicolas' O'Neill y O'Kelly who died at Zaragoza in Spain, and Tulio and Enrique O'Neill y O'Kelly who both relocated to the Caribbean island of St. Croix in the footsteps of a deceased uncle. These two brothers were granted a license by the Spanish crown to create sugar plantations on the island of Puerto Rico in 1783, although they never availed of it.
Tulio O'Neill y O'Kelly married Catherine O'Keefe y Whalen and became the parents of Arturo O'Neill y O'Keefe and Tulio O'Neill y O'Keefe. Don Arturo O'Neill y O'Keefe was born in March 1782 on St. Croix and married Joanna Chabert Heyliger there in April 1802. Arturo and his brother pleaded for permission to take up their father's right to land in Puerto Rico and this was granted in 1804. Arturo moved his family there in March 1810 and his descendants continue to reside there today as well as in Spain and the USA. Arturo became a Lieutenant Colonel on 17 August 1828 in Bayamón, Puerto Rico and inherited the title of Marques Del Norte from his uncle. He died on 7 September 1832 and is reportedly buried in the Roman Catholic Church of Frederiksted, Saint Croix.
Tulio O'Neill y O'Keefe was born on St. Croix in September 1784. He became a general in the Spanish army and won distinctions during the Peninsular War fighting the French. He married Manuela de Castilla Quevedo, the daughter of a Spanish noble family, in 1819. However, she died shortly after the birth of their son, Juan Antonio Luis O'Neill de Castilla. O'Neill y O'Keefe was promoted to field marshal of the Royal Guard in 1828 and it was he who made the public announcement of the birth of a daughter to the King in 1830, namely the future Isabel II of Spain. O'Neill y O'Keefe died in 1855 and the family line was continued through his son who inherited his mother's titles. A later descendant of his also took the title of Marques Del Norte that had remained unclaimed by their relations in Puerto Rico. This branch of the family is often referred to as the O'Neills of the Fews of Seville and is currently headed by the Spanish nobleman Don Carlos O'Neill. Any claim of theirs to represent the O'Neills of the Fews dynasty however must be viewed in light of their descent from the junior branch of the O'Neill y O'Keefe family as well as the absence of a proven lineage linking to the historical "Lords of the Fews". The reservation as to clan leadership being made by a junior branch is debatable as Irish inheritance and Spanish inheritance follow different laws.