Redmond O'Hanlon (outlaw)
Count Redmond O'Hanlon, was a 17th-century Irish tóraidhe or rapparee; an outlawed member of the Gaelic nobility of Ireland who still held to the code of conduct of the traditional chiefs of the Irish clans.
Historian John J. Marshall has called Redmond O'Hanlon Ireland's answer to Robin Hood and Rob Roy MacGregor. Stephen Dunford has further dubbed O'Hanlon "The Irish Skanderbeg."
Family background
Although born in impoverished circumstances, Redmond was part of the Derbfine of the last O'Hanlon Chief of the Name, Lord of Airgíalla, and Master of Tandragee Castle.During the Nine Years' War, Sir Oghie O'Hanlon had allied the Clan with Queen Elizabeth I of England against Hugh O'Neill and Red Hugh O'Donnell. In 1606, Sir Oghie received his Clan's lands under the policy of Surrender and regrant. According to Royal decree, the family's manor was to be passed on to Sir Oghie's heirs under Primogeniture, rather than the Brehon Law policy of Tanistry.
Sir Oghie's grant was revoked, however, when his son and many other relations joined Sir Cahir O'Doherty's Rebellion in 1608. As a result, the O'Hanlon family was reduced to ruling a small portion of the clan's former homeland. The rest became the property of Sir Oliver St. John, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, who evicted the O'Hanlons from
the best land on his estate, which was planted with Scottish and English Protestants. During the Irish Rebellion of 1641, the O'Hanlon clan rose and attempted to retake their traditional lands in vain.
Sir Oghie's heirs lost what little land they still possessed following the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. In accordance with the Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652, the O'Hanlon family's remaining lands were confiscated and they were deported to Connaught.
Early life
According to John J. Marshall, "Of the childhood and upbringing of the famous outlaw we have no reliable account, but a very rare pamphlet on the life and death of Redmond O'Hanlon, dated 1st August 1681 and published in Dublin, 1682, states that 'Redmond, son of Loghlin O'Hanlon, was born near Poyntzpass in the County of Armagh in the year 1640,' but some of the later lives say he was born at the foot of Slieve Gullion, and local tradition confirms this."As was still customary among the Gaelic nobility of Ireland, O'Hanlon was given in fosterage within the Clan to Cathal O'Hanlon, whose son "Art McCall O'Hanlon" was later one of the outlaw Count's closest associates. In addition to teaching his foster son how to live off the land and to withstand cold and other hardships, Cathal O'Hanlon would also have taught Redmond O'Hanlon the traditional code of conduct still demanded of both Irish and Scottish clan chiefs.
In his biography of Rob Roy MacGregor, W.H. Murray described the code of conduct as follows, "The abiding principle is cast up from the records of detail: that right must be seen to be done, no man left destitute, the given word honoured, the strictest honour observed to all who have given implicit trust, and that a guest's confidence in his safety must never be betrayed by his host, or vice versa. There was more of like kind, and each held as its kernel the simple ideal of trust honoured... Breaches of it were abhorred and damned... The ideal was applied 'with discretion'. Its interpretation went deeply into domestic life, but stayed shallow for war and politics."
According to John J. Marshall, the 17th-century pamphlet continues, "'It was his good fortune to be educated in an English school where he attained to such perfection in that language that it might have proved a great advantage to him in the afterlife.' His linguistic accomplishments certainly did prove useful to him in the afterlife. He is represented as a most accomplished gentleman, equal to Ossory, who was accounted for manners and bearing the finest cavalier since Sir Philip Sidney. He was also an excellent actor and mimic, able to personate a King's officer, merchant or countryman, as the exigencies of the case required. In one of the contemporary pamphlets, there is given what is most evidently a fictitious account of his youth and early days in which he is represented as a being a footman for Sir George Acheson of Markethill, and while in the gentleman's employment practising himself in all the accounts of roguery. Cosgrave's account seems quite probable when he says – 'Redmond once happened to be at the killing of a gentleman in a quarrel, and flying for safety, stayed abroad for a long time, still refusing to come to a trial, till he was outlawed, which put him into his shifts.' It is likely that O'Hanlon fled to France and there joined the Army where he acquired which he so often turned to good use in his after-career, and also was able to speak French like a native, Gaelic and English being equally at his command.
It is not known when he returned to Ireland, but Stephen Dunford suggests it was around 1660, as part of the Restoration of King Charles II to the Irish throne. Like all the other Irish landowners who had been dispossessed for supporting King Charles I during the Cromwellian invasion of Ireland, Redmond O'Hanlon soon realized that there would be no reversal of the Cromwellian land confiscations by the new King. In response, Redmond took to the hills around Slieve Gullion and became an outlaw, or rapparee.
According to Stephen Dunford, "He is likely to have seen himself as one of the chieftains of the clan and therefore honour-bound to exact justice."
Outlaw
Although Redmond O'Hanlon has often been compared to a real-life Robin Hood, he has much more in common with Rob Roy MacGregor.Like many Irish and Scottish clan chiefs of the same era, O'Hanlon operated an extralegal Watch over the Anglo-Irish landlords and Ulster Scots merchants of Armagh, Tyrone, and Down. In return for an annual fee, O'Hanlon retrieved cattle and horses stolen from landlords under his Watch and paid in full for what could not be restored. Peddlers and merchants who placed themselves under the Count's Watch were provided with a written pass, which was to be shown to highwaymen wishing to rob them.
Making a living by cattle raiding and selling protection against theft was considered an honourable way for the Gaelic nobility in both Ireland and Scotland to continue fulfilling their traditional obligations to provide for their families and clansmen. The protection money O'Hanlon received, which Protestant landlords and settlers in Ireland referred to as "black rent", was used to pay O'Hanlon's many spies and, to a far greater degree, to feed his clansmen and their families. According to Stephen Dunford, even well into the 19th century in Ireland, "to the ordinary people, the taking of black rent was perfectly justified."
Anyone who robbed travellers who carried the Count's passes or rustled livestock from herds under his Watch were tracked down, forced to return the stolen money or merchandise, and then fined by the Count for the first two offences. Anyone who did so a third time was killed. O'Hanlon is also described as scrupulously adhering to his word once it is given.
According to a 1681 pamphlet, " rather nimble than strong; more subtle than valiant; naturally bold but not cruel, shedding no man's blood out of wantonness or delight, but in his own defence, or by the chance of a shot; he was rapacious, but not covetous; he gathered much money to save himself, and to enrich others; like a bird of prey, he was greedy to devour, but all went through him as fast as he swallowed."
In 1674 the authorities in Dublin Castle put a price on Redmond O'Hanlon and several other known raparees. In 1676, the price was increased, with posters advertising for his capture, dead or alive.
A 1681 pamphlet describes his character:
"Necessity first prompted him to evil courses and success hardened him in them; he did not rob to maintain his own prodigality, but to gratify his spies and pensioners: Temperance, Liberality, and Reservedness were the three qualities that preserved him; none but they of the House where he was knew till the next morning where he lay all night; he allowed his followers to stuff themselves with meat and good liquor, but confined himself to milk and water; he thought it better thrift to disperse his money among his Receivers and Intelligencers, than to carry it in a purse, or hide it in a hole; he prolonged his life by a general distrust."
Tory hunters
According to Stephen Dunford, "Tory hunting was then a popular pastime and many adventurers eagerly joined in the chase... It was a lucrative business and in June 1676 alone seven known outlaws had been killed. Two of the most notorious Tory-hunting families in the country were the Cootes of Cootehill and the Johnstons of the Fews, planters infamous for their cruelty and ruthlessness in tracking down and murdering priests."Dunford continues, "Tradition has it that on one occasion the Johnstons tracked Redmond as far as the shore of Carlingford Lough. With the pursuers at his heels, the outlaw was left with no option but to swim the estuary. He was spotted entering the water by the hunters, they unleashed a ferocious hound and the massive animal plunged into the water in pursuit. The dog caught up with Redmond and a fierce struggle ensued, man against beast, with the outlaw proving victorious: he drowned the dog and escaped."
Also according to Dunford, "He was nothing if not resourceful. Legend has it that when the need arose Redmond was known to reverse his horse's shoes to confuse his pursuers. There are accounts of him and his gang using reversible jackets ... When turned inside out they became the red coats of the army, and were used on many occasions to outwit the authorities and unsuspecting travellers."
The informer-priest
Roman Catholic priest Fr. Edmund Murphy was stationed in Killeavy, County Armagh, a parish located in the heart of O'Hanlon country. On the instructions of Archbishop Oliver Plunkett, Father Murphy began denouncing all Tories, including the Count and his co-conspirators, from the pulpit.In a pamphlet printed in London as propaganda for the Titus Oates Plot, Father Murphy alleged that the Count responded by threatening Father Murphy with dire consequences if he did not desist. When Father Murphy ignored the warning, O'Hanlon decreed that any parishioner who attended a Mass offered by the Rector of Killeavy would be fined one cow for the first offence, two for the second offence, and for the third offence would be killed. After this threat was carried out against two Killeavy parishioners, Father Murphy arranged for another priest to take his place and began to spend an increasing amount of time plotting vengeance against Redmond O'Hanlon.
In this Father Murphy was assisted by Cormacke Raver O'Murphy, a former O'Hanlon associate who had begun brazenly robbing travellers who carried the Count's passes and refusing to return the stolen goods or pay the Count's fines. Together, Father Murphy and Cormacke Raver began plotting a means to lure the Count to a location where he could be captured or assassinated. To Father Murphy's outrage, however, Ensign John Smith and Lieutenant Henry Baker, who commanded the local British Army garrison, were profiting considerably from their alliance with O'Hanlon and had no desire to curb the Count's activities.
Ultimately, Cormacke O'Murphy was assassinated by a disgruntled associate who had secretly allied himself with O'Hanlon. Father Murphy, however, was unwilling to give up and, in 1674, his priestly faculties were suspended by Archbishop Plunkett, "for drunkenness and consorting with tories."
As later events were to demonstrate, Archbishop Plunkett may well have had Father Edmund Murphy in mind when he composed the following poem, which remains a classic and often referenced work of Modern literature in Irish: