O'Donnell dynasty
The O'Donnell dynasty were the dominant Irish clan of the kingdom of Tyrconnell in Ulster in the north of medieval and early modern Ireland.
Naming conventions
| Male | Daughter | Wife ' | Wife ' |
| Ó Domhnaill | Ní Dhomhnaill | Bean Uí Dhomhnaill | Uí Dhomhnaill |
| Ó Dónaill | Ní Dhónaill | Bean Uí Dhónaill | Uí Dhónaill |
Origins
Like the family of O'Neill, that of O'Donnell of Tyrconnell was of the Uí Néill, i.e. descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages, High King of Ireland at the beginning of the 5th century; the O'Neill, or Cenél nEógain, tracing their pedigree to Eógan mac Néill, and the O'Donnells, or Cenél Conaill, to Conall Gulban, both sons of Niall. Conall was baptised by St. Patrick.Arms and motto
The Roman Emperor Constantine the Great converted to Christianity after a vision before the famous Battle of the Milvian Bridge, having seen a chi-rho in the sky, and thence the motto In Hoc Signo Vinces, telling him he would be victorious with the sign of the cross. The chi-rho was adopted on a banner, the labarum, upheld on a vexillum, which resembled a Christian cross, and in time the motto became associated with the Cross all over Europe. Legend has it that St. Patrick struck the shield of Conall, son of King Niall of the Nine Hostages, with his crosier, called Bachal Isu inscribing thereon a sign of the cross and told him the same, and baptized him. According to the Life and Acts of Saint Patrick, commissioned by Sir John de Courcy and written by Jocelyn of Furness, St. Patrick took his staff, known as the staff of Jesus, or Bacall Iosa, and struck the shield of Prince Conall, rendering a sign of the Cross on it, “et mox cum baculo suo, qui baculus Jesu dicebatur Crucis signum ejus scuto impressit, asserens neminem de stirpe ejus in bello vincendum qui signum illud”, and thus indicating that he and his offspring would henceforth be victorious in battle if they followed that sign This legend is also described several centuries later in the Lebhar Inghine i Dhomhnaill. His land became Tír Chonaill, Tyrconnell, the land of Conall.Conall's Constantinian shield, and this motto, have been the main O’Donnell arms in various forms, through the centuries. The motto also appears prominently placed as a motto on a ribbon unfurled with a passion cross to its left, beneath a window over the Scala Regia, adjacent to Bernini's equestrian statue of Emperor Constantine, in the Vatican. Emperors and other monarchs, having paid respects to the Pope, descended the Scala Regia, and would observe the light shining down through the window, with the motto, reminiscent of Constantine's vision, and be reminded to follow the Cross. They would thence turn right into the atrium of St. Peter's Basilica, ostensibly so inspired. In an earlier version, something similar may have resonated with and been observed by Prince Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell following his visit to Pope Paul V in Rome, just prior to his death in 1608. It would certainly have resonated with and been observed by Cardinal Patrick O'Donnell.
Territory
Tyrconnell, the territory named after the Cenel Conaill, is the vast territory where the O'Donnells held sway, comprised the greater part of the modern county of Donegal except the peninsula of Inishowen. But it also included areas outside Donegal, such as the baronies of Carbury in County Sligo, Rosclogher in County Leitrim, and Magheraboy and Firlurg in County Fermanagh, and part of southern County Londonderry, hence it straddled the modern Republic of Ireland and also part of Northern Ireland in the UK. The jewel in the O'Donnell crown was Donegal Castle, one of seven O'Donnell castles, and now a national monument restored in the 1990s. Tyrconnell also, therefore, bordered on territory ruled by the O'Neills of Tyrone, who were periodically attempting to assert their claim of supremacy over it, and hence the history of the O'Donnells is, for the most part, a record of clan warfare with their powerful neighbours, and of their own efforts to make good their claims to the overlordship of northern Connacht, and a wider swathe of Ulster. Nonetheless, Tyrconnell existed for a period as an independent kingdom, recognised by King Henry III of England.Ascendancy
, the first chieftain, was son of Domhnall Mór Ó Domhnaill. In 1257, Gofraidh was victorious when he went to battle at Creadran-Cille against Maurice FitzGerald. Upon Gofraidh's death, subsequent to wounds incurred during the battle against Ó Néill, he was succeeded in the chieftainship by his brother Domhnall Óg, who returned from Scotland in time to withstand successfully the demands of Ó Néill. Over time, the O'Donnell King of Tyrconnell became known as the Fisher-King, on the Continent, ostensibly due to the export of fish traded for wine in La Rochelle.Patronage by the O'Donnell dynasty
The O'Donnells were patrons of the arts, literature, and of religious benefices. In particular, one, Manus, wrote the biography of ColmCille. They also were the patrons of the Franciscans in Donegal Abbey. They also exercised "jus patronus" to nominate bishops.In the early 14th century A.D., the O'Donnell rulers aided Templar knights fleeing via Sligo and Tyrconnell to Scotland where a Templar priory existed at Ballymote , a Percival family estate for the last 300 years. The Stewarts relied on the O'Donnells in the balance of power with the MacDonalds beginning in the fourteenth century.
The O’Donnell rulers of Tyrconnell are also noted for having in the late 12th century given sanctuary to the Donlevy dynasty of Ulaid, after their kingdom had fallen to John de Courcy in 1177. It is in Tyrconnell that a branch of the Donlevy's became known as the MacNulty's, deriving from the Irish Mac an Ultaigh, meaning "son of the Ulsterman", in reference to their former kingdom of Ulaid. During the Donlevy exile in Tyrconnell, The O’Donnell gave them the high Gaelic status of “ollahm leighis” or his official physicians.
It was in fact two of these deposed MacDonlevy royals and Roman Catholic priests thereto exiled in Tyrconnell, Fathers Muiris Ulltach in full Muiris mac Donnchadh Ulltach Ó Duinnshléibhe and Muiris Ulltach in full Muiris mac Seaán Ulltach Ó Duinnshléibhe, who both along with the Archbishop of Tuam attended Hugh Roe O'Donnell, The O'Donnell of 1601 Kinsale fame, in his exile at his death bed at Simancas Castle in Spain in 1602. And, it was, in turn, an Irish Count O’Donnell, who compassionately married the widow of Don-Levi, a Jacobite and, thereby, on James II of England's and his French allied's failure to reclaim his British crowns, the last The MacDonlevy to sit in Ireland, after this prince died in exile with the Stuarts in France at the Archbishopric of Treves. This union of the MacDonlevy and the O'Donnell, though, bore no issue.
In the absence of these indulgences of the O’Donnell dynasty kings having maintained the MacDonlevy and MacNulty physicians as a dignified community, it is debatable whether they could have so influenced the course of western medicine, educating and training Niall Ó Glacáin in the medical arts, so he could later on the Continent apply empirical method to pioneer the field of forensic anatomy and pathology, first describe the petechial haemorrhages of the lung and swelling of the spleen incident of bubonic plague, and early elucidate the empirical method of differential diagnosis for the continental European medical community, and producing the medieval physician and medical scholar Cormac MacDonlevy translator from Latin to vernacular of Bernard de Gordon's Lilium Medicine, Gaulteris Agilon's De dosibus and Gui de Chuliac's Chirurgia.
Later in the early 13th century, the O’Donnell also gave succour to the Ó Cléirigh kings of Uí Fiachrach Aidhne. Onara Ultach was descended from the MacDonlevy royals of Ulidia, who as above noted after the fall of that Ulster kingdom to the Anglo-Norman forces of Henry Plantagenet served as ollam lieghis or the official physicians to the O'Donnell kings of Tyrconnell. Onara married Donnchadh Ó Cléirigh, a son of the Chief of the name of the Ó Cléirigh family then also of Tyconnell. The Ó Cléirigh were too a learned Irish royal family that had lost their sub-kingdom in Uí Fiachrach Aidhne in what is today County Galway to the Anglo-Norman forces of Henry Plantagenet. The Ó Cléirigh then went into service of the O’Donnell as poet historians, scribes and secretaries or official bards, called in Irish language "ollam righ". Onara bore for Donnchadh a son Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, anglicized Michael O’Cleary, who matured to become the principal author of the Annals of the Four Masters. But for the manifold grace of the O’Donnell, this union would never have occurred, and Michael O’Cleary never lived to memorialize this history of Gaelic Ireland.
Royal Household
The Royal Household was known in Gaelic as "Lucht Tighe" and comprised several offices that were performed on a hereditary basis by the heads and members of particular other families, for over four centuries.- Lector & Inaugurator of the Chieftaincy - O'Friel
- Gallowglass Marshalls & Standard - Bearers - McSweeney
- Commanders of Cavalry - O'Gallagher
- Custodians of the Cathach of St. Columba - Roarty
- Historians and Scribes - O'Clery, formerly kings of Uí Fiachrach Aidhne
- Brehons or Judges - Breslin
- Bards & Poets - Ward
- Physicians - Donleavy, formerly Kings of Ulster
- Herenagh of church lands/Custodians of Donegal Castle & Ballyshannon Castle - McMenamin
- Stockmen/Cattle Drivers - Timoney
Later struggles and diaspora
Image:Hugh Albert O’Donnell.png|200px|thumb|Hugh Albert O’Donnell, at 10 years of age as a page at the court of Albert VII, Archduke of Austria.
During the Nine Years' War of 1593-1603, the O'Donnells of Tyrconnell played a leading part, led by the famous Prince Red Hugh O'Donnell. Under his leadership, and that of his ally Hugh O'Neill, they advanced to Kinsale and laid siege to the English forces in anticipation of a Spanish invasion. En route, they implanted some O'Donnell kinsmen in Ardfert and Lixnaw to protect the territories of their ally, FitzMaurice, Lord of Kerry. The Battle of Kinsale was lost in 1601, heralding the end of the Gaelic order and Brehon Laws in Ireland, and the completion of the Elizabethan conquest. Following the Treaty of Mellifont of 1603 the new King James I pardoned Rory O'Donnell and created him Earl of Tyrconnell in the Irish peerage.
Rory then joined in the Flight of the Earls in 1607, which led to the title becoming attainted in 1614, and Tyrconnell and Ulster being colonised in the Plantation of Ulster. He died in exile in Rome on 28 July 1608.
Upon Rory O'Donnell's death in 1608, his son Hugh, who took the additional name Albert at his confirmation, under the patronage of Archduke Albert, succeeded to the title as 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell and thus the last titular earl of Tyrconnell was this Rory's son Hugh Albert, who died without heirs in 1642, and who by his will appointed Hugh Balldearg O'Donnell his heir. To a still elder branch belonged Daniel O'Donnell, a general of the Irish Brigade in the French service, whose father, Turlough, was a son of Hugh Duff O'Donnell, brother of Manus, son of an earlier Hugh Duff. Daniel served in the French army in the wars of the period, fighting against Duke of Marlborough at the battles of Oudenarde and Malplaquet at the head of an O'Donnell regiment.