of James MacDonnell, lord of Cantire, and by her, whom he divorced, he had two sons, Shane Oge, who was slain in battle by Philip O'Reilly in 1581, and Henry, for some time a prisoner in Dublin Castle, who escaped with Hugh Roe O'Donnell [q. v.] in 1592, and was alive in 1615. By Catherine MacLean, wife of Calvagh O'Donnell, whom he apparently married in 1565, he had at least two sons—Art, sometime a prisoner in Dublin Castle, who, escaping in 1592, was frozen to death among the Wicklow mountains; and Hugh Geimhleach ‘of the fetters,’ who is said to have been hanged by Tyrone with his own hand in 1590. He had also a son Con by a daughter of Shane Oge Maguire, who was alive in 1614. Other sons of doubtful origin attributed to him are Brian, Cormac, Edmund, Niall, and Turlough. Judged even by the lax standard of his age, he was a bad man—a glutton, a drunkard, a coward, a bully, an adulterer, and a murderer. He could speak no language except Irish, and was unable even to sign his own name. His views were limited to the aggrandisement of his power in Ulster, but within those limits he displayed some of those qualities that go to make a great ruler. He was treacherous, vindictive, and cruel, but in these respects he was as much sinned against as sinning. His diplomacy was the diplomacy of the age of Catherine de'Medici, but in that diplomacy he was a past master. Coming at a later time, he might have proved a dangerous enemy to England. As it was, the poverty of the crown and the unwillingness of Elizabeth to fritter away her strength in petty quarrels gave him an importance which he would otherwise not have possessed.
[Cal. State Papers, Eliz., Ireland, Foreign and Spanish; Cal. Carew MSS.; Annals of the Four Masters, ed. O'Donovan; Ulster Journal of Archæology, i. 160, ii. 218, iii. 259, vii. 45, ix. 122; Irish Statutes, Dublin, 1765, i. 322; Catalogue of Cottonian MSS.; Irish Genealogies in Harl. MS. 1425; O'Sullivan-Beare's Historiæ Catholicæ Iberniæ Compendium; Hooker's continuation of Holinshed; Hill's MacDonnells of Antrim; Froude's Hist. of England; Bagwell's Ireland under the Tudors; Kilkenny Archæol. Soc. Journal, 4th ser. viii. 449, ix. 53.]
O'NEILL, Sir TURLOUGH LUINEACH (1530?–1595), lord of Tyrone, was styled Luineach from having been fostered by O'Luinigh of Muintir Luinigh in Tyrone; he was son of Niall Conallach O'Neill, a grandson of Art Og O'Neill, a younger brother of Con mor O'Neill, the father of Con, first earl of Tyrone, and was born about 1530. His mother was Rose, daughter of Manus O'Donnell [q. v.] He became tanist when his cousin Shane [q. v.] was elected O'Neill. In 1562, when Shane was detained in England, he tried to supplant him as chief of the clan, and it was probably in pursuit of his aim that on 12 April he waylaid and murdered, between Newry and Carlingford, the young baron of Dungannon, Brian, the son of Mathew or Ferdorach, and brother of Hugh, subsequently second earl of Tyrone [q. v.] His intention to usurp the chieftainship was frustrated by the loyalty of Shane's fosterers, the O'Donnellys, and by the opportune return of Shane himself. His conduct naturally produced a coldness between the two kinsmen, and Sussex took advantage of it to draw Turlough into a combination against Shane. But, finding after a short experience that his alliance with the government was not likely to be productive of much benefit to him, Turlough came to terms with Shane, and after his death in June 1567 was inaugurated O'Neill with the customary ceremonies at Tullaghoge.
Fearing the vengeance of the government, he apologised for his ‘thoughtless’ behaviour, offered to renounce the title of O'Neill, and to prove his loyalty by not entertaining any Scottish mercenaries without license. It was thought best to wink at his misdemeanours, and Turlough, who had not the slightest intention of abandoning either the policy or the pretensions of his predecessor, had time to strengthen his position. To this end he contracted an alliance with O'Donnell, made overtures for a reconciliation with the MacDonnells, offering to marry either the widow or daughter of James MacDonnell, and, in order to mitigate the hostility of the MacQuillins, gave one of his daughters in marriage to Rory Oge MacQuillin. Notwithstanding his protestations of loyalty, there was only one interpretation to be placed upon his conduct, and in June 1568 Sir William Fitzwilliam [q. v.] formed a plan to lay hold of him, which was frustrated by the lord justice's inability to provision his army. Later in the year Turlough met Sir Henry Sidney [q. v.] at the Bann, and created a favourable impression. Rumours were subsequently current of an understanding between him and James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald [q. v.], ‘the arch traitor;’ but Turlough apparently found sufficient to occupy his attention in Ulster. In the summer of the following year (1569) he married Agnes Campbell, widow of James MacDonnell; but the marriage, though it brought him considerable accession of strength from a military point of view, proved in other respects of doubtful advantage. Before long it was reported that he had ‘eaten himself up’ by supporting his new allies, and would gladly be
