Shane O’Neill: His Power in Ulster
In 1556 Shane came to Dublin and made a submission to the Deputy, but next year there was war again, and Sussex marched up to Armagh ; after which he marched back to Dublin, and all was as before. Shane now interfered in a family dispute amongst the O’Donnells, and supported Hugh Dubh, a younger brother, against Calvach, eldest son of the reigning chief. Shane’s forces were far superior to those of his opponents, but over-confidence brought destruction to them.
They were encamped on the shores of Lough Swilly. Calvach O’Donnell sent two spies into their camp, who reported to their own leader the disposition of the O’Neill forces, and the careless watch which was kept. The O’Donnells made a night attack, and Shane’s army, taken by surprise, was defeated with great slaughter. He himself barely escaped, and his splendid black horse, ” Son of the Eagle,” said to be the finest horse in Ireland, was captured.
In 1558 Matthew, Baron of Dungannon, was slain. Shane maintained that he fell in fair fight, but the English authorities say that Shane murdered him, or caused him to be murdered. Of Matthew’s four young sons, the second, Hugh, was destined to attain “celebrity greater than even that of his uncle, Shane.” Next year (1559), Conn Bacach died. On his deathbed he pronounced a curse, it is said, on any of his posterity who should learn English, build a house or sow corn.
To build a house, he declared, was ” to make a nest to be beaten out of it ” ; to sow corn was to ” feed the foreigner.” He was thinking, doubtless, of the borderlands of his territory, which had so often been raided by the English and the crops destroyed. It can scarcely have been a deliberate declaration of policy. If it was, it was little heeded. The people of Tir Owen dwelt in comfortable houses, and the fields were well tilled. Such, indeed, was the quantity of ” butter, corn and victuals ” found by one army of English invaders, that they could not carry them off, but had to burn them in the houses where they lay.
Conn was dead, the clansmen assembled at Tullahogue, the inauguration place of the O’Neills. When Shane stood on the ancient stone, and the straight, white wand, emblematic of the pure and even justice which he should render to friend and foe alike, had been placed in his hand, and he had been proclaimed ” O’Neill ” by every sub-chief and cleric present, doubtless he felt far prouder than his father had done, when, over in England, the King had girt on his sword, and the herald cried aloud his title as Earl of Tyrone.
Shane was now by far the most powerful chief in Ulster; his territory was at peace and well administered, and none of his sub-chiefs dared to dispute his authority. Sir Henry Sydney, the Deputy, with difficulty persuaded Shane to meet and confer with him ; but, when the interview actually took place, he found the Irish chief friendly and reasonable.
Shane argued that, under the English law, he certainly had a right, as eldest legitimate son, to his father’s lands ; under the Brehon law his position was equally clear; he was the chief chosen by the clan. Sydney, writing to the Queen (Elizabeth), confesses that he knew not what to reply to all this. He thought it best, however, to be civil. He assured Shane that he would bring the whole matter before her Majesty. Then he accepted Shane’s hospitality, and consented to be godfather of his newly-born son. Finally, O’Neill and the Lord Deputy ” departed in a very friendly manner ” one from another.
Amongst the many mistakes made by the English Government, in Tudor days and later, in their Irish policy, not the least disastrous was the frequent change of Viceroys. No sooner had a Lord Deputy begun to acquire some knowledge of the country which he was to administer than he was recalled, and a successor appointed and sent fresh from England. Each Deputy had his own policy ; in most cases the exact reverse of that of his predecessor. So it happened in this case.
