Conn O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone

Conn Bacach O'Neill was the son of Conn Mór O'Neill, King of Tír Eógain (Tyrone), and Lady Eleanor Fitzgerald. Con Mor O'Neill was the son of Henry Ó Néill, King of Tír Eógain. Lady Eleanor Fitzgerald was the daughter of Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Kildare. Con Bacach O'Neill was the first of the Ó Néills whom the English, in their attempts to subjugate Ireland in the 16th century, brought to the front as leaders of the native Irish. His father, the King of Tír Eógan, was murdered in 1493 by his brother.

Conn, became chief of the Tír Eoghain branch of the Ó Néills (Cenél nEógain) c. 1519 after the death of his uncle. At that time, to assume the title The O'Neill Mór, meant one assumed control over the entire Ó Néill nation. When his kinsman Kildare became viceroy in 1524, Ó Néill consented to act as his swordbearer in ceremonies of state; but his allegiance was a personal matter, and while ready enough to give verbal assurances of loyalty, he could not be persuaded to readily give hostages to later lord Deputies as security for his conduct.

By 1534, several excommunications had been pronounced against Conn by the archbishop of Armagh. That year diverse followers of Conn raided the archiepiscopal manor in Armagh, inflicting harm on its custodian, Senekin McDugan, with Conn ordering the revenues to be paid to the excommunicated clergyman John O'Corr and his brethren.[1] Conn had previously been invoked by the primate as the secular arm in ensuring that no harm came to Senekin McDugan amongst other items, with excommunication and interdict amongst the results of failing to.[2]

A letter dated 16th February remarking on the events has the archbishop given Conn six days to have the "delinquents" reconcile and make satisfaction for the harm they have done otherwise he be likewise declared excommunicated for the six days following and all places he betook to placed under interdict until the archbishop ordered otherwise.[1]

With the attainder of the Earl of Kildare and following rebellion, Conn sided with his in-laws the FitzGeralds. An alliance referred to as the Geraldine League sought the restoration of the heir of the FitzGerald lordship without interference from King Henry VIII of England. That rebellion was stoked with the idea of casting off England's Protestant church in Ireland, to the point that Pope Paul III wrote to Conn personally, calling him "King of our Realm in Ireland", encouraging him to fight King Henry in 1538.

O'Neill travelled to London to submit to Henry VIII the newly established King of Ireland. This was part of a major policy of surrender and regrant in which Gaelic lords formally acknowledged the Crown's authority.

After Tír Eógain was invaded in 1541 by Sir Anthony St Leger, the lord deputy, Conn and the Geraldine League were defeated and he made his submission. Conn delivered up his son Phelim Caoch as a hostage. He attended a parliament held at Trim, and, crossing to England, became a Protestant, and made his submission at Greenwich to Henry VIII. Henry created him earl of Tyrone for life, and presented him with money and a valuable gold chain. He was also made a privy councillor in Ireland, and received a grant of lands within the Pale called Balgriffin.

This event created a deep impression in Ireland, where Ó Néill's submission to the English king, and his acceptance of an English title, were resented by his clansmen and dependents. The rest of the earl's life was mainly occupied by endeavours to maintain his influence, and by an undying feud with his younger son Shane, arising out of his transaction with Henry VIII. For not only did the nomination of Ó Néill's reputed son Matthew (Ir. Feardorcha) as his heir with the title of baron of Dungannon by the English king conflict with the Irish custom of tanistry, which employed derbfine to define strict rules of direct relationship within male blood lines to regulate qualification for the chieftainship of the Irish clans, but Matthew, whose claim to being an actual son of Conn Ó Néill was in considerable doubt, was at best illegitimate and at worst simply an adoptee[3][4] favoured against his own sons by Conn for his mother's sake. Feardorcha's mother Alison was Conn's most recent mistress and her son was publicly acknowledged to have been fathered sixteen years before by her husband, a Dundalk blacksmith.[5] Shane, Conn's eldest living legitimate son after the assassination of Phelim Caoch by an adherent of Feardorcha, was not the man to submit tamely to any invasion of his right of succession. The fierce family feud in which Feardorcha was strongly supported by the Dublin Castle administration was only terminated when Feardorcha was murdered by agents of Shane in 1558; Conn dying about a year later.

Conn's grandson Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone.

Conn was twice married and had numerous sons. His first wife was Lady Alice Fitzgerald, daughter of Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare and Conn's first cousin.[6] His known sons were Phelim Caoch O'Neill. "Caoch" was the nickname for someone with poor eyesight or "the blind". In early 1542 'The son of O'Neill (Felim Caech, son of Con, son of Con) was killed with one cast of a javelin by MacDonnell Gallowglagh" according to the entry recording his death in the Annals of the Four Masters of Ireland.,[7] just prior to his father's submission to Henry VIII.

His second wife was Sorcha O'Neill, daughter of Hugh Oge O'Neill, chief of the O'Neills of Clandeboye. Sources differ in regards to the mother of Shane. Some stating he was the son of Conn and Sorcha[8] and some stating he was from Conn and Lady Alice Fitzgerald[9]. Conn claimed an illegitimate son named Matthew or Ferdocha "the dark one" with Allison Kelly, the widowed wife of a blacksmith in Dundalk. Parenting aside, it was this Matthew that Conn designated as his heir to the English titles. He became the Baron of Dungannon when Conn became the Earl of Tyrone. This act caused great angst within the O'Neill clan and eventually leading to civil war and the death of Matthew at the instigation of his half brother Shane. As well an illegitimate daughter of Conn married the celebrated Sorley Boy MacDonnell, the man who eventually took part in the death of Shane O'Neill himself. His family spread throughout Ireland, Scotland, Europe and the New World during the downfall of the Gaelic Order, and today there are numerous families with a direct descent from Conn.

At his death, Conn's lands and family were in turmoil; however, at the peak of his lengthy reign, he was the most powerful Irish king. He was known throughout Europe as a strong and able leader, a hearty warrior, and looked to by the Catholic world as a bastion of strength against the English crown, despite his conversion to the Protestant faith.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "O'Neill". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Annals of the Four Masters, see 1519, 1542, 1568
• State Papers of Ireland, see Tudor Papers