Red Hugh O’Donnell (c.1571 – 1602) son of Sir Hugh O’Donnell and Inghean Dubh
Doe Castle, near Creeslough, Co. Donegal was the seat of the MacSweeney family, who built the castle in the 16th century. Nicknamed “MacSweeney of the Battleaxe”, they were a violent and tempestuous family for whom murder or treachery held no scruple. It was to Doe that Inghean Dubh, wife of Hugh Roe O’Donnell, sent her teenage son, Red Hugh, to be trained in the arts: literature, music, swordsmanship, endurance, horsemanship and indeed all such educational pursuits as befitted a young Irish prince. Strangely, the personality of Red Hugh seems to have survived the centuries, bestowing on his memory the near-magical qualities of CuChulain and Fionn MacCumhail. This enchantment is something impossible to define, but perhaps more than anything else, it is the idealism they lived for – and their readiness to fight for – that has captivated the hearts of a nation.
It was at nearby Rathmullan that the young Red Hugh O’Donnell was kidnapped by the British and brought in chains to Dublin where he was to endure six years of the most appalling torture and suffering before he finally escaped. It happened this way:
In order to bring Donegal into subjection Sir John Perrot, the British gauleiter*, decided they would have to destroy the O’Donnell armies. This however, would take several thousand soldiers and he just did not have such a force at his disposal at that time. However, he thought of another plan. ‘Give me permission,’ he said to his masters, ‘to try a device I have in hand. I will quieten O’Donnell for you without the loss of one man. If my trick fails we can try force afterwards.’ Perrot was given his head and he bribed a sea captain, appropriately enough named Skipper, to take fifty soldiers on board his ship and sail to Rathmullan with a cargo of white wine, pretending they came from Spain. Young Red Hugh, then only fifteen years of age, was staying at Rathmullan castle with the MacSweeneys, and he innocently went on board with a few friends (Daniel MacSweeney and Hugh O’Gallagher) to sample the wine. They were enjoying themselves in the captain’s cabin when suddenly the British soldiers appeared, clapped them in irons and the ship set sail. They were to spend six long years living in terrible conditions, mostly on food they had to beg for through the prison bars.
This certainly had the effect of quietening the O’Donnells, who offered a ransom of €300,000 in today’s money. Inghean Dubh, Red Hugh’s mother, was harbouring twenty-five Spanish Armada survivors, and she offered them in exchange for her son. This offer was accepted and the Spaniards were marched to Dublin to make the exchange. When the British got the Spaniards, they beheaded them on the spot and refused to honour their agreement with Inghean Dubh.
On Christmas night 1591 Red Hugh escaped with Henry and Art O’Neill, sons of Shane O’Neill. They made for Glenmalur, County Wicklow, in bitter winter weather to seek refuge with Fiach MacHugh O’Byrne, but Art O’Neill died from exposure on the way. Red Hugh survived and later made his way to his father’s castle at Ballyshannon, County Donegal. Here physicians amputated his two great toes (frostbite).
His treatment in prison had filled him with a hatred of the British, who were to pay dearly in lives for their inhuman cruelty over the ensuing years.
In May 1592 he was inaugurated as chief of the O’Donnells (click to read about Doon Rock) and before long seized Sligo and overran Connacht. He joined forces with Hugh O’Neill and others and shared in the victory of the Yellow Ford in August 1598, when the English, under Bagenal, suffered a heavy defeat. The Irish cause prospered for the following two years. After the recall of Essex towards the end of 1599 and the arrival of Mountjoy in February 1600, Irish fortunes waned. They had long expected aid from Spain, and in September 1601 a Spanish fleet entered Kinsale, County Cork, with 3,400 troops under Don Juan del Águila. O’Neill and O’Donnell at once marched south, while Mountjoy proceeded to lay siege to the Spaniards in Kinsale.
*gauleiter= 1. An official governing a district under Nazi rule 2. A local or petty tyrant
For photo’s of castles and such see Irish or O’Donnell in the photo section.
Irish History and Genealogy 