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[Henry VIII.] gave unto him a chayne of three score poundes and odde ; we payd for his robes and the charges of his crea- tion three score and fyve poundes, tenne shillings, two pens, and we gave him in redy money oon hundreth poundes sterl- ing." Mr. Richey says of his submission to Henry YIII. : "Although Con O'Neill might for himself accept any title from the King of England, he, acting as chief of bis tribe, had no shadow of right to take a grant of all their tribal lands to himself ; but in their eyes the King's granting was simply a nullity." Before long, however. Con regretted his submis- sion, and is said to have cursed any of his posterity who should learn to speak English, sow wheat, or build castles. In 1 55 1, on the accusation of his son, the Baron of Dungannon, he was taken pri- soner and confined in Dublin, whilst his younger sons waged war with the English and with the Baron, and his territories were devastated. Con died of a broken heart in 1559, within the precincts of the Pale. " His death would have been," ac- cording to the Four Masters, " a great cause of regret to Kinel Owen, but for his great age and infirmities, and that he left an heir worthy of him, i. e., John." His wife, by whom he had his son Shane, or John, was Alice, daughter of the 8th Earl of Kildare. His son Feardoragh, or Matthew, Baron of Dungannon, who was killed in battle two years before him, was the reputed offspring of Alison, wife of a Dundalk blacksmith. '34 i-to 174 196 ^^
O'Neill, Shane (John), son of preced- ing, born about 1 500, was from an early age at war with other members of his family. In 1552 he avenged his father's imprisonment by attacking his reputed half- brother, the Baron of Dungannon, and his Anglo-Irish allies, who had already, accord- ing to the state papers, "done notable good service" against him. In 1557 he col- lected a large army and made a raid into TirconneU, but was defeated by the O'Don- nells in Raphoe, near the hill of Binnion. Next year the Baron was killed in an en- counter with some of Shane's forces — no warrant for the statement of an eminent writer that " Shane cut his brother's throat." Shane carried off from Dungan- non Castle his father's plate and other valuables, together with about £800 in money, determined, according to the chro- nicler, "to do what he coulde to destroy the pore country." In 1 559 the old Earl of Tyrone died, and Shane thereupon, in de- fiance of the claims of his nephew, son of the Baron of Dungannon, was elected The O'Neill. This placed him in direct
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opposition to the English crown, which had granted Tyrone to the Baron and his heirs. Mr. Richey says : " The origin of the war with Shane O'Neill was that fruitful cause of mischief, the attempt of the English government to change the chieftaincy of an Irish tribe into an estate in land, and to force it, instead of being elective, to descend according to the rule of the Eng- lish law of inheritance." The policy both of O'Neill and the Government was from the first tolerably clear. He desired to keep in check the powerful O'Donnells, to draw under his influence the various smaller tribes by whom he was surrounded, and thus to maintain himself as supreme lord in Ulster; whilst the Government sought to prevent the aggrandizement of any particular chief. Soon after assuming the chieftaincy, Shane engaged in a con- spiracy of the Geraldines ; but the feeble- ness of the Government prevented active steps being taken against him. In Febru- ary 1559, the Deputy, Sir Henry Sidney, desired a meeting at Dundalk, which Shane declined until Sir Henry consented to be god father to one of his children. The ceremony over, they entered into confer- ence, when Shane boldly gave his reasons for opposing the Government, and the Deputy advised him to rest quiet until the matter was considered by the Queen. Elizabeth and her council decided : " We think most meet, especially for the prefer- ment of the person legitimate in blood, and next for that he is thereof in quiet possession, that the Deputy should allow him to succeed his father ;" at the same time the Deputy was authorized "to prac- tise with such other our subjects as be neighbours unto him, by reward or other- wise, by whom ye may most probably re- form the said Shane, or otherwise by our force compel him to stand to your order and governance." Shane engaged in a voluminous correspondence relative to a proposed visit to the Queen in London, whilst secret machinations continued on both sides. Elizabeth's representatives privately arranged for a general assault upon him — by the Deputy and the Earl of Kildare on the south, O'Donnell on the north-west, and the Scottish colony of Antrim on the north-east. Suddenly, in May 1 560, Shane appeared in TirconneU, and carried ofi" O'Donnell and his wife, sister of the Earl of Argyle. He imprisoned O'Donnell, and made such successful love to his wife that, through her influence, the Scotch settlers in Antrim, upon whose assistance the English had reUed, were brought to his side. The Lord-Lieutenant (the Earl of Sussex) made an ineffectual 407
