Iníon Dubh

Finola MacDonald, styled after her marriage as Dame Finola Ó Domhnaill or Finola, Lady Ó Domhnaill, and better known by the Irish nickname Iníon Dubh (pronounced in both Scots Gaelic and Ulster Irish as 'In-neen Doo'), was queen consort of Tyrconnell (fl. 1570–1608). She was the daughter of Séamus Mac Dhòmhnaill, 6th Laird of Dunnyveg (James MacDonald, 6th Laird of Dunnyveg), and his wife, Lady Agnes MacDonald (née Campbell), and became the second wife of Sir Aodh mac Maghnusa Ó Domhnaill (Sir Hugh McManus O'Donnell), king of Tyrconnell. She was the mother of eight children, including four sons. Her offspring included Hugh Roe O'Donnell, Rory, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and Cathbarr O'Donnell.

Background

The daughter of James MacDonald, 6th Laird of Dunnyveg, and Lady Agnes (née Campbell) MacDonald,[1] Iníon Dubh (pronounced 'In-neen Doo') was raised at the Stuart court in the Kingdom of Scotland, and her powerful connections ensured a healthy recruitment of Scottish mercenaries to O'Donnell's armies after her marriage to him in around 1570.[1] She bore four sons, including the last two reigning Kings of Tyrconnell, Hugh and Rory. When her husband, Sir Hugh, grew senile in his old age, she took over the effective leadership of the territory. She is described in the Annals of the Four Masters as "like the mother of Machabees who joined a man's heart to a woman's thought".[2]

Political activity

In 1587, her eldest son, Hugh Roe O'Donnell, was kidnapped and imprisoned in Dublin Castle. In his absence, she devoted herself to defending her son's claim to the chieftaincy. In 1588 she had her nephew, Hugh Gavelach O'Neill, assassinated by her entourage of Highland Scots, following an attempted coup d'etat on his part. In 1590, a son by her husband's first marriage, Sir Domhnall Dubh Ó Domhnaill, attempted to seize power but was defeated and killed in Battle of Doire Leathan. Throughout this period she made repeated attempts to secure Red Hugh's release or escape from Dublin Castle.[1]

When Red Hugh finally escaped in 1592, she bought off the remaining claimant, Niall Garve O'Donnell (Niall Garbh Ó Domhnaill), and persuaded her husband to abdicate in their son's favour. Historian Hiram Morgan notes that the election of Red Hugh as The O'Donnell Chief of the Name in 1592 was "a stage managed affair in which the influence of his mother was paramount".[3]

She retired to Kilmacrennan. In 1608, with all her sons dead, she implicated her son-in-law, Niall Garve, in plotting against King James I and saw him sent to the Tower of London, where he later died. Her date of death is unknown. In her later years, she also maintained Mongavlin Castle, a small fortress on the banks of the River Foyle, as a residence just south of St Johnston, The Laggan, East Donegal.

O'Donnell family tree

References
  1. Hill, J. Michael. THE RIFT WITHIN CLAN IAN MORE: THE ANTRIM AND DUNYVEG MACDONNELLS, 1590-1603 (1 January 1993), Sixteenth Century Journal; ASIN: B007M36E1C.
  2. Highley, Christopher (1997), Shakespeare, Spenser, and the Crisis in Ireland, Cambridge University Press, p. 103, ISBN 978-0-521-58199-8
  3. Morgan, Hiram (1999). Tyrone's Rebellion. Rochester, NY: Boydell & Brewer. p. 133. ISBN 0-85115-683-5.
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