Henry Bagenal

Henry Bagenal was born in England, the eldest son of Staffordshire soldier Nicholas Bagenal and his Welsh wife Eleanor Griffith, daughter of Sir Edward Griffith of Penrhyn. His brother was Dudley Bagenal.{{Sfn|Bagenal|1925|p=ix}} Henry Bagenal probably matriculated from Jesus College, Oxford when he was 16 (in 1572 or 1573), but left without taking a degree in order to join his father Sir Nicholas who was then marshal of the army in Ireland. In May 1577, Sir Nicholas was appointed chief commissioner of Ulster, with Henry as his assistant. Bagenal was himself knighted in 1578. He was involved in some military disasters, such as a defeat at Glenmalure on 25 August 1580 when Lord Grey led the troops (with Bagenal one of the commanders of the rear) into battle with Fiach McHugh O'Byrne and Viscount Baltinglass in the Wicklow mountain passes. In 1584, Bagenal was colonel of the garrison at Carrickfergus when 1,300 of Sorley Boy MacDonnell's Scots landed on Rathlin Island. Bagenal attacked but was ambushed at Glenarm and had to retreat.{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1034|title= Bagenal, Sir Henry (c. 1556–1598) |first=J. J. N |last=McGurk |year= 2004 |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/1034 | accessdate=17 August 2007}}

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In May 1586, Bagenal was sent by his father to the court to report. He sought measures to weaken Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, an enhancement of the role of the marshal, and a presidency in Ulster with a shire hall and jail to dispense royal justice. Whilst on his visit, he wrote to Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland (a relative of his wife) on 16 September 1586 to ask whether he had a parliamentary borough to spare; he was elected MP for both Grantham and Anglesey and chose the latter. He returned to Ireland in September 1587 to deputize for his father. He succeeded his father as marshal of the army in Ireland and chief commissioner for Ulster in October 1590, and was sworn of the Privy Council. His proposals for action were not accepted, as a decision had been taken to adopt a conciliatory attempt to O'Neill. To Bagenal's contempt, O'Neill asked for the hand of Bagenal's sister Mabel in marriage; he refused, but they eloped anyway.

On 17 August, the council dismissed Bagenal's claim that O'Neill had conferred with Cormac MacBaron O'Neill and Hugh Roe O'Donnell before the Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits. Bagenal's claims were proven correct by the testimony from captured woman Joan Kelly, who was present at the confederate camps.{{Sfn|O'Neill|2017|p=|pp=173–174}}{{Sfn|O'Neill|2021|p=258}}

In May 1595, Bagenal led an army of 1,750 to relieve the garrison at Monaghan. His forces were attacked by O'Neill and sustained heavy losses. Bagenal was forced to withdraw to Newry and had to be resupplied by sea as O'Neill had blocked the Moyry Pass. Bagenal managed to resupply the Armagh garrison in December 1598 and June 1597, but had more difficulty in resupplying a fort on the Blackwater. In an attempt to do so, he was mortally wounded by O'Neill's forces during Battle of the Yellow Ford in County Armagh. As Bagenal approached O'Neill's trenches, a bullet struck his forehead through his raised visor.{{Sfn|O'Neill|2017|p=76}}{{cite journal|url=https://www.newulsterbiography.co.uk/index.php/home/printPerson/59|title=Henry Bagenal (c. 1556–1598)|journal=Dictionary of Ulster Biography|last=Newmann|author-link=Kate Newmann|first=Kate|access-date=24 July 2024}}

In September 1586 he married Eleanor Savage of Cheshire,{{Sfn|Bagenal|1915|p=24}} daughter of Sir John Savage and Elizabeth Manners, daughter of Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} They had three sons and six daughters. The senior Bagenal line died out in 1712 with the death of Henry's grandson Nicholas Bagenal; the junior but better-known branch in Carlow, who founded Bagenalstown, survived longer.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

Brian Friel's play Making History turns largely on the marriage between Bagenal's sister Mabel and Hugh O'Neill. Mabel and another sister, Mary Barnewall, are major characters in the play. Bagenal himself is mentioned often but does not appear on stage.{{Cite journal |last=Campbell |first=Patrick J. |date=1989 |title=Brian Friel's 'Making History' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29742391 |journal=Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=291–293 |jstor=29742391 |issn=0488-0196}}{{Cite journal |last=Morgan |first=Hiram |author-link=Hiram Morgan |date=August 2007 |title=Theatre Eye: Playing the earl: Brian Friel's Making History |url=https://www.historyireland.com/theatre-eye-playing-the-earl-brian-friels-making-history/ |journal=History Ireland |volume=15 |issue=4}}

In 2021, Irish actor Aidan Gillen was attached to portray Bagenal in the TV series The O'Neill. As of 2024, the series is unproduced.{{Cite web |last=Hopewell |first=John |date=2021-09-13 |title='Game of Thrones' Aidan Gillen, 'Barbarians' Stephen Saint Leger Board Gaelic Epic 'The O'Neill' (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2021/tv/global/aidan-gillen-stephen-saint-leger-the-oneill-1235062220/ |access-date=2024-05-19 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite journal |last=Bagenal |first=Philip H. |date=1915 |title=Sir Nicholas Bagenal, Knight-Marshal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25514389 |journal=The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland |publisher=Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=5–26 |issn=0035-9106 |jstor=25514389}}
• {{Cite book |last=Bagenal |first=Philip H. |url=https://archive.org/details/vicissitudesofan00bage |title=Vicissitudes of an Anglo-Irish Family 1530-1800: A Story of Irish Romance and Tragedy |publisher=Clement Ingleby, At the Sign of the Boar's Head |year=1925 |location=London}}

• {{Cite book |url=http://u3ani.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Ireland-in-Tudor-Times.pdf |title=Ireland in Tudor Times |date= 2013 |editor-last=Gibson |editor-first=Joyce |access-date=23 July 2024}}
• {{Cite book |last=Morgan |first=Hiram |author-link=Hiram Morgan |url=https://archive.org/details/tyronesrebellion0000morg/ |title=Tyrone's Rebellion: The outbreak of the Nine Years' War in Tudor Ireland |date=1993 |publisher=The Boydell Press |isbn=0-85115-683-5 |location=London |url-access=registration}}
• {{Cite book |last=O'Neill |first=James |title=The Nine Years War, 1593–1603: O'Neill, Mountjoy and the Military Revolution |date=2017 |publisher=Four Courts Press |isbn=9781846827549 |location=Dublin |pages=}}
• {{Cite journal |last=O'Neill |first=James |date=January 2021 |title=Spouses, spies and subterfuge: the role and experience of women during the Nine Years War (1593-1603) |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy |volume=121C |pages=249–272 |doi=10.3318/PRIAC.2021.121.02 |jstor=10.3318/priac.2021.121.02 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10468/11583}}
• {{cite DNBSupp|wstitle=Bagnal, Henry |first=Albert Frederick|last=Pollard}}

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Category:1550s births

Category:1598 deaths

Category:Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford

Category:English army officers

Category:English MPs 1586–1587

Category:16th-century English knights

Category:Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for constituencies in Wales

Category:16th-century English soldiers

Category:People of the Nine Years' War (Ireland)

Category:English military personnel killed in action