Mary Stuart O'Donnell

Mary O'Donnell was the daughter of Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and his wife Bridget FitzGerald, daughter of the 12th Earl of Kildare.{{Sfn|Silke|2006|p=|ps=. "Hugh Albert O'Donnell, born [to Rory and Bridget] about October 1606, was the only son of this marriage, Mary Stuart O'Donnell being born about a year later."}}{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=59}}

Rory was tanist to his elder brother Hugh Roe O'Donnell during the Nine Years' War (1593-1603).{{Cite journal |last=O'Byrne |first=Emmett |author-link=Emmett O'Byrne |date=October 2009 |title=O'Donnell (Ó Domhnall), Ruaidhrí |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/odonnell-o-domhnall-ruaidhri-a6701#:~:text=O'Donnell%20(%C3%93%20Domhnall),%20Ruaidhr%C3%AD%20(1575%E2%80%93,the%20Western%20Isles%20of%20Scotland. |journal=Dictionary of Irish Biography |language=en |doi=10.3318/dib.006701.v1 |access-date=2024-04-15|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}{{Sfn|O'Neill|2017|p=|ps=}} Rory succeeded Hugh Roe when the latter died in 1602, but was unable to secure an Irish victory. In December he surrendered to English forces at Athlone. Rory was forced to renounce claims of land, and was bitterly discontented with his newfound financial difficulties and reduced status.

Rory married Bridget FitzGerald after the war.{{sfn|Meehan|2006|p=53}} Their only son, Hugh Albert, was born in October 1606.{{Sfn|Silke|2006|p=|ps=. "Hugh Albert O'Donnell, born [to Rory and Bridget] about October 1606, was the only son of this marriage, Mary Stuart O'Donnell being born about a year later."}} Due to increasing hostility from the English government, Rory fled Ireland in September 1607 whilst Bridget was pregnant with their second child.{{sfn|Casway|2003|p=59}}{{Cite journal |last=McGurk |first=John |date=August 2007 |title=The Flight of the Earls: escape or strategic regrouping? |url=https://www.historyireland.com/the-flight-of-the-earls-escape-or-strategic-regrouping/ |journal=History Ireland |volume=15 |issue=4}} It was apparently a "snap decision",{{Cite journal |last=Morgan |first=Hiram |author-link=Hiram Morgan |date=September 2014 |title=O'Neill, Hugh |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/oneill-hugh-a6962 |journal=Dictionary of Irish Biography |doi=10.3318/dib.006962.v1 |access-date=3 May 2024|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }} and as Bridget was staying at her paternal grandmother's Maynooth estate at the time, far away from the point of departure in Rathmullan, she was left behind.{{sfn|Casway|2003|p=59}} Rory was joined by about ninety people - his extended family (including Hugh Albert), the family of wartime ally Hugh O'Neill, and various followers.

When Bridget learned of her husband's departure, she was expected to deliver the baby within two weeks. Rory did not intend to abandon her, assuming she would reunite with him in Continental Europe at a later time.{{sfn|Casway|2003|p=59}} According to Rory's messenger Owen MacGrath, "[Rory's flight was not] for want of love... if [he] had known sooner of his going, he would have taken [Bridget] with him."{{sfn|Casway|2003|p=59-60}} Nevertheless, nineteen-year-old Bridget was distressed{{sfn|Casway|2003|p=59}} and furious at her husband leaving with no warning.{{Cite journal |last=Clavin |first=Terry |date=October 2009 |title=O'Donnell, Mary Stuart |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/odonnell-mary-stuart-a6694 |journal=Dictionary of Irish Biography |doi=10.3318/dib.006694.v1 |access-date=22 July 2024|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}File:Rory O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell.png of Tyrconnell]]MacGrath attempted to persuade Bridget to leave Ireland a few weeks after the flight, though she refused.{{sfn|Casway|2003|p=59-60}} Bridget's mother, Lady Kildare, had advised her to cooperate with the English.{{sfn|Casway|2003|p=59-60}}{{Cite web |last=Bundesen |first=Kristin |date=2021-11-10 |title=Frances Howard Fitzgerald Brooke, Countess of Kildare |url=https://www.kristinbundesen.com/post/frances-howard-fitzgerald-brooke-countess-of-kildare |access-date=2024-07-22 |website=Kristin Bundesen |language=en}} Bridget never saw her husband or son again;{{sfn|Casway|2003|p=60}} Rory died of a fever in 1608.{{Cite journal |last=FitzPatrick |first=Elizabeth |date=August 2007 |title=San Pietro in Montorio, burial-place of the exiled Irish in Rome, 1608-1623 |url=https://www.historyireland.com/san-pietro-in-montorio-burial-place-of-the-exiled-irish-in-rome-1608-1623/ |url-status= |journal=History Ireland |volume=15 |issue=4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301114633/https://www.historyireland.com/san-pietro-in-montorio-burial-place-of-the-exiled-irish-in-rome-1608-1623/ |archive-date=1 March 2024}}{{Cite journal |last=O'Byrne |first=Emmett |author-link=Emmett O'Byrne |date=October 2009 |title=O'Donnell (Ó Domhnall), Ruaidhrí |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/odonnell-o-domhnall-ruaidhri-a6701#:~:text=O'Donnell%20(%C3%93%20Domhnall),%20Ruaidhr%C3%AD%20(1575%E2%80%93,the%20Western%20Isles%20of%20Scotland. |journal=Dictionary of Irish Biography |language=en |doi=10.3318/dib.006701.v1 |access-date=2024-04-15|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}

Mary Stuart O'Donnell was born in London,{{sfn|Ó Fiaich|2001|p=30}} England{{Sfn|Bagwell|1895|p=446}} around 1607.{{Sfn|Silke|2006|p=|ps=. "Hugh Albert O'Donnell, born [to Rory and Bridget] about October 1606, was the only son of this marriage, Mary Stuart O'Donnell being born about a year later."}}{{Cite journal |last=Clavin |first=Terry |date=October 2009 |title=O'Donnell, Mary Stuart |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/odonnell-mary-stuart-a6694 |journal=Dictionary of Irish Biography |doi=10.3318/dib.006694.v1 |access-date=22 July 2024|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }} As an infant, she was presented by Bridget at the English court with a personal appeal to King James VI and I. Bridget sufficiently roused the King with an emotional telling of her plight and financial troubles, and he granted Bridget a pension of £200 from Tyrconnell's escheated estates.{{sfn|Casway|2003|p=60}} He also gave the infant the name "Mary Stuart" after his mother the Queen of Scots,{{Cite journal |last=Clavin |first=Terry |date=October 2009 |title=O'Donnell, Mary Stuart |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/odonnell-mary-stuart-a6694 |journal=Dictionary of Irish Biography |doi=10.3318/dib.006694.v1 |access-date=22 July 2024|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }} and placed her under royal protection.{{sfn|Casway|2003|p=60}} As the daughter of an earl, she was styled as 'Lady Mary'.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

In 1609, Bridget returned to her family's estates in Kildare. Mary was raised there by her mother{{Sfn|Bagwell|1895|p=446}} as a Catholic.{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=72}}

Mary's pension was decreased by £50 after her mother's second marriage (1619).{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=60}}

In 1619, her mother remarried,{{CN|date=November 2024}} and Mary went to live in England with her maternal grandmother for the next few years.{{Sfn|Bagwell|1895|p=446}}{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=72}} She received a generous dowry from the King.

Lady Kildare attempted to anglicise the young girl and proposed to leave Mary her substantial inheritance.{{Sfn|Bagwell|1895|p=446}} However, within a few years, the strong-willed Mary had dismayed her mother's family due to her Catholicism and her failure to marry. Additionally, her pension was often not paid on time, leading to financial troubles.{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=72}} Much to the consternation of her mother's family, she increasingly associated with the young, disaffected Irish Catholics of London.

Lady Kildare had thought that a Protestant husband would resolve Mary's insolent behaviour,{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=72}} but Mary objected to the favoured suitor exactly because of his Protestantism.{{Sfn|Bagwell|1895|p=446}} She was also already in a relationship with Catholic man Dudley "Dualtach" O'Gallagher.

In the summer of 1626, Mary and several friends broke into a London prison{{Efn|Potentially the Tower of London.{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=72}}}} and freed her half-brother Caffar "Con" O'Donnell and her first cousin Hugh O'Rourke,{{Cite journal |last=McGettigan |first=Darren |date=October 2009 |title=O'Donnell, Caffar |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/odonnell-caffar-a2288 |journal=Dictionary of Irish Biography |doi=10.3318/dib.002288.v1|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }} who had recently been incarcerated for refusing to revoke their claims over planted land in Ireland.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} Following this incident, she was ordered to appear before the royal court. She instead opted to go into hiding, then flee London with O'Gallagher during the latter months of 1626.

Disguised as a man{{Sfn|Bagwell|1895|p=446}}{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=|pp=72–73}} named Rudolph Huntley,{{Sfn|O'Donnell|2023|p=33}} and wearing a sword, she got clear of London and after many wanderings arrived in Bristol. She was accompanied by a maid,{{Sfn|Bagwell|1895|p=446}} Anne Baynham,{{Citation needed|date=July 2024|reason=Name needs to be confirmed}} similarly disguised, and by a young "gentilhomme son parent" (most likely O'Gallagher).{{Sfn|Bagwell|1895|p=446}}

At Bristol her sex was suspected; but, according to a Spanish panegyrist, who likens her to various saints, she bribed a magistrate, offered to fight a duel, and made fierce love to another girl.{{CN|date=November 2024}} Two attempts were made to reach Ireland, but the ship was beaten back into the Severn. At last Mary got off in a Dutch vessel, and was carried with her two companions to La Rochelle. She retained her doublet, boots, and sword, and at Poitiers made love to another lady.{{Sfn|Bagwell|1895|p=446}} She may have taken a ship to Cádiz, then moved on to France and finally Brussels.{{CN|date=November 2024}}

It took Mary six weeks to reach Brussels,{{CN|date=November 2024}} and her trip was recorded by a man named Alberto Enriquez.{{Sfn|O'Donnell|2023|p=33}} In all likelihood, his account was written to portray Mary heroically to Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, to whom Mary was appealing for financial support. Enriquez's account described Mary as a devout Catholic seeking safety on the Continent. Enriquez does not mention O'Gallagher's presence - the fact that Mary was travelling with a man of lower status was seen by some as a reason for scandal.{{CN|date=November 2024}}

On her arrival at Brussels in January 1627, Pope Urban VIII wrote her a special congratulatory letter.{{Sfn|Bagwell|1895|p=446}}{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=73}} He praised her "heroic" character and defiance against Protestantism.{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=73}}

Mary met her elder brother, Hugh Albert, for the first time in Brussels.{{Sfn|Bagwell|1895|p=446}}{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=73}} Through his influence, she was received by Isabella's court.{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=73}} Isabella granted her a pension.

File:Hugh Albert O'Donnell 1615 portrait.webp, 10 years of age as a page at the court of Albert VII.]]

However, Mary faced difficulties with her new compatriots when Archbishop of Tuam Florence Conry arranged for her to be married to Shane O'Neill, 3rd Earl of Tyrone, an Irish nobleman who had become a decorated officer in the Spanish army.{{Sfn|Dunlop|1895|p=196}} The relations between the O'Neills and the O'Donnells had become strained after the war's end, and Conry hoped a unifying marriage would allay hostilities between the noble families.{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=73}} Hugh Albert had hoped to unite the families in preparation for a planned invasion of Ireland in 1627.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024|reason=}}

Mary, who had kept her relationship with O'Gallagher secret, anticipated conflict if she rejected the marriage. She secretly wrote to Lord Conway, English Secretary of State, defending her flight from authorities, and proposing that with the right guarantee, she could return to England, and with her, bring Shane into the King's service. This plan came to naught. Historian Jerrold Casway believes that this saga exposes "the hopelessness of her position".{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=73}}

Around 1629, Mary became pregnant, and her relationship with O'Gallagher was exposed. The disgraced couple once again fled, this time from Brussels to Italy.{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=73}} They arrived in Rome in 1630, where she was greeted with admiration as the daughter of the late 1st Earl of Tyrconnell.{{sfn|Casway|2004}}{{Citation needed|date=July 2024|reason=Unable to access this source to confirm that this information is verifiable}}

Mary and O'Gallagher married in Rome. The couple unsuccessfully petitioned the pope for financial help. They later settled in Genoa, where Mary gave birth to a boy.{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=73}}{{Sfn|Bagwell|1895|p=446}}

By this time, her relationship with the Catholic Church and the O'Donnell family had irrevocably broken down. The Church was unwilling to support Mary,{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=73}} and Hugh Albert claimed that Mary was an imposter pretending to be his sister.{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=73}} She had also estranged her elder brother by continuing to seek adventures in men's clothes.{{Sfn|Bagwell|1895|p=446}} Mary and O'Gallagher had to survive on a subsidy from Archduchess Isabella.{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=73}}

The couple found refuge in Vienna,{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=73-74}} where they were treated warmly by Irish Franciscans. In February 1632 Mary wrote to Cardinal Barberini (nephew of Pope Urban VIII) saying that another child was expected.{{Sfn|Bagwell|1895|p=446}}{{Sfn|O'Donnell|2023|p=39}} In 1635, O'Gallagher became a captain in the imperial army, but was killed during his service.{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=73-74}} Her infant son fell ill and died shortly after her husband's passing.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024|reason=}}

Beset by grief and estranged from her family, she travelled Europe once again before eventually settling down in Rome.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024|reason=}} By 1639, Mary was living in Rome,{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=74}} married to "a poor Irish captain".

Nothing more is known of her life after 1639.{{Sfn|Casway|2003|p=74}} She apparently "died in poverty on the continent".{{Sfn|McNeill|1911|p=8}} According to some lore, she was buried in Prague.{{Sfn|O'Donnell|2023|p=39}}

{{O'Donnell family tree}}

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{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite DNB|last=Bagwell|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Bagwell|wstitle=O'Donnell, Rory|volume=41|pages=444–447}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Casway |first=Jerrold |date=2003 |title=Heroines or Victims? The Women of the Flight of the Earls |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20557855 |journal=New Hibernia Review / Iris Éireannach Nua |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=56–74 |issn=1092-3977 |jstor=20557855}}
• {{cite ODNB |last=Casway |first=Jerrold I. |year=2004 ||title=O'Donnell, Lady Mary Stuart (b. 1607?, d. in or after 1639)|id=20557}}
• {{Cite encyclopedia |title=O'Neill, Hugh, third Baron of Dungannon and second Earl of Tyrone 1540?–1616 |encyclopedia=Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=MacMillan and Co. |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/DictionaryOfNationalBiographyVolume42_630/page/n200/ |last=Dunlop |first=Robert |date=1895 |author-link=Robert Dunlop (historian) |editor-last=Lee |editor-first=Sidney |editor-link=Sidney Lee |volume=XLII |pages=188–196 |oclc=8544105}}
• {{Cite journal|last=O'Donnell |first=Francis Martin |url=https://www.academia.edu/126195488 |title=The Flight of the Girls |journal=Journal of the Genealogical Society of Ireland |year=2023 |pages=33–39}}
• {{EB1911|last=McNeill|first=Ronald John|wstitle=O'Donnell|volume=20|pages=6–8}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Meehan |first=Helen |date=2006 |title=The Early 17th Century and Rory O'Donnell |url=https://archive.org/details/da-58 |journal=Donegal Annual |volume=58 |pages=45–66}}
• {{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 ODNB|last=Silke|first=John J.|date=May 2006|title=O'Donnell, Rury , styled first earl of Tyrconnell (1574/5–1608)|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/20559}}

• {{citation |last=Burke |first=Sir Bernard |year=1866 |title=A Genealogical History of the Dormant: Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire |publisher=Harrison |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=K3MaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA410 410]}}
• {{Citation |last=O'Donnell |first=Francis Martin |title=An Irish Princess in Exile |work=The O'Donnells of Tyrconnell - A Hidden Legacy |date=2018 |pages=1–10 |url=https://www.academia.edu/38268198 |author-link=Francis Martin O'Donnell}}
• {{Cite journal|last=Ó Tuathaigh |first=Marie Gleeson |date=2011-03-15 |title=Resolución Varonil or the manly resolve of Countess Mary Stuart O'Donnell |url=https://www.estudiosirlandeses.org/2011/03/resolucion-varonil-or-the-manly-resolve-of-countess-mary-stuart-odonnell/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |journal=Estudios Irlandeses |doi=10.24162/ei2011-2048|pages=83–90|issue=6|doi-access=free }}
• {{Cite journal |last=O'Donnell |first=Francis Martin |date=2004 |title=Wealth of Dignity, Poverty of Destiny - The tragic story of Mary, Princess of Tyrconnell |journal=Ó Domhnaill Abú |issue=32 |issn=0790-7389}}
• {{cite journal |last=Ó Fiaich |first=Tomás |author-link=Tomás Ó Fiaich |year=2001 |editor-last=Cullen |editor-first=Finbar |others=First appeared in 'Léachtaí Cholm Cille' II Stair, 1971. |title=Republicanism and Separatism in the Seventeenth Century |url=http://theirelandinstitute.com/republic/02/pdf/ofiaich002.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=The Republic: A Journal of Contemporary and Historical Debate |pages=25–37 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240615183149/http://theirelandinstitute.com/republic/02/pdf/ofiaich002.pdf |archive-date=15 June 2024}}
• {{Cite book |last=Sadler |first=Mary Anne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YlNnAAAAcAAJ |title=The Daughter of Tyrconnell. A Tale of the Reign of James the First |date=1863 |publisher=D. & J. Sadler & Co. |location=New York |language=en}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Pinkerton |first=William |date=1867 |title=The Last of the O'Neills, Earls of Tyrone |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25502693 |journal=The Journal of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=91–100 |issn=0790-6366 |jstor=25502693}}
• {{Cite book |last=Walsh |first=Micheline Kerney |url=https://archive.org/details/exileofirelandhu0000wals |title=An exile of Ireland, Hugh O'Neill, Prince of Ulster |date=1996 |publisher=Four Courts Press |isbn=978-1-85182-234-8 |location=Dublin}}

{{Flight of the Earls}}

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Category:Daughters of Irish earls

Mary Stuart

Category:17th-century Irish women

Category:1600s births

Category:17th-century deaths

Category:Year of birth uncertain

Category:Year of death missing