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Siobhán Maguire

{{Short description|Gaelic Irish noblewoman (died 1600)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{infobox noble

| name = Siobhán Maguire

| title = Baroness Dungannon

| CoA =

| tenure =

| predecessor =

| successor =

| death_date = 1600

| death_place = Ireland

| burial_place = Donegal Abbey

| spouse = {{Unbulleted list

| {{marriage|Matthew O'Neill, 1st Baron Dungannon||1558|end=d}}

| {{marriage|Henry O'Neill|||end=d}}

| {{marriage|Eoin O'Gallagher||1595|end=d}}

}}

| father = Cúconnacht Maguire

| death =

}}

Siobhán Maguire, Baroness Dungannon (also anglicised Joan Maguire; died 1600) was a Gaelic Irish noblewoman, perhaps best known as the biological mother of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone.

She held a prominent political role, and was considered "head and counsel of advice to the gentlemen and chiefs of Ulster".{{Sfn|O'Neill|2021|p=261}}

Biography

Her father was Cúconnacht Maguire, Lord of Fermanagh.{{Sfn|Walsh|1930|p=22}}{{Cite journal |last=Morley |first=Vincent |date=October 2009 |title=Mág Uidhir (Maguire), Cú Chonnacht Óg ('an Comharba') |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/mag-uidhir-maguire-cu-chonnacht-og-comharba-a5370 |url-status=live |journal=Dictionary of Irish Biography |doi=10.3318/dib.005370.v1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240603191334/https://www.dib.ie/biography/mag-uidhir-maguire-cu-chonnacht-og-comharba-a5370 |archive-date=3 June 2024 |access-date=12 August 2024}}{{Sfn|Cokayne|1896|p=449}} On 8 October 1537, Cúconnacht was murdered on the island of Craghan in Lough Erne.

Siobhán was married three times. Her first husband was Feardorcha "Matthew" O'Neill, 1st Baron Dungannon.{{Sfn|Walsh|1930|p=22}} Their children included Brian{{Cite journal |last=O'Byrne |first=Emmett |author-link=Emmett O'Byrne |date=October 2009 |title=O'Neill (Ó Néill), Brian |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/oneill-o-neill-brian-a6947 |journal=Dictionary of Irish Biography |access-date=12 May 2024}}{{Sfn|Cokayne|1896|p=449}} and Hugh.{{Sfn|Walsh|1930|p=22}}{{Sfn|Canny|2004|p=837}} Matthew also had two sons named Cormac and Art.{{Cite web |last=O'Byrne |first=Emmet |date=October 2009 |editor1-last=McGuire |editor1-first=James |editor2-last=Quinn |editor2-first=James |title=O'Neill (Ó Neill), Matthew (Feardorcha) |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/oneill-o-neill-matthew-feardorcha-a6954 |access-date=21 March 2022 |website=Dictionary of Irish Biography}} Historian John O'Hart referred to Cormac and Art as illegitimate (i.e. not Siobhán's children).{{Sfn|O'Hart|1892|p=723}} Conversely, historian Emmett O'Byrne stated that all four of Matthew's sons were legitimate.

Matthew became involved in a succession dispute with his half-brother Shane.{{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 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926084624/https://www.dib.ie/biography/oneill-hugh-a6962 |archive-date=26 September 2023 |access-date=3 May 2024}} Matthew was killed in 1558Walsh 1996, p. 20.{{Sfn|Walsh|1930|p=22}} by Shane's foster family,{{Cite journal |last=Brady |first=Ciaran |date=October 2009 |title=O'Neill, Shane (Seaán) |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/oneill-shane-seaan-a6966 |url-status=live |journal=Dictionary of Irish Biography |doi=10.3318/dib.006966.v1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240513110036/https://www.dib.ie/biography/oneill-shane-seaan-a6966 |archive-date=13 May 2024 |access-date=26 June 2024}}{{Sfn|Brady|2015|p=28}} placing heirs Brian and Hugh in a dangerous situation.{{sfn|Marshall|1907|pp=6–7}}{{sfn|Canny|2022|p=40}} At some point between May and August 1558, English statesman Sir Henry Sidney organised the retrieval of the two boys, and they briefly stayed at his Dublin residence{{sfn|Canny|2022|p=40}} before being fostered by the English Hovenden family. Brian and Hugh were raised by Giles Hovenden and his second wife Joan Walshe.{{sfn|Canny|2022|p=40}} Brian was assassinated on Shane's orders in 1562. Hugh returned to Ulster in 1568,{{sfn|McGinty|2013|p=16}} a year after Shane's death.{{Sfn|McNeill|1911|p=109}}

Siobhán remarried to Henry O'Neill of the Fews,{{Sfn|Cokayne|1896|p=449}}{{Sfn|Walsh|1930|p=22}} son of Feidhlimidh Ruadh. Their son, Turlogh MacHenry O'Neill, died on 24 February 1639/1640. Henry was probably dead in 1572.{{Sfn|Walsh|1930|p=22}}

Her third husband was Eoin McToole O'Gallagher,Morgan 1993, p. 118.{{Sfn|Walsh|1930|p=22}} chief advisor to the O'Donnell clan of Tyrconnell.{{Cite journal |last=Morgan |first=Hiram |author-link=Hiram Morgan |date=October 2009 |title=O'Donnell, 'Red' Hugh (Ó Domhnaill, Aodh Ruadh) |url=https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.006343.v1 |journal=Dictionary of Irish Biography |doi=10.3318/dib.006343.v1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240419052205/https://www.dib.ie/biography/odonnell-red-hugh-o-domhnaill-aodh-ruadh-a6343 |archive-date=19 April 2024}} O'Gallagher was a major adherent to tanist Hugh Roe O'Donnell during the 1580–1592 Tyrconnell succession dispute.{{Sfn|Morgan|1993|pp=124, 130}} In 1588 O'Gallagher went to Lord Deputy William FitzWilliam on a promise of safe conduct, but he was imprisoned instead.{{Sfn|Morgan|1993|p=163}} The covetous FitzWilliam believed that O'Gallagher possessed treasure taken from the Spanish Armada.{{Sfn|McGinty|2013|pp=26–27}} O'Gallagher's imprisonment also had political motivations due to his support of Hugh Roe—the government sought to stop Hugh Roe from gaining power.{{Sfn|Morgan|1993|pp=124, 130}} Siobhán and her son Hugh lobbied for O'Gallagher's release, but O'Gallagher remained captive until 1594.{{Sfn|Morgan|1993|pp=|p=130|ps=. fn. 149.}} O'Gallagher died shortly after his release from Dublin Castle in 1595.{{Sfn|Walsh|1930|p=22}}

Siobhán was involved in the Nine Years' War.McGettigan 2005, pp. 73–74. Her son Hugh was the leader of the Irish confederacy during the war. She present at a dinner at Lifford in May 1595, which was in the honour of Spanish captain Alonso Cobos, who had recently arrived to assess the situation in Ireland and prepare the confederates for upcoming Spanish reinforcements.

Siobhán died in 1600. She was buried in Donegal Abbey, where her father had been interred in 1537.{{Sfn|Walsh|1930|p=22}}

References

= Citations =

= Sources =

{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}

  • {{Cite book |last=Burke |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard Burke |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_K3MaAAAAYAAJ/ |title=A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire |date=1866 |publisher=Harrison |edition=New |location=London |oclc=11501348}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Brady |first=Ciaran |url=https://archive.org/details/shaneoneill0000brad/ |title=Shane O'Neill |date=2015 |publisher=University College Dublin Press for the Historical Association of Ireland |isbn=978-1-91082005-6 |edition=New |location=Dublin |orig-date=1st pub. 1996}}
  • {{Cite encyclopedia |title=O'Neill, Hugh [Aodh O'Neill], second earl of Tyrone (1583–1616) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0198613911/page/837/ |last=Canny |first=Nicholas |date=2004 |editor1-last=Matthew |editor1-first=Colin |volume=41 |pages=837–845 |isbn=0-19-861391-1 |editor1-link=Colin Matthew |editor2-last=Harrison |editor2-first=Brian |editor2-link=Brian Harrison (historian) |url-access=registration}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Canny |first=Nicholas |date=7 June 2022 |title=Hugh O'Neill in Irish historical discourse, c.1550–2021 |journal=Irish Historical Studies |language=en |volume=46 |issue=169 |pages=25–51 |doi=10.1017/ihs.2022.2 |issn=0021-1214 |doi-access=free}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Cokayne |first=George Edward |author-link=George Edward Cokayne |url=https://archive.org/details/completepeerage07cokahrish/ |title=Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant |date=1896 |publisher=George Bell and Sons |edition=1st |volume=VII |location=London |oclc=1180891114}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Marshall |first=John J. |date=1907 |title=The Hovendens: Foster Brothers of Aodh O'Neill, Prince of Ulster (Earl of Tireoghan) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20566288 |journal=Ulster Journal of Archaeology |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=4–21 |issn=0082-7355 |jstor=20566288}}
  • {{Cite book |last=McGettigan |first=Darren |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HodnAAAAMAAJ |title=Red Hugh O'Donnell and the Nine Years War |publisher=Four Courts Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-84682-485-2 |location=Dublin}}
  • {{Citation |last=McGinty |first=Matthew |title=The Development and Dynamics of the Relationship between Hugh O'Neill and Red Hugh O'Donnell |date=2013 |journal= |pages=1–69 |url=https://www.academia.edu/9711492}}
  • {{cite EB1911|last=McNeill|first=Ronald John|wstitle=O'Neill|volume=20|pages=107–111}}
  • {{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'Hart |first=John |author-link=John O'Hart |url=https://archive.org/details/irishpedigrees00unkngoog/ |title=Irish Pedigrees: Or, the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation |date=1892 |publisher=James Duffy & Co. |edition=5th |volume=I |location=Dublin |oclc=7239210}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=O'Neill |first=James |date=2021 |title=Spouses, spies and subterfuge: the role and experience of women during the Nine Years War (1593–1603) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3318/priac.2021.121.02|jstor=10.3318/priac.2021.121.02|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature |volume=121C |pages=249–272 |doi=10.3318/priac.2021.121.02 |issn=0035-8991|hdl=10468/11583 |hdl-access=free }}
  • {{Cite book |last=Walsh |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Walsh (priest) |url=https://www.seekingmyroots.com/members/files/G004983.pdf |title=The Will and Family of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone [with an Appendix of Genealogies] |publisher=Sign of the Three Candles |year=1930 |editor-last=Walsh |editor-first=Paul |location=Dublin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240504221920/https://www.seekingmyroots.com/members/files/G004983.pdf |archive-date=4 May 2024 |url-status=live}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Walsh |first=Micheline Kerney |author-link=Micheline Kerney Walsh |url=https://archive.org/details/exileofirelandhu0000wals/mode/2up |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}}{{refend}}

Category:1600 deaths

Category:16th-century Irish women

Category:People of Elizabethan Ireland

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

Category:O'Neill dynasty