Hugh Roe O'Donnell

Hugh Roe O'Donnell (Irish: Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill), also known as Red Hugh O'Donnell (30 October 1572 – 10 September 1602), was a sixteenth-century Irish clan chief, Lord of Tyrconnell, and senior leader during the rising of the Irish clans against English rule in Ireland known as the Nine Years War (1593-1602). While Hiram Morgan has contemptuously dubbed Hugh Roe O'Donnell, "a counter-reformation Irish dynast living in the world of Machiavelli's Prince rather than The Cattle-Raid of Cooley", Morgan also concedes that primary sources other than the Elizabethan era English officials who wrote the Calendar of State Papers depict Hugh Roe as a man who genuinely believed in and lived by the traditional code of conduct demanded of an Irish clan chief. For this reason, Hugh Roe remains an iconic figure in the history of Irish nationalism and has recently drawn comparisons in the Spanish news media to both El Cid and William Wallace.

Hugh Roe was born near what is now Lifford, County Donegal into a very ancient and powerful family of the Gaelic nobility of Ireland (Irish: flaith). As the son of Sir Hugh O'Donnell, Chief of the Name of Clan O'Donnell, Hugh Roe claimed descent through his paternal line, via the lineage of Conall Gulban (died c. 464 A.D.), from the Pre-Christian High King of Ireland Niall of the Nine Hostages. Through his mother, Iníon Dubh, Hugh Roe was also a descendant of the first 6 Scottish Chiefs of Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg and from Somerled (d. 1164), the first Lord of the Isles and common ancestor of Clan Donald, Clan MacDougall, Clan MacRory, and Clan MacAlister. Through his additional maternal descent from the marriage between John of Islay, Lord of the Isles and Princess Margaret of Scotland, Hugh Roe was also descended from Scottish Kings Robert the Bruce and Robert II, the first monarch from the House of Stuart. He is sometimes also known as Aodh Ruadh II or Red Hugh II, especially in his native County Donegal.

After his engagement or marriage at the age of 15 to the daughter of Hugh O'Neill of Tyrone and elevation to the position of Tanist (heir apparent) to his father, Sir Hugh O'Donnell, the Chief of Clan O'Donnell, the English Government was terrified of the potential threat Hugh Roe posed, particularly through his familial links to the many Highland clans of Scotland. The Lord Deputy accordingly arranged for Hugh Roe's kidnapping and four-year imprisonment without trial in Dublin Castle, while covertly backing regime change in Donegal. Following a successful escape shortly before Christmas Day 1591 and the temporary resolution of the lengthy succession dispute within the derbhfine of the O'Donnell dynasty Hugh Roe was inaugurated as Chief of the Name of Clan O'Donnell and Lord of Tír Chonaill at the Rock of Doon in May 1592.

Along with his father-in-law Hugh O'Neill of Tyrone, Hugh Roe led a rising of the Irish clans in the Nine Years' War; motivated firstly by determination to permanently end the religious persecution of the Catholic Church in Ireland by Queen Elizabeth I and her officials. As a further means to achieving that end, O'Donnell and O'Neill also sought the political independence of the Kingdom of Ireland with Archduke Albrecht VII of the House of Habsburg as High King. Hugh Roe led an army of the Irish clans to victory in the Battle of Curlew Pass. After the crushing defeat of Gaelic Ireland at the 1602 Siege of Kinsale, Hugh Roe travelled to Spain to seek badly needed reinforcements from King Philip III.

Unsuccessful, he died at Simancas Castle, was buried, similarly to Christopher Columbus, inside the Chapel of Wonders at the Convent of St. Francis, Valladolid, and was succeeded as Chief by his younger brother Rory O'Donnell. Hugh Roe's premature death made continued resistance by the Irish clans impossible and the Nine Years War was accordingly ended by the Treaty of Mellifont in 1603.

In Valladolid, the recent search by archaeologists for his remains has drawn international media attention. Since 2022, Valladolid has annually reenacted his 1602 funeral procession in period costumes and with an empty casket draped with an Irish tricolour. Red Hugh O'Donnell's birthday is celebrated every year in his birthplace and plans are currently afoot to erect statues of him in both his native town of Lifford and in Simancas, where he died.

Since 1977, the Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill Guild has been advancing his Cause for Canonization as a Saint by the Roman Catholic Church. His current title is Servant of God.