20 July 1616: The death in the Holy City of Rome of Aodh[Hugh] O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone OTD. He led the most formidable revolt against the English in Ireland since the partial Conquest of the 12th Century.

The Great O’Neill /Ó Néill Mór was born circa 1550. He was the 2nd son of Matthew O'Neill, reputed illegitimate son of Conn, 1st Earl of Tyrone. O'Neill became a ward of the state and was brought up in the Hovendan household, an Anglo-Irish family, at Balgriffin, outside Dublin, in the Pale. Growing up in an area of English control he had knowledge of English customs and politics. He succeeded his brother, Brian, as baron of Dungannon, when the latter was assassinated in 1562. He was proclaimed the Earl of Tyrone by Queen Elizabeth in 1585 to use as a counterweight against the Irish of Ulster who were reluctant to accept English Law & English ways in their own lands. He fought in the 2nd Desmond War against the Earl of Desmond’s forces but seems to have played a subsidiary role & to have avoided too deep an involvement. 

It was only 1593 that as O’Neill’s power began to consolidate to such a degree that the English [who tried to control Ireland from Dublin Castle] became concerned about his domination of the North. In 1595 he was inaugurated as The O’Neill/An O’Neil at the ancient site of the Rath of Tullyhogue and as far as the Irish were concerned this was the title that counted rather than the ‘Earl of Tyrone’ which meant little to them. In addition he was building up a series of alliances with many of influential families of Ulster in particular with Aodh O’Donnell of Tir Connell [Co Donegal]. By this stage a War was in the offing between the Irish of Ulster and the English as O’Neill shifted his position from loyalty to the Crown. to reluctant ally to open Rebel. When forces under O’Neill’s influence took the Blackwater Fort at the border of Tyrone it was seen by Dublin Castle as an open revolt and O’Neill was proclaimed a Traitor.

O’Neill then fought a protracted war against the English that combined raiding enemy areas and enforcing his will on recalerent chiefs who would do a deal with Dublin to secure their lands and titles. 

He had great success in  number of battles and his greatest Victory was at the Yellow  Ford in 1598 but was heavily defeated at Kinsale in 1601/02. He submitted to Lord Mountjoy in 1603 and got most of his lands back as a result - but his Power was broken. In 1607 he was summoned to Dublin and got wind in advance he would probably never be allowed to return home. He then took as many family members as he could gather at short notice and fled to the Continent making his way to Rome where he was given asylum by  Pope Paul V.