Rose O'Neill (Irish noblewoman)

Rose O'Neill (Róisín Dubh Ní Néill; fl. 1587–1607) was an Irish noblewoman and queen consort of Tyrconnell. She was the daughter of Hugh O'Neill and wife of "Red" Hugh Roe O'Donnell, the two leaders of the Irish alliance during the Nine Years' War. Her marriage to O'Donnell was a deliberate move to unite the O'Neills and the O'Donnells, the two most powerful Irish clans of their day. She separated from O'Donnell in 1595.

She has been the subject of several poems and songs, particularly rebel song Róisín Dubh by James Clarence Mangan, making her somewhat of a nationalist figure for Gaelic Ireland. In poetry, her name is typically anglicised Rosaleen.

Family background
She was born into the O'Neill dynasty, specifically the MacBaron branch, in the sixteenth century. The O'Neills were the most powerful Gaelic Irish clan of their time, but by the mid-to-late sixteenth century, they had fallen into internal conflict due to a succession dispute. The clan split into many septs - the MacShanes, the MacBarons and the followers of Turlough Luineach O'Neill. It is possible this conflict influenced her upbringing.

Parentage
Her father, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, was the son of clan chief Feardorcha "Matthew" O'Neill, 1st Baron Dungannon.

The identity of Rose's mother is unclear, as Tyrone is known to have four wives and various mistresses. Historian Robert Dunlop believed that Rose's mother was Catherine Magennis - however, since Rose was betrothed to Hugh Roe O'Donnell in the late 1580s, and Magennis married Tyrone in the 1590s, this is unlikely. According to brother-in-law Niall Garve O'Donnell, Rose was not a daughter of Tyrone's second wife Siobhan O'Donnell.

Historian Jerrold Casway suggests that Rose came from Tyrone's annulled first marriage to a daughter of Brian McPhelim O'Neill (possibly Katherine). If so, Rose would be seen by the English as illegitimate. Indeed, loyalist Niall Garve O'Donnell described her as "illegitimate" in a 1606 deposition. This could make Rose's birthdate sometime between the earliest date for Tyrone's first marriage, c. 1565, and its annulment in 1574.

Other historians suggest she was a child of Tyrone's concubine. According to Casway, "native society and Hugh Roe O’Donnell might not see her that way. Hugh Roe could have been attracted to her and we cannot overlook that she was a daughter of the ascendant Hugh O’Neill, the earl of Tyrone."

Hugh Roe O'Donnell
In 1587, O'Neill was either married or formally betrothed to Hugh Roe O'Donnell, tanist and son to the O'Donnell clan chief. Hugh Roe O'Donnell was about 15 at the time. This dynastic marriage would further cement a growing alliance between two Irish clans who had traditionally been mortal enemies for centuries. To this end, Tyrone had married Siobhan O'Donnell, Hugh Roe's elder half-sister, in June 1574. The Description of Ireland (1598) makes reference to this alliance: "This controversie was taken away by a double marriage, Tyrone having married O Donnell's sister, by whom he hath diverse sons, and O Donnell having married his daughter..."

Hugh Roe O'Donnell was kidnapped on the orders of Lord Deputy John Perrot in 1587, but he eventually escaped and returned to Ulster in 1592. According to Casway, O'Neill and O'Donnell were formally married in December 1592.

A deposition dated 25 June 1593 states that the Seneschal O'Hagan and William McCrodan, a brehon of the Earl, "went to O'Donnell's house to bring thither the Earl's daughter that is married to O'Donnell". This likely refers to the formal home-bringing of Rose O'Neill as the bride of O'Donnell.

In 1595, with her father's consent, O'Neill and O'Donnell were separated. Her marriage to O'Donnell did not result in any children. In 1598, the author of The Description of Ireland claimed the separation was due to Rose's "barrenness".

O'Donnell had hopes of a dynastic marriage alliance with Lady Margaret Burke, daughter of the Ulick Burke, 3rd Earl of Clanricarde, who had refused to join the war. O'Donnell briefly took O'Neill back, but their marriage was eventually annulled.

The Calendar of State Papers makes reference to "some breach between Tirone and O Donnell about Tirone's daughter" on 2 April 1596.

Later in 1600, O'Donnell schemed to marry Joan, sister of royal ally James FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond. This was blocked by loyalist George Carew towards the end of the year.

Donnell Ballagh O'Cahan
O'Neill married Donnell Ballagh O'Cahan, an Ulster landowner and later clan chief, sometime before the publication of The Description of Ireland in 1598.

O'Cahan had previously been married to O'Donnell's sister Mary since about June 1593. It seems O'Cahan was never divorced from Mary which created enmity between him and his new father-in-law. Bishop of Derry George Montgomery wrote to Lord Deputy Arthur Chichester on 4 March 1607: "the breach between [O'Cahan] and his landlord [the Earl of Tyrone] will be the greater by means of [the Earl's] daughter, his reputed wife, whom he has resolved to leave, having a former wife lawfully married to him."

O'Cahan retained Rose's "marriage portion", and it is possible that the couple had children. O'Cahan later repudiated his marriage to her.

In poetry
According to G. F. Dalton, Rose O'Neill's "misfortunes and her high birth attracted the attention of ballad-makers, who saw her as a type of Ireland. Her name was Rose and she happened to be dark-haired; hence she was called Róisín Dubh."

James Clarence Mangan's Irish language and Sean-nós song Róisín Dubh, one of the most popular Irish rebel songs ever written, is based on a fragmentation of an older existing love song to Rose. It is addressed in Red Hugh's voice to Rose, and is believed to have its origins in the rebel encampments during the Nine Years' War. One source attributes it to a Tyrconnellian poet under the reign of Red Hugh. Music scholar Donal O'Sullivan believes there is no evidence to suggest the original song was composed in the Elizabethan era.

Although Róisín Dubh is superficially a love song, it has been described as a patriotic poem that hides its nationalism via allegory. In a time when nationalistic expression was outlawed in Ireland, the poem was a way to covertly express nationalistic beliefs. Red Hugh's love for Rose is symbolic for his love for Ireland, and his resolve to raise Ireland again to the position she held before the Norman conquest. In this way, Rose O'Neill has become a nationalist symbol for Gaelic Ireland.

Rose O'Neill has also been alluded to by English poets. She is referenced in Edmund Spenser's poem The Faerie Queene. Sir Aubrey de Vere wrote two poems about her: Little Black Rose and Róisín Dubh or the Bleeding Heart.