Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone

I recently overheard a conversation about Irish history on film, both the merits for and against those which have been made to date. Of course, few have won such acclaim or indeed viewership as the 1996 Neil Jordan telling of Michael Collins.

But what other Irish characters would make for good film making? Daniel O’Connell? CS Parnell? The subject of yesterdays blog post – Maud Gonne McBride or indeed, that of her husband and his escapades in South Africa during the Boer War?

Yet, here’s one for you. What about Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone who was banished from Ireland in 1607 in what became known as ‘The Flight of the Earls’. As the Evening Herald of August 1971 explains:

A CAMPAIGN ENDS IN FAILURE

THE DEATH of Hugo O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, in Rome, 1616, brought to an end a career which had seen Ireland's last stand against Tudor aggression.

Although the fight had ended in failure, it had been a magnificent struggle. O'Neill's greatest achievement was in being accepted as leader by a large part of Ireland. He showed energy and initiative in his campaigns and won notable victories.

For nine years O'Neill and his colleague, Aodh Rua O Domhaill, fought. To win the war they had to win Munster, and it was there that their hopes were dashed. O'Neill made the Irish struggle part of the fight for supremacy between England and Spain and succeeded in getting Spanish aid near the end of his fight.

It was too late, perhaps, to turn the scale in Hugh's favour had it been successful. Its failure at Kinsale, however, spelled the end of O'Neill's hopes. The Spanish aid had been too slight to change the course of history. Indeed, the Spanish challenge to British supremacy had really ended a dozen years before with the defeat of the Armada.

For more information search the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archive (www.irishnewsarchives.com )