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Matthew O'Neill, 1st Baron Dungannon (alias Matthew Kelly, alias Feardorcha Ó Néill; 1520–1558), was an Irish aristocrat. He was accepted by Conn O'Neill as his natural son. Matthew was challenged by his half-brother Shane O'Neill over the succession to the Earldom of Tyrone and was murdered by some of his supporters.

Birth and origins

Mathew was born about 1510, a son of Alison Kelly (née Roth) in Dundalk, the wife of a blacksmith in Dundalk. At the age of sixteen, Matthew was presented to Conn O'Neill, with whom Kelly had previously had an affair. Tyrone accepted that Matthew was his natural son.

Marriage and children

Around 1536 Matthew married Siobhan, daughter of Cú Chonnacht Maguire, lord of Fir Manach.

Matthew and Siobhan had three sons:

1. Brian (died 1562), called Lord Dungannon, de jure 2nd Earl of Tyrone, murdered
2. Hugh (c. 1550 – 1616), who succeeded as the 3rd Earl of Tyrone
3. Cormac (died 1613)

Matthew also had an illegitimate son:

• Art MacBaron O'Neill (died 1618)

Baron Dungannon

As part of the surrender and regrant policy brought in during the reign of Henry VIII, his father was in October 1542 made Earl of Tyrone with Matthew confirmed as his heir and made Baron of Dungannon. Both visited London to formally submit to the King.

Conflict with Shane O'Neill

This arrangement was disputed by Matthew's legitimate half-brother Shane O'Neill, who had a larger and more powerful following. Shane's violent response crushed the government's hope for a peaceful succession. Matthew was killed by Shane's men in 1558, a year before Conn O'Neill died.

In his attempts to gain recognition of the title of Earl of Tyrone from the Crown, Shane suggested that Matthew had not really been Conn's son, and his real father was a blacksmith from Dundalk named Kelly. Shane tried to show Matthew's claims were weak under both the English law of primogeniture as well as the Gaelic custom of the strongest member of the family inheriting. Shane received some recognition of his role as head of the Ó Néills, but he was never made an earl. Shane was killed by the MacDonnells of Antrim in 1567.

Notes and references

Notes

1. This family tree is based on genealogies of the genealogies of the O'Neills of Tyrone. Also see the lists of children in the text.
2. O'Byrne states that all four of Matthew's sons were legitimate.

Citations

1. O'Byrne 2009, 1st paragraph, 1st sentence. "O'Neill (Ó Néill), Matthew (Feardorcha) (c.1510–1558), 1st baron of Dungannon , was eldest (and disputed) son of Conn Bacach O'Neill ..."
2. O'Byrne 2009, 1st paragraph, 3rd sentence. "When he was about 16, Alison presented Matthew to Conn, who acknowledged him as his son and heir"
3. Burke 1866, p. 608–609. Genealogies of the earls of Tyrone
4. Cokayne 1896, pp. 448–470. Genealogies of the earls of Tyrone
5. Cokayne 1896, p. 449. "He m. Joanna, da. of Constantiue Maguire."
6. Burke 1866, p. 608, right column. "I. Bryan, murdered by McDonnell."
7. ^ O'Byrne 2009.
8. Brady 2002, p. 67. "... Shane O'Neill had crushed any hope that the baron of Dungannon would succeed peacefully to the earldom of Tyrone ..."
9. Morgan 1993, p. 19. "In practice Conn was unable to pass on his earldom. Matthew, though supported militarily by the government, was killed by followers of Shane O'Neill, the tánaiste or successor under Gaelic custom."
10. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (12 April 2024). "Conn O’Neill, 1st earl of Tyrone". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024.
11. Morgan, Hiram (September 2014). "O'Neill, Hugh". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006962.v1. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
12. Brady 2015, p. 29. "The eldest, Feardorcha, was the most controversial. Shane, notoriously, charged that he was not an O'Neill at all, but the son of Alison and John Kelly, a blacksmith of Dundalk ..."
13. Brady, Ciaran (October 2009). "O'Neill, Shane (Seaán)". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006966.v1. Archived from the original on 13 May 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.

Sources

• Brady, Ciaran (2002) . The Chief Governors: The Rise and Fall of Reform Government in Tudor Ireland 1536–1588. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-46176-6.
• Brady, Ciaran (2015) . Shane O'Neill (New ed.). Dublin: University College Dublin Press for the Historical Association of Ireland. ISBN 978-1-91082005-6.
• Burke, Bernard (1866). A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire (New ed.). London: Harrison. OCLC 11501348.
• Cokayne, George Edward (1896). Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant. Vol. VII (1st ed.). London: George Bell and Sons. OCLC 1180891114. – S to T
• Morgan, Hiram (1993). Tyrone's Rebellion: The outbreak of the Nine Years' War in Tudor Ireland. London: The Boydell Press. ISBN 0-86193-224-2.
• O'Byrne, Emmet (October 2009). McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). "O'Neill (Ó Neill), Matthew (Feardorcha)". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 21 March 2022.

• 1558 deaths
• 16th-century Irish people
• Assassinations in Ireland
• Barons in the Peerage of Ireland
• O'Neill dynasty
• Peers of Ireland created by Henry VIII
• People from County Tyrone