James recommended him to Tyrconnel, the Anglo-Irish Talbot, who had taken the title of the Celtic O'Donnells. Tyrconnel gave him a commission to raise five thousand men, and as many more as possible. By the magic of his name, and with the help of an old prophecy that Ireland should be saved by an O'Donnell with a red spot, he raised ten thousand men in Ulster before the year was out, and told Avaux that he could easily have thirty thousand if arms and ammunition were provided (Avaux, Négociations, p. 738). He granted commissions to some of the leading rapparees (Story, p. 67). According to Melfort (Macariæ Excidium, p. 469), ‘the very friars and some of the bishops had taken arms to follow him.’ But jealousies between the old Anglo-Irish catholics of the Pale and the old Irish of Ulster were nearly as rife as in Owen Roe O'Neill's time, and O'Donnell's complaints against Tyrconnel appear to have been very well founded (ib. pp. 126–8). In March 1690–1 many of his men had disbanded for want of arms, but he had always a few hundreds about him, and during the battle of Aughrim on 12 July he occupied this rabble in burning the town of Tuam and the archiepiscopal palace there. He made overtures to General Godert de Ginkel [q. v.] at the same time, but this did not prevent him from pretending to relieve Galway from the western side. Six regiments of foot and four of horse, under Hugh Mackay [q. v.], passed the Corrib at Menlough on pontoons, and O'Donnell withdrew into Mayo, plundering and destroying. In September, after some further feints, he openly joined the Williamites before Sligo with one thousand men. Ginkel only half trusted him, and warned John Michelborne [q. v.] to be on his guard (Hist. MSS. Comm. 4th Rep. p. 323). Lord Granard nevertheless gave him a small separate command (D'Alton, Annals, i. 278), and he certainly contributed to the fall of Sligo. O'Donnell demanded the earldom of Tyrconnell and 2,000l. for expenses, and complained that his negotiations with Ginkel were published in the ‘London Gazette’ of 13 Aug.; but Story says (p. 183) ‘those who have seen Balldearg will believe that it was partly his own fault.’ On 7 Oct. O'Donnell met Ginkel before Limerick, and terms were arranged; but few of his men followed him (Life of James, ed. Clarke, p. 464). A pension of 500l. a year was settled on him for life, and there was an intention to employ him in Ireland, but this was abandoned in deference to the protestant interest (Jacobite Narrative, ed. Gilbert, p. 189).
Irish writers generally have dealt hardly with O'Donnell's memory, but Burke offers such defence as is possible. According to this account, he only took enough from William III to compensate him for the loss of his military rank in Spain, and he afterwards fought for the house of Austria as a volunteer in the Netherlands and in Italy. He returned to Spain in 1697, was reinstated in the army, and died a major-general in 1704.
[Story's Continuation of his Impartial Hist. of Wars in Ireland; O'Kelly's Macariæ Excidium, ed. O'Callaghan; Négociations de M. le Comte d'Avaux en Irlande, containing Balldearg O'Donnell's interesting memoir on Irish races and parties; Life of James II, ed. Clarke, vol. ii.; London Gazette, March–October 1691; Jacobite Narrative of Wars in Ireland, ed. Gilbert (known to Macaulay as Light to the Blind); D'Alton's Annals of Boyle; King's State of the Protestants under James II; Burke's Dormant and Extinct Peerage, ed. 1866; Hardiman's Hist. of Galway; Macaulay's Hist. of England, ch. xvi. and xvii.]
O'DONNELL, HUGH ROE (1571?–1602), lord of Tyrconnel, grandson of Manus O'Donnell [q. v.], and eldest son of Sir Hugh MacManus O'Donnell and Ineenduv MacDonnell, daughter of James MacDonnell, lord of the Isles, was born about 1571. Rory O'Donnell [q. v.] was his brother. His father, Sir Hugh, had succeeded to the lordship of Tyrconnel on the death of his half-brother, Calvagh O'Donnell [q. v.], in 1566, but his right was disputed by Calvagh's illegitimate son Hugh, called by some MacDeaganach, or the son of the Deacon O'Gallagher. For a long time past there had existed two parties in Tyrconnel—the one inclining to an alliance with the English, the other siding with the O'Neills. The accession of Sir Hugh was more or less a triumph for the anti-English party; but Sir Hugh was a wary politician, and tried to avoid giving offence to either side. By doing so he forfeited the confidence of his own party without entirely satisfying the government. Under the influence of his wife, Ineenduv, Sir Hugh, while stoutly protesting his loyalty, drifted more and more into opposition. Sir John Perrot [q. v.], who disbelieved his assertions and was jealous of his alliance with the Hebridean Scots, fearing complications like those which had occurred in Antrim, placed the country under military control, though subsequently, in 1586, he consented to withdraw the garrison on Sir Hugh agreeing to pay a composition of seven hundred beeves. Meanwhile Hugh Roe O'Donnell was rising to manhood under the supervision of his foster-parent, MacSuibhne na dTuath, and his party were filled with joy at the prospect of
