Hugh Maguire (Lord of Fermanagh)

Sir Hugh Maguire (Irish: Aodh Mág Uidhir;^[1] died 1 March 1600)^{[nb 1]} was an Irish lord and military commander, who was notably the first^[2][3] Gaelic chief to openly rebel against Elizabeth I's conquest of Ireland. He was a founding member of the confederacy of Irish lords which opposed English rule during the Nine Years' War.

Maguire secured the lordship of Fermanagh upon his father's death in 1589. In early 1593, Maguire revolted against the appointment of Humphrey Willis as Sheriff of Fermanagh. He joined prominent Ulster lords Hugh Roe O'Donnell and Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, in seeking military assistance from Spain. Subsequent conflicts, which included the Battle of Belleek and the Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits, were among the first of the Nine Years' War. Maguire held command at the Battle of the Yellow Ford, which resulted in a crucial confederate victory. In 1600, he was fatally shot by British officer Warham St Leger in a skirmish near Carrigrohane.

Hugh Maguire was born sometime before 1570,^{[nb 2]} the eldest son of Cúconnacht Maguire (c. 1520–1589), chief of the Maguire clan from 1566 to 1589, and Nuala O'Donnell, daughter of Manus O'Donnell.^[5][6][7] He had two younger half-brothers, Brian and Cúconnacht Óg,^[4] and a sister who married Arthur O'Neill.^[8] The Maguire clan's kingdom, Fermanagh, was in southern Ulster—a terrain of difficult access considered impregnable.^[9][5]

As a young man, Maguire had repeated run-ins with the English-led Irish government. In 1586, he surrendered to the government and paid 500 beeves for a pardon,^[5][10] of which 200 were appropriated by Lord Deputy John Perrot as his perquisite to make Maguire a captain. This was not carried through, even though Maguire had lodged three pledges for his loyalty in Dublin Castle.^[10]

In 1587, Maguire, along with Arthur O'Neill's forces, attacked and plundered a party of Scots who had raided County Down. On their return towards the River Erne, Maguire killed and wounded many of O'Neill's men.^[10] He joined Irish lord Brian O'Rourke and the Bourke family in assisting survivors of the Spanish Armada who had shipwrecked on the coast of Ireland in 1588.^[5][11] Maguire was also implicated in a plot arranged by Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, to murder Tyrone's rival Conn MacShane O'Neill.^[10]

Maguire's father Cúconnacht died in June 1589.^[12] Although Maguire was his father's tanist (designated heir), his succession was challenged by rival branches of the family, who nominated Connor Roe Maguire (grandson of a former chief) as their lord.^[7][13] However, Hugh Maguire's claim prevailed because he received support from Donnell O'Donnell of the powerful O'Donnell clan of the neighbouring kingdom Tyrconnell.^[14][7] Maguire was formally inaugurated by O'Donnell in 1589.^[5][15]

He also had support from the Privy Council of Ireland, who had maintained a friendly relationship with Cúconnacht and hoped to do the same with his son. The government's recognition of Maguire's succession was confirmed in 1591 when he was knighted at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin.^[7]

Within Maguire's first years as clan chief, he was confronted by the threat of government intrusion on Fermanagh's independence.^[5][16][11] The lord of Monaghan, a neighbouring Gaelic kingdom, had also died in 1589, and by 1590, his successor Hugh Roe MacMahon was hanged on FitzWilliam's orders (in what has been described as judicial murder) and Monaghan was partitioned and allotted to English servitors.^{[5][17][18][19]} Since 1585, Richard Bingham, Lord President of Connaught, gradually extended his control over the region by establishing garrisons and appointing local officials.^[11] Maguire later stated that his rebellion was not "in respect of any combinations with any foreign enemy or of any malice towards Her Majesty but through the occasion of his hard usage" from Bingham's regime.^{[20][nb 3]}

Maguire travelled to Dublin in summer 1590 and met with Lord Deputy William FitzWilliam. They discussed the appointment of a sheriff who would govern Fermanagh on behalf of the Crown, but Maguire was only willing to accept a sheriff "chosen of his own name".^[22] In October 1591, he bribed FitzWilliam and Henry Bagenal (Marshal of the Irish Army) with 300 beeves to postpone this appointment.^[22][10]

The execution of Brian O'Rourke in November 1591 created further discontent in the Gaelic nobility.^[23][19][24] Maguire offered protection to his son Brian Oge O'Rourke, who subsequently married Maguire's sister.^[11] Maguire secretly committed treasonous actions against the government. In 1592, he provided refuge and transportation for Hugh Roe O'Donnell, the O'Donnell clan's tanist, who had recently escaped imprisonment in Dublin Castle.^[5][25][20] In O'Donnell's absence, Tyrconnell had been heavily pillaged by Sheriff of Tyrconnell Humphrey Willis.^[26][27][28] One of O'Donnell's first actions upon returning to Tyrconnell was to expel Willis.^[20][3][29]

Maguire learnt that FitzWilliam would be appointing Willis as Sheriff of Fermanagh.^[30] He argued that this violated their deal^[10][31]—he had given FitzWilliam 300 cows as a bribe^[32]—and retorted to FitzWilliam that "your sheriff shall be welcome but let me know his eric [price of compensation for his death] that if my people should cut his head off I may levy it upon the country".^[10][31] Willis was nevertheless appointed to the post,^[30] and in spring 1593, he entered Fermanagh with at least 100 men and began pillaging the kingdom.^[22][33][16] Maguire claimed that Willis's men "killed one of the best gents in the country named the son of Edmund Mac Hugh Maguire whose head they cut off they hurled it from place to place as a football".^[32] Willis's marauding was not justified by authorities in Dublin.^[16]

It was after Willis' first offensive^[22] that Maguire, O'Donnell, Brian Oge O'Rourke and Theobald, Richard and John Bourke met in Enniskillen Castle on 28 April [N.S. 8 May] 1593.^[19][34] The noblemen were assembled by Edmund MacGauran,^[34] a Catholic Archbishop recently returned from Spain with promises that Philip II of Spain would support oppressed Irish Catholics if they proved themselves by launching prior military action.^[35] Maguire, O'Donnell and O'Rourke were all capable leaders and were anti-English; the three men formed the nucleus of an emerging confederacy.^[36] The noblemen signed a letter addressed to Philip II of Spain, requesting urgent reinforcements from the Spanish army. They tasked Catholic Archbishop of Tuam James O'Hely with delivering their messages.^[37][38]

Initially Maguire was not in a position to militarily oppose Willis. However, with the emergence of a confederacy of Irish lords, spearheaded by O'Donnell and Tyrone, Maguire was able to gain reinforcements of 100 men led by Tyrone's brother Cormac MacBaron O'Neill, and 120 men under the commands of Donnall and Donough O'Hagan. Willis and his men in a church took refuge in a church for six to seven days.^{[nb 4]} Tyrone (who publicly presented as a loyalist) intervened and negotiated their safe conduct out of Fermanagh. Maguire used the opportunity to push them into the lands of his rival Connor Roe Maguire.^[40][21]

The Dublin government considered Maguire's response to be extreme, however it came at a time of high tension between the government and the Ulster lords. By the end of May, Maguire was openly at war with the Crown. Maguire's revolt was later recognised as the opening strike of the Nine Years' War (1593–1603).^[16]

Maguire and O'Rourke both rebelled by attacking English forces. O'Donnell aided the growing rebellion by sending MacSweeney gallowglass to Maguire and O'Rourke.^[36] O'Donnell also advised Maguire and sheltered his creaghts on Tyrconnell's borders.^[41]

In May 1593, Maguire invaded Sligo. He attacked and burned Ballymote, the base of Bingham's brother George Bingham.^[21][42] In June, Maguire burned the territory around Tulsk, County Roscommon, where Richard Bingham was then encamped.^[42] MacGauran was killed whilst accompanying Maguire on the Roscommon raid.^[34][21][42] Richard Bingham was sure that Maguire was not acting alone, but with the support of other Irish lords.^[42]

In July 1593, the government asked for Maguire to disperse his forces. Maguire agreed that he would do this by 15 September.^[43] However, in early September he invaded Monaghan and was subsequently proclaimed a traitor.^[43]

In summer 1593, the Irish Privy Council appointed Tyrone as commissioner to establish a peace settlement with Hugh Maguire.^[44] However, negotiations broke down apparently due to Maguire's demands that the Binghams would have not authority in Fermanagh. When Tyrone failed to reach a peace settlement, Maguire was proclaimed a traitor that September.^[44]

Encouraged by MacGauran, but opposed by Tyrone, Maguire invaded Connacht straight away and met with the army of Sir Richard Bingham, president of the province, on mid-summer eve. The battle of Sciath na Feart took place at Tulsk, in a fog so dense that the sides only realised their proximity when their cavalries were almost upon one another. Bingham's men fled to their camp, and Maguire pursued but was repulsed and in his turn pursued. The Irish lost MacGauran; the English lost William Clifford. Maguire retired into his country with considerable spoil.^[31]

Maguire's rebellious activity provoked a large-scale military expedition led by Marshal Henry Bagenal which culminated at the Battle of Belleek in October.^[45]

At the end of 1593, Maguire was wounded in an attempt to prevent Marshal Henry Bagenal and Tyrone from crossing the Erne. In June of the following year he besieged Enniskillen with Hugh Roe O'Donnell, Lord of Tyrconnell.^[46] Sir Henry Duke sought to relieve the garrison, but Maguire intercepted him at the Arney River and defeated him in the Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits (Beal atha na mBriosgaidh).^[47] In the following year he devastated Cavan and was again proclaimed a traitor by the English.^[31] In March 1594, Philip II sent a Spanish ship—containing O'Hely, Spanish experts and Irish émigrés—to Ireland on a reconnaissance mission, but the crew died when it was shipwrecked off the coast of Santander.^[48]

Maguire participated in the Battle of Clontibret in 1595, a significant early defeat for the English, and commanded the cavalry at Mullaghbrack in 1596. He sent in his submission to the government later in the year.^[46]

In 1598, he held a command at the Battle of the Yellow Ford, at which Bagenal was slain and the English army annihilated. In 1599, he helped raid Thomond and took Inchiquin Castle in County Clare.^[46]

Maguire was one of six confederate witnesses present at a riverside conference with English officers on 7 September 1599.^[49][50] This was a follow-up to the famous riverside parley between Tyrone and Lord Deputy Essex earlier that day.^[51][52] Ironically, Warham St Leger, the man who would kill Maguire, was also present.^[49][50]

In early 1600, Maguire commanded Tyrone's cavalry in the Leinster and Munster campaigns.^[46][31]

On 1 March [N.S. 11 March] 1600,^{[nb 5]} Maguire and a small party were conducting reconnaissance (or perhaps raiding) near Carrigrohane, about three miles west of Cork city.^[54][55] The party were intercepted by British officers Warham St Leger^{[nb 6]} and Henry Power.^[31][57] In the ensuing skirmish, Maguire and St Leger charged their horses at each other. St Leger shot Maguire with a double-bulleted petronel, but Maguire survived long enough to thrust his lance through St Leger's helmet and into his skull, with such force that the steel tip broke off his lance.^[54][58] St Leger was taken back to Cork, where he died.^[59] According to Henry Power, Maguire's foster father, priest, and all the commanders of his regiment were killed in the skirmish.^[46]

Maguire escaped into the growing darkness of the evening, but after a mile he fell from his horse and died from his gunshot wounds—"under a bush" according to the bishop of Cork.^[59] Maguire's body was buried in an unknown plot around Inniscarra, with full military honours.^[60][61]

On 17 May 1593, FitzWilliam reported that Maguire was to marry Tyrone's daughter Margaret O'Neill. Their marriage occurred shortly after the report.^[62][63][42] This marriage established a formal alliance between the Maguire clan and the O'Neill clan.^[42] Maguire and his wife were related, as Maguire and Tyrone were first cousins.^{[64][nb 7]}

Maguire had at least three children: Seaan Ruadh, Aodh and Eamonn. Maguire's eldest son (possibly Seaan Ruadh) was killed in the same skirmish as his father. The historian Paul Walsh states that this son could not have been a child of Margaret O'Neill.^[64]

In 1607, a child of Maguire and Margaret was referenced by the Earl of Clanricarde in 1607. English politician Arthur Chichester spoke of Maguire and Margaret's son in 1610.^[64]

In October 1612, during the Plantation of Ulster, Maguire's widow Margaret was given a legal grant to rent out land in County Fermanagh and County Cavan.^[62]

Maguire's death was a major blow to the confederacy.^[65][66] It is assumed that Maguire's death was the reason Tyrone abruptly left Munster and returned to Ulster in early 1600.^{[54][66][60][59]}

Following Maguire's death, the lordship of Fermanagh was contested by two rival claimants: Connor Roe Maguire and Cúconnacht Óg Maguire. At a banquet at Tyrone's house in Dungannon, with both claimants present, Hugh Roe O'Donnell proclaimed Cúconnacht Óg as Hugh Maguire's successor. Tyrone preferred Connor Roe, and though the decision was reluctantly accepted, O'Donnell's fait accompli led to increased tension in the confederacy.^[67][13]

A monument commemorating Maguire was erected at Inniscarra Cemetery, near Cork, on 29 April 2001.^[60][61]

Eochaidh Ó hÉoghusa (c. 1568 – 1612), a bardic poet and confidant of the Maguire clan, composed an Irish-language ode upon Maguire's death. It was later translated into English by James Clarence Mangan. An extract reads:^{[68][69][70][71]}

Hugh marched forth to fight—I grieved to see him so depart;
A lo! to-night he wanders frozen, rain-drenched, sad, betrayed—
But the memory of the lime-white mansions his right hand hath laid
In ashes, warms the hero's heart!

The Annals of the Four Masters (c. 1630) describes the Irish reaction to Maguire's death:^[59][72]

The death of Maguire caused a giddiness of spirits, and depression of mind, in O'Neill and the Irish chiefs in general; and this was no wonder, for he was the bulwark of valour and prowess, the shield of protection and shelter, the tower of support and defence, and the pillar of the hospitality and achievements of the Oirghialla, and of almost all the Irish of his time.

In his 1861 poem Eirinn a' Gul ("Ireland Weeping"), Scottish Gaelic poet William Livingston laments the loss of Irish clan chiefs like Maguire, Tyrone and O'Donnell. An extract from an English translation reads:^[73]

Where is the heroism of the three Hughs, heroic O’Donell and O’Neill, and MacGuidhir hurling himself without hestation upon the foe and standing to death before he yielded?

• Macauley, Iain. "Rebellion & The Nine Years War" (PDF). Enniskillen Castle Museums. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
• Donegal County Archives. The Flight of the Earls Document Study Pack. p. 10.