Iníon Dubh

Lady Fiona MacDonald (fl. 1567–1611) was a Scottish aristocrat and queen consort of Tyrconnell. She is better known by her Irish nickname Iníon Dubh (pronounced in-NEEN DOO; "Black-Haired Daughter").

She was the second wife of Sir Hugh McManus O'Donnell, King of Tyrconnell, and mother of eight children, including Hugh Roe, Rory, and Cathbarr. Her Scottish connections meant she had access to the Redshanks, which she regularly used to subjugate her family's rivals. Rev. Miler Magrath described her as "a cruel, bloody woman who has committed sundry murders".

She had significant influence over the reigns of both her husband and son. Historian Emmett O'Byrne has called Iníon Dubh "one of the most remarkable Gaelic woman of the sixteenth century".

Early life

Fiona O'Donnell was the daughter of James MacDonald, 6th Chief of Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg, and Lady Agnes Campbell. She was raised at the Stuart court in the Kingdom of Scotland, during the time of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Upon James' death in 1567, Turlough Lynagh O'Neill, Lord of Tyrone, offered an alliance to the MacDonalds. That November, he asked for either Fiona or Agnes' hand in marriage. By April 1568, the MacDonalds had decided that Agnes would marry O'Neill, and Fiona would marry Sir Hugh McManus O'Donnell, King of Tyrconnell.

Queen consort

Iníon Dubh had a major influence in Sir Hugh's lordship. Her powerful connections ensured a healthy recruitment of Scottish Redshanks from Clan Donald to Sir Hugh's armies, and she regularly travelled to Scotland to enlist her kinsmen. In March 1572, her growing power over her husband was noted by government officials. It is believed that Sir Hugh's decision to maintain his alliance with O'Neill was due to her influence.

She bore four sons, including the last two reigning Kings of Tyrconnell, Hugh Roe and Rory. When her husband grew senile in his old age, she took over the effective leadership of the territory. She is described in the Annals of the Four Masters as "like the mother of Machabees who joined a man's heart to a woman's thought".

In May 1580, Sir Hugh and O'Neill sent their wives to Scotland to procure more mercenaries. Iníon Dubh and Agnes' efforts were successful - 2000 Scots arrived in Lough Foyle that August, eliciting much fear in the English.

Political activity

In 1587, her eldest son, Hugh Roe O'Donnell, was kidnapped and imprisoned in Dublin Castle. In his absence, she devoted herself to defending her son's claim to the chieftaincy.

In 1588 she had her nephew, Hugh Gavelach O'Donnell, assassinated. According to the Annals of the Four Masters:

"Hugh had constantly sided with the descendants of Calvagh O'Donnell, who were all conjointly leagued with Turlough Lynagh O'Neill, who was always at war with O'Donnell and his son-in-law, the Earl O'Neill (Hugh, son of Ferdorcha). Moreover, her dearly beloved brother, Alexander, had been, as we have before stated, slain by Hugh, son of the Dean, and besides these she had many other causes of enmity towards him; and it was sickness of heart and anguish of mind to her that revenge was not taken of him for his pride and arrogance. She complained of her troubles and injuries to the Scottish auxiliaries, who were constantly in her service and pay, and who were in attendance on her in every place; and they promised that they would be ready at her command, to wreak vengeance upon their enemies, whenever they should meet with them. Hugh one time happened to be coming up, in pride, vigour, and high spirits (without remembering the spite or the enmity against him ) towards the place where she was, at Magh-gaibhlin. When he had come to the town, she addressed her faithful people, i.e. the Scots; and begged and requested of them to fulfil their promise. This was accordingly done for her, for they rushed to the place where Hugh was, and proceeded to shoot at him with darts and bullets, until they left him lifeless; and there were also slain along with him the dearest to him of his faithful people."

In February 1589, when an English garrison arrived to occupy Donegal Castle, they found it engulfed in flames on Iníon Dubh's orders. She had departed for Scotland to secure additional troops.

In 1590, Iníon Dubh's stepson through her husband's first marriage, Donal O'Donnell, attempted to depose his father and seize power. In response, Iníon Dubh gathered an army of all those still loyal to her husband, including Clan Sweeney, O'Doherty, and many Redshanks from Clan Donald. When their armies came to blows, Donal was defeated and killed by Iníon Dubh at the Battle of Doire Leathan on September 14, 1590. Throughout this period she made repeated attempts to secure Red Hugh's release or escape from Dublin Castle.

When Red Hugh finally escaped and returned to Tyrconnell in 1592, Iníon Dubh temporarily bought off the remaining claimant, Niall Garbh Ó Domhnaill, with a dynastic marriage to her stepdaughter Nuala O'Donnell. Historian Hiram Morgan has alleged that the coronation of Red Hugh as The O'Donnell Chief of the Name at the Rock of Doon, near Termon, in 1592 was, "a stage managed affair in which the influence of his mother was paramount". According to Kate Newmann, Iníon Dubh's "military strength and influence is seen as the decisive factor" in Hugh Roe's succession as King of Tyrconnell.

Nine Years' War

During Hugh Roe's reign, Iníon Dubh continued to play a major role as a diplomat. In September 1597, Hugh Roe sent her to stop her brother Angus MacDonald from taking revenge on their ally Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone (the Earl had jilted Angus's daughter).

During 1599, she bought arms and once again recruited mercenaries for the Irish alliance. She nursed her husband until his death in 1600.

In June 1601, Hugh Roe appointed her as governor of Sligo Castle. That October, Iníon Dubh and her daughter were captured in Collooney Castle by Sir Henry Docwra. In 1602, Hugh Roe died in Spain and his younger brother Rory submitted. Iníon Dubh was released, and it seems she retired to Mongavlin near Lough Foyle.

Later life and death

In 1608, with all her sons dead, she implicated her estranged and treacherous son-in-law, Niall Garbh, in alleged complicity in O'Doherty's rebellion and saw him sent to the Tower of London until he died there in 1626. In her later years, she also maintained Mongavlin Castle, a small fortress on the banks of the River Foyle, as a residence just south of St Johnston, The Laggan, East Donegal.

She probably died shortly after May 1611, when she was last referenced as receiving land in the Plantation of Ulster.

In popular culture

• In the 1966 Disney film The Fighting Prince of Donegal, Iníon Dubh was portrayed onscreen by actress Marie Kean.
• The life of Iníon Dubh is fictionalized in the historical novel Dark Queen of Donegal by Mary Pat Ferron Canes and JR Foley. ISBN 9781950251070.

O'Donnell family tree

O'Donnell family tree

Issue of Hugh McManus O'Donnell (Aodh mac Maghnusa Ó Domhnaill; c. 1520 - 1600) First marriage: (Unknown woman) Duncan "Scaite" O'Donnell (Donnchadh Ó Domhnaill) Rory O'Donnell (Ruaidhri Ó Domhnaill) Died 1575 Donnell O'Donnell (Domhnall Ó Domhnaill) Died 14 September 1590 Married a daughter of Turlough Lynagh O'Neill around c. 1589 Donnell Oge O'Donnell (fl. 1607) Unnamed daughter Married a son of Turlough Lynagh O'Neill Second marriage, c. 1569: Fiona MacDonald (Fionnghuala Nic Dhomhnaill, also known as Iníon Dubh; fl. 1567–1611), daughter of James MacDonald, 6th of Dunnyveg and Agnes Campbell. Joanna O'Donnell (Siobhán Ní Domhnaill) Born c. 1569 Died early 1591 Married Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone in 1574 - marriage repudiated in 1579 Possibly remarried Hugh (born 1585) Hugh Roe O'Donnell (Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill) Born c. 1572, possibly 30 October 1572 Died 10 September 1602 Betrothed to Roisin O'Neill in c. 1584 - separated in 1595 Rory O'Donnell (Ruaidrí Ó Domhnaill) Born 1575 Died 28 July 1608 Married Bridget FitzGerald of Kildare in c. December 1606 Hugh Albert O'Donnell (October 1606 - 1642) Mary Stuart O'Donnell (c. 1607 - after 1639) Some sources incorrectly suggest that there is an elder daughter named Elizabeth (see Elizabeth_Plunket#Errors in her genealogy) Nuala O'Donnell (Nuala Ní Domhnaill) Born c. 1576 Died c. 1630 Married Niall Garve O'Donnell in 1591 - separated 1600 Naghtan O'Donnell (fl. 1608) A son (c. 1596 - 1600) Grania O'Donnell (fl. 1607 - 1617) Manus O'Donnell (Maghnus Ó Domhnaill) Born c. 1579 Died 22 October 1600 Margaret O'Donnell (Mairghead Ní Domhnaill) fl. 1608, possibly died 1662 Mary O'Donnell (Máire Ní Domhnaill) Died 1662 Married Donnell Ballagh O'Cahan in c. 1593 Rory Oge O'Cahan A daughter Married Teigue O'Rourke, 1599 Brian O'Rourke Caffar O'Donnell (Cathbarr Ó Domhnaill) Born c. 1583 Died 15 September 1608 Married Rosa O'Doherty Hugh O'Donnell (born c. June 1605) Gráinne O'Donnell (Gráinne Ní Domhnaill) References Bibliography Concannon, H. "'The Woman of the Piercing Wail' (The Lady Nuala O'Donnell)". The Irish ecclesiastical record. 16. Dublin: John F. Fowler. Silke, John J. (May 2006). "O'Donnell, Rury , styled first earl of Tyrconnell (1574/5–1608)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20559. Casway, Jerrold (2009). "O'Donnell, Nuala". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006696.v1. Retrieved 18 April 2024. Bagwell, Richard (1895). "O'Donnell, Rory" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 41. pp. 444–447. Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, Brian, eds. (2004). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: in association with the British Academy: from the earliest times to the year 2000. Vol. 41. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-861411-1. O'Sullivan Beare, Philip (2008). Chapters towards a History of Ireland in the reign of Elizabeth. Translated by Byrne, Matthew J. CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts.