User:Murray/Oneill

Hugh O'Neill (Irish Aodh Mór Ó Néill) (1555 - July 20, 1616), 3rd Earl of Tyrone, is best known for his leading role in the Nine Years War, in which he and other native Irish chieftains rebelled against the rule of Queen Elizabeth I.

O'Neill's grandfather, Conn, had been named 1st Earl of Tyrone by Henry VIII in 1541. Hugh O'Neill's father, Matthew, was a candidate to succeed his father as Earl, but was murdered in 1562 by his cousin Shane, who then became the 2nd Earl. Shane also sought to murder Hugh, eliminating a rival to the title. Hugh was thus raised by a foster family in the Pale for his own safety. After Shane himself was murdered by the rival O'Donnell Clan in 1567, Hugh returned to Tyrone, and was eventually raised to the Earldom in 1587. In 1595, he was inaugurated as The Ó Neacute;ill (leader of the full O'Neill clan)), as Irish kings had been in the past.

During his early career, O'Neill was a loyal subject of Elizabeth. He supported the Crown by fighting against Gerald Fitzgerald, 15th Earl of Desmond, during the Second Desmond Rebellion in 1580. O'Neill also campaigned on the English side against the Scots in Ulster in 1584.

In the 1590s, however, O'Neill began to act against the interests of the Crown. He sought assistance from King Phillip II of Spain