Owen O'Neill

Alfred Webb

A Compendium of Irish Biography

1878

O'Neill, Owen, Lord of Tyrone from 1432 to 1455, occupies a prominent place in the annals of the north of Ireland, during the first half of the 15th century. He is mentioned so early as 1398. He was engaged in constant expeditions, with varying success, both against the Anglo-Irish, his neighbours, the O'Donnells and MacQuillans, and against rival branches of the O'Neill family. In 1425 he was taken prisoner, and held captive in Dublin for some time. In 1430 and 1444 he appears to have levied contributions on the Pale; but in 1442 he is mentioned as co-operating with the Anglo-Irish in an expedition against the O'Donnells. In an expedition against the Maguires of Fermanagh, in 1435, is said that the inhabitants of the district, flying from his advance, carried their goods across the frozen surface of Lough Erne. Owen was deposed by his son Henry in 1455, and died the following year.

Sources

134. Four Masters, Annals of Ireland by the: Translated and Edited by John O'Donovan. 7 vols. Dublin, 1856.

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