Con MacShane O'Neill

Who was Con MacShane O'Neill?

Con MacShane O'Neill was the son of Shane O'Neill known as "an Diomas" or "The Proud", an Irish flaith or Prince of Ulster, the Lord of Clabbye, nobleman, rebel, and political leader in the late 1500s and early 1600s. Conn was born circa 1560 to the ruling monarch of Ulster at the time. There are conflicting accounts of his mother, those being the Countess Catherine MacLean, final wife of Shane O'Neill, or a daughter of Shane Og Maguire, Prince of Fermanagh, to whom Shane was briefly married to in 1562, or Mary O'Donnell, daughter of Calvagh Prince of Tir Connell. Early in life, he was often held as a pledge for his father and later his brothers good conduct to both the English and to important Irish dynasties. However, by the 1570s, he appears to live in Scotland at the court of the MacLeans.

Conn followed his brothers Hugh Gaveloch and Henry MacShane O'Neill into a protracted war against their cousins Turlough Lineach O'Neill and Hugh, the Earl of Tyrone in 1583. Collectively, the ten brothers were known as the "Mac Shanes" and waged continual war from 1583 to 1591 for domination of Ulster with the backing of a Scottish army made up of MacLeans and MacDonnells. In 1589, the ruling O'Neill Mor, Sir Turlough Lineach O'Neill, adopted Conn MacShane and declared him Tanist of the O'Neill nation.