JOURNAL OF THE COUNTY DONEGAL HiSTORICAL SGCIETY partiaUy destroyed to p.revent it from falling into the hands of the English. There is an entry in the State Pape.rs under the date 1012 that refers to the removal of material from the nearby des<Ccrated Franciscan Abbey "for the building of the Castle of Donegal]." Four years later Underlairnr Brooke ·received a grant of the property and his family .built the edifice whose Duins are familiar to us to-day. It was constructed on the site of the origina: O'Donnell Castle and incorporated such parts of the latter as had survived. In 1527 Manus, lh2 2ilst. Chieftain, constructed a strong castle, known as "Port na dT·ri Namhad," at Lifford. Fr•om thence it tended to become the principal home of the family. Not a trace of it now remains. :PracticaUy all the earlier Chieftains were inter·red in the Cistercian Aibbey of Assaroe, Ballyshannon. With the Temoval of the seat to Donegal the Franciscan Abbey there beoame the f.amily burial place. Heads of the Clan not buried in either of these places ;were :- Gofraidh (1248-58) in ConweH; Domhnall Og (1258-'81) in Derry; Niall Garbh (1422-39) in the Isle of Man; Aodh Ruadh (1592-1160>2) in Valladolid, Spain; and Sir Niall Ga11hh (1603-'25) in the Tower of London. The nohle part played by the Royal House of Tyrconnell in our country's history has been well chronicled. T h e name "O'Donnell" appears an aggregate of 288 times in the Annals of the Four Masters alone! It is not necessary, therefore, for me to dwell on the fate and fortunes of its members until their overthrqw in ·the beginning of the 1'7th century. One point, however, is worthy of riotice. Elliott O'Donnell states in his "The frish Abroad," that Calyagh, the 22nd. Chieftain was created Earl of Wexford by Elizabeth when he visited London, and goes on to say that as late as 19'11 the original Patent, bearing t h e Queen's signature, rwas in the hands of a Birmingham gentleman who lent it to the Archaeological SociEty of Belfast. There is no mention of an Earldom having been conferred on him either by the Four Masters or Dr. O'Donovan, nor can I trace the title in Burke's "Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages." .Calvagh's brother, Sir Hugh O'Donnell, contested the Chieftainship with the farmer's son, Con, and held it against him. This became a sore point with the des.cendants of Calvagh as the ooveted office had now passed to a junior branch of the family. This Sir Hugh was marded twice. I will advert to his first marriage later. His second wife was Nuala, "an Ineen Dubh," daughter of James McDonnell, Lord of the Isles. Their eldest son was Aodh Ruadh (Red Hugh) who is eonsidered to have been the greatest of all 1the O'Donnells. He was born in 1571, kidnapped and held p>risoner in Dublin Ca5tle from 1587. He made his sensational escape on the eve of "Christmas of the Star" (Epiphany), i.e., 5th January, 1592, and not the fol<lowing Christmas night as is ·Often stated. He was received with great joy by his people and upon returning to Tyrconnell his aged father resigned the Chieftainship in his favour. The young Aodh was inaugurated, with the usual :custom and tradition, on the 3rd May of that year. He went to Spain to solicit help from a friendly monarch after the disaster of Kinsale and •Was pois.oned at Samancos on lOth September, 160,2, aged 30 years. He had married Rose, daughter of Hugh O'NeiH, Earl· of Tyrone, but left no issue. Events moved raipidly after Aodh Ruadh's death. Sir Niall Garbh being the grandson of the elder brother of S i r Hugh O'Donnell and therefore of the senior line, always considered that he had been deprived of his birthright when the Chieftainship passed to his cousin. The 265.
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