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O'Neill, Hugh, 2nd Earl of Tyrone c.1540-1616
Irish rebel

Born in Dungannon, the son of an illegitimate son of Conn O'Neill (c.1484-c.1559), a warlike Irish chieftain who was made Earl of Tyrone on his submission to Henry VIII in 1542, he was invested with the title and estates c.1597, but soon plunged into intrigues with the Irish rebels and the Spaniards against Elizabeth I. As 'the O'Neill' he spread insurrection all over Ulster, Connaught and Leinster (1587). Despite Spanish support he was defeated in 1601-02 by Charles Blount, 8th Lord Mountjoy, at Kinsale and badly wounded. He intrigued with Spain against James VI and I, and in 1607 fled to the Spanish Netherlands. He died in Rome.