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Mabel Bagenal

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Mabel Bagenal
Countess of Tyrone
Bornc. 1571
Newry, Ireland
DiedDecember 1595 (aged 24)
Newry, Ireland
Spouse(s)Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone
IssueNo issue
ParentsSir Nicholas Bagenal
Eleanor Griffith

Mabel O'Neill, Countess of Tyrone (née Bagenal; c. 1571 – December 1595) was an Anglo-Irish noblewoman best known as the third wife of prominent Gaelic Irish lord Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone.

She was born in Newry to British parents. Her father, Marshal Nicholas Bagenal, died in February 1591 and her older brother Henry was charged with her safekeeping. In August, against Henry's will, Mabel eloped with Tyrone, a Gaelic lord twice her age. The marriage caused a major scandal and intensified Henry and Tyrone's rivalry. Mabel ultimately became disillusioned with her marriage and eventually died of illness, aged 24.

As her brother and her husband commanded opposing forces during the Nine Years' War,[1] Mabel has been called the "Helen of the Elizabethan Wars".

Family background

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Mabel Bagenal was born around 1571 in Newry, Ireland. She was the eleventh and youngest child of Sir Nicholas Bagenal, a prominent Staffordshire soldier and Marshal of the Army in Ireland, and his wife Eleanor Griffith of Penrhyn, Wales. Her older siblings included Henry,[2] Dudley[3] and Anne.[4][5]

Mabel's father, Nicholas Bagenal

Marriage

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On 24 October 1590, her eldest brother Henry succeeded their father as Marshal.[6][1] Upon their father's death in February 1591,[5] Nicholas charged Henry with the "careful disposing" of Mabel[2] and he forbid her from marrying a Gaelic Irishman.[7] Turlough Luineach O'Neill had previously expressed interest in marrying her.[2][7]

Prominent Gaelic lord Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, had opposed Nicholas's marshalcy.[8][9][10] Tyrone first became acquainted with Mabel during his visits to Newry.[9] Historian Philip Bagenal suggests that Tyrone "must have been acquainted [with Mabel] from childhood".[7] Tyrone had ambitions to rule over Ulster, and was greatly offended when, in 1590, the lands of his late urrí[a] Hugh Roe MacMahon were divided and granted to Henry rather than himself.[11][8] Tyrone's second wife Siobhán died in January 1591,[12][9] and he was further frustrated when Henry was named chief commissioner of Ulster on 18 May.[13][6]

Shortly afterwards, Tyrone made overtures to Henry for Mabel's hand in marriage.[6] Mabel was twenty years old at the time; Tyrone was forty-one.[9][14][15] Henry was alarmed, and kept Mabel out of Tyrone's reach by sending her to live with their sister Mary (wife of Patrick Barnewall) in Turvey, County Dublin.[9][2] Henry referred the decision to the queen and privy council, claiming that his sister was not prepared to live in what he termed an uncivil Gaelic household.[7][2] A number of prominent officials, including Archbishop Loftus and Sir Geoffrey Fenton, believed that an alliance between Tyrone and the Bagenal family would be in the public interest.[2] Tyrone wrote to the Privy Council: "I dealt with [Henry] at least six several times for his consent; I offered to put in sureties for the assurance of a jointure to his sister; this I did before good witnesses".[16]

Tyrone found excuses to visit Mabel at Turvey. The young, attractive Mabel was infatuated by the attention she received from such an imposing lord.[9][2] This "whirlwind courtship" is unlike Tyrone's other marriages, which otherwise all had political motives.[17] It is possible Tyrone's judgment was impaired by his feelings,[2][18] though most historians believe that he recognised the advantages of marrying into the powerful Bagenal family.[2][19][9] The marriage was his attempt to merge the Bagenals' interests with his own[19] and to neutralise Henry's growing power.[20][21] In July, Tyrone convinced Mabel to elope.[2][22] According to Tyrone, "about 20 days before my marriage [c. 14 July] I got good opportunities to speak with her myself; I lodged one night at Sir Patrick Barnewell's house, where the gentlewoman was kept, where I dealt so effectually with the gentlewoman that we were trouthed together, and she received from me a chain of gold. After this there passed between her and me some messengers which confirmed our love on both sides".[23]

After a dinner at Turvey, Tyrone and his English friends distracted Barnewall while his ally William Warren escorted Mabel on horseback to Warren's house in Drumcondra.[24][23] Tyrone wanted a Protestant ceremony so that the marriage would be recognised by English law, and so Protestant Bishop of Meath Thomas Jones was summoned.[25][26] Jones was reluctant to perform the marriage. He spoke with Mabel in private and asked her if she had actually "plighted her troth" to Tyrone. Mabel responded affirmatively and stated that she consented to the marriage: "in what case I am, how I come hither with my own consent, and have already promised my Lord the Earl to be his wife, I beseech your Lordship for my credit's sake to perfect the marriage between us, the sooner the better for my credit's sake".[22][27] After being assured of Mabel's free consent,[2][9] and for the sake of her reputation,[28][27] Jones married the couple on 3 August 1591[2][27] at Drumcondra Castle.[29]

Married life

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Mabel's brother Henry was outraged at the marriage. He was infuriated "that my blood which in my father and myself hath often been spilled in repressing this rebellious race, should now be mingled with so traitorous a stock and kindred".[2][27] He withheld Mabel's dowry,[b] even two years after the marriage,[31] on the grounds that satisfactory jointure arrangements had not been made.[2] This became a principal grievance of Tyrone's.[32][33] Henry also had Tyrone's previous divorce investigated; it was found to be valid.[34][8]

Mabel's husband, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone

Tyrone assured Lord Burghley that it was his intention for Mabel to bring civility to his house. He encouraged Mabel to furnish his castle at Dungannon, intending that she would bring a sense of culture and refinement to the house. She bought tapestries and paintings in London, bringing an Elizabethan aesthetic to the castle.[2]

Mabel converted to Catholicism (against her brother's wishes), which along with O'Neill's alleged infidelity, stoked Henry's enmity further. Mabel was deeply upset by her brother's disapproval and by the increasing rivalry between her husband and brother.[2] At Dundalk in 1593, in the presence of Mabel and his cousin Henry MacShane O'Neill, Tyrone openly insulted Henry. He stated "that there was not a man in the world he hated so much as the Knight Marshal; and further said [that] if he were disposed he would be within a mile of the said Marshal in spite of his teeth, do what he could".[30]

From May 1593, Tyrone secretly supported rebellions again the Crown's advances into Ulster.[35] That same month, the couple reached a major crisis when they clashed over the assassination of Phelim MacTurlough O'Neill,[2] which Tyrone had orchestrated.[36] When Mabel and her husband were informed of Phelim's death, "the countess clapping her hands together was sorry, as should seem, of that which happened." Tyrone vehemently reprimanded her in English, a language that most of the witnesses present did not speak.[37][38] Afterwards he did not allow Mabel to appear in public, effectively imprisoning her in Dungannon.[2]

Historian Jerrold Casway believes that despite the romantic circumstances of their courtship, the marriage "probably ran its course" and Tyrone would have continued with his concubines.[39] Mabel appears to have soon repented her marriage.[6][32] According to Tyrone himself, "because I did affect two other gentlewomen, [Mabel] grew in dislike with me, forsook me, and went unto her brother to complain upon me to the council of Ireland, and did exhibit articles against me".[40]

Throughout 1593 and 1863, Henry repeatedly accused Tyrone of treason and sought the Earl's arrest.[41][42] Tyrone made a show of his loyalty to the Crown by assisting Henry at the Battle of Belleek.[8][43] In 1863, Mabel and her husband were described as papists who supported seminary priests.[31] Tyrone eventually went into open rebellion in February 1595 with an assault on the Blackwater Fort,[44] and Mabel's husband and brother first openly fought each other at the Battle of Clontibret in May 1595.[45] Tyrone succeeded Turlough Luineach as O'Neill clan chief in September 1595. This made Mabel briefly queen consort of Tír Eoghain under brehon law.[8]

Death

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Mabel fell ill,[17] and she ultimately died in December 1595,[2] aged 24.[46] The location of her death is disputed.[2] Historians Casway and James O'Neill state that Mabel was seeking refuge with Henry in Newry when she died.[17][46] Alternatively, she might have died whilst in Tyrone's captivity at Dungannon.[2] Mabel had no children.[2][17]

At the time of Mabel's death, Tyrone was feigning reconciliation with English authorities[47] whilst secretly holding out for the 2nd Spanish Armada's arrival.[48] Tyrone visited Dublin on December 30 and certified Mabel's death.[22] He married his fourth and final wife, Catherine Magennis,[49] circa August 1597.[50] Henry was killed by Tyrone's forces at the Battle of the Yellow Ford on 14 August 1598.[1]

Legacy

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In reference to the dramatic circumstances of her marriage, Mabel has been called the "Helen [of Troy] of the Elizabethan Wars".[31][51][52] This assessment of her role in the Nine Years' War is considered to be simplistic.[31]

The Great O'Neill (1942), an influential biography of Tyrone by Seán Ó Faoláin,[8] has been criticised for its overdramatisation,[53][54] particularly for overtly romanticising Mabel's marriage.[21] On Mabel, Ó Faoláin states "this poor child had brought neither any great experience nor any great intelligence from that close-fisted, prudish, petit-bourgeois house" and that "only a woman of tremendous character and intelligence could have made a success of that marriage, so full of incongruity in race and rank".[15] Anthony Roche criticised Ó Faoláin's depiction of Mabel as "a frightened child", stating that Ó Faoláin undercuts "the independence and courage of the character it took to leave not only her family but the Protestant ethos".[55]

The Great O'Neill was used by Brian Friel as the basis for his 1988 play Making History,[8][21] where Mabel's marriage to Tyrone is a central topic. Friel depicts the marriage as a genuine if ill-fated love affair.[56][57] She seldom appears in Making History, though her impact on Tyrone's life and legacy is significantly explored.[58][59] Maria Gaviña Costero notes that Friel shifts Mabel from "a historically marginal position to the decisive figure she is in this play",[60] and portrays her with greater agency and depth than Ó Faoláin.[55] Though Mabel died in 1595, in Making History she is anachronistically alive and still married to Tyrone in the 1600s.[56][61] She also dies during a miscarriage,[62] whereas the historical Mabel died of illness and left no known children.[17] In its original production, Mabel was portrayed by English actress Clare Holman.[21]

In 2011, an archaeological dig at Dungannon's Castle Hill uncovered the skeletal remains of a high-ranking woman. It was suggested that the remains could have been those of Mabel, though experts determined that the high-ranking woman was in her late forties or fifties when she died.[63]

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ A guarantor under brehon law
  2. ^ Sources differ on whether the dowry was £1,000[2] or £2,000.[30]

Citations

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  1. ^ a b c Hawkins, Richard (October 2009). "Bagenal (Bagnal(l)), Sir Henry". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.000304.v1. Archived from the original on 21 February 2024. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Clarke, Aidan; Barry, Judy; O'Byrne, Emmett (October 2009). McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). "Bagenal (O'Neill), Mabel". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.3318/dib.006953.v1. Archived from the original on 21 February 2024.
  3. ^ Bagenal 1925, p. ix.
  4. ^ Ó Siochrú, Micheál (October 2009). "Sarsfield, Dominick". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.007923.v1. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  5. ^ a b Hawkins, Richard (October 2009). "Bagenal (Bagnal(l)), Sir Nicholas". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.000305.v1. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d Pollard 1885, p. 96.
  7. ^ a b c d Bagenal 1925, p. 52.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Morgan, Hiram (September 2014). McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). "O'Neill, Hugh". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006962.v1. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Casway 2016, p. 72.
  10. ^ Marshall 1902, p. 113.
  11. ^ O'Neill 2017, p. 26.
  12. ^ Walsh 1930, p. 26.
  13. ^ O'Neill 2017, p. 27.
  14. ^ "Bagenal, Mabel (c. 1571–1595)". Encyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on 4 December 2024. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  15. ^ a b Throne 1988, p. 72.
  16. ^ Bagenal 1925, pp. 52–53.
  17. ^ a b c d e Casway 2016, p. 73.
  18. ^ "The Spaniards in Ireland". All Ireland Review. 1 (47): 2–2. 1900. ISSN 2009-2415. JSTOR 20545048.
  19. ^ a b Canny 2001, p. 81.
  20. ^ Morgan 1993, p. 79.
  21. ^ a b c d Morgan, Hiram (August 2007). "Theatre Eye: Playing the earl: Brian Friel's Making History". History Ireland. 15 (4). Archived from the original on 16 May 2024.
  22. ^ a b c Walsh 1930, p. 19.
  23. ^ a b Bagenal 1925, p. 53.
  24. ^ O'Faolain 1942, pp. 152–153.
  25. ^ Meehan 1868, p. 414.
  26. ^ Bagenal 1925, pp. 53–54.
  27. ^ a b c d Bagenal 1925, p. 54.
  28. ^ O'Faolain 1942, p. 153.
  29. ^ Walsh 1930, p. 19. fn. 1
  30. ^ a b Bagenal 1925, p. 55.
  31. ^ a b c d Newmann, Kate. "Mabel Bagenal ( - c.1600): Wife of Hugh O'Neill". The Dictionary of Ulster Biography. Archived from the original on 16 August 2024. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  32. ^ a b Dunlop 1895, p. 189.
  33. ^ Morgan, Hiram (2014b). "The deputy's defence: Sir William Fitzwilliam's Apology on the outbreak of the Nine Years War in Ireland". Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature. 114C: 181–214. doi:10.3318/priac.2014.114.01. ISSN 0035-8991, p. 203. fn. 78.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  34. ^ Walsh 1930, p. 16.
  35. ^ O'Neill 2017, p. 25.
  36. ^ Morgan 1993, pp. 146, 149.
  37. ^ Bagenal 1925, p. 56.
  38. ^ Hamilton, Hans Claude, ed. (1890). Calendar of the state papers relating to Ireland, of the reign of Elizabeth: 1592, October – 1596, June. Internet Archive. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. pp. 107–109.
  39. ^ Casway 2016, pp. 72–73.
  40. ^ Dunlop 1895, pp. 189–190.
  41. ^ Morgan 1993, pp. 146–148.
  42. ^ O'Neill 2017, pp. 34–35.
  43. ^ McNeill 1911, p. 109.
  44. ^ O'Neill 2017, p. 47.
  45. ^ O'Neill 2017, pp. 49–51.
  46. ^ a b O'Neill, James [@neilojim1972] (3 January 2021). "OTD 1596 Confirmation of Mabel Bagenal, Countess Tyrone's death [Tyrone's 3rd wife]. Married in a protestant service in 1591. Tyrone was anything but a doting husband. His affairs and attempts to kill her brother drove her to return to Newry where she died age 24 #nineyearswar" (Tweet). Retrieved 8 December 2024 – via Twitter.
  47. ^ Dunlop 1895, p. 191.
  48. ^ O'Neill 2017, pp. 60–61.
  49. ^ Casway 2016, p. 69.
  50. ^ Walsh 1930, p. 20.
  51. ^ Morgan 1993, p. 10.
  52. ^ Bagenal 1925, p. viii.
  53. ^ Canny 2022, p. 26.
  54. ^ Morgan, Hiram (25 February 2000), O'Faoláin's Great O'Neill (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 17 September 2024
  55. ^ a b Costero 2016, pp. 48–49.
  56. ^ a b Campbell, Patrick J. (1989). "Brian Friel's 'Making History'". Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society. 13 (2): 291–293. ISSN 0488-0196. JSTOR 29742391.
  57. ^ Costero 2016.
  58. ^ Sloan, Barry (1 September 1994). "'The overall thing': Brian Friel's 'making history'". Irish Studies Review. doi:10.1080/09670889408455448.
  59. ^ Costero 2016, p. 48.
  60. ^ Costero 2016, p. 43.
  61. ^ Costero 2016, pp. 42, 50.
  62. ^ Costero 2016, p. 54.
  63. ^ "Reconstructed face of medieval skeleton may reveal Ireland's 'Helen of Troy'". Tyrone Times. 8 July 2011. Archived from the original on 23 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.

Sources

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