Randal MacDonnell, 1st Earl of Antrim

Irish lord (died 1636)

Randal MacDonnell

Earl of Antrim
Tenure| 1620–1636
Successor| Randal, Marquess of Antrim
Died| 10 December 1636
Buried| Bonamargy Friary
Spouse(s)| Alice O'Neill
Issue
Detail| Randal, Alexander, & others
Father| Sorley Boy MacDonnell
Mother| Mary O'Neill

Randall MacSorley MacDonnell, 1st Earl of Antrim, PC (Ire) (died 10 December 1636), rebelled together with Tyrone and Tyrconnell in the Nine Years' War but having succeeded his brother, Sir James mac Sorley MacDonnell, as Lord of the Route and the Glynns in 1601, he submitted to Mountjoy, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, in 1602.

In 1618, he became Viscount Dunluce and in 1620 was advanced to Earl of Antrim. However, he remained Catholic.

## Birth and origins

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Family tree

| Randal MacDonnell with wife, parents, and other selected relatives.[a]

Alexander
MacDonnell
c. 1480 – 1538| | Catherine
MacDonald| | Mathew
1st Baron
Dungannon
1520–1558| | Joan
Maguire
1558

|
|
|
|
|
|

| | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Sorley Boy
MacDonnell
d. 1590| | Mary
O'Neill| | Hugh
3rd Earl
Tyrone
c. 1550 – 1616| | Siobhan
O'Donnell
d. 1591
| | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | Randal
1st Earl
1769–1636| | Alice
O'Neill
1583–1665

| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
Randal
1st
Marquess
1609–1682| | Elizabeth
Annesley
d. 1672| | Alexander
3rd Earl
1615–1699| | Helena
Burke
d. 1710
| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | |
| | | | | | | Randal
4th Earl
1680–1721| | Rachel
Skeffington
d. 1739

Legend

XXX| Subject of
the article| | XXX| Earls & marquesses
of Antrim| | XXX| Earl of
Tyrone

|
|
|
|
|
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XXX| Baron
Dungannon

|

Randal was the fourth son of Sorley Boy MacDonnell and his first wife Mary O'Neill. His father was Lord of the Route. His father's family was a branch of the Scottish Clan Donald. His mother was a daughter of Conn O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone. She died in 1582.[1]

## Early life

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In his youth, Randal was fostered in the Gaelic manner and lived with a Presbyterian Stewart family on the Scottish island of Arran. He was therefore called "Arranach" in Irish/Scottish Gaelic (meaning "of Arran").[2] His father died in February 1590 at Dunaneeny Castle near Ballycastle and Randal's elder brother James succeeded as Lord of the Route.[3]

## Tyrone's Rebellion

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In 1597, MacDonnell gave offence to the English Crown by helping his brother James to fortify Dunluce Castle. In that same year, he also helped his brother defeat Sir John Chichester in the Battle of Carrickfergus. Chichester, brother of Arthur Chichester, fell in the battle. MacDonnell joined Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, in his rebellion, also called the Nine Years' War (1594–1603). Early in 1600, he accompanied Tyrone on his expedition into Munster.

## Lord of the Route

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His brother James died suddenly on 13 April 1601 at Dunluce Castle, leaving the eldest son Alistair Carragh (or Alexander), but MacDonnell was designated as successor by tanistry.[4] Foreseeing the failure of the rebellion, MacDonnell started negotiating his submission with the Lord Deputy, Mountjoy, who knighted him on 13 May 1602.[5] In August 1602 he submitted to the lord deputy at Tullyhogue, offering to serve against Tyrone in Fermanagh with five hundred foot and forty horse at his own expense. His example had a good effect in the north.[6]

James I acceded on 24 Mar 1603 and MacDonnell soon received signs of royal favour. On 28 May 1603, he was granted the Route and the Glynns, extending from Larne to Coleraine, nearly 340,000 acres. To this in the following year was added the island of Rathlin.

## Marriage

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Before his marriage, MacDonnell fathered three sons, all of whom were probably illegitimate. One, known as Morrisne or Maurice MacDonnell, would be hanged at Coleraine in 1643 for his share in the rebellion of 1641; another, Francis MacDonnell, became a Franciscan friar, and the third was James.[7]

In 1604 MacDonnell married Aellis, Elice, or Alice, who would die in 1665,[6] third daughter of Hugh O'Neill by his second wife Siobhán O'Donnell.[8]

Randal and Ellis had two sons:

1. Randal (1609–1683), succeeded as the 2nd earl and inherited the baronies of Dunluce and Kilconway with the castle of Dunluce[9]
2. Alexander (1615–1699), who inherited the barony of Glenarm[10][11]

—and six daughters, to each of whom he bequeathed £2,800, viz:[7]

1. Anne, married first Christopher Nugent, Baron Delvin, and secondly William Fleming, 19th Baron Slane[12]
2. Mary, married first to Lucas, second Viscount Dillon, and secondly to Oliver Plunket, sixth Baron Louth[13]
3. Sarah, married first Niall Oge O'Neill of Killelagh, in County Antrim, secondly to Sir Charles O'Conor Sligo, and thirdly to Donal MacCarthy Mor[14]
4. Catherine, married to Edward Plunket of Castlecor, County Meath, younger son of Patrick Plunket, 9th Baron Dunsany[15]
5. Rose, married to Colonel George Gordon, brother of John Gordon, 14th Earl of Sutherland, who came to Ulster in 1642 as an officer in Major-general Monro's army, and to whose assistance the Marquess of Antrim owed his escape from prison at Carrickfergus in 1643[16]
6. Margaret, (died 13 March 1623) never married[17]

In 1606, Dunluce Castle, the priory of Coleraine, three parts of the fishing of the river Bann, the castle of Olderfleet (Larne), and all lands belonging to the Diocese of Down and Connor were for different reasons excepted out of his grant; but on 21 June 1615 Dunluce Castle was restored to him. His fourth part of the fishing of the River Bann, which he regarded as "the best stay of his living," involved him in a long and profitless controversy with James Hamilton, 1st Viscount Claneboye.

## Irish troubles

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In 1607, probably on account of his old connection with Tyrone, and because he had about 1604 married Tyrone's daughter Ellis, he was charged by Christopher St Lawrence, 10th Baron Howth with being concerned in the Flight of the Earls, the departure of the earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell to the continent. He appeared voluntarily before the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir Arthur Chichester, denied the truth of the charge, and experienced no further trouble on that account.[6]

Dunluce Castle, his principal residence.

The Flight of the Earls in 1607 left him as the most senior Gaelic noble remaining in Ulster. In 1608 when Sir Cahir O'Doherty launched O'Doherty's Rebellion by burning Derry, MacDonnell did not join forces with him. O'Doherty, a former loyalist, had been angered at his treatment by local officials. O'Doherty was defeated and killed at the Battle of Kilmacrennan. In the wake of the rebellion, the government decided to increase the scope of the Plantation of Ulster. This did not affect MacDonnell as the counties Antrim and Down were excluded, as large-scale Scottish settling was already taking place there.

In 1614 another rebellion was attempted. It should have replaced Randal MacDonnell with his nephew Alexander MacDonnell, who had been overpassed in the succession in 1601. Alexander MacDonnell was pardoned. He would be made a baronet in 1627.[18]

## Viscount and Earl

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MacDonnell's prudent conduct strengthened his influence at court, and having by his judicious conduct in the matter of the Londoners' plantation at Coleraine, and the zeal with which he strove to civilise his own lands, effaced all memory of his early conduct, he was, on 29 June 1618, created Viscount Dunluce.[19] Shortly afterwards he was admitted a member of the Privy Council of Ireland, appointed Lord Lieutenant of Antrim,[20] and placed in command of a regiment. On 12 December 1620 he was advanced to Earl of Antrim.[6]

## Later life, death, and timeline

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Like his father and the MacDonnells generally, Antrim, as he was now, was a Roman Catholic. In 1621, he was charged, on the information of a certain Alexander Boyd, with harbouring priests in his house. He at once confessed his fault, promised never to fall into the like error again, and was graciously pardoned, but compelled to pay the reward due to Boyd for his information against him.

On seeking confirmation of his estates under the commission of grace in 1629, Antrim was opposed by Cahil O'Hara of Kildrome, who claimed certain lands included in the original grant, and either by course of law or from dictates of prudence O'Hara's claims were allowed.

Antrim sat in the House of Lords in the Irish Parliament of 1634–1635 when it was opened on 14 July 1634[21][22] by the new Lord Deputy of Ireland, Thomas Wentworth[23] (the future Lord Strafford), who had taken office in July 1633.[24] On 28 July, however, Antrim was excused from further attendance for reasons of health.[25]

In January 1635, Antrim concluded a bargain with James Campbell, Lord Cantire, afterwards Earl of Irvine, for the purchase of the lordship of Cantire, originally in the possession of the MacDonnells, but they had been expelled in 1607. The arrangement was opposed by the Lord of Lorne, and Antrim's death intervening, the matter sank for a time into abeyance.[26]

Antrim died at Dunluce on 10 December 1636, and was buried in the vault he had built at Bonamargy Friary in 1621. Shortly before his death, he completed the castle at Glenarm.[6]

Timeline

As his birth date is uncertain, so are all his ages.
Age | Date | Event
0 | 1580, estimate | Born.
17–18 | 1598, 14 Aug | Battle of the Yellow Ford won by Hugh Roe O'Donnell over Henry Bagenal.[27]
0 | 1582 | Mother died.[1]
9–10 | 1590, Jan | Father died, his elder brother James succeeded as lord of the Route.[3]
18–19 | 1599, 12 Mar | Robert, Earl of Essex, appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland[28]
20–21 | 1601, 23 Sep | The Spanish landed at Kinsale[29]
22–23 | 1603, 24 Mar | Accession of King James I, succeeding Queen Elizabeth I[30]
22–23 | 1603, 30 Mar | The Treaty of Mellifont ended Tyrone's Rebellion.[31]
23–24 | 1604 | Married Alice O'Neill[32]
23–24 | 1604, 15 Oct | Sir Arthur Chichester, appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland[33]
34–35 | 1615 | Son Alexander born[10]
34–35 | 1615, 2 Jul | Oliver St John, appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland[34]
37–38 | 1618, 28 May | Created Viscount Dunluce.[19]
39–40 | 1620, 12 Dec | Created Earl of Antrim.[20]
44–45 | 1625, 27 Mar | Accession of King Charles I, succeeding King James I[35]
52–53 | 1633, 3 Jul | Thomas Wentworth, later Earl of Strafford, appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland[36]
55–56 | 1636, 10 Dec | Died at Dunluce Castle.

## Notes and references

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### Notes

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1. ^ Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text.

### Citations

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1. ^ a b McDonnell 2004, p. 305, right column, line 51. "... his wife, Mary (d. 1582), daughter of Con O'Neill, first earl of Tyrone."
2. ^ Clavin 2009b, paragraph 1. "... he was fostered out to a Scottish presbyterian lowland family, the Stewarts on the isle of Arran, hence his sobriquet ‘Arranach’."
3. ^ a b Clavin 2009a, paragraph 1]. "Following Sorley Boy's death (January 1590), James became captain of the Route"
4. ^ O'Laverty 1887, p. 27. "On the death of Sir James M'Donnell, his brother, Randal, was recognised by the clan as its chief, in accordance with the law of tanistry, which set aside the claims of Sir James's children ..."
5. ^ Shaw 1906, p. 100. "1602, May 13. Randal McDonell McSorley (McSawerly), Hoy (by same [Lord Deputy Mountjoy])."
6. ^ a b c d e Dunlop 1893.
7. ^ a b Dunlop 1893, p. 55.
8. ^ Cokayne 1910, p. 174.
9. ^ Hill 1873, p. 246ps=. "His elder son, Randal, got the baronies of Dunluce and Kilconway, with the castle of Dunluce ...".
10. ^ a b Lodge 1789, p. 211. "Alexander, the third earl of Antrim, was born in the year 1615 ..."
11. ^ Hill 1873, p. 247ps=. "His younger son, Alexander, was bequeethed the barony of Glenarm ...".
12. ^ Burke & Burke 1915, p. 115, right column, line 57. "1. Anne, to. 1st, Christopher, Lord Delvin, son and heir apparent to Richard, 1st Earl of Westmeath, and 2ndly, William, 19th Lord Slane."
13. ^ Burke & Burke 1915, p. 115, right column, line 60. "2. Mary, to. 1st, Lucius, 2nd Viscount Dillon; and 2ndly, Oliver, 6th Lord Louth."
14. ^ Burke & Burke 1915, p. 115, right column, line 62. "3. Sarah, to 1st, Neill Oge O'Neill, of Killyleagh, co. Antrim; 2ndly, Donogh O'Conor, Sligo; and 3rdly, Donald Mac Carthy More;"
15. ^ Burke & Burke 1915, p. 115, right column, line 64. "4. Katherine, m. [married] Hon. Edward Plunkett, son and heir apparent of Patrick, 9th Lord Dunsany."
16. ^ , Burke & Burke 1915, p. 115, right column, line 66:. "5. Rose, m. [married] Col. George Gordon, of Gen. Monroe's army."
17. ^ , Burke & Burke 1915, p. 115, right column, line 67:. "6. Margaret, d. unm. [died unmarried], 16 March 1623."
18. ^ Cokayne 1902, p. 49. "Alexander mac Donell, esq. of Moye (or Moyane) ..."
19. ^ a b Cokayne 1910, p. 174, line 23. "On 28 May 1618 he was cr. Viscount Dunluce, co. Antrim [I. [Ireland]] ..."
20. ^ a b Cokayne 1910, p. 174, line 25. "... on 12 Dec. 1620 he [Randal McSorley] was cr. [created] Earl of Antrim [I. [Ireland]] ..."
21. ^ House of Lords 1779, p. 2, left column. "Die Lunae, 14 Julii, Anno Regn. D'ni 1634 ... The Earl of Antrim, with his Writ."
22. ^ Kearney 1959, p. 53. "Parliament met on 14 July [1634] and the first session lasted until 2 August."
23. ^ Wedgwood 1961, p. 150. "Parliament met on July 14th, 1634. Wentworth rode down in state ..."
24. ^ Wedgwood 1961, p. 126, line 31. "... he embarked at Chester and reached Dublin bay early in the morning of July 23rd [1633]."
25. ^ House of Lords 1779, p. 13, left column. "... on consideration of the age and weaknesses of the Right Honorable Randall, Earl of Antrim, that his lordship shall be licensed to depart for this present session ..."
26. ^ Dunlop 1893, p. 54.
27. ^ Hayes-McCoy 1976, p. 124. "The earl, O'Donnell, and Maguire attacked Bagenal on the march at the Yellow Ford, between Armagh and the Blackwater, on 14 August [1598], and defeated him ..."
28. ^ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 168, line 37. "1599, 12 Mar / 15 April / Robert Devereux, 2nd e. of Essex, L.L. [Lord Lieutenant]"
29. ^ Joyce 1903, p. 172. "On the 23d of September, 1601, a Spanish fleet entered the harbour of Kinsale with 3,400 troops ... "
30. ^ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 44, line 1. "James I ... acc. 24 Mar. 1603 ..."
31. ^ Augusteijn 2004, p. 373. "Mellifont, treaty of (30–1 Mar. 1603), ending the Nine Year's War."
32. ^ Burke & Burke 1915, p. 115, right column, line 53. "His lordship [the 1st earl] m. 1604, Alice, dau. [daughter] of Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and had issue ..."
33. ^ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 168, line 46. "1604, 15 Oct. / 3 Feb. / Sir Arthur Chichester, L.D. [Lord Deputy]"
34. ^ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 168, line 33. "1615, 2 July / 30 Aug. / Sir Oliver St John, L.D. [Lord Deputy] (aft. Lord Grandison)"
35. ^ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 44, line 16. "Charles I. ... acc. 27 Mar. 1625 ..."
36. ^ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 168, penultimate line. "1633, 3 July / 25 July / Thomas Wentworth, viscount Wentworth (e. of Strafford, 1640) L.D. [Lord Deputy]"

### Sources

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* Augusteijn, Joost (2004). "Mellifont, treaty of". In Connolly, Sean Joseph (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Irish History (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 373–374\. ISBN 0-19-280501-0.
* Burke, Bernard; Burke, Ashworth Peter (1915). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage (77th ed.). London: Harrison. OCLC 1155471554.
* Clavin, Terry (October 2009a). McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). "MacDonnell, James Mac Sorley". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
* Clavin, Terry (October 2009b). McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). "MacDonnell, Randall mac Sorley". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
* Cokayne, George Edward (1902). Complete Baronetage, 1611 to 1800. Vol. II (1st ed.). Exeter: William Pollard & Co. OCLC 866278985. – 1625 to 1649
* Cokayne, George Edward (1910). Gibbs, Vicary (ed.). The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant. Vol. I (2nd ed.). London: St Catherine Press. OCLC 228661424. – Ab-Adam to Basing
* Dunlop, Robert (1893). "MacDonnell, Sir Randal, Viscount Dunluce and 1st Earl of Antrim". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. XXXV. London: Smith, Elder, & Co. pp. 54–55\. OCLC 8544105.
* Fryde, Edmund Boleslaw; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology. Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, No. 2 (3rd ed.). London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society. ISBN 0-86193-106-8. – (for timeline)
* Hayes-McCoy, Gerard Anthony (1976). "Chapter IV: The Completion of the Tudor Conquest and the Advance of the Counterreformation". In Moody, Theodore William; Martin, F. X.; Byrne, Francis John (eds.). A New History of Ireland. Vol. III. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 94–141\. ISBN 978-0-19-820242-4. – 1534–1691
* Hill, Rev. George (1873). An Historical Account of the MacDonnells of Antrim. Belfast: Archer & Sons. OCLC 1046037789.
* House of Lords (1779). Journals of the House of Lords (PDF). Vol. I. Dublin: William Sleater. OCLC 35009219. Retrieved 17 January 2022. – 1634 to 1699
* Joyce, Patrick Weston (1903). A Concise History of Ireland from the Earliest Times to 1837 (12th ed.). Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son. OCLC 815623752.
* Kearney, Hugh Francis (1959). Strafford in Ireland 1633–1641 – a Study in Absolutism. Manchester: Manchester University Press. OCLC 857142293.
* Lodge, John (1789). Archdall, Mervyn (ed.). The Peerage of Ireland or, A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom. Vol. I. Dublin: James Moore. OCLC 264906028. – Blood royal, dukes, earls (for Antrim)
* McDonnell, Hector (2004). "MacDonnell, Randal, 1st Earl of Antrim (d. 1636)". In Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 35\. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 305–307\. ISBN 0-19-861385-7.
* O'Laverty, Rev. James (1887). An Historical Account of the History of the Diocese of Down and Connor. Vol. IV. Dublin: James Duffy and sons. OCLC 1046049405. – Dal-Riada
* Shaw, William A. (1906). The Knights of England. Vol. II. London: Sherratt & Hughes. – Knights bachelors & Index
* Wedgwood, Cicely Veronica (1961). Thomas Wentworth, First Earl of Strafford 1593–1641. A Revaluation. London: Jonathan Cape. OCLC 1068569885.

Attribution:  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Dunlop, Robert (1893). "MacDonnell, Randal (d.1636)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 35\. p. 54.

## External links

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* Brady/Ohlmeyer, British Interventions in Early Modern Ireland, Cambridge University Press, 2010, ISBN 9781139442541

Peerage of Ireland

New creation |  Earl of Antrim
1620–1636  | Succeeded by

Randal MacDonnell

Viscount Dunluce
1618–1636

Authority control databases: People |

* Ireland

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