Somhairle Buidh Mac Domhnaill ("Charles of the Yellow Hair, son of Donnell") anglicised Sorley Boy MacDonnell (in Scotland, MacDonald) (c. 1505 - 1590), Scoto-Irish chieftain, son of Alexander MacDonnell, lord of Islay and Kintyre (Cantire), and Catherine, daughter of the Lord of Ardnamurchan, was born at the Castle of Dunanynie near Ballycastle, County Antrim in Ireland. Events March 5 - Papal dispensation issued for the marriage of Henry VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon June 27 - Henry VIII of England repudiates his engagement to Catherine of Aragon, at his fathers command King Alexander_of_Poland signed Nihil_novi act - Poland became Nobles Democracy Poland prohibits peasants from leaving... Events March 14 - Battle of Ivry - Henry IV of France again defeats the forces of the Catholic League under the Duc de Mayenne. ... Transport in Scotland Timeline of Scottish history Caledonia List of not fully sovereign nations Subdivisions of Scotland National parks (Scotland) Traditional music of Scotland Flower of Scotland Wars of Scottish Independence National Trust for Scotland Historic houses in Scotland Castles in Scotland Museums in Scotland Abbeys and priories in Scotland... Islay shown within Argyll. ... Kintyre shown within Argyll Kintyre is a region of western Scotland located at the south-western tip of the Argyll Peninsula. ... Ballycastle (Baile an Chaistil in Irish) is a small town in County Antrim in Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom. ... County Antrim ( in [Gaelic) is one of the six Irish counties that form Northern Ireland. ...

Clan MacDonnell

The MacDonnells of Antrim were descended from a Scots family from the Western Isles that the English crown had attempted to cultivate since the early 14th century in its efforts to influence the course of politics in Scotland. At the end of that century, an ancestor of Sorley's had married Margaret Bisset, heiress of the district on the Antrim coast known as the Glynns (or Glens), which union laid the basis for Sorley Boy's claim to the lordship of that territory in Ireland. MacDonnell migration to the Glynns and the island of Rathlin increased in the early 16th century (by way of swift galleys powered by oar and sail), after the clan had rejected overtures from an increasingly powerful James IV, king of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides or Western Isles (Scottish Gaelic: Na h-Eileanan Siar), also traditionally known as the Outer Isles, comprise an island chain off the west coast of Scotland. ... The Glens of Antrim, or, simply, the Glens, is a region of County Antrim comprised of nine glens, or valleys, that radiate inward from the coast towards Lough Neagh. ... Bird sanctuary on Rathlin Island Rathlin Island is an island off the coast of County Antrim in Northern Ireland, and is the northernmost point of the region. ... James IV (March 17, 1473 - September 9, 1513) was king of Scotland from 1488 to 1513. ...

The English feared the formation of a fifth column (in league with the Ulster clans of O'Neill and O'Donnell), which might lay the foundation of a Bruce-style invasion of Ireland, and the clan did spread into the adjacent territories of Clandeboy and the Route. This migration from Scotland was cemented when the king's successor, James V, chose to maintain favourable relations with the rival Campbell clan, although he did swing around to favour the MacDonnells in the 1530's, restoring certain lands to them in Kintyre and Islay while encouraging their expansion in Ireland. This period of royal favour ended with the defeat in 1539 at Belahoe of a combined Irish force (including the MacDonnells) by an English army: Scottish plans for an invasion of Ireland were then put off, while the French invasion of England that King Henry VIII had feared failed to occur. Bruce can refer to: A personal given name; famous people having this forename include: Bruce Lee, Chinese-American martial arts actor Bruce Hornsby, Singer-songwriter from Williamsburg, VA. Bruce Springsteen, American singer and songwriter Bruce Willis, American actor Bruce Dickinson, British singer Bruce Campbell, actor best known for the Evil... This article is about the Scottish clan; for other Campbells see Campbell (disambiguation). ... Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England and Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) from 22 April 1509 until his death. ...

Military Leader

Once the invasion crisis had passed, the MacDonnells were compelled to make repeated efforts in order to hold onto their lands in the Western Isles of Scotland and in the Route, opposed as they were by both the English and Scots governments. It was during the following decades that Sorley Boy came to prominence. In the mid to late 16th century the Dublin administration attempted periodically to eject the MacDonnells from Ulster. During the first campaign to this end, starting in 1550, Sorley Boy was taken prisoner and conveyed to Dublin Castle, where he suffered a confinement of 12 months, being eventually exchanged for certain prisoners held by his brother, James, who was leader of the clan. [[the building to the right. ...

On his release, Sorley Boy received a large ransom after seizing the constable of Carrickfergus Castle, and went on to subjugate the MacQuillans. This clan was the immediate rival of the MacDonnells in Ireland, dominating the northern portion of Antrim - the Route - with their stronghold at Dunluce Castle, near the mouth of the river Bush. In 1558, the MacDonnell chieftain committed to him the lordship of the Route upon the death of his brother Colla, and Sorley Boy promptly raised a force of troops on the Scottish coast to confront the MacQuillans. He landed at Marketon Bay in July 1559, where the MacQuillans were strongly posted at the foot of Glenshesk, and attacked them at Beal a Faula, driving them south the MacDonnells give the Irish a bad name. This article describes routing in computer networks, a method of finding paths from origins to destinations, along which information can be passed. ...

Sorley Boy was now too powerful and turbulent to be neglected by Queen Elizabeth and her ministers, who were also being troubled by his great contemporary, Shane O'Neill. For the next twenty years, the history of Ulster consists for the most part of alternating conflict and alliance between MacDonnells and O'Neills, and attempts on the part of the English government to subdue them both. With this object Elizabeth aimed at fomenting the rivalry between the two clans; she came to terms sometimes with the one and sometimes with the other. One event that simplified the situation for the queen was the success in 1560 of the Protestant revolution in Scotland, which largely removed the threat of invasion her father had suffered in 1539. But complications were never wanting in Ulster, owing to the criss-cross of dynastic and political allegiances and betrayals. At this time Shane O'Neill was allied by marriage with the Campbells, the MacDonnell clan's chief rival in Scotland; yet Sorley Boy's wife was an illegitimate half-sister of the same Shane. Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. ... Shane ONeill (c. ... Ulster (Irish: Cúige Uladh, IPA: ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland. ... Shane ONeill (c. ...

Clan Chieftain

Upon Elizabeth's accession in 1559 Sorley Boy had submitted to her authority under the Earl of Sussex, then lord lieutenant of Ireland, and in return was confirmed in his Irish possessions. In 1562 Shane O'Neill paid his celebrated visit to London, where he obtained recognition by Elizabeth of his claims as head of the O'Neills. But in 1563, Sussex mounted a campaign against O'Neill, in which Sorley Boy played his part. Sussex retired in frustration, and O'Neill entered into a sustained offensive against the MacDonnells, ostensibly in the interests of ridding the English of Scottish interference in Ireland: he defeated Sorley Boy near Coleraine in the summer of 1564, laying waste his territory; in 1565 he invaded the Glynns, destroying all Scottish settlements there, and at Ballycastle Bay he won a decisive victory, in which James MacDonnell and Sorley Boy were taken prisoner and Dunluce Castle fell into O'Neill's hands. Events Earliest English slave-trading expedition under John Hawkins. ... Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the most populous city in the European Union, with an estimated population on 1 January 2005 of 7,421,328 and a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 14 million. ... Arms of Coleraine Coleraine (Cúil Raithin in Irish) is a town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland at the mouth of the river Bann. ...

James died soon afterward, but Sorley Boy remained O'Neill's captive until 1567, during which period he seems to have won his captor's confidence. After his unexpected defeat by the O'Donnells in the battle of Farsetmore, O'Neill turned to the MacDonnells for assistance and attended a feast laid on by them at Cushendun, bringing with him out of captivity Sorley Boy and his late brother's widow, Agnes, in order to secure an alliance with the Scots. In an event which seems to have had the approbation of the lord deputy of Ireland, Henry Sidney, O'Neill was stabbed and murdered by his hosts. Sorley Boy visited Scotland immediately and returned to Marketon Bay with 600 redshanks, in whose presence he swore never to leave Ireland. Sir Henry Sidney (1529 - May 5, 1586), lord deputy of Ireland, was the eldest son of Sir William Sidney, a prominent politician and courtier in the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, from both of whom he received extensive grants of land, including the manor of Penshurst in Kent...

In 1569, an alliance between the O'Neills and MacDonnells was secured upon the marriage on Rathlin Island of Shane's successor, Turlough Luineach O'Neill, to the widow Agnes. Sorley Boy spent the next few years in striving to frustrate the schemes of Sir Thomas Smith, and later of the Earl of Essex, for colonizing Ulster with English settlers. He was willing to come to terms with the government provided his claims to the lands were allowed, but Essex determined to reduce him to unconditional submission. After a retreat into Scotland, Sorley Boy returned and made an unsuccessful attempt on the crown garrison at Carrickfergus. In time, he did come to terms with Smith, who supported his claims to title in the Route on condition that he take up the reformed religion. In 1573, letters of denization were addressed to Sorley Boy from the crown, but Essex frustrated these with the renewal of his plantation scheme; still, Sorley Boy managed to hold his position, when Essex failed in his negotiation with the Scottish regent and the Earl of Argyll of a withdrawal of the Scots from Ulster. Turlough Luineach ONeill (c. ... Sir Thomas Smith (December 23, 1513 - August 12, 1577), was an English scholar and diplomat. ... Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex (1541 - 1576), an English nobleman, was the eldest son of Sir Richard Devereux. ...

Essex then switched tack, having struck a deal with Turlough Luineach, and defeated Sorley Boy around Castle Toome, where the Bann flows out of Lough Neagh. Essex had to withdraw to Carrickfergus for lack of provisions, but he then ordered a follow-up operation, with the intention of driving the Scots from Ulster. Under the commands of John Norris and Francis Drake an amphibious strike force proceeded by sea from Carrickfergus to Rathlin Island, where Sorley Boy's children and valuables, together with the families of his principal retainers, had been lodged for safety; and while the chieftain was himself at Ballycastle, within sight of the island, the women and children (perhaps 700) were massacred by the English. Sorley Boy retaliated with a successful raid on Carrickfergus, in which the garrison broke before a highland charge, and managed to re-establish his power in the Glynns and the Route, which the Mac Quillans made ineffectual attempts to recover. John Norris (1657 - 1711), philosopher and poet, educated at Oxford, took orders, and lived a quiet and placid life as a country parson and thinker. ... Sir Francis Drake, c. ... Carrickfergus (Carraig Fhearghais, meaning Rock of Fergus, in Irish) is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. ... Bird sanctuary on Rathlin Island Rathlin Island is an island off the coast of County Antrim in Northern Ireland, and is the northernmost point of the province. ...

On surveying the results, Lord Deputy Sidney agreed to a ceasefire, although he supported the claims of the MacQuillans to the Route, and of Sorley Boy's nephews (sons of the widow Agnes) to possession of the Glens - a typical Campbell manoeuvre, effected through their alliance with Turlough Luineach. At the same time, Sidney forwarded to London Sorley Boy's petition for title, although it sat there without response for years. With fortitude, the MacDonnells managed to strengthened their position through an alliance with Turlough Luineach, and by a formidable immigration of followers from the Scottish Isles.

Ambition achieved

For some years the politics of eastern Ulster maintained a balance. But in 1584 the recently arrived lord deputy of Ireland, Sir John Perrot, determined to make a further effort to subdue the turbulent chieftain by leading an army into the province. After an expedition to Scotland in search of reinforcements, Sorley Boy landed at Cushendun in January 1585 with a substantial army, but after initial successes he was driven back to Scotland, where he offered to accept the terms formerly put to him by Sidney; Perrot declined, whereupon Sorley Boy returned and regained possession of Dunluce Castle. Under these circumstances, Perrot reluctantly opened negotiations with Sorley Boy, who in the summer of 1586 repaired to Dublin and made submission to Elizabeth's representative. When shown the severed head of his son, which had been nailed above the gate of Dublin Castle, Sorley Boy gave the memorable response, "My son hath many heads". 1584 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Sir John Perrot (c. ...

Having made his submission, Sorley Boy at last obtained a grant to himself and his heirs of the greater part of the Route country, between the rivers Bann and Bush (an area then called the Boys), with certain other lands to the east, and was made constable of Dunluce Castle. A month beforehand, Sorley Boy's nephew had received a grant in similar terms of the greater part of the Glynns. At the same time, in the Treaty of Berwick of 1586, a clause was inserted that recognised the right of the clan MacDonnell to remain in Ireland. For the rest of his life Sorley Boy gave no trouble to the English government, although he did assist survivors of the Spanish Armada to escape Ireland in 1588. He died in 1590 at the very place of his birth, the Castle of Dunanynie, and was buried in the traditional place of the MacDonnells, Bonamairgy Abbey at Ballycastle. The River Bann is a the largest river in Northern Ireland. ... The Spanish Armada or Great/ Grand Armada(Old Spanish: Grande y Felicísima Armada, large and most fortunate fleet; but called by the English, with ironic intention, la Armada Invencible, the Invincible Fleet) was the largest fleet to date, sent by the Catholic King Philip II of Spain in 1588...

Prior to the Plantation of Ulster in 1610, sorley Boy had been the most powerful of the province's Scots settlers. He presented successive Tudor and Stuart administrations in England and Scotland with ongoing strategic difficulties in the region of east Ulster and south-west Scotland, and during a period of forty years played those difficulties with courage, skill and deception, to the point that MacDonnell claims were largely accepted and the clan's fortunes secured. This period of Irish history throws up few winners, but Sorley Boy can be counted among them. The Plantation of Ulster took place in the Irish province of Ulster during the early 17th century. ...

Family

Sorley Boy was twice married: to Mary, daughter of Con O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone; and in 1588, when he was past the age of eighty years, to a daughter of Turlough Luineach O'Neill, a kinswoman of his first wife. Two of his five daughters married members of the O'Neill family. By his first marriage Sorley Boy had several sons (the MacSorleys): two were killed, and Randal, who was created earl of Antrim, is the ancestor of the present holder of that title. It was to Randal that King James I renewed the grants of the Route and the Glynns. The Kings of Ireland have twice created the Earldom of Antrim in the Peerage of Ireland. ... See James VI of Scotland and I of England James I of Scotland James I of Aragon James I of Sicily James I of Cyprus This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Reference

See G Hill, An Historical Account of the Macdonnells of Antrim (London, 1873); Richard Bagwell, Ireland under the Tudors (3 yols., London, 1885-1890); Calendar of State Papers: Carew MSS. i., ii., (6 vols., 1867-1873); Donald Gregory, History of the Western Highlands and Isles of Scotland 1493-1625 (London, 1881); Sir TT Gilbert, History of the Viceroys of Ireland (Dublin, 1865).