О'Нилл әулетінің тарихы және Тирон графы атағы

The title of Count of Tyrone has been used by two European branches of the O'Neill family to claim affiliation with the O'Neill Earls of Tyrone in the Peerage of Ireland. Romance languages, such as French, Spanish, and Portuguese, do not distinguish between earls and counts, but use the same word for both; when these titles have been translated into English, they are generally rendered Count.

The O'Neill dynasty descends from Niall Glundub, High King of Ireland in the tenth century; since the twelfth century, their rulers, whom the English called "the O'Neill", have been chosen from two families: the O'Neills of Antrim, descended from Aodh Meth ("Aodh the Fat"), King of Ailech from 1196 to 1230, and the O'Neills of Tyrone (including the Earls of Tyrone), descended from his brother, Niall the Red. The family of Aodh Meth take their name from Aodh Buidhe ("Aodh the Yellow"), Aodh Meth's grandson, the last King at Ailech from 1263 to 1283; they settled and named Clanaboy or Clandeboye in Antrim. The two branches deposed each other from the leadership of the O'Neills, which was in effect the lordship of Ulster, quite often until 1345; after that, all of the princes of the O'Neills but one were from Tyrone, the head of which came to known as the Great O'Neill (Ua Neill Mor); the exception was Art mac Aodha, prince from 1509 to 1513, who was of the Clann Aedh Buidhe but whose mother was an O'Neill of Tyrone, daughter of The O'Neill. He was succeeded in turn by two sons of Conn Mor O'Neill, his cousin of the Tyrone branch. When Henry VIII of England had himself declared King of Ireland (rather than Lord of Ireland, as his predecessors had been) he persuaded many of the Irish princes to surrender their Celtic lordships, and accept titles in the Peerage of Ireland instead. In exchange for their allegiance, they received the King's protection from their neighbours and his support in dealing with their fellow clansmen. This also meant that their clans came under Anglo Irish law, which made the new peers owners of the land, and their clansmen their tenants; the descent of the new peerages were also regulated by patents issued by the Crown (and so pass to their own descendants), not by the elections under brehon law. The princes of the Cenell Eoghain had been elected for three centuries from two families named O'Neill, who were distant cousins; they were called "the O'Neill". In 1542, the O'Neill was Conn Bacach O'Neill, younger son of Conn Mor O'Neill in Tyrone; he resigned the position of the O'Neill, and accepted the Earldom of Tyrone; by the patent, his successor was to be his eldest, but illegitimate, son Ferdoragh, who took the name of Matthew, and Matthew's heirs male. This did not work out well for the O'Neills. Many of them resisted the new laws, and elected Conn Bacach's younger son, Shane O'Neill ("Shane the Proud"), to be The O'Neill in his father's place; the resulting civil war lasted several decades. Matthew was killed, Conn Bacach was driven out of Tyrone, Matthew's eldest son was assassinated. In 1585, Queen Elizabeth confirmed Matthew's second son, Hugh O'Neill as Earl of Tyrone; in 1593, he was chosen to be the O'Neill (replacing Shane's tanist, Turlough Luineach O'Neill, his second cousin) despite Elizabeth's policy that all such principalities be abolished. He attempted to exercise both powers at the same time; his neighbours quarrelled with him, and the Irish Government waged war against him for nine years, one of the many fronts in Elizabeth's desultory war with Spain. His forces exacted tribute from much of Ireland, but he could not take all the country. James I made peace with Spain after his accession in 1603; he also reconciled with Earl Hugh. But grievances arose again, and (rather than a renewed war without support) the Earl of Tyrone left for Spanish territory to ask for help, taking his family and his closest allies with him, in 1607. He was attainted the next year; in 1614, this was confirmed by the Irish Parliament; his title and lands were forfeit. This Flight of the Earls was the legal basis, therefore, for the Plantation of Ulster by the Scots; since Earl Hugh had personally owned much of Ulster, it was now in the King's hands, to give away as he pleased. The Earldom of Tyrone was created twice more for prominent Anglo Irish families, who owned land in the far south of Ireland; it is now a subordinate title of the Marquess of Waterford.

Other claims to the Earldom of Tyrone or the leadership of the O'Neills have been raised since the younger Shane O'Neill's death before Barcelona in 1641. Shane O'Neill had been expected to command an O'Neill force in Ireland; Owen Roe O'Neill, his illegitimate cousin, was appointed to replace him; before Owen Roe even reached Ireland, Luke Wadding expressed concern that he would claim the Earldom and there would be conflict between him and Sir Felim O'Neill, also in arms. Hugh Bourke wrote to Wadding that

"As to what you write touching Don Eugenio, I apprehend no such danger; he is not disposed to claim more than his father enjoyed, for he acknowledges that all the immediate right to the earldom of Tyrone belongs to Don Constantino, who is in Spain. So long as he lives, Don Eugenio can claim nothing, as he publicly acknowledges, offering to serve no matter who—Don Felim or another, in the common cause of religion and the realm, and that he goes not thither to command, but to receive what they may be minded to accord him and lay upon him, and that, if the realm should deem Don Felim to be Earl of Tyrone, he would be the first to obey, as he claims only the right to serve God and enjoy the portion that falls to him of his fathers' inheritance. The first thing is to purge the land of heretics, and see that the Catholic religion is set in its true place: thereafter the Kingdom or King will consider the rights of each particular person, and establish them by ordinance." There was once a peerage claim to the Earldom of Tyrone in the records of the Irish House of Lords for 1717, now lost; this may, however, refer to the second creation of 1673, which was already extinct. (The heiress of the Powers earls was a single granddaughter, who married Sir Marcus Beresford in 1717; her husband was eventually created Viscount and then Earl of Tyrone, the third creation of the title.)