Род О’Ха́нлон: История и Территории

Family name

The Ó h Anluain (anglicised as O'Hanlon) family was an agnatic extended family comprising one of a string of dynasts along the Ulster Leinster border. Depending on the advantage to the clan, the Chief of the Name—The O'Hanlon—supported either the Earl of Tyrone or authorities within the English Pale. During the 15th century, ties were close with the famed Earls of Kildare. Frequently, members of the clan would fight on both sides during a rebellion. Some would be outlawed; others pardoned; some ending up on the winning side. The heart of "O'Hanlon's Countrie" was centered on south central Ulster, much of it being in what is now the Republic of Ireland. The first O'Hanlon on record is Flaithbheartach Ua h Anluain, lord of Ui Niallain, whose murder in the year 983 AD is recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters. The anglicised version of the name is usually given as Hanlon or O'Hanlon, but there are many variants: Handlon, Handlan, Hanlan, Hanlen, Hanlin, Hanlyn etc. Occasionally some variants of the names Hanly, Hanley and Handly are also derived from Ó h Anluain, although Hanly is usually the anglicised form of Ó h Ainle, an ancient Roscommon sept (the oldest on record is Donal O'Hanly, Bishop of Dublin from 1085 to 1096).

The ancestors of the Ó h Anluain sept originated in the kingdom of Airgialla. By the 5th century A. D. the sept held territory in and around the modern barony of Oneilland, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, on the southwest shore of Lough Neagh. As the O'Neills rose in prominence from Dungannon to the west, the O'Hanlons moved to territory west of Armagh City. For half a millennium, they served as kings of Orior. The chieftain's name was synonymous with the territory which was better known as "O'Hanlon's Country". It comprised about one third of modern County Armagh, predominantly the eastern third, and also included a large tract of County Louth, from Faughart to Ravensdale, and then over the Cooley mountains to Omeath near Carlingford. The peak of land acquisition was in 1504; in 1505 the territory beyond the Gap of the North was granted to the Earl of Kildare. Two of the earliest maps of Ulster, Jobson's Ulster maps (c. 1590) and Norden's map of Ireland (1610), both show O'Hanlon's Country. In 1586, when Sir John Perrot created the County of Armagh, O'Hanlon's country accounted for one of the five baronies: Armaghe, Toaghriny, Orier, Fuighes (Fews) and Onylane (O'Neilland). In later times "Orier" became the Baronies of Orior Upper and Orior Lower, the southernmost two of Armagh's eight Baronies. It is often overlooked that the Gaelic territory of Orior predates and extended beyond the Barony of that name in County Armagh. O'Hanlon's Country extended southwards into northern County Louth and to the East it encroached slightly into County Down. Before the county lines were finalised, some old maps show the old O'Hanlon seat of Loughgilly in County Down.

Anciently, the O'Hanlons – when sitting as kings of Aithir – kept their residence, and the sept's assembly, at Loughgall (Loch gCál), north of Armagh city. Even after the sept moved east toward Loughgilly, Loughgall was retained as a summer residence. When Edmond Mortimer arrived in Ireland in 1380 as Lord Justice, the chief O'Hanlon was recorded as amongst the righdamhna (those eligible to become a tanist, or heir apparent, of an Irish kingdom) that were required to pay their court to him. The rock of Tanderagee rose to support the family's castle. Having secured the northern lowlands of County Armagh and the highlands approaching and surrounding the Ring of Gullion, the O'Hanlons located the chieftain's gateway strongholds on the approaches from Armagh and eastern Ulster in the north, and Dublin and the English Pale in the south." The northern roads converged on the modern day village of Tandragee; the approaches from Dublin and the English Pale had to force the Gap of the North, and the chieftain's stronghold adjacent to Forkill at Mullagh. The third stronghold, Mullaghglass, guarded the road north from the English frontier town of Newry. Closer to the center of the O'Hanlon lands than Tanderagee and Forkill, Mullaghglass is also the easternmost edge of a tract of land stretching from the Newry vale to the Fews, passing Camlough lake and the northern slope of Sliab Gullion, to which the sept retreated after the fall of the Gaelic order. Despite surrender and regrant under her father, Queen Elizabeth I confiscated O’Hanlon territory in 1571, granting all of Orior to a Captain Thomas Chatterton. He was unable to found a settlement as required, and had his grant revoked, with Sir Eochaidh "Oghy" O’Hanlon of Tanderagee able to reassert control over south Armagh. After the Plantation of Ulster, Oliver St John (the Lord Deputy of Ireland) took over and rebuilt O'Hanlon Castle. During the Ulster Rebellion of 1641 the clan attempted to take back their former lands, however failed with the castle burnt down. Having passed out of the family it became known as Tandragee Castle and remained a ruin for 200 years, until it was completely rebuilt by the Comtes de Salis, and later the Dukes of Manchester.

After the Battle of the Boyne, those holding the O'Hanlon and Hanlon names diverged socially, some assimilating into colonial Irish society and others staying rooted to their Gaelic past. The years 1590 to 1690 mark a century dividing past and present. Prior to those years, there was only one "Gaelic" sept. After those years, each branch of the family chose—or was forced to choose—to remain tied to their aboriginal identity or to be identified with the Irish colonial elite. The O'Hanlons had always been marchland brokers between the English Pale and the Gaelic north. Now they were forced to divide themselves along those lines. Two members of the sept best personify these widening challenges: Sir Eochaidh "Oghy" O'Hanlon and the Tory outlaw, Count Aodh Ruadh ("Redmond") O'Hanlon.

The origins of the colonial O’Hanlons lay in two sons of Sean, The O’Hanlon (c. 1510–1575). In addition to Sir Eochaidh O’Hanlon, last of the Name, there was also his brother, Feidliminh, and his four sons. All supported the Tudor monarchy, more or less, during the Nine Years' War and were granted lands in south Armagh for their loyalty to the Crown. Eochaidh "Oghy" O'Hanlon, son of Shane Oge O'Hanlon, maintained his seat at Tandragee, near modern Poyntzpass, County Armagh. Oghy was lord of the baronies of Orior Lower and Orior Upper, and by Irish tradition (Brehon law) Chief of his name. In 1595, he married the sister of the Earl of Tyrone. This made his son and heir, Eochaidh Óg O'Hanlon, great grandson to the Earl of Kildare. Young Oghy was also a great grandson of Conn O'Neill, Prince of Ulster, and all the ties to the Gaelic aristocracy that entailed. When he was exiled to service under the King of Sweden, he took the blood of Irish and English kings with him. Queen Elizabeth operated a policy of surrender and regrant to Irish nobles, where the Gaelic chiefs surrendered their lands, but were re granted them with an English title after swearing allegiance to the Crown and promising to abide by English laws and customs. Amongst those who did was Hugh O'Neill in 1587 who was given the English title Earl of Tyrone. Eochaidh followed his example and had his lands re granted by letters of the patent in the same year. He became a Knight under English law, "Sir" Eochaidh Oghy O'Hanlon, hereditary royal standard bearer north of the River Boyne. Though an English peer, Eochaidh never made the cultural transition. He kept his Gaelic ways. As John O'Donovan edited into O'Daly's Tribes of Ireland,

Spenser was referring to the Gaelic proverb, applied when someone was heavily native in their appearance and actions. Such people
were "as Irish as O'Hanlon's breech." Spenser was not denigrating The O'Hanlon, as much as he was noting that erstwhile English families such as the Fitzsimons of counties Cavan and Down, had 'gone native' over the years.

Born around 1640 in Poyntzpass, O'Hanlon's Country, Count Redmond O'Hanlon was the son of Loughlin O'Hanlon. As a young man he worked as a footboy to Sir George Acheson of Markethill, but became fiercely anti English. He spent several years in exile with the French army and tried to organise a French invasion of Ireland to depose the British. He was popular in France where he was reportedly awarded the courtesy title of Count O'Hanlon (the English title was extinguished in the family with the death of Sir Eochaidh O'Hanlon; the family lost Tandragee castle during the Plantation of Ulster in 1609). When the French negotiations failed, Redmond returned to Armagh in 1671 and became a notorious highwayman or rapparee. A real life Robin Hood, Redmond robbed the English settlers, extorted protection money from the Scots, and was adored by the largely Catholic peasantry. A letter from the era states that his criminal activities were bringing in more money than the King's revenue collectors, and therefore the outlaw Count was easily able to bribe military officers and public officials. In 1674 the government of King Charles II put a price on his head with posters advertising for his capture, dead or alive. He was eventually murdered in his sleep by his foster brother and close associate Art MacCall O'Hanlon at Eight Mile Bridge near Hilltown on 25 April 1681. Art received a full pardon and two hundred pounds for murdering his leader. As had become the custom in English ruled Ireland, there were gruesome displays of his body parts including his head which was placed on a spike over Downpatrick jail. His remains are said to lie in a family plot in the Church of Ireland cemetery in Letterkenny, County Donegal.

Following the Plantation of Ulster, Ó Hanlon control over land in County Armagh dwindled. At the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1641, two members of the sept still held land under English law. Aodh Buide O'Hanlon held the largest tract, 2,045 acres stretching from the northern slope of Sliab Gullion northwest toward Belleeks at the edge of the Fews. And Padraig MacRory Ó Hanlon held another 133 acres. The acreage held by Aodh Buide and Padraig Ó h Anluain lay at the center of those lands associated with the family over the next two centuries.

Following the Act for the Settlement of Ireland (1652) and the Penal Laws following the defeat of James II, the descendants of Sir Eochaidh and his people of the Ó Hanlon nation could only hold land, or even leases, if they conformed to the rites of the Church of Ireland. Adherents to the Roman rite could not practice law, could not bear arms, and could not serve in public office. Following the Battle of the Boyne, Tandragee became the heart of the Order of the Orange. The Ó Hanlons remaining in County Armagh retreated to Armagh City or their former heartland in the south, in and around the parish of Killevy. The O'Hanlons of Newry. Among those who conformed to the Church of Ireland's rites were the Ó Hanlons of Newry, direct descendants of Padraig Mór Ó h Anluain, a son of Eochaidh Óg Ó h Anluain, the last lord of Orior and heir to Sir Eochaidh. Padraig's son, Edmond, served under James II. His son, Felix, remained in Killevy parish as the Jacobite officers followed the King into exile, as did Felix's son, Edmond. By the second half of the 18th century, this branch relocated to the town of Newry. Hugh of Newry's (1721–1807) sons conformed, and one, Padraig, was admitted to the Irish bar. He served first as a Magistrate for Cos. Tyrone and Armagh. In 1808, Orangemen circulated information in Dublin Castle against his loyalty. He was cleared on inquest by the Duke of Richmond. Following his move to Mill Street in the 18th century, Hugh O’Hanlon headed the most notable Roman Catholic family in Newry. Hugh was a direct descendant of Sir Eochaidh, and through him the lords of Orior. The family moved down east from south Armagh's hill communities to the west. Hugh's father was Hugh Ruadh O’Hanlon of Killeavy and his uncle was the "Bard of Armagh", Patrick Donnelly, Bishop of Dromore (1679–1716). This branch of the family took part in the Volunteer Movement. Hugh of Newry served on Dublin's Catholic Committee. He is also thought to have founded, in part, the Bank of Newry, dying in 1808. The O’Hanlon vault in Newry's Saint Mary's Cemetery bears the O’Hanlon coat of arms. Hugh Padraig O’Hanlon, Jr., eldest son of Hugh of Newry, was admitted to the bar after the ban against Roman Catholics was lifted, and was known locally as "Counselor O’Hanlon". The Counselor was a member of the Volunteer Movement, but was radicalized and moved briefly out of the colonial circle of his father, becoming an Irish nationalist of United Ireland. Moving the Newry branch into the nationalist, republican camp, Hugh, Jr. was friend and acquaintance to Theobald Wolfe Tone, mentioned in the Tone's diaries. O’Hanlon became publican of the Crown Inn at 106–108 Hill Street, Newry, where the local chapter of the United Irishmen was formed and met. Though many United men were reprised against following the defeats at the Battle of Ballynahinch and the Battle of Vinegar Hill, Hugh and his brother escaped censure. In 1812, Hugh, Jr. supported the failed campaign of John Philpot Curran, Master of the Rolls, as Member of Parliament (Westminster) for Newry. At a dinner in Curran's honour, held at the Whitecross Hotel in Margaret Street, Hugh was lauded for efforts made on behalf of the Patriot lawyer's election. During Daniel O’Connell's agitation for Catholic Emancipation through repeal of the remaining apartheid laws, Hugh, Jr. campaign furiously for religious tolerance and equal protection of the laws. In 1826, however, he departed for colonial India. He became a leading barrister. In 1846, he raised funds in Calcutta for Famine relief. Hugh O’Hanlon III, Counselor O’Hanlon's eldest son, returned from colonial service in India to become a London barrister in the Irish Colonial Office at Westminster. There, Hugh III founded Ireland's system of local government through a pilot program for Newry in the form of a Westminster bill, for "Better Lighting, Watching, Cleansing and Paving". The legislative system proved so successful that it was applied nationally. Hugh III was then applied Law Advisor to Dublin Castle, a peak appointment in the colonial order. Other sons of Hugh, Jr. included Pringle, who served in the First Bengal Cavalry; another, Edward, died in colonial service at Rangoon, in the British East Indies. The O'Hanlons of Dublin. Included among those who also passed into Irish colonial society was the Colonel Ó Hanlon of 1821, who petitioned to resume Sir Eochaidh O'Hanlon's honorary position as Royal Standard Bearor to the King (or Queen) "north of the river Boyne". Ireland emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts. He became a saddle maker and a principal of Hanlon & Bradstreet, saddler and harnessmakers. Eoghan was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, as served in the company with H. R. H. Albert Edward, Prince of Wales.

The lands between the strongholds enclosed the "creaght" of the sept, the unit of land under Gaelic law used for the pasturing and seasonal droving of the nation's herds. Governing the creaghts and strongholds for the sept was the Chief of the Name, "The Ó Hanlon." Under Gaelic law, all male relations sharing the same great grandmother with the dying Chieftain were eligible for "acclaimation" as the next Chief of the Name at the sept's coronation stone, Cairn Magha at Clontygora, or "the Slaughter Stone". The O'Hanlon ruled the eastern portion of the medieval kingdom of Oirghialla, capitaled at Clones in modern County Monaghan. To him fell the duty of protecting Oirghialla's eastern march against Ulstermen pushed to the seaboard in the 5th century, Common Era. The region stretched from Lough Neagh's shore adjacent to the Tyrone/Armagh border all the way to Carlingford Lough. It was called Croich na n'Airthear, i. e. regio Orientalium, later preserved in the names attached to the baronies of Orior. The title "The O'Hanlon" was extinguished at English law, and the last Chief of the Name took the English title, "Baron of Orior". The Ó Hanlon title (Barony) is believed to have died with that first holder, Sir Oghy (Eocha) Ó Hanlon in 1600. At the time Sir Eochaidh's death, his heir, Eochaidh "Ochy" Og, was leading the Ó Hanlons fighting with the Earl of Tyrone the Nine Years' War (1596–1603) against the English Crown and its colonial elite in the Pale. As such, the title could not pass to the Baron's heir. Oghie Oge's omission from the plantation would appear to confirm this. As would the inclusion of Oghie Oge's two sons Felim and Brian as a single entry; if either of them had inherited a title, they would surely have been listed separately. Oghie Oge was still alive at the time of the Plantation. Ee only died in 1611, fighting for the King of Sweden against the Poles. The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland has an early patent of 1609 (Document ref. D/1854) in which King James I grants to Patrick O'Hanlon in perpetuity various towns and lands near Mountnorris, County Armagh. It is unknown if this is one of the two Patrick Hanlons named above in the plantation, and/or if this might refer to the seven townlands granted to the descendants of Sir Oghy Ó Hanlon. Whatever their history, the lands did not remain in Ó Hanlon hands for long: the Mountnorris estate shortly afterwards became the property of Francis Annesley, 1st Viscount Valentia (an Englishman). As for the title "The O'Hanlon", it existed at Gaelic law, not English, or even the Irish law developed after the declaration of the Republic. Presumably, a gathering of the O'Hanlons could still declare one of their own "The O'Hanlon", Gaelic An t Anluain, in the same manner of other septs and clans.

1537. Dublin Castle implements the Reformation in Ireland, dissolving monasteries and other religious institutions. This includes the ancient convent of St. Moninna at Killeavy, refuge for the women of the O’Hanlon sept. A smaller chapel and sanctuary survives until 1612, when the last Abbess, Alicia O’Hanlon, is removed from the precincts. 1564. Shane O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, rebels against Elizabeth I. The O’Hanlon chooses to ride with the O’Neill. The Crown responds by seizing, in 1569, most of Orior. It is granted to Thomas Chatterton. He was required to 'subdue the natives' in County Armagh. He failed. 1569. By the Act of Confiscation, Elizabeth I transfers the O'Hanlon territory to the adventurer, Thomas Chatterton. 1573. Elizabeth I gives authority to Chatterton for "seven years to invade, subdue or expel, or bring to mercy the people of Ohrere". 1585 O'Daly writes "The Tribes of Ireland". 1587. The O’Hanlon resubmits to the Tudors, and is knighted Sir Eochaidh O’Hanlon, Baron of Orior. He is re granted his lands on the condition of 'loyalty'. Oghy O’Hanlon, 'chief and captain of his nation' surrendered his territories in "Upper and Nether Orrye" on 20 September 1587. A new patent was issued on 1 December 1587, whereby O’Hanlon was confirmed in his lands for life, then to his heirs male, failing those, to his brothers. At the same time, Sir Oghie agreed to maintain twelve footmen called kerne and eight horsemen, all well armed, to attend upon the Lord Deputy, or other Governor of Ulster, in all hostings and risings and to maintain them in food and all necessities. Significantly the document also provided for the extinction of the title, The O’Hanlon of Orior. Sir Oghie agreed to pay the Queen £60 per year. 1593–1603, C. E. During the Nine Years' War, Sir Eochaidh moves his allegiance to accommodate the moving siege lines between Ulster and the English Pale. At times he was allied with Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone; at times he was allied with Henry Bagenal of Newry, the Queen's Marshal. A Turlough O’Hanlon fought for the Gaelic army under O’Neill at the Battle of the Yellow Ford (1598), in which Bagenal was killed. The Nine Year War (1594–1603). After ascending to the throne in 1558, Queen Elizabeth I proclaimed herself head of the Irish Church (the Act of Supremacy), and went about replacing the "Old English" clergy and administrators with newly appointed Englishmen. The deposed "Old English" had fallen out of favour for their acquired local habits of dress, speaking Gaelic, and moderate sympathies with the native Irish. (After all, by the late 16th century it had been four hundred years since their arrival in Ireland with the Anglo Norman advance.) The new administration was vehemently anti Gael, but also anti Catholic. To their horror, this meant the Galls (Gallic descendants of the Normans) suddenly found themselves out of favour too. Discontent led to an uprising of the Northern clans in 1594. It was led by the O'Neills – including some of the Ó Hanlons under Oghy Og, Sir Eocha's son – and the O'Donnells, supported by their new allies the Galls. The rebellion started in Ulster and spread all over Ireland to become the Nine Years' War. The Galls and the Gaels hoped for help from Catholic Spain but it was slow in coming. In September 1601, after seven years war in Ireland, the Spanish Armada sent 4,000 men to help Hugh O'Neill and Hugh O'Donnell. But the Armada landed at Kinsale in the South, while O'Neill and O'Donnell's strongholds were way up in the North. Against the odds, the Gaels marched South through enemy territory to meet the Spanish, and arrived in a matter of weeks with 12,000 men to lay siege to the English at Kinsale. By December 1601, the combined Spanish and Gael forces had the upper hand, but had been reduced to 10,000 men. Impatient to leave, the Spanish demanded an attack which took place on Christmas Eve 1601. It was disastrous and losing the Battle of Kinsale effectively marked the end of the Nine Years' War. Although the war ended formally only in March 1603 when O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone submitted to the English. 1599 Dymmock's 'Treatise on Ireland' notes that Sir Oghie O'Hanlon, on 28 April 1599, could muster two hundred foot and forty horse for the Earl of Tyrone. His territory reached from Newry to Armagh and was mostly 'without woods'.

Depiction of the Clan O’Hanlon and its members in popular culture dates to the emergence of early mass media in Great Britain after the Restoration. The Irish people's preservation – and perhaps well intended enhancement—of Comte Redmond O’Hanlon's life and exploits established an image which mass media vehicles would exploit in future years. This was a trend even as the descendants and relatives of the Comte remained the victims of circumstances established by the system of apartheid created through the Penal Laws after 1690. In 1862, William Carleton's Redmond, Count O’Hanlon, The Irish Raparee, An Historical Tale was published in Dublin and London. The non fiction work was one a series of novels published by Carleton in the wake of the Celtic revival of the 18th century and its echoes through the 19th century. Not unlike Blaxploitation of the 1970s, it is heavily laden with stereotypes appealing to the mass culture of its day, an industrialized proletarian and emerging bourgeoisie suffering from cultural dislocation and the identity crisis it produced. Works like Carleton's sold because they allegedly offered 'authenticity' in a world remaking itself and increasing cut off from the Irish clan system. In Redmond, Count O’Hanlon, Carleton presents little or no information regarding the Count or his family, except that they were early Jacobites dispossessed for their loyalty to the House of Stuart. Redmond himself is depicted as crafty, yet well mannered. An Irish Robin Hood or Rob Roy MacGregor coming to the rescue of a fair maiden and her distressed fiancée, as her chastity (and his property) were threatened by a debauched son of the Anglo Irish colonial elite ruling south Armagh.