Niall Garbh Ó Domhnaill

Niall Garbh Ó Domhnaill ( Niall Garbh Irish for "Rough Niall", Anglicized Niall Garve O'Donnell ; * 1560 , † 1626 ), was a high-ranking member of the O'Donnell clan of Donegal in northwestern Ireland in the 16th century. His fame is mainly due to the fact that he allied himself with the English against his compatriots in the late course of the Nine Years War . He was married to his cousin Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, the sister of Aodh Rua Ó Domhnaill and Ruairí Ó Domhnaill .

Niall Garbh was enraged by the rise of his cousin Aodh Rua Ó Domhnaill to head the clan in 1592, but the fact that he later 'took away' his castle in Lifford led to the feud between the two relatives.

While Aodh Rua Ó Domhnaill fought in the Nine Years War against the English from 1594 to 1603 , Niall Garbh used the situation in his own favor in the beginning of 1600. He allied himself with the English and provided them with important information against his cousin and Aodh Mór Ó Néill . He made it possible for an English fleet under Henry Dowcra to land in Derry . But as early as 1601 he fell out with the Lord Deputy , as the latter refused to grant him the lordship of Tyrconnell as well as the one about Inishowen .

In 1602, after Aodh Rua Ó Domhnaill had left Ireland, Niall Garbh and Ruairí Ó Domhnaill went to London , where the Privy Council tried in vain to settle the family dispute.

When Ruairí fled to Rome with Aodh Mór Ó Néill in 1607 , he was accompanied by his sister Nuala (and her daughter Gráinne), who Niall Garbh had left after he allied with the English.

In 1608 Niall Garbh was convicted of complicity in the O'Doherty Rebellion and imprisoned in the Tower of London , where he was incarcerated until his death in 1626.