Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill (1572-1602) was the ruler of Tír Chonaill and one of the main native Irish leaders during the Nine Years’ War, alongside Aodh Ó Néill, Earl of Tyrone, his father-in-law. The son of Sir Hugh O’Donnell and his Scottish Gaelic wife Iníon Dubh, he ascended to the rulership of the powerful Ó Domhnaill clan of Tír Chonaill in 1593 and became one of the prominent leaders of the Gaelic resistance to English rule during the Nine Years’ War. On 15 August 1599, he commanded an Irish force to victory over the English at the Battle of Curlew Pass. Following the defeat of the Irish at Kinsale in 1602, Ó Domhnaill sailed to Spain as part of the Flight of the Earls, in the hope of gaining Spanish support for a new invasion of Ireland. Ó Domhnaill however died on 10 September 1602 in the town of Valladolid. Legend says that he was poisoned, although it is more likely he died of illness.
Writings
Dispatches: Letters Between Ireland and Spain
Proclamation to the Irishry of Munster (1596)