Donnell Ballagh O'Cahan
Donnell Ballagh O'Cahan (died 1627) was an Irish landowner in Ulster. A vassal of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, O'Cahan was frequently in rebellion alongside his lord in the closing years of the 16th century. Although he did not go into exile with Tyrone, he claimed to have been betrayed by the English Crown, which he accused of failing to keep to an agreement over a large grant of lands. Arrested for treason, he was never brought to trial but was held captive in Tower of London until his death sometime around 1627.
Life and career
O'Cahan was a major Ulster landholder
O'Cahan and the Flight of the Earls
In September 1607
In early 1608, O'Cahan's brother joined
Downfall and death
O'Cahan's arrangement with Docwra regarding his lands was agreed to by the government, but Chichester managed to persuade the government to repudiate the deal. O'Cahan, says Bigger, went "frantic": his behaviour allowed Chichester to claim that O'Cahan had spoken and acted treasonably.[5] O'Cahan spent the rest of his life imprisoned in the Tower of London,[8] dying there around 1626.[1] During his imprisonment, the Plantation of Ulster continued westwards. However, his legal title to the Bann−Foyle region was not contested and, even though O'Cahan was never to return, no individual planter ever laid claim to his estate.[9]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Newman 2019.
- ^ a b c d Bigger 1904, p. 159.
- ^ Canny 1970, p. 8.
- ^ Curl 1986, p. 20.
- ^ a b c Bigger 1904, p. 160.
- ^ Boyle 1989, p. x.
- ^ Bigger 1904, p. 159–160.
- ^ Hill 2004, p. 393.
- ^ Curl 2009, p. 29.
Bibliography
- Bigger, F. J. (1904). "Sir Arthur Chichester, Lord Deputy of Ireland. With Some Notes on the Plantation of Ulster (Continued)". Ulster Journal of Archaeology. 10: 158–166.
- Boyle, E. M. (1989). Records of the Town of Limavady: 1609 to 1808. Limavady: North-West. ISBN 978-0-90752-815-9.
- Canny, N. P. (1970). "Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and the Changing Face of Gaelic Ulster". Studia Hibernica (10): 7–35.
- Curl, J. S. (1986). The Londonderry Plantation, 1609-1914: The History, Architecture, and Planning of the Estates of the City of London and Its Livery Companies in Ulster. Chichester: Phillimore. ISBN 978-0-85033-577-4.
- Curl, J. S. (2009). "Reluctant Colonisers: the City of London and the Plantation of Coleraine". History Ireland. 17: 28–31.
- Hill, G. (2004). The Conquest of Ireland : an Historical Account of the Plantation in Ulster at the Commencement of the Seventeenth Century. Belfast: Irish Genealogical Foundation. ISBN 978-0-94013-445-4.
- Newman, K. (2019). "Donnell Ballagh O'Cahan (-c.1626): Landowner". Dictionary of Ulster Biography. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.