Iníon Dubh
Fiona MacDonald | |
|---|---|
| Queen consort of Tyrconnell | |
Mongavlin Castle, near St Johnston in the east of County Donegal, was built on the site of Iníon Dubh's chief residence. The current castle, now ruined, was largely built during the early years of the Plantation of Ulster and is located on the western bank of the River Foyle. | |
| Born | Before 1565 Kingdom of Scotland |
| Died | c. 1611 Ulster, Ireland |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Issue | Hugh Roe O'Donnell Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell Nuala O'Donnell Manus O'Donnell Mary O'Donnell Cathbarr O'Donnell |
| Father | James MacDonald, 6th of Dunnyveg |
| Mother | Agnes Campbell |
Lady Fiona MacDonald (Scottish Gaelic: Fionnghuala Nic Dhomhnaill), better known by her nickname Iníon Dubh (in-NEEN DOO; "Black-Haired Daughter"), was a Scottish aristocrat and queen consort of Tyrconnell from 1569 to 1592. The mother of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, she was a significant politician in 16th-century Ulster and effectively led Tyrconnell when her husband Hugh McManus O'Donnell became prematurely senile.
Iníon Dubh was born into Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg and raised at the Stuart court in Scotland. When her father died in 1565, she and her mother moved to Ireland where in 1569 they both married into prominent Ulster clans. Iníon Dubh supplied her new husband Hugh McManus O'Donnell, Lord of Tyrconnell, with mercenaries from Scotland and pushed the O'Donnell clan into opposition with the English administration. Iníon Dubh bore many children, including Hugh Roe, Rory, Nuala and Cathbarr. Her Scottish connections meant she had access to Redshanks, which she regularly used to subjugate her family's rivals. In 1593, Protestant Archbishop Miler Magrath described her as "a cruel, bloody woman who has committed sundry murders".
She had significant influence over the reigns of both her husband and son. Historian Emmett O'Byrne has called Iníon Dubh "one of the most remarkable Gaelic woman of the sixteenth century".