Randall MacDonnell, Marquess of Antrim (1609–1683) was a Roman Catholic landed magnate in Scotland and Ireland, son of the 1st Earl of Antrim. He was also chief of Clan MacDonnell of Antrim. He is best known for his involvement, mostly on the Royalist side, in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
Birth and origins Randal was born on 9 June 1609, probably at Dunluce Castle, his parents' habitual residence. He was the eldest son of Randal MacDonnell and his wife, Alice O'Neill. His father, Lord of the Route and Constable of Dunluce Castle, had been knighted by Lord Lieutenant Mountjoy in 1602. His father was an important landowner in the north-eastern corner of Ireland facing Scotland across the North Channel. His father's family, the MacDonnell of Antrim, were the Irish branch of the Scottish Clan Donald. The MacDonnels descended from the twelfth-century Scottish warlord Somerled and from Alexander MacDonald, 5th of Dunnyveg, a Scottish-Irish magnate, who was driven out of Scotland by James IV and fled to Ulster where the family was already established through a series of marriages. His Scottish lands were taken over by the rival Clan Campbell, although the MacDonalds continued to live there and looked towards the MacDonnell family for leadership. Recovering his Scottish lands remained an objective that his father pursued all his life without ever meeting it.
Randal's mother was described as "of good cheerful aspect, freckled, not tall but strong, well set, and acquainted with the English tongue." She was born in 1583 as the daughter of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone and his second wife, Siobhan (i.e. Joan) O'Donnell. She was thus a member of the O'Neill dynasty, an ancient Gaelic family, the leaders of which were once kings and ruled all of Ulster. However, her father had left Ireland in the Flight of the Earls in 1607 and was then attainted by the Irish Parliament, losing his title and lands.
Randal's parents were both Catholic. They had married in 1604 before the Flight of the Earls. Unlike most of the Ulster Catholic elite, the MacDonnells benefited financially from the Plantation of Ulster, which brought large-scale Scottish and English settlement of Northern Ireland. In spite of this, and their good relations with their Protestant neighbours and tenants, the MacDonnell's remained staunch Catholics.
He appears below as the elder of two brothers: Randal (1609–1683) Alexander (1615–1699), succeeded him as the 3rd Earl
Randal's sistersHe had six sisters. Ann, married firstly Christopher, Lord Delvin, and secondly William Fleming, Baron of Slane Mary, married firstly Lucas, 2nd Viscount Dillon, and secondly Oliver, 6th Lord Louth Sarah, married firstly Neile-Oge O'Neill of Killileagh in County Antrim, secondly Charles O'Conor Sligo, and thirdly Donald Macarthy More Catherine, married Edward Plunkett of Castlecor Rose, married Colonel Gordon, commander of a regiment in Robert Munroe's army Ellis, of whom nothing seems to be known but her name
Early life On 28 May 1618 Randal's father was created Viscount Dunluce and in 1620 1st Earl of Antrim by King James I of England. By the latter creation Viscount Dunluce became a subsidiary title of the family, which was given as courtesy title to Randal, aged 11, the Earl's eldest son and heir apparent, who was therefore styled Viscount Dunluce.
Although the family was part of an increasingly Anglicised Irish elite, he was exposed to Gaelic culture, Gaelic language, and raised as a staunch Catholic. In 1613, when he was four, an arranged marriage was made for him with Lucy Hamilton, a daughter of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn, but the wedding never took place.
France and England In 1625 Dunluce, as he was now, travelled to France to complete his education. After two years there he went to London, where he was presented at the court of Charles I. He was described as "a tall, clean-limbed, handsome man with red hair". Dunluce spent the next ten years in England, with only occasional, brief visits to Ireland. In 1635 he began a career as a military contractor by agreeing to raise two regiments of Irish troops for service in the French army, but the plan was vetoed by the King.
First marriage After abandoning his long-standing fiancée Lucy Hamilton, Dunluce was linked with several other prospective marriages. In 1635 he married Katherine Manners, the widow of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, who had been England's Chief Minister under both James I and Charles before his assassination in 1628. The Duchess was a devout Catholic and wealthy. She was close to Queen Henrietta Maria, and further enhanced Dunluce's status at court. He became friends with leading British politicians including the Earl of Nithsdale, the Duke of Lennox and the Duke of Hamilton.
Dunluce planned to acquire large amounts of land in the Londonderry Plantation, but this was blocked by Thomas Wentworth, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, who mistrusted Dunluce and was to become a major opponent of his. Dunluce also made a failed attempt to recover some of the family's traditional lands in the West of Scotland by purchasing them, but this also fell through.
Dunluce was emotionally very close to his wife and became stepfather to her children including George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. The couple lived a lavish lifestyle, and Dunluce ran up large debts in England which troubled him for the rest of his life.
Earl of Antrim On 10 December 1636 Dunluce's father died in Dunluce Castle and was buried at the Bonamargy Franciscan Friary. Dunluce succeeded as the 2nd Earl of Antrim. In his will, his father had divided his estate between his two sons. Randal inherited the larger share of the land, consisting of the baronies of Dunluce and Kilconway, whereas Alexander, his younger brother, inherited the Barony of Glenarm.
In an effort to cut down on expenses Lord Antrim, as he was now, and his wife the countess relocated to Ireland in 1638. Antrim set up home in his family's traditional seat of Dunluce Castle as one of the wealthiest men in Ireland. He oversaw nearly 340,000 acres of land, which was mostly sublet to tenant farmers. Along with the family's traditional Scottish followers in the Western Isles, Antrim's tenants provided him with an important power base during the coming wars.
Scottish crisis Antrim Plan
Antrim took a close interest in Scottish politics, due to his ties to the Catholic faction of the Scottish McDonald clan who dominated Kintyre and the Western Isles. Charles' attempts to impose religious reforms on the Church of Scotland led to the signing of the National Covenant in 1638, and the outbreak of the Bishops' Wars in 1639. Antrim saw an opportunity both to assist the king, and also regain traditional MacDonald lands in Scotland from Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, a leader of the Covenanters. He proposed raising an Irish Catholic army from his tenants in Ulster, then crossing the North Channel to link up with the Scottish MacDonalds.
The expedition was planned in conjunction with other landings and an invasion by the main English army under Charles. Its purpose was to divert Covenanter resources, while also allowing Antrim to recover Kintyre for his family. For the Irish government, the project would also prevent the Covenanters invading northern Ireland, where they enjoyed strong support amongst the Presbyterian settlers, many of whom were Scots emigrants. Antrim argued an Irish invasion of Scotland would pre-empt this threat. Nonetheless, Wentworth in Dublin was extremely sceptical about the plan. He rejected Antrim's appeals for money, supplies and weapons. Wentworth's refusal was likely due to his own plans for the regular Irish Army to launch a rival invasion from Ireland against Dumbarton and his mistrust of the Earl's motives. Eventually, Wentworth was ordered to assist Antrim by the King.
The growing crisis re-ignited the MacDonald-Campbell feud. In response, Argyll raised troops of his own in Scotland and attacked the MacDonalds who were arming in anticipation of Antrim's invasion, driving many into exile in Ireland. The threatened invasion by Irish Catholics also strengthened support in Scotland for the Covenanters, and further damaged the King's reputation there.
New Irish Army
Based in Carrickfergus, Antrim began raising his army in December 1638 although it wasn't until April the following year that he formally received a commission from the King authorising him to do so. Antrim recruited his army from many of the leading Gaelic families of Ulster, but Wentworth blocked a plan to import experienced Irish mercenary officers from Europe to command them. The army was raised separately from the existing standing Irish Army, which was more heavily Protestant. The army was to consist of 5,000 infantry and 200 cavalry.
Assembling the force took longer than expected, and by the time it was ready the First Scottish War had been ended by the Treaty of Berwick (1639). This settled relatively little and was closer to a ceasefire than a final agreement. A second war was widely expected, but Antrim had to postpone and then abandon his expedition. Nonetheless, sporadic fighting continued in western Scotland between local MacDonalds and Campbells. Antrim and Wentworth both blamed the other for the delays with the expedition.
In 1640, the Scottish situation flared up again and the Covenanter Army now launched an invasion of England. Antrim's planned expedition was revived, but this time Wentworth himself oversaw the recruitment of an 8,000-strong "New Irish Army" which assembled at Carrickfergus. Like Antrim's earlier force, the army was made up mainly of Irish Catholics. By this time the Scots had captured Newcastle, and were able to agree a favourable peace at the Treaty of Ripon before the Irish army had crossed to Scotland. This effectively left the new Covenanter government intact in Scotland, with Argyll one of its leading figures.
Antrim moved to Dublin during 1640, occasionally attending the Irish House of Lords and generally opposing the policies of Wentworth. In November 1640 Wentworth was recalled to London where he was impeached by Parliament and ultimately executed.
The future of the New Irish Army became a source of controversy once the Scottish crisis ended, as it was alleged that Charles I intended to ship them to England to enforce his will against the London Parliament with whom he was in dispute. Antrim's exact role remains controversial. He later claimed he was contacted by a messenger named Thomas Bourke, on the King's behalf, and encouraged to stop the New Irish Army from disbanding, to raise its strength to 20,000 and to equip it for operations in England. Antrim worked alongside other Irish supporters of the King such as Ormond and Castlehaven and kept in contact with Charles. Some of the other figures Antrim worked with at the time such as Lord Enniskillen were soon to take part in the Irish Rebellion. As the King's political situation in both England and Scotland seemed to improve in 1641, the need for Irish military intervention lessened. Nonetheless, Antrim worked hard to secure support for the King in Ireland, planning to get the Irish Parliament to declare for the King against the English Parliament should fighting break out in England.
Antrim's plan to use Ireland to solve the King's English problems was wrecked by the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion in October 1641.
The New Irish Army remained unpaid in the wake of Strafford's execution, and were waiting to be shipped abroad for foreign service.
Irish Rebellion