Background
Born Ellis O"Neill, she was the third daughter of Hugh O"Neill, Earl of Tyrone the leading Gaelic figure in Ireland. Tyrone"s other children made similar marriages with leading families across Ulster.
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Ellis MacDonnell
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Her marriage to Randal MacDonnell was a dynastic match that brought Tyrone into alliance with the MacDonnells, the dominant family in northern County Antrim who also had strong connections in Scotland. During Tyrone"s Rebellion (1594-1603) Randal supported his father-in-law, but in the closing stages of the conflict he changed sides. Ellis"s husband became the most senior Gaelic aristocrat in Ulster following the Flight of the Earls in 1607, when her father fled into exile in Continental Europe.
Her husband died in 1636.
Ellis outlived him by many years, dying in 1665. Randal MacDonnell, a leading courtier under Charles I known for his involvement in the War of the Three Kingdoms.
The younger son Alexander MacDonnell succeeded to the title in 1683, and is best known as a Catholic leader during the Williamite Wars who had the city gates shut on him at the beginning of the Siege of Derry in 1688. They had a number of daughters who married leading Catholic nobles of Ireland and Scotland.
One of these daughters was also called Ellis.
