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Medieval skeleton remains may reveal Ireland's 'Helen of Troy'

Those involved in the dig believe she could be the famed wife of Chieftain Hugh O'Neill

CATHY HAYES,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Saturday, July 9, 2011, 7:12 AM

Updated Saturday, July 9, 2011, 7:12 AM

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Earl of Tyrone, Hugh O'Neill

Experts at Galway University believe that they may have uncovered the remains of Ireland's "Helen of Troy," the wife of the Earl of Tyrone, Hugh O'Neill. The skeletal remains were unearthed at Dungannon's Castle Hill.

Luckily the skeletal remains are in good condition and now the most advanced studies of forensic anthropology can be performed.

Speaking to the Tyrone Times a source from the archaeological dig said: "It appears she was married to a high ranking male given the respect afforded to her at her burial. There is even speculation that she might have been a wife of Hugh O’Neill.”

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It is possible that these remains could be identified as Mabel Bagenal, O’Neill’s third wife. Mabel was a Protestant beauty who was known as Ireland’s "Helen of Troy." She became O’Neill’s implacable enemy, before dying in Dungannon in 1591.

The experts have already established that the woman was in her late 40s or 50s, of slight build and short in stature.

It is hoped that such a huge discovery will boost the number of tourist visitors to the site. Dungannon Council plan to mount an exhibition with her skeleton at its center along with a model of her face.
It could turn out that the remains are not Mabel but one of O'Neill's three other wives. He also had a number of legitimate and illegitimate children.

O'Neill divorced his first wife in 1574. His second wife died in 1591 and in August of that year he married Mabel Bagenal, the daughter of Marshal Bagenal. She refused to give O'Neill her dowry and therefore became his enemy.

Their relationship came to an end when O'Neill told her "I affected two other gentlewomen." Mabel left him and made a public complaint against him.

Mabel died in Dungannon in December 1595 and O'Neill married his fourth wife, Catherine Magennis, in the spring of 1596.

Nster.com

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Feidlimid | Jul 12, 2011, 08:16 PM EDT

@RedBranch - Divorce actually meant annulment - there was no distinction then. Annulment was quite common amongst the Catholic upper classes and fairly easy to get.

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ancavker | Jul 11, 2011, 04:19 PM EDT

Ironic that a site that may be connected with Hugh O'Neill may become a tourist attraction in the north.

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seanomelbourne | Jul 11, 2011, 09:10 AM EDT

ou are correct George I did confuse to historical events thank you

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GeorgeDillon | Jul 11, 2011, 01:52 AM EDT

Seanome: I think you're conflating two (of the many) military disasters the Irish suffered. The folks at Kinsale were of course Spanish, not French. And they were infantry, they actually stayed, I think, eight weeks or so. The French Navy did arrive in big numbers almost 200 years later--at Bantry. Now that was the closest shave the English ever survived in Ireland. A successful landing and the entire country would have risen. I suspect you know all this and that it was just a typo on your part to write "French". I cannot understand why posters here are given no chance to edit a mistake.

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seanomelbourne | Jul 10, 2011, 07:42 PM EDT

O'neill and O'Donnell could not get their act together at Kinsale leaving the french navy scratching their heads and heading home a gholden oppurtunity missed by internal bickering.

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Gearoid4 | Jul 10, 2011, 04:34 PM EDT

I agree with George, that Hugh O'Neill was the primary hope in Ireland to defeating the designs of Tudor England on the country. The Earl of Tyrone and his very capable ally Hugh O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell provided the biggest threat to the colonialist power at that time. By the time of the battle of Kinsale, they were attracting widespread support from the rest of Gaelic Ireland and internationally from the King of Spain. The stage was set for a final showdown which unfortunately culminated in defeat near that Cork port.

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oldboreen | Jul 10, 2011, 02:35 PM EDT

Think about it 'ellenfromcork! Worked it out? Course you have!

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Gearoid4 | Jul 10, 2011, 10:30 AM EDT

Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone brought his old adversary Bagenal to battle at the Yellow Ford in Armagh on 14th August 1598. This turned out to be a catastrophic defeat for the English forces which lost around 1,500 men in dead and wounded. Bagenal himself was slain by a bullet in the head. It marked the high-water mark in the campaign of the Ulster Chieftains to free their territories and the rest of Ireland from English interference. Unfortunately their military fortunes received a severe blow at the battle of Kinsale in December 1601 from which they never recovered.

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GeorgeDillon | Jul 10, 2011, 01:14 AM EDT

I guess at this stage I shouldn't even bother correcting Irishcentral, but I can't ignore the error in the headline. "Medieval skeleton"? A skeleton from the late 16th century is not medieval. As to Red Branch's question, O'Neill maintained that the Church (RC) authorities had instructed him to divorce wife #1. I think he was her cousin, that may have come into it. As to Marriage #3, I assume it was Anglican, since the Catholic Church in Dublin would have been persecuted by then. I am an admirer of O'Neill. He was Gaelic Ireland's last hope to stand free among the nations of the world. With his defeat and decision to leave Ireland an ancient civilization began its long slide to oblivion.

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seanomelbourne | Jul 09, 2011, 07:07 PM EDT

Maybe he practised the old Celtic laws in which divorce was possible.

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RedBranch | Jul 09, 2011, 05:47 PM EDT

@George, Right on with the questionable nature of Irish tourisn in the North, Come see where a sunken ship was built, where a civil war was fought and now the bones of some old dame, all lilting for the necrophile. Would some historian help me with the O'Neill's ability to divorce. Was this because the rules applying to Catholics simply did not appy in Ulster at the time?

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cillowen | Jul 09, 2011, 05:11 PM EDT

The Irish historian C. P. Meehan cites an almost contemporary character description of Bagenal: He was in sooth, a greedy adventurer, restless, rapacious, unscrupulous; in a word, one who deemed it no sin or shame to aid in any process by which the rightful owner might be driven from his holding provided he got share of the spoil. (Meehan, 29-30) Bagenal is also given a certain literary immortality in Sir Walter Scott's romantic ballad Rokeby.

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ellenfromcork | Jul 09, 2011, 02:55 PM EDT

"I affected two other gentlewomen." What does that mean?

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Springfield9 | Jul 09, 2011, 12:47 PM EDT

He's sort of a PG-13 Henry VIII.

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GeorgeDillon | Jul 09, 2011, 09:54 AM EDT

"It is hoped that such a huge discovery will boost the number of tourist visitors to the site." Sad that the Irish view every element of their history in materialist terms of attracting tourist money, but I guess that's the way they are now. As to the story above, I am dubious about a lot of the details. For example, "She refused to give O'Neill her dowry" seems wrong, since the gift of the dowry was in the hands of her father or guardian rather than of her own control. Her father nay have been dead by then, but she still would not have controlled her dowry. The description of the woman as being in her late 40s rules out Mabel, because she was only a teenager when she ran off with O'Neill. And the article has her "dying in Dungannon in 1591", which is wrong, because while she did die young it was a number of years after her marriage to O'Neill.

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