Page 184 - Demo

184 Stephen Dunford: The Journey of The IrIsh
hampered, harassed, and eventually defeated them one after another. In 1558 Matthew was killed in a skirmish, leaving his surviving son, Hugh, who by English law, was now the Earl of Tyrone and heir to the Ulster land.
The government, however, not being in a strong enough position to hold the disputed territories on behalf of the lad, had him spirited to England, where he was reared in the household of the Earl of Leicester. The following year, Con Bacach died and Shane took the title of “The O’Neill,” and was duly inaugurated head of his clan on the ‘Rath of Tullyhogue/Tullaghogue’, their dynastic centre and place of inauguration, in present-day county Tyrone.
Detail from a copy of Richard Bartlett’s 1602 Map of Ulster which includes this depiction of an O’Neill inauguration on the ‘Hill of Tullyhogue.’ A figure on the right, an O’Cahan, the O’Neill’s principal sub-chieftains, is seen holding a shoe over the elective’s head as part of the ‘single shoe’ ritual. The sub-chief would throw a golden sandal over the ne lord’s head to signify good fortune. This done, an O’Hagan, being one of the hereditary guardians of Tullyhogue, would next place the sandal on the O’Neill’s foot and present him with a rod of office.
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