Archaeologists Find 16 Skeletons in Hunt for Irish Chieftain

[Ladybbird]

Excavation Underway in Spanish City to Recover Bones of Ancient Irish Chieftain

An excavation is underway in Valladolid, Spain to recover the remains of ancient Irish chieftain Red Hugh O'Donnell, who died and was buried Spain in 1602.

Irish Central, 23 MAY 2020




Red Hugh O’Donnell died and was buried in Valladolid, Spain in 1602.


Archaeologists said they believe they are “close” to finding the remains of Irish chieftain Red Hugh O’Donnell as they excavate the area in Valladolid, Spain, where the historic Irish figure is believed to have been buried.

On May 22, reports from the excavation site revealed that bones - a skull and a femur - had been uncovered. Archaeologists believe that O’Donnell’s remains will be relatively easy to identify as he was missing toes following a case of frostbite that he incurred while hiding in the Wicklow mountains after escaping from Dublin Castle where he was imprisoned.

Donegal News reports that Donegal man Brendan Rohan, who visited Valladolid last year to search for O'Donnell's burial site, was key to launching the excavation that began earlier this week.

Of his visit last year, Rohan told the publication: “Of course it was a fruitless search, and I was passed from ‘billy to jack’ and searched many ‘blind alleys’ for three days until I met the Director of Cultural Tourism who had a ‘gra’ for Ireland and I enthused him with the idea.

“He passed me to the Director of Archives who more or less told me I was wasting my time because in the secularisation of Spain in the 1800s, that whole property was sold and levelled and the gravesite lost.

“However, the day after I left, some other officials began contacting me, and bit by bit, an idea was born, and eventually a full-blown archaeological dig was authorised, which began on Monday morning and I am delighted.”

Valladolid’s city council said in a statement this week that it had begun an excavation effort to locate the 'Maravillas' chapel of the disappeared convent of San Francisco where Red Hugh O’Donnell is believed to have been buried. The site is also where Christopher Columbus is believed to have been buried about a century prior.

The city council said the discovery of the remains of the two historic figures “would be an important finding from a historical perspective, but also for the dissemination of the city in Spain and abroad.”

The operation is being led by investigators Óscar Burón and Juan Carlos Urueña who are working in conjunction with archaeologists Olatz Villanueva (also a member of the Simancas University Institute of History) and Jesús Misiego.




The statue of Red Hugh O'Donnell in Co Donegal (Getty Images)


Red Hugh O’Donnell, who chief archaeologist Óscar Burón this week described as an “Irish prince and the hero of the resistance against the English,” ruled over parts of the north of Ireland alongside his father-in-law Hugh Mor O’Neill in the 16th century.

In 1593, the noble duo mounted an effort against English rule in Ireland, now known as the Nine Years War. While the Irish maintained some degree of success earlier in the war, the Battle of Kinsale in 1602 proved to be disastrous, and Red Hugh O’Donnell afterward fled to Spain to seek support from King Felipe III.

As Valladolid’s city council puts it, “The open enmity between England and a Spain that still remembered the affront of the Invincible Army made the Spanish king a natural ally of the Irish.”

When traveling to meet with King Felipe III, O’Donnell died in Simancas on September 10, 1602; he was either poisoned by James “Spanish” Blake, an Irish traitor, or died due to an infection from a tapeworm. He was 29 years old.

King Felipe III prepared the Irish man's funeral with royal honors in the convent of San Francisco. According to the Annals of the Four Masters, O’Connell’s body "was conveyed to the king’s palace at Valladolid in a four-wheeled hearse, surrounded by countless numbers of the king’s state officers, council, and guards, with luminous torches and bright flambeaux of beautiful wax-light burning on each side of him.”

O'Donnell is remembered today as a hero in Spain and in 2011, a plaque was unveiled in the Callejón de San Francisco in Valladolid, in memory of his burial in the old convent of the same name.




"In search of Red Hugh O'Donnell, the Irish William Wallace who ended his days in Valladolid and was buried in the disappeared convent of San Francisco #odonellVLL "













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[Ladybbird]

Spanish Archaeologists Find 16 Skeletons in Hunt for Irish Chieftain Red Hugh O'Donnell

The Excavation to Find The Remains of Ancient Irish Chieftain Red Hugh O'Donnell Launched Six Weeks Ago in Spain.

Irish Central, 13 JUL 2020




Archaeologists in Spain have discovered 16 skeletons in the search for the remains of Red Hugh O'Donnell, a leader of the Irish alliance in the Nine Years War during the 16th and 17th centuries.



O'Donnell died in Valladolid in Spain while en route to persuade King Philip III of Spain to send an army to Ireland to help defeat the British forces. The Irish chieftain was buried in the Chapel of Marvels, which was part of a Franciscan monastery in the Spanish city.

The archaeologists have been excavating the walls of what is believed to be the Chapel of Marvels for the past six weeks and discovered some remains during the second part of the dig.

They are looking for any skeleton missing its big toes as a means to immediately identify O'Donnell, who lost two of his toes to frostbite after escaping British imprisonment in Dublin Castle in 1591.

Read more: The non-stop Flights of the Earls and how our community’s history is forgotten

The dig began on May 18 with archaeologists quickly discovering two coffins and a human skull near the outer wall of the Church of Marvels. They have since found 16 near-complete skeletons and the process of attempting to identify O'Donnell's remains has begun.

While the skeletons are almost complete, numerous bones have been disturbed and it may take some time to examine the remains. If no skeleton is found missing its big toes, then the process will take much longer and involve studying the depth of burial and examining the age, sex, and height of each individual skeleton.

DNA analysis could then be used on any of the remains that are compatible with Red Hugh O'Donnell's identity, according to the Irish Times.

The excavation, fronted by archaeologists Jesús Misiego and Olatz Villanueva, is being led by the Hispano-Irish association, according to the Irish Post.

Read more: Excavation underway in Spanish city to recover bones of ancient Irish chieftain

O'Donnell and his father-in-law Hugh O'Neill started the unsuccessful Nine Years War to drive the English out of Ireland at the end of the 16th century.

The Irish forces won significant victories in Ulster and Connacht in the early parts of the war but were gradually overcome by English reinforcements. The war ended with Irish defeat at Kinsale and O'Donnell, the ruler of Tyrconnell (modern-day Donegal), fled to Spain in a bid to convince King Philip III to send forces to Ireland.

Although unsuccessful, O'Donnell was granted a royal funeral by the Spanish King after he died in 1602 on a journey to Valladolid, the then Spanish capital.

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