O'Byrne, Fiach MacHugh (c. 1544–1597)

In Irish history, prominent leader of Gaelic resistance to Elizabethan penetration in County Wicklow. O'Byrne rose to prominence after his celebrated defeat of a major English force under Lord Deputy Grey de Wilton (1536–1593) at Glenmalure in 1580. After successfully resisting several punitive campaigns, he became reconciled to the crown in the later 1580s but once again came under suspicion in the early 1590s. In 1594, in punishment for his suspected complicity in the murder of the sheriff of Kildare, the government launched a surprise offensive against him during which his chief house was destroyed and his wife, Rose, taken hostage. Forced again into rebellion and into alliance with Hugh O'Neill, leader of the Ulster lords in their war of 1593–1603 against the crown, O'Byrne returned to his guerrilla tactics. Half-hearted attempts at reconciliation failed, and he was finally captured and executed in May 1597.