Irish chieftain who rebelled against the English and died in exile.

The second son of Hugh MacManus O'Donnell, he allied with his younger brother Hugh Roe, who transferred his authority as chief to Rory upon leaving for Spain. In 1602 Rory gave his allegiance to the English lord deputy and, in the following summer, went with Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone, to London, where he was received with favour by James I, who created him Earl of Tyrconnell. In 1605 he was invested with authority as lieutenant of the king in Donegal. But the arrangement between Rory and Niall Garve O'Donnell insisted upon by the government was displeasing to both O'Donnells, and Rory, like Hugh Roe before him, entered into negotiations with Spain. His country had been reduced to a desert by famine and war, and his own reckless extravagance had plunged him deeply in debt. These circumstances as much as the fear that his designs were known to the government may have persuaded him to leave Ireland. In September 1607 “the flight of the earls” took place; in April 1608 Tyrconnell and Tyrone reached Rome, where Tyrconnell died the following July.

Rory O'Donnell was attainted by the Irish parliament in 1614, but his son Hugh, who lived at the Spanish court, assumed the title of earl; and the last titular earl of Tyrconnell was this Hugh's son Hugh Albert, who died without heirs in 1642.