[13] Much of her family became engulfed in the violent O'Donnell succession dispute of the 1580s and 1590s, as various claimants attempted to secure the right to succeed her father as clan chief.
In 1590, her elder half-brother Donnell was killed in battle by Scottish redshank mercenaries hired by Iníon Dubh, allowing her brother Hugh Roe to emerge victorious by 1592.
[16] However Niall, along with three of his brothers and many followers, dramatically switched sides and began assisting Crown forces under the English commander Sir Henry Docwra who were operating out of Derry.
[2] He led forces during the Crown victories at the Battle of Lifford and Siege of Donegal, and had troops of the Royal Irish Army placed under his command.
In a furious reaction to Niall's betrayal, Hugh Roe is alleged by Dowcra to have beat Nuala's four year old son (and his own nephew) to death against a post.
[19][4] It is highly likely that, as a single woman, Nuala made her own decision to join the Flight, believing her prospects would be better in Catholic Europe than in a colonised Ireland.
Had the other women resisted or remained in Ulster, they faced the certain prospect of estrangement, deprivation, and possible captivity—not to mention separation from their children and a loss of status.
Though these women became dependent on foreign pensions and the good will of their reluctant hosts, those who stayed behind barely survived on remnants of their former estates.
[4] The exiled nobles were granted asylum by Pope Paul V. However, their small pension and sparsely furnished residences made their living conditions unpleasant.
Philip had no issue with Nuala's pension, but he did not want to raise tensions with England by allowing the exiled nobles to travel freely.
[25] In October 1610, her two nephews were removed from the Dame Blanches Convent by Irish clergyman Hugh MacCaghwell and sheltered at St Anthony's College, Leuven.
[22] Sometime later, Nuala and Rosa were finally permitted to leave Rome for Flanders, and were supported by the new Catholic Archbishop of Tuam, Florence Conroy.
Since her nephew's fathers had unexpectedly died leaving no adult patriach to the O'Donnell family, the well-being of the boys had become paramount to the Catholics.
[35][36] James Clarence Mangan's 19th-century elegy, Lament for the Princes of Tyrone and Tyrconnell (Buried in Rome), references Nuala.
'Twere long before, around a graveIn green Tirconnell, one could findThis loneliness;Near where Beann-Boirche's banners waveSuch grief as thine could ne'er have pinedCompanionless.