Owen O'Shiel

A particularly staunch Catholic, he joined the Confederate Army and served under Owen Roe O'Neill in the Irish Rebellion of 1641.

He spent three years in Leuven studying the teachings of celebrated doctors Vanderheyden, Van Garet and Vieringhen.

He remained there for an entire year, "observing the chief practitioners and anatomists [and] attending the lectures of the first chirurgeons, apothecaries and herbalists."

[1] In the Spanish Netherlands, O'Shiel was appointed as chirurgeon-doctor to the army of sovereigns Albert VII and Isabella.

[1] O'Shiel's extensive education was duly noted, and he was quickly nominated chief of the busy royal hospital in Mechelen, where he worked for twelve years.

A contemporary record states that O'Shiel was dressed very shabbily and had little money (30 shillings), but he was eventually released and made his way back to Ireland.

Though her identity is unknown, it is apparent she was a person of great significance, as O'Shiel's services suddenly became highly in-demand by both fellow physicians and potential patients - particularly the Leinster nobility.

[10] By 1631, O'Shiel had returned to the Spanish Netherlands and become the doctor to the Earl of Tyrone's regiment, a position he held for at least two years.

[1] O'Shiel served with the Leinster army throughout the early years of the rebellion, providing medical assistance to injured soldiers.

[1] Additionally Preston had neglected to support O'Neill in a planned combined attack on Dublin, and was apathetic towards the Ormond Peace.

With his confidence in Preston lost, O'Shiel left his post and joined the Confederate Ulster army, reuniting with Owen Roe O'Neill as the general's personal physician.

[1][13] Two years later Preston joined the Duke of Ormond's royalist faction and opposed O'Neill and O'Shiel.

[1] In 1648, O'Shiel's wife Catherine defended the castle against Preston, who threatened to hang her husband's nephew Hugh if she did not surrender.