MACMURROUGHhimself with English and Welsh help over Leinster and
Dublin—threatening the O’Connor high kingship.
Upon his death in May 1171, Diarmait’s kingdom
passed to his son-in-law—Richard de Clare (Strongbow)
(d. 1176). This angered some MacMurroughs, culmi-
nating in Diarmait’s brother Murchad MacMurrough
(sl. 1172) with other Leinster nobles waging war on the
English. De Clare did much to pacify the MacMurroughs,
granting Uí Chennselaig to Muirchertach MacMurrough
(d. 1192) and appointed Domnall Cáemánach
(Kavanagh) (sl. 1175) as seneschal of the pleas of the
Irish of Leinster. Trouble flared again from 1173 to
1174 with Domnall’s followers routing some of de
Clare’s forces. But the 1175 killing of Domnall
Cáemánach—described as king of Leinster—may
have contributed to a gradual settling down of rela-
tions. Thereafter, leading MacMurroughs served as
officers to the Marshal heirs of de Clare, attending
upon English hostings to Ulster and Connacht in 1196
and 1225. Their good relationship with the English
was evidenced in 1219. Then the MacMurroughs were
among the “five bloods” to be enfranchised with com-
mon law by Henry III of England (d. 1272). Disaster
struck the dynasty in 1225 when four prominent mem-
bers were killed on an English expedition to Connacht—
perhaps accounting for the subsequent long silence in
the records. In the 1270s, the MacMurroughs under
the leadership of two brothers—Muirchertach and
Art—reappeared. This time the MacMurroughs were
less well disposed toward the English, assuming in
1274 the leadership of an Irish rebellion raging in East
Leinster from 1269. The assassination of these broth-
ers at Arklow in July 1282 quietened the dynasty until
the emergence of Muiris MacMurrough (d. c. 1314)
in the middle of the 1290s. Under this Muiris and a
series of later leaders, they sought to tack before the
political winds. This they did with some success, fight-
ing the English or serving them against the Leinster
Irish whenever the occasion suited their purpose. The
MacMurroughs achieved their greatest success under
Art Mór (d. 1416/1417)—the greatest of the kings of
medieval Leinster. Under his leadership, the dynasty
enjoyed good relations with the Leinster nobility and
successfully defied the second expedition of Richard
II of England. After the death of Art in 1416/1417, the
MacMurroughs declined rapidly, two rival branches
emerging, one descended from Art’s son Donnchad
(d. 1478), the other from Art’s other son Gerald
(d. 1431). During the late 1440s Donnchad finally
made peace with Domnall Riabhach (d. 1476), son of
his brother Gerald, agreeing that the latter would
be his successor. Under the kingship of Domnall
Riabhach and through alliance with the Butlers of
Ormond, MacMurrough fortunes revived. However,
Domnall Riabhach’s successor from the rival branch,
Murchad Ballach, grandson of Donnchad (d.
1511/1512), was faced with the rise of the power of
Gerald Fitzgerald, eighth earl of Kildare (d. 1513). On
19 August 1504, Murchad and Kildare’s enemies were
defeated by the earl at Knockdoe, County Galway.
After this, Murchad Ballach accepted Kildare suzer-
ainty until his death in 1511/1512, as did his successor,
Art Buide Kavanagh (d. 1517), son of Domnall Riabhach.
In this period, most of the important MacMurroughs
began to side with Piers Butler (d. 1539), later ninth
earl of Ormond, against the Kildares. After the death
in 1531 of Art Buide’s brother Muiris MacMurrough,
king of Leinster, Gerald Fitzgerald (d. 1534), ninth earl
of Kildare, secured the election to the Leinster kingship
of his cousin and rival Cathaoir “MacInnycross”
MacMurrough (d. c. 1544). While Cathaoir fought for
Kildare throughout the Fitzgerald rebellion of
1534–1535, his power was curtailed after the failure of
the rebellion. The MacMurroughs survived, of course,
but their leaders were generally taken henceforth from
among the descendants of Gerald son of Art Mór. The
last of them to bear the title king of Leinster, Domnall
Spáinneach Kavanagh, leader of Sliocht Airt Buide,
finally submitted in April 1602 following the collapse
of Gaelic power at the battle of Kinsale.
EMMETTO’BYRNEReferences and Further Reading
Barry, Terry, Robin Frame, and Katharine Simms, ed. Colony and
Frontier in Medieval Ireland. London: Hambleton Press, 1995.
Byrne, Francis. Irish Kings and High-Kings. London: B. T.
Batsford.
Colfer, William. Arrogrant Trepass. Enniscorthy: Duffry Press,
2002.
Hore, Herbert and James Graves, ed. Social State of the South-
ern and Eastern Counties of Ireland in the Sixteenth Century.
Dublin, 1870.
Lydon, James. The Lordship of Ireland in the Middle Ages.
Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2003.
Morgan, Hiram. Tyrone’s Rebellion. London: Boydell Press, 1999.
Nicholls, Kenneth. “The Kavanaghs, 1400–1700.” Irish Gene-
alogist, vol. , no. 4 (1977): 435–436.
———.Gaelic and Gaelicized Ireland. Dublin: Lilliput Press,
2003.
O’Byrne, Emmett. War,Politics and the Irish of Leinster
1156–1606. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2003.
O’Corrain, Donnchadh. “The Ui Cheinnselaig Kingship of
Leinster 1072–1126.” Journal of Old Wexford Society 6
(1976–1977): 48–52.
Otway-Ruthven, Jocelyn. A History of Medieval Ireland. New
York: Barnes & Noble, 1993.
Simms, Katherine. From Kings to Warlords. London: Boydell
Press, 1987.See alsoButler-Ormond; Clare, de; Diarmait mac
Máele-na-mbó; Kings and Kingship; Leinster;
MacMurrough, Art; Mac Murchada, Diarmait;
Strongbow; Uí Chennselaig