Diarmait Mac Murchada
Diarmait Mac Murchadha | |
---|---|
King of Leinster | |
Mór Ní Tuathail | |
Issue | |
Uí Chennselaig | |
Father | Donnchadh mac Murchada |
Mother | Orlaith ingen O'Braenain |
Diarmait Mac Murchada (
In exchange for his aid, Mac Murchada promised Strongbow the hand in marriage of his daughter Aoife and the right to succeed to the Kingship of Leinster. Henry II then mounted a larger second invasion in 1171 to ensure his control over Strongbow, resulting in the Norman Lordship of Ireland. Mac Murchada was later known as Diarmait na nGall (Irish for "Diarmait of the Foreigners"). He was seen in Irish history as the king that invited the first-ever wave of Anglo-Norman settlers, who were planted by the Norman conquest. The invasion had a great deal of impact on Irish Christianity, increasing the de facto ability of the Holy See to regulate Christianity in Ireland.
Early life and family
Diarmait was born around 1110, a son of
He had two wives (as allowed under the
King of Leinster
After the death of his older brother,
Mac Murchada also is said to have abducted Ua Ruairc's wife
Church builder
As king of Leinster, in the years 1140–70 Diarmait commissioned the Irish Romanesque buildings of:
He sponsored convents (nunneries) at Dublin (St Mary's, 1146), and around 1151 two more at Aghade, County Carlow and at Kilculliheen near Waterford city. The abbey of St. Mary Del Hogge in Dublin was named after the Hoggen Green or Haugr meaning gravesite in old Norse. This site later became 'College Green' after the Reformation and the establishment of Trinity College. It's said that in the late 1600s that Viking graves were still to be seen at Hoggen Green.
He also sponsored the successful career of churchman St Lawrence O'Toole (Lorcán Ua Tuathail). He married O'Toole's half-sister Mor in 1153 and presided at the synod of Clane in 1161 when O'Toole was installed as archbishop of Dublin.[3]
Exile and return
In 1166, Ireland's High King and Mac Murchada's main ally
On returning to Wales,
He marched his forces into Leinster and, with the mediation of the Church, the commanders of the two armies began negotiations at
In the opinion of some historians, Mac Murchada's plans may have been limited to the recovery of his throne; only later when the superiority of the mercenary arms had overawed the
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6e/MarriageAoifeStrongbow.jpg/450px-MarriageAoifeStrongbow.jpg)
Mac Murchada was devastated after the death of his youngest son, Conchobar, retreated to
Later reputation
The scholar
In Irish history books written after 1800, Diarmait Mac Murchada was often seen as a traitor, but his intention was not to aid an English invasion of Ireland, but rather to use Henry's assistance to become the High King of Ireland himself. The imperialism of the English, and later British, empire must not be placed anachronistically on the events of 1166. The adventurers who answered Diarmait's call for help were reacting to the opportunity for land and wealth. Henry II did not wish to invade Ireland, he was forced to react to earl Richard's aggrandisement. The counts of Strigoil had been supporters of King Stephen, and Henry II did not forget easily.
Gerald of Wales, a Cambro-English cleric who visited Ireland in 1185 and whose uncles and cousins were prominent soldiers in the army of Strongbow, repeated their opinions of Mac Murchada:
Dermot was a man tall of stature and stout of frame; a soldier whose heart was in the fray, and held valiant among his own nation. From often shouting his battle-cry his voice had become hoarse. A man who liked better to be feared by all than loved by any. One who would oppress his greater vassals, while he raised to high station men of lowly birth. A tyrant to his own subjects, he was hated by strangers; his hand was against every man, and every man's hand against him.
Death and descendants
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After
Diarmait's male-line descendants included
Diarmait died about 1 May 1171 and was buried in Ferns Cathedral, where his grave can be seen in the outside graveyard.
Ancestry
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Theatrical representations
In the play The Dreaming of the Bones by
See also
- Irish nobility
- Irish royal families
- Kings of Leinster
- McMorrow
References
- ^ John O'Hart, Irish Pedigrees (Dublin, 1892) Vol. I, pages 157, 555.
- ^ "To arrange free guided tours - contact Tina Doran on 053 9367223 (9-1pm) or email [email protected]". Archived from the original on 1 May 2011.
- ^ Tadhg O'Keeffe 1997. 'Diarmait Mac Murchada and Romanesque Leinster: four twelfth-century churches in context', JRSAI 17
- ^ A. J. Otway-Ruthven, "A History of Medieval Ireland", 1968, p45.
- ^ A. J. Otway-Ruthven, "A History of Medieval Ireland", 1968, p44.
- ^ Early-20th-century historians believed the Gaelic law (Brehon) was too concrete, and did not allow for this type of situation. Recent historians disagree; see Therese-Flanagan, pp 112-36.
- ISBN 978-0-19-922665-8at pp. 869–870.
- ^ The Dreaming of the Bones text file
Sources
![]() | This article contains a list that has not been properly sorted. Specifically, it does not follow the MOS:LISTSORT for more information. if you can. (October 2023) |
- Annals of the Four Masters, ed. J. O'Donovan; 1990 edition.
- Expugnatio Hibernica, by Giraldus Cambrensis; ed., with transln and historical notes, by A. B. Scott and F. X. Martin. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1978
- Byrne, Francis J. (1973) Irish Kings and High Kings. London: Batsford (Rev. ed. Dublin: Four Courts, 1999)
- Roche, Richard (1995) The Norman Invasion of Ireland. Dublin: Anvil Books (1st ed. [Tralee]: Anvil Books, c1970)
- O'Byrne, Emmett (2003) War, Politics and the Irish of Leinster 1156-160. Dublin: Four Courts
- Furlong, Nicholas (1973) Dermot, King of Leinster, and the foreigners. Tralee: Anvil Books ISBN 0-900068-37-X
- --do.-- Dermait, King of Leinster. Cork: Mercier Press, 2006 ISBN 1-85635-505-5
- Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700; by Frederick Lewis Weis, Lines: 66–26, 175–6
Sources for genealogy
- Byrne, Francis J. (1973) Irish Kings and High-Kings. London: Batsford (Rev. ed. Dublin: Four Courts, 1999) "Uí Cheinnselaig Kings of Laigin", p. 290
- O'Byrne, Emmett (2003) War, Politics and the Irish of Leinster Dublin: Four Courts; "The MacMurrough-Kavanagh kings of Leinster; Outline Genealogies I, Ia, Ib", pages 247–249.
- O'Hart, John (1892) Irish Pedigrees; 5th ed. 2 vols. Dublin: James Duffy, pp. 157, 555. (1st ed.: 1878; several later eds.)