O'Rourke

O'Rourke (Ó Ruairc). The O'Rourke lords of Bréfny (otherwise Bréfne), descended from the Uí Briúin Bréifne), scions of the royal Connacht dynasty, were established in east Connacht by the late 7th/early 8th centuries. Four of the provincial kings of Connacht between the 10th and 12th centuries were O'Rourke lords. In the mid‐12th century, Tiernan O'Rourke (ruled c.1124–72) reoriented the focus of his lordship eastward into the kingdom of Meath. At the time of the Anglo‐Norman invasion, the O'Rourke lords controlled the eastern frontier of the Meath kingdom, present Co. Meath.

In 1172 Hugh de Lacy received the Meath kingdom by a royal grant. De Lacy claimed he was entitled, by this grant, to all lands in the jurisdiction of Meath at the time of the conquest, including O'Rourke's kingdom of Brefny. By 1220 the de Lacy lords, assisted by O'Rourke's O'Reilly vassals, extended their influence into Brefny. In a bid to curb the colonists' expansion, the English crown now granted Brefny to Aodh O'Conor, who allied with O'Reilly to bring the region back into the sphere of influence of a much reduced Connacht kingdom. The O'Rourkes were caught in a pincer movement between O'Conor in Connacht, and O'Reilly on their eastern frontier, and by 1233 the O'Reillys were de facto rulers of Brefny. However the O'Reillys' expanded regional influence threatened their former Connacht allies. O'Conor realigned with the northern O'Neill, and in 1256 reinstated O'Rourke as ruler of a reduced kingdom. Henceforward Brefny was divided into the western lordship of Brefny O'Rourke and the eastern lordship of Brefny O'Reilly.

O'Rourke consolidated control of west Brefny, underpinned by the Clan Murtough, a branch of the O'Conors, but repudiated the alliance in the second half of the 14th century. After 1458, the O'Rourkes were gradually absorbed into the affinity of the O'Donnell of Tír Conaill.

Fiona Fitzsimons