Diarmait Mac Murchada

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Mac Murchada, Diarmait ( Dermot Mac Murrough) (d. 1171), king of Leinster. He succeeded to the kingship of Leinster no later than 1132 and ruled until 1166 when he was deposed and went into exile. Rivalry between him and Tigernán Ua Ruairc, king of Bréifne, originating from Diarmait's abduction of Tigernán's wife Derb‐forgaill in 1152, traditionally has been offered as a main cause of his deposition, but more realistically it was occasioned by his failed bid for the high kingship in 1166 which was won by Rory O'Connor (Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair), king of Connacht. Diarmait sought military aid from Henry II to recover Leinster and was granted permission to recruit soldiers within Henry's dominions. He concentrated on raising forces in south Wales, the most significant ally whom he secured being Richard fitz Gilbert alias ‘Strongbow’, to whom he offered his daughter Aífe in marriage. Although his sobriquet ‘Diarmait na nGall’ (Dermot of the Foreigners) has often been interpreted as referring to his association with the Anglo‐Normans, it more likely derived from the over‐lordship which he had asserted over the Hiberno‐Norse kingdom of Dublin. Despite Diarmait's negative posthumous reputation as the instigator of English rule in Ireland, he enjoyed a considerable contemporary reputation as a patron of the church reform movement: he endowed the Cistercian abbey of Baltinglass (receiving a letter of commendation from St Bernard of Clairvaux), as well as a series of Augustinian houses in Leinster.

Marie Therese Flanagan