Sir Rory O'Moore ( ga, Ruaidhrí Ó Mórdha) (c. 1600 – 16 February 1655), also known Sir Roger O'Moore or O'More or Sir Roger Moore, was an Irish landowner of ancient lineage, and is most notable for being one of the four principal organizers of the

Irish Rebellion of 1641 The Irish Rebellion of 1641 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1641) was an uprising by Irish Catholics in the Kingdom of Ireland, who wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and to partially or fully reverse the plantat ...

Early life

O'Moore belonged to an ancient Irish noble family descended from

Conall Cernach Conall Cernach (modern spelling: Conall Cearnach) is a hero of the Ulaid in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. He had a crooked neck and is said to have always slept with the head of a Connachtman under his knee. His epithet is normally transl ...

. He was born in either

Laois County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 ...

around 1600, or more likely at Balyna, his father's estate in

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the ...

. O'Moore's uncle Rory O'More, Lord of

, had fought against the English during the

Tudor conquest of Ireland The Tudor conquest (or reconquest) of Ireland took place under the Tudor dynasty, which held the Kingdom of England during the 16th century. Following a failed rebellion against the crown by Silken Thomas, the Earl of Kildare, in the 1530s, ...

. In 1556

Queen Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She ...

confiscated the O'Mores' lands and created "Queens County" (modern-day County Laois). Over 180 family members, who were peaceful and had taken no part in any rebellion, were murdered with virtually all of the leaders of Laois and Offaly by the English at a feast at Mullaghmast,

in 1577, Rory Óg and his wife Maighréad O'Byrne, sister of Fiach MacHugh O'Byrne, were hunted down and killed soon afterwards. This led to the political downfall of the O'Moore family; their estates were given to English settlers.

Leader of the Rebellion of 1641

Given the causes of the rebellion and the Crown's weakness during the

Bishops' Wars The 1639 and 1640 Bishops' Wars () were the first of the conflicts known collectively as the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which took place in Scotland, England and Ireland. Others include the Irish Confederate Wars, the First ...

into 1641, O'More planned a

bloodless coup A nonviolent revolution is a revolution conducted primarily by unarmed civilians using tactics of civil resistance, including various forms of nonviolent protest, to bring about the departure of governments seen as entrenched and authoritarian ...

to overthrow the English government in Ireland. With Connor Maguire, 2nd Baron of Enniskillen he planned to seize

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the ...

, which was held by a small garrison, on 23 October 1641. Allies in

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label=Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

led by Sir Phelim O'Neill would seize forts and towns there. The leaders would assume the governing of their own country and with this provision offer allegiance to King Charles. They were betrayed, and the plan was discovered on 22 October and the rising failed in its first objective. O'Neill had some success, and O'More quickly succeeded in creating an alliance between the Ulster Gaelic clans and the Old English gentry in

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

. In November 1641 the Irish forces besieged Drogheda and a royalist force came north from Dublin to oppose them. O'More was one of the leaders of the rebel army that intercepted and defeated the relief force at the Battle of Julianstown on 29 November. In the ensuing

Irish Confederate Wars The Irish Confederate Wars, also called the Eleven Years' War (from ga, Cogadh na hAon-déag mBliana), took place in Ireland between 1641 and 1653. It was the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of civil wars in the kin ...

, a major achievement by O’Moore was to recruit

Owen Roe O'Neill Owen Roe O'Neill ( Irish: ''Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill;'' – 1649) was a Gaelic Irish soldier and one of the most famous of the O'Neill dynasty of Ulster. O'Neill left Ireland at a young age and spent most of his life as a mercenary in the Spanish ...

from the Spanish service in 1642. He commanded the Confederate forces in what is now County Laois and

County Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hon ...

, which remained peaceful, and helped arrange alliances with

Inchiquin Inchiquin ( ga, Inse Uí Chuinn) is a barony in County Clare, Ireland.Placenames Database of ...

in 1647 and Ormonde in 1648. The resulting larger alliance failed to stop the Cromwellian invasion of Ireland (1649–53) in which an estimated third of the Irish population died. The Irish historian

Charles Gavan Duffy Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, KCMG, PC (12 April 1816 – 9 February 1903), was an Irish poet and journalist (editor of '' The Nation''), Young Irelander and tenant-rights activist. After emigrating to Australia in 1856 he entered the politics o ...

wrote:

Final years

Bishop Michael Comerford wrote that after O'More's defeat at the

Battle of Kilrush The Battle of Kilrush was a fought during the Irish Confederate Wars. It was fought on 15 April 1642 between an Irish Royalist army under the Earl of Ormonde and Irish Confederate troops commanded by Lord Mountgarret. Background On 2 A ...

in April 1642 he retired and died in Kilkenny city in the winter of 1642–43, having co-founded the Irish Catholic Confederation there a few months earlier. However this ignores his contacts with Inchiquin and Ormonde in 1647–48. Others say that he fled to the island of Inishbofin, County Galway after Galway city fell in 1652. St Colman's Church on the island once bore a tablet with the inscription: Comerford quoted earlier historians who wrote that a similar watchword in Kildare was: "Our trust is in God and Our Lady, and Rory O'More".

Family

O'More married Jane, daughter of Sir Patrick Barnewall, of

Donabate Donabate () is a small coastal town in Fingal, Ireland, about north-northeast of Dublin. The town is on a peninsula on Ireland's east coast, between the Rogerstown Estuary to the north and Broadmeadow Estuary to the south. Donabate is a civil ...

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

and his second wife Mary Bagenal, and they had two sons and four daughters. The Balyna estate was inherited from Calvagh O'More by Rory's brother Lewis. Balyna was passed down to Lewis' last surviving O'More descendant, Letitia, who was also descended from Rory O'More because her grandfather married a second cousin. Letitia married a Richard Farrell in 1751: this Farrell family henceforth took the surname More O'Ferrall. His daughter Anne, married

Patrick Sarsfield Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan, ga, Pádraig Sáirseál, circa 1655 to 21 August 1693, was an Irish soldier, and leading figure in the Jacobite army during the 1689 to 1691 Williamite War in Ireland. Born into a wealthy Catholic fami ...

from an Old English Catholic family from

The Pale The Pale ( Irish: ''An Pháil'') or the English Pale (' or ') was the part of Ireland directly under the control of the English government in the Late Middle Ages. It had been reduced by the late 15th century to an area along the east coast s ...

. His grandsons included Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan, who led a

Jacobite Jacobite means follower of Jacob or James. Jacobite may refer to: Religion * Jacobites, followers of Saint Jacob Baradaeus (died 578). Churches in the Jacobite tradition and sometimes called Jacobite include: ** Syriac Orthodox Church, sometimes ...

force in the

Williamite War in Ireland The Williamite War in Ireland (1688–1691; ga, Cogadh an Dá Rí, "war of the two kings"), was a conflict between Jacobite supporters of deposed monarch James II and Williamite supporters of his successor, William III. It is also called the ...

, and his brother

William Sarsfield Sir William Sarsfield was an Irish landowner, public official and soldier of the sixteenth century. Sarsfield was from a wealthy merchant family, part of the Old English inhabitants of The Pale who remained Roman Catholic following the Refor ...

. The

Rory O'More Bridge Rory O'More Bridge () is a road bridge spanning the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland and joining Watling Street (by the Guinness grounds) to Ellis Street and the north quays. History Barrack bridge The original wooden bridge on this site, buil ...

in Dublin was renamed after him.

Arts

The film '' Rory O'More'', made by the

Kalem Company The Kalem Company was an early American film studio founded in New York City in 1907. It was one of the first companies to make films abroad and to set up winter production facilities, first in Florida and then in California. Kalem was sold to ...

in 1911, directed by

Sidney Olcott Sidney Olcott (born John Sidney Allcott, September 20, 1872 – December 16, 1949) was a Canadian-born film producer, director, actor and screenwriter. Biography Born John Sidney Allcott in Toronto, he became one of the first great direc ...

and Robert G. Vignola, set O'More's rebellion in 1798 rather than the 17th century, and moved the action to the Lakes of Killarney.

Notes

References

External links

* http://www.inishbofin.com/modern-church/
''Rory O'More''
website dedicated to Sidney Olcott *Rory O'More, the film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ0_Q1OJ518 {{DEFAULTSORT:O Mordha, Rory Og People from County Laois 1600s births 1655 deaths People of the Irish Confederate Wars Irish generals Irish Roman Catholic Confederates 17th-century Irish people O'Moore family Irish knights Irish nobility Irish Rebellion of 1641 17th-century rebels