Brian O’Rourke

Life
?-1591 [Sir Brian na Murtagh; var. Murtha]; The O’Rourke; allowed to regain possession of Leitrim, 1578; rebelled, 1580; invaded Connaught, 1580; supported Spaniards, 1588; driven out by Sir Richard Bingham, 1589; fled to Scotland, and handed up by James IV; executed; identified with proud Irish rebel of Bacon’s essay, ‘Of Custom and Education’; his residence on Lough Gill subsequently rebuilt as Parke’s Castle overlooking the Lake Isle of Innisfree. ODNB

 

References
Dictionary of National Biography: O’Rourkes listed incl. Sir Brian na Murtha O’Rourke (d.1591), allowed to regain possession of Leitrim, 1578; rebelled, 1580; invaded Connaught, 1580; supported Spaniards, 1588; driven out by Sir Richard Bingham, 1589; fled to Scotland, and handed up by James IV; executed; identified with proud Irish rebel of Bacon’s essay, ‘Of Custom and Education’; Brian Oge, or Brian na Samthach O’Rourke (d.1604); natural son of former and successor as The O’Rourke, made war on English and O’Donnells alternately; Edmund O’Rourke [see Falconer]; Tiernan O’Rourke (d.1172), king of Breffny; warred on Meath and Connaught; expelled from chiefship, 1141; restored soon after; attacked O’Connor, 1148; invaded Ulida [Ulster]; his wife carried off by O’Connor and Diarmait Mac Murchada, 1152; reparation made, 1167; slain by Hugo de Lacy.

 

Notes
There is an apocryphal narrative in Joseph Cooper Walker’s Historical Memoirs (1786), concerning O’Rourke’s supposed sojourn to London during which he is made the object of amorous attentions from Elizabeth I, but is visited at night by a swordsman instead when he speaks openly to the queen of the ring on her hand which he has previously seen on his mysterious lover’s.

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