O'Rourke (1591)

Lord Brian na Múrtha Ó Ruairc (1540?-1591), hereditary lord of West Bréifne in Ireland during the later stages of the Tudor reconquest of the country, was proclaimed by the English a rebel and became the first man to be extradited within Britain.

Early life

Ó Ruairc claimed to be descended from one of the ancient kings of Ireland. He assumed leadership of his family in the mid-1560s, having assassinated his older brothers but his territory of west Bréifne on the border of Ulster soon came under the administration of the newly created Presidency of Connacht. His territory was centred on the banks of Lough Gill and in the area of Dromahair. Foundations of an O'Rourke tower house can be seen today at Parke's Castle, close to Dromahair.

Although the English knighted Ó Ruairc in 1578, in time they became unsettled by him. The English lord deputy, Sir Henry Sidney, described him in 1575 as the proudest man he had dealt with in Ireland. Similarly, the president of Connacht, Sir Nicholas Malby, put him down as, "the proudest man this day living on the earth". A decade later Sir Edward Waterhouse thought of him as, "being somewhat learned but of an insolent and proud nature and no further obedient than is constrained by her Majesty's forces".

External links

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Name	Orourke
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Date of death	1591
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