Art Mór Mac Murchadha Caomhánach
| Art Mór | |
|---|---|
| Mac Murchadha, King of Laighin | |
 Art Mór riding (see below) |
|
| Reign | 1375–1416 |
| Full name | Art Mór mac Airt, Mac Murchadha Caomhánach |
| Irish | Art mac Airt Mac Murchadha Caomhánach |
| English | Art MacMurrough-Kavanagh |
| Born | unknown |
| Birthplace | unknown |
| Died | 31 December 1416 |
| Place of death | Ferns, County Wexford |
| Buried | St Mullin's, County Carlow |
| Predecessor | Donnchadh mac Muircheartaigh |
| Successor | Donnchadh mac Airt Mhóir |
| Wife | Elizabeth Calf |
| Offspring | Donnchadh, Gerald (Gearalt) |
| Royal House | Mac Murchadha-Caomhánach |
| Father | Art mac Muircheartaigh |
Art Mór Mac Murchadha Caomhánach (anglicized Art mac Art MacMurrough-Kavanagh; died 1416/17) is generally regarded as the most formidable of the later Kings of Leinster. He revived not only the royal family's prerogatives but their lands and power. During the length of his forty-two year reign he fully lived up to his title, dominating the Anglo-Norman settlers of Lenister.
His dominance of the province and its inhabitants - both Gaelic and Hiberno-Norman - was deemed sufficiently detrimental to the colony that Richard II spent much of the years 1394-1395 sparring with him. While Art did indeed submit to Richard, he renounced this fealty on Richard's departure and made much of his kingdom a death-trap for any invading English or Anglo-Irish forces. He was very much cut of the same cloth as his ancestors Diarmait mac Mail na mBo and Diarmaid Mac Murchadha.
[edit] References
- Annals of the Four Masters online
- Francis John Bryne, Irish Kings and High Kings (Dublin, 1973)
- Emmett O'Byrne, War, Politics and the Irish of Leinster 1156-1606 (Dublin, 2003)
