Brian O'Rourke - Early Life

Early Life

Ó Ruairc claimed descent from one of the ancient kings of Ireland, and was remarked upon as a handsome and unusually learned Gaelic chieftain. He assumed leadership of his family in the mid-1560s, having assassinated his elder 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 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".