Above : Picture Of Niall Mor O’Neill

The revival of the Irish was, however, brought to its highest point towards the end of the century by three leaders, who were to a great extent contemporaries. These were Niall Mdr O’Neill, Art Mac Murrough ” Caomhanach,” and the latter’s life-long ally and companion-in-arms, Murrough O’Connor of Ui Failghe. Of the three Art was the more conspicuous character, and his fame has overshadowed that of the others, but it was the efforts of all three combined that almost extinguished English influence in Ireland. O’Neill by successive blows drove it in from the north, Murrough O’Connor pressed it from the west, and Mac Murrough shut it off from the south ; until, eventually, it became cooped up in the narrow limits of what now became known as ” the English Pale.”

• Niall Mor O’Neill.—Niall Mdr O’Neill succeeded his father, Aodh Reamhar, as ” King of Ulster” in 1364. After a short contest with another member of his family he directed his efforts against the English and defeated them at Downpatrick, their leader, Talbot, being slain (1375). The never-ending struggle with the rival O’Donnells next occupied him. In 1380 he, with other northern and some midland chiefs, visited Mortimer, the Lord Lieutenant, but soon afterwards he captured and destroyed Carrickfergus, and steadily pressed the English southwards until they were finally driven from beyond the passes of the Mourne Mountains.* Through these he followed them to the walls of Dundalk, where he defeated them in 1392. When Richard II first visited Ireland in 1394 Niall M6r paid him personal homage. But this entailed no surrender of his own territorial rights, and English power extended no further north than Dundalk. Niall M6r died (1397) as ” Monarch of Ulster,” lord of all the clans from Lough Foyle to Dundalk Bay, and from Belfast Lough to the Shannon. The vigorous O’Donnells on his flank alone disputed the sovereignty of O’Neill over all the north. The remnants of De Courcey’s ” Earldom of Ulster ” disappear, and the only trace of it left is in two titles—one borne by the O’Neills of Tir Eoghain, and the other by a member of the royal family of England.

* In” Iveagh,” north of the mountains, Mac Guinness now recovers importance.

Below : Logo Of O’Connor Don

• “O’Connor Donn” and “O’Connor Ruadh.”—O’Neill’s power about this time began to extend even over some of the Connacht clans, and O’Rourke, O’Reilly and O’Farrell began to look to the great northern chief as their head and protector. No Connacht leader appeared to dispute his authority. The rivalries of the O’Connor family had culminated in 1385, when, on the death of Rory O’Connor, King of Connacht, the lands of the ” Siol Murray ” were partitioned between his nephew—Turlough Og—and the grandson of Felim of Athenry— Turlough Ruadh. The O’Connors were, thenceforth, divided into the two families of ” O’Connor Donn,” from Turlough Og, and ” O’Connor Ruadh ” from Turlough Ruadh. Their dissensions, however, did not cease ; they both claimed to be ” King of Connacht ” and head of ” the Irish of Connacht,” as the Burkes or Mac Williams were heads of the ” English of Connacht.” But their influence had vanished ; there was no acknowledged leader for the clans of Connacht, and those beyond the Shannon began to look to the north for protection in times of danger.

• Art Mac Murrough ” Caomhanach.”—Art Mac Murrough ” Caomhanach ” (or ” Kavanagh “) descended from Domhnall” Caomhanach,” son of Diarmuid na n-Gall , became King of Laighin in 1375 at the age of 18 years. His father, also named Art, had, we have seen, retaken much of the ancient territory of ” Ui Cinnsealaigh,” and was still paid his ” black rent ” of eighty marks. Soon after young Art’s accession he married Eliza le Veele, daughter of the Earl of Kildare. This was a violation of the ” Statute of Kilkenny,” and the Government seized the lands to which the lady was heiress, and stopped the payment of the ” black rent” to Mac Murrough. Art declared war, and was loyally and enthusiastically supported by all his subordinate clans from the outskirts of Dublin to New Ross. West and east they fell upon the English, and repeatedly blocked the roads from Dublin to the south. The Leinster clans in the midland ” island ” {page 145) also assisted. The leader of the latter was Murrough O’Connor, chief of Ui Failghe, who attacked the English of ” Offaly ” on one frontier and those of Meath on the other. Aided by Mac Geoghegan and O’Molloy, he defeated the English at Croghan (1385). Between the pressure of these chiefs on the south, and that of O’Farrell on the north, the frontier of the Meath colony was being steadily driven in. The greatest biaw, however, was struck when Mac Murrough sacked the strong walled town of New Ross (1394). The destruction of this important ” bridge-head ” on the Barrow cut in two the territories of the Earl of Ormonde and isolated the English in ” County Wexford.”