Rory O'More
Rory Oge O'More Ruairí Óg Ó Mórdha | |
|---|---|
| Lord of Laois | |
Rory O'More depicted in The Image of Irelande, with a Discoverie of Woodkarne, c. 1581 | |
| Coat of arms | |
| Tenure | 1557 – 1578 |
| Predecessor | Conall Óg O'More |
| Successor | James O'More |
| Born | c. 1544 Ireland |
| Died | 30 June 1578 (aged ~34) Ireland |
| Noble family | O'More clan |
| Spouse(s) | Margaret O'Byrne (m. 1573) |
| Issue | Owny MacRory O'More Fiach O'More Remainn O'More Doryne Tyrrell (née O'More) |
| Father | Rory Caoch O'More |
Rory Oge O'More (Irish: Ruairí Óg Ó Mórdha; c. 1544 – 30 June 1578) was an Irish noble and chief of the O'More clan. As the Lord of Laois, he rebelled against the Tudors' sixteenth-century conquest of Gaelic Ireland.
Irish nationalists Patrick Pearse and Philip O'Sullivan Beare characterised O'More as a patriot who fought against the tyranny of the English, who had established plantations on his family's land. Unionist Peter Kerr-Smiley claimed that despite O'More's ostensible duty to protect Catholicism in Ireland, him and his followers were "nothing more or less than a band of lawless brigands whose chief aim was to attack small towns or villages, burn the Protestant houses, and murder and mutilate the inhabitants".
O'More is considered the greatest obstacle to Elizabeth I's conquest of the Irish midlands. He was killed by troops led by his loyalist cousin Barnaby Fitzpatrick, 2nd Baron Upper Ossory.