O'More (Ó Mórdha), Laoiseach (d. 1342), king of Laoighis (Leix), was one of the most prominent leaders of the Leinster Irish during the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. His father was Niall O'More, of whom little is known. It was in the context of O'More expansion that Laoiseach first emerged as a potent force. He and his kinsmen could be pragmatic in their dealings with the English. In 1296 the crisis besetting the midland English colony was amply captured in the reports emanating from Laoighis, when it was reported that the English of Dunamase were receiving the Irish and that Englishmen were taking oaths with them to disturb the peace. The first substantive reference to Laoiseach came in 1297, when a ‘Leyssagh’ and a ‘Kenagh Og O'More’ were recorded as extracting black rents and food rents from the English dwelling in the region of Leys. While it is uncertain when Laoiseach became leader of the dynasty, he was a major war leader and had considerable influence in determining the O'More strategy by the end of the thirteenth century. His strategy was primarily focused on expansion along the west bank of the Barrow, in particular into Slemargy. Testifying to rising O'More power along the west bank was their destruction of Leighlinbridge in 1297. It was clear also that Laoiseach's rapid ascent alienated various sections of his kinsmen. By 1303 several O'Mores were in government service, while a ‘Nigellus O'More’ was entrusted by John fitz Thomas FitzGerald (qv) with the stewardship of the Geraldine castle of Moreth. By this date, however, Laoiseach had established close contact with the Irish of east Leinster, particularly Murchad O'Byrne (qv) of Wicklow. This growing coordination between the Irish of Leinster was evident in 1306. That May the O'Mores swarmed out of Laoighis to burn Ballymore in the western Wicklow mountains. Several sources show that the justiciar, John Wogan (qv), brought a large army to punish the lordship of Murchad O'Byrne for the razing of Ballymore, indicating that the O'Byrnes were complicit in Laoiseach's activity. More remarkably, Irish from other parts of Ireland came to defend the O'Byrne lordship, defeating Wogan at Glenealy in Wicklow. After 1306 Laoiseach's career really took off. Two factors contributed to this: first, the English colony in the midlands was verging on collapse. Second, the power of the neighbouring O'Connors of Offaly was rapidly declining as a result of the murder of their leadership in June 1305. These factors gave Laoiseach the perfect chance to establish himself as the premier midland king by capitalising on English weakness in the regions surrounding his heartland. Such was the steep gradient of his ascent that Friar John Clyn (qv) described Laoiseach as having risen from servility to the level of a prince. Moreover, Laoiseach increasingly realised the strategic value of his kingdom as a link between Leinster and the Irish of north Munster. Indeed, his conquests were greatly assisted by the fusing of alliances and his extensive usage of mercenary troops from Leinster and Munster. While Laoiseach was cementing himself as a permanent fixture on the political landscape, Murchad O'Byrne of Wicklow was struggling to break free of MacMurrough dominance. In comparison to the MacMurroughs and the O'Connors of Offaly, both Murchad and Laoiseach emerged as the real Irish winners, as the English colony in Leinster began to implode in the early thirteenth century. But the O'Byrne–O'More alliance made its debut in response to the landing in Ireland of Edward Bruce (qv) in May 1315. Moreover, the personal ambitions of Murchad and Laoiseach, as well as the fact that a famine was raging in Leinster, proved to be powerful triggers for their massive offensive on the English of Leinster. With David O'Toole (qv), they enjoyed considerable successes, burning Athy and Wicklow in autumn 1315. This forced the justiciar, Edmund Butler (qv), to deal with them more forcefully. Butler's intervention was clinical, cornering Laoiseach and killing 800 of his men in Laoighis. Bruce came to Laoiseach's rescue in December 1315, defeating Roger Mortimer (qv), Laoiseach's feudal overlord, at Kells. Moreover, Bruce destroyed the midland colony's remaining equilibrium on 26 January 1316, when he delivered a hard blow at Ardscull, near Castledermot in south Kildare, mauling the army of Butler and John fitz Thomas FitzGerald. A grateful Laoiseach welcomed the Scots with open arms to Laoighis, allowing them to winter there. And it was probably at Laoiseach's instigation that Bruce ended any chance of an English recovery, destroying Lea, the manorial centre of the FitzGerald lordship of Offaly. After Bruce's retreat to Ulster the Irish destroyed what was left of the midland colony. It may have been at this time that Laoiseach achieved his famous feat of destroying eight castles in a day, including the fortress of Dunamase. Although the zeal of Laoiseach and his allies earned them heavy defeats at Castledermot and Baclethan in late 1316, the English were effectively finished in Uí Failghe and Laoighis. This fact was finally recognised by Roger Mortimer in 1318, appointing Laoiseach as custodian of the Mortimer lands in Laoighis, basing him at Dunamase, the headquarters of the Mortimer estates. Despite his oath to uphold Mortimer interest in Laoighis, Laoiseach consolidated his position and raided the Carlow liberty. Predictably, when the first opportunity arose Laoiseach turned on his Mortimer overlords and drove the remaining settlers from Laoighis, slashing out a greatly enlarged O'More lordship. And after consolidating Laoighis, Laoiseach returned to his old policy of southward expansion, killing eighty men of Carlow in 1326 as well as raiding the MacGillapatrick lands in Ossory. By summer 1332 Laoiseach's military strength was evident by his contribution to a campaign against his ally Murchad O'Byrne. For that campaign he put into the field an impressive contingent of four men at arms, 217 light horsemen, and 284 footmen between June and August, earning a reward of £91. 11s. and the price of half a roll of cloth. By enrolling Laoiseach against the O'Byrnes, the justiciar, Anthony Lucy (qv), accepted the existence of an independent O'More territory along the western banks of the Barrow valley. But Laoiseach's rapprochement with the Dublin government was brief, and he returned to his old ways in 1335, when (according to Friar John Clyn) Laoiseach was responsible for the treacherous killing of Sir Raymond le Ercedekne and thirteen members of his family at a parley. In 1336 he was preaching to the Irish of Leinster and Munster on the need for a general war against the English of Ossory. However, Laoiseach's illustrious career came to an ignominious end in 1342. While intoxicated, he was killed by his own servant, leaving a problematic succession. It seems the kingship of Laoighis passed to Laoiseach's son, Conall O'More (d. 1348). But Conall's succession was bitterly resented by his brother David O'More. However, this problem was not to emerge for a number of years. In 1345 Conall, along with Tadhg mac Ruaidhrí O'Carroll (qv), O'Kennedy, and Diarmait MacGillapatrick, joined the earl of Desmond's (qv) destructive campaigns in the Butler lands of Ely and Ormond. Conall's ambitions were further exhibited in Easter 1346. Then Conall, with the O'Connors of Offaly and the O'Dempseys, destroyed Lea castle and several other castles in a coordinated campaign. Such was Conall's power that he was able to occupy Lea for six months. But a series of defeats overtook him and his allies in summer 1346, weakening his position. A further personal reverse for Conall was Fulk de Freyne's capture in September of his son Ruaidhrí O'More (d. 1354/5). These defeats enabled the FitzGeralds of Kildare and William Bermingham to wage a winter war against Conall and O'Dempsey, forcing the former to submit at Athy in early 1347. By its terms Conall agreed to surrender 1,000 cattle and attend on the justiciar's expeditions. Conversely, Conall's submission undermined his position among his own vassals. In 1348 he was killed by his brothers, leading to a struggle between his son Ruaidhrí and the killers. This climaxed in a pitched battle between Ruaidhrí and his allies, drawn from the English of Ossory, with his uncle David and the English of Kildare and Carlow. Although Ruaidhrí was victorious and his rivals were exiled, his position was terminally weakened. This seems to be borne out by his service with sixty-eight light horsemen and 108 footmen during 1353/4 on a government campaign against John O'Byrne (qv) in Wicklow. Arguably this weakness was the root cause of Ruaidhrí's own assassination by an unnamed brother in 1354/5, and may have contributed to the evolution of two separate O'More lordships in Slemargy and Laoighis.
Sources
Chartul. St Mary's, ii, 327, 333, 348; Dowling, Annals, 17; Clyn, Annals, 17, 30; Calendar of the justiciary rolls . . . of Ireland, 1295–1303 (2 vols, 1905, 1914), 69, 167–9, 178, 186, 188–9