Murrough O'Brien, 1st Baron of Inchiquin, 1st Earl of Thomond (Irish: Murchadh an Tánaiste Ó Briain) (died 7 November 1551) was an Irish peer, Chief of Clan O'Brien, and the last King of Thomond.
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Biography
Murrough was a lineal descendant of Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, and was the third or fourth son of Turlough O'Brien, Lord of Thomond (d. 1528), and Raghnailt, daughter of John MacNamara. On the death of his brother, Conor O'Brien, in 1539, he succeeded by custom of tanistry to the lordship of Thomond and the chieftainship of the Dal Cais. Conor had made a vain endeavour to divert the succession to his children by his second wife, Ellen, sister of James Fitzjohn Fitzgerald, fourteenth earl of Desmond, and there had been, in consequence, much dissension between the brothers. Murrough was one of the five Irish lords who swore loyalty to Henry VIII in 1541.
O'Brien's first step in attaining the chieftainship was to join Con O'Neill and Manus O'Donnell in a confederacy against the English government. Their scheme, however, was frustrated by the vigilance of Sir William Brereton; and on the arrival shortly afterwards of Sir Anthony St Leger as viceroy, O'Brien expressed a wish to parley with him. Early in 1541, O'Brien met the lord-deputy at Limerick City. Conditions of peace and submission were propounded to him; but, as these included the restriction of his authority to the west of the River Shannon, and other stipulations affecting his clan as well as himself, he asked time for deliberation. He made, however, no difficulty about acknowledging Henry VIII as his sovereign or renouncing the supremacy of the Pope, and was represented in the Parliament of Ireland which in that year conferred on Henry the title of King of Ireland. On the adjournment of the Parliament to Limerick on 15 February 1542, he went there. The recent submission of Con O'Neill in December 1541 exercised a profound effect upon him, and he not only consented to the curtailment of his authority to the west of the Shannon, but expressed his intention of personally renewing his submission to Henry, promising for himself and his followers to live and die his "true, faithful, and obedient servants". He appeared to St Leger "a very sobre man, and very like to contynewe your Majesties trewe subjecte"; and Henry, gratified by his submission, expressed his intention of conferring on him some title of honour, together with a grant of all the suppressed religious houses in his country.
