O'connor, Rory

Related Category: British and Irish History: Biographies

1116?–1198, last high king of Ireland. He became king of Connacht in 1156 and seized the high kingship in 1166. His ascendancy was brief, however, for his quarrel with Dermot McMurrough, who brought the English to Ireland, led to Rory's submission as vassal to Henry II of England by the Treaty of Windsor (1175). O'Connor remained king of Connacht and nominal high king, but his power declined and he retired to a monastery before his death.