Aoife MacMorrough

1145 - Aft 1189  (> 45 years)

• Name	Aoife MacMorrough  [1, 2]
  Born	1145  [2]
  Gender	Female
  Died	Aft 1189  [1]
  Notes	Aoife MacMurrough (1145-1188, Irish: Aoife Ní Diarmait), also known by later historians as Eva of Leinster, was the daughter of Dermot MacMurrough (Irish: Diarmait MacMurchada), King of Leinster, and his wife Mor O'Toole (c.1114-1191). Marriage On the 29 August 1170, following the Norman invasion of Ireland that her father had requested, she married Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, better known as Strongbow, the leader of the Norman invasion force, in Reginald's Tower in Waterford. She had been promised to Strongbow by her father who had visited England to ask for an invasion army. He was not allowed to give his daughter away, as under Early Irish Law Aoife had the choice of whom she married, but she had to agree to an arranged marriage. Under Anglo-Norman law, this gave Strongbow succession rights to the Kingdom of Leinster. Under Irish Brehon law, the marriage gave her a life interest only, after which any land would normally revert to male cousins; but Brehon law also recognised a transfer of "swordland" following a conquest. Aoife conducted battles on behalf of her husband and is sometimes known as Red Eva (Irish: Aoife Rua). She had two sons and a daughter with her husband Richard de Clare, and within several generations her descendants included much of the nobility of northwestern Europe, including Robert the Bruce and Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall who was elected King of the Romans in 1257. Aoife is the ancestress of many Kings of England by a number of lineal descent, such as that of her granddaughter Eva Marshal, whose daughter Maud de Braose, married Roger de Mortimer. All the monarchs of England from 1413, as well as Mary, Queen of Scots, were directly descended from Maud, as is the current British Royal Family. Queen consorts Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr were also notable descendants of Aoife through multiple lines. By her descendant, Lady Katherine Mortimer, who married Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick, Aoife and Strongbow were ancestors of the Earls of Warwick and the last of the Plantagenet kings which included Richard III of England and his wife, Lady Anne Neville.
  Person ID	I4564	Bosdet Genealogy
  Last Modified	16 May 2013

  
  

  Father	Dermot MacMorrough, King of Leinster,   b. 1110,   d. 01 May 1171, Ferns, Wexford, Ireland  (Age 61 years)
  Relationship	Natural
  Mother	Mor O'Toole,   b. Abt 1114, Castledermot, Kildare, Ireland ,   d. 1191, Castledermot, Kildare, Ireland  (Age ~ 77 years)
  Relationship	Natural
  Married	1153  [3]
  Family ID	F1231	Group Sheet

  
  

  Family	Richard FitzGilbert de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke,   b. Abt 1130, Tonbridge, Kent, England ,   d. 20 Apr 1176, Dublin, Dublin, Ireland  (Age ~ 46 years)
  Married	29 Aug 1170	Waterford, Ireland   [2, 4, 5]
  Children	1. Gilbert Clare,   b. 1173,   d. 1186  (Age 13 years)   2. Isabella de Clare, Countess of Pembroke,   b. 1172, Ireland ,   d. 1220  (Age 48 years)
  Family ID	F546	Group Sheet

  
  

• Sources

  [S178] thePeerage.com, Darryl Lundy, (Location: Ngaio, Wellington, New Zealand;). [S174] Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aoife_of_Leinster. [S174] Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermot_MacMurrough. [S174] Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_de_Clare,_2nd_Earl_of_Pembroke. [S179] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed, G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, (Name: Alan Sutton Publishing; Location: Gloucester, U.K.; Date: 2000;).