Duke Murchad "Ironside" of Mumu
Born 1 January 1027
Died 16 April 1094
Reigned 1 July 1063 to 16 April 1094


Murchad in the heyday of his reign

Murchad was born on 1 January 1027 to his father, Earl Donnchad of Tuadhumhain, and Donnchad's mistress (whose name has been lost to history). He was educated in the family castle of Bun na Raite, recieving academic tutoring as well as training in warfare. Unfortunately for posterity and for the purposes of writing this guide, much of Murchad's early life has been lost to history because nobody at the time cared about the matters of the heir to a third-rate earldom among a sea of other third-rate earldoms in an isolated corner of the world.

When he was thirty, in 1057, Donnchad declared war on Ragnvald, earl of Urumhumhain, the feudal landholding located next to Tuadhmumhain. However, as his father was growing older, Murchad was handed command of the bulk of Tuadhmumhain's army. In a brief campaign, he swept aside Ragnvald's troops and occupied Urumhumhain. In a show of mercy, Ragnvald was spared and allowed to keep his title, but had to swear fealty to Donnchad. Thus, Donnchad was able to create the Duchy of Mumu and accede as Duke, becoming the pre-eminent power in southern Ireland (although this was not saying much).

On 1 July 1063, Donnchad, in his sixties, died. Murchad acceded to the throne of Mumu, where he became its second Duke. Duke Murchad was faced with a series of problems- Earl Ragnvald was once again starting to grow restless, and the men of his council were eager to go to war against their southerly neighbor, Deasmhumhain. Despite these concerns, Murchad was forced to show restraint when chaos erupted in the most powerful country in the region, England, on 15 September 1066.

In a lightning campaign, the King of Norway, Harald IV, obliterated the English army under Harold II at Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire on 18 October, just over a month after his landing on 15 September. The King of England's brother was killed in battle and his army destroyed, while Harold II himself fled to London. Moving south, Harald defeated further English resistance and occupied the entire north of the country. Meanwhile, another contender for the throne of England was closing in: William, Duke of Normandy. William had captured much of the south, including London. However, this state of events mattered little to Harald. Over the course of the two years, battles raged and chaos unfolded across the country. Finally, on 26 July 1068, Harald convinced the Anglo-Saxon nobility of England to accept him as king. The reign of "Harold III" began the same day, but William refused to give up his claim; the war continued to rage in southern England.


The political situation in England in late 1068: Norwegian rule with Harald Hardrada as king, while WIlliam continues to fight in the south.

Duke Murchad, in his fifth year on the throne of Mumu, could not afford to overlook such troubles. The instability was a great gift; chaos in England meant that there was no strong power to challenge his ambitions in Ireland. Thus, he realised, he must act quickly. Bowing to the wishes of his ducal council and Earl Ragnvald, his most powerful noble, he sent summons to his feudal levies, ordering them to muster at Bun na Raite by 31 January. Then, abruptly, he struck south and invaded the earldom of Deasmhumhain. The war was quick; the invasion lasted just 4 days, and once the provincal army had been beaten in a quick battle the earldom was humbled.

The time after this brief war was one of peace for Murchad and his duchy. The spring of 1070 saw him expand the castle at Bun na Raite, adding gardens for his wife, Duchess Maria, and a seperate chamber for his son and heir, Brian. Brian was rapidly becoming a full-grown man, and Murchad recgonised the importance of his education and teaching of warlike arts so he could one day accede to his father's throne and, or so Murchad dreamed, become king of a united Ireland.

The pace of events in Murchad's life quickened in 1073 and 1074. In October of 1072, Kaiser Heinrich of the Holy Roman Empire had set up one of his court bishops as an anti-pope, Valentine II. Since then, the papacy had fought to remove "Valentine" from his position and restore the prestige of the rightful pope. In 1073, at the behest of his council, Murchad donated a small amount of money to Rome to assist in what he viewed as a noble cause.

The next year, however, would leave an even more lasting impact on Murchad's life. For some time, he had been seeing Adelhaid, a German courtier and a follower of his court. When Maria, visiting Ragnvald in Urumhumhain, learned of the affair through the information of the duchy's spymaster, she was furious. Resolving to seperate from Murchad, she asked the pope for a divorce, which was duly granted. She then left Ireland and sailed for Castile. Murchad was devastated, and reportedly sank into depression for as long as two years.


Duchess Maria of Mumu, pictured here in the 1070s. A faithful and loving wife, she was nevertheless forced to seperate from Murchad following her husband's disastrous 1074 love affair.


Mumu, pictured in 1074.

Earl Ragnvald, who ruled Urumhumhain, and his family belonged to the House of Vedrajford (otherwise known as the Vedrafjord dynasty). As the only magnates in the realm, the Vedrafjords held enormous power in the government of Mumu, and on several occasions in the past, Ragnvald had challenged Murchad's decisions (such as disagreeing with the strategy used during the subjugation of Deasmhumhain). It comes as no surprise then, that Murchad was irritated by his earl's presence and probably regretted his decision to let him keep his title back in 1057. Unfortunately, Urumhumhain was quite fertile and Ragnvald had a considerable feudal levy, so if Murchad wished to deal with his troublesome magnate he would not be able to simply march in and confiscate the earldom. He would have to use more underhanded tactics.


Ragnvald Vedrafjord, Earl of Urumhumhain. He was the frequent obstacle to Murchad's ambitions in the 1070s and early 1080s.

Murchad came out of the depression which had struck him after his divorce with Maria in 1076. During that time, he had mostly withdrawn to his chambers and did not heavily participate in government. Murchad found that, during his absence, Ragnvald had forced his way to even higher positions of power and was now petitioning for Deasmhumhain to be incorporated into his feudal lands. Murchad, infuriated, forbid the act and went so far as to banish Ragnvald back to his earldom, forbidding him to travel to Bun na Raite to conduct matters of government and removing him from his position of power on the ducal council.

In 1077, Murchad led an army into the neighboring earldom of Osraige to conquer it and add it to Mumu. Ragnvald, against his liege's better wishes, was given command of the left vanguard of the army, composed of his feudal levies. When Murchad crossed the border, Ragnvald promptly turned around and went back to Urumhumhain.

The war was soon won, and the earldom given to Murchad's nephew, George. Both Murchad and the new Earl George now turned their attention to Ragnvald, who they were furious at for abandoning them during the war. Secretly, in a written statement addressed to his council, Murchad vowed that he would end Ragnvald's "continued prevention" of his "objectives and goals". As Ragnvald, and indeed his entire dynasty, would eventually find out, Murchad would extract the ultimate price to serve the purposes of his revenge.

In 1079, Murchad resolved to tour his realm in order to consolidate his power (made fragile by Ragnvald's indiscretions). He set out from Tuadhumhain on 18 June, where he first visited Deasmhumhain, inaugurating a new port, before traveling north to Osraige to be recieved by his nephew Earl George. In 1080, when he began traveling for Urumhumhain to meet Ragnvald's son Olav (he refused to see the troublesome earl), he was suddenly stricken with a fever. There was panic around Mumu; provisions were made for Brian's succession, and troops were mustered to ensure that neither Ragnvald nor George would contest the throne. Murchad remained sick into the next year, and alternated between hovering close to death and regaining his vitality for brief periods of time. Finally, in May 1081, the fever broke. There was general rejoicing, but in Murchad's mind the sickness that had afflicted him was not merely natural: it was the work of poison.



In 1082, after brooding on the matter for a year, Murchad resolved that Earl Ragnvald must have been the cause behind the near-fatal fever. He publicly accused the earl of attempting to poison him; this was probably not the case, but in any event the earl panicked and issued a flurry of denials and conciliatory letters. This was not enough for Murchad. In his mind, Ragnvald had been a thorn in his side ever since he swore fealty to Donnchad in 1057. He had argued with Murchad constantly; disrupted the war effort twice, in both 1069 and 1077; attempted to petition the government for more land when he was already the richest (and only) magnate in the realm; and now, supposedly, attempted to poison Murchad himself. This would not stand. In June 1083, Murchad ordered his spymaster to investigate the feasibility of assassinating the earl. When it was reported that Ragnvald's force of guards was small and Urumhumhain's major castle was only lightly defended and that infiltration would be easy, Murchad approved a plan to poison Ragnvald at the Christmas banquet in December (ironic, considering the previous accusations against the earl). Much to Murchad's chagrin, this failed. Ragnvald must have suspected what was going on, for he fled back to Urumhumhain and stayed there, despite Murchad's best efforts to coax him out, during the majority of 1084. And so, a new plan was concocted.


On 28 September 1084, as Ragnvald was on a carriage ride through his earldom to inspect the autumn harvest, a party of mercenaries hired by Murchad suddenly emerged from behind the trees as the carriage turned onto a forest road. Throwing aside the driver and killing the single guard, the mercenaries dragged Ragnvald onto the ground and hacked him to death. It was the most brutal death of a high-profile figure ever to occur in all of Ireland up to that point. The driver, who had escaped, managed to steal a horse and ride frantically to Olav and informed him of his father's death and the identity of the mercenaries, who had reportedly shouted "For the Duke!". Olav, previously on good terms with Murchad, was infuriated. Before, the disagreement between Murchad and Ragnvald had only been debates and angry letters; now, it had escalated to full-fledged murder and violence. Almost immediately, Murchad began to plot the new Earl Olav's death. Olav began to do the same. The plots continued for over a year. Finally, on 8 January 1086, a hail of arrows was sent flying at Murchad in Deasmhumhain. The bowmen, when caught, revealed themselves to be in Olav's employ.

Revenge came quickly. On 13 February, as Olav took a carriage ride that took him near a precipice, the driver suddenly jerked the carriage to the right and jumped out. Olav was sent careening over the edge of the cliff and died instantly as the carriage was smashed to pieces on the rocks below. Under threat of torture from Olav's agents, the driver admitted that he had been bribed by Murchad to perform the murder. In the span of less than two years, the two eldest members of the House of Vedrafjord had been both been killed. Murchad, now bloodthirsty for the obliteration of the line which had troubled him so much in the past, ordered the assassinations on all four of Olav's younger siblings; one brother and three sisters, all of whom had not yet come of age. The brother, Ossor, who had succeeded Olav as Earl of Urumhumhain, was pushed off his castle balcony, per Murchad's orders, on 1 October of the next year.

The eldest sister, Martha, now succeeded her brother as Countess of Urumhumhain; the only three members of the House of Vedrafjord left were her and her two sisters. On 24 September 1088, the day before she came of age on her 16th birthday, she was taken on a celebratory hunting trip. During the occasion, she and another, male hunter split off for a solo hunt while the rest of the party returned home. Within the hour, the other hunter, in the employ of Murchad, had stabbed Martha in the throat and ridden away. Her sister, Ingrid, accordingly became Countess and the fifth ruler of Urumhumhain in just under four years. On 16 February 1089, she too suffered a similar fate when she was murdered on a hunting trip. Now, the sole surviving member of the House of Vedrafjord was Gudrun, who had become Countess on her sister's death. The deaths of every other member had made Murchad heir to Gudrun, meaning that he would inherit Urumhumhain upon her passing; he was no doubt looking forward to her assassination.




The murders of Martha, Ingrid, and Gudrun, sisters and Countesses of Urumhumhain who were killed as part of Murchad's revenge scheme and ploy for power within the earldom.

Finally, after four and a half years of murder, the House of Vedrafjord was extinguished on 16 June with the murder by an inconspicuous maid of Countess Gudrun. Upon her death, Urumhumhain ceased to enjoy the semi-independent feudal status within Mumu that it had possessed since 1057 and was instead incorporated into ducal lands. Murchad had finally achieved the goal that he had striven for for so long: the obliteration of Ragnvald, Olav, and their entire family in order to consolidate his power within his duchy.

Laigin, a coastal earldom that bordered Osraige, had become the target of Murchad following his conquest of the aforementioned earldom in 1077, but the difficulties with Earl Ragnvald and his children had forced to a halt any preparations for an invasion. Finally, in 1089, with the death of Countess Gudrun and the final extermination of the House of Vedrafjord, Murchad's earlier plans could finally progress beyond the drawing board. On 22 August, the ducal council of Mumu ordered a state of war to be declared on the earldom; that same day, Earl George was ordered to muster his troops on the border with Laigin. Two days later, on 24 August, Murchad raised his own levies and marched them for the border. There was to be a two-pronged attack, one thrust from the north under George towards Dublin and one from the south under Murchad towards Laigin itself; they were to sweep aside any resistance and meet at the sea.



Domnall, Earl of Laigin, who was deposed by Murchad's 1089 invasion.

The portly Earl Domnall of Laigin was not about to let the invaders trample all over his fiefdom without any resistance, but he could only muster about 600 troops, most of them poorly-trained foot soldiers armed with little more than knives. Nevertheless, he resolved to attack and met Earl George's troops at Dublin in early September. His forces managed to break the right wing of George's army and inflict a loss of morale, but his troops soon reformed and counterattacked, scattering Domnall's forces and forcing him to flee south back to Laigin. However, he was confronted and captured by a party of Murchad's cavalry. With their liege in the hands of the enemy, what remained of the Laigin army deserted and the nobility surrendered. Dublin was split off into a seperate, independent earldom (a rare show of mercy from Murchad) while Mumu incorporated Laigin into the ducal territories owned and controlled directly by Murchad himself.

It was around this time that Murchad first acquired the nickname "Ironside". It soon became popular among the nobility and commoners for his resolute determination to succeed during the conquests on 1069, 1077, and 1089, as well as his perserverance during the struggle with the Vederfjords. Murchad was now 62 years old in 1089; despite this, he was still healthy and strong.


Murchad as he appeared in 1090. By now an old ruler, he still possessed good health and considerable strength that enabled him to embark on two seperate wars on conquest in his 60s.

Owing to his continued health and his growing sense of power, Murchad's ambitions would not be sated by the subjugation of Laigin, however. In 1090, he looked to Cill Dara, a fiefdom that sat north of Osraige. It did not have much of an army, nor were its foritifications particularly strong; so, to facilitate the invasion, he mustered the garrison of Bun na Raite, who were the most experienced in the country, and sent them to join the vassal levies of Osraige under Earl George. The result was a force of around 2,300 troops, small by later standards but of moderate size to the armies of the 1090s.


The military situation on 15 July 1091; the army of Mumu, led by Earl George, besieges areas of Cill Dara while a small force from Dublin readies for war.

The military invasion commenced on 15 July 1091. Surprisingly to Murchad, Dublin, to which he himself had granted independence two years previously, joined the war on Cill Dara's side against him and raised a levy of about 650 men to support the war effort. The impudence would not go unpunished. Once every feudal holding in Cill Dara had been captured, the army of Mumu marched over the border into Dublin, smashed the army, and occupied the major castle that guarded the namesake city. The earl was humbled and surrendered soon after. Cill Dara was incorporated into Mumu, passing into Murchad's possession in a similar fashion to Laigin, while Dublin was pillaged and left to its own devices once more. Murchad would have liked to annex it like he had Laigin and Cill Dara, but the administrative strain on his demesne and on the government of the duchy was becoming almost too much to bear; yet another addition would have stretched it to the breaking point. Thus, it was left alone and Murchad would have to be satisfied with his new conquests. Mumu had expanded yet again.

Ireland in 1093, the year before Murchad's death. Dark green denotes territories owned by Mumu.

After the victories against Laigin and Cill Dara in 1089 and 1091, respectively, Mumu had come to control just over half of the island of Ireland. During his reign, Murchad had managed to expand his duchy threefold. It was his greatest achievement; during a tour of his realm in 1092, he was greeted with cheering rapturous crowds wherever he went. During this time, however, he had had aged considerably. He had turned 65 that year, which was a considerable achievement for an early medieval man.

Despite his energetic public appearance, privately Murchad was beginning to slow down. Brian, the heir to the throne, was beginning to take on more duties in preparation for his eventual accession. In 1093, to instruct him in stewardship of a fiefdom, he was made Earl of Deasmhumhain. Also coming to prominence in the early 1090s was Murchad, son of Brian; named after his grandfather, he was doted on and spoiled by his family.


Brian of Mumu as he looked on his accession in 1094. This was before he adopted a hairstyle similar to his father's.

However, Murchad still had the strength left for one final project. In January 1094, he set his sights on the Petty Kingdom of Connachta, which lay north of Tuadmhumhain. It was viewed by many in Mumu to be the last major obstacle to the future political unification of Ireland which they hoped to achieve. "King" Ruadri knew this too. He had turned down several offers for an alliance in the past, and was prepared to resist any military expansion by Murchad and his duchy with force. The threat was more than just bluff; Connachta possessed a considerable levy and Ruadri could muster as many, if not more, troops than Mumu. For this reason, Murchad needed another way to soften the threat of Connachta so it could eventually be conquered. Recalling his murders of the House of Vedrafjord, he chose assassination.



Gwenllian Mathrafal, a Welsh courtier who had connections with the rich aristocracy of western Wales, was given permission and a sack of Murchad's silver to purchase a large amount of explosive manure with which to kill Ruadri as he sat down to dinner. The strange request was granted, most likely because several previous attempts to kill the Connachtan ruler with poison and a dagger-armed assassin had failed. Nevertheless, the manure was bought and arrayed underneath the floor of a local tavern on the night of 27 January.

The next evening, when Ruadri sat down to dinner, a party of Murchad's troops disguised as farmhands lit the fuse and ran. The result was a great success for Murchad and his ambitions for the future.

The months following the successful plot to assassinate Ruadri brought declining health for Murchad, who was now 67. In February he was stricken with a fever, which caused fears of his death, but he recovered in March. However, in late March he suffered from a third fever, which caused a sudden spiril into illness that he would not recover from. In early April, he was moved into his bedchamber in Bun na Raite, where he remained until the 15th. On that day, he lapsed into unconciousness and could not be awoken by his doctors. His family was summoned; Brian collapsed into tears at his father's bedside.

Finally, on 16 April 1094, Murchad passed away. His 31-year reign had saw great advancements for Mumu and the cause of Irish unification; he had expanded the duchy threefold, greatly improved the economy, and brought his troublesome vassals to heel. He was the greatest ruler in Ireland at the time of his passing. The new Duke Brian reportedly remarked on the day of Murchad's death that he would "have to conquer all Ireland to compete with him".



The end of one reign and the beginning of the next.