The Master Tactician of Irish Resistance: Rory Oge O'More

The Master Tactician of Irish Resistance: Rory Oge O'More

Rory Oge O'More (c. 1544-1578) was a dispossessed Irish chieftain and the architect of a seven-year guerrilla campaign against the Tudor plantation of Ireland. Having inherited the O'More lordship of Laois at the age of three, he lost his ancestral lands at twelve when they were confiscated and renamed "Queen's County" in the 1556 plantation scheme.

After exhausting peaceful avenues for regaining his territory, Rory launched his rebellion in 1571. He became a pioneer of asymmetric warfare in Irish resistance, employing tactics such as raids, ambushes, and economic sabotage. His spectacular actions, including the 1577 burning of Naas, made the English plantation persistently dangerous and unprofitable, ultimately costing the Crown over 200,000.

Rory's final months were marked by tragedy. In 1577, his cousin was killed in the Massacre of Mullaghmast, and his wife, Margaret O'Byrne, and two young sons were murdered in an English raid. Rory O'More was killed in June 1578 while fighting Irish forces led by Barnaby Fitzpatrick; his head was later displayed on Dublin Castle. Though his fight failed to restore his lands, his resistance established the enduring template for plantation warfare and demonstrated the violence inherent in the English conquest, inspiring future rebels, including his son Owen, who briefly recovered Laois in the 1590s.