Muirisc, Muireasc, or Muireasg was a legendary but possibly historical woman who ruled over a territory called Mag Muirisce (later the Barony of Murrisk) in what is now County Mayo.
Biography What little is now known about Muirisc can be traced to two short medieval poetic references.John O'Donovan, ed., Ordnance Survey. Letters Relating to the County of Mayo, Vol. II (Dublin 1862), p. 97.
Muirisc was given rule by her father, Úgaine Mór ( Hugony the Great), the sixty-sixth high king of Ireland who is said to have divided Ireland into twenty-five shares, one for each of his children."Ugaine More/Hugonius, 66th King of Ireland" at Genealogy.com Her siblings included Lóegaire Lorc (who ruled Life), Cobthach Cóel Breg (who ruled Bregia), as well as a sister named Lathar.
Muirisc placed her stronghold near Clew Bay in the shadow of Cruachan Aigli (Conical Mountain), now known as Croagh Patrick.R. A. Stewart Macalister (ed. & trans.), Lebor Gabála Érenn: The Book of the Taking of Ireland, Part V, Irish Texts Society, 1956, p. 469. She was known as a sea captain and a warrior who "ruled o'er hardy sailors and great men" and was famed as much for being "daring" and "bold" as she was for her beauty and "snowy hands."Anne Chambers, Ireland's Pirate Queen: The True Story of Grace O'Malley, New York: MJF Books, 2003, p. 16.
Timeframe Estimates vary across a 1,100-year span as to when Muirisc (as well as her father) may have lived—from around the year 500 of the Common Era to as far back as 600 Before the Common Era.Annals of the Four Masters M4566-4606Geoffrey Keating, Foras Feasa ar Éirinn 1.28-1.29Roderick O'Flaherty, Ogygia, or, a Chronological Account of Irish Events, Part III (1685) as translated by James Hely in his Volume II, Dublin: 1793, p. 400.
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