Aoife MacMurrough
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About
Aoife MacMurrough, called Eva, was the daughter of Diarmait Mac Murchada, King of Leinster, and in August 1170 she was married at Waterford to Richard de Clare, the Norman commander known as Strongbow. The wedding is one of the hinges of Irish history, painted five centuries later on an enormous canvas that hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland. She was for a few years half of the most powerful couple in the country, and her daughter Isabel, sole heiress of Leinster, was reckoned the greatest marriage prize of her age and was given to William Marshal. The Gaelic royal line enters this family through her.
Research notes
✓ DOCUMENTED (Entered 23 Jul 2026 under the relaxed rule (standard, undisputed peerage/royal account; provenance so noted).): AOIFE ('Eva') MACMURROUGH, dau. of DIARMAIT MACMURCHADA, KING OF LEINSTER (note-only - and through him the Ui Cheinnselaig kings of Leinster, extendable in the Irish regnal genealogies), m. Strongbow at Waterford Aug 1170; mother of Isabel, Countess of Pembroke (our line). THE GAELIC ROYAL LINE ENTERS THE TREE HERE. Direct ancestress. Added 23 Jul 2026.