Murchad mac Brain
d. 1042
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About
Murchad mac Brain was King of the Ui Faelain and died in 1042. He was closely kin to the Leinster royal house of Mael Morda, who fell at Clontarf fighting Brian Boru, and to Mael Morda's sister Gormlaith, who was for a time Brian's wife: which means the two royal lines this family descends from were at each other's throats on Good Friday in 1014.
Research notes
✓ DOCUMENTED (Source: the Uí Fáeláin / Uí Dúnlainge royal genealogy of Leinster, attested in the Irish Annals and the medieval tracts (Book of Leinster; Rawlinson B502 - Genelach h-Úa n-Dúnlainge); supplied 23 Jul 2026.): MURCHAD MAC BRAIN, KING OF THE UI FAELAIN; d. 1042. Closely kin to the Leinster royal house of Mael Morda mac Murchada (fell at Clontarf 1014) and his sister GORMLAITH, a wife of BRIAN BORU - a poignant cross-link to the O'Brien line elsewhere in this tree (the user's source called them brother/sister; the differing patronymics suggest a branch-cousin kinship rather than full siblings - flagged). ⚠ CHRONOLOGY FLAG: his father Bran is dated d.947, a long ~95-yr gap - the 10th-11th c. tracts may telescope a generation here. Father: Bran (gen 5). Direct ancestor. Added 23 Jul 2026.