Máel Mórda mac Murchada

Who was Máel Mórda mac Murchada?

Máel Mórda mac Murchada was King of Leinster.

Son of Murchad mac Finn and brother of Gormflaith, he belonged to the Uí Fáeláin sept of the Uí Dúnlainge, whose lands lay around Naas on the middle reaches of the River Liffey, in modern County Kildare.

Máel Mórda is best known as the enemy of Brian Boru; both men died in the bloody Battle of Clontarf, fought on Good Friday in 1014. Máel Mórda's son Bran was King of Leinster from 1016 until he was deposed in 1018. Thereafter, perhaps as a result of the heavy losses at Clontarf, the kingship of the Uí Dúnlainge was held by the Uí Muiredaig sept.