Roderic O'Connor* - (d. 1198, near Lough Corrib, County Galway, Ire.), king of Connaught
and the last high king of Ireland; he failed to turn back the Anglo-Norman invasion that led
to the conquest of Ireland by England.

    Roderic succeeded his father, Turloch O'Connor, as king of Connaught in 1156. Since
Turloch's title of high king was claimed by Muirchertach O'Lochlainn of Ulster, Roderic
did not become high king until O'Lochlainn was killed in 1166. He then attacked Dermot
MacMurrough, king of Leinster, and seized his territories. Dermot appealed to the English
for aid, and in 1170 the Anglo-Norman Richard de Clare, 2nd earl of
Pembroke--subsequently known as "Strongbow"--landed near Waterford. Soon Dublin had
fallen to the invaders. Roderic laid siege to the city in June 1171, but his forces were
routed by the Normans in mid-September. Gradually all the Irish chieftains except Roderic
and the northern rulers submitted to King Henry II of England (ruled 1154-89). In 1175
Roderic agreed to become Henry's vassal for Connaught. He relinquished the high kingship
but was permitted to exercise authority over territories that had not fallen under Norman
rule. In about 1186 Roderic was, for a time, expelled from his kingdom by members of his
own family. In 1191 he retired to a monastery, where he died.