Tuadhmhumhain
Thomond · north Munster
Tuadhmhumhain, in English Thomond, said TOO-uh-woo-in. A kingdom.
North Munster. The Ó Briain kingdom that outlived the high kingship by four hundred years.
The name
north Munster
Where
Clare, with Limerick and the north of Tipperary at its fullest extent.
In today's counties: Clare (An Clár), Limerick (Luimneach), Tipperary (Tiobraid Árann).
When it mattered
From the eleventh century until the Tudors, under the Ó Briain.
When Munster split, Thomond was the northern half and the Ó Briain kept it. The name is simply tuadh plus Mumhain: north Munster, the way Desmond is the south of it and Ormond the east.
It survived the Normans, who took the good land around Limerick but never finished the job in Clare, and it survived as a Gaelic lordship long after most had gone. The end came by paperwork rather than battle: in 1543 Murrough O'Brien surrendered the kingship to Henry VIII and took back the earldom of Thomond, which is how a king becomes an earl.
What is left of the name
The name is everywhere in Limerick and Clare, on bridges, parks and a stadium.
Names out of it
Families on this site that belong to Thomond. A surname is not a pedigree, and plenty of people carry these names for reasons that have nothing to do with the old kingdom.
Next to it
- Dál gCais (The Dalcassians)
- Deasmhumhain (Desmond)
- Urmhumhain (Ormond)