Kavanagh

The Kavanaghs are the senior surviving line of the Uí Ceinnselaig, the Gaelic dynasty that supplied the kings of Leinster. Their surname was first taken by Domhnall Caomhánach, son of Diarmait Mac Murchada, the king of Leinster who was deposed in 1167 and called in English help under Strongbow, opening the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland.

Fostered at the monastery of St Caomhán, Domhnall bore the nickname Caomhánach, meaning of Caomhán, and ruled as king of Leinster from 1171 to 1175.

While the English crown held the coastal towns around Dublin, his descendants kept an independent Gaelic lordship in the Leinster interior and went on styling themselves kings of Leinster. Art mac Art MacMurrough-Kavanagh was the most formidable of these later kings, and Cahir Mac Art Kavanagh remained a major Leinster magnate on the eve of the Tudor conquest.