Thomond
Thomond ( Irish : Tuadhmhumhain , which means North Munster , and is now spelled Tuamhain ) was a historic kingdom in Ireland that existed from 1118 to 1543 . It included what is now County Clare , County Limerick , and the northern portion of Counties Kerry and Tipperary .
Today the name Thomond is used by many institutions and organizations. The Thomond College of Education at Limerick was a college of education that was later merged with the University of Limerick. Thomond Park is the rugby stadium used by the Munster rugby team. In Clarecastle the old barracks are called Thomond Villas . For centuries the Thomond Bridge was the only bridge in Limerick over the River Shannon . The road that crosses this bridge goes through what is still called Thomondgate today .
Historically Thomond is counted among the kingdoms that existed in Ireland before the Anglo-Norman invasion . Brian Boru , the head of the O'Brian clan later named after him (the dominant clan in Munster is credited with liberating Ireland from Viking domination at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 AD) Brian Boru was briefly the only real one High King of Ireland.
In 1543 the kingdom ended, Murrough O'Brien , the last king of Thomond, recognized Henry VIII of England as feudal lord and his ecclesiastical supremacy and became 1st Earl of Thomond within the Peerage of Ireland . The Earldom Thomond went out in 1741 with the death of Henry O'Briens, 8th Earl of Thomond . There was a new creation of the title in 1756, which became extinct with the death of Percy Wyndham O'Brien in 1774.