Brian O'Connor Faly

Brian O'Connor Faly (; – 1560), also called Bernard, was an Irish noble and Lord of Offaly.

O'Connor Faly raided the Pale many times from the early 1520s to the mid-1540s, assuring his political position via alliances with the Earl of Kildare and Lord Deputy of Ireland. However, his many attacks on the territories of his fellow Gaelic nobles estranged him from both Gaelic and English allies, and facing threat of starvation, he surrendered to the English in 1548. He escaped the Tower of London c. 1552, but was recaptured and eventually died in Dublin Castle.

Family background Born in Ireland around 1490, he was the eldest son of Cathaoir (1474–1511), Lord of Offaly. which, by the start of the sixteenth century, had extended their territory westward as far as the River Shannon. The people of Meath and Kildare paid a yearly black rent to the O'Connor Falys.

In 1511, Cathaoir attempt to assert Offaly's independence from Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare. The Earl's allies, Cathaoir's cousins Brian and An Calbhach, responded by assassinating Cathaoir. Cousin Brian seized rule of Offaly until his death in 1517, when he was succeeded by his brother An Calbhach.

Brian O'Connor Faly was in the favour of the Lord Deputy, Englishman Anthony St Leger. In March 1546, Lord Deputy St Leger faced charges of misgovernment. O'Connor Faly and O'More feared they could lose their patron, Following a string of losses,

In November, O'Connor Faly and O'More surrendered themselves to the English

Imprisonment and death O'Connor Faly and O'More were brought to England and imprisoned in the Marshalsea, a London prison. O'More died during imprisonment in late 1548.

Connor became the chief rebel leader in Offaly and was one of Rory Oge O'More's most trusted captains. Cathal became a prominent rebel and fled to Spain in the 1580s to escape execution. In 1596, Cathal and his mother died in a shipwreck on the 2nd Spanish Armada.