Margaret O'Carroll

Margaret O'Carroll (also known as: Máireg Bean Uí Chonchubhair Fáilghe, Mairgréag Ní Chearbhaill, Margaret O'Connor, or Failge) was a fifteenth-century Gaelic Irish noblewoman (d. 1451 in Ireland) who was mainly remembered for her hospitality and piety. She earned the nickname Mairgréag an Einigh ('Margaret of the Hospitality') after hosting two incredible feasts in the year 1433

Life and family Margaret O'Carroll was the daughter of Tadhg Ó Cearbhaill, chief of Ely (Éile), and Queen of the Kingdom of Uí Failghe (Offaly). Much about her early life is unknown, but it is possible that, as the child of the chief of Ely, she may have been fostered by a prominent Irish family in the area.

Children Margaret O'Carrolll had a total of seven children: 5 sons (Conn (d. 1440), Cathal (d. 1448), Feidhlim (d. 1451), Brian (d. 1452) and Tadhg (d. 1471)) and 2 daughters: Mór (d. 1452) and Fionnghuala (d. 1493).

Her daughter Fionnghuala married twice. Her first marriage was to Niall Garbh Ó Domhnaill (d. 1439), king of Tír Conaill and her second marriage was to Aodh Buidhe Ó Néill (d. 1444).

Feasts Margaret O'Carroll was famed for her hospitality. She was especially remembered for providing two magnificent feasts in 1433: one on 26 March at Killeigh, Offaly and one on 15 August at Rathangan, Kildare. According to the Annals of Connacht on 25 March 1433 'A general invitation was issued by Mairgreg daughter of O Cerbaill about the feast of Dasinchell this year at Killeigh, and [another] about the first festival of Mary in the autumn at Rathangan for the people who were not with her at Killeigh, so that she satisfied fully all the suppliants of Ireland'.

In an obituary for Margaret found in a seventeenth-century translation of a set of Irish annals, Duald Mac Firbis provides more elaborate details as to the events of these two feasts. According to Mac Firbis, 2,700 people were entertained at the first feast and 'Maelyn O'Maelconry one of the chiefe learned of Connaght, was the first written in that Roll and first payed and dieted or sett to super'. She was the subject of two poems by Thomas D'Arcy McGee (d. 1868) and is described as a 'woman of culture and large mind, who loved and appreciated the society of the learned' by L. M. McCrait in his 1913 essay.