Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster

Richard Lord of Connaught, Earl of Ulster (called Richard the Red by Irish annalists) was born 1259 and died July 1326, was one of the most powerful Irish nobles of the late 13th and early 14th centuries, a son of Walter Lord of Connaught, Earl of Ulster (of the second creation).

Richard was the most powerful of the de Burgo Lords of Connaught and Earls of Ulster, succeeding his father in Ulster and Connaught upon reaching his majority in 1280. He was a friend of King Edward I of England, and ranked first among the Earls of Ireland. Richard’s wife Marguerite de Guines was the cousin of King Edwards’s Queen. He pursued expansionist policies that often left him at odds with fellow Anglo-Irish Lords.

While he speaks Irish and dresses as an Irishman, he is very warm with Edward I of England, and a personal friend of his. He still maintains his English name, instead of accepting an Irish name like many other Norman lords in Ireland. While he asserts his “independence”, it is plain he is loyal to his friend Edward, and believes a nominally independent Ireland under the rule of the de Burgo's, allied with England, would be a fine compromise. He, as such, remains offensive and puts copious pressure on his neighbors, including both the independent Anglo-Irish and Gaelic Irish lords in Ulster, particularly the Ui Neill of Tir Eoghan, who, while they have offered submission, remain rebellious and more than a bit disgruntled with their title being usurped by the de Burgo family.

In 1286 he led a ferocious attack on Connaught and reestablished his family's power base, deposing Brian O'Neill as the chief native king and substituting a nominee of his own. He led his forces from Ireland to support England’s King Edward I in Scottish campaigns and when the forces of Edward Bruce invaded Ulster in 1315, the Earl led a force against him, but was beaten at Connor in Antrim. The invasion of Bruce and the uprising of Felim O’Connor in Connaught left him virtually without authority in his lands, but O’Connor was killed in 1316 at the second Battle of Athenry, and he was able to recover Ulster after the defeat of Bruce at Faughart. He died July 29, 1326 at Athassel Priory, near Cashel, County Tipperary.

In the 1300 Quarrel’s between the Fitzgerald’s and the de Burgo’s ended, the Fitzgerald’s agreed to surrender all their properties in Connacht to the de Burgo’s, about 79,000 acres with a population of about 4,000 people. And John de Burgo, acquired the title of Athy, as his family surname having the Norman tradition, John (being of illegitimate decent and being the half brother of Richard “The Red”), would take the name of the town of Athy as his family surname having no right to the de Burgo surname. Athy, the name itself is a type which is common in most counties but very rare in Ireland, being formed from a place name. The Athy’s were of Norman stock, settled at Athy, Co. Kildare (the Red Book of Ormond records two tenants named de Athy in Co. Kildare in 1311); hence they soon migrated to Galway.

From the outset the new Earl, popularly known as Red Earl, ruled with a firm hand and pushed his territory deeper into Gaelic Ulster. By the end of the first years of the fourth teen century he had over run the O’Canhan lands in Keenacht, and seized much of Irishowen. In 1305 he began building Northburgh castle at Greencastle, a massive fortification that was the most north westerly Norman bastion in Europe.

Richard (The Red Earl) de Burgo, was commander in chief of the English armies in most French wars of Henry III, and Edward I, he was the most powerful man in Ireland at this time he was also responsible for the erection of many Castles and Monasteries.

Cousins of Richard were the De Mandeville's who ruled the Route from their seat at Dunluce Castle; they are believed to have been descendent from William de Mandeville, the Earl of Essex. Their is also a link between the De Mandeville's, Dunluce Castle and the McQuillen's clan. The chief of the McQuillen's was also a Lord of the Route and believed to have lived at Dunluce Castle - One theory suggest the MacQuillen's came from the De Mandeville's line and gaelicized their name to MacUighilin or MacHugelin and that MacQuillen is a derivative of that. It was common for Anglo Norman's who settled in Ireland to gaelicize their names - many became, as an old saying goes “more Irish than the Irish” - a fact that seems to go hand in hand with many Anglo-Irish people.

After the Scots had been driven out of Ireland, the Red Earl of Ulster rapidly recovered his ravaged lands. As Lord of Connacht and Earl of Ulster he had title to almost half of Ireland and by the marriages of his sons and daughters he was connected with the greatest families in the island and the ruling houses of both Scotland and England. When he died in 1326, he was acknowledged“The best of all the Foreigners in Ireland”, and pretty much the de Facto Ruler of Connacht and Ulster. He died July 29, 1326 at Athassel Priory, near Cashel, County Tipperary.

Children and family

• Aveline de Burgh (b. c. 1280), married John de Bermingham, 1st Earl of Louth
• Eleanor de Burgh (1282 – aft. August 1324)
• Elizabeth de Burgh (c. 1284 – 26 October 1327), married Robert I of Scotland
• Walter de Burgh (c. 1285–1304)
• John de Burgh (c. 1286 – 18 January 1313)
• Matilda de Burgh (c. 1288–1320), married Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Hertford
• Thomas de Burgh (c. 1288–1316)
• Catherine de Burgh (c. 1296 – 1 November 1331), married Maurice Fitzgerald, 1st Earl of Desmond
• Edmond de Burgh (b. c. 1298)
• Joan de Burgh (c. 1300 – 23 April 1359), married Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Kildare

References

The Lives of the Lords of Connaught