Richard Mór de Burgh, 1st Baron of Connaught
Richard Mór de Burgh, 1st Lord of Connaught (c. 1194 – 1242)[1], Justiciar of Ireland.
Background
De Burgh was the eldest son of William de Burgh and a daughter of Domnall Mór Ua Briain, King of Thomond. His principal estate was in the barony of Loughrea where he built a castle in 1236 and a town was founded. He also founded Galway town and Ballinasloe. The islands on Lough Mask and Lough Orben were also part of his demesne.
From the death of his father in 1206 to 1214, Richard was a ward of the Crown until he received his inheritance. In 1215 he briefly served in the household of his uncle Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent. In 1223 and again in 1225 he was appointed Seneschal of Munster and keeper of Limerick castle[2].
Connacht
In 1224, Richard claimed the land of Connacht, which had been granted to his father but never, in fact, ruled by him. He asserted that the grant to Cathal Crobdearg Ua Conchobair, the native king, after his father's death had been on condition of faithful service, and that his son Aedh mac Cathal Crobdearg Ua Conchobair, who succeeded him that year, had forfeited it. He had the favor of the justiciar, Hubert de Burgh, and was awarded Connacht in May 1227. Having been given custody of the counties of Cork and Waterford and all the crown lands of Decies and Desmond, he was appointed Justiciar of Ireland from 1228 to 1232.
When in 1232 Hubert de Burgh fell from grace, Richard was able to distance himself and avoid being campaigned against by the King. It was only in 1235 when he summoned the whole feudal host of the Norman barons to aid him that he expelled Felim mac Cathal Crobderg Ua Conchobair, the native king, from Connacht. He and his lieutenants received great shares of land, while Felim was obliged to do homage and was allowed only to rent the five Royal cantreds of Athlone from the Crown. These five cantreds were the only lands de Burgh served to the Crown, keeping the remaining 25. De Burgh took the title of "Lord of Connacht".[1]
Wife and children
Before 1225 he married Egidia de Lacy, daughter of Walter de Lacy, and Margaret de Braose. With this alliance he acquired the cantred of Eóghanacht Caisil with the castle of Ardmayle in Tipperary.
Richard de Burgh had three sons and may have had four daughters:
- Sir Richard de Burgh, Lord of Connaught, Constable of Montgomery Castle who died without issue, 1248.
- Walter de Burgh, 1st Earl of Ulster, Lord of Connaught, died 1271.
- Sir William Og de Burgh, died 1270.
- Alice
- Margery de Burgh (? - after March 1253), married Theobald Butler, 3rd Chief Butler of Ireland
- Matilda (?) who married as his second wife, Sir Gerald de Prendergast of Beauvoir, by whom she had a daughter, Maud.
- Unnamed daughter who married Hamon de Valoynes and had issue.
Richard died in 1243 while on a royal expedition to Poitou.
Family tree
Walter de Burgh | |____________________________________________ | | | | William de Burgh, died 1205. Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent, d. 1243. | (issue; John and Hubert) |_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | Richard Mór de Burgh, 1st Baron of Connaught Hubert de Burgh, Bishop of Limerick, d. 1250. Richard Óge de Burgh | (Burke of Clanricarde) |_________________________________________________________________ | | | | Walter de Burgh, 1st Earl of Ulster William Óg de Burgh | | | | Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster Edmond Albanach de Burgh | |___________________________________________________________________ | | | | John de Burgh Edmond de Burgh, 1298-1338. | | | |_______________________ William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster | | | | | | Sir Richard, fl. 1387. Sir David, fl. 1387. Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster | | | | | | Burke of Castleconnell Burke of Muskerryquirk Philippa, 5th Countess of Ulster Burke of Brittas | | Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March
References for family tree
- A New History of Ireland, volume IX, Oxford, 1984;
- Earls of Ulster and Lords of Connacht, 1205-1460 (De Burgh, De Lacy and Mortimer), p.170;
- Mac William Burkes: Mac William Iochtar (de Burgh), Lords of Lower Connacht and Viscounts of Mayo, 1332-1649, p. 171;
- Burke of Clanricard: Mac William Uachtar (de Burgh), Lords of Upper Connacht and Earls of Clanricard, 1332-1722.
References
- ^ a b Curtis, Edmund (2004) [1950]. A History of Ireland (6th ed. ed.). New York: Routledge. pp. 70–72. ISBN 0-415-27949-6.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help) - ^ B. Smith, ‘Burgh, Richard de (d. 1243)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004
- Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis; Lines 73-30, 177B-8, 177B-9.
- The Tribes and customs of Hy-Many, John O'Donovan, 1843
- The Surnames of Ireland, Edward MacLysaght, Dublin, 1978.
- The Anglo-Normans in Co. Galway: the process of colonization, Patrick Holland, Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, vol. 41,(1987–88)
- Excavation on the line of the medieval town defences of Loughrea, Co. Galway, J.G.A.& H.S., vol. 41, (1987–88)
- Anglo-Norman Galway; rectangular earthworks and moated sites, Patrick Holland, J.G.A. & H.S., vol. 46 (1993)
- Rindown Castle: a royal fortress in Co. Roscommon, Sheelagh Harbison, J.G.A. & H.S., vol. 47 (1995)
- The Anglo-Norman landscape in County Galway; land-holdings, castles and settlements, Patrick Holland, J.G.A.& H.S., vol. 49 (1997)
- Annals of Ulster at CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at University College Cork
- Annals of Tigernach at CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at University College Cork
- Revised edition of McCarthy's synchronisms at Trinity College Dublin.
- FMG on Richard Mor de Burgh, son of William, Lord of Connaught and his descendants
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