Burke Civil War

The Burke/de Burgh Civil War was a conflict in Ireland in the 1330s between three leading members of the de Burgh (Burke/Bourke) Anglo-Norman family.

Background

Twenty year old William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster, the Brown Earl, was murdered by his household knights in June 1333 after he had starved his cousin and rival Sir Walter Liath de Burgh to death the previous year. His only child, Elizabeth de Burgh (1332–1363), succeeded as Countess of Ulster and legal heir to the de Burgh estate as an infant. For safety as an infant, and a female heiresss, she was taken by her mother to England as her lordships collapsed in a power struggle.

Three members of the de Burgh family fought against each other in an attempt to preserve their own personal estates, and hold overall control of the massive de Burgh inheritance in Ireland. They were:

Sir Edmond de Burgh of Castleconnell, only surviving uncle of the Brown Earl and senior member of the de Burgh dynasty.
Sir Edmond Albanach de Burgh of north Connacht, brother of the Walter Liath de Burgh who died in 1332 and a cousin of the Brown Earl and Sir Edmond of Castleconnell. He drowned the latter in Lough Mask in 1338.
Sir Uilleag de Burgh of south Connacht, chief of an illegitimate branch of the de Burghs.

Loss and divisions

The eventual outcome of the war was the loss of almost all the de Burgh lands in Ulster, which was reconquered within a year by the Gaelic-Irish.

The remaining de Burghs in Ireland fragmented into three distinct clans, all of which had several sub-septs. They were:

Clan William, Mac William, Clanricarde

de Burgh Genealogy

Walter de Burgh of Burgh Castle, Norfolk m. Alice
- William de Burgh (d. 1206) m. Daughter of Domnall Mór Ó Briain, King of Thomond
  - Richard Mór / Óge de Burgh, 1st Lord of Connaught m. Egidia de Lacy, Lady of Connacht
    - Sir Richard de Burgh (d.1248), 2nd Lord of Connaught
    - Walter de Burgh, 1st Earl of Ulster (d. 1271)
      - Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster (1259–1326)
        John de Burgh m. Elizabeth de Clare
        William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster (1312–33) m. Maud of Lancaster
        Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster (1332–63) m. Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence
        Philippa Plantagenet, 5th Countess of Ulster (1355–82) m. Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March
        
        Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, 6th Earl of Ulster (1374–98)
        Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, 7th Earl of Ulster (1391–1425)
        
        Anne Mortimer (1388–1411) m. Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge
        Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, 8th Earl of Ulster (1411–60)
        Edward IV (Edward, 4th Duke of York, 9th Earl of Ulster)
        House of York (Kings and Queens of England and Ireland)
        
        Edmond de Burgh
        Sir Richard Burke
        Walter Burke (d. 1432)
        Burkes of Castleconnell and Brittas (Clanwilliam)
        
        Uileag Carragh Burke
        Burkes of Cois tSiúire (Clanwilliam)
        
        Sir David Burke,
        Burkes of Muskerryquirk (Clanwilliam)
        
        Elizabeth, Queen of Scotland m. Robert I of Scotland
      - Theobald de Burgh
      - William de Burgh
      - Thomas de Burgh
      - Egidia de Burgh
    - William Óg de Burgh (d. 1270)
      - William Liath de Burgh (d. 1324)
        Sir Walter Liath de Burgh, d. 1332
        
        Sir Edmond Albanach de Burgh (d. 1375), 1st Mac William Íochtar (Lower Mac William), (Mayo)
        Mac William Íochtars, Viscounts Mayo and Earls of Mayo
        
        John de Burgh (1350–98), Chancellor of the University of Cambridge
        
        Richard an Fhorbhair de Burgh
        Sir Ulick de Burgh (d. 1343/53), 1st Mac William Uachtar (Upper Mac William) or Clanricarde (Galway)
        Richard Óg Burke (d. 1387)
        Ulick an Fhiona Burke
        Clanricardes, Earls of Marquesses of Clanricarde
        
        Raymond de Burgh
        
        Walter Óge de Burgh
        
        Raymund de Burgh
        
        Ulick de Burgh of Umhall
    - Alice de Burgh
    - Margery de Burgh
    - Matilda de Burgh
    - Daughter de Burgh
  - Hubert de Burgh, Bishop of Limerick (d. 1250)
  - William de Burgh, Sheriff of Connacht
- Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent (d. 1243) m.
  - John de Burgh
  - Hubert de Burgh
  - Hubert de Burgh
    - Barons Burgh
- Geoffrey de Burgh, Bishop of Ely (d. 1228)
- Thomas de Burgh

References

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.
Burke:People and Places, Eamonn de Burca, Dublin, 1995.