Burke of Clanricarde 1334 to 1387

© Donal G. Burke 2013

The initial aftermath of the Earl’s murder

The murder of the young William de Burgh, the ‘Brown’ Earl of Ulster and Lord of Connacht in June 1333 caused turmoil, with the unexpected loss of the central figure upon whom the order and unity of the lordships that covered a large part of Ireland depended. The lack of a male heir and the prospect of the vast lordship descending by the future marriages of the heiresses to husbands as yet unknown added to the uncertainty.

The Earl’s widow, Matilda Countess of Ulster, fled Ireland and was back in England by August with her daughters.[i] The Earl had three daughters; Elizabeth, Margaret and Isabella. The eldest daughter appears to have been Elizabeth, who was aged only about one and a half years at her father’s death.[ii] Both Margaret and Isabella may have been only infants or not yet born at the Earl’s death, as Elizabeth was the only daughter mentioned and recognised as ‘the next heir’ by those jurors of Connacht appointed to inquire into the property of the late Earl. All three would be later referred to as the Earl’s heirs but only one would live to inherit the lordships.[iii] As the Earl was a tenant-in-chief holding his estates directly of the King of England and his daughters were minor’s at his death, they became wards of the King and the Earl’s lands by law passed into the hand of the King until the heir would come of age.[iv]

Those who appear to have been most directly involved in the murder of the Earl, de Mandevilles and de Logan, were based in Ulster, where disorder now prevailed. Foremost among the conspirators was Gyle, daughter of Sir William liath and wife of Sir Richard de Mandeville, who was reputed to have instigated the crime in revenge for the death of her brother Walter while in the Earl’s custody in the previous year. The first blow was struck by Robert son of Richard de Mandeville.

The King’s representatives moved swiftly to punish those held responsible that same year. The Irish annalists recorded that ‘the foreigners who committed this deed were put to death in diverse ways by the people of the King of England, some were hanged, others killed and some torn asunder in revenge for his death.’ Gyle and her husband, however, who were accused of having been present as the murder, were still fugitives from the King’s justice at least three years later.[v]

With Gyle’s complicity and the allegations previously made against her dead brother Walter, their surviving brothers appear to have been involved in some disorder in the western lordship about the time of the Earl’s murder. At least two of these brothers had been active alongside Walter in his machinations in Connacht, resulting in their being captured in Connacht and imprisoned with Walter in 1331.[vi] The brothers at the very least appear to have either been involved in disorder in Connacht or been suspected as such for, later in 1333, ‘peace was proclaimed’ on behalf of the King of England specifically to the ‘Clann Uilliam’ (the family of William’), the sons of Sir William liath de Burgh, at the ringfort of Ratsecer (the large bivallate ringfort now known as Raheenagooagh in the modern townland of Rausakeera, near the village of Kilmaine in County Mayo).[vii]

By the early decades of the fourteenth century there was already a profusion of de Burghs across Connacht and Munster and a number of these served, along with other prominent Anglo-Norman landholders of the lordship, as jurors in the Inquisitions held in Connacht about the end of 1333 to inquire into the extent of the late Earl’s property, rents, services and dues. It is noteworthy that none of the sons of Sir William liath appear to have served as jurors in the surviving records of these inquisitions, despite their high status in that county, suggesting their possible alienation from the law at this time.

Sir Edmond fitz le Counte de Burgh

In September of 1334, the King, as temporary custodian of the de Burgh lordship, granted a lease of all the late Earl’s lands of Connacht to the Earl’s uncle, Edmond fitz le Counte, son of the Red Earl, until the heir should come of age and simultaneously directed Roger le Flet, the Seneschal of Conancht, to have the same delivered to Edmond.[viii] Edmond fitz le Counte appears to have been regarded as the most reliable choice of an unreliable selection. Seven years earlier, when he was chosen as custodian of the Earl’s lands jointly with the now dead Sir Walter, it was considered advisable to have him travel to England to be knighted alongside his nephew the young Earl. Those who advised the Earl’s mother at the time and were familiar with the situation in Ireland believed that a short period in England with men loyal to his nephew would develop a good relationship with the Earl. Of the de Burghs, he was, they held, ‘more easily influenced for good when among good men than any of the others of his lineage’ in Ireland and the prevailing view was that if he could have been married in England it would have made him better.[ix]

In being appointed jointly with the Archbishop of Tuam as one of the two Justices of the Peace for that lordship Edmond fitz le Counte de Burgh, whose personal estates appears to have lain in Munster, had the King’s mandate to administer justice and impose order throughout Connacht and was effectively given the government of the de Burgh lordship.[x] He had played a prominent part in supporting his nephew the late Earl against Sir Walter de Burgh, the eldest son of Sir William liath and in the taking into captivity of Walter and his two brothers in 1332. With the lease of the Earl’s extensive Connacht lands he was now placed to take the foremost position in Connacht and found himself actively opposed by a number of the most prominent younger brothers of the dead Sir Walter in Connacht, in particular Sir Edmund Albanach and Reymund.

Sir Edmond Albanach de Burgh

With the right of law on the side of Edmond fitz le Counte the sons of Sir William liath resorted to violence to oppose the Red Earl’s son. In 1335 Sir Edmund Albanach despoiled much of the western region of Connacht, inflicting significant loss upon Edmond fitz le Counte and on his allies the ‘Clann Riocaird’ (‘family of Richard’). In the words of the Irish annalists he ‘slew many people and executed raids, burnings and untold damage.’[xi] The protagonists made peace immediately following the devastating raid but the discord would continue over the following years. In the meantime Sir Edmund Albanach strove energetically to impose his will across Connacht through plundering raids and incursions, establishing himself as one of the strongest and most powerful individuals within the lordship.[xii] His aggressiveness was such that Turlough O Connor, King of the Irish of Connacht, found it necessary by 1337 to erect a stronghold at Athleague in Roscommon for defence against him.[xiii]

The sons of Sir William liath de Burgh

Despite the possible presence in Connacht of some of the Red Earl’s kinsmen and the descendants of Sir David Donn de Burgh, it was the sons and immediate descendants of his cousin Sir William liath who were to prove the most powerful figures in Connacht in the years following the murder of the Earl. Although the Red Earl’s son in Munster, Edmond fitz le Counte, was the senior-most in terms of descent from the mainline of the Earl’s, followed thereafter by any descendants of the Red Earl’s brothers or other sons, political power in Connacht would lie with the senior-most sons of Sir William liath.

Little is known for certain, however, of all the sons and daughters of Sir William liath and the identity of the son from whom would descend the later Burke chieftains of much of southern Connacht has been a matter of controversy. When Sir William liath’s senior-most son Walter died as a captive of the earl of Ulster in 1332 Walter’s lands in Connacht, which he held of the earl, were taken into the Earl’s hand ‘because of the minority of Walter’s heir.’[xiv] Walter had at least one daughter, Matilda and a dispensation was granted in 1334 to allow her marry William son of John Darcy, knight, of the diocese of Kildare.[xv] Matilda’s description as ‘of the diocese of Annaghdown’ would suggest that Walter’s lands lay in that vicinity. After the murder of the earl in 1333, the earl’s estates and those of Walter’s lands he had held, passed into the hands of the King of England as the earl’s heiress was a minor. As Walter’s lands had been in the hand of the earl at the time of his death, the earl’s widow, Maud, Countess of Ulster, petitioned the King in 1334 to deliver unto her the lands of Walter.[xvi] Walter’s daughter was not described as his heiress and MacFirbis in his ‘Great Book of Genealogies’ gives Walter as ancestor of the ‘Clann Uaiteir’ or ‘the posterity of Walter’. His son is likely then to have been Richard de Burgh. In his notes taken from plea rolls and other contemporary sources in his Genealogical Abstracts, Sir William Betham recorded the occurrence of one Richard de Burgh of Connaught son of Walter de Burgh in the year 1336. He is also likely to have been that same Richard son of Walter de Burgh whose son Reymund was given as a hostage for the fealty of his father in 1347.

Sir William liath had two sons who were killed in 1311. As they were killed by the Irish of Leinster it is likely that they would have been of an age to take up arms or at least accompany a hosting. As the younger of these two was unlikely to have been younger than about eighteen years, the younger may have been born by about 1293 if not much earlier and as such were therefore elder sons of Sir William liath. As neither was described as his heir, it is possible both may have been younger than Walter but this is uncertain.

After Walter, the next eldest surviving son of Sir William liath de Burgh appears to have been Edmond Albanach (‘the Scot’) de Burgh. (As he would die in 1375 it is unlikely that he was born any earlier than 1295 or thereabout.) Edmond Albanach appears to be the same man as ‘Edmond le cousin’ listed after his brother Walter in a document of 1327 containing advice to Elizabeth de Burgh from her Council in Ireland. [xvii] The only other brother of both Walter and Edmond mentioned in 1327 was one ‘master Richard.’ This would imply that this Richard de Burgh may have been the third surviving son of Sir William liath. As Edmond is associated with his younger brother Reymond in the late 1330s and 1340s and Richard does not appear to have played a significant part in the politics of the territory in the aftermath of the Earl’s murder, it is possible that Richard may have died before that time. This Richard’s son Ulick died in 1343.[xviii] Among the other sons of William liath, one in particular, another Ulick, did not play a prominent role in the politics of the region in his lifetime.

Of these younger sons, Edmond Albanach’s seniority is further attested in his being the only one who appears to have taken knighthood.[xix] The taking of knighthood in the medieval period was an expensive undertaking involving significant obligations on the part of the knight to his overlord. As such, few members of the most prominent Anglo-Norman families in Connacht or elsewhere in Ireland would have had the resources or, in certain cases inclination, to attain knighthood. Reymund, despite his high standing among the wider de Burghs of Connacht, was referred to in one contemporary reference of 1340 as ‘the King’s yeoman’ indicating a rank below knighthood.

While some of those involved in the murder of the Earl of Ulster were put to death in 1333, Sir William liath’s daughter Gyle, to whom had been attributed ultimate responsibility for the murder, was still alive and a fugitive from justice in 1337. In that year the Earl’s widow, Matilda Countess of Ulster, successfully petitioned the King that he order the Justiciar of Ireland to issue a proclamation that whoever should capture ‘Richard de Mandeville, knight and Giles, his wife, who were present at the death of William de Burgh, Earl of Ulster’ would receive a reward of one hundred marks and that the same justiciar should be prevented from granting any pardons to all of those involved in the Earl’s death. [xx]

Matilda claimed that she did not dare travel to Ireland ‘for fear of the felons and their confederates who had threatened her life’ and who murdered her husband and as a result was not receiving any profits from the lands assigned there as her dower lands. She petitioned the King in late 1337 or early 1338 to grant her lands in England of commensurate value in exchange for her Irish dower lands, that he might take them to himself and ‘order them to his own profit.’[xxi]

The initial ‘Clann Riocaird’

Edmond fitz le Counte was supported in Connacht by his closest kinsmen of the mainline of the Earl’s, which included the descendants of the Red Earl’s younger brothers, given by Knox as Redmond and Hubert.[xxii] The descendants of these younger brothers, as the closest kinsmen of Richard the Red Earl, were known collectively initially as the Clann Riocaird (‘the family of Richard’) or Clanricarde de Burghs.[xxiii]

The antiquary H.T. Knox was of the opinion that term Clanricarde or Clann Riocaird was applied at an early stage to the descendants of the younger brothers of the Red Earl and only later came to apply to the descendants of one particular son of Sir William liath.[xxiv]

Given the location of their descendants in the later medieval period, it would appear that for the most part the principal members of the initial Clann Riocaird were based in southern Connacht about Loughrea or to its south west, between Kilchreest, Kilbeacanty and Kiltartan. Their close proximity to the O Maddens and O Kellys, who were beginning to reassert their independence in the confusion, may have contributed to the continual enmity between both sides throughout this period.

One of these septs given in pedigrees as descended from Walter de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, was that whose head was known as MacHubert. Their lands would be found in the later medieval period laying about the parish of Isserkelly, south west of Loughrea. This branch evidently derived their name from one Hubert de Burgh, who was given in pedigrees as ‘Hubert de Burgh, knight’, who died in 1271.[xxv] The first to use the appellation MacHubert, according to this pedigree, was Ulick de Burgh, son of William son of this Hubert de Burgh. The name Ulick was beginning to come into use among the wider family at this time and was used as both as a variant of the name William and as a Christian name distinct from William in its own right, leading to confusion in certain records. This Ulick appears to have been a contemporary of the murdered Brown Earl of Ulster.

Another sept said to be descended of this Earl Walter was that whose head was known as MacRedmond Burke, descended, according to the seventeenth century Gaelic antiquary Dubhaltach MacFirbisigh in his ‘Great Book of Genealogies’ from Earl Walter’s son John de Burgh through John’s son Walter mór and grandson Walter óg.[xxvi]

It is possible also that the ancestor of a later sept of the Burkes, known as McCooge or McHugo, were of this original Clann Riocaird also. Like the descendants of the younger sons of Earl Walter, the MacRedmond and McHubert Burkes, the McHugos maintained a distinct identity within the wider de Burgh family and came to be associated with the McHuberts and McRedmonds as later tributaries to the Burke chieftain of the territory in the later medieval period. Their sept lands lay about Lough Rea, for the most part about the parish of Loughrea and large parish of Killeenadeema, immediately south of the town of Loughrea, between the lake and the Slieve Aughty Mountains. It is noteworthy that in almost all later official records referring to these septs as a group, McHugo is given first and may suggest that their ancestor was the more senior or that they acquired a higher status over succeeding generations.[xxvii]

Over the fourteenth century the lack of a sustained effort by the English Crown to expend funds on shoring up their Irish Lordship, much of which funds were diverted towards their campaigns elsewhere, lent itself towards a further lessening of recourse by its subjects to a central government unable to deal with the decline of their colony. The Anglo-Norman colony in Connacht did not immediately cut its ties with the Crown to which it owed feudal allegiance, but the lack of a strong central authority meant that it would be necessary to assert themselves by force to maintain their position than have recourse to an English law that did not have a strong representative in the west. Violence increased as both Anglo-Normans and Gaelic Irish also saw an opportunity to further their own political and territorial ambitions in this absence.

The King of England still sought the support of his Irish-based feudal vassals to assist in his foreign wars and while the King’s Peace had been proclaimed to the sons of Sir William liath as early as 1333 the internal strife between senior members of the de Burghs would leave Connacht in turmoil for much of the century.[xxviii]

The killing of Edmond fitz le Counte

In 1337 the King wrote to the principal Anglo-Norman men of Ireland, including ‘Edmund de Burgo fitz au count’ and ‘Edmund de Burgo of Albenak’ requesting them to attend and assist the new Justiciar and the King’s ministers in their duties.[xxix] The feud between the parties led by each of the two, however, resulted in the capture of Edmond fitz le Counte in April of 1338. He was said to have been seized on Low Sunday at the house of the friar’s at Ballinrobe. His taking appears to have been forceful, with a number of individuals of high rank in his company, including Roger le Flet, Seneschal of Connacht and Nicholas Lynott, being killed in the affair.[xxx] Given the importance of the Earl’s son, his captors moved him constantly while in captivity. On the night of his capture he was taken to Lough Mask castle and the following night taken to another nearby called Ballynonagh. On the third night he was brought to an island in Lough Mask.

The Archbishop of Tuam came to the region to attempt reconciliation between the captive and the sons of Sir William liath. As an agreement appeared near, however, a number of the Stauntons, who had him in custody on the island, fearing reprisals if he were set at liberty, ‘miserably turned him into a bag and cast him out of the island into the lake, with stones tyed to the bag.’[xxxi] (The island whereupon this occurred was known thereafter as ‘Earl’s Island’ while tradition held that the name ‘Clann Uilcín’ or ‘MacWilkin’ was associated with this branch of the Staunton name thereafter.)[xxxii]

The drowning of Edmond fitz le Counte was a momentous event and from certain accounts appears to have been executed on the spur of the moment by the supporters of Sir Edmund Albanach without a long-term plan in mind. Uncertainty followed in the wake of the murder and the O Connor King of Connacht temporarily gained the upper hand over Edmund Albanach, who was for a time pushed out of Connacht.  Uncertain of the extent to which punishment for this crime would be pursued by the King, Sir Edmund Albanach gathered a fleet of ships together and withdrew further out of reach onto the islands off the coast. The King, however, acknowledged the reality of the situation on the ground and still continued to treat with Sir Edmund and his brother. In August of that same year the King issued a ‘grant to Edmund de Burgh and Reymond, his brother, of sufferance for two years in respect of their adherence to certain opponents and rebels against the king in Ireland in the past, inasmuch as laudable testimony is now given as to their bearing towards him and his people there for some time.’[xxxiii]

The brothers not long thereafter re-established their position in Connacht and appear to have actively sought to cultivate good relations with the Crown. Both ‘Edmund son of William de Burgh, knight and Reymund his brother’ secured a royal pardon in March 1340 ‘of the king’s suit against them’ for the murder of Edmond fitz le Counte and the Seneschal le Flete.[xxxiv] In addition to those two murders, their pardon also covered ‘all other felonies and trespasses whatsoever, and for any consequent outlawries’ but excluded the king’s suit against those accused of the death of William Earl of Ulster and one John de Scotton.[xxxv] While this would appear to suggest that both brothers were suspected of possible involvement or collusion in those deaths, neither were mentioned in any of the Irish annals as being party to the same. The connection of the Connacht de Burghs with England and their feudal obligations was still in existence at this time and, having been pardoned, Reymund, ‘the King’s yeoman’ engaged an agreed number of men and ships and sailed for France to serve the King in his wars. He returned by the following October, when he sold a number of horses to the King.[xxxvi]

Four years later the King wrote to ask Sir Edmond to supply twenty men at arms and fifty hobelers or light mounted men for the war against the King of France and in 1347 wrote to Sir Edmond and Reymond to come to help him in the war against France and to bring ten men at arms and sixty hobelers.[xxxvii]

Throughout this period Sir Edmund Albanach grew in power and in 1342 deposed the O Connor king with whom he had been contending for some time and with his allies set up a new king, Aedh O Connor. The dominance of Sir Edmond Albanach and his brothers within Connacht was continually opposed, however, by the immediate descendants of the Red Earl and the descendents of his father Walter Earl of Ulster who were established in southern Connacht, known as the Clanricard or ‘family of Richard’ and also by the de Burghs of Munster. While Edmund Albanach’s influence was stronger closest to his base in north Connacht, the Clanricard de Burghs exerted more influence in south Connacht and maintained an on-going enmity with their near neighbours to the east, the O Maddens and O Kellys. In 1343 Cathal O Madden ‘the most distinguished of his own tribe for hospitality and renown’ was killed by the Clanricard.

The Clann Riocaird remained allied at this period to the family of the drowned Edmond fitz le Counte son of the Red Earl. Edmond had been the eldest surviving son of the Red Earl and as such the senior-most member of the de Burghs in Ireland. His immediate descendants appear to have held their lands principally in Munster in what was formerly part of the Red Earl’s lordship and would be known to the Irish as the Clann William of Munster, centred about the early de Burgh castle of Castleconnell. Upon the killing of Edmond fitz le Counte his eldest son Richard de Burgh took a leading role in the conflict with the sons of Sir William liath in Connacht.[xxxviii]

The Clann Riocaird provided support for Richard, the son of Edmond fitz le Counte in 1349 when he came into Connacht to seize a prey. Edmond Albanach and his supporters, however, overtook and routed his force, capturing and killing many of the Clann Riocaird and capturing Richard, who later died that same year.[xxxix]

The Earl’s daughters

The three young heiresses to the Earl of Ulster’s estates, Elizabeth, Margaret and Isabella, were important wards of the king, who would bring valuable estates to their future husbands. The King intended to maintain these lands within the wider Royal family and in April 1340 granted the hand of the Earl’s daughter Margaret to Edward, son of his own brother Reginald Duke of Gueldres.[xl] Margaret at this time would have been no more than ten or eleven years of age, but she appears to have died young about this time. Isabella was still alive in July of 1338 but again appears to have died young.[xli]

Almost the entirety of the Ulster and Connacht lands of the de Burghs devolved upon Elizabeth as the sole heiress. The King chose as her husband his own younger son Lionel of Antwerp and the couple were married by the end of 1346.[xlii] Lionel, at the time of his marriage, was about eight years of age and his bride about fourteen years of age. ‘By reason of the tender age of Lionel,’ the King granted to Lionel’s mother Queen Philippa custody for the time of all the lands in Ireland of the last de Burgh Earl.[xliii]

The appellation ‘MacWilliam’

The internecine warfare among the de Burghs and the decline in their answerability to royal power contributed to the gradual gaelicization of the family. Edmond Albanach’s political seniority among the sons of Sir William liath and within the wider de Burgh family in Connacht was recognised in his being attributed with the Gaelic appellation MacWilliam or ‘son of William’, a form of Gaelic title of chieftaincy attributed possibly in retrospect by the annalists to his deceased elder brother Sir Walter acknowledging headship of that family in Connacht.

The rise of Richard óg de Burgh

The term Clanricarde appears to have applied principally to the descendants of the Sir Hubert and John de Burgh and possibly another, younger brothers of the Red Earl, up until the middle of the fourteenth century. In 1343 Ulick, the young son of Sir Edmond Albanach’s brother Richard died and it appears that his son Richard óg de Burgh was at or by that time allied with the Clann Riocaird, in which relationship he held a leadership role over that faction.

For details on the descent of this Richard óg, refer to article entitled ‘origin of the Earls of Clanricarde.’

Although the Clann Riocaird were a more senior line in genealogical descent from the Earls of Ulster than the line of Sir William liath, the leadership position in Connacht held by the latter and his sons and that held by Richard óg over the original Clann Riocaird ensured that the descendants of Richard óg held a more senior political and military role within the southern region of Connacht than that of the original Clann Riocaird. Over time, as the descendants of Richard og consolidated their leadership role over that territory, the name Clann Riocaird became equated with their line as distinct from the original Clann Riocaird and the territory over which they achieved dominance became known as Clanricarde.

Of the original Clann Riocaird, the descendants of Sir Hubert and John de Burgh were eventually relegated to a minor position, rendering services and dues to the senior-most descendants of Richard óg, their family lands being confined to a smaller region within the territory of Clanricarde about Isserkelly, Kilbeacanty and elsewhere.

Hereinafter the term Clanricarde Burkes came to refer to the descendants of Richard og, among which family the chieftaincy of the territory of Clanricarde was confined.

Richard og de Burgh is first described in a leadership role in opposition to Sir Edmond Albanach in 1355, when he inflicted a heavy defeat on the family and supporters of Edmund Albanach and the O Maddens of Sil Anmchadha, killing Henry MacPhilibin and sixteen principal men of the Sil Anmchadha. From the Irish annals he appears to have inflicted this defeat on the O Maddens after they had earlier in that year killed one Edmund son of William son of Richard Burke.[xliv] (As it would appear that Richard og was son of Ulick (or ‘William’) son of Richard son of Sir William liath, the Edmund killed by the O Maddens that same year may have been a brother of Richard og.)

While Richard og is only later referred to as a MacWilliam or rival chieftain over Southern Connacht after the death of Sir Edmond, it is clear that at this time Richard og was playing a leading role in the opposition to Sir Edmond Albanach.

Sir Edmund Albanach de Burgh retained the dominant position in the politics of Connacht into the later years of his life. In 1366 he inflicted a heavy defeat on the Clann Riocaird and remained pre-eminent until his death in 1375.

The death of the Countess of Ulster and Duke of Clarence

Elizabeth de Burgh, Countess of Ulster, the only surviving heiress of the last de Burgh Earl of Ulster and Lord of Connacht, and her husband Lionel maintained their claim to, and contacts with, their Irish estates, despite being unable to derive their rightful income or exercise their full rights over the territories. The burgesses of the town of Galway also maintained that connection and a strong allegiance to the Crown that would later prove important in providing them with a degree of freedom from the influence of the surrounding de Burghs or Burkes of Connacht. The town and its surrounding lands were still legally part of the vast estates of the heir to the de Burgh Earls. In 1361 Elizabeth successfully petitioned the King on behalf of the town of Galway for a charter granting the ‘bailiffs and good men of Galvy’ financial aid in the form of customs on incoming goods to contribute to the enclosing of the town within new stone walls.[xlv]

In 1363 Elizabeth de Burgh, Countess of Ulster died. Lionel, created Duke of Clarence the previous year and Earl of Ulster and Lord of Connacht in right of his wife had an only daughter, Philippa, by Elizabeth de Burgh. In 1368 he travelled to Italy to marry his second wife, Violante, daughter of the Visconti lord of Pavia. Within a few months of the marriage Lionel died, leaving as the sole heiress to the former de Burgh lands in Ireland his young daughter Philippa.

The dominance of Sir Edmond Albanach and the extent to which the de Burgh lands of Ireland had removed from the control of the legal heirs was evident at the inquisition taken into the property of Lionel. The Inquisition found that the Duke held of the King in Connacht, in right of his wife, ‘the manors of Loghregh, Tobbryd, (Ballintubber)[xlvi] Tyloghoban, (Tooloobaun)[xlvii] Loghmesk, (Lough Mask) Slygagh, Galuy, (Galway) and Portdempne (Portumna), by the service of twenty knight’s fees when scutage runs, and they were worth 200l. in the Duke’s time, when he was in Ireland, but now they are worth nothing because they are occupied by Edmund de Burgo, knight, and many others of the king’s rebels, both English and Irish; nor has any of the king’s ministers dared to go there and execute his office.’[xlviii]

As heiress to a vast estate Philippa, aged about thirteen years, was married later that same year to the sixteen year old Edmund, son of Roger Mortimer 2^nd Earl of March, who, although an absentee, would now by law inherit the Ulster and Connacht title and lands held by the Burkes in Ireland.

The rise of Richard og and two MacWilliams

Sir Edmond Albanach’s two eldest sons died in his lifetime, his heir William ‘the Englishman’ dying of smallpox at Inishcoe in 1368 and his subsequent heir Theobald de Burgh killed by the O Kellys of Uí Maine in 1374. On Sir Edmond Albanach’s death in 1375 he was succeeded as the MacWilliam Burke by his son Thomas, who would prove unable to retain his father’s dominant position against his rival Richard og de Burgh. (Another son of Edmond Albanach, Richard, would be killed in battle at Roscommon by the forces of Rory O Connor in 1377.)

Richard og Burke’s rise in political strength was acknowledged in his son and heir also being attributed with the Gaelic title MacWilliam. To distinguish between both rival houses of de Burgh or Burke, the chieftain of the de Burghs of Burkes of Northern or Lower Connacht was attributed the title MacWilliam Iochtarach or Lower MacWilliam and the chieftain of the Burkes of southern or Upper Connacht attributed the title MacWilliam Uactarach or Upper MacWilliam or was alternatively known as the MacWilliam of Clanricarde.

The King of England displayed little interest in the affairs of Ireland at this time but throughout this period the Burkes in Upper and Lower Connacht did not completely lose contact with the Crown. Despite the irregularities regarding the tenure of their lands the Crown sought on occasion to make use of them to further its interests.

One William son of Richard de Burgh ‘of Connacht’ was evidently at the Crown’s disposal at Kilkenny about 1373 where he was instructed by the King’s Council in Ireland to travel from there to his father in Connacht and direct him to attack O Brien of Thomond (the region about the present county Clare), ‘chieftain of his lineage, who falsely and without title claims to have the lordship of Ireland.’ Richard was, in addition, ‘to treat with others there, both English or Irish, enemies and rebels, and restore them to the King’s Peace.’[xlix] ‘Because of the dangers of the roads and the remoteness of the places,’ William had required a large company of horse as escort. In consideration of his efforts the Crown granted to William in May of 1374 a sum of money as a reward and to defray his expenses.

It would appear likely that this instruction related to Richard og given his prominent position at that time. Richard og Burgh was among a number of de Burghs and various of Anglo-Norman and Irish descent who were to be allocated monies partly in reward in October of 1374 by the King’s officials at the instance of the Justiciar ‘for the King’s wars.’[l] In August of the following year the Crown granted him custody of the manor of Athkynne ‘to have for as long as he bears himself well.’[li]

When the new King, Richard II, ordered the calling of a parliament in Ireland at Castledermot for March 1378, among those summoned to attend were Richard Burgh, knight (of the Castleconnell family in Munster) and Richard og Burgh.[lii] Prominent among those others of Connacht summoned was Walter Bermingham of Athenry. (No mention was made of Thomas son of Edmund Albanach of the Mayo Bourkes but his name may have been among the number missing owing to damage done to the document later.)

In October 1379 Edmund Mortimer, 3^rd Earl of March in England and, in right of his wife, heir to the de Burgh earldom of Ulster and lordship of Connacht was appointed the King’s Lieutenant in Ireland.

The enmity between the northern and southern Burkes of Connacht continued unabated in this period, with Thomas son of Sir Edmond Albanach defeating Richard og at the town of Atha-leathann, ‘where MacJordan de Exeter, lord of Athleathan and John de Exeter were slain.’ The Gaelic annalist refer at that time to this as a conflict between two MacWilliam, the former of Mayo with the original title of ‘MacWilliam’ and Richard og being defined as ‘MacWilliam Uachtarach’ or ‘Upper MacWilliam.’

In April of 1380 Thomas son of Edmond Albanach was appointed with Hugh, bishop of Clonmacnoise and Walter Bermingham of Athenry as Justice ‘to inquire concerning felonies in County Connacht and to hear and determine the same.’ The letters patent making the appointment, however, were withdrawn later in December of the same year.[liii] In the following year William son of Raymond de Burgh was appointed as Sheriff of Connacht.[liv]

Mortimer arrived in Ireland in Mayo of 1380 and met with some initial success. He advanced into Ulster where the Irish chieftains, whose predecessors had been vassals of the de Burgh earls, came and did homage to their heir but treated him cautiously. He recovered the royal castle of Athlone and journeyed into the Midlands where he imposed his will upon those who were by English law his vassals.[lv]

During this period Mortimer sought to engage with the Burkes who occupied the lands of his western lordship. One Moel O Brien was used by Mortimer to negotiate with Richard og Burke. About 1381 O Brien sought financial recompense for his efforts. He claimed that at Mortimer’s direction ‘he frequently laboured at great expense in Connacht treating with Richard Ogge Burk and others, rebels there, to restore them to peace, without receiving any reward.’[lvi] He would be sent again in early 1382 by the Justiciar and the King’s Council to deal with Richard oge.

The death of Mortimer Earl of March and Ulster

Mortimer, however, did not achieve any notable success with the Clanricarde Burkes in his time in Ireland. His term as Lieutenant was cut short when he died suddenly in December 1381 from an illness contracted after crossing a river in the depths of winter.[lvii] His heir, his eight-year old son Roger was under age to succeed to his inheritance and so the former de Burgh estates of Connacht and Ulster passed into the guardianship of the King until Roger should come of age.

Crucially, in England in 1385, the young Roger Mortimer, then only about twelve years of age, as grandson of Lionel Duke of Clarence, younger son of King Edward III, was named as heir to the throne of England after his near kinsman King Richard II.

As the Mortimer lands were in the King’s hands while the heir was underage, the income to be derived therefrom was due to the King and he appointed one Thomas O Casey to look after his interests in the west, appointing him in 1385 as Seneschal of the town of Galway and receiver of the King’s rents in Connacht, giving him authority to appoint officers, hold courts and levy the king’s rents. This move to strengthen the position of the next Mortimer heir and to bolster the royal position across the west was not in the interests of those occupying those lands and was met with resistance by the Burkes of Clanricarde.[lviii]

Since 1384 a general war of succession had ensued among the O Connors with one of the two principal rivals supported by Thomas son of Sir Edmond and another by Richard og of Clanricarde. In 1386 O Connor Roe and others of the Irish of Connacht went to aid the head of the Mayo Burkes in his fight with O Connor Sligo. After raiding into O Connor Sligo’s territory they proceeded south to raid into Clanricarde but were met by a force led jointly by Richard og, called by the annalists at this time ‘MacWilliam of Clanricarde’ and by O Brien. O Connor Roe turned on the forces of Clanricard and the O Brien, giving them a defeat. It would appear to have been one of the last engagements in which Richard og was involved.

The ensuing raids and counter-raids involving the O Connors resulted in the establishment of two rival houses; O Connor Roe and O Connor Don, who between them divided the territory of Sil Murray.[lix] Despite his defeat in repulsing O Connor Roe in 1386, Richard og Burke still retained the upper hand over Sir Edmund Albanach’s son in Mayo, to the extent that later in that same year, on peace being agreed between the rival O Connor houses in Connacht, Thomas, son of Sir Edmond Albanach and de Bermingham ‘came into the house of MacWilliam of Clanricarde, and ceded to him the lordship (ie. acknowledged his political and military supremacy).’[lx]

Thomas was the senior-most in descent from his father Sir Edmond Albanach, who in his time had been the sole MacWilliam and most powerful man in Connacht, and who had been the senior-most successor to his elder brother Sir Walter, who in his time held sway over Connacht under the Earl of Ulster. H.T. Knox interpreted this acknowledgment by Thomas in 1386 as the public recognition by Thomas of the fact that there was now two MacWilliams and that Richard og had been acknowledged as a MacWilliam over his territory in southern Connacht before Thomas had himself succeeded his father as MacWilliam.[lxi] Although, after the death of Richard og, the Irish annalists would refer to Thomas as ‘Lord of the English of Connacht,’ the claim was more theoretical as the existence of a strong second MacWilliam ruling over much of southern Connacht could not be denied. Henceforth, although more senior in descent, the head of the Burkes of Mayo in northern Connacht could no longer exert any lasting control over southern Connacht or the region later known as east County Galway. To distinguish between the two, the Irish would come to refer to the head of the Mayo Burkes as the MacWilliam Iochtar or Lower MacWilliam (Mayo lying in northern or ‘lower’ Connacht) and the head of the Burkes of southern Connacht as the MacWilliam Uachtar or Upper MacWilliam, or simply ‘MacWilliam of Clanricarde.’

The territory of Clanricarde

The territory over which Richard og and his successors came to rule covered an extensive area of southern Connacht, comprising much of what would be in later centuries central and eastern County Galway. The territory known as Clanricarde would extend from about the town of Galway and Lough Corrib in the west to the territories of the O Kellys of Ui Maine and the O Maddens of Sil Anmchadha in the east, extending as far east to the manor of Portumna and the shore of Lough Derg below O Madden’s country. It was bordered to the north by the country of the Burkes of Mayo and the O Connors and to the south by the territory of the O Briens of Thomond (later County of Clare). As such it comprised a vast area encompassing the six baronies of Loughrea, Kiltartan, Clare, Dunkellin, Athenry or Kingstown and Leitrim.

Within that territory the principal families would be those descendants of various individuals of the de Burghs or Burkes, the head of some of which would adopt such Gaelic style appellations as McHoog or McHugo, McHubert, McRedmond or descendants of such former Anglo-Norman colonists as the de Valles or Walls and the Dolphins, who would likewise become gaelicized. Prominent landholders within the lordship would also include such Gaelic families as the O Shaughnessys about Gortinseguaire (Gort), the McGillakellys and O Heynes.

The principal seat of the chieftain or MacWilliam Uachtar appears to have been at Loughrea, the former seat in Connacht of the de Burgh Earls of Ulster and Lords of Connacht but the office of chieftain also appears to have had attached a number of castles and lands throughout the territory from which their power emanated. They continued to hold some influence and sway within the de Burgh town of Galway and within Athenry, the latter of which lay in the centre of Clanricarde, but both towns also sought to maintain a certain degree of freedom from the exactions and influence of the chieftains.

The death of Richard óg

Richard og Burke died in 1387 and was buried in the presbytery of the Dominican church of SS. Peter and Paul at Athenry friary, alongside the bodies of Sir William liath, the latter’s wife and son Walter.[lxii] The Registry of the friars of Athenry refer to ‘Richardus juvenis burgensis’ or ‘Richard óg, a burgess’ buried in the vicinity of his ancestor William liath in the presbytery. This would appear to suggest that he had acquired such a position within either the town of Galway or of Athenry and he may have been that Richard Burgh, burgess of Galway, who, with one Henry Blake, another burgess of that town, was ordered by the Crown to desist from interfering in the rights to the salmon fishery in that town in January of 1387, the year of his death.[lxiii] His wife was given in the Registry of Athenry as Beanullighan Nyghicheally.[lxiv]

Continued under ‘Burke 1388 to 1485.’