Sons of William de Burgh died 1248

© Donal G. Burke 2024

William de Burgh, younger son of William an concur de Burgh, died in England in 1248 and his body was brought back to Ireland. He was buried at the Augustinian abbey at Athassel in Conty Tipperary, founded by his father. Surviving records and genealogical references would suggest that he had at least five sons; Richard na Coille de Burgh, Sir Hubert Donn de Burgh, William Fyn or Fionn de Burgh, Reymund de Burgh and John de Burgh senior also known as John Mór (ie. the elder).

Table showing first two generations of de Burghs established in Ireland descended from William an concur de Burgh died 1206.

Of the sons of William de Burgh, died 1248;

Richard na Coille de Burgh

If William an concur was the only progenitor of the Burkes, then at the death of Richard Mór without an heir yet of age, the only de Burghs of age and in a position to hold lands prior to Richard junior, his eldest son and heir, attaining seisin in 1247 were sons of his younger brother William, who died in 1248. As Richard Mór was about 33 years of age when his eldest son and heir was born, it is possible and likely that the sons of Richard Mór’s brother William were older in age, thereby allowing them be in a position to hold tenancy of some of the wider de Burgh estates of the king during Richard junior’s minority between 1243 and 1247. As Richard junior died without a male heir in 1248, within a short time after attaining his majority, his estates reverted again into the hands of the king. His younger brother and heir Walter was still a minor and did not attain seisin until 1250, which again would mean that, if his grandfather William an concur was the sole progenitor of the Burkes in Ireland, the only de Burghs of age and in a position to hold lands in the interim were the offspring of William son of William an concur.

On Richard de Burgh junior attaining his majority in 1247, the tenants or custodians of his various properties were directed to hand over control of those holdings to the new lord. Only one de Burgh is given as holding a significant part of those estates directly of the king during the minority of the heir. One Richard de Burgh, together with John Livot and Marmaduke de Eschales, was directed to deliver up control of ‘Locherye’ or Loughrea in 1247 to the rightful heir.[i] As the only de Burgh mentioned holding lands in Connacht of the king at that time, he may have been the eldest son of William son of William an concur.

Richard Junior, heir to Richard Mór, would appear to have been born in or around 1226 as he attained seisin of his estates in 1247. As his cousin Richard was sufficiently old to hold lands immediately prior to that, this latter Richard would appear to have been born prior to 1226. However, if he was the eldest son, a somewhat earlier date around 1220 may be appropriate as his nephew David would appear to have been born in the early 1240s.

Walter de Burgh attained seisin of his deceased brother’s Munster and Connacht estates on coming of age in 1250. Walter was recorded by the sheriff of County Limerick as owing a fine of 44l 9d. in 1266 or 1267 ‘for having peace for all his men, English and Irish, of Co. Lymeryc, Connaught and Tipperary, accused of receiving Richard de Burgo & Co.’[ii] A transcription of the original pipe roll, while incomplete, refers here also to the territory of Olethan (a territory in the region of Barrymore in County Cork) with regard to this fine and to the year 1259-60.[iii] This Richard is evidently the same man holding lands of the king during the minority of Richard junior as by 1266 Walter’s father Richard was dead, his elder brother Richard was dead and Walter’s eldest son Richard was only a young child at that time. The annals would refer to him as Richard na Coille or Richard of the Wood.

Richard de Burgh appears to have fallen foul of the authorities at this time but the infraction for which the fine was due was not outlined. The association with ‘companions’ in his felonies suggests that he had not acted alone. Several years later in the accounts rendered by the Sheriff of Tipperary for the period 1275-6, the name of Richard de Burgo de Kille was included against a fine owed to the Crown of £4 of the chattels of Philip de Haye, felon.[iv]  This Richard was undoubtedly Richard na Coille despite the fact that he had been dead at that stage for about five or six years. Also mentioned in the same sheriff’s accounts for the mid 1270s was Reymund de Burgo for whom a fine of 40s. for unlawful detention was owing to the Crown, who was in all likelihood that Reymund who died in 1271. Dr. Goddard Orpen noted to Edmund Curtis, translator of these same sheriff’s accounts, that certain fines accounted for in that 1275-6 period such as those owed by Theobald le Botiller may have related to trespasses before 1270-1 and the names of some who owed services therein remained on the list ‘long after the individuals were dead.’[v]

This Richard de Burgh was of sufficient standing for his death to be recorded by the annalists in 1270 among the notable casualties at the battle of Athanchip. The annals of the Four Masters simply describe him as Richard na Coille or Richard of the Wood, one of nine principal English knights who, alongside numerous others of various ranks were killed around the ford in the battle. The annals of Clonmacnoise reported that ‘nine of their chiefest were killed upon the bogg about Rickard ne Koylle and John Buttler, who were killed over and above the said knights.’ The Ulster annalists give slightly more information and describe him as ‘brathair an iarla’ or ‘kinsman of the earl.’ (the term ‘brathair in this case extending to a wider family relationship than simply the literal ‘brother’ as the earl’s elder brother Richard died twenty two years earlier.) Richard’s cousin William Óg, the earl’s younger brother, would be put to death after the battle by Aedh O Conchobhair as a reprisal for the earl having personally killed in battle O Conchobair’s ally Toirrdhealbhach O Briain.

Sheriffs accounts for county Tipperary, the Justiciary Rolls and other records detail a considerable variety of Anglo-Norman, Welsh, Flemish and other foreign names of various classes and roles settled in the Anglo-Norman regions of Munster by this period. Despite that variety and number, only a small number of de Burghs are mentioned in the early to mid 1270s, which may also suggest that their extended family, although beginning to expand, was still a small tightly-knit group in the first one hundred years since their arrival in Ireland in the last quarter of the twelfth century. Of note in the Tipperary Sheriff’s accounts from the 1270s is the recognition and use of Gaelic cognomens in Anglo-Norman official records such as Richard de Burgo ‘de Kille’ or William ‘Fyn’ which would suggest that these Gaelic identifiers were in use by the de Burghs within three generations of their arrival in Ireland to identify themselves among their own people and not just applied by the native Irish to identify the foreigners.

Although Richard na Coille was slain among the Anglo-Norman contingent campaigning in Connacht, it is not clear where his descendants, if he had any, were established, given his siblings interests also in Munster. H.T. Knox considered Richard na Coille’s father William de Burgh who died in 1248 as possibly ‘the first permanent colonist in Galway,’ believing that his lands raided by the Irish of Connacht in 1230 lay in that part of the barony of Ballymoe known as Corcamoe, west of the territory of Clanconway wherein the MacDavid Burkes descended from Richard na Coille’s brother would later be established.[vi] With regard to Richard na Coille’s cognomen, he was of the view that the wood referenced may have lain about Corcomoe. His opinion on this was based in part on his assumption that Richard na Coille and one Richard Finn were one and the same man and on the belief that Richard na Coille may have been associated with once well-wooded lands in Corcamoe.[vii] Given that at least some, if not all, of Richard na Coille’s descendants may have been established in Munster and his father William appears to have held extensive lands in Munster in addition to land he held around Corcamoe, it is also likely that the wood in question may equally have been in that region.

One Reymund de Burgh flourished in Munster about the 1290s and had at least two sons Meiler and Geoffrey. Richard na Coille, as a grandson of William an concur, was evidently of the third generation of the de Burghs in Ireland. So too would appear to have been that Reymund de Burgh who died in 1271. The Reymund active in the 1290s was therefore of a later generation to Richard na Coille or to the latter Reymund. It is possible that he was the same Reymund son of Richard de Burgh mentioned in a legal case of circa 1295/9 involving the prior of Athassel and lands in Tipperary. This Reymund would appear to have been ancestor of the de Burghs established in the territory of Ileagh in Tipperary from an early period.[viii] Reymund’s two sons had landed interests about Glenkeen and elsewhere in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century, in the territory which by the sixteenth century was regarded as the ancestral lands of the MacWalter Burkes of Ileagh.[ix] His holdings in Munster appear to have been extensive and he would appear to have been that Reymund de Burgh described as a magnate in the parts around Cashel in the years prior to 1295 about the death of his niece’s partner Richard de Geyton senior.[x] As this Reymund flourished in late thirteenth century and his sons in the early decades of the fourteenth, there is no suitable candidate for his father among the third generation of de Burghs in Ireland other than Richard na Coille killed in 1270.

The identification of this Reymund de Burgh, whose sons were associated with lands in and around Ileagh and Glenkeen (modern barony of Kilnamanagh Upper in County Tipperary) with Reymund son of Richard is uncertain. Another Reymund son of Reymund de Burgh was associated with lands in Loghkyn in a legal case around 1303, wherein the abovementioned Meiler and Geoffrey sons of Reymund had an interest around that same time.[xi] This could suggest the possibility that the above Reymund and his sons Meiler and Geoffrey could be son and grandsons of Reymund who died in 1271. However, O’Mulconry’s tract suggesting the establishment of the latter Reymund’s descendants in the barony of Clanwilliam in County Limerick would appear to be borne out by later references to members of that branch which may lend weight to the possibility that the Reymund whose sons and grandsons were associated with Ileagh and Glenkeen were more immediately descended from Richard na Coille.

Sir Hubert Donn de Burgh

Another early de Burgh established in Ireland was ‘Sire Hobert Donn mcWilliam Burk’ whom the annals of Clonmacnoise state was captured alongside ‘four other principall Englishmen with him’ in 1285. This Hubert cannot be a son of William an concur as his son Hubert was bishop of Limerick. If Sir Hubert Donn’s father was a William de Burgh, the earliest William that can be is a son of that William who died in 1248. Knox supposed him to be son of William son of William an concur. As such he supposed that Hubert was not only one of the sons but the eldest son of William who died in 1248 and to have succeeded to the bulk of the estates in Munster.[xii]

Hubert Donn’s status as a knight if the annals are correct would suggest that he was a senior and wealthy member of the extended de Burgh family at that time. Knox would appear to be correct in placing Hubert Donn as a son of that William who died in 1248 and therefore a grandson of William an concur. The occurrence of one Hubert, son of Hubert de Burgh active in the mid 1270s suggests a speculative birth date for Sir Hubert Donn in the region of around 1220 to 1230, which in turn would suggest William who died in 1248, son of William an concur as a more likely father than William Fyn de Burgh of the following generation.

Knox in his 1901 article ‘Occupation of the County of Galway by the Anglo-Normans after 1237,’ believed the list given by Hardiman in his ‘History of Galway’ entitled ‘The principal Anglo-Norman tenants of Walter de Burgo in Connaught A.D. 1280’ must predate 1251 given the presence therein of John fitzThomas who died in 1261 and the fact that Walter had been dead since 1271.[xiii] He therefore believed that Hubert de Burgh who occurred therein holding ‘Koratheg’ could predate 1251. However, the actual list is given in the Thirty-Sixth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records and Keeper of the State Papers in Ireland (1906) and occurs in the ‘Appendix’ therein as part of ‘Accounts on the Great Rolls of the Pipe of the Irish Exchequer of the reign of Edward I.’ This latter account is more comprehensive and accurate than Hardiman’s and places Hardiman’s brief reference in context. The Connacht lands which were detailed on occasion imprecisely by Hardiman are outlined there as part of a much wider ‘account of the escheats and wards in the king’s hands given by Master John de Saunford’ relating to the estates which formerly belonged to Walter de Burgh. De Saunford, later Archbishop of Dublin, served as escheator of Ireland from 1271 to 1285. The accounts rendered by him to the Crown for the lands which formerly belonged to the late Walter de Burgh included receipts for the manor of Castle Conyng (Castleconnell) from 1276 to 1280, for Balygodman in County Dublin from 1271 to 1280, Esclon on County Limerick from 1276 to 1280, for Connaught from ‘the feast of purification of the BVM a.r. lvi. Henry III to 27 February a.r. viii Ed I (or from February 1272 to 27 February 1280) and elsewhere. While reference was made in one instance to receipts accounted for relating to John FitzThomas in Connaught, this would appear to be the individual of that name who would become lord of Offaly and first Earl of Kildare before his death in 1316 rather than the individual of that name to whom Knox referred and who was killed at Callan in 1271.

Knox then in his ‘Occupation of the County of Galway by the Anglo-Normans after A.D. 1237’ erroneously believed that the names on the Connaught list repeated by Hardiman could not predate 1251 or the period about the coming of age of Walter de Burgh. Knox’s error was followed in turn by later commentators. Hubert and John de Burgh then would have returned payments for lands from some time in the period between 1272 and 1280 rather than between twenty or thirty years earlier. The lands rented by Hubert de Burgh from the Crown during the heir’s minority in that list given by Hardiman was described as ‘Koratheg’, which Knox believed may have been part of ‘Ballinacourty.’(Knox, Occupation, 1901, p. 68) However, Hubert de Burgh’s ‘Koratheg’ occurs in the records as transcribed in the 1906 Thirty-Sixth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records and State Papers in Ireland’ as ‘Knockbeg.’

Knox went on to suggest that ‘this Hubert may be Hubert Donn son of Sheriff William’ and therefore a brother of William Fyn.[xiv] He would certainly then have been of an age to hold certain lands in Connacht during the minority of the earl. However, he was incorrect in believing that Sir Hubert Donn may have been that same Hubert who, ‘with other prisoners, burned part of Dublin Castle in 1275/6.[xv] Rather it would appear that the Hubert who burned part of the king’s castle was of the next generation, occuring in one contemporary source as Hubert son of Hubert de Burgh.[xvi] The perpetrator of these offences then would appear in all likelihood to be son of Sir Hubert Donn.

The constable of Dublin Castle was paid in 1275/6 to repair the gate of that castle ‘which was burned by Hubert de Burgh and his accomplices, confined to the prison there’ and for damage done unto the same constable himself.[xvii] The details of Hubert’s offences which led to his imprisonment initially are uncertain but burning part of the king’s principal castle in Ireland can only have compounded those offences in the eyes of King Edward. In 1280 the Justiciar directed that, having taken sufficient mainprise from Hubert, ‘imprisoned for trespasses in Ireland in time of war,’ he be released to allow him present himself before the king at the up-coming parliament at Westminster ‘to hear and perform the king’s will in this respect.’[xviii] Hubert did sail for England to appear before the king but the king did not impart his will on that occasion. Hubert was instructed not to leave England without the king’s permission. The Crown wrote to the justiciar in Ireland informing him that, ‘having inquired whether Hubert would, in addition to his existing sureties, find twelve men to undertake ‘that he will do nothing against the King’s peace in Ireland or elsewhere, that he will stand his trial before the King regarding his trespasses alleged against him, that he will answer all complaints in the king’s court and perform the King’s will.’ The justiciar was directed to take additional security from Hubert and to confirm to the king at the following parliament what progress he made in this regard.[xix] Hubert still appears to have been detained in England in 1282, appearing in the Close Rolls there as Hubert son of Hubert de Burgo, promising that he would not ‘by himself or others, cause or procure in any way war, ambushes or any other evil whatsoever against the king.’[xx] Knox noted the great interest his kinsman Richard earl of Ulster had in Hubert. The earl was in England in 1282 or 1283 and undertook to produce Hubert before the king when requested under penalty of 1,000 marks unless Hubert himself should find the required security or should Hubert not act faithfully towards the king.[xxi]

It was Sir Hubert Donn, rather than this younger Hubert, who participated in a combined Anglo-Norman and Gaelic Irish counter-raid into the lands of Delvin MacCoghlan in 1285. The raid was organised in response to a raid by Aedh O Conchobhair and Flann O Maoilsheachlainn upon the lands of William Croke. Members of the Croke family held lands of the de Burgh Earls of Ulster in the easternmost region of Connacht, not distant from Meelick castle. It would appear to be these lands that were raided by O Conchobhair and O Maoilsheachlainn given that much of the Gaelic Irish contingent of the force gathered by Theobald le Botiller in response to that attack included O’Kellys, O’Maddens and O Carrolls, all of whose ancestral lands in that region on either side of the Shannon. Cairbre O Maoilsheachlainn opposed them at Lumcloon in MacCoughlan’s territory (near Cloghan, County Offaly) and inflicted a significant reverse on them. Sir William de la Rochelle (de Rupella) and Murrough son of Cormac O Kelly were among those killed. Among the captives taken was ‘Sire Hobert Donn McWilliam Burk, knight and four other principall Englishmen with him.’

The annals record Sir Hubert’s participation in the 1285 raid alongside the ‘Clanwilliam of the Burkes’ and is not necessarily indicative of any significant landed interests he himself may have had in the eastern region of Connacht. If his son Hubert is the same Hubert active in County Tipperary in the region around Cashel around the late 1290s, Knox may have been correct in his view that the bulk of Hubert Donn’s lands may have lain in Munster. It is uncertain if Hubert was free soon after 1282 but he is almost certainly the same man as Hubert de Burgo ‘juvenus’ or junior mentioned alongside Richard earl of Ulster and one Gillecrist Makamune Omalryan in an entry in the plea rolls in 1289-1290.[xxii] In this case the reference to O Mulryan and also to one Robert de Lesse would again suggest an involvement in Munster affairs.

Given Hubert son of Hubert’s previous activities, it is likely that the Hubert de Burgh labelled a felon in 1295, accused of robbing the Archbishop of Cashel’s manor of Killech is more likely to have been the younger Hubert. At the same time William Haket, coroner, was accused of procuring the acquittal of some of Hubert’s men guilty of murder. The Earl of Ulster came to the aid of Hubert and others at this time, arranging a pardon for one William Lumbard for assaulting the watchmen of Cashel on the highway and for giving ‘food, drink and money to Hubert de Burgo, Hilary de Burgo, Thomas de Burgo and other felons.’[xxiii]

Various other individuals were implicated and charged with supporting Hubert, his de Burgh associates and their Anglo-Norman and Gaelic Irish followers of Tipperary. Geoffrey de Salle was likewise charged in 1295 with ‘receiving John de Moungomery and kennedy carrach Oglessan, men of Hubert de Burgo and Milo de Burgo and Thomas de Burgo; also receiving Hubert de Burgo, said Thomas and Geoffrey de Burgo at Cashel.’ At the same time John Moungomery, John Champaynne, Kennedi carrach Ocassin and others of the men of Hubert, Milo and Thomas de Burgo were also accused of killing William Sampson and Gromyn Cod and four other Englishmen at Coddeston (modern Coddstown, County Wexford). William Hodde, who appears to have been bailiff of Artmail (modern civil parish of Ardmayle, north of Cashel), was charged with supporting the accused. The community at Ardmayle wished to have the accused arrested but Codde was charged with greeting each one of them on their arrival there and preventing their arrest.[xxiv] At the instance of Walter de la Haye, Hubert de Burgh and many or all of his accomplices both Anglo-Norman and Gaelic Irish accused of the killing were pardoned that same year at the instance of Walter de la Haye.[xxv]

Hubert had not paid a fine of five marks due to Master Thomas Cantok, Chancellor of Ireland, the Sheriff of Tipperary was directed in July 1297 to levy that same money from his property. However, the Crown had difficulty in carrying out that instruction. Such was the turbulence in the countryside in that area of Munster at that time, that Robert Maunsel, chief serjeant of the fee, had to reply that ‘the goods of Hubert are in so strong a march, that no serjeant dare go.’ The serjeant having baulked, the sheriff was directed to gather a group of men together and go in person to Hubert’s lands to levy the money and have it paid to the chancellor.[xxvi]

Hubert de Burgh was still active in Tipperary at the start of the fourteenth century. He was to appear before the Chief Justiciar John Wogan in April of 1300, accused by Walter le Bret of stealing his cattle at Rathgol (modern Rathcool civil parish, east of Cashel, County Tipperary) to the value of 40l. Hubert failed to appear. As a result the sheriff of Tipperary was directed to apprehend him to ensure his appearance. The sheriff claimed he received the writ too late to execute it and was redirected to ensure he had Hubert before the Justiciar at the next hearing.[xxvii]

Knox in his genealogical tables does not show any descendants from Hubert Donn. That this was the case would appear to be as a result of taking Hubert Donn and the younger Hubert who burned part of Dublin Castle as the same man. Hubert the younger appears to have been son of Hubert Donn and as such was likely to be the same Hubert active around Cashel in the late 1290s. This Hubert the younger may be that Hubert de Burgh with lands in County Tipperary who occurs in Betham’s transcript notes taken from the plea rolls as having three sons; Geoffrey, John and William, the first and third-named mentioned in transactions of the years 1311 and 1313.

With regard to the more minor de Burghs mentioned as felons or accomplices alongside Hubert in 1295, little can be deduced from surviving written evidence to confirm their identity. However, all are certainly kinsmen of Hubert active in Tipperary and can be said to be descendants of William who died in 1248. Almost immediately after the attack on the Archbishop’s lands in Tipperary, Hilary de Burgh was among the many Anglo-Normans of Ireland who served the king in his Scottish campaign of 1296, being recompensed for the loss of horses in that war in September of the same year.[xxviii] While he may have had descendants, he does not occur in the annals or genealogies and no reference is made to Hilary or a son of Hilary among the numerous de Burghs given in an extensive list of men of note (approximately seventy three persons including at least eighteen de Burghs) across County Tipperary owing fines to the Crown in 1318/19 for trespass.[xxix]

Neither can we confirm with certainty the identity of the Meiler, Thomas and Geoffrey who participated with Hubert in the Cashel raid. They appear to be near kinsmen of Hubert. A Meiler and Geoffrey, sons of Reymund de Burgh were active in contemporary records around the last decade of the thirteenth century in Tipperary. Geoffrey son of Reymund appears in the 1318-19 list of men associated with county Tipperary owing fines to the Crown in 1318-19 for trespass alongside at least one son of Meiler and alongside Hubert de Burgh and William and Geoffrey, sons of Hubert. Also in that list occurs John son of one Thomas de Burgh and kinsmen descended from John de Burgh senior.

The death of Hubert Donn de Burgh does not occur in any of the annals, nor does any individuals of a descendant line occur therein. It is unlikely that he was that Hubert de Burgh who occurs on the list of those associated with Tipperary and owing fines for trespass to the Crown in Tipperary about 1318-19, the Hubert occurring there and his sons in all likelihood two generations of Hubert Donn’s descendants, ie. Hubert the younger and sons. While one Stephen de Burgh, who flourished around the late decades of the thirteenth century, had three sons; Hubert, Geoffrey and Richard and one Hubert son of Geoffrey de Burgh had two sons named Geoffrey and William, these last two individuals do not appear to be the William and Geoffrey sons of Hubert mentioned above, In the extensive list of Tipperary fines dated 1318-19, Hubert de Burgh, William son of Hubert and Geoffrey son of Hubert appear almost at the top of that list and in that order. Further down that list and further down in seniority Hubert and Geoffrey, two sons of Stephen appear, suggesting that the above Hubert and Hubert’s sons William and Geoffrey were not only different persons but more senior in line of descent.

William Fyn de Burgh

Although William Fyn (Finn or ‘fionn’, the fair-haired) would prove to be ancestor of the significant de Burgh branch later known as the MacDavid Burkes or Clann David of Clanconway, there are few surviving contemporary references to him. When Knox developed his opinions on the origin of the MacDavid Burkes, he noted Thomas de Burgo’s reference in his eighteenth century ‘Hibernia Dominica’ to William fion or ‘pulchro’ as grandson of William an concur de Burgh and cousin of both Walter and William Óg of Athanchip.[xxx] Knox had some doubts around William Finn ‘of whose existence’ he stated ‘there is but such feeble evidence.’[xxxi] At that time he may have been unaware of the inclusion of William Fyn de Burgo in the Tipperary Sheriff’s accounts from the period 1275-6.

William Fyn de Burgh appears in sheriff’s accounts for County Tipperary for the period 1275 and 1276 owing 30 marks to the Crown for having peace for the death of John de Wodeham, for which he was accused by pledges named in 1268-9.[xxxii] The same sheriff’s accounts include references to monies owed from historic fines from some persons who may have been deceased by the time these accounts were prepared. William Fyn’s fine related to offences from the late 1260s and, though still accounted in 1275-6, was not necessarily an indication that he was still alive in the mid 1270s.

William Fyn would appear to be the same William de Burgo who occurred in the accounts provided by William le Ercedeakne for the Honor of Dungarvan in County Waterford from part of 1260 to early 1261. In those accounts William de Burgo was responsible for rent due from the denomination of Gortclon and again from the denomination of Rennagonach. The sums accounted for were not historical in that William paid for his entire rent within that period.[xxxiii] He would again appear simply as William de Burgo accounting for £6 0 11½ for the chattels of one Gillice O Foulech and others, part of which he had already paid into the treasury and part of which was still owed in the period from October 1261 to October 1262.[xxxiv] While certain of his descendants would later appear established in Connacht it would appear that William had landed interests also across Munster.

Apart from the few 1260s and 1270s references to William Fyn, evidence would suggest that he appears in other contemporary records as the father of a number of de Burghs of the following generation, such as David son of William. While Knox would regard one Richard also known as Finn or ‘fair-haired’, as the same man as Richard na Coille, it is more likely that he was of the fourth generation of de Burghs settled in Ireland and another son of William Finn.

We do not know the year in which William Finn died or the year in which he was born. David de Burgh, who would appear to be his son, acted as a witness to a deed between 1261 and 1264.[xxxv] He may have been William’s eldest son given his later prominence. If he was a young man of twenty one years in or around 1263 it would suggest he was born around 1242. This then would imply that his father, if he was at least twenty one or thereabout at his son’s birth, he may have been born in or around 1221. William Finn’s brother Richard na Coille was certainly older than his cousin Richard who was born around 1226 and who would briefly inherit the lands and lordship of Connacht in 1247. This would suggest it was possible that William Finn may also have been older than their cousin Richard.

From David would descend the line of the Clann David or MacDavid Burkes of Clanconway. O’Ferrall in his ‘Linea Antiqua’ gave Richard Finn son of one Richard Og de Burgh as father of this David de Burgh. However, O’Ferrall and MacFirbis were incorrect in doing so. Contemporary records and annals would suggest that the Sir David from whom the Clann David of Clanconway descend was son of one William de Burgh, not Richard and this Sir David would appear to have been that Sir David Donn son of William whom the annalists described as ‘a very prosperous knight’ who died in 1329. While he would appear to have been a son of William Finn, his death in that year would suggest that he may have lived a full and long life. He was holding lands in the mid 1290s and into the early decades of the following century in the cantred of Tirmaine, about the region of Connacht later associated with the ancestral lands of the Clann David Burkes and his son William would serve during his father’s later years as constable of Roscommon and Rinndown castles.[xxxvi]

Reymund died 1271

Another prominent de Burgh contemporary of both Richard na Coille and William Fyn was Reymund de Burgh. The author of the Annals of Multyfarmham, Stephen de Exonia, recorded the death of ‘Dominus Remundus de Burgo’ in 1271. This date and identification is likely to be accurate given that the annals are believed to have been complied not long thereafter about 1272 to 1274.

Knox was uncertain of the identity of this Reymund but was of the opinion that the only person of that name with whom he could equate may be that Reymund given in the O’Mulconry tract as a son of William son of William an concur and as a brother of one John Mór. If correct that would indicate that the Reymund who died in 1271 was ancestor of the branch of the name established about Ballyvarra and the wider parish of Killeenagarriff. The correlation of the O’Mulconry pedigrees with the contemporary local property and personal references from the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century relating to John Mór would suggest the author of that tract had access to similarly accurate information relating to those descended from Reymund settled locally. That tract gave Reymund’s son and grandson as Meyler and William respectively.

Reymund de Burgh appears owing to the Crown 40s. for unlawful detention in an account of County Tipperary for the last half of the third year of King Edward and the whole of the fourth year, by John de Coventry and Maurice le Bret, then sheriffs. The details are said to relate to the years 1275-6. While Reymund was dead by at least four or five years by that time, the same accounts detail a fine owed by Richard de Burgo de Kille who is undoubtedly Richard na Coille killed in 1270. Also mentioned in those accounts was William Fyn de Burgh, owing 30 marks for having peace for the death of John de Wodeham, for which he was accused by pledges named in 1268-9. However, certain fines accounted for in that 1275-6 period may have related to trespasses before 1270-1.[xxxvii]

This first Reymund established in Ireland may be distinguished from another Reymund de Burgh who flourished in the later years of the thirteenth century and whose descendants appear to have been established in County Tipperary. This latter Reymund was alive in 1297 when he and his son were involved in a dispute over property in ‘Hayestoun’ and ‘Balileyn.’[xxxviii] Both father and son were accused of the disseisin of John son of Paganus de Inteberge of property in those denominations. At the same time the authorities were determining if all three; John son of Paganus de Inteberge and Reymund de Burgh and his son Walter had disseised Robert Wodelok of his freehold in Hayestoun. As Reymund presented himself before the assise in 1297, he cannot have been that Reymund who died in 1271 and would appear to have been of a later generation.

John Mór de Burgh

The earliest known surviving contemporary evidence of the first John de Burgh established in Ireland occurs on two deeds dating between 1282 and 1285. Both deeds involve Philip de Rupella granting lands to Sir Theobald le Botiller, the greater part of which lands lay in Connacht. In both deeds De Rupella granted to le Botiller all of his lands in the cantred of Omany in Connacht, lands in Clonodach in Tyrmany, lands in Croun (Cruffon and Crohone in the barony of Killian, County Galway) and other lands on either side of the River Suck, in Lusmagh (part of the ancestral territory of O’Madden in east Connacht), his manor of Bre (Bray, County Wicklow) and lands near Dublin.[xxxix] Both deed were witnessed by ten men, the first five listed of whom were knights, the last knight of whom and the only de Burgh witness was Sir John de Burgh.

One John de Burgh held a villate of the king in Connacht prior to 1280 during the minority of Richard de Burgh the Red Earl of Ulster. He would appear to have been of the line of that William who died in 1248. Knox noted a John Mór (or in English ‘John the elder’ or John senior’) and a Reymund de Burgh given in the ‘O’Mulconry tract’ as two sons of William son of William an concur, both of whom were claimed therein to have founded families in Munster. Reymund was given in that source as ancestor of the Burkes of Baile I Bharra and John Mór ancestor of the Burkes of Cuil I Sheighinein (both located in County Limerick).[xl] The first John de Burgh established in Ireland to appear in surviving contemporary records occurs as John de Burgh senior in a number of legal cases. John de Burgh held of the king what he described as wasteland ‘in the marches in the county of Limerick where he dare not lodge or spend money’ as his lease there was only on a year to year basis. In 1290 he petitioned the Crown to have this extended to a twenty year term.[xli] He appears to be the same John de Burgh accounting to the king for 40s. from the land of Balybinnecacht in Limerick for both 1292 and 1293, having been granted those lands to farm for ten years from Michaelmas 1291.[xlii] In 1297 John de Burgh senior and John the Burgh junior appear alongside Richard Earl of Ulster in a case taken by John Harald, Sheriff of Limerick. Again in 1299/1300 John Senior appeared in a legal suit he took against Reymund de Burgh concerning a villate in Balicolan in which reference was made to John senior’s son Walter de Burgh.[xliii] (The lands in question appear to have lain in Limerick or at least in Munster) This Walter would appear to be the same Walter son of John de Burgh who, alongside Henry de Burgh ‘and certain other Englishmen of the affinity of Richard de Burgh Earl of Ulster’ was a hostage in the custody of John FitzThomas in 1296.[xliv]

In the lawsuit taken in 1297 by John Harald following the killing of his son Richard and the robbery of his goods, the Earl, John senior and John junior appeared together but a case was also taken at that time by Harald against John senior’s son Hugh, whom he accused of robbery at the instigation of John de Burgh.[xlv] While the case was being prosecuted, it was directed that John senior and junior be held over in the custody of the marshal but were mainprised by the earl, Eustace le Poer, Michael Talbot, Walter de Say and both Theobald de Burgh and Edmund de Burgh, the last two of whom were in all likelihood the earl’s brothers.

Much of the activity regarding John senior and his progeny appears to have occurred in Munster around Limerick. In 1297 Philip le Mareschal brought a writ of redisseisin at Limerick against John son of John de Burgh for one carucate in Conegath.[xlvi] Three years later a jury of twenty-four knights were brought together before the Justiciar to determine if John junior had disseised John le Notour of his freehold in Kilpeghan (Kilpeacon), south of Limerick.[xlvii]

A struck out entry in the plea rolls of 1311 around robbery implicated Nicholas, Geoffrey and David, all sons of John de Burgh. In the same year William Savage was accused that he, together with Nicholas son of John de Burgh and David de Burgh robbed Walter Syward at Sywardsrath in the suburbs of Limerick of horses, cows and other goods. The jurors found that the accuser was a cook in the service of John son of John de Burgh and ‘that he often killed and skinned cows which the said malefactors stole from faithful men of the country and prepared food therefrom and ate with the others, knowing well of the said robbery.’ Savage was pardoned ‘at the instance of Master Richard de Burgo.’[xlviii] Another of the same family, one Robert son of John de Burgh, was charged in the same year of 1311 at Limerick of robbing and beating fishermen ‘and prevented them from carrying their salmon to Limerick for sale.’[xlix] These de Burghs implicated in robbery around Limerick in 1311 were sons of John junior, who appears the senior-most individual of the perpetrators and one of those named. (The original entry, in describing Nicholas, Geoffrey and David as sons of John goes on to describe John son of John as ‘the said John’ (ie. that John mentioned previously in the entry as father of the aforesaid three brothers.) This David would appear to be that individual of that name given in the O’Mulconry tract as that ‘Daug’ or David from whom the principal line of the Burkes of Cuil I Sheighinein. One David de Burgh was before the assize in Limerick in 1317 accused of disseising Master William de Dundonyld of eight acres of land and twenty acres of pasture in Milletoun beside Deregalvan (Derrygalvin) and may in all likelihood have been this David son of John de Burgh.[l] A David de Burgh was a free tenant in a 1338 inquisition into Caherconlish (parish of the same name, Barony of Clanwilliam, County Limerick) and may have been the same individual one of the electors of Thomas Daunton as sheriff of Limerick in 1355.

Another son of John de Burgh junior (or senior) would appear to have been Richard son of John de Burgh who appears in an extensive list of tenants with rents payable to the Crown from lands in Tipperary in 1318-9.[li] He may have been older than Nicholas and Walter, being recorded before them in the same account. Another younger son of John de Burgh junior would appear to be Edmund, a minor in 1309.

John de Burgh senior then would appear to have been a prominent member of the extended de Burgh family at this time, held in regard by the earl of Ulster and had at least three sons; John junior, Walter and Hugh. John senior would appear to have been the person accountable for a villate in Connacht prior to the Red Earl attaining his majority in 1280.

In his 1903 article on ‘Clann David Burkes and the Family of William, Sheriff of Connaught’ Knox referred to the O’Mulconry tract which outlined the descendants of John Mór, from John Óg (John de Burgh junior) in the male line down to the mid sixteenth century, their seniormost descendant in the early to mid 1500s described as Geoffrey of Cuil I Sheighinein.[lii] Their descent was given in that tract alongside that of John Mór’s brother Reymund, whose mid sixteenth century representative was given therein as Geoffrey of Baile I Bharra. At the time of his writing in 1903 Knox was unable to identify the location of these places, believing that by the sixteenth century ‘the families evidently were not very powerful.’ Thomas J. Westropp in 1906/7 identified these as the townland of Coolyhenan in the civil parish of Derrygalvin and the townland of Ballyvarra in the adjacent parish of Killeenagarriff, both in the barony of Clanwilliam in County Limerick, on the eastern outskirts of Limerick City.[liii] The O’Mulconry tract would show the Cuil I Sheighinein and Beal I Bharra Burkes descended from the younger son of William an concur and not of the same line as the more senior Burkes who would descend of Edmund fitz le counte, son of the Red Earl of Ulster established in the same region. Although the descendants of Reymund and John Mór were longer established locally, those who would descend from Edmund son of the earl would maintain their dominance over the Burkes of Coolyhenan and of Ballyvarra. However, Westropp showed their descendants continued as local gentry families settled on their ancestral lands until at least the mid seventeenth century. Their location in County Limerick would also agree with the focus of much of John mór’s landed interests and activity in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries having been primarily in the Limerick region.

Knox believed that the genealogical information in the O’Mulconry tract may have been based on earlier local sources. The location of the lands of the Burkes of Coolyhenan and those of Ballyvarra in adjacent parishes would further lend credence to the O Mulconry tract and their sharing a descent from a common ancestor through two brothers; Reymund and John mór respectively. Further weight to the veracity of the O’Mulconry account in relation to the origin of the Ballyvarra Burkes is provided in a surviving note taken by Sir William Betham in his genealogical abstracts taken from the Plea Rolls when he recorded the occurrence of a reference therein to Edmund de Burgh, a minor in the custody of the earl of Ulster in 1309 as a son of John de Burgh associated with lands in ‘Inchethomas and Kilmacnegaruff’ (Killeenagarriff) in County Limerick. (This would appear to be the same John de Burgh who was tenant of the lands of Inchethomas leased from Gregory de Malmesbury and his wife Joan, the same Gregory who held an interest in a mill in Derrygalvin in 1300.) Given his young age at this time, this Edmund appears to have been another son of John Óg.

John Óg de Burgh fell foul of the authorities and was imprisoned for his participation in raids in Connacht. The justiciar reported in 1305 John’s detention in the King’s prison in Dublin ‘for felony, robbery and diverse other crimes which he committed in the company of John Crok, knight, on the lands of Geoffrey de Valle in Connacht.[liv] Edmund le Botiller stood surety for the fine and undertook to find sufficient pledges and to have him returned to prison if necessary. He appears again in prison in Dublin and to have effected an escape as a fine of 40s. was paid in 1309/10 for the escape of John son of John de Burgh.[lv]

John Óg de Burgh appears to have died in or before 1309. In addition to his young son’s status as a minor in the guardianship of the Red Earl in that year, his widow Johanna or Joan was petitioner in a case taken in 1309 against David, son of John de Burgh for a third part of a messuage two carucates of land and other entitlements in ‘Kylmactongarf.’[lvi] Her case was on-going in 1311.