Ulick, 3rd Earl of Clanricarde (Part I)

© Donal G. Burke 2014

Richard Burke, 2^nd Earl of Clanricarde died in the town of Galway in August of 1582. Both of his two surviving sons, Ulick and John, availed of a pardon proclaimed by the Queen dated the 25^th of August to immediately repair to Sir Nicholas Malby, Colonel or Governor of Connacht and Thomond.[i] There, upon their knees, they submitted and sought to contest their respective claims to the title under English law.[ii]

The brothers, from an early age, had been intermittently at war with each other regarding the succession and with the English over various grievances, causing devastation within and without their father’s territory of Clanricarde. A critical element in determining the succession was the legitimacy of the eventual heir, and while Ulick appears to have been by common consent the eldest, his legitimacy was in question.

Both brothers undertook the journey to Dublin and there presented their cases before the Lord Justices and the Queen’s Council in Ireland. The matter was dealt with speedily by a commission composed of the Lord Justices and the Council of Ireland and determined by the end of the first week in September 1582.[iii] Malby would report to the Queen’s Chief Secretary, Walsingham, by the 10^th of September that ‘the legitimacy fell out to Ulick but the living was a tough matter to be compassed and was divided by arbitrement to the pleasure of both.’[iv] Malby claimed that it was principally at his direction that the two agreed on the final settlement.[v]

The new Earl

The Commission issued their decision on the 7^th September 1582. Ulick was decreed the title of Earl of Clanricarde and Baron of Dunkellin, and it was decided that the lands of the earldom were to be equally divided between both Ulick and John, ‘as if the lands had descended in coparcenrary, saving that the first choice of Lough Reoughe and the lordship of Dunkellyn is allotted to the Earl in this division.’[vi] John Burke was to have the castle and barony of Leitrim (in south-east Galway) in Clanricarde ‘free from the impositions of his brother’ and to be advanced to the lesser title of baron, the Lord Justices and Council undertaking to be ‘humble petitioners to the Queen to create him Baron of Leitrim in tail male.’[vii]

The division of the rest of the lands of their father’s earldom was to be referred to a special Commission. The lands allocated to each brother was to pass after their deaths to their respective male heirs but on the understanding that, if Ulick should lack a male heir, the earldom should pass to John and, in like manner, in the event of John lacking male heirs, his barony and lands of Leitrim would pass to the Earl, ‘and her Majesty to be in remainder of both.’ As a powerful inducement to loyalty to the Crown, it was decreed that ‘whoever of them shall first revolve from his duty to her Majesty and shall be publicly proclaimed a traitor, the other continuing in duty shall presently enter upon the lands, titles, livings and inheritance of the said party so proclaimed.’[viii]

The brothers were prohibited from claiming or taking traditional Gaelic exactions such as coyne and livery, other than what was lawful.[ix] As an acknowledgment of the high standing of the Burkes of Derrymaclaughna and their sept within Clanricarde, specific provision was included in the agreement to preclude either Ulick or John in the future from demanding such customs and exactions from the inhabitants of the barony of Clare, their sept’s ancestral territory within Clanricarde. This sept was descended from Richard oge Burke, a former chieftain whose sons had contested control of Clanricarde against the first earl and held the captaincy of Clanricarde during the minority of Ulick’s and John’s father. The senior-most member of the family at this period, Richard Burke of Derrymaclaughna, remained loyal to the Crown during the last rebellion of Ulick and John and attended upon the provincial officials in suppressing rebellion in Mayo and elsewhere. The principal members of the sept were among those issued royal pardons in September at the request of Malby.[x] As a result of their position and loyalty, the Commission decreed that ‘Richard Burke of Derimallaughnye and the barony of Clare wherein he and his kinsmen dwell’ was henceforth to be ‘exempt forever from the rule and authority of either of the said brethren’ Ulick or John.[xi]

By the middle of September Ulick was described as Earl of Clanricarde when a commission to execute martial law in the province of Connacht and Thomond, was extended to him, his brother John Burke and Robert Johnson, the former constable at Loughrea whom John had previously imprisoned.[xii] (The difference in their social rank noticeable in their respective descriptions about this time as ‘Earl’, John, not yet advanced to the peerage, as ‘Esquire’ and the latter, Johnson, as ‘gentleman.’)[xiii]

Almost at the same time as the matter of the title to the earldom was being decided the followers of both brothers sought their pardons from the Crown, but Sir Henry Wallop, the Treasurer of War in Ireland, was insistent that any pardons would have to be accompanied by an associated fine.[xiv]

Among those issued a pardon on 14^th September, at the request of John Burke was Coaghe O Madden, one of the foremost rebels of the neighbouring territory of Síl Anmchadha, ‘Serim alias mcCowck (ie. the head of the McCooges or McHugos) and several others of the McHugos, Owen mantaghe O Heyne, several sons of Shane oge Burke of Cloghroak, William McRechard alias McRedmond and Daniel oge mcSowny (ie. MacSweeney).[xv] The inclusion of these individuals by John Burke in his list of pardons would suggest that these men had been followers of John while among those pardoned alongside Ulick’s son Richard  were several of the Burkes of Issercleran, a number of the Burkes of Aille and numerous others of various families and septs. Identified two years later as being among Ulick’s men also was Redmund Burke fitzUllick of Bellafenton, which appears to have been his uncle Redmund na scuab (also of Clontuskert), who would prove to be a significant supporter of Ulick’s in the coming year.

The division of the earldom’s lands

The Lord Justices handling of the matter of the Burke brothers and the establishment of a special Commission in early October to look into the equitable division of the lands of Clanricarde between them met with the Queen’s approval. The special commission composed of Sir Nicholas Malby, Governor of Connaught and Thomond, Justice Thomas Dillon, the Archbishop of Tuam, the Bishop of Clonfert, Edmond Lord Bermingham, Thomas Chester, Bishop-elect of Elphin, Anthony Brabazon, John Norton, John Merbury, Nathanial Smith, Teige McWilliam O Kelly and Hubbert Boy McDavie (head of the MacDavid Burkes of north-east Galway). The Commissioners assembled at Galway and about the last week of October Malby began the actual process of attempting to reach an equitable division between them, the prospect of which he envisaged as ‘a tough work.’ At that same time, while a large force of Scots were being assembled in Ulster by the rebel Turlough Lynagh O Neill, a large gathering of many of the most prominent men of Connacht and their wives assembled at the town of Galway ‘to male a plat for continuing the quietness’ in Connacht.[xvi]

The special Commission decreed that Ulick, Earl of Clanricard, should have ‘the house of Lough Reaughe, the lordship of Dunkellyn, the castles of Portumna in Sylauchie (ie. Síl Anmchadha, the modern barony of Longford in the east of County Galway), Clare, Kilcolgan and Moyen; also all the seigniories, duties, etc., belonging to the earldom; excepted and always reserved to John Burke, Esquire, brother of the said Earl and his heirs males, the seigniories, duites, chiefries, rents, etc., within the barony of Leitrim.’ To compensate for the loss of the barony of Leitrim, the Earl was to ‘enjoy three quarters of land of Stradballie, and the monastery of Ogormocame, otherwise called Via Nova, in the diocese of Clonfert, with its lands’, as it had been previously granted to his grandfather the first Earl. As Ulick was also precluded ‘from any demands in the town of Leitrim in right of the said monastery’, he was also awarded ‘the castle of Ballinehvoille’, which appears to be that of ‘Ballenhewle’, in the half barony of Athenry, previously the property of his father. [xvii]

Ulick was also to ‘have and enjoy the quarter of land called Collynaghe and a half quarter of land of Dough Castle. The six plowlands and a half, parcel of the possessions of the late Earl lying in Thuoran, Co. Limerick and three quarters of land in Collyn,’ however, was to be equally divided between Ulick and John.

The chief rent of 5l. per annum, purchased by the mother of John Burke in Clevile, Caregyen, Lisbrien and Ballyloyen, issuing and going out of the sept of Tibbot Burke’ was also to be equally divided, as was ‘Carnetubery, with the castles, manors, lands and rights’ attaching.

Ulick as Earl was to have ‘all the farms, leases and assurances which his father had in the monasteries, parsonages, etc., belonging to the houses and churches of Killenemanagh, Aughrim (excepted the castle, town, and fields of Killeglan), St. John’s in Tuam, Ballyclare (ie. Claregalway), Rosrelly, Lough Reaughe, Killbought and Annaghdowne.’ As the priory of Clontuskert Ui Maine was held by lease from the Queen by the brother of the last Earl, ‘Redmond Burke of Clantusker, Esquire,’ for the duration of that lease the new Earl was to have ‘the two quarters of land of the Ballan in Clanricard, parcel of the nunnery of Kilcrenate, with the tithes; and afterwards the four quarters of land in Ballan.’[xviii]

For his part, ‘John Burke, Esquire,’ was to have the castle and barony of Leitrim in the south-east of Clanricarde and County Galway, with eight quarters of land and the castles of ‘Cloncastellan, Clandagawne, Ballydowgan, Kilmacare, Ballyturn, Towloban, Lackafyn, Rathgorgan and Beath; a parcel of land called Tyrone; land in Marye, being of the gift of Teige O Donnell; the feefarms, leases and assurances which the late Earl, his father, had of the monastery of Clantuskert in Omany, and also the monastery or nunnery of Kilerenan, parcel of the said feefarms and exempted from the said Earl (Ulick) in this division, being in Connaught, with the appurtenances, excepted the four quarters of land in the town and fields of Ballan, parcel of the said nunnery,” etc.’ For the length of time remaining of Redmond Burke’s lease of Clontuskert, John was to have ‘two quarters of land in the towns and fields of Ballan; and afterwards the same to revert to the Earl.’ He shall have the castle and all the lands in Killeglan in Omany, belonging to the priory of Aughrym.’ [xix]

The castle and lands of Corofin was to be equally divided between the two brothers by agreement. The division of the castle of Oran (later known as Oranmore, near the town of Galway) and its lands was challenged by John, who argued that it was solely his by right. The Commissioners were shown a letter written by the last Earl giving the use of that property to John and, being uncertain as to how best to proceed, they referred the matter back to the Lord Justices and Council to have them decide if Oranmore was to be divided. [xx]

Both the new Earl and his brother put their signature to the order, consenting to the nature of the division and on the 17^th November 1582 at Galway, Sir Nicholas Malby, the Archbishop of Tuam, the Bishop of Clonfert, the Baron of Athenry, Thomas Dillon, John Norton, John Merbury and Nathanial Smith appended their signatures under ‘the signet of the province’ to the instrument giving force to the agreement. [xxi]

At the beginning of December Malby applied for a warrant from Walsingham to have the Lord Justices pass to Ulick and John the estates awarded them. In applying for the warrant Malby again referred to the agreement reached as his own work and, outwardly, both brothers appeared contented with the division.[xxii] About that same time both brothers gave the Queen’s castle and lands of Ballinasloe to Malby.[xxiii]

The policy of the new Earl

Ulick was in his early thirties when he succeeded to the earldom. As Earl, he adopted a firm policy of steadfast loyalty to the Crown and maintained a direct correspondence with the Queen’s Chief Secretary Walsingham and others in positions of influence.  Among the first matters attended to by the new Earl while still in Dublin was to write to Lord Burghley, Walsingham and to the Privy Council to seek a pardon for himself and his men and to attend to financial affairs.[xxiv] Ulick’s father made no provision in his will for the repayment of the loan extended to him by Walsingham while he was detained in London.[xxv] On becoming Earl, Ulick undertook to have the loan repaid and less than a year and a half later forwarded the money to the Treasurer Sir Henry Wallop.[xxvi] While Walsingham would still not have received the money from Wallop sixteen months later, both the Earl and Walsingham maintained a cordial correspondence that helped solidify Clanricarde’s relationship with the Crown.

The Earl’s conduct since his succession impressed a number of the administration in Ireland, including Geoffrey Fenton, Secretary of State, who noted his ruthlessness in maintaining order in his territory, reducing his followers ‘to labour and English customs.’[xxvii] While commending his justice to a poor widow, his policy of hanging thieves with a quarter of beef around the neck struck a chord with those who recognised the need for a strong hand who could take control and act in the interests of the Queen. Malby also held the new Earl in high regard, praising his ‘singular honesty and virtue’ and single-mindedness. To Walsingham he wrote that ‘he is a great executor of thieves and malefactors, none do escape him that he can take; he spareth neither kinsman nor follower that he finds culpable.’[xxviii]

John Burke, for his part, also wrote to Walsingham before leaving Dublin in September of 1582, pressing his suit to be made Baron of Leitrim. Like his brother, he also adopted a conciliatory approach to the Crown and its officials, not long before his enemies. Recognizing the importance of cordial relations with Malby prior to the pressing of his case for the succession to the earldom in September, he distanced himself from their past animosity. Malby would report to his political superiors in England that John Burke went down on his knees before him in the presence of the rest of the Council and was asked by Malby why he had not earlier acknowledged his duty to the Queen or what cause had Malby given him to ‘estrange himself so from the State.’ Malby claimed that Burke replied in public ‘that his own guilty conscience was the cause, and that his faults were so great as he durst not come in the presence of justice lest advantage might be taken of him’ and that he had never found in Malby anything but a good friend.[xxix] In relating this story to England Malby used it as evidence to refute claims made at Court by his enemies that it was his harsh dealings in the past with Ulick and John that led to their rebellions.

John also distanced himself from allegations reputedly made by his servant or follower Fynin Boy (Finghin buidhe ‘the yellow’) against Malby. Malby’s rivals Edward White and Robert Fowle had claimed at Court that Fynin Boy told them that Malby gave permission for the illegal spoliation of the territory of Thomond. As John Burke appeared before the Council in September to argue his case for the earldom Fynin Boy affirmed that he had never told Malby’s rivals of Malby’s involvement in that spoliation and that the evidence given by White and Fowle before Walsingham had been false.[xxx]

Suspicions regarding John, Baron of Leitrim

Despite John’s overtures to Malby, he was still regarded with some suspicion. In January of 1583 Geoffrey Fenton remarked that, in contrast to the hard line taken against troublemakers by Ulick, ‘John Burke receiveth the vagabond persons whom the Earl of Clanrykard expulseth out of his country by his justice.’[xxxi] Malby’s protégé, Barnaby Googe, appointed to the post of Provost-Marshal of Connacht, noted in early March that both the Earl and John were behaving well but the animosity was still there nonetheless. ‘Butt for the Brotherlye affection betweene them,’ he told Lord Burghley, ‘they remayne alltogyther as dydd Eteocles and Polynyces in Thebes.’ The good order in the territory he ascribed principally to the fear of his superior Malby, who took a strict approach to both brothers.[xxxii]

By March Malby was suspicious of John’s intentions, which was compounded by the reported appearance the following month of two of John’s messengers in the camp of the rebel O Neill.[xxxiii] John was in Dublin at that time, it would appear in relation to his creation as baron. The day after Malby wrote to inform Walsingham of John’s messengers, John also wrote to Walsingham from Dublin in relation to his expected title and pressing to have his lands ‘free of impositions.’[xxxiv] Malby’s suspicions may have been compounded by a further report he received in the first week of May from one Thomas Fleming, who had spent some time recently with O Neill and informed Malby of a messenger having arrived from John Burke for Sorley Boy MacDonnell which could have implications for the arrival of more Scots mercenaries into the country.[xxxv]

John Burke was created Baron of Leitrim about late April or early May of 1583 while still in Dublin. On either the 5^th or 6^th of May, Rogation Sunday, at St. Patrick’s Church in that town he was knighted alongside the Baron of Slane and the Baron of Trimleston.[xxxvi] While arising out of the settlement made in the autumn of the previous year, Malby was still requesting that same month a special warrant from the Queen ‘for the confirmation of the lands settled on the Earl of Clanricarde and his brother, the Baron of Leitrim. [xxxvii]

Both Ulick and John joined with Malby in suppressing potential rebellion deep into Mayo in 1583 ‘and took  a countless number of cattle spoils on that occasion and also burned and totally destroyed Cathair na Mart.’

By mid September 1583 Malby could report to the Earl of Leicester in England that the province of Connacht was very quiet. ‘If any Englishman shall travel there and be touched or robbed,’ he would ‘pay for every penny 2d.’ ‘The chief lords,’ he claimed ‘are truly fearful to offend the law.’[xxxviii] Despite Malby’s complacency, Ulick, 3^rd Earl of Clanricarde, chief among these chief lords, however, though careful to be seen as aligned with the law, would not baulk at instigating a deed that would shock many in its audacity and callousness.

The murder of John Burke, Baron of Leitrim

The decades long animosity between the Earl and his brother came to a head in 1583 in one ruthless act. The shock with which the news was received was conveyed in the following Irish annalists account;

‘An ugly treachery was practised by Ulick, the son of the Earl, and by Redmond, son of Ulick-na-gceann, and by Redmond, the Bishop’s son, on the Earl’s son John; for the two Redmonds gave him an invitation; and they took him to Bél-atha-Finntainn, and drew the Earl, i.e., Ulick, upon him; and he was slain in fratricide; and Owen, the son of Aedh Mac Suibhne, and John, the son of Brian Mac Gilla Cellaigh, and Finghin buidhe Mac Maoiltuile, a prospective physician (‘adhbhar maith legha’), were killed along with him. And the like of this fratricide was not committed since Naoise, son of Uisnech, was killed in treachery in Emhain-Macha; and no foreigner’s son of his own age was slain who was more lamented than he. Captain Malbie, and all the Foreigners that were in Connacht, went to Clann Rickard on the report of this treachery; and on the 11th day of November this deed was committed.’[xxxix]

The deed was carried out, at the instigation of the Earl, through the agency of two kinsmen of both brothers; Redmond na scuab Burke of Clontuskert, their father’s brother and Redmund Burke of Tynagh, the illegitimate son of the recently deceased Roland, Bishop of Clonfert. The Gaelic Annals of Loch Cé give the site of the murder as ‘Bél Átha Finntuinn,’ which appears to be the modern townland of Ballyfintan on the border of Clanricarde and O Madden’s country. It lay in that part of the parish of Abbeygormacan that formed part of John’s barony of Leitrim and was associated at this time with the nearby denomination of Bealananen, wherein lay the castle of Bealananen, held at one time by Redmond na Scuab.[xl]

A near contemporary account, critical of Ulick, described John’s staying overnight at this meeting in the castle of his host. Being wary of his brothers intentions, John ‘kept a wary man of his own followers on guard at his bedchamber while he slept, and caused the keys of the castle to be given to him’…His host, described as ‘a kinsman of both the Earl and of John, ‘a perfidious and inhuman man, having provided a feast and produced his cups, made the guards drunk, and whilst they slept, soaked with wine, the keys were abstracted and the doors thrown open, as arranged, admitting to the castle during the night an armed band of Ulick’s, by whom two noble gentlemen, retainers of John’s, were surprised asleep and put to the sword. John, who was sleeping in the next room, roused by the clamour and uproar, quickly threw on his cuirass over his shirt, and with drawn sword hastened to defend the entrance to his room. He kept all at bay until it was agreed that he should be delivered safe to his brother Ulick, who was at the gates; but there is no trusting the perfidious. Scarcely had he given up his sword, and taken off his cuirass, when he was slain by the assassins in the very chamber, and with cruel wounds.’[xli]

Another Irish annalist gave further details, corroborating the murder occurring in a night assault wherein John’s body was ‘perforated’, leaving him ‘stretched lifeless, and it was with difficulty that his body was obtained by those who carried him to Athenry, where the hero was buried.’ His death, the same scribe lamented, ‘weighed upon the hearts of the people of his territory on account of his good sense, his personal form, his noble birth, his hospitality, his nobleness and his renowned achievements.’[xlii]

Among those killed at the castle with John was Finneen boy or ‘buidhe’ Tully, John’s retainer or follower, who the previous year gave evidence clearing Malby of his rivals accusations of complicity in the spoiling of Thomond. He may have been the same man employed in 1577 by John’s father as his ‘secretary for the Irish tongue.’[xliii]

Investigation into the killing of John Burke

Although some ascribed John’s murder as a plot by the English administration, having reputedly issued a ‘secret warrant in writing authorising one to slay the other with impunity,’ the news appears to have taken many by surprise. [xliv] Less than a week after the murder, the Lord Justices reported to the Queen’s Privy Council in England that the Baron of Leitrim was slain ‘while assisting his brother to apprehend certain malefactors.’[xlv]

An investigation into the facts was carried out by the first week in December and further details quickly came to light, with John’s sister, the Lady Mary Burke, in her deposition, accusing the Earl of having ordered the killing. She, in turn, was accused of incest.[xlvi] The Lord Justices turned to the Queen’s Chief Secretary for direction.

Any case against the Earl would be difficult to make, given the vital importance of the Earl to stability in Connacht from the Crown’s viewpoint. An ailing Malby himself informed Walsingham that the Earl was to be commended, while another individual privy to the investigation, one John Browne, ‘servant to Mr. Vice-Chamberlain’, described the Earl as ‘a great stay to the quiet of the whole province’ and that he ‘did nothing but what the law did warrant.’[xlvii]

The Earl wrote to the Privy Council from Loughrea on the 31^st January 1584, giving his account. It was his contention that ‘on receiving word that Owen McSwyne, Brien ne Donnell Roe and Mulmurry O Murryn, a chief man in the rebellion in Munster were come into the country (of Clanricarde) he lay the straights for them and the said malefactors resisting were put to the sword, together with his brother John.’[xlviii] Forty three years later his son and heir would attribute John’s death to ‘the plot he had to cut off (Ulick) and with it to join with the Earl of Desmond.’ Ulick’s son would claim that this was ‘confessed by some of the parties that should have been actor’s therein and forewarned by Sir Nichols Malby and Desmond’s men with him then at the time he was killed advertised also to (Ulick) at the same time.’[xlix] Significantly, Ulick, in stating his account in 1584 also laid out his claim to the lands of his dead brother.

The Earl’s claim to the barony of Leitrim

Ulick’s claim to John’s lands appears to have been based on that part of the agreement reached between both brothers and the Crown in 1582, which stated that if one of the brothers was to stray from his duty to the Queen and be proclaimed a traitor, the other brother, remaining loyal to the Crown, should ‘enter upon the lands, titles, livings and inheritance of the said party so proclaimed.’[l] In ascribing his actions to the suppression of a rebel, the Earl could now move to re-unite the entire lands of his father’s earldom in his own hands. In doing so he would have to disinherit his nephews, John’s young sons, the eldest of whom was still only a minor.

On the same day that Ulick wrote to the Privy Council accounting his motives, he also wrote to the Queen’s Secretary, Walsingham, asking him to further his petition to the Queen and Privy Council. His letters were to have been carried to England by Roland Argall, the Clerk of the Council of Connacht but Sir Nicholas Malby took seriously ill about this time and Argall had to delay. As a result, the Earl’s letters were delayed, but as evidence of the robust position that the Earl held locally with the provincial administration, Captain Anthony Brabazon, John Norton and John Merbury, ‘gentlemen of Connacht’ in a show of support, jointly wrote in May to Walsingham in favour of Clanricarde’s petitions.[li]

Death of Malby

Sir Nicolas Malby was in poor health by the end of 1583, weighed down by great debts and the memory of the poor reception he received from the Queen when last in England.[lii] By February of the following year was past hope of recovery.[liii] He died at Athlone on 4^th March 1584.

Malby’s son-in-law, Anthony Brabazon, was suggested as his successor and ‘the fittest man to govern Connacht’ by some in the provincial administration, but the Crown appointed one Richard Bingham to the post.

John Burke’s widows and children

John, Baron of Leitrim was survived by at least two women who claimed to be his lawful wife; Johanna Butler and Johanna Carroll, the latter identified in State correspondence at John’s death as his widow. A commission was established to inquire into the validity of her marriage to John, the legitimacy of her sons and entitlement to the administration of his goods. The commission had been set up prior to the killing of her husband as it was aborted at his death and another would later be required. In this she was opposed by Ulick and by Johanna Butler, ‘alleged wife of the said baron,’ to the extent that she would later claim that she dared not, ‘for fear of her life,’ proceed in the local bishop’s court.’[liv]

At his death, John, Baron of Leitrim left four young sons; Redmond, John oge, William and Thomas, all minors.[lv] The eldest son, Redmond, described as ‘the young Baron of Leitrim,’ was committed for safe keeping in March to Geoffrey Fenton. Fenton then petitioned the Queen, through the Earl of Leicester and Walsingham, to bestow Redmond’s wardship and the arrangements for his eventual marriage upon him. He argued that, while the young boy’s inheritance was ‘dangerously entangled and subject to great traverse and contention in law’, if it was recovered, the financial benefits to be derived therefrom would be of significant assistance to Fenton’s small income for the duration of the child’s minority.[lvi]

Although Fenton had custody of Redmond and his lands while applying for the wardship, the Earl had been ‘licensed to enjoy them.’[lvii] The Earl was in a much stronger position than Fenton and at the same time counter-petitioned the Lord Justices to suspend Fenton’s custodianship of the Leitrim lands until such time as he receive a pardon from the Queen for his brother’s death, at which point he intended to contest his claim to the lands in court.[lviii] He also sought a protection for himself and his followers. The Lord Justices forwarded the Earl’s letter to the Privy Council, making clear to them their intended policy of pardoning the Earl for the murder.[lix]

The matter was dealt with swiftly in Clanricarde’s favour and an Act allowing for the grant of a pardon to the Earl was brought before Council in late June of that year.[lx] Clanricarde maintained his loyal service to the Crown throughout this period and received his pardon by early October.[lxi] By this time John’s widow Johanna Carroll was applying for her dead husband’s lands to be confirmed upon her children. The Earl attacked by casting doubt on the eldest son’s legitimacy and therefore his right to inherit legally. He wrote to Walsingham in late November 1584 asking that the widow’s lawsuit be put on hold and that she and her son ‘be barred from the Baron’s lands till the son’s legitimacy be tried.’[lxii]

Ulick was successful and re-united the title of the earldom with the territory of Clanricarde as it had stood in his predecessor’s time. His success resulted in the disinheritance of his brother’s sons from their father’s land and title, which, although only minors at this time, would cause significant turmoil in the near future as they came of age.

Revenge for the death of John Burke

The actual perpetrators of the murder of the young boy’s father did not go unpunished however. Although John Burke’s sons were too young to act at this time, the slain Baron’s ally ‘Diarmuid riabhach, son of Aedh son of Donnchadh’ ‘in revenge of John,’ killed Redmond Burke, the Bishop’s son, in 1584.[lxiii]

This Redmund was the illegitimate son of Roland Burke, Bishop of Clonfert. The Bishop was the son of Redmund Burke of Tynagh in South East Galway, a younger son of Ulick finn Burke of Knockdoe, MacWilliam or chieftain of Clanricarde who died in 1509. The Bishop’s father of Tynagh was an uncle of Ulick, 1^st Earl of Clanricarde, making the Bishop and the grandfather of Ulick, the 3rd Earl cousins.[lxiv]

Bishop Burke had died in June of 1580 and was buried at Tynagh. An Inquisition taken after his death into the extent of his property found him ‘seized in fee of the Castle called Tynagh and two quarters of land adjoining the castle’ held of the Archbishop of Tuam at an annual rent and other services.[lxv] Although Bishop Burke’s adherence to Catholicism was questioned after his submission to the King, he appears to have remained a Roman Catholic but had at least one illegitimate son, Redmund, the participant in the killing of the Baron of Leitrim. By Grainne ni Kelly, wife of one Steven Kireghan, Bishop Burke also had an illegitimate daughter Onora Burke. who was married to Stephen Kirwan, her father’s successor to the bishopric and who bore Richard 2nd Earl of Clanricarde an illegitimate daughter Honora. Although precluded under English law from inheriting his father’s lands, Redmund had come to an agreement with his father’s successor, Bishop Kirwan, to split the disputed profits of the Abbey of Clonfert. On Redmond’s death, Bishop Kirwan took the whole of the abbey profits. In the absence of a legitimate heir, at some point before October 1584, Ulick 3^rd Earl of Clanricarde, claiming as kinsman to be the next heir, entered into what had been Roland’s lands and seized the castle and lands of Tynagh.[lxvi]

Redmond na Scuab Burke of Clontuskert, the other identified perpetrator of the killing of John, would live for another eleven years.

Continued at Part II