In England, one branch of the family (Lords Burgh) changed the name to 'Burgh' at some time after the Civil War in the seventeenth century (the 'de' having been removed to hide the family's connection to the nobility and Catholicism).
Hubert de Burgh, from Matthew Paris's Historia Anglorum
The earliest documented generation of the family was represented in the late 12th and early 13th centuries by three brothers, William de Burgh (who played a major role in the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland), Hubert de Burgh (who, as Chief Justiciar of England and Ireland, was created Earl of Kent), and Geoffrey de Burgh (who became Bishop of Ely). The Kent Earldom became extinct on Hubert's death, and his family passed into relative obscurity until one line (Baron Burgh) was ennobled in the later 15th/early sixteenth century. William gave rise to one of the most prominent Anglo-Irish families of the later Middle Ages.[3][5]
Descendant of Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent (d. before 1243)
The grant of the Earldom of Kent to Hubert was limited to himself and any male heirs born to his final wife, Princess Margaret of Scotland, but their only child was a daughter who was herself childless. Hubert's sons, John and Hubert, inherited his lands, the latter thought to be ancestor Thomas Burgh of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, who in 1487 was summoned to Parliament as Baron Burgh (or Borough) of Gainsborough. Thomas, 3rd Baron was Lord Deputy of Ireland (1597), and his younger brother, Sir John (d. 1594), was a distinguished soldier and sailor. The 6th Baron died as a young child in 1602, and the barony fell into abeyance among his four sisters.[6][7]
Lords of Connaught
William's son, Richard Mór de Burgh, 1st Lord of Connaught (d. 1243), received the land of "Connok" (Connaught) as forfeited by its king, whom he helped to fight (1227). He was Justiciar of Ireland (1228–32). In 1234, he sided with the crown against Richard, Earl Marshal, who fell in battle against him. Richard Mór's eldest son, Sir Richard de Burgh (d. 1248) succeeded him, briefly, as Lord of Connaught.[8]
Earls of Ulster
Richard Mór's second son, Walter de Burgh (d. 1271), continued warfare against the native chieftains and added greatly to his vast domains by obtaining, from Prince Edward, a grant of "the county of Ulster" (c. 1255) in consequence of which he was styled later Earl of Ulster.[9]
Walter, 1st Earl of Ulster was succeeded by his son, Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster. In 1286, he ravaged and subdued Connaught, and deposed the chief native king, (Brian O'Neill), substituting his own nominee. He also attacked the native king of Connaught, in favour of the branch of O'Conors that his family supported.
He led his forces from Ireland to support Edward I in his Scottish campaigns, and on Edward Bruce's invasion of Ulster (1315), Richard marched against him, despite having given his daughter, Elizabeth, in marriage (c. 1304) to King Robert I of Scotland, Edward's older brother. Occasionally summoned to English parliaments, Richard spent most of his forty years of activity in Ireland, where he was the greatest noble of his day, usually fighting the natives or his Anglo-Norman rivals to expand his family's land. The patent roll of 1290 shows that in addition to his lands in Ulster, Connaught and Munster, he held the Isle of Man, but later surrendered it to the king.[10][11][12]
Richard, the 2nd Earl's grandson and successor was William Donn de Burgh, the Brown Earl (d. 1333), son of John de Burgh (d. 1313) and Elizabeth, Lady of Clare (d. 1360), sister and co-heir of the last Clare Earl of Hertford (d. 1314).[13] William Donn married Maud of Lancaster (daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster) and was appointed Lieutenant of Ireland (1331), but was murdered in his 21st year, leaving his only daughter, Elizabeth de Burgh, as the sole heiress not only of the de Burgh possessions but of the vast Clare estates.
Coat of arms of Edward, 4th Duke of York before becoming King Edward IV.
She was married in childhood to Lionel, 1st Duke of Clarence (third son of Edward III) who was recognized in her right as Earl of Ulster. It is from them that the YorkistPlantagenets later derived their claim to the throne of England.
Their descendant, Edward, 4th Duke of York, ascended the throne in 1461 as King Edward IV of England, since then the Earldom of Ulster has been only held by members of the British Royal Family.[14][15]
Elizabeth de Burgh, daughter of Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, married Robert the Bruce in 1302 at the age of 13. The wedding most likely took place at Writtle, near Chelmsford, Essex and was arranged by either Richard or Edward I, King Edward having heavily encouraged it as a way to keep the loyalty of the Scottish nobility. However, the Bruce would soon be separated from his English allies upon the murder of John Comyn, his greatest rival for the Scottish throne, in the "Chapel of the Greyfriars". Aware that he would be excommunicated for killing someone inside a church, Robert rushed to Scone before a Papal Bull could be issued, 6 weeks later being crowned as Robert I, King of Scots with Elizabeth by his side as Queen Consort. They had four children including David, who himself would go on to become King of Scots in 1329.
On the murder of William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster (1333), his male kinsmen (who had a better right to the succession than his daughter, according to native Irish ideas), adopting Irish names and customs, became virtually native chieftains and succeeded in holding the bulk of the de Burgh territories.
In 1603, the 19th Lord of Mac William Íochtar, Tiobóid na Long (Theobald) Bourke (d. 1629), resigned his territory in Mayo, and received it back to hold by English tenure and was later created Viscount Mayo (1627). Miles, 2nd Viscount (d. 1649) and Theobald, 3rd Viscount (d. 1652) suffered at Cromwell's hands, but Theobald, 4th Viscount was restored to his estates (some 50,000 acres) in 1666. The peerage became extinct or dormant on the death of John, 8th Viscount (1767).
The baronies of Bourke of Castleconnell (1580) and Bourke of Brittas (1618), both forfeited in 1691, were bestowed on branches of the family which still has representatives in the baronetage and landed gentry of Ireland.
The original de Burgh coat of arms is blazoned as Or, a cross gules (a red cross on a gold shield).
Variations on this original shield were adopted by different branches of the family. For instance, the arms of the Burke/de Burgh family of Clanricarde added a black lion to the upper-left quadrant (Or, a cross gules in the first quarter a lion rampant sable). Another Burke family added a fleur-de-llys to the cross (Or, on a cross gules a fleur-de-llys of the first), and the arms of the Burkes or Bourkes, Viscounts Mayo, was Party per fess Or and Ermine, a cross gules the first quarter charged with a lion rampant sable and the second with a dexter hand couped at the wrist and erect gules.[25][26]
The crest, a seated and chained 'mountain cat', is said to represent liberty and courage and is believed to be awarded for a de Burgh's courage and skill in battle during the Crusades.[citation needed]
The motto has varied between A cruce Salus (Latin: 'salvation from the cross'), which would have originated in the Crusades, and un roy, une foy, une loy (archaic French: 'one king, one faith, one law'), originating when the family moved to Ireland.[27][28]
According to legend, the arms originated during the crusades while an ancestor of the de Burghs was fighting for King Richard the Lionheart. This ancestor did not yet have a crest of his own so carried a plain gold shield. It is said that following a successful battle, the Lionheart marked a cross of blood on his shield; stating "for your bravery, this shall be your crest".
It is perhaps more likely, however, that the arms were acquired through an early marriage to a member of the Bigods, the ruling family of Norfolk who shared an identical coat of arms.
Genealogy
de Burgh Genealogy: Lords of Connacht, Earls of Ulster and Earls of Kent
^ abcA New History of Ireland: IX: Maps, Genealogies, Lists, A Companion to Irish History, Part II. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1989. pp. 170–2, 235–6. ISBN978-0-19-959306-4.
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