William de Burgh was the eldest son of Walter de Burgh and his wife, Alice, of Burgh-next-Aylsham, Norfolk or Burgh, Suffolk, and had three brothers: Hubert, Earl of Kent, Thomas, and Geoffrey, Bishop of Ely.[3] Ellis has made a case that William's father was Walter de Burgh but notes this is "highly conjectural".[3]
William was "one of the new wave of Anglo-Normans to come to Ireland with John, lord of Ireland, in 1185" and has been described as "one of the most prominent men involved in the annexation of the kingdom of Limerick in the last quarter of the twelfth century".[4]
Sometime during the 1190s, William de Burgh allied himself with the King of Thomond (either Domnall Mór Ó Briain (d.1194) or his son, Muirchertach) and, in 1193, William married Domnall Mór Ó Briain's daughter.[5] This alliance probably took place during the reign of Muirchertach, since Domnall Mór had been at war with the Normans until his death. At any rate no more wars are recorded between the two sides for the rest of the decade. According to the Annals of Inisfallen, in 1201, William and the sons of Domnall Mór led a major joint military expedition into Desmond, slaying Amlaíb Ua Donnabáin among others.
Between 1199 and 1202, William de Burgh led military campaigns in Desmond (with the aid of the Ó Briain). Success in the west and south allowed de Burgh to conquer the Kingdom of Connacht which, though he had been granted (probably before 1195) by John, he had never occupied. The King of Connacht, Cathal Crobhdearg Ua Conchobair (O'Connor), fought a successful counter-attack against Anglo-Norman castles in Munster (including de Burgh's castle of Castleconnell). Further fighting led to the loss of three castles and property, all of which was eventually retrieved (with the exception of much of Connacht).[4]
Connacht
In 1200, "Cathal Crobhdearg Ua Conchobair went into Munster, to the son of Mac Carthy and William de Burgh to solicit their aid." This marked the start of William de Burgh's interest in the province. Cathal Crobhdearg Ua Conchobair (King of Connacht, 1190–1224) faced much opposition (mainly from within his own family) and wished to engage de Burgh's aid to further secure his position. In 1201, William and Ua Conchobair led an army from Limerick to Tuam and finally to Boyle. Ua Conchobair's rival, Cathal Carragh Ua Conchobair, marched at the head of his army but was killed in a de Burgh/Ua Conchobair onslaught after a week of skirmishing between the two sides.
William and Ua Conchobair then travelled to Iar Connacht and stayed at Cong for Easter. Here, William de Burgh (and the sons of Rory O'Flaherty) conspired to kill Ua Conchobair but the plot was foiled (apparently by holy oaths they were made to swear by the local Coarb family). However, when de Burgh demanded payment for himself and his retinue, a battle broke out with over seven hundred of de Burgh's followers said to have been killed. William, however, managed to return to Limerick. In the following year, 1202, William returned and took revenge for the destruction of his army a year earlier. He took the title "Lord of Connacht" in 1203.[4]
"William Burke plundered Connacht, as well churches as territories; but God and the saints took vengeance on him for that; for he died of a singular disease, too shameful to be described."
Family
William de Burgh's wife was the daughter of Domnall Mór Ó Briain, King of Thomond, whom he married in around 1193.[7] A late medieval genealogy found in the Book of Lecan (dated c.1397-1418) records his marriage to an unnamed daughter of Donmal Mor mac Turlough O'Brien,[8] and the descent of the Earls of Ulster and Clanricarde from their son Richard. William de Burgh had three sons and at least one daughter:[9]
Mac William Íochtar Mac William Íochtar (Lower Mac William) or Mayo (Lower Connaught) Burkes
Clanricarde (Mac William Uachtar/Upper Mac William) or Galway (Upper Connaught) Burkes
Viscount Mayo, viscountcy created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1627
Earl of Mayo, earldom created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1785
References
^ abOrpen, Goddard Henry (2005). Ireland under the Normans. Vol. II. p. 194. ISBN1-85182-715-3. Curtis, Edmund. A History of Mediaeval Ireland from 1110 to 1513. p. 107.
^B. Smith, "Burgh, Richard de (died 1243)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. online edition, Oxford University Press, (2004), [author states, "Burgh, Richard de (d. 1243), justiciar of Ireland, was the son of William de Burgh (d. 1206) and his wife, the daughter of Domnall Mór Ó Briain, king of Thomond, who married in 1193".].
^Gwynn, Aubrey; Hadcock, R. Neville (1970). Medieval Religious Houses Ireland. Longman. p. 157.
^Weis, Frederick Lewis. Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700. Eighth Ed. (2008), Line 177B-8.
^Burke, Donald G. Burke’s East Galway: the culture, history, and genealogy of the families of east Galway. Burk of Clanricarde 1280 – 1333, (2013), [pedigree table of selected branches of the Burkes]. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
