Sir Edmund de Burgh (; ; 1298–1338) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

and ancestor of the

Burke Burke is an Anglo-Norman Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (–1206) had the surname ''de Burgh'' which was gaelicised ...

family of Clanwilliam.

Background

De Burgh was the fifth and last surviving son of

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

, Lord of Connaught and

Earl of Ulster The title of Earl of Ulster has been created six times in the Peerage of Ireland and twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since 1928, the title has been held by the Duke of Gloucester and is used as a courtesy title by the Duke's elde ...

. His elder brother, John de Burgh, died at

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...

in 1313 and was survived by a son, William, who became the 3rd

. Edmond lived in what is now

County Limerick "Remember Limerick" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces of Ireland, Province , subd ...

, where his personal estates lay. He was the father of at least two children, Sir Richard Burke and Sir David Burke, both of whom were alive in 1387. Sir Richard was the father of Walter (died 1432) and Uileag Carragh, who were the ancestor of the Burkes of

Castleconnell Castleconnell (, historically ''Caisleán Uí Chonaing'') is a village in County Limerick on the banks of the River Shannon. It is from Limerick city and near the boundaries of counties Clare and Tipperary. History The ruins of the ' Castle ...

(later Barons Bourke of Castleconnell) and Burkes of Brittas (later Barons Bourke of Brittas), and Burkes of Cois tSiúire, respectively. Sir David was the ancestor of the Burkes of Muskerryquirk. All three

sept A sept is a division of a family, especially of a Scottish or Irish family. The term is used in both Scotland and Ireland, where it may be translated as ''sliocht'', meaning "progeny" or "seed", which may indicate the descendants of a person ...

s would be collectively referred to as the Burkes of Clanwilliam.

Burke Civil War

The murder of

William de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster William de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster and 4th Baron of Connaught (; ; 17 September 1312 – 6 June 1333) was an Irish noble who was Lieutenant of Ireland (1331) and whose murder, aged 20, led to the Burke Civil War. Background The grands ...

in June 1333 led to a three-way struggle among the leading members of the de Burgh/Burke family for supremacy. Edmond was the senior male member of the family, as he was uncle to William Donn and eldest surviving son of the 2nd Earl. He fought against his cousins in

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms ( Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Del ...

in an attempt to control the vast de Burgh estates, both for his personal estates and that of his grand-niece,

Elizabeth de Burgh Lady Elizabeth de Burgh (; ; c. 1289 – 27 October 1327) was the second wife and the only queen consort of King Robert the Bruce. Elizabeth was born sometime around 1289, probably in what is now County Down or County Antrim in Ulster, th ...

. Because none of the three main contenders could overcome each other, the de Burgh lands in Ulster were almost entirely regained by the Gaelic-

, while Connaught was split in half between the cousins Edmond Albanach de Burgh of north Connacht (mainly County Mayo) and

Ulick Burke of Annaghkeen Sir Uilleag (Ulick) de Burgh (Burke), 1st Clanricarde or Mac William Uachtar (; ; ; ; ; died 1343 or 1353) was an Irish chieftain and noble who was leader of one of the three factions who fought the Burke Civil War in the 1330s. By the end ...

in south Connacht (mainly east County Galway). By 1340, the family had divided into three separate, independent lordships: * Clan William Burke of

Mac William Íochtar Mac William Íochtar (Lower Mac William), also known as the Mayo Burkes, were a fully Gaelicised branch of the Hiberno-Norman House of Burgh in Ireland. Mayo covered much of the northern part of the province of Connacht and the Mac William Í ...

of County Mayo *

Clanricarde Clanricarde (; ), also known as Mac William Uachtar (Upper Mac William) or the Galway Burkes, were a fully Gaelicised branch of the Hiberno-Norman House of Burgh who were important landowners in Ireland from the 13th to the 20th centuries. T ...

of County Galway

Death

Edmond died in 1338 when he and his men were trying to visit the Augustinian

Friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...

s in the town of

Ballinrobe Ballinrobe () is a town in County Mayo in Ireland. It is located on the River Robe, which empties into Lough Mask two kilometres to the west. As of the 2016 census, the population was 2,786. History Foundation and development Ballinrobe is c ...

. A band of men headed by Edmond Albanach Burke forcibly entered the monastery and seized Edmond after a short resistance. Edmond was taken

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

er and carried all the way to Oilean-an-lara (the Earls Island). He was drowned in

Lough Mask Lough Mask () is a limestone lake of about in Counties Mayo and Galway, Ireland, north of Lough Corrib. Lough Mask is the middle of the three lakes, which empty into the Corrib River, through Galway, into Galway Bay. Lough Carra flows into ...

. The incident is recorded in the

Annals of the Four Masters The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' ( ga, Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' (''Annála na gCeithre Máistrí'') are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Flood myt ...

: * ''M1338.3. The son of the Earl of Ulster, i.e. Edmond, was taken prisoner by Edmond Burke, who fastened a stone to his neck and drowned him in Lough Mask. The destruction of the English of Connaught, and of his own in particular, resulted from this deed. Turlough O'Conor afterwards banished Edmond Mac William Burke out of Connaught, after the territories and churches of the west of Connaught had been greatly destroyed between them; and O'Conor then assumed the sway of the whole province.''

Arms

References

* ''Burke:People and Places'', Eamonn de Burca, Dublin, 1995.

External links