Roland de Burgo (died 20 June 1580) was an Irish

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

cleric who was

Dean of Clonfert The Dean of Killaloe is based at the Cathedral Church of St Flannan in Killaloe in the united diocese of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert within the Church of Ireland. The Dean of Killaloe is also Dean of St Brendans, Clonfert, Dean of Kilfenora, ...

, Bishop of Clonfert (1534–1580) and

Bishop of Elphin The Bishop of Elphin (; ) is an episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Elphin, County Roscommon, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other b ...

(1551–1580).

Background

Burke or de Burgo, was the grandson of

Ulick Fionn Burke Ulick Fionn Burke, 6th Clanricarde or Mac William Uachtar (; ; ; ; died 1509) was an Irish chieftain and noble. Family background Ulick succeeded his father, Ulick Ruadh Burke, 5th Clanricarde (d.1485), as chieftain. The Annals of the Four ...

, 6th

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. Ter ...

(d. 1509) who had fought at the

Battle of Knockdoe The Battle of Knockdoe took place on 19 August 1504 at Knockdoe, in the Parish of Lackagh (Irish ''Leacach''), County Galway, between two Anglo-Irish lords— Gerald FitzGerald, Earl of Kildare, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, and Ulick Fionn B ...

in 1504. He was a descendant of the

House of Burgh The House of Burgh or Burke (; ; ; ga, de Búrca; la, de Burgo) was an ancient Anglo-Norman and later Hiberno-Norman aristocratic dynasty (with the Anglo-Irish branches later adopting the surname Burke and its variants) who held the earldom ...

: the surname "de Burgo" is the latinised form of this name (with the

gaelicised Gaelicisation, or Gaelicization, is the act or process of making something Gaelic, or gaining characteristics of the ''Gaels'', a sub-branch of celticisation. The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group, traditionally viewed as having spread from Irel ...

form being

de Búrca de Búrca (also De Burgh, de Burgh, Búrc and Burke, and Latinised as de Burgo) is an Irish language, Irish Anglo-Normans, Anglo-Norman surname deriving from the ancient Anglo-Normans, Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of ...

or Búrc, later

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 ...

Career

De Burgo was the

papal The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

nominee A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * t ...

for the See of Clonfert since 1534, when he was

, and was consecrated on 8 June 1537. He accepted royal supremacy in 1538 and was confirmed or re-appointed by King

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

on 24 October 1541. De Burgo acknowledged papal authority in the reign of Queen

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...

, but again accepted royal supremacy under Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

. He was described by the papal legate Fr David Wolfe, S.J. as an 'adherent of the Queen' in a letter of 12 October 1561. This letter has also been translated that he had 'taken the oath of allegiance to the queen'.Moran, History of the Catholic Archbishops of Dublin since the Reformation, page 86
/ref> He retained the deanery ''in commendam''. He was, from 23 November 1551, also

until his death. 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 medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Deluge, dated as 2,24 ...

record his

obituary An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...

as follows: ''Roland, the son of Redmond, son of Ulick Burke of Knocktua, Bishop of Clonfert, died; and the loss of this good man was the cause of great lamentation in his own country.''

References

* ''A New History of Ireland: Volume IX - Maps, Genealogies, Lists'', ed. T.W. Moody, F.X. Martin, F.J. Byrne.

External links

* http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100005E/index.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Burgo, Roland de 1580 deaths 16th-century Irish bishops House of Burgh People from County Galway Roman Catholic bishops of Elphin Roman Catholic bishops of Clonfert Deans of Clonfert Bishops of Clonfert (Church of Ireland) Anglican bishops of Elphin