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 The Burke/de Burgh Civil War was a conflict in Ireland from 1333 to 1338 between three leading members of the de Burgh (Burke/ Bourke) Anglo-Norman family resulting in the division into three clans. Background Twenty-year-old William Donn de ...

Background

The grandson of the 2nd Earl

Richard Óg de Burgh Richard Óg de Burgh ( ; fl. early-to-mid 13th century) was an Anglo-Irish noble and soldier who was the ancestor of de Burgh/Burkes of Clanricarde. Background Richard Óg de Burgh is alleged in some post-medieval sources to have been a younger ...

via his second son, John, William de Burgh was also

Lord of Connaught Lord of Connaught (Connacht) was a title used by several Norman barons in Ireland. Granted to William de Burgh, the lordship was claimed by his son, Richard Mor de Burgh, and his descendants. Conquest During the Norman invasion of Ireland, Willia ...

in Ireland, and held the manor of Clare, Suffolk. He was summoned to Parliament from 10 December 1327 to 15 June 1328 by writs addressed to ''Willelmo de Burgh''. He is considered the first

Baron Burgh Baron Burgh (; ; or ; ) is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England. The first creation was for William de Burgh in 1327, who was later Earl of Ulster, and both these titles later merged with the Crown in 1461. The secon ...

. In March 1331 he was appointed Lieutenant of Ireland, serving until November 1331.

Marriage and issue

The 3rd Earl of Ulster married, before 16 November 1327 (by a Papal Dispensation dated 1 May 1327),

Maud of Lancaster Maud of Lancaster, Countess of Ulster (c. 1310 – 5 May 1377) was an English noblewoman and the wife of William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster. She was the mother of Elizabeth de Burgh, ''suo jure'' Countess of Ulster. Her second husband w ...

, daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster and Maud Chaworth. They had one surviving child, Elizabeth, who was 13 months old when her father was murdered. She married Lionel of Antwerp, third son of Edward III of England. Maud remarried Sir Ralph Ufford, Justiciar of Ireland 1344–46, and had further issue. She was said to have great influence over her second husband.

Murder

In February 1332, at Greencastle, near the mouth of

Lough Foyle Lough Foyle, sometimes Loch Foyle ( or "loch of the lip"), is the estuary of the River Foyle, on the north coast of Ireland. It lies between County Londonderry in Northern Ireland and County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Sovereignty over ...

, he had his cousin Sir Walter Liath de Burgh starved to death. In revenge, Sir Walter's sister,

Gylle de Burgh Gylle de Burgh (; ; fl. 1332) was an Anglo-Irish noblewoman and wife of Richard de Manderville. De Burgh was the only daughter of Sir William Liath de Burgh (died 1323) and a sister of Sir Walter Liath de Burgh. Walter was captured and starv ...

, wife of Sir Richard de Mandeville, planned his assassination. In June 1333, he was killed by de Mandeville, Sir John de Logan, and others. His widow, Maud (or Matilda), offered a reward for the capture of de Mandeville and his wife. The '' Annals of the Four Masters'' noted that "William Burke, Earl of Ulster, was killed by the English of Ulster. The Englishmen who committed this deed were put to death, in divers ways, by the people of the King of England; some were hanged, others killed, and others torn asunder, in revenge of his death." Maud fled to England, where she remarried, was again widowed in 1346, and then became an

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

canoness at Campsey Priory in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, where she is buried. Upon his death, the various factions of the de Burghs, now called Burke, began the

for supremacy.

Ancestry

References

, 1843 * ''The Surnames of Ireland'', Edward MacLysaght, Dublin, 1978. * ''The Anglo-Normans in Co. Galway: the process of colonization'', Patrick Holland, ''Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society'', vol. 41 (1987–88) * ''Excavation on the line of the medieval town defences of Loughrea, Co. Galway'', ''Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society'', vol. 41, (1987–88) * ''Anglo-Norman Galway; rectangular earthworks and moated sites'', Patrick Holland, ''Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society'', vol. 46 (1993) * '' Rindown Castle: a royal fortress in Co. Roscommon'', Sheelagh Harbison'', ''Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society'', vol. 47 (1995) * ''The Anglo-Norman landscape in County Galway; land-holdings, castles and settlements'', Patrick Holland, ''Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society'', vol. 49 (1997) * ''Annals of Ulster'' a
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts
a
University College Cork
* ''Annals of Tigernach'' a

a
University College Cork
of McCarthy's synchronisms at Trinity College Dublin. {{DEFAULTSORT:De Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster, William Donn 1312 births 1333 deaths William

Burgh A burgh is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland and Northern England, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burg ...

People from Clare, Suffolk Nobility from County Limerick People from County Galway 14th-century Irish people Lords Lieutenant of Ireland Barons Burgh

Background

Marriage and issue

Murder

Ancestry

References

Further reading