William de Burgh (; ; ; la, de Burgo; c.1160–winter 1205/06)
was the founder of the House of Burgh (later surnamed

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

or Bourke) in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

and elder brother of

Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent (; ; ; c.1170 – before 5 May 1243) was an English nobleman who served as Chief Justiciar of England and Ireland during the reigns of King John and of his son and successor King Henry III and, as a consequen ...

and

Geoffrey de Burgh Geoffrey de Burgh (; ; ; 1180 – 8 December 1228) was a medieval English cleric who was Archdeacon of Norwich (1200–1225), Bishop of Ely (1215–1219, 1225–1228) and the brother of William de Burgh and Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of K ...

, Bishop of Ely.

In Ireland

William de Burgh was the eldest son of William de Burgh and his wife, Alice, of Burgh-next-Aylsham,

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

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. Bur ...

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 ...

, and had three brothers: Hubert, Earl of Kent, Thomas, and Geoffrey,

Bishop of Ely The Bishop of Ely is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with a section of nor ...

. Ellis has made a case that William's father was Walter de Burgh but notes this is "highly conjectural". William was "one of the new wave of Anglo-Normans to come to Ireland with

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

, 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".

Henry II of England Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin kin ...

appointed him Governor of

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2 ...

and granted him vast estates in

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of ...

and

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following t ...

. William de Burgh's lands were centred along the

River Suir The River Suir ( ; ga, an tSiúr or ''Abhainn na Siúire'' ) is a river in Ireland that flows into the Atlantic Ocean through Waterford after a distance of . The catchment area of the Suir is 3,610 km2.

from

Tibberaghny Tybroughney, statutory spelling Tibberaghny ( ga, Tiobra Fhachna), is a civil parish in the barony of Iverk, County Kilkenny in Ireland. The parish comprises a single townland, also called Tibberaghny. It lies on the north bank of the River Suir ...

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Drogheda and Wexford. With the exception of the townla ...

and around Kilfeakle in Tipperary, and along the

River Shannon The River Shannon ( ga, Abhainn na Sionainne, ', '), at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of the island of Ireland. The Sha ...

from

to Lough Derg. His castles at

(

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the cou ...

Kilsheelan Kilsheelan () is a village and civil parish within the in the barony of Iffa and Offa East in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is also one half of the Roman Catholic parish of Kilsheelan & Kilcash in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Waterford and ...

, Ardpatrick and Kilfeacle were used to protect King John's northern borders of

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

and Lismore whilst his castles at

Carrigogunnell Carrigogunnell Castle (Irish: ''Chairrge Ó gCoinneall'') is a medieval Irish fortification near the village of Clarina, on the banks of the River Shannon in County Limerick. The structure dates to at least the early 13th century, and was slig ...

and Castleconnell were used to protect

. He was granted Tibberaghny Castle in 1200, and was

Seneschal The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...

(Royal Governor) of Munster from 1201 to 1203.

Marriage and alliance

Sometime during the 1190s, William de Burgh allied himself with the

King of Thomond The kings of Thomond ( ga, Rí Tuamhain) ruled from the establishment of Thomond during the High Middle Ages, until the Early modern period. Thomond represented the legacy of Brian Bóruma and the High Kings of Ireland of his line who could ...

(either Domnall Mór Ó Briain (d. 1194) or his son, Muirchertach) and, in 1193, William married Domnall Mór Ó Briain's daughter. 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 Olaf or Olav (, , or British ; Old Norse: ''Áleifr'', ''Ólafr'', ''Óleifr'', ''Anleifr'') is a Scandinavian and German given name. It is presumably of Proto-Norse origin, reconstructed as ''*Anu-laibaz'', from ''anu'' "ancestor, grand-father" ...

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

, 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).

Connacht

In 1200, ''"Cathal Crobhdearg Ua Conchobair went into

, 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 Boyle is an English, Irish and Scottish surname of Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon or Norman origin. In the northwest of Ireland it is one of the most common family names. Notable people with the surname include: Disambiguation * Adam Boyle (disambiguation) ...

. 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 Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samue ...

. Here, William de Burgh (and the sons of Rory O'Flaherty) conspired to kill Ua Conchobair but the plot was foiled (apparently by holy

oath Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to g ...

s 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.

Death

He died during the Winter of 1205/06 and was interred at the Augustinian Priory of Athassel in Golden which he had founded c.1200. 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 ...

recorded his passing thus: ''"William Burke plundered Connacht, as well churches as territories; but God and the

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Or ...

s 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,

, whom he married in around 1193. 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, and the descent of the Earls of

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

and

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. Te ...

from their son Richard. William de Burgh had three sons and at least one daughter:Burke, Donald G. Burke’s East Galway: the culture, history, and genealogy of the families of east Galway.
Burk of Clanricarde 1280 – 1333
', (2013), edigree table of selected branches of the Burkes Retrieved 3 May 2020. * Richard Mór de Burgh, 1st Lord of Connaught * Hubert de Burgh, Bishop of Limerick. * William de Burgh (the younger), Sheriff of Connacht

Genealogy

References (Genealogy)

* ''A New History of Ireland'', volume IX, Oxford, 1984; ** ''Earls of Ulster and Lords of Connacht, 1205–1460 (De Burgh, De Lacy and Mortimer)'', p. 170; ** ''Mac William Burkes: Mac William Iochtar (de Burgh), Lords of Lower Connacht and Viscounts of Mayo, 1332–1649'', p. 171; ** ''Burke of Clanricard: Mac William Uachtar (de Burgh), Lords of Upper Connacht and Earls of Clanricard'', 1332–1722. * ''The Tribes and customs of Hy-Many'', John O'Donovan, 1843 * ''The History of Mayo'', Hubert T. Knox. 1908. * ''The Surnames of Ireland'', Edward MacLysaght,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, 1978. * ''Lower Mac William and Viscounts of Mayo, 1332–1649'', in ''A New History of Ireland'' IX, pp.235-36, Oxford, 1984 (reprinted 2002). * ''The Anglo-Normans in Co. Galway: the process of colonization'', Patrick Holland, ''Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society'', vol. 41, (1987–88) * ''Burke:People and Places'', Eamonn de Burca,

, 1995. * ''The Anglo-Norman landscape in County Galway; land-holdings, castles and settlements'', Patrick Holland, J.G.A.& H.S., vol. 49 (1997) * ''Annals of Ulster'' a
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts
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University College Cork
* ''Annals of Tigernach'' a

a
University College Cork
of McCarthy's synchronisms at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burgh, William De 1160s births 1206 deaths Normans in Ireland Anglo-Normans People from the Borough of Great Yarmouth Nobility from County Limerick People from County Tipperary

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

12th-century Irish people 13th-century Irish people