Richard Burke (or de Burgh), 4th Earl of Clanricarde PC (Ire) ( ; 1572 – 12 November 1635), styled Lord Dunkellin ( ) until 1601, was an Irish nobleman and politician. He was the son of

Ulick Burke, 3rd Earl of Clanricarde Ulick Burke, 3rd Earl of Clanricarde ( ; died 1601), styled Lord Dunkellin ( ) until 1582, was an Irish peer who was the son of Richard Burke, 2nd Earl of Clanricarde and Margaret O'Brien. Birth and origins Ulick wa ...

. Knighted in 1602 for his exploits as leader of the English cavalry during the

Battle of Kinsale The siege of Kinsale (), also known as the battle of Kinsale, was the ultimate battle in England's conquest of Gaelic Ireland, commencing in October 1601, near the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and at the climax of the Nine Years' War� ...

, he would later serve as

Lord President of Connaught The Lord President of Connaught was a military leader with wide-ranging powers, reaching into the civil sphere, in the English government of Connacht, Connaught in Ireland, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The office was created in 1569 ...

from 1604 to 1616, Governor of Galway from 1616, and as a member of the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

(1625). Having established himself as the largest and most influential landowner in

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

, his later life was characterized by animosity between him and an increasingly hostile and acquisitive

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

government.

Birth and origins

Richard was born in 1572, the second but eldest surviving son of Ulick Burke and his wife Honora Burke. His father was the 3rd Earl of Clanricarde. His father's family was

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

and descended from

William de Burgh William de Burgh ( , ; ; –winter 1205/06) was the founder of the House of Burgh (later surnamed Burke or Bourke) in Ireland and elder brother of Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent and Geoffrey de Burgh, Bishop of Ely. William is often given ...

(died 1206) who arrived in Ireland during the reign of King

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

, and was the founder of the

House of Burgh The House of Burgh (; ; ), also known by the family names of Burke and Bourke (), is an Ireland, Irish family, descending from the Anglo-Normans, Anglo-Norman de Burgh dynasty, who played a prominent role in the Anglo-Norman invasion of Irel ...

in Ireland. His mother was a daughter of John Burke of Clogheroka and Tullyra,

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

. Her family was a cadet branch of his father's line. Richard had brothers and sisters who are listed in his father's article.

Early life

Burke studied at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

from 1584 to 1598 and completed an M.A. degree. Burke fought for Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

against the rebel Irish lords and their Spanish allies during the

Nine Years' War The Nine Years' War was a European great power conflict from 1688 to 1697 between Kingdom of France, France and the Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg), Grand Alliance. Although largely concentrated in Europe, fighting spread to colonial poss ...

Career

On 20 May 1601 Burke succeeded his father as the 4th Earl of Clanricarde. Richard was knighted in 1602 for his exploits as leader of the English cavalry during the

, he served as

from 1604 to 1616, Governor of Galway from 1616, and was appointed as a member of the

in 1625.

Marriage and children

In 1603, Clanricarde married

Frances Walsingham Frances Burke, Countess of Clanricarde, Dowager Countess of Essex ( Walsingham, formerly Devereux and Sidney; 1567 – 17 February 1633) was an English noblewoman. The daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I's Secretary of State ...

, the widow of

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (; 10 November 1565 – 25 February 1601) was an English nobleman and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during th ...

, daughter of

Francis Walsingham Sir Francis Walsingham ( – 6 April 1590) was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her " spymaster". Born to a well-connected family of gentry, Wa ...

. Richard and Frances had one son: # Ulick, his successor —and two daughters: #Mary, married Edward Butler of Ballinahinch, 6th son of

James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond and 2nd Earl of Ossory ( – 1546), known as the Lame ( Irish: ''Bacach''), was in 1541 confirmed as Earl of Ormond thereby ending the dispute over the Ormond earldom between his father, Piers Butler, 8th Earl ...

as his 2nd wife #Honora (d. 1661), married 1st Garrat McCloghlan and 2ndly

John Paulet, 5th Marquis of Winchester John Paulet, 5th Marquess of Winchester ( – 5 March 1675), styled Lord John Paulet until 1621 and Lord St John from 1621 to 1628, was the third but eldest surviving son of William Paulet, 4th Marquess of Winchester, William Paulet and his succe ...

Later life

By 1633 he was not only one of the principal landowners in Ireland, but virtually all-powerful in

. This aroused the resentment of the

Government, which decided to use the method of empanelling juries to "find" defective titles, in order to recover the lands in question for the

English Crown This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself king of the Anglo-Sax ...

. In 1634 Strafford held such a jury in Portumna Castle. However the jury refused to deliver the desired verdict.

Death

The treatment that Clanricarde experienced from the

Lord Deputy of Ireland The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive (government), executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland ...

, Thomas Wentworth, was said to have hastened his death in November 1635. Wentworth, however, pointed to the Earl's advancing years as the obvious cause, and asked sarcastically whether he was to blame for a man being over sixty. The feud, which was continued by Clanricarde's son and heir, was in the long run very damaging to Strafford, who apparently did not reflect on the close connections that Clanricarde, through his wife, had with just that faction of the English nobility, the Rich-Devereux clan, who were most hostile to Strafford.

Birth and origins

Early life

Career

Marriage and children

Later life

Death

Arms

Ancestry

See also

Notes and references

Notes

Citations

Sources

Further reading