Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 07.djvu/331

  I), when John FitzThomas was sentenced to forfeit 120 librates in Connaught (, iv. 268, 399, 514;, Chartularies, ii. 323; Book of Howth, 53). Ten years later (1312) the two families were still further reconciled by the marriage of Thomas, the son and heir of Lord John FitzThomas, with a daughter of De Burgh; and of another daughter, Catherine, with Maurice FitzThomas of Desmond (Book of Howth, 129, 133, 363). In 1311 the earl seems to have been at war in Thomond with Thomas de Clare, who in this year took William de Burgh a prisoner (ib. 128, with which cf. Fifteenth Century Chron. and Loch Cé sub ann.) About the same time, according to Mr. Gilbert, he attempted to dislodge the De Verduns and De Mortimers from Meath (Viceroys, 133).

When Edward Bruce invaded Ireland in May 1315, and having gained possession of Ulster was proclaimed king, De Burgh raised an army to oppose him, and followed his retreat towards the Bann. When Felim O’Conor, his ally, began to waver, he fell back into Connaught with the loss of his brother William, who was taken prisoner by the Scotch (10 Sept.), but released in the course of the next year. In July 1316 the earl and the other Irish lords took an oath to defend their country; but notwithstanding this, on the approach of Bruce towards Dublin, he was apprehended by the mayor and confined in the castle (February 1317), while two ambassadors were despatched to Edward II to consult as to his fate, This imprisonment was probably due to a fear lest he should prove only half loyal in the contest that was about to ensue with his son-in-law Robert Bruce. He was released by Ascension day, but not before the son of his old rival, Thomas FitzJohn, had led the Ultonians against the Scots (Fourteenth Cent. Chron. and Fifteenth Cent. Chron., ap. Chartularies; Annals of Loch Cé).

De Burgh was the most powerful of the English nobles in Ireland, in which country, according to Mr. Gilbert, his name preceded that of the viceroy in the royal writs. Besides the lordship of Connaught and the earldom of Ulster he inherited estates in Munster by right of his mother, Avelina, one of the heiresses of Richard FitzJohn (, iv. 638). Earlier in his life he appears to have held the Isle of Man, which however, he had restored to the king by 1290 (Hist. Doc. of Soctl. i. 156). Towards the close of his career he was occasionally summoned to attend the English parliaments, as, for example, those of Westminster in Lent 1808, and Lincoln in 1318. He was appointed lieutenant of Ireland 15 June 1308, but his commission was next day cancelled in favour of Piers Gaveston. Early in 1310 he was present at the great Kilkenny parliament for the pacification of the Irish barons. Sixteen years later, after attending a parliament at the same place, he gave a farewell banquet, and retired to the monastery of Athassil, near Cashel, where he died almost immediately, before Midsummer day 1326 (Fourteenth and Fifteenth Cent. Chron.; cf. Irish Rolls, 35, &c.)

Richard de Burgh was the father of a large family. His eldest son, Walter, died in 1304 (Loch Cé), and the great De Burgh estates devolved on the issue of a younger son, John (d. 1313), who in 1308 married Elizabeth, sister of Gilbert de Clare, last earl of Gloucester (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 81 b, 99 b; Ann. Lond. et Paul. i. 156, 26-1). Another son, Thomas, died in 1316 (Fourteenth Cent. Chron.) To these may be added Edmund (Irish Rolls, 40), and, according to Lodge, Willian. Of his daughters, one, Elizabeth by name, married Robert Bruce, then earl of Carrick (Fifteenth Cent. Chron., cf. sub an. 1302); a second, Matilda, married Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester (Escheat Rolls, i. 271); and a third, Joan, married first Lord Thomas FitzJohn, and secondly Sir John d‘Arcy, the justiciar (Fifteenth Cent. Chron. Book of Howth, 155). Katherine de Burgh, a fourth daughter, married Lord Maurice FitzThomas (ib.; cf., however,, i., who adds Margaret and Eleanor).



BURGH, ULICK (1604–1657), fifth  and, born at London in 1604, was the only son of Richard, fourth earl of Clanricarde, by his wife Frances, daughter and heir of Sir Francis Walsingham, and relict of Sir Philip