Richard Mór de Burgh, 1st Baron of Connaught

Richard Mór de Burgh, 1st Lord of Connacht (English: /dˈbɜːr/; d’-BER; c.1180–1242,^[1] or 1243^[2][3]), was an Anglo-Norman aristocrat who was Seneschal of Munster and Justiciar of Ireland (1228–32).

Richard Mór de Burgh 1st Lord of Connaught
The inverted shield of Richard de Burgh from ‘Historia Anglorum’ (c.1250–59): British Library, Royal MS.14 CVII Historia Anglorum.
Justiciar of Ireland
In office 13 February 1228 – 16 June 1232
Preceded by	Geoffrey de Marisco
Succeeded by	Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent
Personal details
Born	c. 1180
Died	c. 1242
Spouse	Egidia de Lacy, Lady of Connacht
Children	Sir Richard de Burgh Walter de Burgh, 1st Earl of Ulster William Óg de Burgh Alice de Burgh Margery de Burgh Matilda de Burgh Daughter de Burgh
Parents	William de Burgh (father) Daughter of King Domnall Mór Ua Briain (mother)

Background

Richard Mór de Burgh was born towards the end of the year in 1193 (and came of age in 1214). He was the eldest son and heir of William de Burgh and his wife (daughter of Domnall Mór Ua Briain, King of Thomond). Richard's principal estate was in the barony of Loughrea where he built a castle in 1236 and a town was founded. He also founded Galway town and Ballinasloe. The islands on Lough Mask and Lough Orben were also part of his demesne.

From the death of his father (1206) until he reached his majority and received his inheritance (1214), Richard was a ward of the crown of England. In 1215 he briefly served in the household of his uncle, Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent. In 1223 (and again in 1225) he was appointed Seneschal of Munster and keeper of Limerick Castle.^[4]

 

Limerick Castle

Connacht

In 1224, Richard claimed Connacht (which had been granted to his father but never, in fact, conquered by him): he asserted that the grant to the Gaelic king Cathal Crobdearg Ua Conchobair (after William de Burgh's death in 1206), had been on condition of faithful service and that the king's son, Aedh mac Cathal Crobdearg Ua Conchobair (who succeeded that year) had forfeited it.^{[citation needed]} Richard had the favour of his uncle, Hubert, justiciar of England, and was later awarded Connacht (May 1227). Having been given custody of the counties of Cork and Waterford and all the crown lands of Decies and Desmond, he was appointed Justiciar of Ireland (1228–32). In 1230 he was able to send the King 2000 marks, the proceeds of a tax of one-sixteenth on ecclesiastical benefices. He was removed from office in 1232, but his disgrace was short-lived.

When, in 1232, his uncle Hubert's fell from grace, Richard was able to distance himself and avoid being campaigned against by Henry III. It was only in 1235, when he summoned the whole feudal host of the English lords and magnates to aid him, that he finally expelled the Gaelic king, Felim mac Cathal Crobderg Ua Conchobair, from Connacht. Richard and his lieutenants received great shares of land, while Felim was obliged to pay homage and was allowed to hold only five cantreds (in Roscommon), while Richard held the remaining 25 cantreds of Connacht in chief of the crown of England. De Burgh took the title of "Lord of Connacht".^[1]

Wife and children

Before 21 April 1225, he married Egidia de Lacy (daughter of Walter de Lacy and his wife Margaret de Braose), with which alliance he acquired the cantred of Eóghanacht Caisil with the castle of Ardmayle in Tipperary. Richard and Egidia had three sons and four daughters:

• Sir Richard de Burgh (d.1248), Lord of Connaught, Constable of Montgomery Castle married a relative of Eleanor of Provence,^[5] and died (without issue) in Poitou.
• Walter de Burgh, 1st Earl of Ulster (d.1271), Lord of Connaught.
• William Óg de Burgh (d.1270), Anglo-Irish Lord and warrior who was the ancestor of the Lords of Clanricarde.
• Alice de Burgh.
• Margery de Burgh (died after March 1253) married Theobald Butler, 3rd Chief Butler of Ireland.
• Matilda de Burgh married Sir Gerald de Prendergast of Beauvoir; they had a daughter, Maud.^[6]
• Daughter de Burgh who married Hamon de Valoynes; they had a daughter, Mabel de Valoynes.

Richard de Burgh fell ill on a voyage to France and died shortly before 17 February 1243.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Richard Mór de Burgh, 1st Baron of Connaught

4. Walter de Burgh? 2. William de Burgh 5. Alice? 1. Richard Mór de Burgh, 1st Baron of Connaught 24. Diarmait Ua Briain 12. Toirdhealbhach mac Diarmada Ua Briain, King of Munster 25. Mór Ua Conchobair of Connacht 6. Domnall Mór Ua Briain Donnchad mac Gilla Pátraic 13. Sadb MacGillapatrick 3. Mór O'Brien 28. Donnchadh mac Murchada 14. Diarmait Mac Murchada, King of Leinster 29. Orlaith ingen Ua Braenain 7. Orlacan 15. Sadb Ní Faeláin

Notes

1. Curtis, Edmund (2004) [1950]. A History of Ireland (6th ed.). New York: Routledge. pp. 70–72. ISBN 0-415-27949-6.
2. Lodge 1754, p. 24.
3. Owen 1790, p. 8.
4. Smith, B. (2004). "Burgh, Richard de (died 1243), justiciar of Ireland". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/3994. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 21 December 2021. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
5. Matthew Paris, Chronica majora, iv, pp 628, 655.
6. Burke, Bernard. "Prendergast Lineage", A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry, Harrison, 1895, p. 773.

References

• Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis; Lines 73-30, 177B-8, 177B-9.
• The Tribes and customs of Hy-Many, John O'Donovan, 1843
• The Surnames of Ireland, Edward MacLysaght, Dublin, 1978.
• The Anglo-Normans in Co. Galway: the process of colonisation, 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, J.G.A.& H.S., vol. 41, (1987–88)
• Anglo-Norman Galway; rectangular earthworks and moated sites, Patrick Holland, J.G.A. & H.S., vol. 46 (1993)
• Rindown Castle: a royal fortress in Co. Roscommon, Sheelagh Harbison, J.G.A. & H.S., vol. 47 (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 at CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at University College Cork
• Annals of Tigernach at CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at University College Cork
• Revised edition of McCarthy's synchronisms at Trinity College Dublin.

Secondary sources

• Lodge, John (1754). The Peerage of Ireland; Or, a Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom; with Their Paternal Coats of Arms. Vol. 4. William Johnston.
• Owen, W (1790). The Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland: The peerage of Ireland. Vol. III. London: Fleet Street, Holborn, Piccadilly.

Legal offices
Preceded by Geoffrey de Morisco	Justiciar of Ireland 1228–1232	Succeeded by Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent