House of Burgh


The House of Burgh , also known by the family names of Burke and Bourke, is an Irish family, descending from the Anglo-Norman de Burgh dynasty, who played a prominent role in the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, where they settled and attained the earldoms of Kent, Ulster, Clanricarde, and Mayo at various times, and they have provided queens consort of Scotland and Thomond and Kings of England via a matrilineal line. The original line became extinct in 1363, along with the Clanricarde line in 1916, though the Mayo line is represented by the current Earl of Mayo.
The patriarch of the de Burgh family in Ireland was William de Burgh, the elder brother of Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, who was Regent of England. William's descendants included the Lords of Connaught, the Earls of Ulster and Clanricarde. His great-great-granddaughter, Elizabeth married King Robert I of Scots. Another descendant, Elizabeth, became the wife of King Edward III's son Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, via whom they are ancestors of the Yorkist Plantagenet Kings of England; and through Edward IV's eldest daughter, Elizabeth, they are ancestors of the reigning British royal family.

Forebears

In the later 12 and early 13 centuries, the de Burghs were led by four brothers:

Hubert de Burgh

The grant of the Earldom of Kent to Hubert de Burgh was limited to himself and any male heirs born to his final wife, Princess Margaret of Scotland, but their only child was a daughter who was herself childless. Though the earldom of Kent became extinct on Hubert's death, his sons from a previous marriage, John and Hubert, inherited his lands and their descendants passed into relative obscurity until 1487, when Thomas Burgh of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire was summoned to Parliament as Baron Burgh of Gainsborough, though he never took his seat and the creation of this barony is therefore disputed.

Barons Burgh (1529–1602)

Thomas Burgh's son, Sir Edward Burgh, did not sit in Parliament. However, his son, Thomas Burgh, was summoned to Parliament in 1529 and this was deemed as the creation of the barony. In this barony, Thomas, 3rd Baron Burgh was Lord Deputy of Ireland, and his younger brother, Sir John Burgh, was a distinguished soldier and sailor. Robert, 6th Baron Burgh died as a young child in 1602, and the barony fell into abeyance among his four sisters.

Descendants of William de Burgh (d. 1206)

William de Burgh

The Anglo-Norman adventurer, William de Burgh, arrived in Ireland in 1185 with Prince John. He received a grant of lands from King Henry II. At John's accession he was installed in Thomond and became Governor of Limerick. Between 1199 and 1201 he was supporting, in turn, Cathal Carrach and Cathal Crovderg for the native throne, but William was expelled from Connacht after a battle with Crovderg over payment for him and his army. He did later return and defeat Crovderg, however, who though remaining as king, swore loyalty to de Burgh. William married a daughter of Domnall Mór Ó Briain, King of Thomond, King of Limerick, and claimant to the Kingdom of Munster.

Lords of Connacht (1227–1264)

William's son, Richard Mór de Burgh, 1st Lord of Connacht, received the land of "Connok" as forfeited by its king, whom he helped to fight. He was Justiciar of Ireland. In 1234, he sided with the crown against Richard, Earl Marshal, who fell in battle against him. Richard Mór's eldest son, Sir Richard de Burgh succeeded him, briefly, as Lord of Connacht.

Earls of Ulster (1264–1363)

Richard Mór's second son, Walter de Burgh, continued warfare against the native chieftains and added greatly to his vast domains by obtaining, from Prince Edward, a grant of "the county of Ulster" in consequence of which he was styled later Earl of Ulster.
Walter, 1st Earl of Ulster was succeeded by his son, Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster. In 1286, he ravaged and subdued Connacht, and deposed the chief native king,, substituting his own nominee. He also attacked the native king of Connacht, in favour of the branch of O'Conors that his family supported. He led his forces from Ireland to support Edward I in his Scottish campaigns, and on Edward Bruce's invasion of Ulster, Richard marched against him, despite having given his daughter, Elizabeth, in marriage to King Robert I of Scotland, Edward's older brother. Occasionally summoned to English parliaments, Richard spent most of his forty years of activity in Ireland, where he was the greatest noble of his day, usually fighting the natives or his Anglo-Norman rivals to expand his family's land. The patent roll of 1290 shows that in addition to his lands in Ulster, Connacht and Munster, he held the Isle of Man, but later surrendered it to the king.
Richard, the 2nd Earl's grandson and successor was William Donn de Burgh, the Brown Earl, son of John de Burgh and Elizabeth, Lady of Clare, sister and co-heir of the last Clare Earl of Hertford. William Donn married Maud of Lancaster and was appointed Lieutenant of Ireland, but was murdered in his 21st year, leaving his only daughter, Elizabeth de Burgh, as the sole heiress not only of the de Burgh possessions but of the vast Clare estates.
Elizabeth was married in childhood to Lionel, 1st Duke of Clarence who was recognized in her right as Earl of Ulster. It is from them that the Yorkist Plantagenets later derived their claim to the throne of England.
Their descendant, Edward, 4th Duke of York, ascended the throne in 1461 as King Edward IV of England, since then the Earldom of Ulster has been only held by members of the British royal family.

Elizabeth, Queen of Scots

, daughter of Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, married Robert the Bruce in 1302 at the age of 13. The wedding most likely took place at Writtle, near Chelmsford, Essex and was arranged by either Richard or Edward I, King Edward having heavily encouraged it as a way to keep the loyalty of the Scottish nobility.
However, the Bruce would soon be separated from his English allies upon the murder of John Comyn, his greatest rival for the Scottish throne, in the "Chapel of the Greyfriars". Aware that he would be excommunicated for killing someone inside a church, Robert rushed to Scone before a papal bull could be issued, 6 weeks later being crowned as Robert I, King of Scots with Elizabeth by his side as his consort.
They had four children including David II, King of Scots, who himself would go on to become King of Scots in 1329.

Burke Civil War (1333–1338)

On the murder of William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster, his male kinsmen, adopting Irish names and customs, became virtually native chieftains and succeeded in holding the bulk of the de Burgh territories. After the fourteenth century, some branches of this Anglo-Irish family gaelicised their surname in Irish as de Búrca which gradually became Búrc then later Burke or Bourke, and these surnames and their variants have been associated with Connacht for more than seven centuries. Some branches returned to their original surname of 'de Burgh' in the eighteenth century.
The family's two main branches were:
The Gaelic title Mac William Uachtar came to denote the head of the Burke family of Upper or south Connacht but the chief of this family was more popularly known by another Gaelic title, Clanricarde. In 1543, the Mac William Uachtar chief, Ulick na gCeann Burke surrendered his lands in Connacht to Henry VIII, receiving these properties back to hold them, by English custom, as Earl of Clanricarde and Lord Dunkellin.
Ulick's descendant, Richard Burke, 4th Earl of Clanricarde distinguished himself on the English side in O'Neill's Rebellion and afterwards obtained the English Earldom of St Albans. His son, Ulick Burke, received the Irish Marquessate of Clanricarde. His cousin and heir, Richard Burke, 6th Earl of Clanricarde was an uncle of Richard Burke, 8th Earl and John Burke, 9th Earl, both of whom fought for James II and paid the penalty for doing so, but the latter was restored, and his great-grandson, Henry de Burgh, 12th Earl, was created Marquess of Clanricarde. Henry left no son, but his brother, John de Burgh, 13th Earl was created Earl of Clanricarde and the Marquessate was later revived, for John's son, Ulick de Burgh, 14th and 2nd Earl. His heir, Hubert de Burgh-Canning was the 2nd and last Marquess. The Earldom of Clanricarde passed by special remainder to the 6th Marquess of Sligo. This family, which changed its name from Burke to de Burgh and added that of Canning, owned a vast estate in County Galway.

Bourke of Mac William Íochtar (Viscounts Mayo and Earls of Mayo)

The Gaelic title Mac William Íochtar came to denote the head of the Bourke family of lower or north Connacht. Seaán mac Oliver Bourke, 17th Mac William Íochtar was created Baron Ardenerie in 1580. Tibbot MacWalter Kittagh Bourke, 21st Mac William Íochtar, fled to Spain where he was created Marquess of Mayo in the Spanish peerage.
In 1603, the 19th Lord of Mac William Íochtar, Tiobóid na Long Bourke, resigned his territories in Mayo, and received them back to hold them by English tenure and was later created Viscount Mayo. Miles, 2nd Viscount and Theobald, 3rd Viscount suffered at Cromwell's hands, but Theobald, 4th Viscount was restored to his estates in 1666. The peerage became extinct or dormant on the death of John, 8th Viscount.
In 1781, John Bourke, was created Viscount Mayo and later Earl of Mayo. He was descended from the fourth son of Sir Thomas Bourke, whose second son, Edmund, was the ancestor of the Viscounts Mayo of the first creation. The first Earl's great-grandson, Richard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo, was appointed Viceroy of India in 1869 and was murdered in the Andaman Islands in 1872. His younger brother was the politician Robert Bourke, 1st Baron Connemara who became Governor of Madras.
The baronies of Bourke of Castleconnell and Bourke of Brittas, both forfeited in 1691, were bestowed on branches of the family which still has representatives in the baronetage and landed gentry of Ireland.