The de Burgos arrived in Ireland as Anglo-Norman lords, but over the centuries they adopted Irish laws, customs and political traditions. Their transformation into powerful Gaelic chieftains would shape the history of western Ireland and ultimately draw them into the struggles that brought the old Gaelic order to an end.
By Brendan Farrell
Rausakeera Rath, or Ringfort, is central to the history of Mayo. It should perhaps be considered a crucible of Irish history. The Royal Rath is situated near the village of Kilmaine, County Mayo, and is centrally positioned with commanding views over the flatlands of Ellistron in the townland of Rausakeera North. Its origins are ancient, dating from the early Iron Age period (c. 600 BC – AD 400). In December 1595, a large ceremonial gathering took place at Rausakeera which would mark the end of the old Gaelic order in Ireland and lead to the total subjugation of the country by English colonists. The purpose of the pageant was the inauguration of “The Mac William.”
Mac William (Mac Uilleiam, son of William) was a pseudo-Gaelic title which passed solely through the Hiberno-Norman De Burgo, de Burgh or Burke/Bourke family. The William in question was William de Burgh, who arrived in Ireland in 1185 under the patronage of King Henry II of England, styled Lord of Ireland. By 1400, William’s progeny had spread across Ireland, with the highest concentrations being in Galway, Mayo, Limerick and Tipperary. By 1574, Galway could boast 110 castles in Burke hands and 64 in Mayo. In the Barony of Kilmaine, in an area of just 10 miles by eight, there were 41, which included 12 castles held by the MacJonyn or MacSheoinin clan, a derivative of Little John, a son of John de Burgo, later anglicised to Jennings.
Location of Rausakeera in Medieval Ireland
This high proliferation of castles would indicate the importance of the Barony and of Rausakeera to the de Burgos and, moreover, to the MacWilliam. Up until the mid-1300s, the Connacht de Burgos had remained loyal to the Crown, largely observing fealty to the English monarchy. However, this tolerant relationship would dramatically change in 1333 following the murder of “The Brown Earl,” William de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster and Lord of Connaught, son of John de Burgh and Elizabeth de Clare, one of the wealthiest women in England and daughter of the Earl of Gloucester. The Brown Earl’s fate was principally orchestrated by Robert de Mandeville, his second cousin, in retaliation for the alleged murder by starvation of his uncle, Walter de Burgh, in the dungeon of Northburgh Castle in Donegal. The family’s strong maternal (Plantagenet) English lineage would have grave implications for the de Burgos’ autonomy; however, bold plans were afoot.
The Rise of the MacWilliams
Rausakeera and the castles around it
Edmund Albanach de Burgo (1315-1375), son of Sir William Liath or Grey, and Ulick Finn de Burgo (d. 1343 or 1353), both descendants of William de Burgh, would become increasingly Gaelicised, adopting Irish law, language and customs and the titles MacWilliam Iochtarach, or lower (County Mayo), and MacWilliam Uachter, or upper (County Galway). Notably, Edmund would fully embrace the Gaelic or Brehon system of jurisprudence, which in theory was based on common ownership; the successor of a deceased clan leader was elected by members of the family, in contrast to English common law’s observance of primogeniture, where typically ownership and title would pass primarily to the eldest son or next in line.
Under English law, the de Burgos faced the prospect of Elizabeth de Burgo, William’s infant daughter, inheriting the de Burgo lands in Galway, Mayo and Ulster, threatening their dominance and pre-eminence in Ireland. William’s wife, Matilda, had fled to England with her daughter following the Brown Earl’s assassination and, worryingly, plans were underway for a marriage between Elizabeth and Lionel, Duke of Clarence, the second surviving son of King Edward III.
Emonn Albanach Mac Sir Uilliam (Edmund Albanach de Burgo), depicted in the late 16th-century Book of the de Burgos. Trinity College Dublin, MS 1440, fol. 20v.
Increasing concern had been expressed over the growing power and influence of the de Burgos, and a marriage would, by the process of jure uxoris (by right of his wife), ensure that the de Burgo lands would come under direct control of the English monarchy, thus alleviating the possibility of Irish independence, championed by an increasingly autonomous noble family.
The power vacuum left by the murder of the Brown Earl and the subsequent flight of Matilda and her daughter would allow, firstly, the native Irish in Ulster to resume control of the Kingdom and, secondly, leave the complete rule of Connacht up for grabs between three prominent de Burgo men: Edmund de Burgo of Limerick, Ulick de Burgo and Edmund Albanach.
After a five-year period of internecine raiding and skirmishing, Albanach would gain the upper hand in a most bloody and diabolical way. On the evening of Sunday, 19 April 1338, Albanach and his men, risking eternal damnation, would violate the sanctuary of the Augustinian Friary in Ballinrobe, County Mayo, and fall upon the party of Edmund of Limerick’s praying men. Limerick would be spared for a more miserable death; half-starved and frozen, he was placed in a weighted sack and consigned to the depths of Lough Mask.
Turlough O’Connor, King of Connacht, would also seize the opportunity amid the deadly de Burgo family chaos to wrest back control of Connacht and, in the process, issue a notice of banishment to Albanach. Albanach would seek an alliance with the powerful seafaring O’Malley Clan, marrying the future Chieftain’s daughter, Sadhbh Ní Máillie, before strategically allying with the Mac Diarmada Clan, availing of their dispute with O’Connor. The Irish King’s 21-year rule would come to a bloody end in 1345, “Killed by the shoote of an arrow” by a Clan Mortagh archer at Gurtin na Spideoige, The little garden of the Robin redbreast. Hugh, son of Turlough, would be inaugurated as King.
Edmund Albanach, or Scottish Edmund, had also spent time in the custody of the Scottish King, Robert the Bruce, and had witnessed the effectiveness of the Scottish troops at the Battle of Bannockburn, especially the Gallowglass mercenaries. The MacDonald Clan already had an association with Ireland through the ancient kingdom of Dalriada, spanning Antrim and the Scottish isles, and their 300-year association with the de Burgos would change the course of warfare in Ireland. Gallowglass would eventually form the backbone of every Irish army. Edmund’s enlistment of the MacDonald Gallowglass would greatly strengthen his hand in Mayo, stemming the tide of English influence until the early 1600s.
In 1367, the Duke of Clarence, as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, would implement the infamous Statute of Kilkenny, a series of 35 vehemently racist acts designed to curb the increasing homogeneity of the Anglo-Norman “degenerate English” and Irish by banning cultural interaction and interracial marriages on pain of death. The Duke’s personal experience of disinheritance by the de Burgos would certainly contribute to the staggeringly cruel nature of the consequences of fraternisation: “For marrying an Irish wife, or for having an Irish woman for a mistress, the penalty was to be half hanged, shamefully mutilated and disembowelled alive and to forfeit his estate.”
Despite the harsh penalties of the statutes, the De Burcas, backed by their Gallowglass mercenaries, would continue to solidify control of western Ireland. By 1400, the clan had permanently fractured into two competing sub-lineages of upper and lower Connacht, roughly corresponding to Galway and Mayo, operating as parallel, independent and autonomous lordships under Brehon law.
By the late 1400s, the fierce ongoing internecine rivalry would culminate in the Battle of Knockdoe in 1504, one of the bloodiest battles in Irish history, fought on a hillside close to Claregalway Castle. Richard Burke, head of the Mayo Burkes, allied with Gerald Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare, and a confederation of Irish clans, would overcome the forces of the Galway Burkes under Ulick Fionn Burke, known as “The Clanrickarde”. Both sides had large contingents of Gallowglass. Knockdoe translates as “Hill of the Axes” and derives from the iconic Gallowglass axe, which played such a devastating role in the battle.
Rausakeera and the Struggle for Connacht
Rausakeera ring forth – photo courtesy Brendan Farrell
The adoption of the sacred site of Rausakeera as an inauguration platform for the Mayo de Burgos would certainly add gravitas to a now Gaelic-speaking, Hiberno-Norman Clan. Additionally, Kilmaine’s strong association with St Patrick (Kilmaine translates as middle church, a reference to the three churches established by the saint at Kill, Kilquire and Kilmaine village) would confer a spiritual and mythical dimension. This concentration of new Christian churches may reflect the policy of positioning Christian structures close to iconic sites of perceived pre-Christian power.
It would appear that, of the six castles built in the ambit of the Rath – Kilquire, Killernan, Ellistron, Ballymartin, Cregduff and Turin – four were strategically positioned at the cardinal points and were established primarily as protection for this most politically vital showcase of de Burgo power. Incidentally, the existence of a columbarium (a set of boxed niches for carrier pigeons), originally located in the Great Hall at Turin, the only extant castle, might suggest that these castles would work in concert when under attack, which might also explain the lack of bawns around them, with the exception of Kilquire, the seat of the Clan Chieftain MacJoyn Mor.
In 1592, Hugh Roe O’Donnell, Lord of Tyrconnell, was proclaimed Chief of the O’Donnel Clan. He had formed a formidable alliance, including the powerful Earl of Tyrone, Hugh O’Neill, and the Maguires of Fermanagh. O’Donnell, now in the ascendancy and sensing weakness from the Crown forces, in a demonstration of his power and authority, called for a gathering of the Western and Northern Chieftains at Rausakeera to witness and preside over the inauguration of a new MacWilliam, a title which had been abolished by the Crown, triggering rebellion in Connacht.
O’Donnell’s choice was a tactical disaster, causing affront and disrespect to all the Mayo Bourke families. The imposition of Theobold Ciotach Bourke and, consequently, the necessity to cess O’Donnell troops on Burke territory would exert intolerable pressure on the confederacy, resulting in a withdrawal of support for the Ulster Chieftains and, markedly, a pivot towards the Crown as perhaps the lesser of two evils.
Theobold (Tibbot) Na-Long-Bourke, son of “The pirate Queen” Grace O’Malley, who had personally visited Queen Elizabeth I and secured his release from captivity, eager to demonstrate his loyalty to the Crown, would assist in hunting down his rebellious kinsmen and, in an attempt to secure a pension, would, after a grisly presentation of some 30 heads of Bourkes and their followers to Richard Bingham, Governor of Connacht, at Cloonagashel Castle, send an accompanying letter listing the names of 16 Bourkes personally despatched by his own hand! On 21 September 1601, in support of O’Neill and O’Donnell, a large fleet of Spanish galleons had landed an army of over 3,000 men led by Don Juan de Aguila at Kinsale, County Cork. Tragically, they had landed some three hundred miles from their Ulster allies, who were now forced to embark on an epic march from County Donegal, arriving exhausted just before Christmas, on 24 December. Since October, the Spaniards had been besieged by a 7,000-strong English army led by Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy. The two Irish armies, led by O’Neil and O’Donnell, with a combined force of 6,500 men, would attempt a counter-siege.
Tibbot had sailed out of Clew Bay in early December with a flotilla of three ships laden with 300 men, arms and provisions, bound for Kinsale. So far, the mercurial Chieftain had remained sphinx-like as to his intentions and, despite desperate interventions by O’Neil and Mountjoy, had not declared his loyalty.
The interference of the Ulster Chieftains and O’Donnell’s direct challenge and usurpation of MacWilliam authority at Rausakeera would not be forgotten by a man with such a profound sense of dynastic survival. Tibbot, well aware of his importance to both sides, would not commit until the very last, finally reuniting the blood-red crusader cross of the de Burgos with Mountjoy’s English standard. In 1607, the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell, their families and retinue, would board a ship from Lough Swilly, bound for Rome and exile.
Brendan Farrell is a writer with an eclectic background in publishing, journalism and engineering project management. For the past 20 years, he and his wife have been living the medieval dream after restoring a medieval castle in the west of Ireland.
The de Burgos arrived in Ireland as Anglo-Norman lords, but over the centuries they adopted Irish laws, customs and political traditions. Their transformation into powerful Gaelic chieftains would shape the history of western Ireland and ultimately draw them into the struggles that brought the old Gaelic order to an end.
By Brendan Farrell
Rausakeera Rath, or Ringfort, is central to the history of Mayo. It should perhaps be considered a crucible of Irish history. The Royal Rath is situated near the village of Kilmaine, County Mayo, and is centrally positioned with commanding views over the flatlands of Ellistron in the townland of Rausakeera North. Its origins are ancient, dating from the early Iron Age period (c. 600 BC – AD 400). In December 1595, a large ceremonial gathering took place at Rausakeera which would mark the end of the old Gaelic order in Ireland and lead to the total subjugation of the country by English colonists. The purpose of the pageant was the inauguration of “The Mac William.”
Mac William (Mac Uilleiam, son of William) was a pseudo-Gaelic title which passed solely through the Hiberno-Norman De Burgo, de Burgh or Burke/Bourke family. The William in question was William de Burgh, who arrived in Ireland in 1185 under the patronage of King Henry II of England, styled Lord of Ireland. By 1400, William’s progeny had spread across Ireland, with the highest concentrations being in Galway, Mayo, Limerick and Tipperary. By 1574, Galway could boast 110 castles in Burke hands and 64 in Mayo. In the Barony of Kilmaine, in an area of just 10 miles by eight, there were 41, which included 12 castles held by the MacJonyn or MacSheoinin clan, a derivative of Little John, a son of John de Burgo, later anglicised to Jennings.
This high proliferation of castles would indicate the importance of the Barony and of Rausakeera to the de Burgos and, moreover, to the MacWilliam. Up until the mid-1300s, the Connacht de Burgos had remained loyal to the Crown, largely observing fealty to the English monarchy. However, this tolerant relationship would dramatically change in 1333 following the murder of “The Brown Earl,” William de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster and Lord of Connaught, son of John de Burgh and Elizabeth de Clare, one of the wealthiest women in England and daughter of the Earl of Gloucester. The Brown Earl’s fate was principally orchestrated by Robert de Mandeville, his second cousin, in retaliation for the alleged murder by starvation of his uncle, Walter de Burgh, in the dungeon of Northburgh Castle in Donegal. The family’s strong maternal (Plantagenet) English lineage would have grave implications for the de Burgos’ autonomy; however, bold plans were afoot.
The Rise of the MacWilliams
Edmund Albanach de Burgo (1315-1375), son of Sir William Liath or Grey, and Ulick Finn de Burgo (d. 1343 or 1353), both descendants of William de Burgh, would become increasingly Gaelicised, adopting Irish law, language and customs and the titles MacWilliam Iochtarach, or lower (County Mayo), and MacWilliam Uachter, or upper (County Galway). Notably, Edmund would fully embrace the Gaelic or Brehon system of jurisprudence, which in theory was based on common ownership; the successor of a deceased clan leader was elected by members of the family, in contrast to English common law’s observance of primogeniture, where typically ownership and title would pass primarily to the eldest son or next in line.
Under English law, the de Burgos faced the prospect of Elizabeth de Burgo, William’s infant daughter, inheriting the de Burgo lands in Galway, Mayo and Ulster, threatening their dominance and pre-eminence in Ireland. William’s wife, Matilda, had fled to England with her daughter following the Brown Earl’s assassination and, worryingly, plans were underway for a marriage between Elizabeth and Lionel, Duke of Clarence, the second surviving son of King Edward III.
Increasing concern had been expressed over the growing power and influence of the de Burgos, and a marriage would, by the process of jure uxoris (by right of his wife), ensure that the de Burgo lands would come under direct control of the English monarchy, thus alleviating the possibility of Irish independence, championed by an increasingly autonomous noble family.
The power vacuum left by the murder of the Brown Earl and the subsequent flight of Matilda and her daughter would allow, firstly, the native Irish in Ulster to resume control of the Kingdom and, secondly, leave the complete rule of Connacht up for grabs between three prominent de Burgo men: Edmund de Burgo of Limerick, Ulick de Burgo and Edmund Albanach.
After a five-year period of internecine raiding and skirmishing, Albanach would gain the upper hand in a most bloody and diabolical way. On the evening of Sunday, 19 April 1338, Albanach and his men, risking eternal damnation, would violate the sanctuary of the Augustinian Friary in Ballinrobe, County Mayo, and fall upon the party of Edmund of Limerick’s praying men. Limerick would be spared for a more miserable death; half-starved and frozen, he was placed in a weighted sack and consigned to the depths of Lough Mask.
Turlough O’Connor, King of Connacht, would also seize the opportunity amid the deadly de Burgo family chaos to wrest back control of Connacht and, in the process, issue a notice of banishment to Albanach. Albanach would seek an alliance with the powerful seafaring O’Malley Clan, marrying the future Chieftain’s daughter, Sadhbh Ní Máillie, before strategically allying with the Mac Diarmada Clan, availing of their dispute with O’Connor. The Irish King’s 21-year rule would come to a bloody end in 1345, “Killed by the shoote of an arrow” by a Clan Mortagh archer at Gurtin na Spideoige, The little garden of the Robin redbreast. Hugh, son of Turlough, would be inaugurated as King.
Edmund Albanach, or Scottish Edmund, had also spent time in the custody of the Scottish King, Robert the Bruce, and had witnessed the effectiveness of the Scottish troops at the Battle of Bannockburn, especially the Gallowglass mercenaries. The MacDonald Clan already had an association with Ireland through the ancient kingdom of Dalriada, spanning Antrim and the Scottish isles, and their 300-year association with the de Burgos would change the course of warfare in Ireland. Gallowglass would eventually form the backbone of every Irish army. Edmund’s enlistment of the MacDonald Gallowglass would greatly strengthen his hand in Mayo, stemming the tide of English influence until the early 1600s.
In 1367, the Duke of Clarence, as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, would implement the infamous Statute of Kilkenny, a series of 35 vehemently racist acts designed to curb the increasing homogeneity of the Anglo-Norman “degenerate English” and Irish by banning cultural interaction and interracial marriages on pain of death. The Duke’s personal experience of disinheritance by the de Burgos would certainly contribute to the staggeringly cruel nature of the consequences of fraternisation: “For marrying an Irish wife, or for having an Irish woman for a mistress, the penalty was to be half hanged, shamefully mutilated and disembowelled alive and to forfeit his estate.”
Despite the harsh penalties of the statutes, the De Burcas, backed by their Gallowglass mercenaries, would continue to solidify control of western Ireland. By 1400, the clan had permanently fractured into two competing sub-lineages of upper and lower Connacht, roughly corresponding to Galway and Mayo, operating as parallel, independent and autonomous lordships under Brehon law.
By the late 1400s, the fierce ongoing internecine rivalry would culminate in the Battle of Knockdoe in 1504, one of the bloodiest battles in Irish history, fought on a hillside close to Claregalway Castle. Richard Burke, head of the Mayo Burkes, allied with Gerald Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare, and a confederation of Irish clans, would overcome the forces of the Galway Burkes under Ulick Fionn Burke, known as “The Clanrickarde”. Both sides had large contingents of Gallowglass. Knockdoe translates as “Hill of the Axes” and derives from the iconic Gallowglass axe, which played such a devastating role in the battle.
Rausakeera and the Struggle for Connacht
The adoption of the sacred site of Rausakeera as an inauguration platform for the Mayo de Burgos would certainly add gravitas to a now Gaelic-speaking, Hiberno-Norman Clan. Additionally, Kilmaine’s strong association with St Patrick (Kilmaine translates as middle church, a reference to the three churches established by the saint at Kill, Kilquire and Kilmaine village) would confer a spiritual and mythical dimension. This concentration of new Christian churches may reflect the policy of positioning Christian structures close to iconic sites of perceived pre-Christian power.
It would appear that, of the six castles built in the ambit of the Rath – Kilquire, Killernan, Ellistron, Ballymartin, Cregduff and Turin – four were strategically positioned at the cardinal points and were established primarily as protection for this most politically vital showcase of de Burgo power. Incidentally, the existence of a columbarium (a set of boxed niches for carrier pigeons), originally located in the Great Hall at Turin, the only extant castle, might suggest that these castles would work in concert when under attack, which might also explain the lack of bawns around them, with the exception of Kilquire, the seat of the Clan Chieftain MacJoyn Mor.
In 1592, Hugh Roe O’Donnell, Lord of Tyrconnell, was proclaimed Chief of the O’Donnel Clan. He had formed a formidable alliance, including the powerful Earl of Tyrone, Hugh O’Neill, and the Maguires of Fermanagh. O’Donnell, now in the ascendancy and sensing weakness from the Crown forces, in a demonstration of his power and authority, called for a gathering of the Western and Northern Chieftains at Rausakeera to witness and preside over the inauguration of a new MacWilliam, a title which had been abolished by the Crown, triggering rebellion in Connacht.
O’Donnell’s choice was a tactical disaster, causing affront and disrespect to all the Mayo Bourke families. The imposition of Theobold Ciotach Bourke and, consequently, the necessity to cess O’Donnell troops on Burke territory would exert intolerable pressure on the confederacy, resulting in a withdrawal of support for the Ulster Chieftains and, markedly, a pivot towards the Crown as perhaps the lesser of two evils.
Theobold (Tibbot) Na-Long-Bourke, son of “The pirate Queen” Grace O’Malley, who had personally visited Queen Elizabeth I and secured his release from captivity, eager to demonstrate his loyalty to the Crown, would assist in hunting down his rebellious kinsmen and, in an attempt to secure a pension, would, after a grisly presentation of some 30 heads of Bourkes and their followers to Richard Bingham, Governor of Connacht, at Cloonagashel Castle, send an accompanying letter listing the names of 16 Bourkes personally despatched by his own hand! On 21 September 1601, in support of O’Neill and O’Donnell, a large fleet of Spanish galleons had landed an army of over 3,000 men led by Don Juan de Aguila at Kinsale, County Cork. Tragically, they had landed some three hundred miles from their Ulster allies, who were now forced to embark on an epic march from County Donegal, arriving exhausted just before Christmas, on 24 December. Since October, the Spaniards had been besieged by a 7,000-strong English army led by Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy. The two Irish armies, led by O’Neil and O’Donnell, with a combined force of 6,500 men, would attempt a counter-siege.
Tibbot had sailed out of Clew Bay in early December with a flotilla of three ships laden with 300 men, arms and provisions, bound for Kinsale. So far, the mercurial Chieftain had remained sphinx-like as to his intentions and, despite desperate interventions by O’Neil and Mountjoy, had not declared his loyalty.
The interference of the Ulster Chieftains and O’Donnell’s direct challenge and usurpation of MacWilliam authority at Rausakeera would not be forgotten by a man with such a profound sense of dynastic survival. Tibbot, well aware of his importance to both sides, would not commit until the very last, finally reuniting the blood-red crusader cross of the de Burgos with Mountjoy’s English standard. In 1607, the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell, their families and retinue, would board a ship from Lough Swilly, bound for Rome and exile.
Brendan Farrell is a writer with an eclectic background in publishing, journalism and engineering project management. For the past 20 years, he and his wife have been living the medieval dream after restoring a medieval castle in the west of Ireland.
Subscribe to Medievalverse
Related Posts