Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burgh, Richard de (d.1243)
BURGH, RICHARD de (d. 1243), Irish settler, is said to have been the son of William FitzAldelm, one of the early invaders of Ireland (Dugdale, Baronage, ‘Burgh;’ Lodge, Peerage of Ireland, ‘Clanricarde,' Benedictus, i. 25); he is, however, described in the Close Rolls (Calendar, p. 551) as the son of William de Burgh, who received a large grant in Connaught from John, and was afterwards disseised by him. Richard appears to have made a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James at Compostella in 1222 (Close Rolls), The order of St. James had been founded about fifty years before; the saint was held in high estimation by the chivalry of England, and pilgrimages to his shrine were popular, for they had the character of military adventures, aswell as of acts of devotion. On Richard`s return he received grants of all the lands in Connaught, of which he ond his father had been disseised by John, and thus became lord of a great part of the province. In 1223 the king sent him a Bristol ship laden with supplies, to help him in his war there (Close Rolls, 1223-5; Excerpt. Rot. Fin. p. 128). In the war with Aedh of Connaught in 1230 he led one of the divisions of the army under the command of Geoffrey de Marisoo, and took part in a battle in which the Irish were defeated and Aedh was taken prisoner. When Peter des ltoches succeeded in driving Richard, the Earl Marshall, into rebellion by his unjust treatment of him, he determined to draw him into Ireland that he might destroy him there. Accordingly he and his party wrote to the lords in Ireland, and excited them against him. This letter, which was scaled by the king, came, among others, to Richard, who joined the conspiracy made against the earl, and invaded his lands. The earl went over to Ireland to defend his lands, and Richard went with Geoffrey de Marisco and the rest to meet him. They offered to be his allies, and incited him to make war against the king’s possessions that they might destroy him and didde his inheritance. None sought his life more eagerly than Richard. When the conspirators openly turned against him and prepared to give him battle (1 April 1234), Richard armed one of his Irish followers, a man of great strength, with his own armour, and charged him to slay the earl. The Irishman failed in his attempt, but the earl was mortally wounded somewhat later in the battle. During the expedition of Henry III to Poitou Richard and other Irish lords were persuaded by Maurice Fitzgerald to fit out a fleet and sail to join the king. They were met by the ships that guarded the coast of France. A storm separated the fleets, but the barons evidently had the worst of the engagement. Frightened alike by the rough weather and the attack of the French, they landed on a art of the coast that was unknown to them. Many perished of the hardships they had to undergo. Among them Richard died in the early part of 1243. He married Egidia, daughter of Walter de Laci, and left an heir, Walter [q. v.], and other children. He is the ancestor of the house of Clanricarde [see Burgh, Ulick de].
[Calendar of Close Rolls; Roger of Wendover, iv. 213, Matt. Paris, iii. 191, 265, 273, iv. 198, ed. Luard, Rolls Ser.; Ann. Buell. Rer. Hibern. Script. (O'Conor), ii, iv. 39, Annales de Dunstaplia, Oseneia, Ann. Monast. ii. iv. 137, iv. 78, Rolls Ser.; Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, ed. Archdall.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.43
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 323 | i | l.l. | Burgh, Richard de: for FitzAldelm read Fitzaldhelm |