Strongbow's death, FitzAdelm was appointed governor of Ireland. In 1177 he founded the monastery of St. Thomas, near Dublin. "We are told that he oppressed and impoverished the Anglo-Norman families, and amassed great wealth by conceding privileges to the native princes. It is even said that for bribes he allowed some portions of the fortifications of Wexford to be demolished. He was recalled in 1179, and De Lacy appointed in his place. He was, however, soon received back into favour, and given in marriage Isabel, natural daughter of Richard I., and widow of Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, and received large grants of land in Connaught. FitzAdelm was the founder of the Monastery of Dromore, and also the Abbey of Athassel, County of Tipperary, where he was buried in 1204. His character is thus sketched by Giraldus Cambrensis: "This FitzAdelm was large and corpulent, both in stature and shape, but of a reasonable height. He was a pleasant and courtly man; but whatever honours he paid to any one were always mingled with guile. There was no end of his craftiness—there was poison in the honey, and a snake in the grass. To outward appearance he was liberal and courteous, but within there was more aloes than honey." Several communications regarding the De Burgh family will be found in Notes and Queries, 4th Series. 148 196 254
De Burgh, Richard, Lord of Counanght, son of preceding. In 1204 he succeeded to large estates in the province of Connaught, which were confirmed to him by King John for a fine of 300 marks, and by Henry III. for a fine of 3,000 marks. In 1225, after Cathal O'Conor's death, the whole of Connaught, with the exception of five cantreds for the support of Athlone garrison, was made over to him for 500 marks a year. But the O'Conors clung to their patrimony, and upon one occasion Felim O'Conor was even deputed by Henry III. to act against De Burgh and check his rising power. De Burgh exercised almost regal sway, and at his castle at Galway (built in 1232), and in that at Loughrea (built in 1236), he was attended by a train of barons, knights, and gentlemen. He was for some time Lord-Deputy of Ireland. He died on his passage to France, January 1243, whither he was proceeding, attended by his barons and knights, to meet the King of England at Bordeaux. His wife was Una, daughter of Hugh O'Conor, Prince of Connaught. 52 134 216
De Burgh, Walter, 1st Earl of Ulster, son of preceding, married Maud, daughter and heiress of Hugh de Lacy, Earl of Ulster. At her father's decease, about 1243, he became, in her right, Earl of Ulster. 52
De Burgh, Richard, 2nd Earl of Ulster, son of preceding, commonly known as the "Red Earl," was educated at the court of Henry III. For his successes against the Scots he was made general over the Irish forces in Ireland, Great Britain, and France. He was esteemed the most powerful subject of his time in Ireland. Besides carrying on hostilities with the native chieftains, he besieged Thomas de Verdon in Athlone, and advanced with a great army to Trim. Three times he assisted the English kings in their descents upon Scotland. He founded monasteries or castles at Loughrea, Ballymote, Corran, Sligo, Castleconnel in Limerick, and Greencastle in Down. On Whit-Sunday 1326 he sumptuously entertained the Anglo-Norman knights of the Pale assembled at Kilkenny, previous to shutting himself up in the monastery at Athassel, where he died the same year. 52 216
De Burgh, William, 3rd Earl of Ulster, was born in 1312, and succeeded his grandfather in 1326. "He was murdered on 6th June 1333 by Robert Fitz-Richard Mandeville (who gave him the first wound) and others, his servants, near to the Fords, in going towards Carrickfergus, in the 21st year of his age, at the instigation it was said, of Gyle de Burgh, wife of Sir Richard Mandeville, in revenge for his having imprisoned her brother Walter and others."216 Three hundred of Sir R. Mandeville's followers were put to death for this murder. De Burgh married Maud, great-granddaughter of Henry III. His estates were seized by his relatives, a branch of the De Burghs, who abjured the English name, and adopted that of MacWilliam, assumed Irish dress and customs, and ruled over Connaught conjointly. 134 216
De Burgh, Lady Elizabeth, only child and heiress of preceding, born in 1332, married in 1352, Lionel, son of Edward III., who became in her right 4th Earl of Ulster and Lord of Connaught. Her daughter Philippa, wife of Edmund Mortimer, was ancestor of Edward IV. and subsequent British sovereigns. [See Clarence, Duke of.] 52
De Burgh, Ulick, 1st Earl of Clanricard, was a descendant of the second son of Richard de Burgh, Lord of Connaught. He fortified Roscommon, Galway, Loughrea, Leitrim, and several other towns. He was, according to Lodge, called by the native Irish "Negan," or the beheader, having made a mound of the heads of men
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