Richard de Burgh

This article deals with Richard de Burgh († 1243). For his grandson Richard de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster (* around 1259, † 1326) see Richard de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster .

Richard de Burgh (before 1194; † 1243 in Poitou ) was one of the leading barons in Ireland, is considered the conqueror of Connacht and was justiciar of Ireland from 1228 to 1232 .

Life

Richard's father William de Burgh accompanied Prince Johann on his campaign through Ireland in 1185 and received fiefs in the vicinity of Tibraghny at Carrick-on-Suir and in Nordmunster . William befriended the King of Munster, Domnall Mór Ó Briain , and married one of his daughters. From this connection Richard and at least one other brother emerged. Later, when the last Irish High King Ruaidrí Ó Conchobhair by Cong withdrew and died as 1194 Domnall Mór Ó Briain, the resulting power vacuum allowed the award of Connacht as a fief to William by Johann during the reign of Richard I . In the struggle for power in Connacht, there was subsequently a conflict in the Ó Conchobhair clan between the William-supported Cathal Carrach on the one hand and the John de Courcy- supported Cathel Crobderg on the other. Despite Cathal Carrach's military successes, Williams' opponents were able to prevail politically. The power struggle for Connacht was decided when Cathal Carrach fell in 1202 and Cathel Crobderg paid homage to King John and he was also installed as King of Connacht under Irish law. William had no further opportunity to enforce his claim to power over Connacht because he died in the winter of 1205/1206.

Richard received his father's fiefs during the lifetime of King John, who died in October 1216. In 1215 Johann confirmed Connacht's fiefdom to Cathel Crobderg and at the same time renewed the promise of the right to Connacht to Richard. This apparent contradiction was resolved to the effect that the latter was kept in abeyance in the event that Cathel Crobderg should not meet his obligations. As Johann's successor, Heinrich III. , Asked the Irish colony for financial aid in 1218, Richard saw an opportunity in England to renew his claim to Connacht in 1219. Richard offered 3,000 marks for Connacht or 1,000 pounds for the alternative that he would initially only receive half of Connacht and the other half would initially remain with Cathel Crobderg, which would then fall to him after his death. However, the offer was denied and instead Cathal Crobderg's rights were confirmed for four more years.

In 1225 Richard married Egidia, the daughter of Walter de Lacy, and was allied with one of the most influential Norman families . Under the influence of his uncle Hubert , legal advisor of England and close confidante of the king, Richard became Seneschal of Munster in 1225 .

Before Cathal Crobderg died in 1224, he had built up his eldest son Aedh as his successor. This corresponded to the English legal conceptions of the primogeniture and was supposed to secure the rule over the country, but was in contradiction to the Irish law, under which the successor was freely chosen from the circle of the clan and usually the brother or a nephew rather than a son has the train came. However, Cathal's attempts to finally clarify the legal status for his son remained unanswered and thus pending. Initially, Aedh's claim to Connacht was accepted by the English side, but his position quickly deteriorated when Toirrdelbach Ó Conchobhair, son of the last Irish high king Ruaidrí, was appointed the new king in 1225 with the support of Aedh Ó Néill and other Irish rulers there was a bitter war in Connacht between the two parties. Aedh Ó Conchobhair asked the English for help, whereupon in addition to English troops in the north of Connacht, Muirchertach Ó Briain and Richard invaded Connacht from the south in his function as sheriff of Cork . These campaigns, however, had the character of raids, as the superiority of the English troops was well known and Toirrdelbach's supporters therefore avoided the open conflict. Aedh was thus in the uncomfortable position of not being able to defeat even his rivals, but the English troops called for help devastated the country rather than helped to secure his position. No sooner had the English troops left Connacht than Toirrdelbach and his supporters rose again, whereupon Aedh asked for help again. This time Richard did not come, which was possibly due to a growing resentment between Richard and the Justiciar of Ireland, William Marshal , who was good friends with Aedh.

Aedh's inability to pacify Connacht and the influence of Richard's brother Hubert as England's justiciar led to a change in English policy in 1226. It coincided with the replacement of William Marshal in his office as Justiciar of Ireland on June 25, 1226 by Geoffrey de Marisco, who after five days of office called Aedh to the court in Dublin to return Connacht to the crown because he forfeited the fief would have. Connacht was then to be given to Richard as a fiefdom for an annual contribution of 300 marks for the first five years and 500 marks thereafter. However, William Marshal warned Aedh not to go to Dublin, and was then given up by Henry III because of his support for Aedh. recalled to England. Geoffrey de Marisco found himself facing considerable opposition in Ireland, as the treatment of Aedh found little approval even among the English barons. Only Richard gave him full support. The conflict escalated when a delegation from Geoffrey de Marisco, including his own son William, was sent to Athlone , but was captured by Aedh and Athlone was subsequently ambushed, with the killing of Athlone's constable . This dispelled the last doubts as to whether Aedh had forfeited the fiefdom, and in May 1227 Richard Connacht could formally take over as a fiefdom.

Richard then moved through Connacht, looting in particular in the area around Lough Mask , with the support of Toirrdelbach's brother Aedh. Geoffrey de Marisco was traveling together with Toirrdelbach in the northern part of what is now County Roscommon . Neither of the two encountered serious resistance, especially since from 1227 the sons of Ruaidrís, Toirrdelbach and Aedh, fought with one another. Richard had also taken over the administration of the Crown owned estates of Decies (in what is now County Waterford ) and Desmond and complained to the King that the previous administrator, Thomas Fitz Anthony, had given parts of it to others and so did not get enough royalties from it could become. Henry III. ordered the Justiciar Geoffrey de Marisco in August 1227 to take possession of these lands again for the crown and to hand them over to Richard's administration. This was possibly the cause of the end of the good relationship between the two because friends of Geoffrey de Marisco had previously benefited from the estrangement of the royal land. On February 13, 1228 Richard followed him in the office of Justiciar of Ireland and Geoffrey de Marisco had to leave Ireland without being able to benefit from the conquest of Connacht.

With this abundance of power, Richard was able to act as kingmaker in Connacht. First he appointed Ruaidrís son Aedh king, only to drop him in the following year because of a rebellion and instead raised one of the sons of Cathal Crobderg to king with Fedlimid. However, there was also a conflict with Fedlimid, who was arrested in Richard's castle in Meelick in 1231. In 1232 there was an agreement between Richard and Aedh, after which he was reinstated as king. In the same year Richard built a castle in Galway .

However, Richard was to lose luck when Heinrich III. came under the influence of Peter des Roches and Hubert and numerous other high officials of the crown were ousted. Hubert's friends tried to save him by getting his appointment as Richard's successor as Justiciar of Ireland in 1232, with Richard as deputy, so that he had a chance to retreat. However, Hubert was dismissed from all offices in July 1232 and a nephew of Peter de Roches, Peter von Rivaux, was appointed Justiciar of Ireland. Richard was immediately instructed to surrender the royal castles he had administered and to dismiss Fedlimid. Fedlimid immediately began a campaign of revenge, in which u. a. Aedh was killed and Richard's castles were largely destroyed. Richard's position deteriorated further when he refused to give up his castle in Meelick and then Fedlimid was given the task of taking it.

In England, opposition to the influence of Peter von Rivaux, led by Richard Marshal, grew and escalated into open revolt. Richard Marshall was forced to move to Ireland by the raid on his Irish castles, where Geoffrey de Marisco pretended to support him, only to abandon him on April 1, 1234 in a dispute with the other barons acting on behalf of the king to let. Richard Marshall suffered defeat from the betrayal and died shortly afterwards from his injuries. Since Richard had supported the crown against Richard Marshall in this affair with Richard Marshall, he found favor with Heinrich III, who separated from Peter de Roches and Peter von Rivaux almost at the same time. In September 1234, the Connacht fief was renewed to Richard.

In 1235 the new conquest of Connacht began, where Richard a. a. was accompanied by Hugh de Lacy, Walter de Ridelisford and John de Cogan. After initial arguments, Fedlimid was again King of Connacht. However, when Richard was temporarily in England, Toirrdelbach's son Brian was appointed king by the Justiciar of Ireland, Maurice Fitz Gerald, which subsequently led to disputes for years, until in 1237 Maurice Fitz Gerald came to an agreement with Fedlimid and reinstated him as king . Then peace returned to the lands of Richard.

Richard settled primarily in Loughrea and gave large parts of Connacht as fiefs to the barons who had accompanied him. Thereby he ensured a successful development for Connacht for more than a century, as the delegation worked very well and led to a lasting pacification and settlement. Unlike in Leinster and Meath, the sub-fiefs included not only arms service, but also taxes.

Cities founded by Richard and his followers included Athenry , Ballinrobe , Dunmore, and Galway . Apart from Athenry and Galway, there were few English settlers. The thin upper class, thanks to their castles built all over Connacht and their military superiority, was able to hold out without any problems and possessed a wealth of power that otherwise did not exist under the English crown. The upper class, however, should quickly integrate into Irish society.

Richard was by Heinrich III. called up for his campaign in Poitou , where he died in early 1243. He left behind three sons, Richard, Walter and William, all of whom were minors at the time. The eldest son Richard received his father's property in February 1247, but died in 1248. Since the younger brothers were still minors at the time, the properties were initially administered by Peter de Bermingham. His second eldest son Walter became the first Earl of Ulster in 1264 .

literature

• Goddard Henry Orpen: Ireland under the Normans . Four volumes originally published in 1911 and 1920. A new 2005 integrated edition is available from Four Courts, Dublin, ISBN 1-85182-715-3 .
• Edmund Curtis: A History of Mediaeval Ireland from 1110 to 1513 . Maunsel & Roberts, Dublin 1923.
• James Lydon: The expansion and consolidation of the colony, 1215-54 . In: Art Cosgrove (ed.): Medieval Ireland 1169–1534 , pp. 156–178. Volume II of Series A New History of Ireland , Oxford University Press, Oxford 1987, ISBN 978-0-19-953970-3 .
• TW Moody, FX Martin, FJ Byrne (Eds.): Maps, Genealogies, Lists: A Companion to Irish History, Part II . In: A New History of Ireland , Volume IX. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1989, ISBN 978-0-19-959306-4 .
• Sean Duffy: Burgh, Richard de . In: SJ Connolly (ed.): The Oxford Companion to Irish History . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1998, p. 63, ISBN 0-19-211695-9 .
• Susan Foran: de Burgh, Richard . In: Brian Lalor (ed.): The Encyclopedia of Ireland . Yale University Press, New Haven 2003, p. 274, ISBN 0-300-09442-6 .

Remarks

1. ↑ Year of birth is not known, but Orpen proves in Volume 2 on p. 148 that Richard was of legal age in 1214; Year of death is confirmed by Moody et al., P. 170, Duffy and Foran; Orpen, p. 412 and Volume 3, p. 261 and footnote 30 narrow it down to the time before March 7, 1243 and prove this.
2. ^ Duffy.
3. ↑ Duffy, Foran.
4. ^ Curtis, p. 100.
5. ^ Curtis, p. 102.
6. ↑ Orpen, Volume II, p. 148.
7. ↑ Curtis, p. 107; Orpen, Volume II, pp. 186-190.
8. ↑ Orpen, Volume II, pp. 318-319.
9. ^ Curtis, Volume III, pp. 164-165.
10. ↑ Curtis, p. 138; Orpen, Volume III, p. 164.
11. ↑ Lydon, p. 162, sees the de Lacys as the most powerful Anglo-Irish family in Ireland.
12. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, p. 166.
13. ↑ Lydon, p. 161; Orpen, Volume III, pp. 158-159.
14. ↑ Lydon, p. 162; Orpen, Volume III, p. 159.
15. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, p. 161.
16. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, p. 162; Curtis, p. 143.
17. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, pp. 166-167.
18. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, p. 169.
19. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, p. 171; Lydon, p. 163.
20. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, pp. 171-172, 174; Lydon, p. 163.
21. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, pp. 172-173.
22. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, pp. 174-177.
23. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, pp. 177-179.
24. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, pp. 180-182; Lydon, p. 164.
25. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, pp. 60-65.
26. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, pp. 181-182.
27. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, pp. 182-183; Curtis, p. 146.
28. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, pp. 183-189.
29. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, pp. 189-193; Lydon, p. 165.
30. ^ Curtis, p. 149.
31. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, pp. 261-262.
32. ↑ Orpen, Volume III, pp. 265-266.