Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster

Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster (1259 – 29 July 1326), called The Red Earl, was one of the most powerful Irish nobles of the late 13th and early 14th centuries, a son of Walter de Burgh, the 1st Earl of Ulster (of the second creation) and Lord of Connacht.cite book | last=Curtis | first=Edmund | title=A History of Ireland | origyear=1950 | year=2004 | edition=6th ed. | publisher=Routledge | place=New York | pages=78, 83–86 | id=ISBN 0-415-27949-6] His name, "Richard Óg", meant Richard the Young, probably a reference to his youth when he became earl in 1271, or to differentiate him from his grandfather, Richard Mor.

Richard Óg was the most powerful of the de Burgh Earls of Ulster, succeeding his father in Ulster and Connacht upon reaching his majority in 1280. He was a friend of King Edward I of England, and ranked first among the Earls of Ireland. Richard's wife Margaret de Burgh (no direct relation) was the daughter of Sir John de Burgh and Hawise of Lanvaley [http://www.thepeerage.com/p10248.htm#i102471] . He pursued expansionist policies that often left him at odds with fellow Norman lords.

His daughter Elizabeth was to become the second wife of King Robert the Bruce of Scotland. However, this did not stop him leading his forces from Ireland to support England's King Edward I in his Scottish campaigns and when the forces of Edward Bruce invaded Ulster in 1315, the Earl led a force against him, but was beaten at Connor in Antrim. The invasion of Bruce and the uprising of Felim Ó Conchúir in Connacht left him virtually without authority in his lands, but Ó Conchúir was killed in 1316 at the Second Battle of Athenry, and he was able to recover Ulster after the defeat of Bruce at Faughart.

He died on 29 July 1326 at Athassel Priory, near Cashel, County Tipperary.

Children and family

*Aveline de Burgh (b. c. 1280), married John de Bermingham, 1st Earl of Louth
*Eleanor de Burgh (1282 – aft. August 1324)
*Elizabeth de Burgh (c. 1284 – 26 October 1327), married Robert I of Scotland
*Walter de Burgh (c. 1285–1304)
*John de Burgh (c. 1286 – 18 June 1313)
*Matilda de Burgh (c. 1288–1320), married Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Hertford
*Thomas de Burgh (c. 1288–1316)
*Catherine de Burgh (c. 1296 – 1 November 1331), married Maurice Fitzgerald, 1st Earl of Desmond
*Edmond de Burgh (b. c. 1298)
*Joan de Burgh (c. 1300 – 23 April 1359), married firstly, Thomas FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Kildare, by whom she had issue, and secondly, Sir John Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy of Knaith, by whom she had issue, including Elizabeth Darcy, who married James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond

ee also

*Ballymote Castle

References

*1911