| Burke Civil War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster | Edmond de Burgh ofCastleconnell | Edmond Albanach de Burgh | Uilleag de Burgh | ||||||
TheBurke/de Burgh Civil War was a conflict in Ireland from 1333 to 1338 between three leading members of thede Burgh (Burke/Bourke)Anglo-Norman family resulting in the division into three clans.
Twenty-year-oldWilliam Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster, known as "the Brown Earl", was murdered by his household knights in June 1333 after he had starved to death his cousin and rival SirWalter Liath de Burgh in the previous year (1332). The Earl's only child,Elizabeth de Burgh (1332–1363), succeeded as Countess of Ulster and legal heir to the de Burgh estates as an infant. For safety, as an infant and a female heiress, she was taken by her mother toEngland as her lordships collapsed in a power struggle.[1][2]
Three members of the de Burgh family fought against each other in an attempt to preserve their own personal estates, and hold overall control of the massive de Burgh inheritance in Ireland. They were:
The eventual outcome of the war was the loss of almost all the de Burgh lands inUlster, which was reconquered within a year by theGaelic-Irish.[3][4]
The remaining de Burghs in Ireland fragmented into three distinct clans, all of which had several sub-septs. They were:
