CLANRICARDE

clanricarde, ulick de burgh (bourke or burke), 1st earl of (d. 1544), styled macwilliam, and ne-gan or na-gceann (i.e. "of the heads," "having made a mount of the heads of men slain in battle which he covered up with earth"), was the son of richard or rickard de burgh, lord of clanricarde, by a daughter of madden of portumna, and grandson of ulick de burgh, lord of clanricarde (1467-1487), the collateral heir male of the earls of ulster. on the death of the last earl in 1333, his only child elizabeth had married lionel, duke of clarence, and the earldom became merged in the crown, in consequence of which the de burghs abjured english laws and sovereignty, and chose for their chiefs the sons of sir william, the "red" earl of ulster's brother, the elder william taking the title of macwilliam eighter (uachtar, i.e. upper), and becoming the ancestor of the earls of clanricarde, and his brother sir edmond that of macwilliam oughter (ochtar, i.e. lower), and founding the family of the earls of mayo. in 1361 the duke of clarence was sent over as lord-lieutenant to ireland to enforce his claims as husband of the heir general, but failed, and the chiefs of the de burghs maintained their independence of english sovereignty for several generations. ulick de burgh succeeded to the headship of his clan, exercised a quasi-royal authority and held vast estates in county galway, in connaught, including loughry, dunkellin, kiltartan (hilltaraght) and athenry, as well as clare and leitrim. in march 1541, however, he wrote to henry