de Burgh family (continued...)

After the defeat of the Scots at the Battle of Methven on 19 June 1306, the English laid siege to the castle containing the royal party. The siege finally succeeded when the English bribed a blacksmith with "all the gold he could carry" to set fire to the corn store. The victors hanged and beheaded Bruce's brother, along with all the men from the castle. They imprisoned Bruce's sister Mary and Isabel, Countess of Buchan in wooden cages erected on the walls of Berwick and Roxburgh castles, and they sent Bruce's 12-year-old daughter Marjorie Bruce to a nunnery. Due to Edward's unwillingness to anger the Earl of Ulster, Elizabeth went into house arrest in England.

Eight years later, after the Bruce had defeated the English at Bannockburn (June 1314), Elizabeth finally walked free in exchange for captured English nobles.

Elizabeth gave birth to two sons and two daughters: John, Matilda, Margaret, and David (the future king David II of Scotland). Elizabeth Bruce died on October 27, 1327 at Cullen Castle, Banffshire and is buried in Dunfermline. Her husband died eight months later.

Elisabeth's farher, Richard Og de Burgh, was the 2nd Earl of Ulster, 3rd Lord of Connacht. Born about 1259, died 1326. His name, "Richard Og" 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. He was also known as the Red Earl.

Richard Og was the most powerful of the de Burgh Earls of Ulster. He was a friend of King Edward I of England, and ranked first among the Earls of Ireland. He pursued expansionist policies that often left him at odds with fellow Anglo-Irish lords; he successfully defeated the King Felim mac Aedh Ua Conchobair of Connacht at the Second Battle of Athenry in 1316.

His sister, Egidia de Burgh, was wife of James the Stewart of Scotland. His second son, John de Burgh, was husband to Elizabeth de Clare, a granddaughter of Edward I. Of his daughters, Catherine married the Earl of Desmond; Joan married the Earl of Kildare; Avelina married John Earl of Louth; Matilda married Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester; and Elizabeth married Robert the Bruce, later Robert I of Scotland. His son John died in 1313, leaving the succession to his infant son, William.

Richard Og's great-grandfather, William de Burgh (c. 1160 - 1204) was born in the village of Burgh Castle, Norfolk, East Anglia, Kingdom of England and died at Athassell Abbey, Golden, County Tipperary, Munster, Ireland. William took his surname from the village of Burgh Castle, Norfolk, England. Very little can be ascertained about his background other than his family were minor gentry, and that his probable younger brother was Hubert de Burgh, later Earl of Kent.

William apparently arrived in Ireland in 1184 among the retinue of Prince John of England, son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. John apparently appointed him Governor of Limerick. Within a few years he was granted the manors of Kilsheeland and Ardpatrick, and in time, the castle of Tibraghty in County Kilkenny.

Sometime in the 1190s, William married a daughter of Donal Mor mac Turlough O'Brian, King of Thomond (died 1194). This alliance probably took place during the reign of his son, Murtough, as up to the time of his death Donal had being at war with the Normans. At any rate no more wars are recorded between the two sides for the rest of the decade.

In 1200, "Cathal Crobderg Ua Conchobair went into Munster, to the son of Mac Carthy and William Burke to solicit their aid." This marked the start of de Burgh's interest in the province. Though King of Connacht Cathal Crobderg Ua Conchobair (reigned 1190 - 1224) faced much opposition, mainly from within his own family and wished to engage Burke's aid to help secure his position. The following year William and Ua Conchobair led an army from Limerick to Tuam and finally to Boyle. Ua Conchobair's rival, Cathal Carragh Ua Conchobair marched at the head of his army to give them battle but was killed in a combined Burke/Ua Conchobair onslaught after a week of skirmishing between the two sides.

William and Ua Conchobair then travelled to Iar Connacht and stayed at Cong for Easter. Here, William and the sons of Rory O'Flaherty conspired to kill Ua Conchobair but the plot was foiled, apparently by holy oaths they were made to swear by the local Coarb family. However, when de Burgh demanded payment for himself and his retinue, battle finally broke out with over seven hundred of de Burgh's followers said to have being killed. William, however, managed to return to Limerick.