Richard de Burgo, Second Earl of Ulster

DIED A. D. 1326.

From The Irish Nation: Its History and Its Biography

By James and Freeman Wills

RICHARD, the second earl of Ulster, called from his complexion the red earl,[1] was educated in the court of Henry HI. He was the most powerful subject in Ireland. In 1273 he pursued the Scots into Scotland, and, in return for a most destructive incursion, in which they effected great devastation in this island, he killed many men and spoiled many places. For this exploit he was made general of the Irish forces in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Gascoigne, &c. He made many wars in Ireland; raising and depressing at his pleasure the native chiefs of Connaught and Ulster. He gradually attained to such an eminence that his name was mentioned in all commissions and parliamentary rolls before that of the lord-lieutenant. He attended on the king in all his expeditions into Scotland.

His foundations of monasteries and castles are numerous and widely scattered. He built a Carmelite monastery at Loughrea, and also built the castles of Ballymote and Corran in Sligo, with a castle in the town of Sligo; Castle-Connel on the Shannon near Limerick; and Green castle in Down, near Carlingford bay. He closed a long and active public life, by giving a magnificent entertainment to the nobility assembled at a parliament held in Kilkenny; after which he retired to the monastery of Athasil, the foundation and burial-place of his family There he died in 1326.

NOTE:-

[1] Lodge.