References and Further Reading
Blake, W. J. “William de Burgh: Progenitor of the Burkes in
Ireland.” Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Histor-
ical Society7 (1911–1912).
Claffey, John A. “Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, (c.1260–1326).”
Ph.D. thesis, University College Galway, 1970.
Dudley Edwards, R. “Anglo-Norman Relations with Connacht,
1169–1224.” Irish Historical Studies1 (1938–1939):
135–153.
Frame, Robin. Colonial Ireland, 1169–1369. Dublin: Helicon
Limited, 1981.
Gwynn, Aubrey and R. Neville Hadcock. Medieval Religious
Houses: Ireland; With an Appendix to Early Sites.London:
Longman, 1970.
Nicholls, Kenneth. Gaelic and Gaelicised Ireland in the Middle
Ages. Dublin: Gill and MacMillan, 1972.
Ó Raghallaigh, Tomas “Seanchus Burcach.” Journal of the
Galway Archaeological and Historical Society 13
(1922–1928): 50–60 and 101–137; 14 (1928–1929): 30–51
and 142–167.
Orpen, Goddard Henry “Richard de Burgh and the Conquest of
Connaught.” Journal of the Galway Archaeological and His-
torical Society7 (1911–1912): 129–147.
Orpen, Goddard Henry. Ireland Under the Normans 1216–1333
4 vols (Oxford University Press, 1911 and 1920).
———. “The Earldom of Ulster.” Journal of the Royal Society
of Antiquaries Ireland 43 (1913): 30–46 and 133–143; 44
(1914): 51–66; 45 (1915) 123–42.
Perros (Walton), Helen. “Crossing the Shannon Frontier: Con-
nacht and the Anglo-Normans, 1170–1224.” In Colony and
Frontier in Medieval Ireland: Essays Presented to J.F.
Lydon, edited by T. B. Barry, et al. London: Hambledon,
1995: 117–138.
Sweetman, H. S., ed. Calendar of Documents Relating to
Ireland. 5 vols. London: Longman, 1875–1886.
Otway-Ruthven, A. J. A History of Medieval Ireland.2nd ed.
New York: Routledge Books, 1980.
See alsoBermingham; Connacht; Factionalism;
Gaelicisation; Ua Conchobair; Ulster,
Earldom of
BUTLER-ORMOND
Origins
Theobald Walter, elder brother of Hubert, Arch-
bishop of Canterbury from 1193–1205, was the
ancestor of the Butler family in Ireland. His father,
Hervey Walter, was a knight from Amounderness in
Lancashire. The name Butler, soon to replace the
family name, was derived from the honorific title of
Butler of the household of John, Lord of Ireland and
youngest son of Henry II. Theobald later assumed
the hereditary title of Butler of Ireland, by virtue of
which the family enjoyed the prise of wines entering
Irish ports for several centuries. The reason for
Theobald’s rise to power in Ireland must be linked
to the influence of a maternal aunt, wife of Ranulph
de Glanville, justiciar of England from 1180 to 1189.
It was this vital connection with the court of Henry II
that opened up opportunities of advancement to the
sons of a relatively obscure knight. Both Hubert and
Theobald appear to have grown up in Ranulph’s
household. When Theobald set out for Ireland in
1185 as a member of John’s household, he was
accompanied by his uncle. Ranulph wasted no time
in exploiting this position, with the result that
shortly after the expedition landed at Waterford, he
and Theobald jointly received a grant from John of
extensive territory in the kingdom of Limerick
(Thomond or North Munster). Theobald subse-
quently fell from favor when John became king in- Two years later the kingdom of Limerick was
granted to William de Braose, but Theobald’s title
to his lordship was secured by the timely interven-
tion of Hubert, who headed the list of witnesses in
a charter confirming his possessions, the de Braose
grant notwithstanding.
The Butler Lordship
John’s grant of five and a half “cantreds” (baronies)
in the kingdom of Limerick for the service of twenty-
two knights was speculative. The territory lay well
beyond the limits of Anglo-Norman settlement in- Apart from a desire to reward his followers for
their military services, John seems to have intended
the conquest of Munster, doubtless as a means of
extending his lordship of Ireland and securing his
demesnes in Munster. The grants to Theobald, William
de Burgh, and Philip of Worcester included the mod-
ern county of Tipperary and some adjacent territories
in County Limerick, County Clare, and County
Offaly. Little is known of the progress of the con-
quest before Theobald died circa 1206, except that
it was fiercely contended by Domnall Ua Briain,
King of Limerick. However, it is possible to recon-
struct both the outline and the organization of the
lordship on the basis of later manorial surveys, which
bear the imprint of an original plan that can confi-
dently be attributed to Theobald on the basis of a
grant of “the tuath of Kenelfenelgille” (the manor
of Drum) to one of his vassals in the cantred of
Eliogarty, probably between 1190 and 1200. This
important deed reveals that before he died, the future
shape of the settlement was already discernible. At
the center of the cantred lay Theobald’s chief manor
(caput) of Thurles, from which radiated the fiefs of
military tenants owing feudal services to their lord.
This distinctively uniform scheme of settlement
was repeated in all of the territories granted to
Theobald. He organized his lordship in the kingdom
BURGH