Richard de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster

     Richard de was born circa 1259 in Ireland. In 1286, he ravaged Connaught and reestablished his family's power there, deposing Brian O'Neill as chief native king and substituting a nominee of his own. He also attacked the native king of Connaught in favour of that branch of the O'Connors whom his own family supported. He led his forces from Ireland to support England's King Edward I in his Scottish campaigns; and, on Edward de Bruce's invasion of Ulster in 1315, the Earl of Ulster marched against him, although he had given his daughter, Elizabeth in marriage to Robert de Bruce, afterward King of Scotland, about 1304. Occasionally summoned to English Parliaments, he spent most of his 40 years of activity in Ireland, where he was the greatest noble of his day, usually fighting the natives or his Anglo-Norman rivals, the Geraldines. [Encyclopedia Britannica - 1997] Richard departed this life on Monday, 29 July 1326 in near Cashel, County Tipperary, Ireland, at Athassel Monastery.