Mac William Íochtar (Lower Mac William), also known as the Mayo Burkes, were a fully Gaelicised branch of the Hiberno-Norman House of Burgh in Ireland. Mayo covered much of the northern part of the province of Connacht and the Mac William Íochtar functioned as a regional king and received the White Rod. The title was a successor office to the Lord of Connacht which ended upon the assassination of William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster, in June 1333.

Lower Mac William
Mac William Íochtar
c. 1330–1602
County Mayo, c. 1590 Mac William Íochtar territory (dark green) Vassals of Mac William Íochtar (light green)
County Mayo, c. 1590
Mac William Íochtar territory (dark green)
Vassals of Mac William Íochtar (light green)
CapitalKilmaine (inauguration site)
Common languagesIrish
Religion
Roman Catholicism
GovernmentTanistry
Chief 
• 1332–1375
Edmond Albanach de Burgh
• 1595–1602
Tibbot MacWalter Kittagh Bourke
History 
• Established
c. 1330
• Disestablished
1602
ISO 3166 codeIE
Preceded by
Succeeded by
House of Burke
County Mayo
Kingdom of Ireland

History edit

As a result of the Burke Civil War of the 1330s, the Lordship of Connacht was split between two opposing factions of the de Burgh family: the Burkes of Mac William Uachtar (or Clanricarde) in southern Connacht and the Mac William Íochtar Burkes of northern Connacht. For over three hundred years, the two families dominated the politics of the province, frequently fighting each other for supreme rule of both the Anglo-Irish and Gaelic-Irish peoples.

List of Mac William Íochtar edit

In 1594, Tibbot ne Long Bourke, one of the most prominent men in the country and son of Richard "the Iron" Bourke, 18th Mac William Íochtar (d.1582), accepted terms of surrender and regrant. In 1627, he was created Viscount Mayo.[1][2]

Genealogy edit

de Burgh Genealogy
Mac William Íochtar Genealogy

See also edit

References edit

Citations edit

  1. ^ Moody, T. W.; Martin, F. X.; Byrne, F. J., eds. (1989). A New History of Ireland: IX: Maps, Genealogies, Lists, A Companion to Irish History, Part II. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 235–36 (Lower Mac William and Viscounts of Mayo, 1332-1649).
  2. ^ Chambers, A. (2007). Shadow Lord: Theobald Bourke, Tibbott-Ne-Long, 1567–1629: Son of the pirate queen Grace O'Malley. Dublin: Ashfield Press. pp. 65–66.

Bibliography edit