Walter de Burgh, 1st Earl of Ulster

Walter de Burgh, 1st Earl of Ulster, 2nd Lord of Connaught ( ; – 28 July 1271), was an Irish peer from the House of Burgh.

Biography De Burgh was the second son of Richard Mór de Burgh, 1st Lord of Connaught and Egidia de Lacy.

In 1243, he succeeded his father as Lord of Connacht. In a royal order from Westminster in September 1247, Sir John Fitzgeoffrey was charged by the King Henry III with seizing the lands of Walter de Burgh's older brother Richard, who had died. The de Burgh lands in Connaught were being held by John de Livet, likely the son of Gilbert de Lyvet, one of the earliest Lord Mayors of Dublin and Marmaduke de Eschales (Scales).

The traditional account that Walter de Burgh became earl of Ulster through marriage to a cousin is no longer generally accepted. Upon the death of Hugh de Lacy, the 1st Earl of Ulster, in 1242 the earldom reverted to the crown. In 1263, De Burgh was created the 1st Earl of Ulster by King Edward I.

Ancestry