Máire Lynch, Countess of Clanricarde (fl.

1547 Year 1547 ( MDXLVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events January–March * January 8 – The first Lithuanian-language book, a ''Catechism'' (, Simple Words of Catechism), is published in Königsbe ...

) was an Irish noblewoman. Lynch was a member of the Tribes of Galway who married, prior to his death in 1544,

Ulick na gCeann Burke, 1st Earl of Clanricarde Ulick na gCeann Burke, 12th Clanricarde or Mac William Uachtar, 1st Earl of Clanricarde ( ; died 1544; styled MacWilliam, and na-gCeann, meaning "of the Heads", "having made a mount of the heads of men slain in battle which he covered up with ...

. The reason for the marriage was to aid Burke's assimilation into

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

society and learn English. However, Lynch was only one of three wives that Burke was simultaneously married to (see

Early Irish Law Early Irish law, also called Brehon law (from the old Irish word breithim meaning judge), comprised the statutes which governed everyday life in Early Medieval Ireland. They were partially eclipsed by the Norman invasion of 1169, but underwe ...

). Upon his death, she claimed that their son, John Burke, should become 2nd Earl. A commission established that the legitimate heir was Richard Burke, 2nd Earl of Clanricarde, son of Burke's first marriage to Gráinne Ní Chearbaill of Ely O'Carroll. Lynch was in compensation granted £300.00. Her son, John, would nevertheless challenge his half-brother for the earldom in the 1550s. In 1553, the

Annals of the Four Masters The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' () or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' () are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Genesis flood narrative, Deluge, dated as 2,242 Anno Mundi, years after crea ...

state that John Burke was besieged at his castle of Binmore (''Beann-mor'') by Earl Richard, but the latter had been driven off by Donnell O'Brien. The same annals record, ''sub anno'' 1598, that ''the two sons of William, son of John Burke of Rinn-Mhil'' (near

Oranmore Oranmore ( or ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland, east of Galway city on an inlet of Galway Bay. At the 2022 census, Oranmore had a population of 5,819. The town is in a civil parish of the same name. Etymology Oranmore is the anglicisat ...

) were killed during an invasion of Galway by Aodh Ruadh Ó Domnaill. By 1547, Máire Lynch had remarried to Piers Martin of Galway (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1547–60). Adrian Martyn (2005) believed the couple to be grandparents of Walter Martyn,

Mayor of Galway The office of Mayor of Galway is an honorific title used by the of Galway City Council. The council has jurisdiction throughout its administrative area of the city of Galway which is the largest city in the province of Connacht, in Ireland. Th ...

for the term 1613-14. He accounts among her descendants Patrick Martyn fitz Walter (Mayor 1622-23), George Martyn fitz Walter (Mayor 1631-32), as well as other sheriffs and merchants of the town. He further states that his research indicates that Máire and Piers are ancestors to a large section of the Martyn family of Galway, whom he terms the Clan Walter. He places the clan in south-west Galway, in an area from Loughrea to Kilcolgan and bounded by

Gort Gort ( or ) is a town of around 2,800 inhabitants in County Galway in the west of Ireland. Located near the border with County Clare, the town lies between the Burren and the Slieve Aughty and is served by the R458 road (Ireland), R458 and R460 ...

in the south. The year of Lynch's death is unknown. She would have been buried in the town of Galway.

References

* '' History of Galway'', James Hardiman, Galway, 1820. p
85
n.32 * ''Old Galway'', Maureen Donovan O'Sullivan, Oxford, 1942. * ''The wives of Ulick de Burgh, first earl of Clanricard'', Maureen Donovan O'Sullivan, ''Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society'', 1944, pp. 174–83. * ''The Tribes of Galway'', Adrian Martyn, Galway, 2001. * ''Role of Honour:The Mayors of Galway City 1485-2001'', William Henry, Galway 2001 * ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'', p. 380, Cambridge, 2010. * ''The Tribes of Galway:1124-1642'', Adrian Martyn, Galway, 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Maire Nobility from County Galway 16th-century Irish people 16th-century Irish women

Clanricarde Clanricarde ( ), also known as Mac William Uachtar (Upper Mac William) or the Galway Burkes, were a fully Gaelicised branch of the Hiberno-Norman House of Burgh who were important landowners in Ireland from the 13th to the 20th centuries. Terr ...

Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Maire Maire

See also

References