ablished himself at Downpatrick, and was surrounded
in almost regal state by a staff of officers, including his constable,
seneschal, and chamberlain; he even coined money in his own name.
Complaints of his exactions were carried to the King. The De Lacys
accused him of disloyalty. In 1202 the then Viceroy, Hugh de Lacy,
attempted to seize him treacherously, at a friendly meeting. He failed
to accomplish this base design; but his brother, Walter, succeeded
afterwards in a similar attempt, and De Courcy was kept in durance until
the devastations which his followers committed in revenge obliged his
enemies to release him.

In 1204 he defeated the Viceroy in a battle at Down. He was aided in
this by the O'Neills, and by soldiers from Man and the Isles. It will be
remembered that he could always claim assistance from the latter, in
consequence of his connexion by marriage. But this did not avail him. He
was summoned before the Council in Dublin, and some of his possessions
were forfeited. Later in the same year (A.D. 1204) he received a safe
conduct to proceed to the King. It is probable that he was confined in
the Tower of London for some time; but it is now certain that he
revisited Ireland in 1210, if not earlier, in the service of John, who
granted him an annual pension.[318] It is supposed that he died about
1219; for in that year Henry III. ordered his widow, Affreca, to be paid
her dower out of the lands which her late husband had possessed in
Ireland.

Cambrensis states that De Courcy had no children; but the Barons of
Kinsale claim to be descended from him; and even so late as 1821 they
exercised the privilege of appearing covered before George IV.--a favour
said to have been granted to De Courcy by King John, after his recall
from Ireland, as a reward for his prowess. Dr. Smith states, in his
_History of Cork_, that Miles de Courcy was a hostage for his father
during the time when he was permitted to leave the Tower to fight the
French champion. In a pedigree of the MacCarthys of Cooraun Lough,
county Kerry, a daughter of Sir John de Courcy is mentioned. The Irish
annalists, as may be supposed, were not slow to attribute his downfall
to his crimes.

Another English settler died about this period, and received an equal
share of reprobation; this was FitzAldelm, more commonly known as Mac
William Burke (De Burgo), and the ancestor of the Burke family in
Ireland. Cambrensis describes him as a man addicted to many