300 men. His wife, Maud, fled to England with her
only child, a daughter, named Elizabeth,[354] who was a year old. The
Burkes of Connaught, who were the junior branch of the family, fearing
that she would soon marry again, and transfer the property to other
hands, immediately seized the Connaught estates, declared themselves
independent of English law, and renounced the English language and
customs. They were too powerful to be resisted with impunity; and while
the ancestor of the Clanrickardes assumed the Irish title of Mac William
_Oughter_, or the Upper, Edmund Burke, the progenitor of the Viscounts
of Mayo, took the appellation of Mac William _Eighter_, or the Lower.
This was not the last time when English settlers identified themselves,
not merely from policy, but even from inclination, with the race whom
they had once hated and oppressed.

In 1334 the English and Irish marched into Munster to attack MacNamara,
and added the guilt of sacrilege to their other crimes, by burning a
church, with 180 persons and two priests in it, none of whom were
permitted to escape. Another outrage was committed by the settlers, who
appear to have been quite as jealous of each others property as the
Irish clans; for we find that one Edmund Burke drowned another of the
same name in Lough Mask, and, as usual a war ensued between the
partisans of each family. After a sanguinary struggle, Turlough O'Connor
drove the murderer out of the province. But this prince soon after
ruined himself by his wickedness. He married Burke's widow, and put away
his own lawful wife; from which it may be concluded that he had avenged
the crime either from love of this woman, or from a desire to possess
himself of her husband's property. His immoral conduct alienated the
other chieftains, and after three years' war he was deposed.

Edward had thrown out some hints of an intended visit to Ireland,
probably to conceal his real purpose of marching to Scotland. Desmond
was released on bail in 1333, after eighteen months' durance, and
repaired with some troops to assist the King at Halidon Hill. Soon after
we find him fighting in Kerry, while the Earl of Kildare was similarly
occupied in Leinster. In 1339 twelve hundred Kerry men were slain in one
battle. The Anglo-Norman, FitzNicholas, was among the number of
prisoners. He died in prison soon after. This gentleman, on one
occasion, dashed into the assize court at Tralee, and killed Dermod, the
heir of the Mac