John (Courcy) de Courcy (1170 - 1219)

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1219 at about age 49 in France

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Biography

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John de Courcy, Earl of Ulster

Little is known of John De Courcy's origins, except that he is linked with the De Courcy family of Stoke Courcy (Stogursey) in Somerset, and may not have been a son of William De Courcy as some family trees suggest, but more probably an illegitimate brother. Only in receipt of a small inheritance in England, he clearly arrived in Ireland, intent carving out a fiefdom for himself there. ^[1]

John de Courcy, of Stoke Courcy, in Somerset, England, is first recorded arriving in Ireland in 1176, with King Henry II's deputy in Ireland, William fitz Adelm (William fitz Audelin), to join the garrison at Dublin; sent in advance of Henry ll's expedition to Ireland to compel the allegiance of Richard de Clare (Strongbow) and the Norman barons. ^[2]

Ambitious, he invaded the kingdom of Ulaid in 1177 (eastern Ulster) to carve out a fiefdom for himself there. Recorded in Mac Carthaigh's Book. we read that in the year 1178. The valiant knight John de Courcy came secretly with a band of knights and archers from Dublin to Downpatrick, and reaching it unperceived, they made a dyke from sea to sea about Downpatrick. The Ulaidh then assembled, under Ruaidhrí Mac Duinn Shléibhe (Rory MacDonlevy), to make an attack on Downpatrick against John, but on reaching it they retreated without striking a blow when they saw the Englishmen with their horses in full battle-dress. When the Englishmen saw the Ulaidh in flight, they followed them with their people, and inflicted slaughter upon them, both by drowning and by the sword. ^[3]

He built a stone castle as his stronghold at Carrickfergus County Antrim. ^{[4] [5]}

He also made incursions into the west to increase his territory and lordship.

By 1180, John de Courcy left Downpatrick desolate, and he came to Áth Glaise (Ardglass, County Down) and built a castle and dwelt there. ^[6]

About 1180,he married Affreca, daughter of Godred II Olafsson, King of Mann. There are no known children. ^{[7] [8]}

In 1183 he endowed a priory at the cathedral of Down (destroyed by an earthquake in 1245.) ^[9]

In 1185, John Courcy, Earl of Ulster, was made Governor of Ireland ^[10]

In 1188 he invaded Connacht, but was repulsed and the next year he plundered Armagh. ^[11]

Hugh de Lacy, younger son of Hugh de Lacy Lord of Meath, began to wage war on John de Courcy, capturing him in 1204. ^{[12] [13]}

Inch Abbey was established as a Cistercian house by John de Courcy and Affreca as an act of repentance for the destruction of the Abbey at Erinagh by de Courcy in 1177 ^{[14] [15]}

Dundrum Castle

He created a cell for Benedictines at St. Andrews in the Ards (Black Abbey) for the houses of Stoke Courcy in Somerset and Lonlay in France, which was near Inishargy, Kircubbin, in present-day County Down. His wife, Affreca, founded the Cistercian monastery of Grey Abbey, Co. Down, as a daughter house of Holm Cultram (Cumberland) in 1193. ^[16]

John de Courcy gave the early Irish monastery of Nendrum to the monastery of St Bees in Cumberland so that they might also establish a Benedictine cell on Strangford Lough (county Down) ^[17]

In 1199, King John of England authorized de Lacy to wage war on John de Courcy, who had invaded and conquered much of Ulster without permission from the King. He built Carrickfergus Castle in a bid to become king of Ulster. ^[18]

There were a series of conflicts between 1201 and 1204. In 1201 he was captured by Hugh de Lacy, and ransomed by the O'Neills ^[19]

Hugh de Lacy captured de Courcy in 1203 or 1204 ^{[20] [21]}

In 1204 John de Courcy counterattacked with the O'Neills, to recover his lordship,was met and repulsed by Walter de Lacy with a force from Mide. ^[22]

In 1205, "a fleet was brought by John de Curci from Innsi-Gall (Hebrides), to contest Uladh (Ulster) with the sons of Hugo de Laci and the Foreigners of Midhe (Mide/Munster). No good resulted from this expedition, however; but the country was destroyed and plundered; and they afterwards departed without obtaining power. John made his covenant and amity with O'Neill and the Cenel-Eoghain." ^[23]

John de Courcy was finally defeated at Carrickfergus. ^[24] He was forced from Ireland altogether, and his lands were awarded to Hugh de Lacy.

With support from Affreca's brother, Ragnold, King of Mann (Ragnvald Godredsson) he unsuccessfully laid seige to Dundrum Castle. ^[25]

He never regained his Irish lands; they were awarded to Hugh de Lacy by King John made Hugh Earl of Ulster, granting him all the land of the province "as John de Courcy held it on the day when Hugh defeated him"

King John then had John de Courcy imprisoned and he spent the rest of his life in poverty. He was subsequently released when he took the Cross to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

"When he had endured for a long time the most squalid life of a prison, he was at length set at liberty by King John, being chosen as champion against a certain man of gigantic stature whom the King of France had appointed the defender of his right to a certain castle; when the Frenchman, afraid of his great strength, had refused the combat, in the presence of both kings he gave noble proof of his vigour, having cut through a helmet at one stroke. Wherefore by both he was gifted with large presents, and was restored by John to the earldom of Ulster, but having endeavoured fifteen times, always with great danger and contrary winds, to return to Ireland, and having sojourned some time with the monks at Chester, he returned to France, and there ended his life." ^[26]

He is thought to have died about 1219. ^[27]

Issue

1. Patrick De Courcy
2. Fergus De Courcy
3. Miles De Courcy

Sources

1. ↑ what-when-how : COURCY, JOHN DE (Medieval Ireland)
2. ↑ Wikipedia : William fitz Aldelm & Wkipedia : Affreca de Courcy
3. ↑ [https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T100013.html Celt : Mac Carthaigh's Book MCB1178.1
4. ↑ http://www.virtualvisittours.com/carrickfergus-town/ Virtual Tours : Carrickfergus Town
5. ↑ Culture: A History of Carrickfergus
6. ↑ [https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T100013.html Celt : Mac Carthaigh's Book MCB1180.1
7. ↑ According to the Dublin Annals of Inisfallen, the marriage between Affrica and de Courcy took place in 1180
8. ↑ A contemporary historian, Giraldus notes John de Courcy as one of those who "never had any lawful issue of their bodies begotten" Giraldus Cambrensis; The Conquest of Ireland p: 6 trans. by Thomas Forester; notes by Thomas Wright pub: 2001
9. ↑ Placenamesni.org : Black Abbey, County Down
10. ↑ The Present State of Great-Britain and Ireland: In Three Parts ... by Guy Miege pub: 1718
11. ↑ "A hosting by John De-Courcy and by the Foreigners of all Ireland into Connacht" Celt : The Annals of Ulster: U1188.6 corpus of electronic texts edition
12. ↑ Book of Howth
13. ↑ [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_de_Lacy,_1st_Earl_of_Ulster Wikipedia : Hugh de Lacy 1st Earl of Ulster
14. ↑ Wikipedia : Inch Abbey
15. ↑ In Airthir-Maighi (county Down) "they [John's forces] burned Cuil-rathain and many other churches" Celt : The Annals of Ulster: U1177.5 corpus of electronic texts edition
16. ↑ Wikipedia : Kircubbin, County Down quoting DeBreffny, D; Mott, G (1976). The Churches and Abbeys of Ireland. London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 60–61
17. ↑ Nendrum Monastry
18. ↑ Library Ireland : Carrickfergus Castle Dublin Penny Journal: vol:1 no: 15 6th Oct. 1832
19. ↑ John de Courcy and the Galls of Ulaidh and Midhe [were] in Connacht with Cathal Croibhdhearg son of Toirdhealbhach to recover his kingship. Defeat and slaughter [were inflicted] by Cathal son of Conchobhar Maonmhuighe and the Connachtmen on that force, and John went eastwards across Loch Rí and the family of Hugo de Lacy took him prisoner, and hostages of the nobility of the Galls of Ulaidh had to be given for him. [https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T100013.html Celt : Mac Carthaigh's Book : MCB1201.5
20. ↑ A battle between Hugo de Lacy and John de Courcy at Downpatrick in which John was captured and his people slaughtered, so that he had to surrender his lordship and his castellation to Hugo. [https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T100013.html Celt : Mac Carthaigh's Book : MCB1203.6
21. ↑ "1204. A battle is fought at Down between John Courcy, first Earl of Ulster, and Hugh Lacy ... Courcy conquered but ... he was treacherously seized by some of his own men" Celt : Annales Hiberniae p: 21 by James Grace of Kilkenny corpus of electronic texts edition
22. ↑ A.D. 1204. John de Courcy came with the Cinéal Eóghain from the north into Ulaidh to recover his lordship. Walter de Lacy with a force from Midhe came from the south against him, and between them they ravaged Ulaidh. Celt : Mac Carthaigh's Book : MCB1204.1
23. ↑ Celt : Annals of Loch Cé: LC1205.5 & LC1205.6 trans: Hennessy, W. M. corpus of electronic texts edition
24. ↑ Defeat and slaughter [were inflicted] on John de Courcy at Carrickfergus. Celt : Mac Carthaigh's Book : MCB1206.5
25. ↑ The expedition is also recorded in the Annals of Loch Cé, which state that de Courcy brought a fleet from the Isles to battle the de Lacys.
26. ↑ dated 1204 : Celt: Annales Hiberniae p: 23 - by James Grace of Kilkenny corpus of electronic texts edition
27. ↑ Mary Frances Cusack explains that "It is supposed that he died about 1219, because in that year Henry lll ordered his widow Affreca. to be paid her dower out of the lands which her late husband had possessed in Ireland. An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 by Mary Frances Cusack; pub: Books on Demand 2018

• The History of Ireland Section 34 XXXIV; by Geoffrey Keating Celt: corpus of electronic texts edition
• Wikipedia : John de Courcy
• there's a nice biography at Devlin Family: John de courcy; Lord of Ulster
• discussion of later generations of de Courcy family, Lords Courcy and Kinsale (now Kingsale) can be found in Cokayne, George Edward, The Complete Peerage: or a history of the House of Lords and all its members from the earliest times, 2nd ed., vol. 7, pp. 279-293, edited by Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday & Lord Howard de Walden, London: St Catherine Press, 1929. Digital image, FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/84574-redirection : accessed 9 July 2019.
• A detailed biography (12+ pages) is included in James Wills' Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen, from the earliest times to the present period (Dublin: Macgregor, Polson 1840-47), pp.308-321:
  • https://archive.org/details/livesofillustrio01willuoft/page/308/mode/2up

See Also:

• Time Team, Season 20, Episode 9 "The Lost Castle of Dundrum" (Castle Dundrum, County Down)