Tiobóid na Long Bourke, (at sea, 1567 – 18 June, 1629, Kinturk, Mayo), aka Theobald Bourke, was a clan chief of the MacWilliam Burkes of County Mayo in Ireland, and was later created first Viscount Mayo. His successful life followed and usefully illustrates the difficult transition from the traditional Gaelic world during the Tudor conquest of Ireland.[1]
Bourke known as Tiobóid na Long, with varying spellings such as "Teabóid" or "Tepóitt" in the Irish of the time, meaning "Tibbot of the ships". This was usually rendered in Tudor English as: Tibbot or Tibbott ne Long.
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Tiobóid's Irish ancestors started with William de Burgh who was granted the overlordship of Connacht in 1179 by John Lackland, then the Lord of Ireland. William's son Richard (d.1243) took actual possession of the province in the 13th century. His descent then divided their lands into:
These branches held their lands against Gaelic and Norman opponents in the following centuries, typical of the Norman-Irish families who had intermarried locally and had adopted Gaelic culture by the 15th century (see Gaelic revival).
His mother was the famous pirate queen Grace O'Malley (1530–1603) and his father was Risdeárd an Iarainn Bourke (d.1583), who was her second husband, and a senior member of the Lower MacWilliam Burke clan. Risdeárd an Iarainn ("Iron Richard") was so called from his chain mail or from his iron works. Both parents owned lands along the west coast of County Mayo. Tiobóid was born at sea, supposedly just before a sea battle with Barbary pirates.[2][3]
Tiobóid married Maeve, daughter of Donal/Domnhnall O'Conor Sligo, in 1585, and they had eight children.
From 1541 the new Kingdom of Ireland founded by Henry VIII attempted to involve and include the self-governing chiefdoms by the process of surrender and regrant. After the first Desmond Rebellion (1569–76) the Dublin administration decided to apply the process in Connacht to the autonomous chiefs such as the Lower MacWilliam Bourke, but with considerable difficulty. By this stage the clan owned most of the western half of Mayo. In contrast, an Upper MacWilliam cousin in Galway had been created Earl of Clanricarde in 1543.
In 1576 Tiobóid's mother submitted to Sir Henry Sidney, the lord deputy, in respect of her own lands. However in the Lower MacWilliam Burke clan Risteard an Iarainn was the tanist, elected by the clan as the next heir to the current chief, Shane Burke. If the clan adopted surrender and regrant, Richard would lose his expected chieftainship, and Shane's son would inherit under the English-law doctrine of primogeniture. Richard therefore sided with the Earl of Desmond, then Sidney's main opponent, while his wife Grace plundered Desmond's lands with her fleet of ships in 1577 and was taken prisoner by him until 1579.
In November 1580 Richard made a favourable peace with Grey, the next lord deputy, having mustered a show of force. At the time Grey was fully engaged in crushing the Second Desmond Rebellion. Richard was now recognised as an autonomous clan chief by the Crown, uniquely without having to adopt surrender and regrant, in a deed dated 16 April 1581.[4]
By 1585 Grace was ruling the Lower MacWilliam Burke lordship with Theobald, now aged 19. That year the next lord deputy, Sir John Perrott, decided to secure the province in the "Composition of Connaught" and Theobald was taken hostage to ensure Grace's compliance with the Composition. While a prisoner Theobald learnt English and married Maeve, daughter of Donal O'Conor Sligo.
In 1586 the Lower MacWilliam clan remained divided over Perrott's opinion on the clan succession. Theobald was freed by Richard Bingham to help Perrott's policy, but joined in the rebellion. By 1587 he sought a truce, followed by another rebellion in 1589 and a final peace in March 1590. By this point he was the recognised clan chief, and accepted the terms of the composition, paying his arrears of chief rent to the Crown.
However on the escape of Red Hugh O'Donnell from Dublin Castle in 1592, Theobald raised Mayo in his support. His attacks on Bingham's force were beaten off, no promised Spanish help arrived and O'Donnell sued for peace. Theobald "was left high and dry" by O'Donnell, but was granted another pardon.[5]
On the approach to the Nine Years War Theobald was again arrested and held at Athlone. His mother Grace visited Queen Elizabeth in London in 1593 and obtained his release.[6] Theobald agreed to fight some of his Burke cousins who were rebelling, while his son Miles was held as a hostage by Bingham.
In April 1594 Grace visited Elizabeth again, and finally secured favourable terms of surrender and regrant for Theobald. The timing of this visit subsequently made a huge difference to him, as the Nine Years' War was starting; as a result The O'Donnell arranged in 1595 for another MacWilliam Burke cousin to replace Theobald as clan chief. Theobald soon regained his position in Mayo, and unsurprisingly would not join O'Donnell and his main ally Hugh O'Neill in the war. He remained neutral. While they marched south to their eventual defeat at Kinsale in 1601, he embarked 300 men into three ships, sailed south, and kept both sides guessing who he would help.
In 1603 James I succeeded Elizabeth and O'Neill submitted at Mellifont. The following year Theobald was knighted, styled as "Sir Tibbot ne Longe Bourke",[7] and started to ascend the social ladder. For the first time Ireland was completely under English control. After the Flight of the Earls in 1607, Theobald was accused of plotting to help them, and was arrested again in 1608; this proved unfounded. In 1610 he was again under suspicion, as the administration intercepted letters from Spain hoping to implicate him in a revolt; yet again he was pardoned.
He also represented the smaller local clans in their property registration dealings with the Dublin administration, but seems to have ended up with most of their lands by his death. His own tenants paid rent in kind under the metayage system, delivering him about a quarter or third of each crop. Given the Irish climate, this method was probably more realistic than expecting a fixed cash rent.[8]
In 1613-15 he was one of the two MPs from Mayo in the Irish parliament. Being still Roman Catholic, he voted against the creation of new boroughs for Protestant MPs; the new rules gave Protestants a majority of 108-102 in the Commons.
A brief Spanish war started soon after the accession of Charles I in 1625, and yet again he and his son Miles were charged with planning a Spanish-supported Catholic revolt, and were cleared. Soon after this he was created 1st Viscount Mayo in June 1627.[9] In 1628 he and other Catholic nobles started a petition campaign to persuade King Charles to reform some anti-Catholic laws, known as "The Graces". He died on 18 June 1629 and was buried at Ballintubber Abbey.[10]
| Preceded by Risdeárd mac Deamhain an Chorráin Bourke |
Mac William Iochtar ?–1629 |
Succeeded by Miles Bourke, 2nd Viscount Mayo |
| Preceded by New Creation |
Viscount Mayo 1627–1629 |
Succeeded by Miles Bourke, 2nd Viscount Mayo |