Grace O'Malley - Marriage To Burke

Marriage To Burke

By 1566 Ní Mháille had married a second time, this time to Risdeárd an Iarainn Bourke, called "Iron Richard", an appropriate corruption of his Irish name as he is reputed to have always worn a coat of mail inherited from his Anglo-Norman ancestors. The nickname may also have come from the fact that he controlled the ironworks at Burrishoole, where his principal castle and residence were.

Traditionally it is said that the Bourke marriage was motivated by Ní Mháille's desire to enlarge her holdings and her prestige. Bourke was owner of Rockfleet Castle, also called Carraigahowley Castle, which was strategically situated near Newport, as well as other lands like Burrishoole, with sheltered harbors in which a pirate ship could hide. Bourke held a high position as chieftain of a senior branch of his sept. Because of his sept leadership he would eventually be eligible for election as Mac William, the second most powerful office in Connacht.

According to tradition they married under Brehon law 'for one year certain', and it is said that when the year was up Gráinne divorced Risdeárd and kept the castle. Legend says that when the one year had passed, Ní Mháille and her followers locked themselves in Rockfleet Castle and Gráinne called out a window to Burke, "Richard Burke, I dismiss you." Those words had the effect of ending the marriage, but since she was in possession of the castle she kept it. Rockfleet remained for centuries in the O'Mháille family and is today open to the public.

Despite the divorce story, Ní Mháille and Bourke appear as mentioned as husband and wife in English documents of the period, so appeared to remain married, at least allied, as far as the English were concerned. In her answers to the questions from Queen Elizabeth I, Ní Mháille said she was Risdeárd's widow.

They had one son, Theobald nicknamed "Tibbot of the Ships" (Irish: Tiobóid na Long), who was born about 1567. Tibbot was later knighted as Sir Theobald Bourke, and was created first Viscount Mayo in 1626 by Charles I. Bourke had at least four other children, Edmund, Walter, John, and Catherine.