Monday, June 24, 2013

Military Monday ~ Battle of Liscarroll Sept. 3, 1642


                                                      Geneta Ffant Burgatt's Family

I was excited to find that Genet and John had children, besides Henry  and William who were priests. William apparently went on to be  Archbishop of Cashel in 1669. Children were in part: John, James, Ellen, Henry and William. Possibly there were others and I will try to figure that out.

Ellen married a nobleman , Maurice Fitzgibbon, son of the White Knight and had a son Gibbon. William Burgate was  ordained Archbishop of Cashel in 1669, both he and his brother were very much up and down depending on whether there was a Catholic king or  a Protectorate. James and John Burgatt had children, for sure three sons between them who did not live past 1642.

Sadly we learn of the British Civil Wars and the Burgat/Burgate's roles in them . Captain John Burgate was in the Irish Confederate Army and was present  in July of 1642 when Kilfinny Castle fell although some sources say it was James Burgate and that he was one of the besiegers. Possibly both men were present as they were reported to have lead one of the regiments.
 
Sons of both men lost their lives at Liscarroll Cork September 3rd, 1642 and the following epitaph is engraved on the wall at Kilmallock Abbey, St. Saviour's Church where they were inurned.
                            1642
Sept 3rd what year those figures tell,
Saw three youths inurned, untimely dead,
...
Brothers and kinsmen pledged,in just war fell,
King, Country God, approve wherefore they fell.
Youth’s virgin purity, true martyr blood,
Mark out their corpses from the mangled heap
As lilies struggling amidst the ensanguined flood,
Three deserved well- Three names thou marble keep
George                 Brothers

Edward                                             } Burgate
Alexander            Nephew

Another interpretation  of King Country God is this: "They fall in a new war.
The king and religion approve the right and the cause of the country". They were felt to be martyrs, The Burgates lost 3 and the Fitzgeralds of Desmond lost eighteen. All the dead were said to be heaped in a pile by the victors who lost only twelve of their own.


It was a very troubled time and sometimes up was down and  then it was reversed again. Fortunes and lands were gone after the 1580s. Ellen( Helen) Burgate FitzGibbon was confirmed in her Dower lands in 1661 and then transplanted in 1666 to Connaught. In 1666, also, Fantstowne was confirmed to H. Posonby and Lord Colloony in the Acts of Settlement after having been held by J. and Ellen Burgatt in 1657.

It is very sad and troubling to think about and our family was very resilient,  and survived, although not always in Ireland.

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