Galway author Bernadette digs deep for 'English Countess, Irish Earl'
It’s many years since Bernadette Cunningham first encountered the name Frances Walsingham, when she was doing a MA in history at the then UCG.
Bernadette was intrigued by the English noblewoman who in 1603, married Richard Burke, the fourth Earl of Clanricard.
Frances’s story wasn’t relevant to Bernadette’s thesis at the time, but the Corofin student decided that, some day, she would learn more about this fascinating woman who was at the heart of court life in Tudor and Stuart England.
She has done that now and the result is ‘English Countess, Irish Earl: The Social World of Frances, Countess of Clanricard, 1567-1632’, which was launched recently in the Clanrickard stronghold of Portumna Castle.
Frances lived through tumultuous times and had been twice widowed before she married Richard Burke.
She was the daughter of Sir Francis Wasingham, Queen Elizabeth’s Secretary of State from 1573 until his death in 1590 – he was also the royal spymaster, something that’s been focused on in recent times.
Frances Walsingham’s first marriage, aged 16 to Sir Philip Sydney, was an arranged match, as was normal among elite families at the time. He was killed in battle, leaving her a widow aged 18. Their surviving daughter died in her 20s.
Frances remarried some years later to Robert Devereaux, the Earl of Essex, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth and became a countess through that marriage.
The title bestowed great status, although her husband was “a serial philanderer” says Bernadette. They had three surviving children from their 11-year union, as well as several who died. Infant mortality “was a reality of the time and it didn’t matter who you were”.
But Essex fell from grace with Queen Elizabeth and “in 1601 he led a rebellion against her – for a day”, says Bernadette wryly.
“He was tried and executed, all in one month.”
His indictment on treason had implications for his wife, as the queen stopped his sources of income and confiscated his lands.
But Frances was still a wealthy woman, still at the top tier of English nobility. And for many, she remained Essex’s countess.
Even after she married Richard Burke, some English contemporaries continued to refer to her as Countess of Essex, Bernadette explains.
Frances had known Richard since their childhood, when he had been sent by his family to England to be fostered.
Like most sons of nobility, he studied at Oxford, forging connections that would last a lifetime, including with the Earl of Essex.
A year after Essex was executed, Richard succeeded his father as Earl of Clanricard and travelled from Ireland to London to find a wife, marrying Frances in 1603. A Protestant, she converted to his religion of Catholicism.
She sold some of her property in England and they moved to Athlone Castle, which became their home for five years – he had been appointed Governor of Connaught. Immensely wealthy and powerful, the couple commissioned the building of Portumna Castle and Sumerhill House in Kent where she had lands.
The current, restored Portumna Castle still stands on that site. A scenic location, it was on Lough Derg and accessible from the Shannon, something that made sense in an era when travelling by river was far easier than on land, Bernadette says.
The now-retired librarian at the Royal Irish Academy finally got her opportunity to research Frances’s life and times in 2012 when her husband, the late historian Raymond Gillespie, was awarded a fellowship to Magdalen College, Cambridge.
Bernadette used her time there to visit the National Archives in Kew, and the British Library. There were also trips to Kent, where the Clanricardes made their home in Sumerhill House, which is now a boarding school.
Researching a biography of someone from the 15th and 16th century, especially a woman, isn’t as simple as for someone in later times, says Bernadette, because sources aren’t as plentiful. But she loves piecing components together to build a fuller picture and that’s what she’s done for ‘English Countess, Irish Earl’.
“There are so many aspects to biography. You get into art history, architecture and literature . . . getting bits of information from all sides, building up a picture of someone who lived a complex life.”
The floor plans for Portumna Castle and Sumerhill show that both followed the latest Italianate trends. There were many similarities between the mansions but Portumna was built of limestone and Summerhill of red sandstone, while Portumna was also more fortified, reflecting the political situation in Ireland.
Bernadette explored how the homes were furnished, down to the tiles used and says in the case of Portumna, much of this research had already been done by art historian Jane Fenlon in her book, ‘Clanricard’s Castle’.
Bernadette hasn’t found evidence to show that Frances ever saw Portumna Castle after it was built, but Richard Burke did continue to visit Galway after they settled in Kent.
Letters from Frances aren’t as plentiful as from her husband and Bernadette stresses that was the norm. Richard held official Crown positions and was a major Irish landlord. In that role, he regularly corresponded with his land agent, Henry Lynch, and the letters show he was an engaged landlord, she says. Bernadette admires his knowledge of individual tenants and also remarks on his fine penmanship.
When it comes to the countess, one of her most revealing letters was to their son Ulick Burke, opposing any notion that his sister Honoria, of marriageable age, would marry Hugh O’Neill’s grandson.
Frances’s second husband, the Earl of Essex, had been Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1599, when Hugh O’Neill was his greatest nemesis. The notion that there would be shared blood between any descendants of hers and O’Neill’s could not be countenanced, Bernadette explains. Frances mentioned in the letter that there were other reasons for opposing the union, but declined to specify them.
Bernadette smiles at irony of our current preoccupation with data protection while researchers like her comb through the letters and details of long-dead people. What stands out from her extensive research into this era is the connections forged by intermarriage between a small group of influential families.
Her previous books include one on the Annals of the four Masters and one on medieval Irish pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela.
Bernadette laughs as she agrees that she likes the past.
“I prefer the remote past. It’s much safter to write about the 16th and 17th centuries than closer times.”
Although some things don’t change.
The current political landscape in the US reminds her of the reign of Henry VIII, with courtiers “trying to pander to his whims.”
‘English Countess, Irish Earl’, published by Four Courts Press, is now in bookshops and is available online, from www.fourcourtspress.ie.