Life
?-?1219 [var. Di Courci]; came to Ireland with William FitzAldelm, 1175;
with a surprise attack and a force of 300 men took Downpatrick from Rory
MacDunlevy, 1177; transferred the see from Bangor to Down; subdued Ulster
after five years; married Affreca, dg. King of Isle of Man, 1180; justiciar
of Ireland, 1185; savagely revenged murder of his brother Jordan by a
native [DNB], 1197; outlawed in Ireland by William de Lacy, officer of
King John and lost his English estate through forfeiture, 1200; raided
Hugh de Lacy, 1203; captured by de Lacy, 1204; exchanged hostages for
freedom; withdrew to Tyrone; submitted to crown and recovered English
estates, 1205; rebelled against de Lacy’s grant of land in Ulster,
1206; ravaged Antrim with pirate fleet, defeated; licensed to visit England,
1207; pensioned, in personal attendance on King John, 1210-16.
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Notes
de Courcy removed the ‘Conoin’ from Armagh along with the ‘Bacculus
Jesu’, when he captured Primate Thomas O’Connor - the bishop
and his Patrician relics being restored later to Armagh; effected the
translation of the relics of Patrick, Brigid, and Columba to Downpatrick,
1186; commissioned a Latin life of Patrick by Joscelin of Furness (1186)
whom he installed in the Franciscan abbey in Downpatrick having evicted
the native occupants. [See St. Patrick, infra.]
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)