The House of Burgh or Burke (; ; ; ; ) was an ancient Anglo-Norman and later Hiberno-Norman aristocratic dynasty (with the Anglo-Irish branches later adopting the surname Burke and its variants) who held the earldoms of Kent, Ulster, Clanricarde, and Mayo at various times, provided one Queen Consort of Scotland, and played a prominent role in the Norman invasion of Ireland. The surname de Burgh derives from the English village of Burgh-next-Aylsham, Norfolk or Burgh, Suffolk. The name is of Old English origin and means ‘fortified town’. The first of the de Burgh family to settle in Ireland was the Anglo-Norman adventurer, William de Burgh (c. 1160–1205/6), who arrived in 1185 with Henry II of England. He was the elder brother of Hubert de Burgh, who was Earl of Kent and Justiciar of England (and believed to be the ancestor of the Lords Burgh). William de Burgh founded the Irish line of the family which included the Lords of Connaught, Earls of Ulster and Earls of Clanricarde. After the fourteenth century, some branches of the Irish line gaelicised the surname in Irish as de Búrca which gradually became Búrc then later Burke or Bourke, and this surname has been associated with Connaught for more than seven centuries. Later, some branches returned to their original surname of 'de Burgh' in the late nineteenth century most notably the Earls and Marquesses of Clanricarde). William de Burgh's great-great-granddaughter, Elizabeth de Burgh, daughter of Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, married Robert the Bruce (later King Robert I of Scots) and became Queen Consort of Scotland. Another descendant, Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster, was the wife of Edward III's son Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, from whom the Yorkist Plantagenets later derived their claim to the throne of England. In England, one branch of the family (Lords Burgh) changed the name to 'Burgh' at some time after the Civil War in the seventeenth century (the 'de' having been removed to hide the family's connection to the nobility and Catholicism). The de Burgh/Burke family has include many prominent figures during the Middle Ages, Crusades, British Empire, World War I and World War II. Family History The earliest documented generation of the family was represented in the late 12th and early 13th centuries by three brothers, William de Burgh (who played a major role in the Anglo-Norman invasion of