William de Burgh (; ; ; ; c.1160–winter 1205/06) was the founder of the House of Burgh (later surnamed Burke or Bourke) in Ireland and elder brother of Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent and Geoffrey de Burgh, Bishop of Ely. In Ireland William de Burgh was the eldest son of William de Burgh and his wife, Alice, of Burgh-next-Aylsham, Norfolk or Burgh, Suffolk, and had three brothers: Hubert, Earl of Kent, Thomas, and Geoffrey, Bishop of Ely. Ellis has made a case that William's father was Walter de Burgh but notes this is "highly conjectural". William was "one of the new wave of Anglo-Normans to come to Ireland with John, lord of Ireland, in 1185" and has been described as "one of the most prominent men involved in the annexation of the kingdom of Limerick in the last quarter of the twelfth century". Henry II of England appointed him Governor of Limerick and granted him vast estates in Leinster and Munster. William de Burgh's lands were centred along the River Suir from Tibberaghny to Clonmel and around Kilfeakle in Tipperary, and along the River Shannon from Limerick to Lough Derg. His castles at Tibberaghny (County Kilkenny), Kilsheelan, Ardpatrick and Kilfeacle were used to protect King John's northern borders of Waterford and Lismore whilst his castles at Carrigogunnell and Castleconnell were used to protect Limerick. He was granted Tibberaghny Castle in 1200, and was Seneschal (Royal Governor) of Munster from 1201 to 1203. Marriage and alliance Sometime during the 1190s, William de Burgh allied himself with the King of Thomond (either Domnall Mór Ó Briain (d.1194) or his son, Muirchertach) and, in 1193, William married Domnall Mór Ó Briain's daughter. This alliance probably took place during the reign of Muirchertach, since Domnall Mór had been at war with the Normans until his death. At any rate no more wars are recorded between the two sides for the rest of the decade. According to the Annals of Inisfallen, in 1201, William and the sons of Domnall Mór led a major joint military expedition into Desmond, slaying Amlaíb Ua Donnabáin among others. Between 1199 and 1202, William de Burgh led military campaigns in Desmond (with the aid of the Ó Briain). Success in the west and south allowed de Burgh to conquer the Kingdom of Connacht which, though he had been granted (probably before 1195) by John, he had never occupied.