with bony and muscular limbs, of large size, and very strong make, being very powerful, of singular daring, and a bold and brave soldier from his very youth. Such was his ardour to mingle in the fight, that even when he had the command he was apt to forget his duties as such, and exhibiting the virtues of a private soldier, instead of a general, impetuously charge the enemy among the foremost ranks; so that if his troops wavered he might have lost the victory by being too eager to win it. But although he was thus impetuous in war, and was more a soldier than a general, in times of peace he was sober and modest, and paying due reverence to the Church of Christ, was exemplary in his devotions and in attending holy worship; nor did he forget in his successes to offer thanksgivings, and ascribe all to the Divine mercy, giving God all the glory as often as he had achieved anything glorious, 'But,' as Tully says, 'nature never made anything absolutely perfect in all points,' so we find in him an excessive parsimony and inconstancy which cast a shade over his other virtues." De Courcy married Affreca, daughter of the King of Man and the Isles. Soon after the accession of King John, he incurred his displeasure by speaking of him as a usurper, and Hugh de Lacy the younger was appointed Lord-Justice and sent against him, with directions to carry him prisoner to London. By Scandinavian and Irish aid, however, De Courcy managed to hold possession of Ulidia against the Viceroy, whom he defeated in a battle at Down in 1204. As Cox says: "The valiant Courcy sent Lacy back with blows and shame enough." He was eventually captured by some of De Lacy's followers, as, in the garb of a monk, he was doing penance at Downpatrick, one of the many monasteries he had founded. He defended himself with the only weapon at hand, the pole of a cross, and is said to have killed thirteen before he was overpowered. He was committed to the Tower of London, and the King granted his lands to De Lacy. We are told that about a year after his arrest a quarrel arose between King John, and Philip Augustus of France, concerning the Duchy of Normandy. It was referred to single combat, and De Courcy was prevailed upon to act as champion, for King John. According to the chroniclers, his proportions and appearance so terrified the French King's champion, that he fled, and in recognition of this service the King restored him to his estates, and granted him and his successors the privilege of standing covered in the royal presence. After this he is stated to have been fifteen times prevented by contrary winds from landing in Ireland, and he retired to France, where he died about 1219. Lords of Kingsale, who claim to be descendants of Sir John de Courcy, asserted their privilege of standing covered in the royal presence in the reigns of William III. and some of the Georges. 54 134 148 196 216
De Ferings, Richard, Archbishop of Dublin, consecrated to that office in 1299. He is worthy of remembrance as having for a time succeeded in allaying the jealousy between the two Dublin cathedral bodies—St. Patrick's and Christ Church. It was arranged that both should be called cathedrals—Christ Church to have the precedence; the bodies of the Archbishops to be alternately buried in either church; their crosses, mitres, and rings to be deposited in Christ Church. He lived much abroad, and died on the Continent, 18th October 1306, on a return journey from Rome. 12
De Ginkell, Godert, Earl of Athlone, one of William III.'s ablest generals in the Irish War of 1689-'91, was born in Holland, of a noble family. A commander of proved ability, he accompanied William III.'s Dutch troops to England, and in March 1689 distinguished himself by the dispersion of the Scotch regiment that mutinied at Ipswich. At the battle of the Boyne he commanded a regiment of cavalry. The following September he was appointed Commander-in-chief of William's Irish army, having his head-quarters at Kilkenny. In February 1691 De Ginkell issued a proclamation in which he declared that "Their Majesties had no design to oppress their Roman Catholic subjects of this kingdom in either their religion or their properties, but had given him authority to grant reasonable terms to all such as would come in and submit according to their duty." Towards the end of the same month a detachment of his army defeated Sarsfield's troops at Moate. During the winter the rapparees, or Irish irregular troops, chiefly men whose ancestors had been dispossessed of their lands by the Cromwellian settlers, gave him an immensity of trouble; and he also found extreme difficulty in restraining the excesses of his own troops. On the 30th May De Ginkell joined the main body of his army at Mullingar and took the field. On 7th June he attacked and captured Ballymore, a fortress on the road between Mullingar and Athlone, and on the 19th, being joined by the Duke of Wirtemberg with a large body of troops, he stormed and with small loss occupied the portion of the town of
