Lough Mask’s Fatal Stone
Archived: 23 October 2026
Abstract
A Killing That Changed ConnachtThe most consequential Irish event securely placed in 1338 was the killing of Sir Edmund de Burgh, known in the annals as the son of the Earl of Ulster. He was captured by his kinsman Edmund Albanach de Burgh, had a stone tied about his neck, and was cast into Lough Mask. The stark formula occurs in both the Annals of Connacht and the Annals of Loch Cé. Neither supplies a day or month, and none should be invented; but both place the killing firmly within their annal for 1338.Its importance lay not merely in the
