Affrica (Affraic)

Affrica (Affraic) (fl. 1180–c.1219), daughter of Gofraid and wife of John de Courcy (qv), was a member of the royal family of Man and the Isles. Her father Gofraid (d. 1187), king of Man and the Isles, was a grandson of Gofraid Méránach (qv), who had held the kingships of Man and of Dublin. Her stepmother Findguala was a granddaughter of Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn (qv), claimant to the high-kingship of Ireland. Affrica had three brothers, Reginald, Olaf, and Ivar, the first two of whom succeeded in turn to the kingship of Man. She also had an unnamed sister, whose son Reginald became bishop of the Isles.

Affrica married the Anglo-Norman adventurer John de Courcy, who in 1177 had overthrown the kingdom of the Ulaid and carved out a lordship for himself. This marriage may have taken place as early as 1180 if the testimony of the so-called Dublin Annals of Inisfallen can be trusted. It seems likely that the marriage represented a political calculation on de Courcy's part: the rulers of Man and the Mac Lochlainn line of Cenél nÉogain were enemies of the Ulaid.

On 25 August 1193 Affrica founded the Cistercian monastery of St Mary of ‘Iugum Dei’, known as Grey Abbey, on the shore of Strangford Lough, Co. Down. The initial community was brought from Holm Cultram, Cumberland, north-west England. While de Courcy's association with Cumberland is well established, it is also the case that Holm Cultram had close connections with the Isle of Man. At some later date, de Courcy prepared a dower charter for Affrica, granting her an estate at Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire; this inheritance was duly transferred to her by means of a mandate issued to the justiciar of Ireland on 22 September 1219. Although the date of Affrica's death is not recorded, it is averred that she was buried at Grey Abbey.