Had seisin of his brother's lands in Ulster in 1218. He was a knight by 1233 and was granted a market in Killeen in 1238. After the first Norman invasion of Connacht at the beginning of the 13th century, William de Burgh granted the cantred of Tirawley in North Mayo to Nicholas le Petit, who in turn, enfeoffed his relative Adam de Cusack. The included the tuath of Bredagh and he built the Castle of Meelick in Mayo.9