James Butler | |
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Earl of Ormond | |
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Tenure | 1539–1546 |
Predecessor | Piers, 8th Earl of Ormond |
Successor | Thomas, 10th Earl of Ormond |
Born | c. 1496 |
Died | 28 October 1546 |
Spouse(s) | Joan FitzGerald |
Issue Detail | Thomas, Edmund, John, Walter, James, & others |
Father | Piers Butler |
Mother | Margaret FitzGerald |
James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond and 2nd Earl of Ossory (c. 1496 – 1546), known as the Lame (Irish: Bacach), was in 1541 confirmed as Earl of Ormond thereby ending the dispute over the Ormond earldom between his father, Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond, and Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire. He died from poison in London.
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James was born about 1496 in Ireland. [4] [5] He was the eldest son of Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond and his wife Margaret FitzGerald.
At the time of his birth, his father was a contender in line for the succession of Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond, being a descendant of James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond. His father's family, the Butlers, were an Old English dynasty that descended from Theobald Walter, who had been appointed chief butler of Ireland by King Henry II in 1177. [6]
Thomas's mother was a daughter of Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare and his first wife, Alison FitzEustace. Her family, the Geraldines, also were an Old English family. His parents had married in 1485. [7] He was one of nine siblings, who are listed in his father's article.
As a young man Butler went with Henry VIII to France and was wounded in a leg at the siege of Thérouanne in 1513, hence his surname the Lame or Bocach. [8]
On 3 August 1515, the 7th Earl of Ormond died in London. [9] His father was heir male and succeeded. About 1520 James joined the household of Cardinal Wolsey, who praised him as a young gentleman "both wise and discreet". In early 1522, it was proposed by King Henry VIII that he marry his cousin Anne Boleyn, who was the great-granddaughter of Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond. The purpose was to resolve a dispute between her father, Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and his father over the Ormond inheritance and title; Wolsey himself supported the proposal. The marriage negotiation came to a halt for unknown reasons. [10] On 18 February 1528, the King forced his father to resign the earldom of Ormond, which was given to Thomas Boleyn.[ citation needed ]
In 1530 Butler married Joan Fitzgerald. She was the daughter and heiress of the other great Munster landholder, the 10th Earl of Desmond and his wife Amy O'Brien. [11]
James and Joan had seven sons: [12]
One of the heirs general to the Ormond inheritance was Thomas Boleyn, whose mother was a Butler. Boleyn was the father of Anne, whose star was rising at the court of King Henry VIII of England. As the king wanted the titles of Ormond and Wiltshire for Thomas Boleyn, he induced Piers Butler's father and his coheirs to resign their claims on 18 February 1528. Aided by the king's Chancellor, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Butler was granted the earldom of Ossory instead.
Butler was created, in 1535, Viscount Thurles. [22] In 1537, Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Ormond died without a son, whereupon the King on 22 February 1538, restored the earldom of Ormond to Butler's father. [23]
Viscount Thurles's father died on 26 August 1539 and was buried in St Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny. [24] Thurles succeeded as the 9th Earl of Ormond and was confirmed by Act of Parliament, 6 November 1541, in the Earldom of Ormond, with the pre-eminence of the original earls. Cokayne, in his Complete Peerage numbers him the 10th Earl of Ormond because he counts Thomas Boleyn as the 9th.
In the early 1540s, Lord Ormond, as he now was, gradually restored the Butler dynasty to their former position of influence, leading to antagonism from the quarrelsome Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir Anthony St Leger. St Leger gave Ormond command of the Irish forces in the Anglo-Scottish War of 1544. On the face of it, this was an honour, but allies of Ormond accused St Leger of deliberately sending Ormond into danger. [25]
Ormond himself demanded an inquiry into claims that St Leger had planned his murder, and the matter was thought to merit a Privy Council investigation; the Council found in favour of St Leger and he and Ormond were ordered to work together amicably in future. [26]
On 17 October 1546, James was in London with many of his household. They were invited to dine at Ely Palace in Holborn. He was poisoned along with his steward, James Whyte, and 16 of his household. He died eleven days later, on 28 October, leaving Joan a widow in her thirties. [27]
It is surprising, in view of Ormond's high social standing, that no proper investigation into his death was carried out. [28] Whoever was behind the poisoning remains a mystery. His host at the dinner, John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, though he could be notably ruthless towards his enemies, had no motive for the crime, as he had no quarrel with Ormond. A recent historian remarks that it would be an extraordinary coincidence if St Leger had no part in the sudden and convenient removal of his main Irish opponent. [29]
Timeline | ||
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As his birth date is uncertain, so are all his ages. | ||
Age | Date | Event |
0 | 1496, about | Born [5] |
13 | 1509, 22 Apr | Accession of Henry VIII, succeeding Henry VII of England [30] |
17 | 1513 | Wounded at the siege of Thérouanne. [8] |
19 | 1515, 3 Aug | His father's distant cousin, the 7th Earl of Ormond died in London. [9] |
34 | 1530 | Married Joan Fitzgerald, daughter of 10th Earl of Desmond. [11] |
35 | 1531, Feb, about | Eldest son, Thomas, born [lower-alpha 3] |
43 | 1539, 26 Aug | Succeeded his father as 9th Earl of Ormond. [24] |
50 | 1546, 28 Oct | Died poisoned in London [27] |
Vice-Admiral Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory, KG, PC, PC (Ire) (1634–1680) was an Irish soldier and politician. He was the eldest son of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond but predeceased his father and therefore never succeeded as duke.
Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond and 3rd Earl of OssoryPC (Ire), was an influential courtier in London at the court of Elizabeth I. He was Lord Treasurer of Ireland from 1559 to his death. He fought for the crown in the Rough Wooing, the Desmond Rebellions, and Tyrone's Rebellion. He fought his rival, Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond in the Battle of Affane in 1565.
Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond, also counted as 15th or 16th, owned large part of the Irish province of Munster. In 1565 he fought the private Battle of Affane against his neighbours, the Butlers. After this, he was for some time detained in the Tower of London. Though the First Desmond Rebellion took place in his absence, he led the Second Desmond Rebellion from 1579 to his death and was therefore called the Rebel Earl. He was attainted in 1582 and went into hiding but was hunted down and killed.
Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond, 1st Earl of Ossory also known as Red Piers, was from the Polestown–– branch of the Butler family of Ireland. In the succession crisis at the death of Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond he succeeded to the earldom as heir male, but lost the title in 1528 to Thomas Boleyn. He regained it after Boleyn's death in 1538.
Walter Butler (1703–1783), also known as Walter Butler of Kilcash, and Walter Butler of Garryricken, was the de jure16th Earl of Ormond and 9th Earl of Ossory. He did not assume these titles as he thought them forfeit as a result of the attainder of the 2nd Duke of Ormonde. In the peerage of Ireland, the titles were successfully claimed in 1791 by his son John, the 17th Earl.
John Butler, known as John Butler of Kilcash, a member of the Irish landed gentry, was de jure15th Earl of Ormond and 8th Earl of Ossory. He did not assume these titles as he thought them forfeit by the attainder of the 2nd Duke of Ormond. He did, however, inherit the Ormond estate from the 1st Earl of Arran through Arran's sister Amelia. In 1791, the title of Earl of Ormond would be successfully claimed by his cousin, the 17th Earl.
Sir Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond and 4th Earl of Ossory (1559–1633), succeeded his uncle the 10th earl, in 1614. He was called "Walter of the Beads" because he was a devout Catholic, whereas his uncle had been a Protestant. King James I intervened and awarded half of the inheritance to his uncle's Protestant daughter Elizabeth. Ormond contested the King's decision and was for that detained in the Fleet Prison from 1619 until 1625 when he submitted to the King's ruling. He then found a means to reunite the Ormond estate, by marrying his grandson James, who had been raised a Protestant, to Elizabeth's only daughter.
Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond PC was the youngest son of James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond. He was attainted, but restored by Henry VII's first Parliament in November 1485, and the statutes made at Westminster, by Edward IV, which declared him and his brothers traitors, were abrogated.
John Butler, Earl of Gowran (1643–1677) was an MP in the Irish Parliament 1661–1666 before being created Earl of Gowran in 1676.
Connor O'Brien, 3rd Earl of Thomond also spelt Conor and called Groibleach, or the "long-nailed", fought his uncle Donnell over his father's succession during thirty years from 1535 to 1565. He was confirmed as 3rd Earl of Thomond in 1558 by the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex. O'Brien intrigued with fitz Maurice in 1569 during the 1st Desmond Rebellion and fled to France. He returned and was pardoned in 1571, being restored to his lands at the end of the rebellion in 1573.
Joan Fitzgerald, Countess of Ormond, Countess of Desmond, was an Irish noblewoman and heiress, a member of the Old English FitzGerald family, who were also known as the "Geraldines".
Sir Theobald Butler, 1st Baron Cahir, Caher, or Cahier was the first baron Cahir of the second creation, which occurred in 1583.
Margaret Butler, Countess of Ormond, Countess of Ossory was an Irish noblewoman and a member of the powerful and celebrated FitzGerald dynasty also known as "The Geraldines". She married Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond, by whom she had four sons and five daughters.
John Butler of Kilcash was an Irish landowner and soldier. A younger son of James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond and brother of Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond, he received Kilcash Castle as appanage. He fought in the Desmond–Ormond conflict and was badly wounded in 1563, just before the Battle of Affane. He was the start-point of the Kilcash branch of the Ormonds and the father of Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond.
Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles was the son and heir apparent of Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond, whom he predeceased. He lived at the Westgate Castle in Thurles, County Tipperary. He was the father of the Irish statesman and Royalist commander James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde.
Cormac na Haoine MacCarthy Reagh, 13th Prince of Carbery (1490–1567) was an Irish chieftain who owned almost half a million acres in south west Ireland.
James fitz John FitzGerald, 13th Earl of Desmond, also counted as the 14th, ruled 22 years, the first 4 years as de facto earl until the death of James FitzGerald, de jure 12th Earl of Desmond, called court page, who was murdered by James fitz John's brother Totane. James Fitz John maintained himself in power by skilful diplomacy avoiding armed conflict and destruction. He was appointed Lord Treasurer of Ireland in 1547.
James fitz Maurice FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Desmond, also counted as the 11th, plotted against King Henry VIII with King Francis I of France in 1523 and with Emperor Charles V in 1528 and 1529.
David Roche, 7th Viscount Fermoy (1573–1635) was an Irish magnate, soldier, and politician.
Richard Power, 1st Baron Power of Curraghmore