John Netterville, 2nd Viscount Netterville (c.1603-1659) was an Irish peer, soldier and statesman of the seventeenth century. He was noted for his devout Roman Catholic beliefs and his strong support for the Irish Catholic political cause; this led him during the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and the ensuing Civil Wars to play a double game, offering support to both the Crown and the rebels, with the result that no party to the conflict fully trusted him. He was charged with treason by the Government of Charles I and his estates were forfeited by Oliver Cromwell. He died in his English exile of natural causes.
He was born at Dowth in Meath, eldest son of Nicholas Netterville, 1st Viscount Netterville and his first wife Eleanor Bathe, daughter of Sir John Bathe of Drumcondra, Dublin. [1] His father was a favourite of James I who ennobled him in 1622 "in consideration of his good qualities". In time Nicholas like his son was to be accused of disloyalty to the English Crown. In both cases, their real aim seems to have been to restore the Roman Catholic faith (two of Nicholas' younger sons were Jesuits). [2]
In 1623 John married Lady Elizabeth Weston, daughter of Richard Weston, 1st Earl of Portland, the future Lord Treasurer, and his first wife Elizabeth Pinchion. [3] The marriage gave him influence at the English Court and a useful ally in promoting toleration of Catholics, since Portland himself was a convert to the Catholic faith.
In November 1632, shortly after the appointment of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford as Lord Deputy of Ireland, John and other prominent Catholics petitioned him not to enforce the Penal Laws. [4]
On the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, John, with a troop of 100 men was sent to assist Viscount Moore in holding Drogheda, but he was suspected of inciting the population to join the rebellion, and was forced to withdraw to his own house. [5] For the next few months he and his father both followed a devious course, professing loyalty to the Crown while offering covert support to the rebels. His next brother Luke, disdaining any pretence of loyalty, was killed fighting for the rebels. In February 1642 the Irish House of Commons ordered that John be removed from command of his troops. John, wishing to reach an accommodation with his opponents, approached the Marquess of Ormonde, who arrested him and sent him to Dublin. The Crown's legal advice was that a clear case for treason had been made out against John, but that no Meath jury would convict him, so that if possible he should be tried in Dublin. His trial finally opened in February 1643, but the King and Ormonde now hoped for his support; the trial did not proceed and he was released in April. [6]
Immediately after his release, he joined the army of the Irish Confederacy under Thomas Preston. He was still campaigning in 1650, by which time he had only about six men left. [7]
Under the Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652 John and his father were both exempted from pardon for their lives and estates, but do not seem to have suffered any actual ill-treatment. John moved to England where his wife Elizabeth Weston argued successfully that as an English subject she was entitled to enjoy part of the Netterville property. There seems to have been enough for John to live on even after his wife's death in 1656 although he was said to be living in considerable poverty. He succeeded to the title in 1654, but was still in England when he died in September 1659. He was buried beside his wife in St Giles in the Fields. [8]
He and Elizabeth had eleven children: [9]
Thomas Preston, 1st Viscount Tara was an Irish soldier of the 17th century. After lengthy service as a mercenary in the Spanish Army, Preston returned to Ireland following the outbreak of the Rebellion of 1641. He was appointed to command the Leinster Army of the Irish Confederacy, enjoying some success as well as a number of heavy defeats such as the Battle of Dungans Hill in 1647 where his army was largely destroyed. Like other Confederate leaders, Preston was a Catholic Royalist. He remained in close contact with the Lord Lieutenant the Marquess of Ormonde, and was a strong supporter of an alliance between Confederates and Royalists against the English Republicans.
Christopher Plunket, 2nd Earl of Fingall and 11th Baron Killeen was an Irish politician and soldier. In 1641 he negotiated with the rebels on behalf of the Old English of the Pale and pushed them to join the rebellion. He fought for the rebels at the siege of Drogheda. He joined the Confederates and fought in their Leinster army, notably at Dungan's Hill. When the Confederates fused into the Royalist Alliance, he fought under James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond in the Battle of Rathmines where he was wounded and taken prisoner. He died of his wounds two weeks later in captivity at Dublin Castle.
Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret (1578–1651) was the son of Edmund Butler, 2nd Viscount Mountgarret and Grany or Grizzel, daughter of Barnaby Fitzpatrick, 1st Baron Upper Ossory. He is best known for his participation in the Irish Confederate Wars on behalf of the Irish Confederate Catholics.
Sir Richard Bolton was an English lawyer and judge, who was an important figure in Irish political life in the 1630s and 1640s.
Nicholas Netterville of Dowth, County Meath, Ireland, was born in 1581, and succeeded his father, John Netterville, in the family estate on 20 September 1601. Although an enemy accused them of being "but a mean family" the Nettervilles had in fact been in Ireland since before 1280 and had been established at Dowth for centuries; they were related to many of the leading families of The Pale including the Earl of Kildare, Lord Slane, Lord Howth and the Luttrells of Luttrellstown Castle. Nicholas was the grandson of Luke Netterville, judge of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland) and nephew of the leading barrister and statesman Richard Netterville. His mother was Eleanor Gernon, daughter of Sir James Gernon of Castleton, County Louth. Being "a person of many good qualities" he was created, 3 April 1622, Viscount Netterville, of Dowth in the County Meath, taking his seat, 14 July 1634. He died in 1654 and was buried at Mountown, County Dublin.
Nicholas St Lawrence, 4th Baron Howth was a leading Irish soldier and statesman of the early Tudor period, who held the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland.
Sir Patrick Barnewall or Barnwall, was the eldest son of Sir Christopher Barnewall of Turvey House, Grace Dieu Abbey, and Fieldston. Christopher in turn was the son of the elder Sir Patrick Barnewall, who in 1534 was made Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) and Solicitor-General for Ireland, and in 1550 became Master of the Rolls in Ireland. Patrick's mother was Marion Sherle, daughter of Richard Sherle of Shallon, County Meath: after his father's death, she remarried the prominent judge Sir Lucas Dillon. She died in 1607.
Sir Thomas Luttrell was a wealthy Anglo-Irish landowner of the sixteenth-century Irish Pale. He was also a distinguished lawyer and judge who held the offices of King's Serjeant, Solicitor General for Ireland and Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas.
Sir Christopher Barnewall (1522–1575) was a leading Anglo-Irish statesman of the Pale in the 1560s and 1570s. He was the effective Leader of the Opposition in the Irish House of Commons in the Parliament of 1568–71. He is remembered for building Turvey House, where he sheltered the future Catholic martyr Edmund Campion, for his impressive tomb in Lusk Church, and for the eulogy to him in Holinshed's Chronicles, which was written by his son-in-law Richard Stanyhurst.
Nicholas St. Lawrence, 9th Baron Howth (c.1550–1607) was a leading member of the Anglo-Irish nobility in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Despite openly professing his Roman Catholic faith, he enjoyed the trust of Elizabeth I and of successive Lord Deputies of Ireland, and was even forgiven by the English Crown for signing a petition protesting against the enforcement of the Penal Laws.
Sir Lucas Dillon, also called Luke, was a leading Irish barrister and judge of the Elizabethan era who held the offices of Attorney General for Ireland and Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He supported the Lord Deputy Henry Sidney in the cess controversy and the Lord Deputy John Perrot in the Desmond Rebellions. He was held in high regard by Queen Elizabeth, but was accused by his enemies of corruption and maladministration.
James Bathe (c.1500–1570) was an Irish judge of the Tudor era, who was notable for serving as Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer for thirty years under four successive monarchs. He was the grandfather of the 1st Earl of Roscommon, and of the noted musicologist William Bathe.
Viscount Netterville was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1622 for Nicholas Netterville, 1st Viscount Netterville (1581–1654), eldest son of John Netterville of Dowth, County Meath and Eleanor Gernon, daughter of Sir James Gernon of Castleton, County Louth. The Netterville family are recorded in Ireland from before 1280, and became substantial landowners: they intermarried with leading Anglo-Irish families like the FitzGeralds of Kildare and the Flemings of Slane.
Richard Netterville was an Irish barrister and politician of the Elizabethan era. He was noted for his willingness to oppose the Crown, especially on its taxation policies, and as a result, he was imprisoned several times.
Luke (Lucas) Netterville was a sixteenth-century Irish judge. He was father of the statesman Richard Netterville and grandfather of the 1st Viscount Netterville.
Nicholas Netterville, 5th Viscount Netterville (1708–1750) was an Irish peer, who is mainly remembered for having been tried and acquitted by his peers on a charge of murder.
John Bathe (1536-1586) was an Irish lawyer and statesman of the sixteenth century. He held several important offices, including that of Attorney General for Ireland and Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland. He was a member of a prominent landowning family from County Dublin, and himself added to the family estates. His children included the Jesuit William Bathe, who was a noted musicologist.
Sir William Warren was an Irish landowner, statesman and soldier of the late sixteenth century. He is mainly remembered now for having facilitated the much-discussed marriage of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone and his third wife Mabel Bagenal, which took place at Warren's home, Drumcondra Castle, in 1591.
Sir Lucas Dillon of Loughglynn (1579–1656) was in 1628 one of the negotiators of the Graces; he was MP for Roscommon in the two Irish Parliaments of Charles I. At the Irish Rebellion of 1641 he sided with the rebels and joined the Irish Catholic Confederation, where he served on the Supreme Council.
Thomas Netterville was an Irish judge of the reign of Henry VIII.