Castles have played an important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Although a small number of castles had been built in England in the 1050s, the Normans began to build motte and bailey and ringwork castles in large numbers to control their newly occupied territories in England and the Welsh Marches. During the 12th century the Normans began to build more castles in stone – with characteristic square keep – that played both military and political roles. Royal castles were used to control key towns and the economically important forests, while baronial castles were used by the Norman lords to control their widespread estates. David I invited Anglo-Norman lords into Scotland in the early 12th century to help him colonise and control areas of his kingdom such as Galloway; the new lords brought castle technologies with them and wooden castles began to be established over the south of the kingdom. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 1170s, under Henry II, castles were established there too.
Earl of Desmond was a title in the peerage of Ireland created four times. When the powerful Earl of Desmond took arms against Queen Elizabeth Tudor, around 1578, along with the King of Spain and the Pope, he was confiscated from his estates, some 574 628 acres of land. Since 1640 the title has been held by the Feilding family as a secondary title of the Earl of Denbigh.
Viscount O'Neill, of Shane's Castle in the County of Antrim, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1795 for John O'Neill, 1st Baron O'Neill, who had earlier represented Randalstown and County Antrim in the Irish House of Commons. He had already been created Baron O'Neill, of Shane's Castle in the County of Antrim, in 1793, also in the Peerage of Ireland. He died in 1798 and was succeeded by his son, the second Viscount. In 1800 he was created Viscount Raymond and Earl O'Neill in the Peerage of Ireland. The same year he was elected as one of the original 28 Irish Representative Peers. The viscountcy of Raymond and earldom became extinct on his death in 1841. The barony and viscountcy of O'Neill were passed on to his only brother, the third Viscount. These titles became extinct on the latter's death in 1855. The late Viscount's estates were inherited by his cousin, the Reverend William Chichester, who assumed the surname of O'Neill in lieu of Chichester the same year. In 1868, the O'Neill title was revived when he was created Baron O'Neill. This title is still extant.
The Treaty of Limerick, signed on 3 October 1691, ended the 1689 to 1691 Williamite War in Ireland, a conflict related to the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War. It consisted of two separate agreements, one with military terms of surrender, signed by commanders of a French expeditionary force and Irish Jacobites loyal to the exiled James II. Baron de Ginkell, leader of government forces in Ireland, signed on behalf of William III and his wife Mary II. It allowed Jacobite units to be transported to France, the diaspora known as the Flight of the Wild Geese.
Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, sometimes known as Michael O'Clery, was an Irish chronicler, scribe and antiquary and chief author of the Annals of the Four Masters, assisted by Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh, Fearfeasa Ó Maol Chonaire, and Peregrinus Ó Duibhgeannain. He was a member of the O'Cleric Bardic family and compiled with others the Annála Ríoghachta Éireann at Bundrowse in County Leitrim on 10 August 1636. He also wrote the Martyrology of Donegal in the 17th century.
The Battle of Liscarroll was fought on 3 September 1642 in northern County Cork, Munster, between Catholic Irish insurgents and government troops. The battle was part of the Irish Rebellion, which had started in the north in 1641 reaching Munster in 1642. The insurgents, about 8,500 strong, were led by Garret Barry, an Irish veteran from the Spanish Army of Flanders. The government forces, about 2,400 strong, were commanded by Murrough O'Brien, 6th Baron of Inchiquin, an Irish Protestant. Despite his numerical disadvantage Inchiquin routed his enemies by the strength of his cavalry and the firepower of his musketeers. In October the insurgents founded the Irish Catholic Confederation and the conflict in Munster continued as part of the Irish Confederate Wars.
The Battle of Rathmines was fought on 2 August 1649, near the modern Dublin suburb of Rathmines, during the Irish Confederate Wars, an associated conflict of 1638 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It has been described as the 'decisive battle of the Engagement in Ireland.'
Loughmore, officially Loughmoe, is a village in County Tipperary, Ireland. The village is best known for Loughmoe Castle, seat of the Barons of Loughmoe.
The title Baron of Loughmoe is an Irish feudal barony located in northern County Tipperary, Ireland. It was first held by Richard Purcell but the lands and castle were actually secured by Hugh Purcell of Loughmoe, first lord of Loughmoe. The title was possibly raised to a Jacobite peerage in 1690 while James II was in exile, Marquis de Ruvigny notes this in his 'The Jacobite Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Grants of Honour' Click here for link. The feudal title was granted to Richard Purcell in 1328 by James Butler, 1st Earl of Ormond as palatine Lord of Tipperary. Irish and Scottish feudal titles, particularly those granted by palatine lords, are difficult to classify in law, they are acknowledged as genuine hereditaments by the arms granting bodies of Ireland, Scotland, and England, but were never formally recognized by the Crown.
Nicholas Purcell, 13th Baron of Loughmoe was the son of James Purcell of Loughmoe and the maternal nephew of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde.
Thomas Purcell, Baron of Loughmoe was an Irish nobleman.
Loughmoe Castle is a ruined castle at Loughmore Village, near Templemore in County Tipperary, Ireland. The castle was the ancestral home of the Purcell family, the Barons of Loughmoe.
Irish heraldry is the forms of heraldry, such as coats of arms, in Ireland. Since 1 April 1943 it is regulated in the Republic of Ireland by the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland and in Northern Ireland by Norroy and Ulster King of Arms. Prior to that heraldry on the whole island of Ireland was a function of the Ulster King of Arms, a crown office dating from 1552. Despite its name the Ulster King of Arms was based in Dublin.
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.
Walter Butler of Nodstown, was the fourth son of James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond and Lady Joan Fitzgerald. Nodstown is a townland in the civil parish of Ardmayle in the barony of Middle Third, County Tipperary. Moyaliff is a townland and a civil parish in the barony of Kilnamanagh Upper, County Tipperary.
Purcell is a surname of Norman origin, and common in Ireland and England. It was given to those whose occupation was swineherd.
Elizabeth Poyntz, second daughter of Sir John Pointz of Iron Acton in Gloucestershire and his second wife Elizabeth Sydenham, became Lady Thurles in 1608 when she married Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles, son of Walter, 11th Earl of Ormond. Apparently, the marriage was against her father-in-law's wishes. This may have been less on her account than her father's: Sir John Pointz was notoriously improvident in matters of finance, and died penniless.
Ballynahow Castle is a tower house and a National Monument in County Tipperary, Ireland.
Sir Hugh Purcell of Loughmoe was the founder of the Lordship and Barony of Loughmoe, as well as being the builder of a fragment of Loughmoe castle. He was married to Beatrix FitzWalter, who was the daughter of Theobald FitzWalter. He is known for being the first Lord of Loughmoe.
Lieutenant-General Patrick Purcell of Croagh was an Irish soldier. In his youth he fought in Germany during the Thirty Years' War. Back in Ireland he joined the Irish Rebellion of 1641 in 1642 when it reached Munster. He commanded units of the Confederate Munster Army, or precursors and successors of it, from 1642 to 1651 under their successive commanders-in-chief, Viscount Mountgarret, General Garret Barry, Viscount Muskerry, the Earl of Castlehaven, the Marquess of Ormond, and finally Hugh Dubh O'Neill. In 1651 at the surrender of Limerick to the Parliamentarians, he was excepted from pardon and executed by Henry Ireton.
