James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde
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James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde PC
(19 October 1610 – 21 July 1688) was an Irish
statesman and soldier. He was the second of the Kilcash branch of the family to inherit the earldom. He was the friend of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
, who appointeed him commander of the Cavalier
forces in Ireland. From 1641 to 1647, he led the fighting against the Irish Catholic Confederation
. From 1649 to 1650 he was top commander of the Royalist forces fighting against the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
. In the 1650s he lived in exile in Europe with Charles II of England
. Upon the restoration
of Charles II to the British throne in 1660, Ormonde became a major figure in English and Irish politics, holding many high government offices.
and of Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Poyntz. His sister Elizabeth married Nicholas Purcell
, 13th Baron of Loughmoe
. James's paternal grandfather was Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond. He was born at Clerkenwell, London, 19 October 1610, in the house of his maternal grandfather, Sir John Poyntz. Shortly after his birth, his parents returned to Ireland. The Butlers
of Ormonde were an Old English
dynasty who had dominated the southeast of Ireland since the Middle Ages.
Upon the shipwreck and death of his father in 1619, the lad was by courtesy styled Viscount Thurles.
The year following that disaster, his mother brought him back to England, and placed him, then nine years of age, at school with a Catholic gentleman at Finchley — this doubtless through the influence of his grandfather, the 11th Earl.
It was not long before James I of England
, anxious that the heir of the Butlers should be brought up a Protestant, placed him at Lambeth, under the care of George Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury
.
The Ormond estates being under sequestration (as noted in the life of the 11th Earl) the young Lord had but £40 a year for his own and his servant's clothing and expenses.
He appears to have been entirely neglected by the Archbishop — "he was not instructed even in humanity, nor so much as taught to understand Latin".
When fifteen he went to live with his grandfather (then released from prison) at Drury-lane "who through length of his confinement and his advanced age, was grown very infirm, and never troubled him in matters of religion".
This was very important for Butler's future life, as it meant that, unlike almost all his relatives in the Butler dynasty
, he was a Protestant.
This made his relationship with the rest of his family and dependants somewhat strained, as they suffered from land confiscations and legal discrimination on account of their religion, while he did not.
Having now more means at command, he entered into all the gaieties of the court and town.
At eighteen he went to Portsmouth with his friend George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham
intending to join the expedition for the relief of Rochelle; a project abandoned upon the assassination of the Duke.
It was during his London residence that he set himself to learn Irish, a partial knowledge of which language proved most useful to him in after years.
About six months after his visit to Portsmouth, he first saw at Court, and fell in love with, his cousin, Lady Elizabeth Preston, only child and heiress of Sir Richard Preston, Earl of Desmond
. Charles I
gave his consent by letters patent
, on 8 September 1629.
At Christmas 1629, they married putting an end to the long-standing quarrel between the families and united their estates.
In 1634, on the death of his grandfather, he succeeded to the earldom.
, by whom Ormonde was treated with great favour.
Writing to Charles I
, Wentworth described Ormonde as "young, but take it from me, a very staid head".
Ormonde became Wentworth's chief friend and supporter.
Wentworth planned large scale confiscations of Catholic-owned land, both to raise money for the crown and to break the political power of the Irish Catholic gentry, a policy which Ormonde supported.
Yet, it infuriated his relatives, and drove many of them into opposition to Wentworth and ultimately into armed rebellion.
In 1640, with Wentworth having been recalled to attend to the Second Bishops' War in England, Ormonde was made commander-in-chief of the forces in Ireland.
The opposition to Wentworth ultimately aided an impeachment of the Earl by the English Parliament, and eventual execution in May 1641.
On the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641
, Ormonde found himself in command of government forces based in Dublin. Most of the country was taken by the Catholic rebels, who included Ormonde's Butler relatives. However Ormonde's bonds of kinship were not entirely severed. His wife and children were escorted from Kilkenny
to Dublin under the order of the rebel leader Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret
, who was Ormonde's cousin. In spring 1642 Mountgarret and Ormonde were the commanders of the opposing forces at the battle of Kilrush
, with Ormonde's side winning.
In spring 1642 the Irish Catholics formed their own government, the Catholic Confederation
, with its capital at Kilkenny
, and began to raise their own regular troops, more organized and capable than the irregular militia of the 1641 rebellion.
Also in early 1642 the king sent in troop reinforcements from England and Scotland.
The Irish Confederate War was underway.
Ormonde mounted several expeditions from Dublin in 1642, that cleared the area around Dublin of Confederate forces.
He secured control of the area historically known as the Pale
, and re-supplied some outlying garrisons, without serious contest.
The Lords Justices, who suspected him because he was related to many of the Confederate leaders, recalled him from command, after he had succeeded in relieving Drogheda
.
But he received the public thanks of the English Parliament and a monetary reward, and in September 1642 was put in command with a commission direct from the king.
In March 1643, Ormonde ventured his troops to New Ross
, deep in the territory of the Catholic Confederation, and won a small but indecisive victory there (Battle of New Ross
) before returning to Dublin.
Nevertheless, Ormonde was in a very difficult situation.
The Confederates held two thirds of the island.
The English Civil War
, started in September 1642, had removed the prospect of more reinforcements from England and indeed the king desired to recall troops.
In addition the Scots Covenanters, who had landed an army in the northeast of Ireland at Carrickfergus
to counter the Catholic rebellion in that part of the country in early 1642, had subsequently put northeast Ireland on the side of the English Parliamentarians against the king; and the relatively strong Protestant presence in and around Derry
and Cork City was inclined to side with the Parliamentarians as well, and soon did so.
Isolated in Dublin, with the king desiring to minimize his Irish troops, Ormonde therefore agreed to a "cessation" or ceasefire with the Catholics, which began in September 1643, by which the greater part of Ireland was given up into the hands of the Catholic Confederation (leaving only districts in the north, the Dublin Pale, round Cork City, and certain smallish garrisons in the possession of Protestant commanders). This truce was vehemently opposed by the Lords Justices and the Protestant community in general in Ireland.
Soon afterwards, in November 1643, by the king's orders, Ormonde despatched a body of his troops into England to fight on the Royalist
side in the Civil War, estimated at 4,000 troops, half of whom were sent from Cork.
In November 1643 the king appointed Ormonde as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
-- head of the Irish government executive, in other words.
For the previous two years the occupant of this post had not set foot in Ireland.
Ormonde's assigned mission was to prevent the king's Parliamentarian enemies from being reinforced from Ireland, and to aim to deliver more troops to fight for the Royalist side in England.
To these ends, he had instructions to do all in his power to keep the Scottish Covenanter army in the north of Ireland occupied.
He was also given the king's authority to negotiate a Treaty with the Catholic Confederation which could allow their troops to be redirected against the Parliamentarians.
Ormonde was faced with a difficult task in reconciling all the different factions in Ireland.
The Old (native) Irish and Catholic Irish of English descent ("Old English
") were represented in Confederate Ireland
—essentially an independent Catholic government based in Kilkenny
—who wanted to come to terms with King Charles I of England
in return for religious toleration
and self-government.
On the other side, any concession that Ormonde made to the Confederates weakened his support among English and Scottish Protestants in Ireland.
Ormonde's negotiations with the Confederates were therefore tortuous, even though many of the Confederate leaders were his relatives or friends.
In 1644, he assisted Randall Macdonnell, 1st Marquess of Antrim in mounting an Irish Confederate expedition into Scotland
. The force, led by Alasdair MacColla
was sent to help the Scottish Royalists and sparked off a civil war in Scotland (1644–45). This turned out to be the only intervention of Irish Catholic troops in Britain during the Civil Wars.
On August 25, 1645, Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester
, acting on behalf of King Charles, signed a treaty in Kilkenny with the Irish Catholic Confederates without first airing the terms of the treaty with the Irish Protestant community.
Irish Protestant opposition turned out to be so intense, that Charles was forced to repudiate the treaty almost immediately out of fear of ceding almost all Irish Protestant support to the other side in the English civil war.
On March 28, 1646, Ormonde, on behalf of the king, concluded another treaty with the Confederates which granted religious concessions and removed various grievances.
However, the Confederates' General Assembly in Kilkenny rejected the deal, partly due to the influence of the pope's ambassador (nuncio
) Giovanni Battista Rinuccini
, who worked to dissuade the Catholics entering into a compromise.
The Confederates called off their truce with Ormonde, and arrested those among their number who had signed the treaty with Ormonde.
Ormonde then judged that he could not hold Dublin against the Confederates.
He therefore applied to the English Long Parliament
and signed a treaty with them on June 19, 1647 giving Dublin into the hands of the Parliamentarians on terms which protected the interests of both royalist Protestants and Roman Catholics who had not actually entered into rebellion.
At the beginning of August 1647, Ormonde handed over Dublin, together with 3000 royalist troops under his command, to the Parliamentarian commander Michael Jones
, who had recently arrived from England with 5000 Parliamentarian troops.
Ormonde in turn sailed for England, remarking of his surrender that he "preferred English rebels to Irish ones."
The combined royalist and parliamentarian troops won a major battle against the Catholic Confederates soon afterward near Dublin (Battle of Dungan's Hill
).
, but in March 1648, in order to avoid arrest by the parliament, he joined the queen and the Prince of Wales
at Paris
. In September of the same year, the pope's nuncio having been expelled, and affairs otherwise looking favourable, he returned to Ireland to endeavour to unite all parties for the king.
The Irish Confederates were now much more amenable to compromise, as 1647 had seen a series of military disasters for them at the hands of English Parliamentarian forces. On 17 January 1649 Ormonde concluded a peace with the rebels on the basis of the free exercise of their religion.
On the execution of the king (30 January 1649) he proclaimed Charles II, who made him a Knight of the Garter
in September 1649. Ormonde was placed in command of the Irish Confederates' armies and also English Royalist troops who were landed in Ireland from France.
However, despite controlling almost all of Ireland before August 1649, Ormonde was unable to prevent the conquest of Ireland
by Cromwell
in 1649-50.
Ormonde tried to re-take Dublin in August 1649, but was routed at the battle of Rathmines
.
Subsequently, he tried to halt Cromwell by holding a line of fortified towns across the country. However, the New Model Army
took them one after the other, beginning with the Siege of Drogheda
in September 1649.
Ormonde lost most of the English and Protestant Royalist troops under his command when they mutinied, and went over to Cromwell in May 1650.
This left him with only the Irish Catholic forces, who distrusted him greatly.
Ormonde was ousted from his command in late 1650 and he returned to France
in December 1650.
A synod
held in at the Augustinian abbey in Jamestown, County Leitrim
, repudiated the Duke and excommunicated his followers.
In Cromwell's Act of Settlement 1652, all of Ormonde's lands in Ireland were confiscated and he was excepted from the pardon given to those Royalists who had surrendered by that date.
Ormonde, though desperately short of money, was in constant attendance on Charles II and the queen mother in Paris, and accompanied the former to Aix and Cologne
when expelled from France by the terms of Mazarin's treaty with Cromwell in 1655.
In 1658, he went disguised, and at great risk, on a secret mission into England to gain trustworthy intelligence as to the chances of an uprising.
He attended the king at Fuenterrabia in 1659, and had an interview with Mazarin and was actively engaged in the secret transactions immediately preceding the Restoration
.
Relations between Ormonde and the Queen Mother were not good; when she remarked that if she had been trusted the King would be in England, Ormonde retorted that if she had never been trusted he need never have left England.
On the return of Charles to England as king, Ormonde was appointed a commissioner for the treasury and the navy, made Lord Steward of the Household
, a Privy Councillor
, Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
(an office which he resigned in 1672), High Steward of Westminster
, Kingston
and Bristol
, chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin
, Baron Butler of Llanthony
and Earl of Brecknock in the peerage
of England; and on 30 March 1661 he was created Duke of Ormonde in the Irish peerage and made Lord High Steward
of England, for Charles's coronation that year.
At the same time he recovered his enormous estates in Ireland, and large grants in recompense of the fortune he had spent in the royal service were made to him by the king, while in the following year the Irish Parliament
presented him with £30,000. His losses, however, according to Carte, exceeded his gains by nearly a million £. See also Act of Settlement 1662
.
On 4 November 1661, he once more received the lord lieutenantship of Ireland, and busily engaged in the work of settling that country. The main problem was the land question, and the Act of Explanation was passed through the Irish parliament by Ormonde, on 23 December 1665.
His heart was in his government, and he vehemently opposed the bill prohibiting the importation of Irish cattle, which struck so fatal a blow at Irish trade; and retaliated by prohibiting the import into Ireland of Scottish commodities, and obtained leave to trade
with foreign countries.
He encouraged Irish manufactures and learning to the utmost, and it was to his efforts that the Irish College of Physicians owes its incorporation.
Ormonde's personality had always been a striking one, and he was highly regarded. He was dignified and proud of his loyalty, even when he lost royal favour, declaring, "However ill I may stand at court I am resolved to lye well in the chronicle".
Ormonde soon became the mark for attack from all that was worst in the court.
Buckingham
especially did his utmost to undermine his influence.
Ormonde's almost irresponsible government of Ireland during troubled times was open to criticism.
He had billet
ed soldiers on civilians, and had executed martial law
.
He was threatened by Buckingham with impeachment.
In March 1669, Ormonde was removed from the government of Ireland and from the committee for Irish affairs.
He made no complaint, insisted that his sons and others over whom he had influence should retain their posts, and continued to fulfil the duties of his other offices, while his character and services were recognized in his election as Chancellor of the University of Oxford
on 4 August 1669.
In 1670, an extraordinary attempt was made to assassinate the duke by a ruffian and adventurer named Thomas Blood
, already notorious for an unsuccessful plot to surprise Dublin Castle
in 1663, and later for stealing the royal crown
from the Tower
. Ormonde was attacked by Blood and his accomplices while driving up St James's Street on the night of 6 December 1670, dragged out of his coach, and taken on horseback along Piccadilly
with the intention of hanging him at Tyburn
. Ormonde, however, succeeded in overcoming the horseman to whom he was bound, and escaped.
The outrage, it was suspected, had been instigated by Buckingham, who was openly accused of the crime by Lord Ossory, Ormonde's son, in the king's presence, and threatened by him with instant death if any violence should happen to his father.
These suspicions were encouraged by the improper action of the king in pardoning Blood, and in admitting him to his presence and treating him with favour after his apprehension while endeavouring to steal the crown jewels.
In his estates in Carrick-on-Suir
in South Tipperary
, he was responsible establishing the woollen industry in the town in 1670.
In 1671 Ormonde successfully opposed Richard Talbot's attempt to upset the Act of Settlement
.
In 1673, he again visited Ireland, returned to London in 1675 to give advice to Charles on affairs in parliament, and in 1677 was again restored to favour and reappointed to the lord lieutenancy.
On his arrival in Ireland he occupied himself in placing the revenue
and the army
upon a proper footing.
Upon the outbreak of the disturbances caused by the Popish Plot
(1678) in England, Ormonde at once took steps towards rendering the Roman Catholics, who were in the proportion of 15 to 1, powerless; and the mildness and moderation of his measures served as the ground of an attack upon him in England led by Shaftesbury
, from which he was defended with great spirit by his own son Lord Ossory.
While wary of defending Oliver Plunkett
publicly in private, he denounced the obvious falsity of the charges against him - of the informers who claimed Plunkett had hired them to kill the King he wrote that "no schoolboy would have trusted them to rob an orchard".
In 1682 Charles summoned Ormonde to court.
The same year he wrote "A Letter, from a Person of Honour in the Country, in answer to the earl of Anglesey, his Observations upon the earl of Castlehaven's Memoires concerning the Rebellion of Ireland", and gave Charles general support.
On 9 November 1683, an English dukedom was conferred upon him, and in June 1684 he returned to Ireland; but he was recalled in October in consequence of fresh intrigues.
Before he could give up his government to Rochester, Charles II died; and Ormonde's last act as lord lieutenant was to proclaim James II
in Dublin.
Ormonde also served as the sixth Chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin
between 1645 and 1688, although he was in exile for the first fifteen years of his tenure.
Subsequently Ormonde lived in retirement at Cornbury in Oxfordshire
, a house lent to him by Lord Clarendon
, but emerged in 1687 to offer opposition at the board of the Charterhouse
to James's attempt to assume the dispensing power and force upon the institution a Roman Catholic candidate without taking the oaths.
Ormonde also refused the king his support in the question of the Indulgence
; James, to his credit, refused to take away his offices, and continued to hold him in respect and favour to the last.
Ormonde died on 21 July 1688 at Kingston Lacy, Dorset, not having, as he rejoiced to know, "outlived his intellectuals"; and with him disappeared the greatest and grandest figure of the times.
His splendid qualities were expressed with some felicity in verses written on welcoming his return to Ireland and printed in 1682:
Ormonde was buried in Westminster Abbey
on 1 August 1688.
With his wife, born Elizabeth Preston, he had at least 7 children, of whom three of his sons survived into adulthood.
The eldest of these, Thomas, Earl of Ossory (1634 – 1680) predeceased him, his eldest son (that is to say James Butler's grandchild) succeeded as 2nd Duke of Ormonde
(1665 – 1745). The other two sons, Richard, created earl of Arran
, and John, created earl of Gowran
, both died without male issue, and the male descent of the 1st Duke becoming extinct in the person of Charles, 3rd Duke of Ormonde, the earldom subsequently reverted to the cadet descendants of Walter, 11th earl of Ormonde.
Lineage of the Butlers can be traced back to James Butler born in 1331 in Knocktopher Castle, Arklow, Wicklow, Ireland. This James Butler was the son of Eleanor Bohun who was the daughter of Elizabeth Plantagenet or also called Elizabeth of Rhuddlan
(born 1282 in Rhuddlan Castle, Wales). Elizabeth Plantagenet was the daughter of King Edward I of England
and Eleanor of Castile
. King Edward I can trace lineage to notable monarchs such as Henry II
, Eleanor of Aquitaine
, William the Conqueror and, of course, Charlemagne
, King of the Franks
.
Privy Council of England
The Privy Council of England, also known as His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, was a body of advisers to the sovereign of the Kingdom of England...
(19 October 1610 – 21 July 1688) was an Irish
Irish
Irish may refer to:*Irish cuisine* Ireland, an island in north-western Europe, on which are located:** Northern Ireland, a constituent country of the United Kingdom** Republic of Ireland, a sovereign state...
statesman and soldier. He was the second of the Kilcash branch of the family to inherit the earldom. He was the friend of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1632 to 1639 he instituted a harsh rule as Lord Deputy of Ireland...
, who appointeed him commander of the Cavalier
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
forces in Ireland. From 1641 to 1647, he led the fighting against the Irish Catholic Confederation
Irish Confederate Wars
This article is concerned with the military history of Ireland from 1641-53. For the political context of this conflict, see Confederate Ireland....
. From 1649 to 1650 he was top commander of the Royalist forces fighting against the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...
. In the 1650s he lived in exile in Europe with Charles II of England
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
. Upon the restoration
Restoration (1660)
The term Restoration in reference to the year 1660 refers to the restoration of Charles II to his realms across the British Empire at that time.-England:...
of Charles II to the British throne in 1660, Ormonde became a major figure in English and Irish politics, holding many high government offices.
Early life
James Butler was the eldest son of Thomas Butler, Viscount ThurlesThomas Butler, Viscount Thurles
Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles was the son of Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond and the Honorable Helen Butler. He resided at Thurles Castle, Thurles, County Tipperary...
and of Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Poyntz. His sister Elizabeth married Nicholas Purcell
Nicholas Purcell of Loughmoe
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....
, 13th Baron of Loughmoe
Barons of Loughmoe
The title Baron of Loughmoe is a feudal barony located in northern County Tipperary, Ireland. The title was possibly raised to a Jacobite peerage in 1690 while James II was in exile, however, while the Marquis de Ruvigny notes this in his 'The Jacobite Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Grants of...
. James's paternal grandfather was Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond. He was born at Clerkenwell, London, 19 October 1610, in the house of his maternal grandfather, Sir John Poyntz. Shortly after his birth, his parents returned to Ireland. The Butlers
Butler dynasty
Butler dynasty refers to the several branches of the Butler family that has its origins in the Cambro-Norman family that participated in the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century. Variant spellings include le Boteler and le Botiller. The surname has its origins in the hereditary office of...
of Ormonde were an Old English
Old English (Ireland)
The Old English were the descendants of the settlers who came to Ireland from Wales, Normandy, and England after the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169–71. Many of the Old English became assimilated into Irish society over the centuries...
dynasty who had dominated the southeast of Ireland since the Middle Ages.
Upon the shipwreck and death of his father in 1619, the lad was by courtesy styled Viscount Thurles.
The year following that disaster, his mother brought him back to England, and placed him, then nine years of age, at school with a Catholic gentleman at Finchley — this doubtless through the influence of his grandfather, the 11th Earl.
It was not long before James I of England
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
, anxious that the heir of the Butlers should be brought up a Protestant, placed him at Lambeth, under the care of George Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
.
The Ormond estates being under sequestration (as noted in the life of the 11th Earl) the young Lord had but £40 a year for his own and his servant's clothing and expenses.
He appears to have been entirely neglected by the Archbishop — "he was not instructed even in humanity, nor so much as taught to understand Latin".
When fifteen he went to live with his grandfather (then released from prison) at Drury-lane "who through length of his confinement and his advanced age, was grown very infirm, and never troubled him in matters of religion".
This was very important for Butler's future life, as it meant that, unlike almost all his relatives in the Butler dynasty
Butler dynasty
Butler dynasty refers to the several branches of the Butler family that has its origins in the Cambro-Norman family that participated in the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century. Variant spellings include le Boteler and le Botiller. The surname has its origins in the hereditary office of...
, he was a Protestant.
This made his relationship with the rest of his family and dependants somewhat strained, as they suffered from land confiscations and legal discrimination on account of their religion, while he did not.
Having now more means at command, he entered into all the gaieties of the court and town.
At eighteen he went to Portsmouth with his friend George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham KG was the favourite, claimed by some to be the lover, of King James I of England. Despite a very patchy political and military record, he remained at the height of royal favour for the first two years of the reign of Charles I, until he was assassinated...
intending to join the expedition for the relief of Rochelle; a project abandoned upon the assassination of the Duke.
It was during his London residence that he set himself to learn Irish, a partial knowledge of which language proved most useful to him in after years.
About six months after his visit to Portsmouth, he first saw at Court, and fell in love with, his cousin, Lady Elizabeth Preston, only child and heiress of Sir Richard Preston, Earl of Desmond
Earl of Desmond
The title of Earl of Desmond has been held historically by lords in Ireland, first as a title outside of the peerage system and later as part of the Peerage of Ireland....
. Charles I
Charles I
Charles I may refer to:In Kings and Emperors:* Charles I, Holy Roman Emperor or Charlemagne * Charles I of Naples, King of Sicily * Charles I of Hungary, King of Hungary...
gave his consent by letters patent
Letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
, on 8 September 1629.
At Christmas 1629, they married putting an end to the long-standing quarrel between the families and united their estates.
In 1634, on the death of his grandfather, he succeeded to the earldom.
Rebellion and Civil War
Ormond's active career began in 1633 with the appointment as head of government in Ireland of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of StraffordThomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1632 to 1639 he instituted a harsh rule as Lord Deputy of Ireland...
, by whom Ormonde was treated with great favour.
Writing to Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
, Wentworth described Ormonde as "young, but take it from me, a very staid head".
Ormonde became Wentworth's chief friend and supporter.
Wentworth planned large scale confiscations of Catholic-owned land, both to raise money for the crown and to break the political power of the Irish Catholic gentry, a policy which Ormonde supported.
Yet, it infuriated his relatives, and drove many of them into opposition to Wentworth and ultimately into armed rebellion.
In 1640, with Wentworth having been recalled to attend to the Second Bishops' War in England, Ormonde was made commander-in-chief of the forces in Ireland.
The opposition to Wentworth ultimately aided an impeachment of the Earl by the English Parliament, and eventual execution in May 1641.
On the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641
Irish Rebellion of 1641
The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d'état by Irish Catholic gentry, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for the Catholics living under English rule...
, Ormonde found himself in command of government forces based in Dublin. Most of the country was taken by the Catholic rebels, who included Ormonde's Butler relatives. However Ormonde's bonds of kinship were not entirely severed. His wife and children were escorted from Kilkenny
Kilkenny
Kilkenny is a city and is the county town of the eponymous County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, in the south-east of Ireland...
to Dublin under the order of the rebel leader Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret
Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret
Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret was the son of Edmund Butler, 2nd Viscount Mountgarret and Grany or Grizzel, daughter of Barnaby Fitzpatrick, 1st Baron Upper Ossory...
, who was Ormonde's cousin. In spring 1642 Mountgarret and Ormonde were the commanders of the opposing forces at the battle of Kilrush
Battle of Kilrush
The Battle of Kilrush was a minor engagement at the start of the Eleven years war.It was fought in April 1642 between an English army under the Earl of Ormonde, and Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret, who led an untrained horde of Irish troops raised during the Irish Rebellion of 1641...
, with Ormonde's side winning.
In spring 1642 the Irish Catholics formed their own government, the Catholic Confederation
Confederate Ireland
Confederate Ireland refers to the period of Irish self-government between the Rebellion of 1641 and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. During this time, two-thirds of Ireland was governed by the Irish Catholic Confederation, also known as the "Confederation of Kilkenny"...
, with its capital at Kilkenny
Kilkenny
Kilkenny is a city and is the county town of the eponymous County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, in the south-east of Ireland...
, and began to raise their own regular troops, more organized and capable than the irregular militia of the 1641 rebellion.
Also in early 1642 the king sent in troop reinforcements from England and Scotland.
The Irish Confederate War was underway.
Ormonde mounted several expeditions from Dublin in 1642, that cleared the area around Dublin of Confederate forces.
He secured control of the area historically known as the Pale
The Pale
The Pale or the English Pale , was the part of Ireland that was directly under the control of the English government in the late Middle Ages. It had reduced by the late 15th century to an area along the east coast stretching from Dalkey, south of Dublin, to the garrison town of Dundalk...
, and re-supplied some outlying garrisons, without serious contest.
The Lords Justices, who suspected him because he was related to many of the Confederate leaders, recalled him from command, after he had succeeded in relieving Drogheda
Drogheda
Drogheda is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, 56 km north of Dublin. It is the last bridging point on the River Boyne before it enters the Irish Sea....
.
But he received the public thanks of the English Parliament and a monetary reward, and in September 1642 was put in command with a commission direct from the king.
In March 1643, Ormonde ventured his troops to New Ross
New Ross
New Ross is a town located in southwest County Wexford, in the southeast of Ireland. In 2006 it had a population of 7,709 people, making it the third largest town in the county after Wexford and Enniscorthy.-History:...
, deep in the territory of the Catholic Confederation, and won a small but indecisive victory there (Battle of New Ross
Battle of New Ross (1643)
The Battle of Ballinvegga or Battle of New Ross was a battle of the Irish Confederate Wars fought on 18 March 1643.In the battle, James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde defeated Thomas Preston, 1st Viscount Tara, and an Irish Confederate army north of the town of New Ross in the nearby townland of...
) before returning to Dublin.
Nevertheless, Ormonde was in a very difficult situation.
The Confederates held two thirds of the island.
The English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, started in September 1642, had removed the prospect of more reinforcements from England and indeed the king desired to recall troops.
In addition the Scots Covenanters, who had landed an army in the northeast of Ireland at Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus , known locally and colloquially as "Carrick", is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,201 at the 2001 Census and takes its name from Fergus Mór mac Eirc, the 6th century king...
to counter the Catholic rebellion in that part of the country in early 1642, had subsequently put northeast Ireland on the side of the English Parliamentarians against the king; and the relatively strong Protestant presence in and around Derry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
and Cork City was inclined to side with the Parliamentarians as well, and soon did so.
Isolated in Dublin, with the king desiring to minimize his Irish troops, Ormonde therefore agreed to a "cessation" or ceasefire with the Catholics, which began in September 1643, by which the greater part of Ireland was given up into the hands of the Catholic Confederation (leaving only districts in the north, the Dublin Pale, round Cork City, and certain smallish garrisons in the possession of Protestant commanders). This truce was vehemently opposed by the Lords Justices and the Protestant community in general in Ireland.
Soon afterwards, in November 1643, by the king's orders, Ormonde despatched a body of his troops into England to fight on the Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
side in the Civil War, estimated at 4,000 troops, half of whom were sent from Cork.
In November 1643 the king appointed Ormonde as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was the British King's representative and head of the Irish executive during the Lordship of Ireland , the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
-- head of the Irish government executive, in other words.
For the previous two years the occupant of this post had not set foot in Ireland.
Ormonde's assigned mission was to prevent the king's Parliamentarian enemies from being reinforced from Ireland, and to aim to deliver more troops to fight for the Royalist side in England.
To these ends, he had instructions to do all in his power to keep the Scottish Covenanter army in the north of Ireland occupied.
He was also given the king's authority to negotiate a Treaty with the Catholic Confederation which could allow their troops to be redirected against the Parliamentarians.
Negotiations with the Irish Confederates
The Old (native) Irish and Catholic Irish of English descent ("Old English
Old English (Ireland)
The Old English were the descendants of the settlers who came to Ireland from Wales, Normandy, and England after the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169–71. Many of the Old English became assimilated into Irish society over the centuries...
") were represented in Confederate Ireland
Confederate Ireland
Confederate Ireland refers to the period of Irish self-government between the Rebellion of 1641 and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. During this time, two-thirds of Ireland was governed by the Irish Catholic Confederation, also known as the "Confederation of Kilkenny"...
—essentially an independent Catholic government based in Kilkenny
Kilkenny
Kilkenny is a city and is the county town of the eponymous County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, in the south-east of Ireland...
—who wanted to come to terms with King Charles I of England
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
in return for religious toleration
Religious toleration
Toleration is "the practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a thing of which one disapproves. One can meaningfully speak of tolerating, ie of allowing or permitting, only if one is in a position to disallow”. It has also been defined as "to bear or endure" or "to nourish, sustain or preserve"...
and self-government.
On the other side, any concession that Ormonde made to the Confederates weakened his support among English and Scottish Protestants in Ireland.
Ormonde's negotiations with the Confederates were therefore tortuous, even though many of the Confederate leaders were his relatives or friends.
In 1644, he assisted Randall Macdonnell, 1st Marquess of Antrim in mounting an Irish Confederate expedition into Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The force, led by Alasdair MacColla
Alasdair MacColla
Alasdair Mac Colla was a Scottish soldier. His full name in Scottish Gaelic was Alasdair Mac Colla Chiotaich Mac Domhnuill . He is sometimes mistakenly referred to in English as "Collkitto", a nickname that properly belongs to his father. He fought in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, most notably...
was sent to help the Scottish Royalists and sparked off a civil war in Scotland (1644–45). This turned out to be the only intervention of Irish Catholic troops in Britain during the Civil Wars.
On August 25, 1645, Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester
Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester
Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester , styled Lord Herbert of Ragland from 1628–1644, was an English nobleman involved in royalist politics and an inventor...
, acting on behalf of King Charles, signed a treaty in Kilkenny with the Irish Catholic Confederates without first airing the terms of the treaty with the Irish Protestant community.
Irish Protestant opposition turned out to be so intense, that Charles was forced to repudiate the treaty almost immediately out of fear of ceding almost all Irish Protestant support to the other side in the English civil war.
On March 28, 1646, Ormonde, on behalf of the king, concluded another treaty with the Confederates which granted religious concessions and removed various grievances.
However, the Confederates' General Assembly in Kilkenny rejected the deal, partly due to the influence of the pope's ambassador (nuncio
Nuncio
Nuncio is an ecclesiastical diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin word, Nuntius, meaning "envoy." This article addresses this title as well as derived similar titles, all within the structure of the Roman Catholic Church...
) Giovanni Battista Rinuccini
Giovanni Battista Rinuccini
Giovanni Battista Rinuccini was a Roman Catholic archbishop in the mid seventeenth century. He was a noted legal scholar who became chamberlain to Pope Gregory XV, who made him the Archbishop of Fermo in Italy...
, who worked to dissuade the Catholics entering into a compromise.
The Confederates called off their truce with Ormonde, and arrested those among their number who had signed the treaty with Ormonde.
Ormonde then judged that he could not hold Dublin against the Confederates.
He therefore applied to the English Long Parliament
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...
and signed a treaty with them on June 19, 1647 giving Dublin into the hands of the Parliamentarians on terms which protected the interests of both royalist Protestants and Roman Catholics who had not actually entered into rebellion.
At the beginning of August 1647, Ormonde handed over Dublin, together with 3000 royalist troops under his command, to the Parliamentarian commander Michael Jones
Michael Jones (soldier)
Lieutenant-General Michael Jones fought for King Charles I during the Irish Confederate War but joined the English Parliamentary side when the English Civil War started....
, who had recently arrived from England with 5000 Parliamentarian troops.
Ormonde in turn sailed for England, remarking of his surrender that he "preferred English rebels to Irish ones."
The combined royalist and parliamentarian troops won a major battle against the Catholic Confederates soon afterward near Dublin (Battle of Dungan's Hill
Battle of Dungan's Hill
The Battle of Dungan's Hill took place in County Meath, in eastern Ireland in August 1647. It was fought between the armies of Confederate Ireland and the English Parliament during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The Irish army was intercepted on a march towards Dublin and destroyed...
).
Commander of Royalist Alliance
Ormonde attended King Charles during August and October 1647 at Hampton Court PalaceHampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Greater London; it has not been inhabited by the British royal family since the 18th century. The palace is located south west of Charing Cross and upstream of Central London on the River Thames...
, but in March 1648, in order to avoid arrest by the parliament, he joined the queen and the Prince of Wales
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
at Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. In September of the same year, the pope's nuncio having been expelled, and affairs otherwise looking favourable, he returned to Ireland to endeavour to unite all parties for the king.
The Irish Confederates were now much more amenable to compromise, as 1647 had seen a series of military disasters for them at the hands of English Parliamentarian forces. On 17 January 1649 Ormonde concluded a peace with the rebels on the basis of the free exercise of their religion.
On the execution of the king (30 January 1649) he proclaimed Charles II, who made him a Knight of the Garter
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...
in September 1649. Ormonde was placed in command of the Irish Confederates' armies and also English Royalist troops who were landed in Ireland from France.
However, despite controlling almost all of Ireland before August 1649, Ormonde was unable to prevent the conquest of Ireland
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...
by Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
in 1649-50.
Ormonde tried to re-take Dublin in August 1649, but was routed at the battle of Rathmines
Battle of Rathmines
The Battle of Rathmines was fought in and around what is now the Dublin suburb of Rathmines in August 1649, during the Irish Confederate Wars, the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
.
Subsequently, he tried to halt Cromwell by holding a line of fortified towns across the country. However, the New Model Army
New Model Army
The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...
took them one after the other, beginning with the Siege of Drogheda
Siege of Drogheda
The siege of Drogheda at the outset of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. The town of Drogheda in eastern Ireland was held by a combined English Royalist and Irish Catholic garrison when it was besieged and stormed by English Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell...
in September 1649.
Ormonde lost most of the English and Protestant Royalist troops under his command when they mutinied, and went over to Cromwell in May 1650.
This left him with only the Irish Catholic forces, who distrusted him greatly.
Ormonde was ousted from his command in late 1650 and he returned to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in December 1650.
A synod
Synod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
held in at the Augustinian abbey in Jamestown, County Leitrim
Jamestown, County Leitrim
Jamestown is a village on the banks of the River Shannon in County Leitrim, Ireland. It lies some 5 km east-south-east of the county town, Carrick-on-Shannon....
, repudiated the Duke and excommunicated his followers.
In Cromwell's Act of Settlement 1652, all of Ormonde's lands in Ireland were confiscated and he was excepted from the pardon given to those Royalists who had surrendered by that date.
Ormonde, though desperately short of money, was in constant attendance on Charles II and the queen mother in Paris, and accompanied the former to Aix and Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
when expelled from France by the terms of Mazarin's treaty with Cromwell in 1655.
In 1658, he went disguised, and at great risk, on a secret mission into England to gain trustworthy intelligence as to the chances of an uprising.
He attended the king at Fuenterrabia in 1659, and had an interview with Mazarin and was actively engaged in the secret transactions immediately preceding the Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
.
Relations between Ormonde and the Queen Mother were not good; when she remarked that if she had been trusted the King would be in England, Ormonde retorted that if she had never been trusted he need never have left England.
Restoration career
Lord Steward
The Lord Steward or Lord Steward of the Household, in England, is an important official of the Royal Household. He is always a peer. Until 1924, he was always a member of the Government...
, a Privy Councillor
Privy Council of England
The Privy Council of England, also known as His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, was a body of advisers to the sovereign of the Kingdom of England...
, Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
This is an incomplete list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Somerset. Since 1714, all Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Somerset.-Lord Lieutenants of Somerset:*John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford 1552–1555...
(an office which he resigned in 1672), High Steward of Westminster
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
, Kingston
Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated south west of Charing Cross. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the...
and Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, Baron Butler of Llanthony
Llanthony
Llanthony is a village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, United Kingdom.- Location :Llanthony is located in the Vale of Ewyas, a deep and long valley with glacial origins within the Black Mountains, Wales, seven miles north of Abergavenny and within the eastern section of the Brecon Beacons...
and Earl of Brecknock in the peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
of England; and on 30 March 1661 he was created Duke of Ormonde in the Irish peerage and made Lord High Steward
Lord High Steward
The position of Lord High Steward of England is the first of the Great Officers of State. The office has generally remained vacant since 1421, except at coronations and during the trials of peers in the House of Lords, when the Lord High Steward presides. In general, but not invariably, the Lord...
of England, for Charles's coronation that year.
At the same time he recovered his enormous estates in Ireland, and large grants in recompense of the fortune he had spent in the royal service were made to him by the king, while in the following year the Irish Parliament
Parliament of Ireland
The Parliament of Ireland was a legislature that existed in Dublin from 1297 until 1800. In its early mediaeval period during the Lordship of Ireland it consisted of either two or three chambers: the House of Commons, elected by a very restricted suffrage, the House of Lords in which the lords...
presented him with £30,000. His losses, however, according to Carte, exceeded his gains by nearly a million £. See also Act of Settlement 1662
Act of Settlement 1662
The Act of Settlement 1662 passed by the Irish Parliament in Dublin. It was a partial reversal of the Cromwellian Act of Settlement 1652, which punished Irish Catholics and Royalists for fighting against the English Parliament in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms by the wholesale confiscation of their...
.
On 4 November 1661, he once more received the lord lieutenantship of Ireland, and busily engaged in the work of settling that country. The main problem was the land question, and the Act of Explanation was passed through the Irish parliament by Ormonde, on 23 December 1665.
His heart was in his government, and he vehemently opposed the bill prohibiting the importation of Irish cattle, which struck so fatal a blow at Irish trade; and retaliated by prohibiting the import into Ireland of Scottish commodities, and obtained leave to trade
Trade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
with foreign countries.
He encouraged Irish manufactures and learning to the utmost, and it was to his efforts that the Irish College of Physicians owes its incorporation.
Ormonde's personality had always been a striking one, and he was highly regarded. He was dignified and proud of his loyalty, even when he lost royal favour, declaring, "However ill I may stand at court I am resolved to lye well in the chronicle".
Ormonde soon became the mark for attack from all that was worst in the court.
Buckingham
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, 20th Baron de Ros of Helmsley, KG, PC, FRS was an English statesman and poet.- Upbringing and education :...
especially did his utmost to undermine his influence.
Ormonde's almost irresponsible government of Ireland during troubled times was open to criticism.
He had billet
Billet
A billet is a term for living quarters to which a soldier is assigned to sleep. Historically, it referred to a private dwelling that was required to accept the soldier....
ed soldiers on civilians, and had executed martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
.
He was threatened by Buckingham with impeachment.
In March 1669, Ormonde was removed from the government of Ireland and from the committee for Irish affairs.
He made no complaint, insisted that his sons and others over whom he had influence should retain their posts, and continued to fulfil the duties of his other offices, while his character and services were recognized in his election as Chancellor of the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
on 4 August 1669.
In 1670, an extraordinary attempt was made to assassinate the duke by a ruffian and adventurer named Thomas Blood
Thomas Blood
Colonel Thomas Blood was an Irish colonel best known for attempting to steal the Crown Jewels of England from the Tower of London in 1671...
, already notorious for an unsuccessful plot to surprise Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, was until 1922 the fortified seat of British rule in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland...
in 1663, and later for stealing the royal crown
Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom
The collective term Crown Jewels denotes the regalia and vestments worn by the sovereign of the United Kingdom during the coronation ceremony and at other state functions...
from the Tower
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
. Ormonde was attacked by Blood and his accomplices while driving up St James's Street on the night of 6 December 1670, dragged out of his coach, and taken on horseback along Piccadilly
Piccadilly
Piccadilly is a major street in central London, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is completely within the city of Westminster. The street is part of the A4 road, London's second most important western artery. St...
with the intention of hanging him at Tyburn
Tyburn, London
Tyburn was a village in the county of Middlesex close to the current location of Marble Arch in present-day London. It took its name from the Tyburn or Teo Bourne 'boundary stream', a tributary of the River Thames which is now completely covered over between its source and its outfall into the...
. Ormonde, however, succeeded in overcoming the horseman to whom he was bound, and escaped.
The outrage, it was suspected, had been instigated by Buckingham, who was openly accused of the crime by Lord Ossory, Ormonde's son, in the king's presence, and threatened by him with instant death if any violence should happen to his father.
These suspicions were encouraged by the improper action of the king in pardoning Blood, and in admitting him to his presence and treating him with favour after his apprehension while endeavouring to steal the crown jewels.
In his estates in Carrick-on-Suir
Carrick-on-Suir
Carrick-on-Suir is a town in South Tipperary in Ireland. As the name – meaning "the rock of the Suir" – suggests, the town is situated on the River Suir. The of the town gives the population as 5,906 and shows that it has grown by 5.7% since 2002...
in South Tipperary
South Tipperary
South Tipperary is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is also located in the province of Munster. It is named after the town of Tipperary and consists of 52% of the land area of the traditional county of Tipperary. The county was established in 1898 and has had a county...
, he was responsible establishing the woollen industry in the town in 1670.
In 1671 Ormonde successfully opposed Richard Talbot's attempt to upset the Act of Settlement
Act of Settlement
Act of Settlement may refer to:*Statute of Legal Settlement 1547, legislation regarding the settlement of the poor*Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652, in response to the Irish Rebellion of 1641...
.
In 1673, he again visited Ireland, returned to London in 1675 to give advice to Charles on affairs in parliament, and in 1677 was again restored to favour and reappointed to the lord lieutenancy.
On his arrival in Ireland he occupied himself in placing the revenue
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
and the army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
upon a proper footing.
Upon the outbreak of the disturbances caused by the Popish Plot
Popish Plot
The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy concocted by Titus Oates that gripped England, Wales and Scotland in Anti-Catholic hysteria between 1678 and 1681. Oates alleged that there existed an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Charles II, accusations that led to the execution of at...
(1678) in England, Ormonde at once took steps towards rendering the Roman Catholics, who were in the proportion of 15 to 1, powerless; and the mildness and moderation of his measures served as the ground of an attack upon him in England led by Shaftesbury
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury PC , known as Anthony Ashley Cooper from 1621 to 1631, as Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, 2nd Baronet from 1631 to 1661, and as The Lord Ashley from 1661 to 1672, was a prominent English politician during the Interregnum and during the reign of King Charles...
, from which he was defended with great spirit by his own son Lord Ossory.
While wary of defending Oliver Plunkett
Oliver Plunkett
Saint Oliver Plunkett was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland....
publicly in private, he denounced the obvious falsity of the charges against him - of the informers who claimed Plunkett had hired them to kill the King he wrote that "no schoolboy would have trusted them to rob an orchard".
In 1682 Charles summoned Ormonde to court.
The same year he wrote "A Letter, from a Person of Honour in the Country, in answer to the earl of Anglesey, his Observations upon the earl of Castlehaven's Memoires concerning the Rebellion of Ireland", and gave Charles general support.
On 9 November 1683, an English dukedom was conferred upon him, and in June 1684 he returned to Ireland; but he was recalled in October in consequence of fresh intrigues.
Before he could give up his government to Rochester, Charles II died; and Ormonde's last act as lord lieutenant was to proclaim James II
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
in Dublin.
Ormonde also served as the sixth Chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin
University of Dublin
The University of Dublin , corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin , located in Dublin, Ireland, was effectively founded when in 1592 Queen Elizabeth I issued a charter for Trinity College, Dublin, as "the mother of a university" – this date making it...
between 1645 and 1688, although he was in exile for the first fifteen years of his tenure.
Subsequently Ormonde lived in retirement at Cornbury in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, a house lent to him by Lord Clarendon
Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon
Henry Hyde 2nd Earl of Clarendon PC was an English aristocrat and politician. He held high office at the beginning of the reign of James II of England, who had married his sister.-Early life:...
, but emerged in 1687 to offer opposition at the board of the Charterhouse
London Charterhouse
The London Charterhouse is a historic complex of buildings in Smithfield, London dating back to the 14th century. It occupies land to the north of Charterhouse Square. The Charterhouse began as a Carthusian priory, founded in 1371 and dissolved in 1537...
to James's attempt to assume the dispensing power and force upon the institution a Roman Catholic candidate without taking the oaths.
Ormonde also refused the king his support in the question of the Indulgence
Royal Declaration of Indulgence
The Royal Declaration of Indulgence was Charles II of England's attempt to extend religious liberty to Protestant nonconformists and Roman Catholics in his realms, by suspending the execution of the penal laws that punished recusants from the Church of England...
; James, to his credit, refused to take away his offices, and continued to hold him in respect and favour to the last.
Ormonde died on 21 July 1688 at Kingston Lacy, Dorset, not having, as he rejoiced to know, "outlived his intellectuals"; and with him disappeared the greatest and grandest figure of the times.
His splendid qualities were expressed with some felicity in verses written on welcoming his return to Ireland and printed in 1682:
- A Man of Plato's grand nobility,
- An inbred greatness, innate honesty;
- A Man not form'd of accidents, and whom
- Misfortune might oppress, not overcome
- Who weighs himself not by opinion
- But conscience of a noble action.
Ormonde was buried in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
on 1 August 1688.
Family
- Thomas Butler (1632 – 1632)
- Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of OssoryThomas Butler, 6th Earl of OssoryVice-Admiral Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory, KG, PC, PC was the eldest son of the James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde and Lady Elizabeth Preston, and an Irish politician born at Kilkenny Castle.-Life and career:...
(1634 – 1680) - James Butler (1636 – 1645)
- Richard Butler, 1st Earl of ArranRichard Butler, 1st Earl of ArranRichard Butler, 1st Earl of Arran, Baron Butler of Cloughgrenan, Viscount Tullough was an Irish peer, the fourth son of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde-Life:...
(1639 – 1686) - Elizabeth ButlerElizabeth Butler Stanhope, Countess of ChesterfieldElizabeth Stanhope, Countess of Chesterfield was the second wife of Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield, and the eldest daughter of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde and Lady Elizabeth Preston.-Marriage:...
(29 June 1640- July 1665), married Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of ChesterfieldPhilip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of ChesterfieldPhilip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield PC was a peer in the peerage of England.-Personal life:He was the son of Henry Stanhope, Lord Stanhope and his wife, Katherine Wotton. He inherited the title of Earl of Chesterfield on the death of his grandfather in 1656... - John Butler, 1st Earl of GowranJohn Butler, 1st Earl of GowranJohn Butler, Earl of Gowran was a British peer. The seventh son of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde and his wife, Elizabeth, Lord John Butler was created Earl of Gowran....
(1643 – 1677) - Mary Butler (1646 – 1710) married William Cavendish, 1st Duke of DevonshireWilliam Cavendish, 1st Duke of DevonshireWilliam Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire KG PC was a soldier and Whig statesman, the son of William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire and Lady Elizabeth Cecil.-Life:...
The eldest of these, Thomas, Earl of Ossory (1634 – 1680) predeceased him, his eldest son (that is to say James Butler's grandchild) succeeded as 2nd Duke of Ormonde
James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde
James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde KG KT was an Irish statesman and soldier. He was the third of the Kilcash branch of the family to inherit the earldom of Ormonde...
(1665 – 1745). The other two sons, Richard, created earl of Arran
Isle of Arran
Arran or the Isle of Arran is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, and with an area of is the seventh largest Scottish island. It is in the unitary council area of North Ayrshire and the 2001 census had a resident population of 5,058...
, and John, created earl of Gowran
Gowran
Gowran is a village and former town in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Gowran Park race course is located nearby. Gowran is located on the N9 national primary road where it is crossed by the R702 regional road.-History:...
, both died without male issue, and the male descent of the 1st Duke becoming extinct in the person of Charles, 3rd Duke of Ormonde, the earldom subsequently reverted to the cadet descendants of Walter, 11th earl of Ormonde.
Lineage of the Butlers can be traced back to James Butler born in 1331 in Knocktopher Castle, Arklow, Wicklow, Ireland. This James Butler was the son of Eleanor Bohun who was the daughter of Elizabeth Plantagenet or also called Elizabeth of Rhuddlan
Elizabeth of Rhuddlan
Elizabeth of Rhuddlan was the eighth and youngest daughter of Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile...
(born 1282 in Rhuddlan Castle, Wales). Elizabeth Plantagenet was the daughter of King Edward I of England
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
and Eleanor of Castile
Eleanor of Castile
Eleanor of Castile was the first queen consort of Edward I of England. She was also Countess of Ponthieu in her own right from 1279 until her death in 1290, succeeding her mother and ruling together with her husband.-Birth:...
. King Edward I can trace lineage to notable monarchs such as Henry II
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
, Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France and of England...
, William the Conqueror and, of course, Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
, King of the Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
.
Further reading
- Thomas CarteThomas CarteThomas Carte was an English historian.-Life:Carte was born near Clifton upon Dunsmore...
, Life of the Duke of Ormonde (3 vols., 1735–1736; new ed., in 6 vols., Oxford, 1851) - Thomas Carte, Collection of Original Letters, found among the Duke of Ormonde's Papers (1739)
- Carte ManuscriptsCarte ManuscriptsThe Carte Manuscripts are archived historical papers collected by Thomas Carte . They are held in the Bodleian Library, at the University of Oxford, England.Among Carte's collection were many documents relating to the history of Ireland...
in the Bodleian LibraryBodleian LibraryThe Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
at OxfordOxfordThe city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through... - Sir Robert SouthwellRobert SouthwellRobert Southwell , also Saint Robert Southwell, was an English Roman Catholic priest of the Jesuit Order. He was also a poet and clandestine missionary in post-Reformation England. After being arrested and brutally tortured by Sir Richard Topcliffe, Father Southwell was tried and convicted of high...
, "Life of Ormonde", printed in the History of the Irish Parliament, by Lord Mountmorres (i 792), vol. 1. - Correspondence between Archbishop Williams and the Marquess of Ormonde, edited by B. H. Beckham (reprinted from Archaeologia Cambrensis, 1869)
- John MiltonJohn MiltonJohn Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
, Observations on the Articles of Peace between James, Earl of Ormonde, and the Irish-Rebels - Hist. MSS. Comm. Reps. ii.-iv. and vi.-x., esp. Rep. viii., appendix, p. 499, and Rep. xiv. App.: pt. vii.
- Manuscripts of the Marquis of Ormonde, together with new series; Notes and QueriesNotes and QueriesNotes and Queries is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to "English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism". Its emphasis is on "the factual rather than the speculative"...
, vi. ser. v., Pp. 343~ ~al1 - Gardiner's History of the Civil War
- Calendar of Slate Papers (Domestic) and Irish,1633 – 1662, with introductions
- Biographia BritannicaBiographia BritannicaBiographia Britannica was a multi-volume biographical compendium, "the most ambitious attempt in the latter half of the eighteenth century to document the lives of notable British men and women". The first edition, edited by William Oldys, appeared in 6 volumes between 1747 and 1766...
(KippisAndrew KippisAndrew Kippis was an English nonconformist clergyman and biographer.The son of Robert Kippis, a silk-hosier, he was born at Nottingham. Having gone to school at Sleaford in Lincolnshire he passed at the age of sixteen to the Dissenting academy at Northampton, of which Dr Philip Doddridge was then...
) - Scottish Hist. Soc. Publications: Letters and Papers of 1650, edited by S. R. Gardiner, vol. xvii. (1894)
External links
- http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/biog/ormond.htm