James Butler (Duke of Ormond, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland)

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Lieutenant-General
His Grace
The Duke of Ormond
KG
A painted portrait showing the upper-half of a clean-shaven man with long light-brown curled hair
Portrait by Peter Lely
Chancellor of the University of Oxford
In office
4 August 1669 – 1688
Preceded byGilbert Sheldon
Succeeded byThe 2nd Duke of Ormond
Lord High Steward
In office
29 May 1660 – 13 February 1689
MonarchsCharles II,
James II
Preceded byThe 1st Duke of Richmond
Succeeded byThe 1st Duke of Devonshire
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
In office
24 May 1677 – 24 February 1685
MonarchCharles II
Preceded byThe 1st Earl of Essex
Succeeded byThe 2nd Earl of Clarendon
In office
21 February 1662 – 7 February 1668
MonarchCharles II
Preceded byThe 1st Duke of Albemarle
Succeeded byThe 6th Earl of Ossory
In office
30 September 1648 – 22 June 1649
MonarchCharles I
Preceded byViscount Lisle
Succeeded byOliver Cromwell
In office
13 November 1643 – 9 April 1646
MonarchCharles I
Preceded byThe 2nd Earl of Leicester
Succeeded byViscount Lisle
Personal details
Born(1610-10-19)19 October 1610
Clerkenwell, London, England
Died21 July 1688(1688-07-21) (aged 77)
Kingston Lacy, Dorset, England
Resting placeWestminster Abbey, London
SpouseElizabeth Preston, Baroness Dingwall
ChildrenThomas, Richard, Elizabeth, John, & others
Parent(s)Thomas, Viscount Thurles
Elizabeth, Lady Thurles
EducationTrinity College Dublin
Military service
Branch/service English Army
Irish Confederates
Years of service1639–1651
RankCommander-in-chief, General, Commandant
Battles/warsWars of the Three Kingdoms (1639—1651) Second Bishops' War, 1st Siege of Drogheda, Battle of Kilrush, Battle of New Ross, Battle of Rathmines, 2nd Siege of Drogheda.

Lieutenant-General James FitzThomas Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, KG, PC (19 October 1610 – 21 July 1688), was an Anglo-Irish statesman and soldier, known as Earl of Ormond from 1634 to 1642 and Marquess of Ormond from 1642 to 1661.[a] Following the failure of the senior line of the Butler family, he was the second representative of the Kilcash branch to inherit the earldom.

His friend, the Earl of Strafford, secured his appointment as commander of the government army in Ireland. Following the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, he led government forces against the Irish Catholic Confederation; when the First English Civil War began in August 1642, he supported the Royalists and in 1643 negotiated a ceasefire with the Confederation which allowed his troops to be transferred to England. Shortly before the Execution of Charles I in January 1649, he agreed the Second Ormonde Peace, an alliance between the Confederation and Royalist forces which fought against the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.

During the 1650s he lived in exile on the continent with Charles II of England. After the Stuart Restoration in 1660, Ormond became a major figure in English and Irish politics, holding many high government offices such as Chancellor of the University of Oxford.

Birth and origins

James was born on 19 October 1610 at Clerkenwell, London,[1] the eldest son of Thomas Butler and his wife Elizabeth Pointz. His father, who was known by the courtesy title of Viscount Thurles, was the eldest son and heir apparent of Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond, called "Walter of the rosary beads". His father's family, the Butler dynasty, was Old English and descended from Theobald Walter, who had been appointed Chief Butler of Ireland by King Henry II in 1177.[2]

James's mother, Lady Thurles, was English and Catholic, a daughter of Sir John Pointz of Iron Acton, Gloucestershire, and his second wife Elizabeth Sydenham. James's birth house in Clerkenwell belonged to him, his maternal grandfather.

James was one of seven siblings, three brothers and four sisters, who are listed in his father's article. James was not only the eldest son but also the first-born as his eldest sister was born after him in 1612.

Early life

Shortly after his birth, his parents returned to Ireland where they were welcome to Black Tom, the 10th Earl of Ormond but not to Walter his heir apparent, who had opposed James's father's marriage into the English Poyntz family, who were Catholic but only gentry.

Black Tom died on 22 November 1614.[3] James's grandfather Walter succeeded as the 11th Earl and James's father became heir apparent with the courtesy title of Viscount Thurles. While the title was secure, the Ormond lands were claimed by Richard Preston, 1st Earl of Desmond, who had married Elizabeth, Black Tom's only surviving child.

In 1619 his father perished on his way from Ireland to England in a shipwreck[4] near the Skerries off the coast of Anglesey. James inherited his father's courtesy title Viscount Thurles.[5] The year following that disaster, his mother brought young Thurles, as he now was, back to England, and placed him, then nine years old, at school with a Catholic gentleman at Finchley — this doubtless through the influence of his grandfather, the 11th Earl. His mother remarried to George Mathew of Thurles.[6]

On 26 May 1623, King James I, made Thurles a ward of Richard Preston, Earl of Desmond, and placed him at Lambeth, London, under the care of George Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury to be brought up as a Protestant.[7] The Ormond estates being under sequestration, the young Lord had but £40 a year for his own and his servants' clothing and expenses.[8] He seems to have been neglected by the Archbishop — "he was not instructed even in humanity, nor so much as taught to understand Latin".[9]

When fifteen Thurles went to live with his paternal grandfather (then released from prison) at Drury Lane. His grandfather, the 11th Earl of Ormond, was now an old man and did not interfere much with his Protestant religious education.[10] This was very important for Thurles's future life, as it meant that, unlike almost all his relatives in the Butler dynasty, he was a Protestant. This strained his relationship with the rest of his family and dependants, as they suffered from land confiscations and legal discrimination on account of their religion, while he did not.

Now having more means at his command, Thurles 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 La Rochelle; a project abandoned upon the Duke's assassination.[11]

It was during his London residence that he set himself to learn Irish, a partial knowledge of which proved most useful to him in after years.[12]

Marriage and children

About six months after his visit to Portsmouth, Thurles first saw at Court, and fell in love with, his cousin Lady Elizabeth Preston, only child and heiress of Richard Preston, Earl of Desmond and his wife Elizabeth.[13] Charles I gave his consent by letters patent, on 8 September 1629. At Christmas 1629,[14] they married putting an end to the long-standing quarrel between the families and united their estates, one of which was Kilkenny Castle [15]

Family tree
James Butler with wife, parents, and other selected relatives.[b]
Walter
11th Earl
1559 – 1632/3
'Beads'		Helen
Butler
d. 1631
Thomas
Viscount
Thurles
d. 1619
d.v.p.*		Elizabeth
Pointz
1587–1673
James
1st Duke
Ormond
1610–1688		Elizabeth
Preston
1615–1684		Richard
of
Kilcash
1615–1701
Thomas
6th Earl
Ossory
1633–1680
d.v.p.*		Emilia
von
Nassau
1635–1688		Philip
Stanhope
2nd Earl
Chesterfield
1634–1714		Elizabeth
Butler
1640–1665
James
2nd Duke
Ormond
1665–1745		Charles
1st Earl
Arran
1671–1758		Elizabeth
Butler
d. 1717		Elizabeth
Stanhope
1663–1723
Legend
XXXSubject of
the article		XXXEarls & dukes
of Ormond		XXXEarls of
Clancarty
*d.v.p. = predeceased his father (decessit vita patris)

James and Elizabeth had eight sons, five of whom died in childhood, and two daughters. Five children survived into adulthood:[17]

  1. Thomas (1634–1680), predeceased his father, but had a son who would become the 2nd Duke[18]
  2. Richard (1639–1686), became first and last Earl of Arran of the 1662 creation and predeceased his father[19]
  3. Elizabeth (1640–1665), married Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield[20][21] and had affairs with James Hamilton[22] and the Duke of York[23]
  4. John (1643–1677), became the Earl of Gowran[24]
  5. Mary (1646–1710), married William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire[25]

With Strafford

Thurles's career began in 1633 with the appointment as head of government in Ireland of Thomas Wentworth, the future Earl of Strafford, by whom Ormond was treated with great favour. Writing to Charles I, Wentworth described Ormond as "young, but take it from me, a very staid head".[26]

On 24 February 1633, Thurles, on the death of his grandfather, succeeded to the earldom as the 12th Earl of Ormond.[27] Lord Ormond, as he now was, became Wentworth's chief friend and supporter.[28] In January 1635 he became a member of the Irish Privy Council.[29] 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 Ormond 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, Ormond was made commander-in-chief of the forces in Ireland.[30] The opposition to Wentworth ultimately aided impeachment of the Earl by the English Parliament, and his eventual execution in May 1641.[31]

Rebellion and Civil War

Fighting the rebellion and the Confederates

On the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Ormond found himself in command of the Irish Royal Army based in Dublin. Most of the country was taken by the Catholic rebels, who included Ormond's Butler relatives. However, Ormond'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, another member of the Butler dynasty.

Early in 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 organised and capable than the feudal militias of the 1641 rebellion. Also in early 1642, the king sent in troop reinforcements from England and Scotland. The Irish Confederate War was underway. Ormond mounted several expeditions from Dublin in 1642 that cleared the area around Dublin of Confederate forces. He secured control of the Pale, and re-supplied some outlying garrisons, without serious contest. The Lords Justices, Sir William Parsons, 1st Baronet of Bellamont and Sir John Borlase, who suspected him because he was related to many of the Confederate leaders, recalled him from command, but he succeeded securing much of County Kildare in February 1642. Next, he managed to lift the siege of Drogheda in March 1642. In April he relieved the royalist garrisons at Naas, Athy and Maryborough, and on his return to Dublin he won the Battle of Kilrush against a larger force.[32] On 30 August 1642 he was created Marquess of Ormond.[33] 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.[34]

In March 1643, Ormond ventured with his troops to New Ross, County Wexford, 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, Ormond was in a difficult situation. The Confederates held two-thirds of the island. The English Civil War, which started in September 1642, had removed the prospect of more reinforcements and supplies 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.[35]

Ormond Cessation

Quartered arms of James Butler, 1st Marquess of Ormonde, KG

Isolated in Dublin in what was now a three-sided contest, with the king desiring to reduce the Irish Royal Army, Ormond negotiated a "cessation" or ceasefire for a year with the Confederates. The truce began on 15 September 1643,[36] By this treaty 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, Ormond dispatched 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 Ormond as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.[37] He was sworn in on 21 January 1644.[38] The previous occupant of this post, Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, had never set foot in Ireland. Ormond'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 Royalists in England. To these ends, he was instructed 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 that could allow their troops to be redirected against the Parliamentarians.[35] In August 1644, the cessation with the Confederates was extended for another year.[39]

Negotiations with the Irish Confederates

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Ormond as Knight of the Garter, wearing the collar and the mantle. The hat with its ostrich feathers appears behind his right hand. Painted by Sir Peter Lely (c. 1665).

Ormond was faced with the difficult task of reconciling the various 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 Ormond made to the Confederates weakened his support among English and Scottish Protestants in Ireland. Ormond's negotiations with the Confederates were therefore tortuous, even though many of the Confederate leaders were his relatives or friends.[35]

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 25 August 1645, Edward Somerset, Earl of Glamorgan, 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 21 October 1645 Giovanni Battista Rinuccini, the papal nuncio landed in Ireland.[40] On 28 March 1646, Ormond, on behalf of the king, concluded the First Ormond Peace, another treaty with the Confederates that granted religious concessions and removed various grievances.[41][42] 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 from entering into a compromise. The Confederates called off their truce with Ormond, and arrested those among their number who had signed the treaty with Ormond.

Ormond 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 19 June 1647 delivering Dublin into the hands of the Parliamentarians on terms that protected the interests of both royalist Protestants and Roman Catholics who had not actually entered into rebellion. At the beginning of August 1647, Ormond 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. Ormond in turn sailed for England on 28 July 1647,[43] remarking of his surrender that he "preferred English rebels to Irish ones". On 8 August 1647 the combined royalist and parliamentarian troops won the major Battle of Dungan's Hill against the Confederates.

The Duke of Ormond by William Wissing (c. 1680–1685)

First exile

Ormond attended King Charles during August and October 1647 at Hampton Court Palace, but in March 1648, in order to avoid arrest by the parliament, he joined the Queen and the Prince of Wales at Paris.[44]

Commander of Royalist Alliance

In September of the same year, the pope's nuncio having been expelled, and affairs otherwise looking favourable, he returned to Ireland arriving at Cork on 29 September 1648. His aim was to unite all parties for the king.[45]

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 Ormond concluded a peace with the rebels on the basis of the free exercise of their religion.[46]

On the execution of Charles I, he proclaimed his loyalty to Charles II, who made him a Knight of the Garter in September 1649. Ormond was placed in command of the Irish Confederates' armies and also English Royalist troops who were landed in Ireland from France.[47]

However, despite controlling almost all of Ireland before August 1649, Ormond was unable to prevent the conquest of Ireland by Cromwell in 1649–50. Ormond tried to retake Dublin by laying siege to the city in the summer of 1649, but was routed at the Battle of Rathmines in August. 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.

Ormond 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. Ormond was ousted from his command in late 1650.

Second exile

He left Ireland for France sailing from Galway on 7 December 1650,[48] but stopped over at Gleninagh Castle, on the southern shore of the Bay of Galway, from where he then started his passage to France on 11 December. He sailed on a small frigate, the Elizabeth, which the Duke of York had sent him from Jersey.[49][50] Caught in winter storms, they reached Perros in Brittany after three weeks.[51] Ormond was accompanied among others by Inchiquin, Bellings and Daniel O'Neill.[52][53]

A synod held at the Augustinian abbey in Jamestown, County Leitrim, repudiated Ormond and excommunicated his followers. In Cromwell's Act of Settlement of 1652, all of Ormond's lands in Ireland were confiscated and he was excepted from the pardon given to those Royalists who had surrendered by that date. His name heads the list of over 100 men who were excluded from pardon.[54]

Ormond, though desperately short of money, was in constant attendance on Charles II and the Queen Mother in Paris, and accompanied the King to Aix and Cologne when he was expelled from France by the terms of Mazarin's treaty with Cromwell in 1655. In April 1656 Ormond was one of two signatories who agreed the Treaty of Brussels, securing an alliance for the Royalists with the Spanish court.[55] 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, had an interview with Mazarin, and was actively engaged in the secret transactions immediately preceding the Restoration.[56][47] Relations between Ormond and the Queen Mother became increasingly strained; when she remarked that "if she had been trusted, the King had now been in England", Ormond retorted that "if she had never been trusted, the King had never been out of England".[57]

Restoration career

The Duke of Ormond as Knight of the Garter, wearing the mantle, with its cordon and tassels, and the collar. The hat with its white ostrich feathers is in his left hand. Painted by John Michael Wright (c. 1680).
Lord Ormond (Restoration of Lands, etc., in Ireland) Act 1660
Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Long titleAn Act for restoreing unto James Marquesse of Ormond all his Honours Mannours Land and Tenements in Ireland whereof he was in Possession on the twenty-third Day of October one thousand six hundred fourty-one, or at any Time since.
Citation12 Cha. 2. c. 7
Dates
Royal assent28 July 1660
Repealed16 June 1977
Other legislation
Repealed byStatute Law (Repeals) Act 1977
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

On the return of Charles to England as King in 1660, Ormond 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 Ormond in the Irish peerage[58] 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 pounds. See also Act of Settlement 1662.[56]

On 4 November 1661, he once more received the lord lieutenancy 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 Ormond, on 23 December 1665.[59]

His heart was in his government, and he vehemently opposed the Importation Act 1667 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.[60] He encouraged Irish manufacture and learning, and it was due to his efforts that the Irish College of Physicians owes its incorporation.[56]

He had great influence over the appointment of judges: while he naturally wished to appoint to the Bench men of legal ability, a record of loyalty to the Crown was also generally required. It is interesting that he was prepared to appoint judges of Gaelic descent, like James Donnellan, and even some who were known to have Roman Catholic leanings. He was criticised for favouring old friends like John Bysse who were considered too infirm to be effective, but this also shows one of his main virtues, loyalty: as Elrington Ball remarks, those whom Ormond had ever loved, he loved to the end.[61] Himself a merciful man, he encouraged the Irish judges to show a similar spirit of clemency; as he remarked, a man who has been reprieved can later be hanged, but a man who has been hanged can never be reprieved. In general, the judges followed his example and, by the standards of the age, were merciful enough.[62]

Ormond'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".[56] Ormond soon became the mark for attack from all that was worst in the court. Buckingham especially did his utmost to undermine his influence. Ormond's almost irresponsible government of Ireland during troubled times was open to criticism.[56]

He had billeted soldiers on civilians, and had executed martial law. He was threatened by Buckingham with impeachment. In March 1669, Ormond 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 recognised in his election as Chancellor of the University of Oxford on 4 August 1669.[63]

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. Ormond 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. Ormond, however, succeeded in overcoming the horseman to whom he was bound, and escaped.[64]

The outrage, it was suspected, had been instigated by Buckingham, who was openly accused of the crime by Lord Ossory, Ormond'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.[64]

In his estates in Carrick-on-Suir in County Tipperary, Ormond was responsible for establishing the woollen industry in the town in 1670.

In 1671 Ormond successfully opposed Richard Talbot's attempt to upset the Act of Settlement 1662. 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, Ormond 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.[64] While wary of defending Oliver Plunkett publicly, in private he denounced the obvious falsity of the charges against him – of the informers who claimed that Plunkett had hired them to kill the King he wrote that "no schoolboy would have trusted them with the design of robbing an orchard".[65]

In 1682 Charles summoned Ormond 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 29 November 1682, an English dukedom was conferred upon him,[66][64] 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 Ormond's last act as lord lieutenant was to proclaim James II in Dublin.[64]

Ormond also served as the sixth Chancellor of the University of Dublin between 1645 and 1688, although he was in exile for the first fifteen years of his tenure.

Subsequently, Ormond 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. Ormond 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.[64] Despite his long service to Ireland he admitted that he had no wish to spend his last years there.

Death, succession, and timeline

Ormond died on 21 July 1688 at Kingston Lacy estate, Dorset, "not having, as he rejoyced to know, outlived his intellectuals", i.e. not having become senile.[67] Ormond was buried in Westminster Abbey on 4 August 1688.[68] His eldest son, Thomas, 6th Earl of Ossory, predeceased him, but Ossory's eldest son James succeeded as 2nd Duke of Ormond (1665–1745).

The anonymous author of Ormond's biography in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.) wrote that with him disappeared the greatest and grandest figure of the times, and that Ormond's splendid qualities were expressed with some felicity in verses written on welcoming his return to Ireland and printed in 1682:[64]

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.
Timeline
Age Date Event
0 1610, 19 Oct Born at Clerkenwell, London[1]
9 1619, 15 Dec Father drowned at sea. James became heir apparent as Viscount Thurles.[4]
12 1623, 26 May Made a ward of the Earl of Desmond, by order of the King[7]
14 1625, 27 Mar Accession of King Charles I, succeeding King James I[69]
19 1629, 25 Dec Married Elizabeth Preston[14]
22 1633, 24 Feb Succeeded his grandfather as the 12th Earl of Ormond]].[27]
31 1642, 15 Apr Defeated the Confederates under Mountgarrett at the skirmish of Kilrush.[32]
31 1642, 30 Aug Created Marquess of Ormond.[33]
32 1643, 15 Sep Signed the Cessation (truce) he had negotiated with the Confederates.[36]
33 1643, Nov Appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland[37]
35 1645, 21 Oct Giovanni Battista Rinuccini, the papal nuncio, landed in Ireland.[40]
35 1646, 28 Mar Signed 1st Ormond Peace with the confederates, but it was never ratified.
36 1647, 28 Jul Left for England.[43]
37 1648, Feb Escaped from London to France.[44]
37 1648, 29 Sep Returned to Ireland landing at Cork[45]
38 1649, 17 Jan Signed the 2nd Ormond Peace with the Confederates
38 1649, 30 Jan King Charles I beheaded.[70]
38 1649, 23 Feb The papal nuncio Giovanni Battista Rinuccini left Ireland.[71]
38 1649, Aug Lost the Battle of Rathmines against the Parliamentarians under Michael Jones
38 1649, Sep Made a Knight of the Garter
40 1650, 11 Dec Left Ireland, sailing on the frigate Elizabeth from Gleninagh Castle in the Bay of Galway[48]
49 1660, 29 May Restoration of King Charles II[72]
50 1661, 30 Mar Created Duke of Ormond in the Irish Peerage[58]
51 1661, 4 Nov Appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
69 1680, 30 Jul Son Thomas, Earl of Ossory, died.
74 1685, 6 Feb Accession of King James II, succeeding King Charles II[73]
77 1688, 21 Jul Died at Kingston Lacy estate, Dorset, England

Immediate Ancestry

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography spells his title Ormond, the older Dictionary of National Biography spells it Ormonde.(Barnard 2004)(Airy 1886)
  2. ^ This family tree is partly derived from the condensed Butler family tree pictured in Dunboyne.[16] Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text.

Citations

  1. ^ a b Cokayne 1895, p. 149, line 20. "b. [born] 19 Oct. 1610 at Clerkenwell, Midx;."
  2. ^ Debrett 1828b, p. 640. "Theobald le Boteler on whom that office [Chief Butler of Ireland] was conferred by King Henry II., 1177 ..."
  3. ^ Cokayne 1895, p. 148, line 30. "He [Thomas] d. s.p.m. at Carrick, 22 Nov. 1614, aged 82 ..."
  4. ^ a b Cokayne 1895, p. 149, line 14. "He d. v.p. [predeceased his father], being drowned off the Skerries, 15 December 1619."
  5. ^ Carte 1851, p. 7. "... upon whose decease he was by courtesy styled viscount Thurles."
  6. ^ Cokayne 1895, p. 149, line 15. "His widow m. [married] George Mathew, of Thurles, and d. [died] at Thurles May 1672 in her 86th year."
  7. ^ a b Lodge 1789, p. 43, line 28. "He was granted in Ward 26 May 1623 to Richard, Earl of Desmond, and by order of K. James I educated under the eye of Doctor George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury ..."
  8. ^ Carte 1851, p. 9, line 25. "... and forty pounds a year was all that the young lord had for his own and his servants' clothing and expenses."
  9. ^ Carte 1851, p. 8. "... our young lord Thurles who continued there several years, had so little care taken of him, that he was not instructed even in humanity, nor so much as taught to understand Latin."
  10. ^ Carte 1851, p. 11, line 16. "... lived with his grandfather, who through length of his confinement and his advanced age, was grown very infirm, and never troubled him in matters of religion."
  11. ^ Carte 1851, p. 11, line 33. "... till he was eighteen years of age, when the duke of Buckingham going upon expedition for the relief of Rochelle ..."
  12. ^ Carte 1851, p. 12. "... by conversing with such gentlemen of Ireland as spoke the language of the original inhabitants of that kingdom, he learned chiefly what he knew of it;"
  13. ^ Carte 1851, p. 13. "... he first saw at court his kinswoman the lady Elizabeth Preston; she was sole daughter and heir of Richard Preston earl of Desmond ..."
  14. ^ a b Airy 1886, p. 53, line 2. "... the marriage took place on Christmas of the same year [1629] ..."
  15. ^ Carte 1851, pp. 16–17. "... and accordingly gave consent to lord Thurles marriage with his cousin the lady Elizabeth Preston."
  16. ^ Dunboyne 1968, pp. 16–17. "Butler Family Tree condensed"
  17. ^ Perceval-Maxwell 2004, p. 130, right column, line 33. "... between 1632 and 1646 Elizabeth ... gave birth to eight sons including Richard Butler, five of whom died as children, and two daughters."
  18. ^ Cokayne 1895, p. 150. "Thomas Butler, styled Earl of Ossory ('the gallant Ossory') 2d but 1st surv. s. [surviving son] and h. app. [heir apparent], b. [born] at Kilkenny 5 July 1634 ..."
  19. ^ Burke & Burke1915, p. 1550, right column, line 22. "3. Richard, b. [born] 15 Jun 1639, who was cr. [created], 13 May 1662 Baron Butler, Viscount of Tullogh and Earl of Arran ..."
  20. ^ Burke & Burke 1915, p. 1550,, right column, line 35. "Elizabeth, m. [married] Philip, 2nd earl of Chesterfield."
  21. ^ Debrett 1828a, p. 114, bottom. "Philip, 2nd earl m. [married] 1st Anne, da. [daughter] of Algernon Percy, earl of Northumberland; 2ndly Elizabeth, da. of James Butler, duke of Ormond; and 3rd ..."
  22. ^ Hamilton 1888, p. 181. "Hamilton, therefore was no further embarrassed than to preserve Lady Chesterfield's reputation, who, in his opinion, declared herself rather too openly in his favour ..."
  23. ^ Pepys 1893, p. 360. "He tells me also how the Duke of York is smitten in love with my Lady Chesterfield (a virtuous Lady, daughter of my Lord Ormond); and so much, that the duchess of York hath complained to the king and her father about it, and my Lady Chesterfield is gone into the country for it."
  24. ^ Burke & Burke 1915, p. 1550, right column, line 32. "4. John, created Earl of Gowran in 1676, m. [married] Lady Anne Chichester, dau. [daughter] of Arthur, 1st Earl of Donegal, but d.s.p. [died without issue] 1677, when the dignity expired."
  25. ^ Burke & Burke 1915, p. 1550, right column, line 36. "2. Mary m. [married] 1st Duke of Devonshire, K.G."
  26. ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 296, second para, lines three and four. " Writing to the king, Strafford described him as “young, but take it from me, a very staid head”
  27. ^ a b Burke & Burke 1915, p. 1550, left column, bottom. "The Earl [Walter, 11th] d. [died] 24 Feb 1632 and was s. [succeeded] by his grandson, James, 1st Duke of Ormonde ..."
  28. ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 296, second para, line four. "... Ormonde was throughout his Irish government his chief friend and support."
  29. ^ Wedgwood1961, p. 159. "In January 1635 Ormonde was sworn of the Council."
  30. ^ Airy 1886, p. 53, right column, line 5. "... he was made lieutenant-general of the horse, and commander-in-chief of all forces in the kingdom during Strafford's absence."
  31. ^ Burke 1866, p. 577, left column, line 3. "He [Strafford] suffered death with characteristic firmness on Tower Hill, 12 May 1641."
  32. ^ a b Warner 1768, p. 186. "In this action, which is called the battle of Killrush, the English had not above twenty killed, and forty wounded: but above 700 rebels were slain ..."
  33. ^ a b Cokayne 1895, p. 149, line 27. "He [James Butler] was cr. [created] 30 Aug. 1642 Marquess of Ormonde [I. [Ireland]];"
  34. ^ Airy 1886, p. 54.
  35. ^ a b c Airy 1886, p. 55.
  36. ^ a b Airy 1886, p. 54, right column. "... and the cessation was signed on the 15 September [1643]."
  37. ^ a b Cokayne 1895, p. 149, line 29. "Viceroy of Ireland, as Lord Lieutenant 1643–47 ..."
  38. ^ Barnard 2004, p. [ 156, left column]. "... was sworn [as Lord Lieutenant] on 21  January 1644."
  39. ^ Cusack 1871, p. 314. "In August 1644 the Cessation was again renewed by the General Assembly until December, and subsequently for a longer period."
  40. ^ a b Coffey 1914, p. 152, line 16. "... [Rinuccini] landed at Kenmare October, 21st [1645]."
  41. ^ Kearney 1965, p. 558, left column, line 28. "The first Ormonde peace was signed in 1646 ..."
  42. ^ Airy 1886, p. 55, right column. "Ormonde succeeded in bringing it to a conclusion on 28 March 1646 ..."
  43. ^ a b Airy 1886, p. 56, left column. "On the 28th [July 1647] Ormonde delivered up the regalia and sailed for England, landing at Bristol on 2 Aug."
  44. ^ a b Airy 1886, p. 56, left column, line 37. "Warned in February 1647-8 that the parliament intended to seize his person, he escaped to France ..."
  45. ^ a b Airy 1886, p. 56, left column, line 50. "... and in August, he himself began his journey thither. On leaving Havre, he was shipwrecked and had to wait in that port for some weeks; but at the end of September he again embarked, arriving at Cork on the 29th."
  46. ^ Kearney 1965, p. 558, left column, line 37. "... the signing of the second Ormonde peace in 1649."
  47. ^ a b Airy 1886, p. 57.
  48. ^ a b O'Sullivan 1983, p. 284, line 15. "... boarding a small frigate, the Elizabeth of Jersey, at Galway on the 7th December, 1650 ..."
  49. ^ Bagwell 1909, p. 243, line 30. "He sailed on December 11th in a very fast vessel of twenty-four tons and four guns which the Duke of York had provided in Jersey."
  50. ^ Hardiman 1820, p. 126, line 30. "... sailed from Glaneinagh, in the bay, on board the Elizabeth, of Jersey, a small frigate of twenty-four guns ..."
  51. ^ Hardiman 1820, p. 126, line 32. "... after a hard passage of three weeks landed at Perose in Basse Bretagne."
  52. ^ Hardiman 1820, p. 126, line 27. "The marquis of Ormond, having determined upon leaving the kingdom arrived here in the beginning of December, accompanied by Lord Inchinquin, colonels Vaughan, Wogan, Warren and about 20 other persons of distinction ..."
  53. ^ O'Sullivan 1983, p. 284, line 16. "... accompanied by Inchiquin, Bellings, Daniel O'Neill, and many officers, he quitted Ireland for France ..."
  54. ^ Firth & Rait 1911, p. 599. "That James Butler, Earl of Ormond ... be excepted from pardon for Life and Estate."
  55. ^ Aubrey 1990, p. 108.
  56. ^ a b c d e Chisholm 1911, p. 296.
  57. ^ Kenyon 1970, p. 101, line 8.
  58. ^ a b Cokayne 1895, p. 149, line 38. "... and was cr. [created] 30 March 1661 Duke of Ormonde [I. [Ireland]]"
  59. ^ Lodge 1910, p. 55, line 18. "... the protestant occupiers found it politic to moderate their demand. They offered to surrender a third of their lands on condition that they were granted adequate security in the remainder. On this basis, the terms of the explanatory act were at last drafted and Ormonde carried them back for the approval of the Irish parliament in 1665."
  60. ^ Lodge 1910, p. 58, line 11. "... the protectionists proposed that the importation of all cattle ... from Ireland ... be prohibited as a nuisance. the bill was strenuously opposed by Ormonde ..."
  61. ^ Ball 1926, p. 276, line 15. "Those whom Ormond loved once, he loved to the end ..."
  62. ^ Ball 1926, p. 282, line 14. "He was ever ready to grant a reprieve, saying that a reprieved man might be hanged, but a hanged man could not be reprieved, ..."
  63. ^ Airy 1886, p. 59, left column, line 3. "He was chosen chancellor of Oxford on 4 Aug. [1669] ..."
  64. ^ a b c d e f g Chisholm 1911, p. 297.
  65. ^ Kenyon 1972, p. 203.
  66. ^ "Whitehal, Nov. 29". The London Gazette. No. 1777. 27–30 November 1682. His Majesty has been graciously pleased to Create his Grace the Duke of Ormond in the kingdom of Ireland, a duke in his kingdom by the name and title of James Duke of Ormond.
  67. ^ Airy 1886, p. 60, right column, line 22. "... he died quietly of decay, not having, as he rejoyced to know, 'outlived his intellectuals.'"
  68. ^ Chester 1876, p. 221. "1688 Aug. 4 James Duke of Ormond: [in the Abbey]."
  69. ^ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 44, line 16. "Charles I. ... acc. 27 Mar. 1625 ..."
  70. ^ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 44, line 17. "Charles I. ... exec. 30 Jan. 1649 ..."
  71. ^ O'Sullivan 1983, p. 278. "... the San Pietro, the vessel which had brought him to Ireland and on which he now proposed to depart ... on the morning of the 23rd February 1649, Rinuccini quitted 'the place of his refuge' and went on board."
  72. ^ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 44, line 39. "Charles II. ... acc. 29 May 1660 ..."
  73. ^ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 44, line 46. "James II. ... acc. 6 Feb. 1685 ..."

Sources

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde.

19 Annotations

First Reading

Pauline  •  Link

12th Earl and 1st Duke of Ormond
(1610-88). Politician and soldier. The richest and most powerful of the Anglo-Irish magnates of his day and at the same time a man of simple loyalties and the highest principles. For his services as royalist leader in Ireland during the rebellion, he was at the Restoration made a Duke and Lord Steward of the Household. In 1661 he was appointed Lord-Lieutenant and was responsible for the Restoration settlement in Ireland. He fell victim to Buckingham's enmity in 1669. In a second term of duty as Lord-Lieutenant (1677-85), he kept Ireland quiet during the turmoil of the Popish Plot. Contemporaries and historians agree in regarding him as one of the most admirable figures in 17th-century public life.

L&M Companion

Pedro.  •  Link

Marquis of Ormond, James Butler, 1610-1688.

http://www.british-civil-wars.co.…

Bishop Gilbert Burnet (1643-1715) says he was in every way fitted for a Court; of graceful appearance, a lively wit, a cheerful temper; a man of great expense, but decent even in his vices, for he always kept up the form of religion; too faithful not to give always good advices, but when bad ones were followed too complacent to be any great complainer. He had gone through many transactions with more fidelity than success, and in the siege of Dublin miscarried as far as to lessen the opinion of his military conduct; but his constant attendance on his master, his easiness to him and great sufferings for him, raised him to be Lord Steward of the Household and Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.

Jeannine  •  Link

The Life of James Duke of Ormond
Thomas Carte

This was an amazing set of 6 volumes (more or less, depending on the version) which explored in painstaking detail the life, letters and correspondence of James Butler, the Dukeof Ormond (strong supporter of Charles I & II and friend of Clarendon). Depending upon your interest in the details of history and politics, the detail can be somewhat overwhelming. Ormond was an old Royalist who sacrificed much to the Stuart monarchy and was not always treated well by either Charles I or II. He is noted during this time period for his exceptional moral character and ease of manner, two things that seemed quite missing from most men in the court of Charles II. Several of the volumes dedicate a great deal of time to his governmental dealings in Ireland and also his interactions and support of the Stuarts. He was a fast thinking and unflappable man who carried himself with dignity and with in his interactions. One of my favorite anecdotes takes place between Lady Castlemaine (Charles

jeannine  •  Link

Footnote from Grammont
James Butler, Duke of Ormond, born 19th October, 1610, and died 21st July, 1688. Lord Clarendon, in the Continuation of his Life, observes, that "he frankly engaged his person and his fortune in the king's service, from the first hour of the troubles, and pursued it with that courage and constancy, that when the king was murdered, and he deserted by the Irish, contrary to the articles of peace which they had made with him, and when he could make no longer defence, he refused all the conditions which Cromwell offered, who would have given him all his vast estate if he would have been contented to live quietly in some of his own houses, without further concerning himself in the quarrel; and transported himself, without so much as accepting a pass from his authority, in a little weak vessel into France, where he found the king, from whom he never parted till he returned with him into England. Having thus merited as much as a subject can do from a prince, he had much more credit and esteem with the king than any other man." -- Continuation of the Life of Lord Clarendon, p. 4, fol. edit. Bishop Burnet says of him, "he was a man every way fitted for a court; of a graceful appearance, a lively wit, and a cheerful temper; a man of great expense; decent even in his vices, for he always kept up the form of region. He had gone through many transactions in Ireland with more fidelity than success. He had made a treaty with the Irish, which was broken by the great body of them, though some few of them adhered still to him. But the whole Irish nation did still pretend, that though they had broke the agreement first, yet he, or rather the king, in whose name he had treated with them, was bound to perform all the articles of the treaty. He had miscarried so in the siege of Dublin, that it very much lessened the opinion of his military conduct. Yet his constant attendance on his master, his easiness to him, and his great suffering for him, raised him to be lord-steward of the household, and lord-lieutenant of Ireland. He was firm to the protestant religion, and so far firm to the laws, that he always gave good advices; but when bad ones were followed, he was not for complaining too much of them." -- Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. p. 230.
http://www.pseudopodium.org/repre… see note 44

Mc Ormond  •  Link

I am looking for Name Mc Ormond back ground

Mc Ormond  •  Link

I am looking for Name Mc Ormond back ground

Michael Webb  •  Link

The papers of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, form part of the Carte collection at the Bodleian Library. An online calendar of the papers from the Restoration period (1660-1687) is available.

http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

The duke of Ormond was an excellent soldier, an accomplished courtier, and an able statesman; and, what was a better character than all these, he was the good, the humane, and benevolent man. He did and suffered much in the cause of Charles I. and was one of those royalists whose characters were never tainted, and which were revered even by their enemies. Cromwell offered to restore his immense estate to him; but he was a man of too nice honour to accept of that offer from one who, he thought, had no right to make it. He was a warm friend, and a placable enemy; and was never known to have any enemies himself, but those who were offended at his virtues. He had an admirable talent at speaking; and never failed to convince, as he spoke only on the side of truth and equity. His military exploits in Ireland in the late reign, and his wise government of that kingdom in the present, the hardships he suffered in bis exile, and his active loyalty to his banished sovereign, are amply recorded in his "Life" by Mr. Carte, in two volumes folio, Ob. 21 July, 1688, Æt, 78.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

Bill  •  Link

BUTLER, JAMES, twelfth EARL and first DUKE OF ORMONDE (1610-1688), son of Thomas, viscount Thurles (d.1619); grandson of Walter Butler, eleventh earl of Ormonde; styled Viscount Thurles, 1619; succeeded to the earldom, 1633; created marquis, 1642; created Earl of Brecknock in the English peerage, 1660; created Duke of Ormonde in the Irish peerage, 1661, and in the English peerage, 1682; placed by his mother under a catholic tutor at Finchley, 1619; made king's ward and brought up in the protestant religion at Lambeth under Archbishop Abbot; entrusted to Richard Preston, earl of Desmond, 1624-8; lived with his grandfather at Drury Lane, 1625-7, and at Carrickfergus, 1630; came to England, 1631; returned to Ireland, 1633; opposed Wentworth in the Irish parliament, but urged granting supplies to Charles I, 1634; raised troop of cuirassiers, 1638; supported Wentworth (now Earl of Strafford), 1640; assembled troops at Carrickfergus, July 1640; defended Strafford in the Irish parliament, 1641; commander against the Irish rebels, but kept inactive by the lords justices, 1641; defeated rebels, January-March 1642; quieted Connaught, 1642; again obstructed by the lords justices, 1642; commissioned by Charles I to ascertain the demands of the Irish rebels, 1643; defeated them at Ross, 18 March 1643; ordered in April to conclude truce; concluded truce for a year in September; sent five thousand troops into Cheshire, November 1643; lord-lieutenant of Ireland, January 1644; sent Irish troops into Scotland to help Montrose; opposed both by the catholic rebels and by the protestant parliamentarians, April 1644-April 1645; negotiated peace with the rebels; superseded in August 1646 by Glamorgan; arranged terms of peace between the king's forces and the catholic rebels, March 1646; asked parliament for help against the rebels, October-November 1646; induced by the rebels' rejection of his terms (February 1647) to approach parliament, with which he concluded peace, June 1647; conferred with Charles I at Hampton Court, August 1647; withdrew to Paris, 1648; royalist commander in Ireland, October 1648; concluded peace with rebels, January 1649; proclaimed Charles II; attacked Dublin; defeated at Rathmines, August 1649; his garrisons crushed by Cromwell, September-December 1649; left Ireland, December 1650; employed in personal attendance on Charles II or on embassies in his interest, 1651-9; royalist spy in England, January-March 1658; negotiated with Monck, 1659; ...

Bill  •  Link

... received back his estates, and also his grandfather's county palatine of Tipperary; appointed lord steward of the household, 1660; lord high steward at the coronation, 1661; restored the protestant episcopate in Ireland; appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, 4 Nov. 1661; resided in Ireland, July 1662-June 1664; in London, July 1664-May 1665; again in Ireland, 1665-8; returned to London, 1668; dismissed from the lord-lieutenancy, March 1669; chancellor of Oxford University, 1669; his life attempted by Thomas Blood, 1669, at Buckingham's instigation; opposed attempts to repeal Act of Settlement, 1671-3; in Ireland on private affairs, July 1671-April 1675; recalled to London, 1675; lord-lieutenant of Ireland, 1677-82; at court in London, 1682; returned to Ireland, 1684; removed from the lord-lieutenancy, October 1684; proclaimed James II before he left Dublin, February 1685; lord high steward at James II's coronation; continued to be lord steward of the household; withdrew, as much as he could, from public life, 1685, broken by the deaths of his wife and children; resisted some of James II's arbitrary acts, 1687.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

During the Diary years, James Butler, Duke of Ormonde is mostly the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, based in Dublin Castle.

In 1660 James Butler, Marquis of Ormonde (who had urged constitutional rather than military rule in Ireland), was made a commissioner for the treasury and the navy.

On 30 March, 1661 James Butler was created Duke of Ormonde in the Irish peerage and made Lord High Steward of England.

At the coronation of Charles II in May 1661, Ormonde carried the crown. His Irish estates were restored to him as a matter of course, and the King added a promise to pay him a large sum of money.

That promise was never kept, but the Irish Parliament, anxious to curry favor with Ormonde and the king, voted him 30,000 pounds. (At the close of his career Ormonde declared that he had spent nearly a million of money in service to the crown, and although this is an obvious exaggeration, it is a fact that he lost heavily financially and otherwise by his adherence to the Stuart cause.)

Appointed lord lieutenant of Ireland in 1662, Ormonde made vigorous attempts to encourage Irish commerce and industry. Nevertheless, his enemies (the Buckingham faction) at court persuaded Charles II to dismiss him in 1669.

James Butler, Duke of Ormonde was restored to royal favor in 1677 and appointed lord lieutenant of Ireland for the third time in 50 years.

Protestant James Butler was created a Duke in the English peerage in 1682, and was recalled from Ireland in 1684 as a result of new intrigues at Charles II’s court and because of the determination of James, Duke of York, to strengthen his Catholic supporters in Ireland.

(And "e" was added to his Irish title "Ormond" by Charles I -- there is also a Scottish title spelled "Ormond". It's too late to change all the history books.)

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

The best documentation of the change in spelling that I have been able to find today is from
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of_Orm…

James Butler, the fifth earl of Ormond in this creation, was made Marquess of Ormonde (1642) and Duke of Ormonde (1660) in the Peerage of Ireland, and Duke of Ormonde (1682) in the Peerage of England. ... After 1682, the spelling "Ormonde" was used almost universally.

I'd say the confusion on spelling Ormonde is still universal!

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

During the Diary years James Butler, Duke of Ormonde, was mostly away in Dublin, trying to calm that troubled isle. However, he had another job, that of Lord Steward to the King, so when he was recalled in 1668, he still had a significant role to assume.

The job of Lord Steward was explained to Cosmo, the future Grand Duke of Turin, in this way when he visited London in the Spring of 1669.

I've standardized the spelling of names I know, corrected scanning errors I could figure out, and increased the number of paragraphs. I apologize if I guessed incorrectly:

The court of England is divided into the king's household, and those of the reigning Queen, of the Queen Mother, of the Duke of York, of the Duchess of York, and of the Duke of Cambridge, son of the Duke of York.

381

In that of the king there are several offices: among the most considerable that of the Lord Steward is the first, he having plenary authority over all the other officers of the royal household, except those of the chapel, the bedchamber, and the stables.
It is competent to him to judge all offences that are committed within the precincts of the palace, with the exception of the City of London, which is exempt by a special privilege from the king.
As a mark of the Lord Steward’s jurisdiction, he carries a white wand in the king's presence, and when he goes out he causes it to be carried by a page, who walks before him uncovered; the Duke of Ormonde at present fills this situation, with a yearly salary of 100/.s sterling, and a table.

@@@

If you think the salary reflects the amount of power exercised, you realize there were many courtiers higher in the pecking order than the Lord Steward. On the other hand, office holders were expected to charge discretely for services rendered, and the Lord Steward probably had many opportunities to receive gratuities.

From:
TRAVELS OF COSMO THE THIRD, GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY,
THROUGH ENGLAND,
DURING THE REIGN OF KING CHARLES THE SECOND (1669)
TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN MANUSCRIPT
https://archive.org/stream/travel…

His highness, Cosmo, must be considered only as a traveler. Under his direction, the narrator of the records was Count Lorenzo Magalotti, afterwards Secretary to the Academy del Cimento, and one of the most learned and eminent characters of the court of Ferdinand II.

Third Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

After the Restoration, Kilkenny Castle and most of the lands that had been confiscated by Cromwell from the Butler family were restored by Charles II to the new Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, James Butler, Marquis of Ormonde. He changed the castle (now 3-sided medieval fortress, thanks to Cromwell) to a French-style chateau.

If Dublin Castle was Ireland's Whitehall, then Kilkenny was their Hampton Court.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

James Butler, Duke of Ormond & family
Soldier
James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, and several members of his family, are buried in a large vault (22 ft long) at the east end of Henry VII's chapel in Westminster Abbey.
The vault was formerly the burial place of Oliver Cromwell and members of his family and officers until their bodies were ejected in 1661.
None of the Butler family has a monument and their names were only inscribed on a stone over the vault in the late 19th century when Dean Stanley viewed the coffins there. The chapel above the vault is now dedicated to the RAF and a carpet permanently covers the vault stone with the names inscribed on it.

James was the eldest son of Thomas, Viscount Thurles and his wife Elizabeth (Poyntz) and was born in London on 19th October 1610. He succeeded his grandfather as 12th Earl of Ormond in the Irish peerage.

At the Restoration of Charles II he was made Lord Steward of the Household and held the crown in the coronation procession. Created Duke of Ormond in 1661 he was also a Knight of the Order of the Garter and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He concluded peace with the Roman Catholic Irish on behalf of the King and left Ireland and served as a colonel under the Duke of York in Spain. He was buried on 4 August 1688.

His wife Elizabeth, Duchess of Ormond was buried on 24 July 1684 (the date inscribed on the vault stone is incorrect). She was the daughter of Sir Richard Preston (Baron Dingwall in Scotland and Earl of Desmond in Ireland) and his wife Lady Elizabeth (daughter of Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond). She was born on 25 July 1615 and James was her cousin. In 1642 she had to flee with her children from Kilkenny Castle to Dublin during the Catholic uprising.

They had sons Thomas, Richard and John, Earl of Gowran. Their daughter Mary, Duchess of Devonshire was buried with them on 6 August 1710.

Richard, Earl of Arran, son of James and Elizabeth, was born on 15 June 1639 and was created Earl of Arran in the Irish peerage and Baron Butler of Weston in the English peerage. His first wife was Lady Mary Stuart but they had no children. His second was Dorothy Ferrars. A son was baptised in the Abbey and buried in 1676 and a daughter was buried in 1687.

Thomas, Earl of Ossory was another son of James and Elizabeth. He was born on 8 July 1634 and educated in France. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London by Cromwell but received a pass to leave England. At the Restoration he was made a Privy Councillor and was a Member of Parliament, Lt. General of the Horse, and Deputy Governor of Ireland. He died of a fever and was buried in the vault on 31 July 1680.

On 17 November 1659 he married Emilia van Nassau (daughter of Henry de Nassau, Lord of Auverquerque and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Count de Horn). She was buried in the vault on 12 December 1688.

A daughter Elizabeth, Countess of Derby was buried with them in 1717.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

PART 2

Emilia's sister Charlotte (who died unmarried) was buried on 25 November 1702 in the vault.

James, son of Thomas and Emilia, succeeded his grandfather as 2nd Duke of Ormond. He was impeached for high treason in 1715 and passed the rest of his life abroad, mainly at Avignon in France. He died on 5 November 1745 (according to his coffin plate) and was buried in the vault on 22 May 1746.

His first wife was Lady Anne Hyde, daughter of Lawrence, 1st Earl of Rochester.

Two young children by her were buried in the vault (Elisabeth and Mary).

His second wife was Mary Somerset, daughter of Henry, Duke of Beaufort. She is said never to have seen her husband during his exile and she was buried on 25 November 1733.

Their son Thomas was buried 1689, daughter Henrietta in 1701 and Elizabeth (who died unmarried) in 1750.

Further reading
The Dukes of Ormond 1610-1745 edited by T. Barnard and J. Fenlon, 2000.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2004 for
James, 1st Duke of Ormonde,
https://www.oxforddnb.com/display…
Elizabeth, Countess of Ormonde
https://www.oxforddnb.com/display…
Richard, 1st Earl of Arran
https://www.oxforddnb.com/display…
Thomas, 6th Earl of Ossary
https://www.oxforddnb.com/display…
and James, 2nd Duke of Ormond
https://www.oxforddnb.com/display…
Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey by A.P. Stanley, 3rd edn. 1869 (short report on examination of the vault and plan)

See also the website of Kilkenny Castle
https://www.kilkennycastle.ie/

The above is from the Westminster Abbey website
https://www.westminster-abbey.org…
@@@

Title: The Dukes of Ormonde, 1610-1745
Publisher: Boydell Press, Woodbridge, Suffolk
Publication Date: 2000

Synopsis:
A valuable insight into the political and material world of Ireland's leading aristocratic family.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

CONCLUSION:

HISTORY: For much of their lives the two dukes of Ormonde dominated public events in Ireland, where they served the English sovereign as viceroy 5 times; they were also powerful presences in the Stuart court in England, and commanded armies both in Ireland and Europe.
Later, they spent long periods on the continent as travellers and exiles.
Yet despite their importance in the public life of the age, neither duke has been the subject of a full modern biography, a gap which this collection of essays aims to fill, using key episodes and phases in the Ormondes' careers to investigate the larger picture.
The dukes' lives as great nobles, landowners and converts to Protestantism raise problems specific to Ireland, but they also exemplify the predicament of nobles elsewhere in Europe. A particular focus is on the worlds that they and their wives created, often innovative and always dazzling, and on the clienteles who looked to them for preferment and on which a part of the Ormondes' political weight rested.
Throughout, much new light is cast on such vexed questions as the troubled and constantly changing relationship between Ireland and England, between public and private interests, and the roles of women.

Dr TOBY BARNARD teaches at the University of Oxford. Contributors: G.E. AYLMER, T.C. BARNARD, EVELINE CRUICKSHANKS, DAVID EDWARDS, JANE FENLON, RAYMOND GILLESPIE, DAVID HAYTON, PATRICK LITTLE, RENÉ MOULINAS, ÉAMONN - CIARDHA, NATHALIE GENET ROUFFIAC

About the Author:
Dr TOBY BARNARD teaches at the University of Oxford.

Contributors: G.E. AYLMER, T.C. BARNARD, EVELINE CRUICKSHANKS, DAVID EDWARDS, JANE FENLON, RAYMOND GILLESPIE, DAVID HAYTON, PATRICK LITTLE, RENÉ MOULINAS, ÉAMONN - CIARDHA, NATHALIE GENET ROUFFIAC.

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References

Chart showing the number of references in each month of the diary’s entries.

1660

1661

1662

1663

  • Jun

1664

1666

1667

  • Jan
  • Feb
  • Jul
  • Aug
  • Nov

1668

1669