Roger Boyle (Baron Broghill, Earl of Orrery)

17 Annotations

First Reading

language hat  •  Link

Roger Boyle, Baron Broghill (1621-79):
"A soldier, politician and dramatist. He was a brilliant commander of the royalist forces in Ireland... He went over to Cromwell's side to fight against their common enemy, the Catholic interest, in Ireland... With Monck he made a remarkable success of the Cromwellian government of Scotland... and he constantly threw his weight behind attempts to produce a moderate settlement of the revolution... After Oliver's death he abandoned support of the Commonwealth and returned to Ireland, where, like Monck in Scotland and England, he took command of the situation and invited Charles to his kingdom. His plays were popular with Pepys and his contemporaries." --Companion

Paul Chapin  •  Link

The orrery, a clockwork device for modeling the movements of the planets around the sun, was named for Roger's grandson Charles, the Fourth Earl.

Wikipedia: The first modern orrery was built circa 1704 by George Graham. Graham gave the first model (or its design) to the celebrated instrument maker John Rowley of London to make a copy for Prince Eugene of Savoy. Rowley was commissioned to make another copy for his patron Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery, from which the device took its name. This model was presented to Charles' son John, later the 5th Earl.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orre…

CGS  •  Link

lifted from:

http://www.archive.org/stream/dra…

Boyle, who was a statesman and soldier, as well as a
dramatist, wrote a ''Treatise on the Art of War," but it
was in connection with the plays that Baker said of his
wit, whose "early blossoms" were fair, ''but not fairer
than the fruit."

**The Black Prince" was published in 1669. "Try-
phon," which had not been printed before, has a separate
title-page. Each play is paged separately.

These two plays, and the two published in 1677, are
in rhymed couplets.

34 The History Of Henry the Fifth. And The
Tragedy Of Mustapha, Son of Solyman the
Magnificent. As they were Acted at his High-
nefs, the Duke of York's Theatre. Written by
The Right Honourable, the Earl of Orrery.
London, Printed by T. N. for Henry Herring-
man, at the Sign of the Blew Anchor in the
Lower Walk of the New Exchange. 1677.

"Henry the Fifth" was first published in 1668.
"Mustapha," first published in 1668, has a separate
title-page, and its two parts are paged together. This
and the preceding volume are bound together.

General
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
henery V
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
Mustafa

http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

Roger, Earl of Orrery, president of Munster, and a regiment of horse in Ireland.
---A Seasonable Argument ... for a New Parliament. Andrew Marvell, [1677] 1776.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

In Ireland the Restoration proceeded independently of, and even a little before, that in England. Having secured power at the end of 1659, a group of Cromwellian army officers, Sir Theophilus Jones, Sir Charles Coote, and Roger Boyle, Lord Broghill, opened negotiations with Charles II well before Gen. Monck.

In February 1660 the officers called a convention in Dublin. It declared for Charles, who was proclaimed King on 14 May 1660.

Despite its early commitment to Charles' Restoration, Charles' chief interest in Ireland was as a source of revenue for his government and his favorites.

For more information, see http://www.oxforddnb.com/ (sorry, I can't figure out their filing system either, but this is where it came from)

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

In 1666 Roger Boyle, Baron Broghill, 1st Earl of Orrery (1621 – 1679), is
president of Munster 1660-1672;
governor of Co. Clare 1661-1672;
constable of Limerick Castle 1661-d. 1679

And he is the older brother of Robert Boyle, FRS., and Francis Boyle, Viscount Shannon (step-father of Charles II's illegitimated daughter, Charlotte Boyle Paston). And he's the younger brother to Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington/2nd Earl of Cork.
Orrery is also a playwright (Pepys wasn't a fan).

In 1665 the Roman Catholic Murrough O'Brien, Earl of Inchiquin became reconciled with the Protestant Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery.
O’Brien’s heir, William O'Brien, married Orrery's daughter, Margaret Boyle.

The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, James Butler, Earl of Ormonde, resented Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery's virtually independent authority in Munster, and deplored his ‘vanity, ostentation and itch to popularity’, as well as his peevish, malicious jealousy; but Ormonde admitted that Orrery’s ‘industry, ability and ambition’ made him a dangerous enemy.

Information from https://www.historyofparliamenton…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Before the monarchy was restored, Roger Boyle, Baron Broghill switched sides and backed Charles II. (His older brother, Richard, 2nd Earl of Cork, fought for the King, so Roger was right-hand man in Ireland to Cromwell, protecting the family estates.)

Charles II rewarded Roger Boyle, Lord Broghill for his and his family’s loyalty by making him the 1st Earl of Orrery in 1660 and Lord High President of Munster.

Orrery set about building his court and Manor House in the central location around the present Charleville, which, he said, at that time, "bore the heathenish name of Rathgoggan".

On May 29, 1661 the foundation stone was laid for the erection of Charleville Manor House.

In 1666, Roger Boyle, Earl of Orrery was granted lands in counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Kilkenny, amounting to almost 14,000 acres. The lands he acquired included part of the Barony of Orrery and Kilmore, which were located around Charleville/Rathgoggan and Broghill.

Orrery laid the foundation stone for his residence on May 29, 1661, and called the town Charleville in honor "of his Grace, King Charles II" and set about creating a borough and the town, which was incorporated in 1670, enabling Charleville to return two members to Parliament.

Orrery established the linen and woolen industries and built a street, on which, among other buildings were the Weavers' Cottages, "for all sorts of linen manufacture and also providing artists, looms and other trades and importing Flanders and Brabant seeds."

Orrery also built a church and an endowed school for the education of good Protestant children.

https://www.independent.ie/region…

Third Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Roger Boyle, Lord Broghill, was one of the critical and influential "monarchical Cromwellians" who, in 1659, Hyde believed could be influenced into supporting the restoration of Charles II.
For an understanding of how Broghill played his cards and found favor and advancement after that Restoration, see
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Roger Boyle, Lord Broghill, 1st Earl of Orrery, 1621-1679
Irish Protestant nobleman who fought the Confederates and became prominent in Commonwealth and Protectorate politics

Roger Boyle, Lord Broghill was born at Lismore Castle in Co. Waterford on 21 April 1621,
He was the third surviving son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, one of the most powerful landowners in Munster.
Boyle was created Baron Broghill in Feb. 1628.
After attending Trinity College, Dublin, and Gray's Inn, London, he travelled through France and Italy and lodged for a time with the Calvinist theologian Giovanni Diodati in Geneva, which reinforced his commitment to Protestantism.

On his return to England, Broghill's eldest brother Richard Boyle, Lord Dungarvin (later the 1st Earl of Burlington), introduced him into the court of King Charles and Henrietta Maria.
In 1639, Broghill attended the King at Berwick during the First Bishops' War and commanded a troop of horse under the Earl of Northumberland.

In Jan. 1641, Broghill's marriage to Lady Margaret Howard, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk, brought a substantial dowry, so he purchased an estate at Marston Bigod, Somerset.

On the outbreak of the Irish Uprising in Oct. 1641, Broghill returned to Ireland to defend his family's property against the rebels.
His father the Earl of Cork appointed him commander of a troop of horse and he participated in the successful defence of Lismore Castle in Feb. 1642.
Despite rivalry between his father and Lord Inchiquin for leadership of the Munster Protestants, Broghill held a command under Inchiquin at the battle of Liscarrol in Sept. 1642.

Broghill and his brother, Lord Dungarvin, were sent to London in Nov. 1642 to try to discredit Inchiquin and lobby for a member of the Boyle family to be appointed to the vacant presidency of Munster. They were unsuccessful.
On his return to Ireland, Broghill was obliged to accept the Cessation of Arms negotiated with the Confederates by the the Marquis of Ormonde.
However, in July 1644, Broghill joined Inchiquin in announcing that he could no longer accept the Cessation.

Both peers defected to the English Parliament. Broghill's enmity towards Inchiquin intensified over his conviction that all Irish Protestants should take the Solemn League and Covenant, which Inchiquin refused to sign.

Broghill became associated with the Independent faction at Westminster and welcomed the appointment of Viscount Lisle as Parliament's viceroy and commander in Ireland in 1646.
Lisle's appointment challenged the authority of Ormonde and threatened Inchiquin, who finally defected back to the Royalists in 1648.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

After the execution of King Charles in Jan. 1649, Richard Boyle, now 2nd Earl of Cork, and his younger brother, Francis Boyle went into exile.
Although he was expected to join them, Broghill declared his support for the new Commonwealth of England, which he regarded as offering the best hopes to Irish Protestants for regaining lands lost to the Confederates.
Oliver Cromwell is said to have personally persuaded Broghill to support the Commonwealth and to join forces with the English army of invasion.

In Oct. 1649, Broghill and Col. Phayre sailed to Munster where Protestant soldiers in Inchiquin's army were threatening to defect to the Parliamentarians.
By Dec., Broghill had secured the Munster ports of Cork, Kinsale, Youghal and Dungarvan.
Early in 1650, he guarded the western flank of Cromwell's winter offensive into Munster and Leinster, defeating his enemy Inchiquin near Mallow, County Cork, in March.
At the battle of Macroom on 10 May, Broghill attacked and defeated a Confederate force marching to relieve the siege of Clonmel. The Bishop of Ross was among those taken prisoner at Macroom. A few days later, Broghill ordered the bishop to be tortured and hanged in view of the Irish defenders of Carrigadrohid Castle in order to persuade the garrison to surrender.
Broghill's severity against his enemies extended to frequent massacres of prisoners and other atrocities.

In 1651, he supported Ireton's siege of Limerick by defeating an Irish relief force commanded by Viscount Muskerry at the battle of Knocknaclashy, which was the last pitched battle of the Confederate War.
When the subjugation of Ireland was complete, the Commonwealth government rewarded Broghill with large tracts of confiscated Irish land.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

An active participant in Commonwealth politics, Broghill supported the establishment of Cromwell's Protectorate.
In March 1655, he was appointed Lord President of the Council for Scotland in Edinburgh, where he worked energetically to reconcile the Scots to the Protectorate régime and the enforced union with England.
Although he was personally popular with the Scots, his efforts on behalf of the Protectorate met with limited success. However, he found favour with Henry Cromwell, who regularly sought his advice over the government of Ireland.

Broghill was elected MP for Cork in the First Protectorate Parliament where he attempted to reconcile the republican "Commonwealthsmen" with the supporters of the Protectorate.
He criticised the military government of the Major-Generals that was initiated after the failure of the First Protectorate Parliament
and, as a member of the Second Protectorate Parliament, was a leader of the faction that urged Cromwell to accept the Crown in order to stabilise the constitution and government of England, Ireland and Scotland. Although he was discouraged by Cromwell's refusal, Broghill accepted a place in the controversial "Other House" appointed as a second chamber of Parliament in 1658.

Broghill supported Richard Cromwell after Oliver's death but returned to Ireland after the fall of the Protectorate.
He carefully observed events during 1659 and transferred his allegiance to Charles II when the Restoration seemed certain.

Broghill was elected MP for Arundel in the Convention Parliament that preceded the Restoration.
He found favour with Charles II who created him Earl of Orrery in Sept. 1660, appointed him one of the 3 Lord Justices of Ireland and made him Lord President of Munster.
Orrery worked tirelessly to promote Protestant interests in Ireland and to denigrate the Catholics, often in opposition to the Lord Lt., the Duke of Ormonde.
In alliance with the 2nd Duke of Buckingham, Orrery succeeded in forcing Ormonde's dismissal in 1669, but he was not appointed to replace him as he hoped.
Instead his political enemies attempted to impeach him for misconduct in the administration of Munster.
Although the attempt failed, the presidency of Munster was abolished in 1672 and Orrery was not granted another office.

In addition to his career as a soldier, statesman and administrator, Roger Boyle, Earlc of Orrery was a noted writer.
He wrote several anti-Catholic political tracts, a lengthy novel, Parthenissa, as well as a number of plays that were performed in London and Dublin.

http://bcw-project.org/biography/…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Roger Boyle, Lord Broghill’s father, who came from a cadet branch of a Herefordshire family, migrated to Ireland in 1588 and built up a vast estate, sufficient to endow peerages for Broghill and 3 of his brothers, and became the 1st Earl of Cork.
[His youngest brother was Robert Boyle, FRS, who always refused a title.]

The whole Boyle family took an part in resistance to the Irish rebellion; but Broghill alone was prepared to serve Parliament, and later the Commonwealth, in defence of the Protestant interest.
Highly successful in the field, he always saw himself as a soldier.

He married on 27 Jan. 1641 (with £5,000), Lady Margaret Howard (bur. 24 Aug. 1689), daughter of Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk. They had 2 sons (1 d.v.p.) and 5 daughters.

Under the Protector he became the first of the family to sit at Westminster, and served briefly as a popular governor of Scotland.
But Ireland always took first place in his concerns.
As one of Oliver’s ‘kitchen cabinet’ he was chiefly responsible for offering him the crown in 1657.

However much he dissembled, he remained a Royalist and an Anglican at heart, and together with Sir Charles Coote persuaded the Irish army to accept the Restoration.

Broghill was unable to leave Ireland during the general election of 1660.
Margaret Howard Boyle, Lady Broghill’s brother-in-law, the Earl of Northumberland, nominated him for Cockermouth (he was defeated) and for Arundel (which he won).
He did not reach Westminster until June, 1660 and never became an active Member. His 5 committees in the Convention included those to consider the bills nominating commissioners for the army and restoring his enemy, Lord Inchiquin’s estates.

A court supporter, he was amply rewarded with the confirmation of the Irish lands which he had acquired during the Interregnum, and on 5 Sept. 1660 he was creatred the Earl of Orrery.
He was appointed a lord justice in Ireland, and although he did not leave England until after the dissolution of the Convention Parliament, he played no further part in its proceedings.

Roger Boyle, Lord Orrery MP was re-elected in his absence at the top of the poll, but throughout the whole course of the Cavalier Parliament he was named to only 5 committees.
He was absent from the corporate communion of 26 May 1661, when it was noted he was in Ireland, where he acted as Lord Lieutenant until the arrival of the Duke of Ormonde.

During visits to England, he preferred the Court and the theatre to the business of the House.
His heroic dramas in the French manner, lavishly produced, won him Charles II's favour, although Pepys found them monotonous -- soporific -- a verdict endorsed by posterity.

He was listed as a court dependent in 1664,
and appointed to the English Privy Council in 1665, although with his record he was never secure, despite many professions of unconditional loyalty and orthodoxy.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

PART 2

He remained on good terms with both Clarendon and Arlington, although the former condemned his squandering of forfeited Irish lands on English courtiers, and the latter became his bitterest enemy.
‘A deceitful and vain man, who loved to appear in business, [Orrery] dealt so much underhand that he had not much credit with any side.’

The need to provide marriage portions for his 5 daughters and to finance his extensive building operations made the Government’s failure to satisfy his claims irksome.
Lord Lt. Ormonde resented his virtually independent authority in Munster, and deplored his ‘vanity, ostentation and itch to popularity’, as well as his peevish, malicious jealousy; but he admitted that Orrery’s ‘industry, ability and ambition’ made him a dangerous enemy.

Writing on Clarendon’s fall to his friend Lord Conway, Orrery declared himself ‘too much a country gentleman to understand the causes of things at Court’.

In view of the marriage between Orrery's niece and Clarendon’s son, Laurence Hyde, Charles II felt it necessary to send him a reassuring letter. However, the change of ministry in England weakened Ormonde’s position in Ireland.
Orrery still maintained an effusive correspondence with Ormonde, but in 1669, acting with the 2nd Duke of Buckingham, he secured Ormonde's dismissal.

In Burnet’s account, he described Orrery as one who "pretended to knowledge, but was very ignorant; to wit, but it was very luscious; to eloquence, but had the worst style in the world; to religion, but was thought a very fickle and false man, and was vain to the pitch of the Earl of Shaftesbury."

Orrery’s frequent audiences at Court made him vulnerable in Parliament, and at Charles II’s instance he formed ‘a strict friendship’ with Lord Keeper Bridgeman and, probably, Sir Thomas Clifford, of which Arlington was kept in ignorance.

When Parliament met in the autumn, charges were brought against Orrery which would amount to treason if proved, although most were only allegations of maladministration.
A week later, seated because of the gout, he demolished every allegation in masterly fashion.
A motion to name a day for hearing witnesses failed by 3 votes, Ormonde’s and Arlington’s friends joining with independent Members avid for juicy revelations of government scandals, but the House resolved unanimously to leave the complainants to the remedy of the law.
But on 10 Dec. Sir Robert Carr MP reopened discussion of the charges. A motion was passed to seek permission for the witnesses to come over from Ireland, but on the following day Parliament was prorogued, and no more was heard.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

PART 3

Despite Orrery’s increasing infirmity he attended the next session, supporting union with Scotland and speaking in favour of the comprehension measure designed by Robert Atkyns ‘to enlarge the Church on good terms’.
Andrew Marvell saw Orrery and John Trevor MP as replacing the crypto-Catholic members of ‘the governing cabal’, and in June 1670 Orrery secured against a revival of the impeachment proceedings by suing out a general pardon.

The resignation of Berkeley and his replacement by Arlington’s candidate, the Earl of Essex, was a death-blow to Orrery’s independent jurisdiction in Munster.
Arlington wrote to him by Charles II’s command ‘to moderate his zeal’ against the Roman Catholics, and, even more unkindly, ‘to forebear harassing the militia by unnecessary duty’.

On 30 June, 1672 the presidency of Munster was abolished.
But Arlington’s star was also on the wane,
and in Jan 1673 Orrery received a letter from Charles II ‘written in his own hand’ urging him to attend the next session.
He was too ill to comply, but he gave way to renewed pressure in October, and it was even reported that he was to be Danby’s candidate to succeed Arlington as secretary of state.

He was also present in 1674 and sent regular reports of parliamentary proceedings to Lord Lt. Essex.
On 27 Jan. Orrery spoke in favour of peace with the Dutch,
and in Feb., during a debate on the farming of the Irish revenue by his nephew, Richard Jones, Lord Ranelagh he was urged to speak.
He refused to do so until the contract had been examined regularly in committee and reported to the House.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

PART 4

Under the Danby administration, some of Orrery’s claims on the Government were settled.
He was again summoned to Westminster for the spring session of 1675, listed as a court dependant;
he did not arrive until the prorogation.
According to his own account, he told Charles II that if, during the recess, "some things were not effectually done to satisfy his subjects in point of religion and property, all measures which would be taken would prove ineffectual. I took also the confidence to add that too many Parliament men had observed to me that we had a set of principles when the Parliament was near, and another set when they were prorogued."

He also had several nocturnal interviews in which he strove to persuade the lord treasurer that the non-resisting test would never pass the Lower House.
He urged the wisdom of a ‘moderate indulgence’ for the nonconformists, the natural allies against Popery, and in order to satisfy the Anglicans and obtain a supply, he proposed that a money bill containing guarantees of liberty and property should be brought forward early in the session.
To it would be tacked provisions that the Penal Laws against Roman Catholics should be suspended ‘for some years’ for those who registered as such and refrained from all public employment and appearance at Court, and that dissenters should be allowed to meet for worship subject to certain safeguards, including disqualification from office.
Such an omnibus bill, he felt, would satisfy all except the extremists.

Sir Richard Wiseman MP noted him as absent from the autumn session.

He left England for good in August 1676, although Shaftesbury marked him doubly vile in 1677, and the Opposition included him in their ‘unanimous club’ of the court party.

An invalid after an unsuccessful operation on his foot, he wrote his most substantial literary work, A Treatise of the Art of War.

Roger Boyle, 1st Earl ofr Orrery, died of gout on 16 Oct. 1679 and was buried at Youghal.

More at:
https://www.historyofparliamenton…

Log in to post an annotation.

If you don't have an account, then register here.

References

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

1660

1664

1665

1666

1667

1668

  • Apr
  • May
  • Aug
  • Dec

1669