Sir Rowland FitzEustace, 1st and Last Baron Portlester

From Darryl Lundy's Peerage page on Rowland Eustace:

http://www.thepeerage.com/p4886.htm#i48857

Rowland Eustace, 1st and last Baron of Portlester [1]

• M, #48857,
• d. 14 December 1496
• Last Edited=15 Oct 2011

Rowland Eustace, 1st and last Baron of Portlester was the son of John Fitz-Eustace.[2]

He married, firstly, Elizabeth Brune, daughter of John Brune.[3]

He married, secondly, Margaret d'Artois, daughter of Jenico d'Artois.[3]

He married Genet Bellew.[4]

He died on 14 December 1496, without surviving male issue.[3]

He was Knight of Kilcullen.[3]

He held the office of Lord High Treasurer [Ireland] between 1454 and 1492, jointly with John, Lord Wenlock 1461-71.[3]

He was Lord Deputy to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in 1462, (Duke of Clarence).[3]

He was created 1st Baron Portlester on 5 March 1462, with remainder to heirs male of his family.[3]

Child of Rowland Eustace, 1st and last Baron of Portlester

• 1. Maud Eustace+[5]

Child of Rowland Eustace, 1st and last Baron of Portlester and Genet Bellew

• 1. Alison Eustace+[1] d. 22 Nov 1495

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Rowland FitzEustace, 1st Baron Portlester (c. 1430 – 19 December 1496) was an Irish peer, statesman and judge. He was one of the dominant political figures in late fifteenth-century Ireland, rivalled in influence only by his son-in-law, the "Great" Earl of Kildare.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_FitzEustace,_1st_Baron_Portle...

Family

FitzEustace was the eldest son of Sir Edward FitzEustace of Castlemartin, County Kildare, Lord Deputy of Ireland, and his wife Alicia.

He was married three times.[5] His wives were:

1. Elizabeth Brune, daughter of John Brune
2. Joan (or Jenet) Bellew of Bellewstown, widow of Christopher Plunket, 2nd Baron Killeen, whom he married in 1463
3. Margaret (or Marguerite) d'Artois, granddaughter and heiress of the Gascon-born knight Sir Jenico d'Artois, and widow of Sir John Dowdall, whom he married sometime after 1467. This marriage brought him a considerable increase in his landholdings, since Margaret through her mother Jane Serjeant was heiress to half of the lands of Castleknock, County Dublin, although her right to hold the lands was disputed by the Barnewall family.

He had issue by all of his wives, but it is uncertain which wife was the actual mother of each particular child.[6]

His only legitimate son, Richard, died young.

His daughters were:

1. Alice, or Alison, married Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare.[7]
2. Joan, married Richard Plunkett, 2nd Baron of Dunsany
3. Jenet, married Sir Walter Delahide: they both played an important role in the rebellion of the Earl of Kildare's grandson, Silken Thomas, and Jenet died in prison under suspicion of treason.
4. Margaret, married Christopher Rochfort
5. Maud, married Thomas Marward, titular Baron Skryne

He also had an illegitimate son:

1. Oliver FitzEustace, who became Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer; since Oliver seems to have been mentally deficient, his father further extended his influence by appointing Deputies to act on his behalf

The barony became extinct on his death in 1496, but his nephew Thomas, son of his brother Richard, was created Viscount Baltinglass in 1541. Sir Maurice Eustace, a wealthy and influential member of the FitzEustace clan who became Lord Chancellor of Ireland, accepted the title Baron Portlester at the Restoration of Charles II, but then changed his mind, apparently because, like Rowland, he had no legitimate son to succeed him.

Biography

Library of Ireland

Alfred Webb in A Compendium of Irish Biography 1878

Eustace, or FitzEustace, Sir Roland, Lord Portlester, was descended from a branch of the Geraldines to whom Henry II. had granted the country round Naas. In 1454 he was appointed Deputy to Richard, Duke of York; and again in 1462 he filled the same office for the Duke of Clarence. Subsequently he was tried for plotting with the Earl of Desmond, and acquitted. Created Lord Portlester, he married Margaret, daughter of Janico d'Artois, by whom he had two daughters; the elder married Gerald, 8th Earl of Kildare. He held the office of Treasurer of Ireland for many years, and was in 1474 appointed to the custody of the great seal, which six years afterwards he refused to surrender when the King granted the post to another. This was for a time a great hindrance to public business, until the King authorized the construction of a new great seal for Ireland by Thomas Archbold, Master of the King's Mint in Ireland, and that in Eustace's hands was "damned, annulled, and suspended," while his acts as Treasurer were also repudiated.
A turbulent spirit was at that period shown by many of those who should have been foremost among the King's supporters. Eustace refused to give up the seal; his son-in-law Kildare positively declined to admit a new Lord-Deputy, Lord Grey; James Keating, Constable of Dublin Castle, broke down the drawbridge, and defied the Deputy and his three hundred archers and men-at-arms to gain admittance; and the Mayor of Dublin proclaimed that no subsidy should be paid the Earl; while a parliament held at Naas repudiated Lord Grey's authority; and one summoned at Trim declared the proceedings of Kildare's parliament at Naas null and void. Lord Portlester died 14th December 1496, and was buried at Cotlandstown, County of Kildare. Two monuments were erected to his memory — one in the new abbey, Kilcullen, which he had founded in 1460; the other in St. Audoen's Church, Dublin, where he had built a chapel to the Virgin.

References

• http://www.thepeerage.com/p4886.htm#i48857
• 1. [S37] Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 2, page 2298. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition.
• 2. [S47] Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, editor, Burke's Irish Family Records (London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1976). Hereinafter cited as Burke's Irish Family Records.
• 3. [S47] Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, Burke's Irish Family Records, page 388.
• 4. [S37] Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition, volume 1, page 1240.
• 5. [S37] Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition.