Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond

Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond

Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormonde and 3rd Earl of Ossory, Viscount Thurles (c. 1531 – 22 November 1614), was an Irish peer and the son of James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond and Lady Joan Fitzgerald daughter and heiress-general of James FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Desmond. He was Lord Treasurer of Ireland and a very prominent personage during the latter part of the 16th century.

He built the Tudor Manor House extension to Ormonde Castle on his estates in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. Much of his life was taken up with a fierce feud with his hereditary foe, Gerald FitzGerald, 15th Earl of Desmond, son of James FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond. The two sides fought a pitched battle in 1565, the Battle of Affane. Butler's victory, not only in the field but also in the handling the political fallout, helped to spark the Desmond Rebellions. This struggle (1569–73 and 1579–83) desolated Munster for many years. Ormond was a Protestant and threw his great influence on the side of Queen Elizabeth I and her ministers in their efforts to crush the rebels, although he was motivated as much by factional rivalry with the Desmond dynasty as by religion.

Ormond and Queen Elizabeth met in London as children; Thomas the "son of an Irish Earl" and Elizabeth the "illegitimate daughter of Henry" shared a common ground as neither was well treated by the other young nobles in court. They were cousins, related through her mother, Anne Boleyn, a daughter of the Ormond dynasty in Ireland. Elizabeth called him her ‘black husband’. In 1588 the Queen bestowed on Ormond what a poet described as 'áirdchéim Ridireacht Gáirtéir, / ainm nár ghnáth é ar Éirionnach' (‘the high honour of Knighthood of the Garter, a title unusual for an Irishman’).

Ormond built a Tudor style castle (Carrick on Suir) along the river Suir, which he decorated lavishly and even had red brick chimneys built on, which, at the time, were very expensive. All of this was for one reason; to provide Elizabeth with a suitable palace at which to stay when she traveled to Ireland. Elizabeth planned twice to visit the Castle in Ireland, once in 1602, but she fell sick, and once in 1603, but she died soon before the visit was scheduled to take place. One does know, however, that Elizabeth appreciated Thomas's gift, and was, as she was with all of her cousins through her mother, very fond of him. Thomas lived eleven years after Elizabeth died.

He first married Elizabeth Berkeley, daughter of Thomas Berkeley, 6th Baron Berkeley and Anne Savage. They separated in 1564 without issue.

He then married Elizabeth Sheffield on 9 November 1582 at London. She was the daughter of John Sheffield, 2nd Baron Sheffield and Douglas, daughter of William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham. They had three children:

• James Butler, (b. 4 September 1583, died 1589)
• Elizabeth Butler (before 1593- 1628), married, firstly, her first cousin Theobald Butler, Viscount Butler of Tulleophelim, son of Sir Edmund Butler of Cloughgrenan and Hon. Eleanor Eustace, without issue. Her father Thomas, had executed her husband's two elder brothers for treason in 1596. She married, secondly, Richard Preston, Baron Dingwall, and had one daughter, Elizabeth Preston.
• Thomas Butler (before 1601- 1606)

In 1601 he married Helena Barry, daughter of David Fitz-James de Barry, 5th Viscount Buttevant, without issue.

The Earl also had an illegitimate son, Piers FitzThomas Butler of Duisk who married Catherine Fleming, by whom he had a son, Edward Butler, 1st Viscount Galmoye.

As the Earl died without legally recognised male issue, the Earldom reverted in the male line, to the junior branch of the family through his brother John Butler of Kilcash.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Butler,_10th_Earl_of_Ormond

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• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 08
• Butler, Thomas (1532-1614) by Sidney Lee
• BUTLER, THOMAS, tenth Earl of Ormonde (1532–1614), born in 1532, was son and heir of James Butler, ninth earl, who died of poison at Ely House, London, 28 Oct. 1546. His mother was Lady Joan Fitzgerald, heiress of James, eleventh earl of Desmond. His grandfather was Sir Pierce Butler, eighth earl of Ormonde [q. v.]. Thomas, who was called, from his dark complexion, the ‘Black Earl,’ succeeded his father in the earldom and estates at the age of fourteen. He was brought up at the English court with a view to alienating his sympathies from Ireland, and was the first of his family to adopt protestantism. He was knighted on Edward VI's accession in 1547. After Edward's death in 1553, the priests spread a false report that the young earl had been murdered in England, and the Irish on his estates, which were then managed by English officials, rose in revolt. In 1554 Ormonde set foot in Ireland amid great rejoicings on the part of the native population, and from the first attempted to act as mediator between the native Irish and their English rulers. He entered into friendly relations with Sussex, the lord deputy; in 1559 took the oath as privy councillor, and became lord treasurer of Ireland until death; but his action was unhappily fettered. The house of Desmond was the hereditary and implacable foe of the house of Ormonde, and neither the present earl's relationship (through his mother) with the then Earl of Desmond nor his conciliatory disposition could remove the ancient grudge. A quarrel respecting the ownership of the manors of Clonmel, Kilsheelan, and Kilfeacle was made in 1560 the pretext for a military demonstration, near Tipperary, of the retainers of the two houses. This happily proved abortive, and the English government tried to bring the rivalry to an end by a judicial award of the disputed territory in this case to the Earl of Desmond, but a permanent settlement was out of the question.
• Ormonde, though openly avowing strong Irish sympathies, resolved to throw the weight of his influence on the side of law and order. In 1561 he sought, by means of his personal influence, to extract from Shan O'Neill, the virtually independent ruler of Ulster, an acknowledgment of the supremacy of the English crown and a promise to abstain from further aggression on other Ulster chieftains. O'Neill treated Ormonde with consideration, and agreed to visit England in his company in order to come to some settlement with Queen Elizabeth herself. In the result he was willing to submit all his differences to a board of arbitration, at which he desired Ormonde to take a seat. But when in 1562 O'Neill broke his vague promises and re-opened attack on the MacDonnells, his chief rivals in Ulster, it was with great reluctance (6 April 1563) that Ormonde, fearful of offending Irish feeling, aided Sussex in repressing the powerful chieftain. Meanwhile his quarrel with Desmond grew fiercer, and Munster, where the chief estates of either house lay, was in constant turmoil. Both leaders were summoned to London at the close of 1561, but little came of their interview with Elizabeth. Ormonde tried hard for a while to keep the peace in the face of Desmond's continued aggressions. Late in 1563 Ormonde complained to Sussex that Desmond was repeatedly attacking his relatives and tenants, and that it was only just that he should retaliate. On 1 July 1564 Ormonde issued a notable proclamation forbidding, in the interest of his poorer dependents, the exaction of the ancient Irish customs within his dominions, and he was contemplating other similar reforms, when an attack by Desmond on his kinsman Sir Maurice Fitzgerald led (1565) to a pitched battle between the supporters of the two earls at Affone, a ford near the river Finisk, a tributary of the Blackwater. Desmond was wounded by Sir Edmund Butler, Ormonde's brother, and taken prisoner. Elizabeth, angered beyond measure by this act of private war, summoned both earls again to her presence. The queen's councillors were divided as to the degrees of guilt attaching to the offenders, and the court factions aggravated the local struggle. Sussex insisted that Ormonde was guiltless. Sir Henry Sidney and the Leicester faction denied that Desmond had shown disloyalty to the English cause. Finally, both earls agreed (September 1565) to enter into their recognisances in 20,000l. to abide such orders as her majesty might prescribe. Elizabeth evinced unmistakable sympathy for Ormonde; the attentions she paid him at the time gave rise to no little scandal, and induced him to linger at court for the next five years. Meanwhile Sir Henry Sidney succeeded Sussex as lord deputy, and he was inclined to favour Desmond, but the queen insisted that Ormonde's claims whenever conflict arose deserved the higher consideration. In 1567 Sidney visited Munster and reported that it was absolutely uncontrolled, and as turbulent as it well could be. Desmond was ravaging Ormonde's territory in the earl's absence. A royal commission was nominated in October 1567 to determine the truth of Ormonde's allegation, that he had suffered terribly from Desmond's aggressions; an award was made in his favour, and Desmond was mulcted in the sum of 20,894l. 12s. 8d. Early in 1568 the Earl of Desmond and his brother John were sent to the Tower of London. Although Ormonde (in Sidney's words) still ‘politicly kept himself in England,’ the Butler influence was in the ascendant during the imprisonment of the rival earl. Edward and Sir Edmund, Ormonde's brothers, used their power, as his representatives in Munster, with the utmost cruelty and injustice. In June 1569 Sir Edmund, who had a personal hatred of Sidney, in temporary concert with some members of the Desmond family, broke into open revolt against the lord deputy. Sidney asserted that Ormonde's presence was indispensable to the peace of South Ireland, and the earl returned home with the queen's permission. He landed at Waterford in July 1569, and found Munster in the throes of a civil war, in which his brother Sir Edmund was matched against Sidney's lieutenant, Sir Peter Carew. Ormonde honestly endeavoured to arbitrate between the combatants, but Sidney clearly regarded him at the time with deep suspicion. Early in 1570, however, Ormonde wrote to Cecil that he and Sidney were reconciled, and as proof of his goodwill he crushed, at Sidney's request, a rebellion of the Earl of Thomond, one of the Munster malcontents. In April Ormonde's three brothers, Edmund, Edward, and Piers, were attainted, and Ormonde passionately protested against the indignity; but though the three Butlers were pardoned in 1573, and became loyal subjects, they were not, through some legal error, restored in blood. In 1571 Ormonde was busily engaged in repressing further tumults in Munster, which the Desmond influence continued to foment. At the beginning of 1572 Fitzwilliam, the lord deputy, wrote to Burghley that ‘the South was always the ticklish part of Ireland, and that Ormonde alone could manage it.’
• In 1572 the earl spent several months in London, and visited his old rival, the Earl of Desmond, who was still in confinement. Desmond begged Ormonde to use his influence to secure his release, and probably Ormonde recommended the course, which was soon after adopted, of letting Desmond return to Ireland under guarantees of good behaviour. Ormonde's domain grew very turbulent in his renewed absence, and Desmond, scorning all his promises, resolved on striking a desperate blow at English rule in South Ireland. In July 1573 Ormonde entreated him in vain to abandon his threatening designs. While Ormonde was on another visit to London, news reached Elizabeth (December 1579) of a rising of the Desmond faction in Munster, aided and encouraged by papal envoys and Spanish soldiers. Ormonde was straightway appointed military governor of the province, with a commission ‘to banish and vanquish those cankered Desmonds.’ In March 1580 he marched from Kilkenny to Kerry, ravaging the country with fire and sword. In the mountains of Kerry he captured many of the rebel leaders, and in a report of his services drawn up in July 1580 he claimed to have put to the sword within three months 46 captains, 800 notorious traitors and malefactors, and 4,000 other persons. In September, when the rebels were encouraged to renew the struggle by the arrival of a second detachment of Spaniards at Smerwick, Ormonde showed less activity, although he still maintained a large army and supported the movements of the government. His conduct gave rise in England to some groundless suspicions of his loyalty. In April 1581, when the immediate danger had passed, he declared himself weary of killing, and induced Elizabeth to proclaim pardon to all the rebels save Desmond and his brothers. But in 1582 the country was still disturbed. ‘They seek,’ wrote Sir Henry Wallop of the native Irish (10 June 1582), ‘to have the government among themselves,’ and Lord Burghley and Walsingham thought to conciliate Irish feeling by appointing Ormonde lord deputy. Wallop and other English officials, however, who, like Sidney, were jealous of Ormonde's influence both at the English court and in Ireland, protested that ‘Ormonde is too great for Ireland already,’ and he was merely confirmed in the military government of Munster. Desmond was still at large in the Kerry mountains, and a few of his supporters maintained the old warfare. Ormonde was inclined to treat the enemy leniently for a time, but in May 1583 he deemed it prudent to attack with his former rigour all the known adherents of Desmond. At the same time he set a price on Desmond's head, and in October the rebellious earl was captured and slain. Ormonde thus succeeded in pacifying Munster. In November he insisted on the grant of an indemnity to all who had taken part in the revolt, and spoke very roughly in letters to Burghley of those English officers who advocated further rigorous measures, or wished him to break faith with the penitent rebels whom he had taken under his protection. In 1588 he helped to capture and kill the Spanish refugees who had escaped the wreck of the Armada.
• In October 1597 Ormonde was appointed lieutenant-general of the army in Ireland, and he supported the English troops in their tedious attempts to repress the rebellion of O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, in 1598–9. With Essex he was on no friendly terms (Spedding's Bacon, ii. 93 et seq.). Ormonde complained that Essex did not honestly strive to crush Tyrone, and Essex and his associates retaliated by hinting suspicions of Ormonde's loyalty. In 1602 Elizabeth granted him much confiscated lands in Munster, and a pension of 40l. In 1612 he was vice-admiral of Ireland and sought to repress piracy. He died 22 Nov. 1614, at the age of eighty-two.
• Ormonde was thrice married: first, to Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas, tenth lord Berkeley, by whom he had no issue; secondly, to Elizabeth, daughter of John, ninth lord Sheffield, by whom he had two sons, James and Thomas, and a daughter Elizabeth; and thirdly, to Helen, daughter of David, viscount Buttevant. His sons both died before him, and his title descended to Walter, son of his brother John of Kilcash. In 1597 Ormonde conveyed some rich church lands (originally granted by the crown to his brother James, and reverting to him on the death of James's only son without issue) to an illegitimate son, Piers FitzThomas (b 1576). This son married Katherine, eldest daughter of Thomas, lord Stone, and was the father of Sir Edward Butler, created Viscount Galmoy 16 May 1646.
• A sonnet in Ormonde's praise is prefixed by Spenser to the ‘Faerie Queene’ (1590).
• [Bagwell's History of Ireland under the Tudors, vols. i. and ii.; Froude's Hist. of England, vols. vii. and x.; Burke's Peerage; Chamberlain's Letters, temp. Elizabeth (Camden Soc.); Camden's Annals; Cal. State Papers (Irish), 1560–1614; Carew MSS.; Cal. State Papers (Dom.), 1600–1614.]
• From: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Butler,_Thomas_(1532-1614)_(DNB00)
• https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofnati08stepuoft#page/79/mode/1up to https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofnati08stepuoft#page/81/mode/1up ___________________
• Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormonde1
• M, #33174, b. 1531, d. 22 November 1614
• Last Edited=8 Feb 2015
• Consanguinity Index=0.45%
• Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormonde was born in 1531.1 He was the son of James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormonde and Lady Joan FitzGerald.1 He married, firstly, Hon. Elizabeth Berkeley, daughter of Thomas Berkeley, 6th Lord Berkeley and Anne Savage, circa 1559.3 He married, secondly, Hon. Elizabeth Sheffield, daughter of John Sheffield, 2nd Baron Sheffield and Douglas Howard, circa 1582.1 He married, thirdly, Hon. Helen Barry, daughter of David Barry, 5th Viscount Barry and Ellen Roche, in June 1601.4,1 He died on 22 November 1614.1 He was buried at St. Canice Cathedral, Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland.5
• Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormonde also went by the nick-name of 'Tom Duffe'.1 He succeeded to the title of 2nd Viscount Thurles [I., 1536] on 28 October 1546.1 He succeeded to the title of 10th Earl of Ormonde [I., 1328] on 28 October 1546.1 He succeeded to the title of 3rd Earl of Ossory [I., 1528] on 28 October 1546.1 He was invested as a Knight in February 1546/47.1 He was invested as a Privy Counsellor (P.C.) [Ireland] in March 1557/58.1 He held the office of Treasurer of Ireland between 1559 and 1614.1 He held the office of Lieutenant of County Tipperary in 1575.1 He held the office of Lieutenant of County Kilkenny in 1575.1 He was Lord General of the forces in Munster in January 1582/83.1 He was invested as a Knight, Order of the GArter (K.G.) in 1588.1 He was General of the forces in Leinster between 1594 and 1596.1 He was Lieutenant-General of the all forces in Ireland in 1597.1 In 1600 he helped to suppress Tyson's Rising.1 Between April 1600 and June 1600 he was held captive by Owny MacRory O'More.1 He held the office of Vice-Admiral of Leinster in 1602.1 He has an extensive biographical entry in the Dictionary of National Biography.6
• Children of Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormonde
  • Ellis Butler+3
  • Piers FitzThomas Butler+7 d. 1601
• Children of Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormonde and Hon. Elizabeth Sheffield
  • Lady Elizabeth Butler+8 d. 10 Oct 1628
  • James Butler, Viscount Thurles1 b. 1584, d. b 1614
  • Thomas Butler1 b. a 1584, d. 12 Jan 1606
• Citations
• [S37] BP2003 volume 2, page 2808. See link for full details for this source. Hereinafter cited as. [S37]
• [S3409] Caroline Maubois, "re: Penancoet Family," e-mail message to Darryl Roger Lundy, 2 December 2008. Hereinafter cited as "re: Penancoet Family."
• [S37] BP2003. [S37]
• [S8] BP1999 volume 1, page 221. See link for full details for this source. Hereinafter cited as. [S8]
• [S4697] Charles R. Buterl, "re: Butler Family," e-mail message to Darryl Roger LUNDY (101053), 27 June 2010. Hereinafter cited as "re: Butler Family."
• [S77] Leslie Stephen, editor, Dictionary of National Biography (London, U.K.: Smith, Elder & Company, 1908), volume III, page 531-33. Hereinafter cited as Dictionary of National Biography.
• [S47] BIFR1976 page 197. See link for full details for this source. Hereinafter cited as. [S47]
• [S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 452. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
• From: http://www.thepeerage.com/p3318.htm#i33174 _____________________
• Thomas Dubh BUTLER (10° E. Ormonde)
• Born: 1531
• Acceded: 1546
• Died: 22 Nov 1614, Carrick
• Buried: St. Canice, Kilkenny, Ireland
• Notes: See his Biography.
• Father: James BUTLER (9° E. Ormonde)
• Mother: Joan FITZGERALD (C. Ormonde/C. Desmond)
• Married 1: Elizabeth BERKELEY ABT 1559 SEPARATION 1563
• Married 2: Elizabeth SHEFFIELD (C. Ormonde) 9 Nov 1582, London, England
• Children:
  • 1. Elizabeth BUTLER
  • 2. James BUTLER (1° V. Thurles)
• Married 3: Helen BARRY Jun 1601
• Children:
  • 3. Piers FitzThomas BUTLER of Duisk
  • 4. Thomas BUTLER (Sheriff of Tipperary) (d. 17 Jan 1605)
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/BUTLER.htm#Thomas Dubh BUTLER (10° E. Ormonde)
• Known as "Black Tom". Chief Butler of Ireland. 3° Earl of Ossory.
• In 1543, James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormonde, had requested Henry VIII to grant a place at court to his heir Thomas, whom he despatched to court the next year. Already at court were two of Thomas’ first cousins, Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, daughter of the 9th Earl of Kildare – immortalised by the poet Thomas Surrey as ‘The Fair Geraldine’ – and Barnaby Fitzpatrick, son of the baron of Upper Ossory. Thomas and Barnaby joined group of ten or twelve noble youths whom Henry VIII had selected to be educated with his son Edward. While most of the other pupils changed in the course of the years, the two cousins remained until the school group was formally disbanded in autumn 1552, five years after Edward had come to the throne. Upon the accession of Edward VI, Thomas was made a Knight of the Garter. Ormonde actually participated in the Christmas festivities that year disguised as an ‘Almain’, or German. By 1552 Thomas had reached his majority and succeeded to earldom of Ormond, his father having died of food poisoning in London in 1546.
• When Edward VI died in Jul 1553, his catholic sister Mary came to the throne, and Ormonde appears to have had no difficulty in accommodating himself to the changed regime. Black Tom won his spurs and possibly his nickname when suppressing the rebellion against Queen Mary of Sir Thomas Wyatt, whom some called White Tom. Mary retained the Earl at court for a further year, allowing him to return to Ireland in Oct 1554, along with Barnaby Fitzpatrick and Gerald Fitzgerald, 11th Earl of Kildare. Throughout the rest of his long life, Ormonde maintained his family’s tradition of unswerving loyalty to the crown, spending long periods at court, where he exploited the powerful connections his early education had given him.
• Thomas Butler lived a considerably long life for his time, and gained a respect that no other man in Ireland would be able to obtain. He was considered to be an honest and upstanding peer by those in Ireland and England. Queen Elizabeth considered him to be a good friend and companion and trusted his opinion. Thomas made many enemies because of his honesty, candor and the fact that the Queen favored him.
• He was a great strategist who had a standing army of Scot mercenaries called gallowglass. These incredible soldiers where popular in Ireland and were often used like a common commodity. Their brute strength and courageous tactics made them a formidable enemy against the English at Cashel, and Killroe, serving O’Neil and massacred an army of lanskanechts at the siege of Caracfergus. The Ormondes had kept an army of these men for over a hundred years and found them to be very useful in defending against the gallowglass of other factions. The MacSweeneys were in the Ormonde’s employ and cost a great deal of money to maintain. One thing was for sure: they were worth the money as almost every English noble that came with their armies to wipe out Irish rebels called upon Ormonde for the support or protection of his armies.
• A very proficient diplomat, Thomas was responsible for swaying a great many rebels, including Hugh O’Neil, to swear to treaties of loyalty to the Crown. Ormonde was not the only person responsible for that act; O’Neil followed the suggestions of both Henry Sidney and the Earl Ormonde for they were the two English men for whom he held the highest respect. Thomas held a seat on the Privy Councils of both England and Ireland, and worked hard at stimulating the economy on his lands. He even went so far as to grant right of travel for young Irish boys to Bristol as apprentices in the hopes that they would return to Ireland as master tradesmen.
• Ormonde, like his father continued to harbor aggressions with his neighbor and fellow countryman the Earl Desmond, as part of a hostile four-generation feud between the Geraldines (Desmond and kin) and the Butlers (Ormonde and kin). After the death of his mother, the Countess of Desmond, the old feud between the Butlers and Geraldines broke out again and Black Tom defeated the Earl of Desmond at the Battle of Affane in 1565, the last private pitched battle fought on the soil of the British Isles. These disputes ranged from issues of Loyalty to those of property right, boundary lines, policy, strategy and anything else that they could use to make peace a difficult solution. Finally in 1568, Desmond is thrown in the tower and must stay there for six years. In 1574 he is released and is to turn himself in to the jail in Dublin where he is allowed to escape and turns Rebel. Thomas, however, is not too distraught over this as he is in control of a fair amount of it in Desmond’s absence.
• Ormonde and Queen Elizabeth met in London as children; Thomas the "son of an Irish Earl" and Elizabeth the "illegitimate daughter of Henry" shared a common ground as neither was well treated by the other young nobles in court. They were related through her mother Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth called him her ‘black husband’. In 1588 the Queen bestowed on Ormonde what an Irish poet described as 'áirdchéim Ridireacht Gáirtéir, / ainm nár ghnáth é ar Éirionnach' (‘the high honour of Knighthood of the Garter, a title rare on an Irishman’).
• Ormonde built a Tudor style castle (Carrick on Suir) along the river Suir, which he decorated lavishly and even had red brick chimneys built on, which, at the time, were very expensive. All of this was for one reason; to provide Elizabeth with a suitable palace at which to stay when she traveled to Ireland. Thomas lived eleven years after Elizabeth died and during her entire reign she never once set foot in Ireland.
• Married three times, Thomas produced four children, three boys and one girl. One boy died at birth; the other two die as young adults and his daughter Elizabeth lived to be in her fifties. He had had at least 12 illegitimate children. Ormonde spent most of his time in England in the presence of the Queen and many rumors were issued as to the matter.
• In 1614 Thomas died in his bed shortly after Christmas, in the Elizabethan manor he had built at Carrick, with the blue ribbon of the Order of the Garter around his neck, as it was every night since it was given to him. He was buried in St Canice's. His Will so favoured his eldest illegitimate son, Piers, as to suggest that the mother of Piers of Duisk was someone of great importance. Indeed, there is not lacking circumstantial evidence to support the persistent and rather startling rumor that the Virgin Queen bore him Piers Butler of Duiske, the father of Edmund, 1st Viscount Galmoy. Towards the end of 1553 she had the opportunity to conceive Piers Butler; in Feb 1554 she was said to be pregnant at Ashridge. In May, when offered physicians at Woodstock, she announced: "I am not minded to make any stranger privy to the state of my body but commit it to God".
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/ThomasButler(10EOrmonde).htm ______________________

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Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond (d. 1515), was grandfather to Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, who, although she lost her head, provided him with the daughter who was to become Queen Elizabeth I. This fearsome queen features in voluminous Butler records. [1.1] 

Her cousin, the 10th Earl of Ormond, Thomas Butler (d. 1614), who had been reared at the English court, built a magnificent Tudor manor at Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, expecting her to visit him, which she failed to do. [1.2] Lord Dunboyne, the present Butler family historian, writes in his Butler Family History: "The Butlers bred like rabbits immune from myxomatosis". [1.3]

"The Lancastrians have very little support in Ireland apart from the Butlers. [1.4]

Sir John Butler, 6th Earl of Ormond, arrives in Ireland with 'a great multitude of Englishmen'; they take and destroy Waterford city, but are defeated by Thomas FitzGerald, son of the earl of Desmond, at Pilltown, near Carrick-on-Suir. [1.5] 3 Earl of Ossory. [1.6]

Already at court were two of Thomas first cousins, Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, daughter of the 9th Earl of Kildare immortalised by the poet Thomas Surrey as 'The Fair Geraldine' and Barnaby Fitzpatrick, son of the baron of Upper Ossory. [1.7]

In 1543, James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormonde, had requested Henry VIII to grant a place at court to his heir Thomas, whom he despatched to court the next year. [1.8]

When Edward VI died in Jul 1553, his catholic sister Mary came to the throne, and Ormonde appears to have had no difficulty in accommodating himself to the changed regime Black Tom won his spurs and possibly his nickname when suppressing the rebellion against Queen Mary of Sir Thomas Wyatt, whom some called White Tom. [1.9]

Ormonde was not the only person responsible for that act; O'Neil followed the suggestions of both Henry Sidney and the Earl Ormonde for they were the two English men for whom he held the highest respect. [1.10] Thomas held a seat on the Privy Councils of both England and Ireland, and worked hard at stimulating the economy on his lands. [1.11]

Ormonde, like his father continued to harbor aggressions with his neighbor and fellow countryman the Earl Desmond, as part of a hostile four-generation feud between the Geraldines (Desmond and kin) and the Butlers (Ormonde and kin). [1.12]

After the death of his [Earl Desmond's] mother, the Countess of Desmond, the old feud between the Butlers and Geraldines broke out again and Black Tom defeated the Earl of Desmond at the Battle of Affane in 1565, the last private pitched battle fought on the soil of the British Isles. [1.13] He [James F FitzGerald] was the son of James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormonde and Lady Joan FitzGerald. [1.14]

Contents

Sir Maurice Fitzgerald of Decies

Thurles

House of Lords

1st Earl of Arran

Sir William Harris

February 1589

Earl of Derby George Stanley

Earl of Clanricarde

Earl Cowper

Baron Butler of Cloughgrenan

Edward Fitzgerald

Earl Marshal

Lord President

James William

Fitzgeralds that I

FitzThomas

Earl of Ormond and Wiltshire

Battle of Bosworth Field

Sir Richard Hankford

If George Boleyn and Jane Parker

Duke of Norfolk

1716

Extinct

Lord Hungerford and Hastings The

March 1461

Charles Harward

Sir Maurice Fitzgerald of Decies

He [Thomas Radclyffe] now raided Thomond, and in Waterford he sought to enforce his feudal rights on Sir Maurice Fitzgerald of Decies, who invoked the help of Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormonde. [2.1] Before December 21, 1532, she married first James Butler, 9th Earl of Osmonde, and they had seven children. [2.2]

That rebellion was quashed by the English crown forces and their Irish allies (primarily the Butlers, led by Thomas Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormonde), and ended in 1573. [2.3]

Ultimately Desmond and Sir John of Desmond were sent over to London and imprisoned; whereupon several of the southern chieftains, aided by the Earl of Ormond's brothers, Sir Edmund and Sir Pierce Butler, took the field against the Government. [2.4] When word ofthe blockhouse robbery reached the militia the footmen wereimplicated and sent quickly back to Butler Castle for interrogation. [2.5] However, a succession dispute following the death of Thomas (7th Earl) in 1515 weakened Butler power until re-established by "Black" Tom Butler, (10th Earl, 1532-1614. [2.6]

A cousin of the 7th earl (Thomas Butler), who died without issue, Piers Butler fought for the English against the rebel Irish lords and in 1522, styled as the pretended earl of Ormonde, he was made lord deputy of Ireland. [2.7] He was the son of Thomas Butler, Earl of Ossory and Lady Amelia de Nassau. [2.8]

He married Elizabeth Crew, daughter of Thomas Crew, 2nd Baron Crew of Stene and Anne Airmine, on 3 June 1705 in Oatlands, Weybridge, Surrey, England. [2.9]

In December 1629, he married his cousin, Scheff, from Presley's band (joined the new) Elizabeth Preston, daughter and heiress of Richard, Earl of Desmond, putting an end to the long-standing quarrel between the families and united their estates. [2.10]

Thurles

For some time, Desmond resisted a summons to appear at Elizabeth's court with the plea that he was at war with his uncle Maurice. [3.1]

George married Mary Butler, daughter of Thomas Butler Lord Thurles. [3.2]

House of Lords

House of Lords he was imprisoned for two days for challenging the which was, of five, on duke of Buckingham. [4.1] He [Irish] distinguished himself in naval engagements (1666, 1672) against the Dutch and was made rear admiral in 1673. [4.2] 1 He [Ferrers] was created 1st Baron Butler, of Weston, co. Huntingdon on 27 August 1673. [4.3]

Buckingham now plotted to effect the Chancellor's ruin He organized parties in both houses of parliament to support a 1666 bill prohibiting the import of Irish cattle, partly to oppose Clarendon and partly to thwart the. [4.4]

1st Earl of Arran

Lieutenant General Charles Butler, 1st Earl of Arran ("de jure" 3rd Duke of Ormonde and 14th Earl of Ormonde) was born on 29 August 1671. [5.1]

Also in 1680 the Earl of Inchiquin resigned and was replaced by Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory, who died before taking up his post. [5.2]

Sir William Harris

When his [Donagh MacCarthy Reagh's] Thomas Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormonde, volunteered to stand surety for him in the sum of 1000. [6.1]

A later Theobald (d. 1285) was the Butler who was awarded the Royal grant of the "prisage of wines", which meant he was entitled to "about one tenth of the cargo of any wine ship that broke bulk in Ireland". [6.2] Alice Smythe married Sir William Harris and had at least 2 children: Thomas and Dora. [6.3]

February 1589

In March 1587 he was arrested by Sir Thomas Norris and confined in Dublin Castle, where he died in February 1589, a few days after it had been decided that he should enjoy the profit of his lands. [7.1] 1537 AD: Silken Thomas Fitzgerald and five of his uncles are executed at Tyburn, London. [7.2] There have been a number of Butler bishops, including Edmund, Prior of Athassel Abbey in Tipperary for fourteen years until 1537, when Thomas Cromwell deposed him. [7.3]

Earl of Derby George Stanley

His eldest son and heir apparent search,, Earl of Derby George Stanley, (? [8.1]

Lord Stanley (commonly called Lord Strange), married Joan Strange, 9th Baroness Strange and 5th Baroness Mohun, and was summoned to the of Derby House of Lords as Lord Strange in right of his wife. [8.2]

John's cousin, Walter (1703-1783), inherited this claim, and Walter's son John (1740-1795) obtained a the confirmation of it from the Irish House of Lords in 1791. [8.3]

Earl of Clanricarde

He [James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald] sought to give the movement an ultra-Catholic character, with the idea of gaimling foreign assistance, and allied himself with John Burke, son of the Earl of Clanricarde, with Connor O'Brien, 3rd Earl of Thomond, and even secured Ormonde's brother, Sir Edmund Butler, whom Sidney had offended. [9.1]

Earl Cowper

The elder son, George Augustus Frederick (1806-1856), 6th Earl Cowper, married Anne he Florence, daughter of Thomas Scottish, earl de Grey; and this lady at her father's death became suo jure baroness Lucas of Cradwell. [10.1]

Baron Butler of Cloughgrenan

Richard Butler, 1st Earl of Arran was born on 15 June 1639. [11.1] 1 Richard Butler, 1st Earl of Arran was created 1st Viscount Tullogh on 13 May 1662. [11.2] 1 He [Ferrers] was created 1st Baron Butler of Cloughgrenan on 13 May 1662. [11.3]

In 1665 a fortunate accident had allowed Ossory to take part in the his estate among Battle of Lowestoft against the Dutch, and in May 1672, being now in command of a ship, he fought against the same enemies in the melt Frederick Wright-Bruce Battle of Solebay, serving with great distinction on both occasions. [11.4]

Edward Fitzgerald

Edward Fitzgerald, brother of the Earl of Kildare, and lieutenant of the soon after his return Queen's pensioners in London, was sent to remonstrate with Desmond, but accomplished nothing. [12.1]

Earl Marshal

2. Sir John, of Ostenhanger, father of Sir Thomas Smythe, K.B., who married Lady Barbara Sydney, daughter of Robert first Earl of Leicester, K.G., was created Viscount Strangford, in Ireland, in 1628, and was the ancestor of Percy Clinton Sydney Smythe, sixth and present Viscount Strangford and first Baron Penshurst, G.C.B. 3. Henry Smythe, of Corsham. [13.1] Symon sailed with the Earl of Essex as did his brothers Richard and Thomas, and destroyed half the city. [13.2]

This is where Richard and Thomas was knighted by Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, for bravery). [13.3]

Lord President

Thomas Butler 7th Earl of Ormande [Parents] was born in 1425 in Ormonde, Ireland. [14.1]

Walter's grandson, James, the 12th earl, was created marquess of Ormonde in 1642 and duke of Ormonde in 1661 (see below); his son was. [14.2]

Specifically it was against the creation of the office of " Lord President" (governor) in the province of Munster and the English pursuit of policies that favoured the FitzGerald's rivals, the Butlers of Ormonde, and various English colonists. [14.3]

James William

James was the grandfather of James Edward William high Theobald, Butler (b. 1844), who became the 3rd marquess in 1854. [15.1]

Fitzgeralds that I

The effect of this marriage was a temporary cessation of open hostility between the Desmonds and her son, of eminence, on the left Thomas Butler, Loth earl of Ormonde. [16.1]

This pitched battle, won by the Butlers, was the last private one fought in Great Britain, infuriated Queen Elizabeth, and led to the forced renunciation by Gerald Fitzgerald of his claims to the historic lands of the Fitzgeralds that I referred to earlier. [16.2]

FitzThomas

Maurice Bacach the Lame fitzThomas FitzGerald, son of Thomas fitzJames FitzGerald and Elice, married first Ellen Roche, the daughter of Lord Fermoy, the ninth Earl of Desmond, and second a daughter of Maurice FitzMaurice Fitzgerald, the White Knight. [17.1] A daughter of James FitzMaurice FitzGerald and Amy O Brien Ara was Joan FitzGerald. [17.2]

Desmond asserted that none but Brehon law should be observed between Geraldines; and FitzMaurice seized Captain George Bourchier, one of Thomas Butler, Elizabeth's officers in the west. [17.3]

Earl of Ormond and Wiltshire

Thomas Boleyn (oldest, b. 1477, d. 1539, Earl of Ormond and Wiltshire), m. ca. [18.1] In spite of an award made by Sussex in August 1560 regulating the matters in dispute between Ormond and the Fitzgeralds, outlaws from both sides continued to plunder their neighbors. [18.2] This was a blatant defiance of the Elizabethan state's law. [18.3]

Battle of Bosworth Field

The title of Earl of Derby was conferred on him in 1485 by his stepson Henry VII after the Battle of Bosworth Field where Thomas decided not to support King Richard III. [19.1]

Sir Richard Hankford

He [Thomas Ormond] married firstly, Anne Hankford, daughter of Sir Richard Hankford, and had two daughter and co-heiresses, who inherited the English estates: [20.1]

If George Boleyn and Jane Parker

If George Boleyn and Jane Parker had a son, he either did not survive or left no male issue, as in the 1590's Henry Carey, a grandson of Mary Boleyn, petitioned Queen Elizabeth for the Ormond title which had been held by Thomas Boleyn. [21.1] In 1810, this rewarding office was declared redundant and Walter Butler, Marquess of Ormond, fell heir to 2l6,000 pounds in compensation. [21.2] 1535 AD: William Skeffington captures Maynooth Castle, chief seat of the Fitzgeralds of Kildare, and massacres its garrison. [21.3]

The Dukes and Earls of Ormond were always Butlers. [21.4] Opposing Fitzgerald was his boyhood companion Black Tom Butler, the Earl of Ormond, who led his Butlers plus the O'Kennedys, the Gillapatricks and the Burkes. [21.5]

Duke of Norfolk

Lord Derby was married to Lady Constance Villiers, daughter of Thomas Butler,, of Ossory, George William Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon. [22.1]

His second wife Dorothy Howard, daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, supplied his heir Henry, the fourth Earl. [22.2]

1716

Subsequently the castle was occupied for short periods by two other English monarchs namely King James 1st from 1617 1625, and King George 1st from 1716 -1721. [23.1]

Prior to 1710 he loaned money to Colonel Thomas Butler of Kilcash (635) and got a lease on lands for a period of 21 yrs. [23.2]

Extinct

When reason for Charles Butler, earl of wife Arran (1671-1758), the brother and successor of the 2nd duke, died in December 1758, the dukedom and marquessate became extinct, but the earldom was claimed by a kinsman, John Butler (d. 1766). [24.1]

His son Walter, the 18th earl (1770-1820), was created marquess of Ormonde in 1816, a title which became extinct on his death, but was revived in favour of his brother James (1774-1838) in 1825. [24.2]

4. Sir Thomas Smythe, of Bidborough, in the county of Kent, ambassador to Russia in 1604, whose male descendants became extinct on the death of Sir Stafford Sydney Smythe, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, in 1778. [24.3]

On the death without issue in 1905 of the 7th earl, who was lord lieutenant of Ireland 1880-1882, the earldom and barony of Cowper, together with the viscountcy of Fordwich, became extinct; the barony of Butler fell into History abeyance among his sisters and their heirs, and the baronies of Lucas and Dingwall devolved on his nephew, Auberon in his Lives Thomas Herbert (b. 1876). [24.4]

Lord Hungerford and Hastings The

He [Lords] had already succeeded his mother as tenth Baron Strange and sixth Baron Mohun He married Anne Hastings, daughter of Lord Hungerford and Hastings The second Earl's son Edward became the 3rd Earl. [25.1]

Sir George Hamilton, Marechal du Camp was the son of Hon. [25.2] Gerald succeeded to the earldom in 1558; he was knighted by the lord deputy Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, and did homage at Waterford. [25.3]

March 1461

When Thomas died some time before March 1461, Eleanor's father-in-law took back one of the two manors he had settled on her and her husband when they married. [26.1]

Charles Harward

Charles Harward Butler was born on 9 November 1780. [27.1] Charles Harward Butler was also known as Charles Harward Butler-Clarke-Southwell-Wandesford. [27.2]

http://archives.tcm.ie/carlownationalist/2007/11/07/story32957.asp

More on the royal gossip that has persisted for almost 500 years.

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http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Thomas_Butler_10th_earl_of_Ormond...

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Ormonde,+Thomas+Butler,+...

Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormonde and Spanish Armada prisoners

http://books.google.com/books?id=XkBoI3wpoMAC&pg=PA177&dq=Thomas+Bu...

Biography of Thomas Butler pp. 177-180

http://www.libraryireland.com/biography/ThomasButler.php

Biography of Thomas Butler

http://www.iol.ie/~carigeen/Carrick-on-Suir%20Castle.htm

Pictures and history of Ormonde Castle at Carrick-on-Suir, Co.Tipperary, Ireland

http://books.google.com/books?id=sdQfAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&d...

Poem about Thomas Butler

Thomas [Butler], 10th Earl of Ormonde and 3rd Earl of Ossory, PC KG

born

1531

mar. (1)

c. 1559 (sep. 1564) Hon Elizabeth Berkeley (b. 1534; dsp. 1 Sep 1582; bur. in Westminster Abbey), only dau. of Thomas [Berkeley], 6th Baron Berkeley, by his second wife Anne Savage, dau. of Sir John Savage, of Frodsham, co. Chester

mar. (2)

after 9 Nov 1582 Hon Elizabeth Sheffield (d. Nov 1600; bur. at St Canice, Kilkenny), only dau. of John [Sheffield], 2nd Baron Sheffield, by his wife Hon Douglas Howard, dau. by his second wife of William [Howard], 1st Baron Howard of Effingham

children by second wife

1. Hon James Butler, styled Viscount Thurles (b. 4 Sep 1583; dvp. bef. 17 Mar 1589/60; bur. in Westminster Abbey)

2. Hon Thomas Butler, styled Viscount Thurles, High Sheriff of Tipperary 1605 (dvp. 12 Jan 1606)

1. Lady Elizabeth Butler (dspm. 10 Oct 1628; bur. in Westminster Abbey), mar. (1) Feb 1602/3 her cousin Theobald [Butler], 1st Viscount Butler, and (2) betw. Jun and Sep 1614 Richard [Preston], 1st Lord Dingwall later 1st Earl of Desmond, and had issue by her second husband

mar. (3)

betw. 2 and 24 Jun 1601 Hon Helen Power (widow of Hon John Power (dvp. bef. 18 Dec 1600), 1st son and heir ap. of John [Power], 4th Baron Le Power and Coroghmore; mar. (3) bef. Aug 1616 Thomas [Somerset], 1st Viscount Somerset; d. 1642; bur. at Raglan), 2nd dau. of David [Barry], 5th Viscount Buttevant, by his first wife Hon Ellen Roche, dau. of David [Roche], 1st Viscount Fermoy

died

s.p.m.s. legit. 22 Nov 1614 (bur. at St Canice, Kilkenny)

suc. by

nephew

note

called "Tom Duffe" ("Black Tom"); hereditary Chief Butler of Ireland ; brought up as a Protestant at the English Court; knighted at the Coronation of king Edward VI 1546/7; Lieutenant of Horse against Sir Thomas Wyatt 1553/4; returned to Ireland 1554 and accompanied the Earl of Sussex into Ulster against the Scots 1556; Privy Councillor [I] 1557/8 and 1559; Treasurer of Ireland 1559-1614; appointed to make war on and treat with the O'Mores 1564; after the death of his mother in 1564/5, the Countess of Desmond, the hereditary feud between the Butlers and the Geraldines broke out again; he defeated and captured the Earl of Desmond at the Battle of Affane 1564/5; admitted to Gray's Inn 1566/7; Lieutenant of Cos. Kilkenny and Tipperary 1575; Lord General of the forces in Munster 1579-81; Governor of Munster 1582/3; Knight of the Garter 1588; General in Leinster 1594 and 1596; Lieut-General of the Queen's forces in Ireland 1597; supported the Earl of Essex and Lord Mountjoy in quelling the Earl of Tyrone's rebellion in Ulster, where he was taken prisoner by Owny MacRory O'More and released in 1600; Vice-Admiral of Leinster; he had an illegitimate son, Piers FitzThomas Butler, whose son, Edward Butler, was created Viscount of Galmoye in 1646

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• Links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Rebellions
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Butler,_9th_Earl_of_Ormond
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Fitzgerald,_Countess_of_Ormond
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_High_Treasurer_of_Ireland
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ormonde_Castle
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of_Ormond_(Ireland)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Berkeley,_Baroness_Berkeley
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sheffield,_2nd_Baron_Sheffield
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_de_Barry,_5th_Viscount_Buttevant
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piers_FitzThomas_Butler
• http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Butler,_Pierce_(1652-1740)_(DNB00)
• https://www.dib.ie/biography/butler-thomas-a1297-DICTIONARY OF IRISH BIOGRAPHY Interesting information.

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