Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond

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Walter Butler
Earl of Ormond
Tenure1614–1633
PredecessorThomas, 10th Earl of Ormond
SuccessorJames, 1st Duke of Ormond
Born1559
Died24 February 1633
Carrick-on-Suir
BuriedSt. Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny
FamilyButler dynasty
Spouse(s)Helen Butler
Issue
Detail		Thomas & others
FatherJohn Butler of Kilcash
MotherKatherine MacCarthy

Sir Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond and 4th Earl of Ossory (1559–1633), succeeded his uncle the 10th earl, in 1614. He was called "Walter of the Beads" because he was a devout Catholic, whereas his uncle had been a Protestant. King James I intervened and awarded half of the inheritance to his uncle's Protestant daughter Elizabeth. Lord Ormond contested the King's decision and was for that imprisoned in the Fleet Prison from 1619 until 1625 when he submitted to the King's ruling. He then found a means to reunite the Ormond estate, by marrying his grandson James, who had been raised a Protestant, to Elizabeth's only daughter.

Birth and origins[]

Walter was born in 1559,[1][a] the second son of John Butler of Kilcash and his wife Katherine MacCarty. His father was a younger son of James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond. 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.[4] His mother was a daughter of Cormac na Haoine MacCarthy Reagh,[5] a Gaelic Irish family. His parents were both Catholic.

Family tree
Walter Butler, 11th Earl, with wife, parents, and other selected relatives.[b]
Piers
8th Earl
Ormond
1467–1539		Margaret
FitzGerald
1473–1542
James
9th Earl
1496–1546		Joan
FitzGerald
d. 1565		Richard
1st
Viscount
MountGarrett
1500–1571
Thomas
10th Earl
c. 1531 – 1614		Elizabeth
Sheffield		John of
Kilcash
d. 1570		Katherine
MacCarthy		Edmund
2nd
Viscount
d. 1602
Theobald
Viscount
Tulleophelim
d. 1613		Elizabeth
Butler
c. 1585
– 1628		Richard
Preston
1st Earl
Desmond
d. 1628)		Walter
11th Earl
1559–1633
'Beads'		Helen
Butler
d. 1631
Thomas
Viscount
Thurles
d. 1619
d.v.p.*		Elizabeth
Pointz
1587–1673
Elizabeth
Preston
1615–1684		James
1st Duke
1610–1688		Richard
of
Kilcash
1615–1701		Frances
Tuchet
Thomas
6th Earl
Ossory
1633–1680
d.v.p.*		Emilia
von
Nassau
1635–1688		Walter
of
Garryricken
d. 1700		Mary
Plunkett
James
2nd Duke
1665–1745		Charles
1st Earl
Arran
1671–1758		Thomas
of
Garryricken
d. 1738		John
Butler
John
de jure
15th Earl
d. 1766
Walter
de jure
16th Earl
d. 1783
Ellen
Morres
d. 1794
Legend
XXXSubject of
the article		XXXEarls & dukes
of Ormond		XXXViscount
Mountgarret
*d.v.p. = predeceased his father (decessit vita patris)

Walter was the younger of two brothers:[1]

  1. James Butler, died before September 1576[7]
  2. Walter (1559–1633)

Early life[]

Butler was brought up as a devout Catholic and was known as "Walter of the Beads"[12] (Irish: "Váitéar an Phaidrín").[13]

On 10 May 1570 his father, John of Kilcash, died[14] when Walter was about eleven. His brother James inherited but died unmarried sometime before September 1576 when Walter had become the owner of the land around Kilcash Castle that had been his father's.[7]

Butler worked closely with his uncle, the Earl of Ormonde. As a reward for his military service with the earl he was knighted by Elizabeth I in 1598.[15]

Marriage and children[]

About 1584 Butler married his second cousin, Helen Butler (also known as Ellen), eldest daughter of Edmund Butler, 2nd Viscount Mountgarret and his wife Grizel FitzPatrick.[16][17] Their common great-grandfather was Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond.

Walter and Helen had three boys:

  1. Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles (1594–1619), married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Pointz, Knt. and had issue, including James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond[18]
  2. James, died young in England[19]
  3. John, died in France without issue[20]

—and nine girls:

  1. Margaret, married Barnaby Fitzpatrick, 5th Baron Upper Ossory[21]
  2. Catherine, married Piers Power[22]
  3. Ellen (died 1663), married Pierce Butler, 1st Viscount Ikerrin[23]
  4. Helena, married James Butler of Dunboyne[24]
  5. Joan, married George Bagenal[25]
  6. Mary, died unmarried[26]
  7. Elizabeth, married first Sir Edmond Blanchville and secondly Richard Burke, 6th Earl of Clanricarde[27]
  8. Eleanor (died 1633), died unmarried[28]
  9. Ellis Butler (died 1625), who married Sir Terence O'Brien-Arragh, 1st Baronet of Arragh[29]

Member of parliament[]

On 13 April 1613 Walter Butler was returned as member of the Irish House of Commons for Tipperary County. He was part of the resistance to government attempts to introduce anti-Catholic legislation.[30][31]

11th Earl[]

His uncle, the 10th Earl died on 22 November 1614[32] leaving an only daughter, Elizabeth, who had married Richard Preston, 1st Earl of Desmond. Sir Walter Butler, his nephew, succeeded him as the 11th Earl of Ormond. Lord Ormond, as he was now, expected to also inherit the estates, but his claim to the family estates was challenged by Richard Preston, 1st Earl of Desmond, the husband of Elizabeth, the 10th Earl's only child. The dispute was arbitrated by King James I of England, who awarded most of the estate, including Kilkenny Castle, to Preston. Ormond spent much time and money in litigation in opposing the King's decision. His persistence resulted in him being committed to the Fleet prison in 1617.[33] He remained incarcerated for eight years in great want with no rents reaching him from his estate. James meanwhile brought a writ of quo warranto against him for the county palatine of Tipperary, which had been vested in the head of the family for nearly four hundred years, and which could not therefore under any circumstances have belonged to his cousin Elizabeth, the wife of Richard Preston. No answer was made to the writ, if indeed an opportunity was afforded for answer, and James took the county palatine into his own hands.

Earl Walter was set at liberty in 1625 and a large part of his estates restored to him.[34] For some while he lived in a house in Drury Lane, London, with his grandson James, afterwards Duke of Ormonde. In 1629, on the projected marriage of his grandson and Elizabeth Preston, Charles I of England granted her marriage and the wardship of her lands to him by letters patent dated 8 Sept. After the marriage he was recognised, 9 Oct. 1630, as heir to the lands of his uncle, Earl Thomas, as well as of Sir John Butler his father. Walter also suffered problems within his own family. His son Thomas, Viscount Thurles, married the daughter of Sir John Poyntz of Gloucestershire against Walter's wish, and years later, he was accidentally drowned at The Skerries, Isle of Anglesey at the beginning of Walter's long imprisonment in the Fleet Prison. Viscount Thurles was a prominent Catholic and at the time of his death, was being sent to England on charges of having garrisoned Kilkenny.

Death and timeline[]

He died at Carrick-on-Suir on 24 February 1633 and was buried in St. Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny, on 18 June 1633. His eldest son having predeceased him, he was succeeded by his grandson, James Butler, later the 1st Duke of Ormond.

Notes, citations, and sources[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Older literature give his year of birth as 1569.[2][3]
  2. ^ This family tree is partly derived from the condensed Butler family tree pictured in Dunboyne.[6] Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text.

Citations[]

  1. ^ a b Edwards 2004, p. 230, right column, line 57: "... was born about Easter 1559, the second son of John Butler of Kilcash ..."
  2. ^ Cokayne 1895, p. 149, line 2: "He was b. 1569 and distinguished himself against the rebel Irish in 1599."
  3. ^ Airy 1886, p. 86: "Butler, Walter, of Kilcash, eleventh Earl of Ormonde (1569–1633)"
  4. ^ Debrett 1828, p. 640: "Theobald le Boteler on whom that office [Chief Butler of Ireland] was conferred by King Henry II., 1177 ..."
  5. ^ Burke & Burke 1909, p. 1399, right column, line 76: "3. John of Kilcash, to whom his father granted lands by deed, 26 May 1544; m. [married] Katherine, dau. [daughter] of Cormac MacCarthy, the MacCarthy Reagh ..."
  6. ^ Dunboyne 1968, pp. 16–17: "Butler Family Tree condensed"
  7. ^ a b c Edwards 2004, p. 231, left column, line 1: "He [Walter] emerged as heir to the Kilcash estate in co. Tipperary some time before September 1576 after the death without issue of his brother ..."
  8. ^ Burke 1869, p. 862, left column, line 38: "... of whom the eldest, Eleanor, m. Thomas Prendergast, Esq. of Newcastle Prendergast, ancestor of the viscounts Gort;"
  9. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 28, line 17: "Eleanor, the second daughter, married Thomas Prendergast of Newcastle in Tipperary, Esq."
  10. ^ Lodge 1789b, p. 229: "In 1628, his lordship having the misfortune to kill Mr. Prendergast, he was confined a prisoner in the Castle of Dublin ..."
  11. ^ Burke 1869, p. 862, left column, line 40: "... and the younger, Joan, m. [married] Sir Oliver Shortall, Knt."
  12. ^ French 1846, p. 26: "... was not ... his grandfather ... Walter earl of Ormond, for his devotion stiled Walter of the beads and rosarie?"
  13. ^ Edwards 2004, p. 230, right column, line 55: "... called Uatéir an bPaidrín, Walter of the Beads and Rosary."
  14. ^ a b Burke & Burke 1909, p. 1399, right column, line 78: "... d. [died] 10 May, 1570, leaving issue ..."
  15. ^ Flood 2020, p. 36.
  16. ^ a b Edwards 2004, p. 231, left column, line 7: "About 1584 he married Ellen (d. 1631) daughter of Edmund Butler, second Viscount Mountgarrett ..."
  17. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 38, line 27: "He [Walter] married Hellena, eldest daughter of Edmond, the second Viscount Mountgarret ... having issue by her (who died 28 January 1631 ..."
  18. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 38, line 32: "Thomas, his heir apparent, who died before him."
  19. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 38, line 33: "James, died young in England."
  20. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 38, line 34: "John, died in France without issue."
  21. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 38, line 35: "Daughter Margaret was married to Bryan, Lord Upper Ossory."
  22. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 38, line 37: "Catharine, to Pierce Power of Monaghalargy in Tipperary, Esq.; second son of Richard, Lord Poer."
  23. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 38, line 39: "Ellan, to Sir Pierce Butler, 1st Viscount Ikerrin."
  24. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 38, line 40: "Hellena, to James Butler of Grellagh, Esq.; eldest son of James, second Lord Dunboyne by his second wife, Margaret, daughter of Connor, Earl of Thomond."
  25. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 39, line 4: "Joan, to George Bagenal of Dunleckney, in the county Carlow, Esq.; ancestor to Beauchamp Bagenal, of that place, Esq."
  26. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 39, line 7: "Mary, died unmarried."
  27. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 39, line 8: "Elizabeth, married first to Sir Edmond Blanchville, of Blanchville's Town, by whom she had Gerald, who dying before them, 21 February 1646, she created a monument to his memory in the cathedral of Kilkenny; and secondly to Richard, sixth Earl of Clanrickard."
  28. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 39, line 13: "Eleanor died unmarried, in 1633."
  29. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 39, line 14: "Alice, married to Terence (or Turlogh) Mac 'brien-Arragh."
  30. ^ a b Flood 2020, p. 38.
  31. ^ House of Commons 1878, p. 632: "1613 / 13 April / Sir Walter Butler, knt. / Kilcashe / Tipperary County"
  32. ^ a b Cokayne 1895, p. 148, line 30: "He [Thomas] d. s.p.m. at Carrick, 22 Nov. 1614, aged 82 ..."
  33. ^ a b Cokayne 1895, p. 149, line 6: "... committed for eight years, 1617–25, to the Fleet prison, London."
  34. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ormonde, Earl and Marquess of" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 295.
  35. ^ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 44, line 1: "James I ... acc. 24 Mar. 1603 ..."
  36. ^ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 44, line 16: "Charles I. ... acc. 27 Mar. 1625 ..."
  37. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 39: "Daughter Hellena was married to Walter, Earl of Ormond, and died 28 January 1631."

Sources[]

Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by
Thomas Butler
 Earl of Ormonde
Earl of Ossory 		Succeeded by
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