Walter de Cusack

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Walter de Cusack (died 1334) was an Anglo-Irish judge, magnate and military commander.[1]

He belonged to the leading Anglo-Irish Cusack family, who had come to Ireland soon after the Norman Conquest of Ireland in the late twelfth century; his own branch of the family settled in County Meath.[1]

He was summoned by King Edward I for military service in the First War of Scottish Independence in 1303 and 1307, and probably on two or three later occasions.[2] He was summoned to the Irish Parliament in 1310.[1] He was appointed Chief Justice in Eyre (i.e. Chief Itinerant justice) in 1308,[2] and was Deputy Justiciar of Ireland and a justice of the Justiciar's Court in 1317–18.[2] He was personally close to the Justiciar, Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, in the years 1316-8, and was steward of his Irish estates.[3]For this reason his loyalty to Edward II in the final crisis of his reign, which ended with the King's deposition at Mortimer's hands, has been questioned: [3]he was accused of plotting treason, but the charges did not stick.[3]

He married firstly Matilda, daughter and heiress of William (or Robert) Pylate of Pylatestown, and secondly, after 1309, Amicia, widow of Nigel le Brun of Roebuck.[1] Through his second marriage he acquired Knocktopher Castle in County Kilkenny which Nigel and Amicia had purchased from Sir Walter de la Haye, the former Justiciar. It passed to the Butler dynasty soon afterwards. His marriage to Amicia was technically an offence, since it seems that he did not have the King's permission to marry, which was required in case of a widow. He died in 1334, leaving issue by his first marriage. His descendants were mainly associated with Cushinstown in County Meath.

Sources[]

  • Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 London John Murray 1926
  • Dodd, Gwilym and Musson, Anthony, ed. The Reign of Edward II: New Perspectives York Medieval Press 2006
  • Smith, Brendan Colonisation and Conquest in Medieval Ireland: The English in Louth 1170-1330 Cambridge University Press 1999

Notes[]

  1. ^ a b c d Ball pp.61-2
  2. ^ a b c Smith pp.146-9
  3. ^ a b c Dodd and Musson p.129
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