Baron Dunboyne was a title first held by the Petit family some time after the

Norman invasion of Ireland The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land from the Irish, over which the kings of England then claimed sovereignty, all allegedly san ...

History

Dunboyne Dunboyne () is a town in Meath, Ireland. It is a commuter town for Dublin. In the 20 years between the 1996 and 2016 censuses, the population of Dunboyne more than doubled from 3,080 to 7,272 inhabitants. Location Dunboyne is centred on the ...

was part of the

Lordship of Meath The Lordship of Meath was an extensive seigneurial liberty in medieval Ireland that was awarded to Hugh de Lacy by King Henry II of England by the service of fifty knights and with almost royal authority. The Lordship was roughly co-extensive wit ...

. The Petit family also had land holdings in

Mullingar Mullingar ( ; ) is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. It is the third most populous town in the Midland Region, with a population of 20,928 in the 2016 census. The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act 1543 proclaimed Westmeath ...

. In 1227, Ralph Petit became

Bishop of Meath The Bishop of Meath is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient Kingdom of Meath. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with another bishopric. History Un ...

. In that capacity, he founded a priory of the Blessed Virgin in Mullingar and he endowed this establishment with the

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...

of Kilbraynan (or Kilbrena) in Dunboyne, along with the rectory of Dunboyne, its tithes and other ecclesiastical revenues. A century later, Thomas Butler, son of Theobald Butler, 4th Chief Butler of Ireland, married Sinolda, heiress of

William le Petit William le Petit, Petyt, or Lepetit (died after 1360) was an Irish judge who was very briefly Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. He is chiefly notable for having been pardoned for homicide. It is unclear if he had any connection to the Petit family ...

. In 1324, Butler was created

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or kn ...

Dunboyne by prescription. In this way, the Dunboyne properties and titles passed to the Butlers. In 1541, the barony was created by patent in the

Peerage of Ireland The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...

. The barons are alternately numbered from the early 14th century by numbers ten greater than the number dating to the patent (e.g. the 28th/18th Baron Dunboyne died May 19, 2004). The first baron of this sequence in turn married the heiress to an earlier line of Barons Dunboyne. The family seat is Argo Hill House, near

Rotherfield Rotherfield is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. It is one of the largest parishes in East Sussex. There are three villages in the parish: Rotherfield, Mark Cross and Eridge. The River Rother, which ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...

Barons Dunboyne (1324)

Kiltinan Castle Kiltinan Castle is a castle near Fethard, County Tipperary, Ireland. History and architecture Kiltinan is one of the oldest inhabited castles in Ireland, having been built in the thirteenth century.

Fethard, County Tipperary Fethard (; ) (archival records) is a small town in County Tipperary, Ireland. Dating to the Norman invasion of Ireland, the town's walls were first laid-out in the 13th century, with some sections of these defensive fortifications surviving ...

, was the seat of the barons until the

Reformation in Ireland The Reformation in Ireland was a movement for the reform of religious life and institutions that was introduced into Ireland by the English administration at the behest of King Henry VIII of England. His desire for an annulment of his marriage ...

. * Thomas Butler, 1st Baron Dunboyne (died October 1329) * Pierce (Piers) Butler, 2nd Baron Dunboyne (died 08/05/1370) * Thomas "MacPiarais" Butler, 3rd Baron Dunboyne (died 11/07/1370) * William Butler, 4th Baron Dunboyne (died 1406) * Pierce Butler, 5th Baron Dunboyne (died 1415) * Edmond Butler, 6th Baron Dunboyne (died 1419) * James Butler, 7th Baron Dunboyne (died 1445),

Seneschal The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...

of Tipperary until 1457 * Edmond Butler, 8th Baron Dunboyne (died 1498), Seneschal of Tipperary from 1457 to 1478 * James Butler, 9th Baron Dunboyne (died 1508), Seneschal of Tipperary from 1478 to 1505 * James Butler, 10th Baron Dunboyne (died 1538)

Barons Dunboyne (1541)

*Edmond Butler, 1st/11th Baron Dunboyne (died 1566), the son of the 10th baron, was elevated to the peerage on 11/06/1541. *James Butler, 2nd/12th Baron Dunboyne (died 1624) * Edmond Butler, 3rd/13th Baron Dunboyne (died 1640), grandson of the 2nd baron *James Butler, 4th/14th Baron Dunboyne (died 1662) *Pierce Butler, 5th/15th Baron Dunboyne (died 1690) *James Butler, 6th/16th Baron Dunboyne (died 1701) *Pierce Butler, 7th/17th Baron Dunboyne (died 1718) *Edmond Butler, 8th/18th Baron Dunboyne (died 1732) *James Butler, 9th/19th Baron Dunboyne (died 1768) *Pierce Butler, 10th/20th Baron Dunboyne (died 1773) *Pierce Edmond Creagh Butler, 11th/21st Baron Dunboyne (died 1785) * John Butler, 12th/22nd Baron Dunboyne (1720–1800), son of the 20th baron *James Butler, 13th/23rd Baron Dunboyne (1780–1850) – see note below * Theobald Fitzwalter Butler, 14th/24th Baron Dunboyne (1806–1881) (elected a Representative Peer in 1868) *James Fitzwalter Clifford-Butler, 15th/25th Baron Dunboyne (1839–1899) * Robert St John Fitzwalter Butler, 16th/26th Baron Dunboyne (1844–1913) (elected a Representative Peer in 1901) *Fitzwalter George Probyn Butler, 17th/27th Baron Dunboyne (1874–1945) *Patrick Theobald Tower Butler, 18th/28th Baron Dunboyne (often known as Paddy Dunboyne; 1917–2004) (Headed the Irish Peers Association) *John Fitzwalter Butler, 19th/29th Baron Dunboyne (1951–2013) *Richard Pierce Theobald Butler, 20th/30th Baron Dunboyne (b. 1983) The

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

is the present holder's son Hon. Caspian Fitzwalter Butler (b. 2022). Note As a Roman Catholic bishop, when the 12th/22nd baron inherited the titles, he feared that his vows of celibacy would lead to the extinguishment of the titles altogether. Following the refusal of the Pope to release him from his vows, he

Apostatised Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that is ...

, embraced the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the sec ...

and married late in life in the hope of fathering an heir. Following the death of a son in infancy, it looked like the title would indeed become extinct. However, a distant relative of the 2nd/12th baron was found in County Clare who succeeded to the title. His ancestry is as follows:{{unreliable source?, date=November 2021 James Butler, 2nd/12th Baron Dunboyne married Margaret O'Brien. Their son, * Edward Butler married Elizabeth Dobbin. Their son, ** James Butler married Janet Cantwell, daughter of Captain John Cantwell. Their son, *** Edward Butler, was the father of **** James Butler (died 1774) was the Roman Catholic

Archbishop of Cashel The Archbishop of Cashel ( ga, Ard-Easpag Chaiseal Mumhan) was an archiepiscopal title which took its name after the town of Cashel, County Tipperary in Ireland. Following the Reformation, there had been parallel apostolic successions to the tit ...

**** Michael Butler (died 15 Aug 1776) married Mary O'Leary. Their son: ***** James Butler (died 22 May 1784) married Bridget Sheehy, daughter of Bartholomew Sheehy. He lived at Cragnagowra,

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,81 ...

.Edmund Lodge, "The peerage of the British empire as at present existing.", London 1832, p145 Their son: ****** James Butler, 13th/23rd Baron Dunboyne (born 25 July 1780), was the great-great-great-grandson of the 2nd/12th baron. He married Eleanor, daughter of David O’Connell, on 17 August 1799.

References

{{reflist

Attribution

*{{cite book , last=Hesilrige , first=Arthur G. M. , date=1921, title=Debrett's Peerage and Titles of courtesy, url=https://archive.org/details/debrettspeeraget00unse/page/316 , location=

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, publisher=

Dean & Son Dean & Son was a 19th-century London publishing firm, best known for making and mass-producing moveable children's books and toy books, established around 1800. Thomas Dean founded the firm, probably in the late 1790s, bringing to it innovative ...

, page=316 {{Extant Barons of Ireland {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunboyne Baronies in the Peerage of Ireland Noble titles created in 1324 Noble titles created in 1541 Butler dynasty

History

Barons Dunboyne (1324)

Barons Dunboyne (1541)

See also

References

Attribution