James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond (4 October 133118 October 1382) was a noble in the
Peerage of Ireland. He was
Lord Justice of Ireland in 1359, 1364, and 1376, and a dominant political leader in Ireland in the 1360s and 1370s.
The son of
James Butler, 1st Earl of Ormond and
Lady Eleanor de Bohun
Eleanor de Bohun, Countess of Ormond (17 October 1304 – 7 October 1363) was an English noblewoman born in Knaresborough Castle to Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, and Elizabeth, daughter of King Edward I of England and Eleanor of Ca ...
, James was born at
Kilkenny Castle
Kilkenny Castle ( ga, Caisleán Chill Chainnigh, IPA: kaʃlʲaːnˠˈçiːl̪ʲˈxan̪ʲiː is a castle in Kilkenny, Ireland built in 1195 to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routeways. It was a symbol of ...
and given in ward on 1 September 1344 to
Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond for the fine of 2,306 marks; and afterwards to Sir John Darcy who married him to his daughter Elizabeth. He was usually called The Noble Earl, being a great-grandson, through his mother, of King
Edward I of England
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a va ...
. He died at Knocktopher Castle in Kilkenny, Leinster, Ireland.
Career
In 1362, he slew 600 of
Mac Murrough's followers at
Teigstaffen (
County Kilkenny). On 22 April 1364, was appointed
Lord Deputy of Ireland
The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland. The plural form is ' ...
to
Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence
Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, (; 29 November 133817 October 1368) was the third son, but the second son to survive infancy, of the English king Edward III and Philippa of Hainault. He was named after his birthplace, at Antwerp in the Duch ...
: Clarence, from his first arrival in Ireland, placed great trust in him, and for a few years it seems that as Deputy he was almost all-powerful. In the 1360s he clashed with
Maurice FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Kildare. In 1364 the
Irish House of Commons sent a delegation to England, headed by Kildare, to complain of misgovernment, and to ask for the removal of "corrupt" officials, some of whom had links to Ormond. A number of these officials were removed, but Ormond's position was not seriously threatened.
He was Lord Justice by 24 July 1376, with a salary of £500 a year, in which office he was continued by King
Richard II of England
Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father ...
. On 2 April 1372, he was made constable of
Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin.
Until 1922 it was the s ...
, with the fee of £18 5s. a year.
[Lodge, John ''The Peerage of Ireland or, A Genealogical History Of The Present Nobility Of That Kingdom'', 1789, Vol IV, p 9.] He was summoned to the Parliaments held by Richard II.
He died on 18 October 1382 in his castle of
Knocktopher (near which he had, in 1356, founded a Friary for
Carmelite friars). He was buried in
St. Canice's Cathedral,
Kilkenny
Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512.
Kilken ...
.
Marriage and Children
On 15 May 1346, he married
Elizabeth Darcy, daughter of
Sir John Darcy, Knight of Knaith (another Lord Justice of Ireland) and Joan
de Burgh. They had five children:
*
James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond
James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond (c. 1359 – 7 September 1405), was a noble in the Peerage of Ireland. He acceded to the title in 1382, and built Gowran Castle three years later in 1385 close to the centre of Gowran, making it his usual residen ...
(1362–1405).
* Thomas Butler, Justice of Cork 1359–1396
* Eleanor Butler 1350–1392, married
Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond
* Joan Butler 1360–1393 (plague) married Teige
O'Carroll, Prince of
Éile
* Ralph Butler 1356–1367
See also
Butler dynasty
References
* Richardson, Douglas, and Kimball G. Everingham. ''Magna Carta Ancestry A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families.'' Royal ancestry series. Baltimore, Md: Genealogical Pub. Co, 2005
googlebooksAccessed November 9, 2007
Accessed November 9, 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ormond, James Butler, 2nd Earl of
James
1382 deaths
14th-century Irish politicians
1331 births
Earls of Ormond (Ireland)
Lords Lieutenant of Ireland