Sir Edmund MacRichard Butler of Polestown (1420 – June 13, 1464) was the eldest son of
Sir Richard Butler of Polestown and adopted the Gaelic title of The MacRichard of Ossory.
Career
Like his father before him, Edmund was the Lord Deputy to his cousin,
James Butler, 5th Earl of Ormond
James Butler, 5th Earl of Ormond, Earl of Wiltshire (24 November 1420 – 1 May 1461) was an Anglo-Irish nobleman and soldier. Butler was a staunch Lancastrian and supporter of Queen consort Margaret of Anjou during the Wars of the Roses. He w ...
who was absent from
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
(and had even given the English title of
Earl of Wiltshire
The title Earl of Wiltshire is one of the oldest in the Peerage of England, going back to the 12th century. It is currently held by the Marquess of Winchester, and is used as a courtesy title for the eldest son of the marquess.
The earldom was ...
in 1449). Edmund first came to attention in 1443 when he instigated the murder of Finan and Dermot
MacGillapadraig, the sons of the
King
King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
of the ruling Irish clan in
Ossory.
In 1447, Edmund founded the bridge at
Carrick-on-Suir
Carrick-on-Suir () is a town in County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It lies on both banks of the River Suir. The part on the north bank of the Suir lies in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of "Carrick", in the historical B ...
– the first over the estuary.
In 1462, his second cousin
John Butler, 6th Earl of Ormond
John Butler, 6th Earl of Ormond (died 14 December 1476) was considered one of the first gentlemen of the age in which he lived. He was an ambassador to the most important courts of Europe.
Family
John Butler, 6th Earl of Ormond was the second ...
, arrived in Ireland with the objective of opening another front against the
Yorkists
The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, t ...
during the
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, were a series of armed confrontations, machinations, battles and campaigns fought over control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The conflict was fo ...
. Enlisting Edmund MacRichard's help, he captured
Waterford
Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...
and along with it, the son of the
Earl of Desmond
Earl of Desmond ( meaning Earl of South Munster) is a title of nobility created by the English monarch in the peerage of Ireland. The title has been created four times. It was first awarded in 1329 to Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond, Maur ...
. A longtime enemy of the Butlers, Desmond had been encroaching on the weakened Butler patrimony in
County Tipperary
County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...
by moving up the
Suir
The River Suir ( ; or ''Abhainn na Siúire'' ) is a river in Ireland that flows into the Atlantic Ocean through Waterford after a distance of .
The catchment area of the Suir is 3,610 km2. valley towards Waterford. Edmund swept down to meet him but was heavily defeated, losing 400 men and was captured at the Battle of Pilltown. Ormond fled and Kilkenny was plundered by the Desmonds.
It was said that part of Edmund's ransom was paid with manuscripts from his library including the Psalter of Cashel which contained genealogies, the
Calendar of Aengus and a
Glossary
A glossary (from , ''glossa''; language, speech, wording), also known as a vocabulary or clavis, is an alphabetical list of Term (language), terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms. Traditionally, a gloss ...
written by
Cormac mac Cuilennáin
Cormac mac Cuilennáin (831 A.D. - 13 September 908) was an Irish bishop and the king of Munster from 902 until his death at the Battle of Bellaghmoon. He was killed in Leinster.
Cormac was regarded as a saintly figure after his death, and h ...
, King Bishop of
Cashel
Cashel (an Anglicised form of the Irish language word ''Caiseal'', meaning "stone fort") may refer to:
Places in Ireland
*Cashel, County Tipperary
**The Rock of Cashel, an ancient, hilltop fortress complex for which Cashel is named
** Archbishop ...
, which was the first comparative
dictionary
A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged Alphabetical order, alphabetically (or by Semitic root, consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical-and-stroke sorting, radical an ...
written in Europe.
He was buried at Grey Friars, Kilkenny
Marriage and Children
He married Catherine O'Carroll (who died in 1506), the daughter of Mulroney O'Carroll, ''Barbatus'', King of Elyocarroll (which abutted
Ossory). They had three sons, the eldest of whom succeeded him as "The MacRichard of Ossory":
*
Sir James Butler
*
Walter Butler of Polestown
* John Butler who had two sons,
** Pierce (the father of Richard Butler FitzPierce, who died childless)
** John óg (meaning junior) whose son William Butler FitzJohn-óg, was attainted of felony at Kilkenny and executed in Queen
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...
's reign.
[Lodge John ''The Peerage of Ireland or, A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of That Kingdom'', 1789, Vol IV, pg 17.]
See also
*
Irish nobility
The Irish nobility could be described as including persons who do, or historically did, fall into one or more of the following categories of nobility:
* Gaelic nobility of Ireland: descendants in the male line of at least one historical grade ...
*
Butler dynasty
Butler () is the name of a noble family whose members were, for several centuries, prominent in the administration of the Lordship of Ireland and the Kingdom of Ireland. They rose to their highest prominence as Dukes of Ormonde. The family ha ...
References
*''Ormond, Duke of, Life 1610–'88: Thomas A. Carte, M.A. 6 vols. Oxford, 1851''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polestown, Edmund MacRichard Butler of
1420s births
1464 deaths
Edmund
Edmund is a masculine given name in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''Ä“ad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector".
Persons named Edmund include:
People Kings and nobles
*Ed ...
15th-century Irish people
People from Paulstown