Francis Cosby (1510–1580) was an English soldier and settler in Ireland. He has been implicated in the

Massacre of Mullaghmast The massacre of Mullaghmast () was the mass killing of between 100 and 400 members of the Gaelic nobility of Ireland by Kingdom of England, English forces under the command of Sir Henry Sidney in Mullaghmast, County Kildare in either late 1577 o ...

Life

He was the second son of John Cosby of Great Leake,

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

.''Francis Cosby (1510–80), Stradbally, Queen's County and the Tudor conquest of Leinster''
/ref> He settled in Ireland in the reign of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

. He was active in fighting on the edge of the

English Pale The Pale ( Irish: ''An Pháil'') or the English Pale (' or ') was the part of Ireland directly under the control of the English government in the Late Middle Ages. It had been reduced by the late 15th century to an area along the east coast s ...

, and was commended by the Lord Deputies Edward Bellingham and

Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex Thomas Radclyffe (or Ratclyffe), 3rd Earl of Sussex KG (c. 15259 June 1583), was Lord Deputy of Ireland during the Tudor period of English history, and a leading courtier during the reign of Elizabeth I. Family He was the eldest son of ...

. In 1558 Cosby was appointed general of the Kerne, and in 1562 was granted the suppressed abbey of Stradbally in Queen's County. In 1565 he became governor of

Portlaoise Portlaoise ( ), or Port Laoise (), is the county town of County Laois, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Midland Region, Ireland, South Midlands in the province of Leinster. Portlaoise was the fastest growing of the top 20 largest town ...

, and seneschal of Queen's County. He helped to massacre, although the degree of his responsibility is not clear, many of the O'Mores at

Mullaghmast Mullaghmast (; modern English spelling: ''Mullamast'') is a hill in the south of County Kildare, Ireland, near the village of Ballitore and near the borders with counties Wicklow, Laois and Carlow. It was an important site in prehistory, in ea ...

, near

Athy Athy ( ; ) is a market town at the meeting of the River Barrow and the Grand Canal in south-west County Kildare, Ireland, 72 kilometres southwest of Dublin. A population of 11,035 (as of the 2022 census) made it the sixth largest town in Kil ...

, who had been summoned to the fortress on avowedly peaceful business. The date 1577 in the ''

Annals of the Four Masters The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' () or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' () are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Genesis flood narrative, Deluge, dated as 2,242 Anno Mundi, years after crea ...

'' is contradicted in the ''Annals of Lough Cé'' which says 1567. Cosby was not successful in repression in Queen's County.

Rory Oge O'More Rory Oge O'More (; – 30 June 1578) was an Irish noble and chief of the O'More clan. As the Lord of Laois, he rebelled against the Tudors' sixteenth-century conquest of Gaelic Ireland. Irish nationalists Patrick Pearse and Philip O'Sul ...

was continually threatening him, and took his eldest son prisoner in 1577. The murder of Rory in the following year relieved Cosby; but the outbreak of the Desmond rebellion in 1580 saw him killed by the rebels at the

battle of Glenmalure The Battle of Glenmalure () took place in Ireland on 25 August 1580 during the Desmond Rebellions. A Catholic army of united Irish clans from the Wicklow Mountains led by Fiach MacHugh O'Byrne and James Eustace, 3rd Viscount Baltinglass of the ...

, 25 August 1580.

Family

He was married to Lady Mary Seymour, daughter of

Lord Protector Somerset Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp (150022 January 1552) was an English nobleman and politician who served as Lord Protector of England from 1547 to 1549 during the Minor (law), minority of his n ...

., by whom he had three sons, Alexander, Henry, and Arnold. He married Elizabeth Palmer, by whom he had one daughter. Alexander succeeded to the estates, received additional grants in Queen's County, and was, with his son Francis, killed at the battle of Stradbally Bridge on 18 May 1596.The History of the Battle of Stradbally Bridge -- 17/18th of May 1596.
dunnes.net. Accessed 6 Sep 2024. The estates subsequently passed to Richard, another son of Alexander, whose descendants still possess them. Arnold, Francis Cosby's second son, served under

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (24 June 1532 – 4 September 1588) was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many years. Dudley's youth was ove ...

in the

Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Cosby, Francis 1510 births 1580 deaths Military personnel from Nottingham 16th-century English soldiers 16th-century Anglo-Irish people Irish MPs 1560 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Kilkenny constituencies