Colonel Nicholas Cusack (c.1638 – September 1726) was an Irish Jacobite politician and soldier. Cusack was the third son of James Cusack of

Cushinstown Cushinstown is a townland which, together with Roadmain and Curraghtown, is in the parish of Duleek, County Meath, Ireland. This entity is not, at any point geographically attached to the main part of the parish, so it might be said that these ...

and Frances, daughter of

Sir William Talbot, 1st Baronet Sir William Talbot, 1st Baronet (died 1634), was an Irish lawyer and politician. He sat as MP for County Kildare in the Parliament of 1613–1615 and was in 1628 one of the negotiators of the Graces. However, he is probably mainly remembered ...

and sister of

Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, ( – 14 August 1691) was an Irish politician, courtier and soldier. Talbot's early career was spent as a cavalryman in the Irish Confederate Wars. Following a period on the Continent, he joined the court ...

. He was a great-grandson of Sir Thomas Cusack,

Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland, commonly known as the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was the highest ranking judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 until the end of 1800, it was also the hi ...

. In 1683 he married Catherine Keating, daughter of Edward Keating of Narraghmore, County Kildare and Elizabeth Eustace, and widow of Adam Cusack, justice of the

Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) The Court of Common Pleas was one of the principal courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror image of the equivalent court in England. Common Pleas was one of the four courts of justice which gave the Four Courts in Dublin, which is sti ...

. Catherine died in 1699.''The Irish Genealogist'' (1979) pp.681-4 In 1688 he appears on a charter of

James II of England James II and VII (14 October 1633 – 16 September 1701) was King of England and Monarchy of Ireland, Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II of England, Charles II, on 6 February 1 ...

as a burgess of

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town and largest town of County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Leinster Blackwater, Blackwater, around 50 km northwest of Dublin. At the ...

. In May 1689, he was elected as a Member of Parliament for

Trim Trim or TRIM may refer to: Cutting * Cutting or trimming small pieces off something to remove them ** Book trimming, a stage of the publishing process ** Pruning, trimming as a form of pruning often used on trees Decoration * Trim (sewing), or ...

in the short-lived

Patriot Parliament Patriot Parliament is the name commonly used for the Irish Parliament session called by King James II during the Williamite War in Ireland which lasted from 1688 to 1691. The first since 1666, it held only one session, which lasted from 7 May ...

summoned by James II. His brother-in-law Chief Justice John Keating, the brother of his wife Catherine, played a prominent role in the Parliament.Ball, F.Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' London John Murray 1926 During the

Williamite War in Ireland The Williamite War in Ireland took place from March 1689 to October 1691. Fought between Jacobitism, Jacobite supporters of James II of England, James II and those of his successor, William III of England, William III, it resulted in a Williamit ...

, Cusack initially served as a captain in his uncle, Tyrconnell's, regiment of horse.CUSACK, Nicholas
Officers of the Jacobite Armies
Centre for Robert Burns Studies, University of Glasgow. Retrieved 22 February 2023. He later became a Jacobite colonel. During the second Siege of Limerick, he was among the confidants of

Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan ( 1655 – 21 August 1693) was an Irish army officer. Killed at Landen in 1693 while serving in the French Royal Army, he is now best remembered as an Irish patriot and military hero. Born into a wealthy C ...

who encouraged the Jacobite commander to sue for peace. Following the surrender of Limerick, Cusack was appointed as one of the Jacobite commissioners tasked with negotiating terms with the Williamites, and he was one of the signatories of the Articles of Limerick on 3 October 1691. He was

outlawed An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them. ...

later that year and fled to France where he served in the Irish Brigade of the

French Royal Army The French Royal Army () was the principal land force of the Kingdom of France. It served the Bourbon dynasty from the reign of Louis XIV in the mid-17th century to that of Charles X in the 19th, with an interlude from 1792 to 1814 and another du ...

. He died at

Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a former royal palace in the commune of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in the department of Yvelines, about 19 km west of Paris, France. Today, it houses the '' Musée d'Archéologie nationale'' (Nationa ...

in 1726.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cusack, Nicholas Year of birth uncertain 1726 deaths 17th-century Irish people Irish Jacobites Irish MPs 1689 Irish soldiers in the army of James II of England Irish soldiers in the French Army Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Meath constituencies Wild Geese (soldiers)