Alexander Plunket ( died 1503 ) was an Irish statesman and judge of the fifteenth century. He was appointed

Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland (commonly known as Lord Chancellor of Ireland) was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801, it was also the highest political office of ...

King Henry VII of England Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort, ...

in 1492. Rowland FitzEustace, 1st Baron Portlester was Lord Chancellor and

Lord Treasurer of Ireland The Lord High Treasurer of Ireland was the head of the Exchequer of Ireland, chief financial officer of the Kingdom of Ireland. The designation ''High'' was added in 1695. After the Acts of Union 1800 created the United Kingdom of Great Britain a ...

before Plunket. The offices were split between Alexander Plunket and

Sir James Ormond Sir James Ormond ''alias'' Butler (died 17 July 1497) was the son of John Butler, 6th Earl of Ormond. He was Lord Treasurer of Ireland from 1492 to 1494, and helped to defend the Lordship of Ireland against the forces of Perkin Warbeck. He was ...

, who became Lord Treasurer of Ireland.

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

was in great conflict at this time, as Henry VII tried to get the Irish to pledge loyalty to him, instead of their own Kings and Princes. O'Flanagan states that it is impossible to form any opinion on his career as Lord Chancellor since no record of any of his judgments exist.

Biography

He was born at Rathmore in

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...

, son of Sir Thomas Fitz-Christopher Plunket,

Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge i ...

and his second wife Marion Cruce (or Cruise); he was a first cousin of another Sir

Thomas Plunket Thomas Plunket (1785–1839) was an Irish soldier in the British Army's 95th Rifles regiment. He served throughout the Peninsular War and later in the Waterloo Campaign of 1815. He is remembered for killing a French general during the Peninsular ...

who became

Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas The chief justice of the Common Pleas for Ireland was the presiding judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Ireland, which was known in its early years as the Court of Common Bench, or simply as "the Bench", or "the Dublin bench". It was one of the s ...

, both being grandsons of Christopher Plunket, 1st

Baron Killeen 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 knigh ...

. He married firstly Anne Marward, daughter of Richard Marward, titular

Baron Skryne Baron Skryne was the title of the holder of an Irish feudal barony: the title derived from the parish of Skryne, or Skreen, in County Meath. It was not recognised as a barony in the Peerage of Ireland, but was habitually used firstly by the de Feyp ...

; secondly, Margaret Butler, daughter of

James Butler of Polestown Sir James Butler of Polestown (died 1487) was a warlord in Yorkist Ireland. Career James was the eldest son of Sir Edmund MacRichard Butler, whom he succeeded in 1464 as Lord Deputy of Ireland over his absentee cousins John and Thomas, the 6th ...

, and sister of

Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormonde Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond, 1st Earl of Ossory (1539) also known as Red Piers (Irish ''Piers Ruadh''), was from the Polestown–– branch of the Butler family of Ireland. In the succession crisis at the death of Thomas Butler, 7th Earl ...

, and thirdly a close relative (possibly a daughter) of

Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare KG (born – ), known variously as "Garret the Great" (Gearóid Mór) or "The Great Earl" (An tIarla Mór), was Ireland's premier peer. He served as Lord Deputy of Ireland from 1477 to 1494, and from 149 ...

. He had children by all three marriages, nine sons and two daughters in all. Through his second and third marriages he was connected to the families of both the

Earl of Kildare Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

and the Earl of Ormonde; his political loyalties at first were with the Kildare faction, but he later quarrelled with Kildare. He was a companion of the

Brotherhood of Saint George The Brotherhood of Saint George was a short-lived military guild, which was founded in Dublin in 1474 for the defence of the English-held territory of the Pale. For a short time it was the only standing army maintained by the English Crown in Irel ...

, a short-lived military

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

charged with the defence of

the 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 st ...

. He served as

High Sheriff of Meath The High Sheriff of Meath was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Meath, Ireland, from the conquest until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Meath County Sheriff. The sheriff ...

in 1482. So long as the

House of York 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, ...

held power he appears to have been a loyal enough

Yorkist 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 ...

; he was at Court in 1479, and in 1484 received a letter from

Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...

thanking him for his services. After the downfall of the Yorkist dynasty, and its replacement by the

Tudor dynasty The House of Tudor was a royal house of largely Welsh and English origin that held the English throne from 1485 to 1603. They descended from the Tudors of Penmynydd and Catherine of France. Tudor monarchs ruled the Kingdom of England and it ...

, the new King Henry VII trusted him enough to make him Lord Chancellor; this was apparently in an effort to curb the power of the Kildare faction, with whom Plunket had quarrelled. He left office in 1494 and died in 1503. His estates passed to his eldest son Sir Christopher Plunket, and on Christopher's death without issue to his next surviving son Edward.Lodge and Archdall p.189

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plunket, Alexander Lord chancellors of Ireland 15th-century Irish politicians 1503 deaths Year of birth unknown