Burnell Family

The Burnell family were a Dublin family who were prominent in Irish public life and in the arts from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century. They acquired substantial estates in County Dublin, and married into the Anglo-Irish aristocracy. They produced several judges and politicians, a leading playwright, and one of the first female Irish poets. They were staunch Roman Catholics, who opposed the Penal Laws, and supported the Irish Confederacy in the 1640s. They forfeited most of their lands after the failure of the Confederate cause, and never recovered them.

Family History

It is unclear when the Burnells arrived in Ireland: there are several English families of the same name. A London Burnell family in the sixteenth century clearly had links to the Irish Burnells, as Richard Burnell, lawyer and MP, who died in 1558, left a legacy to an Irish cousin.Bindoff, S.T. ed. ''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558'' Boydell and Brewer 1982

In 1284 King Edward I of England granted to William Burnell lands at Glencapy (present-day Rathdown), and other lands in County Wicklow.''Calendar of Irish Chancery Letters c.1244-1509'' William was Constable of Dublin Castle in 1291-22. Philip Burnell is recorded from County Meath in 1306, when he was one of the defendants in a case of serious assault brought by four members of the Netterville family (who were later one of the most prominent landowning families in Meath) and was ordered to pay heavy damages. A Robert Burnell was Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1356-7, and the same or another Robert Burnell was Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1383-4.

The first Burnell of whom much is known was Robert, who was Lord of the Manor of Balgriffin in c.1388. He may well have been the son of the Robert Burnell whose widow Margaret married Richard Plunkett, Lord Chancellor of Ireland (died 1393), and may also have been the Robert Burnell who was Mayor of Dublin a few years earlier. A royal writ survives from 1381 ordering him to grant to John Cruys (this was Sir John Cruys or Cruise of Booterstown and Mount Merrion, a prominent soldier and diplomat, who died in 1407) a two-thirds share in a watermill called Luttrell's Mill in County Dublin.''Patent Roll 5 Richard II'' Robert married Matilda Tyrrell, heiress to the Irish feudal barony of Castleknock. The manor of Castleknock later became the principal Burnell residence. He was a Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) and thus began a long family tradition of serving as members of the Irish judiciary, particularly on the Exchequer. His son John was living in 1421.''Patent Roll 9 Henry V'' John in turn had a son named Robert. In 1447 Robert received a royal pardon for "intruding" at Balgriffin i.e. asserting his ownership of the estate without a royal licence.''Patent Roll 25 Henry VI''

A later John Burnell was Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer in the 1490s and another Burnell, Patrick, who died in 1491, was also a Baron of the Exchequer.Ball p.185

In about 1490 Sir Robert Burnell was Lord of the Manor of Balgriffin: he married Margaret Holywood, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Robert Holywood of Artane (Tartaine was the older spelling), who brought him substantial lands at Swords, north of Dublin. Their daughter Anne married William Preston, 2nd Viscount Gormanston.Cokayne, G.E. ''Complete Peerage'' Reprinted Gloucester 2000 Vol.VI p.22

A later John Burnell of Castleknock took part in the Rebellion of Silken Thomas and was executed for treason at Tyburn in 1537; but his cousin, yet another John, managed to retain the family estates at Balgriffin, which later passed by inheritance to the Bathe family.Ball, F. Elrington ''History of Dublin'' Alexander Thom and Co Dublin 1920 Vol. 6 p.17

In the second half of the sixteenth century Henry Burnell, son of the fourth John Burnell, was one of Ireland's foremost barristers, and served briefly as Recorder of Dublin and a judge of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland). He also sat in the Irish House of Commons as MP for Dublin, where he was a passionate advocate for the rights of Roman Catholics, and he was frequently in trouble with the English Crown as a result.Crawford, Jon G. ''A Star Chamber Court in Ireland-the Court of Castle Chamber 1571-1641'' Four Courts Press Dublin 2005 p.129

His grandson, also named Henry, was a well-known playwright: his play ''Landgartha'' (1640) was one of the first Irish plays to be published and the last play performed in Werburgh Street Theatre, Dublin's first theatre, which closed shortly afterwards.Laughton, J.K. "Henry Burnell" ''Dictionary of National Biography 1885-1900'' Vol.7 (1886) p.386 He was wealthy and influential enough to marry Lady Frances Dillon, a daughter of James Dillon, 1st Earl of Roscommon. Of his nine children, his daughter Eleanor is still remembered as one of the few Irish women poets of her time, although not much is known of her personal life, and only a few of her poems, all of which were written in Latin, survive.Stevenson, Jane ''Women Latin Poets; Language, Gender and Authority from Ancient Times to the Eighteenth Century'' Oxford University Press 2005 p.384

In the 1640s Henry became a leading member of the Irish Confederacy;Laughton p.386 though little is known of his later years, it is known that most of the Burnell estates were forfeited for rebellion, while he himself was sentenced to transportation to Connaught, although he managed to obtain a stay on the sentence on the ground of ill-health.Ball ''History of Dublin'' p.21

Through the marriage of Alice Burnell, a sister of Henry Burnell (the Elizabethan judge), to Richard Talbot of Templeogue, judge of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland), in about 1550, the Burnells were ancestors of Sir Henry Talbot, founder of the prominent Talbot family of Mount Talbot.''Burke's Irish Family Records'' London 1976 p.303

Notable family members

*Robert Burnell (fl.1388), Lord of the Manor of Balgriffin and Baron of the Irish Exchequer; possibly the same Robert Burnell who was Mayor of Dublin 1383-4
*John Burnell (died c.1492), Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer and Escheator for County Dublin
*Patrick Burnell (died 1491), Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland)
*Sir Henry Burnell (fl. 1500), Lord of the Manor of Balgriffin, married the Holywood heiress of Artane Castle
*John Burnell (died 1537), executed at Tyburn for rebellion
*Henry Burnell (c.1540-1614), Recorder of Dublin
*Henry Burnell, grandson of the previous (died c.1656), playwright and politician
*Eleanor Burnell (fl.1640), daughter of Henry the playwright, poet.

Places associated with Burnell family

*Artane
*Balgriffin
*Castleknock

Notable works

*''Landgartha, a tragicomedy'', a play by Henry Burnell (1640)
*''Patri suo Charissimo operis Encomium'', a poem by Eleanor Burnell, daughter of the playwright Henry Burnell.

References

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Irish noble families
People from Castleknock