Sir Edmund MacRichard Butler of Polestown (1420 – June 13, 1464) was the eldest son of

Sir Richard Butler of Polestown Sir Richard Butler (1395 – 1443) of Polestown, County Kilkenny, was the second son of James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond, and Anne Welles. His older brother James inherited the earldom. Following the extinction of the senior family line, his ...

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 who was absent from

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 ...

(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 f ...

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 the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

of the ruling Irish clan in

Ossory Osraige (Old Irish) or Osraighe (Classical Irish), Osraí (Modern Irish), anglicized as Ossory, was a medieval Irish kingdom comprising what is now County Kilkenny and western County Laois, corresponding to the Diocese of Ossory. The home of ...

. In 1447, Edmund founded the bridge at

Carrick-on-Suir Carrick-on-Suir () is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It lies on both banks of the River Suir. The part on the north bank of the Suir lies in the civil parish of "Carrick", in the historical barony of Iffa and Offa East. The part on the s ...

– the first over the estuary. In 1462, his second cousin John Butler, 6th Earl of Ormond, arrived in Ireland with the objective of opening another front against the Yorkists during the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...

. Enlisting Edmund MacRichard's help, he captured

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

and along with it, the son of the

Earl of Desmond Earl of Desmond is a title in the peerage of Ireland () created four times. When the powerful Earl of Desmond took arms against Queen Elizabeth Tudor, around 1578, along with the King of Spain and the Pope, he was confiscated from his estates ...

. A longtime enemy of the Butlers, Desmond had been encroaching on the weakened Butler patrimony in

Co. Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) 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 afte ...

by moving up the

Suir The River Suir ( ; ga, an tSiúr 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 written by

Cormac mac Cuilennáin Cormac mac Cuilennáin (died 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 his shri ...

, King Bishop of Cashel, which was the first comparative dictionary 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

). 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. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

's reign.Lodge John ''The Peerage of Ireland or, A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of That Kingdom'', 1789, Vol IV, pg 17.

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 15th-century Irish people

Career

Marriage and Children

See also

References