James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond (4 October 133118 October 1382) was a noble in the

Peerage of Ireland The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...

. He was

Lord Justice of Ireland The Lords Justices (more formally the Lords Justices General and General Governors of Ireland) were deputies who acted collectively in the absence of the chief governor of Ireland (latterly the Lord Lieutenant) as head of the executive branch o ...

in 1359, 1364, and 1376, and a dominant political leader in Ireland in the 1360s and 1370s. The son of

James Butler, 1st Earl of Ormond James Butler, 1st Earl of Ormond (17 October 13046 January 1338), was a noble in the Peerage of Ireland. He was born in Arklow, Wicklow, Ireland and died in Gowran, Kilkenny, Ireland. Family James Butler was the son of Edmund Butler, Earl of Car ...

and

Lady Eleanor de Bohun Eleanor de Bohun, Countess of Ormond (17 October 1304 – 7 October 1363) was an English noblewoman born in Knaresborough Castle to Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, and Elizabeth, daughter of King Edward I of England and Eleanor of C ...

, James was born at

Kilkenny Castle Kilkenny Castle ( ga, Caisleán Chill Chainnigh, IPA: �kaʃlʲaːnˠˈçiːl̪ʲˈxan̪ʲiː is a castle in Kilkenny, Ireland built in 1195 to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routeways. It was a symbol of N ...

and given in ward on 1 September 1344 to

Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond (died 25 January 1356) in Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland was an Irish nobleman in the Peerage of Ireland, Captain of Desmond Castle in Kinsale, so-called ruler of Munster, and for a short time ...

for the fine of 2,306 marks; and afterwards to Sir John Darcy who married him to his daughter Elizabeth. He was usually called The Noble Earl, being a great-grandson, through his mother, of King

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassa ...

. He died at Knocktopher Castle in Kilkenny, Leinster, Ireland.

Career

In 1362, he slew 600 of Mac Murrough's followers at Teigstaffen (

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the cou ...

). On 22 April 1364, was appointed

Lord Deputy of Ireland The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive (government), executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland ...

Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, (; 29 November 133817 October 1368) was the third son, but the second son to survive infancy, of the English king Edward III and Philippa of Hainault. He was named after his birthplace, at Antwerp in the Duch ...

: Clarence, from his first arrival in Ireland, placed great trust in him, and for a few years it seems that as Deputy he was almost all-powerful. In the 1360s he clashed with

Maurice FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Kildare Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Kildare (1318 - 25 August 1390) was a prominent Irish nobleman in the Peerage of Ireland who held the office of Lord Justice of Ireland. The second son of Thomas FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Kildare by hi ...

. In 1364 the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fra ...

sent a delegation to England, headed by Kildare, to complain of misgovernment, and to ask for the removal of "corrupt" officials, some of whom had links to Ormond. A number of these officials were removed, but Ormond's position was not seriously threatened. He was Lord Justice by 24 July 1376, with a salary of £500 a year, in which office he was continued by King

Richard II of England Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father die ...

. On 2 April 1372, he was made constable of

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the se ...

, with the fee of £18 5s. a year.Lodge, John ''The Peerage of Ireland or, A Genealogical History Of The Present Nobility Of That Kingdom'', 1789, Vol IV, p 9. He was summoned to the Parliaments held by Richard II. He died on 18 October 1382 in his castle of

Knocktopher Knocktopher (historically ''Knocktofer'' and ''Knocktover''; ) is a village in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is situated on the R713 road between the villages of Stoneyford to the north, and Ballyhale to the south. It was formerly situated on ...

(near which he had, in 1356, founded a Friary for

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

friars). He was buried in

St. Canice's Cathedral St Canice's Cathedral ( ga, Ardeaglais Naomh Cainneach, ), also known as Kilkenny Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Kilkenny city, Ireland. It is in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin. Previously the cathedral of the Dio ...

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

Marriage and Children

On 15 May 1346, he married Elizabeth Darcy, daughter of Sir John Darcy, Knight of Knaith (another Lord Justice of Ireland) and Joan

de Burgh de Burgh (also spelt de Bourgh, and Burke, and also Latinised as de Burgo) is an Anglo-Norman surname deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (c.1 ...

. They had five children: *

James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond (c. 1359 – 7 September 1405), was a noble in the Peerage of Ireland. He acceded to the title in 1382, and built Gowran Castle three years later in 1385 close to the centre of Gowran, making it his usual residence, ...

(1362–1405). * Thomas Butler, Justice of Cork 1359–1396 * Eleanor Butler 1350–1392, married

Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond Gerald FitzMaurice FitzGerald (1335–1398), Webb, Alfred. A Compendium of Irish Biography'. Dublin: 1878. also known by the Irish Gaelic ''Gearóid Iarla'' (Earl Gerald), was the 3rd Earl of Desmond, in southwestern Ireland, under the first cre ...

* Joan Butler 1360–1393 (plague) married Teige

O'Carroll O'Carroll ( ga, Ó Cearbhaill), also known as simply Carroll, Carrol or Carrell, is a Gaelic Irish clan which is the most prominent sept of the Ciannachta (also known as Clan Cian). Their genealogies claim that they are kindred with the Eógana ...

, Prince of

Éile Éile (; sga, Éle, ), commonly anglicised as Ely, was a medieval petty kingdom in the southern part of the modern county of Offaly and parts of North Tipperary in Ireland. The historic barony of Eliogarty was once a significant portion of the kin ...

* Ralph Butler 1356–1367

References

* Richardson, Douglas, and Kimball G. Everingham. ''Magna Carta Ancestry A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families.'' Royal ancestry series. Baltimore, Md: Genealogical Pub. Co, 2005
googlebooks
Accessed November 9, 2007

Accessed November 9, 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ormond, James Butler, 2nd Earl of

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

1382 deaths 14th-century Irish politicians 1331 births Earls of Ormond (Ireland) Lords Lieutenant of Ireland

Career

Marriage and Children

See also

References