Luke (Lucas) Netterville (–1560) was a sixteenth-century Irish

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

. He was father of the statesman

Richard Netterville Richard Netterville (–1607) was an Irish barrister and politician of the Elizabethan era. He was noted for his willingness to oppose the Crown, especially on its taxation policies, and as a result, he was imprisoned several times. Background He ...

and grandfather of the 1st

Viscount Netterville Viscount Netterville was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1622 for Nicholas Netterville, 1st Viscount Netterville (1581–1654), eldest son of John Netterville of Dowth, County Meath and Eleanor Gernon, daughter of Sir James Ger ...

. He was born 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 John Netterville of

Dowth Dowth ( ga, Dubhadh) is a Neolithic passage tomb located in the Boyne Valley, County Meath, Ireland. It is one of the three principal tombs of the ''Brú na Bóinne'' World Heritage Sitea landscape of prehistoric monuments including the large ...

and Alison St Lawrence, daughter of

Nicholas St Lawrence, 4th Baron Howth Nicholas St Lawrence, 4th Baron Howth (c. 1460 – 1526) was a leading Irish soldier and statesman of the early Tudor period, who held the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Early life He was born about 1460, eldest son of Robert St Lawrence, ...

and his first wife Genet Plunkett.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921'' John Murray London 1926 Vol.1 p.209 His family had a long association with the law: the first notable member of the family in Ireland was Sir Nicholas de Netterville, who served twice as

High Sheriff of County Louth The High Sheriff of Louth was the Crown's representative for County Louth, a territory known as his bailiwick. Selected from three nominated people, he held his office for the duration of a year. He had judicial, ceremonial and administrative func ...

in the 1280s, and was appointed a judge 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 still ...

in 1301. John's cousin and brother-in-law Thomas Netterville, who was clearly older than Luke (he died in 1528), and who married Alison's sister Elizabeth St. Lawrence, was a judge of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland). After John's death, his widow Alison remarried yet another High Court judge, Sir

Patrick White Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was a British-born Australian writer who published 12 novels, three short-story collections, and eight plays, from 1935 to 1987. White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, ...

and had further issue, including the influential writer and political reformer Rowland White. In 1555 Netterville was involved in litigation with yet another High Court judge, Walter Kerdiff, over the Dowth property. In 1558 he served on a commission to inquire into the lands held by

Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Iri ...

. The following year he was appointed second justice of the Court of King's Bench. In 1560 he sat on a commission to inquire into martial law in Meath, together with his colleague Richard Dillon, but he died later the same year. Some years after his death the

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 ...

, Sir

Henry Sidney Sir Henry Sidney (20 July 1529 – 5 May 1586), Lord Deputy of Ireland, was the eldest son of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst, a prominent politician and courtier during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, from both of whom he received ...

, described Luke in disparaging terms as a man who was "but second justice of one of the Benches...... of mean family.......born to nothing." This attack was in the course of an attempt to damage the career of Luke's son Richard, who was one of Sidney's bitterest enemies, and there is no reason to think that his low opinion of Luke was widely shared. Nor would the grandson of Baron Howth be regarded by most people as being of "mean family": wealthy and well-connected English families were happy to marry into the St. Lawrence dynasty, while in the late thirteenth century a Netterville had married a daughter of the Earl of Kildare, and Luke was also descended from

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 ...

and

Baron Slane Baron Slane was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1370 for the Fleming family but forfeited in 1691. Origins The Flemings of Slane descend from Erchenbald, otherwise referred to as "Archembald le Fleming", of Bratton Flemin ...

. Luke married Margaret Luttrell, daughter of Sir Thomas Luttrell,

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 ...

, and Elizabeth Bathe, and had two sons: *John (died 1601) father of

Nicholas Netterville, 1st Viscount Netterville Nicholas Netterville of Dowth, County Meath, Ireland, was born in 1581, and succeeded his father, John Netterville, in the family estate on 20 September 1601. Although an enemy accused them of being "but a mean family" the Nettervilles had in fact ...

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

(died 1607), who was a leading politician and barrister.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Netterville, Luke 1510s births 1560 deaths People from County Meath Year of birth uncertain People of Elizabethan Ireland Justices of the Irish King's Bench