Mark (or Marcus) Talbot (c. 1649-1702) was an Irish

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He was born in Ireland and served in the French army during a time when Irish Catholics were prohibited from serving in the Irish and English armies. His father rose in prominence during the reign of the Catholic James II of Ireland, who purged Protestants from the military and replaced them with Catholics. During this time of upheaval that Mark Talbot became a lieutenant colonel in 1689. He served as a commander at

Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,998 at the 2011 Census. It is County Antrim's oldest t ...

during a Protestant uprising against King James, and on the side of Jacobites in subsequent conflicts. For his efforts, he was promoted to brigadier in 1691, and served as a Member of Parliament for Belfast.

Early life

He was born in Ireland at some point during the

Irish Confederate Wars The Irish Confederate Wars, also called the Eleven Years' War (from ga, Cogadh na hAon-déag mBliana), took place in Ireland between 1641 and 1653. It was the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of civil wars in the kin ...

, the illegitimate son of the Irish soldier and

courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official r ...

Richard Talbot. His father was from a long-established family of Catholic Palesman. His mother is unknown, but is thought to be a member of the

O'Neills O'Neills Irish International Sports Company Ltd. is an Irish sporting goods manufacturer established in 1918. It is the largest manufacturer of sportswear in Ireland, with production plants located in Dublin and Strabane. O'Neills has a long re ...

Shane's Castle Shane's Castle is a ruined castle near Randalstown in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, having been destroyed by fire in 1816. The castle is on the north-east shores of Lough Neagh. Built in 1345 by a member of the Clandeboy O'Neill dynasty, it was ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

. Richard Talbot had connections to the family, and Mark retained strong links with the area. During the reign of Charles II Talbot saw service in the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

, as many Irish Catholics did during the era when the Penal laws forbade them from serving in either the

Irish Army The Irish Army, known simply as the Army ( ga, an tArm), is the land component of the Defence Forces of Ireland.The Defence Forces are made up of the Permanent Defence Forces – the standing branches – and the Reserve Defence Forces. The Ar ...

English Army The ...

.Lenihan, p. 181 After 1685 his father had gained power in Ireland following the coming to the throne of the Catholic James II. He oversaw a rapid purge of Protestant officers in the Irish Army, replacing them with Catholics. Mark Talbot was one of those who benefited and he became a

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

in the Earl of Antrim's Regiment in 1689. While many of the replacement officers were inexperienced, Mark was part of a group of veterans of continental warfare that included

Lawrence Dempsey Lawrence Dempsey (sometimes spelt Laurence Dempsey) was an Irish soldier of the seventeenth century. Born to an Irish Catholic family, Dempsey took up a military career. As the Penal Laws in existence in Restoration Ireland made it very difficult ...

and

Patrick Sarsfield Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan, ga, Pádraig Sáirseál, circa 1655 to 21 August 1693, was an Irish soldier, and leading figure in the Jacobite army during the 1689 to 1691 Williamite War in Ireland. Born into a wealthy Catholic famil ...

. Talbot was appointed to command at

when a major rebellion broke out amongst Irish Protestants against King James' rule. He fought on the Jacobite side during the ensuing

Williamite War in Ireland The Williamite War in Ireland (1688–1691; ga, Cogadh an Dá Rí, "war of the two kings"), was a conflict between Jacobite supporters of deposed monarch James II and Williamite supporters of his successor, William III. It is also called th ...

. When King James arrived and summoned the

Patriot Parliament Patriot Parliament is the name commonly used for the Irish Parliament session called by King James II during the Williamite War in Ireland which lasted from 1688 to 1691. The first since 1666, it held only one session, which lasted from 7 May 16 ...

, Mark was selected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. Promoted to

Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

in 1691, he was badly wounded at the

Battle of Aughrim The Battle of Aughrim ( ga, Cath Eachroma) was the decisive battle of the Williamite War in Ireland. It was fought between the largely Irish Jacobite army loyal to James II and the forces of William III on 12 July 1691 (old style, equivalent ...

. Following the

Treaty of Limerick }), signed on 3 October 1691, ended the 1689 to 1691 Williamite War in Ireland, a conflict related to the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War. It consisted of two separate agreements, one with military terms of surrender, signed by commanders of a Frenc ...

he was part of the

Flight of the Wild Geese The Flight of the Wild Geese was the departure of an Irish Jacobite army under the command of Patrick Sarsfield from Ireland to France, as agreed in the Treaty of Limerick on 3 October 1691, following the end of the Williamite War in Ireland. ...

who went into exile on the Continent, serving with the Irish forces of the French Army. He fought in

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

in 1692 and was present at the Italian

Battle of Marsaglia The Battle of Marsaglia was a battle in the Nine Years' War, fought in Italy on 4 October 1693, between the French army of Marshal Nicolas Catinat and the army of the Grand Alliance under Duke Victor Amadeus II of Savoy. Catinat, advancing ...

in 1693. He was then appointed to command Clare's Regiment, which was intended to be part of a planned invasion of England in 1694. Shortly afterwards Talbot ran into trouble due to his romantic involvement with

Henrietta FitzJames Henrietta Butler, Viscountess Galmoye, previously Henrietta Waldegrave, Baroness Waldegrave (née Lady Henrietta FitzJames; 1667 – 3 April 1730), was an illegitimate daughter of James Stuart, Duke of York, subsequently King of England, Scot ...

, the widowed daughter of King James. The couple were close to getting married. Shortly afterwards he was imprisoned in the

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was sto ...

, allegedly after voicing critical views of James while drunk. Despite pleas from his former commanders Noailles and

Vendôme Vendôme (, ) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Departments of France, department of Loir-et-Cher, France. It is also the department's third-biggest Communes of France, commune with 15,856 inhabitants (2019). It is one of the ...

, the French King

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

had him

cashiered Cashiering (or degradation ceremony), generally within military forces, is a ritual dismissal of an individual from some position of responsibility for a breach of discipline. Etymology From the Flemish (to dismiss from service; to discard ...

. He was eventually reinstated as a colonel in the French Army following the outbreak of the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

. He was killed at the

Battle of Luzzara The Battle of Luzzara took place in Lombardy on 15 August 1702 during the War of the Spanish Succession, between a combined French and Savoyard army under Louis Joseph, duc de Vendôme, and an Imperial force under Prince Eugene. Conflict in ...

in 1702.Lenihan, p. 182 Although he was his father's only son, he could not inherit the title of

Earl of Tyrconnell Earl of Tyrconnell is a title that has been created four times in the Peerage of Ireland. It was first created in 1603, for Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, formerly king of Tyrconnell, along with the subsidiary title Baron Donegal. The 1s ...

because of his illegitimacy, and it went to one of his cousins after his father's death in 1691.

References

Bibliography

* Childs, John. ''The Williamite Wars in Ireland''. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2007. * Lenihan, Padraig. ''The Last Cavalier: Richard Talbot (1631-91)''. University College Dublin Press, 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Talbot, Mark Year of birth unknown 1702 deaths 18th-century Irish people Irish Jacobites Irish soldiers Irish soldiers in the army of James II of England Year of birth uncertain Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for Belfast Irish MPs 1689