Sir Thomas Fitz-Christopher Plunket (c.1407-1471) was a leading Irish lawyer and judge of the fifteenth century who held office as

Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge i ...

. He was an ancestor of the Duke of Wellington in the female line. His second marriage to the heiress Marian Cruise (or Cruys) inspired the

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

The Song of Mary Cruys.

Family

Thomas was born about 1407 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 ...

, third of the seven sons of Sir Christopher Plunket, who married in 1403 Janet Cusack, the heiress of

Killeen Castle, Dunsany Killeen Castle ( ga, Caisleán an Chillín), located in Dunsany, County Meath, Ireland, is the current construction on a site occupied by a castle since around 1180. The current building is a restoration of a largely 19th century structure, bu ...

. Thomas's brother Christopher was the 1st Baron Dunsany. Thomas's sister Matilda "Maud" (Plunket) Hussey Artois Talbot Cornewalsh was "the Bride of Malahide." Thomas's nephew Christopher (son of John Plunkett and Elizabeth Hollywood) was the 1st

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 ...

. Both founded prominent

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

dynasties. It was said that Thomas was "bred to the law": he and his younger brother

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

were the first two of numerous lawyers and judges in the Plunket family. Another of Thomas's nephews was Sir

Thomas Plunket Thomas Plunket (1785–1839) was an Irish soldier in the British Army's 95th Rifles regiment. He served throughout the Peninsular War and later in the Waterloo Campaign of 1815. He is remembered for killing a French general during the Peninsular ...

of Dunsoghly Castle,

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 ...

. This second Sir Thomas was the son of Sir Robert Plunket, who was briefly Lord Chief Justice in 1447.

Career

Thomas became

Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) This is a list of lawyers who held the rank of serjeant-at-law at the Irish Bar. Origins of the office of serjeant The first recorded serjeant was Roger Owen, who was appointed between 1261 and 1266, although the title itself was not commonly ...

in 1434. At that time the holder of this office was the senior legal adviser to the Crown. He was entrusted with levying

subsidies A subsidy or government incentive is a form of financial aid or support extended to an economic sector (business, or individual) generally with the aim of promoting economic and social policy. Although commonly extended from the government, the ter ...

in 1447, and with surveying the royal mines in 1450. He was made a justice of

assize The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...

, and was entrusted with the defence of the county in 1456.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' John Murray London 1926 Vol. 1 pp.181-2 There is good reason to believe that he was admitted to

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 1452-3, although the name is spelt "Blonket" in the records. 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 ...

Thomas, like most of the Anglo-Irish gentry of

the Pale The Pale (Irish: ''An Pháil'') or the English Pale (' or ') was the part of Ireland directly under the control of the English government in the Late Middle Ages. It had been reduced by the late 15th century to an area along the east coast st ...

, was a supporter of the would-be King

Richard of York Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (21 September 1411 – 30 December 1460), also named Richard Plantagenet, was a leading English magnate and claimant to the throne during the Wars of the Roses. He was a member of the ruling House of Plantage ...

; he accompanied him to England in 1460 and was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

. After the triumph of York's son, King

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

in 1461, Plunket was appointed Lord Chief Justice, but was forced to contest the position with his predecessor, Sir Nicholas Barnewall. He was reappointed in 1463 and confirmed in office in 1468, jointly with John Chevir. Ruined_Church_-_geograph

He died on 12 June 1471, bequeathing the sum of £100 to

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Christ Church Cathedral, more formally The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, is the cathedral of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the ecclesiastical province of the United Provinces of Dublin and Cashel in the ( ...

. He was buried in

Rathmore Church Rathmore Church is a ruined medieval church and National Monument in County Meath, Ireland. It was constructed by the prominent Plunkett living nearby at Rathmore Castle. A modern church 0.5 km to the northeast serving the area was constr ...

, Rathmore, County Meath, where an impressive

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a :wikt:repository, repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be ...

was erected to the memory of Thomas and his second wife Marian Cruise. Rathmore Church is now a ruin, but the tomb, with the effigies of the couple, is still visible. The

effigy An effigy is an often life-size sculptural representation of a specific person, or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certai ...

of Thomas, wearing a suit of armour, is in good condition; Marion's has decayed badly.

Marriages and children

He married firstly Genet Cusack, and by her had one son who probably predeceased him. He married secondly Marion Cruise (or Cruys), daughter and heiress of Sir Christopher Cruise of Rathmore, County Meath, and in her right became Lord of the Manor of Rathmore. His second marriage, though advantageous, was said to be a love affair. There are several romantic stories about the marriage, and a celebrated ballad, ''"The Song of Mary Cruys"'', describes how Thomas as a young

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

in London restored Marion, then a penniless

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

in England, to her rightful inheritance. How much truth there is in the story that Marian and her mother were forced to flee from their home in fear of their lives after her father's murder is uncertain, but violence was endemic in fifteenth century Ireland, as it was in England, so the story may have some basis in fact. He and Marian had five children: *Edmund, who inherited Rathmore but died without issue *Sir

Alexander Plunket Alexander Plunket ( died 1503 ) was an Irish statesman and judge of the fifteenth century. He was appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland by King Henry VII of England in 1492. Rowland FitzEustace, 1st Baron Portlester was Lord Chancellor and Lord T ...

Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland (commonly known as Lord Chancellor of Ireland) was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801, it was also the highest political office of ...

*Ismay, who married Sir William de Wellesley of Dangan: their children included **

Walter Wellesley Walter Wellesley (c.1470-1539) was a sixteenth-century Irish cleric and judge. He was Prior of Great Connell Priory, Bishop of Kildare 1529-39, and Master of the Rolls in Ireland 1531-2. Background and early career He was born about 1470, the se ...

Bishop of Kildare The Bishop of Kildare was an episcopal title which took its name after the town of Kildare in County Kildare, Ireland. The title is no longer in use by any of the main Christian churches having been united with other bishoprics. In the Roman Cat ...

and Prior of

Great Connell Priory Great Connell Priory () is a former house of Augustinian canons dedicated to Saint Mary and Saint David, situated on the eastern side of the River Liffey, in the Barony of Connell just to the south-east of the town of Newbridge, County Kildare, ...

, **Garett Wellesley, ancestor of the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of ...

, and **Alison, who married John Cusack of

Cushinstown Cushinstown is a townland which, together with Roadmain and Curraghtown is in the parish of Duleek, County Meath, Ireland. This entity is not, at any point geographically attached to the main part of the parish, so it might be said that these to ...

, County Meath, and was the mother of several children, including Sir Thomas Cusack,

*Margaret, who married Barnaby Barnewall, judge of the

Court of King's Bench (Ireland) The Court of King's Bench (of Queen's Bench when the sovereign was female, and formerly of Chief Place or Chief Pleas) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The King's Benc ...

, no issue *Elizabeth, who married Christopher Barnewall, 2nd Baron Trimleston; their eldest son John, 3rd Baron, was, like his uncles Alexander and Thomas, Lord Chancellor of Ireland. They had several other children, including Robert, Alison and Ismay.Lodge and Archdall pp.182-185

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plunket, Thomas Fitz-Christopher People from County Meath 1471 deaths Year of birth uncertain Lords chief justice of Ireland Serjeants-at-law (Ireland)

Family

Career

Marriages and children

See also

References