Thomas Talbot (1438 – 1487) was a wealthy landowner and judge in fifteenth-century Ireland. He was the head of the prominent Talbot family of

Malahide Castle Malahide Castle ( ga, Caisleán Mhullach Íde), parts of which date to the 12th century, lies close to the village of Malahide, nine miles (14 km) north of central Dublin in Ireland. It has over of remaining parkland estate, forming the ...

. His descendants acquired the title Baron Talbot de Malahide, and he himself was recognised by the Crown as Lord of Malahide, although this was not a

hereditary title Hereditary titles, in a general sense, are nobility titles, positions or styles that are hereditary and thus tend or are bound to remain in particular families. Though both monarchs and nobles usually inherit their titles, the mechanisms often d ...

. He was also

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

of the Port of Malahide.''Burke's Peerage'' 4th Edition London 1833 Vol. 2 p. 522 By the time of his death he held lands in four counties and was one of the principal landowners in

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 ...

. After his death, there was a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

between his widow Elizabeth and a Talbot relative, James, over possession of some of his properties. Malahide Castle, March 2011 (2)

Early life

He was the son of Richard Talbot of Malahide Castle and Matilda (or Maud) Plunkett, daughter of Christopher Plunkett, first

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 Janet Cusack.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' London 1926 Vol. 1 p. 183 She was a much-married lady, whose other husbands were Jenico d'Artois the younger, and then Thomas Hussey, 5th

Baron Galtrim Baron Galtrim was an Irish feudal barony: in other words, the holder of the barony, which was hereditary in the Hussey family, was entitled to style himself Lord Galtrim, but was not entitled as of right to sit in the Irish House of Lords, althou ...

, who was murdered on their wedding day, an event which inspired the nineteenth-century

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 Bride of Malahide". Richard Talbot had inherited Malahide in 1432 when he was still a

minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...

and died in 1442. Thomas was given possession of his lands in 1459 on foot of a petition to the Privy Council of Ireland which stated that he had proved that he had come of age, and thus we know that he was born in 1438.''Patent Roll 37 Henry VI '' His mother obtained

letters patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...

from the

English Crown This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself King of the Anglo-Sax ...

granting her possession of her late husband's estates. In about 1460 his mother made a fourth marriage to Sir

John Cornwalsh Sir John Cornwalsh, or Cornwalysch (died 1472) was an Irish judge who held the office of Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. Beresford, David "Cornwalsh, James" ''Cambridge Dictionary of Irish Biography'' His tenure was notable for the fact tha ...

Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer was the Baron (judge) who presided over the Court of Exchequer (Ireland). The Irish Court of Exchequer was a mirror of the equivalent court in England and was one of the four courts which sat in the buildin ...

. The marriage was reputed to be a stormy one: Cornwalsh was notoriously quarrelsome, and Matilda is said to have been fully a match for him in temper. He built

Dardistown Castle Dardistown Castle is a castle and country house situated in parkland near Julianstown in County Meath, Ireland a few miles south of Drogheda. The medieval castle itself is a large four-storey medieval tower house to which a Victorian resident ...

in County Meath, with the aid of a grant from the Crown for the construction of defensible houses. Cornwalsh died in 1472, and Matilda died in 1482. Since Cornwalsh had no children, Thomas inherited the Cornwalsh estates, which were principally situated 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 ...

; he also acquired lands in

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

from the heirs of

Baron Darcy de Knayth Baron Darcy de Knayth is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1332 for John Darcy (or D'Arcy) with remainder to his heirs general, allowing daughters to inherit. At the death of the sixth baron, the barony fell into abeyance bet ...

Career

In 1460 King Henry VI, by

, recognised Thomas as ''Dominus'' (Lord) of Malahide. In 1472 he became 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 1475 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 ...

created him Admiral of the Port of Malahide, with power to hold an

Admiralty court Admiralty courts, also known as maritime courts, are courts exercising jurisdiction over all maritime contracts, torts, injuries, and offences. Admiralty courts in the United Kingdom England and Wales Scotland The Scottish court's earliest ...

, and the right to levy

customs duties A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...

on all merchandise coming through the port, as well as a number of other privileges, including an exemption from doing

homage Homage (Old English) or Hommage (French) may refer to: History *Homage (feudal) /ˈhɒmɪdʒ/, the medieval oath of allegiance *Commendation ceremony, medieval homage ceremony Arts *Homage (arts) /oʊˈmɑʒ/, an allusion or imitation by one arti ...

for his lands. These privileges suggest that Thomas was a man for whose support the

House of York The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, ...

was willing to pay a high price. This was part of a wider Yorkist policy, which had considerable success, of trying to win the support of powerful

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 ...

magnates such as the Earl of Kildare. Many of these men remained Yorkist in sympathy even after the downfall of the Yorkist dynasty in 1485, and most of them made the mistake of supporting the Yorkist pretender Lambert Simnel, who unsuccessfully claimed the Crown of England in 1487. It is unclear whether or not Talbot belonged to the Simnel faction, since he died in July of that year, at the height of the crisis.

Death and descendants

Thomas died on 23 July 1487. His first wife was a Miss Somerton, but little is known of her except the name. By his second wife Elizabeth Bulkeley, he had five sons: *Peter (his heir), ancestor of the Barons Talbot *John, ancestor of the Talbots of

*Thomas *Richard *William, of Templeogue, ancestor of the Talbots of Mount Talbot; he was the father of Richard Talbot, who like his grandfather was a High Court judge Elizabeth outlived Thomas: as his widow, she brought a lawsuit in about 1494 against Sir James Talbot, whose precise relationship to Thomas is unclear, concerning their rival claims to certain Talbot manors.''Bulkeley v Talbot'' National Archives C/1/1494/22

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talbot, Thomas 1487 deaths 1430s births Irish admiralty judges Justices of the Irish Common Pleas People from Malahide