Anne Butler, Countess of Ormond (née Welles; 1360 – 13 November 1397), was the first wife of Irish noble

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 reside ...

, and the mother of

James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...

. She was the first countess of Ormond to live at

Kilkenny Castle Kilkenny Castle ( ) is a castle in Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, built in 1260 in Ireland, 1260 to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routeways. It was a symbol of Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, N ...

, Ireland. According to Frederick Tupper, Professor of English at the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...

, she was commemorated as "Anelida, Queen of Armenia" in

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

's poem ''

Anelida and Arcite ''Anelida and Arcite'' is a 357-line English poem by Geoffrey Chaucer. It tells the story of Anelida, queen of Armenia and her wooing by false Arcite from Thebes, Greece. Although relatively short, it is a poem with a complex structure, with an ...

''.

Family and lineage

Anne Welles was born in Grainsby,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England in 1360, the daughter of John de Welles, 4th

Baron Welles The title of Baron Welles has been created three times. Its first creation was for Adam de Welles on 6 May 1299 in the Peerage of England by writ of summons. This creation was extinguished by attainder in 1469. The title was created a second ti ...

(23 August 1334 – 11 October 1361) and Maud de Ros (died 9 December 1388). She had an elder brother

John de Welles, 5th Baron Welles John de Welles, 5th Baron Welles (1352–1421) was an English soldier and noble. The son of John de Welles, 4th Baron Welles and Maud de Ros. He married Eleanor de Mowbray, daughter of John de Mowbray, 4th Baron Mowbray, and Elizabeth de Segrav ...

(born 20 April 1352), who married Eleanor de Mowbray, by whom he had issue. She had a sister Margery de Welles, who married firstly, John de Huntingfield, 1st

Baron Huntingfield Baron Huntingfield is a title created three times, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of Ireland. The first two creations were by Hereditary peer#Writs of summons, writ, but little more is known about them, except that John de H ...

and secondly,

Stephen Scrope, 2nd Baron Scrope of Masham Stephen Scrope, 2nd Baron Scrope of Masham and Upsale (1345–1406) was the second surviving son of Henry Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Masham and his second wife Joan. Cokayne, G.E., ''The Complete Peerage of England and Wales (Vol. VII, London, 18 ...

. Her paternal grandparents were Sir Adam de Welles, 3rd Baron Welles and Margaret Bardolf, and her maternal grandparents were William de Ros, 2nd Baron de Ros and Margery Badlesmere, the eldest daughter of

Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere (18 August 127514 April 1322) was an English soldier, diplomat, member of parliament, landowner and nobleman. He was the son and heir of Sir Gunselm de Badlesmere (died ca. 1301) and Joan FitzBer ...

and

Margaret de Clare Margaret de Clare, Countess of Gloucester, Countess of Cornwall (12 October 1293 – 9 April 1342) was an English noblewoman, heiress, and the second eldest of the three daughters of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford and his wife Joan of ...

Marriage

Prior to 17 June 1386, Anne Welles married James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond (died 6 September 1405), son of

James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond (4 October 133118 October 1382) was a noble in the Peerage of Ireland. He was Lord Justice of Ireland in 1359, 1364, and 1376, and a dominant political leader in Ireland in the 1360s and 1370s. The son of James B ...

and Elizabeth Darcy. He twice served as

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 ...

. Upon her marriage to the earl, she assumed the title Countess of Ormond. In September 1391, James purchased

from Hugh le Despenser, and the Ormonds made this magnificent stone fortification set in a park their chief residence with the earl using it as a base from which he ruled over the district. Previously they lived at Gowran Castle. James and Anne hosted

King Richard II 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, Prince of Wales (later known as the Black Prince), and Joan, Countess of Kent. R ...

when he visited Kilkenny Castle in 1395. King Richard showed his favour to the earl and countess by acting as godfather to their second son, named Richard in honour of the king.Kilkenny Castle: The Marble Fireplace
; retrieved 25 March 2012. It was suggested by Frederick Tupper, Professor of English at the University of Vermont, that Anne was commemorated as "Anelida, Queen of Armenia", in

's poem ''

'' with "Arcite" having been her husband.De Weever, Jacqueline (1995). ''Chaucer Name Dictionary: A Guide to the Astrological, Biblical, Historical, Literary, and Mythological Names in the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer''. New York: Routledge. p. 25

Issue

James and Anne had three children: *

(1392 – 22 August 1452), known as ''The White Earl''. He married firstly, Joan de Beauchamp, by whom he had five children, including

James Butler, 5th Earl of Ormond James Butler, 5th Earl of Ormond, Earl of Wiltshire (24 November 1420 – 1 May 1461) was an Anglo-Irish nobleman and soldier. Butler was a staunch Lancastrian and supporter of Queen consort Margaret of Anjou during the Wars of the Roses. He w ...

John Butler, 6th Earl of Ormond John Butler, 6th Earl of Ormond (died 14 December 1476) was considered one of the first gentlemen of the age in which he lived. He was an ambassador to the most important courts of Europe. Family John Butler, 6th Earl of Ormond was the second ...

, and

Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond PC (1426 – 3 August 1515) was the youngest son of James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond. He was attainted, but restored by Henry VII's first Parliament in November 1485, and the statutes made at Westminster, b ...

. Thomas was the great-grandfather of queen consort

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the Wives of Henry VIII, second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading ...

.Richardson, Everingham. pp.162–165 He married secondly, Joan FitzGerald. * Anne Butler, married John Wogan, by whom she had issue. * Sir Richard Butler, of Poulstown, Kilkenny (born 1395), married Catherine O'Reilly, daughter of Gildas O'Reilly, Lord of East Breffny, by whom he had issue.

Death

On 26 June 1397, Anne issued a lease to Sir John Drayton, of the manor of Aylesbury,

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

, and rents and appurtenances of the towns of Aylesbury and Burton. Anne Welles died on 13 November 1397, around the age of 37.''Collectanea Top. et Gen.1'' (1834), pp. 280–81 The Earl of Ormond married secondly, Katherine FitzGerald of Desmond, by whom he had four children. The Earl had an illegitimate son,

Thomas Le Boteller Thomas Le Boteller, or Thomas Butler, nicknamed Thomas ''Bacach'' i.e. ''Thomas the Lame'' (before 1386 – 1420), was the illegitimate son of the 3rd Earl of Ormond, and a leading political figure in early fifteenth-century Ireland. He held the o ...

, Prior of

Kilmainham Kilmainham (, meaning " St Maighneann's church") is a south inner suburb of Dublin, Ireland, south of the River Liffey and west of the city centre. It is in the city's Dublin 8 postal district. History Origins Kilmainham's foundation dates ...

by an unknown mistress.Richardson, Douglas, Everingham, Kimball G. (2005). ''Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families''. Baltimore:Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc. p. 162

References

Sources

* Ormonde Pedigree (''

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

Baronetage and Knightage'', 103rd edition, 1962 pp. 1871–1874) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ormond, Anne Welles, Countess of 1360 births 1397 deaths Irish countesses Normans in Ireland Date of birth unknown Daughters of barons People from County Kilkenny People from East Lindsey District 14th-century English people Place of death missing Anglo-Norman women 14th-century Irish women 14th-century Irish nobility 14th-century English women