Thomas Eustace, 1st Viscount Baltinglass (-1549) was an

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 State rel ...

noble who achieved wealth and influence by prudently remaining loyal to the English Crown. He was born circa 1480 at Caslemartin,

County Kildare County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the Local gove ...

Family

He was the son of Richard Eustace (died before 1496), younger son of Sir Edward FitzEustace,

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 ...

, and Anne, daughter of Robert Eustace of Ballyloughrane. He married Margaret Talbot, daughter of Sir Peter Talbot of

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

and Catherine FitzGerald. He died on 31 July 1549. On 14 December 1496, when only sixteen, he succeeded his uncle,

Rowland FitzEustace, 1st Baron Portlester Rowland FitzEustace, 1st Baron Portlester (c. 1430 – 19 December 1496) was an Irish peer, statesman and judge. He was one of the dominant political figures in late fifteenth-century Ireland, rivalled in influence probably only by his son-in-la ...

, in the family estates. Portlester's daughter Alison married

Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare (born – ), known variously as "Garret the Great" (Gearóid Mór) or "The Great Earl" (An tIarla Mór), was Ireland's premier peer. He served as Lord Deputy of Ireland from 1477 to 1494, and from 1496 u ...

and was the grandmother of Silken Thomas, hence the strong pressure on the Eustace clan to join Thomas' rebellion.

Career

He was

High Sheriff of Kildare The High Sheriff of Kildare was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Kildare, Ireland from the 16th century until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Kildare County Sheriff. Th ...

in 1523 and was knighted, but little else is known of him until about 1534. During the

Silken Thomas {{Infobox noble, type , name = Thomas FitzGerald , title = The Earl of Kildare , image = Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare.jpg , caption = , alt = , CoA = , ...

rebellion, when the Eustace family were deeply divided, due to the close family tie between the Eustace and Fitzgerald families, he remained loyal to

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

and was duly rewarded for his assistance in putting down the rebellion by being created Baron Kilcullen in the

Peerage of Ireland The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

in September 1535. He is said to have possessed one-half of

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 in Ireland, 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces ...

, together with his family's existing possessions in Kildare and

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

, and benefited from the Dissolution of the Monasteries. He played a prominent part in the Irish Parliament of 1541-2. The Parliament is chiefly remembered for passing the

Crown of Ireland Act 1542 The Crown of Ireland Act 1542 (33 Hen. 8. c. 1 (I)) is an Act that was passed by the Parliament of Ireland on 18 June 1542, which created the title of "King of Ireland" for monarchs of England and their successors; previous monarchs had rul ...

by which Henry VIII took the title

King of Ireland Monarchical systems of government have existed in Ireland from ancient times. This continued in all of Ireland until 1949, when the Republic of Ireland Act removed most of Ireland's residual ties to the British monarch. Northern Ireland, as p ...

, in preference to the earlier

Lordship of Ireland The Lordship of Ireland (), sometimes referred to retrospectively as Anglo-Norman Ireland, was the part of Ireland ruled by the King of England (styled as "Lord of Ireland") and controlled by loyal Anglo-Norman Lords between 1177 and 1542. T ...

. As a reward for further actions in putting down the rebellion, he was created Viscount Baltinglass, a title also in the Peerage of Ireland, on 29 June 1541. His principal residence was Harristown, Naas South, County Kildare; he died at New Abbey,

Kilcullen Kilcullen (), formally Kilcullen Bridge, is a small town on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Its population of 3,815 at the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census made it the 13th largest settlement in County Kilda ...

Children

Children of Sir Thomas Eustace, 1st Viscount Baltinglass and Margaret TalbotComplete Peerage p.395 * Richard Eustace * Alexander Eustace * Robert Eustace * John Eustace, High Sheriff of Kildare * Rowland Eustace, 2nd Viscount Baltinglass+ b. c 1505, d. 31 Mar 1578 * Anne Eustace, who married firstly an O'Toole and secondly Nicholas Eustace * Janet Eustace, who married firstly Gerald Sutton and secondly Maurice Fitzgerald * Margaret Eustace who married George Burnell * Catherine Eustace who married firstly James FitzGerald and secondly Gerald Plunkett, younger son of

Robert Plunkett, 5th Baron of Dunsany Robert Plunkett, 5th Baron Dunsany (died 1559) was an Anglo-Irish nobleman of the Tudor period. Background He was the only surviving son of Edward Plunkett, 4th Baron of Dunsany and his wife Amy (or Anny) de Bermingham, daughter of Philip de ...

References

G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and

Lord Howard de Walden Baron Howard de Walden is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created by writ of summons in 1597 by Queen Elizabeth I for Admiral Lord Thomas Howard, a younger son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, by his second wife, the Honour ...

, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910–1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume I, page 395. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage. {{DEFAULTSORT:Baltinglass, Thomas Eustace, 1st Viscount 1549 deaths Peers of Ireland created by Henry VIII 16th-century Anglo-Irish people People from County Kildare People from County Wicklow High sheriffs of Kildare Members of the Irish House of Lords 1480s births

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...