Sir Edmund Butler of Cloughgrenan
Sir Edmund Butler (1534 - 1602) of the Dullough, Cloughgrenan was the second son of James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond and Lady Joan Fitzgerald. He was a Tudor rebel and scion of the noble House of Ormond.
Life and career
Battle of Affane
During the Battle of Affane in 1565, Edmund wounded Gerald FitzGerald, 15th Earl of Desmond in the right hip with a pistol-shot, cracking his thigh-bone and throwing him from his mount. With their leader fallen, the Geraldine troops were routed and the Butlers, led by Edmund's brother Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond, pursued them to the riverbank killing about 300 Geraldines.
Butler Revolt
His father died in London in 1546 when Edmund was about 12 years of age. By his father's will, he received the Dullough - the western part of the barony of Idrone, which, with the Roscrea property, was considered to be worth £400 yearly.[1] The 9th Earl had purchased the Dullogh from the Kavanaghs who had been in occupation of the land since before the Norman invasion of Ireland. Sir Peter Carew put forward his claims in right of his ancestors, the lords of Idrone. It was in defence of this property that Sir Edmund came into conflict with the Government.
Edmund, then heir to his brother, earned infamy when he led the Butler Revolt in 1569. Alongside his brothers Edward and Pierce, Edmund's rebellion was in direct response to the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir Henry Sidney who unjustly granted Edmund's lands in Idrone to the English adventurer Sir Peter Carew. Edmund and his brothers responded by raiding English settlements up and down the breadth of Leinster and were declared traitors by Sidney. This was all the more remarkable because the Butlers had long been famed for their incredible loyalty to the Crown of England.
Eventually Edmund's brother Ormond, fearing for the future of his lands and titles, responded by joining his erstwhile enemy Sidney and marched against Edmund. Under pressure from Earl Thomas and attainted by Queen Elizabeth I, Edmund fled east where he linked up with Catholic militant James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald inciting the Desmond Rebellions which would last until 1583.
Desmond rebellion
Edmund, perceiving this rebellion to be an anti-Protestant, anti-England and anti-Ormond rebellion quickly surrendered himself to his brother and begged pardon by Queen Elizabeth. While she agreed to save his life, Elizabeth did not remove the attainder on Edmund. His brothers Edward and Piers Butler remained with the Desmond forces.
Nevertheless the indefatigable Edmund, with the help of Fiach MacHugh O'Byrne, escaped from Dublin Castle where he was imprisoned. He rather ungallantly fell from a rope hung from the battlements and was forced to spend the night roaming around in the castle fosse evading Sidney's troops.
Final days
He remained at large until his death in 1602 when Queen Elizabeth I reversed the attainder on his last remaining legitimate son Theobald. His elder two sons were executed at Thurles by their uncle Earl Thomas during another rebellion in 1596. He was also survived by an illegitimate son Thomas who was made a Baronet by King Charles I in 1628.
Marriage and issue
He married Eleanor Eustace and had issue:
- Piers Butler (d.1596), who married Mary Butler, with issue.
- James Butler (d.1596)
- Theobald Butler, (c.1570-1613) created 1st Viscount Butler of Tulleophelim in 1603. He married Lady Elizabeth Butler.
- Joan Butler, who married Teige, 4th Lord Upper Ossory.
- Katherine Butler, who married William Fitzjohn Eustace.
- Sir Thomas Butler, 1st Baronet of Cloughgrenan (d.1642) ((illegitimate). He married Anne Bagenal, with issue.
References
- ^ Hughes, James; The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, Fourth Series, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1870), pp. 153-192, 211-231.
- Ormond, Duke of, Life 1610-'88: Thomas A. Carte, M.A. 6 vols. Oxford, 1851
- The Complete Peerage