As a young man Butler went with Henry VIII to France and was wounded in a leg at the siege of Thérouanne in 1513, hence his sobriquet the Lame or Bocach.[8]
On 3 August 1515, the 7th Earl of Ormond died in London.[9] His father was heir male and succeeded. About 1520 James joined the household of Cardinal Wolsey, who praised him as a young gentleman "both wise and discreet". In early 1522, it was proposed by King Henry VIII that he marry his cousin Anne Boleyn, who was the great-granddaughter of Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond. The purpose was to resolve a dispute between her father, Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and his father over the Ormond inheritance and title; Wolsey himself supported the proposal. The marriage negotiation came to a halt for unknown reasons.[10] On 18 February 1528, the King forced his father to resign the earldom of Ormond, which was given to Thomas Boleyn.[citation needed]
Marriage and children
In 1530 Butler married Joan Fitzgerald. She was the daughter and heiress of the other great Munster landholder, the 10th Earl of Desmond and his wife Amy O'Brien.[11]
One of the heirs general to the Ormond inheritance was Thomas Boleyn, whose mother was a Butler. Boleyn was the father of Anne, whose star was rising at the court of King Henry VIII of England. As the king wanted the titles of Ormond and Wiltshire for Thomas Boleyn, he induced Piers Butler's father and his coheirs to resign their claims on 18 February 1528. Aided by the king's Chancellor, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Butler was granted the earldom of Ossory instead.
Butler was created, in 1535, Viscount Thurles.[22] In 1537, Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Ormond died without a son, whereupon the King on 22 February 1538, restored the earldom of Ormond to Butler's father.[23]
Viscount Thurles's father died on 26 August 1539 and was buried in St Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny.[24] Thurles succeeded as the 9th Earl of Ormond and was confirmed by Act of Parliament, 6 November 1541, in the Earldom of Ormond, with the pre-eminence of the original earls. Cokayne, in his Complete Peeragenumbers him the 10th Earl of Ormond because he counts Thomas Boleyn as the 9th.
In the early 1540s, Lord Ormond, as he now was, gradually restored the Butler dynasty to their former position of influence, leading to antagonism from the quarrelsome Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir Anthony St Leger. St Leger gave Ormond command of the Irish forces in the Anglo-Scottish War of 1544. On the face of it, this was an honour, but allies of Ormond accused St Leger of deliberately sending Ormond into danger.[25]
Ormond himself demanded an inquiry into claims that St Leger had planned his murder, and the matter was thought to merit a Privy Council investigation; the Council found in favour of St Leger and he and Ormond were ordered to work together amicably in future.[26] Key allies of Ormond like John Alan and Walter Cowley were removed from office, and Ormond was struggling to maintain his standing when he was poisoned.
Poisoning and timeline
On 17 October 1546, James was in London with many of his household. They were invited to dine at Ely Palace in Holborn. He was poisoned along with his steward, James Whyte, and 16 of his household. He died eleven days later, on 28 October, leaving Joan a widow in her thirties.[27]
It is surprising, in view of Ormond's high social standing, that no proper investigation into his death was carried out.[28] Whoever was behind the poisoning remains a mystery. His host at the dinner, John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, though he could be notably ruthless towards his enemies, had no motive for the crime, as he had no quarrel with Ormond. A recent historian remarks that it would be an extraordinary coincidence if St Leger had no part in the sudden and convenient removal of his main Irish opponent.[29]
Timeline
As his birth date is uncertain, so are all his ages. Italics for historical background.
^This family tree is partly based on the condensed Butler family tree pictured in Dunboyne[1] and on genealogies of the earls of Desmond[2] and Ormond.[3] Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text.
^The portrait was previously thought to be that of his cousin, Thomas Boleyn, but it has been officially identified as the 9th Earl of Ormond.
[20][21]
^Authors agree that his son Thomas was born in the early 1530s. Edwards (2004) says "about February 1531";[31] Cokayne[32] and Lee[33] say 1532.
^ abWright 2004, p. 151, left column, line 27. "Some historians have estimated that he must have been born c. 1485, others reckon 1504, but surviving evidence indicates that he was born about 1496 when his mother was recorded soon after marrying his father as 'greate with childe'."
^Debrett 1828, p. 640. "Theobald le Boteler on whom that office [Chief Butler of Ireland] was conferred by King Henry II., 1177 ..."
^Cokayne 1895, p. 147. "He m. in 1485 Margaret, 2nd da. of Gerald (FitzGerald) 8th Earl of Kildare ..."
^ abWright 2004, p. 151, left column, line 34. "... 1513, when as a teenager, he went overseas to participate in Henry VII's invasion of northern France. While serving at the siege of Thérouanne, he received a serious leg wound which caused him to limp for the rest of his life—hence his epithet bocach (the lame)."
^ abCokayne 1895, p. 143. "He [the 7th Earl] d. s.p.m. [died without male issue], 3 Aug. 1515 and was bur. [buried] in the church of St. Thomas of Acon, afsd."
^ abWright 2004, p. 151, right column, line 28. "... in 1530 he married Joan (d. [died] 1565), sole daughter and heir of James Fitzgerald, the late earl of Desmond (d. 1529)."
^Butler 1929, p. 29. "... seven sons were born by his wife, Joan, daughter and heiress of James, eleventh Earl of Desmond."
^Burke & Burke 1915, p. 1549, right column, line 42. "2. Edmund, Sir, Knt. of Roscrea and Cloughgrenan, co. Carlow, m. [married] Hon. Eleanor Eustace, dau. [daughter] of Rowland, 2nd Viscount Baltinglass ..."
^Lodge 1789, p. 28, line 18. "Walter Butler of Ballynenoddagh, Nodstown, or Moyalisse, Esq; who married Anne, daughter of Mae Brian O Gonagh, and dying in 1560, was buried at Kilkenny;"
^Burke & Burke 1915, p. 1549, right column, line 70. "6. Edward, of Cloughinche, m. [married] 1st, Lady Eleanor FitzGerald, dau. [daughter] of James FitzJohn, 14th Earl of Desmond; and 2ndly, Margaret Burke, dau. of Richard, 4th Earl of Clanricarde. ..."
^Burke & Burke 1915, p. 1549, line 15. "Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Ormonde, dying s. p. m. [without male issue] in 1537, the King restored the Earl of Ossory to his original title of Ormonde."
^ abCokayne 1895, p. 147, line 9. "He d., 26 Aug. 1539, and was bur. in the church of St. Canice, Kilkenny."
^Edwards 1977, p. 58, line 9. "... a letter arrived a Gowran anonymously accusing St Leger of deliberately throwing Ormond into a situation out of which it was hoped he would not escape alive."
^ abCokayne 1895, p. 148, line 6. "He d. [died] in London, 28 Oct. 1546, from the effects of poison taken on the 17th at supper at Ely House, Holborn ..."
^Murray 2009, p. 192. "Whether Ormond's death was directly attributable to the viceroy's actions, or simply a remarkable coincidence, is now impossible to determine."
