James Butler (1393 - abt. 1452)

Born 28 May 1393 in Fruglasse, County Kilkenny, Ireland

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth Joan (FitzGerald) Butler — married 1432 in Ireland

Descendants

Died about 23 Aug 1452 at about age 59 in Ardee, County Louth, Ireland

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Biography

Birth, Parents and Early Life

James, known as the White Earl (perhaps because of his very fair hair),^[1] was the son of James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond, and Anne Welles.^[2][3] He was born at Fruglasse, County Kilkenny, Ireland on 28 May 1393.^[4][5][6]

James's father died in 1405, while James was still a minor, and his wardship was awarded to Thomas Lancaster, son of Henry IV.^[2] James entered into possession of his lands in Ireland in 1411, and those in England in 1412.^[1][2]

Marriages and Children

No later than 28 August 1413, James married Joan Beauchamp, daughter of William Beauchamp and Joan FitzAlan/de Arundel.^[3][4][5] They had the following children:

• James^[3][4][5]
• John^[4][5][7]
• Thomas^[4][5][8]
• Elizabeth, who married John Talbot^[4][5]
• Anne, who died in 1435^[4][5] (see below)

Joan Beauchamp died in August 1430.^[3][4][5] In 1432 James married Elizabeth FitzGerald, daughter of Gerald FitzMaurice and his second wife Agnes Darcy, and widow of John Grey, 5th Lord Grey of Codnor. A royal licence for their marriage was dated 14 July 1432, and, because of consanguinity, they had a papal dispensation, dated 29 April 1432. They had no children. She died on 6 August 1452.^[4][5][3]

Reign of Henry V

In 1408 Thomas of Lancaster appointed James deputy lieutenant of Ireland.^[3] James continued closely associated with Thomas, whom he accompanied on an expedition to France in 1412.^[1][3]

Under Henry V James served militarily in both France and Ireland. He was present at the 1418 siege of Rouen, Normandy.^[1][2]

Quarrel with the Talbots

In Ireland James became involved in a long and bitter dispute with the Talbots - John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and Richard Talbot, Archbishop of Dublin. This may have begun when the Talbots seized some of James's Irish lands in 1417 on the grounds of decades-old Butler family debts to the Irish Exchequer:^[2] John Talbot was at the time Lieutenant of Ireland. In 1420 James succeeded John Talbot as Lieutenant, serving for two years, and again in 1425, but the Talbot dispute caused considerable problems during his lietenancy and beyond.^[1][2]

Contract for Marriage of Daughter Anne

James entered into a marriage contract, in the form of an indenture of 10 May 1429, for the marriage of his daughter Anne to Thomas FitzJames/FitzGerald, son of the 6th Earl of Desmond, but Anne died in 1435 before the marriage was completed.^[9][10]

1430s

In 1430 James went to France^[2][3] where he was in the retinue of Henry VI, who had gone there to be crowned King of France.^[3] He returned to Ireland in 1431. There, his second marriage the next year brought him many of the lands of the Earldom of Kildare.^[1][2]

In 1438 he sought to act as Lieutenant of Ireland again: the position was given to his cousin Lionel Welles, who made James his deputy.^[1][3] As deputy, James secured the exemption of the English in Ireland from an English tax on aliens.^[2]

1440s

In February 1442 James started another term as Lieutenant of Ireland.^[1][2]

Under the terms of the 1429 agreement for Anne, following her death in 1435, his daughter Elizabeth should have married Thomas FitzJames/FitzGerald (the son of the 6th Earl of Desmond), to whom Anne had been contracted in marriage,^[10] but in 1444 Elizabeth was instead betrothed to John Talbot, son and prospective heir of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury. This betrothal was designed to end the quarrel between the Talbots and James, which had reached a "Great Council" in Ireland in 1442: the Talbots had presented a set of grievances about James. The Council declared that only James was "so mighty and so hable to kepe [Ireland] to the kinges availle".^[2]

The betrothal of Elizabeth to John Talbot led to a major quarrel with the Desmonds, who raided James' Irish lands.^[9] James was forced to go to England, surrendering his lieutenantship to a deputy, to answer charges of treason and, perhaps, necromancy. There were two attempts to have the quarrel with the Desmonds settled by a judicially-approved duel, but these came to nothing. In the end, James was acquitted in 1447.^[2]

Final Years

By 1449-50 James was closely associated with Richard, Duke of York, then Lieutenant of Ireland. James was godfather to Richard's son George, who became Duke of Clarence.^[2] From 1450 to his death two years later, James served as deputy lieutenant after Richard returned to England,^[1] receiving £1000 a year together with the income of Richard's Earldom of Ulster.^[2]

Ordinances

A set of ordinances relating to the administration and ruling of James's Irish lands survives.^[11] These include a degree of recognition of Gaelic laws and customs.^[1]

Literary Patronage

James commissioned at least two works:^[12]

• an English translation of a treatise on the art of government, The Governaunce of Prynces
• a genealogical work, The Book of the White Earl (the White Earl being his nickname), which was combined with The Book of of Pottlerath, a compendium of religious and other works which his nephew Edmund MacRichard commissioned^[13][14]

James was also a patron of a Gaelic bard, Tadg Óg Ó hUiginn, who wrote a praise poem for him.^[2]

Death

James died at Ardee, County Louth, Ireland on 22 or 23 August 1452^[3][4][5] while on his way back from a lengthy military campaign.^[1] He was buried at St Mary's, Dublin.^[3][4][5] Administration of James's estate was granted on 10 March 1455/6.^[4][5]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10} Dictionary of Irish Biography, entry by David Beresford for 'Butler, James', web, accessed 9 August 2022
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Elizabeth Matthew for 'Butler, James, fourth earl of Ormond', print and online 2004, revised online 2013
3. ↑ ^{3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11} G E Cokayne. Complete Peerage, revised edition, Vol. X, St Catherine Press, 1945, pp. 123-126, viewable on Familysearch
4. ↑ ^{4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11} Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), Vol. I, pp. 380-382, BUTLER 9, Google Books
5. ↑ ^{5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11} Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), Vol. II, pp. 50-52, BUTLER 10
6. ↑ Douglas Richardson. 'C.P. Addition: Birthdate of James le Boteler, 4th Earl of Ormond', soc.genealogy.medieval, 23 January 2006, citing Jeremy Catto and Linne Mooney, The Chronicle of John Somer, OFM, in Camden Miscellany, 5th Series, Vol. 10, p. 277: "1393. Nativitas Jacobi comitis Ormond 28 maii aput fruglasse"
7. ↑ G E Cokayne. Complete Peerage, revised edition, Vol. X, p. 129
8. ↑ G E Cokayne. Complete Peerage, revised edition, Vol. X, p. 131
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} David Beresford. The Butlers in England and Ireland, 1405-1515, [thesis], Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland). Department of History, 1999, passim, downloadable at Trinity College, Dublin website, accessed 9 August 2022
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} Abstract of agreement viewable at 'History of Kinsalebeg, Landlords and Land Ownership', web (search for "entry 88"), accessed 9 August 2022
11. ↑ C A Empey and Katharine Simms. The Ordinances of the White Earl and the Problem of Coign in the Later Middle Ages, in 'Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature', Vol. 75 (1975), pp. 161-187, JSTOR, accessed 9 August 2022 (free registration required)
12. ↑ Karen Ralph. ''Medieval Antiquarianism: The Butlers and Artistic Patronage in Fifteenth-Century Ireland, in 'The Journal of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies', Vol. 7, 2014, pp. 2-27, viewable on JSTOR (free registration required)
13. ↑ Wikipedia: The Book of the White Earl
14. ↑ Eamonn Kiely. The Book of Pottlerath, radio talk of 4 April 2018, Kilkenny Archaeological Society website, accessed 9 August 2022

See also:

• Wikipedia: James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond
• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Vol. 8, p. 50, entry for 'BUTLER, JAMES, fourth Earl Of Ormonde', Wikisource
• Curtis, Edmund (ed.). Calendar of Ormond Deeds (6 volumes of legal and land transactions in counties Kilkenny and Tipperary in the period 1172-1603): Volumes 2 and 3 roughly correspond to James Butler's lifetime - PDFs here (accessed 6 August 2022)
• Wills, James. Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen, Vol. I, MacGregor, Polson and Co (Dublin), 1840, pp. 393-401, Internet Archive
• Weis, Frederick Lewis. Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists who Came to America Before 1700, 8th edition, Genealogical Publishing Company, 2004, p. 118, line 120/36

Acknowledgements

Magna Carta Project

This profile was developed for the Magna Carta Project by Michael Cayley on 9 August 2022 and was reviewed the same day by Thiessen-117.

James Butler is in a Richardson-documented trail from the Alsop Gateway Ancestors (Timothy, Elizabeth and George) to Magna Carta Surety Barons Roger le Bigod and Hugh le Bigod (Magna Carta Ancestry, vol. I, pages 6-9 ALSOP) which was badged in August 2022. See the trails HERE.

See Base Camp for more information about identified Magna Carta trails and their status. See the project's glossary for project-specific terms, such as a "badged trail".