James Butler, 1st Earl of Ormond (c.1305- January 6, 1338 Gowran

Gowran

Gowran is a village and former town in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Gowran Park race course is located nearby. Gowran is located on the N9 national primary road where it is crossed by the R702 regional road.-History:...

, Co. Kilkenny), was a noble in the Peerage of Ireland

Peerage of Ireland

The Peerage of Ireland is the term used for those titles of nobility created by the English and later British monarchs of Ireland in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland. The creation of such titles came to an end in the 19th century. The ranks of the Irish peerage are Duke, Marquess, Earl,...

.

Ancestry

He was the son of Edmund Butler, Earl of Carrick

Edmund Butler, Earl of Carrick

Edmund Butler, Earl of Carrick and 6th Chief Butler of Ireland was a noble in the Peerage of Ireland. He was the second son of Theobald Butler, 4th Chief Butler of Ireland.-Career:...

, Justiciar of Ireland, (1268- 13 September 1321) and Joan FitzGerald, Countess of Carrick. His paternal grandparents were Theobald le Botiller

Theobald Butler, 4th Chief Butler of Ireland

Theobald Butler, 4th Chief Butler of Ireland was the son of Theobald Butler, 3rd Chief Butler of Ireland and Margery de Burgh, daughter of Richard Mor de Burgh, 1st Lord of Connacht. He assisted King Edward I of England in his wars in Scotland...

 (1242–1285), (son of Theobald le Botiller

Theobald Butler, 3rd Chief Butler of Ireland

Theobald Butler, 3rd Chief Butler of Ireland was 6 years old when his father, Theobald died. His mother was Joan de Marisco, daughter of the Justiciar of Ireland, Geoffrey de Marisco....

 and Margery de Burgh

Margery de Burgh

Margery de Burgh , was a Norman- Irish noblewoman and the wife of Theobald Le Botiller. She was a descendant of Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, and the ancestress of the Earls of Ormond.- Family and lineage :...

), and Joan FitzJohn (FitzGeffrey) (died 4 April 1303), daughter of John FitzGeoffrey

John FitzGeoffrey

John FitzGeoffrey, Lord of Shere and Justiciar of Ireland was an English nobleman.John FitzGeoffrey was the son of Geoffrey Fitz Peter, 1st Earl of Essex and Aveline de Clare, daughter of Roger de Clare, 3rd Earl of Hertford and his wife Maud de Saint-Hilaire. He was Justiciar of Ireland...

, Lord of Shere, Justiciar of Ireland, and Isabel Bigod

Isabel Bigod

Isabel Bigod, Lady of Shere was an English noblewoman, the only daughter of Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk. She was the wife of Gilbert de Lacy, of Ewyas Lacy, and John FitzGeoffrey, Lord of Shere.- Family :...

. His maternal grandparents were John FitzThomas FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Kildare and Blanche de La Roche, who was the daughter of John de La Roche, Lord Fermoy and Maud de Waleys (Walsh).

Titles

Upon his father's death in 1321, the only hereditary title that James held was that of Chief Butler Of Ireland. As the 7th Chief Butler, he inherited the title from his ancestor Theobald Fitzwalter whose successors adopted the surname Butler

Butler (surname)

Butler is a surname that has been associated with many different places and people. It can be either:* an English occupational name that originally denoted a servant in charge of the wine cellar, from the Norman French word butuiller...

. A gap of 7 years was to follow before James was rewarded for his loyalty to the Crown with an earldom in his own right. His benefactor, King Edward III

Edward III of England

Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...

 created him the first Earl of Ormond by patent, bearing date 2 November 1328 at Salisbury, the King then holding a Parliament there, with the creation fee of £10 a year. Seven days afterwards, by patent dated at Wallingford, in consideration of his services, and the better to enable him to support the honour, the King gave to him the regalities, liberties, knights fees, and other royal privileges of the county of Tipperary, and the rights of a palatine in that county for life.

At the same time, the king created Roger Mortimer

Roger Mortimer

Roger Mortimer was the name of several Marcher lords:* Roger Mortimer of Wigmore , married Isabel de Ferriers and became Lord of Maelienydd...

 as the 1st Earl of March

Earl of March

The title The Earl of March has been created several times in the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of England. The title derived from the "marches" or boundaries between England and either Wales or Scotland , and was held by several great feudal families which owned lands in those border...

.

In 1336 he founded the friary of Carrick-Begg (a townland on the River Suir

River Suir

The River Suir is a river in Ireland that flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Waterford after a distance of .Popular with anglers, it holds plentiful reserves of brown trout...

 opposite Carrick-on-Suir

Carrick-on-Suir

Carrick-on-Suir is a town in South Tipperary in Ireland. As the name – meaning "the rock of the Suir" – suggests, the town is situated on the River Suir. The of the town gives the population as 5,906 and shows that it has grown by 5.7% since 2002...

) for Franciscan

Franciscan

Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

 Friars. On 3 June of that year, he gave the friars his castle and estate of Carrick, of which they took possession on Sunday the feast of SS. Peter and Paul.

Marriage and issue

He married in 1327, Lady Eleanor de Bohun

Eleanor de Bohun, Countess of Ormonde

Eleanor de Bohun, Countess of Ormond was an English noblewoman born in Knaresborough Castle to Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford and Elizabeth daughter of King Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile...

, (17 October 1304- 7 October 1363),) daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford

Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford

Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford was a member of a powerful Anglo-Norman family of the Welsh Marches and was one of the Ordainers who opposed Edward II's excesses.-Family background :...

 by his spouse Princess Elizabeth of Rhuddlan

Elizabeth of Rhuddlan

Elizabeth of Rhuddlan was the eighth and youngest daughter of Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile...

, the eighth daughter of King Edward I of England

Edward I of England

Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...

 and Eleanor of Castile

Eleanor of Castile

Eleanor of Castile was the first queen consort of Edward I of England. She was also Countess of Ponthieu in her own right from 1279 until her death in 1290, succeeding her mother and ruling together with her husband.-Birth:...

. They had two daughters and two sons:

• John Butler (born at Ardee on St. Leonard's day (6 November) 1330, died an infant)
• Petronella Butler (d. 23 April 1368), married Gilbert Talbot, 3rd Baron Talbot, son of Richard Talbot, 2nd Baron Talbot and Elizabeth Comyn, and had issue.
• Alianore Butler (died 1392), married after 20 July 1359, Gerald FitzGerald, Earl of Desmond, son of Maurice FitzThomas, Earl of Desmond and Aveline FitzMorice, and had issue.
• James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond (4 October 1337-1382), married Elizabeth Darcy daughter of Sir John Darcy, Lord Justice of Ireland, and Joan de Burgh, and had issue. James was born at Kilkenny and given in ward, 1 September 1344, to Maurice, Earl of Desmond, for the fine of 2306 marcs; and afterward to Sir John Darcy who married him to his daughter Elizabeth. He was usually called the noble Earl, on account of his descent from the Royal Family.

James' successors held the title Earl of Ormond, later merged with the higher title of Duke of Ormonde and held palatine rights in County Tipperary

County Tipperary

County Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...

 until the County Palatine of Tipperary Act 1715

County Palatine of Tipperary Act 1715

The County Palatine of Tipperary Act 1715 is an Act of the Parliament of Ireland . This Act enabled the purchase by the crown of the Palatine Rights in the County Tipperary given to the Earls of Ormond later Dukes of Ormonde over the preceding centuries...

.