no image
Privacy Level: Open (White)

Piers Butler (abt. 1521 - aft. 1578)

Piers "Pierce na bhuile, Wild Peter" Butler
Born about in Grallagh, Tipperary, Irelandmap
Ancestors ancestors
Son of and
Brother of , , and
Husband of — married 1542 [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Father of
Died after after about age 57 in Grallagh, Tipperary, Irelandmap
Problems/Questions Profile manager: Gerry Hughes private message [send private message]
Profile last modified | Created 29 Jul 2014
This page has been accessed 1,594 times.
European Aristocracy
Piers Butler was a member of the aristocracy in British Isles.

Contents

Biography

Pierce Butler was born circa 1521, the son of James Butler, 10th Baron Dunboyne and Lady Joan Butler, daughter of Pierce Roe Butler, 8th Earl of Ormonde. [1][2]

He was also known as Peter or Piers Butler. Sir Henry Blackall's book The Butlers of County Clare says he was nicknamed "Pierce na bhuile" or "Wild Peter" of Grallagh.[3]

  • Pierce fought in the Siege of Boulogne in 1544, as commander of the Earl of Ormonde's Kerne.
  • He held the office of Sheriff of County Palatine of County Tipperary.
  • From 1568 to 1569 he took part in 'Butlers' War' against Sir Peter Carew. In 1571 he was pardoned. [discrepancy: see Dictionary of Irish Biography notes below]
  • Pierce died after July 1578. Buried in St. Patrick Cathedral in Cashel, Co. Tipperary.

He appears in the 1574 Survey of Ireland:[4]

  • "Men of Name [in the province of Munster]: Earl of Ormond, Count Palatine; Baron of Don Boyen [Dunboyne], Sir Tobot [Tibbot/Theobald] Butler of Cayer [Cahir], James Tobyn of the Compsey, Piers Butler of Grallo [Grallagh], O’Mulreans [O'Mulryan], O’Kennedy of Ormonde, Purcell, Baron Loughmaye [Loughmoe]; Cantwell."[5]

In his final will and testament (written in 1575 upon embarking on a sea voyage for England, although he did not die until 1614) his 1st cousin Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond, wrote: "I bequeath to my cousin Piers Butler of the Grelagh ... [a] big bowl double gilt."[6]

Edited excerpts from Piers' profile in the Dictionary of Irish Biography:[7]

  • Piers Butler (1521–78), landowner, was the 2nd son of Sir James Butler, 10th Baron of Dunboyne (d.1538), and of Joan, daughter of Sir Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond (d.1539).
  • From an early age Piers, known by the sobriquet Piers na mBuile (Wild Piers), was engaged in military activity on behalf of both Butler and Crown interests. On 20 April 1544 his uncle James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond, appointed him captain of 100 Irish kerne recruited to serve the English Crown in France. His company was reviewed by Henry VIII in London on 14 June and landed at Calais on 9 July. They participated in the siege of Montreuil in July and were present at the fall of Boulogne on 30 September. During these sieges, Piers's men were sent to forage and were so thorough at ravaging the surrounding countryside that a delegation of locals beseeched Henry VIII to call off his Irish troops.
  • On returning to Ireland, Butler served the Crown in campaigns against the O'Carrolls and in 1557 against the Scots in Antrim. Locally, he was Sheriff of Tipperary (1557–61 and 1574–8). In 1563 he was commissioner for the peace in Co. Tipperary. The 1560s also witnessed near constant violence between the forces and allies of Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond, and Gerald Fitzgerald, 15th Earl of Desmond. Piers supported his cousin Ormond in this feud. Throughout the decade he raided Desmond's territories in Munster.
  • Butler's main focus in the 1560s, however, was his long-running dispute with his older brother Edmund Butler, 1st Baron of Dunboyne. Under a settlement made by his father on 5 August 1524, Piers inherited Grallagh (where he resided) and other lands in Co. Tipperary, totalling some 16,000 acres. Dunboyne had objected to this generous settlement. Their sibling rivalry was worsened by the hatred between their respective wives.[8]
  • In July 1561, Dunboyne filed suit to recover Grallagh, claiming that, as it was entailed to the Barons of Dunboyne, his father had no right to bequeath it to Piers and that Piers was merely a life tenant. Piers had the support of Ormond, who wanted the case to be heard in his own Palatinate court and regarded Dunboyne as his main rival within the Butler lordship. Piers refused to hand his estate over, and a frustrated Dunboyne attacked and captured Piers' castle at Croghane in October 1565. Piers' entreaty to the Queen led her to rule in September that the case should be re-tried. Dunboyne responded with violence, and the 2 brothers continued their feud into the spring of 1567.
  • In April 1567 the exasperated Lord Deputy, Sir Henry Sidney, arrested both brothers and their wives and imprisoned them in Dublin Castle to await shipment to London for trial. Dunboyne died there on 30 May 1567. About the same time, the Queen wrote to Sidney approving of Dunboyne's arrest but not of Piers'. The latter's victory was assured even though he remained in Dublin Castle until December. He was then sent to London, where he was pardoned on 4 March 1568. That November he ravaged the lands of Dunboyne's widow.
  • Piers does not appear to have participated in the Butler rebellion against the Crown in 1569, although 3 of his sons did,[9] and he encouraged his more hot-headed relatives to negotiate with royal officials. As a result he was one of the few leading members of the Butler family to avoid being attainted in 1570. During the 1570s there was continued fighting between his family and the new Lord Dunboyne. Piers' 2nd son, John, was killed in one of these battles in 1572.
  • Piers married Honora (d.1577), apparently the illegitimate daughter of James Fitzgerald, 11th Earl of Desmond (d. 1529), with whom he had 9 sons and 3 daughters. He died after 28 July 1578 and was buried in the chancel of St Patrick's Cathedral in Cashel.

Marriage & Children

Piers married 1) Elinor Grace, daughter of Sir Oliver Grace, with no known issue.

Piers married 2) Lady Honora FitzGerald, daughter of James FitzMaurice FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Desmond. Piers' profile in the Dictionary of Irish Biography records 12 children (9 sons and 3 daughters) from this marriage.

Children of Pierce Butler and Lady Honora FitzGerald:[10]

  1. James born 1543 d. 1579
  2. John d. 1571[11][12]
  3. William d. Apr 1589[13]
  4. Theobald[14][15]
  5. Richard d.1580-83[16]
  6. Joan married Sir Cormac McCarthy, 14th Lord of Muskerry before 1600. She lived at Carrigdrohid Castle, County Cork, Ireland [17][18]
  7. Margaret married Piers Power, son of John Power, 3rd Baron le Power and Coroghmore and Lady Eleanor FitzGerald [19]
  8. Elisia married Thomas Comerford [20]

Descendants: "From ‘Wild Peter’, a younger son of the 10th Baron, came the Butlers of Grallagh, Co. Tipperary (including jovial Sir Toby Butler (1650-1720),[21] James II’s Solicitor-General of Ireland, who drafted on behalf of the Irish the Treaty of Limerick and made a memorable speech at the Bar of the House of Commons against the Popery Bill)."[22]

Lands of Grallagh

The lands of Grallagh[23] came to the Butlers by conveyance dated 21 and 28 September, 1432, from Thomas Barret, vicar of Fethard, to Edmond, son of James le Botiller. On 5 August, 1524, these lands were settled by James, 10th Lord Dunboyne on his younger son Peter (Piers) Butler. On Piers' death Grallagh passed to his son James, whose son, Edmond Butler of Boytonrath, by conveyance dated 5 October, 1592, granted all his "rights, titles and interest in the lands of Grallagh to [his 1st cousin once removed] James Butler, [2nd/12th] Baron of Dunboyne." The castle later became the seat of Lord Dunboyne's fifth son, James Butler, described as "a man of great power, means and alliance, being married to Lady Ellen Butler." She was a daughter of Walter "of the Rosaries", 11th Earl of Ormonde. The keep of Grallagh Castle still stands [1952]. A stone staircase provides ascent to the summit. It is situated in the parish of Graystown, and barony of Middlethird, County Tipperary.[24][25]

Sources

  1. ↑ "The Butlers of County Clare" by Sir Henry Blackall
  2. ↑ http://www.thepeerage.com/p27250.htm#i272493
  3. ↑ http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/genealogy/butlers/grallagh.htm
  4. ↑ Sir Henry Blackall, The Butlers of County Clare, Appendix V: Survey of Ireland, 1574. (from the Carew Manuscripts, Lambeth Palace Library, Vol. 621 p. 106):
  5. ↑ Likely referring to Piers Cantwell, head of his family at Moykarky, Co. Tipperary.
  6. ↑ Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Vol. V, p.279:
  7. ↑ Dictionary of Irish Biography, profile of "Wild Piers" Butler, authored by Terry Clavin and Anthony M. McCormack:
  8. ↑ Piers' wife was Honora FitzGerald, younger sister to Joan, married to James, 9th Earl of Ormond. Meanwhile, Dunboyne's wife was Julia, daughter of Cormac, 9th Lord of Muscry.
  9. ↑ Two of Piers' sons -- James and John -- are considered traitors to Queen Elizabeth I in this Attainder from 1570, which mentions 15 Irish traitors altogether:
    • "But the wicked, better acquainted with darkenss than lighte, have chosen to wallowe in their own filthe and puddle of tyranny, oppression, rape, rapine and spoile, for as it is manifest and well known to us, the vile and ingrate traytours
  10. ↑ Several of the sons are mentioned in various "Fines & Pardons" of the time, taken from Sir Henry Blackall's book The Butlers of County Claire:
  11. ↑ Burke's Irish Family Records refers to John's wife as Margaret O'Mulryan, daughter of William, of Owney, County Limerick:
  12. ↑ In the Sir Henry Blackall book, John Butler's widow is named (1573) as Margaret O'Mulryan, of Annagh, County Limerick, daughter of the chief of the O'Mulryan name. Since the previous chief's name was John O'Mulryan, son of Connor, Lord of Owney, and John was famous for having 10 daughters and no sons, William was very possibly the younger brother of John. This would make Margaret the likely cousin of Hannah, Honora and Anastasia O'Mulryan. See the profile of Oliver Oge Morres, who married Margaret's apparent cousin Hannah.
  13. ↑ According to Burke's Peerage (2003) volume 3, page 4085, William married Mary, a daughter of John, 3rd Baron Le Poer:
  14. ↑ Joan Fitzgerald of Boytonrath, wife of Tibbot Butler fitz Piers of Grellagh:
  15. ↑ https://www.thepeerage.com/p36152.htm#i361515
  16. ↑ https://www.thepeerage.com/p36153.htm#i361521
  17. ↑ http://www.thepeerage.com/p36153.htm#i361522
  18. ↑ Sir Cormac MacTiege MacCarthy, 14th Lord of Muskerry, was described by Sir Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland, as "the rarest man that ever was born in the Irishry". MacCarthy married Joan, daughter of Piers Butler of Grallagh. In recording Sir Cormac’s death in 1583, the Four Masters refer to “the young sons of the deceased and their mother Joan, the daughter of Piers-na-Buille”. There was a dispute over Joan’s jointure, and the Council of Munster adjudged her to have the castle and lands of Darraghoid for life in lieu of the famous Blarney Castle, which Sir Cormac had left her. (Harl. MSS. 697. W.F. Butler. Gleanings from Irish History, pp 251, 262. H. W. Gilman, art. Journal C.H.A.S. Vol. I No. 1 Q p.103. See also Note 163 here:
  19. ↑ http://www.thepeerage.com/p36153.htm#i361524
  20. ↑ http://www.thepeerage.com/p36153.htm#i361526
  21. ↑ See here for Sir Toby Butler's profile in the Dictionary of Irish Biography:
  22. ↑ Patrick Theobald Tower Butler (Lord Dunboyne), "Butler Family History", Butler Society, Kilkenny, Ireland (1966), pp.27:
  23. ↑ There were several areas named "Grallagh" in County Tipperary, but this appears to the Grallagh in question, as well as the location of Grallagh Castle:
  24. ↑ Sir Henry Blackall, "The Butlers of County Clare", first published in the North Munster Antiquarian Journal, 1952, full text available online here:
  25. ↑ The conflict between Piers and his elder brother Sir Edmund, 1st Baron Dunboyne, resulted in a lawsuit in 1562. See p.111 of Sir Henry Blackall's "The Butlers of County Clare", as reprinted in the North Munster Antiquarian Journal, Vol.6, No.4 (1952), pp.108-129:




Is Piers your ancestor? Please don't go away!
 star icon Login to collaborate or comment, or
 star icon contact private message the profile manager, or
 star icon ask our community of genealogists a question.
Sponsored Search by Ancestry.com

DNA
No known carriers of Piers's DNA have taken a DNA test. Have you taken a test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
NewspapersView newspaper mentions & more for Piers Butler. Sponsored Search


Comments: 1

Leave a message for others who see this profile.
There are no comments yet.
Login to post a comment.
Paul Toplis
Butler-9984 and Butler-6500 appear to represent the same person because: Same name, date. Also same source.
posted by Paul Toplis

Rejected matches › Piers Butler (abt.1520-bef.1561)

This week's featured connections are Summer Olympians: Piers is 35 degrees from Simone Biles, 28 degrees from Maria Johanna Philipsen-Braun, 18 degrees from Pierre de Coubertin, 20 degrees from Étienne Desmarteau, 19 degrees from Fanny Gately, 28 degrees from Evelyn Konno, 41 degrees from Paavo Johannes Nurmi, 20 degrees from Wilma Rudolph, 33 degrees from Carl Schuhmann, 17 degrees from Zara Tindall, 18 degrees from Violet Robb and 22 degrees from Mina Wylie on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.

B  >  Butler  >  Piers Butler