The Earl of Cork | |
|---|---|
| 1st Earl of Cork | |
 The 1st Earl of Cork | |
| Tenure | 1629–1643 |
| Other titles | Lord Treasurer of theKingdom of Ireland |
| Known for | Plantations of Ireland |
| Born | 13 October 1566 Canterbury,Kent, England |
| Died | 15 September 1643(1643-09-15) (aged 76) |
Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork (13 October 1566 – 15 September 1643), also known as 'the Great Earl of Cork', was an English politician who served as Lord Treasurer of theKingdom of Ireland.
Lord Cork was an important figure in the continuingEnglish colonisation of Ireland in the 16th and 17th centuries, as he acquired large tracts of land inplantations inMunster in southern Ireland. Moreover, his sons played an important role in fighting against the Irish Catholic rebellion in the 1640s and 1650s, assisting in the victory of the British and Protestant interests in Ireland.
In addition to being the firstEarl of Cork, he was the patriarch of the Boyle family through his many prominent descendants, whose titles includedEarl of Orrery (1660),Earl of Burlington (1664) andEarl of Shannon (1756).[1]
Boyle was born atCanterbury on 13 October 1566, the second son of Roger Boyle (d. 24 March 1576 at Preston, nearFaversham in Kent), a descendant of an ancient landedHerefordshire family, and of Joan (15 October 1529 –20 March 1586), daughter of John Naylor, who were married in Canterbury on 16 October 1564. Both his parents are interred in analabaster tomb at the upper end of the chancel of the parish church of Preston.[2] His elder brother wasJohn Boyle, Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.
Young Boyle went toThe King's School, Canterbury, at the same time asChristopher Marlowe. His university education began atBennet (Corpus Christi) College, Cambridge, England, in 1583.[3] After this he studied law at theMiddle Temple in London and became a clerk to SirRoger Manwood, Kt., who was then theLord Chief Baron of the Exchequer.
Before completing his studies, Boyle decided "to gain learning, knowledge, and experience abroad in the world"[4] and left London for a new start in Ireland. He arrived inDublin on 23 June 1588[5] with just over £27 (equivalent to £9,739 in 2023),[6]as well as a gold bracelet worth £10 (£3,607 in 2023),[6] and a diamond ring (given to him by his mother at her death and which he wore all his life), besides some fine clothing, and his "rapier and dagger".[4]
In 1590 he obtained the appointment of deputyEscheator to John Crofton, the Escheator-General. On 6 November 1595, he marriedJoan Apsley, the daughter and co-heiress of William Apsley ofLimerick, one of the council to the first President of the province ofMunster.[4] This marriage brought Boyle an estate of £500 a year (equivalent to £134,958 in 2023),[6] which he continued to receive until at least 1632.
Joan died atMallow, County Cork on 14 December 1599 during childbirth (the son was still-born). Both were buried inButtevant church,County Cork.
It is said by his detractors that unlike many of his other close relatives whom he took great care to commemorate, he took no trouble to have Joan commemorated after her death, leading to the conviction among some that his (in every sense) monumental commemorative endeavours were entirely practical (in terms of securing his personal objectives) rather than sentimental (her connections being of no direct use to him after her death).
Boyle by this time had been the object of the attacks of SirHenry Wallop, Treasurer at War, SirRobert Gardiner,Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, SirRobert Dillon,Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, and SirRichard Bingham, Chief Commissioner ofConnaught, a demonstration, said Boyle, of their envy of his success and increasing prosperity.[7]
Boyle was arrested on charges of fraud and collusion with the Spanish (essentially accusations of covert papist infiltration, a treasonable offence for an official in Queen Elizabeth I's Protestant civil service) in his office. He was thrown into prison (at least once bySir William FitzWilliam in about 1592) several times during this episode. He was about to leave for England to justify himself to QueenElizabeth I, when there was a rebellion inMunster in October 1598, and "all my lands were wasted"[4] which once again returned him to poverty. TheNine Years' War arrived in Munster with Irish rebels from Ulster, who were joined by locals who had lost land to English settlers. Boyle was forced to flee toCork for safety.
This turn of events left him obliged to return to London and his chambers at The Temple. At this point, he was almost immediately taken into the service ofRobert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex.
Henry Wallop then renewed his prosecution of Boyle. Boyle was summoned to appear at theCourt of Star Chamber. In the proceedings, Boyle's adversaries seem to have failed to substantiate their accusations. Boyle had somehow managed to secure the attendance of Queen Elizabeth I herself at the proceedings, and he successfully exposed some misconduct on the part of his adversaries.
Elizabeth famously said: "By God's death, these are but inventions against the young man"[8] and she also said he was "a man fit to be employed by ourselves".[citation needed]
He was immediately appointed Clerk of the Council of Munster by Elizabeth I in 1600. In December 1601, Boyle brought to Elizabeth the news of the victory nearKinsale.
In October 1602, Boyle was again sent over bySir George Carew, the president of Munster, on Irish affairs. He was knighted atSt Mary's Abbey, near Dublin, by Carew on 25 July 1603.[5] the same day that he married his second wife,Catherine, daughter of SirGeoffrey Fenton, Principal Secretary of State. In 1606 he was appointed as Privy Councillor for Munster and in 1612 asPrivy Councillor for Ireland.[5][9]
In 1602, Richard Boyle boughtSir Walter Raleigh's estates of 42,000 acres (170 km2) for £1,500 (£433,020 in 2023)[6] in the counties ofCork (includingMyrtle Grove),Waterford (includingLismore Castle) andTipperary.[5] He made these purchases on the insistence ofSir George Carew. Boyle madeLismore Castle his chief country abode[10] after purchasing it and turned it into a magnificent residence with impressive gabled ranges on each side of the courtyard. He also built a crenellated outer wall and a gatehouse known as the Riding Gate for the castle. The principal apartments of the castle were decorated with fretwork plaster ceilings, tapestry hangings, embroidered silks, and velvet. Boyle also had a substantial residence at Youghal, besides Myrtle Grove, known today as "The College", close to theCollegiate Church of St Mary Youghal. Order on the Boyle estates was maintained in 13 castles which were garrisoned by retainers. The town ofClonakilty was formally founded in 1613 by him when he received a charter fromKing James I of England.[11]
Boyle was then returned as a burgh commissioner (Member of Parliament) forLismore in theIrish Parliament of 1614, (held atDublin Castle) on 18 May 1614. He ascended to the Irish Peerage asLord Boyle, Baron of Youghal on 6 September 1616.
Lord Boyle claimed to have built the town ofBandon in County Cork, but in fact, the town was planned and built by Henry Beecher, John Archdeacon, and William Newce.[12] The land on which Bandon was built had been granted by Queen Elizabeth I to Phane Beecher in 1586, and inherited by his eldest son Henry who then sold it to Boyle in November 1618.[13] In Bandon, Boyle founded iron-smelting and linen-weaving industries and brought in English settlers, many fromBristol.
Lord Boyle was createdEarl of Cork andViscount Dungarvan on 26 October 1620.[5] He then occupied the office of Sheriff from 1625 to 1626. On 26 October 1629, he was appointed as aLord Justice,[5] and on 9 November 1631, he became theLord Treasurer of Ireland.[5] Although he was not aPeer in theEnglish Parliament, it is nonetheless recorded that he was "by writ called into the Upper House by His Majesty's great grace", and he subsequently took up the honoured position of an "assistant sitting on the inside of theWoolsack."
Oliver Cromwell is reported to have said of Lord Cork 'If there had been an Earl of Cork in every province, it would have been impossible for the Irish to have raised a rebellion.' One of Lord Cork's major political allies during the era wasPiers Crosby.
It is a mistake to see Lord Cork's 'empire' as merely being exclusively confined to the development of the 'Raleigh estates': for instance, his acquisition of the entirety of the town of Bandon was not completed until 1625. Other towns which also form part of Lord Cork's municipal development legacy (which records employment of over 4,000 people during his lifetime) includeMidleton,Castlemartyr,Charleville andDoneraile.
By 1636, Lord Cork had opted to live in theWest Country to see out the rest of his days. He purchased fromThe 3rd Earl of Castlehaven, for £5,000, the manor ofStalbridge inDorset which became his English seat, and in 1637, he laid out a further £20,000 for Temple Coombe Manor, close by inSomerset. Lord Cork, at the insistence of the Howards, also bought Annery House nearBideford in 1640 for £5000. The Earl was most delighted with Annery House and the living that came with the estate; he was also delighted that he could easily travel to Youghal from Bideford. Annery House was left to his sixth sonFrancis Boyle upon his death in 1643. Lord Cork had also been left the manor ofSalcombe inDevon by his friend Thomas Stafford, the illegitimate son ofGeorge Carew, 1st Earl of Totnes. Salcombe, along with Halberton Manor, was also left to his son Francis and his wifeElizabeth Killigrew.
The Great Earl's most famous enemy wasThomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford.[5] Strafford arrived in Ireland in 1633 as Lord Deputy, and at first successfully deprived Boyle of much of his privilege and income. Boyle patiently husbanded forces in opposition to Strafford's Irish program and this successful political manoeuvering by Boyle was an important factor in Strafford's demise. It may be said in defence of Boyle that he would have been quite prepared to work amicably with Strafford, had Strafford not quickly made it clear that he saw Boyle as an "over-mighty subject",[14] whose power must be curbed, if not crushed entirely. Boyle initially made friendly overtures, and tried to establish a family link by marrying his eldest son Richard to Elizabeth Clifford, a niece of Strafford's first wife, but soon abandoned any hope of an amicable relationship.
An illuminating example of the humiliations to which Wentworth subjected Boyle, was the instance where he forced Boyle to remove his wife's tomb from the choir inSt Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. He was also prosecuted in theCourt of Castle Chamber, the Irish equivalent ofStar Chamber, for alleged misappropriation of the funds ofYoughal College.
ArchbishopWilliam Laud delighted in Wentworth's attacks on Boyle and wrote: "No physic better than a vomit if it be given in time, and therefore you have taken a very judicious course to administer one so early to my Lord of Cork. I hope it will do him good".[15]
Laud and Wentworth shared, with King Charles I, the same fate as many others, who at some time in their lives, found reasons to conspire against Boyle: an early demise. With Boyle showing his customary astuteness by putting on a convincing show of politically appropriate response at every crucial juncture. His one serious miscalculation was his failure to anticipate the Irish Rebellion of 1641.
Boyle made an entry concerning Wentworth in his diary: "A most cursed man to all Ireland and to me in particular".[16]
At Wentworth's trial, Boyle was a key witness,[5] but he did not take any other direct part in the prosecution itself. Unsurprisingly, he was in full support of the condemnation of Wentworth and wholeheartedly approved of his execution: he made a grim entry in his diary: "Lord Strafford was beheaded on the Tower Hill, as he well deserved".[17]
From his children, Boyle expected obedience, although he was a genuinely affectionate father, and far more forgiving of opposition from them than from his political enemies. Lady Mary, "my unruly daughter"[18] angered her father by refusing to marryLord Clanbrassil on the rather modern ground that she found him repulsive, and again by marrying the future Earl of Warwick, who was then a penniless younger son, against her father's wishes; but they were soon reconciled and he furnished her with a generous dowry.
Boyle died atYoughal in September 1643, having been chased off his lands in theIrish Rebellion of 1641. His sons, however, recovered the family estates after the suppression of the rebellion. Boyle's tomb is in Youghal'sSt Mary's Collegiate Church.
Lord Cork has been described as the "first colonial millionaire".
HistorianRoy Foster, in hisModern Ireland, calls him an 'epitome of Elizabethan adventurer-colonist in Ireland'.
The Boyle motto is: 'God's Providence is my inheritance'.
Lord Cork's theopolitical philosophy has been described as 'providentialist' when contrasted with its counterpart which prevailed to the north in parts ofUlster at the time, which is more typically characterised asPresbyterian.
Such a comparison of these two standpoints is neither exclusively religious nor secular, a factor which perhaps offers some small insight as to how Lord Cork managed to achieve what seems now the extraordinary feat of gaining strong favour at various times with the leaders on either side of theEnglish Civil War.
_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1392224.jpg)
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(March 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
By his second wife, Catherine Fenton, daughter of SirGeoffrey Fenton and his wife Alice Weston, the 1st Earl of Cork had fifteen children:
Boyle erected an elaborate monument to himself, his wives, his mother, and his children in TheCollegiate Church of St Mary Youghal,County Cork and there is a similar but much larger Boyle monument inSt Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. His elder brother John is also buried in the tomb.
Texts on Wikisource:| Peerage of Ireland | ||
|---|---|---|
| New creation | Earl of Cork 1620–1643 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
