Recently in Belgium, the grave of Patrick Sarsfield was located due to the intervention of Dr. Loïc Guyon, the honorary consul of France in Limerick. Patrick Sarsfield was fatally injured at the Battle of Landen (or Lindon) on July 29th 1693 while in the service of King Louis XIV of France. He was taken to the town of Huy around 30km south of Liege. There he was treated for his wounds and died a few days later. He was buried on the grounds of St. Martins Church in the town of Huy according to historical accounts of the time in an unmarked grave or without a gravestone. The church recorded that ..read more

Barbara Villiers and the Butler Family Feud. Barbara Villiers (Palmer), 1st Duchess of Cleveland and Countess of Castlemaine was born in November 1640. She became over the course of her career at court one of the principal mistresses to King Charles II of England. Lady Castlemaine produced five children that were all acknowledged by the King Charles II and were suitable ennobled with various titles. Over her lifetime she became a constant thorn in the side of the Butler family most noticeably with James Butler 1st Duke of Ormond and Elizabeth (Preston) the 1st Duchess of Ormond. The cause for ..read more

Young James Butler was born on the 19th of October 1610, in England, with his parents being Thomas and Elizabeth Butler. His father drowned off Skerries in 1619, when James was just nine years old, which made him the viscount Thurles. His mother took him back to Ireland where his grandfather made him go to a catholic school. Despite his mother and grandfather wanting him to be raised Catholic, James was placed into the king’s care by Sir William Parsons, and raised protestant. This was done to comply with James I’s policy of furthering the reformation in Ireland, by ensuring that noble heirs w ..read more

With the Ormonde-Butler family, there is reliable documented evidence from the 12th Century up to the present day. It is remarkable to have such an extant record of one single family, albeit with omissions about the careers and lives of some of the family. One famous quip of the first five generations of the Ormonde –Butler family, who were all named Theobald was that; “They feared God, fought hard, married well and (with the exception of the first Theobald) died young”. In later centuries, the family went on to receive the many titles and royal appointments, including an Earldom and a Dukedom ..read more

Charles Dickens (1812 -1870). Charles Dickens was an extremely enthusiastic self-publicist and travelled widely to promote his novels, short stories and non-fiction works. He was to venture to American twice; his first visit was in 1842 and became the basis for his book American Notes for General Circulation published in the same year. Dickens also was to visit Ireland on three separate occasions. His first visit was in August 1858 and he gave a performance to 3000 people at The Rotunda now the Ambassador Theatre on O’Connell Street. The police were called to deal with the crowds and Dickens r ..read more

Quarterly, first, Or, a chief indented azure; second Gules, three covered cups or; third, Argent, a lion rampant gules, on a chief of the last swan close of the first between two annulets or: fourth Ermine, a saltire gules. Above is the full heraldic description of the Butler family’s coat of arms and it is slightly confusing a first glance however we shall go through the coat of arms in detail and explain what each symbols means and its importance to the family. Or, Chief Indented azure. This is the oldest part of the family’s coat of arms or simply means gold and azure is blue. This is the ..read more

  Located in the Main Hall of Kilkenny Castle today, there are a pair of beautifully decorated bronze urns originally designed for a garden. The pair are very fine copies of two bronze urns designed in the Louis XIV style by Claude Ballin for Versailles. The bronze urns were copied from a larger design made for marble parapets for the gardens at Versailles. Claude Ballin (1615 – 1678) goldsmith to Louis XIV was commissioned to design the urns and they were modelled by Legendre, Magniere, Tuby and Angulier and cast by Duval. Numerous copies were made by foundries in the 19th Century and th ..read more

  As you enter the Main Hall of Kilkenny Castle today one of the most striking portraits on display on the right hand side is of James Butler (1774 -1838) 1st Marquess (3rd creation), 19th Earl of Ormonde and Chief Butler of Ireland. In the portrait, the Marquess is depicted wearing a heavy dark coat draped over his shoulder and just visible beneath the coat is the blue ribbon of the Order of St. Patrick. Overall, the pose is highly romantic and heroic, fashionable with portraits of this period. It is very similar to the portrait attributed to Rothwell of Daniel O’ Connell in Derrynane Ho ..read more

John Butler (1808 – 1854), 20th Earl and 2nd Marquess of Ormonde was born in Dublin and like other members of his family he was educated at Harrow and then Christchurch Oxford. Like his father James Butler (1774 -1838) he was elected a Whig M.P. for Kilkenny (1833 -32) at 22 years old. Shortly after his election as a member for Kilkenny John began to record his recollections and interests in his diary. Today there are seven volumes of his journals that survive and they are in the National Library of Ireland. The handwriting in the journals has faded and often the script can be difficult to rea ..read more

The Theatre and the Dukes of Ormonde Throughout his long and eventful life James Butler (1610 -1688), First Duke of Ormond showed a keen interest in the theatre. At a young age while in London, his biographer Thomas Carte (1686 – 1754) recalled that his family were in despair that the impetuous nobleman would abscond and join a theatrical group of strolling players neglecting his duties as de facto head of the Butler household. After the Restoration in 1660, rules began to be relaxed and the theatre in England and Ireland began to recover after the harsh regime of the Cromwellian era. The Duke ..read more