lord-lieutenant. In 1422 he invaded the territory of the O'Mores, and pursued his army through the red bog of Athy, when, according to the chroniclers, the sun favoured him by miraculously standing still for three hours. Violent feuds had long existed between the Butlers and the Talbots, and in 1422 Sir John Talbot arraigned the Earl of Ormonde for treason, but the crown and council in 1423 ordered the annulment of all proceedings connected with the dispute. After the death of Henry V, the Earl of Ormonde was replaced in the government of Ireland by Edmund Mortimer, but on several occasions he acted as deputy before he was again appointed viceroy in 1440. Attempts were again made by the Talbots to overthrow his influence, and Richard Talbot, archbishop of Dublin, having been delegated in November 1441 to lay various requests before the king, took the opportunity of representing the advantages that would accrue to Ireland by his removal from office; but notwithstanding this he was appointed lord-lieutenant in 1443. Owing, however, to representations that he was old and feeble, he was dismissed in 1446. In 1447 John Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, who had succeeded him as lord-lieutenant, accused him of high treason, but the king dismissed the complaint, and by patent, 20 Sept. 1448, declared that 'no one should dare, on pain of his indignation, to revive the accusation or reproach of his conduct.' He died at Atherdee in the county of Louth, on 23 Aug. 1452. He specially interested himself in history and antiquities, and bequeathed lands to the College of Heralds. By his first wife, Johan, daughter of Gerald, fifth earl of Kildare, he had three sons—successively earls of Ormonde—and two daughters; but by his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Bergavenny and widow of Lord Grey, he had no issue.
[Carte's Life of the Duke of Ormonde (Oxford ed. 1851), i. lxxiv-viii; Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, iv. 11-14; Gilbert's Viceroys of Ireland.]
BUTLER, JAMES, fifth Earl of Ormonde and Earl of Wiltshire (1420–1461), was the eldest son of James Butler, the fourth earl [q. v.], by Johan, daughter of Gerald, fifth earl of Kildare, and was born on 24 Nov. 1420. He was knighted when very young by Henry VI, and he attended Richard, duke of York, regent of France, in his expedition into that kingdom. On account of his zealous support of the Lancastrian interest, he was on 8 July 1449, during the lifetime of his father, created a peer of England by the title of earl of Wiltshire. In the following year he was constituted a commissioner, to whom the town and castle of Calais, with other French fortresses, were committed for five years. In 1451 he was appointed lord-deputy of Ireland in the absence of the Duke of York, and on the death of his father he was in 1453 appointed viceroy for ten years. In the same year, along with the Earl of Salisbury and other great lords, he undertook the guarding of the seas for three years, receiving the tonnage and poundage to support the charge thereof. On 13 March 1455 he was appointed lord high treasurer of England, and shortly afterwards fought for the king at the battle of St. Albans, when, the Yorkists prevailing, he fled, casting his armour into a ditch. He was superseded as lord-lieutenant of Ireland by the Duke of York, but in 37 Henry VI was restored to the post of lord-treasurer, and next year made a knight of the Garter. Soon afterwards he fitted out a fleet of five ships at Genoa, with which he sailed to the Netherlands against the Earl of Warwick, but returned before the battle of Wakefield on 31 Dec. 1460, in which he commanded a wing of the army which enclosed and slew the Duke of York. On 2 Feb. 1461, along with the Earl of Pembroke, he suffered a disastrous defeat from Edward, earl of March, at Mortimer's Cross, and on 29 March was taken prisoner at the battle of Towton, Yorkshire. He is said to have been beheaded at Newcastle on 1 May following. In the first parliament of Edward IV he was attainted, along with his brothers John and Thomas, and his estates forfeited and resumed. As he left no issue, the earldom of Wiltshire lapsed with him, but he was succeeded in the earldom of Ormonde by his brother, Sir John de Ormonde.
[Stow's Annals; Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 235; Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, iv. 14-16; Carte's Life of the Duke of Ormonde (Oxford ed. 1851), i. lxxix-lxxxi; The Ormonde Attainders, by Hubert Hall, in the Genealogist, new ser. i. 76-9; The Barony of Arklow, by J. H. Round, in vol. i. of Foster's Collectanea Genealogica.]
BUTLER, JAMES (fl. 1631–1634), military adventurer, was one of the many members of the Irish house of Butler who in the seventeenth century gained reputation as soldiers. Not less than six officers of the name appear to be distinguishable in the imperial service during the thirty years' war. The James Butler in question is said to have belonged to the branch of his house which traced its origin to the first viscount Mountgarret, the second son of Pierce, eighth earl of Ormonde and Ossory [q. v.] He is first met with in Poland, where he levied at his own
