James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde

James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, (October 19, 1610–July 21 1688), was an Anglo-Irish statesman and soldier. He is best known for his involvement in the Irish Confederate Wars of the 1640s, when he commanded the English Royalist forces in Ireland.

Negotiations with the Irish Confederates

Ormonde was faced with a difficult task in reconciling all the different factions in Ireland. The Old (native) Irish and Catholic Irish of English race ("Old English") were represented in Confederate Ireland -essentially an independent Catholic government based in Kilkenny - who wanted to come to terms with Charles I in return for religious toleration and self government. On theo ther side, any concession that Ormonde made to the Confederates weakened his support among English and Scottish Protestants. Ormonde's negotiations with te Confederates were therefore tortuos, even though many of the Confederate leaders were relatives or freinds of his. He assisted Antrim in mounting an Irish Confederate expedition into Scotland led by Alisdair MacColla to help the Scottish Royalists and sparking the Scottish Civil War.The difficulties of Ormonde's position had been greatly increased by Worcester's secret treaty with the Irish Roman Catholics on 25 August 1645. On 28 March 1646 Ormonde concluded a treaty with the Irish Confederates which granted religious concessions and removed various grievances. However, the Confederate's General Assembly rejected the deal, partly due to the influence of the pope's nuncio Giovanni Battista Rinuccini to prevent the Catholics signing a compromise deal. Those who had signed th Treaty were arrested and the Confederates called off their truce with Ormonde.

Related Topics:
Confederate Ireland - Charles I - Protestant - Antrim - Scotland - Scottish Civil War - Worcester - 25 August - 1645 - 28 March - 1646 - Pope - Nuncio - Giovanni Battista Rinuccini

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It soon became clear that he could not hold Dublin against the Irish rebels. He applied to the English parliament, signed a treaty on 19 June 1647, gave Dublin into their hands on terms which protected the interests of both Protestants and Roman Catholics who had not actually entered into rebellion, and sailed for England at the beginning of August 1647. He handed over Dublin and the troops under his command to the Parliamentarian commander Micheal Jones. Famously, Ormonde remarked that he, "preferred English rebels to Irish ones".

Related Topics:
Dublin - 19 June - 1647 - Micheal Jones

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