Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork

Sir Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, 1st Viscount Dungarvan, 1st Baron Boyle of Youghal, Lord High Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland.(October 13, 1566 - September 15, 1643) (Portrait and another, earlier portrait at the National Portrait Gallery, London, England), also known as the Great Earl of Cork.

Historical Context

He competes with great political theorist Thomas Hobbes as being somebody banished from many history books for political reasons. Whereas Hobbes has been at least partially rehabilitated, Boyle's history is consigned mostly to out-of-print books which either glorify him or vilify him, or worse still, just mention that other books do this, without succeeding in significantly clarifying the picture (but even those detailed histories of the First Earl of Cork which happen to be referenced in recent books which mention him, are also themselves out of print, which is perhaps even worse).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There is no question that Boyle was one of the most important figures in Anglo-Irish history, and his descendants put his legacy firmly in the category of a significant player on the world stage, albeit that perhaps his strongest influences made their mark in later life and after his death, through unrecorded and perhaps permanently lost influences on family, friends and enemies, all of which were very numerous.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His was an extraordinary rags-to-riches story, the poor lad from Canterbury in Kent, England, going to Ireland at 22 with next to nothing and becoming one of the richest people on the planet, through means which some have described as sharp wits, others as deception and ruthlessness, others as ridiculous good fortune, and still others as sheer dogged determination and patience.

Related Topics:
Canterbury - Kent

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

To say that Boyle was a devotee of the strategic use of marriage as a route to wealth, power and immortality, is probably an understatement, as this genealogy (it is a PDF file), showing his posthumous achievement of having at least three of his descendants appearing in the direct line of ancestry to the current British Queen, makes abundantly clear.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He is also an important figure in the English colonisation of Ireland in the 16th and 17th centuries, as he acquired large tacts of land in plantations in Munster in southern Ireland at the expense of native landowners. Moreover, his sons played an important role in fighting against Irish rebellion in the 1640s and '50s, ensuring the victory of the British and Protestant interest in Ireland.

Related Topics:
Plantations - Munster

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~