Parents

Son of Hervey WALTER & Maud DE VALOIGNES.

Life History

Other facts

Notes

• Theobald Walter born before 1156 was created the first "Butler ofIreland" (about 1185) on behalf of the Norman King of England.  "DeBotiler" or "De Botiller" are spellings of the word that became modernEnglish "butler."
  
  Theobald Walter was also known as the Baron of Arklow, thought heremight not have been an official barony of Arklow established at thattime.
  
  Encyclopaedia Britannica gives us this sumamry of Arklow:
  ===========
  Arklow
  
  "Irish AN TINBHEAR MÓR, port, seaside resort and urban district on theIrish Sea coast, in County Wicklow, southeast Ireland. In 431 St.Palladius, the Christian missionary, landed at the present site ofArklow. The Vikings had a settlement there, and the town was grantedby John of England in 1189 to Theobald Fitz-Walter, Lord Butler ofIreland. It was an English stronghold during the late medieval period,and there are remains of a 13th-century Dominican friary and fragmentsof the Butler castle. Small boats, pottery, and fertilizers aremanufactured there."
  -- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Electronic, 1997, "ARKLOW"
  ===========
  
  A source presents comments by Jay Weber on the relation of theFitzwalter/Butler family to Arklow, their primary seat in Ireland:
  ====================
  "BARONY" of ARKLOW
  
  "The existence of the Barony of Arklow as an Irish Peerage, thoughbelieved in by some, can hardly be maintained. In the elaborateaccount of the Butler family give (1754 and 1789) by John Lodge, inhis Peerage of Ireland, the title of "Baron of Arklow" is not evenmentioned. William Lynch, however (who may be considered as anauthority on Feudal Institutions in Ireland), classes it as "anancient feudal Barony" descending (in accordance with his views onthese "prescriptive or feudal dignities") to the heir male. Hecontends that the first holder of this "Barony" was Theobald Walter,the first "Butler" (who was possessed, possibly in 1177, but certainlyin 1205, of the Lordship of Arklow), and that from him it hasdescended to his heirs male, thereby vesting in each successive Earlof Ormonde of the house of Butler. In support of this assertion heurges that "it continued to be enjoyed by the heir male of the Butlerfamily, even when, under Henry VII, the heir male had ceased to holdthe Earldom", and that it was "so enjoyed by the successive heirs malewho became Earls". [Complete Peerage I:213-4] Note: CP does notrecognize the "Barony" of Arklow."  This source includes other factsfrom Irish Butler history.
  --http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2738450&id=I76626
  ====================
  
  The Butlerage was associated with the title of the Earl of Ormonde.  Ibecame first acquainted with them in the history of King Edward I inrelation to the De Burgh house in Ireland.  De Burghs were allied withthe Norman King Edward and attempted to bring some Norman order (read:submission) to the unruly and independent Lords of Ireland, thetraditional kings (chiefs) of the island.  A De Burgh married into theIrish family.  Though the Norman lords were initially allied with theruling dynasty of England, they gradually became more Irish.  They areoften referred to in history as the "Anglo-Irish" lords.  This DeBurgh name is also found in the spelling Burke or Burk.
  
  This De Burgh line is related to the Butler line in Scotland, which isthe source of the Butler lineage related in this genealogy theMcSwains of Arkansas.  One connection to Scotland is that an Elizabethde Burgh, daughter of Richard De Burgh, the Earl of Ulster Richard DeBurgh, married Robert de Bruce (de Bruis).
  
  Richard was the son of Walter de Burgh (c. 1230-71), the 1st earl ofUlster.  (There has previously been an Earldom of Ulster; this one wasa new "creation" for Walter De Burgh.)  Richard was ruthless in hisdominance of the province of Connaught, re-establishing his family'spower there by deposing the native King of Ulster, Brian O'Neill, andappointing his own.
  
  Elizabeth's husband Robert the Bruce already had associations withIreland, since he inherited form his father (also Robert) the title ofEarl of Carrick (Ireland).  Robert later became King of Scotland about1304 under the suzerainty of King Edward.  It was this Robert theBruce (there were several among his descendants) who finally led thesuccessful independence movement stared at the popular level byWilliam Wallace, that led to independence of Scotland.
  
  This independence was much more successful than the Irish efforts.Scotland continued independent, though with much interference from theEnglish crown, until the unification of the two crowns under theStewart family, when James VI of Scotland became James I of England,to succeed the "Virgin Queen," Elizabeth I of England.  The twocountries were united into one united kingdom in 1707 under theStewart Queen Anne.
  
  More detail is provided about the appointment of the Frist Butler inanother source:
  ==================================
  The following was provided by Curt Hofemann, curt_hofemannyahoo.com,in a post-em:
  King Henry II of England appointed his youngest son John as Lord ofIreland. John came to view his acquisition in 1185 and initiated apolicy of granting lands, hitherto uncolonised, to members of hisentourage. Almost all of the area now comprising the administrativecounty called Tipperary North Riding - which includes the
  baronies of Upper and Lower Ormond - was part of the grant made byJohn to Theobald, eldest son of Hervey Walter of Lancashire, England.Theobald was subsequently appointed Pincerna Hiberniae or Chief Butlerof Ireland. By about 1250, title and surname had become Le Botiller,later anglicised to Butler.
  -- Curt Hofemann, http://homepage.tinet.ie/~marydan/nenagh.htm
  
  "Le Botller" or "Le Botiler" were the Norman-French forms of thegermanic word for "butler."  The Latin words for the equivalentmeaning are given in the above source:  "Pincerna Hiberniae."  Theterm was at that time roughly equivalent to the title originally heldby the father of Charlemagne, Charles Martel, in the kingdom of theFranks, "Major Domo" of the palace.
  
  The Butler Family History, cited by several sources, reports that theFirst Butler (Theobald FitzWalter) built the Abbey of Wotheney, wherehe was buried, and the Monastery of Arklow, in Wicklow, where the 2nd,3rd and 4th Butlers were buried.
  -- cited inhttp://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2738450&id=I76626.

Sources

• 1. Ancestry Trees
  • http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2738450&id=I76626
• 2. Ancestry Trees
  • http://awtc.ancestry.com/pt/person.aspx?tid=454230&pid=-2080929659
• 3. One World Tree (sm)