TALBOT, PETER AND RICHARD

Sixth and eighth sons of Sir William Talbot, first Baronet of Carton, County Kildare, and Alison, daughter of John Netterville of Castletown, County Meath.

Peter. Archbishop of Dublin; b. 1620; d. 1680. Peter entered the Society of Jesus (1635) and was ordained in Rome, April 1648. He was dispatched on several important missions on behalf of the exiled King charles ii and simultaneously published extensively on religious matters. He resigned from the Jesuits in July of 1659 because of difficulties connected with a diplomatic mission to Ireland and England, but remained on good terms with the society. After the Restoration, he was created one of the Queen's almoners, but through the influence of James Butler, Duke of Ormonde, and Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, he was soon deprived of the post.

In 1669 he was appointed archbishop of Dublin. At a national synod summoned by the primate, Bl. Oliver plunkett, in June of 1670, a dispute arose considering the form of a declaration of allegiance for Catholics, and in 1672 there was further trouble concerning the primacy. In 1673 Talbot was compelled to leave Ireland because of persecution, but in 1675 he was allowed back to England, then in 1677, to Ireland.

In 1678 he was arrested in connection with the Titus Oates plot, although Ormonde was aware of the absurdity of the allegations. His petition for a priest, in April of 1679, was refused, but in June of 1680, when he appeared to be dying, Plunkett, who was confined in an adjoining cell, forced his way through the guards and administered the Last Sacraments.

Richard. Earl and titular Duke of Tyrconnell, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; b. 1630; d. 1691. Richard was taken prisoner at Dungan Hill, Aug. 8, 1647, and again at the Rock of Drogheda, Sept. 11, 1649, but he escaped. He surrendered, probably under Kilkenny articles of May 1652, and went abroad. Returning to England in an attempt to assassinate Oliver Cromwell, he was captured, but escaped after interrogation by Cromwell. He served under Prince Louis Condé II and the Duke of York from 1655 to 1657. After the Restoration, he became spokesman for the Irish Catholics and thus came into conflict with Ormonde. As a result, he underwent two short imprisonments. He was arrested for supposed complicity in the "Popish Plot" (1678). After the death of Charles II, Talbot was appointed to command the army in Ireland, and was created Earl of Tyrconnell on June 20, 1685. On the King's instructions, he remodeled the army to include the Catholics. He was created Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Feb. 11, 1687, and remained so until James II arrived in Ireland in March of 1689. James created him Duke of Tyrconnell. He fought at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, and was left with plenary powers after the flight of James. He exerted himself vigorously for the continued resistance against the English in spite of difficulties with Patrick Sarsfield and Simon Luttrell. He was attainted by King William, May 11, 1691.

His first marriage was to Katherine, coheir of Matthew Boynton, Yorkshire, on April 3, 1669; after Katherine's death, he married Frances, widow of Sir George Hamilton and elder sister of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, on Nov. 2, 1681. He died of apoplexy Aug. 14, 1691, without issue, at Limerick.

See Also: irish confessors and martyrs.

Bibliography: m. ronan, The Irish Martyrs of the Penal Laws (London 1935). r. bagwell, Ireland Under the Stuarts, 3 v. (London 1909–16).

[j. g. barry]