Christopher Nugent
Sir Christopher Nugent, 6th (or 14th)
Family and early years
He was the eldest son of Richard, 5th (or 13th) Baron Delvin, and Elizabeth, daughter of Jenico Preston, 3rd Viscount Gormanston, and widow of Thomas Nangle, styled Baron of Navan. Richard Nugent, fourth or twelfth Baron Delvin, was his great-grandfather. He succeeded to the title on the death of his father, on 10 December 1559, and during his minority was the ward of Thomas Ratcliffe, third earl of Sussex, for whom he conceived a great friendship.[1]
He was matriculated a fellow commoner of Clare Hall, Cambridge,[2] on 12 May 1563, and was presented to the queen when she visited the university in 1564; on coming of age, about November 1565, he repaired to Ireland, with letters of commendation from the queen to the lord deputy, Sir Henry Sidney, granting him the lease in reversion of the abbey of All Saints and the custody of Sleaught-William in the Annaly, County Longford.
As an undertaker in the plantation of County Laois and County Offaly, he had previously obtained, on 3 February 1563–64, a grant of the castle and lands of Corbetstown, alias Ballycorbet, in Offaly (then known as King's County): land confiscated from Garret FitzGerald. In the autumn of the following year, he distinguished himself against Shane O'Neill, and was knighted at Drogheda by Sidney. On 30 June 1567 he obtained a lease of the abbey of Inchmore in the Annaly and the abbey of Fore in County Westmeath, to which was added on 7 October the lease of other lands in the same county.[1]
Suspicions of disloyalty and treason
In July 1574 his refusal, with his cousin Christopher,
Before the end of the year, however, there sprang up a controversy between the government and the gentry of
In the autumn of 1579, Delvin was entrusted with the command of the forces of the Pale, and was reported to have done good service in defending the northern marches against
In Dublin, the Nugent family's enemies, notably the Dillons, moved against his relatives. His uncle
On 22 June 1582, Delvin was examined by Sir Walter Mildmay and Gerard, Master of the Rolls. No fresh evidence of his treason was adduced, and Henry Wallop heard with alarm that it was intended to set him at liberty[citation needed].
In April 1585 he was again in Ireland, sitting as a peer in parliament. During the course of the year, he was again in England; but after the death, on 16 November 1585, of the Earl of Kildare he was allowed to return to Ireland, 'in the company of the new Earl of Kildare, partly for the execution of the will of the earl, his father-in-law, partly to look into the estates of his own lands, from whence he hath been so long absent'.[6] He carried letters of commendation to the new lord deputy, Sir John Perrot; and the queen, 'the better to express her favour towards him,' granted him a renewal of the leases he held from the crown.[7]
He was under obligations to return to England as soon as he had transacted his business. But during his absence many lawsuits pertaining to his lands had arisen, and, owing to the hostility of
He seems to have returned to England in 1587, and, having succeeded in securing the favour of Elizabeth's spymaster William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, he was allowed in October 1588 to return to Ireland.
New Lord Deputy Sir William Fitzwilliam wrote to Burghley that he hoped that Delvin would "throughly performe that honorable and good opynion it hath pleased yr Lp. to conceave of him, wch no doubt he may very sufficiently do, and wth all do her matie great service in action, both cyvill and martiall, if to the witt wherewth God hath indued him and the loue and liking wherewth the countrey doth affect him, he applie him self wth his best endevor."[8] He included Delvin in his list of 'doubtful men in Ireland.'
One cause that told greatly in his disfavour was his extreme animosity to Robert Dillon, who he regarded as having done to death his uncle Nicholas Nugent. To Burghley, who warned him that he was regarded with suspicion, he protested his loyalty and readiness to quit all that was dear to him in Ireland and live in poverty in England, rather than that the queen should conceive the least thought of undutifulness in him. He led, he declared, an orderly life, avoiding discontented society, every term following the law in Dublin for the recovery of his lands, and serving the queen at the assizes in his own neighbourhood. The rest of his time he spent in books and building.[9]
The violence with which he prosecuted Chief Justice Dillon afforded ground to his enemies to describe him as a discontented and seditious person, especially when, after the acquittal of Dillon, he charged the Lord Deputy with having acted with undue partiality.
However, in 1593 he was appointed leader of the forces of Westmeath at the general hosting on the
He obtained permission to visit England in 1597, and in consequence of his recent chargeable and valourous services, he was, on 7 May, ordered a grant of so much of the O'Farrells' and O'Reillys' lands as amounted to an annual rent to the crown of 100/, though the warrant was never executed during his lifetime.
On 20 May he was appointed a commissioner to inquire into abuses in the government of Ireland. On 17 March 1598, a commission (renewed on 3 July and 30 October) was issued to him and Edward Nugent of the Dísert to deliver the gaol of Mullingar by martial law, for 'that the gaol is now very much pestered with a great number of prisoners, the most part whereof are poor men ... and that there can be no sessions held whereby the prisoners might receive their trial by ordinary course of law'.
On the outbreak of Tyrone's rebellion, the extreme severity with which his country was treated by Tyrone on his march into Munster early in 1600 induced Delvin to submit to him;[13] and, though he does not appear to have rendered him any active service, he was shortly afterwards arrested on suspicion of treason by the current Lord Deputy, Mountjoy, and imprisoned again in Dublin Castle. He died in the castle before his trial, apparently on 17 August 1602, though by another account on 5 September or 1 October, and was buried at Castle Delvin on 5 October.[1]
Marriage and issue
Delvin married Lady Mary FitzGerald, daughter of Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare, and
- Richard Nugent, 1st Earl of Westmeath (1583–1642)
- Christopher of Corbetstown, who married Anne, daughter of Edward Cusack of Lismullen, and widow of Sir Court of Admiralty; he was dead by 1637, when Anne was described as the wife of Valerian Wellesley [14]
- Gerald
- Thomas
- Gilbert
- William
- Mabel, who married, first, Murrough McDermot O'Brien, 3rd Baron Inchiquin,[15] then John Fitzpatrick, second son of Florence Fitzpatrick, Baron Upper Ossory
- Elizabeth, who married Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Kildare[15]
- Mary, first wife of Anthony (or Owny) O'Dempsey, heir-apparent to Terence O'Dempsey, 1st Viscount Clanmalier
- Eleanor, wife of Christopher Chevers of Macetown, County Meath
- Margaret, who married a Fitzgerald
- Juliana, second wife of Sir Gerald Aylmer, 1st Baronet, of Donade, County Kildare.[1]
Works
Delvin was the author of:
1. A Primer of the Irish Language, compiled at the request and for the use of Queen Elizabeth. It is described by John Thomas Gilbert as a 'small and elegantly written volume,' consisting of 'an address to the queen in English, an introductory statement in Latin, followed by the Irish alphabet, the vowels, consonants, and diphthongs, with words and phrases in Irish, Latin, and English.'[16][17]
2. A Plot for the Reformation of Ireland, which, though short, is not without interest, as expressing the views of what may be described as the moderate or constitutional party in Ireland as distinct from officialdom on the one hand, and the Irish on the other. He writes that the viceroy's authority is too absolute; that the institution of presidents of provinces is unnecessary; that justice is not administered impartially; that the people are plundered by a beggarly soldiery, who find it in their interest to create dissensions; that the prince's word is pledged recklessly and broken shamelessly, and, above all, that there is no means of education such as is furnished by a university provided for the gentry, "in myne opynion one of the cheifest causes of mischeif in the realme."[18]
Sources
This incorporates the article by Robert Dunlop in the old DNB, who used the following sources:
- Lodge's Peerage, ed. Mervyn Archdall, i. 233-7;
- Charles Henry Cooper, Athenae Cantabr.. ii. 331-3, and authorities there quoted;
- Calendar of State Papers, Ireland, Eliz.;
- Cal. Carew MSS.;
- Morrin's Cal. Patent Rolls, Eliz.;
- Cal. Fiants, Eliz.;
- Annals of the Four Masters, ed. O'Donovan;
- Annals of Loch Cé, ed. Hennessy;
- Fynes Moryson, Itinerary;
- Stafford's Pacata Hibernia;
- Gilbert's Facsimiles of National MSS. of Ireland, iv. 1;
- Richard Bagwell, Ireland under the Tudors.
Also see:
- Hickey, Elizabeth (1978). The Green Cockatrice.
- Nugent, Brian (2008). Shakespeare was Irish!. Brian Nugent. ISBN 978-0-9556812-1-9.
- David Mathew, The Celtic peoples and renaissance Europe (London, 1933).
- Helen Coburn-Walsh The rebellion of William Nugent in R. V. Comerford (ed.) Religion, Conflict and co-existence in Ireland (Dublin, 1990).
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f Dunlop 1895.
- ^ "Nugent, Christopher (NGNT563C)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Cal. Carew MSS. i. 490
- ^ ib. ii. 31.
- ^ ib. ii. 106.
- ^ Morrin, Cal. Patent Rolls, ii. 114.
- ^ ib. ii. 106.
- ^ State Papers, Ireland, Eliz. cxxxvii. 38.
- ^ Cal. State Papers, Ireland, Eliz. iv. 420.
- ^ Cal. Fiants. Eliz. 6215, 6245, 6255.
- ^ ib. 6328
- ^ cf. manuscripts in Cambridge University Library, Kk. 1. 15, ff. 425, 427.
- ^ Annals of the Four Masters, vi. 2147.
- ^ D'Alton, John "Wellesley Pedigree" Notes and Queries 1853 Issue 136
- ^ ISBN 978-1-78812-343-3.
- ^ Account of Facsimiles of National MSS. of Ireland, p.187.
- ^ "Irish Script on Screen - Irish Primer". www.isos.dias.ie. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
- ^ Preserved in 'State Papers,' Ireland, Eliz. cviii. 38, and printed by Mr. J. T. Gilbert in Account of National MSS. of Ireland, pp. 189–95.
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Dunlop, Robert (1895). "Nugent, Christopher (1544–1602)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 41. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 256–259.