Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery

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"Lord Broghill" redirects here. For other uses, see Earl of Cork.
For other people named Roger Boyle, see Roger Boyle (disambiguation).

Protectorate Parliament
for County Cork
In office
1654 – 10 December 1657
Personal details
Born25 April 1621
Trinity College, Dublin
Military service
Years of service1641 to 1651
Battles/wars

Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery,

Protestants he supported the Dublin Castle administration during the Irish Confederate Wars, a related conflict of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
.

Boyle was noted for his anti-

Irish Catholics. A skilled politician, he believed maintaining the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland required support from the ruling government in London, whatever its composition. As a result, he held senior positions under the Commonwealth and Charles II, following the 1660 Stuart Restoration
.

A noted writer on 17th-century warfare, Boyle helped design Charles Fort outside Kinsale. He also produced a number of plays and poems, which were well regarded by contemporaries but have since faded into obscurity.

Personal details

Boyle's birthplace, Lismore Castle (restored in 19th century)
Portrait of Lady Margaret Howard

Roger Boyle was born 25 April 1625, twelfth born and third surviving son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork (1566–1643), and his second wife, Catherine Fenton Boyle (1588–1630). A few months before his 7th birthday, his father granted him the Broghill estate in County Cork, and he was created Baron of Broghill in the Peerage of Ireland.[1]

His parents had a total of fifteen children, ten of whom survived into adulthood. The most notable included his eldest brother Richard (1612–1698), Katherine (1615–1691), a member of the Hartlib Circle, Mary Rich, Countess of Warwick (1624–1678), and the chemist Robert Boyle (1627–1691).[2]

In January 1641, he married Lady Margaret Howard (1623–1689), a daughter of the Earl of Suffolk. Their joyful wedding was immortalised in verse by Sir John Suckling as A Ballad upon a Wedding.[3] The couple had five daughters and two sons, his heir Roger (1646–1682), and Henry (1648–1693), father of the Earl of Shannon. His eldest daughter, Margaret (1644–1683), married Folliott Wingfield, 1st Viscount Powerscourt.

Career

Boyle entered

Trinity College, Dublin in 1630, then moved to London in 1632, where he briefly attended law school at Gray's Inn in March 1636.[4] He and his elder brother Lewis (1619–1642) spent the next three years traveling in Europe, where they studied languages, mathematics and military theory. When the two returned to England in 1639, their father encouraged them to serve Charles I in the Bishops' Wars against the Covenanters.[5]

Rebellion and civil war

Boyle returned to Ireland on the outbreak of the

James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde), Lord Broghill consented to serve under the parliamentary commissioners in Cork against the Irish Confederates. Boyle fought with the Parliamentarians until the execution of the king, when he retired altogether from public affairs and took up his residence at Marston in Somerset.[6]

Subsequently, he originated a scheme to bring about the Restoration. On his way abroad to consult with King Charles II, he was unexpectedly visited by Oliver Cromwell in London. Cromwell informed him that his plans were well known to the council and warned against persisting in them. Cromwell offered him a command in Ireland against the rebels that entailed no obligation except faithful service. It was accepted.

Boyle's assistance in Ireland proved invaluable during the

siege of Limerick. In 1651 he defeated an Irish force marching to Limerick's relief under Lord Muskerry at the battle of Knocknaclashy, the final battle of the Irish Confederate Wars
, thus effecting the capture of the town.

By this time Broghill had become a fast friend and follower of Cromwell, whose stern measures in Ireland and support of the English and

new House of Lords. He was one of those most in favour of Cromwell's assumption of the royal title,[8] and proposed a union between the Protector's daughter Frances
and Charles II.

Restoration

On Oliver Cromwell's death, Boyle gave his support to

Lord Justices (Ireland) and drew up the Act of Settlement 1662. In 1661, he was re-elected MP for Arundel in the Cavalier Parliament.[6] He founded the town of Charleville, County Cork
, near his estate at Broghill. However, his mansion house in Broghill was burned down by Irish forces before the end of the century.

He continued to exercise his office as

duke of Ormonde, the lord-lieutenant. On 25 November, he was impeached by the House of Commons for "raising of money by his own authority upon his majesty's subjects," but the prorogation of parliament by the king interrupted the proceedings, which were not afterwards renewed. In 1673 he was appointed Custos Rotulorum of County Limerick, which position he held until his death.[10]

Boyle's writings

In addition to Lord Orrery's achievements as a statesman and administrator, he gained some reputation as a writer and a dramatist. He was the author of:

There are some poems, of little interest, including verses:

Plays in verse, of some literary but less dramatic merit:

  • Henry V (1664), heroic drama
  • The Generall (1664), a tragi-comedy.[1] Samuel Pepys, 4 October 1664, called it "so dull and so ill-acted, that I think it is the worst I ever saw or heard in all my days."
  • Mustapha (1665), tragedy
  • Tryphon : a tragedy (acted 1668, Printed for H. Herringman, 1669)
  • The Black Prince (acted 1667; printed 1669), heroic drama
  • Herod the Great (published 1694 but unacted), tragedy
  • Altemira (1702), tragedy
  • Guzman (1669), comedy
  • Mr. Anthony (1690), comedy

A collected edition was published in 1737, to which was added the fourth earl's comedy As you find it. The General is also attributed to him.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Dismissed
  2. ^ Office suppressed
  3. ^ styled Lord Broghill from 1628 to 1660

References

  1. ^ Wilson 1808, p. 149.
  2. ^ Barnard 2008.
  3. ^ Endicott, N. J. "A Ballad Upon A Wedding". Representative Poetry Online. University of Toronto.
  4. ^ Barnard 2004.
  5. ^ Manning 2003, p. 112.
  6. ^ a b c d History of Parliament Online – Boyle, Roger, 1st Baron Broghill.
  7. ^ John Gough Nichols, Autobiography of the Lady Halkett (London, 1875), pp. 105-7.
  8. ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography volume 7 (2002) p 110-111
  9. ^ T. W. Moody, F. X. Martin, F. J. Byrne A New History of Ireland, Volume III: Early Modern Ireland 1534–1691 Oxford University Press (1976) p. 420.
  10. ^ Fitgerald, Patrick. The history, topography and antiquities of the county and city of Limerick. p. 306.

Sources

External links

Parliament of England
Preceded by
Sir John Trevor 1660–1661
The Lord Aungier of Longford 1661–1679
1660 – 1679
 Succeeded by
James Butler
Peerage of Ireland
New title Earl of Orrery
1660–1679 		Succeeded by
Baron Boyle of Broghill

1627–1679
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