cPiers Butler, 1st Earl of Ormonde (c. 1467 - August 26, 1539), also known as The Red Piers, was the son of Sir James Butler, of Polestown, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, and Sabh Kavanagh, the daughter of Donel Reagh Mac-Morrough Kavanagh.
Piers was was cousin and heir of Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormonde. On Match 20, 1489, King Henry VII appointed him Sheriff of Kilkenny. He was subsequently knighted (prior to September 1497) and on Frbruary 28, 1498 he received a pardon for crimes committed in Ireland. (Including the murder of James Ormonde, also heir to the Earl of Ormonde.) He was also made Senechal of the Liberty of Tipperary on June 21, 1505.
On the death of Thomas Butler on August 3, 1515, Piers Butler became the 8th Earl of Ormonde. On March 6, 1522, the King appointed him Chief Governor of Ireland as Lord Deputy; he held this office until May 13, 1524 when he became Lord Treasurer.
As the king wanted the Earldom of Ormonde for Thomas Boleyn, he induced Piers and his coheirs to resign their claims on February 18, 1528. Piers was quickly (five days later) made Earl of Ossory. On February 22, 1538, the Earldom of Ormonde was restored to him.
He died on August 26, 1539 and was buried in the church of St. Canice, Kilkenny.
References
- The Lineage and Ancestry of H.R.H. Prince Charles, Prince of Wales Edinburgh, by Gerald Paget (1977)