General Notes

Hubert's eldest brother was christened Theobald, presumably after his maternal grandfather, Theobald de Valognes.  Theobald Walter was the first of the family to migrate to Ireland where, by 1185, he had been created Chief Butler.  He and his descendants, who bred like rabbits immune from myxomatosis, took their surname from the office of Butler of Ireland, as the royal house of Stuart took their surname from the office of Steward of Scotland.  The Chief Butler was one of the hereditary great officers of state, like the Steward, the Constable, the Marshal or the Chamberlain.  For what it is now worth, the Chief Butlerage of Ireland is the most ancient hereditary dignity still enjoyed by the heirs male of any family in the British Isles, if not in Europe.  The right to the office was admitted to reside in Lord Ormonde at the coronation of George IV in 1821--the last coronation at which there was an official coronation banquet.  William IV did away with the feast once and for all, so that his coronation was dubbed by the wits "the half-crownation."

The prisage of wines was another matter: it involved the right to about one tenth of the cargo of any wine ship that broke bulk in Ireland.  This right was granted to Theobald Walter and continued in his descendants until it was restored to the Crown by Act of Parliament in 1810.

Going from father to son, each of the first five Chief Butlers was called Theobald which invites confusion and each, as was the wont of feudal magnates, feared God, fought hard, married well and, except for the first Butler, died young.

Out of his vast estates in Ireland and England, the first Butler founded the Abbey of Wotheney, Co. Limerick, where he was buried, and the monastery of Arklow, Co. Wicklow, where the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Butlers were buried, as well as the abbeys of Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, and of Cockersand in Lancashire.

The 1st Butler married Maud Vavassour of that Yorkshire family which was reputed never to have married an heiress and never to have had to bury a wife!  [Butler Family History]

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The following was provided by Curt Hofemann, curt_hofemann@@yahoo.com, in a post-em:

King Henry II of England appointed his youngest son John as Lord of Ireland. John came to view his acquisition in 1185 and initiated a policy of granting lands, hitherto uncolonised, to members of his entourage. Almost all of the area now comprising the administrative county called Tipperary North Riding - which includes the baronies of Upper and Lower Ormond - was part of the grant made by John to Theobald, eldest son of Hervey Walter of Lancashire, England. Theobald was subsequently appointed Pincerna Hiberniae or Chief Butler of Ireland. By about 1250, title and surname had become Le Botiller, later anglicised to Butler [Ref: http://homepage.tinet.ie/~marydan/nenagh.htm]

from the 1911 version of the Encyclopedia Britannica:
Between these two great statesmen Theobald Walter, the eldest brother of the archbishop, rose and flourished.í Theobald is found in the Liber Niger (c. 1166) as holding Amounderness by the service of one knight. In 1185 he went over sea to Waterford with John the kingís son, the freight of the harness sent after him being charged in the Pipe Roll. Clad in that harness he led the men of Cork when Dermot MacCarthy, prince of Desmond, was put to the sword, John rewarding his services with lands in Limerick and with the important fief of Arklow in the vale of Avoca, where he made his Irish seat and founded an abbey. Returning to England he accompanied his uncle Randulf to France, both witnessing a charter delivered by the king at Chinon when near to death. Soon afterwards, Theobald Walter was given by John that hereditary office of butler to the lord of Ireland, which makes a surname for his descendants, styling himself pincerna when he attests Johnís charter to Dublin on the 15th of May 1192. J. Horace Round has pointed out that he also took a fresh seal, the inscription of which calls him Theobald Walter, Butler of Ireland, and henceforward he is sometimes surnamed Butler (le Botiller). When John went abroad in 1192, Theobald was given the charge of Lancaster castle, but in 1194 he was forced to surrender to his brother Hubert, who summoned it in King Richardís name. Making his peace through Hubertís influence, he was sheriff of Lancashire for King Richard, who regranted to him all Amounderness. His fortunes turned with the kingís death. The new sovereign, treating his surrender of the castle as treachery, took the shrievalty from him, disseised him of Amounderness and sold his cantreds of Limerick land to William de Braose. But the great archbishop soon found means to bring his brother back to favour, and on the 2nd of January 1201-2 Amounderness, by writ of the king, is to be restored to Theobald Walter, dilecto et ff deli nostre. Within a year or two Theobald left England to end his days upon his Arklow fief, busying himself with religious foundations at Wotheney in Limerick, at Arklow and at Nenagh. At Wotheney he is said to have been buried shortly before the 12th of February 1205-6, when an entry in the Close Roll is concerned withí his widow. This widow, Maude, daughter of Robert Ie Vavasor of Denton, was given up to her father, who, buying the right of marrying her at a price of 1200 marks and two pall reys, gave her to Fulk fitz-Warine. Theobald, the son and heir of Theobald and Maude, a child of six years old, was likewise taken into the keeping of his grandfather Robert, but letters from the king, dated the 2nd of March 1205-6, told Robert, "as he loved his body," to surrender the heir at once to Gilbert fitz-Reinfrid, the baron of Kendal. [Ref:  http://media13.fastclick.net/w/safepop.cgi?mid=10317&sid=7450&id=136595&geo=0&len=9&u=http%3A%2F%2F51.1911encyclopedia.org%2FB%2FBU%2FBUTHROTUM.htm&c=56]

At this last source the data was scanned in via OCR so you need to check for OCR translation errors, but on the whole & very terrific website.

Regards,
Curt