General Notes

James Butler, d. 6 or 7 Sep 1405, 3rd Earl of Ormond; m. bef. 17 June 1386 Anne Welles, living 1396, daughter of Sir John de Welles, Knight, Lord Welles.  [Magna Charta Sureties]

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Gowran, Co. Kilkenny, was the principal seat of the family before they moved to Kilkenny Castle, and James, son and successor of the 2nd Earl, was sometimes called Earl of Gowran.  This 3rd Earl built a castle there and it was he also who purchased Kilkenny Castle from Hugh Despenser between 1391 and 1393.  The stronghold, probably on the site where the ancient Kings of Ossory had their fortress, was built in 1191 by William, Earl of Pembroke, husband of Strongbow's heiress, and passed through the female line to the vendor.  Ormond acquired it in time to entertain Richard II here; perhaps that King, who is said to have invented the handkerchief, derived his inspiration from Irish linen.  Being fluent in Irish, the 3rd Earl was able to improve his relations with the O'Neils, O'Briens, O'Connors and MacMurroughs, and to forge bonds of amity with the O'Kennedy sept that brought a measure of peace to North Tipperary for four centuries.  In 1405 he died at Gowran and was gathered unto his fathers there.  Like his father, he had been several times governor of Ireland, but unlike the Chaste Earl, he had a number of illegitimate children, including Sir Thomas Butler, the lame Prior of Kilmainham, by an unknown mistress, and four sons by Katherine, daughter of Gerald the Poet, the 4th Earl of Desmond.  However, he also had two legitimate sons by the daughter of Lord Welles--James, his successor, and Sir Richard Butler of Knocktopher, the ancestor of the present Lord Ormonde.  [Butler Family History]