David Roche, 7th Viscount Fermoy (1573–1635) was an Irish magnate, soldier, and politician.
Birth and origins
David was born about 1573,[1][2][3] probably in Castletownroche, County Cork, Ireland. He was the only surviving son of Maurice Roche and his first wife, Eleanor FitzGerald.[4] His father was the 6th Viscount Fermoy (also counted as the 1st). His father's family, the Roches were Old English and descended from Adam de Rupe who had come to Ireland from Wales with Robert FitzStephen.[5]
Despite these family relations, his father and grandfather fought against the insurgents in the Desmond Rebellions during which two of his paternal uncles were killed.[18][19] His father succeeded his grandfather as the 6th Viscount Fermoy in 1581 or 1582. David was about ten in 1583 when the Desmond Rebellions ended with the killing of Gerald FitzGerald, the rebel earl.[20]
His mother was still alive in 1590, but she predeceased his father, who remarried to Catherine FitzGerald, third daughter of the rebel earl by his second wife, Eleanor Butler.[21]
Amy, married John Everard of Fethard, County Tipperary, as his second wife.[b]
7th Viscount
Roche succeeded his father as the 7th Viscount Fermoy on 24 October 1600.[33] He is also counted as 2nd Viscount.[3]
Proclamation of James I
Queen Elizabeth I died on 24 March 1603. Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, her Lord Deputy of Ireland, proclaimed James VI and I as King. Several Irish towns, dominated by Old English families delayed the proclamation still hoping for a Catholic succession. This was the case of Cork.[34] On 11 April Mountjoy sent Captain Morgan to Cork to proclaim James.[35] Thornton and Fermoy, as he now was, proclaimed James I as King on 13 April 1603, outside the walls in the northern suburbs[36] when the mayor, Thomas Sarsfield, hesitated to do so.[37][38]
The Irish Parliament of 1634–1635 was opened on 14 July 1634[41][42] by the new Lord Deputy of Ireland, Thomas Wentworth[43] (later to become Lord Strafford), who had taken up office in July 1633.[44] Lord Fermoy, an old man, sat by proxy in the House of Lords of the Parliament 1634–1635.[45]
Death and timeline
Fermoy died on 22 March 1635 at Castlerochetown and was buried at Bridgetown Abbey.[46] He was succeeded by his son Maurice as the 8th Viscount (also counted as the 3rd).
Timeline
As his birth date is uncertain, so are all his ages.
^This family tree is based on genealogies of the viscounts of Fermoy,[8] the earls of Clancarty,[9][10] the MacCarthy of Muskerry family,[11] and the earls of Desmond.[12] Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text.
^John Everard of Fethard married Catherine Comerford, who predeceased him.[30] Amy seems to have been his second wife.[31][32]
^ abÓ Siochrú 2009, Beginning. "Roche, David (c.1573–1635), 2nd Viscount Fermoy, politician, was the eldest surviving son ..."
^Cokayne 1926, p. 299, line 15. "VII. 1600. 7. David (Roche), Viscount Roche of Fermoy [I.], only surv. s. and h. by his 1st wife."
^Burke 1866, p. 454. "The family of Roche was established in Ireland by Adam de Rupe of Roch Castle, co. Pembrokeshire, who accompanied Robert FitzStephen to that country in 1196."
^Dunlop & Cunningham 2004, p. 460, left column, line 40. "His mother was Eleanor, daughter of Maurice FitzJohn FitzGerald (brother of James FitzJohn FitzGerald, fourteenth earl of Desmond), and sister of James FitzMaurice FitzGerald, the 'archtraitor'."
^Burke 1866, p. 455, left column, line 56. "He [Maurice Roche] m. 1st Ellener, dau. of Sir Maurice FitzJohn, 3rd son of John, 14th Earl of Desmond ..."
^Cokayne 1896, p. 392, line 5. "He [Donogh] m. [married] firstly Helen or Any, da. [daughter] of Maurice (Roche) Viscount Roche of Fermoy [I. [Ireland]] (who d. 1600) but by which of his two wives is uncertain. She d. [died] s.p.m. [without male issue]."
^Burke 1866, p. 455, line 24. "IV Theobald, who m. Grany, dau. of Murrough O'Brien Ara, and was killed by the Seneschal of Imokilly, in the Queen's wars."
^ abCokayne 1916, p. 253, line 15. "Finally he was slain while under attainder, 11 Nov. 1583, at Glenagintigha, near Tralee, co. Kerry, by one Daniel Kelly."
^Burke 1866, p. 455, left column, line 57. "... and 2ndly Catherine, 3rd dau. [daughter] of Gerald, 16th Earl of Desmond; by the latter who survived him he had no issue, yet by another inquisition he is said to have had his children by her;"
^Dunlop & Cunningham 2004, p. 460, left column. "Roche married, before 1593, Joan daughter of James FitzRichard Barry, Viscount Buttevant, and his wife, Ellen MacCarthy Reagh."
^Furnivall 1896, p. 126. "Nat longe ther aftyr, come into Irland Richard de Cogan, Miles brother, wyth fair meygne from the kynge I-sent; & ther-aftyr yn the begynnyge of Marce come Phylype de barry, a man ..."
^Burke 1866, p. 455, right column, line 26. "III. Theobald (Sir), who m. [married] Julia, dau. [daughter] of Dominick, 1st Viscount Kilmallock and left no issue by the said wife ..."
^Burke 1866, p. 455, right column, line 30. "IV. Ulick, who m. [married] Gyles (Cecilia) dau. [daughter] of John O'Çonor Kerry, of Carrigfoyll, co. Kerry ..."
^Burke 1866, p. 455, right column, line 36. "V. Redmond, who 4 December, 1641, accompanied Sir William St. Leger, President of Munster, to quell the rebellion in co. Waterford. He m. [married] 1st Joan, dau. [daughter] and co-heir to Sir John Dowdall of Kilfinny, Knt.; and 2ndly Alice ..."
^Burke 1866, p. 455, right column, line 42. "I. Ellen m. [married] 1st to Donnel McCarthy Reagh, of Killbritain, co. Cork, Esq.; 2ndly to Charles Viscount Muskerry, and 3rdly to Thomas Fitzmaurice, 4th son of Thomas 18th Lord Kerry."
^Gibson 1861, p. 13. "The religious element in this rebellion was paramount. Though a large portion of the inhabitants of Cork were of Danish, Norman, and Saxon descent, they were sincere Catholics&mnsp..."
^Smith 1893, p. 52. "The Lord Deputy Mountjoy, on the 11th of April (A.D. 1603) sent Captain Morgan to Cork to proclaim King James I. On which occasion Sir George Thornton, one of the commissioners of Munster, applied to Thomas Sarsfield, then mayor, who answered that by the charter he might take time to consider it."
^Cokayne 1890, p. 327. "7. David (Roche) Viscount Roche of Fermoy [I. [Ireland]], s. [son] and h. [heir], probably by his first wife. He proclaimed James I as King, 13 Apr 1603, at Cork, the Mayor refusing to do so."
^Fitzpatrick 1989, p. 8. "Within weeks of the conclusion of the Nine Years' War and Tyrone's surrender, the very towns to which the earl had appealed for support and which had remained stubborn in their loyalty to the crown, suddenly revolted in a mass profession of their Catholicism."
^Smith 1893, p. 53. "Upon this delay to proclaim King James, Sir George Thornton told him he would proceed to the ceremony without them. Mead, the recorder, answered that he had no authority to do it in their liberty, nor would the citizens suffer it ; however. Sir George, with Lord Roche and about eight hundred soldiers, proclaimed his majesty in the north suburb, near Shandon castle;"
^Ó Siochrú 2009, 2nd paragraph. "In 1613 he entered parliament (the first held since 1585) and coordinated, along with Jenico Preston (qv), 5th Viscount Gormanston, opposition to the electoral abuses perpetrated by the government."
^Kearney 1959, p. 53. "Parliament met on 14 July [1634] and the first session lasted until 2 August."
^Wedgwood 1961, p. 150. "Parliament met on July 14th, 1634. Wentworth rode down in state ..."
^Yorke 1911, p. 978, para 6. "... In January 1632 he had been named lord-deputy of Ireland, and arrived in Dublin in July 1633."
^ abHouse of Lords 1779, p. 11, left column. "Die sabbati, 26o Julii 1634o ... Memorandum: That the Earl of Westmeath presented the like Proxy from the Lord Viscount of Fermoy, which accordingly was accepted."
^ abDunlop 1897, p. 68, left column, bottom. "He died in the odour of loyalty at Castletown Roche on 22 March, 1635, and was buried on 12 April at the Abbey, Bridgetown."
Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology. Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, No. 2 (3rd ed.). London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society. ISBN0-86193-106-8. – (for timeline)
Lainé, P. Louis (1836). "Mac-Carthy". Archives généalogiques et historiques de la noblesse de France [Genealogical and Historical Archives of the Nobility of France] (in French). Vol. Tome cinquième. Paris: Imprimerie de Bethune et Plon. pp. 1–102. OCLC865941166.
