Anne Boleyn’s Irish ancestory and connections

 
Living in ireland has always given me an interest in the history of  my country and how intertwined  our history is with the English Crown over many centuries.  Our little green island is dotted with castles holding within their walls so much history not often talked about and often overlooked. One of these castles, “Kilkenny Castle” situated in the County of Kilkenny, about an hours drive from Dublin, our capital city. On a recent visit there, I got to look a little further into the Boleyn family connections with the Butler family, the Earls of Ormond and the family home, Kilkenny Castle.

Most place names in Ireland were Anglosised as our Celtic language, “Gaelige” made it very difficult for the English to pronounce place names. Kilkenny  in our Irish language is “Cill Chainnigh”. The literal translation of this is “The church of Saint Canice”  

http://www.kilkennycastle.ie/en/

Theobald le Botiller FitzWalter who first came to Ireland with Henry II and Theobald was brother to Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury. The ancestors of the Butlers (or Theobald FitzWalter) came from Normandy to England with William the Conqueror and he had the office of Chief Butler of Ireland conferred on him, the duty attached to which was to attend at the coronation of the Kings of England and present them with the first cup of wine.

Theobald was Sheriff of Lancaster for a while prior to coming to Ireland first with King Henry II and again later with King John.

As one looks down the generations of Butlers, Lord Chamberlain to Catherine of Aragon was Thomas Butler the 7th earl of Ormond. He had a daughter Margret, who married William Boleyn, who had a son Thomas Boleyn, Anne’s father. A little known fact is that Anne was to marry her cousin on her return from France in 1522. He was James Butler, the 9th Earl of Ormond. It is believed that it was the reason for Anne’s return from France (according to the curators of Kilkenny castle) and the breakdown of the proposed marriage was due to the size of the dowry. I have also read that Cardinal Wolsey was in disagreement with the union and that prior to getting to know Anne, Henry gave his blessing. Hans Holbein the Younger did a portrait of James and it is part of the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. James would have spent most of his time in the court of Henry VIII, he was rich and very powerful and must have come close to Anne often in the confines of court.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J….._of_Ormond

If your name is Butler, it is most likely you are related. There is a “Butler society” where you can get assistance with your family tree.

I have put the pictures of Kilkenny castle on my Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/album……038;ref=nf