Earl of Castlehaven

Life
1617-1684 [James Touchet; Baron Audley ,and 3rd Earl of Castlehaven]; Memoirs for the Year 1642-1652; attacked by Arthur Annesley, Earl of Angelesey, in A Letter from a Person of Honour in the Country (1681); at Charles II’s request, Ormonde replied in A Letter ... in Answer to ... Earl of Angelesy ... His Observations on Reflections upn the Earl of Castlehaven’s Memoirs, 1681 [ODNB]; Ormond sought a court examination of the ensuing correspondence, resulting in Angelesey’s loss of Office as Privy Councillor; charges against Castlehaven were renewed by Edmund Borlase in Brief Reflections upon the Earl of Castlehaven’s Memoirs (1681); Castlehaven revised his Memoirs in 1685; reprinted with a preface by Charles O’Conor in Waterford (1753), later in Dublin (1815). ODNB DIW OCIL

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Works
[Charles O’Conor, ed.,] The Earl of Castlehaven’s Memoirs (Waterford: J. Caldwell 1753); another edn., as The Earl of Castlehaven’s Memoirs, or His review of his engagement and carriage in the Irish Wars (Dublin: Espy 1815), 222pp.

Library record (COPAC) - James Touchet, Lord Audley, 3rd Earl of Castlehaven (?1617-1684)
  • The Memoirs of James Lord Audley, Earl of Castlehaven, his engagement and carriage in the wars of Ireland from the year 1642 to the year 1651. Written by himself.(London: H. Brome, 1680.), 136pp.; [rep.] (London 1681 [Wing B3766.]
  • Do. [another edn.]; enl. and corr., with an appendix and postscript (London: Printed for Charles Brome, at the Gun in St. Pauls Church-yard 1684), [2], 161 [i.e. 177], [1], 73, [5] p. ; 16 cm (8vo).
  • The Earl of Castlehaven’s memoirs; or, his Review of the Civil Wars in Ireland: with his own engagement and conduct therein; containing also an appendix and postscript / the whole enlarged and corrected by himself; To which is prefixed, Historical notices of the author’s family and life, compiled for this edition (Dublin: Printed for George Mullens, Temple Bar, Dublin, by Espy and Cross, 1815), xv, [1], 143, [1], 41, [3]pp.; 20 cm [var. His Memoirs].
    The Earl of Castlehaven's memoirs of the Irish Wars (1684): with the Earl of Anglesey's letter from a person of honour in the countrey / facsimile reproductions with an introduction by Douglas G. Greene (NY: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints 1974). Contents – 1. Memoirs of the Irish Wars (London: C. Brome 1684); 2. Earl of Anglesey’s letter (London: N. Ponder 1681).
Related texts:
  • James Butler, Duke of Ormonde (1610-1688), A letter from His Grace James, Duke of Ormond, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in answer to the Right Honourable Arthur, Earl of Anglesey, Lord Privy-Seal, his observations and reflections upon the Earl of Castlehaven's Memoires concerning the rebellion of Ireland: printed from the original, with an answer to it by the Right Honourable the Earl of Anglesey. (London: Printed for R[ichard] Baldwin, MDCLXXXII [1682]). [Wing 0448].
  • Edmund Borlase, Brief reflections on the Earl of Castlehaven's memoirs of his engagements and carriage in the wars of Ireland. By which, the government at that time, and the justice of the crown since, are vindicated from aspersions cast on both. (London: printed for George West, 1682), [10], 67, [1]pp.; 8o. [Trinity College, Dublin; unique copy]

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Commentary
R. F. Foster, Modern Ireland (1988) - cites bio-data, p.96, 1617-84; Baron Audley and 3rd Earl of Castlehaven, 1633; a Catholic peer, he escapes imprisonment in Dublin to join Confederates, 1642; service under Preston; fled to France on Cromwell’s arrival, served in continental campaigns, described along with Irish ones in his Memoirs (1680); restored to lands and dignities by Charles II. AND SEE also ibid. p. 64, George Touchet, c.1550-1617, sometime Gov. of Utrecht, wounded at Kinsale, 1601; Ulster plantation undertaker, 1610; Baron Au[d]ley of Orie[l], Armagh, 1614; 1st Earl of Castlehaven, Co. Cork, 1616.

Norman Vance, Irish Literature, A Social History (Basil Blackwell 1990), for a different account of the relations with Anglesey, whose response in Letter to the Earl of Castlehaven (1681.; actually 1680) contains the assertion that before the Rebellion of 1641 Ireland ‘never enjoyed a more profound, and more like to be lasting Peace and Prosperity, Commerce and Trade ... there never was more Unity, Friendship, and good Agreement, amongst all sorts and degress.’ adding that he lent his silver plate to the Catholic Bishop of Ferns and had it ‘honestly restored’.

Micheál Ó Siochrú, ‘The Confedation of Kilkenny’, in History Ireland (Summer 1994), pp.51-56 - writes: ‘Not surprisingly accomodation with Ormond and the Royalists was their primary aim [i.e., the confederate grouping of Visc. Muskerry, Richard Bellings, and Dr Gerald Fennell] and they favoured using safe aristocratic generals, like Viscount Castlehaven, who could be guaranteed not to campaign too vigorously. Crucially, the Ormondists were prepared to postpone the question of religious concessions until the king have won the civil war in England.’

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References

Dictionary of National Biography: Touchet’s was brought up by a step-father who forced his sister to have sexual relations with his wife’s ‘paramour’; Touchet later got the step-father convicted by appealing to the King; present at O’Neill’s victory at Arras [France]; he served on the Royalist side in Ireland and led forces against Henry Munro and the ‘scotch forces [that] refused to be bound by the cessation of hostilities in 1643’ [ODNB]; fought successful actions against Parliamentary Forces, shared commanded with Owen Roe O’Neill, and shared defeat with Ormond on Aug. 2, 1647, at Baggorath (Rathmines, Co. Dublin).

Brian Cleeve & Ann Brady, A Dictionary of Irish Writers [rev. 1 vol. edn.] (Dublin: Lilliput 1985) alludes to Castlehaven as a critic of Borlase (under ‘Borlase’) but confuses his criticism with the title of Borlase’s earlier work. whereas it is only in the revised edition, reprinted by O’Conor, that Borlase is challenged.

Shell Guide, ed. Lord Kilanin [Morris] (1966) lists Kilcash, Co. Tipperary, under escarpment of Slievenamon, ruined church and remains of castle where Lord Castlehaven wrote his well-known Memoirs [ ill. shows large fortified house].

Maurice Craig, Irish Bookbindings (Dublin: Eason & Co. 1976), shows Earl of Castlehaven, Memoirs of the Irish Wars (Dublin 1815), bound and signed by George Mullen [bookseller], pl.17 - also showing doublure (inside cover), p.18.

Hyland Books (Cat. 244) lists The Memoirs of James, Lord Audley, Earl of Castlehaven, his Management and Carriage in the Wars of Ireland (1st edn. 1680) [Bradshaw 5569] A Letter from a Person of Honour in the Countrey [sic], to the Earl of Castlehaven (1st edn. 1681) [Bradshaw 5403].

Cathach Books (Cat.; q.d.) lists Memoirs, or his Review of the Civil Wars in Ireland; with his own engagement and conduct therein with historical notes on the Earl’s family and life (Dublin 1815)

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