Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 57.djvu/84

 confirmation was obtained by act of parliament in 1678. As for the Irish peerage, it was held to be protected by the statute de donis, preserving all entailed honours against forfeiture for felony (cf., Peerage, and legal authorities quoted).

Feeling attracted to a soldier's life, Castlehaven obtained permission to visit the theatre of war on the continent, and was at Rome in 1638 when, in consequence of the prospect of war between England and Scotland, he was commanded to return home. Setting out immediately, he reached England early in the following year (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1638–9 p. 629, 1639 p. 273). He attended Charles I to Berwick, but after the first pacification he returned to the continent and witnessed the capitulation of Arras by Owen Roe O'Neill [q. v.] to the French. Repairing to England to put his affairs there in order, he afterwards proceeded for the same purpose to Ireland, and was on the point of leaving the latter country when the rebellion broke out on 23 Oct. 1641. Hastening to Dublin, he offered his services to the government; but the lords justices, Sir William Parsons [q. v.] and Sir John Borlase [q. v.], suspecting his motives as a Roman catholic, declined his offer, as likewise they did his request to be permitted to repair to England, requiring him, on the contrary, to retire to his house at Maddenstown in co. Kildare, and if need were ‘to make fair weather’ with the rebels. Obeying their commands, he at once proceeded thither, and was instrumental in relieving the distressed English in those parts. But his hesitating conduct in not joining the Earl of Ormonde at the battle of Kilrush on 15 April 1642 and his undertaking to mediate between the lords of the Pale and the government affording plausible grounds for doubting his loyalty, he was, towards the latter end of May, indicted of high treason at Dublin. ‘Amazed at this sad and unexpected news,’ he posted to Dublin, presented himself before the council, and after some debate was committed to the custody of one of the sheriffs of the city. Several months passed away, and, learning that it was intended to remove him into stricter confinement in the castle, he resolved, ‘with God's help, not tamely to die butchered,’ and, having managed to elude the vigilance of his keeper, he escaped on 27 Sept. into the Wicklow mountains. His intention was ‘to gain a passage by Wexford into France, and from thence into England;’ but coming to Kilkenny, the headquarters of the confederate catholics, he was persuaded to accept a command in the army, and was appointed general of horse under Sir Thomas Preston (afterwards Viscount Tara) [q. v.] Such is his own account in the ‘Memoirs’ and ‘Remonstrance’ (Desid. Cur. Hib. ii. 119, 135); but it was believed among the northern Irish that his escape was a contrivance on the part of the Earl of Ormonde ‘to work an understanding’ between him and his kindred in rebellion, Castlehaven being related to him through the marriage of his sister with Edmund Roe Butler (Contemp. Hist. i. 40).

Castlehaven served with Preston at the capture of Burros Castle on 30 Dec., and of Birr on 19 Jan. following (1643), and, being entrusted with the execution of the articles of capitulation of the latter, he conveyed the garrison safely to Athy. He commanded the horse at the battle of Ross on 18 March, where the confederates were defeated by the Marquis of Ormonde, and when Preston, having rallied his forces, sat down before Ballynekill, he intercepted and routed a strong detachment sent to raise the siege under Colonel Crawford near Athy on 13 April. His main business was to cover Kilkenny, but, in consequence of the progress Inchiquin [see first ] was making in Munster, he was sent with what forces he could collect into that province. On 4 June he overtook Sir C. Vavasour near Castle Lyons, and defeated him with heavy loss, killing some six hundred men on the spot, taking Sir Charles himself and several of his officers prisoners, and capturing all his cannon and baggage, with little or no injury to himself. Returning to Kilkenny, he was afterwards employed in reducing the outstanding fortresses in co. Kildare between the Barrow and the Liffey, when his further progress was stopped by the conclusion of the cessation, in promoting which he had taken an active part, on 15 Sept. He was very useful in providing shipping at Wexford to transport the Irish soldiers furnished by Ormonde for the king's service into England (, Ormonde, i. 469), and, the Scottish forces under Major-general Robert Monro [q. v.] in Ulster refusing to be bound by the cessation, he was appointed to the command of six thousand foot and six hundred horse to be sent to the aid of Owen Roe O'Neill in the following year (1644). But before he could proceed thither he was ordered to suppress a local insurrection in co. Mayo. This done, he effected a junction with O'Neill at Portlester, and towards the end of July both armies marched towards Tanderagee. But Monro avoided giving battle, and Castlehaven, after lying intrenched near Charlemont for two months, and exhausting his provisions, retired, ‘taking a great round’