Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 1.djvu/509

 APPENDIX A 459 Early Irish Viscountcies The first Irish Viscountcy is that of Gormanston, created by patent 1478. In England there had been three earlier creations of a Viscount, viz., Beaumont (1440), Bourghchier (1446), Lisle (1451); the fourth English Viscountcy, that of Berkeley (148 1), being cr. only three years later than that of Gormanston. A reference to the lists of Rankings will show that Gormanston, although created a Viscount in 1478, only ranked fifth among the Barons in 1489, being then described as "Lord Preston of Gormanston. " In 1 54 1 he was ranked second ; in 1560, fifth ; in 1585, third. The anomalous position of Gormanston has prompted G.D. Burtchaell to compare the extant Patents of creation of the earliest Viscountcies. The patent creating Viscount Bourghchier is not in existence. With regard to the others named above, the patent creating Gormanston proves to be almost identical with that creating Berkeley. But while Beaumont and Lisle were specifically given precedency over " all barons, " these words do not occur in the Gormanston Patent, which gives him " the Status of a Viscount of our land aforesaid [Ireland] " — the only status at that time being that of a sheriff. The Irish peers, therefore, seem to have considered that he was not given (or, at any rate, would not recognise him as having) precedence over barons, consequently his name was not put above them in the oldest lists extant. As to Berkeley, on the other hand, that being the fourth Viscountcy created in England, the status of Viscount in that country had already been definitely settled. As to the Viscountcies of Barry (or But- tevant) and Roche of Fermoy, it has been pointed out in the text under Barry that the Lords Barry were never styled Viscounts in any documents prior to 1541, and no evidence as to the creation of a Viscountcy at any time is forthcoming. The Lords Roche of Fermoy appear to have been first styled Viscounts in the list of Ranking in 1584, and in their case also there is no known evidence of the creation of a Viscountcy. Indeed both of these seem to be cases of the audacious and successful assumption of a higher title, which could hardly have occurred anywhere but in Ireland. G.D. Burtchaell, who has investigated this question thoroughly, writes; " I am convinced that the titles of Viscount Buttevant and Viscount Fermoy were unknown before the reign of Henry VIII, and that such titles were never created ; and that Lord Barry and Lord Roche managed to get themselves acknowledged as Viscounts with precedence before Gormanston, who was the first and only Viscount until Barry and Roche insisted on being treated as such. "