Robert FitzEustace

Sir Robert FitzEustace (c.1420–1486) was an Irish landowner and politician of the fifteenth century.

He was born at Coghlanstown, County Kildare, son of Sir Richard FitzEustace, who served briefly as Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and Katherine Preston. Rowland FitzEustace, 1st Baron Portlester was his cousin;[1] Rowland was one of the dominant Irish statesmen of his time, and Robert seems to have been a consistently loyal supporter of Portlester and his son-in-law, Gerald FitzGerald, the "Great Earl" of Kildare.[2]

The office of Constable of the Castle of Ballymore Eustace was in effect hereditary in the FitzEustace family; Robert was appointed Constable on his father's death in 1445, but was dismissed from office for a time, due to his refusal to live in the castle. LIke his father he was High Sheriff of Kildare on several occasions, and he was one of the original members of the Brotherhood of Saint George, a short-lived military guild charged with the defence of the Pale. At his death in 1486 he was one of the largest landowners in Kildare (despite having been imprisoned for debt in the 1450s)[3]

An Act of Parliament of 1472 conferred the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland on Robert FitzEustace and John Taxton jointly. O'Flanagan[4] states that nothing is known of either man. Since Robert FitzEustace of Coghlanstown was the son of a Lord Chancellor, and it was not unusual for members of the same family to hold office, he may well be the Robert referred to; on the other hand the name Robert may be a slip for his cousin Rowland FitzEustace who held the office two years later.[5]

Robert had three surviving children: his eldest son and heir Sir Maurice FitzEustace, John and Margaret.

References
  1. Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921. London: John Murray, 1926
  2. Journal of the County Kildare Archaeological Society; vol. VII (1912-14 )
  3. Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society
  4. O'Flanagan, J. Roderick Lives of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland 2 Volumes 1870
  5. Ball Judges in Ireland
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