James FitzThomas Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, 12th Earl of Ormond, 5th Earl of Ossory, 1st Marquess of Ormond, 1st Earl of Brecknock KG, PC(19 October 1610 – 21 July 1688) was an Anglo-Irish statesman and soldier, known as Earl of Ormond from 1634 to 1642 and Marquess of Ormonde from 1642 to 1661. From 1641 to 1647, he led the fighting against the Irish Catholic Confederation. From 1649 to 1650 he was the leading commander of the Royalist forces in the fight against the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. In the 1650s he lived in exile in Europe with King Charles II of England. Upon the restoration of Charles to the throne in 1660, Ormonde became a major figure in English and Irish politics, holding many high government offices.

Timeline 1641: The Great Rebellion breaks out in Ireland

Timeline 1641 (Julian dates have been adjusted to modern time frame) The key events of 1641 were: The Trial and execution of Strafford Imprisonment of Archbishop Laud The Triennial Act The Irish Uprising The Grand Remonstrance From an Irish perspective, the key figure was James FitzThomas Butler, then 12th Earl of Ormond and Commander of the…

Ormonde Halfcrown. S.6545. Obv. Crown above C and R, a line circle around, and a somewhat crude blunt toothed outer border. Only cross of crown touches the inner line circle. Only the tail of the trailing R crosses the circle. A faint triangular pellet divides the C and R. The C has a near Roman top seraph, and no bottom seraph. Rev. Huge bold II, height 15.0mm, and shorter VI, height 11.3mm. All four corners of the IIVI cut across the inner line circle of 25.5mm diameter. Minute central pellet before V. An almost snakelike S with almost parallel Roman seraphs is centered above the II, and almost bisected by the line circle with bottom of top seraph of S just touching the outside of the inner circle. Well formed D, height 3.6mm, with a longer top seraph than bottom seraph, is above right side of V and closer to circle than to the V. Struck on an unusually round sterling plate flan, still showing part of original silver detail on obverse

O’Brien Coin Guide: The Ormonde Money of 1643-44

Introduction The 1642 ‘Lords Justices’ issues were followed in 1643 by a larger (fourth) emergency issue of better made, but still crude, silver coins. These are collectively known as ‘Ormonde Money’ since they were issued by the Lord Justice, the Earl of Ormonde (James Butler) some time between 1643-1644. Ormonde’s active career began in Ireland had begun…