BUTLER 447 these Fitzwalters or Butlers occupied as early as the end of the I2th cent, a position of importance fully equal to that of any of the men who were sum. to Pari, in England, and who by peerage law are treated as having been Barons by Writ; nevertheless there is in this case not only no evidence of the creation of any Barony [I.] but none that they were regarded or described as possessing any peerage title before the creation of the Earldom of Carrick in 13 15 or that of Ormond in 1328. There can be little doubt that had they never obtained an Earldom they would at some time have been recognised as Barons of Parliament, but to fix even an approxi- mate date for the origin of an early Irish Barony is, as has already been pointed out sub Athenry, mere guess-work. One thing alone seems clear, that such a rank cannot have existed in Ireland earlier than it did in England. V.G. Theobald Walter or Fitz Walter, s. and h. of Hervey Walter, of West Dereham, Norfolk (owner of large estates in Norfolk and Suffolk), by Maud,() da. and coh. of Theobald de Valoignes, accom- panied John, Count of Mortain, Lord of Ireland (afterward King John), in 1 1 85 into Ireland, who conferred on him vast estates in that Kingdom, including (before 1189) the fief of Arldow, i^c, and (in or before May 1 192) the important office of Butler [I.], adignityC") which, of itself, probably comprised (even if it did not comprise more than) Baronial rank and position for himself and his successors. (°) He is said(^) subse- quently to have obtained the valuable monopoly of the prisage(') of wines [I.], and is styled Theobald Butler certainly as early as ii99.(^ Returning to England, he obtained from Richard I, in 1194, a grant of the Wapentake of Amounderness with the Lordship of Preston, Lanes. He was Sheriff of Lancashire, personally or by deputy 1 194-99; and was Founder of the Abbey of Cockersand in that co. In 1197 he was one of the Justices Itinerant. He founded the Abbey of Nenagh, co. Tipperary (*) Her sister, Bertha, was wife of Ranulph de Glanville, the great Justiciar. This circumstance greatly contributed to the advancement of the Butler family. A yr. br. of this Theobald, Hubert Walter, was Archbishop of Canterbury 1193, and Chancellor 1199 till his death in 1205. C") As to this important office and other high offices of State see Appendix D in this volume. (*) Under the name of Butler, or le Botiller, these Barons appear (without any territorial designation) in the roll of every Pari, to which they were sum., the office giving henceforth the surname to the family, under which, accordingly, this Barony is here treated. i^) In Carte's Ormonde. (•) This right was by Act of Pari. 181 1, purchased from the then Marquess of Ormonde [I.], for ^^2 16,000. (') Assize of novel disseisin between him and Manser Arsic, 11 99. See Cal. of Document i relating to Ireland, vol. i, pp. io8, 109.
