Christopher Nugent

Family and early years

He was the eldest son of Richard, 5th (or 13th) Baron Delvin, and Elizabeth, daughter of Jenico Preston, 3rd Viscount Gormanston, and widow of Thomas Nangle, styled Baron of Navan. Richard Nugent, fourth or twelfth Baron Delvin, was his great-grandfather. He succeeded to the title on the death of his father, on 10 December 1559, and during his minority was the ward of Thomas Ratcliffe, third earl of Sussex, for whom he conceived a great friendship.

He was matriculated a fellow commoner of Clare Hall, Cambridge, on 12 May 1563, and was presented to the queen when she visited the university in 1564; on coming of age, about November 1565, he repaired to Ireland, with letters of commendation from the queen to the lord deputy, Sir Henry Sidney, granting him the lease in reversion of the abbey of All Saints and the custody of Sleaught-William in the Annaly, County Longford.

As an undertaker in the plantation of County Laois and County Offaly, he had previously obtained, on 3 February 1563–64, a grant of the castle and lands of Corbetstown, alias Ballycorbet, in Offaly (then known as King's County): land confiscated from Garret FitzGerald. In the autumn of the following year, he distinguished himself against Shane O'Neill, and was knighted at Drogheda by Sidney. On 30 June 1567 he obtained a lease of the abbey of Inchmore in the Annaly and the abbey of Fore in County Westmeath, to which was added on 7 October the lease of other lands in the same county.

Suspicions of disloyalty and treason

In July 1574 his refusal, with his cousin Christopher, Viscount Gormanston, to sign the proclamation of rebellion against the Earl of Desmond laid his loyalty open to suspicion, given the tone of the recent papal bull Regnans in Excelsis. He grounded his refusal on the fact that he was not a privy councillor, and had not been made acquainted with the reasons for the proclamation. The English Privy Council, thinking that his objections savoured more of 'a wilful partiality to an offender against her majesty than a willing readiness to her service', sent peremptory orders for his submission. Fresh letters of explanation were proffered by him and Gormanston in February 1575, but, being deemed insufficient, the two noblemen were in May placed under restraint. They thereupon confessed their 'fault', and Delvin shortly afterwards appears to have recovered the good opinion of government: for on 15 December the Lord-Deputy Sir Henry Sidney wrote that he expected a speedy reformation of the country, 'a great deal the rather through the good hope I conceive of the service of my lord of Delvin, whom I find active and of good discretion'; and in April 1576 Delvin entertained Sidney while on progress.

Before the end of the year, however, there sprang up a controversy between the government and the gentry of the Pale in regard to cess, in which Delvin played a principal part. It had long been the custom of the Anglo-Irish government to support the army, to take up provisions, etc., at a fixed price. This custom, called "cess", was considered unfair by the inhabitants of the Pale. In 1576, at the instigation chiefly of Delvin, they denounced the custom as unconstitutional, and appointed three of their number, all leading barristers, to lay their grievances before the queen. The deputation met with scant courtesy in England. Elizabeth I was indignant at having her royal prerogative called in question, and, after roundly abusing the deputies for their impertinence, sent them to the Fleet Prison. In Ireland Delvin, Baltinglas, and others were confined in Dublin Castle in May 1577. After some weeks' detention, the deputies and their principals were released after expressing contrition for their conduct. But with Delvin, 'for that he has showed himself to be the chiefest instrument in terrifying and dissuading the rest of the associates from yielding their submission', Elizabeth left it to Sidney's discretion whether he should remain in prison for some time longer. Finally, an arrangement was arrived at between the government and the gentry of the Pale.

In the autumn of 1579, Delvin was entrusted with the command of the forces of the Pale, and was reported to have done good service in defending the northern marches against Turlough Luineach O'Neill. His 'obstinate affection to popery', however, told in his disfavour, and it was as much for this general reason as for any proof of treason that the Anglo-Irish government, in December 1580, committed him, along with his father-in-law, Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare, to Dublin Castle on suspicion of being implicated in the rebellious projects of Viscount Baltinglas. The higher officials, including Lord-Deputy Grey de Wilton, were convinced of his treason, but they were unable to establish their charge against him. After an imprisonment of 18 months, he and FitzGerald were sent to England in the custody of Marshal Henry Bagenal.

Marriage and issue

Delvin married Lady Mary FitzGerald, daughter of Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare, and Mabel Browne; she died on 1 October 1610. His and Mary's children were:

Richard Nugent, 1st Earl of Westmeath (1583–1642)

Christopher of Corbetstown, who married Anne, daughter of Edward Cusack of Lismullen, and widow of Sir Ambrose Forth, judge of the Irish Court of Admiralty; he was dead by 1637, when Anne was described as the wife of Valerian Wellesley

Gerald

Thomas

Gilbert

William

Mabel, who married, first, Murrough O'Brien, 4th Baron Inchiquin, then John Fitzpatrick, second son of Florence Fitzpatrick, Baron Upper Ossory

Elizabeth, who married Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Kildare

Mary, first wife of Anthony (or Owny) O'Dempsey, heir-apparent to Terence O'Dempsey, 1st Viscount Clanmalier

Eleanor, wife of Christopher Chevers of Macetown, County Meath

Margaret, who married a Fitzgerald

Juliana, second wife of Sir Gerald Aylmer, 1st Baronet, of Donade, County Kildare.

Works

Delvin was the author of:

1. A Primer of the Irish Language, compiled at the request and for the use of Queen Elizabeth. It is described by John Thomas Gilbert as a 'small and elegantly written volume,' consisting of 'an address to the queen in English, an introductory statement in Latin, followed by the Irish alphabet, the vowels, consonants, and diphthongs, with words and phrases in Irish, Latin, and English.'

2. A Plot for the Reformation of Ireland, which, though short, is not without interest, as expressing the views of what may be described as the moderate or constitutional party in Ireland as distinct from officialdom on the one hand, and the Irish on the other. He writes that the viceroy's authority is too absolute; that the institution of presidents of provinces is unnecessary; that justice is not administered impartially; that the people are plundered by a beggarly soldiery, who find it in their interest to create dissensions; that the prince's word is pledged recklessly and broken shamelessly, and, above all, that there is no means of education such as is furnished by a university provided for the gentry, "in myne opynion one of the cheifest causes of mischeif in the realme."