Walter de Cusack

Walter de Cusack (died 1334) was an Anglo-Irish judge, magnate and military commander.[1]

He belonged to the leading Anglo-Irish Cusack family, who had come to Ireland soon after the Norman Conquest of Ireland in the late twelfth century; his own branch of the family settled in County Meath.[1]

He was summoned by King Edward I for military service in the First War of Scottish Independence in 1303 and 1307, and probably on two or three later occasions.[2] He was summoned to the Irish Parliament in 1310. [1] He was appointed Chief Justice in Eyre (i.e Chief Itinerant justice) in 1308,[2]and was Deputy Justiciar of Ireland and a justice of the Justiciar's Court in 1317-18.[2]

He married firstly Matilda, daughter and heiress of William (or Robert) Pylate of Pylatestown, and secondly Amicia, widow of Nigel le Brun of Roebuck; [1]though his second marriage he acquired Knocktopher Castle in County Kilkenny, which passed to the Butler dynasty soon afterwards. His marriage to Amicia was technically an offence, since it seems that he did not have the King's permission which was required for marriage to a widow. He died in 1334, leaving issue by his first marriage. His descendants were mainly associated with Cushinstown in County Meath.

Sources
  • Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 London John Murray 1926
  • Smith, Brendan Colonisation and Conquest in Medieval Ireland: The English in Louth 1170-1330 Cambridge University Press 1999

Notes
  1. Ball pp.61-2
  2. Smith pp.146-9
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