James Eustace of Harristown (1530-1585), the eldest son of Roland, second Viscount Baltinglass, was born in 1530 and had as his tutor an influential priest, Rev. Norman Eustace. He became a fervent Catholic and regarded Queen Elizabeth as an illegitimate heretic. In 1576, before the death of his father, James lodged complaints against the persecution of Catholics, and the illegal taxation by the Lord Deputy, Sir Henry Sidney. He and other Catholics were imprisoned (in 1577), and he was released only just in time to assume his title next year. James married Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Sir John Travers of Monkstown Castle, but they had no children. She died in 1610, having married secondly in 1587, Sir Gerald Aylmer, Baronet of Donadea Castle, a Catholic Loyalist. Sir Gerald was repeatedly imprisoned, but finally released and knighted by Queen Elizabeth; he was created a Baronet by King James I. In St. Peter’s Church of Ireland, Donadea, there is a fine Renaissance canopied tomb (1626) with kneeling effigies of Sir Gerald Aylmer who died 1634. The tomb also depicts his second wife, Dame Julia Nugent, who died in 1617. In 1812 the tomb was removed from the old church to its present position by Sir Fenton Aylmer. In 1579, Gerald Fitzgerald, 14th Earl of Desmond, took up arms in Munster against Queen Elizabeth, who had appointed Thomas Butler, the 10th “Black” Earl of Ormonde to deal with the rebellion. This he eventually did, but with ruthless and terrible severity. In the summer of 1580, James Eustace, Viscount Baltinglass III, apparently prompted almost entirely by religious motives also rebelled. He aspired to place Mary Queen of Scots upon the thrones of England and Ireland, and was outlawed by Act of the Irish Parliament called ‘The Statute of Baltinglass’ (passed May 1585). James collected rebel forces in County Wicklow with a view to assisting Desmond. These included many influential Catholics, some of them his own relatives, and a large number of Irish tribesmen. News of this soon reached the ears of Onnonde, his brother-in-law, who must have sent him a severe warning, for we have Baltinglass’s defiant reply, later produced in evidence against him. At first the revolt was remarkably successful, and a severe defeat was inflicted upon the troops of the Lord Deputy at the Pass of Glenmalure in the Wicklow mountains, on the Baltinglass lands. But Baltinglass never coordinated his efforts with those of Desmond , and in any case had started too late. There was desultory fighting for nearly a year, but with no large engagement; the Baltinglass troops over-ran a large area doing great damage, but were then hopelessly overpowered. A force of Spaniards and Italians had landed at Smerwick, Co. Kerry, in order to assist the Catholic cause. They were attacked by land and sea forces under the Lord Deputy Grey who was assisted by Sir Walter Raleigh, a Captain in the army, he distinguished himself at Smerwick by his brutality to the Irish. Part of the invading force who escaped marched 150 miles to Naas with the intention of helping Baltinglass but when they had completed the long march they were taken prisoner and massacred. The scene of this massacre, called ‘Foad Spaniagh’ is where the Naas C.B.S secondary school now stands.

The contemporary and near contemporary Catholic view of the Baltinglass rebellion is to be found in the writings of David Rothe and Philip O’ Beare. For these writers, James Eustace was the illustrious champion who took up arms against persecution by Queen Elizabeth, in defense of the Catholic faith professed by his ancestors The many noble Catholics who were hanged in Dublin in 1581, were regarded as martyrs for the Catholic faith. The list of martyrs includes priests and laymen; one layman was Maurice Eustace of Castlemartin who was executed in November of 1581. As he was taken to his execution, he declared to Archbishop Loftus, who had offered his daughter, with an ample dowry in marriage should he adopt the Protestant faith;

‘For Jesus Christ’s sake, I have come here ready to suffer ignomy and pain, and to shed my blood, great is my joy, I will not abandon Christ for a heritical wife , or an uncertain life, and for my liberty As he died for me on the cross, I desire and hope to die for him on the scaffold.’

Archbishop Loftus built his massive Elizabethan castle at Rathfarnham circa 1585 on lands forfeited to the Crown by the rebellion of James Eustace, Viscount Baltinglass III. All those who were executed in the furor of the aftermath of the rebellion were regarded by fellow Catholics, and particularly by those such as Rothe and O’Sullivan Beare , as Catholic idealists who made the final sacrifice. Although James Eustace escaped the martyr’s fate, he is regarded as a great and committed Catholic for his part in the rebellion.

Baltinglass and his followers were outlawed and forty five of them were hanged in Dublin, he himself escaped to Munster, where the Earl of Desmond was still in revolt, and then to Spain, where he was well received, and only just failed to persuade King Philip to provide sufficient troops and ships to invade Ireland. James Eustace, Viscount Baltinglass III died childless in Spain on the 25th November 1585 just six months after been outlawed in Ireland. Not so fortunate were six men who were involved in organising his safe passage out of Ireland. Matthew Lambert, a Wexford baker, gave the Viscount and his chaplain, father Robert Rochford refuge and, five sailors working out of Wexford were also involved in the escape plan. All six were arrested and found guilty of treason. They were tortured and while still proclaiming their fidelity to the Catholic faith, they were hanged, drawn and quartered in Wexford in July l581, Lambert and three of the sailors, Robert Myler, Edward Cheevers, and Patrick Kavanagh, (the names of the others were not recorded) were among seventeen Irish Martyrs who were beatified in Rome on the 27th September 1992 by Pope John Paul II. In their memory the new Catholic Church at Ballycane, Naas, is called the “Church of the Irish Martyrs”. Also beatified on that day was Fr. Peter Higgins, Prior of the Dominican community at Naas, founded by the Eustaces in 1356; he was hanged in Dublin on 23rd March 1642. On the scaffold he declared; “I die a Catholic and a Dominican Priest.”

The fate of James Eustace’s five brothers is as follows;

(1) Edmund escaped to Scotland and from there to Spain where he was created 4th Viscount by the Pope in 1586. He served against England in the Armada in 1588 and died childless in Portugal in 1597.

(2) Thomas was executed in 1582.

(3) William was believed to have been slain in battle in 1581; it was officially reported to Sir Francis Walshingham, Secretary of State in London that the, “head of William Eustace another of the Baltinglass brothers was taken this morning”. However, it is possible that this report was untrue and, as we shall see later, this particular William was the ancestor of the Eustaces of Robertstown.

(4) Walter was captured in 1583 and executed.

(5) Richard was in Paris at the time of the rebellion, engaged in arranging the dispatch of ammunition and supplies to assist his brothers. He became a priest in Rome.

Of their sisters, Joan married Sir Barnaby Fitzpatrick of Upper Ossory and Eleanor married Sir Edmund Butler, the second son of the ninth Earl of Ormonde.

In 1585 The Statute of Baltinglass was passed by parliament but against considerable opposition. Under this Act the title and arms of the Eustaces were attainted, and all the vast Baltinglass possessions were forfeited, with retrospective clauses voiding all transfers of property that had taken place during the previous 12 years. The Eustaces of Harristown, once Lords of Portlester, Kilcullen, and Baltinglass, were thus virtually obliterated. James and his brothers had fought for what they were convinced was right, but they had failed and for that failure they paid dearly. Whether they were traitors or martyrs, they were certainly brave men. At the time of the attainder, the Dowager Viscountess, once a proud Butler, but now the mother of “the six traitorous brothers” petitioned rather pathetically to be allowed to retain her jointure or alternatively be granted somewhere to live. Almost all the forfeited estates were granted to Sir Henry Harrington who had been active in quelling the rebellion. Sir Henry sold them in 1617 and the estates later passed to the Stratfords (Viscounts of Aldborough) whose family seat was at Belan near Moone. John Stratford was created Baron of Baltinglass, he was advanced in 1776 to Viscount Aldborough; he laid out and improved the town of Baltinglass.