Eustace family genealogy

(Ginel Iusdasach)

Lords Portlester [1] and Viscounts Baltinglass.

Arms: Or, a saltire gu. Crest: A stag statant, betw. the horns a crucifix, all ppr. Supporters: Two angels ppr. Motto: Cur me persequeris?

DONCHADH, a brother of Tadhg [Teige] who is No. 106 on the "O'Brien" (of Thomond) pedigree, was the ancestor of MacIusdais; anglicised Eustace.

106. Donchadh: a son of Brian Boroimhe, the 175th Monarch of Ireland.

107. Pór (or Pur) of Raithear Pueuruigh: his son; a quo O'Poir or O'Puer ("pór," gen. "poir": Irish, seed, race, or clan), which became Le Poer, modernized Power.

108. Bened of Raithear Beneudaigh: his son.

109. Iusdas (i.e., Lucas): his son; a quo MacIusdais ("ios" or "fios": Irish, knowledge, and "das," a desk), and MacLucais ("luach": Irish, reward, and "cas," hasty; Heb. "chush"), anglicised Lucas.

110. Muiris: his son.

111. Nioclas: his son.

112. Risdeard: his son.

113. Tomhas: his son.

114. Alasder: his son.

115. Uilliam: his son.

116. Sheon: his son.

117. Sir Eadbhard: his son.

118. Tomhas: his son.

119. Risdeard: his son.

120. Margreagach: his son; had three brothers—1. Eamon, 2. Builter, 3. Tomhas.

121. Robeard (or Robert) Eustace: his son; had four brothers—1. Alaster. 2. Sheon. 3. Risdeard, 4. Another Robeard.

Notes

[1] Portlester: This family was, according to MacFirbis, descended as here stated. In Webb's Compendium of Irish Biography, it is stated that—"Sir Roland Eustace, or Fitz Eustace, Lord Portlester, was descended from a branch of the Geraldines to whom Henry II. had granted the country round Naas. In 1454 he was appointed Deputy to Richard, Duke of York; and again in 1462 he filled the same office for the Duke of Clarence. Subsequently he was tried for plotting with the Earl of Desmond, and acquitted. Created Portlester, he married Margaret, daughter of Janicho d'Artois, by whom he had two daughters; the elder married Gerald, 8th Earl of Kildare. He hold the office of Treasurer of Ireland for many years, and was in 1474 appointed to the custody of the great seal, which six years afterwards he refused to surrender when the King granted the post to another. This was for a time a great hindrance to public business, until the King authorized the construction of a new great seal for Ireland by Thomas Archbold, Master of the King's Mint in Ireland, and that in Eustace's hands was 'damned, annulled, and suspended,' while his acts as Treasurer were also repudiated . . . Eustace refused to give up the seal; his son-in-law Kildare positively declined to admit a new Lord Deputy, Lord Grey; James Keating, Constable of Dublin Castle, broke down the drawbridge, and defied the Deputy and his three hundred archers and men-at-arms to gain admittance; and the Mayor of Dublin proclaimed that no subsidy should be paid the Earl; while a parliament held at Naas repudiated Lord Grey's authority; and one summoned at Trim declared the proceedings of Kildare's parliament at Naas null and void. Lord Portlester died 14th December, 1496, and was buried at Cotlandstown, County of Kildare. Two monuments were erected to his memory—one in the new abbey, Kilcullen, which he had founded in 1460; the other in St. Audeon's Church, Dublin, where he had built a chapel to the Virgin."