119:, the Irish Solicitor General, who also had considerable influence with Cromwell. The Cowleys, who had the reputation for being entirely unscrupulous in advancing their careers, kept up a flow of letters to Cromwell attempting to undermine Barnewall. They alleged that Barnewall had challenged the King's authority in religious matters, a very serious charge in the political climate of the time. For a time it seemed the Cowleys would oust Barnewall: Cowley obtained the offices of Clerk of the Crown and Receiver of Customs of the port of Dublin, and Cromwell praised him as a man of
187:
families, but as a man, he was not highly regarded by his contemporaries, or by later historians. His letters to
Cromwell, particularly those which detail his efforts to destroy Patrick Barnewall, show him in an unattractive light, and historians have described both Robert and Walter as "ambitious
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and a trusted Crown servant for thirty years, faced Cowley's hostility from early in his career. In 1525 Bathe, then a very young lawyer, presented the
English Government with a book setting out his proposals for reform of the Irish administration: Cowley ridiculed it, writing to Wolsey that Bathe
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Although Walter Cowley, Principal
Solicitor for Ireland, is recorded as Robert's brother he was in fact Robert's son. Records show that two Walter and Robert Colley originated from Glaston in Rutland, England, and that Walter's son was the distinguished soldier Sir
159:. His efforts to block the rise to power of Chief Baron Bathe were entirely unsuccessful, even though he pointed out, correctly, that many of Bathe's friends and relatives had been deeply involved in the Rebellion of
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and deprived of office. He was released from the Fleet in 1543 and died in
England three years later. His son Walter was also deprived of office and imprisoned in the
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was created for Walter. Robert became Master of the Rolls in 1539. He served on the commission for suppression of the religious houses and received as his reward the
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in 1525; thereafter the Cowley family were regarded as strong Ormond partisans. Robert also sought to gain influence by becoming a regular correspondent of
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Despite his family's later eminence, Robert's background is obscure and his early life is poorly recorded. He was the father of Walter Cowley of
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to Walter Cowley. In the event
Cromwell seems to have made peace between the rivals: Barnewall remained Solicitor General and a new post of
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94:. His devices for Ireland in 1537 suggested to Cromwell that all "All Irish on this side Shannon to be prosecuted, subdued, and exiled;".
46:; the Colley/Cowley family is recorded there from about 1400. Robert is said to have seen military service with Garret Mor, the "Great"
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in 1502. He then decided on a business career abt 1505 with his sons Walter & Robert (Jr), and moved to
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From about 1520 Cowley played an increasing role in Irish politics. He was in the retinue of the
163:. In 1541 Cowley unwisely went to London without official leave: he was promptly denounced for
22:(c. 1470–1546) was an English-born judge in sixteenth-century Ireland who held the office of
292:Ó Mathúna, Sean P. William Bathe 1564-1614- a Pioneer in Linguistics John Benjamins 1986 p.9
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knew as much about the government of
Ireland as Cowley did about that of Italy.
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replaced Surrey as
Lieutenant, Cowley became his legal adviser and Clerk to the
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Cowley's influence declined after the downfall and death of
Cromwell in 1540:
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Cowley was a gifted man who rose from obscurity to found one of the great
175:– several letters from him to the King pleading for clemency still exist.
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distrusted him, and like many leading political figures of
50:, but the first definite trace of him is when he entered
26:. He is chiefly remembered as a possible ancestor of the
269:"Henry VIII: July 1537, 26-31 | British History Online"
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The
History of the King's Serjeants-at-Law in Ireland
209:, who adopted the surname Wesley, was created
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234:The Kings Inns and the Kingdom of Ireland
62:. He was made Bailiff of Dublin in 1515.
342:State Papers for the Reign of Henry VIII
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236:Irish Academic Press Dublin, 1992 p.19
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111:In the 1530s Robert and his brother
249:John Murray London 1926 Vol.1 p.203
121:long established fidelity and truth
100:Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer
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314:Four Court Press Dublin 2000 p.34
205:Castle. Henry was an ancestor of
115:engaged in a power struggle with
80:Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond
414:Masters of the Rolls in Ireland
247:The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921
129:Principal Solicitor for Ireland
394:English expatriates in Ireland
24:Master of the Rolls in Ireland
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135:of Holmpatrick, near Dublin.
125:Solicitor General for Ireland
66:Political and judicial career
58:where he became a successful
389:16th-century English judges
384:15th-century English judges
213:and was grandfather of the
107:Feud with Patrick Barnewall
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76:Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
273:www.british-history.ac.uk
409:People from Lincolnshire
399:Members of Lincoln's Inn
20:Robert Cowley, or Colley
404:Inmates of Fleet Prison
344:Vol. III published 1834
215:1st Duke of Wellington
157:Lord Deputy of Ireland
74:when he was appointed
28:1st Duke of Wellington
153:Sir Anthony St. Leger
167:, imprisoned in the
369:English politicians
151:he quarrelled with
245:Ball F. Elrington
188:mischief-makers".
117:Patrick Barnewall
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88:Cardinal Wolsey
78:. In 1522 when
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278:19 September
276:. Retrieved
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199:Henry Colley
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169:Fleet Prison
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379:1546 deaths
332:Ball p. 203
323:Ball, p.203
192:Descendants
185:Anglo-Irish
96:James Bathe
16:Irish judge
363:Categories
258:Ball p.203
221:References
145:Henry VIII
139:Last years
34:Early life
353:Hart p.30
179:Character
165:sedition
149:the Pale
98:, later
60:merchant
203:Carbury
84:Council
44:Rutland
40:Glaston
155:, the
133:priory
56:Dublin
280:2021
201:of
42:in
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