Ричард Бойл, Корк графының біріншісі: Ирландия тарихындағы саяхатшы және саясаткер

English politician

Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork (13 October 1566 – 15 September 1643), also known as the Great Earl of Cork, was an English politician who served as Lord Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland. Lord Cork was an important figure in the continuing English colonisation of Ireland in the 16th and 17th centuries, as he acquired large tracts of land in plantations in Munster in southern Ireland. Moreover, his sons played an important role in fighting against the Irish Catholic rebellion in the 1640s and 1650s, assisting in the victory of the British and Protestant interests in Ireland. In addition to being the first Earl of Cork, he was the patriarch of the Boyle family through his many prominent descendants, whose titles included Earl of Orrery (1660), Earl of Burlington (1664) and Earl of Shannon (1756).

Boyle was born at Canterbury on 13 October 1566, the second son of Roger Boyle (d. 24 March 1576 at Preston, near Faversham in Kent), a descendant of an ancient landed Herefordshire family, and of Joan (15 October 1529 –20 March 1586), daughter of John Naylor, who were married in Canterbury on 16 October 1564. Both his parents are interred in an alabaster tomb at the upper end of the chancel of the parish church of Preston. His elder brother was John Boyle, Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross. Young Boyle went to The King's School, Canterbury, at the same time as Christopher Marlowe. His university education began at Bennet (Corpus Christi) College, Cambridge, England, in 1583. After this he studied law at the Middle Temple in London and became a clerk to Sir Roger Manwood, Kt., who was then the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. Before completing his studies, Boyle decided "to gain learning, knowledge, and experience abroad in the world" and left London for a new start in Ireland. He arrived in Dublin on 23 June 1588 with just over £27 (equivalent to £ in ),as well as a gold bracelet worth £10 (£ in ), and a diamond ring (given to him by his mother at her death and which he wore all his life), besides some fine clothing, and his "rapier and dagger". Boyle was arrested on charges of fraud and collusion with the Spanish (essentially accusations of covert papist infiltration, a treasonable offence for an official in Queen Elizabeth I's Protestant civil service) in his office. He was thrown into prison (at least once by Sir William FitzWilliam in about 1592) several times during this episode. He was about to leave for England to justify himself to Queen Elizabeth I, when there was a rebellion in Munster in October 1598, and "all my lands were wasted" and she also said he was "a man fit to be employed by ourselves". He was immediately appointed Clerk of the Council of Munster by Elizabeth I in 1600. In December 1601, Boyle brought to Elizabeth the news of the victory near Kinsale. In October 1602, Boyle was again sent over by Sir George Carew, the president of Munster, on Irish affairs. He was knighted at St Mary's Abbey, near Dublin, by Carew on 25 July 1603.

Lord Cork has been described as the "first colonial millionaire". Historian Roy Foster, in his Modern Ireland, calls him an 'epitome of Elizabethan adventurer colonist in Ireland'. The Boyle motto is: 'God's Providence is my inheritance'. Lord Cork's theopolitical philosophy has been described as 'providentialist' when contrasted with its counterpart which prevailed to the north in parts of Ulster at the time, which is more typically characterised as Presbyterian. Such a comparison of these two standpoints is neither exclusively religious nor secular, a factor which perhaps offers some small insight as to how Lord Cork managed to achieve what seems now the extraordinary feat of gaining strong favour at various times with the leaders on either side of the English Civil War.