Thomas Preston, 1st Viscount Tara (1585 - 1655) was an Irish soldier of the 17th century. He was a descendant of Sir Robert de Preston, who in 1363 purchased the lands of Gormanston, County Meath, and who was keeper of the Great Seal in Ireland some years later. 1585 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. ... Events March 25 - Saturns largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christian Huygens. ... Centuries: 13th century - 14th century - 15th century Decades: 1310s 1320s 1330s 1340s 1350s - 1360s - 1370s 1380s 1390s 1400s 1410s Years: 1358 1359 1360 1361 1362 - 1363 - 1364 1365 1366 1367 1368 See also: 1363 state leaders Events Magnus II, King of Sweden, is deposed by Albert of Mecklenburg. ... Gormanston (Irish: ) is a village in County Meath, Republic of Ireland. ... Statistics Province: Leinster County Town: Navan Code: MH Area: 2,342 km² Population (2006) 162,621 Website: www. ...

Sir Robert's great-grandson, Robert Preston, was created Viscount Gormanstown in 1478; and the latter's great-grandson was Christopher, 4th Viscount Gormanstown (d. 1599), whose second son was Thomas Preston. His elder brother succeeded the title of Viscount Gormanstown, so Thomas Preston pursued a career in the military. Since Roman Catholics were not allowed to hold state positions in Ireland, he entered the Spanish service and fought in the Thirty Years' War. Preston was in the same Irish regiment in the Spanish service as Owen Roe O'Neill, and distinguished himself in the defence of Leuven against the French and Dutch in 1635. Between him and Owen Roe O'Neill there was from the first intense jealousy. Events February 18 - George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is privately executed in the Tower of London. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Eoghan Rua Ó Néill, anglicised as Owen Roe ONeill (c. ... Leuven   (French Louvain, German Löwen) is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in Flanders, Belgium, European Union. ...

Preston returned to Ireland after the Irish Rebellion of 1641 to support his fellow Irish Catholics. He was appointed general of Leinster, by the Irish Confederates, which was the largest and best equipped of the Irish Catholic forces. The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup détat by Irish Catholic gentry, but rapidly degenerated into bloody intercommunal violence between native Irish Catholics and English and Scottish Protestant settlers. ... Statistics Area: 19,774. ... Kilkenny Castle, where the Confederate General Assembly met. ...

His performance as a commander in Ireland was mixed. He won widespread praise for his successful siege of Duncannon in 1645, but lost a string of field battles including New Ross (1642) and Dungans Hill (1647). This last battle was disastrous for the Confederates, as their Leinster army was all but wiped out at it. The battle of New Ross was a minor engagement fought in 1643, at the start of the Irish Confederate Wars. ... The Battle of Dungans Hill took place in Meath, in eastern Ireland in August 1647. ...

Preston played a major part in the Confederates internal strife, siding at first with radicals who opposed the first Ormonde peace, but later siding with the moderates who signed a conclusive treaty with Ormonde and the Royalists in 1648. His Royalism was motivated by his Old English roots and his extreme personal dislike of Owen Roe O'Neill, who led the opposing faction. He fought with the defeated Royalists during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland - defending the city of Waterford until hunger and disease forced him to capitulate. He marched his remaining troops to Galway, the last Irish held city on the island. In late 1652, after another lengthy siege, Galway too was reduced by plague and lack of supplies. Preston surrendered the city on condition that he and his troops be allowed to leave the country and find employment in the French army. He left the country for exile in France - where the Royalist court was in exile - in 1652. The Old English were a wave of early medieval Norman, French, Welsh, English, Breton and Flemish settlers who went to Ireland to claim territory and lands in the wake of the Norman invasion. ... Combatants English Royalists and Irish Catholic Confederate troops English Parliamentarian New Model Army troops and allied Protestants in Ireland Commanders James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde (1649 - December 1650) Ulick Burke, Earl of Clanricarde (December 1650-April 1653) Oliver Cromwell (1649-May 1650) Henry Ireton (May 1650-November 1651) Charles... The city of Waterford in south eastern Ireland was besieged from 1649-50 during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 52. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 53. ... Combatants Irish Confederate Catholics English Parliamentarians New Model Army and Protestant settlers from Ulster Commanders Thomas Preston Charles Coote Strength 2000 soldiers and civilian population, 3000 more soldiers nearby 6-7000 men, Galway a port city in western Ireland, was besieged from August 1651 to May 1652 during the Cromwellian...

In 1650 Charles II while in exile created him Viscount Tara; and after his departure from Ireland in 1652 he offered his services to Charles in Paris, where he died in October 1655. His wife was a Flemish lady of rank, by whom he had several children, one of his daughters being the second wife of Sir Phelim O'Neill. His son Anthony succeeded him as 2nd Viscount Tara, a title that became extinct on the death of Thomas, 3rd Viscount, in 1674. Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was the King of England, King of Scots, and King of Ireland from 30 January 1649 (de jure) or 29 May 1660 (de facto) until his death. ... The Hill of Tara, located near the River Boyne, is today a mound in County Meath, Leinster, Ireland, on which the grass has veiled the rich heritage of the country. ... The term Flemings (Dutch: ) is currently mostly used to refer to the ethnic group native to Flanders (the northern half of Belgium, historically part of the Southern Netherlands), which in total numbers about 6 million people in Belgium (the majority of all Belgians) . The term also designates, not only the... Sir Felim ONeill of Kinard (died 1652), better known as Phelim ONeill was an Irish nobleman who led the Irish Rebellion of 1641 in Ulster which began on October 22, 1641. ...

Thomas Preston, 1st Viscount Tara (1585 - 1655) was an Irish soldier of the seventeenth century. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

External link

• Biography of Thomas Preston British Civil Wars website