General Francis Cosbie
The Cosby family is of Saxon origin and trace their lineage back to the Saxon Kings of England, Pepin le Gros, Charlemagne, Rollo the Dane and William the Conqueror, the Kings of France, the Kings of Spain, and through the ancient Irish and Scottish Kings to Baoth, the great-grandson of Noah and on to Adam. (See Genesis, Chapters V, X, and XI; O'Hart's "Irish Pedigrees"; "Genealogical Chart of the Royal Houses of Europe," by Frederick L. Hartland; "Genealogies of the Sovereigns of the World," by William Betham; "Royal Descent of the Seymours," published in the "Journal of American History," Vol. V, page 585; "Burke's Peerage," 1904, page 1439, and "Burke's Landed Gentry," Volume I, page 266. They are also descended from twelve of the Sureties of the Magna Charta, wrested from King John of England (1199-1216) on the field of Runnemede-namely, William d'Albini, Roger Bigod, Hugh Bigod, Richard de Clare, Gilbert de Clare, John de Lacie, William de Lanvellei, William de Malet, Saher de Quincey, Robert de Ros, Geoffrey de Say, and Robert de Vere. The family possessed the lordship of Cossibey, County Leicester, England, previous to the Norman conquest (1066). It became settled in Ireland during the reign of Queen Mary (1553-1558).
Francis Cosby (or Cosbie) became the patriarch of the family in Ireland. He was a man famed for personal courage as well as civil and military talents. When young he served in the wars of King Henry VIII in the Low Countries and was not undistinguished. His abandonment of his native soil arose from the downfall of Sir Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford and first Duke of Somerset, the Lord Protector of England, who had fallen into disfavor and was afterwards beheaded.
After the disgrace and execution of the Duke of Somerset, in 1552, his immediate connections were excluded from and deprived of all hope of preferment. Francis Cosby with his two surviving sons by Mary Seymour, and with his second wife, Elizabeth Palmer, here in the land of his adoption (Ireland) soon found the opportunity of establishing a reputation which he had despaired of effecting in the land of his birth (England). He became an active member of the Pale against the inroads of the Irish, his vigilance, zeal, and success attracting the attention of the Government. He was appointed by Queen Mary, under Her Majesty's sign manual, dated February 14, 1558, General of the Kern, a position of great trust and importance in those times.
In 1559 he represented the borough of Thomaston in Parliament, when he was constituted by Queen Elizabeth as Sheriff of the County of Kildare, being denominated in his patent, dated January 24, in the first year of Her Majesty's reign, "of Even" now "Minster Even", which place he held under an old grant from the Crown, and was invested at the same time with the extaordinary and unenviable privilege of exercising martial law under his own authority solely, and of dealing out punishments, even the most penal, as he should deem meet.
O'Hart, in his "Irish Pedigrees," states that "after Leix had been formed into a county the following seven families were the chief English settlers during the reigns of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth and were called the seven tribes, namely, Cosby, Harrington, Bowen, Rush, Harpole, Hitherington, and Hovedon."
Given Stradbally Abbey, Irish castle, Queens Co. Ireland, 1558.
General Francis Cosby fell in the battle of Glenmalure, at the head of the Kern which he valiantly led to the charge although then 70 years of age (1580).
*** information provided by Charles Demastus, [email protected], Sept. 1997