Thompson / Corporaal Family History

Sir Matthew De Renzie ¹

  Some of his life's milestones were:

There is a story
"RENZY or RENTSI, SIR MATTHEW DE (1577-1634), Irish writer, born in 1577, was a native of Cologne, and was. said to be descended from Scanderbeg, but the 'Bio graphie Universelle' says the last descen-dant of the Albanian hero was the Marquis of St. Ange, who was killed at Pavia in 1525.
Sir Matthew was an officer of the customs in Ireland. In 1623 he corresponded with the lord-treasurer Middlesex about revenue business (Hist. MSS. Comm. 4th Rep. App. pp. 284, 302). On 30 Jan. 1628-9 he wrote to Middlesex that there was a plot among the Leinster catholics to massacre the ' Eng p. 290). He received grants of land from James I, and also purchased property in King's County, where he made consider- able improvements. He died on 29 Aug. 1634. Clobemon Hall, Ferns, was held by his de- scendants until recent times. . A monument still standing in St. Peter's Church, Athlone, was erected by his son Matthew one year after his death. According to the inscrips ton, he was ' a great traveller and general linguist, and kept correspondence with most nations in many weighty affairs; and in three years gave great perfection to this nation, by composing a grammar, dictionary, and ehro-niele in the Irish tongue : in accounts mast expert, and exceeding all others to his great applause.' Diligent search has been made for the works mentioned, but without resul t ) and if they are extant it is probably in some foreign library.
[Ware's Writers of Ireland, ed. Harris ; Journal of Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 3rd quarter, 1890; Morrin's Cal. Pat. Rolls, Charles I, p. 96.]"
from Stephen, Sir Leslie, ed. Dictionary of National Biography, 1921-1922. Volumes 1-22. London, England: Oxford University Press, Vol 16, Page 912]

There is a story
A Planter's Funeral, Legacies, and Inventory: Sir Matthew De Renzy (1577-1634)
Edited, with an Introduction, by Brian Mac Cuarta SJ


Funeral, inventory of goods, and legacies reveal much about a person's social standing. Such data is rare for those outside the peerage in early modem Ireland, hence the value of the present documents, for they refer to a middle-ranking administrator based in Dublin. Documentation of this kind is unusual for people at this social level. Sir Matthew De Renzy - native of the Low Countries, London merchant stranger, fugitive to Ireland, midland planter, and surveyor of the customs - died on 29 August. 1634. in the city of Dublin, presumably 'at his house upon the key [quay] of Dublin', where letters were addressed to him, e.g. 10 July 1624 (PRO SP46.90.195v; New DNB forthcoming: Mac Cuarta 1993, 1-17). In 1646 his widow, Lady Ann, was living in Copper Alley, St John's parish (Mills 1906, 276; Genealogical Office, Dublin. Funeral Entries. vol 6 (1633-52), f.46). 'It pleased the Almighty God to take to himself my dear and loving father, your lordship's faithful servant who made a religious and godly end and left all things in good order; and your lordship's accounts in readiness'. So wrote Dc Renzy's son, Matthew junior, in conventional style, to Lionel Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex (for whom father and son acted as Irish agent) several days after his father's death (Matthew De Renzy jnr to Middlesex. 1 September 1634, Centre for Kentish Studies. U269/I/Hi95).
De Renzy had been seriously ill in 1632, and was then not thought likely to survive (HMC 1913, 31). As it was still customary to make a will on one's death-bed, De Renzy may have made his will during that sickness; around that time also he may have composed his epitaph. De Renzy was poorly since spring 1634, when his son effectively took over the correspondence with Middlesex. Given that he had been ailing, and that consequently his death was not unexpected. it can be presumed that De Renzy had visitors, such as his neighbour, Robert Errgh, a physician of Capmontowngreen, St Michan's parish, who called in both a neighbourly and professional capacity. The visit of this old neighbour (who had been present at De Renzy's marriage to Mary Adams in Dublin about 1608) gave De Renzy opportunity to air a matter of some concern: the dying man reiterated that his son Matthew was indeed bom in wedlock, presumably contrary to rumours that the son was illegitimate. Thus even at the point of death this colonist did not stand in good repute with all; the cloud over his reputation, present when he first came to settle in Ireland in 1607, was present as he was dying. and causing him concern. Thomas Fairfax. a physician, also ministered to him, and recommended various medicines, which were duly brought from the apothecary. His apothecary, Jacob Ryckman, was a native of the Low Countries, one of the many Dutch with technical skills who settled in Ireland in the early seventeenth century, and a fellow-countryman (PRO SP46/93/195v-204r).
Normally wills were proven in the diocesan consistorial court where the testator lived: thus De Renzy's will was proven in Dublin, in the winter of 1634-5 (Vicars 1897, introd., 130) and was destroyed in the fire in the Public Records Office. Dublin, in 1922. However, the inventory,
56 Mulvey Park.
Dublin t4_JRSA1 Vol. 127 (1996): 18-33

Extracted from The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland
Vol. 127 (1997), pp. 18-33
Published by: Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland <https://www.jstor.org/publisher/rsai>
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25549825 Accessed Sep 15, 2019

He was residing at Clonony Hall (Castle) in Ferns, Co. Wexford, Ireland in 1620 From: Castles for Sale in Ireland, by Jane Grey -- Clonony Castle: built in 1500s by the McCoughlan clan who owned the surrounding country and built their castles at over a dozen other site. Clonony Castle: the hiding place of Anne Boleyn's family when King Henry VIII decided it was time to execute his second wife, Anne. Clonony Castle: owned by other noblemen including Matthew de Renzi in 1620, and by a barrister-at-law named Edmond Molony who wrote a famous epitaph on his wife's tombstone praising her for her talent in watercolors and her "passionate, and tender" love for him as a virtuous woman.... Photos and more info available from Premier Properties Ireland.

Matthew married Anne Maypowder in 1620 in Dublin, Co. Dublin, Ireland.¹ (Anne Maypowder was born in 1586 in Killinboy, Co. Roscommon, Ireland,¹ died on Aug 20, 1659 in Ireland ¹ and was buried in Dublin, Co. Dublin, Ireland ¹.)