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.

[3] 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"[4] and left London for a new start in Ireland.

He arrived in Dublin on 23 June 1588[5] with just over £27 (equivalent to £9,739 in 2023),[6]as well as a gold bracelet worth £10 (£3,607 in 2023),[6] 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".

[7] 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.

Boyle made Lismore Castle his chief country abode [10] after purchasing it and turned it into a magnificent residence with impressive gabled ranges on each side of the courtyard.

[12] The land on which Bandon was built had been granted by Queen Elizabeth I to Phane Beecher in 1586, and inherited by his eldest son Henry who then sold it to Boyle in November 1618.

[5] Although he was not a Peer in the English Parliament, it is nonetheless recorded that he was "by writ called into the Upper House by His Majesty's great grace", and he subsequently took up the honoured position of an "assistant sitting on the inside of the Woolsack."

It is a mistake to see Lord Cork's 'empire' as merely being exclusively confined to the development of the 'Raleigh estates': for instance, his acquisition of the entirety of the town of Bandon was not completed until 1625.

Other towns which also form part of Lord Cork's municipal development legacy (which records employment of over 4,000 people during his lifetime) include Midleton, Castlemartyr, Charleville and Doneraile.

Lord Cork had also been left the manor of Salcombe in Devon by his friend Thomas Stafford, the illegitimate son of George Carew, 1st Earl of Totnes.

Boyle initially made friendly overtures, and tried to establish a family link by marrying his eldest son Richard to Elizabeth Clifford, a niece of Strafford's first wife, but soon abandoned any hope of an amicable relationship.

Archbishop William Laud delighted in Wentworth's attacks on Boyle and wrote: "No physic better than a vomit if it be given in time, and therefore you have taken a very judicious course to administer one so early to my Lord of Cork.

[15] Laud and Wentworth shared, with King Charles I, the same fate as many others, who at some time in their lives, found reasons to conspire against Boyle: an early demise.

Unsurprisingly, he was in full support of the condemnation of Wentworth and wholeheartedly approved of his execution: he made a grim entry in his diary: "Lord Strafford was beheaded on the Tower Hill, as he well deserved".

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.

By his second wife, Catherine Fenton, daughter of Sir Geoffrey Fenton and his wife Alice Weston, the 1st Earl of Cork had fifteen children: Boyle erected an elaborate monument to himself, his wives, his mother, and his children in The Collegiate Church of St Mary Youghal, County Cork and there is a similar but much larger Boyle monument in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.