Rowland FitzEustace, 1st Baron Portlester

He was one of the dominant political figures in late fifteenth-century Ireland, rivalled in influence probably only by his son-in-law Garret FitzGerald, the "Great" Earl of Kildare.

[2] In 1474, he was a founder member of the Brotherhood of Saint George, a short-lived military order charged with the defence of the Pale (the four counties nearest to Dublin), the only part of Ireland which was under secure English rule.

Grey ordered him to hand over the Great Seal of Ireland, but Portlester refused point-blank, thus making the conduct of official business impossible.

[3] Henry VII was magnanimous in victory, sparing Simnel's life and issuing pardons to Portlester and his fellow peers;[3] but he decided to split the offices held by Lord Portlester between Alexander Plunket and Sir James Ormond.

Sir Maurice Eustace, a wealthy and influential member of the FitzEustace clan who became Lord Chancellor of Ireland, accepted the title Baron Portlester at the Restoration of Charles II, but then changed his mind, apparently because, like Rowland, he had no legitimate son to succeed him.

[5] Elrington Ball regarded him as perhaps the most important Irish political figure during his 40-year career, more influential even than his son-in-law, the "Great Earl of Kildare".