Viscount Taaffe

He left fifteen children, of whom the eldest, Theobald, who succeeded him as 2nd Viscount Taaffe, took a prominent part in the English Civil War and on the Restoration was created Earl of Carlingford.

[1] He was killed at the 1690 Battle of the Boyne fighting for the former King James II of England against William III of Orange, when his title was attainted and his estates forfeited.

James Taaffe O.F.M., a Franciscan priest and teacher, served as papal nuncio to Ireland, chaplain to the exiled queen mother Henrietta Maria, in Paris.

[2] The 2nd Earl's younger brother, Francis, studied at the University of Olomouc (Olmütz) in the Imperial Margraviate of Moravia, and served at the court of Emperor Ferdinand III as well as under Duke Charles IV of Lorraine, whose most intimate friend he became.

He rose to be a Field Marshal in the Habsburg Army, having greatly distinguished himself at the 1683 Battle of Vienna and in the other Turkish campaigns, and was a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Despite the Jacobite connections of his family, Francis Taaffe was confirmed as 3rd Earl of Carlingford by King William III, and the attainder and forfeiture of the estates incurred by his elder brother was repealed.

Like so many of his family, Nicholas Taaffe had been brought up in Lorraine, was Chancellor of Duke Leopold and joined the Habsburg Army; he fought in the Silesian Wars against Prussia.

This meant that Heinrich Graf Taaffe was no longer recognised as such by the Austrian State, although in society circles and private newspapers, he still appeared as Count.