Earl Landaff

File:ArmsEarlLandaffCathedral.jpg

Arms of Mathew, Earls Landaff: Or, a lion rampant sable

File:Thomastown Castle, the seat of the Earl of Landaff, Co. of Tipperary.jpg

Thomastown Castle, County Tipperary, the seat of the Earls Landaff, 1824.

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Mural memorial tablet erected 1987 in Llandaff Cathedral: "In memory of Thomas James Mathew son and heir of Francis James Mathew second Earl of Landaff born in London 1798 died in Cape Town 1862". The arms are blasoned: Or, a lion rampant sable. Crest: A heathcock proper. Supporters: Two unicorns rampant silver maned tufted hooved collared and chained or. Motto: A Fynno Duw a Fydd ("What God wills will be")

Earl Landaff, of Thomastown in the County of Tipperary, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1797 for Francis Mathew, 1st Viscount Landaff, who had previously represented County Tipperary in the Irish House of Commons. He had already been created Baron Landaff, of Thomastown in the County of Tipperary, in 1783, and Viscount Landaff, of Thomastown in the County of Tipperary, in 1797, also in the Peerage of Ireland. In 1800 he was elected as one of the 28 original Irish Representative Peers. He was succeeded by his son, the second Earl. The titles became extinct on his death in 1833. Thomastown Castle was the childhood home of Father Theobold Mathew, "The Apostle of Temperance".

The Earls Landaff used the invented courtesy title Viscount Mathew for the heir apparent. Despite their territorial designations and the fact that they were in the Peerage of Ireland, the titles all referred to the place in Glamorgan now spelt Llandaff. The Mathew family was founded by Sir David Mathew (died 1484), Grand Standard Bearer of England. The Earls Landaff were descended from the branch of the family seated at Radyr, Glamorgan, Wales, descended from Thomas Mathew (died 1470), a younger son of Sir David Mathew. In Llandaff Cathedral, nearby Radyr, there exist three 15th century and 16th century Mathew family effigies.

The seat of the Mathew family was Thomastown Castle, County Tipperary long abandoned. The extant ruins form a notable landmark. George Mathew sold his estate at Radyr and moved to Thomastown, gaining ownership of the castle through marriage to Elizabeth Poyntz after the death of her first husband, Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles, of the Butler family.

Earls Landaff (1797)

• Francis Mathew, 1st Earl Landaff (1738–1806)
• Francis James Mathew, 2nd Earl Landaff (1768–1833)

Rejected claimants

• Arnold Harris Mathew, self-styled de jure 4th Earl Landaff, also self-styled Count Povoleri di Vicenza (1852–1919)
  He was founder and first bishop of the Old Roman Catholic Western Orthodox Church in Great Britain, an Old Catholic Church. His episcopal consecration was declared null and void by the Union of Utrecht's International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference. Additionally, he was excommunicated and declared vitandus by Pope Pius X for illicitly consecrating two Roman Catholic priests as bishops which led a London jury to find that "the words were true in substance and in fact" that he was a "pseudo-bishop".

See also

• Viscount Llandaff

References

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• Mathew, Rev. Murray Alexander, "The Genealogy of the Earls of Landaff of Thomastown, County Tipperary, Ireland", published by Simpkin, London, 1895. (A rare book)

• Abandoned Mansions of Ireland photodocumentary book and website by Tarquin Blake. (Accessed 10 June 2012)
• Catholic Encyclopedia Theobald Mathews, Apostle of Temperance
• 19th century towers stand while the 17th Century neo-gothic ramparts have succumbed to neglect and collapsed under the weight of encroaching ivy
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