Most Rev. Adam Loftus, Archbishop of Dublin

Adam Loftus was born in 1533, the second son of a monastic bailiff, Edward Loftus, in the heart of the English Yorkshire Dales.

He graduated as a Doctor of Divinity (D.D.). Served as the Archbishop of Dublin (Church of Ireland) and the Chancellor of Ireland

• Private Chaplain to the Deputy Lord Ireland
• Archbishop of Armagh
• Archbishop of Dublin
• Lord Keeper of the Great Seal
• Lord Chancellor [Ireland]
• Provost of Trinity College, Dublin

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Links

• http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Loftus_(bishop)_
• http://www.tcd.ie/provost/former/a_loftus.php
• http://www.chaptersofdublin.com/books/chancellors/Chancellors19.htm
• http://www.thepeerage.com/p10658.htm#i106571
• Peerage of Ireland Vol 7 p249

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• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Oct 5 2016, 3:02:09 UTC

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"Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland." -- A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, Volume 2, Bernard Burke

"By 1573, Loftus was also active in secular politics, becoming Lord High Keeper of the Great Seal, a position akin to today's Cabinet Secretary or, perhaps, Chief Whip. Five years later, he became Lord High Chancellor of Ireland. He held that office while remaining Archbishop of Dublin until his death in 1605.

y the early 1580s, Loftus had his eyes on the castle and estate of Rathfarnham, forfeited during the Desmond rebellion by Viscount Baltinglass, who was convicted of high treason. Rathfarnham Castle was a mere ruin and Rathfarnham was a "waste village", but Loftus acquired the estate in 1589 and rebuilt Rathfarnham Castle as one of the finest residences in Co Dublin.

When Trinity College Dublin was founded, Loftus saw yet another opportunity to promote the Reformation, which was losing ground to the Counter-Reformation from Rome. Once again he looked after his own interests and became the first Provost of Trinity in 1592. It was thanks too to Loftus that St Patrick's Cathedral was saved at this time: there had been a proposal to use the cathedral and its lands for the new university, but thanks to Loftus the new college was built on lands confiscated at the Reformation from the Priory of All Hallows.

At 71, Adam Loftus died, "worn out with age", in St Sepulchre's. Adam and Jane are buried with 16 of their descendants in the Loftus vault in St Patrick's. They had 20 children in all, and within only a few decades their descendants were found even among the Catholic Irish in Co Wexford, fighting on the side of the Confederation of Kilkenny and the Irish rebels in the turmoils of the 1640s and 1650s." -- https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irishman-s-diary-1.428637

Will 1605 Adam Loftus, archbishop of Dublin. [5] Sir William Betham made an abstract of the will of Adam Loftus. [note: It contains all his confirmed daughters who would be living]

A transcript reads:

Adam Loftus Lord Chancellor & Archbp. Dublin (will) 8 Jan 1604; 2nd son Sir Thomas Loftus, Knt; son Sir Dudley L(oftus); whereas I have turned the great seals into their ?; Sir Adam Loftus, Knt, eldest son of my brother Robert L(oftus); daus Lady Martha Colclough, Lady Alis Warren; Lady Jane Barkley; Lady Anne Blayney; Dorothy Moore; Margt Colley; dau Isabel Loftus Usher; grandsons Adam Fitz Dudley, Nicholas (Fitz Dudley), William (Fitz Dudley), Edward (Fitz Dudley), Dudley (Fitz Dudley);
[ from https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Loftus-18]