and
Mourne Mountains in background
The Taaffes in Great Britain and Ireland From the 13th century, the Taaffes had been one of the leading families in the north of
Ireland. Legend suggests that the whole Taaffe family moved from Wales (Britain) to Ireland around 1196; in Britain, they lived in the area currently known as Taff Vale. According to official Irish records, in 1320, William Taaffe had his seat at
Smarmore Castle. Another branch of the family, which died out in about 1400, was based at Liscarton Castle in
County Meath. In 1628,
Sir John Taaffe was raised to the
Peerage of Ireland as
Viscount Taaffe, of Corren, and
Baron Ballymote. 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. The 1st Earl was succeeded by his second son
Nicholas, who had served in the
Anglo-Spanish War, as 2nd Earl.
The Taaffes in continental Europe 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. He was sent on many important diplomatic missions, and at the end of his life was Chancellor and Chief Minister to the Duke of Lorraine. 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of Carlingford by King William III, and the attainder and forfeiture of the estates incurred by his elder brother was repealed. This favour he owed to his position at the court of the
Holy Roman Emperor, William's most important ally in the
Grand Alliance. On the 3rd Earl's death, his titles and estates went to his nephew
Theobald, who succeeded as 4th Earl. His father had fallen during the 1689
Siege of Derry, and he had himself served with distinction in the Habsburg Army. On the 4th Earl's death in 1738, the Earldom of Carlingford became extinct; both the Imperial and Irish estates as well as the viscountcy of Taaffe went to a cousin,
Nicholas, who succeeded as 6th Viscount while his Irish estates were claimed under the
Popery Act 1704 (
2 Anne (I) c. 6 (I)) by a Protestant heir, leading to a lengthy lawsuit. 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. After years of fighting for his Irish estates, the case was ended by a compromise embodied in a private act of Parliament,
Earl of Carlingford's Estate Act 1741 (
15 Geo. 2 c.
25 ) by which the estates were sold and one-third of the value given to Nicholas Taaffe. With the money he acquired the castle of
Ellischau (Nalžovy) in
Bohemia; he had also inherited other property in the Habsburg dominions. He was naturalised in Bohemia, and left on record that the reason for this step was that he did not wish his descendants to be exposed to the temptation of becoming Protestants so as to avoid the operation of the
Penal Laws. Nicholas Taaffe had a distinguished career in the Habsburg Army; he eventually rose to the rank of a Field Marshal, and was created
Graf von Taaffe (
Count of Taaffe) by Empress
Maria Theresa. The Taaffe family thus held titles of nobility from different countries, governed by different rules. While the Irish titles descended according to strict primogeniture, the title of Count was under Austrian and
Holy Roman Empire law and applied equally to
all male-line descendants of the original grantee in perpetuity; male family members were thus styled
Graf, female family members were styled
Gräfin. With the Taaffes now living mainly in the lands of the Habsburgs, a
Committee of Privileges of the
House of Lords in 1860 recognized the right of the family to hold the Irish title.
Eduard Graf Taaffe, 11th Viscount Taaffe had a distinguished political career in the service of the Habsburgs and served for two terms as
Minister-President of Austria under
Emperor Francis Joseph I, leading cabinets from 1868 to 1870 and 1879 to 1893. Upon his death in 1895, his peerages passed to
Heinrich Graf Taaffe, 12th Viscount Taaffe.
Loss of both titles In
World War I,
Heinrich Graf Taaffe, 12th Viscount Taaffe and his family remained loyal to the Austrian monarch. Thus in 1919, the 12th Viscount was deprived of the viscountcy following the enactment of the
Titles Deprivation Act 1917. Under the provisions of the Act, his heirs and successors were entitled to petition the British Crown for restoration of the title. However, on the death of his last male-line descendant
Richard in 1967 no eligible heirs came forward and the title became extinct. Independent of the legal situation in Britain, the monarchy was abolished in Austria on 12 November 1918, and on 28 April 1919 the newly established
Republic of German-Austria under a coalition of the Social Democratic and Christian Social parties abolished all noble titles for Austrians through the
Adelsaufhebungsgesetz, a law which still remains in effect. 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. ==Peerages==