Butler (le Botiller, fitz Walter, Pincerna, Walter), Theobald (c.1200–1230), magnate, 2nd chief butler of Ireland, was only son and heir of Theobald Butler (qv) and Maud, daughter of Robert le Vavasour. After his father's death (c.1206) his wardship remained for some time in the hands of the king, was then granted to William de Braose (qv), but seems eventually to have been granted to Geoffrey de Marisco (qv), the future justiciar. On 2 July 1221 and 18 July 1222 he received full seisin of his English and Irish lands.
Most of his career was spent in Ireland, and he was closely linked by service to William Marshal II (qv), earl of Pembroke, lord of Leinster, and justiciar of Ireland, from whom he held some of his estates. In February 1224, probably at Marshal's request, he was made constable of Roscrea castle, and in October received a remission of his substantial debts and an annual stipend to be set off against his debt to the Irish exchequer on account of his presence in Ireland on the king's service with his overlord, Marshal. His connections with the lord of Leinster briefly brought him into conflict with the king; the Marshal–de Burgh feud led to the appointment of de Marisco, his former guardian and father-in-law, as justiciar of Ireland in 1226 at the expense of his patron; before leaving Ireland Marshal advised him and his other adherents to retain custody of the king's castles in Ireland.
In an informative letter to the king in August that year, de Marisco related how on his arrival at Waterford in July he was initially opposed by Butler and the forces of Leinster; and that when he finally reached Dublin and began the process of taking oaths of loyalty from Anglo-Irish lords, Theobald vacillated, ‘unwillingly’ took the vow, but promptly seized Dublin castle and fortified it against the justiciar, nor would he relinquish control over other of the king's castles. De Marisco strongly recommended that Roscrea castle be confiscated, and claimed that Theobald ‘has so misconducted himself in regard to the king, that although he has married the justiciar's daughter and has by her a son, the justiciar would, if it is the king's will, deprive him of all the land which he holds of the king in Ireland’. No such drastic action was taken by Henry III, though Theobald was ordered to relinquish Roscrea in September.
Shortly afterwards, however, the king and Marshal were reconciled and Theobald became more compliant: in February 1228, when de Marisco handed over the justiciarship to Richard de Burgh (qv), he acted as one of the guarantors for the transfer of control of the royal castles. In October 1229 he was summoned on royal service to Brittany, where he accompanied the king, probably as part of Marshal's retinue, on the short-lived and ineffective expedition. He died in Poitou on 19 July 1230. His body was brought back to Ireland and buried either in the Cistercian abbey of Abington (Owney) in Limerick, or at Arklow, the original site of the foundation. During the course of his brief career he extended the Butler patrimony to the manors of Bray in Co. Wicklow and Gowran in Co. Kilkenny. His service to William Marshal also resulted in a number of grants elsewhere in Leinster.
His first marriage, to Joan, daughter of Geoffrey de Marisco, seems to have produced only one son, Theobald (qv). He married secondly (p. 4 September 1225) Rohese (Rose), daughter of Nicholas de Verdon; they had one son, John (qv), who kept his mother's name and inherited the de Verdon lands.