Rothe, Robert (1550–1622), lawyer and antiquary, was born 28 April 1550, eldest son of David Rothe of Kilkenny and his wife Anastace, daughter of Patrick Archer, also of Kilkenny. The Rothes were part of a tightly knit group of families that dominated Kilkenny city. His first cousin David Rothe (qv) was catholic bishop of Ossory. In summer 1574 Robert went to London on behalf of Thomas Butler (qv), 10th earl of Ormond and dominant magnate in Co. Kilkenny and Co. Tipperary. For the rest of his life Rothe would variously act as legal representative, envoy, and estate manager for the 10th earl and his eventual successor. He also served as JP, as justice of gaol delivery, and on a number of royal commissions. As Ormond's attorney, he played a key role in facilitating the earl's efforts to recover family lands. More importantly, he was heavily involved in complex and illegal transfers of Butler property, authorised by Ormond during the 1570s, in a bid to frustrate the crown should it ever attempt to confiscate the earldom of Ormond. This was a real concern: Ormond's brothers had been convicted for treason, and if the earldom passed to them it could revert to the crown.
During the second Desmond revolt (1579–83) in Munster, Ormond often sent Rothe to negotiate with the rebels on behalf of the crown. However, during 1583–4 Rothe came under suspicion from the government. At this time, royal officials were attempting to undermine Ormond's control over his lordship and accused his officials of various crimes. In the event, Ormond overcame this challenge and secured both Rothe's pardon (February 1584) and a grant on Rothe's behalf for three years (March 1584) of confiscated rebel land in Munster. Rothe sat as MP for Co. Kilkenny in the 1585–6 Irish parliament, where he again advanced his patron's interests by signing a petition stating he would not vote for the attainder of the earl of Desmond (qv) and his rebel supporters unless Ormond's property interests in Co. Tipperary were guaranteed.
In April 1587 he came before the Irish government on behalf of the landowners of Kilkenny to protest at the unfair burden of taxes imposed on their county. Two years later he reiterated this complaint before the English privy council in London. During the nine years’ war (1594–1603) his status as a key supporter of the loyalist Ormond induced rebel forces to plunder his lands, in compensation for which the government granted him leases of crown lands (1602, 1607).
In autumn 1602 Ormond dispatched him to London on a particularly sensitive and important mission. Ormond was determined to pass his estates intact to a male heir, but his only legitimate child was a daughter, Elizabeth (qv). Normally, Ormond's nephew Theobald would have succeeded to the earldom, but he was disinherited because of his father's treason. Rothe was to secure Theobald's restoration in blood and arrange his marriage to Elizabeth, thereby preventing a divisive struggle between them for control of the Butler estates. The mission was a success, as the queen assented to the proposed marriage and acknowledged Theobald as Ormond's heir. However, wrangling continued over the terms by which Ormond held his estates, requiring Rothe's frequent presence in London during 1602–6. The earl had become something of an anomaly in Ireland after 1603, being the last remaining feudal lord in the kingdom. As the royal administration sought continually to reduce the earl's powers, Rothe's skills were often required by his patron.
Meanwhile, in Kilkenny he continued as an important local official. As such, he promoted the efforts of Kilkenny city to receive an enlargement of its corporate privileges in the teeth of strong opposition from Waterford city. He compiled a vindication of Kilkenny's claims, entitled ‘A register or breviat of the antiquities and status of the town of Kilkenny’. His efforts bore fruit in 1609 when Kilkenny city was granted a new charter whereby it received a mayor and council of eighteen aldermen for the first time. Rothe became the first mayor and was appointed recorder for life.
Unlike his patron, he was a catholic and used his wealth and influence to assist catholic clergy in Co. Kilkenny. Ormond was aware of this, and used his considerable political power to allow his catholic kin, clients, and tenants to worship freely. However, Ormond's death (1614) and the succession of the openly catholic Walter Butler (qv) as 11th earl of Ormond (Theobald having predeceased his uncle) gave the crown the excuse it needed to intervene far more forcefully in the Ormond lordship. As one of Ormond's key lieutenants, Rothe was almost immediately subjected to government harassment. In late 1615 he was accused of involvement in treasonable communications with Rome and was interrogated about this in February 1616. On 12 November 1617 he was fined £40 by the court of castle chamber for refusing to convict certain defendants for recusancy when he was a member of a grand jury at general sessions held in Kilkenny. These proceedings were part of a general government campaign to suppress catholicism within the earldom of Ormond and to break the earl's power.
As this campaign unfolded, Rothe wrote a history of the Butlers of Ormond entitled ‘A register containing the pedigree of the Honourable Thomas, late earl of Ormond and Ossory, and of his ancestors and cousins’. This work was completed in 1616 and praised successive earls of Ormond for advancing English civility in Ireland, stressed how (unlike other Irish lords) they encouraged urban development within their territories, and was clearly designed to uphold the 11th earl's threatened autonomy. The history was later revised by his grandson and was used by the eighteenth-century Butler family historian Thomas Carte (qv); it can be found in the BL.
Ormond was arrested, and during 1619–21 the government sequestered all his rents. As one of Ormond's main estate agents, Rothe orchestrated resistance among the earl's tenants and refused to obey an order regarding the sequestration, demanding due legal process. Instead, he was imprisoned without trial for over a year (1620–21) as the opposition within the earldom of Ormond to the crown was brushed aside.
He died on 18 December 1622. His will is a remarkable document, which extends to twenty-nine pages and outlines the potential distribution of his estate to his most distant relatives. He married firstly Margaret, daughter of Fowke Comerford of Callan, with whom he had three sons and four daughters; secondly, Margaret Archer, with whom he had no children. Neither marriage can be dated. As well as the antiquarian works described above, he collected the annals of a fourteenth-century Kilkenny friar, John Clyn (qv), and various histories of Ireland.