The Upstart Earl: A Study of the Social and Mental World of Richard Boyle, First Earl of Cork, 1566-1643

Richard Boyle (1566–1643) is recognised more for the achievements of his children than for his own accomplishments. But in his own lifetime his advancement from an obscure Kentish background to become the wealthiest English landowner of his generation was a matter of the greatest interest and curiosity; all the more so because Boyle matched his economic success with the attainment of an Irish peerage, membership of the English privy council and marriage alliances with some of the more notab...