the charges against talbot may have been connected with the long-running feud between the talbots and james butler, 4th earl of ormonde. shrewsbury had been charged with "harsh treatment" of ormonde, and his brother intensified the quarrel, to the point where anglo-irish politics became increasingly split between the talbot and butler factions. the talbot faction was dominant in the 1430s, when there was a brief lull in the feud, but in 1442 the appointment of ormonde as lord lieutenant of ireland caused the feud to break out with fresh bitterness. talbot was sent to london to ask for an english lord lieutenant to replace ormonde, and produced an extraordinary document which he claimed was the petition of the irish parliament against ormonde (it is unclear if in fact the parliament had authorised it).