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Anglo-Irish Local Government, 1485-1534

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

David B. Quinn
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Extract

In attempting a study of local government in Ireland at the beginning of the Tudor period, it must be stated that only very tentative conclusions can be made as to its nature and effectiveness. This is due on the one hand to lack of materials and difficulty in interpreting what there are, and on the other to the absence of detailed studies of Anglo-Irish feudalism and of Irish society in the later medieval period.

In theory, the royal administration, established in Dublin and organised on English lines, was competent to provide law and government for the whole island. In practice, its effectiveness diminished successively in four groups of territories.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 1 , Issue 4 , September 1939 , pp. 354 - 381
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1939

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References

page no 354 note 1 Cal. Ormond Deeds, i-iv, provide a great mass of new material. It is to be hoped that Professor Edmund Curtis, with his unrivalled knowledge of the medieval period, will make a detailed study of the house of Ormond. What follows on the Ormond lands of Kilkenny and Tipperary is only a tentative sketch for a short period.

page no 356 note 1 These were entered on the Memoranda Rolls of the Irish exchequer, and are here cited from Irish Record Commissioners' MS. Calendar, in PROI, as M.R.(R.Com.). Other items from the Memoranda Rolls are from Ferguson's MS. extracts, also in PROI, and here cited as M.R.(F.).

page no 356 note 2 Absent in Easter 1499.

page no 356 note 3 M.R.(R.Com.), 2 Rieh. III, m. 1, Mich. 1484.

page no 356 note 4 Hattecliffe's daybook, in BM, Royal MS. 18 C, xiv.

page no 356 note 5 Betham's extracts from Pipe Rolls, in Ulster's Office of Arms, Dublin Castle; Ferguson's extracts from Pipe Rolls, in RIA, MS. 12D10.

page no 356 note 6 M.R.(R.Com.), 15 Hen. VII, m. 1.

page no 356 note 7 See Quinn, D. B., ‘The Irish parliamentary subsidy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ’, in Proc. RIA xlii, sect. C, pp. 219-46, passimGoogle Scholar

page no 357 note 1 Patents of sheriffs, i Jan. 1485, in M.R.(R.Com.), 2 Rieh. III.

page no 357 note 2 Ir. Stat., i. 41-2.

page no 357 note 3 Hore, H. F. and Graves, J., Social State of the southern and eastern counties in the sixteenth Century (Annuary of Kilkenny Arch. Soc, 1869-70), p. 184. An act, 16-17 Ed. IV, c. 48 (Ir. Rec. Comm. transcripts, PROI), deposed Richard Power from the office of sherifF which he had then held for twenty years.Google Scholar

page no 357 note 4 While Kilkenny was a liberty at the end of the fourteenth Century (see Cal. Ormond Deeds, iii, p. vi), it is not clear that it was so regarded in the early sixteenth Century.

page no 357 note 5 The counties of the Cross were composed of the lands of the church which lay outside the liberties.

page no 357 note 6 Liber Primus Kilkenniensis, ed. McNeill, C., pp. 156-8.Google Scholar

page no 358 note 1 L. & P. Hen. VIII, ii, no. 3853.

page no 358 note 2 8 Hen. VII, c. 10 (Ir. Rec. Comm. transcripts, PROI).

page no 358 note 3 F E. Ball, Judges in Ireland, 1221-1921i. 188.

page no 358 note 4 Cal. Ormond Deeds, iv. 336-7. The date is 1498 or 1499.

page no 359 note 1 Ibid., iii. 290-6.

page no 359 note 2 Ibid., iv. 56-8.

page no 359 note 3 28 Mar. 1522 to Roger Begg, Thomas fitzSymon, George Sherloke, Nicholas Wycombe and Robert Coweley (ibid., iv. 74-6) ; 6 June 1523 to Patrick Bermyng-ham, Richard Delahide, Roger Begg, Thomas fitzSymon, George Sherloke, James Whitt, Nicholas Wycombe and Robert Coweley (ibid., iv. 79).

page no 359 note 4 Cal Ormond Deeds, iv. 148-51, 153-4. The commissioners were Nicholas, bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Patrick, mayor of Waterford, Gerald Aylmer, William Bath of Dullardiston and William Wise.

page no 359 note 5 Ibid., iv. 133-5.

page no 360 note 1 Ibid., iv. 159-61.

page no 360 note 2 Printed in Hore and Graves, op. cit.

page no 360 note 3 D'Alton, History ofthe County of Dublin, p. 34. No copy of the act has been found.

page no 361 note 1 Coram Rege Roll, 2 Rieh. III (mistakenly entered in M.R.(R.Com.)).

page no 361 note 2 Cal. Rot. Pat. & Claus. Hib., p. 271.

page no 361 note 3 Quinn, D. B., in Proc. RIA, xlii. sect. C, pp. 219-4.6, passim.Google Scholar

page no 361 note 4 Mainly from M.R.(R.Com.) and M.R.(F.). It is not possible to find the material for full lists of successions.

page no 361 note 5 His Commonplace Book is TCD, MS. E3.33.

page no 361 note 6 BM, Royal MS.18 C, xiv, ff. 33, 41V, 73.

page no 361 note 7 M.R.(F.), 1 Hen. VIII, m. 14. His predecessor in the office in 1508 had the assistance of an under-sheriff (M.R.(R.Com.), 23 Hen. VII, m. 9).

page no 362 note 1 Exch. Inquisitions, co. Meath, nos. 12-22 (Ir. Rec. Comm. MS. Cal., PROI).

page no 362 note 2 M.R.(F.), 15 Hen. VIII, m. 17V.

page no 362 note 3 e.g. Cal. Pat. Rolls, Ire., Hen. VIII-Eliz., p. 6 ; M.R.(R.Com.), 15 Hen. VII, m. 28.

page no 362 note 4 e.g. Cal. Ormond Deeds, iv. 358.

page no 362 note 5 Described in detail, 1544, in M.R.(F.), 36 Hen. VIII, no. 1, m. 47.

page no 363 note 1 J. Graves (ed.), Kings Council in Inland, p. 317.

page no 363 note 2 In the south was the Irish kingdom of the MacCarthies. See W. F. T. Butler, ‘The lordship of MacCarthy Mor ’, in Gleanings front Irish History

page no 363 note 3 19-20 Ed. IV, c. 22 (Ir. Rec. Comm. transcripts, PROI).

page no 364 note 1 e.g. John Wise was acting as royal justice there, p. 358, above. The chief baron of the exchequer attested the patent of John Grace as escheator of the market and measures in county Kilkenny on 7 Mar. 1516. He was to hold of the king during pleasure and answer at the exchequer (Cal Ormond Deeds, iv. 36). The sheriffs were appointed by patent from the lord deputy. Piers Butler was appointed in 1487 and 1489 (ibid., iii. 261-3, 265-6). Walter Butler of Powleston held the office, 1493-4 (M.R.(R.Com.), 9 Hen. VII, m. 1, 7), and Walter Archer of Kilkenny, 1496-8 (Fraser MS. (Garstin), 212/III, PROI). From Michaelmas 1498 until at least 1516 Sir Piers Butler was sheriff (M.R.(R.Com.) and M.R.(F), passim).

page no 364 note 2 The list of officers is compiled from references to the earls of Ormond, Kildare and Shrewsbury in Ireland. For the State of English nobles, see R. R. Reid, The King's Council in the North, p. 17

page no 364 note 3 For Ulster, see E. Curtis, ‘ Mediaeval Earldom of Ulster, 1333-1603 ’ in Proc. Belfast Nat. Hist. & Phil. Soc., 1930-31, pp. 67-80, and ‘ The Bonnacht of Ulster ’ in Hermathena, no, 46 (1931), pp. 87-101 ; D, B. Quinn, ‘ Anglo-Irish Ulster in the Early Sixteenth Century ‘, in Proc. Belfast Nat. Hist. & Phil. Soc., I933∼4> pp. 56-78.

page no 366 note 1 M.R.(R. Com.), 9 Hen. VII, m. 1, 7 ; 14 Hen. VII, m. 14.

page no 366 note 2 Ibid., 15 Hen. VII, m. 16 ; 23 Hen. VII, m. 1, 12 ; 24 Hen. VII, m. 12.

page no 366 note 3 M.R.(F), 25 Hen. VIII: ‘ non venit’.

page no 366 note 4 Ibid., 34 Hen. VIII.

page no 366 note 5 M. J. Blake, Blake Family Records, contains abstracts of many deeds relating to the Blake family of Galway and Athenry. See also Hist. MSS. Comm., Tenth Report, app. V, pp. 380-520.

page no 366 note 6 Statute of Galway 1519 : ‘That no Irish judge nor lawior shall plede in no mans cause or matter within this our Court for it agreeth not with the Kings lawes ne yet the Emperors [i.e., civil law] in many placis’ (Hist. MSS. Comm., op. cit., p. 398). In 1530 the award of McKigan (MacEgan), an Irish brehon, was cited in the Galway court (ibid., p. 403). In 1504-5 the court of Athenry referred a case to the opinion of the court of the city of Waterford—‘ that Royal Court’(Blake, op. cit., no. 75) ; and in 1524 the town was in conflict with the ecclesiastical courts (ibid., no. 83).

page no 366 note 7 Curtis, Med. Ire. (Ist ed.), pp. 352-3.

page no 367 note 1 L. & P. Hen. VIII, iv. no. 5501 (2).

page no 367 note 2 BM, Cott. MS. Titus B, XI (2), f. 280 (copy). Note also award under the seal of the liberty at Dingle, 22 May 1482 (Blake, op. cit., no. 65).

page no 368 note 1 M.R.(R.Com.), 9. Hen. VII, m. 1, 7 ; 14 Hen. VII, m. 14

page no 368 note 2 Ibid., 15 Hen. VII, m. 16 ; 23 Hen. VII, m. 1, 12 ; 24 Hen. VII, m. 1, 12.

page no 368 note 3 A. Conway, Henry VIV's Relations with Scotland and Ireland, 1485-98, pp. 221-5.

page no 368 note 4 Cal. Ormond Deeds, iii. 254-5. Prisage of wines was an Ormond perquisite throughout royal territories in Ireland, but two-thirds of the proceeds went to the Crown by reason of the Statute of absentees.

page no 368 note 5 Ibid., iii. 307-8.

page no 368 note 6 Ibid., iv. 343.

page no 368 note 7 Ibid., iii. 319.

page no 369 note 1 Cal. Ormond Deeds, iv. 44, 209-11.

page no 369 note 2 Ibid., iii. 189-90, 204. John, the sixth earl, was deprived of the title by attainder (1461-75) and then restored. He evidently did not recognise the deprivation.

page no 369 note 3 Ibid., iii. 323.

page no 369 note 4 L. & P. Rich. III & Hen. VII, i. 381. For the date see Conway, Henry VII's Relations with Scotland and Ireland p. 48, n. 2.

page no 370 note 1 In Sept. 1493 he styled himself guardian and protector of all castles, manors, etc., belonging to Thomas, earl of Ormond (Cal. Ormond Deeds, iii. 274-5).

page no 370 note 2 Ibid., pp. 278-9 ; Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1485-94, p. 368 ; 8 Hen. VII, c. 25 (Ir. Rec. Comm. transcripts, PROI).

page no 370 note 3 Cal Ormond Deeds, iv. 321.

page no 370 note 4 Ibid., pp. 322-3. A draft deputation, which probably was sent with this letter, contained no saving for the earl.

page no 370 note 5 J. Graves and J. G. A. Prim, History of St. Canice's Cathedra, p. 193.

page no 370 note 6 Conway, op. cit., p. 226.

page no 370 note 7 Cal. Ormond Deeds, iv. 335.

page no 370 note 8 Ibid., iii. 312-7.

page no 371 note 1 Cal. Ormond Deeds, iv. 312-73, passim.

page no 371 note 2 Carrick (ibid., iv, 336-7, 341-2); Clonmel (ibid., pp. 346-7); Ballygowan (ibid., p.347). For Knockgraffon, see ibid., iii. 270-3.

page no 371 note 3 W P. Burke, History of Clonmel, p. 215.

page no 371 note 4 Cal. Ormond Deeds; iv. 317-8.

page no 371 note 5 M.R.(R.Com.), 9 Hen. VII, m. 1, 7.

page no 371 note 6 Cal. Ormond Deeds, iv. 324-5.

page no 371 note 7 Ibid., iv. 339-40.

page no 371 note 8 M.R.(R.Com.), 14 Hen. VII, m. 14. He is also entered as seneschal in 1500, 1508 and 1509 (15 Hen. VII, m. 16, 23 Hen. VII, m. 1, 12). No proffers were paid on the last three occasions and, in fact, George Comyn was in occupation of the office in 1509. See p. 372.

page no 371 note 9 Cal. Ormond Deeds iii. 318-9.

page no 372 note 1 Cal. Ormond Deeds, iv, 337-8.

page no 372 note 2 Ibid., iii. 312.

page no 372 note 3 Ibid., iv. 211.

page no 372 note 4 Ibid., p. 375. It is wrongly assigned to BM, Cott. MS. Titus B, XI, f. 218. The correct reference is BM, Lansdowne MS. 418, ff. 80, seq.

page no 372 note 5 Cal. Ormond Deeds iv. 317-18.

page no 372 note 6 Ibid., pp. 324-5, 372.

page no 372 note 7 Ibid., iii. 326-7.

page no 373 note 1 Cal. Ormond Deeds, iii. 329-37.

page no 373 note 2 Ibid., iv. 15-19.

page no 373 note 3 L. & P. Hen. VIII, ii. 1488.

page no 373 note 4 Cal. Ormond Deeds, iv. 23-36.

page no 373 note 5 Patent of 6 Apr 1516. Summaries are given from M.R., 7-8 Hen. VIII, m. 20, in RIA MS. 24 H17, and from M.R,, 8 Hen. VIII, m. 29, in BM, Add. MS. 4791, ff. 194 seq.

page no 373 note 6 Cal. Ormond Deeds, iii. 326.

page no 373 note 7 Ibid., iv. 101.

page no 373 note 8 Ibid., p. 337.

page no 373 note 9 Ibid., p. 211.

page no 373 note 10 Sir Edmund Butler of Cahir, 1517 (ibid., 20, 43-51); James son of Edmund, 1519 (pp. 55-6) ; Thomas son of Edmund, 1525 (pp. 106-7) ; Sir James Butler of Kiltenan, baron of Dunboyne, 1520, 1523 (pp. 63, 77-8).

page no 374 note 1 Cal. Ormond Deeds, iv. 211-2.

page no 374 note 2 Ibid., pp. 62, 371-3.

page no 374 note 3 Ibid., pp. 99-100, 375-80.

page no 374 note 4 Ibid., pp. 116-26 ; L. & P. Hen. VIII, iv. no. 3937.

page no 374 note 5 Ibid., no. 3973 ; Cal. Ormond Deeds, iv. 127-8.

page no 374 note 6 L. & P. Hen. VIII, iv, no. 6085. £10 out of the fee-farm of Waterford was granted to him.

page no 374 note 7 For the activities of the Boleyns and St. Legers in Ireland, 1528-36, see Cal. Ormond Deeds, iv. 126, 168, 373-5.

page no 374 note 8 Ibid., pp. 133-5.

page no 375 note 1 28 Hen. VIII, c. 3 (Ir. Stat., i. 84-9).

page no 375 note 2 At Tibberaghtne, county Tipperary, before Roland Fitz Gerald of Brantchurch, seneschal, Walter Kerdiffe, justice, James Clere, dean of Ossory, vice-chancellor and master of the rolls, Walter Cowley, attorney at law, and others (Cal. Ormond Deeds, iv. 169-70).

page no 375 note 3 See ibid., pp. vi-vii.

page no 375 note 4 15-16 Ed. IV, c. 57 (Ir. Rec. Comm. transcripts, PROI).

page no 375 note 5 In 1509 he styles himself earl of Shrewsbury, Wexford (to which apparently he had no claim), Waterford (the old Talbot title in Ireland), Lord Talbot, Furnyvall le Stange Verdon, seneschal and constable of all Ireland (titles long titular and obsolete). Cal. Pat. Rolls, Ire., Hen. VIII-Eliz., p. 286.

page no 375 note 6 L. & P. Hen. VIII, ii, no. 3853. In 1536 it was said that the ‘ lorne men ’ of Dublin had often challenged the palatine rights used in the liberty (PRO, S.P. 60/5/5).

page no 375 note 7 L. & P. Hen. VIII, ii, no. 430.

page no 376 note 1 A. Ketyng to Cromwell, July 1536 (PRO, S.P. 60/5/5).

page no 376 note 2 Walter Brown of Malrancan, Jhon Deverus of Balmakeyerne and Alexander Keting to Cromwell, 24 June [1537 or 1538] (PRO, S.P. 60/4/27).

page no 376 note 3 Holds inquisition at Wexford castle (Hore and Graves, Social State of the southern and eastern counties, p. 43n. (from enrolment on M.R., 31 Eliz., m. 113)). He had ceased to be justice by 1519 (P. F. Hore, History of Wexford, v. 133).

page no 376 note 4 Hore and Graves, op. cit, p. 45.

page no 376 note 5 Granted wardship of Walter Roche of Rochesland (ibid., p. 43n. (from Exch. Inquisit., 1582)).

page no 376 note 6 PRO, S.P. 60/8/24.

page no 376 note 7 The inquest states that this was the practice under Edmund Jamys, Robert Brown and Richard Brown, chancellors to Lord Grey and the earl of Shrewsbury.

page no 377 note 1 S. .P. Hen. FIII, ii. 184.

page no 377 note 2 John Devereux to Cromwell, 15 Aug. 1539 (PRO, S.P. 60/8/26).

page no 377 note 3 Brabazon's accounts (L. & P. Hen. VIII, xii (2), no. 1310).

page no 377 note 4 PRO, S. P., 60/6/53, S. P. Hen. VIII, ii, 185 seq.

page no 377 note 5 Early Stats. Ire., John-Hen. V, p. 199.

page no 378 note 1 This grant was enrolled in M.R., 19 H. VIII (W. Lynch, A View of the Legal Institutions … established in Ireland (1830), p. 178).

page no 378 note 2 GEC, Complete Peerage (ed. Vicary Gibbs). Cal. Ormond Deeds, iii. 83-9, 119-22.

page no 378 note 3 To Cowley's testimony must be added that of David Sutton, presented to the commissioners in 1537 (Hore and Graves, Social State of the southern and eastern counties p. 160).

page no 378 note 4 Sutton says Carlow is to be taken as an adjunct to Kildare in this matter. Probably it was also comprised in the judicial Organisation of the liberty. All waste lands in Carlow had been granted to Kildare by an act of 20 Ed. IV. The Kildare rental says that the county was granted to Kildare by act of Henry VII (BM, Harl. MS. 3756). This is probably a confused rendering of the foregoing.

page no 378 note 5 There are suggestions from entries in the rental (BM, Harl. MS. 3756, f. 57V etc., and Cal. Carew MSS., 1515-74, no. 112), that the earl at least contemplated taking scutage in the county for himself.

page no 379 note 1 e.g. ‘ Rex etc. Vicecomiti Kyldarensis praecipimus tibi quod de denariis de debitis diversis de exitis Ballivae tuae provenientibus solvi facere Jacobo Dyllon Gent. Deputato Petri Barnwall Capitali Grossario Scaccarii Hiberniae 40s. pro laboribus suis & c. Teste 10° Decembris’(M.R.(R.Com.), 15 Hen. VII, m. 1, Regarda, Mich. 1499). ‘ Laurence Sutton vicecomes Comitatus Kildarensis in memoria quia non retornacio brevi sibi directo versus William Eustace de Newland nuper vicecomes comitatus praedicti ad seetam Johannis Lacy’ (M.R.(R.Com.), 23 Hen. VII, Sacramenta, East. 1508).

page no 379 note 2 Accounts, 1498-1504, 1504-6, enrolled on Pipe Rolls, 20 and 21 Henry VII (W. Betham, ‘ Pipe Roll Extracts’, ii. pp. 335, 339, in Office of Arms, Dublin Castle).

page no 379 note 3 M.R.(F.), 9-8 Hen. VIII, m. 1.

page no 379 note 4 M.R.(F.), 15 Hen. VIII, m. 1.

page no 379 note 5 Exch. Inquisit., co. Kildare, nos. 1, 2 (Ir. Rec. Comm. MS. calendar, PROI).

page no 379 note 6 This feat was only repeated again in 19-20 Hen. VIII, when the same deputy was in power (M.R.(F.), 19 Hen. VIII, m. 13 ; 20 Hen. VIII, m. 1) (Thomas Netterfeld, seneschal).

page no 379 note 7 M.R.(F.), 15 Hen. VIII, m. i6d : ‘ Geraldus Comes Kyldariae Dominus de ofaly ac libertatis Kyldarensis praedietae omnibus ad quos presentes litere preveniente salutem Sciatis quod nos de fidelitate & industria diligenci & fidelis nostrae Thomae Eustace de Henrieston Generosi plurimi confidentes. Constituimus & ordinavimus ipsum Thomam Senescallem libertatis nostrae praedictae ac officii senescalli libertatis nostrae praedictae eidem Thome damus & per presentes concedimus habendum occupandum & exercendum officium illud praefata Thome per se vel per suum sufficientem Deputatem pro quo respondere voluerit quamdiu nobis placuerit percipiendum in officio illo feodum decem marcarum annuatim de finibus amerciamentis & debitis diversis deperditis forisfaciendum in curia libertatis nostrae praedictae assignacionem inde faciendum per Thesaurarium libertatis nostrae praedictae vel ejus viceingerentem ibidem vel per manus nostras personas solvendum ad festam Paschae & Sancti Michaelis Archangeli annuatim equis [sic] porcionibus unacum omnibus aliis feodis vadiis Regardis commoditatibus & proficuis eidem officio ante his tempora qualitercumque spectantibus seu pertinentibus In cuius rei testimonium has literas nostras fieri fecimus patentes Teste meipsi apud Manerium nostram de Kyldar' quinto die Januarii Anno Regni Henrici octavi octavo.’

page no 380 note 1 Listed among County Commission Rolls, in 28th Rep. D.K. PRI, p. 47, See Ir Rec. Comm., Reports, ii. 113, and F. E. Ball, Judges in Ireland, i. 194. The roll probably came into the hands of the crown in 1534.

page no 381 note 1 L. & P. Hen. VIII, v, no. 299 (p. 134). It has not survived.

page no 382 note 2 Ordinances for Ireland, in S. P. Hen. FIII, ii. 210.