The Magna Carta Project

Irish Fines and Obligations to King John

February 2015, by Professor Nicholas Vincent and Professor Marie Therese Flanagan

The fines and commands assembled below into a single letter addressed by King John to the archbishop of Dublin supply important evidence of the King's dealings with Ireland in the winter of 1215. Whatever evidence of these transactions survived in Ireland itself, up to and including the lost Irish Pipe Roll 17 John, went up in flames when the Dublin Four Courts were bombarded at the start of the Irish Civil War, on 29-30 June 1922. From that great bonfire of Irish public records very little remains, save for antiquarian transcripts fortuitously preserved elsewhere. These include a unique copy, once belonging to Sir James Ware (1594-1666), of the Irish Pipe Roll for the year 14 John (1211-12).1 The Irish Exchequer that produced the Pipe Roll, and that is referred to below as hearing accounts (no.1) was itself perhaps a fairly recent innovation, first definitely referenced in 1200.2 Its creation reminds us of the significant role that Ireland had played in the early years of King John. As the present record reveals, although generally ignored or only cursorily regarded by the King's modern biographers, Ireland remained of keen interest to John thereafter.3 Many of the men or families whose names appear below enjoyed thirty or more years of connection to John, from the time of his first Irish expedition of 1185.

The opening of Sir James Ware's copy of the now lost Irish Pipe Roll 14 John (1211-12): Armagh Public LIbrary ms. K.H.II.24 p.1

The opening of Sir James Ware's copy of the (now lost) Irish Pipe Roll 14 John (1211-12): Armagh Public Library ms. K.H.II.24 p.1 (detail)

Amongst the wider themes that our record helps us to address, two in particular stand out. The first is that Ireland continued to represent a major source of revenue and patronage to the King, albeit of patronage shared out amongst what was already a close-knit colonial community. All told, our record lists fines of 3960 marks and £100 (£2640 all told), and commands distraint of a further 1300 marks and £100 of debts (£966) for which accounts were still owing: a total value in excess of £3600. At a time of acute need for the King, these Irish revenues played no small part in the King's financial calculations. Secondly, most of the men whose fines are referred to below were descendants of those who had themselves been introduced to Ireland not by the King, but in the following of one or other of the great entrepreneurs (Strongbow, William Marshal, the Lacys and the Braoses) who since the 1170s had achieved the conquest of most of Ireland save for Connaught. Our record itself refers to this conquest as the time 'when the English came into Ireland' (below no.8): an important reminder of the fact that, for all the nineteenth-century emphasis upon a 'Norman' or 'Anglo-Norman' conquest of Ireland, contemporaries were inclined to view this as very much conquest by the 'English'.4 

The Irish Exchequer in session, from the lost Red Book of the Irish Exchequer

The Irish Exchequer in session, from the lost Red Book of the Irish Exchequer

At the time that our record was compiled, in February 1215, one event above all others continued to colour John's relations with the colony. The King's Irish expedition of 1210 had been directed both against William de Braose and against Hugh and Walter de Lacy, many of whose followers had been sent into captivity in England following the King's seizure of the Lacy fortress of Carrickfergus in July 1210.5 By February 1215, there were already signs of a reconciliation between King John and Walter de Lacy, cemented in July 1215, at the time of Magna Carta, by the restoration to Walter of a large part of his Irish estate in return for a fine of 4000 marks itself first negotiated in March.6 In the meantime, the King's dealings with hostages and prisoners (below nos. 5, 12, 13, 15, 17, 27), and his specific engagement with former members of the Lacy affinity (below nos. 2, 3, 5-7, 11, 12, 14, 22) suggest an attempt, as early as February, to ensure the peace of Ireland, not least in order that Ireland could be used as a base from which to organize help for the King against his increasingly restive English barons.

For his assistance with various of the place-names and personalities below, we are indebted to Peter Crooks. The prosopography of the English conquest of Ireland, meanwhile, remains a subject richly deserving both clarification and proper maps.

 

Letters of the King to H(enry) archbishop of Dublin concerning fines and debts owed in Ireland. Corfe, 1 February 1215

B =TNA C 54/10 (Close Roll 16 John) m.9 (10).     C = TNA C 54/9 (Close Roll 16 John) m.7, copy from B.

Pd (from B) RLC, i, 186-8b, whence Calendar of Documents Relating to Ireland Preserved in Her Majesty's Public Record Office in London, vol. 1 (1171-1251), ed. H.S. Sweetman (London, 1875), 83-4 no.529

Rex H(enrico) Dublien' archiepiscopo salutem.  Mandamus vob(is) quod distringatis Will(elmu)m de Tuit quod compotum reddat coram vob(is) ad scac(cariu)m nostrum Dublien' vel quod coram nob(is) veniat responsurus R. et H. de Tuit et de denar(iis) et aanulisa et auro inuentis in castro de Killamlun.  Distringat(is) etiam R. de Bosco quod compotum suum reddat de Grenardo vel bveniadb coram nob(is) in(de) responsurus.  De W. Hope qui ux(or) dux(it) sine licenc(ia) nostra et offert nob(is) centum m(arcas), capiatis maiorem finem si poteritis vel adminus det cent(um) m(arcas) vel cadminusc dveniadd coram nob(is) inde responsurus.  De Muriadac' qui offert nob(is) mill(e) marc(as) et cent(um) marc(as) per ann(um) pro iiii.or cuntredis terre que fuerunt domini Norwic' episcopi, capiatis finem illum si videritis expedire, vel amplietis si fieri possit, et capiatis in man(um) nostram aliam terram que fuit eiusdem episcopi et castr(um) de Sklon'.  De ux(ore) Will(elm)i Parui que offert nob(is) cent(um) m(arcas) pro se maritanda et pro deliberatione fil(ii) eiusdem ux(oris) qui obses est pro R. de Foipo et ut nos capiamus in obsidem filium ipsius R., capiatis hunc finem vel maiorem si poteritis.  Quo pacto, faciatis nob(is) mitti in Angl(iam) filium eiusdem R., et faciemus tunc filium ux(oris) predicte liberum abire.  De Will(elm)o Sancmelle qui offert nob(is) cc. m(arcas) pro terra patris sui, capiatis hunc finem vel maiorem si poteritis.  De Waltero Sancmelle qui offert nob(is) cent(um) m(arcas) pro habendis terris suis quas domini sui seisiuerint in man(um) suam occ(asi)one captionis sue, finem illum vel maiorem si poteritis capiatis, et terras illas ei habere faciatis.  De monach(is) Dublien' qui off(eru)nt nob(is) lx. m(arcas) pro habendis diuisis suis sic(ut) eas habuerunt quando Anglic(i) venerunt in Hyb(erniam), hunc finem vel maiorem capiatis si videritis expedire, et diuisas illas fieri faciatis.  De burgensibus Dublien' qui offerunt nob(is) ccc.tas m(arcas) pro habenda villa sua ad firmam in feodo per cartam nostram cum parte aque que nos conting(et), hunc finem vel maiorem sic(ut) melius nobis videritis expedire capiatis, et tunc mittant pro carta nostra quam eis inde si consulueritis fieri faciemus, saluis tamen donis piscariorum que fecimus, et retentis in man(u) nostra sedibus molendinorum.  Compotum au(tem) custodum cambii et monete nostre diligenter audiatis, et nob(is) scire faciatis qualiter in(de) responderint et quantum proficui in(de) habuerimus.  De ill(is) autem Anye qui offerunt nob(is) trescentas m(arcas) pro terris suis ten(eri) sic(ut) tenuerunt tempore W(alteri) de Lascy, hunc vel maiorem finem si poteritis capiatis.  De Adam de Capella obside qui offert nob(is) xl. m(arcas) pro deliberatione sua et alium ponet obsidem pro se, capiatis de h(oc) vel maiori fine esecuritateme si poteritis et alium mittat pro se obsidem qualem videritis expedire, et deliberabitur.  De Rogero de Tuit obsid(em) pro Ric(ard)o fratre suo qui mortuus est qui offert nob(is) xl. m(arcas) pro deliberatione sua, et securitatem de fideli seruicio suo capiatis, et ex quo significaueritis nob(is) vos hoc fecisse, faciemus ipsum liberari.  De Amfr(edo) de Den' qui offert nob(is) centum m(arcas) pro custod(ia) et maritag(io) filie et heredis Ad(e) de Rudipat cum qua fil(ius) Will(elm)i Toyn contraxit antequam ad etatem v. ann(orum) peruenisset ut dicitur, finem illum capiatis si licite possit inter eos diuortium celebrari.  De I. et W. fil(iis) Steph(an)i obsidibus qui offerunt nob(is) xx.ti m(arcas) pro deliberatione sua et pro habenda terra sua, hunc vel maiorem finem si poteritis capiatis.  De Ioh(ann)e camerar(io) qui h(abe)t sororem et heredem Walteri Duneyn in ux(ore) et offert nob(is) centum m(arcas) pro habenda terra que fuit ipsius Walteri, hunc vel maiorem finem si poteritis capiatis.  De Rogero fil(io) et herede Will(elm)i de Hamaz qui offert nob(is) cent(um) m(arcas) pro deliberatione sua et pro habenda terra ipsius Will(elm)i patris sui, hunc vel maiorem finem si poteritis capiatis.  De Ham(one) fil(io) et herede Ham(onis) de Valoynes qui offert nob(is) centum l(ib)r(as) pro castr(o) et terra patris sui, hunc finem capiatis, et castr(um) illud et terram ei habere faciatis.  De ill(is) autem qui tenent terras pro quibus Philipp(us) de Ang(u)lo offert ccc.tas m(arcas), finem illum ccc. marcar(um) capiatis vel maiorem pro habendis terris ill(is), et fiet eidem Ph(ilippo) escambium ubi expedire videritis per finem competentem.  Debitores vero nostros subscriptos distringatis ad redd(endum) nob(is) deb(ita) nostra de finibus nobiscum factis tempore domini Norwic' episcopi, nisi ea reddiderint, s(cilicet) G(alfridum) de Kanuill' pro terra sua ducentas m(arcas) et pro firma sua annua xl. lib(ras).  Hug(onem) Hose cccc. m(arcas).  Will(elmu)m de Hayncurt pro Crumell' cent(um) l(ib)r(as), et cent(um) m(arcas) pro maritanda fil(ia) sua fil(io) Hel(ie) fil(ii) Norm(anni).  Hug(onem) de Leges c. m(arcas) pro terra sua de Momonia.  Burgenses au(tem) Dublen' qui receperunt a domino Norwic' quingent(as) m(arcas) ad villam suam firmandam distringatis ad compotum suum inde reddendum.  De mill(e) m(arcis) que offeruntur nob(is) pro custod(ia) et maritag(io) fil(ii) et hered(is)  Thom(e) fil(ii) Mauric(ii) un(de) uxor eiusdem Thom(e) finem nobiscum fec(it) in Pictau(ia) per quingentas m(arcas) commodum nostrum fac(iatis) quantum cum r(ati)one poteritis.  De fWill(elm)of Galfri(d)o de Cusak qui offert nob(is) centum m(arcas) pro deliberacione sua, capiatis securitatem de fine illo et de fideli seruitio suo et nob(is) significetis ex quo illam securitatem ceperitis, et tunc illum deliberabimus.  T(ests) me ipso apud Corf', i. die Febr(uarii).

 

Translation:

The King sends greetings to H(enry) archbishop of Dublin.7 

(1) We command you to distrain William de Tuit to render his account before you at our Exchequer in Dublin, or that he come before us, to answer to R. and H. de Tuit and for the coin and rings and gold found in the castle of Killalon (Killamlun) (co. Meath).8 

(2) Moreover, distrain R. de Bosco to render his account for Granard (Grenardus) (co. Longford), or that he come before us to answer for this.9 

(3) From W(illiam) Hope, who married without our licence and who offers us 100 marks, take a greater fine if you can, or at the very least he either gives 100 marks or comes before us to answer on this.10 

(4) From Murtagh (O'Brien) (Muriadac), who offers us 1000 marks and a further 100 marks a year for the four cantreds of land that belonged to the bishop of Norwich, take the fine if that should seem expedient, or increase it if you can, and take into our hands the other land that belonged to the bishop, and the castle of 'Esclon' (Sklon') (alias Kilkeedy, co. Limerick).11 

(5) From the wife of William le Petit,12 who offers us 100 marks to marry and for the release of her son who is a hostage for R(ichard) de Feipo and so that we should take R(ichard) (de Feipo)'s son as hostage, take the fine, or more if you can, and when it is paid, have sent to us in England the son of R(ichard) (de Feipo), and we shall then allow the wife's son to go free.13

(6) From William Sancmelle who offers us 200 marks for the land of his father, take the fine, or more if you can.14

(7) From Walter Sancmelle who offers us 100 marks for his lands which his lords seized on account of his captivity, take the fine, or more if you can, and allow him to have these lands.15   

(8) From the monks of Dublin who offer 60 marks to have their bounds as they had them when the English came into Ireland, take the fine, or take more if it seems to you expedient, and ensure these bounds.16 

(9) From the burgesses of Dublin who offer us 300 marks to have their vill at fee farm, by our charter, with that part of the water which belongs to us, take the fine or a larger one as may be expedient, and then they will send for our charter which we shall have made for them, if you advise it, reserving however the gifts of fisheries which we have made, and keeping in our hands the sites of mills.17 

(10) Diligently hear the account of the keepers of the exchange and our mint, and let us know how they answer and how much profit we shall have thereby. 

(11) From those of Anye18 who offer 300 marks for their lands to hold as they held it in the time of W(alter) de Lacy, take this or a higher fine if you can.19 

(12) From Adam de Capella, a hostage, who offers us 40 marks for his release and so that another hostage may be put in his place, take securities for this or a larger fine, if you can, and he will put another hostage in his place as you may deem expedient, and be released.20 

(13) From Roger de Tuit, hostage for his brother Richard who died, who offers us 40 marks for his release, take security for his faithful service, and if you advise us accordingly, we shall have him released.21 

(14) From Amfred de Dene22 who offers us 100 marks for custody and marriage of the daughter and heir of Adam de Rudipat23 with whom the son of William T(r)oyn contracted a marriage before he was five years old, as is said, take the fine if a divorce can lawfully be arranged between them.24 

(15) From J. and W. fitz Stephen, hostages, who offer us 20 marks for their release and to have their land, take this or a larger fine if you can. 

(16) From John the chamberlain who married the sister and heir of Walter Duneyn and who offers us 100 marks for Walter's land, take this or a larger fine if you can.25 

(17) From Roger the son and heir of William de Ham(m)a(r)z, who offers us 100 marks for his release and to have the land of William his father, take this or a larger fine if you can.26 

(18) From Hamo the son and heir of Hamo de Valognes, who offers us £100 for the castl(e) and land of his father, take the fine and allow him the castle and the land.27 

(19) From those who hold the lands for which Philip de Angulo offers 300 marks, take a fine of 300 marks for these lands, or more if you can, and an alternative will be assigned to Philip, as you see fit, in return for an appropriate fine.28 

(20) Distrain the following, our debtors, to pay us their debts owing from fines made in the time of the bishop of Norwich, unless they have already paid, namely:

(21) From G(eoffrey) de Canville 200 marks for his land, and for his farm £40 a year29

(22) From Hugh Hose 400 marks30

(23) From William d'Aincourt for Clonmel (Crumell') (co. Tipperary) £100, and 100 marks for marrying his daughter to the son of Elias fitz Norman31

(24) From Hugh de Leges 100 marks for his land of Munster (Momonia)32 

(25) You should distrain the burgesses of Dublin, who received 500 marks from the bishop of Norwich to fortify their vill, to render their account.33 

(26) Of the 1000 marks offered to us for the custody and marriage of the son and heir of Thomas fitz Maurice, for which Thomas' wife fined 500 marks with us when we were in Poitou, ensure our best interest in so far as with reason you can.34

(27) From Geoffrey de Cusack, who offers us 100 marks for his release, take security for the fine and for his faithful service to us, and let us know from whom you have that security, and then we shall release him.35 

Witnessed myself at Corfe, 1 February

aaul'is C, anul(is) C bsic B, veniat C cadminus crossed through B dsic B, veniat C esecuritatem inserted over the line B fWill(elm)o crossed through B

1

Now Armagh, Public Library ms. KH.II.24 pp.1-22, printed as The Irish Pipe Roll of 14 John, 1211-1212, ed. O. Davies and D.B. Quinn, Ulster Journal of Archaeology, 4, supplement (Belfast, 1941).

2

RC, 61b, and cf. A.J. Otway-Ruthven, A History of Medieval Ireland (2nd ed., London, 1980), 152-3; P. Connolly, Medieval Record Sources (Dublin, 2002), 18-23; Irish Exchequer Payments, 1270-1446, ed. P. Connolly (Dublin, 1998). Note also the complaint of the Irish justiciar, as late as August 1204, that he had nowhere in Dublin where the King's treasure could be safely stored: RLC, i, 6b.

3

For John's rule in Ireland, see also the essays by C.A. Empey and W.L. Warren, in England and Ireland in the Later Middle Ages: Essays in Honour of Jocelyn Otway-Ruthven, ed. J. Lydon (Blackrock, 1981), generally favourable in their judgment of John's policy, set against the more critical assessment by Sean Duffy, in King John: New Interpretations, ed. S. D. Church (Woodbridge, 1999), 221-45.

4

See here the important historiographical survey by John Gillingham, 'Normanizing the English Invaders of Ireland', Power and Identity in the Middle Ages: Essays in Memory of Rees Davies, ed. H. Pryce and J. Watts (Oxford, 2007), 85-97.

5

For the dates of John's siege of Carrickfergus, 19-28 July 1210, see Rot.Lib., 196-208 (Calendar of Documents Relating to Ireland, ed. H. S. Sweetman, 4 vols. (London, 1875-86) (hereafter CDI), nos. 404-7).

6

Rot.Ob., 562-4, 601-3; RLP, 148b, 181-1b. For the rapprochement between King John and Walter, who had reached agreement with John by July 1213, who was with the King in Poitou in September 1214, and who had already secured restoration to the vill but not as yet the castle of Ludlow, see RLC, i, 147, 173b, 175; Rot.Ob., 480, 487; Layettes du Trésor des Chartes, ed. A. Teulet, H.-F. Delaborde and E. Berger, 5 vols. (Paris, 1863-1909), i, 405-6 no.1083, and in general, C. Veach, Lordship in Four Realms: The Lacy Family, 1166-1241 (Manchester, 2014), 147-53, where at p.153 Veach is perhaps correct to link the fine of 15 March 1215, referred to in RLP, 131, with the later fine of 4000 marks finally negotiated in July.

7

The fullest modern biography of Henry of London, archbishop of Dublin, is that by R.V. Turner, Men Raised from the Dust: Administrative Service and Upward Mobility in Angevin England (Philadelphia, 1988).

8

For Killallon, associated with William de Tuit, see Pipe Roll 14 John, 32-5, 50-1, where the lands of Richard de Tuit were already in the King's hands by Easter 1212. The Fine Roll, c. June 1215, records an offer from William de Tuit of 40 marks for the inheritance of Ralph his brother: Rot.Ob., 553 (CDI, no.673). For the castle, E.S. Armitage, The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (London, 1912), 339. For Richard de Tuit, below nn.9, 22.

9

For the castle of Granard, apparently built by Richard de Tuit in 1199, and still associated with him in 1210-11, see Irish Pipe Roll 14 John, 34-7; Rot. Lib., 248; Armitage, Early Norman Castles, 338-9.  The King visited it in August 1210 during his expedition to Ireland: Rot. Lib., 213, 248 (CDI, no.407).  In July 1215, it was restored to Walter de Lacy: RLP, 148b (CDI, no.612).

10

For William Hope, in 1225 involved in litigation against Walter de Lacy over land in Cluncullen (Cluncolan) (co. Westmeath, on the border with co. Longford), see RLC, ii, 64, 103b-4 (CDI, nos 1328, 1361).

11

By June 1215, the fine of Murtagh O'Brien of 1000 marks and 100 marks a year for the land of the bishop of Norwich in Thomond (Twadmonia) was still being considered, as was an alternative offer of 800 marks and 100 marks a year from Donough Cairbrech O'Brien, a rival member of the O'Brien clan, himself a benefactor of Cashel Cathedral: RC, 219; Rot.Ob., 552; RLC, i, 224 (CDI, nos. 629, 649, 673), and for the O'Brien kingdom of Thomond in North Munster, see Irish Pipe Roll 14 John, 58-9; G.H. Orpen, Ireland Under the Normans, 1169-1333, 4 vols. (Oxford, 1911-20), ii, 159-61, iv, 53-8. Murtagh's fine seems to have been accepted in late July 1215: RLC, i, 224 (CDI, no.629). For the castle of 'Esclon', see P. MacCotter, Medieval Ireland: Territorial, Political and Economic Divisions (Dublin, 2008), 187; C.A. Empey, ‘The Settlement of the Kingdom of Limerick in the Twelfth Century', in England and Ireland, ed. Lydon, 3-4, 14, suggesting that the four cantreds in Munster granted to John de Grey, most likely when he was appointed justiciar in 1208, were intended to make him responsible for direct dealings with Donnchad Cairprech Ua Briain and that the strategy was successful as evidenced by the fact that in 1210 Donnchad answered the King's summons.

12

For William Parvus/Le Petit, one of the principal feudatories of Hugh de Lacy I (d. 1186) who granted him ‘Magheradernon’ (i.e. Machaire Ua dTigernáin, co. Westmeath), the caput of which was Mullingar, a witness to charters of John for Jerpoint Abbey, before 1199, steward of Meath and deputy-justiciar of Ireland in 1211-12, see see The Song of Dermot and the Earl, ed. G.H. Orpen (Oxford, 1892), l. 3135 and pp. 309-10; Irish Pipe Roll 14 John, 5, and passim; Rot.Ob., 79 (CDI, no.144); Calendar of Patent Rolls 1358-61, 488, 490. Gerald of Wales refers to him as William Modicus when leading ‘the men of Meath’ in repulsing an attack by the king of Cenél nEógain in 1185: Expugnatio Hibernica: The Conquest of Ireland by Giraldus Cambrensis, ed. A. B. Scott and F. X. Martin (Dublin, 1978), 234-5. He occurs as a witness to early charters relating to Meath (Register of the Abbey of St Thomas, Dublin, ed. J.T. Gilbert (London, 1889), 12, 253-5; Chartularies of St Mary’s Abbey, Dublin, ed. J.T. Gilbert, 2 vols. (London, 1884), i, 38-40, 97, 99, 103-4, ii, 29. 35) and granted the church of Dunboyne (co. Meath) and all the churches and chapels of his entire fee of Magheradernon to the canons of Llanthony: The Irish Cartularies of Llanthony prima and secunda, ed. E. St J. Brooks (Dublin, 1953), 35, 74, 218, 220. In this charter (1205 X 1210) he is styled 'constable of Meath': Ibid., 74, 215. William made a grant of land located beside Morgallion (Machaire Gaileng) to St Mary’s Abbey, Dublin: Chartularies of St Mary’s Abbey Dublin, i, 198.  He served as justiciar under John as lord of Ireland, c.1192-4, but his authority ceased on John’s forfeiture in April 1194 and Richard I’s assumption of direct lordship: Ibid., i, 144, ii, 28; H. G. Richardson and G. O. Sayles, The Administration of Ireland, 1172-1377 (Dublin, 1963), 74.

13

For Richard de Feipo/Feypo, a dependent of Walter de Lacy, see Irish Pipe Roll 14 John, 30-1, with un-indexed materials assembled by E. Hickey, Skryne and the Early Normans: Papers Concerning the Medieval Manors of the de Feypo Family in Ireland in the 12th and Early 13th Centuries (Meath, Archaeological and Historical Society, 1994); Veach, Lordship in Four Realms, 143. After May 1215, his nephews were released from captivity as hostages and replaced by his sons: Rot. Ob., 557 (CDI, no.672). He was descended from that Adam de Feipo, granted the barony of Skreen (co. Meath) by Hugh de Lacy I (d.1186): Song of Dermot, ed. Orpen, ll.3156-7 and p.314.

14

In August 1213, William de Sancmelle and Geoffrey his brother were parties to a fine of £100 to be released from the captivity of William de Harcourt, apparently as former associates of Walter Hugh de Lacy who himselwhose brother Walterf was restored to favour at about this time: Rot.Ob., 487. For William de Harcourt holding other prisoners taken at Carrickfergus after 1210, witness to various Irish charters of King John thereafter, see RLP, 96b-7 (CDI, no.454); RC, 211b, 212, 213 (CDI, nos 589-90, 621). In April 1215, the King instructed Eudes Martel, constable of Sherborne, to receive Geoffrey Sancmelle, a prisoner of Carrickfergus, and Thomas Sancmelle, hostage for Walter Sancmelle, and to see that they were kept safely. Geoffrey and Thomas, brothers, were then released to the Irish justiciar, Geoffrey de Marisco, that July: RLC, i, 197b; RLP, 147b-8 (CDI, nos 553, 602). John of London, nephew of Henry of London, archbishop of Dublin, held land in ‘Portmaclyueran’ (?Port, near Clonmore, co. Louth) from William Sancmelle, and in 1224 William, fighting on the side of Hugh de Lacy, was one of the rebels captured by crown forces at Trim: D. Brown, ‘Civil Disobedience: The Citizens and Archbishop of Dublin During Hugh de Lacy’s Irish Rebellion, 1223-4’ (Fine of the Month, December 2012 - accessed 26 February 2015, available at: http://www.finerollshenry3.org.uk/content/month/fine_of_the_month.html)

15

For Walter, whose wife rendered accounts in Meath in 1212, see Irish Pipe Roll 14 John, 43. Walter himself had been captured in 1210 together with other members of his family in the siege of Hugh de Lacy's castle at Carrickfergus (co. Antrim). He was released in December 1213 in return for a promise of £100: RLC, i, 140b, 159, 197b (CDI, nos 495, 553). For his association with Hugh de Lacy, who in June 1207 granted him the serjeantship of Liskenane (co. Monaghan), see K. W. Nicholls, ‘Abstracts of Mandeville Deeds’, Analecta Hibernica, xxxii (1985), 14, no. 28.

16

Presumably the Cistercian monks of St Mary's Dublin, who by July 1215 had reached a written settlement with the men of Dublin over their rival territorial claims: RC, 211.

17

This fine was in due course to result in King John's charter of 3 July 1215, expressed in precisely the terms specified above: RC, 210b-211, and cf. Rot.Ob., 552, 561-2.

18

For the vale of Anye, whose native Irish inhabitants are referred to in the Pipe Roll account for 1211-12, tentatively identified as the valley of the River Nanny flowing past Duleek, including the settlement of Julianstown (co. Meath), see Irish Pipe Roll 14 John, 7-8n.

19

The fine, now specified as £200, is entered on the Fine Roll, after May 1215, as having been made 'by the knights of the vale of Anye' to have their liberty (with hereditate cancelled here) saving a moiety of their service owing to the King': Rot.Ob., 553 (CDI, no.673).

20

For Adam, apparently a dependent of Walter de Lacy, apparently released by June 1215 when his fine was accepted, with orders for his release from the prison of the prior of Lanthony by Gloucester, see Rot.Ob., 554; RLP, 142b, 144, 181b (CDI, nos 560, 596, 673). Richard de la Chapelle, otherwise de Capella, was a feudatory of Hugh de Lacy I (d. 1186), who gave him unspecified ‘good and fine land’: Song of Dermot, ed. Orpen, ll. 3152-3. He was a brother of Gilbert de Nugent: Llanthony charters, ed. Brooks, 85; Chartularies of St Mary’s, ed. Gilbert, i, 105. Gilbert de Nugent was himself enfeoffed by Hugh de Lacy with Delvin otherwise Delbna (co. Meath): Song of Dermot, ed. Orpen, l. 3158; R. Butler, Some Notices of the Castle and Ecclesiastical Buildings of Trim, ed. C.C. Ellison, Meath Archaeological and Historical Society (1978), 252-3. Richard de Capella confirmed his brother’s grant of the church of Telach Cáil (Castletown Delvin) in Delbna to the canons of Llanthony, suggesting that he administered the fee during a minority before Gilbert’s nephew, also called Gilbert, succeeded. A charter of the elder Gilbert de Nugent for St Mary’s abbey refers to Adam cognatus meus who may have been the Adam de Capella who fined in 1215. Adam de Capella made a grant to St Mary’s abbey from his land in Donabate (co. Dublin), witnessed by Galfridus de Capella and Philip de Nugent: Chartularies St Mary’s, ed. Gilbert, i, 76

21

The fine, reduced to 20 marks, appears to have been accepted after May 1215: Rot.Ob., 552 (CDI, no.673). Richard Tuit was a feudatory of Hugh de Lacy I (d. 1186) who ‘gave him a rich fief’: Song of Dermot, ed. Orpen, ll. 3148-9 and p.312. His holding was located around Granard (above n.9), about two miles from which he founded the Cistercian monastery of Abbeylara (co. Longford) shortly before his death: Roger Stalley, The Cistercian monasteries of Ireland (London, 1987), 240-1. Richard was killed in 1211 by a stone falling accidentally from the tower of the castle under construction at Athlone: Annals of Loch Cé, ed. W. M. Hennessy, 2 vols (London, 1871), i, 244-5, and cf. Annála Ríoghachta Éireann: Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters from the Earliest Period to the Year 1616, ed. J. O'Donovan, 7 vols. (Dublin, 1845–51), iii, 166-9 (s.a. 1210); The Annals of Clonmacnoise, being Annals of Ireland from the Earliest Period to AD 1408 translated into English A.D. 1627 by Conell Mageoghagan, ed. D. Murphy (Dublin, 1896), 224 (‘The English bushopp (John  of Norwich) that was Deputy, and Richard Tuite founded a stone castle at Athlone, wherein there was a tower of stone built, which soon after fell & killed the said Richard Tuite, with eight Englishmen more. My author sayeth that this befell by the miracles of St Queran, of St Peter and St Paule, upon whose Land the said Castle was built').

22

On 6 January 1209 the king ordered that the lands, men, and property of Amphridus de Dena be protected and that he not be impleaded so long as he was on the king’s service in Ireland: RLP, 88b (CDI, no.391). As Umfredus de Dene, he witnessed two charters of John fitz Leon 1211 X 1212 relating to land in the fee of Donaghmore beside Greenoge (co. Meath): Register of St Thomas, ed. Gilbert, 28, 283. He appears here at a time when Meath was in the King's hand and therefore possibly in a semi-official capacity. In the first instance, he appears alongside Hugh de Bernevalle who also witnessed a quitclaim of the citizens of Dublin to St Mary’s abbey with the same date-range: Chartularies of St Mary’s, ed. Gilbert, i, 249. The King, c. October 1212, informed the bishop of Norwich of his dealings with William Marshal and sent his ‘beloved and faithful Amfridus de Dena’ to answer to everything by word of mouth: RLC, i, 132b (CDI, no.443). On 1 January 1215, the King informed the archbishop of Dublin that Amfridus de Dena had offered 500 marks to have custody of the lands and heirs of Richard de Tuit and Robert de Lacy with the marriages of the heirs: RLC, i, 185 (CDI, no. 525). Also on 1 January, the King ordered the constable of Bristol to provide a ship and his reasonable outlay to Amfridus de Dena to cross to Ireland in nuncium nostrum in Hyberniam: RLC, i, 185b (CDI, no.526). On 16 March 1215, the King instructed the archbishop of Dublin and, among others, Amfridus de Dena concerning Walter de Lacy’s fine for his lands: RLC, i, 191 (CDI, no. 542). On 6 Sept. 1215, Amdfridus witnessed King John’s charter for D(onnchad), archbishop of Cashel: RC, 219 (CDI, no. 649).

23

In 1199, Stephen the Fleming fined for 100 shillings to have a writ of mort d’ancestor for 30 carucates of land which he claimed against Adam Rudipat: Rot.Ob., 40 (CDI, no. 111). On 6 July 1215, the king instructed Henry de Minar’ to deliver up Alexander, hostage of Adam Rudipat, who was in his charge: RLP, 148 (CDI, no. 606). On the following day, the King instructed the justiciar of Ireland to give Walter de Angulo seisin of all the land which Adam Rudipat held of the king in Ireland to be kept according to the law and custom of those regions until Adam’s heir came of full age, provided that the heir when he came of age would have seisin of the same land and keep the agreement which the same Walter could justly prove to have been made between himself and Adam father of the heir concerning the aforesaid land: RLC, 219b (CDI, no. 619). On 3 August 1215, the King instructed Odo Dammartin to release the hostage of Adam Rudipat who was committed to his charge: RLP, 151b (CDI, no. 630). The Rudipacs/Rudipats (name possibly preserved in Rudbaxton, ‘Rudipac’s town’, Pembrokeshire, as suggested by Thomas Phillips, Cambrian Journal Published under the Auspices of the Cambrian Institute (1860), 228) held lands in Meath. They are not listed as feoffees of Hugh de Lacy I (d. 1186) in the earliest list of Meath feudatories in the Song of Dermot and it is likely that they held of the de Angulos in Navan. In 1183, Alexander Rudipat witnessed a charter of Eugenius, bishop of Clonard: Register of St Thomas, ed. Gilbert, 280-1. Between 1192 and 1212, the canons of St Thomas, Dublin were admitted to the church of St Laurence of Dunmoe (barony Navan, co Meath) on the presentation of Henry Rudipat by Simon, bishop of Meath: Ibid., 264. Other individuals with the surname occur as witnesses to charters relating to Meath dating from the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries: Ibid., 35, 242, 273; Chartularies of St Mary’s Dublin, ed. Gilbert, i, 160, 203, 245, 445, 476. In 1305 Richard Rudipak was ‘living in the county of Meath’: Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls or Proceedings in the Court of the Justiciar of Ireland XXX to XXXV Edward I, ed. J. Mills (Dublin, 1914), 133. In 1322, he is described as a former sheriff of Meath: Circle: A calendar of Irish Chancery Letters, c. 1244-1509 at <https://chancery.tcd.ie/document/close/16-edward-ii/6>. A rental of possessions of Llanthony prima in Ireland in 1405, records a David Rudypak holding a tenement in the priory’s manor of Colp (co. Meath): Irish Cartularies of Llanthony, ed. Brooks, 178.

24

The proposed divorce seems not to have taken place, since c. June 1215, the lands of William Traim/Troyn and his wife, the daughter of Adam Rudipat, were jointly granted in wardship to Hugh de Bernevalle, for a fine of 20 ounces of gold, saving custody to Walter de Angulo of those fees that Adam had held from Walter before his death; Rot. Ob., 561; RLC, i, 219b, and cf. RLP, 148, 151b; RLC, i, 359 (CDI, nos 667, 822) where Hugh is said previously to have enjoyed custody of Adam's lands at Kilberry (Kilberiz) (co. Meath) and Baliresse, by grant of the late Irish justiciar, John bishop of Norwich. At the time of Runnymede, in June 1215, Amfrid de Dene instead fined 500 marks for the lands both of Richard de Tuit and Robert de Lacy: Rot.Ob., 553 (CDI, no.673). For Kilberry, see M. Moore, 'The "Moat" at Castletown Kilberry, Co. Meath', Ríocht na Midhe: Records of the Meath Historical and Archaeological Society, viii (1988-9), 21-9. Baliresse is perhaps one or other of the settlements known as Ballyross, Reestown or Rosstown. Alternatively, since the motte at Kilberry, originally a pre-conquest ring-fort, seems never to have developed into a stone castle, perhaps a lost settlement.

25

John the chamberlain may be the same man as John de Tuit who, after May 1215, offered 60 marks for have the lands of Walter Duneyn in Meath: Rot.Ob., 551 (CDI, no.673).

26

Instead, after May 1215, the King accepted a fine of 80 marks from Alice, widow of William de Hammarz for custody of his lands together with marriage of William's heir: Rot.Ob., 552 (CDI, no.673). William de Humars/Hamarz/Humarchz witnessed three charters of William de Meset c. 1177×1191 relating to the churches of Kilmessan (co. Meath), Kilcooly (co. Meath) and Donnybrook (co. Dublin): Irish cartularies of Llanthony, ed. Brooks, 87, 90, 98. This suggests that he held lands in Meath from an early period, perhaps from William de Meset, himself among the earliest feudatories in Meath, granted the barony of Lune (Luigne) by Hugh de Lacy I (d. 1186): Song of Dermot, ed. Orpen, ll. 3166-73.

27

For Hamo de Valognes (d. March 1202 X May 1203), John's justiciar in Ireland from 1197 to 1199, granted extensive estates in Limerick and the city of Waterford in reward for his service, see RC, 19; Facsimiles of Royal and Other Charters in the British Museum, ed. G.F. Warner and H.J. Ellis (London, 1903), plate 48 no.74. In the event, Hamo the younger was permitted to inherit his father's lands, including the castle of Iniskefty (Hinckesty/Hineskefty), modern Askeaton (co. Limerick) in July 1215, in return for a fine of only 50 marks: Rot.Ob., 556; RLP, 147-7b (CDI, nos 592-3), and for Askeaton, see C.A. Empey, 'The Settlement of the Kingdom of Limerick', England and Ireland in the Later Middle Ages, ed. Lydon, 9, 19; The Annals of Inisfallen (MS Rawlinson B. 503) (Dublin, 1951), ed. S. Mac Airt, s.a. 1199 (4), where the annalist records the building of the castle (of Es Geiphtíne) 'by the foreigners' in 1199.

28

In June 1215, Philip de Angulo's fine of 10 marks for his father's land of Navan (Nouan') (co. Meath) was accepted, but with no further mention of his fine of 300 marks: Rot.Ob., 553 (CDI, no.673). The family were Lacy tenants. Jocelin de Angulo was enfeoffed by Hugh de Lacy I (d. 1186) with Navan and Ardbraccan (co. Meath), while his son, Gilbert, was granted the barony of Morgallion: Song of Dermot, ed. Orpen, ll. 3142-3-7. Philip de Angulo was the son of William son of Jocelin and appears as the final witness alongside Gilbert and Jordan de Angulo to a charter of William de Angulo for St Thomas’s Dublin: Register of St Thomas’s, ed. Gilbert, 34. In 1195, the Annals of the Four Masters (iii, s.a.) record that Gilbert (with a Gaelicised name, Oisdealb, giving a later Irish surname of Mac Coisdealbh) is found fighting on the side of Cathal Crobderg Ua Conchobair, King of Connacht, who granted him the cantred of Maenmag (co. Galway) in return for military service which included attacking Anglo-Norman settlements in Meath and Munster. He and Philip were outlawed by Hamo de Valognes in 1196. On 12 February 1207, the justiciar of Ireland was ordered, if he deemed it expedient, to grant the King’s peace to Gilbert de Angulo and to permit him to hold the cantred of Maenmag which the king of Connacht had delivered to him: RLC, i, 78b (CDI, no. 311). On 14 November 1207, Gilbert and Philip de Angulo were granted the King’s peace for the desertion and outlawry (fuga et ulageria) which had been declared against them by Hamo de Valognes when justiciar: RLP, 77 (CDI, no. 359). Gilbert de Angulo was killed in the castle of Cael Uisce (the ‘narrow water’ by Lough Erne, co. Fermanagh) in 1213, whereupon Philip succeeded to his lands in Navan: Annals of Loch Cé, ed. Hennessy, s.d. On 30 July 1215, King John granted his ‘dear and faithful man’, Philip de Angulo, an annual payment of ten marks from his Exchequer at Dublin for the cantred of Roscommon until an exchange in compensation for the cantred be found elsewhere: RLC, i, 223 (CDI, no.630). On 13 September 1215, the King issued instructions concerning a fine for his land from the king of Connacht. Among other provisions here, Philip de Angulo was to go to collect the fine from the King of Connacht: RLC, i, 228b (CDI, no. 656).

29

For Geoffrey de Canville, amongst those who in 1212 declared their loyalty to the King, holding land in Munster from which he granted three carucates near Ardfinnan (co. Tipperary) to the Dublin Hospital of St John, see H.G. Richardson and G.O. Sayles, The Irish Parliament in the Middle Ages (Philadelphia, 1964), 286-7 (CDI, no.488); Rot.Ob., 566 (CDI, no.671); Registrum chartarum hospitalis Sancti Johannis Baptistae extra novam portam civitatis Dublin, ed. E. St J. Brooks (Dublin, 1936), 326.

30

For Hugh Hose, baron of Deece with its caput at Galtrim (co. Meath), originally from a Wiltshire family, closely associated in Ireland with the Lacys, see D. Brown, 'A Charter of Hugh II de Lacy, Earl of Ulster, to Hugh Hose (2 March 1207)', Irish Historical Studies, xxxviii (2013), 492-510. His fine of 400 marks was still outstanding in June 1215: Rot.Ob., 552 (CDI, no.673).

31

In 1212, the £100 fine from William d'Aincourt for Clonmel (co. Tipperary), and a fine of £93 6s. 8d. for the wardship and marriage of the heir of Elias fitz Norcum (recte Norman) were included within the account of Geoffrey de Marisco as sheriff of Munster: Irish Pipe Roll 14 John, 72-3, and for Clonmel, see Ibid., 18 n.77; RLC, i, 472b, 511 (CDI, nos 1014, 1054). William de Aincourt was among the magnates of Ireland who alongside William Marshal declared their loyalty to the king c. December 1212: Richardson and Sayles, Irish Parliament, 286-7 (CDI, no. 448). He witnessed Geoffrey de Canville’s charter for the hospital of St John at Dublin, and two Munster charters of Adam le Bret. As a result, he may be presumed to have held land in Munster: Registrum chartarum hospitalis Sancti Johannis, ed. Brooks, 303, 312, 326.

32

For Hugh de Leghe, in 1207 accused of robbery and breach of the King's peace, see RLP, 71b (CDI, no.328). As Hugh de Legha, he witnessed a charter of William Marshal in Leinster and may have held land there, but he was granted the tuath of Eóghanacht Becc in north Munster by William de Braose, 1201 X 1210: Calendar of Ormond Deeds, ed. E. Curtis, 6 vols. (Dublin, 1932-43), i, no. 24. He witnessed a Munster charter of William de Braose, 1208 X 1210: Registrum chartarum hospitalis Sancti Johannis, ed. Brooks, 296.  Earlier, he occurs as a witness to a charter c. 1200 of Alexander of Worcester (who names Philip of Worcester as his lord), suggesting that Hugh was originally a feoffee of Philip of Worcester: Registrum chartarum hospitalis Sancti Johannis, ed. Brooks, 274. As Roger of Howden reported, in 1200, King John sold all the lands of Philip of Worcester and Theobald Walter to William de Braose for 5000 marks thereby converting Philip and Theobald, who had been tenants in chief, into feudatories of William de Braose: Chronica magistri Rogeri de Houedene, ed. W. Stubbs (Rolls Ser. [li], 1868-71), iv, 152-3.

33

For the King's command, first voiced in August 1204, that the city of Dublin be fortified, issued at the same time as his orders for the construction of Dublin castle, see RLC, i, 6b; RLP, 69; A. Thomas, The Walled Towns of Ireland, 2 vols. (Dublin, 1992), ii, 79-93.

34

For Thomas fitz Maurice, still living c.1212, see CDI, no.448. In May or June 1215, the King accepted a fine of £400 (600 marks) for the land and heir, apparently offered jointly by Thomas fitz Anthony, seneschal of Leinster, and Donough Cairbrech O'Brien, with Thomas's widow merely offering £40 that she might remarry: Rot.Ob., 551-2 (CDI, no.673). By July 1215, Thomas fitz Anthony had taken sole responsibility for the 600 marks, payable at 100 marks p.a., at much the same time that he received the castles of Waterford and Dungarvan (co. Waterford), and the county of Desmond with the city of Cork: RC, 210b, 212; RLP, 147 (CDI, nos. 583-4, 673). For the Fitz Maurice branch of the Geraldine dynasty, see Orpen, Ireland under the Normans, iv, 128; K. Nicholls, 'The Fitzmaurices of Kerry', Journal of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society, iii (1970), 23-42.

35

Cf. the fine of 100 marks offered by William (sic) de Cusack in 1213 for his release from the prison of Matthew fitz Herbert, and to have his wife in marriage, originally made payable in its entirety before his release, the money still being demanded in October 1214, c. June 1215 altered so that William could obtain immediate release: Rot.Ob., 479, 551; RLC, i, 174b, 228b, 241 (CDI, nos 497, 520, 559, 562). Geoffrey de Cuesac/Kusac/Keusach/Kusak/Kyweshac witnessed charters 1185 X 1191 of Adam de Feipo, lord of Skreen (see above n.14 for the de Feipos), and was enfeoffed by him with Killeen, forty acres of which Geoffrey granted to the canons of Llanthony along with the advowson of the vicarage of Killeen: Chartularies of St Mary’s, ed. Gilbert, i, 95-6, 102, 156; Irish Cartularies of Llanthony, ed. Brooks, 62, 77-8, 94. He made an annual grant of wheat to the hospital of St John the Baptist, Dublin: Registrum chartarum hospitalis Sancti Johannis, ed. Brooks, 161 (misdated c.1230).

Referenced in

John moves toward the March (The Itinerary of King John)

Tournaments, Ladies and Bears (The Itinerary of King John)

Tournaments, Ladies and Bears (The Itinerary of King John)

Tournaments, Ladies and Bears (The Itinerary of King John)

Tournaments, Ladies and Bears (The Itinerary of King John)

Tournaments, Ladies and Bears (The Itinerary of King John)

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