Sir William le Deveneys (died 1319) was a Crown administrator and judge in late thirteenth and early fourteenth century Ireland, who served very briefly as Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas.[1]
He was probably a native of Dublin, where he spent his whole career. The le Deveneys (later called Devenish) family were among the first Anglo-Norman settlers in Ireland.[2] William was probably a relative of Nicholas le Deveneys, who was summoned for service in the Scottish War in 1302,[2] and of another William le Deveneys, who in 1327 made a grant of his lands land at Kells in Ossory to William Kenfeg.[3]William is first heard of in 1278 when he was an official of the Exchequer of Ireland. He held several senior positions in the Exchequer, including Marshal, Chief Remembrancer, Engrosser (copier) and Prothonotary (Chief Clerk), at a salary of 100 marks a year.[1] His pluralism gave rise to a good deal of criticism: the contemporary view was that "these offices ought not to be held by one person", and it was probably as a result of such strictures that he was finally removed from office as Remembrancer (the Remembrancer's task was to prepare the memoranda of the lawsuits to be heard by the Exchequer).[4] He became Keeper of the Royal demesne lands in Ireland in 1281.[1] His enemies claimed that he had bribed an eminent cleric to obtain office as Keeper, but there seems to be no evidence of this.[5]
Landowner
He was clearly a valued Crown official: he was given twelve oak trees from the royal forest at Glencree, County Wicklow in 1282.[1] He also received a grant of the lands adjacent to the Royal Forest.[5] Glencree, however, proved to be an almost worthless gift: it was in the Wicklow Mountains, remote from the city, and subject to frequent raids by the local Gaelic clans, the O'Tooles and O'Byrnes, which became a serious problem in the early 1290s.[5] Within a few years after receiving the grant William in a petition to the Crown alleged that all his tenants had fled, and that he would be obliged for his own safety to live closer to Dublin.[5]
Glencree: le Deveneys was granted lands here, but later complained that they were uninhabitable
In 1283 King Edward I made him a grant of four carucates (480 acres) and 45 acres of land at Dunderg (Rathfarnham) in South County Dublin, "to hold of the King forever" in return for a twice-yearly payment of £7. He received other lands whose precise location is hard to determine, due to the archaic spelling of the place names in the Patent Rolls.[6] In 1299 he was granted a part of the Royal manor of Thorncastle in south County Dublin, roughly corresponding to modern-day Booterstown and Mount Merrion, and the fishery attached to the manor, in return for payment of a knight's fee,[7] "this being to the King's advantage", according to the jury which was empanelled to advise on the matter. Thorncastle had previously been held by the professional soldier Sir Richard FitzJohn (died 1297), who also served as a judge in Ireland.[1] Deveneys also practised as an attorney in the Royal Courts: no doubt the Crown was his main client, but he also worked for private individuals, including a certain Matilda, with whom he seems to have had a long association.[8]
Booterstown, present day. In the Middle Ages, the district was called Thorncastle, where Deveneys had his Dublin estate.
Judge
He was appointed to the Bench as a justice in eyre (itinerant justice) in 1301.[1] He went on assize to County Cork that year.[9] He became a judge of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland), which was then simply called "the Bench", in 1303.[1] In 1308 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas but resigned from that office shortly afterwards: he was reappointed to the Common Pleas in 1313, apparently after vigorous lobbying by his friends on his behalf.[1] He was appointed Sheriff of Dublin City in 1308 (one of the first recorded holders of the office),[1] and was knighted in 1312.[1] An almost illegible entry in the Patent Roll for 1312 suggests that the Crown wished him to act as mediator in a feud between William Burgh and Richard Clare.[10]
He died in or shortly before 1319, [1]being replaced on the Court of Common Pleas by William de la Hulle (19 August).[11] His manor of Thorncastle was purchased after his death by his judicial colleague Walter de Islip.[1] It subsequently passed to Sir John Cruys (died 1407), who built Merrion Castle on the site in the 1360s, and later became part of the vast Fitzwilliam holdings in South Dublin.
Merrion Castle, Watercolour by Gabriel Beranger, mid-eighteenth century
Sources
Ball, F. Elrington "History of Dublin" Vol.2 Dublin Alexander Thom and Co 1903
Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 London John Murray 1926
Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland preserved in the Public Records Office London Longmans 1879
Calendar of Irish Chancery letters c.1244-1509
D'Alton, John King James's Irish Army List Privately Published Dublin 1855
Hamilton, Reverend John G. and Armstrong, E C.R. On the Ancient Deeds of St John's Parish, Dublin (1816) Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy Vol. 33 p.175
Hewer, S.G. Justice for all? Access by ethnic groups to the English Royal Courts in Ireland 1252-1318 Thesis submitted for degree of PhD Trinity College Dublin 2018
The Attorney-General for Ireland was an Irish and then United Kingdom government office-holder. He was senior in rank to the Solicitor-General for Ireland: both advised the Crown on Irish legal matters. With the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, the duties of the Attorney-General and Solicitor-General for Ireland were taken over by the Attorney General of Ireland. The office of Solicitor-General for Ireland was abolished at the same time for reasons of economy. This led to repeated complaints from the first Attorney General of Ireland, Hugh Kennedy, about the "immense volume of work" which he was now forced to deal with single-handedly.
Sir Robert Bagod was an Irish judge who was appointed the first Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas in 1276. He built Baggotrath Castle, which was the strongest fortress in Dublin: it was located on present-day Baggot Street in central Dublin. He also founded the Carmelite Friary in Dublin.
William Tynbegh, or de Thinbegh (c.1370-1424) was an Irish lawyer who had a long and distinguished career as a judge, holding office as Chief Justice of all three of the courts of common law and as Lord High Treasurer of Ireland. His career is unusual both for the exceptionally young age at which he became a judge, and because left the Bench to become Attorney General for Ireland, but later returned to judicial office.
Robert Sutton was an Irish judge and Crown official. During a career which lasted almost 60 years he served the English Crown in a variety of offices, notably as Deputy to the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, Master of the Rolls in Ireland, and Deputy Treasurer of Ireland. A warrant dated 1423 praised him for his "long and laudable" service to the Crown.
Robert de Emeldon, or Embleton was an English-born Crown official and judge who spent much of his career in Ireland. He held several important public offices, including Attorney-General for Ireland, Lord High Treasurer of Ireland and Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He was a turbulent and violent man, who was guilty of at least one homicide, was imprisoned for a number of serious crimes including rape and manslaughter, and had a reputation for corruption: but he was a royal favourite of King Edward III and was thus able to survive his temporary disgrace in the early 1350s.
Robert de Holywood was an Irish judge and landowner who held the office of Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He was the ancestor of the Holywood family of Artane Castle, and of the St. Lawrence family, Earls of Howth. He was a substantial landowner with property in Dublin, Meath and Louth. He became extremely unpopular, and was removed from office after numerous complaints of "oppression and extortion" were made against him. These were apparently inspired ĺargely by his close association in the mid-1370s with Sir William de Windsor, the embattled Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
Richard Sydgrave or Segrave was an Irish judge who held office as Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer and served as deputy to the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. His family became among the foremost landowners in County Meath, and also held lands at Newry and at Carlingford, County Louth.
The Burnell family were a Dublin family who were prominent in Irish public life and in the arts from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century. They acquired substantial estates in County Dublin, and married into the Anglo-Irish aristocracy. They produced several judges and politicians, a leading playwright, and one of the first female Irish poets. They were staunch Roman Catholics, who opposed the Penal Laws, and supported the Irish Confederacy in the 1640s. They forfeited most of their lands after the failure of the Confederate cause, and never recovered them.
James Fitzwilliam was an Irish landowner and judge who held the office of Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He was the ancestor of the prominent Dublin landowning family which acquired the titles Viscount FitzWilliam and Earl of Tyrconnell.
Sir John de Shriggeley, whose family name is also spelt Shirggeley and Shryggeley was an Irish statesman and judge who held several important judicial offices, including Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas. Although he committed two murders, he was a valued servant of the English Crown.
Robert Dyke, Dyck or Dyche was an English-born cleric and judge who held high office in fifteenth-century Ireland. He was appointed to the offices of Archdeacon of Dublin, Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland, Lord High Treasurer of Ireland, and Master of the Rolls in Ireland, as well as holding several Church benefices.
Edward Somerton, or Somertoune was an Irish barrister and judge who held the offices of Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) and judge of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland) and the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland). He was born in Ireland, possibly in Waterford, although he lived much of his life in Dublin. By 1426 he was a clerk in the Court of Chancery (Ireland), and was paid 26 shillings for his labours in preparing writs and enrolment of indentures,. In 1427 he is recorded in London studying law at Lincoln's Inn. He returned to Ireland and was again in the Crown service by 1435, when he was ordered to convey lands at Beaulieu, County Louth to Robert Chambre, one of the Barons of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland). He was appointed King's Serjeant for life in 1437; he also acted as counsel for the city of Waterford, a position subsequently held by another future judge, John Gough.
Richard le Blond was an Irish lawyer and judge of the early fourteenth century. After serving for many years as Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) he was rewarded for his services to the English Crown with a seat on the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland).
John Fitzadam was an Irish judge of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century. He is notable for his very long tenure as Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas; he held the office for twenty-three years, in the reigns of three English Kings. Some years after his death, he was accused of judicial misconduct, in that he had unduly favoured one party in a lawsuit, but it is impossible now to determine the truth of the matter.
John de Ponz, also called John de Ponte, John Savan, or John of Bridgwater (c.1248–1307) was an English-born administrator, lawyer and judge in the reign of King Edward I. He served in the Royal Household in England for several years before moving to Ireland, where he practised in the Royal Courts as the King's Serjeant-at-law (Ireland). He later served as a justice in eyre, and then as a justice of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland). He was a gifted lawyer, but as a judge was accused of acting unjustly. A case he heard in Kilkenny in 1302 can be seen as a precursor of the Kilkenny Witchcraft Trials of 1324, and involved several of the main actors in the Trials.
Nicholas de Snyterby, or Snitterby was a Law Officer and judge in Ireland in the fourteenth century, who held office as King's Serjeant, Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) and justice of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland).
Simon de Ludgate was an English-born judge in Ireland in the reign of King Edward I of England, who held office as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas for Ireland.
Sir David de Offington was an English-born Crown official in late thirteenth-century Ireland. He was one of the earliest recorded holders of the office of High Sheriff of County Dublin and the first recorded Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland). He became a substantial landowner in Leinster.
Sir John Cruys or Cruise was a prominent Irish military commander, diplomat and judge of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. He was one of the most substantial landowners in County Dublin and County Meath and built Merrion Castle near Dublin City in the 1360s. His marriage to the heiress of the powerful Verdon family of Clonmore brought him in addition substantial lands in County Louth. He sat in the Irish Parliament and was a member of the King's Council. He was a highly regarded public servant, but also a determined and acquisitive man of business, who fought a ten-year battle to establish his wife's right to her inheritance.
John Brettan or Breton was an Irish judge and Crown official. His petitions to the Irish Privy Council, of which he wrote five between 1376 and 1382, and which have survived ; cast a valuable light on the disturbed condition of English-ruled Ireland in the late fourteenth century, and especially the situation in Carlow, his home town, which was the effective seat of English government in the latter half of the fourteenth century.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
