Carlow
in the register of Archbishop Milo Sweteman
Niall
C.E.J. O’Brien
Introduction
The register of Milo
Sweteman, Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, is held in the Public Record Office
of Northern Ireland. It is the earliest in date of the seven surviving medieval
archbishopric registers of Armagh which, with several gaps, cover the years from
1361 to 1543.[1]
Most of the material in the register relates to the diocese of Armagh and the
archdiocese of Armagh. Yet sometimes matters relating to places in the other
three provinces of Ireland are recorded. Carlow is mentioned a few times.
Archbishop
Milo Sweteman
The references to
Carlow may not be so out of place in the register of Archbishop Milo Sweteman.
The first reference to the Sweteman family appears in the thirteenth century in
the person of William Sweteman, provost of Dublin. Yet the main are of
residence of the family was in the Kilkenny/Waterford area. Sir Robert Sweteman
was summoned to Parliament in 1375 and his son John Sweteman was sheriff of
County Kilkenny in 1395. Before 1381 John de Erley conveyed the manor of
Earlstown in the Barony of Shillelogher, Co. Kilkenny, to Robert Sweteman.
The earliest record of
Milo Sweteman dates from 1341 when he was appointed by Richard Ledred, Bishop
of Ossory, as one of his two attorneys in Ireland.[2]
When Bishop Ledred died in 1360 Milo Sweteman was then treasurer of the Diocese
of Ossory and was shortly after elected Bishop of Ossory by the cathedral
chapter. On travelling to Rome to receive the seal of confirmation, Pope
Innocent VI quashed the election and made Milo Archbishop of Armagh to fill the
vacancy caused by the death of Richard FitzRalph in November 1360. Milo
Sweteman was consecrated Archbishop in November 1361.[3]
The
Carlow letters
Most of the Carlow
references in the register of Archbishop Sweteman relate to royal letters
ordering the appearance by the Archbishop, or others, at Carlow before the
justices sitting there or to the exchequer which was based in Carlow from 1361
to 1394. For more on the exchequer at Carlow see article at = http://celtic2realms-medievalnews.blogspot.ie/2015/04/the-medieval-exchequer-at-carlow.html
The royal letters were
usually direct to the sheriff of Louth as the Archbishop of Armagh usually
resided in Louth in the medieval period as Armagh lay in the Irish sphere of
influence.
The
Carlow references in 1367
On 26th
February 1367 Thomas de la Dale testified at Drogheda to a letter sent by King
Edward III to the then sheriff of County Louth. The letter commanded the
sheriff to instruct Archbishop Sweteman to deliver without delay to John, son
of Peter de Haddesore the manor of Inishkeen, Co. Monaghan, which Jordan
Darditz had given to Richard de Haddesore and his wife Margery and their heirs.
A pre February 1367
document, possibly the will of Richard de Haddesore, directed that on the death
of Richard and Margery, and their son John, and his sons John, Richard and
Peter the manor ought to descend to John son of Peter Haddesore. It had fallen
to the Archbishop of Armagh, possibly as the executor, to implement this
transfer of the manor. The sheriff was told that if Archbishop Sweteman did not
obey, and if John de Haddesore wished to pursue the matter in court, then the sheriff
was to summon the Archbishop to appear before the justices at Carlow within
fifteen days of Easter. A note appended to the letter said that John de
Haddesore gave 10s in security to pursue the matter in court.[4]
Shortly after this
royal letter, Archbishop Sweteman was summoned to appear at a parliament at
Kilkenny on the 14th June.[5] The
Archbishop or his proctor may have used the occasion of this parliament to talk
with government officials to delay the Haddesore court case. It seems that such
a delay was achieved, even if only to defer the case for a few months. On 14th
October 1367, at Carlow, Gerald Fitz Maurice, Earl of Desmond and justiciar of
Ireland testified to another royal letter sent by Edward III to the sheriff of
Louth changing the date of appearance of the Archbishop at Carlow to 3rd
November 1367.[6]
Later
Inishkeen
It would seem that John
de Haddesore was unsuccessful in acquiring the manor of Inishkeen in 1368 or he
didn’t hold it for long. Instead the manor reverted to the Archbishop of
Armagh. In October 1371 Maurice McMaghon wanted justice from ill-treatment by
the Archbishop’s tenants at Inishkeen. Later on 28th September 1375
Archbishop Sweteman granted Inishkeen to Roger Gernon, lord of Gernonstown on a
lease of five years from 1st November 1375 at a rent of 40s and 500
eels per year.[7]
Yet this was not the end of the Hadsor relationship with County Monaghan. On 12th
May 1425 Sir John Hadsor witnessed the indenture between James Butler, Earl of
Ormond and King’s Lieutenant of Ireland and Bernard McMaghon in which the
latter swore loyalty to the English king.[8]
The
Carlow references in 1368
On 12th
February 1368 John de Troy testified to a letter sent by King Edward III to the
sheriff of Louth (then known as Uriel), commanding him to appear at the Irish
exchequer at Carlow on 17th April with money gathered from the
county of the cross of Ulster. A scribe in the household of Archbishop Sweteman
wrote that this letter was obtained by the malice of John de Troy without the
knowledge of the king.[9]
In 1368 John de Troy
was treasurer of Ireland and held that position since September 1364. He got
the job due to the outbreak of opposition to English born officials but John de
Troy was not the best of treasurers even if the exchequer became more efficient
under his administration.[10]
His accounts up to July 1368 were still not completed audited as late as 1407
when his executors were summoned to account. Previous to the treasurership John
de Troy was second baron of the exchequer from 1347 to 1364.[11]
The money required at
Carlow was 100s from the Diocese of Down for many defaults. The Diocese was
then vacant and Archbishop Sweteman was guardian of the spiritualties, assisted
by John Langestoun, clerk. An additional 100s was from the same Diocese for
unjust impediments.[12]
In June 1368 King
Edward III sent a letter to the sheriff of Louth to command Archbishop Sweteman
and John Kenan, his clerk, to permit the prior of St. Mary of Louth to present
a fit person to the vicarage of St. Feghin of Tarminfeckin. The Archbishop had
previously prevented the prior of St. Mary from filling the vacancy. If the
Archbishop did not obey the command of the sheriff, then Archbishop Sweteman
and John Kenan were to appear before the justices at Carlow within fifteen days
of 24th June 1368. This royal letter was testified by Maurice
Fitzgerald, Earl of Desmond and justiciar of Ireland, at Drogheda on 20th June
1368.[13]
Yet it seems that Archbishop Sweteman got a
delay on the summons to appear at Carlow within fifteen days of 24th
June 1368 as in July 1368 another royal letter was sent to the sheriff of
Louth. In this new letter, testified by Robert de Preston at Carlow, the
Archbishop was to appear at Carlow within three weeks of 29th
September 1368 to answer the plea of the prior of St. Mary.[14]
Carlow castle - one time home of the royal government
The
Carlow references in 1371
On 6th July
1371 Robert de Preston testified at Carlow to a letter sent by King Edward III
to Archbishop Sweteman instructing the Archbishop to cause the dean and chapter
of Armagh to appear before the justiciar at Carlow within fifteen days of
Michaelmas, to answer the Abbot of Mellifont, who claimed that he was owed £80
by the chapter.[15]
This summons possibly had its origins in 1369 when the prelates at a great
council at Dublin on 22nd April 1369 granted a subsidy to William de
Windsor, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, at a rate of one mark per every carucate
of arable land belonging to the bishops. The bishops could recoup this tax from
their free tenants, gavellers and betaghs. The bishops also agreed to a tax of
two tenths of the value of each benefice having first obtained the consent of
the clergy.
The Archbishop of
Armagh appointed collectors in his diocese and convened a convocation of the
clergy among the English to get consent to the tax. The English clergy included
the area of Louth and the diocese of Meath. The Irish clergy lived in the rest
of Ulster covered by the Archdiocese and were usually kept separate from the
English clergy. The English clergy had consented to the two tenths tax but the
Abbot of Mellifont along with the Abbot of St. Mary’s, Dublin and the prior of
the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in Ireland failed to attend the
convocation.[16]
The abbey of Mellifont
was in a state of flux in the years from 1321 to 1380 over the admission of
English and Irish clergy. In 1321 King Edward II wrote to Citeaux abbey that
Mellifont only admitted clergy that were not of the English race which was
contrary to laws of separation between the races passed in numerous parliaments
and great councils. The abbot of Citeaux replied that the Cistercian order had
passed a decree against racial discrimination. Yet by 1380 a law was passed that
no Irishman should be admitted to Mellifont.[17] In
February 1370 King Edward III wrote to Archbishop Sweteman compelling him to
summon the abbots of Mellifont, St. Mary’s and Newry along with the prior of
the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem to pay the tax.[18]
It is not known if the
Armagh chapter paid Mellifont the £80 it demanded by Mellifont or even if they
attended the justiciar’s court at Carlow. 1371 was not the last time an
Archbishop of Armagh had business in Carlow. In about 1410 Archbishop Nicholas
Fleming was in a legal action against Sir Thomas Fleming, baron of Slane,
Christopher Holywood and others concerning the church of Rathdromnew. Archbishop
Fleming wrote to John Fitz Adam and his fellow justices of the common bench,
meeting at Carlow, to include the name of John Herdman as attorney for the
Archbishop in the case.[19]
Conclusion
After 1400 the
exchequer and justice wing of the common bench returned to Dublin as the Irish
of Leinster made Carlow unsafe and insecure. The Archbishop of Armagh also
returned within his archdiocese and left the rest of the country to work away
itself. Indeed if Archbishop Nicholas Fleming didn’t leave a register of his
time at Armagh we would know very little about him from other sources.[20]
Yet for the brief time in the fourteenth century royal government in Carlow brought the Archbishop of Armagh out of his isolation to engaged with the rest of Ireland in the heart of the Carlow countryside.
Armagh cathedral
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End of post
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[1]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380 (Irish Manuscripts Commission,
Dublin, 1996), p. xvi
[2] Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, 1340-1343,
p. 278
[3]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, p. xiv
[4]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, no. 28
[5]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, no. 29
[6]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, no. 32
[7]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, nos. 156, 212
[8]
Paul Dryburgh & Brendan Smith (eds.), Handbook
and Select Calendar of Sources for Medieval Ireland in the National Archives of
the United Kingdom (Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2005), p. 221
[9]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, no. 33
[10]
Philomena Connolly, ‘The Financing of English Expeditions to Ireland,
1361-1376’, in James Lydon edited England
and Ireland in the Later Middle Ages (Irish Academic Press, Blackrock,
1981), p. 106
[11]
Philomena Connolly (ed.), Irish Exchequer
Payments 1270-1446 (Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin, 1998), pp. 422,
509, 518, 525
[12]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, no. 33
[13]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, no. 36
[14]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, no. 37
[15]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, no. 22
[16]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, no. 64
[17]
A. Gwynn & R.N. Hadcock, Medieval
Religious Houses Ireland (Irish Academic Press, Blackrock, 1988), p. 140
[18]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of Milo
Sweteman Archbishop of Armagh 1361-1380, no. 43
[19]
Brendan Smith (ed.), The register of
Nicholas Fleming Archbishop of Armagh 1404-1416 (Irish Manuscripts
Commission, Dublin, 2003), no. 136
[20] Brendan
Smith (ed.), The register of Nicholas
Fleming Archbishop of Armagh 1404-1416, p. xi
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