Richard Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, and the Battle of the Curragh

Richard Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, and the Battle of the Curragh

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

Richard Marshal, 3^rd Earl of Pembroke, was born in 1191 as the second son of William Marshal, 1^st Earl of Pembroke. His father, William Marshal, rose from humble origins to serve four kings of England (Henry I, Richard I, John and Henry III) and act as regent of England for the young Henry III. William Marshal was the most celebrated knight in Europe and was known the world over as “The Marshal”. His defeat of the French forces at the Battle of Lincoln was one of the most important battles in medieval Europe.

Richard Marshal succeeded his brother William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, as Earl of Pembroke and Lord Marshal of England upon the latter's death on 6^th April 1231. Richard Marshal inherited lands in Longueville, France, in Wales and also in Ireland. But the French connection caused problems.

Shortly after the death of the 2^nd Earl of Pembroke, Henry III seized his lands. In a letter to the archbishops, bishops, earls, barons, knights and other subjects in Ireland on 31^st May 1231 Henry III said he so seized the lands not “in order to injure Richard Marshal” but to follow the precedent of his predecessors Kings of England. Such precedence was to seize the land of those who held directly from the king until the heir came to do homage.

Pembroke Castle in south Wales

King Henry told his Irish subjects that as Richard Marshal was a liege man of the King of France, the king’s chief enemy, a clear act of homage was needed before the lands would be released to the new Earl of Pembroke. Knowing how this action by King Henry was ill-received by many of Marshal’s Irish tenants, the chief people of Ireland were to give aid to Richard de Burgh, justiciar of Ireland, to defend the king’s rights and preserve the tranquillity of the country.[1]

While the king awaited the homage of Richard Marshal, events elsewhere were to impact the relationship between the knight and his king. In June 1231 Henry III issued a letter to Richard de Burgh, Justiciar of Ireland, to offer any soldier of Ireland free land in Wales if they come and fight Llewellyn the Great.[2] Llewellyn was attacking the English areas of Wales causing much destruction. The Marshal Earldom of Pembroke in south Wales was impacted by the war against Llewellyn. Years before in 1223, Richard’s brother, William Marshal, 2^nd Earl of Pembroke, had crossed over from Ireland to fight Llewellyn and successively captured a number of castles.[3] In September 1231 the justiciar of Ireland was to send further troops and as much money as possible to the English exchequer to aid the war against the Welsh. In December a ban on merchants exporting to Wales was imposed.[4] At first the war was seen as an action against a foreign power but later Richard Marshal would see Llewellyn as a defender of the English island against foreigners from the Continent.  

Richard Marshal had come to the fore as the leader of the baronial party in England. The chief conflict between Richard Marshal and Henry III went back several years, and centred particularly on the Earl's discontent with the influence that certain foreigners held over the king. Chief among the foreign friends of King Henry III was the Poitevins, Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester and Peter de Rivaux.

Yet, even with these differences, in August 1231 Richard Marshal did homage before Henry III. A letter was issued to the justiciary of Ireland to give Richard Marshal seisin of all his castles and lands.[5] Between August 1231 and June 1232 Richard Marshal travelled to Ireland to review his property. His estates there comprised much of the modern counties of Wexford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Kildare and Laois. On his return to England, Richard Marshal met Henry III at Worcester. There they discussed the affairs of state and more personal matters.

In 1224 William Marshal, 2^nd Earl of Pembroke, had married Eleanor of Leicester, daughter of King John and sister of King Henry III as his second wife. Following the Earl’s death, Countess Eleanor was entitled to receive one third of her husband’s property for her maintenance. The meeting at Worcester was to work out what lands Countess Eleanor would receive from Richard Marshal in Ireland. Richard Marshal offered castles and land in Counties Kildare, Laois and Wexford. Henry III sent three men to Ireland to survey the lands. Shortly after one of these officials, Walter de Brackley was elected Bishop of Ossory, in the heart of the Marshal lordship.[6] What property the three officials saw may have pleased them but Richard Marshal was too willing to part with a third of his property that fast. 

Meanwhile in June 1232 Hubert de Burgh, Justiciar of England was granted the office of Justiciar of Ireland for life while still retaining his English job.[7] It seemed that the baronial party was gaining ground against the King’s foreigners but not for long. In July 1232 a bitter enemy of Richard Marshal was confirmed with numerous positions in England and Ireland. Peter de Rivall was conferred the offices of treasurer and chancellor of Ireland along with all the King’s ports and the three royal castles in Connacht with the castle at Limerick and numerous other financially rewarding positions.[8]

On 20^th August 1232 Hubert de Burgh was ordered to leave England within fifteen days.[9] In September 1232 Maurice Fitzgerald was made Justiciar of Ireland.[10] Richard de Burgh, nephew of Hubert de Burgh, was ordered to deliver the royal castles to Maurice Fitzgerald. De Burgh refused to act. Three royal orders were sent to Richard de Burgh to surrender the castles. Richard de Burgh sent a delegation to King Henry on why he should retain the castles. The king listened to the delegation and then sent another order to surrender the castles to Maurice Fitzgerald and Peter de Rivall.[11] Legal proceedings were brought against Richard de Burgh in February 1233 but de Burgh still held some castles in May 1233.[12]

Meanwhile Richard Marshal was conducting his own obstruction to the desires of Henry III. The Kings sister, Countess Eleanor, had still not received her dower lands in Ireland and South Wales. Richard Marshal offered her £400 per year while he retained all his inherited lands. King Henry accepted the offer but the Earl’s lands in England would be seized for non-payment if the Earl of Pembroke defaulted.[13]

But relations between Richard Marshal and the foreign advisers of Henry III did not improve and Richard felt that he would get no peace from Henry III while these advisers had the king’s ear. In August 1233 Henry III summoned Richard Marshal to a meeting at Gloucester. Fearing their treachery, Richard refused to go and King Henry declared him a traitor.

In March 1234, a truce was reached between the king and Richard Marshal, the condition of which was the removal of Peter des Roches from court. In the meanwhile, however, conflict had broken out in Ireland between Marshal's brothers and some of the king's supporters. These included Maurice FitzGerald, justiciar of Ireland, Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath and Hugh de Lacy, Earl of Ulster. Hostilities followed, and Richard made an alliance with the Welsh leader, Llewellyn the Great.

Richard Marshal crossed to Ireland to assist his brothers, where he met with the king’s men at the Curragh on 1^st April 1234. The Battle of the Curragh (Irish: Cath an Churraigh) was fought on the Curragh plain in County Kildare, Ireland. The adversaries were men loyal to King Henry III of England on one side, and on the other side Richard Marshal, Earl of Pembroke and Lord of Leinster, with his small band of followers. The battle was a small affair in the number of knights involved, but was still significant because it ended the career of the popular Richard Marshal.

Richard Marshal was taken captive to his castle at Kilkenny, where he died from his injuries on 16^th April. The doctor sent to cure his injuries was said to be in the pay of the king and the foreigners and caused Richard’s death. He was buried at Kilkenny and was succeeded by his brother Gilbert Marshal. Richard Marshal had married Gervaise de Dinan, daughter of Alan de Dinan, Baron de Dinan, but the couple had no children. Indeed the five sons of William Marshal each became Earl of Pembroke but none left any children to inherit. Thus when the last brother died in 1247 the Marshal lands in England, France and Ireland were divided equally among the five daughters of William Marshal.

Kilkenny Castle 

Richard Marshal had become highly popular in England because of his fight against foreign influence at court, and for this reason the accounts of the battle were idealised and not necessarily reliable. According to contemporary accounts, he was tricked into meeting his enemies at the Curragh, and then deserted by his own forces. Rather than flee, he remained to fight against the odds, allegedly with only fifteen knights against 140. Marshal's popularity also meant that his death was mourned in England, where the Poitevins – who were rumoured to have instigated the Irish war – fell further into disregard. Henry III nevertheless rewarded Marshal's Irish opponents richly.

The Battle of the Curragh did not totally end the war although a declaration of peace was made shortly afterwards. A number of breaches of the peace were made. It was reported that the ship of William de Cumpton, a tenant of the new Earl of Pembroke, Gilbert Marshal, was seized at Ross after the declaration of peace. On 27^th April 1235 the justiciar of Ireland was asked to investigate. Elsewhere, as late as May 1237, bands of former Marshal soldiers pillaged the lands of the king’s supporters.[14]

The Irish supporters of Richard Marshal

In 1235 the sheriff of Limerick, Hugh de Barry, wrote in his account for that year a long list of thirty-three persons who were fined for taking part in the army of Richard Marshal and another list of two hundred people who did not come to the king’s army when summoned.[15] Unfortunately the original account was lost in the destruction of the public record office in 1922 and so the names of these people are lost to history. Yet we do know a few of these people through the notes of former historians.

These names included Geoffrey de Marisco and his son William (fined 3,000 marks), three of Geoffrey’s nephews, viz. William son of Jordan de Marisco (£200), Richard de Marisco (£100) and John Travers (£200), along with David Fitzgerald, Baron of Naas (300 marks) and others fined between £10 and 400 marks.[16] Most of these men were taken prisoner after the Battle of the Curragh and kept in custody for many weeks.[17]  

The 1235 account of Maurice de Pontu, sheriff of County Waterford, records a fine on Griffin, Bishop of Lismore, for supporting Richard Marshal.[18] Elsewhere the names of other Irish supporters of Richard Marshal appear. These included Roger de la Hyde (his seneschal), Hugh Purcell, David Basset, Matthew Fitz Griffin, Miles de Rocheford, Stephen de Hereford, Geoffrey de Norragh, Robert de Grendon, Robert Whittey, Maurice de Londres, John le Canutus and Henry Walsh.[19] Some of these men were taken into prison while others had all their property seized by the government. The release and restoration of these people was sometimes a slow process. The property of Henry Walsh was still denied him as late of October 1237.[20]

Other people got caught up in the punishment meted out to the Marshal’s supporters. The lands of Ernisius de Dunhevet were seized by the king’s agents because his lord, Geoffrey de Marisco, had supported Richard Marshal. It is not clear on what side Ernisius de Dunhevet was in the war. On 3^rd August 1235 his property was restored at the same time that Geoffrey de Marisco was pardoned and restored to his property. Other landowners who were clearly not rebels had their property seized. The lands of William de Rughedon in Carlow were seized by the Irish government even though William was with the king’s army in England.[21]

The Fitz Anthony heirs and Richard Marshal

The war between King Henry III and Richard Marshal, Earl of Pembroke in 1234 had a major impact upon the lands in County Waterford formerly held by Thomas Fitz Anthony. It was recorded previously [http://celtic2realms-medievalnews.blogspot.ie/2013/09/thomas-fitz-anthony-thirteenth-century.html] that Thomas Fitz Anthony left five daughters as his heirs following the death of his only son, Hamo Fitz Thomas. These five daughters and their husbands were Dionysia married to William de Canteloup; Helen married to Gerald de Rupe; Isabella married to Geoffrey de Norragh; Margery married to John Fitz Thomas Fitzgerald and Desiderata married to Stephen Archdeacon.^[22]

Geoffrey de Norragh sided with Richard Marshal and was taken prisoner with his lands seized. In January 1235 he was released to Gilbert Marshal, the new Earl of Pembroke, on the understanding that he would pay a fine to the Earl.[23] The other sons-in-law of Thomas Fitz Anthony had also supported the Marshal as much of their property was located in the lordship of Leinster. John Fitzgerald, on the other hand, had his main estates in Limerick and Kerry from where he proclaimed his support for the king. As a result Henry III seized some of the lands of Geoffrey de Norragh and Gerald de Rupe in Waterford and gave them to John Fitzgerald. The Fitzgerald lordship in County Waterford was thus much expanded. Most of the expanded estate remained with the descendants of John Fitzgerald until the early twentieth century.

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[1] Sweetman, H.S. (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland (5 vols. London, 1875, reprint Liechtenstein, 1974), vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 1892

[2] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 1894

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Marshal,_2nd_Earl_of_Pembroke accessed on 10^th December 2013

[4] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), nos. 1913, 1917, 1930

[5] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 1894

[6] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), nos. 1950, 1953

[7] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 1957

[8] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 1969

[9] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 1974

[10] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 1977

[11] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), nos. 2003, 2008, 2009

[12] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), nos. 2014, 2036

[13] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 2041

[14] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), nos. 2260, 2390

[15] The thirty-fifth report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (Dublin, 1903), p. 35

[16] Orpen, G.H., Ireland under the Normans 1169-1333 (Dublin, 2005), vol. 3, p. 71

[17] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 2119

[18] The thirty-fifth report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland, p. 36

[19] Orpen, Ireland under the Normans 1169-1333, vol. 3, p. 71; Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), nos. 2129, 2139, 2201, 2224, 2236, 2345-6, 2362, 2418

[20] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 2418

[21] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), nos. 2140, 2279, 2280

[22] Brooks, E. St. John, Knight’s fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny, 13^th-15^th century (Dublin, 1950), p. 48

[23] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 2236

Tallow in the Justice Rolls, 1295-1303

Tallow in the Justice Rolls, 1295-1303

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

Seven hundred years ago the medieval town of Tallow, in modern-day County Waterford and the surrounding countryside featured in the justice rolls of the English government in Ireland. Some of this material was covered in an earlier article, see = http://celtic2realms-medievalnews.blogspot.ie/2017/01/the-justiciar-court-at-tallow-in-1295.html

This present article covers items raised in the justice rolls in the years between 1295 and 1303. The geographical location of Tallow made it an ideal market town. Traffic from the north could pass through a gap in the Dromfinnen hills and cross the River Bride near the present stone bridge. Traffic from the south would pass down the Glenaboy River valley much like the Midleton road of today. The River Bride was navigable to Tallow Bridge opening the region to imports of French wine and exports of grain. The fine tillage field around Tallow today are but the successors to a long tradition of grain production in the area and the Anglo-Normans loved tillage production. Their measurement of land was by the carucate, otherwise called the ploughland, which was an area that a plough team could plough in the year. The carucate is usually said to be about 120 statue acres but as soils varied one plough team to plough twice that amount in a year which a team working in poor stony soil would plough far less. 

Yet the efficient running of a market could be disrupted by false money and incorrect weights and measures both of which were big issues facing Tallow and other market towns around 1300.

False money in Tallow 

On 21^st June 1299 the king sent a letter to the justiciar of Ireland to remove bad money, variously called pollarz and crokarz as found in the market towns of Ireland. the sheriff of Cork sent a copy of this letter to all the market towns within his jurisdiction. This included the market town of Tallow as the town and all the land to south of the River Bride and west of the River Blackwater, the area known as Ofhearghusa, was then part of the medieval County of Cork and remained so until the mid-sixteenth century. Two residents of the town, Roger Omolton and Thomas Crispyn of Tolaghrath (Tallow) were directed to watch out for this bad money and to remove from circulation.[1]

Yet removing money from circulation, even if it was false money, could disrupt trade. The merchants of Bristol particularly objected to the June letter. Therefore on 18^th August 1299 the king issued a new letter to the justiciar saying that it was the king’s intention all along to allow the pollarz and crokarz coins to remain in circulation until new coins could be minted and that the merchants of Bristol in particular could use the false money in Ireland – seems government U-turns are nothing new.[2]  

After changing government policy people were allowed to exchange two pence worth of pollarz and crokarz for one penny sterling. For a time this seemed to control the situation but instead it only encourage people to mint more false money and exchange it for good money. Therefore in March 1300 the government changed policy again and totally banned pollarz and crokarz from circulation from the 9^th April 1300. But this second U-turn only activated another powerful pressure group to change government policy again. The merchant bank of Friscobaldi of Florence objected and on 12^th April 1300 the Friscobaldi was allowed to exchange and purchase pollarz and crokarz. The Friscobaldi had loaned King Edward and the English government large sums of money to conduct war in Scotland and money just to run the country. On 14^th April 1300 the Friscobaldi were given custody of the Dublin exchange.[3]

The wide triangle area of the medieval market place at Tallow

Complaints of false weights and measure by the townsfolk of Tallow

Just as false money is a problem for the efficient running of a market town so also is the issue of false weights. In 1244 King Henry III directed that all measures used in Ireland should be one and the same and based upon the measures used in Dublin.[4] But by 1294 there was still great variety in the weights and measures used across the country. In October 1294 Alexander of London was sent over to make uniform all the weights used to measure bread, wine, and beer and that all weights like bushels, gallons and ells should be the same.[5]

At first sight this problem would seem to be one where merchants would use variable weights, or even false weights, to have one over their customers but it seems government officials were not beyond such practice. In April 1300 the Communities of the towns of the Youghal, Fethard, Tylaghrath (Tallow), Clonmele, Waterford, Cairyk, Athmethan, Typerary, Casshele, Limerick, the Naas, and many other towns appeared by their attorneys against Edmund Biroun, late keeper of Measures and Weights of the King in Ireland.

It seems that when Edmund Biroun went to their towns to do his office, and the townsfolk gave him many gifts not to charge them unjustly; yet Edmund falsely changed or diminished the legal measures. Thus after changing the legal measure many merchants were prosecuted for using ‘false’ measures with many convictions. It was even reported that many merchants were put to death in the previous three to four years for using these so-called ‘false’ measures.[6]

Few records exist about the life of Edmund Biroun (also spelt Bryon). In 1290 Edmund Biroun was owed 18 marks 6s 8d by Thomas Squire of London and in 1294 he was owed £26 by Thomas Squire of London. Also in 1294 Edmund Biroun, along with his wife Margery, was owed 20 marks by John de Hammes of Surrey.[7] These were substantial debts where a manual labourer may earn just £2 4s per year.[8] No other records seem to have survived and none of the usual Irish government records of King Edward 1 make any mention of when Edmund Biroun was working in Ireland or of the 1300 complaint by the various markets towns.

All that we do known is that when the time for the court case came Edmund Biroun didn’t turn up to defend his position, and instead he fled country. Biroun got as far as Wales before he was arrested. At the same time the Justiciar (John Wogan – possibly one of the best medieval administrators in Ireland) was returning from the King, and brought Edmund Biroun back to Ireland.

Edmund Biroun was delivered to the constable and the janitor of the castle of Dublin (Henry le Waleys and Thomas Big), to keep in prison. Henry de Waleys was constable of Dublin castle up until 19^th February 1299 when there is a gap in the records until 31^st August 1301 when Simon de Ludgate was constable.[9]

But the master of false weights and measures was too much for the Dublin officials and Edmund Biroun escaped from the prison at Dublin castle. An order went out to all the county Sheriffs to demand that Edmund Biroun should appear in their county courts until he be outlawed or captured.[10] What became of Edmund Biroun after his second escape is unknown.

For more on weights and measures in medieval Ireland see http://celtic2realms-medievalnews.blogspot.ie/2014/05/irish-parliament-of-1269.html

Tallow man makes a pledge for debt payments

In June 1300, at the Cork assize court, John son of Thomas, son of Philip, gave 2 marks for a licence to agree with Johanna daughter of Gilbert. By this licence John acknowledged that he owed her for the debt of his father, Thomas, of 15 marks 3d by pledge of Robert le Lung of Tylaghrath (Tallow), Philip, son of Gilbert of Olethan (Kinnatalloon), and Thomas son of Gilbert of the Newton (Ballynoe).[11] We don’t learn anything further to this debt by as the three people who pledged to support the repayment of the debt all came within a few miles of each other if it presumed that all the parties to the court case were local people

Dene property in County Waterford and at Tallow

In June 1302 the king directed a writ to John Wogan, justiciar of Ireland, to inquire if the lands of Reginald de Dene, deceased, were in the king’s hand. John Wogan found that Reginald held a fourth part of the town of Stradbally of the King in capite, without rent and service, but doing suit at the County Court of Waterford. The property was worth 108 shillings per year and was now in the King's hand.

Elsewhere in County Waterford, Reginald de Dene held 2½ carucates of land and pasture at Dronthan from Hamo Vasconis at a yearly rent of 5 marks. This property was worth 31s besides the rent.[12] Reginald de Dene also held one carucate and 80 acres of land at Ardsillauth in County Waterford, from Maurice Russell. For this land Reginald paid Maurice Russell 40s per year for the life of said Maurice. The property was worth 26s 8d beyond the rent payment.

In 1302 Reginald de Dene held half the town of Tylauchrath (Tallow), Co. Cork along with five towns (villata) of land at Balygomiill. This property was held from the heir of Thomas de Clare, by the service of 20s and was worth £24 10s Id.[13]

Reginald de Dene held other property in the liberties of Wexford, Kilkenny and Carlow and the total value of which was £137 6s 11d. Of this amount £30 2s 1d was held as dower land by Reginald’s grandmother, Roesia de Longespee, widow of William de Dene. Out of the property worth £107 4s 10d Isabella, widow of Reginald, was to received her dower lands (usually one third of her husband’s property) while the remainder was kept in the king’s hand due to the heir of Reginald, his son Thomas de Dene, being only ten years old at the time.[14]

Reginald de Dene was a descendent of Thomas Fitz Anthony in the female line. In 1215 Thomas Fitz Anthony was granted custody of the Counties of Waterford and Cork. For more on Thomas Fitz Anthony see = http://celtic2realms-medievalnews.blogspot.ie/2013/09/thomas-fitz-anthony-thirteenth-century.html

While in his possession, Thomas Fitz Anthony granted land in both counties to his five daughters. One of these daughters was Helen, wife of Gerald de Rupe (Roche) and Helen’s daughter Emma, married William de Dene before 1261. William de Dene subsequently married Roesia de Longespee who was alive in 1302. William de Dene was succeeded in quick time by his three sons, William, Walter and Thomas. Thomas de Dene had succeeded by 1273 but was dead by 1275 and was succeeded by his three year old son, Reginald de Dene. Custody of the young heir was given to Stephen de Fulborne, the powerful Bishop of Waterford and Reginald married the Bishop’s niece, Isabella. Reginald de Dene died in 1302 leaving heirs who concentrated their activities in County Wexford and around Thomastown in Co. Kilkenny.[15]  

For more on the children of Tomas Fitz Anthony see = http://celtic2realms-medievalnews.blogspot.ie/2015/05/the-children-of-thomas-fitz-anthony.html

De Exeter property at Tallow

The Exeter property in Tallow, mentioned in the 1302 Justice Rolls, was originally held by John Devereux from the Fitzgeralds of Kildare (later Earls of Kildare) and later from Thomas de Clare. Gerald Fitz Maurice, 1^st Baron Offaly and son of the Norman invader Maurice Fitz Gerald, obtained the land of Ofhearghusa which includes the area of the four medieval parishes of Tallow, Kilwatermoy, Kilcockan and Templemichael (also called Rincrew). Gerald was succeeded by his son, Maurice (2^nd Baron) who left three sons, Gerald (father and grandfather of the 3^rd and 4^th Barons), Thomas (father of the 5^th Baron who in 1316 was made 1^st Earl of Kildare) and Maurice, landlord of Ofhearghusa.

Maurice Fitz Maurice married firstly to Matilda, widow of Maurice de Rochford and daughter of Gerald de Prendergast. Their daughter, Amabil died without issue and gave her Connacht lands to John Fitz Thomas, 1^st Earl of Kildare. Maurice Fitz Maurice married secondly to Emeline de Longespee, daughter of Stephen de Longespee and heiress to her grandfather, Walter de Ridelisford. This second marriage also produced a daughter, Juliana, who married Thomas de Clare, landlord of Ofhearghusa.[16]

It would appear that John Devereux married a sister and co-heir of Emma (granddaughter of Thomas Fitz Anthony), wife of William de Dene. it is possible that Thomas Fitz Anthony granted the land around Tallow to John Devereux when Thomas Fitz Anthony had the custody of County Cork.

Sometime before 1288 his granddaughter, Ismania (daughter of Stephen Devereux), married Jordan de Exeter from Mayo, and brought the Tallow property to her new husband.[17] That property included land in Ofhearghusa and at Affane, near Cappoquin. For information about Affane and the Devereux/de Exeter connections see http://celtic2realms-medievalnews.blogspot.ie/2016/11/affane-athmethan-civil-parish-in.html

In 1288 Jordan de Exeter held half the fee of Ofhearghusa by a half knight’s fee and paying 20s to Thomas de Clare (Reginald de Dene held the other half) while doing suit at the manor court of Inchiquin.[18] Sometime before 1302 Jordan de Exeter and Ismania his wife had granted to their son Jordan de Exeter the manor of Kilcockan, Tallow and Rincrew. It seems that Jordan de Exeter junior was of age by 1293 when he and his father paid a fine in Connacht for having the peace.[19]

In May 1302 at the justiciar’s court at Dublin, a day was given to Jordan de Exeter and Ismania his wife whom Jordan de Exeter the younger called to warranty of tenements in their manor of Insula (Island), Tilaragli (Tallow), and Reyncro (Rincrew), at the suit of the King, of a plea Quo warranto, in the octave of St. John Baptist (24^th June).[20]

On 1^st July 1302, at the justiciar’s court in Dublin, before Maurice de Rupeforti, another day was given to Jordan de Exeter the younger in the case of the manor of Island (Kilcockan), Tylasjhrath (Tallow), and Reyncro (Rincrew), sometime within three weeks from the feast of St. Michael (29^th September). These court cases possibly reflect opposition to a son possessing an estate while his father was alive or a challenge to the de Exeter family by other descendants of Thomas Fitz Anthony as they did in 1262.[21]

By 1305 Ismania de Exeter was dead and Jordan de Exeter held Tallow by the law of England of the inheritance of his son, Jordan de Exeter. In 1310 they were both summoned to Parliament. Jordan de Exeter junior fought in the Scottish wars and was dead by 1317 leaving no children. Tallow was inherited by his cousin, Meiler de Exeter and continued in the de Exeter family until at least 1400 by which time the family name had become Dexcestre.[22]

Conclusion

The Justice Rolls of 1295 to 1303 not only recounts the law cases of the rich and famous but also gives mention to the ordinary people many of whom would never be known without this valuable medieval document. In the Justice Roll we met the two landlords of Tallow but also a number of local people like Roger Omolton and Thomas Crispyn of Tallow looking for false money and Robert le Lung of Tallow acting as guarantor for an unpaid debt. The three surnames, if repeated across the population, would give two Anglo-Norman families for one Gaelic family. The modern street pattern of Tallow also reflects that Anglo-Norman heritage with the four approached roads possessing a narrow point before widening out into the central triangle where the market was held. The history of Tallow falls silent after 1303 until the fifteenth century and so the Justice Rolls gives us a glimpse into that medieval town that we would not otherwise have.

Bibliography

Brooks, E. St. John, Knight’s fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny, 13^th-15^th Century (Dublin, 1950)

Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward 1, 1288-1296

Connolly, P. (ed.), Irish Exchequer Payments, 1270-1446 (Dublin, 1998)

Erskine, A.M. (ed.), The accounts of the fabric of Exeter Cathedral, 1279-1353, Part 1: 1279-1326 (Devon & Cornwall Record Society, vol. 24, 1981)

Mills, J. (ed.), Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls of Ireland, Edward 1, 1295-1303 (Stationery Office, Dublin, 1905)

Orpen, G.H., Ireland under the Normans, 1169-1333 (Dublin, 2005)

Sweetman, H.S. (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland (Liechtenstein, 1974), vol. 1 (1171-1251)

Sweetman, H.S. (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland (Liechtenstein, 1974), vol. III (1285-1292)

Sweetman, H.S. (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland (Liechtenstein, 1974), vol. IV (1293-1301)

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[1] Mills, J. (ed.), Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls of Ireland, Edward 1, 1295-1303 (Stationery Office, Dublin, 1905), p. 265

[2] Sweetman, H.S. (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland (Liechtenstein, 1974), vol. IV (1293-1301), no. 648

[3] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, vol. IV (1293-1301), nos. 731, 741

[4] Sweetman, H.S. (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland (Liechtenstein, 1974), vol. 1 (1171-1251), p. 2713

[5] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, vol. IV (1293-1301), no. 174

[6] Mills (ed.), Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls of Ireland, Edward 1, 1295-1303, p. 316

[7] Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward 1, 1288-1296, p. 383

[8] Erskine, A.M. (ed.), The accounts of the fabric of Exeter Cathedral, 1279-1353, Part 1: 1279-1326 (Devon & Cornwall Record Society, vol. 24, 1981), p. 104

[9] Connolly, P. (ed.), Irish Exchequer Payments, 1270-1446 (Dublin, 1998), pp. 149, 163

[10] Mills (ed.), Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls of Ireland, Edward 1, 1295-1303, p. 316

[11] Mills (ed.), Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls of Ireland, Edward 1, 1295-1303, p. 334

[12] Mills (ed.), Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls of Ireland, Edward 1, 1295-1303, p. 402

[13] Mills (ed.), Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls of Ireland, Edward 1, 1295-1303, p. 403

[14] Mills (ed.), Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls of Ireland, Edward 1, 1295-1303, p. 403

[15] Brooks, E. St. John, Knight’s fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny, 13^th-15^th Century (Dublin, 1950), pp. 48, 49, 50, 51

[16] Orpen, G.H., Ireland under the Normans, 1169-1333 (Dublin, 2005), pp. 498, 499

[17] Brooks, Knight’s fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny, 13^th-15^th Century, pp. 220, 223

[18] Sweetman, H.S. (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland (Liechtenstein, 1974), vol. III (1285-1292), no. 459

[19] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, vol. IV (1293-1301), p. 11

[20] Mills (ed.), Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls of Ireland, Edward 1, 1295-1303, p. 378

[21]Mills (ed.), Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls of Ireland, Edward 1, 1295-1303, p. 409; Brooks, Knight’s fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny, 13^th-15^th Century, p. 219

[22] Brooks, Knight’s fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny, 13^th-15^th Century, pp. 223, 226