The last three Bishops of Annaghdown, 1458-c.1553
Niall C.E.J. O’Brien
On 31st July 1327 a
papal bull was issued for the union of the Dioceses of Annaghdown, Kilmacduagh
and Achonry with the Archdiocese of Tuam, the union to become effective with
the then incumbents bishops died. The union was arranged for Malachy Mac Aodha,
Archbishop of Tuam (1312-1348) by the Florence legal firm of Sapiti. The
annexation of Annaghdown by Tuam was a long running project.[1]
For more see = http://celtic2realms-medievalnews.blogspot.ie/2014/05/annaghdown-diocese-and-battle-with.html
After 1327 the chapter at
Annaghdown and political manoeuvrings at Rome still elected and appointed
various Bishops of Annaghdown but most of these bishops never even made it to
visit their new diocese. In 1393 Bishop Joannes of Annaghdown petitioned the
king to have leave to recruit 200 archers in England for service in Ireland.
The bishop claimed that the malice and power of the king’s enemies made it
impossible for him to live in the diocese or even collect its revenues.[2]
But he failed in his efforts to wrestle control of Annaghdown from the
Archbishop of Tuam.
Bishop Johannes died before
October 1394 and thereafter the named Bishops of Annaghdown confined their
activities to England as suffragan bishops in various dioceses. Rome still
appointed these bishops not in any hope of making money out of Annaghdown but
as a symbol of papal power and diplomacy.[3]
For the most part Rome accepted the union of 1327 and the local religious power
of the Archbishop of Tuam. After 1504 Rome ceased to appoint any new Bishops of
Annaghdown until 1539 when John O’More claimed to be the Bishop by papal
appointment. The last three bishops of Annaghdown were Thomas Barrett, Francis
Brunandi and John O’More and an account of their lives is printed below.
Thomas Barrett, Bishop of Annaghdown
In April 1458 Pope Calixtus III
appointed Thomas Barrett, a priest, as the new Bishop of Annaghdown. His
provision was in succession to Raymund Bermingham who died (1451) as Bishop of
Annaghdown before he had gained possession of the Diocese. Raymund had been
appointed Bishop in 1450 by Pope Nicholas V. Letters were sent to the chapter of
Annaghdown, the people of the Diocese, the Archbishop of Tuam and King Henry VI
of England informing them of the new Bishop.[4]
The see of Annaghdown was vacant since the death of Bishop Raymund in 1451.
The background of Thomas Barrett
is unclear. He may have had connections with the Barrett family of Killala of
which Richard Barrett, Bishop of Killala (1513-44), was chief of his nation.[5] But
local connections in Killala were of little use against a determined Archbishop
of Tuam, Donatus O Muireadhaigh, who was for keeping Annaghdown as a part of
the Archdiocese of Tuam and not allowing it to become an independent diocese.
The government initially supported the cause of Thomas Barrett to secure his
see. King Henry VI ordered William Burke of Clanricard and Thomas de Bermingham
to cease their aid to the Archbishop and give obedience to Bishop Barrett. But
all the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t move Archbishop Donatus
and so Bishop Thomas Barrett retired to England to seek employment.[6] The
first notice of the activities of Thomas Barrett in England was in 1458 as a
suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Exeter.[7] The
then Bishop of Exeter was George Neville, brother of Richard Neville, 16th
Earl of Warwick, who is better known as Warwick the Kingmaker.[8]
In 1460 the government condemned
Archbishop Donatus of Tuam for his refusal ‘to come to the King’s Parliaments
and councils and to obey the laws of the land’.[9]
Bishop Barrett may have felt that another push by the government would gain him
the see of Annaghdown and voices of support in Annaghdown started to appear in
the papers. In May 1460 Thomas Barrett, was described as a priest of Killala
and only a person claiming to be Bishop of Annaghdown contrary to the authority
of the Archbishop of Tuam who claimed to be the rightful Bishop of Annaghdown.
It was said that Odo Otyemay gave obedience to Thomas Barrett as Bishop when
Odo was appointed vicar of St. Nicholas’s church in Galway. But this could have
been just Odo’s talk with no certainty that Thomas Barrett exercised any
authority.[10]
Before February 1465 Thomas
Barrett did excise some authority as Bishop of Annaghdown when he removed Bernard
Ohogayn from the deanery of Annaghdown and so made vacant the vicarage of
Rathuna which was united to the deanery for the life of Bernard. But Donatus,
Archbishop of Tuam, displayed the greater authority and showed that he was the
de facto Bishop of Annaghdown by appointing Rory Flaherty as the new vicar of
Rathuna before Bishop Barrett could act.[11]
In 1463 Bernard Ohogayn was accused of simony, not residing at Annaghdown and
accepting money in the administration of justice.[12]
Annaghdown church
In 1464-1471 Pope Paul II granted
a dispensation to Thomas Barrett as Bishop of Annaghdown to hold another
benefice with the Diocese.[13] In
the late 1460s Thomas Barrett, the exiled Bishop of Annaghdown, was vicar of
the church of St. Giles without Cripplegate in London.[14] In
1466-7, Thomas Barrett, Bishop of Annaghdown, held a canonry in York Minster
and the prebendary of Laughton.[15]
In 1467 Thomas Barrett, the
exiled Bishop of Annaghdown, was used by King Edward IV as an envoy.[16] It
was possibly around this time that he purchased four whole cloths from Thomas
Stywyne, goldsmith at Bristol. When Thomas Stywyne came with the bill, Bishop
Barrett told Stywyne of the larger debt that Stywyne owed the Bishop and
refused to pay. With a deadlock over who was to pay who, Bishop Thomas Barrett
petitioned the Bishop of Bath and Wells, then chancellor of England, to grant a
writ of corpus cum causa to the
sheriff of London and bring the case before Chancery. This petition was made
between June 1467 and September 1470 or March 1471 to June 1473 when the Bishop
of Bath and Wells was the chancellor. The petition itself had no date attached.[17]
In March 1470 Thomas Barrett,
Bishop of Annaghdown, was living in London – he seemed to have a life of
travelling from one place to another. While in London he was appointed one of
three papal judges to decide on a case of false marriage contracted between
William Hely of London and Joan Keneyk of the Diocese of Coventry and
Lichfield.[18]
In July 1476 Thomas Barret,
Bishop of Annaghdown, was living in London where he was appointed papal judge
in a marriage case between Alice Norway of the Diocese of Worcester and John
Walsh of same and John’s supposed marriage with Alice Glover of York Diocese.[19]
In February 1478 Thomas Barrett
was appointed a papal judge as Bishop of Annaghdown to decide if Maurice
Macaidagan should be made prior of St. Mary Mathail in the Diocese of Ardagh.[20]
In April 1478 Thomas Barrett, Bishop of Annaghdown, was living in the Diocese
of Chichester. While there Bishop Barrett was to decide on the proposal of Matilda
Farnecombe of Winchelsea, widow, to endow two benefices at the altar of St.
Mary in the church at Winchelsea and to have the right to present two priests
to Battle Abbey.[21]
By May 1478 Thomas Barrett was
granted dispensation to hold in commendam
with the Bishopric of Annaghdown the parish church of Charleton in the Diocese
of Exeter and any two other benefices. In May 1478 he was granted papal license
to hold the priory of Down, OSB, in commendam with Annaghdown which priory was
worth 80 marks.[22]
In the years 1482-85 Bishop
Thomas Barrett acted as a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Bath and Wells.[23] This
was in succession as suffragan to another Irish bishop, John, Bishop of Ross.[24] On
13th August 1482 Thomas Barrett was instituted to the churches of
Banwell and Brean in the Diocese of Bath and Wells on the resignation of Sir
David Frampton (vicar of Banwell since 1466 and vicar at Brean since 1478). The
church at Banwell was in the presentation of Bruton priory while the church of
Brean was then in the presentation of Sir Edward Grey, Viscount Lisle, in right
of his wife, Elizabeth who was the sister and heiress of Thomas Talbot,
Viscount Lisle.[25]
On 20th June 1498 Sir John Bennett, chaplain, was instituted to
Brean church after the death of Thomas Barrett, late Bishop of Annaghdown.[26]
The church at Brean had an older Irish connection as it is dedicated to St.
Bridget of Kildare.[27]
In September 1484 Thomas Barrett,
Bishop of Annaghdown, was sent to Ireland by King Richard III to treat with the
king’s enemies in the south-west and west while also endeavouring to make peace
in Ulster. Richard III was particularly interested in recovering effective
control of the Earldom of Ulster and suggested to the Earl of Kildare that cooperation
could be had from the O’Neill and O’Donnell chieftains. Thomas Barrett was
given letters of instruction on this and other matters for the Earl of Kildare
who became deputy for the new Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Lincoln. The bishop
also had letters for other royal officials.[28]
Out in the country Bishop Barrett
had letters for various Anglo-Irish lords in Leinster, Munster and Connacht. The
communication with the gentry of Connacht was the first between the Lord of
Ireland and Connacht for many years. In Leinster Bishop Barrett was to make
personal contact with the lesser magnates of the Pale which included Lords
Gormanston, Delvin and Portlester along with Sir Oliver and Sir Alexander
Plunkett.[29]
The most important of these lords
in Munster was the Earl of Desmond. Bishop Barrett was to make apology for the
cruel death of the Earl’s father at Drogheda in 1468 and say that others in
England suffered such cruelty including members of the king’s family. The
bishop was given power by Richard III to accept the oath of allegiance from
Desmond while at the same time informing Desmond not to marry without the
king’s licence as the king had a bride in mind. The Earl of Desmond was to wear
English clothes, a sample of which was in the baggage train of Bishop Barrett.
Finally the Earl was to defend the church and keep the peace.[30]
The result of the mission of
Bishop Thomas Barrett varied. It was a long time since the English government
ventured to extend its power beyond the four obedient counties. The recovery of
lost royal revenue in the lands of Munster, Connacht and Ulster must have given
some motive to Richard III for the mission. As a consequence of Bishop
Barrett’s mission a roll of the Irish revenues appeared in England about Easter
1485. Thousands of pounds of royal revenue was lost over the previous
generations leaving only about £750 which was needed for the day-to-day
expenses of the Dublin administration.[31]
Yet if the king found Ireland to
be a good base of Yorkist supports such supports were not in abundance in
England. The death of King Richard III at Bosworth in August 1485 ended the
efforts to recover most of Ireland just as it ended the hopes of Bishop Barrett
to recover his diocese of Annaghdown.
Meanwhile Rome continued to give
mixed signals as to the status of Annaghdown. In November 1484 Pope Innocent
VIII recognised Donatus, Archbishop of Tuam, to also be the Bishop of
Annaghdown. In June 1487 Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal mandate for three
papal judges to summon the Bishop and chapter of Annaghdown concerning the
vicarage of de Rasima and its erection into a simple prebend.[32]
It is not clear if he had the Archbishop of Tuam in mind as the Bishop or
Thomas Barrett.
Back in England Thomas Barrett,
Bishop of Annaghdown, resigned the vicarage of Banwell in the Diocese of Bath
and Wells. On 14th April 1489 Master Thomas Wodyngton, doctor of
decrees, was instituted to the vicarage on the presentation of Bruton priory.[33]
On 17th December 1492
John Aller, chaplain, was appointed rector of East Allington church, Devon, in
the Diocese of Exeter. The parish was vacant by the death of Thomas Barrett. It
is not clear if this was Thomas Barrett, the late Bishop of Annaghdown or
another person.[34]
Yet given that Thomas Barrett was at one time a suffragan bishop in the Diocese
of Exeter it is a good possibility that he was the Bishop of Annaghdown.
By April 1492 Rome acknowledged
that the cathedral churches of Tuam and Annaghdown were perpetually untied
under William, Archbishop of Tuam. In June 1492 Rome further acknowledged that
the Archbishop of Tuam also held the position of Bishop of Annaghdown. The
Archbishop was so referred to in a petition of the collegiate church of St.
Nicholas in Galway for two vacant vicarages to add to its revenue which petition
was granted.[35]
Francis Brunandi
In 1495/6 Pope Alexander VI
appointed Francis Brunandi to be the new Bishop of Annaghdown and gave him
absolution to succeed to the episcopate.[36] Francis
Brunandi was among a number of Italian clerics who were appointed to other
dioceses in England and Ireland in the late fifteenth century. These Italians
included Octavian del Palacio as Archbishop of Armagh (1479-1512), Giovanni de
Rogeriis as Bishop of Raphoe (1479-1483), Tiberio Ugolino as Bishop of Down and
Connor (1489-1519) and Hadrian de Castello as Bishop of Bath and Wells
(1503-1518) along with three Italians as successive Bishops of Worcester,
namely; Giovanni de' Gigli, Silvestro de' Gigli and Geronimo De Ghinucci.[37]
It is perhaps appropriate that
the papal letter of appointment of Francis Brunandi to Annaghdown now lies
among the lost letters of the Vatican archive as Francis Brunandi was on a lost
cause from the start to gain possession of Annaghdown. In a petition to the
Pope by Rory Ocananon, dean of Annaghdown, in January 1497 he said that the
church of Annaghdown was joined to that of Tuam for over one hundred years. In
that time the cathedral church of Annaghdown had fallen into ruins and divine
service was no longer celebrated there.[38]
The former Bishop of Annaghdown, Thomas Barrett was dead by June 1498 according
to the register of the Bishop of Bath and Wells.[39]
In July 1499 Francis Brunandi,
Papal Bishop of Annaghdown, was living in Geneva where he held out little hope
of seeing his Irish diocese. Other Italians had successfully made the journey
to England and Ireland to take possession of their new dioceses but Francis
seems to have gone as far as Geneva and no further. In July 1499 he was
appointed one f three papal judges to settle a litigation dispute relating to
the church of St. Peter, near Annecy in the Diocese of Geneva.[40]
In February 1499 and in May 1502
the bishop and chapter of Annaghdown cathedral were summoned to appear before
papal judges concerning the erection of a canonry and prebend against church
rules.[41]
In both cases the Bishop of Annaghdown would de facto be Francis Brunandi but
instead was the Archbishop of Tuam.
By March 1503 Francis Brunandi
had all but given up the struggle to gain possession of the Diocese of
Annaghdown. On 4th March 1503 he received dispensation to hold in
commendam for life with the Bishopric of Annaghdown any two benefices. He could
have these benefices with or without cure of souls, as a secular or regular
priest of the Cluniac or Cistercian orders or any benefice or position attached
to a metropolitan or collegiate church. Francis Brunandi could have this wide
dispensation despite the constitutions of the Order of St. Mary of Mount Carmel
of which he was a professor. Pope Alexander VI died before the letter of
dispensation could be fully endorsed and so on 26th November 1503
Pope Julius II agreed the dispensation.[42]
John O’More
Bishop Francis Brunandi died
sometime after 1504 and there were no further appointments as Bishop of
Annaghdown.[43]
In 1539 a person called John O’More or O’Moore claimed to be the new Bishop of
Annaghdown although there is no surviving record of any papal provision. Yet
the English government sent John O’More to jail for accepting an appointment from
the pope. In the changing political and religious climate of the 1530s and
1540s John O’More was released in 1540 and was recognised by the Crown as the
Bishop of Annaghdown. John O’More died about 1553, and was the last recognised
Bishop of Annaghdown. In 1555 Annaghdown was again united to the Archdiocese of
Tuam although the union was not finally accepted until 1580.[44]
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[1]
John Watt, The Church in Medieval Ireland
(Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 1972), pp. 143, 146
[2]
A.J. Otway-Ruthven, A history of medieval
Ireland (Ernest Benn, London, 1980), p. 325
[3]
Colm Lennon, Sixteenth Century Ireland
(Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 2005), p. 126
[4]
J.A. Twemlow (ed.), Calendar of Papal
Letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XI, 1455-1464
(Stationery Office, London, 1921), p. 341
[5]
Colm Lennon, Sixteenth Century Ireland
(Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 2005), p. 127; K.W. Nicholls, Gaelic and
Gaelicized Ireland in the Middle Ages (Lilliput Press, Dublin, 2005), p. 116
[6]
Art Cosgrove, ‘Ireland beyond the Pale, 1399-1460’, in A New History of Ireland, Vol. II, Medieval Ireland 1169-1534,
edited by Art Cosgrove (Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 586, 587
[9]
Art Cosgrove, ‘Ireland beyond the Pale, 1399-1460’, in A New History of Ireland, Vol. II, Medieval Ireland 1169-1534,
edited by Art Cosgrove (Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 586
[10]
J.A. Twemlow (ed.), Calendar of Papal
Letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XII, 1458-1471
(Stationery Office, London, 1933), p. 96
[11]
J.A. Twemlow (ed.), Calendar of Papal
Letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XII, 1458-1471
(Stationery Office, London, 1933), p. 474
[12]
J.A. Twemlow (ed.), Calendar of Papal
Letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XI, 1455-1464
(Stationery Office, London, 1921), pp. 476, 477
[13]
J.A. Twemlow (ed.), Calendar of Papal
Letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XII, 1458-1471
(Stationery Office, London, 1933), p. xxxiii
[14]
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. 135
[16]
A.J. Otway-Ruthven, A history of medieval
Ireland (Ernest Benn, London, 1980), p. 401
[17]
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. 135
[18]
J.A. Twemlow (ed.), Calendar of Papal
Letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XII, 1458-1471
(Stationery Office, London, 1933), p. 802
[19]
J.A. Twemlow (ed.), Calendar of Papal
Letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XIII, 1471-1484
(Stationery Office, London, 1955), pp. 512, 515
[20]
J.A. Twemlow (ed.), Calendar of Papal
Letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XIII, 1471-1484
(Stationery Office, London, 1955), p. 607
[21]
J.A. Twemlow (ed.), Calendar of Papal
Letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XIII, 1471-1484
(Stationery Office, London, 1955), p. 615
[22]
J.A. Twemlow (ed.), Calendar of Papal
Letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XIII, 1471-1484
(Stationery Office, London, 1955), p. 605
[24] Sir
Henry Maxwell-Lyte (ed.), The Registers
of Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1466-1491 and Richard Fox, Bishop
of Bath and Wells, 1492-1494 (Somerset Record Society, Vol. LII, 1937), p.
xvii
[25]
Sir Henry Maxwell-Lyte (ed.), The
Registers of Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1466-1491 and
Richard Fox, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1492-1494 (Somerset Record Society,
Vol. LII, 1937), nos. 6, 407, 677, 678
[26]
Sir Henry Maxwell-Lyte (ed.), The
Registers of Oliver King, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1496-1503 and Hadrian de
Castello, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1503-1518 (Somerset Record Society,
Vol. LIV, 1939), no. 96
[28]
A.J. Otway-Ruthven, A history of medieval
Ireland (Ernest Benn, London, 1980), p. 401
[29]
D.B. Quinn, ‘Aristocratic autonomy, 1460-94’, in A New History of Ireland, Vol. II, Medieval Ireland 1169-1534,
edited by Art Cosgrove (Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 610
[30]
A.J. Otway-Ruthven, A history of medieval
Ireland (Ernest Benn, London, 1980), p. 402
[31]
D.B. Quinn, ‘Aristocratic autonomy, 1460-94’, in A New History of Ireland, Vol. II, Medieval Ireland 1169-1534,
edited by Art Cosgrove (Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 611
[32]
J.A. Twemlow (ed.), Calendar of Papal
Letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XIV, 1484-1492
(Stationery Office, London, 1960), pp. 63, 187
[33]
Sir Henry Maxwell-Lyte (ed.), The
Registers of Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1466-1491 and
Richard Fox, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1492-1494 (Somerset Record Society,
Vol. LII, 1937), no. 939
[34]
Christopher Harper-Hill (ed.), The
Register of John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1486-1500, Vol. II (Canterbury
and York Society, 1991), no. 316
[35]
Michael J. Hearn (ed.), Calendar of Papal
Letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XV, 1484-1492
(Stationery Office, Dublin, 1978), Nos. 828, 915
[36]
Anne P. Fuller (ed.), Calendar of Papal
Letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XVII, Part 1, 1495-1503
(Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin, 1994), Nos. 1303, 1304
[37]
Rev. Aubrey Gwynn, The medieval province
of Armagh (Dundalgan Press, Dundalk, 1946), pp. 21, 198; Sir Henry
Maxwell-Lyte (ed.), The Registers of
Oliver King, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1496-1503 and Hadrian de Castello,
Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1503-1518 (Somerset Record Society, Vol. LIV,
1939), p. xvi; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvestro_de'_Gigli
accessed 23 November 2016
[38]
Anne P. Fuller (ed.), Calendar of Papal
Letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XVI, 1492-1503
(Stationery Office, Dublin, 1986), Nos. 696
[39]
Sir Henry Maxwell-Lyte (ed.), The
Registers of Oliver King, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1496-1503 and Hadrian de
Castello, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1503-1518 (Somerset Record Society,
Vol. LIV, 1939), no. 96
[40]
Anne P. Fuller (ed.), Calendar of Papal
Letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XVII, Part 1, 1495-1503
(Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin, 1994), No. 199
[41]
Anne P. Fuller (ed.), Calendar of Papal
Letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XVII, Part 1, 1495-1503
(Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin, 1994), Nos. 163, 646
[42]
Michael J. Hearn (ed.), Calendar of Papal
Letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. XVIII, 1503-1513
(Stationery Office, Dublin, 1989), No. 412
[44] http://www.patrickcomerford.com/2013/05/an-evening-in-cathedral-with-more.html
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