Life of Lord Chancellor Cranley

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CHAPTER V. **

Life Of Lord Chancellor Cranley.

This distinguished Chancellor was of English birth, born in the year 1337, and rose high in fame and fortune in Ire- land. Like his immediate predecessor, Chancellor Northalis, he took the vows of the Carmelite Order. He was a diligent student and graduated as Doctor of Divinity in Oxford University, where he became a Fellow of Merton College, warden of New College, and Chancellor of the University of Oxford. [D’Alton’s Lives of the Archbishops of Dublin, p. 151.] We have, I regret to state, no further account of him prior to his consecration as Archbishop of Dublin, which took place on the death of Archbishop Northalis in 1397, but he did not enter into his diocese until October 1398, when he accompanied Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey, appointed Lord Deputy of the Kingdom. This nobleman was one of Richard II.’s favourites, whom he raised from the Earldom of Kent to the Dukedom of Surrey, he also enriched the Duke with part of the lands of the Earl of Warwick, and created him Marshal of England. Articles of agreement made to him by the King show an intention on the part of Richard II. to colonise the wasted border lands of Ireland with English settlers. It was covenanted that, during the Duke’s Viceroyalty, he should have out of every parish in England, at the cost of the King, a married couple to dwell on the wasted border lands of the settlement in Ireland. [ 2 Gilbert’s Viceroys of Ireland, p. 279.] As it does not appear the Viceroyalty of the Duke was of long duration (for he was beheaded by Henry IV.), and the kingdom was much disturbed by wars, it is not probable any attempt was made to carry this project into execution.

Dr. Cranley was first appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1401. [Pat. August 23, 1401.] He was one of the council assigned to Thomas of Lancaster, son of King Henry IV., appointed Lord Deputy for Ireland in the twelfth year of his age, and needed wise heads to direct him in the conduct of State affairs. The Chancellor had previously been employed abroad, he had letters of protection when leaving Ireland for the Continent on the King’s business, and in the following year he received a commission licensing him to treat with the Irish. This was requisite, otherwise anyone doing so without a commission would be guilty of violating the Statute of Kilkenny. Being in a bad state of health in 1402, Thomas de Everdon, keeper of the Rolls, was appointed his deputy during his absence. [November 9, 1402.]

Although the Statute of Kilkenny was intended to prevent any intercourse, social or commercial, between the English colonists and the native Irish, its provisions were soon found more hurtful to the former than to the latter. Accordingly we find constant applications to the English officials for permission to do acts, notwithstanding express prohibition contained in the Statute of Kilkenny. Thus, license to trade with, and make purchases from, the Irish, to send children to be reared and fostered among them, that Irish minstrels should be allowed to sojourn with them, that parleys might be held, &c., all these showed the inutility of that enactment.

At the death of Richard II., and the accession of Henry IV. to the throne, the English government rule in Ireland was narrowed to four counties, viz, - Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Louth, and the rest of the country was almost entirely under the rule of the Irish chiefs. In their districts the Brehon code decided all disputed questions, obedience to the judgments of the Brehons was strictly required and enforced, and the habits and mode of living of the Irish chiefs was observed even by the English who dwelt among them. The state of life amongst the aborigines of the country was much more civilised and refined than is generally supposed. Their close proximity to Scotland, their constant visits to the Continent, either to perform pilgrimages, so common in these days, or to visit foreign countries to exchange civilities with strangers, or for commercial pursuits, made them a part of the great European family. This relation was strengthened and quickened by their connection with Rome, the chief seat of the head of the Catholic Church, and Irish priests or students for the Church were constantly passing to and fro from France, Spain and Italy. We read in the ‘Annals of the Four Masters,’ pilgrimages to Rome were of quite as frequent occurrence in these days as an Italian tour now, and many chiefs of Irish Clans passed their last days in the Eternal city.

Meanwhile the state of the English settlement had not caused the Irish to prefer the rule of the stranger ‘to that of their own country. The rapacity and insolence of English officials tended more to repel any desire to come under their jurisdiction, than cause exertion to be placed under its control. Many of the judges, and law officers, were sent hither because they failed to obtain practice in England, or had bought their offices and farmed them to others, who only sought to make profit of them. Commissions of oyer and terminer were constantly held, and when rapacious men acted in the name of the King, they took advantage of the constant warfare to set up claims for the Crown. They made money by holding prisoners to ransom, baffled the pleas of rival claimants, appropriated the rents as for the use of the State, and spent them as they liked. Men of rank and station, ecclesiastic or lay, who had become obnoxious to the officers of the Crown, were often cast into prison until they were ransomed by large sums. The troops employed to protect were often more oppressive than those against whom their aid was sought. They required the house-holders on whom they were billeted to pay them weekly money, under the name of coygnes, and they took, without payment, provisions for themselves and their horses under the name of livery. [This word is still retained in places where horses are kept uuder the name of ‘livery’ stables; the difference being, in former times no money was paid for the keep of the horse, in later days no horse is kept without payment of money.]

With a view of remedying this state of affairs, King Henry IV., in 1401, appointed his second son, Thomas of Lancaster, High Steward of England, Viceroy of Ireland, to receive all the profits of the Crown arising out of Ireland for the nse of himself and his officials. The Prince landed at Blowyk (Bullock), near Dalkey, about ten miles from Dublin, on Sunday, November 1, 1402, and on his arrival in Dublin, his Commission was delivered into Chancery for enrolment.

A council consisting of Dr. Thomas Cranley, Archbishop of Dublin, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Laurence Merbury the King’s Treasurer, Edmond Noon, Antonie St. Quintyn, and Janico D’Artois, were assigned to assist the young Viceroy in the government of the kingdom. D’Artois had considerable experience in Irish affairs, having been in the Viceregal Court of the Duke of Surrey. He was a devoted follower of the ill-fated King Richard II., and was imprisoned at Chester by the adherents of the Duke of Lancaster for wearing the White Hart, Richard’s favourite badge. The state of the Irish Exchequer was at this period very low, and it would seem the credit of the State not very high. Lord Chancellor Cranley, in a memorial to King Henry IV. from the Council at Le Naas, wrote as follows:-

”With heavy hearts we testify anew to your Highness that our Lord, your son, is so destitute of money that he has not a penny in the world, nor can borrow a single penny, because all his jewels and his plate that he can spare of those which he must of necessity keep are pledged and be in pawn. Also his soldiers have departed from him, and the people of his household are on the point of leaving, and, however much they might wish to remain, it is not in our Lord’s power to keep together, with a view to his aid, twenty or a dozen persons with me, your humble suppliant (Archbishop of Dublin), and your humble liege Janico, who has paid for your use his very all, but we will render our entire duty to him so long as we shall live, as we are bound by our sovereign obligation to you. And the country is so weakened and impoverished by the long non-payment as well in the time of our Lord, your son, as in the time of the other Lieutenants before him, that the same land can no longer bear such charge, as they affirm, and on this account have they importuned me. In good faith, our most Sovereign Lord, it is marvellous that they have borne such a charge so long. Wherefore we entreat with all the humility and fulness that we may, that you will please to ordain speedy remedy of these said dangers and inconveniences, and to hold us excused also, if any peril or disaster (which may God avert), befall our Lord, your son, by the said causes. For the more full declaring of these matters to your Highness, three or two of us should have come to your high presence; but such is the great danger on this side that not one of us dare depart from the person of our Lord.’

This shows a very sad state of affairs in Ireland, and I do not find the King took any active steps to remedy the evils. No doubt the hard living and constant worry to which he was exposed did not agree with Dr. Cranley, for we find the Most Reverend Archbishop and Lord Chancellor took ill in 1403, and was thereby disabled from discharging his judicial functions. It was therefore necessary to appoint a deputy, and the Master of the Rolls, Sir Laurence Merbury, was selected to act in that capacity. He had the seals until he was succeeded by Patrick Barrett, Bishop of Ferns, who had the custody of the Great Seal in 1410, and held it for two years, having been appointed Lord Chancellor.

The office was next filled by Thomas Le Boteller, Lord Keeper, 1412. He was descended from the great House of Ormond, the chief of which is hereditary Chief Butler of Ireland. The family of Le Boteller, anglicised Butler, is of Norman extraction, but settled in Ireland since the days of Henry II. The name appears originally Fitzwalter, and Theobald Fitzwalter was brother to Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, who, in the reign ofKing John, held the Great Seal of England as Lord Chancellor. While this Prelate held the rank of Chief Justiciary in the reign of Richard Coeur de Lion, the monks of Canterbury complained to the Pope, that contrary to the Canons of the Church, their Archbishop, as Justiciary, was a Judge in causes of blood, and being engaged in secular affairs, neglected his diocese. This caused a remonstrance from the Pope, who required the King to remove the Archbishop from all lay appointments, and for the future not to admit him, or any priest, into any secular office. [Lord Campbell’s Lives of the Lord Chancellors of England, vol. i. p. 118.]

As the Lord Chancellor was the ‘Keeper of the King’s Conscience,’ most likely the Archbishop regarded it as not wholly a secular office. The keeping of John’s must have been a sinecure, for he does not seem to have had any.

The members of this family soon showed such distinguishing qualities as lifted them to high places, and in every age and reign, from the days of Henry II. until now, we find the Butlers holding posts of dignity and emolument in Ireland. Our space compels a brief notice of those connected with the administration of the law.

Theobald, who first assumed the surname of De Boteller in 1221, was Lord Justice of Ireland in 1227. He had the able assistance of Ranulf de Glanville in forming regulations for the Irish Government, and though the English laws were limited in operation, were observed throughout the colony. Edmond, his descendant, was knighted in London in 1309. In 1312, he was named Lord Deputy, and administered the Irish Government as Lord Justice. He was created Earl of Carrick. In a Parliament held in 1310, were passed some excellent laws for the protection of the people and the peace of the country. The practice of members being paid originated in England about 1312, and soon was adopted in Ireland, where it continued for a long period.

[Lord Campbell’s Lives of the Lord Chancellors of England, vol. i. p. 181.]

James, the second Earl of Ormond, styled par excellence the Noble Earl, great-grandson of King Edward I., was Lord Justice of Ireland, 1359 -60, as was also his son. James, the third Earl, was father of Thomas the Lord Keeper. This nobleman purchased in 1391 the stately Castle of Kilkenny, commandingly situated on the river Nore, from the heirs of Hugh de le Spencer, Earl of Gloucester. This feudal pile was erected in the commencement of the thirteenth century, and has been occupied for centuries as the principal residence of the illustrious House of Ormond. [Among the attractions of the noble castle of the marquis of Ormord at Kilkenny, is a fine collection of historic portraits. They may be best described by the poet:-

All the past is bright before me by the magic of the painter,

From the stirring times of Henry to the gloomy Second James,

And the splendour of the present pales before it, and grows fainter,

As I see the men who ruled us, and the old historic names.

And the Tudors and Plantagenets are with me in their glory,

And the men whom Vandyke painted, when ill-fated Charles held sway,

The great men whose names live in our stirring ballad story,

Who are looking from the canvas on the people of to-day.

And there’s winsome Mary Stuart, and though fatal shade of sinning

Rests upon the fairest flow’ret that the ‘White Bose gave to earth,

I would keep my youth’s allegiance, and believe that one so winning

Was as pure as she was lovely, and as noble as her birth.]

John, the sixth Earl of Ormond, was so accomplished and well-bred, that King Edward IV. is reported to have said, if good-breeding and liberal qualities were lost in the world they might all be found in the Earl of Ormond.’

The history of Ireland bears constant evidence of the deeds of the Butlers, long the rivals of the Gealdines, but my space does not warrant referring further save to the individual pertinent to this work.

Thomas Le Boteller was appointed Keeper of the Great Seal of Ireland in 1412. At this time indeed the office was more political than judicial. He was more occupied by military than either political or judicial affairs. The Lord Deputy being obliged to go into the Counties of Dublin, Meath, Louth, and Kildare, and Carlow, for the good government and safety of those parts, to resist English rebels and Irish enemies, and Patrick, Bishop of Ferns, not being able to leave that diocese, without manifest hazard of the destruction of the inhabitants, it was agreed by instrument, dated at Kilkenny, May 4, 1412, that Robert Sutton, Keeper of the Rolls, be appointed Deputy Chancellor.

Thomas Le Boteller was called Baccach, which signifies a lame or crippled person, and was the illegitimate son of James, third Earl of Ormond, both which blemishes, I should think, would have prevented him receiving holy orders; yet he was Prior of the celebrated monastery of Kilmainham, originally possessed by the Knights Templars. This priory, on the suppression of the order of Templars, in 1312, was granted to the Knights of St. John, and as we have seen, furnished more than one Chancellor to our list of the holders of the Irish Great Seal. The Prior Le Boteller is described as a man of tried courage, and possessed considerable administrative abilities. He was Chief Governor of Ireland, Deputy to Thomas, Duke of Lancaster, and careful of the rights of the Church, for a Bill in Parliament containing these words:- ‘This Bill requireth, that letters patent, obtained by Abbots and Priors, for discharge of their benefices, from contributing to the salaries of the Proctors in Parliament, may be repealed, and that the same Abbots and Proctors shall be henceforth contributory.’ Having passed the Parliament, when brought to the Deputy for assent, the Prior Le Boteller then Deputy, answered:- ‘The Governor will be advised,’ consequently the Bill was thrown out. [Harris Collect.]

The Lives of the Chancellors of Ireland during the earlier reigns, indeed to Queen Elizabeth’s time, offer more matter for description of campaigns by the sword than the operatien of law. When Henry IV. passed away in the Jerusalem Chamber of the Palace at Westminster, and when Henry V. ascended the throne, his thoughts were directed more to military exploits than civil government. Le Boteller resigned the Great Seal of Ireland to Archbishop Cranley on the death of King Henry IV. in 1413, and desirous of sharing the campaign with the young King, passed into France at the head of 1,600 men. He died in Normandy on August 10, 1419. [Archdall, Mon. Hib. P.239.]

We accordingly find Archbishop Cranley again Chancellor. He had been compelled to resign it, as we have seen, from ill-health. In 1413 the time of the Lord Chancellor was again so occupied by State affairs that he was obliged to send a deputy to hold the Assizes in his absence, and John Bermingham, second Justice of the Chief Bench, was assigned for this duty.

At the close of the year the Archbishop was constituted Lord Justice of Ireland, and, according to the testimony of Leland, the antiquary, was a poet, for he wrote, says Leland, ‘a neat epistle to the King, in elegant verse, consisting of 106 lines, which I read with great pleasure, and was at the pains of treasuring up in my memory.’ This epistle was an answer to some complaints made against the Lord Justice by persons who felt aggrieved by his administration. [Gilbert’s Viceroys of Ireland, p. 303. I have not been able to find any copy of the poem.]

The condition of the settlement requiring an active warrior for the Government rather than a peace-loving Prelate, Sir John Talbot was appointed in 1413. Sir John Talbot proved an energetic Viceroy. He speedily brought O’More chieftain of Leix to subjection. He opened up the country. By his marriage with Maud Neville he became Lord Furnival. On the departure of Lord Furnival for England in 1415, that distinguished statesman and warrior had so high an opinion of the prudence and ability of the Chancellor-Archbishop, that he made him Deputy, being empowered to do so by his Commission. [Rot. Claus. In Canc. Hib.] The Chancellor diligently discharged the trust confided to him, which was a most critical one. The English settlement being then torn by dissensions within and encompassed by enemies without. The peace of England was supposed to be endangered by itinerant ecciesiastics from Ireland, which caused the Parliament of England to order ‘for quietness and peace within that kingdom, and for the increase and filling of the land of Ireland, that all Irishmen and Irish mendicant clerics, called “chamber-deacons,” should by a fixed day be voided from the realm, upon pain of losing their goods, and being imprisoned during the royal pleasure.’ From this penal clause was excepted graduates in schools, serjeants and apprentices of the law, professed religious persons, merchants of good name and their apprentices, dwelling at the time in England, and all holding office in Ireland, were ordered to proceed thither for defence of the land.’

At this period intercourse between the Irish cities was kept up by sea, or through defiles and passes, occupied by an envenomed and oppressed foe, with whom the legislation of the state forbade coalition or friendship. The acquired portion of inland country was erected into English palatinates, whose chieftains preferred independent dominion to the salutary restraints of the law. There were no circuits outside the pale for centuries after the introduction of the English law into Ireland, and the Chancellor’s jurisdiction was very limited. Superior Courts alone offered any encouragement or reward to barristers or solicitors, and of these there were but few, while within each precinct local jurisdictions determined civil causes, and martial law, guided by palatines or tanists, formed the criminal code. The spirit and process of English law was then confined to the Capital and a narrow portion of the pale. A staff of legal functionaries, judges, and law officers, had been regularly kept up, and courts constantly held which employed the few barristers, who expected after a practice more laborious than lucrative to attain judicial eminence. The surrounding palatines, or Irish chieftains, rendered the active duties of the Common Bench, or Common Pleas very trifling; the equitable jurisdiction of Chancery, which was well-defined in England, had, as I have stated, no extensive subject in Ireland to operate on, and such of the inhabitants as desired to prepare themselves by legal skill for professional eminence were obliged to resort to the English Inns of Court, where the law was cultivated in great perfection. [Morrin’s Calendar of Patent and Close Rolls, Chancery, Ireland, vol. ii. preface xxxii.] When vigorous steps were taken to cause the Irish in England to return home, Irish law students, who resorted to England for their studies, though expressly excepted by the Act, were denied admission to the Inns of Court.

The obstructions placed in the way of Irish law students called for the interference of the Irish legislature. ‘Your lieges show that they are governed and ruled by your laws used in the realm of England, to acquire a knowledge of which laws, and to be well informed therein, your lieges have sent able persons of English blood, born in your land, to the Inns of Court, where from the time of the conquests of your land, they have ever been received until lately. The Governors and Company of the Inns have refused, and would not receive these persons into the Inns as they had been accustomed to do. Therefore, may it please your gracious Lordship to consider this matter and ordain due remedy, that your laws may continue and not be forgotten in the land.’ [9° Henry V. Vide also Rot. Claus. Hib. 7° Henry VI.]

The Great Seal of Ireland appears to have been again entrusted to Sir Laurence Merbury, considerable complaints having arisen against Sir John Talbot, for misconduct during his Viceroyalty. At a Parliament held in 1417, Archbishop Cranley was deputed to proceed to England, with a memorial to the King on the state of Ireland. When the document had been transcribed, the Chancellor, Sir Laurence Merbury, who perhaps felt that he was subjected to censure in this document, refused to authenticate it by affixing the Great Seal. This made matters worse, and a formal complaint was made to the King, who was requested to oblige the Chancellor to account for his conduct. The Viceroy was accused of practising excessive extortions and oppression on both lay and ecclesiastical persons, whose property he unjustly seized - that he paid no respect to Irish lords, and afforded protection neither to saint nor sanctuary. In those days men in authority derived considerable profit from the ransom of prisoners, and Talbot made many captives with this object. Among them was Donough, son and successor of Art MacMurragh, King of Leinster, whom he sent to the Tower of London, with the royal license to take for his own profit the highest ransom he could obtain for his freedom.

But the end was drawing nigh. Toward the close of April 1417, the venerable Archbishop and Ex-Chancellor crossed the channel separating Ireland from England, and died at Farringdon, on May 25, at the ripe age of fourscore years, and not more full of years than honours. His remains rest in Oxford - in the New College, of which he was first warden. A monument was erected to his memory - a fair stone, adorned with brass plates, bearing the figure of a Bishop clothed in his vestments, over which the armorials of the See of Dublin are placed, with his own; beneath is a suitable inscription. Marleburgh describes Dr. Cranley as ‘liberal, fond of alms deeds, a profound clerk, and doctor of divinity, an excellent preacher, a great builder, and improver of all such places as fell under his care. He was fair, magnificent, of a sanguine complexion, and tall of stature, so that in his time, it might be said to him: “Thou art fair beyond the children of men; grace is diffused through thy lips because of thy eloquence.”’ Leland informs us of his high reputation for his wit and pen, and his capacity for business was fully proved by his incessant employments under the three successive monarchs. Had any reports of the decisions he made as Lord Chancellor reached me, I should have great pleasure in mentioning his qualities as a judge. The holders of the Great Seal of Ireland in succession to Archbishop Cranley were William Fitz Thomas, Prior of Kilmainham, and William Yonge, Archdeacon of Meath - each held office for but one year, so we pass on to the career of a member of a most illustrious family, whose memoir I give at considerable length.

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