Chancellors during the Wars of the Roses - Continued

CHAPTER IX. **

The Lord Chancellors Of Ireland During The Wars Of The Roses - Continued. **

The state of Ireland during the Wars of the Roses was little adapted to allow Courts of Justice to hear causes. The short and stern appeal to the sword was the rule, and any other mode of arbitration the exception. The attainder of the Earls of Kildare and Desmond, with the execution of the latter, caused infinite mischief, and made the Government of the English colony impossible, unless the powerful nobles of the House of Kildare could be induced to forgive the injuries committed against them. This house was then represented by Thomas the seventh Earl of Kildare, who, having filled the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland, fairly claims to be noticed by me at some length, although I have no judicial account to render respecting him. John, sixth Earl of Kildare, strengthened and improved Maynooth Castle, which for more than a century had been the principal residence of the Leinster branch of the powerful Geraldines. It was regarded as one of the largest and richest Earl’s houses in Ireland. This nobleman had married Margaret de la Herne, by whom be had an only son, Thomas, who on the death of Earl John, in 1427, became seventh Earl of Kildare. When Richard Duke of York became Viceroy of Ireland, in 1449, he gained the affections of the Irish by his mild and paternal government, and enlisted the support of the Geraldines to the standard of the White Rose. In 1454, the Duke appointed the Earl of Kildare his Deputy, and again in 1456. While in this responsible office he held several Parliaments at Dublin and Naas. We have seen in my memoir of Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Rutland, the enmity which disturbed the kingdom at this eventful period. In 1459, an engagement took place between the Anglo-Norman forces, under the command of the Earl of Kildare, and the Irish troops of O’Connor Faly, in which the latter suffered a great defeat. [Annals of Four Masters.] And indeed the war of the rival Roses was as fiercely maintained in Ireland as in the more immediate scene of strife.

The policy of ruling without favouring either of the rival houses of Boteller, or Butler, and Geraldine, or Fitz Gerald was strictly observed by the Duke of York. He did his best, while he was Viceroy, so to deport himself, as to win the general love of all subjects. We have already mentioned that when his son, George Duke of Clarence, was born, in the Castle of Dublin, the Duke seized the opportunity of connecting by the tie of gossipred the Earls of Kildare and Ormond, who stood godfathers to the infant Prince. [Earls of Kildare by the Marquis of Kildare, Addenda 8.]

The necessity of providing a substitute in the place of the Duke of York was removed by the council electing the Earl of Kildare Lord Justice. This election was confirmed by Edward IV., 141, when the reappointed Lord Justice took the oaths in great state in Christ Church, Dublin, before the assembled Parliament and Privy Council. The office of Lord Chancellor is confirmed by the King usually during pleasure, but has been occasionally confined to a stated period. The custody of the Great Seal of Ireland was given to the Earl by Parliament in January 1463. He was named Chancellor for life, with a salary of 40l. per annum, and ten shillings per diem. This appointment was confirmed by Statute XII. Edward IV.

The beautiful Franciscan Abbey at Adare, county Limerick, was founded by this munificent Lord Chancellor and his wife, Lady Joan Fitz Gerald, in 1464. They built the church and gave it two chalices of silver, and the great bell, which cost 10l. The chapel of the abbey is now the parish church of Adare. Close beside is Adare Manor, the splendid mansion of one of Irelands most gifted and deservedly esteemed noblemen, the Earl of Dunraven.

The Earl of Kildare, as already noticed, was included with his brother-in-law, the Earl of Desmond, in the impeachment which ended in the death of the latter, during the Viceroyalty of the Earl of Worcester. Such was the unscrupulous conduct of the party then in power, that most likely the same tragical fate was intended for both beads of the Geraldines. The Earl of Kildare was imprisoned, and he was by no means disposed to abide the result of a trial which ended. so fatally for his noble kinsman. To the mortification of his enemies, he escaped from prison and managed to get to England, where he had an interview with the King, when the result was most favourable. His assistance was essential to the English interest, and he was again taken into the royal favour; the Act of Attainder passed against him in a Parliament held in Drogheda, 1476, ‘for alliance, fosterage and alterage with the King’s Irish enemies’ was repealed by the same Parliament, and he was in the same year appointed Lord Justice. The description of Ireland by Hollinshed contains the following anecdote of this nobleman:- [Chronicles, p. 17.]

‘Within a mile of Castledermot is there a place marked with two hillocks, which is named the Geraldine, his throw or cast, the length of which in verie deed is wonderful. The occasion proceeded of this. One of the Geraldine’s preded an enemy of his. The Earl of Kildare, having intelligence thereof, suppressing affection of kindred, and moved by zeal of justice,, pursued him with a great troope of horsemen, as the other was bringing of the prede homeward. The Geraldine having notice given him that the Earl was in hotte pursuite, being nettled that his kinsman would seeme to rescue the prede of his deadlie foe, for as he was in such frittingwise, frieing in his grease, he brake out in these cholerick words, “and doth my cousin Kildare pursue me indeed? Now, in good faith, whereas he seemeth to be a suppressor of his kindred, and an upholder of my mortal enemie, I would wish him no more harm than that this dart were as far in his bodie as it shall stick forthwith in the ground.” And therewithat giving the spurs to his horse, he hurled his dart so farre as he abashed, with the length thereof, as well his companie as his posteritie. The Geraldine was not farre from thense when the Earl, with his band, made hot foot after, and dogging still the track of the predours, he came to the place where the, dart was hurled, when one pickthank or other led the Earl to understand of the Geraldine, his wild speeches there delivered. And to enhanse the offense, be showed him how farre he hurled his dart, when he wished it to be pitched in his lordship’s bodie. The Earl, astonished thereof, said, “Now, in good sooth, my cousine in behaving so courageously is worthy to have the prede set free. And, for my part, I purpose not so much to stomach his cholerick wish as to embrace his valiant prowess,” and therewith commanded the retreat to be blown and recalled back.’

The ‘Annals of the Four Masters’ relate that, in 1471, this Earl, with the people of Meath, made an incursion into Farney, county of Monaghan, and committed great depredations on the MacMahons.

In the, year 1471, the Earl of Kildare again was appointed Lord Deputy, having been Lord Justice since 1467. He held a Parliament at Drogheda and in Naas in 1472. In this latter a measure was passed, which shows the anxiety to improve the practice of the Anglo-Irish in archery. This Act compelled merchants to import from England bows and arrows to the value of 20s. for every 20l. of other goods.

In 1473, he was confirmed in the office of Lord Chancellor for life by Act of Parliament. The usual tenure of the office was during pleasure, and this is the tenure at present; but the pleasure is not that merely of the Sovereign, as the words might imply, but depends on the Ministry, of which the Lord Chancellor is a Member, retaining office.

In 1475, the Earl was dismissed from his office of Lord Deputy, and William Sherwood, Bishop of Meath, who was his most virulent enemy, was appointed in his place. This caused great joy to the Ormond faction, and soon the feud between the Geraldines and Butlers broke out afresh.

In the hope of settling the differences and dissensions which then prevailed, Edward IV. issued a Commission to Edward Connisburgh, Archbishop of Armagh, to hear and determine all controversies, suits, and debates depending between the great men or Peers of Ireland. A section of the Colonial Parliament requested Bishop Sherwood to repair to England, and solicit the good offices of the King and his brother, the Viceroy, Duke of Clarence, ‘for the public weal, and relief of the country.’

The Bishop, however, declined the mission. He gave rather a singular reason for a minister of peace, ‘That he was so occupied in the field with hostings (marshalling of troops), that he could not for a time, without damage to the English district, quit the camp, even to meet the Parliament.’

At length, however, he did undertake the journey, and, no sooner was his back turned, than, as he probably anticipated, enemies set to work to traduce and accuse him. On his departure to England, charges were forwarded thither against him, but this was so constantly done that little notice was taken of these accusations.

The Earl of Kildare showed a disposition to serve the English interest by every means in his power. Among the efforts he made for the maintenance of English rule in Ireland, was the establishment of the military organisation, called the ‘Brotherhood of St. George.’ This Order consisted of thirteen persons of the highest rank within the pale - that is, the counties of Dublin, Kildare, Meath, and Louth. The forces were 200 men, of whom 120 were mounted archers, and forty horsemen, with forty pages. The archers’ pay was sixpence a day, the horsemen’s fivepence, with four marks per diem. [The Earls of Kildare, p. 41.] Their duty was to defend the pale from English rebels and Irish enemies. The officers met annually on St. George’s Day, in Dublin, when they elected their captain. These thirteen officers and 200 men constituted the standing army, supported by the Government for the preservation of Ireland. The Earl’s eldest son, Gerald, was the first Knight elected Captain.

Great hostilities prevailed between English officials in Ireland and the Anglo-Irish. Parliament declared the goods of John Cornwalshe, the Chief Baron of the Exchequer, forfeited, for his intemperate and abusive language to the Earl of Kildare, Lord Deputy, at the Council Table, and for having tried to stir up the citizens of Dublin to insurrection. The Chief Baron subsequently asserted before the Council and Parliament, that Sir Robert Bold, Baron of Ratoath, then delegate to England, had imposed upon them by forged documents purporting to be writs under the King’s Privy Seal, respecting the Liberty of Meath. This naturally excited great popular indignation against Baron Bold, and the Chief Baron resolved to have him put out of the way. He inspired the Mayor of Dublin with the belief in the truth of his assertions; and, accompanied by that civic dignitary, and a great concourse of the excited citizens, the Chief Baron assailed Lord Rat-oath, and would have caused a vacancy in the Peerage, but for the intervention of the Lord Deputy. [No wonder this pugnacious Chief Baron met with an untimely fate, Whilst at supper in his house at Baggotrath, near Dublin, he was attacked by an armed party, led on by William Fitz William, of Dundrum, and before help reached him the Chief Baron was killed.]

Thomas Earl of Kildare, died on March 25, 1477, leaving besides his Countess, who survived until 1486, four sons and two daughters. He was buried in the Monastery of All Hallows, near Dublin, with his father, the Sixth Earl.

Again, several names appear in the list of Lord Chancellors of Ireland, of whom nothing for a memoir can be traced. Robert Allanstown, [Patent. a.d. 1468, 8 Edw. IV.] Sir William Dudley, [[Pat. 1469, 9 Edw. IV.] Robert Fitz Eustace, and John Taxton [Office granted to them jointly, and to the survivor of them. Confirmed by Act of Parliament, April 10, 1472. 12 Edw. IV.] Gilbert de Venham. [a.d. 1474. 14 Edw. IV.]

At length we reach the historic name of Sir Roland Fitz Eustace, Lord Portlester, appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1474.

The family of Eustace, or Fitz Eustace, was a branch of the widespread Geraldines, claiming descent from Maurice Fitz Gerald, to whom Henry II. granted the Barony of Le Naas. They were early settled in the district around Kilcullen, Co. Kildare, and, in A.D. 1200, possessed the title of Baron of Castlemartin. They had castles at Kil cullen, Castlemartin, Portlester, and Harristown; and, we find they filled high offices of State. In 1454, the Viceroy, Richard Duke of York, appointed Edmund Fitz Eustace his Deputy. Again, in 1462, on the accession of Edward IV. to the throne, George Duke of Clarence being Viceroy, appointed Sir Roland Fitz-Eustace his Deputy Sir Roland was suspected of partiality or traitorous acts in reference to the assumption of kingly authority by the Earl of Desmond, when John Tiptoft, Earl Of Worcester, was Viceroy. An attempt was made to substantiate this. On the execution of the Earl of Desmond, Sir Roland was arraigned before the Viceroy, by Sir John Gilbert, for having incited the Earl of Desmond to assume the Kingship of Ireland, and with engaging that he and all the land would accept him in preference to Edward IV.

Fitz Eustace indignantly denied the charge, and a day was named for Gilbert to bring forward his proofs, but he failed; and, fearing the consequences of his false accusation, he withdrew beyond reach of Fitz Eustace’s just anger, and joined Thady O’Connor, in making war on the Deputy. He was consequently attainted as a traitor by the very Parliament from which Fitz Eustace was acquitted of the alleged treason.

Sir Roland, created Lord Portlester, was married to Margaret, daughter of Janico D’Artois, by whom he had issue two daughters. The elder of his daughters, Allison, married Gerald, the eighth Earl of Kildare, one of the most distinguished of that illustrious family. His other daughter, Maud, married first Thomas Marward, Baron of Skrine, and, after his decease, Sir John Plunkett, Knight, of Bewley.

Sir Roland Fitz Eustace was appointed Treasurer of Ireland, an office which he held for many years. He received the additional dignity of the Custody of the Great Seal in a.d. 1474, when his son-in-law, the Earl of Kildare, was Deputy to the Duke of Clarence.

During the administration of Fitz Eustace as Lord Treasurer, the Parliament voted an annual grant of 180s. from the issues of Court and Hanaper, and 20s. from the profits of the Master of the Mint, to pay for repairs to Dublin Castle, where the Law Courts were then held. They stood in need of repairs, being described in the Act of 142 as ‘ruinous and like to fall, to the great dishonour of the King.’

We may judge that Boards of Works were as dilatory then as in later days, for, by an Act passed thirteen. years afterwards, 15 Edward IV., we learn these pressing repairs had never been executed, the money set apart for them having been diverted to other purposes. Some money was expended in keeping the Courts from tumbling on the heads of the Judges and practitioners, and entered in the Miscellaneous Roll for the years 1476-7.

While charges were being investigated respecting the Treasurer’s accounts, he was suspended from acting. These failing in proof, in 1480, Sir Roland was reinstated in his Office of Treasurer, but the King transferred the Chancellorship from him, and named William Sherwood, Bishop of Meath, to that high office. The Ex-Chancellor did not give up the Great Seal. A royal precept was then issued to compose the great dissension arising from conflicting Parliaments, and the demeanour to be observed by the great Officers in their respective offices. [Brit. Mus. MSS. Tit., b. xi.] The Treasurer’s duty is thus set forth. ‘Here folowyth the Kyng’s commaundments and plesure to be showed unto Sir Rouland Eustace, Knyght, whom his Highnesse haith deputed to be Tresorer of his lande of Ireland:-

‘Furst, the said Sir Rouland shall well and trewly behave hym in the occupying of his office, and justly and righteussly exerceze it, as well betwix the Kyng and his subjects, as betwix the Kyng’s subjects. Item, he shall not assent nor agre to the hurt, dammage, or disherityng the Kyng of his landes, revenues, rights regalie, or prerogatifs, but in all that in hym is he shall uphold, mayntene, encrese, and avaunce them. Item, that the same Sir Rouland remitte and forget all malice and evill will, that he haith borne and barith, unto the Bishop of Mythe (Sherwood), Bermingham, the Justice, and all others the Kyng’s subjects, within ye said land. For the Kyng’s Highnesse hath commanded them, in a semblable wise to do toward hym. Also, the Kyng wol that he delivere his Gret Sele beying in his kepying, unto the said Bishop of Mythe, whom be bath heputed and made his Chancellor of his said land of Ireland.’

The detention of the Great Seal by Sir Roland from the newly-appointed Chancellor, was a great hindrance to public business, and caused much inconvenience.

The state of the colony was then very deplorable. Dissensions prevailed among the highest Officers of the State - the Chancellor and Chief Justice of the King’s Bench requiring the interposition of the King to keep them quiet, while the Irish so pressed upon the narrow limits of the English settlements that the statute requiring cities and boroughs to be represented by inhabitants of the same, was obliged to be repealed upon the express ground that representatives could, not be expected to encounter, on their journeys to Parliament, the great perils incident from the King’s Irish enemies, and English rebels; for ‘it is openly known how great and frequent mischiefs have been done on the ways, both in the South, North, East, and West parts, by reason whereof they may not send proctors, knights, nor burgesses.’

Great disobedience was displayed by men in authority at this period. No sooner was the Duke of Suffolk named Viceroy, than his appointment was superseded by nomination of the King’s infant son, George, and that of Henry Lord Grey as his Deputy. Grey landed in Ireland in 1478, with a guard of 300 archers and men-at-arms. He had need of them, for the Earl of Kildare was selected Viceroy by the Irish Privy Council, and would not acknowledge Lord Grey as Deputy, whose appointment was under Privy Seal. The Ex-chancellor, Lord Portlester, Kildare’s father-in-law, on the same ground declined to surrender the Great Seal of Ireland; and James Keating, Prior of Kilmainham, Constable of Dublin Castle, refused point blank to admit Lord Grey. He garrisoned the fortress, broke down the drawbridge, and defied the Deputy and his men-at-arms to gain admittance. For some time both parties exercised the functions of Government. The Earl of Kildare summoned a Parliament, which met in June 1478, at Naas, in his own district, which voted him a subsidy. Lord Grey procured the King’s writ, commanding Kildare to desist from acting as Deputy. The Mayor of Dublin was also directed to make proclamation ‘that no subsidy should be paid to the Earl;’ and, in a Parliament held by Lord Grey, at Trim, the proceedings of Kildare’s Parliament were annulled. The statutes and ordinances were ordered to be cancelled by the Judges and officials, and all persons having any rolls of this ‘pretended Parliament,’ were ordered to deliver them up under penalty of felony.

The King authorised Lord Grey to have a new Great Seal for Ireland made, and to ‘damn, annul, and suspend’ that in the hands of Sir Roland Fitz Eustace, should the latter disobey his commands, absent himself, or withhold the Seal in his custody. The Parliament enacted, that, as it was apparent that Sir Roland Fitz Eustace purposely absented himself, and retained the Great Seal contrary to the King’s will, all patents, writs, and documents issued under it, should be void, until it came to the hands of the Deputy.

Thomas Archbold, Master of King Edward’s Mints in Ireland, was authorised to engrave a new Great Seal, as near the other as may be in the pattern and fabric, with the difference of a rose in every part. This the Parliament decreed to be authorised, confirmed, reputed, taken, and obeyed in every respect, as the Great Seal of the King of England for Ireland, until the other had been restored to the Deputy, who was empowered to appoint its Keeper during pleasure.

Fitz Eustace, being thus suspended in his Office of Chancellor, Parliament also repudiated his acts as Treasurer, and ordained that Exchequer tallies or assignments should not be legal, unless assigned and endorsed by the Lieutenant or Deputy. They also decreed that, if Friar James Keating, the warlike Prior of Kilmainham, did not at once, repair the drawbridge of Dublin Castle, his office should be void, and the Deputy might appoint a Guardian or Keeper of the Priory of Kilmainham, until the Grand Master of Rhodes, or the Prior of St. John’s of London, should make a nomination.

Sir Roland Fitz Eustace, Lord Portlester, died December 19, 1496, and no less than two monuments were erected in his honour. One to the memory of him and his wife in New Abbey, Kilcullen, which they founded in 1460. Reclining on the covering slab were the figures of Lord and Lady Portlester. The knight in plate mail with his vizor raised, Lady Portlester in the costume of the time. [This account of the Eustace monument, with a very beautiful illustration I possess, in the Anthologia Hibernica, vol. iii. p. 255.] On her head she wears the cap called a cornet, bound by a fillet or frontlet of gold or silver lace wrought with the needle in no inelegant pattern. This fillet is tied behind, from which depend long lappets, or rather a kind of veil, which occasionally could be drawn over. On her bosom is a cross of pearls. Her gown is of that species called a kirtle, made to fit close with robings, and made fast by a girdle studded with pearl roses. The skirts are plaited in large and thick folds, and trimmed at the bottom with a flounce. Her shoes are neat and in the present fashion.

[The writer of the above description in A.D. 1760 calls attention to the circumstance that the kirtle was an English, not an Irish, habit, nor did the Irish ever wear it. The Irish ladies wore the gunna, or gown, which was a long loose robe, without sleeves, and we remember Moore’s lines -

O my Norah’s gown for me,

Floating loose as mountain breezes.

Round the outer edge of the lid of the tomb, and surrounding the figures, was chiseled, in church text, of Gothic character, the inscription, ‘Orate pro anima Rolandi Fitz Eustace de Portlester, qui hoc mo: construxit et fundavit, et qui ob: die Decemb. 19, A.D. 1496, etiam pro anima Margaret uxoris suae.’

The lower portion of the monument was also ably sculptured. On one side were three figures in compartment. In the centre a keener, or mourner, in the costume of the Irish female peasant. On her head is the cabhin or keveen, and on her neck and shoulders the shawl or cladlock; her petticoat is also flounced; but she has neither a boddice nor kirtle. Over all, even her head, she wears the Irish fallang or mantle, called also the brattling or Connaught cloak. The other figures represent two heralds, in the crown, sword, tunic and cloak of their office; also on their heads is the coif worn at funerals. Other figures were along the opposite side, but too much defaced to be defined. A monk in the habit of his order, was at one end, and shields of armorial bearings, surmounted by a rising sun near the corners - perhaps typifying the Resurrection,

In the old church of St. Audoen, in the Corn-market, Dublin, there is another similar monument to Lord Portlester. He built the chapel of the Blessed Virgin, when he was Lord Deputy. The recumbent figures of Lord and Lady Portlester on this tomb, now beneath the tower of St. Audoens, are in good preservation, and very interesting specimens of the costume of the knights and ladies of the fifteenth century. They closely resemble those on the tomb in Kilcullen already described.

The following inscription runs round the margin: ‘Orate pro anima Rolandi Fitz Eustace de Portlester, qui hunc locum sine capellum dedit in honorem beatae Virginis, etiam pro anima Margarita uxoris suae et pro animabus omnium fidelium defunctorum.’

It was the cross from the roof of this church which, with singular taste, a prebendary named Cobbe took down, and placed instead a boar’s head with a crown. This was sufficient to provoke, if not to justify, the epigram -

Christ’s cross from Christ’s Church cursed Cobbe hath plucked down,

And placed in its stead what he worships - the crown.

Avenging the cause of the Gadarine people,

This miscreant hath placed a swine’s head on the steeple;

By this intimating to all who pass by,

That his hearer’s are swine, - and his church but a sty.*

• Gilbert’s History of Dublin, vol. 1, p. 285.]

In 1480, William Sherwood, Bishop of Meath, was Lord Chancellor. This able and distinguished prelate had been Bishop of Meath for the long period of twenty-two years. He was consecrated according to the directions of Pope Pius II. in 1460. I have mentioned that unhappy dissensions prevailed between him and Thomas Earl of Kildare; and Ware states a very serious charge against the Bishop, ‘that in 1469 nine of the Lord Deputy’s (Earl of Desmond’s) men were slain in Fingall by the instigation of the Bishop.’ He seems on every occasion in which his name appears to have been engaged in feud with some of the race of Fitz Geralds, and the strifes between him and the Earl of Desmond were such, that as their quarrel could not be arranged in Ireland, both went to London to the King, and stated their case, each against the other. Here it would seem the Bishop had the worst of it, as the Earl of Desmond returned to Ireland loaded with royal favour soon to be changed for the headsman’s axe. Despite the refusal of Lord Portlester to recognise the Bishop as Chancellor he received the seal and executed the office.

When the royal precept, already referred to, was issued in 1480 by King Edward IV. William Sherwood, Bishop of Meath, was Chancellor, and the precept applies to this high functionary as well as to the treasurer and others. ‘The article followeying contayne the Kyng’s comaundments and plesere how his Chanselere of Ireland, Clerc of the Rolles and the Clerc of the Hanaper ther shall demene theym there in executyng of ther offices. Furste, they and everiche of theres shall well and trewly serve the Kyng and his liege peple of the same land in the doying of ther offices. Item, that they ne none of them shall assent to the hurt damage or alienacione of ye Kyng’s land, revenues, or rights, but they shall endevoir themselfe for the vauncying and encresyng therof, and lette all theym to the best of their powere that wold attempt the contrary thereof.

‘Item, that the sead Chaunseler do sete alweyes in suche place and tymes, as the Clerc of the Rolles, the Clerc of the Hanaper, and other ministeres of ye Chaunsery may be then and their present.

‘Item, that the sead Chaunseler do delyvere to the Clerc of the Rolles all such warrants cummyng to his handes, so that he may keep them as the Kyng’s recordss according to his office.

‘Item, that the sead Chaunseler sele no pardons under the Kyng’s Grete Sele unto any man upon his provisione from the Court of Rome without the Kyng’s knowledge or consent.

‘Item, that the Chaunseler in person shall in term tyrne make his abiding in the place wher the Kyng’s Courts be kept, unlesse ther be a grete and urgent cause by the Depute wyth the advice of the more part of ye Kyng’s Consele it be thought his absence to be allowed.’

Then follow special directions to the Clerks of the Rolls and Hanaper, the latter to receive the fees of the Seal on writs, commissions, and patents, and such fines as shall be made in Chancery, and thereupon pay the Chancellor his fees, wages, and rewards, accustomed, and pay the remainder into the King’s exchequer, and render an account yearly. The stamp duty on writs was then set forth ‘to the intent that noone ignoraunce may be pretendit what fines ben to be made there within the Kyng’s Chaunsery.’ [Gilbert’s Viceroys of Ireland. Notes to chap. x. p. 594.]

Bishop Sherwood did not hold the Seal long. He died in Dublin on December , 1482, and was buried in the Abbey of St. Peter and Paul, Newtown, near Trim, County Meath.

The office of Clerk of the Hanaper is of old date in Ireland. In this office the writs relating to the suits of the subject, and the return thereon, were anciently kept in hanaperio, a hamper; while those relating to the crown were placed in parva baga, a little bag; whereon arose the names Hanaper and Petty Bag Offices.

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