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Select document: A settlement between the canons of St Thomas's Abbey, Dublin, and Walter de Lacy concerning the church of Ardmulchan granted to the canons by Theobald Walter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2020

Marie Therese Flanagan
Marie Therese Flanagan*
Affiliation:
Queen's University Belfast
*
*School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Queen's University Belfast, mt.flanagan@qub.ac.uk
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Abstract

A hitherto unpublished text of a negotiated settlement between Walter de Lacy, lord of Meath (d. 1241), and the canons of St Thomas's Abbey, Dublin, relating to the church of Ardmulchan in County Meath sheds new light both on the career of Theobald Walter I (d. 1205), ancestor of the Butler earls of Ormond, and on the dealings of John, son of King Henry II of England, with his Irish lordship during the period 1185–99 for which sources are scarce. It indicates that not only in Leinster, but also in Meath, John encroached on the seigneurial rights of Anglo-Norman landholders.

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Research Article
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Irish Historical Studies , Volume 44 , Issue 165 , May 2020 , pp. 147 - 170
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Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 2020

The text of a negotiated agreement between Walter de Lacy, lord of Meath, and the canons of St Thomas's Abbey, Dublin, relating to the church of Ardmulchan (barony of Skreen, County Meath) sheds valuable indirect light both on the career of Theobald Walter I (d. 1205), ancestor of the Butler earls of Ormond, and on King John's dealings with Anglo-Norman landholders in Ireland before he succeeded as king of England in 1199.

It is now well understood that when King Henry II's youngest son, John, assumed the lordship of Ireland in 1185 he encroached on the rights of established Anglo-Norman colonists in Leinster by making grants of land to his own followers. There is explicit testimony to that effect in the early thirteenth-century vernacular biography of William Marshal which recounts that when the Marshal acquired the lordship of Leinster in 1189, in right of his marriage to Isabel, daughter and heiress of Richard fitz Gilbert, first Anglo-Norman lord of Leinster, more memorably known as Strongbow, the Marshal found that John had granted lands to Theobald Walter. This was in derogation of the rights of the lord of Leinster. According to the Marshal's biography, William had to solicit the aid of King Richard, John's elder brother, in order to obtain full seisin of all his wife's lands in Leinster. Following Richard's intervention, John negotiated an agreement with the Marshal that ‘Boteillier Tiebaut’ might retain the lands which John had granted to him in Leinster on condition that they were thereafter to be held by Theobald of the Marshal and not from John.Footnote 1 In other words, William Marshal, rather than John, was to be Theobald's immediate lord. When precisely King Richard's intervention on behalf of the Marshal occurred is difficult to determine, but it was at some point between 1189 and 1194.Footnote 2

Theobald Walter was a very early associate of John. As youths both had been attached to the household Ranulf de Glanville who as justiciar from 1178 was charged with the administration of England. Glanville was Theobald Walter's uncle by marriage through his wife, Bertha de Valognes, who was a sister of Theobald's mother, Matilda. By 1180 Henry II had placed his youngest son, John, in Glanville's household to afford him administrative training, and John first met Theobald Walter there.Footnote 3 Theobald accompanied John to Ireland in 1185 as a member of his entourage, the cost of the freight for Theobald's equipment being borne by the royal exchequer.Footnote 4 While in Ireland Theobald received from John an extensive speculative grant in north Munster which was to lay the foundation for the later Butler earldom of Ormond.Footnote 5 Theobald was also the beneficiary of a series of land grants in Leinster. Facilitating the encroachments made by John in Leinster was the circumstance that when Strongbow died as a result of a wound in April 1176, his son and heir, Gilbert, was only three years old.Footnote 6 The minority of Strongbow's heir left Leinster vulnerable to encroachment. Technically, from Strongbow's death in 1176 until the marriage of William Marshal to Strongbow's daughter in 1189, the lordship of Leinster was administered by the crown on behalf of Strongbow's heir. In 1185, when John assumed the lordship of Ireland in person, it became the responsibility of his household. Gilbert was still alive in 1185, when a royal inquest recorded him as twelve years of age, but he was dead by 1189 leaving his sister, Isabel, as Strongbow's sole surviving heir.Footnote 7 When Isabel was married to William Marshal, he became lord of Leinster in right of his wife.

Between 1185 and 1189 Theobald Walter received from John a charter for the castle and vill of Arklow which, according to the terms of the charter, was to be held of John for the service of one knight.Footnote 8 That Arklow was part of the lordship of Leinster which Strongbow had determined to retain for his own use is evidenced by a charter he issued before his death in April 1176 to Maurice fitz Gerald, granting Maurice the whole cantred of Wicklow, excepting the commote of Arklow, for which Strongbow undertook to give Maurice a reasonable exchange.Footnote 9 Sometime after 1189 John granted Theobald the manor of ‘Tulauth’, that is, Tulach Ua Felmeda (Tullow, County Carlow), again his charter explicitly stating that it was to be held of John and his heirs.Footnote 10 Who had held Tulach Ua Felmeda before John's grant to Theobald? There is an extant original, unpublished charter issued by Strongbow to William de Angulo, son of Jocelin, granting ‘Tilach’ and ‘Achetdavet’ and ‘Motdicon’ to be held in heritance for service of eight knights’ fees.Footnote 11 Yet there is no subsequent evidence of either William de Angulo, or any other member of the de Angulo family, having any connections or holdings in Leinster; rather they became tenants of Hugh de Lacy (d. 1186), first Anglo-Norman lord of Meath.Footnote 12 It is probable therefore that it was William de Angulo who lost out in consequence of John's grant of Tullow to Theobald Walter. This would also incidentally explain why Strongbow's charter for William de Angulo survives among the Ormond muniments: it must have passed as a title deed to Theobald Walter. Between 1189 and 1193 John also granted Theobald ‘Tulach in Osraige’, that is, yet another Tulach, namely Tullaherin (County Kilkenny).Footnote 13 Theobald therefore was granted at least three separate parcels of land in Leinster by John, in each case encroaching on the rights of the lord of Leinster and his tenants.

Theobald is the only person named in William Marshal's biography as retaining lands that had been granted to him by John as lord of Ireland during the minority in Leinster and who managed to hold on to those lands after William Marshal became lord of Leinster owing to the intervention of King Richard I. There may have been others, as indeed the biography of William Marshal implies, who received lands but who did not manage to reach the accommodation with the Marshal that Theobald was able to achieve.Footnote 14 From two charters granted to St Thomas's Abbey, Dublin, by Manasser Arsic it is evident that Manasser held, or claimed, lands in County Kilkenny, but none of his heirs retained those lands which are subsequently found in the possession of associates of William Marshal.Footnote 15 It is likely that Manasser's Kilkenny lands had been granted to him by John as lord of Ireland but that, unlike Theobald, Manasser did not succeed in retaining them following the assumption of the lordship of Leinster by William Marshal who went on to install his own associates.Footnote 16 In reaching an accommodation with the Marshal, Theobald Walter enjoyed a number of advantages which others did not, foremost an influential brother who had close connections at court. Theobald's brother, Hubert, had also spent time with John in the household of Ranulf de Glanville, and when ordained to clerical orders he served first as a cleric in Glanville's household. He was appointed dean of York cathedral in 1186, was elected bishop of Salisbury in 1189, was translated to the primatial see of Canterbury in November 1193, and became King Richard I's chief justiciar in December 1193.Footnote 17 Theobald supported John in his rebellion against his brother, King Richard, between January 1193 and May 1194, and Hubert was to be instrumental in effecting a reconciliation between Richard and Theobald. In February 1194 it was Hubert who accepted the peaceful surrender of John's castle of Lancaster on behalf of King Richard by its constable, who was none other than his own brother, Theobald, who had been charged by John with its custody.Footnote 18

Turning now to Theobald Walter and Meath, the late thirteenth-century chartulary of St Thomas's Abbey contains a charter that has attracted no comment, namely a grant from Theobald to the canons of St Thomas's Abbey of the church of Ardmulchan together with its chapels, tithes, obventions and all ecclesiastical benefices pertaining to the church.Footnote 19 Admulchan lies on the south side of the River Boyne approximately six kilometres north-east of Navan. It is first attested as a place-name in AD 970 when a battle is recorded to have taken place there between the Norse of Dublin under their king, Olaf/Amlaíb Cúarán and the Leinstermen, at which the Uí Neill were defeated.Footnote 20 Remains of a medieval parish church are situated on a height overlooking the Boyne.Footnote 21 Its elevated position is reflected in the name Ardmáelchon which signifies ‘the height of Máelchu’.Footnote 22 That it may have been an early church site is suggested by a cross-inscribed grave slab that has been reused as a lintel of one of the windows, though the possibility has also to be allowed that the slab might have originated in the nearby early church of Donaghmore and been repurposed at Ardmulchan. North of the church are the remains of an Anglo-Norman motte, reflective of a settlement pattern that is notably evident in Meath, where early mottes were located close to pre-invasion church sites.Footnote 23

The witness list of Theobald's charter granting the church of Ardmulchan to St Thomas's Abbey indicates a date after 13 November 1204 and before 29 September 1205. For dating purposes, a crucial witness is David, bishop of Waterford, nephew of the justiciar, Meiler fitz Henry, who also witnessed Theobald's charter. King John gave royal assent to David's episcopal election on 19 October 1204, while on 12 November, styled bishop-elect, he was issued with a letter of credence ‘on the king's business in Ireland’.Footnote 24 On 13 November at Christchurch (Hants.) he witnessed two charters of King John in favour of Walter and Hugh de Lacy.Footnote 25 Theobald died sometime in 1205, after 4 August and before 29 September.Footnote 26 This gives a date-range for Theobald's charter of after 13 November 1204, when Bishop-elect David departed for Ireland, and before Theobald's own death no later than 29 September 1205. The date of issue of the charter need not, of course, reflect the date of Theobald's original grant which may have occurred earlier, since charters at this period functioned as probative rather than dispositive documents. Indeed, a clause specifying that the canons had promised Theobald that they would retain the church of Ardmulchan for their own use suggests that the charter may have been a confirmation of an earlier grant; and it may be said also to hint at a background of dispute.

Theobald's grant of the church of Ardmulchan ‘beside the Boyne’ was confirmed to the canons of St Thomas's by King John on 9 July 1215, in a charter listing only possessions of the abbey in Meath and in which it was explicitly stated that Ardmulchan was de dono Theobaldi Walteri.Footnote 27 The date of John's confirmation was almost certainly determined by the circumstance that on 6 July 1215 Walter de Lacy's lordship of Meath, which had been confiscated by King John in Ireland in 1210, was restored to him.Footnote 28 The canons of St Thomas's may have moved to try and secure their possessions in light of Walter's resumption of the lordship of Meath. There also survives a notification by Simon de Rochfort, bishop of Meath, that he had instituted the canons of St Thomas, on the presentation of Theobald Walter, pincerna Hiberniae, ‘butler of Ireland’, in the church on the land of the said Theobald at Ardmulchan with all ecclesiastical benefices and lands pertaining to it, saving episcopal rights.Footnote 29 Since the bishop's notification of the institution of the canons in Ardmulchan has four lay witnesses in common with Theobald's charter, it is very likely to have been issued around the same time, that is, 1204×05. The texts of at least thirty-seven charters (ten without witness list) issued by Simon survive, no others of which were attested by these lay witnesses, and this may be said to be statistically significant. Ardmulchan, with specific reference to its granting by Theobald, is also mentioned in another undated confirmation to St Thomas's Abbey from Bishop Simon.Footnote 30 Ardmulchan, without mention of Theobald, was also confirmed to St Thomas's in a further charter of Bishop Simon as well as one from the prior and chapter of St John's, Clonard, the latter explicable by the fact that St John's constituted Bishop Simon's cathedral chapter.Footnote 31 The church of Ardmulchan, without mention of Theobald, was also confirmed to St Thomas's Abbey by Pope Innocent III on 21 March 1216.Footnote 32 So in addition to Theobald's own charter, there is explicit mention of his grant of Ardmulchan to St Thomas's Abbey in a confirmation of Simon, bishop of Meath, and of King John in 1215. This need signify no more than that the canons of St Thomas presented a list of places for which they sought confirmations from the king and pope respectively that is, it does not prove their possession of Ardmulchan. However, the notification of institution in the church of Ardmulchan by Simon, bishop of Meath, which appears to date from 1204×05, may suggest that the canons did secure possession of the church of Ardmulchan for a time.

Theobald's Walter's charter poses a problem: he is not otherwise known to have held land in the lordship of Meath, nor to have had any association with the de Lacy lords of Meath. Furthermore, the church of Ardmulchan was not subsequently in the possession of the canons of St Thomas, but was claimed by the nunnery of Lismullin (County Meath).Footnote 33 The secular settlement at Ardmulchan is listed as a demesne manor of Walter de Lacy in the earliest surviving pipe roll of the Irish exchequer for the financial year 1211–12, which records income and outlay in the lordship of Meath during the period when it was in the hands of the crown following Walter de Lacy's dispossession by King John in 1210. The roll reveals William Petit, as steward of Meath, accounting for ‘the whole manor of Ardmulchan’, as demesne of Walter de Lacy, yielding a half-yearly income of £23 12s. 4d.Footnote 34 King John restored the lordship of Meath to Walter on 5 July 1215Footnote 35 and the manor of Ardmulchan returned thereafter to Walter. Charters for the Grandmontine priory of St Mary Craswall (Herefordshire) which Walter founded c.1220, recorded that he granted it a burgage and the ninth sheaf of wheat, oats, rye, barley, peas and beans, and a messuage from each of his manors in Ireland, including that of Ardmulchan.Footnote 36 Ardmulchan subsequently passed from Walter de Lacy to Geoffrey de Geneville as lord of Meath in right of his marriage to Matilda, granddaughter and co-heir of Walter de Lacy, and thence to Roger Mortimer and his wife, Joan, granddaughter and co-heir of Geoffrey de Geneville.Footnote 37 That the manor and parish of Ardmulchan remained in the possession of Walter de Lacy and his heirs is further evidenced by the fact that its church was included in the rural deanery of Duleek, along with other de Lacy churches.Footnote 38

So when and how did Theobald Walter come to be in a position to make a grant of the church of Ardmulchan to St Thomas's Abbey and who had enfeoffed him with that land?Footnote 39 Theobald's claim to the manor of Ardmulchan must have originated between his first coming to Ireland in 1185 in the entourage of John, son of Henry II, and before his death in 1205. Noteworthy is that none of the lay witnesses to Theobald's Ardmulchan charter were associated with Meath, but were drawn rather from tenants of Theobald's land-holdings in Munster and in Leinster.Footnote 40 Nor is there much evidence for Theobald's association with the de Lacys: Theobald does not, for example, witness charters issued by either Walter de Lacy or his younger brother, Hugh.Footnote 41 A priori then the evidence is against a grant of Ardmulchan to Theobald from Walter de Lacy as lord of Meath. In any case, there is conclusive proof that it was not Walter de Lacy who enfeoffed Theobald in Ardmulchan. It derives from an undated settlement concluded between Walter de Lacy and the abbot and community of St Thomas's resulting from a dispute over the right of patronage to the church of Ardmulchan (Document no. 2). The text of this settlement survives in an unpublished chartulary of the abbey of St Thomas transcribed in 1526 by William Copinger and now in the library of the Royal Irish Academy. According to the terms of that settlement the canons of St Thomas's consented to Adam, cleric of Walter de Lacy, holding the church of Ardmulchan. This was obviously the de facto situation; but, if Theobald pincerna were to recover the manor of Ardmulchan by plea, or other form of negotiation, the right of patronage of the church was to remain with the canons of St Thomas's; if, however, Theobald did not recover the manor of Ardmulchan, the right of patronage of the church was to remain with Walter de Lacy and his heirs. This clearly indicates disputed possession of the manor of Ardmulchan between Walter de Lacy and Theobald Walter: Theobald had granted the church of Ardmulchan to St Thomas's Abbey because he claimed the manor of Ardmulchan. Unfortunately, the date of the final settlement, since it has no witness list, cannot be more narrowly determined than between the accession of Walter as lord of Meath in 1189 and his death before 28 February 1241 (excepting 1210–15 when Meath was in the king's hand). Theoretically, Theobald pincerna might therefore refer either to Theobald I (d. 1205), or Theobald II (d. 1230), or Theobald III (d. 1248), each of whom bore the hereditary title of pincerna. However, given that it was Theobald, brother of Archbishop Hubert of Canterbury, who had issued the charter for Ardmulchan, as well as Walter de Lacy's possession of Ardmulchan as a demesne manor in 1210, as attested by the pipe roll of 1211–12, and given that the minority of Theobald I's son endured from 1205 to July 1221, the Theobald named in the settlement may be assumed to refer to Theobald I.Footnote 42

If it was not therefore the lord of Meath who granted the manor of Ardmulchan to Theobald, the only alternative grantor must have been John as lord of Ireland, not least since he can be shown from other evidence to have encroached on the lordship of Meath. The evidence for Meath is more circumstantial than in the case of Leinster for which, as already noted, there is the explicit testimony of the biography of William Marshal. Nonetheless, that John made grants which impinged on the lordship of Meath may be inferred from a series of charters. Between 1185 and 1189 John issued a number of charters for the canons of Llanthony relating to Meath, some of which could be interpreted as confirmations of earlier grants made by Hugh de Lacy as lord of Meath (d. 1186), but at least three of which were drafted as if they were grants made by John in his own right. Thus, a grant of all the tithes of the ‘land of Occadesi’ (Ua Cathasaig of Saithne) goes on to specify decimam de cunnygaria mea, ‘a tenth of my rabbit warren’.Footnote 43 Another granted the canons of Llanthony the church of Duleek, yet Duleek was a demesne de Lacy manor.Footnote 44 An incontrovertible instance is afforded by John's charter issued on 13 May 1192 to the Augustinian abbey of St Mary in Kells in which he confirmed all lands, renders, and possessions that they had by the gift of Hugh de Lacy but then went on to confirm ‘of my own proper grant my vill of Durrow’.Footnote 45 Hugh de Lacy had retained Durrow as demesne and was indeed killed there by an Irish assailant in 1186 while overseeing the building of a castle.Footnote 46 John clearly had appropriated the de Lacy manor of Durrow for his own use. Not only ecclesiastical, but also lay beneficiaries, received grants from John in Meath. Hugh de Lacy had given the ecclesiastical benefices of the fee of Dunshaughlin to St Thomas's Abbey no later than 1183, yet a charter of Robert Poer to St Thomas's Abbey, 1186×91, confirmed to the canons the church of Dunshaughlin and the chapel of what Robert described as his castle there, as well as the chapel of Ratoath and other churches in Meath.Footnote 47 Since Walter de Lacy subsequently granted Ratoath to his younger brother, Hugh de Lacy II (d. 1242), who also successively confirmed Dunshaughlin to St Thomas's Abbey, this most likely indicates that Robert Poer had been enfeoffed in Dunshaughlin by John following the death of Hugh de Lacy in 1186 and that Walter de Lacy subsequently succeeded in overturning that grant. Yet another possible instance is afforded by John's grant on 21 July 1192 to Henry Tyrel, his serviens, together with the office of serjeant throughout the county of Dublin, of a carucate of land at ‘Melleghune’. The latter may be Mag Cuilinn (? Moygullen/Moygallen now Cooksborough, barony of Moycashel, County Westmeath); if that identification is correct, this too would have infringed on the rights of the lord of Meath.Footnote 48 Colin Veach has suggested a further instance of encroachment, evidenced in a confirmation to Geoffrey de Costentin of the land and castle of Kilbixy (County Westmeath) for five knights’ fees, originally granted to him by Hugh de Lacy, along with an incremental grant of fifteen knights’ fees in ‘Conemake’ (Conmaicne) which Walter de Lacy subsequently confirmed to Geoffrey ‘through the petition of John, count of Mortain’.Footnote 49 There is therefore sufficient evidence for John's encroachments on the rights of the lordship of Meath to support adding to the list a grant of the de Lacy manor of Ardmulchan to Theobald Walter.

When might Theobald have acquired a claim to the manor of Ardmulchan? To consider first the circumstances around 1204×05, that is, the approximate date of Theobald's charter for St Thomas's Abbey. That Theobald could have secured a grant of Ardmulchan from King John around that time can be dismissed for a number of reasons. Firstly, Walter de Lacy, despite earlier difficulties with John, very definitely enjoyed the king's favour in 1204×05. Indeed, on 9 February 1204 he was described by the king as ‘his beloved and faithful Walter de Lacy’, and Meiler fitz Henry, as justiciar of Ireland, had orders to act with Walter's counsel.Footnote 50 It is equally unlikely that Theobald would have received a grant of the manor of Ardmulchan from King John around 1204×05, as becomes evident from closer examination of Theobald's relations with John. Theobald had been an associate of John's since at least their time together in the household of Ranulf de Glanville, had supported John when he rebelled against King Richard between January 1193 and May 1194, and had been tasked by John with custody of the castle of Lancaster; but after Theobald relinquished that castle in 1194 to his brother, Hubert, in his capacity as King Richard's justiciar, Theobald joined the royal circle. In August 1189 King Richard had bestowed the honour of Lancaster on JohnFootnote 51 but, notwithstanding their reconciliation and John's recovery by 1195 of most of his lands, Richard retained the honour of Lancaster thereafter for his own use. Theobald was rewarded by King Richard for switching sides in 1194, and probably also bringing with him other Lancashire landholders, with appointment as sheriff of Lancaster, most likely at the royal council held at Nottingham on 30 March,Footnote 52 and he continued to account in that role until Christmas 1198.Footnote 53 On 22 April 1194, shortly after his second coronation at Winchester, King Richard confirmed to Theobald the hundred of Amounderness in Lancashire (in which Theobald's hereditary fee of Weeton was situated) to be held as a tenant-in-chief of the crown for the service of three knights’ fees, for which Theobald previously had had a charter from John as lord of Lancaster.Footnote 54 In August 1194 Theobald was appointed collector of the revenue raised by royal licences to hold tournaments,Footnote 55 and he also sometimes acted as a justice itinerant, as, for example, assessing tollage on Colchester in 1197.Footnote 56

How far Theobald's service for King Richard may have impacted adversely on his relationship with John in the period between 1194 and John's accession as king in 1199 is difficult to determine, but one clear indicator is that Theobald does not appear to have witnessed any charters of John after 1194. One can readily understand why Theobald switched allegiance to King Richard: once the king had determined to retain the honour of Lancaster, it made sense for Theobald to do so since his principal landholding was now in Amounderness, which after 1194 he held directly of King Richard and not John, although, of course, John remained Theobald's immediate lord for his Irish landholdings. Certain it is that John's accession as king of England in 1199 had an immediate adverse impact on Theobald's standing. Whether this was vengeance for his defection to King Richard in 1194 is a moot point,Footnote 57 but Theobald was deprived both of offices and of lands in England for a time, although, once again, he may be presumed to have been protected from the full weight of John's ire by his brother, Archbishop Hubert Walter, who served not only as justiciar of England (1193–8) for Richard I but also as King John's chancellor from 1199 until Hubert's own death in 1205. First, Theobald lost the shrievalty of Lancaster.Footnote 58 In the autumn of 1199 a range of complaints was brought against him by certain Lancastrian nobles who had proceeded overseas to King John (perhaps indeed deliberately prompted by him) and presented a series of criticisms of Theobald's period as sheriff. An immediate result of their journey to court was the negotiation of over two dozen fines proffered by Lancastrian landholders and boroughs for the recovery of lands and liberties.Footnote 59 Some of the petitioners made statements of wrongs suffered under Theobald as sheriff: it was claimed that knights, thegns, and freemen of the county had been deprived of freedom of the forest which they had purchased from King Richard, while the burgesses of Preston complained that they had lost privileges which they had received from John when count of Mortain. Others alleged that they had been dispossessed of lands granted to them by John when he was lord of Lancaster.Footnote 60 King John responded by disseising Theobald of his Lancashire holding of Amounderness, although it was to be restored to him relatively quickly on 2 January 1202, when he was described as dilecto et fideli nostro.Footnote 61 However, on the death of Theobald in 1205 Amounderness was resumed by King John and did not pass to Theobald's heirs.Footnote 62

In early 1201 Theobald had also run into difficulties with King John in Ireland when the king made a grant of the kingdom of Limerick to William de Braose, thereby undercutting Theobald's status as a tenant-in-chief who held directly of the crown in north Munster. A settlement was reached, again through the auspices of his brother, Archbishop Hubert, which enabled Theobald to retain his lands but he had to hold them thereafter as a tenant of William de Braose. As the chronicler, Roger of Howden, expressed it, ‘in this year John, king of England, sold to William de Braose for 5000 marks all the lands of Theobald Walter in Ireland … Theobald Walter with the help of Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, his brother, paid William de Braose five hundred marks in order to regain his lands, and he [Theobald] became his [William] man’.Footnote 63 During the financial year 1203–04 Theobald sought royal licence to go to Ireland, offering two palfreys, which were accounted as paid in the financial year 1204–05.Footnote 64 The impact of Theobald's arrival in IrelandFootnote 65 is evidenced in the advancement of a monastic foundation at Abington (County Limerick) that he had planned before 1199.Footnote 66

Reviewing the careers both of Walter de Lacy and Theobald Walter and their relations with King John, and, notwithstanding John's propensity for making contradictory grants of land in Ireland even after his accession as king,Footnote 67 it is nonetheless evident that a grant to Theobald of Ardmulchan cannot date from 1204×05, that is, the date of Theobald's charter for the canons of St Thomas's.Footnote 68 Rather the issue of Theobald's charter was occasioned by his arrival in Ireland around 1204. There is also circumstantial evidence that Ardmulchan was the subject of legal proceedings around the same time as Theobald issued his charter for the canons of St Thomas's. On the fine rolls of the sixth regnal year of John, that is, between 3 June 1204 and 18 May 1205, one Robert fitz Jordan proffered a palfrey and a goshawk to have a writ of novel disseisin against Walter de Lacy concerning the land of Ardmulchan, though this fine was subsequently cancelled.Footnote 69 Chronologically, this is coeval with Theobald Walter's arrival in Ireland and the issue of his charter for Ardmulchan to the canons of St Thomas's. Unfortunately, Robert fitz Jordan is not named in any other sources, so the background to that case remains obscure.Footnote 70 But what this entry does reveal is legal proceedings relating to disputed possession of Ardmulchan around 1204×05, which provides a further context for the issue of Theobald's charter to the canons of St Thomas's.Footnote 71

The most likely explanation for Theobald's charter confirming the church of Ardmulchan to St Thomas's Abbey, and the subsequent settlement that was concluded between the canons and Walter de Lacy, is that it was John as lord of Ireland who granted Ardmulchan (and possibly other lands), in Meath to Theobald Walter at some point between the death of Hugh de Lacy in 1186 and King Richard I's temporary assumption of the lordship of Ireland in 1194, but that Hugh de Lacy's heir, Walter, was successful in recovering Ardmulchan as de Lacy demesne, as indeed he was in the case of his demesne manors of Durrow and Kells which had also been encroached on by John as lord of Ireland. As a result, the canons of St Thomas's Abbey lost Theobald's grant of the church of Ardmulchan, despite having secured a confirmatory charter from him following his arrival in Ireland in 1204, and a confirmation from King John in 1215, and confirmations from the pope, the bishop of Meath, and the prior and chapter of St John's, Clonard. The canons retained copies in their chartularies of Theobald's charter, and notice of their installation in the church of Ardmulchan by Simon, bishop of Meath, as well as of the settlement they eventually reached with Walter de Lacy. Since Walter de Lacy and his family were generous patrons to St Thomas's Abbey, it may be inferred that it was not the grant of the church of Ardmulchan to St Thomas's that concerned Walter de Lacy but rather the fact that it was linked to a claim by Theobald Walter to the de Lacy demesne manor of Ardmulchan.Footnote 72

The witness list of Theobald's charter of 1204×05 for the canons of St Thomas was headed by Simon, bishop of Meath, which may be explained by the fact that Ardmulchan was situated in his diocese. But it can also be noted that Simon was one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the canons of St Thomas's. From their house he drew canons for his own foundation at the priory of Saints Peter and Paul at Trim, and he may possibly himself have been a canon of St Thomas's before his episcopal promotion.Footnote 73 The canons of St Thomas's were clearly able to bring not inconsiderable influence to bear to secure the charter from Theobald, with the justiciar, Meiler fitz Henry, and his nephew, David, bishop of Waterford, also acting as witnesses, although it was to be of no avail in the end. If the canons managed even for a brief period to make good on Theobald's grant and to take possession of the church of Ardmulchan, they were to lose it permanently.

The careful record keeping by the canons of St Thomas's of redundant documents affords information on yet another instance of John's arbitrary encroachment on seigneurial lordship in Meath and the potential for factional disputes that it generated among the settler community. The administrative transfer of the lordship of Ireland to John's personal household in 1185 withdrew Angevin lordship in Ireland from the immediate purview of the English royal administration with a consequent diminution in documentation that makes it difficult to reconstruct events between 1185 and 1199. A grant of the manor of Ardmulchan to Theobald Walter may now be added to the list of John's intrusive grants as lord of Ireland. John's known grants in Leinster and in Meath were made before 1194 when, as a result of his rebellion against his brother, King Richard, John temporarily was dispossessed of all his lands, including his Irish lordship. There are no further clear-cut instances of impingement on seigneurial rights in either Leinster or Meath in the period between John's reconciliation with Richard and restoration of his lands in 1194 and his accession as king of England in 1199. The career of Theobald Walter affords another example of John's dealings with a tenant-in-chief who held lands directly of him both in England and Ireland and the strains that could ensue. It underscores the challenges for Anglo-Norman magnates of serving two masters, in the case of Theobald Walter, King Richard for landholdings in Lancashire and John as his lord in Ireland. It emphasises too the importance of keeping in view the careers of cross-channel landholders and how events in England could impact on Angevin Ireland. It may also be suggested that the consequences in Ireland of John's rebellion against Richard between 1192 and 1194, though largely occluded from view, deserve further consideration. The final word has not been written on King Richard I's dealings with Ireland and the question of whether Ireland was envisaged by King Henry II as a kingdom for John that was to be independent of the Angevin assemblage of lands. Certainly, on 5 June 1190 when Pope Clement III appointed William de Longchamp, bishop of Ely, as legate of the apostolic see in all of England and Wales, he included in Longchamp's sphere of jurisdiction, ‘those parts of Ireland where John, count of Mortain, brother of King Richard, has jurisdiction’.Footnote 74 Clearly, the pope considered John's lordship in Ireland to be subordinate to the king of England.Footnote 75 As a final point, Theobald Walter's charter confirming the church of Ardmulchan to the canons of St Thomas's also highlights the vital role of prosopographical analysis which in this case reveals that none of its lay witnesses was drawn from Meath, suggesting that Theobald is unlikely ever to have secured a foothold there.

Document no. 1

Grant by Theobald Walter to the regular canons of the church of St Thomas the martyr beside Dublin of the church of Ardmulchan

Date: post 13 November 1204 × a. 29 September 1205

A. Original lost.

B. Oxford: Bodl., Rawl. B. 500, f. 2 (printed Reg. St Thomas, Dublin, p. 14).

C. Dublin: R.I.A., MS 12 D 2 (olim MS 98), f. 107v.

Rubric (from C) Carta Theobaldi Walteri de ecclesia de Ardmolchane

Universis sancte matris ecclesie filiis presentes litteras inspecturis Theobaldus Walteri salutem in Domino. Ad universitatis vestre noticiam volo pervenire me divini amoris intuitu pro salute anime mee et patris [mei] et matris mee et domini HubertiFootnote 76 fratris mei archiepiscopi Cantuarie et parentum meorum concessisse et dedisse quantum ad patronum pertinet et hac presenti mea carta confirmasse Deo et ecclesie sancti Thome martiris juxta Dubliniam et canonicis regularibus ibidem Deo servientibus ecclesiam de Armolghan cum capellis et decimis et obvencionibus et omnibus ecclesiasticis beneficiis ad predictam ecclesiam spectantibus in puram et perpetuam elemosinam. Promiserunt eciam mihi jam dicti canonici quod retinebunt predictam ecclesiam in proprios usus. Hiis testibus: SimoneFootnote 77 Midensi episcopo et WillelmoFootnote 78 et DavidFootnote 79 Glindelacensi et Waterfordensi episcopis, Mailleroa filio Henrici tunc justiciario,Footnote 80 Adam de Herefordia,bFootnote 81 Manassero Arsic,Footnote 82 Helia filio Noremani,cFootnote 83 Simone filio Willelmi,Footnote 84 Waltero de Kenteswell,dFootnote 85 Adam de RattesdenaeFootnote 86 et multis aliis.

C a Mailero; b Hereford’; c Normani; d Kenteswelle; e Raclesdena

To all sons of holy mother church who may inspect these present letters, Theobald Walter [extends a] greeting in the Lord. I wish to give notice to you all that inspired by the love of God and for the well-being of my soul and that of my father and mother and of my brother, Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, and of my parents I have granted and given, insofar as it pertains to patronage, and by this my present charter have confirmed to God and the church of St Thomas the martyr beside Dublin and the regular canons serving God there the church of Ardmolghan with its chapels and tithes and obventions and all ecclesiastical benefices pertaining to that church in pure and perpetual alms. The said canons have also promised me that they will retain the said church for their own use. Witnesses: Simon bishop of Meath, William, bishop of Glendalough, David, bishop of Waterford, Meiler fitz Henry justiciar, Adam de Hereford, Manasser Arsic, Elias fitz Norman, Simon fitz William, Walter de Kenteswell, Adam de Rattesdene, and many others.

Document no. 2

Final agreement in chirograph form of the dispute between the abbot and convent of St Thomas, Dublin, and Walter de Lacy concerning the right of patronage in the church of Ardmulchan

Date: ante 29 September 1205

C. Dublin. R.I.A., MS 12 D 2 (olim MS 98), fol. 122v.

Hec est finalis composicio inter abbatem et conventum sancti Thome Dublin’ ex una parte et Walterum de Lascy ex altera super controversia inter ipsos mota de iure personatus ecclesie de Ardmulchane scilicet quod consenserunt in AdamFootnote 87 clericum eiusdem Walteri de Lascy ita quod si Theobaldus pincerna recuperasset manerium de Ardmulchan per placitum vel per aliquam formam pacis remaneret ius patronatus eiusdem ecclesie canonicis sancti Thome Dublin’. Et idem Adam clericus tenebit ipsam ecclesiam de ipsis canonicis libere et plenarie inperpetuum. Si vero idem Theobaldus dictum manerium de Ardmulchane non recuperasset remanebit ius patronatus dicte ecclesie dicto Waltero de Lascy et heredibus suis. Et idem Adam clericus tenebit dictam ecclesiam de dono eiusdem Walteri de Lascy. Et [ut] hec composicio rata et inconcussa permaneat tam conventus quam Walterus de Lascy huic scripto in modum cyrographi divisio sigilla sua apposuerunt.

This is the final agreement between the abbot and convent of St Thomas, Dublin, on the one hand, and Walter de Lacy, on the other, in the controversy between them concerning the right of patronage to the church of Ardmulchan, namely that the canons have consented to [possession by] Adam, cleric of the said Walter de Lacy, but if Theobald pincerna (‘the butler’), were to recover the manor of Ardmulchan by plea, or other form of agreement, the right of patronage will remain with the canons of St Thomas, Dublin, and the said cleric, Adam, will hold the said church of the said canons freely and fully in perpetuity. If, however, the said Theobald were not to recover the said church the right of patronage of the said church will remain with the said Walter de Lacy and his heirs, and the said Adam will hold the said church of the gift of the said Walter de Lacy. And in order that this agreement may remain fixed and permanent the convent and Walter de Lacy have each attached their seals to this writing divided in the form of a chirograph.

References

1 Holden, A. J. and Crouch, David (eds), History of William Marshal (3 vols, Anglo-Norman Text Society, London, 2002), i, ll. 9581–9630Google Scholar; iii, 124.

2 No precise date for this negotiation can be gleaned from the History of William Marshal, but Crouch assigned Richard I's intervention to ‘the winter of 1190’: Crouch, David, William Marshal: knighthood, war and chivalry, 1147–1219 (2nd ed., London, 2002), p. 70Google Scholar; however, no date is suggested in the third edition: Crouch, William Marshal: knighthood, war and chivalry, 1147–1219 (3rd ed., London, 2016), p. 82. See also Veach, Colin, Lordship in four realms: the Lacy family, 1166–1241 (Manchester, 2014), pp 82CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 89, who variously suggested 1189 and the winter of 1189–90; idem, ‘A question of timing: Walter de Lacy's seisin of Meath, 1189–94’ in R.I.A. Proc., sect. c, cix (2009), pp 169 n. 13, 175.

3 See Mortimer, Richard, ‘The family of Ranulf de Glanville’ in I.H.R. Bull., lv (1981), pp 1–16Google Scholar; Church, Stephen, King John, England, Magna Carta and the making of a tyrant (London, 2015), pp 12–14Google Scholar. Already by around 1182 Theobald Walter witnessed a charter of Ranulf de Glanville for the latter's Premonstratension foundation at Leiston (Suffolk) alongside ‘John, son of the king’: Mortimer, Richard (ed.), Leiston Abbey cartulary and Butley Priory charters (Suffolk Record Society, Suffolk Charters, 1, Ipswich, 1979), no. 27, pp 76–7Google Scholar, where the charter is dated c.1186×87. An earlier date of around 1182 is more likely since from 1185 John was styled ‘lord of Ireland’. Theobald's endowment of the monastery of Abington (Abbey Owney, County Limerick) was made pro anima chari mei Ranulfi de Glanvill: William Dugdale and Roger Dodsworth, Monasticon Anglicanum, eds John Caley, Henry Ellis and Bulkeley Bandinel (6 vols in 8, new ed., London, 1817–30), vi, II, 1137; Chart. privil. immun., p. 11; Carte, Thomas, The life of James, duke of Ormonde (6 vols, new ed., Oxford, 1851), i, pp xliii–xlivGoogle Scholar; Ir. mon. deeds, 1200–1600, p. 99.

4 Et pro i. navi conducenda ad harnasium Theobaldi Walteri lxvi s. et viii. d. per breve regis: Pipe roll 31 Henry II, 1184–1185 (Pipe Roll Society, 34, London, 1913), p. 2 (entry omitted from Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251). The sole reference to Theobald's activities in Ireland in 1185 is the comment by Gerald de Barri that members of the familia of Theobald Walter killed Diarmait Mac Carthaig, king of Desmond, while engaged in a parley near Cork: Giraldus, Expugnatio, pp 234–5.

5 An English translation is given by Edmund Curtis in Ormond deeds, 1350–1413, no. 426 (i), pp 321–3, from an inspeximus of Queen Elizabeth I dated 12 August 1572. In Carte's Life of James, duke of Ormonde, i, p. xlv, it is stated that the original grant with attached seal was no. 4 in the press of original charters and instruments in Kilkenny Castle. Given the similarity between the rendering of the place names as printed by Carte and in the inspeximus of Queen Elizabeth, it is likely that it was the latter deed to which Carte had access rather than John's original charter of 1185. The terms of the 1185 charter are recited in the 1201 confirmation of William de Braose to Theobald: Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 26. John's charter was issued jointly to Ranulf de Glanville and Theobald Walter, suggesting that the youthful Theobald would be supported in realising the grant by the resources and experience of the justiciar. Glanville had prior knowledge of Ireland since he had accompanied Henry II in 1171–2 witnessing Henry's extant original charter at Dublin granting the city to his men of Bristol: Facs. nat. MSS Ire. ii, plate LXIII; Mac Niocaill, Na buirgéisí, i, 75–6; Hist. & mun. doc. Ire., p. 1. In the annals of Loch Cé it was reported that in 1185 the ‘foster-brother of the son of the king of the Saxons’ was slain in battle by Domnall Ua Briain, king of Thomond: A.L.C. s.a. 1185. G. H. Orpen suggested that he could be identified as a son of Ranulf de Glanville since both were reared in the same household: Orpen, Normans, ii, 99, note 2. On the other hand, David Crouch suggested that the foster-brother of John killed in Ireland in 1185 was a son of William Baillebien who in 1212 was still enjoying land in the hundred of Gillingham given to him by Henry II as a reward for his care of John: Willelmus Baillebien tenet iii virgatas terre quas pater Johannis regis ei dedit in elemosinam quia berciavit illum: Liber feodorum: the book of fees commonly called Testa de Nevill (3 vols, London, 1920–31), i, 91; Crouch, William Marshal, 3rd ed., p. 88, note 6. Orpen's suggestion of a son of Ranulf de Glanville is more likely, given that Ranulf was a co-grantee with Theobald. Ranulf may have intended that his son would make good the speculative grant. When Ranulf died in 1190 he had no surviving sons: John Hudson, ‘Glanville [Glanvill], Ranulf de (1120s?–1190)’ in O.D.N.B. For a reference to ‘sons’ of Ranulf, see the charter of Hervey Walter, father of Theobald, to Ranulf's foundation of Butley Priory, 1171×86: Leiston Abbey cartulary and Butley Priory charters, p. 151.

6 See below, note 7.

7 J. H. Round (ed.), Rotuli de dominabus et pueris et puellis de XII comitatibus (Pipe Roll Society, 36, London, 1913), p. 76; John Walmsley (ed.), Widows, heirs and heiresses in the late twelfth century: the rotuli de dominabus et pueris et puellis (Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 308, Tempe, AZ, 2006), p. 113, no. 189. If accurate, this would mean that Gilbert was born in 1173.

8 Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 17; cf. no. 20. The grant was stated to have been made de voluntate et assensu domini regis H(enrici) patris mei and was witnessed by Ranulf de Glanville which indicates Henry's approval. It was confirmed to Theobald by William Marshal, 1189×99: Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 31; David Crouch, The acts and letters of the Marshal family (Camden Society, ser. 5, 47, Cambridge, 2015), no. 94, pp 173–5.

9 Gormanston reg., pp 145, 193 (identifying ‘Erkeks’ as Arklow).

10 Red Bk Ormond, pp 9–10. It was to be held pro servicio quod Jordanus facere debuisset pro dicto Tullauth. The identity of this Jordanus is not known. The grant in the Red Book of Ormond is described as manerium de Tulauth in Ofelmyth in Ossoria. However, Tulach in Uí Felmeda was distinct from Tulach in Osraige. See below, p. 154. The Red book of Ormond dates from c.1346 and the fourteenth-century scribe appears to have conflated the two separate grants, possibly by homeoteleuton or eye-skip. For further discussion, see M. T. Flanagan, ‘Mac Dalbaig, a Leinster chieftain’ in R.S.A.I. Jn., cxi (1981), pp 5–13.

11 Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 2. For identification of these places as Tullow (County Carlow), Aghowle (County Wicklow), and Moyacomb (County Wicklow), see Flanagan, ‘Mac Dalbaig’, pp 10–11.

12 Jocelin de Angulo was enfeoffed in Navan and Ardbraccan by Hugh de Lacy, while Gilbert de Angulo, his son, received Machaire Gaileng (Morgallion): Song of Dermot, ll. 3141–6; Evelyn Mullally, The deeds of the Normans in Ireland: La geste des Engleis en Yrlande (Dublin, 2002), ll. 3140–5. William witnessed a charter of Adam, abbot of St Mary's Abbey, Dublin, alongside Strongbow, Raymond le Gros, and Jocelin de Angulo confirming land in Raheny (north County Dublin) to Vivien Cursun: Chartul. St Mary's, Dublin, i, 259. He also witnessed a charter of John, count of Mortain, 1189×99, alongside his brother, Gilbert, granting Uí Máil to Res son of Philip: Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 8. He witnessed a charter of John de Courcy as the king's justiciar in Ireland for the abbey of Navan alongside his brother, Gilbert: Eric St J. Brooks, ‘A charter of John de Courcy to the abbey of Navan’ in R.S.A.I. Jn., ser. 7, iii (1933), p. 89. William granted the tithes and ecclesiastical benefices of all the ‘land of Gillecuman’ to St Thomas's Abbey a. 1205: Reg. St Thomas, Dublin, p. 34. From the witness list and the location of the charter in the chartulary this land was located in Meath, not Leinster. On 5 December 1207 King John ordered Meiler fitz Henry as justiciar to see that the peace negotiated between himself and William and Philip de Angulo (brother of William) was to be strictly observed: Rot. litt. claus., p. 98a; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 363. Between 23 May 1213 and 7 May 1214 William de Angulo gave the king 300 marks to have his land in Ireland of which he was disseised at the will of Walter de Lacy; the justiciar was to take surety for the fine: Rot. oblatis, p. 479. The proffer of 300 marks is mentioned again in June–July 1215 under the rubric Hibernia in Midia: ibid., p. 551; cf. p. 553 where William de Angulo was claiming lands against Geoffrey de Costentin and others and proffered 400 marks and the king ordered the justiciar to provide an exchange for William. At the same time Philip de Angulo proffered 10 marks to have his father's (i.e. Jocelin) land of Navan: ibid. On 1 February 1215 the king ordered the justiciar to take a fine of 300 marks from those who held the lands for which Philip was offering 300 marks and to give him a reasonable exchange: Rot. claus., p. 186; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 529. On 30 July the king ordered that Philip de Angulo should have ten marks annually for the cantred of Roscommon until an exchange was made for him: Rot. claus., p. 223a; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 630. On 13 September 1215 the king sent to Audeon Brun, Elias Haraud, and Gilbert de Livet a charter for the king of Connacht granting him the land of Connacht for a fine of 5000 marks and instructed that Philip de Angulo was to go with the charter to the king of Connacht; Rot. claus., p. 228b: Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 656. None of these references supports a de Angulo connection with Leinster. William's daughter, Alicia, was married to Jordan de Livet who granted lands outside the gate of the city of Dublin to St Thomas's Abbey: Reg. St Thomas, Dublin, p. 403.

13 It was subsequently confirmed to him by William Marshal: Crouch, Acts and letters of the Marshal family, no. 94, pp 172–3; Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 31, where Curtis's identification of Tulach as Tullagher is incorrect. It should be the episcopal manor of Tulach Chiaráin, alias Tullaherin: Kenneth Nicholls, ‘The land of the Leinstermen’ in Peritia, iii (1984), p. 553; M. T. Flanagan, Irish society, Anglo-Norman settlers, Angevin kingship: interactions in Ireland in the late twelfth century (Oxford, 1989), pp 131–4; Conleth Manning, ‘Some notes on the early history and archaeology of Tullaherin’ in In the shadow of a steeple, vi (1998), pp 19–39. William Marshal's confirmation for Theobald Walter is the only extant charter relating to Ireland issued by him before his attainment of the title, ‘earl of Pembroke’ in 1199. See Crouch, Acts and letters of the Marshal family, passim.

14 ‘“For my sake [Richard], you will come to an agreement with him [William Marshal]” … John replied: “I gladly agree to this providing that the gift remain intact of lands I have made over to my men and confirmed … What could he [William Marshal] possibly have left, since you [John] have given and surrendered all his land to your men … I [John] crave your indulgence, since that is the way you [Richard] want it, to have him [Marshal] agree to let Theobald, my butler, keep the land I have invested him with”’: History of William Marshal, ll. 9599–9620, i, 488–9.

15 See below, note 82. For a grant by John as lord of Ireland and count of Mortain, 1189×1199, to Reginald Boterell, in infringement of the rights of the grantee of Uí Failge and of William Marshal, as lord of Leinster, see M. T. Flanagan, ‘Defining lordships in Angevin Ireland’ in Martin Aurell and Frédéric Boutoulle (eds), Les seigneuries dans l'espace Plantagenêt (c.1150–c.1250) (Bordeaux, 2009), pp 45–6.

16 Another possible candidate is Roger Waspail who may have been enfeoffed by John with the vill of Tippercathin in Uí Buide in Leinster: Knights’ fees, pp 84–5. A digest of a charter produced by William son of Warin de Munchesney in 1287 claimed that William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, had confirmed Tippercathin to Hubert de Munchesny to hold ‘as fully as Roger Waspail ever held it’: Crouch, Acts and letters of the Marshal family, no. 168. This may indicate that the Marshal took it from Roger Waspail and gave it to Hubert de Munchesny. Crouch assumed that the reference was to William Marshal II because it likely post-dated a marriage in 1219 between Joan, daughter of William Marshal I, and Warin de Munchesny. It should be noted, however, that a Roger Waspail witnessed a possible charter of the Lord John as earl of Gloucester in confirmation of a gift made by Hawise, countess of Gloucester, the mother of his wife, of a burgage in Fairford (Glouc.): R. B. Patterson, Earldom of Gloucester charters (Oxford, 1973), p. 32, no. 3 (where it is given as a charter of the countess I(sabella)); V. C. M. London (ed.), The cartulary of Bradenstoke Priory (Wiltshire Record Society, 35, Devizes, 1979), p. 191, no. 657. I owe to Professor Nicholas Vincent, University of East Anglia, the suggestion that ‘I’ might be read as I(ohannes) rather than I(sabella) of Gloucester. It is certain that John had put Roger Waspail in seisin of the fee of Deverel in werra sua dum fuit in castello de Christescherche (Christchurch, Dorset), that is, during John's rebellion against King Richard, 1193–4: Placitorum in domo capitulari Westmonasteriensi asservatorum abbreviatio (London, 1811), pp 1–2; Rot. curiae regis, i, 30. Although there is no certain record of Roger Waspail's presence in Ireland before 1204, he undoubtedly was associated with John by the 1190s. For his holding at Westpalstown, County Dublin, see Ir. cartul. Llanthony, pp xvii, xx, 14.

17 Between 1185 and 1189 John had granted Hubert Walter, then dean of York, ‘all my vill of Lusk’ (County Dublin): Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 863(3). For Hubert's career, see C. R. Cheney, Hubert Walter (London, 1967).

18 Chronica Rogeri de Houedene, ed. William Stubbs, (4 vols, Rolls Series, London, 1868–71), iii, 237.

19 Document no. 1. The reference to his brother, Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, confirms the identity of the grantor as Theobald Walter I (d. 1205). He and his daughter, Beatrice, and their tenants were generous patrons to St Thomas's Abbey granting churches and lands in north Munster and in Leinster: Reg. St Thomas, Dublin, pp 108–9, 194–9, 225, 316, 359–62, 366.

20 Chron. Scot. s.a. 968=970; A.F.M. s.a. 968=970.

21 For the undivided nave and chancel church, see M. J. Moore, Archaeological inventory of County Meath (Dublin, 1987), p. 127, no. 1331.

22 Padraig Ó Riain, Diarmuid Ó Murchada and Kevin Murray (eds), Historical dictionary of Gaelic placenames: fascicle 1 (Names in A) / Foclóir stairiúil áitainmneacha na Gaeilge, fascúl 1 (ainmneacha in A-) (Irish Texts Society, London, 2003), p. 92; Hogan, Onomasticon, p. 44; A.F.M. s.a. 968, note g by John O'Donovan. The derivation is unverified in the Placenames database of Ireland: http://www.logainm.ie/en. An alternative derivation, Ard Mullacháin, ‘the height of the hill of the little summit’, is suggested in Jack Fitzsimons, The plains of royal Meath (Kells, 1978), p. 5.

23 For the motte at Ardmulchan, see Moore, Archaeological inventory of County Meath, p. 156, no. 1604; B. J. Graham, ‘The mottes of the Norman liberty of Meath’ in Harman Murtagh (ed.), Irish midland studies: essays in commemoration of N. W. English (Athlone 1980), p. 56.

24 Rot. litt. pat., p. 47a; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 233 (described as ‘David, cleric and consang(uis)’ of Meiler fitz Henry, justiciar of Ireland: Rot litt. pat. p. 48a; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no 237). The king had granted David the church of Dungarvan in the royal demesne before 2 June 1204: Rot. litt. pat. p. 32a; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 184. On 10 September 1205 he witnessed a charter of King John at Bristol for the abbey of Greatconnell (County Kildare) and on 8 November 1207 ten charters relating to Ireland at the royal court at Woodstock: Rot. chart., pp 157–8, 172–3; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, nos 273, 339–48; Ormond deeds, 1171–1250, no. 38. He was killed in 1209 by Ua Fáeláin, king of Déise: A.L.C., A.F.M. s.a. 1208=1209 (where he is named as David Breatnac); Ann. Inisf., s.a. 1209.5 (where he is described as in Gallesgob, ‘the foreign bishop’).

25 Rot. chart., pp 139–40; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, nos 240–1.

26 On 4 August 1205 the sheriff of Lancaster was directed to distrain Theobald for a debt of five marks; by Michaelmas (29 September) 1205, Gilbert fitz Reinfred, sheriff of Lancaster, answered for the receipts of Theobald's lands in Amounderness, which yielded £10 1s. 3d. for the king's use for the portion of the year that remained before the Michaelmas audit: William Farrer, The Lancashire pipe rolls … also early Lancashire charters (Liverpool, 1902), pp 190, 192, 196; Pipe roll 7 John (Pipe Roll Society, 57, London, 1941), p. 178.

27 Confirmamus eciam eis ecclesiam de Archmulchane iuxta Boin cum capellis, decimis, obvencionibus et omnibus ecclesiasticis beneficiis ad dictam ecclesiam spectantibus qua habent de dono Theobaldo Walteri: Reg. St Thomas, Dublin, pp 6–7 (not recorded on the charter rolls; the text occurs in a section of the cartulary relating to holdings in the diocese of Meath). Confirmed to St Thomas's in the same charter was the church of St John, Nobber, and the church of St Patrick, Morgallion, of the gift of Gilbert de Angulo and Hugh de Lacy. The date is significant since it was issued nine days after Walter de Lacy recovered his lordship of Meath on 5 July 1215: Rot. litt. pat., p. 148b; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 612. The terms of settlement between Walter de Lacy and the king for the recovery of Meath had been agreed on 29 June whereby Walter was to pay a fine of 4000 marks: Rot. litt. pat., p. 181; Cal. doc Ire., 1171–1251, no. 596; Rot. oblatis, 562–4, 601–03. The feast of SS Peter and Paul (29 June) was subsequently considered as the date of the settlement: Rot. litt. claus., 1204–24, p. 224a.

28 Rot. litt. pat., p. 148b, 151a; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, nos 612, 628.

29 Reg. St Thomas, Dublin, pp 266–7 (date-range, 1192×a. May 1216, that is, between the accession of Simon de Rochfort as bishop of Meath and the death of Adam de Hereford). The lay witnesses, Adam de Hereford, Manasser Arsic, Simon fitz William, and Adam de Ratlesdene/Rattesdena also witnessed Theobald Walter's charter (below document no. 1), suggesting that Simon's letter of institution was issued around the same time.

30 Reg. St Thomas, Dublin, pp 271–2 (date-range, 1192×1224).

31 Ibid., pp 241–2 (witnessed capitulo nostro).

32 Sheehy, Pontificia Hib., i, no. 95.

33 In 1322, Alienora, prioress of Lismullin, sued John, bishop of Meath, for the advowson of the church of Ardmulchan: Mervyn Archdall, Monasticon Hibernicum (Dublin, 1786), p. 555. In 1409 Pope Alexander V ordered the officialis of Meath to deliver to the prioress of Lismullin the parish church of Ardmulchan, at the petition of the prioress who maintained that it had been appropriated to the convent by Richard, bishop of Meath, reserving a portion for the perpetual vicar, but adding that the appropriation had not taken effect: Cal. papal letters, 1404–1415, p. 163. The only bishop of Meath named Richard up to that date was Richard de La Corner (1231–52), who, in fact, had founded the nunnery and of which his sister, Avicia de La Corner, was the first prioress. Of four extant charters issued by Richard for Lismullen none specifically mentioned Ardmulchan: see M. P. Sheehy, ‘Unpublished medieval notitiae and epistolae’ in Collect. Hib., vi (1963), pp 8–11.

34 Pipe roll Ire., 1211–12, pp 20–21. William Petit also accounted for forty-eight oxen to stock six plough-teams at Ardmulchan: ibid., pp 40–1.

35 See above, note 27.

36 Gearóid Mac Niocaill, ‘Cairt le Walter de Lacy’ in Galvia, xi (1977), pp 54–6; Veach, Lordship in four realms, pp 307–9; John Freeman, ‘Charters of the de Lacy family in favour of Craswell Priory’ in Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club, lxiv (2016), pp 49–50. For Walter de Lacy's foundation at Craswall, see Joe Hillaby, ‘Walter II de Lacy and the foundation of Craswall Priory: the historical contexts’ in ibid., pp 62–83. It is probable that Walter de Lacy, who accompanied King John on the expedition to Poitou in 1214, was in the king's entourage when he visited Grandmont (Haute Vienne, Com. St Sylvestre) on 1 and 2 April 1214, which may have determined Walter's choice of this order: ibid., p. 65; Nicholas Vincent, ‘King John's diary & itinerary’ in The Magna Carta Project (http://magnacartaresearch.org/read/itinerary/John_s_success_in_France) (17 Dec. 2019).

37 Cf. ‘the town of Geoffrey de Geneuyll at Armolghan’: Cal. justic. rolls Ire., 1295–1303, p. 105. For diet accounts of the manor of Roger Mortimer and Joan at Ardmulchan, dating from 1308×11, see C. M. Woolgar, Household accounts from medieval England (2 vols, Oxford, 1993), i, no. 9, 173–7.

38 Cal. doc. Ire., 1302–1307, p. 252.

39 I can find no evidence for the suggestion by Colin Veach that Theobald Walter held a sub-tenancy of the de Lacys in Meath: Veach, Lordship in four realms, p. 131. It appears to be based solely on the existence of Theobald's charter granting Ardmulchan to St Thomas's Abbey.

40 See below, notes 81–6.

41 In January 1201 Walter de Lacy witnessed William de Braose's confirmation to Theobald Walter and Theobald's acknowledgement that he and his heirs would owe service to de Braose: Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, i, nos. 26, 27; Facs. nat. MSS Ire., ii, plates LXVII, LXVIII. This is the only occasion where Walter de Lacy is found witnessing alongside Theobald Walter. The context is that Walter de Lacy was a son-in-law of William de Braose. For Hugh de Lacy's charters, see Daniel Brown, Hugh de Lacy, first earl of Ulster: rising and falling in Angevin Ireland (Woodbridge, 2016), pp 214–56.

42 Theobald I appeared to have had a son (Raimundo filio Theobaldi Wa[l]teri), who witnessed a charter of John, lord of Ireland, 1185×89, for Gerald fitz Maurice at Bristol: Red bk Kildare, p. 14. Given the disparity in age between him and Theobald II, this Raimund is likely to have either been illegitimate, or from an earlier marriage as must also have been Theobald's daughter, Beatrice, who was married first to Thomas de Hereford and after the latter's death c.1220 to Hugh Purcell: Reg. St Thomas, Dublin, pp 194–6, 197–198, 316, 360–2.

43 Ir. chartul. Llanthony, pp 78–9; Arlene Hogan, The priory of Llanthony prima and secunda in Ireland, 1172–1541: lands, patronage and politics (Dublin, 2008), p. 239. For the uncertainty as to whether Saithne was part of Meath or Dublin and its ‘restoration’ to the royal demesne by Philip of Worcester in 1184, see Ir. chartul. Llanthony, pp xv–xvi; Giraldus, Expugnatio, pp 198–9. It is likely that the tithes of Saithne were originally granted to Llanthony by Hugh de Lacy (d. 1186), even though no charter to that effect is extant. A charter of Eugenius, bishop of Clonard, a. 1191, confirmed the tithes of Ua Cathasaig quam eis fecit dominus Iohannes filius Henrici regis Anglie et dominus Hugo de Lacy: Ir. chartul. Llanthony, p. 219; Hogan, Priory of Llanthony, p. 238.

44 John made a grant of the lands of Ballybin together with two carucates of land formerly held by Roger Lych’ (otherwise unknown), and a grant of the church of Duleek: Ir. chartul. Llanthony, pp 78–80; Hogan, Priory of Llanthony, p. 237. The latter was confirmed by Eugenius, bishop of Clonard, 1185×91, who stated that he had done so peticione et presentacione I(ohannis) filii H(enrici) illustris regis Anglie et domini Hybernie: Ir. chartul. Llanthony, p. 219; Hogan, Priory of Llanthony, p. 238. In the pipe roll of the Irish exchequer for 1211–12, William le Petit rendered account of £58 10s. 3d. from the de Lacy demesne manor of Duleek for half a year and also for payment of wages for ward of its castle while Roger Pippard accounted for delivery of 293 cows to John the chamberlain, bailiff of Duleek: Pipe roll Ire., 1211–12, pp 20–21, 30–31, 66–7. Cf. Walter de Lacy's charter for Craswall (as in note 36), which granted tithes from his manor of Duleek. There also survives the text of a quitclaim whereby Nicholas Ferun (otherwise unknown) resigned to the house of Llanthony coram domino Iohanne filio regis Anglie any claim he had in the church of St Cianán of Duleek: Ir. chartul. Llanthony, p. 222; Hogan, Priory of Llanthony, pp 238–9. A further instance is suggested in an assize of darrein presentment in relation to the church of Baliogar (Garristown) between the Lord Edward (1254–72) and the canons of Llanthony. Edward claimed the advowson on the basis that John as lord of Ireland had given the manor of Baliogar to William de Blauncpoer in free marriage portion with his wife, Nesta, and William had presented one Roger as chaplain who was admitted by the bishop and instituted on the presentation of William. The canons of Llanthony, through their attorney, presented a charter of John which they argued granted all the tithes of the land of Ua Cathasaig on each side of the river Delvin to them. The jurors inquired whether Ua Cathasaig ever had land on the Garristown side of the river Delvin on which the church was situated; it was found not to be so (although Ua Cathasaig as king of Saithne may indeed have held lands south of the Delvin River in the pre-invasion period), whereupon the advowson was awarded to the Lord Edward who was asked to present a suitable incumbent to be admitted by the bishop: Ir. chartul. Llanthony,pp 143–4; Hogan, Llanthony priory, p. 314. The grant of the manor of Baliogar to the otherwise unknown William de Blauncpoer would appear to be another encroachment by John on the rights of the lord of Meath.

45 Concessi eciam eisdem canonicis et hac carta mea confirmavi de proprio dono meo villam de Dormach cum pertinenciis suis: Gearóid Mac Niocaill, Notitiae as Leabhar Cheanannais, 1033–1161 (Dublin, 1961), pp 38–9; Cal. pat. rolls, 1388–92, p. 300.

46 A.L.C. s.a. 1186. His death was also reported by the Anglo-Norman chroniclers, Roger of Howden, William of Newburgh, and Ralph de Diceto. See M. T. Flanagan, ‘Household favourites: Angevin royal agents in Ireland under Henry II and John’ in A. P. Smyth (ed.), Seanchas: studies in early and medieval Irish archaeology, history and literature in honour of Francis J. Byrne (Dublin, 2000), pp 369–70.

47 Reg. St Thomas, Dublin, pp 7–8, 11–13, 26–7, 254–5, 269–70, 274–5, 280–81.

48 Cal. patent rolls, 1334–8, p. 415. The charter was issued at Shaftesbury. In 1185 at Wexford John had granted to Henry Tyrel, his dispensarius, land near Dublin: Alen's reg., p. 17; H. J. Lawlor, ‘Calendar of the Liber Niger and Liber Albus of Christ Church cathedral’ in R.I.A. Proc., sect. c, xxvii (1908–09), p. 65.

49 Veach, Lordship, pp 84, 88–9; idem, ‘A question of timing’, pp 183–4. Geoffrey de Costentin had been granted ‘Kilbixy near Rathconrath’ by Hugh de Lacy I: Song of Dermot, ll. 3154–5, and notes on pp 313–4; Mullally, Deeds of the Normans, ll. 3152–3. Cf. Reg. Tristernagh, pp ix–x.

50 The king instructed Meiler fitz Henry as justiciar to deal with escheats and marriages by the counsel of his ‘beloved and faithful Walter de Lacy’: Rot. chart., p. 133b; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 199. On 10 February the king requested an aid from the clergy of Ireland for his campaign in Normandy sending Walter de Lacy and other messengers to relay the king's wishes: Rot. chart. p. 133b; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 201. Between 13 and 15 March the king addressed the king of Connacht advising him that Meiler fitz Henry was acting with the counsel of Walter de Lacy: Rot. liberate, p. 83; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 205. Around 15 March Walter de Lacy received protection for his lands in England while on the king's service in Ireland: Rot. litt. pat., p. 39a, Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 206. On 26 March the king authorised Walter de Lacy to hear the pleas between Meiler fitz Henry and William de Burgh and to give discreet judgement without delay between them, with further instructions on 29 April 1204: Rot. litt. pat. p. 39b, Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 209; Rot. litt. pat., pp 396, 416; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, nos 213, 214. On 31 August Water de Lacy was instructed to summon John de Courcy to court and, if he did not come, Walter and Hugh, his brother, were to have eight carucates of John de Courcy's land nearest to Meath: Rot. litt. pat., p. 45a, Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 224. On 3 September 1204 Walter received a charter for an annual eight-day fair at Lochsewdy, Kells, and Trim: Rot. chart., p. 136b, Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 229. On 13 November 1204 Walter and Hugh de Lacy jointly received a charter for eight cantreds in Ulster and Hugh de Lacy was confirmed in six cantreds in Connacht, though both were subsequently cancelled when on 2 May 1205 Hugh de Lacy was created earl of Ulster: Rot. chart., pp 139b, 151a; Rot. litt. pat., p. 54a; Gormanston reg., pp 189, 263; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, nos 240, 241, 360. On 3 June 1205 the king sent letters of credence to Meiler fitz Henry announcing that Hugh de Lacy would be a faithful coadjutor and that war should not be waged in the marches without the counsel of Walter and Hugh: Rot. litt. claus., 1204–24, p. 40a; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 268.

51 Gesta regis Henrici secondi Benedicti abbatis, ed. William Stubbs (2 vols, Rolls Series, London, 1867), ii, 78 (hereafter Gesta regis Henrici); Chronica Rogeri de Houedene, iii, pp xxv. For the origins of the honour of Lancaster, see I. J. Sanders, English baronies: a study of their origin and descent, 1086–1327 (Oxford, 1960), pp 126–7.

52 Lionel Landon, The itinerary of King Richard I (Pipe Roll Society, n.s. 13, London, 1935), p. 86, when a series of sheriffs were appointed.

53 Lancashire pipe rolls, pp 75–108.

54 Lionel Landon and James Conway Davies (eds), Cartae antiquae rolls: rolls 11–20 (Pipe Roll Society, 51, Lincoln, 1960), pp 136–7; Lancashire pipe rolls, pp 81–3, 434–5. On 21 April at Winchester Theobald had witnessed King Richard's charter for the Cistercian abbey of St Mary des Dunes: Landon, Itinerary, p. 90. For John's earlier charter to Theobald for Amounderness, see William Farrer and John Brownbill (eds), The Victoria history of the county of Lancaster (8 vols, London, 1906–14), i, 352; Cal. Carew MSS, v, 443, nos 1, 2, 3.

55 The text of King Richard's letter designating five locations for tournaments addressed to Hubert Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, is given in Radulphi de Diceto opera historica, ed. William Stubbs (2 vols, Rolls Series, London, 1876), ii, pp lxxx-lxxi; according to Roger of Howden, Hubert Walter appointed his own brother, Theobald, as collector of fees: Chronica Rogeri de Houedene, iii, 268.

56 Pipe roll 9 Richard I, 1197 (Pipe Roll Society, 46, London, 1931), p. 73; cf. p. 80 where along with William de Glanville he was responsible for the collection of amercements in Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. On 16 August 1195 he is found as an itinerant justice at Salisbury alongside an impressive array of judges which included his brother, Hubert: D. M. Stenton (ed.), Pleas before the king or his justices, 1198–1212 (Selden Society, 83 for the year 1966, London, 1967), p. cvii.

57 John is described as having been ‘incensed at his defection to Richard in 1194’ in Farrer & Brownbill (eds), The Victoria history of the county of Lancaster, i, 353.

58 Theobald appears to have been removed from office by King Richard in 1199 before the latter's death on 6 April 1199 and was reinstated by John for a six-month period before he was permanently removed at Michaelmas 1199: Lancashire pipe rolls, p. 108.

59 Rot. oblatis, pp 33, 34, 115, 116, 123; Lancashire pipe rolls, pp 128, 130. For the temporary seizure from Theobald of Amounderness and its restoration on 2 January 1202, see Rot. liberate, p. 25. It may also have been around this time that the king seized Theobald's manor of ‘Saxton’ in Norfolk: Rot. litt. claus., 1204–24, pp 167a, 208a.

60 In 1253 Theobald's actions were still reverberating when a Lancashire jury, answering a writ de melius inquirendo upon lands of Theobald Walter, returned that Theobald had taken by force the land of Brocton from Richard son of Ughtred and that ‘because of his many transgressions in seizing the lands of Robert son of Bernard, Walter son of Osbert, William son of Swain, and others of Amounderness, and other injuries, the king had disseised him of all his lands’: Calendar of inquisitions post mortem, i (London, 1904), pp 67–8, no. 264. ‘The verdict is an echo, fifty years delayed, of the administrative crisis in Lancashire which followed upon the death of Richard and the accession of John’: J. E. A. Jolliffe, Angevin kingship (2nd ed., London, 1963), pp 65–6.

61 Rot. liberate, p. 25; Lancashire pipe rolls, pp 211–12.

62 Lancashire pipe rolls, pp 212, 293, 436. On or before 20 July 1207 Robert Vavasour had offered a fine of 1200 marks and two palfreys to have the dower of his daughter, Matilda, widow of Theobald Walter, in both Ireland and England, from which Amounderness was excepted, though she was to be permitted to have her own third from Marton in Amounderness and from the lands which Theobald's father had by hereditary right and which descended to him: Rot. litt. claus., 1204–24, pp 65b, 88b; Rot. oblatis, p. 383; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, nos. 367, 370. On 20 July 1207 the king wrote to William de Braose commanding him to allow Robert Vavasour without delay to have the lawful dower of his daughter, Matilda, widow of Theobald Walter, and in similar vein to the justiciar, Meiler fitz Henry, ordering him to cause Matilda to have her lawful dower of free tenements whether held of the king or of others, her father having fined for her marriage: Rot. litt. pat., p. 74b; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, nos. 332, 333. By 1 October 1207 Matilda was married to Fulk fitz Warin when the king ordered William de Braose, Earl William Marshal, Meiler fitz Henry, his justiciar in Ireland, and the sheriff of Lancaster to see that Matilda and her husband had her rightful widow's dower: Rot. litt. claus., 1204–24, p. 92b; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 336. In August 1214 when the marriage of Theobald's son, Theobald II, was offered to Reginald de Pontibus, Reginald was to be allowed possession of all Theobald's lands in Ireland but was explicitly denied possession of Amounderness: Rot. litt. claus. 1204–24, p. 163b (not in Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251); Rot. litt. pat., p. 120b; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 514. Only in 1215 did King John finally agree to Theobald's widow receiving her dower in Amounderness: Rot. litt. claus. 1204–24, pp 223b, 352a.

63 Chronica Rogeri de Houedene, iv, 152–3. A settlement was negotiated on 12 January 1201 between William de Braose and Theobald Walter, in the presence of King John at Lincoln: Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 26; Facs. nat. MSS Ire., ii, plate LXVII. Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, and Henry de Castellione, archdeacon of Canterbury, acted as witnesses as they did also to Theobald's acknowledgement that he was to hold twenty-two knights’ fees in Munster of William de Braose: Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 27; Facs. nat. MSS Ire., ii, plate LXVIII. See further C. A. Empey, ‘The settlement of the kingdom of Limerick’ in James Lydon (ed.), England and Ireland in the later middle ages (Blackrock, Dublin, 1981), pp 1–25. Hubert was also responsible for negotiating a settlement between Theobald and Felix Ua Duib Sláine, bishop of Ossory (a. 1180–died 24 January 1202), when the latter excommunicated Theobald on account of lands which he had taken from the bishop's see: Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 23.

64 Pipe roll 5 John Michaelmas 1203 (Pipe Roll Society, 54, London, 1938), p. 233; Pipe roll 6 John Michaelmas 1204 (Pipe Roll Society, 56, London, 1940), p. 3; Lancashire pipe rolls, p. 167; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, nos 194, 248.

65 A charter of John Cumin, archbishop of Dublin, which predates 1199, refers to quum prefatus Theobaldus secondo Hiberniam intravit: Red Bk Ormond, p. 85, which indicates at least one other visit between 1185 and 1204. On 3 April 1206 King John ordered Meiler fitz Henry, justiciar, to take into the king's hand all the lands held by William de Burgh in Munster on the day the king made a fine with William de Braose and ‘all the lands which were Theobald Walter's on the day when he left Ireland, no matter from whom he held them’: Rot. litt. pat., p. 60b; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1252, no. 288. The departure from Ireland alluded to here probably occurred during the period 1204–05.

66 A foundation-date of 11th kalends April 1205 for Abington is given in the Cistercian tabulae: Gearóid Mac Niocaill, Na manaigh liatha in Éirinn, 1142–c.1600 (Dublin, 1959), pp 4–5; Chartul. St Mary's, ii, 235 and cf. 310. Yet this date conflicts with earlier charters issued by Theobald. One, in favour of the abbot and monks of ‘Wodeny’, that is, Abington, described as a daughter-house of Savigny (magist(ra) domus ipsorum, scil. Saveine) was issued for the well-being of Theobald's lord, ‘John, count of Mortain’, and therefore dates from 1189×99; the text is recited in an enrolment in the 34th year of King Henry VIII (1542–3) in the Irish chancery made at the request of John Mulryan, provost of Abington: Dugdale, Mon. Ang. vi, II, 1137; Chart. privil. immun. p. 11; Irish mon. deeds, 1200–1600, pp 99–101 (all derived from the same source). Carte printed another version, shorter, most likely earlier, and with a different set of witnesses, from an extant original with seal attached that he found ‘in the Duchy Court of Lancaster, kept in Grays Inn in the 55th box of deeds’ (it appears to have since been lost) which has the phrase qui exierunt de Furneis and which likewise referred to John as count of Mortain: Thomas Carte, An history of the life of James, duke of Ormonde (3 vols, London, 1735–6), i, p. xvii. Theobald also issued a letter (no witness list), still extant as an original among the Duchy of Lancaster deeds, confirming that a charter of a grant in free alms in the cantred of Wuoethenithathelan (Uaithne Uí Chathaláin) and Wuoethenifernan (Uaithne Uí hIffernáin) to the monks qui exierunt de Furneis, was the first relating to any donation made by him in that cantred: Lancashire pipe rolls, p. 340; Coucher book of Furness Abbey, ii, part III (Chetham Society, n.s. 78, Manchester, 1919), p. 735; P. R. rep. D.K. 36, p. 188, no. 240. A grant by Theobald of the island of Arklow to the monks qui exierunt de abbatia de Furnesio (Dugdale, Mon. Ang., vi, II, 1128, ex autog. in bibl. Cotton.) has been assumed to predate his charters for Abington with a transfer from Arklow to Abington occurring c.1205: Gwynn & Hadcock, Med. relig. houses, p. 126. Yet this sequence clearly conflicts with Theobald's two charters for Abington which definitely predate 1199 as well as that relating to Arklow which latter states that the grant was made pro salute animae Johannis regis Angliae … et pro salute animae comitis Willielmi Marescalli, that is, after John became king in 1199 and William Marshal was acknowledged as earl of Pembroke (witnessed by H(ubert), archbishop of Canterbury, and therefore issued in England). No monastic foundation at Arklow ensued. I can find no earlier authority than Carte, Life of James, duke of Ormonde, i, p. xxi, for the view that Theobald I was buried at Abington. The hospital of St John the Baptist, Nenagh, as noted by Otway-Ruthven, Med. Ire., p. 74, note 13, was founded by Theobald Walter II c.1224. It is incorrectly attributed to Theobald Walter I by Curtis, Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, nos 22, 23.

67 For simultaneous contradictory grants to different individuals made by John in Ireland as king after 1199, see Peter Crooks, ‘“Divide and rule”: factionalism as royal policy in the lordship of Ireland, 1171–1265’ in Peritia, xix (2005), pp 273–307. Following the disseisin of Walter de Lacy in 1210, John proceeded to take several of the most important settlements in Meath into his hands, including Walter's caput at Trim as well as holdings at Ratoath and Nobber. It was presumably around this time that John granted Ratoath to Philip of Worcester to hold of the king and his heirs for service of one knight, which Philip lost following the restoration of Meath to Walter de Lacy: Orpen, Normans, ii, 247–8; Gormanston Reg., 178–9.

68 See Veach, ‘A question of timing’, pp 193–4, who dates ‘a process of authentic reconciliation’ between John and Walter de Lacy to 1195; cf. idem, ‘King and magnate in medieval Ireland: Walter de Lacy, King Richard and King John’ in I.H.S., xxxvii, no. 146 (Nov. 2010), p. 187. Veach makes a strong case for Walter de Lacy having entered into his majority in 1189 and securing seisin of his father's lands not only in Normandy and Hereford but also in Meath, in the latter instance evidenced by a charter of Walter granting Ratoath to his younger brother, Hugh, which predates 1191.

69 Rot. oblatis, p. 222; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 247. The date is significant since it may coincide with Theobald Walter's confirmation to St Thomas's Abbey and may reflect legal proceedings around that time. Robert fitz Jordan's widow, Christiana, was to raise a claim to land in Ardmulchan on 5 October 1225 and on 23 March 1226, when the otherwise unknown Philip de Boyn also pleaded against Walter de Lacy for land in Ardmulchan: Rot. litt. claus., 1224–27, pp 64a, 103–04; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, nos. 1328, 1361.

70 Theobald granted Jordan de Losche ‘Clarah’ with fifteen carucates of land near the said vill for service of a half-knight: Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 10. This Jordan witnessed Theobald's charter for Adam de Hereford (Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 33) and for Abington (Dugdale, Mon. Ang. vi, II, 1137; Chart. privil. immun. p. 11; Irish mon. deeds, 1200–1600, pp 99–101) and the monks of Furness (Carte, Life of James, duke of Ormonde, i, p. xvii).

71 Robert may have been a beneficiary of a grant by John or possibly an associate of Theobald Walter, who may have enfeoffed him with land in Ardmulchan. Dispute over possession of Ardmulchan may have been ongoing for some time. On 24 August 1214 Henry, archbishop of Dublin, then justiciar, was ordered by King John to give seisin to Reginald de Pontibus who had been promised the marriage of Theobald's son and heir, of the castles in Ireland formerly held by Theobald Walter which are named as Thurles, Roscrea, Lusk, ‘Armolen’ and ‘Kakaulis’: Rot. litt. claus. 1204–24, p. 163b; Rot. litt. pat., p. 120b; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 514; cf. above, note 62. Presumably, ‘Armolen’ should be identified as Ardmulchan, suggesting that a claim to Ardmulchan was still being made in relation to Theobald Walter's estate. On 6 September 1214 Geoffrey de Marisco was ordered to give Reginald de Pontibus seisin of Thurles and ‘Rokerell’, that is, Roscrea, with no mention of Lusk or ‘Armolen’: Rot. litt. pat., p. 121b; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 516.

72 For de Lacy benefactions, see Reg. St Thomas, Dublin, pp 6, 7–14, 48–9, 224, 242, 247, 270, 273, 280, 419–20. Hugh de Lacy's wife, Rohesia, was buried at her death in St Thomas's Abbey and Hugh de Lacy's body was subsequently also transferred there from Bective Abbey: ibid., pp 7, 11, 13, 74, 420, 348–50, 419–20.

73 For Simon de Rochfort, bishop of Meath, 1192–1224, see Brendan Smith, ‘Rochfort, Simon (d. 1224)’ in O.D.N.B. His death in 1224 is recorded in Chartul. St Mary's, ii, 288.

74 Sheehy, Pontificia Hibernica, i, no. 22. The text derives from Radulphus de Diceto's Ymagines historiarum. Longchamp's legatine commission would have ended with the death of Pope Clement on 20 March 1191.

75 Ailbe Ua Máel Muaid, (Albinus), bishop of Ferns, and Conn (Concors) Ua Mellaig, bishop of Annaghdown, along with John Cumin, archbishop of Dublin, were present at Richard I's coronation on 3 September 1189: Gesta regis Henrici, ii, 79; Chronica Rogeri de Houedene, iii, 8. Conn also attended a council held by the king at the abbey of Pipewell on 15 September and on 17 September he assisted at the consecration of John, bishop of Whithern, alongside John Cumin: Gesta regis Henrici, ii, 87; Chronica Rogeri de Houedene, iii, 15–16. The background to Conn's presence in England was the attempt to carve out a new diocese at the expense of the archiepiscopal province of Tuam. See A. Gwynn, The Irish church in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, ed. Gerard O'Brien (Blackrock, Dublin, 1992), p. 245; Gwynn & Hadcock, Med. relig. houses, pp 60–1. In 1197 John Cumin, in his struggle with John over the actions of his justiciar, Hamo de Valognes, had recourse to King Richard I, albeit to little avail: Chronica Rogeri de Houedene, iv, 29–30.

76 For Hubert Walter, see above, note 17.

77 For Simon de Rochfort, see above, note 73.

78 For William Piro, bishop of Glendalough (1192–a. 30 July 1212), see A. S. Mac Shamhráin, Church and polity in pre-Norman Ireland: the case of Glendalough (Maynooth, 1996), pp 162–3.

79 For David, bishop of Waterford, see above, p. 156.

80 See M. T. Flanagan, ‘Meiler fitz Henry (d. 1220)’ in O.D.N.B.. He was in office as justiciar on 4 September 1199 (? 1198–1200), was recalled early in 1200 and accompanied the king in Normandy and England, was reappointed no later than 2 November 1201 and removed from office after 19 June 1208; cf. Richardson and Sayles, Admin. Ire., pp 74–5.

81 Theobald Walter granted Adam de Hereford the tuath of ‘Cluainmonet’ in Éile Uí Cerbaill and the vill of Clonfertmoloe, the charter being witnessed by among others Elias fitz Norman (below, note 83), Walter de Kentwell (below, note 85), and Adam de Ratesdene (below, note 86): Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 33; see also the confirmation by William de Braose to Adam de Hereford of Theobald's grant: ibid., no. 21. Adam de Hereford also held an unnamed knight's fee of Walter de Lacy which, following Adam's death, King John ordered to be given to Walter, dilecti et fideli nostro, on 29 May 1216: Rot. litt. claus., 1204–24, p. 272b; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 692. If this fee was located in Meath, Adam de Hereford would be the only witness to Theobald's charter with a possible link to Meath.

82 Manasser Arsic witnessed a charter of John as lord of Ireland and count of Mortain for Jerpoint Abbey, 1189×99, at Leicester alongside Theobald Walter: Cal. pat. rolls, 1358–61, p. 488; Dugdale, Mon. Ang., vi, II, 1131–2. In 1199 he proffered a fine of twenty marks for a plea of novel disseisin against Theobald Walter concerning a (unnamed) free tenement: Rot. oblatis, pp 27, 30; Cal. doc. Ire., 1172–1251, nos 108–09. Theobald offered eighty marks that the assize be held coram ipso domino rege: Rot. oblatis, p. 30. The outcome is not known, but by 1204×05 Manasser was witnessing Theobald's charter for Ardmulchan which implies a settlement. Manasser held extensive lands in Tipperary (see his grants of Buolick, Slievardagh, Kilcooly, and Crohane to the hospital of St John the Baptist, Dublin, in Reg. St John, Dublin, pp 314–15, 318, 322–3, 325), but he also for a period had, or claimed, lands in County Kilkenny, as is evident from two charters to St Thomas's Abbey, including grants of the church of Donaghmore (barony of Fassadinan) and the chapel of Tulach Barri (Moatpark in parish of Donaghmore): Reg. St Thomas, Dublin, pp 129–30. It is possible that Manasser had been enfeoffed by John in those lands, but none of his heirs retained them and they were subsequently found in the possession of the Archdeacon, Devereux and Freyne (de Fraxineto) families, associates of William Marshal. It is likely, as surmised by G. H. Orpen and Eric St Brooks, that Manasser's Kilkenny lands had been granted to him by John as lord of Ireland, encroaching on the lordship of Leinster: Orpen, G. H., ‘Motes and Norman castles in Ossory’ in R.S.A.I. Jn., xxxix (1909), pp 315Google Scholar, 330; Knights’ fees, pp 177–8, 187–8, 215–17. For the Archdeacons as associates of William Marshal, cf. Crouch, Acts and letters of the Marshal family, nos 53, 55, 246. For Stephen d'Evreux, described as ‘cousin’ of the Marshal, see History of William Marshal, ii, ll. 13490, 13635–6, 13733, 13813, 13839, 18185; he was an important member of the Marshal's affinity attested as such from c.1199: Crouch, William Marshal, 3rd ed., pp 128, 129, 130, 143, 221, 223 and n. 234, 255. In 1185 in Ireland Alexander Arsic (precise relationship to Manasser unknown) witnessed a charter of John, lord of Ireland, for Baltinglass Abbey, alongside Theobald Walter, and the charter of John for Ranulf de Glanville and Theobald Walter, and a charter for William fitz Maurice: Nicholls, K. W., ‘The charter of John, lord of Ireland, in favour of the Cistercian abbey of Baltinglass’ in Peritia, iv (1985), pp 187–206CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ormond deeds, 1350–1413, no. 426 (1); Gormanston reg., pp 145–193–4; Chart. privil. immun., p. 5. Between 1185 and 1189 Alexander Arsic witnessed a confirmation of John, lord of Ireland, of a render of mead and beer for St Thomas's Abbey, Dublin (Hist. & mun. doc. Ire., pp 50–1; Chart. privil. immun., p. 4) and a charter of John for Walter de Ridlesford (St John Brooks, Eric, ‘The de Ridelesfords’ in R.S.A.I. Jn., lxxxi (1951), p. 122Google Scholar, note 28); and a charter for Robert de St Michael: Rot. pat. Hib., p. 1, no. 4; Facs. nat. MSS Ire., iii, plate II, also available at https://chancery.tcd.ie/roll/Antiquissime-Roll/Other (text recited in an inspeximus on a patent roll of the Irish exchequer c. 1300, reading Arsic for Arpise). The Arsics can therefore be identified as associates of John and of Theobald Walter.

83 Elias fitz Norman witnessed a charter of Theobald Walter for Gilbert de Kentwell (Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 34), and a charter for the Cistercian abbey of Abington, County Limerick (Ir. mon. deeds, 1200–1600, p. 101 and cf. above, note 66). Elias granted the ecclesiastical benefices of half of his tuath of Maige Dá Chonn (Moyacomb) in the diocese of Ferns to St Thomas's Abbey: Reg. St Thomas, Dublin, pp 183–4. He may have been enfeoffed there by Theobald Walter since Maige Dá Chonn was part of the original grant by Strongbow to William de Angulo which subsequently passed to Theobald. See above, pp 153–4. On 12 September 1199 King John granted him a vill in ‘Adlongport’ by the river Suir: Rot. chart., p. 20a; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 98; it is identified as Moyaliff, bar. Kilnamanagh upper, County Tipperary in Red Bk Ormond, pp 64–5. It was suggested by J. T. Gilbert that he could be identified as Elias, son of Norman Clater: Reg. St Thomas, p. 14, but this is unlikely since Norman Clater occurs primarily in Dublin contexts. He also, however, owed an annual rent of six shillings to the lord of Meath: Pipe roll Ire., 1211–12, pp 22–3.

84 Simon fitz William witnessed the notification by Simon de Rochfort, bishop of Meath, of the installation of the canons of St Thomas's in the church of Ardmulchan: Reg. St Thomas, Dublin, p. 266.

85 Walter de Kentwell witnessed charters of Theobald Walter granting his demesne (omnes dominicos meos) in Arklow to Furness Abbey (Dugdale, Mon. Ang., vi, II, 1128), for Adam de Hereford (Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 33), for Hugh Hose ([T. L. Cooke], The picture of Parsonstown in the King's County (Dublin, 1826), p. 21, printed from an original that was in the possession of the baron of Galtrim in 1620), and his grant of Rathmore (County Carlow) to St Thomas's Abbey (Reg. St Thomas, Dublin, p. 108). A yet more frequent witness of charters of Theobald was Gilbert de Kentwell, who held land as a military tenant of the honour of Lancaster in Norfolk and Thurston (Suffolk): Lancashire pipe rolls, pp 145, 193, 242. Gilbert witnessed a charter of William de Chimilli, archdeacon of Richmond, 1194×96, confirming the church of St Michael-on-Wyre to the monks of Wyresdale on the presentation of Theobald Walter who witnessed alongside him: ibid., p. 336; Round, J. H. (ed.), Ancient charters, royal and private prior to AD 1200 (Pipe Roll Society, 19, London, 1888), p. 103Google Scholar. Gilbert witnessed charters of Theobald for Jordan de Losche (Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 10), Furness (Dugdale, Mon. Ang., vi, II, 1128) and Abington (Ir. mon. deeds, 1200–1600, p. 101 and cf. above, note 66), a grant of land in the manor of Gowran to Simon Salvag’ (Ir. mon. deeds, 1200–1600, pp 99–101, 307), a charter for Cockersand Abbey (Farrer, William (ed.), The chartulary of Cockersand Abbey ii, I (Chetham Society, n.s. 40, Manchester, 1898), 375Google Scholar; Dugdale, Mon. Ang., vi, II, 906), a charter for William de Braose (Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 27; Facs. nat. MSS Ire., ii, plate LXVIII), a charter for Hugh Hose (as above), and a charter for Res son of Philip (Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 113, incorrectly dated by Edmund Curtis to c.1250). Theobald enfeoffed Gilbert with five knights’ fees in Éile Uí Fhócarta: Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 34. It is unclear how much time Gilbert spent in Ireland following the death of Theobald Walter. In 1210 Gilbert de Kentwell, most likely his son, received one hundred shillings on the king's business in Poitou (Rot. liberate, p. 150), while in 1215 King John rewarded him with the land of Henry de Vere in Honeychild (Kent) and all the lands of his enemies in Suffolk and Essex to be held at the king's pleasure: Rot. litt. claus., 1204–24, p. 227b. In 1222 Gilbert requested royal letters to be issued to the justiciar of Ireland because Peter, bishop of Ossory, had disseised him of the land of Kilfane (County Kilkenny) which he held from the bishop since it was reported that Gilbert was dead, but as Gilbert was in good health and in the king's service, the king commanded the justiciar to give him seisin unless he was disseised for some other reason: Rot. litt. claus., 1204–24, p. 499a; Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 1035; Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, no. 23. Roger de Kentwell witnessed a charter of Gilbert de Hawkedon for Butley Priory (Suffolk) granting 6d rent in Instead at the request and entreaty of his lord, Theobald Walter: Leiston Abbey cartulary and Butley Priory charters, pp 151–2, no. 147.

86 Adam de Rattesdene witnessed charters of Theobald for Adam de Hereford, Gilbert de Kentwell (Ormond deeds, 1172–1350, nos. 33, 34), Hugh Hose ([Cooke], Picture of Parsonstown, p. 21) and the monastery of Abington (Ir. mon. deeds, 1200–1600, p. 101 and cf. above note 66), and Theobald's acknowledgement that he owed service to William de Braose: Facs. nat. MSS Ire., ii, plate LXVIII. It was suggested by J. T. Gilbert that the name derived from Rettendon in Essex (Reg. St Thomas, Dublin, p. 14), but Rattlesden in Suffolk is to be preferred. Adam de Rattlesden and Gilbert de Kentwell (above, note 85) are described as Suffolk men by Mortimer, ‘Family of Ranulf de Glanville’, p. 12. Cf. Bartlett, Robert, ‘Colonial aristocracies of the high middle ages’ in Bartlett, Robert and Mackay, Angus (eds), Medieval frontier societies (Oxford, 1989), p. 26Google Scholar.

87 An Adam clericus witnessed Walter de Lacy's charter for Trim: Mac Niocaill, Na buirgéisí, i, 74–5.