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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2016
There were three good reasons why Edward II hastened to secure papal help within the first year of the pontificate of John XXII (1316-17). A number of important bishoprics were vacant to which the king hoped to secure his candidate, he needed fiscal help for defence purposes, and the weight of papal condemnation to fall on his enemies. Within the year he had secured a satisfactory degree of papal support in each of these three desiderabilia, and the cooperation of pope and king touched Irish affairs at some important points.
The general reasons why the king should wish to arrange episcopal succession to his liking are well known. There was particular reason for securing politically reliable bishops in Ireland. As Edward himself was to explain to John, the ‘fraudulent machinations and malicious and false collusion’ of some Irish prelates against royal power had been a major factor in the risings connected with Edward Bruce’s invasion. At this time both Dublin and Cashel were vacant, and Edward took all measures to ensure their filling by men acceptable to him. There were two candidates in the field at Cashel, nominees of a split in the chapter. In August of 1316, Edward wrote to eight cardinals impressing on them the necessity of having an English archbishop, and urging the candidature of a Franciscan, Geoffrey of Aylsham.
1 Cf.Smith, W.E.L., Episcopal appointments and patronage in the reign of Edward II (Chicago, 1938), pp. 1–11 Google Scholar.
2 Rymer, , Foedera (1706), iii. 615-6 (25 Mar. 1317)Google Scholar.
3 Ibid., pp. 595-6 (4 Jan. 1317).
4 The sources for these facts are conveniently assembled in E. B. Fitzmaurice and A. G. Little, Materials for the history of the Franciscan province of Ireland, 1230-1450 (1920), pp. 97-100.
5 Rymer, op. cit., p. 598.
6 Ibid., pp. 598-9.
7 Ibid., p. 584.
8 Ibid., pp. 615-6.
9 Ibid., p. 616.
10 26 Mar. 1316 (Cal. papal letters, 1305-42, p. 162).
11 Since 8 Aug. 1316 (Cal. pat. rolls, 1313-17 P.524).
12 20 Aug. 1317. The bull of provision is not in Cal. papal letters, but the full text is in the Novum Registrum of Christ Church i. 437. Bicknor’s experience as a royal official in Ireland was already considerable. He had been treasurer of the exchequer from 1307 to 1313 and was justiciar from 11 Aug. 1318 to 15 Mar. 1319 (Cal. pat. rolls, 1317-21, pp. 196, 199). Cf. also Tout, T.F., The place of Edward II in English history (2nd ed. by Johnstone, H., 1936), pp.342-4Google Scholar.
13 Mollat, G., Jean XXII, Lettres communes, analysées d’après les registres dits d’Avignon et du Vatican, t. i (1904), no.3393 (10 Apr. 1317)Google Scholar.
14 Ibid., no. 3306 (28 Mar. 1317).
15 Ibid., no. 5216 (24 Apr. 1317). Rymer, ,Foedera, iii. 618-9Google Scholar.
16 Rymer, op. cit., pp. 620-2.
17 Ibid., pp. 630-1.
18 Cal. papal letters, 1305-42, p. 422.
19 Cf.Curtis, , Med. Ire. (2 ed., 1938), p. 193 Google Scholar.
20 MacInerny, M.H., A history of the Irish Dominicans, i (Irish Dominican bishops, 1224-1307 (1916)), p. 573 Google Scholar.
21 Cf.Mollat, G., Les papes d’Avignon (9 ed. 1949), pp. 44ffGoogle Scholar. On the part the pope had already played in Edward’s fiscal policy after the Ordinances of 1311 had restricted his control of finance, Renouard, Y., ‘Edouard II et Clément V’, Annales du Midi, lxvii (1955). 119-41CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
22 See his letter to Edward, Rymer, op. cit., pp. 617-8.
23 See his ‘Optima Consilia de bono regimine’ in Raynaldus, , Annales ecclesiastici (ed. Theiner, A. 1872), t. xxiv, p. 63, § 45 (a. 1317)Google Scholar.
24 Mollat, Lettres communes, nos 5234-5 (1 May 1317).
25 Raynaldus, op. cit., pp. 64-5.
26 Theiner, Vetera mon., nos 422-3 (30 May 1318).
27 Such seems the implication behind the words: ‘You should scrupulously refrain from all such courses as may justly provoke against you the wrath of that God, the Lord to Whom vengeance belongeth— Who never disregards the groaning of those who are justly afflicted; and Who is described as having rejected His own peculiar people, and made a transfer of their kingdom to others, on account of the unrighteous acts of which they had been guilty’.
28 Rymer, , Foedera, iii. 727-8 (25 Aug. 1318)Google Scholar.
29 Act. parl., i, no. 120, p. 386.
30 Stat. Ire., John-Hen. V, 13 Edw. II c. 4, p. 285.
31 Ibid., 17 Edw. II, pp. 293-5.
32 M. V. Clarke, ‘Irish parliaments in the reign of Edward II’ in Fourteenth century studies (1937), p. 29. For a recent discussion of this subject, cf.Richardson, H.G. and Sayles, G.O., The Irish parliament in the middle ages (Philadelphia, 1952), pp. 71 ffCrossRefGoogle Scholar.
33 Rymer, as above.
34 D.N.B., s.v. Philip of Slane (by C. L. Kingsford). A copy of this text survives as B.M. Add. MS 19513 (ff. 164-188b) and in a Provençal version as B.M. Add. MS 17920 (ff. 20-29). Cf.Flower, R., ‘Manuscripts of Irish interest in the British Museum’, in Anal. Hib., ii (1931). 317 Google Scholar.
35 From Barberini MS Lat. 2126 of the Vatican Library, now in microfilm in the National Library, through the initiative of Rev. Cathaldus Giblin, O.F.M. For his brief catalogue of this MS cf. Archiv. Hib. xviii (1955). 74-5. It is printed as Document A below.
36 The princes claimed the testimony of ‘twelve bishops at least and of many other prelates’ to support their charges against the English. Cf. the translation of the Remonstrance in E. Curtis and R. B. McDowell, Irish historical documents, 1172-1922 (1943), pp. 38-46 at p. 45.
37 Cal. doc. Ire., iii. 10 (1285).
38 As is suggested by an entry in the Liber ruber Ossoriensis concerning a valuation of the diocese ‘post guerram Scotorum’, ‘Calendar of the Liber Ruber of the diocese of Ossory ’, ed. Lawlor, H.J., in R.I.A. Proc., xxviii, sect. C (1908), p. 20 Google Scholar. That this revaluation order was not confined to Ossory has been shown by G. J. Hand in an unpublished thesis, ‘Two Irish secular cathedrals in the middle ages: St Patrick’s, Dublin, and St Mary’s, Limerick’ (N.U.I., 1955). The taxation rolls were received at Westminster on 1 Oct. 1322. Mr Hand is to publish his material on this point in Archiv. Hib., xx.
39 The question of mutual racial discrimination is admirably summarised, with full references, by St Seymour, J.D. in Phillips, Ch. of Ire., ii. 97 Google Scholar.
40 By Nicholas de Cusack, bishop of Waterford. Cf. Fitzmaurice and Little, Materials for the history of the Franciscan province of Ireland, pp. 52-3.
41 The charges made against Bicknor were set out in a letter to the pope, Rymer, , Foedera, iv. 152 Google Scholar.
42 Printed by R. Ehrle, ‘Ein Bruchstück der Acten des Konzils von Vienne’, in Archiv für Literatur und Kirchengeschichte (1888), pp. 361-470.
43 In the absence of an official list of those who attended the council, it is not possible to determine exactly who the Irish representatives were. Cf. E. Müller, Das Konzil von Vienne 1311-1312: seine Quellen und seine Geschichte (Münster, 1934), p. 68. Certainly present were the archbishops of Armagh (Roland Jorz) and Dublin (John Leek). I have not been able to confirm the assertion of H. Wood that also present were the archbishop of Cashel, and the bishops of Emly, Killaloe, and Cloyne, (‘The Templars in Ireland’, R.I.A. Proc., xxvi, sect. C (1907), p. 355)Google Scholar.
44 The register of John Swayne, ed. Chart, D.A. (Belfast, 1935), p. 3 Google Scholar. King, R., Primer of the history of the Holy Catholic Church in Ireland (3 ed., 3 vols. 1845), pp. 1114-18Google Scholar. For a stimulating discussion of the background to this document see A. Gwynn, ‘Nicholas Mac Maol Iosa, archbishop of Armagh (1273-1303)’, in Essays presented to E. MacNeill (1940), pp. 394-405, at pp. 400-1.
45 Müller, op. cit., p. 118.
46 Ehrle, as above.
47 Theiner, op. cit., no. 471, p. 239 (31 July 1327).
48 Ibid., no. 470, p. 238.
49 MS Barb. Lat. 2126 f. 121 v-123, and calendar by Mollai, Lettres communes, no. 29377. The text of this letter is identical with that of the Lismore-Waterford letter, with the necessary changes in place names.
50 Full documentation in Fitzmaurice and Little, Materials for the history of the Franciscan province of Ireland, pp. 110-12, 127-8.
51 Rymer, , Foedera, iv. 418-9 (11 Feb. 1330)Google Scholar.
52 Cal. papal letters, 1342-62, p. 279.
53 Theiner, op. cit., no. 492, pp. 249-50
54 Ware, J., Works, i (ed. 1739). 561-2Google Scholar.
55 Theiner, op. cit., no. 619, p. 307.
56 Ibid., no. 659, P. 324.
57 Fitzmaurice and Little, op. cit., p. 137 (24 Mar. 1337).
58 Stat. Ire., 1-12 Edw. IV, 7 & 8 Edw. IV, c. 8, pp. 436-9.
59 From 1322 to the deposition, the Despensers were the government of Edward II. Cf. Tout, Place of Edward II in English history, pp. 131-41.
60 Cf. V. H. H. Green, The later Plantagenets (1955), p. 363.
61 Document B. below.
62 In which the proportion of members and clients of the royal administration was always high. It had been noted of the canons of the chapter in 1299 that they were ‘pro maxima parte clerici regis et sui familiares’ (Rot. parl., i. 153)Google Scholar. Mr G. J. Hand, in the thesis cited above, has made an admirable analysis of the composition of the chapter throughout the medieval period.
63 An office he held until 1357. Lawlor, H.J., The Fasti of St Patrick’s, Dublin (1930), p. 55 Google Scholar.
64 Burnt per decretum ecclesie at Dublin in 1327. Chartul. St Mary’s, Dublin, ii. 366; Dowling, Ann. Hib. (ed. R. Butler, 1849), p. 22.
65 Cf. Proceedings against Alice Kyteler, ed. Wright, T. (Camden Soc., 1843)Google Scholar.
66 Theiner, op. cit., no. 513, p. 261 (22 Feb. 1334).
67 Cf. King, op. cit., p. 1111.
68 I wish to express my thanks to Rev. Professor Aubrey Gwynn, S.J., for encouragement and help in the preparation of this article; and to Dr James Shiel, of the Classics Department of University College, Dublin, for his help in the transcription of the appended documents.
