Francis Toppesfeld (died after 1427) was an English Crown servant who became a

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

in Ireland.Ball p.175 He is first heard of in the reign of King Henry IV, when he was an esquire of the body, in personal attendance on the Royal Family. He was a senior official who held the position of Controller of the Household to King Henry's second son

Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence (autumn 1387 – 22 March 1421) was a medieval English prince and soldier, the second son of Henry IV of England, brother of Henry V, and heir to the throne in the event of his brother's death. He acted ...

. Clarence held office as

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the Kingdo ...

in 1401-13 (arriving in Dublin in November 1401)Otway-Ruthven p.341 and it is almost certain that Toppesfeld accompanied him to Ireland, as did another future Baron of the Exchequer, Sir John Radcliffe, then Lancaster's Secretary and later a distinguished military commander.Ball p.172 Toppesfeld married Alice, an heiress who brought him a considerable landholding in Ireland. They were visiting England in 1410, having appointed Thomas Shorthalls, later another colleague of Toppesfeld on the Court of Exchequer, as their attorney. Thomas Duke of Clarence-effigy Clarence, his employer, had left Ireland for good in 1409; he was killed fighting in France in 1421.Otway-Ruthven pp.345-6 In 1425, Toppesfeld was appointed a Baron of the

Court of Exchequer (Ireland) The Court of Exchequer (Ireland) or the Irish Exchequer of Pleas, was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was the mirror image of the equivalent court in England. The Court of Exchequer was one of the four royal courts of justic ...

at a

salary A salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis. ...

of £20 pounds a year.Smyth p.149 He was not necessarily a qualified

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

, as this was not a requirement to be a Baron in the fifteenth century, a fact which gave rise to frequent complaints about the poor quality of the judges. He was still on the Bench in 1427 when, like so many judges of the time, he complained that his salary was in arrears. The

Exchequer In the civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty’s Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's ''current account'' (i.e., money held from taxation and other government reven ...

, having investigated his complaint, confirmed that he was due arrears of £6.''Close Roll 5 Henry VI'' Shortly afterwards he stepped down as a judge in favour of Robert Chambre. His date of death is not recorded.

Sources

*Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' London John Murray 1926 *Haydn, Joseph ''Book of Dignities'' London Longman Brown Green and Longmans 1851 *Otway-Ruthven, A.J. ''A History of Medieval Ireland'' New York Barnes and Noble 1993 *Smyth, Constantine Joseph ''Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland'' London Butterworths 1839

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toppesfeld, Francis Barons of the Irish Exchequer