Nicholas de Snyterby, or Snitterby (died after 1354) was a Law Officer and

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 in the fourteenth century, who held office as King's Serjeant, 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 ...

and justice of the

Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) The Court of Common Pleas was one of the principal courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror image of the equivalent court in England. Common Pleas was one of the four courts of justice which gave the Four Courts in Dublin, which is still ...

.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' London John Murray 1926 pp.75-7 He was born at

Snitterby Snitterby is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish was 215 at the 2001 census, increasing to 245 at the 2011 census. It is situated north from the city and county t ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, England. The de Snyterby name is derived from the village of Snitterby; it was occasionally spelt de Sueterby. He was a close relative, possibly a nephew, of

Thomas de Snyterby Thomas de Snyterby (died 1316) was an English-born Crown official, cleric and judge in Ireland, in the reign of King Edward I of England.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' London John Murray 1926 pp.57-8 He was the first of sev ...

, who came to Ireland in an official capacity in 1285 and served on the Court of Common Pleas 1295–1307. Unlike Thomas, he was not a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

, being described in 1352 as Nicholas de Snyterby, layman, of the

Archdiocese of Dublin The Archbishop of Dublin is an archepiscopal title which takes its name after Dublin, Ireland. Since the Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church and the other in the Church of Irelan ...

.''Calendar of Papal Registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland'' Vol.3 1342-1362 Nicholas is first heard of as a Crown servant in Ireland in 1316 when he held the office of

King's Serjeant A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writ ...

, or "Serjeant pleader".Hart, A.R. ''A History of the King's Serjeants-at-law in Ireland'' Dublin Four Courts Press 2000 p.9 Although an Attorney-General for Ireland, Richard Manning, had recently been appointed, (and is generally thought to have been the first to hold the office) the Serjeants-at-law (there were usually two of them at this point) remained for several centuries afterwards the senior legal advisers to the Crown, and pleaded in the Royal Courts on behalf of the King. He was listed in 1326 in the

Close Rolls The Close Rolls () are an administrative record created in medieval England, Wales, Ireland and the Channel Islands by the royal chancery, in order to preserve a central record of all letters close issued by the chancery in the name of the Crown. ...

as one of the officials who were ordered to take charge of and account for the goods and chattels of

Walter de Islip Walter de Islip, or de Istlep (died after 1342) was an English-born cleric, statesman, and judge in fourteenth-century Ireland. He was the first Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer; he also held the offices of Treasurer of Ireland, Chief Escheator, ...

, lately Lord Treasurer of Ireland, who was then in deep disgrace, facing charges of

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...

and

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

, and liable to forfeiture of his property. In 1332 Alexander de Bicknor, the

Archbishop of Dublin The Archbishop of Dublin is an archepiscopal title which takes its name after Dublin, Ireland. Since the Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church and the other in the Church of Irelan ...

, appointed Nicholas one of his attorneys while he was in England, along with his colleague

Thomas de Montpellier Thomas de Montpellier, or de Monte Pessulano (died after 1347) was a fourteenth-century Anglo- French judge and Crown official, much of whose career was spent in Ireland. He held a number of important lay and clerical offices including Dean of S ...

.''Patent Roll 6 Edward III'' Nicholas was appointed second Baron of the Irish Court of Exchequer in 1337 and apparently settled permanently in Ireland the following year. He was appointed to the Court of Common Pleas in 1340 and sat in both Courts at once, possibly due to a shortage of judges. He was forced to contend for the office of Baron with William de Epworth, and was successful; Epworth was compensated with other offices, being appointed

steward Steward may refer to: Positions or roles * Steward (office), a representative of a monarch * Steward (Methodism), a leader in a congregation and/or district * Steward, a person responsible for supplies of food to a college, club, or other ins ...

of the Crown lands and

Seneschal The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...

of County Dublin. The office of royal steward turned out to be a mixed blessing as Epworth was soon accused of

and imprisoned, although he was eventually exonerated. Nicholas was superseded as Baron in 1343,Smyth, Constantine Joseph ''Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland'' London Butterworths 1839 but in the same year he sat as an extra judge to hear the pleas with John Morice, the Deputy Justiciar of Ireland, and was paid 10 marks for his good services.''Close Roll 17 Edward III'' In 1346 he had licence to go to England: he appointed Thomas Snyterby, who was presumably a close relative, as one of his attorneys. He was reappointed as a full-time justice in 1347, and again in 1351, and was still serving on both Courts in 1354, although he must have been an old man by then. His

Patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

of appointment for the Common Pleas was renewed in that year. In 1351 he sat on a commission of inquiry into the lands of Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond. In 1352, no doubt conscious of his advancing years, he was given permission to name his own confessor, who had the power to grant him remission of his sins, if he was truly

penitent Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of repentance for sins committed, as well as an alternate name for the Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. It also plays a part i ...

, on his deathbed. In the same year he became a notary public. In 1346, prior to his reappointment to the Court of Exchequer, he petitioned for full payment of his fees as Baron, which were two years in arrears. The Crown ordered the

Lord Treasurer of Ireland The Lord High Treasurer of Ireland was the head of the Exchequer of Ireland, chief financial officer of the Kingdom of Ireland. The designation ''High'' was added in 1695. After the Acts of Union 1800 created the United Kingdom of Great Britain a ...

and the other Barons of the Exchequer to undertake an inquiry and to examine all the relevant records. On foot of the inquiry, which confirmed that the salary was in arrears, the Crown ordered him to be paid the full amount due of 45 marks.''Close Roll 20 Edward III '' Yet another member of the family,

Reginald de Snyterby Reginald de Snyterby (died 1436) was an Irish judge of the fifteenth century, from a family of English origin which produced several senior Irish judges.Ball p.175 He was probably born in Dublin, to a family which originated at Snitterby, Lincolnsh ...

, was like Nicholas, second Baron of the

in the 1420s and 1430s.Ball p.175 He owned substantial property in Dublin, which passed to his daughter Joanna, who married John Bennet, Mayor of Dublin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:de Synterby, Nicholas People from Lincolnshire Justices of the Irish Common Pleas Barons of the Irish Exchequer 14th-century deaths Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown