Robert Dyke, Dyck or Dyche (died 1449) was an English-born cleric 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 ...
who held high office in fifteenth-century Ireland. He was appointed to the offices of
Archdeacon of Dublin
The Archdeacon of Dublin is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Anglican Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough. The Archdeacon is responsible for the disciplinary supervision of the clergy within the Dublin part of the diocese, which is by far ...
,
Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland
The Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland was the head of the Exchequer of Ireland and a member of the Dublin Castle administration under the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the Kingdom of Ireland. In early times the title was sometimes given as Ch ...
,
Lord High 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
Master of the Rolls in Ireland
The Master of the Rolls in Ireland was a senior judicial office in the Irish Chancery under English and British rule, and was equivalent to the Master of the Rolls in the English Chancery. Originally called the Keeper of the Rolls, he was respons ...
, as well as holding several Church livings.
[Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' John Murray London 1926 Vol.1 p.177]
Career
Little is known of his life before 1415, when he was an official at the English Court.
[ He was then evidently a Crown servant of some seniority, given the later references to his many years of "good and laudable" service to the Crown.][''Patent Roll 22 Henry VI''] His first link to Ireland was apparently forged in that year, when he and John Gland were given joint custody of the lands formerly held by Katherine Bernevall, widow of Reginald Bernevall, at Drimnagh
Drimnagh () is a suburb in Dublin, Ireland to the south of the city between Walkinstown, Crumlin and Inchicore, bordered by the Grand Canal to the north and east. Drimnagh is in postal district Dublin 12.
History
Early to mediaeval
Drimna ...
and Ballyfermot
Ballyfermot () is a suburb town nw of the city aside Dublin, Ireland. It is located, seven kilometres (5 miles) west of the city centre, south of Phoenix Park, it is bordered on the north by Chapelizod, on the south by Bluebell; on the east b ...
, Dublin.[''Patent Roll 3 Henry V''] This John Gland was one of the Barons 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 ...
, having been appointed to the Court earlier the same year, and was also Chief Auditor of the Accounts of the Exchequer.[ In the same year Dyke and Philip Earles, of whom little is known, were granted the manor of ]Lucan, Dublin
Lucan ( ; ga, Leamhcán) is a town in Ireland, located 12 km west of Dublin city centre on the River Liffey. It is near the Strawberry Beds and Lucan Weir, and at the confluence of the River Griffeen. It is mostly under the jurisdiction o ...
"in consideration of their good and laudable service".[
In 1422 Robert was appointed the Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer (or Chancellor of the Green Wax, as the office was often described then) and clerk 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 ...
with power to appoint a deputy to each office. His appointment was originally stated to be "during good behaviour", but in 1430 he was made Chancellor of the Exchequer for life.[ He was in Holy orders, and became vicar of ]Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,079.
History
B ...
, Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
in 1422. The actual date on which he arrived in Ireland to take up his official duties is unclear, although he had held lands there since 1415. He was acting as Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland through deputies in 1430. He had probably arrived in Ireland by 1431, when he became Archdeacon of Dublin. He was made parson of St. Patrick's Church, Trim, County Meath (now Trim Cathedral) in 1435, despite strong objections from the Archdeacon of Meath
The archdeacon of Meath is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the united Diocese of Meath and Kildare.
The archdeaconry can trace its history from Helias, the first known incumbent, who held the office in the twelfth century to the last dis ...
, William Yonge, who had nominated his own chaplain, John Ardagh, for the living.[Potterton, Michael ''The Archaeology and History of Medieval Trim, County Meath'' Ph.D thesis National University of Ireland Maynooth 2003]
He became Master of the Rolls in 1436, with a salary of 5 shillings a day, and he acted as Deputy to the Lord Chancellor of Ireland
The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland (commonly known as Lord Chancellor of Ireland) was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801, it was also the highest political office of ...
in 1447.[
By 1442 he had been appointed a member of the ]Privy Council of Ireland
His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...
.[''Patent Roll 20 Henry VI''] He was present at a crucial Council meeting in 1442, at which very serious accusations were made against Richard Wogan
Richard Wogan (died after 1453) was an Irish judge and cleric who held the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and also served as a soldier.
He was born in County Kildare, a member of the Wogan family of Rathcoffey Castle, which produced sever ...
, the Lord Chancellor, whereby he was deemed to have vacated office. Dyke served as Lord Treasurer in 1444-6, at the suggestion of Edward Somerton
Edward Somerton, or Somertoune (died 1461) was an Irish barrister and judge who held the offices of Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) and judge of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland) and the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland). He was born in Ireland, poss ...
, the 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 ...
, who praised him as a man of "honest life and conversation", with a long record of service to the Crown in pleading for the King in several Courts.
[ In 1441 he was granted the manor of Ballymagarvey, Balrath, ]County Meath
County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...
, for a term of seven years.[ He was a witness to the ]Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
of Athboy
Athboy () is a small agricultural town located in County Meath. The town is located on the ''Yellow Ford River'', in wooded country near the County Westmeath border. Local Clubs are Clann Na nGael and Athboy Celtic.
History
In medieval tim ...
in 1446, whereby King Henry VI of England
Henry VI (6 December 1421 – 21 May 1471) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. The only child of Henry V, he succeeded to the English thron ...
confirmed the liberties and exemptions of Dublin Corporation
Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660-1661, even more sign ...
.
Political Controversy
Irish politics from the late 1410s to the 1440s was dominated by the Butler–Talbot feud, led by James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond
James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond (23 May 1393 – 23 August 1452) was the son of James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond. He was called 'The White Earl', and was esteemed for his learning. He was the patron of the Irish literary work, 'The Book of the ...
on the one side, and John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
and his formidable brother Richard
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...
, 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 ...
, on the other. It was almost impossible for any Irish Crown official to avoid being drawn into the feud: all of them were forced to take sides. Dyke was a Butler partisan and is said to have particularly offended the quarrelsome Archbishop Talbot: among a long list of charges made against Talbot by the Irish Parliament in 1442 was that he had assaulted Dyke and Hugh Banent (or Bavent), Dyke's successor as Lord Treasurer. Since Talbot, despite his high clerical office, was notoriously hot-tempered, the charge may well be true.[Graves, James ed. ''A Roll of the Proceedings in the King's Council in Ireland for a portion of the Year 1392-3'' Cambridge University Press 2012 p.xliii]
Dyke died in 1449.[ He was praised as "a man of honest life and conversation" who had served the King for many years, and filled several important Crown offices with honour.][
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyke, Robert
1449 deaths
Chancellors of the Exchequer of Ireland
Members of the Privy Council of Ireland
Year of birth unknown
Masters of the Rolls in Ireland