William Alysaundre (died after 1313) was an Irish

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 ...

and Crown official in the reigns of King

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassa ...

and his son.Ball p.59 He was living in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in 1286. In 1299 he was appointed

High Sheriff of Kildare The High Sheriff of Kildare was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Kildare, Ireland from the 16th century until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Kildare County Sheriff. Th ...

, apparently the first recorded holder of the office. In 1300 he was appointed one of the four itinerant justices for

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

( John de Ponz being another).''Patent Roll 28 Edward I '' He went on circuit as itinerant judge in

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

, and an order survives 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. ...

of 1306 for the payment of his half-years' salary of £10 in connection with his duties as a judge in that county. In 1301 he was also acting as justice itinerant in

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

. He was appointed a justice of the Court of the Justiciar of Ireland in 1311. He was Deputy Justiciar of Ireland in 1313. In that capacity he went on assize to Tipperary yet again (sitting in Cashel) with

Walter de Thornbury Walter de Thornbury (died 1313) was an English-born statesman and cleric in 14th century Ireland who held the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland. His efforts to secure confirmation of his election as Archbishop of Dublin were cut short by his d ...

, 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 March.''Patent Roll 6 Edward II'' While they also heard civil cases, and the warrant of appointment refers only to such cases, the main business of the assize was the trial of William Ohassy for the

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

of John de Nash, for which he was found guilty and condemned to be

hanged Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in ...

.''Calendar of Irish Justiciary Rolls'' The two judges held a second assize in Cork City in early August. Shortly afterwards Thornbury lost his life in a

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

, on his way to the Papal Court at

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

to secure election as

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 ...

. Alysaundre's own date of death is not recorded.

Sources

*Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' London John Murray 1926 *''Calendar of Irish Chancery Letters c.1244-1509'' *''Calendar of Irish Justiciary Rolls '' *''Patent Rolls and Close Rolls Edward I'' *O'Flanagan, J. Roderick ''Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of Ireland'' London 2 Volumes 1870

Notes

{{Reflist 14th-century Irish judges High Sheriffs of Kildare 13th-century Irish judges