William de Meones (died 1325) 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 ...

in fourteenth-century Ireland, who was the second

Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer was the Baron (judge) who presided over the Court of Exchequer (Ireland). The Irish Court of Exchequer was a mirror of the equivalent court in England and was one of the four courts which sat in the buildin ...

. Today he is chiefly remembered for giving his name to the

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 ...

suburb of

Rathmines Rathmines () is an affluent inner suburb on the Southside of Dublin in Ireland. It lies three kilometres south of the city centre. It begins at the southern side of the Grand Canal and stretches along the Rathmines Road as far as Rathgar to t ...

Career

He derived his name from his birthplace, the village of East Meon in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' John Murray London 1926 Vol.1 p.58 He is first heard of in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in about 1279 as a clerk in the entourage of

John de Derlington John de Derlington (John of Darlington) (died 1284) was an English Dominican, Archbishop of Dublin and theologian. Life Derlington became a Dominican friar, and it has been inferred that he studied at Paris at the Dominican priory of St Jacques ...

, who was

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 ...

1279-1284, but never took up office, as he died in March 1284 on the journey to Ireland. Clearly, William was a highly trusted official, since he was

executor An executor is someone who is responsible for executing, or following through on, an assigned task or duty. The feminine form, executrix, may sometimes be used. Overview An executor is a legal term referring to a person named by the maker of a ...

of the Archbishop's will.Ball, F. Elrington ''History of Dublin'' Alexander Thom and Co. 1903 Vol.2 p.100 In his capacity as executor he defended a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

brought against the Archbishop's estate by

Thomas de Chaddesworth Thomas de Chaddesworth, de Chedworth or de Chadsworth (c.1230-1311) was an English-born Crown servant and cleric who spent some fifty years in Ireland, and died there at a great age. He was Deans of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, Dean of St ...

Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral The Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral is the senior cleric of the Protestant St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, elected by the chapter of the cathedral. The office was created in 1219 or 1220, by one of several charters granted to the cathedral by Ar ...

, claiming sixty pounds compensation for a difficult and hazardous journey he had allegedly undertaken at the Archbishop's command.Mason, William Monck ''The History and Antiquities of the Collegiate and Cathedral Church of St Patrick near Dublin'' Dublin 1820 p.113 De Meones was also a canon of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. He was employed to collect Crown revenues in 1285 and was keeper of the Queen's forests at

Glencree Glencree ( ga, Gleann Crí from the older Gleann Criothach, which translates as Valley of the Shaking Bog) is a valley in the Wicklow Mountains in eastern Ireland. It is the third-closest valley in the mountains to Dublin city, the first being G ...

in the

Wicklow Mountains The Wicklow Mountains (, archaic: ''Cualu'') form the largest continuous upland area in the Republic of Ireland. They occupy the whole centre of County Wicklow and stretch outside its borders into the counties of Dublin, Wexford and Carlow. Wh ...

in 1290. In 1293 he was Chamberlain of the

Exchequer of Ireland The Exchequer of Ireland was a body in the Kingdom of Ireland tasked with collecting The Crown, royal revenue. Modelled on the Exchequer, English Exchequer, it was created in 1210 after King John of England applied English law and legal structure ...

and in 1299 he 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 ...

; this is one of the first references to the Court of Exchequer, which did not then have a full-time staff, having been founded only about four years earlier. He was probably the replacement for Sir

David de Offington Sir David de Offington (died c.1312) was an English-born Crown official in late thirteenth-century Ireland. He was one of the earliest recorded holders of the office of High Sheriff of County Dublin and the first recorded Baron of the Court of Exc ...

, who apparently retired the same year. He resigned as Baron in 1308 but was reappointed the following year. He was acting as an official receiver in 1306. In 1311 he succeeded

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, ...

as Chief Baron, but apparently reverted to the status of ordinary Baron in 1313. He died in 1325, and his estates passed to a nephew, Gilbert de Meones, the first recorded owner of Meonesrath, and also a military man who was given the command of several forts in

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...

Placename

It is widely accepted that the de Meones family gave its name to Rathmines, the Rath (Gaelic for

ringfort Ringforts, ring forts or ring fortresses are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Bronze Age up to about the year 1000. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in South Wales ...

) of de Meones; such a combination of Irish and

Norman-French Norman or Norman French (, french: Normand, Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a Romance language which can be classified as one of the Langues d'oïl, Oïl languages along with French language, French, Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, ...

elements in a place-name was not uncommon in medieval Ireland. Elrington Ball, in support of the theory, notes that in the fourteenth century, the district was often referred to as Meonesrath. William's nephew and

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...

Gilbert was referred to as being "of Meonesrath", as was a second William de Meones, who was Lord of Meonesrath from about 1380 to the start of the fifteenth century. Rathmines-road-2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meones, William de Year of birth unknown 1325 deaths Date of death unknown Place of death missing People from East Meon Lawyers from Dublin (city) 14th-century Irish judges Chief Barons of the Irish Exchequer Christian clergy from Dublin (city)

Career

Placename

See also

References