William Tany (died c.1384) was Prior of the Order of

Hospitallers The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headqu ...

in Ireland; he also served as

Justiciar of Ireland The chief governor was the senior official in the Dublin Castle administration, which maintained English and British rule in Ireland from the 1170s to 1922. The chief governor was the viceroy of the English monarch (and later the British monarch) ...

1373-1374, and as

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 ...

from 1374 to 1377, and again from 1382 to 1384.Archdall, Mervyn ''Monasticon Hibernicum; or a History of the Abbeys, Priories and other Religious Houses of Ireland'' Dublin W.B Kelly 1863 He was apparently English by birth, since the election of his successor, the

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

knight Richard White, in 1384, was regarded by many as a protest by the Knights against the imposition of English priors. He is first heard of at the Order's house at

Kilteel Kilteel () is the name of a village, townland and civil parish located in the barony of South Salt, County Kildare, Ireland. The townland of Kilteel Upper contains the remains of a church with a decorated Romanesque chancel arch, the ruins of ...

, County Kildare, in 1365.Mackay, Ronan "Tany, William" ''Cambridge Dictionary of Irish Biography'' 2009 He probably became Prior in 1371 (some sources give an earlier date). In 1375 he was much occupied as Chancellor with the King's business in several parts of

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

, and was thus unable to hold the assizes at

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

John Keppock John Keppock (died 1404) was an Irish judge of the late fourteenth century, who held the offices of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland and Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He became a political figure of some importance. He was the son of Simon Ke ...

, the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, deputised for him, without the

Great Seal of Ireland The Great Seal of Ireland was the seal used until 1922 by the Dublin Castle administration to authenticate important state documents in Ireland, in the same manner as the Great Seal of the Realm in England. The Great Seal of Ireland was used fro ...

.''Patent Roll 49 Edward III'' In 1375 he was granted the lands of Sir Thomas Verdon at Rathmore,

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 ...

(these later reverted to Sir John Cruys and his wife Matilda, Verdon's daughter and son-in-law). He was regularly summoned to the Irish Parliament, and in 1376 he received an exemption from military service in consideration of the many

charities A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a cha ...

performed by his Order, and the large number of

chaplains A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intelligence ...

maintained in his house for saying mass. D'Alton, John ''Histoy of the County of Dublin'' Hodges and Smith Dublin 1836 His salary was £40 per annum, a large amount of money at the time (although a later Chancellor, Richard Northalis, complained that it did not even cover a third of his expenses, and asked for an increase of £20). He was entitled to an armed guard of six men-at-arms and twelve archers, and received an unspecified sum to pay their arrears of wages in 1377.Smyth, Constantine Joseph ''Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland'' London Butterworths 1839 He was sent by 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 ...

to England on official business in 1377, and then went on a pilgrimage to

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

.''Close Roll 51 Edward III'' In 1380 the Crown restored to him his

weir A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

and

fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

on the River Liffey at Chapelizod, which had been taken into the Crown's hands for repair.''Close Roll 4 Richard II'' He was reappointed

in 1382 and held the office until about 1384.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' John Murray London 1926 He was much occupied in his last years as Chancellor in arranging to

parley A parley (from french: link=no, parler – "to speak") refers to a discussion or conference, especially one designed to end an argument or hostilities between two groups of people. The term can be used in both past and present tense; in prese ...

with hostile Irish clans, and in 1383 he petitioned the Crown for compensation, in that he had borne all the costs of the negotiations himself. The Crown awarded him £20.''Close Roll 7 Richard II '' He probably died in 1384, when Richard White was elected in his place. White should not be confused with the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, Richard White who had died some years earlier. Prior Richard died before 1397, when Peter Holt succeeded him.''Patent Roll 20 Richard II''

References

{{authority control Lord chancellors of Ireland 1384 deaths