Walter Ivers, Evers or Yvers (died after 1496) was an English-born Crown official 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 late fifteenth-century

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 ...

. For a few years in the 1490s, he was a key ally of Sir

Edward Poynings Sir Edward Poynings Knight of the Garter, KG (1459 – 22 October 1521) was an English soldier, administrator and diplomat, and Lord Deputy of Ireland under King Henry VII of England. Early life Edward Poynings was the only son of Robert Poyni ...

Lord Deputy of Ireland The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive (government), executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland ...

1494-6.Ball p.109 Little is known of his background. According to the ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', he was of English birth, and this is probably correct since Poynings' programme for reforming the Irish political system, which led to Ivers' elevation to the office of Chief Baron of the Exchequer, called for the appointment of English judges to serve 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 ...

, and to preside in the

Courts of common law A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

. He is first heard of 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 about 1485, when he was practising as a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

, and also acting as an arbitrator (an early use of the term). He was clearly a man with some expertise in the world of finance, who served as

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 ...

from 1487 to 1494. Sir Edward Poynings is best remembered for

Poynings' Law Poynings' Law or the Statute of Drogheda may refer to the following acts of the Parliament of Ireland: * The acts of Poynings' Parliament, summoned to Drogheda in 1494–5 by Edward Poynings; or more specifically ** Poynings' Law (on certification ...

, or ''the Statute of Drogheda'', which effectively removed the power of the Irish Parliament to legislate independently. However this was only one part of an ambitious programme of political reform, which included curbing the power of the leading

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 ...

magnate

Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare KG (born – ), known variously as "Garret the Great" (Gearóid Mór) or "The Great Earl" (An tIarla Mór), was Ireland's premier peer. He served as Lord Deputy of Ireland from 1477 to 1494, and from 149 ...

. This entailed the wholesale removal of the Irish judges, who were regarded as his tools ("following Kildare like sheep" in Ball's phrase), and their replacement by English judges of proven loyalty to the

Tudor dynasty The House of Tudor was a royal house of largely Welsh and English origin that held the English throne from 1485 to 1603. They descended from the Tudors of Penmynydd and Catherine of France. Tudor monarchs ruled the Kingdom of England and it ...

. Ivers was appointed Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer in 1494,replacing the

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 ...

-born

John Wyse John Wyse (died after 1499) was an Irish judge who held office as Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He was born in Waterford. He was a member of the long-established Wyse family of St John's Manor, who settled in the city shortly after the Norm ...

, and according to Gilbert, he was a close associate of Poynings. He was superseded in 1496, following Poynings' recall to England and Kildare's restoration to royal favour. Little is known of his later years.

Sources

*Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' London John Murray 1926 *Gilbert, J. T. ''History of the Viceroys of Ireland'' Dublin J. Duffy 1865 *

Footnotes

{{Chancellors of the Exchequer of Ireland Chief Barons of the Irish Exchequer Chancellors of the Exchequer of Ireland