Monasticon Hibernicum 1876 Volume 2 St Patricks Cathedral Ground Plan

The Deanery of St Patrick was one of several manors, or liberties, that existed 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 ...

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 ...

since the arrival of the

Anglo-Normans The Anglo-Normans ( nrf, Anglo-Normaunds, ang, Engel-Norðmandisca) were the medieval ruling class in England, composed mainly of a combination of ethnic Normans, French, Anglo-Saxons, Flemings and Bretons, following the Norman conquest. A sm ...

in the 12th century. They were town lands united to the city, but still preserving their own jurisdiction.Parliamentary Papers: Reports from Commissioners, Vol. 24. Session: 4 February - 20 August 1836. House of Commons, London. The

Lord of the Manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

was the

Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin 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 A ...

. In the 19th century it was the smallest of the liberties of Dublin.Dalton: A New Picture of Dublin, Dublin, 1835.

History

When the first Anglo-Norman archbishop of Dublin,

John Comyn John Comyn III of Badenoch, nicknamed the Red (c. 1274 – 10 February 1306), was a leading Scottish baron and magnate who played an important role in the First War of Scottish Independence. He served as Guardian of Scotland after the forced ...

, established the church that became St. Patrick's Cathedral, he bestowed upon the church a plot of ground surrounding it to the extent of about five and a half acres, which formed the liberty of the Dean of St. Patrick's. His jurisdiction was recognized many times in Acts of Parliament and Letters Patent, and was considerable in its powers. Not only did the privilege of

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...

prevail here, but the goods as well as the persons of law-breakers were secure within the Dean's Liberty, which was independent of the Archbishop as well as of the Sheriff of the county.Bernard: The Cathedral Church of Saint Patrick. London, George Bell and sons, 1905 By 1800 the manor was inhabited by some of the poorest people in the city, and the court of the manor has been discontinued. The only advantage its poor inhabitants possessed was that they were exempt from the jurisdiction of other courts, so they could elude the clutches of the bailiff by flying for refuge to the confines of their own manor.

Location

The manor consisted of only a few streets in the neighbourhood of St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was surrounded by the manors of St. Sepulchre and Thomas Court. The area covered today by St. Patrick's Park was part of the liberty, and in former times had been reserved for the use of various Cathedral officials. But from the beginning of the 19th century it was occupied by miserable tenement houses, and was reckoned one of the poorest districts in the city of Dublin.

Privileges

In return for the support of the Lord of the Manor, or to alleviate certain hardships suffered by Englishmen or the church in Ireland, privileges were granted to the manor. These allowed the manor to have its own courts of justice, where they were allowed to try a limited number of crimes, mainly dealing with bad debts. These rights and privileges ended in 1840.

Administration

The officers of the manor consisted of a

seneschal The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...

, registrar and

marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...

, who were appointed by the Dean and Chapter of St. Patrick's. In 1813 the population of this manor was 981 males and 1,265 females. It was 886 in 1901 and 42 in 1981.

History

Location

Privileges

Administration

References

Sources

Citations