228 Proceedings of the Ropnl Irish Academy. 



theology at Oxford, was in tlie course of tlie next year' appointed by the 

 Pope Prebendary uf Newcastle in St. Patrick's Cathedral ; tlie other was 

 Robert Sutton, wlio was probably a kinsman of a former Prebendary of 

 Mulhuddart and Howth, if he was not the same man. 



Tlie policy of Archbishop Talbot in the appointiiients made to canonries 

 and dignities in Dublin during his time, was plainly tliat of promoting lawyei-s, 

 and especially men who had received a University education in England. He 

 would natui-ally have been a supporter of tlie old statute by which Irishmen 

 were debarred from holding Cathedral benefices. Nicholas Hill, for instance, 

 who, when he was Archdeacon of Dublin, had been charged with the duty of 

 requesting the pall from the Pope for Talbot, on the accession of the latter to 

 the metropolitan see of Dublin," was a bachelor of laws, and he was elected 

 Dean of St. Patrick's in Talliot's time ( 1439). The Archdeacon who succeeded 

 Hill was Robert Dyche, an eminent lawyer, wlio afterwards became Master 

 of the Rolls and I>ord Treasurer of Ireland. Tlie Vicar-General of the diocese, 

 Nicholas Moynagh, l>ecanie Precentor about 1430.' A predecessor of his in 

 the Precentoi-ship, John Skyllington, who had been given leave of absence in 

 1401 for four years to study at O.xford,* was afterwards made Prebendary of 

 Yagoe by Archbishop Talbot. In like manner, the two bishops of Ossory 

 appointed while Talbot wa."? Archbishojt of Dublin were lawyers, viz. : Denis 

 O'Dea, LL.B. ( Hw'l-H2S). who is said lo have been " a man of great knowledge 

 in the municipal laws of his country," and Thomas Uarry (14"28-14y9), who 

 was Treasurer of Ireland. There is little doubt that Talbot had some share 

 in their pi-efernient. 



Of the man himself, as distinct from his policy a.« statesman, chancellor, 

 and prelat€, we know very little ; few pei-sonal det^ails have come down to us. 

 But that he wa.s a strong ruler is certain ; and when his long reign of thirty- 

 one yeai-s* in the see of Dublin was ended by his death on lii August, 1449, it 

 was titling that he should l>e Inirie*! " prope cathedram archiepiscopalein "• in 

 hia Cathedral of St. Patrick, and that his benefaction to the Church should be 

 commenioi-ated on the monument placed over his gra\ e. 



His sepulchral brass was lost or disappeared nearly a century ago ; but 



' Oii. nf Papal Reguter; 25 Sept., 1434. 



» Oil. of Pni^ Rtfiislers, 12 Aug.. 141S. 



" The patnuiftgeof the dignities of Precentor, Chancellor, and Trea.suier in .St. Patrick's 

 Cathedral was con6mied to the Archbishop by royal grant in H25 (.\rchbisho|> .Man's 

 lUgister, fol. 129 b). 



* Cal. of Pat. Itolls, 14 July. 1401 . 



' Only three Archbishops of Dublin have been in ofKce for a longer time : viz. Adam 

 Loftus (15<>T-160o), who ruled the see for thirty-seven years : and Alexander de Bicknor 

 (1.317-1349, and Richard Whately (1831-1863), both of whom sat for thirty-two years. 



« Brit. Mus. Add Mils. .33m«I, f..l. 46. 



