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XII. 



THE OFFICE OF CHIEF GOVEENOE OF lEELAlifD, 1172-1509. 

 By HEEBEET WOOD, B.A. 



[Read Becember 11, 1922. Published February 8, 1923.] 



The question of the position of Chief Governor, as the King's Deputy in 

 Ireland, is of considerable importance in considering the government of the 

 country. The changes of policy of the English Kings were manifested in 

 their choice of representatives, and the character of the Chief Governor had 

 much to do with the success or failure of such policy ; yet, up to the present 

 time, no one has produced a satisfactory list of such Governors and their 

 Deputies, with the exact dates during which they held office, nor has there 

 been any attempt to set out clearly their powers. The various titles they 

 held, such as King's Lieutenant, Justiciar, Governor, Gustos, Deputy, &c., 

 seem never to have suggested to the historian the necessity for clearly 

 stating what they severally connoted. Not only the old annalists, but even 

 some modern historians, have gone hopelessly astray in giving the Chief 

 Governor his proper title. I hope to be able to show in the following pages 

 that each of these titles had a distinct connotation, and was not given at 

 hap-hazard. As to my authorities, I have found the annalists frequently 

 wrong, the most reliable being the Laud MS., commonly called " Pembrige's 

 Annals." Accordingly I have relied chiefly upon what 1 may call Govern- 

 ment records, both because the entries were contemporaneous with the 

 events recorded, and because they were actual transcripts of administrative 

 acts of the Government. For this purpose the Plea or Justiciary EoUs, 

 containing the exact dates when the Chief Governor presided in Court; the 

 Patent and Close EoUs, containing the various writs tested by him; and 

 the Memoranda EoUs, which contained the entries of various acts by him 

 which it was necessary to record in the Exchequer, have been of much 

 greater value to me than the various annals or histories. The loss of many 

 of the Government Eolls in the past has compelled me at times to give these 

 annalists or historians as authorities for my statements, but I have never 

 done so without having a very strong presumption that in these cases they 

 are right. I regret that many of my references to the Government records 



