208 Proceedings of the Royal Irish A cademy. 



agreed to accept the post at 12,000 marks yearly for all the men retained by 

 him, while in 1406 he was granted £7,000 yearly on the same terms ; in 

 1414 Sir John de Talbot received £2,666 13s. U. a year ; in 1423 Edmund 

 de Mortimer received 5,000 marks yearly ; in 1425 James Butler, Earl of 

 Ormond, received £1,000 a year ; in 1428 Sir John Sutton received 5,000 

 marks for the first year and 4,000 for the second; in 1442 Ormond was 

 allowed to receive all the Crown receipts and profits, but to pay the ordinary 

 wages of officers ; while in 1447 Richard, Duke of York, agreed to take office 

 on receiving the entire of the King's revenue and 4,000 marks the first year 

 and 2,000 marks for the remaining nine years. With these large sums were 

 also granted special powers, even to removing the chief officers of State. The 

 large sums mentioned above were often given to cover the increased military 

 costs. 



There is only one case in the fifteenth century of this title being given to 

 an Irishman, viz. the Earl of Ormond, who was appointed King's Lieutenant 

 in February, 1442. When, towards the end of the year 1441, it was thought 

 probable that he would be chosen for the vacant post, a vehement protest 

 was made by the members of the Irish Parliament, who sent a deputation to 

 the King " to ordayne a mightie lord of this yo'' Realme of England, for to 

 be yo'' lieutenant of the said land, that tyme being there present the Erie of 

 Ormond as deputie to the lord Wells then yo"" lieutenant there . . . both the 

 lordes spirituall and temporal, and the comons there assembled, considered in 

 there wisedoms, that it was most expedient to yo'' soveraine lord, to have to 

 yo'' lieutenant there, a lord of birthe, of this Noble Realme, whom yo"^ people 

 there will more favour and obay, than any man of that landes birthe, foi' men 

 of this Eealme keepe better Justice, execute yo'' lawes, and favour more the 

 common people there, and ever have done before this tyme, better then ever 

 did any man of that land, or ever is like to doe " (Statute Eolls of Ireland, 

 20 lien. YI). The King did not grant this petition. It must be remembered 

 in reading the above that the petitioners were speaking in England, to which 

 " this Eealme " refers. 



The King's Lieutenant was allowed to appoint a Deputy, and in the 

 fifteenth century Ireland was almost always governed by a Deputy, as the 

 Lieutenant rarely put foot on these shores. The Deputy was generally an 

 Ormond or a Kildare, and the constant hostility of the two families was the 

 reason for the enactment of Poynings' Law. 



Before the arrival of Eichard II in Ireland in 1394, the King's 

 Lieutenant presided over the King's Court as his representative. Lionel, 

 Duke of Clarence, was termed not only " the King's son and Lieutenant in 

 Ireland," but also " the Justiciar of Ireland." 



