Wood— r/?e Office of Chief Governor of Ireland, 1172-1509. 217 



being present at such assemblies had always existed/ and protesting against 

 his absence. 



Tn the case of there being two Governors, viz., a King's Lieutenant and a 

 Justiciar, both exercising administrative powers, the difference between them 

 would appear to be that the King's Lieutenant alone could issue writs to the 

 Chancellor to issue letters patent under the Great SeaL Thus, on the 

 appointment of Eoger de Mortimer, the King's Lieutenant in 1396, his 

 authority was limited to Ulster, Oonnaught, and Meath ; while that of 

 W. Lescrope, the Justiciar-, was limited to Leinster, Munster, and Louth 

 (Uriel) ; but it was expressly stipulated " that all letters patent, charters, and 

 writs, of whatsoever nature, passing under the Great Seal of Ireland, should 

 be sealed and attested under the sole testimonj^ of the Lieutenant, as hereto- 

 fore in the time of Lieutenants of the whole of Ireland, notwithstanding the 

 full powers granted to the said William as the King's Justiciar in the parts 

 aforesaid." In a further grant to Mortimer in 1397 a similar clause was 

 inserted. - 



The right of removing and appointing the chief officers of State, viz., 

 the Treasurer, Chief Justices, Chief Earon, Keeper of the Eolls, &c., was, as 

 stated above, very rarely granted, as these officers, being members of the 

 Privy Council, were a cheek on the Governor. In 1399 Sir John Stanley 

 was permitted to remove the Chief Bench and the Exchequer from Dublin. 



Most of the above administrative powers could be exercised by Deputy ; 

 and the right to nominate such Deputy was contained in the patents. 



In conclusion, I must state that in the list of Chief Governors which I 

 have appended to this paper there will be found frequently the dates of 

 " testing " or attestation of writs, &c., by a Chief Governor. 1 have made 

 use of these in cases where there is no evidence of the actual date when he 

 took office or resigned, so as to furnish the nearest approximate date at which 

 I could find him acting. The same remark applies to the notes of Governors 

 " holding pleas." As the Eolls are imperfect, the Governors may have been 

 holding pleas some days before or after the dates 1 have given ; but they are 

 useful in enabling us to fix an approximate date. 



I am indebted to Dr. Goddard Orpen for most of the data in this list of 

 Chief Governors for the period 1172-1216. 



' Liber Niger, Christ Church. ^ggg q.^\_ Eng. Pat. Rolls, under date. 



