Wood — The Templars in Ireland. 



341 



The latter was non-suited, and amerced in a fine of £100 ; but the 

 King pardoned him the half of it in 1274-5.^ 



The most famous case they had was that in which the Abbot of 

 Dunbrody Abbey prosecuted against them a plea of entry of novel 

 disseisin of five carucates of land in Crook, County Waterford. 

 The case commenced in 1278, before the Justices of the Common 

 Pleas. The Master of the Templars pleaded privilege of his Order, 

 in consequence of ! which the case came before the King and his 

 Justices assigned to hold pleas in England. The Abbot claimed that 

 his predecessor had been enfeoffed by Gilbert of Essex, and that King 

 John had confirmed the grant. The Master, in defence, put in the 

 charter of King Henry II, by which the lands of Crook had been 

 granted to the Templars. The cause dragged its slow length along, 

 and even when it was brought by the King's order from Ireland to 

 the King's Bench in England, it was delayed by the absence of the 

 King in Gascony. At last, in despair, in 1290, the Abbot presented a 

 petition to the King, setting forth that he felt himself grievously 

 oppressed, and his house reduced to the greatest poverty by the pro- 

 crastination of this plea in various lands, and accordingly supplicated 

 His Majesty to direct his Justices to proceed as quickly as they could 

 regarding it, until it should be judicially determined. He said that 

 he could not keep hospitality or rule his convent if he were to further 

 prosecute the plea against such powerful adversaries as the Templars. 

 The result was that a compromise was effected by the Abbot giving 

 up all claim to the lands of Crook, in consideration of the payment of 

 100 marks by the Master. A full account of the proceedings will be 

 found in Calendar Irish Documents, 1285-92, No. 622. 



Whilst this cause was going on, a plaint was held in the Court of 

 the Liberty of Wexford, in 1280, between the Master of the Templars 

 and the same Abbot, about seven carucates of land in Kilbride which 

 the Master averred he held in capite from Sir W. de Valence.^ 

 Although seisin was restored to the Abbot, the matter did not end 

 here, though we find, in 1285, the Master refusing to proceed further in 

 the case against the Abbot. The latter held it for some time, till, in 

 1332, the King ejected them on the ground that Kilbride, having 

 belonged to the Templars, lawfully came into his hands on the disso- 

 lution of the Order. It was finally allowed to revert to the Abbot in 

 1334, in which year the Hospitallers quitted claim to him of all 



1 Cal. Irish Documents, 1252-1284, No. 1086. 



2 Ibid., 1252-1284, No. 1647. 



