Wood — The 2'emplars in Ireland. 



343 



quently he had allowed him to go free. Accordingly judgment was 

 given in the Master's favour ; John Wodelok and John Halfheued 

 were fined 46s. 6d. for unjustly seizing and badly keeping the cattle 

 of the Templars, and the valuers were fined 93s. for false appraise- 

 ment.^ 



In the same year, the Master of the Templars' goods (to the 

 amount of forty acres of wheat and oats) were distrained, on account 

 of his having taken 46 cows, value five shillings each, of the goods of 

 Walter le Eret, which had come into the King's hands.^ In 1304, the 

 Master had to proceed against John de Kilsaran to render an account 

 of the Templars' tithes received by him in County Louth. ^ In 

 1305-6, the Master was obliged to appear in court and pay a fine of 

 £10 for all trespasses of himself and his men at ClonauL* At the 

 time of the suppression of the Templars, the Master and the Prior of 

 Athassel were at law about the advowson of the chapel of Ardmail, 

 County Tipperary. At the court held before the Justiciar, in the 

 octave of the Purification, 1308, the Master failed to appear. The 

 sheriff was ordered to serve a writ of scire facias upon him, but made 

 return that the Templars had been seized and their goods had come 

 into the hands of the Crown. The Prior was told to proceed against 

 the Crown if he so desired.* 



Of the other cases in which the Master of the Templars was 

 involved, the record is too slight to afford any useful information. 



Meanwhile, affairs had been going badly with them in the East. 

 Jerusalem had fallen, and gradually the Christians were driven out of 

 Palestine. The Templars had performed prodigies of valour, but the 

 quarrels between them and the Hospitallers had neutralized their 

 efforts. Indeed, the fall of Ptolemais in 1291 was attributed to their 

 feuds. Pope Nicholas desired to unite the two Orders ; but the 

 Templars were completely hostile to such an idea. Their pride had 

 made them many enemies, and had become proverbial. King Richard 

 is reported, on his deathbed, to have bequeathed his pride to the 

 Templars, as being the most fitting recipients. Their privileges, too, 

 were not such as to endear them to the ecclesiastics, who viewed their 

 exemptions with great jealousy. They were now, at the end of the 



1 Plea Roll, 30 Ed. I, Roll 65, m. 31d. 



2 Ibid., 30 Ed. I, Roll 65, m. 31. 

 "Ibid., 32 Ed. I, Roll 68, m. 29d. 

 ^Ibid., 33 & 34 Ed. I, RoU 76, m. 27. 

 5 Justiciary Roll, 35 Ed. I, m. 52. 



R.I. A. PROC, VOL. XXVI., SEC. C. [33j 



