Justiciar of Ireland

Who he is

Name

Meiler FitzHenry (Meilyr fitz Henry)

Title

Justiciar of Ireland (justiciarius Hibernie)

Since

About 1198 or 1199 (not pinned to the month); reappointed by John in June 1200

Born

About 1160 (not pinned)

Family

Son of Henry FitzHenry, a bastard son of Henry I by Nest of Deheubarth, so John's cousin and a kinsman of the FitzGeralds, Robert FitzStephen, Raymond le Gros and Gerald of Wales. Married about 1182 a niece of Hugh de Lacy; a son, also Meiler.

Confidence

medium

One of the first invaders (1169). Holds the office until 1208. His predecessor Hamo de Valognes (justiciar from about 1196-97) quarrelled with Archbishop Cumin in 1197; Hamo is out of office by 1200, when he becomes sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire.

Overlord

King John

What it holds

• Command of the royal castles and cities
• The justiciar's court at Dublin and on eyre
• Custody of escheats and wardships in the king's hand
• Leadership of the royal host in Ireland

How it was acquired

Royal appointment; reappointed June 1200.

Allies and rivals

Close to John and to William de Burgh at first; wary of John de Courcy, 'a constant source of trouble'; later the open enemy of William Marshal and the Lacys (1207-08).

How things stand that morning

In office on 1 January 1200 (medium confidence: the old Dictionary of National Biography puts his appointment about 1198; the modern entry on Hamo de Valognes has Hamo in office until 1199). Either way the justiciar that winter is Meiler or, at the very latest, a Hamo about to hand over.

Wealth

The perquisites of office; his own lands in Leix and Meath (see Leix (Meiler)).

Military

The royal host, the castle garrisons and his own Geraldine kin and retainers. No figures.

Threats

• The Connacht war drawing the colony's barons into private wars
• John de Courcy in Ulster
• The liberty-holders' resentment of royal officers

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1200 (not pinned)Meiler and the English of Leinster besiege Clonmacnoise against Cathal Carrach and plunder its stores (Four Masters, 1200).Depends on: The Connacht war crossing the Shannon Stopped by: Peace in Connacht
2. June 1200With John in Normandy; reappointed justiciar.Depends on: John's favour Stopped by: Disgrace
3. 28 October 1200Granted two cantreds in Kerry and one in Cork.Depends on: Royal favour Stopped by: Disgrace

Places of note

• Dublin, seat of the justiciar: The justiciar's court; no royal castle yet (John orders one in 1204)

Where the sources disagree

• The date of the change from Hamo de Valognes to Meiler is uncertain in the sources (about 1198 against 1199). The brief asks for it to be dated: we can only bracket it, late 1198 to late 1199.

Evidence: Office and reappointment are documented; the start date is not pinned.

On the map: An office over the whole lordship; not drawn.

Primary sources for Lordship of Ireland

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Annals of Clonmacnoise, Anonymous; English translation of a lost Irish chronicle by Conall Mac Geoghegan (medieval original lost; translated 1627). A midland chronicle, tied to Clonmacnoise and the kings of Meath and Connacht, surviving only in a 1627 translation. Read online
• Annals of Inisfallen, Anonymous (monks of Inisfallen, Kerry, and earlier of Emly and Lismore) (the manuscript was written in 1092 and continued at Inisfallen in many contemporary hands to 1450). The Munster chronicle, written in Kerry in a hand close to the events. Read online
• Annals of Loch Ce, Various (compiled for the Mac Diarmada of Moylurg) (compiled 1580s from older annals; the medieval section rests on a Connacht chronicle). The fullest Connacht account of the year: Cathal Carrach's seizure of the kingship, Cathal Crobderg's flight north, the Connacht expedition of de Courcy and the Ui Neill on Crobderg's behalf and its defeat, William de Burgh's role, and the devastation of the province's churches, with the names of the Connacht nobles and clergy who died. Read online
• Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, Various; compiled by Micheal O Cleirigh and others (1632 to 1636, from medieval annals now partly lost). A seventeenth century compilation but it draws on lost medieval annals, so its 1200 entries add names and incidents missing elsewhere: the Connacht war and the English of Meath and Munster, the deaths of Irish kings and churchmen across the island, and raids in Thomond and Desmond. Read online
• Annals of Ulster, Various; compiled by Cathal Mac Maghnusa (compiled about 1498 from much older annals; the entries for 1200 derive from contemporary record). The most reliable Irish annal for the north. Read online
• Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
• Mac Carthaigh's Book (Miscellaneous Irish Annals), Anonymous (a Munster compilation) (compiled in the later Middle Ages from Munster annals; manuscript of the 17th century). A Munster annal with a Mac Carthaig and Desmond slant, giving for the years around 1200 the kings of Desmond and Thomond, their wars with each other and with the English of Cork and Limerick, and the castles the settlers were building. Read online
• The History of William Marshal, Anonymous (a poet called John, writing for the Marshal family) (about 1224 to 1226). A knight's view of the Angevin succession: the council at Vaudreuil in April 1199 where the Marshal and Hubert Walter argued for John over Arthur, the Marshal's crossing to secure England, John's coronation, and the Marshal's part in Normandy in 1199 and 1200 as holder of Longueville and Orbec and a go-between with Philip. Read online

7 more in the sources library for The British Isles.