Philip of Worcester

Who he is

Name

Philip of Worcester (Philip de Wigornia)

Title

Baron in south Tipperary, inside the old kingdom of Limerick; Henry II's procurator (governor) of Ireland in 1184-85

Since

Lands in south Tipperary since the 1190s: the barony of Kiltinan (Kiltenenan) is said to have been granted to him in 1194; the motte of Knockgraffon came to him after a de Braose had held it (date not pinned)

Born

Not pinned

Family

Not pinned in the sources checked.

Confidence

low

A man of Henry II's household, sent to Ireland as procurator in 1184 to prepare the way for John's expedition of 1185. His Tipperary lands lie inside the old kingdom of Limerick, which Henry II granted to Philip de Braose in 1177. In 1201, when John grants the honour of Limerick to William de Braose (12 January 1201), he sells de Braose Philip's lands and Theobald Walter's; Philip holds his against de Braose by force through 1201.

John grants him Knockgraffon again in 1215, with cantreds in Tipperary.

Overlord

King John, as lord of Ireland

What it holds

• The motte and bailey of Knockgraffon on the Suir, about 5 km north of Cahir, raised by the English in 1192, with its district
• The barony of Kiltinan (Kiltenenan) near Fethard, said to have been granted in 1194 (not drawn: its extent is not pinned)
• Other lands in south Tipperary: which cantreds he holds on 1 January 1200 is not pinned (he is granted cantreds in Tipperary again in 1215)

How it was acquired

Royal grants: Kiltinan in 1194; Knockgraffon after a de Braose had held it (date not pinned).

Allies and rivals

Rival of William de Braose, heir to the 1177 grant of the kingdom of Limerick. Neighbour of William de Burgh (Kilfeakle and Athassel, up the Suir) and of Theobald Walter's Ormond to the north; the king's castle of Ardfinnan lies south of Cahir. The Ui Suilleabain were driven out of the country round Knockgraffon by the English in the 1190s, and the Ui Briain and the Meic Carthaig raid the Suir valley.

How things stand that morning

Holds his south Tipperary lands, as far as can be told: John's grant of January 1201 to de Braose takes them in, which shows they were still his at the end of 1200. Where Philip himself is on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.

Wealth

The corn lands of the Suir valley; his rents and dues are not pinned.

Military

The motte of Knockgraffon; his knights' fees and following are not pinned. In 1201 he holds his lands against de Braose by force.

Threats

• The de Braose claim to the kingdom of Limerick, which John revives in January 1201
• Raids from Thomond and Desmond into the Suir valley

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. 1201 (later course; the honour of Limerick is granted to de Braose on 12 January 1201, and Heritage Ireland dates the order for Knockgraffon to 1202)John sells William de Braose the lands of Philip and of Theobald Walter with the honour of Limerick. Through 1201 Philip and de Braose's men lay waste much of Munster in their quarrel, and Philip keeps his lands by force; John grants him Knockgraffon again in 1215.Depends on: De Braose's high favour with John Stopped by: Philip winning the king's favour first, or de Braose falling

Places of note

• Motte of Knockgraffon: Motte and bailey of 1192 on the Suir, about 5 km north of Cahir

Where the sources disagree

• Added from the campaign's character sheet (counterparty appendix: 'Anglo-Norman baron with interests around Limerick and Tipperary'); the map had no record for him.
• The sources disagree on the order of holders at Knockgraffon: Wikipedia says the king gave it first to a William de Braose and later to Philip; Heritage Ireland says it went to de Braose in 1202 by John's order and back to Philip in 1215. Read together: Philip held it before 1201, lost it in law to the Limerick grant, and recovered it.
• Accounts differ on whom the 1192 motte was built against: Domnall Mor Ua Briain (Heritage Ireland) or the Ui Suilleabain (Wikipedia).
• A local history (fethard.com) says all of south Tipperary was granted to Philip in 1185; not followed.

Evidence: No modern biography could be read (the Dictionary of Irish Biography would not load); the holding rests on Wikipedia's Ardfinnan Castle and Knockgraffon articles, Heritage Ireland's Knockgraffon page and a nineteenth-century narrative of the 1201 quarrel.

On the map: Only the motte of Knockgraffon and its district are drawn; the barony of Kiltinan and the rest of his Tipperary lands are real but their extent on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.

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.