Sir Peter Tilliol, also called Peter de Tilliol (1299-1348) was a Cumberland landowner, politician and judge; he was

High Sheriff of Cumberland The sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere o ...

, and served briefly as

Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge ...

. He was born at Scaleby Castle, Cumberland, son of Sir Robert de Tilliol (died 1320) and Maud de Lascelles. The Tilliol family had been granted the lands of Scaleby by

Henry I Henry I may refer to: 876–1366 * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry I the Long, Margrave of the ...

and over the centuries had become one of the leading landowning families in Cumberland. It was Sir Robert who built the Castle sometime after 1307. It was destroyed in its present form during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

In 1322 Tilliol saw military service on the Scottish border under the command of

Andrew Harclay, 1st Earl of Carlisle Andrew Harclay, 1st Earl of Carlisle (c. 1270 – 3 March 1323), alternatively Andreas de Harcla, was an important English military leader in the borderlands with Scotland during the reign of Edward II. Coming from a knightly family in Wes ...

; this might well have been politically ruinous since Carlisle's decision to make a

peace treaty A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring ...

with the Scots on his own initiative, without royal sanction, led to his downfall and execution for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

in 1323. Tilliol however seems to have escaped unscathed from the affair; he was twice High Sheriff of Cumberland in 1327 and 1329, and represented Cumberland as

knight of the shire Knight of the shire ( la, milites comitatus) was the formal title for a member of parliament (MP) representing a county constituency in the British House of Commons, from its origins in the medieval Parliament of England until the Redistributio ...

in the House of Commons of England. He sat regularly as a Commissioner for

oyer and terminer In English law, oyer and terminer (; a partial translation of the Anglo-French ''oyer et terminer'', which literally means "to hear and to determine") was one of the commissions by which a judge of assize sat. Apart from its Law French name, the ...

, and in 1341 he was given a special commission by Parliament to punish rebels and suppress

trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, woundi ...

in Cumberland. His judicial experience may explain the decision to send him to Ireland as Lord Chief Justice, where two rival office holders

Thomas Louth Thomas Louth, or Thomas de Luda (died after 1338) was an English-born judge who spent much of his career in Ireland. He was notable for his long and ultimately unsuccessful struggle with Elias de Asshebournham for the office of Lord Chief Justic ...

and

Elias de Asshebournham Sir Elias de Asshebournham, or Ellis de Ashbourne (c.1290-1357/8) was an Irish judge who held the office of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, and fought a long battle with a rival candidate, Thomas Louth, to retain it. Despite frequent allegations ...

spent most of the 1330s disputing their right to the position. Tilliol may have been a compromise candidate; he went to Ireland in the spring of 1331 but returned to England almost at once. By his wife Isabel, he was the father of Sir Robert de Tilliol; Robert and his son Peter continued the family tradition of serving as High Sheriffs of Cumberland. The male Tilliol line died out in 1435.Denton p. 152.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tilliol, Peter English politicians People from Cumberland 1299 births 1348 deaths Lords chief justice of Ireland 14th-century Irish judges