Richard Plunkett (c.1340-1393) was an eminent Irish judge and statesman of the fourteenth century, who held the offices of

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 ...

and

Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland (commonly known as Lord Chancellor of Ireland) was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801, it was also the highest political office of ...

. His descendants held the titles

Baron Dunsany The title Baron of Dunsany or, more commonly, Lord Dunsany, is one of the oldest dignities in the Peerage of Ireland, one of just a handful of 13th- to 15th-century titles still extant, having had 21 holders, of the Plunkett name, to date. Other ...

Baron Killeen Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...

and

Earl of Fingall Earl of Fingall and Baron Fingall were titles in the Peerage of Ireland. Baron Fingall was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The seat of the title-holders was, from its establishment until 1953, Killeen Castle in County Meath, Ireland ...

Family background

He was born about 1340, the son of John Plunkett of Rathregan,

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the ...

and Alicia d'Arcy (or Alicia de Trim). The Plunketts were a long-established

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

family of

the Pale The Pale ( Irish: ''An Pháil'') or the English Pale (' or ') was the part of Ireland directly under the control of the English government in the Late Middle Ages. It had been reduced by the late 15th century to an area along the east coast ...

, who originally settled at Beaulieu in

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, M ...

about 1200: his mother Alicia is also described as being "of Beaulieu". Another branch of the family, descendants of Richard's brother, another John, later held the title Baron Louth.

Career

He was considered to be one of the best lawyers of his generation, and was appointed

King's Serjeant A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are wr ...

in 1372. He was already sufficiently well respected by 1364 to form part of the powerful delegation sent to England to describe the state of the Irish government and to complain to King

Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...

about the

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

and maladministration of certain officials of the Crown in Ireland; the complaints were directed in particular against

Thomas de Burley Thomas de Burley (died c.1371) was an English-born monk who served as a Crown official and judge in fourteenth-century Ireland. He held office twice as Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He was the Irish Prior of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, who ...

, the

. Richard sat on a Royal Commission which was set up to examine and remedy the abuses complained of. He was also a noted Parliamentarian; he sat in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fran ...

and took a leading part in the

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

Parliament of 1374. He was a member of the Privy Council of Ireland and attended several meetings of the Great Council.Hart, A.R. ''A History of the King's Serjeants-at-law in Ireland'' Four Courts Press Dublin 2000 He became a judge of the Irish Court of Common Pleas in 1376. In July 1388 he was promoted to Chief Justice of the King's Bench and the following September he was made Lord Chancellor. Elrington Ball puts his death around 1389, but O'Flanagan states that he was still alive in 1393, when Richard Northalis succeeded him as Lord Chancellor.

Character

O'Flanagan calls him one of the most eminent Irishmen of his time, a lawyer of great distinction and equally distinguished for his Parliamentary career.

Descendants

Richard married Margaret, widow of Robert Burnell, of the leading Anglo-Irish

Burnell family The Burnell family were a Dublin family who were prominent in Irish public life and in the arts from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century. They acquired substantial estates in County Dublin, and married into the Anglo-Irish aristocracy. They p ...

of Balgriffin,

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

. They had three children, Christopher, John, and Anne. Christopher was the father of the first

.''Burkes Complete Peerage''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plunkett, Richard Lord chancellors of Ireland People from County Meath 14th-century Irish judges Year of birth uncertain 1393 deaths Lords chief justice of Ireland Serjeants-at-law (Ireland)