Thomas Archbold, or Thomas Galmole (died after 1506) was a goldsmith and silversmith, who also qualified as a lawyer, and rose to become a senior Crown official and

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

in Ireland in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. He was Master of the Mint in Ireland for many years.

Background

He was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, to a long-established Dublin family. The Archbold family were among the earliest English settlers in Ireland. William Archbold, a senior member of the Royal household who was appointed one of the Irish

Barons of the Exchequer The Barons of the Exchequer, or ''barones scaccarii'', were the judges of the English court known as the Exchequer of Pleas. The Barons consisted of a Chief Baron of the Exchequer and several puisne (''inferior'') barons. When Robert Shute was a ...

in 1378, was his ancestor. A royal

writ In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrant (legal), Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, and ''certiorari'' are commo ...

of 1400, concerning the appointment of one William Archbold (probably either the judge or his son) as Constable of the

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

of Newcastle Mackynegan in

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 in Ireland, 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces ...

, names no less than five members of the Archbold family, all living in Dublin, as

sureties In finance, a surety , surety bond, or guaranty involves a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults. Usually, a surety bond or surety is a promise by a person or company (a ''sure ...

for his good conduct.''Patent Roll 1 Henry IV'' Richard Archbold, Constable of

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle () is a major Government of Ireland, Irish government complex, conference centre, and tourist attraction. It is located off Dame Street in central Dublin. It is a former motte-and-bailey castle and was chosen for its position at ...

in the 1480s, may also have been a relative of Thomas. Although the sources are clear that he was a member of the Archbold family of Dublin, he was also called Thomas Galmole.''Statute 18 Edward IV'' Thomas was a

goldsmith A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Modern goldsmiths mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, they have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), plat ...

by profession. He was described as a "master and worker of money in

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

".Strickland, Walter ''A Dictionary of Irish Artists'' 1913He is first heard of in 1465 when he was having great difficulty collecting a

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money Loan, borrowed or otherwise withheld from another party, the creditor. Debt may be owed by a sovereign state or country, local government, company, or an individual. Co ...

: according to Elrington Ball, he had to make forty journeys between Dublin and

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

in pursuit of it.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' John Murray London 1926 Vol. 1 p.185 Presumably this was a business debt, rather than a Crown one. He had

workshops Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

in both Dublin and Waterford.

The Grey controversy

He was appointed

Attorney General for Ireland The Attorney-General for Ireland was an Kingdom of Ireland, Irish and then, from 1801 under the Acts of Union 1800, United Kingdom government office-holder. He was senior in rank to the Solicitor-General for Ireland: both advised the Crown on ...

, or ''Narrator Regis'', in 1478 (presumably, although the

Patent Rolls The patent rolls (Latin: ''Rotuli litterarum patentium'') are a series of administrative records compiled in the English, British and United Kingdom Chancery, running from 1201 to the present day. Description The patent rolls comprise a regis ...

state clearly that he was a goldsmith, he had also acquired some legal qualifications) and in the same year he was made Master of the

Royal Mint The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's official maker of British coins. It is currently located in Llantrisant, Wales, where it moved in 1968. Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly ow ...

in Ireland, an appointment confirmed by a

statute A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

of the Irish Parliament.''Statute 18 Edward IV "Confirmation of the appointment of Thomas Archbold, alias Thomas Galmole, as Master of the Mint in Ireland"'' He shared the office of Master in

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

, where Walter Marshall retained the title Marshal Master of the Mint.''Patent Roll 19 Edward IV '' In 1483 Archbold was ordered to produce a new Irish

coinage Coinage may refer to: * Coins, standardized as currency * Coining (mint), the process of manufacturing coins * '' COINage'', a numismatics magazine * Tin coinage, a tax on refined tin * Coinage, a protologism or neologism In linguistics, a neolo ...

pennies A penny is a coin (: pennies) or a unit of currency (: pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. At present, it is t ...

and halfpennies bearing the King's head on one side, and the

Irish harp The Celtic harp is a triangular frame harp traditional to the Celtic nations of northwest Europe. It is known as in Irish, in Scottish Gaelic, in Breton and in Welsh. In Ireland and Scotland, it was a wire-strung instrument requiring gr ...

on the other. As Master of the Mint, he was soon drawn into a major political controversy when Lord Portlester, the

Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland, commonly known as the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was the highest ranking judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 until the end of 1800, it was also the hi ...

, refused to hand over the

Great Seal of Ireland The Great Seal of Ireland was the Seal (emblem), seal used until 1922 by the Dublin Castle administration to authenticate important state documents in Ireland, in the same manner as the Great Seal of the Realm in England. The Great Seal of Irela ...

to Lord Grey of Codnor, the newly-appointed

Lord Deputy of Ireland The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive (government), executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland ...

: this was part of a comprehensive challenge by the

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 State rel ...

ruling class to Grey's authority, which they saw as a threat to their own power. King

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

tried to resolve the problem by ordering Archbold to issue a new Great Seal "as near the pattern and fabric of the other Seal as possible, with the addition of a

rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

", and declaring that the original Seal, now held by Portlester, was declared to be "damned,

annulled Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almo ...

and suspended", while all his acts as Lord Chancellor were "utterly repudiated". Portlester and his allies, undeterred, continued their defiance of Lord Grey, who, despairing of being able to establish his authority, left Ireland within the year. Alfred Webb '' A Compendium of Irish Biography'' (Dublin 1878) Sketch for a Great Seal of Ireland, designed by

Nicholas Hilliard Nicholas Hilliard ( – before 7 January 1619) was an English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He mostly painted small oval miniatures, but also some l ...

for

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

Judge

Soon afterwards Archbold was appointed a Baron of the Court of Exchequer for life, but he was later superseded. What legal qualifications he had is unclear. He acted as Deputy

Master of the Rolls in Ireland The Master of the Rolls in Ireland was a senior judicial office in the Irish Chancery under English and British rule, and was equivalent to the Master of the Rolls in the English Chancery. Originally called the Keeper of the Rolls, he was respon ...

to Thomas Dowdall in 1479, when Dowdall was in England on official business.Smyth, Constantine Joseph ''Chronicle of the Law Officer of Ireland'' Dublin 1839 p.54 He continued in office as Master of the Mint.

Simnel's Rebellion

Like almost all of the Anglo-Irish ruling class, he supported the claim of the

pretender A pretender is someone who claims to be the rightful ruler of a country although not recognized as such by the current government. The term may often be used to either refer to a descendant of a deposed monarchy or a claim that is not legitimat ...

Lambert Simnel Lambert Simnel (c. 1477 – after 1534) was a pretender to the throne of England. In 1487, his claim to be Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, threatened the newly established reign of Henry VII (1485–1509). Simnel became the ...

to the

English Crown This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself king of the Anglo-Sax ...

in 1487. Simnel's attempt to seize the throne ended with his crushing defeat at the

Battle of Stoke Field The Battle of Stoke Field, which took place at East Stoke, Nottinghamshire, on 16 June 1487, may be considered the last battle of the Wars of the Roses, since it was the last major engagement between contenders for the throne whose claims deriv ...

. The victorious King, Henry VII, was merciful to the Irish rebels, as he was to Simnel himself, who was taken into the Royal Household as a servant: nearly all the rebels received a

royal pardon In the English and British tradition, the royal prerogative of mercy is one of the historic royal prerogatives of the British monarch, by which they can grant pardons (informally known as a royal pardon) to convicted persons. The royal prerog ...

the following year, including Archbold, who was restored to his seat on the Court of Exchequer at the same time. He was reappointed Master of the Mint in 1506, with power to act through a Deputy, possibly because of his advancing age.''Patent Rolls 21 Henry VII 6 July 1506''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Archbold, Thomas Attorneys-general for Ireland Lawyers from Dublin (city) 1488 deaths Barons of the Irish Exchequer