William de Bromley (died c.1370) was a 14th-century dignitary and Crown official in Ireland. He was probably originally from

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. He acted as an attorney to Elizabeth, Countess of Ormond. He was

prebendary A prebendary is a member of the Catholic Church, Catholic or Anglicanism , Anglican clergy, a form of canon (priest) , canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in part ...

Lusk, County Dublin Lusk () is a town in County Dublin, Ireland. Sometimes described as a village, Lusk is located about north of Dublin city centre. Lusk is in a townland and civil parish of the same name, in the barony of Balrothery East. As of the 2022 census ...

. He was

Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland The Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland was the head of the Exchequer of Ireland and a member of the Dublin Castle administration under the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the Kingdom of Ireland. In early times the office was sometimes called ...

from 1344 to 1346;

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 ...

from 1346 to 1350; Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin from 1353 until 1374; and

Lord Treasurer of Ireland The Lord High Treasurer of Ireland was the head of the Exchequer of Ireland, and chief financial officer of the Kingdom of Ireland. The designation ''High'' was added in 1695. After the Acts of Union 1800 created the United Kingdom of Great Brit ...

from 1354 until 1356. As Treasurer, while collecting the King's revenue in

Kilkenny Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...

, he clashed with the powerful and fractious

Bishop of Ossory . The Bishop of Ossory () is an Episcopal polity, episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient of Kingdom of Ossory in the Provinces of Ireland, Province of Leinster, Ireland. In the Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but i ...

, Richard de Ledrede, who

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in communion with other members of the con ...

him without any obvious cause.

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

, who is said to have lost £1000 as a result of the Bishop's interference, ordered the

temporalities Temporalities or temporal goods are the secular properties and possessions of the church. The term is most often used to describe those properties (a '' Stift'' in German or ''sticht'' in Dutch) that were used to support a bishop or other religious ...

of the Diocese to be seized in compensation. The Bishop, who was notorious as a witch hunter and for his persecution of

heretics Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...

, was an Englishman with few friends or allies in Ireland, and on realising the gravity of his mistake in offending the King, made a humble submission and received a

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

, although the King never liked or trusted him. In 1365 Bromley complained to the Privy Council that he was being distrained for a fine of £200 imposed on him, he claimed illegally, by the

Justiciar of Ireland The chief governor was the senior official in the Dublin Castle administration, which maintained English and British rule in Ireland from the 1170s to 1922. The chief governor was the viceroy of the English monarch (and later the British monar ...

, Sir Thomas de Rokeby. The Council ordered that the

distraint Distraint or distress is "the seizure of someone’s property in order to obtain payment of rent or other money owed", especially in common law countries. Distraint is the act or process "whereby a person (the ''distrainor''), traditionally eve ...

cease while further inquiry was made.''Close Roll 39 Edward III '' Bromley may have died in 1370 when his prebend of Lusk was given to Robert de Lithum.

References

Deans of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin 14th-century Irish politicians Chancellors of the Exchequer of Ireland Lord high treasurers of Ireland Lord chancellors of Ireland 1374 deaths 14th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests {{Ireland-Anglican-dean-stub