Robert de Holywood

Robert de Holywood (died 1384) was an Irish judge and landowner who held the office of Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He was the ancestor of the Holywood family of Artane Castle, and of the St. Lawrence family, Earls of Howth.

Career

He took his surname from the parish of Holywood (also spelt Hollywood), near Balbriggan, County Dublin.[1] He was a Remembrancer of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) in 1356 and in 1359 he was charged with organising the defence of Leinster. He was appointed Chief Baron in 1363: he was superseded the following year, but reappointed in 1367. In 1376 he finally stepped down as Chief Baron. He died eight years later.[2]

In 1361 he received a royal pardon for purchasing land without royal permission, something strictly forbidden for Crown officials. This pardon may relate to his purchase of Artane Castle, of which he was the first recorded owner and which remained in his family for several centuries (unlike most judges of the time he was not in holy orders).[3]

In 1367 he sat on a powerful commission to determine whether or not the manor of Rathkeale was Crown land, but it apparently never reported, since an identical inquiry was launched in 1374. Ball notes that while many of his fellow judges willingly exposed themselves to the dangers of going on assize, Holywood preferred the security of Dublin.[4]

In 1373, in consideration of his good services to the Crown, he was given permission to found a chantry with five chaplains at Holywood and in 1376 was given permission to allow them to choose a warden.[2] The chaplains were required to pray for the souls of Sir Robert himself, his two wives, and Queen Philippa of Hainault, the lately deceased wife of King Edward III.[5]

Family

His first wife was named Joan; his second wife, who was still alive in 1376, was called Nesta.[4] At his death in 1384, his son Sir Christopher de Holywood succeeded to the estate. Christopher became a distinguished soldier, and in 1413 was appointed one of the commanders of the King's army in Ireland.[6] He died in or about 1416 and was succeeded as owner of Artane by his son, the younger Robert de Holywood, who was then a minor and was made a Royal ward.[7] Christopher also had at least one daughter Eleanor, who married the first Baron Howth, and was the mother of Christopher St Lawrence, 2nd Baron Howth.

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References
  1. Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 John Murray London 1926 Vol.1 p.84
  2. Ball p.84
  3. Adams, C.L. Castles of Ireland London 1904 p.18
  4. Ball p.34
  5. Patent Rolls of Edward III vol.xv. p.338
  6. Otway-Ruthven, A.J. History of Medieval Ireland Barnes and Noble reissue 1993 p.348
  7. Adams p.18


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