William de Karlell

William de Karlell (died 1383) was an English-born judge, administrator and cleric in fourteenth-century Ireland. He held numerous benefices including Archdeacon of Meath and Rector of Youghal, and sat in the Irish House of Commons. After many years as a Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) he was briefly Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He is buried in St Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny.^[1]

Background

He took his name from his birthplace, Carlisle, Cumbria.^[2] John de Karlell (died 1393), Chancellor of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, was his brother; John also in time became a Baron of the Exchequer.^[3] They were of fairly humble origin, as suggested by the later comment that William was not a fit person to arrest one of the Wellesley family.

Career

He came to Ireland as part of the entourage of Lionel of Antwerp, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1361 and was made Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) in 1367.^[4] He became a prebendary of St Patrick's Cathedral the same year and later acquired numerous other prebendaries, including Ossory. His main residence was in Kilkenny; he was a burgess of the town and died there. In 1374 he and his brother John were summoned to the Parliament of Ireland in Dublin as two of the King's counsel.^[5] In 1383 the King appointed him Queen's Attorney;^[6] soon after he was made Chief Baron but died within a few months.

Duties

Graves remarks that since the Catholic Church was the only source of highly educated men, some like the Karlell brothers were civil servants rather than clerics.^[7] William's duties went far beyond the strictly judicial : he audited accounts, supervised sheriffs elections, inquired into the condition of Crown lands, and into the existence of buried treasure. His duties involved much labour and expense, and in 1374 he received £20 for, among other expenses, the theft of his horse.^[8] This was probably in coonection with the lengthy inquiry into the Crown's rights in County Wexford and County Waterford, with particular regard to the question of treasure trove, which was conducted by de Karlell and two colleagues, John Keppock and Walter Cotterell.^[9]

Character

From the limited evidence he seems to have been a proud man with a keen sense of his own dignity : in 1372 Sir William Wellesley, ancestor of the 1st Duke of Wellington, was arrested for disobeying a summons to appear before Karlell, and the following year one Richard Bateman was found guilty of contempt of court for saying that Karlell was not fit to arrest one of Wellesley's rank, presumably due to his lower social standing.^[10]

Tomb

Graves describes his tomb as a coffin-shaped slab, six feet by two, elevated about two feet from the floor of the cathedral, and completely unadorned except for an inscription giving William's name and clerical offices.^[11] His brother John was also buried in St Canice's but his tomb was largely destroyed in the seventeenth century.

St. Canice's Cathedral

References

1. Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 John Murray London 1926 Vol. 1 pp. 85-6
2. Ball p.85
3. Ball p.167
4. Ball p.86
5. Graves, James The History, Architecture and Antiquities of the Cathedral Church of St Canice Kilkenny Hodges Smith Dublin 1857 p 154
6. Graves p. 154
7. Graves p.152
8. Ball p.34
9. Smyth, Constantine Joseph Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland London 1839 p.183
10. Graves pp.152-3
11. Graves p.151