County Louth Archaeological and History Society

The Murder of Richard Gernon, Sheriff of Louth, 1311Author(s): Brendan SmithSource: Journal of the County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society, Vol. 21, No. 4(1988), pp. 391-393Published by: County Louth Archaeological and History SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27729652 .

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The Murder of

Richard Gernon,

Sheriff of Louth, 1311 By Brendan Smith

Twelve jurors present that when Richard Gernoun, late sheriff in this county, together with others of his family, came on the Sunday before the Nativity of the B. V.M. last with hawks in a field of Athelardestoun to take partridges and other birds, as is the manner in autumn, Walter Brisbon junior, John Brisbon and William Brisbon deliberately assaulted Richard Gernoun the sheriff and wounded him, of which wound he died on the morrow about the first hour.

Thereupon Walter Brisbon and John Brisbon led William Brisbon, their brother, who was wounded in the affray, to a

desert place called Senkyl and left him thus wounded because of his great weakness, and hastily went to the town of

Ays and took there two horses and arms of Walter Brisbon, father of Walter, John and William, and forthwith fled.

Shortly after one William Obbraydir and John Hereward of Dunbeng came to Senkyl and found there William

Brisbon wounded and very weak, and led him to the chapel of Dunbeng in which he stayed all that night, the whole

town of Dunbeng knowing of it. On the morrow very early in the morning one Adam Synny led the said William from

the chapel to the church of the Friars Minors of Dundalk, the whole town of Dunbeng knowing of it, and William

afterwards stayed for a fortnight within the cloister of the Friars Minors, the whole town of Dundalk well knowing of

it, and at length for want of custody he escaped. Therefore to judgment for the escape; escape upon the town of

Dundalk.

They present also that after Richard the sheriff was wounded as aforesaid, hue and cry was raised and the four

nearest towns being warned thereof, to wit, Kylinkoul, the town of Athelard, the town of Walter Hamelyn and

Rathsales, which towns, which could have taken the said felons if they wished, freely allowed them to go. Therefore to

judgment of the said towns. Afterwards the town of Kylynkoul is admitted to make fine with the King for the said

trespass for 40s., by pledge of Adam le Blount, John le Clerk, Gyllebride, Henry Kolbard, John le Lange, John

Boyrbaly, Iweyn Boyrbaly, and the town of Athelard for ?20, whereof it will pay ?10 yearly, one moiety at Easter and

the other at Michaelmas, by pledge of William Athelard, Henry Athelard, Walter Martyn, John Slane, Walter Slane, Robert le Lang, Robert Pywler, Philip Pedris, Philip Calstyn, Henry Herebard, Henry Fagan, John Godred, junior,

William le Blount, Geoffrey Leynagh, and Nicholas Athelard, and the town of Walter Hamelyn for ?8, whereof it will

pay ?4 yearly, one moiety at Easter and the other at Michaelmas, by pledge of Walter Brisbon, William son of Henry, David Broun, Peter Cargan, Henry Laurence junior, Richard Laurence, Stephen Callan, William Coltoun, John

Tyrel, Stephen Brisbon, Adam Brisbon, Richard Broun, John le Blount, Geoffrey Laurence and Mathew Kytilbern, and the town of Rathsales for 8 marks, whereof it will pay 4 marks yearly, one moiety at Easter and the other at

Michaelmas, by pledge of John Faleys junior, John Faleys senior, and Roger Andreu, and the town of Dunbeng by ?20, whereof it will pay 100s. yearly, one moiety at Michaelmas and the other at Easter, by pledge of David Fot and

John Ays'. And because the jurors testify that Walter Brisebon junior, John Brisebon and William Brisebon retired

and are of ill fame, therefore let them be put in exigent and outlawed.

(Inquisition at Drogheda, 25 October 1311. Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls Ireland, 1308-14, 225-6).

Richard Gernon was murdered in 1311 because of an incident which occurred fourteen

years earlier in 1297. In May of that year Robert Athelard was slain by Henry le Masc?n and

John Gernon who were then sheltered by the father of the latter, Richard Gernon.1 Richard was subsequently amerced forty shillings for this behaviour, but the sum was paid on his behalf

by the superior lord of his lands in Meath, Sir Richard le Fleming and by a former sheriff of

Uriel, Richard Taaf.: In January 1298 John Gernon was pardoned for the murder because he

had gone to fight for the king in Flanders.3

On the death of Robert Athelard the sub-escheator in Uriel, Thomas de Stanley, took the

lands of the dead man into the king's hand. These consisted of properties in the town of Louth

and also in Athelardistoun (Allardstown), Corbally and Walterstoun Hamelyn

1. Cal. justic. rolls Ire., 1295-1303, p. 166; P.R.I, rep. D.K. 38, p. 41; ibid., 39, p. 36.

2. Cal. justic. rolls Ire.. 1295-1303, p. 166: P.R.I, rep. D.K. 39. p. 42; P.R.O.. E 101/232/16. 3. Cat doc. Ire., 1293-1301, no. 480.

391

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392 County Louth Archaeological and Historical Journal

(Walterstown).4 On 29 June 1297, however, Stanley held two inquisitions at Allardstown at the

request of Richard d'Exeter and Richard Gernon in order to determine to whom Robert

Athelard's service had belonged. These inquisitions decided that nothing pertained to the

king. Robert, they stated, had held of d'Exeter by knight service in Corbally and Walterstown,

and of Richard Gernon by the same service in Allardstown. They also asserted that the

marriage of the dead man's heir belonged to Gernon.5

By Easter 1299 sufficient doubt had been cast on the verdict of these inquisitions to

prompt the government to have Athelard's lands taken back from d'Exeter and Gernon. The

sub-escheator of the county was now Richard Gernon so the return of the tenements to the

crown was entrusted instead to the sheriff of Uriel, Roger Gernon, whose connections with

Richard are unclear. In July 1299 a jury at Drogheda found that the inquisitions of June 1297

'knowingly suppressed the truth in fraud of the king'. D'Exeter was then granted custody of

the tenements he claimed until the majority of Robert Athelard's heir.6

Richard Gernon's role in the murder of Robert Athelard had not been forgotten by the

dead man's relatives and friends. Before Easter 1298 Walter Brisbon and Henry Athelard had

entered an appeal against Gernon who responded in January of the following year by bringing his accusers to court on a charge of abetting a false appeal against him. At first this case had to

be postponed owing to lack of jurors, but in May 1299 Walter and Henry were convicted of the

charge and sentenced to prison. They avoided this, however, by making fine with the king for

their freedom, Brisbon paying ten pounds and Athelard five marks. Among their pledges on

this occasion was the coroner of the county, Robert de Drumgol.7 The false appeal instigated by Brisbon and Athelard against Richard Gernon may have

encourged the re-examination of the 1297 inquisitions which in turn led to Gernon losing the

wardship of Robert Athelard's heir. In 1301 John, son and heir of Robert, was said to be in the

king's custody while his tenements were in the custody of Richard d'Exeter, Walter Brisbon, Michael de Wotton, Roger de Bordysdale and Roger Haa. Richard Gernon seems to have lost

his claims in Allardstown.8

Gernon continued as sub-escheator until 17 July 1310 when he succeeded Walter Dowdall

as sheriff of Uriel.9 His most notable achievement as sheriff was the capture of William Mac

Neel, an Irish bandit who had been terrorising the people of Ardee. Owing to a procedural

wrangle with the constable of Drogheda castle, however, Mac Neel managed soon after to

escape.10

In 1297 Gernon had sheltered the murderers of Robert Athelard and had then attempted to secure wardship of the dead man's heir by dishonest means. There was a certain irony in the

fact that it was at Allardstown that he was mortally wounded since he had fraudulently claimed

that Robert Athelard held of him there. In 1298 Gernon had seen his schemes thwarted by Walter Brisbon and Henry Athelard and in 1311 the two men were on hand again to act as

pledges for some of those who had facilitated the murder of Gernon by the sons of Walter.

One of Gernon's killers, Walter Brisbon junior, was apparently captured and imprisoned in Drogheda castle but he subsequently escaped. In January 1314 he was pardoned for the

murder of Gernon at the instance of Drew de Merlowe, lord of Louth, and in June 1319 he was

4. P.R.l. rep. D.K. 38, p. 41; Cal justic. rolls Ire., 1295-1303, p. 248. 5. ibid., pp248, 276-7. 6. Ibid., pp. 176-7. The perjured jurors each paid lm. in 1300, P.R.O., E 101/233/11. 7. Cal. justic. rolls ire., 1295-1303, pp. 217. 238; P.R.O.I., R.C. 7/8, p. 22; Cal. justic. rolls Ire.. 1308-14, p. 277. In

1301 Brisbon paid 71s. Id. and Henrv Athelard 15s. as part of their penalty for abetment, P.R.O., E 101/233/16. 8. P.R.O.I., R.C. 7/8, pp34-5. 9. Cal. justic. rolls Ire., 1305-07, pp 243-4; P.R.O.L, EX 1/1 m24, m49d.

10. Cal. justic. rolls Ire., 1308-14, pp 169-70.

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The Murder of Richard Gernon, Sheriff of Louth, 1311 393

pardoned for escaping from Drogheda at the request of Aymer de Valence.11 His rehabilitation was further attested to in 1323 when he was given custody of the vacant archi?piscopal manor

of Ivermongan, for which he was still accounting in 1326.12 Adam and Stephen Brisbon, who

stood as pledges for Walterstown, later participated in the murder of John de Bermingham, earl of Louth, at nearby Braganstown in 1329.13

The murder of Richard Gernon suggests deep divisions within the English community of

Uriel in the early fourteenth century. Perhaps the most alarming aspect of the testimony heard

by John Wogan at Drogheda on 25 October 1311 was the degree of complicity it revealed in

the murder of their sheriff by the men of north Uriel. The whole town of Dunbeng' and 'the

whole town of Dundalk' were said to have known of the presence in their midst of the

wounded William Brisbon who eventually escaped 'for want of custody'. Worse still, the

locality failed to respond when hue and cry was raised. Gernon's landed interests in the county centred around Killincoole which he held directly of the king, yet the men of that town did

nothing to apprehend his killers.14 The evidence suggests more personal animosities. On his

death Gernon's body was viewed by the coroner of the county, whose function it was to inspect the corpses of murder victims. On this occasion the coroner, Robert de Drumgol, may have

enjoyed a macabre satisfaction at his task as he had stood as pledge for Walter Brisbon and

Henry Athelard in 1299 when they had been committed to prison for abetting a false appeal

against Richard Gernon.15

Nor was Richard without his friends. Richard Taaf, who stood as his pledge following the

murder of Robert Athelard, was sheriff of Uriel in 1294 and 1312 and held the advowson to the

parsonage of nearby Maundevillestoun (Mansfieldstown).16 Adam Fulshaw perjured himself on Richard Gernon's behalf in 1297 and was the only juror to appear to hear the latter's case

against Walter Brisbon and Henry Athelard in 1299.17

Richard Gernon's murder was a premeditated act and apparently a popular one also. It

demonstrated that in Uriel the holding of public office was no safeguard against private vendetta. It thus revealed a striking disregard for the authority of the Dublin government as

represented in the office of sherifi Five months later, in February 1312, Uriel went into

rebellion under the de Verdons. The justiciar, John Wogan, could not say he had not been

warned.18

11. Cal. pat. rolls Ire., 1313-7, p. 80; ibid., 1317-21, p. 343; ibid., 1330-4, pp 213, 220. 12. P.R.O.I., R.C. 8/13, pp 179-80; ibid., 8/14, p. 795.

13. J. F. Lydon, The Braganstown massacre. 1329\ Louth Arch. Soc. In., XIX, 1, (1977). p. 11; Cal pat. rolls

1327-30, p. 532.

14. P.R.I, rep. D.K. 39, p. 42

15. Cal. justic. rolls Ire., 1295-1303, p. 238; ibid., 1308-14, pp 208-9. 16. P.R.O.I., EX 2/1, p. 19; P.R.O.I., R.C. 8/6, p. 209; P.R.O.?., R.C. 7/3, p. 312. 17. Cal. justic. rolls Ire., 1295-1303, pp 217, 276-7.

18. Cal. justic. rolls Ire., 1308-14, pp 237-9.

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