William de Rodyard

William de Rodyard ( died c. 1349) was an English-born judge and cleric in fourteenth-century Ireland. He held office as Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas and Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral. He was the first chancellor of the Medieval University of Dublin (not to be confused with Trinity College Dublin).

Career

Little is known of his background or his early life, although his name may suggest that his family had a connection with Rudyard, Staffordshire. He is first heard of in Dublin in 1307 as Treasurer of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin;[1] he was elected Dean of St Patrick's in 1312 [2] and apparently served in that capacity until his elevation to the Bench in 1329.

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin: Rodyard was Treasurer and subsequently Dean of the Cathedral

He became a Doctor of Civil Law in 1320. In 1324 he was sent to Kilkenny to sit as one of the judges at the witch trials of the celebrated Witch of Kilkenny, Alice Kyteler and her associates.[3] He became Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas in 1329, but served for only two years. He was dead by 1349.[4]

Medieval University of Dublin
Main article: Medieval University of Dublin
Coin of Pope Clement V (r.1305-14) who in 1311 granted a Papal Brief to found a University in Dublin

Pope Clement V issued a Papal brief in 1311 for the foundation of a University in Dublin, but the project was hampered from the beginning by inadequate funds, and the University did not open until 1320.[5] From the beginning it was closely associated with St Patrick's Cathedral, and de Rodyard, as Dean of St. Patrick's, was the obvious choice to be the first chancellor. Although a number of Chairs were endowed, the University, due to lack of proper financial or political support, never flourished, and it was suppressed at the Reformation.[6]

References
  1. Ball F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 John Murray London 1926 Vol.1 p. 69
  2. Ball p.69
  3. Ball p.69
  4. Ball p.69
  5. Cardinal Newman "The Ancient University of Dublin" in The Rise and Progress of Universities (1872) pp.207-212.
  6. Newman pp.207-212
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