John de St Paul

John de St Paul (1295 - September 9, 1362 ) was an English cleric, jurist and Archbishop of Dublin from 1349 to 1362 .

family

St Paul was born to Thomas St Paul from Owston in Yorkshire . The family probably originally comes from Guyenne and was related to the Counts of Saint-Pol . Since his parents married secretly, he was considered an illegitimate descendant of his parents until 1339. His brother was Robert de St Paul, Lord of Byram.

Professional background

St Paul worked as a clerk before 1318 . In 1329 he took a position as pastor in Lincoln . From 1334 he represented the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal in his absence and was on April 28, 1337 by Edward III. appointed Master of the Rolls . Two years later, on June 7, 1339, he also took over the supervision of the Domus Conversorum . In the same year he briefly held the office of Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. In 1340 he was given the honor of opening the session of the English Parliament . During this time he also worked as a lawyer for various members of the British nobility such as Marie de Saint-Pol . He also advised the Prior of Canterbury Cathedral . From 1326 on, St Paul received numerous benefices . In 1340 he held the post of Provost of Wells . His career took a damper when King Edward III. cracked down on corruption in its administrative apparatus and laid off numerous employees. As a result, St Paul not only lost the post of Master of the Rolls, but was arrested and imprisoned. He was released through the intervention of the Archbishop of Canterbury John Stratford . St Paul initially returned to the firm as a simple clerk. In 1343 and 1349 he again briefly took over the role of Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. From 1344 he again succeeded in expanding his benefices. Two years later he took over an ecclesiastical office with the Archdeaconate in Canterbury. In 1349 Pope Clement VI raised him . to the Archbishop of Dublin . During his tenure there was a dispute with the Diocese of Armagh over their archiepiscopal rights. These were lifted by the king in 1349. In 1351 St Paul received from Pope Clement VI. the order to take action against heretics who had fled the diocese of Ossory to Dublin . On July 20, 1350, St Paul was made Lord Chancellor of Ireland . As such, he was charged with investigating corruption and mismanagement in the Irish administration. For this reason he wrote two reports and in 1355 uncovered an embezzlement of funds by the Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer. He gave up his office in July 1356 as part of the reorganization of the administration. However, he continued to work as a consultant for the crown. St Paul died on September 9, 1362 and was buried in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin.

literature

• Philomena Connolly: St Paul, John (d.1362) . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, doi : 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 24522 ( oxforddnb.com [accessed May 21, 2014]).

predecessor	Office	successor
Michael Wrath	Master of the Rolls 1337-1341	Thomas Evesham
Alexander de Bicknor	Archbishop of Dublin 1349-1362	Thomas Minot
John Morice	Lord Chancellor of Ireland 1350-1356	Richard d'Asceaton