Jenico d'Artois

Sir Jenico d'Artois, Dartas, Dartass or Dartasso (c.1350 – November 1426) was a Gascony-born soldier and statesman, much of whose career was spent in Ireland. He enjoyed the trust and confidence of three successive English monarchs, and became a wealthy landowner in Ireland.

Early career

Although the best-known version of his surname suggests Artois as his birthplace, historians agree that he was a native of Gascony. This province in France, which had been part of the dowry of Eleanor of Aquitaine on her marriage in 1152 to Henry II of England, was in the fourteenth century still an English possession. Little seems to be known about his parents. He had at least one brother, Sampson, to whom he remained close throughout his life. It has been suggested that he was a "rootless" individual, who ultimately settled in Ireland because he had no strong ties anywhere else. He was popularly known as "the Gascon squire".

Servant of the English Crown

In 1390, d'Artois joined the Barbary Crusade led by Louis II, Duke of Bourbon. He subsequently joined Henry of Bolingbroke (the future Henry IV of England) in Lithuania, fighting with the Teutonic Knights. His exploits there brought him to the attention of John Waltham (the Lord High Treasurer under Richard II), who recruited him as a household esquire. In September 1392, d'Artois entered the employ of Richard II,

He accompanied the King on his military expedition to Ireland in that year and distinguished himself as a soldier, fighting against the Gaelic clans in Counties Carlow and Kilkenny. He received a substantial grant of land in south County Dublin "for his good service against the Irish of Leinster and for his constant loyalty". D'Artois was not especially grateful for this reward, and made the celebrated complaint that: "it would be worth more than a thousand marks a year if it were near London, but I have such trouble keeping it that I would not wish to live here for long, for a quarter of the whole land of Ireland". He also complained of his difficulty in gaining possession of the lands granted to him; this applied in particular to Carrickmines, to which the Walsh family also had a claim, which was ultimately successful. He claimed the manor of Huntspill Marreys in Somerset, but the King upheld the rival claim of James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond.

King Richard II of England, whom Jenico d"Artois served loyally until his deposition and death.

In 1398, when Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was killed in a skirmish with the O'Brien clan at Kells, County Meath, d'Artois was put in charge of taking reprisals against the O'Briens. It was reported that he "slew, captured or brought into submission many of the Irish".

His service with the House of Lancaster

He accompanied Richard II on his ill-fated return to England in 1399, and as Richard's enemies moved to depose him, Jenico, who was known to be one of the King's staunchest supporters, was arrested at Chester.

He served in the large English army which invaded Scotland in August 1400. This army was led by the King in person: Henry IV hoped to take advantage of the serious political divisions in Scotland to persuade the aged and infirm King Robert III of Scotland to acknowledge the King of England as his feudal overlord, a claim which the English Crown had revived periodically over the centuries, but which the Scots had always rejected. It is unlikely that Jenico's military skills were needed during the campaign, as the Scots army prudently refused to give battle, and Henry, who was anxious to maintain the image of a benevolent overlord, gave strict orders that there should be no looting or pillaging.

He was appointed a member of the council which advised the King's son, Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, who was Chief Governor of Ireland from 1401 to 1413. His marriage in about 1401 to the County Meath heiress Joan Taaffe, widow of Chief Justice Rowe, made him a prominent member of the Anglo-Irish gentry of the Pale as well as bringing him further lands in County Meath. The Earl of Ormonde, who had once quarrelled with him over the right to hold lands in Somerset, was now anxious to be his friend, and made over to him the rents of another Ormonde property in Buckinghamshire. A shrewd man of business, he is found petitioning the English Parliament at Westminster concerning various grants of land only months before his death. The matter was not finally resolved until after his death.

Henry V shared his two predecessors' trust in Jenico: in 1413 he was appointed joint Governor of Ireland in the absence of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and he served with the King in France in 1415 and 1418. He died in November 1426. In 1427 the Crown ordered that she be left in peaceful possession of certain lands which had been granted to her and Jenico jointly.

He had three children by his first marriage

Sir John (born before 1406, living 1450). He was described in the Patent Roll of 1427 as the eldest son and heir, Jenico the younger (living 1459); Jane, who married firstly Christopher Preston, 3rd Baron Gormanston, by whom she had issue, including Robert and Elizabeth, and secondly Giles Thorndon, former Lord Treasurer of Ireland.

Young Jenico and Jane had an only daughter and heiress Margaret, who married firstly Sir John Dowdall of Newtown, and secondly Rowland FitzEustace, 1st Baron Portlester. Through Rowland's daughter Alison, Countess of Kildare (died 1495), most of the d'Artois inheritance passed by descent to the Earl of Kildare. Margaret, who was Rowland's third wife, was probably Alison's mother. However, there is some doubt about which of Rowland's children was born to which mother. was a close relative, probably a brother, of Jenico. He was co-executor with Jenico's widow, and one Nicholas Bayley, of his will. A possible descendant is Irish politician John Dardis (born 1945).

Personality Jenico has been described as one of the most flamboyant characters in the Europe of his era: "a man of action and vivid personality". He was a military adventurer who undoubtedly "feathered his own nest" during his years in Ireland, and yet he gave good and loyal service to three English monarchs and earned the trust of all of them. Edmund Curtis remarks that if there had been more men of his calibre in 15th century Ireland, the English Crown's hold on the country would have been far more secure.