John Comyn

John Comyn ( – 25 October 1212) was Archbishop of Dublin, Ireland, from 1180 to 1212. He was born in England and moved to Ireland in 1184.

Life

John Comyn was chaplain to Henry II and on his "urgent" recommendation was elected Archbishop of Dublin following the death of St. Laurence O'Toole in 1180. He had been a Benedictine monk at the Evesham Abbey.

In 1181, he was elected to the archbishopric of Dublin by some of the clergy of Dublin, who had assembled at Evesham for the purpose. He was not then a priest, but was subsequently, in the same year, ordained such, at Velletri, and on Palm Sunday (21 March) was there consecrated archbishop by Pope Lucius III. The following year the pope granted him manors and lands in and around Dublin, which subsequently formed the Manor of St. Sepulchre, which remained under the authority of the Archbishop of Dublin until the 19th century. The pope also, in an effort to protect the Dublin archbishopric from claims from Canterbury, extended certain privileges to Comyn, which intensified the rivalry between the sees of Dublin and Armagh for the Primacy of Ireland.

Prince John granted Comyn further legal rights throughout the country of Ireland, while Comyn also received the church and lands of All Hallows, to the northeast of Dublin. Between Lusk and Swords he founded the convent of Grace Dieu, which later became wealthy through grants from the Anglo-Norman prelates and magnates. However, when Hamo de Valoniis (alias de Valois), was appointed Justiciar of Ireland he seized some of these lands for the treasury (with a good portion for himself), and a dispute arose which caused Comyn to flee for his own safety to Normandy. Comyn appealed to Pope Innocent III, who settled the dispute, but John was angered by the actions of Comyn, and did not reconcile himself with him until 1206.

Comyn died six years later and was buried in Christ Church Cathedral, where a marble monument was erected to his memory. Two years later William Piro, Bishop of Glendalough, died, whereupon the union of the sees granted by King John took place.