John de St Paul

John de St Paul ( 1295 – 1362), also known as John de St. Pol, John de Owston and John de Ouston, was an English-born cleric and judge of the fourteenth century. He was Archbishop of Dublin 1349–62 and Lord Chancellor of Ireland 1350–56. He had previously been Master of the Rolls in England 1337–40. Apart from a brief period of disgrace in 1340, he enjoyed the confidence of King Edward III. He was described as a zealous supporter of English rule in Ireland, but also as a pragmatic statesman who was willing to conciliate the Anglo-Irish ruling class. He did much to enlarge and beautify Christ Church, Dublin, although virtually no trace of his improvements survive, as they were destroyed by the Victorian rebuilding of the cathedral.

Family and early life The St Paul family is thought to have come to Yorkshire from Guienne. They may have had a family connection to the Counts of Saint-Pol, since Marie de St Pol, Countess of Pembroke, often employed John as her attorney. He received a commission from Pope Clement VI to proceed against certain heretics who, having fled from persecution by Richard de Ledrede, the notoriously stern Bishop of Ossory, had been sheltered by St Paul's predecessor in the See of Dublin, Alexander de Bicknor. He held a Synod in Dublin in 1351, which dealt with a wide range of issues, including the proper observance of Good Friday, the banning of secret marriages, and the ritual of genuflection. He maintained the long-running dispute with Richard FitzRalph, Archbishop of Armagh over the latter's claim to be Primate of Ireland. He persuaded the King to revoke his order which gave the See of Armagh precedence, and to remove the cause to Rome for the Pope's adjudication. He obtained numerous benefits for the Archdiocese of Dublin. He sat on a Royal Commission to explore for and oversee gold and silver mines in 1360.

In 1361 he was summoned to a Great Council in Dublin: although he was a strong supporter of English rule in Ireland, he urged a policy of moderation and an end to the bitter divisions of the past decade within the government itself. His proposals included an amnesty for Anglo-Irish leaders who had been in opposition to the Crown, which was duly granted.

Death He died on 9 September 1362 and was buried under the high altar in Christ Church Cathedral – a building which he had done so much to improve at his own expense.