John L'Archers

John L'Archers, Larger or L'Archer (died 1349) was an English-born cleric and judge who had a distinguished career in Ireland, holding the offices of Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Deputy Justiciar. He died during the first outbreak of the Black Death in Europe and was probably a victim of it. John was probably the younger brother of Thomas L'Archer (died 1372); he was the great-nephew of an earlier Thomas L'Archer who was English Prior of the Order of Hospitallers from 1321 to 1329.

Career On the death of Roger Utlagh in 1341 L'Archer was appointed Prior of the Order's Irish house at Kilmainham.

O'Flanagan writing in 1870, said that L'Archer was one of several medieval Chancellors of Ireland who left no trace except their names on the pages of history.

On the other hand, Otway-Ruthven has recently described L'Archer as a leading statesman who played an important part in the political events of the early 1340s. The Irish Parliament, which met in Dublin in 1341 and then adjourned to Kilkenny, denounced the Anglo-Irish government of Ireland in terms of extraordinary severity for its misgovernment, and then produced a series of petitions to King Edward III, which were to be presented by a group of leading magnates and Crown officials. These petitions were a comprehensive denunciation of every aspect of government, including charges of corruption, maladministration and military incompetence. The King also regranted him some confiscated lands which had formerly belonged to the Order. in 1341 he sued the Archbishop of Dublin for possession of a church at "Dunbyn" (possibly Dunboyne). The litigation was settled after both parties had proposed to resolve the matter through trial by combat. states that L'Archer, on his appointment as Deputy Justiciar in August 1346, received a royal pardon under the Great Seal of Ireland at Cashel for all crimes or misdemeanours whatsoever committed to that date. As far as we can determine this refers to any crimes allegedly committed by or in the name of the Justiciar, rather than to L'Archer personally. An exception to the pardon was made for the murder of William de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster in 1333. Most of those involved in the Earl's murder had already been punished, and who precisely was the target of this exclusion from the pardon is unclear; it may have become a standard formula.

Death The Black Death reached Ireland shortly after its first appearance in England in 1348. The death toll among senior officials in Ireland was not particularly high, but L'Archer, who died suddenly in 1349, was probably a plague victim.