Richard Wogan

Richard Wogan (died after 1453) was an Irish judge and cleric who held the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and also served as a soldier.

He was born in County Kildare, a member of the Wogan family of Rathcoffey Castle, which produced several distinguished Irish officials. They were originally a Pembrokeshire family. John Wogan, Justiciar of Ireland, died in 1321, having been granted Rathcoffey, Clane and other lands in Kildare in 1317. His descendants built Rathcoffey Castle. The precise relationship between John and Richard is unclear.

Richard was a clergyman, but never held high office in the Church: he was described in the Council minutes as "chaplain". He was first mentioned as a Crown official in Ireland in 1441, and held the office of Lord Chancellor, probably between the years 1442 and 1449 (although as usual in this period the exact dates are disputed).

Lord Chancellor

His tenure as Lord Chancellor was marked by controversy, as a result of the bitter feud between the Butler and Talbot factions, which dominated Irish politics for more than two decades. Almost all senior Irish officials of the Crown were forced to declare their allegiance to one or other side, and Wogan chose to support the Talbot faction, headed by John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and his formidable brother Richard, Archbishop of Dublin. As a result, he was accused by Ormonde of treason and of a number of other offences, including hiding the Great Seal of Ireland, failing to enrol Acts of the Privy Council of Ireland and ignoring a summons to appear before the Council. These charges were levelled principally by James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond, head of the Butler faction. He evidently wished to continue in office as long as possible, but, not surprisingly, asked that a Deputy might be appointed to act for him as he admitted that "I cannot bear Ormonde's heavy lordship".