Robert de Faryngton

Robert de Faryngton, or de Farrington (died 1405) was an English-born cleric, judge and statesman who became Master of the Rolls in Ireland and Lord High Treasurer of Ireland. As a cleric, he was notorious for pluralism, but he enjoyed the trust of three successive English monarchs.

Family

Little is known of his early life. Of his family, we know that he had at least one brother Nicholas, on whose behalf he petitioned the King in 1398, and a cousin, Hugh de Faryngton, who accompanied him to Ireland in 1395 and became a judge there. In 1375 he was awarded the prebendary of Aust, recently vacated by the philosopher John Wycliffe. On this occasion however, he clashed with the King's third son John of Gaunt, Wycliffe's most powerful protector and the dominant figure in the English government, who persuaded King Edward III that Wycliffe was still entitled to the prebend. The grant to de Faryngton was cancelled: he was compensated with another prebendary in Lincoln, with which, it has been said, he was content, "at least in the short term".

Career in Ireland

Despite his reputation for acquisitiveness, he was highly regarded as an administrator. In 1395 he was sent to Ireland as Master of the Rolls in Ireland. Robert, on the King's instructions, also confirmed the charter for the Priory of All Hallows outside Dublin.

Lord Treasurer of Ireland

In 1398 King Richard II appointed de Faryngton Lord High Treasurer of Ireland. In the same year Robert petitioned the King that his brother Nicholas de Faryngton should not be forced to take up any public office against his will, and the King granted the petition in person, perhaps an indication of the high regard in which Robert was held by the Crown. Further evidence of his good standing at Court is his second successful petition, also dating from 1398, to be granted a tun, or two pipes, of Gascony wine every Christmas for the rest of his life. In the same year he petitioned successfully for the prebend of Laughton in Morthen, Yorkshire.

Richard II was deposed in the following year, but the new King Henry IV, who probably knew de Faryngton personally, re-appointed him as Lord Treasurer of Ireland. It was Faryngton himself who evidently asked to be relieved of his duties: he stepped down as Treasurer in May 1400 and returned to England. The case was resolved amicably: Joanna acknowledged Hugh's right, and he paid her £100 in compensation.

It is unclear whether Philip Faryngton, an official in the Court of Chancery (Ireland) in the 1420s, was a relative of Robert and Hugh. Philip was the Court "spigurnal", i.e. the official who affixed the royal seal to the writs. His salary was only twopence a day, although in 1426 he was paid 38 shillings in arrears.