Roger Utlagh

Roger Utlagh, or Roger Outlawe ( 1260 – 1341) was a leading Irish cleric, judge and statesman of the fourteenth century who was Prior of Kilmainham, and held the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He was the brother-in-law of the celebrated Witch of Kilkenny, Alice Kyteler, and is mainly remembered today for his efforts to shield her from prosecution, and subsequently enabling her to escape punishment, during the Kilkenny Witch Trials of 1324.

Biography

He was born in Kilkenny: the Outlawe or Utlagh family were prominent merchants of Kilkenny city ("Utlagh" or "Utluighe" was a medieval Gaelic word for outlaw, though it was apparently not in common use). His brother William was Mayor of Kilkenny around 1301: William is best remembered as the first husband of Alice Kyteler, a connection which caused Roger great trouble in later life.

Roger joined the Order of the Knights Hospitallers: they were a military order, and Roger served as a military commander with the English army against the Scots, in which capacity he is said to have given good service to the Crown; he also helped to organise the defence of Dublin during the Bruce Campaign in Ireland. As a reward his Order received lands at Chapelizod. He became Prior of the Order's house at Kilmainham in 1317: as such he was entitled to sit in Parliament, where he soon acquired a reputation as an able statesman. He was appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1321 and served till 1325; between 1320 and his death in 1341 he frequently acted as Justiciar or Deputy Justiciar, and convened Parliament in 1328/9. At the same time, he was fully involved in the affairs of the Priory of Kilmainham and is said to have done much to increase its revenues. In the circumstances the Bishop's request that the Chancellor should arrest members of his own family was a strange one. Roger, who was described by O'Flanagan as a man who was "not so credulous as others, or [more] willing to befriend his relatives"

Ledrede now decided to attack the Chancellor himself, and in 1328 accused him of heresy. This proved to be a serious error of judgment: Roger was a trusted servant of the Crown and was generally liked and respected; no-one except Ledrede believed that he was guilty of anything but a quite understandable desire to help his family. Roger sensibly insisted on a full inquiry: a Commission of Inquiry was appointed, headed by William de Rodyard, later Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, and including most of the senior clergy, magnates and gentry of the Pale, which invited witnesses to appear and make any charges they wished. Roger as Justiciar was personally in charge of the arrest. It was however felt unwise to proceed to extremes against Desmond. Roger accordingly was given the power to treat "all those making war against the King", and an order was issued that no magnate be executed for treason.

Character O'Flanagan praises Roger as a man of great learning and ability and a gifted statesman, and notes that despite the attack on his character by Bishop de Ledrede, he emerged from the Kilkenny Witch Trials with his career undamaged and his reputation even higher than before. In his own time, he was praised as a "prudent and gracious man" who earned the favour of the King.