Thomas de Rokeby

Sir Thomas de Rokeby (died 1356 or 1357 ) was a soldier and senior Crown official in fourteenth-century England and Ireland, who served as Justiciar of Ireland. His nephew, also named Thomas, the son of his brother Robert, was closely associated with him in his later years and the elder Thomas was often called "l'oncle" to distinguish him from his nephew. It was almost certainly the nephew, not the uncle, who was the grandfather of the second Sir Thomas de Rokeby, who died sometime after 1423.

Administrative reforms Rokeby was praised by his contemporaries for his regard for justice and his zeal in checking extortion by Crown officials. He undertook a general overhaul of the Irish administration, aimed particularly at the detection and prevention of corruption and the removal of incompetent officials. Admittedly the charges against Emeldon were very serious, including rape, robbery and manslaughter, but Rokeby must have known that the King, out of regard for their long friendship and Emeldon's record of good service to the Crown in Ireland, had already pardoned Emeldon for killing one Ralph de Byrton, a knight, in 1336. Emeldon was once more pardoned and quickly released.

Not all those with whom Rokeby clashed were necessarily corrupt: William de Bromley, Emeldon's successor as Lord High Treasurer of Ireland, whose reputation was fair enough, later complained that Rokeby had fined him £200 without lawful authority.

In November 1351 Rokeby held a Great Council at Kilkenny. It dealt partly with the problem of official corruption already mentioned, partly with the problem of defence of the Pale, and partly with the question of intermarriage and other close contacts between the Anglo-Irish and the Old Irish. He was also noted for his modest lifestyle: "I drink only from wooden vessels" is one of his recorded sayings. The citizens of Cork, protesting at his recall, referred to his "evident good work" in maintaining law and order. On the other hand, he could be high-handed, as in his clash with Lord Treasurer Bromley, who, unlike Emeldon was not suspected of corruption.

Otway-Ruthven contrasts his early successes with his disappointing later record, and notes that the 1350s was the crucial decade in which the English Crown lost control of much of Ireland until the sixteenth century.