Walter Champfleur

Walter Champfleur or de Champfleur (died 1498 or 1499) was an Irish cleric and judge of the fifteenth century, who played a leading role in Irish politics.

He was probably a Dubliner, and had cousins living near Dublin city. He was Abbot of the Cistercian house of St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin for more than 30 years: he became Abbot in 1467, in succession to John Handcock.

Activities as Abbot

As Abbot, he secured the passing of a statute of the Irish Parliament in the session of 1471-2, confirming the Abbey in all its rights and possessions, and the validity of all its charters. Parliament further enacted that the Abbey had the right to have all legal proceedings which might infringe its liberties annulled. permitted the Abbot and his successors, as well as a number of other prominent clerics like the Prior of Great Connell Priory, to deal with their lands in territories controlled by the "enemies of the King" i.e. "the hostile Irish", without committing any crime.

John Speed's map of Dublin 1610: the site of the former St. Mary's Abbey can be seen on the left, north of the river

Judge

Champfleur was Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of Ireland in 1479, He collected the Earl's rents, stored money for him, and kept him informed of political developments in Dublin. In particular, while Parliament was in session, Champfleur on at least two occasions advised Ormond to have private bills drafted to secure his own interests, which the Earl duly did.

In 1497 Walter wrote inquiring about the health of Ormond's second wife Lora Berkeley, who was pregnant, and offering his prayers that "God send (her) a good and fair deliverance". The expected child was Lady Elizabeth Butler, who survived infancy but died in her early teens. On a more practical note, he suggested that one of his cousins would be a suitable tenant for the Earl's farm at Rush in north county Dublin, which was apparently in a ruinous condition. This is one of the few known references to Walter's family.

Death and reputation

He is usually said to have died in 1497,

Champfleur was mourned by his monks and by the people of Dublin as an "aged, prudent and learned man", who had made vigorous, if not very successful, attempts to reform abuses within his Order.