William de Karlell

William de Karlell (died 1383) was an English-born judge, administrator and cleric in fourteenth-century Ireland. He held numerous benefices including Archdeacon of Meath and Rector of Youghal, and sat in the Irish House of Commons. After sitting for some years as a Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) he was removed from office, following a flood of complaints about his acts of extortion and oppression committed by himself and Chief Baron Holywood, but he was later restored to favour, and served briefly as Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He is buried in St Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny.

Background He took his family name from his birthplace, Carlisle, Cumberland, and was sometimes called simply Karlell. and was briefly Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland. They were apparently of fairly humble origins, as is suggested by the later complaint that William was not a fit person to arrest a member of the aristocratic Wellesley family. William himself was clearly rather sensitive about his background.

Career He came to Ireland as part of the entourage of the King's second son Lionel of Antwerp, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in 1361, and was made a Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) in 1367. In 1375 he became a canon of Ferns Cathedral. citing There is evidence that other members of the Karlell family also settled in Kilkenny. A second William Karlell, described as "William son of John Karlell", possibly a grand-nephew of the first William, was executor of the two brothers' estates in 1394.

During the political crisis of 1376, which led to the downfall of the unpopular Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Sir William de Windsor, Karlell and his Chief Baron, Robert de Holywood, were both bitterly attacked as associates of Windsor. Both were dismissed from office and summoned to England to answer before the English Privy Council for charges of "oppression and extortion" made by numerous members of the Anglo-Irish nobility, but no further action was taken against them. Holywood retired into private life, but in Karlell's case, the disgrace was temporary. In 1383 the King appointed him Queen's Attorney for Ireland; This journey does not seem to have been connected with the lengthy inquiry into the Crown's prerogative rights in County Wexford and County Waterford, with particular regard to the question of treasure trove, which was conducted by de Karlell and two colleagues, John Keppock and Walter Cotterell. In pursuit of this business he lost two other horses, and petitioned for compensation.

It may have been his activities on the Crown's behalf which caused his great unpopularity with the Anglo-Irish ruling class, and this, in turn, may explain the later charges of extortion which were made against him, especially in the mid-1370s, when he became identified with the bitterly resented Windsor regime.

Tomb James Graves in his history of St. Canice's Cathedral, published in 1857, described William's tomb as a coffin-shaped slab, six feet by two, elevated about two feet from the floor of the cathedral, and completely unadorned except for an inscription giving William's name and clerical offices. His brother John was also buried in St Canice's ten years later, but his tomb was largely destroyed in the seventeenth century.