Fitzroger, William

Fitzroger, William (fl. 1274–94), prior of Kilmainham, judge, and deputy justiciar of Ireland, was almost certainly of English birth. He was probably created prior of the hospital of St John of Jerusalem in Ireland in early 1274. During the summer of that year he led a disastrous expedition against the Irish of the Wicklow mountains; he was heavily defeated at Glenmalure, taken prisoner, and along with other survivors was only freed when Irish hostages held at Dublin castle were released by the justiciar, Geoffrey de Geneville (qv). He left immediately for England, and in June 1275 Edward I wrote to him commanding him to return to Ireland; the excuse he had offered for not doing so (he claimed he had been summoned to the Holy Land by the grand master of his order) was brushed aside, and he was told in no uncertain terms that if he did not obey the king's mandate all of his order's possessions in Ireland would be confiscated.

Fitzroger appears as the first prior of the order in Ireland directly employed in the administration of the lordship; in 1278 he acted as a justice itinerant, was probably made a member of the king's council in Ireland, and was also one of the auditors of de Geneville's accounts as justiciar. Between Easter 1284 and 29 July 1285 he acted as deputy justiciar while Stephen de Fulbourn was absent in England; he seems to have mounted a campaign against Ó Conchobair Failge in Offaly (1284), and during the summer of 1285 he led an expedition to Roscommon against the recalcitrant O'Connors. His activities as deputy justiciar did not always meet with approval: magnates in Cork petitioned the king and complained that Fitzroger had pardoned the outlawed Domnall Óg Mac Carthaig against their advice and wishes.

From 24 June 1291 to Hilary 1292 he acted as chief justice in the eyre of Dublin and presided over the case of William Prene, master of the king's works in Ireland, who was charged and found guilty of extortion and corruption. From 4 June to 19 October 1294 he was custos and acting justiciar of Ireland, appointed by the king's Irish council after the dismissal of William de Vescy (qv). After 1294 his name disappears from the records, though his successor as prior of Kilmainham does not seem to have been active till 1301.