John Frowyk

John Frowyk(died after 1359) was an English-born cleric and judge in fourteenth-centuryIreland.

He became Prior of the Irish Chapter of the Order ofKnights Hospitaller,whose house was atKilmainham,in 1356 and in the same year was appointedLord Chancellor of Ireland;apart from a brief interval when he was replaced byThomas de Burley,he served in both offices until at least 1359.

O'Flanaganwriting in 1870 states that no further details of his life are recorded. D'Alton, however, states that as Prior he obtained royal confirmation of the privileges of the Order of Hospitallers.It is also known that he played a major role in the Parliament held at Kilkenny in January 1359,which was concerned largely with the threat to theAnglo-Irishfrom an apparently concerted series of attacks by neighbouring Irish clans.

Several records of his tenure as Lord Chancellor survive:letters patentwere issued byEdward IIIaddressed to Frowyk and other Crown officials in December 1357, giving details of an inquiry into allegedmisconductby John de Boulton, the former Justiciar of Ireland, who held office briefly in 1357.In June 1359 thePatent Rollsrecord that Frowyk, who was still Lord Chancellor, was going to England to speak to the King andPrivy Councilabout "urgent and important business concerning the land of Ireland, as agreed by theJusticiar of Irelandand the "prelates, magnates and peers" at the recent meeting of theParliament of IrelandatKilkenny".A further entry in the Rolls explains that Parliament had decided to send Frowyk to England to make manifest to the King and Council the dangers which threatened his subjects in Ireland. He was awarded 100 marks to cover the expenses of the journey.The "dangers and urgent matters" referred to were the increasingly frequent attacks on the English ofLeinsterby the local Irish clans.Parliament felt sufficiently threatened to issue adeclaration of waragainst the clans, and to raise asubsidyto cover the cost of the fighting.

In 1358, he sat on a commission ofoyer and terminerwithJohn de Rednesse,theLord Chief Justice of Ireland,Sir Thomas de Rokeby the younger and others to inquire into the actions of those of the King's subjects who had soldweaponsandvictualsto his enemies, andtreacherouslyadhered to those enemies.

Archdalldescribes a somewhat embarrassinglawsuitbrought against Frowyk by Walter Say, amerchant,alleging thedetinue(unlawful retention) by Frowyk of valuable bales of cloth andspices,which his servant had deposited in Kilmainham Priory for safe-keeping, but which Frowyk in his capacity as Ptoor refused to release.-Judgmentwas given for Say, who was awarded £100, a considerable sum at the time.

In 1358, the King granted Frowyk custody of the castle and manor of Clare,County Tipperary,formerly owned by James Bermingham, son of Edmund Bermingham, to hold until the Berminghamheircame of age. The ruins of Clare Castle, situated on theRiver Anner,still stand.

Frowyk family of Middlesex

John is said to have been the son of Lawrence Frowyk of London. It is possible that he belonged to the Frowyk family of Old Fold,Middlesex,who were prominent in theLondonmerchantcommunity and in local politics for two centuries. Roger de Frowyk, who built a mansion at Seething Lane, close to theTower of London,around 1303, was agoldsmithand anEnglish Crownofficial.Thomas Frowyk(died 1508) wasChief Justice of the Common Pleas.He was the grandson of Henry Frowyk, who was twiceLord Mayor of London.