John L'Archers

He was evidently chosen as Chancellor because he was neutral between King Edward III and the Anglo-Irish nobility, whose relations then were bad, due largely to the ill-judged and quickly abandoned reform programme of 1341/2, which would have seen all royal grants of land since 1307 revoked.

[1] O'Flanagan[5] writing in 1870, said that L'Archer was one of several medieval Chancellors of Ireland who left no trace except their names on the pages of history.

On the other hand, Otway-Ruthven[6] has recently described L'Archer as a leading statesman who played an important part in the political events of the early 1340s.

The Irish Parliament, which met in Dublin in 1341 and then adjourned to Kilkenny, denounced the Anglo-Irish government of Ireland in terms of extraordinary severity for its misgovernment, and then produced a series of petitions to King Edward III, which were to be presented by a group of leading magnates and Crown officials.

L'Archer was one of the delegation: Otway-Ruthven believes that the fact that the newly appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland went in person to present the petition was one of the reasons for the good reception it received.

[4] In an interesting entry, the Patent Roll[8] states that L'Archer, on his appointment as Deputy Justiciar in August 1346, received a royal pardon under the Great Seal of Ireland at Cashel for all crimes or misdemeanours whatsoever committed to that date.