John de Shriggeley

[4] Simon, probably by an earlier marriage had two daughters: Joanna, who married another leading Irish judge, John de Sotheron of Great Mitton, Lancashire, and had issue, and Margaret[5] Nicola brought John a substantial dowry, including lands at Culmullen in County Meath but they had great difficulty in establishing her right to possession of Culmullen, ownership of which was disputed by various relatives of Nicola's first husband.

[9] His ability to perform his judicial functions must have been greatly hindered by the fact that both the Common Pleas and the Exchequer for some decades sat in Carlow, which was closer to the heart of Anglo-Norman Ireland than Dublin, but was regularly raided and burnt by hostile Irish clans.

[12] He was a trusted servant of the Crown (an order from 1386 survives for the payment of his arrears of salary as Chief Justice),[13] and in particular, he enjoyed the confidence of Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, the prime royal favourite of King Richard II through much of the 1380s.

[15] Little is known of the details of the murders,[16] although Nicholas's surname suggests that the crime was connected with the long-running dispute over possession of the former Cusacke lands in County Meath, which were held by Shriggeley in right of his wife Nicola.

[18] In 1400 he is listed in the Chancery rolls in connection with a writ of mainprise, i.e. an order to the sheriff to discharge a prisoner who had produced a person to act as surety for their further appearance in Court.

In the same year, he was appointed Captain of the Militia, Keeper of the Peace and a member of the Commission of Array for Skryne and Dees (possibly Decies?).

[20] In 1404 he was appointed an acting justice, one of four senior judges who tried an action for novel disseisin between Nicholas Crystor and the Stokes family concerning lands at Siddan, near Strokestown in Meath.