Medieval University of Dublin

Membership of the university seems to have been synonymous with being a canon of the cathedral, and the Dean of St Patrick's, William de Rodyard, was elected the first chancellor.

Ireland in the Middle Ages was not a rich country, and the Irish, even if they had wished to do so, were unable to provide the money which could have put the university on a secure financial footing.

There was a notable absence of wealthy private benefactors like those who founded so many colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, nor was the English Crown generous with its endowments to the university.

In 1358, on the petition of the Irish clergy, King Edward III of England established another chair of theology; and in 1364 his son Lionel of Antwerp, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, founded a lectureship; but in the absence of sufficient funds, the university continued to languish.

[4] In 1475, when, as Cardinal Newman remarks, the university could scarcely be said to still exist, Pope Sixtus IV was persuaded by John Walton, Archbishop of Dublin, to issue a brief to re-establish it; but very little seems to have been done to comply with the brief.