Richard Talbot (archbishop of Dublin)
In particular, the Talbot brothers' quarrel with the powerful Earl of Ormonde was the main cause of the Butler–Talbot feud, which dominated Irish politics for decades, and seriously weakened the authority of the English Crown in Ireland.
Talbot revived an old dispute by denying the primacy of the see of Armagh over that of Dublin, and refused to accept the right of Swayne to call himself Primate of Ireland.
[1] Talbot was at least prepared to act firmly: in 1419 he arrested Christopher Preston, 2nd Baron Gormanston and other members of the Irish nobility on suspicion of treason, although nothing came of these charges, which probably had no basis in fact.
[1] Shrewsbury had previously been accused of "harsh treatment" of Ormonde, and his brother intensified the quarrel, to the point where Anglo-Irish politics became increasingly split between the Talbot and Butler factions.
[4] The English Council in the end rebuked both sides of the dispute for weakening the Irish government by "creating divisions and rumours among the King's men".
[1] Relations between the Talbots and the Butlers did eventually improve, and to mark the two families' reconciliation, Ormonde's daughter Elizabeth married Shrewsbury's son and heir, the future 2nd Earl.
His feud with Archbishop Swayne weakened the authority of the Church; and his quarrel with Ormonde, which seems to have been as much personal as political, is generally agreed to have been a major factor in seriously damaging English rule in Ireland.
Even in a turbulent age when cases of assault and even murder were common enough it was notable that Talbot, despite his clerical office, was prepared to use violence, as shown by the credible accusation in 1442 that he had beaten up two senior members of the Irish Privy Council, Hugh Banent and Robert Dyke.
He had a reputation for extravagance: his successor Michael Tregury, having conducted an audit, complained in 1451 that Talbot had reduced the income of the Archdiocese to below £300 a year.
