Roger Utlagh

The Bishop of Ossory, Richard de Ledrede, a noted "scourge of witches and heretics", accused a number of prominent local citizens of witchcraft; the alleged leaders of the coven were Roger's sister-in-law Alice Kyteler and her son William Outlawe junior.

Undeterred by his imprisonment, Ledrede on his release from prison made a second request that Roger arrest the suspects; at the same time, he ignored a summons from the Chancellor to appear before his Court to justify putting his diocese under an interdict.

Alice managed to escape from prison and flee the country, no doubt with her brother-in-law's help, but William was sentenced to do penance and another of the accused, Petronella de Meath, was burnt at the stake.

[5] This proved to be a serious error of judgment: Roger was a trusted servant of the Crown and was generally liked and respected; no-one except Ledrede believed that he was guilty of anything but a quite understandable desire to help his family.

The Parliament he convened in 1328/9 was aimed at reconciling the rival factions among the nobility, and persuading them to control their followers, and had some short-term success.

The dominant figure then among the Irish nobility was Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond, of whose troublesome conduct Roger has already given an account to the Crown in 1327 while visiting Westminster.

[7] O'Flanagan[1] praises Roger as a man of great learning and ability and a gifted statesman, and notes that despite the attack on his character by Bishop de Ledrede, he emerged from the Kilkenny Witch Trials with his career undamaged and his reputation even higher than before.