Walter Champfleur

[4] Champfleur used the statute of 1471 to good effect in defending a lawsuit brought against the Abbey in the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) for £100, this being the estimated value of some casks of Spanish wine whose ownership was in dispute.

[4] A further statute passed in the session of 1475-6[5] permitted the Abbot and his successors, as well as a number of other prominent clerics like the Prior of Great Connell Priory, to deal with their lands in territories controlled by the "enemies of the King" i.e. "the hostile Irish", without committing any crime.

They were specifically permitted to enter contracts for the sale of land and foodstuffs with them, "in time of war as well as peace",[2] and in a rather curious detail, were allowed to act as godfathers to Irish children.

[1] Like almost all of the Anglo-Irish ruling class, who were led by Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, he made the mistake of supporting the spurious claim of the pretender Lambert Simnel to the English Crown.

[1] Champfleur took the required oath of allegiance to Henry in July 1488, in the presence of Sir Richard Edgcumbe, the English official charged with bringing the Anglo-Irish nobility into obedience, and with punishing those, like Prior Keating, who were regarded as incorrigible rebels.

[4] As well as his performing his duties as Abbot, Champfleur acted as political adviser and financial agent to the powerful Anglo-Irish magnate Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond.