Richard Talbot

Richard Talbot (c. 1390 – 15 August 1449) was an English-born statesman and cleric in fifteenth-century Ireland. He was a younger brother of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury. He held the offices of Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He was one of the leading political figures in Ireland for more than thirty years, but his career was marked by controversy and frequent conflicts with other statesmen. 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. Early life He was the third son of Richard Talbot, 4th Baron Talbot, and his wife Ankaret le Strange. His elder brothers were Gilbert Talbot, 5th Baron Talbot and John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury. He seems to have entered the Church while he was still in his early teens. He became prebendary of Hereford Cathedral and York Cathedral, and Dean of Chichester in 1415. In 1416, when he was still only about twenty-five, he was elected Archbishop of Armagh but failed to secure Papal confirmation of his election. The following year he was consecrated Archbishop of Dublin. Archbishop of Dublin He was an active and reforming Archbishop, who established a new corporation in St. Patrick's Cathedral and founded chantries in St. Michael's Church, Dublin (which he converted into a parish church) and St. Audoen's Church. His rule as Archbishop was marked by a long-running conflict with John Swayne, who had become Archbishop of Armagh in 1418, two years after Talbot failed to obtain confirmation of his election to that see. 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. Swayne was equally intransigent: in 1429 he refused to attend a session of the Irish Parliament in Leinster if his primacy was not acknowledged.