1 The computerisation project is described in more detail in Davis, Virginia, ‘The medieval English clergy database — a London case study’ in Local Population Studies, i (1993), pp 51–60Google Scholar. Work has been completed on the lists for London and Winchester and the majority of the surviving lists for the whole of England for the period c. 1390-1420, totalling some 70,000 names.

2 See, for example, the ordinations held in the diocese of Armagh in 1412-13 in Lawlor, H.J. (ed.), ‘A calendar of the register of Archbishop Fleming’ in R.I.A. Proc., xxx (1912-13), sect. C, nos 218, 223-4 (pp 155-7)Google Scholar.

3 Ibid., no. 141 (pp 136-7).

4 Ibid., no. 214 (pp 153-4).

5 The register of John Stafford, bishop of Bath and Wells, 1425-1443, ed. Holmes, T.S. (2 vols, London, 1915-16), ii, 330Google Scholar; Reg. Gray, f. 13r-v (Guildhall Library, London, MS 9531/5); Reg. Gilbert, f. 170v (ibid., MS 9531/6).

6 Of the London registers, only that of Simon Sudbury has been edited: Registrum Simonis de Sudburia diocesis Londoniensis, 1362-1375, ed. Fowler, R.C. and Jenkins, Claude (2 vols, Oxford, 1927-38)Google Scholar. The manuscript registers for the diocese of London are in the Guildhall Library, London. Details of episcopal registers for England and Wales can be found in Smith, D.M., Guide to bishops’ registers (London, 1981), pp 136-19Google Scholar.

7 The records of the ordinations of these men will be published by the present writer in full in Archiv. Hib., liv (2000).

8 The number of entries in the database is not the same as the number of people, since each entry represents one entry in the original ordination lists. Individuals may well occur more than once in the lists as they are ordained at the successive stages of ordination.

9 Details of some of the continental clergy coming to England can be found in Davis, Virginia, ‘Transcending the regions: mendicant mobility in the English church in the later middle ages’ in Bocchi, Francesca and Denley, Peter (eds), Storia et multimedia: proceedings of the Seventh International Congress, Association for History and Computing (Bologna, 1994), pp 369-74Google Scholar.

10 Lawlor (ed.), ‘Calendar of Archbishop Fleming’s register’, no. 223 (p. 157).

11 Men also came from the dioceses of Achonry (1), Ardfert (1), Ardmore (2), Cashel (5), Clonfert (1), Cloyne (3), Connor (3), Cork (3), Down (1), Emly (2), Kilmore (1), Leighlin (2), Limerick (6), Tuam (1), Waterford and Lismore (4).

12 Molen was ordained in June 1398 in London (Reg. Braybrooke, f. 48v (Guildhall Library, London, MS 9531/3)). Cormok was ordained in St Paul’s cathedral in London in 1364 (Reg. Sudbury (London), ii, 26, 28). John Hardyng of Hardingston was ordained in Oxford and Winchester in 1461 (Reg. Waynflete, f. Yr-v (Hampshire Record Office)). Thomas Waleys was ordained in London in 1361-2 (Reg. Sudbury (London), ii, 2, 4, 5).

13 Irish are found in the ordination lists of the following dioceses: Bath and Wells, Coventry and Lichfield, Canterbury, Ely, Exeter, Hereford, Lincoln, London, Rochester, Salisbury, Winchester and Worcester. They have not been found in Chichester, Carlisle, Durham, Gloucester, Norwich and York.

14 William Langland in his Piers Plowman, written in the 1370s, deplored the lure of London for those in clerical orders, leading to the neglect of their own pastoral responsibilities: ‘Then I heard parish priests complaining to the bishop that since the plague their parishes were too poor to live in; so they asked permission to live in London where they could traffic in masses and chime their voices to the sweet jingling of silver’ (Langland, , Piers the Ploughman, ed. and trans. Goodridge, J.F. (revised ed., Harmondsworth, 1966), p. 27Google Scholar).

15 The image of large numbers of Irish entering through the south-west may be exaggerated; it is clear that Irish merchants’ activity outside Chester, Bristol and Bridgwater was limited. Customs accounts show that Devon and Cornwall had one or two Irish ships in a year (Childs, Wendy and O’Neill, Timothy, ‘Overseas trade’ in Cosgrove, Art (ed.), A new history of Ireland, ii: Medieval Ireland (Oxford, 1987), p. 512Google Scholar).

16 John Stevyn of Dublin was ordained acolyte in Clyst manor chapel in 1392 (The register of Thomas de Brantyngham, bishop of Exeter, ed. Hingeston-Randolph, F.C. (2 vols, London & Exeter, 1901-6), ii, 875Google Scholar), while William Walsh of Cloyne diocese was ordained priest at Crediton college in Exeter in 1409, having been previously ordained subdeacon and deacon in the diocese of Salisbury (The register of Edmund Stafford, ed. Hingeston-Randolph, F.C. (London & Exeter, 1886), p. 466Google Scholar; The register of Robert Hallum, bishop of Salisbury, 1407-1417, ed. Horn, J.M. (Torquay, 1982), nos 1030-31 (pp 161-3)Google Scholar).

17 Thomas Bele of Dublin diocese was ordained acolyte in May 1390 at Hartlebury episcopal chapel in Worcestershire (A calendar of the register of Henry Wakefield, ed. Marett, W.P. (Leeds, 1972), p. 209Google Scholar). Richard Boys of Meath diocese was ordained sub-deacon in Kidderminster church in March 1379 (ibid., p. 175). Robert Fossard of Ossory diocese was ordained successively deacon and priest in March 1403 in Llanthony priory and Hartlebury castle in March 1403 (The register of Richard Clifford, bishop of Worcester, 1401-1407, ed. Smith, W.E.L. (Toronto, 1976), pp 78, 80Google Scholar), with a title from Rewley abbey in Oxfordshire which may suggest a link with the University of Oxford. Peter Smyth of Dublin diocese was ordained acolyte in Lambeth Palace in London on 20 September 1376 and subsequently as deacon and priest within the diocese of Worcester at an unknown date and place between c. 1378 and c. 1381 (Reg. Sudbury (Canterbury), f. 139v (Lambeth Palace Library); Reg. Wakefield, pp 179, 181). Nicholas Whyte from Armagh diocese was ordained priest in early March 1393 in Alvechurch parish church with a title from John Dovedale (Reg. Wakefield, p. 220). Nicholas Wynsy of Ossory diocese was ordained acolyte and subdeacon in a single day in March 1394 in Worcester cathedral (ibid., p. 221). Both Peter Smyth and Nicholas Wynsy (as Wonsy) appear listed as chaplains among the 1394 exemptions (Cal. pat. rolls, 1391-6, pp 468, 463).

18 William Collan of Armagh diocese was ordained deacon in St Paul’s cathedral in London in March 1421, and in September of the same year as priest in Salisbury cathedral (The register of Henry Chichele, archbishop of Canterbury, ed. Jacob, E.F. (4 vols, Oxford, 1938-47), iv, 344Google Scholar; Reg. Chaundler, f. 39v (Wiltshire Record Office)). William Haddesford [Hadsor], also of Armagh was ordained deacon at the same ceremony in Salisbury cathedral in September 1421 (ibid., f. 39r). Haddesford was later to become bishop of Meath. His career is listed in Emden, A.B., Biographical register of the University of Oxford (3 vols, Oxford, 1957-9)Google Scholar (henceforth cited as B.R.U.O.). Philip Martyn alias Randolf of Cloyne diocese was ordained deacon in September 1400 at Potterne church in Wiltshire (Reg. Mitford, f. 170r (Wiltshire Record Office)). William Walsh alias More of Cloyne diocese was ordained sub-deacon and deacon in Salisbury diocese in September and December 1408, moving on to Crediton in Devon for his ordination as priest in December 1409 (Reg. Hallum, nos 1030-31 (pp 161-3); Reg. Edmund Stafford, p. 466). John de Weyford [Wexford] of Ferns diocese was ordained priest in Salisbury in 1406 (Reg. Mitford, f. 178v). Thomas White of Armagh diocese was ordained deacon in September 1420 in Sonning in Berkshire before moving to Wells for ordination as priest in December of the same year (Reg. Chaundler, f. 37r; The register of Nicholas Bubwith, bishop of Bath and Wells, ed. Holmes, T.S. (2 vols, London, 1914), ii, 345Google Scholar).

19 Adam Bryt of Kildare diocese was ordained acolyte, subdeacon and priest between March and June 1408 in the diocese of Ely, with a trip to St Paul’s cathedral in London for ordination as deacon in April of the same year (Reg. Fordham, ff 246v, 247v (Cambridge University Library, EDR G/l/3); Reg. Clifford, f. 38v (Guildhall Library, London, MS 9531/4)). Robert Crull of Dublin was ordained acolyte and subdeacon in Ely in 1416-17 (Reg. Fordham, ff 266r-267v). John Deveros of Limerick diocese was ordained to all four orders between September 1377 and June 1378 in the diocese of Ely (Reg. Arundel, ff 121v, 123r (Cambridge University Library, EDR G/l/2)); in August 1394 he was licensed as an Irishman by birth to remain in England (Cal. pat. rolls, 1391-6, p. 469); for his subsequent career as an anti-Wyclifite theologian see Emden, A.B., Biographical register of the University of Cambridge (Cambridge, 1963)Google Scholar (henceforth cited as B.R.U.C.) p. 186. Nicholas Hert of Kildare was ordained to the major orders in Ely cathedral between December 1420 and March 1421 (Reg. Fordham, ff 108r-v, 109r). William Kyltale of Meath was ordained acolyte in Ely cathedral in September 1378 (Reg. Arundel, f. 123v). Nicholas Lang of Dublin diocese was ordained subdeacon and deacon in Ely in 1411, moving to London before his ordination as priest in September 1411 (Reg. Fordham, f. 249v; Reg. Clifford, f. 55v). Andrew McConaghty, already beneficed as a priest in Connor diocese, was ordained priest in Dodington manor chapel in March 1394 (Reg. Fordham, f. 235r). Donald Omery of Achonry was ordained deacon in September 1418 in Downham manor chapel (ibid., f. 270v). John Walsh of Ferns diocese was ordained to all orders within the diocese of Ely between September 1407 and June 1408 (ibid., ff 246v, 247r). Of these men, only Deveros is definitely known to have been in attendance at Cambridge.

20 The medieval diocese of Lincoln covered the counties of Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Rutland, Huntingdonshire and part of northern Hertfordshire.

21 One of the entries for 1380 is from the register of Canterbury, but the ordination ceremony actually took place at Lambeth Palace in London, so for the purposes of geographic analysis it has been included in the London figures.

22 On Richard II’s policy towards Ireland see Lydon, J.F., ‘Richard II’s expeditions to Ireland’ in R.S.A.I. Jn., xciii (1963), pp 135-49Google Scholar; Tuck, Anthony, ‘Anglo-Irish relations, 1382-1393’ in R.I.A. Proc., lxix (1970), sect. C, pp 15–31Google Scholar.

23 Griffiths, Ralph A., The reign of Henry VI: the exercise of royal authority, 1422-61 (London, 1981), pp 134-5, 142-3, 167-8Google Scholar.

24 Stat. of realm, ii, 173.

25 Anthony Lynch makes the point that only three or four priests were being ordained annually in the diocese of Armagh (Lynch, Anthony, ‘Religion in late medieval Ireland’ in Archiv. Hib., xxxiv (1981), p. 10Google Scholar).

26 Watt, J.A., The church and the two nations in medieval Ireland (Cambridge, 1970), pp 205-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

27 Ibid.: ‘Those holding benefices of holy Church among the English shall use the English language, and if they do not do so, their ordinaries shall have the issues of their benefices until they do use the English language in the manner aforesaid.’ The full text is in Gwynn, Aubrey, ‘Provincial and diocesan decrees of the diocese of Dublin during the Anglo-Norman period’ in Archiv. Hib., xi (1944), pp 100-1Google Scholar.

28 Watt, Church & two nations, p. 207.

29 Cal. pat. rolls, 1391-6, pp 451-65,468-9.

30 Clergy form a much smaller proportion of the total listed in the alien subsidy taken in 1440: there are only 24 secular clerks (4 vicars, 3 priests, 2 chantry priests, 11 chaplains, 4 rectors) of a total of 243 Irishmen, just under 10 per cent of the total (P.R.O., E 179, lay subsidy rolls, alien subsidy 18-19 Hen. VI). This may reflect a difference in the way in which they were recorded. I am very grateful to Professor J. L. Bolton, who provided me with this material. See Bolton, J.L., ‘Irish migration to England in the late middle ages: the evidence of 1394 and 1440’ in I.H.S., xxxii, no. 125 (May 2000), p. 16Google Scholar.

31 Registrum Simonis Langham, Cantuariensis archiepiscopi, ed. Wood, A.C. (Oxford, 1956), pp 375, 383; Reg. Sudbury (London), ii, 55Google Scholar.

32 Wykeham’s register, ed. Kirby, T.F. (2 vols, London, 1896-9), ii, 308Google Scholar; Reg. Braybrooke. f. 16v (Guildhall Library, London, MS 9531/3).

33 Reg. Wykeham, i, 176, 216. The patron of Oxted was a secular knight, Reginald Cobham.

34 There is a description of Fisherton vicarage at this period, from an episcopal inquiry made in 1394 for the purpose of appropriating the parish to its patrons, the priory of Maiden Bradley. It suggests a peaceful setting: ‘It [the vicarage] had a house with dovecote and adjoining garden; also a virgate of arable … 1 acre of common meadow and a separate meadow called “Paradys”.’ There were extensive tithes attached to the position (The register of John Waltham, bishop of Salisbury, 1388-1395, ed. Timmins, T.C.B. (Woodbridge, 1994), no. 123 (pp 33-4)Google Scholar).

35 Cal. papal letters, 1396-1404, p. 614. He may be related to Robert Montayne, bishop of Meath 1401-12, who was proctor of the province of Armagh to the council of Pisa in 1409 (B.R.U.O., p. 2198).

36 The register of Milo Sweteman, archbishop of Armagh, 1361-1380, ed. Smith, Brendan (Dublin, 1996), document 60 (pp 58-9)Google Scholard.

37 Ibid., document 62 (pp 60-62), schedule of beneficed persons from the diocese of Armagh.

38 Reg. Sudbury (London), ii, 12; Brand, Paul, ‘The formation of a parish: the case of Beaulieu, Co. Louth’ in Bradley, John (ed.), Settlement and society in medieval Ireland (Kilkenny, 1988), p. 271Google Scholar.

39 Reg. Sudbury (London), ii, 19, 21. He had previously been ordained acolyte in Oxford in February 1362 (Reg. Gynwell, f. 111 (Lincolnshire Archives Office, Episcopal Register IXD)).

40 Reg. Sweteman, document 62 (pp 60-62); Reg. Sudbury (London), ii, 29, 36.

41 See below, p. 157.

42 One person holding an English benefice at the time of his ordination was John Hardyng, of Hardingston in the diocese of Armagh, who was ordained in 1461, described as priest of Loxford in the diocese of Exeter (Register Waynflete ff Xv, Yr-v) (Hampshire Record Office)). Nothing is known of the patronage which lay behind his promotion to this benefice.

43 B.R.U.O., p. 2219. Swayne was in fact rector of Galtrim, County Meath, by 1404; acolyte, 22 Sept. 1414; subdeacon, 22 Dec. 1414; deacon, 23 Feb. 1415; priest, 16 Mar. 1415 (Reg. Clifford, ff 70r, 71r, 72r, 73r (Guildhall Library, London, MS 9531/4)).

44 Leslie, J.B., Ferns clergy and parishes (Dublin, 1936), pp 4, 50Google Scholar; B.R.U.O., p. 567.

45 Whitehead was active as a theologian in England for much of his career, but at the same time he retained Irish links and in 1422 unsuccessfully laid claim to a prebend of St Patrick’s cathedral in Dublin; his career is briefly described in B.R.U.O., p. 2037.

46 Neither Castlemartyn nor Ottahill are listed in J. B. Leslie’s typescript succession lists to the dioceses of Meath and Limerick respectively (Representative Church Body Library, Dublin, MS 61/2); Kilskeer, County Meath, was held by John Taaff by 1385. McConaghty is not listed in Leslie, J.B., Clergy of Connor (Belfast, 1993)Google Scholar.

47 Philip Ray is listed as an otherwise unidentified member of the Waterford clergy in 1376, and a man of the same name is described as a late fourteenth-century precentor of Lismore cathedral (Rennison, W.E., Succession list of the bishops, cathedral and parochial clergy of the dioceses of Waterford and Lismore (Waterford, 1920), pp 54, 116Google Scholar). Thomas Rys is not listed among canons of Cork in Cotton, Fasti, ii.

48 See Swanson, R.N., ‘Titles to orders in medieval English episcopal registers’ in Mayr-Harting, Henry and Moore, R.I. (eds), Studies in medieval history presented to R. H. C. Davis (London, 1985), pp 233-45Google Scholar.

49 Davis, Virginia, ‘Late medieval English clergy database’ in History and Computing, ii (1990), pp 84-5Google Scholar.

50 Reg. Gilberts, f. 152v (Guildhall Library, London, MS 9531/6).

51 Registrum Ricardi Mayew, episcopi Herefordensis, ed. Bannister, A.T. (Oxford, 1919), pp 242-3Google Scholar; B.R.U.O., p. 476. He is likely to be the man of the same name who became bishop of Ferns in 1510 and was translated to Waterford in 1519. Other Irish houses giving titles were the Dublin houses of St Thomas the Martyr and Holy Trinity priory and Graiguenamanagh abbey in County Kilkenny.

52 Swanson, ‘Titles to orders’, pp 233-15.

53 Reg. John Stafford, ii, 396.

54 Reg. Waynflete, f. Dr (Hampshire Record Office).

55 The register of Edmund Lacy, bishop of Exeter, 1420-55, ed. Dunstan, G.R. (5 vols, London, 1963-72), iv, 210, 211, 213Google Scholar; iii, 61, records that Richard Asshe paid 6s. 8d. in tax in 1449.

56 Registrum Thome Bourgchier, Cantuariensis archiepiscopi, 1454-1486, ed. Boulay, F.R.H. Du (Oxford, 1957), pp 280, 294-5, 366Google Scholar.

57 Reg. Fordham, f. 108r (Cambridge University Library, EDR G/1/3).

58 Lawlor (ed.), ‘Calendar of Archbishop Fleming’s register’, no. 124 (p. 132).

59 Reg. Sudbury (Canterbury), f. 140r (Lambeth Palace Library); Reg. Wykeham, i, 283.

60 Reg. Wykeham, i, 281, 285.

61 B.R.U.O., p. xxxviii.

62 Ibid., pp 340, 1996; B.R.U.C., p. 103.

63 This is a version of a paper first given at a conference on the Irish in medieval England held at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, in 1995. I am grateful for all the helpful comments made by the participants at that conference.