Richard le Brun

Richard le Brun (died after 1324) was an English-born cleric, judge and Crown official in fourteenth-century Ireland. He was Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer 1319-1324.

He is first heard of in 1310, when he was acting as

Master of the Rolls in Ireland, had the right to a crop of wheat in Balgoray (possibly Ballygorey, County Kilkenny

).

He was in holy orders and became a prebendary both in the Diocese of Cloyne and the Diocese of Ossory. He became a Baron of the Exchequer in 1319, and almost immediately replaced Balscote, who was in disgrace following a quarrel with King Edward II of England, as Chief Baron. Richard held that office until 1324, when he was replaced by Adam de Harvington. His date of death is not recorded.

There was a later judge of the same name, who may have been a relative of the first Richard. The second Richard served as a justice of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) in the 1330s.

Sources

Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 London John Murray 1926
Patent Rolls 17 Edward II