The Bishops of Kildare in the Late Middle Ages

The following is from Fr. Thomas Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy, published in New York in 1854, chapter xvii, at p. 146 and following:

Murechad Mac Flan comorban or successor of St Conleath died AD 985 Moel Martin died in 1028 or 1030 Mselbrigid died in 1042

Fin Mac Gussan Mac Gorman died at Achonry in 1085

Ferdomnach was bishop and resigned in 1096 Maelbrigid O Brolcan bishop of Kildare died in 1097 He was a man of great fame

Aid O Heremon died AD 1100

Ferdomnach according to Ware resumed the see and died in 1101

Mac Dongail died in 1108

Cormac O Cathsuigh called bishop of Leinster on account of the preeminence of Kildare died in the year 1146

O Dubhin died in 1148

Finian Mac Tiarcain O Gorman abbot of Newry succeeded and died at Killeigh in the year 1160 where he was buried He assisted at the council of Kells in 1152

Malachy O Byrn remarkable for his modesty When St Lawrence OToole would have sent him to dispossess a demoniac he declined alleging that he had not virtue enough to cast out a devil This prelate died on the 1st of January 1176

Nehemiah succeeded in 1177 and governed the see of Kildare about eighteen years

Cornelius Mac Gelany rector of Cloncurry and archdeacon of Kildare was elected consecrated in the year 1206 and died in 1222

Ralph of Bristol treasurer of St Patrick's Dublin was consecrated in 1223 Ralph was at great expense in repairing and beautifying his cathedral He died about the beginning of 1232 he wrote the life of St Lawrence O Toole archbishop of Dublin

John De Taunton canon of St Patrick's Dublin succeeded in 1233 sat twenty five years Died about the beginning of summer 1258 and was buried in his own church Simon De Kilkenny was canon of Kildare and elected to the see in 1258 He died at Kildare in the beginning of April 1272 After the decease of this prelate the see was vacant for some time

Nicholas Cusack a Franciscan friar and a native of Meath was de elared bishop of the see by the pope who annulled the elections of Stephen dean of Kildare and William treasurer of that church He succeeded in November 1279 In 1292 he was joined in commission with Thomas St Leger bishop of Meath to collect a disme or tenth granted by the Pope to the king for relief of the holy land The sheriffs of the kingdom were ordered to aid in the collection He died in September 1299 having sat about twenty years and was buried in his own church

Walter le Veel chancellor of Kildare succeeded in 1299 Was consecrated in 1300 in St Patrick's church Dublin He sat upwards of thirty two years He died in November 1332 and is said to have been buried in his own church

Richard Hulot succeeded in 1334 was canon and archdeacon of Kildare He died on the 24th of June 1352 in the 19th year of his consecration

Thomas Gifford chancellor of Kildare was elected by the dean and chapter in 1353 He died on the 25th of September 1365 and was buried at Kildare in the church of St Bridget

Robert de Aketon obtained the see of Kildare in 1366 Was an Augustine hermit Elected in the previous year to the see of Down but the Pope annulled the election He sat in 1367

George is said to have succeeded and to have died in 1401

Henry de Wessenberch a Franciscan friar was promoted in December 1401 by the Pope Boniface IX

Thomas who succeeded died in 1405

John Madock archdeacon of Kildare succeeded and died in 1431

William archdeacon of Kildare succeeded in 1432 by provision of Pope Eugene IV Having governed the see fourteen years he died in April 1446

Geoffry Hereford a Dominican friar was advanced in 1449 to this see by Pope Eugene IV and was consecrated on Easter Sunday He died having sat about fifteen years and was buried in his own church

Richard Lang a man of exemplary gravity and wisdom succeeded in 1464 He was strongly recommended by the dean and chapter of Armagh to Pope Sixtus IV for the see of Armagh but without success He was cited by public edict on the part of the Pope to appear and produce his title to the see of Kildare He died in possession of his see AD 1474 David succeeded and died before he got possession in 1474

James Wall a Franciscan friar and doctor of divinity was promoted on the 5th of April 1475 He died on the 28th of April 1494 and was buried in a church of Franciscans at London He resigned long before his death

William Barret succeeded He must have resigned as he was vicar to the bishop of Clermont France in 1493

Edmund Lane succeeded in 1482 and died about the end of 1522 and was buried in his own church to which he was a benefactor He founded a college at Kildare in which the dean and chapter might live in a collegiate manner He sat in this see upwards of forty years He was entrapped into the mock coronation of Lambert Simnel He afterwards obtained a pardon In 1494 he assisted at a provincial synod held in Christ church by Walter Fitzsimon archbishop of Dublin

Thomas Dillon a native of Meath and an alumnus of Oxford was promoted to this see in 1523 and died in 1531 having presided about eight years

Peter Stole a master of sacred theology was provided by Clement VII on the 15th March 1529

Walter Wellesley a canon regular prior of Conal in the county of Kildare obtained the see in 1531 by provision of Pope Clement VII He died in 1539 and was buried in his own convent King Henry VIII endeavored to advance him to the see of Limerick ten years before this but without avail as the Pope was unwilling

Donald O Beachan a Franciscan friar of the Kildare convent succeeded on the 16th of July 1540 He died in a few days after

On the 15th of November 1541 succeeded by provision of the Pope Thady Reynolds a doctor of the civil and canon law One of Henry VIII's intruders was advanced to the see on the election of bishop Reynolds

Thomas Leverous a native of the county of Kildare and dean of St Patrick's Dublin was appointed by Queen Mary in March 1554 and was confirmed the year following by the Pope's bull. In January 1559 he was deprived by the government for refusing to take the oath of supremacy. After this he obtained a livelihood by teaching school in Limerick. He died at Naas in 1577 in the 80th year of his age.