Thomas de Montpellier
Thomas de Montpellier (died after 1347) was a fourteenth-century Anglo-French judge and Crown official, much of whose career was spent in Ireland. He held a number of important lay and clerical offices including Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland and, briefly, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer.[1]
His family, who are thought to have come to England from Montpellier in France in the late thirteenth century, had a tradition of service to Edward I; Thomas himself is recorded as being in the service of the Crown by 1307, and in his official capacity he visited Ireland on several occasions.[2] Peter de Montpellier, who was Royal Physician to the English Court for much of the reign of Edward II, was probably Thomas's brother or cousin.[3]
He became a prebendary in the Diocese of Ossory in 1318 and subsequently prebendary of Lusk; he became Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, about 1338.
He was appointed Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer in 1327 but seems only to have served for a few months. He was made Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer the following year. In 1335 he returned to the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) as second baron but quickly transferred to the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland). He went to England in 1341 and was removed from the Bench, whether at his own wish or not is unclear.[4] He was still Dean of St Patrick's in 1347.
