Richard le Brun

Richard le Brun (died after 1324) was an English-born 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 attorney in England to Nicholas de Balscote, a senior figure in the Exchequer of Ireland who became Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland the same year, and Chief Baron three years later. Richard later moved to Ireland and obtained a position at the Exchequer, where he was described as a "King's clerk". His job was described as "engrosser", which generally meant a copier of deeds, but it was presumably a senior enough position, as he also served as an itinerant justice in County Wexford.

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, as Chief Baron. 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