FITZRALPH, RICHARD: Archbishop of Armagh; b. at Dundalk (45 m. n. by w. of Dublin), County Louth, toward the end of the thirteenth century; d., probably at Avignon, presumably Nov. 16, 1360. He was educated at Oxford, where he became fellow of Balliol, and where, about 1333, he seems to have been commissary (i.e., vice-chancellor), or, more probably, chancellor, of the university. On July 10, 1334, he was collated chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral, and soon afterward seems to have become archdeacon of Chester, while on Apr. 20, 1337, he was installed dean of Lichfield, and on July $, 1347, was consecrated archbishop of Armagh at Exeter.

Fitzralph made throughout his life repeated visits to Avignon, and sermons are still eactant in manuscript preached by him before the pope in 1335, 1338,1341, 1342, and 1344; nor is it impossible that during this period he actually resided at Avignon for some time. In 1349 he was again in Avignon, in connection with the jubilee commanded by Edward III. for 1350, and it was probably then that the archbishop became involved in the negotiations pending between the pope and the Armenians who desired to be reconciled to the Roman obedience. Fitzralph was present at the negotiations with the Armenian envoys at Avignon, and in his nineteen books entitled Summa in q-ucestionibus Armenorum (of which only the first book, Summa de erroribus Armenorum, was printed, ed. J. Sudoris, Paris, 1511) formally refuted the 117 heresies which they were required to abjure before their request could be granted. In the same year he became involved in a controversy far more disquieting to him, when he presented to the pope a remonstrance of the English secular clergy against the regulars. Hitherto he had been the friend of Franciscan and Dominican alike, as well as of the parish clergy, but even after his return to Ireland the opposition of the regulars was still potent, and in 1357 Fitzralph was cited to appear at Avignon. Many of his views he had already set forth in his De PauPerie Salvatoris (the first four books of which have been edited by R. L. Poole in his edition of Wyclif's De dominio divino, London, 1890), and in a sermon before the papal court, Nov. 8, 1357, he still further defended his position in his Defensio curatorum contra eos qui privitegiatos se dicunt (Louvain, 1475 [?]; in Faseicvlus rerum ezpetendarum et fugiendctrum, ed. E. Brown, ii. 466-487, London, 1690; and often), maintaining that monastic mendicancy was incompatible with the teachings of Christ, and holding that the privileges of the regular clergy were inimical to the interests of the secular. The result was indeterminate. The friars were not directly molested, and the archbishop was commanded to keep silent. On the other hand, he evidently lost none

of the papal favor, and the English clergy were directed to provide moneys for his support during his residence at Avignon, where he seems to have remained until his death. His preference for Avignon may have been due in part to the fact that the Engiish king was opposed to him because he was considered to presume on the papal approval of him. Accordingly, in Nov., 1349, the king forbade the archiepiscopal cross to be borne before Fitzralph, and in Feb., 1350, the same monarch sought to have Fitzralph's claims to supremacy over the see of Dublin disallowed, while in 1357 the archbishop was forbidden to leave the country without express permission, a prohibition that was, however, almost immediately revoked. At the same time, he enjoyed the affection of his people, for the government was forced to interfere because of riots arising from the attempts to deprive Fitzralph of his rights.

Some ten years after the archbishop's death his remains were said to have been taken to the church of St. Nicholas at Dundalk, and within twenty years it was popularly believed that miracles were performed at his tomb. Nevertheless, the commission appointed by Boniface IV. (between 1400 and 1404) to examine his claims to canonization came to no conclusion. Besides the works already mentioned, Fitzralph was the author of many sermons (e.g., the collection De Iaudibus Mare Avenioni) and letters, as well as of the more permanent Lectura sententiarum, Qzuestionzs sententiarum, Lectura theologi,m, De statu universalis Ecclesite, De peccato ignorantice, De vafritiis Judceorum, Dialogus de rebus ad sanetam scriPturam pertinentibus, and Vita Sancti Manchini abbatis, most of which are still unedited.

Bibliography: DNB, aia. 194-198 (which should be consulted for the early authorities on which the individual statements are made); J. Prince, Worthies of Devon, pp. 294 sqq., Exeter, 1701. Autobiographic material is found in his own writings, especially in the Defenaio curatorum.