James Cornwalsh (died 1441) was an Irish judge who held the office of Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He was a political figure of some importance and a strong supporter of the Lord Lieutenant, James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond. He was killed during a feud over possession of Baggotrath Castle, near Dublin.
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He was the son of William Cornwalsh; as the name suggests the family originated in Cornwall[1]. He was probably descended from Sir John de Cornwall, Constable of Carlow Castle in the time of Edward III. He lived at Dunboyne in County Meath. He married Matilda Rochfort and was the father of John Cornwalsh, himself Chief Baron.[2]
He was a justice of the peace for Wexford and Waterford and Deputy Admiral of Ireland. He was appointed Chief Baron in 1420 on the advice of the Earl of Ormond. Irish politics was then dominated by the feud between Ormond and the Talbot family, and Cornwalsh remained a staunch adherent of Ormond. He quarreled with the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Sir Laurence Merbury, who accused Cornwalsh of gravely slandering him before the English Privy Council.[3] Cornwalsh was suspended from office but restored in 1426, when the Dublin Council sent him to London to give a favourable report on Ormond's tenure as Lieutenant.[4]
Baggotrath Castle was held by Sir Edward Perrers from 1403. After his son's death in 1428 it passed to his widow Joanna. By her will made in 1440 she appointed Cornwalsh her executor and he soon after entered into possession of the castle. His occupation was deeply resented by Perrers' daughter Ismay and her husband William FitzWilliam, whose family for centuries were the principal landowners in Dundrum. On 28 September 1441, when Cornwalsh had come up to Baggotrath to hold the Michaelmas assizes Fitzwilliam, according to the subsequent charges, assembled a large and warlike force , seized the castle and murdered the Chief Baron.[5]
Given the violence of the attack and the eminence of the victim, it may seem surprising that Fitzwilliam and Ismay were soon pardoned and even allowed to retain the castle. Elrington Ball speculated that the Crown was not satisfied of their guilt, or that it was accepted that Cornwalsh's actions were seen as sufficient provocation.[6] It was in any case easy to get a royal pardon from Henry VI, even for crimes as notorious as the murder of Nicholas Radford by the Earl of Devon.[7] While Ball draws the moral that "violence is indigenous to the Irish soil"[8] it is perhaps fairer to conclude that there was a serious breakdown of law and order in both kingdoms.