Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 1.djvu/508

 458 COMPLETE PEERAGE One is a Viscountcy, Gormanston 1478. The other three are Baronies, (") Trimleston 1462 Portlester 1462 Ratowth 1468. Ranking of Irish Peers The first Ranking of the Irish Peers was in 1489, in "the order of placing the Lords of Ireland in the procession of the Court of Greenwich where the King himself was. " (See table of Rankings, post) Two Earls and eleven Barons were present, but of only two of these Barons, Trim- leston and Gormanston, is the date of creation known, thus the order of placing is very important as showing the ranking of the other nine among themselves at that time. To these nine should be added the Barony of Fitzmaurice of Kerry (the owner of which was summoned in 1489 but did not attend) ; these ten may be called Baronies by Prescription acknowledged as Peerage Baronies in 1489. The holder of the Barony of Portlester was not summoned to Greenwich ; the Barony of Ratowth became extinct about 1480. While the ranking at Greenwich shows the precedency which the Barons there present were assigned at that date, it probably has little bearing on the actual antiquity of their Baronies. Reference to the rank- ings of later dates also suggests that precedence then depended solely on the importance possessed or assumed by the holders of the peerage dignities at the time of the ranking, having no basis in antiquity, and being uninfluenced by the precedence held on a former occasion. Date of Creation of Early Baronies As has been pointed out in the body of this work, the ascription of dates of creation to the early baronies is in the nature of guess work. Although the principle obtaining in England may be deemed unhistoric and even absurd, it is convenient, because it provides a definite starting point, which in the case of Ireland is lacking in most of the early peerages; for, as we have seen, the patents of creation of only three Baronies and one Viscountcy are known to date before 1 500, although as many as twelve Barons were summoned by Henry VII to Greenwich as early as 1489. In assigning the date at which the status of a peer may be held to have been acquired, the Editor has been guided mainly by historical evidence as to the public position and influence of the individual concern- ed. But it must be borne in mind that in the absence of proof as to the actual creation of a peerage dignity, the dating in this manner of an early Irish Barony is tentative only. (') Rathwire (1475) is included in Lynch (p. 189) among the peerage creations on the ground, apparently, of a grant of certain manors to " Thomas Daniell Knight, Lord and Baron of Rathwire. " These seems no reason, however, to consider him as other than a feudal baron.