.
My
interest in medieval crime and execution has led to many an
interesting late night Google search. One person whose name kept
popping up is that of an obscure chap called Murcod Ballagh.
According to some websites he is the first known victim of Madame
Guillotine. In spite of being intrigued by Murcod, I never bothered
checking to see if there was any historical foundation to this claim.
The
websites and books that record Murcod Ballagh's execution all use the
same source: Holenshed's Chronicle. Many of you will be familiar with
Holenshed, Shakespeare swiped the plots of lots of his plays from
this chronicle. Richard Stanihurst, a sixteenth century poet and
historian from Dublin, contributed to the chronicle and was
responsible for the Irish material. What he has to say about Murcod
isn't in itself that unusual.
He tells us that Murcod was decapitated by David de Caunteton in
1307.
It is the woodcuts that accompany the text that are
really interesting. Poor Murcod is depicted being executed on an
early prototype of a guillotine.
A
few weeks ago I decided to go hunting for Murcod. I was writing an
article on execution, and I decided to check and see if he turns up
in the contemporary sources. In short, yes, he does! He
is mentioned in the justiciary rolls in January
1308, when
David de Caunteton
received twelve marks, seven shillings and eight pence as
a reward
for killing
him.
De
Caunteton did not act alone though, he was simply an accomplice of
Edmund le Botiller. Here's the first
part of the relevant
entry that can be found in the
published Justiciary
Rolls 1308-14,
p. 22:
Yet of Common Pleas at Dublin before John Wogan, Justiciar, year and day as above. [20 January 1308]
Dublin
Wexford
The custos of the liberty of Wexford was commanded that he levy twenty marks of the lands and chattels of the community of the liberty aforesaid in his bailiwick, and cause Edmund le Botiller or David de Cauntetoun his assignee to have them without delay, in part payment of the hundred marks which are due to Edmund from the liberty aforesaid and the liberty of Kilkenny, and also from the counties of Dublin, Carlow and Kildare, for the capture of Morghuth Ballagh McMorghuth, felon, whom Edmund killed, and that he should summon, etc., here on this day.
This
plea roll reveals that Murcod was one of the MacMurroughs (yes, trust
me, McMorghuth is MacMurrough), descendants of Diarmait MacMurrough,
king of Leinster, who played such a key part in the English invasion
of Ireland. The MacMurroughs had gone a bit quiet in the thirteenth
century, but were beginning to assert themselves again. Murcod must
have been a major troublemaker if the administration expected the
communities of not only Wexford and Kilkenny, where the MacMurroughs
were based, but also Dublin, Carlow and Kildare, to reward le
Botiller (Butler) and de Caunteton. Obviously, the MacMurroughs were
attacking areas further away from their own locality if Dubliners
were expected to cough up for his killing.
The
editors of the justiciary rolls assume that Edmund le Botiller is the
same person who served as justiciar of Ireland (see Calendar
Justiciary
Rolls,
1308-14,
p. 335), but (in
my opinion)
it is much more likely that he is the rector of Tullow mentioned in
Clyn's Annals
of Ireland
(p. 176).
In 1323, Edmund,
with the help of the Cauntetons, killed Philip Taloun, his son and
about twenty six of the Uí Chodlatáin, and burnt down the church at
Taghmolyn, in county Carlow, with men, women and children still
inside. Oh
dear.
Murcod
is
also mentioned in the
annals of Thady Dowling, where
he is
described
as being 'princips Lagenie', that is, prince of Leinster, which
is further
confirmation that he was one of the MacMurroughs.
It
is possible that Murcod came from Ballagh, a place that still
survives as a townland, located in Adamstown parish, county Wexford.
(Only
a couple of miles from where my Mother was born, incidentally.)
However,
it's far more likely that his name references a physical attribute.
The Gaelic Irish were big into descriptive names (and it was a habit
adopted by some of the English colonists too). Ballagh possibly means
freckled or speckled, and as someone who was called freckle-face as a
child I can totally relate. Additionally, Colmán Ó Clabaigh has
speculated that it might mean stammerer. (Thanks to Seán Duffy and
Adrian Martyn for these suggestions, which are much more likely than
my placename theory!).
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| How Murcod was probably killed (no guillotine, sorry!) |
When
Murcod Ballagh was killed
in
1307,
he
was described
as a felon. The Anglo-Irish annals reveal
that David
de
Caunteton decapitated him. Since
he was an
outlaw, his captors had
the right to execute
him once
they apprehended him, without
going through any other legal process.
Outlaws
taken into custody could be beheaded.
In
fact,
one
of the reasons why
beheading was a component of
William Wallace's
execution
was because he was
an outlaw at
the time of his arrest.
And
Edward I hated him, that's
important too.
 |
| William Wallace, not Edward I's favourite person. |
Two
years after Murcod's
execution (I'm
not entirely convinced it was an execution, but we'll call it that
for now, while I figure it out),
one of his killers,
David de Caunteton, suffered
the same fate.
An examination of the justiciary rolls illustrates de Caunteton's
journey from loyal Englishman to English rebel, and,
eventually, the gallows.
In
January 1308, he received twelve marks, seven shillings and eight
pence as
a reward
for his part in Murcod's death. (Calendar
Justiciary
Rolls,
1308-14,
p. 22).
Court records from April and July 1308, however, reveal that he was
heavily in debt and his goods and property were taken into the king's
hands. (Calendar
Justiciary
Rolls,
1308-14,
pp
61, 106-7).
This may have served as the
catalyst that
forced
him
into rebellion. Another
court record
reveals that Maurice de Caunteton, David's brother, and his
accomplices, both English and Irish, had “openly put themselves at
war against the King's standard,” and David was accused of
receiving, that is giving aid, to his brother. (Calendar
Justiciary
Rolls,
1308-14,
pp
146, 159)
The
justiciar, John Wogan, led an expedition against Maurice and his
accomplices, and he
was eventually
hunted down and killed. David was captured and hanged on 13 November
1309 and
this is recorded in the Chartularies of St. Mary's Abbey:
Item, die Sancti Bricii, Episcopi, David de Caunteton suspensus est, de quo dolendum est.
Item, on the feast of St Bricii, bishop, David de Caunteton is hanged, which is to be regretted.
Ironically,
Murcod Ballagh's relatives took advantage of this situation. Muiris
MacMurrough,
Murcod's father,
was employed by the crown from 1310 onwards
to guard the marches of Wexford. The
pictorial depictions of Murcod Ballagh's “execution” are
intriguing, but only prove that guillotine-like devices existed in
the sixteenth century and, regrettably,
they do not reveal anything about fourteenth
century executions. An early prototype of the guillotine was used in
Halifax, Yorkshire in the sixteenth century, and may date back to an
earlier period, though there is no definitive evidence for this.
Felons in Halifax were usually beheaded rather than hanged from
at least the thirteenth century onwards.
(J.C.
Holt, Colonial
England, 1066-1215
(London, 1997), pp 19-23).
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| Halifax Gibbet |
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| Scottish Maiden |
