Philip Bermingham

Who is Philip Bermingham?

Philip Bermingham was an Irish judge who held the office of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. He was regarded as " the most learned lawyer of his time", but had a somewhat turbulent political career and was twice accused of treason.

He belonged to a junior branch of the great Anglo-Irish dynasty of Bermingham, which held the titles Earl of Louth and Baron Athenry. He was probably the grandson of John Bermyngham, judge of the Court of King's Bench, who died in 1415. Patrick Bermingham, a later Chief Justice, was his cousin.

He is first heard of during the Wars of the Roses, as an adviser to James Butler, 5th Earl of Ormonde, a staunch supporter of the House of Lancaster. Ormonde was executed after the Battle of Towton, and Bermingham himself was condemned as a traitor in 1462. He was soon pardoned and under the generally tolerant Edward IV his past was not held against him. He became Serjeant-at-law in 1463; the following year he was nominated as Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas but for unknown reasons did not take up office. He held lands in County Louth and at Dunshaughlin in County Meath where he helped found a chantry. In 1474 he was appointed Lord Chief Justice. In 1478 he was described as one of the men of influence who opposed the new Lord Deputy of Ireland, Lord Grey and managed to secure his recall.