to Matthew Paris in the same year (1250) (iv. 130), but certainly before May 1253, when it was entrusted temporarily to Peter Chaceporc and John de Lexington, ‘because William de Kilkenny was ill’ (Rot. Fin. 37 Hen. III, m. 9). Kilkenny was again in sole possession in the following July (Madox, Exchequer, i. 69). Matthew Paris speaks of him in 1254 as a clerk and special councillor of the king, who was then honourably discharging the duties of chancellor (v. 464). At Michaelmas of this year Kilkenny was chosen bishop of Ely, and the royal assent was given to his election on 25 Dec. He thereupon resigned the seal on 5 Jan. 1255, and on 15 Aug. was consecrated by Archbishop Boniface at Belley in Savoy; the performance of the ceremony abroad is said to have angered the bishops and the canons of Canterbury (ib. v. 464, 485, 508; Le Neve, i. 329). Kilkenny made peace with the abbot of Ramsey respecting the boundaries of the abbey and the episcopal property in the fens (Matt. Paris, v. 570), and gave the monks the churches of Melbourn and Swaffham. In June 1256 Kilkenny was appointed to go on a mission to the king of Castile, and seems to have departed next month (Fœdera, i. 343, Record ed.) He died at Surgho in Spain on 22 Sept., and was buried there, but his heart was brought back to be interred in his own cathedral (Matt. Paris, v. 588). By his will Kilkenny left his church a cope, and two hundred marks for two chaplains to pray for his soul (Wharton, Anglia Sacra, i. 636). He was also a benefactor of the hospital of St. John the Evangelist at Cambridge (Mullinger, Hist. Univ. Cambr. p. 233).
Matthew Paris calls Kilkenny ‘cancellarius,’ but Foss says that he had only found two instances in which he is called by that title, both in 37 Hen. III, 1253–4 (Fœdera, i. 238; Abbrev. Placit. p. 133); while in the quittance granted to him at the close of his service he is described as ‘Custos sigilli nostri in Anglia’ (Madox, Exchequer, i. 71). It therefore seems probable that he was simply keeper, and not chancellor. Matthew Paris describes him as ‘a truly modest, faithful, and well-read man, skilled in the canon and civil law, handsome in person, and eloquent and prudent’ (v. 130, 464). It does not appear whether or no he was a relative of the lawyer, Odo de Kilkenny, who was concerned in the riot at Oxford in 1238 (ib. iii. 483–4).
[Matthew Paris (Rolls Ser.); Foss's Judges of England, ii. 375–7; authorities quoted.]
KILKERRAN, Lord (1688–1759), Scottish judge. [See Fergusson, Sir James.]
KILLEN, JOHN (d. 1803), Irish rebel, kept an eating-house at the corner of Thomas Street, Dublin. Killen was arrested for participation in Emmet's movement of 23 July 1803. His trial commenced on 7 Sept. before Mr. Baron Daly. Two informers, Michael Mahaffey and John Ryan, pedlars by trade, swore that on the night of 23 July they were met by an armed mob, of whom Killen was one, and were forced to take pikes in their hands and join the insurrection. They also testified to a definite act of cold-blooded murder committed by Killen himself. On the other side, however, numerous witnesses, among them James Crosbie, an army pensioner, swore positively that on the commencement of the outbreak, at nine o'clock in the evening of 23 July, Killen had locked his door, and had not only not gone out himself, but had tried to prevent others from doing so. He and several of the witnesses, in fact, had, it was stated, remained in the cellar at Thomas Street till the morning of 24 July. James Smith, Killen's landlord, moreover testified to his character for loyalty. The evidence in Killen's favour was ably summarised and commented on by Curran, who defended him. The judge, however, summed up against the prisoner, and the jury brought in a verdict of guilty. A careful reading of the whole case points to the conclusion that this decision was entirely unjust. Killen protested bitterly from the dock against the verdict, but no reprieve was granted. He was executed on 10 Sept. 1803.
[Hibernian Magazine for 1803; Killen's Trial, in Howell's State Trials, vol. xxviii.]
KILLEN, THOMAS YOUNG (1826–1886), Irish presbyterian divine, son of Edward Killen, a merchant in Ballymena, co. Antrim, was born at Ballymena on 30 Oct. 1826. His boyhood was spent at Glenwherry, to which his father removed in 1832. He was principally taught by a private tutor, and in 1842 entered the old Belfast College, where he took several prizes. At the close of his fifth session he was sent by the mission board of the general assembly as a missionary to Camlin, co. Roscommon, where he laboured for two years. On 19 May 1848 he was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Carrickfergus, and on 25 Sept. 1850 was ordained by the presbytery of Letterkenny as minister of 3rd Ramelton, co. Donegal, where his pastorate proved very successful. In 1857 he received a call from the congregation of Ballykelly, co. Londonderry, and was installed there on 31 March. He took a leading part in the Ulster revival of 1859. In 1862 he became one of the ministers of
