The year 1326 is memorable in English annals because of the deposition of Edward II. The Viceroy of Ireland, Thomas, second Earl of Kildare, was appointed that year, the warrant stating that he represented Edward III., then a boy of fourteen. The deposed monarch immediately looked to Ireland for support, and to Dublin he came, having heard that the English colony refused to acknowledge the authority of the Earl of Kildare. He was misinformed, however, and he lost his throne without being able to strike a blow for it. [Sidenote: Prior Utlagh and witchcraft] The Earl of Kildare gave way in 1328 to a remarkable ecclesiastic, Prior Roger Utlagh, Chancellor and Prior of the Knights Hospitallers of Kilmainham. He ruled as an autocrat, outwardly acknowledging Edward's sovereignty, but in reality a combination of layman and priest, who feared neither God nor man. When King Robert Bruce visited Ireland, and invited the Prior to a conference, he was ordered to leave the country, and he had to obey. Fellow-ecclesiastics plotted against him, but he was more than their match. When the Bishop of Ossory openly accused the viceroy of favouring heretics, Roger Utlagh made {29} it the occasion of a great public demonstration of his virtuous qualities. The charge was based on a rumour that the viceroy had shown kindness to a man imprisoned in Dublin Castle because he was the patron of a supposed witch's son. The position was serious enough, and the viceroy, therefore, issued proclamations for three successive days, calling upon his enemies to appear and prefer a charge against him. No one came forward, as was only to be expected, the viceroy possessing arbitrary punitive powers, and Utlagh thereupon nominated six commissioners in Dublin Castle and examined witnesses provided by himself. The complacent commissioners formally declared Prior Utlagh's character to be spotless, and in return for this testimonial the worthy ecclesiastic presided over a banquet in the Castle. Thus were his enemies confounded.