John Gernoun

John Gernoun, or Gernon (died c.1357) was an Irish judge who held office as Serjeant-at-law (Ireland) and Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas.

He claimed descent from the de Gernon family who are listed as "barons" in the Domesday Book. His father Roger Gernoun was a military commander who distinguished himself during the Bruce campaign in Ireland of 1315–1318.[1] John was probably born in Louth. The Gernoun family had strong links to that county and gave their name to Gernonstown. Several members of the Gernoun family held the office of High Sheriff of Louth between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries.

John was in England in the 1320s, presumably studying law (Ireland then had no law school); but he was back in Ireland by 1327 when he became King's Serjeant (or "King's Pleader"). He served two terms as Serjeant, from 1327–1330 and from 1334–1337.[2] In the intervals he acted as attorney for the great heiress Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster, who had been inherited her father's estate at an early age.[3] Her mother Maud of Lancaster had considerable influence at Court, and Germoun benefitted from her patronage.[4] He was a landowner in County Louth and as was the custom with judges in this era, he was excused from performing the normal feudal duties of a landowner.

He was appointed to the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) in 1338 and became its Chief in 1341. He stepped down as Chief Justice in 1344 but was reappointed second justice of the Common Pleas in 1348.[5] He probably died in 1357.

He married Matilda, widow of William de Nottingham (son of the long-serving Lord Mayor of Dublin, Robert de Nottingham). After Gernoun's death, she remarried his colleague John Keppock.[6] None of her marriages seem to have produced children.