Stephen de Exeter

Sir Stephen de Exeter was an Anglo-Irish baron and knight, fl. 1280–1316.

The son of one Stephen de Exeter (dead by 1280) and his wife Johanna (alive 1280), Sir Stephen was a member of the de Exeter family of Meath and Connacht in Ireland. Prominent members of the name included Jordan de Exeter, Jordan Óge de Exeter and Sir Richard de Exeter, though the exact relationship between the differing branches remains obscure.

De Exeter and his mother filed a suit against one R. Fleming at Dublin in 1280. He is recorded as participating in the Meath inquisitions of 1290, the lordship in which he held land. He is also recorded as owning the manor of Dunreeghan in Erris, along with other places in County Mayo and at Athemethan, County Waterford.

He was killed at Athelehan (Strade) in 1316, and was described as its lord. He had a wife named Matilda (alive 1320) and a son, Stephen (alive 1302).

T.H. Knox believed that his father was the ancestor of the Mac Stephen clans of Gallen and Rathfran, possibly via the brothers Meilec and Thomas Duff, sons of Stephen de Exeter, which would make them brothers of Sir Stephen.

References

• Knox, Hubert Thomas. The History of the County of Mayo to the Close of the Sixteenth Century. With illustrations and three maps. Originally published 1908, Hogges Figgies and Co. Dublin. Reprinted by De Burca rare books, 1982. ISBN 0-946130-01-9.