RICHARD FITZRALPH (Richardus Armacanus, *Hibernicus*). - Theologian and archbishop, b. c. 1295 at Dundalk (county of Louth), d. at Avignon on 20 Dec. 1360.
Chancellor of the University of Oxford (1330-31), of Lincoln Cathedral (1334), in 1337 he became dean of the cathedral chapter of Lichfield. In 1347 he was appointed by Clement VI archbishop of Armagh (Ireland).
Before becoming chancellor of the University of Oxford he wrote a commentary on the *Sentences*, of which an *ordinatio* (revised by the author) and a *repetitio* survive (Gwynn was preparing an edition): here he manifests tendencies that were noted. After 1334 he resigned as chancellor and left for Avignon, where, having come into contact with Armenian bishops who had arrived there for the union of their Church with the Apostolic See, he concerned himself with their theological opinions, composing the celebrated *Summa in quaestionibus Armenorum*, in 19 books (Paris 1511), particularly important for knowledge of the *errores Armenorum* (especially of a sacramental and ecclesiological nature), condemned by Benedict XII (Denz-U, 532-49) and by Clement VI (ibid. 308-24).
Returning to his homeland after his elevation to the episcopate, he took an active part in the unfortunate struggle against the privileges of the Mendicant Orders with speeches and treatises (*Propositi... adversus Ordines Mendicantes*, unpublished; *De pauperis Salvatoris libri* 7 [the first 4 books edited by Poole, *J. Wycliffi de dominio divino*, London 1800]; an original work with some erroneous points later developed by Wyclif; *Defensio curatorum contra eos qui privilegiatos se dicunt* [Paris 1496]). Summoned to Avignon, he died before the trial was concluded. In England and Ireland he was regarded as a saint. Tanner (*Bibliotheca britannico-hibernica*, London 1748, p. 284) notes manuscripts of unpublished works. Particularly noteworthy are the *Quaestiones de imagine* (on the *imago* of man with God), contained in ms. Vat. Ott. 179, ff. 76-87 and in ms. A. 3, 508, ff. 98-103 of the Biblioteca nazionale of Florence.