John Clyn

John Clyn, O.F.M. (c. 1286 – c. 1349), of the Friars Minor, Kilkenny, was a 14th-century Irish friar and chronicler who lived at the time of the Black Death.

Clyn was probably born in Leinster some years prior to 1300, possibly at Baile a Clinn/Clyn's town/Clintstown, in the parish of Conahy, some six and a half miles north-west of Kilkenny. The surname Clyn is found in Somerset and Bristol, which may have been where his Anglo-Norman ancestors originated.

Bishop James Ussher stated, possibly in error, that Clyn was a doctor of the Franciscan Order. This statement may be a presumption as it has no supporting evidence. Clyn was well educated, though just where he received his education is unknown. He may have attended the university at Dublin, while Oxford and Cambridge remain more distant possibilities.

Clyn is recorded as the Guardian of the friary of Carrick in 1336; Bernadette Williams believes that he would have been about fifty at that time ("around the same age as his hero Fulk de la Freigne"), as someone mature would have been needed to hold that post.

Clyn may have attended the General Chapter of the Friars Minor at Marseilles in 1346. At some point between 1336 and 1348 he moved to Kilkenny. He was still alive after 17 June 1349, his last entry in his annals being a eulogy for Fulk de la Freigne. As the Black Death had ceased by this point, Clyn may have survived it. If this is the case, he may have ceased writing " ... because of the death of his friend, and perhaps patron, Fulk de la Freigne."

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