CH. VI.] His return to England. 511 - power the king of Connaught, who refused to A. D. 1172. come and appear before him, and he would easily have vanquished him, had he not been obliged to set out in such haste for Normandy," * to appear before the pope's legates, the Cardinals Theodinus and Albertus, who came to arrange with him finally the disputes between himself and the pope, connected with the life and murder of the famous Thomas à Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. ture home Henry's departure from Ireland took place on His deparEaster Monday, (the 17th of April) A.D. 1172. wards. April, His family had crossed the channel on the A.D. 1172. preceding day, Easter Sunday, "but the king, through respect for that holy day, would not put to sea while it lasted; but on the morrow set sail, and arrived in Wales near St. David's." Nature of his Such was the nature of his expedition to Ireland, "Conquest" such the share which he had personally in the conquest of this island. No battle was fought, no blood was shed, no sword was drawn when he appeared among our countrymen. And he was received by their princes more in the light of a protector and patron, than as their enemy. of Ireland. The hope of peace and improvement of the kingdom a motive with the Irish There can be no doubt but that among the motives which induced these princes to submit thus readily to King Henry's authority, one princes for that exercised a very considerable influence on to Henry II. submitting 512 Motives of the Irish in submitting to Henry II. [Book IV. A. D. 1172. their minds was the hope of securing something of better order and tranquility in the realm by the aid of his power. This is very plainly asserted by a good old historian, Radulphus de Diceto, dean of London, who flourished under King John, A.D. 1197. He observes * that "when the people of Ireland saw how wholly the mind of the king of England was set upon the promoting and establishing of peace, he being one that neither countenanced evil deeds by indulgent treatment, nor issued hasty sentence of death against any man, summoned by his edict they came to meet him, suing for peace. And as there had been among them no publicly constituted authority, which might refuse to hold forth to them under any circumstances the promise of impunity from the terror of its penalties, having had occasion to grieve so repeatedly for the deaths of their fathers, which occurred in their mutual slaughters, they transferred to him, and conferred on him, their own jurisdiction and authority. The archbishops and bishops observing the very numerous and serious errors of the people entrusted to their care, especially in those rules connected with marriage, which our forefathers are known to have enacted, give promise that they would firmly embrace, and inviolably execute, the principles in regard to this matter which were * Vid. Hist. Angl. Scriptores X. per Twysden Lond, 1652. col. 559. CH. VII.] Account of the Synod of Cashel. 513 received and acted on in England. And that both A. D. 1127. realms might be bound together by similar observances in all points, they all universally, with unanimous consent, common agreement, and like readiness on the part of all, submit themselves to the king's jurisdiction." This author we see represents the lay nobles as influenced to submission by the hope of peace and improvement in the kingdom, and the prelates by the prospect of having their flocks reduced into more satisfactory order, and brought about to adopt a mode of life and practice in matters of religion more accordant with their own views on the subject. CHAP VII. PROCEEDINGS OF THE SYNOD OF CASHEL-BULL OF POPE ALEXANDER the proceedings of the Cashel. A.D. 1172. THE proceedings which took place in the synod Account of held at Cashel by order of King Henry II., are described with more or less of particularity by Synod of the different authors who wrote the annals of the time in which it was held. Giraldus Cambrensis, who lived at that period, gives the most detailed account of the acts passed in it, "in the very words," as he tells us, "in which they were 514 Giraldus's Account of the [Book IV. A. D. 1172. originally published." They are prefaced by him with the following observations.* Henry's anxiety to bring the Ireland into "While the island was therefore thus silent in the presence of the king, enjoying a tranquil Church of calm, the monarch, warmly influenced by a conformity strong desire to magnify the honour of God's with that of Church, and the worship of Christ, in those parts, summoned a council of the entire clergy of Ireland to meet at Cashel. Where, (after that the enormities and filthy practices of that England. * Giraldus Cambrensis is by far the most famous author who wrote on the subject of the Anglo-Norman Conquest of Ireland. He flourished in the reign of Henry II., and his work on the invasion is exceedingly valuable; although it must be confessed that it has some very great faults. It is written in a turgid pompous style, and displays too much flattery of the writer's royal patron, King Henry. Dr. Lanigan of course abuses this author largely. And yet to him he is beholden for the most correct account remaining of the proceedings of the Cashel synod, which accordingly he introduces word for word into his history. The next best account is Hoveden's, which also he has inserted in his work. And in like manner the most correct account of the circumstances immediately connected with King Henry's arrival in Ireland, the day, &c., of his coming, is that given by Hoveden, (or rather Benedict and his follower Hoveden,) which is the authority referred to by Lanigan himself. No Irish writer has given a detailed account of these transactions. And yet Lanigan blames Ledwich for preferring the accounts of English authors concerning the Irish affairs of that day, to those written by the Irish themselves. "Any thing was good enough for him, except Irish documents," says Lanigan. The English however are they who have left us the best records of the matters here treated of. As an instance of the unfair way in which Lanigan attacks Giraldus, it may be noted, that he accuses him of being "profoundly ignorant of the history of ecclesiastical discipline," because he alleges the non-payment of tithes, or first offerings, as one argument to shew that the Irish were uninformed in the rudiments of the faith. These censures however, uttered by Giraldus, were originally expressed almost in the very same words, by the great St. Bernard. Vid. sup. p. 462, and Lanigan iv. 282. CH. VII.] Proceedings of the Synod of Cashel. 515 country and people had been inquired into, and A.d. 1172. enumerated publicly, and also carefully committed to writing under the seal of the bishop of Lismore, the legate, who then ranked in dignity above the rest there present,) he issued several sacred enactments, which are still on record, concerning the marriage contract, the payment of tithes, the honouring of churches with due devotion and constant attendance at them: labouring by every possible means to reduce the state of that Church to the model of the Church of England."* account of the persons the Synod of After this introduction, Giraldus then pro- Giraldus's ceeds to give the following account of the Synod and its proceeding. "In the year therefore of present at our Lord's incarnation, 1172, being the first year Cashel. in which the most illustrious king of the English, and triumphant conqueror of Ireland, possessed dominion in that island, Christian bishop of Lismore, and legate of the apostolic see, Donatus of Cashel, Laurence of Dublin, and Catholicus of Tuam, archbishops, with their suffragans and episcopal brethren, with abbots also, archbishops, priors, and deans, and many other prelates of the Irish Church, by express order of the triumphant prince, assembled in the city of Cashel and held a council there, for the purpose of advancing the Church's welfare, * Girald. Cambr. Hib. Exp. Par. 1. cc. 33 & 34. |