666 A.D. 1467 The prelates of Ireland are involved in the im posture of Lambert Simnel. A.D. 1486. Simnel supported by the Irish Prelates. [Book V. Church were scandalously treated as mere tools of office in the hands of the civil power.* In the reign of Henry VII. the contentions existing between the rival houses of York and Lancaster afforded to the Irish bishops an occasion of exhibiting once more the bold and independent spirit which animated their order, while they ventured to appear in open rebellion against the united authorities of pope and king. The title of the reigning prince had been confirmed by the pontiff, with the severest denunciations against all gainsayers; yet all the bishops except four, English and Irish indiscriminately, with a proportionate number of the clergy, joined in the conspiracy which was formed for deposing him, and conferring the crown on the impostor Simnel. This youth having arrived in Dublin was conducted in state to the cathedral of Christ Church, where the bishop of Meath, in a bold discourse from the pulpit, explained and enforced his right to the throne; after which a crown was placed upon his head, amidst the acclamations of a misguided people. But it would have been too much to expect that the pope would sanction such proceedings. He on the contrary directed a bull to the four prelates who had not shared in the rebellion, commanding them to excommunicate their offending brethren; and the de * Vid. Leland's History of Ireland, ii. 56. Phelan's Policy, p. 74. CH. V.] They renew their Allegiance and are pardoned. 667 linquents would have experienced the utmost A.D. 1486. severity of papal vengeance, had not the monarch declared his willingness to admit them to pardon, upon the easy terms of acknowledging their fault, and renewing their oaths of allegiance, which terms were accordingly accepted by the said prelates.* *ib. The four prelates alluded to were those of Cashel, Tuam, Clogher, and Ossory.-Leland, 77. BOOK VI. IRELAND IN THE TROUBLOUS TIMES OF THE The doctrine of papal supremacy, a con for ambi tious ecclesiastics. СНАР. І. THE POPE'S SUPREMACY, HOW VIEWED BY DIFFERENT CLASSES IN IRELAND.-ITS SUPPRESSION BY HENRY VIII., AND THE IRISH BISHOPS, PRINCES, NOBLES, ETC. A. D. 1533. FROM the matter which has been brought before our notice in the preceding pages, we may see that the prelates of the Irish Church in the period last referred to were not always disposed to venient one act as the humble and submissive slaves of papal authority; but that they were on the contrary ready at times to adopt for themselves courses of their own choosing, independent of the will of the pope, and even in direct opposition to it, for the purpose of maintaining or advancing their own views and influence. In fact, the doctrine of the pope's supremacy was found to be a very convenient one for promoting the designs of ambitious and intriguing ecclesiastics; the supremacy of the pope, in its practical application to Ireland, coming to mean little more or less CH. I.] Papal Supremacy, how received by the Prelates. 669 than their own supremacy: for whatever power A.D. 1533. or jurisdiction they could assert by means of this doctrine, as belonging to the bishop of Rome, would naturally be exercised in all ordinary cases by themselves. And thus while their modesty was saved from the invidious appearance of struggling for questionable privileges belonging to their own office, and while they might seem only as disinterested and faithful men, to be contending for the support of the rightful claims of another, whom the Lord had placed over them as the visible head and chief of His Church on earth, they were enabled all the while to direct their full energies to the great practical object of thus promoting their own power and consequence. We need not wonder therefore to find that the doctrine of the pope's supremacy was one which the prelates of Ireland, in those times which we have been considering, embraced heartily, and generally endeavoured, as far as possible, to maintain and inculcate under all circumstances.* *Not however with such universal and unlimited loyalty and ardour, but that they could upon occasion give aid to the civil government in circumscribing the extent of the pernicious influence which they supported in the country. (Vid. Irish Statutes, A.D. 1454, &c., Leland, ii. 39, Ware's Annals, ad an. 1475, and the transactions of the parliament held in Dublin in that year, as there recorded.) Nor did they hesitate, when it promoted their ends, to act in defiance of both pope and civil government. Vid. p. 666, sup. 670 A.D. 1533. people tow ard this Papal Supremacy, how far [Book VI. The common people in the mean time were filled with awful ideas concerning the nature of Feelings of the common that mysterious, distant, unseen authority, which they were taught to regard as the centre and supremacy, source of all spiritual power upon earth; and therefore so far as they were under the guidance of the prelates, and influenced by any religious impressions received from them, they also were ready to acknowledge and uphold the doctrine of papal supremacy, as well as the other tenets of the religion of Rome. But such of the Irish as were more free from the control of the higher ecclesiastical authorities, and more independent of the English power, cared comparatively little, it would seem, about this doctrine concerning the supremacy. not in all cases those fection. Indeed a love for their own "barbarous simof the most plicity," in matters ecclesiastical, in opposition devoted af- to the Roman mode of proceeding in such affairs, and in opposition to their own prelates who co-operated with England and Rome, seems to have prevailed among the native Irish for ages after the Invasion; and this feeling would naturally lead them to regard with less respect, if not entirely to set at nought, the pretensions of the bishop of Rome to such unbounded authority as he would fain exercise among them. Their forefathers before the twelfth century had never submitted to nor recognised that authority as |