taking into his own possession not only the temporalities of the Church of Leighlin, but even the property of the canons themselves. In this violent state of affairs, John was recommended by the Legate to proceed without delay to Rome, and submit to Pope Innocent III a full and fair report of these unwarrantable proceedings. John accordingly set out from Ireland, having been furnished with letters from the Chapter, from the Archbishops of Armagh and Cashel, and from the Bishops of Kildare, Ferns, and Ossory. His reception in Rome was most flattering. The Pope himself consecrated him Bishop of Leighlin, and on his departure gave him a letter directed to the Chapter, clergy, and people of that diocess; in which he tells them, that having ordained John their bishop, he now sends him back to his see, and orders them to obey him. The repeated acts of sacrilege and plunder, which have been already stated, drew from Innocent III a strong and a severe letter, addressed on this occasion to John of England. In this letter his Holiness remonstrates in the language of firmness and reproof, on the outrageous conduct of the Justiciary, and requires that the property taken from the church and canons of Leighlin should be instantly restored.* Hamo De Valoniis was soon after recalled; having first enriched himself by the plunder and ruin of private families, but much more by his unheard of and repeated invasions on the property of the Church.

Nothing can so clearly depict the spirit of the adventurers at this period, as the eager avidity with which they had endeavoured to get themselves promoted to the most amply endowed sees, according as any of them should happen to become vacant. Upon the death of Thomas O'Connor, Archbishop of Armagh, in 1201, no less than three Englishmen appeared as candidates; every one of whom pretended to have been duly elected. Simon Rochford, Bishop of Meath,

and Ralph Le Petit, Archdeacon of the same diocess, maintained that they had been canonically elected by the Chapter; while the third candidate, Humphry De Tichull, rested his claim on the appointment and sanction of King John.— During this contest, which had been conducted with much warmth, they appeared to have set little value on the humble pretensions of Eugene, an Irish ecclesiastic, and who was in reality the person regularly and validly elected. There being but little chance of having the controversy satisfactorily settled at home, and particularly as the King himself had so prominently interfered in the business, the whole proceedings were, of course, referred to the holy See. This hitherto apparently difficult and contested case, having been now submitted to an unprejudiced tribunal, was almost instantly decided, and Eugene was declared by Pope Innocent III to be the person canonically elected. He was accordingly consecrated Archbishop of Armagh, while directions were given to have the possession of the temporalities forthwith placed in his hands. This decision tended only to irritate still more the naturally violent disposition of the English Monarch, and in a moment of excitement he causes letters patent to be addressed to all the suffragan bishops of Armagh, commanding them under pain of his displeasure to show no kind of obedience to the newly consecrated Metropolitan.* Nor was John's anger in the least abated on the death of Tichull, his favourite candidate, an event which took place soon after; he still persisted in his opposition to the Primate, and proceeded so far as to confirm the election of Ralph, Archdeacon of Meath. These unwarrantable proceedings, in which all order and discipline had been set at defiance, must have led to the worst consequences, had not the King been obliged to embark for France, where his dominions were invaded, and his sovereignty in that country reduced by his rival, Philip, to

* Pryn., vol. ii, p. 240.

the very brink of ruin. While John had been in this humbled state, a reconciliation was happily effected between him and the Primate Eugene, and the See of Armagh was once more permitted to enjoy some share of repose. Eugene continued to govern the Primatial See until his death in 1216, He died at Rome the year after the termination of the Fourth Council of Lateran, at which he attended; but his memory has been honourably recorded in the Annals of St. Mary's Abbey, near Dublin: in which, agreeably to the concise language of the annalist, he is styled “a man of singular honesty and of a holy life."

Although these English ecclesiastics, who had thus early aspired to the Primacy of Armagh, had on this occasion met with disappointment, the same must not be said with reference to other sees. The reader may form some idea of the readiness with which they had been patronised, from the fact, that scarcely had the first five years of this century passed over, when there appears not less than eight of the ancient and most respectable sees of Ireland, placed under the administration of English prelates. Following the order of chronology assigned to each respective consecration, these sees are: Dublin, Connor, Meath, Ossory, Leighlin, Down, Waterford, and Cork.* Nor must it be forgotten, that even in the very opening of this century, the priors and abbots of almost all the great monasteries throughout the kingdom were unexceptionably Englishmen.

It is, however, but just and proper to admit, that many of the prelates already alluded to, had been learned and worthy men, and by their zeal and activity contributed much to advance the interest of religion in their respective sees.

* The names of the prelates consecrated for the above sees are: John Comin, consecrated Archbishop of Dublin, 1182; Reginald, consecrated for Connor, 1183; Simon Rochford, for Meath, 1194; Hugh Rufus, for Ossory, 1202; Herlewin, for Leighlin, 1202; Ralph, for Down, 1202; David, for Waterford, 1204, and Reynald, for Cork, 1205.-Ware's Bishops.—Wilkins, vol. ii.

1

Among these prelates may, with great propriety, be noticed the Bishop of Meath, Simon Rochford (De rupe forti), who had been advanced to that see (then termed Clonard), and consecrated in 1194. Simon Rochford soon after his promotion, founded a priory of Regular Canons of the order of St. Augustin at Newton, near Trim, and erected the church of this priory into a cathedral, which he dedicated in honour of Saints Peter and Paul. He then removed the see from Clonard, in which the former cathedral stood, to Newtown, and from that period this ancient and extensive diocess was invariably known by the name of the Diocess of Meath.

*

Hugh Rufus, who was consecrated Bishop of Ossory in 1202, has been mentioned with great respect by all the Irish annalists. He was an English Augustinian Canon, and the first Prior of the Abbey of Kells, in the County of Kilkenny. During the incumbency of this prelate, which includes a period of sixteen years, several parochial churches had been erected throughout the Diocess of Ossory; among these it may be proper to notice the parish churches of Gowran, Rathdowney, Castlecomer, Callan, Burnchurch, Dunmore, and Lisdowney.+ By means of this decidedly useful prelate, were likewise founded the Priory of Canons Regular at Inisteague, and the beautiful Abbey of St. John, in the city of Kilkenny.

Herlewin, an English Cistercian and Bishop of Leighlin, had also been a distinguished promoter of 'learning and religion. He was a great benefactor to the celebrated Abbey of Dunbrothy, in the County of Wexford; a considerable part of which he built, having first endowed it with large revenues for the poor, and in the church of which he was interred, A.D. 1216.

But the most efficient and eminent prelate, in those times, was John Comin, Archbishop of Dublin. Notwithstanding

*Ware's Bishops at Meath.

+ Chart. MS.

the infamous conduct of the Justiciary, Hamo, and the annoyance to which this good prelate must have been for so long a time subjected, his exertions in promoting the welfare of the citizens of Dublin, as well as the interest of his see, continued unabated. At length, however, Hamo de Valoniis was recalled, and in compensation for the injuries he had done to the see of Dublin, he made a grant of twenty ploughlands to the Archbishop and his successors.*

Besides the collegiate Church of St. Patrick, which the Archbishop himself had caused to be erected,† several new parish churches had about this time, been founded in the city of Dublin. St. Audeon's was built by the Normans at the close of the reign of Henry II, and was dedicated by them to St. Audoenus (Owen), Archbishop, of Rouen, in Normandy. The parish church of St. Werburg seems to have been erected at a period somewhat later, but, however, in the commencement of the reign of King John, and during the incumbency of Archbishop Comin. At that time, the city of Dublin, with the adjacent territory, was visited by a dreadful pestilence, in which vast multitudes of the inhabitants had been swept off, so that Dublin presented the appearance rather of a town in ruins, and deserted by its inhabitants, than a city noted for trade and the metropolis of a kingdom. On this occasion it was, that the English monarch, John, had brought over two colonies from Chester and Bristol, and caused them to be placed in Dublin and in some of the neighbouring villages. These English colonists soon began to make improvements in the city, and, among other buildings, had taken care that a new church should be erected on the site of a capella, most probably that of St. Martin. This church they dedicated to St. Werburg, virgin, and patroness of the city of Chester.

In repairing and beautifying the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (now called Christ Church), Archbishop' Comin had * Allen's Regist., fol. 341.-Crede mihi, MS. fol. 94. + See Cent. xii, c. 2.