In 1172, Henry convened a synod at Cashel, but at which none of the Ulster bishops attended. The decrees were of a disciplinary nature;* while by the fourth, the payment of tithes was ordained.

St. Laurence O'Toole was at this period archbishop of Dublin. He was of the illustrious house of the O'Tooles, in the county of Wicklow, and after having been for many years abbot of Glendaloch, was in 1161 advanced to the archiepiscopal see of Dublin. Next to his extraordinary sanctity was the love which he bore to his native land, and with a view of effecting a reconciliation between Henry II and Roderic O'Conor, he proceeded in 1180 to Normandy, where he died in the monastery of Augum on the 14th of November in the same year, and was there interred with great solemnity.

On the death of St. Laurence O'Toole, John Comin, an Englishman, was placed over the see of Dublin. He held a provincial synod in Christ Church, in which Alban O'Mulloy, Abbot of Baltinglass, delivered a powerful lecture on the subject of clerical continency, upbraiding the English clergy with having polluted the altars of his country by their filthy and abominable crimes. Numbers of them were on this occasion convicted and suspended from their ecclesiastical functions. In this synod likewise, Gerald Barry, (Giraldus Cambrensis,) poured forth a torrent of abuse on the Irish clergy; yet, at the stern command of truth, he was obliged to bear testimony to their many virtues, and particularly to their love for chastity.

At the close of the twelfth century, the state of Ireland was truly awful, while the interests of religion, as may be expected, suffered at least in the same proportion.

The successors of St. Patrick in the see of Armagh, during the twelfth century, were Celsus, Malachy, Gelasius, Cornelius, Gilbert O'Caran, Mæliosa O'Carrol, Amlave, and + Ibid. de rebus se gestis.

*Girald. Hib. Expug. c. 34.

Thomas O'Connor, who died in 1201. The foundation of the sees of Limerick and Derry are to be dated from the same century: the former having for its first bishop, Gillebert, abbot of Bangor, and the latter, Flathbert O'Brolekan, abbot of Derry.* At this time also, the see of Roscrea was united to Killaloe, and that of Inniscatthy to Limerick in 1195; while the sees of Kells, Slane, Duleek, Ardbraccan, Trim, and Dunshaughlin became merged in and united to Meath.

The principal religious foundations of the twelfth century were those of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, and of the Cistercians; both of which religious communities were introduced into Ireland by St. Malachy. The foundations of the Canons regular were: the priories of Saints Peter and Paul at Armagh; of Selskir, at Wexford; of Knock, in the county of Louth; of Ferns, in the county of Wexford; of All Saints, in (College-green,) Dublin; of St. Thomas, in Dublin; of Kells, in the county of Kilkenny; of Clare; of Kilrush; of Navan; of Colpe, and of Ballybogan, in the county of Meath. The abbies of the Cistercian order were those of Mellifont, in the county of Louth; of St. Mary's, Dublin; of Bectiff, in the county of Meath; of Baltinglass, in the county of Wicklow; of Nenagh, in the county of Tipperary; of Odorney, in the county of Kerry; of Newry; of Fermoy; of Monaster-evan; of Boyle; of Athlone; of Leix; of Jerpoit, in the county of Kilkenny; of Holy Cross in the county of Tipperary, and of Dunbrody, in the county of Wexford.+

From this century must likewise be dated the erection of several Commanderies, belonging to the Knights Templars and Hospitallers in Ireland. Among these were the priory of Kilmainham, near Dublin, of Clontarf, of St. John, in Wexford, and of several others, the particulars of which shall be reserved for the sixteenth century.

* Tr. Th. p. 300.

+ Ware. Archeale. Monast.

Thus has the reader been presented with a cursory view of the leading events in the ancient history of our National Church, and we have arrived at that period when this same Church, and the whole Irish Nation, were given up into the hands of a foreigner. The national ruin which now ensued forms a melancholy topic in the pages of our civil history; that the Church of Ireland has also had her share in these sufferings that she has passed through an ordeal of trials unparalleled in the annals of mankind, is a truth which the history of subsequent centuries shall clearly and faithfully elucidate.

THIRTEENTH CENTURY.

CHAPTER I.

Events connected with the administration of Archbishop Comin-Foundation of the Churches of St. Audeon and St. Werburg-Promotion of English Ecclesiastics-Henry De Loundres, Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Justice of Ireland-Union of the Sees of Dublin and GlendalochCollegiate Church of St. Patrick erected into a Cathedral -Baneful effects of the Tithe System-David, Bishop of Waterford, slain-Contention between the Dean and Chapter of St. Patrick's and the Prior and Canons of Christ Church-Stephen De Fulburn, Bishop of Waterford and Lord Justice of Ireland—Endeavours to obtain the benefit of the English Laws for the Irish Nation— Contributions raised by the Irish Church during the Pontificates of Innocent III and Gregory IX.

John Comin was the first Englishman who had been promoted to an episcopal see in Ireland. When the government of the Archiepiscopal Diocess of Dublin had, by means of Henry II, been placed in the hands of this prelate, there were reasonable grounds for presuming that the rights of that see would have been respected, and its temporalities secured from the rapacity of those who had already made themselves notorious among the now domineering English adventurers. These expectations were, however, far from being realised scarcely had Hamo De Valoniis been appointed Justiciary of Ireland when the work of plunder commenced.*

* Hoveden, p. 39.-Tirrel, vol. ii, p. 560.

A

This needy and insatiable governor had, in the very outset of his administration, cast a longing eye on the rich ecclesiastical property attached to the See of Dublin. In defiance of religion and of all law, the Governor Hamo seized upon considerable portions of land lying in the direction of Swords and Finglass, assigning no other reason than his own supreme will, and that the embarrassed state to which the English government was then reduced had rendered such a step indispensable. Against this injustice Archbishop Comin remonstrated, but without effect: one act of oppression was followed by another, until the Archbishop was at length obliged to have the vestments, chalices, and sacred furniture removed from the cathedral, and caused the crucifixes in the church to be covered with thorns and laid prostrate in the sanctuary.* The Justiciary, however, was not to be controlled in his sacrilegious career; while the Archbishop, after having publicly excommunicated Hamo, and all those who had along with him been concerned in the plunder of the Church, put the whole diocess under an interdict, and repaired to England for the purpose of laying his complaints before the king. In such a court the influence of the governor was sure to be successful, and the Archbishop, after a delay of some months, returned to Ireland without obtaining redress.

While these acts of oppression, thus suffered with impunity, had served only to give a keener edge to the avarice of Hamo De Valoniis, a new opportunity of adding, to his wealth presented itself soon after in another quarter. The See of Leighlin having become vacant, the Chapter elected John, a Cistercian monk, and Abbot of the Monastery of Monasterevan, which election was confirmed by Matthew O'Heney, Archbishop of Cashel, and at that time Legate Apostolic for Ireland. The Justiciary, however, interfered, and opposed the consecration of John; in the meantime

* Hoveden. Ware's Annals, p. 36.