Part 21 (1/2)
It will be remembered that we turned to ecclesiastical history, after mentioning the year's truce (A.D. 1128) which had been made, through the intervention of St. Celsus, between the men of Munster and Connaught. In 1129 the great Church of Clonmacnois was robbed[242] of some of its greatest treasures. Amongst these was a model of Solomon's Temple, presented by a prince of Meath, and a silver chalice burnished with gold, which had been engraved by a sister of King Turlough O'Connor--an evidence that the ladies of Ireland were by no means behind the age in taste and refinement.
After the death of Donnell O'Loughlin, Turlough had full scope for the exercise of his ambitious projects; but in 1131 he found serious opposition from Connor O'Brien, who had succeeded his father, Dermod, on the throne of Munster. Connor now carried off hostages from Leinster and Meath, and defeated the cavalry of Connaught. The following year he sent a fleet to the western coast of Ireland. Eventually Turlough O'Connor was glad to make a truce with his opponents. In 1184 the consecration of a church at Cashel was celebrated. This is still known as Cormac's Chapel, and was long supposed to have been erected by the more ancient monarch of that name. But the good king was soon after treacherously slain in his own house, by Turlough O'Connor and the two sons of the O'Connor of Kerry. Turlough was unquestionably somewhat Spartan in his severities, if not Draconian in his administration of justice. In 1106 he put out the eyes of his own son, Hugh, and in the same year he imprisoned another son, named Roderic. The nature of their offences is not manifest; but Roderic was liberated through the interference of the clergy. Seven years after he was again imprisoned, ”in violation of the most solemn pledges and guarantees.” The clergy again interfered; from which we may infer that he was a favourite. They even held a public feast at Rathbrendan on his behalf; but he was not released until the following year. In the year 1136 we find the obituary of the chief keeper of the calendar of Ard-Macha, on the night of Good Friday. He is also mentioned as its chief antiquary and librarian, an evidence that the old custom was kept up to the very eve of the English invasion. The obituary of Donnell O'Duffy, Archbishop of Connaught, is also given. He died after Ma.s.s and celebration; according to the Annals of Clonmacnois, he had celebrated Ma.s.s by himself, at Clonfert, on St. Patrick's Day, and died immediately after. About the same time the Breinemen behaved ”so exceedingly outrageous,” that they irreverently stript O'Daly, arch-poet of Ireland, ”of all his clothes.”
In the meantime domestic wars multiplied with extraordinary rapidity.
Dermod Mac Murrough, the infamous King of Leinster, now appears for the first time in the history of that country which he mainly contributed to bring under the English yoke. He commenced his career of perfidy by carrying off the Abbess of Kildare from her cloister, killing 170 of the people of Kildare, who interfered to prevent this wanton and sacrilegious outrage. In 1141 he endeavoured to crush the opposers of his atrocious tyranny by a barbarous onslaught, in which he killed two n.o.bles, put out the eyes of another, and blinded[243] seventeen chieftains of inferior rank. A fitting commencement of his career of treachery towards his unfortunate country! In 1148 a temporary peace was made by the Primate of Armagh between the northern princes, who had carried on a deadly feud; but its duration, as usual, was brief.
Turlough O'Brien was deposed by Teigue in 1151. He was a.s.sisted by Turlough O'Connor and the infamous Dermod. The united armies plundered as far as Moin Mor,[244] where they encountered the Dalca.s.sian forces returning from the plunder of Desmond. A sanguinary combat ensued, and the men of north Munster suffered a dreadful slaughter, leaving 7,000 dead upon the field of battle. This terrible sacrifice of life is attributed to the mistaken valour of the Dal-Cais, who would neither fly nor ask quarter.
In 1157 a synod was held in the Abbey of Mellifont, attended by the Bishop of Lismore, Legate of the Holy See, the Primate, and seventeen other bishops. Murtough O'Loughlin, the Monarch of Ireland, and several other kings, were also present. The princ.i.p.al object of this meeting was the consecration of the abbey church and the excommunication of Donough O'Melaghlin, who had become the common pest of the country. He was, as might be expected, the particular friend and ally of Dermod Mac Murrough. His last exploit was the murder of a neighbouring chief, despite the most solemn pledges. In an old translation of the Annals of Ulster, he is termed, with more force than elegance, ”a cursed atheist.”
After his excommunication, his brother Dermod was made King of Meath, in his place.
At this synod several rich gifts were made to the abbey. O'Carroll, Prince of Oriel, presented sixty ounces of gold. O'Loughlin made a grant of lands, gave one hundred and forty cows and sixty ounces of gold. The Lady Dervorgil gave the same donation in gold, together with a golden chalice for the altar of Mary, with gifts for each of the other nine altars of the church. Dervorgil was the wife of Tiernan O'Rourke, Lord of Breffni, who had been dispossessed of his territories in 1152; at the same time she was carried off by Dermod Mac Murrough. Her abduction seems to have been effected with her own consent, as she carried off the cattle which had formed her dowry. Her husband, it would appear, had treated her harshly. Eventually she retired to the Monastery of Mellifont, where she endeavoured to atone for her past misconduct by a life of penance.
Another synod was held in the year 1158, at Trim. Derry was then erected into an episcopal see, and Flahertach O'Brolchain, Abbot of St.
Columba's Monastery, was consecrated its first bishop. The bishops of Connaught were intercepted and plundered by Dermod's soldiers; they therefore returned and held a provincial synod in Roscommon.
In 1162 St. Laurence O'Toole was chosen to succeed Greine, or Gregory, the Danish Archbishop of Dublin. He belonged to one of the most n.o.ble ancient families of Leinster. His father was chieftain of the district of Hy-Muirahy, a portion of the present county Kildare. St. Laurence had chosen the ecclesiastical state early in life; at the age of twenty-five he was chosen Abbot of St. Kevin's Monastery, at Glendalough. The Danish Bishop of Dublin had been consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, but the saint received the episcopal office from the successor of St.
Patrick. A synod was held at Clane the year of his consecration; it was attended by twenty-six prelates and many other ecclesiastics. The college of Armagh was then virtually raised to the rank of a university, as it was decreed that no one, who had not been an alumnus of Armagh, should be appointed lector or professor of theology in any of the diocesan schools in Ireland. Indeed, the clergy at this period were most active in promoting the interests of religion, and most successful in their efforts, little antic.i.p.ating the storm which was then impending over their country.
In 1166 the Irish Monarch, O'Loughlin, committed a fearful outrage on Dunlevy, Prince of Dalriada. A peace had been ratified between them, but, from some unknown cause, O'Loughlin suddenly became again the aggressor, and attacked the northern chief, when he was unprepared, put out his eyes, and killed three of his leading officers. This cruel treachery so provoked the princes who had guaranteed the treaty, that they mustered an army at once and proceeded northwards. The result was a sanguinary engagement, in which the Cinel-Eoghan were defeated, and the Monarch, O'Loughlin, was slain. Roderick O'Connor immediately a.s.sumed the reins of government, and was inaugurated in Dublin with more pomp than had ever been manifested on such an occasion. It was the last glittering flicker of the expiring lamp. Submission was made to him on every side; and had he only possessed the ability or the patriotism to unite the forces under his command, he might well have set all his enemies at defiance. An a.s.sembly of the clergy and chieftains of Ireland was convened in 1167, which is said to have emulated, if it did not rival, the triennial _Fes_ of ancient Tara. It was but the last gleam of sunlight, which indicates the coming of darkness and gloom. The traitor already had his plans prepared, and was flying from a country which scorned his meanness, to another country where that meanness was made the tool of political purposes, while the unhappy traitor was probably quite as heartily despised.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ARDMORE ROUND TOWER.]
FOOTNOTES:
[229] _City_.--Some Irish religious are also said to have lived in amity with Greek monks, who were established at Tours, in France; and it is said that the Irish joined them in the performance of the ecclesiastical offices in their own language.
[230] _Connemara_.--Haverty's _History of Ireland_, p. 156. See also an interesting note on this subject in the Chronic.u.m Scotorum.
[231] _Martyr_.--Page 887. The famine in the preceding year is also recorded, as well as the cholic and ”lumps,” which prevailed in Leinster, and also spread throughout Ireland. Donough was married to an English princess, Driella, the daughter of the English Earl G.o.dwin, and sister of Harold, afterwards King of England. During the rebellion of G.o.dwin and his sons against Edward the Confessor, Harold was obliged to take refuge in Ireland, and remained there ”all the winter on the king's security.”
[232] _St. Patrick_.--It is observable all through the Annals, how the name and spiritual authority of St. Patrick is revered. This expression occurs regularly from the earliest period, wherever the Primate of Ireland is mentioned.
[233] _Vengeance_.--See O'Curry, _pa.s.sim_, for curious traditions or so-called prophecies about St. John Baptist's Day.
[234] _Aileach_.--The remains of this fortress are still visible near Londonderry, and are called Grianan-Elagh.
[235] _West_.--Annals, vol. ii. p. 969.
[236] _Him.--Ib._ p 973.
[237] _Ua h-Ocain_.--Now anglicised O'Hagan. This family had the special privilege of crowning the O'Neills, and were their hereditary Brehons.
The Right Honorable Judge O'Hagan is, we believe, the present head of the family.
[238] _Maelmuire_.--”The servant of Mary.” Devotion to the Mother of G.o.d, which is still a special characteristic of the Irish nation, was early manifested by the adoption of this name.
[239] _Suffering_.--This abuse was not peculiar to the Irish Church. A canon of the Council of London, A.D. 1125, was framed to prevent similar lay appropriations. In the time of Cambrensis there were lay (so called) abbots, who took the property of the Church into their own hands, and made their children receive holy orders that they might enjoy the revenues.
[240] _Desmond_.--See the commencement of this chapter, for an ill.u.s.tration of the ruins of its ancient rath and the more modern castle. These remains are among the most interesting in Ireland.
[241] _Ibrach_.--Supposed to be Ivragh, in Kerry, which was part of Cormac Mac Carthy's kingdom.