Religion in Late Medieval Ireland

Religion in Late Medieval IrelandAuthor(s): Anthony LynchSource: Archivium Hibernicum, Vol. 36 (1981), pp. 3-15Published by: Catholic Historical Society of IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25487431 .

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RELIGION IN LATE MEDIEVAL IRELAND

by ANTHONY LYNCH, M.A.

Irish ecclesiastical historians have for long concentrated their attention on the

twelfth century reform, on the conflict and division between the Irish and

Anglo-Irish ecclesiastics after the Norman conquest, and on the Reformation

and its effects. Comparatively little work has been done in studying the

church in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, though this situation has

begun to be remedied recently.1 Certainly the reason for this neglect is not

hard to find. These two centuries were not marked by cultural developments

comparable to those which marked the seventh and eighth century Irish

church, nor by the structural reorganization and spiritual renewal which

characterized the twelfth century,2 nor by the imposition of new doctrines

and forms of worship such as were a feature of the Reformation.

The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries on the other hand were a period of

stagnation and decline. The black death of 1348-9 had decimated the clergy, and the effects of this shortage greatly weakened the church for the succeed

ing century.3 The fifteenth century saw the drastic weakening of the English presence in Ireland due to the concentration by English kings on their wars

with France in the earlier part of the century, and the political havoc and

uncertainty which accompanied the Wars of the Roses later. The English lack

of interest in affairs in the Irish colony coincided with a Gaelic resurgence ?

an increase in the determination on the part of the Gaelic chiefs to avail of the weakness and disarray of the colony, to cause maximum destruction

there, and to recapture the lands which they had lost to the colonists in

earlier centuries. This was not an organized assault, indeed, had the Gaelic

chiefs organized their forces and co-ordinated their activities in a determined

attempt to rout the English and Anglo-Irish, they would doubtless have been

successful. However such unity of purpose was lacking: sporadic attacks and

lightning raids, rather than a systematic campaign of attack were the charac

teristic features of the period. The effect of such warfare was to leave the

colony gravely weakened, but still alive and functioning. The effects of such disasters as these ravages of disease and war explain

why ecclesiastical history during this period has for so long been neglected by historians. At first glance too, there appears to be a lack of source material on

the period. Certainly a great deal has been lost due to the appaling destruction of the monastic libraries during the Reformation.4 One important source which did survive was the registers of the primates of Armagh,5 and I

propose to exploit the information contained therein in this paper. These registers give us an enormous amount of information on the

ecclesiastical organization of the province of Armagh, on the activities of the

3



archbishops, of their officials and of their courts, and furthermore they

provide us with a good deal of interesting information on the political state of

the province, and a wealth of detail on the social, economic and religious life

of the ordinary people of the time.

In spite of its relative inaccessability,6 the potential of this source was well

illustrated by the appearance in 1946 of Rev. Aubrey Gwynn's The medieval

province of Armagh: 1470-1545. In this work Fr Gwynn used the registers to

good effect to examine the state of the church in the province in the 75 years

leading up to the Reformation. In this present study I intend to use the

registers and other sources for the period 1417-70, the period between the

end of the great western schism, which is conveniently marked in Armagh by the appointment of John Swayne to that see, and the death of Primate Bole

in February, 1471, that is, the primacies of Archbishops Swayne, Prene, May, and Bole.

Approximately three-quarters of the forty-three bishops who formed the

episcopate of the province between 1417-71 belonged to the secular clergy. The Augustinian Canons regular and the Cistercians supplied most of the

bishops who came from monasteries. With few exceptions, Irish bishops ruled

over Irish dioceses within the province, and English and Anglo-Irish bishops ruled over Armagh, Down and Meath. Dromore, the Cinderella diocese, had

eight English absentee bishops who acted as suffragans in England, and only one Irish bishop, Donatus O hEndua.7

Any consideration of the educational background of the bishops makes it

quite evident that the study of canon and civil law offered the best means

of advancement to ambitious clerics. The Anglo-Irish and English bishops had

many trained lawyers in their midst, but very few theologians.8 This bears

out the point made by Highfield on the importance of the study of law as a

means of clerical advancement in his study of the English hierarchy in the

fourteenth century.9 Many of the Gaelic bishops too had studied law. Oxford was by far the most popular university for both groups.

The Gaelic bishops took an active part in the politics and warfare of their own clans. Many of these prelates, such as the O'Farrells of Ardagh and the

Maguires of Clogher were members of the local ruling families, while others

like the 0'Gallaghers of Raphoe, and the McCawells and MacMahons of

Clogher were members of clans subject to the O'Neills and O'Donnells, whom

the latter allowed a free hand in ecclesiastical matters as a compensation for

their frustrated political ambitions. The detailed study of the dioceses of

Ardagh and Clogher reveals the hereditary involvement of certain key families in ecclesiastical life, and also reveals the way in which ruling families sought control of their kingdom. Family control of important religious houses

played an important part in the establishment of such a monopoly of power and influence. Moreover, several very important bishops were chosen from the abbots of these monasteries, and they managed to combine their

episcopal duties with their political activities.

4



The bishops of the Pale were no less keen to seek prominent positions in

the Dublin administration. Archbishop Richard Talbot of Dublin was by far

the most successful in this regard, being for long period deputy and

chancellor.10 A number of the bishops of Meath also figured prominently in

secular politics. Bishops Dantsey and Sherwood both held at various times the

positions of deputy and chancellor, and fought hard to protect the colony from its internal and external enemies.

Though Primates Swayne and Mey occasionally participated actively in the

military activities of the Dublin government, they were not as completely identified with that administration as were the bishops of Meath, and, because of their dispute with the Archbishops of Dublin over the cross

bearing controversy, they refused to attend any parliaments or meetings of

the Great Council held outside their province. More important than their

ineffective political activities were their efforts to promote peace and good will between Gael and Gall through a policy of diplomacy and persuasion. Thus their most significant contribution to secular politics was to give leader

ship and hope to the people of Co. Louth, and to help to make life possible for them in spite of all the turbulence which they had to endure.

The primates' primary duty, however, was to protect the church within their province. In this way they had to deal repeatedly with the attacks of

the O'Reillys, MacMahons, MacGuinnesses, O'Hanlons, and of course, the

O'Neills, all of whom, either singly or in alliance sought to attack churches, monasteries, clerics, and church lands both in their own dioceses and in the diocese of Armagh. The archbishops' response to these attacks shows clearly the extent to which they were aware both of what was happening within their

province, and of their own duty to protect those who were under attack. The

primates were frequently in contact with the Gaelic chiefs in efforts to

control their attacks and to promote peace. Given the weakness of the Dublin

government and the archbishops' own avowed policy of peacemaking, they were confined exclusively to the use of spiritual weapons: the invocation of

ecclesiastical sanctions of excommunication and interdict. Unfortunately, over-use of these spiritual weapons meant that they yielded increasingly

diminishing results.

It is necessary to modify some of the views which are currently widely held on the diocese and province of Armagh. Perhaps the most important of

these is the firm belief in the division of the diocese into two watertight

divisions, and a similar division of the church within the province. Certainly, the Pale acted as a political barrier between the two races, and created serious

problems in secular and ecclesiastical life throughout the entire period of the

later middle ages. The Gaelic chieftains of Ulster were as jealous of their

freedom and as suspicious of intruders as were the Anglo-Irishmen of the

Pale. However, despite this hostility and mutual suspicion, it is clear nonethe

less, that there was a considerable amount of contact between churchmen in

the two parts of the diocese, and also that the diocese was one and united in

5



spite of the political and racial divisions. Communication between the

archbishop's palace at Termonfeckin and Armagh, while difficult at times, was nonetheless possible. Primates May, Prene and Bole regularly visited

Armagh themselves for metropolitical visitations, ecclesiastical business, and

for dealings with secular chieftains, especially the O'Neills. The lesser officials

of the archbishops' staff, such as judges, ecclesiastical lawyers and

commissaries were frequent visitors to the area Inter Hibernicos'. Though there were certain hazards in venturing into Gaelic lands,11 where O'Neill's

power was dominant, not everybody shared Archbishop Swayne's reluctance to venture among them in journeying to Armagh.

Moreover, the primates were not confined by the Pale in their metro

political visitation of the neighbouring dioceses. They personally visited every diocese in their province, save Ardagh and Dromore which were assigned to

be visited by their commissaries.12

In all the areas they visited, the archbishops received the honour and

respect due to the coarb or successor of St Patrick. Their stature among the

Irish in this regard far outweighed the antagonism towards them on grounds of race or politics. Indeed, the archbishops of Armagh often experienced

greater opposition from the archbishops of Dublin on account of rival claims

to the primacy than they did from the Gaelic chiefs in whose territories they travelled during visitations. In fact, the real problem with the visitations was

not so much the difficulty in actually making them, but rather, that their

brevity allowed the local bishops and their clergy to conceal some of their

glaring faults and put on a show of devotion and zeal which they readily abandoned at the end of the visitation. Thus the difficulty lay not in the

actual making of the visitations, but in their effectiveness in securing long term reforms.

The mobility of the primates and other ecclesiastics, in spite of political boundaries and racial difficulties, provides a good indication of the way in

which the church as a 'supra-national' institution was able to override the

sharp divisions within the country. Likewise, we find that the bishops of the Gaelic dioceses were able to travel regularly to attend the provincial councils of the province which were usually held within the Pale at Drogheda. This clearly shows that there was movement into the Pale as well as

movement out of it.

Both Anglo-Irish and Gaelic bishops shared a common loyalty to the

church and to the primate. The Gaelic bishops and their flock obeyed the

Anglo-Irish primates' commands and wishes, for the most part, and looked to

them for protection against their Gaelic enemies and rivals. Even the reluctant obedience of some of the bishops showed clearly their recognition of the

primates' authority, and their fear of the sanctions which the latter could

impose.

As their loyalty to the church and to the archbishops sometimes clashed with their loyalty to their own nation and to their chiefs, the bishops usually

6



resolved this conflict either by ignoring the primates' wishes till the storm had

passed, or until he imposed sanctions so severe as to compel their obedience. The Anglo-Irish bishops in such instances as the Sely case and the ensuing Pollard-Fossade struggle for the bishopric of Down, showed a similar

tendency to put self-interest before loyalty and obedience, and so differed little from their Gaelic counterparts in their attitude to the primate. Within

the diocese of Armagh too, there were several occasions when 'national' or

clan loyalties took precedence over loyalty to the church and to the demands

of the primate. The O'Mellan attempt to seize the deanery was one such instance which clearly illustrates the way in which good order, obedience and

discipline could be set aside by clerics in their involvement in a local struggle, and also how difficult it was for the primate to restore order and obedience

among his rebellious clergy.13 The O'Mellan struggle is significant in another respect as well, since it

indicates the way in which powerful secular families like the O'Neills viewed

important ecclesiastical benefices and offices as outlets for the ambitions of their vassals and allies. This was but one aspect of a society in which ecclesias tical office^ was linked to political power, and the ruling families sought to

control church appointments because of the prestige which attached to them. Even within the Gaelic church, many of these positions were seen as

hereditary: the same family held ecclesiastical lands and controlled key posts in church and monastery, just as in Gaelic secular life, certain families had established a hereditary monopoly of the study and practice of law, medicine or bardic poetry. In such a society it was regarded as quite natural, even

fitting that a bishop's son should seek to succeed his father as head of the

diocese, just as the abbot's son should succeed his father as head of the

monastery.

Such attitudes to pastoral office within the church may seem strange to

the outsider, but they reveal a society and a church on which the Norman

invasion and the twelfth century ecclesiastical reforms had had slight impact. The Gaelic society of the fifteenth century had many of the features of the

society of the eighth or ninth century, and retained that essentially Celtic

ability to re-shape and adapt powerful institutions such as the church to its 14

ways.

In the Pale, relations between church and state were radically different, as

the Anglo-Irish and English bishops and clerics shared attitudes which derived

from their common Norman or English background. This fundamental

difference lay at the root of the failure of the two societies and their church men to understand each other. The primates shared the culture, outlook and

prejudices of their fellow Palesmen, and thus were unable to fully understand

the outlook of the Gaelic churchmen, or win their support for thorough-going ecclesiastical reform.

This vast cultural difference between the Pale and the Gaelic areas, and the

attitude of the Irish chiefs that the church was but one important aspect of

7



the society which they controlled, explain why there were so few Anglo-Irish

bishops in Irish dioceses. These would certainly not have been welcome there, and their scarcity suggests not that they* were kept out, but rather that very few clerics had either the folly or the courage to seek papal provision when

such vacancies occurred, except when they were resolved to work as

suffragans in English dioceses.

It is clear that all four archbishops of Armagh during this period were

extremely conscientious and hardworking prelates. All were resident in the

diocese of Armagh for the full term of their office. They showed considerable

zeal in their pastoral duties of metropolitical visitation and the regular

holding of provincial councils. Furthermore they worked diligently to secure

the observance of conciliar decrees and maintain high standards among their

bishops, clergy and people. The primates were constantly active in correcting,

protecting and supervising their bishops. In matters of sexual morality, even

the bishops needed constant attention and regular correction. The primates made vigorous attempts to stamp out the prevailing practice of keeping concubines. It is significant in this regard, that whereas Gaelic bishops were

frequently accused of keeping concubines, the primates were only able to

take effective action against the Anglo-Irish bishop of Down, John Sely. Even

his deprivation appears to have resulted as much from his tyrannical attitude

to his clergy, and his stubborn refusal to recognise the rights of the primate and of his metropolitical court, as from his refusal to put away his concubine,

Letys Thomb. Other bishops guilty of incontinence escaped deprivation by

submitting to penance. They were able, on account of the distance from the

archbishop and the co-operation and silence of their flock, to resume their

old habits as soon as the primates' attention had turned to other matters.

Indeed, it was hard for the primates to take effective action against

concubinary bishops, priests and monks, since Rome granted dispensations to

them and to their families with such apparent ease. Rome's easygoing attitude

to the morality of the Irish bishops and clergy was one of the greatest obstacles faced by the primates in their efforts to eliminate concubinage and

other abuses in Ireland. Papal influence on the medieval Irish church in the

fifteenth century appears to have been entirely negative. It tolerated and even

encouraged the abuses which the primates sought to curb, and the.provisions and dispensations which it so readily granted robbed the primates' work of its

effectiveness and sense of urgency. The archbishops took little part in the Anglo-Irish politics beyond what

the law required, and what was necessary for the peace and protection of

County Louth. Their attitudes towards the use of secular force was given its

best expression by Primate Mey when he wrote that his duty was to promote peace through prayer and pastoral activity, rather than through the use of secular politics and warfare.15 Such an attitude helped to promote an even

handed and fair approach to the Gaelic parts of the province, and was of considerable help in fostering good-will for the primates among the warlike

8



chieftains among whom they travelled during metropolitical visitations and on their journeys to Armagh.

However such a policy of peacemaking through prayer and pastoral

activity did not guarantee peace and harmony, as is clear from the many occasions when spiritual sanctions had to be invoked by the primates to curb

the many attacks made by the Gaelic princes and chiefs on ecclesiastical

lands, tenants and churchmen. Though Primates Swayne and Mey were at

times actively involved in the military activities of the Pale administration, the primates as a rule were not completely identified by the Irish with this

aspect of government, and so their activities did not provoke the Gaelic chiefs

to stubborn resistance and open warfare which would have had disastrous

consequences for the church. Clearly, the primates adopted the sensible

approach, and used peaceful persuasion and ecclesiastical sanctions in their

relations with difficult Gaelic rulers. Indeed, diplomacy, persuasion and

prayer were the only safe course open to them, considering the weakness and

ineffectiveness of the Anglo-Irish military machine. It is clear that the monasteries had grown seriously lax and worldly.

Abuses such as drunkenness and the keeping of concubines flourished while

the fabric of the monastic buildings fell into decay, and the income was

frittered away by dissolute monks and abbots. The older monks appear to

have been utterly without any saving grace, and were concerned only with the

exploitation of every source of monastic income, while totally neglecting the

regular observance of the monastic rule and the practice of prayer which formed the very basis of their way of life. Meanwhile, the communities were

becoming steadily smaller, and quite a few of the lesser ones had ceased to exist. The archbishops clearly appreciated the seriousness of the situation, and sought by all the means at their disposal to prevent the monks from a

complete collapse into secularization, and the total abandonment of any

pretence of religious life. Their efforts in this regard succeeded only in

pruning the worst excesses, and in disciplining the worst offenders. The fire of religious devotion and piety was dead, and the will for renewal was absent, so there was little the primates could achieve in spite of their constant efforts.

Rather than lead the monasteries to a vibrant renewal, the archbishops had to

be content to act as policemen who sought to contain a bad situation within tolerable limits!

Only the friars showed signs of the renewal of fervour and zeal which were

later to receive a fuller expression in the Observant movement which had

significant success in the province of Armagh in the later fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, when entire houses of conventuals adopted the reformed

rule of the Observants.16 The primates sought to promote this re-vitalization

by their friendship and protection. This encouragement was probably due to

the fact that the friars served the popular religious needs. This had always been their particular concern, and their influence on the laity is immediately obvious when we look at the many houses of Third Order members (pious

laymen and women) which had sprung up under their influence.17 9



Archbishops Swayne, Prene, May and Bole all appear to have been very able men possessed of considerable stamina and vigour. They certainly needed

these qualities as their task was not an easy one. They were beset by political divisions within the province, and had to cope with the racial and ecclesias

tical tensions which resulted. It is obvious too, that they were hampered by a

lack of finance. The income of the see of Armagh was falling due to the loss

of revenue from ecclesiastical lands which had fallen into Irish hands.18 More

over, Gwynn has pointed out that:

Primate Bole was perhaps a careless administrator. What occurred after

his death is proof enough that he had left the finances of his diocese in

great confusion. Seven years after his death, according to a sworn

statement of the archdeacon of Armagh, Henry Corkeran, the late

Primate's unpaid debts were so numerous that the jewels and other

ornaments of his see were still pledged as security for their payment. These debts were also the main cause of a prolonged vacancy which left

the diocese of Armagh in a pitiable state of bankruptcy and general disorder.19

However, the frequent metropolitical visitations of Meath noted above

suggest that the diocese had been under financial strain for a considerable

time before this. Another indication of this strain can be seen in the attempts made by Primate Mey to reach agreement with the O'Neills regarding

payment of dues from church lands which they had taken over.20

The primate agreed to accept the newcomers as his tenants, and in return

they were to pay a small rent.21 Elsewhere frequent wars hit the income from

the archbishop's lands and the dues payable to him by ecclesiastical families in the same way as they brought many of the religious houses to near ruin.22

Besides this financial strain there must have been a scarcity of manpower. The few ordination lists which survive in Swayne's Register show that though

many received minor orders, yet, only three or four priests were ordained

annually.23 If this was so, there must have been a serious shortfall in the number of priests needed to fill the vacant positions in the diocese. This

shortage of priests may well explain the poor standards of education and

morality which existed among the lower clergy and is testified to by so many accusations in the Calendars of Papal Records, since, if priests were badly needed, the primate may well have been less than thorough in his examination of the candidates. Professor Gearoid Mac Niocaillhas estimated

that the archbishop had sixty benefices to fill in his diocese, and depended on an average of four ordinations annually to do so.24 The archbishop's problem

was further complicated by the legal bar against those Irish clerics who sought benefices within the Pale. These could only be allowed to accept the benefice on receipt of a certificate of denization.25 This legal bar was matched by a canonical ban which reinforced the linguistic barrier and prevented Gaelic

priests who knew no English from ministering 'inter Anglicos' and vice versa.

10



There was a degree of racial suspicion and hostility between the dean and

chapter of Armagh and the canons of Armagh inter Anglicos. This is clear

from the summons issued by Dean O'Mellan and the chapter to the canons in

County Louth to attend a meeting of the chapter, and the subsequent reply which accused O'Mellan and the canons at Armagh of attempting to disguise the purpose of the meeting and of concealing the agenda from them so as to

leave the Anglo-Irish canons unprepared for the actual meeting. Obviously, O'Mellan and his group were trying to catch their Louth colleagues unawares.

A similar tension between the same two groups can be seen in the contro

versy which followed Archbishop Mey's creation of a canonry for William

Corre, vicar of St Mary's, Ardee.26 The chapter had little desire to see its

numbers swollen by the archbishop's own nominees. This lack of unity evident among the canons of the two parts of the diocese can scarcely be

wondered at, considering the extent to which political division had promoted mutual suspicion.

The archbishop's own long struggle with the archbishop of Dublin over the

primacy, and especially the bitterness with which Primate Mey pursued his

feud with Archbishop Tregury after the Drogheda episode,27 suggest that in

matters of charity, co-operation and mutual forgiveness, their example to

their clergy was not always faultless. Such squabbling on the primates' part over matters of precedence and honour did little to promote a revolution in

popular piety. The archbishops had to cope with a divided administration in their running

of the diocese. Dean O'Mellan of Armagh and his chapter often proved un

cooperative and stubborn in refusing to implement the primate's administrative orders, and in failing to send him the rents from his lands and

the various dues and procurations to which he was entitled. Primate Mey, in

particular, was suspicious of Dean O'Mellan, whom he believed to be acting in collaboration with the O'Neills. O'Mellan certainly had little concern to

promote or assist the archbishops' policy in Armagh ? this is clear from the

persistence with which he opposed O'Cullen for the deanery and from the

little trouble he took to reassure Primate Mey of his loyalty after obtaining the deanery. So, both as contender for the deanery, and as dean, he hindered

Archbishops Prene and Mey's efforts to govern and administer the Gaelic part of their diocese.

In spite of this handicap, the primates were able to cope with the

difficulties, and continued to administer the diocese inter Anglicos over

which they had complete control. Their success here was largely due to the assistance and co-operation which they received from their own curial staff of

Anglo-Irish and English clerics. A large number of these were Oxford-trained law graduates whose expertise and skill enabled the diocese and metro

political courts to function smoothly and efficiently. The men on whom the primates depended most of all were also Oxford

law graduates. These were the archdeacons, who worked in close harmony

11



with the primates and shared part of their heavy load of administration work.

These were the right-hand men whom the archbishops depended on to act as

their representatives and counsellors. Without their moral and practical

support the primates would have been extremely handicapped in their work

in the diocese inter Anglicos. In considering the state of religion in the fifteenth century Ulster, the

conditions prevailing in the monasteries highlight the decline which the

primates had to contend with. The educational and moral standards prevailing

among the pastoral clergy also fell short of the ideal. It has been argued however that there were some positive signs amid the prevailing gloom.28 I

have remarked above on the role played by the friars in the service of popular

religion, and the popularity of the Third Orders which they promoted among

the laity.^ The growth of such Third Order groups, and the growth in

popularity of lay confraternities such as the confraternity or guild of St Anne

associated with the chantry founded by Primate Swayne at St Peter's,

Drogheda30 are an important indication that religious belief, devotion and

concern for personal salvation were still very much alive, and devout laity who shared these convictions were able to associate together in these

organizations, especially in urban areas. Only in urban areas were there

sufficient numbers to form such a group, and pious clerics and suitable

churches to serve its needs. The confraternity was thus an essentially urban

phenomenon, and the Third Order groups had also their beginnings among those townspeople who had been inspired by the teaching and example of the

friars.

The upper and wealthier classes also gave testimony to their concern for

salvation by the foundation and endowment of charities. These were founded in increasingly larger numbers in the fifteenth century, and the primates' concern for their own chantry foundation has already been noted. Thus the

archbishops gave their example as well as their support and encouragement to

these new expressions of lay piety. The fifteenth century also saw the introduction and use of religious

literature by literate and pious lay-folk of town and country. Though the

Armagh registers make no reference to the practice of spiritual reading within

the province, except in the case of the canons of Clogher,31 it is clear that some of the surviving manuscript copies of medieval spiritual works originate from the province of Armagh in the period under discussion here.32 Professor

Mac Niocaill has accurately remarked that this growth in the use of religious literature resulted from an attempt to compensate for the failure of the

clergy,33 and indeed such a literary 'supplement' to the spiritual fare appears to have been as necessary in the diocese of Armagh as it was elsewhere. Ireland escaped the influence of Lollardy, so the primates had very few

worries that the spiritual books (mostly in Latin) which were gaining limited

popularity might contain heretical doctrines. Significantly, the works which became most popular in Ireland had a very strong Franciscan flavour,34 and is

12



quite likely that the practice of spiritual reading was becoming widespread as

a result of the influence of Franciscan pastoral activites among the Third

Order Brothers and Sisters and among the literate laity. It is clear that in the province of Armagh as in England and Europe,

despite the disorder of the late medieval church, there were certain signs of a

yearning among many of the laity to have their spiritual needs attended to, and a more determined effort at self-help in this regard through the

foundation of chantries, the growth of confraternities and Third Order

groups, and a new awareness of the advantages to be derived from religious literature. The Armagh registers do not give a very full picture of this

emergence of a new lay piety, but they do provide us with sufficient evidence

to prove that what we know was taking place elsewhere in Ireland and in

England and Europe, was also taking place within the province of Armagh with the primates' practical support and encouragement.

Such, then, is our survey of the medieval province of Armagh, and the

primates' work of administration. We have seen a series of four vigorous

archbishops actively involved in promoting peace and church reform, and

keenly aware of the needs and preoccupations of their flock. Likewise, their

relations with their suffragan bishops, with the key officials within their own

diocese, and with the monasteries have been examined, to provide what I

hope is a reasonably comprehensive picture of the church in the fifteenth

century province of Armagh. It is clear from this study that the primates' role as 'pontifex' or bridge-builder between Gael and Gall in a divided province

was vital, and one which they fulfilled with considerable success. Indeed, at a

time of religious apathy and deep racial hostility, the primates were among the few who sought to promote peace, order and holiness, and have received

little credit for their efforts.

Our main source of information in this study, the Armagh registers, has

thus provided us with a very interesting picture of ecclesiastical life in late

medieval Ireland, and has proved once again how much invaluable material it

has to offer the historian.

Acknowledgem en t

The foregoing article is based on the concluding chapter of my unpublished M.A. thesis, entitled The Province and Diocese of Armagh, 1417-71, (U.C.D.,

1979), which was completed under the guidance of Dr Art Cosgrove, lecturer

in medieval history at U.C.D. I would like to thank him for his great kindness

and help as my research supervisor.

NOTES

1. For example, see Rev. Aubrey Gwynn, S.J., The medieval province of Armagh, 1475-1545, (Dundalk, 1946); Rev. Canice Mooney, O.F.M., 'The church in Gaelic

13



Ireland; thirteenth to fifteenth centures', in P.J. Corish ed. A history of Irish

Catholicism, (Dublin, 1969), vol. 2 fascicule 5.; J.A. Watt, The church and the two

nations in medieval Ireland, (Cambridge, 1970); J.A. Watt, 'The church in medieval

Ireland', in The Gill history of Ireland, vol. 5 (Dublin, 1972); Rev. Aubrey Gwynn, S J.,

'Anglo-Irish church life: fourteenth and fifteenth centuries', in P.J. Corish, ed. Hist. Ir.

Cath., vol. 2, fasc. 4, (Dublin, 1968); K.W. Nicholls, 'Gaelic and Gaelicised Ireland in the

middle ages', Gill Hist. Ire., (Dublin, 1972), vol. 4.

2. Rev. Aubrey Gwynn, S.J., 'The twelfth century reform', in Corish, Hist. Ir. Cath., vol. 2, fasc. 1.

3. Rev. Canice Mooney, O.F.M., op. cit., loc. cit., pp. 52-62.

4. See the graphic description in John Boyle's preface to Leland's 'New Years gift to

King Henry VIII', given by Patrick O'Leary, in 'Notes on the Cistercian Abbey of

Graignamanagh', in the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 22,

(1892), p. 239.

5. The original registers of primates Sweteman, Fleming, Swayne, Prene, Mey and

Octavian are deposited in the Archiepiscopal Registry at Armagh, and copies of these

made in the last century by Bp. Reeves and his assistants are kept at the Public Library of Armagh and a set of rough copies are kept at T.C.D. Library (MSS 557/1-11).

6. The details of publication of the various registers are set forth in W.G.H. Quigley & E.F.D. Roberts eds. Registrum Johannis Mey: The register of John Mey, Archbishop

of Armagh, 1443-1456 (Belfast, 1972) introduction p. xv, footnotes 4 and 5.

7. Handbook of British Chronology, eds. Sir Maurice Powicke and E.B. Fryde, (2nd

edit., London, 1961), p. 317.

8. J.R.L. Highfield, 'The English hierarchy in the reign of Edward III', in Royal Historical Society Transactions, Fifth Series, vol. 6, (1956), p. 127.

9. J.H. Bernard, 'Richard Talbot, Archbishop and Chancellor, 1418-49', in

Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. 35, (1918-20), Section C, pp. 218-29. 10. National Library Ms. No. 2689, Canon Leslie Collection: Typescript copy of Bp.

Wm. Reeves's calendar of Primate Prene's Register, (1430-76), with an index to the

register by Rev. J.B. Leslie, c. 1935, Nos. 18, 39. 11. For example, see the O'Neills' ill-treatment of Abp. Mey's messenger: (Mey's

Reg. Nos. 167,222, 343). 12. See my unpublished M.A. thesis The Province and Diocese of Armagh, 1417-71,

presented to U.C.D., 1979, pp. 45-7, 51.

13. Charles O'Mellan, an Armagh cleric, tried, with the support of the O'Neills and a

majority of the Armagh clergy, to take the deanship from the unpopular Dean Denis

O'Cullen who was supported by the primates between 1435-41. O'Mellan failed in this

bitter struggle, but obtained the deanship after O'Cullen's death. I have discussed the

conflict at length in Prov. & Dioc. Arm. (see fn. 12, above), pp. 86-96. 14. In this regard see Kathleen Hughes's introductory chapter to A.J. Otway-Ruthven's

A History of Medieval Ireland, (London and New York, 1968), especially p. 22. 15. Mey's Reg. Nos. 141, 174, 175, and my own Prov. & Dioc. Arm., p. 26.

16. Aubrey Gwynn, S.J. & R.N. Hadcock, Medieval religious houses: Ireland,

(London, 1970), pp. 235-62. 17. Ibid., pp. 263-72, and below, p. 14.

18. Katharine Simms, 'The Archbishops of Armagh and the O'Neills, 1347-1471', in Irish Historical Studies, vol. xix, no. 73 (1974), pp. 52, 54. 19. Gwynn, Med prov. of Arm., p. 4; K. Simms, op. cit., loc. cit., p. 54. 20. My Prov. & Dioc. Arm., p. SI; Mey's Reg. Nos. 167,222,251,343. 21. K. Simms, The Gaelic lordships in Ulster in the later middle ages, (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, 2 vols., T.C.D., 1976), vol. 2, p. 754. 22. My Prov. & Dioc. Arm., pp. 100 and fn. 6; 101. 23. D.A. Chart (ed.), The register of John Swayne (Belfast, 1935), pp. 86-7, 115-8, 155-7, 186-7.

24. Prof. Gearoid Mac Niocaill, 'Religious literature and practice in late medieval

Ireland', - R.I. Best Memorial Lecture, delivered in the National Gallery of Ireland,

Merrion Square, Dublin, on Thursday, 17th May, 1979 (unpublished at time of writing).

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25. This problem was also noted in connection with Bp. Sherwood of Meath who

resolved the problem with characteristic pragmatism: see my Prov. & Dioc. Arm., pp.

122-3, and p. 123, fn. 1.

26. Mey's Reg., Nos. 348, and 378.

27. Mey's Reg., No. 405. The incident has been described by me in Prov. & Dioc.

Arm., pp. 35-7.

28. Notably by Prof. Mac Niocaill in his lecture referred to in fn. 24 above.

29. Above, pp. 10-11.

30. Reg. Swayne, pp. 178-80. (The entry is undated but seems to refer to 1437-8). See also Nat. Lib. Ms. No. 2689: Typescript of the calendar of Prene's register, Nos. 314, 169 and 121, arranged in chron. order, and Mey's Reg., Nos. 160, 376.

31. Nat. Lib. Ms, No. 2689: Cal. Prene's Reg., No. 421.

32. See Robin Flower, The Irish Tradition, (Oxford, 1970 edit.), pp. 116-35. Rev.

Canice Mooney, O.F.M., op. cit., loc. cit., vol. 2. fasc. 5, pp. 3245, and Prof. Mac

NiocauTs lecture (see fn. 24 above). 33. Prof. Mac Niocaill's lecture, (see fn. 24 above). 34. Flower, Their. Trad., p. 125.

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Religion in Late Medieval Ireland