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duct, and caused six of the ringleaders on each side to
be executed on a gallows. The commencement of the
twelfth century was marked by a contest as to the right
of the primacy, which had been monopolised during
fifteen episcopal successions by a single princely tribe,
as an hereditary right. “Eight married men,” says St.
Bernard, “literate indeed, but not ordained, had been
predecessors to Celsus, on whose demise the election of
Malachy O’Morgair to the primatial dignity, by the
united voice of the clergy and people, put an end to the
contest, though not without some struggles.” Malachy
resigned the primacy in 1137, and in lieu of it accepted
the bishoprick of Down, which see he afterwards di-
vided into two, reserving one to himself. His object
seems to have resulted from a wish to procure leisure
for a journey to Rome, with a view to prevail upon the
pope to grant palls to the archbishops of Armagh and
Cashel; but in this he was, on his first journey, disap-
pointed, by being informed that so important a measure
could only be conceded in pursuance of the suffrage of
an Irish council. On making a second journey for the
same purpose, he fell sick on the road, and died at the
abbey of Clarevall, in the arms of his friend, St. Ber-
nard. Nevertheless, this object was soon after accom-
plished, even to a greater extent than he had proposed.
In 1152, Cardinal Paparo arrived in Ireland as legate
from Pope Eugene III., with four palls for the four
archbishops, to whom the other Irish bishops were
subjected as suffragans. The following sees, several of
which are now unknown even by name, were then placed
under the provincial jurisdiction of the archbishop of
Armagh; viz., Connor, Dumdaleghlas (now Down),
Lugud, Cluainiard or Clonard, Connanas, Ardachad
(now Ardagh), Rathboth (now Raphoe), Rathlurig or
Rathlure, Damliag, and Darrick (now Derry).
The origin of a dispute between the Archbishops of
Armagh and Dublin, regarding their respective claims
to the primatial authority of Ireland, may be traced to
this period, in consequence of a papal bull of 1182,
which ordained that no archbishop or bishop should
hold any assembly or hear ecclesiastical causes in the
diocese of Dublin, unless authorised by the pope or his
legate: but it was not until the following century that
this dispute acquired a character of importance. The
rank of the former of these prelates among the bishops
of Christendom was determined at the council of Lyons,
where, in the order of subscription to the acts, the name
“Albertus Armachanus” preceded those of all the
bishops of France, Italy, and Spain. In 1247, Archbishop
Reginald or Rayner separated the county of Louth from
the diocese of Clogher, and annexed it to Armagh.
Indeed, before this act, the inadequacy of the revenue to
maintain the dignity of the see occasioned Hen. III. to
issue a mandate to the lord justice of Ireland, to cause
liberty of seisin to be given to the Archbishop of Armagh
of all the lands belonging to the see of Clogher: but
this writ was not carried into effect. In 1263, Pope
Urban addressed a bull to Archbishop O’Scanlain, con-
firming him in the dignity of primate of all Ireland;
but the authenticity of the document has been disputed.
This bull did not put an end to the contest about
precedency with the Archbishop of Dublin, which was
renewed between Lech, Archbishop of Dublin, and
Walter Jorse or Joyce, then primate, whose brother
and successor, Rowland, persevering in the claim, was
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resisted by Bicknor, Archbishop of Dublin, and vio-
lently driven out of Leinster, in 1313. Again, in 1337,
Primate David O’Hiraghty was obstructed in his at-
tendance on parliament by Bicknor and his clergy, who
would not permit him to have his crosier borne erect
before him in the diocese of Dublin, although the king
had expressly forbidden Bicknor to offer him any oppo-
sition. In 1349 Bicknor once more contested the point
with Fitz-Ralph, Archbishop of Armagh; and, not-
withstanding the king’s confirmation of the right of the
latter to erect his crosier in any part of Ireland, the lord
justice and the prior of Kilmainham, being bribed, as
is supposed, by Bicknor, combined with that prelate in
opposing the claims of the primate, who thereupon ex-
communicated the resisting parties. Shortly after both
Bicknor and the prior died; and the latter, on his
death-bed, solicited Fitz-Ralph’s forgiveness through a
special messenger. After his decease, his body was
refused Christian burial, until absolved by the primate
in consequence of his contrition. In 1350, the king,
through partiality to John de St. Paul, then Archbishop
of Dublin, revoked his letter to Fitz-Ralph, and prohibited
him from exercising his episcopal functions in the pro-
vince of Dublin; and, in 1353, Pope Innocent VI. de-
cided that Armagh and. Dublin should be both primatial
sees; the occupant of the former to be styled Primate
of all Ireland, and of the latter, Primate of Ireland. In
1365, the Archbishops Milo Sweetman and Thomas
Minot renewed the controversy, which, after that pe-
riod, was suffered to lie dormant till Richard Talbot,
Archbishop of Dublin, prevented Primate Swain from
attending his duty in five successive parliaments held
in 1429, 1435, and the three following years. Primates
Mey and Prene experienced similar opposition; but
after the decease of Talbot, in 1449, their successors
enjoyed their rights undisturbed till 1533, when John
Alen, Archbishop of Dublin, revived the contest with
Primate Cromer, but seemingly without success. Edw.
VI. divested Archbishop Dowdall of the primacy, in
1551, in order to confer it on George Browne, Arch-
bishop of Dublin, as a reward for his advocacy of the
Reformation; but on the same principle the right was
restored to Dowdall on the accession of Mary. In 1623,
Launcelot Bulkeley revived the contest with Primate
Hampton, and continued it against his successor, the
distinguished Ussher, in whose favour it was decided by the Earl
of Strafford, then lord-deputy, in 1634.
At the commencement of the Reformation, Primate
Cromer was inflexible in his determination to oppose
its introduction into the Irish church; and on his
death, in 1542, his example was followed by his suc-
cessor, Dowdall, who, after the accession of Edw. VI.,
maintained a controversy on the disputed points with
Staples, Bishop of Meath, in which both parties claimed
the victory. The English government, finding him de-
termined in his opposition to the new arrangements,
issued a mandate rendering his see subordinate to that
of Dublin, which caused Dowdall to quit the country
and take refuge on the continent. The king, deeming
this act a virtual resignation of the see, appointed Hugh
Goodacre his successor; but Dowdall was restored by
Queen Mary, and held the see till his death in 1558,
the year in which his protectress also died. Notwith-
standing the ecclesiastical superiority of the see of Ar-
magh over that of Dublin, the income of the latter was