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SCANDINAVIAN ANTIQUITIES OF DUBLIN. 177
the Gaeidhil " or Irish, in one of the oldest manu-
scripts of her life, nor has the research of any Irish ,,
BOOK m
CHAP. II.
The Ostmen
m*-
' cmte Si,
scholar, so far as I can ascertain, as yet discovered a did n '
1
?
single church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Ireland Bridget
until the middle of the tenth century, when the Northmen
converted to Christianity, began to dedicate
churches to her within their own territories, the
earliest being that of St. Mary's Ostmanby, 1
better
known as St. Mary's Abbey Dublin, alleged to have
been founded about the year 948.
As regards the Anglo- Saxon missionaries who
converted the Northmen, they were not likely
to dedicate a church to an Irish Saint, their connec-
tion being with Canterbury and Rome, but not with
Armagh
and the Irish Church. For it is to be re- The Ostmen
collected that the Northmen did not acknowledge the mae the Irish
authority of the Irish Church until the Irish arch-
bishops received the palls from Rome through
Cardinal Paparo, in 1152 ; Laurence O'Toole in 1163
being the first Bishop of Dublin (under the Ostmen)
who was consecrated by the Archbishop of Armagh,
all previous bishops of the Ostmen being consecrated
by the Archbishop of Canterbury.*
Mar)' in Wales is that of a church November, 2 Johan. (A.D. 1201)
near the Cathedral of Bangor, A.D. Rotuli Chartarum in Turre
993, by Edgar, king of England. Londinensi asservati, p. 788, folio,
About 140 churches were after- London, 1837.
wards built to her honour (chiefly
f Lanigan says that Waterford
in the 12th century, and chiefly and Limerick had been placed
in the parts
of Wales subject to under the Archbishop of Cashel by
English and Flemings)." Ecclesi- the Synod of Rathbreasil, A.D.
astical Antiquities of the Cymry, 1118; but admits that the Danes
by the Rev. John Williams, M.A., of Limerick, in opposition
to that
p. 184, 8vo, London, 1844. decree, succeeded in getting thuir
1 " Et deinde usque ad Ecclesiam Bishop consecrated at Canterbury.
Sanctc Maria de Osmaneby." Ecclesiastical History of Ireland,
Confirmatio Civitat, Dublin. 7 vol. iv., p. 42.
N