$XI. Origin and Progress of the Pope's Temporal power in Ireland.

Ireland had been for ages industriously represented as a fief of the Holy See. In virtue of this imaginary right, the Irish Clergy of the 12th century, harassed by the feuds of their own Chiefs, acquiesced in the donation of Pope Adrian IV, to Henry II, and also in the subsequent confirmation of Alexander III.

The Irish Parliament had frequently recognized this right, acknowledging it the only legitimate foundation for the dominion of England,* and in consequence of the Papal Sovereignty, the Kings of England were never styled Kings of Ireland, but only Lords of Ireland, holding by feudal tenure under the Pope, down to the reign of Henry VIII, who first assumed the title of King of Ireland, on his defection from the Holy

See the Irish Statutes, 7th of Edward IV.

Rymer's Fœd. t. 1, p. 15, Lond. 1727, t. 3, p. 619. The Bulls of Adrian IV, and Alexander III, Brompton and Hovenden, ann. 1185, Balez's edition of the Decretals Pontificate of Innoc. 3, Prynn Arch. Tur. Lond. Reign of K. John, Irish Remonstrance of 1315.

See. When Primate Cromer exhorted his Suffragans, in his Synod of Ardmagh, to resist Henry's Supremacy, he reminded them, that Ireland was the peculiar property of the Holy See, from which the Kings of England derived their Lordship in the days of Henry II.

2. I wish I could deny the historical fact, that this pretended Pontifical title to the crown of Ireland was acknowledged by the Irish themselves. But it is impossible to deny it. They not only have acknowledged it, but they have acknowledged it repeatedly; and almost in every age from the 11th to the 17th century.

It is quite ridiculous to deny, that, however unjust the Bulls of Adrian and of Alexander were, they operated most powerfully towards forwarding the interests of Henry II. Adrian's was read in the Synods of Waterford and of Cashel, and submitted to, by such of the Irish Clergy as Henry's influence could controul.*

3. The Pope's pretensions were founded,

* Mr. Plowden refers this to a Council of Lismore. Vol. 1. p. 33.-But there was no such Council!

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upon those passages of Scripture, relating to the spiritual Primacy of S. Peter, which the Court of Rome wrested to a worldly jurisdiction; upon a pretended donation of Constantine's, whereby the Popes asserted, that he. bequeathed to them the Sovereignty of all the Isles of the Ocean; and upon the submissions of the Irish themselves.*-By the Irish, these, absurd claims were admitted, not only upon the same general principles, which were advanced by the Court of Rome, but also upon some others which were peculiar to Ireland." If it should be inquired, says Keating, why Diarmaid Mac Murchad, King of Leinster, chose to commit his affairs to Henry II, King of England, rather than to the King of France, or any other Monarch of Christendom, it must be understood that Donchad O'Brian, the son of Brian Boimhromhe, was a Prince very unacceptable to the principal Nobility of Ireland, who rather than

"

Compare Gregory VIIth's Letter to Tordelbach O'Brian infra p. 74, with the Bulls of Adrian and of Alexander, Cardinal Pole's speech in Parliament, ann. 1554, and John of Salisbury, Sylloge, p. 152.

pay him obedience, unanimously agreed to make a present of the whole Island to Urban II, A. D. 1092.*-Through this donation the Popes claimed the Sovereignty of the Island, which they governed by wholesome laws, establishing regular discipline in the Church, and maintaining this authority down to the pontificate of Adrian IV, who, as Stowe justly relates, bestowed the Kingdom of Ireland on Henry II, in the first year of his reign, A. D. 1154.†

This grant of the Kingdom of Ireland to Henry, was drawn up in writing; and as soon as he received it, he sent Nicholas of Wallingford with it into Ireland; where Nicholas, landing at Waterford, sent to the Bishops and principal

The minds of the Irish had been prepared for this by Pope Gregory's Emissaries, and by the O'Brians, in opposition to the O'Nials. Infra p. 74, &c.

Keat. fol. ed. Lond. 1723. p. 548-Bellarmine agrees. "Adrianus Papa IV. Hiberniam Insulam Henrico II. Anglo"rum Regi concessit." Adrian's Diploma is given from the original by Baronius, t. 12. Those Irish who have questioned its authenticity, have only betrayed their own anger, their hatred to that donation, their prejudices in supposing the Pope incapable of such injustice, as if he were not a man, and their ignorance of history!

Clergy of the Island, to whom he gave an account of his Commission, and they, after some debates, drew up an Instrument, containing their absolute submission, to which they unanimously subscribed.-Nicholas returned to England with their Confirmation; and Henry sent John of Salisbury, with that Instrument to the Pope, who, well pleased with their submission, sent a ring to King Henry in confirmation of his former grant. The reason therefore why Diarmaid King of Leinster applied to Henry II, was because he claimed the Kingdom of Ireland, in virtue of the Pope's donation."*-Such was the origin of the Pope's Temporal Dominion in Ireland, to which we owe his uncontrouled power of nominating motu proprio to Irish Sees!

4. It may perhaps be objected, that Keating is a fabulous writer.-But in the first place, supposing, for argument sake, that this whole narrative is fabulous-what then?-My mean purpose is

* Keating makes John of Salisbury the King's envoy to Ireland, as well as to Rome. This is the only part of his narrative which I have corrected.