Part 27 (1/2)
The more important bishoprics were generally given to men whom the English Government could trust, and it is not likely that they were ever filled up in defiance of the King until after his rupture with Rome.
Armagh, Dublin, and Meath were rarely entrusted to any but men of English birth. In 1513 John Kite, a Londoner, was appointed by provision to Armagh, but the nomination was certainly agreeable to Henry, who had before employed Kite as a diplomatist in Spain. The temporalities of the diocese were almost immediately restored to him, and he was soon afterwards present in London at the grand reception of Wolsey's red hat.
Kite, who received many tokens of royal favour, was translated by the Pope to Carlisle. The Holy See claimed very full rights in the case of a translation; but George Cromer, an Englishman, was appointed to Armagh at the King of England's supplication. Such was the form preferred by the Pope, but the supplication was in fact a nomination.[283]
[Sidenote: Dublin.]
William Rokeby, a Yorks.h.i.+reman, was translated from Meath to Dublin in 1512. Henry made him his chancellor, and he also was present at the hat ceremony. After his death a Somersets.h.i.+re man, Hugh Inge, was translated by the Pope from Meath to Dublin. There can be little doubt that this was done with the King's full consent, for Inge acknowledged that he owed all to Wolsey. As a special favour the tax on this occasion was reduced from 1,600 to 1,000 florins, on the suggestion of Campeggio, who reported that certain n.o.blemen had intruded into the diocesan lands and greatly diminished the income. Inge also held the office of chancellor, which at this time was almost invariably given to an archbishop. When Inge died, John Alen, one of Wolsey's chaplains, was provided to Dublin at the King's instance, or supplication as the Pope called it, and immediately received the Great Seal. Alen had been employed by the Cardinal in the suppression of the lesser monasteries, and had incurred great odium in that office.[284]
[Sidenote: Meath.]
The see of Meath, which has the singular distinction of having never possessed a cathedral, was from its position of especial importance.
After being successively filled by Rokeby and Inge, it was given by the Pope, but probably at Wolsey's instigation, to Richard Wilson, Prior of Drax in Yorks.h.i.+re. It is remarkable that Wilson, who does not seem ever to have resided in his see, fully acknowledged that the Cardinal's legatine authority extended to Ireland. This was vehemently denied by Primate Cromer and his suffragans, who were able to make their objections good; the whole province of Armagh, except Meath, being situated among the Irishry. On the resignation of Wilson, Edward Staples, a Lincolns.h.i.+re man, was provided by Clement on the King's nomination. He was allowed to hold St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London, and other benefices, along with his bishopric, and he had a special Papal dispensation for filling offices with incompatible duties. Staples fully embraced the Reformation, and was a princ.i.p.al instrument in carrying out the changed religious policy of the English Crown.[285]
[Sidenote: Cashel.]
In 1524 Edmund Butler, Prior of Atha.s.sel, a natural son of Sir Piers Butler, was appointed by the Pope to Cashel, and by him recommended to the King, who addressed letters in his favour to the Irish Government.
Kildare alleged that Butler was opposed by his father, and there was certainly a contest between them. The Archbishop's object was to prevent his father, as acting Earl Palatine of Tipperary, from raising a revenue in that county, the larger part of which was in his diocese. The citizens of Waterford complained that his Grace used every kind of Irish extortion, and his opposition to the palatinate jurisdiction clearly arose from no wish to leave the people untaxed. In one respect indeed the prelate bettered the instruction of the temporal magnates, for he 'retained Dermond Duff for his official and counsellor or commissary, which so entertaineth the King's people by colour of canon law that there can be no more extortion committed by any Irish Brehon, and polleth the King's subjects as he lists, and taketh for fee of sentence of a divorce 10_l._ or more.' He openly robbed a boat laden with merchandise, and held the owners to ransom. Butler's consecration was delayed for three years: it is not easy to say why, as there is no trace of a dispute between the Crown and the Pope. Ultimately he became a very important person, and generally acted with the other Butlers in support of the King's authority. He accepted the royal supremacy, and surrendered his monastery when called on to do so.[286]
[Sidenote: Tuam.]
The western province was so entirely Irish that the King could hardly have interfered effectually with Papal nominees. On the death of the learned Maurice O'Fiehely in 1513, Thomas O'Mullally was provided to Tuam, and lived unmolested by Henry till 1536. But Christopher Bodkin, who had been preferred to Kilmacduagh at the King's request, was translated purely by royal authority to Tuam. The breach with Rome had at this time become irreparable; and Bodkin, whom the Vatican regards as a schismatic but not as a heretic, acknowledged the royal supremacy and held the temporalities of both his sees, as well as the minor ones of Enaghdune and Mayo, until his death in 1572. His astuteness far exceeded that of the Vicar of Bray, for he seems to have kept his preferments and his opinions as well. A rival archbishop was appointed by Clement in 1538, and is now considered the true one by writers on the Papal side.
The double line has continued ever since.[287]
[Sidenote: Remoter sees.]
To the less important and more distant bishoprics appointments were probably very often made by the popes without the King's interference, and even without his notice. But when he did make a recommendation it is hardly likely to have been neglected at Rome. Thus the sees of Clonmacnoise, Clogher, Ardagh, and Kilmore were on particular occasions filled by the King, and the appointments confirmed by the Pope at his request. The case of Clogher is the more remarkable in that a provision of Julius II. had lately declared that church to be immediately subject to the Holy See. In the yet more remote districts of Down, Dromore, Raphoe, and Derry, the King does not seem to have interfered at all. In providing Edmund O'Gallagher to the see of Raphoe, Clement VII. observed that the diocese was vacant because the King had neglected to nominate any one for seventeen years.[288]
[Sidenote: Leinster.]
In Leinster the King must generally have had power to prevent any bishop from enjoying the profits of his see. The patronage was very laxly managed, for Kildare lay vacant from 1513 to 1526. In 1523 the Earl of Kildare tried to get the preferment for the dean, Edward Dillon, whom he recommended to Wolsey as of virtuous living and of English name and condition. The application failed, but Thomas Dillon was at last appointed both by King and Pope. This promotion was probably effected in Kildare's interest; for Cowley, a partisan of the Butlers, called Dillon an Irish vagabond, without learning, manners, or other good quality, and not fit to be a holy water clerk. This Irish vagabond had, however, been educated at Oxford. Thomas Halsey was persuaded by Wolsey to accept the bishopric of Leighlin, and Maurice Doran was, at the King's request, provided to the same see. There may be no positive evidence as to Ossory and Ferns, but there is no reason to doubt that the persons appointed were acceptable to the Government.[289]
[Sidenote: Munster.]
In Munster it is not likely that bishops would be appointed without the consent of the Crown, except perhaps to the remote sees of Killaloe and Kilfenora, in which the succession at this period is almost hopelessly confused. In filling the scarcely less completely Irish bishopric of Ross, the King took a direct part. He called upon the Pope to accept the resignation of Edmund Courcey, and to appoint as his successor the Cistercian John O'Murrilly, with leave to hold the Abbey of Maur in addition. Leo X. complied in every particular; but when O'Murrilly died two years later, the Pope took the strong step of uniting Ross with Dromore in the distant north. We may infer from this that Henry did not always choose to interfere, but that when he did the Pope paid the greatest attention to his wishes; and that this rule applied to Munster generally. At Waterford and Cork, the strongholds of English law, it was hardly possible for a bishop to enjoy his revenues in defiance of the Government.[290]
[Sidenote: Connaught.]
In Connaught the popes seem to have provided bishops as a general rule; but they generally avoided a collision when the King's wish was openly expressed. As late as 1533 Christopher Bodkin was appointed to Kilmacduagh at Henry's request; and this is a very strong case, because a purely papal nominee seems to have resigned in his favour. In Elphin John Max was appointed by the Pope; but as he held the abbeys of Welbeck or Tichfield, or both, along with his bishopric, he can hardly have been distasteful to Henry. The case of Burke and Nangle, already mentioned, shows King and Pope openly at variance. But even at the beginning of that contest the schism was almost complete.[291]
[Sidenote: Bad state of the Irish Church.]
In the 'Description of Ireland,' written early in Henry VIII.'s reign, there is a story of St. Brigid, who inquired of her good angel of what Christian land most souls were d.a.m.ned. He showed her a land in the west part of the world, where was continually root of hate and envy, and vices contrary to charity, for lack of which souls kept continually falling down into h.e.l.l as thick as hail showers. It is inferred that the angel spoke of Ireland, 'for,' says the writer, 'there is no land in this world of so long continual war within himself, nor of so great shedding of Christian blood, nor of so great robbing, spoiling, preying, and burning, nor of so great wrongful extortion continually as Ireland.' Among the various causes of this state of things the bishops and clergy are blamed, 'for there is no archbishop nor bishop, abbot nor prior, parson nor vicar, nor any other person of the Church, high or low, great or small, English or Irish, that useth to preach the Word of G.o.d saveing the poor friars' beggars ... Also the Church of this land use not to learn any other science but the law of Canon, for covetyce of lucre transitory; all other science whereof grows none such lucre, the parsons of the Church doth despise. They hold more by the plough rustical than by lucre of the plough celestial, to which they have stretched their hands, and look always backwards. They tend much more to lucre of that plough, whereof groweth slander and rebuke, than to lucre of the souls, that is the plough of Christ. And to the transitory lucre of that rustical plough they tender so much, that little or nought there chargeth to lucre to Christ, the souls of their subjects, of whom they bear the cure, by preaching and teaching of the Word of G.o.d, and by their good ensample giveing; which is the plough of wors.h.i.+p and of honour, and the plough of grace that ever shall endure.'[292]
[Sidenote: State of Ardagh, Ross, Clonmacnoise, and Enaghdune.]
This is a heavy indictment, but it is sustained by very many facts which have come down to us. The state of many important churches shows how ill religion was supported. A report to Leo X. on Ardagh Cathedral states that there was no sacristy, no bell nor belfry, no proper appliances for service; and that the walls of the church itself were but just standing.
There was only one altar, which was exposed to the weather. Ma.s.s was rarely celebrated, and then by a single priest, and the scanty vestments and utensils were kept in a chest in the church. The town consisted of four thatched cabins; and there were few inhabitants, owing to continual wars caused by the conduct of the late Bishop, William O'Ferrall, who had excited the animosity of his neighbours by attempting to exercise temporal power. The bishopric of Ross was in rather better case. The town of 200 houses was walled, and the cathedral church was built of stone in regular cruciform fas.h.i.+on, and with a tiled roof. There was decent provision for the ma.s.s. On the other hand, the church was unpaved, and the income of the see no more than sixty marks. At Clonmacnoise, one of the most famous ecclesiastical places in Ireland, things were scarcely better than at Ardagh. The town could boast but twelve houses, built of wicker and straw. The church was roofless, and half ruined; with a single altar protected by a thatched shed, one vestment, and a cross made of bra.s.s. Ma.s.s was rarely celebrated, but the body of St. Ciaran was preserved and reverenced. The Pope's informant was an Irishman, but the saint's name was unknown to him. The ancient see of Enaghdune or Annaghdown on Lough Corrib was in a deplorable state. The church was in ruins, the clergy far out of order, and the revenue not more than 20_l._, which could only be collected by a steward who had the favour of the country.[293]
[Sidenote: Corruption among dignitaries.]
The above cases are all of bishoprics situated in remote parts among the Irishry. The state of the Church in the Pale and other obedient districts was of course better, but even in Dublin the metropolitan crozier remained in p.a.w.n for eighty years, from 1449 until Archbishop Alen redeemed it by paying one hundred ounces of silver. The clergy were charged with seeking money more than souls; and many acts of violence and extortion are reported on oath against the Archbishop of Cashel and the Bishops of Ferns, Ossory, Leighlin, Waterford, and Limerick; against the Abbots of Tintern, Jerpoint, Kilcooley, Holy Cross, Dusk, and Innislonagh; against the Priors of Kilclogan, Knocktopher, Inistiogue, Kells, Cahir, and Lady Abbey; and against the Prioress of Moylagh. In general bishops and heads of houses were not less extortionate than other gentlemen. They exacted coyne and livery and the other multifarious Irish imposts with neither more nor less severity than the laity. But it should not be forgotten that these ecclesiastical dignitaries were also great landowners, and that they were forced to provide the means of defence in the only possible way. The Archbishop of Cashel and the Bishops of Waterford and Ossory had other means of taxing the people peculiar to their offices; they took excessive fees in all matrimonial and probate cases, and appropriated a portion of every dead man's goods. The Archbishop's lowest charge for a divorce was 5_l._, and it was generally double that or more. The citizens of Waterford declared that the canonists were as burdensome as the Irish Brehons.[294]