Br.UNARD — Richard Tidhof, Arrhhishop avd ChanceUnr. 227 



it was urged that a metropolitan lias no jurisdiftion, and cannot exiiibit tlie 

 emblems of his jurisdiction, outside his own province. The latter position 

 was impregnable, and the claim of Armagh was silently abandoned after the 

 fifteenth centui-y ; but so long as the Primates continued to make it, su long 

 was there trouble. When they were summoned to rarliament in Dublin, 

 again and again they refused to come unless they were allowed to come in 

 full dignity, with their cross borne before them. Half-a-dozen times,^ wliile 

 Talbot ruled the see of Dublin, the Archbishops of Armagh complained that 

 they were prevented from attending Parliament, without violating their oath 

 to defend the rights of the Primacy, by the violence and opposition of the 

 Archbishop of Dublin in refusing them permission to raise their cross. 



Tliere is no reason to suppose that there was anytliing personal in these 

 squabbles. Talbot had, indeed, just missed the see of Armagh, when his 

 brother first came to Ireland, as I have already mentioned ; but there can be 

 little doubt that the see of Dublin, which was the seat of government, was 

 more congenial to his tastes and gave a larger scope to the exei'cise of his 

 powers as a statesman. And, in fact, in 1443, on the death of Archbishop 

 Prene, Talbot was elected Primate by the dean and chapter of Armagh, but 

 he refused to be translated. 



There is no evidence, and no probability, that Archbishop Talbot took 

 much interest in the theological or ecclesiastical problems of the day. At 

 the beginning of the fifteenth century, the most conspicuous features in the 

 religious situation in Europe were the Great Schism in the Western Church, 

 and the scandal caused by the rivalries of contending popes. The General 

 Councils of Pisa and Constance were engaged for several years in the attempt 

 to put an end to this state of things, and the situation was further compli- 

 cated by disputes as to the relati\-e authority of a General Council on the one 

 hand, and a lawfully elected Pope on the other. However, at the end of 1417, 

 just about the time tliat Talbot became Arelibisliop of Dublin, a strong Pope, 

 Martin V, was elected, who did much to consolidate tlie Papal power. Another 

 Council was held at Easle in 1431 and the following years, a weaker man, 

 Eugenius IV, occupying the Papal see. To this all the Great Powers sent 

 delegates, as it was necessary to do for political reason.'^, quite apart from the 

 theological questions which were in debate. Archbishop Talbot did not go to 

 Basle — he was too busy in Ireland — but he was formally represented by two 

 proctors or agents whom he appointed under his hand and seal at his Palace 

 at Tallaght in July, 1433.' One of these, John Ardagh, LL.B., who had studied 



' In 1429, 1435-9. 1442, 1443. 



- Memoranda Rolls (Dublin Record Office). 



