238 Pmeeeilinga of the Rojial Irish Academy. 



Maeltuile. Died 1032. 



Aedh Furi-eidh " assumed the bishopric " in 1032. Died 1056. 

 Mael Pati-aie. Died 1096. 



Caincomrac Baighill " assumeii the bishopric " 29 May, 1099. Died 

 1106. 



The double entry under 1032, recording the obit of Maeltuile and the 

 accession of Aedh, seems to indicate that the bishops followed one another 

 in a regular series. Ther-^ i« no suggestion that they belonged to the 

 coQurbial family. 



How can we explain this union of truth and falsehood in a writer who 

 made use of trustworthy authorities < The answer to the question appears 

 to me obvious. The bishops were not mentioned in his document. But 

 plainly the eight " metropolitans " who preceded Cellach were rulers of the 

 Church. A Continental ecclesiastic, who knew nothing of Irish hierarchical 

 arrangements, would at once infer that they were either bishops or persons 

 who usurped episcopal functions. St. Bernard knew that they were laymen ; 

 therefore the latter alternative was alone open to him. Be.'iide these 

 pretenders there was no room for true bishops. St. Bernard had excellent 

 information ; but he misinterpreted it because he was ignorant of Irish 

 affairs, and could not conceive a hieraixhy in which the abbots were supreme, 

 and the bishops comparatively unimportant persons. 



We need not censure him severely. The manufacture of bishops out of 

 abbots and even out of simple monks is an occupation in which Irish histo- 

 rians and antiquaries have indulged since St. Bernard's day. We need not 

 carry our researches far to find an example. Heedless of the warning of 

 St. Bernard, Ware includes the eight lay predecessors of Cellach in his 

 inflated list of the Archbishops of Anuagh ; and infoims us that the only 

 bishops which the Annals know in that i>eriod were their suffragans. 



We have perhaps now procee^led far enough to conclude that St. Bernard 

 had good sources of information, but that his knowledge of Ireland was not 

 sufficient to enable him always to interpret them correctly. Further evidence 

 of the truth of that hypothesis will meet us when we come to investigate the 

 chronology of St. Malachy's life. By way of preliminarj' to this further study 

 it is necessary to concern ourselves with his travels outside Ireland. 



2. St. Malachy's Joubxeys. 



I have mentioned the fact that St. Malachy made a journey by Clairvaux to 

 Rome for the purpose of asking Pope Innocent II to bestow palls on the Irish 

 archbishops. This I call his first journey, the second being his return journey 



