The Medieval Church in the Isles, Part 3: The Canonical Hours of the Day

Also known as the Liturgy of the Hours (in the Roman Church), the Daily Office (in the Anglican Communion), and the Divine Office (in other churches), in the Western churches the canonical hours for prayer followed the system first regularized by St. Benedict of Nursia for his monastic community around 500 CE.

The specific hours for the Divine Office of the system below come from the Regularis Concordia in England of 973.  The two Masses are not part of the Hours, and neither is Chapter, but that is when they fell in the day.

Matins, originally called Vigils and later Nocturns and began at midnight.

Lauds, originally called Matins, began at dawn, around 5 am

Prime began at around 6 am

Morrow Mass after Prime

Chapter after Morrow Mass

Terce began at around 8 am

Solemn High Mass after Terce

Sext began at around 12 am

None began at around 3 am

Vespers began at the lighting of the lamps, around 5 pm

Compline began at around 6 pm

The times varied throughout the year by necessity with the lengthening and shortening of daytime and and nighttime.

In the early centuries of the Church, the midnight hour of prayer was called Vigil, after the Roman military watch.  Benedict named it Nocturns, and later in the High Middle Ages it came to be called Matins.

Originally, in St. Benedict’s version, Lauds was called Matins, until that name replaced Nocturns.

In one reported system of the Divine Hours, there were nine offices, with one called Vigil immediately preceding one called Matins, then Lauds and the rest beginning at dawn.

The core of the Liturgy of the Hours was the Psalter, the entirety of which was said or sung every week, individual psalm or portions thereof scattered throughout the various hours.

The nocturnal hour of Matins was quite lengthy, weekdays consisting of two sets (nocturns) of six psalms, with three readings from the Old Testament, New Testament, and/or Church Fathers after the first set and a short passage from one of St. Paul’s writings after the second set.  On the vigil preceding Sundays, each nocturn was followed by four readings, after this a nocturn of three Old Testament canticles, then four readings from the New Testament, the singing of the Te Deum, a Gospel reading, and a hymn.

Of the hours, the time for saying Matins varied the most widely.  Some places always recited it at midnight, others varied with the season between 2 am and 3 am, or between midnight in summer and just before Lauds in winter.   In the Use of Lichfield, for example, Matins was sung at midnight from the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (8 September) until Easter Sunday; from Easter Sunday through Trinity Sunday, Matins was sung at daybreak (sunrise); and from the day after Trinity Sunday until the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Matins was sung immediately after Compline.

During Holy Week, or at least the last three days thereof, Matins and Lauds were sung in the evening immediately after Compline in anticipation of the following day (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday); in places this occurred more frequently.  At the start of Christmas in the Use of Sarum, Matins was sung just before Midnight Mass.

The major diurnal hours were Lauds and Vespers, each roughly twice the length of the minor hours.  The diurnal minor hour of Compline was slightly longer than the other minor hours of Terce, Sext, and None. 

By the 15th century, the schedule of the Hours and other daily offices were as follows:  Matins and Lauds of the Day; Matins and Lauds of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Lauds of the Dead; Prime of the Day; Commendation of Souls; Chapter Mass; Terce; the 15 Psalms of Degrees (or ‘of Ascents’, 120-134); the Litany of the Saints; Sext; None; Mass of the Day; Vespers of the Dead; Vespers of the Day; Vespers of the Blessed Virgin Mary (and/or Vespers of All Saints); and finally, Compline.

(This was the schedule at Lincoln Cathedral, and while maybe not universal at cathedrals, convents, and collegiate churches in every respect, it is nevertheless fairly representative.  It also does not include the enormous number of chantry masses said in each place by that time.)

Other rearrangements in diverse places by the Late Middle Ages included Compline immediately after Vespers; Vespers, then the Office of the Dead, then Compline; and Matins immediately after Compline in anticipation of the next day.  At Cluny Abbey in the County of Auvergne in France and at its daughter houses, the Office of All Saints was also celebrated.

In the revised Roman Breviary introduced and made obligatory throughout the Church in 1568, Matins and Lauds (of the Day) were officially fused together, with the structure of Matins radically altered.

As the liturgies for these hours developed, convents began to need several different books for their services:  a Psaltery, a book of prayers, an antiphonary, and a lectionary.  When the Divine Office spread to secular parishes and the mendicant orders arose, the need for a concise and abridged volume with appropriate psalms, readings, prayers, and antiphons gathered by service.

Thus came the Breviary, at least for the diurnal offices (Lauds through Compline), first for the Franciscans.  In the Middle Ages, extremely abridged versions of the Daily Offices became popular among the laity, especially after the invention of the printing press, each called Book of the Hours.

The full Hours of the Divine Office were said by cathedral chapters, convents, and collegiate churches in choir; parish priests in non-collegiate churches were at first strongly urged, then later required, to say them daily also, but with more leeway as to the time.

Anglo-Saxon Hours

The old Anglo-Saxon Church had its own system of seven daily offices, promulgated by Ecbert, first Archbishop of York 735-766.  They were as follows, with their Continental counterparts:

Uhtsang (Matins)

*Daegredsang (Lauds)

Primsang (Prime)

Undersang (Terce)

Middaegsang (Sext)

Nonsang (None)

Efensang (Vespers)

Nihtsang (Compline)

*There was no actual counterpart to Lauds that I know of, but had there been one, it would have been called Daegredsang, daegred being the Anglo-Saxon for “dawn”.

Uht, the base of Uhtsang, meant the dark just before dawn, indicates the time it probably was sung.  To this day in the Church of England and member churches of the Anglican Communion, Evening Prayer (normally said at the time of Vespers) is often called Evensong.

Aethelwold, Bishop of Winchester 963-984, issued with the consent of his council in 973 the Regularis Concordia, a major reform and update of the Rules of St. Benedict specific to England which expanded the English Divine Office to eight hours or offices.

Irish Hours

In the Early Middle Ages, the Irish developed their own counterparts of the Continental version, which certainly also saw use among the Picts, the Scots of Dal Riata, and the Angles of Northumbria, and even on the Continent, taken to those places by Ireland’s “White Martyrs”.

Midnocht (Matins)

Iarmerge (Lauds)

Anteirt (Prime)

Tert (Terce)

Medon Lai (Sext)

Noin (None)

Fescor (Vespers)

Deired Lai (Compline)

 

The Medieval Church in the Isles, Part 2: What is a day?

To better understand the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours), we need to first exam the definition of a day, specifically, the diving line between yesterday and today or between today and tomorrow.

For most of us in our daily lives, day (or daytime) begins at sunrise, or dawn (whether or not we are then awake), while night (or nighttime) begins at sunset, or dusk.  And thus it was to our long ago ancestors, such as those early Homo sapiens who first traversed by generational stages the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, and Anatolia to invade the territory of their cousins the Homo neanderthanensis, with their first beachead in the Balkans.  These were the pre-Indo-European H. sapiens once upon a time called the Cro Magnons; the Indo-Europeans arrived in the Continent thirty centuries later via the Russian steppe.

The ancients, understanding that daytime plus nighttime comprised one rotation of the Earth (or rather in the belief of many cultures one revolution of the Sun around the Earth), rather confusingly called this block of time by the same name as that of one of its two major divisions.  These days the block of time is specified as a “civil day”, but without necessarily implying that people are at all civil about it.

To make matters even worse for us, their descendants, they all disagreed about at what point during that block of time a day began and ended.

For ancient Egyptians (Kemites, the ancestors of modern Copts) and Babylonians (whether Akkadian, Kassite, Amorite, or Chaldean), a day began at sunrise and gave way to the following day at sunrise.

The Babylonians, incidentally, used ancient Sumerian for their religion, as did the Assyrians, much the same as the Indo-Aryans used Sanskrit and the Aramaic-speaking Jews and Samaritans used a form of ancient Canaanite called Hebrew.

For Aryans, the ancient Medes and Persians (Iran literally means “the Aryans”), following Mazdayana, the teachings of Zartosht (Zarathustra, Zoroaster), the day was counted from dawn to dawn.

Both of these were versions of what is known as the solar day.

The Greeks, Jews, Samaritans, Arabs, Celts, & Germans all counted the day from sunset to sunset, which in the European Middles Ages became known as the Florentine system and which is also known as the lunar day.  In the case of the Hellenistic Jews and Samaritans of their respective Diasporas, there is evidence they adopted the solar day of their neighbors, especially in Alexandria and the rest of Egypt.

Ancient and medieval astronomers along with related scholars used the astronomical day, which runs from noon to noon, the opposite of the one Romans brought to the table.

Speaking of, last but not least, the Romans counted their days from midnight to midnight, but few if any of the empire’s dependencies and clients used that frame even after adopting the Roman calendar.

It was not until the International Meridian Conference in Washington City, District of Columbia, U.S.A. in October 1884 (the same that determined the Prime Meridian and established Greenwich Mean Time) that midnight was established as the border between days on an international basis for purposes of commerce and transportation.

However, Jews, Samaritans, and Muslims still count their days from sunset to sunset in their religious calendars, as do traditional Christian liturgical-based churches (Eastern Orthodox, Roman, Anglican, etc.), in all of which a day begins at sundown.

The Medieval Church in the Isles, Part 1: The Dioceses

Many of the medieval dioceses of the Church in the Isles and its outlying districts (Brittany, Britonia, Channel Islands) had their roots or even start in the church under the Roman Empire, but most not so.

Irish Pre-Reformation Dioceses

The twelfth century reform movement in the Irish Church conducted held four councils of jurisdictions temporal and spiritual across the island, the most important as far as ecclesiastical hierarchy and organization are concerned were the second and third of these synods.

At the start of the 12th century, there were or had been 94 dioceses in Ireland (with a very few extinct).  That number puts an exclamation point on the need to reduce the number of dioceses.

Synod of Rath Breasail

The Synod of Rath Breasail in 1111 divided the island into two ecclesiastical provinces of twelve dioceses each plus the two provincial sees, with one see at Cashel and the other see at Armagh.  Two others were added in the aftermath.  The twenty-six dioceses approved, with the tribal territories they fell in, plus the two later, were:

Province of Armagh

Ulster

1.  Armagh (in Airghialla)
2.  Ardstraw (in Cenel nEoghain; see moved to Maghera/Rathlure 1150)
3.  Clogher (in Ui Chremthainn)
4.  Connor (in Dal nAraidi & Dal Riata)
5.  Down (in Dal Fiatach)
6.  Raphoe/Derry (in Tir Connaill and Inis Eogain)

Connacht

1.  Ardagh (in Conmaicne Rein, Conmaicne Angaile, & Conmaicne Sleib Formaile, as well as Ui Briuin Breifne)
2.  Cong (in Conmaicne Cuile Tolad & Conmaicne Mara; merged into Tuam in at Rath Breasail in 1152)
3.  Clonfert (in Ui Maine)
4.  Elphin (in Ui Briuin Ai or Siol Murraidh and Ui Aillelo)
5.  Killala (in Ui Fiachrach Muiadhe)
6.  Tuam (in Conmaicne Dunmore, which the Ui Conchubhair, rulers of the Kingdom of Connacht had taken as their base to be near the threat of the Muintir Murchada or O’Flahertys)

Meath

1.  Clonard (in Meath, the late Co. Westmeath)
2.  Duleek (in Brega, the later Co. Meath; Synod of Uisneach the same year suppressed the diocese, assigning Brega to Clonard and giving Meath to Clonmacnoise).

Province of Cashel

Munster

1.  Cashel (in Eoghnacht Caiseal)
2.  Cork, (in Viking settlement, Ui Eachach Mumha, & Eoghanachta Raithlind)
3.  Emly (in Eoghanachta Aidne)
4.  Limerick (in Viking settlement & Ui Fidgente)
5.  Lismore (Deisi Mumhan)
6.  Killaloe (in Tuadh Mumha)
7.  Ratass (in Ciarraighe, Corco Duibhne, & Eoghanachta Locha Lein)

Leinster

1.  Ath Cliath (or Dublin; added after the synod)
2.  Ferns (in Ui Ceinnsealigh and Wexford)
3.  Glendalough (in Ui Muiredaig)
4.  Kildare (in Ui Failge, Ui Cairpri Laigin, & Ui Faelain)
5.  Kilkenny (in Osraige)
6.  Leighlin (in Ui Drona)
7.  Waterford (in Viking settlement plus Deisi Mumhan)

The Diocese of Dublin had stopped acknowledging the Archdiocese of Canterbury as its superior in 1096 but was not part of this synod.

Synod of Kells

The Synod of Kells in 1152 reorganized the island into four provinces.  With a changes noted below, this configuration remained until the Reformation.

Province of Armagh (Ulster)

1.  Ardagh (minus Kells)
2.  Armagh
3.  Clonard (suppressed, territory to Diocese of Meath after 1202)
4.  Connor
5.  Down
6.  Kells (in Ui Briuin Breifne, also known as Breifne or Tir mBriuin then Kilmore after 1254)
7.  Maghera/Rathlure (see moved to Derry 1254)
8.  Raphoe

Province of Cashel (Munster)

1.  Ardfert
2.  Cashel
3.  Cloyne (from Cork in Muscraige, Eoghanachta Glendamnacht, & Ui Liathain)
4.  Cork
5.  Emly
6.  Kilnefora (from Killaloe in Corco Mruad)
7.  Killaloe
8.  Limerick
9.  Lismore
10.  Roscrea (from Killaloe; returned to Killaloe 1168)
11.  Ross (from Cork; in Corca Laoidhe)
12.  Inis Cathaigh (Scattery Island); suppressed 1188
13.  Waterford

Province of Dublin (Leinster)

1.  Dublin (City plus Fingall, north County Dublin)
2.  Ferns
3.  Glendalough (merged into Dublin 1216)
4.  Kildare
5.  Kilkenny
6.  Leighlinn

Province of Tuam (Connacht)

1.  Achonry (in Luigne & Gailenga)
2.  Clonfert
3.  Clonmacnoise (Ui Maine)
4.  Killala
5.  Kilmacduagh (Ui Fiachrach Aidne)
6.  Mayo (merged into Tuam 1209)
7.  Elphin (absorbed the unrecognized sees of Roscommon, Ardcarn, & Drumcliff)
8.  Tuam
9.  Annaghdown (created 1179; included Muintir Murchada, Delbhna Tir Dha Locha, & Conmaicne Mara; merged into Tuam 1485)

Suppressed Irish Dioceses

These are the 51 dioceses suppressed at the above synods which were extant (mostly) at the dawn of the 12th century in addition to the 43 listed above (a few of which were later suppressed themselves).

(For this information, I am deeply indebted to Benignus Millet, OFM, for his article “Dioceses in Ireland up to the 15th Century” in Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society, Vol. 12, No. 1 (1986), pp. 1-42, accessed on jstor.com)

Aughankelly (Kilconway, Co. Antrim)
Aghagower (Burrishole, Co. Mayo)
Ardbraccan (Lower Navan, Co. Meath)
Ardcarne (Boyle, Co. Roscommon)
Ardmore (Decies, Co. Waterford)
Aughrim (Kilconnell, Co. Galway)
Bangor (Ards Lower & Castlereagh Lower, Co. Down)
Birr (Ballybritt, Co. Offaly)
Castledermot (Kilkea & Moone, Co. Kildare)
Castlekeeran (Upper Kells, Co. Meath)
Clondalkin (Uppercross, Co. Dublin)
Clones (Clonkelly, Co. Fermanagh, Monaghan & Dartry, Co. Monaghan)
Clonfad (Farbill, Co. Westmeath)
Clonkeen (Ardee, Co. Louth)
Coleraine (Coleraine, Co. Londonderry)
Devenish Island (Magheraboy, Co. Fermanagh)
Dromiskin (Louth, Co. Louth)
Dulane (Upper Kells, Co. Meath)
Dunleer (Ferrard, Co. Louth)
Dunshaughlin (Ratoath, Co. Meath)
Fennor (Lower Duleek, Co. Meath)
Finglas (Castleknock, Co. Dublin)
Fore (Fore, Co. Westmeath)
Glendalough (Ballinador, Co. Wicklow)
Inan (Upper Moyfrenragh, Co. Meath)
Inishbofin (Ballynahinch, Co. Galway)
Inishkeen (Upper Dundalk, Co. Louth)
Killasprugbrone (Carbury, Co. Sligo)
Kilcullen (Kilcullen, Co. Kildare)
Killashee (South Nass, Co. Kildare)
Killeigh (Geashill, Co. Offaly)
Lorrha (Lower Ormond, Co. Tipperary)
Louth (Louth, Co. Louth)
Lusk (Balrothery East, Co. Dublin)
Lynally (Ballyowen, Co. Offaly)
Mahee Island (Castlereach Lower, Co. Down)
Monasterboice (Ferrard, Co. Louth)
Moville (Inishowen East, Co. Donegal)
Mungret (Pubblebrien, Co. Limerick)
Raholp (Lecale Co. Down)
Rashee (Antrim Upper, Co. Antrim)
Rathlin Island (Cary, Co. Antrim)
Seirkieran (Ballybritt, Co. Offaly)
Slane (Upper Slane, Co. Meath)
Sleaty (Slievemargy, Co. Laois)
Swords (Nethercross, Co. Dublin)
Tallaght (Uppercross, Co. Dublin)
Terryglass (Lower Ormond, Co. Tipperary)
Trevet (Ratoath & Skreen, Co. Meath)
Trim (Lower Moyfenrath & Upper Navan, Co. Meath)
Tuamgraney (Tulla Upper, Co. Clare)

Wardenship of Galway

In 1485, the Pope granted to its parish the status of collegiate church, with its advowson or patronage in the hands of its council of burgesses.  In addition, he made the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas extra-diocesan, answerable only to the Pope, something doen in only one other case in the British Isles.

Scottish Pre-Reformation Dioceses

The Britons in the Roman province of Valentia between the Walls (Hadrian’s and Antonine) and later Hen Ogledd kingdoms of Manaw, Eidyn, Gododdin, Novant, and Strathclyde were at least partially Christian at least into the early Sub-Roman era.  Early evangelists of those areas and into Caledon (southern Picts) include St. Mungo, St. Ninian, and St. Palladius.  There is, however, no trace of their former existence, at least not a continuing one.

The original dioceses of the Scottish Church when it was created as an independent entity answering only to Rome by Pope Celestine III in 1192 were Aberdeen, Brechin, Caithness, Dunblane, Dunkeld, Glasgow, Moray, Ross, and St. Andrews.

The Diocese of Iona was founded on the island and in the abbey of that name by St. Colmcille (Columba) in 563, whose bishop carried episcopal authority but answered to the abbot.  Until the mid-9th century, the see held the primacy of both Ireland and of Fortrenn, the dominant Pictish kingdom based at Inverness, along with that of the Muintir Colmcille.

Due to Viking raids, Kenneth mac Alpin, King of the Picts, moved the primacy of Fortrenn to Dunkeld c. 850 along with a few relics of St. Columba (as he was to the Picts and later Scots).  The primacy of Ireland transferred to Kells in 878, along with division of his relics between the two, according to the Annals of Ulster, though the abbey and the coarb of St. Colmcille remained at Iona until 891, when the Abbot of Armagh became also the Abbot of Iona, and the primacy of Iona ended.

The abbey itself may have continued for some time, possibly until the King of Norway seized the island in 1114.  Upon his recapture of it in 1164, Somerled mac Godfrey, King of the Isles and Lord of Kintyre, Argyll, and Lorn, invited renewed Irish involvment, which may have been when the Culdees arrived on the island.  Continental-style monastic activity did not begin until 1203 when Ragnald mac Somerled, King of the Isles, invited Benedictines to take over the abbey as its chapter in 1203.  The Culdees attached themselves to the Benedictine chapter.

The Diocese of Kingarth, based on the Isle of Bute, was established by St. Cathan in the 6th century and lasted until at least the late 7th century.  It was never revived, though there are some claims that link it to the later Diocese of Dunblane.

The Diocese of Dunkeld was founded as the Abbey of Dun Chailean (Fort of the Caledons) in 729 with Columban monks, who were replaced in 815 by a group of Culdees.  Kenneth I mac Alpin moved the episcopal primacy of the Scottish Church to Dunkeld c. 850, naming its abbot, Tuathal mac Argtusa, the “prime bishop of Fortrenn”.  Upon Tuathal’s death in 865, the see, or at least the primacy, moved to the Abbey of Abernethy.  The diocese was revived about 1114 by Alexander I, King of Albainn.

There are some indications of a continued and rival line of bishops at Dunkeld supporting and supported by Constantine I mac Kenneth and his descendants based at Dunnideer in Buchan against the bishops at Abernethy and Kilrymont supporting and supported by Aedh I mac Kenneth and his descendants based at Forteviot in Atholl.

When the diocese was reestablished in Continental form by Alexander I, it was granted authority over the abthaneries of Dunkeld, Dull, Kirkmichael, Madderty, and Glendochart, as well as the former territory of the Dal Riata by then called Argyll (Oirir Goidheal/Earra Ghaidheal, “Coast of the Gaels”).

The Diocese of Abernethy began as an abbey mission of Iona and became the prime see of the Picts when it moved there from Dunkeld in 865.  The prime see stayed until early in the rule of Constantine II mac Aedh, the first to use the title Ri Albainn (King of Alba), who moved at least the primacy to Kilrymont.  As for the abbey itself, that continued to 1196, when King William the Lyon granted it, its land, and its chapter to the Abbey of Arbroath established in 1178, after which it ceased to exist.  In 1273, Gilbert de Umfravile, Earl of Angus, founded a collegiate church on the site.

The Diocese of Kilrymont (Cennrighmonaid) began as the Abbey of Kilrymont in the 8th century, becoming the see of a diocese upon installation of its first bishop, Cellach, in 908.  Until the death of Bishop Fothad II in 1093, its incumbents were referred to as “Bishop of Albainn” or as “Bishop of the Scots”.  Reorganized on Continental lines by St. Margaret in 1107, it became the Diocese of St. Andrews.  It rose to an archdiocese in 1472.

The Diocese of Mortlach was founded 1012 by Malcolm II, King of Albainn, in honor of a battle he had won.  David I, King of the Brets and Scots, and Bishop Nechtan, the diocese’s incumbent, moved the see to Old Aberdeen in 1136 so that it became the Diocese of Aberdeen, over the Mormaerdoms of Mar and Buchan.

The Diocese of Kirkjuvagr was founded in 1035 by Thorfinn the Mighty Sigurdsson, Jarl of Orkney, for the people of Orkney and Shetland with its see at Birsay.  The see moved to become the Diocese of Kirkwall in 1137.  The diocese was subject to the Province of York until establishment of the Province of Nidaros (in Norway) in 1152.  Orkney and Shetland were annexed into the Kingdom of Scots and into the Scottish Church as the Diocese of Orkney in 1472.

The Diocese of Moray was established by Alexander I, King of Albainn, at Birnay in 1107, covering much the same territory as the former kingdom had.  Its see moved to Kinnedor then Spyvie before settling at Elgin, where it at last received a proper cathedral.

The Diocese of Glasgow, first established in the kingdom of Alt Clud by St. Mungo in the 6th century but long defunct, the diocese was reestablished c. 1116 by David, Prince of the Cumbrians (later David I), with John the Chaplain as its first incumbent.  It became an archdiocese in 1492.

The Diocese of Ross was established by David I c. 1127 at Rosemarkie near the site of a former abbey founded by St. Moluag of Lismore out of the territory of the Diocese of Moray.  The see transferred to Fortrose on the Black Isle in 1309.

The Diocese of Dunblane was established in Strathearn and Menteith about 1140 by David I by reviving the old see of Abernethy and moving it to the Culdee abbey founded by St. Blane of Kingarth as a Columban house.

The Diocese of Galloway, also known as Candida Casa and Whithorn, was first established by St. Ninian in the 5th century.  In time it faded away, but was revived again by the Angles of Northumbria in the 8th century, only to once again wither.  Not until Fergus, Lord of Galloway, revived it in 1143 did it have staying power.  The diocese belonged to the Province of York until 1359 and only formally joined the Scottish Church in 1430.

The Diocese of Caithness was established by David I in 1146, with its see at the Culdee house of Dornoch.

The Diocese of Brechin was established in 1150 by David I at a Culdee abbey at the site of the new see, with its abbot as first bishop, covering much the same territory as the extinct Diocese of Abernethy.

The Diocese of Sodor was created for the Isle of Mann and the Hebrides (collectively called Sodor or South Isles by the Norse) in 1154 in the Province of Nidaros with its see at Pell (Isle of Mann).  After antipope Clement VII split off the Hebrides, Pell continued as the see of the newly reconstituted Diocese of Sodor and Mann.  In 1453, the diocese separated from Nidaros and was attached to the Province of York.

The Diocese of Argyll, with its see at Lismore, was created in 1186 by Pope Urban III in the western portion of the Diocese of Dunkeld, taking in for Argyll, Cowall, Kintyre, Lorn, and Lochaber as well as the islands of Lismore, Kerrera, Seil, and Luing.

The Diocese of the Isles was created in 1387 after its territories were split from the Diocese of Sodor by Avignon anti-pope Clement VII and attached to the Scottish Church, with its see initially at Snizort on the Isle of Skye before moving to the Benedictine abbey on Iona.  The Isles themselves (including Mann) had been possessions of Scotland since 1266.

The Collegiate Church of St. Giles in Edinburgh, made collegiate only in 1466, was made extra-diocesan in 1470, with its chapter answerable only to the Pope in Rome, the first such case for a secular church in the Isles.

Pre-Reformation Dioceses of England

Records of the dioceses founded in Roman Britain (save for those in Wales founded then and still extant) have been lost for a millenium and a half, and though there is some indication the Church at some level survived until his era, I will begin with St. Augustine.

The dioceses after the advent of St. Augustine were created on a part tribal, quasi-territorial basis.

The premier diocese of England, the Diocese of Canterbury, was founded in 597 by missionary archbishop Augustine among the Cantwara.  Always an archdiocese, after 604 its diocesan as opposed to provincial authority only covered East Kent, or Kent east of the River Medway.

The Diocese of Rochester was established among the West Cantwara, the part of Kent west of River Medway, in 604.  Although a separate diocese, it still required approval of Canterbury for appointment of its bishops until 1148, only after which did it become truly independent.

The Augustinian-era Diocese of London was established in 604, its original incarnation under Roman Britain having long been extinct; its authority included the Middle Seax and the East Seax.

The Diocese of Dunwich was established in 630 to serve the East Angles.  It was divided into the continuing Diocese of Dunwich (Suffolk) and the new Diocese of Elmham (Norfolk) in 672; the two dioceses reunited in 955 with the see of the reformed diocese at Elham.  The see moved to Theford in 1075, and finally to Norwich in 1094, since which it has been known as the Diocese of Norwich.

The Diocese of Lindisfarne was first founded in 635 by St. Aidan out of the Columban abbey of Iona to serve the whole of Northumbria.  After the Synod of Streonshalh (Whitby) in 664, the see of the kingdom transferred back to York.

The first (Gewisse) Diocese of Dorcester was established among the Gewisse in 634; the see was moved to Winchester in 660, where it has been since as the center of the Diocese of Winchester.  The Gewisse did not become the West Seax until the ascent of Caedwalla in 685.

The Diocese of Repton was created for the Kingdom of Mercia, for which it was also known as the Diocese of Mercia, in 656; the see was moved to Lichfield in 669.  The Diocese of Lichfield was raised to an archbishopric in 787, making three archdioceses in England, with its suffragan dioceses of Worcester, Leicester, Lindsey, Hereford, Elmham, and Dunwich.  The elevation proved to be short-lived, ending in 796 with the suffragan dioceses returned to Canterbury.  Due to Viking attacks, the see moved to Chester (Diocese of Chester) in 1075, then to Coventry in 1089, at which its name became the Diocese of Coventry and Lichfield.  In 1539, the see was returned to Lichfield and the diocese became the Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry.

The Diocese of York was one of three known sees of the ancient British church (the others were at London and Caerleon-upon-Usk) that dissolved in the wake of the 5th century disruptions.  A diocese was created for Roman missionary Paulinus in 625, but it collapsed with Paulinus’ flight into exile in 633 after the death of his royal sponsor.  The diocese was recreated in 664 after the Synod of Streoneshalh (Whitby) in 664 and was raised to an archdiocese in 735.

The Diocese of Hereford was created among the Magonsaetas on the border of Wales in 676.

The Diocese of Lindisfarne was recreated in 678 to serve the people of Bernicia, the northern part of the kingdom of Northumbria whose southern half, the former Deira, surrounded the town of York.  Upon the appointment of St. Cuthbert in 684, this diocese gained special controls over the region between the River Tyne and the River Wear which became known as the Liberty of St. Cuthbert.

Monks fleeing Lindisfarne in 883 stopped at a former Roman fort known as Concangis, where they build a monastery and church, calling the place Conceastre (now Chester-le-Street).  It became the see of the diocese, though the incumbent’s title remained the same.  In 995, the see and St. Cuthbert’s relics were transferred to Dunholme, the site of a former Roman fort called Caer Weir by the Britons, and the jurisdiction became the Diocese of Durham. Its prelates became Prince-Bishops in 1017; beginning in 1293, the diocese was also known as the County Palatine of Durham.

The Diocese of Hexham  was created in 678 between the River Aln and the River Tees.  It became defunct after 821, largely because of Viking raids, and its territory merged back into the Diocese of Lindisfarne.

The Diocese of Sidnacester was created among the Lindiswara in 678, and was better known as the Diocese of Lindsey.  It united with the second (Mercian) Diocese of Dorchester under one incumbent in 971, merging completely into the latter in 1011.

The Diocese of Leicester was founded in 679 among the Middle Angles; its see transferred to Dorchester in 875, so that it became the second Diocese of Dorchester.  This diocese united with the Diocese of Lindsey in 971 as two dioceses under a single incumbent, with the two fully merged in 1011 under the continued name Diocese of Dorchester.  The see of the diocese moved in 1072 so that it became the Diocese of Lincoln, by far the largest diocese with the largest cathedral chapter in all England and third largest in Western Christendom.

The Diocese of Ripon was created in 679, mostly for Eadhaed, the first Bishop of Sidnacester (Lindsey), appointed in 678 by Ecgfrith, King of Northumbria, but expelled in 679 by Aethelred I of Mercia after his forces defeated Ecgfrith and the Northumbrians at the Battle of the River Trent and retook Lindsey.  The diocese ceased in 686 upon the retirement of its one and only incumbent.

The Diocese of Worcester was created among the Hwicce in 680.

The Diocese of Selsey was created for the South Seax in 681.  Its see was transferred in 1075 so that it became the Diocese of Chichester.

The Diocese of Abercorn was established in 681 on the northern frontier of Northumbria in its subprovince of Dunbar or Lothian.  The sole incumbent of its see at Abercorn, Trumwine, a Pict from Aberdeen, was referred to as the Bishop of the Picts.  The diocese collapsed with Northumbria’s disastrous loss to the Picts at the Battle of Nechtansmere in 685.

The Diocese of Sherborne formed out of the Diocese of Winchester in 705 for the Dorsaetas, the Somersaetas, and the Defnaestas.  The diocese split into three in 909:  Crediton (Devon and Cornwall) and Wells (Somerset), leaving the continuing Sherborne with Dorset.  The diocese merged with that of Ramsbury in 1075 as the Diocese of Salisbury (Sarum).

The Diocese of Wells formed out of that of Sherborne in 909.  Its see moved to Bath (Diocese of Bath) in 1090; then to Glastonbury in 1197, known as the Diocese of Glastonbury then as the Diocese of Bath and Glastonbury until 1219, when it became the Diocese of Bath.  Since 1245, it has been the Diocese of Bath and Wells.

The Diocese of Crediton in Devon and Cornwall formed out of Sherborne in 909.  Cornwall split off c. 924 as the Diocese of St. Germans.  The two dioceses reunited under a single bishop in 1027, with the see of that bishop moving to Exeter in 1046.  The separate dioceses merged as the Diocese of Exeter in 1050.  (Cornwall finally separated again in 1876 to become the Diocese of Truro).

The Diocese of Ramsbury formed in Wiltshire and Berkshire out of the Diocese of Winchester in 909.  The diocese merged with that of Sherborne in 1075 as the Diocese of Salisbury (Sarum).

The Diocese of Salisbury (Sarum), as mentioned above, came about in 1075 from the merger of the dioceses of Sherborne and of Ramsbury.

The Diocese of Ely only gained an episcopal see in 1109, but it grew from what had been an important Anglo-Saxon convent founded in 673 that was destroyed by Vikings, replaced with a Benedictine monastery in 970, and finally made a diocese.  Covering approximately the lands of the former sub-kingdoms of North Gwyras and South Gwyras, this diocese when founded took in the Isle of Ely and Cambridgeshire.

The Diocese of Carlisle was created in 1133 out of the Diocese of Durham.

Though technically outside this timeframe, it is worth noting that in 1539-1540, Henry VIII, King of England, formed six dioceses from the jurisdictions of abolished monasteries, those of Westminster, Bristol, Chester, Gloucester, Oxford, and Peterborough.  Of these, the Diocese of Westminster lasted just ten years, 1540-1550, with the rest surviving until today.

The Diocese of Sodor and Man was created in the Province of Nidaros in 1387 after the split off of the Hebrides islands from the Diocese of Sodor and attachment to the Scottish Church as the Diocese of the Isles.  Pretty much confined to the Isle of Mann, this diocese was attached to the Church of England’s Province of Canterbury from 1453 until 1542, when it transferred to the Province of York.

Welsh Pre-Reformation Dioceses

What became the Diocese of Llandaff was founded by St. Dyfrig, Bishop of Sub-Roman kingdom of Ergyng and grandson of the founder of the kingdom, with his see at Caerleon.  The see later moved to the Abbey of Llandaff founded by St. Teilo (Eliud in Cornwall) in the first half of the 6th century due to the expansion of the kingdom of the Magonsaetas in what is now Herefordshire.  The diocese grew to cover all of Glywys (Morganwg) and Gwent as well.

In the Roman era, Bishop Adelphius of Isca Augusta Silurum (Caerleon-upon-Usk), attended the Council of Arles in 314.  His diocese covered the entire province of Britannia Segunda.  St. Teilo founded his abbey on the site of a church reportedly founded by St. Dyfan and St. Fagan in 146 CE.

The Diocese of Bangor was established in the Kingdom of Gwynedd in 546 by St. Deiniol, when Maelgwn Hir was king.

The Diocese of St. David’s was founded by St. David in the Kingdom of Dyfed (which at the time included Brychneiog) as the Diocese of Mynyw (Menevia) in the mid-6th century.  If not officially an archbishop, the see’s incumbent was still looked at as a metropolitan by the other Welsh bishops until the Welsh Church’s subjugation by Canterbury.

The Diocese of Llanbadarn was founded by St. Padarn, who served as its first bishop, in the early 6th century in the Kingdom of Ceredigion.  By the late 8th century, it had been forced to merge into the Diocese of St. David’s, reportedly by the murder of its clergy.

St. Kentigern (Mungo), temporarily exiled from Govan, founded the Diocese of of Llanelwy in the Kingdom of Powys c. 550.  Upon his return north, St. Asaph succeeded to the see.  After serious territory losses to the Mercians and the building of Offa’s Dyke in 798, the diocese collapsed.  It was revived in 1143 by Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, and renamed the Diocese of St. Asaph.

Medieval Brittany

The ecclesiastical Province of Tours, to which all these dioceses belonged (and still belong in one form or another) is coterminous with the former Roman imperial administrative province of Lugdunensis Tertia.

The Diocese of Vannes (Vannetais) was established in the 5th century for the civitas of the Veneti.

The Diocese of Rennes (Rennais) was established in the 5th century for the civitas of the Redones.

The Diocese of Quimper (Cornouaille) was established in the 5th century for the colony of the Cornovii colonists from southwest Britanniae.

The Diocese of Aleth (Domnonea) was established in the early 6th century among the Dumnonii colonists from southwest Britanniae.  Its bishops used the title Bishop of Poutrocoet.  The see was later moved and the diocese renamed the Diocese of Saint-Malo.

The Diocese of Leon was, according to legend, founded by St. Paul Aurelian in the mid 6th century.  Its was later renamed the Diocese of Saint-Pol-de-Leon.

The Diocese of Nantes (Nanntais) was established in the late 6th century by St. Martin of Vertou.

The Archdiocese of Dol was established by missus imperatoris (imperial emissary, of Louis the Pious) Nominoe in 848 at the abbey of Dol founded by St. Samson.  In 1199, Pope Innocent III subordinated all of Brittany to the Archbishop of Tours, but did not stop the incumbent of Dol from using the title archbishop and its insignia until the French Revolution.

The Diocese of Treguier was founded by imperial emissary Nominoe at the abbey of St. Tudwal in the mid-9th century

The Diocese of Saint-Brieuc was founded by imperial emissary Nominoe in the mid-800s at the abbey of St. Brioc.

Medieval Britonia

Britonia was the name of both the British colony on the northern shores of Galicia in and of its chief town.

The Diocese of Britonia was established the Suebi Kingdom of Galicia in 569 CE; to its were assigned the churches of Britonia, of Asturias, and the monastery of Maximus.  Being exiles from southwest Great Britain and influenced by the Irish Church, the church practiced the Celtic Rites.  Originally in the ecclesiastical Province of Lugo, Liuvigild of Hispania and Septimania attached it to the Province of Braga after his Visigothic kingdom absorbed Galicia in 585.

At the Council of Toledo in 633, the Celtic Rite and major seasonal calendar of Britonia were suppressed, and Britonia adopted the Visigothic Rite. 

The town of Britonia was temporarily abandoned when it was destroyed by the Moors in 716, including by its bishop and clergy, but they returned after the establishment of the Kingdom of Asturias in 718.  After Britonia was attacked by Vikings in 830, the independence of the diocese collapsed.

The district was revived as a diocese in 866 with its see at Mondumetum (Mondoñedo), the incumbent of which was referred to as the bishop of Britonia as late as 899.  It survived in this guise throughout the remaining Middle Ages until today.

Channel Isles

Known to the Romans as the Lenur Isles.

Until 1569 when they were finally transferred to the English Diocese of Winchester as its Deanery of Jersey (Jersey) and its Deanery of Guernsey (Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Harm), the churches in the Channel Isles belonged to the French Diocese of Coutances, erected in the 4th century for the civitas of the Gaulish Unelli, despite the fact that the islands themselves were possessions of the Crown of England since 1214 (and before that of the same dynasty as territories of the Duchy of Normandy).

The Celtic Church of the Isles, Part 8: A Century of Reform

Largely due to the disarray into which the Irish church had fallen due to the Viking Wars, along with its own internal problems of ecclesiastical warfare, and partially due to the influence of Norman England next-door, the leaders of the church on the island began a series of synods aimed at organizing the church on Continental lines.  This was more possible than had previously been the case since towns had grown up around the abbeys and other monastic institutions across the land. 

The Danish bishops in Dublin, Waterford, and Wexford were unaffected because they were under the Archbishop of Canterbury.

By the way, one of the peculiarities of the Irish church from a Continental point-of-view was that in their synods, abbots, bishops, monks, nuns, and laity all met as one, not in separate bodies as was the case on the Continent.

First Synod of Cashel, 1101 CE

In 1101, Murdach O’Brien, high king of Ireland and king of Munster, held the Synod of Fiadh-mic-Oenghusa (also known as the First Synod of Cashel).  It passed a number of decisions which are not recorded but are known to have been aimed at the reduction of the number of sees and the organization of regular territorial dioceses.  Its most significant act was High King Murdach granting the lands of Cashel to the Irish Church forever.

Synod of Rath Breasail, 1111 CE

In 1111, the Synod of Rath Breasail (also known as the Synod of Fiadh-mic-Oenghusa), likewise called by Murdach O’Brien, divided Ireland into two provinces, one headed by Armagh and the other by Cashel, each with twelve territorial dioceses.  In addition to the two primatial sees, five sees were allotted to Ulster, two sees to Meath, five sees to Connacht, five sees to Leinster, and five sees to Munster.  The synod also mandated that Irish monasteries adopt Continental rules and systems of governance, with many foundations folding.  Those remaining operational became Augustinian Canons and Canonesses Regular for the most part, while some adopted the Rule of St. Benedict.

Several tribal sees of lesser prestige found themselves ignored, such as those of the Luigne, the Ui Mhaille, the Delbhna Tir Da Locha, and the Partraige Carra, as well as the two important sees of Roscommon, in the lands of the Ui Briuin Ai (of which the Sil Murray had once been the chief sept) and of Annaghdown, in the lands of the Ui Briuin Seola (or Muintir Murchada).

Later in the year, the Synod of Usnagh, either agreed to at Rath Breasail or else held in protest against it, divided Meath between the bishops of Meath and of Clonmacnoise.

Synod of Kells, 1152 CE

Because of the tentative nature of the organization mandated by Rath Breasail, the Synod of Kells was held in 1152, this time under the presidency of a cardinal sent from Rome.  The current high king, Turlough O’Connor, also king of Connacht, supported the primacy of Armagh over all other sees in Ireland, which it won.  The three Danish sees were integrated with the Irish whole.

At Kells, the island was divided into four provinces: Ulster, Connacht, Leinster, and Munster, with the primatial sees at Armagh, Tuam, Dublin, and Cashel.  Among these four provinces were distributed thirty-six dioceses, including the four primatial sees.  Some sees recognized at Rath Breasail disappeared while others which had resisted dissolution made the list. 

One notable disappearance after Kells is that of Meath as both a see and a province, the latter in the political as well as ecclesiastical sense.  The four provinces established at Kells are the same as those of today. 

Another change by the Synod of Kells was that several smaller parishes in a vicinity were combined into one larger parish.  These new parishes are largely represented by the modern civil parishes, the boundaries of which, for the most part, have remained unchanged since that time.  The parish church became a rectory and its smaller, now dependent churches became vicarages, or in some cases curacies.

Second Synod of Cashel, 1172

Though the four new archbishops accepted palls from Rome at Kells, the church itself remained stubbornly independent and, to Continental eyes, disorganized.  Therefore, in 1155, Pope Adrian IV, an Englishman, issued a papal bull authorizing Henry II of England to invade Ireland and enforce conformity.  Henry showed no interest at the time. 

After Richard de Clare and his Cambro-Norman supporters invaded the island in 1169 to restore Diarmid MacMurrough to the throne of Leinster and set themselves up with wide territories there, however, Henry took note.  He responded with the infamous Anglo-Norman invasion of 1172, finally claiming the title “Lord of Ireland”. 

In line with the Papal Bull of 1155, one of his chief actions was to attempt to bring the Irish Church in line.  At the Synod of Cashel in 1172, attendees passed a number of regulations to bring Irish practice in line with that of the Church of England and subordinate the Church of Ireland to the former.

From this time, bishops superceded abbots, though the latter remained important, and holders of both offices were no longer hereditary within the derbhfine.  Though certain traditional clerical families always produced bishops and abbots, these were elected or appointed in the Continental manner.  The designation “coarb” now referred not to the abbot of the founding saint’s monastery but to the bishop of the diocese.

Reforms in Albainn

Since about 900, the realms of Fortrenn and Caledon united under one crown had been called by the single name of Alba.

In Albainn, where the same changes began under Malcolm III Canmore mac Duncan and his Saxon wife, St. Margaret of the Cerdicingas (the dynasty out of Wessex that formerly ruled England), the royal couple patronized Celtic eccelsiastical establishments as well as establishing ones more orthodox in Continental terms.

Their son, Alexander I mac Malcolm, established two new dioceses in Scotland that followed Continental lines.

The greatest reformer, however, was David I mac Malcolm, who began his church reforms before his accession as King of the Brets and Scots while just Prince of the Cumbrians by reestablishing the Diocese of Glasgow.  Besides sponsoring the establishment of numerous houses of Continental orders, David formed eight cathedrals out of chapters of Culdees, all of which became colleges of secular canons, except for that at St Andrews, which existed in rivalry with a priory of Augustinian Canons until 1297.

The Celtic Church of the Isles, Part 7: The Culdees

By the mid-8th century, concerns of the various ecclesiastical houses, especially the largest ones, became more temporal and less spiritual, as we have seen.  St. Brendan’s Abbey of Clonfert was a major player in those troubles, but it was on the outside of Iar Connacht.  Abbeys grew rich and abbots politically powerful. 

In some cases, abbots became more of a temporal nature, though when an abbey existed nearby the hereditary abbot still ruled the house, and even when not very few abbots and bishops of the Irish church could be called secular.

A similar trend took place in the Frankish Empire from the 8th thru the 11th centuries, though there the lay abbots as they were called were appointed rather than hereditary.  The big difference between the two is that lay abbots in France, still called Gaul for centuries, were actually laymen while those in the Isles were practicing clerics.

Royal abbots

The secularization of the offices of abbot and bishop took their most extreme form in the kingdom of Munster, which took on a uniquely Irish form of caesaropapism.  The kings at Cashel had declared they were going to make their realm the “most Christian” in Ireland, and put their actions where their mouths were.  Numerous kings of Munster were clerics, some even bishops and abbots.

As early as the 6th century, Fergus Scandal mac Crimthainn, king of Munster 575-582, was also abbot of Emly, the primal house in the kingdom.

Fedelmid mad Crimthann, king of Munster 820-847, was already a Culdee priest upon his accession and was later, within his reign, abbot of Clonfert and abbot of Terryglass.

His successor, Olchobar mac Cináeda, king of Munster 847-851, was also abbot of Emly.

Two kings later, Cenn Faelad gua Mugthigirn, king of Munster 859-872, was another royal abbot of Emly.  His son, Eoghan, though not king, served as abbot of Emly 887-890.

Cormac mac Cuileannain, king of Munster 902-908, was also bishop of Cashel.

In the eleventh century when the O’Briens were kings of all Munster, Muiredach mac Carthaig, king of the Eoganacht Chaisil 1052-1096, was also abbot of Emly.

Ecclesiastical warfare

Larger and more influential houses began to not only dominate but to take over smaller houses, houses belonging to less powerful “families”, and independent houses and churches.  The takeovers were not always voluntary or without bloodshed either.

Although the region experienced some of the type of consolidation that was almost predatory elsewhere in Ireland, in Iar Connacht it was largely voluntary.  Nearly all the churches of the Conmaicne Mara and their cousins the Conmaicne Cuile Tolad went willingly under the aegis of Fechin’s Abbey of Cong, for example.  There is also no evidence that the transfer of Annaghdown Abbey from the rule of Clonmacnoise to the rule of Clonfert, probably after the Ui Briuin Seola firmly secured its place in the region, found any more resistance than passive acquiescence.

Though often credited with much of the destruction that sent the Irish church into disarray, the Vikings were responsible for only a third of the attacks on the wealthy monasteries and churches of the early Viking Age in Ireland.  The great majority were carried out by the Irish themselves, sometimes against the institutions of rival tribal kingdoms in conjunction with local kings, but more often directly against rivals for ecclesiastical power.  For example, between the 8th and 12th centuries, the abbey of Clonmacnoise was attacked seven times by Vikings but twenty-seven times by other Irish.

The following are but a very few of the more notable conflicts among abbeys, church imitating state, sometimes with the state along for the fun.

The abbey of St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise attacked the abbey of St. Brendan of Birr in 760.

In 764, the same abbey attacked the abbey of St. Colmcille of Iona at Durrow. 

The abbey of St. Brendan of Clonfert attacked the abbey of St. Finbarr at Cork in 807, the same year the Vikings destroyed St. Patrick’s abbey at Roscam. 

The abbey of St. Brigit at Kildare raided the abbey of St. Maelruin at Tallaght in 824. 

On the heels of a Viking attack on the abbey of Clonmacnoise in 934, warriors from Munster plundered it again. 

The Conmaicne Mara attacked the Corco Mruad Arann in 1016 at Mainistir Chiarain on Inishmore Island.

In 1050, the abbey of Clonmacnoise was plundered three times within three months, all three times by Irishmen.

The Irish even worked with the Vikings.  In 951 and 953, warriors from Munster plundered the abbey of Clonmacnoise and brought Vikings with them to join in.

The attacks were not always limited to one major institution against another major institution; from the 8th century, bigger houses often assumed control of smaller local houses by force or threat of force.  These fratricidal conflicts apparently ceased around the end of the 9th century as there are no more notices of them in the annals after that time.

Among the worst offenders was the Culdee king of Munster, Fedelmid mad Crimthann, who not only seized the abbacy of Clonfert as well as the abbacy of Terryglass but also plundered the abbeys of Clonmacnoise, Kildare, Durrow, Fore, and Gallen.

Double-dipping

Another trend disturbing to many Irish that also began in the 8th century was the practice of prelates, generally abbots, double-dipping, accepting or assuming abbacies at other houses, sometimes a far distance away.  In the case of bishoprics, this was not usually a problem unless the see happened to be at a different one from the one at which the incumbent was abbot.

Sometimes the additional positions were acquired by martial conquest.  What happened most often in any was that the wealthiest or most influential house received the most of the abbots’ attention while the other house(s) were neglected, and their daughter churches along with it.  The following list of a few of the most prominent examples should illustrate the problem.

Do Dimmoc, abbot of Clonard 745-748, was also abbot of Kildare.

Gormgal mac Dindataig, abbot of Armagh 795-806, was also abbot of Clones.

As mentioned above, Fedelmid mad Crimthann was not only the Culdee king of Munster 820-847, but also abbot of Clonfert and abbot of Terryglass.

Suibne mac Forandain, abbot of Armagh 827-830, was also abbot of Devenish.

Eoghan Mainistrech, abbot of Clonard 830-834, was also abbot of Armagh.

Cellach mac Ailello, abbot of Kildare 852-865, was also abbot of Iona from 854.

Mael Brigte mac Tornain, abbot of Armagh 883-927, was also abbot of Iona from 891.

Mael Petair ua Cuain, abbot of Clonfert 888-895, was also abbot of Terryglass.

Colman mac Ailella, abbot of Clonard 921-926, was also abbot of Clonmacnoise.

Celechair mac Robartaig, abbot of Clonard 944-954, was also abbot of Clonmacnoise.

Dub da Leithe II mac Cellaig, abbot of Armagh 965-998, was also abbot of Iona from 989.  He was the first abbot from Clann Sinaig, which monopolized the abbacy of Armagh through 1139.

Marcan mac Cenneitig, brother of High King Brian Borumha and abbot of Emly 989-995, was also abbot of Inishcealtra, abbot of Killaloe, and abbot of Terryglass.

Flaithbertach mac Domnaill, abbot of Clonard 1011-1014, was also abbot of Clonmacnoise

Mael Muire ua h-Uchtain was abbot of Kells as well as abbot of Raphoe 1025-1040, but at least both houses were in the Columban family.

Coscrach mac Aingeda, abbot of Clonfert 1036-1040, was also abbot of Killaloe.

Murchad mac Flainn Ua Mael Sechlainn, abbot of Clonard 1055-176, was also abbot of Kells from 1057.

Tigernach ua Braein, abbot of Clonmacnoise 1079-1088, was also abbot of Roscommon.

Gilla Crist Ua hEchain, abbot of Clonard 1117-1136, was also abbot of Molville and/or Clooncraff.

Mael Morda Ua Clothna, abbot of Emly 1122-1164, was also abbot of Baltinglass.

The Culdees

Toward the end of the 8th century, as abbeys grew fat with wealth and often drunk with power, the Culdee (from Celi De, “servants of God”) reform movement began at Tallaght under St. Maelruain over what its adherents saw as the growing decadence and temporalization of the Church growing out of some of the trends just cited.

Despairing of the condition into which the Irish Church had fallen, a monk and student at St. Ruadhan’s monastery of Lothra in what is now the north of Co. Tipperary left it to find another way.  Seeking to launch a movement of reform and revival, Maelruain obtained from Cellach mac Dunchada, king of the Ui Dunlainge and of Leinster, a plot of land a few miles southwest of the later Dublin to create new kind of monk from his base at Tallaght.

The Culdees, from the Irish Celi De (‘servant of God’), adhered to more rigid discipline and a strict rule, and were especially devoted to caring for the poor and the sick, somewhat along the lines of canons regular.  Usually their chapters were attached to cathedrals or collegiate churches where they lived as anchorites, at least in the movement’s early years.  They dwelled in small individual beehive cells attached to the outside of the church walls.

Though linked by a common goal, each house was independent, unlike the other Irish monastic families.  Most chapters also had satellite churches or chapels which they served, as in the case of Tallaght, to which were attached the chapels of Killohan and St. Brigid.

By the mid-9th century, there were at least seventeen Culdee chapters in Ireland, at Armagh, Clondalkin, Clones, Clonfeacle, Clonmacnoise, Devenish, Derrynoose, Donaghmore (Co. Tyrone), Dysert, Magheracross, Monaincha, Mullaghbrack, Pubble, Scattery Island, Sligo, Tallaght, and Tassagh.

In Scotland, the movement hosted twenty-six Culdee chapters, including Aberlady, Abernethy, Brechin, Colonsay, Culross, Dornoch, Dunblane, Dunfermline, Dunkeld, Govan, Inchaffray, Inchcolm, Iona, Kilrymont (St. Andrews), Kilspindie, Kirkcaldy, Lismore, Lochleven (St. Serf’s Island), Mailros (Old Melrose), Monifieth, Monymusk, Muthill, Portmoak, Rosemarkie, Scone, and Tyningham.

Perhaps as a legacy of Northumbria’s pre-Whitby relationship with the Abbey of Iona and its Columban monks, the Cathedral of York had Culdee monks as its chapter until it was destroyed in the Harrowing of the North by William the Conqueror.  Displaced from the new cathedral, those Culdees joined the ones of St. Peter’s Hospital in the city, founded by King Aethelstan.  Renamed St. Leonard’s when the Culdees converted into Augustinian Canons Regular, the hospital eventually became the largest in England.  And according to some sources, the chapter of Beverley Minster as founded by King Aethelstan was also composed of Culdees until the Conquest. 

In Wales, the Culdees had houses on Snowdon Mountain and on Bardsey Island that lasted until the High Middle Ages.

In time, each of these houses (which were independent of each other) gained lay associates who abided by certain of the house’s rules in much the same way as the later tertiary orders on the Continent. 

By the beginning of the 12th century, many of the Culdee houses in Irleand had either become canons regular (and certainly did after the Anglo-Norman conquest) or else as secularized and corrupted as the earlier monastic establishments they sought to reform, with a few notable exceptions.

The mother house of the Culdee movement was one such house, but still found itself united to the Archdiocese of Dublin in 1179.

In Scotland, eight of the Culdees houses became cathedral chapters under the reforms of David I, later transitioning to become secular canons, except for St. Andrews.

The Culdees at Abernethy became canons regular in 1273.  The chapter at St. Andrews existed side-by-side with the cathedral priory of Augustinian canons regular  until 1297.  The Culdees at Dunkeld became secular canons in the time of Alexander I and existed alongside a priory of Augustinian Canons for two centuries until the latter merged with the Inchcolm Priory to create Inchcolm Abbey.  The chapter of Culdees at Brechin remained such until becoming secular canons in 1372.

The last surviving chapter of Culdees was at Armagh, where it became part of the cathedral chapter proper, a chapter within a chapter.  This group of Culdees lasted until 1541 when the cathedral chapter itself was dissolved, upon which the prior and brothers became the preceptor and vicars choral of the new college of secular canons.