CHAPTER II

THE ALLEGED PAPAL BULL TO HENRY II.

AT the beginning of an investigation relating to England's first connection with Ireland, we are confronted with the evidence that her claim of sovereignty and right to associate herself in any manner with the affairs of the Irish people was based upon falsehood and probable forgery.

England's only title to Irish territory rests upon a grant claimed to have been given to Henry II. by Pope Adrian IV., under pretext of improving the religious status in the latter country.

The literature on this subject is voluminous and cannot be condensed into reasonable limits, if an attempt be made to show that this claimed Papal Bull was a forgery.

The Abbé MacGeoghegan, driven out of Ireland as a youth, became a prominent ecclesiastic in Paris where, among other duties, he served as chaplain to the famous Irish brigade in the service of the French Government.

Early in the eighteenth century this clergyman wrote a history of Ireland, which was based upon an intimate knowledge of the subject. And to fit him the better for the work he evidently made extensive research to elucidate many obscure points to which sufficient attention by others had not been previously given. The Abbé seems to have realized that England's title should be established beyond question, since the right to hold is necessary to justify possession. The writer has found no other author who investigated this subject to the same extent nor any one else

who has given his views in a more condensed form.

Until the comparatively recent publication of the translation of this work from the French, it was little known as an authority to the English reader.

He writes':

"It is said that in this reign, in the year 1155, Pope Adrian IV. issued the celebrated bull, by which this pontiff transferred the sovereignty of Ireland to Henry the Second, King of England. The tenor of it is here given, in order that an opinion may be formed of it.

"Adrian, bishop and servant of the servants of God, to his most dear son in Christ, the illustrious King of England, greeting health and apostolical benediction.

666

"Thy greatness, as is becoming a Catholic prince, is laudable and successfully employed in thought and intention, to propagate a glorious name upon earth, and lay by in heaven the rewards of a happy eternity, by extending the boundaries of the church, and making known to nations which are uninstructed, and still ignorant of the Christian faith, its truth and doctrine, by rooting up the seeds of vice from the land of the Lord; and to perform this more efficaciously, thou seekest the counsel and protection of the apostolical see, in which undertaking, the more exalted thy designs will be, united with prudence, the more propitious, we trust, will be thy progress under a benign Providence, since a happy issue and end are always the result of what has been undertaken from an ardor of faith, and love of religion.

"It is not, indeed, to be doubted, that the Kingdom of Ireland, and every island upon which Christ the Sun of Justice hath shone, and which has received the principles of the Christian faith, belong of right to St. Peter, and to the holy Roman Church, (which thy majesty likewise admits,) from whence we the more fully implant in them the seed of faith, that seed which is acceptable to God, and to which we, after a minute investigation, consider that a conformity should be required by us the more rigidly. Thou, dearest son in Christ, hast likewise signified to us, that for the purpose of subjecting the people of Ireland to laws, and eradicating vice from among them, thou art desirous of entering 1 MacGeoghegan, etc., p. 246.

Was the Bull of Pope Adrian Genuine 47

that island; and also of paying for each house an annual tribute of one penny to St. Peter; and of preserving the privileges of its churches pure and undefiled. We, therefore, with approving and favorable views commend thy pious and laudable desire, and to aid thy undertaking, we give to thy petition our grateful and willing consent, that for the extending the boundaries of the church, the restraining the prevalence of vice, the improvement of morals, the implanting of virtue, and propagation of the Christian religion, thou enter that island, and pursue those things which shall tend to the honor of God, and salvation of His people, and that they may receive thee with honor, and revere thee as their lord; the privilege of their churches continuing pure and unrestrained, and the annual tribute of one penny from each house remaining secure to St. Peter, and the Holy Roman Church. If thou therefore deem what thou hast projected in mind, possible to be completed, study to instill good morals into that people, and act so that thou thyself, and such persons as thou judge competent from their faith, words and actions to be instrumental in advancing the honor of the Irish Church, propagate and promote religion and the faith of Christ, to advance thereby the honor of God, and salvation of souls, that thou mayest merit an everlasting reward of happiness hereafter, and establish on earth a name of glory, which shall last for ages to come. Given at Rome, &c. &c. &c.'

"The above was an edict pronounced against Ireland, by which the rights of men and the most sacred laws are violated, under the specious pretext of religion and the reformation of morals. The Irish were no longer to possess a country. That people, who had never bent under a foreign yoke, nunquam externæ subjacuit ditioni,' were condemned to lose their liberty, without even being heard. But can the Vicar of Jesus Christ be accused of so glaring an act of injustice? Can he be thought capable of having dictated a bull which overthrew an entire nation, which dispossessed so many ancient proprietors of their patrimonies, caused so much blood to be shed, and at length tended to the destruction of religion in the island? It is a thing not to be conceived.

1 Cambrens. Evers., cap. 22.

Nubrigius, De Rebus Anglic., lib. ii., cap. 16.

"In truth, were we to consider the circumstances and motives of the bull, it has all the appearance of a fictitious one, under the borrowed name of Adrian IV.' Baronius quotes it, without giving any date of year or day, which would make it appear suspicious; it remained unpublished for seventeen years; it is said that it was fabricated in 1155, and not made public till 1172, which Nicholas Trivet ascribes to the opposition it met with from Henry's mother. He adds, that the King having assembled his parliament at Winton, about the festival of St. Michael, proposed the conquest of Ireland to his lords; but that as it was displeasing to the Empress his mother, he deferred the execution of it to another period.'

"The bull gains but little authentication from the authority of John of Salisbury, afterwards bishop of Chartres, in his treatise 'de nugis curialibus.' This writer is made to say, at the end of the last chapter of his fourth book, that: Pope Adrian had granted Ireland to King Henry, at his request, it being the patrimony of his holiness by hereditary right, inasmuch as all the islands belong to the Roman Church by the concession of the Emperor Constantine the Great.' But this nonsense is considered by the learned as having been added to the chapter by a strange hand; since the author in speaking particularly in the sixth and eighth books, of his visit to the holy father at Benevento, where he remained with him for three months, states most minutely the various conversations which he had with his holiness, without making any mention of the bull in question, though it was a matter of particular importance; and that was naturally the fit time. to have mentioned it. Pierre de Blois, a zealous panegyrist of this prelate, who published his praises in various epistles makes no mention of it either.

"It is well known that King Henry, who found creatures sufficiently devoted to him to revenge his quarrel with the holy prelate of Canterbury, did not want for venal writers to add to and retrench from, the writings of the times, in order to give an appearance of authenticity to a document so necessary for the justification of his conduct. Besides, it appears that Salisbury had gone to Italy of his own accord, and through curiosity, to visit 1 Propug. Cathol. Verit., lib. v., cap. 17. 2 Usser, Epist. Hib. Syllog., Epist. 46.

Why Adrian Could not Bestow Ireland 49

his countryman Adrian and not with any commission from the King of England; while the bull, according to Mathew of Westminster, was obtained by a solemn embassy, which Henry had sent to the Pope. In my opinion, however, this circumstance appears to be another fable added to the former; as he is the first who mentions this embassy, and that two centuries afterwards. The silence, too, of Nubrigensis, an English cotemporary author, respecting this embassy and the bull which it is affirmed was granted, is an argument which though negative, deserves some attention. This author, who was so zealous for the glory of Henry the Second, and his nation, commences his narrative by saying that the English had entered Ireland in a warlike manner, and that, their forces increasing every day, they subjugated a considerable part of it.' He makes no mention of a bull granted by any Pope; and I consider it highly improbable that he would have forgotten to speak of a circumstance so necessary to give an appearance of justice to the unprecedented conduct of his nation. However this be, it may be affirmed that no Pope, either before or after Adrian IV., ever punished a nation so severely without cause. We have seen instances of Popes making use of their spiritual authority in opposition to crowned heads; we have known them to excommunicate emperors and kings, and place their states under an interdict, for crimes of heresy, or other causes; but we here behold innocent Ireland given up to tyrants, without having been summoned before any tribunal, or convicted of any crime.

If we consider the bull as the work of Adrian IV., it opens to our consideration two very important matters. The first is the real or supposed right of the popes to dispose of crowns and kingdoms; the second regards the reason why the bull was granted, that is, the true or false statement which Henry had made to the pope, of the real state of religion in Ireland, on which the concession of the bull is founded. In the former we do not call in question the spiritual power of St. Peter's successor; he is acknowledged by every Catholic Christian as the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, and the visible head of His

"At that time the English made a descent upon Ireland in a warlike manner, and their numbers having increased, they became masters of no inconsiderable portion of it by force of arms."-Nubrigius, De Rebus Anglic., b. iii., c. 26.

VOL. I.-4.