Synod of Cashel

The Synod of Cashel of

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Privilege of Pope Alexander III to Henry II

Upon his arrival in Ireland, Henry went to

Giraldus lists seven acts or "constitutions" of the synod, here given in the translation of William Gouan Todd:[note 3]^[6]

1. That the faithful throughout Ireland do contract and observe lawful marriages rejecting those with their relations either by consanguinity or affinity.
2. That infants be catechised before the door of the church and baptised in the holy font in the baptismal churches.
3. That all the faithful do pay the tithe of animals corn and other produce to the church of which they are parishioners.
4. That all ecclesiastical lands and property connected with them be quite exempt from the exactions of all laymen. And especially that neither the petty kings nor counts nor any powerful men in Ireland nor their sons with their families do exact, as was usual, victuals and hospitality or entertainments in the ecclesiastical districts or presume to extort them by force and that the detestable food or contributions, which used to be required four times in the year from the farms belonging to churches by the neighbouring counts, shall not be claimed any more.
5. That in case of a murder committed by laymen and of their compounding for it with their enemies clergymen their relatives are not to pay part of the fine (or erick) but that as they were not concerned in the perpetration of the murder so they are to be exempted from the payment of money.
6. That all the faithful lying in sickness do in the presence of their confessor and neighbours make their will with due solemnity dividing in case they have wives and children excepting their debts and servants wages their moveable goods into three parts and bequeathing one for the children and another for the lawful wife and the third for the funeral obsequies. And if haply they have no lawful progeny, let the goods be divided into two parts between himself and his wife. And if his lawful wife be dead, let them be divided between himself and his children.
7. That to those who die with a good confession due respect be paid by means of masses and wakes and a decent burial. Likewise that all divine matters be henceforth conducted agreeably to the practices of the holy Church according as observed by the English Church.

The seventh act

Giraldus lists these seven acts numbered as primo, secundus, etc. until septimus, as related in Todd's translation above. The last part of the seventh act concerns the relationship between the English and Irish Church. According to Marie Therese Flanagan,^[7]

some historians have interpreted this as an actual decree of the synod, and have seen in it the origins of a policy of anglicisation of the Irish church pursued by the Angevin kings in Ireland. Thus, the synod of Cashel is often the starting point of any account of episcopal appointments in Ireland after the coming of the Normans and the extension of the electoral procedure of the English church to the Irish church is presumed to derive in principle from this decree.

Flanagan, however, points out that, as it stands in Giraldus' account, this sentence refers only to the liturgical practices of the English church. She also questions whether this part is a part of the decrees of the synod, stating that "it appears to be rather Gerald's own comment on what would be attempted by Irish churchmen.^[7] Martin Holland does not include this part in his overview of the enacted decrees, but adds:^[2]

It was also decided that in Ireland, all matters relating to religion were to follow the observances of the English church. Some have interpreted this as referring to liturgical practices only; others see it as encompassing more, and therefore being much more fundamental, especially since it is claimed that the Irish bishops swore fealty to Henry at around this time.

See also

• Synod of Rathbreasail
  (1111)
• Synod of Kells (1152)
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly

References and notes

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Flanagan, Marie Therese (1996). "Henry II, the council of Cashel and the Irish bishops". Peritia. 10. Brepols Publishers: 184–211.
  ISSN 0332-1592. Archived from the original
  on 28 January 2013.
• Flanagan, Marie Therese (1977). "Hiberno-Papal relations in the late twelfth century". Archivium Hibernicum. 34: 55–70.
  JSTOR 25487421
  .
• Giraldus Cambrensis (1867). James Francis Dimock (ed.). Topographia hibernica, et Expugnatio hibernica. Vol. V. London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
• Giraldus Cambrensis (2001). Thomas Forester and Thomas Wright (ed.). The Conquest of Ireland (PDF). Cambridge, Ontario: In parentheses Publications. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
• Holland, Martin (2005). "Cashel, synod of II (1172)". In Seán Duffy (ed.). Medieval Ireland. An Encyclopedia. Abingdon and New York. pp. 66–67.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• McCormick, Stephen J. (1889). The Pope and Ireland. San Francisco: A. Waldteufel.
• Todd, William Gouan. A History of the ancient church in Ireland. p. Chapter XII.
• Warren, W. L. (1997). "Church and state in Angevin Ireland". Chronicon. 1 (6): 1–17.
  ISSN 1393-5259
  . Retrieved 1 May 2010.

• English translation of Expugnatio Hibernica, recording the canons of Cashel II (p. 36-37)