had had time to recover,
the Norman conquest began: a thing that went on for centuries,
and never really finished; and that was much more ruinous even
than the invasions of the Norsemen. As to the Celtic Church,
which had fostered all that brilliance, its story is soon told.
In Wales, the Norman and Plantagenet kings of England were at
pains to bring the see of St. Davids under the sway of Canterbury
and into close communion with Rome: they and the Roman Church
fought hand in hand to destroy Celtic liberties. The Church of
the Circled Cross had never been an independent organization in
the sense that the Greek Church was: it had never had its own
Patriarchs or Popes; it was always in theory under Rome. But
secular events had kept the two apart; and while they did so,
the Celtic Church was virtually independent. In the eleventh and
twelfth Centuries the Welsh Church fought hard for its existence;
but Norman arms backed by Papal sanction proved too strong for
it; and despite the valor of the princes, and especially of that
gallant bishop-historian Gerald the Welshman, it succumbed.
As to Ireland: an English Pope, Adrian IV, born Nicholas
Brakespeare, presented the island to King Henry II; and King
Henry II with true courtesy returned the compliment by presenting
it to the Pope. The Synod of Cashel, called by Henry in 1172,
put Ireland under Rome; and the Church of the Circled Cross
ceased to be. There, in short and simple terms, you have the
history of it.

And therein, too, as I guess, you may see all sorts of interesting
phases of karmic working. For the Church of the Circled Cross,
that had done so well by Ireland in some things, had done
marvelously badly in others. There was a relic of political
stability in ancient Ireland,--in the office of the High-kings
of Tara. It is supposed now that it had grown up, you may
say out of nothing: had been established by some strong
warrior, to maintain itself as it might under such of his
successors as might be strong too. I have no doubt, on the other
hand, that it was really an ancient institution, once firmly
grounded, that had weakened since the general decay of the Celtic
Power. The Gods in their day had had their capital at Tara; and
until the middle of the fifth century A.D. Tara stood there as
the symbol of national unity. When Patrick came the position was
this: all Ireland was divided into innumerable small kingdoms
with their kinglets, with the A