Columba. Quotations
cannot be given here. But the reader will probably find in the Life
printed below, and the authorities referred to in the notes, sufficient
proof that the constitution of the Irish Church in 1100 was in the main
a following, though perhaps a corrupt following, of that of the sixth
century.[3]

There was indeed one abuse in the Irish Church of the tenth and eleventh
centuries of which few traces are found before the Danish invasion. We
learn from St. Bernard that the abbots of Armagh were the
representatives of a single family, and held office, as of right, by
hereditary succession.[4] There is reason to believe that this evil
custom was not peculiar to Armagh.[5] According to St. Bernard, it was
the gravest departure from Catholic tradition of which the Irish Church
was guilty, and the parent of many evils. We shall hear more of it in
the sequel. For the moment it is sufficient to note that it existed.

I.--The Beginnings of the Movement

But before the eleventh century ended forces were at work in Ireland
which prepared the way for the introduction of a new order. They were
set free by the conversion of the Norsemen to Christianity, and by their
final defeat at the battle of Clontarf. The date of the conversion
cannot be fixed: it was probably a gradual process. And we do not know
from what source the Danes derived their Christianity. The victory of
Clontarf was won on Good Friday, 1014.

Now a study of the Annals reveals the fact that in the seventh and
eighth centuries there was a goodly, and on the whole an increasing,
body of scholars in Ireland. Under the Norse domination, as we might
expect, the number was greatly diminished. But already in the tenth
century there was a notable increase: in the eleventh century the number
was doubled. In the tenth century, moreover, and still more in the
eleventh, scholars began to congregate at special centres, which became
permanent homes of learning, the most prominent of these schools being
at Armagh and Clonmacnoise. And during the same period we find frequent
mention of an official, unknown before the arrival of the Norsemen, who
is styled _fer legind_ or professor. Between 925 and 1000 the obits of
twenty-three professors are recorded; in the eleventh century of more
than fifty. In the greater number of cases the _fer legind_ is
associated with one of those seats of learning which is known to have
been most prolific of scholars.

Thus it appear