ve; rather larger than the present diocese of the same name.
But whether large or small each of these dioceses presented to the eyes
of the Irish a model of Church government similar to that in vogue on
the Continent, and utterly different from that to which they were
accustomed.

This might prove a potent factor in the Reformation, once a tendency
developed among the Irish to bring their ecclesiastical machinery into
conformity with that of the rest of the world. But it is manifest that
by itself it would not induce them to re-model their hierarchy. It was
not to be expected that they would cast aside the tradition of
centuries, moved merely by a desire to imitate their late enemies. If,
as is commonly held, the Danish dioceses, without exception, held
themselves aloof from, or were hostile to, Irish Christianity, such a
result could hardly have been attained, at any rate until the coming of
the Anglo-Normans. These later invaders would doubtless have forced
diocesan episcopacy on the Irish Church. But that it was established in
Ireland before the country came, even in part, under English rule, is
certain. So we must ask the question: What was the connecting link which
bound the Church of the Danish colonists to that of Celtic Ireland? By
way of answer I point to the remarkable fact, often overlooked, that all
the earliest bishops of the Danish dioceses were of Irish birth. Why
Danish Christians should have elected Irishmen as their bishops I do not
attempt to explain. But the evidence for the fact is clear.

The first two bishops of Dublin, Dunan and Patrick (Gilla Patraic), had
unmistakably Irish names. So too had their immediate successors Donough
O'Hanley and his nephew Samuel O'Hanley; and of these two the latter is
stated by the English chronicler Eadmer[14] to have been "natione
Hibernensis." The next bishop, Gregory--the first archbishop of
Dublin--was likewise "natione Hibernensis" according to the continuator
of Florence of Worcester.[15] He was followed by St. Laurence O'Toole,
of whose nationality it is unnecessary to give proof.

Malchus, the earliest bishop of Waterford, was an Irishman;[16] so also
was Gilbert, the first bishop of Limerick. And when Gilbert resigned his
see, after an episcopate of thirty-five years, he was succeeded by
Patrick, whose name tells its own tale.[17]

Most of the Irish rulers of Danish dioceses whom I have mentioned were
men of travel. Patrick of Dublin, to whose learning