riendly. And the archbishop fully exploited his
opportunity. Again and again he reminded the king of his duty to repress
abuses, the most important of which in his eyes were lax sexual
morality, and the consecration of bishops by single bishops, without
fixed sees or defined dioceses.

So Lanfranc and Anselm schooled the O'Briens in the principles of Rome.
And from one point of view their efforts were completely successful. The
O'Briens became staunch friends of the Reform movement in Ireland. But
from another point of view they failed. We must remember that their aim
was not only to purify the Irish Church, but to bring it into subjection
to Canterbury. That they did not succeed in doing. The Reformation,
which they taught the O'Briens to support, meant, in the end, a
repudiation of the pretensions of the English primates.

I have mentioned among those who were concerned in the election of
Malchus of Waterford, O'Dunan, bishop of Meath. He is unquestionably
Mael Muire Ua Dunain, whom the annalists describe as "learned bishop of
the Goidhil, and head of the clergy of Ireland, and steward of the
almsdeeds of the world," and who died on Christmas Eve, 1117, at the age
of seventy-six. He is mentioned in a charter in the Book of Kells, the
date of which is apparently about 1100, as Senior of Leath Chuinn
(_i.e._ the north of Ireland).[29] He was fifty-five when Malchus was
elected, and had probably already attained the eminence throughout
Ireland which is attested by the high-flown phrases of the Annals. That
he was then bishop of Meath in the modern sense is impossible; the title
at that period would mean no more than that he was a bishop who lived
within the borders of the Kingdom of Meath. But the _Annals of
Tigernach_ tell us that he died at Clonard, from which it may perhaps be
inferred that his see was at that place. His importance for us just now
is that he is the only adherent of the Reform movement whom we have yet
discovered in the north of Ireland.

II.--The First Stage

Before proceeding further in our investigation of the origin and course
of the Reformation, it may be well to recall how far we have already
advanced. We started from the fact that a Reformation of the Irish
Church was actually accomplished in the twelfth century, and we
proceeded to look for the causes which may have brought it about. We
have found that the first of these was the revival of learning
consequent on the cessation of the ravag