Dublin and their bishop, Patrick, claimed for it
that title.[58] Now in all reason a metropolis should have a
metropolitan as its bishop; and no doubt the bishops of Dublin thought
themselves _de facto_, if not _de jure_, superior to the other bishops
of Ireland. In fact we find one of them playing the archbishop. We have
two interesting letters of Anselm, written apparently about 1100. One of
them is addressed to Malchus, bishop of Waterford, directing him to
rebuke Samuel O'Hanley, bishop of Dublin, for various irregularities, in
particular for having his cross carried before him like an archbishop;
the other is addressed to Samuel himself, and complains of the same
actions.[59] These proceedings are not likely to have been brought to an
end by Anselm's letters; and we may assume that they were continued as
long as Samuel held the see of Dublin. It was but natural that Cellach
should strongly resent them, for they were disrespectful both to himself
and to the archbishop of Cashel. We are not surprised, therefore, to
find that on the death of Samuel in 1121, eleven years after
Rathbreasail, Cellach tried to get possession of the Church of
Dublin,[60] most probably with the intention of bringing it under the
jurisdiction of the bishop of Glendalough. Nor are we surprised that the
men of Dublin at once replied by electing another bishop and bidding
Ralph of Canterbury to consecrate him if he desired to retain the
suffragan see which they had so long preserved for him.[61] We shall see
hereafter how the bishops of Dublin were at length induced to look with
favour on the Irish Church. Meanwhile we learn that they were not very
obedient suffragans of Canterbury; and we cease to wonder that they were
ignored in the Rathbreasail decrees.

Another feature of the canons of the Synod is worth noting. In several
instances the see of a diocese was not absolutely fixed. Two places were
named, and it was apparently left to the bishop of the future to select
that one of the two which he preferred to be his city. Thus we have a
diocese of Derry or Raphoe, a diocese of Connor or Down, another of
Wexford or Ferns, and so forth. The meaning of this is best seen by
taking a single example. To one of the dioceses of Munster was assigned
the area now occupied by the two dioceses of Waterford and Lismore. It
consisted of the original Danish diocese of Waterford, together with a
much more extensive non-Danish area. Alternative sees were named;