We see the genius of the Norsemen suffering a like eclipse the year before:  “1029:  Olaf son of Sitric, lord of the Foreigners, was taken prisoner by Matgamain Ua Riagain lord of Breag, who exacted twelve hundred cows as his ransom, together with seven score British horses, three score ounces of gold, the sword of Carlus, the Irish hostages, sixty ounces of white silver as the ransom of his fetters, eighty cows for word and supplication, and four hostages to Ua Riagain as a security of peace.”

Two generations later we read:  “1088:  Tigearnac Ua Briain, chief successor of Ciaran and Coman, died.  He was a paragon of learning and history.”  The work of the paragon Tigearnac, a history of Ireland, is extant and writ in choice Latin, a monument at once of the classical learning of our schools and of the historical spirit carried down from the days of the pagan heralds and bards.  Tigearnac quotes abundantly from Greek and Latin authors, fortifying his conclusions with passages from Eusebius, Orosius, Julius Africanus, Josephus, Jerome and Bede.

A half-century later we get a quaint and vivid glimpse into the religious life of the time:  “1145:  A lime-kiln which was sixty feet every way was erected opposite Emain Maca by Gilla Mac Liag, the successor of Patrick, and Patrick’s clergy in general.”  Here is the glow of that devotion through work which gave us the great mediaeval cathedrals, the fervor and artistic power, which in former times adorned the Gospels of the Book of Kells, now working out its way in lasting stone.  The date of this lime-kiln lies indeed just half-way between the consecration of Cormac’s Chapel at Cashel in 1134 and the foundation of the beautiful cathedral beside it by the lord of Tuaid-Muma or Thomond in 1152.  Cormac’s Chapel is a very pure example of native style, untouched by foreign or continental influence.

[Illustration:  Rock of Cashel, Ruins of Old Cathedral, King Cormac’s Chapel and Round Tower,]

We can divine the figure of one of the great men of the religious world in the records for the year 1148:  “A synod was convened at Saint Patrick’s Isle by Maelmaedog, called also Malachias, successor of Patrick, at which were present fifteen bishops and two hundred priests, to establish rules and morals for all.  Maelmaedog by the advice of the synod went a second time to Rome, to confer with the successor of Peter.”  A few months later we read this record of his death:  “Malachias, that is, Maelmaedog Ua Morgair, Archbishop of the chair of Patrick, chief head of the piety of the West of Europe, legate of the successor of Peter, the only head whom the Irish and the Foreigners obeyed, chief paragon of wisdom and piety, a brilliant lamp which illumined territories and churches by preaching and good works, faithful shepherd of the church in general,—­after having ordained bishops and priests and persons of every degree; after having consecrated many churches and cemeteries; after having performed every ecclesiastical