1155 CE - Adrian's Donation, the Bull Laudabiliter

by Larry Chamberlin

Henry II ascended to the throne of Normandy and Britain in 1154. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Theobold, immediately encouraged him to invade Ireland in order to bring a semblance of order to the Church there. (In 601 CE, the Pope had granted the Archbishop of Canterbury - St. Augustine - authority of all Celtic Churches). The Canterbury hierarchy were likely reacting against the loss of Dublin, in 1152, from its control (and Dublin's fair receipts from its tithing basket). Henry, though, was attempting to restore order to his own holdings in Normandy and Britain and hardly had the resources to take on such an expedition. He had his mother, the empress Matilda, oppose the suggestion and gracefully "accepted" her advice.

However, Theobold's secretary, John of Salisbury , spent some part of the next year with Adrian IV [nee: Nicholas Brakespeare], who had recently been elected Pope - the only English Pope. Together, they came up with a plan to tilt Henry's inclination toward action. The Pope granted Ireland to Henry as a hereditary holding through Adrian's Donation, or the Bull Laudabiliter. The actual existence of this grant is evidenced only by a transcription of it by Giraldus Cambrensis [Gerald de Barry, also, Gerald of Wales] in his book, Expugnatio Hibernica, completed in 1189, and by an emerald and gold ring sent by Adrian and accepted by Henry, as token of the contract.

The Pope assumed the right to make such a remarkable gift as the result of a predecessor transfer which was itself a fiction of the Western Church - the Donation of Constantine - fabricated by a Vatican friar sometime in the eighth century. This later donation, of Rome, and all Western islands, was purported to have been made by the Emperor Constantine during the process of his relocation of his empire [later known as the 'Holy Roman Empire'] to Constantinople [Byzantium], in the fourth century. Even though most churchmen did not believe in its existence, the Donation of Constantine was used by various popes to legitimize their authority, and was referred to in Adrian's Donation to Henry. Nonetheless, Henry chose to leave well enough alone for nearly twenty years.

Sources:

Oxford History of Ireland, ed. R. F. Foster, Oxford University Press, (c)1989, ISBN 0-19-285271-X

A History of Ireland, Peter & Fiona Somerset Fry, Rutledge, (c)1988 & Barnes & Noble [reprint] 1993, ISBN: 1-56619-215-3

Chronicles of the Celts, Iain Zaczek, Collins & Brown, London, (c)1996, ISBN: 1-85585-407-4

The Geraldines, an Experiment in Irish Government, 1169 - 1601, Brian Fitzgerald, The Devin-Adair Company, New York, 1952; Staples Printers Ltd., Rochester, Kent, (c)1951

The World of the Celts, Simon James, Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1993, ISBN 0-500-0567-8

The People of Ireland, ed. Patrick Loughery, New Amsterdam Books, N.Y., (c)1989, ISBN: 0-941533-55-7

***The Celts, Jean Markale (orig. publ. as "Les Celts et la Civilsation Celtique" by Payot, Paris, 1976; U.S. ed. publ. by Inner Traditions, Rochester, Vermont, 1993, ISBN: 0-89281-413-6)

AUTHOR'S NOTE: *** = These tracts deal with mythical legends and historical events, without clearly distinguishing between the two. Markale, while presenting the historical texts of the contemporary writers in great detail and with a fine critical analysis, nonetheless includes events from Irish legend without properly disclaiming their authenticity. Despite this shortcoming, if one is cautious enough to note the sources, the books is excellent.

prepared by Larry Chamberlin

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