1.
Church of Ireland
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The Church of Ireland is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on a basis and is the second-largest Christian church on the island after the Catholic Church in Ireland. Like other Anglican churches, it has retained elements of pre-Reformation practice, notably its episcopal polity, nevertheless, in theological and liturgical matters, it incorporates many principles of the Reformation, particularly those espoused during the English Reformation. The church self identifies as being both Catholic and Reformed, within the church, differences exist between those members who are more Catholic-leaning and those who are more Protestant-leaning. For historical and cultural reasons, the Church of Ireland is generally identified as a Protestant church, the Church of Ireland is the second-largest in the Republic of Ireland, with around 130,000 members, and the third-largest in Northern Ireland, with around 260,000 members. The Church of Ireland describes itself as part of the Irish Church which was influenced by the Reformation. However, the Church of Ireland is also Protestant, or Reformed, since it opposes doctrines and ways of worshiping that it considers contrary to scripture and which led to the Reformation. When the Church of England broke communion with the Holy See, all, the church then became the established church of Ireland, assuming possession of most church property. This church-state link was vigorously applied when the Normans came to Ireland in the 12th century, Bishops were required to do homage to the king for their lands, just like earls and barons, who were vassals of the crown. It was therefore accepted, both during and after the Reformation, that the crown should continue to exercise authority over the church. In this way, church property that existed at the time of the Reformation, in Ireland, the substantial majority of the population continued to adhere to Roman Catholicism, despite the political and economic advantages of membership in the state church. Legitimacy for the Norman invasion of Ireland was derived from a Papal Bull of 1155 – Laudabiliter, the bull gave King Henry II of England authority to invade Ireland ostensibly as a means of reforming the church in Ireland more directly under the control of the Holy See. The authorisation from the Holy See was based upon the Donation of Constantine which made every Christian island in the western Roman Empire the property of the Papacy. The Church of Ireland is the second largest church in Ireland, the Church of Ireland began as a reformed church independent of the Catholic Church in 1536 when the Irish Parliament declared King Henry VIII to be the Supreme Head of the Church on earth. He would not legally become king of Ireland until 1541, adrian granted Henry II the Lordship of Ireland, thus, Henrys assumption of the title of King had less to do with dispossessing the native Irish kings than with confronting the Pope. The reformation commenced mainly in Dublin under the auspices of George Browne during Henrys reign, when the Church of England was reformed under King Edward VI of England, so too was the Church of Ireland. All but two of the Irish bishops appointed by Queen Mary accepted the Elizabethan Settlement, although the vast majority of priests, the Church of Ireland claims Apostolic succession because of the unbroken continuity of the episcopal hierarchy, however, this is disputed by the Roman Catholic Church. In this way, they were able to conform to the established church whilst at the same time continuing to worship. in the traditional
2.
Downpatrick
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Downpatrick is a medium-sized town about 33 km south of Belfast in County Down, Northern Ireland. It has been an important site since ancient times and its cathedral is said to be the burial place of Saint Patrick. Today it is the county town of Down and the joint headquarters of Newry, Mourne and it had a population of 10,822 at the 2011 Census. As the largest town in the Lecale area, Downpatrick is a commercial, recreational and administrative centre for the locality and serves as a hub for the nearby towns and villages. Within a 30 minutes drive from Belfast, the location serves as a town for a large number of people. The town has a number of primary and post-primary schools educating students from all over the east Down area, unfortunately is very behind area not so much shopping there and very bad transportation and weak services as well in this area. Its lowest point lies within the surrounding the north east of the town. Downpatrick is approximately 22 miles from Belfast and has a bus service to the city. An early Bronze Age site was excavated in Downpatrick on the Meadowlands housing estate, one measured over 4 metres in diameter and contained a hearth in the centre, while the other round house was over seven metres across. Some archaeological evidence indicates a Neolithic settlement at the Cathedral Hill site and it then had an undefended settlement at least on the south west of the hill top. Downpatrick or Duno is one of Irelands most ancient and historic towns and it takes its name from a dún, which once stood on the hill that dominates the town and on which Down Cathedral was later built. Ptolemy, about the year AD130, includes it as Dunum in his list of towns of Ireland. The Gaelic name of the town was Rath Celtair, named after the warrior of Ulster called Celtchar, who resided there. He is mentioned in the Ulster Cycle and, in particular, Saint Patrick was reputedly buried here in 461 on Cathedral Hill, together with Saint Brigit and Saint Columba. Down Cathedral was later constructed on this spot and his grave is still a place of pilgrimage on St Patricks Day. The Saint Patrick Visitor Centre in Downpatrick is purpose-built to tell the story of St Patrick, from the seventh century the dominant power in Ulster were the Dál Fiatach so much so that the title Rí Uladh could simultaneously mean King of Ulster and King of the Dál Fiatach. County Down was the ancient centre of the Dál Fiatach lands, in 1137, St. Malachy after resigning as Archbishop of Armagh, separating the two dioceses and appointing another as Bishop of Connor, became the Bishop of Down. He administered the diocese of Dún dá leth glas from Bangor and he repaired and enlarged Down Cathedral
3.
Northern Ireland
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Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule
4.
Diocese of Down and Dromore
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The Diocese of Down and Dromore is a diocese of the Church of Ireland in the south east of Northern Ireland. It is in the province of Armagh. The geographical remit of the diocese covers half of the City of Belfast to the east of the River Lagan, when the Church in England broke communion with the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England was established by the state as the established church. Later, by decree of the Irish Parliament, a new body became the State Church in the Kingdom of Ireland. It assumed possession of most Church property, the substantial majority of the population remained faithful to the Roman Catholicism, despite the political and economic advantages of membership in the state church. They were obliged to find alternative premises and to conduct their services in secret, the English-speaking minority mostly adhered to the Church of Ireland or to Presbyterianism. On the death of Archbishop Trench of Tuam in 1839, the Province of Tuam was united to the Armagh, over the centuries, numerous dioceses were merged, in view of declining membership. Until 1944, the dioceses of Down and Dromore were part of the United Dioceses of Down, Connor, in 1944, the Diocese of Connor gained a separate existence under its own bishop. It is for this reason that the diocese has three cathedrals. Holy Trinity Cathedral, Downpatrick Cathedral of Christ the Redeemer, Dromore, st Annes Cathedral, Belfast The Diocese is the second largest of the Church of Ireland in terms of church population, with around 91,000 people and more than one hundred serving ordained Clergy. It is divided up into 79 parishes, with a total of 115 churches, although the United Diocese works under a single Bishop, currently the Rt Revd Harold Miller, each of the two dioceses within it has its own set of officers
5.
Dromore Cathedral
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Dromore Cathedral, formally The Cathedral Church of Christ the Redeemer, Dromore, is one of two cathedral churches in the Diocese of Down and Dromore of the Church of Ireland. It is situated in the town of Dromore, County Down. The present building was constructed in 1661 by Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of Down. The organ was installed by Conacher of Huddersfield in 1871, the first church on the site was a wattle and daub building constructed by St Colman circa 510. This was replaced by a church which was destroyed in the late 16th century. The church was rebuilt and in 1609 elevated to the Cathedral Church of Christ the Redeemer by Letters Patent of James I. In 1641 this building, too, was destroyed, the present building was first constructed under Bishop Jeremy Taylor in 1661 as a narrow church 100 feet long. In 1811 Thomas Percy added a short aisle at right angles to the nave to form an L-shaped floor plan, in 1870 a semicircular sanctuary and organ aisle were added. Finally in 1899 an additional aisle parallel to the nave aisle was added to achieve a conventional rectangular floor plan. Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of Down and Connor Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore and ballad poet
6.
Saint Malachy
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Saint Malachy was an Irish saint and Archbishop of Armagh, to whom were attributed several miracles and an alleged vision of 112 Popes later attributed to the apocryphal Prophecy of the Popes. It is now believed by scholars that this document was a created by Cardinal Girolamo Simoncelli. Saint Malachy was the first native born Irish saint to be canonised, Malachy, whose family name was Ua Morgair, was born in Armagh in 1095. St. Bernard describes him as having noble birth and he was baptised Máel Máedóc and was trained under Imhar OHagan, subsequently Abbot of Armagh. Imhar was in sympathy with the aims of those who sought to reform the Irish church, after a long course of studies Malachy was ordained priest by St Cellach in 1119. Shortly afterwards Cellach made the young priest his vicar, for the next year or two it was Malachys duty to administer the diocese of Armagh. He established in all the churches the apostolic sanctions and the decrees of the fathers. With the consent of Cellach and Imar he went to study under St. Malchus, in 1123 the coarb of Bangor Abbey died. Bangor was the religious site in the north-east of Ireland. Since he ended his days at Lismore, it may be assumed that he was a friend of Malchus and his successor, who was Malachys uncle, expressed his willingness to surrender his office and the site of the monastery to his nephew. Malachy became Abbot of Bangor Abbey and this became an opportunity to implement one of the canons of the Synod of Rathbreasail, which by establishing the diocese of Connor. Cellach, as coarb of Patrick, and consecrated bishop, had been able to organize the diocese of Armagh in accordance with the Rathbreasail plan. With the prestige which belonged to the coarb of Comgall, Malachy, if consecrated bishop, in 1124 Malachy journeyed to Bangor, was installed as abbot, and was made bishop by Cellach. In 1132, he was promoted to the primacy of Armagh, St Bernard provides many interesting anecdotes regarding St Malachy and highly praises Malachys zeal for religion both in Connor and Armagh. In 1127, Malachy paid a visit to Lismore and acted for a time as confessor to Cormac MacCarthy. On the death of St Celsus, St Malachy was appointed Archbishop of Armagh,1132, owing to intrigues, he was unable to take possession of his See for two years, even then he had to purchase the Bachal Isu from Niall, the usurping lay-primate. St Malachys influence in Irish ecclesiastical affairs has been compared with that of Boniface in Germany, St Malachy worked zealously to restore ecclesiastical discipline, restored marriage, renewed the practices of confession and confirmation, and introduced Roman chants in the liturgy. He was also known for his care to the needy as a worker and healer
7.
Bishop of Down
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The Bishop of Down was an episcopal title which took its name from the town of Downpatrick in Northern Ireland. The bishops seat was located on the site of the present cathedral church of the Holy, the title is now united with other bishoprics. In the Church of Ireland it is held by the Bishop of Down and Dromore, the diocese of Down was one of the twenty-four dioceses established at the Synod of Rathbreasail in 1111 and comprised roughly the eastern half of County Down. For a brief period in the early 12th-century, Down was united with the see of Connor under Máel Máedóc Ua Morgair, on 29 July 1439, plans for a permanent union of the sees of Down and Connor were submitted to King Henry VI of England for his sanction. Exactly twelve months later,29 July 1439, Pope Eugene IV issued a bull stating that Down. Following receiving the letter, the pope deprived Bishop Sely of the see of Down at some date before November 1442, john Fossade, who had been bishop of Connor since 1431, became the bishop of the united see of Down and Connor in late 1442. However, there was local opposition to the union. There were three bishops of Down were appointed before the two sees finally united. After the Reformation in Ireland, Down and Connor had parallel episcopal successions, in the Roman Catholic Church, Down remains united with Connor to the present today. But in the Church of Ireland, they united further with Dromore in 1842 to form the bishopric of Down, Connor and they continued until 1945 when they were separated into the bishopric of Down and Dromore and the bishopric of Connor. Down Cathedral Roman Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor Church of Ireland Diocese of Down and Dromore
8.
John de Courcy
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John de Courcy was an Anglo-Norman knight who arrived in Ireland in 1176. De Courcys great-grandfather, Richard de Curci is named in the Domesday Book and his grandfather, William de Curci I, married Emma of Falaise. John was very ambitious and wanted lands for himself and he decided to invade the north of Ireland which was controlled by Irish dynasties. In early January 1177 he assembled an army of 22 knights and 300 foot soldiers and marched north. They skirted the back of the Mourne Mountains and took the town of Dún Dá Leathghlas by surprise, after two fierce battles, in February and June 1177, de Courcy defeated the last King of Ulaid, Ruaidhrí Mac Duinnshléibhe. He did all this without King Henry IIs permission, after conquering eastern Ulster he established his caput at Carrickfergus, where he built an impressive stone castle. He married Affreca, daughter of Godred II Olafsson, King of Mann. It is likely that the marriage, as in the case of many kings, John and Affreca are not recorded to have had any children. Affreca built a monastery at Greyabbey dedicated to Saint Mary of The Yoke of God and she is buried there and her effigy, in stone, can still be seen. In 1183, de Courcy provided for the establishment of a priory at the cathedral of Down with generous endowments to the Benedictines from Chester in England and this building was destroyed by an earthquake in 1245. He also created a cell for Benedictines at St. Andrews in the Ards for the houses of Stoke Courcy in Somerset and Lonlay in France, which was near Inishargy, Kircubbin, in present-day County Down. The early Irish monastery of Nendrum was given to the Benedictine house of St Bees in Cumberland in order that they also establish a cell. His wife, Affreca, founded the Cistercian monastery of Grey Abbey, down, as a daughter house of Holm Cultram in 1193. He also made incursions into the west in order to increase his territory, in 1188 he invaded Connacht, but was repulsed and the next year he plundered Armagh. Hugh de Lacy, younger son of Hugh de Lacy Lord of Meath, began to war on John de Courcy. An account of his capture appears in the Book of Howth, and so they came at him upon the sudden, and he had no shift to make but with the cross pole, and defended him until it was broken and slew thirteen of them before he was taken. In May 1205, King John made Hugh Earl of Ulster, John de Courcy returned, sailing across the Irish sea from the Isle of Man in July 1205 with Norse soldiers and a hundred boats supplied by his brother-in-law, Ragnold, King of Mann. John and his army landed at Strangford and laid siege to Dundrum Castle in vain, King John then had John de Courcy imprisoned and he spent the rest of his life in poverty
9.
Normans
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The Normans were the people who, in the 10th and 11th centuries, gave their name to Normandy, a region in France. They were descended from Norse raiders and pirates from Denmark, Iceland and Norway who, under their leader Rollo, through generations of assimilation and mixing with the native Frankish and Gallo-Roman populations, their descendants gradually adopted the Carolingian-based cultures of West Francia. The distinct cultural and ethnic identity of the Normans emerged initially in the first half of the 10th century, the Norman dynasty had a major political, cultural and military impact on medieval Europe and even the Near East. The Normans were famed for their spirit and eventually for their Christian piety. They adopted the Gallo-Romance language of the Frankish land they settled, their becoming known as Norman, Normaund or Norman French. The Normans are noted both for their culture, such as their unique Romanesque architecture and musical traditions, and for their significant military accomplishments and their chief men were specially lavish through their desire of good report. They were, moreover, a race skillful in flattery, given to the study of eloquence, so that the boys were orators. They were enduring of toil, hunger, and cold whenever fortune laid it on them, given to hunting and hawking, delighting in the pleasure of horses, and of all the weapons and garb of war. The treaty offered Rollo and his men the French lands between the river Epte and the Atlantic coast in exchange for their protection against further Viking incursions. The area corresponded to the part of present-day Upper Normandy down to the river Seine. The territory was equivalent to the old province of Rouen. Before Rollos arrival, its populations did not differ from Picardy or the Île-de-France, the Norman language was forged by the adoption of the indigenous langue doïl branch of Romance by a Norse-speaking ruling class, and it developed into the regional language that survives today. The Normans thereafter adopted the growing feudal doctrines of the rest of France, the new Norman rulers were culturally and ethnically distinct from the old French aristocracy, most of whom traced their lineage to Franks of the Carolingian dynasty. Most Norman knights remained poor and land-hungry, and by 1066 Normandy had been exporting fighting horsemen for more than a generation, many Normans of Italy, France and England eventually served as avid Crusaders under the Italo-Norman prince Bohemund I and the Anglo-Norman king Richard the Lion-Heart. Opportunistic bands of Normans successfully established a foothold in Southern Italy, probably as the result of returning pilgrims stories, the Normans entered Southern Italy as warriors in 1017 at the latest. In 999, according to Amatus of Montecassino, Norman pilgrims returning from Jerusalem called in at the port of Salerno when a Saracen attack occurred. The Normans fought so valiantly that Prince Guaimar III begged them to stay, the Hauteville family achieved princely rank by proclaiming prince Guaimar IV of Salerno Duke of Apulia and Calabria. He promptly awarded their elected leader, William Iron Arm, with the title of count in his capital of Melfi
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