Parliament (Irish)

Monday 10 March 1800.

In a private conversation with myself, the archbishop [of Cashel] treated that part of the article that mentioned the convocation as idle and foolish. Nothing, however, can be more essentially necessary to the identity of the churches. From the time that the clergy ceased to tax themselves in convocation, and mixed in that particular with the great mass of the people, by acquiring the right of voting at elections for the members of the house of commons, convocations have not been viewed in the same light as of old. But the calling together the convocation for ecclesiastical purposes, although entirely laid aside in this country, continues unaltered in England, and it is as regularly convened by the king's writ as the parliament. The archbishop talked of the absurdity of calling so many of the Irish clergy to London, but he forgot that the convocations are provincial, and the clergy to be convened int heir respective provinces. But what the archbishop seemed chiefly to reprobate was the idea of having any other representatives of the bishops in the united parliament than the four metropolitans. The idea of having a rotation of bishops he treated as absurd, inasmuch as it would be impossible for any bishop to make himself acquainted with parliamentary business during the short period for which he should sit in parliament.

Friday 21 March 1800.

Resolution XVIII of the committee for union:

Resolved that it is the opinion of this committee that for the same purpose it would be fit to propose that the churches of that part of Great Britain called England and of Ireland should be united into one church, and the archbishops, bishops, deans and clergy of the Churches of England and Ireland shall from time to time be summoned to and entitled to sit in convocation of the united church in like manner and subject to the same regulations as are at present by law established, with respect to the like orders of the Church of England and the doctrine, worship, discipline and government of the said united church shall be preserved as now by law established for the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline and government of the Church of Scotland shall likewise be preserved as now by law established for the Church of Scotland.

Parliament

Archbishop Hugh Boulter of Armagh to the archbishop of Canterbury

[13 January 1728]

I find by my lord lieutenant the ministry are not desirous that a convocation should sit here; nor do I desire it, except they had some useful business to do, and I was thoroughly certain they would confine themselves to that. I have had no great occasion or leisure to enquire into the nature of our convocation here, but as it is made up of the clergy of four provinces, I find some of our bench question whether they have ever been settled in such a regular method of being called as to make a truly legal assembly.

Front Jonathan Swift, Considerations upon two bills (24 February 1732)3S6

An act of parliament for settling or selling an estate in a private family is never passed until all parties give consent. But in the present case the whole body of the clergy is, as themselves apprehend, determined to utter ruin, without once expecting or asking their opinion; and this by a scheme contrived only by one part of the convocation, while the other part, which has been chosen in the usual forms, wants only the regal permission to assemble and consult about the affairs of the church, as their predecessors have always done in former ages; where it is presumed, the lower house has a power of proposing canons and a negative voice as well as the upper. And God forbid (say these objectors) that there should be a real separate interest between the bishops and clergy, any more than there is between a man and his wife, a king and his people or Christ and his church.

As in England, Irish benefices were revalued at and after the time of the reformation, though the process took much longer and is now little known. Our knowledge of its details comes from a pamphlet printed at Dublin in 1741, under the auspices of Edward Exshaw, a bookseller of Cork Hill, entitled; ‘Valor beneficiorum eccelsiasticorum in Hibernia, or thefirstfruits of all the ecclesiastical benefices in the kingdom of Ireland, as taxed in the king's books, with an account shewing how this royal fund vested in trustees, hath hitherto been disposed of’ It is reprinted here, with the format, spelling and punctuation modernized where necessary, and collated with an unpublished manuscript at Trinity College, Dublin (TCD, MS 567) which dates from sometime after 1591 and contains the sixteenthcentury valuations, given here in square brackets.

In the tables themselves, the original Latin has been Anglicized and the dioceses have been rearranged in alphabetical order by province (Armagh, Cashel, Dublin and Tuam), with the metropolitical see coming first in each case.

The publisher to the reader

As a book intituled Valor beneficiorum eccelsiasticorum in Anglia et Wallia was printed in 1680 for the use of the clergy in England and Wales, it may not be useless to publish likewise the taxations of all the ecclesiastical benefices in this kingdom. If, in the following tract, the names of some rectories and vicarages be found to differ from the modern way of spelling them, it is a fault which could not be avoided in printing a true copy of the ancient names, as well as the valuations affixed to them; and the reader may be assured that the following account is authentic, being faithfully transcribed and compared with the original record of the exchequer in the chief remembrancer's office.

The sterling money is distinguished all along from the Irish, and in reducing Irish money to sterling, you do no more than subtract one fourth part from the Irish to make it sterling, thus 20s. Irish make but 15s. sterling.

Parliament

1703 21 September to 4 March 1704

Saturday 25 September 1703. John Asgill, MP, was censured for having written

'An argument proving that according to the covenant of eternal life revealed in the Scriptures, man may be translated hence unto that eternal life without passing through death.'

Friday 1 October 1703. A petition was presented claiming that Mr AsgilPs election for Enniscorthy was invalid.

Monday 11 October 1703. Mr Asgill was permitted to defend himself in the house of commons and was then expelled.

1705 10 February to 16 June

Monday 12 March 1705. A memorial from the lower house of convocation regarding privileges was received and read to the house of commons. (For the text, see the minutes of the upper house of convocation, 14 March 1705, AM.) ‘Whereupon, the house came to the following resolutions:

• 1. Resolved, nemine contradicente, that the commons in parliament assembled are the true and only representatives, and entrusted with the civil rights and properties, of all the commons in Ireland, as well clergy as laity.

• 2. Resolved nemine contradicente, that no person or body of men whatsoever, hath or have a right to be heard against the passing any bill, or heads of a bill, under the consideration of this house, but by leave first obtained from this house, upon the application of such person or body of men by petition to this house, and not otherwise.'

Friday 16 March 1705. A paper from the lower house of convocation was delivered to the speaker and read to the commons by him. (For the text and accompanying resolution, see the minutes of the lower house of convocation.)

Monday 19 March 1705. The house of commons passed two resolutions in response to further correspondence from the lower house of convocation. (For the correspondence and the resolutions, see the minutes of the lower house of convocation.)

Thursday 7 June 1705. The petition of Samuel Synge, prolocutor of the lower house of convocation, was received by the house of lords. Dr Synge, having received satisfaction, was given leave to withdraw his petition.

Parliament (United Kingdom) Correspondence about the possible revival of convocation

The petition of the Irish church for the revival of synodical government, 1843

In presenting this petition to the house of lords and for subsequent publication, Archbishop Richard Whately of Dublin remarked that it was virtually identical to a petition which had been submitted to him from the diocese ofKildare in 1833.

To the lords spiritual and temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in parliament assembled, the humble petition of the members of the United Church of England and Ireland whose names and addresses are hereunto subscribed, showeth:

That your petitioners - aware that all human arrangements, however originally excellent, are liable to be affected by change of circumstances, so as to require measures to be adopted for their adjustment - feel deeply that the United Church of England and Ireland has suffered disadvantage from a similar cause, operating upon her position as connected with the civil legislature of this country.

That the Church of England and Ireland, viewed as an important part of the church of Christ, ought, as such, to enjoy the privilege permitted to other churches and religious bodies, of possessing within herself, such a power of regulation in her distinctly spiritual affairs, as may best promote the due discharge of the sacred duties required of her ministers, and provide for the religious discipline of her own members.

That for the attainment of this, there is required the establishment of some deliberative ecclesiastical body, having authority to frame regulations, and to decide in questions of doubt and difficulty, respecting all such matters.

That the convocation, supposing it adapted, not only to former times, but to all times, is fallen into desuetude; and that neither to revive that, nor to make any provision for supplying its place, is clearly at variance with the design of our reformers.

That the two houses of parliament were not originally designed, and were never considered as adapted, to be the sole legislative authority for the church in spiritual matters, and that if they ever had been so adapted, the recent changes in the constitution of those houses - admitting without distinction, to seats in the legislature,

Prolocutors of the Irish national convocation, 1615-1869

Parliament

Convocation

Monday 3 October 1715

Georgius Dei gratia Magnae Britanniae, Franciae et Hiberniae rex, fldei defensor etc., reverendissimo in Christo patri Thomae, archiepiscopo Armachano, primati et metropolitano totius Hiberniae salutem.

Quia de avisamento et assensu reverendissimorum patrum et conciliatorum nostrorum Gulielmi archiepiscopi Dubliniensis et Iohannis archiepiscopi Tuamensis et praedilecti et perquamfidelis consanguinei et conciliatoris nostri Roberti comitis Kildare iustitiariorum et generalium gubernatorum nostrorum dicti regni pro quibusdam arduis et urgentibus negotiis nos statum et defensionem regni nostri Hiberniae praedicti et Ecclesiae Hibernicae concernentibus, quoddam parliamentum nostrum apud Dubliniam duodecimo die Novembris proximo futuro teneri ordinaverimus ut ibidem vobiscum ac cum ceteris praelatis, magnatibus et proceribus dicti regni nostri Hiberniae colloquium habere et tractare, vobis sub fide et dilectione quibus nobis tenemini firmiter iniungendo mandamus quod consideratis dicti negotii arduitate et periculis imminentibus, cessante excusatione quacunque dicto parliamnto dictis die et loco personaliter intersitis nobiscum ac cum praelatis, magnatibus et proceribus praedictis super dictis negotiis tractaturi vestrumque consilium impensuri. Et hoc sicut nos et honorem nostrum et salvationem et defensionem regni et ecclsiae praedictorum expeditionemque dicti negotii diligitis nullatenus omittatis. Praemonentes decanum et capitulum ecclesiae vestrae Armachanae ac archidiaconum totumque clerum vestrae dioecesis quod idem decanus et archidiaconus in propria persona sua ac dictum capitulum per unum idemque clerus per duos procuratores idoneos plenam et sufficientem potestatem ab ipsis capitulo et clero divisim habentes praedictis die et loco personaliter intersint ad consentiendum huiusque tune et ibidem de communi consilio regni nostri praedicti divina favente dementia contigerit ordinari. Testibus praefatis iustitiariis et generalibus gubrnatoribus dicti regni nostri Hiberniae apud Dubliniam tertio die Octobris anno regni nostri secundo. Domvile.

He was introduced [in the house of lords] on 12 November 1715 along with the following:

Dr Edward Synge, bishop of Raphoe, had the same letters patent 2 November 1714.

So did Dr Nicholas Forster, bishop of Killaloe, letters patent dated 19 October 1714.

On 5 December 1715 Dr Timothy Godwin, bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh was introduced by patent of 19 October 1714, which is in the same words.

But on 3 May 1716 Dr John Evans, bishop of Bangor, created bishop of Meath by letters patent of 1716, ends with ‘nullatenus omittatis.’ And so on after that time.

From the fourteenth century until 1669 the Irish church in English parts of Ireland paid taxes to the Dublin exchequer in the same way as their brethren in England paid tax to the exchequer in London. No complete survey of this taxation exists, but the following gives the evidence which may be gleaned from the convocation and parliamentary records.

Edward IV (1461-83)

No records of clerical taxation have survived, but we learn from a complaint made by the clergy in 1496 that the assessment of Armagh inter Anglicos was fixed at £19/13/8 for a double tenth in the time of Bishop Sherwood, who was lord deputy form 1475 to 1478 and who carried through a comprehensive tax reform which greatly increased the yield from subsidies. Perhaps we can infer from this that a subsidy of £19/13/8 was regularly (annually?) granted to the king from this time onwards. The amounts would of course be in the Irish pounds introduced in 1460 (£1 Irish= 15s. sterling). Thus£19/13/8 Irish = £14/15/3 sterlingand£19/13/4Irish = £14/15/0 sterling, a devaluation of 25% in real terms.

Under the terms of the act of union in 1800, bishops of the Church of Ireland were entitled to sit in the house of lords on a rotation basis. The four archbishops served in succession, as did three diocesan bishops at each session of the United Kingdom parliament. Owing to some confusion, the Irish bishops did not take their seats until 1803, at which time the rotation was reckoned to have started with the second UK parliament (in the case of the archbishops) but with the first in the case of the bishops. The system continued unaltered until the suppression of two archbishoprics and ten bishoprics in 1834. The changes took effect at the death of the incumbent, a process which was not finally completed until 1854, though in that year the bishop ofTuam became a lay peer by inheritance and Tuam was therefore passed over until after his death in 1866. The overall representation of the bishops remained unchanged, which meant that individual prelates were summoned more frequently. Attendance was very poor in the initial years, but it improved somewhat after 1834, perhaps because of better transport links as much as anything else. After the passage of the disestablishment bill in July 1869, the Irish bishops no longer attended the sessions, though they were entitled to do so until the end of 1870.

A table containing the proportions to be paid by their graces and lordships the archbishops and bishops, for the sum of £198 according to the rate settled in convocation.

The first column contains the proportions. The second, their graces’ and lordships’ proportion toward payment of the sum agreed. The third, their proportions toward the payment of £66, a half of the former sum. The fourth column contains their proportions of both sums added together.

The royal writ

Rex venerabili in Christo patri Iohanni, eadem gratia episcopo Herefordensi, salutem. Quibusdam certis de causis nos specialiter et intime moventibus, vobis sub fide et dilectione quibus nobis tenemini firmiter iniungendo mandamus, quod omnibus aliis praetermissis et excusatione cessante quacunque, in propria persona vestra sitis apud villam nostram Oxoniae, die Lunae proximo post Conversionem Sancti Pauli proximo futuro [27 January 1399], ad dicendum et declarandum consilium et avisamentum vestrum de et super quibusdam materiis nefarium schisma in ecclesia Dei, quod dolendum est, multipliciter iam regnum tangentibus per universitatem nostram Oxoniensem ministrandis et ad consentiendum his quae tune de avisamento et consensu cleri nostri contigerit affirmari, et hoc nullatenus omittatis. Teste rege apud Westmonasterium, secundo die Ianuarii anno regni vicesimo secundo [2 January 1399].

Acts of the convocation

[15r] Convocatio praelatorum et cleri Cantuariensis provinciae facta per reverendissimum in Christo patrem et dominum Dominum Thomam, permissione divina Cantuariensem archiepiscopum, totius Angliae primatem et apostolicae sedis legatum, in ecclesia Sancti Pauli Londoniarum, decimo septimo die mensis Februarii anno Domini millesimo quadragesimo nono secundum cursum et computationem Ecclesiae Anglicanae, indictione tertia, pontificatus sanctissimi in Christo patris et domini Domini Alexandri, divina providentia papae quinti anno primo, et translationis eiusdem reverendissimi patris anno quartodecimo [17 February 1410].

Monday 17 February 1410

Dicto decimo septimo die mensis Februarii, praefatus reverendissimus in Christo pater archiepiscopus antedictus de hospitio habitationis suae vulgariter dictae ‘Wharton's Inn’ iter arripiens porrexit ad ecclesiam Sancti Pauli antedictam, et missa inibi de Sancto Spiritu per venerabilem patrem Dominum Richardum, Dei gratia Londoniensem episcopum ad summum altare eiusdem ecclesiae pro feliciori et uberiori expeditione inchoandi negotii primitus, ut moris est, solemniter celebrata. Idem reverendissimus pater cum ceteris venerabilibus confratribus suis coepiscopis suffraganeis dictae suae provinciae, videlicet Henrico Wintoniensi, Iohanne Eliensi, Edmundo Exoniensi, Roberto Cicestrensi, Nicholao Bathonensi, Roberto Sarum et Alexandro Norwicensi, ex parte australi dicti summi altaris, ac Robertus Herefordensis, Henricus Menevensis et Benedictus Bangorensis ex parte boreali eiusdem summi altaris episcopis pro tempore dictae missae sedentibus, dictaque missa solemniter finita, idem reverendissimus pater Cantuariensis archiepiscopus, cum confratribus et suffraganeis suis antedictis accessit ad capellam Beatae Mariae eiusdem ecclesiae, et facta ibidem collatione per religiosum virum Magistrum Iohannem Langdon, monachum ecclesiae Christi Cantuariensis sacrae paginae professorem, sumpto sibi pro themate: ‘Stellae dederunt lumen’ etc. Ipsa collatione finita, exhibitum fuit certificatorium dicti reverendissimi patris Domini Richardi Londoniensis episcopi, cuius tenor sequitur et est talis:

Reverendissimo in Christo patri ac domino Domino Thomae, permissione divina Cantuariensi archiepiscopo, totius Angliae primati et apostolicae sedis legato, vestrisve locum tenentibus seu commissariis quibuscunque, Richardus, permissione divina Londoniensis episcopus oboedientiam et reverentiam debitas tanto patri. Mandatum vestrum reverendissimum decimo octavo die mensis Ianuarii proximo praeterito [ 18 January 1410] recepimus tenorem continens subsequentem:

Thomas, permissione divina [Cantuariensis archiepiscopus, totius Angliae primas et apostolicae sedis legatus,] venerabili fratri nostro Domino Richardo Londoniensi episcopo, salutem et fraternam in Domino caritatem.