exception of those who belonged to the Columban monasteries, to accept the new ideas. There were therefore, as I have said, two parties: the followers of Columba on the one side, and the rest of the Irish Church on the other.
A little before this time, and probably in connection with these very Easter disputes, the King of Ireland had decreed that the monasteries of Columba should not enjoy the same privileges as those of Patrick, Finnian and Keiran; that is, that Iona and its dependencies should not be in as favourable a position with regard to immunity from taxation, and probably in other ways, as were the monasteries at Armagh, Clonard and Clonmacnois. Adamnan is said to have cursed the monarch for making this unrighteous law, but his own subsequent conduct only helped in the degradation of his order.
Armagh soon identified itself with the new doctrines, and as it was at this time rising into eminence, and was beginning to assert that supremacy which it afterwards obtained, its influence helped in great measure to destroy the old Irish peculiarities.
The documents belonging to this age have many of them been framed manifestly with a view to uphold the claims of Armagh. For example, the old manuscript volume known as the Book of Armagh, contains among other documents, a canon which provides that cases of extreme difficulty which are beyond the powers of ordinary judges are to be referred to 'the archbishop of the Irish, that is, of Patrick, and the examination of this abbot,' and if found too difficult for him, to 'the chair of the Apostle Peter, having the authority of the city of Rome.' This canon is said to have been decreed by Auxilius, Patrick, Secundinus and Benignus; but it need hardly be remarked that if really made by
