Many Irish cathedrals incorporate Romanesque fabric
from the twelfth century and indeed the Romanesque
style is often seen as closely associated with the reform
movement. A Romanesque church appears to have an
essential prerequisite in order to make a serious claim
for episcopal status in the twelfth century. Cathedrals
with surviving Romanesque include Tuam, County
Galway; Ardfert, County Kerry; and Clonfert, County
Galway.
The largest cathedral in Ireland is St. Patrick’s in
Dublin, and both it and the other Dublin cathedral,
Christ Church, were influential in introducing the
Gothic style from the west of England in the thirteenth
century. Other medieval cathedrals in Ireland are
smaller in scale, while some are much smaller than
many English parish churches. Well-preserved examples
still in use by the Church of Ireland include St. Canice’s
in Kilkenny, Cloyne, County Cork, Killaloe, County
Clare, and Limerick. All four are mainly of thirteenth-
century date and Kilkenny and Limerick have both
nave aisles and transepts. The cathedral at Cashel,
County Tipperary, is also a large, mainly thirteenth-
century structure, but is unroofed, having been aban-
doned in the eighteenth century.
The only medieval cathedral, which was also
monastic, was Christ Church in Dublin, which was a
monastery of Augustinian canons. It is also the only
cathedral with the remains of a formal chapter house;
the lower parts of it survive to the south of the south
transept. At other sites the diocesan chapter presum-
ably met within part of the cathedral or in an attached
or associated building or chapel such as the
Romanesque Cormac’s Chapel at Cashel, which is
known to have been used as a chapter house in post-
medieval times. In Ireland there is little evidence for
major associated developments around cathedrals and
even medieval episcopal palaces are very rare. The
present palace at Kilkenny incorporates the medieval
palace, while in Dublin parts of the medieval Palace
of St. Sepulchre survive within later buildings. At
Cashel the hall and dormitory of the vicar’s choral,
endowed in the fifteenth century, have been reroofed
as visitor facilities.
CONLETH MANNING
References and Further Reading
Fitzpatrick, Elizabeth and O’Brien, Caimin. The Medieval
Churches of County Offaly. Dublin: Government of Ireland,
1998.
Leask, H.G. Irish Churches and Monastic Buildings.3 vols.
Dundalk: Dundalgan Press, 1955–60.
Manning, Conleth. “Clonmacnoise Cathedral.” In Clonmacnoise
studies Volume 1: Seminar Papers 1994, edited by Heather
A. King, 56–86. Dublin: Dúchas The Heritage Service, 1998.
.Rock of Cashel, Co. Tipperary. Dublin: Dúchas The
Heritage Service, 2000.
Milne, Kenneth, ed. Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin: A His-
tory. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000.
Ní Ghabhláin, Sinéad. “Church and Community in Medieval
Ireland: The Diocese of Kilfenora.” Journal of the Royal
Society of Antiquaries of Ireland125 (1995), 61–84.
See alsoAbbeys; Altar-Tombs; Architecture;
BurialsPARLIAMENT
From the early days of the Irish lordship the chief
governor was expected to act with the advice of the
feudal tenants-in-chief, who were, in turn, required to
proffer this advice as part of their feudal obligations.
As the central government expanded, the King’s Coun-
cil in Ireland included more and more permanent sal-
aried officials. The Great Councils, when the king’s
officers were joined by the chief magnates of the land,
gradually evolved in the course of the thirteenth cen-
tury into parliamentary sessions, as in England.Beginnings of Parliament in Ireland
Up until the nineteenth century, historians believed that
parliament in Ireland originated when Henry II was in
Dublin in 1171–1172. However, regular parliaments
were only instituted in England after 1258 and it
appears that a similar system was introduced into Ireland
at around the same time. Certainly, the first documen-
tary reference to an Irish parliament comes from 1264
and was used to describe a gathering in Castledermot,
County Kildare. Little is known about the business
transacted at this parliament beyond the fact that an
inquisition was taken before the justiciar and council.
In the first century of its existence it remains difficult
to distinguish which assemblies were indeed Irish par-
liaments as the term parliamentumwas used ambigu-
ously and sometimes implied no more than a parley
with the Irish or others at war against the king.Composition of Parliament
The nucleus of the parliament was the council, the
permanently-constituted body of ministers who
advised the justiciar. This group was augmented by the
chief magnates and higher clergy of the land who were
summoned to attend in person but were frequently
represented by their stewards and bailiffs. There is no
certain evidence of the presence of elected represen-
tatives in parliament before 1297 when two knights
were summoned from each of ten counties and five
liberties. On this occasion the sheriffs of counties and
stewards of liberties were also present.PARISH CHURCHES, CATHEDRALS