of Munster and aspirant king of Ireland in 1086,
although it is not clear whether either king was aware
of its motivation.
Later, however, Muirchertach adopted a different
position, deciding that the Irish church should be orga-
nized within an Irish context only, that is, independent
of Canterbury. When this policy was put into action at
the synod of Ráith Bressail in the year 1111, the Dublin
diocese remained outside the new hierarchical struc-
ture agreed there. However, provision was made for
Dublin to ultimately join and cut its ties with Canterbury.
Efforts were made afterwards to bring this about, but
it was not until 1148, at the synod of Inis Pátraic, that
agreement was reached. Dublin was, finally, fully inte-
grated into the Irish church structure; it had, however,
to give up its aspirations, first striven for by Gilla-
Pátraic, to be the metropolitan see for the whole island
of Ireland. However, it did retain metropolitan status,
but with a smaller province and under a different pri-
mate, the archbishop of Armagh.
The Writings of Gilla-Pátraic
There is nothing about church reform in Gilla-Pátraic’s
writings and, indeed, nothing about Ireland apart from
the poem De mirabilibus Hiberniae, probably the ear-
liest of them. It is a versified translation of an unknown
Old Irish text, and closely resembles an Irish prose
version of the “Wonders of Ireland” in the Book of
Ballymote (c. 1400) and less so a shorter version in
the Book of Uí Mhaine. It differs widely from a version
in the Norse Speculum Regale and in Topographia
Hiberniae by Giraldus Cambrensis.
The doctrinal poem Constet quantus honos humane
conditionis probably written at Worcester, is concerned
with the belief that man is made in God’s image; its
metres are so varied that an early twelfth century copy
treats it as five short poems. The poem Ad amicum de
caduca vita is, as its name suggests, a meditation on the
transience of life, which he sent to a friend. The long
allegorical poem Mentis in excessu carries numerous
glosses to help the reader interpret its moral teaching.
The charming short poem Pe rge carina was written
to accompany a copy of his prose work Liber de tribus
habitaculis animae, which was being sent from Dublin
to old friends in Worcester. The latter, perhaps because
of its subject matter (heaven, hell, and people in the
world), was the most popular of all his writings. More
than a hundred manuscript copies are known to exist,
none of them Irish: the earliest was written quite soon
after his death in 1084. However, in the twelfth century
it was often attributed to Caesarius of Arles, less fre-
quently to Eusebius of Emesa, and, in later centuries,
to Augustine. Transmission of his poetry is poorer:
apart from the earliest witnesses (twelfth century
Cistercian manuscripts), all other extant texts are anon-
ymous and are scarce. Both poetry and prose were
transmitted predominantly by English scriptoria.
Gilla-Pátraic’s writing style is simple and straight-
forward, influenced by that of Virgil and of Servius’s
commentary on the Aeneid; the influence of Boethius
and of Paulinus of Nola can also be detected as can
contact with “Hisperic” latinity. Among the doctrinal
sources used were the works of St. Augustine and,
perhaps, Saints Benedict and Gregory the Great, and
the Collationes of Cassian. Gilla-Pátraic’s writings
give an important insight into the activity of the monas-
tic school of Worcester in the time of St. Wulfstan.
MARTIN HOLLANDReferences and Further Reading
Gwynn, A., ed and trans. The Writings of Bishop Patrick. Scrip-
tores Latini Hiberniae 1. Dublin: Dublin Institute for
Advanced Studies, 1955.
Boutémy, A. “Le recueil poétique du manuscrit Additional du
British Museum” (The Poetry Collection of the British
Museum manuscript Additional). Latomus 2 (1938): 30–52
and 37–40.
Cross, J. E. “De signis et prodigiis” In Ve r sus S. Patricii episcopi
de mirabilibus Hibernie.” Proceedings of the Royal Irish
Academy, 71C (1971): 247–254.
Gwynn, A. The Irish Church in the Eleventh and Twelfth cen-
turies. Edited by Gerard O’Brien. Dublin: Four Courts Press,
1992.
Holland, Martin. “Dublin and the Reform of the Irish Church
in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries.” Peritia: Journal of
the Medieval Academy of Ireland 14 (2000): 111–160.
Holland, Martin. “The Synod of Dublin in 1080.” In Medieval
Dublin III, edited by Seán Duffy, 81–94. Dublin: Four Courts
Press, 2002.
See also Church Reform, Twelfth Century;
Ecclesiastical Organization; Hiberno-Latin
Literature; Moral and Religious Instructional
Literature; Raith Bressail, Synod of; Ua Briain,
Muirchertach; Ua Briain, TairrdelbachGILLE (GILBERT) OF LIMERICK
Apart from Malachy, Gille is the most important eccle-
siastic who took part in the twelfth-century Church
Reform in Ireland. Despite this, relatively little is
known about him. It is not known where or when he
was born, and it is not even sure that he was Irish,
although it is most likely that he was. As well as that,
there is a problem with his name. Geoffrey Keating,
using sources relating to the synod of Ráith Bressail,
called him Giolla Easpuig; this together with the
English translation of his Latin name, Gilbert, have
been commonly used. However, contemporary sources
suggest that his name was, in fact, Gille.GILLA-PÁTRAIC, BISHOP