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of the 9th century scholasticism may be said to begin, if any definite beginning can properly be assigned to it,. . was thus denounced by the Bishop of Lyons : 'By his vain and pernicious eloquence [he] so subjugates his auditors, that they no longer humbly submit themselves to the divine Scriptures, nor to the authority of the Fathers, but prefer to follow his fan- tastic reveries.' Erigena made himself the mouthpiece of those who sought a rational basis, however narrow, for their convic- tions. This idea once suggested could not be disregarded. The Church thundered against it, but the very echoes of that thunder only aroused a more wide-spread and prolonged attention to the idea." The Encylopccdia Britannica says : " This emi- nent thinker stands alone as an original advocate of pantheism during this entire epoch. . . He begins with Absolute Unityas theorigin and esseneeof all things, and endeavours, in his De Divisione Natu- rae, to explain how this radical unity, or Deity, has produced the universe of multi- plicities with which he is emphatically iden- tical. From the plenitude of the Divine Intelligence first causes {primordiales cau- scb) are derived, which gave birth in turn to the world of nature, destined idtimately to return to the bosom of the absolute. . . He winds up his theory of human know- ledge in these words : ' Everything is God ; God is everything ; God is the only real substantial existence.' " "* A complete edi- tion of the works of this great man, by H. J. E'loss, was published in the Patrolo- gia of Abbe Migne at Paris in 1 863. '* ^4 124 196 254(3) 285 339

Joceljrn, Robert, Earl of Roden,

a distinguished Orangeman, was born 27th October 1788. His great-grandfather, Robert Jocelyn, Lord-Chancellor of Ire- land, was elevated to the peerage as Vis- count Jocelyn, in 1755, while his grand- father was created Earl of Roden in 17 71. He succeeded to the title and estates in Herts and Louth, in 1820. Lord Roden was created a peer of the LTnited King- dom as Baron Clanbrassil, in 182 1. As member of Parliament for Dundalk, and afterwards in the House of Lords, he was the unswerving advocate of Conser- vative principles — trusted and honoured by his party, and beloved by the mem- bers of the Orange Association, which he joined at an early age, and of which he was Grand Master. He was deprived of the commission of the peace and other county honours on account of his strong party bias. He took a prominent part at most of the great Protestant and Con- servative gatherings in the north of Ire-

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land in his lifetime, and was strong in his opposition to O'Connell and his policy during one of the stormiest political periods of Irish history. His addresses are said to have been characterized by " prudent wisdom and Christian kindness . . he was a model Orangeman." Lord Roden died at Edinburgh, whither he had gone some months previously for the benefit his health, on the 20th March 1870, aged

81. "33

John, styled " King of England, Lord of Ireland," and so forth, was born at Oxford, 24th December 11 66, and came to Ireland as Viceroy in 11 85. It is said to have been King Henry's intention to have him crowned King of Ireland. Pope Urban III. had ratified his title to the crown, and even transmitted a diadem of gold inter- woven with peacock's feathers ; but dread of the jealousy of his other sons prevented Henry carrying this plan into execution. The prince was accompanied by Giraldus Cambrensis as tutor and secretary, and was attended by a numerous retinue, compris- ing many ecclesiastics, 300 knights, and a large body of cavalry, archers, and men- at-arms, all in sixty ships. Sailing from Milford, the fleet reached Waterford about noon on Easter Thursday, 1185. We are told that several of the chiefs who came to pay their respects to him on his arrival were insulted by the youths of his suite, who mocked their long beards, which ap- peared ridiculous to the closely-shaven Anglo-Normans. The native princes were further incensed by lands which they believed Henry II. had secured to them, being seized and given to John's followers. Yielding to the allurements of vice, and repelling the counsels of his advisers, John devoted himself to luxurious enjoyment, and squandered among his associates the revenues of the towns which should have been applied to the defence of the colony and the payment of the soldiery. In a series of unsuccessful engagements with the Irish he lost almost his entire army, including some of his most valiant knights, and seve- ral of the newly erected castles were sacked by the native princes. Part of these troubles were due to intrigues fomented by Hugh de Lacy, who was incensed at having been superseded in the viceroyalty. After a sojourn of about eight months in Ireland, John was recalled and the govern- ment was committed to De Courcy. His character is thus sketched by Cambrensis at the time : " He is more given to plea- sure than to arms, to dalliance than endu- rance ; to juvenile levity, more as yet, than to manly maturity, which he has not at- tained. He employs most of his time in 265