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 CLOYNE

72

CLOYNE

is said to have readied this throne are pure creations of the barbarian imagination.

Master now of a vast kingdom, Clevis displayed the same talent in governing that he had displayed in conquering it. From Paris, which he had finally made his capital, he administered the various prov- inces through the agency of counts (comUen) estab- lished in each city and selected by him from the aristocracy of both races, conformably to the prin- ciple of absolute equality between Romans and bar- barians, a princiiile which dominated his entire policy. He caused the Salic Law {Lex Salica) to be reduced to written form, revised and adapted to the new social conditions under which his fellow barbari- ans were subsequently to live. Acknowledging the Church as the foremost civilizing force, he protected it in every way possible, especially by providing for the National Council of Orleans (511), at which the bishops of Gaul settled many questions pertaining to the relations between Church and State. Hagio- graphic legends attribute to Clovis the founding of a great many churches and monasteries throughout France, and although the accuracy of this claim cannot be positively established, it is nevertheless certain that the influence of the council in this matter must have been considerable. However, history has preserved the memory of one foundation which was undoubtedly due to Clovis: the church of the Apos- tles, later of Sainte-Genevieve, on what was then Mons Lucotetius, to the south of Paris. The king destined it as a mausoleum for himself and his queen Clotilda, and before it was completed liis mortal remains were there interred. Clovis died at the age of forty-five. His sarcophagus remained in the crypt of Sainte-Genevieve until the time of the French Revolution, when it was broken open by th ' revolu- tionists, and his ashes scattered to the winds, the sanctuary of the beautiful church being destroyed at the same time.

The history of this monarch has been so hopelessly distorted by popular poetry and so grossly disfigured by the vagaries of the barbarian imagination as to make the portrayal of his character wellnigh impos- sible. However, from authentic accounts of him it may be concluded that his private life was not with- out virtues. As a statesman he succeeded in accom- plishing what neither the genius of Theodoric the Great nor that of any contemporary barbarian king could achieve: upon the ruins of the Roman Empire he built up a powerful system, the influence of which dominated European civilization during many cen- turies, and from which sprang France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland, without taking into account that northern Spain and northern Italy were also, for a time, under the civilizing regime of the Prankish Empire.

Clovis left four sons. Theodoric, the eldest, was the issue of a union prior to that contracted with Clotilda, who was, however, the mother of the three others, Clodomir, Childebert, and Clotaire. They divided their father's kingdom among themselves, following the barbarian principle that sought promo- tion of personal rather than national interests, and looked upon royalty as the personal prerogative of the sons of kings. After the death of Clovis his daughter Clotilda, named after her mother, married Amalric, King of the Visigoths. She died young, be- ing cruelly abused by this Arian prince, who seemed eager to wreak vengeance on the daughter of Clovis for the tragic death of Alaric II.

AiiM>T ic.l.i. GBK<ioiiy OF TouKs. HistorCa ecclesiastica

'■ ' " ' '" " ''"I- Germ. Hist.: Script. IIR. Merovingicarum;

■',' ' ' '•■iclnchte tier trdnkischen KOnigcChilderichund

','•"' ■ "I'lgen, 18.57), tr. by MoNon as //tsioire criftgu*

J. ,,-,. /,,,'/,,„- et Clovw (Paris, 1879); Rajna, Le origini dell •iH,,„u /runrese (Florence, 1884); Kurth, IHstoire poitique (ks Meromngicns (Pansi, 1893); Idkm, Clovis (Tours, 1896, and Pana, 1901).

GODEPROID KuRTH.

Cloyne (Gael. Ciuain-uania, Cave-meadow), Dio- cese OF (Clonensis, or Cloynensis), comprises the northern half of County Cork. It has 140 priests. 47 parishes, 16 convents, 8 Brothers' schools, 235 primary schools, and, for higher education, St. Col- man's College and Loreto Convent (Fermoy), besides high schools at Queenstown and elsewhere. St. Col- man's Cathedral, Queenstown, begun in 1S69 under Bishop Keane, continued under Bishop McCarthy, in 1908 near completion, is one of the most beautiful of modern Gothic cathedrals. The medieval diocesan cathedral, used by Protestants since the sixteenth century, still stands at Cloyne. St. Colman Mac- Lenin (560-601), diverted from his profession of poet- historian by Sts. Ita and Brendan, became (560) first

Cathedral, Cloyne

Bishop of Cloyne. where he got a royal grant of land. Some religious poems, notably a metrical life of St. Senan, are attributed to him.

Fergal, Abbot-Bishop of Cloyne, was massacred in 888 by the Danes. There are seven recorded devas- tations of Cloyne from 822 to 1 137. The ecclesiastical records were destroyed, so that few prelates' names before 1137 are known; we have nearly all of them since that year. In 1152 (Synod of Kells) Cloyne was made one of Cashel's twelve suffragan sees. From 1265 to 1429 the bishops of Cloyne were mostly Englishmen. Effingham (1284-1320) probably built Cloyne cathedral. Swafham (1363-1376), who wrote "Contra Wicklevistas " and " Condones", com- menced the "Rotulus Pipae Clonensis", the rent-roll of the see. Robbery of church property by nobles impoverished the Sees of Cloyne and Cork, which were united in 1429, by papal authority, under Bishop Purcell. Blessed Thaddeus MacCarthy was bishop from 1490 to 1492. The last Catholic Bishop who enjoyed the temporalities was Benet (1523- 1536). Tirry, appointed in 1536 by Henry V'lII, and Tirry's successor, Skiddy, are ignored in the Consistorial Acts. Macnamara succeeded Behet; O'Heyne succeeded in 1540; Landes in 1568; Tanner in 1574; MacCreaghe in 1580; Tirry in 1622; Barry in 1647; Creagh in 1676; Sleyne in 1693; MacCarthy in 1712; MacCarthy (Thaddeus) m 1727. The bishops of penal times were ruthlessly persecuted, and some suffered cruel imprisonment or died in exile. Jolm O'Brien, author of an Irish dictionary, poems, and tracts, was Bishop of Cloyne and Ross (1748-1769). He died in exile at Lyons. His suc- cessors were Matthew MacKenna, appointed in 1769; William Coppinger in 1791; Michael Collins in 1830; Bartholoniew Crotty in 1833; David Walsh in 1847. Since the separation of Ro.ss (1819) the bishops of Cloyne have been: Timothy Murphy, appointed 1849; William Keane, 1857; .John MacCarthy, 1874; Robert Browne, 1894.