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 departure for the crusade (ib. iii. 8, 14, 15, 24). The next few years were mainly passed by Comyn in Ireland, in carrying out the policy which had been foreshadowed by his appointment. Politically he made the archbishops of paramount importance in the colonial government, so that they often enjoyed more power and more confidence with the king than the viceroys themselves (, Viceroys, i. 45 sq.) Legally his acceptance of the estates of his see as a barony, and the charters of immunities which further dignified his position, mark an important step in the feudalisation of Ireland. Ecclesiastically he aimed at the extirpation of the last remnants of the local usages of the Celtic church in favour of the newest patterns of Roman orthodoxy. But though the champion of England and Rome, he was a zealous defender of the rights of his see as he conceived them, and a magnificent and bountiful benefactor of the church. This is shown by the large number of his grants still preserved in such collections as the cartularies of St. Mary's Abbey, by his refoundation of the convent of nuns at Grâce Dieu (, Monasticon Hibernicum, new ed. ii. 84), and endowing it with the church of St. Audoen in Dublin (, Hist. Dublin, i. 277), by his obtaining possession of the Arroasian priory of All Saints from the bishops of Louth (, Reg. Prior. Omnium SS. juxta Dublin, Irish Archæological Society), by his enlargement of the choir of the cathedral church of the Holy Trinity (now Christ Church), which St. Lawrence had already made Arroasian (, Hist. Dub. i. 101), and above all by his great foundation of St. Patrick's, which a successor in the archbishopric raised to the dignity of a second cathedral. In 1190 he demolished an ancient parish church in the southern suburbs of the city, the legend about whose foundation went back to St. Patrick himself, and erected in its place a college for thirteen prebendaries of holy life and sound knowledge of literature, to spread 'the light of learning, which was more wanting in Ireland than in any other part, of Christendom.' With that object any prebendary who went beyond sea for study was allowed, despite his non-residence, to retain his emoluments and commons. All the liberties enjoyed by the canons of Salisbury were secured by charter to the canons of St. Patrick's. Earl John himself founded an additional prebend. On St. Patrick's day 1191 the church was consecrated with great pomp (, History of St. Patrick's, with appendices containing the foundation charters). Comyn was also a benefactor of the city of Dublin (, Hist. and Municipal Documents of Ireland, pref. xxv, Rolls Ser.)

Comyn was as vigorous in the management of his see as splendid in his foundations. Soon after his consecration he got a bull from Lucius III (13 April 1182) that no archbishop or bishop should hold a synod within his province without his consent. From this sprang a controversy of centuries in duration between the archbishops of Dublin and Armagh with reference to the primacy of the latter and their right to bear their crosier erect within the province of Dublin. In 1184 he got from Earl John a charter allowing him to hold courts all over Ireland, 'as well in cities as in exterior lands' (, Cal. Irish State Papers, 1171-1251, No. 1789), and in 1185 the union of the impoverished see of Glendalough with the archbishopric was secured at the next vacancy. In 1186 a provincial synod was held and a large number of canons passed, with the object of repressing the characteristic irregularities of the Irish clergy. Another synod was held at Dublin in 1192. In 1195 he rescued the body of Hugh de Lacy from the natives and buried it at Bective.

In 1197 Comyn had a serious quarrel with Earl John's deputy, Hamon of Valognes. Indignant at the viceroy's usurpations of ecclesiastical property, the archbishop excommunicated him and his followers, put the archbishopric under an interdict, and sought safety from Hamon's vengeance in exile. His property was seized, but extraordinary miracles showed that heaven favoured the cause of the persecuted prelate. Yet Comyn could for a long time get no justice either from John or from King Richard, and was himself put into prison in Normandy. At last Innocent III interfered, and in a bull, dated Perugia, 18 Sept. 1198, reprimanded John and secured the bishop's return (, Ep. In. III, i. 215-16). Valognes purchased back favour by a grant of lands to the archbishopric (, iv. 29; cf., Viceroys, p. 57), and gave John one thousand marks to have peace touching his Irish account (Cal. Irish Doc. No. 91 ). The reconciliation between John and the archbishop must have been complete, as in May 1199 the latter was present at the former's coronation at London (, iv. 89). Next year Comyn assisted (23 Nov.) at St. Hugh's funeral at Lincoln (Magna Vita S. Hugonis, p. 353, Rolls Ser.) In 1201 he was at the coronation of Queen Isabella at Canterbury (An. Burton in An. Monast. i. 206). In 1203 he returned to Ireland, and in 1204 he again quarrelled with John about the acts of foresters and other royal officers, and was