SODOR

 

There are no contemporary records relating to ecclesiastical events in Man before A.D. 1134,10 and no consecutive narrative before the middle of the thirteenth century, when the monks of Rushen probably began their Chronicon Manniae.

Kingdom of Man which may be considered to have started when Gødred Crovan consolidated a kingdom there in 1079, and to have have formally ceased in 1266 when it was ceded to the King of Scotland following the Battle of Largs in 1263. Mull, Islay and Kintyre had already been lost to Scotland by 1156.

Under the Druids, of whom this was a principal seat, and was called Sedes Druidarum, and Insula Druidarum. Nor was it less remarkable under their first pious Bishops. The first government was a sort of aristocracy, under the Druids, which lasted to the end of the third century, about which time, says Nennius, the island was conquered by Binley, a Scot, who divided the land between himself and his followers, and this "original contract" became the foundation of their laws; which the universal traditions of the Manks ascribe to Mannan-Mac Lear, whom they believe the father, founder, and legislator of their country; and place him about the beginning of the fifth century: he was brother to Fergus II., who restored the kingdom of Scotland, A. D. 422.

IT has generally been admitted by those who have dug in the mine of antiquity, and have written on the early period of Manx ecclesiastical history, that St. Patrick, the apostle of Ireland, on his second return to that country was driven by a storm to the Isle of Man, A.D. 444, where, finding the people much given to magic, and the island enveloped in a typical mist under the influence of Mananan-beg-mac-y-Lheir, he remained there for three years, and was instrumental in their conversion to the Christian faith. He took up his abode on a rocky islet on the west coast, called "Holm," and from thence known as "Holm Patrick," or "St. Patrick s Isle," opposite the present town of Peel. Here he founded a church, dedicated to St. Patrick. On his departure he sent Germanus, the son of "Restitutus the Longobard," by Liomania, the sister of St. Patrick, as the first bishop, to rule over the church in Man, which he there founded about the yeare A.D. 447, and called after him St. Germans.

 

St. Germanus presided over the Church of Man till his death, which took place A.D. 474. Conindrius and Romulus, also disciples of St. Patrick, and consecrated by him, succeeded St. Germanus in the see. Romulus died A.D. 498; after whom, Maguil or Machaldus, also called Maughold, a native of Iveagh in Ulster, but belonging to the Hy Bairche, a bishop who was eminent for sanctity.’ He died A.D. 554, as is asserted by some writers. These four saints were the fathers and founders of the Church in Man. Their successors will be found in the list of bishops of Sodor and Man.

Bishops of Mann for above 200 years were suggested to have been taken from the Roll of the ancient abbey of Rushen, in the isle of Mann. This abbey was a branch of the Cistercian abbey of Furness, in Lancashire, since the suppression of which the documents found there have come into the office of the duchy of Lancaster. There were likewise several ecclesiastical Barons in this isle. During whose government the Christian religion flourished under the care of their Bishops, successors to St. Patrick."

Castle Rushen (now the prison) was built by Guttred, the son of the first Orry., in breaking through a wall of this castle a few years since, an oak beam was taken out, on which was this date, A. D. 907-this vast pile of building is in the most perfect order, and a part of it was, till very lately, inhabited by the Governor, though certainly better adapted as a safe retreat from the attacks of Norwegian pirates of the tenth century, than as a residence for an English gentlemen, of the nineteenth. Fifth in succession from Guttred was Macon or Macutus, whom Edgar made Admiral of his fleet. The inhabitants were formerly reputed courageous, and eminent for many excellent military commanders, as will more fully appear from the history; as likewise what respect their kings had among foreign princes, of both which Macon was a most remark able instance.

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