s that gradually, as the onslaughts of the Danes became
less frequent, Irish men of learning tended more and more to become
teachers rather than mere students, and to gravitate towards a few great
centres of study. The climax of this movement towards organization and
the eminence of special places was reached about the middle of the
eleventh century (1030-1063), when mention is made of thirty-three
persons who held the office of _fer legind_, and when the principal
schools seem to have been those of Clonmacnoise, Armagh, Kildare and
Kells.[6]

The Reformation of the twelfth century, like that of the sixteenth, was
prepared for by a revival of learning.

But further, the defeat of the Danes removed the barrier which had
hindered communication between Ireland and the rest of Europe. Students
once more came to Ireland from other lands to pursue their studies. The
most remarkable of these was perhaps Sulien, the future bishop of St.
David's. Sulien the Wise was born shortly before the date of the battle
of Clontarf in the district of Cardigan. In early youth he displayed
much aptitude for learning, and in middle life, about 1058, "stirred by
the example of the fathers," he paid a visit to the Irish schools in
order to perfect his studies. He spent thirteen years in that country,
and then established a famous school at Llanbadarn Fawr in Wales. In the
library of Trinity College, Dublin, there is a precious relic of the
work of this school. It is a beautiful manuscript of St. Jerome's Latin
version of the Psalter according to the Hebrew, once the property of
Bishop Bedell.[7] The manuscript was written by a member of the school,
a Welshman named Ithael. It is adorned with excellent illuminations by
John, one of Sulien's sons, and was presented to Ricemarch, another son
of Sulien. A valuable copy of the Hieronymian Martyrology prefixed to it
gives sundry indications that it was transcribed from an Irish
exemplar. At the end of the volume are some verses composed by
Ricemarch, and perhaps written there by his own hand. They display
considerable Biblical and patristic learning. Another relic of the
school is a copy of St. Augustine's _De Trinitate_ in Corpus Christi
College, Cambridge.[8] It was written and illuminated by John, and
contains excellent Latin verses from his pen. In the British Museum
there is also a poem of Ricemarch describing the horrors of the Norman
invasion of Wales.[9] And finally we have a _Life of St. Dav