Agnetha Ní Máelshechlainn was a clever political negotiator who defended her monastery from expropriation during the English conquest of Ireland, writes Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.

    With the passing of Francis I, a new pope, Leo XIV, has been elected in a conclave, which has been recently depicted in the eponymous film. During the papal interregnum, some of the affairs of the Vatican were led by Dublin-born Kevin Farrell.

    While no Irishman has been elected to the papacy yet, Ireland and the Vatican have a long tradition of contact between them that goes back more than 1500 years. In the early 5th century, Pope Celestine I sent the first mission to Ireland led by Palladius, who, apparently landed somewhere in Leinster in 431.

    Irish pilgrims also assisted in the maintenance of a strong and continuous link between Ireland and Rome. Some were even buried there, as in the case of Donnchad Ó Briain, king of Munster and son of Brian Boru, who was buried in the church of St Stefano al Monte Celio in 1064.

    An enduring relationship between Ireland and the Vatican is also confirmed by the continuous stream of correspondence sent from various popes and their Curia to the Irish. The letters address several topics, from questions to protections, and are an important source of information about medieval Ireland.

    Among the recipients of papal letters sent to Ireland, few women have been addressed by name by a pope, but one of them was Agnes (Agnetha Ní Máelshechlainn), abbess of St Mary's, Clonard. Also known as 'An Caillech Mór' ('The Great Nun’), Agnes was part of the Uí Máelsechlainn family, the founders and patrons of the monastery. The papal privilege issued in 1195 by Pope Celestine III is one of the few sources that allows for an insight into the history of St Mary’s, Clonard, and Agnes’ tenacity in defending her monastery from expropriation during the English conquest of Ireland.

    Although there are no standing remnants of the female monastery at Clonard, it was possibly one of the most important female foundations in the 12th century and the mother-house of Arrouaisian nuns throughout Ireland. It was founded around 1144 by, most likely, Murchad Ua Máelsechlainn, Agnes' uncle and then king of Meath, under the influence of St Malachy, who brought the rule of Arrouaise from France in 1142 after a journey to Rome.

    When the monastery was founded, Clonard was part of the diocese of Clonard/Meath, which was led by Eochaid Ua Cellaig. In 1192, a new English bishop was elected to the diocese of Clonard, Simon de Rochefort, who, through an expansionist policy, renamed the diocese to diocese of Meath and moved the diocesan see from Clonard to Trim in 1202.

    One of the victims of Simon de Rochefort's expansionist policy was the monastery of St Mary’s, Clonard. In response to these attacks and unable to rely on her paternal family and original patrons of the monastery, the Uí Máelsechlainn of Meath, Agnes sought the protection of the Vatican.

    To achieve this, Agnes sent a delegate on a very expensive journey to Rome to request the Vatican’s protection. This voyage certainly took months and was very costly, which shows that the monastery had enough funds and a solid network reaching Rome to support such an enterprise.

    After receiving the privilege, Agnes instructed her representative to have another copy of the privilege made and preserved in the Vatican, implying that she feared the original privilege might be destroyed or disregarded as a falsification when it reached Ireland. No records survive of the delegate but there is a strong possibility that it was a canon from St Mary’s, Trim.

    The original document sent to Agnes, unfortunately, did not survive the test of time but its doublet, preserved in the Vatican, was copied in the 17th century by the Irish Franciscan friar Luke Wadding. The privilege recognises a long list of monastic possessions throughout Ireland and possesses an unusually lengthy protection clause that exempts the monastery from diocesan control and demands any land taken by the laity, a possible reference to the new English colonists, to be returned.

    Ultimately, the letter is a testament to the long relationship between Ireland and the Vatican in the Middle Ages and the ingenuity of Agnes as a political negotiator.

    This piece originally appeared on RTÉ Brainstorm.