_alumni_ had largely contributed to form and establish.
In the northern Province, the schools most frequented
were those of Armagh, and of Bangor, on Belfast lough;
in Meath, the school of Clonard, and that of Clomnacnoise,
(near Athlone); in Leinster, the school of Taghmon
(_Ta-mun_), and Beg-Erin, the former near the banks of
the Slaney, the latter in Wexford harbour; in Munster,
the school of Lismore on the Blackwater, and of Mungret
(now Limerick), on the Shannon; in Connaught, the school
of "Mayo of the Saxons," and the schools of the Isles of
Arran. These seats of learning were almost all erected
on the banks of rivers, in situations easy of access, to
the native or foreign student; a circumstance which proved
most disastrous to them when the sea kings of the north
began to find their way to the shores of the island. They
derived their maintenance--not from taxing their pupils
--but in the first instance from public endowments. They
were essentially free schools; not only free as to the
lessons given, but the venerable Bede tells us they
supplied free bed and board and books to those who resorted
to them from abroad. The Prince and the Clansmen of every
principality in which a school was situated, endowed it
with a certain share--often an ample one--of the common
land of the clan. Exclusive rights of fishery, and
exclusive mill-privileges seem also to have been granted.
As to timber for building purposes and for fuel, it was
to be had for carrying and cutting. The right of quarry
went with the soil, wherever building stone was found.
In addition to these means of sustenance, a portion of
the collegiate clergy appeared to have discharged missionary