hospitable," twenty years, and Loingsech (A.D. 693) eight
years.

Throughout this century the power of the Church was
constantly on the increase, and is visible in many
important changes. The last armed struggle of Druidism,
and the only invasion of Ireland by the Anglo-Saxons,
are also events of the civil history of the seventh
century.

The reign, of Donald II. is notable for the passing away
of most of those saintly men, the second generation of
Irish abbots and bishops; for the foundation of the
celebrated school of Lismore on the Munster Blackwater;
and the battle of Moira, in the present county of Down.
Of the school and the saints we shall speak hereafter;
the battle deserves more immediate mention.

The cause of the battle was the pretension of the petty
Prince of Ulidia, which comprised little more than the
present county of Down, to be recognised as Prince of
all Ulster. Now the Hy-Nial family, not only had long
given monarchs to all Ireland, but had also the lion's
share of their own Province, and King Donald as their
head could not permit their ascendency to be disputed.
The ancestors of the present pretender, Congal, surnamed
"the squint-eyed," had twice received and cherished the
licentious Bards when under the ban of Tara, and his
popularity with that still powerful order was one prop
of his ambition. It is pretty clear also that the last