The privilege of Milo Sweteman
In 1365 Archbishop Milo Sweteman, with the agreement of the dean and chapter of Armagh, issued a privilege concerning the Bell of St Patrick. It names Cuulad, his successors and his kindred, and sets out both protections and obligations.
The clauses below give a way into the document. The short Latin phrases are drawn from the printed text; the English explanations are working summaries, not a published translation. They should be checked against the complete edition and the manuscript.
Cuulad and his kindred
Cuulad Omolkall et suis successoribus ac omnibus de natione sua
Cuulad Omolkall, his successors and all of his kindred.
The grant addresses Cuulad and his successors, his kindred and other subjects in lands or tenements of the bell. The word natio opens a window onto a wider group, beyond the individual named in the document.
A general interdict—and its limits
interdicto generali non ligentur
They should not be bound by the general interdict.
The document provides an exemption for Cuulad, his successors, members of his kindred and their lands within the bell’s district when a general interdict is imposed. The exemption has conditions: it does not apply in the same way if they caused the interdict or are expressly named for just cause.
Recovery and fasting
prout moris est
As is the custom.
The privilege describes Cuulad and his successors acting by the bell’s authority to recover what is due to the archbishop and his people from wrongdoers, or fasting upon them as was customary. The two actions appear in the same clause; the Latin merits close reading.
Action at their request
ad ipsorum requisitionem
At their request.
Sweteman undertakes to proceed against wrongdoers with ecclesiastical censures in aid of Cuulad and his successors when asked. The document also says that Cuulad and his successors must not knowingly shelter people excommunicated or interdicted by the archbishop or his representatives.
Where will this record take you?
The document opens paths into the people, language and law of its time. Start with a question that interests you:
- Who was Milo Sweteman?
- Where was Termonfeckin, and why was the archbishop there?
- What could natio mean in medieval Ireland?
- What did a general interdict mean in practice?
- How did fasting work as a way to press a claim?
- What else has been written about Cuulad and the bell?
These searches lead beyond this site; the results may offer different interpretations and should be read alongside their sources.
Follow the document
The register: Register of Milo Sweteman, fols. 28v–29r, entry 148. The manuscript is held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
Modern edition: Brendan Smith, ed., The Register of Milo Sweteman, Archbishop of Armagh, 1361–1380 (Irish Manuscripts Commission, 2018), pp. 147–149. The short Latin extracts here follow the research transcription of the printed edition; the manuscript has not been checked for this site.
Earlier publication: William Reeves, “On the Bell of St Patrick, called Clog an Edachta,” Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. 27 (1877), pp. 19–20. Open the digitized volume →
The longer text and a reviewed translation should be added as they are checked. The English summaries above are intended to help readers navigate the document, not settle every interpretation.