Donat, Bishop of Dublin

Dúnán, Donatus or Donat
Died	1074
Nationality	Irish

Dúnán (died 6 May 1074) was the first bishop of Dublin, appointed under Dublin's Hiberno-Norse kings. He is known also as Donatus or Donat. The diocese was put on a regular basis, in 1028, at the request of Sigtrygg Silkbeard. In his obit in the Annals of Ulster Dúnán is described as "chief bishop of the foreigners" (ardespoc Gall).

It has been traditionally said that Dúnán was consecrated by Æthelnoth, the Archbishop of Canterbury. This is now disputed, with scholars saying that his successor, Gilla Patráic, was the first to be consecrated in this way.

Dunan was an Easterling or Ostman, and the first of the line of prelates who have occupied the see. Ware, who mentions several so-called bishops of Dublin of an earlier date, is supported by the Martyrology of Donegal, but Dr. Lanigan is of opinion that there are no sufficient grounds for so regarding them, except in the case of Siadhal or Sedulius, who appears to have been a bishop. Dunan is, however, termed abbot of Dublin in the 'Annals of the Four Masters' (AD 785), and from this it would seem he was only a monastic bishop; diocesan episcopacy had not been established in Ireland in his time. Dunan, therefore, must be regarded as the first bishop of Dublin in the modern sense of the title.

The Four Masters term him "ardeasbog", which Dr. O"Donovan translates archbishop, but Dr. Todd has pointed out that the correct rendering of the word is "chief or eminent bishop", and that it includes no idea of jurisdiction. His diocese was comprised within the walls of the city, beyond which the Danish power did not extend.

The chief event of his life appears to have been the foundation of the church of the Holy Trinity, commonly called Christ Church, or more properly its endowment and reorganisation in accordance with the views of the Danish settlers. For it appears, from an inquisition held in the reign of Richard II, that a church had been "founded and endowed there by divers Irishmen whose names were unknown, time out of mind, and long before the conquest of Ireland". This ancient site was bestowed on Dunan by Sitric, king of the Danes of Dublin, and with it "sufficient gold and silver" for the erection of the new church, and as an endowment he granted him "the lands Bealduleek, Rechen, and Portrahern, with their villains, corn, and cattle".

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