Waterford, Council of

Waterford, Council Of

(Synodus Guateafordia). Waterford is a city of Ireland, capital of the county of the same name, situated near the southern coast, on the right bank of the Suir, nine miles from the sea. An ecclesiastical council is said to have been held there about 1158, in which it was ordered that all the English slaves throughout Ireland should be liberated to avert the divine wrath. It seems that many of the English had been in the habit of selling their own children to the Irish for slaves, and that not under the pressure of extreme want. See Mansi, Concil. 10:1183.

Both the date and place of this council are probably incorrect, as the account of it in Labbe exactly coincides with that of the Council of Armagh in 1171 (q.v.), and in both the council is said to have been convoked apud Ardmachiam. Landon, Manual of Councils, s.v.